A mysterious disappearance
Max sighed. One week already since the three companions had stopped at the Lily Creek pokemon centre, the last one before Violet City, so that Bonnie and Max could finish training for their upcoming gym battle. So far, it had not gone so well. Well, that was not entirely true: Dedenne and Litleo and Chespin were coming along very well indeed. Chespin had seemed harmless at first, a little glutton with a particular love for all things sweet, but the first battle between Ralts and him had definitely cured Max of that notion. The little hedgehog could be a really strong fighter when the need arose. Same with Dedenne, who, when he did not slept, used his small stature and his agility to his full advantage. On Max's side though… it really rankled that Bonnie, who had confessed to having been a full-fledged trainer for little more than a month, could beat him so easily most of the time. Anytime they did a battle with more than one pokemon, in any case. Okay, she had certainly gotten a lot of unofficial experience hanging around her brother's gym. But then so had Max in the Petalburg gym. The problem was Treecko really, though Max would not have dreamed of saying that out loud, unwilling to risk damaging his repaired relationship with the little lizard. But he was at his wits' end, unable to see how he could help his friend progress. The infuriating thing was, he knew Treecko was much stronger than he let on. But even though his green friend had gradually become accustomed to battling with Bonnie's pokemon, he still was holding back.
"You know, if you continue to frown like that, you'll get a permanent creeze between your eyebrows," said a gentle voice to his left.
"Hi Laura," Max said with a small smile. He really appreciated the calmness that the dark-haired girl managed to radiate most of the time. How Bonnie and she could be such good friends had puzzled him at first, for their characters were very different. But after hearing the story of how the two of them had met, he had understood that beneath the surface, they had a lot in common, and that their differences complemented each other pretty well.
"You're still worrying about Treecko, right?"
"Yeah," Max sighed again. "It's getting hard to not be frustrated in front of him, but it's not his fault I'm not a good enough trainer that I can help him develop his potential," he said, confessing the doubts that had started to plague him deep inside.
"That's nonsense, you're a good trainer Max. Your difficulties with Treecko have nothing to do with your ability."
"How can you say that? I…"
"Your pokemon love you and you love them, it's that simple" Laura replied, cutting Max off before he got more upset. "Give it time," she advised, and Max made a face. "I know it feels like it's taking too long, but what's a few days, really? We can stay here as long as you need."
"You're not getting bored? Bonnie and I have been spending so much time training together…"
Laura shook her head decidedly. "Not at all. This is a lovely place, and Nurse Joy has been teaching me a lot about berries while I'm helping her. Besides, Espurr and Swablu and I are also practicing a little number, you know. We'll show it to you when we have advanced a little more."
"So what do you think I should do with Treecko?" Max asked, coming back to his first preoccupation.
"Well, maybe it would be good for his confidence to win a battle or two?" Laura suggested. "He hasn't had much luck lately, with either Ralts or Bonnie's pokemon, right?" Max nodded. "Well, neither Swablu nor Espurr has much battle experience, apart from… well, you know, that business with the pokemon hunter." She blushed and went on quickly. "Anyway, you could battle us if you want, there's a good chance you would win!"
"Hey, maybe you have something here!" Max replied, brightening.
"Of course we won't make it easy for you either", Laura added with a feisty smile. "Come on, I'll get Swablu."
xxx
When they entered the pokemon centre, they found a very agitated Nurse Joy wringing her hands.
"What happened, Nurse Joy?" Max asked.
"Chansey has disappeared! She's nowhere to be seen and doesn't respond when I call her."
"Are you sure?" Laura enquired. "Maybe she just went for a walk or something. You told me yesterday that you two go pick berries sometimes, and we were just saying this morning that you were running low on some of them."
"No, Chansey would never go by herself."
"We'll help you look for her," Max said. "I'll get Bonnie."
Bonnie was eager to help, of course. But no matter how hard they looked, they quickly had to concede that Chansey was indeed nowhere near the pokemon centre. A search from the sky did not yield anymore results.
