Hi there, readers! And, for those of you reading this for the second time, hi again! Well, I'm finally back from Yellowstone, which I suppose means I should get working on the rest of this story! Let me first say, however, that Yellowstone was AWESOME, and that anyone who hasn't gone there before should book a flight immediately after reading this. Dying without going to Yellowstone is like dying a virgin. Also, thanks for all the "Happy Birthday"s! I really appreciate it! =D
Well, enough of this! Onto the next chapter!
_
Chapter 4
Skyler led Ash inside. Once Ash saw the inside of the building, he was a little surprised at how nice it looked when compared to the outside. While the outside had seemed completely abandoned, the inside looked like a team of maids had just finished up.
Ash was standing in what looked like a family's living room, with two couches forming a corner in front of a big-screen TV, with a coffee table dividing them. The carpet was white, as were the walls and ceiling, and the whole room seemed freshly vacuumed and dusted.
Ash began to wonder why the outside was not like this. Seeming to read Ash's mind, Skyler told him, "The outside is just to stop people from coming inside. This room is so that if anyone does get in, they won't consider it anything important. The only reason it's so clean is that we hardly ever actually use it for anything more than entering and exiting.
Ash then noticed that both couches were occupied. The five people all seemed to be teenagers, ranging from ages 14 to 17. Skyler introduced Ash to each of them, informing him of which pokémon they had the DNA of, and what they did for the team.
"Shayna," he said, gesturing to the same beautiful girl Ash had met earlier, "I believe you have already met. She may have told you that she is part Kirlia, making her psychic. She helps us out by teleporting people, and can also see into people's minds and figure out some of what Team Rocket is up to." Shayna waved at Ash and smiled, causing him to blush.
"Stacy," Skyler continued, gesturing to a cheerful-looking girl with curly blonde hair and a baseball cap, "Is part Dragonair. She happens to be fairly smart, so she helps me out with security and thinking up plans." Stacy smiled at Ash in a way that reminded him slightly of Misty.
"Mark," Skyler continued, gesturing to the same Mark from the night before, "I believe you have also met. He is part Gengar, and helps us out by sneaking into Team Rocket buildings invisible and stealing documents." Ash examined Mark's expression. He looked like a kid who had been dragged to some mother-son dance, and was not liking it one bit. Then again, Ash seemed to remember Mark always looking that way. He did not exactly come across as a happy person.
"Diana-" Skyler said, and then paused when he realized he was gesturing to...Ash?
"What the hell!" Ash said, staring at himself sitting on the couch It was the same face, same clothes, even the exact same hat.
"What? Who are you?" The other Ash said, in the same voice, standing up.
"Who am I? Who are you?"
"I'm Ash Ketchum!"
"No, you can't be Ash Ketchum, I'm Ash Ketchum!"
The other Ash was about to say something when Skyler cut in. "Nice try, Diana," he said, looking at the other Ash, who pouted at him.
"Dammit!" The other Ash said. Ash nearly fell over in shock at what happened next. The other Ash's body seemed to melt away, even the clothes. Ash simply stared, until finally there was only one Ash in the room. Standing in front of that one Ash was a tall, slim girl with pink hair and eyes, dressed in a red mini-skirt and white blouse.
"It was the eyes, wasn't it?" She said, now in a high-pitched, feminine voice. "I can never get the eyes right!"
"Well, you'll learn in time," Skyler said, then turned to Ash, who was beginning to understand the situation a bit. "Ash," he explained, "this is Diana. She is part Ditto. She helps out by transforming into Team Rocket members and trying to get information from other employees. Diana turned to Ash and looked him up and down, like a drill sergeant examining a new recruit.
"You're kinda cute," she said, winking at Ash and making him blush. Skyler then gestured to the final team member.
"And last, but definitely not least," he said (Ash thought he heard Mark mutter "That's a matter of opinion"), "is Trenton!" Trenton smiled and waved at Ash. He had medium-length, messy, navy blue hair, most of which was covered by a black top hat. His eyes were bright red, and his pupils white.
"Trenton is part Murkrow," Skyler said. "You'll get to know him better if you join the team, since he's in charge of training new members. When he's not doing that, he runs various errands, such as getting snacks and supplies. Also, if you have any questions about anything, you can just go to him, since I'm busy a lot of the time."
"So," Skyler said, turning to Ash, "have you decided to join?"
"I think so," Ash said.
