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

Chapter Eight

Venturing deeper into the maze of buildings brought a change in the air. She could hear things, the sort of background noise you expected around people, and she followed the sounds into a livelier area. An area with people and activity. Did the underground city run on a normal schedule without the sun to set their days? It was fairly early in the day but it could've been the middle of the night for all she knew.

Whether it was a lunch or late night crowd, there was a definite gathering around the buildings she came up on then. Businesses lined the street and and the scent that hung in the air was mouth watering.

Lunch time then.

She craved to slip into one of the more enticing shops, before remembering that she had no money on her. The nice shop keeper in upper Pewter (as she now thought of it) gave her a wonderful new bag free of charge, but it didn't fix the fact that she was still broke.

Smoke whined and Lyss could imagine what the smells were doing to him. Sighing, she plopped down on a nearby bench. "Sorry, Smoke, I don't have any money to buy anything. No wallet, remember?" She said that, even though she'd forgotten too. His ears fell back against his head and she quirked a smile. "It's no use glaring at me. We'll just have to go back to the house and see what we can find there."

He didn't seem to approve, as he turned and dashed off into the crowd. "Smoke!" she shouted, swallowing back the curse she wanted to add. He was long gone though, and wouldn't have paid attention anyway. Grumbling, she leaned back again. He'd come back when he wanted to, and not before - she knew him well enough for that. At least he should be safe there, though who knew what sort of attention he'd attract. Even for an Eevee evolution, he was rare.

"You shouldn't yell things like that." The speaker turned out to be an old woman with a dimpled smile. "It worries people, especially down here."

Lyss stopped to make sense of her words. "Oh! Sorry, Smoke's my friends name. I didn't mean anything by it."

"Are you new around here?"

"Yes, Ma'am. We just got here yesterday."

"It's always nice to see new Ashes for the Fire." Lyss blinked - what an odd thing to say. "Where are you from?"

Lyss forced a smile and answered the question, expecting it to not be the last. She wasn't mistaken, as the old lady rambled on, dragging out Lyss' life story in exchange for her own. The girl was disappointed in a way. She'd been looking forward to meeting one of the rebels, seeing how different they were from regular people. The old lady was just like most old people Lyss had met - excessively chatty. His relative silence was one of the things she favored in having a pokemon for a best friend, and it'd made her something of a recluse - or so she was told.

When her stomach rumbled, more like roared, in the middle of the conversation though the woman laughed, and things took a turn for the better when she offered Lyss a meal. The company didn't seem so bad then, and Lyss took to the food (also disappointingly normal) with relish. It was some time before Lyss heard anything the woman said again, but it didn't seem to bother her.

After the meal was done, Lyss sat back, content for the first time in awhile. When she noticed the old woman just smiling at her, Lyss squirmed. "Thanks for the food, I really appreciate it." The woman just smiled wider, like Lyss had made her day, and nodded. Lyss tilted her head. "Why though? Why feed me just so you can talk to me more?"

The lady just shook her head. "Do I need a reason to seek company?" Lyss didn't have a response for that, but the woman didn't wait for one anyway. "You have a spirit to you though, one that we don't see much, even down here. You remind me of an old friend."

Lyss hesitated. "Did they die? Your friend?"

"I suppose that's a fair guess these days, isn't it?" It wasn't really a question, so Lyss just waited as the woman went on. "A long time ago, yes. She never could stay out of trouble. Her daughter couldn't either, for that matter." The lady's face fell then. "That was the real shame. The girl was taken long before her time."

"I'm sorry," Lyss said.

She smiled, if not as bright as before. "As I said, it was long ago. But listen to me go on when I never even introduced myself! I'm Melinda Stone." Melinda held out her hand in greeting, and Lyss took it, giving it a light shake.

"I'm Lyss."

"Just Lyss?"

Lyss wasn't in the habit of giving out her last name. It was something she got into the habit of growing up, ever since she learned that the Lake's weren't her real parents. Now it seemed valid again. How much commotion would it cause for her to spread the name Waterflower around?

She bit her lip and said, "Lyss Lake," then made a face at the sound of the name. "Well, Lyssandra Lake, but everyone calls me Lyss." Before the lady could respond a body sprawled over Lyss' legs, making her shriek. A familiar fox face looked up at her. "Smoke!"

"Well now, who's this?" The question reminded Lyss that she wasn't alone, something she shouldn't have forgotten but also tended to when Smoke was out. He had to hide around most people.

"Oh, sorry. This spoiled boy is Smoke, my best friend." Lyss scratched at his fur and he leaned into it, making her smile.

"You're a trainer then? There aren't many around anymore."

Lyss blanched. "I'm not a trainer, I'd never treat him like that. He's my friend."

Surprise flashed across Melinda's face. "Not all trainers are like Team Rocket," she said, her voice soft.

