Chapter 7 Author note: This has got to be one of my favorite chapters for this story so tell me how you liked it! The next few days consisted of getting up, doing chores, going to work, eating, visiting pokemon and going home to sleep. Ash was in a hurry to get to work on the third day. After all, team rockets project was finished. Ash had arrived early and decided to watch the fun. "Here it is," Bruce announced in pride. Team rocket had just entered the junkyard. When they saw the finished product of Ash's labor, stars appeared in their eyes. "That is the most elegant piece of work I've ever seen," Jessie gasped. "It brings a tear to your eye," James cried. "You can inspect it if you want," Bruce said proudly. The trio exchanged evil glances. Ash watched and had a semi-sweat drop. 'They never change, do they?' Ash thought to himself from his perch among the scrap. 'This is going to be sooo good.' "Er-yes. We would like to inspect this before we buy it," Jessie said with a sappy smile. Ash made a face. 'Yuck. How long can she hold that smile? Not long I bet.' Ash watched eagerly as the team jumped up into the semi-tank Ash had deemed 'Fire One'. "We can discuss payment once you come out," Bruce called to the tank. "If you have any financial trouble however…" Bruce trailed off. Ash could see it coming. "De only person in financial trouble here is you my friend," came a scratchy voice from inside the control center. 'That's Meowth,' Ash thought smiling. "Prepare for trouble," came a younger voice from the tank. "And make it double," echoed her male cohort. "To protect the world from devastation." "To unite all people within our 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." "Meowth, that's right. Sorry pal but you's da guy out of luck. We're taking dis for a better cause." "What? That's robbery!" We had a deal!" yelled Bruce. "Sorry pal, deals off," Jessie said in a teasing voice. "So nyaah!" "You won't get away with this!" Bruce yelled again. "Who's going to stop us? You?" laughed James from inside. Laughter erupted from inside of Fire One. 'That would be my cue.' Ash calmly walked out of his hiding place, out into the open. "You guys never learn do you?" Ash asked in a loud enough voice so that they could hear. Ash was directly behind Fire One so Jessie and James came out to see who it was. "Wha? Look Jessie, is that the twerp look-alike?" James said questioningly. "What's he doing here?" "I told you's guys dat was da twerp!" Meowth called from inside the tank. "Are you guys going to try and steal Pikachu while I'm away?" Ash asked in a serious tone. "In the very machine that the trainer built?" "It is the twerp!" Jessie gasped. She hadn't really been sure. "We've got better tings to do dan sit here and wait to get caught. Let's get dis show on da road," growled Meowth. Ash let a smile creep over his face. "You guys were caught the moment you stepped into Cherry Canyon. Now, unless you mean to pay for my hard work, I will be forced to use my skills to stop you." "Just try it you runt! We've got the tank and you don't have any pokemon," Jessie laughed. She got a bit worried when Ash shrugged. "That's true, but since when did that stop me before?" Ash asked with a small smile. "And since when did being in a tank ever help you?" "Why you little…!" Jessie started. The hatch closed from the inside and team rocket pointed the tank's 'fun gun' at Ash. 'Three, two, one…' Ash counted in his head. 'Now!' A blast erupted from the tank but miraculously Ash wasn't hurt. "What happened?" moaned Meowth as he plopped out of the wreckage. Ash simply smiled as three very crispy teammates emerged from the now scrap metal. Ash tried his best not to laugh at the losers. "What did it feel like? I rigged the whole thing to blow once you fired that gun. I'm not a total moron! Unlike some people here…" Ash left that one hanging. Veins popped from all three of the rocket's heads. "That did it! Go Arbok!" Jessie yelled as she released her pokemon. Ash didn't bat an eyebrow. "Go Wheezing!" James echoed. "I'm going to enjoy this," Jessie cooed. "You don't have Pikachu here to help you. You're finally at our mercy." She gave out an evil laugh. "That's what you think," Ash growled. Jessie, James and Meowth saw Ash's mood suddenly changes and froze. "You have no idea what I've been through in these last few months. I'm at no one's mercy here, least of all yours. If anything you're at mine." Ash suddenly took out his official cadet training cap and three pairs of handcuffs. The three stood there for a moment and burst out laughing. "Yous got to be kidding us!" Meowth laughed. "Dey's got to be desperate if they're training a loser like you!" Ash remained calm even though he was REALLY annoyed. Ash's eyebrow began to twitch. "No, I'm quite serious. If you don't believe me, meet my training buddy. Silvermane, Flamethrower!" The rockets only saw the pokemon out of the corner of their eyes before being charred to a crisp. "Ouch!" moaned all of the rockets before they collapsed. Ash then pulled out his cell phone and made his first call to Officer Jenny for a patrol wagon. When Officer Jenny arrived a few minutes before the paddy wagon, she gasped at the scene. "Ash! What happened here?" Jenny demanded to Ash. Ash was trying to look as innocent as possible, so he just smiled. There was a black spot in the middle of the junkyard with scrap everywhere. Off to the side was another black spot of charred earth, which surrounded three people who were tied up. "What do you think, Officer?" Ash asked sweetly. Officer Jenny gave Ash an astonished look and then scowled. "You know perfectly well what I mean. This place looks like a demolition team practiced here!" Ash didn't say anything in response but gave her a wink. "Ashura!" roared Bruce. Ash felt fear jump back into his mind. Ash had totally forgotten about Bruce; in fact Ash hadn't remembered to include Bruce in his overall what-could-go-wrong plans. 