Well hey guys, it's time for an EP original chapter! Well, not TOTALLY original, but this IS my first chapter via request! This chapter was requested by Looneytunerian on deviantART and I liked the idea he gave me. And I saw a few opportunities in this chapter, I hope you guys approve. And some of you may be wondering, "Why didn't I get a message in advance?" Well I was really excited about this chapter, but not just because it's original, but because after this...Ash's eighth Pokemon will be revealed! Well first thing's first, anon reviews!

- lightningblade49: Hey, don't be mean to me or I'll stall longer. xD Just kidding, don't worry about Gliscor, he'll bounce back. And Gible will get here eventually, I even have a plan for it, so no worries. And yayz you like Charizard's semi-Flare Blitz! xD

- charizardlover: Hard, but not impossible, you'll see. xDD

- darky/Darkness Shadow: The mallet seems too inappropriate to use on adults dude, she saves it for people close to her age...but maybe she'd use it on Brad...and you. =P

- exe: Wow thanks! ^^

- Polly: Ok, here ya go! ^^ And as for the whole less episodes thing, I was gonna do that at first, but then I realized I wouldn't be changing the whole series, just bits and pieces of it. As it is I'm skipping the really boring episodes that have no significance, I don't wanna ditch too much, thanks for your opinion though! ^^

- sparky1001: Thanks!

- Anna: We'll see about Misty, but maybe I can do something in the future with Dawn and Brock.

- Kyle Hughes: Gee thanks for the compliment! I'll see what I can do with Zoroark, but it'll be tricky. I'll sure try though! ^^

- pidgeotexpress: I will! ^^

- Airoh: Hey that's ok, glad you feel better! ^^

- tray125: It ain't Snorlax, don't worry! You'll all see next chapter! ^^

And so without further ado, here's the next chapter! ^^
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Chapter 42

Misty's POV

Now that Ash had successfully beaten the Canalave City Gym Leader, we were getting ready to head to a place called Chocovine Town for Dawn's next contest. But Ash's victory definitely didn't come easy. Byron's specialty was using steel-types and his defensive power was practically off the charts! Ash tried every strategy he could think of, but Byron's defense stood strong.

The only thing that kept Ash from losing I think was the determination and dedication of his Pokémon. Chimchar put up an amazing battle and defeated Byron's Bronzor with a 'Flame Wheel', even though Bronzor had the 'Heatproof' ability. And then Ash chose Gliscor to battle against Byron's Steelix, and even though Gliscor made an amazing effort and almost pulled it off, it couldn't handle the sheer power of Steelix.

Then Chimchar came back out and fought its little heart out, but in the end it wound up being a tie between the two Pokémon. Finally it all came down to Charizard versus Byron's Bastiodon, and at first it seemed that Charizard's power wouldn't be able to beat Bastiodon, but then Ash put his Counter Shield training into action again and had Charizard use 'Steel Wing' and 'Overheat' together to knock Bastiodon back! Then with one 'Seismic Toss', Charizard defeated Bastiodon and earned Ash the Mine Badge.

So after all that, we headed back to the Pokémon Center to get a good night's sleep, however Brock STILL wasn't getting much of that because of his irrational paranoia.

Normal POV

When morning came, Misty was as usual the first to wake up, and since Ash didn't happen to have his arms around her that morning, she had the freedom to get up and get the sleep out of her eyes without waking anyone up. She quietly slipped out of the bed and looked at the snoozing Ash. His mouth was open and his limbs were all sprawled out, and he even had some drool leaking from the side of his mouth. "It fascinates me how you can be so cute and so gross at the same time." Misty thought to herself.

She shook her head and headed off to the shower, hoping that when she got out the others would be awake. She liked to think inside of the shower, it usually made time go faster. "Ash sure put up an amazing battle yesterday…it's incredible how far he's come as a trainer and as a person, it never ceases to amaze me how he's turned from an incompetent little twerp into a mature…handsome young boy…" The steam from the shower helped along the blush that had reached her cheeks.

"And not only do I get to watch Ash in action, but I'm getting a lot stronger too by battling him…of course come to think of it, if someone had told me that Ash would be training me a few years ago, I probably would've laughed in their face."

Before the redhead knew it, she had washed her whole body and was ready to come out. She quickly dried herself off and slipped on her usual attire of a yellow top, blue jean shorts and red suspenders. Although she was finding her clothes a tad tighter on her than usual. "Hey, what gives?" she asked herself.

She stretched her clothes and then it hit her, "Oh great, the rain shrunk them, I sure hope Ash's mom sends those clothes soon or I'm gonna have a problem." Misty sighed and tried to stretch the clothes to its limit to get as comfy as possible, but even then it still felt uncomfortable, and it just barely managed to cover her entire chest area.

Misty walked out and found Ash trying to squeeze into his shirt, it was obvious that she wasn't the only one who had fallen victim to the multiple 'Rain Dances'. "Tight much?" Misty giggled.

"I could say the same about you." Ash countered as he squeezed his head into the shrunken shirt hole. "Aww man." Ash groaned as the shirt didn't even cover his whole torso anymore, "That does it, I'm calling Mom TODAY, I need those clothes."

"Don't say I didn't warn you, I told you they were gonna shrink." Misty giggled. "And what about you? Looks to me that if YOUR clothes had shrunken any more than they did, your…" Ash was cutoff.

"Don't make me slap you Ash, cleanse that dirty mind of yours before I rip your head open and wipe it down myself." Misty warned. "I was just gonna say your suspenders would snap…looks like I struck a nerve there." Ash snickered.

Misty rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Are Brock and Dawn up yet?" she asked. "Dunno, why don't you go look?" Ash suggested. "Why don't YOU go look?" Misty quipped back.

"Because I need to find something to cover up my bellybutton, I look like one of those kids you see in cartoons." Ash said. "Aww I dunno, I think you have a really cute bellybutton." Misty giggled.

"Misty!" Ash turned away embarrassedly. Misty giggled again and walked over to him teasingly, "No seriously, look at how cute it is and yee yee yee yee!" Misty reached her hand into Ash's shirt and started tickling the off guard trainer, who was now laughing hysterically.

"H-Hey! Ha ha ha ha! Cut-cut-cut it – ha ha ha ha! Misty stop! Ha ha ha!" They were both laughing at this point, as Misty ran her slender fingers up and down his torso playfully. Ash started backing away in order to end the tickle torture, but Misty wasn't ready to let the fun end just yet.

The redhead stepped along with him until they wound up falling onto the bed, laughing and giggling as Ash was being tickled by his girlfriend. Ash decided to fight back and started tickling her sides; Misty yelped and started laughing harder as Ash now apparently had the upper hand. "A-A-Ash, I'm gonna…ha ha ha – gonna get you for this!" she said in between gasping breaths.

"You already did get me Mist! This is just payback!" Ash laughed as he went for under her arms, when Misty started laughing even harder, Ash knew he found her weak spot. "No please, anywhere but there!" she begged in between laughs.

The two laughed raucously as they tickled each other, enjoying their little moment of childish play, but it would quickly end as someone walked into the room with an angry look. "Knock it off you two, there are people still trying to sleep." Brock grumbled.

Ash and Misty immediately stopped and looked at Brock with blushes on both of their faces, but when they saw Brock's face, they gasped in horror. Brock's eyes had ugly, drooping bags under them; it looked as if he hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in over a month, even though the truth was it had only been a few days.

"We're sorry Brock." Ash said. "Yeah you should be, why don't you two just behave yourselves so I can relax huh?" Brock left the room and left the door open, leaving Ash and Misty to think.

"This is really taking a toll on him." Misty said, "Ash you need to get your mom to talk to him before he makes himself sick, it just isn't healthy for someone to not sleep."

"Yeah, alright Mist." Ash sighed and flopped back onto the bed with his legs dangling over the sides, with Misty joining him on the bed.

"Hey, what brought on that tickle attack?" Ash asked. "I dunno, you just have such a cute little belly, I couldn't resist." Misty giggled.

"You know, for a second there I felt like we were little kids again." Ash sighed. "Yeah I know what you mean. All carefree and happy, kinda like if we were in Kindergarten." Misty also sighed.

The couple just laid there in silence, happy to be next to each other. Finally Misty broke the silence. "(Sigh) Well, we might as well get the guys up, the sooner we get moving, the sooner we can get our big kid clothes." Misty joked.

Ash laughed and got up, and then he extended his hand to Misty to help her up. She gladly accepted and let herself be pulled up by Ash's surprising strength, and purposefully fell into him for a loving embrace. Ash smiled and gave her a squeeze before walking into the other room where Dawn was discussing contest ideas with Piplup, Buneary, and Pikachu.

