Chapter 4
Courtney: Range Wars
Back when my daddy was still alive, we had a much larger ranch, out on the open range. We raised Miltank, Tauros, and Mareep out on those green fields.
My father had a special brand for the MooMoo ranch: two M's surrounded by a large oval.
My momma was not strong enough to help out on the ranch, so it was just me and my dad.
He took ill and lay on what I knew to be is death bed. One day, he called to me. "Courtney, my daughter, I will be gone soon, and you will have to run the ranch.
"I want you to remember a few things. First, don't change the brand. I specially designed that brand where nobody can doctor it and steal our cattle. Second, when dealing with a potential customer or in anything business-related, give a fake Western accent. Also, your mother is alive, but she is weak. Therefore, you must work this entire ranch by yourself. If you mist hire hands, do it."
"Yes, sir. Is that it?"
He didn't answer. He had closed his eyes and peacefully died.
* * *
After a few months, things weren't going very well. I had bills to pay, I had cattle to feed, and, just to make my life easier, another ranch had moved in practically right next to mine! A bigger, more successful ranch.
One afternoon, I was out taking the Mareep to the watering hole. A truck drove up the narrow dirt path that led from the mailbox and front gate up to the house. The window rolled down and a man in a nice suit and a cowboy hat leaned out.
"You Courtney?" he asked.
I remembered the accent when I said, "Who wants t' know?"
"I do. Benjamin Edwards V," he said, holding out his hand. I didn't take it. He continued, "I just moved in next door. The Big V Ranch."
I didn't care if he was the fifth or the fifteenth. He had come onto my property, trespassing, and had moved in right next to me so he could run some scam, either stealing my cattle or my land.
I wasn't about to let him do that.
"Listen here, pardner. Ah ain't about t' let you take mah property or mah cattle. Plus, yer trespassin'! Git off mah land afore Ah blow yer head off!" I said angrily, picking up my rifle, which had been lying in the grass.
"Now you listen here, girl. I just came to let you know I'll be living next door, and you threaten me with a rifle! I was just being friendly!" He glared at me.
"Ah don' care if y' live on th' moon! Git offa mah land!" I aimed my gun at his truck. "Don't make me use this!"
He sighed, then turned to his steering wheel. Edwards backed his pickup around into the grass and around the other way, then hauled his sorry butt down the dirt road. Halfway, he stuck his head out the window and said, "You know this means war!" Then he sped off, ramming into the mailbox as he turned towards his own land.
* * *
Several weeks later, I was checking the abilities and status of my Tauros. I found several missing. I mounted my mare and rode around the outskirts of the ranch. I found an opening cut in the wire fence wide enough for a Tauros to fit through.
I rode from the hole around to the gate and out onto the road. I trotted around to the next-door entrance. The gate was three times as big as mine, with a gigantic V on it.
I saw a ranch hand and called out to him. "Hey, you! Yeah, you on the horse! Ah need to talk with yer boss!"
He pulled out a cell phone and pressed only two digits, probably a shortcut to Edwards. "Yeah, Big V? He got a girl here. Yeah, looks like the girl from next. Ah'll send 'er up." He motioned for me to go on up the path.
I reached a large mansion. He had built this thing in a month? It was at least two acres, plus an acre garage. The whole of it was blue, with white trim. Another big V was painted above the gigantic door in black.
I dismounted and walked up to the door. I raised my fist to knock when it swung open. Nobody was behind it to open it when I looked inside.
I spun around in a circle, trying to take it in. A voice from nowhere startled me. "Good Afternoon, Miss Courtney, isn't it? Please take the stairs and then enter through the sixth door on your right."
I followed his directions and ascended the staircase. I looked to the left of the top stair and found a broom closet. He apparently had meant the other way. I looked right and saw a long hallway that must've had about fifteen doors on each side. I found the sixth and entered.
Inside was an office, decorated with "Best of Fair" awards for fifty different cows and sheep. At the end of the long room was yet another V, cast from metal and stuck on the side of a desk.
"Ah, you made it. Coffee?" asked Benjamin, who was sitting at the desk, as he held up a mug and pot.
"No thanks. D'you know why Ah'm here?" I said furiously.
