Invite 11: Pokémon
Ash, Max, May, Brock and their Pokémon friends arrived in a new town. The sun began its descent to the horizon. "Boy, we arrived just in time," huffed Ash. "I'm not sure we would've been okay another night in the open."
"That makes two of us," Brock agreed. "We're out of supplies and Pokémon Medicine." The siblings heard the details, thankful they arrived barely.
"I'm not sure I would've wanted to go to sleep hungry," May groaned as she clutched her stomach. "At least we can restock before going to the next Pokémon Gym. It also didn't help with Team Rocket's continuous run-ins." As they entered the town, they saw a crowd near a Pokémart. This irked the trainers and Max.
"Wonder what's going on there?" asked Ash. Everyone else became interested.
"Let's check it out before we check in to the Pokémon Center," Max suggested. They came to see one young woman spin a wooden wheel by crank. When she stopped, a tube pointed to a tray and a wooden ball popped out. The girl moaned.
"Don't worry," the vendor assured. "Nobody playing this leaves without anything. Here, some Sitrus Berries." The woman praised the vendor for the consolation.
"I could use some," she thanked. "After all, I've got a daycare with some wild Pokémon." Taking the prize, she walked away.
"He must run a garden with all those Sitrus Berries to give away," Brock guessed.
"That, or he stole them from other areas to make a profit," Max pondered. The vendor heard the claim, snapping in response.
"I don't steal!" he argued. "I grow my own. That's the 15th person that's accused me of being a thief since I started this." May felt sympathetic to his growing pain.
"Next time, Max," she warned as she clocked her brother in the head. "Don't assume everything before asking." Max winced after the deck to his skull.
"Ow!" he whined. "May!" Ash and Brock came forward, willing to try their luck.
"So, how much do you charge for something like this?" questioned Brock.
"Just one," the vendor replied. "I have prizes for whatever ball exits the chute." Max was the first as he paid and gave the wheel a spin. Once it stopped, a silver ball emerged. "Hey, that's a winner! So, do you have any Pokémon?" Max gulped, realizing that his win would be forfeited.
"No," he stuttered. "I'm just with my sister and a couple others."
"Hey, no problem." He pulled out a Max Revive tablet, a 24-headed, spike-diamond-shaped tablet to the youngest.
"Wow, a Max Revive! This could come in handy, especially against Team Rocket!" The vendor smiled, happy to see Max with a Max.
"Anyone else wanna give this a shot? No one's a loser here." May wanted to try her luck.
"My turn!" she called. After her tiny payment, she gave the wheel a crank. Once it stopped, a wooden ball emerged. May dipped, disappointed to her luck. "Really?" Her consolation prize, Sitrus Berries. Brock would want to go next but decided to give Ash a chance first.
"Why don't you have a go before me?" he offered. Ash blinked before shrugging and accepting.
"If you insist," he surrendered. He made the payment before giving the wheel a spin. When the wheel stopped, a rainbow-colored ball plopped on the tray. Everyone gasped, including the vendor.
"The grand prize!" he gawked. "You won, son!" Ash chuckled as he wondered the prize.
"Way to go, Ash!" cheered Max as he patted Ash on the back. The question came: the prize.
"So, what did I win?" asked Ash. The vendor gave Ash three airline tickets, bus passes and a brochure.
"You and two others on a two-week vacation to Isle Delfino," he briefed. "There, you can find areas which you can train in venues that could benefit in your travels." An interesting offer, one Ash and Pikachu thought could help.
"Sounds like a great place for some special training," Brock thought.
"It does," Max agreed. "By the way, where is Isle Delfino? There's no way it's in the Hoenn Region." It did leave a lot to ponder. At the Pokémon Center, there was a new question starting to weigh in.
"Four of us and three tickets," May listed. "Who's gonna go?" Ash wanted to make his case.
"Well, for starters, I won the tickets," Ash claimed. "So I'm an automatic..." To May, it's not just her.
"I don't wanna leave Max alone. He should go along." That left May and Brock for the remaining bid. That's when Brock saw something on a bulletin board. He walked over to find the board with something catching his interest.
"Hello..." he snapped. The board had a poster for an event upcoming.
POKÉMON NURSING EXPO WEEK- A WEEK-LONG EVENT HELD IN CROSSGATE TOWN.
Brock read the poster intently as Ash and the siblings came over. "What is it, Brock?" questioned May.
"There's a Pokémon Nursing Expo being held in a few days and lasts a week," he explained. "It includes venues for Pokémon Breeding and culinary arts. I should go and see." On that extent, May won a chance to go with Ash and Max on this trip.
"Looks like May's joining us on this trip to this island," Max concluded. Looking over the tickets again, Ash saw something in surprise.
"The flight's tomorrow evening, but it leaves from a small airport here," he informed. The siblings became excited for this trip. "We can do a little shopping tonight and then we'll split for the two weeks away."
"Sure, that will work," Brock supported. "How about I make dinner before we split for that vacation?" Agreements all around, the trainers spent the night at the Pokémon Center. After an early morning of shopping, the gang arrived at the airport within town. Ash and Brock shook hands.
