Co-Written by Sheila Coe and Joanie Rich
Defeated once again, Jared decided to sulk. He plopped down on the sand and pouted. "I can't believe it! I've so lost my touch! What's the problem?"
"You're just using the wrong pokémon, Jared. Mr. E dosen't DO anything. It just sleeps! Maybe we should called him Mini-Snorlax, instead! He is so uncool, it's pathetic."
Jared frowned even more. "Are you quite done yet?"
"No! You know, if you hadn't called out that stupid pokémon, we would have pulled that sand-shark scam off!"
"Foo," Jared rolled his eyes. "Who's idea was that, anyway?"
Jannie smacked the side of his head. "Yours, you idiot!"
Suddenly, Jared's eyes lit up. "Hey, thanks. You just gave me an idea!"
"Oh, no..."
"I'll get a bunch of Game Sharks and sell 'em to the suckers in the nearest town!"
Jannie gasped, "Those are illegal!"
"No, it isn't. You can use them to play games, but you can't alter your pokémon with them." He smiled, "This is a great idea. I'll make a fortune!"
"Yeah, that's what you said about the sand-shark idea," Jannie mumbled. Then she hopped up merrily, "But I want ten percent!"
"Deal," Jared and Jannie shook hands and Sandy jumped into the air in excitement.
Jared whipped out his cell phone and dialed home. He got Butch's raspy voice on the answering machine, "We're busy right now, but your call is important to us. Please leave a message and will get back to you whenever it's conveinent for us."
"Oh, shut up," Jared sighed. "I know you're home."
Cassidy came on and cheerfully said, "Please leave your message at the beep."
They both yelled 'beep' incredibly loudly.
"Hey, guys, this is Jared. I need your help. Pick up. I repeat-"
"Jared? This is Cass. What's up?"
"Hi! Yeah, I need you guys to forward me about 200 GameShark Units..."
"Gonna have a party?"
"Not quite. I'm gonna pull a scam on some suckers out here in the desert."
"I think you'd have better luck somewhere else, but all right."
"Don't worry, out here it will be harder for me to get caught with them."
"Good point. Just be careful. See you later."
"Bye!" he said, happy to be talking to one of his favorite people in the whole world.
"Bye-bye! Keep in touch," she wished him, hanging up.
"Well? Do we get 'em now? Or what?" Jannie whined.
A huge package fell down from the sky, and thudded in the sand beside them.
"Does that answer any of your doubts?" he smirked as he tore open the box. He discovered the Game Shark units in tact, and a small surprise. On top of the units was a plate of brownies and a note from Butch and Cassidy. It read:
Good Luck on your scam, here's some snacks to help you keep your cool out in the desert! And remember to CALL us more OFTEN.
- Love, Butch & Cass
"Yep. I care about them a lot too..."
Meanwhile...
Our heroes bounded across the desert on Arfie, who sprinted all the way without getting tired. He loved being able to run as fast as he could. Everybody hung on for their lives, and yelled with delight.
Soon they came to the top of a particularly massive sand dune. Arfie climbed to the top and when they arrived they found themselves looking down onto a town that looked right out of the West... except it wasn't. The buildings looked like they were upgraded by aliens from outer space! They all had the look of the Old West, but had additions to them. Some where as tall as small skyscrapers that reached towards the cloudy sky.
"Whoa! Where are we, Bram?" Jacen asked.
"I'm supposed to know?" he answered.
"Well, you are really smart!" said Krystal.
"I have no clue where we are, but that city looks promising."
"Let's check it out!" Krystal suggested, "We can get some lunch! I'm starved!"
"I was hoping she'd forget about Lunch," Jacen said, "Breakfast is still taking revenge on me," his stomach grumbled.
"I told you, you should've eaten more! But NO! You wouldn't listen!" Krystal said smugly.
"Let's just go, we'll stop for lunch later," Bram said, taking charge of the situation.
"Okay Arfie, Let's go to the city!"
"ARRRRRRCanine!" he howled and slid down the dune, skidding to a halt near the front of town. Beside them was a sign that read:
WELCOME TO DRIZZLY GULCH
City of Rainy Day Dreams
"Kindy funny name for a desert town, huh?" Jacen commented after reading the sign.
"Oh, well. Look! Ooh! There's the Pokémon Center!" Krystal pointed, hopping off Arfie and running towards it.
"KRYSTAL!! Wait up!" Bram shouted, but she kept running.
"Come on Bram, you won't be able to stop her once she gets her mind on something."
"I know that! I grew up with her..."
"Sorry, I keep forgetting..."
Krystal burst through the door of the Pokémon Center to see a world of water-type pokémon all over the place. She approached the information desk, where a man sat writing something, "Excuse me sir, but is there some kind of Water Pokémon Convention in town this week?"
The man looked down at her and smiled, "No, my dear, Drizzly Gulch is famous for it's wonderful variety of water type pokémon. Our city is full of them."
"Funny, I've never heard of this city before."
"GRRR!!!! That's what everyone says! But one day, all will know of the amazing city of Drizzly Gulch! Trainers from all over will flock here by the thousands!" he cried, leaping on top of his desk, "Then our fine city will get the recognition it so rightfully deserves!!" He did a patriotic pose, scaring Bram and Jacen, who had finally caught up to Krystal.
"That's enough, George!" said a voice behind him, "Now sit down!!!" Nurse Joy yanked him off the desk and he sat back down in his chair.
"Sorry kids," she apologized, "George gets a little excited sometimes."
"Nurse Joy, why are there so many water pokémon way out here in the middle of the desert?" Krystal asked.
"Why, they keep our city a literal oasis," Nurse Joy explained.
"How do they do that?" Jacen chimed in.
"Rain Dance."
"A pokémon attack?" Bram said astonished, "That's weird..."
"My mother would LOVE this place! She'd just flip!" Krystal exclaimed, "She loves water types more than anything in the whole universe!"
"Our team of Gyrados, who live in the center of the city, preform Rain Dance every so often to keep our city wet! Around here, it's like a festival. Tourists come here to see the Rain Dance and some of our town's merchants and shops have sales. It's like an old-fashioned bazaar. In fact," she ended, "The next Rain Dance should be sometime this week, if you want to hang around and see it."
"Wow! I'd love to see that!" Bram said, "It would be very interesting."
"Cool! Thanks Nurse Joy, but one more thing," Krystal said, "Do you know the way to the nearest restaurant?"
The guys fell over, "How could you think of food now?" Bram asked.
"Well it is almost lunchtime!" she pointed out with her watch.
"She's got a point, Bram," Jacen agreed, "We should stop now, before she goes insane," he added in a whisper.
"Okay, sounds good."
"Yippppp-eeeeee!" she did a backflip and the guys looked on with awe.
"I didn't know she could do that..." said Jacen.
"I didn't know either..." Bram added.
End of Chapter Two