Time: 1:25
Place: Viridian Gym
Character: Melodi
"Melodi, I want you to be one of the Junior Trainers in this Gym," Dad was saying. I was only half-listening. The other half of me was worried that he would find out that I hadn't stolen that Pidgey after all, that I'd caught it myself.
"Yes, Dad, but then I can't go to the Pokémon Center anymore," I said, hoping o get out of Gym duty for a while, at least until the Pidgey thing was off everyone's mind. I knew Ken wouldn't tell, but...
"What? Why not?" asked Dad. I sighed and gave the only explanation I could come up with.
"People know this used to be the operating place of Team Rocket! If they see me here, then at the Pokémon Center, what'll they think??"
"Oh, don't be silly, your mother and I know that no one knows a thing about TR5." That had been the downfall of the old Boss, Giovanni, who Dad had overthrown right before the destruction of TR4. Dad hadn't been watching the news lately, either, I could tell. There had been a reporter talking about Team Rocket on the Kanto News Channel yesterday.
"Ok, Dad, but only once a week, ok? I don't want to miss any good opportunities to steal Pokémon." This was my last line of excuses, but it worked.
"Alright, Melodi, but I expect YOU here to battle every Friday there is someone to battle, understand?"
"Yes, I understand," I said, and ran out the Gym's back door and through the woods to the Rocket Secret Hideout. After getting hopelessly lost, I realized that Ken was right: we DID need signs.
After about five minutes, I found a familiar place, the place where I'd caught Pidgey. I hurried back to the building. I needed to talk to Ken.
I ran straight to his room and burst in, and was almost instantly knocked down by something rushing very fast at the door.
"Geodude, STOP!! Mel, are you ok?" Ken ran over to where I was, um, sitting on the floor.
"I WAS ok. WHY was your Geodude attacking the door, might I ask?" I said, getting up off the floor.
"Actually, I thought it was Jason. He said he didn't believe I would steal a Pokémon, let alone help you steal one. He was said he was going to come and battle it out with me, and I figured I'd get rid of him and his ideas before we actually DID start a fight. Sorry about Geodude, though. I shouldn't have listened to Jason."
"No problem. I needed a good bashing anyway. I wanted to talk to you about earlier today. When we were going into the Center."
"What about it?"
"Well, first of all, I saw those two kids again. You know, the girl with black hair and brown eyes and the boy with red hair and brown eyes? I think they're twins."
"So what? They were probably there for the same reason we were."
"Yeah, but it was who was with them that scared me."
"Really? Who was it?"
"Kayla, the Lavender Gym Leader. What's more, the girl had just won a badge from Kayla. NO ONE beats her. Not unless they have like, the ultimate Pokémon or something. So this girl must be pretty powerful."
"Yeah, so?"
"SO! Not that I care, but I think Kayla came here because of the news report about TR5. And, if that girl beat Kayla, she has the stuff to beat Team Rocket as well." I sighed and sat down on a chair. "The thing is, I don't know if I would try to stop any of them from defeating Team Rocket, given the chance."
"I don't think I would, either. Even if it meant being alone forever, living a trainer's life, I want Team Rocket destroyed." Ken had a proud look on his face, but I was almost laughing, because the words he said contradicted the big red R on his white Scout's uniform.
"I knew it! I knew you two would never steal a Pokémon! Not even such an insignificant thing as a Pidgey!" I jumped out of my chair and whirled around, and saw the familiar face of Lora at the door. My enemy, and the one who WOULD tell Dad about Pidgey, if she even really knew it was a Pidgey in the pokéball.
"How nice, Lora, you came to battle in Jason's place!" said Ken, and Lora got a puzzled look on her face, making me wish I had my camera.
"What? But I didn't-" she started to back out of the room, but I caught her by the wrist and began to drag her toward the back door.
"C'mon, Lora, let's get the battle started!" I said, catching on to Ken's plan.
When we were on the battle ring outside, Ken put part two of the plan into action.
"Chicken lips, chicken lips, you'll never be able to be anything but a guard at the door, you worthless Rocket!" I had to admit, this was pretty good insulting for one of the more serious members of TR5.
"Yeah, fruit-for-brains, why don't you just admit now that you've lost and give it up?" I said, ready to run for it. Lora's face was bright red, and she turned her gaze of fury on me.
"I will beat you to a pulp!" she yelled, and Ken and I both started to run.
