Chapter 20
June 19th, 2006
"Where do you think we should start?" Serena asked, flicking her blue gaze to Lyra who was looking around them. They were walking down the main street of the massive city. A slight breeze picked up around them, making Serena's short hair tickle her cheek. She brushed it away. "What would be the most reasonable place for them to hide?"
"I don't know..." Lyra sighed honestly. She rubbed her forehead in thought as she looked around herself. Her own brown eyes looking over everything analytically, taking in everything she saw and stored it into her head in case it was needed to remember later. "Goldenrod has always been crazy huge; just look at all the tall buildings around us." She stretched her arms wide and spun around in a wide circle. She was right, everywhere you looked, all you could see was the towers obscuring your view. The only inch of blue sky that anybody could see was the small opening right above their heads, showering them in a view of bright blue and fluffy white clouds. "It's a very good place to hide. They could be disguised as anything and everything, there's no real way of knowing." She stopped spinning with a frown. "Khoury was always better at this kind of stuff. If only he was here." She reached up and adjusted her white hat with a tug. "Where are you Khoury? Give me some kind of sign..." She said quietly.
"Well!" Clemont exclaimed loudly, hands on his hips. His glasses caught the sunlight just right and his eyes were being obscured by the bright, blinding white glare. A deep smirk was etched on his face and he adjusted his glasses with a fairly evil sounding chuckle, like one of a mad scientist.
"Clemont, no!" Serena tried with a groan, "We'll attract too much attention!"
Serena's calls were useless, Clemont completely ignored her pleas. "I was preparing for this exact moment! The future is now thanks to science! Clemontic Gear, on!" He exclaimed loudly as he whipped out his backpack and pulled out a small wooden box. "I call this the 'Easily Find Team Rocket Tracker Device'!"
"I can't imagine what Bonnie would say if she heard that name." Serena sighed with a pained look on her face. "I need to remember to tell her this."
"With this handy little device, we can track Team Rocket members with ease! I disguised it while we were in the forest in case we needed to use it here!" Clemont said proudly, smiling like crazy.
Clemont flipped over the box and pushed in a little square. It popped open revealing a key hole. Serena frowned; she had never seen something like this from him. It was both a relief and a fear. He inserted a key and once he turned the key, the whole top of the box came unhinged. Inside was a button with a small electronic map beside it. Clemont pressed the button once and it began to beep. "Follow me!" Clemont commanded. He turned and begun to walk down a separate side street. "Two targets have been spotted! They're just a few streets over!" He notified them.
Serena felt her heart rate increase faster and faster, almost in tune with the rapid beeping coming from Clemont's device. Lyra was eagerly walking beside him while Serena stayed close to their backs, a hand gripping onto the shoulder of Clemont's jumpsuit.
"Not too much further." She heard him mumble, "They're just around the corner, we should be careful and keep our eyes peeled." Serena's heart raced. Though she didn't feel scared like she did before, now she can feel her adrenaline increasing with excitement and anticipation. She wanted to be able to find these Rocket members; they needed to know what they were up to.
"Where are they standing exactly?" Serena asked. "We should get a good look at their faces if we ever need to remember what they look like."
Clemont nodded, "That's a good idea. They're on the opposite side of the street; they're just standing still, no moving at all."
"Let's go." Lyra said as she began room walk around the corner. Serena glanced at Clemont who gave her a nod and they too, turned the corner. Serena's eyed darted from one side if the street to the other, trying so seem reasonably normal. She looked through the crowd of busy shoppers and workers alike, even with the huge disaster happening, the citizens seemed to have no knowledge, or they in fact didn't exist in the future. Where were the other people if they weren't here?
Her heart just about stopped when she spotted them. The Rocket grunts.
"Clemont," She grabbed into his arm to get his attention, never once taking her eyes off of them. "Clemont, look." She could see Clemont look at her from the corner of her eye, he then followed her gaze. Eyebrows quickly shooting up behind his sweeping hair.
"You have got to be kidding me." He muttered. "No wonder it was so quiet."
