Part 6: Bug-Hunt
"This
is the pokemon Gym?"
Ash,
Misty, Brock and Pikachu were standing outside a massive dome with a glass top
and gray stonewalls. A huge fiberglass pokeball
stood on top like any other gym, but the design of the gym itself was more
plain and ordinary, to Ash it looked like some kind of greenhouse.
"Hmmm,
well a gyms a gym, right?" Pikachu
jumped of his shoulder and started to jog on the spot. "That's it Pikachu, get revved up" Pikachu
ran circles around Ash and scampered up the stairs punching the air as it
went. To make it more dramatic Brock
did the theme from Rocky. "Da da daaaaaaa….da
da daaaaaaaaaaaa….da da
daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa and it's the eye of the tiger something something something
something………..da da daaaaaaaaaaaa…."
Pikachu
made it to the top of the stairs and jumped around punching furiously "pika….pika…..pi…pi…….pi?" He stopped and turned to look at a sign that
was staked in the ground near the entrance.
It hopped over to it, looking at it befuddled it yelled for Ash. "PIKA!"
Ash, Misty and Brock all puffed up the stairs and ran over to Pikachu
who was standing on the sign and pointing at it. "pika...chuuuuu."
Ash
bent down to read it. "it says….do to a
loss of a pokemon the Azalea gym will be closed until further notice…signed
Bugsy, gym leader……..WHAT?!" Ash reeled back as the words hit him. He sank to the floor and bashed his fist in
the hard ground.
"This
isn't fair!! I need another badge and we came all this way!"
Misty
leaned over Ash and read the sign again.
"……. Loss of a pokemon?…..I hope its nothing to serious. What do you think Brock?"
Ash
continued to thump the ground with his fist.
Brock pushed him out of the way and inspected the sign as well. "maybe……there was a death…….how sad……but I
mean it could be anything."
Ash
had finally calmed down from the disappointment and got to his feet. He took one last look at the sign as was
about to leave when something had caught his eye. He leaned over and saw someone exiting the building from a side
entrance. Curiosity took over as he
walked over to see who it was. Ash
thought maybe that person could answer a few questions. He stopped as he saw the guy bend over and
start routing through some hedges.
"what is he doing?"
Misty
snuck up behind him. "HEY!!" Ash went
airborne, his hair stood on end and his heart palpitated. "WAAAAAAAA!! Don't do that!!!"
Misty
giggled. "oh Ashy, your so easy to
startle."
The
guy looking in the hedges heard Ash scream and ran over thinking someone was in
trouble. When he got there, he found
Ash laying on the ground and Misty laughing her head off.
"scuse
me, what happened?" Said the stranger.
At
that time Brock showed up along with Pikachu.
Ash dusted the grass stains off and glared at Misty. He then looked up to the stranger. 'He' was about the same height as Ash, he
wore green pants as well as a vest. The
boy wore a cap with the pokeball symbol on the front. He had bluish hair a
young dirty face, much like Ash's.
"it's okay, nothing happened……..My names Ash and I want to be the worlds
greatest…." Misty quickly bonked him on
the head. "he doesn't need to know
that….dumbash" Brock laughed.
"I
like that, dumbash. It sounds almost
exactly like dumb…*whack*" He collapsed
to the ground with a huge throbbing sore on his head. Misty stood above him with her mallet resting on her shoulder. "we know what it sounds like,
anywho……I'm Misty, that's Brock"
The boy sweatdropped and politely waved.
"hi there, I'm Bugsy."
Ash
looked over Bugsy's shoulder. "what
were you searching for?"
He
noticed as Bugsy became quite sad. He
lowered his head to the ground and murmured something. Ash turned his ear to Bugsy. "what was
that?"
He raised
his head. "My pokemon………it's gone."
Ash
didn't know how to react as his face had a concerned look. "what do you mean
gone? Where is it?" Misty Shrugged. "errghh. If he knew he wouldn't be looking for it!"
Bugsy
waved his hands in the air as he smiled nervously. "No, no it's okay! I'm sure its around here somewhere, really
don't worry about it……."
The
was a moment of silence until Brock reappeared with a bandage on his head.
"what kind of a pokemon was it?"
Bugsy
reached into his pocket and pulled out a wrinkled photograph. He gave it Brock who passed it along to Ash
and Misty.
