Chapter 7: Can't Ketchum


(Off the coast of New Jersey, USA; 07:44)

Ash knew he was the only person to rescue the WOOHP agents. The video showed Clover, Sam and Alex held captive by Tim Scam and his apparent partner-in-crime, Jessie. Her other partners, Team Rocket's James and Meowth, had been searching since they somehow arrived in Philadelphia. Beach side on the east coast with Jerry and other WOOHP members, Ash and Pikachu prepared for a dangerous mission located by Portugal's coastline. "It would take a man to try this new experimental vehicle," Jerry mulled at what appeared to be an oversize torpedo. "Unfortunately, not only are you the only young man for the job, time isn't necessarily on our side with the girls in mortal danger." Ash could care less about the untested machine.

"Relax, Jerry," he assured. "I promise to bring the three back safely. Tim's got a surprise coming and it'll be more than the Pokémon." One man came forward to address the tester.

"We're ready to launch the Torpedo Boat," he informed. Jerry nodded to the setup.

"I've determined that the signal's coming from the coastline near the city of Porto," he explained. "The Torpedo Boat will take you to the signal but that's when it'll transform into a life raft. There, your equipment will be of use. Aside from the oxygen tanks to help you and Pikachu reach the base, I also have gear for this mission." Ash saw the table full of equipment but he wanted to have none of them.

"Jerry, all I need is Pikachu and a few of my Pokémon," he refused. "Nothing else." Jerry seemed stunned with the denial. He picked a pouch to offer Ash.

"Well, if anything, take this. If the girls have taken the drug, I fear Tim may overdose them. This way, the drugs will dissolve without entering the bloodstream." Ash felt he had no choice but to take the medicine.

"Better safe than sorry." He made his way to the Torpedo Boat. The steel capsule opened from the side. Ash entered and grabbed a handle to pull himself to the soft bed-like cushion. A technician strapped him on the side.

"Now it will take a few hours to get there so try and grab some rest," he instructed. "You should have a smooth ride until the alarms go off. You'll have two minutes to set up for the mission. Once the time is up, the Torpedo Boat will surface and you'll be set." Ash nodded before the technician sealed the door. Giving the thumb up, pulleys lowered the untested vehicle down the shaft. It entered a chamber which closed. The chamber filled with water. As soon as it reached the level of the ocean, the pouring stopped.

"Pressure levels regulating," another technician surveyed. "Will launch in T-minus two minutes." Jerry applied an earphone to communicate.

"How are you feeling inside?" he asked.

"I now know how May felt that one time with Pikachu and Manaphy," Ash replied.

"Anyway, you've got less than two minutes to feel comfortable. The Torpedo Boat will launch soon." Ash took a deep breath in the dark space. The gate opened as beneath the ocean's surface. Another technician counted down from 30 seconds. "Godspeed, Ash." When the technician shouted zero, one more pulled a lever. In a massive blast, the cannon fired the Torpedo Boat now on its way to Porto. All Ash and Pikachu could do was wait for the boat to surface.


(Tim Scam's Base; Off the coast of Porto, Portugal; 15:34)

Alex, Sam and Clover woke to find themselves in a cage. Needless to say that the three suffered disorientation. "What happened?" asked Clover as all three clutched their heads.

"I don't know," Sam groaned. "I don't think we're still in London." Someone else entered and she was more than willing to gloat about the ordeal.

"WOOHP's best agents being mere twerpettes?" mocked Jessie. "No wonder my big Timmy has such a hard time alone." The spies cringed at Jessie's appearance.

"Suddenly, Mandy looks a heck of a lot better than her," Clover compared with a grit on her face.

"Tell me about it," Alex agreed. "Ever hear of moderation? You've got more makeup on than we do in six months combined!" Jessie growled at Alex's remark.

"Have you no respect for your elders?!" she snapped back.

"Jerry's a better elder than you," Sam argued. "All I see is an old hag!" The bickering continued to chip away at Jessie's nature.

"Old… hag..!"

"Oh, and let's not forget that uniform," Alex continued. "Never seen anything so hideous in my life." The insults irked Jessie's anger to a boil.

"Not to mention that hair," Clover joined in. "There's one word you need: makeover! Seriously, no real man would go for you!" Jessie grabbed a remote and pressed a button. Clover felt vibrations on the bars she held and released before a wave of electricity flickered through. The girls breathed relief that none received an electric jolt.

"You twerpettes should shut your traps!" she snarled. "I'm happy enough to have Timmy-poo on my side!" She exited, leaving the spies to contemplate.

"So now what?" asked Alex. "We can't get out without risking our health on those electrified bars."

"What I wanna know is how we get out of here," Clover pondered. "There isn't another WOOHP agent available." They had no clue of who's coming to their rescue.


