"Hey Riibu! Think fast!" Susi yelled as she whipped Rosemary's grammar book at her head. It flew half way across the clearing then fell to the ground, more than six feet away from Rosemary. She looked at Susi, an eyebrow cocked.
"Were... you aiming for me?" she asked.
"No."
"Because you came no where close to my head," Rosemary said, pushing her glasses up her nose.
"Good, 'cause I wasn't... aiming for your head. Actually, I was aiming for right there."
Rosemary shook her head and sat down, shrugging her pack off. A pokeball bounced out from it's contents into the grass. Susi watched it, then took inventory of her pokeballs. That rat! she thought, always pulling sneaky jokes like that.
"Ahem."
Rosemary looked up. "What?" Susi walked over, leaned down, and picked up her missing pokeball.
"You're so funny. You were just waiting for me to discover that this," she held out the pokeball, "was missing, huh?" Rosemary smiled innocently. "I don't know how that got there." Susi smirked. Rosemary was evil, there was no other explanation. But she was one damned good pokemon trainer! She could be downright ruthless.
"You would have been in major trouble if this was my Meowth!" Susi continued, shaking her finger as she sat down. Rosemary stuck out her tongue at her friend. Susi had an unhealthy attachment to her Meowth, but she was flat out insane. As far as Pokemasterdom, she was far too indecisive, but was no newbie to the sport.
Susi tossed the pokeball into the air and her Meowth fell into her lap. "It WAS! You brat!"
"Meowth!"
Rosemary laughed. "That would have been hilarious!"
"No! I would have cried!"
"I KNOW! That's why it would have been so hilarious!"
Susi went to slug her in the shoulder, raising her clenched fist into the air, her face twisted into a sour expression, but she stopped. "Hey, you hear that?" she asked. Rosemary lifted her brow and shook her head.
"Hear what?"
"Somebody's coming."
Rosemary tilted her head and stared off into the forest. Susi was right, there was someone coming. There were three voices, one of them female. And what was that? The soft cry of a Pikachu?
Meowth sat forward in Susi's lap, scratching his ear as he listened to the approaching voices also. "I wonder who it is," Susi mused.
"Well, I'm sure we'll know in a few minutes," Rosemary replied. Susi grumbled.
"Smart ass."
"Meow..."
Rosemary shrugged and went back to digging in her backpack.
"... th."
They could make out what the voices were saying now.
"I know we're not lost!"
"Ash! You said that an hour ago!" That was the female voice.
"Don't look at me, Brock has the map!"
"Guys?"
"Yeah Brock?"
"I had the map upside down."
"Piiiiiiiiikaaaaa..."
It was quiet for a moment, then two figures errupted from the brush. A young girl chased one of the owners of the male voices around the clearing several times before she caught up to him and smacked him repeatedly over the head with a rolled up map. Susi looked at Rosemary, who in turn looked back at her.
"Ow hey! Quit it! Misty!" the guy yelled, ducking the blows. He finally tripped over his own feet and landed on the ground, his legs sticking straight up in the air.
From the bushes came the last of the party members, a young boy, about 10, and a Pikachu who was perched atop his head, entertained by the spectacle. "Pika-pi!" it cried cheefully. Misty stuck the map in her pocket and grumbled, then walked back to her other companions.
"Now what, Ash?" she asked.
"I dunno... we could ask them," the boy said and pointed to Rosemary and Susi, who sat quietly in the middle of the clearing. Misty turned and looked at them.
"Just as long as they're not lost too."
Brock groaned from his position on the ground.
"No... no, we're not lost at all," Susi answered.
"Meowth!"
"Yet," Rosemary added.
"HEY!"
They looked over to where Brock laid flat on the ground. He sat up quickly and looked over at them. His face flushed almost instantly. He crawled over, obviously having recovered from his injuries. "Hi! I'm Brock! What are your names?" He sat down between Rosemary and Susi. "Do you have boyfriends?"
"Um...," Rosemary mumbled.
"Uh...," Susi added.
He took Rosemary's hand into his and grinned at her like an idiot. She took one look at him, wound her fist back, and slugged him right in the face. He fell back, gurgling.
"Wow, that was pretty harsh, Riibu," Susi said.
"He was touching me," Rosemary replied. Susi looked down at him.
"I dunno, he's kinda cute."
He sat up again, even quicker this time.
"You think so?!" he asked.
"No."
"Meowth!"
"I'm Susi, and this is Rosemary," she said, turning her attention to Ash and Misty. "Are you guys pokemon trainers?" Ash nodded, as did Misty.
"Me too, I'm a pokemon trainer too," Brock added. "Wanna see my pokemon?"
"Um... Rosemary?"
Rosemary wound up again and planted another punch in Brock's jaw, sending him back a few feet. "Thanks Riibu," Susi said. Rosemary nodded, dusting off her hands.
"Hey!" Ash said, "If you guys are trainers... are you up for a battle?"
"Ash! We have to figure out our way out of this forest!" Misty yelled. He didn't pay any attention to her.
Rosemary stood up, setting her pack on the ground. "I'm always up for a battle," she said. Ash practically jumped into the middle of the clearing, Pikachu grasping onto the top of his head to stay on. Rosemary pulled out a pokeball.
"I'm getting out of here then," Susi said and retreated to the edge of the bushes, close to Misty, her meowth tucked under her arm. Brock followed her. "Hi, I'm Susi," she said, holding out her hand. Misty, obviously disgruntled, shook her hand.
"Misty. Ash. Brock," she replied. They turned and watched the battle.