"Hey Pikachu, what are you doing in here?" Ash asked. Pikachu gave him an "are you serious" kind of look, and then motioned over to the small rabbit Pokémon. "Oh yeah." Ash said.

"What the heck was going on in there that Brock was so mad?" Dawn asked. "Nothing we were just having a uh…tickle fight." Ash replied, his voice trailing off at the end.

Dawn laughed softly at the visible blush on the couple's faces. "Where is Brock anyway?" Misty asked, changing the subject. "He went into the shower; he said he couldn't get back to sleep so he wanted to cool off." Dawn replied.

As if on cue, Brock came out with his spiky hair still damp from the shower. "Hey guys, sorry about the way I snapped at you earlier, I was just really sleepy." Brock said. "Don't worry about it Brocko, we know you didn't mean it." Ash replied.

Brock smiled wearily and walked past the other three teens, and then turned back to Ash and Misty. "You guys getting taller or is it just me?" he asked. Ash and Misty both groaned and face-palmed at that comment.

"Neither, our clothes shrunk while we were training in the rain." Misty grumbled. "That's still your fault by the way." Ash replied.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Knock it off!" Brock barked. The couple's quarrel was abruptly silenced by Brock's sudden angry outburst. Brock opened the door to the room and slammed it. The three teens took glances at each other, one thing was for sure, Brock was acting completely out of character.

The group followed the breeder out with their Pokémon trailing behind. "I'll call Mom now." Ash whispered to his girlfriend.

When they reached the Pokémon Center lobby, Brock trudged over to the cafeteria to get some breakfast, while Ash, Misty, and Dawn ran to get to the videophones. Ash quickly dialed home, and sure enough Delia answered a few moments later. "Hi Ash!" Delia said cheerfully. "Hey Mom, how are ya?" Ash replied.

"I'm doing wonderful! I must say I hope that these daily calls become a habit of yours." Delia said. "We'll see Mom." Ash laughed.

"And how are you two doing?" Delia asked. "I'm doing good Mrs. Ketchum!" Dawn replied. "Yeah, I'm pretty good myself." Misty added.

"Brock's keeping an eye on you two right?" Delia asked. The three teens glanced at each other, it was do or die time. "Actually Mom, that's why we called you." Ash said. Delia's smile slowly turned into a frown, "You didn't do something you shouldn't have did you Ashton?"

"N-No Mom! Nothing like that I swear!" Ash exclaimed quickly. Misty put up her hand, giving Ash a signal to shut up while he was ahead. "We're behaving ourselves Mrs. Ketchum, but like we said before, you could trust us even without Brock keeping an eye on us." Misty said calmly.

"Are you asking me to tell Brock to let you two do things unsupervised?" Delia asked. "TOTALLY unsupervised? No. But Brock's been going overboard with the whole supervision thing; just take a look at him." Misty turned the phone's webcam towards where Brock was sitting, picking at a bowl of fruit with his fork.

Delia's hand made its way to her mouth in horror; Brock looked like he was ill from lack of sleep, "What on earth is wrong with him? He looks like an ad for death!"

"Basically, Brock feels that when you put him in charge of us, that he needs to watch us twenty-four/seven, even at three in the morning when we're all asleep." Misty said.

"Yeah, Brock's been getting up almost every hour on the hour for the past three nights in a row; the poor guy can't get a good night's sleep no matter how hard he tries. He keeps saying how he would be responsible if Ash and Misty do anything…bad, which they probably won't." Dawn added.

"Which we DEFINITELY won't." Misty corrected. "Oh no, I shouldn't have put so much pressure on him." Delia said regretfully, "Dawn dear, could you bring Brock over here for a moment?"

Dawn nodded and ran over to where the breeder was sniffing at what he thought to be an overripe piece of cantaloupe melon. "Ok you two, I'm gonna fix this problem, but here and now, you have to promise me that you won't do anything I wouldn't approve of." Delia warned.

"Mom we've been saying from the start that you could trust us! You gave me the whole talk back when I first told you that Misty was my girlfriend and I'm STILL making sure to follow those rules." Ash said.

"Besides, do I look like the kind of person who's gonna let ANYONE abuse me?" Misty asked, waving her mallet around nonchalantly. Delia laughed when Ash cringed nervously. "Oh alright then, but now it's YOUR responsibility to watch yourselves, so don't ignore that." Delia said.

"We won't!" the couple replied.

Delia nodded just as Brock came with Dawn leading him to the videophone. Ash and Misty got up from the chair and let Brock sit down in front of the videophone, now that he was up close, Delia gasped at the horrible condition that Brock was in, she regretted ever putting him in a position where he could take the fall when she should've put it on her own son and not her son's guardian. "Hello Mrs. Ketchum." Brock said, trying to sound cheerful.

Delia smiled weakly, it was obvious that Brock had tried extremely hard to keep his promise, and even now in his weakened state he was trying to sound like nothing was wrong. "Hello Brock, how are things?" Delia asked.

"Oh things are just fine! Ash and Misty had a movie date two nights ago, but I made sure they behaved the whole night through…although I did catch them having a tickle fight this morning." Brock admitted.

Delia looked behind Brock where Ash and Misty were making incredulous faces; Misty had even gone as far as to mouth "So what?" to her. "Well I think that's ok, they were just playing." Delia said.

"If you say so Mrs. Ketchum, don't worry, I'll make sure they don't do anything." Brock reassured. "Well thank you Brock, but when I asked how things were, I meant to ask about YOU." Delia replied.

"Oh, well…I guess I'm doing ok." Brock said. "Are you sure? Those bags under your eyes tell me otherwise." Delia replied.

Brock sweat-dropped nervously. "Well uh…I guess I have been having some trouble getting to sleep lately, other than that I'm just great!"

"This lack of sleep wouldn't have anything to do with the pressure I put on you to watch my son would it?" Delia asked. "Oh no no, nothing like that." Brock replied.

"You wouldn't lie to me would you Brock?" Delia asked with one eyebrow raised. Brock was about to deny doing so, but then he looked back at his friends who were nodding their heads yes. "Snitches." Brock grumbled.

"Brock, I'm afraid I owe you an apology." Delia admitted. "What for?" Brock asked. "I shouldn't have put the pressure of Ash and Misty's relationship on you, it should be up to them to keep themselves accountable, I never wanted you to sacrifice your own personal health." Delia said.

"What are you saying Mrs. Ketchum?" Brock asked. "What I'm saying is, don't worry about what Ash and Misty do, just worry about taking care of you, if they do something they shouldn't, they'll pay the consequences later." Delia explained.

Brock smiled, "Well…if we're being totally honest…it WAS kinda stressful to keep on them all the time."

"I knew that's why you were looking so ill, just relax Brock, I am freeing you from your ball and chain, so to speak." Delia said with a smile. "Well…that's a load off my mind." Brock replied.

"FINALLY the problem is solved." Misty said with relief. "You know what I just noticed? What happened to your clothing? Both of you!" Delia asked.

Ash and Misty blushed and chuckled nervously. "Well Mom, there was a second reason we needed to call you, see…me and Misty were doing some training and she got this little obsession with 'Rain Dance'…" Ash got cutoff.

"Ah ah ah, all I did was counter Gliscor's 'Fire Fang'." Misty corrected. "Five times?" Ash countered back. Dawn whistled loudly to break them up before they lost track of the conversation at hand, "You were saying Ash?"

"Uh, right. Long story short Mom, our clothes shrunk in the rain and we were kinda hoping you found the new set you had for us." Ash said. "As a matter of fact I was going to call you to tell you I had found them! Thank you for reminding me!" Delia went off screen for a moment and soon came back with two bags.

"You guys ready?" Delia asked. "Yeah!" the couple replied excitedly. Delia laughed and placed one bag onto the send platform, and within a few moments it materialized on the reception platform. Ash quickly ran over to it and peeked inside, but was disappointed when he saw what was inside. "This is yours." Ash grumbled.

Misty stuck her tongue out at the Pokémon Trainer teasingly, and then headed for the restroom to change into her brand new outfit. "Ladies first Ash, I thought I taught you that." Delia laughed. "Yeah yeah, send me mine!" Ash whined.

Delia laughed again and placed Ash's bag onto the send platform, and in seconds it appeared in the Pokémon Center. But before Ash could peek inside, Misty came out and did a little twirl, showing off her brand new outfit. "What do you think Ash?" she asked cheerfully.

Misty was adorned in a beautiful emerald-green tie-off t-shirt that loosely hugged her recently developed curves and exposed her midriff. She also had on a pair of tight, palatinate-blue rolled up capris that showed off her slim and petite figure, Delia had even provided a pair of deep-purple high-top converse shoes to replace her old white sneakers. Her long, red hair flowed smoothly as she twirled around to show off her new outfit. "Ash, yoo hoo?" Misty came up close to Ash and waved her hand in front of his face, and the trainer's eyes were following her, but his heart and mind needed a minute to catch up. "Ash, is this gonna happen EVERYTIME I put on something new?"

