THE BLACK LEAGUE By d2kfuture Comments, complaints and enquiries to d2kfuture@hotmail.com THE BLACK LEAGUE Chapter 5 I stared, shocked, at the destruction around me. 'Hurt pokemon were lying, badly injured, on the ground while the crackling of small fires all around the room intermingled with the sounds of the bustling cities. I read the mind of one of the injured pokemon and saw a young man with a dark uniform and the letter 'R' printed on it standing above the pokemon and kicking it mercilessly while a sniggering Jumpluff looked on. It all came to me in a flash. Harold had joined up with Team Rocket and they had raided the Pokemon centre. Luckily, all my pokemon had been in my room so they had not been injured or kidnapped. I shouted for help and Mike and Amanda rushed out of their rooms a few seconds later. When Amanda saw the horrific sight she broke down in tears while Mike's eyes were the saddest I have ever seen. 'Who committed this atrocity', a sharp, commanding voice demanded from the doorway. I turned to see a convoy of police motorcycles arriving outside and an Officer Jenny standing in the doorway. 'Team Rocket', I replied quietly. Amanda's sobs grew quieter and she listened to what was being said. The other Officer Jenny's piled in and all the Nurse Joy's began to emerge from their rooms, yawning loudly. However, they stopped short and a few of them screamed upon seeing the wrecked room with half-dead pokemon lying on the floor, brutally beaten. The Officer Jenny who had spoken to me explained to them what had occurred and they set about healing the injured pokemon. They managed to save them all but reported to Officer Jenny that about a third of all the pokemon had disappeared. Jenny shook her head regretfully and told the Joy's that they would try their best to recover the stolen pokemon. She thanked us for our help and then, at a quick order from her, the convoy left. A few minutes later, the media arrived. We were all interviewed and, that evening, our faces were on the cover of every tabloid in the city. We felt quiet embarrassed about the whole thing but answered their probing questions as quickly as possible. After, the media left, Nurse Joy thanked us and we set off looking for the Water Gym. I told Scyther to fly up and look around for the gym and Amanda and Mike did the same with their Pidgeotto and Butterfree. We spent two fruitless hours searching for the gym but without luck. Then, I noticed a large arc of water spew off the top of the skyscraper we were walking past. I telepathically ordered Scyther to check it out and, moments later, he landed bearing good news. We entered the building and took the elevator to the top. There we found Misty battling a young girl. The girl looked very young but she had a Gloom under her command. Misty was using a Quagsire, which was a serious disadvantage. However, she appeared to be winning. Misty ordered the Quagsire to use Ice Beam and the Gloom fainted. She consoled the girl and then asked us which one would battle first. Mike stepped forward and sent out his Elekid. Misty returned her Quagsire and released an Azumarill. Misty shouted across the battle area, '1-on-1. Winner gets the Rain Badge and my TM'. Mike nodded his consent and the match began. Elekid started off by using Thunder Wave without even needing to be told and then, after a shout from Mike, used Cross Chop. However, the Azumarill dodged and then executed a Double-Edge attack, which sent Elekid reeling. However, he soon pulled himself together and lit up the sky with a Thunderbolt attack. When my temporary blindness receded it was to view a fainted Azumarill with a triumphant Elekid running towards Mike. He congratulated his victorious pokemon warmly and lifted him onto his shoulder. He then walked over to Misty and she gracefully handed him the Rain Badge, which was shaped like a thundercloud and a TM. ' That is called Bubblebeam she informed him. It is more powerful than Bubble and is quite rare. Use it wisely'. He thanked her and swaggered over to us. Amanda decided to go next. This time it was a 2-on-2 match. Amanda won in the end but it was a close finish. Her Pidgeotto defeated Misty's Quagsire but was defeated by her Starmie. Then she sent out Smoochum, who eventually won the atch by using the ice technique, Powder Snow. She received her badge and TM from Misty and walked bak to us. She said a few word's of encouragement to me and then I stood up. I waked to my starting position and prepared myself. '1-on-1. Same as the battle against Mike', she called. I nodded tensely and sent out my Flaaffy. She sent out a Wartortle and they readied themselves, waiting expectantly for their trainers first commands. 'Flaaffy, use Thunder Wave', I ordered. He quickly did so and the Wartortle immediately became more sluggish. Without any command from Misty, it lowered it's head and charged at Flaaffy. I waited 'til the very last second and then screamed, 'Reflect'. I waited hopefully, unsure whether Flaaffy knew the technique or not. Then, when it looked as if he did not, the Wartortle, crashed at top speed into an invisible wall. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He was nearly fainted and only took another Thundershock to finish him off. Misty looked a bit grumpy at having lost three battle's in a row but was non-the-less encouraging when giving me my Rain Badge and the Bubblebeam TM. I thanked her, and we left. We went to the pokemon centre again to get our pokemon healed and found it almost normal again. Nurse Joy healed our pokemon and then told us that some of the stolen pokemon had been recovered. We were heartened by the news and cheered loudly. We then asked her about the closest gym. She told us that that was the Rock Gym, which was located high in the mountains to the east of the city. We guessed immediately that it would be hard to find. We decided to make a start on our trip to the next gym and travelled about three miles before stopping and turning in for the night, ready for whatever challenges were to come.