"You think you'll be alright alone for the two weeks?"
"Hey, I'm a big guy! If I can't take care of myself, how would I be able to make sure you're all good? Besides, by the time the expo's done, I'll be back to see you guys return." May came forward with a question in mind.
"Brock?" she called. "Is it alright if I borrow Lombre or Mudkip for the two weeks?" Brock blinked his squinted eyes to the request.
"Why would you need one of my Pokémon? Besides, I'm sure Combusken, Munchlax, Skitty, Bulbasaur and Beautifly will be enough company." May mulled to the denial. Max had a guess to the request.
"May, I don't need one of Brock's Pokémon to look after," he assumed. "When it's time to be a trainer, I'm going for Treecko." Brock laughed to Max's rebuttal.
"Well, I'm sure you three will have a nice time over on the island." After the exchange, Brock watched as his friends entered the airport. They met the pilot who saw the tickets.
"It's you three who won the all-expense paid trip, huh?" he realized. May gawked to the news.
"All-expense paid?" she repeated. "As in, free services?" The pilot laughed to the shocked faces.
"You'll enjoy it over there on Isle Delfino. Now I will say this: as I lift the jet to the air, you can't use any electronics, okay? That will interfere with the devices I have in the cockpit. Once we level off at a certain altitude will you be using them again until we start preparing to land at Sunshine Airport."
"Okay~!" the three acknowledged.
"Good. Do you want any snacks, something to drink before we leave the ground? It's gonna be an eight-hour flight." Max showed the pilot a backpack and opened it to reveal food and drinks aplenty. Again, the pilot laughed. "That shut me up… Well then, let's get you on board." The pilot guided the kids to the jet which all boarded and sat down in. Ash buckled Pikachu to a booster seat while May fitted Max before the older two fastened themselves. The pilot saw the group restrained, fastening himself as well.
"We're ready to go!" alerted May.
"Okay! We're ready for takeoff!" The pilot started the engines before the jet started to taxi. Once set, the plane took off down the runway and lifted to the air, the gravitational force pulling the riders to the back of their seats. However, they ended up having a tail. Team Rocket in a biplane began to pursue the jet.
"The plan is simple!" yelled Jessie. "We get on board, snatch Pikachu, throw the twerps off the jet and hijack the plane and enjoy the paradise life before turning over the twerp's Pokémon to the boss!" James and Meowth saw the jet starting to level off.
"Dis is it!" mewed the Alley Cat Pokémon. "Our chance!" However, the level of the jet gave the larger flying vehicle more speed.
"Should I activate it now?" asked James.
"Go for it!" James hit a button in his cockpit. Twin rocket boosters under hidden compartments flipped open. They revved before the Rockets braced themselves. When the engines spewed fire, the gravitational forces jerked the trio back as the jet began to enter the clouds.
"Don't lose it!" ordered Jessie. James pulled hard on the stick to ascend. The jet wasn't responding to the control. It got worse as the stick broke. He shrieked after that, losing his grip on the broken controller. "What happened?!" James could answer but his reply sounded troublesome.
"How about I stay quiet and let the biplane do the talking!" he shivered before the biplane rocketed down in an aileron roll. The Rockets screamed in sheer terror as James had no control at all to steer the biplane.
"Jump!" yelled Meowth. All three bailed from the fallen biplane before it crashed and opened parachutes. Slowly, they glided down from the sky. "I knew we shoulda saved on something faster dan a biplane instead of attaching rocket boosters to it."
"Not to mention testing the handling before making that attempt to board and snatch Pikachu."
"Well, so much for tasty margaritas, hot men in Speedos, lovely tanning..." Jessie listed. "Now those twerps are gonna live the life of luxury we could only dream of." The boys sighed, not wanting to hear about Jessie's fantasies.
"I don't know about dese margaritas or men in tiny bathing suits," Meowth murmured. "At least we're not taking a permanent vacation."
"Yeah, that's a good point, Meowth," James nodded. "We'll get another chance when the twerps return from their trip out to… Uh..."
"We can look at the bright side and while we didn't get Pikachu… again," Jessie surveyed. "At least we came out of this without injury." To the boys, they wanted to agree.
"That is a good point!" That's when there's a roar below. Team Rocket looked down to find a school of Gyarados. Seeing the uniforms, the Atrocious Pokémon growled fiercely, scaring the helpless villains. "Maybe not!" Together, they fired Hyper Beams. The attacks nailed the trio and an explosion rippled the sky. The blast sent Jessie, James and Meowth to the great beyond.
"I forgot dat its migrating season for da Gyarados around here!" the Alley Cat realized.
"We must have entered their breeding seas!"
"And we're exiting this scene!" yelped Jessie.
"Looks like Team Rocket's on the chopping block!" they wailed in unison. While it's easy to determine what happened to those three, the vacationing three wasn't as clear. What awaited Ash Ketchum, May, Max, Pikachu and the other Pokémon?
END of POKÉMON
Next up: Rave Master