'Uh oh! I'm in trouble,' Ash thought. Officer Jenny looked over Ash's shoulder to see Ash's boss Bruce walking up to them. Ash felt his stomach freeze from the bottom up. "Yeah Boss?" Ash turned around to see Bruce's face in an angry scowl. Ash thought that he was going to be eaten alive. "You just blew up three days work boy." Ash felt a sweat drop form on the back of his head. "Eh-heh. I guess I did," Ash said slowly as a nervous hand went up behind his head. "You also apprehended team rocket," Officer Jenny interrupted. "Without my express permission. Or backup of any kind. Or…" "Growl!" Silvermane stepped out from the scrap interrupting the scolding. "Growl-growl-ith? Growl-lithe?" Ash sighed. 'I am so toast,' Ash thought looking back up to his employers. Before anyone could say anything else, Deputy Tucker rode up on his bike. "Officer Jenny, Officer Jenny!" The angry Officer adverted her attention away from Ash for a moment. "What's wrong Tucker?" Officer Jenny asked as soon as the bike stopped. Tucker panted his response. "I-its little Mary Becker. She's disappeared! The last time anyone saw of her was when she was walking up Cherry Grove Hills." Officer Jenny gasped at the same time as Bruce. Ash's eyes narrowed; that meant that she could be in the forbidden grove. "How long ago?" was Officer Jenny's quick question. A loud roar from cadets coming down the sidewalk distracted Tucker. "Officer Jenny!" It was Nick, Officer Jenny's most popular cadet. "We heard about Mary. Is there anything else that we can do?" Officer Jenny's eyebrow went up. "Else?" she asked Tucker. "I had the cadets track her scent when…" Tucker was interrupted by Nick. "It leads directly into the grove Jenny." There was an eerie silence. "The only thing we can do now is hope and pray that she will come out safely on her own." Ash couldn't believe his ears. "TURBINES!" Ash roared. Everyone present jumped at Ash's voice. "What we can do is go get her." Ash was immediately stopped by Officer Jenny. "Ash that's totally out of the question! The grove is forbidden and dangerous; it is very likely that she is already gone…" Officer Jenny's voice faltered. "We're cadets! You're an Officer of the Law! This is what we do" Ash looked over the faces before him and was shocked. They weren't going to do anything. "If you won't go in there, then I will." Ash turned on his heel only to be tackled from behind less than two seconds later. "No! You can't!" Growled Nick. As a fellow cadet I can't let you commit suicide!" "Hold him down." Jenny ordered. "Until he calms down." Ash rolled with the tackle and did a summersault to get back on his feet. As soon as the order registered in Ash's mind, he ran. 'Man! Talk about nightmares coming true!" Ash thought as he jumped a fence. The entire cadet squad was hot on his heels. "Stop Ash!" Ash ignored his fellow cadets plea and ran his normal speed for running away from Mike, Trevor and Justin. 'I won't standby and let a girl get hurt.' Ash ran into a well-known dead end. 'Especially if I can do something about it.' "We've got him cornered!" Ash heard someone yell from behind. 'That's what you think!' Ash took a running start. It had been years since Ash had done this trick. Ash pumped all he could into the run. Ash sped down the alley in seconds, used the surrounding buildings to launch himself up and felt something heavy cling to his bag. "SILVER!" Ash growled. Ash didn't have any other time to scold his pokemon before he went launching over the barrier. Ash managed to make somewhat of a decent landing with a pokemon hanging onto his backpack. "Where'd he go?" Gasped a surprised voice. Ash didn't stop and kept running. Ash barreled out of the other end of the alley at warp speed. Running through town was a normality for Ash, however the speed was abnormal. "Watch where you're going!" Was one of the last things Justin heard before being run over. Ash was in so much of a rush he didn't see the terrible trio until after he barreled over Justin. Ash had just passed Candy carrying food when he almost got her too. "Sorry!" Ash called annoyed. Ash was too focused right then to be distracted with petty incidents. This was a life he was going to save. Ash made it to the edge of town before being spotted by the cadets again. "There he is!" Yelled a voice. Ash shuddered inwardly, this wasn't going to be pretty. 'I probably can outrun them 'till I reach the grove.' Ash made his decision and ran. Ash was right, he ran until he saw the edge of the forest and no one was near him. "Ash! Don't do it!" Yelled Nick. Ash didn't even look back. Silvermane had finally caught up to Ash again. "You coming? I might need you to track her." Ash asked Silvermane running. The pokemon just kept running. "I'll take that as a yes." Ash had just reached the forest. 