Part Two
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Ash reached out his hands toward the bush. Misty covered her mouth as she watched, anxious to see the new Pokemon.
In one quick movement, Ash tore the bush aside and snatched a Pokeball from his belt. He swiftly jumped back, ready to throw the Pokeball at the Carefree...the...wait...
Ash stopped. Carefree? He fell to his knees. Before him, scared nearly out of it's wits, was a Caterpie, huddled in a ball, it's eyes huge in terror.
Misty paused, her face straight. Then, she, Brock and Pikachu broke into furious fits of laughter.
"Oh..." Ash groaned in embarrassment, lowering his red face.
"A...Cater...pie!" Misty cried amidst her laughter.
"Ah...shut up already, Misty! You just wait until I catch the real thing before anyone else."
"Ash, you're so full of it!" Misty said in disgust, brushing the mud off.
"Ash," Brock said, wiping away tears of laughter, "I guess you're funny whether you want to be or not!"
"Piiika!"
Ash stood up. "We'll find it soon, if we keep looking...but, I say we eat first!"
Misty sighed. "With you, it's either your ego or your stomach!"
* * * * * *
Down the muddy trail, Team Rocket continued their search, though at a painfully slow pace.
"I'm hungry, Jessie! We haven't eaten a thing in sooo long!" The voice of Meowth sounded, James not far behind.
"I know that," Jessie moaned, "but don't you two think that this Pokemon is a little more important at this particular moment?"
James and Meowth looked at each other. "No." They both said in unison.
Jessie sighed, shaking her head. "We'll worry about that later. But right now, I think we need to at least pay more attention to what we're doing...which would be a change from the norm, I suppose. But we've got to find this thing, and we're not going to screw up this time!"
"Hah," Meowth mocked, "those are famous last words if I ever heard 'em."
"And," James said, "we don't even know what we're looking for!"
Jessie glanced at James. "Well, I do."
"What does it look like?" James wondered.
"Uhm...I think the Boss mentioned that it was red...and something else about long, pointy ears...a bushy tail..." Jessie tried to remember.
"At least you almost know what we're doing!" Meowth commented.
"We can't all be perfect," Jessie said.
The Rockets continued down the mountain, the sun high in the sky above them. It wasn't hot, though--just right. But the mountain still remained somewhat muddy, and Team Rocket found their feet slipping constantly.
"Hmmm," James hummed as the trail grew a bit more level, "I think I see some kind of clearing ahead."
"...You're right. We can rest there for a while, then, and finally get off this wretched muddy path!" Jessie told him.
Team Rocket walked into the small, grassy meadow. The grass was up to their knees as they waded through it. Jessie stopped.
"Wait...I think I hear something."
James stopped to listen. "Voices!"
Meowth looked up from the grass up to his neck. "Uh-oh."
"We'll wait right here," Jessie instructed, "It could be anybody, and we don't want them bothering us!"
They sneaked to the edge of the meadow, beneath the bushes--watching and waiting as the voices grew closer.
* * * * * *
Brock and Misty struggled to keep up with Ash, who was so determined to find a Carefree that he didn't even realize that his pace was so fast.
"Hey! Slow down there, Ash!" Misty protested.
"Oh, you can keep up! I guess it's just a girl thing!" Ash called back.
Misty frowned. "You..."
"Don't start with that again," Brock moaned.
They marched up the trail a little way before Brock mentioned, "Hey! There's a clearing up there! Cool!"
"Good!" Ash said, "We can go there and eat!"
Misty shook her head.
"Pika-pi," Pikachu agreed.
The friends entered into the waist high grass, looking around the clearing.
"The grass is so long!" Misty said. Brock nodded.
"Well, I'm going to eat," Ash said. He shuffled through his pack, retrieving a sandwich.
"One for me," Brock tuned in.
"Ah...I guess I'm a little hungry, now that I think about it," Misty admitted.
They quickly ate, and then with a word from Ash, they decided to continue. They reached the trail, and then they saw something move, in the bushes across the meadow.