"All trainers are Team Rocket," Lyss argued. "You're not allowed to be if you're not."

Melinda sighed. "That's true enough. How about you tell me about your friend there? That's an interesting gray streak he's got."

The change of topic was obvious, and Lyss pursed her lips and considered pushing the issue. Instead, she ran her hand over the fur Melinda pointed out. "It's been like that since I met him," she sighed. Smoke rumbled on, unperturbed. He must've found something to eat, he was only this complacent with a full stomach. "A group of Poliwag were attacking him. They scattered when I started throwing rocks at them, but he was so wet and weak by then I wasn't sure it mattered."

"Looks like he's still around though."

Lyss smiled despite herself. "Yeah, he recovered eventually. I knew I'd get in trouble if anyone found him, but I couldn't just leave him there." Warmth radiated from Smoke's small form and Lyss knew he was listening and remembered as well. "I found a cave where he could hide and built a fire pit to keep him warm. I was always disappearing from home after that to check on him and keep the fire burning. It drove my parents nuts."

"You didn't tell them about him?"

"No," Lyss said, shaking her head, "I didn't want them to turn him in to Team Rocket."

Melinda quirked her head at the girl. "Why would they do that?"

"To keep me out of trouble," Lyss responded, rolling her eyes. "All they ever cared about was making sure I never did anything even remotely interesting. Especially my mother-in-law, Karen. I swear, she was raising me to be a perfect little Rocket." Lyss gagged at the mere thought.

"So I take it you ran away then? Is that why you're here?"

Run away from home, that's what Lyss expected she'd have to do to ever go anywhere. "That's the weird part actually. Team Rocket came looking for me, and they helped me get away. I mean, I only talked to Carson, my father-in-law, but he said Karen was out there talking to the Rockets, delaying them." Lyss shook her head. "I don't know why she'd bother."

Melinda rocked in her chair, a slight back and forth as she hummed in thought. "Well, people don't always act how we expect them to, especially parents. I believe she just tried to take care of you, the best way she knew how. She may have seemed overprotective, but maybe it was important to her that you stay away from trouble with Team Rocket."

"Other people don't make that big a deal out of it," Lyss muttered.

"If you don't mind my saying, you don't seem like most people." She reached a hand over to rub at Smoke's warm fur. He rumbled again in response, and she raised her eyes to Lyss'. "Are you?"

Though Melinda's meaning was clear - Lyss had a Flareon for a best friend - the girl's face fell for a different reason. It had nothing to do with Smoke, it never had, not if her foster parents knew who real parents were. Lyss was a Waterflower, and if Team Rocket had paid enough attention to her, they might've found that out.

Of course. It was the most obvious thing in the world. Karen knew Lyss was a Waterflower. She'd raised the girl and done everything to keep that fact hidden, and Lyss had hated her for it.

Why hadn't anyone just told her?

"Are you alright, Dear?"

Lyss snapped back to attention. "Uh, yeah, I'm..." she shook her head. "Sorry, I need to talk to Slate. Do you know where I can find him?"

"I'm afraid not. You can check at the main office though, it's just down the lane," Melinda gestured to the street, "off that way."

"Thanks," Lyss hopped up, knocking Smoke from his perch on her lap. Without wasting time, she hurried down the street, waving back and yelling, "It was nice meeting you!"

Then she was off, and any response from the old lady was lost in the distance. Lyss had to go home. Everything was wrong, everything she thought she knew, and for all the times she dreamed of getting out of Cerulean, she didn't want to go like this. She'd need Slate's help for this though, and he may not want to give it. In the short time she'd known him, he'd made his opinion of her quite clear - she was important, to this city and their cause. For her to leave when she'd just gotten there, and sort of harassed him to let her help, could be difficult.

It didn't matter though, there'd be time for that later. For all she knew, her parents were in trouble with Team Rocket for not giving Lyss up to them. Lyss needed to fix things before anything else.

After managing to find the office (she had to stop for directions again), the clerk there sent her on to the room Slate was supposed to be in. From what the clerk told her, Slate spent most of his time there at the office, or at least, most of the time he spent in any one place. He was, however, busy, so Lyss would have to wait to see him. That's what the clerk told her.

Lyss pushed right in through the doors when she got there. Their own fault for not locking them.

Raised voices carried through the air as she entered, and most of the occupants seemed too occupied arguing with one another to even glance her way. She didn't know how they understood each other with all the noise, she sure as heck couldn't.

Then a loud voice cut through it all, and she understood it clearly. "Who are you," she spotted the speaker, almost taking a step back at the glare he had leveled on her, "and what are you doing barging in here?"

Just like that, the room went silent. Heads swiveled her direction, and she found herself pinned by a multitude of stares. All the bravado she used to shove her way in drained away. Maybe she'd wait for Slate elsewhere...

