Chapter 2 No need for Trouble As night fell upon the mini hidden-away Pokemon Center in the woods, the lights inside flickered into existence. Inside, at a small table, Ash, Misty, Brock, Pikachu, and Togepi watched gratefully as a Chansey set their food on the table. It walked away chanting it's name. They looked back at the food and began to pig-out. At the other side of the center, Tenchi and Ayeka sat on the floor, watching in amazement. Ryoko was leaning against the wall, amazed as well. Sasami played contently with Ryo-ohki behind them. Washu watched the two pokemon. Mihoshi paced back and forth in a complete panic. "What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?!" she cried. "I'm a Galaxy Police Officer! I've been trained to handle these situations!" She stopped and fell to her knees. She grabbed a hold of Washu's waist. "But I'm scared! I'm scared!" Washu attempted to respond to the unwelome actions of Mihoshi. But Mihoshi's waist lock does do a number on her. "Ah...! Mihoshi... Let go...!" She attempted to push her off. "Wow..." Ryoko blinked as she continued to watch the other group eat. "Well... They seem nice enough," Tenchi added. "Yes," Ayeka nodded in agreement. She turned, glaring at Ryoko. "Even their table manners seem better than those of a certain someone." Ryoko snapped forward. "What did you say?" Ayeka stood up. "You heard me! It's bad enough that I'm living with you, but you could at least show some courtesy to those that deserve it!" Ryoko scowled. She looked down. She reached out and pulled Tenchi into single person hug. "Hey Tenchi, I show you proper courtesy don't I?" She purposely avoided Ayeka's gaze. Ayeka became infuriated. "You know what I mean!" She shoved Tenchi away and returned Ayeka's death glare. "Well at least I don't go around calling my mother 'Mommy'!" "At least my mother isn't a psycotic no-it-all scientist!" Washu popped in between them, finally free of Mihoshi's grip. "I resent that!" Over at their table Ash and the others slowed their eating as they slowly filled up. They finally got wind of the yelling. "Hey, what do you think they're yelling about?" Ash asked. Misty looked over at them. "I don't know." She turned back to Ash, with a look of concern. Pikachu looked up from his plate. He spotted Ryo-ohki. She was still playing with Sasami. He became frightened and took a few steps away. "Yes you are!" Ayeka yelled. "I am not!" Ryoko yelled back. "Are too!" "Are not!" A stomp interupted them. They turned their heads. Nurse Joy was standing there. "Excuse me!" She was not happy. "This is a medical center for tired and injured pokemon! If you're not going to behave properly, I'm going to have to ask you to leave!" Just the shear anger in her voice forced them to nod in agreement. They backed away from each other. "Now please, watch you tempers next time." She walked away. Ayeka sat back down next to Tenchi. Ryoko leaned back against the wall. They hadn't removed their gazes of death from each other. Nor had they any intentions of doing so. Eventually, Ash, Misty, Brock, Pikachu, and Togepi finished eating. Ash stood up and stretched his arms, yawning. "That was great," he commented. "Ayeka," Sasami called wearily. Ayeka turned to see her half closed eyes and droopy face. "I'm getting tired." Ryo-ohki had already fallen asleep on her lap. Ayeka smiled at her. "Yes, I'm sure we all are," she nodded comfortingly. She stood up with her younger sister. They made their way over to the service counter. "Excuse me." Nurse Joy turned around and stepped over to them. "Yes, may I help you?" Her attitude had done a complete one-eighty. "Could you kindly show us where are rooms are?" "Oh, sure." She gave her one of her typically big smiles. "Right this way." She led them through a doorway towards the back of the center. Everyone followed in a single line. Ryoko yawned as she walked into the hallway. Halfway down the hallway, Nurse Joy turned and opened the door on the left side of the hallway. Ayeka, Sasami, Ryoko, Mihoshi and Washu walked into the room. Nurse Joy opened a door on the other side of the hall. "I'm afraid that room isn't big enough for all of you. The rest of you will have to stay in here." Ash and his group complied. Tenchi stood between the two doors. He'd have to stay with the strangers. Luckily, though, it would keep Ryoko out of his hair. He sighed and walked in. Washu stood in her doorway. She looked straight into the other room where Ash was beginning to get ready to put on his pajamas. Pikachu was next to him. In the numerous dimensions and worlds she's been, she never encountered animals like these. 