As it turned out, I didn't have to do any such thing- just as I was reached the door and began to look for a way to announce our presence, the door opened itself and revealed a young woman in a maid's outfit looking as if she were about to tend to one of the lawn ornaments. Surprised by the fact that there was a trainer with a Gardevoir at the door unexpectedly, she did a double-take and then smiled pleasantly as she asked us to wait where we were for a moment while she went back inside, presumably to get someone. I was also a little taken aback by the coincidence, so I simply stood there with Mayumi and didn't wonder why she didn't ask us who we were or why we were here. I was just beginning to think about this oddity when the door reopened and we were beckoned inside by the maid who had discovered us.

Not wanting to make a poor first impression, I walked inside and Mayumi followed close behind. The house was luxurious on the exterior, and if the entry hall we were in was any indication, so was the interior. It was a long and wide corridor that stretched from the front of the building all the way to the back, where it opened out on a sunny patio. The hall was about wide enough that you could probably stand five abreast across it and still felt spread out. It was apparently a central area for the building in general, as it went up for two more floors, with walk-around balconies from each of the two upper levels. The white marble and polished granite motif from the yard was continued in here, as the floor was the same waxed stone, and the walls and trim were stark white. It almost felt like we were in a museum as we stepped into what must have been a guest lounge just to the left inside the door. Once we were all in the room, the woman pressed a panel for an intercom and informed someone that "the guests" were inside. She must have gotten some kind of confirmation from the video screen of the phone, because I didn't hear any verbal response before she then turned to Mayumi and me and beckoned us to make ourselves comfortable in one of the many posh leather armchairs or couches in the room.

We both took her up on that offer- we had been walking for a while, so a comfy seat was nothing we'd turn down. Once she was satisfied that we were settled in, she left the room and we were alone for a few minutes. We had taken our places next to each other on one of the smaller couches that encircled a large table that must have been for informal conferences. Even this side room was quite large, with windows across the front wall letting sunlight stream in through the opened white-lace blinds. The floor in this chamber, and leading into a few open doorframes deeper into the house, was carpeted with a lush deep-pile carpet that was almost the same shade as the marble floor in the main foyer. Along the back wall of the room were a few cabinets and an entertainment center with a large television screen and on top of a cabinet that must have housed a well-stocked media library and the media players to match. The wood was stained a light oak color, with a hint of red. It seemed to coordinate well with the rest of the house we had seen so far, and it seemed like someone must have gone to great lengths to make such an elegant arrangement, in respect to the house as a whole.

Now that we had a moment to ourselves, we turned and looked at each other. Neither of us were exactly cleaned up for such a place, but we were doing well enough that you wouldn't have been able to tell that we had been on the road for weeks without a real bed. I was the one to break the silence- mentally, at least:Chapter End Notes:Yes, I used an in-game character here as well as the location, after a bit of modification. I feel that there was much more of a story behind him than what we see in the game, so he fit nicely into what I had been planning here. I really feel like the descriptions I gave here don't quite capture the grandiose aura that surrounds the whole place, but c'est la vie, no? I really hope you enjoy this, and please leave any comments or reviews you might have once you are finished; I'd love to hear what people think of it!

Discalimer time: I don't own the rights to any official characters or the pokémon franchise, so that's that. Any names, characters, events, etc. are not intended to resemble anyone or anything in this world, so if you think I'm lampooning you or something then go see a shrink, because you're dead-wrong. The original characters (as well as the expanded Backlots character) are original content by me, and as such I claim ownership of them as an IP as much as copyright law allows, etc. etc. I'm basically trying to CMA as well as possible because of the blending of official and original character that is Simon... Okay, that looks okay now!

Laters!

--Non