The Incredible Poke-Odyssey chapter 15

The Dark Ones Cometh!

Our heroes had arrived in Lavender Town and were resting up at the
Pokemon center on a row of connected sofas.  Stella was busy brushing
her new Persian while Bill was hiding under a seat cushion. "I wish she
just left that beast at Celadon", he kept mumbling to himself. 
"Oh look, a rare Mew Pokemon card!" he said as he found a card under 
the cushion with him. "Maybe that Persian fellow is a Godsend after all."

Jenny took out a road map so big that it covered all our heroes. "I 
probably should've bought the compact one instead" she sighed.

"So what's the quickest route to Cinnabar Island?" asked Cameron.

"I'd be lying if I said it was the quickest", said Jenny, "Now that we 
only have bikes, we have to go south out of Lavender Town, keep going 
south for many days until we get to Fuchsia City.  Then a few more days 
until we reach the ocean.  Then we have to somehow get a boat and sail 
many days until we get to Seafoam Island to stock up on supplies.  
Then after were so tired, exhausted, and time zoned out, we arrive at 
Cinnabar where our pyscho-island host Mewtwo might be expecting us."

"I can just count the minutes until we meet him", said Stella, "All six 
million of them!"

"Let's concentrate on getting out of this map first", said Brock while 
he and all the others were trying to get out of the tangled web of paper.

"It'll probably take months to get out of this mess of paper cuts!" 
whined Misty.

When they finally got themselves free from the map, Seymour then looked 
up and saw an old lady with a wooden cane walk into the center. 
"It's her!" he gasped.

"Do you know her?" asked Jenny hoping he didn't have a thing for older 
women.

"Every Pokemon lover knows her!" said Seymour excitedly, "That's Agatha!  
A member of the Elite Four!"

"I've heard of the Elite Four", said Stella, "They're the four most 
powerful Pokemon masters in the world."

"That's right", said Brock, "I've based my gym off of Bruno since he's 
the master of rock and fighting Pokemon."

"I always loved Lorelei", said Misty with stars in her eyes. "She knows 
how to handle water and ice Pokemon."

"My favorite is Lance", said Bill, "Rumor has it he actually has real 
live dragon Pokemon with him."

"I've always liked Agatha the best", said Seymour. "No one can master 
ghost and poison Pokemon like her and I heard she once dated the famous 
Prof. Oak.  Oh, how I'd like to see her live one day."

"Uh, Seymour", said Cameron, "Agatha is in the same center we're in 
right now."

"Oh yeah", said Seymour while his glasses turned red with embarrassment.

"Why don't you go over and introduce yourself to her?" asked Jenny.

"Are you kidding?" gasped Seymour, "She's all powerful and too 
important for a lowly scientist like me to even speak to."

"She'll have to listen to the law like me", smiled Jenny, "Come on.  
I'll introduce you to her." And she grabbed Seymour's arm and dragged 
him over to where Agatha was while he was sweating like crazy.

"I don't think Agatha will be impressed with the puddle of sweat he'll 
be standing in", said Stella.

"I'd probably do the same thing if I met Bruno", said Brock.

"And I'd do the same if and when I actually find Ash", thought Cameron 
thinking about his hero.

*      *      *      *      *      *

"Here you go Miss Agatha", said Nurse Joy as she handed Agatha a 
Pokeball. "She's all nicely healed just for you."

"Thank you dear", said Agatha as she put the Pokeball back in her 
apron.  When she turned around, she found a policewoman and a nervous 
guy in a labcoat in front of her. "What's wrong officer?" asked Agatha, 
"Is my Gastly covering up stop lights again?"

"Oh no", smiled Jenny, "It's just that Seymour here is a big fan of 
yours and he would so much love to meet you.  Isn't that right Seymour?" 
asked Jenny while she put her arm around the shaking scientist.

"Does he talk or is his native language mime?" asked Agatha puzzled.

"Seymour, say something!" whispered Jenny.

"I, I don't know what to say to her", whispered Seymour nervously.

"Recite one of your poems", said Jenny, "That's how you impressed me", 
and she winked at him.  Seymour, who suddenly developed a new found 
courage thanks to this wonderful woman in blue, approached Agatha and 
suddenly burst out a poem.

"There are a group of Elite trainers and they all equal four.
There'll never be another group like them, never more.
One deals with dragons and one trains ice.
And one handles muscle Pokemon extremely nice.
But the one called Agatha makes me feel proud and tall.
Though she deals with darkness, she still outshines them all."

Agatha stood there awestruck with her mouth wide open. "Uh, oh", 
thought Seymour, "I blew it big time!" But then Agatha's wide-open 
mouth became a sweet smile and she clapped her wrinkled hands.

"Bravisimo!" smiled Agatha, "That poem of yours really touched my 
heart.  Actually it touched my pacemaker.  But I still think it's great.  
Have you written it a long time ago?"

"Uh, actually no", said Seymour blushing, "I just thought it up right 
now!"

"Well, you did an exquisite job my boy", smiled Agatha, "Usually people 
don't like me cause I deal with ghosts and poison.  It's an honor to 
have someone write a poem dedicated to me.  Would you and your group 
over there like to come to my place for dinner?"

"M...me, have dinner with you?!" stuttered Seymour.

"But of course", smiled Agatha, "I insist that you, your friends, and 
your charming policegirlfriend here spend the evening with me."

