Originally by Ross Jacobsen, transferred to fanfiction.net by voyager1713
Keep the reviews coming, positive or negative.
Chapter 28-Reencounter
Ross continued down Route 3, battling anyone that happened to challenge him.
Ross always beat them and continued on his way a little richer than before. It
wasn't until Ross and pokemon stopped for lunch when the day got interesting.
"YOU!" cried a voice down the path. Ross turned and saw the boy he traded with
in Viridian pointing at Ross with his companion by his side.
"You took my Hitmonchan!" accused the first boy.
Ross was insulted. "I did not," denied Ross, "I traded you a Spearow for him."
"You mixed him up into trading the wrong pokemon," claimed the first boy's
friend.
"How could I do that?" asked Ross.
"There's one way to settle this. We battle. Winner gets Hitmonchan," said the
trader.
"Why should I risk losing Hitmonchan?" asked Ross, "You'd have to put up an
equally valuable prize to even make me consider betting him."
"Alright," said the angry trader with fire in his eyes, "I'll put my Hitmonlee
in too." This clearly shocked his friend.
************************************************************************
"Are you sure about this Mike?" whispered Nick, trying not to be heard by Ross
and pokemon.
"Its either both or neither for me Nick," replied Mike, "My parents will KILL
me if I don't have them the next time I call."
************************************************************************
Ross wasn't sure about this until Hitmonchan told him to take the offer. "Are
you sure?" asked Ross.
"Mike is a terrible trainer," said Hitmonchan, "And Hitmonlee is my friend. If
I can help him get away from Mike and Nick, it's worth the risk. Besides, I
have confidence in you and the other pokemon. I know that together, you can
win. Just make sure that it's Hitmonlee in the pokeball and not another one."
Ross and the other pokemon were moved by this little speech and was determined
not to lose. Ross turned to Mike and said, "With one condition, Hitmonchan and
Hitmonlee sit on that log, out of their pokeballs."
Mike thought it over and said, "Agreed." Chapter 29-Mighty Mike
Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee were siting on the log, reminiscing about old times
and getting ready to watch the match. All of Ross's pokemon wanted to be in the
battle, but Ross and Mike already agreed that it would be a 3 on 3 battle
without Hitmonchan or Hitmonlee.
"Magikarp, GO!!!" commanded Mike.
Magikarp appeared on the grass ground and started to flop around. The
Hitmonchan started to laugh when Hitmonlee said something in his own toungue.
Hitmonchan stopped laughing and shouted, "Magikarp is going to evolve soon!
Attack him hard and FAST!"
"Bulbasaur, I choose you!" said Ross.
"Magikarp, tackle," hollered Mike.
"Bulbasaur, razor leaf," said Ross.
Leaves flew from Bulbasaur and hit Magikarp, critically hitting it.
"Come on and evolve already Magikarp!" shouted Mike.
"Finish it, vine whip," instructed Ross.
Magikarp flopped around and was hit by Bulbasaur's vines. Magikarp fainted.
"Ponyta, GO!!!" commanded Mike without calling back Magikarp.
Ponyta used fire spin on Bulbasaur, knocking him out.
"Bulbasaur, return, go Staryu, water gun!" ordered Ross.
Staryu sprayed Ponyta, reducing its strength by half. Unfortunately, Staryu
was caught in a fire spin and suffered the same fate as Bulbasaur.
"Staryu, return, go Squirtle, bubble beam,"
Squirtle went out and sprayed bubbles at Ponyta. The more powerful attack
knocked out Ponyta.
"Ponyta, return, go Spearow!" ordered Mike as he sent out his last pokemon.
Spearow emerged and saw the Squirtle that he hated so much.
"AAHHHH!!!" screamed Squirtle in fear.
Mike ordered Spearow to start out with drill peck. Ross called for withdraw.
Spearow attacked but couldn't get through Squirtle's tough shell.
Mike called for a fury attack while Squirtle tried to fend of Spearow with a
water gun. Squirtle was knocked back onto its shell and was stuck rocking back
and forth. Spearow landed and started to peck at the vulnerable Squirtle.
Squirtle looked to its helpless trainer, then to the Hitmons on the log, sad
that Squirtle was losing, and then at Mike. He was smiling wickedly and
laughing. Squirtle just looked at that laughing face, that evil, wicked,
laughing, face.
Squirtle looked at the Spearow, still attacking him, enjoying every single
moment of its revenge. Squirtle began to get mad. Those two evil, wretched
souls, getting the better of him just made his blood boil.
Squirtle started to feel warm and turn white. Spearow, confused as of what was
going on, was blinded by the white light emitting from Squirtle. Fin ears grew
from Squirtle's head and his arms, legs, and tail grew longer and stronger.
When the light faded, it was clear that Squirtle also now had teeth.
"WAR-TOR-TLE!!!!!" cried the turtle that was once Squirtle.
Everyone was amazed at the transformation. Wartortle swung his limbs back and
forth, hitting Spearow whenever it got close. Finally, Wartorle was back on his
feet and started to soak Spearow.
Spearow fell to the ground and recieved a skull bash from Wartortle. Spearow
was left seeing stars before fainting. Mike called back Spearow and the Hitmons
ran for Ross.
A net wrapped around the Hitmons and was dragged back to Mike. I'm trading you
that loser Magikarp for these Hitmons. Mike and Nick ran off before Ross could
object. Soon, Mike and Nick stopped at the sound of a high pitched voice.
"piKaCHU!" said the fast voice. Mike dropped the net holding the Hitmons.
Ross looked at his Pikachu, wondering what happened, but it was equally
puzzled.
"RUN FOR IT!!!" yelled Mike.
"What about Magikarp and the Hitmons?" asked Nick.
"Forget them all!" responded Mike.
'I don't believe it,' thought Ross, 'They're abandoning pokemon! Well I
promise that I am never going to abandon any pokemon.' With that thought, Ross
picked up Magikarp, ready to carry it to the Hitmons and then, the pokemon
center.
Ross looked towards Mike and Nick, but all he could see was a single silhouette
walk out of the trees, open Mike's net, and let the Hitmons out. Hitmonlee and
Hitmonchan ran back to Ross while the mysterious figure melted back into the
trees. Chapter 30-Moon Town
With Mike and Nick out of action, Ross walked the last half-mile to the base of
Mt. Moon where the next town was.
Moon Town was among the smallest towns around, so finding the pokemon center
relatively easy. After healing his pokemon, Ross asked what would happen to
Magikarp.
"You saved him, you keep him," explained a male nurse.
Ross walked up to the fish resting in a tank, who came to life when he saw its
savior.
"Do you want to come with me?" Ross asked Magikarp.
The orange fish responded by jumping into Ross's arms. Ross set the pokemon
down and held out a pokeball. Magikarp turned into a ball of red energy which
flew into the pokeball.
Ross found out in Pewter that all gyms had the same hours. Ross was too late
to battle at the gym today, so Ross left the small town to catch more pokemon.
Ross's pokemon was walking with him when Hitmonlee tripped on something.
"You okay?" asked Ross.
Hitmonlee got up and started to say something when the rock started to float in
the air. A pair of arms opened around the rock revealing two eyes and a mouth.
"Geodude," said the rock.
"WOW! A wild Geodude, we gotta catch it! Staryu..." started Ross.
"No," said Hitmonlee, "This one's mine. He tripped me and I intend to teach
him some manners."
"Okay, Hitmonlee, GO!!!" changed Ross.
Hitmonlee walked up to the Geodude, took a fighting stance, and said, "Defend
yourself." Chapter 31-Hitmonlee's Battles
"Rolling kick," instructed Ross.
Hitmonlee dived into a roll, aimed straight at Geodude. Geodude started to
charge at Hitmonlee for a tackle, but encountered a slight problem in the
way...Hitmonlee's foot. Geodude was held on the ground by Hitmonlee, weak from
the kick it received. Ross threw a pokeball and caught Geodude.
Hitmonlee was really enthusiastic about catching Geodude and ran off to find
some more wild pokemon to fight. Ross lost track of Hitmonlee as he ran off.
Ross and crew started to look for Hitmonlee. It was starting to get dark out
when they saw Hitmonlee stand up straight waving a hand to call them over. When
Ross and crew arrived, they couldn't believe what they saw. Hitmonlee was
fighting a Machop, Paras, and Zubat all at once. The battle was moving so fast
that Ross couldn't give commands to Hitmonlee. When Ross tried to send another
pokemon out to help Hitmonlee, he was waved off.
Before Ross knew it, Machop was tossed at his feet, nearly out cold and too
weak to struggle. Ross dropped an empty pokeball onto him and caught Machop.
Hitmonlee continued to fight Paras and Zubat single-handedly. Hitmonlee was
doing impressively well. Hitmonlee did a double kick to Paras and knocked him
up against a rock. Ross threw another pokeball and caught Paras. All that was
left were Zubat and Hitmonlee. Hitmonlee did a jump kick and slammed Zubat into
the ground. Zubat was dazed, but still hanging in there. Zubat tried to get
back into the air, but was knocked back down with a mega kick. Zubat fainted
and Ross caught it in a third pokeball.
Ross and his pokemon clapped and cheered, but Hitmonchan didn't. "Why did you
want to fight 3 enemies at once alone?" Hitmonchan asked Hitmonlee once the
cheering died down.
"I wanted to prove myself and show my gratitude to Ross and the others,"
explained Hitmonlee.
"You didn't have to prove yourself to me or anyone else," explained Ross, "You
just have to be a good friend and be ready when we need you." Hitmonlee
gradually developed a smile.
"It's getting late, we should head back for the pokemon center," announced
Ross. "Maybe when we get back, some of you could teach me some moves."
All of the pokemon liked the thought of teaching their trainer some of their
moves and went back to the small town in high hopes. Chapter 32-The Trainer's Training
Back at the pokemon center, the outdoor lights were just coming on. There was
still a couple of hours before Ross had to turn in for the night, so Ross took
his pokemon to the battle room in the pokemon center.
The room was large and empty except for a few dummies stacked in the corner.
Ross set up one of the dummies and pulled out Mew.
"I'm going to teach you how to telepathically communicate with psychic and
ghost pokemon," said Mew, "Do as I do."
"Okay," said Ross.
Mew sat down with its legs crossed and closed his eyes. Ross did the same and
Mew started to speak.
"Listen to the sound of my voice, listen only to my voice," instructed Mew, "In
order to communicate telepathically with pokemon, you must learn to be able to
determine what I'm going to.."
"...say before I say it," said Ross, "Listening to the mind's voice is
essential for predicting a pokemon's next move."
Ross opened his eyes and saw Mew standing up, looking at Ross. Ross thought,
'Testing 1, 2, 1, 2..'
"3," said Mew. Ross smiled as Mew went back into his pokeball.
"Guess that's it for lesson one," said Ross.
Ross called out Hitmonchan, who said, "I'll teach you how to use comet punch."
Ross nodded while Hitmonchan walked over to the dummy Ross set up. Hitmonchan
shot out two quick lefts and then a powerful right uppercut. The dummy was
launched into the air and fell with a soft thud.
Hitmonchan set the dummy back up and motioned for Ross to try. Ross walked
over and repeated Hitmonchan's punches. This time, the dummy flipped onto its
back. Ross and Hitmonchan sparred for a little bit to get Ross used to the feel
of comet punch. Hitmonchan went back into its pokeball for the night. Ross
pulled out Hitmonlee's pokeball and called him out.
Hitmonlee set up the dummy and showed Ross how to do a double kick. Ross
learned quickly and spared a few rounds with Hitmonlee. To keep Ross on his
toes, Hitmonlee mixed in a few of his special kicks. Ross imitated Hitmonlee's
kicks, but had some trouble. Ross and Hitmonlee continued to spar until Nurse
Joy opened the door.
"You have better pack it in," explained Joy. "Trainers have to be in bed in 20
minutes."
Hitmonlee and Ross sighed in unison, but did as they were told.
Hitmonlee got into his pokeball while Ross got set up for bed. Chapter 33-News Flash!
Ross was finishing up with brushing his teeth when a large man came out of a
bathroom stall and dropped a newspaper onto the counter. Ross bent over to spit
into the sink when the headline caught his eye.
'Team Rocket is Alive and Kicking'
Ross swallowed his toothpaste and read the article.
'Yesterday afternoon, 50 captured members of Team Rocket broke out of jail.
Many of the squads have started an nation-wide crime wave, ranging from
individual robberies and pokemon center raids, to shopping centers and even
starting pokemon distributors. "It was terrible," says one of the latest
victims, "They even stole my Magikarp!!!" At the latest shopping mall robbery,
a gang newsletter was recovered including names and descriptions of 5 trainers
on their 'blacklist.'
'I'd hate to be one of those suckers!' thought Ross as he looked at the names
of the blacklisted trainers.
'Ash Ketchem, small surprise,' thought Ross as he read, 'Indigo Plateau
Pikachu, I didn't even know that he was a trainer! Mike Crosby, Nick Grahm,
whoever they are...'
Ross's jaw dropped when he saw the last name. He couldn't believe his eyes!
The last name was...
************************************************************************ "Ross
Jacobsen," said the man in blue, "He was the kid that caught those four members
of Team Rocket. They must be short on members for them to blacklist this kid
for that."
"I think it's more than that," said Jenny, "If Ross has some rare pokemon, or
was a former member, Team Rocket would consider him more of a threat."
************************************************************************
"Pika, Pika-PIka," said a small yellow rodent.
"What is it Pikachu?" asked Ash. Pikachu held up a newspaper and pointed to an
article. Ash started to read it and said, "So Team Rocket is still out to get
us, what else is new?"
Pikachu fell over, he couldn't believe the ignorance of his friend sometimes.
He removed the paper from Ash's hand, rolled it up, and smacked Ash over the
head with it. While Ash rubbed his head, Pikachu pointed at a line towards the
bottom of the article.
************************************************************************
Ross tossed in his sleep that night. He was having nightmares about Team
Rocket. He dremt that Christian, Lee, Meowth, Bonnie, and Clyde were
surrounding him. Ross reached for his pokemon, but none of them were on his
belt. A Magneton floated into view, holding several pokeballs with its magnetic
forces. Ross was easily overpowered and tied upside-down in a tree, left for
the wild pokemon to have their way with. A Primeape leaped up from the ground
and ready to thrash at the helpless Ross.
Ross sat up straight in his bed, pajamas soaked in cold sweat. Suddenly
worried for his pokemon's well-being, Ross opened his backpack. He only relaxed
after he accounted for each of his pokeballs.
Ross closed his backpack and laid back down. If Team Rocket wanted him and his
pokemon bad enough, they would find a way to do it. Chapter 34-The Earth Badge
Ross felt the alarm beat against his hip again, but didn't need to be waken up
this time. He spent the entire night worrying about when and IF Team Rocket
would be coming after him. Even though scared stiff, Ross somehow got out of
his bed and was at the gym when the receptionist unlocked the door.
The inside of the gym was much more interesting than the outside. Ross walked
down the hall, peeking into a room once in a while. Most of them had laboratory
equipment in them, but some of them had very humble accommodations. A
fireplace, some cots, and only one bathroom that Ross could find!
Ross tried to remember who the gym leader was, but all that he could remember
was that he didn't like to be called 'mister' or any other name except for
one...
'SEYMOUR,' thought Ross. That was the leader's name. Ross was glad that he
remembered, or Seymour might take his extra aggression on Ross's pokemon.
Ross stood before a pair of doors labeled;
"Earthen Warriors' Battle Arena
The Leader Awaits All Challengers"
Ross stepped inside. The arena resembled the interior of a frontier cabin.
The only difference was a mobile of the solar system hanging from the center
beam. Ross also noticed a scruffy looking man with glasses in a white lab coat.
"My opponents arrive with much glee, but usually leave in misery," quoted the
man, "Seymour is my name, leading this gym brings me fame."
Ross wondered why a gym leader would be talking in rhyme when Seymour said,
"Let's get this match over and done, this match will be one-on-one."
Ross pulled out Bulbasaur's pokeball and readied himself for another battle.
"This pokemon is a sure-fire bet," explained Seymour, "Your only opponent will
be Diglett."
Seymour tossed out a pokeball while Ross tossed out Bulbasaur's.
A tiny mole emerged from Seymour's pokeball to battle Ross's Bulbasaur.
"In order to beat it, I say to scratch it!" rhymed Seymour.
"Razor leaf," instructed Ross.
Diglett ran up to Bulbasaur to scratch him but was seriously hurt by the razor
leaves.
"To avoid the next round, dig into the ground."
"Tackle it Bulbasaur," said Ross
Diglett dug deep into the bare earth floor. Bulbasaur stumbled on the hole and
fell to the floor. The dirt surrounding the hole filled the opening, hiding
Diglett from sight.
"Make it bow by tackling it now," commanded Seymour.
"Pull yourself up from the ground with vine whip on the rafters."
Bulbasaur extended its vines to the rafters, wrapping around the beams several
times. Bulbasaur pulled himself up out of harm's way as Diglett surfaced to
attack Bulbasaur. Finding that its opponent had disappeared, Diglett became
slightly confused. Bulbasaur finally finished pulling himself up into the
rafters and out of sight.
"This match really matters, Bulbasaur's up in the rafters!" exclaimed Seymour.
"Growl," ordered Ross, getting ever more frustrated with Seymour's repetitive
rhyming.
Diglett looked up, but didn't see a single trace of Bulbasaur. But Diglett
sure HEARD him. Bulbasaur's growl echoed in the huge, empty stadium, making
Ross's pokemon sound much bigger and stronger. Diglett was terrified by the
enormous sound and started to dig like crazy into the ground.
"Will you just slow, it's only an echo!"
But Diglett refused to leave its underground refuge. Finally, Seymour had no
choice but to forfeit.
"Your wisdom exceeds beyond your years, you managed to bring my Diglett down to
tears," proclaimed Seymour.
"Will you please stop your constant rhyming!?! It's getting VERY old!"
requested Ross.
"Sorry," apologized Seymour, "Old habits die hard. Since you beat me, you
shall receive an Earth Badge." Seymour pulled a yellow box out of his coat
pocket and pushed a button.
The overhead mobile started to spin and the 6th planet descended to the floor.
Once it landed, the unusual orb rolled to Ross's feet. Ross picked it up and
realized that it was a painted pokeball. Ross opened it and inside was a small,
round pin, drawn like the Earth.
"Take the Earth badge with pride and remember that knowledge is power," said
Seymour. Ross was about to toss Seymour back the pokeball, but Seymour said,
"Keep it, I've been working on these special Super balls, they're more powerful
than even Ultra balls and will catch just about anything its beam is aimed at."
"Thanks," said Ross as he turned to the exit.
************************************************************************
Seymour's cell phone rang a couple times before he answered it.
"How did it go?" asked the voice on the other end.
"He won, just like the others," reported Seymour, "You still haven't explained
to me what this is all about yet."
"I wish I could tell you," said the voice, "But all that I know is that Ash and
the others want those kids to be watched." Chapter 35-Into the Mountains
With the second required badge pinned safely inside his coat, Ross got a map of
the mountains and started down the trail that would lead him to the freezing
mountain pass. Only at the end of that pass would he find Glacier Peak, home to
the Ice Lord, leader of the local pokemon gym.
The trip down the trail was uneventful, other trainers wanted to save their
pokemon's strength since there was only a couple of pokemon centers even
REMOTELY nearby. The temperature steadily dropped and Ross put on the parka he
bought in Moon Town. Ross's pokemon didn't like the cold very much, so all of
them went into their pokeballs.
Ross carried on towards his goal, navigating by a map, sun, and dropping
temperature. Soon, Ross turned a bend and saw snow on the ground. Ross was in
awe at the splendor before him.
Ross was eager to find an ice pokemon and began to jog down the pass when he
slipped and started to slide down the hill on his backside. Ross was out of
control and thought that he would never be able to stop. But after a while,
Ross slowed down and eventually stopped.
When he looked up, Ross was staring straight into the face of... Chapter 36-A Psychic Chill
Himself. Ross looked around and saw that he was in an ice cavern where each
surface was polished to reflect images. Ross looked one way and noticed what
seemed to be a flock of Jynx.
'But wild Jynx are usually solitary,' thought Ross. As he approached, he
realized that he was actually seeing several reflections of the same, ALONE,
Jynx.
'If I fell for it, I wonder if that Jynx would,' thought Ross. Using his
telepathy to mental pokemon, Ross read the Jynx's mind. (Or what there was.)
'I am so beautiful,' thought the icy psychic, 'Who needs brains when you have
got beauty? I probably better go get some food. Now, which way was out again.'
Ross couldn't believe it, the Jynx was lost in the cave of mirrors. None of
Ross's pokemon would appreciate a battle in the freezing cold, so Ross got
another idea.
************************************************************************
Jynx turned to go in the direction that it thought the exit was when it saw a
strange creature with its back turned. Jynx started to back away when it saw
another creature. And another. And another!
Jynx looked around, it was surrounded. Jynx tried to make a run for it, but
kept hitting a mirror. All of the creatures were turning around to face it.
Jynx was getting really scared.
All of the creatures stood to their full height. Some were Jynx's size, while
others were over twenty feet tall. All of the creatures pulled out a red and
white pokeball and prepared to throw them at Jynx.
