***AUTHORESS NOTES***

Note to everybody: DO NOT expect anything from me on Wednesday the 17th.
Why, you ask? I have an audition for a model/talent agency! I'm very
excited, so wish me luck! ~_^

Actually, it'd be safe to say to never expect an update from me on
Wednesdays. I'm always busy on those days.

I'm trying to finish this within the next week. So wish me luck on THAT.

Oh yeah. No updates on the 23rd, or Saturday for that matter. On
Saturday, I'm performing a skit at this festival thingy and on the 23rd,
I have another audition (city-wide choir) and I have to register for my
new/old (long story) school. Just letting you know ahead of time.

So here's part 6. This should only be a few chapters longer.

+~+~+~+~+~+~~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
Chapter 6: Distractions

     It was a time when most people of the world were asleep. After all,
there was school and work and it WAS four in the morning. And the fact
that it was a weekend didn't change much. Sunnydale was a small, humble
town and there were never cars and traffic at all hours. Cars and
traffic ended around eight or nine, pure and simple.

     Moonlight streamed in through a certain second story window of 653
9th Avenue that night. It was clear, a bit breezy and a bit cloudy. The
people of the house were all sound asleep, and had been for hours,
resting and preparing for the new day.

Well, most of them, at any rate.

     Jenifer Nichole Frost pulled down at the black spaghetti strap tank
top, and then at the black leather jacket that was over it. She sighed,
and then cringed, for the black jeans she was wearing were her old
favorites, much worn in fifth grade but now were becoming too small.
"I've grown from a size two. Go figure," she muttered, glaring down at
the former favorites. She now favored skirts, but due to the
circumstances her boyfriend had put her under, had stopped wearing them.

     Black, black, black. Such a bleak color. And with all the clothing
she wore, you might think she was planning to sneak out.

Jenn? Never!

     Wasn't that a bundle of laughs! She had been planning this the
moment the car door slammed and she was on her way home from the
hospital. Oh, yes, she was going to sneak out. You could say she was
planning an... invasion.

     Just like Team Rocket had invaded the town, she would invade their
headquarters. Maybe once she took a stand, things would go back to
normal.

Normal? What is this thing you call normal?

     Jenn sure as hell didn't know. She certainly wasn't. With an
abusive boyfriend and gang members being a constant threat, she could be
considered... Helpless? Oh definitely not. If there was one thing
Jenifer Frost wasn't, it was helpless.

If there was another thing she wasn't, it was secure.

     After all, even though she wasn't helpless, she could be considered
scared. Very scared. And worried. At what was going on around her. At
what was happening to her life.

     The window was already open, and her heart was pounding like a
drum. What was she thinking? She could never climb down a TREE! She had
never climbed UP a tree, much less down one. And what if her hair got
caught in the branches and she was sitting there hanging by her hair
until she fell or even worse, until her parents saw her on their way to
work?

     But she had to. Exhaling deeply, she grabbed a rubberband from the
back of her doorknob and fixed her hair in a tight bun. And with a few
steps, she was at the windowsill.

    ...And she placed her left foot in a crevice on the tree. Shakily,
her right foot landed on a branch. Realizing that she had no choice in
the matter now, her hands gripped separate tree branches.

She could NOT do this.

     It wasn't a big deal though, for what she couldn't do, her Pokemon
could. They would be glad to help her, right? They were going to
singlehandedly take on Team Rocket! And if Giovanni played by the rules
this time, it would be a piece of cake.

     Sitting down on a branch, she fiddled with her belt until she found
the PokeBall she was looking for. Jenn enlarged it and tossed it onto
the ground with ease. Within moments, the figure of an enthusiastic
Meganium could be seen on the front lawn of the Frost residence.

     "Meganium, I'm going to jump from this tree." Dear God, it scared
her even just to say the words. "I want you to use your vine whip to
catch me." What if it went wrong? What if-

    "Meganium!" crooned the happy grass Pokemon. Jenn looked wildly
around the house, and around the block, making sure no one had been
awakened by the noise.

     "Quieter, Meganium!" she whispered loudly. "I'm going to jump now."
The grass Pokemon nodded and prepared to use a vine whip. 

     Jenn sat up from the branch, heart pounding steadily. She closed
her eyes tightly, exhaled and then...

     "Oh my God, I'm going to die," she muttered as the wind surpassed
and her arms flailed wildly in the night air. She was only merely
comforted by the feeling of the vines around her small waist. Meganium
set her down slowly and Jenn had never been more relieved to have her
feet on the ground. She nearly kissed the yard right then, but she
decided against it.

     The streets were strangely uninhabited, the sidewalk completely
empty. The small forest was coming up at the end of the street, and Jenn
decided it would be better to take the less noticeable route. It was a
shortcut anyways.

