April 6th, Viridian City Pokemon Center.
Staying in the poke-ball was a nice change of pace Treecko decided. He hadn't really been inside of it too much since he and Ash left the Oak man's lab back in Pallet. Although even before that when he was back at the Birch man's lab he wasn't in the poke-ball too often. Generally he was left to run around outside and explore the territory. The Birch man was really fond of the Pokemon under his care being outside as much as possible.
Since he became Ash's partner he was either walking next to Ash or training or off exploring the forests a bit off of the trail. The only time when he had been inside the poke-ball for an extended period recently was at Ash's insistence for a few hours the day after the battle with the Arbok. At that point he had been too restless and annoyed to fully enjoy it though. In his defense however it was his second day on his journey and he was stuck inside the poke-ball to recover his strength instead of traveling and training. That was pretty frustrating to him, but he did understand Ash's reasoning and appreciated the worry. After that he didn't want miss more his journey, so since then he had made it a point to not be in the poke-ball too much. Even the day after the battle with the Sneasel, Treecko had insisted on staying outside, walking next to Ash and getting to know Fletchling. It had clearly worried Ash, but he made sure to take it easy, only practicing Bullet Seed every now and then since the grass type move didn't involve moving around much.
As it turned out though, the poke-ball was surprisingly relaxing now that he wasn't thinking about his new journey. While he had held out better than Ash had, even he was starting to feel the effects of the constant traveling and training. The rest was much appreciated and he decided staying inside wouldn't be too bad every now and then.
Being inside the poke-ball was similar to a light sleep, dozing almost. He was mostly asleep, but he had a vague idea of the passage of time; although he couldn't accurately judge how much of it had passed, it could have been hours or minutes for all he knew. What little noise he could make out from the outside world were just light echoes. They didn't bother him though. In fact they were somewhat comforting. There was always noise in the forest. The rustling winds, the scurrying of nocturnal Pokemon, and the snores of his compatriots, both on road and back at the Birch man's lab, they were all things that he was used to hearing while sleeping.
What he wasn't used to was the irritating voice that had just disturbed his rest and took up his full attention. It had completely woken him from his slumber. It was speaking in human in a some what high pitched tone. Just the sound grated on his nerves. It clearly wasn't the voice of his hyper-active trainer or of the pleasant and kind Nurse Joy. So who the hell was it? He going to find out.
"I can't believe I gotta be the one doing this." His claws unsheathed from his paws and with a single slash he cut all the wires in the circuit breaker. The lights in the building cut out almost immediately. His annoyed tone changed to one of exasperation and reluctant acceptance, "Well I guess it's best that I'm the one doing it. Those two morons probably would have did it backwards." He had already disabled the back-up generator before he had started on cutting the main power.
"Knowin' Jessie and James, those two morons would've done the breaker first and the back-up afterwards. But by then the Center would have used to the back-up generator to lock down the poke-ball storage and we'd be outta luck." A smirk broke out on face, "Heh, but now there ain't nothing these bozos can do."
His brown paws silently padded toward the back door of the Center, which was being kept propped open by a can. He could have easily picked the lock himself with his beautiful claws, but that would have added extra time. So instead they had waited until a staff member took the trash out to the dumpster and then quietly made sure that it hadn't closed completely.
The hallway was dark, but the outside lights that shone through the windows provided plenty of light for him to navigate. Perhaps a human would find it fairly dark as there were fewer outside lights in the rear of the Pokemon Center, but to his feline eyes the small amount of light practically illuminated the hallway as if it were broad daylight. His brown ears twitched as he heard the shatter of the lobby's skylight. The sound made his smile widen.
A week ago an out of uniform James dropped him off here so that he could case the joint. They had operated under the guise that he was a Pokemon that disliked the poke-ball, the dumb Nurse hadn't even questioned it and led him right through the facility. It had annoyed him greatly having to pretend to be some ordinary, nothing special Pokemon; but they had found out exactly where the poke-ball storage room was. Lucky for them the room wasn't too far from the rear entrance, not exactly right next to it, but not too far. What was even better was that the night shift mostly consisted of Nurse Joy and one janitor, and the janitor had just left for late dinner break. Why there wouldn't be more nurses on staff at night befuddled him, after all there were plenty of strong Pokemon that would have taken injury from the undoubtedly intense gym battles that Viridian was known for and one nurse might not be enough handle that. Despite his confusion about the Center's staffing procedure it didn't really matter all that much, it just made the job even easier.
