Chapter 2: A Swamped Sucess
Just when Simon, Yoko, Nia and Swampy were about to have a school of Mudkip babies stolen by Cassidy and Butch, Ash came around. The misplaced members of an elite watched in awe, wondering who these guys were. While Swampy was thrilled to see Ash, he did seem perplexed with his backup. "Well, that is Ash," he remembered. "I don't know who the other two are. That's not May or Brock." Could one of them be Max?
"I don't remember sending you an invitation and especially with your clowns," Cassidy snarled.
"Yeah, all you bring is trouble," Butch added. They bring the trouble? Get your facts straight. You brought it first. The blue-haired female decided to start what the other two did.
"Good, because you two need to prepare for trouble, since we're getting you flustered," she snorted. A repeat performance?
"And let's make it triple, making you guys outnumbered," the redhead male added. Okay, a little bit of a change...
"To protect the world from major corruption," Ash continued.
"To unite the heroes from every nation," the blue-haired chanted.
"To dissolve the evils of truth, justice and love," the redhead listed.
"To extend our reach pass the stars above," Ash joked. So, we get to know who the rest are, right?
"Shauna, the battle girl," the blue-haired identified herself.
"Morrison, the big bruiser," the redhead named.
"Ash, Pallet Town's best," Ash called himself.
"We're the nightmare of every Team Rocket's plight," Shauna praised the actions.
"You'd better surrender now, since we own this fight," Morrison proceeded.
"You got that right," Ash finished. Nice little motto they put together. Needless to say that Cassidy and Butch did not take the mocked motto too lightly.
"How dare you use the Team Rocket motto into a gag reel," Cassidy growled. A gag reel? Humor us.
"Come on, you guys use the tiring motto every single time we encounter a member of your kind," Ash yawned. "If you guys weren't so brazen, there would be less encounters and complaints." That made Cassidy snarl more...and Yoko thinking that these kids have had multiple encounters according to Ash.
"It kinda reminds us of Viral during our raid on the Spiral Kingdom," she pointed out. "He's always poking his drill into our business to overthrow Lord Genome." True, but he's dead. Both Rockets pulled out red/white balls, ready to throw down. Quickly, Ash had a plan.
"Shauna, go and make sure the Mudkip are okay. Morrison and I can handle these two." Shauna nodded as she stepped aside as Metang returned to Morrison's side. Now, it was two-on-two. "Pikachu, are you ready?"
("Yeah, let's do it,") the mouse expressed as it stepped forward. Morrison, what's your member going to be? Metang?
"We needed that rattling, Metang," he praised his metallic creature. "Take a rest." A red beam shot out of the red/white ball and hit Metang before it became the red light and retreated back into the ball. "Since we're on Mudkip land, let's use a Mudkip I have. Or in this case...Swampert!" He threw another ball which opened and revealed a much larger mud fish with a bigger mouth, longer limbs, two head fins and a nasty look.
"Sure, we'll take you twerps on," Cassidy praised as she threw a ball of her own. "Go, Sableye!" Her ball opened and revealed a purple demon with diamond for eyes and a ruby embedded on its chest.
"I'll stick with Primeape," Butch decided. His ball opened as well, exposing a white ball of fur with muscled arms and legs. It also had a pig's snout. What for?
"Sableye, use Scratch!" Sableye raced in, claws ready. Morrison was quick to draw.
"Swampert, hold your ground!" he ordered. Okay, so maybe Morrison wanted to take the damage...
"Pikachu, Quick Attack!" Ash commanded. Pikachu jumped onto Swampert and used the head fins as a catapult, flinging and hitting Sableye in the ruby. Sableye was nailed back and skidded along the muddy grounds. Butch was swift to answer.
"Primeape, use Thrash," he ordered. Primeape shot forward, eying Pikachu. To Morrison, easy pickings.
"Swampert, Hydro Pump!" he called when Primeape leaped for the sky. Whoops! Swampert spat out a massive stream of water from its giant mouth, practically obliterating Primeape. Ash read an opportunity to really hammer home a good strike.
"Pikachu, ride the Hydro Pump and use Iron Tail," he chose. Pikachu jumped on top of the stream with its tail glowing white. KABLAM! KABLAM! Pikachu nailed Sableye in the face and Primeape across the nose. Both were struck so hard, they barreled into the Rockets, nailing them over to their downed tank. For Ash, it was about to be finished. "Alright, Pikachu, let's send them off like always. Thunderbolt!"
