It had to Happen Sometime
"Hey, Ash. Want d'you wanna do now?" May asked, as she cuddled her Bulbasuar in her arms.
"I dunno…" the boy replied casually. He had just recently won a Pokemon battle with Caloop Town's gym leader, and had gotten the Awesomeness Badge as a reward. He was one badge closer to getting yet another shot at being the Pokemon Master, and he wanted to rest for a while.
Brock looked at his almighty tourists pamphlet, and found something interesting. "Well, we could go to –" he started, though he was cut off by a familiar surprise.
Three figures jumped out onto the dirt path from the foliage that had been concealing them to the right of the gang. Two were humans, while one was a talking Pokemon.
"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie announced, as she made a cute face.
"Make that double!" James added in an overly happy tone of voice.
Ash sighed. "Blah, blah, blah. Spare us the two-bit theatrics. We've heard your little opening welcome thing a thousand times," he said, as he made 'shooing' gestures with his hands.
"Pika!" Ash's trusty Pikachu agreed from atop the boy's shoulder.
"Fine then, we'll get right to the point," Meowth growled, as he leapt at Ash, a silver coloured cage held in his hands. He scooped up Ash's best friend into the metallic looking prison, and hopped back to his comrades.
"Ha! Now we've finally got your Pikachu!" Jessie gloated, as she danced on the spot.
"Let me guess…shock-proof metal, right? Man, you guys are so predictable," May said, raining on the criminals' parade.
"Well…uhm…you see…" James stammered. The twerp was right; is was a shockproof cage that Pikachu had been trapped in.
"Well then, I have the perfect thing for that," Brock said confidently, as the pokeball in his hand grew to normal size. He threw it at the ground while commanding, "Onyx! Use earthquake!"
The red and white ball opened just the slightest bit, and a jagged bright red light escaped from within. The light grew to a great size before taking its form and becoming solid and living. Onyx was out, and ready for battle.
"Onnn!" Onyx roared deeply, as he obeyed Brock's order and attacked Team Rocket with unbelievable force.
The ground ripped apart as the force of the giant Pokemon's solid rock tail slamming against the ground sent out a series of shock waves, which traveled through the soil. Jessie, James, and Meowth couldn't help but loose their balance, and Meowth accidentally dropped the cage containing Pikachu to the ground.
Ash saw that Pikachu had a chance to escape, and he decided to help his little friend. An idea soon came to mind, and idea of how to get out of the cage. "Pikachu, use body slam where the cage is the weakest!" he shouted, knowing that Team Rocket would have opted for the cheapest metal they could get.
With a loud clank, the roof of the cage scooted across the now uneven ground and Pikachu sprinted away from its would-be captors. The small electric mouse Pokemon rejoined its human friend, and got ready to do what they always did in times like this; make Team Rocket blast off again.
"OK, Pikachu. You ready?" Ash asked, as he glared at the people who refused to stop tormenting them and just leave them alone.
"Pi. Pika," Pikachu growled, as he got ready for the attack they used most often when getting rid of the bothersome trio.
"OK. Pikachu, use thunder now!" the young Pokemon trainer yelled, as he pointed at Team Rocket.
Sparks jumped around Pikachu's body as he powered up his fierce attack. Once he was ready, he let it rip on his enemies.
Unfortunately for Team Rocket, each one of them was still regaining their balance when Pikachu attacked, and each one of them still had one foot off the ground when it happened.
"PI-KA-CHU!" the small Pokemon roared, as he released tremendous amounts of electric energy that he directed at the armature bad guys. The very wide stream of lightning rose to the sky, and came down on the three targets.
Bewildered yet pained looks crossed the targets' faces, and they tried to let out screams of agony. But they couldn't; the electricity had entered their bodies, and was coursing through their muscles. They had no control over their bulks, and any voluntary movement at all was made impossible.
The electricity exited their bodies almost as quickly as it had entered, and that's when their usual routine resumed. Although something was different this time; they didn't shout, "We're blasting off again" as they rose into the sky, and they merely flew through the air and out of sight.
((Change in Time))
As Ash and friends walked through the forest, they looked for food that was good to eat. They had set up camp for the night, so now they were out foraging for food that Brock could make into a tasty treat.
"Look, May! I found a lichi berry!" Max said happily, as he held out his berry-filled hands for his big sister to see.
"Good work, Max!" May beamed, "That'll be turned into something delicious, I can tell!"
