Alright, good news! I found a co-writer to help me out! This should definitely make things a lot easier. I'm glad it didn't take as long as I thought it would. So here's the next chapter, I hope you guys enjoy it! My co-writer is Robert Kidd. And I thank you for all of your patience!
Chapter 28: Trouble Brewing.
"SISTER!?" Ash's eyes bulged out.
"I did NOT see that coming." Storm frowned in confusion.
"H-how!? You two… but you look nothing alike! A-and Gary never had a sister!" Ash blurted out, completely taken off guard by Blue's earlier statement.
"It's complicated." Blue said. "Yellow isn't really a sister exactly, more like a half sister."
"Half sister?" Ash blinked, still confused.
"You must be someone special if Green here was willing to travel with you despite his stubborn mind being made up to be alone." Yellow said with a smirk.
Blue groaned and Yellow said, "What? There's nothing wrong with me calling you Green!"
"I think it's cute she has a nickname for you." Ash chuckled.
"Even though it's just another color, weirdos." The Pikachu said as he rolled his eyes.
Ash flicked Storm upside the head, "Don't be rude! Remember, Blue can understand you."
"I'm just speaking the truth here!" Storm pouted.
Yellow laughed and she said, "Your Pikachu is funny, you two must be really close."
"Uh… you can understand Storm too?" Ash gulped.
"Of course, I can understand Pokemon, they were my best of friends and family." Yellow said with a smile.
"You were raised by Pokemon?" Ash asked, his mind going back to his days with Mew.
"Yellow." Blue suddenly spoke up. "You found me, so now what's your plan?"
"Oh, well I was hoping I could travel with you, learn more about the cities and how people live. I've missed out a lot on my species since I was taken in by Memma as a baby." The girl said with a dreamy smile on her face. "I was always curious how people live."
Ash's eyes widen in alarm, was Yellow a Child of Legendary? He put a hand over his backpack that contained his sleeping Memma, the last thing he needed was a potential member of the Elite Rocket to find out Mew is here with him.
"Yellow, with things going on in Kanto, it might be best you don't right now. Criminals have been acting up, dangerous unnatural Pokemon are being used." Blue warned.
"Yeah, I know about that. Don't worry about me, Green! I can take care of myself, and I even have some Pokemon friends with me." Yellow said, smiling.
"So you're a Trainer?" Ash asked.
"Kind of." Yellow chuckled. "I've been exploring for a while and found some friends who wanted to follow me. So I picked up some Poke Balls to make it easier to carry them around."
"Yellow, what did your parents say about this? I don't think they'll be happy to hear you left home just to come on a journey LOOKING for me!" Blue hissed.
"They supported me, Green. Now that I've found you, I'm sticking to you like glue and there's nothing you can do about it." Yellow huffed stubbornly.
Blue looked over to Ash, pleadingly. Ash frowned and said, "Look, if she went through all that trouble just for you, Blue, it can't hurt to have one more traveling with us."
"Ash! She can't travel with us!" Blue snapped. "She's too young!"
"Actually I'm about the same age as you, Green." Yellow stated as a matter of factly.
Ash had to hold himself back from laughing, Yellow looked younger than he did, yet she's 14 too?
Before the two could continue arguing, they heard a lot of panicking noises not too far from where they are. It sounded like Pokemon were calling for help. Ash, Storm, Blue and Yellow immediately became tensed, argument forgotten as they looked around.
"Up there!" Ash pointed, seeing a huge machine thing flying in the air with a big tank, in it they could heard the various cries of different Pokemon. The big tank had a huge red R on it. "Team Rocket?"
Blue narrowed his eyes, "I thought those three were satisfied with just catching Pokemon!"
"What three? I only see two!" Yellow said, pointing at the glass window of the machine.
"What? How can you see them from that far away?" Ash asked.
"I… uh… have really good eye sights." Yellow said a little bit nervously.
Blue looked at the glass window, "She's right, those two are different from the three we just saw. One's a man and the other's a woman, both are wearing black uniforms as opposed to the other two's white ones, the girl has bright yellow hair and the other has a more green-blue hair."
