I felt antsy to get this chapter out and finish the starter trio episodes, so Rocket's Rising gets a double update before looping around in the cycle.
Chapter 9: A Broken Team
The Rocket Trio woke up at sunset and rubbed their sore joints. James started a campfire with some wood and lighter fluid stored in their balloon and Jessie took out her compact to look at the damage the flames did.
"Oh, my beautiful face…" she moaned while taking in the red burn marks. "Perfection has been ruined!"
Meowth rummaged around in the balloon basket before jumping out with a first-aid kit. He ran it over to Jessie and offered some salve while taking a Potion and Burn Heal for himself.
"C'mon," he said, "time ta patch up. Won't want dis affectin' our performance next time."
Jessie and James released their Pokémon and Meowth went around using the medicine to fix them up while Jessie put the salve on her face, midriff and the exposed parts of her legs. Once done, she passed it to James, who had some chicken and vegetable fried rice cooking.
"I'll be fine. It's been a long day, and we need our nourishment," the agent insisted. "Besides, who knows when we'll be able to stop for supplies again?"
Once Ekans and Fearow recovered enough, they left to hunt. Beedrill would've gone with them to forage, but couldn't move too much even with the medicine. Team Rocket found out early on that Beedrill just needs nectar from flowers to sustain himself, so he only ate Pokémon food if none could be found or he couldn't fly.
With the hunters gone, Jessie and Meowth filled up the bowls with Pokémon food for the others and James left his cooking alone for a moment to feed Koffing. As he looked through their dishes and found that they were out of clean bowls, he served their food on plates, making a mental note to keep an eye out for a freshwater source to wash them later.
Ekans and Fearow returned and Jessie recalled them so they could rest further while everybody else ate. James let Koffing stay out for a bit, since the Poison Gas Pokémon hadn't suffered much damage at the wings of Pidgeotto.
The blue-haired agent passed some of his rice to Mankey, who looked confused before James said, "Try it. It's not a rice ball, but fried rice is good in its own way."
The Pig Monkey Pokémon gingerly tried some and grunted happily before setting it aside for last and moving to eat his Pokémon food.
Once they finished dinner, James collected the dishes and he recalled all of his Pokémon along with Jessie. The trio boarded their balloon, intent on finding their targets to begin tailing them.
"They'll probably have a campfire we can home in on," Jessie said as she pulled the chain to lift their balloon up.
James held up a finger, "Remember, Jessie, no direct confrontation for now, if we can help it."
"Dat pitfall thing almost worked," Meowth commented. "Maybe we can reuse da Anti-Pikachu Suits for somethin' else. Seems da Zap Sapper trumps da rubber protection."
"Just as well," Jessie added. "Electric blue is definitely not my color. I much prefer navy or midnight shades."
James laughed, "True, dark blue matches your eyes and compliments your hair, although I think maroon is more your color."
"Maybe. But we can't always get what we want. Silver would look great with your hair, but I don't think we'd get that much creative freedom from the Boss."
"Yeah," Meowth agreed. "Da two of you are already pushin' it wit' da white uniforms. Luckily, bein' da numbah 1 field team has its perks."
Unlike the standard black and white uniforms, Jessie and James had agreed to design their own unique uniforms. At the time, they had a perfect record of completed missions, so the duo felt they'd earned a little individuality. On their next report in to Giovanni, he raised an eyebrow at the white and dark purple ensemble that they wore, but commented that it didn't particularly matter to him as long as they represented Team Rocket and got missions done. Still, they knew they shouldn't press their luck.
Flying high into the sky and relying on the night to keep them hidden, the Rocket trio gave their surroundings a cursory glance before seeing a tiny light in the distance. Jessie took out her binoculars and looked towards it to see Ash and co. asleep around the dying campfire in sleeping bags.
Trying to squash the temptation of suggesting a nighttime raid to steal Pikachu, she signaled James and he saw the light himself before tugging the control lines to pull them in that direction. None of their Pokémon were in any shape to fight, while all but Ash's Charmander would fiercely defend against an attack.
They continued on ahead, sticking to the path and landing in a sequestered glade with only one sure path into it and many trees blocking any other approach. Setting up their blankets on the ground, the trio went to sleep with plans to work tomorrow while waiting for the Trainers' arrival.
After breaking camp the next morning and eating breakfast that Brock prepared, the Trainer trio made their merry way down the path. Ash especially had a bit of a spring in his step with Pikachu on his shoulder, feeling good about having his sixth Pokémon and having defeated Team Rocket twice in a row.
Not just any Pokémon, though. The Pallet Trainer practically walked on air with his grin at having both Bulbasaur and Charmander on his team. He hummed an upbeat tune as he led the way along the path.
Still, he knew better than to underestimate Team Rocket just because Charmander managed to turn the tables on them. Even when in a good mood, and moving through a field with no really good hiding places, he took precautions.
"Aren't you being a little too careful?" Misty asked.
