Authors Note:

To make it easier to read, I will be changing the layout of Kyle's "thinking" a little. From now on I will put thoughts in italics. Names of places, signs, and things of that nature will be put in bold italics.

Chapter 8

Kyle-napping!

I walked down the street, Pichu on my shoulder. The day had gone great so far. The sun was out, and high in the sky now. Articuno was back with my mother at the lab, and now I'm on my way to get my third Johto gym badge. One thing struck me as a little odd though. It seemed that everywhere I went in this town everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me. I was use to this, however. Growing up in a small town, everyone does that, but this was different. Normally people still carry on with their normal stuff, but this time… it was eerie.

I walked up to the gym's doors, pushing them open. "Ahhh." I smiled. "Another gym, anoth-" I stopped mid sentence as I saw that the entire gym was pink!

"Chuuu…" Pichu looked around the massive room, just as I was doing.

"Who in the right mind would paint a gym… pink?" Almost as soon as I said that a girl, about the same age as me, walked out in front of me in a skimpy school uniform.

"Well, like, you are, like, totally cra-azy if you don't like that col-lor." She said in a very preppy voice. "Like, eh, who do you think you are? Making fun of my gym like that?"

"Oh, so it is a gym?" I asked looking around.

"Like, totally! Like, what else would it be?"

"Umm… I don't know." I looked around the room some more. "It kinda looks like a nursery."

"Pi-hi-hi!" Pichu laughed.

"Ohhhh!" The girl cooed. "That Pichu is, like, so cu-ute!" She ran over and started pinching Pichu on the cheeks. "You are the cutest little thing!"

"Piiii!" He whined. I watched as his cheeks started to light up.

"Whoa!" I said, pushing the girl away as Pichu let out a thunder shock that bounced around the room.

"Like, totally rude!" She complained, struggling to stand up from where she fell on the ground.

"Sorry." I said, holding out my hand to help her up. "I didn't want you to get shocked, that's all."

"Hmph!" She smacked my hand away as she stood up, adjusting her short skirt. "I don't need your help! Like, why did you come here anyway?"

"Well, I came for a gym battle." I said.

"Hmm…" She looked me up and down. "You look so familiar… but you're mean, so I'm, like, not going to battle you."

"What? Why not?" I asked. "As the gym leader you are required to battle me as long as you are in the gym."

"Hmm…" She turned away. "Fine. But, like, don't think I'm going to go easy on you just because your Pichu is cute."

"Huh?" Why would she go easy on me for that?

"Well, follow me." She spoke, walking away, twisting her butt the whole time. Man, I just wonder how much of her vanity she could show in one day. This girl seems like a perfect match for Ricky.

When we got to the battle area I noticed that everything in this place was pink. The flowers were pink, the walls were pink, the lamps were pink, there were pink pillows all over the place, pink couches, pink tile, pink everything! It was so pink in this room I could feel my lunch about to come up.

"Like, my side is over there." She said, pointing to the left side of the stage. "And your side is over there." She pointed to the right side. "I am Whitney, the new Goldenrod City gym leader."

"New?" I asked, as I took my side. "What happened to the old one?"

"Well, like, my older sister went to college, so she, like, left this place to me to, like, take care of, and stuff."

"Oh… that's … 'like' cool… I guess…" I said in a joking way.

"Like, isn't it though?!" She jumped.

"Yeah. Can we get this started?" I said, looking at the pink heart shaped… things on the floor.

"Um, like, okay, but you, like, don't have to be rude." Whitney then took a stance. "This will be a two on two battle with no substitutions!"

"Don't you mean you can't substitute?" I asked.

"What did you say?" She put her hands to her hips. "I can so substitute! I would, like, be such a good teacher!"

I shook my head. "Never mind." Man, this girl must have just started. Oh well, it wouldn't matter anyway. If things got too hairy I could switch out for Arcanine. He could mop the floor with about any pokemon.

"Like, I'll start." Whitney readied her first pokeball. "I choose you, Miltank!" She threw the ball out onto the field as the pink cow took a fighting stance.

"Mooo!"