"it's
a syther, its my prized pokemon….or was my prized pokemon…..it ran away."
Ash
looked at the photograph. It showed a Syther with a medal around its neck and Bugsy
standing next to it, holding some sort of certificate. "what's with the medal and that thing your
holding?"
Bugsy
took the picture and looked at it.
"that was the day I received my gym leader status."
Ash's
jaw dropped. "your…your…..the gym
leader?"
"yep"
Misty
pointed to the sign up front.
"so……that's why your gym is closed, because you don't have enough
pokemon to battle?"
Bugsy
nodded. "that's mostly true, but
frankly I don't see how I could battle without my strongest pokemon. It just wouldn't be the same."
Bugsy
stared sadly at the ground again. Just
then he felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder. It was Ash's
"sorry
to hear about that, maybe we could help someway."
Bugsy coldly brushed off his hand and turned his back to them. "sorry, but…what can you do, what can
anybody do? The police won't help me,
they think it just ran away."
Brock
brought his hand to his chin. "but I
thought you said that you thought it ran away to?"
Bugsy
looked over to the wrinkled picture that was loosely gripped between his
fingers. A flash of memories came to
him. All the battles they had together
and most importantly the day he captured Syther. He raised his head to the trio.
"I know in my heart that syther wouldn't ran away like that, we've been
threw so much. I've been starting to
think that syther didn't leave…………but that he was stolen."
***********
On
the other side of town a man with long white hair was crouched over a fire in
his workroom. He reached into the fire
with a pair of tongs and pulled out a glowing red orb. He laid it down on an anvil and began
striking it repeatedly with a blunt hammer.
He then submerged the object in water and placed it back in his furnace. He sat there quietly and soon glanced upward
at a clock. "Hmmmm, where could he
be? Professor Oak said that it'll only
take him 2 days."
The
man turned his head to the hallway and placed his open hand to his mouth.
"RUTH!! Come here please!"
A
young girl emerged from the hallway. She walked over to the furnace and kneeled
down next to the old man. "yes dad?"
The
old man gazed into the fire as the flames danced about. "I need you to go to
the pokemon center and ask Nurse Joy if she has seen anybody named Ash Ketchum
come by, I need to find him."
The
girl acknowledge her father by nodding her head, she bowed and got up to leave.
The
old man poked at the fire and released a large sigh. "oh and Ruth, tell him that Curt want's to see him A.S.A.P."
The
girl bowed once more before closing the door behind her. Curt reached once more into the fire and
pulled out the glowing orb. He immersed
it in water and held it in the air. After the steam cleared away the object in
his hand reflected the light from its surface.
He rubbed his fingers over the letters on the front. "the G.S ball, what a peculiar
specimen…….what information does it hold……"
***********
Bugsy
led Ash, Misty, Brock and Pikachu into his house residing at the back of the
gym. He beckoned for them to sit down
at the kitchen table as he got refreshments.
"Sorry but all I have is juice."
Misty took a glass from him. "That's perfectly fine thank you." Pikachu sipped his juice from a straw. When he was finished he looked over on the
table and spotted a bottle of ketchup.
Pikachu's eyes shimmered as it quietly rose up and sneaked across the
tabletop. He felt a sharp tug on his
tail as he looked back to see Ash glaring at him. Pikachu lowered his ears and sadly trudged back to his seat. Ash crossed his arms. "its not nice to eat other peoples ketchup."
Pikachu
sadly looked at the ground.
"chuuuuuuuuu"
Brock
downed his glass and proceeded to chew on the ice, quite loudly. "Why don't you tell us what happened the day
Syther was gone."
Bugsy
exhaled loudly and folded his hands neatly on his lap. "Okay, it happened 5
days ago. Syther and I had just lost a
battle between some kid named gray, or something."
Ash thought a moment. "Could it
be…Gary?" Bugsy slapped the table.
"Aha! That's it, it's been driving me crazy for days now. I'm really bad with names."
Brock crunched on some more ice.
"Please continue"
"oh
right, anyway, after we lost Syther was pretty beat up and I needed to take it
to the Pokemon Center. But before I
could two people came in to challenge me.
But I couldn't take them on because all my pokemon were spent. But they didn't seem to disappointed as they
soon left. I then went to the kitchen
for a drink. I thought I heard the back
door open so, I put my drink down and went to check it out. I thought maybe the wind blew it open."