"What do you say scienceboyfriend?" winked Jenny.

"We'd be honored!", shouted Seymour as he started doing double-back 
flips all over the center while everyone looked at him funny.

"I never knew I had that kind of affect on a person before", said 
Agatha.

"You should see how he acts when he's alone with me!" winked Jenny.

*      *      *      *      *      *

Our heroes had followed Agatha to where she lived.  Seymour was totally 
too excited to even speak knowing that he was a guest of the famous 
Agatha.  But he managed to whisper to Jenny. "Thank's Jen!"
While Jenny replied, "Anything for you my sci-guy!"

They had left the town and came to the front of Agatha's home. It was 
a huge tower that was very familiar to Cameron, Misty, and Brock. 
"That's, THAT'S!!!" shivered Misty.

"That's the tower we visited the last time we were in Lavender Town!" 
gasped Brock, "The one that was haunted by ghost Pokemon!"

"Oh, so you're familiar with this place?" said Agatha, "I must've been 
away on a tour when you all came here.  My Gastly and Gengar told me 
about a group of youngsters who came to visit and how Haunter wanted to 
come with them.  I hear Hauntie's living with Sabrina now and has made 
that poor lonely girl happy again.  So I let that crazy nut stay with 
her."

Misty and Brock shivered at the thought of someone living in a place 
that's filled with ghosts.

"Well why are we standing around here for?" asked Agatha. "Come on 
inside everyone before my ghosts clean out my refrigerator!" and they 
all stepped inside while Agatha locked the door and lit a candle.

"Wouldn't it be easier if you had a light switch near your door?" asked 
Cameron.

"And take away this lovely spooky atmosphere?" laughed Agatha, "Don't 
make me laugh!"

Everyone followed Agatha up a path of twisty stairs while everyone 
looked nervously at their shadows.  Misty who was at the end of the 
trail looked at her shadow that looked really fat and wide.

"Oh no!" she cried, "I'm a total blimp!  How could this have happened?! 
WAAAAAH!" Just then her shadow started laughing out loud. "What's going 
on here?!" Misty cried nervously.  The fat shadow suddenly sprouted out 
eyes and a toothy grin.  It hugged Misty and started kissing her. 
"SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!!" she screamed.

"Gengar, that's enough of that!" scolded Agatha.  The shadow humbly let 
go of the shakened Misty, dusted her off with a whiskbroom, and let out 
an apologetic, "GAR" Cameron took out his Pokedex and aimed it at the 
shadow.

"GENGAR, the shadow Pokemon.  The evolved form of Haunter", replied 
Dexeena. "Under a full moon, this Pokemon likes to mimic the shadows of 
people and laugh at their fright."

"No Gengar will laugh at anyone's fright when old Agatha's around!" 
said Agatha sternly.  Gengar just bowed its head down in shame. "Please 
forgive me as well Misty", said Agatha in a now polite voice. "It's 
just that these ghost Pokemon can sometimes be so unpredictable."

"Oh, no problem", said Misty who was now feeling better.  But then she 
became frightened again as she screamed when she looked down and saw 
Bill with a new head on his Rattata body.  It was a huge black circle 
with huge eyes and fangs with vapor all around it.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?!" cried Bill as he ran around and hit 
the wall while the new head went right through it.  Everyone looked at 
the dazed Bill who had his Rattata head back. 

"Gastly, you get out here right now and apologize to this poor creature 
this instant!" scolded Agatha from the wall. "GASTLY!" sighed the huge 
black head as it materialized through the wall, helped Bill up and 
offered him some crackers and Brie.

"Uh, thank you good sir", replied Bill as he nervously took a cracker 
from the tray that Gastly seemed to be levitating for it had no hands.  
Cameron aimed his Pokedex at Gastly.

"GASTLY, the gas Pokemon", replied Dexeena, "Almost invisible, this 
gaseous Pokemon cloaks the target and puts it to sleep without notice." 
And sure enough they saw Bill sleeping peacefully after being exposed 
to Gastly's gas.

"Those guys sure know how to liven up this place", said Stella, "Even 
if they are dead."  Gastly and Gengar started laughing while Gengar 
started to dribble Gastly around like a rubber ball.

"Shouldn't one of you be guarding the important you-know-what?" Agatha 
asked them.  Gastly and Gengar suddenly stopped playing around and 
floated right through the ceiling. "Ghosts will be ghosts", sighed 
Agatha.

*      *      *      *      *      *

Outside of the tower, Team Rocket were hiding behind a bush trying to 
figure some way to get in and capture our heroes.  "Why are we just 
sitting around out here in the wind that is as cold as the blood of an 
Articuno?" asked Reiko impatiently,  "Are we not going to go in?" She 
looked at Jessie and Meowth and they were holding each other shaking 
in fear. "I don't think it's really that cold", said Reiko, "Are my 
metaphors that powerful?"

"It's not that!" stuttered Jessie, "It's just that tower brings back 
haunting memories!"

"And haunted is the word for that joint!" cowered Meowth. "The last 
time we came here.  Ghosts came and grabbed us and forced us to be 
their little playthings.  I can still taste the tuna I threw up when we 
were forced to ride that spinning merry-go-round of theirs!"

"My", thought Reiko secretly worried that those ghosts would do the 
same thing to Cameron. " But we must go in there." "For Cameron's 
sake", she thought to herself.  "I know, since ghost Pokemon are poison 
types, maybe Kadabra can take them on."

