Had to make a new account to post this since my old one was deleted. 
I will leave after this but I hated to leave this unfinished.
Chapter Eighteen
Coffee Shop Conversations
Karen shivered, inching closer to Aaron as they walked to Mahogany Gym. It was definitely getting colder; it was already December—and Christmas was quickly approaching.
Christmas…
Aaron walked into the Gym alone, relying on nothing but his friends’ “good lucks” for victory.
Will and Aaron entered the local coffee shop in hopes of finding something hot to drink. There was the typical café crowd—a couple chatted happily in one corner. Two businessmen talked earnestly, immersed in conversation. A man sitting by himself stared thoughtfully into a coffee that had been long gone. Another man, this one very young, sipped his favorite coffee—one that he got every day, in fact—while typing on a laptop. Will looked curiously at the screen, but could only make out a few phrases. The words “Aspirations of an Emperor” headed the page, but the rest was blocked and Will felt it would be rude to engage the young man in conversation. Minimized on the screen was a tab that read “NSM Forums – Index”. Karen touched Will on the shoulder lightly and asked him what he wanted, breaking him from his thoughts. He and Karen bought a coffee each and sat in a booth together, the pink on their noses the only color on their faces.
“Hey…” said Will slowly. “Isn’t that…?”
Eusine was buying himself a drink at the counter. He paid the barista and turned around.
“Eusine!” said Karen, waving. “Over here!”
Eusine grinned broadly and came to their booth.
“Ah, hello, my friends!” he said happily. “Might I take a seat?”
“We insist,” said Will, and Eusine sat down next to Karen.
“So, friends,” said Eusine, “what brings you here?”
“Aaron is taking the Pokémon Gym challenge,” said Will.
“Oh, really?” said Eusine, looking mildly interested. “And you, madam, are all right with that?”
“Of course,” said Karen, puzzled. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well…I only wondered…” said Eusine, looking as if he wished he had not spoken. “Anyway, all that matters is that we are here, no?”
“I suppose,” said Karen. “How goes the search for Suicune?”
“Ah, not so good, miss,” said Eusine, his smile fading a little. “A sighting here…a sighting there… but they do not connect, if you catch what I throw. I am hunting all over the region… and yet Suicune stays in the same place no longer than a minute—no longer, I say! It is all very confusing, but I feel that it will be worth it, miss…yes, indeed.”
“That’s good,” said Will, wanting to take part in the conversation. “At least you’re really enthusiastic about what you’re doing.”
“That I am, my friend, that I am,” said Eusine.
Suddenly the PokeGear that was clipped onto Eusine’s pocket started beeping. He jumped and pressed a button on it.
“Sorry, my friends, but I must go!” he said apologetically, racing out the door with Suicune-like speed. “Till next time, miss!”
“Bye,” said Karen, but he was already gone.
They sat drinking their coffees for a silent moment.
“He’s always nice,” said Will. “Not a mean bone in his body.”
“Not one,” agreed Karen.
They sat in silence for a little longer, then the shop door’s bell broke them from their thoughts. A couple was walking in—Oh, no, thought Will in an annoyed way. Not him again…
“What do you want, then?” asked the awkward boy with bright blue eyes and a spiral notebook at his side.
“I’ll take just a hot chocolate, please,” said Margaret of Goldenrod, her teeth chattering.
“Right…” said the Strange Boy. He walked up to the counter and said to the barista, “She’ll have a hot chocolate…and I’ll have…” He scanned the menu in a criticizing sort of way. “…I suppose I’ll have an iced cappuccino,” he said. Both the barista and Margaret looked at him incredulously.
“What?” he asked self-consciously.
“You’re having a frozen drink? In this weather?” said Margaret, looking at the Strange Boy as if he was crazy—which, Will decided, he already was.
“You know where I’m from,” said the Strange Boy, rolling his eyes. “Besides, I could never turn down an icecap.” He paid the barista—he looked slightly confused while handling the money—and they started to head towards the seating area. The Strange Boy paused at the young man who was typing on the laptop, nodded in acknowledgement and said, “Grapefruit” while smiling in that annoyingly superior way of his.
