Chapter Four

Strange Happenings on the Fields of Sorrow

Nick’s Point of View

I walked along; Sam was ahead, sulking because Katrina and I had gotten ahead of him before. We had done it just to spite him, because of what he had told us in our minds.

I looked at Katrina and rolled my eyes. Sam seemed like the sort of guy that took everything personally.

Artemis was trailing behind Sam. After Katrina had chased him up a tree after he squirted a Jorei that had landed on her head (Squirting her at the same time), he had stopped dousing everything. The way Artemis was going, Dictioy wouldn’t be having any fires for a few decades.

“We’ll stop soon. It’s starting to get dark.” Sam said shortly. I looked around. There weren’t many trees, so if it rained, we’d get wet.

Katrina suddenly stopped, she looked worried.

“We’re not camping here are we?” She asked, sounding worried. She had her Poke-Nav out and was looking around as if the closest rocks were about to take a bite out of her.

Curious, I took out my Poke-Nav. I activated the map option, and then burst out laughing.

“The Field of Sorrow? Who thought up that name?” I asked, laughing every few words.

The Fields of Sorrow were named because a man was attacked here by a Dark type pokemon. The pokemon distracted the man while he was out riding his Blizzardash; they ran off a cliff that’s nearby. The dark pokemon was a Murkrow, which is why people think they’re unlucky. The worst part was that the man was emperor of Dictioy. He was so loved by the people of Dictioy that everyone in Dictioy journeyed here to mourn for him. He’s got a tombstone further up the road. Sam said in my mind.

I frowned. “Can you quit doing that?” I yelled ahead

But it would mean that I would have to come back there. Why waste more calories than I need to? Sam thought back at me. I scowled back at him. He was getting further and further ahead, because I had needed to pick Katrina up because she absolutely refused to go any further. Even now she was squirming.

I pulled a face at his retreating back. I do know what you’re doing you know.

I winced and made a mental note not to think anything personnel while he was around.

I heard that too.

I rolled my eyes and ran to catch up. By the time we had gotten to him, he was getting out a sleeping bag from his backpack. After that, he dug deeper into his bag. After his bag devoured his arm, then his shoulder, then his head, I walked over to him. I pulled at his arm, which pulled the bag off the ground. I stared over my shoulder at Katrina who shrugged. Somehow he got his other shoulder and arm into the bag as well. I shook my head and went off to gather firewood.

When I got back, I saw that Sam had gotten out of the bag. He had also let Zeus out. When I saw the cans off Poke-Chow by Sam, I understood why he had been in his bag.

I arranged the wood in a circle, and then reached for some nearby stones. I arranged them in a circle and set some of the logs in it.

“Sparx!!!” I called over my shoulder. Sparx skipped over, giggling as usual.

“Sparx, can you use Spark?” I asked him. He giggled, and then nodded. A few slight sparks flew out of his cheeks, and then a small stream of electricity came out of him and bounced over the fire. “Uh, can you try that again?”

A small rustle nearby made me look. All of a sudden, a Chicken jumped out of the bush.

A million years ago, Pokemon were originally things called animals, since then, the animals evolved. The only one that didn’t change much was the chicken. In appearance, nothing happened. The only thing that did change with the chicken was that it learnt to blow fire.

I turned to Sparx. “Headbutt it.” I told him.

Sparx gave me a death glare that obviously said, “You’re kidding, right?” With a sigh, he ran towards the Chicken and knocked it over. The Chicken gave a squawk. It had been knocked off balanced. It fell on its side and lay there, kicking its legs and squawked louder. It didn’t do anything to get up. I sighed and rolled a Pokeball along the ground towards it. It rolled and bounced softly off of it. With a slurping noise, it got transformed into red energy and sucked into the Pokeball. It didn’t even wobble once. With a small ‘ping’, it was caught.

I looked over at Katrina, she raised an eyebrow. “Do you feel proud? You just caught the hardest Pokemon to ever be caught. It was so smart; I’m surprised Sparx even managed to hit it.” She said, her voice dripping in sarcasm.

A small spark flew past me to shock Katrina. Her blonde hair struggled to rise out from under beanie. I looked at Sparx. “Did you do that?”

He nodded, looking proud of himself. I crawled over to Chicken’s pokeball. I stared at it.

