Chapter One
 Deep in the Turcott Park woods, a boy prepares to make his first Pokémon catch.
 "Caterpie, you're mine!" he shouted. "Poké Ball, go!"
 The ball struck the bug Pokémon just as it looked up from it's dinner to see what the noise was. Within seconds the little caterpillar had gone from munching leaves to sitting inside a Poké Ball.
 "Come on, work," the boy said to the ball as it wobbled back and forth. Soon, though, it was still. Caterpie was his!
 "YES!!" he shouted. He ran to pick up his new Pokémon. He had been trying for the past week to catch a Paras or a Venonat, but they were too strong for the Poké Balls. Without his own Pokémon to weaken them, they broke free and escaped time after time- except one obnoxious Venonat which had given him a thrashing before running off. One of the trainers at the Turcott Gym suggested trying to find a Caterpie. They were very easy to catch and train.
 "I've finally got a Pokémon! I have to see it again. Caterpie, come out!" With a flourish he commanded the Poké Ball to release his Caterpie, which appeared on the forest floor next to him. "Hi, Caterpie!" he greeted. "My name's Uiru. I'm your new trainer!" Caterpie took an instant liking to the boy's friendly attitude. It climbed up on his shoulder.
 "You're a cute one, aren't you Caterpie?" Uiru said. He scratched it's head. He knew that although Caterpies weren't exceptionally strong, they were very easy to get along with. Just the thing to get him some Pokémon to battle with. "All right, now we gotta find something for you to battle," Uiru told it. "Get your power up. Maybe you'll evolve! The guys at the Gym said that some Pokémon evolve after they fight a lot." Caterpie chimed it's agreement.
 Soon it pointed at something farther down the path. "No, no, you can't fight that," Uiru said. "That's a Pidgey. Pidgey's a bird. You're a bug. It wouldn't work out." Caterpie nodded.
 A short time later, they came across a Kakuna lying on the ground. It glared up at them as they approached. "Now look, there's something you can fight, if you're really careful," Uiru said to Caterpie. "It's really slow, but can't be defeated easily by normal attacks. It can also poison you if it cuts you." Caterpie nodded again. Uiru set him on the ground. "All right, Caterpie! Get ready!"
 The Kakuna realized it was being attacked. It tried to stand up on it's claws, but soon gave up and tried to crawl away. Caterpie slammed into it with a Tackle attack! It went flying.
 The sunshine-yellow Kakuna glowed a brillient white. Caterpie braced itself against an attack... and none came. "Maybe it's just showing off. Hit it again!" Uiru shouted.
 Caterpie charged at Kakuna again. CLONK! This time it barely wobbled. "Huh? What's the deal?" Uiru asked. "Didn't you hit it hard enough?" The ache in Caterpie's head told it that it had hit Kakuna quite hard enough.  "Well then, try String Shot!" Caterpie reared back and fired a string of sticky gloop at Kakuna. Nearly incapable of moving under normal circumstances, it was now completely immobile. Caterpie again charged at Kakuna, aiming for it's tender underbelly. Kakuna had had it.
 "All right!" Uiru shouted. "Good job Caterpie!" Caterpie did a back flip, and then returned to Uiru's shoulder.

 A few hours and many Kakuna later, Uiru decided it was time to call it a day. Caterpie was tired and needed a break. Uiru was hungry too.
 On the way back to Turcott Park, they came across another beginning Pokémon trainer.
 "Weedle, you're mine!" the girl shouted. "Poké Ball, go!" Uiru felt Caterpie stiffen at the sight of the Weedle. "What's wrong Caterpie?" Uiru asked.
 "YEAH! I got it!" The girl grabbed her new Pokémon and called it out. "Hey, who are you?" She finally saw Uiru and Caterpie.
 "My name's Uiru. I just caught this Caterpie this afternoon. I've been training it." Uiru thought for a minute. "Who are you? I've never seen you before."
 Ignoring his question, the girl looked at Caterpie. "I know what Caterpies are. They're cute little things, but aren't very strong."
 Caterpie jumped to the ground and shrilled. "I think it wants to battle," Uiru guessed. "Hey, wanna battle my Caterpie?"
 "Sure," the girl agreed. "I don't know very much about Pokémon yet, but I do know that Weedles are Poison types. Do you know what that means?"
 "Yeah, it means they're strong against Bug types... Uh oh." Uiru knelt and whispered to Caterpie. "Are you sure you wanna fight Weedle?" he asked. Caterpie nodded angrily.
 "Your Caterpie looks really mad," the girl stated. Her new Weedle didn't seem very interested in what was going on.
 "Well why shouldn't it be? Weedles pick on Caterpies." Uiru knelt again. "Listen, Caterpie. Weedle's got two stingers, on it's head and on it's tail. If you can cover them with String Shot, they'll be useless. Then you just cream it. Okay?"
 Caterpie looked at Uiru and nodded. It was a good plan.

 "Weedle, I choose you!"
 "Caterpie, go!"
 "Weedle, go for the underside with Poison Sting!" Weedle reared back and dashed at Caterpie, the stinger on it's head shining. Caterpie fired a blot of String Shot but missed, hitting the bug's head instead. It stopped, and whipped around with it's tail. Caterpie braced it's scales against the assault, then rammed Weedle's midsection.
 "Good shot Caterpie! Use String Shot now!" Caterpie fired it's Shot again, covering it's head stinger with sticky gloop.
 "Oh no! Wipe it off, quick!" the girl ordered. Weedle began scraping the stinger against the ground. Caterpie gave it a mighty Tackle, followed by a blast of String Shot that tangled Weedle's body.
 "Call it back, it can't fight in this state!" Uiru shouted.
 "Oh... um... Weedle, return!" The girl called back Weedle, leaving nothing but a pile of goo in it's wake. "You jerk! I'm going to get you for this." With that, the girl stormed off.
 Uiru picked up Caterpie. "Great job!" he congradulated. "You really showed her." He looked down the path. "She's headed back to town. I wonder who she is?" Caterpie chirped at him. "No idea, huh? Well, let's get back."
 Caterpie had something it had to do first. It began shooting String Shot right up in the air! "What are you doing, Caterpie? You're going to get covered if you do that." In a moment, Uiru realized that was exactly what Caterpie wanted.
 The goop hardened into a protective shell. Caterpie had evolved into Metapod!
 "Of course! This is how bugs transform. First the baby stage, then a cocoon, then the final form. I wonder what you'll become?" Uiru picked Metapod up. "At any rate, I'm going home!"

 As soon as he got back to town, Uiru went to the Gym to watch the battles. He carried Metapod with him.
 The Turcott Park Gym didn't have a Leader- it was just a place where trainers went to practice. There was no specific type of Pokémon the Gym favored either- trainers mainly used the bug, ground and occasional Grass type Pokémon found in the area.
 "Hey Matt!" Uiru shouted when he got to the Gym. "Look what I got!" He looked around. "Huh? Where's Matt?" He couldn't see him anywhere.
 "He's in a battle," another trainer told him. "Up there!"
 Matt was battling someone's Diglett with his Bellsprout. Since Grass types like Bellsprout are strong against Ground types like Diglett, Matt quickly overcame his opponent.
 "Another win," Matt declared. "Isn't there ANYONE here who can beat me?" The Gym laughed. Sometimes Matt acted cocky but it was just that- an act. Two more trainers entered the ring to battle.
 "Win again?" Uiru asked.
 "Oh, hey Uiru. Yeah, again. Hey, you got a Metapod!" Matt and Uiru headed outside. Bellsprout plodded after them. "You must have been hiding a Caterpie for the past few days. Where'd you keep it?"
 "I didn't hide it!" Uiru answered. "I caught a Caterpie right after lunch and we were hunting Kakunas all day! Then this psycho girl challenged me with her Weedle and after Caterpie beat it, it evolved!"
 "You got a Metapod in one day?" Matt asked. Uiru and Metapod laughed. "It must have been a very strong Caterpie. It might evolve again soon."
 "How will I get it to evolve?"
 "Hmm..." Matt thought for a while. "Metapod and Kakuna are two very special types of Pokémon. They can't really attack very well but they can after they evolve."
 "Oh. If it can't attack, how will it evolve?"
 "Metapod and Kakuna evolve over time. You can battle them to speed up the process but it's hard. Leave it for a few days and it'll evolve."
 "So, that's how you do it!" Uiru and Matt turned to see the girl who had attacked Uiru before. She was holding a Kakuna. "Weedle evolved after I beat the hell out of a bunch of puny Caterpies. And I know what my Pokémon will become. A Beedrill! And when it does, I'll be back to kick your tail, Uiru."
 "Beedrill?" Uiru asked. "Whatever Metapod becomes, it has to be better then that. And even if it isn't, my Pokémon will win!"
 "If that's what you want to believe, go right ahead! I'm going to go get another Pokémon to train while I wait for Kakuna to evolve. See ya!" With a wave, the girl departed.
 Matt looked from the girl to Uiru several times. "Nice girl. When'd you meet her?"
 "Just this afternoon. I beat her Weedle and she's mad about it." Uiru jumped up. "I'm not gonna let her beat me! I'm going to get a new Pokémon right now!"
 "But it's getting late!" Matt replied. "Some dangerous Pokémon come out at night. Spearow, Ekans, Sandshrew, Nidoran. They're fierce Pokémon that aren't easily beaten."
 "Then I'll catch one of them! That'll show her!"
 Matt laughed. "You've been at this a day and you've already got a rival. I don't know if you're making progress or not."
 "Hey... I don't even know her name. Oh well, I'll find out later. I'm going to the caves to find a Sandshrew."
 "You're nuts! All you've got is a Metapod that just evolved. You'll be defenceless!" Matt shook his head. "But I know you're gonna go anyway. If you wait fifteen minutes for me to get some supper I'll go with you."
 "Okay, cool!" Uiru's stomach rumbled. "Oh yeah, I forgot. I'm starving!"

 Twenty minutes later, Uiru and Matt were heading into the caves south of the town. Although it was littered with 'DO NOT ENTER' signs, trainers just happened to not see them. There were good Pokémon in the caves. They flipped their flashlights on.
 "I think Metapod wants to battle these bat things," Uiru stated after Metapod began wiggling.
 "Hmm. Zubats are Poison type Pokémon. I don't think it's a good idea."
 "But Weedle and Kakuna are Poison types and Caterpie had no problem against them!"
 "All right, try it. But my Bulbasaur will guard it. Bulbasaur, come out!" Matt summoned his best Pokémon, Bulbasaur, to defend Metapod.
 Uiru put Metapod on the ground. Bulbasaur used it's Vine Whips to disturb a group of Zubat, then kept all but a few of them away while Metapod battled them.
 Metapod swung it's tail around and clonked a Zubat on the head. Then it crunched down and sprang at another, knocking it out cold.
 "This Metapod is surprisingly agile," Matt remarked.
 "It shouldn't be long before it evolves!" Uiru shouted.
 "Don't shout! You'll wake up all the cranky Pokémon that live here." A loud scuttling on the ground told them it was too late. "Oh, great," Matt groaned. "We're probably going to have to fight our way out. Bellsprout, Paras, come out!"
 Uiru grabbed Metapod and the two ran, Matt's Pokémon following them. The group of angry Zubat gave chase, but they soon had bigger problems to deal with.
 Uiru bumped into something. "OW! Watch it Matt! Don't stop like that!"
 "What? I didn't stop!"
 Uiru slowly raised his flashlight... right into the face of a Pincir! It snapped it's huge pincir open and shut several times.
 Uiru wordlessly scrambled away from it. "Matt, tell me your Grass types are strong on this thing."
 "They aren't," Matt replied. "This thing is a Bug type. Bugs are strong against Grass types!"
 Pincir charged right at the trio of freaking Pokémon, sending them flying. Bulbasaur countered with it's Leech Seed attack, which could drain Pincir's energy, but it wouldn't slow it down much. Paras opened up with Stun Spore and Bellsprout used Vine Whip. Nothing seemed to work on it!
 "Use physical attacks!" Matt shouted. "Bulbasaur, Take Down! Paras, Slash! Bellsprout, Double Edge!"
 Physical attacks had a better effect on Pincir, but it wasn't beat yet. Pincir Tackled Paras, sending it flying, and then flung Bellsprout into the wall. Then it grabbed Bulbasaur!
 "Oh no! Bulbasaur, Vine Whip!" Bulbasaur tried to use Vine Whip but Pincir's pincir prevented it from working properly.
 "Damn! It's gonna crush Bulbasaur!" Matt shouted. Bulbasaur began focusing on the Leech Seed power, and began draining it's life! Although it wasn't squeezing it any more, Pincir still had a good grip on Bulbasaur.
 Uiru suddenly knew what to do. "Metapod, go!"
 "Huh? What are you doing?" Matt asked.
 "Metapod, Tackle attack!" Uiru ordered. Metapod geared up and nailed Pincir right in the stomach. It dropped Bulbasaur. "Return!" Matt shouted.
 Pincir grabbed Metapod with it's pincir and began putting the squeeze on it! "Metapod, Harden!" Uiru shouted.
 Pincir soon found itself holding an extremely hard piece of Pokémon. It tried again and again to crush Metapod but it wasn't working!
 Bellsprout and Paras recovered and charged Pincir again. "Metapod, use the Bide power!" Uiru ordered.
 "Bide? What's that?" Matt asked.
 "It's a very special power. Watch!" Uiru replied.
 Pincir tried to crush Metapod a few more times, then gave up and swung it around at the wall. Metapod began to vibrate and then flung itself full force at Pincir! Catching it straight between the eyes, Pincir was knocked out cold!
  "All right! Poké Ball, go!" Uiru shouted. The Poké Ball flew... and bounced off Pincir.
 "What the?! Why didn't it work?" Uiru asked.
 "Pincir is knocked completely unconscious. You can't capture an unconscious Pokémon.  Whatever that Bide attack is, it's very strong." Matt recalled Paras and Bellsprout.
 "Nuts. Pincir would show that little witch who's the better trainer!" Uiru kicked the ground. "Would have made a great new Pokémon too."
 Matt laughed. "What's so funny?" Uiru asked.
 "Pincir is way too ferocious for young trainers like you. But you ARE going to have a new Pokémon..."
 "What do you mean?" Uiru looked around. "I don't see any new Pokémon..." A loud cracking sound caused Uiru to turn to Metapod. "What? What's happening?! Metapod is breaking apart!"
 "No it's not, Uiru," Matt replied. "It's evolving!"
 The shell cracked, and from it rose a butterfly! Metapod had evolved into Butterfree!
 "YES!! It'll be a week before that girl's Kakuna evolves! I'm way ahead of her already!" Butterfree landed on his shoulder. "How are you, Butterfree? You're just as cute as Caterpie and Metapod were!"
 "We'd better get out of here," Matt warned. "My Pokémon are weakened, and Butterfree might not be up to battling yet." Uiru agreed, and they started heading out of the cave.
 Uiru heard something plodding after them. "What's that noise?" He shone his flashlight on the creature that was following them- a Sandshrew!
 "It's a Sandshrew," Matt declared. "Normally, they're tricky to catch, but your Butterfree should have no problems."
 "Why not?"
 "There's two reasons. First of all, Bug types like Butterfree are strong against Ground types like Sandshrew. And second, Butterfree is also a Flying type. Sandshrew's Ground attacks shouldn't hit it at all. If Butterfree is fast, it should be able to weaken Sandshrew without getting hit."
 "Okay! I said I was gonna get a Sandshrew and this one'll be it! Butterfree, I choose you!" Uiru shouted. "Tackle attack, now!"
 Butterfree charged Sandshrew, sending it flying. It got up and used it's Scratch attack, nailing Butterfree with it's claws.
 "Tackle it again!" Butterfree hit Sandshrew. "Now use String Shot to slow it down!" Butterfree fired String Shot at it, but missed. Sandshrew had a few surprises in store, however. It spun around and sent a cloud of sand at Butterfree!
 "This is it's Sand Attack," Matt announced. "It'll lower Butterfree's accuracy, and make it easier to hit."
 Sandshrew attacked from behind, Tackling Butterfree. Butterfree spun and charged at Sandshrew, but Sandshrew stepped aside. Butterfree finally nailed it with String Shot, and gave it a mighty Tackle.
 "That should do it! Poké Ball, go!" It hit Sandshrew right on the nose, and sucked it in!
 The ball wobbled... and wobbled... and wobbled... and was still. Uiru had caught Sandshrew!
 "YES!!" Uiru shouted again.
 "Is that the word of the day or something? Keep it down, will you?" Matt laughed. "The Pokémon Center awaits. I hope they're still open!"

Chapter Two
 In the days to come, Uiru would begin batting in the Turcott Park gym. His Sandshrew and Butterfree proved to be very skilled combatants. Butterfree began learning the different Powder attacks, and Sandshrew's skills increased and became more powerful.
 "I wonder where that girl went?" Uiru asked one day. "I bet she heard about all my great victories and ran." Uiru laughed.
 "You? Great victories? Give me a break!" Uiru turned to see the girl near the ring. She quickly entered it. "I'm gonna wipe you off the map!"
 "This should be good!" Uiru declared. "Hey Matt, come here! The little banshee's back!"
 Matt and some of his buddies ran to the ring. "I don't wanna miss this," Matt said to his friends. "These two fight like they've been married 20 years."
 By now the entire gym was watching. "Which two Pokémon are you gonna use for my 20th win?" Uiru asked.
 "You'll find out what my new Pokémon is- that is if you can beat Beedrill! Go, Beedrill!"
 "Butterfree, I choose you!" Beedrill and Butterfree entered the ring. While Butterfree was cute and seemed harmless and friendly, Beedrill was viscious. It's large venomous stingers on it's forelegs and tail gave it a much more menacing appearance.
 "Beedrill, Fury Attack!" the girl shouted.
 "Butterfree, Poison Powder!" Uiru ordered. Beedrill dove at Butterfree, jabbing with it's stingers. Butterfree flew above it and deposited a clump of purple powder on Beedrill's head.
 "You moron!" the girl yelled at him. "Beedrill IS a Poison type! Poison attacks won't hurt it! But they'll hurt you! Focus Energy and Twineedle attack!" Beedrill concentrated for a second, then stabbed Butterfree with both stingers! It got poisoned!
 "Oh no! Butterfree! Return!" Uiru recalled Butterfree. "Now you asked for it! Sandshrew, ATTACK!! Give it the Slash!" Sandshrew leapt up in the air and clawed right through Beedrill's Poison Sting counterattack. Sandshrew knocked Beedrill to the ground and proceeded to pound it.
 "Blast! Beedrill, return! Mankey, I choose you!"
 The trainers gasped. Around Turcott, Mankey was one of the rarest Pokémon around. A Mankey hadn't been caught in the town's history, and they're hardly ever seen.
 "Whoever this girl is, she's got talent as a trainer," Matt stated. "Catching a Mankey with only a Beedrill is quite a feat."
 "Either that's a really strong Beedrill or it's a really weak Mankey," Uiru replied. "Either way, my Sandshrew just took down Beedrill and Mankey's next! Sandshrew, Slash attack!"
 "Karate Chop, Mankey!" the girl ordered. Sandshrew and Mankey started pounding away at each other. Mankey's incredibly aggressive attacks were matched by Sandshrew's calm offencive and defencive maneovers. Even though Mankey was taking a lot of damage, it's rage was building with every hit. It suddenly jumped over Sandshrew, grabbed it by the tail and threw it!
 "Sandshrew!" Uiru shouted.
 "Call it back, Uiru!" Matt shouted. "Sandshrew's hurt it's head! Mankey'll pound it!"
 "Sandshrew... Return!" Uiru tried to recall Sandshrew, but it jumped out of the way and shook it's head. It was gonna finish the battle!
 "You're a lousy trainer, Uiru!" the girl shouted. "It won't even obey you!"
 "Sandshrew is even more hardheaded then you are, Uiru!" Matt added.
 "Oh shut up. All right Sandshrew, give it the Fury Swipes!"
 "Mankey, Fury Attack!"
 Mankey was too late. Sandshrew gave it an incredible slashing with it's claws, then Tackled it back to the girl. It was unconscious. The gym cheered.
 "Return!" the girl growled. "I swear, Uiru, I'm gonna take you down big time!"
 "Just like you took me down this time?" Uiru answered. "Consecutive victory number 20! Yeah!"
 The girl glowered at him, then left the gym.
 "I'd better get to the Center," Uiru said. "Butterfree's hurt."
 Matt went with him. "You know, Uiru," Matt said.
 "Yeah?"
 "You're doing an incredible job. In less then a week, you've got two incredible Pokémon and a CVN rating of 20."
 "Thanks, Matt," Uiru answered.
 "You've already reached the pinnacle of your skills," Matt continued, "that is if you stay here. There's nothing the Pokémon of Turcott Park have to teach you."
 Uiru stopped. "Are you saying I should leave?"
 "Yeah. You got potential to be a Pokémon Master."
 "Really? A Pokémon Master? Me?" Uiru liked the sound of this.
 "Yeah. I think it's about time I leave too. I've collected all the Grass type Pokémon around here."
 "We can travel together, then!" Uiru declared.
 "Yes."
 "Great! This is going to rock!" They walked along in silence for a while. "I guess our first stop will be Persimmon City, right?"
 "You got it. I hear there's a special kind of Grass type Pokémon there."
 "What is it with you and Grass Pokémon? You wanna make your entire team out of them?"
 "Yeah, I do. I don't know why, I've just always liked Grass types."
 "An entire team of Grass types... That'd be powerful! But, wouldn't it be weak against Fire and Ice attacks? You wouldn't be able to get the Volcanobadge."
 "Poison, Flying and Bug attacks, too," Matt answered. "I'd have to train really hard to beat them."
 "Yeah," Uiru agreed. They reached the Pokémon Center. "I was thinking. There are 15 types of Pokémon, right?" Matt nodded. "I want to know if it's possible to choose six different Pokémon that are strong against them all. You know, no matter what I'm being attacked with, I'll have a Pokémon that's strong against it."
 "It's possible," Matt replied. "Your Butterfree is strong against Grass, Fighting, Ground and Bug attacks. Your Sandshrew is strong against Electric, Poison and Rock. That's half the types covered right there!"
 Uiru handed his two Poké Balls to the nurse. "Great! I'm gonna create a team that's strong against all 15 types, and become a Pokémon Master!"