"Alright then, you're in!" Skyler said. "No contracts or anything for you to sign-after all, this is supposed to be top secret! And, of course, now that you've joined, we have another person to introduce!"
Skyler moved Ash so that he was in full, clear view of everyone, causing him to blush slightly. "Everyone," Skyler announced, "this is Ash Ketchum, the newest addition to this team! he is part pikachu, and will be helping us by hacking into the Team Rocket computers and seeing what kind of dirt we can dig up there!"
Trenton began to clap but, when he noticed that nobody else was doing so, slowed down and stopped. After a couple seconds of silence, he said, "Well, I just assumed that everyone else would clap…you know, cause it…it seemed like the appropriate thing to do…" Still, there was silence. Trenton fidgeted a bit and the spoke again. "Awkward…okay, change the subject, change the subject, um…er…anyone wanna talk about STDs?"
Mark facepalmed.
"Okay, mental note," Trenton said, "think of new subjects. Um…okay…well, then…I…suppose we'd better get you to training, huh, Ash?"
Ash simply nodded, and Trenton stood up, leading Ash upstairs into a room that looked like it had once been an attic. There were different stations set up for different types of training. Trenton led Ash over to a station at the far side of the room that was basically nothing but a basket of tennis balls.
"Okay," Trenton said, standing next to the basket, "just stand right there, across from me. We'll start out by looking you up on the pokedex."
"You have a pokedex?" Ash said, a little surprised.
"Of course," Trenton said, pulling out a black pokedex from his pocket, "we all do. Now, you're part pikachu, right?" Trenton opened up the pokedex and pressed a few buttons. "According to this thing, all you're electricity is stored in those little patches on your cheeks. In other words, don't let anyone kiss you on the cheek. It also says that pikachu have to constantly discharge energy from their tails in order to keep themselves from shorting out, but since you're part human, that shouldn't be a problem. It also says you're one of the fastest pokémon out there." Trenton smirked.
"We'll see about that," he said, taking out a tennis ball from the basket. He tossed it back and forth between his hands a few times and then, without warning, pelted it straight at Ash's face. Ash expected to feel a sharp pain to his nose, but instead felt himself catch the ball. He stared at the tennis ball in his hands. He had no idea he could move that fast. Then another ball came at him, which he caught with his other hand.
"I guess you really are fast!" Trenton said, grinning. Ash stared at him. "What?" Trenton said.
"Dude!" Ash yelled. "Ball! Face! What if you had been wrong!"
"You would have been hit in the face with a tennis ball, which would have been hilarious," Trenton said, as if this were obvious, which it sort of was. "Now come on, catch some more!" Trenton said, picking up another tennis ball and pelting it at Ash, who dropped the two he was holding and caught it, then another.
"Not bad!" Trenton said. "Seems like this is just instinct for you!"
"I guess," Ash said. He continued catching tennis balls that were thrown at him. Then he began to feel something strange in his cheeks. A weird sort of tingle. It grew more and more intense until finally, when yet another tennis ball was flying at Ash, huge amounts of electric bolts burst from his cheeks, frying both the ball and part of the wall he was next to. After a couple seconds it stopped. Ash looked around, expecting Trenton to be shocked. Instead, he was simply smiling.
"You're body is still getting used to all this electric energy," he said, "so that'll probably happen from time to time. But don't worry, it should stop after a couple days, but until then, I wouldn't spend too much time out in public. I'm a master at lying, and even I can't think of a good excuse for that."
"But…what happens if I accidentally zap someone or something?"
"Then hopefully it'll do something to their brain so they won't remember. Don't worry, you won't kill them or anything-like I said before, you're only part pikachu, and even full pikachus don't usually kill people unless they're really trying."
"Trenton…" Ash had just remembered how persistent Misty tended to be at figuring out something she didn't know. "What happens when people do find this place?"
"What, you mean people who aren't in the group? Depends. Mark sometimes does look-out, and he usually threatens to call the cops if they don't leave. If they come back, he threatens to kill them."
"What if they come back again?"
"Well, Mark isn't the type of person to make empty threats."
_
And that's the end of this chapter! By the way, just so you guys know, I'm planning to make this into my first trilogy! Yup, I'm gonna end this story and its sequel with a cliffhanger, and then finish it all off in the last story. I can't say much without giving stuff away, but I can say this: the stories will all be connected. I'm planning to make the first and second about the team of Pokemen, and the third one about…well, something different. =D
Anyway, please review and stuff!