"Uh-uh, you look great Mist…really um…pretty." Ash stammered, his face pink with blush. "Thanks, and thank you Mrs. Ketchum!" Misty exclaimed. "Oh you're welcome dear!" Delia replied.

"Misty you look great! That top really brings out your eyes!" Dawn squealed ecstatically. "That's exactly what I was thinking when I bought it." Delia replied. "Come on enough already, you're making me blush." Misty giggled bashfully, Come on Ash, let's see yours!"

"Oh yeah!" Ash excitedly dug into his bag, ripped out the colorful wrapping paper and found his outfit. "Um…wow…it looks…great." Misty stammered. Ash's jaw dropped in disbelief, "It looks exactly the same."

"Of course, you were so happy when I gave you that old one; I figured you would want to still have it after you outgrew it." Delia explained. "Wow, gee, thanks Mom, I love it." Ash said half-heartedly.

"I'm glad sweetie, you gonna call me again later?" Delia asked, apparently ignoring Ash's distaste. "We'll see Mom." Ash replied. Just then, the videophone started ringing again, "Uh oh, gotta go Mom!" Ash exclaimed.

"Oh alright, I love you Ash, you too everyone!" Delia said. "Bye Mom/Mrs. Ketchum!" the group replied. Ash hung up and was surprised at who appeared on the screen. "Uh, hey guys, what's up?" Ash asked.

"We got Dawn's messages! We're on our way to Canalave City now!" D. Shad exclaimed from his communicator. "Who's we?" Ash asked.

"If you can't figure out who the 'we' is, you need to put a helmet on!" That off-screen statement told the entire group exactly who it was right away. "I'll handle this." Dawn said.

"Oh Dawn there you are, sorry we took so long to get back to you, but we're on our way there now and we should be at Canalave in about an hour." D. Shad said. "Um, I appreciate it, really, but we kinda already fixed the problem." Dawn said.

"You know it's common courtesy to call back and let a guy know that he doesn't have to drop everything he's doing after all don't you?" Brad yelled. "Get back in your seat you wannabe comedian." D. Shad said, shoving Brad back.

"I'm glad to hear you guys are doing ok, but we're kinda already on our way there and we're too far gone to turn around now." D. Shad said, "How many gym badges does Ash have now?"

"I just got my sixth gym badge! Charizard really came through for me this time." Ash said. "So you needed that monster in order to win at the gym?" Brad asked. "Yeah Brad, I did, you know Byron battled a lot like you, his defense was really strong!" Ash replied.

"Well what do you expect? I'm awesome that way." Brad snickered. "For the last time, sit down you joker." D. Shad said, pushing Brad back.

"Fine, I think I'll go mess with someone who's afraid to fly." Brad got up and walked away. "Another one of his jokes I guess?" Dawn asked. "Brad's been pretty restless ever since we got on the blimp; I think HE'S afraid of flying." D. Shad said.

"He was ok on your Staraptor." Brock said. "I dunno guys, something about a shoe-bomb and terrorist attacks when he was younger, he doesn't like flying on anything except Pokémon." D. Shad said.

"Well then why the heck are you guys coming?" Misty asked. "Because Dawn said something was wrong and we just now got the message." D. Shad replied.

"Well we did have a slight Darkrai problem, but we took care of it." Dawn said. "Alright then, then me and Brad will just have to throw Ash that party we promised after he got some more badges." D. Shad replied.

"Awesome! I can't wait for you guys to get here!" Ash exclaimed excitedly. "Ahh, I gotta hop off gang, Brad's on the verge of a nervous breakdown." D. Shad sweat-dropped. "Alright D. Shad, good luck, and thanks!" Dawn said. D. Shad saluted the group of teens before hanging up.

"So, now what'll we do?" Dawn asked. "I dunno about you, but I wanna show this new outfit off." Misty said excitedly. "You go girl!" Dawn added.

"What do you say Ash? Wanna go out for a bit?" Misty asked enticingly. "Can we Brock?" Ash asked. "Well, why not? I think I owe you two for driving you nuts." Brock chuckled. "Yes!" the couple cheered.

"BUT, I want you guys back in a few hours, like at one 'o'clock, we gotta start packing for when it's time to head out. Can you follow that curfew?" Brock asked.

"It's ten 'o' clock now, I think that'll do." Misty nodded. "Alright then, see you guys at one!" Ash grabbed Misty's hand and started running out the door. "Ash wait! You gotta put on your new clothes first!" Misty exclaimed.

Ash stopped in his tracks and sweat-dropped. "Oh yeah, I kinda forgot." After Ash went and switched out his shrunken outfit for his brand new one, the couple walked out hand-in-hand. "You're not gonna do ANYTHING Brock?" Dawn asked.

"Nah…I can trust them." Brock said with relief, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go and take a nap."

Ash and Misty were right outside the Pokémon Center, trying to figure out where to go by reading the map of the island. "There's a park over here, maybe we could go and have a battle or something?" Ash suggested.

"Enough battling Ash, you just finished going through a gym battle, let your Pokémon rest. Besides, we didn't have breakfast, aren't you hungry?" Misty asked.

"Yeah, I guess I am. But I don't see too many places to eat around here, unless you wanna eat in the Pokémon Center." Ash said.

"No way. I saw the oatmeal today, a fly stepped in it and it sank." Misty shuddered. "Well, we could try this Canalave Café, it looks alright." Ash replied.

Misty thought about it for a moment, before finally shrugging and nodding. But before they could get very far, four figures with guns jumped out of the bushes, scaring the couple half to death. "Freeze!" they yelled.

Then one more figure walked out from behind a tree, "So we finally caught you, your little crime wave is over, you're under arrest for bank robbery and Pokémon thievery!" Officer Jenny exclaimed.

"Wait what? What the heck's going on here?" Misty asked angrily. "Don't play dumb with me, the surveillance cameras at the Canalave Bank proves that you robbed it dry last night!" Officer Jenny shouted accusingly.

"We-we didn't even know there WAS a bank on Canalave! And what proof?" Ash asked. "THIS proof!" Officer Jenny pulled out a small laptop, and Ash and Misty's eyes widened in horror as they watched what was on the surveillance cameras. "They look like us…but we're just kids! How the heck do you suppose two kids would be able to rob a bank?" Misty screamed.

"Kids my foot, anyone can shave, change their clothes, and dye hair. And now that we've captured the two leaders of your gang, it's only a matter of time before you're all in jail where you belong!" Officer Jenny exclaimed.

"Wait a second, hold it, hold it, I was battling Byron for a gym badge all day yesterday! He can vouch for us!" Ash exclaimed. "Good thinking Ash!" Misty added.

"Well we'll just see about that." Officer Jenny pulled out a cellphone and dialed the Canalave Gym, and in a few moments, Byron answered. "Hello?"

"Gym Leader Byron, I have two crooks here and one of them claims to have battled you yesterday, one is a female with red hair, and the other is a male with black hair, and the male is toting a Pikachu on his shoulder." Officer Jenny said.

"Hmm, are they the same two who were on the news report? They looked just like two of the kids that came to battle me yesterday." Byron said. For a moment, Ash and Misty breathed sighs of relief, thinking that they had just been saved.

"Tell me, what are they wearing?" Byron asked. "The female is wearing a green tie-off t-shirt with purple shoes and…" Officer Jenny was cutoff.

"Ah ha! Throw the book at them Officer Jenny! The girl who came to the gym yesterday had on a yellow shirt and red suspenders! I'm not falling for anymore stupid tricks by stupid crooks!" Byron exclaimed.

"Thank you sir." Officer Jenny hung up, and stared down Ash and Misty who were now in total shock. "He…didn't even think about it." Misty gasped.

"As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing to think about, take 'em away boys." Officer Jenny placed handcuffs on the two teens, although they weren't really willing to put them on, two of the officers had to hold them steady in order to allow Jenny to put them on their wrists.

"We've been framed!" Ash yelled angrily. "Tell it to the judge." Jenny spat back. By now TV cameras had appeared on the scene, and were shooting film of the two supposed crooks being arrested. "I'm telling you it wasn't us! We're innocent!" Ash yelled loudly.

"Quiet! You have the right to remain silent! And if you don't exercise that right I'll put you under sedation!" Officer Jenny barked. "Wait a second! Ash, your Pokédex! It has your identification!" Misty exclaimed suddenly. "Hey yeah! Ok, you want proof that we're kids? Check my back pocket, there's a Pokédex back there that Professor Oak gave me himself!" Ash said.

