The Plan/b
The ocean waves lapped the shore of the island, moving up onto the sand and retreating back into the ocean. Normally, nothing came up onto the beach from the ocean, but at this point, there was something. Three objects washed up on shore, but they weren't inanimate objects. Rather, they were living beings; more specifically, the infamous Team Rocket members: Jessie, James, and Meowth. They had just been foiled in yet another plan to capture Pikachu when they were knocked out of a blimp. They had a parachute, but Jigglypuff had put them to sleep with a song, and they plummeted into the ocean. Now they've washed up on shore, and they all spat out water as they regained consciousness.
"Yet another plan foiled..." the blue haired male member James said solemly.
"We were so close..." Jessie, the long red haired member, responded.
"Not really..." the talking pokemon Meowth sighed. "I'm sick o' all our plans failing."
"Me too," James said, sitting up. "Everytime we try to catch Pikachu, we always get blasted by a thunderbolt or some other attack, no matter what sort of trap we set."
Meowth replied, "Ain't dat da truth?"
"Maybe if we tried something different," Jessie suggested as she sat up, thinking. "We always do the same thing over and over again, so a change of pace may be just what we need."
"Brilliant Jessie!" James exclaimed. "But what exactly should we do. It'd have to be something out of the ordinary."
"Something we've never done before." The three of them all sat there, thinking deeply and staring at the waves moving in front of them in intense meditation. Small Krabbys moved around them, stopping momentarily to look at the three figures sitting on the sand, only to move off in search of food.
After several long minutes of silence, Meowth jumped up and shouted, "I got it!" Turning towards the two human members, he explained his idea. "Okay, ya know how we can always be attacked wit'out mercy? Dat's why we're always losing. What if we had somet'ing to protect us?"
"We've tried that..." James said.
"With destroyable machines, yes. But what about a hostage?"
"A hostage?" Jessie repeated, thinking it over. "Oh, I see now! We grab someone and use them as a shield!"
"Exactly!" Meowth stated. "Dat way, dey can't hurt us without hurting their friend!"
"And the plus side is, they have to give us Pikachu in return for our hostage!" James said, a big grin on his face.
"This plan might just work!" Jessie said.
"It's gotta work!" Meowth said. At this point, they were standing up, their confidence restored, the three of them dancing around joyously.
"Now let's put tis plan ta work!"
"Great job Ash. We're lost again."
Having just recieved the GS ball from Professor Ivy's lab, and leaving their third companion Brock behind at said lab, Ash, Misty, Togepi, and Pikachu headed out to search for a way to get back to Professor Oak's lab. Unfortunately for them, Ash was leading the way, and, as usual, he had gotten them lost in the forest once more.
"I'm pretty sure the dock is that way," Ash said, pointing in a seemingly random direction off into the forest. "Or was it that way?" He pointed in a completely different direction from the previous direction.
Both Misty and Pikachu sighed. Togepi just chirped happily. Typical Ash... "Well," Misty said. "It's getting dark, and I don't want to get even more lost than we already are."
"What, you don't trust my navigation skills?" Ash said.
"After getting lost about a thousand times, no I don't." She looked around the area they were in. "This looks like a good place to stay for the night." She found a fallen log nearby and sat down on it, taking her knapsack off her back. "It's pretty weird without Brock here."
"Yeah, what are we going to eat?" Ash said. "I haven't eaten since we left Professor Ivy's lab this morning."
"Pika..." the little electric pokemon agreed, holding his stomach with his paws.
Misty looked through her knapsack to see if she had any food. "Well, I do have some of these rice cakes Brock made before we left-" In an instant, Ash and Pikachu pounced on the rice cakes, swiping them right out of her hands. The two of the sat on the ground and started munching down the white snack. "Hey!" Misty shouted, annoyed that they just took them from her. "Leave some for later! We only have five of them."
Swallowing the food in his mouth, Ash said, "Well now we have two."
"Yeah, one left after I eat one..." Misty grumbled, taking out one of the last two rice cakes. Shaking her head as she watched her friend gobble down the food, she took a bite out of her rice cake. There was one left in her knapsack. Glancing over at Ash and Pikachu, she zipped up her knapsack. Just in case. She then resumed eating her snack. She fed some of it to Togepi as well, who chittered with joy.
Later, when it got dark, the two of them set out their sleeping bags for the night. They said their good-nights, slipped into their sleeping bags, and went to sleep.
