A pale crescent of moonlight provided just enough illumination for Mira to put one foot in front of another. Vinegar chirped happily as she trotted alongside her master. The perky firefox enjoyed being back on land again. She showed it by racing ahead before coming back and hiccuping little gouts of fire from her snout. Normally that made Mira smile. Tonight the trainer was too tired to care much as she trudged up the dirt road alongside Buck and Nate. She idly wondered why she hadn't used her female status to secure a place on Hazel's saddle. It was her damned conscience, probably.
Nate broke the sullen silence. "Think we're getting close. Road leveled out. Should be half mile or so further. Hard to miss, they said."
Silently Mira grumbled at the mention of the sailors who'd seen them off the ferry. The Cinnabar Island ferry terminal was hardly worth the name. A monument to filth. An altar upon which pilgrims laid their offerings of food wrappers, pokémon waste, and rotting palm fronds. She'd felt lucky not to fall through the rickety pier into the dark water below. Even worse, what kind of "ferry terminal" had no working transportation links? It was all very uncivilized. Gloomily Mira realized that the whole trip was probably going to be like this. Belatedly she remembered the warning she'd given to her penpal in Ecruteak when the other girl had wanted to come camping on Cianwood Island. 'Roughing it' sounds a lot more fun when you aren't actually doing it yet. And people always look back with these rose glasses. Shit, people talk about giving birth as if it wasn't the most painful and disgusting thing they've ever done. If you want to come see something, like the waterfall I told you about last time, say so. Don't make it sound like a picnic.
At least the mosquitoes were gone. And there weren't any screaming kids running around. No, there was something to be said for visiting this island in the off-season, even if it meant a certain lack of amenities. Buck didn't expect to see more than locals and the usual travelers—merchants, mercenaries, and trainers. People who were dangerous without being nosy. That was alright with the Cianwooders. They weren't looking for company on the path to Saffron.
Finally the road passed out from the midst of straggly vegetation into what passed for civilization. Houses were built on stilts around here. Mira couldn't tell for sure in the poor lighting but they seemed to be made of sticks or grass or something similarly primitive. She didn't care enough to comment about it, although Nate apparently did.
"What's with the houses around here? They look kind of…uh.." He grasped for a polite way to describe the apparently backwards nature of the village.
Buck grunted. "Tourism. Island lives and dies by it. Stupid mainlanders think that Cinnabars are friendly savages living in grass huts. So they build 'em along the road from the ferry terminal to Cinnabar City. Nobody really lives here. Least it was that way a decade ago. Times have been hard. Could be they had to start living like that." He added, "Doesn't really matter. We're heading for Cinnabar City tomorrow morning. It's a real city. More like Olivine than anywhere else. You'll hate it."
Mira was really not paying much attention to Buck. She'd caught sight of the familiar slate-red roof at the end of the next block. She returned Vinegar, not needing the overactive Vulpix out as a security blanket any longer. Visions of a hot shower and a cool, soft bed filled her head.
Of course her hopes were quickly dashed. There was no one working that night except an emergency nurse. She was polite, if standoffish. And she didn't have the keys to any of the rooms. Naturally. The nurse didn't mind if they slept on the surprisingly comfortable couches in the reception area. She even brought out a bag of pokémeal for any of their pokémon that might want some. Buck politely declined and she left them to go back to whatever mysterious activities nurses performed in the back room. Mira's crushed hopes didn't trouble her for long. The couch seemed capable of swallowing her petite frame whole. She quickly fell into a deep sleep, drowning in the soft and badly-stained cushions. You had to enjoy the comforts live gave you while they lasted, she drowsily thought just before it all turned black.
A rough hand on her forehead shook Mira awake. She moaned in irritation, before trying to sit up. She couldn't escape the couch on her first attempt. So she tried again, getting most of the way before collapsing back into it. Then she tried rolling off to the side and fell onto the floor, one ankle still caught in the corner of a cushion. Through bleary eyes and a dry throat, she struggled to look up at Buck.
He didn't bother to hide his small grin. "Come on, sleeping beauty. Bus broke down so we've got a nice walk ahead of us. Sun is out and it smells like a dream out there. Get your little butt moving so we can get moving."
Mira slowly assembled herself into what could be called a sitting position. "Where's Nate?" she asked.
"I went looking for coffee." Nate answered the question she'd posed to Buck. She turned around to see him standing there, bare-handed.
"And?" she prompted.
"Obviously I didn't find it. You about ready to go?" Nate looked like he'd rather be outside.
Wordlessly Mira scooted over to her pack and grabbed the straps before standing up and putting it on. She started walking towards the exit, knowing that her annoyingly chipper traveling companions would be following. On the way out she stopped to douse her face in tepid water from the washroom. A quick swallow of the clear, salty liquid helped her feel a bit more alive. Not enough to enjoy being awake, though.
