And the second chapter is ready. I'm aiming for a bi-weekly at maximum schedule of updates for this story, and as it so happens the chapter was done a little over a week after the first one. Hope everyone enjoys.
XXXX
Ash panted, but he kept going as he jogged down the path leading into Viridian City. Normally he'd have been running, but as it was he didn't have the energy to run with the bike on his back and the fact he didn't want to possibly aggravate Pikachu's injuries, said mouse currently asleep/unconscious as they ran through the road. So focused he was that he barely paid attention to anything other than finding the Pokemon Center that he ran right past a police post, nor did he hear the announcement the officer had made. As such…
"Hold it!" came a female voice, as his momentum was killed via someone grabbing him by the collar of his clothes. "I can't just let suspicious people go into town, and what are you doing with that Pokemon?"
Ash growled, before turning to face whoever it was. "I'm not suspicious! I'm trying to get Pikachu to the Pokemon Center as fast as I can!" he practically shouted...before flinching when he realized who he was shouting at. She was a Growlithe Pokemorph...and obviously a police officer at that if the uniform wasn't already obvious. She had teal hair that was styled in a way that spiked at the ends in a way he couldn't tell if those were tied or naturally spiky. She was dressed in a standard police uniform with a skirt on that had the right balance of keeping her covered and allowing for easy movement, her tail sticking out of the base, which she probably made good use of due to her slim but firm build.
The officer took a closer look. "What horrible injuries," she gasped. "We'd better get it to the Pokemon Center, but first I need to see your identification."
"Identification?" Ash blinked, before remembering where he had something like that. "Right, here," he said, quickly showing her his Pokedex, which soon unfolded to show his Trainer ID, confirming that yes, he was the owner of this Pokedex and legally allowed to raise Pokemon.
"Huh, Pallet Town. You're the third person to arrive today from there," the officer mused.
"Third?" Ash blinked. "Huh, guess one of the others is taking their time," he mused. "Anyway, if that's all can I please go?"
"Of course, though, let me make up for your time," the officer said.
XXXX
Ash didn't know if he wanted to scream or cheer as they were currently going at breakneck speed through the city. How nobody had gotten hit along the way was a miracle in of itself, seeing as the officer, who he learned was named Jenny, was riding with the bizarre mix of a professional motocross racer...and a mad rider. Whatever the case, he settled on being thankful since at this speed, they'd reach the Pokemon Center in no time. That or end up a smear on the road somewhere…
Fortunately it turned out to be the former, as he could see the Pokemon Center up ahead. "Wow, that Pokemon Center here is huge!" he gasped.
"Impressive isn't it?" Jenny chuckled. "The Pokemon Center of Viridian is one of the biggest in Kanto."
"Guess you need it if you get a lot of people going through," Ash blinked, before he noticed something important. "Hey...aren't we gonna stop soon?"
"This is an emergency. I'm taking you straight to the front desk," Jenny said.
"Wait what?" Ash gasped, before screaming as they were suddenly in the air, before landing right in front of the doors, Jenny pulling the bike into a side skid, going right through the automatic doors and stopping perfectly in front of the front desk. "...that was incredible, but I never want to do that again…" Ash groaned.
"We have a driveway you know," came an annoyed voice, to which he turned and saw the nurse at the front desk. She was a Blissey Pokemorph with pink hair that was styled into rings at the side of her face, with a build that showed she was purely a medic and trainer, dressed in a standard white nurse outfit complete with a hat that had a red cross on it. "But what's the situation?"
"Delivering a severely injured Pokemon. Cause of injury was an angry Spearow swarm, and I also recommend the Trainer get a check-up as well," Jenny said.
"No, I'm okay. Please take care of Pika…" Ash trailed off, before he felt a bit faint. It seemed having finally reached the Pokemon Center, the adrenaline that had been the ONLY thing keeping him going so far had finally worn off.
"Understood," the nurse said, before putting in a few requests, and before long several Chansey came over with a pair of stretchers, to which Ash and Pikachu were loaded on them, and soon given a quick checkup and wheeled to the appropriate sections for treatment.