Jynx tried to ram one of the smaller creatures out of the way, but it wouldn't
move and Jynx was too dizzy to fight. It seemed like a lot of the orbs were
missing Jynx, but one of them wasn't missing.
************************************************************************
Ross walked over and picked up the pokeball containing the Jynx. Ross couldn't
believe that the psychic pokemon thought that it was surrounded. Shrugging off
the pokemon's ignorance, Ross followed his own footprints out of the cave. Chapter 37-On Ice
Ross looked up at the sky. It had taken him longer to get out of the ice cave
then he thought. It was getting late, and there was a pokemon center about half
a mile away. Ross continued on his way until he reached the top of a hill.
"According to the map," said Ross to himself, "The pokemon center should be
right here."
Ross looked around but didn't see any signs of life.
'Where is it?' wondered Ross. Suddenly he felt the ground shake, three
Digletts popped out of the snow in a group.
"Dugtrio," said the three, cold moles in unison. Before Ross could respond to
the pokemon, they dropped a note and disappeared back into the snow.
Ross picked up the note and read it.
'SOS. The snowflake pass pokemon center has been buried in an avalanche.
Require assistance.
Signed;
Nurse Joy'
Ross realized that the Dugtrio must have been in the center when it was buried
and was sent for help. Ross pulled the shovel out of his backpack and started
to dig.
************************************************************************
About an hour after he started, Ross reached a window of the pokemon center.
There wasn't any one around to open the window so Ross tapped on the glass.
Everyone inside jumped at the noise and turned to face the window.
A girl about a year younger than Ross came and opened the window for him.
"Somebody order a pizza," Ross joked.
************************************************************************
Once everyone was out of the pokemon center, it took about another 2 hours to
clear away the rest of the snow.
After the pokemon center could let people in again, Ross checked in his pokemon
for healing and went into the trainers' quarters. Ross was so tired that he
just took off his shoes, climbed into bed fully clothed, and went to sleep. Chapter 38-Chill Out
Ross woke up in the middle of the night. He had another nightmare.
In this one, Ross was dressed in earth-tones, battling off about twenty members
of Team Rocket. Ross wasn't doing well. All of his pokemon had fainted and he
was getting tired. One of the Team Rocket members threw a net onto Ross,
restraining him from fighting back. Ross looked around at the Rocket's laughing
up their success and one of them, was Adam.
Ross looked around, everyone else was still asleep. Ross started to calm down
when he heard a noise coming from up front.
************************************************************************
"Be quiet," hissed Jill, "This is supposed to be a covert operation."
"Yeah Jack," whispered Meowth, "We're supposed to be cat buglers remember?"
"Sorry," apologized James before he tripped on a wire and landed with a thud.
************************************************************************
Ross definitely knew that something was up, so he pulled on his shoes and
walked through the door.
"Hello?" asked Ross.
"Get DOWN!" ordered a voice a little too loudly.
"Who's there?" inquired Ross. Ross heard some more whispering and arguing.
Suddenly, Ross felt two pairs of hands trying to hold him down on the floor by
pinning his shoulders and covering his mouth. Ross used a comet punch to break
free of his captors. It was difficult for Ross to see but apparently his
captors were now trying to capture each other.
Ross decided that he had better hide from his adversaries but encountered a
small pokemon covered with fur. The strange pokemon started to swing its claws
at Ross. Ross couldn't see very well, but its adversary seemed to be able to
see him very well. Ross threw the pokemon to the floor and listened closely.
Ross didn't hear the two larger figures fighting anymore.
Ross noticed a something coming up from his legs. Ross did a double kick and
sent the small pokemon into the two dark figures. While the three figures were
dazed, Ross reached for the light switch.
By the time Ross had gotten the lights on, all Ross could see was the front
door flapping in the snowy wind. The rest of the lobby was fine, and there was
no noticeable marks on himself.
Ross closed the door and decided to just go to bed and forget about the event.
************************************************************************
"I can't believe that we blew it AGAIN!!!" exclaimed Jill.
"I guess we will just have to get that bird on our own," Jack said calmly.
"Yeah RIGHT!" said Meowth, "Two poison and one normal pokemon against a wild
Ice pokemon in its home!?!"
"We will either catch it," proclaimed Jack in a noble voice, "or one of us will
die in the attempt!"
"Give me Articuno or give me DEATH!" quoted Jill.
The two trainers looked at the Meowth. "I'll see you two at the bottom of the
mountain," said the small cat as it tried to run down the mountainside.
Jack grabbed the cowardly cat by the back of its neck and proceeded to drag it
up the mountain. Chapter 39-Icy Battle
Ross left the pokemon center in high hopes. Glacier Peak was only about an
hour's march away and was within sight. Ross only had one problem.
He didn't know which mountain it was. Ross knew that it was one of two
mountains. One of them was home of the ice gym, while the other one was empty.
Both paths seemed equally used, and the sign post was broken beyond definition.
Ross knew that a wrong choice would result in the loss of an entire day. Ross
stopped and took a break while he thought about which way to go. He closed his
eyes and fell into a trance.
************************************************************************
A boy and girl in Team Rocket uniforms were climbing a cliff with a Meowth.
"Hurry up!" ordered girl, "It's only a little further."
"I'm tired," complained Meowth, "Can't we take a break?"
"NO!!!" replied its human companions in unison.
************************************************************************
"There it is," proclaimed the male, "The old bird itself."
"Time to catch," instructed the female, "or time to die!"
************************************************************************
Ross's eyes popped open at the statement made by the female member of Team
Rocket in his vision.
'They must be MAD!!! Climbing a mountain like that,' thought Ross, "I have to
try and stop them." And without a second thought, Ross bolted for the mountain
on the left.
************************************************************************
About an hour later, Ross was on the cliff that he saw the two members of Team
Rocket on in his vision. At first Ross thought that he imagined the whole
vision, when he heard a terrified war cry of a pokemon.
"CUUUUNNNNNOOOOO!!!!!!" hollered the pokemon.
Ross looked up and saw a beautiful blue bird flying around a floating purple
sphere.
"Kof-fing," said the sphere.
The blue bird wasn't doing to well and retreated out of Ross's sight. Ross
climbed over the top of the cliff's edge and saw three pokemon fighting a blue
bird, a snake, a cat, and the purple ball.
Ross saw two people watching the fight and trying to throw pokeballs at the
blue bird, but each time, the bird escaped. The couple was getting frustrated
and stared to shoot riffles at the bird.
The bird fell out of the sky with blood flowing out of its left wing. The pair
each threw another pokeball at the injured bird but again failed to capture it.
The girl walked up to the fallen bird, put her riffle to the bird's head and
said, "If we can't have it, then no one will!"
"NNNNOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" hollered Ross as he charged up at the Team Rocket member
ready to kill Articuno. Ross leaped into the air and did a round house in
midair, kicking the female Rocket away from the precious bird.
"Who do you think YOU are kid?" demanded the other human while the female sat
up.
"I am Ross Jacobsen, and I say that you can't kill a pokemon just because you
can't catch it!"
"YOU'RE the brat that our boss wants taken care of!?!" asked the girl who now
had an imprint of Ross's shoe on her face.
"Mind your blood pressure Jill," warned her friend.
"SHUT UP Jack!" commanded Jill, "I'm gonna teach junior here a lesson! Ekans,
wrap this loser."
Ekans leapt to the attack, but Ross used double kick to make Ekans fly into the
mountain wall instead.
"Koffing, tackle!" ordered Jack.
The purple ball charged at Ross but was knocked into the nest by Ross's comet
punch. Koffing was dazed, but floated up and knocked an egg out of the nest in
the process.
"CU!" cried the blue bird as it tried to fly to save the egg as it rolled to
the cliff. Articuno got two feet before its wing gave out, leaving Articuno
unable to save the egg.
Team Rocket tried to stop the egg, ran into each other.
"Spearow, GO!!! Save the egg!!!" commanded Ross.
Spearow emerged from the pokeball and flew for the egg. The egg was getting
closer to the edge as Spearow approached the egg. The egg seemed to float in
the air for an eternity before it dropped over the edge. Spearow dived out of
sight after the egg.
It was one of those moments that seem to last a lifetime. Time stood still for
everyone on that plateau. The world seemed to be white around that solitary
cliff face. Chapter 40-Saved Or Scrambled?
Everyone wondered if Ross's Spearow had been fast enough to save the egg.
Finally, a bird pokemon became visible over the edge of the cliff, but it wasn't
Spearow.
"Fea-ROW!!!" exclaimed the bird, but Ross, Articuno, and Meowth heard it ask,
"Miss me?" Before anyone could ask the result of Articuno's egg, they noticed
that Fearow was carrying something in its talons. Articuno's egg!!!
Jack and Jill ordered their pokemon to attack Spearow, Ross, and Articuno, but
they had a slight problem. Ekans, Koffing, and Meowth were very weak from the
cold and their last battle with Articuno.
Jack and Jill charged at Ross and Articuno, but Ross moved himself and Articuno
out of harm's way. Jack and Jill tried to stop, but collided with the mountain
wall, tangled in a heap with their pokemon.
'Now's our chance,' thought Ross.
Ross took the egg from Fearow and with Articuno under his arm, climbed onto
Fearow and instructed him to fly to the second mountain. Chapter 41-Articuno's Agony
Fearow landed gracefully on Glacier Peak. Ross ran into the simple town's
pokemon center, hoping that there was still a chance to save the adult Articuno.
The nurse went into the emergency room with the rare blue bird. Ross sat in
the lobby, holding the unborn egg in his backpack, wondering if it would have a
parent to teach it how to survive or not.
Even though he arrived in time to compete, Ross decided not to go to the
pokemon gym that day. He had to know the moment Articuno's verdict came in.
The nurse was in the back room for a long time. Many trainers came and left
that day, but none of them felt like Ross did. Ross was feeling so lonely that
he called home and withdrew one of his pokedolls to hug. He just rocked back
and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Just hoping and waiting.
Ross had many wonders that day. Why did Team Rocket do things like this? Why
was he stuck saving the egg? Why, why, WHY?
The door to the Emergency Room finally opened and the nurse stepped out. She
didn't look very happy. Ross walked over and realized what it was before she
even said a word.
"I'm afraid that we can't save Articuno," explained the nurse, "We plan to give
it a sedative so that it will die peacefully in its sleep. If you would like,
you can come in as we administer it."
"Okay," Ross said glumly. He felt like crying, but took the small egg into the
emergency room.
Inside the emergency room, Ross saw all sorts of equipment. On the main
operating table, the once proud Articuno laid. Only one doctor was in the
emergency room with a needle and bottle.
The man inserted the needle into the bottle and filled it with a green
chemical. Articuno watched as the doctor did this and insert the needle into
Articuno's good wing. The doctor did his best to smile, but clearly took no joy
in killing a creature. Ross asked to be alone with Articuno and the doctor
respectfully left.
Ross called out Jynx to translate since Ross didn't understand Articuno.
Articuno talked weakly and Jynx thought, 'I know that I am going to die soon,
could I please have my egg with me when I die?'
Ross set the egg next to Articuno. 'Thank you. When I'm gone, I want you to
take care of my hatchling. Will you do this for me?' thought Jynx as Articuno
spoke.
"I will," promised Ross.
'Thank you,' thought Jynx before Articuno started to sing a song. Ross
listened to the song being played in Jynx's mind. The song grew softer and
softer until at the end, the mighty bird died.
************************************************************************
Some of the humans said that they were all scared of an upcoming traveling
convention. Some said that a great trainer had come to capture them all.
Others say that the spirit of the range had died at that moment. Whatever the
reason, all of the pokemon in that mountain range became as silent as stone.
************************************************************************
Ross stepped out of the ER and heard the nurse talking to someone on the phone.
"He brought in the bird, hoping that it could be saved, we managed to, but gave
it a sedative to make it easier to handle and make the kid think that it died,"
explained the nurse, "We'll transfer the bird over to you for analysis." There
was a pause.
"We think that the Articuno laid an egg recently that should hatch soon if it
hasn't already. I'll be asking the kid if he saw it, and if he did, I'll
convince him to tell us where." Another pause. "Okay, bye."
Ross walked back into the ER before the nurse or anyone else saw him. Chapter 42-The New Story Of What Happened
Ross was in the training room trying to work out some of the aggression he had
developed over the loss of Articuno and the treachery of the nurse and doctor.
Ross had put his backpack containing the egg into a cabinet for training gear.
Ross's mind was full of more whys. Why did he take that path? Why did he send
Spearow to save the egg? Why did the nurse do this?
All of the questions was making Ross angry. Finally, he extended both of his
fists at a dummy. the dummy was knocked back, but another dummy behind it also
fell over without being touched by Ross or anything else. Ross pulled out his
pokedex and analyzed the dummy.
"There is residual energy of the attack referred to as psychic," explained the
computer.
Ross was going to attack some more dummies when the nurse from up front named
Jackie came in.
"Been taking out some aggression?" asked Jackie.
"Yeah," replied Ross.
"We've done some tests on Articuno's body and have reason to believe that it
recently laid an egg," explained the nurse, "Exactly what happened?"
"Well," started Ross, "I was on my way here to battle the gym leader for a
badge when I got mixed up and climbed the wrong mountain. I encountered a squad
of Team Rocket fighting an Articuno. They weren't able to catch it, even when
they shot it with guns. They got steamed and got ready to kill the bird by
shooting it in the head. I ran in and messed up the shot. They sent their
pokemon after me and an egg got knocked out of the nest during the fight.
Everyone tried to stop it, but the egg rolled over the edge. While Team Rocket
was in shock, I grabbed Articuno and flew over here on my Fearow."
Ross kept a straight face as the nurse scrutinized his face. "What a shame,"
said the nurse, "That may have been the last wild Articuno egg."
Jackie left with a fake glum face while Ross did his best to maintain a
straight face. "I'll bet," said Ross as he punched a nearby dummy. The dummy
developed a thin coat of ice.
************************************************************************
"Nah, he's clueless," reported Jackie.
"What a shame," said a dark figure on the screen, "Another Articuno would have
been most beneficial. Even if it was just an egg."
************************************************************************
Ross sat on the bench in the corner of the room. According to his pokedex, the
best way to hatch any pokemon is to keep it near a heat source at all times. So
Ross put the egg under his parka and zipped it up.
That night he had another nightmare. In this one, Ross was being attacked by
the adult Articuno he took to the pokemon center that day and was having trouble
until another Articuno flew in front of him. The larger Articuno just laughed
until a red bird joined the smaller Articuno, then a yellow one.
The large Articuno called out and another pokemon took to the field. This one
was large and looked like a Mew on steroids. The unusual Mew launched some sort
of attack and knocked out all three of the birds before turning to Ross.
Ross woke up in another cold sweat and checked for the egg. It was there, and
Ross couldn't help but wonder, what was causing all of these nightmares. Chapter 43-The Ice Badge
Ross awoke the next morning ready to get his new badge and out of town. Ross
packed up and checked his supplies, he had enough to get him through the next
six days. Fortunately, Cerulean City was 3 days away, so Ross didn't have to
buy more supplies in the creepy town of Glacier Peak.
Ross left the pokemon center and proceeded to the largest building of town.
Adorned in pictures of ice pokemon, snowflakes, and icicles, the main gym was
cold and the floor was covered with snow. At the opposite end of the gym floor
was a man dressed in white.
"I am the Ice Lord, leader of this gym, do you wish to battle me?" inquired the
man. By now, Ross was getting a little annoyed by this entire town.
"No, I came were because my drink is warm," Ross said sarcastically, "Of course
I came here for a badge battle."
"Very well, 2 on 2," explained Ice Lord, "My first pokemon will be Lapras."
A massive pokemon waddled out into position.
"My first pokemon will be Charmander, GO!!!" cried Ross.
The fire lizard walked out, ready to battle.
"Lapras, start with a body slam," instructed Ice Lord.
"Charmander, ember," said Ross.
Lapras tried to do as he was instructed, but body slammed the ember instead.
Lapras was severely burned.
"Lapras, mist."
"Charmander, slash."
The room started to fill with a light mist, making it a little difficult to see
clearly. Charmander still slashed at Lapras's burn, making it worse.
Lapras hadn't fainted, but it would before too much longer. The Ice Lord must
have realized this because he called back Lapras and sent out a large shell.
The Cloyster opened straight down the middle to reveal a pair of eyes.
"Cloyster, spike cannon."
"Charmander, rage!"
Cloyster launched volley after volley of spike going straight at Charmander.
Most of them hit Charmander, making him really mad.
Charmander attacked Cloyster over and over, but couldn't get through Cloyster's
tough shell.
"Cloyster, use supersonic."
"Keep attacking Cloyster."
Cloyster made a strange noise that confused Charmander. Charmander started to
attack a picture on the wall. Charmander started to get annoyed by the
unaffected Cloyster.
"Cloyster, clamp Charmander's body with your shell."
"Charmander, look out behind you!" warned Ross.
But it was too late, Charmander was restrained in Cloyster's shell and couldn't
break free.
"Charmander, return," said Ross, "Hitmonlee, GO!!!"
"Cloyster, withdraw."
"Hitmonlee, rolling kick.
Cloyster closed its shell to hide from Hitmonlee, but was launched up into the
ceiling before falling to the floor. Cloyster's shell had a crack and icicles
started to fall from the ceiling.
"Cloyster, stay in your shell!"
"Use Cloyster as an umbrella for the icicles," instructed Ross.
Hitmonlee picked up the motionless Cloyster and held it over his head. Icicles
fell all over the place and the two trainers had to dodge the icicles
themselves.
Hitmonlee ran around in a blind panic, carrying Cloyster around for the ride.
Hitmonlee soon tripped over a chunk of ice that broke off of an icicle.
Cloyster rolled on its shell until it stopped right under a huge icicle.
Cloyster chanced a peek out of its shell. When it saw the huge icicle over it
getting ready to fall, it cried out in terror, "CLOY-STER!!!!"
Ross and the Ice Lord turned around to see Cloyster about to be crushed by the
icicle as it slipped from its position. Both ran over to Cloyster, but the gym
leader tripped over Hitmonlee as he stood up. The last bit of ice holding the
icicle in place broke away, releasing the heavy object straight at the bivalve.
If it landed on Cloyster, it would mean certain DEATH!
The icicle got closer to the doomed pokemon as Ross dived for it. Ross
snatched the Cloyster and began to roll out of the path of the largest icicle.
CRASH!
When Ross opened his eyes, he was upside-down against the wall. The massive
icicle had broken into several pieces and only one small icicle was still on the
ceiling.
Hitmonlee and the Ice Lord were by his side. "You risked your life to save my
pokemon," said the large man, "I don't know what to say."
"It was nothing," Ross said as he grabbed at his backpack that fell off when he
dived for Cloyster. Looking inside, he saw that the precious Articuno egg was
still whole.
"I don't think that Cloyster should battle after its near death experience,"
explained the Ice Lord, "So take the Ice Badge." He reached into a snow hill in
the corner and pulled out a small metal snowflake.
Ross reached up and took it from the white clothed man. "Thank you," said
Ross.
"No," said the tall figure, "Thank YOU for saving my Cloyster's life." Ross
left the gym and under his breath, the Ice Lord said, "I'm sorry that I took
your Articuno." Chapter 44-The Day Of Traps
With the Ice Badge now in his possession, Ross considered his next move. He
could either stay for the traveling convention in a few days, or leave for one
of Cerulean's fire badges.
Ross figured that the convention would reach Cerulean about the same time as
him and he had enough supplies to last him. Not to mention that the Articuno
egg would probably hatch soon and Ross didn't like the thought of staying in the
creepy town when that happened.
Ross started down the trail to his next destination, keeping an eye open for
any new pokemon. The hike was fairly quiet. Ross didn't see any pokemon or
trainers. Ross noticed that the temperature was getting steadily warmer as he
descended from the mountains.
Ross watched around him as the terrain surrounding him changed from snow, to
rocky, and then to forest. Ross stopped for a rest and did a little fishing.
After an hour without any luck, Ross tried to continue on his way but was
stopped by two figures.
"Prepare for trouble," said a familiar voice.
"And make it double," said another voice.
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all people within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jill!" reminded the first voice.
"Jack!" stated the second voice.
"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light," proclaimed Jill.
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" ordered Jack.
"Meowth, that's right! MAN, is it good to be out of that SNOW!!!" hollered
the familiar cat.
"What do you want?" asked Ross, "I'm kind of in a hurry."
"We want your pokemon," said Jack in a matter-of-fact voice.
"And revenge for kicking me in the face!" added Jill.
"You're not getting any of my pokemon!" proclaimed Ross.
"Wrong," said Meowth, "All we have to do is catch you and your pokemon will be
as good as ours."
"I don't think so," said Ross.
"Oh yeah," said Jill, "Try this!"
Jill threw a net at Ross, catching him off guard. Ross got tangled up in the
net and was unable to get up.
"That was easier than I thought it would be," said Jack.
"Guess again," said Ross as he vanished from under the net.
"Where'd he go?" asked Meowth.
"How should I know?" answered Jack.
"He has to be somewhere," said Jill, "Spread out and find him."
Jack, Jill, and Meowth walked off in different directions while Ross watched
from the tree he teleported into. Ross was getting a little sick of having to
deal with Team Rocket every other day.