Having to jump slightly to reach the handle, the door to the room opened. "Puurrfect." Everything was going exactly as planned. Jessie and James would distract the graveyard shift in the lobby while he shoved all the strong and powerful Pokemon that Viridian City was known for into the burlap sack he was dragging over his beige shoulder. This was a great plan and would really make a name for them in the organization!
Then he locked eyes on the Pokeballs in the room and the smug smirk fell. "What the hell?!" The shelves were practically empty! There looked to be about a dozen or so Pokeballs in the entire room. "Where are all the poke-balls?! Viridian Gym is supposed to be the toughest gym in the region! A trainer would need a full team to take that place." His paws smacked into his face in frustration. "This was supposed to be a huge score damn it."
"Ugh. Well maybe there are a few gemstones in here. One or two powerful Pokemon or even a single team may not be the score we thought, but it's better than nothin'. Maybe there was only one or two challengers recently? If so then these should guys should be pretty strong. Right?" While talking to himself he moved for the shelf, jumping up onto the examination table that was right in front of it so that he could reach the poke-balls. He was muttering to himself constantly as he did so, doubting what little optimism he had before forcing himself once again be optimistic.
He was so annoyed with how this turned out. His mutterings became worse and worse, and far more pessimistic when he started reading the cards with hand written descriptions under each Pokemon. There were nothing remarkable about any of these Pokemon! Ratatta, Weedle, Butterfree, Poliwag, Sandshrew, Diglett. One dud after another. It was only when his paw was reaching for the next poke-ball that his muttering stopped, in fact his whole body froze as the poke-ball shook. The red and white sphere that had a leaf symbol etched onto it burst open.
"AH!" He fell off the exam table and hit his back hit the floor as the white mass of energy emerged from the sphere and materialized onto the table in his place. Getting up onto his feet Meowth looked up to see what popped out. It was green lizard who was staring at him with its big yellow eyes. Its eyes shifted around the room for a second as if looking for something before they settled back onto the feline. It looked pretty annoyed. What was its problem?.
The lizard squeaked a question at him and he answered. "There ain't no humans here bub. Only me an' you. An' soon it'll just me cause your going back into your poke-ball." The surprise was evident on the gecko's face. Its eyes were wide and jaw was slackened. Whatever this Pokemon was had even taken a step back in surprise.
It actually had the nerve to point at him as it questioned him again. That annoyed Meowth a bit, even he knew that pointing was just rude. It didn't help that this was delaying the plan and raising the risk of getting caught. "Yea! I can talk human! And why?! It's because I'm special and awesome! Dat's why!"
The green Pokemon was shocked for another second or two before it regained it's composure. It managed to regain its composure pretty quickly, but then again most Pokemon accepted his speech more quickly than humans did. It looked at him curiously for moment before its eyes shifted over. They shifted back to him quickly and narrowed in suspicion. 'Why's he looking at me like dat?'
The other Pokemon grunted out more words at him and Meowth's eyes twitched in anger; he could feel the vein pulse in his forehead at the statement. "WHAT?! What did ya' say?! Huh?! What'd ya say about my voice?! Huh?!" The stupid green lizard looked smug as it grunted out a response. "Annoyin'?! Irritatin'?!" He clenched his teeth in sheer rage. Da' nerve of this guy!
"I'll show you annoyin'!" With that the cat scratch Pokemon jumped forward and upwards, claws extended with the full intention of causing the smug lizard some pain.
Treecko almost smirked as the talking Pokemon lunged for him. With impeccable timing the Wood Gecko Pokemon twisted on his heel, using his whole body to build momentum as he swung his stocky tail around. The Pound Attack smashed into the normal type's face sending the feline back the floor with enough force that his body actually bounced back up and flip over, causing him to land on his stomach.
The Hoenn Pokemon crossed his arms in satisfaction as the Meowth groaned in pain on the floor. He admittedly wasn't familiar with Pokemon Centers before today, but he had been around the Birch man's lab long enough and met enough nurses to know that professional humans that cared for Pokemon didn't throw poke-balls into sacks. Even when he observed the nurses earlier in the day as he was examined he noticed that the other humans around them had been very careful and cautious when handling the poke-balls. They usually used trays or carts to move around poke-balls, same procedures as at the Birch man's lab really.