Officer Jenny nodded and had one of the officers frisk Ash. "There's nothing there."

Ash and Misty's skin crawled, "What do you mean it's not there?" Ash asked. "There's nothing there you crook, as if you didn't know." the officer spat. "Oh no…Misty…I left my Pokédex in my other pants! Literally!" Ash gasped. "You forgot to take your Pokédex out of your pocket? You dumb…stupid…boneheaded little idiot! That was our last hope and you left it at the Pokémon Center?" Misty hissed incredulously.

"I'm sorry." Ash drooped his head shamefully. "Sorry doesn't fix this! We're about to be sent to jail!" Misty hissed furiously, venom practically dripping off her tongue. Ash looked away, he couldn't stand to see Misty's face anymore, she was so red with fury at him that it practically burned him to look her way.

A police truck drove up from the road, and when it stopped, the officers took Ash and Misty and threw them into the back of the truck, after taking the Pokéballs from both their belts.

Then they took Pikachu from Ash, "Hey! Give Pikachu back!" Ash yelled furiously. The officers ignored Ash's outburst and took out two small pink circles. "Pikachu quick! Use 'Thunderbolt'!" Ash ordered. Pikachu charged a blast of electricity, but before he could do anything, the officers placed the two circles on Pikachu's cheeks, and the small electric rodent's power was immediately negated.

"What did you do to Pikachu?" Ash demanded. "Just put some rubber on its cheeks, now you crooks won't be making a jailbreak anytime soon." the officers replied. They threw Pikachu back into the truck and slammed the doors shut, leaving them completely in the dark except for the small shines of light from the bars.

"Are you ok Pikachu?" Ash asked. "Pika pika." (I feel funny.) Pikachu replied. "Well this is just great, not only are we getting carted off to jail, but now everyone in Sinnoh and maybe some other regions are gonna know about it!" Misty said angrily.

"Misty that's it! Maybe Dawn and Brock will see it! They can vouch for us!" Ash exclaimed, hoping that this revelation would redeem him in her eyes. "Maybe…" Misty mumbled. "Hey, isn't it true that prisoners get one phone call?" Ash asked.

Misty's eyes widened, "That's right! We can call Brock and Dawn and tell them to bring your Pokédex!"

"So, are you still mad at me?" Ash asked. "Of course I am." Misty replied. Ash frowned, but Misty could see that even in the dark. "But you should know by now that I won't stay like that for long." Misty scooted over to Ash and nuzzled his cheek with her nose, which made Ash smile and feel relief wash over him.

"We'll be ok right?" Ash asked. "Of course we will, like you said, we always come out on top in the end." Misty replied. The two cuddled close in the back of the police truck, with Pikachu sitting in their laps. They may not have known what was going to happen to them, but they were grateful they had each other.

"Our perfect plan worked to perfection!" a voice snickered. "With da two twoips doin' time in da clink, we'll be free to swipe all da Pokémon we could want!" another voice said.

Team Rocket appeared from behind a bush, and in the bush next to them, two other figures emerged. "You two pulled that crime off like master master thieves!" James said. "Hey, it was no problem, we're just glad we could make a hit for the legendary Team Rocket, ain't that right Sweetheart?" a man about forty years old asked, putting his arm around the girl next to him.

"Sure thing Babe, like taking candy from a baby." the girl in her early twenties replied. "Just remember our deal, my boys are looking forward to that payoff." the man said.

"But of course! As soon as we get what we need from you, you'll positively be swimming in cash!" Jessie said. "And I'll finally be da boss's favorite Pokémon again!" Meowth added.

"Oh, you close pals with the Team Rocket boss then?" the man asked. "Are you kidding me? I used to be da boss's favorite Pokémon until dat dumb old Persian showed up and kicked me outta da lap of luxury." Meowth grumbled.

"Is that right? Hey Saban, I think this little squirt deserves a crash course in Stealing 101." the girl said with a wink. "Yeah, good thinking Viv." Saban replied.

"Wow, a total steal in more ways than one!" James said excitedly. "Soon we'll become the boss's top agents and we'll finally get the respect that we deserve." Jessie added.

"That's right pallies, you three are gonna learn a lesson from Sinnoh's top gang of thieves." Saban said, "Just follow us and get ready." Jessie, James, and Meowth followed the gangster couple back to their hideout, where they would get ready for another heist.

Back at the Pokémon Center, Brad and D. Shad had arrived to look for their friends, but were surprised to find that Ash and Misty were nowhere to be found. They did however find Brock sleeping in a chair and they saw Dawn outside with her Pokémon. "Hey Brock, wake up!" Brad exclaimed.

Brock woke up with a start; he looked up and saw Brad and D. Shad standing over him with smirks on their faces. "Hey guys, good to see you again." Brock said with a yawn. "Dude you were fast asleep, you haven't been running around have you?" Brad asked.

"No, just a little misunderstanding, no big deal." Brock said. "Well I see Dawn outside, where's Ash and Misty?" D. Shad asked. "They went out; come to think of it they should've been back by now." Brock said.

"And I guarantee you that when they do show up, they won't be angry or sad because they're late, they'll be laughing." Brad said. "Well when they do get back, we're gonna treat Ash to dinner for getting those gym badges." D. Shad said.

Dawn had now come in with her Pokémon after seeing that Brock was awake and talking to Brad and D. Shad. "Hi guys!" she said cheerfully. "Hey, it's the coordinator girl that forgot to call us back, what's your name again?" Brad joked.

"Ha ha, hi Brad." Dawn laughed. "You doing ok Dawn?" D. Shad asked. "Yeah, everything's alright." Dawn reassured. "Now we just have to wait for Ash and Misty, wherever they are." Brock said.

"Uh guys…I think I know where they're at." D. Shad said pointing at the TV screen. Dawn, Brock, and Brad turned towards the screen. "We interrupt this program to bring you an important news bulletin, about one hour ago, the two thieves caught stealing from the Canalave Bank on surveillance camera were captured in front of the Pokémon Center, possibly planning yet another heist." the TV switched to footage of Ash and Misty being handcuffed and tossed into the truck, their protests recorded for all to hear.

"When asked of the apparent age of these two criminals, Officer Jenny had this to say." the TV switched again to footage of Officer Jenny, "Don't believe the way they look, in our line of work you find out that makeup and hair dye can go a long way in the criminal world."

"The two thieves are currently on their way to the Canalave Prison, where they will soon find out how long their sentence will turn out to be. Thanks to the Canalave Police Force, we can all rest easy at last." the TV switched back to its regular program, leaving the five to gawk in shock.

"Ash and Misty…were arrested?" Dawn stammered. "Well you saw that footage, whoever broke into the bank looks just like them." Brock said. "Gimme a break, those crooks are obviously disguising themselves." D. Shad pulled out his laptop and looked up the footage of the robbery. "Check this out, Ash looks way too tall here, and Misty's hair is too bright. Total fakes." D. Shad said.

"Looks like that Officer Jenny needs a lesson in observation." Brad said. "D. Shad, can't you go to the jail and vouch for them?" Dawn asked. "Unfortunately, my Darkness Shadow title doesn't stretch all the way out here, and I seriously doubt that gung-ho Officer Jenny is gonna listen to some random guy with footage of what they already saw." D. Shad said.

"Well I dunno about you, but I'm going to the prison!" Dawn said determinedly. "What can you do Dawn?" Brock asked. "Maybe nothing, but at the very least Ash and Misty will know for sure that we're working on proving their innocence!" Dawn explained.

"Sounds good to me, let's get moving!" D. Shad ran out of the Pokémon Center, with his three friends following closely.

Back at the prison, Ash and Misty were being led through the police station by one of the officers. "Hey, don't we get our one phone call?" Misty asked. "You'll get your phone call, just stay quiet and cooperate." the officer replied gruffly. The officer led the couple to their cell, and threw them in rather roughly. "Hey! You said we'd get a phone call!" Misty screamed angrily.

"Oh yeah, I did didn't I?" the officer grumbled. The officer grabbed Misty by the arm and closed the door on Ash and Pikachu. "You be careful with her!" Ash growled. The officer ignored Ash's outburst and dragged Misty through the corridor of jail cells. Misty cringed at all the mean looking people shooting daggers at her with their eyes, she'd be glad to get back to Ash after she went through with her objective.

"Alright, make your dumb old phone call, it isn't like there's anyone out there who cares." the officer grumbled. "That's what you think." Misty whispered to herself. Misty dialed the Pokémon Center, just waiting for Brock and Dawn to pick up so she could explain. She was surprised to find Nurse Joy answering however.

"Oh, hi Nurse Joy, um, I'm looking for a Dawn and Brock, are they there?" Misty asked. "I believe they just left, if you'd like I can leave a message for them." Nurse Joy replied.

