Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. And that's probably a good thing, if you really think about it. ._.

A/N So, this chapter is coming out a week after I'd wanted it to, but oh well. Still better than making people wait a year, amiright. :3

Anyway, I hope you like this. And in case it isn't obvious, this chapter takes place on the same day as the chapter before this. So nothing packed with action, but hopefully you'll still have fun with it. After all, I do like to please my readers. :D

Enjoy!

OoOoOoOoO

Chapter 13: Upping the Ante

Three hours.

Three dang hours.

That was how long Lyra had been toiling away at the game corner, trying to see how many coins she could rack up. So far, she'd been pretty successful; the only things she actually paid for was fifty coins and a case to put them in. She'd soon learned that as long as she stayed away from the slot machines and anything involving dice, she could rack up quite a bit of game corner currency.

Never underestimate a kid when playing pool, Lyra thought. She had a table at her own house that had been there since she was nine. Playing with Gold for hours at a time at least twice a week had served her well. While she was no professional at this game, she could really destroy casual players who didn't take her seriously.

A few adults had made that mistake when Lyra had challenged them to a game. Apparently deciding that she'd be an easy source of coins, they'd agree to play, and they'd paid for it. Literally.

But after doing that and a bit of poker with a couple of people her age that she'd run across, Lyra had decided to quite while she was ahead. So here she was at the counter where the game corner prizes were kept. They were all trainer-related, and all quite nice, if she did say so herself.

She walked slowly along the length of the counter, studying some TMs through the glass. Swords dance, protect, safeguard, and . . . ooh. Ice beam.

"Nice," Lyra said quietly to herself. Marill could use this. "Hey, sir?" she called, waving to an employee behind the counter. "How much does TM 13 cost?"

"Hmm?" he said, walking closer to her. "Oh, that one's ten grand."

Her jaw dropped. "Ten thousand coins? Are you kidding me? I don't have enough for that." Lyra felt distinctly disgruntled. "I've been in here for literally hours, and I don't even have five thousand."

"Well, there's more than just ice beam TMs here," the man said. "There's substitute and swords dance and . . ." As the man rattled of list of affordable items that she'd already looked at, Lyra's gazed drifted over to a sign hanging on the wall behind him.

"Wait a minute," she said, more sharply than she had intended. "There's a list of pokémon back there."

"Hmm?" he said, looking at her in confusion for a second before pulling himself together. "Oh yeah, those! We got some really nice ones here—and really affordable too! In fact," he said, looking briefly at the sign before turning back to her, "you could afford any one of those! You interested?" he asked, looking at her expectantly.

"You . . . sell pokémon here?" she asked incredulously, trying to wrap her head around that. "You sell them?!"

"Yep!" the man said, oblivious to Lyra's horrified expression. "We've got a great selection here. You interested?" he repeated.

Lyra examined the sign again. The so-called "great selection" wasn't very extensive, and, with the exception of dratini, mostly consisted of pokémon one could fairly easily find in the wild. Ekans, sandsrew, abra . . . it was almost silly.

Lyra couldn't help but find herself morbidly curious. Where were the pokémon kept? she wondered. What did their quarters look like?

"Uh, ma'am? You doing okay?" The man was now staring at her in concern.

"What?" she said distractedly. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. So, is it okay if I go look at the pokémon?"

"Yeah, sure," said the man, shrugging. "I guess. The door's right here next to the sign . . . I think. I've never actually been back there."

As he talked, Lyra slipped under the counter and approached the door. "Thanks," she said as he opened the door for her. "Be right back." She quickly slipped in and closed the door behind her. She scanned the dimly lit room, waiting for her eyes to adjust and wondering why they didn't have better lighting in here. She took several steps forward.

And was almost instantly hit with a foul stench, nearly making her gag. The entire area smelled of rotting meat and bodily waste. Lyra yanked the collar of her shirt up to cover her mouth and nose, trying to chase away some of the nausea. It didn't work.

"Ya want somethin' here, kid?" a deep, gravelly voice suddenly said.

Lyra gasped and whipped her head over to her right. An old man—a good seventy years old at least—stood about ten feet from her. He wore a janitor's outfit that looked like it needed a good washing, and was leaning against a dirty mop. He was staring at her with a surprisingly sharp look in his eyes. Lyra thought she probably looked pretty stupid with half her face underneath her shirt, but the man didn't seem aware of it.

