Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon
The group traveled further off path due to Ash's desire to see what other pokemon live in the forest, eventually it became dark and they made camp for the night. The three trainers sat in front of the campfire and the only pokemon out were Sparks and Rick's Caterpie which Misty was trying her best to keep her distance from.
"So Rick, you're from Viridian?' Ash asked.
"Yep, but me and my parents moved here from Johto when I was small." Rick answered. "Dad is a bug type researcher and my mom works at the PokeMart."
"So is your dad why you come out here and study Bug Pokemon?" Misty asked.
"Yeah, he brought me out here one day and showed me many of the different species here." Rick smiled, as he petted his Caterpie who was snuggled up next to him. "And Caterpie was the first Bug pokemon I saw so my Dad caught him for me and the two of us have been through thick and thin, right?"
"Rhhh." Caterpie nodded in agreement.
"Me and Sparks haven't been together long." Ash said, looking back to a few days ago when Sparks was given to him by his dad, Sparks didn't even like him at first. The electric mouse refused to listen to him. "He was actually given to me by my dad."
Ash looked to the red-head and shook his head. "No, Dad never told me about it, the first time I saw Sparks' power was when we were being chased by the Sparrows." He was still not over how much power Sparks had and wondered how much it could have.
"So he just sent you off with a pokemon you didn't even understand the capabilities of and let you take things that don't belong to you then destroy said things." Misty said annoyed that this whole situation happened because he was given pokemon he couldn't handle.
"To be fair, I didn't want to take your bike but I didn't really have any other options and like I said you will get a new one down the line." Ash told the red-headed, as he looked into the fire. "I barely know what the old man is thinking, I haven't really seen him since I was either 7 or 8." Ash said, trying to remember the last time he actually saw his dad, before a few days ago.
"Hmm, your dad, what's he like or am I being too personal?" Rick said, hoping he wasn't being offensive.
"No, I don't mind, it's just well…" Ash thought about how to word what he was thinking "He's really awesome and strong, and has a deep love for his pokemon so deep it's almost like he can talk to them oh and he the best there is!" Ash said, praising his father.
"Yeah and he probably is the champion too isn't he." Misty said sarcastically
Ash glared at Misty. "You know what, yeah, he is. My Dad is the pokemon world champion Richard Ketchem." Not liking Misty's sarcasm.
"Sure and you're his son that after years long of training in a seclusion cave or some mountain top have decided to finally show themselves to be the next champion." Misty said in the same sarcastic tone
"It does seem kinda far-fetched. Especially since it feels like every year there is at least one young trainer making that same claim usually at indigo plateau. Actually started appearing a few years ago." Rick said trying to be bit more gentle with Ash
"Grr, I am his son!" Ash growled, they were calling him a liar like most kids back in Pallet Town with the exception of Gary telling him he was lying to get attention from people. "You've seen pictures of the old man right? You can tell we look alike."
"YOU do realize that Red doesn't really have anything very out ordinary look wise heck I lost count amount of look a likes I seen back home or said people who made claim being his son or daughter who look similar to him it not hard to do if you know decent hairstylist." Misty countered.
"W-Well what-"
"If you're about to remind us how your "dad" gave you sparks, their literary wiki made called Children of Red pokemon that list various pokemon of the so-called sons/daughters of Red and their connection to him you can just add Sparks to it." Misty said, rolling her eyes.
"Sparks is the son of Pika." Ash said, still trying to convince the two.
"Sure, I bet." Misty said.
"Ash, there are many Pichu in Kanto, that doesn't mean that he was born of Red's Raichu and to be honest there were others who claimed their Pichu, Pikachu or Raichu came from Red." Rick stated.
"Picha, Pi." Sparks shook his head starting to get angry on how doubting who his mom is.
"Look if you wanted to live in your fantasy with your dad, fine I honestly don't care but please don't drag me into that delusion. I prefer staying in the real world." Misty coldly said to Ash as his face got red with angry
"You know what screw you both!" Ash shouted in anger, having enough of them not believing him "I'm going to bed." Ash crawled into his sleeping bag and turned away from his companions. "Good night," he said.
"Pichu Pi." Sparks remarked his nose in the air moving over to Ash, curing up in a ball and laid next to him.
"Don't you think you went a bit too far?" Rick asked, he didn't really believe Ash either having seen countless people on TV making the same statement but it did feel a bit cold going that far specially with someone you're traveling with.
"No, you know how many people lose themselves in that kinda delusional to make themselves feel special or brush aside their failures without trying to learn from them. Honestly I'm doing him a favor by helping him wake up." Misty said as she crawled into her sleeping back as well.
Rick decided to call it a night as well, he looked at Caterpie who looked at him with a sad expression. The bug type training looked at his first pokemon, and patted it on the head. "It's alright Caterpie, let's get some rest." Rick said, returning Caterpie to the pokeball before he fell to sleep.
Unknown to them a figure was watching them just keeping out of sight the figure studied the three particularly Ash before slowly leaving the area having finished
At that time back in Pallet Town, Red was lying down in his and Delia's bed. The champion had his hands behind his head while his wife's head was on his chest. Red looked up at the ceiling, despite spending time with his wife, the man clearly had a lot on his mind. Few days ago was supposed to be a happy day, he got to see his son and wife after being away for so long and see his boy off on his own journey to be a pokemon master, Red had been looking forward to the day he and Ash could have a battle of their own and Red knew Ash would surpass him one day.
However, ever since he heard the rumors about Team Rocket's revival, he had been worried. He wasn't sure who was in charge of the organization now, when he was young the leader of the organization was Madam Rocket or Asteria the one who founded the organization in the first place, she died in prison from what he had heard. If it was a new leader, would he or she want revenge on him or his family one of the reasons why the world thought he was still single and didn't have a family was that he and Delia had made many enemies in the past and they could use their son against them that's why his and Delia's marriage was only known by a select few who they could trust and thankfully he was so popular that many trainers try to pass themselves off as his sons or daughters.
"Hmm, you alright?" Delia stirred, she looked at her husband who was deep in thought.
Red looked at his wife and gave her a reassuring smile. "Yeah… Just a little on edge."
Delia looked at him, after so many adventures when they were younger and their years of marriage she could tell when something was wrong with Red. "Richard, I'm worried too, about us, our friends and Gray," Delia said, calling Ash by his nickname. When she married she hoped she would leave a lot of her past life behind, the danger, the dodging and being a thief as she grew accustomed to the peace and quiet of Pallet Town the itch to steal something although hard she was able to resist that urge. But now Team Rocket was back and it could come after herself, Red and their own son and that's what scared her the most.
Red looked at his wife before wrapping his arms around her and embraced her. "It's going to be alright Blue. Our son will be fine." Red assured. "Remember we weren't really that much older than him and look how things turned out."
Delia smiled and buried her head into her husband's chest. "I know, and believe he'll be better than both of us."
Red couldn't but chuckle in agreement. "Yeah, I look forward to the day he does."
The next day, Rick was guiding Ash and Misty through the forest. He told them about some of the pokemon that dwelled in the forest, Ash was amazed that Rick knew so much about the forest while Misty hoped she wouldn't see any of the creep bug pokemon.
"And that's basically all the pokemon that I've seen that lived in this forest." Rick said "There might be more though, I haven't seen yet though."
"Wow, I knew Viridian Forest had a lot of pokemon but you've seen just about all of them." Ash said with amazement.
"As long as I don't see any of them, I'll be grateful." Misty remarked.
"Geez Misty, you really need to lighten up." Ash frowned, still upset from last night.
"Don't tell me to 'lighten up' Rick how much longer until I get out of the disgusting forest?" Misty demanded, wanting to get out of it as fast as she could.