Brock
raised his eyebrow. "so that's when Syther ran away?"
Bugsy
shook his head. "no, Syther was in its
pokeball at that time and I was carrying it with me. When I got back to the kitchen, I drank my juice and was about to
leave for the pokemon center when I became incredibly tired. I figured that all the battling I did
finally caught up to me. I went to my
room and feel asleep. When I woke up I
saw that Syther's pokeball was on the ground and opened. When I fell asleep I must of dropped it and
called out Syther. I went to look for
it but I couldn't find it anywhere. But
I did notice three things. The front
door to the gym was smashed open, the dirt on the floor had sythers foot prints
as well as what I thought was mine. And
I also found this."
Bugsy
held up a small bag containing what looked like hair fibers.
"I
found these in a clump on the floor near the entrance. It's hair, but not Syther's, nor any of my
other pokemon. All mine are bug
pokemon, and none have hair anywhere on their bodies. They all have exoskeletons.
Something is not adding up. I
believe something really bad went down and its put my Syther in jeopardy." Bugsy became visually distraught.
Brock
took the baggy and inspected it quizzically. He snapped his fingers and jumped
up from the table. "AHA!" He ran over to his backpack and started
routing through it. "something did happen to Syther And I think I know! Tell me Bugsy are the footprints still
there?" Bugsy nodded. "everything was
left the way I found it. The door was
replaced but I kept it in the tool shed out back……why?"
Brock
pulled out an article of clothing from his back pack. "I must inspect the clues at hand!" He whirled around for a few seconds and stopped. They all looked up to see Brock wearing a
lab coat, complete with pocket protector.
"show me to the gym!"
Bugsy
sweatdropped "uh……okay"
********************
"well
this is it….."
They
all stood in the gym. It had trees
surrounding the battle ground which was made up of sand. And in that sand, footprints could be made
out. Brock jumped into the arena and
whipped out a microscope. He scurried
around and planted his face in the markings, making 'hmm' and 'umm' sounds as
he went. Ash, Misty and Bugsy all
watched from the side when Brock suddenly jumped up. "AH-HAA! Found my contact lens!" Ash threw a rock at
him. "what about the footprints!"
Brock
set up a chart showing the footprints in black and red marker. He struck the board with a long pointer
which made them all jump.
"during
my investigation, I discovered many human foot prints in black marker, as well
as what I made out to be Syther's, in the red marker."
He lifted up a sheet to reveal another chart showing the footprints before but
new ones in blue marker.
"I
also found these, they appear to be another pokemon altogether. I have determined from the size and shape of
the foot that it is not a bug pokemon.
Now what makes this even more interesting is that the feet are moving in
a strange pattern very close to each other, as if they were battling."
Bugsy felt a lump in his throat. "but
how?"
Brock
pointed to the door. "you said the door
was busted open?"
Bugsy thought a moment. "I just thought
Syther forced his way out."
"what if someone forced their way in?"
Brock's
answer shocked them all. Ash quickly stood up. "show us that door!"
************
"that
was so simple, like talking candy from a baby."
"I think we've outdone ourselves this time."
*************
Bugsy
walked over to the far side of the tool shed and pointed towards the mangled
door that leaned against it. Brock
leaned down next to it and whipped out his magnifying glass. He poked at the door with his finger and
traced the outlines of the deep scourge marks.
"Hmmmm………hmmmm……..hmmmmm…..that's interesting"
Misty
leaned in. "what is?"
"my finger is really big!"
"gimmie that!" She reached down and grabbed the magnifying glass from his
grip.
Ash
walked up to the door and rubbed the deep cut marks. "so you think Syther did this?"
Bugsy showed them the picture. "it's
blades were very big and incredible sharp, they match perfectly with the cut
marks."
Brock
stood up and rubbed his chin. "which
direction are we facing it?"
"huh?" Bugsy said
"what
side of the door are we looking at?"
"I don't know what you mean?"
Ash walked up to the door and patted it.
"is this how we would see it looking at it in or out of the building?"
Busgy thought a moment "……out side of the gym……why"
Brock
smacked his fist into his palm. "A-HA!!
Don't you see, the cut marks are on the outside of the door! If Syther had done
it the marks would be from the inside but it looks like somebody was breaking
in!"
They
all gasped as they heard Brock explanation.