Ash and Storm looked at each other, both of them frowned, "You don't think it's THEM do you?"
"... Butch and Cassidy?" Ash gulped, he only met them once, but that was already enough, they were powerful Team Rocket grunts, they had strong Pokemon even though they didn't raise them themselves, they were borrowed from the elites, who are after his Memma.
"You know those two?" Blue asked Ash.
"I fought with them once, they overpowered me and my friends, we just got lucky last time, but I don't know if we'd stand a chance if they still have those powerful Pokemon with them." Ash answered.
"What are they doing? Are they stealing all the Safari Zone's Pokemon?" Yellow frowned. "But why? The Pokemon are meant for Trainers to catch them, why go through the trouble of sucking them into a machine?"
"It's human greed, Yellow." Blue frowned. "Ash, we should do something about this before they destroy the entire Safari Zone."
The Pikachu sighed, "I was afraid you were going to say that."
Ash smiled and nodded, barely noticing a slight tug on his fishing rod, "Alright, let's go-" He pulled out his rod to put it away, but to his surprise something was already on it. "Wah!" it surprised him because he thought it was some kind of water dwelling snake Pokemon and made him fall on his butt.
"Hey look!" Yellow said with a smile. "You caught yourself a cute little Dratini!"
"Huh?" Ash was surprised to see he had just landed in a Dratini when he was about to leave. "Oh… wow…" Ash wasn't sure what to do here, didn't the warden NOT want him to catch a Dratini?
The Dratini let go of the lure and landed on the rocks, looking at them curiously. "Who are you?" Its voice indicated it to be female.
Suddenly there was a large shadow over them, looking up, the three Trainers and two Pokemon were shocked to see that huge ship had come over here, and a big hose came down and immediately began sucking in the environment. Storm and Dratini were small and were easily getting sucked in!
"Storm! Dratini!" Ash quickly grabbed both of them. "We have to get out of here! They're going to suck the place dry!"
"Come on, we have to hurry or we're going to be sucked in too!" Blue grabbed both Ash's and Yellow's arm and began running in the opposite direction of the hose.
"Geez, what is with all that racket out there? A Mew can't even get any beauty sleep." Ash heard Mew's voice in his head.
Then a Meowth's head popped out of the boy's backpack, looking groggy, until she saw everything around her being sucked into a giant hose thing. Her eyes widen immediately, "Oh honestly Ashy, can't you stay out of trouble for one lousy cat nap?"
"I'll explain later Memma, just teleport us now!" Ash quickly yelled over the sound of the winds.
Nya's eyes flashed as Ash, Blue, Yellow, Storm and Dratini were all teleported away from the area and into another area of the Safari Zone, a bit of a good ways from the pond with the giant flying vacuum tank machine.
"Whoa! Did someone just teleport us?" Yellow exclaimed, looking around. "I didn't see any Psychic types… Green, did you-?"
"No Yellow, I didn't and I don't have any Psychic types with me right now!" Blue quickly said.
"Then who…?" Yellow blinked in confusion.
"Look, it doesn't matter, we're safe for now, but if we don't do something quick, Butch and Cassidy are going to wreck the place." Ash said quickly.
"You saved me… thank you." Dratini said to Ash, bowing her head.
Ash looked over to her, almost forgetting he now had a Dratini here. "Oh it was nothing, I wouldn't want them catching you like that."
"Hey! Can you understand Pokemon too?" Yellow smiled at Ash, getting up in his face.
Ash flinched back and away from the girl's sudden appearance in his face. Blue sighed, "Yes Yellow, he can."
"Hey, what are we going to do about Team Rocket?" Storm asked.
Nya looked over the place before smiling, "Maybe if you can work with the other Team Rocket, they'll prove to be useful allies."
All four of them looked at the Meowth before Ash said, "You mean Jessie, James and Meowth?"
"But why would they go against someone from their own team?" Blue asked.
