(Ok, screw the music…..for the most part… we just wanted to put in the Anime OST but it's not improving our view count and is instead the equivalent of a Mewtwo using Confusion on our readers' heads.)
While Gary, Brock, and Ashly were walking through the streets, dawn, May, and Serena all emerged from their balls. Thankfully no one was around to see, apart from Brock.
"Hey Gary, didn't I win us like some sort of spa trip?" May asked.
"That's true…let me see here" Gary replied. He rummaged around in his backpack and pulled out the certificate they had won in saffron. "It says here that we can go to a place called Celadon Aromatic Spas and upon turning this in, we can spend as much time there as we need….fascinating…maybe I don't need to kick T's ass next time she comes around…and I'm sure saying this won't have any repercussions Later on."
(Honestly, We'd all love to see you try, Gary)
The group made their way to a somewhat long building which had a neon sign on the front and a series of hedges trimmed Into to the shapes of various pokeballs. Inside, Gary turned the certificate in to the man at the front desk, and after confirming it's authenticity, the man unlatched a gate next to him.
"You may enter through here. Your friends however need to pay" he said as he motioned to Brock, May, Dawn, Ashly, and Serena.
"Actually those four girls are my pokemon…"
"No…they are clearly people….you okay man?" The guy asked
hearing them go back and fourth, Ashly began to grow impatient. she pushed her trainer aside and looked at the man straight in his eyes, albeit in a more disinterested way than one of anger or irritation.
"Look bud, I my not look like a Dialga to you but I can easily dragon breath you into next week"
"Then why don't you look like one?" He asked. The girls each changed to their miniaturized Pokemon forms and gave man a look which could be easily translated to, 'well now, I guess you feel like a retard, huh?'
"Um, go on then…"
Gary picked Ashly up and walled through it, followed by Serena, then May, then Dawn.
"I guess I'll just wait out here then... " Brock sighed.
"You can go with them. It said he could being a guest in fine print" the man at the counter said. Brock grinned and walked after Dawn.
"So what do three you think we should get?" May asked a few minutes later. She was sitting on a table with Serena, Ashly, and Dawn and they were looking at a series of pamphlets listing off various spa treatments and their effects on pokemon. "I think I'll have my claws and spikes shined. I don't think they look bright enough…"
"I'll get my metal parts shined too and get a massage" Ashly said thoughtfully.
Serena weighed her wings as if they were hands. "I need my feathers done, so there's that" she said.
Dawn pointed to a heading on a slip. "I want to get a mud bath"
"Heh, sure, just don't get distracted and change to your human form. You'll be living a nightmare if your hair gets mud in it" Ashly laughed.
"Oh ha ha ha, Very funny. Since you don't have my kind of hair, you don't know how much of a pain it really is."
They relayed their choices to Gary who turn told a passing lady.
A few female workers walked over each was in a uniform consisting of an apron, a mint green shirt underneath, and black pants as well as hairnets.. The moment they saw Gary's group. They began to gush about how adorable they were before picking them each up and taking them off to another room.
Gary meanwhile shut his eyes and began to relax, however he felt a tap on his shoulder and looked to see a portal in front of his groin out of which came an arm with metal gauntlet on it which punched him in his nuts, then retreated into the portal before a beam of energy came out and knocked him backwards where he landed on his head as it shut again.
"Oooooouuuch…what the heck was that?!" He groaned.
"I think it was your repercussions paying you a visit. You did say you would kick someone's ass earlier and I'm guessing that was that someone kicking yours" Brock laughed.
The ladies set Ashly, May, and Serena down on a cushioned table. One of them took a strange comb and started to move it through Serena's feathers. Another of them took a small Dremel and put a foam ring on it, then dipped it into a light cyan cream before starting to move it over May's claws, spikes, and plates. The third pulled out a small jar of a clear liquid and applied some to her hands, then went on to start kneading Ashly's sides, back and legs.
The one with Dawn however had taken her to a room with a tub of mud which was set in the floor. She put her down and left the room, closing the door after her. Dawn shrugged and began to step into the bath but a strange scent floated into the room.
She began to yawn and ended up falling over asleep. The door soon opened again and the lady came back, now in a gas mask. She picked Dawn's sleeping form up, hid her inside of a suitcase, which was supposed to be for holding perfumes, then walked out and took the mask off. She passed by Ashly's group however they didn't think anything of her as they couldn't tell their teammate was inside the case. After walking out the front she ran around to the back of the building where James and Meowth were sitting eating some rice balls.
"Come on you idiots, we need to book it before the Twerps figure out their friend is missing!" The lady said, taking off her hairnet revealing her to be Jessie.
