"Oh. You can see me."

I nearly fainted right then and there. Instead, what I decided to do was gap at him, or what seemed like him, and point at him like an idiot.

"Blue! Do you see that?"

"See what?"

"That!"

I began to wave frantically in Gold's translucent form, but Blue didn't seem to be able to see anything.

"She can't see me. Can't hear me either."

I then decided to do something before Blue declared I was mad. I looked through Gold to see a window, and seeing the open sky, I could think. Or well, think up a really bad excuse.

"Oh you didn't see it then?"

"See WHAT, Iris?" Blue asked exasperatedly.

"The shiny Pidove."

She looked at me like I was insane. Which was probably what I was, considering I was seeing what looked like a ghost of someone who wasn't even dead.

"There aren't any Pidoves in Johto, Iris."

I pretended to be exasperated too, giving out a mighty sigh.

"I KNOW. That's why I was so excited. I guess it was just a trick of the light."

I mumbled the last part to make my lie seem more believable, and it seemed Blue accepted it. Then she sat in a chair front of the bed holding Gold's body, and pulled up a chair for me too. She then leaned close to me and began to whisper so that I could barely hear what she was saying. She seemed nervous.

"Listen, Iris. I may be being a little paranoid, but I think someone's after us. First Gold. Then Green-"

"Something's happened to Green too?" I shouted. Blue flinched from my outburst.

"No, silly. And be quiet. I'm talking about the lock-down. To be honest, Iris. I don't feel safe like this. We're all separated right now. Well, the lock-down's part of the reason why, but..."

"But what, Blue?"

"I can't get in touch with Silver. Or Crystal. Or Yellow. Which is really frightening because then all the Johto heroes are gone. Gold's in a coma and Silver...who knows what happened to him?"

Blue began to sob, but I knew that she was still holding things back. I didn't want to push her, but this situation and her explanations only made the knot in my stomach tighter.

"Green is in Kanto, I'm here, and Red's still on that godforsaken mountain, Iris. I went to tell him personally that Gold was in a coma and you know what he did? He put on a shocked face and went deeper inside that cave of his."

Blue began to all-out cry right now, and I desperately looked for something to give her. The phantom Gold pointed next to his body's head and said, "There's tissue right there." I glanced at Gold, who had a solemn face, and rushed to the tissue. Unfortunately for me, Blue grabbed me before I could escape and began to use me as a tissue instead. Her tears wet my shirt and I sighed.

"Iris, what do we do? We're all separated! Johto...Johto doesn't have anyone to protect it! Kanto has Green, Hoenn has Ruby, Sapph and Emerald, Sinnoh has Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, and Unova has Black and White, but Johto doesn't have anyone! Because Gold's in a goddamned coma and Silver, Crystal and Yellow are missing!"

"Blue calm down!" I managed to shout. She flinched, looked around nervously, and took in a shaky breath. I calmed my voice and tried to soothe her.

"Blue, Johto has people. Right now they have you and me, don't they? We're not all weak right now. We're all still standing strong. The lock-down doesn't mean anything. They can't blame us for Gold's condition. We're the ones who care the most."

Blue sniffed, then let go of me.

"You-You're right...I'm sorry, Iris. I was just...overreacting. Johto DOES have us."

I smiled at her. Then I looked at Blue's face, and realized something. I handed her some tissues.

"No. Johto has me. Blue, you go home to your family. I'll take care of Johto."

Her head snapped up and her eyes met with mine.

"Iris...how did you know?"

I chuckled.

"Blue, we've been best friends for two years, and 90% of that time was spent with you. There's no way I couldn't know. Go home, okay? I'll handle Johto. I am the champion, after all, although unofficially..."

Blue smiled, then stood up. She placed a hand on my shoulder, and gave me a hug. But before letting go, she whispered something to me.

'Iris, if something happens and you try to call me and my number's not in service anymore, then...I'm with Silver, probably. Okay?'

She left, closing the door behind her. I heard footsteps, and a loud bang as the front door was shut. I sighed for what seemed like the twentieth time today. Her last words were a total puzzle to me. I glanced at the clock and was shocked to see it read 8PM. I then looked out the window to clear my head. But first things first. That...opaque version of Gold.

"So. What happened?"

I looked at the translucent Gold.

"I figure she's about to tell you."

Gold flicked his head in the door's direction, and I turned around to see Gold's mother.

"Oh hello, Mrs. Avonmora."

"Hello, Iris dear. Thank you so much for coming to see Gold."

"It's no problem. Say, have they been able to tell what's wrong with him?"

Gold's mother set down a pot of tea next to me, then sat in the chair which Blue had occupied just a few moments ago.

Phantom Gold pointed to the pot of tea which his mom was pouring out and said to me, "I suggest you don't drink that." I ignored him, but I didn't drink it, either.

"Well...they can't wake him up, dear. In any other case, a psychic user would just dive into his mind and bring his conscious out from their memories, but they said that when they went inside, they saw nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was totally blank. So they can't find his conscious either. Apparently, Gold's been forced to forget something. And they can't revive him until we know what that something is."

She finished her explanation with a grave tine, and shuffled out the door again: then from down the hall she shouted, "You're welcome to stay overnight, dear! Make yourself at home!"

I decided to do so. But more importantly, I needed to defragmentize all the information I had acquired so far. I found a pen and paper on Gold's desk, and began to jot down notes.

