IX

Celadon City was, somehow, equal parts commercially successful and spiritually tranquil. Simon figured it had to do with the way the city incorporated nature into its design. Trees shaded the paved footpaths and walkways; ponds dotted the way, allowing for city-dwelling stray pokémon to congregate. They neither feared nor attacked people. The air was always light and fresh. Cars were restricted in the city limits, and as a result the city was designed to be navigated on foot. It was a nice place to be.

The boss' office was located in a block of small businesses toward the south part of the city, not far from the gym. Simon walked past an antique shop, a noodle house, a takoyaki stand which awakened his hunger with fierceness, until he came to a place that looked sort of like a lawyer's office. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and stepped inside.

There was a small desk arranged in the foyer; normally the boss' assistant would sit there and greet whoever came in. It was almost eight in the evening, however, so she had probably gone home. The door to the back office was ajar, and light shone from within. Simon could hear the boss humming.

He crossed the small foyer and rapped on the door with his knuckles. "About time," was the reply, and grimacing, Simon pushed the door open and walked into the office.

It was a spacious, handsome space. Marlena sat at her big glass desk, her hands on her keyboard as she typed some missive or another on her computer. A mug of tea sat on a wooden coaster beside her, long forgotten. Arranged on the opposite side of the room was a coffee table and two small couches, a traditional setup for an office in Kanto, and Marlena waved toward this space as an indication for Simon to sit down.

He did so, and after a moment, Marlena rose from her desk, rubbing at her eyes. Even after a full day (and Simon could only imagine the headaches she was dealing with on the backend from the day's crisis), she still looked immaculate. Her hair, the same shade as Simon's, remained in its tight braid which snaked down to her mid back. She wore a black suit which complemented her full figure, and it hardly looked creased or rumpled from a full day of wear. Conversely, Simon knew he looked like he had just about crawled out of a grave.

Marlena settled across the coffee table from Simon, crossing her legs at the ankle. She fixed him with those pale blue eyes he knew so well, a mix of disdain and concern in them. "Did you get them all?" she asked.

"All but one," Simon said.

Her eyes narrowed. "Where is the one?"

All Simon could do was shrug. "It was given to a kid by the name of Arai yesterday. Guess he left Pewter already."

"And what did he have?"

"A persian."

Marlena nodded. "I'll let the capture team know to keep an eye out for it." Her mouth tightened. "And that includes you."

"So I still have a job," Simon said with a hint of a smile.

She shook her head. "Don't be ridiculous, Simon. You weren't at fault. That's down to the development team. Besides," she paused, took out her cell phone and swiped at its screen a few times. She handed it to Simon with a video on its screen: a video of Simon as he captured the raichu which had attacked Courtney. "It seems people consider you a bit of a hero."

Simon saw a few comments below the video. He thought there would be more questioning of why the raichu had attacked the girl, but instead there were comments about him: how quickly he reacted, how cool his pokémon looked, and how cool he looked. Simon felt his stomach tighten as he read the comments.

"You look like you're going to be sick," Marlena said as Simon handed the phone back to her. "I should think you're used to this."

"I'd hoped media attention was long behind me," Simon responded. He rubbed at his eyes. He hadn't appeared on cameras since his own gym challenge a long time ago. And the only thing that amount of fame got him was crushing self-doubt.

Marlena was quiet for a moment. "Well, it's not like we're going to have you do interviews," she said, her voice a little sharp. "Those will fall to people who can actually speak on camera."

The jab had Simon on his feet. "If there's nothing else," he said, moving toward the door.

Marlena sighed. "Don't go far. We're going to do a distribution here starting tomorrow."

Simon whirled around, astonished. "After what happened today?" he demanded.

"It's a different batch," Marlena said, referring to the pokémon to be distributed. "Whatever went wrong with the ones in Pewter won't have any effect here."

"Can you be sure of that?" Simon asked, approaching her again.

"I can," she said coolly. "These are from the new XY series."

Simon honestly did not understand what that meant. He was somewhat familiar with the different series, but what differentiated them was not information he was privy to.

"And Erika is on board with this?"

Marlena nodded. "You're to meet with her tomorrow morning. I'm sure she may have some reservations in light of today. Just tell her the ones in Pewter were from the XU series. XY won't have any problems at all." She stood and approached Simon. The heels she wore brought her to the same height as him. "Chin up, big brother. You're the best we've got."

Simon glared at her, and without another word, he walked out of her office.

Shiri returned to the small hotel room she and Ashton were staying in. Ashton was already there, having left Shiri's company at the Poké Mart shortly after Simon had earlier that evening. He was sitting on one of the two beds, his long legs crossed underneath him and his computer in his lap. Patches was asleep beside him.

