*~*

               "AAAAAAARGH!"

Enjolras fell off of the table he had been perched on upon hearing the shrill scream. He fell to the floor but quickly sat up, glaring around him as to the source of the shriek. Fricassee, one of the waitresses of Corinth, had just flown into the room he had been occupying, and was now standing on a chair, screaming.

"In God's name, girl, what is it?" Enjolras demanded, standing up and dusting himself down.

Fricassee stared at him. "Oh good, Monsieur Enjolras!" She gasped, eyes wide in fright. "Rats! In the cellar! Rats!"

Enjolras rolled his eyes. Typical female reaction to a harmless rodent. "Rats, mademoiselle?"

"Rats! Big, hairy, fanged, purple rats!" She whispered hoarsely, not daring to get down from her perch. She was gathering her skirts in her hands and staring around her fearfully.

Enjolras frowned. "Purple?"

"Monsieur, do you think me mad? Look for yourself! Purple rats!" She nodded.

Enjolras had been alone in the room, awaiting his fellow students and friends. Now, he got up and moved out of the room, into the main room, and down a flight of stairs. Probably just a figment of her imagination... it'll be the fumes of that alcohol... he told himself. Not that he needed to be reassured...

Upon entering the cellar, Enjolras peered around in the gloom. No sign of life down here, among the barrels and tubs. "There is absolutely nothing down here, Fricassee!" Enjolras called up, almost scornfully. If only he believed in the phrase 'Touch wood' ...

Out of the darkness, a small purple vermin pounced on the ankle of the black trousers that belonged to Enjolras with a fierce shrill cry of "Ratataaaaaa!"

"JESUS CHRIST!" Enjolras bellowed not really one to use the Lord Saviour's name, as he shook his leg vigorously, trying to free himself of the rat which had latched itself onto his trousers by the fangs. "HEEELP!" Finally, Enjolras managed to free himself of the marauding rat and scrambled back up the flight of stairs to the main shop. Shakily, he bolted the cellar doors. He stared at Fricassee. "I-I-I-I-I..." he stuttered, lost for words. "... purple...?"

Fricassee nodded sagely. "Purple indeed."

Enjolras gulped, trembling from the adrenaline of throwing off a strange purple creature from trying to bite his feet off. "Have you got any of that strong gin handy?"

*~*

               "I swear I'm coming up in boils..." Joly muttered as he examined his arms, as he, Courfeyrac and Lesgle wandered towards the Corinth later that evening.

Courfeyrac rolled his eyes. "Joly, that's a freckle."

"Hey, who's the med student here?" Joly snapped indignantly, hugging his arm close to his chest.

"You don't need a degree in anatomy to work out that that is nothing out of the ordinary..." Bossuet rolled up his sleeve and showed Joly one of his own freckles. "Look, I've got some."

"So you're coming down in boils too!"

Courfeyrac pushed open the doors to Corinth, walked through the crowded wine shop and entered the small back room that The Friends Of The ABC occupied. All three froze at what they saw inside.

Enjolras was sitting in the middle of a large table, looking thoroughly shaken up. Surrounding him were little glasses. Enjolras quickly downed another mouthful of alcohol. The room stank of gin. Courfeyrac gagged. "Enjolras, are you drinking?"

The hand in which he held the glass quivered. "Me? No..." Enjolras licked his lips nervously. "Don't go down in the cellar... purple rats..."

Joly laughed. "Grantaire's going to have a field day...!"

"Purple rats?" Bossuet pondered. "Enjolras, are you ill or something?"

"I'll soon work that out!" Joly bustled over to Enjolras. "Open your mouth and say 'ah'... oh yes, I see... no don't say that. Thank you, now let me take your pulse... hmm. Let me see your eyes... uh huh." Joly finished his mini check over and stood back to make his conclusion. "Well. I know what's wrong with him." he announced.

Courfeyrac and Bossuet gave him a 'well?' look. Enjolras just took a swig from the bottle and nearly fell of the table.

"He's drunk." Joly announced proudly.

Bossuet reached forwards and slapped Joly comically on the back of the head. "Well done, monsieur, but I think we can see that. But why the purple rats?"

*~*

               "Come out quietly, I've got a nightstick and I'm not afraid to use it!" Javert hissed as he waved his nightstick wildly, prodding the air.

He had been writing reports at his desk, minding his own business, when out of the darkness of the furthest corner in his office something had moved. Javert had only seen it out of the corner of his eye� but whatever it was was round and pink.

Now Monsieur l'Inspector was waving his nightstick in the air, threatening the what ever it was. "Come out with your hands up!" He ordered. "We can do this the easy way or the - " he stopped mid-sentence as, out from under a tent of discarded files, a round pink balloon walked out. Javert blinked rapidly in succession. He looked again. Yep, a pink balloon with big eyes, hands, legs and a little crop of hair. Javert 'hmm'-ed and let the nightstick droop a little, before collecting himself together again.

"Puffff?" the pink balloon enquired quizzically.

"Heh, now I've heard it all! A balloon that asks Puff!" Javert hissed. "Well, listen to me, monsieur puff, you're under arrest! As soon as I find some eeney-weeney handcuffs�"

Obviously not shining to Javert's sharp tone and tongue, the balloon creature scowled and puffed itself up, before opening its mouth. "Jiggly-puff, jiggly-puuuf. Jiggly-puff, jiggly-puff!" it sang sweetly. Javert, who had been rummaging around in his pockets for some tiny handcuffs, slowed down and started swaying gently. He blinked wearily, but still searched for some handcuffs. He swayed a bit more precariously, and his eyes drooped, before he crashing to the floor, asleep from the heavy lullaby of the pink balloon creature.

