Chapter 4 - Evil's new ring: "We're Team Rocket"

"Are we there yet?" Sarah asked, tiredly keeping up with the boys.

"No. We still got ways to go," Avon said, leading the way.

"Are you sure we're not lost?!"

"Yep, I'm po..." Avon stopped, smirking, "Hmm..." a glint appeared in one of his eye, "It appears we may have taken a wrong turn somewhere..."

Sarah panicked, screaming as she heard the news. "We're lost! We're lost!" she cried.

Avon laughed at Sarah's reaction. Marcus wasn't phased by the scare Avon was trying to pull, for he had seen the glint in his eye as he was about to lay down the "bad news" to Sarah. Sarah noticed Avon laughing, realizing she had been duped. "I was just f***in' around... Sheesh, lighten up..."

Avon turned around to lead again, giving Sarah an open shot to the back of Avon's head. With the target in sight, Sarah connected a fist to the invisible target, managing to knock a lump right on the bullseye. "Don't do that! I hate it here! I wish I could've gone some other route!"

"If you really wished that, you'd probably taken Diglett's cave to Vermilion City, then have to scale up the mountains to Cerulean to Mt. Moon, and then go through there to get to Pewter City. So trust me on this one, it'll be very time consuming if you took that route."

"How do you know all of this?" Marcus asked, surprised of Avon's keen knowledge of the region.

"I have a map of Kanto carved into the back of my brain..." Avon said, turning to Marcus, and smiling proudly. As he turned around, a green caterpillar Pokémon smacked him in the face, much like the Weedle did hours ago. "Oh dear God, again!" Avon shouted, as he hit the ground like he did before. He was left in the same state, as last time, as the green, large eyed caterpillar Pokémon crawled off his face.

The Pokémon, unlike the Weedle, had a red fork-shaped feeler on the top of it's head instead of a pointed stinger. It's field of vision caught sight of Sarah, who's eyes nearly bugged out at Avon's encounter of the bug. However, something about Sarah just drew the little bug toward her; and due to her fear of bugs, she screamed, flailing her arms about as she ran away from the bug.

Sarah screamed and ran like hell was an inch away. She ran back into the bushes and the thick of the forest and was soon out of sight. The little bug Pokémon stood stationary, eyes glued to where she ran, waiting for her to come back. Marcus turned to the very bush that the caterpillar Pokémon was looking at, seeing how long it'd be before Sarah came running back. Five seconds, Marcus counted. He could hear her screaming her lungs out on the way back too.

As she jumped out of the bushes, being careful to avoid squishing the bug (after all, the sight of a dead worm was worse to her than a live one), she crashed into Marcus. Sara fell over as a result of crashing into him but Marcus barely even budge, probably because he was physically tougher than her and could stand being run into without being thrown off balance too much. The bug Pokémon crawled over to Sarah as she recovered, kicking away from it.

"St-stay back!" she stammered, outstretching her hands to warn the bug to keep away. "Stay back!!" she shouted, even louder. The bug Pokémon, oblivious to Sarah's desperate cries, kept crawling closer and had rubbed it's head affectionately on her leg. Sarah turned up her head, feeling faint and completely grossed out. "This... is just too much..." she muttered, turning blue and shivering violently.

"It's a Caterpie," Marcus observed, doing nothing to stop the bug Pokémon. He could admit, he was getting a bit of a kick out of it, himself. "And from the looks of it, he really likes you."

"Odd, because I don't like it..." Sarah muttered, shivering violently. She screamed again, hoping it would startle the creature and scare it away. It wasn't working and was only making her scream even more.

By that time around, Avon had recovered from the shock of the second bug Pokémon to attack his face that day. He saw how scared Sarah was to the Bug Pokémon and was getting annoyed of having to hear her scream. He approached the two, bug Pokémon and terrified trainer, with one of his most bored faces he could possibly make. Avon then pulled out a Pokéball, hovered it over the Caterpie and dropped it.

The Pokéball tapped on the head of the bug, turned it transparent and then absorbed it's being into the Pokéball. It shook three times and then made a "click" sound, as the Caterpie was caught. Sarah realized that Avon had captured the Caterpie and then scurried and kicked as far as she could from the Pokéball, taking refuge behind Avon.

"Great. You caught it! Now leave it there and let's get outta here!" Sarah yelled.

Avon, instead of following Sarah's words, instead picked up the ball and tossed it up and down in his hand. "No, I think I'll take this little guy with me."

"Why?! It's creepy and gross! And it doesn't even evolve into anything good!"

