I handed the black box to Prof. Elm. "Thank you both," he said with a smile. "Now, I think you should get  a quick move on. You both hafta get ready for the journeys that are ahead of you ... I have to get ready to fulfill my dream of earning respect and gratitude from Professor Oak. Dreams can come true, kids. Bye. And thanks again."
     "No problem," I said. Andy nodded and we left the lab. Pichu followed us down the stairs.
     "Well, where are we off to?" Andy asked as we walked down the dirt path. "Violet City? That's where you can obtain a Zephyrbadge from the gym leader. Let's see ... her name is Raven. Her father is Robin Madison and her grandfather's Falkner Madison. She's a third generation gym leader. She uses Pidgeotto and Hoothoot." Andy looked down at Pichu. "Pichu is an electric type and electric attacks are extremely effective against flying Pokemon."
     "Perfect," I said. "We're off to Violet City then. It should only take a few seconds to win the--."
     "Hello," a voice called. I turned and saw a tall muscular man walking over to me. I smiled and blushed. "Hello."
     He wasn't wearing a shirt and was wearing blue jeans. He had curly brown hair and green eyes. He had tan skin and a fishing hat on. There were four Pokeballs attached to it and another one hang from a necklace around his neck.
     "Hey," Andy said. He didn't seem very happy to see this guy.
     The boy walked over to us. "I'm Mitch," he said. "Mitchell Barrie." He kissed my hand, and my face blushed a deep red.
     Andy got in between us and offered his hand. "I'm Andrew," he said. "My friend's call me Andy. Hi, Mitch."
     I pushed Andy to the side. "I'm Lauren," I said. "Hello."
     "Nice meeting you," Mitch said. "I heard you were going to Violet City to challenge the leader, Raven. I had planned on doing the same thing, actually. Before any of us go there ... how about we have a warm up match right now?"
     "Sounds great," Andy said. "But we only have one Pokemon each. Sorry. Nice meetin' ya. Bye." Andy grabbed my wrist and started to walk away, but I pulled him back.
     "Andy would love to battle you," I said.
     Andy glared at me.
     "Bare with me," I muttered. I pushed him forward. "Andy's going to be using Meowth. Can't wait to see you guys in this match."

We went into an open field. Pichu and I sat in the grass. Andy and Mitch squared off in the middle of the field. Andy picked Meowth's Pokeball from his pocket. "I choose you, Meowth!!!"
     The unique Meowth popped out of the Pokeball and landed in front of Mitch, ready to fight.
     Mitch reached onto his necklace and pushed the button on the Pokeball. It glowed white and with a flash of light, a Pokemon popped out. It looked like a small Hitmonlee with a spike on top of his head.
     "Meowth, Slash attack!" Andy commanded.
     Meowth ran at Hitmontop with a fury. When Meowth was only about 3 feet away, Hitmontop flipped upside-down on its head and spun around really quickly. He had vanished underground. Meowth looked around, confused.
     "Headbutt!" Mitch ordered.
     Pieces of the ground went flying everywhere as Hitmontop jumped out of the ground, sending Meowth flying about 7 feet in the air. Meowth went crashing hard to the ground. Hitmontop kneeled down. Meowth got to his feet. Hitmontop charged at Meowth.
     "Pay Day!" Andy commanded. Meowth spun around and a gold beam of energy hit Hitmontop right in the chest. He went flying backwards and pennies scattered across the ground. Hitmontop landed hard on its head. I thought it was over, but Hitmontop started spinning.
     "Spinning Top Draw Kick!" Mitch called.
     Hitmontop spun across the field. He kicked Meowth hard in the face, twice. Meowth fell to one knee.
     "Look out Meowth!" Andy cried. Hitmontop had jumped high into the air and charged downwards to Meowth. He hit Meowth in the jaw with a Karate Kick.
     Meowth fell to the ground, and did not return to his feet.
     "That was a nice battle," Mitch muttered as he picked the pennies off the ground. "A few good kicks should beat Raven's Pokemon in no time."
     Andy recalled Meowth to its Pokeball. He offered a handshake. "Nice battle."
     Mitch smiled. "Yeah. Maybe you should train your Meowth a little more. Then you could probably put up a better fight. You have potential ... I just think you need to get better."
     "Thanks ... I think," Andy muttered, shaking his hand.
     Andy walked over to me. "Nice try," I said. "Hey, Mitch. Wait up!" I ran over to him. "You're really good."
     Mitch smiled. "I know."
     I beamed at him. "Are you off to Violet City next?"
     "Yes," he said. Andy and Pichu trudged along behind us. I stared, admiringly at Mitch's handsome face.
     Mitch turned to me. "I am going to a battling studio," he said to me. "That's where all beginner trainers go and prepare for their first gym battle. It's right down the street. You guys are welcomed to come with me if you wanna."
     "Yes!"
     Andy grabbed my shoulder. "You're infatuated with this guy," he whispered. "Get over him. We hafta go on our own journey, ya know."
     I ignored Andy and pushed him away. He was just jealous that he wasn't getting all of the attention focused on him and he had lost the battle to Mitch.