Ash reached into his pocket and pulled out the bag with the clump of
hair. "it all makes sense…….while you
were asleep…..you dropped the pokeball and Syther got out……and then…………damn, I
thought I had something there ….."
They
all fell over in stupidity
Ash
rubbed his head confused. "something
dosen't add up, how would the robbers know that Syther was out of the
pokeball?……….and whats with this clump of hair?"
Brock
took the baggie from him. "there's only
one way to find out."
********
Nurse Joy was carrying a tray of medicine and
numerous bandages. She turned her head
as she heard the front door swing open.
She went wide eyed as an blurry object ran full speed toward her. Joy yelped as she dropped the tray and felt
something grab her hands.
"OH
NURSE JOY! I LOVE YO*WHACK*"
The
stunned nurse joy looked up to see Brock with a mallet inserted in his
head.
"oh…my….are
you okay?" she asked worried
Misty
grabbed the dazed brock by the ear and dragged him across the floor.
Ash
quickly went up to the desk and apologized.
'sorry bout that, it's hard to contain him sometimes. But not to worry, he's resilient."
Nurse
joy shook it off and gave her usual warm smile. "now young man, How can I help you?"
Ash
reached into his jacket and pulled the baggie containing the mystours hair.
"please,
Nurse Joy, could you tell us what pokemon this hair came from?"
"hmm?"
She looked puzzled at first but then took the bag from Ash and opened it. She took a few strands out and lifted them
to the light. She crossed her eyes and put
in her glasses. Ash and the others
stood silent to wait for Joy's verdict.
"well,
I can tell you this, it is of a ground or normal type pokemon, short hair,
dark coloring, and the split ends means
it is not well kept. The trainer of
this pokemon should be ashamed. I mean
it has no glossy or shiny feel to it, and the texture is very rough……whoops,
ventured a bit of topic there. Tell you
what I can enter the variables into my mainframe computer and see what kind of
pokemon match-ups I get."
They
all became very excited. Brock clenched
his fists. "finally, some hard
evidence!"
With
a few strokes of the keyboard Nurse Joy started the search program. After a few
seconds nurse joy walked over to the printer and tore of the data sheet. She skimmed the page for a minute and handed
it to Ash. "I hope that helps with
whatever your doing…..what are you doing?"
Ash
didn't answer, he was to busy reading the sheet.
"okay
it says……Tauros…..Kangaskan…Swinub…Vulpix……Mankey
Ninetails…….Raticate…Meowth….WHAT!!"
Brock
and Misty grabbed the paper and stared at it dumbly.
"Meowth!" they both shouted in unison.
Bugsy
looked uneasily at Ash. "so……. what
about a Meowth?"
Ash
put the sheet in his pocket and put his hand on Bugsy's shoulder. "we have to talk"
"huh?"
************
Bugsy
sat at a table in an old diner. He had
a pop in his hands and a blank stare on his face.
"……I
think I'm gonna throw up….."
They
trio couldn't meet his gaze as all they could do was give him moral
support. Bugsy slumped his head in his
hands.
"when
I thought Syther had run away I was very worried…but now that I know that it
was stolen I have a impecible sense of dread, sorrow and anger in me……….so you
believe a group called Team Rocket did this?"
Ash
nodded. "they have been trying to steal
my Pikachu here for years, they usually always fail…but this time they got
lucky….but it isn't over yet. I have a
plan"
He
swept everything off their table and grabbed the salt and pepper shakers.
"okay
here's the plan." He placed the shakers on the table near the edge.
"this
will represent James and Jessie."
Brock
raised his hand "Which one is James?"
Ash
sighed. "he's the salt shaker…..now this sugar packet will represent
Meowth." He reached into his pocket and
pulled out some change. "okay Misty
will be the quarter, I'll be the dime and Brock will be the penny…"
Brock
raised his hand again. "why am I the penny?"
Misty
whacked him. "cause nobody cares about
pennies.."
Ash
reached over and grabbed the ketchup and mustard bottles. "okay the ketchup
bottle will represent Bugsy and the mustard will represent my secret weapon."
Before Brock could raise his hand Misty clocked him upside the head.
"now…for
the important bit, Pikachu will be represented by this piece of corn I found on
the floor." He placed the morsel right
in the middle of the assortment of condiments.
"okay
now for my plan….where'd the ketchup go?"