"But we just started eating…" James complained.
Jessie glared at him. "Then it'll be easy for you to stop and clean up."
They cleaned the mini picnic up comedically fast and then took off in their Balloon.
Back with others, Ashly, May, and Serena had been brought back to Gary who was sitting with Brock.
"Hey Ashly, have you seen Dawn?" Gary asked.
"No…they took her somewhere else…" she said to him and Brock telepathically. Brock got up and walked to a worker.
"Excuse me, do you know where my friend's palkia went? It's small, about this big…" He asked.
"Um… no…but one of the new workers did leave a few minutes ago with a perfume case…" The lady answered.
"Oh no…."
Brock turning to Gary and rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, I think Dawn got stolen."
"What!? By who?!" He asked angrily.
"If it helps, here's the footage from the cameras around the building" the lady said. She handed Gary a tablet. He looked at it for a bit then scowled when he saw Team Rocket in their Balloon.
"I'm going to blast those three off so high they will burn up on reentry" he whispered. Then he held up Ashly's and May's pokeballs and returned them while he ran out the door with Brock running after him followed by Serena who was flying.
"Serena, fly around and see if you can find the Balloon. Then come back and tell me where they are!" Gary told her. She nodded and flew into the sky, meanwhile, he sighed and sat down on a bench. "I can't believe I was so stupid…"
Brock sat next to him. "I will admit, not keeping a closer eye on where your Pokemon are isn't very bright, however Ashly has made many more easily avoidable mistakes back when I traveled with her. Like when she tried to scare Misty in lavender town, knowing very well that it's never a good idea to pull a prank on her. Oh, or when she volunteered to try out a magic trick and ended up being turned into a Pikachu for a while. Then there was the time that she-".
Inside of Ashly's pokeball, she was siting on her haunches glaring angrily at the image of Brock spilling her most embarrassing mistakes to Gary.
"You don't look too pleased" May told her.
"Of course I'm angry, Brock is pretty much feeding Gary blackmail material on me" she growled.
"He's gotta have some way to keep you in check, doesn't he?"
"Now's not time for jokes! One of our friends is missing and who knows what Team Rocket is doing to her?" Ashly yelled.
May shook her head. "Relax, they aren't that evil."
Meanwhile with the crooks, they were gloating at their victory.
"Just think, by the time those twerps realize what's going on, we'll be long gone" Jessie laughed.
"Yeah, and dressing up as one of the spa workers was pure genius. They never expected us to launch a sneak attack there!" James added.
Jessie stuck a pose and laughed. "Well when you're as smart as I am, anything is possible" she said.
"Wah…wh.…where am I?" Dawn asked in pokespeak, apparently having just woken up again. she stood up and looked around, quickly realizing she was inside of a translucent yellow sphere. She began to try and break out of it but had no such luck. Her prison was evidently made of some sort of glass that would take an unbelievable force to successfully penetrate, let alone crack open.
Jessie looked down at their hostage, having heard the commotion at her feet. "Well look who finally woke up."
Dawn once more tried to break out of the capsule. "Where are you creeps taking me?!"
"You're on your way to da' boss. He's gonna give us a promotion for sure when we hand you over!" Meowth told her, seeing as he was the only one who could understand what she had said.
"And do you mind telling me who this 'boss' is? He obviously doesn't pay you well enough. If he did, you would be able to pay for a basic education."
"Why you little!" He yelled. His claws extended and he tried to lunge at the sphere holding her. James, however, caught him and moved him to the other side of the balloon basket.
"Meowth, don't converse with the prisoner."
The scratch cat Pokemon sighed a bit. "Fine, fine…say, can we finish eating lunch, Jess?" It asked.
"Yes, and preferably on the ground. I might get airsickness" added James.
"I guess we are far enough away, and we covered our tracks well." She turned the burner down and they descended into a wooded area. Serena saw this and turned and flew back to Gary. When she got there, she changed to her human form.
"I found them. They're taking a break for lunch but I don't think they'll be there for too long" she said.
Gary picked his bag up and he and Brock followed her out of the city.
"These rice balls are amazing" James said in between mouthfuls.
"Yeah, where did you get them Meowth?" Asked Jessie.
"Let's just say the cost was so low, it was almost criminal! Heh heh heh!"
"So in short you stole them. You know the people who would have bought those might have been wanting to donate them to an orphanage or the poor or something!" Dawn said in their minds. Jessie bit down hard on her chopsticks at this comment.
"Shut it brat, before I psyduck tape your mouth closed!" She said.
