Chapter Six
                  The search for Dustin

It was twilight when blaze came to screeching halt next to sign. "Easy there blaze." Said Mary as she leaned down to read the sign in the dying sunlight.  "Welcome to Granite City, elevation 4,500 feet."
Below the city sign was a smaller one that looked to be handmade and posted earlier that day. "Join us in our annual ground and rock pokemon catching contest. Starts Fri. Feb. 1st, sign ups are taken at the pokemon center, bring your own supply of pokeballs." {Sounds like fun Pat} {Hmm and let me guess you would like to go to the festival wouldn't you} giggling, Mary nodding as she nudged blaze to continue into town. {Well I don't see any reason why we can't.} Answered Pat. {Besides I've been thinking of adding a ground type into my team.} Continued Pat. "What are you thinking of adding Pat?" asked Mary, breaking the silence between them. "I was thinking perhaps of getting a larvitar." Answered Pat. "You should have said something earlier, one of my friends was offering to trade me one." "What was he looking for?" "Something that is easy to find. A Merrill" answered Mary. "Easy to find?" questioned pat as they entered town. "Well you just have to know where to look and when the best times to find one are." Stated Mary as she brought blaze to stop to take a look around. "Do we need any supplies Pat?" she asked, motioning for blaze to continue.   "Not really, unless you want to see if they have any TM's for sale." "No, not at this moment but we can stop there tomorrow." They passed the market and turned down a side street when they both heard a battle cry coming from the end of street. "Correct me if I'm wrong Pat but wasn't that a gyarados' cry?" asked Mary looking around nervously. "That's what it sounded like and I've haven't seen any rivers along the way." Answered pat, checking to make sure his pokeballs were secured to his belt. "Pat before you get any ideas of challenging that trainer can we stop at the center first please." Turning to face him with her best teary-eyed look. "Sure we might as well stop there and see if nurse joy can recharge my pokemon and hold a room for us" he replied giving Mary a small hug. Continuing towards the center they passed a battle that was just getting underway. The combatants were a graffarg and a gyarados   "Waterel start off with your hydro pump" called the gyarados' trainer. "Graffarg double team." The gyarados curving it's serpentine body around to build pressure needed for the attack did something that most gyarados don't do when battling. It turned its back on it's opponent. "Now graffarg double team." Graffarg splitting itself into multiple copies of itself surrounded the gyarados.   "Waterel hydro pump."  {You think that the gyarados will hit the right the one Pat?} {Hard to say hydro pump doesn't have that good of an accuracy for a water attack, and the fact the graffarg is using double team isn't going to help any, right now I'm going to say odds are it going to miss.} The gyarados seemed to be waiting for something, and just when people were starting to say that the trainer needed to work more with it, it released its attack at one of the copies in front of it. "Nice shot Waterel" much to crowds surprise the gyarados had attacked the real graffarg. "Looks like you were wrong Pat." teased Mary. {Just you wait} commented pat as he started tickling Mary. Turning back to face the battle once more, still tickling Mary. "Graffarg recover" called the opposing trainer called. "Waterel, waterfall attack" the graffarg glowing a soft white started to regain it's health. The gyarados lunged towards it's opponent while letting loose a water-gun attack. "Move graffarg" jumping out of the way at last second possible, the graffarg just missed getting hit by a watery version of take down. "Graffarg barrier array" called the opposing trainer. "You think a bunch of simple walls are going to help you?" turning to face the gyarados, both Mary and Pat caught a glimpse of the trainers face. "Say Pat isn't that?" "Yep sure is. I should have guessed that she wouldn't wait at the center." Answered Pat. "Waterel charge hyper beam." Shouted Melissa, "Now graffarg barrier array" called out the other trainer. "Waterel charge to full power and release when ready. Graffarg seeing the amount of power that Waterel was building up, set up a wall of barriers that created a path for the hyper beam to fallow. "Now Waterel shatter those barriers." Shouted Melissa. Lunging forward Waterel released the energy that it had built up with a snap of its head. The hyper beam shot forward hitting the wall of barriers and shattered enough of the wall for it to continue. Graffarg's trainer seeing that the walls had not helped any quickly called for his graffarg to dodge the hyper beam. Moving to one side graffarg avoided the brunt of the attack, but was clipped on the side, and went sprawling on its side. "Nice shot Waterel" praised Melissa while Waterel was recharging from his hyper beam attack. "It seems that she still needs to learn when to strike the knockout blow." Critiqued Pat. "Oh?" Nodding his reply, Pat pointed towards the graffarg who was currently getting back up to it's feet. "Psybeam graffarg" "Rage then bite it Waterel" called out Melissa. "Well at least she knows when to attack and when to defend." Remarked Mary as they watched Melissa's gyarados take the psybeam and then lunge at the graffarg. Cringing when they heard the cry of pain from the graffarg, they watched as it crumpled and fell onto its side.

