51: Ritchie vs. Team Rocket
Ash hadn't eaten all day, but didn't feel any more like doing so as he felt the waves of disappointment go through him. He still talked to his mother before she said she was headed home, and then Professor Oak, who praised him for having gotten so far, before praising Pikachu for how much it had improved with Ash as a trainer.
Pikachu didn't look that happy about the compliments, and Ash couldn't really be happy either, though he was sure to thank the professor for everything. His journey was only possible with this man's support, after all. But after saying good-bye to the professor, then having his pokemon taken care of by the nurse, all Ash felt like doing was sitting on the deserted hill. Instead of watching or listening to the merry makers below, he just pulled his hat over his head.
"Pika," Pikachu called, pushing its trainer to ask for food. When Ash only briefly stroked its head, Pikachu wandered off looking for food on its own, eventually coming back with a discarded piece of apple it had found.
After they'd been sitting for a while, Misty's voice rang out, interrupting Ash's rest. "That match was so, so, so interesting!"
Ash sat up, seeing the late day's sun shining in his eyes as he adjusted his hat. "Because I lost?" he said.
"No, no," Misty waved her arms as she denied Ash's interpretation. "You did really well, Ash," she said, softening her tone.
"I agree," Brock said. "The interesting part was, again, how similar you and Ritchie were. It could have gone the other way, too."
"But it didn't. I lost," Ash lamented, his lip trembling.
Misty sat next to him as Brock sat on the other side. She pushed his shoulder. "So that's it?" she said playfully. "You're done?"
"No way!" Ash sat up, then patted Pikachu's head as the pokemon hopped in his lap. "I want to keep getting better and better, along with my pokemon."
"Pikachu!" Pikachu called in encouragement. Though it didn't much care about winning or losing this league, it was always good to see Ash in good spirits.
"That's right. You told me your goal was to be a master, right?" Brock said.
"That's right!" Ash confirmed.
"So, what's the next step of that?" Brock asked.
"Well, I've got my badges, and I was in the league... I guess I've got to enter it again and win," Ash said.
"Entering again is common, especially after ranking so high," Misty said. "Maybe we'll get another match between you and Ritchie next year after he loses."
"Ritchie hasn't lost," Ash pointed out.
"Yeah, you're right," Misty said, looking away guiltily. "I shouldn't assume he will."
"The last matches are tomorrow, huh?" Ash said. The morning was the top 4, then after the final showdown between the top 2. "Maybe that's the first step. I've gotta see how my rivals battle in the top matches!"
"Pikachu!" Pikachu called happily. Being a spectator was a welcome break. Watching Sparky along with Ritchie's other fun and interesting pokemon battle again would be fun.
"I knew this would be a disappointment, but it's good to see how you pick yourself up so fast," Brock said, resting his hand on Ash's shoulder with a smile.
"Yeah, of course," Ash said. "Let's get up early to get great seats."
Ritchie's next opponent was one that had participated twice before, in the previous two years. Since it was so recent, Ritchie knew about the man's pokemon and tactics well, both having been covered in great detail on TV and in magazines during and after the event. Ritchie's opponent was a favorite to win, having ranked highly both previous times he'd participated, and made a name for himself outside the league as well.
But Ritchie had guessed right about his strategy, how he'd use a different pokemon to start than he had usually, and quickly gained the advantage early on. Because of that, he was able to win yet again, advancing to the top 2.
Of course, Ritchie's various supporters from Viridian were thrilled. Ash and his gym leader friends even found him and congratulated him. The announcers and TV commentary were saying how amazing it was that a first year participant with just over a year's experience was now going to be a part of the 50th year's finale.
How lucky he'd gotten was starting to get embarrassing. Of course, Ritchie had hoped to rank highly, but he'd never thought he'd get this far. Maybe the top 16, he'd told himself before he'd started. If he'd made it there, he'd consider himself an overwhelming success. If he hadn't even made it past eliminations, he had been prepared to accept that as an inevitability of his inexperience, along with how much he really still needed to grow as a trainer.
But here he was, one of two that had risen to the top. Though there had to be others more deserving, he'd made it in place of them. The responsibility to continue to do his best in order to seem worthy of it weighed heavily.
Ritchie grinned at the nurse as he took back his pokemon. He wasn't sure of her name. She was someone different than before, who notably didn't look related to the Joys, though also seeming very familiar. Maybe Ritchie had been to whatever pokemon center she worked at before. He thanked her without finding out why they might have switched out, maybe because there were less people needed with less battling now that they were in the finals. Occupied by thoughts of the final match, Ritchie walked off, trying to avoid anyone that might recognize him so he could think more about how to strategize against who had ended up being his final opponent.
"This stinks," Meowth commented from its hidden place behind the counter.
"Shh," Jessie hushed her pokemon conspirator as she put on the appropriate nurse's demeanor to speak to the other of the top 2 players. She handed back the woman's pokeballs, and was sure to be overly sweet about everything, including how wonderful her pokemon were, along with how healthy they were. And they were wonderful, would be even more wonderful in Team Rocket's ranks. She then accepted pokeballs from other trainers, before putting up a sign that they'd be away.
