Episode Thirty-Five
Deep in a secret base, Mr. Greenwood was locked up in a cell, with Michelle being the only thing on his mind. He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.
"My dear, innocent, Michelle, I hope things are going well for you." He said. "If I could just see you once, it would make me very happy." He then heard a knock on the door of his cell. A gruff looking Team Rocket agent was standing there with a serious look.
"Sir, the boss wishes to see you." She said. Mr. Greenwood slowly got out of the cell and followed the agent down the hall. Meanwhile, our three heroes continue on with their journey, with Amanda clutching her new egg as tight as possible.
"Just think, Pikachu, when this egg hatches, we'll have a brand new friend to play with." She said.
"Pikachu pi!" her partner cried, which meant 'That's definitely exciting!'
"Exactly when is this egg supposed to hatch?" Amanda wondered.
"To be completely honest, I don't know." Said Michelle. "It could be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks."
"That's kind of vague." Said Amanda. Before Michelle could respond, a gentleman in dark sunglasses, a brown coat, red shirt and blue jeans ran right past them. He was carrying a bag filled with valuable items and he had a grin on his face. Right behind him was a young woman who looked pretty angry.
"Come back here, you thief!" she yelled.
"Did she just say a thief?" Michelle asked.
"That's what I heard." Said Mark.
"Come on, we have to go after him." Said Amanda. The three of them started chasing after the man, but each time they got a bit closer, the man kept getting a bit faster.
"You kids will never catch me!" he cried.
"Try us!" Amanda exclaimed. The three of them picked up speed and ran faster. The man was still grinning, but he didn't notice that there was a giant tree in his way and crashed into it. The man landed on the ground with a thud, causing him to drop the bag.
"Ow." He groaned. He started to pick himself up when the trio and woman caught up to him.
"So, you were saying something about us not being able to catch you?" Mark asked.
"I was only joking. I didn't think you'd be that fast." The man responded.
"That's why you never underestimate kids." Said Amanda. "Pikachu, use your Thunderbolt!" Pikachu unleashed his powerful electric on the man but he shook it off and looked at the egg Amanda was holding.
"If I can't have the valuable things, I can at least take this." He said. He snatched the egg away and tried to disappear, but Amanda was already reaching for a Poke Ball.
"I don't think so." She said and threw the ball. "Weepinbell, use Vine Whip to wrap him up!" Weepinbell nodded and shot out its vines at the man. He tried to avoid them, but the grass type was quick and wrapped his whole body in vines.
"Nice job." Said Amanda. She recalled Weepinbell and stared at the man.
"Looks like you're not going anywhere except to jail." She said. It wasn't too long before Officer Jenny arrived on the scene and handcuffed the man.
"We've been trying to catch this thief for the last week but haven't had any luck." Said Jenny. "It's a good thing you three showed up. Otherwise, we'd probably still be after him."
"It's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time, that's all." Said Michelle. Jenny took the egg from the man and gave it back to Amanda.
"I believe this is yours." She said.
"Thank goodness it's not broken." Said Amanda. Next, Jenny picked up the bag from the ground and gave it to the woman.
"These items belong to you." Said Jenny.
"A lot of what's in here is rare stuff that can't be replaced." Said the woman. "I don't know what I would've done without them."
"You can thank these three for getting them back." Said Jenny. "They're real heroes." She then fixed her eyes on the man.
"As for you, sir, it's right to jail." She said. "And don't even try to resist." She took the man away, and the woman smiled at the trio.
"Thank you very much for catching that thief and saving my precious jewelry." She said.
"No problem, miss." Said Amanda.
"What kind of jewelry do you have in there that's so valuable?" Michelle asked.
"Gold and diamond necklaces, and even some rare gemstones that I uncovered during my various travels." The woman answered. "Those gemstones are the main crown jewels of my collection, and I don't think I would've been able to replace them had I lost them for good. That's why I have you three kids to thank. How can I ever re-pay you?"
"You could hire us as security guards." Mark suggested. The woman chuckled a bit.
"I think you're a bit too young for that kind of work." She said. "I know what I can do, though. Follow me to my house and I'll give the three of you a tour." She Said. The trio followed the woman back down the path completely oblivious to the fact that Conrad and Sally had been keeping an eye on everything that was happening.