Once the dust had settled the crowd started cheering when they saw who the winner was.   "Good battle, your gyarados would you be willing to trade it?" asked Melissa's opponent "Sorry but he was a gift from my brother so he's not for trade." Came the answer as she accepted the prize money. "Guess we should head over and get her shouldn't we?" inquired Mary. "No need she already knows we're here." "Oh?" Nodding his heading as he walked over to a nearby rock and sat down. Sitting down next to him Mary finished her question. "How does she know?" "She saw us when she turned towards her gyarados, thus the reason why she tried to shatter the defensive grid that the graffarg set up and knock it out with the same attack." Finished Pat as he started on a back rub for Mary. Letting out a contented sigh Mary just sat there; her eyes closed as Pat slowly worked out all of the tension. Hearing someone approach, she opened her eyes to see Pat's sister walking up towards them. "So what did you think Pat?" she asked sitting down in front of the rock. "Not bad, you need to work on your timing though, there misty" answered Pat calling his sister by her nickname as he finished Mary's backrub. "Hi Mary" "Good to see you again Misty." Meanwhile Pat started rummaging around in his backpack trying to find something that from looks of it was buried. {Mary have you seen Dustin's pokeball?} {I thought you had put it into your backpack.} {I thought so as well, but I can't find it, I'll double check when we get to the center.} "Have you gotten yourself a room at the center yet misty?" asked Mary. "Nope I was waiting for the two of you to show up before getting a room, that and I only got into the city about ten minutes before I got into the battle." Responded Misty.   "Well come on then, we've better see about getting a room for the night before there aren't any" said Mary picking up her bag. Turning she saw that pat was packing everything that he had taken out back into his bag. "Be ready in a sec." He said as he placed his laptop into his bag. "Ok got everything packed" hopping down off the rock to join both Mary and his sister. Releasing her arcanine once more Mary climbed up and motioned for Pat to climb on behind her. Hearing a giggle from behind them, they turned to see misty sitting down and trying to contain another giggle. "Eevee come on you can play later." Said Mary spotting the bushy tail sticking out from behind Misty. Running out from behind Misty, eevee bounded over and jumped up onto Mary's lap. "Ponyta come out." Dropping the pokeball that contained her horse pokemon. "Let's go blaze." Nudging blaze, which responded by taking off on a loping run. "After them ponyta." Sprinting after blaze, Melissa trying to keep her brother and Mary in sight, almost went past them when they stopped. Circling back around Misty saw that they had stopped in front of the center. Dismounting and recalling their pokemon both Mary and Misty joined Pat who was waiting by the door with both of their backpacks. "Looks to be a full house tonight." Commented Pat holding the door open for the girls. "Well we can at least see if Nurse joy has any rooms open, hopefully she has one that is open. Oh thank you" she said accepting her bag from Pat. Heading towards the counter Mary pulled out a small card from her pocket and waited for nurse joy to finish with the trainer she was currently helping. "Can I help you?" turning to face the counter once more Mary handed over the card she had been carrying. "Oh I remember my cousin's aunts sister-in-law mentioning that you would be stopping here. However your late so we'll have to do the check-up tomorrow" said Joy, handing the card back to Mary. "Ok, umm you wouldn't happen to have any rooms that are open would you?" pulling a chair out from under her desk, nurse joy turned towards her computer and started checking for any open rooms. "Well there is one room open, has a bunk bed. How many are in your party?" She finished turning away from her computer. "Three but it's ok we're use to sleeping outdoors, so whoever gets the floor is use to having a hard bed already." Answered Mary, accepting the card key she was handed. "Well then you three get some sleep, I don't want to see the two of you falling asleep during the check-up tomorrow." "Good night then nurse joy." Heading back towards her group, Mary remembered about the festival. Turning to go back over to nurse joy's desk, she saw that Pat was already at counter handing over his pokebelt. "You still taking sign-ups for the contest?" he asked as joy took his belt and placed the pokeballs into the recharger. "We sure are, up until an hour before the contest starts." Answers nurse joy "Would you care to sign up?" Looking at a poster about the contest that had all of the rules on it. Shaking his head Pat answered joy "Nah, but my sister might I'll send her over later, thanks nurse joy." Turning around Pat notices Mary right behind him. {I'll explain later} {K, oh we have a check-up tomorrow, guess we should have seen that one coming, it's been a couple of months since the last one.} Mary thought as they walked down towards the room that nurse joy had given them. "So who gets the floor?" asked Misty from behind them. "Doesn't matter to us, you forget Misty that both your brother and I are use to sleeping outside" answered Mary placing her backpack next bunk bed. "Squeaks I told nurse joy that you would stop by and sign for the contest, you might want to go that." "I'll be back in a few then." She said picking up the card key. Once the door had closed and the footsteps were down the hall. "So why didn't you sign up for the contest. I thought you wanted to catch a larvitar" Mary asked her question as she released broiler and crimson. "Cynadaquil" "... " Pat waited until the two pokemon had settled down before answering her question. "Well I would have signed up but looking at the map they had on the poster, the only spot where larvitar can be found is out bounds for the contest, and going there is an automatic disqualify" Pat replied. Dumping his bag out and started rooting through all of the mess seeing if by chance he had misplaced the pokeball containing Dustin. Putting everything back into his backpack, he noticed a note stuck onto his laptop. "What's it say pat?" handing Mary the note Pat proceeded to open and start his laptop up, "I see, so in other words that battle we had with team rocket was nothing more then a diversion to make us leave our camp?" Mary inquired. "That would appear to be what happened, yes" answered Pat opening up his mail. "Well it shouldn't be that hard to find them at least." Commented Pat reading where they could find their traveling companion. "Guess we should go get him shouldn't we?" "It'll have to wait until after the check-up tomorrow, remember Pat they have an early curfew here, besides we can't go rushing off and leave your sister behind." Stated Mary.
