Yay! I updated earlier this time! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or, unfortunately, the BlackBerry phones.
Previously….
Meowth slowly approached us, a grimace on his cat-like features.
"Welcome aboard."
Ash POV
The balloon was nicer than I'd expected, actually. There were makeshift beds in one corner, a pot over a fire for cooking, and the engine in the middle.
"We're making soup," James said, and knelt down to stir something that was brewing in the pot. We set our backpacks on the basket floor and sat down. We started heading north towards the Tree of Beginning after we'd told them were we were headed. Meowth joined us and began to groom his fur.
"Ya know, I'm kind of glad you're here, even though we're supposed to be enemies," Meowth said.
"Why?" Brock questioned.
"Well, I've bin kinda lonely, ya know, now dat Jess and Jimmy are together," Meowth said with a sigh.
"WHAT?" we yelled in horror. Even Paul looked surprised!
"As in, like, boyfriend and girlfriend?" Dawn spluttered.
"Yeah," Meowth nodded sadly. I might've felt bad for him, if I wasn't so creeped out!
"B-But I thought he was GAY!" I screamed.
"We all did," Meowth agreed. Paul patted my arm in mock comfort.
"Well, maybe this relationship didn't work out, but there's plenty of other guys out there," he chuckled, Dawn joining him in laughter. I gave them the death glare, which caused Dawn to immediately stop, but had no such effect on Paul. We looked over at the "couple," and sure enough, they were steering the balloon while holding hands and giggling.
"Hey guys, how close are we to da Tree of Beginning?" Meowth asked. No response.
"Guys?" Whatever they were discussing, they must have been into it.
"Ya guys!" Meowth screamed, whipping out his claws. Jessie and James turned their heads.
"What?" they asked, annoyed. Meowth looked hurt.
"How close are we?" he said softly. Jessie pointed forward. We all scrambled to our feet and looked for what he was gesturing to. If I squinted, I could fairly make out a massive green tree in the distance- the Tree of Beginning!
"We'll be there in about half and hour," James said as he brought over seven steaming bowls of soup. I hungrily dug in, and it surprisingly wasn't all that bad!
"Who made the soup?" I said between gulps, so it actually sounded like, "foo mate du shooop?"
"I did," James said proudly.
"Of course he did," Paul muttered under his breath.
"Well," Paul started, "Maybe if you ever decide to quit that hellhole you call a job, then you might be able to get a decent cooking job." We all stared at Paul with murderous expressions, then reluctantly turned to James, expecting him to burst into tears. Surprisingly, his green eyes were filled with a dreamy faraway look, and a giddy grin spread across his face.
"Actually, my dream is to be a fashion designer!" he announced, his eyes sparkling.
"Big shocker," Paul mumbled.
"Yep! We're going to be the greatest designers the world has ever known," Jessie agreed, squeezing his hand lovingly. Paul stuck his finger in his mouth and made gagging noises.
"Here they go again…." Meowth complained.
"I heard that!" James yelled. He gasped as though a great thought occurred to him.
"Meowth! You could be our personal stylist! And you could even be our little mannequin, you know, try on all our designs and such..." James babbled on.
"As long as dere's sometin' in it for Meowth!" the cat grumbled. I studied the joyful man with disbelief.
"Are you sure you're not gay?" I demanded before I could stop myself.
"Poor Ash," Paul sobbed mockingly. "He was so sure James would be the one…*hic*…he's even going into denial…it's s-so…..touching…" he continued until he started another round of fake sobs. By now, Dawn and Brock were rolling on the floor cackling at Paul's crude humor. Even Jessie and James had to crack a smile. I rolled my eyes.
"Come on, you guys! I mean, look at him! He has purple hair! How much more gay can you get?" I screamed.
"Actually, it's periwinkle," James stated matter-of-factly, running his hands through his "periwinkle" hair. I looked helplessly at Paul, Dawn, and Brock, who stared back with perplexed faces.
"Oh, now you decide to play stupid," I said, exasperated. Dawn's head shot up.