"They may belong in the same team, but they despise each other. And I sense there is a change coming over those three, perhaps if you could push them in the right direction, they would turn from their criminal ways." Nya answered.
"But how will we find them in this big zone?" Ash asked before looking at the Dratini.
"Simple, if they're from Team Rocket, then we can use a rare Pokemon they might be looking for as bait." Yellow suggested.
"Yeah, like our little Dratini friend here, what do you say?" The Pikachu pat the Dratini's back.
"Hey, Storm, she doesn't have to be a part of this, she's not even our Pokemon." Ash scolded.
Dratini looked up at him and said, "If it's to save my home, then I will help any way I can."
Blue sighed and said, "Then it's settled then, we'll use the Dratini as bait to lure out the other three, let's just hope it works. If the warden sees us doing this, he'll kill us for sure…"
Half an hour later, Dratini was in another lake, she swam around in the open, trying to get any wandering Trainer's attention. She looked up from time to time to make sure that giant contraption didn't come anywhere near her before she continued swimming around. Ash, Blue, Yellow, Storm and Nya were hiding nearby, all watching and waiting.
"Hey! Look at that!" Jessie's voice spoke up from close by. "It's such an adorable rare Dratini! We are so getting it!"
"We only have one Safari Ball left, are you sure it'll be easy to catch such a rare Pokemon?" James asked as the trio came walking towards the lake.
"It's still a worthwhile catch." Meowth said with a smile.
Dratini stopped swimming and looked at them, as though she was waiting. Jessie took that as a sign, "Look at that! The cutie pie knows we're meant to be! It's just sitting there, waiting for us!"
As soon as the trio got close, Ash jumped out along with Storm, "Use Thunder Wave!"
This surprised the three as they yelped and jumped away from their sudden appearance.
Storm wasted no time shooting out a waves of electricity that immediately ensnared the three, completely paralyzing them. They fell to the ground, unable to move much.
"W-w-why…?" They asked.
Ash sighed in relief to see they managed to get them before they could get away, "Sorry about that, but we wanted to make sure you didn't run off before we had a chance to ask for your help."
"Y-y-you didn't h-have to p-paralyze us!" Meowth snapped.
Blue and Yellow came over to them, Yellow looking at the three, "I've seen them before, they seemed really nice."
Blue sweatdropped at his half sister's naivety. "Listen you three, Butch and Cassidy are wrecking havoc on this place. They're sucking up all the Pokemon as well as the environment in some giant vacuum machine tank. We're going to need your help to deal with them."
"A-and w-w-why should we?" Jessie demanded.
"Well, if you don't, then your Boss is going to favor them instead." Ash said with a sly smile.
"... W-w-we'll help y-you… b-but just this o-once." They said. "Um… b-but first… c-can you g-g-get r-r-rid of the p-paralysis?"
Ash help applied the Paralyze Heal on the three, removing the paralysis. "Alright, so we were thinking you three could battle Butch and Cassidy while we try to free the Pokemon in their tank."
"We can't battle them." James said with a frown. "Arbok and Weezing are our only fully evolved Pokemon. Jessie's Slowpoke and my Magikarp wouldn't stand a chance against them, especially since they have two Shadow Pokemon."
"What?" Yellow blinked.
Ash and Blue frowned at this, Ash said, "They have Shadow Pokemon? How do you know this?"
"Of course we know this, they were given by the Boss." Jessie said. "Of course THEY'D be trusted with Shadow Pokemon."
"... Blue, think you can go with them and make sure you free the Pokemon from the tank?" Ash asked his traveling companion.
"Of course." Blue nodded, knowing that they couldn't trust the three to release the Pokemon without being tempted to catch them for themselves. "But does that mean you'll be facing them alone?"
"Not alone." Ash said, looking over at Yellow. "She can help me."
"Yellow? Ash, she's not-" Blue began to protest.
"I can take care of myself Green." Yellow huffed. "I'm stronger than you think!"
"Yeah, and besides, you're strong enough to make sure these three don't try to run off." Ash said to Blue. "And I like to see how Yellow battles."