June 19th, 2006
Misty whipped around with a harsh glare. Gary was standing there with a smirk while Ash had a petrified look on his face. "Who just pinched my butt?" She demanded furiously. "That was a stupid question," She then said with a shake of her head. "Gary, you better protect your own ass tonight before I get Gyarados to hyper beam it." There were some quiet giggles coming from Pikachu who was happily perched on Ash's shoulder.
"Pikapika, pikachupi pikapi!" He exclaimed while laughing. Misty barely understood what the pokémon was saying other. Ash smiled slightly as he looked up at his partner.
"C'mon Pikachu, don't say that." Ash said, he then spoke more quietly, "Even if it is true."
Gary waved his hand flippantly. "Nah. You love me Misty, you wouldn't do that."
"Try me." She hissed, turning to Ash, "Why didn't you stop him?" If anybody was going to do that to her, only Ash had the right, he was her boyfriend after all. Pikachu's giggles still rang through the air.
"I didn't know that he was going to do that!" Ash retorted, looking over at Gary with his own glare. "Get your own girlfriend Gary!"
"No need to be so jealous." Gary said with an evil grin. "I get she's your first girlfriend and all, but really, you guys need to get a little more action on! All I've seen you do is hold hands, seriously, come on." Both Ash and Misty broke out into huge blushes. Pikachu tumbled off of Ash's shoulder and landed on his feet with a thud. He eventually rolled onto his back, clutching his yellow belly. This was the best day in Pikachu's opinion.
"W-we haven't been dating that long!" Misty stuttered, suddenly feeling very embarrassed of herself.
Gary crossed his arms with a scoff, "Are you kidding me? I know how long you've been dating, Delia doesn't live far from me and grandpa, I knew as soon as she knew. It was November 30th. Which means it's been almost seven months, have you even kissed yet?"
"Yes!" Ash spluttered his face completely red. Pikachu's laughing had become silent, under his fur his face was probably the same colour as his trainer's but for a different reason.
"Then kiss right now, prove it to me." Gary ordered.
"Why?" Ash demanded.
Gary rolled his eyes. "To prove to me that you're not as innocent as Bonnie, I bet she's kissed somebody before you guys."
Ash suddenly became very protective about that statement. "Bonnie. There's no way I'd let her—"
Misty pulled Ash by the collar of his shirt and planted a brief kiss on his lips, turning back to Gary with an angry look. "What about you mister? I doubt that you've ever had a girlfriend. Never heard or seen of one myself."
"Misty—" Ash tried to interject with wide eyes, but was quickly cut off again, but by Gary this time.
"I did have a girlfriend before." He said roughly, staring down at his shoes with an unrecognisable expression.
"Did? Let me guess, she left because of your annoying attitude?" Misty said snidely. "Nothing I wouldn't expect."
Ash grabbed Misty's arm. "Misty don't—"
"Close but no." Gary replied, looking back at her with emotionless eyes. "She was kidnapped." He said bluntly. Pikachu had finally stopped laughing, his ears were down as he sat hunched over on the ground.
Misty froze, eyes quickly widening. "Gary, I didn't— I'm sorry..."
"It's fine." He said and adjusted the glasses perched on his face. "I know where she is now and I plan on getting her back. Besides, I don't even know if we're technically still dating or not. We were never able to get to that discussion."
"How do you know where she is?" Misty couldn't help but ask. The idea baffled her, if something like that happened to Ash, she didn't know how she would react. Gary seemed so calm about it and never once brought it up, at least not to her. Ash seemed to know though. She didn't expect him to know, but thinking of Gary and Ash's bond, she should have expected it.
"Missing in 2004." Gary replied. "That should jog your memory a bit." He turned to walk again.
"Missing in 2004...?" She trailed off, looking quickly to Ash. He gave her a grim look.
"Don't say anything to the others." He said. "Me and you are the only two who know aside from Professor Oak, and Pikachu of course..."
June 19th, 2006
May leaned back in a long stretch, hearing the satisfaction of her back popping; she let out a relieved sigh.
"Don't hurt yourself." Drew advised. "Cracking your joints isn't a good thing to do." They were waiting at the meeting spot; they found nothing as they did their share of the search. It was relaxing to just be together though, just the two of them.