"What?" she said worriedly.
"Nothing," I waved my hand dismissively, and resumed back to eating my soup.
"So why are you trying to find Mew?" Meowth questioned. I silently thanked him for changing the subject.
"We need her help. Arceus has awakened, and he's all mad because the humans have taken over the world or something, so his solution is to just completely destroy the world and build a new one," Brock explained.
"Mew and Arceus created the world, so we hope she will know what to do," Dawn added. Team Rocket nodded, like crazed psycho Pokemon destroying the world was an everyday occurrence.
"Speaking of the Tree, there it is now!" Jessie rose to her feet and began to steer the balloon towards the ground. We scrambled to our feet and strained to see the ancient Tree. As we neared the ground, the majestic Tree came into view. It stood tall and mighty against a pale blue sky, its lush green leaves seeming to stretch out for miles. Although I'd seen it before, I was awed. There was really nothing else like it. As soon as the basket came in contact with the ground, Dawn, Paul, Brock and I stood up and were about to disembark, but Meowth stopped us. He leaned in close and motioned for us to do the same.
"Er, do ya think dat maybe I can go wit you guys? Please? I'm sick of dem excluding me," the cat pleaded. Compassion filled Brock's face, and he looked at us for reassurance.
"We'd love for you to come, and you'd be a great translator if we're talking to wild Pokemon," Brock started, his voice uneasy. "But, er, I don't think we should leave those two alone, if you know what I'm saying." Brock gestured to the couple, and as if to prove his point, they were giggling and whispering things in each other's ears.
"But…..what would they do?" Dawn questioned, her face genuinely puzzled. Brock, Paul, and I looked at each other slowly and laughed nervously.
"Idiotic girl," Paul muttered. "Even Ash gets it!"
"Hey, thanks!" I said. Then I realized the hidden meaning of Paul's remark. "Wait…HEY!" Brock rolled his eyes.
"You guys, could you stop the bickering for a while? We gotta get a move on," Brock pressed. With final glares at Paul, Dawn and I agreed with Brock. We said goodbye to Jessie and James, who I could tell just couldn't wait for us to leave. Brock must have seen this also, because I noticed him sharing a knowing glance with Meowth, who nodded half-enthusiastically.
With one last glance at our temporary allies, we started towards the massive trunk of the Tree. A jagged hole was the entrance, which I easily slipped through and the others followed. As I entered the tree, I was immediately engulfed in light. Everything was so bright. We gaped blindly up at the ceiling, which was barely visible. Right in front of us was a translucent bridge made of a crystal-like material. It lead up to an entrance in the side of the Tree, where another bridge went to an opening on the other side, and another to the other side, and another, and another….. There were seven bridges in all, and at the top there was one single entrance right smack in the middle of the massive trunk.
"If I remember correctly, all those side entrances just lead to random tunnels and forests. Mew's lives in the top," Brock's voice rang through the silence.
"So how do we get up there?" Dawn questioned.
"We climb," Paul said simply. Dawn's panicked eyes nearly left her head.
"WHAT?" she shrieked. "I can't climb all the way up there!" Dawn jabbed her finger toward the ceiling in protest.
"You can. And you WILL," said Paul flatly.
"Oh, you guys are such wimps," I declared. I, for one, was up for the adventure, and the chance at beating Paul at something. I eagerly marched over to the crystal structure and began to climb. Paul followed, but it took Dawn a lot more convincing.
Five bridges and two Dawn temper tantrums later, I was seriously doubting my fearless behavior just a few minutes ago. I looked down, and instantly regretted it as my stomach swam and my eyesight became blurry. It was…a long way down.
I breathed in and out slowly and was almost calmed down when Dawn let out an ear shattering scream. I whipped my head around and the scene before me almost caused me to lose my grip and fall myself. Dawn was dangling from the bridge, holding on to dear life with just her arms keeping her from plunging to the ground hundreds of feet below. Her face was scrunched up and she was holding tightly, but I knew she couldn't hold forever. I was in front of Brock, but he was too far ahead as well. Paul was the only one who could save her.
