Chapter 16

It was a beautiful day in the forest.  The air was fresh, and laden
with the scents of spring.  The sun shone green and golden through the
leaves of the trees.  The occasional rustling noises of small animals
going about their business was the only thing that disturbed the
serenity of the forest.  But only for a few minutes longer.  A group
of people approaching from the east soon entered the forest.
For once, none of them were arguing.  The only thing disturbing the
forest was the mere fact of their presence.  Unfortunately, the evil
grin spreading over David's face, and the way he was fingering one of
his pokeballs, suggested that other disturbances would soon occur.
After walking in silence for a few minutes, Lauren, annoyed at her
inability to get there sooner, said crossly, "When are we going to get
to Pallet?  My clothes are dusty, and my feet hurt."  Behind her,
David, with an evil grin still firmly plastered across his features,
dropped a pokeball to the ground.  It hit the path and silently
opened.
"How should I know?"  David said.  It's not like it's my fault if you
can't take a little walking."
Seeing how Lauren was already looking for someone to take out her
annoyance and being dirty on, these words had the same effect on her
temper as they would have if they were a lighted match being dropped
in a bucket of gasoline.  It was just as volatile, and flared up just
as fiercely.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?!"  She yelled, whirling around to face him, and
possibly hit him over the head a few times with whatever came to hand.
However, as she whirled, she came face to face with what David had
released from the pokeball.  Lauren screamed, and jumped straight up
in the air.  Anyone looking up at her would have seen her clinging
with a death grip to a branch.
"Poltergeist."  Chuckled the pokemon in amusement.  It always enjoyed
a good practical joke.
David looked up at Lauren, smiling.  "Well, I guess your feet don't
hurt that much, if you can jump all the way up there."
Lauren scowled at him.   "I hate ghosts!"  She yelled.
Any further conversation was interrupted when a figure in a dark cloak
stepped out from the bushes along the side of the path.  With its face
hidden in shadow, it said in a deep, ominous voice, "I have something
to tell you all."  It paused, and looked back into the bushes.  In a
completely different, and very familiar voice, it whispered to some
unseen person, "Are you sure this will work?"
Another very familiar voice answered.  "Of course it will work.  I saw
it in a movie once."
"Did it work then?"
"Just do it before they get suspicious!"
The figure sighed resignedly, and turned back to the group.  "Jack."
It intoned in a deep, heavy voice of lead, then paused.  "And, um...
David, Lauren, and, errr, that other guy,"  it continued hesitantly,
"I am your father."  The figure looked at them, watching for a
reaction.  "Now give me all your pokemon."  It concluded in a rush.
David's disbelieving  gaze met the other's, all with similar
expressions on their faces.  After a moment's stunned silence, he
stepped forward.  "You're not my father."  He said.  "My father is
back on Puce Island."
The figure gave him a sheepish (or Mereep-ish) look.  "Um, would it
help if I told you to join the dark side?"  It asked hesitantly.
David shook his head.  "Nope."
The figure sighed.  "Fine then, back to the good old ways."  It tore
off it's cloak, revealing a tall, blue-haired man, with a large,
conspicuous "R" on his chest.
A red-haired woman stepped out from the bushes.  She also had a large
red "R" on her shirt.  "Prepare for trouble!"  She yelled.
"Make it double!"  The man responded.
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
A cat-like pokemon jumped out of the bushes.  "Meowth, that's right!"
It yelled.
James grinned.  "Now are you going to give use your pokemon?"
Jack crossed his arms over his chest.  "No."  He said.
James's face fell.  "Pleease?"  He whined.
Jack shook his head.  "No."  He said again.
"I'll be your best friend."  James pleaded.
"No."
Meanwhile, David had been staring at the Meowth.  "Wow!  A talking
Meowth!"  He exclaimed, then walked up to it.  "Would you mind letting
me run a few tests on you?  You're the only talking pokemon I've ever
heard of!"
Meowth crossed his arms over his chest. "No."  He said.
"Aw, c'mon.  Can I please run some tests on you?"  David whined.
Meowth shook his head.  "No."  He said again.
"I'll be your best friend."  David pleaded.
"No."
While these strangely similar conversations were going on, Lauren and
Bob were conversing on what to do next.
"We should probably capture them."  Bob argued.  "They may know
something important."
"Them?  I say we just flamethrower them away.  We can use your
Charmeleon."
"I don't think we should.  They may actually know something of
importance."
Lauren laughed scornfully.  "Them?  Just look at them!"
Bob looked.  James was on his knees begging Jack to let him have all
the pokemon, while David was in a similar position begging Meowth to
let him run some tests.  Jessie had taken out a mirror and a can of
hairspray, and appeared to be doing her hair.  Bob sighed.  "I believe
you have a point there."
"So what are you waiting for?"  Lauren asked.  Before Bob could react,
she darted her hand in and grabbed Charmeleon's pokeball off his belt.
Tossing it out on the ground, the lizard materialized in a splash of
red light.  "Charmeleon, flamethrower Team Rocket."  Lauren said,
pointing.
Charmeleon looked at Bob.  "Char?"  It said, asking for his approval.
Bob sighed.  "Go ahead, I guess."  He said.
His Charmeleon nodded, and let loose with three thin streams of fire.
They impacted against the three Team Rocket members, and sent them
flying away.

