A/N thanks to everyone for the positive feedback, the poll will be going on for a few chapters now and then I'm gonna start the second part to it
Reviews
Allie cat – the Idea sounds like it would be a really great stand-alone story, but I don't know if I would include it in this, but you might think about starting one at some point. It might work out pretty well.
Disclaimer – (insert obvious disclaimer about me not owning Pokémon here)
"Insert words here" normal voice
'Insert words here' thinking
"Insert words here" machine voice
"Insert words here" telepathy
Ch. 6 Not out of the woods yet
"Tree, tree, tree, rock, tree…" Ash continuously muttered as he walked along the path with Cynthia. He knew he was being immature, but he was bored out of his mind. He had known that he wouldn't be having some amazing adventure or some epic battle every step of his journey, but that didn't help with his boredom. Ash had always preferred to be doing something to occupy himself, but at the moment nothing really came to mind.
As Ash continued his muttering about the scenery, Cynthia was struggling to keep from smacking him. 'He's just bored,' she repeated to herself as she tried to relax, 'but he's been doing this for almost an hour.' another part of her mind said.
As Cynthia was about to tell Ash to stop, Pikachu suddenly shouted "PIKA!" which if translated would have been "SQUIRREL!" Both trainers stopped what they were doing and looked at the little Pokémon. While they were staring at him Pikachu was giving them a look that seemed to say "how else would I have gotten him to stop?", causing Cynthia to mentally thank Pikachu for his interference before the three continued walking (or riding on Ash's shoulder in Pikachu's case).
About 10 minutes down the road, the trainers and Pokémon came to a stop as they noticed a tree that was in the middle of the road, which looked fairly big, even for one from a forest. Cynthia was about to release a Pokémon to cut it out of the way before she realized that the tree would take several others down if it was removed without proper equipment. She decided it would be best to move around the tree then report the blocked road to someone later when they get to pewter city.
Telling this to Ash, the two trainers stepped off the bath to go around the massive tree and stepped into the underbrush. What neither one noticed was the marks on the tree that suggested it was cut down.
10 minutes down the "path" …
Ash walked through the trees and bushes following Cynthia, but he didn't have a clue where they were going, since there wasn't any sign of the path yet. "Hey Cynthia, how much farther will it be before we are back on the path?" he asked, hoping it would be soon since he had heard about several hives of Beedrill throughout the viridian forest, and he wasn't all that excited about running into one of them.
"It shouldn't be too much further" Cynthia replied as she kept walking, but if Ash could have seen her face, he would have seen her looking around trying to find out where she was. Truthfully, she was kicking herself for thinking it was a good idea to go off the path, since neither she nor Ash had any clue how to navigate the forest itself.
Before long, they came to a clearing, which made Cynthia breathe a sigh of relief to finally be out of the thicker parts of the forest. Ash sent her a confused look when she did this.
"Uh, Cynthia…" Ash started, getting the girl's attention, "are we lost?" As he said this the blonde trainer started to stutter out a denial while she started to have a small blush across her face, which was clearly from embarrassment.
"I know exactly where we're going, the path is just a little further" Cynthia said, while mentally she was crying her eyes out. 'I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE WE ARE!' she screamed in her head. After she calmed herself down, she looked around the clearing for a moment. "We should take a break, we've been walking for a while" she said before receiving a nod from both Ash and Pikachu.
After sitting down in the clearing and having a bit of rest, Ash noticed a familiar Pokémon that was a little ways into the clearing. It was a tiny bird that stood only a foot tall with cream colored feathers on the bottom side of it, with brown feathers on the top side. It had a crest of its head of both colors. This was a Pidgey, a Pokémon Ash remembered with a large amount of embarrassment due to his first encounter with one.
Pikachu likewise remembered said encounter, with more than a little shame at his actions at the time.
Flashback (mostly just bits from the first episode, I'm trying to not make it a direct copy paste but anybody that's seen the anime should know what happened)
Ash was dragging a defiant Pikachu behind him with a clothesline as he walked down the road from pallet town towards route 1. He had been having a lot of problems with the little mouse from the moment he met him, since it had shocked him twice, and humiliated him in front of the sendoff the town had put together for the trainers that were leaving this year.
"Pikachu, are you gonna be this way for the whole trip?" Ash asked as he finally stopped walking to talk to the disobedient Pokémon.
