Emmm, soooo… Just a quick correction note for last chapter: I typed Viridian instead of Vermillion like five times but luckily none of you guys noticed… Great investigative skills guys… I'll fix that soon but for now, here's the next chapter.

Chapter 15: Chasing the Light

Leaf was in shock. She remembered talking to Gary, then he moved in and after a few heavenly seconds, he moved back and the words 'I think she's gone now' were whispered, right in front of her lips. And it was when Leaf heard those words that she realised what had happened. They were being watched. Were but presumably not anymore.

"I-I was thinking that's… Not part of the plan." Leaf said with a light stutter. She took a peek at Gary, who didn't seem to notice her stutter, or if he did, he didn't showing it.

"I know but Ivy was watching." Gary explained, moving away from Leaf slightly and sitting like how he was before he kissed her. "She looked like she was suspicious of our investigation and why you were here."

"See, I told you there wasn't a need for me to come!" Leaf said, waving her hands about to emphasise her point. "I could've been eating your food and snooping about in your gramps lab and…"

"So I told her we're dating." Gary casually slipped in as Leaf's rant went on full force, though, his statement didn't escape her warm, pink ears.

"And I- wait, what did you just say?" Leaf asked, her eyes snapping wide open as she looked at Gary incredulously. He had already risen to his feet and was prepared to make a speedy escape away from Leaf. "Gary Oak! You get back here!"

Gary managed to lead Leaf back to her room with little problems. But he came to an abrupt halt as he turned the corner to the hall where his room was. Leaf ran the corner and slammed right into his solid, muscular back and stumbled back. Rubbing her nose, Leaf stepped forward and stood alongside Gary, observing the peculiar site in front of them.

Gary and Leaf looked at each other, a confused yet curious expression dominating their faces. They continued to watch as a shadow casted itself into the hall from the room and within moments, Ivy emerged into the hall. He looked at Leaf again and knew in an instant that she was thinking the same thing as him; what if Ivy went into his bag and read some of his investigation details?

Leaf gave Gary a nudge.

"What's going on?" Gary asked, taking Leaf's subtle hint.

"I was just checking the heaters in the room." Ivy replied, though Leaf and Gary didn't buy her answer.

Gary watched Ivy retreat round the corner and after she had disappeared for a few seconds round the corner, presumably out of ear shot. "She's onto us."

"Doesn't take a genius to figure that one out." Leaf replied as she went into her room.

Gary followed behind her. "What's the plan now?" he asked.

"What makes you think I have a plan?" Leaf asked as she shut the door once Gary was in the room too.

"You're the one who said, and I quote, 'great people always have a plan.'" Gary said, imitating Leaf as he quoted her.

The corner of Leaf's lips turned upwards. "Are you admitting that I'm a great person?" Leaf asked mischievously.

"Maybe, though that's nothing compared to the amazing person I am." Gary said cockily.

Leaf stuck her tongue out at Gary in a childish manner and he laughed. Her childishness was cute.

"Loser." Leaf said, making sure Gary heard her.

The door opened to the surprisingly immaculate lab. The scientific books were stacked up chronologically on the over desk shelves; all glassware was cleaned and put in their appropriately labelled areas on the bench and there was a stack of paper that sat on the most eye-catching area of the desk.

"This was your plan?" Gary asked. He never thought Leaf would be the type to do something as simple as just walking in.

"You asked for a plan and I gave you one." Leaf replied with a shrug.

She approached the papers with caution, not sure what to expect. Did Ivy purposely leave the papers out for them to find? Or were they something else that didn't concern them? Always being a person that was curious of everything around her, Leaf scanned the top of the sheet. She read the first three words then signalled Gary over hastily.

Without saying anything, his eyes darted over to what Leaf was holding. It was a letter aimed at them.

Gary and Leaf

I know why you are here and so does your grandfather. He has made me swear not to tell you anything and I am a woman of my word. As I result, I can't tell you anything. So I've prepared some information that may be of use to you.

Ivy.

Gary and Leaf looked at each other. The search was shorter than they thought. But they wondered if the information she provided consisted of anything new.

The doctor flicked through the pages of the document that he held. Breaking the news was always hard work, but it could be worse. He could be saying that the patient may never recover from her state.