"Paul, you need to-" I said as loud as I could without losing my balance.
"Torterra, Vine Whip my waist!" Paul had his pokeball out and had thrown it into the air so fast I barely knew what had happened. At the speed of light, it seemed, the massive treelike Pokemon emerged out of its pokeball and had wrapped its sturdy vines around Paul's torso. He quickly scrambled towards Dawn.
"I'm slipping!" she cried.
"Don't!" Paul ordered. Within seconds he had reached the blunette and had grasped her hand.
"Hold on!" he shouted. She could do nothing but nod with fear. He quickly lurched backward and pulled Dawn easily with him.
They sat for a few moments, panting and trying to catch their breath and balance. I noticed with a smirk that Dawn's hand was still intertwined tightly with Paul's, but Paul made no move to remove it. Hmmm…I'd definitely have to confront him about this later.
"T-thank you, Paul," Dawn stuttered breathlessly. "For saving my life."
"Troublesome," Paul smirked. Dawn looked about to retort, but then just smiled and shook her head. I guess she was right, I mean, she did kinda owe it to him. The two must have suddenly realized that they were still holding hands, because a look of terror and….what was it….a blush?…..filled Paul's face as he jerked his hand away. Blackmail, here I come.
After that little incident, we managed to make it up to the top without any other major problems. We entered the last hole, and were forced to adjust our eyes to the darkness, which contrasted with the light-filled place we just exited. When my eyes focused, I could see little specs of light and a lot of light further away. We were in a long and narrow dirt tunnel. Little blue clusters of crystal poked out of the walls and ceiling. (A/N: Think of the tunnel in the Lucario and the Mystery of Mew movie where they all got swallowed by those jelly-ish thingies.)
"Wow…" Dawn breathed in amazement.
"That light up there has got to be where Mew is," I said. "Let's go!" We ran the rest of the way and through the opening.
"WOAHHH!" we all said, as we were engulfed in light again. We were standing on a grassy ledge in a huge forest that seemed to go on forever in all directions. To our right crystal clear water cascaded over a waterfall into a blue river that weaved through the whole place. Little patches of land were everywhere there wasn't water, and from them sprouted plentiful berry trees. There were Goldeen in the water, Aipom in the trees, Espeon sunbathing at the water's edge- Every type of Pokemon lived in this tropical paradise.
"Hey, look at those two Ponyta fighting," I observed to the group. Brock, Dawn, and Paul looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"Umm, Ash-"*splutter*-…."They're not fighting," Brock said, his voice quivering with laughter.
"What?" I demanded. Was this some kind of inside joke? "Then what are they-" I was forced to look away from the Ponyta's "activities" as I realized with disgust what they were doing.
"Oh…" was all I could say. Dawn and Paul were shaking their heads in amusement, but Brock finally found the decency to help me out.
"Well, we should try to find Mew." he changed the subject.
"MEW!"
"MEW!" we shouted.
"Wait, what's that?" Dawn pointed to a little flash of pink flitting through the sky.
"That's got to be Mew!" I said triumphantly. "MEW!" we screamed. The figure came closer so I could see its catlike features.
"Ice cream! Ice cream!" Mew yelled in a sweet voice. She approached us and I could see her clearly now, the excitement in her baby blue eyes. The pink Pokemon had the ears, face, and body of a cat, a round nose, and big floppy feet. Her tail swung carelessly in the air while her body stayed still, like it had a mind of its own.
"Ice cre-wait, you're not the ice cream man!" Mew said, her head cocked to the side.
"Uh, no," I said, baffled. "We came to talk-"
"Oh, you're just that kid who saved the world like ten times," she interrupted, disappointed.
"Twelve," I corrected, "But anyways, we have to ask….Mew? MEW?" Mew began to do flips in the air, totally disregarding all of us.
"Mew!" I shouted. I kind of understood Arceus's problem- she had the attention span OF A SQUIRREL!
