Rocketchum

A/N: See? Told ya so! Anywho…What was it that I wanted to put here…? I forgot…I'm sure it was something…Ah well, I'll just make something up. Lessee…This is me once again re-using the cliché plot device of Giovanni being Ash's father, only this time, I'm experimenting with how things might have been different if Ash had grown up with TR and stuff. I seem to like those types of fics…*o.O*; Erm, anyway…Oh yeah if right now you're wishing that I had just posted a new chapter of One Heart instead of some completely new and different fic, worry not! OH (that's a really funny acronym…) is still going to be my main project, I just thought it might be nice to take a little break from all that heaviness every once in a while, ne? *^_^*; So, don't expect regular updates for this fic, they'll just come whenever I feel like it. Now I think I've rambled on more than enough, so I'll step back and let you read the fic now! Tat's all! *^o^*;

A/N2: So I lied about tat's all…I wrote that a/n before when I was planning on posting this on September 11, but…well…I didn't…*-_-*;; Well, like I said before, we do need a little happiness right now, so here's a fic that hopefully will bring some…*^_^*

Chapter 1

"Coming throuughhh!!!!" Ash yelled, pushing through the crowds of legs gathered around the counter.

The Rockets sighed and moved to the side as he rushed past them. The small boy, while always doing his best to be a nuisance, was just one of the factors of Team Rocket that they had all gotten used to. They didn't have a choice. The kid was the only son of their leader, Giovanni Rocket. If they messed with the kid, they'd be messing with some serious discipline down the line.

Ash reached the counter, which was more than half a foot taller than him, and hit the side of it with his fist. "I want a double bacon and cheese hamburger with fries!" he ordered loudly.

The Meowth who had previously been clinging to his jacket for dear life gingerly climbed up so he was leaning over his red and white cap. "Uhh…"

"…And get one for Meowth too!" Ash added.

The older female Rocket behind the counter groaned. "Whadda I look like, da lunch lady? Sheesh…"

"Yeah…and hurry up okay!? We're hungry here!"

"Yeah, yeah…" she muttered, then turned around and went to get what he had ordered.

Ash tapped his foot impatiently while he waited for his food.

"…Are you done yet!?"

"No! Sheesh!"

Ash groaned and leaned his back against the counter, forcing Meowth to climb all the way on top of his head. The crowd he had just cut in front of were still gathered around the counter and looked down at him disapprovingly. He glared up at them.

"What are you guys lookin' at?" he demanded.

They muttered their responses to themselves without actually making any comebacks. Ash continued to glare at them before giving them all a sideways smirk.

"That's what I thought."

The 'lunch lady' came back to the counter and set down a dish with two large hamburgers on it, as well as a heapload of fries.

"Here ya go, kid. Now don't come back for seconds anytime soon, okay?"

"Hey, he can have seconds if he wants ta have seconds, got it lady!?" Meowth retorted.

Ash just smiled, grabbed the plate and turned to run to a table near the wall where he might be able to throw fries at the Rockets without having anyone important notice. At least, he would have, if Jessie and James hadn't been standing right there when he turned around.

"Wa! What are you two doing here!?"

"We came to get lunch, what else?" James said idly.

"What about you?" Jessie asked.

"I came to get lunch too! So nya!" he answered, sticking his tongue out at her.

"So rude…" she sighed.

"He got it from you, you know," James told her.

Jessie responded with a backhand to his face.

Seeing that they were distracted, Ash knew it was his opportunity to get moving.

"See ya!" he said quickly, then tried to run. James grabbed him by the collar before he could get very far.

"I don't think so, young man…" he said sternly.

"Awww…" Ash whined, "Why do you guys always have to-?"

Jessie interrupted with a "tsktsk" noise and a twitching finger. "Wait for us. We'll sit with you," she told him, then turned to the lunch lady, "I'll have a tuna salad and a milkshake, sugar free please."

"And I'll have the fish filet!" James added.

Ash stood dejectedly to the side while he waited for their orders to come through. Meowth tapped him on the shoulder and he looked up.

"Fry?" Meowth asked, gesturing to the pile of fries on the plate.

"Huh? Oh, sure," Ash said, handing the cat a fry which he quickly gobbled up. He then proceeded to sit himself on Ash's arm and helped himself to both the fries and his hamburger.

He was almost halfway done with the burger when Jessie and James turned to them with their lunches ready.