"Rats. Those kids did the one thing that wasn't part of the plan." Said Sally.
"What are you talking about?" Conrad asked.
"When we hired that man to break into that woman's house to pull off that heist, I wasn't exactly counting on it being foiled." Said Sally.
"We'll have to pull the ultimate heist to make up for that." Said Conrad. The two of them decided to wait until nightfall to attempt their plan. Meanwhile, the woman led the trio into her house.
"Look at how big this place is!" Michelle exclaimed.
"It's certainly much bigger than my own house." Said Mark.
"This is one of the biggest houses in the entire region." Said the woman.
"How big is it?" asked Amanda.
"I would say that there's about twenty or so rooms in here." Said the woman.
"That's certainly a lot of rooms." Said Michelle.
"Pikachu." Said Pikachu, which meant 'So many rooms is very overwhelming.'
"Just be glad we only have one room at our own home." Said Amanda. The first room that they were shown was full of arcade games.
"This would definitely be the kind of room for me." Said Mark.
"I had this room built because my son likes playing a lot of video games." Said the woman. "This was his big present for his birthday last year. This year, though, he's off on his own journey."
"I hope he's doing well for himself out there." Said Michelle.
"He's doing very well." Said the woman. "In fact, he actually called me earlier to tell me that he had won his second badge."
"That's pretty cool." Said Mark.
"Two badges is a pretty good start, but he still has work to do in order to catch me." Said Amanda.
"How many badges have you won so far?" the woman asked.
"I have six right now." Said Amanda.
"That's really good." Said the woman. "You must be quite the trainer if you've already won that many badges." The next room that they were shown was decorated to Michelle and Amanda's liking.
"This room is princess themed." Said the woman. "My daughter has always dreamed of being a princess. In fact, she took some of her costumes with her when she went to accompany my son on his journey."
"Once a princess, always a princess." Said Amanda.
"You're certainly right about that." Said the woman.
"Maybe we'll end up meeting your daughter." Said Mark.
"There's always that chance." Said the woman. She showed the trio the rest of her daughter's wardrobe.
"I see a lot of cute costumes here." Said Mark.
"There's one for Meowth, one for Seadra, one for Vulpix." Said Amanda. "There's just so many." Pikachu then pointed to a costume with a bright yellow color on it, prompting Amanda to have a look.
"It looks like we found a Pikachu costume." Said Michelle.
"Pikachu is my daughter's favorite Pokemon in the whole world." Said the woman. "In fact, this was the very first costume that I ever got her, back when she was only five."
"I guess that explains why it's smaller than the rest of the costumes." Said Amanda. The woman showed the trio the rest of the rooms, all of which had unique designs that they had never seen before.
"What's with all of these different colors?" Mark asked.
"I'm wondering the same thing myself." Said Michelle. "I even see some paintings of people in all sorts of clothing styles that I've never seen before."
"That's because this house has a bit of a history to it." Said the woman. She led them all into the living room, and once they were all seated, she began her explanation.
"This house was built several hundred years ago, long before any of you kids were even born." She said. "All of the kings and queens of the Kanto region used to live here."
"I'm guessing none of those queens and kings are around anymore." Said Amanda.
"Oh no, they all died a long time ago." Said the woman. "When they did live here, though, then this house was always designated as a royal residence."
"What does that mean?" Mark wondered.
"It means that anyone who wasn't part of the royal families weren't allowed to live here." Michelle answered.
"That is absolutely correct." The woman confirmed. "Unless you were a son or daughter of the king and queen, or prince and princess in royalty terms, the place was entirely off limits. You see, these royal families liked to keep their lives private. They never had guests over and they never went out in public either. They also dressed very differently back then too."
"I guess that's why the people in the paintings had those weird clothes on." Said Amanda.
"That's precisely the reason, my dear." Said the woman.
"Were there any Pokemon around back then?" asked Mark.
"Good heavens, no." the woman answered. "All of these families lived well before the Pokemon creatures that all of you are familiar with were even thought of. What they did have, though, was banquet level feasts every Saturday night."
"How big were the feasts?" asked Amanda.
"They were some of the biggest feasts you could imagine." Said the woman. "There was always a lot of food to eat, and everyone always felt stuffed by the end of the evening. As a result, the next day was usually spent relaxing with nobody even thinking about food. And that's your history lesson on the kings and queens."
