A Jewel in Water

Part 13

"TEAM ROCKET!" Everyone called simulateously. Sure enough, at the front of the door, were three very familiar people. After the sudden outburst from all the people, they stopped struggling.

"Hey look guys, it's the twerps!" called James.

"Ain't there a lot more than usualt though?" Asked Meowth.

"Please tell me this isn't true…" said Jessie exasperated as she buried her head in her hands.

"Jessie, my eyes hurt! So many twerps in one room!" Cried James.

"What are you doing here?" shouted May.

"Are you here to steal our Pokémon?" yelled Dawn

"Quick guys, we need to get out of here. We may have one twerp behind our backs, but the rest of these guys will be itching for a chance to get us." Said Meowth hurriedly. But it was too late.

"Go, Empoleon!" Kenny through a Pokéball in the air, along with everyone else.

"Piplup!"

"Go Maril!"

"Beautifly!"

"Come on out Sudowoodo!"

"You too Torterra!"

"Oh crap." Said Meowth. "Cue the 'We need a hero' music." But no sooner had he said that, was said hero walking down the stairs, with a Caterpie on his shoulder.

"What's going on here then?" Ash said as he saw the turmoil near the main doors.

"It's our twerp!" called Meowth gleefully. The trio took advantage of the sudden pause to run into the castle and hide behind Ash.

"Since you got us into this mess, you fix it!" said Jessie sternly. Ash sighed.

"Look everyone," Ash announced, "You can't do anything to these guys. They work under me."

"Ash, are you serious?" bellowed Brock, "How could you say that! After the number of times they tried to steal all of our stuff, our Pokémon, and you're defending them?"

"Yeah, Ash, I can't count the number of times they tried to steal Pikachu from you!" cried Dawn.

"Speaking of Pikachu, it seems to have been replaced. Don't tell me this Caterpie was the real powerhouse and you just used Pikachu as bait?" said James as he came to an unlikely conclusion. Ash was getting more and more irritated by each comment that was coming at him.

"Okay. I'm not expecting you to understand this, but can you understand that I know what I am doing? I'm sure that you would feel the same if someone, or everybody, in this case, was interfering with your life." Then he turned around and pushed the guys up the stairs. But Misty couldn't hold back.

"Ashton. You may trust these thieves, but I do not. Kindly remove them from the castle." But Ash wasn't supposed to talk to her remember? He turned to her with a disappointed look. He turned to the rest of the group.

"Don't worry, they will be gone by today." He looked apologetically at them, except for Misty; he didn't even make eye contact with her.

"What a troublesome situation." Sighed May.

"Never thought that Ash, of all people would consider joining up with them." Agreed Brock.

"But as you said, you only travelled with Ash to a certain point. After that who knows what could have happened. They could have turned good." Paul stated.

"Yeah, but can they have changed so much?" asked Elliot. Everyone looked at him.

"I didn't think you would know them!" said Kenny. Elliot had forgotten who he was for a second. He needed a cover up and fast.

"Well, yeah, I met Ash a few times a few years ago and Team Rocket always seemed to be following him around." He tried. Everyone accepted the story.

"Would someone mind informing me who this 'Team Rocket' is?" said Rudy, frustrated. They all looked at him, but Brock decided to be brave and tell him.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you don't remember, but they were there when you had that battle with Ash. They tried to steal his Pokémon, along with anyone else's for that matter."

"Oh is that it? No I can't say I remember." He said snootily. Everyone tried to stop themselves from hitting him. But Misty was out of it. The look Ash had given her. The way he didn't speak to her. Why was it making her so sad? Brock saw Misty and he decided he would help Ash out a bit, even though he didn't have a clue what Ash had done to her.

"Misty, you okay? Ash didn't seem to be giving you a very nice look. Something happened?" Now if he acted like Brock thought he would, Rudy would be cutting in with a comment right about…

"Yes, Misty dear. How positively rude of him to ignore you like that. If you don't want them in the castle, then he should oblige. Just because he is the Pokémon Master doesn't mean he's King of the World!" But tears were welling up in Misty's eyes. Nobody wanted to say anything. But there seemed to be something that Kenny noticed. Something that shocked him, because no one else had noticed anything about it yet. He burst out laughing. Everyone looked towards him, as if he was a bit mental, but when he raised his hand and pointed towards Rudy, everyone understood, and started laughing along with him. The guards and the maid tried not to laugh but they couldn't help it. Even Misty, smiled before running off somewhere in the castle. Rudy was the only one who was not at all amused.

"What in blazes is so funny?" he demanded. Now who was going to be the bearer of bad news? Kenny nudged Elliot. I mean he was the one that initiated it.

"I think you better turn around and look in the mirror." Rudy did so, and his face when he saw what was on his face couldn't have been any more priceless. "Wha- who? WHAT IS THIS?" he shouted.

"I think you can sum that up for yourself." Said May.

"HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN ON?" he continued screaming.

"Calm down, dude. It's only been on since you woke up."

"Since I woke up? That means the KING?" he was about to have a mental breakdown.

"The King saw it? Ahahaha, that's excellent." Cried Dawn.

"I can guess who did this. He said as he looked up the stairs." Again a wrong guess. It was not Ash as he was thinking, but that wasn't going to stop him from tormenting Ash for this. Being humiliated in front of the King, whilst he was with Ash? There was no way Ash was going to come out of this torture in one piece.