"Excuse me, nurse!" a trainer approached. "I'm here to get back my pokemon."
"Come after the finale match," Jessie said.
"But I dropped them off a while ago. Are you really that busy?" the trainer pressed.
Jessie realized she may have been too curt. "Yes, we are, thanks for understanding!" she said in a high, affected voice. "We are taking the best care of your pokemon though, don't worry!"
"Right... I'll be back, thanks," the boy said before leaving. Others cleared the area as well. With that, Jessie went to the back rooms, Meowth following after her. She brought the next pokeballs into the treatment room where James was. He was still dressed in a nurse's uniform himself. He looked great in the dress, but the scam involved more than looking good. James didn't have the same educational background as Jessie, so he had been staying in the background as much as possible to avoid giving them away. Instead, he was adjusting the antenna on a small TV, and started flipping through the channels.
"Hmph." James giggled, widely grinning at how well their plan was going. "That final match is happening with the pokemon you treated. Do you trust your skills haven't let them down?"
"You know how far I got before I was kicked out, don't you?" Jessie groused. Though it had already been some years, she had quickly gotten back into the routine with treating these pokemon. After scanning a pokemon to be sure the species could be released in the room, she did so, looking over the seadra carefully. She hadn't seen many of this species around, but recalled the details of how to care for one, even recalled some of the tricky places that trainers might miss a wound by its spikes. This one was fine though.
"Of course," James said. "You're a jack of many trades, one of Team Rocket's most prized talents."
"As are you," Jessie said, smiling at the compliment. For whatever reason, James had a lot of knowledge of various things, including but not limited to pokemon. He'd been a valuable partner. She nodded at him before sending the seadra back into its pokeball, which saw no difference between her and an actual nurse, and then releasing the scyther next.
"This kind of thing is beyond me. I worry so much about missing something wrong with my pokemon. It's good we have you around."
"You've been fine at taking care of them since we got them," Jessie said, then returning the scyther to its pokeball.
"Of course, I do try. But I want you to know, as the flare of the efforts of our collective brilliant efforts as Team Rocket helps us ascend to a new altitude of success, how valuable of a partner you are to me, in the past, and on into the future." James grabbed Jessie's hand, interrupting her from getting out the next pokemon. The two imposter nurses stared in each other's eyes, Jessie's heart beating quicker as she found herself unable to turn from James's ardent gaze.
"Hey, is this really the time and place for flirting?"
Meowth's question appeared to embarrass James, whose face flushed as he turned away. Jessie subtly pulled her hand away, looking back to her stack of pokeballs. The idea of her and her friend seeming like a different sort of couple wasn't worth a comment at all. They'd been together so long, and nothing had developed like that. She often wondered if James were interested in women, or having a different kind of 'partner' at all. He'd never even approached the topic, just gotten a little awkward at even the rumor he had some kind of ex.. Jessie avoided the conversation. It was none of her business if James himself didn't want to bring it up, anyway. Maybe Jessie's longtime companion seemed open to someone now, but Jessie wasn't going to push. She decided a while ago he was attractive to her, but also valued their relationship as it was, and having him in her life in general.
As Jessie mulled this over, James began to giggle, his expression turning confident again as he looked to Meowth. "Well, to tell the truth, I would love to keep Jessie as my partner for life."
"Yeah, yeah." Meowth blew off James's words as it rolled the pokeballs of the pokemon Jessie had already treated away from the rest. "We can plan the ceremony when we're not in the middle of an important scheme."
"The what?" James asked, eyebrows raised.
Jessie tried not to groan. Had James really needed to continue that conversation? And of course he hadn't meant they should get married. Rather than think about how much she had liked the attention, Jessie turned her mind and the conversation back to work. "I wonder if the boss will give us any of the pokemon we acquire today."
"We won't have Pikachu, though," Meowth pointed out. "That twerp's out of the running. I don't think he'll be bringing his pokemon today."
Jessie shrugged. "Maybe not, but we'll have a pikachu. Clone twerp's wasn't that bad."
"But it's not that super powered one." James's wig went out of place as he passionately declared this. "Poison is an underhanded tactic! That boy shouldn't have used it," he added as he looked in the mirror, carefully putting this element of his disguise back in place.
"Don't you two like to use poison techniques against other pokemon?" Meowth raised an eyebrow.
"Exactly." James laughed to himself. "We're the elite of all the devious underhanded villains of the world. That's our technique. Because the clone of that twerp chose to use it in that battle, attention is paid to the less powerful pikachu instead now."
"Who cares. We already know how powerful Pikachu is, even if others underestimate it," Jessie said as she cared for the next pokemon, a farfetch'd with leek in hand. "Are you gonna cook for us?" she joked with her patient.
"Farfetch'd!" the pokemon replied.
"We'll just have to acquire it another time," James said.
"Yeah. That's true. All pokemon will eventually be in Team Rocket's golden hands. I just hoped Pikachu would finally be with us this time." Meowth put its head down, lamenting the failure.