Morning came, and Misty was the first to awake, like she normally was. Ash was always a deep sleeper, and Pikachu was too, a little bit. Togepi was curled up next to her, but he was fast asleep as well. Getting out of her sleeping back, she stretched her arms above her head, trying to wake herself up. She got her knapsack and went back to the fallen log, opening it up, still seeing the rice cake inside. She took it out, looking back and forth between it and Ash. iHe had two of them last night, the big pig... I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I ate it./i She pulled the rice cake towards her mouth for a bite.
It never reached her mouth. Something covered over her mouth and grabbed ahold of her body, pulling her backwards off the log. She struggled to pull away from whatever grabbed her, dropping the rice cake on the ground in the process. She shouted, but it was mumbled by what seemed to be a gloved hand covering her mouth.
"Quiet brat!" a harsh whisper that was familiar said right next to Misty's ear as she was dragged away from the campsite. Misty struggled to pull away from whoever had her, but they still pulled her further into the bushes. After a good distance, well out of earshot from the campsite, she was released momentarily, but then the person who had grabbed her pulled her arms behind her back, starting to tie them together. Now Misty could turn her head to see the person, and she saw the white outfits that she knew all too well.
"Team Rocket!" she said. She pulled against Jessie's grip as her arms were tied tightly behind her back. "Let me go!"
"Not a chance," she heard the familiar voice of Meowth, who walked in front of her. "See, youse is going ta help us catch dat Pikachu, whether ya like it or not."
Misty grunted, trying to pull away. "You'll never catch Pikachu, you crooks!"
"Oh, I think we will," James said. "The twerp will be forced to trade us Pikachu for his precious twerpette."
"Or else!" Meowth added, unsheathing his claws in front of Misty. Misty got a little worried with that comment and struggled even more to get away.
"Stop struggling!" Jessie said, forcefully pushing Misty onto her knees. "Now come on. Let's go get Pikachu." Holding Misty by the arms, she pulled Misty back to her feet and dragged her back towards the Meowth balloon nearby, Misty kicking and shouting the whole way. Meowth got a little too close to her feet, and recieved a solid kick in the jaw, knocking him back.
Rubbing his face and groaning as he sat back up, he glared at Misty and got back into the balloon, which promptly took off, hovering over the forest.
Pikachu woke up in the sleeping bag next to Ash. He thought he had heard something. Blinking his eyes as he tried to make himself more awake, he looked around the area. He saw Misty's sleeping bag, but it was empty, except for Togepi, who was still sleeping. Wondering where Misty had gone, he looked around the area. Seeing her knapsack on a log unzipped, and a fresh rice cake on the ground, he twitched his ears in curiosity. Where'd she go?
He shook Ash a bit, attempting to wake him up. "Huh?" his trainer said as he woke up. "What is it Pikachu?"
There was a sudden explosion nearby, causing Ash, Pikachu, and Togepi to leap into the air in surprise and run back a good distance. It didn't hit them, but it was pretty darn close, the smoke filling the clearing rather quickly. Pidgey and Sparrow nearby flew from the trees in alarm.
Covering his mouth and coughing, Ash shouted, "Who did that?"
"Prepare for trouble," Jessie's voice was heard as the smoke cleared a bit.
Jame's voice came afterwards, "And make it double."
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all peoples within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light."
"Surrender now or prepare to fight."
"Meowth, that's right!" Meowth ended the Team Rocket motto. "Looky what we got her, twoip!" he shouted down at Ash as Jessie shoved Misty towards the edge of basket.
"Misty!" Ash shouted when he saw her up there, the smoke now totally gone. He demanded, "Let her go, Team Rocket!"
"Pika!" the mouse pokemon complied, sparks flying from his red cheeks.
"If ya want her," Meowth explained. "Ya gotta give us Pikachu!"
"No way!" Ash exclaimed.
"All right then." Meowth unsheathed his claws and suddenly slashed Misty on the arm, drawing blood. She shouted in pain, drawing back from the wound. "How about now?"
"Leave her alone!"
"Then give us Pikachu," James said. "Unless you want her back as confetti."
"Don't do it Ash!" Misty shouted down at him. "Don't worry about me! Just don't give them Pikachu!" She was yanked backwards by Jessie, causing her to sit down on the floor, and Jessie released her grip on Misty.
"It's your choice twerp," Jessie said. "The girl or Pikachu?"
Ash glared up at the balloon. He couldn't have Pikachu attack them, not with Misty in the balloon. What was he going to do?
"Very well then," James said, making the balloon float backwards. "I guess we're keeping her then."
