Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Or "What is Love" by Haddaway.

Chapter 25

The sun touched the treetops in Pallet. A gentle breeze picked up, blowing leaves by the face of Ash Ketchum. He watched them tumble as he sat on the hill of Professor Oak's lab. Hearing Misty approach, he patted the ground next to him.

After a few moments of comfortable silence, Misty asked, "Anything in particular on your mind, Ash? Oh wait, you don't have a mind," she added grinning.

Ash smiled warmly at Misty before turning back to the view from the hill. "Nothing in particular. Just... thinking."

Misty's grin faded. "About Casey?"

Ash nodded.

Just then, they heard a shout from the lab. "NEVER PLAYED BASEBALL?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU'VE NEVER PLAYED BASEBALL?!"

Ash and Misty chuckled. "Well," said Ash, "I guess I shouldn't be worrying that much about her. The doctors said she would be fine, and considering how close she came to dying, she's made a great recovery."

"She sure has," agreed Misty. "Was there anything else bothering you?"

Ash hesitated, blushing.

Meanwhile, the party going on in the lab was in full-swing. Delia clapped her hands with delight. "Oh, I just knew having a party was a good idea! Nothing cures a little apocalyptic scare like some food and some friends."

Professor Oak took a sip of punch. "Indeed, Delia. I was really worried there for a few days, but those kids pulled it off - with a little help from my emergency network, of course. Who would have known - all this time, Mew's secret weapon was love?"

Tracey walked into the kitchen. "I still don't get that, Professor. Didn't the tablet you mentioned say that the Carib people tried to use Mew's weapon against the European invaders?"

Oak nodded. "Yes, Tracey. And presumably they did. They showed love in a time when they were filled with hate and despair. That love didn't save their existence, but love is a thing unto itself. It is the most powerful thing in the universe. Mew uses that power not just to try and help people, but for just for the sake of loving."

Tracey was truly awed by the Professor's wisdom, but then he caught another whiff of one of Delia's many pies. "We really can't thank you enough for your cooking, Mrs. Ketchum."

Delia blushed and waved it off. "Oh, thank you, Tracey, but it was nothing."

Just then, Daisy came running up behind Tracey. "Hey, Tracey, wait up! We have to, like, talk about our future!" Lily and Violet followed behind her, giggling uncontrollably.

Tracey blushed and looked for an escape route. "Uh, I gotta go! I'll see you later, Mrs. Ketchum, Professor Oak!" And the poor young man dashed off into another room, pursued by three of the four Sensational Sisters.

Most of the other guests were in the living room, where there were tables of food and drinks, as well as a boom box playing Haddaway's "What is Love". Gary was half-informing, half-boasting about his research to Sabrina and Whitney; Sabrina smiled and listened, occasionally watching Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar fly about the room, causing minor havoc, while Whitney seemed... lost. But not in a bad way. Lance and Danny were talking about their experiences as Elite Four Champion and Orange Crew member, respectively. Professors Katt and Chu, Seymour the Scientist, and Dr. Quackenpoker were examining some of Professor Oak's research which the Professor had lent them. Sahil and the Officer Jenny in charge of the Squirtle Squad discussed the differences between security in Kanto and in Guyana. Harrison chatted with Liza about training Flying and Dragon Pokémon.

Brock had somehow managed to get into a conversation with all four of Sakura's older sisters. The love-struck face was so genuine that the girls felt sorry for him. "But then," Brock was saying animatedly, "Team Rocket - you remember those three? Of course you do - broke through the roof and stole both of Brittany's Igglybuff. Both!"

"Oh my," cried Satsuki politely.

"Imagine that," added Koume and Tamao at the same time.

Brock didn't detect any forced sympathy or sarcasm. He just rambled on. "Yeah, and then Brittany and the others followed them, and guess who was left behind to entertain the crowd?"

Sakura, who had joined the group, raised an eyebrow. "You?"

Brock giggled, tried to turn the giggle into a manly laugh, stopped, and nodded. "Me! So there I was, on a stage in front of ten million people, and what do I do? I took out my handy-dandy maracas and gave the audience my Paradise Song! They loved it... at first..."

As the party continued, no one noticed three large potted plants sneak into the room, inconspicuously gravitate to the food table, quickly grab some items, and inconspicuously dash out the door. Once safely outside, Team Rocket took off their disguises and began hounding the stolen food and drink.

After swallowing a few grapes, James frowned. "Remind me why we had to steal that food in the first place. Didn't the twerps invite us to come?"
"Yeah," agreed Meowth, "gettin' back here woulda been a lot easier if we'd been on dat plane!"

Jessie downed a can of root beer. "Don't you fools remember? We're criminals! We can't just join their party without doing anything wrong! It would be rude!"

"That's true," sighed James. "I just wish we could relax a bit. Hey, look a fortune cookie!" he added, picking up a small plastic wrapping with a fortune cookie inside.

Jessie grabbed it quickly. "Give me that! Obviously, it's for me." She opened the wrapper, broke the cookie, and absent-mindedly split it into three pieces. As Team Rocket chewed on the pieces, they all squinted at the tiny piece of paper that had fallen out. It read:

"Consume life well and it will taste better." On the other side, it read: "Learn Chinese! 你好，乱马！ = Ni hao, Ranma! = Hello, Ranma!" Below that: "Lucky numbers: 0, 3, 16. Unlucky numbers: 2, 280."

All three sat staring at their fortune for a few seconds. Then Meowth spoke. "Youse two know what this means?"

