A/N: Ahhh…I'm so glad you like this story so much- I'm ready to put forth all of half my attention on it now (as compared to a third or less).  I have another story that I'm just starting, so it might further delay this story.  But hey, at least I'm not quitting it, right?  Well, on with the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers or Pokemon.

Ch. 11 – A Worthless Fight, or is it?

            A caressing wind passed Lina and Pyro as they soared across the sky.  Pyro had informed his mistress that he sensed danger on the horizon.  Once they got high enough, Lina did too, literally.  Approaching the city was a huge army tank designed to look intimidating.  For most, the very fact that it stood thrice as tall as the tallest tree amongst a forest was enough to send them running for the hills.  But not Lina.  No, nothing like that could scare her- her sister had made her seen worse things than that.

            Lina hurried Pyro so that they could stop the tank from going into the city.  Despite Pyro's warning, she was ready to face danger head on.  Both forces stopped in a clearing; Lina dismounted.  A lone wind lifted the dirt into the silent air.  Suddenly, a booming voice coming from within the tank declared, "LITTLE GIRL, LEAVE YOUR POKEMON AND GET OUT OF THE WAY."

            To which Lina yelled back, "YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO I AM AND YOU EXPECT ME TO JUST /GIVE/ YOU MY POKEMON?!?!  THAT'S CRAZY!  LET'S BATTLE!"

             Some muttering and conversing seemed to be going on inside before the reply came, "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO /YOU/ ARE.  WE ARE TEAM ROCKET, AND WE ONLY SEEK OUT LINA INVERSE!"

            Lina let out a small burst of laughter followed by a loud, full-hearted one.  Turning to Pyro she asked, "Can you /believe/ them Pyro?  Ol' Team Rocket is looking for a Lina Inverse.  Hmmm…I wonder who that could be."

            Pyro gave Lina a closed eye smile before she chose to speak once more.  "YOU DOLTS!  /I'M/ LINA INVERSE!  THE ONE AND ONLY!  NOW GET OUT HERE AND FACE ME, OR TURN TAIL AND RUN!"

            Voices muttered inside the tank.  Having left their speakerphone on, Lina could hear them discussing what to do.  Finally, the top of the tank opened, and out emerged two young men, heads turned to Lina, standing back-to-back, and arms folded as if they were high and mighty.

            The one on Lina's left had wavy black hair past his shoulders, a grungy old brown hat on his head, and the basic look that he had traveled very hard non-stop.  Just from the way he expressed his opinion, Lina could tell that he was the overconfident and stubborn type.  The other held himself in a way that said without words, "Face me and you'll more than lose the fight."  His hair and a good portion of his body were covered by a navy blue cloak and hood, but Lina could see a glimpse of brown hair underneath the hood.  (Can you guess who they are?! :P)  Under their cloaks, they wore the traditional black Team Rocket suits.

            From there, the two skipped the Team Rocket motto and got straight to business.  Jumping off the tank with deftly spun flips, they stood before Lina.  The one in blue spoke for them both.  "I am called Vrumagan.  My companion is Zangulus.  We had not expected our quarry to be a small girl like yourself.  However, business is business, and we must dispose of you before you foil any more of Team Rocket's plans."

            Lina rolled her eyes as she put her hands on her hips.  "Oh Come /on/.  Team Rocket members sure think a lot of themselves, don't they?  Okay, first of all, I hadn't /really/ intended to do that much damage.  At first, I was only looking to get back my friend's pokemon.  It's not /my/ fault Team Rocket /followed/ me.  I just did what I had to do out of self-defense.  Second, what makes you think you'll ever beat me?"

            In a very boastful voice, Zangulus boomed, "We are elite Team Rocket members.  Team Rocket is the largest pokemon corporation in the whole Kanto region.  We have yet to lose a battle."

            Getting quickly into battle position, Lina answered, "Then today will be your first."

            Jumping back, Vrumagan was the first to battle.  "I'll teach you to respect your elders.  Go, Jynx!"

            Vrumagan released a Jynx between them, while Lina merely had Pyro step forward.

            "Flamethrower!"
            "Blizzard!"

            Both attacks met in the middle and exploded on impact.  Dead even.  The attack was repeated, with the same result.  Meanwhile Zangulus released a Golduck onto the battlefield.  He ordered it to send a Hydro Pump Charizard's way.  The attack was inches from Charizard before it was deflected by a green blur.  The three looked to see what had happened, for the Hydro Pump had been dispersed and diverted straight up.  Pyro took this chance to move away.