Gold-coma & memory loss

Red-mountain

Green-Kanto

Silver, Crystal, Yellow-missing

Johto-tremor targeting gyms

Blue-number not in service

Lock-down

So far those were the main points given to me. But underneath it all, I wrote down a question and circled it.

Are we in danger?

Then I crossed it out. Such an ominous question. Nobody had targeted the pokedex holders since Lance attempted with Red. I looked at the phantom Gold, who I found was surprisingly easy to ignore.

"You seem quiet."

"I have nothing to say."

"Because you don't remember anything."

Gold looked at me like I killed his pet cat. I ignored the look.

"You really can't remember anything?"

"Sometimes I get short visions...a cave...red hair...the name 'Silver'. But I don't know what they mean."

"A cave could mean any cave in the region. Red hair and Silver both point to your best friend, whose name is Silver."

Gold looked delighted, as if vaguely recalling his best friend was worth something big. I knew it wasn't. Not so much as the situation at hand, anyways.

Gold looked thoughtful. He walked around a bit, frowning one moment, then grinning the next. He then looked right at me and asked me a question. "That girl who visited me. Is she a friend?"

"Gold, we're all friends. But something's going on, okay? And someone's trying to get rid of us."

I said in frustration. Everything caught up with me. Some asshole was trying to kill us. Was trying to separate us, and was trying to kill our friends. There was no safe place. But for now, Gold's home would have to do.

I quickly took a shower, but still kept my things inside my bag, ready to leave at any moment. My pokemon belt was no exception. I kept it around where I could see it at all times, no matter how trivial the activity. And this activity was trivial. I was watching TV. Maybe it wasn't so simple. After all, it was news. It was alright a few minutes, but the sudden. News that Kanto was experiencing similar tremors like Johto did made my heart drop.

I called the only person who came up in my thoughts. Blue. My mind was racing. What did Blue tell me before she left? She said it so quietly, as if we were being listened in on. Trembling, I took out my phone and dialed her number.

"The number you have dialed is not currently in service. Please check again."

'no.' I tried again.

"The number you have dialed is not currently in service. Please check again."

'No.' Again.

"The number you have dialed..."

'No, no, NO!' In frustration I banged my fist into the sofa.

'Iris, if you ever try to call me and my number's apparently not in service anymore, then...I'm with Silver, probably. Okay?'

Blue was with Silver. And Silver was missing. Which meant that Blue was missing too. If Blue was missing, what about Green? And Red? I immediately called the Viridian gym leader. I shouted his name in relief when the line went through.

"Hel-"

"GREEN!" I couldn't have been any happier to hear Green's voice.

"Whoa, hey, Iris. What's up?"

"Are you alright? Is anyone hurt?"

"We're all good. I evacuated the city before anyone could get seriously hurt."

"That's a relief..." That was indeed a relief. Green was okay. Maybe Blue was too? But Green was a gym leader...what was going on? Everything was getting more confusing by the minute.

"So, did you need something?"

"No, Green. Just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Okay, then."

"One last thing."

"Yeah?"

I whispered the last line before hanging up.

"Don't leave Viridian."

I didn't know how much I could tell him, and I didn't know how much I knew. All I knew was that I was in danger, and so was everyone else. Keeping the news turned on just in case, I began to make plans. My plans were immaculate. My plans always worked. My plans went over every single detail, and not even a speck of dust was overlooked. My plans never failed.

Only, I didn't have enough information to make a plan. Infiltrate an organization, maybe. Summer vacation, maybe. But this, what I wrote on this paper after two hours of thinking, wasn't a plan. It was a precaution and safety measure, and it looked like a freaking last will and testament.

The lights were still on, and it was now 11. I wondered if I was bothering Gold's mom. Then I remembered I hadn't seen her since she told me I could stay over. The knot in my stomach grew tighter. Come to think of it...I hadn't heard so much as footsteps when she came into the room as soon as Blue left.

'Oh no...'

Grabbing the stuff I laid out in the living room, I dashed into Gold's room, where his body was, locked the door, and brought out my Lucario.

"Luke, protect me."

Then I set to work. I took out a map of Johto, and began to mark off places which were safe and which were not. Azalea? No. Going back would only endanger the city. Olivine? Too many probabilities. Violet? Cianwood? Goldenrod? Ecruteak? Mahogany? Blackthorn? All places with gyms. Cherrygrove was too close to here, and I didn't know anyone there. My eye caught a part of the map which I had frequently seen. The only place which Idecided was safe enough was the place where one of the two trainers who I had yet to beat resided. I began to hurriedly pack my things, making sure that everything was packed in my bag. I quickly threw on my jacket and securing my belt, I released Staraptor and let it outside. Gold's phantom watched me silently.

Lucario hissed, and I heard banging on the door.

"Iris? Are you in there? Iris? IRIS!"

I began to get scared. 'Damn it...' why hadn't I noticed before? The freaking tea smelt familiarly like something which reminded me of cinnamon. Gold hated cinnamon so there was no way that Gold's mom would have it around. I quickly threw my bag over my shoulder and asked Lucario to help me carry Gold's body onto Staraptor. Phantom Gold's eyes widened.

"Don't be stupid. I'm not leaving your body here with that psychopath."

Then I returned Luke to his pokeball and got on Staraptor as well.

"Sorry for the extra weight, buddy. But please...take me to Red. As fast as you can."

Staraptor took off as the door opened, and I glimpsed back to look at what was like Gold's mother. She still looked like Gold's mother, but she had the most evil eyes I had ever seen. The scary part? She was smiling at me as I flew away with Gold's body, as if it was exactly what she wanted.