This chapter actually turned out quite nicely. It ended so the next one will be easy to start, and I enjoyed writing it. I just had an issue with the chapter title; couldn't think of anything.

I'm currently on a kinda-vacation in which I'm given time to relax and write. Luckily for you all, I've also got the entire next chapter written out. I'll wait a few days to a week to upload it. Usually I'd mention this on my profile, and I will, but I figured I might as well announce it here this time. My updates are pretty sparse, after all.

Enjoy!

Chapter 62
Brief Contact

Marina and King headed down the hallway. The floor clanked at any careless step, causing an echo to bounce off the walls. The area was deserted, which both reassured yet put her at unease.

Where are all of them? I was ready to battle too, she wondered. That one guy did say it was a ninja hideout. There could be secret passages or booby-traps or mazes... Oh no, I really hope I don't get lost in here. That'd be beyond bad. She paused, facing a turn to the right and two iron doors to the left. A curious humming was muffled behind the doors, one which had a keypad of some sort. Marina leaned in to inspect the small plaque and analog box above the locking device.

"Generator Room... Please input voice password," she read. Putting her hands on her hips, she turned on her heel and followed the bend in the hall. "Well, looks like we can't get in there."

Now that I think of it, they should be broadcasting that radio signal in here somewhere. If the power went out, then that'll shut it right off.

She came across the next set of stairs without incident. Further down, however, she caught wind of a conversation comprised of low voices. Marina slowed to a stop, and King adjusted his ears and tensed his movements. Keeping her breathing to a quiet minimum, she crouched halfway down the staircase and searched the floor below. She was not well-concealed in this spot, but she did not intend on hiding anyway; what she saw convinced her not to be concerned about it.

"Lance...! He's already here?" she whispered, leaning further in vain effort to get a better look.

Lance stood beside his potent Dragonite, still draped in his heroic black cape. Both had their backs turned on the girl, and they were confronting a single Team Rocket member. The man appeared worn out, and it seemed as though he had been pinned against the wall just by the presence of the Elite Four Champion.

"And that's really all you know?" Lance interrogated the man, utilizing a dangerously deep yet calm tone. It sent shivers through Marina, even though she was not the target in question. He was neither fond of nor afraid of Team Rocket in the slightest, and she couldn't help but admire his bravery and strength from afar.

"That's all, I swear! I'm just a lone Grunt, ha ha..." The black-clothed man raised his hands, waving them around meekly.

"Hmm..." Lance shifted out of his rigid stance, taking a step closer. His Dragonite uttered a small hiss, expanding its wings as an edgy reminder that it would protect its Trainer in an instant, if necessary. He began talking again, but he was too quiet for Marina to eavesdrop on. Pursing her lips, she blindly eased one step down so that she would not miss a thing.

"...I still can't hear him—AH!" When she extended her leg to take another step, her foot slipped as she shifted her weight. She stumbled down the rest of the stairs, flailing her arms. "Oh no, oh no, oh no!"

By some miraculous act of luck, she managed to reach the bottom safely in one piece and on two feet. She stood where she was—arms stuck out and all—and made a quirky grin, feeling very tempted to laugh. But a loud roar disturbed her relief, and she turned to feel a blast of heat. Her flame-engulfed Quilava hurled himself into the belly of Lance's Dragonite, which had protectively turned on her. She meant to retreat, but her legs gave out and she fell on her bottom just as King stepped in front of her. He growled at his opponent that towered over them.

"K-King, wait!" Marina stuttered helplessly. There was not a sliver of hope that King could hold his own against such a strong enemy. Even King knew this; he struggled to suppress the trembling in his legs, but he stubbornly held his ground.

"Dragonite, hold on!"

Any trace of Dragonite's anger was wiped clean at the voice of its owner. Lance looked down at the Trainer and her Pokémon with mild surprise.

"You're the girl I met from the Lake of Rage," he recalled. "What are you doing here? This isn't a safe place to be."

"It's a long story, but I thought the shop upstairs was suspicious." Marina took a moment to stand and shake off any fear that gripped her nerves. She fixed her posture and looked him straight in the face—having to tilt her head upward to do so. "I could hear the radio signal you were looking for, and I found the staircase. One thing led to another, and...Well, here I am."