     Small leaves crunched under the gray and black Airwalks she wore,
and Jenn panicked over the sound. What if somebody heard her? She
smirked at herself a bit and began to relax. 'After all, Jenn,' she told
herself. 'It's just le-'

     She didn't even get to finish comforting herself. "Who's out
there?" called a gruff voice. Jenn's eyes opened wide in surprise, and
she didn't even think before ducking in a dense bush. She would have a
hell of a time picking off the tiny branches and coarse needles, but it
just might just save her life.

     The moonlight, not to mention the dim light of a nearby building,
showed the stocky figure of a male approaching the area Jenn had been
at. He was tall, maybe 5'7 or 5'8, and he looked ready to pounce. He was
wearing the Team Rocket uniform. 'This is it,' she thought worriedly.
'When he finds me, he's going to kill me. I'm going to die.'

     The leaves also crunched under his feet, as he searched the area.
He searched behind all the nearby trees. 'Please don't let him look in
the bush.'

     Jenn felt a few branches being moved back on the bush, presumably
by human hands. 'Oh my God. I'm going to die,' she panicked inwardly.

     "That's stupid," the Team Rocket member thought to himself. "Why
would anybody be stupid enough to hide in a bush?" She was, apparently,
but it had saved her ass. It was worth it.

     "Who are you talking to over there?" questioned another guy loudly,
his voice less angry than the first.

     "Myself. I thought I heard noise over here, but I guess it was a
Pokemon, or maybe just the wind," replied the first Team Rocket member. 

     "Well, the boss told me to get all of the grunts patrolling. He has
plans to tell us," announced the second one. THAT was great. Maybe they
would be distracted enough to leave the door unguarded.

     The two left the tiny forest and Jenn climbed out of the bush,
beginning to walk faster and with lighter steps, picking the burs and
thorns off her clothing on the way. She had to get there as fast as she
could.

***

     To Jenn's absolute misfortune (and possible bad luck), two
solemn-looking guards stood at the front door. Both had guns, and were
more than likely going to use them if they came in contact with
somebody. Giovanni was obviously taking extra precautions in making sure
nobody got in his way this time.

     The windows on the side of the large building had not gone
unnoticed to Jenn. She still had hope, true, it would be quite
difficult, but she knew exactly what to do.

     She cut through the forest again, purposely making a different
turn, this one towards the city of Ecruteak. She passed Professor
Hitaru's house with ease and proceeded to the Pokemon Center.

     As she suspected, there were people hanging out there, all of them
in groups. The ones she chose for her mission were two teenage boys,
both around her age, maybe a little older. The only thing she needed to
ensure their help was one thing Brooke had always told her that she
needed to bank on: innocent good looks.

     "Hey," she said with a small smile. Both broke away from their
conversation and paid full attention to the girl in front of them.

     "Hey yourself," said one, a boy about her height with dark brown
hair that drifted gently over his eyes. If she had met him under
different circumstances, she would've said he was cute. But now wasn't
the time to be drooling over boys. "What can we do for you?"

     "Well, it's funny you should ask," the brunette chuckled nervously.
"Have you heard about the newest Team Rocket invasion?"

     "In Sunnydale?" asked the other one, about an inch shorter than her
with bleach blond hair. 

     Jenn nodded. "That's the one. Would you do almost anything to end
it?"

     "It depends," said the blond. "What are you thinking of?"

     "Distractions," Jenn responded simply.

     The blond extended a hand. "The name is Clayton Holmes."

***

     "So you want us to start a conversation about how Ash Ketchum is
supposedly coming from Kanto to defeat them?" Jeff, the brown-haired
boy, questioned.

     Jenn nodded, and then took a sip of the soda they had bought her.
"I'm thinking that they'll question you and then go alert their
superiors with what you tell them. Their superiors will sound the alarm,
so that it won't go off when I sneak through the window."

     "That's genius," marvelled Clayton. "You are so my type of girl."

     The brunette blushed. "Sorry, taken."

     "Well, that sucks now, doesn't it? If you ever find yourself
single, look me up."

     "I'll do that," she smiled. 'IF I ever find myself single. If
Taylor will ever let me.'

     "Are you ready?" Jeff asked her and Jenn threw away the can.

     "Let's go." It was nearly six in the morning, and her parents would
be waking up soon and her alarm would be going off in about thirty
minutes. No, wait, it was Saturday. It wouldn't be going off at all. But
both parents still had to work. It didn't matter. By the time they left,
they would figure that she was sleeping in and was still asleep.
Hopefully, she would be back before they even realized she was gone.

She was completely awake.