Nya and Storm were playing with Dratini, the three Pokemon were having fun with each other while the humans and the human speaking Meowth were trying to devise their battle plans.
"Well whatever we're going to do, we better do it soon, because they're coming." Yellow suddenly said, pointing at the sky.
The flying contraption was indeed getting closer, Ash nodded, "Alright, Yellow's with me, Blue you go with Team Rocket to set the Pokemon free."
"But Yellow… They're Shadow Pokemon, I don't want her getting hurt." Blue said quickly.
"Don't worry Blue, I promise to take care of her, okay?" Ash said with determination in his eyes. "You can join us as soon as you get the Pokemon out, okay?"
"I'll be fine, Green, trust me." Yellow said.
Blue looked at her before sighing, "... Fine, I'll trust you both on this."
"So what's the first thing we're going to do? We can't just get on that thing from here." Meowth asked.
"We'll have to get them to come down to us. Bad guys like to brag a lot on their accomplishments, what better way than to some child Trainer that got away?" Ash said with a smirk. "First we'll have to get their attention. Once we do that, I'll provoke them into a Pokemon battle, once we do that, you guys sneak in and get the Pokemon out."
"I rather not take orders from a kid." Jessie huffed. "But if this is a good way to get back at those two big heads, I'm all for it."
"Alright, you guys go hide, Yellow and I will get their attention." Ash said.
Just as quickly as the boy said this, Blue, Jessie, James and Meowth all hid in some bushes. Ash looked back at Nya, Storm and Dratini, "Hey guys, we're about to battle, so be prepared."
Storm looked over at him, "Well it's about time!" He hurried over to Ash's shoulder.
Nya smiled and said, "I have full confidence in you Ashy! I'll be sure to keep our little Dratini friend here safe!"
The Mew-Meowth then pushed Dratini over to the lake, "Come now, we don't want to be in the middle of this battle."
Dratini looked back to Ash before she jumped into the lake. Nya transformed into a Poliwag and jumped in with her. Now it was just Ash, Storm and Yellow left.
"Uh… was that Meowth a Ditto? It just used Transform!" Yellow pointed in shock.
"... Maybe, but let's focus." Ash said. "Alright, Storm, get their attention with a bright Thunderbolt in the sky."
"Alright, here goes!" The Pikachu jumped from his partner's shoulder and shot out a bright and flashy Thunderbolt into the sky, quickly getting anyone's attention. Storm landed and panted tiredly, he was still a bit injured from the battle with Hunter J's Salamence, Ash hadn't gotten to a Pokemon Center yet.
This certainly got Butch and Cassidy's attention, they soon came in for a landing nearby. Ash, Storm and Yellow stood their ground as they waited. A huge door slowly opened as two people walked out.
"Well, well, well, doesn't this little boy look familiar." The yellow blond hair woman said as she put her hands on her hips.
"He certainly does, what happened to your other friends? You replaced them with this little person?" Butch smirked, obviously not able to tell if Yellow was a boy or a girl with the straw hat on.
Ash glared, "They decided to go their own way, but why are you two here? Stealing more Pokemon like the cowards you are? Real Trainers captures the Pokemon in balls fair and square, not catch them like animals!"
"He's right, you're only hurting the Pokemon and their homes this way!" Yellow snapped. "I won't let such acts go unpunished like that!"
"Oh please, like you kids can do anything about it. We got special orders from the professor our Boss assigned us." Cassidy said with a smirk, not saying anything more.
Ash glared, "Whatever it is, you're not getting it! We won't let you!"
"If you runts are going to stand in our way, we'll be more than happy to use you as target practice." Butch said as he and Cassidy took out their Poke Balls.
Ash and Yellow got their Poke Balls ready too. Ash noticed Storm was panting after using his Thunderbolt. Storm must still be tired from that battle with Hunter J. A couple of Oran Berries can only do so much, but there weren't any Pokemon Centers nearby… that means Konoha and Scorch are still tired, I better use someone fresh.
"Kooper, go for it!" Ash threw his white Premier Ball and released a Squirtle.