"Hmm true so we'll have to go get the dummy tomorrow during the contest then, there finally got everything back inside there." Hearing a giggle from behind them both Mary and Pat turned to see Misty standing in the doorway watching them. "Did nurse joy get you signed up for the contest tomorrow?" asked Mary. "Sure did the contest starts at 7 sharp. So I'll be seeing the two you tomorrow" answered misty pulling out a pair of sweats and a tee shirt, and ducking inside the restroom. "Well at least we know she can handle getting up at the crack of dawn don't we Pat." "Is that with or without the cappuccino?" "Very Funny Pat very funny" said misty, stepping out of restroom and climbing up onto the second bunk. Leaning over the railing she lowered the blinds blocking the light from the street. Taking out his sweatpants Pat walked into the restroom   {Hope she can handle the temperature flux pat} letting the change come over her, Mary curled up at the head of the bed, her head resting on the pillow. {I'm willing to bet that when we find Dustin that he going to need to be in the hospital for a few days} {Would be safe bet, although we should have nurse joy do a recharge first} answered Pat as he came out of the restroom drying his hair. Smiling to himself, he reached into his backpack where after feeling around for a few seconds pulled out a set of brushes and started brushing Mary's fur. {I was starting to wonder when you would do that, I saw those brushes earlier.} After he had been brushing Mary for some time he put the brushes back inside his backpack and turned off light to the room. {Night pat.} {Good night Mary} {Broiler, crimson call it night.} "Cynda"
Out in the main lobby, nurse joy shivered from a sudden chill. Glancing up at the air duct above her, she mumbles something about the air conditioner being broken. Back inside the room two pair of glowing eyes can be seen. One set was closing sleepily; the other seemed to keep watch for a while before apparently satisfied that everything was fine. The pair of blue eyes laid down beside the red pair and shortly thereafter both pairs of eyes were soon closed. Morning comes and with it is the sound of light footsteps inside the room.
The footsteps stop right next to the bed, the source of the sound bends down and places a folded piece of paper on the pillow next to Mary's sleeping form. It was the sound of the door latching that woke both Mary and Pat up. {Is someone in here pat?} Opening his eyes just enough to see out of, but still give the appearance of being asleep Pat takes a quick look around the room, seeing nothing out of place other then a note on the pillow. {Nope the only thing in here is a note beside you.} Hopping off the bed Mary shifted back into her human form. Picking the up the note she reads it to herself before turning towards Pat. "Looks like Misty decided to get an early start on the contest, she says that she'll meet us back here tonight provided she doesn't see us sooner." {Well we've better get that check-up done so we can find Dustin, and have some time to explore the festival} Grabbing her bag Mary walked into the restroom to change out of her sleepwear. Hopping down of the bed Pat shifted back into human form as well and changed out of his sweats.   Hearing the restroom door open, Pat turns to see Mary dressed in her normal travel wear. Jeans, tee shirt and her favorite hoodie, and crimson wrapped around her arm. "Pat I'm going to go call professor oak and see if he's awake" "Mind if I tag along besides I need to ask the professor about something anyway." "Sure besides you know he going to ask where you are at if he doesn't see you." "Well we better go make our call to the professor, besides we still have that appointment with nurse joy today." Grabbing her backpack, Mary walked out of the room and towards the bank of vid-phones. Dialing the number that pat provided her, she waited for the professor to answer. "Hello?" "Hi professor, how's the head?" "Oh hello Mary I was wondering when you would call. So what can I do for the two of you today?" "Well we were wondering if you had an update for our pokedex's it's been while since the last they were updated." Asked Mary "Ahh well now that you mentioned it I do have a patch for you just received it last week. You should have gotten a message about the new patch." "Uh-uh we've been on the road for the past week professor and haven't received any messages." "Oh. Well in any event Pat, if you could set the machine up where you are at." "Already done professor, pat showed me how to set the phone up last night" "Oh well then if you would insert your pokedex we can start the update." "Ok professor ready on this end." Placing her pokedex into the slot that opened. "So where is Pat at Mary? I don't see him anywhere" "I right here professor" stepping into view with his pokebelt in one hand and a bag of bagels in the other. Sorry had to pick up my pokemon from nurse joy and get something to eat." Handing the bag of bagels to Mary. {Any?} {Chocolate chip? yes I got you some} {Yea} "Mary what is that wrapped around your arm?" "Well professor he is the reason why we're asking about the update to our pokedex's." "Ahh I ask because it looks very similar to the one that pat found." Looking over at Pat who gave a shrug and mouthed "I have no clue what he talking about" "Ah here we are" turning back towards the screen Mary saw that professor oak was holding a blue version of Mary's new pokemon. You really should stop by more often Pat. I can transfer your pokemon to you if you would like." "Professor we both already have a full team of six." You mean seven. The blue mountain league has authorized trainers to carry a team of seven pokemon. So do you want to send you, your pokemon Pat?" "Sure" "Done, your pokemon is on the way." How about you Mary, you want any of your pokemon sent to you?" "Nope I'm fine"   "Ok then in any event your pokedex has been updated Mary, so if you can put Pat's into the slot I'll start updating his." Taking her pokedex out and placing Pat's into the slot. While she was doing that professor oak thought he saw something on the cover of pat's pokedex. Once the update was done Oak asked Mary hold Pat's pokedex up to the screen. {Probably going to say something about the etching you did on it} {That and the fact that I painted the casing black} "Pat you want tell me why you defaced your pokedex?" "No not really, it is mine isn't?" "Well yes I suppose so"
"Then it shouldn't matter if I added a etching or painted the case." "Well as long you didn't damage the chip inside, no I guess it shouldn't matter"  "Alright professor thanks for the update we'll talk to you soon."
" All right you two take care and Pat next time you stop in pallet make sure you stop by, that goes for you as well Mary, say what is that smell? My tofu is burning. Goodbye." Shaking her head in wonder as she hung the phone up. "Now there is someone who needs to get outside more often, wouldn't you say pat?" Nodding as he accepted his pokedex from Mary. "Well at least we got our pokedex's updated so shall we see what pokemon you have there Mary?" "Hmm very tempting Pat but not until after we get done with today's torture session" "Still haven't gotten use to these check-ups have you?" "Every other month having some needles poke me, let me think nope haven't gotten use to the check-ups" Wrapping Mary into a hug.