************************************************************************
Later that day, Ross fell into three holes and hung up in two tree nets. When
it was time to set up camp, Ross wondered what he should do since he might get a
visit from Jack and Jill while he slept.
When Ross got caught in a third net, he got an idea. After he teleported out,
Ross dragged the net along, looking for a good campsite.
About 20 minutes later, Ross was sleeping peacefully high in a tree in the
makeshift hammock that he made from the net Team Rocket left for a trap.
************************************************************************
Just like the past few nights, Ross had another dream, but it wasn't a
nightmare like the others. Ross was in some sort of room, looking at a mural.
The mural depicted three birds and a large red dog. A young man in earth tones
was wearing several symbols on his jacket and surrounded by many Rs. The young
man was then standing alone with his hand in some sort of stone door without any
handles. In the last scene, the man was in a garden, surrounded by pokemon.
When Ross awoke from this dream, he was seriously puzzled. What was causing
all of these strange dreams? Was he going insane? He decided that once he got
to Cerulean City that he would have a check-up.
************************************************************************
"How can he just disappear like that?" asked Jill.
"Who knows," said Meowth, "I just know that I don't want to see him again."
"Well you're going to be seeing a lot of him because we're going to follow him
until we can catch him," proclaimed Jack. Chapter 45-The Chase Is On
Ross awoke with the sun. He had to get up early if he wanted to stay ahead of
the Rockets.
Ross checked the Articuno egg while he pulled down the net hammock. The egg
was getting very warm.
When Ross got done packing up, he read up on how to raise baby bird pokemon
during his journey to Cerulean City.
Ross got slowed down by a few more traps before he started to encounter
trainers that wanted to battle him. Ross beat them and continued on his way.
About half-way through the forest, Ross heard Jack's and Jill's voices.
"To protect the world from devastation," said Jill.
"To unite all people within our, you know what, I'm getting really sick of
saying this stupid poem," said Jack.
This statement threw off Jill and Meowth who started to yell at him.
'I better get out of here when I can,' thought Ross before taking off into the
forest.
"Stop him!" hollered Jill. The three members of Team Rocket started to chase
Ross through the forest.
Ross darted between trees, over logs, and past a few packs of wild pokemon.
Still, the determined group chased Ross.
Ross encountered a bridge spanning a canyon with a raging river below. The
bridge was old and decaying. Ross thought twice about trying to cross it.
"There he is," proclaimed Meowth behind Ross. That was all Ross needed to
know.
Ross took a deep breath and charged across the river. All of the boards
creaked under Ross's pounding footsteps. The creaking was even louder behind
Ross as Team Rocket followed him.
Ross was halfway across the bridge when...
CRACK!
The boards underneath him broke away.
Ross was hanging on to the right support rope.
************************************************************************
"Well, isn't THIS a pretty picture?" asked a sarcastic Jill.
"Heh, he's at the end of his rope now," commented Meowth, "There's the egg! In
his coat!"
"I'll get it," said Jack as he leaned over to remove the egg. Suddenly, Jack
felt the board beneath him shake.
"What was that?" asked Meowth.
"It's the kid," exclaimed Jack, "He's kicking the boards under us!" The boards
started to creak as the boards shook again.
"I don't like the sound of that," said Jill.
SNAP!!!
************************************************************************
Ross watched as the three figures fell the long drop to the river and the
bridge fell vertical, hanging from the right side.
"We'll be back," warned Meowth, "and Articuno WILL be OURS!!!!"
SPLASH!!!
Ross looked at the boards that Team Rocket was standing on. All of them were
still in one piece. It was the left support rope that had broken. Something
was stuck in the boards the Team Rocket were standing on. Ross pulled it out
and saw that it was some paper.
Facing the other end of the bridge, Ross worked his way to safety. If he
hurried, he might be able to get a decent head start on the Rockets.
************************************************************************
"This is all your fault!" accused Jill.
"I don't think that pointing fingers is going to help us get out of this
river," said Jack simply.
"I don't care if it's going to help," yelled Jill, "I just want to make it
clear that its your fault."
"I'd hate to interrupt your little argue-fest but we have a small problem,"
warned Meowth.
"What is it Meowth?" asked Jack.
"A really BIG WATERFALL!!!!!!" answered Meowth.
"This is going to hurt," said Jill as the trio fell over the crest of water to
the rocks below. Chapter 46-Paperwork
When Ross got to the other side of the bridge, he examined the papers that he
obtained from the bridge. The first one was a letter, while the second one was
labeled 'The Rocket Gazette.'
Ross decided to let his pokemon have some fresh air while he examined read the
letter and newspaper.
************************************************************************
Dear fellow members of Team Rocket; Thanks to the effort of the fake pokemon center at Glacier Peak, we have
already obtained an Articuno and the extremely rare Mewtwo. These along will be
given to the new leader of the Viridian Gym, hand chosen by myself. Other
pokemon that have been stolen will be enclosed for some of you.
Enclosed you will find a copy of our newspaper. There are some fairly
interesting changes taking place, including where you can obtain copies of
future issues.
Our base of operations has been moved to the Celadon City Game Corner's
basement. Just show your Rocket Badge to the cashier and she'll let you in.
Finally, I want every member in the area to remember that we will be robbing
the pokemon convention on its last day in Cerulean City. That's June 25th for
those of you that don't know. We hope that we will have success on this day.
Sincerely,
Giovanni
Second-in-command
************************************************************************
Ross was amazed. Team Rocket was getting bolder and braver.
'Let's see here,' thought Ross to himself as he read the newspaper.
'New members, Nick Grahm and Mike Crosby,' read Ross, 'Last I heard of them,
they were on Team Rocket's blacklist.'
Moving on to the next few articles, Ross read about more detailed plans for the
raid at the convention, success stories, locations of 'Rocket Gazette'
distributors, and even found a few puzzles and comics!
Finally, Ross read the last article about a tournament in a couple months to
choose the new leader of Viridian City gym as accustomed by the rules of the
pokemon league.
"Let's see here," said Ross to himself, "Today is the 22nd, so we better hurry
if we're going to get to Cerulean in time to warn them about the convention."
Everyone went back into their pokeballs while Ross put away the papers and ran
off for the city in trouble. Chapter 47-Welcome To My Nightmare
Ross was walking down the road when he heard voices from all around him. All
of which he knew.
"Prepare for trouble," said the first voice.
"And make it double double," said the second voice.
"To protect the world from devastation," said a third voice.
"To unite all people within our nation," said a fourth voice.
"To denounce the evils of truth and love," proclaimed the first voice.
"To extend our reach to the stars above," stated the second voice.
"Bonnie," said the first voice.
"Clyde," reminded the second voice.
"Lee," stated the third voice.
"Christian," spoke the last voice.
All of the Rockets jumped out of trees on opposite sides of Ross.
"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light," commanded Lee.
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" ordered Christian.
"Meowth," said a voice over Ross's head. He looked up and saw a Meowth jump
from an overhanging branch at him. "That's right!"
Ross calmly stepped aside and Meowth landed flat on its face!
"We have GOT to talk to the boss about changing pokemon translators," commented
Lee. All of the Rockets agreed while Meowth spit out a mouthful of dirt.
"I'm kind of in a hurry," said Ross, "So I'll just see you all later." Ross
tried to walk away, but was stopped by a group of three Magnemites.
"We don't think so kid," commanded Clyde.
"Magneton, relieve our friend of his pokemon," instructed Bonnie.
Magneton started to vibrate and all of the pokeballs on Ross's belt flew onto
Magneton's body.
"NO!" yelled Ross as he started to charge at the pokemon. Suddenly, Ross felt
something pulling him back. he turned around and saw Christian holding a rope
leading to a noose around his chest. He could feel the Articuno egg hidden in
his jacket slipping out.
The last thing Ross felt was something hit him on the head before he faded out
of consciousness.
************************************************************************
When Ross came to, he was upside-down in a tree. Ross saw a Primeape looking
up at him from the ground, and it didn't look to happy to see him. The Primeape
leapt from the ground, ready to start thrashing at Ross. Chapter 48-Operation: Retrieval
Ross tried to use teleport, but wound up landing on his head, still tied up,
with the tail end of a rope dragging behind him. Primeape was not about to let
Ross get away and started to use fury swipes at him.
Most of his swings hit the rope restraining Ross. The weakened rope, broke
easily when Ross used the mega punch that he learned.
Primeape, not impressed, ran up to deliver a karate chop to Ross. Ross
responded by using Psychic. Primeape took serious damage and was unable to stop
Ross as he ran away.
Ross sat down and tried to figure out what to do. Team Rocket had apparently
picked him clean. He had no money, no supplies, and no pokemon. Ross started
to meditate and had a vision.
************************************************************************
He saw Team Rocket with Magneton and all of Ross's rightful possessions.
"That was too easy!" proclaimed Christian.
"No kidding," said Lee.
"Just where are we going again?" asked Meowth.
Bonnie knocked Meowth on the head while Clyde said, "How many time do we have
to tell you? We're going to heal the pokemon at the pokemon center before we
present them to the boss!"
"Oh yeah," said Meowth as he remembered, "But isn't it getting a little late to
reach Cerulean?"
Lee looked up and said, "Good point, that Ross kid will never find us! We'll
camp here for the night."
************************************************************************ Ross's
eyes popped open. He got up and ran to the place that he saw the Rockets at in
his vision.
************************************************************************
The last few embers were still glowing when Ross arrived. The air was filled
with the stench of repel and corruption. Four tents were set up while the
pokemon were sleeping by the fire. Ross looked around and saw all of his stuff,
including the unhatched Articuno egg. Team Rocket had hung it in the net Ross
took from the trap.
Ross knew that most members of Team Rocket were pretty dense, but no one was
THAT dumb. Several pokemon live in trees, and getting his stuff down would be
no sweat for any human. There had to be a catch.
Ross looked at the rope used to hold up the net. There were a few bells
clipped on, but they would be easy for a human to avoid. The tree was a young
strong tree. The ground around it was a deep brown.
Ross looked at his net again and saw his shovel. Then it struck him! Team
Rocket's most famous trap was a pit!
Ross examined the ground and saw that there was light brown soil around the
darker soil under the net. The pit was right under the net.
After simply walking around the hidden hole, Ross noticed that the tree had
been carved at by something, but he couldn't tell what until he listened to the
snoring humans and pokemon. It sounded just like sawing logs!
Team Rocket must have been sawing the tree so that it would fall over if anyone
tried to climb it from the wrong angle. Ross climbed on the side with all of
the scratches in the bark so that the tree would support his weight.
Ross cat-walked across the limb that held his supplies and removed the bells
one at a time. Once all of the bells were off, Ross noticed movement by the
fire.
Ross slowly climbed down the net to hide behind his supplies while Meowth
blinked sleepily over at Ross and the supplies. Meowth yawned a couple of times
before he closed his eyes and rejoined the chorus of snores.
Ross let out a sigh of relief and thought, 'THAT was way too close.' He
climbed back up to the branch and pulled up his supplies before he undid the
knot that held the net to the tree. Ross slowly climbed down the tree, took one
last glance at the camp, and disappeared into the forest. Chapter 49-Back To Civilization
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE LOOT IS GONE!?!" demanded Bonnie.
Ross leaped 5 feet into the air when he heard Bonnie's angry voice. He put at
least a mile between him and Team Rocket before setting up his net hammock. So
he was naturally surprised when he heard Bonnie's yell through the deep forest.
Ross figured that Team Rocket would be coming after him soon, so he packed up
his gear and continued to travel to Cerulean City.
Ross thought that he might be able to lose the Team Rocket squads in Cerulean
City if he got there soon enough before them.
After three hours of running and breaks, Ross arrived in Cerulean City. Ross
checked into the pokemon center, wrote a letter to go with the Team Rocket
papers, and got himself a bite to eat.
Once Ross got back his pokemon, his first stop was the police station. Team
Rocket was scheduled to rob the convention tomorrow, and Ross hadn't delivered
the information to the police yet!
Ross walked into the police station, obsessed with being discreet. He waited
until no one was looking and dropped an envelope onto the front desk.
Once Ross was out of the police station, he walked down the street to go to the
pokemon convention when he felt something under his coat shake. It was the
Articuno egg! It was hatching!
Ross stepped into a side alley and removed the egg from his coat. The crystal
blue egg had a crack starting to develop. Ross watched in amazement as a tiny
point poked through the shell, making more cracks. The tiny beak pecked through
the shell in another location. And another, and another until the egg had about
ten holes in it.
Finally, the beak poked through the shell in one last place, letting the egg
shell fall apart. The baby bird opened its small eyes and beheld its savior.
"Mama?" chirped the tiny bird.
Ross suddenly realized that he had a big problem. "I'm afraid that your mother
is missing," explained Ross, "She left you in my care."
The little bird looked slightly disappointed, but asked, "Will I see her?"
"Someday," answered Ross, "I'm afraid that you should keep out of sight for a
while."
"Why?" asked the inquisitive Articuno.
"Right now, we are in a city," explained Ross, "There are a lot of people that
would love the chance to get their hands on you."
The little bird looked satisfied with this answer and said, "I'm hungry."
Ross just smiled and pulled his sack of pokemon food out of his backpack.
"Here," said Ross, holding out a few pieces of food, "This is good for you."
Articuno hopped onto Ross's arm and began to eat from his hand. Ross relaxed
until Articuno had eaten its fill and climbed into his warm coat. Ross stood
up, supporting Articuno with his hands in his pockets, and walked back to the
pokemon center. Chapter 50-A Helping Hand
Ross walked into the pokemon center and called the Nurse Joy at the Pallet Town
pokemon center.
"Pallet Town pokemon center, Nurse Joy speaking," said Joy as her face appeared
on the screen, "Oh, hi Ross. How are you doing?"
"To tell the truth, I've been better," replied Ross.
"What's wrong?" asked Nurse Joy. When the baby Articuno popped its head out of
Ross's coat, Joy asked, "Where did you get that Articuno!?!"
"Well, it all started when I got mixed up in the mountains," started Ross, "I
climbed a mountain next to Glacier Peak instead of Glacier Peak itself. Near
the summit, I saw two members of Team Rocket fighting an Articuno."
"The rare ice bird?" asked Nurse Joy.
"That's the one," answered Ross, "When Team Rocket couldn't catch Articuno,
they shot it in the wing, but still couldn't catch it. So one of them walked up
to the Articuno and prepared to shoot it in the head! I ran in and stopped the
murder, but they sent their pokemon to attack me. During the fight, an egg fell
out of Articuno's nest and rolled off a cliff."
"Oh-no!" replied Nurse Joy.
"I sent my Spearow after the egg and in the process, Spearow evolved and saved
the egg. I grabbed the wounded Articuno and its egg and flew to the Glacier
Peak pokemon center."
"There isn't a pokemon center at Glacier Peak," said Nurse Joy.
"I know, after I checked in Articuno, I was told that it couldn't be saved and
they were going to kill it. But after I thought that Articuno was put down, I
overheard the nurse say that Articuno was alive and that they were sending it to
someone else!"
"Of course," said Nurse Joy, "Ice pokemon are very tough."
"I went back to the room that had Articuno, but it was already gone. I kept
the egg a secret until it recently hatched."
"I see," said Nurse Joy.
"I don't really know who I can trust out here, and I don't want to let Articuno
fall into cruel hands," explained Ross.
"All right," said Nurse Joy, "I'll transfer some food to your account that has
been especially designed for baby pokemon. Articuno shouldn't go into its
pokeball until it reaches at least level 5. Right now, I'd say that its about
level 3. It will be old enough to stay in a pokeball by this time tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? I'm in a city," said Ross, "How am I going to keep an Articuno a
secret for an entire day?"
"Good point," said Nurse Joy, "Articuno aren't as rare as they were 20 years
ago, but they're still hard to come by. I know, I'll include a couple of rare
candies."
"Okay," said Ross, "I'll get it in a few minutes. Bye."
"Bye," said Joy.
************************************************************************
"Where'd this come from?" asked Officer Jenny.
"I don't know," said another cop, "It says to open immediately."
Jenny opened the envelope and read the first letter. "Take a look at this,"
Jenny said handing the letter to the other cop, who read it aloud.
"To whom it may concern;
I was walking through the forest the other day and found these papers stuck
in a hollow tree. I'm sure that you will find them helpful. I prefer to
remain anonymous, but if I need to, I will use my pen name.
Best of luck to you;
Dataeater"
"And look at what else was enclosed," said Jenny, handing the other cop another
piece of paper and a newsletter. Chapter 51-Exploring The Carnival
Ross had just given Articuno the rare candy and put it into a pokeball for the
time being. 'Now I can go to the convention,' thought Ross.
After a short walk, Ross arrived at the convention. There were a lot of rides
and games, but also a several booths selling pokemon, training and breeding
gear, and other merchandise.
Ross walked around the carnival stopping at most of the booths. Ross got some
pokemon books. Ross considered buying a pokemon, but he thought that they were
all too expensive.
One booth especially caught his eye. Not so much because he liked the product,
but how unusual it was. While most of the other pokemon selling booths sold
popular, average pokemon, like Pidgey, Growlithes, Charmanders, and Ekans, this
booth sold only Magikarp.
Ross just shrugged it off and continued until he reached the archaeology booth.
Inside, a video was playing of a recent find near Cape Town.
"This mural is believed to be the oldest record ever discovered," explained the
voice on the tape, "It tells the story of the pokemon's defender, a story that
has been kept alive in books and minds for thousands of years."
'This is pretty boring,' thought Ross as he stepped away to look at some of the
games.
The games were all the usual ones. Guess a pokemon's weight, water balloon
race, and the like. Ross tried the pokemon weight guess game with a Porygon.
The pokemon wouldn't be awarded until the carnival was over the next day. The
next game Ross went to was a baseball-bottle throw.
It was a pretty basic game, but no one seemed to be winning. There were
thirteen scattered stands with three bottles in a pyramid formation and an
evolution stone or pokeball being held up by the top bottle.
"It couldn't be simpler," explained the man running the booth, "Knock down all
three bottles and get the prize that falls to the ground. Each pokeball has an
evolved Eevee. One dollar buys three throws."
"Okay," said Ross as he handed over a one-dollar bills and took the three
baseballs from the man.
Ross aimed at the center of one of the stacks and threw a baseball. Ross hit
the pedestal.
"Nice try," complimented the man.
Ross shrugged it off and threw his second baseball. This one hit the top
bottle, but it didn't even budge.
"So close," said the man over the counter.
'Something's fishy here,' thought Ross. He wound up and decided to try
something. This time, Ross threw the baseball with a Mega Punch. The baseball
hit a stack in the back dead-on and something amazing happened. Chapter 52-A Cheater Exposed
The bottles and the stand supporting it fell straight back, as stiff as a
board, while the other stands behind the counter rose and became horizontal. A
dirty platform emerged from the ground revealing why no one else had won.
The bottles were welded to each other and the stands, which were in turn all
attached to a wooden board buried about an inch underground! The man working
the booth grabbed the money and ran off into the crowd, but was stopped by the
people he cheated.
Five minutes later, the man was being removed from the carnival and Ross was
awarded a box of the prizes containing six pokemon and seven evolution stones.
"But why?" asked Ross.
"According to his rules, all you had to do was knock over the three bottles and
the prize on top," said the carnival owner, "And you did so to all of the
stands. Therefore, you win all thirteen prizes."
"Wow, thanks," said Ross as he left for the rides. He figured that he had
enough of games for one day.
Ross had fun at the rides and was ready to leave when something caught his eye.
A large arena stood with a sign reading,
"Competitors wanted for Pokemon tournament
3 o'clock today
Prizes for top three winners!"
Ross walked up to a table and signed in. He was instructed to go inside until
the tournament started. Inside, Ross was explained the rules. There was only
to be 1 pokemon per match and no use of items.
Ross went onto a field and let his pokemon warm up, but kept Articuno in his
pokeball.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Ross," said a voice behind him.
"Ricky," replied Ross without even turning around.
"I didn't think that you'd show up," commented Ricky, "Once I saw you climbing
the wrong mountain, I thought that you'd be lost up there for a few more days!"
"Well I'm here, and I'm ready to compete," explained Ross.
"We'll see, Adam and I can't wait for the chance to publicly disgrace you!"
proclaimed Ricky.
"Very well," said Ross as two sets of footsteps walked away.
"Who were those jerks?" asked Machop.
"That was Ricky and Adam," explained Ross, "They've had a grudge against me
ever since I beat them in the beginners' tournament back at Professor Oak's."
************************************************************************
When 3 o'clock rolled around, only six competitors had signed in. The stands
were filling up and the rest of the carnival was getting empty. Ross and the
other competitors were explained that everyone would be facing someone else in a
one-on-one match and the winners would battle in a triple threat match.
Ross was paired up against some girl named Susan while Ricky and Adam was
matched up with a couple of strangers.
Ross walked out and waited for Susan to send out her pokemon.
"Eevee, GO!!!" exclaimed Susan.
"Machop, GO!!!" instructed Ross.
A small chiwawua-like pokemon appeared to battle Ross's short, purplish
pokemon.
"Eevee, tackle," instructed Susan.
"Karate chop," replied Ross.
Eevee ran up at Machop but got hit on the neck so hard that Eevee's neck almost
broke! Eevee cringed under the blow.
