23.

Dragon in the Sky

The big Growlithe, the leader, Liko thinks, tries to aim an ember straight at Floragato but Liko is faster, shouting, "Houndour! Quick, jump!" Houndour barks, jumps with a bark, as the ember hits him and disappears into ashes and nothing. The Growlithe blinks, confused. "Floragato, quick attack a scratch!" Floragato smirks, jumps over Houndour, and scratches the big Growlithe a little too fast for it to keep his footing, falling straight into one of its pals.

One of the Growlithe, who's not on the ground, tries to bite Floragato but the grass cat does a backflip and suddenly Houndour appears, tackling or headbutting, Liko can't tell if he attacked or tripped, and the Growlithe is pushed away. That Growlithe takes the loss by whining, trying to rub its bruised nose and running away into the bushes leaving its friends behind.

The big Growlithe, looking angrier than before, finally stands up, pushing its smaller minion aside. It glares at Liko and her Pokemon, mouth opening and closing as if not knowing whether to start a fire or bite one of them. Suddenly, the Growlithe stops, blinks, and seeing something in the distance, it yelps and turns tail, the smaller Growlithe following close behind seconds later.

Liko stares, wonders if they spotted something behind her, and suddenly she feels a pat on her shoulder. Liko shrieks with surprise, and Whitney, standing behind her, hand still on Liko's shoulder, cries out too, not expecting that. Irwin shakes his head behind the gym leader, muttering, "Probably should have given the poor girl a head's up…"

"What did I tell ya? Bunch of trouble that trio of hungry Growlithes are. Good thing Liko was around to stop the fire from getting worse!"

Liko didn't know about that.

Whitney had come running from Goldenrod when a concerned citizen reported seeing smoke coming from the nearby forest connected to Ilex, and Irwin had run into her on the way.

They were a bit surprised to find the small bit of forest dripping wet as if a storm had passed through the place, and Liko and her Pokemon, one different, the other very much the same, in the middle of it all. Liko had lied about it, of course, not wanting to say that her Sprigatito had run away and challenged a trio of nasty Growlithe that almost caused a forest fire. The girl had explained away the wet trees and leaves as her Rotom's doing with rain dance, not knowing how to tell them about terastilization or if they knew what it was here in Johto, and if they did, how had Liko done it without that famous Tera Orb. So many questions with no good answers.

"All's well that ends well!" Whitney replied, smiling. "Phew! It's a good thing we have reliable trainers like you around! You leave those Growlithe to me…they've been given too much room to make mischief. Let's see how they like to face me!"

Nanu ends up calling her later, annoyed, asking her how long she expected to stay in Goldenrod. "You got a schedule to keep, kid…" Liko had apologized and explained what had happened between Sprigatito, now Floragato, and herself and the attack by the wild Growlithe. He laughed. "Heh! Little troublemaker. My partner was a little shit too…but that's beside the point. Get to the Magnet Train, pronto. Serena should have already paid for the ticket. Give your name and the password is…I can't believe she wrote this…'Greninja in the Sky with Dragonite'." Liko tried not to giggle. "Also…she left a message."

"A message?"

"Yep. Told me to tell you that someone saw a black dragon in the sky, flying away from an island near Kanto. A bit of gossip for the road."

Liko is suddenly reminded of her dream; the dragon in the sky and the fisherman, humming, singing, as he steals the pieces of paradise from the world below.

Liko got a call on her Pokegear the moment she stepped inside the Magnet Train.

It's a mix of static and music, like a television with a faulty signal, before the caller hangs up.

The train moves as Liko calls Nanu, who doesn't sound too concerned as he explains, "The Pokegear is an old phone…and that radio app has a way to be trouble. Someone's playing a boombox nearby, the old software thinks it's someone calling. That's probably what happened…but I'll call this guy I know just in case. I'm not worried yet but you can't never be too careful. Take care, kid."