"What?" she stopped, annoyed.
"We need to talk to you," Paul said urgently, obviously as aggravated as I was, "The-"
"HEY!" Mew cried at me, looking around frantically. "Where's your girlfriend?"
"What?" we screamed.
"Ash could never get a girlfriend!" Paul's voice broke through the peaceful atmosphere and startled a few Pokemon. I shot him a glare.
"What 'girlfriend'? I asked, although I had a pretty good idea exactly who she was talking about.
"You know, the one who was traveling with you last time," she said impatiently.
"May?" I said with horror. Well, May's a great friend and all, but she's just…..not right. Way too young.
"No, no, May had her eyes on that snotty grasshead. Uhhh…you know…the one who was with you a long time ago…when I was fighting with Mewtwo," she said. I was almost certain I knew, but I decided to just act innocent and maybe she'd give up. I looked at Paul, who looked like he could care less, but was secretly interested. Dawn was waiting eagerly, and I knew she'd have a string of questions later. But then I saw Brock, and the knowing smirk he was giving me said that if I didn't spill, he would, and with a lot more details.
"Ooooh! The redhead!" Mew remembered.
Yep, my guess was proved correct. Misty.
I felt a pang of guilt and…..something else….overcome me as I remembered my best friend. I recalled the day we had to split up as one of the worst of my life. I had left someone so special to me…a person who I could tell anything to-regardless of whether she'd pound me with her mallet or not. I'd promised to keep in touch, but I was just so busy with my journey, I rarely called. I thought of all of my closest friends and family, and how all their lives would be in danger. I reached into my pocket and felt the soft, worn cloth of the handkerchief Misty had given me so long ago. If I never saw her again, I'd always have this little piece of her. A horrible feeling of pain shook me when I even thought of never seeing her again. I'll find you, Misty. There's no way I'm letting Arceus take you.
Suddenly, Dawn's squeals brought me out of my thoughts.
"You had a GIRLFRIEND?" she said dreamily. Millions of hearts filled her eyes. I shook my head aggressively.
"She's NOT my girlfriend," I said firmly. Why did everyone say that?
"Oh, so she was before," Dawn concluded. Brock snorted with laughter.
"NO!" I screamed. "Mew, listen to us, this is serious." I attempted to change the subject.
Mew huffed.
"Fine," she agreed. "But make it quick, because the ice cream man should be here any minu-"
"Listen," Paul interjected coldly. "Arceus has awakened. He's angry, and he's gonna rip apart the universe because you supposedly led the humans to wreck the world."
A serious aura replaced Mew's playful one immediately.
"He's traveling around the Pokemon world, convincing the legendaries to join him in destroying the world. And, more importantly, you." I finished. Mew gasped.
"That's terrible! We have to do something!" she said. We inched a bit closer with anticipation.
"Aannnnnnnd…what would that be?" Dawn coaxed slowly. Mew scratched her head thoughtfully and looked around.
"…..I don't know." We all groaned at the DNA Pokemon's ignorance.
"Well, could you hurry it up? It's kind of urgent, if you didn't notice," Paul snapped. Mew glared at him through her not-so-innocent-anymore blue eyes.
"Listen, kid, I could just blast you off to Arceus right now if you're that impatient," Mew said with such ferocity that Paul visibly jumped. I bit back my laughter.
"Hmmm…maybe we could…...no, that wouldn't work…uh…well…maybe….er…..I GOT IT!" Mew cried happily.
"What?" we shouted excitedly.
"It'll be very difficult, but it's the only solution. We have to fight back," Mew continued.
"Huh?" I said, perplexed.
"Well, we need to find the remaining legendaries that Arceus hasn't convinced yet, hopefully that will still be most of them. We will convince them to join our side, and when the time comes, we will face each other in a perilous battle." The forest was silent as we absorbed the shocking information.
"So, who's going to be doing all of this?" Dawn questioned.
"Us," Mew answered. "Well actually, you."
"What? Paul outbursted.
