"I'm sorry, but I seriously can't let you talk to her. That patient is a nervous wreck!" Doctor Annette Joy said with obvious disgust and annoyance. "I don't care if you are a member of the Elite Four, the patient's safety has to come first!"

        The ninja continued giving her his most insistent glare, until a harsh "Give it a rest, Koga," came from the pink-haired man wearing the red and black caped outfit, on the other side of the lobby. "I know you want to get to the bottom of this too, but we probably already have what information we'll get." Koga turned, to see Lance holding up a manila folder. "We have the transcripts of what she's said since she got here. If that doesn't clue us in to her attacker, nothing will."

        "I hope it helps," said the tall and quite muscular blond man in the camouflaged pants and sleeveless shirt. "There's definitely been something freakish going on. Wild Pokémon disappearing, adults becoming frightened of the forest like small children, and now Officer Jenny gets attacked and loses her mind."

        "Mirielle Campbell," Lance corrected. "I rather doubt she'd want to continue with the Jenny name or career once she recovers... if she ever fully does." He sighed deflatedly. "Sounds like you made the right choice to call us in, Lieutenant Surge."

        The Lieutenant frowned. "I hope so. Everybody's on edge around here, especially with this happening so soon after that chaos half a week ago. I hate to admit it, but even I'm scared, wondering what's gonna happen next."

        Lance nodded, and pulled his video cell phone from his pocket. "Understandable. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I better give Professor Oak a call about this. There were some unusual bits in there about what her attacker might be. There's a chance it's one of those new Pokémon species that has been popping up lately, but if it's not, then Oak's the most likely person to have heard of it."

        Surge nodded. "I need to get back to the gym anyway, so my students and I can start patrolling along with the regular police." With that, he turned to go. "Seeya later."

 

        Before Surge could get ten feet away from the hospital, he heard a voice behind him. "You really think your students are up to something like this?"

 

        Surge jumped a little in startlement, and turned around, his face gaining an expression of anger. "Blast it, don't DO that! I couldn't even tell you'd walked out wit' me!"

        Koga raised a questioning eyebrow, then closed his eyes and shrugged. "Sorry. Stealth can be habit-forming." Then his expression returned to the usual serious on. "Back to the question though. I've known you to be one to take care of your problems personally. If something is serious enough that you're willing to give the Elite Four a call, do you think it wise to put your students out there too?"

        Surge gave Koga a firm look in the eyes. "Listen- my students are like me. We're soldiers. We're smart enough to know when to call reinforcements, but we will do our part to make sure a fight is won."

        Koga smiled. "Just checking. I knew you weren't the sort to act without thinking, in spite of what some say after realizing your Raichu's weakness. I just wanted to make sure the stress wasn't clouding your mind any."

        For the first time in days, Surge smiled. "Thanks. That helps a lot coming from an old rival Gym Leader. Good luck with hunting that monster."

        Koga nodded, and as Surge departed, a frown returned to his face.

       

        "I just hope we won't need 'luck'."

 

***~~***~~***~~***~~***

 

       

        The fatigue was in the air at the Vermillion City police department. For three days after the Pokémorph army's assault, there had been no end to the phone calls. Looters, lost children, lost Pokémon, found Pokémon, violent crime... almost anything you could name, the police had to deal with at least once. And even now, with the tension having eased off somewhat since then, the police were still busy, running around like decapitated Combuskens.

        It was no surprise, then, that two of the most famous trainers in Kanto were hardly noticed at all amongst the chaos.  Only the desk clerk currently talking to them even knew they were there.

        "So, no more reports of major injuries?" asked a tall, slim, purple-haired woman in her mid-thirties. She raised one hand to the side of her face, and adjusted her glasses slightly.

        "None, Miss Prima. At least, none of the kind that Officer Jenny was in. " The police clerk scrolled down her computer screen some more. "The rest of the injuries listed have nothing out of the ordinary. Considering the current situation, that is."

        Lorelei, also know as "Prima" of the Elite Four, sighed slightly. Although the lack of injuries was good, another lead wouldn't hurt in trying to find out who, or what, they were after.

        "You'll call us if anything does come up, right?" asked the muscular, spiky-haired man behind her. Bruno, also of the elite four, had augmented his usual karate pants with a thick green hiker's jacket and thick leather boots, and was obviously uncomfortable- he usually didn't wear anything other than the pants.

        "Of course. As soon as we have even the slightest bit of information that might help, you'll be the first to know."

        A short moment later, and the two Elite Four members were walking back out the front door of the Vermillion police office, and beginning their walk back to the hospital where Lance and Koga would be waiting. For a while, they were silent- not especially abnormal in itself, but the distant, worried expressions they wore would have been a particularly bad sign to anyone recognizing them as usually being the more optimistic members of the Elite Four.

        "Well, that wasn't very helpful," Bruno finally said once they'd crossed a few streets. "Nothing from the police, nothing from the Pokémon Center, nothing from the locals."