He
looked down to Pikachu who's face and hands were covered in ketchup.
"great
now Bugsy will have to be the mustard and my secret weapon will have to be my
pokeball. Okay now here's my plan…."
************
Misty
kneeled over and inspected her handiwork.
Even though the boys did most of the grueling labor, she touch it up to
make it more susceptible to their awaiting prey. Pikachu was situated on a nearby tree branch looking over the
park's endless pathways. Bugsy wiped
the dirt of his pants and ran over to Ash who seemed to be constructing some
kind of camouflage duck blind.
"what
are you doing that for?"
Ash
threw a handful of grass and twigs on the structure. "well we need some kind of cover when they come around."
"Are
sure this will work?"
"look,
where ever pikachu is Team Rocket is not far behind."
Brock
walked up next to Ash and dumped a armful of rope at his feet. "okay I've finished, what about you?"
Ash
pointed at the duck blind. "I'm ready to, what about Mist?"
"she's
just finishing up, so everything is set."
Ash
rubbed his hands together. "excellent"
Just
then their ears perked up as they heard the shrill cry of Pikachu. It pointed excitedly down the path as Misty
ran over to Ash and the others. Pikachu
hopped down from the branches and scurried over to the middle of the
pathway. Everyone ducked behind the
duck blind and threw leafs and branches on themselves. They all shushed each other as they watched
Pikachu take its position the pathway.
Minutes
later Brock could hear the rumblings of none other then Team rocket coming from
the trail.
Jessie
held the pokeball containing Smergle in her hand. "Great plan Meowth! Now we
have a completely useless pokemon, that nobody wants, the boss is mad at us,
and we now have 5 days to get a new pokemon or ELSE WE GET FIRED!"
"don't
yell at me! James was the one who found it!"
He
shot Meowth an angry look. "but Jessie
was the one who caught it! So it is
completely her fault!"
As
they continued to argue they didn't notice the intense bolt of electricity
streaming towards them.
"PIKAAAACHUUUUUU!!!!!!"
The
bolt hit them with incredible power.
They convulsed in mid air as the electricity surged through their
bodies. They attack was over as soon as
it had happened. Team Rocket lay in
smoldering heap on the pathway. The
tangled mass of arms and legs began to stir and they struggled to get to their
feet. James raised his head to see
Pikachu with a huge smirk on his face.
"waa! Its Pikachu!"
Meowth
clawed his way out from underneath James and stared at the smiling electric
rat.
"let's
swipe it!" they excitedly hopped to
their feet and sprinted towards Pikachu.
Just when they were about 4 feet away from Pikachu, the ground crumbled
from underneath them. Team Rocket
crashed down in a 10 foot vertical pit.
As the dust settled they rubbed their aching backs and stared out of the
little hole.
"What
the?!" Team Rocket screamed.
Ash
jumped from behind the duck blind and ran towards their trap, closely followed
by Brock, Misty and Bugsy. He stopped
at the lip of the hole and looked down at his capture. Team Rocket on the other hand were not
impressed as they saw Ash looming over them.
"what
are you doing twerp!?" Jessie
yelled.
James
took a handful of dirt and crushed it between his hands. "not only will you have to deal with us, but
our lawyers to! We have a patent pending on the pitfall plan!!"
Ash
kicked some stones into the pit. "now
listen up! Where is Syther?!"
Team
Rocket looked at each other, not knowing what was going on. James raised his hand . "is this some kind of a trivia question?"
Just
then Bugsy appeared beside Ash. "the Syther you stole from me!"
Again
Team Rocket where incredibly confused.
Jessie narrowed her eyes. "what
are you talking about? We've never
stolen any pokemon from him. To be
perfectly honest…." She looked at James and Meowth. "We really have never stolen any pokemon…….successfully that
is.."
James rubbed his hands together nervously.
"no wonder the Boss wants to fire us!"
Ash
looked up to Brock and Misty who where in returning his confused gaze. He had to think about what they were
saying. "so……your saying….you didn't
break into the Azeala gym and steal Bugsy's
Syther?"
Team
Rocket shook their heads. "we didn't do
anything!"
Misty
slammed her fist into his palm. "A-ha!
I knew something didn't add up! The
door, the battle, the set-up, everything….James and Jessie could never think of
such a plan!"