"Alright then…tell them that Ash and Misty have been framed and thrown in jail! Get Ash's Pokédex from his old pant pocket so we can prove our innocence!" Misty exclaimed. "Well…I must say…this will be the most…unusual message I've ever passed along…but if you insist." Nurse Joy replied.

Nurse Joy hung up, and the officer immediately grabbed Misty by the arm once more and dragged her back to her cell with Ash. The officer opened the cell and threw her in roughly, "Hey I told you to be careful with her!" Ash growled. Ash charged towards the officer, who slammed the bars closed before Ash could get to him.

Ash slammed into the iron bars and crumpled to the floor, clutching his nose painfully. "Let that be a lesson to you, your gang isn't here to back you up anymore." the officer walked away, and another officer walked in to guard them. "Ash, are you bleeding?" Misty asked softly.

Ash shook his head, but the fact that he hadn't moved from his slouched position and he was still panting showed that he was in a lot of pain. "Here, lemme see." Misty slowly moved Ash's hands away from his nose, and was relieved to see that he really wasn't bleeding. "You're ok Ash, you're ok."

"That cop's got a lot of nerve throwing you around like a ragdoll." Ash grumbled. "Don't worry about me Ash; he'll be sorry once Brock and Dawn get here with your Pokédex." Misty replied. "Did you manage to get ahold of them?" Ash asked.

"Well…they weren't there actually…I had Nurse Joy take a message though." Misty said. "So, in other words we're gonna be stuck here for a while." Ash said, rubbing his nose.

"Looks that way." Misty sighed. "Man, if only Pikachu didn't have those rubber circles stuck on his cheeks, we could 'Volt Tackle' our way out of here." Ash said. "Then we would actually be guilty of a crime, it's against the law to break out of jail." Misty said.

Ash got up from his crouched position and laid down on his cell cot. "I'm sorry Misty, if I hadn't've forgotten my Pokédex we never would've gotten arrested."

"Come on Ash, it's no big deal, we both know we're innocent, and as soon as Brock and Dawn get here with your Pokédex, we'll be out of here. In the meantime, let's think of a way to catch those creeps that framed us." Misty said.

Ash smiled and scooted over so that Misty could lie down next to him, and the water trainer gladly obliged and cuddled up to him. Although they sincerely tried to put their minds to work, being so close to each other made them start to get drowsy, and after a while, they fell asleep in their cell as if nothing was wrong.

Back with Team Rocket, they had just reached the hideout of Saban and Vivian. "Wow! I haven't seen a place like this since we graduated from the Team Rocket academy!" James exclaimed. "Yeah! Dere's all sorts of gadgets we could use here!" Meowth added.

"Yeah, and our hits have gone a lot smoother since we got our hands on these fancy heaters." Saban said. "You mean, like the opposite of an air conditioner?" Jessie asked. "That's a stupid question, check this out." Saban grabbed what looked like a weird pistol off the wall and aimed it at a target that was sitting in the shooting range.

Saban pulled the trigger and a laser blasted out of it, obliterating the target completely and also scaring Team Rocket half to death. "Nice shot boss." a henchman said from the shooting range. "We stole these from some scientist who was experimenting with lasers, now all we gotta do is show off what these fancy heaters can do and no one bothers to mess with us." Saban said.

"Except that crazy Officer Jenny, she was so gung-ho about arresting us, that she didn't even bother to investigate whether we were really us." Vivian snickered. "That was why we hired you! With the twerps locked up, nothing will ever get in our way." Jessie said.

"Don't you ever use Pokémon in your…hits?" James asked. "Oh yeah, sure, you wanna see our Pokémon? Here you go." Saban pulled out a Pokéball along with Vivian, and two enormous Pokémon emerged from them.

"Wow! A Rhyperior and a Tyranitar!" James exclaimed. "Yep, these two are perfect for blocking back those fire moves that those security Growlithe have." Saban said. "And if we need something stealthy, we have this." Vivian tossed out another Pokéball, and a small Sableye emerged with its crystal eyes shimmering.

"A Sableye! Now that's a rare sight!" James said. "Well we have our own Pokémon team!" Jessie said. "Is that so?" Saban asked. Team Rocket threw out their Pokémon, Seviper, Yanmega, Carnivine, and Mime Jr. all popped out. "What's that?" Vivian asked, pointing at the last Pokéball on Jessie's belt.

Upon being referred to, Wobbuffet emerged and did its trademark salute. "No wonder you didn't bring that out, but I do like that Seviper and Carnivine." Saban said. "And that Yanmega would be perfect for breaking into glass windows." Vivian added.

"Hey! What about me and my 'Fury Swipes'?" Meowth asked angrily. "What about them? I already told you I'm gonna teach you how to make a real hit. Don't press your luck pal." Saban said. Something about the way Saban spoke made Meowth's fur crawl, so he quickly backed off.

"Alright, and now like we promised, it's time for a lesson in making a hit." Saban said, handing lasers to Jessie, James, and Meowth and returning his Pokémon. "Alright boys, we'll be back, if anyone tries to get in, burn him." Saban said. "You got it boss." All the henchmen said at once.

"Alright you guys, let's head to the Pokémon Center and make a hit." Saban and Vivian led the Team Rocket trio out of the hideout, and their heist would begin at the Pokémon Center.

"D. Shad and friends to visit Ash and Misty." D. Shad told the police officer at the front desk. "Hmm, seems a little late to be visiting, exactly who are Ash and Misty?" the officer asked. "What do you mean late? And what do you mean who are they? Don't you have a list of people who actually get put into jail?" Brad asked incredulously.

D. Shad put his hand up to stop Brad's rant. "They were…arrested this morning." D. Shad said. "The only recent arrest I have here is of the two unnamed gang leaders that we put in this morning." the officer said.

"That's gotta be them." Dawn said. "Well, it seems a little odd for you people to even be bothering to visit the two most dangerous criminals on all of Canalave, but it's your life." the officer shrugged.

The officer pressed a button, and the bars blocking the jail cells rose out of the floor and granted access to the four visitors. "Cell number twenty-nine, you have ten minutes." the officer said. The group hurried through the door and rushed through the corridor, and in a matter of moments, they had found the cell Ash and Misty were locked in.

"Well…they don't seem to be too upset about this…" D. Shad said, noting that the couple was taking a nap in the cot. "Hey lovebirds! Wake up!" Brad yelled. Ash and Misty woke up with a start, and the unfortunate water-trainer fell to the floor in shock. "Guess they got our call." Ash snickered. Misty glared at Ash and brushed off her brand new capris.

"What happened you guys?" Dawn asked. "How should we know? One minute we're deciding where we're gonna eat, the next we're pointlessly pleading for our innocence." Misty replied. "Don't worry guys, I checked out that footage, and I can prove that you're innocent." D. Shad said.

"Thanks D. Shad, but will they listen to you all the way out here?" Ash asked. "Probably not, but the truth will set you free." Brad snickered. "Brad may be messing around, but he's right, I don't have any pull here in Canalave." D. Shad shrugged.

"That's comforting." Misty moaned, "Look, do you have Ash's Pokédex? It has his ID and it'll prove us innocent that way."

"Ugh! We should've thought of that!" Dawn exclaimed. "Don't worry guys, we'll go and get it now! We'll have you out of there in no time!" Brock added. "Thanks guys, and hey Brad, D. Shad, sorry your visit couldn't be more pleasant." Misty said.

"No worries, it'll be good to get some good old-fashioned detective work in. As soon as we clear your names, those crooks who framed you are gonna find out why Sonzonia City is crime-free." D. Shad said determinedly.

Just then, the officer came in. "Alright folks, time's up, it's lunch call for everyone." The group waved goodbye to their imprisoned friends and followed the officer out. "If it's alright with you officer, we'll be back again later." D. Shad said.

"Sorry folks, it's one visit per week, you'll have to come back next week." the officer said. "What? But we can't let them stay there for a whole week!" Dawn exclaimed. "Kid, they're gonna be there a LOT longer than a week, more like five to ten years." the officer said casually.

Now D. Shad was starting to lose his cool, "What kind of a stupid rule is that? We can clear their names NOW!"

"Sorry folks, we can't allow more than one visit a week. Security reasons." the officer said. "I…very well officer…sorry to have bothered you." D. Shad turned and calmly walked out of the police station, with a very confused trio following him out. "You have a plan, don't you D?" Brad figured.

"Since we can't do this legally, we're gonna have to do this ILLEGALLY. Guys, it's time for a jailbreak." D. Shad said determinedly. "But wait a minute, then won't they really be guilty of a crime?" Brock asked. "Once we clear their name it won't matter, before we break them out, we have to find the real crooks." D. Shad said.