        Lorelei sighed. "Well, that can't be helped. Half the security systems in town are still down, and everyone's still too focused on the damage the Pokémorphs caused. Nobody's got time to look for odd threats going on outside of town. There probably isn't any more information to go on just yet."

        "So I guess we just wait until whoever, or whatever, has been wiping out the Pokémon in this area makes itself visible?"

        Lorelei nodded. "That, and ask around while keeping our own eyes open. Until we have more to work on, that's all we can do."

 

***~~***~~***~~***~~*** 

 

        "A walking human shadow, you say?"

        "That's what she said. I'm not certain though. She was having a lot of difficulty speaking coherently." Lance eyed the notes on the patient's words again. "There's also something about a duck turning to dust..."

        "What?" Oak sputtered out. After a moment of surprise, he shook his head a bit and regained his composure. "Now that, Lance, I'm afraid that I'm very much able to tell you about. Some situations like that are in the notes I've been looking over since the new Pokémon species started popping up!"

        The Elite Four champion blinked. "I take it that we'd be better off if your notes had absolutely nothing to do with this, wouldn't we."

        Oak nodded, and began typing up something on the computer next to him. "Very likely. After the Pokémopolis researchers had that unfortunate encounter with the giant Pokémon almost six years ago, I asked them to make sure they contacted me about any more tablets they found describing anything else we might want to be wary of, and offered to look up any similar descriptions in other legends to cut down on the risk of problems like that happening again.

        Well, about two years ago they called and gave me their rough translations of a new series of tablets they'd found. These tablets go a long way in figuring out why that civilization collapsed." Oak finished his typing, then turned back to Lance. "I'll e-mail you the details once the database search has finished bringing them up and cross-referencing them to other legends, but there was basically some creature that fed by absorbing a Pokémon's life forces and making the body crumble to dust. Somehow it got imprisoned, but not before striking some very harsh blows to every form of life it could, human or Pokémon."

        Lance winced. The dreaded darkness that eliminated Pokémopolis? Alive, and awake in this time?

        "Another thing- the writer of the particular set of tablets regarding this situation was a lot sloppier than the others in the room: the way he carved out the letters was like he was only a beginner at it. And yet he had it placed within the biggest and most well-made storage chamber that's been found yet, alongside much more elaborate tablets such as the Pokémopolis laws, and other works that they wanted intact for future reference..."

        Lance nodded. "... so it goes to reason that he might have put it in after the chaos had subsided, and was one of the last few stone carvers left alive to write it. Let's hope whoever writes the history books on this won't be in the same boat..."

 

***~~***~~***~~***~~***

 

        As Kanto's primary port town, Vermillion City was always a busy place. Merchants came here by boat, and several shipping companies had facilities here. Travelers from oversees came here first, before going anywhere else in Kanto.

        But today, things were different. Numerous police officers were keeping the ports barred off, and numerous angry tourists were being holed up in their hotel rooms until the crisis ended. This did nothing to help settle nerves that had already been jostled by what some people were starting to call the One-Day World War. Similarly, the area of the Vermillion City limits was a source of frustration to those coming and going- police officers checking over everything they could about everyone who came and went.

        And of course, when you have trainers coming and going and officers looking everywhere in their bags, one has to expect that it will cause a scene somewhere. And at 5:47 PM, that somewhere was on the northeast end of town.

       

        "Well of course that Pokéball's registry doesn't match my Pokédex! I already told you it's not mine!"

 

        The police officer looked at the red and white sphere , and put his Pokéball registry reader back in its storage compartment on the motorcycle, and then turned his gaze back at the dark-green-haired trainer with the olive green jacket. "Then whose is it? And why do you have it?"

        He sighed. "I don't know whose it is. That's what I want to find out. Now can you let me through so I can speak to..."

        "Hold it now! Nobody's going anywhere until you can prove your claim!" The police officer said sternly, his voice raising. "I don't intend to be the first officer reprimanded for simply letting a thief get away!"

        The trainer sighed, and raised his left arm, with the palm facing himself, to bring attention to a large black electronic device attached to it. A PokéTai, or PokéTaizen. It was designed as a compact substitute for the Pokédex, PokéGear, and several other standard Pokémon Trainer devices. He reached up with his right hand, slid open the cover panels for the screen and control panel, and without looking pressed one of the buttons that he knew almost by instinct. The screen lit up, displaying his picture, and a lot of biographical information.

 

        "Tom Anchors, Pokémon Chaser. Relocating dangerous Pokémon and sending lost and injured ones to someone who can help is my job."

 

        The officer blinked, and took a closer look. Sure enough, that is what the biographical information said. And on top of that, the trainer was a local- born and raised in Viridian.

        "Looks like everything does check out then," the officer nodded, the suspicion fading. "Still, I'm going to have to escort you to the station all the same. Team Rocket surprised everyone with what they could do, and the higher-ups will want to double-check that ID's authenticity."

        Tom nodded. "Makes sense. Lead the way."