"You have to catch us first!" he yelled, and the two of us ran faster than I had ever run in my life.
As soon as we reached the center of Viridian City, we hid behind the police station. Lora, thinking we'd gone inside, ran in and started screaming. Ken and I laughed as quietly as we could when we heard the officers arrest her, seeing her guard uniform. They were shocked that a member of Team Rocket had run right into their station in uniform.
Wait a minute. IN UNIFORM? I looked at my and Ken's outfits and gasped. "Oh no!"
"What?" Ken asked, and he followed my eyes to the big red R on his uniform. "Oh no is right! I forgot we were in uniform! Now what'll we do? I'm surprised no one saw us running and reported us!" This was panic time. Big time.
"We've gotta hide somewhere! There's no way we can get back to the RSH without being seen! And Lora's gonna tell the minute she gets the chance!" Ken nodded, and we began to traverse the alleyways, looking for somewhere where there weren't a lot of people. But then I saw something that amazed me.
"Look! There they are! That girl, her brother, and Kayla!" I whispered furiously, pointing to the window of the nearby pokémart. "If THEY see us, in our uniforms instead of regular clothes, we're finished!" I yanked Ken back into the shadows as they left the store. But somehow I knew something was behind us.
"OW!! Ken yelled, and jumped out into the sunlight. I ran after him, but whirled around when I felt something bite my leg.
"WHAT?? Oh, it's a Houndour. WHAT WERE YOU BITING US FOR?!?!?!" I yelled, until Ken tapped me on the shoulder, at which point I turned back around. Standing there, with angry and triumphant looks on their faces, were the twins and Kayla.
"Um, hi," Ken said, smiling nervously. "We're Pokémon trainers." I pinched him. Hard. He'd forgotten, AGAIN, that we were in uniform.
"Don't play around, we know who you are, right, Meg?" asked Kayla, and Meg, the girl who'd beaten Kayla, smiled evilly and nodded.
"You betcha, Kayla. You were right about them," Meg said, and turned to her brother. "Ben, would you be so kind as to inform these people of who they really are?"
"Of course, sis," said Ben, and he turned to face us. "YOU'RE TEAM ROCKET!!!!!"
Place: Viridian Gym
Character: Melodi
"Melodi, I want you to be one of the Junior Trainers in this Gym," Dad was saying. I was only half-listening. The other half of me was worried that he would find out that I hadn't stolen that Pidgey after all, that I'd caught it myself.
"Yes, Dad, but then I can't go to the Pokémon Center anymore," I said, hoping o get out of Gym duty for a while, at least until the Pidgey thing was off everyone's mind. I knew Ken wouldn't tell, but...
"What? Why not?" asked Dad. I sighed and gave the only explanation I could come up with.
"People know this used to be the operating place of Team Rocket! If they see me here, then at the Pokémon Center, what'll they think??"
"Oh, don't be silly, your mother and I know that no one knows a thing about TR5." That had been the downfall of the old Boss, Giovanni, who Dad had overthrown right before the destruction of TR4. Dad hadn't been watching the news lately, either, I could tell. There had been a reporter talking about Team Rocket on the Kanto News Channel yesterday.
"Ok, Dad, but only once a week, ok? I don't want to miss any good opportunities to steal Pokémon." This was my last line of excuses, but it worked.
"Alright, Melodi, but I expect YOU here to battle every Friday there is someone to battle, understand?"
"Yes, I understand," I said, and ran out the Gym's back door and through the woods to the Rocket Secret Hideout. After getting hopelessly lost, I realized that Ken was right: we DID need signs.
After about five minutes, I found a familiar place, the place where I'd caught Pidgey. I hurried back to the building. I needed to talk to Ken.
I ran straight to his room and burst in, and was almost instantly knocked down by something rushing very fast at the door.
"Geodude, STOP!! Mel, are you ok?" Ken ran over to where I was, um, sitting on the floor.
"I WAS ok. WHY was your Geodude attacking the door, might I ask?" I said, getting up off the floor.
"Actually, I thought it was Jason. He said he didn't believe I would steal a Pokémon, let alone help you steal one. He was said he was going to come and battle it out with me, and I figured I'd get rid of him and his ideas before we actually DID start a fight. Sorry about Geodude, though. I shouldn't have listened to Jason."
