Chapter 2

*On their way to Opelucid City*

"Well Brock, where ARE we?" Max taps on his pokenav, which has decided to go low on its battery at this time.

"Erm, I'm pretty sure I took the right turn earlier on..." Brock said, flipping the map around

"Oh boy! Guys and their refusal to ask for directions..."

"Come on May, it doesn't matter! We're just travelling now, there's no need to hurry!" Ash turned and assured the now completely exhausted May.

"Oh yeah, I forgot! I'm just so used to rushing for your gym battles like last time."

"Yup, and your pokémon contests too."

"Yeah but you were the one always in a hurry."

"That's because time is precious!"

"Oh and you always say that. Now it's directly the opposite."

"Of course, now we're just having fun! It's not good to let time pass so fast when you're having fun right?"

"Erm, I'm not sure if getting lost is fun..."

"Hey, isn't that the guy Officer Jenny was talking about when we were on the ship?" Max said, as he pointed to a man, a few distance away from them, who just let out a Tropius. Apparently Officer Jenny had warmed them about a particular red-haired thief going around stealing pokémons.

"You're right! He does have red hair and wears a black coat. Come on, let's follow him and see what he's up to!" Brock said, and everyone started following.

The man continued to walk down the forest with his Tropius. As everyone else drew nearer to the edge of the forest, Opelucid City was in sight. It was only at this time the man got on his Tropius and flew towards the pokémon centre which is just at the edge of the city. Everyone quickly ran to catch up.

*BOOOOOOOOOOM!*

"AH! What was that?"

In front of them the pokémon centre exploded. The man and his Tropius went in. By the time Ash and the others have reached, the man came out with a big bag and proceeded to escape.

Max knew right away what was going on, "Oh no, I bet he's stealing the pokeballs!"

"Stop you thief! You can't just steal other peoples' pokémon like this!" May exclaimed.

The man, on his Tropius, turned to see Ash and the others running after them. He stopped and smirked at them, "Haha, you kids! You think you can stop me? Grow up!"

"You're the one who's supposed to grow up! You shouldn't be stealing pokémon!" Ash, who is ahead of the rest, shouted.

"For your information I'm just doing things in a faster way. Now get going, Tropius, I don't wanna waste my time with them."

"Oh yeah? Well you're just being really pathetic since in another words you're cheating and hurting the others!" Ash was really fired up by now. He loathed people who act like this. Team Rocket was just another matter; since they always lose anyway.

"Pika! Pikachu!" Pikachu jumped down from Ash's shoulder, ready to attack.

"Oh you little… TROPIUS, SOLAR BEAM!"

"Ahhh! ASH, LOOK OUT!" Brock exclaimed

But Tropius was way too fast, it already charged up a solar beam, directly at Ash.

Ash closed his eyes and covered his head with his arms, ready to feel the impact of the attack. A loud explosion could be heard; the smokes blocked everyone's vision.

" Ash! Ash, are you alright...?" May exclaimed

The smoke cleared as everyone tried to look for Ash. He was just standing there, confused and uninjured.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu rushed to his trainer excitedly, happy that he was unharmed.

"Ash! You're okay!" Brock exclaimed, as everyone rushes to him with relief. A blank look could be seen on Ash's face, "Yeah, I'm fine. But…" He looked down, turning over his arms. Not even his arms were hurt.

"That's strange; I thought that solar beam hit you…" May gave a worrying look to Ash, who was totally fine. But Ash, as cheerful as ever, shrugged it off, "Oh well, I'm just glad I'm alright!" "Pikaaa, Pikachuuu…" Pikachu nuzzled Ash's cheeks. Ash smiled and rubbed Pikachu's head in return. Everyone sighed, before recalling what happened early on.

Brock was the first to react. He quickly turned around, just to find the mysterious guy and his Tropius already gone. Everyone looked around as well, but those two were nowhere to be found.

"Guess he thought that was the end." Max concluded, "But hey Ash, do you know what happened? It was as if something blocked you from the attack!"

"Err… No, I don't know. I wasn't that aware...maybe he missed…" Ash stared at the space where that mysterious guy was, "But that's fine, we should get going and help Nurse Joy!"

"Okay!"

*At the pokémon centre*

"Nurse Joy! Are you alright?" Ash and the others came into the pokémon centre, as Brock quickly rushed to Nurse Joy, who was lying down on the floor.

Nurse Joy woke from her unconsciousness almost immediately, "Oh my! I'm okay, but the pokémon! Oh dear, I gotta inform Officer Jenny!"

"Don't worry I'm right here! What happened?" Officer Jenny came out of nowhere on her bike.

"Officer Jenny, we just met that guy and his Tropius! And-" Ash began, but was cut off abruptly.

"And he attacked us! Oh Officer Jenny, only you and your beauty can protect AHHHH!"

"We're pretty safe right now…" Max grabbed Brock's ears and pulled him away as Ash and May leave him to do his job.

Officer Jenny looked back at Ash and May, "So you were saying that you met the man who has been trying to steal pokémon? And where was that?" Both of them sweat-dropped at how that sounded like their usual everyday enemy, before filling in with detail Officer Jenny needed.

At a certain corner…

"Did you hear that? Seems like the twerps bumped into some kind of guy trying to steal our methods to steal pokémon!"

"Hm! Perhaps he doesn't know, but he's stealing our job as well! We should teach him a lesson or two."

"Yeah exactly, we can do that by following that Jenny over there. After that it will be knuckle sandwich time!"

"Great, then we can get the pokémons from him!"

"And we'll get it to our boss and get promotion!"

"Yea! Team Rocket to the promotion rescue!"