Took less time! :D But I have been distracted by Pokémon Black...so sorry for my neglection...
I completely owe this chapter to Meta-Akira...She's a lifesaver. Taught me how to finally upload this.
Disclaimer: Don't own pokemon...yadda yadda yadda.
"I know I've been here before!" Ash pointed out, his eyes carefully observing the scenery around him; the tree's leaves a lush green, filtering the light into small patterns on the main path that danced as a soft breeze blew.
"You just got us lost again…we probably just went in a circle…" Angie sighed followed by a sigh from Shinx. "It's just like that time in the forest when you ran away from a little Misdreavus," Angie laughed, snatching Pikachu from Ash's shoulder. "C'mon Pikachu, how about you travel with someone who can find the next pokémon center?"
"Pika-pika!" Pikachu agreed, claiming a spot on top of Angie's head.
"If it wasn't for that, we wouldn't be together here right now," Ash reminded her. Angie stopped and stared at Ash, confused.
"What do you mean by that? I mean, I know that's when I started falling in-" she froze; that was too close for comfort. "I know that's when I started to crush on you, but what does that have to do about you coming back for me?"
Ash took a deep breath and pulled Angie closer to him. They were close…close enough that Ash could feel Angie's breath tickle his neck. She blushed considerably; her nose almost brushing against Ash's. The adrenaline coursed through her veins; her heart beating at a pace previously unknown to her.
"Angie…" Ash whispered softly; the sound of her name whispered through his voice sent shivers down her spine.
"What is it Ash?" Angie whispered in response.
Ash leaned in closer, leaving the shortest of distances separating his lips from her ear. "Your egg is glowing," he whispered softly.
Angie opened her mouth to reply…but found herself flabbergasted; she expected to get a kiss on the cheek out of all that…but instead she got nothing…until she remembered Ash's words and immediately glanced at her egg. To her surprise, Ash wasn't wrong; the egg was glowing in a rhythmic pattern.
Quickly, yet reluctantly, she separated from Ash and sat down in the middle of the dirt path. She pulled the egg out from the egg case and gently placed it on the ground. Shinx, Pikachu and Ash also crowded around the egg, waiting to see what pokémon it would hatch into.
Only a few more minutes passed before the pink and green egg encased itself in a steady, faint white glow.
"It's really hatching!" Angie squealed uncharacteristically, accidentally piercing Ash's eardrums.
"Ugh…I didn't know you could squeal so loudly," Ash complained, fiddling with his ear in an attempt to regain his temporarily lost hearing.
Suddenly, the egg glow brightened before slowly reverting from the familiar egg shape it had carried for a long time into a larger round shape with two large triangular shapes that Angie could only assume would end up as ears. Two diagonally shaped leaves seemed to sprout from the tip of the new pokémon. The glow disintegrated, leaving Angie's pokémon completely visible to all the eyes on it.
"Hoppip-Hop!" the pokémon chimed, happy to have finally hatched.
"Oh, wow! It's a Hoppip," Angie happily screamed, reaching into Ash's pocket to pull out his pokédex.
"Hoppip, the Cottonweed Pokémon. To keep from being blown away by the wind, they gather in clusters. However, they do enjoy gentle breezes," the pokédex informed Angie. Ash started celebrating with Angie with a deep blush on his face.
"Hi Hoppip, I'm your trainer, Angie," Angie introduced herself to her new pokémon. Hoppip recoiled slightly in fear from Angie, but that was to be expected from a newborn. "Hoppip, that's another trainer named Ash. And that's Shinx over there," Angie exclaimed, pointing towards Shinx. "And that's-" Angie paused as she watched Hoppip almost immediately float over towards Pikachu before wrapping its leaves around him to give him a hug.
"Why's Hoppip so relaxed around Pikachu?" Ash asked, receiving a shoulder shrug from Angie in response.
"Sometimes, a pokémon will feel an attachment to pokémon of the same species as their parents," the pokédex explained.
