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A Master in the Making: Part 6: Prepare for Trouble....

by Seth Bowman (jediseth@hotmail.com)  Yes, I'm bringing Team Rocket into my stories. No I'm not bringing in their motto, since these stories are not going to have Jessy and James in them. 

    Viridian City!  It was a very busy city, due to its proximity to the Indigo Stadium and the recent League Games there.  Zeth was having trouble finding his way to the large city's pokémon center.  He passed a large construction site, then turned down a side street.  [Finally!] Zeth thought, spotting the center at the end of the street.  As he passed an alley, he spotted something unusual out of the corner of his eye.  [Was that what I thought it was?]  He took a quick peek around the corner and confirmed his suspicions.  There, behind a dumpster, two figures in black were mugging someone.  Their Scyther menaced the victim with its sharp blades.  [That guy needs help... and I'm the only one around!]  The people in black didn't appear to be carrying any weapons, so Zeth decided to take a chance.  [I hope I don't regret this!]  He stepped out into the alley.  "Hey, you, let than man go!"  The figures turned toward him, and Zeth noticed a red "R" stitched on the front of each of their shirts.  They looked surprised to see him, but they regained their composure quickly.

    "Kid, you're messing with the wrong people!" said the first one, a woman with long, black hair.  "We're from Team Rocket, and you are in BIG trouble."  Her partner, a young man with spiky brown hair, nodded.  "Hand over your money and pokéballs, and you won't get hurt!"

    "I'm not handing over anything." Zeth replied, pulling out a pokéball.  "I'd give that man his things back, if I were you."

    "No way, kid!  Scyther, tear that twerp apart!"  The Scyther released its victim, and flew at Zeth, who barely managed to dodge its razor-sharp blades.

    Zeth flung down the pokéball. "Talon, go! Drill peck that Scyther!"  The Spearow flung itself at the Scyther and managed to connect the blow.  The bug reeled back and started to fall, but quickly regained its altitude and assumed a fighting stance.

    The Rockets laughed, "Is that all you have?  Scyther, use double team and swords dance!"  The Scyther flashed, and suddenly, there appeared to be two of the bugs, each one swinging its blades in a complicated pattern.  The confused Spearow tried his best to dodge both sets of blades but received some nasty slashes anyway.  The male Rocket flashed an evil grin at Zeth, "Your Spearow is no match for us, and neither are you.  He pulled out another pokéball and hurled it at Zeth.  "Magneton, get that kid's pokéballs!" 

    Zeth felt a tugging at his waist, as the magnetic pokemon tried to pull the pokéballs off of his belt.  "Hey, that's a cheap shot!"  Zeth complained, tossing Florio's pokéball.  "Florio! Take that  Magneton down with a solarbeam!"  He grabbed his last two pokéballs before they could be yanked away from him.  His Ivysaur grabbed the floating pokémon with one vine and smashed it against the alley wall, sending nuts and bolts flying.  Stunned from the impact, the Magneton didn't notice the solarbeam until it was too late....

    Talon, however, wasn't having such an easy time with his rival.  The Scyther was experienced, and quick.  He managed to get in a few good blows, but the persistent bug just wouldn't go down!  Also, its rabid use of double team was driving him crazy.  He would savagely attack one "Scyther," only to be carved up by the real one.  At the moment though, there only appeared to be one Scyther, the real one.  Talon dove at the insect, preparing for a sky attack, when something flashed past him and dealt him a hard blow to the head.  His last conscious thought was that he should have known...

    The Scyther called out a victory cheer as the unconscious Spearow plummeted to the ground.  It turned out to be his undoing, though, as Florio shot another solarbeam into it, followed by more razor leaves.  The Rockets, unnerved by their sudden defeat, made a hasty retreat, while Zeth was retrieving his fallen pokémon.  "You haven't seen the last of us," they called back as they disappeared around the corner  "We'll be back!".

Zeth ran after them, but when he turned the corner, they were nowhere in sight.  He looked back at the man he had saved.  "Hey, sir?  Are you okay?"

    "I will be, thanks to you.  They took all of my money though."  The man reached into his jacket, pulling out something from an inside pocket.  He handed it to Zeth.  "Here, I want you to have this."  Zeth looked down at the object the man had given him. It appeared to be some sort of crystal, dark blue and somewhat attractive.  "It's a moon stone," the man continued.  "Team Rocket missed it when they took my money, its more valuable than everything else they took."  Zeth started to protest, but the man cut him off.  "Don't worry about it, I have two others just like it that I found when I went to Mount Moon.  I was planning to sell them anyway, and you do deserve it."

    Zeth gave in.  "Well, ok, but I still don't think I deserve it.  Any person with a shread of decency would have done the same."

    "You'd be surprised how few people actually would, kid.  You'd really be surprised."

    Zeth reported the incident to the resident Officer Jenny, then went out to dinner at a restaurant that the Viridian City Nurse Joy told him about, leaving his pokémon at the center.  On his way back he stopped at a supplies store to get some metallic blue paint, so he could repaint his pokéballs like he had planned.  [Special pokéballs for special pokémon!]  Zeth sat down on the front step of the pokémon center and got to work, painting over the red area with the blue paint....

    "Zeth, there's a phone call for you." Nurse Joy walked over to Zeth, who was busy playing checkers with Sting.  "It's someone at the police station.  They want you to clear some things up for them."

    "Ok," Zeth glanced at Sting.  "Sorry, we'll just have to finish this another time."  He grabbed Sting's pokéball.

    {I was winning, too} grumbled Sting as she was swept up into her pokéball.

    "Don't remind me," Zeth mumbled to himself as he walked over to the phone.  "Hello, this is Zeth."

    "Ah, yes, I'm Officer Wilks, and we need to ask you a few questions.  Would you mind coming down to the station?  I know it's late, but it's important."

    Zeth nodded, "Sure, I'll be down in a minute."  He hung up the phone and told Nurse Joy that he would be back in a few minutes.  "Don't lock me out!  I need a place to stay tonight."  He stepped out of the center into the cool evening air.  He walked down the quiet street, daydreaming about pokémon battles and winning badges.  He didn't even see what hit him......

    Zeth woke up in a pile of trash, with a headache that rivaled a Psyduck's.  It was dawn, and the sun was just starting to creep over the horizon.  "Oh, my head," he groaned.  "What happened?"  He glanced around and noticed a ripped piece of paper pinned to his shirt.  It had some kind of writing on it.  With his headache, Zeth could barely make it out.  "We told you that we would be back. Signed, Kat and Duke - Team Rocket" he read. Suddenly his mind cleared.  "No," he gasped reaching for his belt, confirming  his worst fears.  Team Rocket had taken their revenge, leaving him penniless and poké-less....