.

Starting Place

"Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced."

–Soren Kierkegaard

Stepping foot on undusted concrete and seeing the dry dirt of the forest fall off her shoe filled Misty with endless relief. A great burden fell off her shoulders as images of a bed, a hot shower, and real food filled her mind's eye, making her salivate with anticipation.

"There's the Pokémon Center."

Ash pointed it out right away—even though Misty hadn't asked; she would have picked it out anyway. Her tired feet felt light as she made a beeline for the huge, domed building of which she could only see the red tip over the other rooftops. She would bet that it could be spotted from most corners of the city, much like the Pokémon Center in Cerulean.

Only Ash and Pikachu were by her side as she walked through. Noir was fine in Cerulean—fine enough, at least—but an unfamiliar city was cause for her to decide to take off. Ash and Pikachu didn't seem to have quite the same reservations. She could only assume it was because all of the people that signaled annoyance for Noir meant essentially nothing to the two of them. It wasn't like they could interact with people of any kind.

Arriving in the Center sent an onslaught of heat through Misty's chilled skin, having been constantly prickled by the bitter atmosphere of winter turning to spring. She took in the smell of the air that was blasted at her, noting that it smelled exactly the same as her Pokémon Center. And the interior proved to be much the same; the building was the standard shape of Centers in Kanto, only with different trappings to the one in Cerulean.

The sense of routine would have comforted her, but having Ash and Pikachu floating behind her was throwing Misty off. She was used to Noir's hovering presence, but Noir didn't talk all that much. Pikachu somewhat mimicked that effect. Ash, on the other hand, was a human. More or less. Having a human walking alongside you created a strange sense of expectation. She knew she didn't have to fulfill it—Lord knew when it came to ghosts she didn't have to fulfill anything. She was just often coerced into it—but she had a feeling that expectancy would linger on for a while yet.

Trying her best to ignore him, Misty made her way to the front desk, knowing that at least Staryu needed a bit of attention, given how dry its skin was…as had been recently pointed out to her. She placed its 'Ball on the counter and was about to speak a word of greeting to the Center's Nurse Joy when she was cut off.

"Ma'am, are you okay?"

Misty cocked her head at this Nurse Joy, confusion striking her before she followed the nurse's gaze to her arms. By now the bruises from her scuffle with those forest ghosts—Fay and Daniel, Misty's memory triggered—had mottled her skin, having turned from an angry red to a dark blue. "Oh, this…" Misty tried to play it off with a laugh. "It's nothing."

"Well, judging by the color, they're healing," Nurse Joy said, her eyes kind. "Nothing for you to be concerned about. Just seeing that kind of thing from a young trainer concerns me, is all. It's my nature." Nurse Joy's laugh tickled the air as she averted her eyes, trying to play off any awkwardness and lighten the tone. "Your Pokémon will be returned to you shortly."

"Thank you," Misty said. She went to turn away from the counter, but quickly pivoted on her heel as a thought occurred to her. "Actually, can I use one of your phones?"

"Of course. Over there," Nurse Joy answered, gesturing to the north wall, lined with video phones.

"Thank you."

Misty wanted to drop Brock a line to let him know she'd made it out of the forest okay. And she admitted that her sisters probably deserved a quick phone call. She owed them that much, at least. Choosing the chair opposite the last phone on the row, Misty clicked the on switch, waiting for the monitor to warm up.

"Hey, while you do that, we're gonna slip into the back room to see how she handles your Pokémon," Ash declared, slightly startling Misty. She'd been so focused on ignoring him that she'd nearly forgotten he was behind her. Not wanting to draw any attention to herself, she gave a stiff nod and saw him and Pikachu disappear through the wall in her periphery.

The on light turned green and Misty typed in the familiar phone number. It rang for a few moments before the monitor glowed a dark gray to show that someone had picked up but their video was off. "Hello?"

"Hey, Brock!" Misty said to the deep voice on the other line. "It's me!"

"Not quite…" The video switched on, revealing a tan face topped with spikey hair. But the hair was a little too long and the face a little too young. It was almost Brock but, as the voice had said, not quite.