"Uh, well . . ." she began, having lost the ability to form an intelligent response.

"Yer not even s'posed to be back here," he interrupted, still staring at her. His attitude was far from welcoming, but he didn't look angry either. "But since yer in here anyway," he continued, "ya might as well take a look 'round if yer wantin' to buy." The man jerked his head in the direction of a hall with lightbulbs lined up in the middle of the ceiling. "Jus' don't stick yer hands the cages."

"Thanks," Lyra said weakly after a short pause. Her voice sounded somewhat muffled through her shirt, and she wasn't even sure the man had heard her. But he had already turned around and started mopping the concrete floor, so she supposed it didn't matter either way. She walked into the hallway, where things were a little brighter. What she saw next brought her nausea back full force.

The walls were lined floor to ceiling in metal cages, where Lyra caught the occasional glimpse of pokémon through the bars. Most of them appeared to be sleeping, and the rest moved about sluggishly. None of them seemed to even notice Lyra's presence.

"They come in 'ere like that," the janitor said abruptly, causing Lyra to jump. She hadn't realized he had followed her down the hall. "Lookin' like that, I mean."

"So nobody's complained about the conditions they're in?" Lyra asked, appalled. "They don't buy a pokémon here and wonder why it looks like it's about to die?" She knew she was beginning to sound demanding, but she really didn't care.

The man didn't seem to notice her tone. "I wouldn't know. Nobody's gonna run over ta me 'n complained," he said. "'Sides, there're a couple o' nice ones." He made a vague gesture in the direction of the opposite end of the hall, where Lyra could hear loud scratching sounds. "Lotta the sandshrew look okay. Same with the abra. They sell out pretty quick—don't have a lotta time to get too sick, I s'pose." He leaned casually against the cage-covered wall. "It's the dratini 'n the ekans we got some trouble with. Guess they're a sickly sort." The man shrugged. "Not that I know anythin' about pokémon in the first place."

". . . Ah," was all Lyra could think of to say. This information was not helping her nausea go away.

"So, ya gonna buy?"

"Um . . ." Lyra thought carefully. On one hand, most of the pokemon looked tired and ill. It would likely take a while for them to recover, making them almost useless in battle. And Lyra, well, she wanted to battle.

On the other hand . . .

"Yeah," she said, finally letting go of her shirt to expose her face. "Yeah, I wanna buy.

"Well, if yer sure." He turned around and made his way back to where he came from. "I'll be up front," he called out over his shoulder. "Come 'n get me once ya make yer choice."

"Um, okay." Lyra began her trek down the hall again, inspecting each inhabitant as she passed by. Most of the cages were filled with either ekans or sandshrew. And the man was certainly right about one thing—the ekans weren't doing well. While most of the sandshrew looked healthy and active enough, the ekans seemed barely lucid. When Lyra, momently forgetting about the janitor's orders, stuck her finger in one the cages and lightly poked one, it barely even twitched.

"You guys need some sunlight, don't you?" Lyra muttered. She knew enough about ekans to know that they needed more heat than what this place provided. That made her wonder about the sandshrew. They were warmth lovers too, but looked a lot better off. But then, the man did mention something about them not staying around long. Maybe these were new shipments.

Towards the end of the hallway, she spotted her first dratini. As she crept closer, she noticed that it seemed unnaturally still. One look at its blank, lifeless eyes told her why.

At this point, Lyra had lost count of how many times she'd felt sick while in this place. "Uh, sir?" she shouted towards the front area. "I think the one over here's dead."

"What?" he shouted back. "A dead one, ya say? Just leave it there. I'll take care o' it later."

Lyra cringed at his dismissive tone. "Okay." She began to walk back, looking over the cages again and trying to come to a decision. She had just over forty-five hundred coins. How many pokémon could that buy? If she remembered correctly, both the ekans and the sandshrew cost seven hundred each. She couldn't remember the price of dratini, but the only one she saw was dead anyway, so it really didn't matter. The abra, she thought, might have been the cheapest there. Maybe she could get a small variety. Just as she was walking back to the janitor to ask about the price of abra, she heard the door swing open.