"Eah…" I cringed. "Something else pink." I guess I should have expected that, though. A pink gym would only go along with pink pokemon. "Alright, then." I readied a pokeball. "I know it's been a while, so come on out Primeape!"

"Ape, ape, ape!" The monkey danced, running by my leg and giving me a hug. "Prime-ape!"

"Chu…" Pichu let out some static in jealousy as Primeape hugged me.

"I missed you too." I laughed, placing a hand on him. "But we have a battle to win."

"Ape!" He nodded, hopping on to the stage.

"Like, are you ready yet?" Whitney asked.

"Yep, and we're ready to go." I grinned.

"Then, like, I'll start, and finish this! Miltank, like, use rollout!" She commanded as the cow rolled up into a ball. It spun violently before springing into action, heading straight for Primeape.

"Stand your ground!" I said. "Brace for impact, Primeape!" The cow rolled faster and faster, building up speed before striking into Primeape. "Now!" I called. "Seismic toss!

Primeape latched onto Miltank's small horns, forcing the cow to stop spinning. The cow looked at him scared as he smiled, jumping into the air and slamming the pink pokemon into the ground, creating an impact crater.

"Like, oh no!" Whitney whined. "Umm… Miltank, like… um… use our… um…"

I watched as the cow struggled to stand. This could be a great fighter of a pokemon if the trainer knew how to use it properly. "Primeape, low kick!"

The cow raised its arms in defense as Primeape reared his foot back, sticking it hard enough to throw it into the air.

"Mooo…" The cow groaned as it struggled to stand again.

"I got it!" Whitney jumped. "Miltank, like, use Milk Drink!"

"Milk Drink?" I tilted my head. "I've never heard of that." Miltank stood up straight then bent over, like it was going to touch its toes, but instead it put its lips on its udders. "What?" I jumped back as I saw the cow start to gain back its health. "That is so… disturbing."

"Alright!" Whitney said. "You ready now, Miltank?"

"Mooo!" The pink cow grinned.

"It doesn't even have a scratch on it anymore." I grit my teeth. "That move is bad… and sick." I stuck out my tongue.

"Miltank!" Whitney screamed. "Use your rollout!"

"Again?" I asked as the Miltank started to spin on the ground. "Use another Seismic Toss!" As I said this, I saw Whitney grin.

Miltank took off, spinning toward Primeape, but just before the cow reached him. "Now!" Whitney yelled. "Body Slam!"

Miltank jumped into the air, mid spin, leaving Primeape confused. The pink cow stopped spinning, only for a brief time, but it was enough to land a very powerful body slam on Primeape. After the attack was over Miltank started to spin again, going to the other side of the arena, where it stopped to make a u-turn. From there, it headed right back at Primeape.

"Quick, Primeape! Get up!" I yelled, watching as the monkey struggled to stand. I could tell that where I just started to train him he wasn't as powerful as my other pokemon. Maybe I should had took that into account before I chose him only for the type advantage.

By the time he was up, Miltank was moving in fast, and it wouldn't be long until it struck again. "I got it!" I grinned. It was a long shot, but if this works, Miltank will be out for the count. "Primeape, stand your ground and use Low Kick!"

"Miltank, Body Slam again!"

Once again, the cow sped at Primeape. Primeape readied himself, and when Miltank got close enough, he let out a Low Kick. He swung his foot, but Miltank jumped just in time to miss it. Primeape fell flat on his back from his loss of balance of the Low Kick. Miltank stopped spinning, hovering directly over Primeape as it started to fall.

""Now!" I screamed. "Mega Punch!"

Miltank sunk closer and closer into the attack, unable to dodge while it was in the air. Primeape's fist was covered in a bright white light as he swung his arm at the falling cow. His fist sunk deep into Miltank's chest, pushing the cow into the air and making it fall down on its back a few feet away.

Neither Whitney nor I said anything as our pokemon struggled to stand. Both were out of breath, and ready to fall down.

"Miltank, use your drink milk!" Whitney said.

I watched as Miltank struggled to bend over but couldn't. Instead, it fell over on the ground, exhausted.

"Miltank!" Whitney screamed. "Stand up! Stand up, now!"

"Give it up." I said. "Both of our pokemon are worn out. To keep on battling is pointless."