"Forrest!" Misty said, surprised, but not altogether displeased to see him. "The newly minted Gym Leader! Can you put your brother on the phone?"

"No can do, sweet thing." Misty grimaced. Forrest was going through his strange pubescent flirtatious stage. She remembered when Brock had gone through that…eh, he still kind of was going through that. "He's already left for Johto."

"Oh," Misty sighed, unable to keep the disappointment out of her tone. "Well, can you give me his new number so that we can keep in touch?"

"For you, anything."

Misty rolled her eyes, choosing to focus on being grateful for the pad and pencil beside the phone monitor. She wrote down the number and quickly ended the call with Forrest, deciding that perhaps a call to her sisters would be better than this. She loved Forrest like a brother and usually preferred him to her actual siblings, but at least her sisters had never flirted with her.

Obviously, she kept them at a low bar.

After slipping Brock's Johtan number into her backpack, deciding she'd make time to memorize it later, she punched in her own phone number, hoping that her sisters were even home. The phone made a small click and the gray screen returned. "Hello, Cerulean Gym?" Misty heard trilled in a high pitched voice.

"Daisy?"

Instantly the monitor flickered to color, revealing Daisy's excited face. "Oh, my God, Misty! Like, how are you doing? Surviving the road?"

Suddenly, Misty wished that she had thought to go out into town before making this call to buy that sweater she'd been thinking about that morning. Anything to cover her arms with. But she hadn't, so she kept her hands folded in her lap as she lied through her teeth, "It's great."

"Oh, we're so proud of you, Misty." Daisy put her hand on her chest, smiling fondly. "We would never be able to do that."

Misty smiled lightly. "Oh, I'm not sure about that."

That caused Daisy to laugh uproariously. "Come on, Misty, you know it's true."

"…I suppose so."

After that, Misty didn't really know what to say. And apparently neither did Daisy, as she was just smiling vacantly into the camera. Although…Daisy was an expert on one thing. Misty had never imagined it, but maybe she could use Daisy for some advice. Before she knew what she was doing, the words tumbled out.

"Hey, Daisy, can I ask you something?"

"Ooh, baby sister has a question!" Suddenly Daisy's eyes were sparkling and she was clapping her hands giddily. "And here I thought Lily had asked all of the world's sisterly questions and there were no more for you."

Misty rolled her eyes. "Me too." Lily was the airheaded sister. And that, of course, was saying something.

"So, like, what's the question?"

Subtly, Misty tried to glance around, to make sure the coast was indeed clear. There were a couple of patrons in the sitting area, conversing and reading magazines, but other than that, she was alone. "If you…meet someone and you want to know more about them, but you can't really ask them about it, what would you do?"

Daisy gasped. "Misty, did you, like, meet a boy?"

"No!" Misty immediately insisted, feeling her face turning red. "I have met no boys."

"Hmm, sure, sure," Daisy acquiesced, though she was eyeing Misty's face with obvious suspicion. "Why can't you ask this not-boy about him—er—themselves?"

"Because I don't think they'd want to."

To be fair, Misty had only spent a total allotted time of perhaps a few hours with Ash. So it wasn't fair to make too many presumptions about him. But the fact that he wasn't asking anything of her was disconcerting. Never before in her sixteen years of life had she met another ghost who didn't want her help. And she wanted to know why.

Daisy rolled her eyes, smiling at Misty's pout. "Misty, you're, like, being dumb. You're just doing what you always do and holding yourself back from making friends. Put yourself out there and just, like, ask this guy about himself if you want to know. If that doesn't work, then you can ask me for more advice, but I want to hear that you at least tried!"

It was a little belittling. A little demeaning. No less than Misty expected from one of her sisters. But…

Ugh, she was right.

Misty hadn't talked to Ash much after he'd shown her Viridian over the treetops. The moment speech had petered out between the two of them, she'd let it and they'd walked together in silence. He seemed a little shy, but she supposed that would only be expected to happen if you were a ghost for thirty years.

Or if you'd spent your life with only a Banette and a kid from another town as your friends.

"Hey, Misty. Did that, like, help at all?"

Misty realized that she had been silent for a bit, which wouldn't really bother her, but she had to imagine that any silence was anxiety-filled to Daisy's babbling pace.

