Running as fast as I can, down this dirt path that is eating me up inside and 
leading me to the pits of Hell. Taking me nowhere I want to be. Not helping me 
at all. Running away ... running away ... I'm running as fast as I can. Running 
away from my mind. I can't shut it out. The ultimate forces are about to 
collide. Run away. Running ... reaching towards the light. It's within my grasp. 
I can smell the scent and I can taste the bitterness on my tongue. I'm yards 
away from it. Now feet. Now inches. Now I can reach my hand out and grab it ... 
but it keeps moving further and further away. I run towards it, but it bounces 
back. I can't figure this out. Please help me out. Please free me from the 
tortured soul I cannot comfort. 

*             *             *


"Hey, wake up dude," Jamie said shaking me. 
     I opened my eyes. Jamie was fully dressed. She had apparently taken a bath 
in the lake while I was sleeping.
     I yawned and pushed myself up. I unzipped my sleeping bag and put it back 
into my backpack. I stood up and stretched.
     "Okay, come on out guys," I said. 
     I let Pidgeotto out of his Pokéball and Pikachu awoke with a start, 
climbing off of the stump it was sleeping on.
     I folded up the tiny blanket it usually slept under and put it inside of 
one of the item pockets for my backpack.
     "We might as well cook some breakfast," Jamie said. "Hmmm. What should we 
eat? I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a pot we could use to cook. 
Got some matches too. We can have soup, rice, or the world famous Seliga Stu, 
passed down secretly from generation to generation."
     "Famous? Riiiight," I muttered, rolling my eyes.
     "But it's good. All ya need are some chicken chunks, chicken broth, a few 
veggies, onions, rice and the right spices."
     "That's r--," Jamie started. "HEY! How did you know?"
     "I, uh ... guessed?" I tried.
     Jamie shot me a suspicious look and then shook her head, smiling. "Well, I 
guess it's good that someone outside the family knows. Squirtle, Pikachu, could 
you two go get some logs for me? We're going to need them if we want to cook the 
soup."
     Squirtle and Pikachu nodded, then went off into the forest to find some 
logs. 
     Jamie took a towel out and laid it across the ground. She took about 6 
bowls out of her bag and set them out, along with spoons and napkins.
     I brushed my hair back and walked over to Jamie. "I'm starving. Can't wait 
for Pikachu and Squirtle to get back with those--."
     Suddenly, I heard a huge rumble, coming from the woods. I turned towards 
that direction and saw a tree fall over. There was another huge earthshaking 
rumble. 
     I saw Pikachu and Squirtle run out of the woods with logs falling out of 
their arms. 
     "Pikachu, what happened?" I asked.
     Pikachu and Squirtle stopped in front of me. Pikachu pointed towards the 
direction of where the sounds were coming from and then made a fist with his 
other hand. "Pika Pii!" it cried. 
     At first I thought our Pokémon had gone crazy, but then I looked at the 
woods and saw more trees starting to fall over.
     "Maybe we should run," Jamie suggested. "Whatever that thing is ... it must 
be pretty big and powerful if it's able to knock over the trees like that."
     "Good idea," I said grabbing my backpack. "Pidgeotto, return."
     "You too, Squirtle," Jamie said as she picked her backpack up. 
     We put our Pokéballs in our pockets and quickly turned and moved away from 
the sound of the woods. However there was a mighty roar, followed by the 
thunderous rumble of footsteps. 
     Our quick walking turned into a jog, and our jog turned into a run.
     "Somebody helllp!" Jamie cried. She looked over her shoulder and nearly 
screamed. "Oh my ... Dimmy, look!"
     I turned also. There must have been over a dozen Pokémon behind us. They 
were all rock-types. I could see a Graveler, an Onix, about 3 Rhyhorns, 2 
Sudowoodos and the rest were Rhydons.
     "Ohh man, they look pretty mad," I muttered. 