"Reiko! You're brilliant!" shouted Jessie as she hugged her, "I can 
always count on you when the chips are down!  And it's a good thing I 
called up James the other day and had him transport this thing to me."
And she took out a Pokeball marked Kadabra on it.

*      *      *      *      *      *

Our heroes just had a wonderful dinner prepared by Agatha and they were 
now talking about the quest they were on. "Oh dear", said Agatha, "The 
thought of poor Prof. Oak being trapped in that town for five years 
makes me sorry we ever broke up."

"But don't worry", said Brock, "As soon as we find our friend Ash and 
get ourselves a cavalry, we're gonna free the Professor and the entire 
town of Pallet."

"I wish I could let one of my ghosts join you on your quest", said 
Agatha, "But I'm afraid I need them both here for personal reasons."

"We wouldn't even think of asking you to give up one of your Pokemon", 
said Seymour, "I know how much you treasure the ones you own."

"Thank you Seymour", smiled Agatha, "And I got a darn fine collection 
too.  I got my Gastly and Gengar along with my Arbok, Golbat, and 
Vileplume."

"Vileplume?" thought Cameron.

"What was in the ball that Nurse Joy gave you?" asked Misty.

"Oh, I almost forgot", said Agatha, "I'd better check and see how my 
little one is doing!" and she took out her Pokeball and released a 
squirrel like Pokemon with huge pointy ears that replied, "EEVEE!" 
Cameron took out his Pokedex again.

"EEVEE, the evolution Pokemon", replied Dexeena, "Its genetic code is 
irregular.  It may mutate if it's exposed to radiation from elemental 
stones or from other powerful sources."

"Oh, it's so cute!" said Misty as she picked up Eevee while it licked 
her face.

"But Eevee is a normal type", said Seymour, "I thought you only owned 
ghost and poison types.  If you don't mind me asking that is?"

"Oh, I don't mind at all", smiled Agatha as she scratched Eevee's head. 
"I found this Eevee injured by the side of a road today.  So I took it 
to the Pokemon center to get it all healed, then went shopping for a 
while and came back for it.  That's when I met all of you."

"Wow!" gasped Seymour, "Because of this Eevee I was able to meet my 
hero.  I mean heroine."

"Miss. Agatha", said Cameron, "You said you owned a Vileplume right?"

"That's correct young man", said Agatha.

"Well, does your Vileplume ever tip over because of its huge petals?" 
asked Cameron.

"Why, do you own one too?", she asked while smiling.

"Sure do", said Cameron as he took out a Pokeball, "Come on out V. P." 
he said as he released his Vileplume who waved hi to everyone then 
toppled over until it was standing on its head.

"Ah, there's nothing more precious than the rise and falling of a fresh 
new Vileplume", smiled Agatha as she inhaled V. P.'s scent. "Don't worry 
Cameron.  I know a way that'll get V. P. here back on its feet, er 
roots!"

*      *      *      *      *      *

Agatha had brought out a huge beach ball and she told Cameron to make 
his Vileplume get on it.  Cameron watched with frustration as Vileplume 
kept falling off the ball. "Just being on solid ground is tough enough 
for V. P." whined Cameron.

"Trust me", said Agatha, "Don't make it stop balancing itself." So 
Cameron sighed and put V. P. back on the ball, let go, and V. P. fell 
off again.

"That's just like how my father taught me how to walk", said Stella.

"Your dad made you balance yourself on a ball when you were a baby?" 
asked Brock.

"What do you expect?" smiled Stella "I got circus blood in me.  I bleed 
cotton candy."

Pretty soon, V. P. had completely balanced itself on the ball like a 
professional. "All right Cameron", said Agatha, "Now tell V. P. to get 
off the ball and onto solid floor." Cameron did and sure enough, V. P. 
was standing perfectly straight on the floor. 

"VILE!" it cried happily as it started dancing around without even 
stumbling once.

"It worked!" smiled Cameron as he hugged V. P. "You can walk properly 
again!  Thank you Miss. Agatha!"

"My pleasure son", smiled Agatha. "Once a Vileplume masters the ball, 
standing on horizontal ground should be a cinch for it."

"It looks like someone else has caught the balancing craze as well", 
said Brock as he pointed to Psyduck who was also trying to balance 
himself on a ball but kept falling on his bill instead.

"PSY-YAI-YAI!" moaned Psyduck as he clutched the ball thinking it was 
his head.

"You don't even know how to have a headache properly!" sighed Misty.

"NOOO!" shouted Agatha as she snatched the huge ball away from Psyduck. 
"You keep your webbed hands off of this thing!" she shouted as she 
hugged the ball tightly.  Cameron took a closer look at the ball.  It 
was a Pokeball, except it was the size of a bowling ball and it was 
black with crossbones and a skull on it.

"Let me guess", said Stella, "That's the important you-know-what you 
were talking about."

"I was wrong when I said this was important", said Agatha nervously, 
"This is life crucial!  This is the legendary Pandora Ball!"

"The Pandora Ball?!!" gasped Seymour and Bill together while shaking.

"What's a Pandora Ball?" asked Jenny.

"Every Pokemon researcher and lover knows about the Pandora Ball!" said 
Bill, "It strikes fear into all our hearts!"

"It contains a new species of Pokemon that should never be released 
into this world", said Seymour, "The dark Pokemon!" and a sting of 
sinister music started to play, mainly because Gengar was practicing 
the pipe organ across the room.