"Come on, kid," Jessie smiled, "Let's go find a table."

"Yeah, sure," Ash mumbled.

The threesome meandered through the small cafeteria until they came to a table in the approximate middle of the room, where they promptly sat down. Jessie sat two seats to Ash's left, and James sat in between them. Meowth sat in the chair to his right and they continued to share the plate. The two of them ignored Jessie and James as they talked lavishly about the good old days when they were more than just "babysitters for junior". They'd heard all the stories before. Ash was paying more attention to who was walking around the cafeteria and where they were sitting.

"…Hey, Meowth!" he whispered conspiringly, "Look!" He pointed under the table to a male Rocket with straight black hair that fell just past his shoulders. "There's Terr…I'll get him good this time…"

Meowth glanced over his shoulder, then snickered. "Make sure ya get 'im real good, Ashy."

"I will," Ash assured the Pokémon. He grabbed his ammunition (a french fry), aimed, then flung it at his target. It thwapped against the back of his shoulder, then slid and fell to the floor. Trying to hide his idiotic grin, Ash turned back to his plate and stuffed as much of his burger into his mouth as he could.

Terr stopped when he felt the fry hit him, and felt his shoulder with the opposite hand for grease. When he found it, he slowly turned around and faced the offender. Ash's face burned bright with pride at what he'd done, not fear, but he was careful not to look Terr in the eye.

"…Don't think I don't know it was you," he said flatly.

Jessie and James stopped their gabber and stared at the newcomer. Meowth's claws flexed nervously as he felt Terr's shadow fall over him.

Ash looked up at him with innocent eyes and a full mouth. "Wuh oo men?" he asked before popping a fry in his mouth.

Terr refused to buy the innocent act, and Ash remained unnerved by Terr's tough guy demeanor. They both held their ground for a few more seconds before Terr finally groaned in disgust.

"You have no idea how lucky you are that your father's the boss. Otherwise I would've taught you not to mess with me a long time ago," he said coldly before turning away and walking back in the direction he had been going in the first place.

"Tough guy," Jessie commented sardonically as they watched him leave.

"He just knows who he's dealing with," Ash said matter-of-factly before tossing another fry into his mouth.

"Yeah, as long as your pop's in charge, we got immunity from everyone in dis building!" Meowth chuckled, snagging a fry for himself.

"Yes, that's true…" James said slowly, "…but if you're going to throw fries at people, you really ought to do it the right way…Here, try this." He picked up a fry, completely soaked it in ketchup, and then handed it to Ash. "If you dip them in ketchup in first, then you get that nice, long-lasting effect!"

"James!" Jessie scolded.

"What!?" he asked, "I was just trying to show him the best way to-"

"I know that!" she retorted, "But it's bad enough he does it on his own! He doesn't need your encouragement!"

"Oh, like throwing french fries in the cafeteria really hurt anyone."

"If it leaves ketchup stains, then yes! It's a really bad thing! I don't mind if he does harmless things like throwing things at people, but damaging good clothing is really despicable!"

Ash only half-listened to their argument as he rolled a nice, juicy french fry around in the ketchup. Meowth watched him silently, eagerly waiting to see what the boy would do next.

Once Ash was satisfied that the fry had picked up all the ketchup it could take, he lifted the dripping red mass, looked up at the still arguing Jessie and James, took careful aim, then flicked it at Jessie. It hit her smack in the middle of her face, then sloppily trailed down and flopped to the table.

Three sets of eyes were transfixed as the rest of her face quickly flushed red.

"…Why…you…little-!!!"

Ash laughed cheerfully as he got out of his seat, threw the fry that James had given him at Terr, then took off. "Come on, Meowth!" he grinned, and the cat Pokémon more than willingly jumped on his shoulder, if anything, to escape Jessie's oncoming rage.

"You!! Come back here you little…brat!" she shouted.

Ash ignored her and all the other Rockets who stared as he ran out of the cafeteria and into the hallway, where he bumped headfirst into yet another Rocket. He peered up at the obviously taken aback woman and frowned.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" he yelled at her.

"What!?" she cried, "You want me to watch where I'm going!? I'm not the one who was plowing through the hall like a madman!"

"You'd better watch your mouth too!" Ash spat.

"Wh-What!? How dare yo-!"