"Eevee, sand attack," commanded Susan.
"Low kick," said Ross.
Eevee started to scratch at the ground to create sand to throw in Machop's
face. However, Machop spun around in a low circle, swinging its foot into
Eevee. Eevee fell in the pile of sand it was making and got some of it into his
eyes.
"Quick attack," ordered Susan.
"Time for the seismic toss," instructed Ross.
Eevee ran around Machop and tried to hit him, but Machop caught Eevee by the
scruff of the neck and its left front leg. Machop started to spin around and
around in a very fast circle until both Machop and Eevee were just a blur. When
Machop let go, a brown blur was seen flying out and straight for a wall. After
impact, all that was left, was a fainted Eevee. Chapter 53-History Lesson
Ross didn't really care much about Ricky and Adam's matches. So he took the
time to read the first chapter in one of his books.
************************************************************************
Chapter 1
A Simple Pokemon Master's Battle On August 28th, at 11:32 AM, Ash Ketchem challenged the newly appointed pokemon
master, Gary Oak. Gary Oak was the grandson of Professor Oak and had just
beaten the Elite Four the night before.
At the beginning of the five on five battle, Gary started out with an Dugtrio
while Ash chose a Blastoise. Dugtrio fell under a hydro pump attack and was
replaced by an Exeggcutor. Blastoise skull bashed Exeggcutor, but fell under a
solar beam as Charizard took its place. The walking tree was trapped in a fire
spin and didn't stand a chance against the powerful fire pokemon.
A Gyarados was sent out and conquered the dragon-like Charizard. A Venusaur
took Charizard's place and beat Gyarados with a razor leaf. An Arcanine beat
Venusaur before falling to a Pidgeot. A Flareon was sent out and easily beat
Pidgeot. Ash was forced to send out his last pokemon, a Pikachu that he
received as his starting pokemon.
Flareon and Pikachu would decide who would be the pokemon master. Would it be
Gary Oak? Or...
************************************************************************
"Ross Jacobsen and Ricky Allen!"
Ross looked up from the book at the sound of his name. He saw that it was time
for him to battle both of his rivals at once. Chapter 54-Triple Threat
Adam and Ricky both wanted to be the one to dance all over Ross's pokemon and
knew that only one of them could do so.
Ross thought that Adam and Ricky would gang up on him, so he had to choose his
pokemon wisely.
"Weepinbell, GO!" ordered Adam.
"Graveler, GO!" commanded Ricky.
'Grass and Rock,' thought Ross, 'An fighting pokemon would be my safest bet."
Ross wound up a pokeball and said, "Let's go..."
"CUNO!"
Everyone in the stadium was in shock. An Articuno had emerged from a pokeball
on Ross's belt.
"Articuno, what are you doing?" asked Ross, "You're too young to battle!"
"You have an Articuno!?!" exclaimed Ricky.
"Sort of," explained Ross.
"Never mind that!" said Adam, "Weepinbell, razor leaf!
"Articuno, look out!" exclaimed Ross.
Articuno saw the deadly leaves flying at it and flew out of harm's way.
Graveler wasn't so lucky and got his ankle hurt by one of the leaves.
"Hey! What did you do that for?" demanded Ricky, "Graveler, earthquake!"
The angry Graveler grabbed the earth and soon, the ground was shaking.
Articuno was in the air and didn't feel the attack. Weepinbell however, did!
Soon a battle had erupted between the former partners. Articuno perched on a
bench by the stadium and watched the two pokemon go at it. Articuno was
learning by watching the battle and in turn, growing experience levels.
Finally, Graveler fainted and a weak Weepinbell turned to face Articuno.
"Articuno, freeze Weepinbell with an ice beam!" hollered Ross over the cheer in
the stands.
Articuno did as instructed and soon, Weepinbell was nothing more than a block
of ice.
************************************************************************
Ross, Ricky, and Adam stood on three different boxes of different sizes and
labeled 1, 2, and 3.
Adam was given a bronze nugget and a certificate for three evolution stones.
Ricky was given a silver nugget, another certificate for three evolution stones,
and $200 of carnival cash.
Lastly, Ross was given a gold nugget, a certificate for another three evolution
stones, $500 of carnival cash, and a request to participate in the carnival
champions' competition the next day.
After the humble awards ceremony, Ross was asked where he got the Articuno.
"I guess the Articuno's out of the bag, so to speak," said Ross as he explained
the original story that he told Nurse Joy all over again. Chapter 55-The Next Day At The Carnival
"What do you think we should do?" asked one of the rookie cops in the meeting.
"It couldn't be simpler," explained Jenny, "We replace the Magikarp salesman
with an experienced officer. Since the Rockets need individual instructions
from him, we pull in everyone who buys a Magikarp for questioning."
"How many officers do we send in?" asked an officer.
"1 experienced to man the target booth, 2 more experienced and 2 rookies to man
the neighboring booths," explained the captain, "All of which will be
undercover. Finally, we will have 5 professional cops, including Jenny here, to
escort the suspects back to the station."
"When do we move in?" asked the rookie.
"1 hour before the carnival resumes," stated Jenny.
"I will be manning the Magikarp booth," stated the captain, "Johnson and
McDonly, you man the apparel booth. Scott and Brisco, you take the Safari Zone
booth. Nadle, Quick, Reckendorf, Paterson will be with Jenny, escorting
suspects. The rest of you will be interrogating the suspects to determine
whether or not they're members of Team Rocket."
"And remember," added Jenny, "if any of them identifies themself as
'Dataeater', compare them to the tape, but don't ask for it."
"Also," said the captain, "this is a private investigation until all of the
suspects are either released, or arrested. So don't tell a soul. Not your
friends, not your families, not even other cops not in this room. Any
questions?"
When no one spoke up, the captain dismissed everyone.
************************************************************************
At the pokemon center, Ross was very popular. Everyone had heard that he had
an Articuno and wanted to see it. Ross had gotten so sick of putting Articuno
in and out of his pokeball that he just let it ride on his shoulder.
The next morning, Ross's fame had deteriorated and Adam was loudly fighting
with Ricky.
"Why do I even put up with you!?!" asked Adam.
"Because I do all of the thinking, budgeting, and organizing," explained Ricky.
"Yeah right!" proclaimed Adam, "You wouldn't have even made to Viridian without
ME!!!"
Ross decided not to get anymore involved in their conflict and left for the
carnival.
************************************************************************
Ross wasn't due back at the tournament until 4 PM, so he looked at the booths
to kill some time. He came across a few apparel booths and spent some of his
carnival cash on some fingerless gloves with his initials, a cool looking coat,
and a pair of sunglasses.
Ross walked around some more, looking pretty tough with his new clothes on. He
spent some more of his carnival cash on fresh supplies, a lot more medicine and
still had about $75 left.
Ross played the pokemon weight guessing game again, this time for a Poliwag.
After which, Ross had lunch and went to the auction room.
There was only about 2 other people in the tent. A long table covered with the
items up for purchase. A few things caught Ross's eye, so he took a seat and
waited for the auction to begin. Chapter 56-Auction House ROCK
Several items were displayed and sold before Ross saw an item that he wanted.
"The next item up for bid is an inflatable raft with oars," said the
auctioneer, "Who will start the bidding?"
************************************************************************
"Sold for $10 to the man in the pokemon league hat," proclaimed the slightly
more enthusiastic auctioneer.
Ross went up, paid for the raft, took it from the selling table man, and turned
to face his seat. That was when he realized that everyone else had left,
leaving Ross with a window of opportunity. A Swiss-army knife, an envelope
labeled "?", and an open toolbox full of tools were still on the bidding table.
He turned around and said, "I'll give you $20 for everything that you have
left!"
The auctioneer began to protest but Ross asked, "Who else are you going to sell
it to?"
The selling table man and auctioneer looked at each other and knew that Ross
was right. No one else was left to give them a better offer.
The auctioneer raised and dropped his gavel as he said, "Sold." Chapter 57-Continuations
Ross put his new possessions in his backpack and computer before heading over
to the stadium. Again, only a few trainers wanted to battle. Ross wasn't in
the mood to watch some pokemon matches. He wanted to battle.
Ross opened the book he was reading earlier and turned to the page he was on.
************************************************************************
Flareon and Pikachu would decide who would be the pokemon master. Would it be
Gary Oak? Or Ash Ketchem? Neither pokemon had a distinct advantage over the
other.
Flareon used an ember attack, but Pikachu dodged it with agility. Pikachu used
a quick attack to hurt Flareon and dodged a flame thrower. Pikachu continued to
attack with swift while Flareon charged up with rage.
Flareon started to attack Pikachu with all of its might until both pokemon were
weak from the ordeal. The two pokemon began to prepare for their final attacks.
Flareon tried to do a quick attack, but the still quick Pikachu got out of the
way in time before launching a thunder shock. Flareon was severely hit and
fainted.
Gary was sent away from Indigo Plateau, and was given the position of Viridian
City Gym Leader. Ash welcomed back the Elite Four and renamed it, "The Elite
Masters of the Pokemon League." He invited trainers and breeders to join and
wound up choosing 2 breeders and another trainer.
************************************************************************
When Ross looked up, the awards ceremony was just finishing up. The announcer
asked those that were invited to do so to come down and participate in the
Carnival Champions' Competition.
Ross and two other trainers stepped down to the arena. Ross was paired up
against Matt from Professor Oak's competition.
"Magnemite, GO!" ordered Matt.
"Geodude, I choose YOU!" said Ross.
Both pokemon appeared from the pokeballs, ready to battle.
"Geodude, rock throw," instructed Ross.
"Magnemite, thunder wave!" commanded Matt.
Magnemite tried to electrocute Geodude, but failed miserably. Magnemite was
hit and knocked spinning in circles.
"Magnemite, tackle," said Matt.
"Geodude, defense curl."
Geodude spun in a circle and grew another layer of rock. Magnemite tackled the
hard Geodude, hurting itself and barely even fazing Geodude.
"Geodude, tackle."
"Magnemite, screech."
Magnemite made a sound that seemed to be nails on a chalkboard. Geodude was
taken aback and missed.
"Magnemite, supersonic."
"Geodude, rock slide!"
Magnemite started to make an awful sound, but Geodude wasn't affected. Geodude
rolled a rock at Magnemite. Magnemite got scared and fainted when the rock hit
him. Chapter 58-The Champion of the Carnival
Ross sat back down while he waited for the other two trainers to finish their
battle. It didn't take too long. One of the trainers sent out a Voltorb and
had it use self destruct.
Ross stepped out and prepared to fight the pokemon that avoided the worst of
the self-destruct. Ross waited as the trainer gave a potion to a pokemon
covered in vines.
"Tangela," said the pokemon.
'Zubat would be a safe choice,' thought Ross.
"Zubat, GO!" instructed Ross.
"Tangela, constrict," said the trainer.
"Zubat, confuse ray," replied Ross.
Zubat started to glow a dark purple as a black beam shot at Tangela. Tangela
dodged the beam and caught Zubat in its long vines.
"Bind," commented the confident trainer.
"Leech life," instructed Ross.
Tangela began to squeeze Zubat when Zubat sank its teeth into the vines
restraining him. Tangela began to weaken as Zubat drained Tangela's strength to
replenish its own.
"Now bite!" commanded Ross.
Zubat removed its teeth only to place them in a new part of Tangela's vines.
Tangela got scared and stopped squeezing, but still held onto Zubat.
'How am I going to get Zubat loose?' wondered Ross when Zubat got loose by
slapping Tangela away with its wings. Ross checked his pokedex.
"Zubat has just learned wing attack," explained the mechanical voice, 'Most
Zubat learn this attack prior to evolving."
Ross looked at Tangela and Zubat. Tangela was weak and needed more energy to
continue the battle.
"ABSORB!" shouted the trainer.
"Supersonic," said Ross.
Tangela tried to attack Zubat, but couldn't focus with all of the noise.
Tangela was so tired, that it collapsed into a tired, yet awake heap.
"I yield," said the trainer, "My pokemon is too tired to continue."
************************************************************************
Ross stepped up to the podium to claim his last prize. He was handed a
certificate for a pokemon of his choice from one of the booths. Ross stepped
down to leave
"HOLD IT!" hollered a voice in the stands.
Everyone looked to the source of the voice and saw a young woman with an
Arcanine.
"I am Trella Flame, leader of the local fire gym, and I want to battle the
winner! It is my right as the local gym leader."
Ross thought about it and said, "Only if it is a badge battle."
While Trella thought about this, the dog by her side said, "You've got it!"
'Another talking pokemon,' thought Ross, 'How interesting.' Chapter 59-Battling Trella Flame
Trella stepped down and stood at one end of the arena with the Arcanine by her
side. Ross took his position at the other end, already knowing which pokemon to
start with.
"4 on 4, boundary battle, agreed?" said Trella.
"Agreed," said Ross.
"I'll start with Flareon, GO!" commented Trella.
"I will use Staryu, GO!" said Ross.
Everyone in the stands settled down. Badge Matches were usually in private, so
seeing one in public was a real treat.
"Swift," said Ross.
"Tail whip," instructed Trella.
Flareon was hit by multiple stars emerging from Staryu's core.
"Fire spin," said Trella.
"Light screen," instructed Ross.
Flareon was blinded by the light coming from Staryu and wound up surrounding
the entire arena with a curtain of flame.
"Flareon, bite."
"Staryu, water gun the head!"
Flareon opened its mouth but wound up drinking too much water. Flareon's fire
sac was extinguished and couldn't fight until it dried out.
"Flareon, return," ordered Trella, "Ninetails, GO!"
A large yellow wolf with multiple tails appeared and let out a fearsome roar.
Staryu was spooked.
"Quick attack," Trella said.
"Harden," stated Ross.
Staryu was hit hard and knocked out of the arena, disqualifying it.
"Staryu, return," said Ross, "Geodude, GO! Rock throw!"
"Flamethrower," commanded Trella.
The flamethrower made the rocks semi-molten as they hit Ninetails. The rocks
soon cooled and acted like anchors on Ninetails's feet.
"Ninetails, return," Trella complimented, "Impressive. Let's see how you do
against Magmar!"
A red, yellow, and orange creature emerged from the pokeball.
"Smokescreen," said Trella.
"Defense curl."
The entire area filled with smoke, making it impossible to see anything. When
it cleared, Ross's Geodude was motionless on the ground.
"Geodude, return," said Ross, "Wartortle, let's GO! Bubblebeam!"
"Smog," said a perfectly calm Trella.
The smog was released and soon caught up in the bubbles. They continued
towards Magmar until they popped in his eyes. Magmar was blinded by the smog in
his eyes.
"Water gun," stated Ross.
"Fire punch," ordered Trella.
Magmar swung blindly at air until the water gun drenched him. Magmar was so
out of it, he didn't know what he was doing and started to swing at Trella!
"Magmar, return," said Trella, "You're up Arcanine."
The large dog by Trella's side ran out and showed its teeth. Wartortle didn't
back down. The surrounding fire curtain was getting hotter and it was hard for
both pokemon and trainers to see clearly.
From what Ross could make out, the two pokemon were fighting without trainer
interference. Finally, Wartortle was thrown out of the arena, disqualifying him
from the battle.
'I better send in a pokemon that can survive that heat,' thought Ross.
"Wartortle, return," directed Ross, "Charmander, go finish the battle!"
Charmander leaped over the flames to battle the unseen foe. It was unknown who
would be victorious until a blast of flame emerged as a signal that the match
was over.
Two figures in trench coats ran out with a hose and carefully extinguished the
fire ring revealing a large, unconscious dog and a victorious lizard. But the
lizard in the ring was definitely NOT Charmander. This lizard had larger claws,
paws, eyes, and a bump on its head.
"CHARRRRR-MEEE-LEEON!" proclaimed the lizard. Chapter 60-Rocket Annoyance
"To protect the world from devastation," said one of the figures.
"To unite all people within our nation," replied the second.
"To denounce the evils of truth and love," stated the first figure.
"To extend our reach to the stars above," answered the second form.
"Jesse," introduced the first figure, removing her trench coat and revealing
her uniform.
"James," announced the second, doing the same as Jill.
"Team Rocket. Blast off at the speed of light!" proclaimed Jill.
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" ordered Jack.
"Meowth, that's right!" said the cat as it ran out from under the stands.
Everyone that was in the stands was scared by the Team Rocket members and ran
out of the stands.
"We want your pokemon!" demanded Jesse, talking to Trella.
"You can't have them!" denied Trella.
"You have no choice, all of your pokemon can't fight!" reminded Meowth.
"Guess again, Rapidash, GO!!!" hollered Trella as she tossed a pokeball. A
unicorn with fire hooves, mane, and tail appeared where the pokeball landed.
Team Rocket was surprised until Trella said, "Any decent trainer never uses all
of their pokemon in a single battle!"
"No matter," said Jesse, "Your predictability will cost you dearly, crank up
the water!"
Water sprayed out of the hose at Rapidash until it fainted.
"Oh NO!" exclaimed Trella.
"Now," started James, "let's try this again. Hand over your pokemon!"
"Not so fast," proclaimed Ross, "Bulbasaur, GO! Razor leaf the hose!"
Bulbasaur appeared and launched several leaves at the rubber hose. Soon, the
hose was in several pieces.
Meowth tried fighting Bulbasaur, but stopped when Bulbasaur turned white. At
first, Ross thought that Bulbasaur was using growth, but the bulb on its back
opened. When the white faded, a new pokemon stood where Bulbasaur was.
"I-vy-SAUR!" proclaimed the new pokemon.
"Use sleep powder!" instructed Ross.
A blue powder gently dusted the arena floor, prompting everyone to start
snoring loudly.
************************************************************************
When Ross woke up, he was in a jail cell. He noticed that his backpack was
missing.
"This is all your fault!" accused Jesse.
Ross looked in the next cell over and saw Team Rocket arguing.
"The kid's up," commented Meowth.
Jesse and James turned to face Ross. "If you didn't interfere, we would have
made a clean get-away with all of Trella's pokemon!" stated James.
"Keep quiet," hissed Meowth, "You know that they video tape the cells!"
Ross looked around and saw a camera over the doorway. He also saw his
backpack, sunglasses, and other things on a table opposite Ross's cell.
According to a clock by the camera, it was 5:45. He had until 9 PM to redeem
his coupons and the rest of his carnival cash.
Ross sat down and waited until the door opened about 10 minutes later. In
stepped a policewoman, a man in a captain's uniform, and Trella Flame.
"That was a good battle," said Trella, "And you saved all of my pokemon. You
deserve this." Trella held out a small piece of metal designed to look like a
fire.
Ross took the small badge and said, "Thanks."
"Sorry that we had to bring you in," apologized the captain, "Jenny here will
give you a ride back to the carnival."
Jenny unlocked the cell door and let Ross out.
Ross picked up his things and followed Jenny out the door.
************************************************************************
Ross did some more shopping for improved equipment and supplies until he ran
out of carnival cash. Next, Ross cashed in his evolution stone certificates for
a fire, water, and leaf stone. With his pokemon certificate, Ross got an Abra
before he went back to the pokemon weight booth to see if he won either pokemon.
The booth was closing up and the man running it was placing pokemon on a scale
to determine their weight. Several people gathered around the booth to see if
they won.
************************************************************************
"I just can't believe how many Team Rocket members we managed to arrest today!"
commented Jenny.
"It WAS a good bust," said the captain, "We better let the other police
stations know where they can get copies of Team Rocket's newsletter. Then we
might be able to put an end to Team Rocket for good!" Chapter 61-Before Leaving
Back at the booth, Ross was waiting for the winners to be posted. The man
behind the booth walked up and posted a piece of paper. At first, Ross couldn't
get close to the list, but soon, the crowd left for the exit after claiming
their prizes if any.
Finally, Ross looked up Porygon and Poliwag and saw only 3 guesses total.
'Guess no one else likes those pokemon,' figured Ross.
Poliwag-10 pounds, 3 ounces Ross guessed-10 pounds WINNER
John guessed-11 pounds
Porygon-16 pounds, 8 ounces Ross guessed-20 pounds WINNER
"Yes, I won both pokemon," said Ross.
Ross collected both pokemon and their pokeballs before leaving for the exit.
************************************************************************
Ross had another training session with his pokemon at the pokemon center. He
was getting fairly good at fighting when he overheard some trainers gossiping
outside.
"Those two were really going at it. They even decided to split up!" said one
voice, "I thought that they were going to tear each other's heads off!"
"What could have caused two pokemon training companions to hate each other so
much?" asked another voice.
"Something about an Articuno," stated the first voice.
"What were their names anyway?" asked the second person.
"I think it was something like, what were they?" started the first voice, "Ric
and Sadan."
Ross walked up to the trainers to ask a question but was interrupted by the
intercom.
"It's now 10 PM," explained the Joy on the speaker, "All pokemon trainers must
start getting ready for bed."
"We better get a move on," said one of the gossipers. And with that, they were
gone before Ross could stop them.
************************************************************************
Ross looked around in the trainers' quarters for Ricky and Adam, but didn't see
a single sign of either trainer. Nurse Joy walked in and said good night before
turning off the lights.
"See you in the MORN-ing!" exclaimed Adam's voice in a sing-song tone.
"Shut UP!!!" ordered a cranky Ricky's voice.