She opted for a quick shower to wash the shock of the day off more than any physical grime. Her mind was full of the troubles she had witnessed and the lack of information she had. She had wondered all day when Simon would call her. She didn't want to be near Ashton when he did call, but she wasn't sure it would be possible to avoid it.

She pulled on her pajamas after she had dried off. She peered into the bathroom mirror as she applied some facial moisturizer, frowning at how washed out her deep, dark skin looked in the harsh fluorescent lighting of the bathroom. There were circles under her eyes, the hollows on either side of her nose more pronounced.

It had been a rough day. And it hadn't ended yet. She looked forward to sleep, to a new day where perhaps all this trouble would be far away.

She walked out of the bathroom, her phone gripped tight in her hand. Ashton glanced up, a smirk on his lips. "Guess what I just saw an ad for."

Shiri crawled on the other bed, laying on her side and hugging one of the pillows to her chest. "A new burger meal at Magnemitey Burgers," she guessed wildly.

Ashton chuckled. "You wish. The Celadon City gym has announced they're doing a pokémon giveaway."

Shiri's muscles tensed. "Oh," was all she could say.

"Maybe we should get over there. You're done tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah," Shiri said. She rolled onto her back. "I just want to go home, though. This isn't anything we should get involved in."

"Where's your sense of adventure?" Ashton asked.

"Expended," Shiri answered. She closed her eyes, and she saw those horrible pokémon behind her eyelids. She remembered the terrible feeling she got from them. She wondered if she even really wanted Simon to explain anything to her. Maybe she wouldn't answer when he called. This wasn't her business.

Her phone rang, and she sat up. Ashton looked over as Shiri peered at the screen and saw Simon's name there. Ashton's eyebrow rose, but he said nothing and only watched her as Shiri, forgetting her doubts immediately, answered the call.

"Hey," she said a little too quickly and a little too loudly.

"Hello, Shiri," Simon responded. His voice sounded weary, a little fried. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"No, no," she said, sitting forward now. She glanced to the door. Should she go outside, have privacy? "I'm just hanging out with Ashton."

Simon paused. "Right, of course." Silence again. Was he trying to signal to her to be alone? "Now, I forgot what I had mentioned to you earlier."

"Are you okay?" Shiri asked. There was silence again. "You sound really tired."

He scoffed. "You don't know the half of it."

"You should get some rest," Shiri suggested. "We can always talk later. Are you still in Pewter?"

"No, Celadon," he answered. Shiri's stomach dropped.

He was in Celadon City. Celadon's gym was giving away pokémon. Pokémon like the ones from today. "Oh," she said, and Ashton sat forward, peering into her face. His laptop slid off his lap.

"No rest for the wicked," Simon said sardonically. "At any rate, I did say I would give you something like an explanation." He paused again, and she heard him sigh.

"Pokémon Labs, Incorporated," Shiri said. "That's what you said last."

"Right, thank you." She heard a quiet creak, like he was settling down on a hotel bed much like she had. She imagined him in a room identical to the one she was sitting in, staring at the same pale yellow walls and generic painting of a landscape which didn't exist in Kanto. "One of the things Pokémon Labs does is work on pokémon modification. Helps them to adapt to different environments better. They're based in Orre, you see, and they were concerned about repopulating the Orre desert."

Ashton had moved to Shiri's bed and sat beside her. He was listening.

"Another thing they try to do is make pokémon safer. More mild temperaments and such."

Shiri swallowed, but her mouth was dry. "I'm not sure how well they're doing that," she commented.

Simon scoffed. "Yeah, agreed," he said. "Anyway, the work I do is to negate as much trouble as possible if these pokémon get out of hand. And at most, the worst I usually see is the pokémon run away or something. I've never seen one attack people."

"Something's going wrong," Shiri said.

Simon was silent for a long moment. "Perhaps," he said at last.

"And you're doing it again tomorrow." This one came out as an accusation, and Shiri regretted it immediately.

"You've heard about that?"

"There's ads," Shiri responded. "After today, how could you?"

"If I were making these decisions, love, I wouldn't do it." His tone was sharp, and Shiri wondered if she had irritated him. "But I'm told this should be a completely different situation."

Shiri bit her lip. He didn't sound convinced of his own words. "Do you like your job?" Ashton gave her a quizzical look.

Simon laughed. "Not at all."

"Then why do you do it?"

Silence again. "There's worse things," he said at last. "Shiri, I'm sorry you had to be involved in all this trouble. If things were different…" he stopped himself, and Shiri felt her face flush. "That doesn't matter. We will probably never meet again. But I am glad we have. Take care." And then the line went dead.

Shiri lowered her phone from her ear, her mind trying to wrap itself around everything she had learned. She and Ashton sat quiet for several moments. Then their gazes met. They were thinking the same thing, and Shiri gave voice to the thought. "We're going to Celadon City."