Two hours after the two Pallet Town trainers left Pallet Town they stopped for lunch, due to Ash's almost unquenchable hunger. Jessica said, "Alright Ash, while I set everything up can you go and find some berries so I can add them to a stir-fry?"

Ash replied, "Yeah, sure thing, any kind in particular?"

"Yeah, Oran Berries are preferential for this one."

"Alright, see you in about twenty minutes."

"Okay, see you then" Jessie called out as Ash left the clearing that they were in.

10 minutes later Ash still hadn't found any Oran berries. As he thought, 'Alright Ash, think back to when you were reading up on the various berries...what was the conditions necessary for a tree to bear Oran berries?...Okay, there were a few options, but they all involve there being a great deal of light, but the light has to be filtered somehow, which means that the best place to look would be in a forest, although since we're actually in one, that bit doesn't really matter all that much...hmm...oh right, they tend to grow closer to the northern side of the forest.' Ash then went to the closes tree and saw that there was moss growing on one side of it. Ash thought, 'Alright, we're in the northern hemisphere, so the moss grows on the northern side of the trees.' He said to the almost empty forest, "Well, here goes nothing," as he headed in the direction that the moss was telling him to go. Five minutes later Ash came upon the Oran berry tree that he had been searching for and picked some of them to use in his and Jessie's lunch.

Ten minutes later Jessie was beginning to freak out, worried for Ash's safety as it had passed the time that they had agreed on for him to return by. When he emerged from the northern side of the clearing Jessie said, "You're late!"

Ash scratched his head as he said, "Yeah, well I kind of went the wrong way in the beginning, then I had some problems finding this place again. But either way, I got the berries that you requested," as he extended a pouch filled with Oran berries.

Jessie took three out of the pouch that Ash gave her and put the rest in the satchel that she had taken with her. As she removed the third she said, "These ones will do." When she placed the remaining ones in her bag she moved to the camp table that she had set up and cut them into smaller pieces before going on to grind them into powder so she could use it as a spice. After she was done Jessie placed the ground Oran berries into a jar to keep for later use. She went over to the boiling pot and sprinkled some of the spice over it, allowing it to sink into the broth naturally. Ten minutes later she took it off the fire and placed it on a heat-proof mat on the camp table that was between two bowls on either side of the table. As she did so, behind her back a Riolu stumbled into the clearing. Ash, who had just sat down, got up from his seat like a rocket, and grabbed his bag on the way past Jessie, who asked, "Ash, what're you..." then she saw what Ash saw and rushed over there herself.

When she got there she saw Ash propping the Riolu's head up and heard him say, "Okay Riolu, I know that this is probably going to sting a little, but it will heal you." Ash then sprayed some super potion on Riolu's wounds, which made them disappear completely. When they were gone the Riolu jumped up and scooted away from Ash and backed up against a tree. Ash, not moving from his position, said in a soothing voice, "Don't worry Riolu, I'm not going to hurt you," as he reached into his bag. Riolu's eyes widened in fear, but lost their size as Ash withdrew one of the Oran berries that he hadn't given to Jessie. He threw it to the ground halfway between him and the Riolu. The Riolu hesitantly went to the food and picked it up, and sniffing it before eating it in one gulp. Ash smiled and asked, "How's that? Better?" The Riolu replied with a happy grunt before it collapsed due to exhaustion, content that the human wasn't going to hurt it like the other ones that he ran into. Ash said to Jessie, "Right, I'm going to catch Riolu for now, at least until we can get it to the Pokécentre in Pallet Town Port." Ash then reached into his bag and withdrew a Pokéball that was green with yellow and red teardrops where a normal Pokéball would be red.

Jessie widened her eyes as she exclaimed, "Ash, is that...?"

"Yeah, it's the Friend Ball that you gave me when we were seven."

"You still have it!"

"Well...yeah, of course I do, don't you still have that Heal Ball?"

Jessie blushed as she thought of what Ash had done as she had done the exact same thing. "Yeah, I brought it with me too."

Ash smiled and said, "Well then, all's good in the world," while thinking 'She kept it...Yes!' He then tapped the Riolu with his Friend Ball and it wobbled in his hand a few times before 'dinging', signifying that it was indeed captured. Ash then turned to Jessie and said, "Right, we need to finish our lunch quick-smart and then hightail it to the Pokécentre."

"Right," Jessie replied before they both returned to the table and inhaled the food before packing the cooking material into a bag and running to the Pokécentre.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When they got to the Pokécentre they ran to the front desk and, panting, Ash said, "Nurse Joy...please...Ri...lu...need...help..."