The Chansey that assisted Nurse Joy earlier and treated some his cuts from the Sneasel battle had been quite talkative as well and answered many of the questions that he had asked. He wasn't usually so talkative, but he figured it would be best to familiarize himself with a Pokemon Center, after all based on what Ash said they would probably in many of them in the future. After he had asked, she specifically told him that only Chansey worked in this center with the humans; although she told him that other kinds of Pokemon worked in some other Centers.
The taunting had solidified his suspicion. No Pokemon that were trained to care for other Pokemon would respond so violently to his jests. He wasn't sure what but this cat Pokemon was definitely up to no good. Was he stealing poke-balls? Why would a Pokemon steal poke-balls?
Wait.
Fletchling!
Treecko jerked his head around to look at the shelf. He saw several poke-balls in that sack, what about Fletchling? The few remaining poke-balls were still on the shelf. Moving closer he sniffed the remaining poke-balls. His sense of smell wasn't that great compared to some other Pokemon, the Zigzagoon and Poochyena that lived in the Birch man's territory had significantly better senses of smell, but he knew what Fletchling smelled like.
Relief flooded his body as he picked up the scent of his teammate in the poke-ball right next to his. Using one of his fingers he poked the release button on the ball.
Fletchling materialized onto the table that Nurse Joy and the Chansey had examined her earlier. The kind nurse had told her that she was very healthy and had returned her to her poke-ball not long after, although Treecko had to stay out longer for them to treat the injuries he gained during the battle with the Sneasel. Luckily the Chansey had told her that they weren't that bad, especially since Ash had treated them right away.
She was enjoying her first rest in the poke-ball and had almost completely fallen asleep when light flooded her eyes enough that she could see could see it even through her eyelids. She felt her body shifted against her will and she materializing onto the metal table. She expected to see Ash or Nurse Joy again, but instead it was just Treecko. Did he finally finish getting treated? How long was she in the ball? When were they going back to Ash?
The grass type didn't give her anytime to ask as he started speaking quickly but calmly. Did she hear him right? A talking Meowth?!
"Ugh, you little twerp. You're gonna pay for dat." Looking over the side of the table there was indeed a Meowth standing on its hind legs and holding its bruised face. Pokemon could talk human?! Why had no ever told her this before?! It's amazing!
Her amazement was extinguished as soon as the feline's claws unsheathed. She took to the air as Treecko jumped over the side of the table. The Meowth missed both and it crashed onto the table, its top half laying on the metal surface while its lower half dangled over the edge. Clearly this Meowth wasn't in the best of shape, because most Pokemon could have made that jump easily. From the corner of her eye she could see her teammate wince with her as their attacker's claws scratched at the metal surface as it clambered up onto the table.
Finally standing on top of the table the Meowth glared down at the two. It's narrowed purple eyes seemed to linger on Fletchling a little longer, as if it had just realized that there were now two Pokemon opposing it; it was probably so angry before that it just attacked without looking.
"Is that your reinforcement?" A sadistic smile grew over the feline's face, but its eyes still depicted its rage. "Y'know cats eat birds right? And with how tiny dat thing is it won't even be a snack."
Even with her flying in the air Treecko could still feel the heat radiating off of Fletchling's body after the Meowth's insult. Treecko glanced at his teammate out of the corner of his eye, but by the then it was too late to do anything. The red and gray bird flew into the cat with a Quick Attack. The feline flew backwards and slammed into the shelf holding the poke-balls. The shelves themselves actually dislocated from their holders and everything collapsed to the floor.
poke-balls and metal shelves flew, falling onto the examination table before falling off and clattering onto the floor and bouncing slightly. One of the shelves that Meowth had landed on actually flew sideways and smashed into a glass window of a cabinet, causing more things to fall and break. Meowth had rebounded off of the shelf and landed onto the floor. One of the metal shelves bounced off of the table and landed directly on his head.
"Ouch!"
Meowth got up much more quickly this time, the rage on his face evident and what probably allowed him to ignore the pain. "You'se little pests! I'm gonna get you for that!" The Normal Type jumped up at Fletchling, but the little bird easily moved out of the way causing him to miss. Treecko decided to take advantage of the fact that Meowth had landed facing the other way and slammed another Pound Attack into the normal type's back. Meowth flew forward, out the room's open door and smashed into a table that was in the hallway. The table contents fell and clattered to the floor making more noise.