"Catch ya later," he sneered. He only paused to pull down his lower eyelid before taking off again.

"That brat's going to get what's coming to him someday…" Cassidy huffed as she watched him run off.

Ash and Meowth dashed through the narrow hallways, now actually dodging the random Rockets wandering around until they reached the training center, where Ash burst through the doors into the gym-like room which was almost completely empty of people and Pokémon. Only the odd, dedicated few and their Pokémon were bothering to work-out during lunch.

"Alright," Ash whispered to Meowth, "We have the whole place to ourselves!"

"Ta you, it might look dat way…" Meowth replied in reference to the other three humans and their Pokémon.

Ash shrugged. "Yeah, whatever…"

"Hey! Ash!" called a new voice to their left.

Ash turned to see a young, well-built guy in a white singlet and baggy gray training pants walking up to them. His dirty blond hair was styled into a crew cut.

"Ursa! Ursaring!" his Ursaring bellowed in greeting, thumping its chest with its paws.

"Hey guys!" Meowth replied.

"Hi Garth. Hey there, Ursaring," Ash smiled.

"See you got down here pretty quick today," Garth commented, "Lookin' for some good training?"

"Nah, not me," Ash said, "Meowth!"

"Wh…What!? I can't woyk out right now! I just ate!" Meowth yowled, beating on Ash's head with its fists. Ash grinned and winced as Meowth continued to pelt him.

Garth laughed, "Well, while you're here, ya might as well get somethin' done. Wanna try the shooting gallery? There's something you can do on a full stomach."

"Uh…Okay!" Ash said.

Garth clapped him on the back and the four of them headed off to the shooting gallery where they geared up and chose their weapons. Ash selected his usual handgun, and Garth, just to be fair, chose one of the exact same type. Ash didn't have the strength or grip to use one of the larger guns, and after getting accustomed to the smaller gun, he didn't want to bother to switch anyway.

Garth grabbed the small stool sitting outside the door as they went in and dragged it over to the barrier between the shooting range and everyone else, while Meowth and Ursaring opted to wait outside. Ash climbed up on top of it so he could fire over the barrier. Garth took his place at the area next to Ash.

"Ready, kiddo?" he asked.

Ash looked at him and nodded.

"Alright. Let's give this a shot. We'll start off with pop-up targets. You okay with that?"

"Sure!"

"Great," Garth said. He made sure the settings were right, then hit the start button.

Two red lights went off, one at a time, then a green one that signalled the start. Targets immediately began popping up left and right. Both Garth and Ash were totally focused, almost seeming like different people. It didn't look like either of them would ever miss a beat.

Then the lights began flashing again. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeep. Their points were tallied up on the screen. Ash had scored and 18 out of 20, and Garth had 17 out of 20. Ash grinned and gave Garth the V for victory sign.

Garth sighed. Though no one else liked to admit it, the kid was pretty amazing. Garth even went as far as to believe that he had to be the best Rocket he'd ever trained, even if he wasn't officially a Rocket yet.

"Alright, enough with the warm-ups," Garth said, "Let's get down to the real business! Just you, me and the targets. Think your ready for some real competition?"

Ash just laughed. That was what Garth said every time. Pleased at this, Garth changed the settings so the wall between the two areas was lowered and they were both on the same playing field.

"Ready?" he asked after they both had finished reloading.

"…Ready."

"Then…go!" Garth hit the button again and this time targets started popping up all over the place.

They both made every attempt to hit each target as it popped up, but many times more than one popped up at the same time or only stayed up for a few seconds. With the added factor of having to reload after ten fires, there was a very tense air in the room as they competed.

Finally, the buzzer went off and they stopped with a sigh. The score flashed up. Ash had finished with 22 targets down, and Garth with 18. Garth laughed in amazement.

"22 targets, Ash! That's gotta be a record!"

Ash glanced at him and grinned. It was more common for the average shooter to get around 15 at that setting, and it was rare for anyone to get a twenty or above.

"Man, I think that's enough for today, don't you, Ash?"

"You just don't wanna get beaten again!" he retorted.

"Maybe…" Garth admitted casually as he headed for the exit.

Ash jumped off the stool and followed him out, almost forgetting to take the stool with him. He parked it at its usual spot near the door and frowned down at the sleeping Meowth on the bench. Garth lightly punched his dozing Ursaring on the shoulder.

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" he said.

