LAWRENCE AND CO. AT THE KEY LAIR

After his conversation with George, Lawrence realised the sun was up and that Lu was waking. This pleased him. The sooner they could start searching for Rachel, the better. He went up to his control tower in his chair, with Lu curled up by his feet, and wiped the search parameters of the stats for Lu and Julie. The search mechanism would now only search for something matching Rachel's stats. Then he took Lu back down and opened the bulb for him to fly out. Lu complied, flew in a circle to get his bearings, then set off decisively in the direction he had come from. By this time, Lawrence was back in his control tower, and set the machine in motion behind him.

Cyril came up via the stairs from the living quarters, luxuriating in a jaw-cracking yawn and a full-bodied stretch. He looked drawn and tired, and Lawrence guessed that he'd probably been awake most of the night worrying about Rachel. He sat himself wordlessly down in one of the seats Lawrence had had installed next to his chair and watched Lu flying ahead.

An hour later, everyone was up and dressed, and watching as a black pyramid, with smoke venting from near the top, came into view. They didn't need Lu to tell them that this was the place. There was just enough room on the round area just in front of the pyramid to land the machine. Everyone checked that they had their poké balls and that their Pokémon were fully healed, and they went in.

They met very little resistance, as there were mainly workers running around. One near the entrance bemoaned the theft of a Shadow Dragonite, describing the thieves, one who sounded suspiciously like Miror. B, but after searching the complex from top to bottom, they were finally told by a very bruised and sore-looking technician that he had released Rachel. He knew she had been through at least one processing, and probably more.

"She had this weird light purple skin, you see, and she beat me up pretty good. I only invited her to hit me once, hard enough to knock me out, and she did me over! I think that's something to do with the process."

"Closing the hearts of Pokémon in that manner makes them do nothing but fight." Said Female Ash, who had dug out her old notes about Shadow Pokémon before they'd joined Lawrence, and re-read them. Professor Krane had also sent Lawrence some copies of memos he made via PDA, which Lawrence had given to Female Ash. She was currently their expert on Shadow Pokémon, and had used Lawrence's auxiliary computer to search the Pokénet for any more facts, theories or speculations on Shadow Pokémon on the way to the pyramid.

"Well, I suppose we had best go back to the machine and continue searching, because she's not here." Said Lawrence. "We're right back to Square One."

"There's one good side to all of this." said Cyril. "At least she's alive, and free. Cipher don't have her any more."