(18:26)

Warning lights flickered in the Torpedo Boat like a strobe light. That alerted Ash and Pikachu to know of their arrival to Portugal. The Torpedo Boat began to surface, half a mile from the shore. Once peaked from the ocean's surface, the Torpedo converted to boat-form with a motor. The oceanic air bled into his pores. He found a city above cliff-side. "So that's Porto," he assumed. "And Tim's hideout is beneath." He grabbed a red/white ball and opened it. "Buizel, I choose you!" The ball opened where Buizel emerged as he dove in the ocean. Popping out, he wanted to listen to Ash's instructions. "Buizel, try to find an entrance below the water's surface." Buizel saluted before diving in. The Pokémon with the floatation ring around its neck swam for sometime before it found an opening so big and wide, you could fit two semitrailer trucks back-to-back. It resurfaced to alert its findings.

("I found a big entrance!") he replied. Ash nodded, satisfied with his Pokémon's objective.

"Good work." He applied the oxygen tank to his back, but offered it to Pikachu. "It would be easier if you breathed this. I can hold my breath long enough to reach the entrance." Ash dove into the water and latched onto Buizel. With a deep breath to hold in, Ash allowed Buizel to carry the three below. Buizel swam toward the entrance, Ash doing his best to hold his breath while Pikachu worried that he wouldn't make it to the opening. The three barely reached the entrance. When they surfaced, Ash gasped for air. Pikachu offered Ash the breathing apparatus to give him air.

("Are you okay?") he asked. Ash took a few deep breaths from the oxygen tank.

"Thanks..."

("That was pretty deep.") Once he caught his breath, Ash recalled Buizel.

"Take a rest. We'll need you later on." After the recall, Ash and Pikachu saw the inner activity with plenty of what he previewed in Philadelphia: drug abusers and lots of cargo with the toxic content.

("So much poison...")

"I know. First, we save the girls and then, destroy this place and the drugs before anymore go into the wrong hands." As stealthy as possible, Ash and Pikachu got around the eyes of guards who wanted to protect the place. Suddenly, he found himself in a spacy room, Jessie waiting inside.

"I knew you'd come, twerp," she snarled. "My precious Timmy Darling is making too much of a killing to offer everyone paradise." Ash faced the woman that her teammates have looked for.

"I find it problematic that you'd prefer working with a threat to humanity and not trying to look for rare Pokémon. James and Meowth are looking for you." Jessie scoffed to the detail.

"I could care less about those two. Besides, I found happiness with working by Tim." Ash and Pikachu glanced to each other, wondering if they shouldn't be bothered by the trio if Jessie wants someone and not her male partner and Alley Cat Pokémon.

("She can't be serious...") murmured Pikachu. Jessie grabbed a red/white ball of his own.

"However, that doesn't mean I can't do this to you. Yanmega, I choose you!" The ball opened to bring forth a giant green dragonfly with freakish red eyes. Ash readied a ball of his own.

"Monferno, I choose you!" he called out. Monferno emerged from that ball.

"Yanmega, Silver Wind!" The dragonfly flapped its wings hard enough to emit waves of blades.

"Monferno, Flame Wheel!" Monferno balled up and rolled at Yanmega and climbing the wind blades. The Flame Wheel crashed into Yanmega, the damage huge. Jessie growled in frustration.

"Ancient Power!" Yanmega summoned a transparent form of itself before it swirled into a ball of silver light. It eyed Monferno but Ash had something else as it tossed the energy ball.

"Mach Punch!" Monferno cocked its arm back with the arm aglow. It punched Yanmega's attack back at the user. The blast knocked the Yanmega from the air and too the ground.

"Yanmega!" The dragonfly wasn't moving. "Why is it every time, I can't beat you? Every scheme, every trap and still you come out on top!" Unfortunately, someone overheard Jessie's complaint.

"Perhaps you shouldn't have lied to me," Tim spoke over a PA system. "Now that you've explained your humiliating past, our unity is forfeited. I cannot allow those who've failed constantly have a share." The ceiling opened up above Jessie who looked scared to death.

"Hold on! I can explain! Please!" Suddenly, a cascade of the blue liquid crushed Jessie flush. The drug concoction flattened the redhead. Yanmega was by Ash and Monferno, thus safe from the spill. Jessie laid on the ground, her body covered in the concoction. She twitched uncontrollably, her eyes glued open. The concoction seeped from her mouth, an indication that she swallowed a massive dose. Ash had to clear the area of the drug and found a draining grid which some of the substance had washed toward. He brought Buizel out once more.

"Buizel, use Water Pulse to get the liquid in that drain." Buizel fired orbs of concentrated water and struck the concoction to push into the grid. Each successful strike blew more of the drug to the drain. Plenty cleared away, Ash came over to See Jessie's condition. Immediately, he realized the concoction began to do serious damage and brought out the medicine.

"If James and Meowth weren't looking for you, and I wasn't such a nice guy, I'd leave you like this." He jabbed the syringe to the exposed stomach. The medicine plunged in her body. He only hoped he saved her life if only for her teammates. "Yanmega, watch over her." Yanmega agreed as Ash recalled his Pokémon. After that, he proceeded onward. Meanwhile, Tim entered the same room as the caged spies, seeing their hopeless faces as a sign of their surrender.

"Clover, Alex and Sam," he scoffed. "How nice to have the only threats to my schemes locked up." The girls turned their disgusted faces to the culprit.

"Just wonderful," Clover groaned. "If it isn't your ex-boyfriend, Sam."