"Let's do this!" Yellow threw her Poke Ball and it released a two headed ostrich-bird Pokemon; a Doduo.
"Hey, cool Doduo." Ash complimented Yellow.
Yellow smiled and said, "Thanks, it's a good Pokemon to ride on to get me through the region on foot."
"A puny squirt of a Squirtle and a weak little Doduo won't be a match for us!" Butch said.
"We'll take care of those scrawny little Pokemon in no time at all." Cassidy said with a smug.
They threw their Poke Balls, releasing a Golbat and Sandslash. Ash glared, those looked pretty strong, but nowhere near as bad as the Dragonite and Charizard they had before, and at least they're not Mega Pokemon like J's Salamence was.
"Golbat, use Wing Attack now!" Butch ordered his Golbat.
Golbat flew in towards Ash's Squirtle, Ash quickly said, "Kooper quick, withdraw into your shell!"
"Right!" The Squirtle withdrew into his shell, protecting himself from the Golbat's wings as it slammed into his hard shell.
"Now Tackle it!" Ash quickly commanded.
Kooper spun around in his shell and used it to slam into Golbat's head, causing it to screech in pain.
"Golbat! You can't let that tiny turtle beat you!" Butch snapped.
"Sandslash, use Sand-Attack now!" Cassidy ordered.
Sandslash whipped up some sand at Doduo, Yellow quickly said, "Jump over it!"
"JUMP! DODGE!" Both heads said simultaneously as it jumped away from the incoming sand.
"Now use Drill Peck!" Yellow ordered.
"DRILL!" "PECK THEIR EYES OUT!" It's two heads shouted as their beaks began spinning like drills and stabbed with into the Sandslash's stomach, causing it to yelp in pain and pushed back.
"Come on!" Cassidy yelled. "Don't let these kids beat you! Use Slash on that Doduo now!"
Sandslash quickly regained its composure and charged at Doduo with its sharp claws, Doduo and Yellow had no time to react before it was slashed in the stomach, causing both heads to cry out in pain.
"Doduo! A-are you okay?" Yellow shouted in concern.
"Let's help them out Kooper, use Water Pulse on that Sandslash!" Ash quickly ordered.
"You bully, take THIS!" The Squirtle formed a ball of water in its hands before throwing it at the Ground type.
The ball of water smashed into Sandslash's face, causing it to squeal in pain as it flipped on its back, being weak to Water attacks.
"Alright, we're doing it Kooper, keep it up!" Ash called to his Squirtle buddy.
"Oh yeah, I've got this." Kooper said with a smile.
Cassidy gritted her teeth in irritation. "Sandslash, blind that pest with Sand-Attack!"
Sandslash recovered and dug its claws into the ground before swinging at handful of sand at Squirtle's face.
"GAH! SAND IN MY EYES!" Kooper yelled, trying to rub the sand out of his eyes.
"Kooper! Look out!" Ash yelled as the Golbat suddenly came down and bit down on the Squirtle's head with toxic purple sludge coming from its fangs. "Kooper!"
Kooper managed to blast the Golbat away by using Water Gun into its mouth, however, that didn't stop him from being poisoned. Kooper's face was tinted purple and he looked sick. "Suddenly I don't feel so good…"
"Ash, that Golbat just used Poison Fang on your Squirtle, you should call it back. The Poke Ball will keep the poison from affecting Kooper." Yellow said to Ash. "Hurry!"
Ash looked at Kooper, "... Kooper, we can't just give up so quickly."
Cassidy and Butch were feeling rather satisfied. "Just give up now," Butch spoke up. "This fight was over before it began. You're only prolonging the inevitable."
"Don't underestimate us!" Yellow snapped at them both before she recalled her Doduo into her Poke Ball and took out another one, she threw it and released a weed-like Pokemon called Oddish. "Use Stun Spore now!"
"Okay Yellow!" Oddish smiled before glaring at the incoming Golbat and spreading yellow powder in the air. The second the bat Pokemon came into contact with these spores, it suddenly found its body stiff and unable to move.
