Sheryl wasted no time in telling Sabrina what had happened. She told Saffron's Gym Leader of Destiny's disappearance, of her fears for the Kirlia, who was goodness only knew how far away by now. She had no clues as to why Destiny had vanished, just a strong suspicion that Jack Sandford was somehow mixed up in it. But suspicions would not help locate Destiny; that would require someone with the ability to read auras, to sense Psychic waves.

"Sabrina," Sheryl ventured, "can you sense Destiny's presence anywhere?"

Sabrina shook her head. "Sorry, Sheryl," she replied. "My speciality is telekinesis. I can sense Psychic waves, but you'd need a Channeler to help you locate your Kirlia."

"A Channeler?"

"There are many in Lavender Town," said Sabrina, refering to the small town to the east of Saffron. Since it lacked a Pokemon Gym, it was of limited interest to most trainers, who often passed through it on the way to cities which did have Gyms. But it did have something else, a spooky old tower populated by the Ghost Pokemon Gastly, Haunter and Gengar. It was even said that Sabrina's Haunter had originally come from there, but Sheryl had never set eyes on the Tower herself; she had only heard the stories of passing trainers, many of whom had had somewhat hair-raising encounters with the Ghosts.

" . . . and I think Ruby would be best. She specialises in locating lost Pokemon."

Sheryl was jolted out of her thoughts by Sabrina's words. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

"Ruby," Sabrina replied. "One of the Channelers I was telling you about. She's the one you must seek." She looked at Sheryl gravely. "Take your Espeon and go to Lavender Town. Find the Channeler called Ruby and you will find your Kirlia."

Jack Sandford was feeling extremely pleased with himself, pleased enough to start whistling a little tune. Finally, he had that Kirlia in the bag (in the literal sense of the term) and he wasn't about to lose her this time. She was his whether she and those losers at Saffron Gym liked it or not. And just let that girl - Sharrie or whatever her name was - come looking for him . . .

It did not bother his conscience that he was breaking two of the most fundamental rules of the Pokemon League. For not only had he stolen another trainer's Pokemon, with the addition of the Kirlia, he now had seven Pokemon in his party. Six was the maximum number of Pokemon a trainer could carry at once - that was one of the first things new trainers were taught, along with basic battle techniques and Type match-ups. But all this mattered little to Jack; all he cared about was the fact that he finally had that Kirlia.

In his mind, he pictured the looks on the faces of his friends when they saw he had a Kirlia, a rare Pokemon. They would be so envious! And so what if he had to bend the rules to get that Kirlia? He hadn't been able to catch her legally, so where was the harm in using slightly more . . . unorthodox methods?

Unfortunately, he was so busy fantasising about being the envy of his friends that he failed to notice that the string he had tied round the neck of the sack to hold Destiny inside was coming undone as though of its own free will . . .

Destiny shook her head as she, still unseen by her captor, crawled out of the sack. She had hated it in there; being grabbed and plunged into a stuffy bag was not her idea of fun, especially when it was followed by being whisked off to goodness only knew where. And she especially hated this boy - why did he want to catch her so badly? She did not trust him and she was going to escape again. She was going to Teleport back to Saffron City, back to Sheryl and Lilac.

But, just as she was about to use Teleport, Jack glanced round and saw her. He grinned evilly. "So? Thought you'd gotten away again?" he gloated. "Looks like I'll have to teach you a lesson . . ." Before Destiny could stop him, he pulled out a Poke Ball and threw it. "Poochyena, go! Deal with this Kirlia!"

In a flash of light, Jack's Poochyena materialised. The Dark Type Pokemon, said to possess an expectionally keen sense of smell, growled threateningly and prepared to teach the Kirlia a lesson. "Bite Attack," Jack said in a deceptively calm voice, watching as Poochyena opened his mouth to reveal pearly white fangs. Poochyena then ran forward, preparing to clamp down on Destiny and put her out of action.

But Destiny was ready for him. She knew by instinct that Psychic Attacks were not going to work against a Dark Type, but maybe she could use some of her other Attacks, such as . . . Shock Wave. She powered up, then brought her hands together as bolts of lightning began to shoot out from her body. Jack was taken completely by surprise and, before he could do or say anything, his Poochyena was hit.

"GRRR!" Jack snarled as Poochyena fainted and he called him back. "Right, Kirlia! Try your luck against these!" With that, he released all his other five Pokemon at once - Donphan, Fearow, Machop, Zangoose and Kingler burst out of their Poke Balls in a flash of light. Destiny could have taken any one of them alone, but she stood no chance against all five.