Ash scratched his forehead. "oohh,
yeah...didn't see why thought of that…'
Team
rocket fell over in stupidity. "You
know, we're not that hopeless!" Meowth
screamed.
Ash
turned back to the group. "but
something still dosen't add up….what about the hair sample? It said it belong
to a Meowth."
At
this time Team rocket had climbed out of the hole and collapsed on the
ground. Misty reached into Ash's coat
pocket and unfolded the data sheet they got from Nurse Joy.
"but
it list like a dozen other pokemon…….it could be anyone."
Bugsy
took the photo out from his pocket and sadly took another look at it. "….Syther…."
Ash
and the others shook their head. After
all they went through they were as far away from solving the case then ever
before. They were at square one, and
had nothing left to go on. Brock took
out the hair sample and inspected it further.
It was much darker then Meowth's and it was a lot longer, and Meowth's
fur was better kept. Obviously from the
numerous cleanings it gave itself.
Misty
rubbed Bugsy's shoulder in an attempt to reassure him. "it'll be okay, we'll just try something
else." He continued to stare silently
at the ground. Meanwhile Team Rocket
where stretching out their sore backs from their spill.
James
rubbed his lumbago. "Oh the
humiliation! To think the twerps caught us in our own trap!"
He
looked down to see Pikachu walking past them.
"wait a minute……"
"PREPARE
FOR TROUBLE!" Jessie screamed
But
before they could continue with their infamous Motto. Ash saw a old couple walking down the pathway. He grabbed the photo from Bugsy and ran Past
team Rocket, accidentally knocking James into the pit. "EHEEIOHOHOHOO!"
Bugsy
called after Ash. "what are you
doing?!!"
Ash
stopped and pointed to the elderly couple down the pathway. "if we have any chance of olving this case
we need to do it the old fashion way, ask people questions about Syther!"
Misty
threw a rock at Ash. "you idiot! That
won't work!"
Determined
not to give up he ran up to the elderly couple and held up the picture of Bugsy
and Syther. "Excuse me have you seen
this pokemon?"
The
old women wore a heavy coat and thick glasses.
Her hair was long and gray and her face was scrunched up from the dozen
of wrinkles. The man was just as
decrepit, only he was bald and a small tuft of hair grew from his chin. The elderly couple leaned into the picture
and fixed their glasses. Soon they
raised their heads and frowned.
"sorry,
young man……never seen it before in my life." The old man said.
Just
then Ash was spun around by Jessie and James who were fuming mad.
"How
many times do we have to tell you!" James cried
"DON'T
INTERUPT OUT MOTTO!!" they all screamed
Misty
and the others ran up to Ash with pokeballs in hand, ready to battle.
Misty
pushed Jessie off Ash and thrust her pokeball in her face. "now's as good as time as any to pay you
back for what your Arbok did to my boyfriend!"
Jessie
threw her arms up in defense. "hey that
was an accident! We may be evil but we
never want…ed…..did you say boyfriend?!"
Misty
nodded. "yeah, that's right!" she said
proudly.
Team
Rocket burst into a fit of giggles as they pointed at the young couple.
"AWWW!
That's so kawaii!" they shouted disdainfully.
Jessie and James grabbed each others hands and started making squishy
kissing sounds.
Misty
and Ash turned Crimson, but mostly from anger then embarrassment.
"I
wuv you Ash!" Jessie said sarcastically
"and
I wuv you twerp!" Team rocket broke
down and laughed.
Ash
looked over to see the old couple snickering.
"huh?"
Misty
however, could not take it any more as she hurled her pokeball at Team
Rocket. It opened in midair and
released Staryu, who whirled around, nearly slicing down Team rocket as it flew
inches above. "HAH!"
Jessie
wasn't about to back down from the twerps, she was about to throw her pokeball
containing Arbok, when suddenly a brilliant flash of light exploded from her
belt. The pokeball containing Smeargle
had opened, much to Jessie's dismay. It
materialized in front of Misty, who looked at it perplexed. "what is that?"
Jessie
rubbed her forehead. "we're about to
find out…..Smeargle!….." She bent down
next to Meowth. "um….what attacks can
it do?"
"how
do I know?" Meowth stated.
Ash
looked back again to the elderly couple who were once again snickering, and
covering their mouths.
"excuse
me, um…what are you laughing at?"