"Don't you tell me that!" Whitney said. "All you want to do is try to trick me so you can win!"

"No I'm not." I spoke calmly. "Look at your Miltank." She looked over at the cow gasping on the ground. "The poor thing is exhausted, there is not point in going on with it. The same goes for mine, too." She then directed her attention to Primeape. "He is so tired that he's about to pass out."

Whitney paused for a moment. "I still think your trying to trick me!"

"Fine." I shrugged. "Suit yourself. But don't blame me if your Miltank gets really hurt." I lifted up Primeape's pokeball returning him. Shortly after, Whitney did likewise.

"Like… I know Miltank still had some fight in her." Whitney stuck up her nose. "See, I didn't want to totally cream you, so I went easy on you and recalled her."

I felt my eye twitch at her comment. Try to help some one and they smart off to you like that? I reached for the pokeball around my neck. "Oh… how bad I want to…" I wrapped my fingers around Arcanine's pokeball. "But… no." I smiled, moving my hand down. "I have a better idea." I looked over at Pichu, who looked back at me. "I choose you, Pichu."

"Pi?" Pichu pointed at himself with a questionable look on his face.

"Yep, little bud." I grinned. "Get out there and make me proud. I know you can do it!"

"Pi! Pichu!" He beamed, jumping off my shoulder and running onto the field.

"Oh! How cu-te!" Whitney said, jumping up and down. "Like, I totally want to bring out my cutest one too!" She twirled around on her toes throwing out a pokeball. "Go, Clefairy!"

The ball flew out as a pink Clefairy hopped onto the stage. "Fairy!"

"Wow! A Clefairy!" I said, looking at the pink winged pokemon. "In all my years living in Kanto I have never seen a Clefairy! Where did you get it?"

"Oh, my daddy bought it for me!" She beamed.

"Your… daddy?" I asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, so!" She whined. "What's wrong with that?"

"Well," I laughed. "Lets just say that you have just fit my description of a 'prep' in every way possible." I saw her face get red in anger from the comment. "Pink everything, slutty school girl outfit, the snobby voice, $20 worth of make up on your face, and, to top it all off, you're a little daddy's girl." I said in a babying voice, then started laughing historically.

"I'll show you!" She screamed. "No one talks about me like that! Clefairy, use Double Slap!"

The Clefairy charged at Pichu, arms held out with palms ready to slap. Pichu, on the other hand, just looked at it strangely. Clefairy ran up to Pichu, holding a hand in the air and slapping Pichu hard, and the slapping him again before jumping back.

"Pi… chu…" Pichu started to tear up.

"Fair?" Clefairy walked up to Pichu concerned.

"Pi, hi, hi, hi…" He started crying. "PiiiiiiiiI!"

"Cli-fair fair fair." Clefairy tried to comfort him by patting him on the back, but when it did, Pichu jumped back and groaned in a low voice.

"Pi…… CHUUUUUUUUU!" He screamed, letting out a Thunder attack that was so strong it knocked out the power in the gym for the length of the attack. It was as if all the electricity in the building was redirected into Pichu, and then launched in a massive attack that struck Clefairy head on.

The unbelievable amount of electricity was so bright, that even when the attack was over it still took a few seconds for the eyes to adjust. When I was finally able to see, I saw Pichu standing mad, with a red paw print mark on both sides of his face, looking at a knocked out Clefairy, burnt to a crisp, on the ground.

"Like! Oh no!" Whitney screamed. "My Clefairy! My Clefairy!" She ran onto the battlefield, holding her knocked out pokemon in her arms. "Clefairy, speak to me!"

"Cli…" The Clefairy opened its eyes.

"So…" I walked up to her, letting Pichu crawl back on my shoulder. "Can I have my badge now?"

Whitney looked up at me with a hateful look in her eyes. She recalled her pokemon before standing to look at me. "You make fun of my clothes, you make fun of my pokemon, you call me a 'prep', you say I'm a 'daddy's girl', and you ask if you can have a badge!?"

"Well, yeah." I said. "This is a gym, and I did kick you butt, so I want a badge."

"No! Never! I will never give a badge to a… a… a prick like you!" She screamed as she began to cry. "Just, leave me alone!" She screamed, tears running down her face as she ran into the back of the gym.

