Chapter Three: Spore Meanwhile... In the clichéd abandoned warehouse district of Persimmon, a peculier meeting was taking place. "Check this out Booster," a woman with wavy blue hair named Showers began. "There are some powerful young trainers just leaving town." "We caught them on tape having a big battle," a man with a shock of bright yellow hair named Thunders added. "They're young, and they only have baby Pokémon, but they've got talent." Thunders put the tape in the VCR and Booster, a tall man with short puffy red hair, observed Uiru and Matt battling Jessica and Allison. "A Kabuto? Where did that girl get a Kabuto?" Booster asked. "We don't know," Showers answered. "I thought Kabuto were extinct." "They are," Thunders stated. "Interesting. This girl may be of use to us. Bring her here, tonight." "Yes sir!" Showers and Thunders replied. Booster leaned back in his chair. "The Boss would like to have this girl in the ranks," he muttered to himself. "These other three trainers are talented, as well. See if you can't get the four of them here." "We won't fail, sir!" Thunders promised. With that, they departed. Booster held up the Poké Ball that contained his favorite Pokémon- Flareon. "A few new recruits for the Boss's army... I think he'd like that a lot." "Then Metapod slammed Pincir right between the eyes!" Uiru shouted. The four were still up, telling tales of their short but promising journeys. "Why didn't you CAPTURE it?!" Allison shouted. "Pincir are really strong!" "I tried, but Metapod hit it a little too hard," Uiru explained. "You can't catch fainted Pokémon." "My Cubone took down a Mr. Mime once," Jessica began. "Stupid thing. It thought it was in a box. Cubone nearly put it in a casket." "Mr. Mimes have great defencive powers, but their attacks suck," Matt stated. "I think all it can do is DoubleSlap you." "Isn't it a Psychic type like my Abra?" Uiru asked. "It is," Allison confirmed. "Call Abra out, Uiru. It's cute." "Okay. Abra, come out!" Uiru shouted. In a flash of light, the psycho fighter Abra had appeared. "It's so cute!" Jessica stated. "I never noticed before." "That's because it was kicking the crap out of Machop," Allison explained. "Isn't it adorable!" Abra was enjoying the attention it was getting. Matt grinned at Uiru. "Your Abra is a babe magnet." "Oh shut up!" The nurse came in and clapped her hands. "All right everybody, it's cerfew. Time to go to sleep." Some of the other trainers in the lounge headed for the sleeping area. Uiru recalled Abra. "How big are the dorms here?" Uiru asked. "There sure are a lot of trainers." "Yeah. It would be a shame if we had to share," Matt cracked. Allison hit him. "Ow!" "Don't worry, there's more then enough room," the nurse replied. Matt grinned and snapped his fingers. Allison hit him again. "You know, he's doing that on purpose," Jessica muttered to her. "I know," Allison replied. "And he'd better stop it too. Or he'll get HURT." Uiru and Matt laughed. The nurse clapped her hands again. "Enough! Get to bed now!" she scolded. "You trainers are all the same. Stay up all night, then at the crack of dawn head out again. You need to sleep or you'll get eaten by something." The four filed into the dorm area. "Good. Good night, everyone." The nurse headed out to the front desk to await the night shift replacement. The dorms consisted of little more then a bunch of bunk beds thrown in a large room, with enough space for trainers to get in and out of them. Uiru and company got two bunks in the corner. "I get the top!" the four cried at once. After a short but furious shoving match, Uiru made it to the top of one bunk and Jessica to the other. They got settled in. "This is like camp," Matt declared. "Yeah, but the food's better," Allison stated. "Will you guys be quiet, I want to sleep," Jessica muttered. "The nurse still has our Pokémon, right?" Uiru asked. "Yeah," Jessica yawned. "She put them all in this wierd machine that keeps them energized overnight." "Like a giant battery charger," Allison suggested. "I'm going to sleep. Good night everybody." Matt rolled over and instantly fell asleep. Uiru looked across to the other bunk. "Anata wa kawaii desu," he muttered under his breath. In English, 'You're cute'. Jessica opened an eye and winked at him. Uiru slammed his eyes shut and pretended to be asleep. *Oh crap! She heard me!* Matt awoke a few hours later to the sound of someone moving down the hall. Curious, he got up. He noticed Allison wasn't in bed. *Must be in the john.