"So your name's Lisa. I get that. What I don't get is why you're wearing those wacky clothes."
Ash is attempting to have a conversation with a girl who has light sky blue hair pulled back in two pigtails, and is wearing a tank top with bellbottoms.
Lisa explains the reason for her non-Japanese style of dress. "I'm from AMERICA!!!"
"Ooookay." Misty is not so keen on the tall, lanky teenager names Lisa.
"Are you a pokémon watcher, too?" Tracey asks.
"Pokémon, what's that?"
"You haven't heard of pokémon?!" Ash stares at Lisa in amazement. "And you came to Japan?!"
"Well, I came here to learn some new recipes, and maybe try those, what do you call them, rice balls?"
"I know someone you'd like to meet," Ash seems eager to get rid of Lisa. "His name's Brock. Here's a map to Professor Ivy's lab, where he lives."
"Thanks." Lisa takes the offered map and starts down the dirt path.
Misty whispers to Ash, "Do you think we did Brock a favor or caused a horrible tragedy?"
Ash whispers back, "I don't know, but at least we got rid of that wacko."
~
Walking down the dusty path, Lisa unfolds the map and stares at it. She flips it over and looks at it a different way.
"How am I supposed to get to the professor's lab with this?" Lisa trudges down the path awhile. "Maybe if I just follow this road…" As if to confirm this decision, Lisa sets a steady pace and begins marching. "I can't believe those three actually thought I was a cook! I really came here to see if there are any hunky guys."
About four more hours pass before Lisa finds a building big enough to be a laboratory. It's getting around to being lunchtime, so Lisa decides to chance the doorbell, thinking maybe someone will spare a bite of food.
DING-DONG! The door opens and a woman wearing a white lab coat appears, followed by three girls. They appear to be triplets, and as Lisa would soon find out, they are very persistent, even annoying.
"Who are you?"
"What do you want?"
"Why are you wearing crazy clothes?"
Lisa provides an answer. "My name's Lisa and I'm from AMERICA!!!"
The three girls blink behind their large, wire-rimmed glasses.
"Pleased to…"
"…meet you…"
"…I think."
"Welcome." The woman in the white lab coat steps forward. "I am Professor Ivy."
A person named Ash sent me," Lisa explains. "He said I should meet someone named, uh, Brock?"
Someone walks out to stand beside Professor Ivy and the triplets. He is quite tall, and has a tan. At the moment, he is wearing a kitchen apron that is pink. "Hey everybody, the soup and donuts are almost ready."
"Lisa, this is Brock." Professor Ivy begins introducing the two. "And Brock, this is Lisa. She's from-"
"AMERICA!!!" Lisa interrupts Professor Ivy.
"Would you like to stay for lunch?" Brock politely invites Lisa.
Grrrowwwwl!
"Well," says Lisa, "I think my stomach would like to."
~
"Here, try my soup." Brock hands Lisa a bowl of soup.
Creeeeak!
"What was that?" asks Brock.
"Uh, I think it's the ceiling." Lisa points at a long crack running from one end of the room to the other.
CracckaBOOM! The whole room collapses!
"Ahhh! My kitchen!" Brock screeches.
"Ahhh! My soup!" Lisa shouts.
"Prepare for trouble!"
"Ouch, that hurt!"
The dust clears, revealing a girl with pink swirly hair and a boy with shaggy blue hair. A small catlike animal hops down. "I thought I
told you two to make a nice, quiet hole in the roof, but no, you have to go and bust down the whole building! Mee-owth!"
"When I left Ash, I thought both of you would stop following me," moans Brock.
"Who are you?" Lisa demands.
The girl stands up and introduces their little group. "We're Team Rocket and we fight for what's wrong! I'm Jessie, this is my partner James, and we're here to steal your pokémon!"
"Don't forget about me!" The cat strikes a funny pose. "I'm Meowth!"
Lisa can tell immediately that these three mean trouble. "I don't know what pokémon is, but you're not getting it!"
The boy named James points at Lisa. "Then you better prepare to fight!"
Jessie and James begin studying a few tiny red and white balls. "Hmm. Which pokémon should we choose?"
