-Chapter Two-

(Oak Laboratory, Pallet Town)

"A barrier of some sort?"
Professor Samuel Oak faced the four children standing in front of him. Ash nodded.
"Yes. And it sent out these weird electric shocks!"
Samuel rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Yes, that is weird… And you say this barrier…was surrounding the mountains?"
"Mm-hm," Ash replied.
"Well, we didn't actually go around the mountain area to see if it was there," May said. "But it was blocking off the main road to the mountains."
"I see."
Samuel allowed his gaze to drift outside for a brief moment.
"Not only that…" Ash looked down at the frazzled friend in his lap. "…but Pikachu's been acting really strange too."
Samuel looked at Pikachu. He seemed very restless. His ears were twitching every which way, and his breathing was shallow and rapid.
"Pi…" he muttered as Professor Oak reached over to scratch him between the ears.
"Pokemon are much more in tuned with nature than we are," he explained. "So Pikachu is probably so tense because he can sense that something is wrong. When the balance of nature is being disrupted, pokémon are the first to know about it."
He stepped away from the kids and sighed.
"I probably should have researched into this earlier…"
"You couldn't have known, Professor," Brock said softly.
"Yeah. Even a genius like you can't know everything," Max agreed.
The professor shook his head and frowned.
"But earlier today…Tracey came to me and showed me something. I should have seen it as a sign…"
Everyone sat at attention.
"What was it?"
"Follow me and I'll show you."
Professor Oak led them to the small room with the large telescope. He looked inside and positioned it in the right place, then stepped away.
"Take a look."
Ash stepped up to the telescope and looked inside. His eyes widened in surprise.
"What is all that smoke?!"
"Smoke?"
Ash stepped aside and let Brock look into it.
"It looks like it's coming from some big building inside the mountains," Brock remarked, stepping back.
May peered inside for a few seconds then let Max. He watched the smoke furl around the tops of the mountains, and it suddenly seemed to be taking shape.
"T…R…" he breathed as they formed in front of his eyes.
The others gasped.
"Team Rocket!"
Ash clenched his hand into a fist.
"I should've known Team Rocket was behind this!"
Brock folded his arms across his chest.
"So that's why Butch and Cassidy were going so fast. They must be plotting something up there."
May looked at him.
"But what? And what could they be doing that could disrupt nature?"
"I don't know," Ash said seriously. "But I'm going to find out."

(Indigo Mountain)

Butch reached into the small pack on his back and pulled out two TR binoculars. He handed one to Cassidy and they knelt behind a large, rocky boulder.
"They they're a threat, Cassidy?" He asked after a few seconds of examining the site of the building.
"Probably not," she muttered.
She smirked and looked down at her handgun.
"But we should probably check the inside out. Don't wanna let these things go to waste, right?"
Butch returned her smirkish smile and nodded.
"Quite right, Cass."
The two rockets slipped away from their hiding place and stealthily made their way around to the side of the building. Above them, hidden in the dark shadows of his room, Midas Ranielli watched them enter the unlocked side door.
Once inside, the partners quickly slipped away from each other, promising not to kill unless there was no other way of escaping. If an unnecessary shooting took place, things could get messy in the future. Butch sauntered slowly down the empty hall, his hands clasped loosely around the gun in his pocket. As he walked, the lights in the hallway seemed to get dimmer. The doors were more widely spaced apart. He could see shadows dance across the wall out of the corner of his eye…but there was no one else there. There couldn't be…
He quickened his pace, knowing he would reach a backdoor eventually. Presently, he heard fast footsteps behind him. Gripping his gun tighter, he broke out into a silent run and pulled open the first door he saw—very unprofessional, he knew.
Butch pressed his back firmly against the door of the dark room. After several seconds, Butch stepped away, not certain if someone was still outside the door, but certain they weren't coming in. He looked around the room, checking for any sign of what they were doing up here. The room was practically empty, save for a wooden desk and pictures on the walls. Reminded him of his boss' office, really. One of the pictures suddenly caught his eye. The person looked very familiar. He stepped closer to the picture and squinted to see in the darkness.
"That looks a lot like the boss," he muttered under his breath.
As he looked harder, his brown eyes widened.
"Wait a minute…that IS the…"
He froze instantly as he heard the click of a gun being cocked beside his ear.
"Shit…"
He felt something cold press against the back of his neck roughly and crumpled to the floor as everything went black.