 Persimmon City was about a week's walk from Turcott Park. It was a well-traveled path, and there were a couple Pokémon Centers set up along the way to help trainers. Uiru and Matt were two days into it when they had quite an unpleasant surprise.
 "All right Uiru! This is it!"
 "Look who it is. Havn't you had enough humiliation yet?" It was Uiru's old rival, the girl. "I still don't know your name."
 "I'll tell you- after my new Pokémon blows you off the planet! Kabuto, I choose you!"
 "Butterfree, attack!" Uiru responded.
 "First a Mankey and now a Kabuto? Where does this girl get her Pokémon?" Matt mused.
 "Butterfree, Tackle!" Uiru shouted. Butterfree wound up, charged, and bounced right off Kabuto's rocky shell.
 "Kabuto is a Rock type," Matt warned. "Physical attacks aren't going to work on it!"
 "Kabuto, Harden! Scratch attack!" the girl ordered. Kabuto glowed brown and then leapt up in the air and clobbered Butterfree!
 "Butterfree, give it the Confusion!" Uiru shouted. Butterfree blasted Kabuto with psychic waves of energy. It wasn't enough though- Kabuto leapt up and Body Slamed Butterfree!
 "Damn! Butterfree, return! Sandshrew, I choose you!"
 "Absorb attack, Kabuto! Drain Sandshrew's energy!"
 "Sandshrew, Dig underground!"
 Sandshrew dug underground, narrowly missing the blast of Grass type power which would heavily damage it. It came up right under Kabuto, sending it flying. It came down on it's shell, but flipped over and charged again.
 Sandshrew whipped up a Sand Attack to blind it, then dug underground again. By this time, the effects of Butterfree's Confusion attack were starting to sink in. When the girl ordered Kabuto to use Absorb, it hit itself with it! It took quite a bit of damage but instantly recovered it. Then Sandshrew blasted it from underground again.
 "Sandshrew, Poison Sting!" Uiru shouted. "Go for the underside!"
 "Kabuto, Harden!"
 Kabuto, still momentarily Confused, did nothing. Sandshrew pelted it in the gut with it's Poison Sting attack, which poisoned it! But Kabuto countered with Absorb! Sandshrew collapsed!
 "Oh no! Sandshrew, return!" Uiru had lost!
 "YES!! I win!" the girl shouted. "In your face Uiru!"
 "All right, fine, you beat me," Uiru replied. "Don't let it go to your head though! I'll find something that's strong against Kabuto, and then I'll win!"
 "By the time you find something strong against Kabuto I'll have two more Pokémon that can beat whatever you have to throw at me!"
 All this time Matt had stood out of the way, letting the fight go on. "You know, young lady, every Pokémon has a weakness. Kabuto is a Rock type. Rock is weak against Grass. If I were to let Uiru borrow my Bulbasaur, he could still win the match." Matt tossed Uiru the Poké Ball with Bulbasaur in it.
 "He could not!" the girl shouted. "Kabuto is all powerful. Besides, I still have Beedrill and Mankey. They could take down Bulbasaur easily!"
 Uiru tossed Matt the ball. "Thanks, but I want to beat her with my own Pokémon."
 Matt nodded. "You're the type who would never trade a Pokémon, aren't you?"
 "Trade my Pokémon?" Uiru had never thought of that before. "Why would I do that?"
 "To get stronger ones, obviously!" the girl inturrupted. "Now if you'll excuse me, my Kabuto requires medical attention. Train hard, Uiru, because I don't want to beat you that easily again!"
 "Wait a second! Who are you?" Matt asked.
 "My name is Allison, from Charteruse City! I'm going to be a Pokémon Master, and I fully intend to step on Uiru every step of the way!" With that, she left.
 "What an ambitious trainer," Uiru commented. "If all she focuses on is fighting her Pokémon instead of raising them, she'll fail."
 "She's cute though," Matt commented. "I wonder if she's my type?"
 "Yeah, if you like fire and brimstone," Uiru replied. "Let's get moving, I need a Pokémon that can take down Kabuto."
 Matt and Uiru headed for the nearest Pokémon Center, which was pretty close.
 "You know, I've heard some pretty wierd things about Kabuto," Matt stated after they handed over their Pokémon to be cured.
 "Like what?"
 "Well, it's a Rock type Pokémon, but it takes heavy damage from electricity. It also learns Grass type and Water type attacks."
 "Maybe it's a Rock-Water type," Uiru suggested.
 "That's what some people think, but Rock is weak against Water. Shouldn't it destroy itself?"
 "Well normal Rock type Pokémon like Graveler and Onix aren't affected at all by electricity."
 "That's because they're part Ground type. It's the Ground in a Pokémon that gives it the defence against electricity."
 "They've got quite a few Pokémon books here," Uiru observed. "Let's check some of them out."

 As Matt and Uiru collected their Pokémon, an older trainer came into the Center. He went up to the nurse and handed her a single Poké Ball. "Can you take this Pokémon? I don't want it anymore."
 "Why not?" the nurse asked.
 "I've tried everything I could to make the little bugger evolve, and it can't. My other five Pokémon all evolved ages ago, but this one is too weak. I didn't want to abandon it, so I'd like you to find it a good home."
 "Well, I guess so," the nurse answered.
 "Hey, I'll take it!" Uiru spoke up. "I'm just starting, I could use a new Pokémon!"
 "You want it?" the man asked. "I'll battle you for it. What Pokémon do you have already?"
 "Butterfree and Sandshrew," Uiru answered.
 "Never mind then," the man said. "It could never beat a Sandshrew, even if it was thirty levels higher then it. Take it, kid, and take good care of it."
 "Do you have a Pokédex?" the nurse asked them.
 "No. What's a Pokédex?"
  "Nah, I never bothered with one."
 "Oh, it doesn't matter then. If either of you had one, you'd have to trade the Pokémon so your Pokédexes would update. Since you don't, there's no problem."
 "All right, let's see what I got! Pokémon, come out!" Uiru summoned out his new Pokémon- Pikachu!
 "Wow! It's a Pikachu!" Matt gasped. "They're really strong!"
 "It's so cute!" Uiru added.
 "Compared to my other Pokémon, it's weak," the man replied. He knelt near Pikachu. "This kid's your trainer now, okay Pikachu? Try not to shock him too much."
 "Shock me?"
 "Do you know how tempramental Pikachu get? Why do you think my hair's such a mess?" He laughed. "I got a feeling you'll be a great trainer for Pikachu. You might even get it to evolve someday." He headed for the door. "See ya, Pikachu. Good luck, kid." Pikachu waved, then turned to Uiru.
 "You're so cute! Here, meet my other Pokémon." Uiru called out Butterfree and Sandshrew. "Meet my new Pikachu, guys!"
 Butterfree and Sandshrew made friends with Pikachu instantly. While they talked to each other in their own language, Matt came over to look at Pikachu.
 "You know, if that guy's been trying for a long time to make his Pikachu evolve, it's probably at a really high level. It'll be just the thing to take down Kabuto."
 "Great! I wonder when we'll run into Allison again? She is SO dead!" Uiru recalled his three Pokémon. "Come on guys, we got work to do!"

 Uiru and Matt made it to Persimmon City without incident. Sandshrew had learned a new ability called Swift, and was working on perfecting it. Butterfree was learning how to Confuse enemy Pokémon with it's Confusion and Supersonic attacks. Pikachu was working on it's Agility. Matt's Pokémon were doing well too. Bulbasaur had learned Razor Leaf fighting the Pokémon they met on the path. Bellsprout was beginning to learn the Powder attacks. And Paras was mastering the Spore power.
 "What's that special Grass type you wanted to catch?" Uiru asked as they headed into the city.
 "It's a very strange Pokémon that looks like a clump of eggs," Matt answered. "It's got Psychic powers as well as Grass. I think it's called Exeggcute."
 "Exeggcute? That's the wierdest name I've ever heard. Where do we find it?"
 "In the forest west of town," Matt replied. "Let's head out right now, okay?"
 After curing up their Pokémon, Uiru and Matt didn't make it three steps out when they were challenged by a trainer.
 "You guys trainers?" the girl asked. It wasn't Allison, but it was- in Uiru's opinion- someone much cuter.
 "Yeah, we are," Matt replied. "You wanna fight us?"
 "I wanna fight him," she replied, pointing at Uiru.
 "All right, fine. How many Pokémon?" he asked.
 "Two on two works for me," she replied.
 "Okay. I have three, but I can still win with two! Sandshrew, I choose you!"
 "All right, fine! Cubone, go!"
 Sandshrew opened up with a Swift attack. Dozens of tiny stars fired from Sandshrew's body and flew at Cubone. Cubone spun it's bone club, blocking all the stars!
 "What? It can't do that! Swift ALWAYS hits!" Uiru shouted.
 "It did hit, but it didn't hurt," Matt told him. "Try another strategy."
 "Cubone, Bonemerang!"
 "Sandshrew, Dig!"
 Sandshrew dug underground and blasted Cubone from underneath. Unfortunately, the Bonemerang came back and hit Sandshrew right in the back of the head!
 Sandshrew collapsed. It tried to get up but couldn't. "Return! Pikachu, go!"
 "I'll show you my other Pokémon now! Cubone, come back! Machop, go!"
 "It's a good thing she recalled Cubone," Matt announced. "Pikachu can't touch Cubone."
 "It's a Ground type, right?" Uiru asked. Matt nodded. "All right! Pikachu, Thundershock!"
 Machop dodged the electric bolt and hit Pikachu with a Karate Chop! It countered with a Thunder Punch, then gave Machop a supershock.
 "Yeah, that's the way!" Uiru cheered. "Quick Attack!" Machop tried to Chop Pikachu again, but Pikachu whipped around and kicked it first. Machop jumped up and hit Pikachu with it's Low Kick attack!  "Machop, Submission!" the girl ordered. Machop grabbed Pikachu and used a submission hold! It dropped Pikachu to the ground.
 "Oh damn! Pikachu!"
 "One more Karate Chop," the girl declared.
 Machop wound up for a super chop!
 In the blink of an eye, something appeared next to Pikachu, grabbed it and vanished! Then Pikachu appeared next to Uiru. A flash later, and there was something else battling Machop!
 It took a few seconds for the events to register. "Huh? How did Pikachu get over here?" Uiru asked. He picked Pikachu up.
 "HEY! You cheater! It's only two on two!" the girl shouted.
 "I only have three Pokémon, and that one isn't one of them!" Uiru replied.
 "It's an Abra!" Matt announced. "And... it's fighting hand-to-hand with Machop?"
 "Aren't Abra Psychic types?" Uiru asked. "I thought they didn't like to physically fight."
 "This one does," Matt replied. Abra matched Machop at every kick, hit and chop.
 "I beat you," the girl declared. "This Abra just happened to attack me. I'll catch it after Machop weakens it!"
 "You don't actually expect Machop to win, do you?" Matt replied. "Machop is weak against Abra."
 "Besides, I want the Abra!" Uiru added.
 "Everyone be quiet. I'll just try to catch it now! Poké Ball, go!" The girl threw a Poké Ball at Abra. Abra teleported out of the way! It reappeared next to Uiru. Like a small child, Abra grabbed Uiru's pant leg, then looked pointedly at the girl.
 "You want to come with me?" Uiru asked. Abra nodded. "All right! Hop aboard!" Abra willfully entered Uiru's Poké Ball.
 "So Abra happens to like you," the girl announced. "I still won the battle."
 "I know. You're a good trainer," Uiru replied. "What's your name?"
 Before the girl could answer, someone shouted a challenge. "Uiru!"
 "Did you hear that Matt?" Uiru asked. "It sounded like the wind blowing."
 "No, not the wind," Matt answered. "But something with a lot of hot air."
 "YOU shut up!" Allison shouted. She approached Uiru and Matt from the Pokémon Center. "So, you just got whipped, eh? Figures. You're a crap trainer, Uiru!"
 "I did not get whipped! I lost one fight and got an Abra during it. Give me five seconds to cure my Pokémon and I'll kick your head in."
 "You know her?" the girl asked Uiru.
 "Yeah. Of all the people I know, she's the biggest pain in the-"
 "Uiru!" Allison inturrupted. "Let's play a game. Me and her against you two."
 "Between us, we have seven Pokémon," Matt declared. "You two only have five, unless you caught another one."
 "No, not yet," Allison admitted. "But I will, soon."
 "I want to cure my Pokémon first," the girl stated. "Then we'll battle."
 "I need to cure mine too," Uiru added. "You, Matt?"
 "Nah, mine are in good shape," Matt replied.

  A moment later, Uiru and the new girl came out of the Center with fully powered up Pokémon. Always the gentleman, Uiru held the door for the lady.
 "So what are we gonna do about our two-Pokémon advantage?" Matt asked Uiru.
 "Don't worry about that," the girl grinned. "I actually have three Pokémon, and trust me- it'll make up the difference."
 "You sure about that?" Allison asked. The girl nodded.
 "So how are we gonna run this? Tag team? Or two VS two?" Matt asked.
 "Two VS two," the three answered in unison.
 "All right, let's get it on! Butterfree, I choose you!" Uiru began.
 "Bellsprout, I choose you!" Matt declared.
 "Cubone, come out!" the girl shouted.
 "Mankey, go!" Allison announced.
 "I'll take Mankey, you deal with Cubone! Butterfree, Confusion!" Uiru knew that in this first round, he and Matt had a large advantage.
 Butterfree geared up and fired a blast of PSY power at Mankey, damaging it heavily. But Mankey wasn't gonna give up that easily. It charged Butterfree and attacked with Karate Chop, which Butterfree barely dodged.
 Bellsprout got belted by Cubone's Bone Club attack, but retaliated by capturing Cubone with Vine Whip and blasting it with Absorb. Cubone couldn't stand up to the assault and fainted. Bellsprout replenished it's HP from the Absorb attack. "Cubone, return! Machop, I choose you!"
 Although none of the trainers were advanced enough to know this, Bellsprout still had the advantage as Fighting type attacks are ineffective on Poison Pokémon.
 Butterfree blasted Mankey from behind with a powerful Tackle, which finally knocked it unconscious. Only Butterfree's amazing agility kept it from being squashed. "Mankey, return! Kabuto, attack!"
 "Damn, it's that Kabuto thing again! Butterfree, return! Pikachu, I choose you!"
 "Bellsprout, Vine Whip Kabuto!" Matt shouted. Bellsprout attacked Kabuto with the same tactic it used on Cubone- trap it and drain it's HP. However, Kabuto was a lot more powerful then Cubone was. And at that moment, Machop gave Bellsprout a furious thrashing that sent it back to Matt's Poké Ball. Kabuto, still spinning from Bellsprout's pummeling, soon got blasted sky-high by Pikachu's mighty Thunderbolt. But it was still kicking, and retaliated with a viscious Slash attack.
 "Bulbasaur, help Pikachu!" Matt shouted. Bulbasaur appeared and began giving Kabuto a lashing from afar with Vine Whip. Kabuto finally had it. "Return! Beedrill, go!"
 "Machop, Mega Punch!" the new girl ordered. Machop wound up and gave Pikachu a mighty blast, sending it to dreamland before it hit the ground. "Pikachu, return! Abra, go!"
 Again, Abra and Machop began their fighting match. Bulbasaur, on the other hand, had it's hands full dealing with the Bug-Poison Beedrill. Vine Whip and Razor Leaf were apparently ineffective, and it's Twineedle attack was sapping Bulbasaur's strength.
 "I don't think Bulbasaur can win that battle!" Uiru shouted.
 "You're damn right it can't!" Allison shouted. "Beedrill, Pin Missile!"
 "Better switch tactics," Matt decided as Bulbasaur got hit with dozens of tiny spears. "Bulbasaur, return! Paras, I choose you!"
 "You know, I'd love to know where that Abra learned to fight like that," the girl mentioned to Uiru.
 "Yeah, me too. It's good, isn't it?"
 "If I didn't know what it was, I'd swear it was a Fighting type."
 "Well, Abra don't learn any of their Psychic attacks until they evolve, so this one must have learned to battle while it waited to evolve," Uiru speculated. "Even when it does evolve, the combination of incredible fighting and mental ability will make it a force to behold."
 "Will you two shut up and fight?" Allison shouted.
 Uiru and the girl pointed at Abra and Machop. "We're not getting in the middle of that," they both answered at once. Allison sighed. "Beedrill, Agility! Fury Attack!"
 "Paras, Leech Life!"
 Paras got nailed by Beedrill's furious stinging rampage, but healed some of the damage by draining Beedrill's HP with Leech Life. Then, when Beedrill was preparing for it's final charge, Paras unleashed it's secret power- Spore!
 Beedrill got hit with the cloud of sleep spores while it was charging, and instantly fell asleep. It then crashed into the ground. "DAMN!! Return!" Allison was out, but if the girl could beat them she wouldn't lose to Uiru and Matt.
 Abra finally struck Machop with a Seismic Toss attack. The worn-out Pokémon returned to it's Poké Ball.
 "So, what's your secret Pokémon?" Matt asked.
 "I'll give you a hint! My name is Jessica, from Turquoise Lake!"
 "And that should mean what...?" Uiru asked.
 A terrified look crossed Matt's face. "You don't mean... Turquoise Lake? Where all the ghosts are?"
 "You got it!" Jessica laughed. "Gastly, I choose you!"
 "What's that thing?" Uiru asked. "It looks like a cloud with a ball."
 "That THING is a Ghost type Pokémon!" Matt shouted. "It's got NO weaknesses!"
 Uiru looked at him. "No weaknesses?" Abra gave Gastly the same fearless glare it gave all it's opponents, and prepared to attack! Gastly laughed.
 "All right! Go blow him off the planet Jessica!" Allison cheered.
 "Paras, Spore!" Matt shouted. "Put it to sleep, quick!" Paras fired it's cloud of sleep powder at Gastly. It had no effect!
 "Gastly, show Paras how it's done! Hypnosis!" Gastly used it's Psychic power to lull Paras into a deep sleep. Paras was out, and so was Matt.
 Abra charged Gastly and attacked with Double Kick! The attack went straight through Gastly! Abra crashed to the ground.
 "Without Psychic power, Abra can't even touch Gastly," Uiru realized. "Abra, return! Sandshrew- I choose you!"
 This was it. Uiru VS Jessica. Sandshrew VS Gastly.
 "Gastly, Night Shade!" Sandshrew was covered in an eerie black light that exploded and sent it flying! It landed on it's feet and charged, attacking with a powerful Slash attack! Like Abra before it, Sandshrew went through Gastly like there was nothing in it's way. Sandshrew whipped around and charged again.
 "This isn't working! You've got to be able to hit this thing with SOMETHING!" Uiru complained.
 "Physical attacks won't touch a Ghost type, but other kinds of attacks will!" Matt suggested.
 "All right then, Sandshrew! Use Dig attack!"
 Jessica knew what type Dig was, and she also knew how it would affect Gastly's hidden weak point. "Gastly, evade!" she shouted.
 Too late.
 Sandshrew blasted up from the earth, nailing Gastly with a supercharged blast of Ground power. Gastly's second type- Poison- was weak against Ground type maneovers. Gastly started to fade!
 "Oh no... Gastly, return!"
 "All right!" Uiru shouted. "We beat them!"
 "Incredible teamwork!" Matt agreed.
 "Now we need to heal our Pokémon AGAIN," Uiru announced. The four turned to the Pokémon Center, and were greeted by the sight of video cameras.
 "What's all this?" Allison asked.
 "Are they taping us?" Matt asked.
 "Hey, you guys!" Uiru shouted. "What are you doing?"
 "We're from The Pokémon Report," one of the cameramen answered. "We got your entire battle start to finish on tape! With your permission, we'd like to use it on our show this week."
 The four looked at each other. "Sure, I guess," Uiru answered.
 "Great! Bye!" The two cameramen ran off.
 Matt shrugged. "Oh well. It's getting late. We should stay at the Center tonight," Matt suggested.
 Allison nodded. "I won't bother you tonight Uiru, but tomorrow morning I'm leaving. And when I find you again, I'll beat you."
 "Okay, truce for tonight. There's time for war tomorrow." Uiru held the door as they entered. They gave their Pokémon to the nurse and then went to get something to eat.

Chapter Three
 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. "Poliwrath, go!" Poliwrath 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?"

Chapter Four
 Uiru and Jessica told the police about Matt and Allison's abduction. Within moments the police cars were crusing down the road towards Persimmion City. In a little while, things seemed to calm down. Trainers who were awakened by the alarm offered to help, and after a while the police decided to let them.
 "Let us go!" Uiru demanded of the nurse.
 "No way!" The nurse was adamant. "You two have seen enough action for one night."
 "Our friends are in big trouble!" Jessica shouted at her.
 "I understand that, but I can tell your energy is almost gone. As soon as the adreneline wears off you'll both collapse anyway. You'd be putting yourselves and maybe others in danger. Now go to bed, and in the morning, if the police havn't found your friends, you can help. But I think they'll be found soon, the Persimmon Police Force are very good." The nurse looked at the red mark on Jessica's face. "Where did that come from?"
 Uiru used liberal amounts of colorful language to describe Thunders. Jessica just said, "Thunders hit me, and then Uiru hit him. Hard. Repeatedly."
 The nurse laughed. "Chivalry is not dead yet, then?" Uiru shrugged. "Now go to bed, the both of you. That awful mark should be gone by tomorrow." Uiru and Jessica knew it was pointless to resist. They allowed themselves to be marched back to the dorm.
 "You know," Uiru said as soon as the nurse had left, "I think that nurse is used to getting her own way."
 "Yeah," Jessica agreed. "She knows what's best. That's what makes a nurse a good nurse." She yawned. "Ow, that still hurts. And she's right, now I feel totally drained."
 Uiru yawned too. "Good night."
 "Good night."

 Matt awoke to find himself in a room with Thunders, Showers, and Allison. Within seconds of regaining consciousness, he charged Thunders. "Come on, Thunders, make my day!" Thunders simply pulled a revolver and pointed it at Matt. "On second thought... we can make that some other day..." Matt said slowly as he slowly sat down again.
 "Where are we?" Allison asked.
 "Persimmon," Showers answered. "Where exactly, we can't tell you. Somewhere well hidden, obviously."
 "What do you want us for?" Matt asked.
 "We'd like your Pokémon," Thunders started. Matt noticed he was holding his stomach.
 "Something happen to your gut?" Matt asked with sarcastic concern.
 "No," Thunders snapped.
 "You're going to steal our Pokémon? Why did you kidnap us, then?" Allison asked.
 "You're very inquisitive, you know that?" Showers commented.
 "Well, since SOMEBODY isn't enough of a man to fight hand to hand, there isn't much TO do, is there?" Matt glared at Thunders.
 "We don't like having to retrain Pokémon to obey new owners, so we like to get the trainer to help us as well," Showers explained.
 "Help you do what?" Allison asked.
 "Our boss will explain it all to you. He should be here in a few minutes." Thunders and Showers left.
 Allison checked to see if she still had her Pokémon. "Those morons! They didn't take our Pokémon!"
 "There's no sence trying to battle our way out," Matt replied. "There could be an army of trainers in here for all we know."
 "I'll tell you what I'm gonna do," Allison grinned. "Beedrill, come out!"
 "What are you going to do with Beedrill?" Matt asked.
 "Beedrill, punch out that window up there!" Allison ordered. Beedrill flew high up and found the window. With a single poke, the glass shattered. "Now go find Uiru and Jessica!" Allison said. "Tell them where we are!" Beedrill nodded and flew out the window.
 "Pretty good," Matt declared. "I wonder how long it'll take it to find them?"
 "Give it time," Allison replied.
 The conversation was cut short as the door swung open, to reveal the imposing form of Booster. "Allison, Matt. I'm happy to make your aquaintance."
 "Booster, I presume?" Matt asked.
 "Yes, I am Booster," he answered.
 "What do you want with us?" Allison asked again.
 "I'm just getting to that." Booster took out a Poké Ball and called out his Flareon. "In another part of the world, one that you've never heard of, there is a large war going on. My commander is in charge of defending a certain part of that continent. The invaders favor Fire type Pokémon, and my commander's troops don't have anything strong against Fire."
 "And what does this have to do with us?" Matt asked.
 "Simple. We want your help, or at least, your Pokémon."
 Matt laughed. "My three Pokémon are Grass types. They won't be of any help to you."
 "And you're not getting my Kabuto," Allison declared. "I caught it myself with only a Mankey. If you want one, go catch your own."
 "We aren't interested in taking your Kabuto," Booster started. "Myself, Thunders and Showers... We are not heartless trainers. We understand the bond between a Pokémon and it's trainer. We aren't the bad guys here."
 "You kidnapped us," Matt replied. "So don't act innocent."
 "We kidnapped you because we can't risk wasting time. Our people need the help of any trainer they can, right now. The invaders are the evil ones. They use their Pokémon to inflict pain and suffering on our people." Booster's fists clenched. "You two, and your friends, I can see you're all very skilled trainers. There'll be a chopper coming tomorrow at noon to pick up the new recruits. You two will stay here until then. I'll have Showers bring you something to eat in a little while."
 There was silence for a long time. "Hey Allison... Are you okay?" Matt noticed she looked very upset.
 "I wonder... I wonder if they've taken Charteruse yet..."
 "Charteruse, your hometown? What about it?"
 Allison looked straight at him. "Do you even know where Charteruse is?"
 "No, I..." Matt gasped. "Is Charteruse under attack?"
 Allison nodded. "It must be by now. My parents sent me to Turcott Park when they heard the invaders were on their way. I decided then and there that I was gonna be a trainer, so I could go back and fight for my town." She was quiet for a minute, then went on. "I was so mad, I'd attack anything that got in my way, to power up my Pokémon. I actually had Kabuto before I caught that Weedle, I just told Uiru Beedrill was my first. I don't hate him or anything, I just wanted my Pokémon to win so they'd get stronger."
 "I see..." Matt said.
 "Matt, I... I know I'm not ready, but I'm going to fight. Will you... come with me?"
 "Allison... I'll help you."
 Allison smiled at him. Then she laughed.
 "What's so funny?" Matt asked.
 "If Beedrill finds Uiru and Jessica, they're going to flatten this place," Allison answered. "Do you think we should tell Booster?"
 "Yeah," Matt agreed. "They should still be at the Pokémon Center. That nurse would never let them leave before they got some sleep." Matt grinned. "Booster should send that nurse to the front lines. She'd teach those invaders a lesson."
 Allison laughed. "Where's Showers? I'm hungry now."

