Buongiorno! Comé stai?
That means "Good day! How are you?" in Italian.
This is the next chapter of the adventure. Just like I promised.

Tue. Dec. 6th 2005 - Dec. 9th 2005 Fri.

Chapter 6: Two close encounters

Squish, Squash, Squish, Squash, Squish, Squash, Squish, Squash. That was the sound of Ash, Brock, May, and Max's shoes walking on the muddy earth. The sky was still looking grim and the hard rain had turned into a drizzle. The sound of some Pidgey could be heard nearby and some Radatta coming out of their shelters to see if the rain had really gone.

May was having a hard time trying to control her emotions. She was sad, confused, angry, and worried at the same time. She was sad and worried about Torchic. She was confused about were Torchic might be, and angry because this stupid unlucky day was really getting on her nerves. Ash was kind of in the same boat. He was worried about Pikachu and Torchic. He wondered if they had found some place safe from the storm. He knew that if Pikachu and Torchic were together, they probably made it out ok. Everyone in the group seemed to be in their own thoughts. Nobody had spoken since they had left the waterfall.

Meanwhile Team Rocket had gotten out of their predicament and were now walking along the river and looking for Meowth. Anyone can't help but wonder how they do get out of all those impossible corners. I guess their lucky ... sometimes. --'

"Where could Meowth be?" James thought aloud.

"Well he'd better be somewhere near here because all this walking is giving me a headache." Jessie complained. She was getting really annoyed because it was time for her evening nap.

Somewhere deep in the forest Torchic was asleep under a maple tree. It was soaking wet and it had some cuts and bruises. It was very tried because of all the running it was doing. Running from the Sparrow and then trying to find a place that was safe. It finally tired itself out and it had to stop at this maple tree. The rain started to slow down and the thunder and lighting was over. Torchic had fallen asleep while waiting for the storm to go away.

Someplace not so far away Pikachu was still running from the Beedrill. Pikachu didn't know where it was going. It just wanted to get away from these Beedrill. Pikachu tried to attack them, but they kept up the chase. The victim and the pursuers were now near the shore of a river and that's when Pikachu had had enough.

Pikachu slid to a stop and turned around quickly. The Beedrill stopped and went in with a QuickAttack. Pikachu was ready for them. It was about to shock them when all of the sudden a thing landed on top of the four Beedrill. The Beedrill got frighten and flew away making angry buzzes.

Pikachu was so surprised at what happened that it took a while before it realized that the thing was moving. And groaning. " Oh my head..." It moaned. Pikachu moved in closed to get a better look. Pikachu couldn't believe his eye's. The "thing" was actually Meowth from Team Rocket.

"I'm tired you guys. Let's take a break." Max said. The others agreed with him. They had been walking for hours and they hadn't found any sign of Torchic or Pikachu. They rested on a big boulder and Brock started looking through his pack. "I only have a few rice balls left and some water." He said promptly. "Great! What's next!" Max said sarcastically. May spoke up. " I just hope we don't find any more trouble..."

All of the sudden they heard a voice come from the bushes. "I think we should let you know that you should make it double when it comes to trouble." The travelers immediately knew who's voice that belonged to. Team Rocket suddenly sprang from the bushes and started the rest of their motto.

Jessie started her verse first, like always.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

Then came James's turn. "To unite our peoples with in our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight like a chicken!" 0o0'

"I would think you are the ones who fight like chickens!" Ash said. Jessie responded. "Who cares just as long as we get what we want." James responded also.
"That's right... oh no I just took Meowth's line!"

James looked a little hurt. Actually he was really hurt. James started to wail and sheer crocodile tears. "Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet came out of it's ball to comfort James. James was now on his knees and Wobbuffet started to pat him on the back. The others looked at James to Jessie then back again. They had no clue what was going on. Finally Max spoke. "What's wrong with him?James looked completely hopeless.

"It's about Meowth. We got stuck in a river and Meowth was carried away by it's strong current. We were able to get out, but we couldn't find Meowth anywhere." Jessie didn't want to talk anymore to the enemy so she turned to James.

"Oh James please! I know your upset about Meowth, but right now we've got a job to do!" James wasn't listening so Jessie decided to take a different approach.
"Besides what would Meowth think of us right now. I'm sure he would have wanted us to keep trying to steal pokémon even with out him."

James stopped wailing. "You really think so?"

Jessie smiled. "Of course! Now let's get back to business."

James stood up. "Your right! Let's get to it. Go Cacnea!" James released his cacti pokémon.

"Go Seivper!" Jessie let out her snake pokémon.

Both pokémon looked ready to battle. Ash reached for his pokéballs, but wasn't quick enough. "Seivper haze!" Jessie order. Seivper opened it's mouth and let some dark gas out. It started to spread immediately and now the trainer were engulfed in the smoke.

"Now," Jessie order, " give us Pikachu or we will have to attack."
Ash coughed. " We would never give you Pikachu and besides Pikachu's not with us."

"Ha!" James laughed. "You except us to believe you! Ha!"

"Were not joking around here," May said. "We really don't have Pikachu!"

The haze was starting to clear and now they could see each other. Jessie and James looked stunned.
"You mean Pikachu is not here with you? Jessie asked. "It's gone."

"Well it's not gone, Pikachu is somewhere in this forest." Ash coughed out.

Jessie and James made a huddle and started to talk. When they were done they smiled at the trainers and ran. Everyone was surprised at what just happen.

Jessie shouted out to them "I guess it's a race against time on who can find Pikachu first!" Before anyone could respond or do anything they had disappear beyond the horizon.

Well there's the next chapter. This one took longer and I hope it comes out long. Next chapter will appear soon. Then maybe some new Fanfics.

- Bubblebell74 See Ya! o