Lance's furrowed eyebrows loosened with interest. "How did you know I was looking into that?"

"I heard that you've been investigating and I just guessed," She grinned, "After all, you really stand out, Lance."

"Ah." He shrugged it off with a grin in return. "I see you've done some investigating on your own."

"Yeah. I wanted to help you stop Team Rocket, but I'm really glad you already found this place... In case you forgot, my name's Marina." King barked, not wanting to be forgotten as he moved to her side. She gave him a thankful glance. "And this is King, my Quilava."

"Maguma!" the Pokémon barked again in satisfaction, to which the girl smiled.

Lance observed them much like he had when he first met her hours before, silently scanning their resolve. However, he appeared approving of her efforts.

"Excellent! You're more than welcome to help. Now, let me help you catch up," he told her, and she nodded with an eager determination. "A strange radio signal is forcing the Magikarp in the Lake of Rage to evolve. As you suspected, it's coming from the shop. The generator on the floor above seems to be powering the signal, but you need a voice-activated password. The only person who knows the password is an executive named Lambda. He's locked himself inside the boss's room in the deepest part of this old ninja hideout, which, as you can see, Team Rocket is using as a headquarters. However, you need two additional passwords in order to get into that room. Those passwords are known only to a few Rockets."

He looked over his shoulder at the Team Rocket grunt, who stiffened in response. "That Rocket there very graciously told me so."

"All those passwords are kind of confusing, but I think I understand," Marina said. Lance began walking down the hall, and she, King, and Lance's Dragonite followed him without a second's doubt. She quickened her pace to keep eye contact. "Can I ask you something, though?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"I've heard of Team Rocket... But they broke up three years ago. What are they doing here in Johto?" Marina asked.

Now that I think of it, I should've been asking that months ago when I first saw them. But every time I've run into Team Rocket, I've been so distracted with fighting them that I've never stopped and wondered, she thought with a rather curious expression.

"Yes, they did. But," Lance's frown deepened, "recently, a group of people have gotten together to revive it again. In comparison to what Team Rocket has done in Kanto, this is much less severe, but it's foreboding nonetheless. We can't let them alone."

"Oh... I guess that's why I've been seeing them everywhere, then."

"Everywhere? Where else have you seen them?" he questioned, listening intently as she answered.

"I saw them in Azalea Town first back in…um, early October, then in Goldenrod City not long after, and then at the Ruins of Alph before Christmas. I've just had the worst luck with running into them."

"Hm... I've heard about the incidents in the Goldenrod City Gym and Azalea Town, but what would they want in the Ruins of Alph?"

Marina shrugged. "I don't know. I was there with a... friend and we saw them sneaking around."

"A friend?"

"Well, he's technically my rival," Marina tried to explain. "But anyways, he decided to eavesdrop on them..."

Oh shoot, she suddenly thought. Silver never told me what happened, did he?

"Did he find out anything?" Lance asked. It was a predictable question, but she had no answer. She had no choice but to guess and act as though she knew what had occurred.

"Not really. He battled and chased them out of there, though. He really hates Team Rocket...not that I blame him."

"Neither do I. They've done some horrible things to both people and Pokémon."

"I wonder if he's here," she wondered, mostly to herself.

"You think that your friend—your rival," he corrected with some visible amusement, "would be able to find this place?"

"I wouldn't be surprised; we run into each other a lot, and he's pretty smart," she supposed with a shrug.

"I see."

"He's kind of a jerk, though..."

Lance stopped, which prompted her and their Pokémon to do the same. There were three possible ways to go; one room to the right, one room straight ahead, and the ongoing hallway. He turned to her. "Marina, we should split up to get the passwords. I'll check this room."

"Wait, what?" But by the time Marina had murmured her insecure response, he had already headed inside the nearest room. She allowed herself a moment to suppress her disappointment, but she pouted anyhow. "That's not fair. Now I'm by myself again... Except for you, King," she added as her Pokémon nudged her impatiently.

"Magu!" he barked, sprinting ahead of her.

"King, wait up!" Marina rushed after him, hearing the combative roars of Lance's Dragonite in the distance behind her.

I want to see Lance battle again, she whined in her thoughts. But I can't slack off. There are passwords to find!