     Pikachu, Jamie and I ran as fast as we could. Our legs were tired and 
heavy. Sweat was starting to run down the side of my face. I looked over my 
shoulder as I ran. The Pokémon were closing in on us! They were less than 60 
feet away and were moving at incredible speed. They tasted blood.
     "Why are they chasing us?" I demanded. 
     "Stop!" Jamie hissed. 
     I looked at her. She was turning into a slow walk, about 3 feet ahead of 
me. She pointed ahead. "We're at a dead end!" 
     I walked over to the side and realized we were at the edge of a cliff. 
Dozens of feet below us was nothing but water.
     "Rock Pokémon are afraid of water, right?" I asked.
     Jamie shrugged. "I ... think most of them are."
     They were 40 feet away. 
     "Get out Squirtle," I said. "And I'll get out Pidgeotto. Pidgeotto can help 
us hover down to the water and Squirtle can help us float. When we get them all 
in the water, we have Pikachu use Thunderbolt and paralyze them."
     30 feet.
     "It could work," Jamie said. "Squirtle, come out."
     "Pidgeotto, help us out here!"
     20 feet. 
     I quickly have both of them instructions. "Pidgeotto, we hold onto you. 
Float us down to the water. Squirtle, you and Pikachu jump in first. Get ready 
for our commands. Ready?"
     Everyone nodded. Pikachu got onto Squirtle's shell, and Squirtle jumped 
over the cliff, into the water.
     10 feet! Just over 3 yards away from us. I could feel the air move by as 
they got closer.
     "Now, Pidgeotto!" I said.
     Andy and I both grabbed one of Pidgeotto's talons.
     Less than 5 feet away!
     Andy and I leaned back. We yelled as we fell over the edge of the cliff. 
Pidgeotto leaned forward, however and zoomed downwards, towards the river, where 
Pikachu and Squirtle were waiting.
     Pidgeotto flapped its wings hard, trying to support our weight. After a few 
more seconds, we were in the water. 
     The current wasn't too fast, so we could still maintain control in the 
water.
     I looked up at the edge of the cliff (40 feet above us, mind you) where the 
Rock Pokémon stood. 
     "Come on ya big losers!" Jamie yelled. "Not so tough now, now that you're 
up against water, are ya?!"
     The Rock Pokémon all looked at each other and nodded to each other. Slowly, 
they backed away.
     "Hey ... I think we did it! I think we got em to leave," I said with a sigh 
of relief.
     But the rumbling came back. Jamie and I looked into the air and saw a black 
ball drop towards us. However, the ball started moving. It opened ... it was 
Rhydon using Defense Curl!
     It landed close to us in the water. Water splashed everywhere and it glared 
at us. This Rhydon was different. It was completely black and the water didn't 
seem to be hurting it at all.
     "Um ... nice Rhydon?" I tried.
     Rhydon's horn spun like a drill and it lowered its head towards us.
     "Ohhh, man. It's gonna use Horn Drill," Jamie said. 
     It came towards us, but Pidgeotto used Quick Attack. It flew at Rhydon from 
high up in the air. However, Rhydon saw Pidgeotto out of the corner of his eye. 
It rose its arms up and caught Pidgeotto. Rhydon then tossed Pidgeotto in the 
air, and jumped up using Horn Drill!
     Pidgeotto was knocked out instantly. It fell into the water below.
     "Oh, no Pidgeotto," I muttered. I floated over to it, but was struck hard 
by Rhydon. He had hit me with a Mega Punch.
     I gasped as the air was sucked out of me completely. Rhydon picked me up 
above his head and tossed me hard against the truck of a tree.
     My back was racked with pain. Jamie shuddered and tried to back away as the 
angry Rhydon made its way towards her, with his horn spinning.
     Pikachu and Squirtle jumped onto Rhydon. Pikachu tried a Thundershock while 
Squirtle attacked with Water Gun.
