Part Two: The Metamorphosis

" Man, O Man! Can you believe we are at the fifth badge this fast?"

" Yes"

"That’s it? That’s all you have to say about us coming this far? Most of the kids from prep school are only at Mauville! That’s the third badge, mind you! We have come so far! You gotta have more to say!"

"Yeah, well, I don’t"

We were camping out, some five miles from Petalburgh, home of Norman, the master of normal types. We had hiked all day from Mauville. Inside, I couldn’t believe we had come this far in only five weeks either. I had managed to capture three pokemon: First Artemis, an orange ant with a big head and even bigger jaws: A trapinch. Second was my ‘starter’ pokemon, the one school graciously gave me: Storm. She was a Feebas, a small, brown fish with blue stripes on her fin. I found her being chased by the carvanhas (extraordinarily savage piranhas) in the school’s fish tank, and rescued her. She was what most people, like my school, considered ugly, but I thought she was cute. So I asked the principal and took her. Third was a rare addition that I caught just a day before: Jean (pronounced the French way), the girafarig. She was the tallest pokemon I had. The front part of her body was yellow with brown dots and the back was brown with yellow dots. Perhaps the most fascinating part of her was her tail: It had a mischievous second head. She had crystal blue eyes and a pink nose, and was rather popular with the girls who saw her, for Jean liked to stay outside for most of the time. Jon had only two, but high-level pokemon: A small yellow-orange chick: Torchie (Don’t ask) the torchic. The second was a graduation present from school: A small, purple, sharp-toothed, fiery-tempered, little gal: Cameron, the bagon. Jon named it after me because he thought the dragon-type had my personality. I had to try VERY hard to be angry because I had taken a liking to the little tyke and felt it was an honor to have it named after me.

"We’ll set up the tent right there," said Jon, pointing to a clearing. Even I couldn’t object, as the place was beautiful. It was surrounded by berry trees, and in the middle was a large, blue, lake reflecting the white rays of thee full moon and the wind was pleasant. We walked to the clearing. Even the dirt looked beautiful. We started setting up the tents, which took about twenty-five minutes. "Let’s let out our pokemon. This is nice," said Jon, walking up to my tent. I was amazed why I couldn’t think of such an obvious thing. "Come out! Jean and Artemis!" I said, releasing their respective ‘balls in front of me. They looked delighted the moment they came out, especially Jean. She started galloping around the pond before taking a light drink from it. Artemis climbed up to my shoulder and started dozing off. "Man! Your girafarig loves the outdoors!" said Jon, releasing Cameron and Torchie. Camwron waddled up to Jean, the only person other than Jon who she liked, and started talking to her in their ‘pokemon language’. "I wish I could understand them," said Jon looking towards the now giggling pair ", but I need the money for one of those Devon Navigators. They have translators attached to them."

"You’ll have one tomorrow," I said walking up to the pond and releasing Storm in there. She seemed delighted, but not because of the surroundings: She swam near the shore and started eating the berries like there was no end. "Did I feed you?" I asked her, smiling. "FEEEEEBBBBBB" she replied, with her mouth full. I gently lifted Artemis off my shoulder and placed her in my tent. Then I changed into my swimming trunks and jumped into the freezing water. "You are CRAZY! You’re gonna FREEZE!" yelled Jon from the shore. "Some like it cold!" I said and swam up to Storm, still devouring the berries. "And what do you mean I’ll get my PokeNav tomorrow? Are you gonna steal treasure or something?" he shouted. I suddenly became nervous and swam to the shore. "What did you say?" I asked, calmly. "I asked if you were gonna steal treasure." He said with a smile on his face, which started to wane as he saw that I wasn’t smiling. "Tell me you are not. There’s no treasure here! At least not within ten miles!" I got out of the water. Jean galloped up to me with Cameron on her shoulders and started nuzzling my cheek. I recalled Storm (who seemed rather bloated) and walked into my tent without another word. "If you’re thinking of ROBBING the MUSEUM, FORGET IT! I AM SERIOUS!" shouted Jon through the canvas walls of moi tent. I recalled a very disgruntled Artemis and started to change into my black sweater and black jeans. I zipped open my tent and went up to Jean and started playing with her. "WHY THE HELL ARENT YOU IN YOUR PAJAMAS?" yelled Jon "If I am questioned about a certain robbery, I WILL REVEAL EVERYTHING TO THEM! The way you acted and the way you didn’t reply ‘Silly Jon! Of course I am not robbing the museum that’s ten miles away and is protected by all sorts of gizmos’ to the POLICE!" I turned around and faced Jon "You don’t know me very well. I was new to that stupid, snooty prep school. I came from a distant island with a scholarship to a seemingly ‘prestigious’ school... Just forget it. My past isn’t important. Just relax. I am NOT doing anything....." I was searching for a word. "bad..." I finished. I faked a smile and asked him to relax again. I picked up Cameron (who tried to get a good meal out of my finger) and put her down. "Jean, return" I held up a pokeball and Jean materialized into the ball. "Have a nice night, Jon" I said very calmly, patted him on the shoulders and went to bed.