"Gengar, you're supposed to be guarding this ball!" shouted an angry 
Agatha. "Take this back to the room and don't keep your eyes off of it!  
You're just lucky that it was a simple Psyduck who doesn't know how to 
open it!"

"Even an Elite Four member thinks my Psyduck's a pain", sighed Misty.

"GENGAR!", sobbed Gengar as it took the ball from Agatha and went 
through the wall dropping the ball since it wasn't transparent like 
Gengar.  It went through the doorway, picked up the ball, and left the 
room in a hurry.

"I knew I should've had that pipe organ dismantled!" said Agatha.

"Don't you think you were a little hard on Gengar?" asked Cameron.

"I had to be!" said Agatha, "Dark Pokemon are not something to take 
lightly!"

"What exactly is a dark Pokemon?" asked Misty.

"Gather around everyone and I'll tell you a scary tale", said Agatha as 
she got down on the floor while everyone joined her. "Many moons ago 
a young wizard wasn't satisfied with all magical Pokemon like Abras, 
Kadabras, and Alakazams he owned.  He wanted to own and train a new 
race of Pokemon.  Pokemon that would be strong against any type.  One 
day he thumbed through his spellbook and discovered about the legend 
of the dark Pokemon.  He eagerly wanted to bring them into this world 
and master them so he mixed potions, recited spells, and did a bunch of 
embarrassing dances until he finally did it!  A portal from the 
underworld opened and the dark ones were released.  But they were too 
powerful and evil for the wizard to control and they destroyed him and 
spread their wrath on every town and village.  Luckily another wizard 
who was even more powerful than the last one managed to capture every 
last one of them and locked them all up inside the famous Pandora Ball.  
But unfortunately the wizard passed away shortly leaving his Pandora 
Ball unprotected.  Ever since that day, my ancestors have been guarding 
it making sure those dark ones stay sealed forever."

"Wow!" said Seymour, "That's a pretty big responsibility for an 
important Pokemon master like yourself to carry."

"Hey, it beats playing bingo in a hot and stuffy parlor", smiled Agatha. 
"I just don't know what would happen to this world if the dark ones had 
been released."

"At least it'd be a good excuse to whack Psyduck for all eternity if 
that did happen", said Misty.

*      *      *      *      *      *

In a room upstairs the tower, Team Rocket had teleported in thanks to 
their Kadabra.  Jessie was wearing a pair of garlic earrings while 
Meowth was wearing a garlic bowtie. "I believe garlic only works against 
vampires", said Reiko.

"What vampires?" asked Meowth.

"We're just coming up with a new style of jewelry", said Jessie and 
then sniffed the strong garlic. "Maybe garlic is a bad idea", she said.  
Reiko looked at them funny while her mask hid her expressions.

"Hey, will you look at that?" said Meowth as he pointed to the huge 
black Pokeball.

"A Pokeball that size must contain the worlds' largest and most 
powerful Pokemon", said Jessie, "And as queen of Rocketville.  It is 
my duty to claim it and open it!" But just as Jessie was about to 
approach it, a huge shadow covered up the ball.

"Meowth, move your furry behind!" shouted Jessie, "Your shadow's 
blocking my sight!"

"But my shadow's over here", said Meowth pointing to his cat-shaped 
shadow that was on the other side of the room.

"As well as mine", said Reiko pointing to her sexy shadow which made 
Meowth's shadow whistle at her while she kicked it off into the shadowy 
darkness.  The real Meowth and Reiko looked puzzled for they did not do 
what those shadows just did.

"Well then whose shadow is this?" asked Jessie.  The shadow replied by 
hugging her while giving her a big kiss.

"Yeeech!  A Gengar!" shouted Jessie as she backed up to her teammates. 
"Now I'm gonna be exposed to its decay!" Gengar started to cry tears at 
the hurtful words Jessie just said.  Then Gastly floated into the room 
and said something to Gengar that immediately cheered it up.  Then both 
ghosts approached the trio while holding feathers.

"Uh, oh", cried Meowth, "The worst kind of attack of all!  Tickle 
attacks!"

"An attack so horrific that the Pokemon League banned it!" said Reiko.

"Kadabra, use your psybeam on them before they make us happy!" shouted 
Jessie.  Kadabra fired a psychic beam from his forehead at the two 
ghosts, but they just went right through the ceiling and floor causing 
the beam to hit a portrait of Prof. Oak.

"Did we get rid of them?" asked Meowth nervously.  But then Gastly 
reappeared from the ceiling and Gengar came through the floor and 
started working their tickle magic on Jessie and Meowth.

"HA HA HA HA!" screamed Jessie, "These ghosts are making me waste my 
sinister laughs!  HA HA HA!"

"HA HA HA HA!" laughed Meowth while Gastly tickled him. "Can't you just 
put us back on that merry-go-round?!  HA HA HA!"

"Kingler, blizzard attack!" shouted Reiko's voice.  Gastly and Gengar 
stopped their tickling and slowly turned around.  Reiko's Kingler 
blasted a huge blizzard at the two ghosts freezing them into blocks of 
ice.

"Those ghosts are now toast!" laughed Meowth.

"I would definitely not call them toast", said Reiko.