"Touchy." Rick muttered "At the pace we're going, Another day or so" he answered before glancing at Ash "What'd do to get her angry at you anyway?" he asked
"I kinda stole her bike." Ash admitted. "Which in my defense me and Sparks we're being chased by a flock of Spearows."
"No wonder she's pissed." Rick remarked.
"Ahhhh!" Misty's screams got their attention, both boys looked to see Misty clinging to a tree branch.
"What the hell are you doing up there?" Ash questioned.
"Down there." Misty said pointing down towards a larva like a pokemon similar to caterpie but it was yellow and it had a horn on its head.
"Weedle." the larva pokemon said as it scurried away
"It's just a Weedle." Rick said, "Nothing dangerous about them…..except for that poison tip on their head."
"I don't care." Misty jumped down from three and pouted.
"I'm going to catch it." Ash grinned
"Knock yourself out." Rick said. "Weedles are pretty much harmless…..unless you provoke them as they could retaliate with that barb on their head as well as their tail."
Misty shivered at that thought, however she felt something on her leg. Looking down she saw the same Weedle rubbing its head against her leg with affection, the red-headed girl's face turned blue with fear. "Ahhh! Get it away from me!" Misty shouted kicking the Weedle away before she ran off into the forest.
"Hey wait! Don't run off on your own!" Rick shouted, he turned to Ash. "You can catch that Weedle, I'll go find Misty." he said before he ran after the girl as fast as he could.
"Fine by me." Ash said, happy to be by himself he looked down at Sparks who looked up at him. "Hmm, I think I'll go with Swiftwing." Ash said, knowing Swiftwing would need some battle experience, plus with a type advantage catching Weedle will be a snap.
Ash grabbed Swiftwing's pokeball, he looked at his flying pokemon within it and looked at him. Ash twisted his hat backwards. "Swiftwing, I choose you!" Ash shouted, throwing the pokemon in a flash of white light. Swiftwing appeared before Weedle ready to battle.
"Swiftwing, use Gust!" Ash said
Swiftwing obeyed as he flapped his wings creating a fierce gust of wind against the larva pokemon who struggled against it, Weedle was blown back a few feet before the tiny bird pokemon took to the air, Swiftwing flew and did a u-turn and dived at the fleeing bug pokemon and knocked into the bug sending it rolling.
"That's the way." Ash grinned, with the way things are going he'll catch Weedle in no time.
"Weedle!" Weedle had recovered and unleashed a flurry of Poison Stings.
"Swiftwing, use Mirror Move to counter it." Ash called out.
Swiftwing countered by flapping its wings and firing a flurry of Poison Sting to counter the attack
"Great job, now use Quick Attack." Ash said
Swiftwing nodded as it sped towards Weedle in a burst of speed tackling it, knocking it unconscious.
"Alright!" Ash cheered as he took out a pokeball. "Go Pokeball!" Ash threw the pokeball and it hit the larva pokemon on the head in a red light the bug was drawn into the pokeball. Ash looked at the ball as it shook once, twice and a third time before it stopped.
Ash shook for a second before he jumped while pumping his fist. "Alright! I caught a Weedle." the young boy cheered, as he ran to the ball and picked it up, he looked at his newly caught pokemon and grinned. "Welcome to the team, hmmm, what am I going to call you?" Ash thought out loud however to his and his pokemon's shock a string of silk hit the pokeball and pulled it out of his hand and into the trees.
"Hey! Weedle!" Ash shouted as he looked up at the trees. Sparks and Swiftwing stepped up ready to battle who or whatever it was.
"Picha!" Sparks growled.
"Coocoo!" Swiftwing chirped.
"Who's there? And give me back my Weedle." Ash demanded.
The culprit slowly crawled out of the shadows of the trees, Ash's eyes widened at the sight that was in front of him.
In front of him was a pink arachnid pokemon that resembles a spider. It has purple eyes, a pair of white mandibles, and a white horn on its forehead. Around its abdomen are two black stripes and there are two black spots and a yellow spinneret on its rear. The spots and spinneret together form a pattern similar to a face on its back are yellow structures similar to its legs with a single light blue stripe each. Its feet are tipped with tiny hooks
"What's that?" Ash questions out loud using his pokedex.
{Ariados, the Long Legged Pokemon, It spews threads from its mouth to catch its prey. When night falls, it leaves its web to go hunt aggressively. This species is normally found in Johto, no other data found.}
"Ariados?" Ash said Rick never told him about an Ariados in the forest but he did say that there might be some species that haven't been seen. And not only that, it was a different color compared to the dex entry.
"Picha…" Sparks shivered at the sight of the spider pokemon.
"So, are you from Viridian or Pallet?" a feminine voice questioned, Ash looked up and saw a shadowy figure above him, he couldn't see it's face cause of the shadows of the trees but he could make out it had purple hair tied up into a Ponyta tail and was wearing black tank-top with a magenta scarf that blew in the breeze under the take top was a fishnet that went all the way to her wrists that had matching purple and magenta wrist guards. It had black baggy pants with holes cut into the sides which allowed its thighs to be seen, and white ninja shoes.
Ash glared up at the figure as it looked down at him with a small grin. The young boy didn't know what was going on; he felt like he just walked into serious danger.
At that time Misty was walking through the forest, she had no way of knowing where she was going. But she didn't care! All she wanted to do was get out of the forest as fast as possible.
"Damn forest, I hate it and all the bug pokemon in it, why can't they just bug off." Misty said out loud as she continued to walk.
"Misty!" Rick called out, getting the red-head's attention as he came to a stop in front of her. "Hahhh… hahhh.." Rick breathes slightly, placing his hands on his knees. "You… can't,,,, just… run… off…. Like that."
"Hmph." Misty pouted as she continued to walk off, not caring.
"Misty you're just asking for trouble if you just walk around here blind."Rick sighed as he continued to follow her, in truth they should head back to check up on Ash but clear she isn't listen gonna listen to him and at least Ash was in relatively safe spot but Misty could end up walking into one more dangerous areas if she left alone.
Hiding behind a tree, a boy wearing samurai armor was watching them. "Hmm." he muttered before following them,
"I find it odd that you hate bug types yet both Caterpie and Weedle seem to like you." Rick stated which earned a sour expression from Misty. "It's almost like you're a natural bug magnet but you hate bug pokemon at the same time, I'm actually jealous." Rick said, making small talk.
"Ohhh, I don't care about you being jealous! I just want out of the forest now!" Misty shouted in anger.
Rick just glared at her, he was starting to get annoyed with her constant complaining and whining. He understood her Bug Pokephobia but yelling and shouting at him and all the bug pokemon wouldn't make the trip go faster.
"Hmm." the individual looked at the two and drew a katana from his scabbard.
"Look Misty! You're going to need my help to get out of the forest, so suggest you calm down and-" Rick didn't get to finish when the person who was watching them jumped out of the bushes sword held high.
"Hiyaaaa!" he shouted as he swung the sword at Misty who quickly stumbled to her feet while avoiding the blade.
"What's the matter with you?" Rick asked, familiar with the samurai's antics.
"You know this asshole?" Misty questioned with anger in her voice, seeing how she was almost sliced by the nutjobs blade.
"Unfortunately yes" Rick sighed "He means no harm just wishes to see the skills of the new trainers coming through from Pallet town…Of course he could do away with the blade."
"He is right, so tell me Rick is she from Pallet Town?" The Samurai questioned.
"No, I'm not." Misty frowned. "You need to watch where you're swinging that thing, you could kill someone with it!"
"You need to stop with this Hugo, one day you're going to go too far with these antics." Rick said he knew Hugo didn't mean no harm but there was a chance he could kill someone if he wasn't careful.