The warm morning sun, filtered through a thousand verdant leaves and the gaps between the peaks of the Twin Peaks, soaked into Mira's exposed skin. Strands of inky black hair clung to her forehead in the suffocating humidity. A refreshing breeze from the ocean below brought some relief. The familiar salty smell of the ocean also helped. The ocean felt a little different here than in Cianwood. More organic and less rocky, if that made any sense. She dumped the brief perception aside, not bothered enough by the difference to think about it further. What did bother her was the stench.
Mira didn't know how she could have missed it last night. It was like being in a landfill. No, it was like swimming through a mound of garbage while someone burned a pile of sulfur nearby. She was too disgusted to breathe through her mouth and be rid of the smell. Arceus knows what sort of diseases she'd catch from the unholy aroma suffusing the area.
She glared at Buck. "You said it smelled like a dream. What the hell, old man?"
"I didn't say whether it was a good dream, now did I?" Buck glanced at Nate. "Is she always like this in the mornings?"
Nate stared straight ahead. "Even when she was a little girl. Why do you think I asked you to wake her up instead of doing it myself?"
Buck got a thoughtful look on his face. "Suppose it's not really my business to ask why you know what she's like when she wakes up, but I haven't been woken by the sounds of you too humping yet, so I figure—"
Nate colored rapidly and Mira laughed, surprising all three of them. "Buck you know I don't stay over with boys, I just take them for a ride and get them home by curfew. Now Nate on the other hand, he's all about cuddling..."
Buck laughed right back at her, a raucous sound that the teenagers didn't hear from him very often. Nate quickly changed the subject before they decided to gang up on him. "Seriously, though, what is with that stench? It wasn't like that last night and I'm not real excited about smelling it all day."
Buck shrugged. "Dunno. Folks around here are awfully lazy about hunting down the Poison-types. It doesn't smell like the usual suspects. Could be some sort of Koffing emission. They get very big and very dangerous around here without natural predators. It's another reasons to get moving, though. We should make it to Cinnabar City by nightfall if you two don't walk slower than I do."
The smell never really went away until the made it within the city limits of Cinnabar City. By the time the sun was getting low on the horizon they'd dropped their packs off at the pokémon center (this one was actually open for business) and started looking for dinner. They settled on a street vendor selling broiled Magikarp. Covered in dried sweat, exhausted, and smelling like roadkill-flavored perfume, Mira sprawled out on the sandy beach next to Nate. She didn't bother asking why they hadn't been able to take a ferry into the docks here at Cinnabar City. Nor did she ask why he'd told them not to shower before going back out for dinner. She didn't care. It felt too nice to just lie here on the sand and drink in the fading light of the setting sun.
Until a shadow crossed over them. Buck offered them a hand up. "C'mon. It's time to learn how to hire a "fishing boat" for a trip to "Pallet Bay"."
Nate hauled himself up on his elbows. "But I don't have my passport. Or even my Trainer ID. You told me to leave it back at the center."
Buck looked more awake then he'd been all day. "Where we're going, you won't need ID. Just follow along and keep your mouths shut. We'll be on our way soon enough."
"Where are we going after Cinnabar? You told us we'd find out when the time was right. Can that time be now?"
Buck made good on his promise, replying impatiently. "Seafoam."
"Seafoam? What's in Seafoam that's worth seeing?" Mira asked.
Nate added, "I read that there aren't any pokémon centers in Seafoam. Something about territorial issues?"
Buck nodded. "What they mean is nobody owns the Seafoam Islands. Both Cinnabar and Fuschia wish they do. Most people there are happy enough to avoid being under any kind of law and order. What that means is we're not likely to be tracked. Leave not traces, that sort of thing. That enough for you?"
Nate shrugged, before adding "Actually I'm curious about how-"
Buck cut him off. "It can wait. There's too many Team employees in this city. The longer we stay here, the less safe we are. Let's go."
They hit the pokémon center on the way back to grab their packs. Buck stopped Mira and Nate from checking out, though. Mira gave him an odd look. She was still following orders, though, and didn't voice the question. They followed him back down to the ragged side of town into a maze of stalls and houseboats and buildings that were certainly not up to code. It was all very new and exciting and scary to a sheltered Cianwooder girl like Mira. If she hadn't been tired and sore she might have felt those emotions as more than twinges. She followed Nate and Buck onto a large speedboat along with two strangers, before casting off and drifting towards the end of the bay.
She was jolted from her stupor by an unavoidable observation. They weren't using any running lights. Even with the faint glow from the scarred Pikachu crouched on the bow it was far too dark out. Remembering Buck's rule, she bended it by whispering her question into his ear. His reply came calmly and surely.
"Cinnabar police get suspicious when anyone's on the water after dark. All of us would love to avoid any kind of involvement like that. Relax, these men know exactly what they're doing. We should reach Seafoam before sunrise." He leaned in closer as the whine of the engines revved higher. Leaving the cape behind them they accelerated sharply. Waves slammed against the sturdy hull, sending bone-jolting impacts straight up Mira's spine at irregular intervals. Buck continued, "You should try to get some sleep if you can."