"You do have your own pokédex," Ash reminded Angie, snatching his pokédex from Angie's clutches.
"So does that mean a Pikachu is Hoppip's father?" Angie questioned, completely ignoring Ash's comment.
"Guess so," Ash responded. "Well, aren't you going to catch it?" Ash couldn't help but laugh at Pikachu, who was now failing to get Hoppip off of him.
"Wait! I still have to catch him? Even after raising him in an egg?" Angie whined.
"Of course, why do you think they put poké balls on the top of egg cases?" Ash pointed out, grabbing the egg case to reveal the poké ball on top.
"I thought it was just a bonus…" Angie sighed, enlarging the poké ball and grabbing it confidently. "Here goes…Go Poké Ball!" she yelled, tossing the poké ball towards Hoppip.
"Hop-Hoppip!" Hoppip squealed, hiding behind Pikachu to prevent himself from being captured.
"Pika?" Pikachu questioned as a pokémon normally would when hit on the head with a poké ball.
"Sorry, Pikachu…" Angie sighed; catching Hoppip was proving not to be so easy. "Why doesn't it want to be captured?"
"Not all pokémon like to be captured," Ash explained, gesturing to his Pikachu for proof. "Sometimes, you gotta earn their trust."
"Well, how could I do that, Mr. Pokémon Trainer?" Angie replied sarcastically. Part of Angie felt like she was being a little harsh with Ash, but he had put up with it from Misty for a few years, so he had to be used to it by now.
Almost on cue, a familiar balloon appeared above the group. However, this time it seemed there was a giant vacuum attached to the bottom of it.
"Prepare for trouble," Jessie began.
"Make it double," James continued.
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all peoples within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jessie."
"James."
"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light."
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, that's right!" Meowth chimed in, completing the motto.
"Isn't that motto really...REALLY old?" Ash asked, confused as to what happened to their newer mottos.
"We're feeling nostalgic," James explained.
"So sue us," Jessie threatened, being the more serious of the two. "Start the vacuum," Jessie ordered.
"Startin' da vacuum," Meowth complied, pressing one of the three buttons in front of him.
A high-powered torrent of air shot from the vacuum, pushing away everything near them. Hoppip, being the Cottonweed Pokémon, instantaneous flew away, driven by the powerful gust of air.
"Hoppip! No!" she yelled; her hands failing to grab onto it in time. "Hoppip!" she shouted out, her eyes beginning to water. "That's it, Team Rocket, you're mine!" she resolved, standing behind her Shinx to ensure it wouldn't blow away either.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the vacuum was supposed to capture the pokémon, not send them hurtling towards...that very familiar tower in the distance," James wondered, making sure to stay between Jessie and Meowth.
"Tower…" The word bounced around in Ash's mind; something about it seemed so familiar, especially in this area of the woods…but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"I thought cats were supposed to be wise!" Jessie screamed ferociously.
"Relax, I just hit da wrong button…here we go," Meowth replied coolly, hitting another button in the process.
Almost instantaneously, the gust of wind switched directions, now pulling each person and pokémon towards the balloon instead of away from it.
"Just a few more seconds and your twerpish pokémon will be ours for the keeping," Jessie laughed.
"That's what you think," Angie shouted. "Shinx, use Spark and fly into the vacuum," Angie ordered, pointing her finger for emphasis.
"Shinx!" Shinx complied, surrounding itself in blue electricity before charging towards the vacuum. After a couple steps, the wind carried it, launching it straight into the vacuum. The machine started to spark and smoke before suddenly exploding, launching three unlucky Team Rocket members towards the sky.
"Geez, some twerp's really got a temper," James whined.
"I'll show her for blasting us off again!" Jessie shouted.
"Yeah, yeah…" Meowth sighed; another not-so-friendly landing was only a few seconds away.
"We're blasting off again…" they shouted until they were out of earshot.