“As soon as we get to another Pokemon Centre, you’re going straight to Professor Oak’s lab.” I told it.

A few hours later, Katrina was sulking. Zeus was floating over her, about to release his current load of rain. Nymbis had the habit of following ill-tempered people home and raining on them. That’s from experience. Not my experience, my sister’s. When I had gotten the letter back, my sister raged around for ages. One time she came back to the Elite Tower soaking wet because she had met a group of Nymbis and a few of its evolved form, Cumbulos.

I laughed myself silly, she started crying.

All of a sudden, Zeus released his load. Katrina leapt up, her head going through Zeus. She tried punching him, but her fists went right through him. Zeus was grinning to himself. Suddenly Katrina was on the ground, twitching as electrical shocks ran through her.

Sam got up from where he had been staring drowsily into the fire. He bent over Katrina.

“You know, if you didn’t wear all those chains and other metal stuff, you wouldn’t get hurt so badly by electricity.”

Katrina growled and swatted at him. Since she only reached up to half the distance between them, Sam wasn’t hurt. With a grin, Sam returned to where he was before. Except he wriggled into his sleeping bag. “Goodnight.”

“Night.” I said. Katrina just growled in return.

Zeus flew up into the sky, getting some more electricity from thunderclouds and some water.

With a sigh, I dragged out my red sleeping bag. Just as I got into it, I heard a snoring noise. I looked over in the direction off it and saw Artemis spraying a few drops of water onto the ground. Every time he snored, some more water came out. I looked at Sam and smiled. He was also snoring slightly, but was levitating. I picked up a small pebble and threw it under him. It rolled to a stop, right under him. I shook my head. I turned over and looked at Katrina. She was lying down, looking at the sky. She (somehow) knew all the constellations. In the Northern Hemisphere, you could see the Onix, the Lugia and the Sagitar, a centaur-like pokemon.

In the Southern Hemisphere, you could see the Squirtle, the Metapod and the Togepi. Since we were in the Northern, the Onix was visible.

I stared up at the night sky, picking out vaguely memorized constellations. Dugtrio, Pinsir, Kingler, each jumped out at me as I stared up at them.

<18^th of Echotrance, 2004 A.P.W>

Suddenly, it was dawn. With a yawn, I jumped up. My father, Koga of the Elite Four of Kanto, used to make me get up at the crack of dawn so that I could train. Eventually, it became a habit to wake up at dawn.

I yawned again and reached for Chicken’s pokeball. I fumbled with it and dropped it to the ground. With a flash, Chicken came out. It looked at me blearily, wondering why I had woken it up.

“Chicken, use Ember.” I said with another yawn. With a puff of fire, he little the remaining coals in the fireplace. I tossed a few logs of wood onto the fire, and then poked it with a stick to get it up. It flared up as a log caught. I quickly got changed behind the bush that Chicken had jumped out of.

All of a sudden, there was a huge, “CUCKOOO!!!!!!”

“AAUGH!!” Yelled Katrina from behind me. Silently, I swore. She was an Ursaring in the morning. A particularly cranky and rabid Ursaring. “ISN’T THERE SUCH A THING AS A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP?” I smiled. She hadn’t slept a wink the previous night because of Drake. Come to think of it, nor had I.

I quickly returned Chicken and grinned as Sam put his head up, blink in the sleep out of his eyes. “Wagtastat?” He asked sleepily. He put his head down again. At the same time, his hold on levitating slipped. With a crash, he landed on the ground.

I laughed. Something told me that I’d enjoy this journey if Sam and Katrina kept me amused.

Katrina looked up at me, her eyes bloodshot. “I’m never going to stay up all night looking for a new constellation ever again.” She said.

Sam gave her a queer look. “Why would you want to?” He asked.

Oh, I really need to sleep better. His voice suddenly came through our minds. We both jumped and glared at him.

“Can you quit doing that?” I said irritably. “I should report you. There is a law that says everyone deserves some privacy.” By the blank look on Sam’s face, he didn’t understand. I sighed.

“You spoke in our minds again.”

Sam still had the blank look. “I did?” He asked, sounding surprised. He shook his head.

“I must have, for you to mention it.” He yawned. Then blinked.

“Why is there an egg on the ground?”

