Katie

Donna sighed and recalled her Hoothoot. "No good," she sighed. "I guess whatever it is, it's got the ability to block a Pokemon's Foresight."

"Which STILL doesn't help us figure out what it IS," Rally pointed out. "And that worries me . . ."

It worried me as well. As far as I knew we, a bunch of kids with no-one among us older than nineteen years old, were the only ones left in Goldenrod City. We were the only ones who could do anything about these aliens, but what could we do if we didn't even know what their plans were?

"If one of those things comes in and finds us, we've had it," Marle was saying. She kept a tight hold on one of her Poke Balls as she spoke. "We'd better get out before that happens."

"You're probably right," I admitted. "But we'd be running the gauntlet if we went out that door with those aliens out there and there aren't enough of us with a strong Flying Pokemon . . ." I broke off as I considered our options - stay and fight an enemy we knew next to nothing about or try to escape and risk getting caught?

"Al could 'port us," Jewel piped up at length, holding up the Poke Ball that contained her father's Alakazam.

I looked down at her, wondering why I hadn't thought of it myself. If we could Teleport out of here, the aliens wouldn't be able to stop us - in theory. "I think that's probably the best plan we've got," I said. "Jewel, release your father's Alakazam and tell it to use Teleport. The rest of you, get ready."

I had never Teleported using a Pokemon before, but I had been told that you had to maintain physical contact with the Pokemon while doing so. So I told Jewel to hold onto the Alakazam, while I held her free hand and we all held each other's hands to form a human chain. Then, we held our breath and waited . . .

Less than a second later, we were outside the Radio Tower, in what seemed to be a park. There was a sign nearby with the words:

ENTER THE BUG CATCHING CONTEST
Catch a prize Bug Pokemon and win a Sun Stone
Plus runners-up prizes of Everstones, Gold Berries and Berries
See the Park Warden for times

printed on it. This told me that we were in the National Park.

"OK, what now?" asked Vicky.

"We take a look round and make sure there aren't any aliens lurking nearby," I said with a sideways glance at Maxine. Little did I realise that the strange life force we had seen on the thermal imaging camera was in fact attached to her . . .

Vicky

"We could get out of here!" I thought to myself. But then I remembered what William said about his friend getting frazzled in the forcefield. I shuddered as I imagined myself getting completely burnt to a crisp.

"We should look around for other . . ." I paused to think of what to say next as the temptation was to say people. " . . . Pokemon," I added finally. This confused most people, so I shrugged my shoulders and walked off to look around the area.

Matt

As I sat in silence, I heard other people coming so I got lower behind the bush I was behind and held my Poke Ball in my hand. My only Pokemon, a Kadabra, was ready inside, waiting to attack. I simply sat, hoping that it was humans I was about to be found by.

Katie

We decided it was time we gave our Pokemon some battling practice in preparation for what lay ahead. I sat watching as Marle's Persian, Kita, battled Donna's Delcatty - both Pokemon seemed fairly evenly matched and their trainers had obviously raised them well. This could go on for a long time, I thought as I turned to watch my Bellossom and Rally's Chikorita playing in the bushes.

"Delcatty, Dig!" I heard Donna command. I whipped round just in time to see her Delcatty disappearing into a hole in the ground. Kita looked confused, clearly wondering where the Delcatty was, and Marle looked as though she was franticly trying to think of a move that could keep the Persian safe from the Dig Attack. But there aren't that many moves that can counter Dig and, as far as I remembered, none of those that were could be learned by a Persian.

Before Marle could think of anything, Donna's Delcatty popped up out of the ground - directly in front of Kita. "OK, Delcatty," Donna said. "Ice Beam Attack!"

When fired from such close range, the Ice Beam was powerful enough to send Kita flying several feet to land in a crumpled heap. Marle promptly ran over to her Pokemon and stroked her cream fur. "Kita, get up!" she pleaded. But, even though the Persian licked her trainer's hand, the Ice Beam had clearly taken a lot out of her.