“Quick,” hissed Karen. “Put your head down and act like you don’t notice them.”
Karen herself turned away to look out the window, becoming interested in a bird Pokémon flying overhead.
“Hey, guys!” called Margaret happily. Karen groaned.
“Hi!” said Will, forcing himself to smile.
“Well, this has been nice, Will,” said Karen, a little pointedly, standing up quickly. “But Aaron’s probably finished with his Gym battle right now.”
She dragged him out of the shop, the Strange Boy looking after her in a thoughtful way.
“Ugh, that last thing I needed was to talk to him,” Karen said, rolling her eyes.
Will privately agreed, but was too nice to say so.
Aaron was just walking out of the Gym (Will marveled at the fact that he never got to see those battles) and smiled at them.
“What do you say we head west from here?” he said, and the other two agreed to go into the Ice Path.
“Soon I’ll be done with this Gym business,” said Aaron thoughtfully, “and we’ll be members of the Elite Four. Weird, huh?”
“Yeah…” said Karen. “Weird…”
Thoughts of an approaching Christmas put Karen in good spirits, and she soon forgot about the coffee shop.
Which, of course, was exactly how the Strange Boy wanted it…
Chapter Nineteen
It’s All Ice Under the Bridge
Not surprisingly, the Ice Path was cold. One really only had to look at its name to figure that out. However, none of our travelers thought that its name might actually describe exactly what it is—a path of ice.
“I think that we should try to get through here as qui-quickly as possible,” said Karen, her teeth chattering together.
“Why?” said Will. “I think that Ice Pokémon would be cool to catch.” He paused. “…Get it? Cool?”
Karen gave him a reproachful look and turned to Aaron.
“Wh-what did you do with my j-jacket?” she managed to stammer.
“I think you’re too cool for a jacket,” said Aaron dismissively. He paused. “…Get it? Cool?”
“It wasn’t funny the f-first time!” she seethed, hot with anger despite her freezing body. “Give me my jacket!”
“You don’t have one,” said Will, reading a map absently.
“Yes I do!” she screamed.
“Wait,” said Aaron slowly. “Do you mean that ugly, bright green one? Oh, I gave that to a homeless man I saw on the streets in Goldenrod.”
“WHY?” shrieked Karen.
“He looked cold,” said Aaron blankly.
“NO!” she shouted angrily. “WHY didn’t you tell ME about it, as it was MY freaking jacket!?”
“Well…” he said, frowning. “I thought you would get angry.”
“Why would I be angry!” she shouted, half laughing in a maniacal, highly frightening sort of way. “ME! Imagine that, Will! ME, angry! ME! Can you even SEE why he would think that?”
“Yes,” said Will vaguely.
Karen glared at him, then turned away to face Aaron. Remembering that she was mad at him too, she folded her arms in a way that was half to show her anger and half because she was freezing and needed to hug herself for warmth.
“It’s alright, Kare!” said Aaron brightly. “Look on the bright side!”
“There IS no bright side!” she said hotly. “We are in a freezing, dark, slimy, disgusting, CAVE! A CAVE, Aaron!”
“A cave?” said Aaron.
“YES, AARON!” she shouted, her voice echoing. “A CAVE! A large, naturally hollowed-out place in the ground, or in rock above the ground, that can be reached from the surface or from water!”
“I know what a cave is!” said Aaron, looking hurt. “You take me for some sort of idiot!” She merely looked at him angrily, and he said indignantly, “She thinks I’m stupid! STUPID, Will! Me! Stupid! Can you even SEE why she would think that?” he asked in an offended way.
“Yes,” said Will vaguely. They continued to walk…and walk…and walk… until finally…
“I see a light!” yelped Karen.
“No!” cried Aaron in despair. “No, Kare! Not now! You can’t leave me like this! DON’T GO TOWARDS THE LIGHT!”