'I won't be in that much danger. This is my third home after all.' Ash counted his mother's as his first home and his father's his second. Ash then decided to set his cadets mind at ease. About thirty feet into the forest Ash turned around to see the cadets lined up along the forest line. "I'll see you guys back at the training center later!" Ash called out over his shoulder. Ash then ran out of sight. "You had better!" Nick called back at Ash. Ash picked up Silvermane after they were out of sight. "Hang on!" Ash said with a grin. Ash launched himself off a spring stump and the race was on. Ash had decided to stick to the outermost parts of the forest. (The most likely place for a kid to be right?) Ash called for Arrow after it had reached noon. 'I won't find her like this. I need help.' Ash let out a high-pitched whistle and Arrow was there in a flash. Ash explained the situation and found Arrow gone the next. Ash thought an air search would speed things along a bit. After a few more hours of searching. "GROWL?" Silvermane stopped. Ash turned to his pokemon partner who had stopped dead in his tracks. "We're close aren't we?" Ash asked excited. Silvermane sniffed the ground and let out a long howl. Ash barely had enough time to scamper after the Growlithe before Silvermane set himself in a dead run. 'I never knew Silver could run this fast.' Ash thought as he struggled to keep up with his friend. Sure enough, five minutes later Ash was standing over a small sleeping girl underneath one of Ash's favorite trees. Ash crept away silently as he could and let out a whistle. "PHEWEEEEE!" Minutes later, Arrow swooped down from the sky and landed. "We found her. Tell Digger and the others that they can stop looking." Ash gave Arrow a wink. "And that I'll be sure to reward you guys in the near future." Arrow let out a small roar of delight and sped off to tell his friends the good news. 'Now to bring you home.' Ash thought to himself as he stared down at, what did the deputy call her? Mary? Silvermane watched as Ash gently rolled the girl onto his back. "Growl?" Ash put a finger to his lips and gestured to the girl on his back. Silvermane went silent. "No need to wake her. Let's just take her home." Ash said in a whisper. Ash knew it wasn't going to be that long of a treck so it wasn't much bother to bring her home piggy-back style. Ash walked in silence for about an hour and had just reached the halfway point when….. "Mmmmm?" Ash began to panic. Mary was waking up! Ash thought fast and began tot whistle his favorite tune softly to try and put her back to sleep. 'I hope this works!' Silvermane noticed what Ash was doing and waited ahead for them. "You're here. I'm not scared anymore." Mary said in her sleep. Ash's whistle sent Mary back to dreamland. Ash resumed the journey but kept right on whistling. Ash traveled for about another hour before he saw the tree line. 'Yes! Home free!' Ash thought as he marched triumphantly to the edge. Mary began to stir again and that's when Ash realized that he had stopped whistling. 'And not a moment too soon.' Ash was about to try and wake Mary when. "There they are!" yelled a voice. Ash had just stepped out of the bushes when Nick spotted him. The cadets were positioned around the tree line like a wall. Ash had just stepped into their wall. "Mary!" screamed a voice to Ash's right. Ash turned to see a woman bolting for Ash at top speed. 'Probably the mother.' Ash thought. Ash immediately regretted the thought because it reminded him that his mother probably missed him. "Mommy?" Mary had awoken from all the yelling. Ash felt a pang of envy enter his being when the woman took Mary off of Ash's back. "Mary! My sweet baby girl! Your safe." The woman sobbed. Ash saw the tears streaming down the mothers face and smiled. "Don't ever do that again! You put your life in danger!" "No I wasn't mommy." Mary said. The mother gave her a startled look. "Of course you were! You wandered into the Forbidden Grove!" Mary shook her head. "I went to look for the phantom of the forest." Mary said excited. "I found him mommy! I found the phantom! He whistled for me! You know, the tune that I always hear!" "Mary!" The woman suddenly shouted. "There is no such thing as the phantom of the forest! How many times do I have to tell you that!" "But he does exist!" Mary interrupted. "I was lost looking for him so I fell asleep. The phantom picked me up and brought me back mommy! He liked me so he gave me a good dream with his magic song!" "Mary!" "Like this!" Mary began to copy the tune Ash had been whistling! 'This is my fault!' Ash thought in a groan. 'She must have heard me whistling a while back! I've got to rectify this.' "Mary! There is no such thing as the phantom! He didn't save you, this nice boy did." Mary seemed to notice Ash for the first time and Ash could see her heart breaking. "It's true. I did bring you out of the forest." Mary was on the verge of tears from what Ash had just said. "I don't know much about this phantom of yours but I do know one thing…" Ash leaned over and whispered something no one else heard other than Mary. "He has a nice whistle." Ash whispered softly. Mary's eyes got big and Ash gave her a wink. "I think that's enough excitement for one day." Ash announced. "I think we should all go home and get some rest." Mary smiled at Ash and nodded. "Hold it!" Growled a voice. Ash turned three shades of blue. Officer Jenny didn't sound too happy. The cadets opened the circle Ash hadn't noticed form to let the woman through, Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon (WAAAAAAH!) So don't sue me K? Author Note: Lot's of dream sequences next time. I apologize in advance.