A trek through the desert...
Two groups will collide.
He never knew that he, there,
Would meet a new friend.

A couple of weeks after leaving Pikachu Village, our small group of heroes entered the Red Sand Desert. They wearily made their way through to the oasis of Crystal City, the next stop. They didn’t know what awaited them there, or who they would meet, but they would not have been surprised to know that they would soon get caught up in the city’s happenings.

A man and woman walked together through the desert, the sand staining their white uniforms pink.

“I can’t wait to get there,” he said.

“Yes, out of this desert,” she replied, sighing. “But tell me, why are we going there? I can’t remember.”

He stopped and turned around, flabbergasted. “Lily, you know the answer to that, Team Ralsht is the reason.”

Lily laughed, suddenly remembering. “Oh yes, looking for a map…” She smiled innocently at the man in front of her. “I’m so forgetful, Andy.”

“Yes, I know.” Andy turned back around, shaking his head. “But I thought you would’ve remembered something this important.”

She tittered childishly, then looked up at the sky. “Yeah, well I’m kinda concentrating on this damn sand. It’s getting all over our uniforms.” She frowned disapprovingly as she tried to brush sand off of herself.

“So I’ve noticed,” Andy remarked dryly, “but there’s nothing we can do about it, so why don’t we concentrate on the mission?”

“You’re no fun, Lily said, smiling.

“There’s no time for fun right now, Lily. We should be focused on getting to Crystal City.”

Yeah, I know. Get there and find the dumb map.” She stared at the ground as they continued walking again.

Andy turned his head to look at her. “Lily, this is important…” He brought his gaze back in front of him and let a small smile appear on his face. “And we can have fun later.

Lily looked back up, smiling again. “Yeah, you’re right…”

Meanwhile, two others were trudging through the desert, from a different direction, but with the same destination in mind.

“Michael, this sand is killing me. Why do we have to walk again?”

“You know why, Rachel. Our vehicles are broken down and there are no more flying types at the base. Plus, neither one of us ever bothered to catch a pokemon we can ride on.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot.” Rachel blushed at the back of Michael’s head. “I hate this desert, don’t you?”

“Of course, but there’s nothing we can do about it, so we should just grin and bear it. We’re almost there.” Michael looked over his shoulder at his companion.

“Good,” Rachel sighed, “I really want rest, some good food, and someone better to talk to.” She put a dreamy expression onto her face as she thought about the city they were nearing.

Michael arched his eyebrows at her. “Are you saying I’m not good to talk to?”

“Well,” she teased, “All you talk about is how much dirt and sand dirty up your uniform.” She pinched the sleeve of her uniform, which was as red as the sand they walked on.

“I do not.” He laughed quietly. “Sometimes, I talk about you.”

Michael Bolton and Rachel Alvera walked on, heading towards The City of Orphans.

While these two groups are walking through the desert, let us go on ahead, to the Crystal City gym.

The Crystal City gym is a simple building in the middle of town. Its main distinguishing characteristic is its height, three stories shorter than its neighbors. The gym leaders live on the second and top floor of the gym, right above the battle room.

“Jess, are you ready yet?” A girl. About thirteen years old, wearing blue jean shorts and a yellow T-shirt under an open white vest, stood next to the bathroom door, waiting impatiently.

“Yeah, I am, Jenn. Just wait.” Another girl, identically dressed, burst out of the bathroom and glared at the first one, Jenn.

“Why do you take so long, Jess?”

“Why are you so impatient, Jenn?”

The two girls glared at each other for a few moments, then began to laugh. “Let’s go already,” they both said together. They then both threw their arms around each other and began to whisper.

“You’re not gonna tell her who our source is, are you, Jenn?”

“Of course not. No one will hear anything about Remnant from me.”

“You better not.”

They broke away fro, each other and ran for the door. They ran down the hallway, yelling playfully at each other all the way to the end, where they stopped before a narrow door.

“Well, let’s go,” Jenn said, opening the door to reveal a spiral staircase going up. They started up, but Jess turned after a few steps and rushed back to their room.

“I forgot to put my shoes on!” she yelled back to her sister. She came back a couple of minutes later, wearing sky blue tennis shoes.

“Okay, come on.” Jenn shook her head at her sister, then started up the staircase. “You and your shoes.”

They ran all the way up the stairs and then out of the door there. They came out onto the roof and walked over to a metal ladder attached to the outside of the neighboring building. They raced up, calling each other names as they went.

Upon reaching the top, the two girls began to run along the rooftops, crossing over the streets on rope bridges. Our next destination is the same as theirs.

A pair of black-tipped yellow ears poked out of a third story window of a small, nondescript house on the edge of town. The ears were quickly followed by the rest of the pikachu’s head.

“Wow, the streets are crowded today,” the pikachu remarked happily.