“WILL YOU SHUT UP!” she screamed, and raced out of the cave and into Blackthorn City.
Once the other two caught up with her, she was in the middle of town. Unfortunately, it was freezing outside as well, and a small flurry of snow was showering down with great gusto.
“Come…on…” said Karen, shielding her eyes from the gently falling snow. They all trudged against the howling wind, trying to keep the snow from their eyes, when they finally arrived at the Pokémon Center.
They all went inside the Pokémon Center, and Karen collapsed on a couch. Aaron came over and sat next to her.
“Well…” she murmured defeatedly. “At least there’s one good thing about going through that horrible, horrible, cave.”
“What’s that?” said Aaron, looking down at her and smiling.
“That super annoying, arrogant kid with the blue eyes will still be back in Mahogany, meaning that there’s no way he can just pop up and give us mysterious advice and try to seem like he’s all weird and solitary…” she said bitterly.
“He is all weird and solitary,” Aaron pointed out.
“I know,” sighed Karen. “I just hate the way that he smiles. You look at him, and he smiles like he knows something that you don’t. Like he’s soooo intelligent and the rest of us are all fools. No…” she continued thoughtfully. “Not like we’re fools. More like…we’re all puppets. And he’s controlling our strings. You know?”
“I don’t know,” yawned Aaron. “Interesting theory.”
Karen sighed and sat up.
“Anyway,” she said, “we haven’t seen Lucian in a while.”
“Oh, him,” said Aaron resentfully. “I hope we never do again.”
“Mmm,” said Karen uninterestedly.
Suddenly overcome with tiredness, she yawned, leaned onto Aaron and fell asleep.
The next morning, she awoke in a bed, apparently placed there by someone. Today was the day, she realized grimly.
Aaron was going to obtain his eighth and final badge.
The three of them met in the lobby of the Pokémon Center and talked for a moment.
“Good luck,” whispered Karen as she hugged him.
Aaron didn’t say anything, but nodded importantly. He left for the Gym, isolating the other two.
They sat in silence for a little time, when suddenly in the door ran…
“Professor Elm?” said Will incredulously.
Indeed it was.
Elm was not looking good. His hair was uncombed, and he kept running his hand through it worriedly. He looked slightly out of breath.
“Karen! Will! Where is Aaron?” he said urgently. “I need to tell you something about the Pokémon Gym challenge, immediately.”
“Is this what you tried to tell me through my broken PokeGear that day?” said Karen disdainfully.
“Yes!” he said, looking distraught. “I’ve been looking all across the region for you! It seems I was always in your shadow. Everywhere I went, people had seen three kids running around, one with bright green hair. And now, I find you… But I fear it may be too late,” he finished grimly.
“What is it?” said Karen uneasily. She had a strange nauseous feeling in her stomach, like a rider on a roller coaster does just before he takes the plunge down the hill.
Elm began to pace back and forth.
“As you already know, only one of you can take the Gym challenge. This is because something happened with the Johto Elite Four.” He took a deep breath, stopped pacing with, it appeared, some effort, and turned to face them. “There are only two open spots in the Johto Elite Four. However, there is an opening. If the Gym challenge was taken, and completed successfully, that would prove strength beyond belief.” He swallowed painfully. “Anyone who completes the Gym challenge in Johto has no choice but to join the Elite Four in Sinnoh, which is far more powerful than ours here. I’m very, very sorry to have to tell you this, children.”
Karen was in an alternate reality. Everything was moving in slow motion. She heard but she didn’t quite understand. Someone, somehow, must have made a mistake. Elm must have misspoken.
“Not…Johto?” she managed to choke out.
“Not Johto,” confirmed Elm sadly.
“So Aaron will be…gone?” she said woodenly.
“I’m afraid so,” said Elm ruefully.
Karen’s vision was blurred for a second. She wasn’t crying. It was more like her eyes chose to fill with tears; she still didn’t—couldn’t—quite believe what was happening. She wiped them, ignoring the painful lump in her throat.