"Huh?" Misty asked, "What could that be?"
They all stopped, watching the bushes.
"Could it be..." Ash began.
They heard a thump in a tree above them.
"Stop right there!!!"
They turned.
"To protect the world from devastation!" Jessie jumped down from a nearby tree.
"To unite all peoples within our nation!" James jumped up suddenly from the long grass.
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jessie!" She jumped onto the trail directly in front of Ash, Brock and Misty.
"James!" He went to stand by Jessie.
"Team Rocket, blasting off at the speed of light! Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, that's right!" Meowth called, jumping onto Jessie and James' shoulders.
Misty gasped. "Oh, no! Not you guys...again."
"You!" James directed, "get back down that road!"
"No way!" Ash said, "We were here first!"
"That's too bad. We have very important business here, and your not a part of it!" Jessie scowled.
"We are now!" Ash said.
They began arguing, they way they always did when they some how ended up running into each other. It was inevitable.
"Oh yeah?"
"Go! You don't belong here on this mountain!"
All of a sudden, amidst the arguing, the grass moved in the meadow.
"Huh?" They were all hushed.
The grass still shuddered--moving and swaying. What was it? Whatever it was, it was small enough to hide completely in the grass...
"Ah...it's..." Misty began.
Ash didn't want to look foolish again, but he was thinking the same thing Misty was.
"Shhh!" Brock shushed.
The movement in the grass grew closer to the path.
"Don't move..." Ash cautioned them all. Even Team Rocket was completely still. Meowth's eyes were like sparkling diamonds, wide and curious.
The thing in the grass suddenly broke through onto the path, only a few feet away from the gaping crowd. Furry, reddish-violet, pointed ears, sparkling fluffy tail...
"Caaaarefreee!" The creature cried, and Ash knew he was right this time.
"Wow! This is it! I bet I can catch it," Ash said, and reached back for a Pokeball.
"Oh, no you don't, little boy," Jessie told him, "what makes you think that you are going to catch that Pokemon?" Jessie shoved him aside, Pokeball in hand.
"Hey!" Brock yelled, "Don't do that!"
"Freeeee!" the cat-like Pokemon called out, confused. It stepped back.
"Your scaring it!" said Misty.
"Then just shut up, and let Jessie catch that Pokemon!" James replied, "Or it will run away!"
The Carefree flicked it's long, lush bushy tail slightly.
"Piika pika?" said Pikachu, intently.
"Caaaarefree," said the Carefree, "freeefreefreeee!"
"Uh-Oh," Meowth said, "I think it's not very happy...we should get out of here or..it might do something...it might be dangerous, you know..."
"Shut you meowth! We're busy!" Jessie yelped. She held up her Pokeball and threw it at the Carefree.
"Fa-reee!" Carefree cried as the ball flew through the air right at it. It flicked it's tail at the Pokeball, hitting it to the side. It fell to the ground.
"Oh, shoot," Jessie grumbled, "it didn't work!"
Meowth shook his head. "You'll be sorry! I don't know what this cute little guy does when he's mad, but I'm not going to find out. He was warning you..." He ran off into the bushes.
"Kachu!" Pikachu cried, and followed after Meowth.
"Hey, Pikachu!" Ash yelled. He looked back at the Carefree, and held up his Pokeball. "My turn to catch it!" He held back his hand.
"Caaaare!" yelped Carefree, and with a quick movement, it fluttered it's bushy tail out towards the crowd. From it's tail, it sent out a sparkling powder through the air, right towards Team Rocket and the companions.
"Ah!" James yelped, slipping on the muddy trail and landing on his back.
"Huh?" Misty asked. She fanned her face, coughing.
Ash tried to ventilate his mouth from the powder, not that it smelled bad...in fact, it smelled...fragrant. But he tried not to breath it in, just the same.
"What is this stuff?" Ash sputtered, his head on the ground, and his hands over his mouth.
"I don't know...*cough*...what this stuff is, but it's....hard...*cough*...to breath...!" Brock said. It was hard to not breathe it in...
