Apologies for not updating sooner. With illness and other family troubles flaring up again, it's hard to get the chance to type this up. Thanks for your emails, and heaps of thanks for those who voted for me at the Pokemon Tower Readers Choice Award. I'm honoured that you thought this story was deserving of recognition, and I will endeavour to finish it soon. Enough chatter from me, on with the show...

The Beautifly Effect

Chapter Thirty-One -- The End of the Tragedy

Richie heard footsteps coming his way. He and Sparky hid under the awning of the nearest building, crouching low. Four Kanto soldiers marched past. Their pace was brisk, and, shaded from the starlight, Richie and Sparky remained unnoticed.

They soon neared the Pokémon Centre. There was dim light inside, and two soldiers were standing guard at the door.

Richie's first step was to get past the guards and into the Centre. He thought for a moment. What he needed was a way to distract them. He crouched and felt around the ground for something to throw, but there was nothing but pavement. Then he had a better idea.

Pulling a small can of food from his backpack, he whispered to Sparky, "Use your agility to run around the Pokémon Centre to the other side. I'll throw this, you thunderbolt it, and come straight back. Stay hidden!"

Sparky took off. Richie waited for what he thought was long enough, then hurled the can over the heads of the soldiers. It exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel.

The diversion worked. The guards went to investigate. Richie waited for the Pokémon to return.

A few anxious moments later, Sparky showed up huffing. The two of them rushed to the Pokémon Centre door and snuck in, just before the two soldiers turned to come back.

What happened next happened quickly. At first, Richie noticed the Centre occupants huddled together as a group in the waiting area. Many looked scared, apart from those who were too sick to look scared. There were three armed soldiers in front of the group.

The soldiers noticed Richie come in. One raised his gun at him. "Stop where you are!" he barked.

Sparky's military training sprang into effect. His trainer's life was being threatened. Without waiting for an order, Sparky brought the soldier down with a thunder wave.

Another soldier also reacted immediately. He aimed, squeezed, and Sparky hit the nearest wall, blood splattering against it. Several children in the group screamed. One kid vomitted onto another in front of him, who started screaming and panicking.

The third soldier, a sergeant, ordered everyone to remain calm. Remarkably, it worked.

"Burton," said the sergeant to the soldier as the two guards rushed inside, "put down your gun. That's Wilson, our agent who disabled the power plant. Sellers," he ordered to one of the guards, "look after Weston. Truman, back to your post."

"What was that about a secret agent?" shouted a disturbed but familiar voice. Richie turned and saw Paul, looking shocked and betrayed.

"Quiet," the sergeant called out. "Settle down, we'll organize you to get cleaned up."

Paul ignored him. "I trusted you and you killed my Lotad."

"Shut up or I'll have you bound and gagged."

Richie, still shocked over what happened, was now also alarmed. "How...?"

The nurse explained. "It's true. When the power went out, I was too sick to get the reserve generator started in time. Lotad was on life support. It didn't pull through." She turned to the sergeant. "I wish to examine the Pikachu."

"Hey," someone yelled, "one of our Pokémon dies, I say let one of theirs die!"

"I am under oath to help all Pokémon," said the nurse, "regardless of what their trainers make them do."

"No way!" shouted Paul. "I hate you, Richie, and I hope Sparky dies."

The sergeant promptly took charge again, got Paul and the others to get cleaned up and allowed Nurse Joy to look after Sparky.

"No funny business," he said to them. "We have your Pokémon. Anyone tries to escape, you won't get them back. Once we have control of the city and it's safe for civilians, you'll be allowed to return to your homes."

Meanwhile the nurse examined Sparky. "Even if I save its life," she said, "it won't be able to walk properly again, but I'll do my best."

The sergeant then left two soldiers in charge while he went outside. Richie followed him out.

"Sir," said Richie, "I promised Paul I'd take him home to Maulville City."

"You did what!? Who's Paul?"

"The young boy that was... shouting at me," said Richie softly.

"Yeah right. As if he'll be asking you for help any time soon."

"Sir, I'll leave that choice up to him."

"Anyway, I have other plans for you. Permission denied."

"But—"

"No buts, or I'll have you arrested for fraternizing with the enemy."

The sergeant scarcely had time to finish his sentence before the quiet dawning sky was broken by the roar of a jet. It approached very quickly. They heard shots fire.

The sergeant grabbed Richie and pulled him back into the building just in time as a shower of bullets burst the pavement under their feet. They heard a yell. It was Truman, still outside. He was downed.

Richie peered outside, horrified. Truman moved. He tried to limp. The Hoenn fighter jet turned and came closer again. Richie tried to go and help Truman, but the sergeant held him back.

They heard a squawk in the sky. They looked up through the glass door and saw something catch the first rays of the sun. It flew towards the jet. In a flash, a shimmer of crystal closed the space between the mysterious object and the warplane. The plane turned white, appeared to lose control, and began to plummet towards the sea to the east.

Richie now was allowed to run out and help Truman. He looked up to see the object flying closer. As it sped overhead to the west, he could have sworn it flapped its wings. It was a Pokémon.

The sergeant came out to help Richie with Truman.

"Sergeant, I think Articuno attacked that plane."

"I don't know how that fighter came down, but I assure you, Wilson, no Pokémon could've knocked out Hoenn technology that easily."

