Hello again! I'd like to thank you for your patience. I realize it must be frustrating waiting for these updates. Anyway, last chapter was meant to lighten the mood a little, well except for some angst involving Dr. Blanchard and Beth. But other than that, the last chapter was overall light hearted. Well, compared to the previous two at the very least.
Moving on, this chapter features the party that has been the focus of Ash and the others since he got back to Kanto. But, unfortunately, it's also where Giovanni gets his hands on the stone containing Ho-Oh. How will this play out?
And now, the next chapter of Ho-Oh and the Battle for Pallet Town.
Chapter 11
Team Rocket HQ. Evening.
Giovanni held the stone just inches away from his face, smirking in satisfaction. It had been a while since he had something this powerful in his possession
"Excellent work," he congratulated. Jessie noted that his compliment was directed at Beth rather than her, James, and Meowth.
"You have surpassed all of my expectations," he said, again to Beth.
Jessie could only scowl in resentment. She could hardly believe Beth was taking almost all the credit for this.
"I'm afraid you only have one piece of the puzzle," Beth said. "As I've said before, that stone is useless without the right types of Pokémon."
Giovanni finally put the stone down. "And I suppose you've found an answer to that as well?"
"Of course," she said. Then she faced James. "Give me the flash drive."
James reached into his pocket, then tossed the flash drive in her direction. Catching it, Beth placed it on Giovanni's desk in front of him.
"This file was stolen from Dr. Blanchard's private notes. If those three did their job right, it should tell us the way to use the stone."
Giovanni inserted the drive into a slot on his computer. A loading bar appeared on the screen. When it was full, the same image showing Suicune, Entei, and Raikou popped up.
Studying the image, Giovanni looked both confused and intrigued.
"And what does this have to do with Ho-Oh?" he asked. Then he noticed the same stone between the three Legendary Pokémon.
"Is that…" he blurted out, understanding.
Jessie turned to James, who was just as awestruck.
"You're the one who found that thing!" she scolded him. "Say something before he thinks Beth was the one who got it!"
She began to shake him back and forth as she said this.
"Excellent work, Beth," Giovanni said.
Shocked, Jessie immediately let go of James, who fell to the floor, dizzy.
"Too late," she muttered flatly.
Giovanni and Beth ignored the trio, focusing on the image of the carving.
"If I'm right," Beth explained. "Those Pokémon look like Suicune, Entei, and Raikou."
"Yes," Giovanni agreed. "I believe you're right."
To him, it made sense. According to legend, Ho-Oh was the creator of those three Pokémon.
"And I think I can translate some of the writing here," Beth said. "This is just a rough translation, but I believe it says, 'Obtain the same powers as these Legendary Beasts, and the rainbow's great messenger will be released.'"
"What does that mean?" Giovanni queried.
"Basically, it means you'll need the power of those three types of Pokémon in order to release Ho-Oh."
Giovanni scowled. "But I'm afraid that's not possible. I have exhausted nearly all of Team Rocket's resources. I am in no position to find those Pokémon."
Beth chuckled in amusement. "It never said it needed those three specifically."
Giovanni stood up, bewildered. "What do you mean?"
"It said, 'Obtain the power of these Legendary Beasts.' Not, 'Obtain these Legendary Beasts.' Basically, you won't really need Suicune, Entei, and Raikou. But if you can get three Pokémon that match their types, it should still work."
Giovanni's scowl began to disappear. "So, you're saying the Pokémon we need are…"
"A Water-type, a Fire-type, and an Electric type."
Jessie, James, and Meowth perked up on hearing this.
"This could prove problematic," Giovanni said. "To the best of my knowledge, Team Rocket does not have any Electric-type Pokémon in our arsenal."
Walking to the front of his desk, he began to leave the room.
"If you can solve that problem, I'll be sure to add a bonus to your paycheck."
"Yes, sir," Beth said, bowing her head.
The moment Giovanni was gone…
"Group huddle!" Jessie shouted. She, James, and Meowth got closer together.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she said.
"Probably not," James replied.
"I'm thinking this is the perfect chance to finally swipe Pikachu!"
James and Meowth's eyes lit up.
"Oh, happy day!" the trio shouted, but then they noticed Beth standing a few feet away from them. They then just put their hands behind their backs, whistling nonchalantly.