"Great job Shinx," Angie cheered, catching her pokémon as it fell from the wreckage that was once Team Rocket's famous Meowth balloon. "You were amazing Shinx…now we just have to find Hoppip…" Angie's eyes began to water and her smile faded into a frown; her knees buckling as she collapsed to the ground.
"We'll find Hoppip, don't worry about it," Ash reassured Angie while pulling her up with his hand. "Now let's go," he started to lead Angie in a certain direction before he felt some resistance.
"It's that way," Angie laughed, mixing itself with one of her quiet sobs. Using Ash's grip on his wrist against him, she pulled him in the other direction.
"No, it's this way!" Ash insisted, leading Angie in the other direction.
"You're so wrong, it's definitely this way," Angie loudly insisted, pulling them back in her direction.
"Yeah, says who?" Ash took a step towards Angie, only increasing the intensity between the two. Angie almost pecked him right on the lips when she took a step forward in response, but she remembered there was something a little more important to do right now.
"Just follow me," Angie effectively ended the argument by pulling him in her direction without giving him a say in the matter.
"But Hoppip's over there!" Ash brought up, but to no avail; Angie refused to give in and continued dragging Ash to where she was positive Hoppip was.
"Hoppip?" Hoppip asked, confused as how her new friends had now suddenly vanished…she was all alone…
"Sss-Arbok!" a nearby figure hissed from its hiding spot, a bush. Now Hoppip wished she was truly alone…
"HOPPIP! HOP-PIP-HOP!" Hoppip screamed, praying for someone to hear her plea. There were several pokémon that you wouldn't want to trapped alone against, especially as a newborn…Arbok was one of those pokémon.
"Arrr-Bok!" Arbok slithered out of its hiding spot, almost eager to teach Hoppip a lesson about invading someone's property.
"HOP!" Hoppip jumped up, using the mild air currents to maintain a floating position; if Arbok wanted a fight, it was going to get one.
Arbok rushed to bury itself under the ground, trying to gain a position advantage of its own.
Hoppip floated from tree to tree, looking for any sign of Arbok. Her eyes constantly shifting from boulder to boulder to even the ground right underneath her, however there remained no trace of the threatening Arbok. Believing Arbok to have given up because of its inability to fly, Hoppip settled itself down in another bush, hoping to take a little nap before doing anything else.
"Arbok!" Arbok shouted, bursting out of the ground right in front of Hoppip, scaring the small Cottonweed Pokémon.
"HOP-HOP!" Hoppip squealed, too frightened to make any sort of attempt to run away.
Arbok hissed as it drew close to Hoppip, as if to torture her for a few more seconds. Slowly coiling its tail around Hoppip to constrict her, Arbok's fangs began to glow a light purple and it leaned right into her face.
"Don't even think about biting into my Hoppip!" Angie screamed, charging through the trees to the newly hatched Hoppip. "Shinx, use Crunch on Arbok's tail," Angie ordered out of pure rage before coming to her senses. "Oh, and make sure not to hit Hoppip!"
"Shinx!" Shinx obeyed, charging towards Arbok before sinking his relatively small fangs deep into Arbok's tail.
"ARRR!" Arbok screeched, releasing Hoppip as he uncoiled his tail so it could attempt to shake Shinx off.
"Alright Shinx, now let go and use Spark," Angie commanded, pointing towards Arbok for emphasis. Hoppip could only look on as Shinx coated itself in blue electricity before charging directly into the chest of Arbok. Hoppip was stunned; all of a sudden, the trainer and Shinx she was so afraid of earlier were now defending her from being attacked by that Arbok…but why?
"Arr…" Arbok mumbled as it slithered away, shame evident in its tone.
"Yeah Shinx, we beat 'em!" Angie cheered, picking her Shinx up in a hug as she did so. Shinx cried out its name in their euphoria.
"Wh-what…ha…happened?" Ash wondered aloud and out of breath, finally catching up to Angie.
"We saved Hoppip from a bad Arbok and then you showed up late as usual," Angie explained, using her tone to make it sound as condescending as possible.