"Marle's Persian is unable to battle!" called William, who had been refereeing the bout. "Donna and Delcatty win!"

"You did your best, Kita," Marle said as she recalled her Persian.

Next, Steve stood up and pulled out a Poke Ball. "Right!" he declared. "Who feels like trying their luck against my Arcanine?"

"I will," I said as I stood to face him and readied my Ponyta's Poke Ball. "Go, Ponyta!" Two flashes of light followed and my Ponyta and Steve's Arcanine stood facing each other, squaring up for battle. For a moment, I felt a pang of nostalgia for the days before these aliens showed up and I often battled my four Pokemon against those of passing trainers . . .

"Stop it!" I told myself. "Focus on what you're supposed to be doing!" Once I had collected my thoughts together, I called on Ponyta to launch her first Attack.

"Ponyta, Flamethrower!" I ordered, watching as she threw back her head and sent a jet of hot flames in the direction of the Arcanine.

"Arcanine, fight fire with fire!" Steve countered. "Use your Flamethrower!" And his Arcanine also let fly with a jet of flames - they seemed to be more powerful than Ponyta's and started pushing hers back.

"Don't give up, Ponyta!" I called. "Use your Agility!"

Just as Arcanine's Flamethrower was about to overwhelm Ponyta's, she smartly nipped to one side and stood pawing at the ground with her hoof. "Now, Take Down!" I ordered, watching as she began to gallop towards Arcanine with her head hung low.

At that moment, I was alerted by a sound in the bushes . . .

Matt

I cursed myself for moving, even though I was VERY uncomfortable. I stood up to see who I had had the luck of meeting.

At least they were human so I walked out from the bushes. "Nice to meet you. I'm Matt," I said as I held my hand out to shake.

Vicky

I watched from the back as everyone talked to this mysterious guy. I wondered off, my mind casting back to my life before the aliens. I was really beginning to miss my family, including my annoying brother.

I had given up on the theory that we had something the aliens couldn't detect; I guessed we were just lucky. I looked over to the exit to Ecruteak City and was trying to think what was happening to the people who lived there. Had the aliens captured them too, or was life continuing as normal?

"I wish I had never been left behind!" I shouted. When everyone turned around and looked at me, I blushed bright red, before kicking up some stones and dirt. I needed some company so I pulled out Wiggles Poke Ball. I watched as Wiggles formed and called out its usual cheerful call.

"Hi, Wiggles!" I said to him. I bent down a hugged the marshmellow-like Pokemon. "I'm sure you're related to a marshmellow, Wiggles. Are you sure you're not?"

"Wigglytuff!" he said, shaking his head. I grabbed my other Poke Balls and sent out Bubbles (my Marill), Spook and Dotty (my Ditto). I smiled as I watched them play together.

Katie

Although none of us spoke of it much, we all missed the families we had lost. When I heard Vicky shouting about how she "wished she had never been left behind", I understood how she felt. Why, I asked myself, had the aliens taken all the adults and left a bunch of kids?

I walked over to Vicky as she watched her Misdreavus, Marill, Wigglytuff and Ditto playing together. Dotty the Ditto was making the other three Pokemon laugh by using its Transform ability to pose as each of them in turn. Vicky was smiling, but her eyes seemed wistful.

"Vicky?" I ventured, unsure whether or not I should intrude.

She looked round. "Oh, Katie," she said. "I was just wondering how things are outside Goldenrod. D'you think the others towns and cities in Johto have been invaded too?"

"I don't know," I told her honestly. "And we don't have any way of finding out. So all we can do is . . ."

I was cut off abruptly by the deafening sound of a spacecraft taking off from somewhere nearby. We all screwed our eyes up tightly as a huge craft zoomed into the sky and disappeared from sight.

"Hey!" said Steve. "How come that thing got through?"