"It's not actually that bad." May said. "I read an article online saying that you should actually crack your joints." She lifted up her hands and cracked her knuckles. "It's a nice feeling; gets rid of all the stiffness."
"I'd rather not take care of an old lady with severe arthritis." Drew said.
"I won't get arthritis, that doesn't actually happen." She sighed in exasperation. "Don't worry; you won't need to help me hobble around because I won't. I'll be the cool fit ninety-year old that can still go out for jogs every day."
Drew smiled at her. "We'll see how true that is someday."
"I hope we get to." She agreed. May stepped closer to him and hugged him tightly. "I'm so bored. I don't want to just wait here forever."
Drew pulled back, running his fingers through his green hair and pushing it out of his eyes. "Take out your pokémon and do something with them. I'm sure Blaziken is aching to get out of his pokéball."
May nodded once. "You're right." She agreed. "I wonder what it's really like inside of pokéballs. Do you think they're just crumpled up into little balls or is there an actual place for them to move around in?"
Drew scratched his head in thought. "I don't know. That is an interesting thought though. Maybe we should ask Clemont, he was helping Kurt make pokéballs out of apricorns so he must know."
"True." She said as she pulled out Blaziken's pokéball. "He'd have to know what's inside if he knows how to make them." She tossed the pokéball into the air and in a flash of red light, Blaziken appeared. May reached up and stroked his head; Blaziken still had to lean down. May was the shortest in the group, aside from her brother and Bonnie of course, but they were getting there quickly. May dreaded the day when Max would finally be taller than her. She knew that he would gloat about it right in front of her face; May was tempted to buy six inch heels just so she could still tower over him, but who knew how long even that would last? Her and Max may fight a lot but she didn't want to see him grow up.
If he still could grow up.
On a second thought, May did want to see Max grow up if it meant that he was alive. May quickly swiped at her eyes to banish any unwanted tears.
"May?" Drew said softly. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine in a second. I just was thinking about Max..." She wouldn't lie to Drew and say anything that she wasn't. She took a deep breath and turned to him with a smile. "Max is okay." She said firmly. "I know he's okay."
"May! Drew!" May looked in the direction of which her name was being called. Serena, Lyra and Clemont were all barrelling quickly towards them. This was the fastest she had ever seen Clemont run. They stopped in front of the two. "You won't believe what we saw." Serena panted. "We found some Rocket grunts!" As if on cue, almost every other group showed up at the exact same moment. It was as if it was a movie, or even a book.
"Wait what did you say?" Gary demanded, fixing his glasses, or Cilan's glasses, for the millionth time. "You located some Rockets?"
"We did, thanks to Clemont's device, which this time didn't blow up Ash."
"Really?" Ash's eyes sparkled, Pikachu looked surprised himself, back on his trainer's shoulder. "It didn't blow up? Let me see it!" Clemont grinned proudly as he held out the box, letting Ash inspect it. "Woah! What's it called?"
"It's the 'Easily Find Team Rocket Tracker Device'!"
"Awesome name!"
Serena sighed and rubbed her face. "Anyway, we found three Rocket grunts, three that we all know pretty well."
"Wait..." Dawn said from beside Paul and a very happy looking Iris. May's eyes were drawn to Iris and Cilan's hands, a wicked smile broke out on her face, May made a mental note to bring that to the other's attention later. "You don't mean..." Dawn bent over with a groan when Serena unhappily nodded.
"Yes, Jessie, James and Meowth."
"Why are those three idiots here?" Misty demanded. "Do you think they could actually have some part in this whole thing?"
"Well..." Cilan spoke up. "They are members of Team Rocket. If their boss needs them here then there's not really any doubt to saying that they're part of this. It's an obvious idea no matter how inadequate they seem to be."
"I wouldn't be surprised if they were here just to cause us even more trouble, it's not like we're already dealing with enough of it." Dawn said with a frown. "Or to even try and get Pikachu again."
Ash pulled Pikachu off of his shoulders and held him in his arms. "There's no way they'll actually get Pikachu."