"The only toast I want is to make a toast when we catch those rebels 
and find out what's in that ball!" said Jessie as they all approached 
the unprotected Pandora Ball.  Eevee, who happened to pass by the 
doorway of that room, saw the two human girls and Meowth trying to pry 
open her master's ball while her ghostly friends were frozen stiff.  
Eevee immediately ran down the stairs to get our heroes.

"Okay Kingler", said Reiko, "Time to be like the Nutcracker Prince that 
knows how to punish stubborn nuts!  Use your vicegrip to pry open this 
ball."

"King!" said Kingler as it clamped onto the ball with both claws and 
tried to pry it open.

"Hold it right there!" called out an old lady's voice.  They turned 
around and saw Eevee who had brought along Agatha and our heroes.  
Agatha looked down on the ground and found her portrait of Prof. Oak 
with his head completely burned off. "How dare you burst into my home, 
hurt my poor ghosts, ruin my favorite picture, and try to open the most 
dangerous ball in the world!" she shouted.

"Uh, it's a living", said Meowth.

"Well you'll all be making your living stamping out license plates!" 
said Jenny as she took out her handcuffs.

"Well isn't this a delight!" smiled Jessie, "The rebels have decided to 
come right into our clutches.  Kadabra, disable all of them!"

"KADABRA!" shouted Kadabra as its eyes glowed and Jenny along with our 
heroes suddenly found themselves paralyzed.

"Excellent", smiled Jessie, "Now to see what's inside this ball that's 
got all of you so worried!"

"You can't open that!" cried Seymour, "You'll release a great force or 
darkness and evil in the world if you do!"

"It can't be more eviler than me", said Jessie proudly, "I'll just 
overpower it like I did with James and this Meowth over here."

"Who says you overpowered me?!" shouted Meowth as he was about to 
scratch Jessie's face for the umpeenth time, but was stopped by Reiko's 
boot.

"She does", smiled Jessie as she looked down at Meowth who had a big 
dirty footprint on his face.  Cameron wondered when Reiko would show 
her sweet side once again.  He was hoping right now so she'd let them 
escape.  

Just then, Kingler managed to crack open the Pandora Ball a little. 
"Excellent!" smiled Jessie evily, "Now to claim my treasure!" and she 
ran up to the ball and started to open it up very slowly.

"Oh no!" cried Agatha, "She's actually done it!" Just then, a huge 
black explosion burst out of the ball, knocking Jessie back into 
Meowth, Reiko, Kingler, and Kadabra and our heroes down on the floor 
freeing them from the disable attack, while Gastly and Gengar were 
shattered free from their icy prisons.  When the blackness cleared, 
there they were.  About 100 dark Pokemon had filled the room.  They 
consisted of mean looking crows, red fiery dogs, and little gremlin 
like creatures.  They were all looking mean eyed at Team Rocket.

"What have we unleashed?!" gasped Jessie while shaking.

"Congratulations, you just won the Nobel Prize", said Agatha, "The 
first prize in stupidity!"

"I don't like the looks of those Pokemon", said Cameron.

"And they don't like the looks of us either", said Agatha. "Hurry, we 
have to apprehend each one of them before they leave this tower!  
Gastly, Gengar, hypnotize them all to sleep!" Gastly and Gengar leapt 
in front of the dark ones and tried to use their hypnosis attacks, but 
it didn't effect the dark ones at all.  The dogs then breathed fire at 
the two ghosts causing them to faint.

"Oh no!" cried Agatha, "I forgot.  Dark Pokemon are immune to psychic 
attacks!" Then she took out two Pokeballs and pulled the two ghosts 
back in them. "I'm getting you two to the Pokemon center when all of 
this is over!"

"There ain't nothing more worse than a dog except a fire-breathing dog!" 
cried Meowth, "Lemme out of here!" and he started running full speed to 
the door.  Just then, one of the crows disappeared then reappeared right 
in front of the shocked Meowth.  It gave him a dark glare turning the 
poor cat black as coal and paralyzing him.

All of the dark ones started approaching everyone in the room ready to 
remove them from their sights. "Kadabra, psychic attack!" shouted Jessie, 
"Kingler, blizzard attack!" shouted Reiko.  But those attacks were 
completely useless for the dark ones were completely immune to the 
pyschic attack and the dogs just melted the blizzard away with their 
flamethrowers.  Then they all backed all our heroes and villains into 
a corner of the wall.

"Clefairy, Clefable, use your light screen to protect us!" shouted 
Seymour as he released the two cute little Pokemon.  They raised their 
fingers and a flashing wall of light appeared protecting everyone while 
the dark ones ran away scared out the window.

"Thank you my friends", said Seymour as he hugged his two fairy Pokemon 
who both made a happy "Clef!"

Reiko then approached Meowth who was still black and lying on the floor 
and picked him up. "Meowth-san, are you all right?" asked Reiko.  
Meowth didn't say a word.  It was like he was a lifeless lump of coal 
that was carved into a Meowth. 

"It's the effect of the dark ones' black gaze", said Agatha as she sadly 
patted poor Meowth's head.  But don't worry.  A trip to the Pokemon 
center should have him up and causing trouble again.  Right now, we 
have a bigger problem."

"We do?" asked Stella knowing what it was.

"We have to catch every single one of those dark Pokemon and put them 
back into that ball before Lavender Town and the whole world will be 
doomed!"  

"What type of Pokemon are strong against dark Pokemon?" asked Brock.

"That is a big mystery", said Agatha, "We'll just have to try out all 
types and hope and pray one of our Pokemon will be able to do the job."