(New Team Rocket HQ, Cafeteria, Viridian City)

"Go magikarp."
Mondo reached across the table to pick up one of the cards from the stack in front of Meowth. The cat looked at his cards, then up at Mondo.
"Got any…3's?" He smirked.
Mondo shook his head, grinning.
"Nope! Go magikarp!"
Meowth narrowed his midnight blue eyes at the young boy.
"Yous answered that mighty quickly…"
"I don't have any, Meowth! I promise!"
Meowth picked up a card as Wobbuffet walked over to the table with Arbok and Cacnea. The three pokémon placed the trays on the surface of the table. Mondo smiled at them.
"Thanks!"
Wobbuffet saluted him and Meowth.
"Wobb!"
Arbok slithered over behind Meowth's chair where Weezing was floating.
"Chaarr," she hissed.
Meowth shook his head.
"Nope. No word from Jessie and James yet. Dey said dey'd call when they got back to da hotel, but you know how long dose two like ta stay out. Especially when dey're in a big city like Goldenrod."
Arbok nodded and leaned against Weezing. Meowth looked at the two and smirked again.
"Yous two sure look comfortable together, heh."
Arbok blushed and raised her head. Wobbuffet and Cacnea snickered.
Like trainer, like pokémon, Wobbuffet remarked.
Arbok shook her head furiously.
No! No, no! It's not like that! She tried to explain.
Weezing watched them with his amusement on his blank expression. Meowth nudged Arbok.
"Yous two is gonna be da next Jessie and James?"
Arbok blushed again and looked at Weezing. He looked back and titled his head.
Huh? What is he talking about?
Arbok sighed and whipped her tail around to knock him in the back of his head. Mondo sweatdropped and laughed nervously.
"Yep, like trainer, like pokémon, all right…"
"Mondo!"
"Huh?"
Mondo turned around in his seat to see a young girl walking towards him, all business. He felt himself flushing a little; as she was the only girl besides Miss Jessie he felt any attraction to.
"Miss Domino…"
Domino stopped beside him, lightly acknowledging the pokémon around him. She slid a small communicator towards him.
"The boss wants you to contact Agents Kidd and Sundance. I'm assuming you do know where they are, correct?"
Mondo nodded.
"Yes, Miss Domino."
They stared at each other for several minutes. Meowth whistled and shuffled the cards together. Domino cleared her throat.
"Ahem…"
"Oh! Yeah…"
Mondo picked up the small communicator and dialed Butch's number.
"Agent Kidd? This is HQ."
He waited patiently for a reply, but received none.
"Hmm…Agent Kidd? Come in, Agent Kidd."
Again, all he got was silence. He frowned, but soon lit up.
"Maybe only Cassidy has hers on."
Saying this, he dialed her number.
"Agent Sundance? This is HQ. Come in, Agent Sundance."
Meowth looked up at him from his tray of food. Arbok narrowed her eyes. Mondo frowned at the silence and looked at Domino.
"That's odd… You don't think they could have been captured, do you?"
Domino scowled.
"Those amateurs… Now we'll have to send someone after them. One simple mission and they get themselves locked up."
She snatched the communicator from Mondo and turned on her heels.
"Uh, see you later, Miss Domino!"
Domino stopped and looked at him briefly over her shoulder before leaving the cafeteria.
"Well, Cassidy and Botch managed to botch a mission, huh?" Meowth chuckled. "Won't Jess and Jim be amused to hear dat?"
"Aren't you the least bit worried about them, Meowth?" Mondo asked.
Meowth shrugged.
"Eh, can't say I really am, no."
Mondo sighed. Wobbuffet reached over and touched his shoulder.
I'm sure they're fine, Mondo. Those two can take care of themselves!
Mondo nodded at the pokémon.
"You're probably right. Still…I have this odd feeling…"
Arbok nodded. She had been feeling a little strange as well. She knew it was probably just her nerves, what with her master being so far away, she couldn't help but feel tense. She felt she should be with Jessie. Something just didn't feel right.

End of Chapter Two