I knew what he was talking about, knew how the forcefield that currently surrounded Goldenrod had caused his plane to crash. So why could the aliens come and go as they pleased? "They must be able to deactivate that forcefield somehow," I suggested. "And, if they can do it, so can we. All we need to do is find out where they're powering it from . . ."

It was probably the most risky thing we had done to date. But, as I looked round at everyone - Marle, Lizzie, Maxine, Vicky, Jewel, Rally, William, Olivia, Allan, Steve, Donna, Matt and all the rest - I knew we had to do it.

Vicky

We were back on the move, but, this time, I would say we were drifting aimlessly. As far as we knew, the aliens could be powering the forcefield from space. Sure, it would be a long way, but we didn't know what these aliens were capable of . . .

An idea popped into my head. The interference with all the electrical devices and those lights in the sky must mean something. I once again began to think, but I was disturbed as I realised that we had arrived back in Goldenrod. "So, where should we look first?" Lizzie asked.

At that moment, I just wanted to be anywhere the aliens weren't.

Matt

I simply followed everyone else for the time being. I knew I could help when a fight came up, but I wasn't very helpful when nothing was going on. I needed action to keep my life exciting. I was weird like that.

Marle

After witnessing the take-off of the alien craft, we wandered semi-aimlessly, hoping that something would occur that could clue us in to where in the world we were supposed to be going. Some help Jewel, Rally, and I were; I hadn't sensed anything at all since our earlier encounter with the aliens.

I frowned with concern at Firestorm's labored breathing. She was limping along beside me, trying not to let her injuries slow her down too much, but I knew she was afraid of being left behind. I had tried to recall her into her Poke Ball earlier, but she had actually growled at me and leapt out of the red beam.

"Firestorm doesn't look so good."

I jumped as Steve appeared next to me abruptly. "No," I agreed, regaining my composure. "I tried to get her to return to her Pokeball, but she refuses. I don't know what else to do - I don't have any healing supplies with me."

Steve looked thoughtful for a minute, raising one eyebrow. "I think I may know what's wrong," he muttered after a moment. "Firestorm, are you refusing to return to your Poke Ball because you want to protect Marle?"

My eyes widened in surprise as the Ninetales nodded seriously. "How do you expect to protect her when you're injured?" Steve continued. Firestorm started to growl but seemed to consider his words, only looking worriedly at me instead. "Don't worry." he smiled at the Pokemon. "Marle can call out one of her other Pokemon if that makes you feel better. I'll be watching out for her as well." I barely noticed that Firestorm had entered her Poke Ball, thanks to the furious blush rising in my cheeks. What in the world was wrong with me? Why was I so embarrassed all of a sudden?

Swallowing nervously and trying to calm my racing heartbeat, I numbly grabbed Shadow's Poke Ball and released the Umbreon, who immediately started scouting the area for any potential threats.

"Umm . . . thanks," I muttered shyly.

"No prob," he said. "Thanks for uh . . .you know, back there. You saved my life."

"B - but, you saved mine next!"

"Then let's call it even, shall we?" He grinned and started walking again to catch up with the group. Shaking my head, I followed close behind.

Katie

Marle and Steve were the last ones to arrive back at the building we had selected for our base. Everyone else was inside already and we were all sitting in a circle discussing the day's events.

As soon as they entered, we cleared a space for them to sit down. We had plans to discuss and aliens to fight. For the sake of the younger kids - I glanced at Jewel, who was stroking her mother's Espeon - we had to deal with this menace.

But first we had to figure out what the aliens were planning and that could take a while. There was also another problem; Firestorm, Marle's Ninetales was injured, hurt in a previous run-in with these creatures, and Marle didn't have any Potions with her.

"I wish I knew what to do," she sighed as she looked down at her Ninetales lying on the floor.

"Me too," I told her. "We could probably patch Firstorm up, but . . ." I sighed and knelt to ruffle Firestorm's fur in the way she liked. "Where's Nurse Joy when you need her?!" I cursed out loud. Then, an idea occured to me - what if some of us took Firestorm to the Pokemon Center and treated her ourselves?

