Young Ash wandered towards Pyrite Town from the desert, where Martin had dropped him off. He had memorised the directions Sherles had given Cyril when Cyril had explained Young Ash's plan to Sherles. Cipher stayed away from the better-established parts of Pyrite but frequented the back alleys and more run-down areas. After a couple of quick fights in Duel Square, and a quick stock-up on water, soda, and lemonade from the vending machine in the wall of the ONBS building, he headed out towards the shadier parts of Pyrite Town.
At first, there was nothing particularly out of the ordinary, although Young Ash did catch sight of the odd white-clad figure ducking out of sight on the edges of his vision. He was challenged to a few fights by ordinary Pyrite citizens, albeit rather rough-edged characters, and used his Mr. Mime and a Gloom he was training up to defeat them, nipping back to the healing machine in the Pyrite Colosseum whenever they got low on power points.
Although Young Ash had his Charizard on him in case of emergencies, Sherles had mentioned that Cipher never seemed to attempt to recruit trainers with high Pokémon, presumably deciding they were too good to their Pokémon to bother with. So Young Ash had taken a Gloom and a Mr. Mime he had planned to train up later, to give the illusion that he was a mid-level Trainer who still had much to learn.
It therefore was not much of a surprise when a white-clad figure stopped him and challenged him to a Pokémon battle. He fought her-for it was a woman-and deliberately made a couple of mistakes, although this nearly cost him the battle when she pulled out a Combusken which although it didn't do any fire attacks, gave his Pokémon a vicious hammering. It was his Mr. Mime's Confusion and Gloom's Poisonpowder that enabled him to win, but only just.
"I'm impressed, you seem to be learning well, but your Pokémon seem very weak." She said. "I'll tell you what, I can give you a special, strong Pokémon if you join our group." She eyed him. "I think you're even the right size to get a cool uniform like mine too. Come with us, and join us in our quest to make stronger, better Pokémon for battling." She said.
Young Ash thought hard, not wanting to blow this chance, which he could do either by being too eager or to reticent.
"Yeah, that sounds like a cool deal." He said, mimicking something he'd once heard his best friend's dad say. "A stronger Pokémon, you say? And a cool outfit? Yeah, okay, why not." he said, hoping he's struck just the right tone.
It appeared that he had, for the woman beckoned him and took him into the back alleys, leading him a bewildering dance down narrow streets before beckoning him into a house.
There were two other white-outfitted people there. She nodded as they asked her "You got another recruit, Kamé?"
"This is…" she said, looking at Young Ash and allowing her voice to tail off and rise enquiringly towards the end.
"Ash." he told her.
"Ash." she repeated. One of the other two figures, a man, looked him up and down, assessing him. Then he bent and handed Young Ash a uniform with a dark visor similar to his own.
"Here's your uniform, but don't wear it about the main part of Pyrite until the time is right, and we'll tell you when that is." He said. He picked a poké ball from a pile seemingly at random, and handed it to him. "Here's your Shadow Pokémon, again, don't show it off in crowded places, use it with discretion."
"And this'll be stronger than the weak ones I have at the moment?" Young Ash said, hating himself for the words he was saying. "Maybe I can stomp my opponents with it."
"That's exactly right!" said the woman who had recruited him, in a pleased voice. "We create strong Pokémon from weak ones, with moves that knock others flat."
"Sounds great." said Young Ash, cringing inside.
"All you need to do now is go around town like I was, and see if anyone wants to battle you, and talk to them about Pokémon in general. Of course, only tell people about the Shadow Pokémon and offer them a chance to join us if you think they can be trusted." She warned him. "If you do well, we might assign you to one of our installations."
"That'd be cool." he said nonchalantly. He went behind a screen, at the woman's urging, to try his uniform on to make sure it fit. It did-the man was obviously a good judge of size. Then the woman told him to go out and get some fights, and again he did so. He found that his new Shadow Pokémon was a Mantine. He didn't try to recruit anybody, except for one person who with one look he could tell was so self-conscious that he would refuse.
Returning when the woman called him over, he was invited to eat with her and the other two, plus two new recruits. "You can sleep here tonight if you want, we've got some stuff you can flop on upstairs." Young Ash nodded, not really liking the idea but not wanting to raise suspicions. He went up with the others, removed his uniform, and lay down, hoping he could eventually find out where Tobianna was but scared to rush it in case he gave it away. Restless for a time, he finally drifted off to sleep.
Meanwhile, Officer Sherles and Johnston were watching some CCTV footage when Sherles pointed and said "Well, he's done it and got recruited like he hoped. Let's just hope he hasn't gotten himself in too deep."