Katrina and I both looked at the same time. There it was, sitting next to the fire, an ordinary, household, refrigerator chicken’s egg.

I looked at Katrina’s blank face and laughed. “Come on, get ready,” I said. ”Who wants an omelette?”

<9:00 am, The Fields of Sorrow>

Katrina’s Point of View

I looked around nervously. I still didn’t like the name of the fields around us. Plus I had read some ghost stories that were set here.

Nick caught my eye. He grinned. I sometimes thought that he had to be part pokemon, to smile that much without it hurting.

My attention was drawn to my magnetic belt, where Drake’s Pokeball was shaking. With a sigh, I knew I’d regret this later, I pressed the release button.

A flash of red light, and Drake appeared on the ground. “Drat! Dratini! Tini, tini, drat!”

I blinked. “Sam!” I called. He peered over his shoulder and around Artemis.

When he saw Drake in front of me, he stopped. He walked back.

“What is it?” He asked, looking cross. I quickly explained to him, that Drake had been trying to tell me something. Sam frowned, and then opened his mouth. “Drati, drat-drat, tini, drat, tin-drat?”

I stared. It seems the translators did more than just translate Pokemon talk.

Drake replied, saying what he had said before. Sam nodded, and then looked at me. “He said ‘Mummy, look what I can do!’ Ok, are we done?” Without waiting for an answer, he ran up to Nick.

I bent down. “What do you want to show me?”

Drake opened his mouth. A golden wave of light spilt out, surrounding me. Suddenly, I couldn’t move. I tipped over, unable to keep my balance.

Drake looked shocked. “DRAT! TINI-DRAT, DRATINI!!” He shouted.

Up further, Sam stopped and looked back again, when he saw me lying on the ground, he ran back. As soon as he got to me, he knelt down.

He frowned, and then turned to Drake. “Dratin, drati, dratini?” He asked Drake.

Drake started crying, tears came out of his large, blue eyes.

“Drati, dratin, dratinidrat!” He said, tears started dotting the ground. Sam started grinning.

You’ve been paralyzed. Just a sec, I’ve got Paralyze Heal in my bag. He pulled his bag pack off of his back. Artemis jumped off and started comforting Drake.

With a triumphant ‘Ah ha!’ Sam pulled out of his bag a yellow bottle. Gently, I felt my mouth open as Sam opened the lid. Sam poured the liquid in the bottle into my mouth. It ran down my throat. I felt my throat unstiffen so I could swallow. I did so, very quickly. A few minutes later, as my blood circulated the liquid around my body, I sat up.

“Thanks.” I said, rubbing my jaw. “How’d you get my mouth to open? Wait, don’t answer that, I already know.”

I turned to Drake. “Hey, it’s ok. I‘m not angry.”

Drake looked at me, worry in his eyes. A few more tears oozed down his face.

Oh great, I’ve got a cry baby for a Dratini. It would be sorta funny if it remained the same when it was a Dragonite. But kinda pathetic too.

Are you coming or what? I’m not going to wait for you. Now hurry up or I’ll teleport to Arw City. Sam said from ahead. I scowled in his general direction.

I got up and started in his general direction. Drake squirmed after, so I picked him up.

I looked ahead and sighed. It would take me fifteen minutes to reach them. If I ran. Ok, I’m short, get over it.

Suddenly, a blue bubble appeared around me. With a bounce, it went in the direction that Sam was. A few minutes later, I landed in front of Sam and Nick. Sam had a frown on his face while Nick was smirking.

“Why’d you do that? I could have gotten here myself you know.”

“I know you could have. In about a year or so.” Sam said, raising his eyebrow. Suddenly he relaxed. He narrowed his eyes. With a pop, the bubble disappeared.

I fell on the ground. I winced; I had landed on a rock.

Nick looked at Sam. “That was faster than before.”

Sam looked tired. He reached down his shirt and pulled out a chain necklace, at the end was a strange device. Sam flicked it open, inside were some buttons. Sam pressed one, and then shut the thing.

“What was that?” Asked Nick. Sam was about to shove it back down his shirt, but stopped. He opened it again and showed it to us. All that there was inside of it were three buttons and a knob. The knob was only halfway up.