"Where should we start?" Dawn asked. "If there's one thing I've learned about petty thieves, it's that they almost always hide out in abandoned warehouses. But before me and Brad get there, I need to stock up." D. Shad said.

"Wait, what about me and Brock?" Dawn asked. "Don't let your self-esteem get ruined over this, but this is way too dangerous for you guys. In fact, it's too dangerous for me too!" Brad said. "Nice try funny man, but I'm gonna need backup if I'm gonna pull this off." D. Shad said.

"So, what should we do?" Brock asked. "First off let's all head to the Pokémon Center so I can grab my gauntlet and whatever else we'll need, then we'll head out and you guys stay there." D. Shad said. The two teens nodded and followed Brad and D. Shad to the Pokémon Center.

"You know how I complained about the Pokémon Center oatmeal? I take it all back." Misty grumbled, as she picked at her prison food. "I'm not sure if this is mashed potatoes or…nah I won't say it, it's gross enough as is." Ash added.

Ash and Misty pushed their trays away and headed back to the cot, even Pikachu gave the food a sniff and almost threw up from the disgusting odor. "I wish there was some way we could help them." Ash said.

"Hey, if D. Shad's on the case then we'll be out of here in no time." Misty reassured. "That's what we said a couple of hours ago, man I'm starting to get restless in here! And I can't even sleep anymore, I'm not tired!" Ash exclaimed.

"Easy Ash, be patient, take a deep breath." Misty said. Ash inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to calm his worked up nerves. "Feel better?" Misty asked. "A little." Ash mumbled.

Ash looked up from the cot and saw Pikachu playing with his cheeks. "You ok Pikachu?" Ash asked. "Pika pika chu!" (Get these off!) The rubber circles that the officers had stuck on Pikachu's cheeks were starting to drive him crazy, and that gave Misty an idea.

"Ash, maybe we CAN help them!" Misty said. "Really? How?" Ash asked excitedly. "Remember when Pachirisu got an electrical buildup? Well what if we say that Pikachu's got one too because of the rubber blocking his cheeks?" Misty suggested.

"What good will that do?" Ash asked. "Don't you get it? Once they take Pikachu away to get him checked out, they'll take off the rubber and then Pikachu will have his electricity back and he can escape and go help them!" Misty explained.

"That sounds great Misty!" Ash said, "Pikachu, do you think you can pretend to be sick for us?"

Pikachu nodded and laid down on the floor, even mimicking the sound of labored breathing to make it sound like he was having trouble. "That's perfect Pikachu! But wait, Pachirisu had a fever, come to think of it, right after you left, Pikachu got sick when I got to Hoenn and he had a fever too." Ash said.

"That's no problem. Pikachu, pretend that Buneary's here giving you hugs and kisses." Misty giggled. The electric rodent immediately blushed furiously, and Ash took that moment to check Pikachu's temperature. "Virtual fever, way to go Mist." Ash snickered.

Pikachu glared at Ash and gave him a swift whack with an 'Iron Tail', his electricity may have been gone but his steel-type moves were just fine. "Alright alright, I'm going, ow." Ash limped back over to the cot, rubbing his now sore tailbone. "That'll teach you to mess with Pikachu." Misty giggled. Ash glared at Misty for a moment.

"Alright Pikachu, go!" Ash whispered. Pikachu nodded and started playing sick, making sure to envision Buneary there so he could fake a fever. Now Misty made her move. "Hey! Hey! Is anyone out there?" she screamed.

In a few moments, an officer came to quiet them down. "Knock it off in there!"

"Does the police department support cruelty to Pokémon? Ash's Pikachu is sick thanks to those stupid rubber circles you put on his cheeks!" Misty said. The officer looked down and gave Pikachu the onceover, "This illness came on rather suddenly." the officer said suspiciously.

"You don't believe it? Feel him, he's got a fever!" Misty exclaimed. When the officer placed the back of his hand on Pikachu's forehead, she nervously hoped that Pikachu would manage to keep the blush up long enough to convince the cop. "Alright, for Pikachu's sake, we'll get him checked out." the cop finally said.

"Thank you." Misty made sure to add some bitterness to her voice so that the cop wouldn't suspect anything. The officer opened the door slightly and reached in to grab Pikachu and walk away. "Good luck Pika-pal." Misty whispered.

The officer took Pikachu into a white room with a whole bunch of doctor equipment, and another officer came in wearing white gloves and a mask. "Alright little guy, let's see what's wrong." the officer took a cotton swab and dipped it into a clear bottle with a liquid and rubbed it on Pikachu's cheeks, and a few seconds later, the officer gently took the rubber circles off of Pikachu.

When the officer turned around, Pikachu made his move. Quickly getting up, Pikachu blasted the officer with a powerful 'Thunderbolt', knocking the officer out. Then Pikachu blasted through the door with a super-charged 'Volt Tackle' and made a break for the entrance. When the alarms in the police station went off, Ash and Misty knew Pikachu had done his job.

Officers came from every direction to try and nab the little electric rodent, but Pikachu made sure to dodge each and every one of the attempted grabs using 'Quick Attack' to speed up. Pikachu found the entrance and ran as fast as his little legs would allow, but then the last thing he ever wanted to see got in his way. "You're not going anywhere!" Officer Jenny had blocked off the door and was wearing rubber gloves so Pikachu couldn't shock her. But he knew that if he turned back now he'd never get another chance, so sucking up his fear, Pikachu activated 'Volt Tackle' and hoped that he could gain enough momentum to knock Officer Jenny down by force rather than by shock.

"You're mine." Officer Jenny said. "Pika pika?" (Wanna bet?) Pikachu leaped up and slammed into Officer Jenny's stomach with a powerful 'Volt Tackle', and the head of the police station went down to her knees in pain, allowing Pikachu to open the door with 'Iron Tail' and finally escape. Now in the clear, Pikachu ran for the Pokémon Center to find his friends.

"Alright you guys, you ready to make that hit?" Saban asked. "Of course! As soon as we show off dese lasers of yours, stealing everyone's Pokémon will be a piece of cake!" Meowth exclaimed. "That's right pal, now listen close, all you gotta do is go in there and tell 'em to turn to stone." Saban said.

"Uh, what?" Jessie asked. "Tell them that they either put their hands over their head, or they won't have no head to put their hands over." Vivian said. "Ohh, gotcha." the Team Rocket trio said. Team Rocket then snuck away from the two gang leaders and snuck into the Pokémon Center.

"Alright everyone, hands over your heads!" James yelled. "That's right, this is a hit!" Jessie added. "You guys again?" D. Shad growled. Team Rocket cringed when they saw D. Shad stand up to them, but they quickly regained their composure and did what they did best.

Jessie: "Is that the sound of a washed up hero I hear?"

James: "It's speaking to me loud and clear."

Jessie: "On the wind!"

James: "Past the stars!"

Meowth: "In your ear!"

Jessie: "Making hits at a breakneck pace!"

James: "Stealing Pokéballs, putting empties in their place!"

Jessie: "A rose by any other name's just as sharp!"

James: "Resisting us will result in us wrapping you in tarp!"

Jessie: "Jessie!"

James: "And James!"

Meowth: "Meowth's the name!"

Jessie: "Putting you do-gooders in your place!"

James: "We're Team Rocket!"

Team Rocket: "And we're in your face!"

"Alright everyone, now either you hand us your Pokémon or some people are gonna lose more than their lunch." Jessie said. "The only people losing their lunch is me, you really think pointing a toy gun in my face is gonna make me flinch?" Brad asked.

"This is no toy, one shot of these will disintegrate that big mouth of yours and finally put Team Rocket on the top where they belong." Jessie aimed the laser towards a wall and pulled the trigger, she sweat-dropped when the laser didn't fire.

"Just a second." Jessie crouched down over Meowth, "Meowth, what's wrong with it?"

"I dunno, I don't know nothing about dese tings!" Meowth replied nervously. "You three really need to put a helmet on! How about we give you a spanking for misbehaving and send you on your way?" Brad said.

"We're not finished yet! Seviper let's…huh?" When Jessie reached for her Pokéballs, she found that they were missing. "My Pokémon!"

James found that Carnivine and Mime Jr. were also missing. The trio sweat-dropped nervously when they heard the sound of something charging up. "Alright you three, as long as you managed to frame Ash and Misty, you might as well join them in prison." D. Shad said, aiming his gauntlet at the three.

"If there's one thing Team Rocket's good at, it's blasting off!" Jessie ran out of the Pokémon Center, closely followed by James and Meowth. "Hey, come back here!" Dawn and Brock ran after the trio.