Seeing Team Rocket leaving, Ash picked up Togepi, who had come up to him, then both he and Pikachu sprinted in their direction. "Get back here Team Rocket!" he shouted. But the balloon was moving too fast for him to keep up, and soon it was out of his sight.
Sitting inside the balloon, Misty decided she wasn't going to just sit there and do nothing. Seeing Meowth standing in front of her with his back turned to him, she grinned mischieviously and kicked the cat pokemon. She hit him with enough force to send him up into the air, knocking him out of the balloon. His claws gripped the side of the basket near the bottom, and he shouted for help. Jessie and James reached over to help their friend, leaving Misty unsupervised in the balloon.
Misty pushed on the two human members of Team Rocket with her feet, attempting to throw them out of the balloon. She managed to push Jessie out, but James grabbed onto her before she tumbled to the ground, barely managing to pull her back in. Jessie immediately got some more rope and tied Misty's legs together so that wouldn't happen again. The little brat... James helped Meowth back into the basket while she did so.
"Dat wasn't very nice!" Meowth hissed at Misty, flexing his claws.
"Neither is kidnapping me," Misty retorted. "This is an all time low, even for you three. What's the matter? Too afraid to fight fair? You're just a bunch of cowards, if you ask me."
"Shut up!!" Meowth said, leaping forward and slashing Misty on the face, clearing leaving bleeding claw marks on her cheeks. Misty shouted in pain and surprise. The pain was enough to make her cry a little bit.
"Someone shut her up before she starts talking again..." Jessie grumbled.
"I've got some duct tape," James said, grabbing the roll of tape that was in the basket, ripping off a piece, and placing it over Misty's mouth. "Now what do we do?" James said, ignoring their captive's muffled shouts from beneath the gag. "The twerp obviously isn't going to give up Pikachu."
"We'll just have to take more drastic measures," Jessie said, grinning deviously at Misty.
Meanwhile, back on the ground, Ash had to stop running after Team Rocket to catch his breath. He couldn't see them anyways. Placing Togepi on the ground and panting heavily, he thought about what he could do. He could just keep running in that direction, but he had no idea where they had gone.
What was he going to do? He'd never find them on foot. Normally he would sent out Pigeotto- no wait. It evolved, so now it's Pidgeot. But he left it back near Pallet Town to watch over that flock of Pidgey. So he couldn't even sent him out to search for Team Rocket like he normally could. The only flying pokemon he had was-
He'd have to risk it. Even though he didn't have control of him yet, he needed to save Misty. He sighed, and pulled out the pokeball. He looked at it in his hands.
"I'm counting on you..." he said quietly.
"Pika?" his electric pokemon asked, looking at him questionably. Togepi chirped with curiosity as well, imitating Pikachu's look.
"Charizard, I choose you!" Ash shouted as he threw the pokeball. In a flash of light, the fire type dragon pokemon appeared in the forest, spreading hia wings, somewhat glad to be out of the pokeball. "Charizard," Ash ordered. "I want you to fly into the air and go find Team Rocket so we can save Misty. Will ya do it?"
The result caused Ash to frown. Immediately, Charizard completely ignored his trainer, lying down and taking a nap. He even snored a bit, out of complete disrespect.
"Aw c'mon Charizard!" Ash groaned. "Listen to me for once, will ya? Misty's in trouble. You gotta go save her."
Charizard didn't move an inch, aside from breathing and snoring in his sleep.
Ash got down onto his knees and started pleading to his pokemon. "Please Charizard, I'm begging you! Listen to me for once! This is more important than a gym battle!" Tears flowed from his eyes, and it was hard to tell if they were real or part of the pitiful begging he was doing. Charizard opened his eyes, and looked at his trainer on the ground. How pathetic. He yawned, completely uninterested in Ash's problems. "Charizard!" Ash groaned, now lying on the ground and pounding the earth with his fists. "Why won't you ever listen to me?!"
Pikachu, seeing Ash humiliate himself because his own pokemon wouldn't even listen to him, decided to step him. He shouted at Charizard, trying to get him to listen. But the dragon did the same thing he did with Ash: ignore everyone around him and sleep.
Annoyed, sparks flew from Pikachu's cheeks, and he zapped the fire pokemon with a thunderbolt. That woke him up. It also made him angry. With a growl, he stood up and stomped the ground as hard as he could, causing Pikachu to fall over. Pikachu just got right back up and shouted at Charizard angrily. As a response, Charizard belched out flames at Pikachu, which the mouse pokemon was able to dodge with his high agility. Ash backed away from the flames as they scorched anything they touched.