The night was dark. I was sitting upright and reading in the middle of the night with my flashlight. Suddenly, I heard a rustle in the leaves outside, and then hoots of a series of owls. I tuned off my light and jammed my book into my already-packed backpack. I hurled it onto moi shoulder and walked out, trying not to wake up Jon. I succeeded in the task and went to the place where I heard the owls. I ran noiselessly into the forest and saw five people standing there. "Everybody here, I presume?" I asked grinning.

"Yup! Here and Ready!" replied Julia, my oldest friend with shoulder-length, curly, red hair, a southern accent and soothing brown eyes.

"I got the system prepared, Cam!" said a short boy with a laptop bag hanging to his shoulder. He had dusty-blonde hair and deep brown eyes, and looked rather sickly: This was Wally, another one of my best friends.

"The other three are ready at the museum, y’all" said Julia, with a huge grin.

"Perfect. This is gonna be fun. Got the bikes?" I added to Wally.

"Yup! Over there......" he pointed to some shrubbery to my left "...but one problem. I cant ride motorcycles.... "

"No prob! You can ride with me, hon" said Julia

"That’s settled then. What are we waiting for?"

" Let’s review. Brian and Wally, you get the dummy, disrupt the lasers in the first floor before the Exhibit of the Legendaries, and hide. The guards will be there at once, and they have to turn off the first floor security because hey have to come through the lasers too. Then Wally calls out his Kirlia and puts the guards to sleep with Hypnosis. Take their keys and meet Julia and I at the guards’ cabin. Do it quickly because they probably called the police station at Petalburgh. Then Julia and I enter through the back door of the museum, turn off the second floor lasers, and rush upstairs where Jay and Fred will be waiting. By that time, the police will probably be in front of the museum. That’s when Brian’s vileplume comes in. Brian, use sleep-powder on the police and make sure you tie them up. Sleep-powder wears off extremely quickly on humans. On the second floor, Jay will locate the secret door and Fred will crack the code to enter the vault. I’ll give Wally and Brian the signal, and drive your motorbikes into the second floor. We’ll load them up with the famous ingots and make our get away. Got it?"

"Yup!" replied everybody, monotonously.

"Go for it! Here’s your ‘talkies. Ready Brian?"

"Yes." Said Julia’s twin, with a determined look in his face.

"Wally?"

"You bet"

"Go for it!"

Julia and I waited for five minutes behind the bushes.

" I got a not-so-good feeling about this!" said Julia

"We’ve done trickier ones..." I replied

Suddenly, the sirens sounded. As if on cue, the three guards rushed into the museum.

"Come on!" I said to Julia, and we ran to the cabin beside the museum. The T.V was on and the room smelled of coffee. Our hearts were beating madly, but we loved the feeling. Fifteen minutes passed in silence. Then, the walkie-talkies sounded.

"Done! They are sleeping like coffee-drinkin’ babies" came the voice of Brian "We are headed your way"

Ten seconds later, we heard footsteps. Wally and Brian burst in holding a bunch of keys, panting followed by a levitating pokemon with red ears and beautiful red eyes. It had its hands on its hips and appeared to be enjoying our mission. But I couldn’t waste any time admiring the pokemon. Julia and I rushed out and entered the museum through the back door. We glanced out the window for a second and saw lights: The Petalburgh Patrol. I gave the keys to Julia, ‘the key expert’. We ran to the electrical box and Julia opened the box in an instant, as if she knew what key exactly opened the box. We turned the power off and rushed up. We could hear Brian commanding his Vileplume to use sleep-powder. The plan was going good so far. We saw a short, black-haired person standing at the end of the long hallway. "Jay!" panted Julia "Where is it?"

"Underneath you" said Jay, with an unusual calm to his voice...

"Bloody Hell! Open it!"