     The attack seemed to stop Rhydon temporarily, but it quickly tried to shake 
the Pokémon off. 
     Pikachu stopped his Thundershock and aimed flat-out punches to the back of 
Rhydon, while Squirtle did the same to Rhydon's head. Rhydon roared and grabbed 
both Pikachu and Squirtle by the heads.
     He threw them both in front of him.
     Squirtle used Bubblebeam and Pikachu tried using Thunderbolt. Rhydon 
growled in pain, but lifted up his arms with a mighty roar. The static 
electricity vanished and the bubbles popped.
     It Mega Punched Squirtle and then turned around and hit Pikachu with a 
strong Tail Whip, which knocked both Pokémon off their feet.
     Rhydon's eyes then glowed red. It leaned back its head and shot a Hyper 
Beam out of its horn, nailing Squirtle. Squirtle went flying right into Pikachu 
and both Pokémon fell to the ground in pain.
     "Oh no," Jamie said, now on land. She ran over to me. I could see her ... I 
could here her, but I couldn't speak.
     I groaned and tried to get to my feet. Jamie then screamed and ran to the 
side of me.
     Rhydon had recovered only after a few short seconds and was walking towards 
Jamie. Its horn spun around and its eyes glowed red.
     "Persian, Pay Day!"
     A yellow beam of light hit Rhydon right in the face. Rhydon held its face 
and turned towards his attacker.
     A teenager, maybe around 18 or 19 came out of the shadows. He had shoulder-
legnth brown hair and had a little fuzz on his face, possibly trying to grow a 
beard.
     Persian pounced on Rhydon and aimed 2 Slashes right to its head. 
     Rhydon growled in pain. "Cat Punch!" the teenager commanded.
     Persian's hand glowed white and it punched Rhydon in the chest. Rhydon was 
pushed backwards and glared at Persian.
     Squirtle and Pikachu also got back to their feet, and stood on either side 
of Persian.
     Rhydon realized it couldn't beat them 3 on 1. With an angry, glass-
shattering roar, it dove into the water and vanished from our sight.
     "Thanks," Jamie said. She got to her feet and walked over to the boy. 
     I finally got my voice back. I coughed. "Thanks a lot," I greeted, 
gratefully.
     "No prob," he said. He stepped into the sunlight and I saw he was wearing 
baggy tan jeans and a green jacket. "I was just doing my job. I'm a Pokémon 
Ranger here. Just watching out for the trainers and Pokémon." He looked at us 
and realized how hurt we were. "I got a First Aid kit. Come over here."
     Squirtle, Jamie and Pikachu walked over to him. I took a deep breath and 
fully returned to my feet. I limped over to him. 
     He pulled a white box out of his duffel bag and opened it. He then reached 
in and pulled out a bag of ice. He handed it to me. "Hold this on your ribs," he 
said. He took out a packet of something. It had 3 pink stars painted onto the 
front of it. 
     He bent over Pidgeotto and opened the packet, pouring the gooey red 
substance onto its face.
     The substance started to glow white and then it disappeared.
     "What was that?" I asked.
     "A Max revive," he said. "Your Pidgeotto should be okay now. My name's 
Scott. Who are you two? Haven't seen you around these parts."
     "I'm Dimmy and she's Jamie," I said. "We're not from Viridian City though. 
We just arrived here late last night."
     "Do you know why those Pokémon attacked us?" Jamie demanded.
     Scott shook his head. He took a potion out of his kit and sprayed a little 
bit into Squirtle's and Pikachu's mouths. He put the remainders of it back into 
the kit, took out a few bandages, then closed it.
     "I have no idea why they attacked you like that," he said. "Usually we 
don't even see that many Rock Pokémon around Viridian City. My guess is that 
they're being possessed."
     "Wha?" I was dumbfounded.
     "Yeah," Scott said. "It could be one or more of three things. They could 
have been possessed by a psychic or ghost Pokémon, they could have been sent by 
somebody to attack you, or they had rabies. But we've seen a lot of Kadabras and 
Mr. Mimes around here lately. They could have possessed them easily."