"Farfetch'd?" the pokemon being treated called, confused at the talk of Team Rocket, as well as the pokemon that used human speech.
Jessie returned it to its pokeball, seeing it was in overall good health. "Celebrate our success, don't dwell on any little thing we didn't manage to do," she said. "Yet, that is," she muttered as she went for the next pokeball.
"Yeah! Team Rocket's speeding up to success!" Meowth said as it hopped up, then shook Jessie's shoulder. "Come on, Jess, hurry up, we don't want these pokemon here before we get caught."
"I'll take as much time as I need!" Jessie insisted.
"We have plenty of time," James assured as he began to arrange the pokeballs Jessie had already gone through in a briefcase. "Everyone is occupied by seeing who will win the final match."
"Right," Jessie said. She smirked at the eevee in front of her, which called back its own happiness, apparently oblivious to the full context of their conversation. "There'll be time to get these pokemon where they need to be before we take care of the top two's."
"Come on, hurry up," Ash goaded his friends as they ran through the stands. "We've gotta get as close as we can to see. I bet Ritchie's gonna win!"
Misty laughed at her friend, who seemed to have bounced back rather quickly from his own loss to cheer for the one who had defeated him. "Slow down, Ash!" she said, but he'd already gotten ahead of her and Brock, then stood up and waved his hands, Pikachu calling out next to them as it mirrored his actions. He'd managed to get a good spot nearly in front.
Making it over to where he'd directed, Misty noted the second row across the aisle was reserved, and just shrugged. Brock sat down on one side of Ash, her the other. Pikachu hopped on Ash's lap to see what was going on with preparations on the field, then got on its trainer's head for a better view. Misty relaxed and chatted with Brock and Ash about the upcoming match before Brock suddenly grew tense, looking up the stairs from the direction they'd come. "Uh oh. Don't look now, Misty," he muttered.
So of course, Misty did. Briefly glancing at the stairs, she saw Giovanni, surrounded by uniformed Team Rocket members, and quickly turned around. Once the rockets had taken their seats in the reserved area, she also stood, moving to the other side of Brock, the farthest away from them. "What's wrong?" Ash asked.
"Nothing's wrong at all," Misty informed tersely. "We're all just here to watch the match, right?"
"Yeah, I guess," Ash said, craning his head and staring not so subtly over where was apparently Team Rocket's own private section. "Those Team Rocket guys are right over there, though," he said.
"I know, Ash," Misty snapped.
They were soon distracted by an announcer talking about the upcoming match, along with past matches. Their current neighbors were mostly forgotten as an entertaining presenter went on about the history of the league, this being the 50th anniversary. Finally, the match began.
Ritchie went against a female trainer called Assunta, who had participated once a few years past, when she'd ranked in the top 64. This time, many were rooting for her win. The chatter from around and inside the venue definitely favored her as the winner.
However, Ritchie didn't approach things lying down. The battle was fairly intense, and also close, each opponent's pokemon getting pared down before Ritchie's tentacool finally defeated Assunta's rhydon. The crowd roared as the winner was announced. Ash's mouth fell open, gripping onto Pikachu as he watched "Ritchie really did it," he commented in surprise. "He won!" Ash's face went into a grin. "We've gotta go congratulate him. Come on!"
Misty laughed. "Maybe we'll see him later. I have a feeling more people than us are gonna want to talk to him," she said.
Brock nodded in agreement. "This league has been really exciting," he said. "But I think it's time to head home. Let's wait until things clear out a bit," he said, noting others leaving. Though there were more ceremonies, the main draw of the event was over.
"No, I'm going to see if I can meet him now," Ash said, standing up and adjusting Pikachu on his shoulder before he wandered off.
"Can't stop him, huh?" Misty nodded at Brock with a grin. "I think I'll go with him, actually," she said, getting a sinking feeling as she noted all the rockets still hanging out and chatting with each other. "Meet you by the pokemon center later," she said, then followed him.
A wave of complete shock went through Ritchie in unison with the crowd's cheers as he was announced as the winner. Assunta avoided his gaze, glancing to the ground though she was still calm and cool as always. She had to be disappointed. Anyone would be, but of course, she'd been the one everyone had expected to win going in. Everyone, including Ritchie himself.
He hardly even felt like he was crossing the field as the winner, though he was. "Thank you for the match," Ritchie said, bowing to Assunta after they shook hands. "I learned from being your opponent here today. I want a rematch some day."
Assunta smiled at his comment. Her reaction seemed genuine, though the lines of disappointment could still be seen on her face. "I'll count on it," she said.
From there, they separated. There was a break, put in place to give them time to care for their pokemon before the awards ceremony. Ritchie went with his to the makeshift pokemon center. He passed Assunta along the way, apparently she'd made it there first. Again, that same nurse was behind the counter, a taller one next to her this time. Ritchie certainly didn't remember this other person from before, though the two of them together tugged at his memory. Contemplating it further, he still couldn't recall why they were so familiar, but the idea that it had nothing to do with a pokemon center shouted out at him. Though they both had a pleasant expression, Ritchie couldn't stifle his sudden sinking feeling.
