"Pika! Pi!"

"We're here! We're in Neon City!"

Ash and his friends have just arrived in a huge civilization called Neon City. Lights were everywhere. Horns honked and beeped. People shouted. "What's with this place?" Ash murmured.

"I hear this place is open twenty-four hours," Brock mused.

Misty bumped into someone. "Ow! Hey! Watch where you're going!"

The person clenched his fists. "You're the one that bumped into me!"

Misty dodged a punch from him and raced to catch up with the others, now angry. "Twenty-four hours? That must be why they're so grumpy." The person was seen shaking his fist at her before stomping away.

Suddenly, Brock gasped. "She's gorgeous..."

Ash and Misty turned to see two women in white dresses, one with blue highlights and the other just simply white. They were both wearing fedoras that matched their dresses.

Brock rushed over to the one with blue on her dress. "Hi! My name's Brock. Do you need anything? I can get it for you!"

"Oh, calm down," the woman said. Then she squinted. "Ooh. What a handsome fellow you are."

Brock looked like he was about to faint. A beautiful woman just called him handsome! "Thanks."

"What would your name be?"

"I'm Brock. What's yours?"

"I'm Sarah."

"That's a pretty name."

"Why, thank you."

Ash and Misty grumbled, standing off to the side, waiting for Brock to get rejected.

"Say, you wouldn't like to go for dinner sometime, would you?"

"Well, I'm free tonight, tomorrow night, and the night after that, but Thursay and Friday are taken."

"I'm free tonight!" Brock beamed. His friends groaned. Ash had his eye on the woman's companion.

She had turned to Sarah. "How come you always get the guys?"

Sarah shrugged. "No idea, sis."

The other woman crossed her arms with a "Hmph!" Then she turned to Brock. "Oh, hey, you, sir."

"Huh?"

"We were meaning to give out these tickets to a private jet ride," she explained. "It'll take you anywhere you want to go. We've got three, but we don't want to use them. We've been looking for someone to give them to, but nobody's wanted them. I guess everyone in Neon City is perfectly happy living here."

"Really? We'll take them!" Brock gasped. With a smile, the woman gave the tickets to Brock.

"Thank you kindly," Sarah said. "It's such a burden carrying these around. I'll see you tonight. Let's meet here, okay?"

Brock's eyes sparkled. "Anything for you, Sarah."

Ash and Misty groaned. Ash grabbed Brock's wrist and pulled him away from the two women. "Let's get out of here before Brock faints."

Once the twerps had left, I visibly gagged. "Blech! I can't believe I have to take Brock on a date!"

James laughed. "At least you did what The Boss asked. That's good."

Not finding humor in his words, I smacked him across the face. "Shut up. Just shut up!"

Later that evening...

I fought back a groan as Brock appeared. "Where would you like to go?" I asked.

"Wherever you want is fine."

I faked a giggle. "I guess that pizza and buffet place would be nice."

Brock smiled. "No way! I love pizza buffets!"

We walked together to the buffet, and I tried to pretend not to notice Brock reaching for my hand.

"So, what do you do for a living?" he asked.

"I work for Nurse Joy in this town," I lied.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm her assistant. It just kills me to see injured Pokémon."

Truthfully, the only injured Pokémon I would care about were Arbock, Beedrill, Weezing, or Dodrio. Mainly because they're the only Pokémon I actually know or care about.

"Me too! I want to become a world famous Pokémon breeder."

"That sounds nice."

"Maybe I could work with you and Nurse Joy!"

"I'll have to ask her about it."

I'm a better liar than I give myself credit for. I used to think I was a horrible liar, but here I am, acting like what Brock said didn't punch me in the face.

By then we had arrived. Brock registered us and we sat down to eat. I munched on a rice ball, thinking of how I could get the twerp to leave his bag at the table. I could... No. Maybe he'll have to go the the men's room soon. Fifty-fifty chance. With my luck, it's a lot less. Oh! I've got it!

I tried to drink as much water as possible without drinking the entire think in one sip. I had to space the times when I took a sip, otherwise Brock would get suspicious. I learned that a while back.

Once Brock had noticed how low I was on my drink, he immediately jumped up. "I'll refill that for you, Sarah! Is it okay if I leave my bag here?"