XXXX
Ash groaned as he came to, and the first thing he saw was a glass covering. Blinking a little, he looked around and noticed he was in a pod that was glowing with a gentle energy that honestly was making him feel better than before, a healing pod that was used to treat the less serious injuries. The covering itself was mostly metal with the upper section being glass in a way that let him still be able to see around while maintaining privacy for whoever was inside. The pod was at an incline meaning he could get up by himself, with a few Chansey making sure everything was working alright. Looking around a bit, he noticed they were in a small room, big enough to move people in and out and house the equipment, but nothing much more. The reason why though was made pretty clear when he noticed his clothes neatly laid out on the side, having been cleaned and repaired from any tears and cuts they had developed from the attack from the Spearow flock. Tapping on the glass, he alerted the Chansey that he was awake, to which they looked at a screen, and then smiled and nodded before pressing a button, making the flow of energy stop, before the pod opened up, allowing him to get out, the Riolu down to his boxer shorts revealing his firm and well defined body consisting of toned and muscled limbs, a well defined chest and a developing six pack under his blue fur, as where a normal Riolu had black fur on their upper body that looked almost like a tank top, the average Pokemorph usually lacked 'clothing-like' fur patterns and appendages and thus he too lacked the black fur on his upper body.
"Thanks for that, I'm feeling a lot better," he said with a grateful smile as he stretched a bit, getting the kinks out of his body. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, he felt rather sore from the chase and the battle, feeling a few joints pop.
The Chansey nodded as they let him finish, before he gathered up his clothes and quickly got dressed. Once he finished, that was when he remembered where he was. "Wait, what happened to Pikachu?!" he asked in alarm, the Chansey soon directing him out, and towards...the Emergency Room. "...how bad is it?" he asked sadly. The Chansey made a few reassuring sounds, telling him that Pikachu was going to be okay, making him nod slowly, though the glum expression didn't leave his face as he was ushered to seats next to the room to wait. Sighing he sat down, feeling emotionally drained even if he was feeling better physically. The only comfort he had was that they were confident Pikachu was going to be okay. They'd definitely connected back then, but the price for it was higher than he would have liked.
As he waited, he noticed that there were a few public video phones available nearby. "...I'd better call home," he mused, before going over to the phones and dialing his home number. The phone rang for a bit, before someone picked up.
"Hello?" came the familiar voice of Delia, though she seemed a little out of breath, not that Ash really noticed with how he was feeling.
"Mom? It's me, Ash," Ash said, and heard a sound of delight, before he heard her call his father, and soon the video was switched on. The vid showed both of his parents happy to see him...though with the view he saw a bit extra, namely the fact both of them didn't seem to be wearing anything if the fact he could see their shoulders was any indication. Suddenly worrying about Pikachu was the last thing on his mind...well...third place at least. First place was wondering if he'd called at a bad time, even if the looks on their faces said otherwise.
"Ash? Where are you?" Delia asked with a happy smile.
"I'm at the Pokemon Center in Viridian City," Ash said.
"You're already there? Man, that takes me back. Took me four days to get that far," Carmine chuckled.
"Well, I couldn't really enjoy the trip this time around…" Ash said awkwardly, looking a little down again.
Carmine noticed that and frowned. "What happened?"
Ash soon recounted his story of what happened after he left Pallet. "The Chansey here seem to think Pikachu is going to be okay, but I'm still worried. So much for my first day, huh?" he sighed, sounding depressed.
"Hey, come on Ash, don't worry, everybody has accidents on their journey, take me and your mom. Sure, it didn't happen on our first day, but we got caught up in plenty." Carmine reassured him.
"You mean like the time you and Nidoking-" Delia started with a sly smile before her husband covered her mouth with an embarrassed look.
"We promised never to talk about that," Carmine said half frantically. "But yes, the point is, everyone gets into accidents here and there, and honestly I think you handled this one about as well as you possibly could have," he said.