When she caught up to her Quilava, they had entered the other room, which seemed to be only a sitting area. The people inside—presumably a scientist and another Rocket Grunt—had taken notice of the noise they made and stared at them, particularly at Marina. Their expressions looked partially confused. Marina was too preoccupied to find any humor in this, considering she had gotten the reaction earlier, and was quickly thinking of what to say.

"Do either of you know the passwords to get to your boss's room?" she asked, evenly enough. It was worth a shot to just ask.

The Rocket sitting farthest away guffawed a distinctly strange laugh, but the man in the white lab coat stood. "Why do you want to know that?" he asked.

"Because I want to stop that strange signal that's being broadcasted." She could have played the innocent card to get the passwords, but the thought did not occur to her until after she had said this. She decided to just roll with the direct approach. "You're hurting the Pokémon; it isn't right!"

He raised an eyebrow, taking out a Poké Ball and throwing it at his feet. "I don't care that Pokémon are hurt by our experiment."

"What? That's cruel!"

Again, the man in the back cackled, but Marina focused on the Pokémon the scientist sent out. It appeared to look like a pile of shiny, smooth lavender gunk, but its simple face twitched and it moved as it readied a battle pose of sorts.

"That's a Ditto!" she gasped and pulled out King's Poké Ball. "Return!"

King gave her a puzzled glance as it was recalled, but Marina held his ball tight as she pulled out another and threw it to the ground with an elegant, though nervous, twist.

"Prince! Show your stuff!"

Her Espeon flicked his tail as he appeared, his sharp ears perking as he assessed the situation at hand. He remained sitting, exhibiting a keen gaze in the direction of the opponent. The Ditto's Trainer seemed intrigued by the unexpected motion.

"Now why would you do that?" He shook his head. "No matter. Ditto, Transform!"

Marina made a clever smile as the Ditto twisted, shifted, and mutated its body to create a form matching Prince exactly. I don't even need a Pokédex to know that Ditto can turn into a copy of its opponent, she thought, and Prince has a perfect trick to take care of another Espeon.

"Prince!" she called. She threw out her arm and pointed at the transformed Ditto dramatically. "Use Shadow Ball!"

Fast and agile, Prince dashed toward his enemy, forming a dark ball in front of him. Just as his imitation approached, he jumped, twirled and smacked his tail against the sphere, landing instantly on the Ditto. With a distorted screech, the fake Espeon collapsed to the ground.

"Eifi," Prince cooed with confidence as he made his way back to Marina, who briefly petted him.

"Good job, Prince! You got it in one hit!"

The scientist watched this, flabbergasted at first.

"What?" he exclaimed, causing his colleague in the back to laugh once more. Realizing he did not have much of a choice, he recalled his Ditto and retreated back into his seat as a presumable gesture to let them pass. "Thinking is my strong suit, not battling."

"So... you don't know the password?" Marina asked as she carefully entered the room.

The man shook his head and grabbed his mug, going back to reading the ambiguous book on the table. Marina and Prince walked past him, eyeing him curiously as he simply let them pass. They reached the other end of the table to the other Rocket member, whose grin did not cease at their approach.

"Hyuck-hyuck-hyuck! You're challenging me to a battle now? Hah!" He pounded a fist on the table to show his amusement and stood. "You're nuts, but you have guts! I like that! If you can beat me, I'll tell you a password to the boss's room!"

He sent out his single Pokémon, a Raticate—the evolution of Rattata. It chattered its large fangs and slammed its naked tail back and forth, waiting eagerly for a fight.

"Really? Okay then! Prince, return for now!" She backed away as she recalled her Espeon, clipping his Poké Ball to her belt and pulling out her Donphan's. "Phany, go!"

"Don!" With an enthusiastic half-bounce, Phany appeared and howled before readying himself.

"Hyuck-hyuck-hyuck!" the Rocket laughed again. "Okay then, use Hyper Fang!"

"Phany, Strength!"

The speedy Raticate managed to attack first, but in the face of Phany's tough hide, the elephant hardly felt it. He swatted it aside like a mosquito and tackled with his full weight. This in itself almost forced his enemy unconscious, but after a couple more repetitious turns, Phany was successful in overpowering the rat Pokémon.

"Donfan! Don!" Bounding about as though he still believed he were as small as a Phanpy, Phany happily stomped over to Marina, who petted him accordingly.