"Come on, you know these don't take that long to do. We'll be done soon enough" finished pat, a hint of mischief in his voice. "Pat?" "Wait and see" was all he said as they walked towards Nurse Joy's desk  "You two ready?" asked joy typing away at her computer. "Follow me then and, I'll need the two of you to shift once we get into the back room. Chansey, will you bring the test set please." Following Nurse Joy, both Mary and Pat were starting to wonder what they would have to put up with this time around. "Chansey show you the rest of the way, while I get a second test set ready. "Chansey Chanse" "We might as well do as it says pat." Setting her backpack down on a nearby chair, Mary started her shift. {You know they been doing these test for as long as I can remember and they still haven't found the reason why the both us are able to change into pokemon} {Well they have made some progress at least I'll say they'll have a reason within a year give or take a month.} {And how would you know? You didn't Pat, please tell me you didn't.} {Heh heh heh it wasn't on purpose, besides I was curious about the results on of the all of test they have ran on the both us.} While the conversation was going on Mary had finished shifting forms with a flash of fire and light, and Pat started his. The Chansey not use to the sudden drop in the temperature almost dropped tray it was holding on Pat. "Chansey, chansey" {Not my fault she didn't warn you. The entire clan of joys knows not to be in the same room when we shift into our pokemon aspects.} "Are you done telling chansey off, if you are I would like to proceed." Asked joy walking into the room, shivering as the lingering chill crept over her. "Well I'll take the silence as a yes then. Now onto the table the both you."
Pointing towards a table behind them. Hopping onto the table was nothing new to them, seeing nurse joy pull a pokeball out of her uniform was something new. "Blissy come out," she said dropping the pokeball. "Alright blissy run the normal check-up procedure on the him please" pulling out a pressure cuff and putting it around Mary's foreleg and started checking Mary's blood pressure, while blissy readied a blood sampling tube and the drawing needle. {Ok I'm getting tired of this. If I wanted to be a guinea pig I would go say hi to Team Rocket.} {Well if its consolation to you Mary, I've been thinking of suggesting to nurse joy that we go to the target range as our last check-up today} {How about just ending after this?} {Sure} A few seconds later the pressure cuff deflated. "All right young lady we're all done with you as soon blissy gets the blood sample from him and you take these vitamins. {Pat?} {Didn't do it, she already had them when I put the suggestion for ending today's test, besides she wasn't going to let us go until both of us take them} grumbling to herself about injustice, Mary took the vitamins the nurse joy was holding. {They taste like strawberry} {I know I've taken my share of those things.} {Damn it} turning towards blissy with a glare that would have scared an arbok, pat was ready to ice beam blissy. {What happened?} {She hit a bone with the needle, she put it into far, and jabbed a bone with it.} Luckily for Blissy the tube had filled with the blood she had needed to drawn and pulled the needle out, capped the tube and took off before pat could get an attack off. "Well I guess we're done here as soon as he take these." Walking over to nurse joy and taking the vitamins she had in her hand, he continued towards the next room, where inside he saw some targets set up for practicing. Kicking the door behind him close he released the built up attack. While he was doing this Mary had shifted back into her human form. "Why did he go into the target range, Mary we're done with of all the testing?" "Blissy drove the needle she was using for drawing the blood sample a little to far and jab a bone with it. She's lucky she got everything done that she needed very quickly, cause I think we're out of ice-heals" "Oh dear, well I'm sorry for what happened, blissy still has much learn it seems. Well when he comes out from there give him this." She finished handing Mary a potion, and walked out of the room. {You ok in there?} Feeling a sudden chill in the air, Mary turned around to see Pat behind her.
"Well I've been better, although I see why you hate having your blood drawn now." "Here she said I was to give you this when you came out of the room." She said, spraying the potion on the puncture site. "Thank you. So shall we go retrieve our lost traveling companion?" "Where are we heading to?" "You remember that cave I said was out of bounds for the contest?" Nodding her reply, Pat continued "Well take a look at this" pulling out his pokedex, he activated an option that he built in. "This is the beacon that all of my pokeballs have in them." Showing her the map that was on screen. "So your telling me that they stole the pokeball, did who knows what to dustin, put him back into his pokeball and leave it near the next town in route through the blue mountain league. I hate say to it pat but I think we might be walking into a trap." "I've thought about that possibility, which is why I'm sending Cloaker in first, he is a master of getting around unnoticed. So if anyone is there waiting we'll know about them before they know we're there. Sound good?" scooping up her backpack "Sounds good, so we should get going."   Walking out towards the front of the pokecenter, looking through the window they were able to see that the desk was crowded with trainers "Well so much for going out that way." "So how do you plan on getting out? I didn't see any other ways out Pat." "Well there are two ways." "Which are?" "We can have cloaker teleport us out of here."   Shuddering with remembrance from the last time that cloaker teleported them. "What's the other method?" she asked with an idea of what it was. "I'm sure you can guess." {You want me shift don't you?} {Well it would it easier getting out of here} {True, k hold on} once more shifting into her pokemon form. Mary glanced up towards Pat. {Well at least we can walk out of here.} "True, stop by the room first?" {If we could, besides I need to pick up my pokemon.} Walking out of the back room and down the hall towards their room.   Once the door had closed, Pat watched as Mary shifted back into human. "Ready?" grabbing her belt off the end table where she had left it the night before "Ready" she answered. Walking out of the center towards the cave system hand in hand. "So what type of pokemon are we likely to see in there Pat?" "Just about any ground, and rock type pokemon you can think of, why do you ask Mary?" "Something to give my brother some problems next he wants to battle me." {Your looking for an onix aren't you?} "Well now that you mentioned it yes. I found a steel coat once on a magnamite, so doing some research I found out that steel type are immune to poison. Which would put a damper on my brother's tactics." "Well we'll find you an onix that much is for sure." Walking through the town, they some of the booths that would be open later that day. "We'll have to stop at this one later on pat." Glancing over at the booth Mary was pointing towards. "First one we stop at." The booth contained everything a fire type trainer would need. Once they had made it out of town, they stopped to check the map on the pokedex. "Remind me to fix the recall distance later." "Sure, but for the moment it passes the time until everything opens." Mary said as she placed her backpack down, and tied her hoodie around her waist. "Much better" she said picking her bag up again. "Ahh that's cold Pat, but thank you." Shaking the water droplets out of her hair from the mist that Pat had caused. "And we have arrived at the cave" said Pat, unclipping a black pokeball with a purple eye on the top of it. "Cloaker scout the cave and report any findings you come across." Dropping the ball on the ground releasing his gengar. "So should we follow him in?" "Give him a few minutes to scout around first Mary then we can go and get what we came for." Sitting down next to entrance of the cave they waited for cloaker to make his return, while they were waiting Mary recalled part of a dream she had the night before.