We came to a big brown building. "Here it is," Mitch said, putting on a pair of sunglasses. "Ha, I've come prepared with my secret weapons." I knew he was talking about his Pokemon.
     I leaned over to Andy. "Isn't it so cute the way he calls his Pokemon weapons?"
     Andy rolled his eyes. "Real cute," he muttered sarcastically. "Pokemon are living creatures, not weapons."
     Mitch didn't hear him. He went through a gate beside the building. A tall man in a blue uniform, smiled at him. "Hello, Mitchell. Nice to see you again."
     Mitch shook his hand and patted him on the shoulder. "Three today," he said, nodding to Andy and I.
     The man shook both of our hands. "Hello. My name is Thomas. Nice to meet you. This way, please."
     He lead us into an alley. We walked through it and behind a shack of some sort was a battlefield. There were fences separating each field. The sun came out from behind the clouds, making it lighter and giving me a better view of my surroundings. Each field was either dirt or grass and was fairly large.
     "Your first opponent will be Samuel Romano in Grass Field 10," Thomas said to me.
     Pichu followed me to a cage. A security guard slammed the door shut. Across the grass field, Samuel stood with a Pokeball in his hand.
     He was a young boy, probably around nine years old. He was short and kind of chubby. He wore glasses and a blue shirt. He had short brown hair and freckles on his body.
     "Hello," he said. "I'm Samuel. You must be that, Laura girl. Nice to meet you, but I'm not gonna go easy on you."
     I turned around and saw Mitch was looking at me. He winked.
     I blushed and turned back to Samuel. I knew I had to impress Mitch and get him to notice me.
     "I choose you, Cyndaquil!" Samuel cried, tossing the Pokeball into the air. It fell to the ground and opened. In a flash of blinding white light, a small mouse Pokemon began to take shape. It was black and yellow. Its nose reminded me of an aardvark and its small body reminded me of a mouse.
     "Pichu, show me what you can do!" I yelled enthusiastically.
     Pichu jumped in front of Cyndaquil. Cyndaquil opened up quickly with a Tackle attack. Pichu rolled out of the way and used a Thundershock.
     "Cyndaquil, dodge it and use Flamethrower," Samuel commanded. The fire mouse Pokemon shot a spiral of fire from its snout. It twisted around towards Pichu.
     "Thunder Jolt!"
     Pichu shot a hard spark of electricity into the ground. It shot back up and combined with Cyndaquil's Flamethrower attacks. I gasped as sparks flew around in the air and there was a sudden explosion. Smoke clouded the cage.
     I struggled to see where Cyndaquil might have been. "Quick attack!" Samuel yelled. Pichu looked around, but a small figure rushed out of the smoke and slammed into Pichu, sending him flying into the air.
     "Use the Magnet Spark I taught you and cling onto the cage!" Pichu glowed yellow and stuck to the cage. Tiny sparks fell from its body. "Thundershock!"
     Pichu glowed white and the whole cage started to shake. Lightning bolts spun across the top of the steel cage and electricity rained down into the cloud of smoke. The smoke cleared away, but Cyndaquil was no where to be seen.
     "Dig!" Samuel ordered.
     Cyndaquil rose out of the ground and jumped high into the air. He grabbed onto Pichu's tail.
     "Big mistake," I muttered with a smirk on my face. Pichu let off a huge charge of electricity.
     Cyndaquil crashed hard onto the ground. Andy put his face up to the ground. "Pichu's been using too much electric attacks! He's going to ware himself out."
     I looked up and saw Pichu hanging onto the top of the cage with only one tiny paw. "Pichu, don't let go!"
     I glanced at Cyndaquil and saw it returning to its feet. What is it going to take to put this thing away? I need to come up with a powerful attack...
     "Cyndaquil, Flamethrower!" Samuel called out to his Pokemon.
     "Pikachu, use Light Screen along with Tackle!"
     Pichu was suddenly surrounded by a yellow ball of energy. He let go of the cage and went through the fire. The fire turned into little fizzled out ashes and then the tiny mouse crashed into Cyndaquil with an incredible force.
     Both Pokemon were sent sprawling to the ground. I gasped. Pichu was motionless on the ground, and Cyndaquil was shaking with pain.
     I watched as Pichu slowly ... ever so slowly climbed to its feet. I heard a bell sound and the security guard open the cage door. "The winners are Laura and Pichu."
     I shook Samuel's hand. I looked down at Pichu who had collapsed once again, breathing heavily.
     "We should get them to the Pokemon Center," Mitch said, resting a hand on my shoulder.
     I smiled. "Y-yeah," I sputtered.