"Well, ya never know? I could use it for something; or just to scare the crap outta ya, for kicks."

Sarah backed away from Avon, as if he was suddenly turning traitor on him and ready to attack her. "Yo-you wouldn't!"

"Well, considering that you had your Beautifly string shot me, how about I just return the favor then?" Avon asked. He called out his new partner, Caterpie.

"Eek!" she squeaked, "D-don't even think about it!" Sarah's pitch hit a new time high, at least in Avon's terms. He was going to enjoy this.

"Relax. I'm no perv, as you think I am. I'm just going to take my revenge, savor the moment and then let you go. Promise. Caterpie, String Shot."

Sarah reached desperately for her ball, but for some reason, couldn't find it on her belt. It was definitely there, but for some reason, the little Caterpie was faster in letting loose his attack. The attack; the little Caterpie shot a barrage of strings from it's mouth, which wrap Sarah up in a bind of some sort. From her mouth down to her ankles aside from her hands, she was wrapped up in the silky thread, both bound and gagged with the larger quantities of threading. Trying to struggle out, she fell back and pulled herself up to a sitting position the best she could.

Caterpie looked at its trainer and Avon nodded "yes," to it's silent request. It crawled toward Sarah's side and happily rubbed alongside her leg. As she had despised crawling bugs, she made a small attempt to crawl away but then ended up falling over on her front, unable to start crawling like the very caterpillar that was bonding with her leg. Defeated and unable to move, Sarah closed her eyes and waited for it to be over.

"Well, we mind as well rest, as I savor the moment..." Avon said, sitting down, back against a tree as he watched Sarah's pain and, as he said, savored the moment.

*********

A good minute and a half passed before Avon was finished savoring the moment. As much as he loved to see Sarah in pain and one of his Pokémon happy as a clam, Avon had to get to Pewter city to complete the league. With that in mind Avon rose up from his spot, ready to go.

"Okay, Caterpie, time to say g'bye..." Avon said.

Upon hearing that, Caterpie looked back at Avon, with his large, sad eyes appearing to water as he crawled back to his master. Avon sighed and silently apologized as he recalled his Caterpie back into his ball, but if he didn't lose him the next time they met, he'll give Caterpie another shot. For now, they had to continue their journey.

"Marcus, call out Charmander, to get her out of there, so we can move on."

"Right." Marcus said. He called out his Charmander, "Charmander, use scratch."

Charmander cut and slashed at the webbing that binded Sarah released her. Charmander didn't cut Sarah completely through, but enough for her to break out on her own to free herself. However, as she got out, she had had enough.

"Ugh! I've had enough of this place, already! Bugs! Perverts! I'm sick of it all! I just want to get to Pewter city!" she shouted, exasperated of all the events that happened to her so far.

"I don't know what's the deal with you girls and bugs," Marcus said, "They're not too bad."

"And you boys with bugs. How can you stand them?!" Sarah replied, "They're icky and gross and just..." Sarah groaned in frustration, "I just want to get out of here as quickly as possible!"

As she stormed around, Marcus's Charmander caught her eye. As she saw it, a glint of her own had appeared in both of her eyes as she had gotten a mischievous plot; one that would effectively clear their way and take care of the bugs, once and for all.

"That's it!" she shouted, "Marcus! Get your Charmander to Flamethrower our way outta here!"

"What?!" both boys asked, shocked.

"Wouldn't that both A. Burn down the natural habitat," Avon explained, "and B. Put us all in danger?"

"I don't care anymore! I just want out of this place! I'm sick of looking at it! I can't stand it anymore!"

"Who died and made you ruler?" Marcus asked, recalling Charmander, "And besides, the answer's no. One, I'd like to get through this forest alive, thank you very much. And two, Charmander doesn't have the energy to fight our way through this forest."

"Oh, it's nothing a little pushing can't do to motivate him. Come on! Do it!"

Avon turned Sarah around and made her look into his eyes, showing how serious he was. "Listen, you, I've put up with enough of your nonsense. I could take the hits, the binding and the pervert comments but now you're just losing your mind! Come to your senses, or we'll leave you here."

Sarah broke the grip Avon had on her, starting to get paranoid. "Oh no. You're not leaving me here. You're getting me outta here! I'm not staying here a minute longer!"

Avon backed away, closer to Marcus. The guys realized now Sarah wasn't playing around; and Avon was sure that Marcus wasn't going to raise a fist to her. So, as usual, he did the next best thing apart from using brute force to solve their problems.

