Skyrocketed!
Things had been rather quiet around the Ketchum residence. Ash's daughter, Ashli had been on her absolute best behavior. Within a few days, she would be able to start her Pokemon journey and if she was good she would be able to get her first Pokemon right away.
"Mooom!!" Ashli called out, "Where are the dusting rags?? I want to dust the living room!" Misty quickly delivered what her daughter asked, not wanting to hinder this rarest of moments. As Ashli set to work on the living room, Misty went in the den where her husband was.
"Hey Ash!" She sat down on the couch beside him. "What ya up to??"
"Nothing much. Just enjoying this week the best I can."
"I know what you mean! Ashli has been our personal servant lately!! She will do anything to get those pokemon!"
"Yep" Ash began to lean back. "I remember when I first started my pokemon journey, hehe. I don't remember a finer moment in my life."
Misty gave him 'the look'.
"Except when we got married, of course." Ash cupped Misty's cheek and kissed her.
"I'm beginning to worry, Ash. I remember all the trouble we got into on our journey. I hope Ashli will be okay."
"She will, she will. She doesn't have to worry about Team Rocket, like we did. Remember when we put the entire Team Rocket organization out of business."
"Sure do." Misty smiled. "I remember it very clearly." She gazed into his eyes. "I love you, Ash."
"Love you too," he responded.
Ashli walked in to ask where the Windex was, but found her parents...err...making out.
"I should get extra points for dealing with this all the time. Eck."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ash and Misty were 'celebrating' Misty's 17th birthday. Everything started as usual, with a loud
argument.
"Ash! I knew it!! You forgot my birthday again!!!"
"Maybe because you never told me!!! Why don't you go away for your birthday? It will make us both happy!!
"Well maybe your right!" Misty screamed. "You are such a jerk Ash!"
Just as Ash was about to comment, the argument was interrupted by the sound of familiar voices.
"To protect the world from devestation!"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
Ash and Misty turned to see Jessie and James of the infamous Team Rocket, reciting their little motto which had remained the same throughout the years. Ash sighed.
"...Jessie!"
" James! "
"Team Rocket Blast off at the speed of light!"
Ash cut in. "Can you leave us alone and get out of sight!!" He chuckled, and made Team Rocket very angry! Jessie clenched her teeth.
"How dare you interrupt the famous Team Rocket motto! You twerps!!"
"What do you want this time??" yelled Misty.
"We want your pikachu!" James demanded. "Right now!"
"Or we might have to get nasty!" added Meowth.
Without the least bit of enthusiasm, Ash called out to Pikachu. "Pikachu, thunder shock"
"PIIIKAACHUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" Pikachu shocked Jessie and James, forcing them to "blast off again."
+++
Jessie, James and Meowth had landed in a tree a few miles away.
"I hope that was worth it" James said as he climbed down from the tree.
"Sure it was, James" Jessie smirked. "Everything went according to plan. The twerps will finally get whats coming to them."
"Sure will, Meowth smiled." Then his stomach began to make noise. "How 'bout we celebrate the coming demise of the twerps with a feast."
"Great idea Meowth!!" Jessie and James chimed.
++++
'Well I'm glad to get rid of them. "Ash stretched out. "No problem for an ol pro like me."
Misty rolled her eyes and sat back down. When she did, a small flash of light caught her eye. She stood up and started walking toward it.
"What is it Misty?" asked Ash, who followed behind. They walked into the small wooded area, following the flickering light. Misty was in a trance, walking faster and faster toward the light.
"Hey Misty! Wait a minute!" Ash called out. But she didn't hear him. Just as he had almost caught up to her, the sun blinded him for a moment.
"Arrghhh!' Ash covered his eyes. After a few minutes, he could see clearly again. Misty had disappeared. "Misty!! Misty where are you!!!" he shouted. He searched frantically for her, but it was no use. He sat down on a tree stump to think a moment, when that same strange light started to flicker again.
"I don't know what's going on, but I know it has something to do with that." He made his way forward and within a matter of moments, no one was left in the forest.
Misty woke up in a small, dingy cell. She had a terrible headache, and propped herself up against the wall. She heard voices over in the next room, and she recognized them as the ones of Jessie and James.