"Pi!" the mouse said while glaring at Ash.
"Is it just because you don't like me?" Ash asked, while he tried to figure out how to work with the Pokémon.
"Pi-ka" the mouse said while he nodded
While Ash continued to try and reason with the mouse, he was hiding the fact the Pikachu's dislike, borderline hatred, of him hurt.
After the two talked back and forth for a little while, Ash decided to remove the clothesline from Pikachu as a show of good faith, though the mouse still openly disliked him.
Ash spotted a Pokémon that was well known a short distance away, and got excited by it. "A Pidgey!" He took the opportunity to scan the Pokémon with his Pokédex like Prof. Oak had said to do. He was rewarded with the small box reading off the info on the bird.
"Pidgey, the tiny bird Pokémon, Pidgey is common in grassy areas and forests. Because it dislikes fighting, it protects itself by kicking up sand. Pidgey is a perfect target for the beginning Pokémon trainer to test his Pokémon's skills." The voice of the small box read off the information on Pidgey to Ash.
Ash proceeded to try and capture the bird, but Pikachu refused to battle for Ash and ran over to a tree to watch. Ash then decided to try and catch the Pokémon without the mouse's help, though he was reminded by the Pokédex that in order to capture a Pokémon, one needed to weaken it in battle first. He then proceeded to tackle the bird with a blanket, which resulted in him getting tossed away by a gust attack. The tiny bird flew off, but not before hitting Ash with a sand attack, causing Pikachu to burst into laughter at his trainer's misfortune.
Flashback end…
Ash and Pikachu nodded to each other as they decided they would catch the Pidgey in front of them to make up for the embarrassment they suffered from the previous one.
"Pikachu let's go" Ash said, taking care not to scare off Pidgey by being too loud, since the little bird looked like it would fly off if it was scared in any way.
The tiny mouse hopped off Ash's shoulder and was about to charge the tiny bird Pokémon, when a much larger shape flew out of the woods and took its place in between Pikachu and the Pidgey. The bird was much larger than Pidgey, but still somewhat resembled it, though the brown was lighter and the crest and tail feathers were larger and held more color, being somewhat red instead of brown. The bird was more than three times the size of Pidgey, and seemed much more battle ready than its tiny counterpart.
Slightly nervous about the new arrival, Ash pulled out Dexter and scanned the large bird. After a moment, the Pokédex began to read off the information.
"Pidgeotto, the bird Pokémon and the evolved form of Pidgey, Pidgeotto has outstanding vision. However high it flies, it is able to distinguish the movements of its prey. Unlike the gentler Pidgey, Pidgeotto can be much more dangerous, and should be approached with caution." The box finished its recitation of the entry on Pidgeotto.
Ash noticed that Pidgeotto hadn't moved since it had arrived, and was currently just watching both him and Pikachu. 'This must be what it meant by outstanding vision' he guessed, since Pidgeotto was clearly waiting for him to make the first move.
"Pikachu, use Thundershock!" Ash started off with a move that he knew would do a lot of damage if it hit.
Pikachu fired off a bolt of electricity, but neither he nor Ash where surprised when Pidgeotto took to the air to dodge the attack. Pikachu was thankful for not hitting the Pidgey, who was now watching from a nearby tree, since it was not involved in the battle anymore.
Pidgeotto stopped as it reached a height that satisfied it, and began to think on how to approach the battle, since it knew that the Pikachu had an advantage over it.
Ash waited for the bird Pokémon to make its move since Pikachu couldn't reach it with Thundershock at the height it was at. He was pushed to act when Pidgeotto came diving down at Pikachu in a quick attack. Before he could react, Pidgeotto slammed into Pikachu and sent the mouse back towards him. Pikachu landed in front of him, but still managed to stand. 'It's faster than I thought' He noted that Pikachu was in fairly good shape for having been hit by the evolved Pokémon. Deciding to make his move Ash made a small strategy in his head that he hoped would work. "Pikachu use Quick Attack!"
The mouse complied and rushed at Pidgeotto, which somewhat shocked the bird since it seemed to be a fairly dumb move to use on a flying type. The bird once again started rising into the air, but was unable to get out of range of Pikachu's next attack
"Pikachu, Thundershock again!" Ash ordered when he saw Pidgeotto start to fly up into the air.