"Your father is right," Delia nodded, having removed the paw off of her mouth. "You protected Pikachu, earned his trust, and the doctors say he's going to be okay. You've done everything you could have done. The ones at fault here are those Spearow."
"She's not wrong. I've honestly never heard of Spearow being THAT persistent, especially not over something like that," Carmine agreed. "In anycase, you shouldn't beat yourself up over this. You did your best and remember son, no matter what we'll always be proud of you," he finished with a grin.
Ash smiled a bit at that. "Thanks Dad, Mom. I'll be sure to keep doing my best."
"We know you will. Keep believing in yourself and your Pokemon, and I'm sure you'll do just fine," Delia smiled. "Take care. We love you."
"Love you both too," Ash smiled, before the call soon ended and he honestly did feel a bit better. Getting up he decided he'd look around a bit, since just sitting around wouldn't do him any good. His wandering brought him back to the main lobby where he noticed the mural on the wall behind the front desk. It seemed to be four reliefs depicting Pokemon, no doubt Legendary or Mythical Pokemon, though he wasn't TOO familiar with Legendaries. That said, he noticed the blue relief on the top right, and while there were a few differences, it kinda reminded him of Ho-oh. His musing was cut short when the phone on the front desk suddenly started ringing, and seeing as there was nobody else around to take the call...he decided to pick up. "Hello? This is the Viridian City Pokemon Center."
To his surprise, one of the parts of the mural slid down, to reveal a television screen… aimed at Professor Oak's back "Ah, Ash my boy! What luck I got you on the first try!"
"Uh, Professor? Wrong camera." Ash said awkwardly.
"Huh?" came the intelligent reply before Professor Oak looked over his shoulder and realised the mistake, the camera turning off for a moment, before the one facing him turned on now "There we go then," he said, straightening up again. "Now then, I'm sure you're wondering why I'm calling. I just got a phone call from your parents saying you were in Viridian City, so I wanted to see for myself. Seeing as I'm calling the Viridian City Pokemon Center, I can see that's true," he chuckled. "Congratulations. This may be a small step on the long path of your journey, but its still an important one. I'll admit I had my doubts when you left with that Pikachu, but it seems you've arrived without any issues," Oak said with a nod.
"I...wouldn't call today 'without issues'..." Ash sighed, before recounting what happened.
"Oh my...I must say you were quite fortunate to have survived that. I knew Spearows could be aggressive, but this is the first time I've heard of a flock that was THAT persistent, especially after you jumped into the water," Oak frowned. "Normally I'd ask how many Pokemon you caught, but I can imagine with what happened you never got the chance."
"Yeah, sorry about that Professor," Ash scratched the back of his head. "But I DID see something good," he said, before pulling out his Pokedex, and showing the image of Ho-oh. "Look, I actually caught a glimpse of a Legendary Pokemon!"
Oak blinked, once, twice, thrice, before peering closer at the screen "Well what do you know, you did! I never thought Ho-oh would fly over Kanto out of the blue, and you managed to see it when it suddenly decided to. You can certainly count yourself lucky Ash."
"I honestly almost can't believe it myself," Ash agreed. "Still, they say it's a good sign, so I'm not complaining," he said.
"That it is. I think you'll have quite the memorable journey if your first day is any indication," Oak said, before he heard the doorbell. "Oh, that must be the pizza I ordered," Oak said. "I'll talk to you again another time, good luck on your journey!" he said before hanging up and going to get his food.
Despite himself, Ash couldn't help but chuckle a bit. If nothing else, this got his mind off of worrying for a little bit. He was about to continue exploring when…
"There you are," came a familiar voice to which he turned around and saw the Vaporeon from before...wheeling her damaged bike into the Pokemon Center.
"It's you," Ash blinked. "Thanks again for lending me the bike. Sorry about the wheel though, things kinda got crazy back there…"
"I'm a little miffed about that, I admit, but at least it's nothing I can't easily have fixed or replaced," she sighed. "More importantly, how's your Pikachu?" she asked.