"Right, sorry. Yeah, it did. But—"

"But nothing. You're going to do it and I don't want to hear anything else about it. You asked my advice and, like, this is it. Put yourself out there, Misty. It can only be good for you."

Misty smiled a little in spite of herself. "I'll give it a go."

"Okie dokie then! I want to hear all about this boy next—"

"It's not a boy!"

"Alright!" Daisy agreed amicably, but the too-excited smile on her face told Misty that she still thought Misty was lying.

Which she was. Ash was a boy. But it wasn't like he was a…potential boy. Not the kind of boy that her sister was expecting.

Nope. Just your run of the mill, typical ghost boy.

"Thanks for the help, Daisy."

"Any time! Aw, what's that behind you?" Daisy tilted her head to the side, looking past Misty. "Aw, are those, like, missing children posters? That's tragic."

Misty twisted in her chair, nervous for a second that Ash or Pikachu had returned and caught a bit of her conversation. Then she realized that was ludicrous because there was no way they were what Daisy was looking at. She then followed Daisy's sightline to the back wall of the Pokémon Center. Sure enough, the wall had a couple of posters of faces. Misty thought back to what Ash had said about those two ghosts, Fay and Daniel. Could it be…?

"I should probably go, Daisy. Thanks again for the advice."

"But of course, little sis! Have fun!"

Well, fun would just have to wait. Misty turned off the video phone and walked towards the posters. She didn't even have to get close to be able to tell that they were the same ghosts from the woods. But it did give her the opportunity to take a closer look at them.

The pictures were official-looking headshots, so they were probably registered Trainers and these were their ID photos. Fay—Fay Edwards, Misty now noted from underneath the picture—had purple hair that was quite pretty, even without a mystical bluish glow illuminating it. Her eyebrows were the same color, a little thick, hanging heavily over brooding eyes. She looked the part of a moody teenager.

She'd certainly acted the part as well.

Daniel Kolle appeared much more amiable. Everything about him seemed soft, from his brown hair to his baby-fattened cheeks to his golden eyes. He, for one, looked completely different than he had just a couple days before.

Unfortunately, they were labeled as 'missing.'

Of course, Misty knew that wasn't precisely true.

She sighed heavily. She hated bearing this kind of responsibility. A little bit further down the hall, there was another poster with the face of another child. A freckled boy named Jeremy. Misty frowned. That was unmistakably the other ghost boy from the woods.

But his was different. His didn't say "missing person" or anything of the sort. His said "In Memory Of."

So he had passed away and was unconnected to Fay and Daniel. Misty decided to let that be a good thing, because at least it was probable that his family was at peace. She didn't let the irony of the fact escape her that the kid that didn't seem to know that he was dead was the one that the rest of the world knew was dead.

Misty dragged her palm down her face, shaking her head mindlessly. She opened one eye and glanced back at Fay and Daniel. They looked like nice kids. Not at all like the crazed ghosts she had met earlier. She looked down at her marred arms and could still feel the bruise on her hip against the unforgiving denim waist of her shorts.

She just couldn't trust ghosts.

But…she knew she had to help.

Misty stepped out of the Pokémon Center and turned her head from side to side. She needed to find the police station. Nurse Joy was probably the person to ask, so Misty went to turn on her heels when a girl passed by on the sidewalk in front of her. Misty felt a squeamishness inside her at the prospect of asking someone for directions, but she heard Daisy's words ringing true in her ears. She needed to put herself out there. Plus, she figured that asking for directions was a skill that she would need on this journey and the quicker she got over herself the better. Closing her eyes and squeezing the words out of her, Misty blurted to the girl, "Excuse me, miss? Could you show me to the police station?"

The girl turned around, her long red hair tied in a rope-like braid swinging at the change in direction. "Who, me?" the girl asked, directing a finger to herself.

"Yeah," Misty replied, trying not to allow any trepidation into her voice. "Could you at least point me in the direction of the police station?"

"Sure," the girl answered immediately. "In exchange for a Pokémon Battle. Assuming you're not in dire circumstances, that is."

"What?" Misty asked, looking around at the narrow street. "Here?"

