Chapter Two - Captured

Ash groaned as he woke, and slowly opened his eyes. His vision slowly came into focus and he relised he was inside a van or something, sitting in the corner with his back against the wall. It was very dark, but Ash could see well enough. He felt something on his hands and looked down to see his wrists tied together with a rope. He looked around but there was nothing else in the back of the van except him.

He didn't know what was going on, but he had to find a way out. He pushed himself up against the wall until he was standing, but the van must have gone over a bump or something because Ash was knocked over, slamming his elbows into the floor of the van. He groaned and pushed himself to his knees.

The van came to a sudden stop and he was thrown down again. "Ok, now I'm getting annoyed" He thought as he tried to push himself up again. The doors of the van opened and Ash had to shut his eyes from the blinding light of the sun. He felt two hands on his shoulders and he was pulled to his feet. He was pushed forward to the edge of the van and then pushed out roughly, causing him to fall flat on his stomach. He heard a few people laughing around him and he tried to puch himself up. Someone grabbed the back of his jacket and lifted him roughly to his feet.

Ash looked back at the person and his eyes widened. It was James! James from Team Rocket. But his outfit was different, it was like the ones Cassidy and Butch wore, black with a red 'R'. What a second, if there was an 'R' that meant...Team Rocket had returned!

Ash looked back at James and narrowed his eyes. This must be about Ho-oh, Team Rocket knew all about that. The question was, what were they planning?

James frowned as Ash began to struggle to get away, but kept a ferm grip on Ash's arm. He felt someone tap him on the shoulder and turned to see Jessie. "He's less trouble when he's asleep" She said and held up something that looked a little like a perfume bottle. She walked over in front of Ash and grinned at him before spraying some kind of ble powder in his face.

Ash looked at the blue powder, confused. But suddenly, he felt incredibly sleepy. He heard Jessie say, "This bottled sleep powder is great" before he fell into a deep sleep.

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"Pikachupi, pika pika Pikapi" Pikachu moaned as he and Misty sat at the Pokémon Center. They had been there for over an hour and Pikachu was worried about Ash.

"I know Pikachu, I'm worried too" Misty said standing up and picking up the little mouse Pokémon. She walked over to Nurse Joy, who was sitting at the counter. "Excuse me, but if someone by the name of Ash Ketchum comes in, could you tell him that I'm gone to look for him?"

Nurse Joy looked up and smiled. "No problem"

"Thanks" Mity said as she turned and ran out of the Center. "We'll go back to were we split up and go down that path" Misty said to Pikachu, who nodded in agreement.

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Jessie and James walked towards the boss' office. Because Giovanni was gone, Team Rocket had to get a new leader. Cassidy and Butch had been picked for co-leadership, which didn't make Jessie nor James happy, but they'd learned to deal with it. When Ash and Rick had attack the Team Rocket hide-out way back, they had only damaged the laboratory, so they had just re-built it and now the HQ was back to normal, if not beter.

Jessie and James entered the office and stood beside eachother. "The twerp has been captured. He's locked up in a cell down the hall, fast asleep" Jessie reported.

Cassidy looked up from some papers on the desk. Butch was down checking on the Pokémon that were being trained downstairs. "Thats good, now just make sure he doesn't get away before we can get the Ho-oh" Cassidy warned.

"Yes boss" Jessie and James said in unison before turning and leaving. Though they hated to admit, Cassidy and Butch were better leaders then Giovanni. They walked down the corridor and looked in to were Ash was. He was still fast asleep, so they just stood beside the door and stood gaurd.

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The next morning...

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Ash struggled as James and Jessie forced him on board a hover-plane. The plane was huge, big enough to hold a few Steelix Ash bet. But he didn't care, he had to get away. Unfortunately, his hands were in cuffs this time behind his back.

Eventually they forced Ash onto the plane and they took off. He was forced into a room and tied to a chair. He angrily tried to break free, kicking James in the leg more than once, until he was tied to the chair so he could barely move. Jessie and James, who were in charge of gaurding him, took their seats across from him, making sure the were far away enough so he couldn't kick them.

"Where are you taking me?" Ash asked finnally after they had been silent for a few minutes.

James looked over at Jessie and grinned. "To meet an old friend" He said. "I'm sure you'll remember...Phoenix Mountain"

Ash's eyes widened. Phoenix Mountain? But that's were Ho-oh was. "Your going to try and capture Ho-oh!?"

"Thats right, and your the bait. As long as we have you on board this plane, Ho-oh can't attack it" Jessie smirked as she watched Ash lower his gaze to the ground.

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Ho-oh slept peacefully in the cave of Phoenix Mountain. It's rainbow-coloured wings shifted suddenly and Ho-oh's red eyes opened and fell on the cave entrance. "Someone's coming" It thought pushing itself to it's feet and walking to the exit. When it reached it, it growled. A large hoverplane could be seen in the distance. It had a large red 'R' on the front. "They've returned" It thought as it spread it's wings and prepared to take flight.

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James re-entered the room after leaving for a couple of minutes and nodded to Jessie. "Let's go twerp" He said as he walked over to Ash began to untie him from the chair, but didn't take the cuffs off. He forced Ash out of the room and down the hall, though Ash was struggling and getting on their nerves.

After a few minutes they found Cassidy and Butch. They stood next to their boss', making sure Ash couldn't get away, and the platform they were standing on started to move up. and out a hole in the roof, until they were outside the plane, on the roof.

Ho-oh, who had taken flight and was preparing a Fire Blast attack, froze at the sight of Ash. "Ash? What's going on?" It asked, but then it noticed that Ash was tied up. It growled angrily. "Let him go" It said in a threatning voice.

Cassidy laughed. "Now why would we do that?" She sighed and looked up at Ho-oh. "We'll make this simple for you, come with us quietly and nothing happens to the twerp"

"It's a trick Ho-oh!" Ash called up. "Get out of here before-" Ash stopped mid-sentance as Butch held a dagger to his throat. He gulp and looked at the sharpened blade.

"Leave him alone!" Ho-oh said angrily.

"We could easily kill both of you right now" Cassidy said. "Just come with us and we'll let him live"

"Don't do it Ho-oh!" Ash called up, but he quietened down when Butch placed the sharp part of the blade lightly against Ash's throat. One wrong move and Ash, and Ho-oh, would be gone.

Ho-oh frowned and looked down. "All right" It said in a defeated tone. It watched as Cassidy through up what looked like a metal collor, which flew through the air and clamped onto Ho-oh's neck.

"That collor has the electric power of many Raichu, one wrong pmove and you'll feel it for yourself" Butch explained. He looked back at Ash and moved the dagger away slowly.

Ash sighed with relief but was still breathing fast from fright. He looked up just in time to see Ho-oh flying willingly into a large cage, which then dissappeared into the plane.

"Well that wasn't so hard" Butch said. He turned back to Jessie and James as the platform lowered back into the plane and the plane headed back to Team Rocket HQ. "Make sure that kid doesn't escape. When we get to HQ, use the sleep powder" He ordered.

Jessie and James nodded and brought Ash back to the room, were they all sat in silence until the plane slowed down and stopped at the Team Rocket HQ. Jessie stood up and walked over to has grinning. "Sleepy time little boy" She said as she sprayed the sleep powder straight into his face.

Ash coughed and his eyes drooped. He didn't know what was in stored for him now, or Ho-oh, but he didn't have time to think about it before he fell, once again, into a deep sleep.

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To Be Continued

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Heehee, I sooo love writing this. Well you can't say that Ash is sleep deprived, thats for sure. Well what'd you think? please review and tell me. Slán go foil!
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