Elm stood there awkwardly, and after a moment just sat down in an armchair uncomfortably.
Will quietly placed Karen in an armchair of her own, where she sat blankly for a long three minutes until Aaron came back into the Pokémon Center.
“Hey, guys!” he said, grinning broadly, waving his shiny Rising Badge in the air. “Look what I…Kare, what’s wrong?” he said, noticing her and Will.
Karen’s eyes filled with the tears that weren’t tears again as she shook her head firmly. She wasn’t sure what she was saying no to, but she couldn’t quite do anything else.
Elm explained the situation quietly to Aaron, getting up from his armchair. Aaron turned pale with shock as the realization dawned on him.
He sat down on the couch near Karen’s armchair and asked Elm quietly, “How long do we have?”
“You have about three weeks,” said Elm unhappily. “The last ship to Sinnoh for six months sets sail on the first day of the new year.”
Elm must have felt slightly out of place there, because he said an awkward goodbye and left the Pokémon Center.
Aaron and Karen both got up and embraced each other tightly.
“These next three weeks,” whispered Aaron promisingly, “are going to be the best of our lives.”
Karen could still say nothing, but nodded painfully.
She didn’t have to see him to know he was telling the truth.
And Will, feeling that it would be prudent to leave them on their own, went off to bed, wondering…
Chapter Twenty
Exactly two weeks later, December twenty-third, several people across the Johto region—and two in a different one—received a small piece of paper with the following words typed:
“You are invited to come to a party tomorrow night, on Christmas Eve. It will take place in Ecruteak City, at my estate—26 Isolé Avenue. Come or do not come. It is your choice. ~SB”
Among those who received an invitation were Karen, Aaron, and Will. Karen’s read slightly different than all the others—that is, exactly the same, except it was signed “The Puppetmaster”.
Karen gritted her teeth when she saw that—partially in annoyance, and partially because she had to give him kudos for the irony.
The three agreed to go to the party the following night.
I will leave after this but I hated to leave this unfinished.Chapter Eighteen
Coffee Shop Conversations
Karen shivered, inching closer to Aaron as they walked to Mahogany Gym. It was definitely getting colder; it was already December—and Christmas was quickly approaching.
Christmas…
Aaron walked into the Gym alone, relying on nothing but his friends’ “good lucks” for victory.
Will and Aaron entered the local coffee shop in hopes of finding something hot to drink. There was the typical café crowd—a couple chatted happily in one corner. Two businessmen talked earnestly, immersed in conversation. A man sitting by himself stared thoughtfully into a coffee that had been long gone. Another man, this one very young, sipped his favorite coffee—one that he got every day, in fact—while typing on a laptop. Will looked curiously at the screen, but could only make out a few phrases. The words “Aspirations of an Emperor” headed the page, but the rest was blocked and Will felt it would be rude to engage the young man in conversation. Minimized on the screen was a tab that read “NSM Forums – Index”. Karen touched Will on the shoulder lightly and asked him what he wanted, breaking him from his thoughts. He and Karen bought a coffee each and sat in a booth together, the pink on their noses the only color on their faces.
“Hey…” said Will slowly. “Isn’t that…?”
Eusine was buying himself a drink at the counter. He paid the barista and turned around.
“Eusine!” said Karen, waving. “Over here!”
Eusine grinned broadly and came to their booth.
“Ah, hello, my friends!” he said happily. “Might I take a seat?”
“We insist,” said Will, and Eusine sat down next to Karen.
“So, friends,” said Eusine, “what brings you here?”
“Aaron is taking the Pokémon Gym challenge,” said Will.
“Oh, really?” said Eusine, looking mildly interested. “And you, madam, are all right with that?”
“Of course,” said Karen, puzzled. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well…I only wondered…” said Eusine, looking as if he wished he had not spoken. “Anyway, all that matters is that we are here, no?”
“I suppose,” said Karen. “How goes the search for Suicune?”