“It’s a Telepathic Wave Translator. It can give you psychic powers, or enhance them if you’ve got them already. In my case, they enhance them.” Sam explained. He shut it again and yanked it off the chain. He handed it to Nick. Nick looked it over, and then attacked it to the necklace he also had. Nick’s was only leather though.

“Wait, I can feel something coming. Yeah, there’s something. Here it goes!” Nick exclaimed.

BWAAAARP!

I staggered back, and then raced down the road. Trust me, Nick could get really bad.

Sam wrinkled his nose, he lunged forward and pulled the TWT off of Nick’s necklace and ran after me.

In twenty seconds he had caught up to me.

“That was the single, most foul, disgusting, evil thing I have ever smelt in my life.” Sam said, gasping.

“You’re telling me. Try having him sleep over. It really builds up. I’ve gotten gassed out on lots of occasions. Out of my room at the Elite Tower. And out of his room. And before you say anything, you’re disgusting for thinking that way.” I said, panting as well.

“I wasn’t thinking that way at all. Let’s go before he can get up.” Sam looked over his shoulder. Nick was rolling on the ground, laughing his head off. From the looks of it, Nick had found the whole thing hilarious.

“Good idea. Next time he wants to use your TWT, don’t let him. Come to think of it, why didn’t it work for him?” I asked. She started walking away from Nick, who was still on the ground.

“Well, you do need to train your mind in a certain way. You’ve also gotta think in a different way too. Not to mention some other things. Anyway, he’s been brought up to fight, not think.” Sam explained. He started walking as well.

“Actually, I wouldn’t say that. His mother was the one who invented that.” Katrina said, nodding at Sam’s translator. “And she’s one of the most successful doctors of this century. Not to mention she has TWO Healita’s!” I said, smirking at the look on Sam’s face. “He didn’t start with only $3000 you know; his mother transferred another $100000 to his account!”

Sam’s jaw dropped. “What!?!? You’re joking right? How come he hasn’t gotten any new stuff then?” The idea of a guy have 1/10 of a million was astounding. Suddenly he smiled.

“How would he feel if he lost a battle?”

I grinned. “Um, seeing as he’s the new Scrooge McGolduck, he’d take it very badly.”

Scrooge McGolduck was a character from an old cartoon. He loved his money so much, he lived a miserly life. And every villain in town tried stealing his money.

“Really? He doesn’t seem the type to hoard money. More like spend it at any chance.” Looking back again, Sam saw Nick was over his hysterics and jogging towards them. A sudden gust of wind bowled Nick over. Katrina looked over too, just as she was blown off her feet. As her head hit rock, Katrina saw darkness.

<Elsewhere, the Fields of Sorrow>

Sam’s point of view

I opened my eyes, and then shut them again. After he opened them again, he concluded that it was dark. When he tried sitting up, he suddenly jolted back. He was tied back. On further inspection, his hands were tied as well. So were his feet.

“Kat? Nick?” He said, hoping they were nearby. A moan came to his right. Another one came from behind him.

Casting out his mind, he slowly began to shape out where he was. It was a room, with bars on the door and windows. Katrina and Nick were on chairs, so were nine other people. Tai and Kai were there, so was Brandon, the boy who had chosen Liktretch, Amy (Qizret), the guy who had came fourth (Hekark), the girl that came fifth (Senvar) and unfortunately, Hope. The last one was a boy with silvery-white hair.

“Where are we?” I asked. My translator was gone, but my TWT wasn’t. It seems they missed it.

Whoever ‘they’ were. Zeus was still in his Pokeball on my belt, so was Nick’s Chicken and Caterpie. Drogan was in his Pokeball as well. That meant that Sparx, Artemis and Drake were gone.

Whoever had gotten us hadn’t counted on us having any new Pokemon yet. So, I’d need to show them where they went wrong.

“We’re in the Monarch’s Tombstone, the memorial for the Emperor that died here.” Said the silver-hair boy. I quickly scanned the room again with my mind. The only other person with psychic powers was the girl with Senvar. She also had a TWT.

I shook my head. Whoever did this, did it badly.

Don’t jump. I opened a connection between our minds. I needed to be careful; she was stronger than I was. If I WASN’T careful, she’d flood my mind with her powers and wipe it blanker than a Psyduck’s face.

Her face appeared in my mind, framed in orange. She was best at moving things with her mind.