     I found it hard to believe another Pokémon could have been doing this. "But 
why would a Pokémon wanna attack us? We've only been training for a week now. We 
haven't done anything wrong."
     "At least we don't think we have," Jamie said.
     Scott shrugged. "I really don't know. My job here is to protect people and 
Pokémon if I see they are in danger while I'm on lookout, then help out anyway I 
can. It's really not my job to find out what makes organisms tick."
     "I see," Jamie said.
     "However, if you really want to find out if it's being possessed, you 
should go visit Taylor. He lives here in Viridian City. He's an engineer and 
works with Psychic types. He could help you."
     "Cool. Where does he live?" Jamie and I asked in unison.
     "He lives on 55 East Street, right next to the Viridian Gym. You can't miss 
the house. It has psychedelic shutters. Haha."

"This is the place," I muttered. I knocked on the door and backed up.
     "Come in!" a deep voice called out. "Door's open."
     I reached forward and yanked open the door. Inside ... the room was pitch 
black. There was nothing as far as I could see. Just a giant black space.
     "Erm-- am I hearing things or did someone tell us to come in?" I asked 
Jamie and Pikachu.
     "Pika," Pikachu said.
     "Yeah, I heard him say something to," Jamie said. "Hello, is anyone here?"
     "Of course I'm here. Look for me with your mind," Taylor's voice came 
again.
     I looked at Jamie and Pikachu. They shrugged.
     I closed my eyes and moved my hands along the wall, stepping inside the 
house. Looking for possibly some body heat to indicate how close Taylor really 
was. However, the further I made my way into the pitch black room, the less 
certain I became. Was Taylor using some sort of psychic mind control to make us 
think he was really there when he wasn't? Or maybe he was using a walkie-talkie. 
I wasn't sure. 
     "Dimmy, let's just go! This makes no sen--," Jamie started.
     "Quiet!" I hissed. "I hear something."
     I thought I heard the sound of someone sniff, ever so quietly. It wasn't 
Pikachu, and Jamie had been talking to me. But I was sure I had heard it.
     Suddenly I became aware that I was standing right next to somebody. My skin 
tingled and I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
     I reached out my hand ... and grabbed nothing but hair.
     I suddenly felt breathing on the back of my neck. "Looking for me?" Taylor 
asked.
     I turned around and ran forward, trying to grab him, but again, grabbing 
nothing but air. 
     My lip quivered. Why was he doing this? This wasn't right.
     "Stop it!" Jamie snapped. 
     Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement, and one of my ears perked up. I 
turned around and grabbed for the movement. I heard a gasp and then something 
heavy fall to the ground. I reached up with my other hand and flicked on the 
light, looking down.
     A young man with a goatee, spiked hair and dressed in all black was flat on 
his back. His eyes shot open and he sat up. He looked at me and gave me a thumbs 
up. "Good job, kid. Most people can't find me."
     "Uh ... thanks," I said, helping him to his feet. "Why-- why did you do 
that?"
     Taylor chuckled and smiled. "It's a test. I'm psychic, so I usually know 
when somebody is going to look my way and try to grab me. But when your little 
friend here yelled out, I got distracted and I moved, then you reached out and I 
fell. But you're very observant..."
     "Name's Dimmy," I said with a half smile. "And my 'friend' you were 
referring to is Jamie. This little guy here is my Pikachu. You're Taylor, 
right?"
     He nodded. "Yes. Come into the basement with me. We'll have something to 
eat."
     "Oh yeah," Jamie said. "We completely skipped lunch."
      
Taylor made turkey, ham and cheese sandwiches. He cooked some fries and served 
them to us with the sandwiches. He put 3 bowls of Pokémon food on the floor 
beside the table for Squirtle, Pidgeotto and Pikachu.