 Ring ring ring, ring ring ring! Phone call! Phone call!
 The nurse yawned. "Who could be calling this early in the morning?" she asked herself. She picked up the reciever. "Hello, Pokémon Center. How may I help you?"
 "Hello, nurse?" Matt asked. "Is Uiru still there?"
 "Huh...? Oh, it's you, Matt!" Her fatique and irritation at being woken up disappeared. "Where are you, Matt? The city is in a spin!"
 "Don't worry, me and Allison are all right. I really need to speak to Uiru, if he's still there."
 "Hang on, I'll go get him," the nurse replied. A moment later, a groggy Uiru appeared. "Yes?"
 "You look like hell in the morning," Matt cracked.
 "Shut up."
 "Now listen, Uiru. Those guys that kidnapped us, they're on our side! Well, they're on Allison's side, but... It's a long story. Is Jessica still there?"
 "She should be," Uiru yawned.
 "Wake up Uiru, this is important!" Matt shouted. "Get Jessica and come down to this address." An address flashed on the bottom of the screen. "Me and Allison will be there."
 "Okay, I got it," Uiru replied, writing it down. He yawned.
 "By the way, if you see Beedrill, bring it with you, okay?" Matt asked. "We sent Beedrill out to find you, but that was before we got the full story."
 "Yeah, yeah, we're on our way," Uiru muttered. He hung up the phone as Jessica ran back into the Center.
 "Hey Uiru, look! It's Allison's Beedrill! I found it outside."
 Uiru sighed. "At least we don't have to look for it."
 "Pardon?"
 "Get your stuff, I'll explain on the way." Uiru yawned.

 Although the sun was shining, Uiru felt a fair bit of apprehension walking through the clichéd abandoned warehouse district.
 "Where did Matt say to meet us?" Jessica asked.
 "Right here," Uiru answered.
 "You don't think this is a trap, do you?" Jessica asked, looking around. "Uiru! It's Thunders!"
 Uiru spun and faced him, ready for a brawl in an instant. "What are you doing here? Where's Matt?"
 "He's here," Thunders answered. "We're all here. Come out, guys." Booster and Showers appeared, along with Matt and Allison.
 "My name is Booster," he began. "First of all, we apoligize for kidnapping your friends. As you can see, they're all right."
 "Guys, can I talk to Uiru alone?" Matt asked.
 Booster nodded. "We'll be at the Helipad. We've got a few hours before our ride comes." Booster, Showers and Thunders departed.
 "What's going on? What ride?" Uiru asked.
 "Uiru, this is gonna sound wierd, but those guys need our help," Matt replied.
 Matt and Allison told Uiru and Jessica all about what was happening.
 "So Charteruse might be under attack," Uiru stated after the lengthy explanation was over.
 "Yeah," Allison answered. "Can you help us Uiru? You'd be such a great help."
 "I... I guess so," Uiru decided. "Oh, that's right. We got you something Matt." He tossed him a Poké Ball. "We found an Exeggcute on the way, and I decided to catch it for you."
 "Hey, thanks!" Matt replied.
 "You owe me a Poké Ball."
 Matt grinned and tossed him one of his empty Poké Balls.
 "Will you come too Jessica?" Uiru asked.
 "All right," she agreed. "This could be looked at as a great Pokémon learning experience."
 "There's sure to be new Pokémon where we're going," Uiru added.
 "That's right! I never thought of that," Allison realized.
 "Let's go to the Helipad, guys," Matt suggested. "We're leaving in a few hours and we might be able to get some more information out of Booster."

 There were a few more trainers gathered at the Helipad when they arrived. Patrick was a Bug trainer, Nick was a Water trainer and Curtis was a Rock trainer.
 Uiru and company introduced themselves. It wasn't long before a seven-way Pokémon battle erupted. Uiru's Abra was doing great until Geodude attacked it. Then Geodude got beaten in by Cubone, who in turn fell to Tentacool. Pikachu took down Tentacool and was put to sleep by Paras, who was beaten by Machop.
 Booster, Showers and Thunders appeared on the scene. "Good, good!" Booster cheered. "You've all got such talent."
 "How about you take on our Pokémon?" Showers suggested. "Each of you pick one Pokémon to battle with. Vaporeon, go!"
 "Flareon, go!"
 "Jolteon, go!"
 "Sandshrew, I choose you!"
  "Bulbasaur, go!"
 "Mankey, attack!"
 "Time for battle, Gastly!"
 "Go, Venonat!"
 "I choose you, Psyduck!"
 "Go, Omanyte!"
 Much to the despair of the seven young trainers, the three Eons creamed them. They were much stronger then they were, and had more powerful attacks. Flareon took out Venonat and Bulbasaur with Flame Thrower, then Vaporeon attacked with Hydro Pump, which heavily damaged Sandshrew. Then Jolteon struck with Thunder, wounding Omanyte and Psyduck. Mankey and Gastly couldn't take any more after the triple elemental blast.
 Booster roared with laughter. "That's the real way to win!" he announced. "Teaming up Pokémon's abilities! Works every time!"
 "You cheap @%!$," Matt cursed. "And now our Pokémon are weakened."
 "We'll be stopping in Turquoise Lake first," Showers announced.
 "That's where I'm from!" Jessica exclaimed. "I havn't been home in a while..."
 "You'll have a little while to look around," Showers told her. "When we get there, we'll be boarding a ship that will take us to the battle."
 "There'll be a ton of trainers there," Thunders added. "After healing your Pokémon in Turquoise Lake, try not to get in any duels that will weaken your Pokémon. There won't be a chance to heal them when we enter enemy territory."
 "Our first target will be Charteruse City," Booster declared. "We'll be attacking in units. You seven, and us three, will be Fire Strike unit, under my leadership. Our first job will be to clean out the Flame Force from Charteruse City, and defend it from further attack."
 Showers pointed. "The chopper!"
 "All right, everyone! I hope you all used the can because it's a few hours to Turquoise." They waited until the chopper landed, then they all filed in. Before Uiru boarded the helicopter, he turned to Thunders.
 "For now, we're allies," he stated. "But you lay a hand on her or any of my friends again, and I don't care if we're in the pits of hell- I'll beat you to a bloody pulp."
 "Hey, I'm sorry about that," Thunders apoligized. "I won't do it again."
 "You didn't hit me," Uiru replied curtly.
 Thunders laughed. "You're right. You're an honorable kid, you know that?" He went to apoligise to Jessica.

Chapter Five
 Due to the noise in the chopper, there wasn't much chance for conversation. Uiru got Matt's attention and pointed. They were flying over Turcott Park.
 A few hours later, they landed in Turquoise Lake, the city renowned for it's Water, Electric and Ghost type Pokémon.
 "All right everyone, listen up. The ship's gonna be here in an hour, so don't go anywhere," Booster announced. Showers came up to him and whispered something in his ear. "What? Damn! I knew that idiot would screw up somehow." He turned to the trainers. "All right, never mind. The ship's busted, it won't be here until tomorrow evening. Be back here tomorrow afternoon, got it?" The trainers nodded.
 "I havn't caught a new Pokémon in a while," Uiru said to himself. "Besides Exeggcute, but that wasn't for me."
 "Let's go look for some new ones," Jessica suggested.
 "I'll come too," Allison decided. "Matt?"
 Matt was busy chatting with Patrick and Curtis. "He just got a new Pokémon, he won't want a new one for a while," Uiru said. "Besides, there's no Grass types around here, and that's all he's interested in."
 "Okay," Allison decided. "Where should we go, Jessica?"
 "Yeah, where are some good Pokémon?" Uiru added.
 "The Sea Caves are the best spot," Jessica told them. "It's got a few types of Water Pokémon, as well as a few Magnemites."
 "I already have an Electric Pokémon," Uiru said to himself. "But I could use a Water one."
 "I already have a Water type," Allison said. "I'll look for a Magnemite."
 "I'll get a Water type too, it'll help in the battle," Jessica decided.

 When they reached the Sea Caves, they were presented with a comical scene. A Magnemite was bullying a Staryu and a Squirtle. The two Water Pokémon tried to battle it but the water washed right off Magnemite's shell.
 "Aww, aren't they all so cute? Kabuto, I choose you!" Allison summoned her Kabuto.
 "Kabuto is weak against electricity," Uiru warned. "Why are you using it?"
 "Because I happen to know a few things about Electric Pokémon. One is that Magnemite does not learn any Electric attacks until it's almost ready to evolve. Kabuto, Scratch attack!"
 Magnemite tried to dodge it but Kabuto got it with it's claws. Magnemite then attempted to Tackle it, to no avail.
 The Squirtle and the Staryu tried to run, but Uiru and Jessica stopped them. "Hold up for just a second," Uiru declared. "Pikachu, go! Thundershock!"
 Pikachu blasted the two Water types with a jolt of electricity. "Now we capture them! Poké Ball, go!" Uiru caught Squirtle! Jessica caught Staryu!
 Meanwhile, Kabuto had sufficiently weakened Magnemite. Allison threw a Poké Ball, and caught it!
 "We're done! Let's go back to the others," Jessica decided. "And heal our new Pokémon."

 "Water types? Good plan!" Booster said when they told him what they were up to. "Your Sandshrew and Cubone are strong against Fire too."
 Booster had gotten them some lodgings at a nearby hotel, and the trainers were gathered in the lounge.
 "Hey, Booster," Patrick shouted. "What are me and Matt gonna do? All our Pokémon are weak against Fire."
 "I've been thinking of that," Booster said. "The Flame Force isn't stupid, they know someone might show up with a ton of Ground type Pokémon."
 "What about Water?" Nick asked.
 "There aren't any Water type Pokémon where we're going, so they don't consider them a concern. However, there are a lot of Ground and Rock types. So, they're bound to have a few units with Water types that they imported from other parts of the world in their ranks. And your Grass and Bug types are just the thing to deal with them."
 "Good plan!" Thunders piped up.
 "So battle your Pokémon conservatively until they appear, then go for them," Booster suggested.
 By now it was evening. Jessica stepped outside to get some air. Uiru took a deep breath, smoothed down his hair and followed her.
 "You know, I'm starting to get tired of all this talk about battles and fighting," Uiru said.
 "Yeah, me too," she agreed. "How did we get involved in this anyway?"
 "We're helping Allison," Uiru replied. Jessica nodded. "You hungry?" he asked.
 "Kinda," she answered. "We never did get any dinner, did we?"
 "Let's go get something to eat."
 Jessica grinned. "Uiru... Are you asking me out?"
 "Depends. Do I have to pay for it?"
 "Yes."
 "Oh, forget it then."
 She knew he was joking. "Come on," she said, taking his hand. "I know where we can go."
 From the window, Matt laughed.
 "What's so funny?" Nick asked.
 "Isn't that sweet. Uiru's taking Jessica out," Matt replied.
 "You mean that little cutie? Damn," Curtis swore. "I was gonna ask her out later on. What's the other's name? Allison?"
 "You stay away from her," Matt fake-warned. "Or my Grass Pokémon'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget."
 "Okay, I hear you," Curtis laughed.
 "I'm sure they've got girls wherever the hell it is we're going," Patrick spoke up.
 "Yeah, but we'll be too busy fighting," Nick replied.
 "You never know. We might boot the Flame Force out of Charteruse really quick," Curtis stated.
 Showers and Allison came into the room. "All right people, hit the sack. Tomorrow's a big day," Showers announced.
 "Where's Uiru and Jessica?" Allison asked.
 "Out," Matt answered.
 "Where?"
 "OUT."
  "Oh..."

 An hour and a half later... Uiru and Jessica were heading back to the hotel.
 "Don't you want to visit your family?" Uiru suddenly asked.
 "Pardon?"
 "This is your hometown, isn't it?" Uiru asked. "Don't you want to see your family before we leave?"
 Jessica looked down. "No... Not really..."
 "Oh... I'm sorry, should I not have asked that?"
 "No, it's all right."
 They walked along in silence for a while.
 "I hate them," Jessica suddenly blurted.
 "Hate who?"
 "My... family..." she answered. "I hate them."
 "...May I ask why?"
 "Sure, go ahead."
 Uiru grinned. "Okay. Why?"
 "Because. My idiot parents are the types who think that little girls should wear dresses and have long hair and cook and clean and above all, stay as far away from Pokémon as they can."
 "Why do I get the feeling you would have none of that?"
 "I hate dresses, my hair's staying the way it is and I can't cook toast. And I'm going to keep training for as long as I like." She grinned. "You should have seen them freak out when they found out I had spent all my money on my Gastly."
 "You bought it?"
 "You didn't think I caught it, did you?" she asked. "No, some salesman was selling Pokémon and I said I wanted something cool. He said 'I normally don't sell these, but for p500 you can have this Ghost Pokémon I found a while ago'. I said 'Gimme' and I got my Gastly."
 "How long ago was that?"
 "About a year. When my parents found it, they tried to make me get rid of it, but I told Gastly to vanish and not reappear until they left me alone. They gave up after that."
 "Ah."
 "Then one day, they had company over. They had a boy a few years younger then me. He had a Charmander. I brought him out back and challenged him to a match. He lost. Big time. He ran to his mommy crying 'Mommy, mommy, that girl's nasty Ghost Pokémon hurt my Charmander'. I didn't even do that much to it. Gastly only Licked it and used Night Shade. It must have been a lot weaker then I thought."
 Uiru nodded. "Night Shade does damage equal to the user's EXP level," Uiru said. "If Gastly was at a much higher level then that Charmander, one Night Shade would probably finish it."
 "It finished it all right," Jessica replied. "Anyway, my parents' friends were upset, so my parents are like 'Jessica, we thought we told you to get rid of that awful Pokémon' and I said 'Yeah, and I thought I said no' and then they completely flipped out and went off like 'Get it out of our house this instant!' and I said 'Fine! I'll take it out, and go with it!' and left."
 "Did they ask you to come back?"
 "They ordered me a few times, but I ignored them."
 "And you don't miss them at all?"
 "Nope. All they did was crab at how 'unladylike' I was. It was miserable. Training Gastly was the only fun I had, and they tried really hard to stop that. I've been having a blast with you and Allison and Matt though."
 "That's good. You sound like you deserve a good time."
 "Well... I've been having a good time tonight." She took his hand. He turned red. She smiled, and blushed slightly as well.
 "I'm having fun too," Uiru answered.
 "Good. Oh damn, we're almost at the hotel. I'm not done talking yet."
 "We can walk around the block."
 "This is a big city. It'll take us half an hour to get around the block."
 "Fine with me."
 "Me too." She smiled again. "So I took off towards Persimmon. I passed through Turcott Park, but only stayed long enough to heal my Gastly. I looked in a cave and found a Cubone there, so I caught it. And when I reached Persimmon, I found a Machop that someone had abandoned. I caught it, took it to the Center and cured it. I hung around Persimmon for a while, learning more about Pokémon and training my three. Then I decided to go to Cobalton, and I ran into a young trainer and his buddy, whom I soundly trounced." She laughed. "And then an Abra showed up and saved that young trainer's Pikachu, and when I tried to catch it, that trainer took it instead."
 "Oh, you mean ME," Uiru laughed.
 "Yes, you," Jessica replied.
 "Ah. Just checking," he grinned. "Some guy gave me that Pikachu. He couldn't get it to evolve, so when he tried to leave it at the Pokémon Center I offered to take it. I found a Caterpie and in one day it turned into a Metapod and then a Butterfree. It's a real fighter. And after it evolved- by beating Pincir, which I told you about already- I found a Sandshrew."
 "Ah." They walked in silence for a few minutes. "Uiru..."
 "Yes?"
 "What happens... What happens if something happens to us at this battle? I think it's a lot more serious then any of us realize."
 "Hmm, I think you're right," Uiru stated.
 "I mean, Fire Pokémon are dangerous, and if their trainers are as bad as Booster's been saying... None of us even has a full compliment of Pokémon yet, and we're going to fight in a war?"
 "Don't worry... We won't be alone. We're in Fire Strike unit, right? Booster says there'll be at least two dozen units like ours working to take back Charteruse City. And he said we won't even be on point, we'll be helping defend territory taken by other, more powerful units."
 "Oh... That's a little different, but it'll still be really dangerous," Jessica replied.
 "Booster's got this all planned out. When units land, their choppers are going to stay, and if the unit gets in trouble they can hop in and leave. The Flame Force has no air offence or defence. Then the chopper flies to the small base they've already got set up, the Pokémon are cured and trainers who can still fight are back in action in 15 minutes."
 "Well, I'm still a bit edgy. It IS a war, after all."
 "It is, but don't worry. Remember, we've got the mighty Fighting Abra to protect us." They laughed. "Oh, we're back again. I think we should head in now," Uiru said.
 "Yeah," Jessica agreed. "We must do this again."
 "Yes, we must."

Chapter Six
 By noon, the Fire Strike unit was assembled at the docks. Other trainers were beginning to drift in. In a couple of hours, there were easily three hundred trainers assembled. Higher-ranking officials started handing out supplements.
 "What are these?" Matt asked.
 "Feed them to your Pokémon," the officer replied. "They'll increase their power slightly. A small but crucial edge."
 "How many do you have?" an officer asked Uiru.
 "Five," he answered.
 "All right, here you are." He gave him 20 suppliments. "One of each color for each."
 Jessica tapped Uiru on the shoulder. "How do you feed a Staryu?"
 Allison looked at her 16 suppliments. "Are these things safe?"
 "Yeah, they've been tested by the Pokémon Health Board for years," the officer replied.
 "Hey, that's my Krabby," Nick complained.
 "Sorry," the trainer apoligized. "It looks like my Krabby."
 "That's okay."
 A megaphone boomed. "All right everyone, your ship's about to come in." It was the voice of Booster. "In an hour or so, we'll be departing to Charteruse City. When you get on the ship, stay with your Unit Leader. Some of you will be attacking Charteruse, some of you will have other duties. Your Unit Leader will explain your exact mission to you, if they havn't already. Now remember, we're going to be assaulted with mostly Fire type Pokémon, so if you've got more then six choose your team wisely. If your Pokémon are weak against Fire, it would probably be best to stay out of the way until something of another element comes along. We are expecting a few Water type Pokémon, but not many. And most importantly, THIS IS WAR. Your Pokémon fight until they faint. Don't be afraid to get physical with other trainers, if nessessary. And listen to your Unit Leader." Booster paused to take a swig of water, then continued. "You've all been chosen to fight in this war because you're talented trainers. We're expecting the best out there. Are we gonna get it?!"
 There was a resounding 'YEAH' from the assembled trainers.
 "You ready to blast the Flame Force off the planet?!"
 Another resounding 'YEAH', even louder then before.
 "Are your Pokémon going to kick ass until they evolve, then kick more ass?!"
 A third 'YEAH' rocked the docks.
 "Are you going to give me all your money?!"
 The crowd got out half a 'YEAH' before they realized what he had said. They booed.
 Booster cracked up laughing. "All right, fine, be cheap. Give 'em hell like I know you can!"
 The trainers cheered.

 The boat was no luxury liner. Thunders came on the PA system and told everyone to get something to eat and to go to sleep.
 "I... don't... feel... well..." Matt groaned.
 "Seasick?" Uiru asked.
 "Shut up..."
 Uiru laughed. "I don't get seasick unless I eat something."
 "I don't get seasick at all," Allison piped up.
 "Hey guys, Booster wants to talk to us," Nick announced. "Follow me." They followed him to where the rest of Fire Strike was assembled.
 "All right, guys, this is it," Booster announced. "Our orders have been finalized. Our first target will be the Pokémon Center in Charteruse. Two other units will defend us while we take back the Center. We're going to fly in on heli and land right on the Center. After we take the Pokémon Center our job will be to guard it until further notice. If the Flame Force can't get at the Center, they'll be at one hell of a disadvantage. Other units will be taking the Poké Marts."
 "Get some rest now," Showers suggested. "We'll be arriving at the base in a few hours."
 "And make sure you use the john first!" Thunders added.

 The chopper flew high over the land. The seven young trainers saw what should have been grassland- plains of burned devistation. Nothing moved. Everything was red or black.
 "What's happened here?" Nick shouted after a painful silence.
 "The Flame Force," Booster replied. "Unbelieveable, isn't it?"
 "The destruction of nature is only part of it," Showers announced. "Hundreds of people and Pokémon were killed in the battles."
 "Killed?!" Matt was starting to have second thoughts about this.
 "The Flame Force is vicious. We have to be equally aggressive," Thunders declared.
 "Hey, look over there!" Uiru pointed at Charteruse. A row of Blastoise's fired their hydro cannons at the Chateruse guards and their Fire Pokémon.
 "Well, now they know we're coming," Showers said. "Hopefully the main force will be out to meet those Blastoise's so the rest of us can get in."
 "Remember- they fight until they faint," Booster stressed again. "If your Pokémon gets hurt, switch it. When we retake the Center, we'll heal them. Got it?"
 "Got it!" they shouted.

 Three helicopters landed on the Pokémon Center grounds- one on top of the Center itself. The Fire Pokémon that ran out to meet them were assailed by numerous Water Pokémon attacks. Fire Strike unit entered the Pokémon Center.
 Booster looked around. There were two ways to go in the Center. "All right, split up into two groups. Uiru, Nick, Matt and Jessica with me!"
 "Good luck!" Allison shouted.
 There were a few Flame Force guards in the Center, but they were easily defeated. "What do we do with them?" Nick asked.
 "Tie 'em up!" Booster shouted. "We don't need them running around getting in our way." Bulbasaur restrained the guards while Booster tied them up.
 "We'll put them all in one place later," Booster decided. "For now, we've got to take out the rest them."
 "More coming this way!" Nick shouted. "Psyduck, Krabby, go!"
 "Staryu, attack!"
 "Squirtle, go!"
 The enemies threw Poké Ball after Poké Ball at them, but they couldn't get through the Water defence. They knew they couldn't win.
 "Let's get out of here!" one of the guards shouted. They tried to run, but Staryu hovered after them and clonked them in the head. Then Bulbasaur caught them with it's Vine Whips.
 On the other side...
 "Paras, attack!" Patrick summoned his Bug-Grass type, Paras, to battle the Water Pokémon they were being assailed by.
 "Jolteon, go!" Thunders ordered.
 "I choose you, Magnemite!"
 Paras sent a cloud of Stun Spore over the enemy party, which affected some of the Pokémon but most of the trainers. Jolteon sent a huge bolt of Thunder through Magnemite, who rerouted the energy into a Thunder Spray, hitting all the enemies and some of the trainers. Those who weren't Paralyzed before, were now.
 "Great shot Magnemite!" Allison congradulated. They quickly tied them up and put them out of the way. They charged down the hall. Allison heard something coming from a side room. She looked in.
 "Look at this weak thing," a Flame Force soldier sneered. "I heard it lost to a Grass type."
 "A Grass type? This Growlithe must really suck if a Grass type beat it." He kicked it. It whelped and growled at him. "Ha! Look at it. Have you ever seen such a wussy Pokémon?"
 "Hey, leave it alone!" Allison shouted. "Kabuto, I choose you! Slash attack!" Kabuto blasted the soldiers with it's Slash. They ran, bleeding from multiple slash wounds. "You poor thing, are you okay?" Allison asked. The Growlithe whimpered. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. Come with me and I'll get you all cured up, after I finish kicking these soldier's heads in." Growlithe nodded and barked. "Great! Come on then!" Growlithe jumped into her Poké Ball.
 "Hey, Allison? What's going on in here? We just caught two soliders who said they got ripped apart by a rock with claws." Showers entered the room.
 "They were being mean to a Growlithe," Allison answered. "I scared them away and now Growlithe is mine!"
 "Great! Come on then," Showers said. "We've got to finish cleaning out this place."