After we got Pichu healed, I watched Mitch battle against a man named Andre. Mitch used Totodile and Andre used a Quagmire.
     "Water Gun!" Mitch cried.
     Totodile shot a powerful blast of water into Quagmire. The rock/water Pokemon was thrown back by the force so hard, he crashed into the cage and left a hole in it.
     Mitch patted his Totodile on the head. He shook Andre's hand.

Mitch, Andy and I sat at a fast-food restaurant called the Fry-Fry. I ordered a hot-dog, but didn't eat it. I was admiring Mitch. He was a vegetarian. He ordered a salad and some bottles of soda for all of us.
     Andy was quiet during the whole meal.
     "And then I said, that's no Snorlax, that's my Mom!" Mitch joked. I burst out laughing. The jokes he told weren't funny, it's the way he told them.
     "Ha ha," Andy said, sarcastically spooning around his potatoes. "Um ... waiter, refill on my Pepsi please."
     Mitch looked up at us. "You know," he said quietly, "I know this place not far from here. It's supposed to be a haunted mansion ... I went there with my friends once. We ran into a Gengar. I was thinking, maybe you two would like to come?"
     "Best idea you've had all day," Andy said, putting down his fork. "Let's go!"
     Mitch offered to pay the check. "Isn't he such a gentleman?" I whispered to Andy.
     Andy rolled his eyes. "He paid for himself and you. Not me."
     I was starting to get the feeling that Andy was jealous of Mitch. I mean, sure, Andy was good looking. But Mitch was downright handsome.
     We crunched over dead leaves as we walked up a steep hill.
     "The mansion shouldn't be very far away," Mitch said. "Now if you get scared, I'll stay right beside you Laurie ... we can't let anything happen to us."
     I smiled. "I think I'll be fi--."
     I cut myself off. I was about to say we'd be just fine, but I saw the mansion. It was old and rusty. The windows were cracked and stained. It had started to rain outside, giving it a creepy look. It looked like it had been made out of bricks.
     Andy reached the door first. He pulled it open. To our surprise, it opened quite easily.
     Pichu stayed beside me.
     Mitch smiled and looked around. "Now this is my kind of place. Hey! Anyone here?"
     No reply.
     For the first time since they met, Andy finally snapped at Mitch. "Of course there's no one here! It's an abandoned mansion that lives on the top of the hill. Or have you not noticed that all of the other houses and mansions got torn down? Why in the heck would anyone still live here? All you care about is trying to look good in front of Laurie and manipulate her into being your lackey on your journey. But it isn't gonna happen, buster!"
     Mitch got a far away look in his eyes. "Is that really what you think, Andrew?"
     Andy glared at him. "Don't try to play innocent with me. It's so easy to tell what you're all about. Isn't that right, Pichu?"
     "Chu," Pichu replied weakly.
     "Oh my God," I muttered, angrily. "Andy, you're just pissed because you aren't getting all the attention as usual. And Pichu, you--."
     "And you aren't paying any attention to Pichu," Andy said, totally ignoring me. "You pushed him too hard in that battle."
     Andy looked up at Mitch and glared at him again. "But if you're going to let some cheap jerk like him jip you out of a friendship and slowly manipulate you into doing anything he wants ... so be it. You just always remember that you had a great friend for years and you let a guy come between us and ruin that."
     Andy pulled something out of his pocket. It was the locket that we had gotten years ago. It contained a picture of each of us in it. He heaved the locket at me, angrily. I caught it in my hand. "You can keep your stupid locket."
     I felt a tear roll down my cheek, despite all of my anger towards Andy -- my anger towards the world right then. A lump formed in my throat. I let the locket clatter to the floor. Andy backed away, and vanished into the shadows.