Hugo placed his blade in it''s scabbard. "Then there is nothing I want from either of you, however I suggest you cut down on the scream, or else you will attract a horde of Beedrill." he said before walking away from the two.
Rick sighed, forgetting that there was a swarm of Beedrill nearby, along with a bunch of Kakuna and Weedles as well not far from here.
"Wait, Ash is a trainer from Pallet." Misty instantly remembered.
"What's worse is that Weedle was probably from that swarm which means it is not far from here, it's near where Ash is!" Rick said in fear.
Ash and the mysterious female just stared at each other, Ash didn't know what her deal was. Silence filled the area, Sparks and Swiftwing both leered at Ariados who in turn just glared menacingly at them, the female had his newly Weedle's pokemon in her hand as she casually tossed it up and down catching it in one hand.
"Who the hell are you?" Ash demanded pointing at the girl.
"My name means nothing…" the girl said. "Just tell me, are you from Pallet Town?"
Ash gritted his teeth. "So what if I am? Give me back my Weedle." Ash demanded.
The girl just smiled. "If you want your Weedle back, you'll have to beat me and my Ariados." she said before jumping out of three doing a front flip before gracefully landing on her pokemon's back.
Now that she was out of the shadows, Ash got a better look at his opponent. She was about the same age as him, a year older maybe with purple eyes.
"Woah…" Ash said, amazed at what she did, before shaking his head it wasn't the time to be impressed, it was time for action he had to get Weedle back. "Sparks, Swiftwing, let's get our friend back."
"Pi, Picha." Spark nodded in agreement.
"Coocacoo." Swiftwing also nodded in agreement.
'Let's see why Team Rocket is so interested in you.' the girl thought.
"Ariados, Night Shade!" she called out.
"Aria." Aridaos called as its eyes glowed before it fired two black beams of black energy from them
"Sparks, Swiftwing dodge!" Ash shouted.
Sparks and Swiftwing avoided the attack, the yellow rodent jumping out of the way while the bird took to the sky. An explosion was heard behind them, Ash turned to see a tree falling down to the ground with a thud the collusion made the ground shack beneath him.
'They took out that tree?!' Ash thought in shock, before turning back to the girl who had a smile on her face.
"What's wrong? You lost your nerve?" the girl taunted.
Ash glared at the girl, not liking her taunting. "Sparks, use Thundershock!" Ash called out.
"Piiiichhhhaa!" Sparks unleashed a powerful blast of electricity at the two.
The girl kneeled onto Ariados' back. "Use Sting Shot on the tree above." she told her pokemon.
Aridaos quickly aimed it's at a tree branch above and unleashed a string of silk at the branch reeled herself and her trainer up as the thundershock hit the ground. Ash looked up seeing the girl smile at him as she and her pokemon reached the the tree.
"Grr…. Swiftwing! Use Gust!" Ash called out.
Swiftwing began to flap his wings, however silk began to cover them. "What?" Ash gasped, he saw Aridaos using its sting shot to prevent Swiftwing from using its wings.
"Pidgey…" Swiftwing fell to the ground with a thud, he slowly went to his feet and tried to flap his wings however because of the silk he couldn't fly.
"Poison String!" the girl ordered.
"Swiftwing use Mirror Move!" Ash quickly called out.
Ariados unleashed a flurry of poison needles from its fangs and Swiftwing did the same from its mouth, both attacks collided however Swiftwing's attack was overpower and the poison needled were about to hit the bird a flash of light shine, Swiftwing looked to see Metapod sitting right in front of him using it's Harden move to shield him.
"Pidgey, Pi." Swiftwing thanked Metapod.
"Metapod." Metapod replied saying your welcome.
"We aren't going down so easily." Ash said.
"Hmph, Toxic Thread." the girl simply said.
Ariados began to shoot out purple webs at the four, Ash watched as the webs began to wrap around him and his pokemon. 'Oh shit, she's trying to web us up!' Ash thought he touched the web and immediately felt the burn, which was stupid of him since they were toxic. The boy looked around seeing the purple thread still piling up, he needed to think fast, Ash looked at Metapod and to the tree above them and thought back to what the girl and Ariados did earlier.
The girl looked at the purple cocoon that was almost complete with a disappointed look. 'I guess he wasn't that impressive, why would team rocket be after someone li-' her thought were cut off when she saw a thin white line shoot up from the hole that was in the top of the cocoon, she eyes widened slightly before back at the webbed prison she saw Ash who was holding onto Metapod with one hand with Swiftwing in the other and Spark hanging onto this shoulder. They landed on the tree branch and the young boy struggled to balance for a second before releasing a sigh of relief.
"That was close." Ash sighed, Ash looked at Swiftwing whose wings were still covered in silk. "You did great Swiftwing, take a long rest." Ash said returning Swiftwing to its pokeball, he turned to see the girl who glared at him.
"You copied my move from earlier, maybe you're not as weak as I thought." the girl said, now she was interested in what happens now.
Ash didn't know if that was meant to be an insult or a compliment. "Heh, we're made of tougher stuff." Ash smiled, rubbing the bottom of his nose with his finger, he looked down at Sparks who had gotten his second wind.
"You're persistent, I can respect that after all I do have your friend here." She said, holding up Weedle's pokeball, she then tossed it at Ash who almost dropped it and out of the tree luckily he balanced himself.
"Huh?" Ash looked at the pokeball, Weedle looked at him from inside. The boy looked at the girl confused. "Why?"
"Cause, I never wanted it from the start, I just wanted to test you." she answered. "Now, the real fun begins, Ariados!" the girl pointed at Ash and his pokemon.
"Sparks!" Ash called out.
"Ariados!"
"Chaa!"
"Sparks, use thundershock" Ash called out as Sparks jumped and shot a jolt of electricity at Ariados hitting it directly but the spider simply shrugged it off.
"Ariados." The arachnid Pokemon snarled more angry than hurt.
"It just took it…" Ash uttered.
"You really think a Pichu could hurt my Ariados?" the girl smiled, waving her finger. "Ariados, use Spider Web!"
Ariados obeyed as it fired thread from its mandibles all around the area, eventually creating a spider web. Ariados then fired a thread from its abdomen before securing itself a vantage point on a branch.
Ariados then launched its poison sting at Sparks at its trainer's command to which Sparks dodged before it fired a thread from its abdomen and secured another vantage point on a different tree.
Soon Hugo arrived to see the battle taking place, Misty and Rick also arrived and one look at Ariados made Misty want to run away as fast as she could. "What is that thing?" Misty questioned in fear.
"Ariados, a poison and bug pokemon." Rick answered, he had seen a few of them before he and his parents moved to Kanto.
Misty looked to see Ash and Sparks in the tree with a girl who was dressed as a ninja. "Friend of yours?" Misty asked Hugo.
"Cousin actually." Hugo corrected.
"You have a cousin?" Rick questioned, he never thought Hugo would have a cousin.
"Her name's Janine." Hugo said.
Ash continued to look at Sparks who kept dodging the poison sting, he knew that his starter couldn't dodge forever and with Ariados changing locations at times while also keeping Sparks at a good enough distance, the forest was perfect. Sparks was literally trapped in Ariados's web metaphorically speaking.
"Ash is trapped, Janine is using the treetops, the web and using poison sting to keep Sparks from getting close, she. has all bases covered." Rick said Janine's strategy is perfect.
"No, Ash and Sparks have one thing that could save them." Misty said, getting the others' attention. 'But can Sparks really tap into it right now.'
"Pichaaa!" Sparks screamed as some of the Poison Sting hit Sparks side making him stumble.
'Sparks!' Ash thought as he looked at Metapod, Sparks and Ariados and then it hit him.
"Metapod, I need you to do this." Ash began to whisper to his bug pokemon. "Think you can do it?"
