*Pokemon theme tune starts to play*

Slywolf: Damn… do I have to?

Boss: Yeah.

Slywolf: But they're so… cute.

Boss: It's an SSBM fic.

Slywolf: Fine, fine…

Boss: But first, I think our readers deserve an apology, both for the brevity of this chapter *and* for the lateness of the update. Oh, and your new name?

LOW: Yes. Well, late last year, I went on a world tour. Sadly, there was a slight problem with changing my settings, and I left you all hanging. The new name is a bit of an affectation, and is used primarily to differentiate me from a certain original character which will be showing up frequently. Besides, last I checked, Lord of Darkness was taken. Pity, that. One more tiny word from our continuity editor:

Lord Keller: Who, me?

LOW: No, the gremlin behind you. Of course you.

Keller: Human. Anyway, we are aware that in the current Pokemon series has neither Misty or Brock.  Thus, we solve this problem quite simply by ignoring the new series. For reasons that can be best described as… arbitrary and pointless. However, it seems our good friend the Lord of Woe had a spot of fondness for the old series, and isn't listening to my pointing out that the game has none of them in the way the show does, and thus he's rapidly turning this into a TV show fan-fic, which isn't right, and

*SMACK*

LOW: Well, that put an end to that. As usual, I don't own… pretty much anything here.

Chapter 18: Power of the Unknown

Part 35: Life, the universe, and everything

                A dark figure walked through the ancient tomb. It turned, and looked behind it, at a small group of other figures. It spoke, in what's best described as a screech. "Here you are Giovanni… power beyond your wildest dreams… and all you had to do was agree to serve my master."

                The red suited man rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes. Activate it. And give me the key…" Giovanni sighed. He had no idea why he was here with this lunatic. She had arrived, speaking of a dark empire from beyond the sky and an evil lord who wished for his service. While quite obviously a madwoman, the slim chance that she might be telling the truth was enough to grab his attention.

                Veran  busied herself around the room, prying at various objects. The ground started to rumble, and the other three figures in the room looked around, worried.

                "Jessie, are you sure that we should have come?"

                "Quiet, James! The boss said he wanted us here."

                "Yeah, but you remember what happened in that mansion… I've been put off of legendary Pokemon." James started to sweat, nervously. "And that green thing… every time we get *near it…*

                "Both of you idiots shut up!" Meowth snorted. "It's perfectly fine, she won't be able to open the…" he was speechless, for once in his life.

                A glow emanated from the walls of the crypt, and in the middle of the room a portal opens. Hundreds of black shapes, letters by the look of them. Jessie, James, and Meowth all thought at once, 'Not again!' There was a blast, and…

Part 35: Gotta catch 'em all!

                When we last  left our heroes, they were wandering aimlessly around Route 1. "Why don't you just admit we're lost, Misty?" Ash said, irritably.

                Misty turned around and glared. "We're not lost! I could never get lost here… but sometimes the road gets lost." She turned to Brock. "Besides, he's the one who is reading the map." She smiled at Ash, slightly mischievously. He laughed as she turned around, and pulled the map from Brock's hands. "Look, he's been holding this upside down!"

                Brock blushed, and looked embarrassed. "I… uh… well, would you believe it was an honest mistake?" He coughed, embarrassed. "I mean, getting lost on route one… that's got to be the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me…"

                Pikachu poked its head out of Ash's backpack. "Pika pika…" it shook its head, and then returned to the backpack. Ash shook his head. "That's not very polite, Pikachu. It's not Brock's fault he can't figure out the easiest route on the planet."

                Brock blushed again. "Well… it looks different than the map… look out!" He tackled Ash and threw him to the ground, as a grenade exploded behind him.

                Two shadowy figures appeared on top of a rise. "To protect the world from devestation," one of them said, saluting the trio. The male voice responded, "to unite the people in every nation." They continued in such manner, saying, "to denounce the evils of truth and love…"

                Ash interrupted them. "Team rocket, what were you trying to do, kill us?" He said, angrily. Brock nodded.

