Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.
Chapter Four
"Petrel, Archer, Proton, Arianna. My office, now!"
The infamous leader of Team Rocket, Giovanni, had just called all of his admins to his personal office. After having returned from his failed attempt of capturing Unova legendries, Giovanni began to plot his next plot to get powerful pokémon and to take over the world.
"We're here boss." Announced Archer when the four admins entered Giovanni's office.
"Good. Here's our new plan. That idiot Gowly is hosting a new tournament where only the best trainers will compete. Plus, there will be various champions and elites there to watch. All of these powerful trainers will be in one spot just begging for Team Rocket to steal their pokémon."
"But sir, can we beat Cynthia and Lance? Not to mention Gowly himself who has never been bested in battle." Asked the ever nervous Petrel.
"You dare question my plan Petrel? But yes, we can beat them. Namba has been working on a new pokéball that automatically captures trainers' pokémon without fail. As soon as Gowly sends out his Lucario, it will be mine! Your job is to test out these pokéballs. Make sure they work. Try to re-capture a trainer's pokémon. Hop to it!"
"Yes boss." The four admins said as they saluted Giovanni. They then proceeded to exit the room and headed for Namba's lab, located on the lower levels of the Team Rocket headquarters.
"Excellent. Gowly won't know what hit him. Right Persian?" Giovanni asked as he stroked his pet cat.
"Purr..."
-Line Break-
"Well Ash, you now have seven pokémon counting the egg. You need to send at least one back to Professor Oak."
Ash and Brock were sitting in the Saffron City pokémon center. After a hard fought battle the day before, Ash and Brock decided to spend the night in Saffron. Ash had given his pokémon and the egg to Nurse Joy. She had promised that she'd be done healing the pokémon and giving the egg a checkup by lunch the next. Ash and Brock now had a couple of hours to kill until noon.
"Good point Brock. I forgot that an egg counts as part of a trainer's party. I think I'm going to exchange my whole team though to prepare for Morty and Clair. I'm definitely keeping Pikachu and the egg. I need to pick four more pokémon."
"Finally planning ahead Ash. Okay then. Let's see. You should Krookodile because he has the type advantage on Morty. Glalie and Gible also have type advantages against Clair. That's five. You need to pick one more Ash."
"I don't know which one. What do you think Brock?"
"Well. You have two pokémon for Clair and one for Morty. Let's focus on him then. Morty uses ghost types. If you go with a normal/flying type, it'll be immune to his ghost attacks, and it can still hurt Morty's ghosts with it flying type moves."
"Brock, I have a lot of normal/flying types. I guess I'll go with Staraptor. It's pretty strong and fast. That should give me the edge over ghost type pokémon who tend to be quick."
"Sounds like a plan. So now you need to pick up and exchange your pokémon. Then we'll make our way to Vermillion City. From there we'll buy tickets for Olivine City in Johto. We can then walk through Johto. And from Blackthorn we'll head south to New Bark Town and take a ferry to Slateport City in Hoenn."
"Wow Brock. Slow down! We haven't even left Kanto and you're already planning our Hoenn route."
"Well Ash, you're running out of time. The Cup is in a few months and your only 20% qualified."
"Don't worry Brock. I'll be fine."
"Paging Ash Ketchum to the front desk. Paging Ash Ketchum to the front desk."
"Looks like nurse Joy is done with my pokémon. Wait here Brock. I'll be right back."
Ash made his way to the front counter where Nurse Joy stood waiting with five pokéballs, one egg and one Pikachu.
"Well Ash, all of your pokémon are fine. I've also managed to identify the species and gender of the egg. It should be close to hatching. If you'd like, I could tell you. Or you could leave it as a surprise."
"Thanks Nurse Joy. I would like to know the species and gender of the egg." As Ash said this, he pocketed the five pokéballs, and Pikachu hopped onto his shoulder.
"Okay then. According to my tests, your egg should hatch into a healthy, make Ralts. Congratulations!"
"Oh boy! That sounds like a cool pokémon! Thanks again Nurse Joy!"
"My pleasure."
Ash then walked over the pokémon transfer machine while holding the egg in his hands. He sat down in front of the hi tech machine and dialed up the Oak Lab. After a couple of seconds, Professor Oak appeared on the screen.
"Hello Ash. How are you doing?"
"Hey Professor. I'm doing fine. I just won my second coin and I need to exchange pokémon for the Johto region. I'm going to send over Charizard, Sceptile, Leavanny, and Heracross. I'd like Glalie, Gible, and Staraptor in their place."
"Sure thing Ash. Let me just go get their pokéballs."
Ash sat waiting patiently while Oak went to go get Ash's requested pokémon. When the professor returned, he and Ash exchanged pokémon one by one. Ash then sent over Heracross to make room for the egg.
"Oh by the way Ash, Gary wanted me to let you know that he'll also be competing in the Commissioner's Cup. He just won his third coin at the Ectucreak Gym. Come on Ash. Gary hasn't been a trainer for years and he's beating you! You can do better than this."