Butch growled in irritation. "Golbat, Supersonic! Don't let this brat get the better of us!"
Golbat was struggling just to move as it opened its mouth and started screeching loudly, letting loose a sonic wave throughout the area. Kooper's eyes went dull as everything around him began to become disorientated.
Without warning, Kooper began slapping himself, added that with the poison, the little Squirtle isn't going to last much longer. "Kooper!" Ash took out his Premier Ball and pointed it at Kooper. "Return now!" The beam of red light returned the confused and poisoned Squirtle back into the ball.
Butch grinned. "Still think you have a chance? You've got nothing against us! Golbat, Wing Attack on that little weed!"
"Jump now Oddish!" Yellow quickly commanded.
Oddish used its strong feet to jump just as the Golbat came down on it, and landed on the bat's back.
"Sandslash, get that weed off Golbat's back with Slash, now!" Cassidy commanded.
Sandslash jumped over to Golbat, its claws ready to sink in. Oddish turned back to it.
"Jump again!" Yellow quickly commanded.
Oddish jumped off Golbat just before Sandslash slashed its back, causing it to screech out in pain.
"Alright, we're not out of this fight yet!" Ash said as he took out a fancy black Poke Ball, the Luxurary Ball. "Eon, you're up!" The ball released the spiky haired Eevee into the field.
Butch got a tic mark on his head. "What the heck was that for?" He shouted at Cassidy.
Cassidy just glared at Butch. "That wouldn't have happened if Golbat hadn't been stupid enough to fall for that trick." She turned back to the battle. "Sandslash, use Slash on that Eevee!"
Sandslash charged at Eon as she glared at it, Ash gave an order, "Iron Tail now!"
"Take this ya big sand mouse!" The Eevee's tail turned to steel as she slammed it into Sandslash's claws, causing a stalemate between the two attacks.
"Come on, we've got this Ash." Yellow said. "They're starting to argue."
"Yeah, this could be our chance." Ash nodded to her.
"Oddish, use Mega Drain on that Sandslash!" Yellow ordered.
"Eon, use Bite on Golbat now!" Ash ordered.
Both Pokemon did as their Trainers instructed. Oddish began draining energy from the Sandslash with her leaves, a super effective attack against the ground type. Sandslash didn't last much longer after that and fainted on the spot. Eon jumped and bit down with her teeth hard on the paralyzed Golbat's wing. It was clear the battle had taken its toll on the bat Pokemon and it too soon fell to the ground and fainted.
Butch snarled as he returned the bat and turned to Cassidy. "This is your fault! Golbat could've taken more hits if you hadn't stabbed us in the back!"
"It's not my fault you're a pathetic fighter!" She turned back to the field. "Clearly you two are a bit more than a minor irritant. So this is your last warning. Get out of our way, or our objective won't be the only thing we get done around here."
Eon and Oddish stood by their Trainer's side respectively. Ash and Yellow both glared in defiance.
"As if we'd just let you go after all that." Ash snapped.
"You're just here to steal innocent Pokemon, we can't allow that." Yellow hissed, and Ash could swear he saw her eyes flashed for a split second.
Cassidy just smiled. "Then I suppose I have to thank you. For giving us an excuse to use these."
Cassidy and Butch both drew Poke Balls and tossed them into the air.
On Cassidy's side was an odd Pokemon. A two headed dinosaur looking thing with no eyes. And it had a particularly sinister air about it.
On Butch's side was a long, serpentine creature, sky blue and white, and looking like an older Dratini. But it had a particular sadism visible in it's glaring eyes.
"You did well enough against those two weaklings. Let's see how you deal with Shadow Pokemon!"
Ah, finally another Pokemon battle. Butch and Cassidy are finally back in the scene! Ooh, looks like they have some pretty dangerous Shadow Pokemon this time! Alright, sorry for the short AN, it might take me some time to get back into the swing of things. I thank you for waiting and I hope you guys leave a review on what you think so far. I am DarkFoxKit and I look forward to hearing from you!