Ross smiled at this thought and for the first time in a long while, Ross slept
like a log. TO BE CONTINUED.
Chapter 28-Reencounter
Ross continued down Route 3, battling anyone that happened to challenge him.
Ross always beat them and continued on his way a little richer than before. It
wasn't until Ross and pokemon stopped for lunch when the day got interesting.
"YOU!" cried a voice down the path. Ross turned and saw the boy he traded with
in Viridian pointing at Ross with his companion by his side.
"You took my Hitmonchan!" accused the first boy.
Ross was insulted. "I did not," denied Ross, "I traded you a Spearow for him."
"You mixed him up into trading the wrong pokemon," claimed the first boy's
friend.
"How could I do that?" asked Ross.
"There's one way to settle this. We battle. Winner gets Hitmonchan," said the
trader.
"Why should I risk losing Hitmonchan?" asked Ross, "You'd have to put up an
equally valuable prize to even make me consider betting him."
"Alright," said the angry trader with fire in his eyes, "I'll put my Hitmonlee
in too." This clearly shocked his friend.
************************************************************************
"Are you sure about this Mike?" whispered Nick, trying not to be heard by Ross
and pokemon.
"Its either both or neither for me Nick," replied Mike, "My parents will KILL
me if I don't have them the next time I call."
************************************************************************
Ross wasn't sure about this until Hitmonchan told him to take the offer. "Are
you sure?" asked Ross.
"Mike is a terrible trainer," said Hitmonchan, "And Hitmonlee is my friend. If
I can help him get away from Mike and Nick, it's worth the risk. Besides, I
have confidence in you and the other pokemon. I know that together, you can
win. Just make sure that it's Hitmonlee in the pokeball and not another one."
Ross and the other pokemon were moved by this little speech and was determined
not to lose. Ross turned to Mike and said, "With one condition, Hitmonchan and
Hitmonlee sit on that log, out of their pokeballs."
Mike thought it over and said, "Agreed." Chapter 29-Mighty Mike
Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee were siting on the log, reminiscing about old times
and getting ready to watch the match. All of Ross's pokemon wanted to be in the
battle, but Ross and Mike already agreed that it would be a 3 on 3 battle
without Hitmonchan or Hitmonlee.
"Magikarp, GO!!!" commanded Mike.
Magikarp appeared on the grass ground and started to flop around. The
Hitmonchan started to laugh when Hitmonlee said something in his own toungue.
Hitmonchan stopped laughing and shouted, "Magikarp is going to evolve soon!
Attack him hard and FAST!"
"Bulbasaur, I choose you!" said Ross.
"Magikarp, tackle," hollered Mike.
"Bulbasaur, razor leaf," said Ross.
Leaves flew from Bulbasaur and hit Magikarp, critically hitting it.
"Come on and evolve already Magikarp!" shouted Mike.
"Finish it, vine whip," instructed Ross.
Magikarp flopped around and was hit by Bulbasaur's vines. Magikarp fainted.
"Ponyta, GO!!!" commanded Mike without calling back Magikarp.
Ponyta used fire spin on Bulbasaur, knocking him out.
"Bulbasaur, return, go Staryu, water gun!" ordered Ross.
Staryu sprayed Ponyta, reducing its strength by half. Unfortunately, Staryu
was caught in a fire spin and suffered the same fate as Bulbasaur.
"Staryu, return, go Squirtle, bubble beam,"
Squirtle went out and sprayed bubbles at Ponyta. The more powerful attack
knocked out Ponyta.
"Ponyta, return, go Spearow!" ordered Mike as he sent out his last pokemon.
Spearow emerged and saw the Squirtle that he hated so much.
"AAHHHH!!!" screamed Squirtle in fear.
Mike ordered Spearow to start out with drill peck. Ross called for withdraw.
Spearow attacked but couldn't get through Squirtle's tough shell.
Mike called for a fury attack while Squirtle tried to fend of Spearow with a
water gun. Squirtle was knocked back onto its shell and was stuck rocking back
and forth. Spearow landed and started to peck at the vulnerable Squirtle.
Squirtle looked to its helpless trainer, then to the Hitmons on the log, sad
that Squirtle was losing, and then at Mike. He was smiling wickedly and
laughing. Squirtle just looked at that laughing face, that evil, wicked,
laughing, face.
Squirtle looked at the Spearow, still attacking him, enjoying every single
moment of its revenge. Squirtle began to get mad. Those two evil, wretched
souls, getting the better of him just made his blood boil.
Squirtle started to feel warm and turn white. Spearow, confused as of what was
going on, was blinded by the white light emitting from Squirtle. Fin ears grew
from Squirtle's head and his arms, legs, and tail grew longer and stronger.
When the light faded, it was clear that Squirtle also now had teeth.
"WAR-TOR-TLE!!!!!" cried the turtle that was once Squirtle.
Everyone was amazed at the transformation. Wartortle swung his limbs back and
forth, hitting Spearow whenever it got close. Finally, Wartorle was back on his
feet and started to soak Spearow.
Spearow fell to the ground and recieved a skull bash from Wartortle. Spearow
was left seeing stars before fainting. Mike called back Spearow and the Hitmons
ran for Ross.
A net wrapped around the Hitmons and was dragged back to Mike. I'm trading you
that loser Magikarp for these Hitmons. Mike and Nick ran off before Ross could
object. Soon, Mike and Nick stopped at the sound of a high pitched voice.
"piKaCHU!" said the fast voice. Mike dropped the net holding the Hitmons.
Ross looked at his Pikachu, wondering what happened, but it was equally
puzzled.
"RUN FOR IT!!!" yelled Mike.
"What about Magikarp and the Hitmons?" asked Nick.
"Forget them all!" responded Mike.
'I don't believe it,' thought Ross, 'They're abandoning pokemon! Well I
promise that I am never going to abandon any pokemon.' With that thought, Ross
picked up Magikarp, ready to carry it to the Hitmons and then, the pokemon
center.
Ross looked towards Mike and Nick, but all he could see was a single silhouette
walk out of the trees, open Mike's net, and let the Hitmons out. Hitmonlee and
Hitmonchan ran back to Ross while the mysterious figure melted back into the
trees. Chapter 30-Moon Town
With Mike and Nick out of action, Ross walked the last half-mile to the base of
Mt. Moon where the next town was.
Moon Town was among the smallest towns around, so finding the pokemon center
relatively easy. After healing his pokemon, Ross asked what would happen to
Magikarp.
"You saved him, you keep him," explained a male nurse.
Ross walked up to the fish resting in a tank, who came to life when he saw its
savior.
"Do you want to come with me?" Ross asked Magikarp.
The orange fish responded by jumping into Ross's arms. Ross set the pokemon
down and held out a pokeball. Magikarp turned into a ball of red energy which
flew into the pokeball.
Ross found out in Pewter that all gyms had the same hours. Ross was too late
to battle at the gym today, so Ross left the small town to catch more pokemon.
Ross's pokemon was walking with him when Hitmonlee tripped on something.
"You okay?" asked Ross.
Hitmonlee got up and started to say something when the rock started to float in
the air. A pair of arms opened around the rock revealing two eyes and a mouth.
"Geodude," said the rock.
"WOW! A wild Geodude, we gotta catch it! Staryu..." started Ross.
"No," said Hitmonlee, "This one's mine. He tripped me and I intend to teach
him some manners."
"Okay, Hitmonlee, GO!!!" changed Ross.
Hitmonlee walked up to the Geodude, took a fighting stance, and said, "Defend
yourself." Chapter 31-Hitmonlee's Battles
"Rolling kick," instructed Ross.
Hitmonlee dived into a roll, aimed straight at Geodude. Geodude started to
charge at Hitmonlee for a tackle, but encountered a slight problem in the
way...Hitmonlee's foot. Geodude was held on the ground by Hitmonlee, weak from
the kick it received. Ross threw a pokeball and caught Geodude.
Hitmonlee was really enthusiastic about catching Geodude and ran off to find
some more wild pokemon to fight. Ross lost track of Hitmonlee as he ran off.
Ross and crew started to look for Hitmonlee. It was starting to get dark out
when they saw Hitmonlee stand up straight waving a hand to call them over. When
Ross and crew arrived, they couldn't believe what they saw. Hitmonlee was
fighting a Machop, Paras, and Zubat all at once. The battle was moving so fast
that Ross couldn't give commands to Hitmonlee. When Ross tried to send another
pokemon out to help Hitmonlee, he was waved off.
Before Ross knew it, Machop was tossed at his feet, nearly out cold and too
weak to struggle. Ross dropped an empty pokeball onto him and caught Machop.
Hitmonlee continued to fight Paras and Zubat single-handedly. Hitmonlee was
doing impressively well. Hitmonlee did a double kick to Paras and knocked him
up against a rock. Ross threw another pokeball and caught Paras. All that was
left were Zubat and Hitmonlee. Hitmonlee did a jump kick and slammed Zubat into
the ground. Zubat was dazed, but still hanging in there. Zubat tried to get
back into the air, but was knocked back down with a mega kick. Zubat fainted
and Ross caught it in a third pokeball.
Ross and his pokemon clapped and cheered, but Hitmonchan didn't. "Why did you
want to fight 3 enemies at once alone?" Hitmonchan asked Hitmonlee once the
cheering died down.
"I wanted to prove myself and show my gratitude to Ross and the others,"
explained Hitmonlee.
"You didn't have to prove yourself to me or anyone else," explained Ross, "You
just have to be a good friend and be ready when we need you." Hitmonlee
gradually developed a smile.
"It's getting late, we should head back for the pokemon center," announced
Ross. "Maybe when we get back, some of you could teach me some moves."
All of the pokemon liked the thought of teaching their trainer some of their
moves and went back to the small town in high hopes. Chapter 32-The Trainer's Training
Back at the pokemon center, the outdoor lights were just coming on. There was
still a couple of hours before Ross had to turn in for the night, so Ross took
his pokemon to the battle room in the pokemon center.
The room was large and empty except for a few dummies stacked in the corner.
Ross set up one of the dummies and pulled out Mew.
"I'm going to teach you how to telepathically communicate with psychic and
ghost pokemon," said Mew, "Do as I do."
"Okay," said Ross.
Mew sat down with its legs crossed and closed his eyes. Ross did the same and
Mew started to speak.
"Listen to the sound of my voice, listen only to my voice," instructed Mew, "In
order to communicate telepathically with pokemon, you must learn to be able to
determine what I'm going to.."
"...say before I say it," said Ross, "Listening to the mind's voice is
essential for predicting a pokemon's next move."
Ross opened his eyes and saw Mew standing up, looking at Ross. Ross thought,
'Testing 1, 2, 1, 2..'
"3," said Mew. Ross smiled as Mew went back into his pokeball.
"Guess that's it for lesson one," said Ross.
Ross called out Hitmonchan, who said, "I'll teach you how to use comet punch."
Ross nodded while Hitmonchan walked over to the dummy Ross set up. Hitmonchan
shot out two quick lefts and then a powerful right uppercut. The dummy was
launched into the air and fell with a soft thud.
Hitmonchan set the dummy back up and motioned for Ross to try. Ross walked
over and repeated Hitmonchan's punches. This time, the dummy flipped onto its
back. Ross and Hitmonchan sparred for a little bit to get Ross used to the feel
of comet punch. Hitmonchan went back into its pokeball for the night. Ross
pulled out Hitmonlee's pokeball and called him out.
Hitmonlee set up the dummy and showed Ross how to do a double kick. Ross
learned quickly and spared a few rounds with Hitmonlee. To keep Ross on his
toes, Hitmonlee mixed in a few of his special kicks. Ross imitated Hitmonlee's
kicks, but had some trouble. Ross and Hitmonlee continued to spar until Nurse
Joy opened the door.
"You have better pack it in," explained Joy. "Trainers have to be in bed in 20
minutes."
Hitmonlee and Ross sighed in unison, but did as they were told.
Hitmonlee got into his pokeball while Ross got set up for bed. Chapter 33-News Flash!
Ross was finishing up with brushing his teeth when a large man came out of a
bathroom stall and dropped a newspaper onto the counter. Ross bent over to spit
into the sink when the headline caught his eye.
'Team Rocket is Alive and Kicking'
Ross swallowed his toothpaste and read the article.
'Yesterday afternoon, 50 captured members of Team Rocket broke out of jail.
Many of the squads have started an nation-wide crime wave, ranging from
individual robberies and pokemon center raids, to shopping centers and even
starting pokemon distributors. "It was terrible," says one of the latest
victims, "They even stole my Magikarp!!!" At the latest shopping mall robbery,
a gang newsletter was recovered including names and descriptions of 5 trainers
on their 'blacklist.'
'I'd hate to be one of those suckers!' thought Ross as he looked at the names
of the blacklisted trainers.
'Ash Ketchem, small surprise,' thought Ross as he read, 'Indigo Plateau
Pikachu, I didn't even know that he was a trainer! Mike Crosby, Nick Grahm,
whoever they are...'
Ross's jaw dropped when he saw the last name. He couldn't believe his eyes!
The last name was...
************************************************************************ "Ross
Jacobsen," said the man in blue, "He was the kid that caught those four members
of Team Rocket. They must be short on members for them to blacklist this kid
for that."
"I think it's more than that," said Jenny, "If Ross has some rare pokemon, or
was a former member, Team Rocket would consider him more of a threat."
************************************************************************
"Pika, Pika-PIka," said a small yellow rodent.
"What is it Pikachu?" asked Ash. Pikachu held up a newspaper and pointed to an
article. Ash started to read it and said, "So Team Rocket is still out to get
us, what else is new?"
Pikachu fell over, he couldn't believe the ignorance of his friend sometimes.
He removed the paper from Ash's hand, rolled it up, and smacked Ash over the
head with it. While Ash rubbed his head, Pikachu pointed at a line towards the
bottom of the article.
************************************************************************
Ross tossed in his sleep that night. He was having nightmares about Team
Rocket. He dremt that Christian, Lee, Meowth, Bonnie, and Clyde were
surrounding him. Ross reached for his pokemon, but none of them were on his
belt. A Magneton floated into view, holding several pokeballs with its magnetic
forces. Ross was easily overpowered and tied upside-down in a tree, left for
the wild pokemon to have their way with. A Primeape leaped up from the ground
and ready to thrash at the helpless Ross.
Ross sat up straight in his bed, pajamas soaked in cold sweat. Suddenly
worried for his pokemon's well-being, Ross opened his backpack. He only relaxed
after he accounted for each of his pokeballs.
Ross closed his backpack and laid back down. If Team Rocket wanted him and his
pokemon bad enough, they would find a way to do it. Chapter 34-The Earth Badge
Ross felt the alarm beat against his hip again, but didn't need to be waken up
this time. He spent the entire night worrying about when and IF Team Rocket
would be coming after him. Even though scared stiff, Ross somehow got out of
his bed and was at the gym when the receptionist unlocked the door.
The inside of the gym was much more interesting than the outside. Ross walked
down the hall, peeking into a room once in a while. Most of them had laboratory
equipment in them, but some of them had very humble accommodations. A
fireplace, some cots, and only one bathroom that Ross could find!
Ross tried to remember who the gym leader was, but all that he could remember
was that he didn't like to be called 'mister' or any other name except for
one...
'SEYMOUR,' thought Ross. That was the leader's name. Ross was glad that he
remembered, or Seymour might take his extra aggression on Ross's pokemon.
Ross stood before a pair of doors labeled;
"Earthen Warriors' Battle Arena
The Leader Awaits All Challengers"
Ross stepped inside. The arena resembled the interior of a frontier cabin.
The only difference was a mobile of the solar system hanging from the center
beam. Ross also noticed a scruffy looking man with glasses in a white lab coat.
"My opponents arrive with much glee, but usually leave in misery," quoted the
man, "Seymour is my name, leading this gym brings me fame."
Ross wondered why a gym leader would be talking in rhyme when Seymour said,
"Let's get this match over and done, this match will be one-on-one."
Ross pulled out Bulbasaur's pokeball and readied himself for another battle.
"This pokemon is a sure-fire bet," explained Seymour, "Your only opponent will
be Diglett."
Seymour tossed out a pokeball while Ross tossed out Bulbasaur's.
A tiny mole emerged from Seymour's pokeball to battle Ross's Bulbasaur.
"In order to beat it, I say to scratch it!" rhymed Seymour.
"Razor leaf," instructed Ross.
Diglett ran up to Bulbasaur to scratch him but was seriously hurt by the razor
leaves.
"To avoid the next round, dig into the ground."
"Tackle it Bulbasaur," said Ross
Diglett dug deep into the bare earth floor. Bulbasaur stumbled on the hole and
fell to the floor. The dirt surrounding the hole filled the opening, hiding
Diglett from sight.
"Make it bow by tackling it now," commanded Seymour.
"Pull yourself up from the ground with vine whip on the rafters."
Bulbasaur extended its vines to the rafters, wrapping around the beams several
times. Bulbasaur pulled himself up out of harm's way as Diglett surfaced to
attack Bulbasaur. Finding that its opponent had disappeared, Diglett became
slightly confused. Bulbasaur finally finished pulling himself up into the
rafters and out of sight.
"This match really matters, Bulbasaur's up in the rafters!" exclaimed Seymour.
"Growl," ordered Ross, getting ever more frustrated with Seymour's repetitive
rhyming.
Diglett looked up, but didn't see a single trace of Bulbasaur. But Diglett
sure HEARD him. Bulbasaur's growl echoed in the huge, empty stadium, making
Ross's pokemon sound much bigger and stronger. Diglett was terrified by the
enormous sound and started to dig like crazy into the ground.
"Will you just slow, it's only an echo!"
But Diglett refused to leave its underground refuge. Finally, Seymour had no
choice but to forfeit.
"Your wisdom exceeds beyond your years, you managed to bring my Diglett down to
tears," proclaimed Seymour.
"Will you please stop your constant rhyming!?! It's getting VERY old!"
requested Ross.
"Sorry," apologized Seymour, "Old habits die hard. Since you beat me, you
shall receive an Earth Badge." Seymour pulled a yellow box out of his coat
pocket and pushed a button.
The overhead mobile started to spin and the 6th planet descended to the floor.
Once it landed, the unusual orb rolled to Ross's feet. Ross picked it up and
realized that it was a painted pokeball. Ross opened it and inside was a small,
round pin, drawn like the Earth.
"Take the Earth badge with pride and remember that knowledge is power," said
Seymour. Ross was about to toss Seymour back the pokeball, but Seymour said,
"Keep it, I've been working on these special Super balls, they're more powerful
than even Ultra balls and will catch just about anything its beam is aimed at."
"Thanks," said Ross as he turned to the exit.
************************************************************************
Seymour's cell phone rang a couple times before he answered it.
"How did it go?" asked the voice on the other end.
"He won, just like the others," reported Seymour, "You still haven't explained
to me what this is all about yet."
"I wish I could tell you," said the voice, "But all that I know is that Ash and
the others want those kids to be watched." Chapter 35-Into the Mountains
With the second required badge pinned safely inside his coat, Ross got a map of
the mountains and started down the trail that would lead him to the freezing
mountain pass. Only at the end of that pass would he find Glacier Peak, home to
the Ice Lord, leader of the local pokemon gym.
The trip down the trail was uneventful, other trainers wanted to save their
pokemon's strength since there was only a couple of pokemon centers even
REMOTELY nearby. The temperature steadily dropped and Ross put on the parka he
bought in Moon Town. Ross's pokemon didn't like the cold very much, so all of
them went into their pokeballs.
Ross carried on towards his goal, navigating by a map, sun, and dropping
temperature. Soon, Ross turned a bend and saw snow on the ground. Ross was in
awe at the splendor before him.
Ross was eager to find an ice pokemon and began to jog down the pass when he
slipped and started to slide down the hill on his backside. Ross was out of
control and thought that he would never be able to stop. But after a while,
Ross slowed down and eventually stopped.
When he looked up, Ross was staring straight into the face of... Chapter 36-A Psychic Chill
Himself. Ross looked around and saw that he was in an ice cavern where each
surface was polished to reflect images. Ross looked one way and noticed what
seemed to be a flock of Jynx.
'But wild Jynx are usually solitary,' thought Ross. As he approached, he
realized that he was actually seeing several reflections of the same, ALONE,
Jynx.
'If I fell for it, I wonder if that Jynx would,' thought Ross. Using his
telepathy to mental pokemon, Ross read the Jynx's mind. (Or what there was.)
'I am so beautiful,' thought the icy psychic, 'Who needs brains when you have
got beauty? I probably better go get some food. Now, which way was out again.'
Ross couldn't believe it, the Jynx was lost in the cave of mirrors. None of
Ross's pokemon would appreciate a battle in the freezing cold, so Ross got
another idea.
************************************************************************
Jynx turned to go in the direction that it thought the exit was when it saw a
strange creature with its back turned. Jynx started to back away when it saw
another creature. And another. And another!
Jynx looked around, it was surrounded. Jynx tried to make a run for it, but
kept hitting a mirror. All of the creatures were turning around to face it.
Jynx was getting really scared.
All of the creatures stood to their full height. Some were Jynx's size, while
others were over twenty feet tall. All of the creatures pulled out a red and
white pokeball and prepared to throw them at Jynx.