'Pokemon' she was told they were. What an odd name to give to multiple races of creatures. Ash had promised to get them to a place where they could potentialy get home. But she wasn't happy, she wanted to stay and study these pokemon. Especially that one. Pikachu. There was something about him. Something special. That made her want it even more. She had to study it. She closed the door to her room before Ash got down to his you-know-what's. * * * Outside the center, three *ahem*suspicious characters hid in the bushes. They crawled over to the front side of the center. "Are you sure dat dey're stayin' here, Jessie?" Meowth asked. "Of course I'm sure," she replied, slightly annoyed by being asked a question like that. "All we have to do is sneak into the Pokemon Center while they're asleep and-" James cut her off. "Uh, do we have to, Jessie?" She looked at him. He pushed his fingers into each other. "I mean, you saw that thing as well as I did. It's scary." "Of course we have to! After all our failures, it'd be the perfect present to give to the boss. I can see it now..." She began to think of how their meeting would go... "Wonderful! Excellent job!" Giovanni praised them as they handed him a cage with Ryo- ohki in it. He pet Meowth who was curled up on his lap. "This is indeed a very rare creature. Good work!" ...She beamed with pride at here soon-to-be-found respect from her boss. "Now all we have to do is go in there and grab it while it's sleeping." "I'm not so sure dat's a good idea," Meowth said. "Huh? Why?" she asked, angered at his disapproval of her idea. "'Cause we don't know what dat ding is. What if it doesn't fall asleep? What if it doesn't hafta sleep?" He had a point. The humans sighed. "I suppose you're right," Jessie conceted. "Good, then can we go now?" James whimpered. He started to stand up. "Not so fast!" Meowth jumped up and pulled him back down. "Now, here's what I dink we should do. Let's setup a trap right outside da center. Den, when dey wake up and come out, wham-o!" Jessie and James looks astonished. "Hey, that's not a bad idea, Meowth!" James complimented him. Meowth looked embarassed. "Hmph. Must've lost a bunch of brain cells on that one," Jessie antogonized. "Fine, let's do it." They began to talk over what the trap would be. * * * The sky slowly turned from the dark-blue color of night to bright-blue tinge of day. Morning had come. Very little signs of life existed inside the Pokemon Center, however. Ash, asleep on the bed, had Pikachu curled up by his head. Misty slept on the bed opposite him with Togepi. The morning sunlight leaked through the window right onto Misty's face. She tightened here eyes before sitting up. She rubbed one eye and opened the other. It was morning. She looked over and saw Ash sleeping. She couldn't help but let out a smile. It was just a cute scene. He looked so peaceful there, especially with Pikachu sleeping there like that. "Ryoko, get away from there!" she heard someone yell from outside the door. It was Ayeka. Startled, she flopped back down, hoping no one saw her. Out in the hall, Ryoko had her head poked throught the door to Ash's room. She pulled it out and turned her head to her. They glared viciously. Lightning crackled between the two's eyes. Later, after everyone woke up, Nurse Joy handed Ash his five pokeballs. "Here you go, Ash. They're all set for you to go." "Thanks, Nurse Joy." Ash said gratefully, accepting them. Everyone else was ready to get going. Ash walked away as he clipped them onto his belt. Washu refused to look away from Ash and Pikachu, though she was at least smiling now. Ash picked up his backback and put it on as they all walked out the door. "Ash," Washu called him as they continued walking. "I wanna ask you sommething." Ash looked over to her. "What?" "Well, I was wondering if-" she was unable to finish her question. The ground underneath them collapsed and evereyone fell in. They all landed on each other, hands and legs intertwined in seemingly impossible positions. "Hey!" Ash exclaimed. "Where did this hole come from?" "I think it's pretty obvious," Brock answered. "Prepare for*yyaawwnn* trouble." They all turned their gazes up to see Jessie and James standing