     When we were finished eating, Taylor turned around from his magazine and 
motioned for us to sit on the couch with him.
     Jamie and I took a seat and he clasped his hands together. "So, whatsup? 
You guys apparently came here for a reason."
     Jamie decided to be a wise guy-- in this case girl. 
     She smirked. "I thought you were psychic. Why don't you tell us why you 
came, yourself?"
     "I'm psychic yes, but I haven't learned to read minds yet. Besides, it's 
forbidden. A person's thoughts are private and should be respected that way."
     "Then why were you able to read my mind and move when we were in the dark 
room?" I demanded.
     "That's different," he said. "I traced your brain waves towards your body."
     "Interesting..." I muttered.
     "Anyway, we came here because we need your help," Jamie said, now becoming 
serious. "Ya see, Taylor, we have a little problem here. Earlier today we were 
attacked by at least a dozen rock type Pokémon. They were behaving ... very 
strangely. They were savage and would stop at nothing to rip us to shreds!"
     "And we're really eager to know if a psychic type was using brain waves to 
control them. We were wondering if you could help us out in that department."
     Taylor took a sip of his water and put the cap back on. He turned back to 
us. "Well, I could find that out for you, easily."
     Jamie and I smiled along with a little laugh of relief. "Thanks! So ... 
when could you tell us?"
     Taylor scratched his head. "Like I said, I could find that out for you 
easily. However, for me to do it easily I need you to do something."
     "What is it?" I asked.
     "Well, in order to find out, I need a piece of the Pokémon. A hair, a 
tooth, maybe a piece of its rock skin, or some blood..."
     "WHAT?!" Jamie and I cried in unison.
     "Pika!" Pikachu yelled, angrily.
     "Sorry, but that's the way it is," Taylor said. "I have no other way of 
finding out."
     Jamie's jaw dropped. "So you're telling us, that we've gotta go back to 
those woods and find a way to get a piece of one of those rock Pokémon?" 
     "Figuratively speaking, yes," Taylor said. 
      I sighed. "Well, Pidgeotto, Squirtle and Pikachu are the only ones we 
have. It's practically three against twelve."
     "I can't help ya there," Taylor said. "The only Pokémon I have are Abra, 
Mr. Mime and Hypno. Mr. Mime doesn't battle, Abra really can't fight, since all 
it can use is Teleport."
     "Well, why can't we use Hypno?" Jamie asked.
     "It isn't here," Taylor said. "It's staying with my Mom, cuz she's sick."
     I turned to Jamie. "We've got no choice," I said. "Either we can risk 
ourselves, and others getting hurt again, or we ... just risk ourselves getting 
hurt and prevent others from being injured."
     "What a choice," Jamie said, rolling her eyes. "Well, we might as well put 
up a fight. If we back down, we're being cowards."
     I rubbed my eyes and looked up at Jamie. "Okay. We've gotta do it for 
everyone. Pikachu, Pidgeotto, Squirtle, are you guys ready?" I asked.
     All of them nodded. I knew that they weren't going to back down, and we 
couldn't. We've come to far.

We sat there and trained our Pokémon as ruthless as the rock Pokémon were, but 
not so much that they were savage.
     "Pidgeotto, you've got to use your Sand Attack on them to distract them," I 
said.
     "Squirtle, you just keep throwing all your water attacks out," Jamie said. 
"Don't stop, no matter what!"
     "Pikachu," I said, turning to the smallest of the bunch. "You run in there 
and grab anything you can. I suggest you try to break off a tooth or a claw. 
Either that or cut it open, and get some of its blood. Got it?"
     "Pii!" Pikachu replied. It balled its hands into fists and threw a couple 
punches into the air. Its cheeks sparked. We were ready. We had a plan. Go full 
force and don't hold back, no matter how ugly it gets.