“Ah, not so good, miss,” said Eusine, his smile fading a little. “A sighting here…a sighting there… but they do not connect, if you catch what I throw. I am hunting all over the region… and yet Suicune stays in the same place no longer than a minute—no longer, I say! It is all very confusing, but I feel that it will be worth it, miss…yes, indeed.”
“That’s good,” said Will, wanting to take part in the conversation. “At least you’re really enthusiastic about what you’re doing.”
“That I am, my friend, that I am,” said Eusine.
Suddenly the PokeGear that was clipped onto Eusine’s pocket started beeping. He jumped and pressed a button on it.
“Sorry, my friends, but I must go!” he said apologetically, racing out the door with Suicune-like speed. “Till next time, miss!”
“Bye,” said Karen, but he was already gone.
They sat drinking their coffees for a silent moment.
“He’s always nice,” said Will. “Not a mean bone in his body.”
“Not one,” agreed Karen.
They sat in silence for a little longer, then the shop door’s bell broke them from their thoughts. A couple was walking in—Oh, no, thought Will in an annoyed way. Not him again…
“What do you want, then?” asked the awkward boy with bright blue eyes and a spiral notebook at his side.
“I’ll take just a hot chocolate, please,” said Margaret of Goldenrod, her teeth chattering.
“Right…” said the Strange Boy. He walked up to the counter and said to the barista, “She’ll have a hot chocolate…and I’ll have…” He scanned the menu in a criticizing sort of way. “…I suppose I’ll have an iced cappuccino,” he said. Both the barista and Margaret looked at him incredulously.
“What?” he asked self-consciously.
“You’re having a frozen drink? In this weather?” said Margaret, looking at the Strange Boy as if he was crazy—which, Will decided, he already was.
“You know where I’m from,” said the Strange Boy, rolling his eyes. “Besides, I could never turn down an icecap.” He paid the barista—he looked slightly confused while handling the money—and they started to head towards the seating area. The Strange Boy paused at the young man who was typing on the laptop, nodded in acknowledgement and said, “Grapefruit” while smiling in that annoyingly superior way of his.
“Quick,” hissed Karen. “Put your head down and act like you don’t notice them.”
Karen herself turned away to look out the window, becoming interested in a bird Pokémon flying overhead.
“Hey, guys!” called Margaret happily. Karen groaned.
“Hi!” said Will, forcing himself to smile.
“Well, this has been nice, Will,” said Karen, a little pointedly, standing up quickly. “But Aaron’s probably finished with his Gym battle right now.”
She dragged him out of the shop, the Strange Boy looking after her in a thoughtful way.
“Ugh, that last thing I needed was to talk to him,” Karen said, rolling her eyes.
Will privately agreed, but was too nice to say so.
Aaron was just walking out of the Gym (Will marveled at the fact that he never got to see those battles) and smiled at them.
“What do you say we head west from here?” he said, and the other two agreed to go into the Ice Path.
“Soon I’ll be done with this Gym business,” said Aaron thoughtfully, “and we’ll be members of the Elite Four. Weird, huh?”
“Yeah…” said Karen. “Weird…”
Thoughts of an approaching Christmas put Karen in good spirits, and she soon forgot about the coffee shop.
Which, of course, was exactly how the Strange Boy wanted it…
Chapter Nineteen
It’s All Ice Under the Bridge
Not surprisingly, the Ice Path was cold. One really only had to look at its name to figure that out. However, none of our travelers thought that its name might actually describe exactly what it is—a path of ice.
“I think that we should try to get through here as qui-quickly as possible,” said Karen, her teeth chattering together.
“Why?” said Will. “I think that Ice Pokémon would be cool to catch.” He paused. “…Get it? Cool?”
Karen gave him a reproachful look and turned to Aaron.
“Wh-what did you do with my j-jacket?” she managed to stammer.
“I think you’re too cool for a jacket,” said Aaron dismissively. He paused. “…Get it? Cool?”
