Meet Meadow

Several years had passed since the day Ash Ketchum set off on his journey to become a Pokémon Master. They experienced many successes and failures, but mainly great battles. Two people were accompanying him on the way to fulfilment of his childhood dream – Misty and Brock. And also Team Rocket, longing for his Pikachu. Now I'll tell you what happened after the cameras stopped following their journey.

Ash and his friends were approaching the Larch city, hungry as usual. But when they came to its port, some noise surprised them. It looked like some celebration was taking place there, but the streets looked ordinary. No stalls or ornamentation anywhere. So they went onwards to find out where the noise came from and they found a group of people gathered round two battling trainers – a girl with long, white hair around 20 years, dressed in a red low-necked summer dress and a black-haired boy who was about the same age, dressed in jeans and a blue T-shirt.

,,Electrode, thunderbolt!" He commanded.

,,You too, Starmie!" She answered.

Their attacks created a big explosion that whirled so much dust that nobody could see anything for a few minutes.

Afterwards the judge exclaimed: ,,Both Pokémon are unable to battle!"

,,Ninetales, give it to him!"

A fox Pokémon appeared in the light.

But the boy didn't get left behind. ,,Go for it, Mightyena!"

,,Ninetales, water gun!"

,,Mightyena, razor leaf!"

But both attacks were so strong that both Pokémon were out of the battle in a few seconds.

Ash squeezed through the crowd to get a better view and he saw how the girl picked Gardevoir, while the boy chose Chikorita.

,,Chikorita, flamethrower!"

,,Gardevoir, dark ball!"

Again both Pokémon fainted at the same moment.

,,None of Pokémon are able to continue to battle!" The judge said. ,,There's neither winner nor loser."

The spectators burst into applause. Both trainers called back their Pokémon and then bowed.

,,It was a strange battle," Misty remarked.

,,Yeah, really boring," added Ash. ,,I'd make it thousand times better."

The girl requested silence by waving her hands. ,,Thank you for coming today, we're glad to see you here. If you have any problems with your Pokémon, you know where to find our breeding centre. So come to see us and we'll be glad to help you.

,,Thanks for your attention and goodbye," the boy added.

,,Wait!" Ash shouted and ran out from the crowd. ,,I challenge both of you to a battle!"

Silence set in and everybody's eyes moved from Ash to the other two and back.

The girl smiled. ,,We accept your challenge. But only if you have a partner for a double battle! Unfortunately we have too much work to battle you separately."

Ash paused but a thrilled Brock appeared next to him.

,,Who'd let go the opportunity to battle such a beautiful girl!" He cleared up his behaviour, his eyes shining bright. ,,My name is Brock and my friend is Ash. And if you'd like to go for dinner with me…"

,,I'm Meadow and this is my elder brother Vinson," she pointed at her ex-rival. ,,Thank you for invitation, maybe later. But now we should move on to our battle – it will be double battle, each person can have only one Pokémon."

Ash took a look at Pikachu. ,,You'll make it, pal, won't you?"

,,Pika."

,,I choose Golem." Brock said.

Meadow and Vinson took a glance at each other and than exclaimed almost at the same moment: ,,Milotic, Dragonair, go for it!"

Two dragon Pokémon appeared and Ash smiled, pleased with new challenge.

,,Let the battle begin!" The same judge who supervised match between Meadow and Vinson announced.

Meadow started: ,,Dragonair, ice beam!"

,,Golem, harden!"

,,Milotic, water gun!"

,,Pikachu, thunderbolt!"

Dragonair's attack didn't go astray – in spite of his defensive step, Golem changed into huge frozen ball. But by collision of Pikachu's thunderbolt and Milotic's water gun originated great explosion that released him from his icy prison.

,,Golem, rock throw!"

,,Watch out, Dragonair!"

Dragonair slid aside and one of the stones flew by his head.

,,Milotic, iron tail!"

,,You too, Pikachu!"

The Pokémon clashed but none of them was stronger.

,,Dragonair, hyper beam!"

,,Milotic, join it!"

,,Pikachu, watch out!"

Milotic and Dragonair united their attacks into one big wave. There was no chance to escape. It swept away Pikachu, who tried to avoid it and Golem as well. Both Pokémon fainted.

,,Pikachu and Golem are unable to battle, Meadow and Vinson are the winners." The judge announced.

,,I lost, that's not possible!" Ash was dismayed. ,,How did it happen?! I never lose!"

,,I wouldn't be so sure of it," Misty grinned.

Vinson came to shake hands with him. ,,Don't worry about it, our Pokémon are very well raised. But your Pikachu's not bad too, it's all about luck."

,,You said that you have a breeding centre somewhere near, I'd like to visit it," Ash suggested. ,,I'd like to see how you train Pokémon to know what to improve. If it's possible…"

,,Me too," Brock added. ,,I want to be the best breeder in the world, so every new experience is good. And you have to be really good."