"Hey!" an angry voice shouted, making her jump. "What the hell is a kid doing here?"

She turned around and found some middle-aged man wearing a cheap-looking suit standing there with a very angry look on his face. Luckily for Lyra, it seemed to be directed at the janitor instead of her. Though that probably didn't mean anything good for him.

The old man shrugged. "Somebody at the counter let her in, I guess," he said, looking unconcerned.

"Humph. Probably a new employee," the other man muttered. He turned to Lyra and his expression softened considerably. "Okay, listen here, sweetheart," he said patiently. "Nobody's supposed to be allowed back here except for staff. We don't want the poor pokémon to get stressed. So why don't you head on out?"

Lyra eyed him suspiciously. "I haven't picked out a pokémon yet," she said.

"Oh, by all means do!" he said hurriedly. "But you don't have to be here to do that. Just wait at the counter, and—" he glanced at the janitor, and his face went blank for a second. "Uh, this man right here will take out whatever kind you want, and we'll have someone bring it to you."

Lyra crossed her arms. "But I'm here anyway," she said.

"She's got a point," the old man muttered under his breath.

The man in the suit shot him a rather nasty look before turning back to Lyra. "All right, fine," he said. "Just be quick about. Remember what I said about stressing the pokémon. And just so you know, the sandshrew and ekans are nine hundred—"

"Seven hundred," the old man interjected sharply. "They're seven hundred coins."

"Oh, are they?" Suit Guy said, looking more annoyed than surprised. "Seems a little cheap to me."

"What're ya doin' here anyway?" Mr. Janitor asked. "Yer supposed to be at one o' the card tables."

"That's none of your business," Suit Guy huffed. "I have my reasons."

Lyra was beginning to feel a little forgotten. "Um, so should I just go ahead and . . ."

Suit Guy waved a dismissive hand. "Yeah, sure," he said, not even looking at her. He was too busy glaring daggers at Mr. Janitor, it seemed.

Lyra scampered down the hall once again, flicking glances every which way as she went. She skidded to a halt next to one of the ekans cages. This one seemed to have more pokémon in it than some of the others. She wondered why the cages were so unevenly filled. Come to think of it, why did there need to be cages anyway? Couldn't they have just been stored on pokéballs for the time being? It all seemed so nonsensical to her.

Lyra tried counting how many there were in the cage. It was hard to tell with them being huddled together in the back of a dark cage like they were, but there looked to be about six or seven. They were a variety of sizes, with the smallest one she saw being about the length of her forearm, and the biggest one probably longer than her whole body—and she was almost five feet tall. The cage wasn't even that wide.

As she stared, some began to slither over, eyeing her curiously. One of the bigger ones, she noticed, seemed to have a very swollen right cheek. She cringed.

"Found what you want?" Suit Guy asked, walking up to her and looking into the cage. "These are all very nice specimens—you'll do well with any of these."

Lyra was inclined to disagree. She pointed at the one closest to them. "That one has an abscess in its mouth," she said. "Do these things get any kind of medical care?"

"Of course they do," Suit Man said, as though Lyra had said something entirely absurd. "But these pokémon were all rescued from very poor conditions. Of course there are going to be some in rough shape. But they're all bound to clean up nicely."

"Where do they come from, exactly?" Lyra asked suspiciously. "They all look like they're about to die."

"Well, I think you're exaggerating a little bit," Suit Man said. "So, do you want to pick one out? I can have that man over there," he said, pointing to Mr. Janitor, who was still up front, "take a couple out if you want."

"Um, sure," Lyra muttered, even as Suit Guy called out to Mr. Janitor to come over. Without a word, the old man grabbed a ring of keys hanging from his belt and unlocked the cage.

"Ya want me to just start pullin' 'em out?" he asked.

"Yes," said Suit Guy. "Just don't—"

"I was talkin' to the kid," Mr. Janitor interrupted. He turned to Lyra and looked at her expectantly, completely ignoring Suit Guy's insulted look.

She rubbed the back of her neck, feeling self-conscious. "Yeah, sure."