* He was incorrect. The person walking down the hall was the man known as Thunders, and in his arms was the unconscious form of Allison! "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Matt shouted. At the sound of his voice, Thunders started to run. Matt chased after him, pausing only to nail the big red button on the front desk marked 'EMERGENCY'. Within four seconds the entire Pokémon Center was wide awake. Thunders ran past the room where the nurse was checking up on the Pokémon. Matt dodged in, grabbed his three Poké Balls and resumed the chase. "Call the cops!" he shouted over his shoulder. Meanwhile, Uiru and Jessica were back in the dorm, which was full of complaining trainers. "Something's up! Come on!" Uiru said. They went to the nurse's office. "What's going on? Why did the alarm go off?" Jessica asked. "Your friend just tore out of here after he grabbed his Poké Balls," the nurse answered. "Some guy with yellow hair was kidnapping someone, I think. I've called the police-" "Must be Allison," Uiru declared. He grabbed his Pokémon and tossed Jessica's to her. "I'll hang onto Allison's," Jessica decided. Outside... "To hell with the Pokémon- I'm gonna tear you apart myself!" Matt shouted. "You? Tear ME apart?" Thunders laughed. "Go back to bed, boy, before you get hurt." Matt had chased Thunders to his rather expensive looking getaway vehicle. Thunders put Allison in the back seat and laughed at Matt again. "What are you gonna do, huh?" "Thunders, be quiet," came a female voice. "Thunders? That's the stupidest name I've ever heard!" Matt taunted. "I'm going to teach this kid a lesson, Showers," Thunders snapped at his partner. "Showers? Who named you people?" Matt asked. "Whoever they are, they deserve a beating almost as much as you two do. Let Allison go!" Matt was ready to rumble. Thunders was getting annoyed. "Come on then, boy," Thunders declared. "Give it all you've got, because you're going to need it." "There they are!" Uiru pointed. "Who're the wierdos with the hair?" "Matt's in trouble! Cubone, I choose you!" "Sandshrew, attack!" Showers saw them coming and calmly pulled out a Vaporeon! "Use the Bubblebeam, Vaporeon!" Showers shouted. Cubone and Sandshrew were out even before they reached the battlefield. "Return!" "I've got just the thing for that! Pikachu, open fire with Thunder Bolt!" While Uiru fought Showers and Matt fought Thunders, Jessica snuck around the battles and tended to Allison. "Are you okay? Are you awake?" she asked. She shook her slightly. "Come on, dammit, wake up!" "Where..." Allison began. "Where... am I?" "The back seat of some guy's car," Jessica answered. "Wait, I should rephrase that." "Where are my Pokémon?" Allison asked. Jessica handed them to her. "Come on, the boys need some help," Jessica stated as she helped Allison up. At that moment, Thunders threw a clump of powder in Matt's face, then whipped around and dumped some in Allison's! Both fell unconscious... again. "What is that stuff?" Jessica asked. "Parasect spores," Thunders answered. "Very dangerous. Notice I'm wearing the proper safety gloves." "You're so smart," Jessica deadpanned. Showers recalled her beat Vaporeon and jumped into the car. "Come on Thunders, grab the kid and let's go!" Thunders belted Jessica across the face, and while she was down, grabbed Matt and put him in the back of the car with Allison. Jessica looked up through tears to see Uiru smash Thunders in the gut, then whip around and nail him in the face with his elbow. Cursing all the way, Uiru proceeded to pound him. "We don't need this many distractions!" Showers muttered to herself. "Poliwhirl, go!" Poliwhirl knocked Uiru off Thunders and they both dove into the car. "We'll be back for you two later!" Showers shouted over her shoulder as they drove off. "Damn..." Uiru cursed as he watched the car drive off. He turned to Jessica. "Hey, are you okay?" "I'll be fine," she said softly. "He only hit me. But... what will we do about Matt and Allison?" "The nurse said she called the police. They must be there by now. We should go back to the Pokémon Center and tell them what happened," Uiru suggested. He helped her up. "That was... quite a thrashing you gave Thunders," Jessica stated on their way back to the Center. "Thanks." "For what?" Uiru asked. "For helping me... When he hit me, I saw you charge over and hit him like a freight train." "Oh, that..." Uiru turned a light shade of red. The mood was completely shattered when the nurse hailed them. "Hey you two!" she shouted. "Are you okay? Where's your friends?" Parasect spores- Collected from Parasect and formed into a powder for human use. Currently banned in most cities.