"Aww, oh geez," Indigo said as he opened his gifts and spied the Art Museum ticket along with the contact information of the fashionista. He was taken aback, unable to think of anything to say. He'd never been good with words, after all.

"You shouldn't have," he said quietly, but smiling. "But thanks. I think they're amazing gifts." He gave Cynthia a gentle hug. "Thank-you again, Mama G. We'll definitely go to the museum when you're feeling a little better."

Margo nearly jumped to the rescue, wishing to hug Cynthia and tell her it was nothing, not to worry about the gift. She felt bad for making her cry, but she was touched that Cynthia had really enjoyed her gift. She smiled at Dan and Indy as she presented them with gifts as well--it was a gift fest apparently and Margo was happy to see Dan and Indy's responses to Cynthia's kindness. "Thank you very much, ma'am." Margo repeated her thanks to the woman, hoping that she understood she really appreciated the gesture.

She stole a quick glance over at Indy, wondering when they would meet this breeder. Perhaps they had different practices in Kanto compared to her own family; it'd be an interesting meeting if she would be able to tag along. Her eyes moved over to Dan, wondering when they would meet his new pokemon as well. So many new surprises and gifts in this loving home.

Cynthia wiped away the tears of joy in her eyes as Indy spoke up.

"Thank-you again, Mama G. We'll definitely go to the museum when you're feeling a little better."

Cynthia smiled and looked towards the ground."Well then, I don't think that'll be any time soon. she said grimly.

The silence was palpatating after the comment and even the bright and happy Celia had nothing to say and instead excused herself.

"Well, uh" Dan said, trying to break the silence. I got you a present, Indy did too." Dan put his backpack on the ground to dig out his present.

"Indy, you show her what you got first, might as well save the best for last anyhow." Dan said jokingly
Cynthia looked towards Indy puzzled, wondering what he had gotten.

"Daniel? Get me a present? How'd you convince him to do that?" She said jokingly to Indy.

"Oh, it took about 3 days of nagging him, but I finally got him to get you something," Indigo replied nonchalantly before punching Dan on the shoulder playfully. "Nah, just kidding. He's the one who gave me the idea for once." Indigo retrieved the delicate, fragrant freesia blossoms from the table. "They're good for the windowsill and they smell pretty amazing." The sweet, sharp scent of the bell-shaped blooms wafted into their senses.

"Indy, how sweet," Cynthia replied, smiling. "They're lovely."

"Butterfree and I will make sure they stay healthy," Celia chimed in. "Not too bad, Indy."

But Cynthia, of course, was probably most eager for her son's present, Indigo thought. And this reminded him of his own parents. He was in town, was he supposed to visit them? Is it bad if I don't want to? After they found out about me just using their money to vacation all day for two months... I haven't scrounged up nearly enough to pay them back. I feel a little guilty, but, I think I'm just not gonna mention I'm in town. It's just gonna be weird. Content to live in the moment and not worry, Indigo focused on the fragile but resilient family before him.

Dan had just managed to find and grab the necklace box before the short conversation between his Mom and Indy.

Dan presented the lavender box "I hope you like it. It's a necklace, a pearl necklace."

Cynthia took off the top of the box, revealing an elegant necklace, bits of pearl woven together and connected by a stainless steel chain, it looked rough to wear though.

"Oh Daniel, thank you so much. It's absolutely beautiful, I love it." She said, beginning to shed tears of happiness yet again as she put on the necklace. Despite looking a bit uncomfortable to wear it was actually the opposite, fitting comfortably on her neck.

"You three have really outdone yourselves." She said, Celia and Dan both chiming in

"I think it looks amazing on you mom!"

"Yea mom, it looks nice."

"Thank you two. I think dinner will be here soon." Cynthia said, looking at the clock.

Not but a minute later, a knock on the door. Celia stayed sat on the counter, while Cynthia drove to the door, and answered it.