The next morning we went all-out. I put my army pants and baseball cap on, as 
did Jamie. Pikachu, Squirtle and Pidgeotto all put on their fighting faces 
(which was pathetic, mind you) and charged of the house, shouting their battle 
cries and shooting their most powerful attacks up into the air. 
     "You can borrow my bikes if you want!" Taylor yelled out the window. "Be 
careful!"
     Pikachu hopped into the basket of one bike, which I climbed onto, and 
Squirtle onto the other, which Jamie climbed onto.
     Pidgeotto flew a few feet above our heads, right between Jamie and I as we 
rode our bikes down the dirt road, closer to the woods.
     Jamie turned to me. "Do you think this is safe?"
     "Heck no!" I called back. 
     "Just checking," she said. She then turned back towards the road and 
pedaled faster. 
     After about five minutes, our legs were tired, but the woods came into 
view. The footprints from the day before, were still there. We knew we were in 
the right place, so we slowed our bikes to a stop, and our Pokémon slowed to a 
stop.
     Jamie then had second thoughts. "Um ... Dimmy, wouldn't it be better, 
easier, and er-- safer if we waited until a little after midnight to come back? 
They'd all be asleep by then."
     I shook my head. "They never get tired. Did you see how they kept coming at 
us yesterday? It wouldn't make a difference. We can't turn back now. The more 
time we waste, the more people we're letting get hurt, like it or not."
     Jamie took a deep breath and nodded. "You're right. Are ya ready guys?"
     Everybody nodded. We leaned our bikes against the trunk of a big tree and 
cautiously walked to the woods. Pidgeotto walked beside me and Pikachu walked on 
the other side. Squirtle walked in front of Jamie, as if ready to protect her 
from anything.
     We stepped into the woods, finally after what seemed an eternity. We looked 
around, to make sure nothing was coming at us ... we couldn't afford an ambush. 
     "Be prepared," I whispered. 
     I looked around. No sign of any life at all. The woods were foggy and the 
clouds were hiding the sun behind them. 
     Suddenly, I heard a rustle in the leaves. I turned towards the direction, 
quickly, but whatever it had been was there no more. 
     "Mew!"
     "What was that?!" Jamie whispered, her eyes getting wide. 
     I turned. I had no clue what it was. I assumed it was just another Pokémon 
walking by. "It's nothing," I said, shrugging. "I don't think any of the rock 
Pokémon are here anymore. Maybe they left when we flew off the mountain and 
didn't come back this way."
     I heard a tiny growl and then a flash of light. 
     "Huh?" I looked at whatever it was, but the worst had happened. It was an 
ambush!
     The bushes around us flew up, and we were surrounded by the same dozen of 
ferocious rock Pokémon, growling at us, angrily.
     This time, foam hang from their mouths and their eyes were bloodshot.
     The Onix uncurled itself and shot straight up, roaring. The roar shook the 
trees, and some birds flew away seconds after.
     The Gravelers, the Ryhorns, the Sudowoodos and the Rhydons stared us down, 
forming a circle around us. But we had no time to waste. 
     "Pidgeotto, Squirtle, do it!" Jamie and I cried in unison.
     Pidgeotto flapped its wings hard and used Sand Attack, all around us, but 
it was hard to get all of them, since there we were surrounded. I searched, but 
I didn't see the swimming Rhydon that had singled us out the day before.
     Squirtle began using Bubblebeam on all the other rock Pokémon. Pikachu 
looked around for an opening, to grab a Pokémon for Taylor to use.
     "Rhyy!"
     I gasped as I saw the Rhydon who had attacked us ... walking towards us. It 
had a scratch still on its face from where Persian slashed it. I tapped Jamie on 
the shoulder. "Erm ... Jamie, I think you wanna take a look at this one!"
     Jamie turned towards me. "What?" 
     I didn't even need to answer her. She gasped too. The Rhydon slowly 
approached us, slowly, menacingly. It was almost as if intimidating us was the 
main thing on its mind, and it was just luring us in...
