It didn't take Margaret long to get back to where she saw the legendary egg. She knew where she saw it last, and she knew how to get there. She was glad that she didn't see anyone else in the building, she didn't want to have to make up a lie on the spot about why she was there. She was a trainer, not a scientist, so she technically had no reason to be in the Breeding and Nursery room.

The large blue egg was a vague blur behind the layer of frost coating the inside of the containment unit. Reaching out, she touched it cautiously, and pulled her hand back when she felt just how cold it was. She thought for a moment about how to get it out without freezing her hands off. Finally, she decided to wrap it in a blanket for the moment, to insulate her hands.

It took a little finagling to get the containment unit open. Once she did, she pulled a blanket out of her bag and carefully wrapped it around the egg. Once the blanket was secure, she picked up the bundle and high-tailed it out of the building again. She wasn't going to stick around to get caught.

Aleron managed to get out without running into any trouble, and then she started walking back towards her house. The egg got hotter the longer she held it, and she finally had to set it down and wrap a blanket around it to keep it from burning her hands. Then she kept on going back towards her house, not stopping until she was at the grounds. Most of the pokemon were elsewhere or asleep, and she slipped into the nesting barn before setting the egg down in a corner.

Sighing, she left the barn and sat down, letting Vulpix jump into her lap as she pulled out her phone to call Margaret.

Margaret was almost to Cerulean by the time she stopped for the night. She had strapped a couple of things to the outside of her pack to make room inside to tuck the egg into it. It was easier than carrying it in her arms the whole way to the Indigo Plateau.

She was just setting up her camp when her phone rang.

"Hello?" she answered.

"You okay? Everything went well?" Aleron stayed on the floor while she talked, petting Vulpix absently. A few of the pokemon had started to come back and greeted her enthusiastically as they arrived.

"As far as I could tell, it went off without a hitch," Margaret replied. "I'm about half-way to Cerulean. From there, I can probably backtrack through Mt. Moon, Pewter, and Viridian to get to the Indigo Plateau, unless I get picked up first."

"Maybe Mewtwo will find you. I'm back at my home, just a few miles outside of Viridian." Aleron sighed. "Hopefully I'll see you soon."

"Wow, you're way out on the other end of the region," Margaret replied. "Cianwood is a long ways away. I might end up calling home once I get back to Johto and asking my parents to send me Noctowl." She glanced around, feeling slightly paranoid. She'd been attacked by too many legendaries to be easy about camping out by herself. "I'll let you know when I cross into New Bark Town. I just hope I don't run into Moltres or something while I'm passing Victory Road."

"Yeah, that would be bad. Just keep looking for any signs of... anything. Call me if you need anything, okay?"

"I will," Margaret promised. "Did you find anything?"

"I found an egg, and it's seriously hot. It's currently sitting in the back of a barn at my house." Aleron rubbed her eyes. "And I'm getting mobbed."

Margaret couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"So talk to them," she said. "I'm sure they have a million things to tell you now that you can understand them."

"Oh, they do. But I'm still getting mobbed." Aleron managed to fend them off enough to get some room to breathe.

Margaret laughed.

"So tell them back back off," she said. "I never have that problem, psychic-types don't tend to congregate like that."

Aleron groaned as a Growlithe pounced on her.

"Yeah, these guys are very touchy-feely." Aleron sighed. "Hey, least we haven't gotten caught yet. If you need a lift over here I can always borrow Pidgeot again and go get you. I know he's strong enough to carry two people. He's carried my dad and I before, and my dad is definitely heavier than you."

"Let me see how far I can get on my own," Margaret replied. "Better not to draw too much attention to ourselves, and one trainer traveling on her own is less noticeable than two on a Pidgeot."

"Very true." Aleron shrugged. "Well, call me if you change your mind, okay?"

"I will," Margaret promised. "Now go snuggle in with your new friends and try not to get heatstroke. I'll see you in a few days or so."

"Alright. See you then. Good luck." Aleron sighed as she resigned herself to being turned into a pile of pokemon.

Margaret hung up the phone and settled in with her pokemon for the evening. She knew the fire would keep away most of the ghost-types and dark-types in the area, so she didn't feel as uneasy as she thought she would. She checked on the egg in her bag, making sure it was still safely wrapped in the blanket.

Aleron let the pokemon pile around her, all chattering and telling her things. She stayed awake talking to them for hours.

The next morning, Margaret got up on and packed her things to keep moving. She wanted to get back into Johto relatively soon, and it would take at least another day or two to get back to Pewter, and then to Viridian. Once she got through Viridian, though, it wouldn't take too long to get past Tohjo Falls and back into Johto.

Aleron got back into her house and greeted her family, grinning broadly. She spent a while just talking with the pokemon after that before she finally went to confront her parents.

"Hey, you never mentioned we'd gone to Kanto before," she said pleasantly.

"We haven't," her mom answered automatically.

"Really? I met a couple people who recognized me and knew me." Aleron raised her eyebrows.

Margaret was through Cerulean and into Mt. Moon practically before noon. There was really only one real path through the mountain, and none of the Zubat or anything bothered her at all. She thought it might be because they knew she had the legendary egg with her. It put off a strange kind of vibe, and she had no doubt pokemon could sense it. Once she was through the mountain, the last real hurdle would be Viridian Forest. It was a maze inside, and it was hard to navigate.

Her mother was silent for a few moments. "Where were you?"

"I went with my friend. We visited Silph Co." Aleron watched her mother's reaction, saw her flinch. "So we have been there."

"When you were very young," her mother admitted. "You were only four or five. You liked to play with the fire pokemon they had there. Your father worked there for a while, but then we moved back here."

Aleron's eyes narrowed but she didn't say anything. She turned and left the house.

Margaret stopped for a break just on the other side of Mt. Moon. There was a pokemon center right there, so she went in for a bit of an afternoon break and had her pokemon checked up on.