"Well…" Ash sighed, before looking at the Emergency Room, the light was still on. "The Chansey here think he's gonna be okay, but I'm still worried…"
The Vaporeon looked at him sympathetically. "If the Chansey think your Pikachu will be okay, I'm sure he'll be okay."
"Thank you," Ash said, smiling a little. "Oh, I almost forgot. I never got your name. I'm Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town."
"Misty Waterflower, from Cerulean City, one of the four mermaid sisters." Misty said with a slightly haughty grin.
Ash narrowed his eyes in thought "I've… never been to Cerulean… so I don't know the significance of that." he admitted.
Misty deflated at that, sighing "It means I'm one of the four Gym Leaders along with my three older sisters."
"Oh… Wait, one of the Gym Leaders? Really?!" Ash asked in interest.
"Yeah… let me guess, you're doing a league challenge?" Misty asked knowingly.
"Yeah, I just left this morning. I'm planning on doing the mixed league… guess that means we'll be fighting each other once I reach Cerulean." Ash laughed a bit at that.
"I guess we will yeah." Misty laughed despite herself.
"I'll look forward to the match then," Ash chuckled. "I'm guessing you're a Trainer-Fighter too?"
"How can you tell?" Misty blinked.
"Well, my mom was a Fighter, and my dad was a Trainer-Fighter, and I've been training since I was 10 for the Fighter part, so I kinda noticed the kind of build someone has when they're a Fighter too," Ash said.
"Huh...that's a pretty good eye you have, and yes, I'm a Trainer-Fighter. The only one of the four sisters to be one mind you," Misty added the last one with a hint of pride.
The two would have chatted more, but at that moment, the emergency room light went dim and the doors opened, revealing the Nurse with the Chanseys, wheeling Pikachu out on a stretcher with what appeared to be a strange take on an IV, seeing as it was less a needle in his arm and more a bizarre headband with wires attached to it, what appeared to be some kind of batteries hanging from the stand, and...for some reason a blinking light bulb on Pikachu's head.
"Is Pikachu going to be okay?" Ash asked as he was soon by his Pokemon's side.
"Your Pikachu will be just fine," the nurse said. "The procedure went through without any complications, and he'll be fine with a good night's rest," she smiled. "It was a good thing you managed to bring him here so quickly."
"I had a lot of help," Ash smiled in relief. "Thank you."
"That's the Pokemon Center for you, they don't let you down," Misty said with a smile.
"We'll move Pikachu to the recovery room and he should be good as knew by morning," the nurse said. "You should be there for him."
"I will," Ash nodded, before turning to Misty. "I'll pay you back for the bike repairs, but I need to make sure Pikachu is okay first."
"Well...it's fine. I'm just glad Pikachu is okay," Misty sighed. However, before they could move Pikachu, an alarm went off before Officer Jenny's voice was heard, giving out a city wide alert. Apparently an aircraft was spotted, one confirmed to belong to a group of thieves.
What came next was SOMETHING smashing through the window on the ceiling, followed by two Pokeballs dropping through, one of them releasing an Ekans… and the other a Koffing… which began using Smokescreen.
"What the heck is going on?!" Ash asked as they tried to see through the smoke, coughing at the same time… before music was heard coming from the sky?
(Play 'Team Rocket Theme')
"To Protect the world from devastation."
"To Unite all people within our nations."
"To Denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To Extend our reach to the stars above."
At this two figures landed on the ground and stood side by side, the smoke clearing to reveal a pair in matching uniforms (albeit modded for Male and Female) consisting of a mainly white outfit with a black undershirt of sorts underneath the white tops and black gloves and boots with the most notable feature being the big red 'R' on their chests. The pair in question was a female Pyroar with her mane styled into a comet tail, though the red coloring was a somewhat purplish shade of red. She was rather well endowed, though it was slightly hard to tell due to the layers on her outfit, but judging by the bits of skin exposed by her outfit, she was probably a Trainer-Fighter.