"You don't even know who we're fighting, do you?" she asked, patting his trunk as he attempted to hug her with it.

"Don, don!"

"You did great," she held up his Poké Ball, "Return!" Afterward, she put it away and again sent out King, who looked around cautiously to make sure he had not missed much. "Sorry, I'll just leave you out next time," Marina assured.

"Hyuck-hyuck-hyuck!" Instead of appearing upset about losing, the Rocket member was even more amused than before. "You're good! One of the passwords to the boss's room...uh, I think it's Raticate Tail."

"Really?" She faced him. "That's fitting for you."

"Hyuck-hyuck-hyuck! Very much!" he replied as he dropped back into his seat. "But you still need one more. Good luck, pigtailed kid!"

Since there was no need to stick around any longer, though she did scan the room to check for any other doorways, Marina and King left in mid-run. Marina darted for the room that she had previously seen Lance enter, feeling proud of herself for attaining one of the passwords. She peeked into the doorway just in case, seeing a room filled with a few computers and troubled-looking Team Rocket members, which was likely a result of Lance wiping the floor with them in battle. However, Lance and his Dragonite were nowhere to be seen.

Marina pulled away, frowning as she looked about the hallway. "Did he move further on, then? I've got to go find him," she glanced at King, "Let's go!"

"Rashi!" King presumably agreed, walking loyally by her heels.

Much like before, the rest of the floor was devoid of anyone, and they took care to monitor the echoing sounds of their footsteps. The next staircase led upward this time around and it yielded to a long hallway, the only break being a small office space right beside the stairs.

It's creepy how empty this place is. Was Lance already here? Marina thought, surveying what little space there was to survey.

A set of rapid footsteps spooked her, and she took another look down the hallway. An unfamiliar silhouette bolted in their direction—since there was only one general direction to go. Instead of standing her ground, Marina opted not to stick around.

"King, hide!" she ordered and ran behind the desk. The office was fortunately and unexpectedly vacant, and she and her Quilava sat in wait as the steps grew louder.

When the person passed, Marina barely had enough time to get a good look at him. He was a curious man with purple hair and a unique Team Rocket uniform. His expression had been distressed and furiously upset—he did not even bother to see if Marina was in the office, and she was sure that he had most definitely seen her—and she was thankful of her decision to avoid him entirely.

"That was...weird," Marina said as she eased out of hiding. "I wonder who that was…"

King made a soft growl that indicated his guess was as good as hers was. She shrugged, turned to the hallway and pressed forward. It must have been behind the generator room, for its humming could be heard throughout the entire length of the hall. By the time she reached the end, she faced a downward staircase. Marina sighed and crossed her arms.

"You know what this reminds me of, King? This reminds me of the time when we went through the Sprout Tower. Going up a staircase, and then back down, and then back up..."

"Ma...magu! Rashi magu," he responded affirmatively, recalling the memory.

"That was a long time ago... What did that one sage say? 'As the Pokémon grow stronger, so does the Trainer'? Huh?" She looked down at him, who shook his head. "No? Well, something like that..."

Marina returned to facing the stairs. The idle conversation was in an attempt to toss aside some anxiety that she was beginning to accumulate again, and it was working a tiny bit. She took a deep breath and exhaled just as heavily, clenching her fists as she prepared to sprint down.

"This might be the last floor. You ready, King?" she asked.

"Magumarashi!" King the Quilava roared, igniting his fire briefly as he copied her.

"Alright...let's go!"

With that exclamation, the two took off running, scaling down the stairs as though the two were competing. King had a lead on her, and Marina could not hide a bright smile as they continued, aware but uncaring of how childish their playing around may have been. As they turned and ran down the final set of stairs, Marina jumped and skipped the last two, landing perfectly on her feet. She sprinted about and looked back at King, relishing in the fact that she had reached the bottom before him.

"Ha! Beat ya!" As she exclaimed that, she turned back to what would have been the wide empty hallway she thought she had seen at first. But right after she had spoken, she noticed the unusually troubled face of a certain red-haired boy, who also noticed her at that moment.

Yet, of course, they were too close for the girl to even hope to stop. Marina ran right into Silver, landing face-first into his black jacket.