Just as Jack's Pokemon began to advance on her, Kingler brandishing his claws and clapping them together with a sound reminiscent of clashing swords, she Teleported . . .

Meanwhile, Sheryl was in Saffron City's main bus terminal, waiting for the bus to Lavender Town. In her pocket, she carried two Poke Balls, one of which held her Espeon, Lilac, while the other was Destiny's empty Ball. Feeling its round smoothness, she recalled the day she met the Kirlia in an alley and brought her back to the Gym to be cared for. She remembered the strange mind-meld Destiny and Lilac had performed, a pledge to remain ever loyal to Sheryl and to each other. And, silently, she vowed to find the Kirlia no matter what it took.

Someone was making announcements, the words directed from loudspeakers on the walls.

"Bus arriving from New Bark Town. New Bark bus arriving at Stand 4."

"Will all passengers for Viridian City please report to Stand 7?"

But she paid it no heed. She was only interested in the bus that would take her to Lavender Town; none of the others mattered. The distance between Saffron and Lavender was little over three miles, a distance Sheryl knew she could easily travel on foot. But she wanted to get there as quickly as possible and, with Destiny gone and Lilac unable to learn Teleport, this was the fastest way. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper with the words:

10 Tower Lane
Lavender Town
Kanto

written on it. This was, Sheryl had been told, Ruby's address and she wondered what the woman would be like. She had never met a Channeler before, so she wasn't entirely sure what to expect. There would be psychic powers involved - she knew that much - but, beyond that, she had no way of knowing what Ruby would do to locate Destiny . . .

Just then, an announcement cut through her thoughts. "Will all passengers for Lavender Town please report to Stand 2?" This was what she had been waiting for, so she hurried over to where the single-decker bus was loading up with passengers. Like all the buses in the terminal, it was painted with the livery of the Kanto Bus Company, the stylised image of a Pidgeot emblazoned on its sides, but its lack of a luggage compartment marked it out as a local service vehicle, not a long-distance coach.

Before long, Sheryl found herself handing over the money for a half-fare single ticket to Lavender Town. She took a seat near a notice reminding passengers to keep any loose Pokemon they might have under control, then waited for the bus to start moving.

The journey to Lavender Town proved relatively uneventful. The only thing that happened was a man (who boarded just after Sheryl) getting into an argument with the driver, who said the man's Aggron was too big to travel loose on the bus. The man would have to either pay an additional fare for the Aggron or put it in its Poke Ball - he refused to choose either and ended up being told he couldn't board at all. Company policy, the driver said; large Pokemon had to be kept in their Poke Balls while travelling unless their trainers paid for them to occupy a seat. And really huge Pokemon such as Snorlax could not travel loose at all. So the man had stalked off, swearing loudly, his Aggron following behind.

Presently, the bus stopped in a small town dominated by a spooky looking tower. This was Lavender Town and the tower was the legendary Pokemon Tower, home to a colony of Ghost Pokemon. The term "Ghost Pokemon" was, Sheryl knew, a misnomer; Ghost Pokemon were as alive as any other Pokemon and were only called "Ghosts" because they had certain ghostlike characteristics, such as the ability to float through walls . . .

As if on cue, a Gastly suddenly floated into view as if from nowhere. It spotted Sheryl and floated over to her, its large eyes bulging. "Gastly," it said in a deep voice, hovering level with Sheryl's face, then turning and floating away a short distance. "Gastly!" it said again.

It took a moment for Sheryl to realise it wanted her to follow it. Then, she grew suspicious; Ghost Pokemon were well known for being mischievous, fond of playing tricks on humans who let their guard down. What if this Gastly wanted to lure her into a trap, to use her for its own amusement? Sheryl's hand moved instinctively to the pocket which held Lilac's Poke Ball. "Keep back!" she warned, pulling the Ball out. "Or I'll set my Espeon on you!" Ghost Pokemon (with the exception of the Ghost/Dark Sableye and Spiritomb) were, she recalled, weak against Psychic Attacks, the Gastly line especially so since they were part Poison Type. But, at the same time, Ghost Attacks were strong against Psychic Pokemon . . .

"There's no need to do that."

Sheryl, still poised to release Lilac, turned at the sound of the voice. The speaker was a woman in her mid-fifties, with greying brown hair and piercing blue eyes, who wore a blue skirt and a white short-sleeved blouse. And, in her hand, she held a Poke Ball, which she now pointed at the Gastly. "Gastly, return!" she commanded, drawing the Gastly into the Ball as she spoke. She then pocketed the Ball and looked at Sheryl closely. "You must be Sheryl."

"Y - yes, I am." Sheryl was taken aback at being addressed by name by someone she had not even met properly yet. "But how did you know?"