"Metapod." Metapod nodded.
Ash looked down for a second before he grabbed Metapod. "Ariados, Poison Sting!" Janine called out, Ariados fired its poison stings at Sparks who didn't have time to move, however to everyone's shock Metapod swung near Sparks who grabbed onto its back as the two landed on a nearby tree branch.
"Pichu, pi, Picha." Sparks thanked Metapod for the save.
"Meta, Metapod." Metapod nodded.
"Heh, what do you think of that?" Ash grinned, happy that move worked out.
"Way to go Ash." Rick cheered for his friend.
"Maybe he isn't as bad as I thought." Misty said she was actually impressed by Ash's quick thinking and performance.
'Like all the other trainers from Pallet, he has remarkable skills.' Hugo thought, however Hugo knew that Janine was just playing around she was only feeling him out, soon it would get serious.
Janine just looked at the boy. 'Hmm, more and more interesting.' Janine thought she was starting to see why Team Rocket wanted him, but now play time was over.
"Poison Sting hold nothing back!" Janine ordered.
"Janine, that's too far." Hugo said, knowing that this was crossing the line.
Ariados fired its Poison Sting attack at its maximum, at the two pokemon.
"Now, Metapod, Sparks hop on his back!" Ash called out.
Sparks was confused, and saw Metapod shoot a string of silk out of its mouth as it made it pass Ariados and embedded itself into a tree, the cocoon pokemon then hardened its body taking the Poison Sting.
"M-metapod." Metapod talked to Sparks, gesturing for it to follow Ash's idea, as it began to flinch slightly from the poison rain, Sparks then understood the idea and hopped on Metapod's back as Metapod began to reel them right at Ariados. Everyone was taken aback by this unexpected maneuver
"Wow! Ash had Metapod use Metapod's String Shot and Harden in a combo." Rick said, amazed by Ash's plan. "Using Metapod as a shield to get Sparks to Arirados is genius."
"I can't believe it." Hugo said he never thought someone could do something like that.
'Ash, I really underestimated you, you adapted and made a plan.' Misty felt impressed by his ingenuity, however it was crazy at the same time.
'No way!' Janine's eyes widened in surprise.
Metapod finally closed the gap and headbutted Ariados in the head causing the spider to stagger a bit, giving Sparks the perfect opportunity to attack.
"Sparks, Thundershock!" Ash called out, hoping Spark's hidden powers would surface.
Sparks' cheeks began to crackle for a second. "Piiichhhuuuu!" Sparks unleashed a powerful electric attack as it engulfed Ariados who screeched in pain, Metapod fell to the ground luckily Rick was able to catch him before looking up in awe.
"That's Thunderbolt." Hugo said, recognizing the difference in power. Before he covered his eyes with his arm. "But it shouldn't be this strong."
"It's Sparks power." Misty said, as she covered her face but it wasn't as powerful as it was against Team Rocket.
After the electricity faded. Ariados was charred to a crisp before falling to the ground, unconscious in defeat, Spark fell and Misty was the one to catch him, the Red-head checked the electric rodent and saw he was sound asleep.
"Ariados." Ariados barely muttered out
"Ariados!" Janine shouted as she jumped down to her pokemon and placed her hand on it. Ash climbed down from the tree and rushed over to Janine.
"Is he alright?" Ash asked, kneeling down.
Janine glared at Ash. "Does 'she' look alright?" Janine asked sarcastically.
"Wait…she?" Ash asked, stunned, shocked that the pokemon that was giving him a hard time was a female.
"Why are you so angry, you did try to kill him! What did you expect him to do!" Misty said, walking up to them with Spark's still in her arms.
Janine glared at Misty. "If you can't handle whatever's thrown at you then you don't deserve to even be a trainer." Misty glared back at purplette, she could see why Janine and Hugo were cousins; they both just up and attack people out of nowhere!
Hugo walked over to his cousin, and bent down to Ariados. "Hmm, it's definitely taken a lot of damage, I say a few Potions and Burn Heal and about a few days of rest and she will be fine."
Janine didn't say anything back to acknowledge what he said, only giving a slight nod to show she heard him as she was focused on Ariados tenderly rubbing her back to comfort her. "You did amazing, girl, you deserve a long rest." taking out her pokemon's pokeball and returning Ariados to it's pokeball.
Hugo just sighed, annoyed not bothering to repeat himself as he walked away from her.
"I've never seen such an incredible battle." Rick admitted with a big grin, as he placed Metapod down on the ground. "Those combos from both of you used, they were well thought out given situations."
Janine looked at Ash and frowned. "You got lucky, however I didn't expect for you to use your Metapod as a shield, even having it fly at my Ariados… it was a bold though very foolish tactic that could have easily failed" Janine acknowledged that what he did was something she hadn't expected him to do.
'Ash I might have misjudged you a bit, cause what just did would take months, maybe even year's for beginner trainers to sync with their pokemon like that and take advantage of their individual strengths. That takes a tactical mind, a understanding of their pokemon or-' Misty thought her opinion on Ash starting to change
"Heh, it still worked, didn't it?" Ash boasted with his chest puffed up proudly. "Since I did learn from the best despite what some people may think." Ash said, looking toward misty, giving a smug smile.
'-Or maybe it was just you being stupidly brave and stubborn for you and your pokemon's own good trying to prove a stupid lie true!' Misty thought frustratedly as she realized he might have just use situation to prove them wrong.
Janine shook her head wondering if he was even listening to her, she then looked at the sleeping Pichu, its power, she could see it was stronger than an average Pichu. 'Could it be…? No, there's no way a little Pichu could have made that pillar of electricity in Viridian.' Even though she had been trailing them for the last few days since their battle with team rocket in forest, she was still having a hard time believing about it's hidden power and she looked back at Ash remembering what he said about Red the pokemon world champion she knew about the many, many pretenders who claim to be his son or daughter, just like Misty and Rick she was very skeptical about his claim but… if Team Rocket was after Ash and that claim he made about Pichu and what she saw from his batting style then maybe…
Suddenly they all heard loud buzzing, Hugo and Rick's faces turned blue. "Oh shit…" Rick cursed knowing what that buzzing was. "Quickly hide." he shouted as he went into the bushes, Ash and Misty looked and saw a swarm of Beedrill coming at them.
"Beedrill!" Ash said, taking out his pokedex.
{Beedrill the fully evolved form of Weedle following it's Kakuna stage, Beedrill is extremely territorial. No one should ever approach its nest—this is for their own safety. If angered, they will attack in a furious swarm.}
"You and Janine's battle disturbed them, good day." Hugo said running away.
"Hugo you coward!" Janine shouted, disappointed in how cowardly her cousin was, as she quickly rolled to the side to avoid being skewered by a Beedrill.
Ash and Misty barely avoided the stingers of the Bee pokemon, Sparks finally began to wake up and saw the swarm of Beedrill attacking them, jumping out of Misty's arms he unleashed a Thunderbolt that struck down several of them.
"Pi..cha" Sparks said going lip mid air after using lucky Ash caught him before he hit the ground.
"Sparks, you ok?" Ash asked happy that his starter helped them, although he saw his part looked more tapped out
"Picha…" Sparks replied weakly, even more exhausted from its use of Thunderbolt a second time.
"I think I should stick to Thundershock for now." Ash told his starter, seeing that thunderbolt putting too much stain on Sparks for him to handle for now. However to Ash's shock and horror a Beedrill swept down and snatched up Metapod.
"Metapod!" Ash shouted as he tried to return him to his pokeball, Beedrill kept evading the red light until it vanished over the trees. "Metapod!" he shouted in both anger and worry, seeing the first pokemon he caught get abducted.
