Screensaver Problems Part 11

PDM: Okay, last chapter Chris and the rest had dinner, and then the dance started. Ash and Misty had just started to dance when Cassidy and Butch, disguised as a singing duo, knocked everyone out and stole all their pokemon, and kidnapped Misty, too!

M: Yeah, and who knows what will happen next?

PDM: So, keep reading to see!

M: Must I? Can't you just tell me?

PDM: Nope. Read.

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"Uuh... My head hurts..." Misty moaned. "Hey! Where am I?" She was locked in a cell. "Let me out of here!"

An evil laugh came from outside the door. A guard leered at her through the bars. "Not a chance, my pretty. We'll keep you here until your sisters pay up, or else..." The guard laughed again and turned away.

"Oh, no!" Misty collapsed to the floor of the cell. "Ash, where are you? Help me!"

A little ways away, Ash was trying to do just that. "Officer, you have to find her!"

"Calm down, Ash. We're doing everything we can, but there's just no leads." Officer Jenny said.

Ash groaned and sat down in one of the chairs. I sat down next to him. Brock sat down on the other side. Duplica and Suzie pulled up two more chairs and sat down, too. "What am I going to do? I've got to do something!"

"Ash, what can you do?" I asked. "Like Officer Jenny said, there's just no clues."

But then the police station videophone rang. Officer Jenny rushed over and answered it, bringing up a picture of Misty's three sisters.

"Like, Officer Jenny, look at this!"

"We just got a phone call from somebody!"

"And they say they have Misty!"

We all heard this last sentence and rushed over to the phone.

"We recorded it, so we'll show you the message again."

Then a tape started to play. It showed a man sitting in a chair with a light behind him that shadowed his face. "Hello. I assume I am speaking to the Waterflower sisters. You may be wondering just what has happened to your youngest sister. I have her right here."

Then the view moved to show Misty tied to a chair and gagged. The look in her eyes was one of fear and anger. Then the view moved back to the man again.

"We will release her if we are given precisely one million Pokedollars by tomorrow. I will have a man waiting out on Nugget Bridge at precisely 12:00 tomorrow night. If you are not there by 12:15 with the money, the man will send an order, and at 12:30 precisely, your sister will be injected with one of our best slow poisons. There is no antidote." The man grinned. "And in case you have any bright ideas about trying to catch or trick my man on Nugget Bridge tomorrow night," he continued, "You won't have much luck. He's been handpicked from our best agents. Also, if we don't get a signal from him every five minutes, the poisoning will happen precisely five minutes after the first missed signal. Thank you, and remember, one million Pokedollars by 12:00 tomorrow night."

The screen went blank, to be replaced by Misty's sisters.

"So, like, what can we do?"

"Well, I don't know how we're going to get that million dollars by tomorrow." Officer Jenny said.

"Officer Jenny, I have 500,000 Pokedollars." Ash said.

"What?" everyone gasped.

"I was saving up to buy Misty a new bike. But this is far more important. Without the money, Misty won't be around to get a bike for."

"That's great, Ash, but the only problem is that this is Team Rocket. They're more likely to just take the million dollars and poison Misty anyway. And besides, I can't let you pay that money to Team Rocket."

"What?" Ash cried.

"It's against every law to go along with Team Rocket. And, anyway, if you help us, I'm sure we can find their hideout by 12:00 tomorrow. And I'll loan you all some pokemon to help defend yourself. After all, you'll be helping us, I gather."

"I speak for all of us when I say, Definitely!" Ash said.

"Yeah!" I shouted.

"Okay, we have some extra pokemon donated by the Pokecenter for all of you to borrow. There's only going to be one per person, though, so be careful." Officer Jenny said, handing out some pokeballs.

Ash got a Rhyhorn, Brock got a Bulbasaur, Suzie got a Charmander, I got a Marill, and Duplica got an Eevee. Then we all headed back to the Ultra Ball to help look for clues. When we got there, we looked around for a little while. But we couldn't find anything.

"It's hopeless." Brock moaned. "If the Cerulean City police force couldn't find anything, what are the chances of us finding a clue?"

"We still have to try!" Ash said. "We all know we can't let Misty be poisoned. So let's keep looking!"

Just then, Duplica got an idea. "Hey, Chris, you got a Marill, right?"

"Yeah. So?"

"Aren't Marills known for being able to find people by sound?"

"You know, you might be right. It's worth a try, at least." I said, calling out Marill.

"Marill mar!"

"Okay, Marill, listen for this voice." I said, playing a tape of Misty's voice that Duplica had produced from somewhere.

Marrill stood stock-still and twitched its ears for almost five minutes. Then...

"Marill mar marill!"

"You found her? Great! Let's go!"

Then we ran off, following Marill.

- 1:00 in the morning. 23 hours remain. -

Marill had led us to the outskirts of the town. He jumped into a river that was running past and waited.

"So Misty is down that river?" I asked.

"Marril!" he said, nodding.

"Well, we have to figure out how to get down there." Brock said.

"Why not swim it?" Ash asked.

"Ash, that water's way too fast and rough to swim." Suzie replied.

"We gotta think quick, guys! We only have like 23 hours left!" I said.

"I wish we had Ash's Lapras now." Brock mumbled. (Pokedex Info: A Lapras is a large aquatic Pokemon that can carry a small number of people on its back. Ash had one, but he had to let it rejoin its herd.)

"THAT'S IT!" I shouted.

"Huh?" everyone shouted, jumping.

"All we have to do is head down to the Pokecenter and ask for a good water pokemon to use!"

"Let's hurry!" Duplica cried.

I recalled Marill and we rushed off.

- 2:00 in the morning. 22 hours remain. -

We arrived at the Pokecenter only to find that Nurse Joy had gone home for the night. It was still open for trainers to use if they needed someplace to sleep, though.

"Now what do we do?" Ash asked.

"Sleep." Brock yawned.

"Huh?"

"Actually, he has a point. We'll never be able to help Misty like we are now. We've gotta rest." I said.

"But what about Misty? Who knows what they're doing to her?"

"Nothing." Suzie yawned. "They need her intact for the ransom."

"Fine. I guess we can rest... But we had better be awake at 6:00!"

"That's fine with me." Duplica said.

So we went inside and lay down on the couches. Duplica and I had to share one, because there weren't enough. So we went to sleep with her head on my stomach.

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PDM: Awww... So cute!

M: Hey! Ain't this supposed to be an AAMRN? These readers don't want a CADRN! (That's Chris and Duplica Romance Novel, folks!)

PDM: So sue me. I like to dream.