"Because . . ." The woman looked at Sheryl with a mysterious smile. " . . . I foresaw your arrival."

It took a moment for the woman's words to register. Then, Sheryl realised what she meant. "So you're Ruby?" she asked, trying to disguise her surprise at the woman's perfectly ordinary appearance. She had expected a Channeler to wear long robes or carry a crystal ball under her arm, but it had never occured to her that they might look as normal as anyone else.

"Yes," the woman replied simply. "And I also sense that you are searching for something, a Kirlia."

Sheryl nodded. "Sabrina said you might be able to help me," she added. Then, she told Ruby the whole story, of the day she found Destiny and brought her back to Saffron Gym, of the special bond she and the Kirlia had formed between themselves, of the boy who claimed Destiny was his Kirlia, of the moment she woke up to find Destiny gone . . .

Ruby listened without interupting, occasionally nodding her head in understanding. Then, when Sheryl had finished speaking, she looked at the girl urgently. "Do you have something which bears the Kirlia's signature?" she asked. "I need it to locate her aura. Anything will do - as long as it belongs to the Pokemon I'm trying to trace."

Sheryl thought for a moment. What did she have that belonged to Destiny? Then, it dawned on her - Destiny's Poke Ball. Once a Pokemon was successfully captured, its signature was imprinted on the Poke Ball which caught it; at the same time, the Ball transmitted a signal to the Pokemon Storage System, registering that Pokemon's capture and ensuring that no Poke Ball belonging to another trainer could catch it unless its original trainer released it first. So, Sheryl thought, it shouldn't be too difficult for Ruby to use Destiny's Poke Ball to locate her. She pulled the Ball out of her pocket and held it out.

"Is that your Kirlia's Poke Ball?" asked Ruby.

Sheryl nodded.

"All right - follow me and I'll do the rest."

Ten minutes later, Sheryl was inside Ruby's house, gazing round at her surroundings. Ruby's front room looked decidedly ordinary, not at all what she had expected from a Channeler's house. There was a brown three-piece suite, a table with a potted plant on it, a painting of a man and his Mightyena hanging over the mantelpiece . . . in short, the sort of things one would expect to find in any middle-aged woman's house. The only thing out of the ordinary was the bookshelf; while most women's bookshelves contained rows of paperback romances, Ruby's contained books with titles like "Secrets Of Ghost Pokemon" and "Enhance Your Mind Power". Sheryl recognised the latter from classes at Sabrina's Gym.

Ruby sat down opposite her, then asked for Destiny's Poke Ball. Still wondering where all this was leading, how it could help her find Destiny, Sheryl did as she instructed, then watched as Ruby closed her eyes and clasped her hands round the Ball. "Yes!" the woman said finally. "I sense something - a Kirlia! And she is troubled. She is far from the one she trusts above all others. I see . . . I see a boy, a boy who believes the Kirlia is his!"

"I know about that boy," Sheryl cut in. "What I want to know is, can you tell me where Destiny is now?"

"Patience, child - let the visions come to me in their own time . . . Yes! I see a city with a Pokemon Gym dedicated to Water Pokemon!"

"What else do you see?"

"I . . . I sense the Kirlia within the city. She is at the Pokemon Centre, waiting for you to come to her. But I also sense Team Rocket! Hurry, child! A Kirlia is a valuable Pokemon, one which will earn whichever Rocket manages to catch it a high reward."

Sheryl digested this news in silence, relieved to hear that Destiny had escaped from her captor but alarmed that an organisation like Team Rocket was in the same area. And where was the boy who had tried to claim Destiny in the first place? Sheryl had a feeling that he was somehow mixed up in all this and resolved to deal with him if they ever met face to face. First, though, she had a Kirlia to find. She thought about what Ruby had said, in particular the reference to a Water Pokemon Gym. She knew of two Gyms which specialised in Water Pokemon, the ones in Cerulean and Sootopolis, but Sootopolis was far away, in Hoenn. She could only hope the city in Ruby's vision was Cerulean.

"Thanks," she said. "It's not much to go on, but it's a start. I'll head to Cerulean and check there." With that, she got up and turned to leave, but Ruby stopped her.

"Wait - you'll need this when you find your Kirlia." Ruby handed Destiny's Poke Ball back to Sheryl, who pocketed it and turned to go, frowning to herself. Her first encounter with a Channeler had not been at all what she had expected, but at least she now had some idea of where she was going to look for Destiny - Cerulean City, the Water Pokemon capital of Kanto.

With that thought uppermost in her mind, she exited Lavender Town to the north and set off on the road to Cerulean.