DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokemon... you know how it goes by now.

MESSAGE TO READERS: Sorry that it has taken such a long time to post this chapter. It's been a little bit busier at work than what I am used to. But I have had a quiet spell, so now I have a chance to post this chapter. I'm looking forward to seeing how the next few chapters pan out... and I'm writing the ing thing! But just so you know, posts will become a little less frequent than they have been. Maybe one chapter a week, who knows. But for now, grab yourselves a lemonade or something, kick back and enjoy!

THE LEAGUE OF CHAMPIONS

CHAPTER 16: ROCKET GANG RETURN! DEPARTURE OF CASEY!

"Team Rocket!" Ash roared in annoyance, obviously recognising the three figures who had possession of his Pikachu and Casey's Meganium. "Give Pikachu back, right now!"

"Hmm… let me think about that one for just a moment," the purple haired woman sarcastically pondered. "Err… Don't think so!" she mocked, pulling a face at him.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash shouted loud enough for his beloved Pokemon to hear. I could faintly see sparks fly from Pikachu, before the entire metallic arm holding it surged with bright electricity. Yet nothing more than that seemed to happen. The trio in the Meowth shaped balloon laughed.

"You ought to know better than that by now, twerp!" the woman known as Jessie laughed. "Pikachu is ours now!"

"And so is the Meganium," the male who had referred to himself as James added. "These two power-packed Pokemon will be a positively potent present for the boss."

"Quit using words that begin with "P", would ya?" the talking Meowth growled. "It gets irritating after a while."

"Easy for those guys to say," Misty muttered to Ash and I.

"Hey, red-head! Don't mock us!" Jessie snapped angrily. "In case you've forgotten, we have the upper hand here. We've got both of your Pokemon. And unless you would rather have them plummet to their deaths, I suggest you keep your twerpish trap shut!" Jessie warned.

"You wouldn't dare!" Misty shouted up.

"Is that right?" Jessie sneered. "Don't say we didn't warn you…" with that, the robotic arm released Meganium. It began to fall at high speed towards the ground.

"No! My Meganium!" Casey shrieked in fear. Meganium was falling like a stone and there was no way to stop the heavy Pokemon from crashing to earth. That is until the robotic arm that had just released it shot down and grabbed it not far from the ground. Casey sighed in a little bit of relief, but still seemed upset that Team Rocket still had hold of her precious Meganium. All four of us glared up at the criminals, who had extremely smug looks on their faces.

"Now, do you believe us?" Jessie smirked sadistically at Misty. She shook with anger, but Ash even more so.

"I can't believe it," Ash growled. "They're a lot more serious than when I last saw them…"

"You've seen these guys before?" I asked, a little surprised by this revelation.

"Ever since the second episode, in fact!" Meowth boasted proudly. Jessie and James quickly slammed their feet on Meowth's head in frustration.

"How many times have we told you that breaking the fourth wall is not clever?" James grumbled, putting more pressure on the cat-like Pokemon's head.

"We're not that way inclined anymore, Meowth," Jessie sneered. "We're a new Team Rocket now. We're on the brink of promotion and comments like that might ruin it for us!"

"They keep getting weirder," Ash muttered to Misty and I. Misty nodded, whereas I just shrugged and reached for a Poke Ball.

"Don't worry about a thing," I smirked. "I'll deal with these guys. Pelipper, let's go!" I threw my Poke Ball forward. Pelipper appeared in the air, cawing its name as it usually did. "Pelipper, go up there and use Water Gun to put out the fire on that balloon!"

"Good thinking," Casey smiled. "At least that way, it will bring the balloon down a bit more slowly."

"Not if I can help it!" Jessie snarled. "Seviper, deal with that dodo!" She launched a Poke Ball forward. Appearing in the air, a black and purple serpent appeared with dark yellow fangs. It's tail looked like a sword's blade. It curled up, before striking forward at Pelipper. "Wrap it, Seviper!" Jessie shouted, as the snake coiled itself around Pelipper. It's wings were crumpled together by the huge snake. Both Pokemon began to fall down to the ground.

"Get out of there, Pelipper!" I cried. "Hydro Pump!" Pelipper angled its head, firing a rapid jet of water, but Seviper simply moved its head sinuously beneath its body. The Hydro Pump missed completely.

"Bite, Seviper!" Jessie yelled. I could hear Pelipper shriek out in pain as the long fangs of the poisonous snake sank into its skin. They drew nearer to the ground.

