I opened the door to my classroom and did my best to drown out the chatter of my classmates as I entered. As always, the place was already packed with aspiring trainers before I even arrived and some of them, if I were to trust the gossip inside the classroom, even arrived at dusk to train their pokemon in the battleground behind the school.

I went to my seat silently and wiped my desk with my towel. After I hung my bag on the seat in front of me, I heard someone shuffle from behind, "so,-" Vhira's voice was clear, sounding confident. I turned around and saw that she was already comfortable in the seat, "-you're Grimer's pretty strong and I wanted to know where I can find others like him?"

I met her hopeful eyes and sighed. "there's no other Grimer like him in Johto," I explained to her for the nth time now, "and you already knew because you were there when the people from the radio tower asked me about him,"

"of course!" she frowned, "but... you know, how- why- where is Alola?"

I shrugged, "who knows, Grimer wouldn't let me know so I let it be," she looked at my ball and I held a hand out, "and no, you can't ask him because it's a sore spot for him."

her frown deepened, "then why do you have him? where did you find him? Other than Alola,"

"like I said! I found him on the beach and I'm pretty sure the only reason why he even ended up there is that-" I furrowed my eyebrows and paused for a second but I decided to just let it spill, "the ship that sunk near Olivine is owned by Team Rocket."

"what does that have to do with anything?" to my surprise, she didn't even look concerned that I mentioned that name, and looking at her, I felt pretty stupid to think that she would ask me why I even knew that to begin with. "but Team Rocket..." her eyes looked thoughtful, "what are they?"

"criminals." I answered, "they traffic pokemon but they also do other things." her eyebrow quirked, "I don't know what, but they're a criminal empire so let's just assume nasty stuff." I hoped that was enough to put an end to whatever she was planning on doing, but even then, I decided to put a nail in the coffin. "and they're not the kind of people that you should be meeting with,"

"but why?" she didn't look convinced.

"well, for one, it's because they're criminals, and two, those guys aren't..." what did team rocket do actually? Why were they so dangerous again? Except for smuggling pokemon and running a casino, they weren't really doing anything bad back in the games, and even if I counted their attack on Silph Co. for the master ball; that would just get counted as their- or rather, Giovanni's competency rather than their danger.

"they aren't?" Vhira repeated,

"they aren't kind?" I replied questioningly "but seriously, they're dangerous, and don't go looking around for them okay?" I warned and thankfully, she nodded.

"of course," she smiled at me and then stood up, walking back to her seat wordlessly where she started to look thoughtful.

I looked at her for a few seconds and when her thinking expression didn't go away, I concluded that she's gonna start looking for them. Isn't she?

Miss Chrome arrived at our classroom a few minutes after our talk and even as she started her lesson, I made sure to keep an eye out on Vhira to see if she started to progress unto anything, and from what I saw, the girl just continued to look thoughtful. She still listened to Miss Chrome and even perked up when our teacher started talking about Ghost Types.

a second later, I knew why, "-now then, as you all know, the most common ghost type that you can find are the Ghastly line and-" she drawled on about the Poison and Ghost hybrid for a few more minutes, explaining their methods of attacking, a few of their moves, how dangerous they are and finally, the place where they could commonly be found: The Burned Tower.

I looked at Vhira when Miss Chrome mentioned it and the girl had visibly deflated.

...

"Whitney, what would you do if one of your classmates is about to go and meet a bunch of criminals?" the brunette eyed me oddly but stayed silent, "it's hypothetical?" I met her eyes. They didn't look convinced.

"okay?" she leaned back, crossed her legs, and pressed both her palms on the back of her head, "you know what I'd do in that situation?" I hummed, "I would... probably let their parents know," her eyes didn't sway and she continued to lock them on mine. "that's... sort of the best thing to do in this scenario. I think?"