"I should go to Lily Creek village and ask if anyone has seen Chansey," Nurse Joy said after a while. "I don't know why Chansey would have gone to the village, but since she's not here… But I really shouldn't leave the centre unattended either. I have several sick pokemon who might need supervision here."
"We'll go," Bonnie said. "Don't worry Nurse Joy, we'll find Chansey, I promise."
The nurse seemed to hesitate, clearly torn between her responsibilities at the centre and her anxiety for her beloved assistant. At that moment, a young trainer came running into the pokemon centre's hall.
"Nurse Joy, Nurse Joy!" He cried. "You have to save my Sentret, I think she got poisoned. She seems in pain, she's sweating a lot and is much paler than usual, and I found half-eaten berries next to her!"
A look was enough for Nurse Joy to confirm that the pokemon had indeed been poisoned. Out of habit, she half-turned as if to call her assistant, then remembered. Laura stepped forward.
"I'll help you at the centre, Nurse Joy," she offered. "While Bonnie and Max go look for your chansey. It looks like you could use a second pair of hands."
"Thank you so much you three," the red-haired woman answered with a grateful smile.
xxx
As they were leaving, the two youngsters noticed another trainer coming up to the pokemon centre with a pale-looking marill in her arms.
"Another poisoning, do you think?" Bonnie wondered. "That would be odd, two in a row."
Max shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm sure Nurse Joy and Laura can take care of it. Let's concentrate on finding Chansey ok?"
"You're right!"
In the village however, no one they asked had seen the nurse's assistant. As they neared the main square they saw that a big tent had been erected in the middle, with a queue forming outside.
"Excuse-me, what's happening here?" Bonnie, curious, asked the woman at the end of the queue.
"There's been a wave of poisonings in the village today, my togepi is one of them," the woman answered, showing them her little egg-like pokemon, laying listless in her arms. "This travelling doctor has just arrived, and everyone is waiting for him to heal our pokemon!"
"Why not go to the pokemon centre?" Max asked.
"The traveling doctor has a very efficient healing machine, I heard. I met a woman with a raticate, she said not only did the doctor heal her pokemon super fast, but he promised her that thanks to the special healing given by the machine, the pokemon would be immune to poison from now on!"
"That does sound great!" Bonnie agreed.
Leaving the busy square behind them, Max and Bonnie continued their search.
"De- de- dedenne!"
The little rodent, who had been riding on Bonnie's shoulder, suddently climbed down, chirping excitedly. He ran towards a nearby bank, on which a basket of appetizing-looking berries had been left. Before Bonnie could say anything, Dedenne grabed some and began munching happily.
"Dedenne, you little glutton!" The blond girl scolded. "Stop that, those berries do not belong to you! Someone must have forgotten them here."
The electric mouse came back to his trainer with an air of regret. Again, the search resumed. Before long however, Bonnie noticed that Dedenne was acting all drowsy on her shoulder.
"Do you want to take a nap?" She asked her little friend. "I'll carry you in my arms then, I wouldn't want you to fall!"
But when she grabbed him, she saw that the brown rodent was looking very uncomfortable, and a bit pale as well.
"Hey, what's the matter Dedenne?"
Max frowned.
"Well," he said, "I don't want to jump to conclusions, but Dedenne looks an awful lot like the pokemon whose trainers are queuing in the square."
"Oh no," Bonnie exclaimed. "Do you think those berries were poisoned? I thought the owner of the basket had just forgotten it! But who would do such an awful thing?"
"I don't know, but you'd better get Dedenne treated! Do you want to go back to the pokemon centre?"
"Oh, you shouldn't go all the way to the pokemon centre," a hazel-haired woman interrupted. "The pokemon doctor in the main square is much closer, and he is very very good!"
"The queue was quite long though," Bonnie argued, undecided.