Ash firmly planted his new walking stick before him wherever he moved, testing the ground for pitfalls. He had Bulbasaur cut a large branch down for him and borrowed Brock's survival knife to cut off the extra parts and even out the bottom. Ash didn't bother smoothing out the wood, since it wasn't a problem with his gloves.
Ash stopped humming for a moment to answer "No" before picking up where he left off.
Brock shrugged, "Hey, a walking stick can have its own benefits for travel, Misty."
As if timed by the sentence, Ash's new tool prodded into the earth in front of him. He stopped as all of his cheer vanished and he stood on guard as he prodded the ground repeatedly, revealing a pitfall trap in the path.
"Hmph," Ash grunted as he moved his jacket aside to have a hand on his Poké Balls while Pikachu's cheeks sparked. "'Too careful', huh?"
"Aw, shut up," Misty pouted.
Suddenly, Ash heard Pokémon shouts of protest and five turtle-like Pokémon moved out from behind a few bushes near the path. They walked on two legs and had blue skin with red and light yellow shells. Each of them wore sunglasses, four of them with dark blue, circular lenses and the leader (?) with black, half-circle lenses angled upwards in similar appearance to angry eyes. They seemed upset that Ash had exposed the hole.
The Pallet Trainer looked between the hole and them and his brow furrowed, "You dug this hole?! Got me worked me up for nothing. Still…" He took out his Pokédex to make sure he had the right Pokémon in mind from their appearance.
"Squirtle. This Tiny Turtle Pokémon draws its long neck into its shell to launch incredible water attacks with amazing range and accuracy. The blasts can be quite powerful."
He smiled and closed Dexter, "With my very own Squirtle, Gary will never beat me!" Ash wedged the walking stick against his back holding it in place with his backpack, as he turned to Pikachu on his shoulder, "Go, Pikachu."
"Pika!" Pikachu nodded and jumped off Ash's shoulder before running forward and shooting a Thunder Shock at the center Squirtle. One of the other Squirtles rushed in and took the attack for him. He shouted out and fell over once the attack subsided, knocked out with one hit.
The leader leaned over his subordinate in concern, "Squirtle Squirtle!" When Pikachu stopped in front of the group with his cheeks sparking, the leader held a hand out for the rest of his gang to pull back and protect the injured Squirtle. Staring down Pikachu, only a slight drop of sweat indicated how nervous he was about fighting at a disadvantage.
But a police siren rang out through the air and the lead Squirtle perked up and called out urgently to the others. They picked up their fallen teammate and the entire gang fled.
Team Rocket watched the interaction from the distant trees with their binoculars while Officer Jenny drove up in her motorcycle. They were quite a ways away from the main road, so there was no danger of sitting on the open branches to spy on them.
"Very, very interesting…" Jessie mused.
James grinned, "A group of wild Pokémon capable of performing advanced maneuvers under a pseudo-Trainer. Now that's a prize!"
The trio lowered their binoculars as the female agent continued, "Imagine what they could do with an actual commander figure in the Boss."
"We've managed to supply mass quantities of Pokémon, as well as the Moon Stone to power them up further," her partner added, "but we've yet to find something truly unique. Imagine it; the first all-Pokémon squad on Team Rocket!"
Meowth raised an eyebrow, "Ya really tink da Boss would give da okay on somethin' like dat?"
Jessie patted him on the back amicably, "But of course! After all, you're proof enough that Pokémon can operate just as well as humans."
"Besides," James added, "if that plan falls through, we can always have them auctioned off. Squirtles are somewhat rare to find in the wild, after all."
The feline agent nodded and jumped off the branch, "Well, you two can start plannin' on somethin'. I'm gonna keep tinkerin' wit' da RBB."
"The Rubber Balloon Bazooka?" the blue-haired agent asked. "Why bother? We built it specifically to catch Pikachu, and the twerp's Bulbasaur or Charmander could shoot the balloon down."
"Yeah, but we still got a workin' bazooka," Meowth pointed out. "We could rig it ta fire other things, rockets, ice missiles, da works. 'S just a matter of changin' da ammo and modifyin' da bazooka itself."
"Ooh!" Jessie said excitedly as she jumped down from the branch. "What if… What if we make one to fire Poké Balls? For more dangerous Pokémon, it could be used to catch them from a distance."
James hit his fist into his hand, "And we could design some radio collars to communicate with our Pokémon from said distance – appropriately proofed, of course – and build some sort of sniper mount to return them once we've made our capture or if they get hurt too badly."
"See it's dis kinda thinkin' dat keeps us on top of our game," Meowth praised.
The entire morning, after having breakfast and making their report to the Boss via the communicator, the Rocket trio went over what had gone wrong last time and sought to improve what worked right. James had used the material in the rubber suits and made a different tool to use, also fire-proofing it. Meowth had been spending the morning making adjustments on their balloon's upgrade and the bazooka.