"Actually, I do. About those cattle, correct? There was a very complicated mix-up. I won't bore you with the details, but your bulls are right down there." He pointed to a window. I looked out it.
There, in the middle of the fields, surrounded by vaqueros, stood all five of my Tauros, grazing. I was enraged.
"Mix-up?!? How's a mix-up gonna land mah Pokemon here?"
"I'm not sure, but it did."
"Why was there a hole in mah fence?"
"I'm not sure what hole you are talking about, but I assure you, this was just a slight mistake on my part. Take your Tauros, and I'll tell one of my employees to let you pick out on of my baby Mareep to pay you back."
I looked at him suspiciously. What kind of trick was this? He just smiled back.
Still wary, I turned and walked back to the door and into the endless hallway. I took the stairs slowly, one at a time, so I could figure out his plan.
Maybe he had messed with the brand to where it would look like maybe I had stolen his beef, not the other way around. I had no idea.
I exited the house and approached the cowhands handling my Pokemon. One was talking on his phone. He hung up and said, "You can pick out your sheep."
He led me to a pen filled with balls of fluff. Most were asleep. I searched through and chose a nice, lean one with soft wool. I carried it back to my horse, which I mounted and rounded up my cattle.
I rode back and put the cattle and lamb away, then rode to get some spare wire to patch the hole in my barrier. As we trotted up, I saw a shape at the fence. "Ha," I whispered to Ponyta, who sped up a little.
The person was running towards the metal ropes. I charged up and blocked the hole by stopping my mare sideways against it.
I saw the guy and recognized him as the ranch hand who had led me into the neighboring ranch. He had a bag on his back.
"What's in the bag, pardner?" I asked casually.
"Uh. nothin'," he replied shakily.
"Lemme see this 'nothin'." The bag was too bulky to be empty. He dropped the bag and ten or more black round objects rolled out.
"What're these?" I demanded.
"They're called Thief Balls."
"Where'd they come from?"
"Ah'm not sure, the boss got 'em."
"Mister Fifth, eh? Let's see him worm his slimy way outta this one." I grabbed the guy and the balls and hauled him onto the pony.
We rode out in the orangey light of dusk. I didn't even wait for anybody to let me in. Ponyta blew Embers onto the gate, burning it away as I rode through.
I dragged my new buddy up the stairs and into the sixth door. There, at his desk, sat Ben Eddie V.
"Courtney? How'd you get in here?" he asked with a curse.
"Trying to get some answers, 'Big V'.
"I found this guy with this bag. Inside were several strange Pokeballs. Your employee told me you got a hold of them. I also noted the red R on each one. I wonder where you got them. Explain that. And I don't want any junk about a mix-up either." I didn't even care about using my accent, and I said something worse than 'junk', but I can't repeat it to keep this story rated G.
"Um.well.you see." he began, but I stopped him.
"Yes, I do see! Perfectly well, too. Let me see your computer." He already had the internet up, so I went to a search engine and typed a phrase.
Search for: "thief ball". I surrounded it in quotes to get the whole phrase, not word by word.
3 matches found for "thief ball".
1. TRocket.com/store/secure- Top Secret Items. Buy Team Rocket technology for cheap! Thief Ball- 1500. Laser Whip.
The other two were not what I was looking for, so I just clicked the first.
"Password protected" flashed on screen. Suddenly, a password program popped up. "Fill-in password for this website?" it asked. I clicked OK.
The site appeared: Team Rocket's Official Website- Shop. I smiled. "So, you go to this site often?" I asked V.
He didn't answer. All he did was sit there and sweat.
No matter. I had all the evidence I needed. I picked up the phone on his desk and dialed 911. Within half an hour, Edwards was in handcuffs and was being taken away by several duplicate officers.
* * *
After all that, I was still in financial trouble. I still couldn't afford the large ranch and all the Pokemon.
I ended up selling the ranch. I kept a select few of my stock, but there still was no way I could keep all of my Pokemon.
Then, my mother died, so I was alone. I met an old friend, who offered to let me stay with her for a while. Kerry lived in Violet, so I also had to attend the Earl's Pokemon Academy there.
When the building was destroyed, we were all transferred to the White campus. I moved there with Kerry, and we went to school there.
We met Jim and other people. Life was pretty normal after that, until Jim came back from Oak's lab one day.