"Hey, Sarah!" Avon shouted, to catch her attention. As she looked, she kicked up some dirt, creating a smokescreen, as some of the dirt got in her eyes, "Let's get outta here!"

"Right!" Marcus agreed.

The two boys hurried out of the woods as fast as their legs could take them, Sarah merely feet away after getting the up drafted dirt in her eyes. She was angry, crazy and the boys didn't even want to know what would happen if she caught up with them. Thankfully, for Avon and Marcus, that burst of speed that Sarah had didn't last her too long and the boys found themselves able to outrun the girl.

The chase only lasted a few seconds more before Avon and Marcus finally lost her. However, in the process, they got to the exit of the natural labyrinth. Though, before the two could celebrate, they found their collars being hoisted up and their feet off the ground. Sarah had caught up and caught them, but before she could strangle or kick their teeth in, or whatever she had planned for them, she noticed the exit and her eyes light up like the full moon as she saw it. Overjoyed to finally be out of the Viridian forest, Sarah released the boys and jumped up, kicking her heels in happiness.

"Yahoo!" she shouted, "I'm finally out! Good-bye bug-infested forest! I'll never see you again!" And with that happy note, she ran out through the forest to Pewter city.

Avon sighed in heavy relief. "Finally, we lost her..." Avon said, greatly relieved.

"And hey, we even got out of the forest! Now, we can finally rest and get our team healed up!" Marcus said, also relieved.

Avon finally felt that things were going right, and he had a good feeling that this would last long. He stood upright and took in a deep breath. "And away..." Avon said, prepared to take another step, "we g-"

"Not so fast!" shouted two voices from the shadows.

"Oh come on..." Avon said, annoyed. The good feeling he had was now gone.

The brush along sides of the exit to Viridian Forest shuffled as two silhouettes rushed out of them and block their path. They then stood straight up, back to back to each other as the sunlight hit them and revealed themselves to the boys. Both were in black with large red "R"s on their shirts, showing themselves to be some sort of organization. The one on the left being a woman with short, vibrant purple hair, the strands straying off opposite to the direction she was standing in. The man's hair was even shorter, but like the lady's, was straying off opposite to the direction he was standing in. For some reason, Avon could sense that this scene had the word "Cliché" written all over it, but he had no idea where he had seen or heard of this before.

"Prepare for trouble..." said the woman on the left.

"And make it double..." said the man on the right.

"To infect the world with devastation!"

"To blight all people in every nation!"

"To pronounce the goodness of truth and love!"

"To extend our wrath to the stars above!"

"Kimmie!" said the woman, changing her pose by dropping one of her arms and placing her other hand on her hip.

"Chuck!" said the man, changing his pose with a pivot of his foot and a cross of his arms, to turn his back on Kimmie, though still keep eye contact with the boys.

"We're Team Rocket, circling earth all day and night!"

"So, surrender to us now or you'll surely lose this fight!"

As soon as they finished, a Pokéball opened up, on Kimmie's side. Out came a red carp-like Pokémon, which flailed about the ground, uselessly. As it does, Avon and Marcus make faces of ridicule, for the dramatic atmosphere they were trying to create was shattered in an instant.

"So much for a dramatic first impression..." Avon said, raising an eyebrow in the ridicule.

"You said it..." Marcus said, following Avon's example.

"Ugh... Curse you, Magikarp..." Kimmie groaned as she recalled the useless Pokémon back to it's Pokéball. After doing such, she took a small step forward. "Anyways, kiddies, here's the deal. Hand over all your Pokémon and we'll leave you alone."

"You guys really think that we, two random kids, whom just started their Pokémon journey, no less than a day, would hand our Pokémon over to some adults in black uniforms?" Marcus asked, still in ridicule but in a more serious tone.

Chuck took a small step forward, opposite to Kimmie's, though keeping his stature. "Yes, because if you don't, we'll take them from you. And you wouldn't like that, now would you? It'd be best to just hand them over to us, rather than having us taking it from you."

"I hope you guys brought your wallets. You'll need quite a sum, if I'm going to sell them to you." Avon said. The evil duo blinked, but their faces turning ever fiercer as they continued.

"I think you misinterpreted our words." Kimmie said, getting annoyed and twisting her face in disgust. "We'll repeat them for you, so you can understand. We're not here to buy your Pokémon off of you. We want them for free. No bargain. No reward. You get Zip. Nada. Squat. Hand them over. Now."

"Or what?" Avon asked, getting smug. "I wasn't going to sell them to you guys anyway."