They returned to their huddle, hoping the sadistic Pokémon Hunter didn't hear them.
"And the best part? Beth doesn't know about the twerp or Pikachu. So, we just have to…"
"Who are you talking about?" Beth asked, interrupting Jessie.
"Huh?" the trio asked, nervously turning back toward her.
The look of cold intrigue on Beth's face suggested that she heard everything.
"Uh…" they said at once. "No one! Why would we be talking about anyone?"
"Yeah!" Meowth said, chuckling. "Especially not some twerp with a Pikach-"
Jessie and James immediately put their hands over Meowth's mouth.
"Hehehehe," James laughed anxiously. "Gesundheit, Meowth."
"Well," Jessie struggled to find an excuse. "I think we should go. Meowth's catching a cold. James and I better get him to a Pokémon Center."
Beth stared at her in a way that suggested she did not believe a word of the trio's lies.
"That's funny," she said. "I thought he was going to say 'Pikachu.' Is there something you're not telling me?"
The trio sighed, now even more scared of Beth than they were of their boss.
"No," Meowth lied, very badly.
Beth's face turned stony. She picked Meowth up by his tail and looked him directly in the eyes.
"All right," she said in a voice like a tundra. "Unless you want to wind up as Hydreigon's chew toy, you'll start talking."
In a panic, Meowth rapidly revealed to her how they'd been spending the last four years chasing a certain young trainer from Pallet Town, trying to capture his Pikachu.
This all captured Beth's full attention. Then she remembered. At the museum, she battled a trainer with a Pikachu. Could this trainer from Meowth's story and the trainer from the museum be one and the same?
She only had one way to test that theory. She dropped Meowth onto the floor.
"So," she said. "You three idiots know that kid from the museum?"
"Uh-huh," all three said in unison.
"Well, then. It looks like we have the same enemy."
They looked at her in surprise.
"You see, while I was getting the stone, that Pikachu of his humiliated my Froslass. And by extension, me. But if it's as strong as you say it is, it may just be what Giovanni needs."
"Hate to burst your bubble," Meowth said. "But that Pikachu's harder to get than a Milotic."
"He's right," James concurred. "We've tried, what, 900 times? And each time, it always ends with…"
The trio gripped each other tightly. "We're blasting off again!"
"Or something like that," Jessie added.
"Well," Beth said. "There was one thing you didn't have during all those times: me."
Jessie blinked, not liking where this was going.
"You may have failed at catching that Pikachu in the past. But with my help, you'll definitely get it."
"Read my lips!" Jessie huffed. "No way!"
Beth's response was one of simple boredom. "Again?"
"You took all the credit for what happened at the museum and when we were kids. But stealing Pikachu's our thing, not yours!"
"Jessie's right!" James said.
"Same here!" Meowth agreed.
Wobbuffet popped up behind them, raising its arm in salute. "Wobba!"
"All right then," Beth said, coolly. "Have it your way."
"We will," James fired back crossing his arms.
The three were just about to leave when Beth's voice stopped them.
"So," she started. "Your name's James, isn't it?"
James stopped. "Huh?"
The others froze in the doorway almost immediately.
"That's good because while I was trying to catch this Lucario in Nimbasa City, I met this woman who said she knew you. And I have her number."
"What?" James asked, flatly.
"And she said if I saw anyone who looked like you and went by your name, I should call her. You know, strangely enough, she looked a little like Jessie. What was her name again?"
Beth put her finger under chin, contemplating.
"Oh! Now I remember. Jessebelle."
James' face went completely blank. "J-j-jessebelle?!" he stuttered, remembering his dreaded fiancée.
"Of course," Beth continued. "I might be willing to forget I met her… if you agree to let me help you."
James knelt at Beth's feet, now a sobbing wreck.
"All right, all right!" he pleaded desperately. "We'll do anything you want! Just please don't tell her where I am!"
"Just what I wanted to hear," Beth said, satisfied.
"Coward," Jessie insulted James.
Beth walked around James, who on was still the floor.
"Now then," she began. "Do you know where you can find that kid?"
Professor Oak's lab. Night.
This wasn't the first time Ash had sat in the lobby of Professor Oak's laboratory. And it certainly wouldn't be the last. He supposed having his Kalos League victory celebration there was fitting, as it was where his journey started.