The other half of the pair was a male Roserade with periwinkle hair that was at shoulder length with a single fringe sprouting from the center, with his outfit being completely covering making it hard to tell if he was a Trainer or a Trainer-Fighter, but it was a safe bet that he would be the same as the female Pyroar.
"Jessie," the Pyroar introduced herself.
"James," the Roserade did as well.
"Team Rocket, blast off into the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
With that said a Meowth jumped down and landed on its hind legs, before opening its mouth and actually talking in English. "Meowth, that's right!"
(Theme end)
"Okay, theatrical intro aside, I'm guessing you're the thieves that Officer Jenny talked about over the PA," Ash frowned, immediately getting between them and Pikachu.
"Hmph, don't lump us in with the normal rabble," Jessie said.
"We of Team Rocket only aim for rare and valuable Pokemon," James agreed. "We've got more class than some random thieves."
"Then you're wasting your time. This is a Center for weak and injured Pokemon, there aren't any rare Pokemon under our care," the nurse said.
"That may be the case, but you never know what you'll find in a place like this," Jessie smirked.
"You say that like we'd let you just take the Pokemon!" Ash said, stepping forward, looking ready to fight.
"Wait, you shouldn't fight just yet!" the nurse said. "Even if your injuries have healed, you shouldn't go into a fight so soon."
"But…!" Ash started to protest but Jessie and James weren't planning on waiting.
"Koffing, attack!" James ordered.
"Ekans, go!" Jessie ordered, both Pokemon attacking, with Ekans lunging for them to which they narrowly avoided, causing it to smash into one of the nearby terminals, and with the smoke from Koffing filling the area, they had no choice but to run for it, the two Pokemon soon giving chase.
They were soon running down a hall and turned a corner before ducking into a certain room, the nurse quickly locking the door to at least hold them off for now, even if fortunately the two Poison types moved past the door they hid behind. The room in question was full of Pokeballs and what appeared to be a transporter system. However, they didn't have long to catch their breaths before the lights went out. "What now?" Misty asked with a frown.
"They must have cut the main power," the nurse frowned. "But don't worry, we've got our own alternative power source," she said, before the lights came on, along with a notably bright glow nearby, revealing to be a group of Pikachu happily running on a treadmill as the machine siphoned the intense electric energy they were generating from their little exercise.
"That's...one way to use Electric Pokemon," Ash sweat dropped while Misty was gushing a little at how cute they were. The nurse however quickly moved to the nearby terminal and began initiating an emergency transfer for the Pokeballs so that they could be sent to the Pokemon Center in Pewter City to keep them out of Team Rockets' hands. However she didn't get far as after a few of the Pokeballs had been transferred, Ekans and Koffing found them and promptly busted down the door, knocking many of the Pokeballs off of the shelves in the process.
"Get those Pokeballs!" the nurse said urgently, to which Ash and Misty obeyed, but that was when Jessie and James showed up as well, both brandishing a pair of combat batons.
"Nice try, but you can't get away from us," James smirked.
"In that case…" Ash frowned, before grabbing one of the Pokeballs and throwing it...releasing a Pidgey...which was promptly scared away by Ekans. "Seriously?" Ash groaned, before trying again...and finding out the Pokeball was empty. "You have GOT to be kidding me!"
"Some of the Pokeballs ARE empty," the nurse admitted.
"Then why are we sending THEM too?" Ash all but shouted in frustration, before trying one more time, getting a Rattata...same result as the Pidgey. "Isn't there ANYONE here that can fight them?"
"Well I DID say the Pokemon here are mainly weak and injured Pokemon," the nurse said.
"Let me do it then," Misty said, stepping forward and taking out one of her own Pokeballs. "You get Pikachu out of here. I'll take care of these three clowns," she said with a small smirk.
"Big talk. Think you can actually back it up?" Jessie smirked as she and James held their batons at the ready.
"I don't think, I know," Misty said, before throwing her Pokeball which opened to reveal...a Goldeen, which flopped around on the ground.