     Jamie and I were now back to back. Squirtle and Pidgeotto were putting up a 
fight, but not what we needed, exactly. We were outnumbered. We got ourselves 
into it, and we had to get ourselves out. 
     "Do you think Pidgeotto could fly us up and out again?" Jamie asked, 
turning to me. 
     I looked at the bird Pokémon I owned. Sweat ran down its face, as it dodged 
attacks from its enemies.
     I shook my head. "No, it's too tired by now. And by the time it lifts us 
up, the rock Pokémon would be on us. We haven't given up yet, Jamie. And I don't 
intend to. No, we're going down fighting."
     At first, Jamie looked at me with both a confused, and a determined look in 
her face. After arguing with herself in her mind, she bit her lip. "Okay. I'm 
with you all the way."
     Rhydon was now a few feet away from us. It jumped up.
     "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on the tree!" I commanded.
     Pikachu jumped clear over Rhydon's head and landed behind it. It let a 
charge of electricity from its body, which hit the tree. After a couple of 
seconds, the branch cracked, and dangled loosely.
     Rhydon turned around and hit Pikachu with a Tail Whip, which sent the 
electric mouse flying into the air, landing yards away.
     "Oh no," I muttered. Pikachu was injured, Pidgeotto and Squirtle were 
exhausted. We were outnumbered 12 to 3 by gigantic rock Pokémon. What else could 
go wrong?!
     It got worse.
     A Graveler used Rock Smash on Squirtle. Squirtle flew up, and landed right 
back on the ground. Pidgeotto stared at the huge group of them. A Sudowoodo 
jumped up for a Headbutt, but Pidgeotto grabbed it by the arms and flew high 
into the air. 
     Pidgeotto circled around in the air a few times and then send the Sudowoodo 
flying, clear out of sight. 
     Onix was right on the case. It used a Leer attack. Its eyes glowed white, 
and Pidgeotto was stopped in its tracks. It tried to rub its eyes.
     Onix swung its tail around, right at Pidgeotto, but Pidgeotto was way too 
smart. It dove under Onix's tail and used Whirlwind. Onix roared and it was 
dragged backwards a couple of feet. Bushes were crushed and dust flew up around 
it.
     Pidgeotto glowed an eerie green color and rammed itself into Onix's head. 
It was using a Double Edge attack!
     Pidgeotto did this about 5 times. Then, Onix collapsed.
     Now Pidgeotto was as tired as ever. Pikachu was knocked silly and Squirtle 
was still out cold. 
     However we looked at it, it was 10 to 1. Which was just as bad.
     Rhydon jumped at Jamie and I. We quickly dove out of the way.
     At the same time, a Graveler rolled forward. It glowed a white color.
     "Jamie, look out!" I cried. "It's using Explosion attack!"
     Graveler curled into a ball. I covered Jamie and we both jumped to the 
ground. 
     The explosion was deafening. We were immediately covered in dirt. I heard 
an angry roar and then ... nothing at all. It was as if everything had just 
stopped. Time slowed down and we were trapped. But I knew that wasn't it. 
Something had happened. Something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.

Taylor looked out through his window, chewing on a piece of licorice. "Jeez, 
where are they?" he asked himself. He sighed and looked into the sky. "I hope 
they're okay..."

I sat straight up. Dirt fell off of my back. Jamie was getting up also. I looked 
at where Graveler had used Explosion. There were burned spots all over the place 
... and all the Pokémon were knocked out! All of them except -- Rhydon!
     It rose to its feet. This thing never gave up. 
     Pikachu got back to its feet, and stood beside Pidgeotto. "Jamie, put 
Squirtle back in its ball," I said. "We don't want it to get hurt..."
     Jamie nodded. "Squirtle, return."
     Pidgeotto and Pikachu stood there, ready.
     Rhydon charged at them, its horn lowered. 
     "Pikachu, Pidgeotto, Quick Attack!" I commanded. 