            It was then that Lina noticed what it was.  A Scyther stood where the attack had been deflected.  In prime condition, it looked ready to face anything.  Suddenly, Gourry ran up and asked if Lina was alright.  She remarked that she was just fine, and asked what /he/ was doing there.  Gourry answered that seeing the tank above the trees, they worried about her so they came to help out.  Just then, Zel, Misty, Ash, and Brock came into the clearing.  Lina groaned to herself.

            Lina grumbled to herself, "I don't have time for this…" before commanding Pyro to finish off Jynx.  Coming into the battle, Scyther faced Golduck.  For a while, as they exchanged attacks, it seemed apparent that Gourry and Lina had the upper hand.  However, the fight didn't last long before Lina got sick of fighting the same repetitive battle.

            "That's it…Dragonite, I choose you!  Blow these idiots sky high with Hyper Beam!"

            They all watched astounded as the monstrous Dragonite appeared from the pokeball.  It loomed over them like one huge storm cloud waiting to strike.  Strike it did, and fast it struck.  One swift attack and the two Team Rocket members and their pokemon were sent flying, along with their huge tank.

            Nodding with approval, Lina returned Dragonite.  Seeing that Pyro had grown a bit weak from the day's battles, she returned him to his pokeball as well.  Taking note of this, Gourry returned his Scyther.

            Lina sighed.  First, she addressed Gourry.  With one eye on him, and the other closed, she told him, "If you're expecting a 'thank you', you're not getting one.  I didn't ask for your help you know."

            Gourry rubbed the back of his head and answered, "Hehe.. yeah well, sorry for butting in like that, but you looked like you could use some help.  We were worried when we saw you heading in the direction of that big tank."

            Lina looked sideways and blushed a little.  "Whatever.  I'm alright, anyhow.  I'm sure Pyro appreciates your help though."

            Now Lina's eyes turned to Ash and his friends.  She started walking towards them as she spoke.  "Now, you three, didn't I tell you not to follow me?  I don't need help from weaklings like you."

            In every case, who /wouldn't/ be offended by that?  The three trainers angrily declared, "Weaklings?!  We're not weaklings!"  From there, they all said separate things to prove their worth.

            "I already have /five/ badges!"

            To which Lina replied, "I have six."

            "I'm one of the Cerulean City Gym Leaders."

            Lina pointed a thumb in Gourry's direction.  "It seems Gourry here is too."

            "I used to be the Pewter City Gym Leader."

            "What do you know," Lina remarked, "Zel was the leader after /you/."

            When there was a pause, Lina added, "Anything else you care to point out?"

            Ash muttered, "I have great pokemon…"

            Lina rolled her eyes.  "Big whoop.  So do I, and mine are stronger than yours.  To boot, I can actually understand what my fire pokemon say, word for word."

            They all blinked as they registered that last statement.  "Really?!"

            Lina couldn't help but roll her eyes again.  "Yeah, didn't I tell you already?"

            There was a collective agreement of negative affirmation.

            Lina shrugged.  She commented that there was nothing she could do if their senses were that much duller than hers.  Silence passed between the two groups.  Brock suddenly inquired where they were headed to now.  With a sniff, Lina remarked that since she was in search of badges, they'd take the road to Fuchsia City, and from there take a ferry to Cinnabar Island.  That was their plan for the time being anyway.  Brock thoughtfully said that if you were going for badges, that would be the ideal route to take to the Pokemon League.  Path decided, Ash made a resolution to get a lot stronger between now and the tournament, so that he could beat Lina.

            Lina made a disbelieving scoff that had a ring of laughter to it.  She remarked that if Ash couldn't even beat Gary, there was no way that he could beat her.  Again, Lina surprised them all; Ash wondered how she knew Gary.  She answered that anyone who's lived in Pallet town for at least a month, knows of Prof. Oak, and thus knows of Gary.  However, she probably knows Gary the best.  Ash challenged that and they went into another back-and-forth arguing.  Lina easily won, which only amazed Ash further.  With a tired sigh, Lina looked up into the sky.  Streams of pink, orange, red, blue, and navy blue were layered and mixed in the sky above as the sun set in the west.