“Yeah, and a lot of people are traveling on the rooftops, Amy.” The speaker, a girl about twelve year old, wearing blue pajama bottoms, entered the room.

The pikachu, Amy, turned around and jumped from the windowsill. “Brittney, hey!” She looked up at the taller girl.

“How ya doing?” Brittney asked, a smile on her face, as she glanced outside.

“Fine. You?” Amy turned back around and stared up at the clouds through the window.

“I’m good.” Brittney walked up to Amy and squatted down. She put her arms around the pikachu, then said, “but…”

Amy tilted her head backwards and looked up, her ears brushing against the other girl’s chest. “You know what, Brittney? You’re horrible at hiding things.”

Brittney looked down. “I know. I know.” She sighed. “I just…”

“Just what?”

“Well…” Brittney looked back up and out of the window. “It’s the election. I…”

“Don’t worry, Brittney. I’m sure I’ll win.” Amy smiled. “Aren’t you?”

“Yeah…” Brittney sighed again. “I guess you’re right.” She stood up, smiling now as well.

And now, we have reached the point you have been waiting for–The introduction of our heroes into Crystal City…

“Man, this desert is hot,” Thunder said from Alyssa’s shoulder.

“Tell me about it.” Alyssa wiped her brow, then smiled. “But we’ve made it to town now. Maybe we’ll be able to cool off in that house.” She pointed at a three story house at the edge of town–Amy’s house.

“I hope so,” Sammy said, a small smile forming on his previously exhausted face. “I can’t take this heat.”

They walked up to the house and knocked on the door.

After waiting for about a minute, the door opened to reveal Brittney. “Hello,” she said, then turned around. “Come in. I’ll get Amy.” She walked up the stairs, leaving the four travelers dumbfounded.

Red Vest, from Sammy’s shoulder, said, “What was that all about?”

“Don’t know, Pikachu,” Thunder answered.

Sammy and Alyssa walked inside and waited at the bottom of the staircase.

After few minutes later, a pikachu–Amy–came hurtling down the stairs and into Alyssa’s arms. Everyone looked at Amy quizzically as she slowly lifted her head from where it had landed on Alyssa’s chest, to peer, ashamed, into the other girl’s face.

“H-Hello,” Amy said, “Uh, welcome to my house…” She gestured weakly at the stairs and nearby hallway, then jumped down to the floor and eyed Thunder. “I’m Amy. You are?”

They all stared at her for a few seconds before Thunder said, “I-I’m Thunder. It’s, uh, nice to meet you.” He continued to stare at her while she whirled to face Sammy and asked him the same question.

“Uh, name’s Sammy,” he answered, rather taken aback by the way she acted.

“Nice to meet you, Sammy.” Amy then turned to Alyssa and blushed, her cheeks going a deeper red. “Sorry for that, uh, accident. I didn’t mean to jump on you.”

“It’s okay Amy.” Alyssa stared down the hallway and her stomach rumbled.

“Are you hungry?” Amy stopped blushing and started walking down the hallway. She stopped at the first door and looked back towards the travelers. “If you are, follow me.”

About thirty minutes later, as Amy and our travelers were eating sandwiches in the kitchen, Jess and Jenn, the gym leaders, came running in.

“Amy,” Jenn shouted as she, along with her sister, entered the room.

“We need to talk to you,” Jess finished, in a quieter voice.

Amy put her sandwich down on the table and glowered at the two girls. “What is it, you two?” She looked and sounded exasperated, but Jess and Jenn showed no sign of unease.

“We need to talk to you,” the girls said, “alone.”

“What is it now?” Amy stood on a stool, facing the twin gym leaders.

“We know what you think, Amy,” Jess replied, “but this time it is big.” She gave her sister a threatening glare while the puzzled mayor looked back and forth between them.

“You see,” Jenn starting in, “two members of Team Liberation are heading this way.

“What!?” Amy looked shocked at the news. “How do...” She broke off and shook her head. “Never mind. It’s your mysterious source, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Jess said.

“You got it,” Jenn chimed in.

The three girls sat there, thinking, for a minute.

“Well, what should I do?” Amy sounded tired as she talked, looked it when she slowly stood back up.

“Well, your guests should leave. Those Team Liberation guys will be heading here…” Jess turned to her sister, who was smiling.

“And I for one don’t think those guys’ll want to be here when they do.” Jenn let out a short giggle.

“You’re right.” Amy sat back down. “You two can take them to your place.”

The twins glanced at each other. “Why our place?” they asked together.

“One of my guests wants to battle ya’ll for the badge,” Amy said, placing emphasis on the word ‘guests’.

“Oh,” the other girls said, still in unison, “That sounds like a good idea.”

“Yeah.” Amy hopped off of the stool and headed out of the room, Jess and Jenn following.