"Sure"

"Jay! Hurry up!" I said

He too out a card-key from his pocket as Julia moved out of the way. He slid it towards the middle of the last tile, and a red light blinked. The tile started whirring and pushed itself down, creating a large opening. Julia and I grinned and went down to the large room. It had a large window through which you could see below to the back of the museum. Jay came down.

"Where’s Fred? Where are the ingots?" Julia asked. Suddenly, there was a noise behind us, and we turned around to see four men in black, holding guns to us. One of them was a tall blonde boy with glasses- "Fred?" asked Julia, as if the whole thing was a joke.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked them both, taking a step back to the window. I nudged Julia to do the same.

"We have our own plans for the gold. I guess you’re assumptions WERE right, when you first saw us. You REALLY shouldn’t have trusted us" said Fred.

"Yeah. Now you lost your gold and are about to lose your life," added Jay. There was noise at the entrance of the trap door, and another one of their ‘buddies’ came in. "Jay! There’s trouble outside! The other two are causing trouble. Come quickly!" he said.

"Shit... Men, watch these two, if you want your share. I want to kill them myself. We wont want any evidence, do we?" said Fred, and rushed out with Jay.

"At the count of three, run with me to the window and jump," I whispered to Julia. She nodded nervously.

"One!" The guards were busy stuffing their faces with donuts to take any notice of us whispering.

"Two!"

"Three!" We walked slowly to the window. One of the goons saw us.

"RUN!" I yelled and we both jumped. As we fell, we could hear the guards calling to Jay and Fred. They rained bullets down on us. There was nothing we could do, but accept them.

I opened my eyes. I was in some sort of cave, and I was covered with leaves and twigs and dirt. I glanced at my watch. It was three in the afternoon. I tried to stand up, but there was a bullet stuck in my leg. Then I remembered the incidents that had taken place yesterday. A mad rage built up inside me. Two of my own closest friends betrayed me! I vowed revenge. Suddenly, I remembered Julia. Where was she? Had she been captured? I clapped my hand on to my forehead as hard as I could, but I was too tired to even move my arms, let alone the bullet in there. I ran my and over my belt and felt the pokeballs there. My pokemon were okay. Then, I felt a piece of paper strapped onto my belt:

I felt tears in my eyes. This was the first time I cried in five years. They had captured Julia, and it was all my fault. Suddenly, Jean materialized out of her ‘ball. She used her telekinetic powers to remove the bullets, then she came and nuzzled my face as usual. "Th... Thanks, Jean," I said, and patted her. She went back into her ‘ball. I got up. My body was still painful. I walked out of the cave and saw a building a few yards away.

"Jean, come out" I called, and she obediently came out. As if she knew what I was thinking, she bent down so I could ride her. She galloped up to the house. I peeked into the window. It was a barber’s shop, and there was nobody inside. I recalled Jean and checked if the door was open, and, to my surprise, it was. The shop was dainty. It smelled of shampoos and hair dyes. I walked over to the sink and washed my wounds away, and treated them with Band-Aids. Then, I went to a nearby counter and got out a bottle of brown hair dye. I put on a pair of gloves lying nearby, poured the dye on my hair and rinsed. Then I washed my hair off, and I looked in the mirror. I looked different. I ‘explored’ the little shop and took some money from the drawers. Suddenly, I remembered the post-script in Julia’s letter and felt in my pocket one ingot. So I put the money back and turned on the little TV sitting on the cashier’s counter.

"Welcome to this afternoon’s breaking news. The main story today is of the looting of a museum, not far from Petalburgh City. The museum was home to a thousand blocks of gold from the renaissance period, and is estimated to be at a value of 4.5million dollars. It has been reported by two teens that the looter was fifteen-year old mastermind Cameron Griffith. The two eyewitnesses, named Fred and Jay, claimed that they were walking past the museum, and Griffith threatened them with guns. If that is in fact true, then Griffith’s ‘mildest’ punishment would be up to twenty years in prison. The ingots are still unfound. Back to you, Cara."

I turned the TV off and looked around more, when something caught my eye: There was a basement to the store. I went down, and it was yet another store. This time it was glasses. A sudden idea flashed through my brain: There were contact lenses in an optics store! I walked over to different counters, and finally found some. I picked green, powerless ones and wore them. I went upstairs and looked in the mirror again, where a brown-haired, tall, green-eyed, kid looked back at me. Something made me look out the window. A cocoon was hanging there, and it was shaking. A poisonous moth emerged from its chrysalis and flew away, probably looking for victims. The metamorphosis was complete.