“It wasn’t funny the f-first time!” she seethed, hot with anger despite her freezing body. “Give me my jacket!”
“You don’t have one,” said Will, reading a map absently.
“Yes I do!” she screamed.
“Wait,” said Aaron slowly. “Do you mean that ugly, bright green one? Oh, I gave that to a homeless man I saw on the streets in Goldenrod.”
“WHY?” shrieked Karen.
“He looked cold,” said Aaron blankly.
“NO!” she shouted angrily. “WHY didn’t you tell ME about it, as it was MY freaking jacket!?”
“Well…” he said, frowning. “I thought you would get angry.”
“Why would I be angry!” she shouted, half laughing in a maniacal, highly frightening sort of way. “ME! Imagine that, Will! ME, angry! ME! Can you even SEE why he would think that?”
“Yes,” said Will vaguely.
Karen glared at him, then turned away to face Aaron. Remembering that she was mad at him too, she folded her arms in a way that was half to show her anger and half because she was freezing and needed to hug herself for warmth.
“It’s alright, Kare!” said Aaron brightly. “Look on the bright side!”
“There IS no bright side!” she said hotly. “We are in a freezing, dark, slimy, disgusting, CAVE! A CAVE, Aaron!”
“A cave?” said Aaron.
“YES, AARON!” she shouted, her voice echoing. “A CAVE! A large, naturally hollowed-out place in the ground, or in rock above the ground, that can be reached from the surface or from water!”
“I know what a cave is!” said Aaron, looking hurt. “You take me for some sort of idiot!” She merely looked at him angrily, and he said indignantly, “She thinks I’m stupid! STUPID, Will! Me! Stupid! Can you even SEE why she would think that?” he asked in an offended way.
“Yes,” said Will vaguely. They continued to walk…and walk…and walk… until finally…
“I see a light!” yelped Karen.
“No!” cried Aaron in despair. “No, Kare! Not now! You can’t leave me like this! DON’T GO TOWARDS THE LIGHT!”
“WILL YOU SHUT UP!” she screamed, and raced out of the cave and into Blackthorn City.
Once the other two caught up with her, she was in the middle of town. Unfortunately, it was freezing outside as well, and a small flurry of snow was showering down with great gusto.
“Come…on…” said Karen, shielding her eyes from the gently falling snow. They all trudged against the howling wind, trying to keep the snow from their eyes, when they finally arrived at the Pokémon Center.
They all went inside the Pokémon Center, and Karen collapsed on a couch. Aaron came over and sat next to her.
“Well…” she murmured defeatedly. “At least there’s one good thing about going through that horrible, horrible, cave.”
“What’s that?” said Aaron, looking down at her and smiling.
“That super annoying, arrogant kid with the blue eyes will still be back in Mahogany, meaning that there’s no way he can just pop up and give us mysterious advice and try to seem like he’s all weird and solitary…” she said bitterly.
“He is all weird and solitary,” Aaron pointed out.
“I know,” sighed Karen. “I just hate the way that he smiles. You look at him, and he smiles like he knows something that you don’t. Like he’s soooo intelligent and the rest of us are all fools. No…” she continued thoughtfully. “Not like we’re fools. More like…we’re all puppets. And he’s controlling our strings. You know?”
“I don’t know,” yawned Aaron. “Interesting theory.”
Karen sighed and sat up.
“Anyway,” she said, “we haven’t seen Lucian in a while.”
“Oh, him,” said Aaron resentfully. “I hope we never do again.”
“Mmm,” said Karen uninterestedly.
Suddenly overcome with tiredness, she yawned, leaned onto Aaron and fell asleep.
The next morning, she awoke in a bed, apparently placed there by someone. Today was the day, she realized grimly.
Aaron was going to obtain his eighth and final badge.
The three of them met in the lobby of the Pokémon Center and talked for a moment.
“Good luck,” whispered Karen as she hugged him.
Aaron didn’t say anything, but nodded importantly. He left for the Gym, isolating the other two.