"We can start on it tomorrah, but fa now, we got-"
The three agents' stomachs rumbling cut off the brainstorming session. The three of them blushed and Jessie laughed sheepishly while making her way over to the hot air balloon.
"Seems the vote is to have lunch first," Jessie observed as she pulled out a picnic basket.
James smiled, "Good thing I took some time to prepare that ahead of time."
"Yay!" Meowth cheered. "Gonna have a picnic~"
Suddenly, the three of them felt like they were being watched and turned around to see the gang of Squirtles standing in the entrance to the glade.
"You guys got a problem?" Jessie asked in a low tone, pretending that she didn't know who they were. They could use this opportunity.
"Squirtle, Squirtle," the leader said with a smile. "Squirtle Squirtle."
The two agents looked at Meowth and he raised an eyebrow, "It says 'Give us your food, or else.'"
Jessie snorted, "Who do you think you are? We're Team Rocket; we do the threatening."
The lead Squirtle goaded them in a tone that said they'd be sorry. The trio raised an eyebrow again and looked at their position—a straight-shot to the opposing group. Their targets (whether they knew their intentions or not) had walked right into their camp. They could probably rush them right now and bar their escape with their Pokémon. But if it were that easy, why would the troublemakers stay together in one group?
Jessie and James looked at each other and nodded, releasing their Pokémon from where they stood. When they appeared, the ground in front of the agents caved, making Ekans and Mankey fall right into the pit while the remaining Pokémon took flight to avoid it and looked down.
A vein throbbed on the Jessie's head as she said in a chilling tone, "So, they tried to make a mockery of us?"
"This can't go unpunished," James added with his eyes narrowed into a glare. "Lunch can wait."
The Squirtles realized their trap was ruined, so they tightened up their formation with the lead Squirtle in the back. 5-on-5 had good enough odds for them, and they had teamwork on their side. They still wanted the picnic basket, and these other criminals couldn't call the police on them.
James looked into the pit, "Mankey! Are you going to let them make a monkey out of you?!"
"Ekans, burrow underground! Everybody else, charge!" Jessie ordered.
Mankey leaped out of the pit in one bound with his eyes still squinted, but with a furrowed brow. His meditation lessons with James had helped him rein in and control his temper, but the Fighting-type did not enjoy being pranked. He rushed forward alongside the other Rocket Pokémon, save Meowth, who leaped on Jessie's back and whispered in her ear with a grin.
Jessie smirked and stomped her foot twice, a signal that she'd practiced with Ekans. Soon, she felt the press against her boot letting her know of the Snake Pokémon's presence. The female agent squatted down and muttered her orders to Ekans before the push receded.
Meanwhile, the gang of Squirtles held up well against the onslaught of Team Rocket's Pokémon. They stuck together all the time and repelled all attacks with Water Guns. None of their opponents could get close without taking a combined water attack, so the squad was sure they could outlast their opponents and win.
Unfortunately, being little more than pranksters, they had no idea how low Team Rocket could sink to win.
The ground in the center of the gang's guard burst, knocking the leader into the air. Ekans lunged from the hole, knocking aside two Squirtles in the process and she caught the leader in her upper body before wrapping him up with the rest of herself.
His gang cried out in fear, but before he could order them to flee, the tip of Ekans' tail tightened around his mouth to gag him. Before they could attack Ekans, Mankey tackled another one of the Squirtles aside while the group was distracted, pinning him down from behind. Beedrill struck another with Fury Attack before surrounding him with Double Team. Fearow stared down the remaining two that remained on the ground with Leer.
"Welp," Meowth said as he walked beside Ekans and the lead Squirtle. "Dat settles dat. We got what we came for. Jessie, James, call off yer Pokémon."
Their expressions didn't change, but they did so, trusting Meowth to have a plan. But, they didn't return them to their Poké Balls, rather just calling them to their side to keep an eye on things.
One of the Squirtles stepped forward, "Squirtle! Squirt, Squirtle!"
"Let 'im go?" Meowth asked with a snort. "Not a chance, bub. Yous attacked us. One way or anothah, we're leavin' wit' a Squirtle."
The same Squirtle put a hand on his chest, "Squirtle."
Meowth stifled a laugh, "Pft! One o' ya is hardly worth yer much stronger, smarter leader! You're just mooks that take orders. G'head, get outta here while we're still feelin' generous an' lettin' ya go."
The gang looked at each other and their leader could tell what they were considering. He managed to get his mouth free and bit down on Ekans' tail. The Snake Pokémon cried out and loosened up a bit, but Meowth clamped a paw over his mouth and sunk his claws into the Water Pokémon's face to keep him from speaking.
"Dat's enough outta you," Meowth said in an annoyed tone as Ekans retightened her grip even stronger than before. "Time ta get you ta yer-"
"Squirtle Squirt!" the gang of Squirtles called in unison. Meowth stopped and looked up at them curiously, letting Ekans muffle the leader again while he stepped forward.