Pikachu instantly hopped off of Ash's head, which he was seated on so he could act as a lookout, and walked up to Hoppip who hugged him just as she did earlier.
"Well, excuse me for mistaking a bush for a Hoppip…but it did have a Ledyba in it!"
"So…I was right," Angie concluded, walking over towards the still-trembling Hoppip in Pikachu's arms. "Hey Hoppip, you're okay; no more Arbok will be bothering you."
"Yeah, says who?" Ash argued, mostly just for the sake of argument.
"Says me, now will you help me calm down Hoppip?" Angie insisted, picking up Hoppip and scooping her into her arms. Unlike before, Hoppip felt a sense of gratitude towards Angie and didn't shy away from her.
"Of course," Ash gave in, ripping an Oran Berry from a nearby bush before handing it to Hoppip. "Eat this, and you'll feel much better." Ash placed the berry in front of Angie, who gently lowered Hoppip so she could eat the berry.
"Cha~!" Pikachu chimed, enjoying the adorable sight in front of him. Hoppip slowly finished the berry and when she did, she floated up to Angie, wrapping the leaf-like limbs that sprout from her head around Angie.
"Hoppip-Hop!" Hoppip squeaked, happy to have made such good friends. Almost as if she was too eager to wait, one of her leaves reached into Angie's pocket and activated the poké ball, converting the pokémon into red energy and trapping it inside. The ball shook once…twice…thrice…
'CLICK!'
"Awesome, so Hoppip's officially mine!" Angie cheered. "With you on my side, I'll go through the entire region with ease!" Angie declared assertively, proudly posing with Hoppip's poké ball.
"You'll have to get through me first," Ash reminded her with a simple tap on the shoulder. Pikachu flexed its muscles and chanted his name confidently.
Angie opened her mouth to retort, but quickly shut it. That was it…she couldn't take it anymore. Belittling Ash just wasn't working for her; it may have been Misty's way of showing Ash, but Angie was regretting being so mean to Ash. He may have gotten used to it, but that didn't mean Angie had to abuse it as badly as she had been.
"Ash…you know I'm not really acting like it, but I still really like you…" Angie admitted, her sensitive side making one of those oh-so-rare appearances. "I guess I've just been acting harsher than usual because...well I took some impromptu lessons from Misty on how to bug and bicker with you…I guess I took them too far, eh?" Angie's cheeks were completely flushed by now, but Ash's eyes would never leave her line of vision. Ash was nervous and blushing as well; he wouldn't deny that Angie had been acting a little harsher than usual, but seeing Angie's sensitive side was always a nice little treat.
"Well…I…uh…well you should…just…be…uh…you," Ash stuttered, his nervousness interrupting him. "I mean, like, that's how we got here…right?"
Angie smiled; something about Ash's stuttering logic made her heart flutter…until she remembered something from earlier. "Yeah…so Ash, you were about to tell me about your feelings when I was getting sucked into the spirit world," Angie reminded him slyly.
Ash looked down out of extreme embarrassment…before casting his gaze into the sky, his eyes catching a little something in the distance. "Wait…is that…? But it couldn't be…? Of course! I knew I'd been here before! Angie, look!"
"You're going to tell me sooner or later…" Angie mumbled, her head turning to where Ash was pointing. Off in the distance, Angie could see a mighty tower, which looked like it was entirely made of glass. "Wh-What is that?" Angie asked, slightly in awe over the magnificent figure.
Ash flashed a bright smile and lowered his arm, while Pikachu climbed his way to Ash's shoulder and released a happy "Chaaa~!"
"It's the Battle Tower…"
Sorry, short chapter, just really set-up for the next couple...which may take a while (School+Pokemon Black).
From the last line, it's evident what the next multi-chapter arc is going to be...and it will be followed with the beginning of the actual journey. So Hoppip's a youngling and moves will be revealed in due time. I do love a little bit of conflict.
As for the character who will show up this chapter, I realized last minute that I would save it for next chapter, so the answer can be either Hoppip, Meowth, James or Jessie.