"probably right?" I said and she nodded.

but that just puts up more questions! Mainly; who were Vhira's parents anyways? I never really saw them and the last time I checked, they haven't been to the school during parent meetings. The people who came for her were usually pretty varied too, ranging from a kindly old woman to a middle-aged guy that looked like he lived on the outskirts of the city. Finding all the people who went to the meetings for Vhira would probably just give me a headache since I don't know where she lived... but I can probably ask her that.

"if it bothers you this much, I can always go with you to talk to them?" I looked at Whitney, she was no longer leaning back and her face looked concerned, "is it about Grimer?"

I nodded, "yeah," I stood up, followed by Whitney, "I'll see if I can find her but... I don't think she'll even stay at school after it ended."

"if she isn't, we'll just simply find her." she crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows, and looked at me as if what she said was the most obvious conclusion one can go to.

I smiled wryly, "I guess."

so we did. I followed Whitney's lead first when she said that we should find Vhira in the school first just in case she hasn't left and when we couldn't, we'll go to the surrounding areas and see if we can find her there.

So we ran around the entire school and sadly, our search for my classmate wouldn't be as easy as I thought it would. Whitney sighed, "well, guess we should see if we can find her somewhere out there then," she said, standing up from her seat. She jerked her head in the gate's direction, "come on," she nudged.

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I followed after her.

"wouldn't it be too late if we search the entire place for her?" I asked as I closed the gate. I gave the back of the school one last look to see if I could spot Vhira but nothing.

When I turned, I came face to face with Whitney's frowning face, "what do you think we should do then?" she asked,

"search for the most suspicious place that someone my age can think of." she raised her eyebrow, "what I mean is, if Vhira is looking for Team Rocket, what is the place that she would think of first to find them?"

"the underground tunnel?" Whitney answered quickly,

I nodded, "let's go there then." I walked off, I didn't want to wait for Whitney since I know she would just follow, and soon enough, she jogged up right next to me and pinched me on the arm.

"you should have waited," she said seriously, "but I understand, she's in danger and well... there's no time for that." I nodded again. I saw her frowning at me from the corner of my eye, "at least say something."

"sorry," I replied, "it's just that I could've avoided this you know?"

I heard a scoff, "how do you know that she's gonna go to Team Rocket anyways?" she poked my cheek, "and how are you so sure?"

"I guess it just makes sense," I looked around and my eyes landed on an ice cream shop. Vhira also wasn't there. "and besides, I don't think Vhira's parents are there for her."

"huh?" was the only thing that Whitney could say, "what does that have to do with anything?"

"she doesn't have her own pokemon yet," I said, looking at her. "nor can she catch one on her own." when she had an expression that told me she didn't understand, I started explaining- "whenever there's a parent to teachers meeting," I drawled, "the people that would go there for her aren't always the same and they've changed so many times now that I think the "guardians" that attend the meeting for her are just people from her community." wherever that community even is,

"then why don't we just go there to see if she just went home instead of... you know, going to a group of criminals for a Pokemon?"

"that's the problem, I don't know where Vhira's home is," I said, "someone in the school probably does but I don't know who."

Whitney clicked her tongue, "we should've tried asking someone in your classroom first then."

"probably." I retorted, "but we're already here so let's just move a little bit quicker to see if she's there then we can go back to school and ask someone where she lives."

"fine,"

...

To me, the underground tunnel of Goldenrod city wasn't anything special in terms of anything, and sure, the place was packed filled with stores and other accomodities but the more popular Goldenrod department store is the go-to for most people with the few that go here to shop either want something that's not been made by a mass producing machines or for unusual services you can't find anywhere else in the city.

Not that the underground tunnel is bad population wise of course. A lot of people shop here, even now that much is obvious. It's just that personally speaking, the place isn't for me and I've never bothered to go here unless Dad tells me to take Persian to the groomer brothers.

the stores aside, the place also has rental rooms that a traveling trainer can pay for cheaply. These rooms were the only things that could be found on the quieter part of the tunnel and Whitney and I thought that the only place that Vhira could've gone to if she did go down here were these rooms and luckily for us, we were right-

It was in front of these rental rooms that Whitney and I saw Vhira and a much older guy trying to drag her inside. If I didn't know any better, I would've just let it be because it's the pokemon world and the scene looked innocent enough but the barely hidden reluctance on Vhira's face and the pushy attitude of the guy was more than enough to convince me that something bad was going to happen if I just stood by.