Meowth raised an eyebrow with a grin, "All o' ya fa yer leader's freedom." He paused for a moment to make them sweat and then replied, "Done."
At Meowth's instruction, the gang of Pokémon moved towards the balloon, where Jessie and James readied a weighted net with some stakes to pin it to the ground. The Squirtles had faith that their leader would come up with a plan to rescue them.
Once the net got rooted to the ground, Meowth waved for James to come over, "Well, James, time ta hold up our end o' da deal. Give dis Squirtle a one-way ticket ta freedom."
"Ah, of course," James agreed as his eyes lit up. "Mankey, if you would start limbering up? I want to see how far you can punt that leader."
Jessie smirked and turned to Ekans, "Get ready for the setup, Ekans."
The Squirtles under the net started protesting and Meowth turned to them with a grin, "Oh, we're lettin' 'em go. But ya forgot ta specify how and where."
As Mankey warmed up a bit and Ekans loosened up while holding onto the lead Squirtle by his shell with a single loop of her body, with his mouth freed, he called out to his gang, promising that he would free them. After he spoke, he pulled into his shell to try enduring the hit and crash landing.
His world span as Ekans tossed the squad leader into the rushing Fighting-type. Mankey kicked as hard as he could and sent Squirtle flying over the trees bordering the glade and into the distant landscape.
"And it's good!" James called as he held a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sunlight. He turned around and appraised the Squirtles along with Jessie, "Should we catch them in Poké Balls and cement their bond to Team Rocket?"
"Nah," Meowth replied. "We'll be able ta pitch it better if we deliver 'em in person."
Jessie grinned and turned to her teammates with a cheery expression, "Now how about that picnic?"
"Yes!" James agreed before turning to the still gathered Pokémon, "And you all deserve a special meal for a job well done!"
On the outskirts of the nearby town, on the path that Ash and co. intended to take to Vermillion City, the trio took a break while Misty fished in a river to hopefully catch a new Pokémon. Brock, Ash and Pikachu lay back against the grass, staring up at the clouds.
While his eyes faced the formations up above, his mind fixated on what Officer Jenny told them about the Squirtles that had tried to prank them.
The locals had dubbed them the Squirtle Squad, a group of Pokémon that had been abandoned by their Trainers and caused trouble for the town—stealing food, vandalizing the buildings, digging pitfalls, et cetera. Still, Ash couldn't help but fixate on the fact that somebody abandoned each of them.
Jenny had even commented how if they had somebody to care for them, then they might not have turned out so bad.
Ash thought about Charmander, who had been abandoned by Damian even if he didn't believe it at the time. If he hadn't held onto his faith until Damian explicitly said that he'd planned to leave him behind, he could've wound up just like the Squirtle Squad or worse.
'Team Rocket may be the bad guys, but at least they seem to care about their own Pokémon,' Ash thought bitterly. 'How could anyone just abandon their Pokémon like Damian and the Squirtles' old Trainers?'
"Huh?"
Ash sat up at Misty's questioning sound and followed her gaze to see something coming in from the distant sky. He took out his binoculars, and looked to see a red turtle shell flying in before he lowered them to notice it falling into the center of the river with a large splash.
The Pallet Trainer jumped to his feet and took out a Poké Ball, "This can't be good. Bulbasaur!" Once he appeared, Ash said, "A Pokémon just fell into the river, try to fish 'em out with Vine Whip. They should still be in their shell."
Bulbasaur nodded and reached out with his vines, feeling around until he perked up and the other vine moved towards the one downstream. Pulling upward, he retrieved the withdrawn Pokémon and brought him to shore. The Grass-type set him down on his stomach and Ash put a hand on the back of the shell.
"Squirtle? What happened?" he asked, trying to rouse the Tiny Turtle Pokémon.
Eventually, he pushed his limbs out and stood up, rubbing his head while grimacing, still wearing his sunglasses. Once he shook his head clear, he looked at Ash's concerned face before leaping away, putting distance between himself and the Trainer.
"Squirt! Squirtle Squirt! Squirtle!" Squirtle shouted as he shook a fist at Ash.
Bulbasaur and Pikachu seemed to take offense, and Ash noticed this before shrugging, "I can't tell what you just said, but I'm trying to help you. What happened to your team?"
The gang leader seemed to recall something before running up the slope and around the group of Trainers, back the way he'd flown from.
"Wait!" Ash called. "We can help you get them back!"
Squirtle stopped and hesitated for a moment. He really, really, really didn't want to ask humans for help. But he knew that he wouldn't be able to take all six of Team Rocket's Pokémon (he'd felt the strength that the Meowth had behind that tiny paw) by himself. The Water-type looked back to notice that the redhead and the tall Trainer had already grabbed their supplies to follow.
Gritting his teeth in frustration, he called for them to follow while waving a hand.