above them. They were barely awake. James also released an extended yawn before continuing his part. "And make it... And make it double..." Their eyes slowly closed. They fell into each other and sat on the ground, fast asleep. "Wake up!!" Meowth yelled, giving each one a slash to their face. Now awake, they blinked their eyes before jumping up and hold their faces in pain. Jessie removed her hands revealing three slashes across her face. She looked down to Meowth not-quite-so-happily. "You stupid feline!" She kicked him over. "You again?!" Ash yelled. "Who were you expecting? Godzilla?" "Can't you do anything else besides these holes?!" Misty yelled up. "Hey, we stayed up all night thinking about this plan," James told them defensively. "No surprise there," Ash remarked. "We don't have time for this! Pikachu go!" Pikachu lept up. "Thunder Bolt!" "Piikaa..." Pikachu charged up. A second before releasing the attack, Pikachu was swept up into a cage at the end of a long pole. Meowth had the other end. "Pika?" he finally realized what happened. "Pikapi!" "Pikachu! Do it anyway!" Pikachu attempted the attack. Unfortunately it wouldn't go out past the cage. Team Rocket laughed. "Nice try Pikachu, but the cage is insulated against your electricity!" Jessie explained. "No!" Ash started wiggling free. "Pikachu!" Ash got himself untangled and climbed up the side of the hole. He stood up and grabbed one of his pokeballs. He expanded it and held it towards Team Rocket threateningly. "Give me back Pikachu!" Sasami climbed out next, then helped to pull Ayeka up. "For once, kid, we might." "Huh?" Ash was surprised to hear something like that. But why would they just let him go? "What's the catch?" "The catch is, if you give us that thing, and we might let you have your Pikachu back." "That thing?" Ash asked. He looked behind him and saw that they meant. Ryo-ohki, who was sitting on Sasami's shoulder. "No!" Sasami turned the shoulder she was on away from Team Rocket. "You can't have her!" Washu's head popped out of the hole. "Pidgeotto! Go!" Ash threw the pokeball. What happened next made Washu gasp. The ball opened up in a bright flash of light. From the light emerged another pokemon. That was impossible! The bird that appeared was too big to physically fit into the ball. Then, it happened again... "Go Arbok!" Jessie threw her pokeball. A long snake pokemon came from it. "Poison Sting!" Arbok opened its mouth and shot a bunch of pure white needles at the bird. "Pidgeotto, dodge it!" Pidgeotto took one flap of its wings and flew into the air, successfuly avoiding the attack. "Quick Attack!" A swirl of eneregy spiraled from its beak and along its body as it dove. It struck the snake right in the head, making it fall back at Jessie's feet. Over behind Ash, Washu pushed herself out of the hole and activated her translucent computer. She started typing away. Jessie growled. "Come on Arbok!" The snake got itself back up. "Tackle Attack!" It lunged forward. "Pidgeotto, Gust Attack!" Pidgeotto continuously flapped it's wings. The wind coming from it grew strong enough and it threw Arbok back into Jessie, who fell to the ground. Tenchi finally made it out of the hole. Ryoko appeared as he stood up. "Now, Whirlwind!" It continued flapping it's wings. A mini tornado formed which threw Team Rocket up into the air. They landed just inside the tree line. Believing they had won, Pidgeotto flew back over to Ash. "Good job Pidgeotto. Return." Washu gasped at the information that the computer displayed to her. ~Incredible! It completely lost it's molecular make-up!~ Misty climbed out of the pit. She turned around and helped Brock up. "Pikachu!" Ash called out towards the tree line. Team Rocket's balloon floated up and out of the trees. "Pikachu!" he yelled over Team Rocket's laughter. "Nice try twerp!" Jessie taunted. The continued laughing. "So long!" Meowth added as the balloon floated away. Their laughing continued. "Pikapii...!" Pikachu managed before they disappeared over the trees. Ash ran forward a few steps. "Pikachu, no!" He turned around. "Come on, let's go after 'em!" "Ash!" Misty said. "We can't catch them on foot! And we don't know where they're going!" Ash looked back to where they last saw the balloon. "Pikachu..." There had to be a way to find him. But how? Maybe if Charizard would obey him... Ryo-ohki jumped down from her perch on Sasami's shoulder. An extended meow