A/N – Thanks to Foxyjosh for reviewing. I wasn't sure anyone would read this, so I decided to post and find out. Here's the third chapter. Things are getting a bit more interesting, and there's more action to come. Hope you enjoy!
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Black
Chapter 3: Welcome to TR HQ (Team Rocket HeadQuarters)
Ash, Misty, and Brock walked around the town, which was alive with rumors of the previous day's events. They passed by the baker who was telling her patrons that the robbers flew away from the scene of the crime and that's why the police haven't caught them yet. They passed by a craft shop keeper who told a small crowd gathered around his door that the thieves were part of an organization called "Ebon Rulers" and that they aimed to take over the whole region for trade and economic purposes. The stories were getting wilder and more unbelievable, yet even those who witnessed the event, which was the majority of the town, seemed to be taking in whatever story they heard.
Misty shook her head.
"Honestly! You'd think they were discussing the latest movie, or something, with the tales they're telling!"
"Ah, don't worry about it, Misty," said Ash. "You know how people like to talk about events that are out of the ordinary. And if anything, yesterday, at least for these people, was definitely out of the ordinary!"
"Hey! Check it out! The Police Station!" pointed out Brock enthusiastically.
"Eh-heh, uh Brock, if you're thinking Jenny really has time for your pathetic, I mean, your dashing love attempts, you need to get a reality check!" said Misty.
"Misty! What gives you the idea that I had any interest in a fine woman, such as Officer Jenny?" Brock said, trying to conceal his blush, but failing miserably.
"Gee, I dunno, Brock," Misty began sarcastically. "It might have something to do with the way you grabbed her hands this morning. Or perhaps it was just the fact that ANY Jenny makes you go gah-gah!"
"What are you insinuating, 'any Jenny'? I – "
"Sh! Guys! Did you see that?" interrupted Ash urgently.
"Huh? What?" whispered Misty.
"Behind the building. I saw something large and dark run into the forest."
Ash motioned with his hand for the other two to follow him around the side of the Police Station and into the forest. They didn't go far until they caught up with two figures walking through the brush in a somewhat mechanical manner.
Without thinking or telling the others what he was doing, Ash jumped out from behind a bush and confronted the two criminals.
"A-ha! Found you! Jessie! James! Give back the pokemon you stole!"
The two stopped and faced the twerps, blank expressions and stone cold eyes.
"You cannot stop us," said James in a very different tone than normal.
They turned to leave again, but before they could, and before any of the twerps could attempt to stop them, something unexpected occurred.
Jessie stumbled. A flash of pain swept through her, which became apparent by the expression on her face and her momentary dilated eyes, and in her head the voice of a little girl screamed 'Mommy!' before going dark once more. She returned to her straight stance and blank look. This time, James released the black ball of smoke that allowed for their escape.
The twerps remained behind, coughing in the cloud.
"Oh no!" lamented Misty when the fog cleared. "They got away again!"
"Maybe not," disagreed Brock. "They weren't the only ones to disappear."
"What? Wait…Ash? Ash! What does he think he's doing?"
"I don't think that he is thinking, Misty. You know how he gets when pokemon are involved. Especially when the issue is that they are in danger."
Misty looked in the direction that the duo and Ash had vanished to.
"I just hope he doesn't get hurt."
"Me too, Misty. Me too."
It was tough for Ash, with his eyes streaming and his throat tickling from the smoke that he ran into, to chase after Jessie and James. But he made it, as did Pikachu, hopping off his shoulder and scampering ahead in hot pursuit of the thieves, who were running fast through the woods to some unknown destination. Pikachu came close to catching up to them, when they went behind a hill and were gone from view.
They made it to the pokemon drop-off and tossed the small bag of pokeballs they had acquired into a chute. Then, they headed towards the entrance to the underground building that was the Headquarters for Operation Shooting Star.
"Where'd they go, Pikachu?" asked Ash as he caught up.
"Pi pika!" said Pikachu flustered.
"What is this place?" muttered Ash as he stared out at a large grassy field. It seemed to him that there was something wrong with that field. Then he spotted it; the grass was new; sheets that had just been placed there in the past week or so, like the sheets of grass that are placed to form the lawns of new houses. "Pikachu, I think we found their hide out."
For the next few minutes, Ash and Pikachu searched the field for a way into the building they believed to be hidden there. Luckily for Ash, Pikachu was able to sniff it out (it was a very well disguised trap door of grass), but instead of going in first, he let Pikachu take care of the doormen on the other side. Then, Ash climbed in and cautiously headed down a long set of stairs into the main part of the complex.
"… which knocks everyone out for a couple of hours – plenty of time for us to get what we want."
"Wow! How did you make this 'weapon'? Who on earth thought it up?"
Meowth opened his eyes a tad to see the lab's lights were on and a scientist and his assistant were checking the monitors against the papers on their clipboards. Not wanting to attract attention to himself, Meowth quickly shut his eyes again and listened to the conversation intently.
"That's the funny thing. Who knew that a couple of pokemon thief flunkies would be the ones to think up and even plan out the creation of the perfect distraction? Well, I suppose everyone gets at least one good idea during their lifetime," the scientist said. "As for making it, it was fairly simple once we got the explosive devices to line up properly. However, we added something that wasn't on the original plans and that made it a bit trickier, but nothing as hard as the other two experiments we're running as part of this operation."
