Chapter 12: Nacrene City Showdown!

They arrived in Nacrene City just before the sun was going down, when only dark and dangerous Pokémon roamed through the routes. They decided it was safe to stay at the Pokémon centre for the night so that they could plan their next move. The city itself was built out of old sheds built a hundred years or so ago. There was a kind of an arty feel about the town. It was very alternative and hipster-like. As they entered the Pokémon centre, they noticed how many backpackers there were. Almost all of them wore large backpacks, whether blue or red. When Harper left home, she decided to pack light and only used a sachet. It was Brandon that was looking goofy and foolish with his massive bright yellow backpack. He kept most of the food there he explained. He even packed a tent even though they spent most of the night in doors. He said he did that just in case.

"Hey guys," said the nurse really excitedly. She seemed to be bunching off the walls as if she had drunk many cups of coffee or even V energy drinks. "Want to know a secret?"

"Yeah, you bet you," said Harper, interestedly. "What’s your secret?"

"There's a cool café in this town that serves cool energy drinks called WANDO! It's dah best drink ever," she said excitedly. Harper now knew why she was so jumpy and ready to do anything but heal their balls. "And dah best part is…"

"What is it?" Brandon said excitedly as well. Harper could tell that he was a really big fan of energy drinks. "Come on, come on, and come on!"

"…THEY GIVE OUT FREE DRINKS ON WEDNESDAY!" she said. "And dah best part is…"

"What is it?" Brandon as well was getting jumpy, maybe even worse than the nurse. "I want to know. I can’t take it any longer! Please tell us!"

"...TODAY IS WEDNESDAY!" she said, as she rushed out the door as fast as she could, ignoring that she had trainers there waiting to have their balls healed so that they could go out and use their Pokémon to battle other Pokémon.

"Looks like we won't be getting Pokémon heal anytime soon," remarked Pedro as he scratched his curly hair in confusion.

"How about we just follow that nurse - from the sounds of it, it does sound interesting," Harper commented.

"Yummy, yay and yay!" said Brandon, jumping about, pushing his backpack into other people. "Oh; sorry. I didn't mean to do that. It won't ever happen again."

"You better not do it again, or else," said another backpacker – who was wearing a red backpack.

So, they quickly got to the café, like knights during the Middle Ages seeking adventure and glory! They had to ask for directions since they had only arrived in that town that evening, but they were able to find the café in no time. Like the rest of the buildings, it was built in an old warehouse. They entered and found themselves on the second floor, which the first floor going into the basement area. They were able to see the first floor from the second floor by a balcony. They approached the bartender, who was some guy a few years older than them – around 18. He had a loose jean jacket on and he had cool stubble on his chin. He had brown wavy hair and he looked pretty cute.

"Hey," he said with a sexy kiwi accent, as Harper and her friends approached. "What can I serve you?"

"One of those energy drinks?" Harper said blushingly. She couldn't believe how hot the guy was. But she had to keep an appearance since she didn't want to embarrass herself. "I heard it's Wednesday."

"Of course," he said, snapping his fingers. "The drinks will be on the house."

"Yay!" said Brandon. Harper blushed.

"That's my friend," she said apologetically. "He can be like that… sometimes."

"Yeah," the guy said. "We have a few of them like that before. Some nurse came in here. She keeps coming in and buying more WANDO! And I don't think it's good for her job."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"You can say that!" said Pedro sarcastically.

"Well anyway, here are your drinks," he said as he handed her three energy drinks – one for her and two for her friends. "What's your name?"

"Harper," she said blushingly. "What's yours?"

"Benjamin," he said. "I hope to see you soon."

"Me too," Harper said.

They soon went down to the first-floor basement area with their drinks so that they could drink them. Brandon was so jumpy until he had one sip and it stopped him from being all hypoactive. He had ADHD. When he was jumpy, he was a like cross between a sheep, a kangaroo and a boxer dog, but only metaphorically and not literally.

Suddenly came two faces they were not expecting to see in a long while. They were Havana and Toby, the two members of Team Rocket who had been harassing Harper, Pedro and Brandon for the past few days. They had defeated them before back in the last town, but it looked as if they decided to return just to cause even more trouble. When would they stop and just give up!