                "That was a grenade!"

                Jessie and James looked at each other, and then turned around. "Meowth? Why did we have a grenade? Sorry, twerps. Technical difficulties." They stepped back behind the rise, and the sound of a loud discussion soon rose over the small hill.

                Ash and Brock glanced at each other, wondering what was going on. Misty, however, ran over, and looked at Ash, concerned. "Ash, are you okay?" She asked, gently.

                Ash looked up at her. "Yeah, I'm fine, Misty…" She helped him to his feet as Team Rocket walked over the hill.

                James shook his head. "It seems that we had received… um… the wrong shipment… looks like we got the box for the soldiers that were going after Viridian and Pallet…" Meowth leapt up and scratched his face. "Shut up!"

                "You idiot! You just told them everything!" Jessie kicked James as well, and then turned to Misty, Ash and Brock. "Disregard that…" she pulled a machine gun out from behind her. "Now, please, come with us to Pallet town, twerps."

                Brock looked at the gun. "Where did you get that from?" He asked. "I mean, where do you keep these things?"

                Jessie laughed, and said, "Mail order. You can get anything from there."

*                              *                              *

                As the trio were marched back to Veridian City, Ash looked at James curiously. "Just out of curiosity, why do you have the gun? I mean, you may have been thieves and cartoonish villains, but until now you've never stooped to pure evil."

                James looked around, in case someone was listening. Then he leaned in and whispered, "Well… to tell the truth, we're not sure… it's something to do with that Veran the boss has around…"

                Jessie glanced back. "James, no fraternising!"

*              *              *

                Giovanni was waiting to greet them at the entrance to the gym. "Well, well… Ash Ketchum… it's been a while…" He snapped his fingers. "Team Rocket, take them inside. Our benefactors want that Pikachu."

                The heroes tried to struggle, but when the team rocket grunts displayed weapons, they gave in, grimly. Brock spat. "I'll get you removed from the Pokemon League for this, Giovanni!"              

                Giovanni threw back his head and laughed. "Please… you think I'm concerned over that? I have this entire world to play with! All hail Lord Ganon!"

                Pikachu's head suddenly popped out of the backpack. "Pika? PIKA!" It shouted, as Giovanni suddenly grabbed it. It shot electricity out, but the man just shook his head, and smiled. "Please, my friend. I'm all ready for that… rubber gloves, you see?" Ash lunged at Giovanni, but he was suddenly smacked around the back of the head by one of the grunts. "Tsk, tsk, Ash… take them away! Put them in the cells!"

*              *              *

                When Ash woke up, he could see Misty staring down at him. "Uh? Where… are we…" he remembered what had happened. "Pikachu!" He shot up, and fell back as he felt an explosion of pain. Misty gasped.

                "Ash, please, just rest… Brock, help him up…" Once he was sitting, they leaned him against a wall. "Ash, they took Pikachu somewhere… I'm not sure what's going on…"

                Ash looked shocked. "What's going on…?" He looked up as there was a jingling sound at the cell door. Jessie, James, and Meowth stood there, holding the keys. "You…"

                Meowth coughed. "We've… been thinking about what you said… and you're right. We've never actually done anything all that bad… and we're not going to start." James unlocked the cell door.

                "It's that Veran woman… she wanted us to find Pikachu, and a Jigglypuff, and a Pichu for some reason… she has the boss under a magic spell!"

                Jessie slapped him. "There's no such thing as magic, James. Now, you twerps getting out of there? Or are we leaving you?"

                Ash blinked. "Why are you helping us?"

                Team Rocket blinked. "Well… we're not sure ourselves. But there are some things we… look, you'll understand when you're older."

CLIFFY! Yep. I've decided to return to my soap-opera-ish habit of cliff-hangers. Because I'm active once more, you won't suffer with this one for long. Now, review!