'Wait a second…' thought Meowth. Just then, the scientist's beeper went off.
"Oh great," he muttered as he looked at the text message. "See what I mean? There's a problem with one of the Rocket minions we're testing on. Grab a couple of those test tubes that we have in back-up storage. We can leave the charts for now, they won't be going anywhere. Hurry up. Charlie says it's urgent."
The door clicked shut behind the two men as they left the room.
Meowth opened his eyes fully and sat up in his cage. He was still for a moment as he thought things over. Then, he turned to look at the tank next to the cage, only to discover that its occupant was now fully grown and sitting in a similar cage.
Surprised, Meowth let out a tiny yelp, but tried to cover quickly by talking.
"So, I guess you're new around here?"
He was met with silence and a blank stare.
Despite the lack of enthusiasm on his lab partner's part, Meowth decided to keep talking to him; at least it gave him something to do.
"I saw you when you were dis big," he held his paws closely together to illustrate his point. "It's amazing what dese scientist types can do in a day, ain't it? My name's Meowth, by da way. I'm probably dee only talking cat-type dere is in da whole woild. Uh, do you got a name?"
Again, no response from the other.
"Okay, den. I suppose you're da strong silent type?"
Meowth was getting tired of his attempts to initiate conversation, and was actually glad to see the scientist return.
"Ah, I see you're up. Sleep well?" asked the scientist to Meowth.
"I guess, if you can imagine sleeping in any sort of cage and considering it a good sleep," replied Meowth.
"Ha, ha," chuckled the scientist hollowly. "I'm sorry I don't have much time to chat, I'm sort of in the middle of something. But I will give you an idea of why you're here." He looked meaningfully at Meowth.
"Ok den, spare me da details. What do you want wid me?"
"Now, Meowth, you have to understand something. It's not what I want with you. We're doing this for you, to make you stronger. The top cat of this team."
"I'm listenin'."
"When you learned how to speak – that amazing ability you have that sets you far above all other pokemon – you sacrificed your ability to gain levels and experience, to become more powerful, if you will, and thus you are not as far above all other pokemon as you should be. What we're proposing to do is help you reach your full potential in power, by fixing another glitch you have. You'll be strong, smart, and able to talk. That's all you need to be the best pokemon. What do you think?"
"Strong… smart… able to talk… da best pokemon… I tink I'm missin' sometin' here. Dere's gotta be sometin' wrong wid your proposition or else it's da best ting I've evah been offered!"
"Nothing's missing. I'm glad you like it. We'll get started right away at weeding out your one fault – the thing that's preventing you from gaining levels and evolving – as soon as I get back from checking on some other test subjects."
"Wait a second. Did you say 'evolving'? But dat would mean losin' my personality and becomin' a Persian," he said emphasizing his distaste of the word 'Persian'.
"A minor detail, I'm sure. You do want to reach your full potential, don't you? You're a pokemon – what need do you have for personality?"
"What need!" exclaimed Meowth in outrage. "My personality is who I am. Witout it, I'm not me! How could I enjoy being da best if I was not me? No tank you, I'd radder remain top of da bottom! My personality is da reason I can speak! And I like being more human den pokemon, for your information!"
The scientist sighed while placing his hand on his forehead. "I need to go now, Meowth. I was hoping you wouldn't complicate things for us, but… well, think it over. When I get back you'd better have made the right decision."
The scientist removed a needle from his desk and left the room once again.
"Can you believe dat guy?" Meowth commented to his silent lab mate. "I would never trade my personality for anyting in da woild."
Meowth looked over to the other cage. His lab partner turned away and lay down. Meowth grew curious about him. There were all sorts of tubes hanging from the ceiling that entered his cage and were attached to him. There was one particularly vile looking substance that was being transferred into his body through one of the thicker tubes.
Meowth didn't like the looks of it – a murky olive green. Without completely understand why he felt compelled to do this, Meowth reached a clawed paw out of his own cage and pricked the tube at the place where it entered his neighbour's cage. Nothing happened, but Meowth's intuition seemed satisfied and he decided to stop interfering with things he didn't understand.
The door to the room opened again, this time with caution.
"This looks like another lab room, Pikachu. Geez, how many do they have in this place? I guess there aren't any pokemon here, either. They must be keeping them somewhere else. I wish we could find out where already."
Ash gave a quick glance to the room and was about to move on when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye.
"Meowth? Is that you?"
"Who do you tink it is?" Meowth replied sarcastically, but he couldn't hide his gratefulness at seeing a familiar face. "D'ya tink dat you and da mouse could help me outta here? Only I got until da scientist gets back here before dey take away my personality to replace it wit power."
"Personality for power? That's crazy! How can you be you without a personality?"
"My point exactly."
"Okay, we'll try to help you out of there, Meowth. Any ideas, Pikachu? Do you know the combo for this lock, Meowth?"
"Do you tink I'd still be in here if I did? Oh, and dere's anodder lock on dis side, dat uses a key."
"This is harder than it looks," complained Ash. "But don't worry, I won't leave until I've gotten you out of here."
"You mean dat?"
"Of course I do. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't."
Meowth was going to say something else, but before he got the chance, the door opened yet again as the assistant entered.
"Hey, you!" he yelled, spotting Ash. "What are you doing here?"