     Pikachu and Pidgeotto moved out of the way at the last second. They rammed 
into Rhydon's back. Rhydon stumbled forwards.
     It roared and its hand glowed white. It balled it into a fist and punched 
Pidgeotto.
     It flipped into the air and landed on its face. Pikachu was still in the 
fight, however.
     "Pikachu, use Headbutt!"
     Pikachu tried to Headbutt Rhydon, but Rhydon grabbed Pikachu and lifted it 
high above his head. 
     At the same time, the tree branch snapped! Just like I had planned. It fell 
down and hit Rhydon hard in the back. Rhydon fell down. It tried to get up, but 
it collapsed again.
     I took out a ball. "Pokéball, go!"
     I threw it at the ground. It rolled forwards and hit Rhydon. Rhydon glowed 
red as the ball opened, and was sucked inside. 
     The ball started shaking. Once, twice, three times, four times...
     I watched it, prepared to throw it again if Rhydon popped out.
     Five times, six times, seven times ... POOM!
     I walked over to the ball. I looked at Jamie and Pikachu. "Well, we caught 
Rhydon, guys," I said with a smile. "I guess it only makes sense to go to Taylor 
and get this thing checked out."

Taylor ran out of the house with a huge grin on his face. "You guys! Are you 
okay? I was about to go out there and see if you were still alive!"
     We shook our heads.
     "It looked pretty bad for us at one point," I said. "But a Graveler used 
Explosion. We were prepared for it. We found out if you jump into dirt, it'll be 
harder to hit you, because Explosion ususally doesn't travel along the ground."
     Taylor looked shock. "Oh, you guys are pretty smart. Even I didn't think of 
that ... do you have the Pokémon part?"
     I reached into my pocket and pulled out the Pokéball.
We let Rhydon out in the basement. It roared and glared at me. It rose up his 
hand to strike me, but then grabbed his shoulder again. The tree had hit it 
really hard there. 
     Taylor carefully reached towards Rhydon's shoulder, where blood was 
falling. He took the tube out of his pocket and placed it on Rhydon's arm. The 
blood dripped down and went into the tube. After about 5 drops, he took the tube 
away and nodded to me. I took out my Pokéball. "Rhydon, return."
     Rhydon glowed red and was sucked back into the ball. 
     Taylor turned his laptop on and the disk holder popped out. He then turned 
to a machine on his desk, about the size of a computer printer. He put the tube 
in there and pressed a few buttons. The computer lights glowed a red color and 
then there was a sound like a cow bell. A paper printed out of the back of the 
machine, and then the blood tube rolled out of a small slot in the side.
     Taylor turned towards his laptop again and typed in the numbers on the 
paper.
     He gasped when he saw what popped up on the computer.
     "What is it?" I asked. 
     He rolled his chair around and looked at us. "It turns out those Pokémon 
weren't being controlled by a psychic type ... but they were being radio 
controlled."
     "What does that hafta do with their blood?" Jamie asked.
     "When Pokémon get controlled, their whole blood type changes. It's hard to 
explain ... I'm no scientist. But these Pokémon were being controlled by radio 
soundwaves. I can have Abra use Mind Reader. It can pinpoint where these waves 
are coming from, and you can contact the police."
     He took a Fast Ball out of his pocket. "Abra, we need your help." He held 
the ball out and in a flash of white light, Abra shot out of it and landed on 
the couch in front of us.
     "Abra, use Mind Reader. Aim towards the Pokéball in Dimmy's hand."
     Abra nodded. It lowered its head. For a second I thought nothing had 
happened. But then the house started shaking. It only lasted for about 3 
seconds, and nothing got broken, but it had freaked me out.
     Abra then sat straight up. "Thanks," Taylor said. He turned to us. "We're 
gonna find out who did this. And we're gonna bring em to justice."
     I turned to Jamie. "And we'll be prepared."         
     


TBC...