"Hey, Chris, honey." She said, Dan quickly looked up towards the door, a tall, well-built and tanned man stood there, with a signature, radiating smile.
"Dad?" Dan said as he rushed to the door and hugged his father. "Weren't you on another trip?" He said as he broke away.
"Hey Cynthia." He said as he kissed Cynthia on the forehead
"On a trip? No, I wouldn't miss your visit for anything in the world. I already don't see you too much!" He exclaimed loudly. While though he wasn't around very often, Dan's father always had that signature voice and look.

Chris walked into the room, placing a bag of food on the counter
"Dan, you mind Unpacking the food?"
"No, I got it."
"Indy! How've ya been you rascal?" He said walking into the living room, next to his wife.

He noticed a girl off to the side.

"Hm? Who might you be? I know you ain't my son's girl," He said as he leaned over and whispered "My son doesn't swing that way if you didn't know." He said, while though Dan hated it, his dad always did this, spill secrets he didn't want people to know. Especially concerning which way 'he swings'.

"Hey Mr.Chris," Indigo replied to Daniel's father's booming introduction and jovial laugh. "I've been alright!" He wasn't as close to Chris Gareth as he was with Daniel's mother, and as such, had a different moniker for him. That was made evident enough as Dan's father made some weird and inappropriate joke, if anyone could call it that.

Indigo cringed. They were certainly uncomfortable remarks. What kind of dad does that? He grimaced, feeling the secondhand embarassment. Maybe I can change the conversation? "Uhhhmmm, hey so, my first pokemon was a Torchic! You guys wanna see her? I've got a Vivillion, too. Celia you mentioned you had a Butterfree..?" Anything, Indigo thought, so that Daniel wouldn't need to be subjected to such outlandish, insulting mannerisms.

Margo watched everything around her like an outsider looking in, occasionally smiling and nodding in order to make herself appear more engaged than she was in the familiar conversations everyone was having. Her actions were exacerbated once Dan's dad made his appearance, her face falling in slow-motion once she heard what he said.

He couldn't possibly be serious, could he? She didn't know his mannerisms, but she felt as if any parent saying something like that to a total stranger would be completely uncalled for and grossly misinterpreted as a joke. She didn't even know what to say in response, just looking at Chris with the most tight-lipped hint of a smile that she could muster.

Her eyes flitted towards Dan for a moment, hoping he would understand that she wasn't judging him or anything to that effect from learning this new thing about her companion. Margo also hoped that Dan knew how his father was and this wasn't a new thing for him--how even more awkward would that be to be put into a family scuffle, especially when she was yearning for her own family being in this house?

Margo was thankful for Indy's big mouth, looking at him with eyes of a gracious peasant before an offering of food. "My first pokemon happens to be a Squirtle, I'm sure he would feel right at home in this beautiful waterside city." The artist piped up, wishing to move the conversation along as well, even if it meant she might have to take rowdy little Crowne out of his ball.

The silence was palpitating and awkward, nobody really cared for, if you could even call it one, the Joke made at his son's expense.

"Chris, Really?" She scolded as she whispered to him "I know you and your buddies with Team Rocket make these jokes but not around the kids." She said, turning towards Indy.
"I never really got too into pokemon, but I remember my mother having a pidgey. We had to let her go, something about her falling in love with another pidgey from the wild."
Celia ran to her room and quickly back brandishing a shiny Pokeball "Yup! Butterfree in here, Dan gave her to me when he left, she's super strong now! I bet he could beat a gym all by herself!" She said happily.

Dan Chimed in "Butterfree, obviously, but...well ya know, gave it to Celia and all. As for first official Pokemon? I would say Turtwig, although he's grown into a Grotle now." He said, avoiding saying his grass types nickname out of embarrassment. "What about you dad?" Dan said as he handed plates to everyone, A dish of chicken and salad for each, and 5 pills of medicine for his mom specifically.