"But none of us knows how to operate the Healing Machine," Marle objected when I put this idea to her.

"We can try," I said. "How hard can it be?"

I could see Marle still wasn't sure, but there didn't seem to be many alternatives right now - with all the adults including Nurse Joy gone, we had to deal with situations like this ourselves. "OK," she conceded. "But we'd better take those guns we . . . acquired and someone had better stay behind to . . ."

"And what if the aliens show up while we're gone?" I asked. "I'd think it would be better if we all go - including the younger kids."

So, five minutes later, we all left the building and headed for the Pokemon Centre. Tension pervaded among us as we all kept a careful eye out for any lurking aliens. Never before had a simple thing like a trip to the Pokemon Centre been fraught with such danger . . .

What did these things want with our city? And why had Maxine's hand been glowing with that purple light since our visit to the Radio Tower? And what had caused me to have that vision I had while I was there?

There were so many mysteries, but our current priority was getting to the Pokemon Centre without running into trouble.

Vicky

I never thought I'd be saying this when almost everyone in Goldenrod and possibly beyond were in danger, but I felt stupid. Walking along the streets of Goldenrod in the biggest group of kids you've ever seen just made me feel like a complete idiot. I don't know why, but maybe it was because I never usually walked around in any group of more than five of six.

We soon arrived at the Pokemon Center, where the burnt doors still just clinging to their hinges. Getting behind the desk took about two seconds as I got Wiggles to break the lock with Strength.

"Lets see - how do we work this thing?" Katie said as everyone, except the younger children, crowded round the machine.

"Maybe it's the green button," William suggested.

Marle placed her Poke Ball in the indent where it had to go and Katie pushed the green button . . .

Matt

Then the Poke Ball disappeared. "what the . . .?" I murmured as we all watched in shock.

"Where's Firestorm?!" Marle yelled. We went on a full-scale search through the building.

Marle

"FIRESTORM!" My voice cracked and tears gathered at the corners of my eyes. I took off running without listening to a word any of the others were saying, releasing Jewel as I ran.

The Espeon appeared at my side. "What's happening?" she asked.

I shook my head in answer. "No time or energy to explain," I said. "Find Firestorm."

Her eyes widened momentarily, but her pace never slackened. A moment later, she changed direction abruptly, dashing down a side hallway. "The third room on the left!" she thought.

I turned the knob, threw the door open and dashed inside. I froze, a gasp dying on my lips. The room was completely filled with Poke Balls. "Holy . . . shit!" I murmured, blinking rapidly. I raised an eyebrow and looked at Jewel questioningly.

She almost seemed to sigh. "Sorry, I can't pick Firestorm's Poke Ball out from all the others - their auras are too distracting."

I answered with a sigh of my own. "Well, we'd better get to looking then, hadn't we?" I said.

"You can't mean . . .?"

I'd already started searching through the piles of Poke Balls and that was how the others found me. After I had explained briefly, all the while opening Poke Balls and releasing random Pokemon, they joined in the search. Of course, for some reason that will forever remain a mystery, Firestorm's Poke Ball was one of the last ones in the room we checked. She appeared in a flash of light, completely healed. I dropped to my knees and hugged her tightly.

"Firestorm!" I cried. "I'm so happy - you're healed too! Lucky the Pokemon Center heals Pokemon when it puts them into its storage system . . ."

"Umm . . . sorry to interrupt this touching scene, but we have a slight problem."

I glanced up to meet Katie's gaze. "What?" I asked.

Steve gestured around the room. "We now have a room full of Pokemon - and they're not leaving," he said. "What should we do with them?"

"We should release them," I replied.

"We could always . . . take some of them."

"We can't do that!" I objected. "They're not ours!"

"Well, it doesn't look like their owners are coming back anytime soon, does it?" Steve pointed out. "We could just borrow them, if that makes you feel better."

"We have to do something if we're going to attack those lowlife aliens," Katie added.

The arguments continued for some time . . .