The two members in black looked at each other with disgust, though their faces showing a great deal of anger. They faced each other, mainly to discuss their feelings to one another.

"This kid's pissin' me off," Chuck said to his partner.

"Well, we tried askin' nicely. Guess we'll have to take it from them..." Kimmie said. They both grinned devilishly, as they turned to Avon and Marcus. Avon realized all his joking finally got them in trouble and with that recognition, turned serious.

"Looks like we'll have to battle," Avon said sternly.

"But, apart from Caterpie, our Pokémon are still tired," Marcus reminded.

"Crap, you're right. Well, can't you fight them off?"

"I'm still feelin' it from socking Jason in the face earlier. He has a rock head. Hard to tell when you're not punchin' him."

"Last chance. Give us all your Pokémon or else." Chuck warned.

"Well, it's either now or never. We'll have to press our Pokémon's abilities, in order to keep them..."

The two boys looked toward the members in black, as they, too, took out Pokéballs of their own.

"Oh? Is this a challenge? Fine, you little brats asked for it! Poochyena! Go!" Kimmie cried out.

"Delibird! Let's go!" Chuck cried out as well.

Kimmie called out a small, gray dog-like Pokémon, with a black face. It made an endearing look, as it glared at Avon and Marcus with it's yellow eyes. Chuck called out a red and white feathered bird, with a bag-like tail. It had one of it's stubby, seemingly featherless wings hold it's bag-like tail, while the other wing keep it slightly in the air.

Avon and Marcus called out their Pokémon they acquired from Oak; Marcus's Charmander and Avon's Bulbasaur.

"I know you guys are tired, but try to tough it out. Your future ownership is at stake." Avon said, trying to motivate his Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur swayed a bit, slightly delirious from fighting Sarah's Beautifly. Charmander was the same way from fighting Jason's Wartortle.

"Haha-haha!" Kimmie laughed, "This is hardly worth the challenge! Poochyena! Bite attack!"

"Delibird, Present!" Chuck commanded, feeling quite confident.

Poochyena howled before attacking and then charged toward Charmander and chomped down on it's belly. After being released, Charmander fell back into a sitting position, defeated. Meanwhile, Delibird threw out small orbs of flickering light from it's bag-like tail which explode on contact with Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur plopped down, defeated as well.

"Ugh..." Avon groaned, "We're screwed, if we can't fight them off..." He recalled his Bulbasaur, then swapping it in for Caterpie, "Looks like it's all yours Caterpie."

"Munchlax, you'll have to do," Marcus said, calling out his weakened Munchlax.

"Ha! Bite again, Poochyena!" Kimmie firmly commanded, as she pointed to the Munchlax.

"Delibird! Present again!" Chuck commanded, as he pointed to Caterpie.

"Caterpie! String shot attack!" Avon shouted his command.

"Munchlax, yawn!" Marcus said, uneasily. He wasn't too confident, due to Munchlax's condition.

Munchlax pulled itself up and lulled a huge yawn bubble toward Poochyena, as it howled before attacking it, however the howl was cut short by the pop of the Yawn bubble that was formed by Munchlax. Poochyena started to stumble after having been hit by the bubble, feeling drowsy. However, it shook it off for a moment, charged for the attack and biting down on Munchlax's stomach, much like Charmander, and defeating it.

Caterpie attacked by bounding the two opposing Pokémon up with its string shot attack, slowing their movements with gooey string. However, Delibird still managed to take out it's orbs of Present and throw them at Caterpie, which also explode on contact. Caterpie straightened itself on the ground, unable to move.

"Any other takers, or do you believe our power is real now?" Kimmie asked, feeling quite smug.

Avon and Marcus gritted their teeth as they growled in frustration. They were both out of Pokémon and clearly outmatched due to the situation. The situation seemed hopeless, until...

"Nincada! Sand attack!" shouted a voice, from behind them. The two boys looked to see who it was, being that the voice was familiar; though ducked for cover as they avoided the large amount of sand hurled toward them, the sand missing them intentionally, aimed for the stringed up Delibird and Poochyena. The sand hit both Delibird and Poochyena, blinding them and getting in their eyes.

The boys recognized the voice, it coming from the inspiring new trainer, Jimmy, who's Nincada had kicked up sand to break up the action. Avon and Marcus recalled their Pokémon, letting Jimmy handle the situation.

"Oh, what a cute little kid!" Kimmie said, sarcastically. "You're here to donate your Pokémon to us, right?"