Misty grabbed Ash's arm and began to pull him along. "We'll find Metapod later, we need to run Ash!" she shouted, pulling him along.
"Hey wait for me!" Rick shouted as he ran after them as well.
Janine jumped in front of them and before breaking into a sprint. "Follow me! And don't fall behind!" Janine said as she led them away from the Beedrill swarm, they soon saw a cabin.
"The Cabin now!" Janine shouted After everyone entered the cabin, when two drill stingers came through the door, making them tense up, they all waited for the swarm to leave before relaxing.
"Phew, that was close." Rick said, wiping the sweat off his forehead in relief "We are all safe…for now."
"Hmph." Hugo said, as he began to take off his armor, and put his helmet on a table. "From what I just saw, I think you beating Janine was just a fluke."
"Oh boy." Rick muttered, knowing how this conversation was heading towards.
"Hugo…" Janine warned, she also knew where this was going.
"What are you talking about?" Ash demanded not liking Hugo's tone.
"A pokemon trainer wouldn't abandon his pokemon no matter what." Hugo said
"I didn't abandon my Metapod!" Ash shouted in anger, how could this bastard even think he would just abandon his own pokemon, his own parents would disown him for doing so.
"He's right, that was too far. At that time it was too dangerous." Rick interfered.
"He's also nothing compared to the other trainer that came through here." Hugo said.
"Who beat you and your still unevolved Metapod and Pinsir." Janine pointed out, she did not like what Hugo was saying. "While Ash did manage to beat Ariados which reminded me how many times you have done that?" Janine said, looking at her cousin both them knowing the answer to that as he glared at her for moment
"That irrelevant you just slipped up and you let him win because he's only a novic-" Hugo didn't get to finish as Janine gut checked him, knocking the air out of his lungs, Hugo collapsed onto the floor.
"The only thing irrelevant here is your loud mouth Hugo." Janine frowned as she then knelt down beside him grabbing his shirt slightly lifting him off the ground and whispered "Besides I don't LET anyone beat me and don't ever forget that!" As she then let's go of him having his face hit ground as she stands back up turning back to other's
The others even the pokemon stared at Janine then down at Hugo who was still recovering. The trainers could see that Janine's skills as a trainer wasn't the only thing impressive about her. The ninja girl could take someone down if they pissed her off too much.
Rick just shook his head recovering from what happened before glancing at Ash. "Anyway, I do think I know where they're bringing your Metapod." He and Hugo knew a lot about this section of the forest so with how close the cabin to the Beedrills attack then there wasn't that far from it.
He didn't he hear trainer from pallet Town say anything "Ash did you hear me I sai-"
Ash then slammed his fist against the wall of the cabin surprising Misty and Rick, Janine just looked at him. Ash gritted his teeth as blood began to drip from his gloves. "He's right! I failed as a trainer…. I… even in a dangerous situation I should have looked out for Metapod…." Ash growled, his hat shadowing his eyes.
"Ash…" Misty muttered, she didn't know what to say she had never seen him react like this.
"Then stop whining and learn from it." Janine said bluntly. "As a trainer, you're bound to make a few mistakes along the way, what matters is that you learn from them, even the most experienced of trainers make mistakes regardless of how long they've been trainers." it was basically what her father taught her when she made several mistakes when she was younger
"So If you let this single mistake stop you in your track's fearfully of failure then return to your home cause you don't deserve to be a trainer." Janine said in a harsh tone.
"I-I understand." Ash said in a soft voice as he brought his arm to wipe something away as he raised his head.
Ash then looked at Janine, their eyes locked on each other for a minute as she saw a burning determination in those eyes, the young trainer nodded. "Alright, Rick take me to Metapod." Ash said.
"It's getting late Ash." Rick said, gesturing to the window they all saw the sun beginning to set. "We'll find Metapod in the morning, right now we should rest."
"He's right, if you're going to find Metapod, you need to make sure all your other pokemon are able to battle." Misty said, knowing that they all could use the rest as she, Ash and Rick went to look through their supplies leaving two cousins alone.
Janine looked at her cousin. "Sometimes, you need to shut that big mouth, you may think you're the top bug of this forest, but you aren't and besides you have no right to talk about someone else abandoning another."
Hugo glared at Janine. "Oh, like you vanishing from Jouto?" Hugo stated he knew why she was really in Kanto, his place was just a rest stop, a temporary base.
"What I do is for the sake of my mission." Janine said coldly
Hugo glances over to others making were still busy before continuing "Yeah your mission, it's not going to change anything." Hugo remarked. "Our family… you can't take it all on and expect nothing to come back to haunt the rest of us, you're… mission-."
"-like I said it is MY mission to see through to the end no matter the cost I WILL complete it." Janine said walking away from her cousin.
"Yeah but you're not the only one who's gonna pay for it in the end but you don't care do you?" Hugo just grumbled knowing that it was impossible to talk sense into his cousin, once she has her mind on something she'll see it through to the end even something like that.
That's when Ash came back holding something "here." Ash said holding out a Burn Heal.
"I have my own." Janine said bluntly
"I'm the reason that Ariados is in this state so take this and we'll call it even." Ash said rubbing the back of his head with his free hand as he held out the Burn Heal,
Janine stared at him and burn heal before taking it saying nothing else, turning her back to him as she goes over to her pokemon.
The group were currently resting inside the cabin. Samurai had given all the pokemon bowls of food, the four out of the five trainers were sitting at the table eating a meal that Hugo made. Janine was sitting with her Ariados, wanting to make sure she was ok, preferring to eat with just her pokemon but feels it best to let her rest on her own. The purplette had a Burn Heal in her hand and she sprayed her Ariados down with it.
"Aria…" Ariados winced in pain from the medicine.
"Are you ok girl? I know this sting's" Janine asked her friend, petting her on the head.
"Aria." Ariados nodded hesitantly, starting to feel better, slowly but surely.
"Don't worry, you'll get better in no time." Janine smiled, as she took out an Oran Berry. "Here, recover your strength."
Ariados took a bit of the Oran Berry, and felt some of its energy return. "Aria." Ariados said happily.
Janine smiled happily at the pokemon as starting to feel better. "Here." she moved a bowl of pokemon food in front of Ariados who began to eat her food.
Ash looked at Janine, amazed at how close she and her Ariados were. "You and Ariados are close." Ash told Janine.
Janine looked at Ash, she got to her feet and walked over to where Hugo was and sat down next to him. "Yes." Janine simply said as she took a spoonful of chopstick full of rice and ate it.
Ash little caught off by the short answer as Hugo rolls his eyes at his cousin's habit.
"So are you from Viridian?" Misty asked out of trying to get the conversation going.
"No." Janine answered once more giving the minimum answer she could.
Misty frowned, she could see that the ninja girl wasn't one to give out any information easily.
"She is from Fuchsia." Hugo answered as Janine glared at him, annoyed.
"Do you have any reason not to tell them where you're from?" Hugo challenges his cousin.
"I simply don't have to tell them anything." Janine calmly remarked while glaring at Hugo.
The three trainers and the pokemon could feel the tension building up between the two cousins, they were wondering if this was common between them.
"Wow, you're far from home." Rick said in trying to break the tension, while hoping she give bit more
"Yes." Janine simply answered, continuing to eat her food.
"So what brings you all the way out here?" Ash asked, he knew Fuchsia was many weeks from where they were at.
Unlike all the other time's she didn't immediately answer, taking a few seconds before saying "Training. I'm done." Janine said finishing her food having seen her pokemon had fallen asleep she then went back to her pokemon side.
Hugo frowned at that answer knowing it was simply Turos crap, but chose to keep quiet.
"Is she always like this?" Misty asked Hugo.
Hugo simply sighed. "Yeah, Janine has always been like this as long as I've known her, she doesn't trust anyone but her pokemon."