At this point, Pikachu was standing directly under where Pidgeotto had been flying. The bird Pokémon screeched in pain as the electric attack hit it, but it still managed to stay in the air. The bird Pokémon finally managed to get into the air and away from the electric type. Taking the opportunity to think, the bird then began to look down at the mouse it was fighting against.
To the surprise of Ash and Pikachu, Pidgeotto again dive-bombed towards Pikachu, but this time it wasn't using Quick Attack.
From her spot she was watching from, Cynthia's eyes widened as she saw the bird type using a move she recognized fairly well, having it used against her several times and using it herself. She knew that Ash wouldn't recognize the move, or the power behind it, since it wasn't used by wild Pokémon often in Kanto.
The bird Pokémon suddenly vanished from sight, surprising both Ash and Pikachu, who then began to look for it. Pidgeotto revealed itself when it reappeared right in front of Pikachu, before slamming its wings into the little mouse. This action made Pikachu cry out in pain while Ash was unable to do anything for his friend.
The attack was undeniable to Cynthia, she was amazed that a Pokémon in the wild could teach itself a move that normally would require a TM or a move tutor for a trainer owned Pokémon to learn. Having confirmed what the attack was she spoke up; "Ash!" This got said trainer's attention, but he was still trying to keep an eye on Pidgeotto. "The attack it just used is called Aerial Ace." Getting a nod, Ash interrupted her before she could explain the attack.
"Thanks, but I think I should figure out how the move works on my own." The maturity of the statement surprised her, but she felt it was a bit stupid to not take the help she offered at this point.
"Pika!" she was shocked when Pikachu also agreed with Ash.
Pidgeotto was impressed with the way the human handled being given advice that would render its strongest move useless. It was somewhat rare to meet someone who would turn down help in favor of figuring it out themselves. With the way it learned Aerial Ace being a perfect example, since several older members of the flock had offered to help, only to be turned down out of what was probably pride.
Pidgeotto decided to resume the battle with a Quick Attack to get the attention of its opponent. Pikachu dodged the quick attack and returned to standing in front of Ash, awaiting an order.
"Pikachu use Thundershock!" The Pokémon complied and fired a bolt of electricity which Pidgeotto dodged and again was in the air out of range. The bird Pokémon was reluctant to rely on Aerial Ace to win it the match since it hated that it couldn't win without it. This fact made the bird more than a little angry at the situation.
Ash told Pikachu quietly to hold onto a Thundershock, hoping that Pidgeotto couldn't hear him. Pikachu complied and started to charge electricity as he saw Pidgeotto start diving in another Aerial Ace. When Pidgeotto reappeared in front of Pikachu, it was surprised and horrified to see the buildup of electricity on Pikachu's face, which clearly signaled an attack that was sure to hit. But it was too late to stop since Aerial Ace built up too much speed for Pidgeotto to turn. Pikachu fired off the Thundershock as he was hit with the Aerial Ace, causing both Pokémon to drop near instantly. Ash took the opportunity to throw a Pokéball at Pidgeotto. The ball sucked in the bird Pokémon and started to shake for a few moments, then it stopped and the ball dinged to signal capture.
Ash walked over to Pikachu and picked up the injured Pokémon before walking over and picking up the newly caught Pidgeotto. "We did it buddy," he said taking care not to put too much pressure on the injuries.
"Pi-pika" Pikachu said with a smile on his face before he fell asleep.
Cynthia walked over to them and congratulated them on their victory. Mentally, she was making another note on her friend's ability as a trainer, 'That was a good strategy, but just about any trainer could counter it if they were keeping an eye on Pikachu.' She figured she would explain this to Ash later, but she had to figure out how to do so without destroying any confidence he built up as a trainer. "I think we should stay here for the night, maybe we can have Pidgeotto guide us out of the forest in the morning." As she said this, she realized her slip up.
"So then we really were lost this whole time?" Ash said as a smirk started to make its way onto his face.
An embarrassed blush crossed the blonde girl's face, "Uh…" Cynthia tried to figure out how to get herself out of this one.
After a few moments of this, Ash decided they should start setting up camp for the night. "It's no problem, I got a new Pokémon out of all this, but we should set up camp now right?" he said, snapping Cynthia out of her attempts to make an excuse for getting lost.
"Yeah I guess we should," Cynthia said, all too happy to change the subject.