"Okay Pikachu! It's up to you!" Ash yelled. The little yellow Pikachu sprung from the top of it's master's head and landed in the middle of the clearing.
"Pikachu!"
Rosemary whipped her pokeball into the air. "Squirtle! I choose you!" she cried. The pokeball flashed brightly and instantly her Squirtle appeared opposite of Pikachu, his little fists balled up in a threatening manner.
"Squirtle!"
Rosemary shot Ash a serious stare, her brow furrowed in concentration. Ash stared back at her. From the sidelines, Susi cheered her friend on. "Go Riibu go! Kick that Pikachu's ass!" she cried. Brock and Misty looked at her. Just how could a squirtle BEAT a pikachu? The odds seemeed stacked against Riibu.
"Pikachu! Thundershock now!" Ash cried. Pikachu closed his eyes and bright sparks began flying from his cheeks. Squirtle's doom seemed imminent but he wasn't going to fold at the first sign of trouble.
"Bubblebeam that pickachu into next week!" Riibu ordered, pumping her fist into the air. The two attacks met midair, the electricity splitting right through the bubbles like a hot knife through butter, then hit its mark: Squirtle. The little pokemon was sent flying through the air, screeching it's name all the way. He landed roughly on his shell, spinning helplessly next to Riibu's feet. After a few seconds, he slowed and tried to stand, but in a bout of dizziness, fell right back over.
"Yeah!" cheered Ash, along with Brock and Misty. As they celebrated, however, the underestimated Squirtle regained his balance and got back on his feet. From nowhere, he whipped out a pair of sunglasses and put them on with an air of defiance.
"Squirtle!"
He then charged and jumped straight for Pikachu. The next thing the mouse pokemon knew, he was crushed under the hard shell of Squirtle, the wind knocked out of him.
"Pika... pi..." it gasped.
Susi jumped up into the air, her Meowth shrieking helplessly, grasping onto her arm for dear life. "YEAH! Take THAT you... pikachu!" she yelled.
"MEOOOOWTH!"
"HEY!" Ash cried, "That's not fair!"
"Why not?!" Rosemary cried. "Squirtle wasn't obviously finished... you just celebratedt too early. You let the excitement go to your head kid." Misty sighed from the sidelines. Rosemary was right. Ash got too wound up in the apparent victory. Brock shook his head. Meanwhile, Susi was still jumping up and down in delight, hugging her meowth tightly.
Squirtle rolled off of Pikachu and helped him up. "Squritle."
"Pii... pika... chu." They shook hands, then squirtle returned to Rosemary's pokeball with a flash. Rosemary walked over and shook Ash's hand with a grin. "Never let your guard down, Ash," she said. He nodded.
Misty pulled out the map again and held it out to Susi.
"Where are we on this thing?" she asked. Susi settled down and peered over at it. She circled her finger in the air for a moment, then pointed to a spot. Misty looked at her, unsure.
"You're positive about that?"
"Absooooluuutely!" Susi replied. Her meowth nodded in agreement.
"Well, I trust you more than Ash or Brock concerning this map..."
Susi grinned widely.
Then, with a loud CRACK, a branch from one of the above trees snapped and fell to the ground, making them all jump in surprise. Three figures came tumbling down with the branch, shrieking in horror. They quickly stood up, recovering from their ugly fall, all scratched up and disheveled.
"HAND OVER THAT PIKACHU!" cried the young woman, who had absolutely insane red hair. Her compainion, a doofy looking young man with blue hair pointed at Ash's pikachu. The third... companion... was a meowth... one that stood up straight.
"Right now!" it yelled. Susi nearly dropped her own meowth in shock.
"That meowth TALKS!" she screeched and ran over, her meowth tucked under her arm. The talking meowth looked up at her, puzzled. "HOW?!" Jesse and James stopped and looked at Susi, who was ruining their entrance. She knealt and set her meowth down. "Tell me how you talk! Can you teach MY meowth how to talk?!" she asked. Her meowth sat down and studied the other carefully.
"We're trying to do something here..." Jesse said annoyed.
"So shut up!" James yelled. Susi looked up.
"What? Did you just tell me to shut up?" She stood, stepping up to James. He gulped. "You did, didn't you?" He shook his head. "NOBODY TELLS ME TO SHUT UP!" Susi screamed and lifted her fist, knocking him over the head. He fell to the ground and twitched. Susi looked to Jesse, who was smiling sweetly at her, backing up.
"Do YOU have anything to say?" Susi asked. She shook her head. "Are you SURE?"
"No no no no... not at all!" Jesse waved her hands in front of her.
Meowth sighed and shook his head. "I woik with a bunch of idiots!"
Ash stepped up. "Pikachu, thundershock those jerks!" The little pikachu, having recovered, ran up and gave them a good strong shock, knocking Jesse and Meowth down flat. James just twitched more from his positon on the forest floor. Susi laughed and picked up her meowth.
"Who are these guys?" she turned and asked.
"Team Rocket... they bother us ALL the time," Misty said, shaking her head.
"Huh... they're not too good at whatever they're trying to do," Rosemary said. Brock and Ash shook their heads. "Hey, what direction you guys headed in?" she asked.
"Out over the mountain pass," Ash answered.
"So are we!" Susi cheered, stepping away from Team Rocket.
"We can travel together, if you want," Misty said.
"Alright!" Susi and Rosemary said, gathering their things. They all left the clearing, heading out to the pass, leaving Team Rocket in a pile on the grass.
"That wasn't a good plan," Jesse groaned.
"They never seem to be," Meowth replied.

FIN