"Come on, let's-" the first nurse suddenly paused. "Well, you are the winner, aren't you? Congratulations!" she continued, suddenly changing her tone. "We'll take good care of your pokemon. I saw your poor pikachu may have been limping after that one hit."
"Yeah," Ritchie said with a nod. He'd seen that as well. He pushed past his feelings of dread and started to place the pokeballs on the counter. Despite any bad feeling Ritchie himself may be experiencing, his pokemon really did need to be taken care of after all the battling they'd done that day. "Please, take care of them. I'm counting on you," he said.
"Of course!" the second nurse replied. "We're here to provide the best possible treatment for them."
"Thank you." Ritchie nodded to them before he turned away, going down the hall. Maybe they'd finish with the pokemon before he came back. In either case, he wanted to check on them before the ceremonies. He used the restroom before going back to check on them. Entering the makeshift pokemon center, there was no one to be found. Where had they gone so quickly? They had to be nearby.
"Excuse me," Ritchie called. He leaned over the counter, then heard a thud in back. He tried to open the door, then just climbed over as he found it was unable to open on its own. Ritchie found a door propped shut with a chair, then removed it. Almost immediately, it opened. Inside, and the nurses that Ritchie recognized from earlier was tied up. "Nurse Joy!" Ritchie exclaimed as he went to free them.
"Thank goodness you're here. We know no one could hear us with everything going on, and this here," the nurse motioned to the TV set with match playbacks that had been left on loudly.
Ritchie turned it off. "I thought you all left."
One of the nurses shook her head. "Some people from Team Rocket took over and trapped us here... They probably have all the pokemon that have been brought in today!"
Ritchie tore out of the room upon hearing more of the story. He looked around the building before doubling back. He should have realized why he'd recognized those two. They might have been dressed differently, but they were certainly the ones that had stolen his pokemon back when he'd first met Ash. And now, he'd let his precious companions be stolen again. The moment he started to feel sorry for himself, he nearly ran into Ash, Misty next to him. "Ritchie! You won!" Ash said with a grin.
His friend was still in celebration mode, but Ritchie was trying his best to just hold it together. "Team Rocket stole my pokemon again," he spat out the truth without any buffer. Ash had helped him before, so maybe he was hoping the other boy would find a way to return his pokemon again. Relying on others too much hurt his pride, but he wanted them all back, no matter what.
"What happened?" Misty asked. Ritchie provided more detail, including how he'd looked everywhere for them. They couldn't have gotten far in the short time he'd left, but he'd been useless and couldn't find them. He was sure he'd now recognize the two 'nurses' as the two that had stolen his pokemon back when he'd first met them.
Ash shook his head, perhaps disapproving of Ritchie's current state. Ash adjusted his hat and then held tighter to Pikachu as he turned around. "I'm tired of this," he said. "Team Rocket has no right to steal any pokemon!" he declared, then ran down the hall.
"Ash, wait! Where are you going?" Misty called after him. She exchanged glances with Ritchie only briefly before they pursued him. Ash ran down the hall and back to the venue. As she and Ritchie caught up, Misty commented, "Maybe he's going to get Brock."
Instead, Ash turned to the other side of the aisle. "Hey!" he shouted as he let go of Pikachu, the pokemon hopping near his feet. "What do you all think you're doing here?"
The rockets he was shouting at turned toward him with annoyance. "Hey, can you shut up?" one of the ones in the dark uniforms shouted back. They turned back to the field, where the next ceremony was being set up.
"I'm not gonna shut up. I'm here to talk to this guy! He's the bad guy of Kanto, the worst there is!" Ash kept yelling as he pointed an accusing finger at Giovanni.
"What are you saying about the boss?" another rocket asked.
Giovanni finally turned Ash's way himself. "The ceremony will begin shortly. You're disrupting things. Kindly take your seat," the rocket boss spoke coldly and firmly.
"There's not gonna be any ceremony because the winner and more just had their pokemon stolen, by you," Ash practically roared the last part of his accusation.
"Oh, that is the winner." Giovanni nodded at Ritchie, who stood next to Misty behind Ash. "Congratulations. Our home city will be celebrating tonight."
Ritchie wasn't sure how to respond, but Ash continued to shout instead, not giving him a chance. "Now why don't you shut up about everything else. Just give Ritchie's pokemon back, and all the others! You're the leader of all these thieves! You'd better get their pokemon back, or else!"
Giovanni stood up now, just to approach Ash, glaring down at him menacingly. "I remember you from before. You should think more about my advice, and not listen to every trifling bit of gossip you hear." Giovanni glared briefly Misty's way before turning back to Ash. "The way you're speaking now might be dangerous." Giovanni paused, glaring at the boy that had confronted him. "It could harm not just myself, but also my hardworking employees and allies. Team Rocket is a legitimate organization."
"Legitimate? What's that even mean?" Ash said. He looked up at Giovanni unflinchingly. Before anyone could answer him, he continued yelling, "Does that like, mean you steal? Like you had Jessie and James try and steal all the pokemon in the Viridian pokemon center? And then on the St. Anne where we almost drowned with the pokemon you tried to steal?"