The two trainers then started to set up the camp to sleep for the night. Before long the two had everything set up and were sitting at a small fire that was currently being used by Cynthia to cook something (A/N try to imagine something because I am a terrible cook) for dinner. After the food was done cooking, both trainers released their Pokémon for dinner.
Ash noted that Pidgeotto was taking to being captured far better than he expected, which reminded him to read the information regarding said Pokémon from the capture. Taking out Dexter, he pointed the Pokédex at the bird Pokémon and then looked at the information on his newly caught Pokémon.
Species: Pidgeotto
Gender: Female
Height: 3'05"
Weight: 61 lbs.
Attacks: Tackle, Gust, Sand-Attack, Quick Attack, Aerial Ace
Ability: Keen Eye
After having read all the information regarding Pidgeotto, Ash decided to ask Cynthia about Keen Eye since he couldn't find any information on abilities in his Pokédex, 'I'll have to ask Prof. Oak about that when I talk to him again,' he thought before he walked over to Cynthia, who was passing food out to her Pokémon. Waiting until she was done, Ash decided to get her attention, "Cynthia, could you give me a hand with this?" he asked, holding up the Pokédex to show what he was talking about.
"Sure thing Ash," Cynthia said before she walked over to see what he was looking over. Looking over the information, the only thing that she could find that Ash would be curious about would be Keen Eye, since he still didn't know much about abilities. "Keen Eye right?" Receiving a nod she gave a quick explanation, "Keen eye lets Pidgeotto see through things like fog or Smokescreen or anything that makes it hard to see." There really wasn't much to it other than that, but it was still a useful ability nonetheless.
Ash nodded to show that he understood before the two sat down to eat dinner. After finishing their meal, the two trainers and their Pokémon turned in for the night after putting out the fire.
The next morning…
Ash woke up to find the sun had already risen, but unlike he usually would see, it had only been up for maybe an hour at most, maybe two. 'I guess Cynthia's sleeping habits are rubbing off on me,' he thought as he got up. Prior to meeting the blonde trainer, Ash had always had a habit of sleeping in as much as he could, usually needing to be shaken out of bed or he would sleep in, his first day as a trainer being an amazing example of this. Cynthia had made a point to wake him up fairly early (by his standards) and had gone to some fairly extreme measures, ranging from a bucket of water (courtesy of Milotic), to having Pikachu shocking him out of bed. They hadn't even been traveling together for a week and he was already picking up the habit of waking up early, if only to avoid whatever wakeup call Cynthia had prepared for him.
Walking out of the tent he slept in, Ash saw Pikachu sitting by Cynthia who was already eating some instant food she had bought for breakfasts. Walking over to the two, Ash pulled out a breakfast bar (again, I suck with food so just imagine what you want) and sat down to eat it.
Seeing Ash awake, Cynthia gave a mock sigh of despair, "Now I can't wake you up," she said as she saw Ash pale slightly from whatever idea she might have had, "and I had an idea for Roselia to try too," she finished with a smirk.
Ash knew she was just messing with him now, since she was not the type to be needlessly cruel to others. After finishing their breakfast, the two trainers packed up their respective tents and sleeping bags.
Once the cleanup was finished, Cynthia spoke up, "Okay Ash, you think Pidgeotto could guide us out of the forest?" she asked.
Ash released the bird Pokémon from her Pokéball. "Pidgeotto, could you guide us out of the forest, we kind of got lost before we met up with you," he asked, while the bird Pokémon couldn't help but sweat-drop at the fact she was beaten by someone who had just stumbled upon her while wandering through the forest.
The bird nodded and flew up, making sure to stay within sight of her new trainer, while also being high enough to see which way she was going. Not too far away, she caught sight off the nearby Beedrill hive, which none of them wanted to be anywhere near. Making sure to keep a distance from the hive's territory, the bird began guiding the two trainers out of viridian forest.
1 hour later…
"I really do regret not just blowing up that tree back on the path," Cynthia said as she narrowly avoided getting smacked by a low hanging branch.
The last hour had been steadily getting more and more tedious, as the brush wouldn't make up its mind about being too thick, or too thin. Leading to them either tripping or getting hit by branches (most of this happening to Ash) that were along the makeshift path they were following.