"I see." Ash said, feeling like there was something more to Janine's answers but he just dropped them for now.
Rick smiled before looking out the cabin. "It's almost dark out. We should get some rest now and then head to where the Beedrill reside in the morning. There'll be fewer Beedrills there and in their territory are mostly Kakunas and Weedles."
"You think Metapod is there?" Ash asked with concern.
"Most likely the location would be at their nest." Rick said
"The Beedrill probably mistaken Metapod for a Kakuna, so I doubt they would even hurt him." Hugo stated. "Tomorrow we'll head to the nest."
Ash nodded reluctantly, soon they all fell asleep at different parts of the cabin, Misty took the bed while the boy's slept on the floor, Janine was sleeping by Ariados both trainer and pokemon were sound asleep. Ash was still awake lying on his back with his hands behind his head, the rookie trainer stared up at the ceiling all he could think about was Metapod before he reluctantly closed his eyes and fell asleep.
A few hours Ash woke up, sitting up he looked to see the others were still asleep, Ash looked outside and saw the sun was beginning to rise. Ash sighed, he couldn't wait anymore, Metapod needed him, he looked at his starter seeing he was curled up in a ball next to him.
Ash shook Sparks slightly, the little rodent wiggled in his sleep. "Sparks… Sparks." Ash whispered trying to keep quiet. "Come on, Sparks get up."
Sparks lazily opened his eyes. "Pi…?" Sparks muttered, rubbing his eyes.
"Shhh." Ash shushed, his starter not wanting him to wake up the others. "Keep quiet buddy, we're going to find Metapod on our own."
"Pichu…" Sparks titled his head, the electric rodent wasn't too sure about looking for Metapod alone, they didn't know where their friend was.
"I got Metapod into this mess, and I'm getting him out of it." Ash told his starter who looked at him and nodded in agreement, Ash quietly got dressed and walked to the door, looking back at his four new friends taking a deep breath before walking out, unknown to him Janine's left eye was wide open causally watching him.
Ash aimlessly walked through the forest, really didn't know where the Beedrill nest was. It could be all the way on the other side of the forest, the boy couldn't even find the place they were in the day before.
"Just where could that nest be?" Ash said, slightly frustrated.
"Pichu." Sparks was also a little frustrated.
Before the duo could continue their search, they heard a familiar voice. "Maybe you're not as smart as I thought." A familiar voice said, the took were surprised as Janine landed in front of them with her back turned, scarf blowing in the breeze.
"Janine." Ash said in surprise. "What are you doing up?"
"Watching what you were doing." Janine answered "Do you even know where the nest of Beedrills are?" she asked
Ash lowered his head and gritted his teeth, confirming what the ninja girl suspected from the start. "I just wanted to save Metapod, I got him into this mess, and I didn't want you or the others to be caught up in my mistake." Ash grumbled.
Janine just looked at Ash, he was basically saying that he wanted to do this alone and she could understand where he was coming from, afterall she had been doing things on her own. "So you're making another mistake to fix the other. You're making me question how you beat Ardios if you're this short sighted to blindly walk into a dangerous situation half-cocked before you even find your pokemon." Janine said in a harsh tone
Ash grumbled knowing that Janine basically told him that he foolishly made another mistake, searching for his pokemon alone in a dense forest, and he had three people who knew it well enough to help him.
"I'm sorry." Ash said, his hat shadowing his eyes. "Maybe, Hugo's right, I am a terrible trainer."
"Save your sorry for Metapod when we find it." Janine said, turning her back to him again.
Ash and Sparks looked at the ninja girl. "Really?" Ash asked.
Janine simply glared at him. "You showed concern for my Ariados, and gave me that burn heal so I'm simply paying back the debt back, nothing more." One of the ninja virtues her father told her was repaying a debt to someone. "I've been in the forest long enough, so I know where it is. But know if you die, it's not on my shoulders."
Ash smiled sarcastically at Janine's words at least she was willing to help him even if it was a debt to be repaid, he'll take what he could get. With nothing more to say Ash followed Janine as the two made their way to where the Beedrill Nest was. However unknown to them Team Rocket was in the bushes they were in a cardboard box.
"Hmm, it seems the twerp traded one girl for another." Jessie said.
"Maybe this one has very valuable pokemon." James said, thinking about the pokemon Janine had.
"Meowth, let's go capture Pichu and whatever pokemon the new twerpette has." Meowth pointed as the three criminals followed after the two trainers.
Ash and Janine were crawling through a patch of grass, Ash gasped slightly as they arrived a small clearing in the center was a lone tree. The young trainer's eyes widened as they saw a bunch of Kakunas hanging from threads from the tree branches as well as sticking on the tree itself.
"Look at all those Kakunas." Ash said, never thought he would see that many.
"Pichu." Spark nodded in agreement.
"Hmm, luckily the Beedrill are still asleep for now." Janine said as she looked at the sleeping Beedrill in the branches of the tree.
Ash looked around as well, then his eyes shot to his Metapod at the base of the tree. "It's Metapod!" Ash said his voice high Janine covered his mouth, the beginner trainer's shouting was muffled against the ninja's hold.
"Shhh, you want them to swarm us?!" Janine whispered to Ash. "We should be close enough. Just return Metapod to its pokeball so we can leave before they wake up." she told him, releasing her hand from his mouth.
Ash nodded but as he was about to take out Metapod's pokeball, Meowth jumped on Ash's head knocking him to the ground causing Sparks to electrocute all of them disturbing the Kakunas at once and alerting them.
"Coughed, Sparks really?" Ash said pain surging through his body.
"Ow…" Janine said, the band that tied her hair together was destroyed and was standing up on edge, she then growled before glaring at Ash. "You're pokemon needs to recognize who your friend and foe is!" Janine growled in anger.
"Little brat…." Jessie muttered in pain.
"You'll pay…." James groaned.
"Meowth…" Meowth groaned in pain as well.
The Kakunas started to glow, alerting Janine who shook Ash "Ash, move we gotta get Metapod and get out of here." Janine said.
"Not so fast little girl." Jessie said as she, James and Meowth recovered as they all were now on a rock above the two.
"Prepare for trouble."
"Make it double."
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all people in our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jessie."
"James."
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light."
"Surrender now, and prepare to fight."
"Meowth that's right."
Janine just looked up at the three with a blank expression, not sure how to process these three actions. "Is that a talking Meowth?" Janine asked Ash, completely confused.
"Grr, yeah I'm still trying to figure that out too. Also still don't know how they are still alive" Ash admitted.
"Now hand over your pokemon, and don't make it hard on yourselves." Jessie told them.
"How about screw off, touch my Ardios and I promise you won't have a hand bitch." Janine said with venom in her tone.
Ash was taken aback by Janine's sudden change in tone, from what he gathered she can be unbelievably harsh and blunt, but this was pure anger and disgust he wondered if it was about Team Rocket that made her this angry.
"What did you say you little bitch?" Jessie shouted in disgust.
"I think she needed to be taught a lesson." James said with a glare.
"And I'll claw out her eyes." Meowth said, showing his claws that shined.
"Bring it on assholes." Janine challenged them reaching behind her back.
Ash was surprised to see how angry Janine was at Team Rocket. Was it because she didn't like villains? He then remembered what Janine had told him earlier, turning around he saw the Kakunas starting to evolve as Beedrills appeared out of the coccons of the Kakunas themselves
"Janine, the beedrill!" Ash shouted.
The purplette turned around and saw the Kakunas evolving. "Dammit! Go get Metapod, I'll deal with these assholes!" Janine said Ash looked at the girl not wanting to leave her but nodded.
"Come on Sparks." Ash told his starter, as they rushed forward towards the tree.