"Pika!" Pikachu agreed. "Pikapi, pikachupi, pikapika, pikachu pika pikachu!"
"Blaziken, blaze." Blaziken nodded.
May looked around the group, suddenly an idea sparked in her brain. "We should send Paul, Drew and Lyra to spy on them. They wouldn't recognise them right?"
"They'll recognise me." Paul said with crossed arms. "I've met them on more than one occasion before."
May turned to her boyfriend and Lyra. "What about you guys?"
"I think I can do it." Drew agreed. "I don't remember meeting them."
"The same goes for me." Lyra nodded.
"Then let's do it." Ash said. "It's our best bet, so why not try?"
June 19th, 2006
"Hey Jess, we're doing pretty good with sales don't you think?" James looked at his partner with a smile. Jessie was handing somebody a bundle of cookies and waved to them with a smile.
"To be honest, I didn't expect it to go over this well." Jessie said as another person approached them with money in their hands. She took the money from them and handed them a bundle, waving goodbye to them too as they walked away. "Luckily we haven't had to deal with anything just yet, this should make the boss happy."
"Very happy, it ain't such a bad punishment neither." Meowth said as he wandered around with a sign telling people about the cookies they were selling, he pulled his hat down further on his head, feeling it slip off a little bit. "We just gotta make sure we listen super carefully from now on or else we'll be doin' this again."
Neither Jessie nor James replied to him, they just shared a glance between the two of them. "Meow—" James started.
"Excuse me?" A girl with brown hair tied back into pigtail called as she walked closer to him, a very familiar green-haired man walking behind her. Jessie narrowed her gaze as she discreetly looked him over. "May I ask what ingredients are in your cookies? I'm allergic to nuts so I just was wondering if they would be safe for me to buy?"
"No nuts came in contact with these scrumptious delicate treats!" Meowth exclaimed with a grin. "Only one hundred poké!"
"Wow! That's a great pricing! What kind of business is this? Is it for something else or just for you guys?" She asked.
"Just for our own personal gain ma'am, some of the funding's will be donated to the local orphanage!" James lied.
She nodded. "Sounds like a good deal to me! Don't you agree?" She turned to her friend who nodded and brushed his hair to the side. Jessie frowned.
"We should get two to bring to our coworkers." He suggested.
"Great idea!" She clasped her hands together. "Two packages please!"
Jessie smiled at the girl and handed her two packages, taking the two hundred poké. "Thank you Miss!" Jessie said with a strained smile. "Have a lovely day!"
"You too!" She quickly replied with a wave and left on her way back, going in the same direction that she had come from.
Jessie watched them leave before elbowing James in the ribs and kicking Meowth. "It's the twerp's friends!" She whispered to them, both her and James were crouched down to Meowth's level.
"What?" James asked frantically, looking up in the direction the two had left. "How do you know?"
"Remember that brown-haired twerpette from Hoenn with the Blaziken? That green haired guy is her friend or rival or whatever. I remember from doing contests!"
"Aw man, you sure Jess?" Meowth asked, pulling down his glasses to look at his teammate better. "You sure it's really them?"
"Positive, I never forget a face, no matter how ugly."
A day early hurray!
I have made an awful mistake... I FORGOT TO WRITE ABOUT PIKACHU!
I am very angry with myself... I hope I put him in this chapter enough.
I headcannon May to have a habit of cracking her joints... like me... oops? I can literally crack every possible joint in my body.
Since I added birthdays last week, why not put heights? Tell me if any off you are the same height as any of the characters! I'm the same height as Dawn hahahah
I refrence myself too much for these guys!
I also base Max off of my own little brother... He's almost taller than me too! I'd rather not see that day unlike May, the longer he is shorter than me, the better.
All heights are in order from tallest to shortest!
Cilan- 6'1
Paul- 5'11
Gary- 5'9
Ash- 5'9
Brock- 5'8
Tracey 5'8
Drew- 5'7
Misty- 5'6
Clemont- 5'6
Serena- 5'6
Iris- 5'3
Dawn- 5'2
May- 5'1
Max- 4'12
Bonnie- 4'8
Have an amazing week guys!