"No, there's a little pavilion-type thing around the corner," the girl answered. "Hey, wait! You're the Cerulean Gym Leader, aren't you? Oh man, this'll be so awesome. My name's Molly," she said as she thrust her hand out. "Can I get a badge for this if I win?"

"Uh, no," Misty stammered as she shook Molly's hand. "I'm taking a vacation right now."

"Oh, too bad. Well, it'll be good practice at least. I'm hoping to challenge the Viridian Gym A-S-A-P," Molly explained with a contagious smile. "Anyway, come this way if you want to find the police station."

Molly didn't wait for a response from Misty as she walked in what Misty assumed to be the direction of the pavilion. Misty was left with no choice but to chase after her. She figured that she wasn't on any real kind of time constraint, considering Fay and Daniel's fates were already sealed. And it wasn't like she owed them anything. Not to mention the fact that a good Battle would clear her head and have her feeling in her element again.

Around the corner from the Pokémon Center, as promised, was a large pavilion made of slabs of concrete in geometric designs. There were three rectangular roofed areas under which were some picnic benches and tables and black, metal garbage bins. Misty spotted a few Rattata and Pidgey snooping around them obviously, looking for crumbs from picnickers.

"Hey, Misty, right? Since this isn't an official League battle, would it be okay with you if we deviated a bit from the League rules?"

"What do you mean?" Misty asked. The idea of working with different rules than she'd known her whole life was already making her instincts fire off with strategies on how to combat anything this girl threw at her.

"Just working with unofficial moves," Molly said as she took a PokéBall from the pocket of her black, baggy capris. They were almost like harem pants. "I've been training my Pokémon using unique techniques and I'd like to put them to use, if you don't mind."

"I don't mind," Misty replied. She'd just have to play this match extra carefully.

"Okay, great," called Molly. "If I've got that in my favor, then you should have something going for you too. So against my Hitmonchan," Molly released the humanoid fighter into the field, "I want you to use your Frillish, if that's alright."

Misty stopped short, looking at the girl questioningly. She was specifically requesting a Ghost against her pure Fighting Type. This girl was asking for a fight.

And a fight she was going to get.

"Fine. You're on. Frillish, go!"

With a flourish, Frillish was added to the battlefield, floating above the air. There was no water in sight on this field, not even a puddle, so Misty was going to have to make this match quick if she wanted Frillish at his best the whole time and not suffer from dehydration. Fortunately, against a fighter, Misty didn't see how that would be a problem.

"This is a one-on-one Battle, okay, Misty?"

"Got it. Now call your shot!"

"This is to show we mean business. Hitmonchan, Pursuit!"

That certainly wasn't an unconventional move. And Misty didn't need Frillish to be hit by a super-effective Attack straight out of the gate. But before Misty could even call out a counter-attack, Hitmonchan made contact, knocking Frillish to the concrete, roughing up its delicate skin.

"That was just to give us the advantage before the games really begin," Molly said smugly.

"Well, don't expect it to last long. Frillish, use Recover!"

Still on the ground, Frillish began to glow a bright white, its body levitating back into the air as the damage melted off of it, leaving it fresh and renewed like it had never been touched.

"Cool trick," Molly called. "But wait until you see mine. Hitmonchan, saut de chat!"

"So de what?" Misty muttered in confusion as Hitmonchan took off running. "Frillish, use Bubble to protect yourself!"

A barrier of bubbles appeared around Frillish, but Hitmonchan didn't slow down. Instead, once it got to be a few meters away from Frillish, it took off into the air, legs spread wide in a leap, and its purple foot connected with the side of Frillish's face as it burst through the wall of bubbles.

Misty gaped as she watched Hitmonchan not so much as falter, even upon impact and landed on the ground perfectly with another small leap, not stumbling in the least. That move had looked like some kind of a kick Attack which was not only unheard of for a Hitmonchan, but also shouldn't have hit Frillish. But as Misty observed Hitmonchan, standing with its feet turned to the side and its arms perfectly curved in front of its purple skirt—almost like a pleated tutu—she had a shocking realization.