"So, Mr and Mrs Maple, I'm going to be straight forward here." The doctor started. Beating around the bush was probably going to do him no favours so he may as well be more direct. "May's recovery was great when she first got here but over the past few days her recovery has, well, ceased."

Caroline gasped on impulse, an action often done when she heard what she didn't want. Norman put an arm around her and tried to console his sobbing wife.

"Is there any way to kick start her recovery again?" Norman asked.

"It's hard to say, I mean, each patient is different. She might be restarting her recovery progress as we speak." He said hopefully, though he didn't sound convinced himself.

Drew sat with his laptop on his lap, reading classified information about Kanto citizens, curtsey of his parents. There was something that didn't make sense to him, something that both Gary and Leaf seemed to take lightly but he thought was bizarre. Eye colours just don't change like that. Why his two friends dismissed a point as important as that dazzled him.

He looked over to May for a second. She was now asleep. It was weird watching her peaceful face; it was such a contrast to her usual annoyed expression whenever he was around her. When she wasn't frowning, Drew had the opportunity to really see her clearly; her smooth skin, shiny sapphire eyes (though they were shut) and cute dimples that she tried to hide whenever she smiled.

The soft click of the door being opened drew his attention from May's peaceful form. It was Caroline, May's mother. She must've finished her meeting with the psychiatrist and judging from her expression, things didn't look like they were going well.

"What did the doctor say?" Drew asked her quietly as she slipped into the room. He stood up and allowed Mrs Maple to sit on the seat.

She accepted his kind gesture and shook her head. "She's not making any progress."

Drew remained silent. He wanted to say something to comfort her but that wasn't his type of thing to do and he wouldn't know what to say if he did decide to speak.

"It could be worse." Norman said as he came into the silent room. He held up the papers for Drew and Caroline to see.

Drew's eyes widened quickly then averted back to normal when his brain registered the information. He pulled out his phone and got texting.

Her eyes were dry, heavy and bloodshot from the lack of sleep and from the amount for reading she had done in the dim lighting of the room. From what Leaf had read so far, she hadn't really learnt anything new. She looked over to Gary, who had his head too close to the paper to still be reading. Leaf rolled her eyes and shoved her friend's head, causing the boy's face to smack the thick pile of sheets.

"Is it possible for someone to read something with their face that close to the words?" Leaf asked rhetorically. She stretched out her back and sat upright.

"Well, I was testing it but I guess we won't know now." Gary said with a yawn. "And let's not shove my head again. It ruins my hair."

Leaf snorted. "You ruined it from your intense close reading." Gary threw her a look and got up and went into the bathroom to check his hair. "Did you find anything before you fell asleep?" she asked.

"I didn't sleep and yes, I did. Kind of." Gary said as he re-emerged from the bathroom and sat down, rubbing his eyes. "But I want to see if we can maybe coax something out of that woman, even if we have to do it through an actual civilised conversation. And what times is it?"

Leaf stretched across the bed and reached for Gary's phone on the bedside table. She read out the illuminated digits on the screen. "Eight. And you have a text from one of your girlfriends." She said and then retreated back onto her spot on the corner of the bed.

"Which one?"

Leaf groaned and stretched over again. "It's from your girlfriend… Drew."

Gary looked confused and ignored Leaf's comment. He thought that his green haired friend must've found something new. "What did he say?"

Leaf unlocked Gary's phone and opened the text. "Something must have happened. He's asking us if we've read the news lately."

"If he's asking something must've happened." Gary guessed as he typed a quick reply then tucked his phone into his jean pocket. "Let's head down to breakfast and have a chat with Ivy."

They entered the dining area, the same place that was filled with an uncomfortable silence during dinner the night before. The table had been set for three individuals but there was no food, only the aroma of food that drifted in from the room next door. It smelt like fresh eggs mixed with bacon.

The newspapers sat neatly on the end of the table that was absent of the place mats and cutlery. Gary picked it up and unfolded it then proceeded to sit down.

Leaf took a seat next to him. The last thing she wanted was to sit next to Ivy. She made her feel uneasy. She leant towards Gary, trying to read the headlines too.

Another victim in Pallet Murder Rampage

Leaf took her gaze off the paper and looked at Gary, who was one step ahead.

"This must be what Drew was referring to." Gary said as he looked back at the papers and skimmed the article. His mouth moved, mouthing each word as he read it.