"Give us a big shot of vodka. And don't bother making us pay. We expect to get everything free! We are crooks so we don't pay for anything!" crackled Toby evilly, with a rose in his mouth.

"Make it two shots of vodka," Havana spat out. "I hate sharing!"

"Me too," said Toby, dumbly but still frightening. He started slamming at the bar table. "GIVE IT TO ME NOW! Why must we wait! Who do you think we are - Some environmentalist freak?"

"How dare you talk to him like that!" said Harper, storming up the stairs like a bull running down the street – she was ready to tell these no goodies a lesson! "If you keep acting like that, you might as well suffer punishment!"

"I agree," said Pedro. "Harper and I challenge you to another Pokémon battle! If you lose you must run away from here as fast as you can and never come back!"

"Ok then," said Havana, smiling seductively but no one was being fooled by her. "Gyarados - show it your all!" Out of a ball came a Gyarados that was red instead of blue. Clearly, she had stolen another Pokémon, or done cruel experiments on a Magikarp. Harper had heard once Team Rocket did something similar in Johto.

"I bet you stole it!" yelled Harper.

"That's none of your beeswax," laughed Havana. It was so obvious that she was lying.

"Umbreon, my gothic love," said Toby, "kick some booty!" Out of his balls came an Umbreon but it wasn't as 'gothic' as he made it out to be.

"You asked for it!" said Harper. "Pansage, I choose you!"

"I agree – you brought this on yourselves!" said Pedro. "Mudkip, teach them a lesson!"

Umbreon and Gyarados stood on one side of the café – the exit side – while Mudkip and Pansage stood on the other side – the furthest from the door. Gyarados charged across the room, shooting blasts of water. It was pretty hard for Mudkip and Pansage since they were not as fast as this mighty Pokémon, but they were able to get through. Umbreon darted across the room towards Mudkip, sand-attacking it before shooting out a confusion-ray. This made Mudkip feel dizzy. It strugged to dodge the blast of water the Gyarados was shooting out. One shot of water knocked the Mudkip back towards the wall. It had been knocked out.

"Take that!" laughed Toby sadistically, like he was enjoying innocent Pokémon. Harper could imagine the boy beating up a puppy or something.

"Good teamwork," smutted Havana. "Only one Pokémon left and then we can raid the place! All in a day’s work. What better life. And then we can go somewhere else do even more… stuff."

"Leave that talk for private," said Brandon. "My friends are trying to battle you. You should at least be concentrating."

"Stop lecturing us, stupid skinny turd!" mocked Toby.

Pansage was able to dodge the swipes made by the Umbreon, throwing a leech seed to the other Pokémon. The seeds grabbed Umbreon, pulling it to the ground, sucking the health out of it and putting it into Pansage, giving Harper's Pokémon more strength to take on the Gyarados. The other pokemon started using dragon rage, bashing around the room creating a huge ruckus, trying to get to Pansage. The Pansage quickly got out the way as Gyarados bashed around the place. The water-dragon then performed hydro pump, thrusting large amounts of water at Pansage. This knocked Pansage back.

"Get up," yelled Harper.

"Looks like we've won," scorned Havana. "Now give us your Pokémon!"

"No!" said Harper. "You’re mistaken! Pansage can sustain a mighty blow from a water attack. You haven't won yet, you stupid fools! We’ll never hand our Pokémon over, even if we don't win a battle! We’ll keep fighting no matter what – even if it means breaking the rules!"

Pansage stood back up with a fighting spirit. It looked at the Gyarados as angry as ever before – it looked as if the other Pokémon was scared of Pansage. It slowly moved towards the Gyarados, one step at a time, as the Gyarados trembled more and more, moving back as well. Pansage then threw a seed bomb at Gyarados. It didn't finish it off, but the second seed bomb did. Team Rocket – that is Toby and Havana – started to panic.

"Seems like we're running off again!" they said as they quickly ditched it.

Benjamin walked up to Harper. "Thank you," he said. "I don't know what I would do if you guys weren't here."

"Yeah," said Harper coolly. "They've been harassing us for the past few days now. They're pretty annoying I have to admit. Let's hope that’ll be the last we’ll see of them."

"Anyway," Benjamin said gratefully and contentedly as if a heavyweight had been lifted off his shoulder, "here is another energy drink you and each of you friends – on the house, of course."

"Yay!" said Brandon with glee.