Jessie and James shook their heads.

Meowth continued. "It means... that WE GOTTA CONSUME LOTSA STUFF!"

"Woooobbuffet!"

With that, the trio-turned-quartet descended on the pile of food. "Team Rocket's chowing down again!... mmm, hm, omnomgfh..."

Inside, Justin, Macy, Duplica, and Casey stood near a window. Duplica had just gotten Casey to calm down after the rabid Electabuzz fan had found out that Sahil had never played baseball. "Seriously, Casey," Justin was saying, "you kinda have to take it easy. You're still recovering."

Casey pouted. "Hmph. It'll take more than a stinkin' bullet to retire me!"

Duplica facepalmed. "You're just like Ashy-boy. Stubborn as a bull. Speaking of Ash," she added suddenly, grinning slyly, "how long do you guys think it'll take those two lovebirds to get together?"

Macy swallowed uncomfortably. "Which two lovebirds?"

Casey laughed. "Ash and Misty, of course! God, I wish they'd hurry it up and smooch."

"They are perfect for each other, aren't they?" remarked Justin, grinning. Then he saw the expression on Macy's face. "Oh, Macy, I'm sorry."

Macy shrugged, offering a sad smile. "Oh, well." Then she perked up. "I'm going to make sure that Misty treats my Ash well, or else!"

The conversation halted for a moment as everyone in the room turned to look at Brock, who was demonstrating his musical suave to the Kimono sisters. His dancing was accompanied by his Pokémon ... and Totodile... and Psyduck, for some reason. After everyone had said a silent prayer for Brock, the various conversations resumed.

Duplica had gotten an idea during the interruption. "Enough about Ash. What about you, Justin?"

Justin looked mildly bewildered. "What about me?"

"Oh, you know..." replied Duplica, wiggling her eyebrows. "Your... situation."

Casey caught on. She stepped closer to Justin. "Your romantic situation," she clarified, sighing on the word "romantic".

Justin sweatdropped. "Uhhhh..."

Even Macy joined in the fun. "You don't happen to have a girlfriend, do you, Justin?"

"Ummm... no?" Justin started retreating slowly, face turning red faster than his Charizard could fly.

"Oh, we can fix that," said Casey.

"We can fix that a lot," added Duplica.

The poor boy panicked. "Oh, look," he cried, pointing the window, "they're kissing!"

All three girls fell for the trick and looked out the window at Ash and Misty. Strangely enough, though... they were kissing. Justin was so shocked that he forgot to run away.

From the field near the house, the group of Pokémon playing outside also stopped and stared. Pikachu and Togepi chirped happily, while Bayleef seemed decidedly less enthusiastic. Jigglypuff took advantage of the distraction to doodle on Squirtle's shell.

Ash was not sure how it had happened. One minute, he was talking to Misty, the next, he was blushing, and the next they were gazing into each other's eyes, unconsciously leaning in... you know, all that fluffy stuff. How it happened didn't matter to Ash, though - just that it happened was enough.

They broke away from each other only when a flock of Pidgey flew overhead, calling softly. Ash smiled, then smacked his forehead. "That's another thing I've got to do before we go away again. I promised Pidgeot I would come back for it, but I never did. I suppose it's better off protecting the Pidgey and the Spearow, but still... I'd like to see it again."

Misty tossled his hair fondly. "You will, Ash. I'm sure of it."

Ash felt his soul begin to float, as if he were carried away by an ocean of clear, Cerulean blue water. But before they could kiss again -

"EEEEEEK!" Misty shot up in the air. When she landed, Ash saw the Caterpie on her arm. It must have creeped up without either of them noticing. Misty began waving her arm wildly, burrying her face in Ash's chest and screaming, "Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!"

Before Ash could act top calm her down, the poor Caterpie fell off her arm and lay there, eyes spiraling. "Ieeeee..." it croaked.

Ash couldn't help feeling more sorry for the Pokémon than for Misty. "Aw, look what you did, Mist... poor little guy, are you okay?"

For the umpteenth time, Misty wished she still carried her mallet around. "Ash Ketchum, you inconsiderate little-" She suddenly noticed that Ash seemed frozen in place, staring beyond the Caterpie. Then she noticed why.

Several other Caterpie and two Metapod sat in front of them. Above them hovered a Butterfree. A pink Butterfree. And beside that Butterfree-

"Butterfree!"

"Freeeeeeeeeeeee!"

/

Narrator: And so Ash and his friends come to the end of yet another journey. Many more certainly await them. But what about the villain in our story? For that, we take you back to Guyana…

/

The young girl clutched the money. "Thanks, mister!" With that, she skipped off to find her family, leaving behind a cloaked man bent, not with age, but with heavy conscience. Seeing a flash of pink in the distance, the man smiled. "Glad I could help, little sister. Glad I could help."

The End

A/N: Thank you so much for reading this, my first fanfic. When I originally wrote this, I had thought it would be my only fanfic, or at least my only Pokémon fanfic, so I tried to cram in everything I wanted to fit in a fanfic. My subsequent fics have been better, but I will always have a special place in my heart for this one.

Thank you for reading Weapon!

PS: the "learn Chinese" phrase is a reference to another excellent series, Ranma 1/2. The lucky and unlucky numbers are also references, as follows: 0 for Team Rocket's status, 3 for their number, 16 for the episode in which Ekans and Koffing evolved, 2 for the episode in which the trio met its fate, and 280 for the episode in which Arbok and Weezing leave.