Jynx tried to ram one of the smaller creatures out of the way, but it wouldn't
move and Jynx was too dizzy to fight. It seemed like a lot of the orbs were
missing Jynx, but one of them wasn't missing.
************************************************************************
Ross walked over and picked up the pokeball containing the Jynx. Ross couldn't
believe that the psychic pokemon thought that it was surrounded. Shrugging off
the pokemon's ignorance, Ross followed his own footprints out of the cave. Chapter 37-On Ice
Ross looked up at the sky. It had taken him longer to get out of the ice cave
then he thought. It was getting late, and there was a pokemon center about half
a mile away. Ross continued on his way until he reached the top of a hill.
"According to the map," said Ross to himself, "The pokemon center should be
right here."
Ross looked around but didn't see any signs of life.
'Where is it?' wondered Ross. Suddenly he felt the ground shake, three
Digletts popped out of the snow in a group.
"Dugtrio," said the three, cold moles in unison. Before Ross could respond to
the pokemon, they dropped a note and disappeared back into the snow.
Ross picked up the note and read it.
'SOS. The snowflake pass pokemon center has been buried in an avalanche.
Require assistance.
Signed;
Nurse Joy'
Ross realized that the Dugtrio must have been in the center when it was buried
and was sent for help. Ross pulled the shovel out of his backpack and started
to dig.
************************************************************************
About an hour after he started, Ross reached a window of the pokemon center.
There wasn't any one around to open the window so Ross tapped on the glass.
Everyone inside jumped at the noise and turned to face the window.
A girl about a year younger than Ross came and opened the window for him.
"Somebody order a pizza," Ross joked.
************************************************************************
Once everyone was out of the pokemon center, it took about another 2 hours to
clear away the rest of the snow.
After the pokemon center could let people in again, Ross checked in his pokemon
for healing and went into the trainers' quarters. Ross was so tired that he
just took off his shoes, climbed into bed fully clothed, and went to sleep. Chapter 38-Chill Out
Ross woke up in the middle of the night. He had another nightmare.
In this one, Ross was dressed in earth-tones, battling off about twenty members
of Team Rocket. Ross wasn't doing well. All of his pokemon had fainted and he
was getting tired. One of the Team Rocket members threw a net onto Ross,
restraining him from fighting back. Ross looked around at the Rocket's laughing
up their success and one of them, was Adam.
Ross looked around, everyone else was still asleep. Ross started to calm down
when he heard a noise coming from up front.
************************************************************************
"Be quiet," hissed Jill, "This is supposed to be a covert operation."
"Yeah Jack," whispered Meowth, "We're supposed to be cat buglers remember?"
"Sorry," apologized James before he tripped on a wire and landed with a thud.
************************************************************************
Ross definitely knew that something was up, so he pulled on his shoes and
walked through the door.
"Hello?" asked Ross.
"Get DOWN!" ordered a voice a little too loudly.
"Who's there?" inquired Ross. Ross heard some more whispering and arguing.
Suddenly, Ross felt two pairs of hands trying to hold him down on the floor by
pinning his shoulders and covering his mouth. Ross used a comet punch to break
free of his captors. It was difficult for Ross to see but apparently his
captors were now trying to capture each other.
Ross decided that he had better hide from his adversaries but encountered a
small pokemon covered with fur. The strange pokemon started to swing its claws
at Ross. Ross couldn't see very well, but its adversary seemed to be able to
see him very well. Ross threw the pokemon to the floor and listened closely.
Ross didn't hear the two larger figures fighting anymore.
Ross noticed a something coming up from his legs. Ross did a double kick and
sent the small pokemon into the two dark figures. While the three figures were
dazed, Ross reached for the light switch.
By the time Ross had gotten the lights on, all Ross could see was the front
door flapping in the snowy wind. The rest of the lobby was fine, and there was
no noticeable marks on himself.
Ross closed the door and decided to just go to bed and forget about the event.
************************************************************************
"I can't believe that we blew it AGAIN!!!" exclaimed Jill.
"I guess we will just have to get that bird on our own," Jack said calmly.
"Yeah RIGHT!" said Meowth, "Two poison and one normal pokemon against a wild
Ice pokemon in its home!?!"
"We will either catch it," proclaimed Jack in a noble voice, "or one of us will
die in the attempt!"
"Give me Articuno or give me DEATH!" quoted Jill.
The two trainers looked at the Meowth. "I'll see you two at the bottom of the
mountain," said the small cat as it tried to run down the mountainside.
Jack grabbed the cowardly cat by the back of its neck and proceeded to drag it
up the mountain. Chapter 39-Icy Battle
Ross left the pokemon center in high hopes. Glacier Peak was only about an
hour's march away and was within sight. Ross only had one problem.
He didn't know which mountain it was. Ross knew that it was one of two
mountains. One of them was home of the ice gym, while the other one was empty.
Both paths seemed equally used, and the sign post was broken beyond definition.
Ross knew that a wrong choice would result in the loss of an entire day. Ross
stopped and took a break while he thought about which way to go. He closed his
eyes and fell into a trance.
************************************************************************
A boy and girl in Team Rocket uniforms were climbing a cliff with a Meowth.
"Hurry up!" ordered girl, "It's only a little further."
"I'm tired," complained Meowth, "Can't we take a break?"
"NO!!!" replied its human companions in unison.
************************************************************************
"There it is," proclaimed the male, "The old bird itself."
"Time to catch," instructed the female, "or time to die!"
************************************************************************
Ross's eyes popped open at the statement made by the female member of Team
Rocket in his vision.
'They must be MAD!!! Climbing a mountain like that,' thought Ross, "I have to
try and stop them." And without a second thought, Ross bolted for the mountain
on the left.
************************************************************************
About an hour later, Ross was on the cliff that he saw the two members of Team
Rocket on in his vision. At first Ross thought that he imagined the whole
vision, when he heard a terrified war cry of a pokemon.
"CUUUUNNNNNOOOOO!!!!!!" hollered the pokemon.
Ross looked up and saw a beautiful blue bird flying around a floating purple
sphere.
"Kof-fing," said the sphere.
The blue bird wasn't doing to well and retreated out of Ross's sight. Ross
climbed over the top of the cliff's edge and saw three pokemon fighting a blue
bird, a snake, a cat, and the purple ball.
Ross saw two people watching the fight and trying to throw pokeballs at the
blue bird, but each time, the bird escaped. The couple was getting frustrated
and stared to shoot riffles at the bird.
The bird fell out of the sky with blood flowing out of its left wing. The pair
each threw another pokeball at the injured bird but again failed to capture it.
The girl walked up to the fallen bird, put her riffle to the bird's head and
said, "If we can't have it, then no one will!"
"NNNNOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" hollered Ross as he charged up at the Team Rocket member
ready to kill Articuno. Ross leaped into the air and did a round house in
midair, kicking the female Rocket away from the precious bird.
"Who do you think YOU are kid?" demanded the other human while the female sat
up.
"I am Ross Jacobsen, and I say that you can't kill a pokemon just because you
can't catch it!"
"YOU'RE the brat that our boss wants taken care of!?!" asked the girl who now
had an imprint of Ross's shoe on her face.
"Mind your blood pressure Jill," warned her friend.
"SHUT UP Jack!" commanded Jill, "I'm gonna teach junior here a lesson! Ekans,
wrap this loser."
Ekans leapt to the attack, but Ross used double kick to make Ekans fly into the
mountain wall instead.
"Koffing, tackle!" ordered Jack.
The purple ball charged at Ross but was knocked into the nest by Ross's comet
punch. Koffing was dazed, but floated up and knocked an egg out of the nest in
the process.
"CU!" cried the blue bird as it tried to fly to save the egg as it rolled to
the cliff. Articuno got two feet before its wing gave out, leaving Articuno
unable to save the egg.
Team Rocket tried to stop the egg, ran into each other.
"Spearow, GO!!! Save the egg!!!" commanded Ross.
Spearow emerged from the pokeball and flew for the egg. The egg was getting
closer to the edge as Spearow approached the egg. The egg seemed to float in
the air for an eternity before it dropped over the edge. Spearow dived out of
sight after the egg.
It was one of those moments that seem to last a lifetime. Time stood still for
everyone on that plateau. The world seemed to be white around that solitary
cliff face. Chapter 40-Saved Or Scrambled?
Everyone wondered if Ross's Spearow had been fast enough to save the egg.
Finally, a bird pokemon became visible over the edge of the cliff, but it wasn't
Spearow.
"Fea-ROW!!!" exclaimed the bird, but Ross, Articuno, and Meowth heard it ask,
"Miss me?" Before anyone could ask the result of Articuno's egg, they noticed
that Fearow was carrying something in its talons. Articuno's egg!!!
Jack and Jill ordered their pokemon to attack Spearow, Ross, and Articuno, but
they had a slight problem. Ekans, Koffing, and Meowth were very weak from the
cold and their last battle with Articuno.
Jack and Jill charged at Ross and Articuno, but Ross moved himself and Articuno
out of harm's way. Jack and Jill tried to stop, but collided with the mountain
wall, tangled in a heap with their pokemon.
'Now's our chance,' thought Ross.
Ross took the egg from Fearow and with Articuno under his arm, climbed onto
Fearow and instructed him to fly to the second mountain. Chapter 41-Articuno's Agony
Fearow landed gracefully on Glacier Peak. Ross ran into the simple town's
pokemon center, hoping that there was still a chance to save the adult Articuno.
The nurse went into the emergency room with the rare blue bird. Ross sat in
the lobby, holding the unborn egg in his backpack, wondering if it would have a
parent to teach it how to survive or not.
Even though he arrived in time to compete, Ross decided not to go to the
pokemon gym that day. He had to know the moment Articuno's verdict came in.
The nurse was in the back room for a long time. Many trainers came and left
that day, but none of them felt like Ross did. Ross was feeling so lonely that
he called home and withdrew one of his pokedolls to hug. He just rocked back
and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Just hoping and waiting.
Ross had many wonders that day. Why did Team Rocket do things like this? Why
was he stuck saving the egg? Why, why, WHY?
The door to the Emergency Room finally opened and the nurse stepped out. She
didn't look very happy. Ross walked over and realized what it was before she
even said a word.
"I'm afraid that we can't save Articuno," explained the nurse, "We plan to give
it a sedative so that it will die peacefully in its sleep. If you would like,
you can come in as we administer it."
"Okay," Ross said glumly. He felt like crying, but took the small egg into the
emergency room.
Inside the emergency room, Ross saw all sorts of equipment. On the main
operating table, the once proud Articuno laid. Only one doctor was in the
emergency room with a needle and bottle.
The man inserted the needle into the bottle and filled it with a green
chemical. Articuno watched as the doctor did this and insert the needle into
Articuno's good wing. The doctor did his best to smile, but clearly took no joy
in killing a creature. Ross asked to be alone with Articuno and the doctor
respectfully left.
Ross called out Jynx to translate since Ross didn't understand Articuno.
Articuno talked weakly and Jynx thought, 'I know that I am going to die soon,
could I please have my egg with me when I die?'
Ross set the egg next to Articuno. 'Thank you. When I'm gone, I want you to
take care of my hatchling. Will you do this for me?' thought Jynx as Articuno
spoke.
"I will," promised Ross.
'Thank you,' thought Jynx before Articuno started to sing a song. Ross
listened to the song being played in Jynx's mind. The song grew softer and
softer until at the end, the mighty bird died.
************************************************************************
Some of the humans said that they were all scared of an upcoming traveling
convention. Some said that a great trainer had come to capture them all.
Others say that the spirit of the range had died at that moment. Whatever the
reason, all of the pokemon in that mountain range became as silent as stone.
************************************************************************
Ross stepped out of the ER and heard the nurse talking to someone on the phone.
"He brought in the bird, hoping that it could be saved, we managed to, but gave
it a sedative to make it easier to handle and make the kid think that it died,"
explained the nurse, "We'll transfer the bird over to you for analysis." There
was a pause.
"We think that the Articuno laid an egg recently that should hatch soon if it
hasn't already. I'll be asking the kid if he saw it, and if he did, I'll
convince him to tell us where." Another pause. "Okay, bye."
Ross walked back into the ER before the nurse or anyone else saw him. Chapter 42-The New Story Of What Happened
Ross was in the training room trying to work out some of the aggression he had
developed over the loss of Articuno and the treachery of the nurse and doctor.
Ross had put his backpack containing the egg into a cabinet for training gear.
Ross's mind was full of more whys. Why did he take that path? Why did he send
Spearow to save the egg? Why did the nurse do this?
All of the questions was making Ross angry. Finally, he extended both of his
fists at a dummy. the dummy was knocked back, but another dummy behind it also
fell over without being touched by Ross or anything else. Ross pulled out his
pokedex and analyzed the dummy.
"There is residual energy of the attack referred to as psychic," explained the
computer.
Ross was going to attack some more dummies when the nurse from up front named
Jackie came in.
"Been taking out some aggression?" asked Jackie.
"Yeah," replied Ross.
"We've done some tests on Articuno's body and have reason to believe that it
recently laid an egg," explained the nurse, "Exactly what happened?"
"Well," started Ross, "I was on my way here to battle the gym leader for a
badge when I got mixed up and climbed the wrong mountain. I encountered a squad
of Team Rocket fighting an Articuno. They weren't able to catch it, even when
they shot it with guns. They got steamed and got ready to kill the bird by
shooting it in the head. I ran in and messed up the shot. They sent their
pokemon after me and an egg got knocked out of the nest during the fight.
Everyone tried to stop it, but the egg rolled over the edge. While Team Rocket
was in shock, I grabbed Articuno and flew over here on my Fearow."
Ross kept a straight face as the nurse scrutinized his face. "What a shame,"
said the nurse, "That may have been the last wild Articuno egg."
Jackie left with a fake glum face while Ross did his best to maintain a
straight face. "I'll bet," said Ross as he punched a nearby dummy. The dummy
developed a thin coat of ice.
************************************************************************
"Nah, he's clueless," reported Jackie.
"What a shame," said a dark figure on the screen, "Another Articuno would have
been most beneficial. Even if it was just an egg."
************************************************************************
Ross sat on the bench in the corner of the room. According to his pokedex, the
best way to hatch any pokemon is to keep it near a heat source at all times. So
Ross put the egg under his parka and zipped it up.
That night he had another nightmare. In this one, Ross was being attacked by
the adult Articuno he took to the pokemon center that day and was having trouble
until another Articuno flew in front of him. The larger Articuno just laughed
until a red bird joined the smaller Articuno, then a yellow one.
The large Articuno called out and another pokemon took to the field. This one
was large and looked like a Mew on steroids. The unusual Mew launched some sort
of attack and knocked out all three of the birds before turning to Ross.
Ross woke up in another cold sweat and checked for the egg. It was there, and
Ross couldn't help but wonder, what was causing all of these nightmares. Chapter 43-The Ice Badge
Ross awoke the next morning ready to get his new badge and out of town. Ross
packed up and checked his supplies, he had enough to get him through the next
six days. Fortunately, Cerulean City was 3 days away, so Ross didn't have to
buy more supplies in the creepy town of Glacier Peak.
Ross left the pokemon center and proceeded to the largest building of town.
Adorned in pictures of ice pokemon, snowflakes, and icicles, the main gym was
cold and the floor was covered with snow. At the opposite end of the gym floor
was a man dressed in white.
"I am the Ice Lord, leader of this gym, do you wish to battle me?" inquired the
man. By now, Ross was getting a little annoyed by this entire town.
"No, I came were because my drink is warm," Ross said sarcastically, "Of course
I came here for a badge battle."
"Very well, 2 on 2," explained Ice Lord, "My first pokemon will be Lapras."
A massive pokemon waddled out into position.
"My first pokemon will be Charmander, GO!!!" cried Ross.
The fire lizard walked out, ready to battle.
"Lapras, start with a body slam," instructed Ice Lord.
"Charmander, ember," said Ross.
Lapras tried to do as he was instructed, but body slammed the ember instead.
Lapras was severely burned.
"Lapras, mist."
"Charmander, slash."
The room started to fill with a light mist, making it a little difficult to see
clearly. Charmander still slashed at Lapras's burn, making it worse.
Lapras hadn't fainted, but it would before too much longer. The Ice Lord must
have realized this because he called back Lapras and sent out a large shell.
The Cloyster opened straight down the middle to reveal a pair of eyes.
"Cloyster, spike cannon."
"Charmander, rage!"
Cloyster launched volley after volley of spike going straight at Charmander.
Most of them hit Charmander, making him really mad.
Charmander attacked Cloyster over and over, but couldn't get through Cloyster's
tough shell.
"Cloyster, use supersonic."
"Keep attacking Cloyster."
Cloyster made a strange noise that confused Charmander. Charmander started to
attack a picture on the wall. Charmander started to get annoyed by the
unaffected Cloyster.
"Cloyster, clamp Charmander's body with your shell."
"Charmander, look out behind you!" warned Ross.
But it was too late, Charmander was restrained in Cloyster's shell and couldn't
break free.
"Charmander, return," said Ross, "Hitmonlee, GO!!!"
"Cloyster, withdraw."
"Hitmonlee, rolling kick.
Cloyster closed its shell to hide from Hitmonlee, but was launched up into the
ceiling before falling to the floor. Cloyster's shell had a crack and icicles
started to fall from the ceiling.
"Cloyster, stay in your shell!"
"Use Cloyster as an umbrella for the icicles," instructed Ross.
Hitmonlee picked up the motionless Cloyster and held it over his head. Icicles
fell all over the place and the two trainers had to dodge the icicles
themselves.
Hitmonlee ran around in a blind panic, carrying Cloyster around for the ride.
Hitmonlee soon tripped over a chunk of ice that broke off of an icicle.
Cloyster rolled on its shell until it stopped right under a huge icicle.
Cloyster chanced a peek out of its shell. When it saw the huge icicle over it
getting ready to fall, it cried out in terror, "CLOY-STER!!!!"
Ross and the Ice Lord turned around to see Cloyster about to be crushed by the
icicle as it slipped from its position. Both ran over to Cloyster, but the gym
leader tripped over Hitmonlee as he stood up. The last bit of ice holding the
icicle in place broke away, releasing the heavy object straight at the bivalve.
If it landed on Cloyster, it would mean certain DEATH!
The icicle got closer to the doomed pokemon as Ross dived for it. Ross
snatched the Cloyster and began to roll out of the path of the largest icicle.
CRASH!
When Ross opened his eyes, he was upside-down against the wall. The massive
icicle had broken into several pieces and only one small icicle was still on the
ceiling.
Hitmonlee and the Ice Lord were by his side. "You risked your life to save my
pokemon," said the large man, "I don't know what to say."
"It was nothing," Ross said as he grabbed at his backpack that fell off when he
dived for Cloyster. Looking inside, he saw that the precious Articuno egg was
still whole.
"I don't think that Cloyster should battle after its near death experience,"
explained the Ice Lord, "So take the Ice Badge." He reached into a snow hill in
the corner and pulled out a small metal snowflake.
Ross reached up and took it from the white clothed man. "Thank you," said
Ross.
"No," said the tall figure, "Thank YOU for saving my Cloyster's life." Ross
left the gym and under his breath, the Ice Lord said, "I'm sorry that I took
your Articuno." Chapter 44-The Day Of Traps
With the Ice Badge now in his possession, Ross considered his next move. He
could either stay for the traveling convention in a few days, or leave for one
of Cerulean's fire badges.
Ross figured that the convention would reach Cerulean about the same time as
him and he had enough supplies to last him. Not to mention that the Articuno
egg would probably hatch soon and Ross didn't like the thought of staying in the
creepy town when that happened.
Ross started down the trail to his next destination, keeping an eye open for
any new pokemon. The hike was fairly quiet. Ross didn't see any pokemon or
trainers. Ross noticed that the temperature was getting steadily warmer as he
descended from the mountains.
Ross watched around him as the terrain surrounding him changed from snow, to
rocky, and then to forest. Ross stopped for a rest and did a little fishing.
After an hour without any luck, Ross tried to continue on his way but was
stopped by two figures.
"Prepare for trouble," said a familiar voice.
"And make it double," said another voice.
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all people within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jill!" reminded the first voice.
"Jack!" stated the second voice.
"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light," proclaimed Jill.
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" ordered Jack.
"Meowth, that's right! MAN, is it good to be out of that SNOW!!!" hollered
the familiar cat.
"What do you want?" asked Ross, "I'm kind of in a hurry."
"We want your pokemon," said Jack in a matter-of-fact voice.
"And revenge for kicking me in the face!" added Jill.
"You're not getting any of my pokemon!" proclaimed Ross.
"Wrong," said Meowth, "All we have to do is catch you and your pokemon will be
as good as ours."
"I don't think so," said Ross.
"Oh yeah," said Jill, "Try this!"
Jill threw a net at Ross, catching him off guard. Ross got tangled up in the
net and was unable to get up.
"That was easier than I thought it would be," said Jack.
"Guess again," said Ross as he vanished from under the net.
"Where'd he go?" asked Meowth.
"How should I know?" answered Jack.
"He has to be somewhere," said Jill, "Spread out and find him."
Jack, Jill, and Meowth walked off in different directions while Ross watched
from the tree he teleported into. Ross was getting a little sick of having to
deal with Team Rocket every other day.