The creature, pleased with itself, pulled out a big black marker and set about it's task on the sleeping Javert�

*~* 5 days later� *~*

               "So, we all agree that something must be done?" Enjolras asked those surrounding him. The motley group consisted of the revolutionary students, The Amis, The Patron-Minette and it's associates, half of the National Guard and Inspector Javert. A rousing cry echoed around the room.

It was a meeting about the invasion of an assortment of peculiar creatures that had been marauding Paris. The group had united itself under the banner of tyranny. Valjean, however, was in disguise, so now one, not even Cosette noticed him. He wore sunglasses, a large sombrero, a cloak and gloves, trying to look inconspicuous in the midst of the neatly dressed students, the uniformed guardsmen and - well - Patron Minette. He was half torn between making faces at Javert or gawping at Cosette and Marius.

"Who are these invaders?" cried Combeferre. "And what do they want with us?"

"They're purple rats!"

"And yellow lightning ferrets!"

"I saw some fish!"

"And big green insects!"

"I saw a mole!"

"And I saw a ghost one!"

"Ah, I saw one of them too."

"They're devils!" shrieked Madame Thenardier.

"And balloon shaped con-artists." Growled Javert bitterly from the corner. All over his face he had faint black lines� he had been able to scrub most of the moustache and glasses off, but traces still lingered.

"But what can we do?" mused Eponine. "It's not like we can ask them politely to go away."

"We could ask them not-so-politely?" suggested Courfeyrac.

"Yeah, we could fumigate them!" added Combeferre.

"Even better; shoot them!" Cried a particularly trigger-happy Guardsman.

"No!" appealed Cosette. "We can't shoot them in cold blood! Think of their cute fluffy-wuffy bodies littering the streets. It would pray on your conscience; I know it would on mine." She sniffled a bit and clasped Marius' arm.

"Yeah, well not all of us are curly-haired brunette powder-puffs like you�" retorted the Trigger-Happy Guard (let's call him Trig for short).

"Hey, don't say things like that about my dau -- I mean, don't say things like that to a lady." Valjean leaped up, but checked and corrected himself in mid-sentence. He readjusted his sombrero and sat down again, trying to ignore Cosette's curious eye. Trig scowled and mumbled something incomprehensible.

The meeting digested into flurries of arguments and bickering. Only Valjean remained where he was, and instead took to watching the whole palaver, listening to first on argument over these 'goblins' and then another. His attention was suddenly diverted by an almighty crash. The room fell unnervingly silent, as all participants in the arguments stopped in mid-sentence and looked around them. Lightening crashed and thunder rolled, as the caf� door banged open. Like something out of a comic book, two figures and a something stood silhouetted against the flashing lightning. The something, on a second and harder look, turned out to be a feline of sort.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"Make it double!"

"To protect all people within our nation!"

"The protect the world from devastation!"

"Jesse!" The female shrieked.

"James!" The male added.

"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!" that cat finally got it's line in.

"Surrender? Fight? Who in God's name are you?" Enjolras snapped.

"If you were listening, you'd have heard." Snapped Jesse. "We're Team Rocket! I'm Jesse, that's James and the Meowth is Meowth."

"AAAAH!" screeched Cosette as she leaped in Marius' arms. "It's-it's-it's another one of those vermin!"

"Hey, watch who you're callin' vermin, doll-face." Meowth snarled.

Javert stood up, straightening his jacket. "Excuse me, but if you are in charge of these creatures, I will ask, no, I order you to remove them now!"

"Creatures? Oh, you mean the Pokemon!" James laughed. "Oh, gladly! We'll take them ALL!"

"Pokemon?" repeated Jean Prouvaire quietly.

"Er�yes�please�take them away�" Javert mumbled, not used to having people readily agree with him. He sat down again.

Nobody had another chance to speak, because from one of the many windows of Corinth an almighty crash of glass splintering as it shattered. Many people screeched in shock and dove to get away from the shards. From the window cavity, poured scores of Pokemon, all different types, colors, shades and shapes. Some erupted from the floor, having buried a tunnel from underneath. Others flew in. The humans inside screamed wildly and fled the building, although Trig fired a couple of shots from his gun into the air, before following everyone else out of the door. The comic trio, Jesse, James and Meowth remained only in the room, squealing in delight and throwing red and white balls haphazardly at the Pokemon, more missing than hitting. But soon they were overwhelmed by the creatures, and were forced to retreat into the cellars.

The humiliation of it all!" fumed Enjolras from across the road, as he, The Les Amis and everyone else stood watching the Pokemon running rampant inside their favorite wine shop. "Us, respectable students, forced to turn tail and flee like a group of school-girls at the sight of vermin!"

"School-Girls� must remember that one�" Javert sniggered.

"What are we going to do?" wailed Cosette.

"Where are those freaky lookin' Rocket-guys?" asked Trig. The rest of the National Guard had given up and wandered away. Trig had remained only because he wanted to shoot something�

Courfeyrac shrugged. "Dunno. In there, 'spose." He pointed back to the wine-shop. "They're not going to go thirsty, are they?" he added dryly.