Treecko moved forward quickly, fully intending to keep up the attack. Apparently Fletchling had the same idea as she chirped softly to him and then took the lead. As the Meowth started to get up Fletchling launched a Peck Attack into the back of his head. The move didn't cause much damage but it did focus the feline's attention onto the small bird.
"Grrr. I'mma eat you for dat." The Cat Scratch Pokemon growled as it prepared to pounce once again after the Tiny Robin. Unfortunately for him he didn't notice that Treecko was preparing to strike. The Wood gecko Pokemon swung his tail around, the stocky appendage flashing just briefly with steel type energy right at the moment of contact. Although far from the completed the Iron Tail still packed enough punch to send the Meowth flying once again.
Treecko was a little surprised, but far from disappointed as Fletchling flew another Quick Attack into the flying Meowth, pushing him far enough that he crashed through the double doors at the end of the short hallway. Their opponent had clearly hit something as the sound of several items falling and potentially breaking came just seconds afterwards.
Human shouting from the other side of the door followed shortly afterwards. Was that Ash's voice? Fletchling's chirp caught his attention. Should they follow? Meowth was away from the poke-balls, that was what was most important. But he could cause some more damage or hurt someone else. Where were all the humans that worked here? Shouldn't they be handling this?
"Eeeeehhhh?!" That caught both Pokemon's attention. That was definitely Ash's voice. The grass type grunted to his flying type comrade. They weren't going to let that feline hurt their human.
"Well, it looks like we're evenly matched."
With Fletchling and Treecko making an unexpected appearance the two Team Rocket agents seemed much less confident. The orange haired girl next to him however lost most of her nervousness based on her smirk.
"Ha! Let's do this you morons." Her Staryu hummed in agreement as its gem flashed and Treecko grunted in what Ash could only interpret as his amused agreement.
"Did she just call us morons?!" Meowth had missed the earlier argument but it seemed that he shared the same anger that Jessie did at the red head's insults.
"Yea, she did. But she won't be insulting us again! Ekans! Wrap!" At Jessie's command the purple snake sprang forward towards Staryu.
The orange haired girl wasted no time in giving her own command, "Rapid Spin!" The starfish Pokemon didn't even hesitate as it levitated slightly above the ground and rotated around its core. Ekans was forced to back off as the five spinning tips of the water type prevented it from making contact without injury.
James decided to use that moment to go on the attack as well. "Tackle Attack Koffing!" Koffing started floating forward at a slow pace, it didn't seem very threatening but then it suddenly accelerated forward rapidly after it released a burst of gas from its rear craters.
Fletchling flew forward to intercept, but luckily Ash's response time was quick as well. "Fletchling, don't!" The Tiny Robin Pokemon was quick to powerfully flap her wings downward, forcing herself upwards. Koffing flew right under Fletchling with even touching the avian. The poison type, realizing that it missed, released some gas from its front craters to create some forward momentum and slow its advance.
Fletchling turned her head to look back at Ash and chirped confused. "Koffing are filled with flammable poison gas! You're body produces lots of heat! You might cause it to explode if you make contact!" Fletchling let out a panicked chirp and gave the poison Pokemon a wary look.
"What?! Really?!" James seemed to be as panicked about Fletchling was. "Koffing stay away from that feathered freak!" Koffing groaned out in response, but the look on its face never changed.
While Fletchling and both trainers were focused on the potential explosive Pokemon, Meowth decided to make his move and lunged after the flying bird. "Gotcha!-Oomph" Unfortunately for him Treecko hadn't taken his attention off of the sneaky feline and slammed into the normal type with a Quick Attack before he could make contact with Fletchling.
The normal type landed back on the ground next to James, "Meowth! You ok?"
The feline groaned as he got up from the floor. "NO! Dat hurt." He had taken a real beating today. He was a thinker, not fighter damn it!
Ash let out a sigh of relief at seeing Meowth back on the floor. "Nice job Treecko." He looked away from his starter and focused once again on his opponent. Koffing had somehow managed to float back to its trainer's side while everyone was focused on Meowth. He was aware of the Staryu and Ekans fighting it out next to him, but chose not to look. Meowth was clearly ready to attack whenever their guard was down.
Ash's eyes drifted over to the feline before shifting back onto James. 'Meowth clearly doesn't need any commands or a trainer to battle, which means that James doesn't need to split his focus..' He grit his teeth in frustration at the situation. 'I've never commanded more than one Pokemon before. Damn it!' He was at a disadvantage and he knew it.