"Wrong! I'm here to fight you! Prepare yourself!" Jimmy said, firmly. He pointed to the two opposing Pokémon, "Nincada! Leech Life on Poochyena!"

Nincada latched onto a drowsy Poochyena's back and placed it's two antenna mouths on it, draining the life force out of it. Feeling the pain, Poochyena started to panic and run around as it was taking damage.

"Poochyena! What are you doing! Throw it off of you and use bite!"

"Then, Delibird, while it's up in the air! Use Present again!" Chuck commanded.

Poochyena stopped, abruptly, throwing Nincada off. When it hit the ground and attempted to recover, Poochyena closed in, crunched onto him and then tossed it up into the air for an attack from Delibird's Present orbs. The orbs hit though instead of causing damage, they instead restored it's injuries. It landed, safely, back on it's feet.

"Dammit, Chuck! They recovered!" Kimmie scolded, "Argh! I'll have to do everything myself!" Poochyena, however, yawned as Kimmie was about to make her next command, "Poochyena, us-" Poochyena then plopped down and fell asleep on the battlefield, "Argh! Poochyena! Get up, you stupid dog!"

"Thank that yawn. Jimmy! Attack it, now!" Marcus said, advising Jimmy.

"Alright! Nincada! Use Leech life again!" Nincada jumped onto Poochyena again and continued using Leech life. As it was about to finish him, Kimmie called it back.

"Argh..." she grumbled, "I mind as well rely on Magikarp."

"And now, for Delibird! Fury Swipes!"

"Delibird! Present again!" Chuck commanded.

Delibird reached into it's bag-like tail though before it could pull out any present orbs, two claws of brown slashed at it, in a furious combination. Kimmie and Chuck were getting anxious. Their prize was getting away.

"Fine! Magikarp! Show me you're not worthless!" Kimmie said, calling out her carp Pokémon again.

Delibird rose up, after taking many hits from consecutive damage from the fury swipes attack, gritting it's beak in endurance. Jimmy was pretty confident he'd win now.

"Alright, Nincada! Fury Swipes! One more time!"

"Magikarp! Tackle!" Kimmie commanded, in a last ditch effort. Nincada had raised it's claw to scratch at Delibird again, though looked to it's right to be smacked away by the full-body tackle of two big pink lips of the Magikarp Kimmie sent out. The Magikarp's attack power was weak, so Nincada managed to shrug off the damage.

"Alright! Nice stall there, Kimmie! Now, Present again!" Chuck said, clenching his fist with power. Delibird threw out it's present orbs as they explode on contact with Nincada. It showed signs of injury, that time.

"And now, Magikarp. Finish this with Tackle again!"

Nincada was, once again, attacked by the full-body attack and knocked back and flattened on the ground, defeated. Jimmy was even surprised.

"Ugh..." Jimmy choked. He sighed then picking up his Nincada. "Sorry guys, I tried..."

He hurried past the two members in black, finding an opening through their two-man barricade and rushing to the Pokémon center. The two in black were shocked as he just ran past them, Kimmie turning around to chase after him a bit. After a few steps, and angry shouting, she turned back to the two boys.

"Coward! We'll get him later..." Kimmie swore. She then turned to the boys, with a creepy smile, "Now, will you generously hand over your Pokémon, before we get angry?"

The two boys smacked their heads, realizing that by watching Jimmy, they let their own attempt of escape get away. They sighed and, without a choice, placed down their Pokéballs in front of the Rocket members and backed away.

"That's right... Know when you're licked," Chuck said, as he recovered the boys' Pokémon, "Now, as we promised, we'll leave you be."

Kimmie winked. "Chao!"

The two members in black recalled their Pokémon and took off into Pewter, heading east of the town to make their escape.

"Come on! We have to catch them!" Marcus said.

"But, how are we going to fight them?" Avon asked.

"I'll see what I can do... Just come on, before they get away!"

The two boys hurried to catch up with the bandits. However, they were fast and even Marcus, who was more physically fit than Avon, couldn't keep up with these seemingly athletic criminals. The criminals kicked up their running a notch and, running at top speed, was losing sight of the boys. The two boys, sore but tired, stopped and watched the bandits disappear down the road. They got away.

"Ugh..." Avon exhaled out of breath, "We couldn't catch them... All that work, through Viridian Forest... We couldn't save them..."

"Damn..." Marcus gasped, also out of breath, "Munchlax... I'm sorry..."