They pulled Truman against the wall of the Pokémon Centre. He groaned in pain. The sergeant squatted down to examine the wounded leg.

"No bones are broken. Wilson, if you help me stand him up, we'll take him inside."

"Yes, sir. And sir, Articuno's no ordinary Pokémon."

"You trainers think—hey, sh, what's that sound?"

They stood still for a moment. They could hear the sound of many footsteps, but not like soldiers marching—in fact, like nothing they had ever heard before.

It grew louder, a mixture of steps and shuffles, along with the occasional squawk and other sounds that were hard to identify.

"It's getting closer," said Richie.

"What's that smell?"

"I recognize it—it... it's... sleep powder."

"You mean Pokémon sleep powder?"

"Yes, sir. Look!"

Around the corner of the building had just flown a Dustox. As soon as it sied them, it flew closer, spreading its wings and spraying them with a golden powder.

"Try not to breathe it," yelled Richie.

Richie tried to back away. The sergeant pulled out a pistol.

Before he had a chance to shoot, a green tendril wrapped itself around the weapon and yanked it out of the sergeant's hand. They whirled around. A Weepinbell stood there warily, holding the pistol out of their reach.

By this time they began to lose consciousness. They slumped to the pavement. The last thing Richie saw before his eyelids shut was more Pokémon crowding onto the street.

"Richie?"

Consciousness began to congeal, and with it awareness of sitting in an awkward position.

"Richie, wake up."

It was Paul's voice. Richie tried to move, but found he couldn't. He opened his eyes and looked around. Paul was squatting in front of him. Next to him were the Kanto soldiers. He and they were tied up.

"Richie, you should've seen what happened. All these Pokémon attacked the soldiers. They put them to sleep and took away their weapons, so we tied them up."

"Can you untie me?"

"Uh... sorry I'm not allowed. Look... I didn't mean what I said about Sparky. Nurse Joy said he'll pull through, but he's lost a back leg."

Richie looked down. As if they hadn't been through enough already.

"Paul, I'm sorry about your Lotad. I didn't mean for anyone to die."

The pain on Paul's face was evident.

"They drafted me into the army," Richie continued. "I had to follow orders. And Hoenn attacked first."

Paul thought for a moment, and seemed to accept this.

"I guess wares are a bad thing. We shouldn't let other people's fights get in the way of a good friendship."

Just that moment, an older boy carrying a transistor radio dashed into the reception area.

"Hey everyone, listen to this!"

People from all around the Pokémon Centre came to listen.

"...disabled all troops, both Hoenn and invading Kanto soldiers. Planes have fallen out of the sky, weapons have been taken, munitions have been destroyed. There is no explanation yet as to why Pokémon have behaved in this way or who may be behind this inexplicable turn of events. However it does appear that war in Hoenn is now all but impossible..."

Everyone cheered at the news.

The Kanto sergeant's radio began to bleep. The same boy turned down his radio and picked up the sergeant's communicator out of the sleeping man's pocket. The sergeant stirred.

"How do you work this thing?"

"Try the top button," said Richie.

The boy did so.

"Brent?"

"Hello?" said the boy.

"Brent, do you copy?"

"Press the second button while you're talking," said Richie.

"Hello?" The boy tried again.

"Who's that?"

"Urrh... I'm Freddy."

The sergeant woke up at this point. "What's going on? Hey gimme that!"

"Sorry, Mr Brent's tied up at the moment," said Freddy, much to the sergeant's chagrin.

"Look, how about we untie Richie?" said Paul.

There was a murmur of disapproval.

"What if he promises not to betray us?" Paul suggested.

"Can you trust him?" said one person.

"I'd trust him with my life," said Paul.

Nurse Joy came in after hearing the commotion. "I recommend we untie Richie so he can act as mediator, but keep him and the soldiers well guarded, until our own armed forces can sort them out."

"You mean unarmed forces," someone put in.

Eventually, Richie was on the radio explaining the situation to Kanto command. He discovered that the events in Hoenn were in fact duplicated with remarkable similarity in Johto and Kanto. Pokémon had launched surprise attacks, disabling the military forces both sides of the conflict. The war was over. Soldiers were to surrender in the hope of arranging a truce and a prisoner exchange.

"But I'm not in uniform," said Richie. "I can still be executed as a spy."

"Do your best to escape, son. Over and out."

"Listen everyone," said Paul to the group, "how about we all stick with Richie's story that he's a trainer?"

The reaction was mixed, but Paul's please for clemency were eventually accepted.

Two days later, after Sparky had recuperated sufficiently for Poké ball travel, Richie and Paul left for Maulville City. By that time, the news had arrived that Pokémon had disarmed the military in other areas as well. War was virtually impossible just about anywhere.

Three days later, at Maulville City...

After an uneventful trip, Richie and Paul entered Paul's home town.

"I'll introduce you to my parents," said Paul.

As they walked through town, they noticed a crows gethering around one of the shops in a suburban shopping centre.

"I wonder what's going on?" said Paul.

"Only one way to find out," answered Richie.

They drew near, only to find out that the crwod was trying to buy the morning newspaper. The headline read, "NEW WORLD LEADER".

This sent shivers up Richie's spine. On their journey he and Paul had wondered what had caused so many Pokémon to rise up against the world's military forces, including, according to what Richie had seen, even a legendary bird. Paul acquired one of the last few copies of the paper and rushed back to Richie. Together they spread it open and began to look for answers.