A grunt from Treecko broke him out of his thoughts. His starter was half turned towards him, staring intently. His eyes didn't waver in the slightest and he didn't pay any attention to Team Rocket, trusting Fletchling to protect him. As Ash stared into his starter's eyes he felt the nervousness disappear. He couldn't explain it, but something about seeing Treecko so confident made him confident. Their relationship was still new, not even a full week yet, but Ash had chosen Treecko and Treecko had accepted him. Fletchling had also joined him of her own free will, no battling necessary, she clearly trusted him and Treecko's current actions clearly showed his trust of her. The three of them, they chose each other. Chose to trust each other, place their faith in each other and chose to fight together.
In the last few days they had survived against a strong Team Rocket Arbok and took on an uphill battle against a wild Sneasel. While they still hadn't yet to actually win, they had done well. They had survived. These two Team Rocket members were idiots. Their Pokemon didn't seem all that impressive, and since they didn't call out any more when Treecko and Fletchling showed up it was safe to assume they only had the one each. Ash's eyes hardened, but his jaw relaxed and his breathing evened. They could do this. They could win.
"Treecko! Stay on Koffing! Fletchling that Meowth is all yours." Both his Pokemon vocalized their agreement and their readiness.
"You think you can beat me?!" Meowth lunged forward, claws extended and ready to slice into Fletchling.
"Koffing use Shadow Ball!" The Poison Gas Pokemon responded by opening its mouth a bit wider, a black sphere of sparking ghostly energy started to form in front of it. While Ash had no experience dealing with the move before it was still clear to him based on its forming speed that it was new move to Koffing.
"Fletchling! UP!" The Tiny Robin Pokemon pushed itself upward, over the Meowth's lunge, with a powerful beat of its wings. He didn't bother giving Treecko a command to dodge, he didn't need it. His starter had good instincts and quick reflexes, he had seen it first hand during both the battle with Arbok and the Sneasel. The slow Shadow Ball had given him plenty of opportunity to dodge and the ghostly sphere dissipated harmlessly against the floor.
"Koffing go for another Tackle Attack." Koffing started forward again with another burst of gas from its rear craters.
Considering Koffing's reputation for using Self-Destruct it would have been best to attack from a distance. Unfortunately neither of his Pokemon had long range attacks ready for this battle. Treecko's Bullet Seed was the closest, but he still had trouble gathering and discharging the energy. That being said they couldn't spend the whole battle dodging either. "Meet it head on with Pound!"
His starter jumped forward, twisting around his body in midair, before swinging his tail forward and smashing it into Koffing's forehead. The two attacks collusion sent both Pokemon backwards.
"Quick Peck Fletchling!" His first capture sprung forward, enveloped in a speed boosting energy and slammed her beak into Meowth's chest. Momentarily distracted by Treecko and Koffing's clash the feline didn't have anytime to dodge the combination. A better trained Pokemon wouldn't have let their attention waver like that.
"Argh!" Meowth went flying backwards, landing on his back and sliding back a little bit across the tiled floor. Quick Peck wasn't an officially recognized move, but it was one of the most common combination attacks in Pokemon training, especially for bird Pokemon. Just about anyone that trained a bird Pokemon mostly likely started practicing combos with Quick Attack and Peck. Trainers have been using it since long before he was born, possibly even before Professor Oak had started his career as a trainer. It was a simple combo, easy to understand and could be useful given the situation. He had told Fletchling about it yesterday and she had essentially perfected it by the end of the day after practicing it consistently as they were traveling.
"Meowth?! Get up!"
"Keep up the offensive Fletchling!" She responded with an aggressive chirp before going after the talking Pokemon. "Treecko! Pound it downward!"
"Koffing! Shadow Ball!" The poison type started generating the ghostly energy once again, but it was too slow. The ball hadn't even completely formed by the time that Treecko had jumped and flipped himself forward. His stocky tail, boosted by the downward swing, impacted the top of Koffing and forced it downward. The Shadow Ball misfired, flying off toward one of the walls and like the last one it dissipated harmlessly. The Koffing slammed into the floor, cracking the tile slightly, and bounced back up before landing yet again on the ground.
Meowth sat up, holding his stomach in pain, "Ow. Dat hurt." Opening his eyes and looking forward they widened as Fletchling was zooming in on him. The flying type started repeatedly pecking at his head. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Knock it off damn it!" The feline swung his claws around him, doing his best to try and slash the bird Pokemon but Fletchling constant pecking at his head forced him to keep his eyes closed making it difficult.
