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"And, following a third night of rioting, the mayor of Viridian City has ordered a night-time curfew . . ."
"Reports are coming in of a mass suicide in the Azalea Town area . . ."
"Civil unrest in Lavender Town - two citizens are dead, another seriously injured . . ."
"Authorities urge calm as panic-stricken inhabitants flee Cherrygrove City . . ."
I sighed, grabbed the remote control and turned the tv off - all it was full of these days was news of more unrest, more signs that the Age of Twilight would descend upon the world unless we could find the Orb. And we didn't even know where to begin looking - all we had been able to get from Justine's dad was that the man who tried to claim Lugia for his own was called Lawrence III and we were no nearer figuring out how he had infiltrated Lugia's chamber in the first place.
"Lugia," I thought out loud, wishing he would appear to set things right the way he had when Lawrence caused so much havoc a few years ago. But I knew it would never happen - Lugia was dead and had been for over a month now, and we still had to find out where Lawrence had the Orb of Twilight.
At my side, Sophie nuzzled me, rubbing her head against my hand. I patted her reassuringly, but I did not know what was going to happen to us if we didn't fulfil our mission. Then my mind strayed to Sarah - she was only nine years old and I wondered for the umpteenth time since all this started what sort of world (if any) she would grow up to see.
Sarah, almost old enough to get her Pokemon licence and already planning which one she would pick, was crazy about the Indigo League and, normally, this was the time of year when all the trainers gathered at the Indigo Plateau to battle each other. In previous years, we had travelled there to watch the battles and compare strategies, but, only a few days ago, there had been an announcement on the evening news. President Goodshow himself had appeared on camera and said that, "owing to the current crisis", this year's competition had been cancelled.
The trainers and spectators who would have attended had been promised compensation, as had any businesses in the vicinity of the Indigo Plateau which would lose revenue as a result. But the cancellation of the Indigo League Tournament - the first in living memory - served as further proof that the world was in serious trouble. We needed to do as Psyrene had said and find the Orb of Twilight . . . if we could figure out where to look.
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"Hey! Hilary!"
I groaned as Sarah darted into my room, her pig-tails swinging from side to side and a cheeky grin on her face. She was wearing jeans that day and her favourite sweatshirt, the one with a Cyndaquil motif on the front.
"What is it?" I asked wearily, wishing as I had often done in the past that she would learn to respect my personal space. Don't get me wrong - she's a great kid - but, when you get to my age, you don't want your nine-year-old sister butting in every five minutes.
"There's a Butterfree fluttering outside my room - I think it might be trying to come in," Sarah explained shortly. I hadn't told her that Psyrene had given me and my friends the ability to change into Pokemon, having not felt it to be immediately necessary. But, when it came down to it, I realised that the honest approach was probably the best.
"It must be my friend Justine," I said brightly. "You see, Sarah, I said in an undertone, "me, Justine, Milly, Michaela and Jodie aren't like other girls - we can change into Pokemon. Only, you mustn't go blabbing to anyone . . ."
To prove my point, I changed into my Bellossom form and back again as Sarah looked on in amazement. Then, she nodded her understanding and ran to her bedroom to let Justine in through the window. Once she was inside and back in her human form, she began to explain what she had found out.
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"Dad's tracked down Lawrence III - he's at Mount Moon, trying to harness the power of the Orb," she told me. "And I've done some more research on Lugia and it seems the only way to get hold of the Orb of Twilight is to use a Lugia's power. But . . ." She trailed off at this point and I instinctively knew why.
Lugia was the world's Great Guardian, but the Lugia we had met had used the last of his strength transporting us back to Fuchsia City. And we knew that, unless we could find the next Lugia, our chances of fulfilling Psyrene's mission were slim to nil - it was a vicious circle none of us could see a way out of.
Then I remembered what Psyrene had said when all this started - the Orb of Twilight was not to be used for evil and, if it was, the world would be destroyed. We needed to get to Mount Moon before Lawrence could cause another global disaster with his thoughtless and power-hungry schemes.
The only trouble was getting there. None of us had a Pokemon large enough to carry five human passengers the distance involved and we didn't want to rely too much on Jodie's Xatu. I'd thought of hiring some Pidgeot for the trip, but, even if all five of us pooled our savings, there was no way we would have enough money to do so.
There seemed to be only one answer, one we knew was an extremely long shot. We would have to use the Psyrene statuette again since, from what we'd worked out following the day it transported us to Psyrene's cave, it had the power to take us where we were most needed.
"Justine," I ventured, "do you think that statuette can get us to Mount Moon?"
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We met up behind Justine's dad's shop again and gathered round the statuette, each of us careful to place at least a finger on it.