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"So the two you wish to challenge me" asked a figure shrouded by shadows. "No we only want to use the library you guard" answered Mary. "Why do you seek to use this library? A sealed library in which no mortal human has stepped foot into for the past millenium?" "We seek answers. Answers to a question that as been with us for quite some time now. So will you let us past?" answered Pat, a hand sliding down towards his pokeballs   "That what you seek is most likely here, but before you can enter into this library you have to past two challenges. Fail and your quest for answers ends here, and you will return with no memory of being here. Do you accept the terms?" {I don't know Pat, I want to find out the reason as well but we don't know what the challenges are yet how can we accept?} "Tell us what the challenges are first."
"Fair enough, and a wise a choice to make before doing something you could regret. The first challenge is a maze. I'm sure you have read some of the Greek myths correct?" "Yes I've read many of them" answered pat "good then you should make it through the first challenge, and when you make out of the maze you'll be in front of the library where you'll face the second challenge. " "And what the second one?" asked Mary
"The two of you will battle me in a twelve on six battle." "Mary wake up"

"Mary time to wake up." "Mary you have to wake up there something you might want to see." Opening her eyes slowly, the only thing she saw at first was nothing but red. Upon opening her eyes all the way Mary blinked in surprise at the creature she saw in front her. "What is it pat?" "Look up" tilting her head back she saw to surprise cloaker riding on the back of the pokemon. Reaching for her pokedex, Mary slowly pointed the minicomputer at the pokemon in front of her. "Entei. The fire pokemon this legendary pokemon is said to roam the plains and mountains. Volcanoes are said to erupt when one is born. The fire from its attacks is said to rival those of Moltres." "That part I find hard to believe" mumbled Pat. "You think it will allow me to catch it?" asked Mary. "Wouldn't hurt to find out, now would it?" "Guess not." Walking over to Entei with a pokeball in hand. Setting it down on the ground in front of the wild pokemon. "Entei will you allow me to be your trainer?" Cloaker hopping down from Entei's back pointed towards her belt, then back towards entei. "You want me to battle you?" she asked surprised by the actions of the pokemon. {Pat?} "Do it Mary, you might not get a second chance."   {Thanks Pat. I can always count on you for support.} "Alright then entei prepare yourself. Go broiler. Start off smokescreen" she cried, releasing her cynadaquil as her first pokemon.  Billowing out a cloud of the blackest smoke, broiler masked itself from view. Entei seeing the smoke took a deep breath and blew the smoke away with a gust of wind. "Broiler, new tactic, double team and swift." "Cynda" splitting itself into a multiple copies, broiler turned once more and this time released a volley of energy stars at Entei. "Now broiler charge up Merton and surround yourself with healing flames"   {Very good young maiden, so you have uncovered two of the lost techniques, very good, but you need more then those to win this battle.} "What? Pat did you hear that?"
"Concentrate on your battle first, but yes I heard him as well." "Ok then broiler, turn up the heat with a sunny day" gazing up at the clouds, broiler released a small flame into the air that chased away all of the clouds leaving the harsh sun out. Entei feeling the sunlight on him faced one of the copies that was circling him, and let loose with a river of flame, destroying one of the fake cynadaquils. "Ok I'll give the professor a little more credit on his pokedex info." Mumbled Pat feeling the heat of entei's flame. "Now Broiler release the fury of merton" Glowing with a red aura, broiler and all the copies that were still left released wave after wave of fire at entei blanketing the field in a sea of flames. The copies all disappeared as the sea flames hit each one of them. {Very good, you've found a way to combine double team and substitute, now that stung. But enough talk the two of you came here to find something. So I'll take my leave and let you two find what you're looking for.} Turning around entei started to head into the forest, when turned to face Mary once more. {Next time we meet we'll finish today's battle, by then you should have met my brother. Try your best when you meet him, he will be the hardest battle you will ever have. Win him over to your side and you will go far. His task is almost complete and when it done the four legends will run once more} With that said Entei turned and leapt into the forest vanishing from view. "His brother? I've never heard of a forth legend." Remarked Mary. "We'll look into it. Although that last comment he made sounds like something I read once." Looking over at Cloaker, "So I take the cave is empty then?" nodding, and laughing, Cloaker pointed towards the cave. "Thanks Cloaker, well shall we?" asked Pat offering Mary a hand.   "Indeed let's see what this cave has inside." Answered Mary taking his hand. Walking into the cave they made towards the back of it, and soon came upon a crossroad of sorts. "So which way?" asked Mary.