"I'm up to it," I said confidently. If it was a battle Arceus wanted, I wasn't going down without a fight.
"Pika Pika!" Pikachu agreed.
"Me too!" Dawn said enthusiastically.
"Count me in," Brock said. I smiled. My friends would always stay by my side, no matter what kind of evil we were up against. And speaking of the most evil, hideous being on the planet, we all turned expectantly to Paul.
"You're coming, right?" Dawn said. Paul snorted laughingly.
"Travel around with you people?" he scoffed. "I'd rather-"
"You will go with them," Mew said dangerously, her eyes filled with smoldering blue flames. Please burn his face off. PLEASE.
"Okay," Paul squeaked.
"So! I suggest you find some more people to help you guys, then you should split into little groups. Once you find a legendary, send them here. Once we have found each and every one, we will begin training," Mew explained cheerily.
"Mood swings much?" Paul mumbled under his breath. She shot him another dagger.
"Well, how do we know which Pokemon to find? What if Arceus has already claimed someone and we don't know about it?" Dawn said.
"I'll be keeping a close watch on them-and Arceus," Mew said. With a wave of her hand, a clear holographic image appeared in the middle of the air. It showed Arceus, flying alongside Palkia. Mew groaned.
"He's moving quicker than I thought. He's already got Palkia," Mew said angrily. She snapped her fingers, and a clipboard appeared. There were two columns, one titled Arceus and the other Mew. She snapped her fingers again, and Palkia's name appeared under Arceus, and Regice, Registeel, and Regirock's names were in the Mew column.
"Why are the Regi's there?" Brock wondered aloud.
"The three Regis are the guardians of this Tree, therefore, they are on my side," Mew said proudly.
"Oh yeah, they tried to kill me," I remembered.
"Yeah, yeah," Brock agreed.
"So, what are we even supposed to say to a Legendary?" Dawn asked. "Like, 'Oh hey, we're just some random teenagers that want you to turn against your own creator and father and join us."
Mew grinned, shaking her head.
"Just tell them what you know. And I doubt they will refuse when they hear Arceus plans to destroy the world. And tell them that their mother is in charge, and they should listen to her if they know what's good for them," Mew said so seriously I almost laughed.
"And if they want their allowance," Mew added with a smirk.
"Just do your best. We will stop Arceus. And you all will be heroes," she said it so confidently that I almost believed her.
"Oh, before I forget," Mew started. She flew over to a massive hollow tree trunk that was overflowing with little music boxes and other toys. She began rummaging loudly and finally emerged from the junk pile with a few objects in her little pink paws. She handed each of us ten small, pink lumps of plastic-a cell phone. A light pink flip phone that was a replica of Mew's face, complete with ears, bright blue eyes, and a smirking mouth.
There was no way I was going to carry this around with me. I had already been stripped of most of my manly pride-thanks to Paul, and I thoroughly intended to keep what was left of it. I saw Paul, whose horrified look made this a little better. At least Dawn loved it.
"These are just so cute!" she squealed. We tried to ignore her as Paul tried to reason with Mew.
"Why not give us at least a BlackBerry, instead of this…dinosaur!" he complained.
Mew shrugged.
"The BlackBerry doesn't do what this phone can. It's a Mew-Phone," she said, as if that would make us more accommodated to the girly piece of junk. "All you have to do is press the Dial button, state who you want to see-it must be their full name, and you will instantly be able to video chat with them on the screen! The extra phones are for any other people that decide to join you." she explained. Us guys nodded innocently, but we had other plans. I locked eyes with Brock and Paul, and I could tell we had a silent agreement: as soon as the balloon was up in the air, the Mew-Phones were going right over the edge of the basket.
"Also, you might need this. But it's for emergency use only, okay?" Mew handed us each 200 dollars. I was speechless. How stupid was she to trust a bunch of teenagers with almost a thousand bucks altogether? I grinned cheekily at the others, but put on a serious face when Mew eyed me suspiciously.