Frantically Lisa grasps her belt. "Hey! I don't have any of those little thingies!"
Too late to turn back now! Having chosen their pokémon, Jessie and James throw two "thingies" in the air. "Pokéball, GO!"
Mimicking the Team Rocket members, Lisa grabs one of Brock's pokéballs. "Hey! That's mine!" Brock protests.
"Sorry!" shouts Lisa. "Pokéball, GO!"
There is a flash of bright red light, and it begins to take shape. A foxy-looking pokémon appears. Winking one of its large amber eyes at Lisa, the pokémon yawns and lets out a cry. "Vulpix!"
"It's so cute! It's so cute! It's so cute!" Lisa cannot resist the cuddly mass of soft fur. "It's so cute! It's so-"
Vulpix opens its mouth and a pillar of flame scorches Lisa's face. "VULLL!!!"
Seeing Lisa as a hopeless pokémon trainer, Brock takes charge of the situation. "Vulpix! Use your fire spin!"
"VULLL!!!"
The force of the blow knocks Team Rocket back through the hole in the kitchen roof. "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off agaaaaaaain!"
"Vulpix, return!" Brock calls Vulpix back to its pokéball.
"That was cooooool!" Lisa squeals. "I want to be a pokémon trainer now!"
"You'll have to get going, then," Brock tells her, "there's a Pokémon League competition in less than two months."
Lisa sniffles and wipes her eyes daintily on a handkerchief.
"What's the matter?" Brock peers at Lisa's face. Is that a tear rolling down her cheek?
"I never got to taste the soup!" Lisa wails.
"If I come along with you, I'll make soup for you anytime!" Brock smiles to try to cheer up Lisa.
"You've got yourself a deal!" Lisa shakes Brock's hand.
"First I have to fix the kitchen." Brock grins apologetically.
~
"Meee-owch!"
Jessie lands on top of Meowth, causing their heads to clash painfully. James limps up, nursing a cracked knee. He flops down onto the soil next to Jessie and stares and the hot sun overhead. "I'm sick of blasting off."
Leaning back against a tree, Jessie winces as her back makes a cracking noise. "It's getting quite monotonous." She gazes at the back of James' head. He had always been kind of cute and really nice; Jessie would probably go on a date with him if he asked her…
But Team Rocket has no time for dates or other things involving teenage crushes. They have their hands full trying to keep Boss happy. What is James thinking about as he looks up at the blazing sun?
James focuses on the bright orb, as if trying to move it with psychic powers across the sky. He sighs as his eyelids droop; it is the kind of day that makes one feel sleepy. James wonders if Jessie is as tired as he is. If she is, she sure doesn't show it. Jessie had always been the backbone of the team, and James' best friend for the past five years. All right, maybe more than a friend.
"Mee-owth! Are we going to sit here all day, or plot some revenge against that little pipsqueak?"
Jessie and James sigh as Meowth interrupts their thoughts. James blinks to unglue his eyes. "We'll show that upstart who we really are…right after…a…nap…zzzz…"
~
"Goodbye now! Good luck!"
"'Bye Brock!"
"Come back and visit us soon!"
See ya, American person!"
Having fixed the kitchen roof, Lisa and Brock are beginning their pokémon trainer's journey.
"Goodbye Professor Ivy!" Lisa and Brock start down the dusty path, munching on some donuts.
"So, how do you catch pokémon?" Lisa asks Brock.
The tall grass rustles and a pokémon steps out. Lisa recognizes it immediately. "It's sooooo cyuute!"
"All right, pay attention!" Brock instructs Lisa. Throwing a donut to the wild vulpix, he shouts out, "Donut, GO!"
While the vulpix chews on the donut, Brock tosses a pokéball accurately. The pokéball with the vulpix in it fidgets wildly, then, with a slight ping it relaxes and Brock picks it up.
Holding the pokéball out to Lisa, Brock smiles. "Here. Your first pokémon."
Lisa returns Brock's smile, and both trainers let their vulpixes out of their pokéballs. "Thanks, Brock." Lisa and Brock continue down the path.