"Not to worry, not to worry, child, the Wonder-Healing-Machine is super fast, so it doesn't matter how long the queue is. Plus, you have the opportunity to get your pokemon immunity against future poisonings, isn't that great?"
"I guess so," Bonnie answered. She thought it over for a few seconds. "Yes, let's do it like this! I want my Dedenne to be healed as soon as possible. Plus, Nurse Joy and Laura seemed quite busy already."
"If it's quick, I'm coming with you," Max said. "I want to see that healing machine too! And to know that Dedenne is ok," he added quickly at Bonnie's raised eyebrows. She seemed on the verge of arguing that he was more needed in the search for Chansey, but apparently decided against it and simply nodded. Her troubled gaze was on her beloved partner, who was getting paler and paler.
The woman watched them go with a smirk.
xxx
As announced, the queue in the square, while even longer than before, was moving along quite steadily. Sooner than Bonnie had feared, it was their turn.
"So, what do we have there?" The doctor asked. He was a slim man with sea-green hair and a big white coat.
"Do you think you can help my dedenne, doctor?" Bonnie cried out. "He ate some berries before I could stop him and I'm afraid he's been poisoned!"
"Indeed, that's a case for my Wonder-Healing-Machine if I ever saw one! You're not from around here are you?" The doctor commented, looking at the electric mouse in Bonnie's hands.
"No, we're from Kalos," Bonnie answered. The man looked quite interested at the announcement.
He tapped lightly on the top of a big, rectangular box in the middle of the tent, with lots of little buttons. Large trap doors could be seen on two sides, and a rolling band could transport the pokemon in and out of the machine.
"Don't worry child, the Wonder-Healing-Machine can treat any pokemon. It's my best invention, if I do say so myself! Now place your pokemon on the rolling band and step back!"
The doctor activated a lever on the back of the machine, and the rolling band started forward. Soon, dedenne had disappeared inside the machine, and the doctor was pressing on some of the buttons, muttering.
"Medium dose!" Max heard him say at some point.
Suddenly, Bonnie and Max could see a golden light coming from inside the machine. Two minutes later, Dedenne appeared outside again, looking a lot better. He jumped into his trainer's outstretched arms with a happy cry.
"There, all healed up!" The doctor announced.
Bonnie beamed at him: "Thank you so much, doctor!"
"I understand your dedenne tends to eat first and think later, so I have an offer for you. Would you like to be part of our immunity treatment? Now normally I charge quite a bit for this, but I really could not make a sweet child such as yourself pay, of course."
"That would be really neat! I sure would be relieved to know he's safe from poison!" Bonnie answered enthusiastically, choosing to focus on the nice offer and not the man's rather condescending tone.
"Very good, child. Then leave your dedenne to me, this will take more time and there is still quite a queue outside. You can come and pick it up this evening, how does that sound?"
"Err, we don't really like to be parted, but I guess that's alright. Dedenne, I will come back very soon, ok?"
She handed over the little rodent to the doctor, who rushed them out the door.
"That was kind of weird," Max commented once they were outside. "That doctor sure was in a hurry all of a sudden."
"Well," Bonnie said quite reasonably, "there IS still a queue outside the tent, so that's understandable. It was kind of him to offer, anyway."
"Yeah, I guess. So where should we look now? I don't want to go back to the pokemon centre and tell Nurse Joy that we failed, but it feels like we've looked everywhere already!"
"Why don't we head over to the hamlet we passed through when we arrived, the one that's just around the bend on the main road? Who knows, maybe someone there will have seen Chansey."
"It's worth a try anyway," Max agreed.
The little hamlet really was not far, and it took them less than fifteen minutes to reach it. The entire area was very quiet, with few people around. An old man gardening behind his house had not seen anything. Neither had, further along the path, the harried-looking father trying to get his two very energetic small children into his car. Bonnie and Max were feeling quite discouraged at that point.
"Well, I guess there's nothing left to do but go back to the pokemon centre," Max concluded with a sigh. "Maybe Chansey will have turned up on her own while we were gone."