Janine turned to Team Rocket who grinned at her. "You're either pretty brave or pretty stupid to fight us alone." Jessie taunted.
"Go Ariados!" Janine shouted as she threw her pokeball which released Ariados.
"Aria." Ariados hissed as it landed on the ground
"Eeehhh, what kind of pokemon is that?" Jessie said a little disgusted by the big bug.
"Doesn't matter, it'll make a great catch for the boss." Meowth smiled.
"That's right." James agreed, taking out his pokeball, Jessie did the same.
"Ekans, Koffing attack!"
In a flash of white light, both Ekans and Koffing appeared ready to battle.
Janine looked at her Ariados. She was better than last night but she could tell she was still tired and she wouldn't last long in a real battle. However she could tell it wouldn't be a real battle. "Let me tell you a little secret, I've faced some of you in the past and from what I saw a few days ago, you both are nothing special." Janine stated thinking this wouldn't be a challenge for her.
"Nothing special?!" Jessie said in anger. "Tough talk from a twerp about to die."
"Ariados, Psychic!" Janine shouted
Aria!" Ariados acknowledge as her eyes glowed blue.
Both Ekans' and Koffing's bodies were engulf in a blue aura preventing them from moving forward at all,
"What is going on?" Jessie demanded.
"It's Psychic, a pretty handy move Ariados learned not long ago though I was a little worried how well it worked in battle. Clearly there is no issue." Janine grinned, before snapping her fingers, Ariados then used its powers and sent both back and crashed into Jessie and James knocking them down.
Meowth rushed forward. "Have a taste of Fury Swipes." Meowth shouted with his claws out.
"Ariados, show that cat a real Fury Swipes!" Janine grinned
"Aria!" Ariados nodded as she rushed forward and swiped at Meowth with its two front legs, knocking him back at Jessie and James.
"Well, looks like I made my point." Janine grinned, crossing her arms showing pleasure in how she played with them.
Ash and Sparks, were rushing towards three's where Metapod was, but the Beedrill began to swarm them. "Sparks, Thundershock!" Ash called out,
Sparks jumped into the air. "Piichhuuu!" He unleashed a powerful burst of electricity and hit all the attacking Beedrill knocking out a few while killing a few others.
Ash caught Sparks in his arms as he continued to make his way to Metapod however another Beedrill flew in front of him, his hand instantly shot to Swiftwing and Weedle's pokeballs . "Ahh! Weedle use String Shot! Swiftwing uses Gust!" Threw both pokeballs into the air and in a flash of white light the bird and poison caterpillar appeared.
"Weeddeel!" Weedle began to shoot out sticky silk from its mouth, as it wrapped around the Beedrill who fell to the few struggling to break free.
Swiftwing flapped his wings as fast as he could the gust of wind pushing back the Beedrill. Ash and Sparks finally made it to Metapod, and the trainer couldn't be any happier.
"Metapod, I'm here." Ash said.
"Pichu, pi." Sparks said happy as well.
"Metapod." Metapod said in a dull tone
"Come on, let's get you back in your pokeball." Ash said taking out Metapod's pokeball
Metapod just slightly moved its body, not even acknowledging Ash.
"Metapod what's wrong?" Ash asked, it took a minute before he realized what was wrong.
"Weedell!" a call from Weedle got Ash's attention; he turned to see Weedle had been jabbed by a Beedrill while Swiftwing was struggling to deal with the swarms.
"Grr… Swiftwing! Weedle! Return!" Ash shouted holding up both pokeballs and returned both pokemon to them. Ash saw that the Beedrill was still coming. 'How many Beedrill are there?'
The Beedrill flew at Ash. "Ahh, Sparks use Thundershock!" Ash called out.
"Piiichuuu!" Sparks then unleashed a powerful attack which consumed the Beedrill making them fall to the ground.
Ash quickly grabbed Sparks placing him on his shoulder, before grabbing Metapod before breaking into a sprint. "Metapod, I didn't abandon you, I just couldn't react in time," Ash said, trying to get his pokemon to understand that would never abandon it.
"Picha, Pi." Sparks weakly added, also trying to get Metapod to understand.
"Metapod." Metapod said
"Metapod, pl- ahhh!" Ash tripped on his own feet falling to the ground, Metapod rolled along while Sparks landed on his side. "Damn…" Ash said, beginning to whimper.
"Ariados." Aridos said as he unleashed a string shot at all three of his opponents who all dodged it.
"Koffing, Smoke Screen!" James ordered.
"Koffing." Koffing said as he expelled a smoke screen from the pores on his body
"Aria?" Ariados muttered, she was unable to see where her opponents were.
'Where are they?' Janine thought to herself, covering her nose and mouth.
"Ekans use wrap!" Jessie's voice bellowed.
Out of the smoke, Ekans appeared and wrapped itself around Ariados giving her the big squeeze. "Aria…!" Ariados began to feel the snake pokemon strangle her.
"Meowth time for some payback!" Meowth jumped on Ariados' back unleashing a multitude of scratches on Ariados' back, making the spider pokemon hiss in pain.
"Ariados!" Janine shouted in fear, she couldn't believe she was getting beat by weak Team Rocket members, Ariados was still that weak from her battle with Ash yesterday, so she wasn't at her full strength, she was a sitting Psyduck.
"Hahaha, looks like your pokemon isn't as tough as you thought." Jessie laughed mockingly.
Janine gritted her teeth trying to think of something. "Pinsir!" a familiar voice exclaimed, Janine gasped in surprise.
"Koffing!" Koffing cried in pain, as he was caught by two spiked pincers.
"Rapid Spin!" Misty's voice called out.
Staryu bursted through the smoke and hit Ekans on the head forcing it to release Ariados. "What's going on?" Meowth demanded looking around, however even he squealed in pain as a electifed net caught him.
"Ahhh!" Meowth screamed in pain, Rick's Caterpie with a surprising amount of strength began to swing Mewoth around before releasing its hold and sent the cat pokemon crashing into both Jessie and James knocking them to the ground.
The smoke cleared revealing the pokemon holding Koffing in its grasp was a bipedal, coleopteran insectoid Pokémon with a wide, dull-brown body divided into segments by thin lines. On top of its head is a large pair of gray, spiky pincers on top of its head. In its mouth are many long, flat teeth arranged horizontally and it has triangular eyes. Its legs are short and thick, while its arms are long and thin. It has three claws on each hand and foot; two of its toes face forward and one backward.
"Janine!" Hugo shouted as he, Misty and Rick came running with samurai holding a bug net over the three.
"You and Ash really had to go off on your own?" Misty frowned.
"Hey! It's your boyfriend who didn't want to wait until you all got up!" Janine countered, she didn't like being reprimanded by the red-headed girl.
"He's my boyfriend ninja nympho!" Misty shouted with anger.
"What did you call me?" Janine demanded not believing what Misty called her.
"Girls, can we focus on Team Rocket?" Rick said wanting to avoid a fight between both girls.
"Pinsir." Hugo called to him pokemon.
Pinsir tossed Koffing over to the downed Team Rocket. Hugo smiled at Janine who frowned, knowing that he wouldn't let her live this down. Team Rock got back to their feet looking pissed.
"You little twerps!" Jessie shouted.
"We aren't going to lose to you." James said with a glare.
"All your pokemon, most of all Pichu will be delivered to the boss." Meowth added, Ekans and Koffing got back up hurt, but were still able to battle.
"I don't think so." Janine pointed to them, Ariados moved forwards hissing in anticipation, Staryu, Pinsir and Caterpie stood beside it.
"Enough of this charge!" Meowth shouted, as he, Ekans and Koffing shot forward ready to attack.
