Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, its world or characters. Only the story and original characters herein.

Chapter Six

After Slate dropped her identity he showed her to a room she could stay in. She didn't argue, or say much at all, after that as she tried to process the news. What attention she could manage went toward listening to him tell her about Pewter, how she could trust everyone there and there was more to the city then you could see on the surface. Whatever that meant.

Later, as she sat in her room, a delivery boy dropped off a package for her, which she tore into with no small curiosity. The bag she had her eye on in the general store was inside, along with a note from the store owner telling her it was a gift and good luck to her. Part of her gushed over the bag, the other part worried why he was wishing her luck. She knew far too little about what was going, and she was going to fix that.

A Waterflower though.

She'd heard of them of course, the Waterflower sisters, but that was from way back when Team Rocket first took over. They were the gym leaders from Cerulean, and, just like Pewter, theirs was one of the first gyms to be destroyed. Giovanni held some special hatred for those leaders it seemed. That was as much as people knew, or were allowed to know at least. Whispers said those particular leaders were a thorn in Team Rocket's side after foiling some of their plans. Not like that mattered now. Nobody stopped Team Rocket anymore.

What's more, the sisters died in the gym's collapse. Their bodies were found among the wreckage, and they were young when it happened. How could Lyss be a descendant? Unless Team Rocket had been wrong, or lied. That wouldn't be a surprise, so one of the girls, at least one, might've lived - a life of hiding from Giovanni, one she passed on down her family.

Lyss sat up at the thought. Wouldn't it be easier to hide if they'd taken a different name? They were all girls after all, so why wouldn't their kids take the father's name? Why did Lyss only have the name Waterflower? If they'd hidden the name and taken another, she should have one too. Maybe Slate hid it from her. Maybe he didn't know it, or didn't care. But he said he didn't know her parents well, so why would he know their hidden name?

Frustration gnawed at her. There were too many questions, and only one person might have the answers.

"Come on, Smoke. Let's find Slate." She snatched up her bag on the way out the door, more out of habit then necessity. She felt naked without one.

Unfortunately, she only made it to the end of the hall before stopping. Her plan had one problem - she didn't know anything about the place. She scratched at Smoke's ears. "Think you can find him for me?" Smoke shook off her touch and glared up at her. Lyss sighed. "I know, you're not a Houndour. Alright, well there has to be someone around to ask."

As it turned out, there really wasn't. Wandering through the house got her nowhere. Not even the old woman showed up, and it made the house eerie in its empty perfection. Lyss huffed. Would they really all run off and leave her alone in their house? They barely knew her.

At a loss, she returned to the basement where she first met Slate and plopped into a chair. That room was the one part of the house that looked at all lived in. Well, and now the room she was staying in. Lyss wasn't planning to hang around the house much, but she also wasn't going to worry about making the bed all nice and neat. That was kind of what the basement looked like too. The furniture was rumpled from being used and a book sat on the side table, a bookmark peeking from its pages.

Smoke's ears perked and he jumped up from his place by her chair. She watched, curious, as he stalked across the room. Were there Rattata in the walls? She didn't hear anything, but she was used to that. Smoke may not be a hunting Houndour, but he still had much better senses then her. A moment later, he stopped by the bookcase and turned to stare at her.

"What's up, Smoke?" she asked as she got up and went to him. "Something weird with the bookcase?" When he turned to look at her he pawed at the fixture. "If there's a Rattata hole back there you're out of luck, this isn't our house." He growled and shook his head, pawing it again. Curious, Lyss took a long look at the shelves of books. It looked like any other bookcase to her, filled with titles she didn't recognize - not surprising. Books weren't all that wide spread, except the ones Team Rocket wanted people to read. They didn't go around burning them or anything, but there wasn't a living to be made as a writer.

She ran an idle finger along the book spines. It seemed Slate had everything: novels, cookbooks, kids books, even dictionaries. She'd never seen such a varied collection.

One particular spine stopped her meandering. She was sure she hadn't read it, the title didn't mean anything to her, but it was familiar all the same. Tugging it from the row, she glanced at the cover. It, too, was a picture she'd seen before, though she didn't know where. Nothing about the book meant anything to her, it wasn't something she'd read, but something odd about it wouldn't let her go.

A flash of insight made her turn back to the small end table near where Slate sat when she first met him. There, sitting with a bookmark sticking from the pages, was the same book she held. She compared the two, turning them over and glancing inside for differences, but they were identical, not even different versions. Why did he have two of the same book in the same room?

She went back to the bookshelf, scanning it again. No other duplicates jumped out at here, every book was different, and all organized. Heavy cooking books together on the bottom, similar dictionaries and reference books above that, kids books next up, still in reach of the little ones. From there up they all blended together, the shelves packed with all manner of novels for reading, with only the gap she'd pulled the book from missing.

She blinked. The books on either side of the gap hadn't shifted. On impulse, she reached out and tapped them, trying to get them to fall over. They didn't. Nothing moved.

She set the book down on the end table beside its match, freeing up her hands as she peered into the gap. The portion of wood backing protruded toward her, holding the books to either side apart. Was it broken? She reached in to poke at it, surprised when it moved back at her touch, sliding into place with the rest of the backing.