"I guess you're right,"Bonnie agreed. "I don't see... hey, do you hear that? It sounds like someone crying. Come on, if someone is in trouble we should go see if we can help!"
Intrigued, because he had not heard anything, Max followed Bonnie inside one of the gardens. There, curled up on the house's steps, a little boy was crying quietly. How Bonnie had heard the muffled sobs? She must have a very good hearing!
"Hey what's wrong?" Bonnie asked gently. A tear-streaked face looked at her. The boy could not have been more than six or seven. Dark-red hair and green eyes made a striking combination, especially with the thousand freckles sprinkled all over his face. One cheek was smudged with dirt.
"The bad man took my minccino!" He managed to answer between two sobs. "And he won't give it back!"
"What!" Max exclaimed, alarmed. "What do you mean, a bad man took your pokemon? When and where?"
Slowly, because the child was not very coherent, Bonnie and Max pieced the story together. The boy's minccino had been poisoned too (so many poisonings, who would do that? Max wondered, again), so he had gone to the new pokemon doctor in the village. The healing machine had done its work, but then the man had said he needed to keep Minccino for the immunity process.
"He said my parents could pay when they picked her up, but I told him I couldn't spend any money, and still he kept Mincie! And then he threw me out of the tent! What am I going to tell my mum?"
The two friends exchanged relieved glances.
"Hey, don't worry, we'll help you get Mincie back." Bonnie said with a smile. "And I'm sure she's fine. My dedenne is with her you know. Now I don't know why the doctor wanted your parents to pay without their agreement, maybe you misunderstood? I know he nicely offered me the treatment for free, if you explain the situation to him I'm sure he will do the same."
"I don't know, he was really mean to me!" the boy replied, looking scared. "I just want to get Mincie back."
"It must have been the stress, with so many pokemon to heal. Come on, I'll go with you. I'm Bonnie by the way, and this is Max."
"I'm Timmy."
xxx
Back in the village, they could see that the queue had much diminished outside of the tent. Soon, they got to see the doctor again.
"You again! Why are you back?" The youngsters were surprised at the aggressive tone.
"We met Timmy here. He said you were going to make him pay for the immunity treatment, but his mum doesn't give him any money to spend, so he wants his minccino back. Sorry for the trouble!" Bonnie explained.
"What? Totally impossible, we are in the middle of it right now, I can't just stop whenever you now."
"Then will you please consider offering him the treatment like you did with me?"
"Hey, this is not a charity operation. I know your parents have money child, they can cough up the price."
"That's not very nice," Bonnie reprimanded, as Timmy started crying again. Before anyone could add anything, he started calling for his friend.
"Mincie, where are you?" Without waiting, he dodged behind the curtain partitioning the tent in two.
"Timmy, wait!" Max cried out, and he and Bonnie ran behind their young companion... only to stop cold at the strange sight: the second part of the tent did not look like a doctor's lab at all, but rather like a storage space with lots of covered crates. It was not empty: the woman who had directed them to the doctor in the first place was standing in the middle, a sleeping torchick in her arms, and looking very surprised at Timmy's irruption.
"What is going on here? Where are all the pokemon?" Bonnie asked, alarmed. "Where's my dedenne?"
She turned to the doctor: "What have you done with my dedenne? Give him back to me!"
The doctor and the woman looked at each other, then laughed.
"No way, brat," the woman answered contemptously. "They're ours now."
"Give Mincie back to me!" Timmy yelled, not understanding.
"You're no doctor," Max accused. "Who are you?"
Still laughing, the two adults threw away their clothes, revealing they had been a disguise. They had familiar uniforms underneath.
"Prepare for trouble..."
"...and make it double!"
"To infect the world with devastation!"
"To blight all people in every nation!"
"To denounce the goodness of truth and love!"
"To extend our wrath to the stars above."
"Cassidy."
"Butch."
"We're Team Rocket, circling Earth day and night."