"Lyss?" Slate separated from the crowd and moved toward her, making her breathe a bit easier. She hated crowds. "I'm sorry for the disturbance, everyone," he said as he stopped between her and the rest of the room. "I'll deal with this and return presently."

They weren't having any of it. "Is that the Waterflower girl?" a voice spoke up, she had no idea from who. More voices joined in.

"Girl indeed! She should be in school, not riding along on important tasks!"

"Really, Slate, what could you be thinking? She's far too young for this!"

"I agree. Team Rocket's recent actions have already shown they're willing to kill children just as readily as adults."

"As if there were any doubt."

"This is foolish, we won't hear it. We should move to more important-"

Lyss stopped listening as the words rushing by snagged in her head. Reaching out a hand, she tugged Slate's arm to get his attention in the rowdy room. He turned to her, eyes apologetic. "I'm sorry, Lyss-"

"What did they mean?" Slate stopped at her words. "When they said Team Rocket would kill children? What did they mean?"

His face soured and he glanced away. The rest of the room had returned to its shouting match though, and didn't seem to notice his absence. "A child was killed just the other day," he said. The words didn't flow from him easily. "Executed, for disrupting Giovanni's gathering, and for disobedience to Team Rocket."

The world froze around her. Her throat went dry. "Where?" she croaked.

"In Cerulean. You must've just missed it," he said, a sad smile slipping across his face. "We have that much luck I gu- What's wrong?"

She wasn't listening. Her legs shook a moment before she collapsed to her knees. The room swam and her stomach roiled. She was going to be sick. She couldn't breathe.

It was her fault.

Hands grasped her shoulders, words in a raised voice carried to her ears. None of it registered. Her mind was flying back to that day, going through the scenes. She couldn't even remember what the girl looked like. She killed the girl, and couldn't even remember her hair color. Or did she have a hood on? Did Lyss know her? Were they friends? Lyss didn't have many, but it'd all happened so fast she wasn't sure.

A wet nose shoved into her cheek, and a blast of heat followed a moment later. She flinched away, but Smoke came into focus in front of her, his nose right in her face. It took a second for her to run a hand over his fur.

"Lyss?" Slate's voice. "You back with us now?"

Her eyes stayed on his shoes. "Yes."

A loud harrumph from the background. "And this is the girl you expect to help us? One paralyzed by the mere mention of Team Rocket's atrocities? No, I say."

A chorus of agreements went around the room as she stayed in her position on the floor. This was good, it was what she went there for. Surely she could go home now, fix things. Find out who died...

She was standing before she realized it. "No." The word cut through the room, echoing in the silence it created. "I can help. You have to let me."

The whole room stared at her. Slate cleared his throat. "Lyss, it may be best for you to stay behind. There's no telling what we'll see in their hideout."

"No," she snapped and glared at him. "I will help you take these bastards down or I'll leave and do it myself."

One of the others in the room spoke up. "Now Miss Waterflower-"

"Stop. My name is not some flag you can wave around. If you want my help, you take it all, or none of it."

The council members shared looks before a man, the same one that often spoke before, said, "Understand our problem, you've been many things since you came in here, practically different people. And now this demand you're making." He made a sour face. "If you insist on this, we need to know why. Why are you so insistent?"

The thought of telling them anything wasn't appealing, annoying old men that they were, but she didn't want to run off on her own either. Taking down Team Rocket would be much easier on their side, and that was the most important thing. "The girl in Cerulean was my fault." The expected comments didn't come, so she barreled on. "They were after me, and I pulled her into the middle of it. I was just trying to get away, I thought they'd know she wasn't me right away. I thought they'd let her go. I didn't expect anyone to get hurt. I just..." Smoke rubbed against her leg as her words tapered off. She welcomed his comfort as she forced herself to breathe. Breaking down again would not get her impression across.

She was sure an eternity passed before a loud sigh carried through the room. "We understand your feelings on the matter," spoke the same voice who'd questioned her, "and we can little deny the value you have to offer. So it is our decision to accept your help, under supervision."

The man's emphasis on his final words meant nothing - they were letting her stay. Just minutes before she wanted only to leave and get back home, but now that would have to wait. She'd always known Team Rocket was trouble, but now... They had to be stopped, and she'd go crazy thinking about it if she didn't help.

"Now if you'll excuse us," that same voice cut into her thoughts again, "we have other matters to discuss."

"Oh, sure," she bumbled back toward the door, "I'll just go - and thank you."

Slate spoke as she was leaving. "Someone will find you later to go over things," and with that, she was on her own again as the doors shut. Like it or not, she was in it now, they'd accepted her. She wandered off down the hall, not sure what to make of the new feeling.