That surprise was nothing a moment later when the whole shelf moved.

Lyss jumped back, her muscles tense as the shelves came to a stop just a couple feet over. It was far enough to reveal a door recessed into the wall though. When nothing else happened, and the door stayed closed, she loosened up. She must've triggered it when she pushed on that wood panel, a button of some sort. She should go back upstairs, ask Slate about it later. Who knew where the door lead.

A glance at Smoke showed her that he was thinking similar to her though. It wasn't everyday you found a secret door. It'd be a waste not to check it out.

Not that it was as simple as that, of course. The door didn't have a handle. Undeterred, Lyss slid her hands over the smooth, cold metal of the door. It wasn't old, or it was well maintained if it was. The surface shone in the light almost like a mirror. To her dismay, she found nothing to open it and instead stepped back to stare at the door in thought.

Smoke blew out a puff of air, what she'd come to recognize as a sigh, and swatted at the base of the door frame with his paw. The door slid aside with a hiss before she could begin to question him. She took a cautious step into the doorway, peeking down the hall behind it before looking back to Smoke. "How did you do that?" She didn't expect an answer to the question as she bent to inspect the frame, and his responding yip didn't give her one anyway. He didn't bother trying to answer questions she could figure out on her own.

And sure enough, positioned in the base of the frame was a small button the same color as the surrounding metal. It was such a simple mechanism that it hardly seemed more secure than a lock. She didn't find it though, so what did she know?

Smoke already left and was halfway down the hall before she trotted to catch up. For a secret area, it wasn't anything like she'd expect. Lights hung along the wall at intervals, keeping the passage well lit, and everything was built just like the house they came from. It may as well have been just another part of the house. Her mood dimmed, just a touch. She'd kind of hoped a dark, creepy cave stretched out behind the hidden door.

A soft sound interrupted her musings, and she perked up as she recognized it - voices. "Careful, Smoke," she cautioned, keeping her voice low. "Someone's nearby."

He stared at her, his ears turned back in clear annoyance.

"Which is what you've been trying to tell me since back in the room," she muttered. "Right." Lyss swore he rolled his eyes at her before turning away. Sometimes she wished he could talk, and other times she was sure she wouldn't want to hear it. He got rather indignant over things.

They crept further down the hall, the voices getting louder as they closed on the door blocking the end. This door was a clear copy of the last, solid metal with no handle, but since she knew what to look for, the button at the bottom was clear as day. Whoever was responsible for the whole thing didn't care enough to vary their security apparently.

She braced herself and leaned her ear against the door. Though she could almost make out the words, they were muffled, which didn't help her any. Should she turn back? Wait for Slate to show up and ask him about it? It was his house, so chances were the tunnel was his too. Whoever was on the other side should be friendly. Probably.

Then the door was moving, sliding back into the wall. Lyss shoved away from it, her head snapping back and forth in a frantic search for somewhere to hide. There wasn't anywhere to go of course, not in a straight hallway, and she just stood frozen as the door opened. Two faces stared back at her, their expressions of surprise almost comical. That she recognized one of them as Slate made the standoff only a little less awkward. She flicked her fingers in a small wave. Slate let out a loud breath.

"And this is the girl I told you about, Lyssandra. Lyssandra, this is... a business partner, Nate." She attempted a smile at the man, who grunted in return. Slate ignored the exchange. "Anyway, how'd you get down here, Lyssandra?"

"It's Lyss," she corrected, her annoyance at the name cracking her stupor, "and I just came through the door."

His brow rose. "You just stumbled through the secret door behind the moving bookcase with the hidden switch?"

"You should probably use a pass code or something."

"I told you your security was weak!" Nate growled at him. "Even this child could figure it out."

"Hey!"

"She's more then just some child, Nate," Slate argued as they both ignored her outburst. "But fine, I'll look into improvements." The man didn't seem appeased. "Now, if you'll let me deal with our guest, we'll continue this later." With a grumble, Nate turned and left without a word, going out a different door then she came through, which struck her as odd. If he was leaving, why go further into the building? Or was there another exit?

The thoughts fell aside as Slate approached her, his ever present smile directed her way. "I'm sorry about that, he's a rather touchy fellow. Please," he gestured into the room, "sit." Keeping an eye on him, she slipped into a chair while Smoke curled up by her feet. She didn't know where, exactly, they were, but it must've been underground. A good place to get rid of nosy people. Slate seated himself across from her. "Now then, Lyssa-"

"Lyss."

He paused, then nodded to her. "Alright, Lyss. So what brought you down to my study?"

That was a good question. "Questions," she said, reminded of the reason by her own thoughts. "I wanted - I want - answers from you."

"I already told you what I know about who you are."

"There's more to it then that. You didn't tell me how you know me or my foster parents, or why Team Rocket would be after me, or what you know about my real parents, or-"

"Alright," he cut into her barrage of questions. "I guess you would have more questions, and I'll tell you what I can, but honestly I don't know much. Would you like to take this back upstairs? I can get us some tea."

She hesitated. "No. Why you have a secret underground tunnel got added to my list about five minutes ago."

"Somehow I'm not surprised," he said with a laugh. "Come with me then, we'll see about answering it all at once."