"How did you ever get that Alakazam to pull that teleport trick??" Jessie asked.
"I read it somewhere in the Team Rocket files." James replied. "Lucky for us, the boss let us borrow that Alakazam for a day. Who knew it had such unimaginable power. The only bad thing was I could only get it to draw one person to its light."
"That's fine James. I'm sure the other twerp will follow once he realizes his little girlfriend is missing." The duo laughed.
"Does everyone have to make that joke??" Misty complained to herself. She heard them approaching the cell so she pretended to be unconcious. They walked right by. "That was close," Misty wiped her forehead off. She took a deep breath, and tried to think of a way out. Her concentration was interrupted by another voice.
"I found you" Ash whispered, and rubbed his head. "How...how did we get here? Where am I?? One moment I was following that strange light and the next...."
Misty covered his mouth. "You must've been teleported here like I was. Team Rocket set up some trap, and I'm guessing you got caught in it too."
"Well what do we do now?" Ash whispered.
"Not sure, but I do know we need to get out of here."
"Well, duhh!"
"Shut up Ash!"
Misty searched her pockets. "There must be something here that can help us out.." She pulled out a bobby pin.
"Oh, come on Misty! That bobby pin thing only works in the movies! Get realistic."
"Well maybe not that," Misty said "I left my pokemon at the park. You?" Ash checked and realized that he had nothing on him.
"Just great!" he clenched his fist. "I let my pokemon play in the field today!! Even Pikachu!"
Misty stood up and looked at the lock. As she examined it, she accidently pushed the door open.
"It was open all the time!!!" Ash exclaimed "Why didn't you say something Misty??"
"Well I didnt know!!!" Misty snapped. "Now let's get out of here."
The two teens walked down the dimly lighted hallway. What little they could see was Team Rocket posters on the walls, and pictures of its members.
"This is sorta creepy." Ash commented. "Any idea where we are going??"
"Stop asking questions you already know the answers to!" Misty thought most of his questions to be stupid. They passed by an open room with the light on. Ash peeked inside.
"Well, what is it already??" Misty asked quietly.
"There are hundreds of pokemon in there, Misty. They are all trapped in cages!"
"This is Team Rocket's headquaters alright! Well, we better keep going."
"We can't just leave them there. "
"Right now we have to, or we'll risk getting caught!"
"Im not leaving those poor pokemon in there! I refuse to!" Ash jiggled the doorknob. "The dang things locked"
"Well they wouldn't leave it open, you idiot!"
"Shhh!" Ash checked around the door and found a control panel. 'Password needed.' the machine played.
"Umm... open sesame."
"Password denied"
"How about Pokemon?"
"Password denied"
Ash turned to his companion. "What do you think the Team Rocket password would be?"
"Accepted. Enter." The door opened.
"Sometimes I wonder how Team Rocket stays in business" Misty said, and followed Ash inside. There was a control panel on the other side of the door, and Ash immediately began to push all the buttons.
"Ash, I don't like the idea of being in here. There are probably security cameras" Misty glanced around nervously. He didn't pay her any mind though, and kept on what he was doing. Finally, he hit the master switch and freed all the pokemon. He also set off an alarm. "Look what you've done! Now none of us will make it out of here!!" Misty yelled. Ash saw a window on the other side of the large room.
"Attention all pokemon!" Ash raised his hand. "Do your best to bust through that window to the ourside, and you all will be free." The pokemon did as they were told, and they slowly made their way out. Ash and Misty made a run for it, but only to run into Jessie and James.
"I knew we should have disposed of you twerps earlier" Jessie said. "Now you have gotten us all in trouble."
"You were the one who said you wanted to eat first." James commented.
"Shut up!" Jessie pulled out a revolver and pointed in at Misty's eyes. Tears ran down her cheeks.
"This is the last time you get in the way of Team Rocket. The last time you shatter our dreams! Defeat shall be no more once I kill you!"
Ash pulled Misty towards him, and stared straight into Jessie's eyes. "Please Jessie..."
Even James looked a bit worried at this point. "Jessie you aren't really....I thought you were just going to scare them."