"Come on, Meowth! Get up!" Ash demanded.

"Huh? Wha?" Meowth mumbled, opening one eye.

Ash formed his hand into a fist. "Think you're ready for some training now?" he asked.

Garth chuckled, "Actually Ash, I think it's about time I headed over to the cafeteria. A guy's gotta eat you know."

"But…!"

"Maybe Meowth and Ursaring can do some training later, okay?"

Ash watched in dismay as Garth recalled his Ursaring into its Pokéball.

"Hey, don't look so down, kid!" he said, "I'll be back later and we can do some training then, okay?"

"…Okay…" Ash sighed.

Garth hit Ash like he did to Ursaring, only much lighter. "Catch ya later."

"Bye…"

Ash waited for him to leave, then sat down gloomily next to Meowth, who yawned and sat up.

"Now what's da matta?" he asked.

"…Nothing…" Ash answered. He held his head in his hands and looked deep in thought for a while, then suddenly perked up. "Hey, come on, Meowth! Let's practice some more until he gets back!"

"What!?"

"Let's go!"

Ash ran back to the main training center. After staring for a few seconds, Meowth jumped off the bench and started running after him.

"Heey! Wait for Meeowth!"

Meowth caught up to find Ash examining a pile of boards. He grabbed one without warning and spun around.

"Ready Meowth!?"

Meowth gave him a weary look. He'd done this exercise many times before…It wasn't one of his favorites. Ash frowned, waiting for an answer. Finally, Meowth sighed and waved a paw dismissively.

"Alright, alright. I'm ready, I'm ready…"

Ash beamed. "Alright! Here we go!!"

He tossed the square shaped board up in the air. Meowth watched it spin for a split second before jumping up and slicing it to pieces with his fury swipes. He landed and what used to be the board clattered to the ground a second later. Ash knelt down and counted the pieces.

"…nine, ten, eleven…Only twelve! Meowth, you can do better than that!"

"Do I have ta…?" Meowth sighed.

Ash picked up another board and smiled slyly. "If you can make twenty, it's all the tuna you can eat, on me…"

Meowth perked up and stared longingly at Ash with glistening eyes.

"Ready?" he asked.

"You bet I am!" Meowth replied.

Ash grinned then tossed the board up high. Taking only a split second to aim, Meowth sprung upwards with extended claws and slashed at the board.

The door to the training center slammed open, throwing Meowth more than just a little off, and he crashed through the board.

"See!? I told you he'd be here!" Jessie announced loudly.

"Well, what's so surprising about that…?" James asked.

"Absolutely nothing…" Jessie said, rolling her eyes.

The two of them approached Ash and Meowth, who seemed very unhappy as he watched Ash count the numbers of pieces on the floor.

"Only eight," he told the cat.

"Meowth…" he cried in utter disappointment.

Jessie put her hands on her hips, unpleased at how they were both ignoring her. There was no longer any trace of ketchup on her face, but that didn't mean she had forgiven him of that yet.

"Time to go, junior," she said in annoyance.

Ash stood up and got himself another board. "We're not done yet," he said haughtily.

"You are now," Jessie growled, forcing the board back on top of the pile. Ash glared up at her angrily and she made no hesitation to scowl back just as angrily.

Ash finally gave up on the staring contest and tried to pull the board out from underneath her hand. "We wanna train some more," he muttered stubbornly.

Meowth stood up hesitantly. "Uh…Yeah," he added.

"No one asked you," James retorted.

Ash turned on James. "Hey! Leave Meowth alone!"

Before James could make a comeback, Jessie grabbed Ash by the shoulders and began pushing him towards the door. "Come on, twerp. You've had enough training for today."

"But Jessie-!!"

"Let's go…"

"There's more to life than Pokémon training!" James added, before turning to follow Jessie and the struggling Ash out the door.

"Uhh…Even more dan tuna…?" Meowth questioned as he padded after the rest of the group.

Ash finally had no choice but to give in to Jessie's pushing, but did his best to make it as far from easy on her as he could. "Where are we going anyway?" he grumbled.

"Oh, we're going to give you a little lesson in what belongs on the face and what doesn't…" Jessie grinned.

"Wa…?"

"Uh…Dis doesn't have anyting ta do wid dat ketchup ting, does it?" Meowth inquired, walking behind them with both forepaws behind his head.

Jessie just chuckled.