Chris thought long and hard "Hm. Well, my first pokemon was a Spearow when I was a kid, but when I joined up with my current work, I got an Ekans. He's my pride and joy, er... Next to my family of course. But as you know I 'collect' plenty of pokemon. My job requires it after all." He said, purposefully avoiding saying where he worked, hoping nobody had heard his wife drop the ball on it earlier. He didn't enjoy doing it 100% but, it got the bills paid.

Indy was most definitely uncomfortable with the setting now. Having known Dan for a decent while now, asking what his father did had always been hush hush. But now it was all out and spilled in the open. This is so weird. She just said it outloud for everyone to hear... Finding out that Dan's father was part of Team Rocket, an old and disbanded gang of thieves, had certainly not been what he imagined. Not able to think of anything to say or do, however, he nodded, and said, "right, right, gotcha." He opted to keep his mouth shut for the rest of the meal, hoping it would end soon. Even training was better than this.

Margo tilted her head out of curiosity at the mention of a Team Rocket. She didn't know much about them, being from Unova, but she wondered if they were similar to Team Plasma. She didn't know much about them either, but she did know that they weren't good people and her mother had always warned her to stay away from anyone who seemed like they might be aligned with them. Dan's father was a part of a team of bad men? He didn't seem bad... just... well, she wasn't sure what word she would use, but he didn't seem evil by any stretch of the imagination.

She was thankful the girls of the family jumped on the change of subject, nodding enthusiastically as Celia retrieved her prized pokemon. It was cute how excitable she was. Margo turned her attention to Dan as he handed her a plate of food, smiling thankfully and mouthing the words silently. The girl followed Indy's lead and nodded at the conversation around the table but didn't have much to add, opting to look at her plate and savoring her food.

Food and conversation had gone mostly quiet after everyone started digging into their food, Dan enjoyed chicken and while though it wasn't his favorite it was always good from time to time.

After finishing eating, Celia went to bed to get up for school the next day while Dan explained that Margo was going to be staying in the Pokemon center, leaving Cynthia more than a little disappointed but she understood.
"I put so much effort into that room, but at least you won't have to sleep on the couch, Daniel." She said quietly. The night went on with time, everyone went to bed.

Indigo, per usual, was the last to wake up the next morning. Lazily, he was flicking through the functionalities the pokedex provided. Surprisingly, he could surf the internet on the little device, and Dan's house had pretty decent wifi.

Since they were in Kanto, he was looking for things to do. Something laid back for sure he thought. Of all the locations, Pewter, Saffron and Mt. Moon were nearby. However Pewter City had a museum of fossils, and that captured Indigo's preference quickly. Maybe I'll suggest it when I go down. Speaking of, I guess I should get ready...

After refreshing himself with his morning routine, Indigo headed to where everyone was eating.

"Morning all," he said, grabbing some oatmeal and granola from the pantry. "Sooo I was thinking, Pewter City's having a day at their fossil museum where people can enter in for free. Crazy, right? We should totally go. They're always adding the historical exhibits and I think it'll be fun."

Margo felt bad about Cynthia making up a room just for her, but at the same time she had a phantom feeling that if her mother ever found out she slept under the same roof as a boy, she'd be in for it. It was a strange feeling, knowing that her mother would never find out, but nonetheless the dread fell over her and wouldn't stop nagging at her--new Margo was trying to get her way, but in the end Margo felt that the pokemon center would be the better option. She thanked Dan's family for having her over and made her way to the pokemon center; she liked Cerulean City, it was quite a beauty.

The next morning, Margo had gotten up earlier and went across a nearby bridge, finding herself wandering to the edge of the city and enjoying the sun coming up over the horizon. She had let all her pokemon out to enjoy the water and fresh sea air, each of them finding something to do while Margo let her mind wander.