"Guys, get back here!" D. Shad called. It was too late, Dawn and Brock had already run off. "We better follow them D, no telling what trouble they'll get into." Brad said. D. Shad nodded and took off after the two teens, but when he saw what was going on, he grabbed Brad by the arm and quickly ducked behind a tree.

"What's going on here?" Jessie asked. "Did you bums really think we'd be dumb enough to give you charged heaters? Now that we have Giovanni's top agents hostage, he'll pay for dissolving our partnership." Saban said sinisterly.

"Wait a second…you're the ones who framed Ash and Misty!" Dawn exclaimed. "Smart girl…maybe too smart for your own good." Vivian said. "Dawn, just stay quiet." Brock said nervously. "Looks like you know what's good for you, we're gonna put the bag on you until we decide what to do with you." Saban said.

"But first…" Vivian tossed out a Pokéball, and a small, black Pokémon emerged. "What's that?" Dawn pulled out her pink Pokédex to scan it. "Sableye, the Darkness Pokémon. Sableye normally live within caves and eat rocks. They use…" the Pokédex was cutoff when Vivian grabbed it and shoved it in her pocket. "Hey! Give that…" Sableye charged a 'Shadow Ball' at Dawn, which quickly made Dawn be quiet.

"Alright Sableye, get those Pokéballs." Vivian ordered. Sableye hopped over to Dawn and Brock and snagged the Pokéballs off their belts, with Brock and Dawn totally helpless to stop it. Sableye hopped over to Vivian, who placed the stolen Pokéballs in a small duffel bag. "Good job Sableye."

"Alright now move!" Saban and Vivian got behind the group and held them at gunpoint, and together they walked back to their hideout. "Oh great, so now we've got two problems." Brad grumbled.

Before D. Shad could reply, they spotted a little yellow figure running into the Pokémon Center. "Hey Pikachu! C'mere!" Brad called. Pikachu stopped in his tracks and perked up his ears, and when he turned to see Brad and D. Shad hiding behind the tree, he quickly ran over to them.

"Well, you must've run those cops ragged when you escaped." Brad snickered. "This gives me an idea…alright Brad, we're gonna have to split up, you're gonna head to the police station and break out Ash and Misty, I'm heading to their hideout to free Brock and Dawn." D. Shad said.

"And how do you expect me to pull that off?" Brad asked. "Get Pikachu to help you, you're smart Brad, you'll figure it out, now hurry! We probably don't have much time!" D. Shad took off running with his gauntlet at the ready, leaving Brad and Pikachu on their own. "Well little buddy, guess it's you and me."

"Pika pika chu." (Guess so.) Pikachu replied. Brad and Pikachu walked over to the police station to try and figure out a plan, by the time they got there the sun was already setting, "Where's the dramatic music?" Brad said to himself.

Making sure no one was around, Brad and Pikachu snuck through the front door and started sneaking through the corridors. Thanks to it being the night shift, there were very few police officers around. Brad eventually came to what seemed to be a locker room. "Hmm, here's a conflict of morals, stealing is wrong, but I'd be stealing in the name of justice…I'll take it, I'm against political correctness anyway." Brad searched for an open locker, but found that there were none.

"Hmm, ok Pikachu, think you can get these lockers open?" Brad asked. Pikachu nodded and jumped up for an 'Iron Tail', Pikachu slammed his tail into the locker and it opened rather loudly, and on top of it all, the locker was empty. "There must be like a hundred lockers here! It'll take…" Brad heard someone coming from the other side of the locker room, ducking down a corridor, Brad hid and peeked around the corner and saw an officer getting undressed. "Yechh, this dude needs to understand the difference between a locker room and a changing room." Brad's eye twitched a little, but the officer eventually slammed the locker closed and left after leaving his uniform behind.

"That's our cue. Alright Pikachu, give that locker an 'Iron Tail' it'll never forget." Brad said. Pikachu jumped up and busted open the lock and the locker quickly opened and revealed its contents, but Brad's skin crawled when he heard the door to the locker room open again. Without thinking Brad dived back down the corridor with Pikachu, and saw the same officer that had just changed come back in.

"Yeah I'll be right there I forgot some…" the officer saw that the locker he had just closed had somehow been opened again, Brad hoped that the officer wouldn't investigate. He didn't. "Geez, hey Matt I busted the lock on my locker again." the officer shouted, grabbing whatever it was he needed.

"Come on Brian, that's the fifth one this month, you gotta take it easy with those things." the other officer's voice stopped making noise once the door closed, and Brad's quickly beating heart gradually slowed to normal. "Alright, let's grab that outfit." Brad took out the uniform and put it on, and was grateful that it was only slightly big on him.

"Alright Pikachu, time for the jailbreak." Brad walked out of the locker room and stealthily walked around the station trying to find where the cells were. On the way there, he found a Pokéball storage unit. "Hey, maybe we can get a little help!" Brad used the ID card in the uniform's pocket to gain access and found a book of listed Pokéballs inside.

"Alright Pikachu, you'll have to help me here, I don't know Misty's Pokémon as well as Ash's." Brad said. Pikachu looked through the list of Pokéballs and then pointed out a certain list, "Pikachupi!" (Misty!)

"There they are!" Brad grabbed Misty's Pokéballs, "And where are Ash's?"

Pikachu looked through the list again and pointed to where Ash's Pokéballs were. "Alright I got 'em! Let's go!" Brad and Pikachu rushed out of the room, making sure to lock up so as not to raise suspicion. Finally, Brad made it back to the front desk that blocked off the cells, except now the officer that wasn't there before was also back.

"Here goes nothing. Pikachu, get into the vest." After Pikachu jumped into the side of the uniform, Brad casually walked by and pressed the button that raised the bars making sure to keep the side Pikachu was on hidden, but he was quickly stopped by the officer that was sitting there. "Hey Brian, I thought you went out with Matt."

Now Brad was really in a jam. "Uh, well as it turns out I'm not really all that hungry, so I figured I'd just take an extra shift and relieve the poor guy in there." Brad replied, mimicking the wearer of his disguise as best he could.

"That's the Boy Scout in you talking, but whatever, go on in." the officer shrugged and went back to reading his book, letting Brad finally walk in. He knew he had found their cell when he found a rather large, dark-skinned man talking to the two in their cell. "And don't you even think about pulling any tricks while I'M on duty, I can spot a phony disguise a mile away so ain't NOBODY gonna get in here unless I know about it." the officer said.

"Hey Kirby, I'm here to relieve you!" Brad exclaimed, reading the man's name off his nametag. "Okey dokey lemme grab a sandwich or something." the man quickly rushed off to get something to eat, leaving Brad the keys in the process. "So what do YOU have to say? Just about every cop that's come in here has had something bad to say about us." Misty grumbled, her back turned towards Brad.

"I think that dude needs to put a helmet on." Brad snickered. Misty turned around slowly while Ash got up from his cot, "Brad?"

"How many other people do you know that go around making fun of other people's ethics?" Brad snickered, "And I think these are yours." Brad handed the couple their Pokéballs which they quickly put on their belt.

"So you're gonna get us out of here?" Ash asked hopefully. "Ho, there's a good idea." Brad said, doing his signature "put a helmet on" routine. "But wait, Brad where's Pikachu?" Ash asked. "Oh yeah, you know I was wondering why this felt so snug on only one side of my body." Brad pulled the small electric mouse out of the uniform. "Pikapi!" (Ash!) Pikachu jumped out of Brad's arms and stood at the edge of the bars so that Ash and Misty could pet it after a job well done.

"You did it Pikachu, nice job!" Ash said. "Alright guys, lemme explain what the situation is, while I'm here busting you guys out, D. Shad's out there trying to bust Brock and Dawn out of trouble." Brad said. "What happened to them?" Misty asked.

"They got captured by the two crooks who framed you guys, D. Shad went to free them AND capture the crooks so we could clear your name." Brad finally found the right key and opened the cell door, but then the worst possible thing happened. "What do you mean your replacement showed up?"

"That's Officer Jenny!" Misty squeaked. "Back in the cell you two, and follow my lead, things are gonna get ugly in a second!" Brad exclaimed in a hushed tone. Brad closed the cell and left it unlocked and tried to act natural as Officer Jenny and Kirby walked over to where Brad was leaning against the bars.

"Evening Officer Jenny." Brad said, disguising his voice. "Let's see some ID, officer." Officer Jenny demanded. "Ok fine, nametag says Brian, there you go." Brad replied. "Not good enough mister, come with me please." Officer Jenny said.

"Ok…guess I have no choice." Brad slowly moved away from the bars, but then things quickly got moving when Brad threw Pikachu towards the two authentic officers and the electric rodent launched a furious 'Thunderbolt' that knocked them both on the floor.