Leaf read it too, and was shocked to see that the latest victim was yet another person that she knew, albeit not very well, but an acquaintance nonetheless. Violet Waterflower. The beautiful, athletic older sister of Misty, one of Leaf's closest friend. But that wasn't the only weird thing. The time of death was said to be less than a day after that of Johanna Berlitz's death, maybe even less. The attacks were becoming more frequent.

"Good morning." Ivy said as she carried out plates of food to the table.

Gary closed the papers over and folded it then placed it back onto the table exactly where he found it. He greeted a simple "Good morning" back poured himself a glass of milk, offering to do the same for Ivy and Leaf too.

"I hope your trip has been eventful." Ivy said as she took her seat across from Gary. Ivy had a preference to keep the head of the table clear and her statements rather ambiguous.

"It will be after breakfast, we're hoping anyway." Gary said in a tone that expressed his need for his aunt's co-operation in the least desperate way possible.

"I've been sworn into secrecy." Ivy said bluntly.

Gary looked at Leaf. When the straight forward approach from the good cop fails, it's time to call in the bad cop, or in this case, the ever scheming Leaf. She nodded.

"Let's play a game. We fire a series of questions or answers and Ivy can only answer yes or no." Leaf suggested. The yes/ no approach had never not worked.

"Okay." Ivy agreed. She had to admit that it was pretty smart. She would reveal things without actually saying anything, a loophole in the promise she made with Professor Oak.

"First question: the project is less than two feet tall." Gary said.

Leaf gave him a look. To Leaf, the question seemed slightly out of the blue, a bit like the kiss last night… But maybe the question meant something?

"Hmmm… Yes." Ivy answered uncertainly.

"The project involved the transplant of the car crash victim named Alexander Courtez." Gary said.

Ivy thought about that one. "This is where things start to get complicated. I have to say, I'm surprised you know about him."

Leaf and Gary looked at each other, their expressions were the same. If they managed to find out about his guy, then most of their investigation must've been right so far.

"So is that a yes?" Leaf asked.

Ivy's cool expression contorted slightly, trying to think how she should answer that. "It is, I guess. But there's more to it than that. Why are you two so interested in this anyway?"

Leaf looked at Gary and sent him a look that indicated she wasn't going to be the one to explain things.

"I don't know if you've heard about this." Gary said and passed the newspapers over to Ivy, who read the headlines.

"I'm familiar with it."

"And I don't suppose you happen to know about the robbery at gramp's lab?" Gary asked.

"Again, I'm familiar with it."

"Don't you find it peculiar that the day after the secret project was stolen that the first attempted murder occurred?" Gary asked, provoking Ivy's brain and Leaf's in the process.

Leaf looked at Gary. She hadn't pieced as much of this together as him, and judging by the confidence he spoke with, she knew right away that he knew a lot more than she did, or at least have more theories stored in that head of his.

"I've heard about them but I've not really paid much attention to the dates of each event." Ivy admitted.

"And the thing that I find the strangest of all is that Leaf was sent a present that happened to be less than two feet tall the morning after the lab was robbed." Gary said, ignoring his aunt's comment.

Leaf thought about what Gary had thrown out. She felt stupid. How did she not see that accusation coming? Gary had even written that down on a bit of paper somewhere. But hearing him saying it so confidently made Leaf a hundred per cent convinced that his theory was right. Or at least where he was going with this was sure to be right.

"Every victim died from blood loss. Their carotid artery was sliced open in every case. I thought I had most of this worked out until this morning." Gary said. He reached out for the set of newspapers that Ivy had placed onto the table. "It says the latest victim, Violet Waterflower, died on the same night as Johanna Berlitz which is impossible since the doll was in our possession by that evening."

The three people round the table let the words sink in before any of them spoke.

Ivy sighed a frustrated sigh and slammed her hands on the table, causing it shake. "I'm going to break my promise this one time."

Leaf and Gary looked at each other. Was that all it took to make Ivy crack? If she meant what she said then they knew that once Ivy had announced that, a lot of things were going to be cleared up.

I had so much trouble writing this since it had to fit into what I already wrote in previous chapters and I had to constantly remind myself about what's going to come in the next. This chapter took a lot longer to write than I thought it would but nonetheless, I hope you guys enjoyed it!

Just drop a wee review and I'll post the next chapter up soon! I've made a start on it already!

Have nive day or night,

silver-hedgehog