 It wasn't long before the Pokémon Center was theirs. Uiru decided to give Squirtle a break and started using Sandshrew to beat the Fire trainers.
 "Booster!" It was one of the defending Unit Leaders. "They're starting to overwhelm us. We need some help while we cure our Pokémon!"
 "All right. Showers, Uiru, Nick, Jessica. Go out and back them up!"
 "Right!" they replied.
 They ran outside. Vaporeon fired it's Hydro Pump at the invaders, while Krabby fired Bubbles that bounced over the defenders and struck the Flame Force. Staryu flew over them spraying Water Guns from each of it's points. It looked like a flying lawn sprinkler. Some of the guards who needed help ran into the Pokémon Center to heal up and rejoined the battle moments later.
 Uiru suddenly noticed a peculier sight. A Charmeleon was battling with three Sandshrew, and unfortunately, the Charmeleon was winning. Uiru's Sandshrew suddenly noticed this, and attacked!
 Charmeleon got belted right upside the head by Sandshrew. It went flying, but was back up in an instant. Sandshrew rallied the other three back into fighting shape, and they charged!
 Charmeleon launched a Flame Thrower attack at the four Sandshrew. Uiru's Sandshrew pushed two out of the way. These two attacked from the sides while the two hit by the fire recovered.
 "Sandshrew, use your Dig attack!" Uiru shouted. In unison, the four Sandshrew drilled into the earth. A moment later, they charged the Charmeleon from all sides. It fell!
 "Good shot Sandshrew!" Uiru cheered. "You're all doing great!"
 Charmeleon wasn't beat yet though. Glowering at the four Sandshrew, it began to glow!
 "Uh oh..." Uiru muttered. Charmeleon evolved into Charizard! "Oh crap!"
 Charizard launched another, much more powerful Flame Thrower at the Sandshrew brigade. Three of them collapsed. Uiru's Sandshrew was getting very angry at this point. It began to glow!
 Uiru gasped. "Sandshrew... is evolving!"
 Sandshrew evolved into Sandslash! Sandshrew was unusually large for a Pokémon, but Sandslash was gigantic. It was four and a half feet tall, had big spikes on it's back and it's claws were huge. When the other Sandshrew saw Sandslash, they were inspired to keep fighting. Again, they struggled to their feet.
 "Sandslash, Sandshrew!" Uiru shouted. "Use the Rock Slide!"
 The three Sandshrew stood around Sandslash and combined their power. Around them, chunks of solid concrete exploded. Trainers and Pokémon on both sides moved away and watched the show. Charizard flew up and circled around, preparing to dive at Sandslash. Some huge blocks of stone floated up into the air, then suddenly flew straight at Charizard!
 Charizard was blasted by the huge blocks of rock. It fell to the ground, totally unconscious.
 A quick moment of silence fell. "That's MY Sandslash!" Uiru shouted. "Who's next?!"
 The defenders cheered, and attacked anew with their Water and Ground type Pokémon. Some of the attackers ran.
 Three trainers went up to Uiru. "So, this is where our Sandshrew went!" they said. "Your Sandslash is amazing!"
 "Thanks!" Uiru shouted. "Your Sandshrew are real fighters, give them a Potion and they'll be ready to rumble!"
 "Can you teach our Sandshrew how to use Rock Slide?" a trainer asked. He picked up his Sandshrew.
 "They already know," Uiru replied. "My Sandslash's Rock Slide wouldn't have been as powerful if your Sandshrews weren't helping it." Sandslash came up to Uiru. "Hey, Sandslash! Congradulations!" Uiru hugged it- carefully.
 The other trainers congradulated Sandslash too. Their Sandshrews were ripping to get back to the battle, but their trainers took them inside to heal them first. Uiru decided to heal Sandslash too.
 "Hey, Booster! Check out what I got!" Uiru shouted.
 "Wow! So your Sandshrew evolved, huh?" Booster patted it on the head. "It looks really strong!"
 "It is! It and a few Sandshrew just took down a Charizard!"
 Jessica burst into the Center. "Uiru, help!" she shouted. "Machop's in big trouble! I can't recall it!"
 They ran out to the scene. A Magmar was holding Machop's arms while another pummeled it. "Staryu's watering the Pokémon over there and Cubone fainted. Help it!"
 "Sandslash, attack!" Uiru shouted. Sandslash bashed first the Magmar that was punching Machop and then the one holding it. Machop ran to Jessica. She picked it up. "Don't worry, it's okay," she said.
 Sandslash blasted one of the Magmar into oblivion. It fainted! The other, however, wouldn't fall so easily. It attacked with the ghostly power of Confuse Ray!
 It struck Sandslash! Although it did no damage, Sandslash was now totally confused!
 "In that state, it might hurt itself or someone on our side," Uiru moaned.
 The Magmar flew at Sandslash with a Fire Punch. It retaliated with a Slash, but missed.
 "Uiru, in that state, Sandslash wouldn't know if it's standing on it's head or not," Jessica warned. "It can't battle anymore until you cure it!"
 Machop was getting mad. When Magmar hit Sandslash with another Fire Punch, it jumped out of Jessica's arms and flew at it with a Jump Kick!
 "Machop, come back, you're injured!" Jessica shouted. "Oh, where's that damn Poké Ball?" She started searching her pockets for it.
 Meanwhile, Machop was giving Magmar a severe thrashing. Now that the other Magmar was unconscious, Machop had no problem beating it into a coma.
 Sandslash shook off it's confusion, then looked around for the Magmar. At the sight of Sandslash looking around for it's rival, Uiru laughed. "Machop took care of it, Sandslash," Uiru told it. "You better go cure your Pokémon."
 "I know. Thanks a lot!" Jessica took her Machop and Cubone in to get cured.

Chapter Seven
 "How goes the battle?" Booster asked his superiors.
 "We're doing fine," his commanding officer replied. "I heard about the Sandslash scaring half the troops away from the Pokémon Center."
 "Yeah, I found that kid myself."
 "We've totally barricaded the three Poké Marts from the Flame Force. A lot of them have either ran or have been captured."
 "By the way, sir, what do we do with the prisoners?" Booster had an impressive pileup in the Pokémon Center.
 "Release their Pokémon," Booster's CO answered. "Preferably into the woods. Then hold the trainers until we come to arrest them. Oh, hold on a second." Someone had to tell the CO something. "All right, there's a chopper with wounded trainers coming your way. Don't have that Sandslash knock it down or anything." The two laughed. "When you get the trainers off it, load the prisoners onto it. We'll deal with them."
 "Should we remove their Pokémon?" Booster asked.
 "No, we'll handle that."
 "Yes sir." The conversation was over.

 "Incoming chopper!" Curtis shouted.
 "Leave it! They're on our side!" Showers replied. By this time, the Flame Force had been beaten off the Pokémon Center grounds entirely. When the helicopter landed, the trainers helped the wounded into the Pokémon Center, then marched the prisoners out into it.
 "You'll have to come back for the rest," Thunders told the helicopter pilot.
 He nodded. "I'll be back with another load."
 "Okay." Thunders sent him on his way.
 Allison and Uiru were on the roof, looking over the city. "How're you holding up?" Uiru asked.
 "I'm fine," Allison replied. "We're winning, aren't we?"
 "We sure are," Uiru answered. "The Flame Force never saw it coming."
 Allison pointed at the helicopter. "What's that pilot doing?" she asked.
 "Huh...?" The chopper was changing direction! That meant only one thing. "Hey Thunders!" Uiru shouted down to him. "The captured trainers have taken over the helicopter!"
 "What? Damn! I better tell Booster!" He ran inside.
 "Butterfree, go!" Uiru shouted.
 "Beedrill, I choose you!" Allison added.
 "Hey Staryu, come here!" Uiru shouted. It floated over to him. "You three go up and help that helicopter pilot, okay?" They nodded and flew up.
 Butterfree assailed the entire thing with it's Confusion attack. Beedrill blasted open the door and Staryu floated up to the pilot. While the prisoners were confused, he jumped out onto Staryu. It effortlessly floated out of the way while Beedrill fired it's Pin Missile into the chopper. Butterfree combined it's Stun Spore and it's Whirlwind moves to blow the paralyzing powder over the prisoners. Then Staryu returned the pilot and he resumed course.
 "Yeah!" Allison shouted. "Look! Butterfree, Beedrill and Staryu are escorting the heli the rest of the way!"
 Booster ran out into the plaza. "Okay, what's going on?!" he shouted.
 "Don't worry!" Uiru shouted. "We took care of it!"
 Booster shook his head and laughed. "You kids are something else, you know that?"

 Later that night...
 "We got a call from the Flame Force," Booster's CO informed him. "They said, and I quote, 'You can have Charteruse, but we'll be back to wipe you off the map.'"
 "Idle threats," Booster replied. "What's our next move?"
 "Some new rebel faction called the Rock Brigade are on their way to a town not far from Charteruse," the CO replied. "I want Fire Strike over there to defend it tomorrow evening."
 "Just Fire Strike unit?" Booster asked.
 "The Rock Brigade is a lot smaller then the Flame Force. But, take a few other units with you. Not many, though. We need to defend Charteruse."
 "I'll take five."
 "Yes, five should do."
 "How are we doing elsewhere?" Booster inquired.
 The general sighed. "We're doing all right. The Flame Force is being really stubborn but we're starting to regain control. They assaulted our base twice this week and we beat them back, but they're getting stronger all the time. And the Rock Brigade is really being annoying."
 "I'll take my squad over to Sapphire City right now," Booster declared. "We might get there before the Rock Brigade does."
 "You do that Booster. Good luck."

 Patrick yawned. "Can't wait to hit the sack," he said to himself. The young members of Fire Strike were hanging around the Pokémon Center. Allison and Jessica were admiring Allison's new Growlithe.
 "No time for that," Booster announced. "We're on the move again."
 "What? Why?" Nick asked.
 "Sapphire City is about to be invaded," Booster replied. "Fire Strike and a few other units are going to defend it."
 "By Flame Force?" Matt asked.
 "No, by a new legion called the Rock Brigade."
 "Great! My Grass types are strong on Rock types."
 "Good. Now come on! We're leaving in fifteen minutes."
 "What? We just finished one battle and we're going to fight another?" Curtis complained.
 "We're going to prevent another," Booster replied. "It's a few hours by heli so you can sleep on the way. Heal your Pokémon and come straight to the pad."
 "But-" they protested.
 "That's an order!" he shouted. "Showers! Thunders! Where the hell did you go to?" He stomped down the hall, searching for his subordinates.
 "Ah, damn," Matt complained. "At least my Grass Pokémon can fight this time."

 Fifteen minutes later- Booster made sure it was fifteen minutes later- the helicopters took off.
 "Get to sleep, if you can sleep with all this noise," Booster shouted. "We'll be there in a few hours."
 Uiru, Matt, Allison and Jessica were crunched together in the back. "Why can't they make these things a little bigger?" Jessica muttered.
 "Pardon?" Uiru asked.
 "I said, why can't they make these things bigger?"
 "They should work on making them quieter!" Uiru looked at Matt and Allison. They were asleep. "How the hell can they sleep? This thing is loud enough to wake the dead!"
 "It's an old chopper," Booster shouted from the front.
 "We're going to have the entire city up, you know that, right?" Uiru shouted.
 Matt hit him. "You've got ME up," he muttered. "Now shut up."
 Uiru plugged his ears and lay back. Might as well enjoy the ride, even if it deafens me.

 Eventually, the whirring of the rotor blades lulled them to sleep. When they landed, Booster woke them up and dragged them out of the 'copter.
 "Okay, it's a few hours 'til dawn," Booster said.
 "It's FREEZING here!" Allison complained.
 "Can we go inside?" Patrick asked.
 "It is a bit chilly," Booster admitted. "Okay, go to the Pokémon Center and go to sleep. But be ready to fight at any moment, got it?"
 "Yeah, yeah, we got it," Curtis replied. "Center's this way guys."
 On the roof of a nearby house, a local Pokémon trainer watched the proceedings. "Fight? What fight?"

 "Isn't it a bit late for you trainers to be out?" the nurse at the Center asked them.
 "It's a long story," Uiru complained. "We just got into town, and we're freezing."
 "Right this way." The nurse took them to the dorms.
 They all climbed into the bunks. Most of them fell asleep right away.
 "Would it kill them to put the heat up a little?" Nick complained.
 "They must be used to these low temperatures," Allison replied. "Go to sleep, you won't notice the cold then."
 Uiru lay awake for a little while. It wasn't the cold that was bothering him, it was the fact that they had another fight in a few hours. Rock types... I've heard Psychic powers work well on them, so Butterfree would be a good idea... Squirtle and Sandslash... Pikachu would be no good... Abra, no, probably not... He lay there planning his strategy for the coming battle for a while- that is, until someone slid into bed next to him.
 "I'm frozen," was Jessica's explanation. "You don't mind, do you?"
 Mind?!

 "Matt! Matt!" Nick whispered. "Matt! Wake up! You have to see this!"
 "What is it...?" Matt moaned. He sat up. "This better be good."
 Nick pointed. "Check THAT out."
 Matt rubbed his eyes and looked again. "Wow. Quiet, aren't they?"
 "You think?" Nick asked.
 "No!" Matt snapped. "I was being sarcastic."
 "What's the noise for," Allison moaned as she woke up.
 "Look under you," Nick said.
 Allison looked. "So?" she asked. "Jessica probably just got cold."
 Uiru opened an eye and saw Allison, Matt and Nick looking back at him. "What...?" he asked.
 "Never mind, Uiru," Matt said. "Go back to sleep."

 Booster charged into the dorms like a train. "All right, Fire Strike. UP."
 It was midday. Most of the trainers were awake. Booster went over to a few who weren't, and tapped them on the shoulder.
 "What...?" Uiru complained. He opened his eyes... and looked right into Booster's disapproving frown. He woke up pretty quick. "Oh damn! I bet this looks a lot worse then it is..."
 "What the hell are you doing Uiru?" Booster asked.
 "Nothing!" Uiru answered. "The emphasis is on NOTHING, believe me."
 "Good," Booster replied. "Then wake up and come on." He turned to the other trainers. "Rock Brigade are on the horizon. They'll be here soon, so get ready!"
 Ten minutes later, the trainers grabbed their Pokémon and found Booster outside. "The others are taking up defencive positions now," he said. "Our job will be to meet the main force. Keep in mind they're using Rock type Pokémon, so Fire, Electric, and Bug type attacks won't hurt them, but Water, Grass, Ground, and Ice will."
 "None of us have Ice attacks," Patrick shouted.
 "Well never mind then," Booster replied. "My Pokémon are useless against Rock types, I'll be running the defence. You kids think you can manage by yourselves?"
 "We'll be fine," Uiru replied. "If we don't die of hypothermia first."
 "Good. I'm counting on you Uiru!" Booster left.

 "Ice on Rock? Excellent..." The mysterious local trainer was observing the proceedings from a nearby rooftop. "This could be interesting."

Chapter Eight
 A small number of Rock trainers broke through the defence and attempted to assail the gates. But Uiru and his crew were waiting for them!
 "Graveler, go!"
 "Omastar, go!"
 "Marowak, go!"
 "Dugtrio, go!"
 "Rhydon, go!"
 "Onix, go!"
 Allison stepped behind Matt. "Those... are really big, you know that?"
 Curtis laughed. "They're still Pokémon, and all Pokémon have weaknesses. Grass and Water, specifically."
 "Yeah," Matt replied. "Call out your Kabuto. Bulbasaur, Paras, Bellsprout, go!"
 "Sandslash, Dig!" Uiru shouted. "Slow down that Onix!"
 "Uiru!" Nick shouted. "Omastar is part Water type! My Pokémon can't- Krabby, return!- can't fight it!"
 "I got it," Uiru replied. "Go, Pikachu! Thunderbolt Omastar!"
  With Nick's Tentacool and Psyduck backing it up, Pikachu shocked Omastar until it fainted. Knowing the rest were all part Ground, Uiru recalled Pikachu.
 "Staryu, use the Surf power!" Jessica ordered. Staryu wound up and delivered a gigantic blast of water right in Rhydon's face.
 Sandslash had been aggrivating Onix for some time now, but Onix struck it with a counterattack! "Sandslash, return! Squirtle, go!"
 "Bellsprout, Vine Whip!" Marowak now had to contend with Grass-type lashes from the diminuitive Bellsprout. It tried to use Bonemerang, but Bellsprout caught it with a Whip!
 Dugtrio, master of the Dig ability, tunneled underground and then blasted Kabuto from below. Weakened, Kabuto countered with Absorb, sapping it's strength and replenishing it's own. "Do it again!" Allison shouted. Soon Dugtrio was out of it.
 "Is there something wrong with your Bellsprout?" Nick asked Matt.
 "I don't think so..."
 "It's glowing."
 "Oh... It's gonna evolve now! Bulbasaur, protect Bellsprout while it evolves!"
 Bulbasaur took over Bellsprout's Vine Whipping duties as it evolved into Weepinbell! "Bulbasaur, Weepinbell! Double Razor Leaf!" Using their needle-sharp leaves of fury, Weepinbell and Bulbasaur knocked out the already weakened Rhydon and Marowak. Staryu geared up and launched a huge stream of water at Graveler, who fainted because of it.
 "Now it's only Onix," Uiru shouted.
 "You think we only have one Pokémon?" the Rock trainers shouted. Another wave of Ground and Rock types were sent to the front lines, but Weepinbell and Bulbasaur kept them at bay.
 "Rhyhorn, attack!" Curtis sent out the unevolved form of Rhydon to battle Onix. "Rhyhorn, Rock Throw!" Rhyhorn jumped up in the air and crashed into Onix's rocky hide. It bounced off Onix and landed with an incredible crash, but not without doing some damage first.
 Squirtle jumped on Staryu and they hovered up to Onix's head to spray it with Water Gun. But Onix let out a deafening roar that paralyzed them with fear! Staryu slowly floated to the ground behind Bulbasaur.
 "Bulbasaur and Weepinbell are running out of energy!" Matt shouted.
 "Call them back!" a voice shouted. "Fire Strike! Call all your Pokémon back!"
 "What? Who are you?" Uiru asked, looking around.
 A young man about Uiru's age came out to the front lines. "Call your Pokémon back. My Ice types may damage them by accident. Jynx, Starmie, go!"
 "A Starmie?" Jessica asked. "Is that evolved from a Staryu?" Nick nodded.
 "Jynx, Blizzard! Starmie, Hydro Pump!"
 Not only did the superpowerful attacks take down Onix, they literally washed the Rock trainers down the street and almost out of Sapphire City entirely. Uiru turned to the Ice type trainer.
 "Wow, you really showed them! What's your name?" he asked.
 "My name's Alex," he replied. "Jynx, Starmie, return."
 "Let's chat after we clean up this mess," Uiru decided. "Booster might need our help at the front lines."

 As it turned out, the Rock Brigade got whipped. Fire Strike dumped them all in one spot. Curtis, Patrick and Nick got stuck with guard duty.
 "So, your name's Alex," Booster said. "Thanks for helping out my squad today."
 "No problem," Alex replied.
 "What's your affiliation, soldier?" Booster asked.
 "Freelance. I fight anything dumb enough to attack my town."
 "Fair enough," Booster replied. "Your Pokémon seem to have extraordinary skills. We could use a trainer like you."
 "I'm not sure I want to join an army."
 Just then Curtis came in. "Sorry to barge in, but the Rock Brigade leader insists on talking to you."
 "Hm. I wonder what he has to say. What do you two think?" Uiru and Alex shrugged. "All right, send him in."
 The Rock Brigade leader was a tall, thin man. He glared at Booster, Uiru and Alex. "Who do you people think you are? Invading Charteruse and now Sapphire?"
 "We didn't invade either!" Uiru shouted. "We liberated Charteruse and we came to Sapphire to defend it from you!"
 "Liberated Charteruse? Who are you?" the Rock leader demanded.
 "We are Fire Strike unit of the Pokémon Liberation movement," Booster replied grandly.
 "We're here to clean up trash like Flame Force," Uiru added.
 "And anything that threatens Sapphire," Alex finished.
 "You mean you're fighting AGAINST Flame Force?"
 "Yeah, what did you think?" Uiru asked.
 "So you were... And we were... ARRGH! Those idiots screwed up big this time!"
 "What do you mean?" Booster asked. "You're the ones who screwed up."
 "Not us, our management. They're all morons. None of them can tell up from down. When they heard a group called 'Fire Strike' was headed for Sapphire, they assumed it was part of Flame Force and sent us to deal with it. That's why all our Pokémon are Ground and Rock type, we were expecting Fire resistance!"
 Uiru looked at Booster. Booster returned the glance. "So you guys are fighting the Flame Force," Booster asked. "In that case, I'll cut you a deal! If Rock Brigade joins the PLM, we won't arrest you and release all your Pokémon."
 "Are you sure about that?" Alex asked.
 "Hey, I thought you weren't interested in joining," Booster replied.
 "Yeah, well, now I am," Alex answered.
 "Can I discuss this with my troops?" the Rock leader requested.
 "Go right ahead," Booster answered. "You have until tomorrow to decide." Curtis took him back to the holding area.
 "I want to join Fire Strike," Alex declared. "I want to beat the enemy before they attack my town, instead of waiting for them to come."
 "Good plan," Booster replied. Behind him, the phone started to ring. "You know, I really hate the noise these things make. Booster," he stated when he picked up the reciever. "Yeah boss, we beat them. Actually, there was a bit of a mixup, and they joined us." Uiru and Alex could hear shouting. "I'm getting to that. They didn't mean to attack us, they were battling the Flame Force and thought we were them." More shouting. "I know it was stupid, but we're all on the same side and we can use all the help we can get." The boss must have been calming down, because Uiru and Matt couldn't hear him anymore. "Right, boss. What's our next move?" A pause. "Back to Charteruse? All right, we're on our way." He hung up. "Uiru, go tell the troops we're heading out. Alex, I hope you don't get airsick, because that's just what we need."

 Curtis decided he was gonna join up with Rock Brigade. "What can I say? I'm a Rock trainer. I want to run with my own crowd."
 Rock Brigade became a seperate unit under the PLM. Their leader, John, contacted the Boss and worked everything out. The Boss wanted to keep them close by for a while, so he ordered them to return to base and aid with the defence. Although small, Rock Brigade was full of powerful Pokémon and highly skilled trainers. They returned to their own base and prepared to move it all over to PLM HQ.
 "See you Curtis!" Allison waved.
 "Give 'em hell!" Matt shouted.
 "Good luck!" Nick added.
 "I had a blast with you guys. Keep it up! See ya!" Curtis and the Rock Brigade headed out.

 Fire Strike and the other units headed back to Charteruse. The Boss reported that the whole area around Charteruse and Sapphire had been wiped of the Flame Force, so they could take a break.
 "Hey Booster, doesn't that mean we won't be fighting for a while?" Alex asked.
 Booster shook his head. "The Boss likes Fire Strike. I'm sure pretty soon he'll call us up to go bail him out, so don't worry. Enjoy this little break while you can, troops."
 Uiru and the others headed to the Pokémon Center to recuperate. Thunders and Showers came in. "So, boss. How was your trip?" they asked.
 "It was all right. We got a new member on Fire Strike, an Ice trainer named Alex. Curtis left though."
 "An Ice trainer, you say?" Showers asked. "Hmm... Some of my Water Pokémon have Ice powers. Maybe we should talk shop later on."
 "I want to know what the deal is with this Uiru kid," Thunders asked. "He's practically your first lieutentant. What's the deal?"
 "Jealous, Thunders?" Booster asked. "That kid happens to have a ton of potential, and some really powerful Pokémon to boot. You should pay attention to him- he may be young but he knows a lot."
 "Calm down, Thunders," Showers chuckled. "Some little kid isn't gonna outrank you anytime soon- unless of course you lose your edge."
 "I'll show you my edge!" he shouted, clutching a Poké Ball.
 Showers laughed again. "We both know your Electric types would blow my Water types off the planet."
 "Then be quiet," he growled. "And I've heard them talking. Matt knows more then Uiru does. Matt's practically teaching Uiru how to train."
 "Is he now?" Showers asked. "It may have started that way, but I've seen them both in action. Uiru took command of a squad of adorable Sandshrew and blasted a Charizard out of the skies with them!"
 "Yeah, I remember that," Booster replied. "We heard the crash from inside the Center! That's why most of the Flame Force took off. Sandslash's Rock Slide scared them."
 "And Matt's very good too," Showers continued. "Even though he's only got a puny Bellsprout and Paras. His Bulbasaur has promise though."
 "Weepinbell," Booster corrected. "It evolved fighting Rock Brigade. And don't forget his Exeggcute."
 "That's right, I forgot," Showers admitted.
 "I wish I had seen Matt in action at Sapphire," Booster stated. "Uiru tells me his Grass types ruled. Bulbasaur and Weepinbell kept a squad of Rock types at bay while they fought the Onix."
 Thunders growled. "Just wait until we get assaulted by something that uses Water Pokémon. Then you'll see my skill!" He stormed out of the room.
 Showers laughed. "Do you think we should remind him there are no Water Pokémon up here?"
 Booster laughed louder. "I think we should let him calm down," he said afterwards. "He likes to battle but hasn't been able to dominate anywhere lately."
 Showers nodded.