Just as Ash was about to make his own comment (a.k.a. complaint) the two noticed that the end of the forest was finally in sight. Both finally sighing in relief to finally be leaving the forest, they began to make their way out of the brush and into the clearing that was at the end of the forest. Just as the two trainers were about to exit the clearing, one of the smaller trees on the side of the clearing started to topple over. Cynthia noticed the tree starting to fall, and grabbed Ash and dragged him out of the way behind her, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the now fallen tree.
"So close," spoke up a familiar voice, which made both of the young trainers tense in apprehension. From the tree line, James came walking out with his Beedrill following behind him.
"So you cut down the tree?" Cynthia asked while she was discreetly reaching for Gabite's Pokéball.
"Yes I suppose that I should accept responsibility for that one," the purple haired man replied with a malicious smirk on his face, "why don't you come with me and we can make sure you're all right back at HQ." This line shocked both Ash and Cynthia, since they were just told that they were a target for team rocket.
'Where are the other two? He wouldn't have come after us alone, he's not that stupid.' Cynthia thought while trying to figure out how to deal with Beedrill, since he was caught off guard last time by Pikachu's Thunder Wave. Sending a glance over to Ash, she saw Pikachu was already in front of him, ready to attack at a moment's notice. After she was finished analyzing the situation, she tossed out Gabite's Pokéball, releasing the cave Pokémon.
Unknown to her, she had done just what James was counting on, and the trap that was waiting for Gabite was sprung. To Cynthia's shock, she saw a fast moving cloud of spores coming towards Gabite, which she immediately recognized as Stun Spore. In spite of her strength, the cave Pokémon wasn't able to move as the spores immediately took effect on her.
"Damn," Cynthia mumbled as she returned Gabite, 'this is bad, they were expecting Gabite, so they probably have that gloom nearby to provide support,' she thought. She thankfully still had Pokémon other than Gabite to battle, so she replaced Gabite's Pokéball on her belt. After a moment's thought she threw another Pokéball, "Roselia you're up," she yelled as the dual grass/poison type appeared before her.
James had expected the girl to have more Pokémon than that dragon, but he was confident that they could crush them with it out of the way. "Beedrill, use String Shot," he ordered. With that, the battle began in full.
Beedrill fired a stream of silk, similar to Metapod's, but with much more force, towards Pikachu and Roselia. The move missed when the two Pokémon took off in different directions to avoid it, they then started to move in on Beedrill, hoping to surround it.
James, seeing what was going on smirked as he ordered a Twinneedle, which Beedrill instantly complied by jabbing both of its arms to the sides at its opponents.
Seeing that their strategy failed, Pikachu jumped to the side and moved away from Beedrill, while Roselia followed suit while launching a Razor Leaf attack.
Seeing the Razor Leaf coming, James ordered Beedrill to dodge. He wouldn't take any chances after having already been defeated once by them because he underestimated them. Beedrill flew over the leaves and landed in front of his master to await another command.
Over in the trees, Jessie took an opportunity to have Gloom launch another Stun Spore at the two trainers from cover. The weed Pokémon complied and released the thick cloud of spores again, and sent it towards Roselia and Pikachu.
Ash saw the cloud before Cynthia and ordered Pikachu to move away from it after having seen what it did to Gabite, a Pokémon several times the mouse's size. 'That Gloom is hiding in the forest and firing attacks at us, but where is it?' He knew it would be a problem if they didn't take care of it, but for the life of him he couldn't think of any way to get it into the open. He couldn't do anything if he didn't know where it was hiding… "That's it!" he said aloud, drawing Cynthia's attention to him with a look of "what?" on her face. "Pidgeotto knock Gloom into the clearing with Aerial Ace!" he yelled, which brought a shocked look to both of the team rocket trainers faces at the command. They hadn't thought about him having another Pokémon out from the start, and it was made worse because it was a Pidgeotto, a Pokémon known for its keen eyesight.
"Gloom dodge it and get over next to Beedrill," Jessie ordered as she jumped out of the tree she was watching from to stand by James, with the grass type following suit. She saw the bird Pokémon come darting out of the tree line pursuing gloom before it smashed its wings into the weed Pokémon.
Cynthia was focusing on the battle now that she had both of the enemies in her field of vision, making the battle significantly easier now that they weren't being bombarded with sneak attacks. "Roselia, use Energy Ball on Gloom," she commanded, wanting to get rid of the weed Pokémon before it could get off any more spores to disable their Pokémon. The thorn Pokémon charged a leaf green ball in between her bouquet shaped hands, which she fired at Gloom.