Courtney: Range Wars
Back when my daddy was still alive, we had a much larger ranch, out on the open range. We raised Miltank, Tauros, and Mareep out on those green fields.
My father had a special brand for the MooMoo ranch: two M's surrounded by a large oval.
My momma was not strong enough to help out on the ranch, so it was just me and my dad.
He took ill and lay on what I knew to be is death bed. One day, he called to me. "Courtney, my daughter, I will be gone soon, and you will have to run the ranch.
"I want you to remember a few things. First, don't change the brand. I specially designed that brand where nobody can doctor it and steal our cattle. Second, when dealing with a potential customer or in anything business-related, give a fake Western accent. Also, your mother is alive, but she is weak. Therefore, you must work this entire ranch by yourself. If you mist hire hands, do it."
"Yes, sir. Is that it?"
He didn't answer. He had closed his eyes and peacefully died.
* * *
After a few months, things weren't going very well. I had bills to pay, I had cattle to feed, and, just to make my life easier, another ranch had moved in practically right next to mine! A bigger, more successful ranch.
One afternoon, I was out taking the Mareep to the watering hole. A truck drove up the narrow dirt path that led from the mailbox and front gate up to the house. The window rolled down and a man in a nice suit and a cowboy hat leaned out.
"You Courtney?" he asked.
I remembered the accent when I said, "Who wants t' know?"
"I do. Benjamin Edwards V," he said, holding out his hand. I didn't take it. He continued, "I just moved in next door. The Big V Ranch."
I didn't care if he was the fifth or the fifteenth. He had come onto my property, trespassing, and had moved in right next to me so he could run some scam, either stealing my cattle or my land.
I wasn't about to let him do that.
"Listen here, pardner. Ah ain't about t' let you take mah property or mah cattle. Plus, yer trespassin'! Git off mah land afore Ah blow yer head off!" I said angrily, picking up my rifle, which had been lying in the grass.
"Now you listen here, girl. I just came to let you know I'll be living next door, and you threaten me with a rifle! I was just being friendly!" He glared at me.
"Ah don' care if y' live on th' moon! Git offa mah land!" I aimed my gun at his truck. "Don't make me use this!"
He sighed, then turned to his steering wheel. Edwards backed his pickup around into the grass and around the other way, then hauled his sorry butt down the dirt road. Halfway, he stuck his head out the window and said, "You know this means war!" Then he sped off, ramming into the mailbox as he turned towards his own land.
* * *
Several weeks later, I was checking the abilities and status of my Tauros. I found several missing. I mounted my mare and rode around the outskirts of the ranch. I found an opening cut in the wire fence wide enough for a Tauros to fit through.
I rode from the hole around to the gate and out onto the road. I trotted around to the next-door entrance. The gate was three times as big as mine, with a gigantic V on it.
I saw a ranch hand and called out to him. "Hey, you! Yeah, you on the horse! Ah need to talk with yer boss!"
He pulled out a cell phone and pressed only two digits, probably a shortcut to Edwards. "Yeah, Big V? He got a girl here. Yeah, looks like the girl from next. Ah'll send 'er up." He motioned for me to go on up the path.
I reached a large mansion. He had built this thing in a month? It was at least two acres, plus an acre garage. The whole of it was blue, with white trim. Another big V was painted above the gigantic door in black.
I dismounted and walked up to the door. I raised my fist to knock when it swung open. Nobody was behind it to open it when I looked inside.
I spun around in a circle, trying to take it in. A voice from nowhere startled me. "Good Afternoon, Miss Courtney, isn't it? Please take the stairs and then enter through the sixth door on your right."
I followed his directions and ascended the staircase. I looked to the left of the top stair and found a broom closet. He apparently had meant the other way. I looked right and saw a long hallway that must've had about fifteen doors on each side. I found the sixth and entered.
Inside was an office, decorated with "Best of Fair" awards for fifty different cows and sheep. At the end of the long room was yet another V, cast from metal and stuck on the side of a desk.
"Ah, you made it. Coffee?" asked Benjamin, who was sitting at the desk, as he held up a mug and pot.
"No thanks. D'you know why Ah'm here?" I said furiously.