"I'd rather forget I dated him, once," Sam retorted.

"Well, that can be arranged," Tim offered. "After all, this operation has been my most successful in a while, not to mention affordable." The girls irked at the callous nature of their enemy.

"Affordable?" questioned Alex. "You call using recycled control substances and poisoning thousands of lives, affordable?"

"Not only would I, but if you know what people will do to obtain their fix, they'll keep using the product until they're at the point of euphoria." Sam balled her fists, wanting to get a piece of the former mate.

"You leech..." scowled Sam. "Wait until I get my hands on you..." Tim brushed Sam's threat from bothering him.

"You won't know how good it'll feel until you experience it yourselves. Oh, and don't bother looking for Jerry's gadgets. WOOHP will fall to the mercy and pleasure of this." His confident attitude soon turned as the door opened, Ash and Pikachu coming through. Tim wasn't expecting him. "And who might you be? WOOHP's new agent?"

"You could call it a temp," he answered. The spies awed at their rescuer. "Just thought I'd let you know that even though you tried to poison me alongside Jessie, violence among humans is considered illegal back home." Tim snickered at the information. The girls blinked, wondering why he wasn't using Pikachu.

"So that means you don't know how to fight someone if you're life's on the line. Although, I prefer to use my head rather than fisticuffs." Tim turned his head away from Ash as he rubbed his fists as he strutted to Tim.

"That's too bad… because I'm not back home." When Tim looked back, he met Ash's left hook across the cheek. Tim stumbled back while the girls gulped at that punch.

"Whoa!" they gasped. Tim turned back again, only to find Ash's right uppercut at the last second. The uppercut forced Tim's chin to the ceiling. He reeled from those two punches, with more to come. Turning Tim into a punching bag, Ash unleashed a boxer's barrage of jabs, hooks and uppercuts. The man named Scam staggered from each blow. He found one chance to fight back with a wild right hook. However, Ash's own right beat Tim's whose eyes rolled back as he fell in a heap, unconscious.

"I needed that." Pikachu quickly searched through Tim's pockets, finding the key for the cage.

("Here you go!" ) he squeaked as he gave the key to Ash who opened the cage and freed the girls.

"Our hero!" chuckled Alex who hugged him after their release.

"That was awesome, Ash!" laughed Clover. "When did you take up boxing?" Ash could explain but he wanted to get the girls to safety.

"Later!" he snapped. "We gotta get outta here!"

"Good idea," Sam agreed. "Let's go!" Clover led the rest out of the room and toward the exit, leaving the sleeping Tim to snooze his injuries. As the group neared the exit, Ash broke off.

"Pikachu, stay with the girls. I got something to do." The girls and Pikachu didn't want Ash to separate.

"But, Ash!" gawked Clover.

"Don't worry! You guys, first!" Pikachu trusted Ash's words to squeak his promise.

"Pikachu?" noticed Sam. Pikachu felt determined to let Ash do his need.

"Alright, be careful, Ash!" acknowledged Clover before leaving. At the entrance, Sam pulled a leaver which opened a compartment holding small oxygen canisters. She gave one to each while holding another for Pikachu before everyone dove in. She held Pikachu as they swam out of the hideout and to the boat. Clover surfaced first with a gasp for breath. After climbing in the boat, she helped Pikachu, then Sam and the girls lifted Alex. They waited for Ash to surface as well. Suddenly, rumbling from below.

"Earthquake?" guessed Alex. That's when huge explosions ruptured from beneath. Within a minute, several explosions rippled through the ocean. Then, calm.

"Ash, come on..." pleaded Sam. They waited for Ash to surface. That's when Ash's hat plopped out from below… on debris floating to the surface. Sam reached to grab his hat, a sudden realization that Ash died in the hideout. "No… Not him!" Clover and Alex saw the hat but not the owner. They began to believe Ash's fate.

("He's too tough to die!") pleaded Pikachu. Clover lifted and hugged the Pokémon in heartbreak. Sam clutched his hat, a young man who she believed didn't deserve to go so soon. Just as they wanted to start praying for Ash…

"Anyone seen my hat?" he asked.

"Not now, Ash!" cried Sam. "We're grieving your death!" That's when the girls gawked once more and turned to Ash and Buizel, very much alive.

"Ash!" they screeched in joy. Clover and Alex reached down to pull him up. Buizel leaped from the water as Alex and Clover hugged Ash, clothes torn but unscathed.

"How did you survive the blasts?" questioned Clover.

"Perfect timing on accident," Ash shrugged. "That's all I can say." Clover rubbed Ash's head playfully.

"Hey, can I have a turn?" asked Sam.

"Come on," teased Alex. "Join the fun!" Instead of a hug, Sam leaned in and kissed Ash, on purpose and holding it. Clover, Alex and Pikachu watched, aghast with the kiss.

"Okay, we can tell she's in love with the kid," Clover joked. Alex and Pikachu chuckled.

"Alright, let's get back home," Alex decided. "Jerry's probably worried sick!" As they started the motor to the boat, all they can think about is getting home. Ash and Pikachu would also want to get back home.


TO BE CONCLUDED...