VIII

Ashton stood outside the Pewter City gym, considering his options.

He had brought Courtney back here so she could talk to Liam. When they returned, the doors to the gym were locked, the lights in the stadium turned off. They had called the gym but received no answer.

"Might have to wait till they contact you," Ashton had told her. She had agreed.

Since then, Ashton had dropped Courtney off at the Pokémon Center and Shiri at their little hotel room so she could get ready for work. Ashton had planned to stay in Pewter with Shiri for the night again, and he would have several hours to himself to dredge up the hidden story of this situation.

This was exactly what his blog needed. Interviews and fluff pieces about the significant trainers of Kanto and Johto were fine and well, but they would never make Ashton into anything but a biographer. He had much bigger plans for his life than that.

After Shiri went to work, Ashton had returned to the gym. He was dressed down, at least in relation to his normal dress, and tried to appear nonchalant as he loitered around the gym. He wasn't alone; there were plenty of people around, so he didn't stand out. Pewter natives walking by, trainers standing around and discussing the wild events they had witnessed just a few hours ago.

Ashton considered asking if they would let him interview them. Eyewitness accounts would be needed for when he wrote his story. But it would be rather cavalier for a grown man to approach two young boys and think he wouldn't come off as suspicious.

But they were pokémon trainers. Pulling Patches' poke ball out of his coat pocket, Ashton released his pet pachirisu. She looked around for a few seconds before scrambling up Ashton's leg and onto his shoulder where she preferred to perch. He approached two boys as they chatted excitedly, the taller of the two catching Ashton's eye as he walked up.

"Afternoon," Ashton greeted with a friendly smile. "You guys see the craziness that went down?"

"Yeah," the taller boy said, "we were there. I still can't believe it."

"Did you see it?" the shorter boy said. His gaze was on Patches, a smile coming to his lips.

"Oh yeah," Ashton answered. "I was here with my friend."

The taller boy took a half step closer to his companion, his eyes narrowing at Ashton. Ashton noticed they had similar eyes, noses, hairlines. Brothers, certainly. The elder was being responsible, protective of the younger in the presence of a man they did not know.

He was a good kid. Ashton could appeal to that.

"I wonder if the police will get involved," Ashton wondered aloud.

"Police?" the younger boy said, eyes wide.

"Well, one girl got hurt," Ashton said. "The gym gave her the pokémon that hurt her. It'll probably be a whole thing."

The boys exchanged glances, the younger's expression worried while the elder's turned fearful.

"You think the other pokémon they gave out are also—like that?" the elder brother asked.

"I couldn't say," Ashton said, raising an eyebrow. "Why? Did you get one?"

They both hesitated, the younger looking to the elder again.

"Yeah," the older boy said after a moment. He produced a cherish ball from his pocket.

Ashton smiled. "Hey, that's good work! Liam's not an easy guy to beat," he said encouragingly, and the boy's lips turned up. Still, there was a look of concern in his eyes. "What'd you get?"

"A persian," the boy answered.

The child was no older than twelve; could he even handle something like a persian? Even normal persian were a bit of a challenge, let alone whatever was going on with these giveaway pokémon.

"Have you let it out yet?" Ashton asked.

The boy hesitated, and his younger brother spoke for him. "We looked at it yesterday when he won it," he said. "It's really big."

"Persian can get pretty big," Ashton agreed. The older boy's face fell, and he stared at his shoes. "Did something happen?"

"He tried to bite him," the young boy said when his brother still did not answer.

Ashton's eyes widened. "Did he get you?"

The older boy shook his head. He looked up at Ashton again, his brow furrowed against tears that threatened to spill over. "No, I got him back in the ball."

The younger boy kicked at a rock on the ground. "We wondered if we could give it to that big man," he said.

"The big man? The one that captured the magmar?" Ashton asked.

The pair both nodded. "I don't want it anymore," the older boy said, as if he needed any further justification.

"Well, I happen to be that man's friend," Ashton said.

"Really?" the young boy said. The older one didn't even hesitate or even consider the possibility that Ashton might be lying; he held the ball out to Ashton, almost pushing it into his hands.

"You'll give it to him?" the older boy asked urgently.

"I will immediately," Ashton said, "I promise."

Shiri flittered nervously around the Poké Mart. She busied her hands and body with restocking, but her mind was racing with the events she had witnessed that day. She hadn't had any other message from Simon, and as the hours of her shift wore on, she seriously wondered if she would.

After all, she did not know Simon at all. And when they had shared ramen together last night, she had only merely suspected Simon was involved in something shady. Had the ditto he had captured, the one which had mimicked him and had attempted to mimic her, been like those two horrible pokémon he had captured in the gym that day? That ditto seemed like it was going to hurt her like that raichu had Courtney. Shiri could still feel its grip on her arm, and at night she saw in her mind that creepy grin in a face which looked just like Simon's.