This Pokémon was a dancer. It would be able to fight her physically with immense strength without ever having to call upon a Fighting move.

Misty gulped. She knew she was in trouble.

Most wouldn't look at Misty's sisters and their lithe bodies and think that they were strong. But they had been dancing—and swimming—their whole lives and Misty could vouch for the fact that they had the strength of any football player in their lean muscles. And one look at Molly's bulging calf muscles and her turned out feet told her that that was exactly what Misty was up against.

Except with the added strength of being a Fighting Type Pokémon untethered to a Type disadvantage.

Best thing she could do was keep her distance. "Frillish, Water Pulse! Push that Hitmonchan away!"

"Brace yourself, Hitmonchan!"

Hitmonchan dug its heavy fists into the concrete, keeping it from being completely blown away by the concentrated burst of water.

"Great! Now chaînés into a barrel turn. And Agility!"

Misty watched with blurring eyes as Hitmonchan began to turn in tight circles, standing on its tiptoes all the while as its head kept turning rapidly towards Frillish until it seemed like its body was spinning like a top and its head was still.

"Ominous Wind, Frillish! Blow it back!"

"Use the resistance!"

At first, Hitmonchan's balance remained, leaving Misty shocked as even the tailwinds of the gust threatened to knock her over from her place on the sidelines. But eventually, Hitmonchan began to slow, hacking and gagging on the repulsive wind going into its surely burning lungs.

"Hmm, our little athlete can't breathe, can it?" Misty taunted. "Frillish, better give it some water, right?"

Abruptly, a powerful Hydro Pump erupted from Frillish's floating tendrils, four streams combining together into one huge blast of water towards the choking, but still turning Hitmonchan.

However, just as the Attack was about to hit, Hitmonchan leapt out of the turn, it's body arching over the blast like it was rolling over the arc of an enormous barrel.

This time, Hitmonchan's landing wasn't so graceful. It landed on the ground in a tight roll, but then landed flat on its back, still choking out the ghostly wind.

"Great; now Brine!"

Hitmonchan could only brace itself as a pile of water fell on it, like a bucket tipping over from the heavens.

"Hitmonchan, get up! Turn a pirouette and dry yourself off with Agility!"

With effort, Hitmonchan got up and prepared to turn, spinning rapidly around.

"Frillish, Wring Out while it's vulnerable!"

"Fouetté!"

Suddenly the leg that had been bent at the knee under Hitmonchan kicked out as Frillish approached, knocking it to the side with the force. Unfortunately, Hitmonchan was also knocked off-balance, spinning out and landing roughly on the ground.

"One more move and it's over, Frillish. Night Shade!"

Suddenly the bright pavilion fell dark to Misty's eyes. She could see nothing but shadow, but knew that in front of Hitmonchan were more frightening images than simply the darkness. While Hitmonchan fell victim to Night Shade, Misty smiled smugly, exchanging a look of confidence with Frillish.

"You know what to do."

Frillish nodded and floated up behind Hitmonchan while it stood shell-shocked in the darkness. Then, to the back of its head, Frillish fired a close-range Water Pulse, knocking Hitmonchan down, skidding face first on the hard concrete.

"Come on, Hitmonchan! Get up!" Molly cried desperately. Hitmonchan gave a few twitches, but ultimately stayed on the ground, unable to continue.

"Well, I guess that's it," Misty said, returning a worn Frillish to his 'Ball. "That was an incredibly unique match, Molly."

Molly sighed her response as she reluctantly returned her Hitmonchan, silently admitting defeat. Under her breath, she mumbled, "I just don't know where I went wrong. We've practiced so much."

"I think I know what the issue was," Misty said, drawing Molly's attention from the ground where Hitmonchan had been. "It's good to cover a Pokémon's weaknesses with unique strategies and moves, but you can't forget about a Pokémon's strength. It's your job as a Trainer to steer your Pokémon into using their strengths to every advantage that it can have. If you try to forget about it for the sake of working on something else, or something that may be your strength, but not its, then your Pokémon will never reach its full potential. Understand?"

Molly nodded slowly. "Yeah. I guess it was unfair of me to work so hard on training Hitmonchan's legs, never allowing its arms to shine."