He was sitting next to Serena. Pikachu was, as usual, on his shoulder. On the other couch sat Clemont and Bonnie, the latter of whom was beginning to notice the tint of pink in Ash's cheeks from sitting next to Serena.
The others were scattered all over the room. Misty was standing next to Gary, with her head leaning on his shoulder. May and Dawn were near a lamp, having some sort of conversation that involved Pokémon Contests. Iris was outside, having a practice battle with Max. Ash really only saw the end of the battle from the window, having witnessed Max's Sceptile being defeated by a Flamethrower from Iris's Dragonite.
Finally, Brock and Tracey telling Cilan exactly how it exciting it was to be Professor Oak's assistant.
"So," Max said, coming in with Iris. "What're we waiting for?"
"Professor Oak said he had surprise for us," Misty said.
Indeed. Once the time for the party drew near, Gary came over to Ash's house telling the others to make their way to his grandfather's lab. Once they were there, Gary had instructed the others to wait in the lobby until Professor Oak came back.
Although, they had been waiting for nearly twenty minutes.
What was taking so long?
Their questions were answered by the sound of a door opening.
"All right, everyone!" Professor Oak said as he walked in the room. "It's ready."
"What's ready?" Serena asked.
"Just wait and see," Gary said.
They all stood as Professor Oak led them out of the lobby and eventually, out of the lab.
As they were led out onto the part of the lab affectionately referred to as "The Oak Corral", where a large portion of the Pokémon at the lab where kept when not in their pokéballs.
After a while, Professor Oak led them to a wide-open part of the Corral that had never been used. Though, it was noticeably different.
There were at last fifty tables littered around the field. Strung from the ends of the trees surrounding were dozens of electric lights, giving one the feeling of being under a sky full of stars. On the left on was what appeared to be a buffet table, with almost every kind of refreshment imaginable. And at far end was a large, temporary stage, complete with sound system, a DJ booth, and at the top was what appeared to be a disco ball.
But that wasn't what took Ash off guard. It was the sheer number of people present. At least half of Pallet Town had to be out there. And the minute they saw him, there was a near endless parade of cheers and congratulations.
Ash, despite being flattered by the amount of praise he was receiving, couldn't help but wonder, why were there so many people there?
"Uh," Misty spoke up. "Professor, who are all these people?"
"I think they're fans of Ash's," Professor Oak explained. "When they heard about the party, they each begged to be on the guest list."
"Whoa," Clemont said, impressed. "I didn't think this place could hold this many people."
"Well," Gary said. "If it can hold Pokémon, it can hold anything."
Instantly, the air became filled with electronic dance music, drowning out every other noise coming from the Corral. The party was beginning. Misty leaned down and whispered something into Bonnie's ear. The younger girl nodded in understanding.
"I just remembered," Professor Oak said. "I'm expecting some new Pokémon from some trainers in Vermillion City. I'd better make sure I don't miss them."
Professor Oak rushed back toward the lab. "Enjoy the party!" he shouted cheerfully.
Once he left, everyone else was left to their own devices. Ash's friends dispersed throughout the party. Soon enough, everyone was either eating, talking, or dancing. Everyone that is, except…
"So," Ash said, under his breath. "Serena, while we're here, I have something to tell you. I like you, but as more than just a friend." He then looked to Pikachu for approval.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"Pika," Pikachu said, facepalming.
"You're right," he said. "It sounds lame. I just get so… nervous around her. I bet this kind of thing never happened with Gary."
But unbeknownst to Ash, Gary was nearby. And he had heard every word his former rival had said.
Well, I got that chapter finished quicker than the last one. I am on a roll! Sorry, I just needed to congratulate myself. Anyway, the party for Ash has just started and he's struggling to tell Serena about his feelings (the irony!).
In the meantime, Ash and the others are blissfully unaware of the fact that Team Rocket is trying to capture Pikachu… for the 901st time in a row. Now, I know what you're thinking: "It won't work." But considering they have Beth helping them now, … well just wait and see.
By the way, a friendly tip: for the music played at the party in the last part of this chapter, I'd recommend listening to Living in the Shadow from The Rise of Darkrai.
Anyway, next chapter… well, let's just say it involves a major Amourshipping moment as well as more insight into Dr. Blanchard's character. Read and review!