,,Thanks for the compliment," Meadow blushed a little bit. ,,You know what? We'll invite you for lunch and show you everything you want to see. We're here to help other trainers, aren't we?"

But wherever Ash and his friends appeared, Team Rocket had to be nearby. And this day wasn't an exception.

,,Today's a perfect day for a little relaxation," Jessie relished, sprawled in the sand and sunbathing. James was lying next to her.

,,You're right, Jess. I don't want to do anything today and this beach must have been created for inaction."

At a distance, Meowth was building a sandcastle.

,,And what does your work consist in?" A familiar voice could be heard nearby.

,,Our breeding centre also functions as an asylum for abandoned Pokémon – we take care of Pokémon that their trainers didn't want or couldn't have. But our main work is breeding Pokémon and teaching them attacks they wouldn't learn by themselves in nature. Or sometimes their trainers just don't know how to teach them to them." A girl's voice answered.

James was open-eared. ,,Hey, aren't that the twerps?"

,,You're right, it's them." Jessie agreed and got up. ,,Let's follow them, now it's our perfect chance to capture that Pikachu and a lot of other rare Pokémon. Can you imagine how many of them have to be there in that breeding centre?!"

They got dressed quickly and ran away. Poor Meowth didn't immediately find out that he was alone with his sandcastle.

,,Heey! Wait for me!" He cried out and followed them.

,,Could I call at your house sometimes?" Brock asked. ,,While we were battling, Misty found some accommodation in the town, so we don't sojourn so far. And we're planning to stay for a while."

,,Sure," Meadow answered. ,,We can share our observations."

After a while they came to small cosy house with extremely large garden full of all kinds of Pokémon who were running around and playing together.

,,How are you?" Meadow welcomed them and unlocked the house door. Espeon came to meet her.

,,This is one of my own Pokémon that I train but don't use for battles." She explained. ,,She's one of the Pokémon that helps me with breeding – she can recognize when a female is pregnant so we can take health measures on time. Sometimes she finds it out earlier than the female."

Misty tittered.

,,And what's more, together with Umbreon they are our breed couple. You know, Eevee is a very popular Pokémon. Beside those two, I also have their quintuplets who evolved into Jolteon, Vaporeon, Flareon, Leafeon and Glaceon and now they have had little Eevee but I don't want it to evolve."

,,Gee, they're so cuuute!" Misty squealed when the rest of Espeon's family came. ,,I'd like to have some too."

Vinson smiled. ,,No problem, we've got few abandoned Eevee here – and other Pokémon too. So if you want any, you can have them. I'm sure you'll take good care of it."

Meadow led them into the kitchen, where they nestled down and she started to prepare tea.

,,You two are the only one people living in this house?" Misty took interest.

,,Yes," Vinson answered. ,,Our parents died when we were children and since then we've taken care of this place instead of them. But we like this job."

,,Our younger sister Amber used to live here, but she left at the age of twelve. She said this wasn't what she wanted to do." Meadow added.

Vinson stood up. ,,If you want, we can show you our garden until the water for the tea boils."

,,Great idea!" Ash said.

They walked out to see Pokémon. Most of them crowded around Meadow and Vinson to welcome them, Misty flipped over them and wanted to have them all. Ash was thinking, which of them would be the best for battling and Brock admired them. But suddenly a net flew down from the sky and captured a group of Nidoran.

,,Hey, what's happening?!" Meadow got shouted.

,,Prepare for trouble!" A woman's voice exclaimed.

,,And make it double!" Man's voice said.

,,Ah," Ash sighed. ,,I was wondering if they'd leave us alone for once."

,,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!"

The hot-air balloon appeared in the sky and three members of Team Rocket jeered at Ash and his friends.

,,Who are you?" Vinson wanted to know.

,,We just introduced ourselves, why didn't you listen to us?!" Jessie got into a flap.

,,Give those Pokémon back, immediately!" Misty shouted. ,,They don't belong to you so let them go."

,,You're wrong, little girl," James laughed. ,,We stole them so they DO belong to us."

,,Not for a long!" Brock, who had tried to impress Meadow all the time and now had a chance, exclaimed: ,,Go, Skarmory!"

The iron Pokémon left the Poke ball and flew towards the balloon. It created a big hole in it and Jessie, James and Meowth landed on the ground.

,,Go, Seviper!" Jessie ordered.

,,Go, Carnivine!" James added.

,,Pikachu, thunder shock!" Ash exclaimed.

Pikachu jumped high and did the best thunder shock it could. The explosion that followed sent Team Rocket on an air trip.

,,Team Rocket's blasting off again!" was heard from afar.

,,So we got rid of them again," Ash rejoiced. ,,I don't get it, how can doing this entertain them?"

Meadow turned her head. ,,Strange people…"

Then everybody went to drink their tea.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks to ChocolateTeapot for the revision of the story and correcting mistakes.