"Then let's get going", said Bill hoping his normal type attacks would 
handle the big scary dark ones.

"Let me come with you too", said Reiko.

"I think you've helped enough", said Jenny angrily.

"And why would you want to help us?" asked Misty, "You're on the 
enemy's side."

"It is true that I see you all as enemies", said Reiko, "But in my 
heart I never want to release any kind of evil into this world.  This 
is mainly all my fault and I've already dishonored my true family too 
many times.  But this goes far beyond any dishonorment.  So please let 
me assist you.  You have my ninja's honor."

Cameron could tell that Reiko was telling the truth by the look in her 
pretty eyes and she was really sorry about all this and for joining 
Team Rocket in the first place. "What do you say everyone?" asked 
Cameron, "We could use all the help we can get in saving the world."

Everyone gathered around in a huddle to discuss this, but Agatha 
completely broke it up. "If we stick around squabbling like this, we'll 
never catch them!" she shouted. "All right, little Miss. Ninja, 
I accept your help."

"Arigato", said Reiko as she bowed to Agatha, "I guarantee you will not 
regret this."

"What about Jessie?" asked Misty who pointed over to Jessie who was 
curled up in a corner shaking in fear.

"I suppose this was all too much for my fragile queen", said Reiko who 
let Jessie hold onto the motionless Meowth like a security blanket.  
Reiko then released her Tentacruel right next to Kadabra.

"Tentacruel and Kadabra", said Reiko, "I need you two to stay here and 
protect Queen Jessie and Meowth until we get back.  Can you both handle 
the job?"

"Cruel!" said Tentacruel.

"Kadabra!" said Kadabra.

Reiko then followed our heroes out of the room while Tentacruel put its 
protective tendrils around Jessie who suddenly screamed.

*      *      *      *      *      *

The first thing our heroes came across was a cornfield and there were 
the dark crows munching on every ear of corn while ripping off the 
scarecrow's limbs thinking it was a real human.  Cameron aimed his 
Pokedex at the crows.

"MURKROW, the dark bird Pokemon", replied Dexeena, "No other data is 
given."

"If those Murkrows are bird types", said Brock, "Maybe an electric type 
will defeat them."

"Leave that to me and my Electabuzz", said Cameron as he released Buzz 
onto the ground who saluted Cameron and shouted, "BUZZ, EL, BUZZ!"

"At ease", said Cameron. "I need you to thunderbolt all those Murkrows 
so we can capture them."

"And be sure not to look any of them in the eyes", said Agatha.

"BUZZ, EL, BUZZ!" shouted Buzz who tried to shoot thunderbolts at the 
birds with his eyes closed.  He was able to hit a few while the others 
easily dodged them.  Then the Murkrows shot some dark energy at Buzz 
and he saw something frightening to him.  A horde of giant unclean 
toilets started marching up to him each holding a scrubbing brush. "Lt. 
Surge says you were a bad soldier", said one of the toilets, "So it's 
clean up time for you for the next 1,000 years!"

"BUUUUUUZZZZ!" shouted Buzz who ran up to Cameron hugging him in fear.

"Buzz, what's the matter?" asked Cameron, "You were doing a great job 
so far."

"I'm afraid that looked like a nightmare attack", said Agatha, "Hardly
any Pokemon is a match for that attack."

Buzz was holding onto Cameron fearing that his new sergeant would think 
that he's a wimp.  Just then, Cameron had slipped out of Buzz's hug.  
He opened his eyes, looked up, and saw Cameron being carried away by 
the remaining Murkrows.

"CAMERON-SAN!!" cried Reiko as she and the others watched in fear as 
the Murkrows were about to tear Cameron's limbs off.

"AAAUGGGGH!!!" screamed Cameron in pain.  Buzz, who suddenly developed 
a sparkling rage in his eyes at what those birds were doing to his 
sergeant, released a powerful thunderbolt shocking all the Murkrows 
unconscious while shocking Cameron as well.  The Murkrows dropped 
Cameron while Reiko leapt up into the air and caught him.  "Are you all 
right Cameron-san?" asked Reiko as everyone gathered around them.

"Reiko?" asked Cameron who found himself in the arms of a beautiful 
black-haired angel. "Am I in heaven?"

"No", smiled Reiko, "But your Electabuzz saved you from where those 
birds might've sent you." Cameron looked over at Buzz who was saluting 
strong and tall while tears ran down his fuzzy face.

"Thank you soldier", said Cameron.

Everyone looked at all the singed Murkrows on the ground. "They should 
use electric type Pokemon to guard cornfields instead of obviously 
lifeless scarecrows", said Stella.

Agatha just opened up the Pandora Ball and sucked every Murkrow back 
inside.  She then looked at a little counter she had installed on the 
ball. "30 down, 70 to go", said Agatha.  Just then, they heard some 
loud, "MOOOOOOOOOs!"

"I believe we might've found some more", said Brock as he was looking 
through his binoculars at a nearby cattle farm.  Everyone rushed over 
to the farm and they saw a whole herd of Tauros being threatened by all 
those red dogs.  They were spitting out embers ready to enjoy a nice 
helping of sirloin steaks.  

"What are those things?" asked Cameron as he took out Dexeena once again.

"HOUNDOUR, the devil dog Pokemon", said Dexeena, "No other data given 
other than being a fire type."

"We have to stop them before those dogs get even redder from all that 
red meat!" said Jenny, "Growlithe, flamethrower now!"