"Swampert, one more Hydro Pump!" Swampert fired another Hydro Pump while Pikachu launched a strong current of electricity from its little body. Both attacks combined and really soaked and shocked the Rockets, their Pokémon and the tank...which exploded into flames. How much gas was in there? Team Rocket went sailing.
"This is just brilliant," Cassidy whined. "That kid just had to return to Hoenn to ruin a good plan to recruit super Mudkip. This couldn't get any worse, Botch." Botch? Wasn't his name...
"Oh, for the love of..!" Butch complained loudly. "It's Butch! Butch!!!" With that correction, Cassidy and Botch...sorry, Butch sailed off into the distance. Adios!
"The way Team Rocket conducts business with Pokémon, they may never learn," Morrison scoffed. Ash couldn't agree more as he tagged elbows with his redheaded partner.
"Almost makes me wanna worry about the organization," he joked. That's when Swampy and the other girls came over to thank the trainers who came. "Old Man Swamp, you okay?"
"Well, now that you came to save the day, you bet I am," Swampy greeted. "And now that I've got a good look at your company, I do remember Morrison. You two were in the Evergrand Tournament not long ago." Was it watched by many? And what means were there? Simon exited Lagann to check out the heroes while Shauna treated the injuries the Mudkip school may have suffered in the incident.
"Yeah, well, Ash can be a great motivational speaker when the time is right," Morrison admitted while scratching the back of his neck. It had to be during the match they had. That's when the boys noticed the girls, not yet Simon and Shauna.
"By the way, who did you catch trespassing in your sanctuary?" he wondered. Yoko and Nia decided to introduce themselves to the trainers.
"Well, we didn't mean to, uh, accidentally enter Swamp's reserve," Yoko tried to plead their case. "I'm Yoko and this is Nia." That's when all looked toward the oncoming Simon. "And that's Simon, our main weapon that we had before we came here against our terms, to say the least." As Ash and Yoko began to shake hands, Morrison saw something that interested him...and may interest Ash as well.
"Ash, don't you notice?" he questioned. Ash jerked his head to Morrison, wondering what was on his mind. "That Yoko has rather large boobs on her." Yeah, like that wasn't noticeable. To Ash, this wasn't a big issue.
"So?" he blurted. Maybe Ash was blind to the bust on Yoko. Maybe Ash didn't care about someone's hooters. Either way, Morrison wanted Ash to be a man about the enormous bosoms of the redhead.
"Come on, man! She's in a bikini with knockers that any man would desire, a tight spandex shorts and stockings that could make anyone wonder if she's more than a pretty face!" All Ash did to respond was sigh. He couldn't believe how clueless Ash was to the hotness Morrison was exposing...without touching Yoko.
"It's not all that impressive," she confessed. "I've been at a resort where there were plenty of women who had busts about equal to or larger than mine." Could that be it? Did Ash know that her breasts were pale compared to other women that he may have come across?
"Oh...sorry." Finally, Nia had a chance to shake Ash's hand.
"That was really impressive the way you battled those meanies," she teased about the long gone Rockets. "It's almost the same way Simon battles using Gurren Lagann." Now there's a combination name for Ash to try and figure. Same with Shauna.
"What's Gurren Lagann?" she replayed in question. Simon opened himself to answer Shauna's curiosity.
"Well, you see that mech over there?" he spoke as he pointed to Lagann. Everyone twisted heads to see the red robot. "That's Lagann, a beastman that goes together with another mech to create the ganman Gurren Lagann. I was the main pilot after Bro perished during one of our fights back home." Dear... The trainers and Pikachu began to feel for Simon.
"Sorry about your brother. He had to be very close to you." Ash and Pikachu nodded to the sorrowing detail. Nia chose to change the subject a bit.
"Speaking of close, how were you able to come to our rescue so quickly?" she asked. Ash became the answer to that.
"We found a rather long black rifle at the base," he complied. "Shauna thought there were hunters who used something pretty dangerous to illegally capture Pokémon." Yoko's rifle. "That's when Pikachu heard the cries of the baby Mudkip and knew something was off." Thus, the rescue. That's when Swampy had to go off the deep end with why Ash was here in the first place.
"By the way, Ash," he spoke up. "After you lost to Tyson in the quarterfinals, you were going home to seek a new adventure when you had that post-battle interview. Why are you still here in the Hoenn Region and not back at Kanto?" That...was a really good question. Ash dug into his pockets where he pulled out a piece of paper. On it happened to be a letter of some sort.