I nudged Whitney with my elbow, "she's there," she followed where I was pointing and narrowed her eyes,

"what's going on here?" she asked,

"something bad if Vhira's face is anything to go by." I started walking towards the duo, "come on,"

I heard Whitney jog up to me a few seconds later and moments after that, we were in front of both Vhira and her "companion."- I tried to put up the most innocent face I could muster, "hey, uh, Vhira? what are you doing here?"

Vhira turned towards me and for a moment, a hopeful glint went to her eye but it faded just as quickly. "Lionel," she smiled weakly, "I was just..." she looked at the guy right next to her - who, I noticed looked impatient with me and Whitney, - she looked down and loosened her grip on the guy's hand but it quickly tightened when her eyes went over to my pokeball. "nothing," she smiled.

"you were about to- nothing?" Whitney retorted, "what does that even mean?" she turned to me,

I shrugged, "I don't honestly know but you didn't look like you were happy when he was pushing you into the room."

"HEY!" it was the guy's turn to speak and at his yell, we all turned to look at him.

He was wearing a white, long-sleeved button-up coat and black sweatpants. On his belt were two pokeballs and right next to those two was what looked like the controller for one of those remote toy cars. The black hair and the glasses made it obvious to me that he was some type of trainer back in the games. I couldn't remember just what the name was but his looks were familiar.

my eyes moved over to the Pokeballs on his hip. They were pretty concerning because if I was right; then back in the games, I'm pretty sure that Goldenrod city was the place where you can get your third gym badge and the strength of the trainers in the city reflected that. I knew that reality and fiction were two different things but from what I've heard, the trainers that lived in these rooms were notoriously strong.

even then, I held unto my pokeball and met his eyes. From the corner of my vision, I saw Whitney do the same.

"y-you can't just say that!" the guy stuttered. Then he cleared his throat and his expression shifted into something calm, his voice reflected that change. "anyways, what I was doing just now was helping this young girl here..."

"Vhira."

"-right, helping Vhira over here get a starter pokemon so I led her into my room so that she can pick from my collection and-"

"why would you lead a young girl into your room?" Whitney asked, "you could've just brought your pokemon outside."

he scratched his head, "well..."

"you know what, no, Vhira, we're going." Impatiently, Whitney grabbed the girl's arm and tried to drag her away. When the guy tightened his grip, Whitney let an ear piercing screech out of her mouth, forcing the guy to let go and when Vhira was free, Whitney dragged her away from the suspicious guy as much as physically possible.

I looked around, there weren't any other people here and if the rooms around us were occupied, the people inside of them either didn't hear Whitney's screech or the place is soundproof. At the thought of that, my eyes narrowed further and I quickly held out my pokeball. "j-just let us be," I said, showing off the red and white ball in front of him. "we're going to leave and then we'll never meet again so-"

"Lionel no!" Whitney cut me off, right next to her, a panicked Vhira was hyperventilating, "we're gonna call officer Jenny and she's gonna- she's gonna deal with this creep!"

the creep in question sighed, "if that's how you want to play it then fine," he grabbed a Pokeball from his belt and released a shiny Grimer. The pokemon looked around, confused, and then his eyes went over to his trainer,

"grimer?"

"who cares?! if there's no pokemon then use poison gas on the humans!"

my eyes widened and I quickly threw out my pokemon before the Grimer in front of me could use his move.

two flashes of red light came out of two different directions and when both turned into an Alolan Grimer and a Pidgey respectively. My eyes moved over to Whitney, she met them and nodded.

"Grimer! Power-up punch!" / "Pidgey Wing attack, blow the poison away!" both me and Whitney called out simultaneously and I hoped that the underground tunnel is wide enough that the poison gas wouldn't start affecting us.