"Aw, what's wrong, did I strike a nerve? Maybe next time you won't interrupt a girl when she's having a spa day….or better yet, don't steal Pokemon at all!"
"You three are in for it now!" Gary yelled. He ran out of the bushes followed by Brock, then pulled Serena's pokeball off his, returned her, pressed the button, belt and tossed it so it landed in front of them, opening and emitting her into their faces as a bright beam of energy, effectively stunning them. She materialized in her Pokemon form and immediately vanished.
"Oh dear, he sent out a Pokemon who runs away instantly. What ever will we do?" James mocked.
"In about one point five seconds, you will feel a painful attack in your backsides" they heard Dawn say inside their minds. And true to her warning, Serena reappeared behind them and sent a burst of energy into their backs which carried them into their Balloon basket. As they took off, a robot arm came out and grabbed the sphere holding Dawn
"May, break it off!" Gary ordered.
"On it" she said upon appearing from her ball. She sent an Ancient Power into the robot arm making it explode.
"And finally…Blast them off Ashly!" He yelled.
She appeared from her own ball and shot a Dragon Breath into the balloon.
"WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAAAAIIIIIIINNN!" Team Rocket screamed while they flew off into the distance.
Brock dove and caught the sphere holding Dawn within and placed it down on the ground. her friends gathered around it, all lost for an idea as to how to free her. May tried to smash the sphere using her Ancient Power, then Ashly attempted to Shadow Claw it, which obviously failed due to the nature of the move, Next Serena tried to drop it onto a rock. None of these seemed to work.
"Hey, Serena, can't you like…drain the energy from the thing?" asked Ashly.
"I could if, A, I knew how and B, the thing was actually alive."
"That's right folks, you are looking at the only Destruction Pokemon who can't seem to kill" Gary announced to no one in particular. Serena muttered something under her breath. Suddenly, a flash of yellow sped out of the bushes and then a loud cracking noise was heard by everyone as it broke apart at the middle.
"Oh, I guess you finally caught up to us" Gary sighed upon seeing Pikachu looking rather pleased with himself, standing in front of the broken sphere. His tail was made of metal, signifying he had just used his Iron Tail move.
"Pika Pikachu, chu! Pika Pika pi chu, Pikachu" it said happily,
Ashly's ball opened and sent her out. "You know that was really cheesy, right?" She asked him. he shrugged and then pulled a ketchup packet out from somewhere which he started to snack on.
Brock leaned down to her. "What did he say?"
"He said that Gary cant separate us, and that wherever I go, he will always follow."
"Wow, that really is cheesy…"
"Pika, pika chu!" Retorted the electric mouse.
"He said he doesn't really care if it's cheesy or not because it's the truth" she relayed.
Gary returned his team except for Ashly who changed to her human form and lead them back to the city.
"Hey, Gary, I'm hungry again. When and what are we eating?" She asked as they got there.
"Well seeing as we have no money, and the only food we have is the ingredients for Brock's Pokemon food, once we get back to the Pokemon center, I'll get him to make you some" Gary told her.
"Of course I don't need to remind you that the more food you eat now, the less you'll have for tomorrow morning if we miss the breakfast bar's times, right Ashly?" Brock added.
"Fine…lets just hurry and get there before curfew…"
When they got to their room, Brock unpacked and began to prepare his secret recipe. As soon as it was done hen set out a few bowls on the table. Gary sent his team out onto it.
"Ok, there's no way I'm eating that" May said.
"Not happening" Dawn added.
Serena looked somewhat skeptical though. "Well Ashly sure seems to like it…"
They looked to see Ashly was munching away at her food.
Dawn sat on her haunches, looking away in disinterest. "It's Ashly your talking about. The only one to effectively rival and surpass May's appetite"
"Well I guess you'll just be going hungry tonight like we are. Welcome to the club" Brock said.
(A relaxing day turned into another misadventure during which Our heroes have rescued Dawn from the clutches of Team Rocket. Tomorrow is the citywide competition but with little time to gather information on it, we'll have to see how they handle even more surprises being thrown at them, next time on Pokemon)
(For those of you who don't know about Jessie's backstory, at one point she was very poor and food was so scarce at times that she had to eat snow flavored by soy sauce….yeah, it's almost as dark as the whole cubone's mother being killed or the fact that Gengar is basically the ghost of a dead Clefairy…ok, maybe not that dark, but still nobody deserves to have to go through that…except terrorists…or assholes who criticize authors for such petty things as spelling a Pokemon name in a way they don't like. Their ID numbers are on my profile. You know who you are!)