Nurse Joy said, "Alright, now just calm down and try again."

After a few deep breaths Ash said, "Alright, I just caught a Riolu in the forest, I think that it had been attacked by a Poison type Pokémon. I sprayed a Super Potion on it and gave it an Oran berry, but I don't have an Antidote, so we rushed it here."

"Thank you, you did the right thing. I'll take care of Riolu for you. Do you want me to take a look at your other Pokémon for you too?"

Jessie said, "No, there's no need, we just got them and we haven't used them in a battle or anything like that yet."

Nurse Joy said, "Well, that's fine I guess, although sometimes it is a good idea to have them checked out anyway."

"Well, you might be right. Alright I'll give you mine after you finish healing Ash's Riolu."

"Alright, I'll see you in a few minutes."

While Nurse Joy was taking care of Riolu Ash and Jessie decided to go and have some dinner at the Pokécentre's Cafeteria. Whilst they were having their dinner they heard some noise at the reception area and thought that it must be Nurse Joy finished with Riolu, so they wolfed down the rest of their dinner and went to the reception. There was no one there. Ash said, "That's strange, there's nobody here...you did hear the noise that I heard, right?"

"Yeah, I heard it too. There's something fishy going on here. We'd better be prepared for trouble."

"Yeah, you're right Jessie. We're both here so we'll be doubly prepare..."

Just then a light shone in through the clear double glass doors and in front of it stepped two people. A male voice said, "I think that that's our cue."

"Indeed you should prepare for double," a female voice said.

"And you should certainly make it double."

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

Then another, smaller, figure appeared, jumping down in between the two of them, saying, "Meowth! That's right!"

Ash and Jessica(1) thought, 'So lame!' before Ash asked, "So...who are you really?"

Jessie demanded, "didn't you hear what we just said you brat!"

Ash thought 'Father, I know that we hate each other, but did you really need to set these two lamos on us?' Ash sighed and said, "So, what are two crooks from Team Rocket doing here? Up to no good I'll be bound."

James said, "Your spot on there brat, we're here to acquire all of the Pokémon in this Pokécentre."

"Acquire? You mean steal, right?"

"Indeed we do, and there's not a thing that you can do about it."

"Oh," Ash said, raising an eyebrow, "is that so? Just why would that be I wonder?"

"Because, twerp, you are obviously a new trainer that probably just received a Pokémon with little to no battle experience. Whereas we," James said, indicating himself and Jessie, "Have Pokémon that have gone through many battles," 'even if they were just with Caterpie and Weedle,' "That's why you'll lose to us."

"Well then, why don't we find out? Deino, I choose you!" Ash called out as he threw his only Pokéball that contained a Pokémon towards the two freaks in front of him. Out of the silver light that appeared when a Pokémon comes out of their Pokéball, a blue and black Irate Dragon Pokémon materialised.

Jessie looked at James and asked, "Hey James, what's that thing?"

"Hmm...He said that it was a Deino, right?"

"Yeah he did," Meowth said, "I've never hoid of no Pokémon called Deino before."

"Hmm...I think that I've heard of it before somewhere, but where...Ah well, go Koffing!"

Ash silently evaluated James' Koffing, thinking, "Normally Koffing aren't that energetic, that stops them from excreting their gases too much, but that Koffing in front of us seems to be rather excitable. There's no telling what will happen with that thing in battle...which means that I'll need to..."

Just then, to his left Jessica drew a Pokéball and made to throw it, saying, "Come on out, Charmand...," before her arm was forcefully gripped by Ash, stopping her from calling out her starter Pokémon. She looked at Ash and demanded, "Ash Ketchum, what're you..."

"Jessie look at that Koffing, don't you think something is weird about it?"

"Well, other than the colour of the Skull 'n' Cross Bones on its chest, not really."

"You don't think that it's too excited do you?"

"Excited...what do you..." Jessie's eyes widened as she realised what Ash was getting at, "Oh! Then you think that...?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I think."

"Alright then, he's all yours. Just let me have that bitch who dares to dress like that if she interferes."

"Yeah, sure thing."

Meanwhile Jessie and James had been getting more and more annoyed as the two brats in front of them seemed to continue to ignore them. When Jessie heard Jessica call her a bitch and insult the clothes that she was wearing practically exploded. Her eyes glowing red, she yelled, "What was that you little brat!"

"I'm sure that you heard me...Jessie was it?"

Jessie growled, "I'll have you know that I made these awesome clothes myself. The normal Team Rocket uniform just isn't fashionable!"

Jessica turned to Ash and, knowing about his relation to Giovanni, asked, "Normal uniform?"