I smiled, though for a different reason than he would think. "Of course. Thank you so much."

He grabbed the cup and walked over to the counter. There was a long line there. Leave it to Neon City to be urbanized.

I carefully unzipped the bag, finding three Pokéballs in it. He has an Onix, a Geodude, and a Vulpix.

I put the Pokéballs in my pretend purse and quickly zipped it back up and put the backpack where it had been before . I made sure it was right where he left it.

I'm a master thief.

Brock came back from the buffet and walked himself to the campsite that he and his friends had made just outside of town.

"Hey, guys."

Ash waved, and Misty greeted him with a sigh. "Hi."

"Something wrong?"

Ash groaned. "I'm tired of camping! All the hotels are taken. I need a soft, warm bed, but this town is too overpopulated that I can't find a place to sleep!"

"You mean urbanized. And I agree. I can't take much more of waking up with twigs in my hair," Brock responded.

"Or leaves," Misty added.

"Togepi!" the little Pokémon squeaked.

"But what I'm mostly worried about is Team Rocket," Misty said.

"Why should we be worried? They haven't bothered us since we've gotten to Neon City, and even before that."

"That's exactly why we should be worried, Ash!" Misty shouted. "We haven't heard from them since that incident in the forest!"

"Misty's right," Brock growled. "Maybe they're planning something big."

"But hey, we can escape with our plane tickets though, right?"

"Yeah, of course we can. But they might follow us. We'd better prepare our Pokémon."

Ash nodded and unzipped his bag, grabbing his five Pokéballs and releasing his Pokémon. Misty did the same. Brock reached inside his bag. "Huh?" He fumbled around some more. "Oh, here they are!"

He threw three Pokéballs.

"Go, Onix, Vulpix, and Geodude!" The Pokéballs were still. "Huh?"

"I guess they don't want to come out," Misty said.

"But all three at once? That's not a coincidence. It can't be."

Ash turned to Pikachu. "Pikachu, use your thunderbolt attack and get them out."

"No!" Brock yelled. "I'll lure them out with Pokémon food first. Then, if that doesn't work, we'll try thunderbolt.

Ash murmured an agreement.

Brock set out some of his special Pokémon food, expecting them to be drawn out, but none of them appeared. Brock sighed and put the food away. "Pikachu, you know what to do."

"Pika..." He stepped up in front of the three Pokéballs. "CHUUUUUU!" The shock electrified the Pokéballs, but Pokémon inside still didn't come out. However, one opened.

"Wait a second..." Brock picked one up. "These are just regular Pokéballs. But I didn't have my Pokémon in my bag." He dropped the Pokéball, rushing over to his bag. "Oh, what kind of trainer am I? I lost my Pokémon!"

"You didn't lose them," Misty realized. "Sarah must've stolen them. Did you ever leave her alone with your bag?"

"Well, yes, but..."

"Then it's settled! We'll go to Nurse Joy and demand to see her assistant."

Brock groaned. "She was so nice, though. And so beautiful."

"Looks aren't everything, Brock," Misty snorted. "Now come on!"

"I think I laughed harder than I've ever laughed before!"

"I think so, too!"

"Brock is a total idiot! I can't believe he fell for you!"

"Imagine that he asked for a second date!"

"Nurse Joy will be so confused when he asks about her assistant!" Me and Jessie just kept laughing and laughing.

"That little twerp wasn't even there to ruin our plans again! Just wait until The Boss sees the Onix!"

"And the Vulpix!"

"And the Geodude! Well, maybe not the Geodude, but still!" Jessie bounced up and down.

"We may finally get some respect out of The Boss!" I cheered.

"We just have to get to Viridian City."

"Let's hope that's where Ash and Misty and Brock decide to go."

"On the plane? Of course they'll go. Unless they're still set on Cinnabar Island."

"Maybe we'll just have to come up with something to draw them to Viridian."

"Something extraordinary!"

"Something truly outrageous!"

"SOMETHING UTTERLY STUPID!"

We both turned, gasping. It was The Boss!

Haha, cliffhanger! :3

Anonymous1O1- Thanks for the warning. I wasn't aware. I'm glad that you like the story! There will be more relationship-wise things in the next chapter, though. Sorry I couldn't add much during this one.