Eventually, she pulled herself from her thoughts and checked her pokedex for the time, figuring it was probably safe to head back to Dan's house and see what everyone wanted to do today. She felt her anger for Indy slipping, as if it was losing traction the more she thought about it. Yes, she still wanted to show Indy a lesson for what he did to that poor Burmy, but she felt as if maybe he had learned something from Jack that day already. Perhaps she could cut him a little slack for the time being--maybe Cerulean was a neutral territory for them.

Margo knocked at the door of Dan's house--she had grown worried when it took Dan a bit to open the door, wondering if she had gotten the house wrong--and joined Dan for breakfast. She had left Crowne out of his pokeball from her walk back to the city, and was surprised that the Squirte was so docile in the house. It was as if he had manners around other trainers somehow. Indy had come down shortly after she got to the house. She sat at the breakfast table with Crowne in her lap, hugging the little turtle to herself as if he were her personal safety blanket; Crowne didn't mind the affection, and actually enjoyed it most of the time. Hearing Indy's suggestion, Margo couldn't help but make a slight face. The idea of looking at rocks all day seemed... boring. However, she supposed these two would know where to go and what to do in this region, and thus conceded to the idea of fossils.

"Yea... I suppose learning a little bit of history wouldn't hurt." Margo agreed aloud, glancing at Dan, awaiting his opinion on the idea.

Dan hadn't slept well last night, his mind racing with all sorts of things and the most important but grim: Is my Mom gonna make it much longer? These thoughts swirled after seeing her but he did best to hide it, he could tell she was getting worse and fast. After a while though, even his swirling brain couldn't stop his body from shutting down and inevitably falling asleep.

He was the first to wake up among his friends, with a Yawn he jumped out of bed and took care of his hygiene and checked on his Pokemon, all were sleeping in Dan's room except Burmy (And Grotle, as he was too big to fit in the house and this, had to stay in his Pokeball), he was nowhere to be found. Dan checked up and down and eventually found him in the kitchen trash, his coat now a pink and trashy, Dan wasn't about to pick THAT up.

"Gross" he muttered

"What's gross?" Celia said happily as she packed for school, Dan's dad already waiting outside to take her.
"Morning, didn't know you were up. Dang school starts THIS early?" he said as Celia walked over and checked the trashcan

"What is it and why is it pink?" She asked as she snuck a piece of candy into her bag
"Burmy, it's a bug type, like butterfree but...cooler," He said as Celia started walking towards the door.

"Yea right. anyways I gotta go! bye!" She said as she rushed out the door.

"Bye." Dan said.

Soon enough, everyone got up and breakfast was almost made, courtesy of Dan.

"It's almost ready mom!" Dan shouted to the next room as Indy walked into the living room with a 'Morning' and Margo joining shortly after.

Indy suggested his Idea while grabbing oatmeal

"Oh wait, I was gonna make you some pancakes and bacon, it's much better than Oatmeal. Anythings better than oatmeal. I do think that's a good idea too, the museum I mean, it was always fun when mom took me." He said plating some bacon "Margo, you want Pancakes, bacon?" He asked.

"Oh, thanks, I'll take a pancake or two," Indigo said, accepting a fluffy stack of pancakes. "The heavier stuff isn't my style though, but thanks." He took a seat at the table, munching on his oatmeal with fresh fruit and peanut butter mixed in.

After breakfast, Indigo released his Pokemon outside for some quick fresh air. Kovi flew to the top of the house and gazed around with his sharp eyes at the new scenery. Hawka and Mimi immediately began to play with each other, seeing who could jump higher or who could outrun who. The two were competitive with each other, but their rivalry had mellowed out into something much more friendly at least.

There was some lull time as the breakfast dishes were cleaned up, the dinner table tidied, and Indigo got ready for the museum. It took about an hour and a half but soon everyone was in the car with Indigo volunteering to drive, and they were on their way.