            The red-haired trainer, Lina, told them that it was time for them to turn in for the night.  She didn't know about the others, but she was going to get a good night's sleep.  Brock agreed that that would be a good idea.  Misty energetically said that tomorrow could be used to explore Celadon City; Brock also nodded to that.  Lina suddenly popped up next to Zel and asked him what he thought they should do.  Zel shrugged.  He just wanted to get to Cinnabar Island already.  He would have gone there himself, but he wasn't sure where to look for the scientists that Lina spoke of.  If he had gone there and tried to force his way to his cure, there's no telling what might have happened to him.  Frankly, Lina had to agree.

            Mind settled Lina proclaimed that they would leave Celadon City the next day.  She asked Gourry if that was okay with him.  He shrugged and said whatever she decided was fine with him.

            By releasing Pyro again, Lina gestured for the others to release their flying pokemon.  Zel took out his Pidgeot, but Gourry assured her that he would take the ground back as he suddenly remembered that he had a great fear of flying; not of heights, just flying bareback on pokemon.  Lina told him to suit himself, and took to the skies with Zel close behind.  With a smile, Gourry turned to Ash and co.  He asked if they minded walking back with him.  They said no, they'd rather have him then the other two.  Gourry chuckled lowly at that.  He kindly explained as they walked that that was just how Lina was, though today had been the most she ever talked about her past.

            By some strange turn of events, started by Ash's and Gourry's stomach growling loud enough to disrupt the birds, they were talking about Brock's great cooking when they reached the Pokecenter.  As soon as Gourry turned the first corner inside the Pokecenter, he was thwacked in the back of his head by Lina and then dragged off.  Ash, Misty, and Brock as well as half the Pokecenter watched with sweatdrops.  Pondering it momentarily, Brock observed that Lina's relationship with Brock seemed to closely resemble Ash and Misty's.  The pair didn't know whether to blush or to be bewildered; so they were both.  They denied any relationship whatsoever, until Brock added that he meant they had the same type of relationship as far as companions, and treatment went.  Looking in the direction Lina and Gourry had gone, Ash and Misty reluctantly agreed.  With that thought, they left their pokemon with Nurse Joy and went to their beds to sleep.

            Pikachu's sister, Kapi, looked through the window of the Pokecenter.  From that window, she could see the sun making its way into the sky.  She turned to look at her mistress sleeping fitfully in the private room; small, but private.  Her mistress had instructed her to wake her up at the crack of dawn, using whatever means possible.  Kapi jumped off the wooden desk and waddled over to the bed, springing herself onto the mattress.  Lina stirred and she softly groaned, but she did not wake.  First, Kapi tried to wake Lina simply by shaking her shoulder with her little arms.  That worked just about as well as jumping onto the bed.  Next, Kapi attempted to wake her mistress through a little shock from her tail on Lina's forehead.  Lina jumped a little above the bed, but surprisingly did not wake up.  Growing slightly frustrated, Kapi finally used a Thundershock on her mistress.  That definitely woke up Lina, as you could see her skeleton for a few split-seconds.  Burnt to a crisp in some places, Lina slowly took in her surroundings.  Upon realizing that Kapi had woken her up, she thanked her, pet her on the head, and fed her a poketreat.  Kapi was pleased that she had done her part.

            Getting up, Lina returned Kapi to her pokeball before doing some morning stretches.  Afterwards, she washed up, combed her hair, and prepared herself for another day of traveling.  All that took no less than fifteen minutes.  Turbo charged for activity, Lina quietly crept out of the Pokecenter and made a morning jog to the forest.  She found the clearing that she had been to just the day before, and released her pokemon for training.  Total, she had called forth Charizard, Primeape, Victreebel, soon-to-be-evolved Spearow, and Magmar.  She had Primeape and Spearow face off to train Primeape for battling and getting Spearow to evolve.  Victreebel faced Magmar in an attempt to overcome the obvious type advantage.