Mr. Janitor reached in the cage and, with an unexpected amount of gentleness, pulled out the first one. The ekans, to Lyra's surprise, didn't put up a fuss. Without preamble, Mr. Janitor, handed it off to her and reached into the cage for another. Soon, Lyra found herself holding five dirty, wriggly ekans in her arms. Mr. Janitor was holding another two.

Well then. Seven slippery serpents to choose from. After doing some quick math in her head, she realized that she had enough for six of them.

"I'd like to buy them all, please," she said, formulating a strategy. "I'll pay full-price for six of them. Then, since this one," she said, shrugging her shoulders to indicate the ekans that had settled there, "has a bad mouth, I think you should give me a discount."

Perhaps Suit Guy was growing tired of standing around here, because he didn't even try to protest. "Fine," he said. "How much of a discount are you asking for?"

"Just take my whole case," she said. "It has enough for about six and a half ekans." She swiveled on her heel, stumbling slightly under the weight of her cargo, until her back was facing Suit Guy. "Just reach into my backpack. It's in the main compartment, right at the top."

Suit Guy looked very uncomfortable, but he nonetheless unzipped her backpack and pulled out the case. Lyra turned back around as he opened the case and scanned it briefly. "That looks about right," he said. "Now you," he continued, addressing Mr. Janitor, "can show her out through the back." And with that, he turned and strode out of the cold room without another word.

Well, that happened.

"Hey," Lyra said distractedly, barely noticing that her arms were beginning to ache from the strain of carrying her new pokémon, "do you think that guy was even allowed to negotiate prices?"

Mr. Janitor Shrugged. "Probably not," he dismissively. "Now c'mon this way. I'll show ya the way out."

Lyra followed him as he went down the hallway once again and took a left at the end. There on the far wall was a door with a sign over it that helpfully told them that this was an exit.

Once they reached the door, Mr. Janitor opened it for her. Lyra nodded her thanks as she walked out with her burden and plopped down on the ground and leaned her back against the building. They were in an alleyway of sorts where a couple of dumpsters and trash bags sat. Grass and weeds were sticking up through cracks in the concrete, and there was a large amount of graffiti on the brick walls.

Lyra turned her attention back to the matter at hand. She put the ekans on her lap and took off her backpack, which was still unzipped. She mumbled a quick "thank you" to Mr. Janitor when he placed the other two ekans next to her.

"Lookin' fer some pokéballs?" Mr. Janitor asked, watching as Lyra searched her backpack.

"Yeah," she said, smiling triumphantly as she found a handful. "Here's hoping I have enough. And that nobody decides to break out. You guys aren't gonna break out of these, are you?" she asked, to which none of them replied. "Because if you do, it's gonna take a while to get to the pokémon center."

Mr. Janitor, who seemed in no hurry to get back to work, watched as she pulled out her seventh and final pokéball. "Welp," he observed, "looks like ya got just enough."

Just as he said that, though, the puffy-cheeked ekans gave Lyra an almost apologetic look as it opened its mouth . . . and deposited two tiny ekans onto her lap.

"Or not."

Lyra stared, slack-jawed, at the now regular-looking ekans and its passengers. "I have a smuggler on my hands," she whispered as the new discoveries, who were both less than half a foot long, looked around in confusion. All the other ekans seemed unsurprised by all of this.

"Hmph. Figures," said Mr. Janitor. "Can never know what a snake's up to. Well, I s'pose they'd fit in yer bag.

Lyra gave him a look of disbelief. "Don't you realize the gravity of this situation?" she demanded. "Now I'm basically stealing! I'm a burglar!"

"Thief," the man corrected. "Yer only a burglar if yer breakin' in."

Lyra waved her hand dismissively. "Technicalities," she said. "Okay, so I'm a thief. Or am I? Because I didn't mean to take anything. But I still took them illegally—oh my gosh. I broke the law. Just wait 'til my dad hears about this. He'll be so mad. Or my best friend. He'll be so jealous. Or my other friend. She'll be so disapproving. Or my other pokémon. They'll be so—"

"Just relax about it, will ya?" said the man, sounding entirely unconcerned. "Nobody's gonna miss 'em. "'Sides, not like they were brought 'ere legally anyw—" Suddenly, his face lost its unworried appearance, and he clamped his mouth shut.

"What?"

"Nothin'."