Ash recalled Bulbasaur and let Pikachu climb on his shoulder to keep him close. He just knew that Team Rocket was behind this, and he didn't want to risk losing Pikachu in the confusion.
Back in the sequestered glade, Team Rocket had a celebratory meal over the past hour, a campfire recently extinguished after James finished preparing the Pokémons' rewards. While the humans along with Meowth enjoyed the rice balls, sandwiches, various breads and canned lemonade in the picnic basket, each of the other Pokémon had particular meals prepared by the team chef.
Ekans and Fearow each had some seasoned meat prepared, the snake gulping down a good-sized drumstick while the bird of prey got a medium sized side of meat. Beedrill still had to leave to find nectar, since none of the other foods particularly interested him, so Jessie made a mental note to extract a good amount and put it in a jar for next time her darling earned it.
Meanwhile, Mankey got a good portion of the basket's rice balls along with his own bowl of fried rice. James had to teach him how to use the chopsticks, but after a bit of patience (which he wouldn't have had without James' temper management lessons), he managed and enjoyed it greatly along with his favorite food.
Koffing got rewarded with his favorite food as well, something that James always kept in the balloon's miniature fridge to ferment—pickled radishes. Aside from liking the taste, radishes were a gassy vegetable and broke down relatively fast in Koffing's system, so he could afford to indulge himself a bit more than with regular Pokémon food. James also thoughtfully put them on skewers and planted them into the ground so Koffing could eat without assistance.
While the feast continued, James snuck away with four sandwich halves on a plate and went over to the Squirtle Squad still in their net. Pulling up a small portion of the net between two of the stakes, he slid the food underneath.
The Pokémon regarded it suspiciously and James waved a hand before turning to leave, "Go on; it's not poisoned or anything. And there's no point delivering you to your new boss hungry."
With that done, James rushed back to the picnic before all of the food got eaten. The gang looked at each other. They were hungry, but at the same time, they didn't want to accept food from the enemy. Then again, an hour had come and gone and their leader hadn't returned. Maybe he had been too injured in the fall.
Or perhaps, he would be too late. Which was better, to hope while hungry or prepare for the worst with some food?
Deciding that eating would serve their purpose either way, thinking that when (if, a slightly dour voice muttered among them) they got freed, they would fight better after it, they each reluctantly took a sandwich half.
Back at Team Rocket's picnic, Ekans had already left the group, finished with her meal. Beedrill was still absent as well, but everybody continued on with their meal. The moment of camaraderie between the criminals and their Pokémon was worthy of a picture from their good cheer—a mood to be shattered with three words.
"There they are!"
The trio frowned as they, along with their Pokémon still in attendance, turned to the entrance of the glade right in their line of sight and saw Ash and his friends running down the path.
"Oh, look," Jessie simpered after swallowing another bite of her sandwich. "The Squirtle's gone and formed a new team, the Twerp Brigade."
Meowth gulped down a can of lemonade before letting out a sigh and commenting, "Guess he ain't gonna take dis lyin' down."
"Well, let's wait and see what the twerps intend to do," James added as he wiped some spare grains of rice from his face.
Ash growled at Team Rocket ignoring him and put an extra burst of speed into his run, Brock and Misty keeping pace.
Meowth picked up the last rice ball and said, "No point lettin' dis food go ta waste." He split it and handed the other half to Mankey, "C'mon, big guy, I'll split it wit'cha." The Fighting-type nodded with a happy expression and scarfed it down as he casually made his way towards the picnic basket. Meanwhile, Jessie wiped the excess food from her mouth with a napkin before taking time to reapply her lipstick and James started collecting everyone's dishes with a merry hum.
Ash and his friends were well into the glade now, but Squirtle started noticing things, putting aside his thoughts of vengeance for a moment. He noticed something different about the picture in front of him from last time. The criminals' balloon was parked further away now, near the trees instead of at the center. And his gang was calling out frantically to him, but he couldn't hear what they were saying from this distance in addition to them all speaking at once. Before he could ponder this further, it was already too late to warn Ash.
Squirtle felt the ground caving and leapt forward by instinct, but the humans weren't so lucky. The Trainers and Pikachu fell into a pitfall trap, since Ash had been in such a rush that he had neglected to use his walking stick to test the ground. The leader growled when he realized what had changed. Team Rocket had used his own trap against them!
"Now!" Jessie and James called.
Mankey reached into the picnic basket and pulled out a shiny blue net before charging forward and knocking Squirtle aside in his dash to the hole. The Water-type managed maintain his footing at first, but then Swift stars slammed into him, knocking him on his back.
As the Pig Monkey Pokémon threw the net over the hole, Ekans and Beedrill rushed from their hiding places in the trees nearby, each holding two stakes with wide tops. She had them wrapped up in her tail and placed each one in the holes between the netting before ramming them in with a head-butt. Beedrill, both used to making accurate stabs and having them directly fixed to his stingers, simply drove each one in directly before prying his stinger loose.