Seeing that Fletchling was dodging Meowth's claws successfully and delivering effective Pecks in response, Ash moved his attention to his starter and gave another command. "Treecko! Grab it and don't let go!"
The grass type grunted before jumping towards his opponent, arms extended. Koffing had yet to raised itself very high above the ground after that Pound Attack, keeping Koffing as close to the ground was exactly what he had wanted. "Koffing get-Oh no!" James's command was strangled by Treecko grabbing onto the purple Pokemon. Koffing began to thrash, or at least Ash assumed that was what it was trying to do, it was probably difficult to thrash without limbs, but Treecko's adhesive fingers didn't budge. The grass type's adhesive toes kept him locked in place and allowed him to maintain his balance. James was shouting and Koffing managed to fire a Shadow Ball that exploded in Treecko's face in an effort to get the grass type to let go.
Ash grit his teeth. Based on how long the last one had taken to form, this one was formed too fast to be at full power, but exploding essentially in Treecko's face meant that it didn't need to be. The corners of Ash's lips raised in pride as Treecko weathered the Shadow Ball and still held on tight. He was clearly hurt but his starter was stubborn, that was for sure.
"Iron Tail!" Treecko's Iron Tail was still far from complete. He couldn't hold it for more than a few seconds and could only connect it with something else when he timed it properly. All this meant that using it against a mobile opponent was nearly impossible. The only reason Treecko had managed to land a hit against the Sneasel was because it had been while the dark type was looking away. Unfortunately for Koffing, with Treecko's adhesive digits the Poison Type couldn't move away.
The grass type lifted Koffing up above its head and slammed into the tiled floor, before released his grip. Had Koffing not been filled with gas to lighten its body so it could float, Ash doubted that would have worked. The Treecko line weren't known for their arm strength after all. Swinging his tail around, the stocky appendage shone with steel type energy just long enough for the attack to make contact with the stunned Pokemon. With a crunch and a pained gurgle Koffing's body broke the tile floor. It's eyes lost focus and went white as the poison type lost consciousness. The super effective Steel Type move wasn't complete yet, but it was powerful enough to cause some real damage when it made contact.
"Aah! Koffing?! You can't lost to that gecko!"
"Ow, ow, ow, ow. Knock it off already! Please!" Ash ignored James' desperate cries in favor of focusing on Meowth. The feline had been subject to many of Fletchling's peck attacks and unable to land one of his own. He was still talking, but by his begging it was clear that he had basically given up. That being said the cat had proven itself to be underhanded before so he wasn't about to take any chances.
"Growl, Fletchling! Quick Peck!" Ceasing her assault, a deep rumbling emitted from Fletchling's throat and Meowth's body briefly glowed a very faint blue. Growl was a move where an enemy's attacking ability was lessened slightly thanks to intimidation. It was only really used in low level battles as most fully evolved Pokemon weren't intimated by a simple growl and those that were didn't have their attack power lowered enough to make much difference. The move could also be useful by unnerving the enemy, and that was exactly what Ash wanted.
"Ah!" Meowth let out a yell and stumbled backwards a few steps. The extra room and unpreparedness gave Fletchling a perfect opportunity slam into the normal type at full speed, delivering yet another combo attack. "Agh!" Meowth flew backwards, sliding on the floor before coming to a halt by bumping into the wall.
"Oh no! Meowth!" James ran forward and picked up the feline, he had already returned Koffing to its Poke-ball. "Oh no, oh no, oh no." The Rocket Agent was holding the cat by his shoulders and shaking him. "Get up Meowth!"
"I think he's out of the fight." Fletchling let a chirp in agreement as she flew right above him. Treecko stood in front of him protectively, but the way he crossed his arms over his chest was evidence that he knew the fight was over as well. James was looking at him in panic, clearly unsure of what to do now that both Pokemon were unable to battle any longer.
The brief stare down was broken when a blast of water flew between the two males. The water stream crashed into the wall with a loud thud that caused them to look over towards the wall. As the stream died down it revealed Ekans, crumbled and defeated.
"Aaaggh!" A feminine shriek brought both males and the two conscious Pokemon's attention. Their gaze following the water that now soaked the floor and they found their female partners. The orange haired girl was standing confidently with her hand on hips and a smug smirk on her face. Her Staryu stood in front of her, emotion unreadable. Opposite her was Jessie, whose face was a mixture of fury and flabbergast. "Ekans! How could you lose?!"