            First on the line of training was Charizard.  Lina separately trained him to better enhance his fighting ability now that he could fly.  Lina's chief goal with Charizard now was to perfect wind attacks such as Whirlwind, Fly, and Wing attack.  For Wing Attack, Lina taught Pyro that all he had to do was flap one wing as fast and as hard as he could, and concentrate on making it into a sort of shockwave wind boomerang type thing.  After a few trial and errors, Charizard finally got the hang of it, and could slice a branch in half in the air from twenty feet away.  As this was fairly quick considering Pyro would have learned it eventually on his own anyway, Lina moved on to the next attack, Whirlwind.  For this, Lina told Pyro that it was simply of flapping both of his wings as hard and as fast as he could so that the path of wind intersected and revolved constantly around each other the way a tornado worked.  Having just learned Wing Attack, this was a breeze for Charizard.  Within a quarter of an hour, his tornado could destroy all the trees in its path before it dispersed.  Approving of this, Lina came around to the final attack for the day- Fly.  Lina told Charizard to fly straight up in the sky, locked down on his target, and soar straight for them.  Aiming for a tree, Charizard's hard head and gripping claws proved to win the tree over because the force of the impact toppled the tree.  After a few more trial runs, Lina agreed that Charizard was good to go, at least for today.  She returned Pyro to his pokeball.

            Lina looked to her other pokemon.  Spearow and Primeape were still going at it, but Magmar had stopped since Victreebel had fainted.  She hurried to revive Victreebel and give the rest a restorative potion.  Lina checked Spearow on the Statidex.  Only a little more until he would be ready to evolve.  Satisfied, Lina chose Victreebel and Magmar at the same time.

            First, she showed Victreebel how to make its Razor Leaf attack surround and thus surprise its opponent.  Lina also taught him how to make its Vine whip strong enough to pierce the ground, and then grab the opponent from underneath.  Setting him to practice those on another tree, Lina turned to Magmar.  She showed it the fundamentals of her favorite special fire attacks including the fireball that followed its opponent, the direct fireball, the fire geyser technique, one concentrated fire geyser (aka Mega Brand), and thin streams of fire (also called "Flare Arrow").

            Lina watched as the both drilled and practiced.  Seeing that it might be a while until they mastered those attacks, Lina's attention was turned to Primeape and Spearow.  With one last peck attack, Spearow knocked out Primeape.  They all watched as Spearow glowed a pearly white, changing its form, until it had finished evolving into a Fearow.  Lina cheered, and then, remembering the others' training, set them back to work.  As for Primeape and Fearow, she healed them and then set them on new training

            For Primeape, Lina taught everything from jabs, uppercuts, and cheap shots for desperate times, to having enough force in them to create a fire from the friction and or send his opponent flying sky-high.  Since for this, he would need a partner, Lina released the already trained Sandslash to spar with Primeape.  Finally, Lina turned her attention to Fearow.  Lina made sure he knew all the attacks she had taught Pyro that day, before perfecting Drill Peck and teaching it Mirror Move.  Mirror move was the hardest by far, but by the time the others had finished their training, so had Fearow.  For one last check, she made all her pokemon perform their newly learned attacks, each one had it down precisely and powerfully.  Very pleased with the morning's work, she thanked her pokemon for their cooperation, and returned them all to their pokeball's.  Lina rushed back to the Pokecenter.

            Lina took a quick shower via Pokecenter while her pokemon were being healed by Nurse Joy again.  Afterwards, she joined Gourry for a feast of a breakfast, before they left Celadon City with Zel.  Lina reassured herself as well as the others that if they needed anything from this city, they could always fly back later.  Checking her map, Lina estimated that with minimum stops unless they hit a town on the way, they could make it to Gringy City, home to a smaller, but still official Pokemon Gym, on the way to Fuschia City, in a matter of a week, or maybe two.

            Meanwhile, at Team Rocket Headquarterrs, Zangulus and Vrumagan were scolded by their superior.  Team Rocket was interested in Lina not only for her pokemon, but for their skilled trainer as well.  Yes, it would serve Team Rocket well to have such an ally on their side.  With that in mind, their superior ordered them to obtain Lina Inverse, and only come back when she was with them.  Nodding the affirmative, the two agents were dismissed.  Trouble was brewing in the shadows of Team Rocket, and it involved Lina Inverse.

A/N: Phew.  That's another chapter done.  Yay!  Two more characters from Slayers!  SNEAK PEEK INFO!  Psst…for all you loyal reviewers, I'll let you in on a little secret: depending on how long it takes for Lina to get the badge at Gringy City, Xellos will be in either the next chapter or the one after that!  So prepare yourselves!  ^_^  (I think I'm on a bit of an energy high…)  Please Review or I might change my mind….^o^  *Innocent whistling*