James nonchalantly put the dirty dishes back in the basket and folded up the picnic blanket before resting it on top and whistling, "Mankey, could you take this back to the balloon and wait there, please?"
Mankey nodded and snatched the basket before running off. Meanwhile, Jessie recalled all three of her Pokémon and gestured for her partners to follow her to the hole.
Looking down through the tightly woven net, she said, "You three just fall for that every time, don't you?"
"What do you want with the Squirtle Squad?!" Ash demanded.
"'Squirtle Squad'?" James repeated with a raised eyebrow. "Ooh, that's catchy. Need to remember that in our sales pitch."
Misty shouted indignantly from below, "You're going to sell them?!"
"Oh, please," Jessie dismissed. "We have something far greater in mind for them, not that it's any of your business. Selling them's a good backup plan, though."
"Bulbasaur, cut this net away with Razor Leaf!" Ash ordered as he released his Pokémon within the pit.
Team Rocket merely leaned back as the leaves stretched out the net before it bounced back, sending the leaves fluttering down, useless.
"Ya tink we'd use just any net?" Meowth asked mockingly. "Nah, you're lookin' at a triple-ply fireproof rubber net. Ain't no gettin' out wit'out some time dat ya don't got. Bye~"
The trio turned to leave when a voice shouted, "Squirtle!"
They regarded him before laughing. "Yeah, we're real scared o' ya," the feline agent joked.
He used that distraction to try shooting a Water Gun at their balloon, but Koffing intercepted it, firing a Sludge attack that did little more than slow the attack down before guarding the balloon with his body.
James growled, "Koffing, deal with this upstart. Jessie, Meowth, we'd better leave—now."
"Get back here!" Brock shouted as Geodude tackled against the net, only for it to stretch far, but send the Rock Pokémon falling back to the bottom of the pit. Team Rocket ignored them and rushed over to the captive Squirtles, dodging the Water Guns they shot through the net along the way.
Squirtle tried to intercept them with Rapid Spin, ignoring the caged humans. He never should've trusted a human to do his job. His progress was once again halted by Koffing, the Poison-type blowing Smog out of his back pores to counter the momentum. Squirtle broke away and popped out of his shell again, irritated at the Pokémon before him.
Koffing met his gaze, for once, not grinning widely. This fight meant more to him than just doing his part to ensure their escape.
Team Rocket pulled up one side of the stakes before rolling the weights of the net underneath the Squirtles and tripping them up in the process. They did the same with the other stakes and left them behind before Jessie hefted the flailing Water Pokémon over her shoulder. Whenever they started spraying her, she gave the net a good shake to disorient them.
Meanwhile, in the pit, Ash had Rattata stand on Geodude, who floated up to the net. With the net in range, the Mouse Pokémon started gnawing at the netting, having already tried Hyper Fang to no effect. The only solution seemed to be slowly wearing a hole big enough for her to squirm through and break the tops of the stakes.
James kept his eye on the battle as Jessie fastened their captives to the back of the balloon, wrapping the net around a hook in the back with the weights rolling about inside the basket. James made a "tch" sound as Koffing was forced to take another Water Gun to guard the balloon.
"Koffing's getting hurt too much," he observed. "Mankey, I want you to-"
"Kof!"
James blinked at Koffing's protest and then looked to Meowth after he finished speaking. Meowth shrugged, "He says he wants ta do it himself."
Koffing panted, determined to succeed. Lately, he'd been feeling some inadequacy to the more recent Pokémon. Unlike Ekans, who could burrow and bind opponents, Koffing didn't bring much to the party except a sure escape. He knew how important his role was, and had participated in a good portion of battles, but Spearow evolving into Fearow worried him.
He noted the balloon starting to rise, the extra weight making it a slower ascension.
The Poison-type held no fear that James would replace him, but he feared that he'd grow obsolete—that his Trainer wouldn't need him. He wanted to be just as useful to James as Mankey was. So he resolved to not just stall for time, but to win!
As the balloon lifted halfway up the trees' height, James cupped his hands and shouted, "Just a little more, Koffing! You can do this!"
The words seemed to trigger something in James' Pokémon as he leaned down, muttering "Koooooooff…" before shouting skyward.
"FING!"
With that shout, Koffing's body flashed white before he started to change. Squirtle's jaw dropped before he started firing another Water Gun, still trying to shoot down the balloon, but the evolving Pokémon moved in his way again.
The Poison Gas Pokémon's body morphed, becoming larger and seeming to split into two spheres as a third one grew from the double-sphere attached by two tube-like extensions. When the light faded, it revealed the Pokémon's new body to have two faces, one for each sphere. Both weren't grinning, seeming rather somber.
"Weezing…"
James held up a fist in celebration, "Amazing! Koffing's evolved into Weezing! Now, show that turtle who's boss! Sludge attack!"