"Now!" Brad shed his disguise and ran for the exit along with Ash and Misty who quickly followed. Officer Jenny got up and started chasing them down. "Red alert! Prisoners in cell twenty-nine are escaping, block off the entrance!" Officer Jenny barked into her two-way radio.

The three escapees' eyes grew wide when they saw the bars start to lower. "We'll never make it!" Misty cried. "Oh yes we will! Charizard, Grotle, keep that door from closing!" Ash threw two Pokéballs, and Ash's two largest Pokémon rushed to the door to stop it from closing, invoking squeals and whines from the door mechanism.

"Just hang on you guys!" Ash exclaimed. Charizard and Grotle fought against the bars, but the powerful mechanism was pushing back hard, eventually Grotle gave out and the door started pressing hard against its shell, making the large turtle groan in pain. "Oh no, Grotle!" By now the three had reached the door, they dove underneath the bars and then Ash returned his two Pokémon and let the door close. "Hold it!" the front desk officer yelled.

"Hold what?" Brad shouted back. The three ignored the officer and burst through the front door, and then they ran for the cover of the bushes and nightfall. "That was close." Ash said. "Well things are about to get even closer, we gotta head to the bad guys' lair now." Brad said.

Ash and Misty nodded, and under the cover of nightfall, they headed to the abandoned warehouse that D. Shad was at.

"Man, these guys sure know what they're doing." D. Shad said to himself as he snuck through the warehouse unnoticed. There were security cameras, target ranges for weapons practice, and of course no hideout would be complete without henchmen. D. Shad had to use every ounce of skill he had to sneak by all the henchmen that were patrolling the area, hiding behind crates, walls, even sneaking through the target range.

Finally he found what he was looking for. He saw Saban and Vivian standing in front of a large cage where they had placed Brock, Dawn, and Team Rocket. "But I don't understand! Why are you keeping US locked up? The twerps I can understand, they'd snitch in a minute but…we're brothers and sisters in crime right?" Jessie asked.

"You shut up! If there's one thing I've learned in my life it's that nobody helps nobody but themselves." Saban barked furiously.

"Saban and Giovanni used to be partners in Team Rocket, when Giovanni reached the top, Saban thought his 'pal' would carry him up with him, boy was he wrong, the creep dropped him like a hot potato and kicked him out of Team Rocket because he was a threat to his new position." Vivian explained.

"Well that's all gonna change now. When Giovanni hears that I've got his top agents hostage, he'll beg me to spare your life and maybe even offer me a partnership again. And once that happens, he's history." Saban said sinisterly.

"I don't think so!" D. Shad jumped out of the shadows and aimed his gauntlet at the two crime bosses. "D. Shad!" Dawn and Brock cheered. "Looks to me that I put the bag on YOU. Now you can come quietly or we can do this the hard way." With his free hand, D. Shad called out Luxray and Lucario to flank him, "Your choice."

"You know that's a tough one. Surrender to you or maybe…put you on ice." Saban snapped his fingers, and the sound of numerous Pokéballs opening and lasers being charged rung behind D. Shad. "D. Shad…look…behind you." Dawn said. D. Shad and his two Pokémon slowly turned around and saw at least ten men standing behind him with lasers in hand and at the ready, and all sorts of Pokémon by their sides.

"So, who's got who?" Saban asked knowingly. "Well…looks like you got me…but of course…I'm not here to capture you." D. Shad said. "Oh? Then what are you here for?" Saban asked.

"I'm here to stall for time." Once D. Shad said that, the sound of a fire-attack being launched was heard in the shadows, and a powerful 'Heat Wave' covered the area and struck the henchmen and their Pokémon. "Shoot you idiots!" Saban ordered.

All the henchmen pulled the triggers on their lasers, but nothing happened. "What's the matter with you? Kill him!" Saban roared. "Sorry boss! These fancy heaters ain't heatproof!" a henchman said nervously. "Who's out there?" Saban roared.

Ash, Misty, and Brad leaped out of the shadows with Pikachu, Charizard, Gyarados, and Slowpoke. "It's the twerps!" Team Rocket exclaimed. "So you're the creeps who framed us!" Ash yelled. "We sure are, except this time we won't get you arrested, we'll get you killed." Saban said sinisterly.

"That's what you think! Pikachu, spin and use 'Thunderbolt'!" Ash ordered. Pikachu leaped up and launched a carousel of electricity that zapped all the henchmen at once, putting them out of commission. "Looks like the score's been evened again." D. Shad recharged his gauntlet, "Care to reconsider?"

"You think you've won haven't you? But I've still got a trick or two up my sleeve! Viv, it's battle time!" Saban threw out a Pokéball, and the enormous Rhyperior emerged. "No meddling kids are gonna mess with our plans!" Vivian threw out two Pokéballs, and her Tyranitar and Sableye emerged from them.

"If it's a fight you want it's a fight you got! Here we come ready or not! Slowpoke, 'Water Gun'!"

"Gyarados, 'Hydro Pump'!"

"Pikachu, 'Iron Tail'! Charizard, 'Steel Wing'!"

"Luxray, 'Discharge'! Lucario, 'Aura Sphere'!"

The Pokémon launched their attacks, and the three targets were completely overwhelmed by the bombardment of power. They all immediately fainted from the barrage, and Vivian fell back from the explosion.

The Pokéballs she had stolen fell out of her bag, "Quick Pikachu, use 'Quick Attack' to grab those Pokéballs!" The small electric mouse took off running and managed to kick all the Pokéballs into a corner where they couldn't be reclaimed so easy.

Saban was about to rant some more when the sound of sirens filled the air, "You are all surrounded! Come out with your hands over your heads!" Officer Jenny shouted through a megaphone. "Geez, it's the cops!" Vivian hissed.

Vivian looked around for Saban, and saw him climbing up a ladder to the roof. "Babe, don't forget me!" Vivian cried. "Sorry but, I can't have you slowing me down, like I said, nobody helps nobody but themselves. Thanks for your help though, sucker."

Vivian fell to her knees and began sobbing as Saban made his escape just before the police broke into the warehouse. "Alright, you're all under arrest!" Officer Jenny shouted. "Hold it, before you start slapping on handcuffs, take a good look at these two." D. Shad said.

Officer Jenny looked at Misty, and then at the sobbing Vivian, and then back at Misty. "So you were innocent after all, but what about him?" Officer Jenny asked about Ash.

"He's my boyfriend!" Misty exclaimed. "Hey guys, if you could let us out of here, I have Ash's Pokédex here." Brock said. "Let me see that." Officer Jenny released the five prisoners and examined Ash's Pokédex.

"Well, looks like I was wrong about you two, sorry about that." Officer Jenny sweat-dropped. "Good job Officer Jenny, and I'm glad to see that you and your police force takes responsibility for your mistakes." Brad said.

"We'll take it from here, go on and get some rest, you're probably starving." Officer Jenny said. "You know with all the excitement, I completely forgot that we didn't eat anything all day." Ash sweat-dropped. They chuckled for a few moments, but then they saw one of the officers putting handcuffs on the sobbing Vivian.

Saban dropped her like a brick, leaving her to be arrested and probably to rot in jail. "Man, somehow…I feel for her." Brock said. "Officer Jenny, she looks like she can't be more than twenty-two years old, is there any way you could maybe send her to a rehabilitation center rather than put her in jail for twenty years?" D. Shad asked.

"Well…she does look like she could be helped…ok, I'll see what I can do. I just hope we manage to catch the other guy before he goes back to terrorizing Sinnoh."

"Hey wait a second, where's Team Rocket?" Dawn asked. "Huh? D'oh! I forgot about those creeps! They must've gotten away." D. Shad grumbled. "Don't worry D, we definitely got bigger fish to fry now." Brad replied.

And so, Ash and Co., thanks to some help from their friends managed to escape another dangerous situation, but with yet another evil leader out there, how will Sinnoh be affected? Only time will tell as our heroes continue their Sinnoh journey.
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A/N: Well guys, that's that. Hope you guys enjoyed the return of Brad and D. Shad, and I REALLY hope you'll review this chapter and tell me what you thought of this original chappie.

*edit* Well now that I'm not on a deadline, I DO have a few things to say, first off, I would like to say thank you to those who have already reviewed this chapter. Second, I wanna think sunshineikimaru of deviantART, whose picture gave me the inspiration for Misty's brand new travelling outfit. I will be leaving a link below, remember to fill in the blanks. And finally, I wanna thank the Suite Life on Deck for giving me the idea of the Kirby joke. xD Geny35 spotted it, did anyone else? xD Thanks for reading and please review! Oh yeah, here's the link to Misty's new clothes. ^^

http :/ /who cares4972 . deviantart . com/favourites /# /d1v7ux8