Jessie's hand began to shake. "You...all deserve to die..."
A sense of peace soon overcame Ash. He then knew they would make it through. Luckily, his instincts were correct and Jessie and James were soon engulfed in a thunder shock. Pikachu had found his owner.
"Pikachu!!!' Ash opened his arms and held his best friend. Misty grabbed the gun and they both made it out the back way.
"Why did you take that thing??" Ash asked her.
"We have all of Team Rocket after us, remember?? I need this for protection." By that time, all the members of Team Rocket were swarming the building, and Ash and Misty had narrowly missed an armed group of them. They made their way up the fire escape and hid in a large office.
"Ash, they are everywhere!" Misty panicked. "What do we do??"
"Just be glad that they took as long as they did to assemble, they must have been out somewhere."
"Alright" Misty breathed in slowly. "Did the pokemon get out okay?"
"Pika!(Yes!)" Pikachu answered.
"I'm sick of all this incompetence!" a voice yelled, and someone pushed the door to the office open. Ash, Misty and Pikachu scrambled their way under the desk as Giovanni, the surpreme boss of Team Rocket made his way in!
"Who is to blame for this?" he screamed.
Another man with a clipboard answered. "Jessie and James, we believe."
"That's it!! I don't know why I tolerated them, but they are over the next time I see them! Every single pokemon within the headquarters has escaped! This could ruin us!" Giovanni pounded his fist against
the desk, continuing to rant and rave.
"Ash...Ash...I have an idea." Misty whispered her plan into his ear. "I know this is risky, but these guys don't look like they are leaving anytime soon." Misty got up from under the table and pointed the gun straight at Giovanni!
"I know what you guys have been doing! And I am going to make you pay!" Misty yelled at them.
The moment they were distracted, Ash crawled to the back entrance about a foot away, and made it out the door.
"For the crimes you've done, you all deserve to be killed!!" Misty pressed the gun against Giovanni's head.
"Ca..Cassity, Butch!" Giovanni cried out and they came running to his rescue.
"Well if it isnt the brat!" Cassity said. "And what do you think you are going to do with that, little girl. You know you are too scared to hurt anyone, so why not just hand over your gun to me. "
"I suggest you don't try me, or I'll kill you too!" She knew she was lying.
Butch shook his head. "Now you know you don't mean that!! I know you are frightened, and we promise we won't hurt you if you just drop your weapon." He began to reach in his back pocket for his pokeball.
A few offices down, Ash found the information he needed and called the police. He gave Officer Jenny the address of the headquarters and described the situation.
"Hurry, Please!" Ash pleaded. "We don't have much time."
"They must have gotten the gun away from here somehow!" His eyes filled up with tears and he picked the phone off the floor.
"Offi...Officer...Jenny. Help!"
The sound of a gunshot and Misty's cry made him drop the phone.
Luckily, the police station was not too far from the building and the police surrounded it in good time. Officer Jenny spoke into the megaphone. "THIS IS THE POLICE! ALL MEMBERS OF TEAM ROCKET ARE TO SURRENDER IMMEDIATELY!"
Troopers stormed the building, and Ash gathered the courage to go back into Giovanni's office. He didn't find anyone there, except for Misty who had been shot in the arm. She was applying pressure to it.
"Misty!! I thought you..." He rushed to her side and cried.
"Its okay Ash. I knew the chance I was taking." Misty's voice was shaky. "You listened to me for once and now the police are here."
"I wish I were there to protect you." He wiped away his tears. "You... mean everything to me."
"Ditto" Misty laughed uneasily. Ash bent down to kiss her. For that moment, all the pain of the bullet left Misty's body. She only concentrated on Ash.
Officer Jenny and the policemen got into Giovanni's office, and Misty was taken to the paramedics.
Ash watched as they took her away from the pool of blood, and realized how close he came to losing the one he cared most about.
"I love you Misty."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ash and Misty waved as Ashli set off on her pokemon journey. She had chosen a pikachu, just like her father. They both waited until their daughter left their sight.
"She has the whole world in front of her." Ash told his wife. "Just like I had the whole world in front of me."