Hi, I didn’t know you were psychic. She said, sounding curious. What do you want?

I winced slightly. What was the most obvious thing that I’d want her for right now? Anyone, anyone at all! You! Psyduck in the corner!

Um, don’t suppose you can help me here, could you? If you untie me, I’ll be able to do something. Then, if I untie you, we’d all be able to get out of here. I said, explaining the whole thing to her.

Err, ok. But I don’t know what you could do; all you can do is teleport and levitate. That doesn’t seem to of much use here. She said, frowning in my minds eye. I bit my lip. There were plenty of things I could do!

Wait; do you know why they caught us? I asked her, thinking of all the reasons why they would. It would most likely be because we were weak, since we started yesterday. Not to mention we had all received rare pokemon.

Yeah, they wanted our pokemon to send to their leader. It was a strange team. They had beige colored shirts and white pants. And the shirts had a big ‘F’ on the front. She replied. That would mean it was Team Fauna.

Team Fauna were a strange team. Instead of capturing pokemon, they stole them from others, and then set them free. They only used plant pokemon, because of their classification. They wanted every other pokemon type in the world to be free. But, in order for them to live peacefully, they wanted the human race to die out.

Team Flora was the opposing team to Fauna. They released all plant pokemon and captured the other types. So, they usually stole from each other, which usually kept them out of everyone else’s business. But sometimes they stole other people’s pokemon.

I sighed. Can you please untie me before they get our other pokemon? I asked her gently. I was getting tired of our conversation.

Ok, here you go. She said. Suddenly, the ropes around my ankles and wrists fell off. I quickly rubbed the feeling back into my wrists and feet. I stood up and stumbled slightly.

I grabbed Zeus’s pokeball from my belt, and then grabbed Drogan’s from Kat’s belt.

“It’s me.” I whispered to her. She nodded, her blonde and purple hair flicking everywhere. I made a mental note to ask her how she got purple hair.

I dashed over to Nick and grabbed Chicken’s and Caterpie’s pokeball. He looked up. With a sudden wrist movement, he snapped his wrist ropes and grabbed my arms with one hand. He tore off his blindfold and was about to punch me in the gut when he saw who it was.

“Oh, sorry Sam. Didn’t know it was you. Thought it was someone getting my other pokemon. Not that I’d miss Chicken.” Nick said his goofy grin in place on his face.

I blinked. “No problem, “I squeaked. “Reckon you could let me go now? And why didn’t you do that before?” It would have saved a lot of trouble. Sam thought irritably. He had talked to that girl for nothing!

Nick shrugged. “I dunno. I didn’t feel like it. Well, I really wanted to hurt one of the guys that got us. Now, where are they?” He dropped my arms instantly and looked around, as if he hoped for a sign that said “Fauna Mess-Hall” or something like that.

I shook my head. I quickly teleported out of the cell and then levitated the latch of the door. It swung open noiselessly. That is, until it hit the wall.

I winced, that was a noise we didn’t need. I released Zeus and Drogan just a guard dashed down a set of stairs to my right.

“Why you little-!” He snarled before he dropped to the ground, unconscious. Unconscious because Nick’s fist had ‘accidentally-on-purpose-‘met with his nose.

I winced, that looked like it hurt.

“Are we going or not? Come on, we haven’t got all day.” Nick said carelessly, as though it wasn’t a full grown, 170 kilo man he had just knocked out.

I stared at his back, and then ran up the stairs, taking two at a time. When we got to the top, we froze. It was the base’s mess-hall!

“Umm,” I muttered. I thought fast. “Zeus, you can become invisible right?”

Because they were clouds, Nymbis could become invisible. Not to mention they could rain easily and shock you easily.

Zeus nodded; the cloud he was made of bent over to make it look like was frowning. Suddenly he disappeared.

“Good.” I said, nodding with approval. “Get to the centre of the hall and use Rain of Lightning. That way we can be gone before they get up again.”

When I felt him brush past me, I ran back down the stairs. Nick came with me.

“Ok, just start untying people.” Was all I said. I went to the closest person, who was the silver haired boy. I untied him and helped him to stand. When he could stay up on his own, I went to the next person, who was the Psychic Girl. We kept going until I got to the last person, Hope. I paused, wondering if I should just leave him. I made a face, and then started untying her ropes. I hated that movie Pinocchio, and I hated it when I remembered bits of it all of a sudden. Whoever came up with Jiminy Cricket should be shot in my opinion.

