Chapter 7

A Friend in need, pay evil no heed!

Selena and the Javabucks employee took a second to look around themselves. Time had been stopped, absolutely halted. A lady at the Javabucks counter was pouring coffee into a mug; they were both frozen, as if they were amazingly well done statues. A couple arguing had been stopped briskly as they were in the same stance of argument. The dreadlocked girl, who showed herself to be named Carey, smirked.

"Like it?" she said with attitude. They're all conscious, but I did this just so they can't interfere." She paused. "And, for dramatic effect." She laughed that evil laugh that only villains can.

"So, are we going to start this battle or not?" She grinned. Selena got up, groaning, and the Javabucks employee, who introduced himself as Xero, sent out a pokemon for the battle.

"Go! Vibrava!" A Vibrava with a slight golden tinge to it came out of it's pokeball. Carey laughed. "That's funny… A bug. I think I'll squish it! Shade! Go!" Her Black Jynx advanced towards the slightly glowing Vibrava. "Use Ice Beam!"

Kazo woke up. A scream from downstairs made him jolt awake, reflexes as alive as ever. He started to climb out of bed, when he realized he couldn't! He was stuck in that position. He strained himself to the most he could. He tried to scream, when he realized he couldn't speak either! His lips were moving, but nothing was coming out! He had no choice but to send for a distress signal. He could always send for emergency on his pokenav… Where had he left it? He glanced to the left, well, as much as he could, and saw it was on his bedside table. Was he wearing his belt? Maybe one of his pokemon could help… No, his belt was on the other end of the room draped over a char.

"Crud." he said. Wait, he spoke! That means whatever was holding him down was wearing off… He slowly began rolling to the other end of his bed to get to the pokenav. It was most likely one of the most tiring things he'd ever done. Gravity was very much against him, and he felt like he was moving in slow motion. He had not even rolled a foot across in his bed and he was already sweating as though he'd been running for hours. After a few rolls, he reached the table.

Stretching out his arm, groaning, he reached the table. Using his fingers, he snaked them across the mounted wood and found the pokenav. Tightening his grasp around the machine, he pulled it to his ear. He pressed speed dial button "4" for home. It rang once, twice, then:

"Hello?" came a girl's voice.

"Kari?" Kazo asked, panting.

"Kazo! Leo! Mom! Dad! Kazo's on the phone!"

"Kari… Come with Leo…Mauville pokecenter… I need help…"

"Kazo? Are you okay?"

"Hurry up… there's a weird force that's-" He stopped talking. Not on purpose, but whatever had stopped him before was back. He would have swore, but he physically couldn't.

"Kazo? Kazo, you there? I'm coming Kazo! Leo! Get the SS Feebas! We're going to Mauville!" The line went dead, and a small, painful smile grew across his face. There was hope yet.

A charge of ice went straight into the Vibrava, sending it into a wall.

"Vibrava! Sand Tomb!" The lobby began filling with sand.

"Shade, use confusion!" The Jynx stopped the attack and took the sand with its mind, shooting it at Vibrava, lowering its accuracy. "Vibrava! Use…" Before it could do anything, it was blasted by a ray of cold, freezing it in a block of ice.

"You're weak, you see? My employer has a way of making sure something will happen… And with the Space Ruler on our side, you do not have a chance?"

"What the hell are you taking about?" Xero asked, full of rage.

"Basically, we're out to prove that Team Galaxy is scum! We're out to squish them, crush them! And the only way to do that is to pit two legends together… Now, if you don't mind, I have a Vibrava to annihilate." She paused and drew a breath. "Shade! Use Sheer Cold!" The Black Jynx began conjuring up a blizzard, a large moth slammed headfirst into it. A Girl dressed in green was standing in the doorway, with a boy beside her.

"Great job Masquerain!" She yelled. "Now to find Kazo!"

Selena raised an eyebrow. "You know Kazo?"

"Duh. I'm his sister, Kari. Do you know where he is?"

"Go a few floors up. Here's the room number." She handed her a slip of paper. Kari ran to the elevator, but seeing as it didn't work, she took the stairs instead.

"You think a bug can stop me? That was just a stall! Sheer Cold now!" The Jynx's blizzard began growing once more, when a blast of fire melted it and a growl came from the doorway. A boy with blond hair with red streaks stood in the doorway, raising an eyebrow. Beside him was the source of the flame-a Growlithe.

"Growlithe! Use Flamethrower again!" The dog was pushed back a bit from the force of the attack, but it hit the target head-on, knocking the Jynx into a lounge chair, toppling it over.

---

Kari was almost breathless. She had run up several flights of stairs before finally coming to the right floor at the right time. She finally got to the right room as well, but just as she thought, the door was locked from the inside.

