-Chapter Ten-
"That was some fine grub," Meowth said happily, sinking lower onto the floor. "Meowth's satisfied for the next nine lives."
"Once you're done thinking with your stomach, you can come and help," Jessie growled. "This basket isn't going to repair itself, you know."
"Well, Jessie, if it was up to me," said James, "I would just have the basket repaired by a professional."
"We can't do that, you numbskull," she snapped. "The entire city is looking for us. Haven't you seen those posters?"
"Don't even mention them," James sighed, sitting down next to Meowth. "Those half-rate photographers failed to capture my good side!"
"Oh, James, snap out of it!" Jessie threw him a scathing look. "It doesn't matter what they look like. What matters is that if we walked into a shop, anyone would recognize us."
"And that would mean straight off to the slammer," Meowth concluded.
Jessie nodded, grateful that somebody understood the gravity of the situation. "I knew we shouldn't have stopped by that restaurant."
"But Jessie!" James cried. "You were the one who went and robbed that jewellery store! If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't—"
"Quiet!" she hollered. "This necklace happens to be well worth the pain it took to get it. Besides, it doesn't matter what happened or who did what! What matters is that we fix this ridiculous balloon and get out of here."
"Yeah, pronto, before them cops come," Meowth said. He tore a piece of duct tape off of the roll before handing it to Jessie.
They worked in silence, concentrating on patching the hole in its entirety.
"I don't see what the big deal is," James muttered, tracing lines into the dirt. "So what if the basket's broken? The balloon's fine."
"The big deal, James, is that at any moment one of us could step on the hole, make it wider, and fall right through," Jessie said sharply.
"Or one of them Poké Balls could escape," Meowth added. "And that's the last thing we want, so we need tape, tape, tape!"
They finished their patching job quickly. Standing back to observe her handiwork, Jessie grimaced. "Well, I suppose it'll have to do."
"Let's get going, so we can show 'da boss what we've got," said Meowth, climbing aboard. "Rare and evolved Pokémons! It's Team Rocket's time to shine!"
"Yes," James grinned, following suite. "And now that those three brats have parted ways, we don't have to worry about them messing up our brilliant plans!"
"James has a point," Jessie conceded. "Why, so much of a good point, that I think I'm going to have to act on it."
"Jessie?" Meowth asked, staring at up her in confusion.
"Those brats aren't here to ruin Team Rocket's hard work," she explained. "So why only settle for a few Pokémon? Why not get something the boss will really love?"
"A free coupon for that new buffet?" James suggested.
"No," she barked. "No, something a lot more valuable." She extracted her cell phone from one of her pockets, and began dialling a number.
"Jessie looks like she's got a real good plan this time!" Meowth exclaimed.
"Don't I always?" she smirked.
***
"It's perfect," Gary said, scanning room. "Exactly how I imagined it." He began to walk around, examining the field from various angles. "Just enough room to battle."
"It looks great," Ash agreed.
They were standing inside of the gym and admiring its final renovations. The field was made of rock, and a Poké Ball's outline was traced into it with white chalk. Large windows lined the walls, allowing sunlight to spill into the room, and there were a number of wooden doors leading to other parts of the building, such as the training area.
"So much better," Gary said enthusiastically. "Now it looks like a real gym."
Pikachu leapt onto the field and sniffed the air.
"What do you think, Pikachu?" Gary asked, watching the Pokémon closely.
"Pika!"
"Looks like Pikachu likes it, too," Ash laughed. "That's a unanimous vote."
"Sure is," Gary said. "I guess we're sticking with this décor."
Ash was pleased that Gary was so satisfied with the way things had turned out. He knew that the young gym leader was under a lot of stress, what with the Pokémon that had been stolen from the lab, and the extensive damage done to the old building. The past few weeks spent fixing up the gym and recovering important documents hadn't been easy, and it was good to finally see Gary looking relaxed and at ease.
"Ash, how about a Pokémon battle?" Gary asked, heading over to the far end of the room. "Three on three."
"Uh...."
Before he could make up a plausible excuse, Gary's cell phone rang. He smiled apologetically and answered it, giving Ash a chance to think of a way to worm his way out of a battle. He realised that he wasn't going to need any excuses, however, when he saw Gary pocket his phone. His face was pale, and the expression on his face indicated that something had clearly gone wrong.
"Gary?"
"I found out he took the Pokémon," he said in a strained voice. "Team Rocket."
"Team Rocket!" Ash growled. "Those lousy crooks."
"They'll give them back in exchange for our research papers," Gary continued. "They want an answer by tomorrow morning."
"Gary..." Ash went to his side and tentatively placed a hand on his arm. "Gary, it's alright. We'll get them back."
"I can't risk it," Gary replied, head bowed. "I can't try to steal them back, in case Team Rocket finds out that we're not playing by their rules. They might do something horrible to the Pokémon. We'll just have to give them all of the papers."
"You can't just give up." Ash was exasperated: how could Gary let go of all of his hard work like that? "Professor Oak needs those papers. The whole world needs those papers. We can't just hand them over to Team Rocket."
"But Ash, there's nothing else we can do," Gary muttered.
"Sure there is," he said. "Trust me, I know Team Rocket. I've messed up their plans a hundred times. We just need to find them."
"They said to meet them in a field just outside of Viridian City," Gary said, taking out his cell phone and checking the number. "This is just a cell number, so I don't know if they were actually calling from there or not. It could be a trap."
"I doubt it," Ash replied. "Team Rocket isn't smart enough to think of something that elaborate."
They began to walk out of the gym, and while Gary was thoroughly depressed, Ash felt as pumped up as ever. This was something he knew how to do: he'd been doing it since the beginning of his Pokémon adventure. Beating Team Rocket. It was second nature to him by this point.
"The only Pokémon they have are Arbok, Weezing and Meowth," Ash explained. "I'll take along Pikachu, Squirtle and Bulbasaur, and we'll be fine. You stay here and make sure no one tries to steal those papers."
"They have two Poison-type Pokémon? Shouldn't you bring a Psychic-type in that case?"
Ash made a face. "Trust me, when it comes to Team Rocket, you don't have to do much strategizing to win."
Alrighty, so I'm expecting this story to reach about 20-25 chapters. I hope everyone plans to stick around for the duration! I'd just like to take a moment to thank all of the reviewers. I've only been writing Pokemon fanfiction for a bit under a month, and when I first started, I wasn't really sure how the fandom was going to react to me. I wasn't sure if people were generally accepting of Palletshipping, or if I was going to receive a bunch of "EW GROSS" comments. I'm very relieved and pleased to say that this isn't the case, and that you've all been wonderful and supportive. Your reviews give me the motivation to keep putting up these chapters as quick as I can, and that means a lot. Thank you!