"No problem. I needed a good bashing anyway. I wanted to talk to you about earlier today. When we were going into the Center."
"What about it?"
"Well, first of all, I saw those two kids again. You know, the girl with black hair and brown eyes and the boy with red hair and brown eyes? I think they're twins."
"So what? They were probably there for the same reason we were."
"Yeah, but it was who was with them that scared me."
"Really? Who was it?"
"Kayla, the Lavender Gym Leader. What's more, the girl had just won a badge from Kayla. NO ONE beats her. Not unless they have like, the ultimate Pokémon or something. So this girl must be pretty powerful."
"Yeah, so?"
"SO! Not that I care, but I think Kayla came here because of the news report about TR5. And, if that girl beat Kayla, she has the stuff to beat Team Rocket as well." I sighed and sat down on a chair. "The thing is, I don't know if I would try to stop any of them from defeating Team Rocket, given the chance."
"I don't think I would, either. Even if it meant being alone forever, living a trainer's life, I want Team Rocket destroyed." Ken had a proud look on his face, but I was almost laughing, because the words he said contradicted the big red R on his white Scout's uniform.
"I knew it! I knew you two would never steal a Pokémon! Not even such an insignificant thing as a Pidgey!" I jumped out of my chair and whirled around, and saw the familiar face of Lora at the door. My enemy, and the one who WOULD tell Dad about Pidgey, if she even really knew it was a Pidgey in the pokéball.
"How nice, Lora, you came to battle in Jason's place!" said Ken, and Lora got a puzzled look on her face, making me wish I had my camera.
"What? But I didn't-" she started to back out of the room, but I caught her by the wrist and began to drag her toward the back door.
"C'mon, Lora, let's get the battle started!" I said, catching on to Ken's plan.
When we were on the battle ring outside, Ken put part two of the plan into action.
"Chicken lips, chicken lips, you'll never be able to be anything but a guard at the door, you worthless Rocket!" I had to admit, this was pretty good insulting for one of the more serious members of TR5.
"Yeah, fruit-for-brains, why don't you just admit now that you've lost and give it up?" I said, ready to run for it. Lora's face was bright red, and she turned her gaze of fury on me.
"I will beat you to a pulp!" she yelled, and Ken and I both started to run.
"You have to catch us first!" he yelled, and the two of us ran faster than I had ever run in my life.
As soon as we reached the center of Viridian City, we hid behind the police station. Lora, thinking we'd gone inside, ran in and started screaming. Ken and I laughed as quietly as we could when we heard the officers arrest her, seeing her guard uniform. They were shocked that a member of Team Rocket had run right into their station in uniform.
Wait a minute. IN UNIFORM? I looked at my and Ken's outfits and gasped. "Oh no!"
"What?" Ken asked, and he followed my eyes to the big red R on his uniform. "Oh no is right! I forgot we were in uniform! Now what'll we do? I'm surprised no one saw us running and reported us!" This was panic time. Big time.
"We've gotta hide somewhere! There's no way we can get back to the RSH without being seen! And Lora's gonna tell the minute she gets the chance!" Ken nodded, and we began to traverse the alleyways, looking for somewhere where there weren't a lot of people. But then I saw something that amazed me.
"Look! There they are! That girl, her brother, and Kayla!" I whispered furiously, pointing to the window of the nearby pokémart. "If THEY see us, in our uniforms instead of regular clothes, we're finished!" I yanked Ken back into the shadows as they left the store. But somehow I knew something was behind us.
"OW!! Ken yelled, and jumped out into the sunlight. I ran after him, but whirled around when I felt something bite my leg.
"WHAT?? Oh, it's a Houndour. WHAT WERE YOU BITING US FOR?!?!?!" I yelled, until Ken tapped me on the shoulder, at which point I turned back around. Standing there, with angry and triumphant looks on their faces, were the twins and Kayla.
"Um, hi," Ken said, smiling nervously. "We're Pokémon trainers." I pinched him. Hard. He'd forgotten, AGAIN, that we were in uniform.
"Don't play around, we know who you are, right, Meg?" asked Kayla, and Meg, the girl who'd beaten Kayla, smiled evilly and nodded.
"You betcha, Kayla. You were right about them," Meg said, and turned to her brother. "Ben, would you be so kind as to inform these people of who they really are?"
"Of course, sis," said Ben, and he turned to face us. "YOU'RE TEAM ROCKET!!!!!"