"Maybe a little." Misty smiled kindly, hoping that Molly didn't feel too badly about losing. "Now if you could point me in the direction of the police station before you head back to the Pokémon Center?"

Molly showed Misty that the police station wasn't hard to find; it wasn't far at all from the Pokémon Center, either. Two goons at the front desk had tried to keep her from being able to talk to Officer Jenny but once they had realized that she was a Gym Leader they had become much more accommodating. She was now sitting across from Jenny in her office.

"Yes, it's very tragic," Jenny agreed with a previous statement Misty had made. "What do you want to know? Nothing is off-limits to you, as you are a government official. Anything in Kanto is under your jurisdiction, as I'm sure you know."

Misty sighed, knowing that she didn't likely want to know any of this. But the truth was that she didn't know anything about the case. And she wasn't exactly itching to find Fay and Daniel again to learn more. So, she had no base knowledge. But she had to start somewhere.

"Just tell me about the kids. Do they have anything in common?"

It was usually a good place to start. If it turned out that these two were best friends who had been journeying together, then they might have simply fallen into trouble. But if there was nothing uniting them, that must have meant that they'd met after becoming ghosts.

"Very little," Jenny said as she thumbed through some files. "They're similar in age, Fay Edwards' fourteen to Daniel Kolle's twelve. And they were seen traveling in this town together. They challenged the Viridian Gym one after the other. And then they disappeared shortly after that."

"So they were traveling companions?" Misty grimaced a little bit as the words left her mouth. She hated when the past tense slipped out in these kinds of situations. She knew it was crazy, but it felt like she was giving herself away; that it was obvious she knew they were dead.

"Undetermined. If they were, it was recent. Edwards hails from Saffron City. It appears she was studying to be a psychic under the tutelage of the Saffron Gym before setting out. Kolle is from Pallet Town and was fairly new to traveling at the time."

Now time for Misty's least favorite part. "Have you considered the idea that they might have, you know, passed on?" Misty suggested, trying to pick her words as carefully and gently as possible.

Jenny was worrying her bottom lip in her teeth. When she would open her mouth to speak, it made it appear red and glossy in comparison to her upper lip. "Yes, of course I have considered it. But it's my job to stay positive and keep these open as missing persons cases until bodies are found."

"But you do think it's possible?" Misty pushed.

There was silence as Jenny looked down at the files fanned out before her. "At this point, yes, it's very possible. But these are two kids that we have no leads on. We just don't know."

"Oh, that reminds me," Misty butted in. "There was another poster in the Pokémon Center that was different from theirs? I think his name was Jeremy?"

Jenny looked off sadly. "Yes, that one was different. His was an accident in the woods a few months back. He was a very bright boy, smarter with Pokémon than most, if not all his age. But he was a special kid—not prepared to live on his own as a Trainer. His mother was so protective of him and wouldn't let him, even though anyone could see that it was all he wanted to do. It was the right choice, though, clearly, because the moment he went off on his own…well, you know."

"Wow. I'm so sorry." They were such empty words, but even with Misty's expansive experiences with death, they were all she could offer.

"Yes, well, don't be sorry for me," Jenny said wearily. "Be sorry for his mother. She has not handled it well."

Misty gave a little half-shrug. "Who would?"

"Fair," Jenny agreed. "She received his Pokémon, which usually helps with substituting the bond, but I don't suppose anything can be enough in a situation such as this."

Misty supposed that meant the Metapod and Venomoth the ghost of Jeremy had tried to show her earlier. She nearly shuddered at the memory. Perhaps it was insensitive, but she didn't understand how those Bugs could make anyone feel better.

"So it's safe to say that he and the other two are unrelated," Misty said, returning to the matter at hand.

"Definitely," Jenny said. "They're months apart. Jeremy's case was solved long before Edwards and Kolle even arrived in town."

"Well, that doesn't make things easier," Misty mused.

"No, it doesn't," Jenny agreed. "There were similarities in their cases, though. All young Trainers who challenged the Viridian Gym, lost, went into the woods, and disappeared."

"The Gym seems to be the only thing that stands out in Edwards' and Kolle's story, correct?"