************************************************************************
Later that day, Ross fell into three holes and hung up in two tree nets. When
it was time to set up camp, Ross wondered what he should do since he might get a
visit from Jack and Jill while he slept.
When Ross got caught in a third net, he got an idea. After he teleported out,
Ross dragged the net along, looking for a good campsite.
About 20 minutes later, Ross was sleeping peacefully high in a tree in the
makeshift hammock that he made from the net Team Rocket left for a trap.
************************************************************************
Just like the past few nights, Ross had another dream, but it wasn't a
nightmare like the others. Ross was in some sort of room, looking at a mural.
The mural depicted three birds and a large red dog. A young man in earth tones
was wearing several symbols on his jacket and surrounded by many Rs. The young
man was then standing alone with his hand in some sort of stone door without any
handles. In the last scene, the man was in a garden, surrounded by pokemon.
When Ross awoke from this dream, he was seriously puzzled. What was causing
all of these strange dreams? Was he going insane? He decided that once he got
to Cerulean City that he would have a check-up.
************************************************************************
"How can he just disappear like that?" asked Jill.
"Who knows," said Meowth, "I just know that I don't want to see him again."
"Well you're going to be seeing a lot of him because we're going to follow him
until we can catch him," proclaimed Jack. Chapter 45-The Chase Is On
Ross awoke with the sun. He had to get up early if he wanted to stay ahead of
the Rockets.
Ross checked the Articuno egg while he pulled down the net hammock. The egg
was getting very warm.
When Ross got done packing up, he read up on how to raise baby bird pokemon
during his journey to Cerulean City.
Ross got slowed down by a few more traps before he started to encounter
trainers that wanted to battle him. Ross beat them and continued on his way.
About half-way through the forest, Ross heard Jack's and Jill's voices.
"To protect the world from devastation," said Jill.
"To unite all people within our, you know what, I'm getting really sick of
saying this stupid poem," said Jack.
This statement threw off Jill and Meowth who started to yell at him.
'I better get out of here when I can,' thought Ross before taking off into the
forest.
"Stop him!" hollered Jill. The three members of Team Rocket started to chase
Ross through the forest.
Ross darted between trees, over logs, and past a few packs of wild pokemon.
Still, the determined group chased Ross.
Ross encountered a bridge spanning a canyon with a raging river below. The
bridge was old and decaying. Ross thought twice about trying to cross it.
"There he is," proclaimed Meowth behind Ross. That was all Ross needed to
know.
Ross took a deep breath and charged across the river. All of the boards
creaked under Ross's pounding footsteps. The creaking was even louder behind
Ross as Team Rocket followed him.
Ross was halfway across the bridge when...
CRACK!
The boards underneath him broke away.
Ross was hanging on to the right support rope.
************************************************************************
"Well, isn't THIS a pretty picture?" asked a sarcastic Jill.
"Heh, he's at the end of his rope now," commented Meowth, "There's the egg! In
his coat!"
"I'll get it," said Jack as he leaned over to remove the egg. Suddenly, Jack
felt the board beneath him shake.
"What was that?" asked Meowth.
"It's the kid," exclaimed Jack, "He's kicking the boards under us!" The boards
started to creak as the boards shook again.
"I don't like the sound of that," said Jill.
SNAP!!!
************************************************************************
Ross watched as the three figures fell the long drop to the river and the
bridge fell vertical, hanging from the right side.
"We'll be back," warned Meowth, "and Articuno WILL be OURS!!!!"
SPLASH!!!
Ross looked at the boards that Team Rocket was standing on. All of them were
still in one piece. It was the left support rope that had broken. Something
was stuck in the boards the Team Rocket were standing on. Ross pulled it out
and saw that it was some paper.
Facing the other end of the bridge, Ross worked his way to safety. If he
hurried, he might be able to get a decent head start on the Rockets.
************************************************************************
"This is all your fault!" accused Jill.
"I don't think that pointing fingers is going to help us get out of this
river," said Jack simply.
"I don't care if it's going to help," yelled Jill, "I just want to make it
clear that its your fault."
"I'd hate to interrupt your little argue-fest but we have a small problem,"
warned Meowth.
"What is it Meowth?" asked Jack.
"A really BIG WATERFALL!!!!!!" answered Meowth.
"This is going to hurt," said Jill as the trio fell over the crest of water to
the rocks below. Chapter 46-Paperwork
When Ross got to the other side of the bridge, he examined the papers that he
obtained from the bridge. The first one was a letter, while the second one was
labeled 'The Rocket Gazette.'
Ross decided to let his pokemon have some fresh air while he examined read the
letter and newspaper.
************************************************************************
Dear fellow members of Team Rocket; Thanks to the effort of the fake pokemon center at Glacier Peak, we have
already obtained an Articuno and the extremely rare Mewtwo. These along will be
given to the new leader of the Viridian Gym, hand chosen by myself. Other
pokemon that have been stolen will be enclosed for some of you.
Enclosed you will find a copy of our newspaper. There are some fairly
interesting changes taking place, including where you can obtain copies of
future issues.
Our base of operations has been moved to the Celadon City Game Corner's
basement. Just show your Rocket Badge to the cashier and she'll let you in.
Finally, I want every member in the area to remember that we will be robbing
the pokemon convention on its last day in Cerulean City. That's June 25th for
those of you that don't know. We hope that we will have success on this day.
Sincerely,
Giovanni
Second-in-command
************************************************************************
Ross was amazed. Team Rocket was getting bolder and braver.
'Let's see here,' thought Ross to himself as he read the newspaper.
'New members, Nick Grahm and Mike Crosby,' read Ross, 'Last I heard of them,
they were on Team Rocket's blacklist.'
Moving on to the next few articles, Ross read about more detailed plans for the
raid at the convention, success stories, locations of 'Rocket Gazette'
distributors, and even found a few puzzles and comics!
Finally, Ross read the last article about a tournament in a couple months to
choose the new leader of Viridian City gym as accustomed by the rules of the
pokemon league.
"Let's see here," said Ross to himself, "Today is the 22nd, so we better hurry
if we're going to get to Cerulean in time to warn them about the convention."
Everyone went back into their pokeballs while Ross put away the papers and ran
off for the city in trouble. Chapter 47-Welcome To My Nightmare
Ross was walking down the road when he heard voices from all around him. All
of which he knew.
"Prepare for trouble," said the first voice.
"And make it double double," said the second voice.
"To protect the world from devastation," said a third voice.
"To unite all people within our nation," said a fourth voice.
"To denounce the evils of truth and love," proclaimed the first voice.
"To extend our reach to the stars above," stated the second voice.
"Bonnie," said the first voice.
"Clyde," reminded the second voice.
"Lee," stated the third voice.
"Christian," spoke the last voice.
All of the Rockets jumped out of trees on opposite sides of Ross.
"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light," commanded Lee.
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" ordered Christian.
"Meowth," said a voice over Ross's head. He looked up and saw a Meowth jump
from an overhanging branch at him. "That's right!"
Ross calmly stepped aside and Meowth landed flat on its face!
"We have GOT to talk to the boss about changing pokemon translators," commented
Lee. All of the Rockets agreed while Meowth spit out a mouthful of dirt.
"I'm kind of in a hurry," said Ross, "So I'll just see you all later." Ross
tried to walk away, but was stopped by a group of three Magnemites.
"We don't think so kid," commanded Clyde.
"Magneton, relieve our friend of his pokemon," instructed Bonnie.
Magneton started to vibrate and all of the pokeballs on Ross's belt flew onto
Magneton's body.
"NO!" yelled Ross as he started to charge at the pokemon. Suddenly, Ross felt
something pulling him back. he turned around and saw Christian holding a rope
leading to a noose around his chest. He could feel the Articuno egg hidden in
his jacket slipping out.
The last thing Ross felt was something hit him on the head before he faded out
of consciousness.
************************************************************************
When Ross came to, he was upside-down in a tree. Ross saw a Primeape looking
up at him from the ground, and it didn't look to happy to see him. The Primeape
leapt from the ground, ready to start thrashing at Ross. Chapter 48-Operation: Retrieval
Ross tried to use teleport, but wound up landing on his head, still tied up,
with the tail end of a rope dragging behind him. Primeape was not about to let
Ross get away and started to use fury swipes at him.
Most of his swings hit the rope restraining Ross. The weakened rope, broke
easily when Ross used the mega punch that he learned.
Primeape, not impressed, ran up to deliver a karate chop to Ross. Ross
responded by using Psychic. Primeape took serious damage and was unable to stop
Ross as he ran away.
Ross sat down and tried to figure out what to do. Team Rocket had apparently
picked him clean. He had no money, no supplies, and no pokemon. Ross started
to meditate and had a vision.
************************************************************************
He saw Team Rocket with Magneton and all of Ross's rightful possessions.
"That was too easy!" proclaimed Christian.
"No kidding," said Lee.
"Just where are we going again?" asked Meowth.
Bonnie knocked Meowth on the head while Clyde said, "How many time do we have
to tell you? We're going to heal the pokemon at the pokemon center before we
present them to the boss!"
"Oh yeah," said Meowth as he remembered, "But isn't it getting a little late to
reach Cerulean?"
Lee looked up and said, "Good point, that Ross kid will never find us! We'll
camp here for the night."
************************************************************************ Ross's
eyes popped open. He got up and ran to the place that he saw the Rockets at in
his vision.
************************************************************************
The last few embers were still glowing when Ross arrived. The air was filled
with the stench of repel and corruption. Four tents were set up while the
pokemon were sleeping by the fire. Ross looked around and saw all of his stuff,
including the unhatched Articuno egg. Team Rocket had hung it in the net Ross
took from the trap.
Ross knew that most members of Team Rocket were pretty dense, but no one was
THAT dumb. Several pokemon live in trees, and getting his stuff down would be
no sweat for any human. There had to be a catch.
Ross looked at the rope used to hold up the net. There were a few bells
clipped on, but they would be easy for a human to avoid. The tree was a young
strong tree. The ground around it was a deep brown.
Ross looked at his net again and saw his shovel. Then it struck him! Team
Rocket's most famous trap was a pit!
Ross examined the ground and saw that there was light brown soil around the
darker soil under the net. The pit was right under the net.
After simply walking around the hidden hole, Ross noticed that the tree had
been carved at by something, but he couldn't tell what until he listened to the
snoring humans and pokemon. It sounded just like sawing logs!
Team Rocket must have been sawing the tree so that it would fall over if anyone
tried to climb it from the wrong angle. Ross climbed on the side with all of
the scratches in the bark so that the tree would support his weight.
Ross cat-walked across the limb that held his supplies and removed the bells
one at a time. Once all of the bells were off, Ross noticed movement by the
fire.
Ross slowly climbed down the net to hide behind his supplies while Meowth
blinked sleepily over at Ross and the supplies. Meowth yawned a couple of times
before he closed his eyes and rejoined the chorus of snores.
Ross let out a sigh of relief and thought, 'THAT was way too close.' He
climbed back up to the branch and pulled up his supplies before he undid the
knot that held the net to the tree. Ross slowly climbed down the tree, took one
last glance at the camp, and disappeared into the forest. Chapter 49-Back To Civilization
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE LOOT IS GONE!?!" demanded Bonnie.
Ross leaped 5 feet into the air when he heard Bonnie's angry voice. He put at
least a mile between him and Team Rocket before setting up his net hammock. So
he was naturally surprised when he heard Bonnie's yell through the deep forest.
Ross figured that Team Rocket would be coming after him soon, so he packed up
his gear and continued to travel to Cerulean City.
Ross thought that he might be able to lose the Team Rocket squads in Cerulean
City if he got there soon enough before them.
After three hours of running and breaks, Ross arrived in Cerulean City. Ross
checked into the pokemon center, wrote a letter to go with the Team Rocket
papers, and got himself a bite to eat.
Once Ross got back his pokemon, his first stop was the police station. Team
Rocket was scheduled to rob the convention tomorrow, and Ross hadn't delivered
the information to the police yet!
Ross walked into the police station, obsessed with being discreet. He waited
until no one was looking and dropped an envelope onto the front desk.
Once Ross was out of the police station, he walked down the street to go to the
pokemon convention when he felt something under his coat shake. It was the
Articuno egg! It was hatching!
Ross stepped into a side alley and removed the egg from his coat. The crystal
blue egg had a crack starting to develop. Ross watched in amazement as a tiny
point poked through the shell, making more cracks. The tiny beak pecked through
the shell in another location. And another, and another until the egg had about
ten holes in it.
Finally, the beak poked through the shell in one last place, letting the egg
shell fall apart. The baby bird opened its small eyes and beheld its savior.
"Mama?" chirped the tiny bird.
Ross suddenly realized that he had a big problem. "I'm afraid that your mother
is missing," explained Ross, "She left you in my care."
The little bird looked slightly disappointed, but asked, "Will I see her?"
"Someday," answered Ross, "I'm afraid that you should keep out of sight for a
while."
"Why?" asked the inquisitive Articuno.
"Right now, we are in a city," explained Ross, "There are a lot of people that
would love the chance to get their hands on you."
The little bird looked satisfied with this answer and said, "I'm hungry."
Ross just smiled and pulled his sack of pokemon food out of his backpack.
"Here," said Ross, holding out a few pieces of food, "This is good for you."
Articuno hopped onto Ross's arm and began to eat from his hand. Ross relaxed
until Articuno had eaten its fill and climbed into his warm coat. Ross stood
up, supporting Articuno with his hands in his pockets, and walked back to the
pokemon center. Chapter 50-A Helping Hand
Ross walked into the pokemon center and called the Nurse Joy at the Pallet Town
pokemon center.
"Pallet Town pokemon center, Nurse Joy speaking," said Joy as her face appeared
on the screen, "Oh, hi Ross. How are you doing?"
"To tell the truth, I've been better," replied Ross.
"What's wrong?" asked Nurse Joy. When the baby Articuno popped its head out of
Ross's coat, Joy asked, "Where did you get that Articuno!?!"
"Well, it all started when I got mixed up in the mountains," started Ross, "I
climbed a mountain next to Glacier Peak instead of Glacier Peak itself. Near
the summit, I saw two members of Team Rocket fighting an Articuno."
"The rare ice bird?" asked Nurse Joy.
"That's the one," answered Ross, "When Team Rocket couldn't catch Articuno,
they shot it in the wing, but still couldn't catch it. So one of them walked up
to the Articuno and prepared to shoot it in the head! I ran in and stopped the
murder, but they sent their pokemon to attack me. During the fight, an egg fell
out of Articuno's nest and rolled off a cliff."
"Oh-no!" replied Nurse Joy.
"I sent my Spearow after the egg and in the process, Spearow evolved and saved
the egg. I grabbed the wounded Articuno and its egg and flew to the Glacier
Peak pokemon center."
"There isn't a pokemon center at Glacier Peak," said Nurse Joy.
"I know, after I checked in Articuno, I was told that it couldn't be saved and
they were going to kill it. But after I thought that Articuno was put down, I
overheard the nurse say that Articuno was alive and that they were sending it to
someone else!"
"Of course," said Nurse Joy, "Ice pokemon are very tough."
"I went back to the room that had Articuno, but it was already gone. I kept
the egg a secret until it recently hatched."
"I see," said Nurse Joy.
"I don't really know who I can trust out here, and I don't want to let Articuno
fall into cruel hands," explained Ross.
"All right," said Nurse Joy, "I'll transfer some food to your account that has
been especially designed for baby pokemon. Articuno shouldn't go into its
pokeball until it reaches at least level 5. Right now, I'd say that its about
level 3. It will be old enough to stay in a pokeball by this time tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? I'm in a city," said Ross, "How am I going to keep an Articuno a
secret for an entire day?"
"Good point," said Nurse Joy, "Articuno aren't as rare as they were 20 years
ago, but they're still hard to come by. I know, I'll include a couple of rare
candies."
"Okay," said Ross, "I'll get it in a few minutes. Bye."
"Bye," said Joy.
************************************************************************
"Where'd this come from?" asked Officer Jenny.
"I don't know," said another cop, "It says to open immediately."
Jenny opened the envelope and read the first letter. "Take a look at this,"
Jenny said handing the letter to the other cop, who read it aloud.
"To whom it may concern;
I was walking through the forest the other day and found these papers stuck
in a hollow tree. I'm sure that you will find them helpful. I prefer to
remain anonymous, but if I need to, I will use my pen name.
Best of luck to you;
Dataeater"
"And look at what else was enclosed," said Jenny, handing the other cop another
piece of paper and a newsletter. Chapter 51-Exploring The Carnival
Ross had just given Articuno the rare candy and put it into a pokeball for the
time being. 'Now I can go to the convention,' thought Ross.
After a short walk, Ross arrived at the convention. There were a lot of rides
and games, but also a several booths selling pokemon, training and breeding
gear, and other merchandise.
Ross walked around the carnival stopping at most of the booths. Ross got some
pokemon books. Ross considered buying a pokemon, but he thought that they were
all too expensive.
One booth especially caught his eye. Not so much because he liked the product,
but how unusual it was. While most of the other pokemon selling booths sold
popular, average pokemon, like Pidgey, Growlithes, Charmanders, and Ekans, this
booth sold only Magikarp.
Ross just shrugged it off and continued until he reached the archaeology booth.
Inside, a video was playing of a recent find near Cape Town.
"This mural is believed to be the oldest record ever discovered," explained the
voice on the tape, "It tells the story of the pokemon's defender, a story that
has been kept alive in books and minds for thousands of years."
'This is pretty boring,' thought Ross as he stepped away to look at some of the
games.
The games were all the usual ones. Guess a pokemon's weight, water balloon
race, and the like. Ross tried the pokemon weight guess game with a Porygon.
The pokemon wouldn't be awarded until the carnival was over the next day. The
next game Ross went to was a baseball-bottle throw.
It was a pretty basic game, but no one seemed to be winning. There were
thirteen scattered stands with three bottles in a pyramid formation and an
evolution stone or pokeball being held up by the top bottle.
"It couldn't be simpler," explained the man running the booth, "Knock down all
three bottles and get the prize that falls to the ground. Each pokeball has an
evolved Eevee. One dollar buys three throws."
"Okay," said Ross as he handed over a one-dollar bills and took the three
baseballs from the man.
Ross aimed at the center of one of the stacks and threw a baseball. Ross hit
the pedestal.
"Nice try," complimented the man.
Ross shrugged it off and threw his second baseball. This one hit the top
bottle, but it didn't even budge.
"So close," said the man over the counter.
'Something's fishy here,' thought Ross. He wound up and decided to try
something. This time, Ross threw the baseball with a Mega Punch. The baseball
hit a stack in the back dead-on and something amazing happened. Chapter 52-A Cheater Exposed
The bottles and the stand supporting it fell straight back, as stiff as a
board, while the other stands behind the counter rose and became horizontal. A
dirty platform emerged from the ground revealing why no one else had won.
The bottles were welded to each other and the stands, which were in turn all
attached to a wooden board buried about an inch underground! The man working
the booth grabbed the money and ran off into the crowd, but was stopped by the
people he cheated.
Five minutes later, the man was being removed from the carnival and Ross was
awarded a box of the prizes containing six pokemon and seven evolution stones.
"But why?" asked Ross.
"According to his rules, all you had to do was knock over the three bottles and
the prize on top," said the carnival owner, "And you did so to all of the
stands. Therefore, you win all thirteen prizes."
"Wow, thanks," said Ross as he left for the rides. He figured that he had
enough of games for one day.
Ross had fun at the rides and was ready to leave when something caught his eye.
A large arena stood with a sign reading,
"Competitors wanted for Pokemon tournament
3 o'clock today
Prizes for top three winners!"
Ross walked up to a table and signed in. He was instructed to go inside until
the tournament started. Inside, Ross was explained the rules. There was only
to be 1 pokemon per match and no use of items.
Ross went onto a field and let his pokemon warm up, but kept Articuno in his
pokeball.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Ross," said a voice behind him.
"Ricky," replied Ross without even turning around.
"I didn't think that you'd show up," commented Ricky, "Once I saw you climbing
the wrong mountain, I thought that you'd be lost up there for a few more days!"
"Well I'm here, and I'm ready to compete," explained Ross.
"We'll see, Adam and I can't wait for the chance to publicly disgrace you!"
proclaimed Ricky.
"Very well," said Ross as two sets of footsteps walked away.
"Who were those jerks?" asked Machop.
"That was Ricky and Adam," explained Ross, "They've had a grudge against me
ever since I beat them in the beginners' tournament back at Professor Oak's."
************************************************************************
When 3 o'clock rolled around, only six competitors had signed in. The stands
were filling up and the rest of the carnival was getting empty. Ross and the
other competitors were explained that everyone would be facing someone else in a
one-on-one match and the winners would battle in a triple threat match.
Ross was paired up against some girl named Susan while Ricky and Adam was
matched up with a couple of strangers.
Ross walked out and waited for Susan to send out her pokemon.
"Eevee, GO!!!" exclaimed Susan.
"Machop, GO!!!" instructed Ross.
A small chiwawua-like pokemon appeared to battle Ross's short, purplish
pokemon.
"Eevee, tackle," instructed Susan.
"Karate chop," replied Ross.
Eevee ran up at Machop but got hit on the neck so hard that Eevee's neck almost
broke! Eevee cringed under the blow.
"Eevee, sand attack," commanded Susan.
"Low kick," said Ross.