"Actually, I do. About those cattle, correct? There was a very complicated mix-up. I won't bore you with the details, but your bulls are right down there." He pointed to a window. I looked out it.
There, in the middle of the fields, surrounded by vaqueros, stood all five of my Tauros, grazing. I was enraged.
"Mix-up?!? How's a mix-up gonna land mah Pokemon here?"
"I'm not sure, but it did."
"Why was there a hole in mah fence?"
"I'm not sure what hole you are talking about, but I assure you, this was just a slight mistake on my part. Take your Tauros, and I'll tell one of my employees to let you pick out on of my baby Mareep to pay you back."
I looked at him suspiciously. What kind of trick was this? He just smiled back.
Still wary, I turned and walked back to the door and into the endless hallway. I took the stairs slowly, one at a time, so I could figure out his plan.
Maybe he had messed with the brand to where it would look like maybe I had stolen his beef, not the other way around. I had no idea.
I exited the house and approached the cowhands handling my Pokemon. One was talking on his phone. He hung up and said, "You can pick out your sheep."
He led me to a pen filled with balls of fluff. Most were asleep. I searched through and chose a nice, lean one with soft wool. I carried it back to my horse, which I mounted and rounded up my cattle.
I rode back and put the cattle and lamb away, then rode to get some spare wire to patch the hole in my barrier. As we trotted up, I saw a shape at the fence. "Ha," I whispered to Ponyta, who sped up a little.
The person was running towards the metal ropes. I charged up and blocked the hole by stopping my mare sideways against it.
I saw the guy and recognized him as the ranch hand who had led me into the neighboring ranch. He had a bag on his back.
"What's in the bag, pardner?" I asked casually.
"Uh. nothin'," he replied shakily.
"Lemme see this 'nothin'." The bag was too bulky to be empty. He dropped the bag and ten or more black round objects rolled out.
"What're these?" I demanded.
"They're called Thief Balls."
"Where'd they come from?"
"Ah'm not sure, the boss got 'em."
"Mister Fifth, eh? Let's see him worm his slimy way outta this one." I grabbed the guy and the balls and hauled him onto the pony.
We rode out in the orangey light of dusk. I didn't even wait for anybody to let me in. Ponyta blew Embers onto the gate, burning it away as I rode through.
I dragged my new buddy up the stairs and into the sixth door. There, at his desk, sat Ben Eddie V.
"Courtney? How'd you get in here?" he asked with a curse.
"Trying to get some answers, 'Big V'.
"I found this guy with this bag. Inside were several strange Pokeballs. Your employee told me you got a hold of them. I also noted the red R on each one. I wonder where you got them. Explain that. And I don't want any junk about a mix-up either." I didn't even care about using my accent, and I said something worse than 'junk', but I can't repeat it to keep this story rated G.
"Um.well.you see." he began, but I stopped him.
"Yes, I do see! Perfectly well, too. Let me see your computer." He already had the internet up, so I went to a search engine and typed a phrase.
Search for: "thief ball". I surrounded it in quotes to get the whole phrase, not word by word.
3 matches found for "thief ball".
1. TRocket.com/store/secure- Top Secret Items. Buy Team Rocket technology for cheap! Thief Ball- 1500. Laser Whip.
The other two were not what I was looking for, so I just clicked the first.
"Password protected" flashed on screen. Suddenly, a password program popped up. "Fill-in password for this website?" it asked. I clicked OK.
The site appeared: Team Rocket's Official Website- Shop. I smiled. "So, you go to this site often?" I asked V.
He didn't answer. All he did was sit there and sweat.
No matter. I had all the evidence I needed. I picked up the phone on his desk and dialed 911. Within half an hour, Edwards was in handcuffs and was being taken away by several duplicate officers.
* * *
After all that, I was still in financial trouble. I still couldn't afford the large ranch and all the Pokemon.
I ended up selling the ranch. I kept a select few of my stock, but there still was no way I could keep all of my Pokemon.
Then, my mother died, so I was alone. I met an old friend, who offered to let me stay with her for a while. Kerry lived in Violet, so I also had to attend the Earl's Pokemon Academy there.
When the building was destroyed, we were all transferred to the White campus. I moved there with Kerry, and we went to school there.
We met Jim and other people. Life was pretty normal after that, until Jim came back from Oak's lab one day.