"Oh brother." I rolled my eyes. I watched the door that she ran into shut, and when it did, I saw a box beside it labeled, "BADGES".

"Sweet!" I said, walking over to the box, looking inside to find hundreds of gym badges. I reached down, picking one up as I pinned it inside my leather jacket with my other two from Johto. "Three down and only five to go."

"Pi, pi-chu!" Pichu chimed.

We made our way back to the entrance of the pink gym. The thing was like a maze of some sort, all arranged in either tall boxes or walls, or something. Never the less, it took us quite a while to find the front doors.

I pushed them open, feeling the sun hit my face. It was bright out here, so bright that it took me a few seconds to adjust, but when I did I saw that I was surrounded by people with cameras and microphones.

I jumped in shock at the mass of people that went to all sides of me as I exited the gym.

"Tell us, are you the Kyle Gray?" One asked, shoving a mic in my face.

"Yes?" I answered. "I guess. I'm the only Kyle Gray I know of."

"Tell me, how does it feel to be the worlds greatest pokemon trainer, Mr. Gray?" Another person asked, once again, shoving a mic in my face.

"What?" I asked, as lights from digital cameras started flashing around me.

"How do you feel about the new poffins?"

"Do you use TM's?"

"How do you like your breakfast?"

I looked around in confusion at all the people that were around me. I don't know why I was so surprised, the Nurse Joy here did tell me this would happen. But, man, I didn't think it actually would. This is crazy, and kinda… scary. I can honestly say that I have never felt claustrophobic, but right now, all I wanted was to get away.

"Mr. Gray! What's it like to see the world with your pokemon?" Another person jumped in front of me.

"Mr. Gray, what is your feelings on the new legislative's bill that was passed about the banning of certain kinds of cigarettes?"

"What?" I asked. "I don't smoke!"

Right then I felt a hand on my shoulder, then me and Pichu were both pulled into a van. The door was slammed shut and the people outside were cut off from me.

"Alright, get us out of here!" I heard a woman say.

I looked up to see that I was in a van full of tv's, antennas, wires, batteries, and all sorts of things. I then felt the van move as Pichu was thrown off my shoulder. I reached for him, holding him in my arms as I looked up at the woman who pulled me into the van. She was a news reporter, and before long she had a camera in my face.

"Cindy Watson here, live, from the back of my news van with the world famous Pokemon Master, Kyle Gray. Mr. Gray, could you tell us a little about your travels here in Johto? What brought you to Goldenrod?"

I looked at the mic that was in my face, then at the woman. The man was too busy driving the van to interfere with us, and the camera was on a tripod that was bolted down to the floor. I needed to get out of here. I was loosing my head! This place was too weird!

"HELP ME!" I screamed, grabbing the camera in my hands, shoving my face into the lens. "This crazy woman kidnapped me!" I then threw the camera off the tripod, slamming it on the ground as I opened the side door of the van. I reached for the pokeball around my neck, releasing Arcanine as I jumped on his back, Pichu in my arms the whole time. We ran beside the van just long enough for me to tuck Pichu inside my jacket.

"Mr. Gray!" The lady yelled from the van. "What are you doing?!"

"Arcanine! Extreme Speed!" I yelled.

"Arf?" He looked back at me concerned.

"Just do it!" I screamed, holding on tight to him with one hand, and Pichu with the other. With that I felt a burst of speed rush over my face. We were going fast, very fast, I would even say faster than my bike would go at top speed. But, shortly after going that fast, we began to slow down, drastically.

"Ar… Ar…" Arcanine huffed, out of breath as he jogged slowly.

"It's okay boy." I said, patting him on the side as he slowed to a stop beside a stream. He sat down, letting me and Pichu off as he lapped up the water. "I'm sorry I yelled at you." I said, wrapping my arms around him. "You were so great though! Your extreme speed is really amazing."

"Arf." I saw him sort of chuckle as he licked up some more water.

I leaned up, looking around as Pichu climbed back up on my shoulder. "Where are we?"

"Interesting." Conner spoke as he shuffled through the last bits of information he needed to follow through with his next plan.