~
"Shhh. Look over there." Brock points to a clump of bushes, which are shaking, and not by the wind. Lisa tosses a rock lightly into the shrubbery. A pokémon jumps out and rubs at the bump forming on its nose.
"It's a raichu!" Brock breathes in Lisa's ear.
"It's really really cute!" Lisa is all smiles. She stands up. "So how do you do this? Pokéball…go?"
After a few more "enthusiastic" tries, raichu is caught.
Lisa holds the pokéball in her hands. "It's so cute! It's so cute! It's so cute!"
Appalled that raichu is cuter than itself, vulpix scorches raichu's pokéball with a mighty flamethrower.
Gasping with shock, Lisa taps raichu's pokéball hesitantly.
"It should be all right," says Brock. "It's inside the pokéball."
"Vulpix, return!" Lisa calls her vulpix back, lest it should cause any more trouble. Brock mimics Lisa's actions.
As they trudge down the dusty road, Brock explains everything to Lisa about the pok"emon world, including Team Rocket.
"…they're gangsters who want to use pok"emon to take over the world. Jessie and James in particular just want to get rich, and they'll do anything for money."
"Why doesn't anybody fight back against them?" questions Lisa. "I mean, sure, we've got the police, but they're mostly defense, right? We need some offense here."
"That's a pretty good idea." Brock is impressed with Lisa's strategy. "Why don't we form our own team? We could call it Team…uh…"
"Goodness!" Lisa's eyes sparkle. She shakes hands with Brock.
"Look out, Team Rocket! We're Team Goodness and we plan to punish you!'
"Let the tryouts for recruiting begin!"
~
A crooked sign hangs from a wreck of a building. The faded paint reads: TEAM GOODNESS TRYOUTS. Crowds of people mill about below. Inside the building…
"Pow." A boy holds out a fist. "You're dead, Team Rocket."
Lisa rolls her eyes. "Very…uh…threatening. NEXT!"
A girl walks in and smiles. She grins so deeply her eyes close. She smiles. And smiles. And smiles.
After about half an hour of smiling, Lisa decides to quicken the operation. "And?!" She moves her hands in a "let's wrap it up" motion.
The girl's grin widens almost to her ears as she replies in a squeaky voice, "Die, Team Rocket!"
"That was…intimidating. All right, number two thousand, eight hundred ninety-six." Lisa sighs.
A boy about the same age as Lisa marches into the office. "Hi. I'm Cyril. I'm a pokémon imitator, but I'm also a scientist. Watch."
Pulling out something that resembles a ray gun, Cyril plants his feet firmly and points at an imaginary Team Rocket member. "Hey, Team Rocket, get a load of my super cybergraphical macrophotoscope thermohydrolophone aerologetic…"
~one hour later~
"…electronic handheld device."
Grasping the trigger, Cyril shuts his eyes and pulls it.
Click.
"Hmm. There must be something wrong with it." Cyril points the device around wildly, then chances the trigger again.
ClickclickclickclickclickBOOM!!!
The building shudders visibly, causing the cracked sign to come tumbling down.
Lisa digs herself out of the rubble. Cyril cringes, expecting Lisa to be angry. Blinking from a burnt up face, Lisa voices her decision. "I guess we could use a scientist."
Leaping high and brandishing his weapon, Cyril whoops loudly. "I'm on Team Goodness! Whoo-hoo!" He dances into the back room where Brock is giving the other new employees a pep talk.
Lisa improvises a makeshift desk from the pile of junk left by Cyril.
"Uh, hi. I'm here to try out."
Looking over the heap of debris that serves her as a desk, Lisa spots a boy with a pokémon hat, pokédex, and a serious look on his face – in other words, a pokémon trainer.
"My name's Jon. These are my pokémon." A scyther, marowak, and golduck appear from the pokéballs at Jon's waist.
Lisa considers, and then says, "Those are pretty good pokémon. You can be on Team Goodness." She shouts back to Brock, "All right, we've got our hundred members!"
Brock continues his pep talk, eager to get started. "Your goal is to send Team Rocket blasting off as many times as you can. Any questions?"
The crowd is silent, waiting for the order to come. Lisa and Brock shout aloud, "Let's get started!"
Team Goodness is full fledged!