"Oh, you were one of the children on that cruise ship," Giovanni noted, arms folded. "As I've told you before, you've run into the impersonators of Team Rocket. I won't apologize for it, since I'm not responsible. No one associated with Team Rocket has ever committed any crimes. Stop spreading their lies."
"You're the liar," Ash declared, then opened up his vest and pointed at the Earth Badge. "Jessie and James who just stole all those pokemon work for you. They even gave me this badge." He turned and showed it to others nearby that had gathered to watch. He then adjusted his vest and continued. "There's only one Team Rocket, that lies and steals. No fakes. And it's run by him." Ash again pointed at Giovanni. There was now quite the audience, standing quietly and listening attentively, including someone who raised their camera.
"Get him out of here," Giovanni ordered. Several rocket grunts grabbed Ash by the arms. He pulled away, and then started to kick. Pikachu called out in dismay as Misty advised her friend to stop. "Were your pokemon stolen by the Team Rocket imposter thieves?" Giovanni asked Ritchie over the ruckus. Before the boy answered, he continued, "If you join Team Rocket, perhaps we can work with you to get them back."
"Sir, I'm just-" Ritchie began, just to be interrupted again by Ash's yells.
"Just give them back right now, or else!" Ash got free of the grasp of the rocket grunts, then ran forward shouting as he tried to punch Giovanni. The grunts blocked the attack just in time, pulling Ash away. The young boy just struggled, shaking them off as he raised his fist in an apparent additional attempt to assault the rocket boss.
"Ash!" Brock interrupted the scene, touching his friend's shoulder. "Ash, you need to stop. Right now. You can't be doing this." Brock turned to Giovanni. "I'm sorry about this, sir," he said. Brock and Misty eventually consoled Ash enough to get him to walk up the stairs and leave the venue.
Once they were gone, Giovanni again turned to Ritchie. "A barbaric display from a misled barbaric child," the rocket boss said calmly. "You may be the same age, but you aren't like that, are you? We could always use talented, intelligent trainers like yourself in our ranks. Will you join us?"
Ritchie's lip trembled as he realized he'd just stood out of the way as Ash had completed the confrontation that Ritchie himself probably should have, then not defended his friend at all. No, Ritchie wasn't like Ash at all. "Sir, right now I'm just trying to get my pokemon back," Ritchie said instead of insisting his pokemon be returned without him joining their criminal organization. Why couldn't he at least say that much after all Ash had managed to do? Even thinking this, Ritchie couldn't change his words or actions. The winner of this 50th annual competition even bowed to the monstrous man as a gesture of politeness before finally leaving.
Misty took a deep breath once they'd reached the outside, going the opposite direction of everyone else, who was headed back in to watch the final ceremonies. Ash kept talking beside her, as he had been since they'd finally convinced him to get away from the rockets. Brock occasionally commented, but Misty was silent in her shock. She'd always thought that Ash was just oblivious no matter how much she'd explained things to him, but here he was, recounting everything that had happened to them with Team Rocket, and how the Viridian Gym leader was the rocket boss was Giovanni, the man he'd just been shouting at, who completely deserved that, and worse. Ash had completely absorbed everything he'd told her. He'd known, or at least now knew, what was behind what had happened with Team Rocket at various locations around Kanto. And now he'd just made more of a scene about it than Misty herself ever had, in front of a crowd much larger than the few gym leaders she'd confronted the rocket boss in front of.
Ash himself compared Misty's previous experience to his just now, recalling the story Misty thought he'd just zoned out and ignored whenever she'd talked about it. "I'm just doing what Misty did with all the gym leaders," he said. "Everyone's gotta know he's wrong, all the rocket people are bad, right?" the younger boy reasoned. "Then we can all do something about it."
"Just saying something by itself isn't enough to convince others," Brock pointed out, sighing as he leaned against the wall. "You weren't convinced Jessie and James didn't work for him just because he said so, right? Anyone can lie."
"But I'm not lying!" Ash insisted.
"I know that. Misty does too," Brock continued, folding his arms as he glanced her way. "That doesn't mean just everyone listening will or even should believe you. You questioned what Misty told you before you knew the truth, and you'll be questioned too. You can't just go and 'call out' someone in public and expect anything productive to come from that."
"I guess it's safer than private," Misty muttered, feeling embarrassment at the memory of her own 'call out'.
Ash scowled at Brock's reasonable conclusion. "I just thought if he was gonna hurt people, he should get hurt too," the younger boy said.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu called loudly in seeming agreement.
"I don't want to hurt him," Misty said. She frowned and closed her eyes as Ash looked her way in surprise. "I mean, I don't really want to hurt anyone. That's not even close to anything I ever tried to make happen. I just wish all the stuff he was doing, I mean, the stealing and threatening and everything... They can do all the rest of their stupid stuff and talk about world domination, I wish they'd stop hurting people and pokemon."