Ash, May, and Max continued on their way after putting the berry into one of their bags, and soon noticed something odd. It wasn't that Brock wasn't with them; he was back at camp preparing dinner. It was something entirely different.
An unknown smell made its way into their noses, and seemed to singe their nose hairs. It was a repulsive stink that made them want to lurch, and was almost to the point of being overwhelming. And not only that, but it seemed to be coming from somewhere nearby.
"Uhhg…what IS that horrible stench?" May groaned, as she pinched her nose and scrunched up her face in a disgusted way.
"Pi pi, pikachu…" Pikachu pointed out, his hands clasped over his mouth and nose to prevent the smell from getting inside his body. Through his stubby little fingers, his voice sounded very muffled.
"You're right, Pikachu. It is coming from over there," Ash agreed, as he started to walk toward where the stink was coming from. His curiosity was getting the best of him, and he found himself unable to stop himself from venturing forward.
Unfortunately, a gruesome sight awaited them.
They pushed through the brush and came upon a small clearing. The source of the horrible stench immediately became evident, and what had happened was cleared up as well.
Three figures lay in the middle of the clearing, broken branches and leaves surrounding them. It looked to the group like they'd fallen from the sky, which was exactly what they had done. A large swarm of cannibalistic bugs and Pokemon surrounded them as well, feasting on their flesh and innards.
After only a few minutes of surveying the scene and rotting mess, a gut churning realization hit the youngest of the group. A gasp escaped his lips.
"G-guys," Max said in a horrified tone of voice, "That's T-Team Rocket!"
Ash was sure that Max was wrong, and shoved the various varieties of Pokemon and insects away from the corpses in question to take a closer look. Sure enough, the small boy was indeed right about the matter. They were looking at the three members of Team Rocket that refused to just leave them alone, in all their dead and rotting glory.
Barely visible among the scattered innards and ripped up flesh were the tattered remains of the uniforms that they had been wearing. Most of the "R" insignia was missing, but they were still able to identify them as the symbol for Team Rocket.
There was no doubt about it. They were looking at their former enemies.
((Change in Time))
"Hmm…yup, they're definitely dead. I guess that makes you a murderer now, Ash," Brock confirmed, as he inspected the bodies.
The colour from Ash's face drained. "What d'you mean? How?" he stammered.
Brock brought his friend in closer to show him exactly what had happened. While lifting up a charred leg he said, "See right here? That's where the electricity entered. It travelled through the body and exited here, in this finger. You can see the entry and exit holes fairly clearly in this light. If I'm correct, Pikachu's thunder killed them."
"What am I going to do? Where am I going to go? I'm a wanted man now! Now there's no way I'll become the Pokemon Master, let along set foot in town! Oh god, what's mom going to think…and Professor Oak!" Ash said franticly. He was in a complete panic.
"Ash, don't get so worked up about this. I'm sure we'll manage. I mean, sure, we won't get to go into town any more or anything, but society sucks, so that's all right I guess. And being away like this could help cure Brock's girl loving problem," May comforted, attempting to look on the bright side of things.
"Heh…problem…what's she talking about? I don't have a problem…but the pretty girls. I won't be able to see them any more…oh Nurse Joy…Officer Jenny…" Brock said under his breath so that nobody could hear, as he got up from the ground.
"We? May, what do you mean, we?" Max asked sheepishly.
"Max, we're his accomplices. Technically, we helped him do this. That means that we're on the run too," the boy's sister answered, in a way that was as friendly for her little brother's ears as she could.
Tears began streaming down Max's face. "No more mom…no more dad…no more friends…no more anything…" he mumbled crazily, as he choked on his words.
Knowing that they had to get as far a way as possible in as little time as possible for fear of getting caught, they headed out. There would be no more exciting adventures full of fun for them, or anything along the lines of fun altogether. It would be a journey of solitude, the group of criminals doing whatever they could to stay alive and out of prison.
((End))
Yes, here is yet another one-shot from the inner workings of my demented mind. But you have to admit, this one kind of makes sense. You'd think that something along these lines would have happened to Team Rocket by now, in the many seasons that they've been trying to steal Pikachu. And you know what else I've noticed? They've only changed their little opening number thing once or twice in the entire series!
Anyway, I should probably cut this author's note short before I start to ramble again...that seems to happen sometimes...
I don't own Pokemon. Just thought I'd put this little disclaimer up here.