"Alright, you guys. I have to have a serious talk with the ice cream delivery service, so you'll have to leave. My ice cream was supposed to be here over half an hour ago!" Mew said angrily. We left right away because we caught a bit of the stuff she was saying to the ice cream guy, and let me tell you, I would have hated to be on the other end of that conversation. We passed by the two Ponyta, who were still going at it.
"Get a room!" I screamed while trying to shield my eyes. Dawn, Paul, and Brock just laughed and kept going.
Once we were back in the trunk of the Tree, we used our Pokemon to get to the ground quicker. (Why we didn't think to do that on the way up is beyond me…..)
When we exited the tree we saw an interesting sight. Meowth was curled up on the edge of the basket, his eyes squeezed shut and his ears plugged.
"Uh….Jessie? James?" I called. The couple emerged from the floor, their hair tousled and their faces beet red.
"Meowth!" Brock hissed. "I told you to make sure they didn't do that!"
"I'm sorry, I tried!" Meowth wailed. He leaned closer. "But dey just kept goin!" he whispered in terror.
"Wait, were they-" I trailed off. Paul nodded with a grimace.
"Oh, come on! I've already seen enough of that today!" I said.
"Team Rocket! Get the engine going. We gotta go," Paul ordered.
"Where? What's going on?" Jessie demanded. We explained what was going on.
"We want to help!" Jessie said enthusiastically. I eyed them suspiciously.
"What makes you think we should trust you?" Paul inquired.
"Well, we can't just let the world be destroyed. There'd be no one left to steal from," James said simply. (A/N: Okay, I know I stole that from Pokemon the Movie: 2000, but it just came to mind, and it fit perfectly!)
I looked at the others, and they nodded their heads in agreement.
"Alright," I said. "But one wrong move and Pikachu sends you flying back to Sinnoh!" Pikachu's cheeks sparked dangerously.
"Deal," Meowth said, glancing warily at Pikachu.
"Well, where to first?" Dawn questioned.
"Why don't we try Zapdos? He lives in the Power Plant, which is just a short distance away from Cerulean City," Brock suggested.
"Where could we go?" James said.
"Uh, maybe to the Seafoam Islands to get Articuno," I said.
"Yes! Yes!" Jessie cried happily. "James, I hear the Seafoam Islands are REALLY romantic."
I didn't understand how anyone could think frostbite and avalanches were romantic, but I just decided to keep my mouth shut. Brock gave Jessie and James Mew-Phones and showed them how to use them. Paul and I couldn't contain our laughter when we saw Jessie and James fawning over the 'cute' little phones. I cleared my throat.
"So it's settled," I announced. "Team Rocket will go to the Seafoam Islands, and you can drop us off in Cerulean City."
We sat in silence after Brock, Paul, and I had successfully chucked our phones into the starry night without more than a raised eyebrow from Dawn.
We saw the lights first. Cerulean City looked even cooler in the nighttime than in the daytime, and the balloon gave us a perfect overhead view of the twinkling lights in the night sky. We gathered our things as the balloon veered toward the ground.
"Good luck, twerps," Jessie smirked.
"You too," I said, ignoring the 'twerp' part. We hopped out of the basket and watched as the enormous Meowth face fade into the black night.
And then it hit us that we were alone, and left with nothing more than eight hundred dollars, the knowledge that our world was about to be destroyed, and eight little plastic phones.
Ooooooohhhh! They're in Cerulean City! And do you know what that means? MISTY! Yes, Misty will appear in the next chapter so I'll probably have it up pretty fast, since I love the next chapter and can't wait to type it! Yeah, that mention of Misty up there was my lame attempt at foreshadowing. And if you're wondering, that 'snotty grasshead' is Drew, if you weren't sure. I feel accomplished, I just read Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian in less than one day! I hope my description of the Tree of Beginning was realistic, I haven't seen that movie in a couple years. I'm also hoping to write a little Christmas oneshot, involving Ash, Misty, and some mistletoe. Have any ideas for it? Please R&R!
~Aqua