Chapter Two

Marle

I yawned as I locked the door on my way out. Confident that my home would be safe from vandals, I started for the city with my Pokemon to investigate the latest strangeness. “This is so eerie,” I muttered as we crossed the city limits and entered the abnormally silent metropolis.

Jewel nodded almost imperceptibly at my side. As usual, all of my Pokemon, except Miyoko, were traveling outside of their Poke Balls. We were on full alert and I never used Miyoko for battling if I could help it. Overhead, Merlin trilled piercingly and shot forward, heading deeper into the city. "Now what’s with that bird?" I wondered out loud.

"Who knows?" answered Jewel.

I shrugged in reply. “You need to stop reading my thoughts like that. I’d like a little privacy in my own mind, seeing as I can’t get a moment to myself in my own house.”

Jewel only grinned. "What mind?" she sent telepathically as she Teleported to a spot about twenty feet away. Instead of chasing after her or throwing random convenient objects as usual, I ignored her and kept walking. Something was seriously wrong here and we had to get to the bottom of it and figure out what the heck was going on.

Jewel, realizing I wasn’t in the mood for games, reappeared at my side some moments later. Kita and Shadow came running back from the next street, looking worked up about something. Jewel listened attentively for a moment as the two related what they had seen. Then, they turned and ran back in the direction from which they had come, followed closely by Jewel. “Hey! What’s going on you guys?!” I shouted, struggling to keep up. I really should start running more.

"People! They found people!"

We rounded the corner to arrive at the Pokemon Center. Merlin had landed on the Center’s sign and was busy preening his feathers. Firestorm had parked herself at the entrance and barked eagerly when we appeared. I walked up to the glass doors and peered inside, followed closely by Kita, Shadow, Jewel and Firestorm. Merlin finished what he was doing and joined us at the door. Inside, I thought I could make out a few dim shapes on the lobby’s couches, but I couldn’t be sure because the Center’s lights weren’t on and that particular area was shrouded in darkness. I tested the doors, but they were locked. I shrugged and turned to beat on the glass doors, hoping that someone would hear me and let me in.


Katie

I was alerted by the sound of someone pounding on the door to the Pokemon Centre and yelling to be let in. Wondering who it could be, I crept over to have a look - I kept a tight hold on my Poke Balls in case they were needed as I peered through the glass doors of the building and saw a girl I knew from school. Her name was Marle and she had been in the class above me.

She recognised me as well. "Katie! Hurry up and let me in!" she yelled as I fumbled with the Door Open switch. But there was a slight problem; that door was designed so that, once it was locked, it could only be opened with a swipe card. "What's wrong?" Marle demanded when I couldn't get the door open straight away.

"I need Nurse Joy's swipe card," I replied, turning as Maxine and the three other girls came to see what was going on. One of them was called Vicky, another was named Rally and I hadn't caught the third girl's name. But she was the one who spoke to me when she heard what I said.

"It'll be on her desk somewhere," she told me. "That's IF she didn't have it with her when she was taken . . ."

"Taken?" echoed Maxine as I rifled through Nurse Joy's desk. "By what?"

"I'm not sure," the girl said. "But, from what I've seen, all the adults in town are gone . . ."

"And that's probably why the radio and tv aren't working," added Rally, reminding me of how eeriely silent Goldenrod's radio tower had seemed when Maxine and I passed it. Usually, it was full of day-trippers come to look behind the scenes at Johto's largest radio station, but today there hadn't been so much as a coachload of senior citizens.

"Anyway," I said as I finished searching through Nurse Joy's desk, "that card doesn't seem to be here. We'll have to find another way to open that door. Do any of you have a Voltorb or a Pineco - something that knows Self Destruct?"

They all shook their heads, but Vicky had another idea. "What about Fire Types?" she asked. "Could they burn their way through?"

It was worth a try, so I released my Ponyta as Rally let out a Charizard and we told Marle to stand well back as the two Pokemon used Fire Blast on the door.


Marle

Within minutes, the glass portion of the door had melted under the combined Fire Blasts from Katie's Ponyta and another girl's Charizard. Firestorm had joined in with her own Flamethrower and the door was quickly decimated. I waited until the glass had cooled before I chanced stepping through.

"Thanks," I murmured once I was inside.

"Uh, guys? Why didn't you just open the door like this?" A girl I later learned was named Lizzie demonstrated by walking over and opening what remained of the doorframe with the inside handle.

I sighed. "Moving on," I said, looking around the group. "Does anyone here have a clue as to what the heck is going on?" Taking in the blank stares, I answered my own question "I guess not . . ."

