Chapter Two

Spook was frantically trying to fix the connection. He tweaked the 
antenna on his computer and hit the monitor a few times. He 
established, after ten minutes of grunting and banging, that it was at 
Rowan's end.
	A knock was to be heard next. It wasn't Oak's Murkrow though. It 
was Spook's mum at the door. He opened the door and beckoned her 
in. She hopped in and turned around excitedly.
'A letter came for you! It was attached to a Murkrow,' she said, 'Do you 
know who from?'
'Just a friend,' replied Spook. He took the letter from his mum and 
unrolled it. 'I'm going out,' he said after reading it.
'Where to?'
'Sandgem Town. About an hour's walk from here.'
The short woman looked at him sternly, then relaxed and sighed. 'Don't 
be long.'

'When?'
'Now!' The two men kicked the door down and held out two PokŽ Balls. 
They released a Magmar and a Pinsir. The man on the left had the 
Scyther. He was a tall lanky man, rather like Spook, and wore a black 
overcoat that dragged at his heels. His spiky black hair stood straight 
up and he looked like a giant porcupine.
	The other man was the opposite. He was short, round and had a 
beanie on. Both men wore hockey masks but this man's was too big for 
him, as he had taped it on to the back of his head.
	The men were doing a raid on the famous lab of one Professor 
Rowan. They had planned it perfectly. They had stopped his video phone 
connection with wire cutters, intercepted his Murkrow and sent a letter 
to the destination saying that he was in trouble and to come quickly. All 
they needed to do was actually capture the Prof.
	The crooks advanced forward, running through the maze of 
corridors with the alarms blaring and the lights flashing red. They 
encountered the Prof.'s Aides and took them down with ease.
	They rounded a corner and ended up face to face with a trainer. 
The tall man recognised him straight away. An ex-member of Team 
Galactic. Her name was Lola. She was about the same height as the 
small man, and had long, brown, flowing hair. They had fought once 
before, but not two against one.

Spook ran through Jubilfe City. He couldn't help it. If the Professor was 
in danger, Spook had to do something. But what could he do? He didn't 
have a PokŽmon. He only had PokŽ Balls, and not even enough to fill his 
party up. He was just running into the same danger that Rowan was in. 
But Rowan was his friend. He had helped Spook get one step closer to 
his dream, and Spook was going to repay him.
	He carried on running. He jumped ledges, climbed boulders and 
sprinted through grassy patches. Trainers called out to him, asking for 
battles, but Spook still carried on. Professor Rowan was going to be 
safe as long Spook kept running.

The alarms had stopped. Only the three people, and two PokŽmon 
stood in the deserted corridor. A door had been flung open somewhere 
and a young voice had shouted for the Professor, but no one came 
near.
'Hey, Dean,' said the short man, ''Ow d'you know this girl then?'
'Listen. Run back to the door, call Master Cyrus, and wait for him. Tell 
him we've captured the Professor. You got that, Terry?'
'Yes, Sir!' and Terry ran off.
'So, Dean. How have you been since the events?'
'Never speak of that again. You were my best apprentice, and you 
abandoned me and Magmar!' Dean was angry with Lola. She had just 
left him with Team Galactic and Terry.
'Glamour and I have been fine too, thank you.' There was a hint of 
sarcasm in Lola's voice. She looked over Dean's shoulder and saw a 
young boy running towards her. He had brilliant white hair and a long 
fringe. He wore a black T-Shirt and Jeans and white trainers. He shot 
past them both and bolted through the double doors behind Lola 
shouting, 'Professor?'

He rounded a corner to find two people and a Magmar standing 
opposite each other. He darted back behind the wall and waited. When 
the time was right he ran forwards, and pushed the double doors back. 
The girl looked at him as he ran past and heard him cry, 'Professor?'
	He stopped and studied the room he was in. There were shelves 
filled with test tubes, beakers and flasks. In the corners were strange 
looking machines that Spook recognised from his childhood. He was in 
the Professor's study! But where was the Professor? Had he been 
taken? Spook's answer came quicker than expected.
	A huge tremor had made things fall from the shelves. Old 
cabinets fell over and books from their bookcases. One cabinet, 
however, did not take a tumble. It stayed upright. Then the doors began 
to jerk. A big, tied up figure fell out. Spook examined the body and found 
it to be Professor Rowan! He untied him and asked, 'Are you OK?'
'I'm fine, my boy,' he said in a raspy voice, 'What's more important is 
that my niece is OK. Have you seen her?'
'Now that you mention it, I did see a girl in the corridor fighting a 
Magmar with a Glameow. That Earthquake must have come from the 
Glameow's Assist attack.' Spook said.
'That's her! We must help her!' The Professor coughed and spluttered.
'You can't! You aren't healthy enough,' Spook said.
"You're rightÉ Here,' the Professor handed Spook a parcel, 'It contains 
your sixth PokŽ Ball and a PokŽdex and Watch. Take care of them. I 
assume you got my note on coming to collect them?'
'No. I received a note saying that you were in danger.'
'Those Galactics must have interfered with my mail! They ran in here, 
asked me for a PokŽdex, tied me up, stole one, and bolted. But they 
forgot that they had triggered the alarm when they entered. So they 
came back and must have been intercepted by Lola.' Spook nodded and 
stood up. He placed his PokŽtch on his wrist, his PokŽdex in his pocket 
and his PokŽ Ball in his right hand. He then threw the Ball forwards. It 
hit the ground and a beam of white light emitted from it. When it had 
faded, a PokŽmon stood there, blades raised, wings out. It was hovering 
about two feet of the ground.
Spook's eyes lit up. He almost cried because he had his first PokŽmon. 
And it was a Scyther too.