"Ariados, Poison Sting!" Janine said
"Pinsir, Hidden Power" Hugo shouted
"Caterpie, ElectroWeb." Rick said
"Staryu, watergun.!" Misty said
All four pokemon than launched their attacks which merged together which hit Meowth, Ekans and Koffing dead on before pushing them back at both Jessie and James before hitting them, eventually an explosion occurred sending them flying far away
"Looks like Team Rocket is blasting off again." Team Rocket shouted as they flew off, and vanished from sight.
"Good riddance." Janine grinned, wiping her hands together hoping they had died.
"Even for bad guys, doesn't that seem a little too much?" Rick asked, worried for their safety.
"They survived a pokemon center exploding, so I don't think a short fly will kill them." Misty stated, having a feeling this wasn't the last she and Ash would see them, but then she remembered. "Ash!" she called out.
Ash crawled over to Metapod. "Metapod, I'm sorry, if I was a trainer then you wouldn't have gotten taken. Remember yesterday when you and Sparks tag teamed against Ariados, you were key to helping us win and I wouldn't ever think about abandoning you, I promise from now on I will never leave you or any other friends behind no matter what dangers come our way." Ash said with tears in his eyes.
"Pi, pichu." Sparks begged Metapod to forgive Ash.
Metapod began to cry. "Metapod…" Metapod muttered.
"Metapod…?" Ash smiled, Metapod must have forgave him and he couldn't be happier to have his first pokemon forgive him. "Alright, let's go back inside your pokeball."
"Ash, behind you!" Misty shouted.
Ash turned his head to see a Beedrill flying right towards him with both its needles at him.
"That's Twin Needles." Rick shouted from where he was.
Sparks about to attack, however Metapod leaped in front of Ash, shocking both him and Sparks as Metapod took the full force of the attack breaking one of its needles and it flew away in pain. As Metapod fell onto the ground.
"Metapod!" Ash screamed in fear as he rushed over and picked up his pokemon in his arms, he saw a decently sized hole in his body. "Metapod, speak to me please don't be dead…." Ash shook Metapod up and down.
"Pichu?" Sparks muttered hoping it wasn't the case.
"Is it…?" Misty asked Rick, she didn't like bug pokemon but even she didn't wish death on them especially Metapod.
"Don't worry." Rick calmly replied with smile. "Just watch."
"Huh?" Misty uttered wondering what Rick was saying.
"He's right, just watch." Hugo said pointing at Ash and Metapod.
To Ash's shock a bright glow came from the hole, he and Sparks watched in awe, so did those on the sidelines , mostly Misty, while Rick, Hugo and Janine looked on with a smile on their faces.
The glow began to take shape and from Metapod came a beautiful purple butterfly. "Free, free." The Butterfly pokemon flapped its wings a few times before it flew into the air.
"Ahh, Butterfree." Ash smiled knowing what the pokemon was.
"It's so beautiful." Misty cooed.
Ash took out his pokedex. {Butterfree, the Butterfly Pokémon. Butterfree is the evolved form of Metapod and final evolution of Caterpie. The scales covering its wings help it to shed water}
"Free." Butterfree said as he flapped his wings, and flew near Ash.
"You look great Butterfree." Ash said as he looked at how beautiful his pokemon was.
Butterfree chirped happily before flying around the area and releasing a powder from its flapping wings
The powder caused all the Beedrill to fall to the ground and fall asleep.
"That was sleep powder." Rick said
"Heh, not bad." Janine said with her arms crossed.
"Now that they're asleep, let's get out of here before they wake up." Misty said wanting to get as far from the Beedrill as possible
"For once that's a good idea you have." Rick said.
Misty just glared at Rick who backed away with hands in front of him. The following Day: thanks to Hugo, Rick and Janine, Ash and Misty finally made it out of the forest and they saw the two off.
"I'm happy to be out of that place." Misty said, happy to finally be out of the Viridian Forest.
"Yeah, I bet." Ash said sarcastically, then turned to Rick. "Thanks for all the help, we owe you one Rick."
"No prob." Rick smiled, waving his hand. "Besides, that was the most fun I ever had in the forest." Despite all that had happened over the last few days, he had to admit it was fun.
"I owe you an apology." Hugo said, getting Ash's attention. "It seems I am the novice here, and I'm man enough to admit when I am wrong, the way you care for your pokemon."
"Thanks." Ash said, accepting the apology. "But I still have a long way to go." then turned to Hugo and offered a hand. "I hope to see you all again."
Hugo smiled and took Ash's hand both showing a new found respect, suddenly a sound in Rick's pocket went out, the bug catcher took out a Xtransceiver and his eyes widened in fear. "Oh crap!" Rick cursed, in fear. "My mom is calling, I forgot to tell her I was with you guys, sorry but I got to go!" he said before running back into the woods.
"See later Rick!" Ash and Misty waved at their new friend.
"Good luck on your journey!" Rick shouted back as he disappeared from sight.
"Good luck to you as well." Ash said before glancing at Sparks "Well buddy, ready to continue our way to Pewter City?"
"Pichu." Sparks nodded.
"Yeah, let's get as far from this place as possible!" Misty said, wanting to be as far from Viridian Forest as possible, as the two walked away.
"It's that way." Janine spoke up, getting the two trainers' attention seeing her besides them.
"Alright, why are you right here?" Misty asked the ninja
"Simply I'm going that way." Janine said.
Ash and Misty, even Hugo, were surprised by this. "If you don't mind me asking why?" Ash asked in surprise.
Janine shrugged her shoulders "I finished my training here so I'm going Pewter." Janine gave a short answer.
The three sweat drop at Janine's vague answer.
"If you aren't heading out I'm going ahead before it gets dark."
"I guess we have another companion with us huh?" Ash muttered, wondering if that was either good or bad.
"Pichu." Sparks nodded.
Misty nodded in agreement, it would be nice to have a female companion to travel with. However that was until she remembered the big pink bug she has
"Take care, and don't let Janine drag you down." Hugo simply said, which made Janine glare at him annoyed.
"Well alright! Pewter City here we come." Ash pumped his fist excited to
As three head it out Hugo watches three go 'Hopefully she doesn't drag those two into anything extreme.' Hugo thought.
{With that Ash and Misty have left for Pewter City with a new addition to their group, in the Ninja Girl Janine who unknown to them had her own reason to travel with them. What is her reason for hating team rocket, and what is her mission? the answers to these may come in the future. As the Journey continues}
(To Be Continued)
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, as you see we added in Janine who will play a key role in this story, as you saw her personality is different from her game and manga counterparts, her being more driven, harsh and cold but having a sense of honor along with her and Samurai being cousin's and we gave him a name since he doesn't have one in the anime. Janine has a hatred for Team Rocket. I won't tell you why but I will say it runs deep. And she is the first big challenge for Ash testing him as a trainer so she is no slouch And big thanks to both Skylanderzilla and Sandshrew Master for their help. And yeah we made Ariados Shiny so why not. and red is so famous that many try to impersonate themselves as his kids or family, and claiming some of their pokemon are like his, remember Red and Delia keep their marriage secret and the world doesn't know that Red has a kid even those in pallet aren't aware and think Delia is a widow and Ash is trying to get attention which makes him upset with people thinking he's lying and so Misty who is beyond rude at the time thinks that Ash is lying because of how common people try to claim they are Red's family and she along with others don't believe Ash to be Red's real son.
A/N SkylanderZilla: We decided to give the samurai a name since he wasn't given a name in the anime and made him Janine's cousin. We also had Ash battled Janine instead of the samurai as well.
A/N Sandshrew Master: hoping you liked how we had her written. She is going to fill the more serious and blunt role who will bring certain characters back to reality and I think could lead some good comedy moment's. Also you saw how close she is to Ariados why well that be for another time.