"Well, that was certainly very informative." Said Michelle. Pikachu and Eevee both agreed.
"Hey, I have an idea." Said Amanda. "How about we have a feast for dinner tonight just like those kings and queens did."
"That's a good idea." Said Mark. "It'd be nice to experience life from long ago, even if it's only for one night."
"What do you say, guys?" Amanda asked Pikachu and Eevee.
"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed, which meant 'I like the idea.'
"Eevee!" Eevee squealed, which meant 'So do I.'
"Thankfully, I have plenty of food I can use, so I won't have to go shopping." The woman said. The four of them went into the kitchen to start the prep work. Pikachu and Eevee wanted to help, but the girls wouldn't let them.
"Sorry, guys, but we have a lot to do in order to have this feast ready in time and we can't have the two of you in the way." Said Amanda. She and Michelle sent their partners out into the front yard to play while they concentrated on cooking.
"This is going to be the best banquet ever." Said Mark.
"I definitely hope so." Said Michelle. Outside in the yard, Pikachu and Eevee were running around and enjoying themselves when they saw a set of bowling pins on the grass.
"Pika!" Pikachu yelled, which meant 'Look at this, Eevee!' Eevee ran over to where Pikachu was standing.
"Eevee!" Eevee squealed, which meant 'Those look fun to play with.'
"Pikachu pi?" Pikachu asked, which meant 'Want to play a couple of rounds?'
"Eevee!" Eevee squealed happily, which meant 'Sure!'
"Pika pi." Said Pikachu, which meant 'We need to find a ball first, though.' The two Pokemon looked all around the patches of grass to try and find a ball, but couldn't come up with anything. Pikachu then got an idea. He started to use his Thunderbolt to try and shock all the pins down, but Eevee stopped him.
"Eevee!" she squealed, which meant 'You can't knock down the pins with electricity. That's being dishonest.'
"Pikachu." the little mouse replied, which meant 'I guess you're right. Let's try to find a ball.' They looked through the rest of the front yard, but continued having no luck. They then tried looking in the back next. Since the back half of the yard was much bigger than the front half, they figured that they would have better luck. Sure enough, right in front of a patch of flowers was the type of ball they were looking for. Pikachu and Eevee carried the ball slowly and carefully back to the front of the house where the pins were. They got all of the pins set up before realizing something important.
"Pika?" Pikachu asked, which meant 'Do you know how to bowl?'
"Eevee." Eevee squealed sadly, which meant 'No.'
"Pikachu." Said Pikachu, which meant 'Neither do I.'
"Eevee." Eevee squealed, which meant 'I guess we'll have to figure this out ourselves.' Fortunately for the two Pokemon, there was a book beside the pins that explained how to play the game. Pikachu and Eevee both read through it so that they could understand the rules. The two of them then took turns rolling the ball. The first game was close, but Eevee won thanks to a final frame strike. The second game saw Pikachu win in another close battle.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu exclaimed, which meant 'This is a lot of fun.'
"Eevee." Eevee squealed, which meant 'You up for one more game?' Pikachu nodded and they got set up again. Before they could start, however, they heard a loud rumble of thunder.
"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed, which meant 'We better get inside quickly!' Pikachu and Eevee ran as fast as they could toward the front door and knocked loudly.
"Pikachu and Eevee must be done playing." Said Amanda. She went to the door and opened it up.
"What's up, guys?" she asked.
"Eevee!" Eevee squealed, which meant 'There's a storm coming!' Another rumble of thunder went off.
"I see what you mean." Said Amanda. "Well, you two better come in so that you don't get wet." Pikachu and Eevee ran inside and Amanda shut the door right as it started pouring.
"That was a bit of a close call." She said and went back to work in the kitchen. A couple of hours later, all of the food was ready and laid out on the large dining room table.
"Well, I guess it's time to eat." Said Michelle. They all helped themselves to two servings of chicken, potatoes, fish and salad. Even Pikachu and Eevee were allowed to have some of the food.
"You kids did an excellent job helping me put this meal together." Said the woman.
"Thanks." Said Amanda. After dinner was over, everyone felt tired from all the food that had been eaten, so they went to sleep. A few hours later, after the rain from the storm had stopped, Conrad and Sally started cutting a hole through the ceiling in one of the rooms.