"Yeah. Me too," Ash said. His arms went to his side and he ran to the entrance again as Ritchie exited. "Hey!" Ash called. "We've gotta look. Your pokemon should be nearby."
"It hasn't been that long, so they might still be," Ritchie said. "But I guess they could have just driven away or something."
Brock shook his head. "There's few vehicles around here. Any that leave now would be noticed, maybe even run into barriers in the one road out of here. I doubt they left that way."
"So they walked?" Ash suggested.
"Maybe," Brock said.
"Let's find them!" Ash said, running to the path they'd walked up here from. He suddenly stopped. "I guess they might have gone a sneaky way," he said. "Let's split up."
"I'll go this way," Brock motioned to the main path.
"I'll go with you," Misty offered.
"And I'll look around that way," Ash said, taking out a pokeball. "Go, Pidgeot!" he threw the pokeball. "Pidgeot, look for Team Rocket. They stole Ritchie's pokemon!"
Ritchie and Ash separated from Brock and Misty, wandering around the various venues. Looking from the air had worked for them the last time. Ritchie's hand had gone to get Gale's pokeball by habit once Ash had released his pidgeot, but of course, the pokemon's absence was why they were looking for the rockets in the first place. Finding them seemed like a long shot, but Ash had managed to do so the last time the rockets had stolen Ritchie's pokemon.
Pidgeot came back quicker than expected. "Pidgeot!" it called out energetically, turning away from the venues.
"I guess it found them," Ash said.
Before Ritchie could ask if they should get Brock and Misty, or maybe even contact the police, Ash was running in the indicated direction, Pikachu following. Pidgeot flew up and led the way. Ritchie decided not to hesitate, following his friend despite any apprehension he felt.
The large shape of a meowth face poked up from between two trees. Getting closer, they could see it was a hot air balloon. The two Team Rocket affiliated humans, in uniform even, stood to the side, their faces showing some surprise at the appearance of the two boys. "So, you've found us," James said, giggling with amusement as he smirked confidently.
"Yeah, what do you think you two twerps can do?" Meowth said with a laugh. "We're on our way outta here!"
"Pidgeot, use quick attack on that thing!" Ash said, pointing to the balloon.
"Pidgeot!" the pokemon called before following the order. Afterward, the item began to deflate, becoming useless as a method of transport.
"That makes things more difficult," Jessie said irritably. "Let's get ready to go," she said.
"Go, Koffing!" James shouted. "Smoke screen!"
"Koffing!" the pokemon called. Its technique indeed obscured the area, though not as well as when previously used indoors. Ash and Ritchie, along with the pokemon, were still able to easily dodge through the trees and pursue the thieves.
"Pikachu, thundershock!" Ash shouted, pointing to Koffing.
"Pika, CHUU!" Pikachu called, soon knocking out the pokemon.
"Koffing, I'm sorry," James said, reaching for his pokeball as he adjusted the bag he held. Ash ran forward, trying to take the bag. James dodged his attempt, swinging the item over to Meowth. "Get out of here!" he shouted.
"Got it," Meowth tried its best to run while holding the cumbersome sack.
"Pikachu, hurry! Thundershock!" Ash shouted.
Pikachu again completed the powerful technique, instantly knocking out the feline pokemon. "Pikachu!" Pikachu called, hopping and nudging the bag.
Ash was able to grab it before Jessie or James, then threw it to Ritchie. "Get out," he said, then turned to Jessie and James. "You guys are done."
"As if we can't take on a kid like that," Jessie said, trying to run after the departing league winner. Before he could, Charizard was released, blocking her way. The pokemon roared, taking a battle ready stance as Ash released his other three.
"You want to try and take me on?" the young boy challenged. "I'll win!"
"Pikachu!" Pikachu agreed, ready for a battle, though one against Jessie and James's remaining three pokemon would be one-sided with it alone, forget with everyone else.
Jessie took several steps back. "Stupid brat acting tough," she said, though her body language showed she was looking for an escape.
"Let's go," James said seriously, turning the direction the pokemon hadn't blocked. "We don't want to be caught. And it's a partial success. We've still got the others from before."
"The other pokemon?" Ash said. The answer was obvious. "You'd better tell me where the other pokemon you stole are!"
"I'm sure they're already back at headquarters, with our allies," Jessie informed.
"Why don't you go find us there?" James suggested with a smile.
"Yes, please do," Jessie invited. "If you can find it, that is. It's a closely guarded secret, locking away Team Rocket's pokemon and secrets from any nosy visitors or prying eyes."
"Even with Pikachu, I believe you'd find quite a challenge our with everyone else around." James said, smirking at Ash as he posed next to Jessie, the action enough to put them back to back as they both looked forward, eyeing their enemy's pokemon. "We have quite a sufficient selection of powerful pokemon trained and ready."
"Completely correct. We'd wipe the floor with your entire team," Jessie added, then tittering with her own amusement as she struck her own pose. "Not that you'd ever find the ingenious location of our secret headquarters," she completed. After they'd finished mocking Ash, James relaxed his stance and stepped forward, keeping his eye on Ash's intimidating but unmoving team as he picked up the still unconscious Meowth. The rocket group then left, in plain sight of their adversary. Ash took a single step forward with a strong consideration to actually follow them. He eventually just returned his pokemon to their pokeballs, headed instead back toward the main venue.