"Pelipper, try and steer yourself towards the water!" I called, noticing that they were just shy of the lake. Pelipper struggled a little, but managed to somehow twist itself over, changing direction in mid air. Within moments, both Pelipper and the Seviper had fallen into the lake.

"I'll help you out," Casey smiled, withdrawing a Poke Ball. "Vespiquen, let's do it!" The giant bee Pokemon re-appeared before us again. Ash looked in complete shock when he saw the sheer size of the beast. It towered over him, yet it did not have bad intentions anymore.

"When did you get a Vespiquen!?" Ash asked, still gasping.

"Not long ago," Casey smiled. "Took down two of Jonathyn's Pokemon no sweat." She winked at me as if to say she was just toying with me. I smiled faintly back, but was concerned that Pelipper had not yet resurfaced.

"Seviper, come up to the surface and use Haze!" Jessie called. The snake quickly appeared, with Pelipper nowhere in sight. As is squirmed to the shore, it released a thick black fog cloud from its mouth. We all began to cough and splutter, not able to see a single thing.

"Vespiquen, go after that balloon and bring it back here!" Casey called, waving her hands to get rid of some of the smoke. I noticed a whoosh of air rush past me, as the Vespiquen launched itself skyward. I could hear a couple of intimidated yelps coming from beyond the haze.

"Where are you, Pelipper?" I called for my Pokemon anxiously, still blinded by Seviper's Haze attack. "Can you hear me?"

"I know how to sort this out," Ash coughed, pulling a Poke Ball off his belt. "Staraptor, Whirlwind!" I could hear the sound of a Pokemon bursting out from its confinement before feeling a strong gust of wind blow across us. I could finally see again, as the wind blew the Haze away. I looked up to see a large hawk of some kind vigorously flapping its wings. It had a red crest on the top of its head that hung over its head like a quiff of hair. It looked extremely sleek, not to mention strong. I then looked around the lakeside area. I finally spotted Pelipper slumped against the shore. I rushed over to it, leaping and bounding through the boggier parts of the lakeside.

"Pelipper, are you alright?" I asked with great concern for my Pokemon. It weakly lifted its head. Two large bite marks had punctured the base of its neck, from which a small amount of blood was trickling from. Luckily, it did not appear as though any poison had managed to enter the bloodstream, despite the fact that the bite was fairly deep. "Thank you for trying," I smiled with a sigh to Pelipper. "As soon as we're done here, we'll get you to a Pokemon Center." I then withdrew Pelipper back into the safety of its Poke Ball. I now noticed that Casey's Vespiquen had flown up to the side of the basket. The Team Rocket trio were rather scared at the sight of the abnormally large Pokemon.

"I'll deal with this. Carnivine, time to play!" James smirked, throwing a Poke Ball forward. However, the creature that emerged from it appeared behind him and immediately chomped its large, fly-catcher mouth around his head. I could not help but chuckle a little bit at this. "It's time to play, not time to snack!" James whined as the Grass-Type Pokemon's bite seemed to get more stronger. Eventually though, it did release its grip, as James rearranged his hair. "Use Bullet Seed on Vespiquen," he ordered, as the creature floated into the air and opened its gaping mouth. From it, a storm of seeds began pelting against Vespiquen.

"Use Defend Order," Casey shouted up. The six Combee grubs once again appeared from the honeycomb in Vespiquen's abdomen and formed perfect wall with their hexagonal shapes. The grubs took the full brunt of the attack.

"Seviper, Poison Tail!" Jessie shouted, as the serpent's sword-like tail began to fill with poison. It swung it towards Ash's Staraptor, connecting with full force.

"They're a lot stronger than usual," Misty gasped as the Staraptor fell to the ground, almost completely wiped out from that one single shot. Casey nodded her head. Vespiquen's Defend Order was beginning to fail, as Carnivine's Bullet Seed attack continued to pound against it.

"Give up, twerps," Jessie smirked smugly. "We've done a bit of training as well and are on the brink of a huge promotion. All we need to climb the top of the ladder is this Pikachu and then the boss is going to give us riches beyond our wildest dreams!"

"And we ain't gonna lose out to some punk-nosed kids who think they're better than us," the Meowth added with a growl.

"I'm not going to let you get away with Pikachu," Ash roared angrily. "Staraptor, use Wing Attack on the arms holding Pikachu and Meganium!" Staraptor took to the skies and flew like a missile towards the balloon. However, the trio did not seem phased by the approaching danger.

