Chapter 4

I need to find out from Sceptile if what I think happened is true. Ash thought with Pikachu on his shoulder.

Then, he threw his pokeball up into the air and shouted: "Come on out, Sceptile!" A white wave of light came out of the pokeball when it opened and formed the shape of Sceptile. There was another flash, and Sceptile had appeared in front of Ash. From the somber look in its eyes, Ash could tell something was worrying his Sceptile for sure. While Ash was on his adventures, he had learned to understand what his pokemon say, except for his Pikachu.

"Has something happened, Sceptile? Professor Oak was worried about you." Ash whispered. He was afraid that others were in the forest and would overhear them talking if they talked too loud.

"Yes, I can understand that because something happened during the night that has worried me." Sceptile answered, barely audible.

"What happened?"

"A time stop happened. I was searching all over the Professor's land to make sure nothing bad was after me or you and Pikachu. Aubrie needs us." Suddenly, Sceptile lifted his head up quick and looked around.

Then, he lowered his head and whispered to Ash: "Someone's here!" Ash then turned around and looked around.

He heard leaves rustling, so he pushed Sceptile and himself into a bush and whispered: "Get down!" They both slowly and carefully moved the leaves on their bush out of the way enough for them to see who was coming. They both relaxed when they saw it was only Ash's friends: Iris and Gary. But Ash grew a bit concerned.

What's Gary doing here? He should still be in Sinnoh! he thought to himself. But he shrugged it off and climbed out of the bush with Sceptile and Pikachu.

"There you are! We were wondering where you went! And why were you hiding?!" Iris roared with Axew roaring at Ash as well.

"We didn't know it was you, so we hid!" Ash roared back. He and Iris didn't get along well sometimes.

Then, he turned to Gary and asked: "What are you doing here, Gary?"

"I went back home a few days ago and had found out that you had come to the Unova region, so I came here following you. Besides, I'm not the only one who came here after you, Ash." Gary answered.

"Who else came then?"

"Misty, Brock, May, Max, Dawn, Paul, and Trip."

Why did they come? Unless... Then, Ash's thoughts were interupted with Iris saying: "Let's go back to the Pokemon Center, now that we've found Ash." Axew quickly and quietly hid back in Iris's big, violet hair.

"Right." Gary answered as he turned back and started walking the way they had come. Ash shot a glance at Sceptile and they both went after them with Pikachu clinging onto Ash's shoulder. After they had gotten out of the forest, Sceptile, Ash, and Pikachu felt exposed and could easily get trapped. Then, the ground fell from underneath them. Ash felt pain racing through him a few moments after he had landed. Then, giant hands came down and grabbed Pikachu and Sceptile.

"Pika Pika!"

"Ash! Ash!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" went the familiar laughter Ash knew all too well. Then, all of their pokeballs were sucked up into a vaccum.

"To protect the world from devastation," went that all too familiar chant, "To unite all people within our nation. To denounce the evils of truth and love, To extend our reach to the stars above." Ash managed to look up in time to see a giant Meowth balloon with two giant arms sticking out of the bottom of the basket that were holding the struggling Pikachu and Sceptile. There were two people in the basket, along with a Meowth. The Meowth had a giant vaccum on its back that was holding the pokeballs.

"It's Jessie," shouted the magenta-haired woman.

"And James!" shouted the blue-haired man.

"Team Rocket's roaming the regions at the speed of light. Surrender now, or prepare for one well traveled fight!" They both said with smirks on their faces.

"Meowth, that's right!" said the Meowth. Unlike other Pokemon, that Meowth has the ability to talk.

"Oh, not them again!" Ash yelled, outraged.

"We got your pokemon! We got your pokemon!" Team Rocket teased.

"This plan actually worked for once, Meowth!" Jessie told him.

"It should, since we're using rubber on the arm that's holding Pikachu and steel on the one that's holding Sceptile! Aaah, ha ha ha haaa!" Meowth gloated. One thing all of them had forgotten about, was that Axew was still in Iris's hair. Axew snunk out of Iris's hair and quietly alerted her. Iris knew what Axew was trying to tell her and told him to use Dragon Rage. A blue ball formed in Axew, and when he opened his mouth, it shot out as a beam of blue light, struck down Team Rocket's balloon, and freed Pikachu and Sceptile. Both of them landed safely on the ground, while Team Rocket didn't.