"It's fine Professor. We've gotten over our rivalry. I think we'll remain civil during this tournament."
"I should hope so. Well, I have to go Ash. Good luck!"
"Thanks Professor!"
With that, Ash shut off the machine and made his way back to Brock. Ash had just pocketed his three new pokéballs and started to think about this new development. Gowly did say that a lot of tough trainers were invited. It only makes sense that Gary got an invite. Hey, I bet Paul and Harrison got invites too. I might see them at the Battle Coliseum. It would be nice to re battle some of my old rivals. Lost in his thoughts, Ash didn't realize that he had already reached Brock's table.
"You sure took your time getting here Ash."
"Hey Brock. You'll never guess what I just learned!"
"What? Addition?"
"Hey! That was one time years ago! Anyways, it turns out that Gary is collecting coins too. And, this egg should hatch into a male Ralts soon!"
"Interesting Ash. I have a feeling that you and Gary are going to battle at the Coliseum. But we need to talk about your new Ralts."
"How come?"
"Well, you've never trained a psychic type before and you're going to face a big decision when Ralts evolves into Kirlia."
"Why?"
"Like Eevee, male Kirlia can evolve into several pokémon. Either Gardevoir or Gallade. Since your Ralts is a male, you'll have to choose later. It's just that if you want a Gallade, then we need to be on the lookout for a Dawn Stone. That's the evolutionary item needed to evolve Kirlia into Gallade. They're found naturally in Sinnoh and Unova, but stores in the other regions have been known to occasionally carry these items. It's just something to think about."
"Okay. I think I'll wait until Ralts hatches, and then I'll ask him who he wants to evolve into."
"Sounds like a plan. Let's head out and make our way to Vermillion City."
With that, the two guys and Pikachu left the pokémon center after Brock tried to flirt with Nurse Joy only to be crushed when he found out that she was married. The trainer and doctor in training made their way south towards Vermillion with each preoccupied by his own thoughts. Ash thought about his next battle with Morty. Brock thought about single Nurse Joys, and Pikachu thought about ketchup. With all three lost in thought, they failed to realize that an evil trio was following them. Nor did they realize that what the next few feet of land was actually a large hole on the ground. Needless to say, Ash, Brock, and Pikachu fell through the hole.
"Prepare for trouble!"
"And make it double!"
"To denounce th-"
"Team Rocket!" Ash interrupted them.
"How do you twerp?! We didn't even finish our motto. You'll pay for this!"
"Jessie, why don't you calm down?" James tried to plea with the angry Jessie.
"Meowth. That's right. Now here's our new gizmo for grabbing that Pikachu." Meowth revealed some rubber robotic arm that took Pikachu. Pikachu's electric attacks were ineffective against the rubber hand.
"Give back Pikachu!"
"Never!"
"Pika!"
As Team Rocket stood there gloating, Ash and Brock tried to climb out of the hole but were unable to do so because it was so deep. All of a sudden, Ash's egg started to shake. All of the previous noise stopped as the four humans and two pokémon stared at the egg. Cracks started to appear in the egg, and a baby Ralts appeared just like Nurse Joy predicted.
"Ralts!" The small psychic type yelled out. His body then started to glow as his psychic abilities activated. Within moments, Pikachu was released from the hand.
"Quick Pikachu. Thunderbolt!"
"Pika chuuuu!" Electricity started running through Pikachu's body as he then sent it racing towards Team Rocket.
"Team Rocket's blasting off again!"
"Well that takes care of that. Good job Ralts!" Ash exclaimed as Ralts lifted himself, Ash, and Brock out of the hole. The quartet then proceeded to Vermillion City.
-Line Break-
Gowly sat in his office up in the Pokémon League HQ building. Pokémon Tower, as it was called, was the tallest building in the world and sat on Pokémon Isle across from the Battle Coliseum. Pokémon Isle being part of the Sevii Islands of course. The Commissioner was reviewing the notes from the last champions' meeting when Lance walked into Gowly's office.
"Sir."
"Hello Lance. I assume there's a reason for your visit."
"There is sir. Our informants have just informed me that Team Rocket plans to stop by during the Cup and steal some pokémon."
"Giovanni is predictable. Very well then. Lance, as second in command of the G-men, it's up to you to maintain security at all times. Feel free to coordinate with the other champions and elites. I'm also giving you access to however many Rangers you need. If Giovanni wants a fight, we'll give it to him. Well, get going Lance. Hop to it."
"Very we'll sir." Lance then stood to leave. Just as he was exiting Gowly's office, Lance spoke once more. "By the way, Ash now has two coins. He's on his way to get his third coin. Just in case you wanted to know." Lance then proceeded to walk out of the room.
Once more alone, Gowly thought to himself that everything was going according to plan now that it was confirmed that both Ash and Giovanni would be at the Cup. Excellent. The correct time is approaching. Soon all of my secrets will be revealed, and Ash will realize why he's the Chosen One. Giovanni is about to lose everything and Ash will learn about his inheritance. Now all I have to do is wait.