Both of the mouths shot a stream of black sludge, the two converging into a larger one. Squirtle countered with Water Gun, but this time, he got overpowered, the sludge only thinning out a bit before it smacked into him, knocking him on his back.
"Now, Smog Ram!" the blue-haired agent commanded with his fist held forward. Weezing shot gas out of both sets of back pores, accelerating him further than before and tackling the downed Squirtle. He went flying right into a tree before sliding down. The Water-type had been seriously injured from the crash already, and Weezing had grown much stronger than him.
As the balloon rose high in the sky now, Weezing flew back to James' side with a smile on both his faces. James patted him affectionately, "Well done, Weezing! Today's mission was a success because of you!"
Meowth looked down along with Jessie as he commented, "I wouldn't count yer money yet, James."
The male agent followed his teammates' gaze and saw Rattata and Geodude moving aside half of the net as Ash climbed his way out of the pit.
"If that twerp gets any Pokémon out, it'll be more trouble than it's worth," Jessie grumbled. "Time for our secret escape upgrade."
"It ain't tested yet," Meowth warned as he held up the trigger anyway—a cylindrical rod of metal with a red button on it.
Jessie took it in her hand and said, "Sometimes you have to run before you walk, Meowth." She pressed the button with her thumb, "Now!"
"Quick, Weezing, get in the basket!" James urged once he realized that their escape plan would be used after all. No sooner than the Poison Gas Pokémon floated in did two hatches open on the sides of the balloon basket and two rockets extended, pointing forward relative to the face on the balloon.
Once Ash saw what they were and the thrusters started warming up with a whir, he threw a Poké Ball skyward towards Team Rocket and hastily ordered, "Pidgeotto, Clothesline Dash to cut down the Squirtle Squad!"
But by the time his Pokémon materialized, the rockets flared to life, propelling the balloon away from the glade into the horizon at breakneck speed. As all of the agents held on and the Squirtle Squad rocked in their precarious prison, James held Weezing in one arm as he faced the rear and ordered over the roaring winds, "Weezing, Smokescreen!"
Weezing opened his two mouths and James angled his body to rotate and spread the obscuring gas as thoroughly as he could. Ash hurriedly ordered Pidgeotto to clear the smoke away, but more smoke got spewed out over a long distance and by the time all of it cleared, the balloon was lost over the great distance.
"No…" Ash muttered despairingly. Misty and Brock got out of the net moments later and only had to look at their friend's expression to know what happened. Pikachu comforted the young boy from his shoulder while Rattata leaned against his leg and Pidgeotto landed on the ground next to him with a solemn expression.
But Ash wiped his tears away quickly and said, "Squirtle needs help. Let's take him to the Pokémon Center."
"Oh, right," Brock agreed before the trio moved to the unconscious Pokémon and Ash picked him up.
"The Boss is in a meeting right now," Matori reported once Meowth called on the communicator.
Meowth sighed, "Fair enough. We won't get there fa 'nother hour 'r two, anyway. But we got somethin' interesting for da Boss."
"Then I'll schedule an appointment," Matori said with a nod before frowning. "See to it that you're not wasting his time."
The connection cut out and Meowth felt his shoulders relax. He could deal with Giovanni easily enough, since the leader could see their worth. Matori, the feline agent had heard, treated all the operatives – even elites – with the same professionalism and made him feel like he was always under a microscope.
As Team Rocket continued their flight back to HQ, James leaned over the back of the basket.
Addressing the Squirtle Squad, he asked, "How's it hanging? Sorry if that little stunt made you uncomfortable, but we couldn't risk losing you."
Only a Water Gun to the face answered his question and apology. Wiping his face clean without another word and shaking the excess water off to the trees below, James regarded the Pokémon seriously.
"Look, one way or another, you belong to us now," he said. "You had best get used to it. Believe it or not, we're doing you a favor by capturing you and leaving out your rebellious leader. Pokémon as smart as you? Of course you belonged to Trainers once. They abandoned you, leaving you to a life of petty thugs. Team Rocket will lead you to greatness. Something as unique as a Pokémon team can have a high place in our ranks."
They ignored him, and James waved a hand as he continued, "Look, you toe the line, do a few missions, and life can be a dream come true on this ship. But…" he relished the slight tensing his pause generated, "should you disobey our Boss, or try to make us look bad in this pitch, the four of you will be sold off to the highest bidder. Separately."
The gang looked up at him in shock and James just leaned back into the balloon basket, "Think about what's most important on the way back." Jessie and Meowth regarded him with wide-eyed expressions when he turned around.
"What?"
Jessie blinked, "I didn't know you could be so threatening."
"It's the truth," James replied with a shrug. "Far more effective than any threat or bluff can accomplish."
At first Ash wanted to wait at the Pokémon Center, but he figured that Squirtle wouldn't want to see him. He had failed. Walking gloomily with his walking stick, Ash continued with his friends on the road to Vermillion City.