Gloom, seeing the attack coming, hopped to the side to avoid it, only to see a Razor Leaf coming at it, which was already too close to dodge. "Gloom, use Acid!" Jessie yelled, snapping the Weed Pokémon into action. It fired a glob of acid from its mouth, which neither Pokémon nor trainer expected to hit, but it managed to graze Roselia, drawing a wince of pain from the thorn Pokémon.
"Pidgeotto use Gust!" Ash called. The bird flapped her wings, which whipped up a small tornado that knocked back Beedrill and Gloom, not doing much damage, but getting them some room to work with. "Pikachu use Thunder Wave!" he commanded the mouse this time. Pikachu began to charge the energy for the move.
"Not this time kid!" came a voice from the side as Meowth dashed past, smashing into Pikachu with a dark aura shrouding him. An attack that Cynthia mentioned was called Pursuit. Pikachu was sent flying backwards as Meowth made his way over towards the edge of the clearing.
'This isn't good,' Cynthia thought as she saw the Scratch Cat Pokémon take his own place on the battlefield. They hadn't fought Meowth before so they didn't know what he could do, add in that he was fighting on his own, and it made him one hell of a wild card. She glanced over and was thankful to see that Pikachu was able to get up; although he was fairly shaky after the hit he took.
Ash, seeing Pikachu's condition, knew that the mouse needed to take some time to recover. "Pikachu come back," he called, much to the mouse's surprise, though the surprise quickly became anger.
"Pika pi pika chu!" he attempted to argue, before being cut off by Ash.
"You're not in any shape to keep going Pikachu now come back." Grudgingly, Pikachu made his way over by his trainer but refused to drop his alert status for anything. "Pidgeotto you're up." The bird nodded and took her place at the head of the group to be ready to fight.
Seeing that they had an opening, Beedrill and Gloom rushed forward, Beedrill with a Twinneedle and Gloom with something like a scratch only stronger. Cynthia rushed to intercept them when Meowth blindsided Roselia with a slash attack. Taking a chance, Ash ordered an Aerial Ace on Beedrill. Pidgeotto disappeared in the telltale Aerial Ace, reappearing to the right of Beedrill. James commanded Beedrill to dodge, but forgot about Gloom being right behind Beedrill, so the flying type move, while missing Beedrill, smashed dead on into Gloom. Unfortunately for the Weed Pokémon, Pidgeotto decided to take the initiative and flew over the Weed Pokémon and rushed towards it with a Quick Attack, sending the Weed Pokémon smashing into the ground. The impact finished off Gloom, leaving the battle with only Beedrill and Meowth to contend with.
Speaking of Meowth, the cat was currently charging what looked like an electric attack, but much stronger than any of Pikachu's. Finally taking notice of the danger the cat presented, Ash tried to tell Pidgeotto to dodge, but was too late as a massive shockwave was launched towards the bird, striking dead on. Pidgeotto was out cold before she could even make a sound to indicate her pain. Ash was now more worried than ever as he returned his fallen Pokémon. Meowth was smirking from where he stood on the edge of the clearing, "That all you got?" he taunted as he watched Ash glare at him. Clearly the Scratch Cat Pokémon wasn't to be taken lightly, Ash sighed as he only had Pikachu and Metapod left, with Pikachu being injured from Meowth's first strike.
Making up his mind, Ash tossed Metapod's Pokéball, "Metapod let's go!" With a flash of light the cocoon Pokémon appeared. In spite of his maturity, James couldn't help laughing at what he saw as a completely stupid move, Meowth being noticeably silent while keeping an eye on Ash. 'He doesn't seem like the stupid type, why would he send out a Pokémon that can't move?' Meowth thought as he tried to understand the strategy the kid was working on.
"Metapod use String Shot!" Ash called, silently praying he could get this to work. Metapod fired a stream of silk that hit Beedrill head on before he started to pull himself towards the poison type. Misunderstanding the strategy, Beedrill simply sliced the thread off of him before he looked back to see Metapod hurtling towards him, covered in a sheen that indicated the use of harden. The last thought before impact being 'OH SHIT!', he was promptly sent flying into a tree, completely out cold and unable to fight.