Everyone looked...confused...even Jessie, James, Meowth and their Pokemon. However…
"Now!" Misty said, before she unleashed a Hydro Pump, which pushed them right out of the room, and right as they were trying to regain their bearings, she charged forward and delivered an Aqua Tail, knocking them out of the way of the door, allowing Ash to wheel Pikachu out of the room and for the nurse to continue transferring the remaining Pokeballs.
"Hey, that twerp is getting away!" Meowth said, noticing Ash.
"Ekans, Koffing, go after him!" Jessie and James ordered, the two Pokemon obeying. Misty was about to try and stop them, but before she could, she felt her foot catch something, forcing her to stumble to regain balance to find her leg had been caught in a Grass Knot, and thus allowing the two Pokemon to get away.
"That was a pretty good trick," Jessie conceded as she and James got up, though she was notably more wobbly than he was.
"But we'll teach you why you don't mess with Team Rocket ourselves," James added.
"Bring it, I'm not afraid of you!" Misty said, before breaking free of the Grass Knot, before she used a Water Gun and launched herself up into the air, quickly cutting off the flow, and pulling into an axe kick aimed at James, who quickly blocked it with his baton, before she used Aqua Tail to get off of the baton, and aim for Jessie who also blocked with her baton, getting pushed back.
"You're a sneaky one, aren't you?" Jessie smirked, before countering with a Flamethrower, which Misty quickly dodged and got out of the way.
Acting quickly, she was soon zipping around, using various water moves to boost her momentum, and landed a barrage of strikes on the two, who grit their teeth as they did their best to block. Once her attack was over, they soon countered with strikes from their batons, Misty doing her best to evade or block them, moving nimbly, until they both struck at the same time, forcing her to block, wincing a bit at the impact, but holding her ground, while they kept pushing.
"If this is the best you got, then you should give up!" Misty said with a confident look, before getting ready to fire another Hydro Pump.
"We should say the same to you, after all, you forget who you're dealing with!" Jessie said, right as she and James reached forward with their fingers...and pressed a button on the handle of their batons. The moment they did, Misty was screaming as she was electrocuted, the batons revealing to be stun batons. They let the flow continue for a minute or two before with a smirk, they both kicked her in the gut, sending her flying back, to which she painfully got up from the floor.
"W-weapons like that are a-against the rules you c-cowards…!" Misty said, body shaking from the electrocution.
"Since when do rules matter to Team Rocket?" Jessie laughed, before they both charged forward, Misty doing her best to evade them, but the strong shock was messing with her movements, causing her to take several more hits whenever she couldn't properly dodge. Eventually after another painful shock session she fell to the ground, struggling to get up.
"If you know what's good for you, stay down. Even we don't take pleasure in kicking people who are already down," James said, but Misty stubbornly started to get up, to which he sighed in annoyance, his hand turning into a what looked like a cross between a hand and a bouquet of red roses...which fired a seed that attached to Misty's back, and soon sprouted vines that wrapped around her and started draining her energy.
"That'll hold her," Jessie smirked as they soon turned to follow after their Pokemon, leaving the Leech Seed to finish the fight for them.
While that was happening, Ash was still running with Pikachu, looking for somewhere safe while Ekans and Koffing were chasing after them...but he was so focused on running he never noticed Misty's bike which had fallen to the ground in the chaos, accidentally ramming into it, but thankfully not dropping Pikachu.
"End of the line, twerp," came a less than welcomed voice as Jessie and James had caught up, and while they definitely had been in a tough fight, it seems they'd managed to get past Misty.
Seeing them, Ash stopped pushing and went into a fighting stance. Even though the nurse told him not to, he wasn't about to just let these crooks go without a fight. Fortunately the matter was taken out of his hand, as the impact had woken Pikachu up...who called out to the side a bit...and several more Pikachu came jumping out from behind some screens and walls, piling up on top of him in the stretcher, before they released a powerful Thundershock, which hit Jessie, James, Ekans, and Koffing, the shock strong enough to bypass even James's resistance to electricity, causing all four to shout in pain as they were electrocuted for a few minutes before finally it subsided, and from the pile of Pikachu, Ash's Pikachu stood up, looking better than ever.