Eevee started to scratch at the ground to create sand to throw in Machop's
face. However, Machop spun around in a low circle, swinging its foot into
Eevee. Eevee fell in the pile of sand it was making and got some of it into his
eyes.
"Quick attack," ordered Susan.
"Time for the seismic toss," instructed Ross.
Eevee ran around Machop and tried to hit him, but Machop caught Eevee by the
scruff of the neck and its left front leg. Machop started to spin around and
around in a very fast circle until both Machop and Eevee were just a blur. When
Machop let go, a brown blur was seen flying out and straight for a wall. After
impact, all that was left, was a fainted Eevee. Chapter 53-History Lesson
Ross didn't really care much about Ricky and Adam's matches. So he took the
time to read the first chapter in one of his books.
************************************************************************
Chapter 1
A Simple Pokemon Master's Battle On August 28th, at 11:32 AM, Ash Ketchem challenged the newly appointed pokemon
master, Gary Oak. Gary Oak was the grandson of Professor Oak and had just
beaten the Elite Four the night before.
At the beginning of the five on five battle, Gary started out with an Dugtrio
while Ash chose a Blastoise. Dugtrio fell under a hydro pump attack and was
replaced by an Exeggcutor. Blastoise skull bashed Exeggcutor, but fell under a
solar beam as Charizard took its place. The walking tree was trapped in a fire
spin and didn't stand a chance against the powerful fire pokemon.
A Gyarados was sent out and conquered the dragon-like Charizard. A Venusaur
took Charizard's place and beat Gyarados with a razor leaf. An Arcanine beat
Venusaur before falling to a Pidgeot. A Flareon was sent out and easily beat
Pidgeot. Ash was forced to send out his last pokemon, a Pikachu that he
received as his starting pokemon.
Flareon and Pikachu would decide who would be the pokemon master. Would it be
Gary Oak? Or...
************************************************************************
"Ross Jacobsen and Ricky Allen!"
Ross looked up from the book at the sound of his name. He saw that it was time
for him to battle both of his rivals at once. Chapter 54-Triple Threat
Adam and Ricky both wanted to be the one to dance all over Ross's pokemon and
knew that only one of them could do so.
Ross thought that Adam and Ricky would gang up on him, so he had to choose his
pokemon wisely.
"Weepinbell, GO!" ordered Adam.
"Graveler, GO!" commanded Ricky.
'Grass and Rock,' thought Ross, 'An fighting pokemon would be my safest bet."
Ross wound up a pokeball and said, "Let's go..."
"CUNO!"
Everyone in the stadium was in shock. An Articuno had emerged from a pokeball
on Ross's belt.
"Articuno, what are you doing?" asked Ross, "You're too young to battle!"
"You have an Articuno!?!" exclaimed Ricky.
"Sort of," explained Ross.
"Never mind that!" said Adam, "Weepinbell, razor leaf!
"Articuno, look out!" exclaimed Ross.
Articuno saw the deadly leaves flying at it and flew out of harm's way.
Graveler wasn't so lucky and got his ankle hurt by one of the leaves.
"Hey! What did you do that for?" demanded Ricky, "Graveler, earthquake!"
The angry Graveler grabbed the earth and soon, the ground was shaking.
Articuno was in the air and didn't feel the attack. Weepinbell however, did!
Soon a battle had erupted between the former partners. Articuno perched on a
bench by the stadium and watched the two pokemon go at it. Articuno was
learning by watching the battle and in turn, growing experience levels.
Finally, Graveler fainted and a weak Weepinbell turned to face Articuno.
"Articuno, freeze Weepinbell with an ice beam!" hollered Ross over the cheer in
the stands.
Articuno did as instructed and soon, Weepinbell was nothing more than a block
of ice.
************************************************************************
Ross, Ricky, and Adam stood on three different boxes of different sizes and
labeled 1, 2, and 3.
Adam was given a bronze nugget and a certificate for three evolution stones.
Ricky was given a silver nugget, another certificate for three evolution stones,
and $200 of carnival cash.
Lastly, Ross was given a gold nugget, a certificate for another three evolution
stones, $500 of carnival cash, and a request to participate in the carnival
champions' competition the next day.
After the humble awards ceremony, Ross was asked where he got the Articuno.
"I guess the Articuno's out of the bag, so to speak," said Ross as he explained
the original story that he told Nurse Joy all over again. Chapter 55-The Next Day At The Carnival
"What do you think we should do?" asked one of the rookie cops in the meeting.
"It couldn't be simpler," explained Jenny, "We replace the Magikarp salesman
with an experienced officer. Since the Rockets need individual instructions
from him, we pull in everyone who buys a Magikarp for questioning."
"How many officers do we send in?" asked an officer.
"1 experienced to man the target booth, 2 more experienced and 2 rookies to man
the neighboring booths," explained the captain, "All of which will be
undercover. Finally, we will have 5 professional cops, including Jenny here, to
escort the suspects back to the station."
"When do we move in?" asked the rookie.
"1 hour before the carnival resumes," stated Jenny.
"I will be manning the Magikarp booth," stated the captain, "Johnson and
McDonly, you man the apparel booth. Scott and Brisco, you take the Safari Zone
booth. Nadle, Quick, Reckendorf, Paterson will be with Jenny, escorting
suspects. The rest of you will be interrogating the suspects to determine
whether or not they're members of Team Rocket."
"And remember," added Jenny, "if any of them identifies themself as
'Dataeater', compare them to the tape, but don't ask for it."
"Also," said the captain, "this is a private investigation until all of the
suspects are either released, or arrested. So don't tell a soul. Not your
friends, not your families, not even other cops not in this room. Any
questions?"
When no one spoke up, the captain dismissed everyone.
************************************************************************
At the pokemon center, Ross was very popular. Everyone had heard that he had
an Articuno and wanted to see it. Ross had gotten so sick of putting Articuno
in and out of his pokeball that he just let it ride on his shoulder.
The next morning, Ross's fame had deteriorated and Adam was loudly fighting
with Ricky.
"Why do I even put up with you!?!" asked Adam.
"Because I do all of the thinking, budgeting, and organizing," explained Ricky.
"Yeah right!" proclaimed Adam, "You wouldn't have even made to Viridian without
ME!!!"
Ross decided not to get anymore involved in their conflict and left for the
carnival.
************************************************************************
Ross wasn't due back at the tournament until 4 PM, so he looked at the booths
to kill some time. He came across a few apparel booths and spent some of his
carnival cash on some fingerless gloves with his initials, a cool looking coat,
and a pair of sunglasses.
Ross walked around some more, looking pretty tough with his new clothes on. He
spent some more of his carnival cash on fresh supplies, a lot more medicine and
still had about $75 left.
Ross played the pokemon weight guessing game again, this time for a Poliwag.
After which, Ross had lunch and went to the auction room.
There was only about 2 other people in the tent. A long table covered with the
items up for purchase. A few things caught Ross's eye, so he took a seat and
waited for the auction to begin. Chapter 56-Auction House ROCK
Several items were displayed and sold before Ross saw an item that he wanted.
"The next item up for bid is an inflatable raft with oars," said the
auctioneer, "Who will start the bidding?"
************************************************************************
"Sold for $10 to the man in the pokemon league hat," proclaimed the slightly
more enthusiastic auctioneer.
Ross went up, paid for the raft, took it from the selling table man, and turned
to face his seat. That was when he realized that everyone else had left,
leaving Ross with a window of opportunity. A Swiss-army knife, an envelope
labeled "?", and an open toolbox full of tools were still on the bidding table.
He turned around and said, "I'll give you $20 for everything that you have
left!"
The auctioneer began to protest but Ross asked, "Who else are you going to sell
it to?"
The selling table man and auctioneer looked at each other and knew that Ross
was right. No one else was left to give them a better offer.
The auctioneer raised and dropped his gavel as he said, "Sold." Chapter 57-Continuations
Ross put his new possessions in his backpack and computer before heading over
to the stadium. Again, only a few trainers wanted to battle. Ross wasn't in
the mood to watch some pokemon matches. He wanted to battle.
Ross opened the book he was reading earlier and turned to the page he was on.
************************************************************************
Flareon and Pikachu would decide who would be the pokemon master. Would it be
Gary Oak? Or Ash Ketchem? Neither pokemon had a distinct advantage over the
other.
Flareon used an ember attack, but Pikachu dodged it with agility. Pikachu used
a quick attack to hurt Flareon and dodged a flame thrower. Pikachu continued to
attack with swift while Flareon charged up with rage.
Flareon started to attack Pikachu with all of its might until both pokemon were
weak from the ordeal. The two pokemon began to prepare for their final attacks.
Flareon tried to do a quick attack, but the still quick Pikachu got out of the
way in time before launching a thunder shock. Flareon was severely hit and
fainted.
Gary was sent away from Indigo Plateau, and was given the position of Viridian
City Gym Leader. Ash welcomed back the Elite Four and renamed it, "The Elite
Masters of the Pokemon League." He invited trainers and breeders to join and
wound up choosing 2 breeders and another trainer.
************************************************************************
When Ross looked up, the awards ceremony was just finishing up. The announcer
asked those that were invited to do so to come down and participate in the
Carnival Champions' Competition.
Ross and two other trainers stepped down to the arena. Ross was paired up
against Matt from Professor Oak's competition.
"Magnemite, GO!" ordered Matt.
"Geodude, I choose YOU!" said Ross.
Both pokemon appeared from the pokeballs, ready to battle.
"Geodude, rock throw," instructed Ross.
"Magnemite, thunder wave!" commanded Matt.
Magnemite tried to electrocute Geodude, but failed miserably. Magnemite was
hit and knocked spinning in circles.
"Magnemite, tackle," said Matt.
"Geodude, defense curl."
Geodude spun in a circle and grew another layer of rock. Magnemite tackled the
hard Geodude, hurting itself and barely even fazing Geodude.
"Geodude, tackle."
"Magnemite, screech."
Magnemite made a sound that seemed to be nails on a chalkboard. Geodude was
taken aback and missed.
"Magnemite, supersonic."
"Geodude, rock slide!"
Magnemite started to make an awful sound, but Geodude wasn't affected. Geodude
rolled a rock at Magnemite. Magnemite got scared and fainted when the rock hit
him. Chapter 58-The Champion of the Carnival
Ross sat back down while he waited for the other two trainers to finish their
battle. It didn't take too long. One of the trainers sent out a Voltorb and
had it use self destruct.
Ross stepped out and prepared to fight the pokemon that avoided the worst of
the self-destruct. Ross waited as the trainer gave a potion to a pokemon
covered in vines.
"Tangela," said the pokemon.
'Zubat would be a safe choice,' thought Ross.
"Zubat, GO!" instructed Ross.
"Tangela, constrict," said the trainer.
"Zubat, confuse ray," replied Ross.
Zubat started to glow a dark purple as a black beam shot at Tangela. Tangela
dodged the beam and caught Zubat in its long vines.
"Bind," commented the confident trainer.
"Leech life," instructed Ross.
Tangela began to squeeze Zubat when Zubat sank its teeth into the vines
restraining him. Tangela began to weaken as Zubat drained Tangela's strength to
replenish its own.
"Now bite!" commanded Ross.
Zubat removed its teeth only to place them in a new part of Tangela's vines.
Tangela got scared and stopped squeezing, but still held onto Zubat.
'How am I going to get Zubat loose?' wondered Ross when Zubat got loose by
slapping Tangela away with its wings. Ross checked his pokedex.
"Zubat has just learned wing attack," explained the mechanical voice, 'Most
Zubat learn this attack prior to evolving."
Ross looked at Tangela and Zubat. Tangela was weak and needed more energy to
continue the battle.
"ABSORB!" shouted the trainer.
"Supersonic," said Ross.
Tangela tried to attack Zubat, but couldn't focus with all of the noise.
Tangela was so tired, that it collapsed into a tired, yet awake heap.
"I yield," said the trainer, "My pokemon is too tired to continue."
************************************************************************
Ross stepped up to the podium to claim his last prize. He was handed a
certificate for a pokemon of his choice from one of the booths. Ross stepped
down to leave
"HOLD IT!" hollered a voice in the stands.
Everyone looked to the source of the voice and saw a young woman with an
Arcanine.
"I am Trella Flame, leader of the local fire gym, and I want to battle the
winner! It is my right as the local gym leader."
Ross thought about it and said, "Only if it is a badge battle."
While Trella thought about this, the dog by her side said, "You've got it!"
'Another talking pokemon,' thought Ross, 'How interesting.' Chapter 59-Battling Trella Flame
Trella stepped down and stood at one end of the arena with the Arcanine by her
side. Ross took his position at the other end, already knowing which pokemon to
start with.
"4 on 4, boundary battle, agreed?" said Trella.
"Agreed," said Ross.
"I'll start with Flareon, GO!" commented Trella.
"I will use Staryu, GO!" said Ross.
Everyone in the stands settled down. Badge Matches were usually in private, so
seeing one in public was a real treat.
"Swift," said Ross.
"Tail whip," instructed Trella.
Flareon was hit by multiple stars emerging from Staryu's core.
"Fire spin," said Trella.
"Light screen," instructed Ross.
Flareon was blinded by the light coming from Staryu and wound up surrounding
the entire arena with a curtain of flame.
"Flareon, bite."
"Staryu, water gun the head!"
Flareon opened its mouth but wound up drinking too much water. Flareon's fire
sac was extinguished and couldn't fight until it dried out.
"Flareon, return," ordered Trella, "Ninetails, GO!"
A large yellow wolf with multiple tails appeared and let out a fearsome roar.
Staryu was spooked.
"Quick attack," Trella said.
"Harden," stated Ross.
Staryu was hit hard and knocked out of the arena, disqualifying it.
"Staryu, return," said Ross, "Geodude, GO! Rock throw!"
"Flamethrower," commanded Trella.
The flamethrower made the rocks semi-molten as they hit Ninetails. The rocks
soon cooled and acted like anchors on Ninetails's feet.
"Ninetails, return," Trella complimented, "Impressive. Let's see how you do
against Magmar!"
A red, yellow, and orange creature emerged from the pokeball.
"Smokescreen," said Trella.
"Defense curl."
The entire area filled with smoke, making it impossible to see anything. When
it cleared, Ross's Geodude was motionless on the ground.
"Geodude, return," said Ross, "Wartortle, let's GO! Bubblebeam!"
"Smog," said a perfectly calm Trella.
The smog was released and soon caught up in the bubbles. They continued
towards Magmar until they popped in his eyes. Magmar was blinded by the smog in
his eyes.
"Water gun," stated Ross.
"Fire punch," ordered Trella.
Magmar swung blindly at air until the water gun drenched him. Magmar was so
out of it, he didn't know what he was doing and started to swing at Trella!
"Magmar, return," said Trella, "You're up Arcanine."
The large dog by Trella's side ran out and showed its teeth. Wartortle didn't
back down. The surrounding fire curtain was getting hotter and it was hard for
both pokemon and trainers to see clearly.
From what Ross could make out, the two pokemon were fighting without trainer
interference. Finally, Wartortle was thrown out of the arena, disqualifying him
from the battle.
'I better send in a pokemon that can survive that heat,' thought Ross.
"Wartortle, return," directed Ross, "Charmander, go finish the battle!"
Charmander leaped over the flames to battle the unseen foe. It was unknown who
would be victorious until a blast of flame emerged as a signal that the match
was over.
Two figures in trench coats ran out with a hose and carefully extinguished the
fire ring revealing a large, unconscious dog and a victorious lizard. But the
lizard in the ring was definitely NOT Charmander. This lizard had larger claws,
paws, eyes, and a bump on its head.
"CHARRRRR-MEEE-LEEON!" proclaimed the lizard. Chapter 60-Rocket Annoyance
"To protect the world from devastation," said one of the figures.
"To unite all people within our nation," replied the second.
"To denounce the evils of truth and love," stated the first figure.
"To extend our reach to the stars above," answered the second form.
"Jesse," introduced the first figure, removing her trench coat and revealing
her uniform.
"James," announced the second, doing the same as Jill.
"Team Rocket. Blast off at the speed of light!" proclaimed Jill.
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" ordered Jack.
"Meowth, that's right!" said the cat as it ran out from under the stands.
Everyone that was in the stands was scared by the Team Rocket members and ran
out of the stands.
"We want your pokemon!" demanded Jesse, talking to Trella.
"You can't have them!" denied Trella.
"You have no choice, all of your pokemon can't fight!" reminded Meowth.
"Guess again, Rapidash, GO!!!" hollered Trella as she tossed a pokeball. A
unicorn with fire hooves, mane, and tail appeared where the pokeball landed.
Team Rocket was surprised until Trella said, "Any decent trainer never uses all
of their pokemon in a single battle!"
"No matter," said Jesse, "Your predictability will cost you dearly, crank up
the water!"
Water sprayed out of the hose at Rapidash until it fainted.
"Oh NO!" exclaimed Trella.
"Now," started James, "let's try this again. Hand over your pokemon!"
"Not so fast," proclaimed Ross, "Bulbasaur, GO! Razor leaf the hose!"
Bulbasaur appeared and launched several leaves at the rubber hose. Soon, the
hose was in several pieces.
Meowth tried fighting Bulbasaur, but stopped when Bulbasaur turned white. At
first, Ross thought that Bulbasaur was using growth, but the bulb on its back
opened. When the white faded, a new pokemon stood where Bulbasaur was.
"I-vy-SAUR!" proclaimed the new pokemon.
"Use sleep powder!" instructed Ross.
A blue powder gently dusted the arena floor, prompting everyone to start
snoring loudly.
************************************************************************
When Ross woke up, he was in a jail cell. He noticed that his backpack was
missing.
"This is all your fault!" accused Jesse.
Ross looked in the next cell over and saw Team Rocket arguing.
"The kid's up," commented Meowth.
Jesse and James turned to face Ross. "If you didn't interfere, we would have
made a clean get-away with all of Trella's pokemon!" stated James.
"Keep quiet," hissed Meowth, "You know that they video tape the cells!"
Ross looked around and saw a camera over the doorway. He also saw his
backpack, sunglasses, and other things on a table opposite Ross's cell.
According to a clock by the camera, it was 5:45. He had until 9 PM to redeem
his coupons and the rest of his carnival cash.
Ross sat down and waited until the door opened about 10 minutes later. In
stepped a policewoman, a man in a captain's uniform, and Trella Flame.
"That was a good battle," said Trella, "And you saved all of my pokemon. You
deserve this." Trella held out a small piece of metal designed to look like a
fire.
Ross took the small badge and said, "Thanks."
"Sorry that we had to bring you in," apologized the captain, "Jenny here will
give you a ride back to the carnival."
Jenny unlocked the cell door and let Ross out.
Ross picked up his things and followed Jenny out the door.
************************************************************************
Ross did some more shopping for improved equipment and supplies until he ran
out of carnival cash. Next, Ross cashed in his evolution stone certificates for
a fire, water, and leaf stone. With his pokemon certificate, Ross got an Abra
before he went back to the pokemon weight booth to see if he won either pokemon.
The booth was closing up and the man running it was placing pokemon on a scale
to determine their weight. Several people gathered around the booth to see if
they won.
************************************************************************
"I just can't believe how many Team Rocket members we managed to arrest today!"
commented Jenny.
"It WAS a good bust," said the captain, "We better let the other police
stations know where they can get copies of Team Rocket's newsletter. Then we
might be able to put an end to Team Rocket for good!" Chapter 61-Before Leaving
Back at the booth, Ross was waiting for the winners to be posted. The man
behind the booth walked up and posted a piece of paper. At first, Ross couldn't
get close to the list, but soon, the crowd left for the exit after claiming
their prizes if any.
Finally, Ross looked up Porygon and Poliwag and saw only 3 guesses total.
'Guess no one else likes those pokemon,' figured Ross.
Poliwag-10 pounds, 3 ounces Ross guessed-10 pounds WINNER
John guessed-11 pounds
Porygon-16 pounds, 8 ounces Ross guessed-20 pounds WINNER
"Yes, I won both pokemon," said Ross.
Ross collected both pokemon and their pokeballs before leaving for the exit.
************************************************************************
Ross had another training session with his pokemon at the pokemon center. He
was getting fairly good at fighting when he overheard some trainers gossiping
outside.
"Those two were really going at it. They even decided to split up!" said one
voice, "I thought that they were going to tear each other's heads off!"
"What could have caused two pokemon training companions to hate each other so
much?" asked another voice.
"Something about an Articuno," stated the first voice.
"What were their names anyway?" asked the second person.
"I think it was something like, what were they?" started the first voice, "Ric
and Sadan."
Ross walked up to the trainers to ask a question but was interrupted by the
intercom.
"It's now 10 PM," explained the Joy on the speaker, "All pokemon trainers must
start getting ready for bed."
"We better get a move on," said one of the gossipers. And with that, they were
gone before Ross could stop them.
************************************************************************
Ross looked around in the trainers' quarters for Ricky and Adam, but didn't see
a single sign of either trainer. Nurse Joy walked in and said good night before
turning off the lights.
"See you in the MORN-ing!" exclaimed Adam's voice in a sing-song tone.
"Shut UP!!!" ordered a cranky Ricky's voice.
Ross smiled at this thought and for the first time in a long while, Ross slept
like a log. TO BE CONTINUED.