"GROWWWL!" howled Growlithe as he breathed fire at all those fellow 
dogs while our heroes opened the gate letting all the Tauros stampede 
free.  But the Houndours' flamethrowers were even stronger than 
Growlithe's and he ran back into Jenny's arms making an apologetic 
growl."

"It's not your fault Growlithe", said Jenny, "The police training 
manual didn't mention anything on how to handle dark Pokemon."

"Since those Houndours are also fire types, maybe water will defeat 
them", said Agatha.

"Yes, that's it!" smiled Misty. "Everyone release your water Pokemon!" 
Cameron released Slowpoke, Reiko released Kingler, Seymour released 
Wartortle, and Misty sent out her Seaking, Staryu, Starmie, and Seadra.  
Even Psyduck came out, even though Misty didn't call him out.

"Everyone use your water gun, bubble, bubblebeam, surf, and hydro pump 
attacks at the same time!" commanded Misty.  Just as the Houndours were 
about to set fire to our heroes, all the water Pokemon blasted large 
amounts of H20 at the dogs soaking them completely.  Only Psyduck was 
trying to squirt at Jenny's Growlithe thinking it was one of the dark 
dogs. "You dumb duck!" groaned Misty, "That's Jenny's Growlithe!  You 
could get 10 to 20 for assaulting a police dog!" Misty pulled Psyduck 
back into his ball while Growlithe jumped into Jenny's arms.

Once all the Pokemon were out of water, the smoke cleared and all the 
Houndours were lying in a huge pile without their bright red colors.  
"If there's one thing I hate, it's cold hot dogs", said Cameron.

"Well it's time to put these little wiener dogs back into storage!" 
said Agatha as she opened the ball and sucked all the Houndours back in 
with the Murkrows.

"Now what's next?" asked Stella. Then they heard some human screams 
coming from a final direction. 

"Oh no, not the town!" cried Agatha, "Let's go everyone!" and they all 
followed the speedy Agatha right into Lavender Town.

*      *      *      *      *      *

When they got to the town, they found all the citizens being terrorized 
by all those gremlin looking Pokemon.  They were stealing candy from 
stores, shredding up magazines from newsstands, licking stop signs like 
they were lollipops, and they were fury swiping any human that got in 
their way.

"I don't like the looks of whatever those things are", said Cameron as 
he took out Deexena once again. "SNEASEL, the dark Pokemon", replied 
Dexeena, "And guess what?  No other data is given either!  Boy, you 
sure are finding many interesting discoveries kiddo!" Cameron looked
puzzled at Dexeena then put it back in his pocket.

"What kind of Pokemon you suppose would stop these guys?" asked Brock.

"I have no idea!" said Agatha.

"Maybe if we use a smokescreen attack, the Sneasels won't be able to 
see and they'll be easier to attack and capture", said Misty.

"That could work", said Seymour, "But what Pokemon can we use?"

"We'll use Seadra!" smiled Misty as she was about to release her sea 
horse, but instead Psyduck popped out in front of the danger as usual.

"Oh no!" cried Misty, "Why did you have to pick this time to be 
stupid?!  I'm gonna miss you buddy!"

The Sneasels approached the poor duck ready to slash him to confetti.  
Psyduck became so frightened that he became confused and started 
unleashing his pay day attack all over the street. "At least he'll die 
a rich duck", sighed Misty.

Suddenly all the Sneasels looked green-eyed at all those coins and 
started scattering around picking every one of them up. "But of course", 
said Agatha, "Greed are those Sneasels' main weakness.  Cameron, 
let's use our Vileplumes on them while they're distracted!"

"Gotcha!" smiled Cameron as he and Agatha released their Vileplumes 
who put all the Sneasels to sleep with their sleep powder.  Psyduck 
fell asleep too since he was in the middle of their coin gathering.  
Then Misty came and took Psyduck out of the way while Agatha sucked all 
the Sneasels back into the Pandora Ball.

"Aw, Psyduck", smiled Misty, "You never cease to amaze me", and she 
gave Psyduck a kiss on the forehead while he slept happily. "Psy!" he 
snored.

"Did we get all of them?" Seymour asked Agatha.

"No, not all of them", said Agatha, "As I remember, there was one dark 
Pokemon that was supposed to be the strongest of them all." Suddenly, 
they heard a loud howl.  Everyone turned around and looked in fear.  
It was a Houndour, except it was huge and it had horns and a devil's 
tail.

"Well I guess we don't have to worry about finding it", said Agatha 
nervously.  Cameron aimed Dexeena at the dog hoping it wouldn't be the 
last time.

"HOUNDOOM, the evolved form of Houndour", said Dexeena, "Though no other 
data is given for this beast, I suggest you run, RUN LIKE HECK BEFORE 
THAT MONSTER SENDS YOU THERE!!!"

"Quick everyone!" cried Misty, "Release your water Pokemon again!!!" 
But when they did, they discovered that they had used up all their 
water just fighting all those Houndours earlier.  All they could do was 
squirt out tiny droplets.

"This looks bad", said Brock.

"More like satanic!" said Stella.  Houndoom suddenly opened its mouth 
and launched a huge firebolt at our heroes.  Cameron quickly closed his 
eyes waiting for his fiery death, but instead he didn't feel a thing.  
But he did find himself, and everyone else trapped in a huge cage made 
of fire.