Pikachu, not wanting to fight, didn't respond with an attack. He just kept shouting at Charizard, making motions into the forest and at Ash. To Ash, it seemed as if he was explaining things to Charizard. Surprisingly enough, the fire pokemon seemed to be calmly listening to Pikachu.
Once Pikachu finished, Charizard looked at Ash, and he nodded with a growl.
"Really?" A grin came to Ash's face. Charizard was really going to listen now? Looking down at Pikachu, he said, "Thanks Pikachu! Now let's go get Team Rocket!"
The Meowth balloon had turned back in search of Ash. There was another addition in the balloon: Jessie's Arbok, who was coiled up around Misty, its body holding her tightly. Misty tried to wriggle away from the massive cobra pokemon, but it tightened its grip. She just sat there, looking at Team Rocket as the three of them looked down at the forest below.
"Now where could the twerp be?" James said, scanning the forest below for Ash. "I could have sworn this part of the forest was where we lost him..."
"It all looks da same ta me," Meowth said, also looking around.
"We'll find him eventually," Jessie said. "Or he'll find us, one of the two."
"Hey look!" Meowth suddenly shouted. "What's that?" The two humans looked in the direction Meowth was pointing, and saw a flying figure heading straight towards them. It was a moment before they realized it was a Charizard, with the twerp riding on top of him. They were coming in fast. "Incoming!!" Meowth shouted, ducking down into the basket, Jessie and James right behind him. Even Arbok ducked downwards.
Charizard swooped right inbetween the balloon and the basket, the force of his wings flapping causing the balloon to swerve. Once Charizard had passed over, Team Rocket sprang right back up, looking over at Charizard.
Charizard turned around and hovered in midair, facing Team Rocket's balloon. Ash was riding right on top of the pokemon's back, Pikachu and Togepi in front of him. It was the first time he'd ever ridden a flying pokemon, let alone his Charizard. Takeoff was a little bumpy, but they had managed to get into the air.
"Let Misty go!" Ash shouted at Team Rocket, Charizard growling in agreement, the flame on his tail blazing furiously.
"I don't think so!" Jessie taunted. "Give us Pikachu and we'll let her go. That's the deal."
"No way!" Ash shouted again.
Inside the balloon, Meowth jumped onto Misty's head, causing her to grunt with the weight of the cat pokemon. Balancing himself on his head, Meowth said, "Dis is your last chance, kid, or th' girl gets it!" Once again, he showed his claws, and reached them down at Misty's face. They were so close to her face, they were practically touching it. Misty trembled in fear of the sight of the claws at such a close distance. They were very sharp, and threatened to poke her eye out if she so much as moved.
"Don't you dare!" Ash shouted. He tried to think of what to do. He didn't want Misty to get hurt, so attacking would be hard. But Charizard had his own ideas. Without any command from Ash, Charizard roared, and flew straight towards the balloon. "Wait, Charizard! What are you doing?!" Charizard didn't listen. He just flew straight towards the inflated Meowth head.
"Arbok, use poison sting!" Jessie commanded. Still wrapped around Misty, the snake lurched its head forward, firing small barbs of poison at Charizard as he closed in. It missed as Charizard dodged it, flying upwards. Ash braced himself and the two small pokemon in front of him as they crashed through the balloon like paper, air exploding out of it. The balloon instantly fell towards the ground, landing in the forest with a crash.
"Misty!" Ash shouted, looking at the crashed balloon. Charizard's recklessness might have seriously hurt her. Charizard flew down towards the wreckage of the balloon.
Groaning, Team Rocket got out of the crashed balloon, mostly unharmed aside from a few bruises. Misty wasn't hurt much. Arbok's body provided a sort of cushion from the crash, which kept her from harm. Arbok dragged Misty out of the basket as Charizard flew down to the ground.
Looking up at Ash, Jessie shouted, "All right! Since you won't listen, say goodbye to your friend! Arbok, use wrap attack!" Although Arbok was already wrapped around Misty, he listened and suddenly started squeezing her hard. The force of the giant snake squeezing on Misty was painful. She squirmed to get away, but it wasn't working. Her cries were muffled by the tape gag over her mouth, and it became increasingly hard to breathe.
Charizard came flying down over them and unleashed a flamethrower upon Team Rocket, despite Ash's command not to. The flames caused the criminals to run out of the way, but Arbok was scorched. His body protected Misty from the fire. Mostly. But he shook off the attack, and resumed squeezing Misty.