"Don't think so!" Meowth laughed, pressing a red button on a remote control. The arms suddenly began to glow a little, before firing a bolt of electricity straight at Staraptor, crackling against its chest. The resulting attack caused Staraptor to faint instantly as it began to plummet towards the ground.

"Staraptor!" Ash almost screamed in fear as the hawk fell towards the ground. "Return!" he quickly drew out his Poke Ball and returned it safely before it could hit the ground. Ash looked up almost in complete rage. Team Rocket were laughing away to themselves, proud of their currently accomplishments. "What did you do to my Staraptor, Team Rocket!?" Ash shouted enraged.

"Ha! You can thank your Pikachu for charging up our defence mechanism," Meowth sneered. "It's shocking what you can do with a little Pika-Power," he mocked with the lame pun.

"This time, once and for all Team Rocket is victorious!" Jessie shrieked, almost with tears of delight in her eyes. James meanwhile had begun dancing with joy with his Mime Jr, which seemed to be loving the attention it was receiving. "And without further ado, it is time to take our leave."

"Full speed away!" Meowth laughed greedily as two turbine engines slowly extended out from the side of the machine holding Pikachu and Meganium. I could hear them whirring as the balloon began to move away a lot faster.

"I hate to have to do this," Casey mumbled a little worriedly. "Power Gem, Vespiquen!" I had almost forgotten that Casey's Beehive Pokemon was still defending itself from the onslaught coming from Carnivine. The Defend Order must be obscenely strong to withstand that amount of punishment. The Rocket's Carnivine seemed to be exhausted, it's Bullet Seed now an awful lot weaker. Vespiquen began to form the powerful ball of energy that had knocked out my Houndoom out before in a single hit. It raised itself behind the Combee Wall, before launching the attack at Carnivine. It connected dead on, sending the Fly Catcher Pokemon hurtling back onto one of the engines, exploding on impact. Jessie and James's faces looked agog as they noticed the mishap.

"Do something, James!" Jessie ordered almost spitefully.

"Why don't you do something yourself? Seviper isn't doing anything down there!" James yelled back.

"Stop whining!" Meowth snarled. "We need to get out of here!"

"I've just had a great idea!" I suddenly pipped up. "Houndoom, let's go!" My Dark Pokemon comrade appeared in front of Ash. It barked as soon as it saw Team Rocket's balloon. "Houndoom, see if you can use a Faint Attack on the machine holding Pikachu and Meganium."

"But Jon, Houndoom will just get electrocuted like Staraptor did," Misty gasped, worried about my tactics.

"Don't worry," I grinned confidently. "Faint Attack always hits no matter what, so hopefully this will work." I then looked down at my trusted ally once again. "Faint Attack, go!" I pointed. Houndoom seemed a little unsteady at first, examining the distance between the ground and the balloon. It was a fair distance upwards, but Houndoom somehow began to rise up into the air and darted towards the balloon.

"Seviper, Wrap that mongrel," Jessie ordered. The snake sprang upwards, but just as it approached it was hit by a flurry of blue flame. The snake screamed in pain as the attack burned away at it. "What is that!?" Jessie squealed in confusion. I tried to find the source of the flame. Then I could see it… a Flygon…

"No way…" I gasped. "Sandra…"

"Who's Sandra?" Misty asked, a tone of somewhat concern in her voice.

"A trainer I met just now, before I came here," I replied, glaring at the Flygon. I could see Sandra's figure sitting atop of the Dragon Pokemon. I now saw that Flygon's wings were filled with silver, slamming them full force into Seviper, forcing it to the ground. As they drew nearer to the ground themselves, Sandra disembarked her Pokemon before it took off to the skies once again. I was a little dumbstruck by her sudden appearance, but even more so that Jessie's Seviper had been stopped simply by a Dragonbreath and Steel Wing combination.

"I love a good battle, especially when it's the bad guys we're fighting!" Sandra grinned. I smiled back, yet Misty seemed to frown with uncertainty. I looked back up to see that Houndoom had now faded into nothing. It reappeared from nowhere and struck the arm that was holding Casey's Meganium. The metal was bent and buckled, before eventually snapping. Meganium was free, but was now also falling to the ground once again. This time with no visible way of stopping.

"Meganium, extend your Vine Whip up to Vespiquen! Vespiquen, help Meganium!" Casey called, desperately hoping that this would work. As instructed, Meganium left a vine trail as it fell. The strong bee Pokemon wrapped the vines around its arms and managed to swing Meganium to one side, its fall now less potent than before. Vespiquen could not quite hold Meganium up fully, but reduced the speed enough to avoid any injury at all. Casey ran over to her beloved sauropod, as the queen bee lowered itself to her side, looking exhausted. I looked back up to see that my Houndoom had landed on Flygon's back and were flying towards Team Rocket's balloon at incredible speed.