They parked and arrived at a good time. The museum wasn't overly crowded, and hopefully it would continue as such. The building was large, painted and built to look like a fossil, keeping in line with the prehistoric theme. The foyer was minimalistic with a few chairs, and signs advertising what displays were being shown at the present. Splitting into threee wings, each one had different things to showcase. Whether it was the Evolutionary stone exhibit, the Canalave cave drawings display, or the fossil showcase, each wing was spacious and gleaming. The precious stones, fossils, and artifacts locked behind glass cases so clean that the displays practically looked like they had been left out in the open.

Indigo ventured to the Evolutionary stones exhibit. The jagged chunks of what appeared to be rock and crystal exuded mysterious energy, even when stowed inside a tank of glass. "Cool," he said, reading the informational plaques. "This is awesome. Dan? Margo?" He pointed to the silver stone with a moon carved inside. "I think that's my favourite. A moonstone... They're said to be from outer space."

@prettydrops@TheForgottenArc@iKatamalicious

As the crowds walked about merrily, a devious plot was under the works. The plan had been months in the making. Everyone was in their places, and it was finally time to follow through.

All at the same time, the lights were short circuited; every exterior window in the evolutionary stones exhibit was covered in a thick oily substance, and the garage style doors were dropped to section off this particular wing of the museum.

Under the cover of darkness, with the help of night vision goggles, the three thieves went to work. Each one of them would silently take as many stones as possible, starting with the most valuable ones. They would use the keys they copied the week before to open the plexiglas cases instead of trying to smash them open. They had all the time in the world to do it too, because they had already disconnected the backup generator as well.

The only other people in the exhibit were three teenage tourists (Dan, Indy, and Margo). The three experienced thieves would be out the side door before any of them even knew what was happening. At least, that was the plan...

Museums had never really been Dans thing, he'd never seen the appeal in looking at stuff that wasn't doing something cool. The only exhibit to catch his attention was one that showed off the fossil of a long extinct pokemon.

"Hey, Margo. This is pretty cool? But, Aren't there scientists who could revive this one? I mean, its been done before." He said as Indy drew his attention to another boring rock. "Yea cool is a word you could use." He said sarcastically as the lights shut off. "What the..." He said as the shutters of the building dropped. Other than some light rustling, Dan couldn't see a thing "Indy! Have Hawka light this place up...I can't see a thing but somethings not right." He said urgently as he gripped the ball of his Burmy (Trash-Coat).

"What the hell?!" Indy muttered when the lights, without any warning, suddenly turned off. Confusion grew to fear when the sound of the heavy wing doors suddenly slammed shut. Not that he knew what the sound was exactly, only that it was loud and startling. He bumped against the display behind him, startled, only to pull away with his arm covered in a strange, oily substance.

What was happening? He wiped his arm against his shirt. There was no shuffling, the faint sound of clicks. Dan spoke up but Indigo responded, "I can't really have her do that," whild furiously trying to scrub his arm of the strange liquid on it. Hawka may have been a fire type, but she didn't have a fiery tail like a Charmander did, nor did she know any moves that consisted of stationary flames such as Willow Wisp. Her Ember and Fire Spin moves were long range projectile moves that she couldn't exactly control. And, if she did utilize them, it would most likely burn the building to a crisp. Perhaps if they had something to light, but they didn't.

Before they could continue their conversation, a voice cut through.

"Shit, there's kids in here?"

"Take 'em hostage. We don't got time for this."

At these words Indigo's blood turned icy. Hostage? No, this couldn't be. But before he knew it, he practically felt the pounding footsteps coming closer. Louder and louder. There was no time. This was bad. Think! What could be used to light their surroundings?

And suddenly, an idea.

"Mimi! Kovi! Foresight and String Shot, go!" With the burst of light that accompanied the Pokemon released from their pokeballs, their surroundings were lit for just a moment, revealing their trio and the 'bad guys as the only people in the wing. That was ideal then, Indigo thought. At least they didn't have to worry about other civilians being involved.

