Chapter 2

Jack was in shock by what his sister told him. It just wasn't possible. And if it was...what did it mean for the rest of the region's trainers?

According to Cora, the thug had used a "Snag Ball" to capture and steal Thorn. Then he had claimed they would strengthen him by shutting down his heart...whatever that meant.

And it seemed key to know what that meant. So he decided to pay a visit to Prof. Geranium, a woman who studied Pokemon extensively, and by extension, knew all about the current Pokemon equipment. She had to know something useful.

"Professor!" he yelled, banging on her door. "You home? I need to talk to you." Bella howled, lending her own effort to attract the Professor's attention.

The door opened, and he was met by a twenty-something brunette in a white coat. "Jack!" she exclaimed. "What's the matter? Come inside."

"Something awful's happened. It's Cora; her Espeon was stolen!"

She gasped. "Thorn?" He nodded glumly. "Tell me exactly what happened," she demanded. He did, explaining as quickly and clearly as he could. When he finished, she gritted her teeth. "Damn it, not again. I thought we had this solved."

"This has happened before?"

Geranium nodded. "Yes, Team Snagem's been using Snag Ball's since they started taking over two years ago." They made their way to the lab area. "They have something called Snag Gear, that allows them to take Pokeballs and convert them so they can capture other trainers' Pokemon. But we're not defenseless," she said quickly, seeing his furious look. "We created some Gear of our own. Come see." She led him to the back area, hidden from immediate view, and pointed to the center of the room.

There was a steel table, the top covered with strange, chocolate-coin-sized devices attached to black gloves, all of which was protected by glass-bulletproof, he thought. "What are those?" Jack asked interestedly.

They edged closer. "They're called Purity Gear," Geranium explained. She unlocked the glass case and pulled one out, putting it on. "You wear it like this and pick up a Pokeball with it. It converts the Pokeball into a Purity Ball, which acts like the Snag Ball in that it allows you to capture other trainers' Pokemon, but only if the Pokemon is corrupted. Otherwise it won't work. Once the Pokemon is captured, it's slowly purified until it returns to normal."

There were five, including the one the professor wore. "So who gets them?" he asked. Five new combatants to fight Snagem was no bad thing; maybe one of them would catch Thorn and return him to normal!

Geranium shook her head sadly. "I don't know," she said. "I wish I did, but for some reason, the Purity Gear will only work for certain trainers, and I can't tell who it will be. I don't even know why."

"But you made it, right?" he asked confusedly. How can you create something and not know how it worked?

She nodded. "But sometimes, when you program something, random bits of code will give you completely unpredictable outcomes when they come together."

"Can't you change it?"

"Yeah. I did it once, with one. But it didn't work nearly as well as the others; the Pokemon took almost three times as long to Purify. We can't have that." She took off the glove and was about to put it back when someone called out, "Professor! I'm back for my report."

"Can you hold this?" She left without waiting for his answer.

"Sure," he muttered at her retreating back. This wasn't the first time she'd done something like this, admittedly not with anything so valuable, but he couldn't complain; she clearly trusted him.

He listened to their indistinct voices, quickly growing bored. So he decided to more closely examine the glove.

The device in the palm was plain, glossy black. The glove was fingerless, backless black leather. A closer look revealed that the device had a little light bulb, but the glass was so dark that it almost completely blended into the plastic, and it was off.

With a quick glance at the door, he slid the glove on. If the professor was right, it wouldn't react, so he didn't expect it to. Then he closed his eyes and imagined finding Thorn. His fingers curled into a fist as he imagined holding the Purity Ball (which, in his mind, looked not unlike a Premium Ball), throwing it at Thorn, capturing him, Purifying him for Cora...

An electric shock jolted him awake. Was that...the attack Spark? He looked around, confused by the light shock, and saw Geranium and a green haired young man his age glaring at him, a Shinx in front of them, taking up a battle stance.

Bella, just as unprepared for the attack as her trainer, leapt in front of him with a growl, taking her own battle stance.

"Take that glove off, you thief, or I'll give you more of the same!" the boy shouted. His green hair was short and spiked, and he wore brown carpenter pants, a green shirt, and a brown vest.

"Who are you calling a thief?" Jack snarled. "And what the hell do you mean, 'more of the same?' That barely stung." Shinx, immediately offended, started to spark.

"Stop this, both of you," Geranium pleaded. "Jack, this is Andy, he's a Purity Trainer. Andy, Jack's not a thief, he's a local trainer who-"

"Barely stung?!" Andy's face reddened; he didn't seem to be listening to Geranium anymore. "Shinx, Thundershock!"

Jack threw his hand out, the way he always did in a battle. "Bella, Shadowball!"

Geranium's eyes widened as she focused on Jack's palm; so did Andy's. Then the two attacks collided and exploded, the lights went out, and everyone was thrown backward from the force.

Author's Note: Don't expect this on a regular basis. I hate to disappoint you all, but I was on a roll and figured people might be more interested if they had more to read. Read and review, brutal honesty is always best!