 "You know what we havn't done in ages?" Matt asked. "We've been so busy battling, we havn't had time to catch new Pokémon!"
 "That's right!" Jessica agreed. "We should go have a serious training session. Are there any good places to catch Pokémon around here, Allison?"
 "There are some Grass, Ground and Bug types in the mountains west of here," Allison replied.
 "Grass, Ground and Bug," Uiru echoed. "Sounds like Turcott Park all over again."
 "I have a feeling they'll be a little stronger then those Pokémon," Matt spoke up. "After all, we are a long way from home."
 "That's right," Allison realized. "Guys... You aren't mad at me for dragging you into this, are you?" "Hell no!" Jessica answered. "We've been having a blast. Right Uiru? Matt?"
 "Yeah," Matt agreed. "We came up here to help you take back your hometown. Now that we've done that, we can make a vacation out of it."
 "Let's go then!" Uiru declared.
 "Mind if we come along?" Patrick asked.
 "We need some new ones too," Nick added.
 "Sure you can," Allison agreed.
 As they were leaving, Alex came up to them. "May I come too?" he asked. Uiru nodded. "All right then."
 "What Pokémon do you have, anyway?" Jessica asked.
 "I've got four Pokémon: Jynx, Starmie, Seel and Shellder," Alex declared. "How about you?"
 Uiru held up a Poké Ball. "I've got five: Butterfree, Sandslash, Pikachu, Abra, and Squirtle."
 Jessica was next. "I have four: Gastly, Machop, Cubone and Staryu."
 "I've got four too," Matt announced. "Bulbasaur, Weepinbell, Exeggcute and Paras."
 "I also have four," Nick stated. "I've got Tentacool, Omanyte, Krabby and Psyduck."
 "My five Pokémon are Beedrill, Mankey, Kabuto, Growlithe and Magnemite," Allison declared.
 "I only have two: Venonat and Parasect," Patrick admitted. "But I'm gonna catch more!"
 "Now that the exposition is over, we should cure our Pokémon before we head out," Uiru suggested.

Chapter Nine
 Patrick was determined to catch up to his friends. "Parasect, go! Spore attack, now!" he shouted. Parasect- the evolved form of Paras- appeared, and sprayed it's powerful sleep inducing spores over two unsuspecting bugs. "Caterpie, Weedle- you're mine!" Patrick caught the two of them at once!
 "Way to go!" Allison congradulated. "Me and Uiru can tell you all about Caterpie and Weedle."
 "Remember when those were the only Pokémon you had, and you were at each other's throats with them?" Matt asked. "Watching you two crab at each other was hilarious."
 "Oh be quiet," Uiru replied.
 "It was a bit silly though," Allison said. "I'm glad we grew up." Uiru nodded.
 "You've known each other that long?" Patrick asked.
 "Well... To be honest, it wasn't THAT long ago," Uiru stated.
 "We've only been at this for, like, three weeks," Allison replied.
 "Three weeks?!" Nick, Alex, Patrick and Jessica shouted. "We've been at it for years!"
 Matt laughed. "Keep it down. You're scaring away all the Pokémon. Call it natural talent, but Uiru and Allison only caught their first Pokémon- Caterpie, and Weedle- about three weeks ago."
 "My natural talent tells me that there's something over there that should interest a Grass trainer," Uiru declared, and pointed.
 Jessica gasped. "Oh, it's so CUTE! It's an Oddish! They're really rare!"
 "It's a Grass type- that's all that matters! Paras, go!" Matt decided to use Patrick's tactic. "Spore, now!"
 This Oddish had a little surprise in store for Paras, however. Turning from it's drink at a small pool, it leapt high into the air! Oddish came down on top of Paras, dodging the Spore cloud.
 "This must be it's Petal Dance attack!" Jessica stated. "I've heard of this. Oddish is the only Pokémon that can use it, too!"
 "What does it do?" Matt asked.
 "Oddish will strike with increasingly powerful attacks, until it gets very dizzy," Jessica answered.
 Paras clawed at Oddish, who dodged the swipe and returned with a terrific kick that sent Paras back to Matt. "Return! Bulbasaur, go! Tackle!"
 Bulbasaur charged at Oddish. Oddish charged at Bulbasaur. To the surprise of everyone, Bulbasaur went flying!
 "That little Oddish is bitchin'," Alex stated.
 "Bulbasaur, Stun Spore!" Matt shouted. Bulbasaur hit Oddish with the paralyzing cloud, which would slow it down considerably.
 "Okay, Bulbasaur, return! Exeggcute, go! Hypnosis!"
 Since it was Paralyzed, Oddish couldn't move quick enough to get out of Exeggcute's range. It started to feel sleepy!
 "All right! Now it's time! Poké Ball, go!" Matt caught Oddish!
 "Great!" Uiru shouted. "Good thing I caught you that Exeggcute, eh?"

 For the next little while, the seven battled their Pokémon against the wild monsters on Charteruse Peaks. Allison was quite happy when her Mankey evolved into the much more formidable Primeape, and Jessica's Gastly evolved into the eternally cool Haunter.
 After a while, they came to a small clearing. "You know what this place would be perfect for?" Jessica asked. "Machop, I choose you!"
 "Oh, I get it," Uiru grinned. "Abra, I choose you!"
 Matt got Alex's attention. "This is really quite interesting. That Abra fights just as well as that Machop does."
 "Really? I thought Abras just Teleported away from things." Apparently, Abra heard what Alex said, because it snapped it's head around to look at him with the same fearless glare it seemed to have permanently etched on it's face. This time, however, there was a strange curiousness to it's look. Abra seemed to be thinking of something.
 "All right, Abra! Double Kick!"
 "Machop, Counter!"
 They sat back to watch the show. It was business as usual for a while, until Abra decided to change tactics. It flew at Machop with a Jump Kick, but then vanished, and reappeared behind the bracing Machop to blast it from behind!
 "Wow! Did you see that?" Uiru asked.
 "That's a cheap move," Jessica replied.
 "But it has great potential. Abra's got a powerful new attack," Matt said to her.
 Abra didn't have a new move- it had a new fighting style. It seemed like Abra fully intended to make the Teleport integral to it's fighting style, and Machop wasn't too thrilled about it. Every time Machop attacked with a chop or a kick, Abra would warp just to the left or right and counter.
 "All right, that's enough! Machop, return!" Jessica tried to call Machop back, but it wouldn't listen. "Why do you want to keep fighting?" she asked.
 "Maybe it wants to find a way through Abra's Teleport offencive," Uiru suggested. "Or maybe it's just stubborn."
 Whether it was one or the other, it didn't matter because Machop soon started landing hits on Abra, despite the Psychic Pokémon's attempts to Teleport out of the way. It's speed was increasing at an alarming rate.
 "Machop must be learning Agility," Matt announced. "It's becoming so fast, Abra's Teleporting can't keep up! It's fitting that, since Abra is learning Fighting attacks, Machop should learn Psychic abilities."
 With a super chop, Machop sent Abra flying.
 "Wow! Machop beat Abra!" Jessica cheered.
 "They both have great new attacks," Uiru stated. The two tired Pokémon went back to their Poké Balls.
 "Is there anything else up on this mountain?" Alex asked.
 "Besides the old abandoned mansion, no," Allison answered.
 "Old abandoned mansion?" Nick asked.
 "Where is it?" Patrick asked.
 "You have to tell us!" Matt declared.
 "It's right this way," she answered. They started walking down the path. "It's about, say, 40 minutes from here."
 "40 minutes?" Alex complained.
 "Oh well, I'll start training my bugs," Patrick decided. A Venonat bounced into view. "Caterpie, Weedle, go!"

 An hour later, they made it to the mansion. It was getting dark.
 "You know, guys, we might have to stay here tonight," Jessica warned.
 "We can't go back now," Allison said. "People who go into that forest at night may never come out."
 "Well, let's head in," Uiru decided. "Nobody lives here, right?"
 "Right."
 "Good." He pushed open the door. "Yo, it's pretty dark in here. I wonder if there's a phone?"
 "Why would you want a phone?" Jessica asked.
 "To tell Booster we won't be back tonight," he answered.
 "Booster will survive one night without us," Jessica said. "Now stop worrying and look around!"
 Matt called out to Uiru. "Hey Uiru, there's a bunch of old Pokémon research texts up here!" He pulled out a book he thought would interest him- 'Grass Pokémon: Harnessing the Power of Nature'.
 Uiru looked over the books. "Here's one," he said. "'Water Pokémon: Mastering the Rage of the Ocean'. I wonder if it has any info on my Squirtle?"
 "Look up Staryu," Jessica asked.
 "Here it is," he announced. He read her the description.
 "Doesn't say when it evolves, does it?"
 "I'm getting to that." Apparently, Staryu evolved with something called a 'Water Stone'. "Hey Matt, what's a Water Stone?"
 "A Stone to evolve certain Pokémon that can't evolve themselves," he answered. "Don't ask me where to get them, though. I don't have a clue."
 Jessica pulled out a few books. "Let's go sit down," she suggested. "No sence standing up here all night."
 Uiru pulled out a few and followed her. The bookshelves were on the mezzanine of a large living room. The two went down the stairs and sat down.
 "I wonder if there's any food here?" Jessica asked after a little while.
 "Who knows?" Uiru replied. "Hey, cool- it says here Squirtle is one of the only Pokémon that learns Withdraw."
 "What does that do?"
 "It increases it's Defence, like Harden," Uiru replied. "Staryu learns Harden though. As well as Minimize, Light Screen, Recover... When your Staryu gets it's levels up, it'll be hard to beat."
 "Cool! I wonder if it knows any of those attacks now?"
 Meanwhile, in the basement...
 "What's all this junk doing here?" Alex asked.
 "Maybe this place was a lab at one point," Allison suggested.
 Nick thought he recognized something in the wreckage. He pushed some junk over. "Hey, check it out! A trading unit!"
 "Does it work?" Patrick asked.
 "No, but I might be able to fix it," he said. He pulled it out of the pile of broken metal. "This is a modern trading unit. It probably hasn't been here as long as some of this other junk has."
 "Here's something that's been here a while," Alex pointed. "This phone doesn't even have a video monitor on it."
 "Does it work?" Alliosn asked.
 Alex picked it up. "Dial tone," he announced. "I'll call Booster." He punched in the Pokémon Center's number. "Hey, is Booster there?" he asked.
 "One moment," the nurse replied. In a second, Booster was on the phone.
 "Hey, where are you? Why isn't there any video?" Booster asked.
 "I'm on an aincent phone," Alex replied. "Listen, we're all gonna spend the night at this big old mansion up on the hill, okay? It's too dark to come back now."
 "Yeah, I guess that'll be okay," Booster agreed. "Who's up there?"
 "Me, Allison, Nick, Patrick, Uiru, Matt and Jessica," he listed off. "We've been catching and evolving our Pokémon all day!"
 "Great!" Booster declared. "The HQ won't be needing us for a while, so you can take your time if you want. Have fun!"
 "Well, that's that," Alex said.
 "I'm gonna work on this upstairs," Nick declared. "The light's better up there." He dragged the thing up into the living room.

 Alex, Allison and Patrick wound up in the kitchen. "Could there be food here?" Alex asked.
 Patrick opened the cupboards. "Cans," he announced. "Dozens and dozens of cans."
 "This kitchen is a mess," Allison declared. "I'd clean it up if we were gonna be staying here for a while."
 "And there's no fridge," Alex complained. "Hey Nick, do you think you could build us a fridge?"
 "Sure, I happen to have all the parts on me, I'll have one for you in an hour," was the sarcastic reply.
 "Just asking," he replied. He went out into the living room. "Is there a broken microwave down there? We could use one."
 "I didn't see one," Nick replied. "Why? Is there food here?"
 "Cans of something," Alex replied.
 "Isn't there an oven?"
 "Yeah, but it won't work."
 "Did you check if it was plugged in?"
 "Why wouldn't it be?"
 "Maybe the last people here unplugged it so it wouldn't start a fire or something," Nick replied. He got up. "I'll take a look."

Chapter Ten
 Jessica put down her book. "This is boring. Let's go look around," she suggested.
 "Yeah, I've done enough research," Uiru agreed.
 As they headed up the stairs, Matt called out to them. "I'm not gonna say what that looks like, you know."
 "Shut up!" Jessica shouted.
 "We're going to look around. You're welcome to join us if you want," Uiru replied.
 "Not that kinda guy," he cracked, going back to his book.
 "Never mind him," Uiru said. They went upstairs. "Man, this place is so... old," he stated.
 Jessica poked her head in a door. "Bedroom," she announced. She looked in the next one. It was an identical bedroom.
 "This is wierd," Uiru stated. "When this place was running, what do you think it was?"
 "I don't know," Jessica asked. "It certainly wasn't just a house. There's like eight bedrooms that all look the same. Nobody has eight bedrooms."
 Uiru swung open a door. "Whoa!" he shouted. "Hey Jessica, check this out!" He had opened a door on what looked like a trainer's gym!
 "Cool! This place must have been a Pokémon Gym at one point," Jessica declared. "I wonder why it shut down?"
 "Maybe it didn't get enough business. It is kinda remote," Uiru suggested.
 "Hey, look over there!" Jessica pointed. "There's a porch out there."
 They stepped out onto it. Although the house was old, it seemed to be in pretty good shape. As was the deck.
 "Wow... What an incredible view! You can see Charteruse from here!" Jessica pointed.
 "Yeah, there it is," Uiru stated. "Man, you can see everything from here. I think that's Sapphire City over there."
 "Allison said Charteruse Peaks were high, but I didn't think they were this high."
 Uiru looked around the deck. Although the interior of the mansion was covered in at least four inches of solid dust, the wind kept the porch clean. Tonight, however, there was just a warm breeze, complimenting the warm, dry air.
 "Not a cloud," Uiru noted, looking up. "Without any lights, you'll be able to see the stars in a little while." He sat down on a porch swing set up on the side of the mansion. Jessica sat down next to him.
 "Let's stay out here for a while," Jessica suggested. Uiru agreed. He put his arm around her, and she moved closer to him.

 "Soup's on!" Patrick shouted. "Come and get it!"
 Nick put down his tools and went to the kitchen. Matt went upstairs to find Uiru and Jessica.
 "What is it?" Nick asked.
 "Soup, or stew, or something," Alex replied. "Essentially, the contents of a few unlabeled cans thrown into a big pot and cooked for forty minutes."
 "Classy," Nick replied.
 There was a banging on the door. Allison went to get it.
 "Hello?" she asked. It was a young man about her age, and a young woman a few years younger.
 "Hi," the young man greeted. "Would you happen to have someplace for us to stay tonight? We'll pay for it."
 "Not nessessary," Allison replied. "My friends and I are staying for free, and you guys can too."
 "Oh, thank you very much," the girl replied.
 Allison brought them to the kitchen. "Company," she announced. "What's your names?"
 "I'm Geoff, and this is Erin," he introduced. The others went around the line, introducing themselves.
 "And I'm Matt," Matt finished, coming into the kitchen. "Nobody go upstairs. I'm pretty sure Uiru and Jessica want to be left alone."
 A quiet commotion.
 "What's going on?" Nick asked.
 "Nothing like that," Matt snapped. "They're outside on this huge porch."
 "Did you tell them dinner was ready?" Allison asked.
 "They didn't see me. I figured they'd put me over the railing if they knew I was there."
 "What do they look like?" Erin asked.
 "Well, Uiru's a big tall guy, and Jessica's... the exact opposite," Matt replied after a minute. "Short. Slender. Actually, kinda cute. I can see what Uiru sees in her."
 "Kinda cute?" Nick asked. "More like DA-AM cute."
 "Yeah, remember when Curtis wanted to ask her out?" Patrick asked. He smirked, remembering something. "And remember what you said when he said he might ask Allison out, Matt?"
 Matt turned red. "Um..."
 Geoff laughed. "What did you say, Matt?"
 "Yes," Allison asked. "What did you say?"
 "Er... I'll tell you later," he grinned.
 Alex put some stew in a bowl. "Okay, who among us wants to be the first to test this unknown substance?"
 "Not me," everyone replied.
 Alex tried it. "Hmm... Not bad. Here, try this." Allison tried some. "Hey, this stuff is edible," she exclaimed.

 A moment later, the seven trainers assembled in the living room to finish their meal.
 "So, what brings you all the way out here?" Patrick asked Erin.
 "Our town was invaded," Erin replied. "Have you ever heard of a place called Ivory Lake?"
 "No," Allison replied. "I've lived here a long time, and I've never heard of that place."
 "Not many people have," Geoff replied. "It's hidden really well."
 "Were the invaders the Flame Force?" Allison asked.
 "Yeah, how did you know?" Geoff asked.
 "We just finished kicking them out of Charteruse City," Matt replied.
 "You mean you've liberated Charteruse?" Erin echoed.
 "We can go there, then!" Geoff declared.
 "Hey..." Alex started. "I think we could convince Booster to let us liberate Ivory Lake too!"
 "Yeah!" Matt agreed. "Booster wouldn't mind at all."
 "Who's Booster?" Geoff asked.
 "Our boss," Nick replied. "We're all members of Fire Strike, of the Pokémon Liberation Unit."
 "Oh, so you're all trainers?" Erin asked. "We are too. I use Poison Pokémon. I have Koffing, Ekans, and Grimer."
 "I've got a Kadabra, a Dratini, and a Nidoran male," Geoff added.
 They went around the circle, telling them what kinds of Pokémon they had.
 "We'll definately be able to help you," Nick told them. "We're the best, aren't we?"
 "Don't get cocky," Allison reminded him. "We are good, though..."
 "This stuff IS good," Patrick stated. "I'm getting some more. Anyone else want some?" Erin did. He took her bowl.
 "By this time tomorrow, Ivory Lake should be ours," Alex declared. "Why would they invade it though?"
 "We've got a lot of rare Pokémon," Geoff replied. "And, a ton of Water Pokémon. Flame Force uses them on their campaigns, to battle Ground types."
 "We know," Matt replied. "My Grass types have creamed many a Water Pokémon retaking Charteruse."

 By this time, it was night. Uiru and Jessica watched the moon rise and the stars come out.
 "Wow... I never saw them like this in Turquoise Lake," Jessica said. They were gently rocking back and forth in a comfortable silence until now. "It was probably because I was in the city."
 "Yeah..." Uiru answered. "You could usually get a good view from Turcott Park, but I never really looked." They sat in silence for another moment.
 "I don't know about you, but I could fall asleep right here," Jessica said to him.
 "I know what you mean."
 The romantic peace was inturrupted by someone's grappling hook getting ahold of the railing. In a moment, someone had shinnied up the rope and was making their way to the door.
 "Who the hell are you?" Uiru demanded.
 The person was startled. "I didn't see you," he replied.
 "What are you doing here?" Jessica asked.
 "I'm here to reclaim my boss's Dratini," he replied. "Do you know who has it?"
 "Nobody here has a Dratini," Uiru told him. "What are you doing anyway, climbing up here like a thief? Why didn't you use the front door?"
 "Because I didn't feel like it," the man replied. "I don't want to cause trouble, so I'll just find the Dratini and be on my way."
 "No one here has a Dratini," Jessica insisted. "So just get out of here."
 "I KNOW the person who stole my boss's Dratini is in this mansion," the man declared. "And I'm not leaving until I get it."
 "There's no Draini here!"
 "Yes there is!"
 "No there isn't!"
 "Don't argue with me, you little bitch," he snapped.
 "Don't talk to her like that!" Uiru shouted, stepping forward, his voice rising. "I don't know what your problem is, but you're leaving, NOW."
 "I'm here for the Dratini," he repeated.
 "I'm getting sick of hearing that! Nobody here has a Dratini!" Uiru shouted. "Now either shinny down that rope and get the hell out of here, or I'm going to hang you with it!"
 "I'm getting sick of your idiotic attitude," the man snarled.
 "You're the one who can't figure out there's no Dratini in this mansion," Uiru retorted.
 "There is, and I'm going to get it! Out of my way, boy!" He shoved Uiru out of his way. Uiru then punched him straight across the face. Jessica took two big steps back, out of the way.
 Uiru ducked a jab and sent his fist right into the man's side. He stepped back, and Uiru punched him right in the face again.
 "I don't have to take this! I am Sunder, of the Flame Force! Electabuzz, I choose you! Thundershock this rodent!" Uiru got blasted by Electabuzz's electricity!
 "Oh no! Cubone, I choose you!" Jessica shouted. "Bone Club, now!" Electabuzz tried to shock Cubone, but being a Ground type, it was useless. Cubone thrashed Electabuzz.
 "Now Bonemerang this creep!" Jessica shouted. Cubone wound up and hurled the Bone Club at Sunder. He dodged it, and started climbing back down the rope. Jessica looked over, and when he was a few meters from the ground, she pulled the grappling hook off the balcony. He landed with a crash. She laughed.
 "Are you okay?" she asked.
 "Oy... That hurts a lot more then it looks like it does," Uiru replied. He struggled to his feet. "My hair's a mess, isn't it?"
 Jessica laughed. "Sure is. I think you should go lie down."

 Uiru and Jessica ran into the others in front of the row of bedrooms. "What happened to you?" Allison asked.
 "This guy attacked us, and when Uiru started pounding him, he called out an Electabuzz and shocked him," Jessica explained. "Then Cubone whipped him, of course." Cubone hit his Bone Club off the floor for emphasis. "Then he ran."
 "Who're you?" Uiru asked.
 "I'm Erin, and this is Geoff," Erin answered.
 "They showed up here tonight," Alex informed them. "And will be spending the night. And tomorrow, we'll be liberating their town of Ivory Lake from the Flame Force."
 "Ah," Uiru nodded. "Do either of you have a Dratini?"
 "Yeah, I do," Geoff replied.
 "Damn!" Jessica cursed. "We just got through yelling at that guy that there was no Dratini here!"
 "Did you steal it from him or something?" Uiru asked.
 "Well... Kinda," Geoff replied.
 "What do you mean, kinda?" Allison asked. "Either you did or you didn't."
 "Well, I had heard that the Boss of the Flame Force had stolen a Dratini off a trainer. I decided to steal it from him. If I ever find that trainer, I'm gonna give it back, but for now, Dratini likes me. So there's no problem."
 "You stole from the Boss of the Flame Force?" Alex asked. "You got guts, man."
 "Geoff has sticky fingers," Erin declared.
 "We'd better get to sleep," Jessica said. "Are there only eight bedrooms?"
 "There's nine of us, now," Nick said. "Oh well. At least now you two have an excuse."
 "Shut up!"
 "There's a few more on the other side of the hall," Matt announced. "There's like twelve in total."
 "Well then... See you guys later," Erin said.

Chapter Eleven
 "Ivory Lake? Never heard of it," Booster announced. Uiru, Erin and Geoff were presenting their proposal to Booster the next day.
 "It's there, but it's well hidden," Geoff replied. "You can't find it unless you know exactly where you're going."
 "We can point it out from a helicopter or something," Erin added.
 Booster thought for a while. "How many units do you think you'll need?"
 "No more then two, plus Fire Strike," Uiru replied.
 "Flame Force are after our Water Pokémon," Geoff told Booster. "They use them in their battles."
 "Water Pokémon? Let me lead this mission, Booster!" Thunders asked.
 "You? Lead a mission all by yourself?" Showers laughed. "Do you really think you're up to it?"
 "Shut up Showers!" Thunders shouted. "My Electric Pokémon will destroy their Water types!"
 "Quiet, both of you," Booster inturrupted.
 "They don't just use Water Pokémon, sir," Erin spoke up. "Many of them use Fire Pokémon as well."
 "Sir? What's all this 'sir' stuff?" Thunders asked. "My name is Thunders, young lady."
 "I think the two of you should lead this mission," Booster spoke up.
 "Sounds good to me," Showers answered. Thunders fumed.
 "I'll arrange your heli's. Uiru, go get the units you want, and assemble Fire Strike. You'll be leaving in an hour."
 "Right." The three young trainers went to find the rest of the unit. "See, I told you he'd help you."
 The other trainers were hanging out in the lounge. Uiru clapped his hands. "Pack it up guys, we're leaving soon!"