"About that. I was just on my way back at Littleroot Town when I saw a Dragonite delivering mail and it just so happened that there was mail for me." He handed the letter to Simon who read it.
TO ASH KETCHUM,
EVER SINCE YOU STOPPED HANSEN FROM CARRYING OUT HIS ILL-FATED DUTIES TO TAKE THE THRONE FROM MY FATHER, IT'S...NOT BEEN EASY TO THINK ABOUT WHAT I NEED TO DO TO PREPARE FOR WHEN I NEED TO ASCEND AFTER MY PARENTS CHOOSE TO DESCEND. YOU, MISTY, MAY, MAX, BROCK AND YOUR POKÉMON HAVE AIDED ME IN AREAS THAT I CANNOT SEEM TO RELIEVE. I KNOW THAT THIS IS SUDDEN AND THAT YOU'VE JUST COMPLETED YOUR RUN AND FINISHED IN THE TOP EIGHT. AS SOON AS YOU RECEIVE THIS LETTER, I WANT TO ADDRESS MY PROPOSAL TO YOU ABOUT THE ISSUE THAT HAS BEEN ENGRAVING MY ROYAL DRESSES. I FEEL BETTER TO TALK TO YOU THAN MY PARENTS ON THE UNDERSTANDING OF MY PROBLEMS.
SINCERELY,
SARA, PRINCESS OF MIRAGE KINGDOM
A letter...why would Ash receive a letter from a princess? "I don't think I've heard of this Mirage Kingdom," Swampy doubted. To Nia, the knowledge of a princess was a bit much to hold.
"So, there's another princess in this world?" she guessed. Another princess? There's one known princess...unless...
"Wait, are you telling us that...You're a princess?" Morrison gasped. Ash, Shauna, Swampy and Pikachu were shocked. Nia was pretty amused with these sudden allegations.
"Well, former princess, to be straight," Simon backed up. Former princess? She was overruled by someone? "You see, her father was Lord Genome, the last person I fought...and defeated barely." This was news. First to hear about a princess named Sara who wanted Ash to meet her and now, hearing about Nia that held a position of her own. What were the odds?
"You see, I began to ask about my bringing to life by my father," Nia explained. "When I did, I suppose he got angry with me and treated me like a useless doll, discarded to rot away." Who would leave someone to die like that? Especially family?
"You must have had a hard time understanding the reason why your own father wanted you to die," Shauna reiterated. "Then again, I think I'm starting to believe why Brawly doesn't see me more than just his apprentice." That irked Ash to Shauna, seemingly exposing a wonder why she was with him and not with this teacher of hers. Something long before this moment had triggered Shauna to wander from Brawly...but what?
"Are you saying that Brawly-" he started but was hushed by Shauna's hand in his face. She was hiding something.
"I don't wanna address it now! We need to think about getting to the Mirage Kingdom! Understand?" Ash nodded without much of a course in action. He had to wonder about why Shauna wanted the relationship between her and Brawly a secret but the Mirage Kingdom seemed more important to her. Why, though?
"Well, maybe we can go together and see this Mirage Kingdom for ourselves," Simon requested. "If it's alright with the rest of you?" Ash, Morrison, Shauna and Pikachu were rather befuddled. Three total strangers that have a beastman and that rifle of Yoko's that still laid beneath the waterfall? The four huddled, whispering about whether to accept the offer of joining them and understanding their world in comparison to this. "Heavy discussion..." It seemed to be.
"How is it heavy?" Yoko shook. "There's only three and an electricity filled mouse. Heavy requires several people, like two handfuls." Interesting argument, Yoko. The trainers broke huddle.
"It's unanimous," Ash noted. "You can join along." Alright! Simon, Yoko, Nia and Gurren were allowed to accompany the group. Goodness.
"Who knows," Nia opened up. "Maybe we'll have some great memories along the way." Who wouldn't want great memories?
"And who knows," Yoko spoke as she walked up to Morrison...and pulled his head in between the hills. Lucky! "We might embrace more than just the journey." Morrison struggled for a bit to break free from Yoko's grasp...until he remembered his talk with Ash and understanding the feeling of being a man.
"You know, this isn't so bad," he muffled. "I could get use to this." Hope not.
"Well, the sun is setting," Swampy realized. "You can spend tonight here and prepare for that trip." Not a bad offer.
"Thanks!" the rest praised. All headed into the cabin where they got to see a few more Mudkip hatch from the eggs. Tomorrow, the trip to the Mirage Kingdom begins.
TO BE CONTINUED...