     Mitch smirked. "Well, you've got him out of the way. He's a little frustrated because I'm better than him at Pokemon battles and with the ladies ... he'll get over it and come crawling back to you in a few days. Now, let's focus on me for a second."
     I couldn't believe what Mitch was saying. I had just lost my best friend and he just smiled and asked to talk about himself without any concern towards me.
     "Wait, you sat through all that and all you wanna talk about is yourself?"
     Mitch shrugged. "We could talk about Andy, but what fun would that be?"
     Suddenly, there was an explosion of smoke. Bricks rained down on me.
     "Piii!" Pichu cried.
     I looked up. I hadn't noticed but we must have been at the top floor of the mansion. Two dark figures stood in the cloud of smoke. I coughed and looked up.
     "Prepare for trouble," a female voice said.
     "Make it double," said a male voice.
     "To destroy the world with devastation."
     "To ignite the flames of hate in every nation."
     "To attack the good of truth and love."
     "To destroy peoples' dreams of the stars above."
     "Florida."
     "Kipp."
     "ACXX Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light, surrender now or prepare to lose the fight," they said in unison.
     I recognized Florida as the woman who attempted to dissect me at the ACXX Labs and Kipp as the man who locked Andy in a closet. It was just yesterday that we had escaped their clutches.
     "What are you doing here?!" I demanded.
     Florida chuckled. "We'd never tell you, idiot. We're here for business only. We are here to obtain the Sapphires from this mansion. We heard they are located on the top floor. Now move, children. We don't have to hurt you."
     "So you just want us to step aside while you trespass on private property to steal Sapphires?"
     Kipp shook his head. "You'd better step aside. Because you are trespassing also."
     I knew he was right. But I was still to angry at them.
     "Unless you want to fight," Florida said with her smile fading. "I'd be happy to."
     I looked down at Pichu. I was expecting a Pokemon battle, but instead I was grabbed from behind. "HEY!"
     Mitch had my arms pinned behind my back. "You were too easy!" he insisted. "Finish her off, baby." Florida blew Mitch a kiss and rose a laser gun up. She aimed it straight at me.
     She pulled the trigger. I shifted all of my weight and jumped to the ground. A red beam of energy hit Mitch in the chest. He yelled and fell backwards. I turned to Florida. She was furious. "Go, Grimer!"
     Kipp was over at Mitch, trying to help him to his feet. "Pichu, Spark!" I commanded.
     Pichu shot a wave of sparks at Grimer. Grimer was shocked and knocked backwards, but regained composure and shot a black ball of acid at Pichu. Pichu jumped out of the way. The ball of acid hit the floor. The floorboards creaked and steam came from them.
     "Use Body Slam!" Florida commanded. Grimer threw his body onto Pichu.
     "Pichu, use Thundershock!" I said. Grimer started to glow yellow and then slid of Pichu. Pichu rolled backwards and rammed into Grimer. The big purple blob flew backwards, right into the wall. It slumped to the grown in a heap.
     I was grabbed from behind again. This time I was prepared. I reached up my foot and kicked whoever was holding me in the ... pants.
     I heard a girlie scream and then a body hit the floor. I turned and saw Kipp groaning, holding the spot between his legs, and Mitch still rolling around on the ground, holding his chest from where he had been shot.
     Pichu looked at me with fear in his eyes. I looked at Pichu and slowly looked up. A Gengar ... not just any Gengar, but a HUGE Gengar stood before us. His eyes were menacing. He paced slowly towards us.
     "N-nice Gengar," I tried.
     Gengar cupped his hands together, and they started to glow white. I gulped. "Please ... stop!"