Since the closing of the Gym, the Poké Mart's business had died down. Shiri was alone in the Poké Mart, save for the occasional trainer stopping by for some convenience food. Every time she heard the sliding door, her heart jumped into her throat, and she whipped her attention to the door, hoping, wishing, that Simon would be there.

When at last the sun was low in the horizon, he finally came. She had finished with her work, and with little else to do, Shiri took to wiping down the shelves with some all-purpose cleaner she had found in the office.

The automatic door slid open, and immediately Shiri knew he was there. He had such a solid presence.

She had been stooping to wipe a low shelf, and she stood up and peaked out from behind the shelf, trying to suppress the smile which came to her lips. She had to be serious, but the waves of anticipation, relief, and even joy made that difficult. Simon met her gaze, his own eyes bloodshot and bleary. If Shiri thought he looked exhausted before, then she could only consider his appearance deathly.

"Rough day?" she asked gently. The corners of Simon's eyes crinkled as he scoffed.

"You have no earthly idea," he responded. "Is this a bad time?"

Shiri shook her head. "It's a ghost town here," she said, waving her dusty rag. "It seems everyone's left after what happened today."

"Right," Simon said. "Well, I owe you an explanation, don't I?"

Biting her lip, Shiri put down her cleaning supplies. Simon ran a hand through his hair—Shiri just now noticed it was loose, not bound up in a ponytail like it had been earlier that day—and sighed. "Have you ever heard of Pokémon Labs Incorporated?"

"That sounds familiar," Shiri said.

"It should," Simon answered. "They're Silph Co.'s parent company."

Shiri nodded. She recalled the name somewhere—perhaps on her paycheck stubs. She had never given the name much of a thought. Silph Co. owned the Poké Marts and franchised them, selling their products through the stores all over Kanto and Johto and even abroad.

"They own merchandisers in many regions," Simon said, "but their main focus is pokémon research and development."

Her brow furrowing, Shiri considered these words. Pokémon research was normal enough. Decades had been dedicated to researching the mysteries of pokémon. Pallet Town, the neighbor to Viridian, was proud to claim the esteemed Professors Oak among their population, and the junior Oak, who was the leader of the Viridian City gym, often helped his grandfather's research projects or conducted his own.

But that second word concerned her. Development.

Simon stopped, hesitating. He shifted his weight, glanced out the windows of the store. "I do capture work," he said at last.

"So you said," Shiri answered. "But you made it sound like you capture wild pokémon for giveaways."

He closed his eyes and nodded. "I used to," he said. "But now…"

The automatic door slid open, and Shiri and Simon both turned to see Ashton walking into the store. He gazed between the two, grinning. "Well, didn't expect to see you here," Ashton said to Simon.

Simon's shoulders squared, and he nodded to Ashton. "I was just about to head out," he said. Shiri wanted to protest. He still had quite a lot of explaining to do. He locked eyes with her, and her protest died on her lips. There was pain there, as well as fear.

"So soon?" Ashton asked. "The party's not even started yet."

"I've got other appointments to keep," Simon said. "We'll have to party some other time." With that, he brushed past Ashton and left the Poké Mart. Shiri bit back her frustration.

"Bad timing," she said to Ashton who looked at her quizzically. "He was about to tell me what was going down at the gym."

"He didn't need to clam up on my account," Ashton said, shrugging his shoulders. "Not like you wouldn't tell me everything, eh?"

Shiri nodded, although she wasn't entirely sure of that. Ashton had witnessed the same thing she had at the gym—but he didn't know about the ditto attack. He didn't know that Shiri had met Simon already. Simon hadn't exactly sworn her to secrecy—but would it be wise to share everything with Ashton?

He was her best friend, but he was not only Ashton. He was also his blog. Her eye fell on the black messenger bag he had slung over his shoulder. Within was his laptop. He carried that thing with him everywhere. The night before, after she and Ashton had enjoyed a few hours out on the town, he had stayed up while Shiri fell asleep, typing away on that thing.

Simon was connected to a family of gym leaders back in Galar. Any information about him could potentially become content, a way for Ashton to pay his bills. Simon didn't know that, and he had also only approached Shiri with his willingness to share information. She wasn't sure it would be wise or right to tell Ashton any of it.

She didn't like this feeling of being divided between her best friend and this intriguing stranger. She had called Simon a friend–she wanted to be his friend–but after that day, she realized how naive that notion was. She didn't know anything about Simon, and he was clearly involved in some shady mess.

She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out and read the message in an instant: "I shall call later."

"That him?" Ashton asked.

"No," Shiri said, locking her phone and slipping it back into her pocket. "Just my mom checking in."