They sat in silence for a little time, when suddenly in the door ran…
“Professor Elm?” said Will incredulously.
Indeed it was.
Elm was not looking good. His hair was uncombed, and he kept running his hand through it worriedly. He looked slightly out of breath.
“Karen! Will! Where is Aaron?” he said urgently. “I need to tell you something about the Pokémon Gym challenge, immediately.”
“Is this what you tried to tell me through my broken PokeGear that day?” said Karen disdainfully.
“Yes!” he said, looking distraught. “I’ve been looking all across the region for you! It seems I was always in your shadow. Everywhere I went, people had seen three kids running around, one with bright green hair. And now, I find you… But I fear it may be too late,” he finished grimly.
“What is it?” said Karen uneasily. She had a strange nauseous feeling in her stomach, like a rider on a roller coaster does just before he takes the plunge down the hill.
Elm began to pace back and forth.
“As you already know, only one of you can take the Gym challenge. This is because something happened with the Johto Elite Four.” He took a deep breath, stopped pacing with, it appeared, some effort, and turned to face them. “There are only two open spots in the Johto Elite Four. However, there is an opening. If the Gym challenge was taken, and completed successfully, that would prove strength beyond belief.” He swallowed painfully. “Anyone who completes the Gym challenge in Johto has no choice but to join the Elite Four in Sinnoh, which is far more powerful than ours here. I’m very, very sorry to have to tell you this, children.”
Karen was in an alternate reality. Everything was moving in slow motion. She heard but she didn’t quite understand. Someone, somehow, must have made a mistake. Elm must have misspoken.
“Not…Johto?” she managed to choke out.
“Not Johto,” confirmed Elm sadly.
“So Aaron will be…gone?” she said woodenly.
“I’m afraid so,” said Elm ruefully.
Karen’s vision was blurred for a second. She wasn’t crying. It was more like her eyes chose to fill with tears; she still didn’t—couldn’t—quite believe what was happening. She wiped them, ignoring the painful lump in her throat.
Elm stood there awkwardly, and after a moment just sat down in an armchair uncomfortably.
Will quietly placed Karen in an armchair of her own, where she sat blankly for a long three minutes until Aaron came back into the Pokémon Center.
“Hey, guys!” he said, grinning broadly, waving his shiny Rising Badge in the air. “Look what I…Kare, what’s wrong?” he said, noticing her and Will.
Karen’s eyes filled with the tears that weren’t tears again as she shook her head firmly. She wasn’t sure what she was saying no to, but she couldn’t quite do anything else.
Elm explained the situation quietly to Aaron, getting up from his armchair. Aaron turned pale with shock as the realization dawned on him.
He sat down on the couch near Karen’s armchair and asked Elm quietly, “How long do we have?”
“You have about three weeks,” said Elm unhappily. “The last ship to Sinnoh for six months sets sail on the first day of the new year.”
Elm must have felt slightly out of place there, because he said an awkward goodbye and left the Pokémon Center.
Aaron and Karen both got up and embraced each other tightly.
“These next three weeks,” whispered Aaron promisingly, “are going to be the best of our lives.”
Karen could still say nothing, but nodded painfully.
She didn’t have to see him to know he was telling the truth.
And Will, feeling that it would be prudent to leave them on their own, went off to bed, wondering…
Chapter Twenty
Exactly two weeks later, December twenty-third, several people across the Johto region—and two in a different one—received a small piece of paper with the following words typed:
“You are invited to come to a party tomorrow night, on Christmas Eve. It will take place in Ecruteak City, at my estate—26 Isolé Avenue. Come or do not come. It is your choice. ~SB”
Among those who received an invitation were Karen, Aaron, and Will. Karen’s read slightly different than all the others—that is, exactly the same, except it was signed “The Puppetmaster”.
Karen gritted her teeth when she saw that—partially in annoyance, and partially because she had to give him kudos for the irony.
The three agreed to go to the party the following night.