"No, seriously," Lyra insisted, "how did the game corner get them?" She leveled a glare at the man, who just shook his head.

"Not tellin' you anythin'," he said. "Not like I know much anyway. 'Sides," he said, casting a quick glance around the alley, "the more ya know, the more trouble yer gonna get in."

Lyra pursed her lips and looked at him suspiciously. "Does this," she asked, "Have anything to do with Team—"

"Shush!" the man whispered harshly, and Lyra flinched and shut her mouth. Even the ekans around her looked startled by his outburst, and drew back into the safety of her lap. "What?" Lyra asked, more quietly this time.

"Don't say that name 'round here," he said. "Yer jus' gonna get in trouble. An' don't asked any more questions like that."

"Why not?"

"Jus' don't." Apparently being finished with the conversation, the man turned to leave.

"Wait!" Lyra almost shouted. "I just have one more question," she said imploringly, and the man turned back around.

"Yeah?"

"What's your name?"

For the first time since she saw him, the man actually looked surprised, and he stared at Lyra silently for a moment. Just when she though he would simply turn on his heel and leave, he answered. "Charles."

Lyra smiled. "Nice to meet you, Charles. I'm Lyra," she said, extending a grubby hand towards him.

Charles stoop slightly to grasp her hand and give it a firm shake. "Nice t' meet ya, Lyra," he replied, and Lyra thought he might have even smiled for a second. "I'll be seein' ya."

While she doubted the truth of that last statement, Charles' words still made her smile. But before she could give a suitable farewell to him, Charles turned and walked back into the building. This time, she didn't try to stop him.

Once he was gone, Lyra sighed deeply. She turned back to her charges, who had wandered a little away from her and were looking around at the alley. "Okay, guys, here's the plan," she said, and they turned in her direction. I'll put all the adults in the pokéballs and the babies straight in the backpack. Then I'll take you all to the nearest pokémon center. That all clear?"

A few of the ekans nodded in assent, though the rest (minus the hatchlings) looked rather glum. Lyra hurried on. "It's just for now," she assured them. Once everyone's in good shape, I'll let you do whatever you want. I can release you, or send you to my grandparents' place. Either of those options means you never have to be in a pokéball at all. Another option is trying to find someone else to look after you. Or you could come with me. Okay?"

More nods, this time from all the adults. "Good, good," she said. "All right, let's start with you." She took a pokéball and pressed the button against the forehead of the largest one, expecting it be sucked in.

But nothing happened.

"What?" she muttered under her breath. Was this a dud ball? She tried out a different one, which had the same effect. She stared at the seemingly useless item, thinking deeply. The only time a pokéball didn't react the way it was supposed to was when . . .

Then something in her brain clicked.

"Wait, you've been captured before, haven't you?" Lyra asked. "You had a trainer once."

The ekans nodded. Its unenthusiastic reaction to Lyra's proposition made much more sense now. Lyra looked up at the others.

"Um, let's see," she said. "Whoever has not been captured, just nod."

Of the six adults remaining, only two of them nodded. Lyra cringed. "Yeesh. Okay, you two come forward and I'll get you settled," she said, and they slithered closer to her. Within seconds, she had them safely inside their new pokéballs. The youngest ones also went in without a problem.

"And now," she said, grabbing the remaining five and standing up, "off we go."

OoOoOoOoO

Lyra drew a few stares as she struggled slightly to stay upright on her way to the center. She had put the largest ekans on her shoulders, and another had managed to wrap itself around her backpack. That left her with only three in her arms. But with their combined weight, she was having a hard time. But still, she made it to the center without falling over.

Once inside, she half skipped, half stumbled over to the counter. The nurse stationed there, instead of giving her a smile or even a confused stare, simply looked at her sadly. "Game corner?" she said without preamble.

"Uh, yeah," Lyra said. "How did you . . . actually, never mind. Anyway, a little help here?

The nurse nodded. "Here, come with me," she said, leading her around the counter and through a nearby door.