"Flygon, use Steel Wing!" Sandra shouted, almost like a sergeant rallying her troops. The Flygon's wings filled with the same shade of silver as before, approaching ever closer.

"Houndoom, Faint Attack on the arm holding Pikachu!" I shouted.

"Gimme a break!" Meowth chuckled, pressing another button on his remote control. Another sudden bolt of electricity surged towards Flygon and Houndoom. But Flygon suddenly reared upwards, shielding Houndoom from the attack whilst taking the brunt of it itself. Small sparks scattered away, seemingly having no effect on the dragon. "What gives!?" the Scratch Cat Pokemon gasped. "There's no way that flying termite coulda survived that!"

"I know why," I grinned upon realisation. "Even though it can fly, Flygon is part Ground Type. And it's a well known fact that electricity has little to no effect on Ground Types."

"That's right," Sandra confirmed my analysis. Flygon's wings struck the arm hard, smashing it into small pieces. Houndoom's Faint Attack finished it off, as Pikachu began to fall. It smiled happily as it landed on Houndoom's back, which settled on Flygon's back in turn. "Good job, Flygon," Sandra congratulated her Dragon Pokemon.

"You too, Houndoom!" I added. "Great work."

"No it's time to finish them!" Ash grinned, clenching his fist. "Pikachu, give them a Thunder that they'll never forget!" Pikachu grinned in the same way as its trainer. Team Rocket looked a little worried, until Jessie pushed her Wobbuffet forward. Pikachu leapt into the air and fired a large bolt of electricity towards the balloon.

"Mirror Coat," Jessie frantically instructed. The Thunder struck the balloon, but Wobbuffet's aura began to glow all different colours of the spectrum. Suddenly, the attack flew back at Pikachu, hitting it with brutal force! It shrieked out in complete agony, before Flygon whooshed up to catch it, dragging it away from harm. "Not too shabby, don't you think?" Jessie taunted, praising her Pokemon by rubbing its head.

"Man… they've thought of everything," Ash groaned, frustrated that he still had not been able to get rid of his foes.

"Jonathyn, your Houndoom knows Flamethrower, right?" Sandra asked me with a glint in her eye. It was obvious that she was planning something.

"It certainly does," I replied almost boastfully.

"If we attack together, Wobbuffet's Mirror Coat will fail. Ash, have your Pikachu attack too." Sandra began to chuckle at her own modest excellence. "Flygon, Ice Beam!"

"Houndoom, use Flamethrower!" I called.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash shouted. All three Pokemon began to charge their attacks, firing them simultaneously at the hot-air balloon. The trio within its basket looked horrified as the three attacks struck with mighty force. Immediately upon impact, the balloon burst into flames. An explosion ripped out through the sky, leaving a black cloud of smoke. The figures of the Team Rocket trio, along with their Pokemon began to fly into the distance.

"Looks like Team Rocket is blasting off again!" their faint voices called as they hurtled beyond the horizon. A small star glistened as they finally disappeared from view. Pretty much all of us breathed a long sigh of relief, as Flygon quickly landed back on the ground. Houndoom jumped off its back as Pikachu leapt into its trainer's welcoming arms. Casey walked up to where we were standing with her Meganium and Vespiquen in tow.

"That heavens that's over with!" Ash wiped the sweat from his forehead, removing his hat briefly in order to do so. "I suppose I ought to get Pikachu to a Pokemon Centre, not to mention heal up Staraptor too."

"Same goes for me," I replied with a nod. "My Pelipper took quite a beating and Houndoom could use a rest too." Houndoom panted happily. It loved to be healed more than anything. For a Dark type, it was surprisingly compassionate. Mind you, it IS the first Pokemon that I ever obtained… it's nature was the same even as a Houndour.

"That was good training," Sandra chuckled once again, patting her Flygon on the neck, before climbing onto its back. "I suppose we had best keep it up, right Flygon?"

"Fly--" it roared excitedly.

"Thanks for all your help, Sandra," I bowed with gratitude. Sandra winked at me, before taking off on her Dragon Pokemon. In an instant, our view of the Dragon Breeder was cut off by the tree tops. Misty seemed to huff a little, for reasons which I didn't clearly understand.

"Well, I'm going to head back to Goldenrod now," Casey pipped up. "It's a long way back and the Electabuzz Team is facing the Oreburgh Gravelers soon!"