Looking at the map on his pokedex's display, pointed towards the path on the right. "This way, it looks like the path curls up and that is where we should find the pokeball with Dustin inside." "Digglet" "Hmm" "digglet" "Let's just watch them Mary, and see what happens." Watching the digglets, they were most surprised when they saw the digglets dropping some stones into a large pile. "Hey Pat take a look those" "It looks like those are evolution stones, and a very fine quality at that."   A few moments later the digglets were gone, leaving behind a large pile evolution stones, and much to both their surprise a couple of gemstones. Placing the stones into Pat's backpack and the gems into Mary's they continued up the path.
Once the path had leveled off they came upon a room where they saw in the middle of it the object of their search. "Let's get it and get out of here pat." "Sounds good to me" using the recall option of his pokedex, Pat was able to retrieve his pokeball without any trouble. Looking at the display of his pokedex once more and saw that something else was nearby. "There's an onix at the other of the room we're in."   He whispered to Mary. "I'll be right back then." Stalking over to the onix, Mary noticed that it was an old onix, and one that has been in many battles judging from the many scars on it's body. "Well you sure have seen your fair share of battles old one, maybe you would like to see a few more." Dropping the pokeball on the sleeping onix, she watched as the onix changed into energy and went inside the pokeball without any fighting at all. Placing the pokeball onto her belt, she made her way back over to where Pat was waiting. "Well that went easy didn't it?" "Didn't help that onix was asleep, but I think this old guy is ready for some action. Once we get back to the center and we have nurse joy give him a recharge we'll see how he feels." Answered Mary. "Cloaker teleport us back to the center." "Pat I hate teleporting" {close your eyes it'll help make the disorientation pass quicker.} Clapping its hands together cloaker teleports them out of the cave and back outside in front of the center.   "See not that bad that time was it?" "Guess not, I still don't like teleporting." "Come on let's get your onix recharged" "What about Dustin?" "We'll need to get into the back room so we can release him. He won't fit inside our room." Walking inside the center, they saw that it was empty save for a few trainers waiting for their pokemon. "Here you go their all healed and ready for the next round. Good luck" "Thank you Nurse joy" "Yes can I help you, oh did the two you have fun at festival?"
"Yes we plan heading back to the festival, but we wondering if you could recharge Mary's pokemon for us. And we would like to go into the back room that we were in this morning." "Sure the center is empty so go ahead" "Thanks joy."  Handing her belt over to nurse joy, Mary quickly followed Pat into the back room. Once she was inside Pat handed her the pokeball. "If you would do the honors Mary" taking the pokeball from pat, she dropped it onto the floor releasing Dustin from his confinement. The Energy pouring out of the ball took the shape of a dragonite. Once the light had died down, saw that instead of a dragonite, they were staring at Dustin, who then proceeded to fall to the floor. "He's out cold Pat" "Go get nurse joy tell her to get an ambulance over here. And tell her our room, Not back here. Cloaker do your stuff and get him into our room." Cloaker teleporting Dustin and pat into the room went back to get the rest of stuff they had left behind in the back room. "What happened to him?" "Don't know nurse joy he was talking to me one moment the next he just blacked out." "Chansey get a stretcher and hurry" "Look at all of these bruises it no wonder he blacked out, how on earth did all of these get on him?" "Well Dustin tends to be little on the accident prone side. Falls off his rapidash every now and then. Gets smacked by branches, you name it, it happens to him." Answered Mary as she came into the room with the chansey right behind her.   "Help me get him onto the stretcher, the ambulance should be here soon."  Picking Dustin up by his arms and feet, both nurse joy and pat were able to him onto the stretcher without any further injuries. Once the ambulance arrived and they had loaded Dustin into the back, they gave the address of the hospital they were taking him to. "Oh I almost forgot, here you go Mary your pokemon are fully healed and ready for battle. By the way where did you find that onix?" "In a cave just outside of town. Why?" "Just curious, take good of him, he's an old friend." "I will nurse joy, umm do you have arena out back?" "Why yes, of course we do."