As soon as her ropes fell off her, she turned with a snarl. “I could have done that myself. Just leave me alone!’ She hissed poisonously. She pushed me away, and then fled up the stairs, pausing only to collect her backpack which was beside the wall with all the others.

Katrina and Nick came to stand beside me. “I think she really likes you. I know who’ll be your biggest fan at the Diamond League.” Nick said. He started laughing.

Katrina shook her head and a disapproving look came on her face.

“Nick, it’s not funny. She could get really dangerous, if she hates Sam so much. I mean, she probably wouldn’t have done what he just did. We’d better keep an eye on her. Nick, if you don’t shut up, I’ll tell everyone who kissed you under the mistletoe last Christmas.”

THAT shut him up. “That’s no fair, I was ambushed. How was I to know she was hiding behind that Christmas tree. I thought she was on the other side of the hall. I can’t defend myself against that.” He complained, crossing his arms across his chest.

“Come on you two. At this rate, they’ll all be awake. And we need to get our Drake, Sparx and Artemis back.” I told them. They stopped arguing instantly and grabbed their packs. As we ran, I spread out my mind over the entire base. Artemis and the others were in their pokeballs, on a desk at the lowest level.

I stopped as we went up to the mess hall. Everyone was on the ground, nicely done. Nick looked at Zeus with a new degree of respect. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.” Nick said to Zeus.

“He’ll do it anyway.” Katrina muttered. I grinned, and looked around. A lift was on the other side of the room. Katrina saw it too and headed for it. Nick saw us and followed. Just before we got to it, I paused. Raising my hands, I made all of the Fauna member’s pokeballs float into the air. I clicked my fingers. Instantly, they teleported to the Comed Pokecentre.

By now, the lift had arrived. I stepped back into it, just as it was about to close.

“Hey Sam, how come you didn’t teleport Drake and the others here?” Katrina asked. She had probably thought of that when I got rid of all the pokeballs just then.

“I can’t. I don’t know why, but my powers won’t work on them. If they could, we’d be out of here by now. All of the others are out. But they’re staying nearby, I think that silver haired boy’s making them stay.” I explained as the door opened. “Ok, battle plan. You two do the physical stuff while I take care of any locked doors and stuff. Ok?”

“Right.” They said in union. They nodded at the same time. I stepped back, and they stepped forward. We walked down an empty corridor, all silver and white. Really bright. We got to the other side of the corridor without anything happening. But the lift required a code.

“Sam?” Nick said. He stepped away to give me access. I frowned at the door. After a minute, the lock lifted and the door slid open. A fist came out of the lift. I bent over backwards as far as I could go. Thankfully, that was enough. Unfortunately, it hurt. A LOT!

“OOOWWW!” I yelled, my hands resting on the floor. I did the only thing that was on my mind: Stop the pain. I swung me feet up after me, that’s harder than it looks, and in the process, kicked the man hiding in the elevator right on the chin.

He went over backwards, and didn’t get up while we were there.

Nick bent over him. Katrina did too.

” Nice job!” Nick said, he looked amazed at the fact that I had knocked the guard out. I was amazed at that too.

“Thanks.” I squeaked. I held my back. “Remind me never to do that again. Otherwise I might break my back. Oow.” I said, eyes watering. That REALLY hurt. I looked at the man, and then did a double take. The guard was bigger than the one Nick had gotten before!

And then I shrugged. “Aren’t I lucky he’s got a glass chin?”

I stepped inside the elevator, levitated the man slightly and moved him out of the elevator. Nick and Kat stepped in and we went to the bottom floor.

“So, did you mean he had an actual chin made out of glass?” Katrina asked, looking skeptical.

She was asking Nick, who rolled his eyes. I shook my head. Sometimes Katrina acted like a real Psyduck.

“No, it doesn’t mean he’s got a glass chin. It means he’s got a real weak chin, so it would be easy to knock him out. So, either Sam doesn’t believe in how hard his kicks are or that man could have been knocked cold by a Ditto.” Nick explained, hoping this would get through to Kat.

She nodded, it made sense.