The
old couple seemed visably nervous from Ash's question. The old man waved his hand in the air. "oh nothing young man, just thinking of a
joke I heard…" Not a second after he
had said that, James ears perked up. He
brought his hand to his chin and began to think deeply. "I know that voice….but
from where?" Jessie could've sworn she
saw wisps of smoke pour out of James' ears.
The rusted gears inside his head were working overtime as he struggled
to find the answer.
Mean while the old couple were slowly side
stepping away from the melee. "well, we
must be off…" The old man said.
Finally
something clicked inside James head as he thrust his finger at the old
man. "that voice! I thought I heard it
from somewhere! It's Botch!!"
The
old man shook with anger as to everyones surprise, ripped off his face, which
was quickly reveled as a clever mask.
"MY
NAME IS BUTCH YOU IDIOT!!!!"
Everyone
stared in shock, But James was quite pleased with himself. It wasn't soon after that the fellow team
rocket member had let his identity slip when the old women shed her costume as
well. It was none other then Cassidy
and her counterpart, Butch. They were
the successors of Team Rocket, and the rivals of James and Jessie.
Cassidy
brushed her blond hair from her face.
"well it's good to be out those disguises, that mask did nothing my hid
my beauty. Thee hee!"
Jessie
clenched her fists, not exactly happy to see her nemesis. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!!" She and Cassidy
have had issue in the past, that she was Giovanni's favorite didn't help matters.
Cassidy
fixed her bunched up skirt and glared at Jessie. "well isn't it the under achievers, haven't seen you awhile…still
failing as usual?" She and Butch
snickered at Jessie as James struggled to restrain her. Cassidy withdrew a pokeball from her belt
and spun it on her fingertip. "we have
been doing jobs, unlike you. You
see we have a brand new pokemon to bring to the boss. What about you?" she said smugly.
Ash
ran back to the group as they heard the 4 members of Team Rocket squabble. Ash gave
the picture back to Bugsy who, in the meantime was watching Butch and Cassidy
intently. "I….know them from
somewhere……" Everyone including Togepi
was confused. "Togi?"
It
finally hit Bugsy like a ton of bricks.
"those are the Gym building inspectors!" Although that wasn't exactly what they thought his answer would
be, they were curious nonetheless.
Bugsy snapped his fingers. "I
knew I saw them before, they came by the Gym to give it the bi annual
inspection."
"why
would they do that?" Ask asked.
"allow
me" said Brock. "the pokemon league
issues building safety inspectors to pokemon gyms. They have to meet up to a standard code of safety, after so many pokemon battles lots of damage
can occur that could make the building unstable and unsafe for pokemon and
trainers. If you pass, you stay open,
or if you fail, they shut you down. I
had them over at my gym, they come twice every year."
Ash
nodded. "oh I see…..but when have
Cassidy and Butch been pokemon league building inspectors?"
Brock
narrowed his eyes. "they haven't!"
They
looked back to where the team rocket members where about to break out into a
pokemon battle. Jessie released Arbok,
which made Ash and Misty wince as they thought of that frightening day where
they had almost lost each other. They
also watching intently as Cassidy released a Raticate.
Ash
looked down at the data sheet and made a startling realization, the name before
Meowth, was Raticate. He looked at
Misty and Brock who were obviously thinking the same thing. Without wasting any time the leapt into
action. Ash withdrew his secret
weapon. He stared at the shining
pokeball with an immense sense of pride.
Now would be his time to use Articuno in a real battle, the excitement
was to much as he stepped forward in front Team Rocket. He shamefully pointed his finger down on
Butch and Cassidy. "it was you who stole Syther! And now you will give it back
to Bugsy or pay!"
Ash's
little dramatic outburst surprised Butch and Cassidy who for the first time saw
Bugsy on the far side of the path. They
were both visibly worried now, knowing they had been found out. But they attempted to remain cool, but
collected. They both knew what Ash was
capable off, since they had met up with him in the past.
He
quickly whipped his hat around. He
loosened his grip on the pokeball and let fly.
What happened next would change the lives of 4 members of team rocket
and 1 gym leader. The magnificent blue
artic bird burst out from the confines of the pokeball and stretched it's wings
as ice crystals filled were carried by the wind. Butch and Cassidy stared dumbly at the beautiful legendary
bird. Bugsy turned to Misty and Brock
and slowly waved his finger in the general direction of the artic bird. "its….its…….its Articuno….." he said
astonished.