"Good then maybe I can introduce myself to him." "Huh?"  "I caught him while he was asleep, so he doesn't even know me" Answered Mary.  "Follow me then, Pat you want to watch?" "Sure" the two of the followed nurse joy as she led them to the arena behind the center. "Ok Mary release him." Releasing her onix on the field she watched as the energy formed into the scarred sections of the old onix. Once the energy had faded away the onix opened his eyes to see Mary standing in front of him. "Sorry for catching you when you weren't able to defend yourself." She said reaching up to pet one of the segments. The onix surprised by her actions curled around her and watched her. "Onix I have something to ask you, I know you just met me but, how would you like to evolve? I have something that would allow you to if you so choose." Giving its head a shake the onix just watched Mary to see what would happen. "Ok then when your ready all you have to do is say so. Until your ready I won't say anything about it, but here I would like you to hold this. It will help to improve your defense." Handing the onix the metal coat she owned. "Onix return" "Well that was interesting to say the least, oh dear I should have been inside the center, the current round of the tournament should be getting over any moment now." Remarked nurse joy rushing back inside her center. "Well it's still early, shall we go see what is at the festival?" "Yes I still want to stop by the fire pokemon booth." "Come on then, let's go have some fun." The rest of the day was spent going around to different booths, stopping at the fire pokemon booth where Mary bought some charcoal amulets for her pokemon and a new hoodie that a ninetails on it. Pat picked up a set of claws for his fire pokemon. "What do you have there pat?" "Battle claws, their meant for pokemon like charizards and the rest of its family. And a couple of TM's for Tombfyre" "Tombfyre?" "The Charizard I caught outside of Pallet Town"
Meanwhile over the hospital Dustin, drifted in a realm of ether. "Where am I?" "The dream world is what this place called, you are currently unconscious" "Who said that?" "I did" turning Dustin saw a small caterpie next to him. "A caterpie?" "Yes a caterpie what were you expecting." The caterpies' form rippled when it stopped there wasn't a caterpie but pyre the gym leader. "I see, well I hate to break it to you Charlie but I wasn't sent here to give you any hopes of getting a girl, your on your own on that part. I was sent here to keep you from drifting to far." "What do you mean to far?"   "Turn around, you see that thin red line over there on the horizon." Turning to see what the caterpie was talking about. "Yeah what about it?" "Stay away from it. Very bad for your health." And with that said the caterpie vanished. "Odd" was all Dustin could say before the world once more became nothing but ether. Later that night, when both Mary and Pat made their way back to the center, carrying the stuff that the had bought that day. "We should go see Dustin tonight, we still have time before curfew Pat." "True let's go drop this stuff off and then we go see him. Wonder how Misty did at the tournament?"   "We'll find out soon enough, won't we?" "Guess so Mary come on we're almost to the center." Reaching the center they went to their room dropped off the stuff and headed towards the hospital.  
  "So what do you think happened to him?" "Wouldn't have the foggiest, but I guess we'll find out won't we?" "Depends on how much the doctors want to release to us." Looking up they saw that they had reached the hospital. "Well let's go see how the dummy is doing." Remarked Mary as she opened the door.
Walking over to the front desk she asked the duty nurse which room Dustin was in. Once she got the room number she started walking back towards pat "Got his room number, you want to come with?" "Well it's not like I have anything else to do" following Mary as she lead the way to the Dustin's room, which turned out to be on the fifth floor. "The joys of elevator music" commented Mary as they stepped into the elevator.
Closing the door to Dustin's room behind him, Pat walked over towards Dustin. "Let's see how the heck he doing."  Standing at the foot of the bed, Mary had a good idea of what Pat was going to do. {Take it easy Pat remember he just got admitted today.} {I'll go easy on him, just going to wake him up.}  
Leaning down near Dustin's head. He motioned for Mary to cover her ears, which she quickly did while trying to contain her giggle. "Recruit get your lazy rear out of that rack and get to GQ. NOW." Yelled Pat.
Eyes jumping open Dustin sat straight up in his bed and replied with "Sir yes Sir" Trying to contain herself Mary started giggling. Hearing the giggling brought Dustin back into the wonderful world of reality.
"Alright very funny, so who was the wise guy?" asked Dustin blinking in the harsh light "Son you calling me a wise guy, you know what?" "Drop?" moaned Dustin. "Bingo bright boy, drop, eight count body builders, begin."  "One chief, two chief." {There you see I'm going easy, I'm not making him do anything else.} {Well it is good for the laugh I'll say that much.} "Fifty chief" "Chief respectfully request permission to recover?" "Recover. There you see Dustin that wasn't that hard. Now wake your sorry butt up." This time some water was splashed on his face, courtesy of Mary filling the glass next to the bed. "
Huh?" Looking around the room Dustin saw Mary still trying to contain her giggling, traversing the room he saw Pat by the head of the bed. But the thing he noticed the most was once more the blaring whiteness of the room. "Hospital again? By the way that wasn't funny and how did you know about me being ROTC?" "You got it. You really have to stop hitting your head on those tree branches. And to answer your question, simple schools files are very easy to find." just as Pat finished, the door to the room opened. "Oh I didn't think anyone would be in here." "Just came see to how our companion was doing, Doctor." "Well he doing quite fine for someone who has the number of bruises that he has, but seeing as he is awake I'll release him, make sure he gets a good night sleep at the center, I'll send a note with him so that joy will give a room there. Now I would like to see the two of you out in the hall please" following the doctor out into the hallway where she sat down on a nearby bench and motioned for both Mary and Pat to sit down as well. "Now what really happened to him?" "Your guess is as good as ours doctor we got separated in route to this city, we found him today in our room at the center. Where he blacked out, I went to go get nurse joy while Pat tired to bring him around." "Hmm well just make sure he gets a good night sleep I'll send a note over to the center in the morning for a prescription, can you make sure he come over here and fills it in the morning?" "Sure we'll send over in the morning." "Can you guys give him a ride over to the center when he wakes up?"   "We'll take him over to the center right now."  The next time Dustin woke up he was in a room that nurse joy had put him into. He quickly got dressed and packed his things into his backpack and headed out into the main hall. Pichu ran out of the room and stopped by its trainer the two of them walked to the front hall to check if his traveling companions have woken up. As he reached the front of the building he heard a sarcastic remark "I see your up we thought you had gone into another coma on us." "And good morning to you to Mary" said Dustin "How long have you been up." Another voice replies "Oh you know long enough to get in a few battles before we leave town." "Oh hi Pat" said Dustin, "What time should we leave for Briar City" "We can leave after lunch. Oh by the way your doctor had this sent over, you should go and pick it up." Said Mary. Grabbing the note out of Mary's hands, a feat that earned him a few more bruises Dustin sits down to read it. "Mister Villancort. We noticed some abnormal vitamin levels in the blood samples we took from you. You are to take a series of injections over the next two weeks. I have already called ahead to the next city on you trip and they will be expecting you then. They will check your levels then. "Mary, pat did you know they took blood samples at the hospital" asked Dustin "I think they said something about, why do you ask" answered Mary. "Well the doctor in charge of me wants to take vitamin injections for the next two weeks." "Well then you had better go and get them then." Said Mary.