I shook my head and grasped my back again. I bent forward. A few bones popped, snapping my back into place. I straightened. That felt better!

Suddenly the doors opened. We stepped out into a hallway coated with a soft, pink carpet. The walls were the same, except they were purple. We followed the path until we came to a wooden door. I reached forward with my powers. Just as I was about to touch the lock, my powers zoomed back into my head. I winced, and then tried again. I turned to the others and shook my head. Nick waved me and Kat to the side, and then went as far back as he could.

And then he ran forward. Just before he got to the door, he jumped and put his leg up straight. He slammed into the door. The door stayed up, but Nick’s leg went right through it.

Katrina and me stared, and then started laughing. Nick glared at us. I levitated him back, being carefully so he wouldn’t get spiked by the wood splinters. When he was out, I walked up to the door and looked through the hole. Sitting at a desk was a brown haired woman. She had brown eyes, pale white skin and a small, delicate nose. She was a natural beauty, but there was something cold about the way she glared at me.

“Altogether this time.” I heard Nick say behind me. I walked backwards to where he and Katrina were.

“Three, two, one.” Nick counted down.

“GO!” Yelled Katrina. We all ran at the door. We jumped at nearly the same time. I levitated, so I wouldn’t go through the hole like Nick did. This time the door came off. Katrina and Nick landed on their feet, they were used to this. But I wasn’t. I landed in an undignified pile at their feet.

They looked down at me, smirking.

I got up quickly and stepped into the room. It was empty! But the pokeballs were on the table. I picked the sapphire one up and threw it. Artemis came out, looking extremely angry.

“Ok, where are they? The ones who got me?” He asked, spraying everything in the office with water.

“They’re gone, Artemis.” I said, grabbing him and putting him on top of my pack, his favorite place to nap. “Come on, let’s go. I’m getting sick of this place.”

I walked up to where the other people were hiding. “You can come out now. We’ve got your pokemon.” I announced, holding up the box full of pokeballs, minus Sparx, Artemis and Drake.

The others came out of a large bush, looking relieved. They were followed by Silver-Hair.

We handed the pokeballs out, but stopped when we found three full ones.

“Whose are these?” I asked, holding them out.

“Mine.” Said Silver-Hair. He grabbed them, and then placed them on his belt. He looked relieved now that he had his pokemon back. I frowned, I still didn’t know who he was. I may as well ask him, I was getting too tired to use telepathy.

“Who’re you?” I asked, sounding tired. The other boy grinned. He grabbed the three pokeballs he had just put on his belt and threw them.

A Treecko, a Torchic and a Mudkip burst out. He then grabbed the other pokeballs on his belt and threw them too. Out came a Taillow, a Wurmple and a Slakoth.

“I’m Brendan Birch.”

“I am most displeased. You were thwarted by three teenagers? More to the point, three teenage BEGINNING trainers?” Yelled Syca, leader of Team Fauna. She had just been told of what had happened at their base at Monarch’s Tombstone.

“But please, they were different. One was psychic, and the other two were related to the Kanto Elite Four!” Said Opal, the Executive of the Monarch Base. While she was beautiful, she was a coward, more afraid of getting a scratch than being poisoned. She was extremely vain.

“And Birch’s son, did you get his pokemon? If you didn’t, I’ll be so displeased you might need to go to work in the thorn bushes of the Safarii Zone.” Syca didn’t give out one kind of punishment for everyone; she punished them with their worst fears.

Opal started shaking. “No, you can’t do that! My skin! Please don’t! I’ll do anything!”

She collapsed on the floor, crying.

“Take her away.” Syca said to the guards by her door. When they had dragged Opal from the room, Syca turned to her window.

“We will need to watch those three. Guards!”

“Yes Ma’am?”

“Get me the information on one of the Mudkips we caught. Do the same for the Pichu and Dratini. I want their ID numbers. Enter them onto the database, and then bring the information to me. I am curious as to who could have brought down one of our most hidden schemes.”

Pokedex

Chicken

Chicken Pokemon

Fire Type

(None)

An animal from ancient times, this pokemon can breed quickly. A popular meal, the chicken has been eaten for centuries. Wild Chicken’s can be found in Safarii Zones. During the breed season, they can get angry at other males and use a fire-based attack on the opponent. It has not become unusual to find a roasted Chicken in the wild.