Lyra looked around the wide hallway she was now in. It was just like a human hospital here, with its slick white tiles, pale walls, and the sickly smell of antiseptic permeating the air. She didn't have much time to look around, though, as she was quickly lead into an empty room. Once they were inside. The nurse helped her remove the ekans clinging to her and set them on a metal table lined with wax paper. The nurse turned to her. "Just wait here," she said. "I'll be back with you in just one second, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," she replied with a brief nod. When the nurse left, she silently released the others onto the table. Almost immediately, they all gathered together and looked at her expectantly. Lyra cleared her throat. "So, yeah, this is the pokémon center," she said, feeling a little awkward with so many eyes set on her. "The nurse will be here in a minute and—oh, there she is."

True to her word, the nurse was quick to return, this time with a clipboard in her hand and a chansey in tow. "Okay, let's see what we can do for—oh." She blinked at the crowd of ekans sitting before her. "Were there that many when I was first here?"

Yeah, about that. . . ." Lyra spent the next minute giving an abbreviated version of the events that led to her acquiring her posse. All the while, the nurse was looking over each of the ekans, occasionally jotting down some notes on her clipboard.

". . . And then that one suddenly just spit out the babies, so yeah, that's how I ended up with nine of 'em. Then it turned out that only four of them could get in the balls, which is why I had to carry most of them."

"Formerly owned, then," the nurse said with dawning comprehension. She sighed. "Well, this complicates things. But before we get into any of that, let's take care of these."

The next hour or so consisted of giving the ekans a thorough washing, then putting them through all sorts of medical tests. Lyra watched as each and every one of them had their blood drawn, received X-rays and MRIs, and were carefully weighed and measured. Their heartbeats, oxygen levels, and even their blood pressures were examined.

After that, they were put in a healing machine to fix some minor injuries, mostly some scrapes and bruises. Some of their physical problems, though, would take more than just a few minutes to heal. All of them were malnourished, and most had respiratory problems. Their white blood cell counts were down, which made them much more prone to infections.

All this meant that the pokémon were given a round of shots, and Lyra had to spend some time filling out prescriptions for antibiotics. She was also given information on what specific food to buy for them.

After all this was done, Lyra was finally allowed to leave. She already knew what she was going to do next. She was going to travel back to the daycare center and drop off all the previously-owned ekans and any others who wanted to stay there. She'd discuss payment plans with her grandparents once she was there.

Lyra didn't even bother to change out of her dirty clothes before heading off. She wanted to get to her destination before the sun set, so she wasted no time. As she stood in a rather seedy subway train traveling to the city's edge, she sent out a text to Gold, asking him to meet her at the daycare if he had time.

Something tells me you're gonna be way too excited about this, she thought dryly. I wonder if you're in the market for an ekans or two. . . .

OoOoOoOoO

Gold and his crew walked briskly down Route 34, heading towards the daycare. Why Lyra had wanted to meet up there, he had no clue; she'd been awfully vague about it, and simply told him that something interesting had happened today. Not awesome. Not awful. Interesting. Gold was intrigued.

He'd been considering telling Lyra he'd see her tomorrow, after he'd battled Whitney. But after getting Eevee, he'd decided more training was order before he went to the gym.

The pokémon in question, who plodding along next to him, spoke up for the first time since they'd left the city. I wonder if someone died, she said drearily. I bet someone died.

Nobody died, Eevee, Quilava replied. With her being about ten feet in front of everyone, Gold couldn't see her face, but he would bet money that she'd just rolled her eyes. Gold would know if that happened.

I suppose you're right, Eevee replied. Maybe they're just dying.

Uh, you know, Aipom said hesitantly, maybe it's good news?

That doesn't happen in movies, so I doubt it, Eevee said. Unless it's a romantic comedy. But so far, nothing funny or romantic has happened, so I doubt we're in a rom-com situation.

Okay, we're here, Gold announced, not feeling like getting into the others' conversation. He returned everyone to their pokéballs before climbing up the porch steps and letting himself in. Walking into the living room, he looked around, but didn't see anyone. He cleared his throat and tried calling out her name, hoping he had been audible.

Apparently he had, because Lyra's head immediately appeared from the doorway leading to the kitchen. She was grinning broadly. "There you are!" she said. "Come over here, I have something to show you." She disappeared back into the kitchen without another word.

When Gold walked in, he saw Lyra waiting for him at the kitchen table. He took a seat across from her and looked at her expectantly. 'I thought you were gonna show me something?' he said.