Misty fell to her knees, gagging and coughing, still trying to fan the stuff away. Ash still lay on the ground, a few feet from Misty.
Jessie was coughing up a storm, too, having breathed in the irritating powder. "We're all going to die! *cough* It's killing me!!!"
James still lay sprawled out on the trail, several feet from the group, lying motionless. The powder loomed above the crowd, who were mostly on the ground, coughing and sputtering. A cool breeze blew in from over the trees, blowing over Brock, Misty, Ash and Team Rocket, sweeping the powder away over the clearing, and out into the air over the forest.
"Ugh!" Misty cried from the ground, her head still down, "Is that stuff gone?"
" I think so..." Brock said, standing up, and wiping the mud from his slacks. "Here, let me help you up...wow, it's still so wet out here..."
He extended his hand out to her, and she reached up to it. She shook the dust off of her face, and out of her eyes, and looked up at him. Their eyes met. There was a pause, and they were frozen--staring into each other's eyes.
"...Oh...thank you...Brock..." Misty said hazily, a few moments later. A soft smile came over her face, and suddenly, Brock smiled back. "I'm always...happy to help..." He helped her to her feet, and she stood, shakily. He was still holding her hand.
Ash looked up. "Good! It's gone! And I'm not dead or anything!" He smiled, and looked around.
Jessie realized this, too, and slowly rose to her feet. She coughed once, rubbed her eyes, and glanced down at the trail--James still out cold on the ground. Something inside her suddenly clicked...as she saw his body on the trail. She shivered, and her eyes grew very large, filled with worry.
"James!" She cried, running to his side. She knelt beside him, holding his head in her arms, and shaking him softly.
"Oh, James! Please..." She looked into his face. "Please get up...James..." He face was knotted with worry.
"Uhh....." he groaned, waking up. "Wha...what....what's wrong with you?"
"Oh, James! I was so...afraid...*sniff*..." She was crying now. The tears fell uncontrollably from her eyes, one landing on James' cheek.
"You were? You mean...really, you were?" he gasped.
"Of course I was, James. Are you in pain? Is your head OK? Your back? Oh, I hope not." She held him closer, lying next to him. She was still crying softly.
James lifted his hand to wipe her tears away. "It's...OK, Jessie. Why are you crying?"
"I was scared that...you were...dead, or something...I don't know," she cried, "but...your fine..." A smile crept onto her face.
Ash looked over the group. "Uhm, I don't know what your problem is, but we're leaving, Brock...Misty...come on! Let's go, Pikachu!"
"Piika," Pikachu dashed out of the trees, looking at everyone, and smirking at Jessie and James, who were still lying on the ground.
"We're heading up the trail, and hopefully, we'll see a Carefree again! This time, though, we'll be careful so...hey, Brock! Misty! Are you...listening?!" Ash looked over at the two, staring.
Misty was giggling, and blushing shyly, standing next to Brock.
"Hehe...oh, Brock...you are so sweet!" She looked down.
"Oh, but...not as sweet as you are, Misty!" He squeezed her hand.
"Brock, your just so cute!"
"Ah, quit playing around!" Ash protested. "Brock, quit acting stupid! You're making Misty look smart!" Ash knew he still didn't have their attention. "Look...I guess Team Rocket sucked in too much of that powder...I don't think we have to worry about them for a while. We can get away while they are...um, distracted." Ash pointed up the trail. "Let's go, now!"
He began walking, with Pikachu not far behind. Brock and Misty followed a few paces back, still holding hands.
More to come in Part 3
PLEASE READ: Before cussing me out about this story, PLEASE be mature and read the WHOLE STORY before deciding that you hate it. Believe me, this story IS NOT what it seems to be. Don't just assume that it's bad because you don't like what is happening. IT IS A TWIST IN THE PLOT!!! Besides, it's my story and I'll write it how I want. But PLEASE, don't flame me or diss this story until you've read the whole story and realize what is happening. Thanks,
~StarGlider