"Take us to Mount Moon!" Michaela ordered.
But nothing happened - there was no swirling, no sensation of being flung through the air - and we began to feel a little foolish. Perhaps all this was some crazy dream and we were about to wake up in our own beds to find the world was functioning as normal.
"Oh - it's just not working!" Jodie said, kicking the statuette in frustration and succeeding in doing nothing except stub her toe.
"Yes it is!" countered Milly. "We just have to figure out how it transported us the first time . . ."
But a quick glance outside told me there was no time to waste trying to make the statuette work its magic. A riot was in full swing with crowds of leather-clad youths wielding bike chains and brandishing Poke Balls at each other. One of them even had a large snarling Houndoom on a lead - and they were moving closer and closer to where we were.
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"We'll have to fight them!" I said out loud as I released Sophie from her Poke Ball and morphed into my Bellossom form.
Taking my cue, the others began to summon their Pokemon and morph into the forms Psyrene had given each of them.
"Meowth! Xatu! Mareep!" Jodie called, holding all three Poke Balls at once. "Go!" Once her Pokemon were assembled at her feet, she quickly assumed her Chansey form and nodded to them to follow her.
"I choose you, Jolteon!" Michaela yelled before morphing into her Raichu form.
"Flareon - time for battle!" her sister declared seconds later. Moments after that, Milly was in her Ninetales form and ready to battle alongside her Pokemon.
Last of all, Justine pulled out her Ledian's Poke Ball, raised it high above her head and threw it in a swinging overhand arc. "Ledian - away we go!" she called, watching as Ledian emerged in the customary flash of light before morphing into her Butterfree form.
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It was a Pokemon battle like no other - it was really something to be actively involved for once instead of standing on the sidelines giving orders to Sophie. She and I made a great team - I quickly learned from her how to use Stun Spore to paralyse my opponents and was even able at one point to fend off an attacking Feraligatr with a well placed Hyperbeam directed at the creature's head.
Elsewhere, Michaela, Jodie and Mareep sent bolt after bolt of electricity at our encroaching foes, human and Pokemon alike, while Milly and Flareon struggled to hold them back with repeated Flamethrowers. I could see Justine, Ledian and Xatu flying around ambushing the thugs from the air and even Jodie and Meowth had entered the battle. Jodie was administering powerful Double Slaps and Meowth had his claws out, ready to Scratch anyone who came within range.
"Take that!" I yelled as I Petal Danced someone's Golem and sent him crashing to the ground. "Michaela! Use Raichu's Thundershock to finish that Nidorino!" I added as the Poison Pokemon belonging to another member of the gang cornered her by some packing cases.
But Michaela didn't have to bother. Justine, seeing that she was in trouble, had flown over with Ledian close behind her and they were now about to launch into a duel Supersonic Attack. A shrill sound echoed through the air, sending the thugs running and confusing their Pokemon into fighting among themselves.
While the Pokemon were distracted, we elected to slip quietly away from the scene and only dared to resume our human forms once we felt we had put enough distance between ourselves and the rioters.
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Afterwards, we cursed ourselves for the way the battle had cost us time, time when we could have been trying to figure out how to get to Mount Moon before it was too late. As it was now, the future was, at best, uncertain - at worst, there would be no future at all.
"Guess we've got no choice," I said with resignation. "We'll have to try and get to Mount Moon on foot and hope we arrive in time."
"Not necessarily," Milly said, winking at Michaela. "We've got a cousin who's a hot-air balloonist - he'll be able to loan us a balloon and it'll get us there in less than a day if the weather's right."
"And what if it isn't?" I asked, knowing only too well how unpredictable the weather - and everything else - was these days. Lately, we'd had gale-force winds, heavy rain and even a light covering of snow over in Pewter City - all this in what had started out as a seemingly ordinary summer.
"We'll have to take that chance," replied Milly.
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When we reached the house where Milly and Michaela's cousin lived, he was initially reluctant to attempt a flight in the conditions currently prevailing. "It's hard getting to Mount Moon by air at the best of times," he said. "And, with all the storms we've had lately . . ."
"But you're our only hope," Justine pleaded, looking at him desperately as if he was all that stood between us and the Orb of Twilight. "Please - at least hear us out . . ."
And she proceeded to tell him the whole story about how we had been sent on this mission initially to help Psyrene, only to find that the coming of the Age of Twilight was affecting other Pokemon as well - none more so than Lugia. The world's Great Guardian was gone and we had to find his successor before things became even worse than they were already.
"If what you're saying is true and the loss of this Orb of Twilight could kill a Legendary Pokemon, it means we're in serious trouble," said Milly and Michaela's cousin once Justine had finished speaking.
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