"So you are the chosen one?" came a small, quiet voice from the midst of the pitch dark room that Lyra stood in.

It had taken a while but the crowd carrying Lyra had finally dropped her off, quite literally, at the Name Rater's house and bade her to enter alone.

"I'm sorry?"

"NO, YOU'RE NOT!" the voice suddenly roared. And when it did, two plumes of fire erupted on either side of the room, dispelling the blackness and illuminating the room in an eerie glow. From the light of the fire, she saw that in front of her was a table and behind that sat an old man, his face partially obscured in the shadows. A very sinister setup indeed.

"Come here and have a seat," the old man said, calm again while motioning to the chair across the table from him. Lyra quietly complied, assuming that this was the famed Johto Name Rater.

"Let me have a look, lassie," he said while pointing at the sole Poké Ball on Lyra's belt. Hesitantly, she unclipped it and set in on the table. He gingerly picked it up, cupped it in both hands and brought it to his face.

"So YOU are the chosen one…," the Name Rater said gently to the ball, with satisfaction in his voice, while studying it very closely. Silently, he returned it to Lyra, and then looked at her face expectantly, as if waiting for her to say something.

"Erm… So could you tell me why I'm here?" she asked tentatively.

"That is not the right question. You must ask only the right questions." the Name Rater replied sententiously.

"Okay… so what is the right question?"

"What did you eat?"

"I-I don't really remember," she replied, confused at the sudden randomness. Then she straightened when she saw the death glare the Name Rater was shooting her. "What did I eat?" she asked cautiously.

"Rock Slide," he said, simply.

"Right… And why did I eat it?"

"Because you're a stupid girl," he said nonchalantly.

"Excuse me?"

"That is not the right question. You must ask only the right questions."

"You are being rude! And totally weird!" Lyra was offended.

"That is an irrelevant statement. You must ask only the right questions."

"Fine! When did I ever eat that bloody Rock Slide?"

"2 years ago."

"And I ate it because I'm a stupid girl?"

"You ate it because you were dull and slow."

"… … Okay…" Lyra was not quite sure what else to say. "So what other questions should I ask? What happened before I woke up in the Department Store?"

"You did not."

"Yes, I did! And that's when all this weird stuff started happening!"

"You need to stop running and leave."

"What the hell does that even mean?"

"Go."

"You're asking me to leave now?"

"You have to move on."

"Who is chasing me?"

"You have no more questions to ask."

The Name Rater leaned back and folded his arms. Lyra had the sensation that one gets from reading a self-help book that gave many general tips, all of which actually meaning nothing specific at all. But yet somehow, she had the feeling that what this Name Rater was saying was actually something greatly useful to her. She just couldn't see past all his seemingly-random and nonsensical statements though.

"Well, thank you for your time… I guess."

"Follow the chosen one."

"Right. Goodbye."

And with that, Lyra opened the front door and marched out into the warm noonday sunlight, the sudden brightness blinding her. As she slowly blinked away the dazzling spots in her vision, she saw that the street was completely deserted. When the crowd had thrown her in front of the house, they had stood their ground, surrounding her against the front door and showing no intention to leave until she entered. It seemed that they had been sufficiently satisfied at having accomplished some purpose and had dispersed, going on with their lives.

Their lives? Lyra wondered if those were even real people, and if they had real lives. After all, with everything that had happened, nothing and no one seemed real anymore. What if she was actually the only real person in the world and every other human being was merely an illusion? It was as though she were the main character in a video game and every other character were merely NPCs, who simply vanished when they went out of sight, not needed anymore. She shuddered at the disturbing thought. Surely it couldn't be? But ever since waking up in the middle of the Department Store and getting jumped by Banette, she wasn't sure if she were in a dream or if something deeply sinister were happening around her. After all, why did Ethan and her mother say goodbye to her and make her leave quickly? And why had she almost been killed so many times? Who or what was trying to kill her and why? She definitely had to get to the bottom of this.

Following the Name Rater's advice, she pulled out Banette's Poké Ball and called it out. Banette giggled upon seeing her and gleefully handed her a piece of Heart Mail. The marionette Pokémon must have picked it up when it was circulating on the Global Terminal's trade network.

Well, this was probably what the Name Rater was talking about! The answer to the strange happenings around her; or at the very least, instructions on where to proceed from here. She tore open the envelope excitedly, and was promptly confused and disappointed upon reading the message inside. In small and neat handwriting was a very short message:

Please help me find my doll. Thanks!

– Lyra

Perplexed at first, because she did not own any dolls anymore and most certainly did not write this letter, she quickly surmised who it could be.

The Copycat! Nobody else had ever passed themselves off as Lyra except for the bothersome girl living in Saffron City, who had used emotional blackmail to force Lyra to hunt down her tattered and missing Clefairy doll. After scouring the alleys of Saffron, the trek had eventually taken her to neighbouring cities before she fortuitously chanced upon it in Vermilion City. Well, at least the girl had given Lyra a Pass for the Magnet Train for her arduous efforts. If she had had a Train Pass before meeting the Copycat, she would never have agreed to help her. Or at the very least, she would hop onto the train to Goldenrod City and buy her a brand new doll from the Goldenrod Department Store, since she didn't know at the time that the Celadon Department Store also sold Clefairy dolls.

And that was where, Lyra saw, the trail was taking her to. Back to where all this madness and chaos and close brushes with death had started – the Goldenrod Department Store. Well, if whoever or whatever was behind it all had tried to kill her multiple times and forced her away from her friends and family, then Lyra was definitely prepared and eager for the final showdown that awaited her at the store. For she was completely certain that that was what would take place when she got there.