"ARTICUNO!
BLIZZARD!!!!" the mighty bird lifted its heavy winds in the air. Butch and Cassidy grabbed onto each other in
terror.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
******************
"and
that's what happened officer."
"HA,
right and I'm a mankeys uncle…..legendary bird…..sheesh….well anyway you did
capture them, which deserves a great amount of respect. And we were able to retrieve your pokemon
after we defrosted the suspects.
Anyway, well thank you for all your help, and we'll let you carry on
with your normal business."
As
the dim-witted Police officer left, Bugsy was of higher spirits. He had his prized pokemon back and he
witnessed an incredible site. Needless to
say he now had higher respect for Ash Ketchum then he could have ever dreamed
of.
He
pushed open the kitchen door and sat down next to Ash at the table. "well, that about solves everything, I can't
thank you enough for what you did." Ash
patted him on the back. "We were all
glad to help Bugsy, it was really interesting to see how it all came together
in the end."
Bugsy
nodded and turned to Ash. "How did you
know that they did it?"
"it's
really quite simple really.." Brock
cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "1 week ago when Butch and Cassidy
came by posing as the building inspectors but were really checking out the gym
for possible points of entry and escape. Soon after they left you began
battling again and soon after that closed up the gym and got something to
drink. You then heard the back door
open, when you left to close it, butch had already snuck into the kitchen an
applied a sleeping drug to your milk.
When you guzzled the milk, seconds later you became very drowsy and went
to sleep. You had the pokeball in your
hand when you went to sleep. All Butch
had to do was knock the ball out of your hand and lure Syther to the gym where
Cassidy had broken into through the front door. That was their first mistake.
A battle then ensued between their Raticate and Syther, and during the
match, Syther sliced a clump of hair off Raticate. They were able to corner it and capture it. It seems that the pokeball you found on your
floor, wasn't your pokeball at all it was a decoy. All they had to do was make it seem that Syther was trying to
escape and call it back into the pokeball.
Of course they didn't count on their own footprints being in the
dirt. That was their second mistake,
their third was messing with us!" Ash and Brock high five'd each other across
the table. Misty narrowed her eyes at
Brock. "how did you know that?" Brock
shifted in his seat. "Well, I just used
my fantastic sense of logic and observation….and I was so able to
discover……" Misty continued to stare at
Brock coldly. "that……I……." He
shamefully stared at the ground.
"…..Butch voluntarily confessed after Ash partially froze them using
Articuno….*cough*"
The
all laughed at Brock and his honesty.
The case was solved and things could finally return to normal. More importantly Ash could now battle for a
badge. Bugsy triumphantly led Ash and
his friends to the gym. He stood
opposite of ash, pokeball in hand.
"Ash! I know I might not have much of a chance against ya, but it will
be my honor to battle you and Articuno!"
He reached back threw his pokeball.
He gazed proudly as Syther stretched its arms and wings. "its great to have you back Syther, I knew
you never would run away……ready to battle!"
Syther nodded and jumped into the battlefield. Ash did his trademarked hat thing, and reached to his belt. "ask and you shall receive!" The air in the gym dropped a few degrees
cooler as Articuno popped out of the ball. As Bugsy and Ash exchanged a smile,
Brock slowly raised his hand. "Trainers ready!…..begin!"
"Syther,
SWORD DANCE!"
***************
"the
second piece of the puzzle will soon come into play…………. hurry chosen one!"
***************
"Sir,
Jessie and James are here to see you, they say they have some urgent news about
a certain trainer and a pokemon that demands you immediate attention."
"Oh
really?…..send them in"
to
be continued
Part
7 coming soon! Approx completion date – sept 9/01
Authors
notes: Hey
special thanks to Kirk Staley and Angie! They really pushed me to finish this
fic! Thanks guys! Also check out Angie's new fic 'My Tender Strength' it really
kicks ass. Check it out. Also of your in the mood to laugh please
check out my newly released fic 'Horror Flick' or my popular fic, "dude,
where's my hat?". Or if you feel in the
dark angst mood, please look up 'Memories are the sweetest hiding place…..'. by the way, do you like to write parodies?
Then enter my contest '2BA parody Master contest' to find all of these fics including my personal favs click on my
Bio!
PLEASE
REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you