"What I wouldn't give for a fireproof mug to clink across these bars", 
said Misty nervously.

"Look!" cried Bill as they saw Houndoom howling a loud howl and opening 
up a fiery pit in the street.

"I believe it's going to take us all back home to its master", said a 
frightened Agatha.

"NOOOO!" cried everyone as they held each other in fear.  Reiko 
clutched onto Cameron tightly. "Cameron-san", she said while shaking. 
"Before we experience our eternal torment, I just want you to know that 
I.... I.....I...."

Cameron stood there nervous and silently waiting to hear what Reiko had 
to say.  Just then Bill called out, "LOOK AGAIN!" There was Eevee 
biting the back of Houndoom's neck while it was running around trying 
to shake her off.

"No Eevee!" cried Agatha, "Save yourself!  You're no match for this 
evil!" But Eevee refused to let go.  Unfortunately Houndoom started 
rolling around on the street squashing Eevee flat.

"NOOOO!" cried Agatha.  Just as Houndoom was about to have an Eeveening 
meal, Eevee jumped up and started changing her shape.

"It looks like your Eevee's going to evolve", said Seymour.

"But there aren't even any evolution stones around here", said Agatha 
as she watched in horror at what her little Eevee had become.  She was 
now black with gold rings all over her body.  Cameron took out Dexeena 
again. (Boy, is he gonna need some batteries for that thing when this 
night is through!)

"UMBREON, the dark form of Eevee", said Dexeena, "Nobody knows how an 
Eevee becomes an Umbreon, but it looks like you've got one now.  You 
lucky dogs!" But it wasn't lucky for one dog for Umbreon seemed like a 
powerful fighter.  It charged, bit, and totally thrashed every part of 
Houndoom's body.  Then Umbreon released a confuse ray at Houndoom 
causing it to dance around in confusion slowly approaching the pit it 
just made.  It then fell right down causing the pit to close up and the 
fire cage that was around our heroes to disappear.  

Then the sun came out and all the people came out of hiding.  They all 
cheered and hugged each other happy that the nightmare was over.  
Agatha slowly walked over to her newly evolved Umbreon.

"Careful Miss. Agatha", said Seymour, "It's still a dark Pokemon." But 
Umbreon just jumped into Agatha's arms and started licking her face.

"Hey, it still has Eevee's personality!" smiled Stella.

"Aw, I don't care if you do have dark blood in you", smiled Agatha, 
"You're still my little angel!"

"UM", cooed Umbreon happily.

"Reiko", asked Cameron, "What was it you were going to tell me earlier?"

"Well, I...I..." said Reiko who no longer had her fear looked at everyone 
and said, "That dog is nothing compared to what you'll experience when 
you're all prisoners to Team Rocket!" and she started laughing out loud 
while throwing a smoke bomb on the street.  Cameron felt a kiss on his 
cheek and when the smoke cleared, Reiko was gone.

"She must be going back to the tower to get her teammates", said Jenny, 
"I've got them now!  Come on Growlithe!" and she and her dog sped off 
to the direction of the tower.

"Did we get every single last one of those dark Pokemon?" Brock asked 
Agatha.  She checked her counter and it read only 92 were caught. "No", 
she said sadly, "I fear that a few of them must've left town and 
disappeared into the horizon."

"You mean those dark ones are now loose in this world?" gasped Misty, 
"What if they start breeding?!"

"Our only hope is if really great trainers out there will find them, 
catch them, and train them well", said Agatha.

"That would really be a challenge", said Stella.

"It looks like our world will never be the same again", said Bill.

"Please forgive me Miss. Agatha", pleaded Seymour, "If you hadn't met 
me, Team Rocket wouldn't've followed us and opened up that ball.  I 
deserve to be ripped to shreds by your Umbreon." 

"Umbreon" said Agatha as she whispered something in her huge ears.  
Seymour closed his eyes waiting for Umbreon's mauling, but instead 
Umbreon just kissed him.

"Don't feel guilty Seymour", smiled Agatha. "These things happen 
without expectation and it were those Rockets that caused all of this, 
not you.  Besides, maybe it's destiny for dark Pokemon to be roaming 
around in this world.  They might serve humanity some kind of purpose."

"Maybe I might even catch and master one of those dark Pokemon", smiled 
Cameron.

"Oh please", said Misty, "You're starting to sound just like Ash."  
"Oh how I miss him!" she whispered quickly.  Then they saw a frustrated 
Jenny and Growlithe heading back to the group.

"Did you arrest them?" asked Seymour.

"No", grumbled Jenny, "Reiko's ninja like speed must've enabled her to 
grab Jessie and Meowth and leave.  I must suggest that all police 
officers train in the ways of the ninja."

*      *      *      *      *      *

Meanwhile, Reiko had left Lavender Town in the Rocket balloon with 
Jessie still shaking and Meowth still frozen black as coal from the 
Murkrow's black gaze. "Don't worry Meowth-san", she said, "Once we find 
a Pokemon Center, you'll be back to abnormal soon.  And don't you worry 
too my queen", she said to Jessie, "You're far away from any darkness 
for now."

"Th...th....thank you Reiko", shivered Jessie as she went to sleep dreaming 
of things that made her happy.  Raising taxes, ripping pants labels 
off of girls that were sexier than her and bonking James and Meowth on 
the heads. "Ah, the pleasant things in life!" she sighed.

TO BE CONTINUED