Dustin runs out of the pokemon center and towards the hospital pharmacy. As he got to the front door pichu caught up to him as he entered the front doors and went to go get his medicine. Dustin noticed a second note stapled to the sheet of paper when he got to the nurses' station. Dustin handed the slip over to the nurse where she read it and went into the backroom to get the medication but little did he know that a secret camera was watching him, and on the other end was a man watching his every move. A phone rang and the man picked it up and spoke into the phone. "Yes sir he is picking it up now. No I don't think he knows what's going on but he should in a few days, we should alert the base in briar City." "Yes sir I will be right on it" as the man hung up the phone he watched as the subject receive instructions in how to take the medicine and as the young man left the building. Dustin rejoined the group outside the pokemon center and they headed out towards the city gates. Later that day Dustin took the first injection just after dinner they set up camp for the night Dustin barley set up his tent and crawled inside his sleeping bag before he passed out. He awoke the next morning feeling a little sore but he could not put his finger why. But he quickly pushed the matter far from his thoughts and stared to take down his tent then prepared a light breakfast and took the second injection. He felt a little better after taking the injection but the relief didn't last very long, the rest of the day it felt like his head was going to split open. As the days went by he noticed that different parts of his body would end up hurting every day but just thought it was the vitamins taking effect so he thought nothing of it after the first few days.   It wasn't until a week had passed that he noticed his body shape appeared to be slowly changing. It wasn't until the night after he had taken the last injection that Mary and pat also noticed the change and questioned him about it while the group was eating dinner. "Is there anything wrong Dustin?" asked pat. "No everything is fine why do you ask?" snapped Dustin. "Well that proves it," said Mary. "Proves what? What are you talking about Mary?" said Dustin. "We think those injections have turned you into a girl" said pat "That is ridiculous" said Dustin "Humans can't change gender." "Just like human can't change into pokemon" Said Mary. "When was the last time you looked in a mirror Dustin? Because you really need to." Mary said turning towards Misty. "Let me borrow a mirror misty, I know you have one in your backpack." "Here you go" handing over a compact "Now take a good look at yourself Dustin because you really need to."   Opening the compact, Dustin took a long look at himself in the mirror. Looking back from the mirror was a soft face with brown hair surrounding it, lowering his gaze in the mirror. Dustin saw that he had indeed changed into a girl. Once the shock had gotten to him, the rest of the group watched as he fainted. "Well we better him into his tent." Stated misty {Any ideas on what happened Pat?} {Not a clue Mary, not a clue} {Well I could be wrong, but she looks to be around Misty's size, but I want to check something first} walking over Dustin backpack Mary opened it up, and started digging around, it took her a few minutes but she found what she was looking for. {Well someone planned ahead for this event. Someone put some clothes in here for Dustin, I'm surprised that he never noticed any of this.} {Well let me get her tent set up and then you can put the clothes where she'll find them in the morning.} Taking only a few seconds to setup the small tent that Dustin owned, Pat soon had the tent setup and the sleeping bag unrolled inside. "Misty give Mary a hand in bringing Dustin over here."  
The two girls put Dustin's arms around their shoulders and carried her over to the tent and placed her in her sleeping bag. Zipping the bag up, Mary then put the clothing she found on top of everything in the backpack. Closing the tent she walked back over to where the other two were sitting, she wasn't surprised to see that Pat had his laptop out. "Misty in my backpack in the front pouch you'll find a ziplock baggie bring it over here." "Sure" handing Pat the bag he asked for. "Here you go Pat." Taking the needle out of the bag. He placed what left of the prescription into the sample dish. "Hacker, Windows I need the two of you to run a series of test on this sample and tell me what the effects would be in a human." He typed into his notepad. Sliding the dish into the slot. "It'll take the two of them some time" he started to say as he was interrupted by a beeping sound "To get the results." he finished facing his computer. "Well that was quick." Mary said sitting down next Pat. "So what is the effect for a human?" she asked. "Well your answer is currently sleeping." "For how long?" "Permanent so looks like Dustin is going to need a new name, basically Dustin no longer exist" "what about his pokedex? Can that be reprogrammed?" "Don't see why not." Answered Pat as he put the needle back into the ziplock bag. "On second thought" picking up a large rock, he placed the needle under it and dropped the rock onto the needle shattering it and putting the tip deep into the earth. "We might as well get some sleep. I can't change anything until Dustin picks a new name for herself." Misty walking over to her backpack and undoing the straps that held her tent. Walking a few feet from her backpack she threw her tent into the air. "See this is what the two you need a simple popup tent" she said crawling into her tent, and zipping it shut. "Why do I need a popup tent when I our tent was up before yours." {Using TK again I see.} {No one said I couldn't} walking into their tent both
Mary and Pat shifted forms and curled up next to each other. {Well I've seen some weird things but this
one takes the cake Mary.} {You and me both. Pat} hearing their tent zipper being opened they turned
towards to the opening only to see misty walking into their tent. "Hope you don't mind if I sleep in here,
but Dustin's out there sawing logs and I can't get any sleep."  Nodding their response, they went to sleep as
Misty crawled into her sleeping bag.