After introductions were made, Rally stepped in with the voice of authority. "The way I see it, our only option is to explore the city and see what clues we can gather," she said. "There have to be others who didn't disappear. Maybe someone saw something that will help us figure this out . . ."


Katie

We all smiled sheepishly as Lizzie showed us that the door was actually unlocked and Fire-Blasting it open had been unnecessary.

Then, Rally started talking about how we needed to find out if there were any people around, anyone who had somehow escaped this mass disappearence like we had. So we left the deserted Pokemon Centre and made our way into the streets of Goldenrod City.

"What do you guys think happened?" asked Marle as we walked down a dark alleyway. That was something we wouldn't have dared to do normally, but this was clearly not a normal city anymore - someone (or someTHING) had taken nearly the entire population, leaving only a bunch of kids.

"I've no idea," I told her as I squeezed Maxine's hand reassuringly. Then, an idea occured to me - maybe we could contact the outside world via someone's Poke Gear.

"Do any of you own a Poke Gear or anything like that?" I asked. I didn't and nor did Maxine, so both of us looked at the others in the hope that one of them did. In the end Vicky spoke up.

"I do," she said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the combined watch, portable radio and mobile phone.

"Well, then use it!" I snapped. I didn't mean to sound harsh, but I was getting worried about our situation.

"OK . . . OK!" Vicky muttered as she turned the Poke Gear on and switched it to Phone mode. "I'll call my cousin in Cherrygrove City - see if he knows what's been going on here . . ."

With that, she selected her cousin's name from the Poke Gear's Quick Dial menu and the rest of us waited while the call was put through. But, after about five minutes, she switched the Gear off and shook her head. "I can't get through," she told us.

"Why not?" asked Lizzie as we all felt a strong feeling of unease.

"Something's blocking the signal," Vicky replied as she put the Poke Gear back in her pocket. "All I could get was static . . ."

This was getting serious and we decided we'd better stick together until we found out what was happening and why. And, with no means of contacting the outside world, we were on our own. The first thing we had to do was exactly what Rally had said - find out if there was anyone else left.

"Until we do that, we'd better stick together," I told the others. "For all we know, we're the last people left in Goldenrod City . . ." As I spoke, I was reminded of a book called "The Day Of The Triffids" that I read once and which involved a man waking up to find that the world as he had known it was gone, taken over by mutant plants.Now, it looked like we were in much the same situation, only - as we later learned - it wasn't Triffids that we were up against . . .


Vicky

We walked around Goldenrod City, stopping and looking at any sort of movement. Meanwhile, the little cogs in my brain had been whirring, trying to work out why they would take the population of Goldenrod City, but leave a bunch of kids. Then, it popped into my head.

"I've been thinking," I announced. "Back at the Pokemon Center, you were saying, why would they take the population of Goldenrod City, or even Johto, but leave us lot behind. Then it hit me - maybe they couldn't tell we were there." I could tell everyone was confused, so I decided to explain. "Well, my brother was one of the last to disappear, so he might have had half of what we have - or don't have. You see?"

I was sure that they didn't fully understand me, but I decided it was best to leave it at that.


Jewel

I felt something wet on my cheek. It was Ruby, licking me so she would wake me up from my slumber. I didn't want to wake up. I'd had that nightmare again and I wanted to know what happenned next. I wanted to know what would happen if I went with the scary creature. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe . . .

I heard voices and I wanted to know whom were they. Grudgingly, I opened my eyes. It was still dark, so dark. Sure, Ruby and Al were here to protect me and I knew they love me a lot, but I missed Mommy and Daddy so . . . It was then that a light of hope flickered inside of me. "Ruby, Al, I know where Mommy and Daddy are at!" I cried.

"Where?" Ruby asked telepathically.

"Up in the building!"

Ruby and Al looked at me, obviously confused. "It could be dangerous," Al said, "Let us go with you."

I nodded. I carefully put on my small slippers, grabbed a sweater and walked out. I opened the front door, followed closely by Al and Ruby. A sharp cold breeze welcomed me.

As we walked towards the big building, I noticed there were no people around. I had the ability to feel their presence, but, today, I just couldn't sense anyone. It was only after we passed the Pokemon Center that I felt someone's powerful presence. I looked around. Only us psychics could be felt from afar; we have powerful auras. Maybe they could help.

I tried to talk to them. "Please . . . help me! They took Mommy and Daddy!"

"What?" another girl thought to me. "Wh - who are you? Do you know what's going on?" She was obviously surprised to hear me in her mind.

I could see them now. She had stopped, but she wasn't facing me. "Turn around!" I called. "I'm here!"

She spun around. "Hey guys! Wait up!" she said out loud. "There's a little girl over there!" She pointed at me and started running.