"Let's make this quick. We don't want those kids hearing us." Said Sally. The two of them jumped down onto the floor and forced open a vault that was supposed to be protected by a combination lock. Sally held open a large bag and Conrad scooped a handful of cash into it. Once they were satisfied, they started to make their way down the hall and out the front door. However, since all the lights were turned off, they couldn't see where they were going and tripped over both Pikachu and Eevee, who had been sleeping peacefully. Pikachu suddenly woke up and stared down angrily at the two of them. The noise caused Amanda, Michelle, mark and the kind woman to wake up as well.
"What's going on?" Amanda asked in a groggy voice.
"That's what I want to know." Said Michelle. They went into the hall and found themselves face to face with Conrad and Sally.
"It's Team Rocket!" Mark cried.
"What are you two doing here?" Amanda demanded.
"Mind your own business!" Sally fumed.
"I don't know who you two are or what you're doing here, but I must ask you to leave immediately!" the woman exclaimed.
"We're not leaving without our heist haul." Said Conrad.
"But while we're at it, we may as well swipe Pikachu and Eevee too." Said Sally. Conrad grabbed the two partner Pokemon and stuffed them into the bag.
"No! Pikachu!" Amanda cried.
"Eevee!" Michelle cried. Conrad and Sally both laughed in their faces.
"So long, twerps." Conrad said mockingly.
"Pikachu, try breaking the bag open with your Thunderbolt!" Amanda commanded. Pikachu unleashed its' attack, but nothing happened. Conrad and Sally laughed again.
"You better save your juice, little Pikachu. This bag is one hundred percent shock proof." Said Conrad.
"So consider your batteries dead." Said Sally. The two of them made their way outside, with the three kids and the woman following behind them.
"We can't let Team Rocket get away." Said Amanda. "Fearow, I choose you!" She threw her Poke Ball and the big bird appeared in a blaze of light.
"Fearow, use your beak to break the bag open and free Pikachu and Eevee!" Amanda ordered. Fearow blinked its eyes but flew off onto the roof and started to sleep. Amanda just let out a sigh.
"Come on, Fearow! Are you going to help us or not?" she asked. Fearow kept snoozing away.
"I guess that's your answer there." Said Michelle. Amanda groaned and recalled Fearow.
"Bulbasaur, use your Razor Leaf attack!" Mark cried as he threw the grass type's Poke Ball. The leaves that Bulbasaur shot out ripped the bag open, allowing Pikachu and Eevee to be rescued. The two Pokemon happily ran up to their trainers.
"I'm so glad you're both all right." Said Amanda. "Now then, Thunderbolt attack!" Pikachu unleashed its attack, zapping Conrad and Sally and sending them into the air.
"I guess there's an unwritten rules that bad guys are never allowed to win." Said Sally.
"What makes you say that?" asked Conrad.
"Because we're blasting off again!" Sally cried. DING!
"Well done, Pikachu!" cried Amanda.
"Thank goodness the money they tried to steal is all safe and sound." Said the woman. She put the money back into the vault and everyone went back to sleep. The next morning, the three kids got ready to head out.
"It was very nice meeting the three of you." The woman said. "Good luck on your journeys."
"Thanks, miss." Said Amanda. The three of them waved goodbye to the woman and headed off. Living the life of a king and queen, even for one night, was pretty fun. And I bet the next adventure for our heroes will be just as fun.
TO BE CONTINUED
Amanda's Party: Pikachu, Fearow, Wartortle, Weepinbell, Arcanine, Venonat
Michelle's Party: Eevee, Electabuzz, Doduo, Psyduck, Ponyta, Charmander
Mark's Party: Bulbasaur, Charmander, Diglett, Gastly, Lapras, Nidorino
Amanda's Spare Pokemon at Oak's Lab: Rattata, Haunter, Magikarp, Butterfree, Zubat, Abra, Tentacruel, Pidgeotto, Dratini, Clefairy, Scyther, Flareon, Nidoran Male, Rhyhorn, Goldeen, Dragonair, Snorlax
Michelle's Spare Pokemon at Oak's Lab: Gengar, Sandshrew, Nidoran Female, Poliwhirl, Tangela, Chansey