 "They use a combination of Water and Fire, right?" Showers asked. Geoff nodded.
 "Look, there's the clearing," Erin pointed. She moved up to the pilot. "Land there, it's the closest we're gonna get to Ivory Lake."

 Fire Strike were in position. The other units were creeping around to the back.
 They silently called out their Water Pokémon. Staryu, Starmie, Shellder, Seel, Squirtle, Kabuto, Omanyte, Kingler, Tentacool, Psyduck, Wartortle, Poliwhirl and Vaporeon lined up in two rows in front of the gates. When Fire Strike saw some Fire Pokémon and their trainers walking by, they sprang into action.
 "Hydro Pump!"
 "Bubblebeam!"
 "Water Gun!"
 "Surf!"
 The first batch of Fire Pokémon were taken out. While the trainers recalled them, Thunders sent out Jolteon and paralyzed everyone present with a powerful Thunder Wave. Then they stormed the town.
 "Oh damn! It's Fire Strike!" the sentries shouted.
 "Wow, we're famous," Jessica stated. "Staryu, fly high and spray all the Fire types you see!"
 "Starmie, do the same!" Alex ordered.
 A squad of Flame Force soldiers soon advanced on Fire Strike. They had Water Pokémon too, but they were weak. Jolteon and Magnemite used their Thunder Spray attack, this time when Magnemite was directly over the enemies' heads. Vaporeon aimed it's Hydro Pump power at Magnemite, increasing the intensity of the voltage.
 "I never thought I'd see electric rain," Allison declared.
 "Cubone, go!" Jessica shouted. It engaged the Fire types that were attacking! Cubone threw it's
Bone Club at a Charmeleon that was charging them. When it tried to counter with Flame Thrower, Cubone dodged it and smacked it right in the face with the Club.
 Matt and Patrick started battling some Water Pokémon, but when their trainers followed up with Fire types they moved to the back and let Nick and Allison in to deal with them. Kabuto, as it turned out, was strong against Water moves as well, as the Flame Force found out the hard way.
 "That means Omanyte is too, because they're the same type," Nick said to himself.
 Allison called her Magnemite back because it couldn't take Jolteon's high voltage anymore. Jolteon turned to use Thunder on some of the enemies. It didn't matter if they were Water or Fire- Jolteon's blasts were strong enough to wipe anything out.
 "Yeah, that's the way!" Thunders cheered.
 Erin wasn't sure what she should do. Her Poison Pokémon weren't strong against either Water or Fire. But at least Fire and Water weren't effective on them either. When she saw some Flame Force soldiers preparing to attack from the side, she called out Koffing, Ekans and Grimer!
 "Whew! That thing stinks!" Uiru complained.
 "Don't get it mad," Erin replied. "It's Sludge attack is really dangerous!" After saying that, she ordered Grimer to use Sludge on the Flame Force members.
 There must have been more Flame Force soldiers at Ivory Lake then Geoff and Erin had originally thought. Fire Strike were forced to recall their first wave of Water Pokémon and set loose their Ground and Electric types.
 "Type," Uiru reminded. "Besides Allison and Thunders, I have the only Electric Pokémon."
 Right.
 Cubone and Sandslash started tearing through the ranks of Flame Force Pokémon, and Staryu and Starmie were raining hydro from above. When Starmie ran through a group of Fire Pokémon, Water Guns spraying from each of it's eight points, it was like a giant buzz saw going through.
 "Dratini, go!" Geoff shouted.
 "It's about time you decided to join us," Erin replied.
 "Quiet. Dratini, Thunder Wave! Slam Attack!" The Fire and Water Pokémon tried to counterattack but Dratini was strong against Fire and Water moves. It was also strong against Grass and Electric attacks. In fact, the only attack that could hurt a Dragon type Pokémon like Dratini was Ice.
 "That's the Boss's Dratini!" the Flame Force shouted. "Grab it!"
 One of the soldiers picked up Dratini, but it used Thunder Wave to shock it and Wrap to inflict serious damage. As the soldier fell, Dratini leapt to it's next victim.
 "Nidoran, go!" Geoff then summoned his male Nidoran to assist them. "Horn attack, now!"
 Nidoran fell in line with Cubone, Sandslash and Kabuto and proceeded to battle Fire Pokémon alongside them. Jessica summoned Machop and Uiru summoned Abra. Their first instinct was to battle each other, but Uiru and Jessica corrected them. Today, they fought as allies.
 With all the electricity flying around the arena, Abra was inspired to create a new attack. A nearby Poliwrath was the test subject of Abra's new Lightning Kick. Machop picked up the idea and turned it into a hand attack. An enemy Wartortle soon felt the brunt of Machop's Lightning Strike.
 "I love how well they work together," Uiru stated. Jessica nodded.
 Suddenly, however, there was a loud stomping. Uiru looked up to see Sunder, riding on the back of a Nidoking! Beside it was a Nidoqueen, and they both looked rather angry.
 "The boss wants his Dratini back," Sunder shouted. "He's sent his two big bad Nidos to get it!"
 "He's not getting it!" Geoff shouted. "Kadabra, go! Psychic Attack!"
 The waves of Psychic energy blasted through the arena. They were so powerful that Poison and Fighting Pokémon on both sides dropped. Nidoking and Nidoqueen, being part Poison type, began to falter. Geoff recalled his fainted Nidoran.
 "Dammit Geoff!" Erin shouted. "Now all my Pokémon are unconscious!"
 "Mine too!" Matt complained. His Grass types were all part Poison.
 "Sorry," Geoff apoligized. "But would you rather deal with them?" The Nidoking and Nidoqueen towered a good two feet above the tallest Flame Force member.
 "Blast that Kadabra!" Sunder shouted. "Drowzee, go!"
 "Abra, take it down!" Uiru shouted. Machop had hit the turf. Jessica recalled it.
 Abra engaged Drowzee. Abra had to be careful not to use Fighting type maneovers like Double Kick, because Drowzee was strong against them. Normal type attacks, however, would work wonders. Since Drowzees were slow, lazy Pokémon, all it could do to fight back was retaliate with Confusion, which didn't affect Abra. Abra soundly pounded it. With a Lightning Kick, Abra sent Drowzee flying back to Sunder. Then it glared at the Flame Force lieutenant, daring him to send something else against it.
 Sunder glared back. "Pincir, go!" Sunder finally shouted. Pincir charged at Abra like a train, but Abra jumped clear at the last second, and responded with a Jump Kick.
 "Abra! Use physical attacks on Pincir too!" Patrick shouted. "Bugs are strong on Fighting abilities!" Abra nodded, and proceeded to blast it with Comet Punch.
 Meanwhile, Kadabra had succeeded in bringing down Nidoking and Nidoqueen, and- literally- everything between them and it.
 "I'm getting a headache from that thing," Showers complained.
 "All right, I'll call it back," Geoff replied. "We've won here, all we have to do is clean up the mess. Kadabra, return!"
 "Now that Kadabra's out of the way," Allison shouted, "it's prime time for Primeape! Primeape, go!"
 Sunders soon got a beating he'd never forget. After trashing Pincir, Abra dove in and pounded him as well. Uiru laughed.
 An enemy Growlithe charged Jessica's Cubone. Cubone smacked it with the Bone Club.
 "I'll deal with it," Showers offered.
 "No, Cubone can handle this," Jessica replied. "Look!"
 Growlithe nailed Cubone with Take Down, but Cubone smashed the puppy's nose with the business end of the Club. While it whimpered over it's bruised snout, Cubone backed up and attacked with Bonemerang! It bashed Growlithe twice- once on it's way over, and once on it's way back. Growlithe was beat.
 "Nice shot Cubone!" Jessica cheered. Cubone started to glow! She gasped. "Cubone's evolving! This is great!" she shouted. Cubone evolved into Marowak! It had a fiercer bone helmet and a larger, meaner looking club. It was also more then twice as large as Cubone was.
 A short distance away, Alex's Seel had just evolved as well. Seel evolved into Dewgong! There was also a great size difference between Seel and Dewgong. Dewgong's Take Down attack was enough to finish any Water or Fire Pokémon it was assailed with.
 "Now we take the Pokémon Center," Thunders declared. The trainers ran past the heavily bruised body of Sunder. Primeape and Abra were celebrating their victory. "Come on guys," Allison said. "We're almost done here!"

 Sunder dragged his busted carcass back to base. "Boss... Fire Strike has almost cleaned out our city."
 "I can see that, you pathetic weakling," the Boss of the Flame Force replied. He had made Ivory Lake his personal hideout. "I'd like to know how they found us."
 "The trainer who stole your Dratini... Apparently he recruited help."
 "By the way, did you get it back?"
 "No, sir."
 "I want that Dratini back. It goes well with my two Dragonites."
 "What should I do?"
 "Release my Gengar," the Boss replied. "Gengar will get Dratini back."
 "Yes sir!" Sunder took off.
 The Boss laughed. "Gengar will take care of those annoying trainers... Permanently!"

Chapter Twelve
 The trainers were grouped in front of the Pokémon Center.
 "All we have to do now is find the Boss," Showers announced. "After we kick him out of Ivory Lake, the battle will be ours."
 "The Boss of Ivory Lake is also the boss of the Flame Force," Erin stated. "Doesn't that mean Flame Force will also be beaten?"
 "They'll just appoint a new Boss," Alex replied. "It would cripple them, however. I've heard their Boss has a fleet of Dragon Pokémon. There are few Dragon Pokémon in the entire Force."
 A loud stomping was now heard.
 "What the hell is that?" Matt asked.
 "Something big," Jessica replied.
 Sunder came up to them on a motorcycle. "I'm giving you one last chance," he announced. "Give me the Dratini."
 "Bite me," Geoff replied.0
 Sunder laughed. "Fine then. Look over there." He pointed behind him, right at the grinning mug of a gigantic Gengar! It was at least 50 feet tall! "Give me the Dratini and I'll call it off."
 "Maybe you should," Showers suggested.
 "Are you mad?" Thunders shouted. "We're Fire Strike! We're the biggest pain in the ass Flame Force has ever known! You think they'll just call it off after we give in to their demands? We're going to have to fight that Gengar one way or another, and I say we make them take the Dratini!"
 "He's right!" Geoff replied. "I say we fight!"
 "All Pokémon have weaknesses!" Jessica announced. "Gengar's are Ground and Psychic Pokémon!"
 "You're going to fight Gengar?" Sunder asked. "You idiots! Look at it! Nothing can take down something that big! Hopefully some of your Pokémon will survive the encounter- I'm sure none of you will! I'll be back to extract the remaining Pokémon from your dead bodies, after Gengar crushes you!" He tore off.
 "Are you sure this thing is weak against Ground and Psychic?" Showers asked.
 "Yes," Jessica confirmed. "Gastly, Haunter and Gengar are Ghost-Poison types. That means normal attacks won't hurt them at all, but Ground and Psychic will! Everything else won't do very much damage though."
 "So let's call out all our Psychic Pokémon!" Geoff suggested. "Kadabra, go!"
 In a few short seconds, a line of Psychic using Pokémon had appeared. Abra, Kadabra, Butterfree, Venonat, Exeggcute, Staryu, Starmie, Jynx, Psyduck, Poliwhirl, and another Jynx lined up and prepared their most powerful attacks. Staryu and Psyduck launched Confusion attacks at the incoming Gengar, while Butterfree and Venonat used PSY Beam. Kadabra, Starmie, and the two Jynxes opened up with Psychic. Poliwhirl and Exeggcute used their Hypnosis powers, hoping to slow Gengar down.
 The combined beam of Psychic power hit Gengar right in the midsection. It slowed slightly, annoyed by the stinging blasts.
 "It's gonna take a lot to beat this thing!" Erin shouted.
 "Matt, use your Grass Pokémon's Razor Leaf attacks," Uiru suggested. "Nick, Showers, soak it with water, then let Thunders nuke it with his Jolteon. Jessica, call out your Marowak. Sandslash, go!"
 The trainers did as Uiru suggested. "Okay. Sandslash, Marowak, use your Earthquake attacks!" The street under Gengar crumpled, and chunks of rock flew up at the giant Gengar. It finally counterattacked with Night Shade.
 The blast of Ghost power ran through the assembled ranks of Pokémon. Incredibly, they remained standing, and launched another attack.
 "Why didn't it knock them all out?" Allison asked. "Gengar is so much bigger then they are."
 "Because," Jessica replied. "Night Shade does a set amount of damage! No matter how big the user is, it'll do whatever the EXP level is."
 "That's right," Uiru nodded.
 Nick and Showers began spraying the giant Ghost Pokémon with Hydro Pump. Jolteon then struck with the unrestrained force of Thunder. A bolt of pure Electric power flew from the heavens and nailed Gengar in the soaked forehead. It was really getting angry now. It struck Jolteon with Confuse Ray, requiring it be returned, and used Hypnosis on Nick and Showers, sending both them and their Pokémon into a deep sleep. It continued stomping towards the Psychic line that hadn't given up it's annoying rays.
 "Abra, do something!" Uiru shouted. "You've got Psychic power, use it!"
 Abra looked at it's comrades, blasting away with PSY power. Their power was flowing through it, as well. As Abra felt the unrestrained force of the Psychic element pulse through it, it realized it's own PSY power.
 Combining the knowledge and strength of it's Fighting abilities with it's newly aquired Psychic skills, Abra reared back and sent a beam flying from it's hands that was powerful enough to cause the other Psychic Pokémon behind it to flinch. This pulsing ray of holy PSY light struck Gengar, causing it to shudder visibly.
 Abra began pounding Gengar with it's PSY Beam attack. Gengar fired repeated Night Shades at Abra, but it stood it's ground. Every now and then, Abra would glow blue- signifying the use of it's Recover ability.
 The others were preparing their Pokémon to help Abra finish off Gengar. Matt's Pokémon charged up and launched a Solar Beam at the ghastly ghost. Alex had his Pokémon fire their Ice Beams in unison. Showers shot Gengar with synchronized Bubblebeam attacks. Thunders' Jolteon used another super bolt of Thunder. Allison's Growlithe launched a Flamethrower.
 "It won't give up!" Erin shouted.
 Gengar suddenly began lashing out with a new attack! It fired bolts of dark power at the assembled teams of Pokémon battling it! Alex's were the first to go- the rays of evil energy blew through his Water-Ice types like a tornado. "Damn! Return!"
 "What is this?" Allison asked. "There are only three Ghost attacks- Night Shade, Lick and Confuse Ray!"
 "No there aren't," Jessica declared. "This is the undiscovered power of Bleak Eternal."
 "Bleak Eternal?" Uiru asked. "I've never heard of it."
 Gengar used it's Bleak Eternal power to send Matt's Pokémon to the ER room.
 "Bleak Eternal is an extremely powerful, extremely dangerous Ghost type attack," Jessica explained. "Unlike Night Shade, it's power is limitless. Very few Ghost type Pokémon have mastered the ability."
 Allison's Growlithe and Thunder's Jolteon got blasted. As well, Sandslash and Marowak were nuked by the power.
 "How do you know about it?" Uiru asked.
 "Turquoise Lake is famous for it's Ghost type Pokémon," she answered. "There used to be a group of Ghost trainers there who called themselves the Eternal Night. They studied Ghost Pokémon in detail, and investigated sightings of different Ghosts. They confirmed the existance of Bleak Eternal, but their test Gengar couldn't reproduce the effect and the Pokémon League laughed at them."
 "This one doesn't seem to have any problem reproducing the effect," Patrick stated as Showers' Pokémon felt the terrifying effects.
 "Eternal Night used to let me hang around, because I had a Gastly. They wouldn't let me in when they were testing Bleak Eternal, but I found out about it anyway." Jessica pointed at Abra. "Uiru, your Abra is our only chance. It's got the only attack that damages Gengar."
 Having wiped out all the other Pokémon, Gengar now turned Bleak Eternal on the Psychic troop. When it's black energy disappated, only Abra was left standing. The fainted Pokémon were returned.
 "Abra, you have to keep fighting!" Uiru shouted. "It's up to you to take Gengar down!"
 "Please, Abra!" Allison shouted. "We're counting on you!"
 Abra nodded. It began to glow!
 "Abra's gonna evolve!" Uiru shouted. "It's attacks will be a lot more powerful!"
 Abra evolved into Kadabra!
 Most Kadabra had scrawny arms and legs, and their thin armor wasn't much good against strong attacks. This Kadabra was a totally different story. Built like a Machoke, Kadabra's body armor gleamed with an adamant light. It's muscles rippled along it's arms and legs as it prepared to launch another blast at Gengar. Although this strength didn't take away from Kadabra's Special power- it's big head matched the big body it sat on.
 Gengar knew it would be difficult to beat this opponent, even with the power of Bleak Eternal. It began charging it's power!
 Kadabra did the same. It collected it's Psychic power, charging it in it's hands. Soon, Kadabra was holding a ball of white PSY power.
 Gengar launched the energy! The solid black beam engulfed Kadabra!
 "Oh... damn... Kadabra..." was all Uiru could stammer out. The others were silent. Gengar laughed.
 A flash! From inside the beam came an orb of pure white energy! Against the beam which was blacker then night, this orb which encased Kadabra seemed brighter then the sun. It continued to grow, until Gengar was firing it's power at a wall of energy the size of a small building. Then it erupted, straight at Gengar! The beam, three times as large as Bleak Eternal, covered Gengar, and when the light faded, Gengar had been blasted back where it came from.
 Kadabra stood there for a moment, then fainted.
 "Kadabra!" Uiru shouted. "Return!"

 Inside the Pokémon Center was a somber scene. Most of the trainers' Pokémon were in Intensive Care. The trainers knew many of them might not make it.
 "Damn," Matt declared. "I can't believe Flame Force would have something that powerful."
 "I can't believe they'd use it," Patrick replied. "Booster wasn't kidding when he said this might be dangerous."
 "Flame Force will pay for this," Alex swore. "If our Pokémon survive..."
 "I'm gonna rip that Sunder a new one," Uiru declared. "And that Boss as well! They're both dead! I don't care if I have to tear their throats out myself! They're both on borrowed time!"
 The nurse came into the waiting room. She was instantly pounced upon by Fire Strike.
 "Listen, everybody," she said. "Calm down, and I'll tell you what's going on." They calmed down somewhat. "The energy of Bleak Eternal has affected your Pokémon somehow. We don't know how to treat it."
 "Will they recover?" Allison asked.
 "We aren't sure," the nurse replied. "We've got a small army of Chanseys in there, and our doctors and nurses are the best on the continent. They're all working to save your Pokémon but... I'm sorry to say, it doesn't look good for any of them."
 Fire Strike looked at each other, then surged past the nurse to the ICU. "No, wait!" she shouted.
 It was silent in the ICU, except for the milling about of maybe a dozen Chanseys. Even the optimistic hospital Pokémon seemed to be depressed. Their usual happy shrills were absent from the room. The room itself was very large- it had to be to accomidate all the Pokémon. The trainers silently looked at their Pokémon.
 Jessica picked up her Staryu. It was rigid and lifeless. Before, Staryu had seemed to radiate energy. Now, it was like a brick shaped like a star.
 Alex looked at his Dewgong and Shellder, then to his Jynx and Starmie. All but his Squirtle had been fried by Gengar. His rage was building every time he looked from one to another.
 Uiru's Kadabra was unconscious. Bleak Eternal had taken it's toll on it as well, even though it had defeated Gengar. Geoff's Kadabra was in similar condition.
 Erin had to turn away. Although none of her Pokémon had been attacked by Gengar, the scene was still almost too much.
 Nick picked up his Psyduck. Although it had fought bravely, it was now in the same shape as the others. Nick looked into it's lifeless round eyes until his own were clouded with tears.
 "Bastards," Jessica cursed as she ran her hand down Marowak's still form. "I swear... I'll never have Haunter use Bleak Eternal... Never!" As she gazed at the limp Ground Pokémon lying before her, the tears which had been threatening for some time finally gave way.
 "You want to cure your Pokémon?" came a voice.
 "Who said that?" Thunders asked. "Where are you?"
 "Over here," came the voice of an old man. He was standing in the door. "I used to be the leader of the Eternal Night. I can tell you how to cure these Pokémon."
 "How?" Nick asked. "Tell us!"
 "It's all up to these Chansey," he replied. "Tell me, nurse. Do any of them possess an ability called Softboiled?"
 "Softboiled? I've never heard of that power," the nurse admitted.
 "Then we must teach it to them!" the man declared. "You lot, Fire Strike or whatever. Do you have any Pokémon left?"
 "A few," Uiru replied. "Not many though."
 "Then we must hurry to the caves north of here. There is a special stone there. We must bring it to these Chansey so they can learn Softboiled."
 "You mean, like an evolution stone?" Matt asked.
 "Sort of," the man answered. "The Chanseys won't evolve, but they will automatically learn how to use Softboiled. With this ability, they may be able to cure your Pokémon."
 "Where is this cave?" Jessica asked, wiping her face. "We'll get the rock, right now!"
 "Hold on," the man inturrupted. "There are many powerful Pokémon there. Pincir and Scyther are numerous. Do you have any Pokémon strong against them?"
 "I do!" Erin shouted. "My Poison Pokémon are strong on bugs!"
 "Where's the cave?" Uiru demanded. "We're leaving, right now!"
 "You'd better," the old man declared. "You've only got a few hours before the effects of Bleak Eternal are permanent. After that, there is no hope."
 "Where's the cave?" Thunders shouted for a third time.
 "Oh, right. It's due north of here. I'll take you there." As he headed for the door, he looked at Jessica. "I remember you now... You're the little girl who used to hang around Eternal Night."
 "Yes," she replied.
 "I remember we wouldn't let you near when we were working on Bleak Eternal. I wish to the gods we'd never begun that research."
 "At least there's a hope," Jessica told him. "There's no time to be sad!" she declared, wiping her eyes one last time. "We've got a job to do!"
 "Right!" Fire Strike agreed.

Chapter Thirteen
 They practically ran all the way there. When the old man started complaining of his arthritis, Thunders picked him up and carried him.
 "Ekans, Koffing, Grimer!" Erin shouted. "Let's clean out this place and find the Softboiled rock!"
 A Pincir assailed them in the wee light, but Koffing slammed into it and Grimer fired Sludge attacks. They knew their comrades were dying in the Pokémon Center, and they fought like the dickens to get to the Softboiled ability stones.
 "The rocks should be at the end of this tunnel," the old man announced. "Luckily, it's not too far."
 Ekans ripped through a Scyther that got in it's way, and Koffing pounded another one into submission. At last, they reached the chamber with the Softboiled ability stones.
 "Here they are!" the man declared. "Those blue pellets will teach those Chansey Softboiled. Take as many as you can carry!" Fire Strike filled their pockets with the pellets. "Now, let's get out of here!"

 Outside the cave, they had quite an unpleasant surprise. "I thought I'd find you here," Sunder declared.
 Sunder had expected to shout insults back and forth for a while, then battle with the Pokémon they had left. So he was quite unprepared when Uiru, Geoff, Alex and Matt simultaneously screamed 'YOU SON OF A BITCH!!' and rushed him.
 "We don't have time for this!" the old man shouted. "We have to get back!"
 Although Sunder had been sent to ensure they didn't, he wasn't in any condition to stop them after Uiru, Geoff, Alex and Matt were through with him. In seconds, he lay on the ground bleeding from several places, in worse shape then when Primeape and Abra had teamed up on him.
 "Let's go," the old man declared. The trainers ignored Sunder and walked right past him, except for Jessica. She wound up and gave him a brutal kick in the ribs. "That's for Staryu!" she shouted. As he groaned and nursed the side she had kicked, Jessica went around to the other one and kicked him even harder. "And that's for Marowak! I hope you burn in the pits of hell!" The others were sure she would have stayed and killed him if Uiru hadn't lead her away.