Foresight was a useful move that identified opponents. Though it was still dark, the figures in the room lit up with a faint blue glow briefly. Mimi jumped on Kovi's back. With the Vivillion's brilliant Compound Eyes ability, they had a better shot of trapping their opponents. Not to mention Mimi doing a great job of communicating to Kovi where their enemies were. Indigo hoped they could trap at least one thief, if not all of them.

The Buneary took it even a step further, grabbing the ropey silk with her paws and jumping around nimbly in tight circles around the opposing humans, tying them up with the strong fibers. She was a difficult target to hit.

Sleep Powder or Stun Spore would have been better, but Indigo couldn't risk himself, Margo, or Dan from being exposed to the attack.

The next few seconds would reveal whether they were successful or not. Still, even if the men were String Shot and captured, the trio had the opponent Pokemon to deal with, as made evident from flashes of light on the opposite side of the wing. Even if they're tied up, I guess their Pokemon can still come out,. What Pokemon did they have? What are we in for, Indigo wondered. Still, all they had to do was hold them off until the police came, hopefully?

Margo, despite her initial resistance to the idea of the museum, was enjoying looking around at the exhibits. Like she had said earlier, history couldn't hurt anybody, and maybe they would all learn something while they were here. The evolutionary stones were quite pretty; the elements had been captured within these pieces of rock and danced around with untapped power. She had kept Crowne out of his pokeball, the squirtle dawdling along next to her happily enough.

When she got to the water stones on display, she decided to show her little water-type, bending down and picking him up. The turtle rested his chubby arms on the glass and looked down with sparkly eyes. Margo let out a little giggle as he made a gasping noise, a little water bubble coming out of his mouth. She perked at the sound of her name, looking at both Dan and Indy's objects of interest. She had to admit that the prehistoric pokemon fossil was a little cooler than Indy's moon stone, but then again she had thought the water stones were quite pretty. For some reason, she wondered if engagement rings could be made from those elemental stones--wouldn't that be something?

Darkness? Margo clutched Crowne closer to her chest suddenly as she blinked quickly, wondering if she was having a stroke. The girl bumped into Indy in the inky black, Crowne making a sound of disapproval as he was pushed into the oily substance on Indy's shirt. The poor squirtle squirmed in her grasp, but Margo refused to let go of the pokemon while they were in the throes of an apparent hostage situation.

She tensed as she heard footsteps pounding towards them, unsure of what to do with herself. She wished she could be brave and have her pokemon do something to help, but for some reason she was frozen and didn't have anything to say or do. Crowne seemed frustrated with the lack of action, looking up at his trainer with an expectant expression that she couldn't see.

Indy however seemed to take hold of the situation, hatching a quick plan and putting it into action. Seeing the flashes of light of the criminal's pokemon, Margo still couldn't bring herself to do anything. She wasn't sure what was coming over her--was she truly being a coward all of a sudden? She was cursing herself into the ground before she finally was able to regain use of her vocal chords, barely.

"C-Can anyone see what pokemon they have?" She was embarrassed by the way her question came out as a whimper.

A voice rang out in the darkness, "You idiots! I told you there were three kids in here before we cut the lights. You weren't supposed to attack them. Now, we're out of time. We gotta go!"

On the other side of the room, a door was opened. A flood of light entered the room. After being in complete darkness, the sight was a little disorientating. In the doorway, a man dressed in all black stood, holding the door open for his partners. With one hand, he held a bag of loot over his back. Beside him, on the ground, there was an Octillery, which he promptly retreated back into its Pokeball with his free hand.

His two partners, who were hit with string shot, ran for the door, each one carrying a bag on their back as well. Their movement was slightly impaired, but the more they ran, the more the strings began to relax their grip and the faster they could move.

A long as the kids didn't immediately give chase, they would be able to escape and lock the door behind them. But if the kids did act fast enough, they could possibly make it before the door shut.