Avon and Marcus nodded at each other. Neither of them knew either one of them was to blame, but nothing could be done. Sore, tired and robbed, the two headed to the Pokémon center, defeated. Maybe, if they were lucky, the police could get back their stolen Pokémon tomorrow.

*************

Night quickly came as the bandits reached a safe place, away from civilization and hoarding their stolen Pokémon in their arms. They were happy as clams, for this was their first haul and their successful one, at that. Life was good.

"Heheheh," Chuck chuckled, "Great idea robbing those two trainers of their Pokémon. I'd say this has to be our great first job together."

"And many more to come, my dear Chuck," Kimmie said, "Many more to come."

As they dilly-dallied with their haul footsteps approached the two as a man, shaded in darkness, appeared before them. He was wearing a brown trench coat and some sort of mask to keep his face from being revealed. The two bandits looked up to him, giving him death glares.

"Well, what the hell do you want, punk?!" Chuck asked.

"Yeah! If you're apart of Team Rocket, butt out! This is our haul!"

"I believe you're to be returning those Pokémon to their rightful trainers," said the man in the trench coat.

"Yeah? And what are you going to do about it?" Kimmie asked.

The man unsheathed one of his swords from his trench coat. The two bandits' expressions changed from anger to fear, as the moonlight flickered from the shining edge of the sword. Wet patches formed on Chuck's pants and Kimmie's skirt as they wet themselves from fear; as the two couldn't take their eyes off the blade.

"You had to ask..." Chuck said, subtly.

**************

The next morning, the two boys awoke to a very sudden surprise. As they attempted to sleep in, needing little reason to get up early in the morning, the Nurse burst into their bunkroom, very suddenly, from the surprise of her own.

"Avon! Marcus!" the Nurse cried. "Come quick! Someone brought your Pokémon back!"

The two boys arose from their bunks, Avon clunking his head on the top bunk, from the shock of the news. The Nurse was the only one who the boys informed on the crime of losing their Pokémon, being that they were too lazy to get up and phone the police about the incident. They cared but they were too bitter about losing their teams in the first place to have the guts to actually tell someone immediately.

"What?!" Marcus shouted, springing from his bunk.

"D'oh! What?!" Avon shouted, first bumping his head once springing from his bottom bunk.

The boys quickly dressed and then hurried out into the hallways of the Pokémon center and to the front desk where Nurse Joy had received a box. The box was opened and it had four Pokéballs inside, each supposedly having a Pokémon in each of them inside.

"Seriously?!" Avon asked, very surprised to have his Pokémon back, as he took them off the tray. He then rubbed one of them onto his cheek, and then kissed the other one.

"There was a note attached to it. And Marcus..." the Nurse said, handing Marcus a piece of paper, with his name on it, "it's for you."

Marcus took the note and flipped it open. He was shocked to find out the person that returned them, as it was the last person he expected.

"Nightmare..." Marcus said.

"Nightmare?" Avon asked, surprised to hear about who had done it. "It couldn't have been him."

"Listen to what it says." Marcus began reading the note aloud, "'Although we're enemies, I'd rather be the one to take you out. I've done you the favor of rescuing you and your chicken's teams. Don't expect me to do it again, though.
-Nightmare.'"

"Ugh..." Avon groaned, "What a harsh way to do us a favor..."

"Well, regardless, we got our team back." Marcus said, however he seemed to have gotten a bit suspicious, himself. "Though, just to be sure... Call out your Pokémon."

The two boys threw up their Pokéballs, calling out their respected Pokémon from before they were stolen. A Charmander, Bulbasaur, Munchlax and Caterpie were all called out. It was hard to believe but it was the truth; Nightmare did help them out.

"Well, I guess he wasn't pulling our legs..." Avon said, relieved.

"They should be all healed up after resting all night," Nurse Joy added, "You can use them for battle today, if you wish."

"Thanks. Then, for starters, we should go for the gym here in Pewter city!" Avon said.

"Already?" Marcus raised an eyebrow, "We still got time, you know. What's the rush?"

"Well, it's true we did just get them back. But then, it would be a waste if we didn't get back to training to beat the gym here. After all, we need to get to the Pokémon league."

"Very well, I suppose." Marcus nodded. "How about a sparing match, one-on-one battle, to get everyone back on their feet?"

"Hey, I'm up for that!" Avon said. However, his stomach started to growl and his bladder appeared to have been bothering him. "But first, breakfast and the bathroom. Can't battle on an empty stomach and full bladder."

"Seconded on that." Marcus said. They recalled their Pokémon and hurried to the nearest bathroom.

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