Mira almost laughed at the absurdity of it. Sleep? On a boat hurtling through the dark piloted by criminals—probably smugglers—without a single water pokémon between the three of them?
Mira liked taking risks. But this was just ridiculous. The sooner they debarked in Seafoam, the better.
Alessandro shooed the tech out and took the only seat. Mandy slouched against the prefab metal wall. Her fingers played with a small black shard that had split off Charizard's claws. She turned it over again and again in her hand, her callused thumb rubbing against the cool fragment. Alessandro fiddled with a trio of dials for a few minutes. His gaze tracked a squiggly line on one of the readouts in the dimly-lit radio room.
"How long are you going to play with that?" she asked.
"I've almost got a clear channel. I had to recalibrate it manually. Some idiot working here thought that 27 MHz was a good band to transmit on."
"It isn't?"
"It's a fine way to transmit if you're sending a television signal. Which we're not. I wouldn't expect anything that sophisticated from this bunch of hicks."
"Maybe they're used to only receiving orders and don't need to transmit very often?" Mandy offered, not caring in the slightest.
"It's possible..." he drifted off for a moment before adding triumphantly "Got it. That should work well enough for now" He hit a few more toggles and the microphone crackled audibly. Slowly and clearly he spoke into it, "Agents Alessandro and Mandy requesting to speak with Vice-Chair of Nonpublic Operations."
"Copy, Agents. Transmit Identification Codes now." The harried female dispatcher replied almost instantly to their request.
"Tango Charlie Seven Three Nine Scyther." Alessandro spoke for both of them. Mandy envied his ability to memorize the six character identifier. That was beyond her.
The voice intoned "Acknowledged. Stand by, verification...completed. Stand by."
A long pause was marked only by occasional hisses from static on the radio channel. Finally a a familiar voice spoke up.
"Report."
"Sir, no contact has been made with the quarry since they were reported outside of Pallet town yesterday. We suspect the tip of being a plant by Saffron agents. We are currently in Viridian at the local Team center. None of the local informants were aware of a pair of trainers matching the quarry's description. It is possible that they took a different path through the mountains than expected."
"How could you have missed them, Alessandro? Viridian lies directly on every land route connecting Johto and Kanto. They must pass through there. And if you're certain they haven't overtaken you yet, it seems obvious what you need to do now."
"Stay here and search every traveler?" Mandy tried.
"Right in one. Use the local members—they're too dumb to act on their own but smart enough not to ask unnecessary questions. I can't spare you much else in the way of resources. Given the current situation in Saffron, it's more important than ever that you don't let them slip past. If they make it through Viridian we'll lose them in the forest. Feel free to kill the humans, just leave the Ralts alive long enough to talk."
Mandy ignored the restatement of their standing orders, tuning out while Alessandro went into detail about the actions of the past few days. She was jolted back into alertness when Alessandro's glare and the silence warned her she'd been asked a question.
"Sorry, what?" she asked.
"Agent Mandy, your senior status doesn't excuse you from paying attention to your boss. Now I hear from your partner that the attack on the town didn't bother you. Killing poorly-trained pokémon and their masters suits you better than Alessandro, apparently."
She shrugged, then realized that a verbal response was necessary. "Sir, I follow orders, whether they are 'go over there' or 'kill this woman' or 'dance around in a circle while I throw peanuts at you'. If those villagers needed killing, then that's all that needs to be said."
"We've never asked anything of the kind before."
"If you say so. I think killing is pretty much just killing, whether or not the other guy signed up for it. Nobody's really willing to die. That's simply not my problem."
A sigh was the Executive's first response. "Regardless of your philosophy about death, enjoy your bonus. I'll have it in your accounts by Tuesday. Watch all of the roads and don't let that Ralts through. Anything else?"
At their silence the channel closed.
Alessandro muttered, "Do you really think so little of human life?"
She shrugged. "Everything dies someday. How many people do anything truly valuable with their lives? Would the universe be measurably worse off if we died tonight? Hell, would anyone even care if we did? Same logic applies to the dirt farmers we took care of. Nothing has really changed. Life goes on in Goldenrod. When you take a wider perspective, nothing matters quite so much as we pretend it does."
Alessandro blinked. "I was not expecting a philosophical defense of your position. We all thought you were just callous and psychopathic." Then he muttered "And now I remember why we don't talk about things."
Overhearing, Mandy laughed. Her partner in crime could be so sensitive sometimes.
"Let's go set up the guard detail with the grunts and then find dinner." she said, getting back to business.
"I'm always amazed by what our valiant comrades in the kitchens manage to pass off as food." Alessandro grinned weakly.
"That's the spirit. Just stay optimistic and you'll be fine."
The irony of Mandy's advice was not lost on Alessandro.