"Go! Gloom! Use Acid to melt down the door!" On command, the stinky pokemon blasted a seething gulp of acid and the door began melting. Once it had been reduced to cinders, she walked in and was greeted by an eerie silence. She saw Kazo lying down in his bed, not moving at all. Come to think of it, no one in the hotel was besides that girl that gave her Kazo's room number and the guy with the Vibrava! Then she remembered something from her history class. Black Jynx could freeze time! That's what happened to Kazo! She ran up top him and started to drag him out of bed when he began moving again.

"Kari? You made it! But… How am I moving?" He pondered.

"I don't know either. But Leo is probably getting his butt kicked by an extinct Black Jynx right about now in the lobby, so we might want to get moving."

"What about Felix and Selena?"

"Well, there was this older guy and this girl in the lobby…"

"What about Felix?"

"I don't know! Let's get moving though!"

"Have Gloom use acid on that wall!"

"Why?"

"Our rooms are right beside each other!"

"I don't care! We have to move, Kazo."

"Just DO IT!"

Gloom, successfully tired of the fighting, blasted acid at the wall anyways, creating a huge gap in it. Kazo, followed by an eye-rolling Kari walked through the circular gap and saw Felix standing up, reaching for a pokeball, but frozen nonetheless. When Kazo reached out for him, he suddenly came back to "life". He grabbed the pokeball he was reaching for.

"We have to get downstairs." Kari said urgently.

"Fine. Let's move. But who are you?" Felix asked, picking up his other pokeballs.

"That's Kari, my sister." Kazo started. "But now is not the time! We have to get downstairs!"

"Not a problem." Felix said, releasing his Abra. "Abra! Teleport us downstairs!" A multicolored ray of light quickly surrounded the three and within instants, they were in the hotel lobby, in the midst of a brawl between fire and ice.

"Abra!" Felix commanded, paying no attention to the frozen world around him. "Teleport those two!" Abra blasted a ray at the Black Pokemon, and it vanished. Carey's mouth fell to the floor.

"WHAAT!" She stammered. "YOU'RE NOT SERIOUS!" She swore exceptionally loudly as a ray of light was blasted at her too. She saw it coming, though, and took of her glasses. She turned around and used the lenses as a mirror, sending it right back at Abra! Within instants, both the Jynx and the Abra vanished! Carey ran outside through the revolving doors, right by Leo, who was giving her an "Is-That-All-You've-Got?" look. But, she payed him no heed and fled anyways.

Felix twitched. His Abra was just teleported, and a small crater where it was before appeared in the floor. He fell to the floor and landed on his knees, examined the crater, and then came to the conclusion that it was gone.

A pair of slit eyes were watching from above. The bearer of those eyes, who was pokemon and not human, smiled, and began glowing.

Felix sobbed. He choked on his own tears for a second. Abra could be anywhere in the world! The universe! Selena turned around briskly, sharing the dark mood, when she saw something glowing on the ceiling! "Look!" She said, her index finger indicating the glow.

Everyone spun around, and even Leo, who often seemed emotionless, seemed slightly surprised. But he regained his cool in seconds. "It's probably the Abra evolving."

Felix's eyes grew huge. "How?"

Leo began speaking. "Abra saw the teleport rebounding, and moved fast, and teleported up there. It must just have been experienced enough to evolve. No big deal."

The light faded away, and a Kadabra fell from the rafters in the ceiling. It smiled at Felix, but a very weak smile, as it landed agilely in the crater from where it vanished. Felix cried in excitement and happiness and grabbed the Kadabra in his arms. Leo rolled his eyes, but still had to admire this kid's strength. Kadabra were not weak pokemon, nor were they easy to aqquire. He walked towards the rest of the group, returning Growlithe, when Kazo began speaking.

"Listen. Leo, Kari, we have a problem." He explained everything that happened to him. Leo was astounded, as was Kari. But, once again regaining his cool, he spoke. "Looks like you got into a pretty bad situation, Kazo, as usual, but I'll help out in any way I can." Kari nodded. "You can count me in too!" Xero, taking off his Javabucks apron and hat, nodded as well. "I'm with you!"

Selena counted quickly. "So we're six now, right! That's a nice group we've got! We have to hurry to Slateport. My calculations, (and my pokenav) say that it'll be a two day trip, tops.

Kari started talking again. "In that case, why are we just standing here? Let's run!"

The group, now six, began running out the revolving doors, on the way to the next city, Mauville!

An evil chuckle came from behind them. A boy holding a communicator spoke into it. "Yes. I will not fail like her. I don't need supernatural pokemon to take on a few children. Expect them served on a silver platter, within a day or two." With that, the boy jumped into the shadows and sleekly moved along the buildings.