"Surrender to us now or you'll surely lose the fight."
"Team Rocket!" Max and Bonnie exclaimed together. They glanced at each other, each surprised that the other also knew about the infamous villain organisation.
"But who are you guys? What happened to the regular team?" Bonnie added.
"Regular team?" Cassidy repeated. "Oh, you must mean that loser Jessie."
"And that good-for-nothing James!" Butch added with a sneer.
"We're the real Team Rocket, and we'll prove it: we actually succeed in our missions!"
"Not if we can stop you!" Max cried out. "Ralts, come help me! Use psychic!"
"Mightyena, bite!" Butch yelled, seizing a pokeball. The big dog-like pokemon appeared with a snarl.
"Raticate, come out!" Cassidy shouted. "Fury swipes!"
Bonnie motioned to Timmy that he should step back, and moved in front of him. She was grateful to Max that he was so quick on the uptake. But she needed to do her part.
"Litleo, ember!" The ember attack prevented Cassidy's raticate to reach Ralts, but Mightyena was quick, and Ralts cried out as the strong-jawed pokemon got him.
"Ralts, psychic on Mightyena!"
Again, Mightyena's speed proved too much, and it dodged. Curiously, instead of attacking Litleo, Raticate jumped behind his partner.
"Mightyena, yawn!" Butch called out.
"No!" But the yawn attack succeeded on both Ralts and Litleo, making them drowsy, then fall asleep.
"Damn it!" Max swore. "Ralts, return!"
"Litleo, return! Chespin, you're up! Pin missile!" Bonnie continued without pause, her focus entirely on the fight. Mightyena and Raticate tried to dodge, but the rat pokemon was not quick enough. It rapidly got back on its feet however.
"Max, I'd appreciate some help!" Bonnie yelled over her shoulder.
"Treecko, come out!" The green lizard immediately looked at his surroundings with a scared demeanour. "Treecko listen to me," Max told him quietly. "These bad people have taken Dedenne, and a lot of other pokemon, and we're going to get them back. They've knocked Ralts and Litleo out, so we're going to work with Bonnie and Chespin, ok? Treecko, I KNOW you can do it, now let's go! Treecko, bullet seed on Mightyena!"
The attack succeeded in preventing the big canine from launching its next move, but it did not seem like it took much damage. Treecko looked like it was going to flee.
"Again, Treecko! Come on, I believe in you, I know you can do it!"
"Chespin, pin missile again!"
The little hedgehog was battling for all he was worth, but still got knocked over by Raticate. He struggled to get up again. Looking at his friend, Treecko suddenly stood very still for a second. Anger and protectiveness chased away the fear in his eyes.
"Treecko!" He shouted, and he fired bullets at both opponents again, with much more energy than before. Both were momentarily stopped in their tracks. Chespin took advantage of the moment to tackle Raticate, sending it flying. Treecko then turned towards Mightyena with an intense gaze, and a ball of energy appeared in his paws. He fired it with great determination. The range was very short, with no time for its opponent to move aside, and the energy ball did a lot of damage.
"That's great, Treecko!" Max yelled with enthusiasm. "Now follow it up with pound!"
This time, the dog hit the ground and did not get back up. Max and Treecko turned around, looking for Raticate, but Chespin had already dealt with it. Trainers and pokemon then advanced on the Team Rocket members, who looked nervous. Outside, a siren started. Cassidy and Butch swore and ran away.
"We're not going to let you get away with humiliating Team Rocket!" Cassidy shouted before leaving. "We'll meet again!"
In the suddenly quiet tent, Treecko turned towards Max, then slowly fell over.
END OF CHAPTER
So, how did you like this one? At the beginning, I thought I'd do a pokemon story without Team Rocket, but I couldn't resist. Butch and Cassidy are quite interesting villains, and not so present in the anime, so I thought it might be fun.
By the way, you can still tell me which pokemon you think will be the next one caught by our friends, and who will catch it!