"Weezing, use smog attack!" James ordered, throwing his pokeball and releasing the gas pokemon into the air. Immediately, the whole area was covered with smoke, hiding Team Rocket from view.
Ash growled. He had to do something before they killed Misty. "Charizard, use your wings to blow away the smoke!" With a growl, the fire pokemon did just that. In a few moments, the smoke had dispersed. But even so, Weezing suddenly flew up towards Charizard, tackling him right in the gut, causing him to drop his passengers to the ground below. They were only ten feet above the ground, so they weren't hurt too bad by the fall. Ash hit the ground first, and the two small pokemon landed on top of him. Togepi, not understanding the situation, laughed when he landed on top of the trainer, waving his hands back and forth in a rhythmic fashion.
Above them, Charizard responded to Weezing's attack with a flamethrower right in the poison pokemon's face, burning it severely. He then spun around and slammed it with his tail, throwing it right back at Team Rocket. Weezing crashed into James, knocking him to the ground.
All this time, Arbok was still squeezing Misty. She was starting to become weak, losing consciousness slowly. It hurt to breathe, and her body was hurting from the pressure Arbok was putting on her.
Togepi continued to wave his arms back and forth, and they suddenly glowed, although it was unseen by anyone. Arbok was suddenly uncoiled from Misty, releasing his grip on her.
"Huh?" everyone pretty much said in unison, watching as Arbok suddenly lifted into the air by some mysterious force.
"What's going on?" Jessie said nervously.
The little egg pokemon was waving his arms around in circles, chirping happily the entire time. As he was doing so, Arbok was flying around in a circle, creating the illusion of a giant purple ring spinning around in midair. He spun right into the other members of Team Rocket, knocking them all back into the balloon.
Ash and Pikachu, seeing Misty sitting on the ground, quickly got up and ran over to her to untie her. Once her arms were free, Misty ripped the tape off from over her mouth, taking in air. She rubbed her arms and legs, which hurt from the rope and the squeezing Arbok had done to her.
"Are you alright Misty?" Ash asked, looking at the stratch marks she had on her. Besides those, she seemed okay.
"I'm fine," she said, looking up at Ash and smiling. She hurt all over, but otherwise, she was fine. She stood up. "Thanks Ash." Togepi ran up to Misty, glad to see her again. Giggling, she picked up the egg pokemon and held him in her arms.
Meanwhile, in the basket, Team Rocket recovered from the crash. "You think you're going to get away that easy, you've got another think coming!" Meowth shouted at the two of them.
"We can still get Pikachu!" Jessie exclaimed. "Go get that Pikachu with a bite attack!" With a hiss, the snake leapt from the basket, flying straight towards Pikachu.
"You too Weezing!" With a wheeze, his pokemon followed alongside Arbok, both heading straight towards the group on the ground. But their attack was stopped short when Charizard landed right on the snake's head, plowing it into the ground. He grabbed ahold of Arbok and threw him at Weezing, sending both of them crashing back into Team Rocket.
"Yeah!" Misty cheered. "Go get them Charizard!"
"You too Pikachu!" Ash shouted. "Use thunderbolt!"
"Pikachu!!" The little mouse pokemon was finally able to unleash a powerful bolt of electricity at Team Rocket. Simultaneously, Charizard roared and fired a flamethrower as well, the two attacks merging into one massive lightning-fire combo. It crashed into the basket contained Team Rocket with a massive explosion, sending Team Rocket flying into the air.
"How could our plan have failed?!" Jessie whined. "You said it would work Meowth!"
"It looked better on paper..." was the pokemon's response.
"Even when we try something new, we end up failing..." James groaned.
All three of them sighed pitifully. "I guess we're doomed t' a life of failure..." Meowth commented.
"Team Rocket's blasting off again!!" The trio and their pokemon disappeared off in the distance, their voices trailing off as they vanished.
"Team Rocket," Misty said as she watched Team Rocket lose yet again. "They never learn, do they?"
Ash said, "Hey guess what Misty? Charizard's finally listening to me now!"
"Really?"
"Yeah, isn't that right Chari-" He was cut short as a flamethrower nearly hit him in the face, and he jumped to the side with a shout. Charizard snorted, and walked off to a shady area to lie down and take a nap, ignoring Ash entirely. "Aw, Charizard..." Ash groaned.
"Pika, pika..." Pikachu said with a sigh.
"Yep, he's listening to you all right," Misty giggled. Togepi trilled happily in her arms, as if nothing had even happened. No one knew that he had helped to save the day, and he was just fine with that.