 "We got the rocks!" Patrick shouted. The Chanseys lined up to recieve the Softboiled power. "Hang on Venonat, just a little longer!"
 They quickly but efficiently administered the stones to the Chanseys. Now that there was a hope, the Chanseys shrilled their optimistic call and began using Softboiled on the Pokémon!
 Four of them circled around Sandslash and used Softboiled. The Chanseys glowed green, then transferred the glowing energy to Sandslash. It began to breathe again!
 "Sandslash!" Uiru shouted.
 The nurse looked at it. "It's asleep," she replied happily. "It'll be fine by morning!"
 "YES!!" Uiru jumped four feet in the air. The Chanseys then turned their efforts on Geoff's Kadabra.
 "Thank you so much!" Jessica said to the old man. "You have no idea what this means to us!"
 "Don't mention it," the old man replied. "Eternal Night owes the world a lot after developing Bleak Eternal. I'm just glad I could help counter it's terrible effect."
 "Ivysaur's recovering!" Matt shouted.
 "Vaporeon!" Showers started to cry, but this time they were tears of joy.
 "Ganbare, Starmie!" Alex cheered.
 "Kingler's getting better!" Nick announced.
 The nurse beamed as her Chanseys ran from Pokémon to Pokémon. It only took one Chansey to heal the small Pokémon like Psyduck and Venonat, but more were needed when curing Marowak and the Jynxes.
 The old man addressed the nurse. "Your Chanseys will require healing after they're done treating the Pokémon."
 "Why?"
 "Softboiled isn't a recover technique, it's an energy transfer technique. Since Chanseys have such high endurance, they can use Softboiled, but not very often." He pointed at one tired Chansey. "See, this one must be rejuvinated."
 The nurse nodded. "I understand. Come here, Chansey!" The nurse healed it, and it went to use Softboiled on Omanyte.
 Soon, all the Pokémon were asleep. They looked exhausted, but otherwise okay. The Chanseys were also wiped out, but happy. They began singing their annoyingly optimistic 'Chansey' cry.
 After a little while, the nurse got everyone's attention. "Okay, you lot. If you're going to be tearing after the Flame Force tomorrow, you have to get your sleep tonight. The dorms are this way."
 "But we want to stay with our Pokémon," Patrick said.
 "They won't be waking up anytime soon, so you might as well rest," the nurse replied. "Now off to bed!"
 As they passed him, the trainers shook the old man's hand and thanked him repeatedly. He grinned. "Just glad to be of help," he would reply. The Chanseys saluted him. At the sight, he laughed.

 "Almost dead?" Booster asked. He had come to pick up Fire Strike from Ivory Lake.
 "Yeah," Nick replied, holding his Psyduck. "They're all better now, though!"
 Booster looked around the room. Venonat and Staryu were bouncing around. Growlithe and Marowak were in the loving arms of their owners. And a Kadabra high-fived a giant Kadabra. "Where'd that big Kadabra come from?" Booster asked.
 "Abra evolved," Uiru replied. "It's Fighting training has been good for it, hasn't it?"
 "Sure has," Booster said. "All right everyone, I bet you're all ripping to go after Flame Force, right?"
 "We sure are!" Allison shouted.
 "Tell me we got a mission, Booster!" Alex asked. "We're gonna blitz 'em good!"
 "We do," Booster replied. "Come with me, guys." The trainers followed him to the near-empty lounge. "We've got a mission, all right. We're gonna lay seige to the Flame Force fortress, find their boss and give him the boot."
 "Their base?" Patrick asked. "The entire PLM is gonna be there, aren't they?"
 "Sure are," Booster replied. "But I want you to know something."
 "Yeah?" Uiru asked.
 "This is gonna be dangerous," he started. "Your Pokémon have been on death's door once already, and this time you'll all be in danger. There's no guarantee you'll all come back."
 The trainers were silent.
 "So... I want you guys to think about this. You're all just kids. You've got a lot of living left to do. If you don't want to battle, just say so and you can be home by tomorrow. I won't hold it against you if you leave."
 The trainers looked around at each other. Uiru stood up. "Booster, we've fought the Flame Force this far. I, for one, am going to finish what we've started."
 "That's right!" Alex declared. "Someone's got to stop them, it might as well be us."
 "This will be the last battle, won't it? I'm not gonna miss it!" Geoff announced.
 "Besides, we owe you for saving our town," Erin added.
 "And mine," Allison spoke up.
 "I'm not gonna run away. I'm gonna show Flame Force not to mess with Bug power!" Patrick said.
 "We gotta cream them for what they did to our Pokémon," Matt stated.
 "And everybody else's," Jessica added. "They've done terrible things, and we wanna punish them for it."
 "We've done this much as a unit- no, as a team," Nick finished. "I say we go wipe Flame Force off the map as a team."
 Fire Strike cheered it's agreement.
 At this point Booster- the big strong army soldier sonofagun- had to wipe his eyes. "I knew you guys wouldn't back out. You're the best bunch of trainers I could ever hope to get stuck with." He grinned. "The PLM specifically requested Fire Strike to be one of the strike teams that infiltrate their hideout and attack from within. The higher-ups are proud of you... and so am I."
 Fire Strike was touched.
 "Hey, come on!" Uiru shouted. "There's no time to get emotional about this! We've got a job to do! What're our orders, Booster?"
 Booster laughed. "You never cease to amaze me, Uiru. All right, soldier, here's our mission! Fire Strike is gonna fly out to one of Flame Force's bases- it's called 'Ruby Torch'. After destroying Ruby Torch, we're gonna take an underground tunnel that leads straight to the Flame Force fortress. Then we find the Boss and smash him flat. Got it?"
 "Got it!" they shouted.
 "When are we leaving?" Alex asked. "Right away, I hope!"
 "Nope... The attack isn't for one week," Booster replied. "So how are we gonna kill a week?"
 "Simple," Jessica answered. "There's a lot of rare Pokémon around here, isn't there? We'll go catch some new ones!"
 Booster nodded. "Good plan. Let's head out, then!"
 As Thunders and Showers passed Booster, they clapped him on the back. "Don't worry about us," Thunders stated. "We're not letting YOU have all the glory!"
 Booster laughed. "Good to know, my friend," he replied. "Come on then, we got Pokémon to catch."

 Their Pokémon safari trip would last three days. The first Pokémon they came across was a Magmar. "It's mine," Booster declared. "Charmeleon, go!"
 Charmeleon quickly creamed Magmar. Booster caught it in a Poké Ball. "Kickass."
 Later on, a team of Scyther was discovered in a clearing.
 "Scythers are bugs! I want one!" Patrick declared.
 "I want one too!" Geoff added.
 "I get the other one!" Jessica stated.
 "I'll use my Magmar to weaken them, then you three catch them," Booster offered. The three nodded. "All right, Magmar! Fire Spin, now!"
 Magmar wrapped the three Scyther up in flame. After a second, the flame disappated. The Bug types were severely weakened by the flames, and were easily caught.
 Patrick called out his Kakuna and Metapod, and had them battle with wild Paras. It wasn't long before they evolved into Beedrill and Butterfree!
 "All right!" he shouted.
 "Hey, guys!" Nick shouted. "There's a big cave over here."
 The trainers peered down the tunnel. "Dark," Alex stated.
 "I'll use Charmeleon," Booster stated. "Come out!"
 Charmeleon's burning tail lit the way as the curious trainers headed down the tunnel. It wasn't long before they reached a huge underground lake.
 Alex gasped. "Look over there!" he pointed. "A Lapras! I want it!"
 "Hold on," Uiru inturrupted. "You've got to do this carefully. None of your Pokémon are strong on Lapras, and you'll have to weaken it considerably before a normal Poké Ball will catch it."
 "I know," Alex replied. "I've always wanted a Lapras. That's why I have this!" Alex pulled out a blue Poké Ball. "This is an Ultra Ball. Best kind of Poké Ball available. I had to order it from some faroff place called Celadon. Took forever to get here."
 "So it's guaranteed?" Allison asked.
 "It'll catch it easier. It's still not foolproof though."
 "I'll use Pikachu!" Thunders declared. "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Pikachu emerged from Thunder's Poké Ball and struck Lapras with the awesome power of Thunderbolt. It counterattacked with Ice Beam! Pikachu was frozen!
 "Ah, damn!" Thunders cursed. "Return!"
 "I'll finish it! Pikachu, go!" Uiru summoned his Pikachu. "It should we weaker now. Use Thundershock!" Again, Lapras got fried. When it shot an Ice Beam, Pikachu dodged it!
 "Return!" Uiru shouted.
 "It should be weak enough now! Ultra Ball, go!" Alex threw the Ultra Ball! Lapras was sucked inside. It bounced around for a good 20 seconds- the longest 20 seconds in Alex's life. Then, it was still. Lapras was his!
 "YES!!" Alex shouted. "I got Lapras!"
 "Hey, look over there!" Jessica pointed. "It looks like a Horsea."
 "It's so cute!" Uiru stated.
 "It looks like it's hurt," Patrick announced. "Nick, you're the Water expert. Catch it and we'll heal it."
 "All right," Nick agreed. "Poké Ball, go!" Horsea was caught! "Horseas aren't fighting Pokémon," Nick explained. "But they make really good pets. And like Uiru said, they're cute."
 "I've got some Super Potion on me," Patrick stated. "Call it out and I'll cure it."
 "Horsea, come out!" Nick shouted. Horsea appeared, and Nick caught it.
 "It's so adorable! The poor little thing," Allison said as she looked at it. "Hurry, Patrick! Cure it!"
 "All right, hang on," he said. He pulled out a potion bottle. "Here we go!" He sprayed Super Potion on Horsea's wounds.
 "I wonder what happened to it?" Showers asked.
 Thunders pointed to another part of the lagoon. "Those Magikarp over there must have been bullying it."
 "What? That's so mean!" Jessica declared. "Uiru, Thundershock those worthless fish."
 "Don't waste your time," Geoff inturrupted. "A Thunder Wave could kill one of them."
 "How do you know?" Thunders asked.
 "Because I have one. I've heard Magikarp evolve into a fearsome beast, but making them evolve is really difficult."
 "I seriously doubt it," Matt replied. "Magikarps can't even hurt their opponents. Why should they evolve into something really good?"
 "Do you know anything about it, Showers?" Erin asked.
 "Not a thing," Showers replied. "I'm more interested in Water Pokémon that learn Ice abilities."
 "I've never even seen a Magikarp before," Nick replied when asked.
 "Anyway, let's go," Booster spoke up. "There's nothing else down here worth catching."

 The next day, a sole Diglett popped it's head out of it's hole.
 "Oh, look!" Allison pointed. "It's one of those adorable Diglett things. I'll catch it! Primeape, go!"
 Primeape soundly thrashed Diglett. Before it fell unconscious, Allison caught it!
 As Allison was celebrating the capture of her sixth Pokémon, a Tangela bounced into the clearing.
 "It's a Tangela!" Matt shouted. "It's the last Grass Pokémon I need to complete my collection! Ivysaur, go! Vine Whip, now!"

 It took a few shots but at last, Matt caught Tangela. While this was going on, Erin had spotted two Poison Pokémon she didn't have- a male and female Nidoran. Ekans and Koffing quickly weakened them and Erin caught 'em.
 "There's only one place we havn't been," Geoff declared as Erin and Matt collected their winnings. "They've got a few Electric Pokémon in a cavern west of here."
 "I could use a new Electric Pokémon," Thunders said to himself.
 On the way, Uiru's Squirtle evolved into Wartortle, and Jessica's Machop evolved into Machoke. Patrick's Venonat evolved into Venomoth, and Geoff's Nidoran evolved into Nidorino.
 Two Electabuzz awaited Fire Strike when they entered the cave. Jessica summoned Marowak. "Bonemerang, now!" The dual-hitting Bonemerang struck twice- one and then the other. Marowak gave each a good shot with it's Bone Club, and they were ready to capture. Jessica and Thunders threw Poké Balls, and the Electabuzzes were theirs.
 On the way back to the Pokémon Center, a Pincir appeared on the path. It snapped it's pincir menacingly. "It's mine!" Uiru declared.
 "Wait!" Patrick shouted. "Pincir is a Bug type. Let me take it!"
 "But-"
 "You want a balanced team, right? You already have a Bug type."
 Patrick was right. Butterfree was a Bug type. "All right, you can have it."
 "Thanks! Venomoth, Butterfree, go!"
 Pincir quickly got pounded by Venomoth's PSY Beam and Butterfree's Confusion attacks. It tried to strike back with Seismic Toss, but the two flying Pokémon simply fluttered back and retaliated. Patrick had to attempt to catch Pincir three times- it was a tough one, but he eventually succeeded.
 "Now I've got all my Bug types!"
 Uiru kicked a rock. "Now I'm behind! I've still only got five."
 "Yes, but you've got Kadabra," Jessica reminded him. "That more then makes up for it, doesn't it?"
 "I guess you're right. Oh well. I'll wait until something special comes along."

 On the third day, only three Pokémon were caught. The others simply fought their Pokémon against the wild creatures to power them up. Nothing evolved, however.
 First was Geoff's sixth- a Growlithe. His Dratini made short work of the puppy Pokémon.
 Next, a rare Drowzee happened to be found on the path. Erin sent her Nidorans to battle it, and in a few moments, she had her last Pokémon.
 The last catch of the day was made by Nick. "Yeah! I caught Squirtle!" he shouted. Omanyte had given the cute turtle Pokémon a beating, and Nick had captured it. With Squirtle, Nick also had six Pokémon.
 Back at the Center, the mood was jubilant. Most of the trainers now had their six Pokémon.
 Since Uiru's Abra had evolved, the new cutie of Fire Strike was Nick's Horsea. Since being treated, Horsea seemed to be making a great recovery.
 "What kind of attacks can Horsea use?" Nick asked.
 "I thought you weren't gonna use it for fighting," Jessica reminded.
 "Not serious fighting, but it might help in a jam," he replied.
 Uiru pulled a book off a shelf. "I'll look it up," he announced. "Ah, here we go. Horsea learns Bubble, a Water attack, Smoke Screen, a very powerful Accuracy lowering maneover, Water Gun, a more powerful Water attack, Agility, a Psychic move which will increase speed, and Hydro Pump, the most powerful Water move available. Horsea may also learn moves like Bubblebeam, Take Down, Ice Beam and Double Team. When it evolves into Seadra, it can use it's razor sharp fins to Scratch and Slash the enemy."
 "But for now, all it has to do is look cute," Erin replied. "And it's doing a great job of it."
 "Hey Uiru!" Matt shouted. "What are you after for your sixth Pokémon?"
 "Get an Ice type," Alex suggested. "They're really powerful!"
 "No, get a Poison type," Erin replied. "The right one will make a powerful addition."
 "Try a Dragon type," Geoff stated. "Even though they're really rare..."
 "I don't know what I want yet," Uiru replied. "I've got Bug-Flying, Electric, Water, Ground, and Psychic. Whatever I get, won't be one of those."
 "Mebbe a Fire type?" Booster asked. "Like Flareon?"
 Uiru shrugged. "Maybe. I want something special though. Not just a regular Pokémon you can find anywhere."
 "The Pokémon around here are rare," Geoff replied.
 "I know. But everybody's already caught them. I'll know what I want when I see it."
 Booster stood up. "Okay everyone. Tomorrow we're heading back to Charteruse to prepare for the invasion. So if you've got something major to do, do it now, okay?"
 The trainers nodded.

 Jessica was in the lobby, getting a drink from the vending machine. Uiru knew now was the time to make his move.
 "Hi," he started. Not the most original pickup line in the world, but hey, it works.
 "Hey," Jessica replied. She knew what was coming, but acted like she didn't.
 "You know, tomorrow we're heading back to prepare for war, and then we'll be having one big battle after another. It's gonna go on for days."
 Jessica nodded.
 "So, I was wondering," he continued, "if before all hell breaks loose around here, you wanted to come get some dinner with me?"
 "Oh, you mean like a date?"
 "Yeah."
 "Sure. And yes, you have to pay for it."
 "Ah, damn." They passed Showers on the way out.
 "And where are you two off to?" she asked with a smile.
 "Nowhere in preticular," Uiru replied.
 "See you later," Jessica added. They headed out the door. Showers went to the lounge with the others.
 "Where'd Uiru go?" Booster was asking. "I need to talk to him about something."
 "You won't be talking to him anytime tonight," Showers replied. "I just passed him and Jessica on the way out of here."
 Thunders heard this. "Damn, man," he complained. "Jessica's the kind of girl that makes me wish I was 10 years younger."
 "Why?" Booster asked.
 "So I don't look like a perv if I ask her out," he replied.
 Showers laughed. "Yes, society looks down upon adults who ask teenagers out."
 "Quiet, you."

 At the stroke of midnight, Uiru and Jessica slipped back into the Center. The nurse caught them.
 "You two are late," she scolded. "I was just about to lock the place up."
 "Sorry," Uiru replied.
 "I hope you two weren't doing anything you shouldn't be," the nurse warned.
 "No, of course not!" Jessica answered.
 "Good. Now get to bed." The nurse herded them to the dorms. "And keep it down, your friends are all asleep."
 They climbed into bunks across from each other. "I hope you two weren't doing anything you shouldn't be," Jessica mimiced. "Geez. Who does she think we are?"
 "A pair of infatuated adolescents," came Nick's reply from a top bunk. "Reason enough to suspect you both."
 Uiru and Jessica got up and hit him. "Shut up!" they hissed.

Chapter Fourteen
 A fleet of helicopters took flight from Charteruse City. Their target- the Flame Force fortress, and surrounding bases.
  Each trainer had recieved a bag full of healing items. They contained 25 Hyper Potions, 20 Revives and 40 Full Cures. "These things cost a fortune," Booster had told them. "So don't lose them. Use them as nessessary."
 Their Pokémon had been fully healed, and given another dose of status boosters. Another squad of helis joined the main group- the Rock Brigade! Uiru saw Curtis in the chopper next to his. He waved. Curtis waved back. However, they weren't going to the same place. Rock Brigade was going to be attacking the base head on.
 After a few hours, Fire Strike pulled away from the main group. The pilot steered the chopper straight at Ruby Torch. It landed about half a mile away. Fire Strike hopped out and casually started walking towards the base.
 A small squad of Flame Force sentries ran out to stop them. Showers and Nick silently summoned their Water Pokémon and in moments the sentries were defeated.
 Ruby Torch knew that Fire Strike was coming. The gates were closed and dozens of guards appeared on the walls, their Fire Pokémon ready to fry anything that came their way.
 When they reached the base, Uiru hailed the guards with a friendly greeting. When they swore back at him, he said, "Well, if you're going to be rude about it," and summoned his Wartortle.
 Alex and Jessica called out Starmie and Staryu, and they took to flying over the Fire Pokémon and spraying them with Water Guns. From the ground, other Water Pokémon fired their hydro powers up at the sentries. When Thunders saw they were all wet, he called out Jolteon to finish them off.
 "So how are we gonna get in?" Patrick asked.
 "Watch!" Uiru replied. "Sandslash, Dig under the wall!" Uiru had planned to form a tunnel under the wall, but instead, the wall collapsed. Uiru shrugged.
 Fire Strike stormed Ruby Torch! The base was simple- a small building surrounded by a wall. The small plaza didn't allow much room for battling, so Fire Strike took out the trainers in little bunches. Uiru had his Sandslash use Rock Slide on an incoming Charizard. Staryu and Starmie flew up and attacked from the air.
 Fire Pokémon began assailing them from the roof. Nick hopped on the back of Staryu, and Showers climbed on Starmie. Both floated up to the roof and engaged their attackers.
 Down below, Machoke and Primeape began strongarming their way through the assembled ranks. Both were whupping some serious arse until a Magmar hit them with Confuse Ray, whereupon they both began fighting each other. Jessica and Allison recalled them.
 A troop of Water Pokémon appeared to deal with Sandslash and Marowak, which Jessica had just called out. Matt and Patrick unleashed their Grass and Bug Pokémon to battle them, but when a Vulpix and Growlithe attacked them, they recalled their fighters and stepped out of the way. When they were beaten, Matt sent Oddish to take care of the Water types, and after beating them senceless, it evolved into Gloom!
 Thunders sent out Magneton and Electabuzz to battle the Water Pokémon. Uiru had to recall Sandslash, but sent out Kadabra. Kadabra quickly cut a swathe straight through the Flame Force.
 Up above, two Butterfree and a Venomoth were dumping loads of Sleep Powder and Stun Spore on the enemies and their Pokémon. This tactic improved Fire Strike's position considerably.
 Erin and Geoff released their Poison Pokémon- far from Uiru's Kadabra, of course. Nidorino and Erin's five Pokémon engaged tough opponents like Rapidash and Ninetails, bringing them down with teamwork and Poisoning abilites. Geoff also sent his Dratini into battle  It used it's Thunder Wave and Wrap tactic to disable many of the Flame Force soldiers.
 It wasn't long before Booster started calling for the Flame Force's surrender. It wasn't long before they did.
 Booster released their Pokémon and told them to get the hell out of there if they knew what was good for them. Then Venomoth and it's Butterfree cohorts used Sleep Powder on all the soldiers.
 "The tunnel's in here," Booster announced. Fire Strike entered the Ruby Torch base.
 "Hey, a healing unit!" Nick declared. "We can use this to cure up our Pokémon." As the trainers ran their Pokémon through the unit, Allison made an even more important discovery. "Evolution stones!" she shouted. Although she had never seen them before, she knew these must be evolution stones. They were chunks of colored rock with the icon of their element inside them.
 "Hold it!" Booster shouted. "You have to think carefully before using evolution stones. Your Pokémon won't learn any new attacks naturally if you use a stone on them. Only evolve Pokémon that you've had for a long while."
 "Yeah," Matt agreed. "For example, I'm going to evolve my Weepinbell and Exeggcute, but not my Gloom because it just evolved and hasn't finished learning all it's attacks." Matt took three Leaf Stones, and put one in his pocket. He used the other two on his Grass Pokémon. In an instant, he had a Victreebel and an Exeggutor.
 Jessica took a Water Stone and evolved her Staryu. Alex used one on his Shellder. Showers also took one and evolved her Poliwhirl. They became Starmie, Cloyster and Poliwrath!
 Uiru took a Thunder Stone and in an instant, evolved Pikachu into a Raichu. Thunders also took one for his Pikachu, but didn't want to use it right away.
 Erin took out three Moon Stones, and handed one to Geoff. He pocketed the mystical rock. His Nidorino wasn't ready to evolve just yet. Erin's Nidorans weren't ready to evolve at all. It would be a long time before she used the Moon Stones to evolve her future Nidorino and Nidorina into Nidoking and Nidoqueen.
 Allison, Booster and Geoff weren't ready to use Fire Stones on their Growlithes, but took them anyway. When their Growlithes were finished growing, they would evolve into the formidable Arcanine- but not yet.
 Lastly, Uiru pocketed one each of the five stones. When asked why by Nick, he replied, "My sixth Pokémon might need a stone to evolve. Might as well be ready." Nick nodded.
 "All set?" Booster asked. "The tunnel's down here. Let's go!"
 Fire Strike headed down the corridor and into the tunnel. The few guards remaining down there were instantly wiped out by Alex's Starmie and Geoff's Dratini- which, by defeating an Arcanine and a Rapidash, evolved into Dragonair!
 "All right!" Geoff shouted. Dragonair was much more powerful then Dratini, and sported a sharp horn on it's head. "Now when Sunder's boss asks me for his Dratini, I won't be lying if I say I don't have it." Erin hit him. "Be sure to use it to cream them," she reminded. He nodded.