Oh, geez! Why does this always happen to me? I mean, with him? She thought and would have sighed if it were not difficult to do so. However, those thoughts were cut off as Silver shoved her away with such force that she nearly lost her footing. Marina felt intimidated by this for a moment, but she had no time to pester him about it as Silver spoke not a second afterward.

"What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you that I was going to destroy Team Rocket?" he snapped.

"Um..." It seemed to her that it would be easy to anger him further, so she avoided the small talk that was meant to only gently bother the boy. "No, when did you say that?"

He did not reply. He did not look at her. There was definitely something off about him.

"What's wrong—?"

"Tell me," he interrupted. "Who was the guy in the cape who used dragon Pokémon?"

"Oh, that's Lance." Marina instantly grinned. "You don't know him? He's the Champion of Johto and Kanto's Elite Four."

"...Humph." He stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets, causing the Poké Balls he carried inside to clang softly. The way he moved was both soft yet rough. Uncomfortable—that was how he looked.

"He's just great, isn't he? I mean, he's so strong! And his Pokémon are so strong, too! And not to mention he's so cool. Ooh, I wish I could see him battle again." But Marina stopped her admiration-filled giggling as she took another look at the boy.

Unsettled anger sizzled in his silver eyes, however silently.

"My Pokémon were no match at all," he said.

"Wha…You mean, you battled him?" Another haze of awkward silence slithered around them. Marina took a glance at her Quilava, who looked at the boy with puzzlement and suspicion. She looked back at the red-haired Trainer. "Well, yeah, I don't even think that I could stand a chance against him—."

"I don't care that I lost."

"You...You don't?"

Silver glanced at her dumbfounded expression, but he did not bring himself to even crack a smirk over it. He looked away again and rambled in a near mumble, as if it was directed more to himself than to her.

"It's what he said that bothers me... He told me that I don't love and trust my Pokémon enough. I'm just furious that I lost to a bleeding heart like him," he spat the words in a secretly conflicted way, "But I lost outright. Is what he says true? If I start trusting them, just trusting them, will they actually get stronger?"

He's... Is he saying what I think he is...? The girl had almost forgotten about the manner in which he treated his Pokémon, something that she hated but usually turned a blind eye upon until it came up in conversation. He at least treated them with general respect, or at least she hoped that he did.

"Silver, think about what you're saying," she said. "It's obvious, isn't it? If you start treating your Pokémon like your teammates, like friends, then they'll like you and battle their hardest for you. That bond is what's important. If you do that, I'm sure you'll even beat me, no matter how many times I try. It'll be like if the situation reversed!"

From the first sentence, he had been staring her down with those penetrating steel-gray eyes. His expression was entirely unreadable.

"Do you see what I mean?" Marina offered him an optimistic smile.

"...Humph!" Without warning, Silver's emotionless face warped into a fierce scowl. His eyes now blazing in rage and frustration, he took a simple two steps to enclose the distance between them. "I should've seen this coming. You've always been like this."

"What?" Ill at ease, she took a step back, which he undid by taking another toward her. "What do you mean?"

"You're just a bleeding heart like he is! What are you, stupid?!"

"I…I'm not stupid!" she dared to argue in his face. "I'm right!"

"What says you are? When did you suddenly turn into the expert?"

"How about you actually beat me in a battle before you talk!"

Pure anger struck deeply in him, unable to muster a verbal response. Marina paused, her breathing stemmed to a minimum under the closeness of his intense glare. She meekly wondered if he was restraining himself from lashing out at her, but she continued without fear.

"I'm no expert; you know as well as I do that I'm not strong. But my team is, and I think they win more than they lose because I dedicate a lot of my time to them, and not just with battling. Pokémon are supposed to be your partners, Silver. They aren't tools—!"

"Shut up! I don't have time for the likes of you. Get out of my way!" He raised a threatening arm that shoved her aside. Marina staggered and fell onto the cold metal floor, unable to break her fall in time.

"Ow! S-Silver!" she exclaimed, sitting up. "What did you do that for?"

The boy, his fists shaking, broke into a run up the stairs by the time she had finished shouting his name. This left Marina staring blankly at the staircase he had taken, and King dashing to her side.

"Wh-what," she stuttered, stunned. "What was that about?"