I was already in front of the big building. I turned around towards it. Something in the back of my head told me to go up the building, to not let anything stop me. I raised my hand, my blue aura flaring. I didn't know what I was doing anymore; it was as though something controlled me. I sent her flying backwards, towards the others. I turned around and ran inside the building.

Al and Ruby tried to stop me. I wanted to stop myself too. I was scared now. "I'm sorry! He . . ." I tried to send the message, but something stopped me.

I finally reached the rooftop. I looked up and saw that the huge light the creatures had created was still up there. Then, something came from the light. It was just like my nightmare. Al and Ruby sawit and tried to stop it using their powers.

I just kept looking at its eyes. "Stop them! Block them!" the voice hissed in my mind again. "Kill them!"

I was crying; I didn't want to do it, but, somehow, I raised my hand. I was gathering all of my energy to aim a beam at them.

"STOP!" someone yelled from down below.

Instead of killing Ruby and Al as the voice told me to, I unleashed all of my energy, making my aura flare uncontrollably. The creature took a couple of steps back and I wasn't looking into its eyes anymore. I was feeling exhausted and I wasn't aiming my powers at anything.

I saw those people running towards us. They were yelling and screaming, but I couldn't hear them; it was as though I was deaf. I knew both of the psychics were using their powers to try to stop the creature, but I couldn't tell anymore.

My knees went weak and everything was dark again . . .


Rally

"Monster!" I thought acidly, not knowing what was happening, that my aura had flared up around me like a blue flame.

"Yes! Kill! Kill them!" an icey tone told me, slithering around my mind like a live wire.

I cried out in pain before gritting my teeth. "No! I . . . kill . . . you!" I roared out telepathically as I brought my hands up. A black glow formed and shot out in a beam similar to a Hyperbeam. It hit the monster and shoved it back. I gritted my teeth and put more power into the attack. There was a massive explosion and the thing was shoved away from the girl. It landed with a thud and didn't move.

My legs shook and gave out on me. My breath was ragged and my head throbbed. "Wow!" I whispered. "I didn't know I had that much power . . ."

"It's not dead!" the child, Jewel, cried out as the thing stood up once more.

"Not for long!" Shin stated as he turned to the other psychic types. They were silent for a few seconds, before turning to the monster as it stood up and, with a collective roar, unleashed their powers in a mighty blast, obliterating it and the buildings behind it. Marle, Vicky, Lizzie and Maxine were speechless.

"OK," Katie said. "Who is that girl and what in the world was that? And, Rally, What did you and Marle do?"

I pointed at myself. "I'm a psychic . . . powerful I guess," I gasped out, still recovering from whatever it was I did. Shin panted as he walked stiffly over to me while the other Psychic Types dragged their tired bodies back over to us, the Alakazam carrying the girl.

"We . . . must . . . find . . . hiding place!" the other Espeon managed to think out before collapsing.


Katie

We all wondered who the girl we had found was. She was a kid - even younger than Maxine - so where were her parents? Had they disappeared as well? And what was that monster we had seen menacing her before Rally got rid of it with some sort of Psychic power?

This was beginning to scare me, to scare all of us and I knew we had to figure out what that creature was and why it was here. I spoke to Marle and Lizzie about it as we sheltered in Goldenrod's Underground Passage, normally full of shoppers but currently deserted except for our little group.

"What do you think that thing was?" I asked as I sat stroking my Raichu. We had each let one of our Pokemon out to keep an eye on things.

Lizzie looked down at her Skiploom. "I don't know," she told me. "Whatever it is, it's not of this world."

"And how do you figure that?" asked Marle. "What if it's just some kind of undiscovered Pokemon?"

"Look at it this way, Marle," Lizzie persisted. "That thing was attacking that kid we found - and it's not like Pokemon to do that unless they're provoked. Even then, they usually go for the person's Pokemon and not the person directly . . ."

So we had had our first encounter with the race that had invaded our city. Little did we know that there were more of those creatures lurking out there . . .


Vicky

Spook (my Misdreavus) floated around my head as I sat in thought. Unfortunately, my theory had just been broken by the recent event . . . Or had it?

After Rally found out about her hidden qualities, she could tell where the little girl was, even blindfolded. But it didn't work the same for any of the others except Marle, but she claimed that she made a sound each time. So what was it that made the monsters leave us behind and take everyone else? There must have been something I was missing.


Katie

I was with the girl we had found when she woke up and immediately asked if we had seen her parents. I didn't know what to say - how did I tell a little kid that all the grown ups in town seemed to be gone?