came from it's mouth. She was determined to find Pikachu. It's meow grew more intense, almost to the point of growling. "Ryo-ohki...?" Sasami wondered what it was doing. It tensed. Then it lept up into the air. While in the air, it changed. It's furry exterior metamorphed into a metalic shell. Numerous spikes emerged from the sides. When it finished, it in no way resembled it's previous shape. It's size was easily a hundred times bigger than before. The center of it had four oversized spikes pointing up out of it, with plenty of smaller ones elsewhere. Oh, and it hovered in the air. It was Ash and his frinds turn to gasp, now. Ryoko floated towards the flying ship and disappeared. The inside of the ship was pretty empty except for the 8 sided crystal-like shapes floating around. As very big window loomed on one side of the round area. Ryoko reappeared in front of three black floating orbs. "Come on, Ryo-ohki! Pick them up and let's go!" Outside, the ship shot a beam of light that surrounded the entire group. Tenchi, Ayeka, Sasami, Washu, Ash, Misty, and Brock floated up and disappeared, simalar to the way Ryoko did, though unwillingly. They reappeared inside the ship, behind Ryoko. "Now go!" The ship flew forward. It took a while before Ash could speak. "What's this?!" he finally succeeded in exclaiming. Sasami turned to him to explain. "We're inside Ryo-ohki." "Inside?" Misty asked. "But how?" "Look!" Ryoko grabbed everyone's attention. "There they are!" In front of the ship, they could see Team Rocket's balloon slowly growing in size. Meowth looked back from the balloon. He spotted the flying ship heading their way. "Hey, what's dat?" "Huh?" Jessie and James turned around to see in unison. "It's a space ship!" Jessie yelled, her face full of surprise. "Ahh! Aliens!!" James cried. He flung himself over and cowared in the corner. Meowth jumped over to him, screaming. "Get a holda yourself! Look dere!" James peaked over his shoulder. Meowth pointed at a specific part of the ship. He could barely see, but through the glass he made out the forms of Ash and the others. He gasped. "It's the brat!" Now composed, he stood up, ready to retaliate. Meowth jumped up onto the side of the basket. "Let's get 'em!" He pulled out a bomb. The other two pulled out bombs as well. "Yeah." They tossed them. They continued to throw a seemingly endless supply of bombs at the ever-encroaching ship. Inside, the ship rocked. It continued to whenever a bomb was able to make contact. "Ryo- ohki!" Ryoko yelled. "Fire back!" From the tips of the bigger spikes, laser beams shot out at the balloon. One of them managed to hit. The ballon was sent swirling down, then hit the ground with a loud *CRASH*. Within the rubble, Meowth picked his head up. He saw a lit bomb's fuse shrink as it reached the core. It exploded. He, Jessie, and James flew back into the air, "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!!!" and out of sight. Near the wrecked heap, a light exactly like the one that picked Ash up before, eminated from the ship again. All of them were dropped off, very gently, to the ground. "Pikachu!" Ash ran up to the rubble and started throwing pieces away. "Pikachu! Are you okay?" Ryo-ohki, now back in her cat-like form, jumped up onto the rubble near him. She meowed a couple times to Pikachu, hoping for his safety. Ash threw away one last piece of debris, revealing Pikachu, barely conscious, in the now-broken cage. He effortlessly reached in and picked him up out of it. Pikachu looked up into Ash's eyes with a smile. "Pikapi..." Ash smiled too. "Pikachu..." He hugged him, happy to finally have him back. "Wow! This is incredible!" Washu exclaimed from the back of the group. Everyone looked at her. "I've got to study this in greater depth..." "Washu!" Tenchi complained loudly at her. "I think we have more important things to worry about... Like, where we are?" On that note, Ash turned back around to look at his surroundings. He happily laughed at what he saw. It was town. "Hey look!" he happily noticed. "It's Pallet Town!" They all looked to the town and smiled. Their ordeal would almost be over. ...Or would it? "Hey, wait." Sasami noticed something out of place. "Aren't we missing someone?" They looked around the group. There was a collective gasp. Back in the hole near the Pokemon Center, a voice weakly cried out. "Hey guys...?" Mihoshi. "Hey, where are you?" She moaned. "Oww..."