Meowth cursed under his breath, "Looks like it's down to me again," he mumbled in irritation at his two human partners, "I told them they need backup or more Pokémon than just the one." Not taking any chances, Meowth charged towards Metapod, with his right hand raised while it was coated in a sickly looking purple fog, 'Shadow Claw,' he thought as he slashed across the cocoon Pokémon's face. Once again, the Pokémon was unconscious before he hit the ground.
Ash was at the end of his rope now, he knew that Meowth was strong, but he was constantly being reminded when he saw the cat in action. He was now down to Pikachu, who was still having trouble with steadying himself, let alone battling. He got nervous as the cat turned towards him, before he saw something that made him breathe a sigh of relief.
Meowth, seeing the kid's apparent relief, turned around, and his eyes widened at the sight of a fully mobile and battle ready Gabite glaring at him. 'Shit,' he thought as he saw that Gabite looked fairly pissed for the cheap shot Gloom had hit her with. While Meowth knew he was decently strong, he knew that he couldn't take out Gabite while it was fresh, let alone the other Pokémon the blonde girl had in reserve. Seeing no other choice, Meowth gathered his energy towards the coin on his forehead while thinking of the move that he was using. 'We lost this one, but cowards can fight another day,' he thought as he released the Flash attack that he had been building up. The effect was instantaneous; Ash, Cynthia, Gabite, and Pikachu all had to immediately cover their eyes as the bright light was released. When the light finally toned down enough for them to open their eyes, team rocket was gone.
Cynthia knew the fight was over since she saw Gabite start to relax, she had hoped they could stop them and get them behind bars this time, but unfortunately Meowth seemed to be able to use even Flash. Gabite nudged her trainer as if to say "we'll get them next time" which earned her a gentle pat on the head and a smile from Cynthia. "Ash let's get going, it's almost sun down," she called getting her friends attention.
The two then began the final stretch of their walk towards pewter city, both wanting to just have a normal quiet walk for once after the excitement of their recent run in with team rocket.
In Team Rockets getaway balloon…
Meowth had just finished scolding (and scratching) Jessie and James for the failure of their mission.
"We aren't the only ones to blame!" Jessie started to snap at Meowth, but was silenced when said cat smacked her with his tail.
"If it weren't for me we would be sitting behind bars you idiots," Meowth yelled, while silently thankful for James being as humble as he usually is when he makes a mistake. It was usually Jessie that was a problem to deal with, since she had always been a very angry and often arrogant person.
James interrupted before a fight broke out between his two partners (again), "What are we going to do regarding the mission? We have to bring those two in to the boss," he said while he was trying to think of how to approach the situation.
"Like I told you two, you need more than a single Pokémon, especially since they've already beaten them before," Meowth stated, which both trainers grudgingly nodded in agreement to, "And try not to make this one ANOTHER poison type, the team already has way too many of those," Meowth continued, once again getting a nod of agreement. After all, Team Rocket was well known for using a lot of poison type Pokémon, and it wouldn't do to just use the one type against opponents like the two kids had proven to be.
With that the three then began to discuss what they would look for to get an edge over their targets as they continued through the air in the balloon.
With Ash, Pikachu, and Cynthia…
The small group had finally arrived at the Pokémon center in Pewter City, after they had run into a man named Flint who had been selling… rocks, on the outskirts of town. The man had been willing to show them the way to the Pokémon center, which they were now standing in while they thanked Flint for his help.
"Don't mention it," Flint said, waving off the thanks while he started his way back to wherever he was staying.
After making the reservations for a room and dropping their Pokémon off to be treated for their injuries, Ash and Cynthia made their way over to the cafeteria to get some dinner. Before long, they were called up to the desk and Ash retrieved Metapod, Pidgeotto, and Pikachu from the nurse, with Pikachu hopping off the tray holding the Pokéballs onto Ash's shoulder again. With that, both trainers decided to head up to their room to turn in for the night, finally bringing an end to the crazy day they just had.
That's all for chapter 6,
thanks to everybody who's been voting on the poll.
if anybody has any questions, just review or pm me and i'll try and answer them either via pm or in the following chapter.
if you have any suggestions on pokemon team rocket should catch, let me know.
as always, feel free to post any constructive criticism that you might have.
thanks for reading,
Akkeiton