James landed on the ground, battered and charred, with a thud and a
loud "oof!".  This was followed by an "ahh!" when Jessie, equally
charred, landed on him.  Finally, a "my spine!" resulted when Meowth
landed.
"Ah, don't be such a baby."  Meowth said scornfully, picking himself
up and dusting off.
Jessie stood up, leaving James moaning on the ground.  It appeared
that this time they had landed on a sidewalk, leaving a large dent in
the pavement.  They appeared to be in the middle of a heavily
industrialized city.  The sky was gray with smog, and the stink of
pollution hung heavy in the air.  The buildings were coated with a
thick layer of black soot, deposited there like snow, except uglier,
and, of course, no one would cancel school for a soot day.  The
sidewalk ran along the edge of a road, passing between two blocks of
towering skyscrapers, and every so often a car would zoom past,
releasing the stink of more hydrocarbons into the air.  It was, in
short, a place that, if, by some freak occurrence, an EPA inspector
had ever managed to reach, he probably would have fallen over and died
of shock at the sight of the super-polluted city.
Also, most importantly to Team Rocket, there was a phone booth just a
few feet away.
"C'mon,"  Meowth said, starting towards the booth, "We better call the
Boss to report this latest failure."
James sighed.  Reluctantly, he started towards the booth.  "Why can't
we just call him up once we actually do something right?"  He whined.
Meowth scratched him across the face.  "Because, knowing you two, we'd
die of old age before that!"  He yelled.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to call the Boss collect?"  James
whined.  (Yes, he does do that a lot.)
"It's not like we have any money."  Meowth responded.  The phone
beeped.  "Ssshhh!  It's ringing!"
A few seconds passed, and then the phone flickered on, revealing the
Boss, cloaked in shadow as usual, eating something.  On closer
examination, it appeared to be a slab of some sort of meat, with a
thick pink skin around the outside.  "What is it now?"  He asked
tiredly, putting down his knife and fork.  "May I dare to think that,
for once, you actually did something right?"
James winced.  In a whisper to Jessie, he said  "Ouch.  He's getting
sarcastic with us.  If we don't watch out, he might even start being
[i]condescending[/i]."  He shuddered, then in a louder voice said
"Not quite..."  His voice trailed off.
"So basically you came up with a stupid plan, failed miserably, and
were sent flying?"
Meowth coughed nervously.  "Um...  You could phrase it that way."
The Boss sighed again.  Taking in their charred, battered, and, as a
result of the impact with the muck covered sidewalk, begrimed
appearance.  "Listen, I'm going to reassign you to a job more suited
to your special...   ...talents."
"What kind of job would that be?"  Meowth asked.
Jesse and James thought for a moment.  "Uh... hobo?"  James suggested.
"Paperweight?"  Jesse asked after a few moments thought.
"Talents?"  Meowth asked, surprised.
The Boss shook his head.  "No, your new job will be... lab assistants.
Report to lab 32.  I'm sending you directions now."  He pressed a
button, and a sheet of paper, covered with writing, began feeding out
of a slot in the wall.
"We won't disappoint you!"  Jesse said, right before hanging up.
As the screen went dark, the Boss smiled evilly.  "Well, it's good to
have those incompetents finally out of the way."  He said to the
Persian lying on his lap.  It's only response was a satisfied purr.

Jack broke out of the forest and crested the final hill.  There, lying
before him, was a town.  Composed of houses and stores, lying nestled
in a slight depression before the shimmering sea, no one would guess
the idyllic little town was the site of a major Pokemon League base.
Jack let out a whoop of exhilaration.  "We're here!"  He yelled back
to the others, who were still straggling out of the forest.  Taking
the first steps down the hill, he took the first few steps towards a
new future, towards a completely different path then the one he
started on.  This different path was unexpected, but still, he would
follow it as far as he could.