"Pikachu! You're okay!" Ash said in relief, though at that moment Meowth showed up and sighed at the state his teammates were in.
"Do I have to do everything around here?" he said in mild annoyance. "Well fine, that Pikachu is cat food," he said, stalking towards them.
Ash was ready to fight, before Pikachu called to him, saying something. "Huh? Pika pika?" he blinked, earning a 'Pika!' and a nod. "Pika pika power?" Ash asked again, starting to slowly understand Pikachu, to which he got another nod, and saw what Pikachu was looking at, namely the light on Misty's bike, the type that would come on by itself when someone was pedalling it. Quickly propping it up upside down so that it wouldn't ride out of the Center, he began pedalling as fast as he could, the light starting to shine brightly.
"I don't know why, but I got a bad feeling…" Meowth gulped.
"You'd be right there. Hope you're ready Team Rocket, cause Pikachu and I are going to give you a surprise you won't soon forget!" Ash said, right as Pikachu jumped onto the light, and absorbed some of the energy, his body glowing brightly with electricity.
"Uh oh…" James gulped, having a pretty good idea what was going to happen.
"Pika pika...pikachu!" Pikachu called out, before letting loose a MASSIVE blast of electricity, so strong Ash was thrown off of the bike from the force. Team Rocket on the other hand...they were lighting up like christmas trees, while doing a funky dance as the volts ran through their bodies while they let out various sounds pain ending with Koffing unable to take anymore and letting out a gout of his smog...which the lightning hit and soon ignited, creating a big explosion that blew the roof right off of the Lobby area, and sending Team Rocket flying through the air.
"Well that was a horrible experience!" Jessie shouted.
"I felt that, and I'm a Grass-type!" James agreed.
"That Pikachu is no ordinary Pikachu!" Meowth shouted.
"Well then, maybe it could be a good target after all," Jessie mused.
"Could be, but for now…" James added.
"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off!" they shouted together as they were soon a twinkle in the night sky.
XXXX
The next morning…
"Guess you're not going to change your mind?" Ash asked as he and Pikachu were walking towards the Viridian Forest to reach their next destination, namely Pewter City.
"Considering what happened, no," Misty said, looking notably more grumpy than before. The reason for that was while with Team Rocket's defeat she'd been freed from the Leech Seed...the Pokemon Center had been badly damaged, and among the collateral was her bike...which last they saw it looked...well...it honestly looked like something a demented cook made, thanks to being at ground zero of Pikachu's attack. Pikachu scratched the back of his head and let out a sheepish sound at the reminder.
"Well, can't really blame you then," Ash sighed. "I'll pay you back for it as I promised, but it's...going to take some time."
"And that's why I'll be following along," Misty said. "Besides, for better or worse, I was on my own journey anyway."
"Well, welcome aboard then," Ash chuckled lightly, Pikachu nodding in agreement as they'd entered the forest by now. They didn't get far into the forest before Misty suddenly screamed in fright. "What happened?! Are we being attacked?!" Ash gasped in alarm, Pikachu also at the ready while Misty hid behind him.
"Over there!" she said, pointing near one of the trees, to which they looked...and saw a Caterpie.
"...it's a Caterpie," Ash said blankly, not seeing the problem.
"Even if it's a Pokemon, Bugs are disgusting! Do something!" Misty said frantically.
Ash thought about it for a moment, before nodding. "Okay then, I need to start somewhere, and these are great too," he said, before taking out one of his Pokeballs. It was time to make his first catch.
XXXX
Once again the story follows the same overall plot of the original, but with various changes here and there. For now the chapters will more or less follow this rhythm, but eventually I aim to start branching out. See everyone next chapter. Also reviews are appreciated and thank you to everyone who has favorited and followed this story so far.