"Ash, there was nothing we could do from that pit," Brock tried to console.
"Pikaaa," Pikachu agreed from Ash's shoulder, distressed at his Trainer's depression.
Ash shook his head, "But I got out. I was right there, and they got away anyway. I couldn't even cut down the Squirtle Squad."
"They had rockets attached to their balloon," Misty reminded him.
"I could've done more."
"Were you there when Team Rocket caught the Squirtle Squad?"
"No."
"Are you psychic?"
"No."
The redhead crossed her arms, "Then there's no way you could've known to stop them before you did, so quit beating yourself up."
Ash let out a sigh, but stood up a little straighter as he kept walking, "We'll get them next time." He began planning to train at the next spot that they set up camp. If he could teach at least one of his Pokémon Dig, like Ekans seemed to know, then they could escape from pitfalls that much faster.
"That's the spirit!" Misty cheered.
The instant he'd woken up, he fled the white room he'd been in and looked around for the humans that he'd met. He didn't like them, but they were the only lead he had for the bad humans. If he wanted the chance to retrieve (or at least avenge) his team, then his best chances were following the trio.
Squirtle dashed between sparse hiding places as he followed Ash and co., his serious expression matching his sunglasses.
In the net on the balloon, the four Squirtles each held their round sunglasses in their hands as they thought. The blue-haired human had warned them that they could be separated if they rebelled.
They cherished each other greatly. Under their leader, they'd stuck together through thick and thin. But he wouldn't be able to find them where they were going. Which mattered more, following what a past leader would've wanted and surrendering their connection, or holding onto that in the times ahead and acknowledging a new leader?
There wasn't even a question about it.
With a collective resigned sigh, the former Squirtle Squad stored the sunglasses in their shells. They would keep them to remember better days, but they wouldn't allow themselves to be separated just because their leader wouldn't have surrendered.
Once the Rocket Trio arrived, they parked the balloon in a secluded landing dock near the entrance of the hideout and walked around to their capture. The Squirtles remained silent and when James gave them a good look, he nodded.
"All right," he said. "I think they understand the situation. They can walk on their own."
The agents opened the net, but the Water Pokémon didn't attempt to run. They walked out and lined up in a diamond formation. Satisfied with their submission, they walked ahead of them, leading the Squirtles to the entrance of Rocket HQ. A digital keypad stood at each side of the grand doors.
Jessie and James moved to each one and punched in their agent ID numbers before glancing to each other and pressing enter at the same time. "Squad 13" appeared on both screens before the doors creaked open automatically. (1)
The trio led the Squirtles inside and followed a path to go towards the Boss's office. Matori saw them and notified Giovanni before saying they could enter.
The Water Pokémon gulped nervously as they followed their captors into the office. When they actually saw the man, they slightly shivered at his oppressive aura before steeling themselves and trying their best to seem like a good investment.
Giovanni regarded them before turning his gaze to Jessie and James, who were internally as nervous as the Squirtle Squad.
"This is what you have to show me after two consecutive failures?" he asked rhetorically.
Meowth stepped forward, "Ah, don't write 'em off yet, Boss. These four Squirtle're special. They had been parta a Pokémon gang."
Giovanni raised an eyebrow in response and one of the Squirtles spoke to Meowth, rattling off their list of better pranks.
"They pulled tons o' heists on da market where they lived," Meowth translated, intentionally inflating it a bit. "Stole food, made fools outta da locals, an' all o' dis under da police's nose."
"That seems a bit too organized for a group of wild Pokémon," the Rocket leader observed.
James nodded, "They belonged to Trainers, but were abandoned. And yes, they had a leader that they took orders from, but it would've been more trouble that it was worth to bring them into line with that one raising morale."
The Squirtles wanted to lash out at the male agent for that remark, but brought themselves under control since Giovanni watched for any signs of rebellion.
"And these four Squirtle have potential," Jessie added. "They could be the very first all-Pokémon squad on Team Rocket. And with their small size and Water typing, they could sneak in through water lines and such."
Meowth pretended he didn't notice the Boss looking at him while he looked at the Squirtles and said, "Eh, but I'd hold off on tryin' ta teach 'em ta talk. It can stunt a Pokémon's growth. Stick ta readin' an' writin' fa their report filin'."
Giovanni remained silent for a time.
"Very well, I'll have them sent to the Team Rocket Academy for training, then," the leader of Team Rocket replied. "However, the results of this experiment, good or bad, will be on you three's heads."
The Rocket trio saluted, replying in unison, "Of course, sir."
"Dismissed. You four Squirtles are to wait with my secretary for your instructor to pick you up."
The trio left and the Squirtles shuffled out of the office to wait near Matori's desk.
Notes:
1. The security at HQ never seems to be touched on, and just having the doors be open all the time seems a bit reckless, especially for a building filled to the brim with criminal agents. Also, I just labeled them as Squad 13 for laughs.
See you when I see you.
-AJ203