"You're not staying for the rest of the tournament?" Misty asked, a little sad that her friend was leaving.

"They're the Sinnoh Champions, so I don't want to miss the Electabuzz cream them!" Casey grinned. "It was great to see you again!" she smiled walking up to Misty and exchanging a small friendly hug. She then approached Ash. "Sorry that I didn't really get to talk to you," she sighed. "But it's good to see that you are keeping well! Bye Pikachu!"

"Pika, Pika!" it cheerfully waved.

"It was nice to meet you, Casey. You've been a good friend and a good rival to me as well," I grinned, extending my hand in friendship.

"Same to you," Casey smiled back, clasping my hand and shaking it firmly. "But next time, I'll beat you. I guarantee it."

"Good luck with that," I smirked. She copied it as well, before releasing my hand and began walking, with Vespiquen and Meganium right by her side. She waved to us all as she headed back into the forest. It went completely silent as soon as she was out from view, even though we were saying our goodbyes even as we waved back to her. Eventually, Ash broke the silence.

"So what now?" he mumbled with a tired stretch. "I'm about ready for something to eat."

"I'm not so sure that I'm hungry just yet," Misty sighed, a little bit down still.

"I think I might as well continue my training," I grinned. "Misty, if you still want to see Ash then go with him."

"Are you sure?" Misty glanced at me with a slightly worried look, blushing a little.

"Positive! Go on, get out of here."

"What about Pelipper?" Misty asked. "It got badly hurt in the battle against Seviper."

"I know, perhaps I should go to a Pokemon Center first…" I began to think out loud.

"If you train now, then you can heal all your Pokemon at once," Ash suggested. "Pelipper is fine as long as you keep it in its Poke Ball."

"That's true," I raised my eyebrow at the idea put forward. "So what Pokemon do you have on you?"

"Well, Pikachu comes with me wherever I go," Ash began. "And you've already seen my Staraptor. But I'll show you the other Pokemon that I have on hand. I have even more at home in Pallet Town." He threw forward five Poke Balls. From the first, his weakened Staraptor appeared. Obviously it was still tired from the battle with Team Rocket. From the second, a funny looking bat-like Pokemon with a tail that resembled a scorpion. It's whole body was a dark shade of pink, but not quite purple. The third Pokemon that appeared was a bizaare looking creature. It resembled a weasel of some description, only with some sort of air sack on its neck that for some reason reminded me of a towel. It seemed to be rather powerful and looked incredibly confident in its abilities. The fourth was a large, reptilian creature covered in smooth, green scales. It's tail resembled a gorse bush to some extent and it had sharp growths protruding from its elbow and forearms. And finally, the fifth Pokemon that Ash had resembled a beetle of some kind. It's horn that stuck out from its head looked impressive. It had walked over to the nearest tree and tried to suck out some sap.

"Wow…" I exclaimed in awe. "Pikachu, Staraptor, Gligar, Floatzel, Sceptile and Heracross. That's quite a team you have there."

"Thanks," Ash acknowledged the compliment. "Tell you what, I need something to fill my appetite. But first, how about a little battle?"

"You must have read my mind!" I smirked. "What rules shall we make for this?"

"I don't know… say one on one?" he suggested.

"Do you mind if we go for a Double Battle?" I replied. "My third round match is coming up and I could use some proper practice."

"Fine by me. Do you know which Pokemon you're going to use for the third round match yet?"

"I sure do… and I'll show them to you now…" I grinned, holding two Poke Balls in my hand. "My Steel-Type bulldozer, Lairon!" I tossed the first Poke Ball forward. Lairon emerged snarling and ready for battle. "The second, the mighty dragon of the ground, Gabite!" I called as the Cave Pokemon appeared next to Lairon. As usual, they glared at each other and snarled a little, renewing their rivalry.

"That's fine," Ash smiled with excitement. "I'll use my Floatzel and Sceptile!" The other Pokemon seemed a little down that they weren't picked, but continued to cheer and root for the Water Type and the Grass Type Pokemon respectively.

"I'll be the referee," Misty grinned, walking to a half-way point between the two. "Jonathyn has selected his Lairon and his Gabite to battle. Ash has chosen his Sceptile and Floatzel to face them. Begin!"

TO BE CONTINUED

Next Time: It's Jonathyn versus Ash! Will the battle go ahead to the full? Or will something interfere with their duel? The answers come in the form of a man dressed all in black, who goes by the name of Darkhan…