"Because its trainer was an idiot. I thought that was obvious you hag?" If Ash had ever spoken like that, regardless of who it was to, his mother would have washed his mouth out with soap. Literally.
"Hag? Hag?!"
"Agh! Jessie, calm down!" James had put himself in front of the red haired woman, doing to his best to hold her back and hold Meowth under his arm. The Team Rocket woman was practically frothing at the mouth as her shouted obscenities at the orange haired girl and tried to get past James.
The girl didn't seem to really care however, keeping her smug look she leaned forward a little and held her hand up to her ear, "Having trouble hearing me? It's ok that happens in one's old age."
Ash could only look on in exasperation and sweat drop at his new ally's attitude.
"When I get my hands on you, you snot nosed little-" Jessie's threats were cut off by red and blue flashing lights shining in through the lobby's windows. Each second the lights took up more and more of the room showing that they were getting closer. It seemed like the lights were coming from two different directions, implying multiple police cars.
"We got to go Jessie! Now!" James' voiced hardened and he moved away from Jessie.
"Fuck!" Jessie held up her Poke-ball and returned Ekans before she started running after James. The lavender haired man was holding open the door behind the counter. Treecko and Fletchling had forced Meowth through that door earlier, so Ash assumed that for the feline to get back there, there must have been a back door or something that they knew about. Ash was glad that the Staryu trainer didn't rush after them in an effort to stop them. The two of them had stopped the criminals from doing something awful, actually catching them was the police's job and with them arriving Ash was able to fully relax. He wasn't about to put his team in anymore danger, after all who knew if the Rocket duo didn't have back up somewhere nearby.
Just before she entered the through the door Jessie turned around glared at them, mostly at the girl though. "You'll pay for this twerps." With that the two were gone through the door.
The lobby's door burst open a few seconds later and four officers and two Growlithes rushed in. "Everyone stop where you are!" Both trainers raised their arms above their heads in surrender, their Pokemon however tensed and were ready to fight. Ash realized that he would have to explain police to his teammates at some point to avoid any incidents.
Before anything could happen though Nurse Joy ran in between the officers and the two teenagers. "Team Rocket ran through there! There's two of them with a Meowth."
The officer that led the rest in pointed at the other threes officers and gave them a hand signal to go. The three nodded and rushed forward, each with a poke-ball in hand, running through the back with the two Growlithe in the lead. With the rest of the officers gone the one seemingly in charge approached Nurse Joy, but kept his eyes on the two teenagers all the same. "Are you ok, Mary? Jenny got your text and we were nearby." Ash supposed that she texted for help during the battle.
Nurse Joy visibly relaxed at the presence of what seemed to be someone she knew. The pinkette actually managed to give a tired and relieved smile. "Yes. Thanks to these two."
The officer looked at the two young trainers and smiled, causing both trainers to relax and lower their arms. Seeing the humans relax the Pokemon finally let down their guard. "Well looks like you kids managed to save the day. Either of you hurt?"
"Nope, and Staryu completely thrashed that Ekans too! Not even a scratch" The Staryu trainer was pretty confident. Her tone of voice containing enough pride that Ash was pretty sure she was hoping to run into Jessie again for another battle.
Ash just smiled at her attitude. "I'm ok too. What about you guys? You were fighting that Meowth before we even knew about it." His attention shifted directly onto his starter, "And you took that Shadow Ball to the face." Fletchling trilled happily at him and flew in a few small circles. Treecko crossed his arms in front of his chest. He looked a little offended at the question, as if being injured by those Rockets were an insult. But he grunted out positive response to show that he was okay.
The orange haired girl chuckled a little at his starter's attitude, "heh, tough little guy aren't you?"
The grass type's head seemed to rise a little higher at the compliment.
Nurse Joy giggled at the scene, "Well let's get you all examined anyway. Better safe than sorry after all."
The remaining officer stepped forward. "Well while the good nurse here takes a look at your Pokemon, why don't we sit down and you guys can tell me your side of what happened. I'm Sergeant Parker."
The 15 year old almost laughed at the realization that this was the second time he had to give the police his statement in less than a week, but thankfully he was able to resist. "Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, future Pokemon Master."
The orange haired girl stepped forward with a confident smile on her face, "I'm Misty and I'm from Cerulean City. And if we're giving out our future professions then I'm going to be the world's greatest water type master."
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