"Yeah, the white is usually black," Ash replied.

James demanded, "Wha...How do you know how to recognise members of Team Rocket."

"That's irrelevant. Deino, use Dragon Rage." An orb of black energy gathered in Deino's mouth as it gathered energy for its attack.

While Deino was gathering energy James said, "Alright Koffing, use Smokescreen." Koffing spun around, shooting a cloud of thick smoke as it spun around in one spot for quite some time. Before long James said, "Alright Koffing, that's enough, now use Smog attack."

"Deino, use Dark Pulse." At her trainer's command Deino opened its mouth, causing a light purple orb surrounded in black and purple circles to appear inside it. It then launched a beam of black and purple circles from the orb inside its mouth at the enemy Koffing, hitting it even through the thick smoke. As Koffing went flying into the wall above the double doors Ash thought 'Hey, that Koffing just used smog, could these two be...' as the smoke cleared he yelled, "Hey, are you two freaks the ones that did that to Riolu?"

Jessie asked, "So what if we are?"

"I'll never forgive you!" Ash said, his eyes taking on a blue glint, causing him to see the objects in the surrounding area with a fiery dark indigo aura emanating around them. Ash thought, 'What is this? And what's with all these weird purple auras I'm seeinh...hmm...well, there'll be time later to search for answers, for now I can see through this Smokescreen with it, so that's one thing out of the way, now...' "Ok ay Deino, use Focus Energy." Deino started glowing red as it increased its attacking prowess.

While Deino was raising its powers of attack, James said, "You're yet to learn the basics of any battle, brat."

"The basics of battle, what do you mean by that?"

"No matter how strong an attack is, brat, it doesn't matter if it can't touch the opponent. Koffing, use a full-powered Smokescreen."

Koffing started spewing a cloud of thick smoke from its mouth. This smoke was denser than the previous cloud that had been produced. It didn't matter one jot though as Ash could easily see through it with the weird ability that he had somehow gained. Ash said, "Deino, use Dark Pulse and aim it just below from where you fired the previous one."

Due to its trainers description, and its own innate ability to see through thick smoke, Deino's Dark Pulse once again hit Koffing, this time blowing it into James and sending the two crashing through the double doors of the Pokémon centre. Seeing her partner get blown through the doors Jessie growled and said, "Right, that's it you brat, you're done for. Go Ekans."

As the Ekans emerged from the Pokéball Ash said, "Deino, use..."

Jessica cut Ash off before he could finish declaring an attack, saying, "Hold it right there Ash, this bitch is mine. Like you I can't forgive them, albeit for a different reason."

"Jessie..." Ash sighed and said, "Alright then, she's all yours. Deino, come over here, this next one is Jessie's." Deino acknowledged the order and walked over to Ash and turned around to watch the ensuing battle.

Jessie said, "What's your problem with us?"

"Other than what you are doing here I can't stand that someone with the same name as me could possibly have such a ridiculous taste in clothes."

This slight made Jessie see red, "I thought I told you that we made them ourselves."

Jessica sighed and said, "I know, and that only compounds your crime." Hearing the two females interact had Ash pinching the bridge of his nose in disbelief. "Anyway, now that your partner is out of here I don't have anything holding me back. Go Charmander."

"A Charmander? If that's all you've got you've got no chance against me girly."

Jessica, completely ignoring the older female that was pissing her off to an extent no-one other than Leaf had managed to do so, said, "Charmander, use Metal Claw." Charmander's claws took on a metallic sheen as it raced towards Ekans and hit it with its hardened claws. The steel type attack severely damaged Ekans, sending it flying into Jessie, causing them to join James outside the Pokémon centre. Seeing its teammates fly out the doors of the Pokécentre, and the two that caused it closing in on it, with their Pokémon in front of them, Meowth skedaddled away, back through the doors and to Jessie and James.

As Jessie and James looked up at the doors of the Pokémon centre Ash and Jessica appeared through them, their Pokémon in front of them. Simultaneously they said, "Charmander/Deino, use Ember/Dark Pulse now!" the two Pokémon shot their respective attacks at Team Rocket. Causing an explosion and the criminals to fly off, into the night sky, screaming, "Team Rocket's blasting off!"

Seeing the crooks and their Pokémon fly off Ash turned to Jessie and said, "Well, that was eventful, how about we go see about Riolu now?"

"Sounds like a plan Ash," Jessie said as they returned their Pokémon to their respective Pokéballs.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N

1. When Jessie from Team Rocket is in the scene I shall refer to Ash's friend as Jessica when describing her actions, but Ash will refer to her as Jessie and Jessie from Team Rocket as 'you'