When Ritchie returned, there was an officer ready to question him about what had happened. He explained the situation the best he could, leaving out the confrontation with Giovanni. That really had nothing to do with the current situation, and would just antagonize the criminals to mention. Inside the bag he'd recovered was his and Assunta's pokeballs. Those of the opponents they'd defeated that morning weren't there. Ritchie soon found out there were others that had dropped their pokemon off this morning, which were also missing. Putting his pokeballs back in their places in his pockets, Ritchie realized just how lucky he'd gotten, again thanks to Ash.
As Ritchie finished telling the story, Giovanni showed up, several serious-looking uniformed men by his side. Ritchie tensed up. He didn't want to say anything about specific rockets like their boss with no proof, but here the guilty party had come forward on his own. "Good afternoon, officer," Giovanni greeted with a nod. "My agents had been tracking those imposters. We easily found them. Thanks to our efforts, we recovered the pokemon stolen this morning," he informed. The two uniformed rocket grunts each held out a metal briefcase, opening them to reveal many pokeballs. "I believe you'll find every missing pokemon here."
Several trainers who had thought their pokemon were in rocket hands for good were there, and praised Giovanni and Team Rocket at this news, even though they were the ones responsible. Maybe they didn't know the truth that Giovanni had only been giving back the pokemon he'd stolen himself, but Ritchie did. Even so, the winner of the day remained quiet as the man and his lackeys lied about what had occurred, explaining how they'd battled the so-called 'imposters' and 'counterfeits', then recovered the pokemon before the unaffiliated criminals had escaped. The trainers praised the thieving 'team' that returned the pokemon they'd collectively stolen in the first place as heroes.
When the ceremony finally started, late for anyone who had remained, Team Rocket was praised as well. Leaving it, Ritchie saw Giovanni approaching him. Did the rocket boss try and recruit all winners, or was Ritchie the exception, being from Viridian, young and therefore seeming impressionable? The reasons didn't matter much, Ritchie just wanted to avoid them. He was unable to do so as the man assisting him led him right to where the rockets were standing. There did seem to be no other place to get to their destination backstage. "Are you feeling relieved now that your pokemon have been recovered?" Giovanni asked.
"Yes, thank you," Ritchie said. He ought to say something else, or push past them or something, make them pay for what they'd even attempted to do, but he remained still.
"Good, now you have time to consider my offer," Giovanni said.
"To join Team Rocket? I won't be able to." At least Ritchie was able to say that much without hesitation.
"I see," Giovanni narrowed his eyes before he tried to smile, though it seemed more like a smirk. "I understand it's all sudden. You're still young with much to do in the battle circuit, I'm sure. Know that my offer is still open in the years to come."
"Thank you, sir," Ritchie replied, feeling some relief that the conversation seemed to be over. However, once the rockets were behind him, he thought of how little he'd done that day, and felt compelled to at least say something. "There's something I'm wondering about Team Rocket."
"What's that?"
As Ritchie turned around, he noted Giovanni, along with all the other uniformed rockets, staring at him. The boy looked to the ground a few seconds before managing to meet Giovanni's eyes. "Why do you have your 'counterfeits' call themselves Team Rocket instead of another alias?"
Though there were no direct accusations as Ash had shouted, Ritchie's composed question had a lot of 'dangerous' implications that there was no way the criminal group in front of him could miss. Though the rocket grunts tensed in response to it, Giovanni seemed to genuinely smile. "Though we can't be completely open now, we can't have an alias taking credit for our operations when we're in power," he explained.
"Oh." Ritchie's eyes widened. His question had been rather impulsive, so he hadn't thought about how the rocket boss might respond. It seemed he had no problem with tacitly admitting to the truth behind his organization, at least to Ritchie here in semi-private. Of course, if Ritchie were to accept the offer to join, he'd have known the truth eventually, mostly likely.
"We'll speak again," Giovanni said with a nod before turning again and wandering toward the venue's exit.
After the rushed final ceremonies, plenty others wanted to talk to Ritchie, but he eventually was able to leave as well. After sneaking out, trying not to be noticed by anyone further, he spotted Ash and his friends outside, playing with all of their pokemon. Someone had a bubble wand, and the various water types all made their own benign bubbles, and chased them energetically. Pikachu laughed while popping the bubbles, then hopping up each of the parts of Onix's stone body. A few others slept to the side of the large pokemon. "Hey, Ash!" Ritchie greeted.
"Ritchie!" Ash ran over. "We've been waiting for you."
Though his friend ran, Ritchie was only able to walk, slowing before he finally sat on the bench. He sighed in his exhaustion. Between his two battles, having his pokemon stolen, having to deal with the criminals behind the action several times, and then everything that went along with actually winning the whole thing, it had been a long day. "Were people talking to you about how Team Rocket gave back all the pokemon?" Ash said.
"Yeah, not that they admitted to ever stealing them," Ritchie said.