     Gengar opened his hands. A white ball of energy hovered in the air in front of him. He clapped his hands and it shot at me. I was tackled hard to the ground from the side. The ball of energy hit the spot where Mitch and Kipp were. The floor collapsed and the two fell. I looked up at who had knocked me down and saw Meowth.
     "Meowth? Where's Andy?"
     I looked over the hole. I saw Mitch and Kipp had fallen 3 floors.
     I turned and saw Meowth and Pichu in front of Gengar.
     Andy was behind them. "Pichu, Meowth and I can handle Gengar," Andy insisted. "You go get those Sapphires before Florida can!"
     I saw Florida pounding down the stairs. She had returned Grimer. I assumed she figured out where the sapphires were stashed.
     I ran after her. She looked at me over her shoulder. I jumped from the top stair. I landed hard at the bottom of the staircase on top of Florida. We both went hard through the floor. I landed on top of her and rolled off, holding my ribs.
     Florida groaned and pushed herself up. Then I looked at what was ahead of me. We were in a room I hadn't seen when we first came in. In front of me looked like a basket. Inside it were blue marbles. These are the Sapphires?
     There were 3 of the blue marbles, but they were about as big as tennis balls. I reached for them, as did Florida. We both grabbed the basket.
     "Let....go!" I cried. I tugged at the basket.
     Florida had no intention of playing tug-of-war. She kicked me hard in the stomach. The basket broke, but the marbles were in a small net. She reached up and caught the net.
     But she was hit hard from behind. Andy had pushed her down. He reached up and caught the net of Sapphires. But then Andy was struck hard from behind with a floorboard. The marbles went flying through the air and Kipp caught the net.
     I reached up and punched Kipp in the face. The net went flying through the air. I caught the net in my hands but I was struck from behind. I fell down and landed on my knees and elbows. Mitch had caught the net.
    "Piiiichu!" Pichu cried. A bolt of electricity zapped Mitch in the back. Mitch fell down and the net flew through the air. Pichu jumped up and caught it with his mouth, but was kicked hard by Kipp. Kipp caught the net, but was attacked by Mitch who caught the net, who was elbowed in the face by Andy who caught the net, who was pushed down by Florida who caught the net, who was hit with the basket in the back of the head, by me.
     The piece of the basket I hit her with broke in half. For a while she just stood there, and then eventually fell backwards and fell right through the floor. I looked around. Everyone was knocked out on the ground except for Andy, Pichu and I.
     I ran up the stairs, but a Pokemon stood in my way. It was a Haunter. I prepared to be attacked, but the Haunter was zapped with an extremely powerful Shock Wave attack.
     My jaw dropped. I turned and saw Pichu. It gave me the thumbs up sign.
     I turned back to the fallen Haunter. "Pokeball go!"
     I threw the red and white ball at Haunter who was sucked in. The ball shook once, twice, three times, PING!
     A smile slowly rose over my face. I looked down at Andy. He smiled also.
  
I pushed open the door and stepped outside of the mansion. I then looked up to see Officer Jenny looking at me with a look of pure fury. "You're under arrest for trespassing!"

We went to the police station and explained our situation. Team Rocket and Mitch had fled from the mansion by the time the other cops got there. We were let go.
     Andy bent over to tie his shoe. I took a deep breath and walked over to him. "Andy ... I am so sorry," I said.
     Andy looked up at me and smiled. "Don't even worry about it, buddy. I knew you'd come through. How about we don't talk about it?"
     "Sounds fine to me," I said. I reached into my pocket and handed him his locket. "And let's promise we won't let someone come between us again."

      A girl walked by Andy. His eyes trailed her. "Later!" he called to me as he ran after the girl.



TO BE CONTINUED...

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