Lyra nodded. "I am," she said, "but first I think you need some backstory. You know the game corner?"

'Yeah. Why?'

Lyra looked unusually solemn. "Did you know that they sell pokémon there?"

Gold gaped at her. 'What?! Since when?'

"I talked to my grandparents—they're upstairs right now, if you were wondering—and they said it's a pretty new thing. Maybe that's why people haven't been talking much." She leaned towards him slightly. "I went to where they were kept. It was horrible."

Then she went on to tell him about the pokémon they were selling, what their living conditions were like, and how she came to be the owner of not one, not two, but nine ekans.

"And they're all in horrible shape," she said. "And what sucks even more is that there's a whole lot more of them still stuck in that place."

'But you saved a bunch of them,' said Gold. 'So that's something.'

Lyra shrugged with one shoulder. "Yeah, I guess. So," she said, brightening up a little, "you wanna come meet them?"

'I thought you'd never ask,' Gold said, immediately getting out of his chair. 'Hurry up!' he said impatiently.

Lyra leapt from her seat, all traces of melancholy gone in a flash. "This way!" she said, as she raced out the door, Gold at her heels.

She led him to one of the smaller pens her grandparents had. Gold recognized it as one of the places that they would put the occasional sick or injured pokémon. Lyra opened the chain-link gate, and they walked over to the shelter on the far side. The ekans gathered just outside the shelter looked up at the two approaching them.

"Hey guys, I have someone I want you to meet!" Lyra announced. Though she was still signing, her words were clearly not directed at him. She plopped down on the grass, pulling Gold along with her as she did so.

One of the ekans slithered forward. Our trainer said that she had a friend who could speak to pokémon, the ekans—a he, Gold believed—said. Are you him?

Gold nodded, wondering if Lyra had said anything else about him. Yeah, that's me. Nice to meet you.

To his surprise, the ekans actually smiled at him. Nice to meet you too, he replied. We, he said, gesturing the others behind him, were discussing things before you came here. I'll let Ekans explain. He backed away and let the largest of the group come forward. This ekans nodded at Gold in greeting, and he nodded back.

We've come to an important decision, Ekans said in a distinctly feminine tone. Your friend has allowed us to decide what to do with ourselves. Most of us, she said,gesturing to the others, would like to stay here. We are not battlers; we simply want to live in peace.

Gold nodded, then relayed the information to Lyra, who also gave a short nod. "I can understand that," she said, signing for Gold's benefit. "But you said most. Who has other ideas?"

He does, Ekans replied, looking in the direction of the first one who first spoken. Ekans, please come forward.

The male ekans slithered closer. I want to battle for your friend, if that's all right. I think I'd be pretty useful, he said, puffing up slightly. I'm pretty fast, I heal quickly, and I'm a great smuggler. He smiled proudly. And I'm really good at swallowing foreign objects and throwing them right back up again.

That's . . . nice. Okay, I'll let Lyra know. He translated quickly for Lyra, who grinned brightly and pumped her fist.

"Awesome!" she said. "Okay, Ekans. From now on, you're part of the team."

'Your collection's growing pretty fast,' Gold observed, watching as the rest of the ekans gathered around the new party member and appeared to be congratulating him. 'Your four to my three. Not too bad.'

'Technically, I have twelve,' Lyra replied silently. 'But whatever, you're only nine behind me. Don't feel too bad.'

'Technicalities.'

'Whatever helps you sleep at night.'

As the group was celebrating, no one noticed a group of darkly dressed figures watching them from afar.

OoOoOoOoO

A/N Did any of you guys ever find it weird that the game corners actually sell pokémon? Gold and Lyra certainly think it is. Oh, and Lyra's (and Gold's) pool-playing skills are more or less a reference to the Pokémon Adventures manga, where Gold really seems to be into pool and card games. I just thought it'd be a nice little touch.

Next chapter's actually going to have some action, if you can believe it. :O It won't come out as soon as this one did, but I'll try to not take forever and a half.

Oh, and out of curiosity, I have a question about Eevee. What do you think she is going to evolve into, and/or what are you hoping for?

If there's anything you really don't like about this chapter (or something you DO like!), review away. I love to hear from you guys! :D

See ya later, Feraligatr!

~Geek