Nonetheless, I decided I'd better at least try to gain her trust and racked my brain for something to say. "Don't be frightened - we're your friends," I told her as gently as I could. "Won't you tell me your name?"

"Jewel," she said simply. "Jewel Stewart."

"That's a pretty name," I remarked. "Mine's Katie and . . ." I broke off when I saw an Espeon approaching the child. I knew it wasn't Marle's since hers was with the others. "Is that your Espeon?" I asked at length.

Jewel shook her head. "Ruby belongs to my mummy," she said. "But I can't find her or Daddy anywhere . . ." She broke off and looked down at the floor as I looked at her, longing to make everything all right but knowing that there was little I could do.

"I know how you feel," I told her. "My parents are missing too - and I've got a sister just a few years older than you. So . . ." I paused and smiled as an idea occured to me that MIGHT get Jewel's mind off her missing parents. "So I guess you'd better look after Ruby for a while - guard that Espeon with your life, OK?"

She nodded and then produced another Poke Ball from her pocket. "It's my daddy's Alakazam," she said.

"Then you can look after them both," I told her. "But, before we do anything else, let's go look for a few more people . . ."

I refused to accept that seven young girls were the only people left in Goldenrod.

By the end of the day, we had discovered about twelve other kids, both boys and girls, ranging in age from ones who looked like they had barely started school to teenagers. But there was not a single sign of any adults and I knew they couldn't have simply vanished like that.

I thought about what Lizzie had said about those creatures being "not of this world". At first, I'd thought she had simply watched "The X-Files" once too often, but now I was beginning to wonder. What were those creatures and why were they here? What was so important about Goldenrod?

That was what we aimed to find out, so we had all gathered together in the town square to discuss the Invaders (as we called them) and what, if anything, we could do against them.

"Should we try to escape while we still can?" asked a girl named Olivia, who had a Togetic fluttering round her.

But one of the boys - whose name was William - quickly dismissed that idea. "The Invaders have this whole city sealed off," he told us. "No-one can get in or out - I know because my friend tried to escape and . . . and . . ." He stammered, briefly unable to bring himself to tell us what had happened to his friend, before continuing. "Anyway, my friend tried to escape and he walked straight into some sort of force-field - it burnt him to a crisp . . ."

"Well, what CAN we do?" I demanded from where I stood with Maxine and Jewel, determined to protect them both no matter what. But how could I protect them against these beings that had caused all the adults in town to disappear and had cut off all contact we had with the outside world, even to the point of making it impossible for us to take a quick trip to Azalea or Ecruteak?

It was another boy (his name was Allan) who answered - by pulling out two Poke Balls and releasing an Ekans and a Quilava. "I'll tell you what we'll do!" he declared. "We'll fight this menace - all of us!"


Vicky

"What?! That's crazy talk!" I exclaimed. "All of our pokemon combined couldn't defeat one of those invaders. They're just too powerful."

Rally lokked up to me. "Well, what about me and Jewel?" she asked. "We're psychics and can take out an invader."

I thought for a little while - maybe they were right. "Yes," I said. "But anything so powerful would take quite a while to recharge to the same level. We at least need a plan based on stealth and surprise. It's no good just trying to waltz in there."

After I went through what I had just said, my cheeks had turned red. I wasn't used to trying to take control, so I sat down again and let the others work out a plan.


Marle

Arguments flew back and forth about what to do about these strange invaders, but my thoughts were still centered on that battle. What exactly HAD happened? I knew that Rally and the kid, Jewel, were psychics, but I'd still never seen anything like that before. And how come no one else had seen that blue-black aura of flame that had surrounded Rally before she attacked? I'd said something about it and the others had looked at me like I was crazy or something.

Rally had given me a sidelong glance, however, and I had a feeling I was about to find out more than I ever wanted to know as she detached herself from the group for a moment and headed my way. "These people are crazy!" she practically roared, holding her head in both hands. "They're giving me a headache!" I tried to suppress a grin but failed miserably. "Er, I wanted to talk to you about something you said earlier," Rally went on.

That got my attention. "Oh?" I asked.

Rally was direct and straight to the point. "You said you saw my aura flare up earlier before I attacked that . . . thing, right? Have you ever had something happen to you that couldn't be explained?"

That seemed to come out of nowhere. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that Rally was right. I'd had a number of strange experiences that couldn't be explained - random objects floating through the air, mysterious explosions, my knowing something was going to happen just before it did and thinking it was mere coincidence . . . Wait! Was she reading my mind?

My silence must have been answer enough for Rally. "I thought so," she said. "I wondered at first why you and your Espeon got along so well. You're a psychic too - that's why you could see my aura and the others couldn't!"