He had been searching through several databases to find the other place that Kyle had been storing his pokemon. From what he had gathered, thus far, Kyle has been sending pokemon to a Mrs. Debbie Gray, on Cinnabar Island via instant PC transmission. Very few people have that technology on hand, and the ones that do, are very high-ranking individuals. Professor Oak, Professor Elm, Professor Birch, and Professor Rowan, all have that technology, but they are all head leaders of each regions pokemon informational studies. That gives plenty of reason for them to have access to a database that wide, but that doesn't cover Debbie Gray. The only information that Conner could come up with on her was that she was the head of a Pokemon Research Lab on Cinnabar. Though, that is a major organization in itself, to be able to get rights to use the transfer unit she would have to be in really close to one of the professors.

Though, wondering about such trivial things doesn't matter. Conner was already close to cracking into the e-mail, and now, he's just one click away. The security system was too advanced and protected for him to get into from his own personal computer, but the e-mail, on the other hand, could be easily overridden.

"Conner, Sir!" A man in a white Rocket lab coat popped on the screen in the bottom left hand corner.

"What is it?" Conner demanded as he clicked the "Override" button on his hacking software.

"Sir! The Cryo-Tubes! They are… malfunctioning!"

"Well, that's your job to keep them under control." Conner spoke annoyed.

"Sir! You don't understand! Cryo-Tube 001 is sending out psychic waves, its alive!"

"Alive?!" Conner yelled.

"Yes! Alive!" The man then jumped away from the camera. "It's going critical!"

"Damnit! You stupid fool!" Conner cursed, slamming his foot on the ground. "Keep the damn thing under control, I don't care how you do it, just keep it alive and calm!" He slammed the lid shut as he looked up into the sky. Even in the outskirts of Goldenrod City he could still Mt. Silver standing high over Johto. "Those idiots." He spat. "Looks like I need to go back and make sure the fools don't do anything wrong, again." He reached for a pokeball on his belt, throwing it out in the shade in front of him.

"Raaaaaa!" The massive pokemon screamed.

"Shut-up!" He barked. "Now dig us back to Mt. Silver, there should be an old rundown subway system under us that will get us there in no time.

"Raaa…" The dragon groaned as it plowed under the ground so fast that it was like it vanished in thin air.

After Arcanine's little rest was over I recalled him, placing his pokeball back on the necklace that I wore around my neck. Pichu hopped on the ground as I took off my biker jacket. "Man, it's getting hot." Johto's weather patterns were strange. Unlike Kanto, which stayed pretty much one temperature all day, Johto got warmer the further the day went on, and the by night, it was almost freezing again. Well, not really freezing, but man, it felt like it.

I reached into my front pocket of my jeans, bringing out the capsule for my bike. I pushed down the button, throwing the little bottle shaped object on the ground as it puffed into a cloud of smoke.

"Pi!" Pichu squealed happily as he hopped in his little cup holder.

"Well, we can't go for a ride just yet." I said, raising the hood and sitting down. "We need to know where we are, right now." I started to fiddle around with the navigation system.

Pichu climbed up on my shoulder to look as well. "Chu?"

"Hmmm." I looked at the blinking red icon that indicated our location. "'Location Unknown.' I wonder what that means?"

"Pi-pichu?" Pichu shook his head.

"Well, lets zoom out." I pushed on the negative magnifying glass, which zoomed out a few miles. But, nothing, it was still, 'Unknown Location'. I zoomed out again, and again, and again, until I was able to make out a good view of our surroundings.

"Alright." I said with a smile. "No worries. It looks like we are about 30 miles from the outskirts of Goldenrod, 35 miles from the Ruins of Alph, whatever that is, and 80 miles from Ecruteak City, where the next gym is." I was about to set a destination to Ecruteak when I noticed a little white dot, only about 10 miles due north from where we were. I zoomed in on it, seeing that it had a caption beside it reading, "Hidden Hot Spring – Mountain Resort Getaway".

"A hot spring resort, huh?" I started thinking to myself. I did say that I wanted to try to train my fire pokemon in water, and a hot spring would be the best way to start. "Well Pichu!" I looked over at him on my shoulder as he looked back at me. "Put on your gear, we're going for a ride."