"Perhaps," Jenny answered, frustration at the fact evident in her voice. "We did jump to that conclusion what with Giovanni's checkered past. He's hardly a suspect, but we hoped that he'd perhaps have a shred of insight, since he was one of the last people to see them."

"Checkered past?"

Jenny leaned over, rifling through some drawers before coming up with an old picture in her hands. She handed it to Misty. The quality of the picture wasn't great, mostly because of what looked to be poor lighting. But there was a stone wall with indentations all around, interspersed with a few dim sconces.

"What's this?"

"That's the old interior of the Viridian Gym." Jenny pointed to one of the indentations. "That was the secret passageway to one of Team Rocket's bases during the war."

That was something Misty didn't remember from her minimal historical repertoire. Brock always had been the one interested in that stuff. She'd…usually tuned him out. "How was there a Team Rocket base at the Gym?"

"Because Giovanni was the head of Team Rocket."

"What‽"

Misty had known Giovanni ever since she was a little kid. And he'd never seemed like anything other than a nice—if somewhat frightening—man.

Jenny pulled out another photograph from the same drawer, this one showing a number of young people in matching black uniforms, all emblazed with a huge 'R' in the center. She handed it to Misty. Everyone had their arms behind their backs, presumably in cuffs, and were in front of the Viridian Gym—there was a sign on the door detailing such.

"How was he not stripped of his position?" Misty asked as she handed the photographs back.

"I don't know," Jenny admitted, shaking her head. "That's past the point of my expertise. Nevertheless, ever since the war, we're positive that he's been nothing more threatening than an intimidating Gym Leader."

Misty frowned. "That hardly seems like enough to keep him from being a suspect."

Jenny sighed. "No, the lack of evidence is enough. That and the fact that it sincerely seems like these two kids were merely involved in some accident. There's no reason for us to suspect foul play."

But there was, Misty remembered. They'd claimed that they weren't supposed to die. They'd told Ash that it had been a mistake. That could mean something as innocent as accidentally falling into a river and drowning, or it could mean another party had been involved.

That certainly would give them a reason for sticking around on this plane of existence. After all, how many demons could a fourteen and twelve-year-old have?

"I'm going to go to the Gym," Misty decided. "Just to see for myself."

"Please do," Jenny said, also standing. "The Gym's already closed for the day today, though. You'll have to go first thing tomorrow."

At that moment, Misty was caught completely off-guard by Pikachu materializing in Jenny's cramped office. He waved to her and started saying something, but Misty didn't bother to try to decipher it. She wouldn't have a clue.

"Oh, okay. I'll do that," Misty said as normally as she could manage, focusing on keeping her eyes on Officer Jenny's.

The room became considerably more cramped when Ash appeared shortly after, the words "You were right, Pikachu; she is here," coming off his lips as soon as he spotted her. "Your Staryu is ready."

Misty only allowed her eyes to land on them for a couple of seconds before she stood up to signal the end of her conversation with Jenny. It had been as good as over anyway.

Jenny followed suit, standing tall and saluting Misty. "Consider yourself on the case."

Misty awkwardly mimed Jenny's gesture reflexively. "Thank you, Officer Jenny."

"No, thank you," Jenny returned.

Misty frowned as she turned around. She wanted to tell Jenny not to hold her breath and that thanks likely wouldn't be necessary. If the police couldn't find anything at the Gym then why did she think that she could? She was experienced with ghost behavior, not criminal behavior.

Speaking of which—Misty spared another look at Ash as he followed her out the door—it seemed she wasn't quite finished with that for the day.

A/N: Okay...It's been a minute. I just started school again (for possibly the last time)! Senior in college, yo! It's crazy.

But we all know what the real exciting news is! Brock and Misty are returning to the anime for 2 episodes of Sun & Moon. If you haven't heard, get your butt on google and figure it out! If you have heard, please squeal about it with me in the comments or over PM! I'm freaking out! This is the best thing to happen to me since the fanfiction Phantom was updated over 4 years ago! (I have a sad life.)

Much love to C'sMelody, whose reward for helping me will be a video of my roommate's new cat instead of virtual cookies. I said nothing mean this time, girl! You're welcome!