"They're really bad... I think now that the league's over, I want to fight them," Ash said.
"Pikachu?" Pikachu questioned, peeking its head up at Ash.
Ritchie patted the pokemon before taking out Sparky's pokeball, releasing it. As the two pikachu greeted each other energetically and ran off to play together, Ritchie turned to Ash. "Would you really?" he asked.
"Yeah! We can punish them and shut them down!" Ash said, clenching his fists.
"If you're doing that, then I want to help," Ritchie said.
"Let's do it! I can't do it alone, but we can gather all kinds of trainers together and just shut them down!" The excitement in Ash's voice increased as he talked about their makeshift heroic plan.
Before they could continue, Misty landed a fist on top of Ash's head, mock punching him several times. But the gesture wasn't limited to him, she soon did the same to Ritchie's head. "You two need to cool down," she said. "There's no reason for you all to run in and get hurt. Especially since I've been working with Erika to do something about Team Rocket for months now." Misty folded her arms, but still smiled with satisfaction. "We're going to, too. Diplomatically. No fighting. Just beating them in a bunch of pokemon battles won't do much anyway."
"With Erika? You mean from Celadon?" Ritchie asked. Misty nodded. "What are you going to do?"
"I'll let you know once we've done it," Misty said. "You two don't need to worry about it at all. Just keep training, don't think about starting something that'll just make a mess."
"Okay," Ash said, adjusting his hat from where Misty had displaced it. He then grinned. "I bet Erika can beat up Team Rocket anyway."
"Ash, come on!" Misty exclaimed, again playfully displacing his hat with her fist. "We were just talking about diplomacy. Maybe you don't know what that means?"
"Something boring," Ash explained as he stood up, again adjusting his hat. "It means you're not going to battle at all or something, right?" he guessed.
"Pretty much. At least not to meet the goal of disrupting Team Rocket," Misty said.
"So you're gonna stop them from everything? Good," Ash said. "That means you and I can just keep training!" he said to Ritchie with a grin, then turned back to Misty. "But if you ever need to battle, or any kind of fight, then I'll do it. Okay?"
"Sure. Thanks, Ash. Yeah, you keep training and getting stronger. Maybe you'll win next year." Misty nodded at her friend to encourage him. Ash nodded back before joining his squirtle in popping various bubbles. Misty turned to Ritchie. "And congrats to you for winning this year!" she said. "I don't think I really got to say that earlier, with all the Team Rocket stuff."
"Yeah, thanks," Ritchie said. "And I'll help too, you know. If you need someone who can battle." He glanced at Ash, hoping he didn't seem like a hanger-on. The desire to help was genuine, even if the other boy had offered it first.
"Thanks!" Misty exclaimed. "So, what will you be up to now?"
"People always want the last league winner to do exhibition matches," Ritchie began. "And I have some rematches for people from the league, too. What about you?"
"Um..." Misty paused as she sat on the bench, swinging her legs up. She stared toward where Staryu and Starmie were playing. The two star shaped pokemon competed with a playful form of their 'bubble beam' technique, seeming to see which of them could be more showy and plentiful with the bubbles as the pokemon along with Ash cheered them on below. "Well, I promised my sisters I'd run the gym for the rest of the season at least, after the league. They want to go on a cruise or something... I guess it's fair, since I've been traveling everywhere while they take care at home. So I've got that, and then what I talked about before with Team Rocket. Don't worry about that, though." Misty winked, a grin on her face. She called to Brock, who stood near the pokemon, watching them as he put his leftover pokemon food back in his backpack. "What are you doing now that we're done traveling with Ash through the gyms and the league?" she asked.
Brock looked from the pokemon's display over to Misty. "I'll help my dad out a little this summer with the gym, too. But just enough that he doesn't get burned out. Mainly I'm going to work on my certification as a pokemon breeder. And then, of course, there's Erika's plan."
"Hehe. Benissimo. That'll be fun." Misty giggled. "Oh yeah, and our moms are gonna be home... Maybe. I won't count on her to show up, but that would keep me company."
"Yeah, we'll see," Brock said.
"I'll come visit. I mean, if that's okay with you," Ritchie offered.
"Sure, stop by the gym any time," Misty replied.
Ash hopped backward as a bubble popped near his face before looking back to his friends. "I'm visiting too," he declared.
"Are you gonna bring me a new bike now that you're getting some money from your league winnings?" Misty asked, scowling and folding her arms.
"Oh, yeah," Ash said as if he'd just recalled. "Is that a lot of money?"
"I showed you how much it was! Don't you remember?"
Brock just laughed, getting his backpack ready as the conversation continued. With the curtain drawn on the league, Ritchie separated from the group, Ash and his friends all heading back to their homes or other travels now that the major excitement of the year was over. Hopefully, Misty's promise of a solution with diplomacy would work. It was good there were still plenty of people going against them, even if Ritchie himself cowered at the group.
End note: This ends the league, but of course, there's more to come. Get ready for the after league story which much of the rest has been building toward. Things do get intense.
Next chapter: Ash vs. Gary