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The Johto League

Chapter 9

Once a Rocket, Always a Rocket



   
The route to the south of Violet City gave us a slight change in environment. Along with the grass fields and forests there were now wooden docks across a bay connected to the sea, and the land was becoming more mountainous. We covered the ground as fast as possible, since Gary was one for ruthless efficiency. I was instructed to battle every trainer we came across in order to practice. Gary claimed that these trainers were still too weak for there to be a point in fighting them himself, but I only won about half the battles I fought, which left room for improvement.
‘Brilliantly done, Vesper!’ I congratulated, recalling my Ledyba to his ball. He’d just pulled off a win against a young boy trainer who had a Zubat.

    ‘Hey Meowth?’ I spoke to the cat pokémon on my shoulder as I went to shake hands with the disappointed boy, ‘you don’t feel like you’re missing out, do you?’

    ‘No way. I’m happy just takin’ it easy.’

    The boy suddenly looked at me quizzically.

    ‘…Did that Meowth just talk?’

    I mentally scolded myself – I’d forgotten that Meowth had been discouraged from talking when other people were around, to avoid the long explanations.

    ‘Oh, yeah, he talks. He’s… special,’ I explained, hoping that the kid wouldn’t ask further questions.

    ‘It’s just that there were a few people back down this path who were asking if anybody had seen a talking Meowth,’ he casually shrugged, then waved and went on his way.

    Once he’d left we all exchanged dubious glances.

    ‘…How many other talking Meowth do you think people know of…?’

    Curiously, we continued on the same path. I was still a little worried, but then Gary suggested something to take our minds off the puzzling information we’d heard from the boy earlier.
‘It feels like too long since I’ve caught anything…’ he groaned, ‘why don’t we have a little competition? Let’s split up for a while, each catch a pokémon, and whoever gets back here first wins.’

    I nodded, grinning. ‘You’re on! Meowth, go stay by… that tree over there, and be the judge. Whoever makes it back first.’

    We separated. Gary went in the direction of the sea, while I started searching off towards a mountainous area. For a little while, I didn’t see anything at all. There weren’t many pokémon sticking around out here. I panicked a little, thinking I would lose if I didn’t so much as see something soon.

    Then I took a deep breath to calm down. If I couldn’t find a pokémon, I’d let the pokémon come to me. Finding a small area just outside the forest nearer the mountain base, I sat down, and waited.

    A minute passed, and then a Rattata ran by. I thought of catching it, but a Rattata wasn’t much of an accomplishment… and by then it had already scampered away. I could see a few openings into caves that might hold Zubat… but then a cute yellow pokémon came, blinking, into the open.

    ‘Hey, it’s a Sandshrew! Those are adorable…’ I picked out a pokéball and sent Scout after the prospective capture. The sandy-coloured mouse-like pokémon looked at us, blinking curiously. ‘Hm, okay Scout, hit it with a quick attack!’

    A miniature chase sequence unfolded as the two pokémon traded blows, the Sentret rushing in and out with quick attacks, the Sandshrew attempting to dodge and land its scratches. Suddenly Sandshrew revealed that it had another trick – it could shoot poison stings. Sharp needles hit Scout and she was thrown down.

    ‘Scout! Are you okay?!’ I fumbled for a spare pokéball and threw it at the now-weakened Sandshrew, and ran over to inspect the damage. Scout wasn’t badly physically hurt, but she’d been poisoned…

    I turned back and picked up the ball that had captured the Sandshrew behind me. I pocketed it, then picked up Scout, told her she’d be okay, and returned her to her ball to rest. Having finished, I rushed back to the starting point as fast as I could.

    When I reached it I was dismayed to see Gary already standing there.

    ‘You finally caught something, huh?’ he smirked as I approached. I held up the newly occupied ball.

    ‘Got a Sandshrew. How’d you do?’

    Grinning broadly, Gary held out his hand to reveal 3 miniaturised pokéballs.

    ‘Wooper, Mareep, and Natu. Not bad, eh?’

    ‘Okay, okay, no need to gloat… I’m just worried about Scout, she got poisoned back there.’

    ‘Oh, okay… let’s keep going, there should be a Pokémon Centre not far from here.'

    ‘Sure… hey wait, Gary… where’s Meowth? Wasn’t he supposed to be waiting here?’

    Gary took a brief look around. ‘Oh yeah… he wasn’t here when I got back.’

    ‘He wasn’t?!’ I started checking the area frantically for signs of him, but there were none. Until…

    ‘Prepare for trouble!’

    ‘Make it double!’

    Nothing could have prepared us for seeing a hot air balloon shaped like a Meowth appear right over our heads.

    ‘To protect the world from devastation!’

    ‘To unite all peoples all peoples in every nation.’

    ‘To denounce the evils of truth and love!’

    ‘To extend our reach to the stars above!’

    ‘Jessie!’

    ‘James!’

    Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!’

    ‘Surrender now or prepare to fight!’

    These lines were spoken alternately by two people in the balloon’s basket – one a redheaded woman whose hairstyle defied gravity, the other a man with long, lavender hair. Both were smiling in triumph.

    I stared upwards in shock. ‘Who are you people?!’

    ‘Why, weren’t you listening to the motto?’ answered the man, ‘I’m afraid you’ll have to pay extra for a repeat performance.’

    ‘Oh, be quiet, James,’ his companion quietened him before turning back to myself and Gary on the ground. ‘We understand that you’ve been keeping our team-mate away from us… well, now we’ve got him back. So all that’s left is to say goodbye…’

    With that she held up Meowth, who was struggling in her grasp.

    ‘Get-offa-me-Jessie-lemme-go…’

    ‘Meowth!’ I yelled, ‘Team Rocket? Why’re you stealing my pokémon?!’

    ‘This isn’t your pokémon!’ Jessie crowed, ‘He’s part of our team and it’s going to stay that way!’

    I looked back at Gary for help, hoping that he had something that could stop the balloon before it got too far away. He was about to react, but suddenly something distracted him. I looked up, and Meowth had stopped struggling in the basket – instead he looked like he was shaking with rage. His eyes turned completely white, so the pupils could no longer be seen. Jessie and James freaked out and backed away, and Meowth stood on the rim of the basket, held the palms of his paws out in front of him, and fired an intense blast of white energy upward into the balloon.

    The explosion from the balloon blasted it off-course, and it flew out of control to land somewhere far away. Meowth had been knocked off from the force, and now lay still on the ground. I ran over to him, not knowing what had just happened, but he had fallen a long way…
Meowth seemed injured, a little grazed, but just unconscious. He also looked exhausted. I picked him up and carried him carefully back to Gary, who was reading from his Pokédex.

    ‘Hidden Power,’ it said in its toneless, computer voice. ‘This attack’s strength and type depend entirely on the pokémon using it.’

    ‘That’s… that’s what that attack was…?’ I muttered in amazement. Gary nodded, speechless.

    With two pokémon now who were in need of medical attention, we hastened on. Eventually its signature red roof came into view between the trees, and we all ran in, relieved that finally we could rest.