 Ruby Torch was about two miles from the Flame Force base. Booster told Fire Strike to walk, because if they tried to glory-charge the whole thing, they'd be too pooped to fight by the time they reached the end.
 "Does anyone else have the feeling that we're going down?" Jessica asked.
 "Yeah," Matt replied. "What do you think's up with this?"
 "These underground tunnels connect with the base's subterrainian levels," Booster explained. "We'll probably come out in some heavily defended sector of the base, so be careful."
 "You know, Booster, you don't have to keep telling us to be careful," Thunders stated. "We aren't idiots. We know where we are."
 "I know, it's a habit," Booster explained.
 It took a while, but they finally reached the end. An ominous door faced them.
 On three, Booster and Thunders kicked down the door. Flareon and Jolteon barged into the room, ready to nuke the place if nessessary.
 It wasn't. Someone had been here already, because the technicians were covered in String Shot and stuck to the walls.
 Patrick laughed. "Looks like someone's been creative with their Butterfree," he chuckled. "I wonder who's been here already?"
 Nick looked at the wall. "Arctic Point was here," he read. Someone had scribbled their unit's name on the wall. Nick found a large black marker and scribbled under it 'Fire Strike was here too'.
 "I wonder if Arctic Point use Ice type Pokémon?" Alex asked.
 "No," Booster replied. "Their leader probably does, but it's members can use whatever they like. Just like 'Fire Strike' only has two Fire Pokémon besides mine."
  "Arctic Point are on our side, right?" Thunders asked.
 Showers smacked him in the back of the head. "No, genius, Flame Force just decided to stick their technicians to the walls."
 "Yeah." Booster answered Thunders' question. He went over to a technician on the wall. "Tell us. Where's your boss hiding out?"
 "Top floor," he answered. There was genuine fear in his eyes.
 "Good man. I'm sure that String Shot stuff will dissolve in a few hours. I hope none of you need to use the bathroom."
 Showers laughed. "You're bad, Booster," she told him. "The stairs are this way. From the looks of them, they head straight to the top."
 "Isn't there an elevator?" Jessica asked.
 "You never take elevators in situations like this," Uiru replied. "It's way too easy to get trapped. You always take the stairs."

 After seeing the stairs, however, Uiru was quite willing to go find an elevator. They stretched around in a wide spiral, and went up so high they couldn't see the top.
 "Do we have to...?" Erin whined. "The tunnel was bad enough!"
 "We're never going to get anywhere standing down here complaining about it," Matt declared. He started up the stairs. The others followed him.
 It took two and a half hours to reach the top. Halfway there, Nick had written 'Fire Strike is Not Amused' on the wall with the marker.
 "They built these stairs like this on purpose, didn't they?" Jessica said when they were almost there.
 "Yep," Uiru replied. "Add the Flame Force architechs to the list of people we have to rip new ones."
 "Noted," Booster declared.
 "Can we take a break?" Geoff asked.
 "Where's a vending machine when you need one?" Alex asked. The young trainers of Fire Strike sat down a few steps from the large ornately carved double doors that marked the entrance to the Boss of the Flame Force's chambers.
 They sat around and complained about their situation for about ten minutes, then Booster spent another five trying to rally them to battle. When Fire Strike was finally ready to fight, they charged through the doors like a wrecking ball, ready for war.
 And found themselves in an empty room.
 "Ah damn," Uiru complained. "Now we gotta charge through that set of doors too." They were bigger and had more carvings of rare Pokémon on them. Probably twice as expensive too.
 Before they could bust through the second set of doors, it opened and a group of beaten trainers came from it. "You with the PLM?" a trainer asked.
 "Yeah. We're Fire Strike. Who are you?" Booster asked.
 "Arctic Point," the leader replied. "The Boss is in there, he's got two Dragonites and an Aerodactyl. All of them have Hyper Beam and they're rather accurate with it."
 "And it stings," a young trainer complained. "Our Pokémon have been beaten to hell. Do any of you have a Chansey?"
 Fire Strike shook their heads no.
 "I know what to do," a young woman declared. "Pidgeotto, come out!" Pidgeotto appeared next to the girl. She scribbled a short note on a scrap of paper and gave it to the Pidgeotto. "When Pidgeotto gets to our base, they'll give it a bag with some Poké Balls in it. They'll have Chanseys for us to use. They'll help cure our Pokémon." Pidgeotto took the note and flew off.
 "But that'll take time!" Alex complained. "I say we bust in there and blast the Boss before he can heal up his Pokémon. You did weaken them somewhat, didn't you?"
 "Well..." Arctic Point looked around. "They kinda blew us off the map," the young trainer replied.
 "Oh my. Anyway, let's go!" Alex declared. "We'll take care of 'em for you."
 "That's easy for you to say," Patrick replied. "You've got Ice types."
 "You're not getting scared now are you?" Nick asked.
 "TWO Dragonites. I'm not sure I wanna fight ONE. AND, an Aerodactyl."
 "Patrick's right," Showers said. "We should at least have a plan before we bust in there."
 "Listen," the leader of Arctic Point began. "The thing with Hyper Beam is, if the Pokémon doesn't faint, the user has to recharge before attacking again."
 "So we should open with Pokémon that have good defence, then sub in Ice types, and switch again?" Thunders suggested.
 "Right."
 "So, which ones should we use?"
 "Sandslash has high defence," Uiru began.
 After a quick discussion, it was decided that Sandslash, Marowak, Machoke, Cloyster, Omanyte, Kabuto and Dragonair would draw the Dragon Pokémon's fire, while Alex and Showers used their Ice type attacks. The others would distract the Dragon Pokémon and maybe the Boss as well.
 "We ready?" Allison asked.
 "Ready!" Fire Strike shouted. They summoned their first wave, and charged through the doors like a train!
 "More victims for the emergency room?" the Boss asked. "Dragonites, Aerodactyl! Hyper Beam them!"
 Sandslash and Machoke took Hyper Beams while Cloyster charged it's Aurora Beam attack. It's shell protected it from the third Beam. Sandslash and Machoke were bruised but otherwise okay.
 Lapras, Dewgong, and both Jynxes now struck with Blizzard! Cloyster opened up and fired an Aurora Beam at Aerodactyl. The dragons took heavy damage but prepared to fire their Hyper Beams again!
 Omanyte, Kabuto and Marowak blocked the next salvo of rays while Sandslash and Machoke recieved Hyper Potions. Another quadra blast of Blizzard slammed the Dragon Pokémon.
 "Damn!" the Boss shouted. "All right, show these puny fools your real power! Aerodactyl, Take Down! Dragonites, Slam Attack!"
 The three dragons blasted through the defending Pokémon and blasted the Ice types! A Dragonite started crashing against Cloyster, but with it's shell shut, it could do no damage. The other Slammed a Jynx into the wall, rendering it unconscious, then fired a Hyper Beam at Lapras.
 The other Jynx attacked Dragonite with an Ice Punch, distracting it and allowing Cloyster to strike with an Ice Beam which froze it! The Boss returned it and swore.
 "His team of Dragon Pokémon are powerful against Fire," Booster declared. "That's how he climbed to the top of the Flame Force. Nobody here uses Ice type Pokémon!"
 "Very good," the Boss declared. "Apparently I underestimated you children. However, I'll be back to settle this! Aerodactyl, come!"
 The Boss leapt on back of Aerodactyl and the giant Rock type Pokémon flew for the window. "I'll see you in hell!" he shouted.
 "He's not getting away from us!" Alex declared. "Starmie, come out! Lapras, Cloyster, Jynx, return!"
 "Can I borrow your Starmie?" Nick asked Jessica. She called it out. "All right, thanks. I'll take good care of it."
 Alex and Nick, riding on back of the Starmies, flew after the Boss.
 "All right, now what?" Allison asked.
 "Let's go down and help the main forces," Showers suggested.
 "You mean go DOWN all those stairs?" Erin shouted.
 Geoff's Poké Ball started vibrating wildly. "What the hell's wrong with Magikarp?" he asked. He called it out.
 Magikarp was flopping around and glowing! It wasn't long before it started to evolve!
 "It's not!" Matt said.
 "It is!" Uiru replied.
 Magikarp evolved into Gyarados!
 "Gyarados!" Geoff shouted. It was twenty feet long and had huge fangs in it's giant gaping maw. Gyarados looked to be the kind of Pokémon you didn't walk away from. "I knew it would become something good!"
 "We can use Gyarados to fly down to the ground," Thunders suggested.
 A commotion was heard in the other room. "What's going on out there?" Booster asked.
 A group of Flame Force soldiers burst into the room!
 "Damn!" Booster shouted. "More scum to clean up."
 "We can handle this," Uiru declared. "You guys go down and fight with the others."
 "Are you sure?" Erin asked.
 "We'll be fine!" Jessica declared. "The four of us can take them down. There's only ten of 'em."
 "Yeah, get going!" Allison shouted at them.
 "All right. Be careful!" Booster said.
 "Booster..." Thunders began.
 "Oh shut up!" Booster, Showers, Thunders, Geoff, Erin and Patrick hopped on Gyarados and flew out the window.
 "Big mistake, boy!" one of the soldiers shouted. "Now we're gonna fry you!"
 "Not likely!" Matt shouted. "Bring it on!"
 "Sandslash, Wartortle, Kadabra, go!"
 "Kabuto, Primeape, Diglett, attack!"
 "Marowak, Machoke, Haunter! I choose you!"
 Matt decided to sit back until some Water types appeared. No sence having his Pokémon faint for nothing.
 A bunch of Charmeleons, Growlithes, Rapidashes and Magmars appeared and attacked! Diglett and Sandslash caused an Earthquake which shook the entire room, and Marowak sent it's Bone Club flying through, doing major damage to everyone it hit. Primeape got in a scrap with a Charmeleon, and Wartortle began firing it's Bubblebeam at a Growlithe preparing to use Fire Spin.
 "Haunter, Hypnosis!" Jessica shouted. Haunter put three Fire Pokémon under at once. "Now use Night Shade!"
 "Try Dream Eater," Uiru suggested. "Kadabra, Psychic blast!" Several Fire Pokémon fainted.
 "What's that?" Jessica asked.
 "It's a power that will drain sleeping Pokémon's HP and add it to Haunter's," he replied.
 "Sounds useful. Machoke, Seismic Toss!" An unlucky Growlithe was thrown into a Rapidash.
 The Flame Force guards finally scored a hit. Kabuto was hit with a Flamethrower attack, and Diglett was assaulted by Growlithe's Take Down move. The Charmeleon fighting Primeape nuked it with Fire Spin.
 Kabuto weathered the attack rather well, the others had to be recalled. Kabuto reared back and launched a Hydro Pump at the enemy! Striking multiple targets, the powerful Water type attack had the Flame Force contemplating retreat.
 Haunter was attacked by three Growlithe at the same time, however, their charges and bites passed right through it. Laughing manaically, Haunter sent Night Shades all around and then put them to sleep. A Rapidash attacked Haunter with Fire Spin, but couldn't hold it. The slight damage it did was healed when Jessica had it use Dream Eater on the Growlithe.
 Sandslash was easily pounding the Magmars assailing it. It couldn't use it's Dig or Rock Slide power indoors, but that was fine- it's Slash attacks were doing quite well. Wartortle backed it up with Bubblebeams and Water Guns.
 Marowak was battling from afar, using it's Bonemerang to strike enemies at a distance and clonking anything that got too close.
 Allison's Kabuto was firing Hydro Pumps left and right until it suddenly stopped. "What's wrong Kabuto?" she asked. "You okay? Do you want a Potion?"
 All Kabuto wanted was a bit of space... to evolve! Kabuto evolved into Kabutops!
 "Wow!" Uiru shouted. "That thing is huge!"
 "Check out the blades!" Jessica added. Kabutops had two giant scythes mounted on it's arms. "I'm glad you're on our side, Allison."
 "All right Kabutops! Slash attack on... those guys!" Allison pointed, and Kabutops charged like a snowblower. The Flame Force soldiers were lucky to survive the attack. They ran!
 "All right!" Allison shouted. "Way to go Kabutops!"
 "Don't get cocky!" a voice shouted. It was Sunder, there to annoy yet again. "Electabuzz, go!"

Chapter Fifteen
 Every now and then, the Starmies would spray Aerodactyl with Water Gun, weakening it and causing it to fly lower. Eventually, about three miles from the Flame Force base, they brought it down.
 Nick and Alex charged the Boss of the Flame Force! He summoned his other Dragonite and Onix, and recalled Aerodactyl.
 "Dragonite's mine," Alex declared.
 "You can have it," Nick replied. He summoned all his Water Pokémon. Starmie lined up with them. "All right, everyone! Water Gun attack!"
 Onix got blasted with Water attacks. When it charged Nick's crew, Starmie flew up and used Counter, blocking it's path. The others kept attacking with Water Pokémon and it was all over for Onix.  Dragonite blasted Jynx with it's Hyper Beam attack, but it was still kicking... barely. Lapras roared, summoning a cloud of icy shards, which it sent straight at Dragonite! Cloyster opened up with Aurora Beam, and Dewgong used Ice Beam. Dragonite roared.
 "Dragonite... Onix... Return..." The Boss of the Flame Force fell to his knees. "Beaten by children... I can never face my troops now..."
 "You aren't going to anyway!" Alex declared. "I've had enough of you, and your Flame Force bastards! The PLM has officially kicked your ass, pal! Dewgong! Ice Beam this creep!" The Boss was frozen solid! "The Boss of the Flame Force, put on ice!" Alex announced. "There's nothing sweeter!"
 "Let's get back," Nick suggested.
 "What'll we do with him?" Alex asked. "Booster will want him."
 "I know!" Nick snapped his fingers. "There was a base not far from here. Tentacruel, come out!" The seven foot tall jellyfish appeared. "Tentacruel, there's a Pokémon Liberation Movement base about ten minutes that way." Nick pointed. "Take this frozen pop over there, okay?" Tentacruel nodded. "We're counting on you Tentacruel!" Nick and Alex recalled their Pokémon and flew to the front lines on their Starmies.

 Gyarados began lancing the Flame Force troops with Hyper Beam before they even landed. When they did, they attacked in full force!
 There happened to be a great concentration of Grass Pokémon where Gyarados landed. Erin, Patrick and Booster summoned their best Pokémon and ripped into them! Geoff called Dragonair, and it bashed up and down the enemy lines, sending soldiers flying through the air.
 When Fire types threatened the Grass and Bug types, Showers launched a full scale Water assault which stopped them cold. Thunders attacked anything that fought against them with Thunder power, frying many Flame Force Pokémon.
 It wasn't long before this part of Fire Strike cleared a path to the PLM warriors. After identifying themselves as Fire Strike, they attacked anew alongside their comrades.
 A Ninetails sent Embers flying at Matt's Grass types. Vaporeon used Mist to shield the Grass types, and responded with a superstrong Water Gun. Gyarados and Dragonair made use of their long powerful bodies to Slam everything and anything in their way.
 Patrick's Venomoth, Butterfree and Beedrill combined Poison and Psychic powers to wipe out large numbers of Grass types. After, Butterfree and Venomoth flew around dumping Sleep Powder everywhere, and Beedrill just flew around stabbing things, Poisoning many of it's targets.
 Erin's Poison Pokémon evolved after they took out a squad of Tangela. Ekans evolved into Arbok, Koffing became Weezing and Grimer turned into Muk. The Nidorans weren't set to evolve yet, but it didn't matter- they still fought valiantly alongside their evolved companions.
 Flames lanced the fighters from all directions. Showers used Vaporeon to blast many of the sources, but she needed help.
 "Miss us?" Nick asked as they landed with Fire Strike.
 "How'd it go?" Booster asked.
 "Iced him!" Alex shouted. "You hear that, Flame Force? I iced your Boss!"
 "With my help, of course," Nick added. "My Tentacruel is bringing the chilled leader to one of the PLM bases set up outside."
 "Great!" Booster declared.
 "Less gab, more fight!" Thunders shouted at them. "Jolteon, Pin Missile attack!"
 Alex and Nick redeployed their Water types and they joined the assault.

 Meanwhile, it wasn't going well against Sunder at the top of the Flame Force fortress.
 Kadabra's fatal flaw had been uncovered- it was very slow. It was defeated by Sunder's Pincir, who Vicegripped it from behind and refused to let go no matter how much Kadabra blasted it with Psychic. His Electabuzz had also taken down Kabutops and Wartortle, and his Gyarados defeated Sandslash.
 "Raichu, go!" Uiru shouted. Raichu appeared, and with a single mighty Thunderbolt sent Gyarados to dreamland.
 "Ivysaur, go!" Sunder called his Grass Pokémon, Ivysaur, to battle Raichu. Raichu shocked it but got tangled up in Vine Whip. It got slammed against the wall. Uiru recalled it.
 "Marowak, attack!" Marowak flung a Bonemerang at Ivysaur! Just to be a pain, Ivysaur used it's Vine Whips to knock the Poké Ball out of Jessica's hand! Then it got nailed by the Bonemerang. It used Mega Drain on Marowak, weakening it considerably, but was struck by the Bone's return and fainted.
 "Arcanine, attack!" Sunder shouted.
 "Marowak, can you still fight?" Jessica asked. It nodded. "All right, Marowak! Bone Club!"
 Jessica knew that Arcanine would charge immediately- and Bonemerang wouldn't work properly if the target was too close. So, she had Marowak clobber Arcanine from close range. Marowak expertly hit it between the eyes with Bone Club, then bounced away and attacked with Bonemerang. Arcanine blew fire at Marowak, but it didn't hurt it that much, and Marowak beat it into a coma with Bone Club. "Damn! Return! Rhydon, attack!"
 "It's a Rock type, so Bonemerang's effective on this one too!" Matt shouted.
 "You heard him!" Jessica shouted. "Bonemerang!"
 Rhydon actually caught the bone! Jessica gasped. "How did it do that?" she asked.
 Throwing it aside, it attacked with Skull Bash! Marowak flew across the room, landing at Jessica's feet.
 Sunder laughed. "Rhydon! Horn Drill attack!"
 From across the room, Rhydon prepared it's devistating attack.
 "Horn Drill will kill Marowak!" Matt shouted. "Call it back, quick!"
 "I dropped the Poké Ball!" Jessica replied.
 "It's over here!" Allison shouted. "I'll get it!"
 "Now, Rhydon!" Sunder bellowed. "Destroy that puny Pokémon!" Rhydon lowered it's head, and the large sharp spike on it's head shone. It charged!
 Allison was too far away. Rhydon was coming in fast. Jessica jumped in front of Marowak! "No way!" she shouted. "You've done enough to Marowak!"
 "Get out of the way you damn fool!" Allison screamed.
 Jessica was violently shoved to the side!
 There was a sound of something cracking, and a loud cry of pain. Jessica looked up...
 ...and saw Rhydon's horn running through Uiru's lower torso.

 Rhydon knew what had just happened. It flung it's head up, sending Uiru flying through the air like a rag doll. He crashed to the floor.
 "Uiru!" Jessica screamed. She and Allison scrambled over to him.
 Matt's hands were on his Poké Balls in an instant. Summoning all six of his Pokémon, he gave them a simple order: "KILL THAT SON OF A BITCH!!!" Rhydon was taken down almost instantly, and Sunder was beaten and sliced up seconds later. "Wait!" Matt shouted. He grabbed Sunder by the collar. "You're gonna die slowly, you bastard!"
 "Uiru!" Allison shouted. "Uiru! Come on dammit, answer me!"
 "Unn... Jessica..." Uiru asked.
 "What'd you do that for? You didn't have to protect me..."
 "Yes... I did..."
 Jessica turned to Allison. "Go out and tell Arctic Point what happened. See if those Chanseys are here yet." Allison nodded and took off. "Oh, Uiru... Don't you dare die on me, do you hear me?"
 With a huge kick to the chest, Sunder was sent through the window and, well, it was a long way to the ground. Luckily for him, Booster couldn't tell if it was Uiru or Matt, so he sent Gyarados up to catch him. When he reached the ground, though, he was promptly arrested.
 Matt ran to Uiru. "Damn, man," was all he could say.
 "Uiru... Please don't die..." A sob shot through her.
 "Hey... Don't cry..." Uiru asked.
 "Shh... Save your strength!"
 Allison came into the room, four Chanseys following her. "How can these Chanseys help Uiru?" she asked.
 Matt snapped his fingers. "I know!" He pulled out a bunch of blue pellets. "Come here Chanseys, you're about to learn Softboiled!"
 "But that's a Pokémon cure! Will it even work on Uiru?" Allison asked.
 "It's worth a try!" Matt declared. Matt used the blue stones on the Chanseys. They surrounded Uiru and began passing their energy into him!
 After a moment, they began to get results. "Look!" Matt pointed. "The wound is closing!"
 A helicopter suddenly hovered into view outside the window. "Where's Uiru?" Booster shouted.  "Over here!" Allison shouted. "The Chanseys helped him a bit, but he still needs a doctor."  Thunders and Showers put Uiru on a stretcher and brought him to the helicopter. Jessica, Matt and Allison jumped in after them. The Chanseys waved.
 "How'd you know?" Matt asked Booster.
 "Sunder told me Uiru was dead," Booster replied. "Apparently, he was wrong, thank God."
 "Damn," Thunders said, pointing at the partially closed wound. "What happened?"
 "Sunder's Rhydon was gonna use Horn Drill on Marowak," Matt began. "Jessica had dropped Marowak's Poké Ball earlier, so she couldn't recall it."
 "She jumped in front of Marowak, protecting it," Allison continued. "But Uiru pushed her out of the way."
 Showers gasped. "Uiru got hit by a Rhydon's Horn Drill?" she asked.
 "If the wound was any higher, I'd say he'd be gone by now," Booster said. "We're on our way to the PLM hospital. They'll be able to fix Uiru up and get him back to Sapphire- it's closer."
 "Oh, in case you're wondering, we won," Thunders told the others. "The PLM is defeating the last of the Flame Force. We've defrosted and arrested the Leader, thanks to Nick and Alex."
 "Great," Matt said.

 Over the next few days, hundreds of Pokémon were released and told to go as far away as they could go. The Flame Force was destroyed, and most of their members were in jail. The last time anyone had seen the two Dragonites and Aerodactyl that the Boss had owned, they were flying over the ocean to uncharterd territory.
 At the Sapphire City hospital, the procedure had gone well. Uiru would be fine in a couple of days. When Fire Strike finally got in to see him, he was just waking up.
 "Hey..." he greeted quietly. "How'd we do after?"
 "We creamed them," Booster replied. "How are you feeling, Uiru?"
 "Slightly better," he answered. "My shoulder kinda hurts. I think I hit the floor at the wrong angle."
 The trainers couldn't help but grin. Even in his current beat-up state, Uiru still made liberal use of understatement and sarcasm.
 "That was really brave," Allison spoke up. "I don't know if I could face a Rhydon like that."
 "Well, there's a fine line between courage and stupidity," Uiru answered. "But Jessica's fine and I'll eventually be better. So it wasn't that dumb."
 "Your Pokémon are worried about you," Matt told him. They had been removed before Uiru had been admitted into the hospital. Matt was holding on to them. "But I think they know you'll be fine soon."
 "They flipped out when we told them what happened," Geoff added. "If Matt hadn't practically destroyed Rhydon already, I'm pretty sure they would have."
 "That was a pretty good kick you gave Sunder," Allison said to Matt.
 "Yeah. Why'd you go and save him?" Matt asked Booster. "He's been nothing but trouble."
 "I couldn't tell if it was one of you guys," Booster admitted. "If I did, though, I probably would have caught him anyway. He's not happy where he is now, believe me."
 Erin went over to Jessica. "Don't you have anything to say to Uiru?" she asked quietly.
 "Yeah..." she answered. "Just... give me a minute."
 Erin nodded. She then whispered to Booster, "I think we should leave them alone for a while."
 Booster nodded. In a few seconds, he had silently emptied the room. Jessica only noticed the room was empty when the door clicked shut. "Oh..."
 "Hey," Uiru said when she turned to him. "Marowak's fine, isn't it?"
 "Yeah," she replied. "Uiru..."
 "Yes...?"
 "I just wanted- I just wanted to say... thank you," she quietly told him. "And, I'm sorry I caused you to be in the hospital."
 "That's all right," Uiru replied. "You love your Pokémon so you wanted to protect it, right?" She nodded. "And... I wanted to protect you. Because..."
 He didn't have to finish. Mindful of his wounded side, she leaned over and hugged him. "Uiru... You are the most hopeless romantic I've ever met," she grinned.
 Uiru felt a warm wetness on his face. "Hey... I thought I asked you not to cry."
 "Sorry... I'm just happy you're going to be all right."
 She looked at Uiru for a moment, then closed her eyes and kissed him.