Chapter #3 "Where is Jessie and James? They should have been here by now." growled Butch. " You don't think they could have gotten wise to the bosses plan Cassidy?" " I don't see how they could Butch. They're not the dullest pencils in the case but, they're not the sharpest ones either." Cassidy sighed. "We just have to wait for tham to show up." " I won't wait here forever! Why don't we just tell the boss that they skipped town? Then they'll be branded as traitors to team rocket." Butch smiled. They were standing in front of the landfill between the pokemart and bike shop. An hour had gone by and still no team rockets had shown up. "It's in the official team rocket guide that we have to stay here for up to dusk for other team rockets. Don't worry Butch, if they're not here in fourty five minutes we can call the boss." That made Butch cheer up a bit. "You won't have to call the boss at all." said a voice from above. "Prepare for trouble, you brat." A red haired woman said as she jumped out of their balloon that was cresting over the dump. "And make it double, you dirty rat." Her blue haired companion chirped in. "To protect ourselves from devistation." "To be able to unit all people within our nation." "To denounce the evils of truth, love and trust." "To extend our reach to the stars above before we go bust." "Jessie." "James." "Team rocket blast off at the speed of light." "Surrender now of prepare to fight." "Meowth all right!"The team rocket trio and duo had a glare contest for about thirty second. "Lets get this over with." growled Meowth. "So you did get wind of the bosses plan."growled Cassidy. " I would like to know how but my curiousity will have to wait. So you want a battle?"she pulled out a pokeball from her pocket. "Not exactly." smirked Jessie. "You see we came up with a plan of our own. Instead of you taking one of us, you'll be taking someone else for the bosses experiment." "What do you mean?" asked Butch. "We nabbed someone else to be your lab rat who suits the qualifications better than us." answered James. "And here he is!" Meowth dragged a very drugged (or a very sleep powdered) Ash out from their balloon. "Bravo Jessie. I didn't think you had it in you." Cassidy said smugly. " Not only do you save your own hide but you also committed a real crime. Imagine! the laughing stocks of team rocket kidnapping a kid." "Shut your face! It was all we could do on short notice." snapped Jessie. "We'll have to run it by the boss before we take him. You know, I almost wish that I had the chance to take you on Jessie."Cassidy turned to Butch. "You want to make the call or should I?" "You." replied Butch. " I'll keep an eye on the furball and Mr and Mrs Smart Alecks here. Just in case the boss says no." "Hey who are you calling a furball you jerk!" sniped Meowth. "Fine." Cassidy turned to walk down the street towards the phoneboth. Ash was put on the ground between Butch and the team rocket trio. Jessie was watching Cassidy while Meowth and James were watching Butch. "I like what I see." said Jessie suddenly. "Why what do you see?" asked James. "Cassidy is getting an extremely red face. That means she's upset about something and the only reason she would be upset would be..." "That something good is going for us!" interupted Meowth. Frim the interuption he was swiftly served with a fan to the back of the head. They could plainly see that when Cassidy got off the phone she was exremely upset. "The boss wants them to bring in the kid." All three of the rockets in white cheered. Butch stood in mute silence. "We're supposed to bring them to the lab." Just then a black van appearred form out of nowhere and stopped in front of the rockets. "Get in. "Butch growled. Later.. They had pulled up to a huge warehouse on the east side of town. It looked ordinary enough but one thing was different about this warehouse. There was too much activity going on around it for it to be a normal warehouse. There were too many people coming and going. Most of them had a uniform that had a great big "R" on their shirts. When walking in the rockets were ask to show their ID. "Whoah! Lookit this place!" cried Meowth. "It looks bigger than your familys mansion James." "Thanks for the conforting memory."snapped James. James home life was not one he liked to think about let alone speak about in front of the others. "This is the main temple of the famous pokelantis palace." explained Cassidy. "For years now we have been studying the hyroglyphics from these temple walls." "Why would team rocket do something like that?" asked James. "I thought team rocket wanted to take over the world, not dig up ancient artifacts." "Shut up James! She was just getting to that." Snapped Butch. "As I was saying! The hyroglyphics are a fortelling of a person with unlimited power. A person who is born once every three thousand years that 'can activate the gold waters to flourish the world with his power'. The key to unlocking this persons power is for them to dip into the silver pond of pokemon." (Annoyed Voice) "We have moved this temple from its original sight and brought it here so we can see what happens when someone who isn't the person takes a dip in the pool." All the rockets in the room turned to see who had spoke to them. It was their boss. Giovonni. "I want to make sure it is safe before I try it myself." "Your going to go into that silver sludg?" asked Jessie. The room they were all standing in was about the size of three football feilds. There were tons of desks covered with artifacts that surrounded the perimiter of the room. Every scientific apparatus ever created was in that room; all stolen of course. In the middle of the room was a glass-see-through vat filled with a silver liquid. Leading to the vat from above were two catwalks that led to the indents in the building. The indents to the right were created for the rocket staff to have coffee on their breaks. There was even a cafeteria in their nice lounge. To the left however was a simple door indent; like there was something behind it that the scientists shouldn't see. "Only if it is safe." answered Giovonni. " Imagine what team rocket could do if we had a person with unlimited power in our ranks. We would have the entire world in our grasp." "Ohh! Sounds exciting! When do we see this unlimited power?" asked Jessie. She had stars in her eyes; she was hoping to get a bit of that unlimited power for herself. "Soon enough. That is if the kid survives the process. Only one with a heart of metal will win the power after all."replied Giovonni. "The kid? You mean Ash?" asked Meowth. "Yes. You dimbulbs did something right for a change. If that kid survives the process than anyone can. Good work. Carry on."answered Giovonni. He turned and walked away from the stunned rockets "He said 'Good job' Jessie!" "I heard him James." Meowth lept up in the air. "Horay! We finally got on the bosses good side." The trio joined hands and began to prance around the room. "Knock off the celebrating you dummies!" snapped Butch. "He'll only favour you until this project goes awire." growled Cassidy. "Then it will be back to your half pay and rations again." That stopped the rockets from celebrating. "What do you mean when the project goes awire?" snapped Jessie. She was right in Cassidy's face. "Uh uh!" Cassidy said. She then proceded to get Jessie out of her personal face by pushing her nose back with her index finger. " It just so happens I know something that the three of you don't know." "And what would that be?" demanded Jessie. "That there is a prophesy that comes with all the information about the rite that is described on all these artifacts here." was Cassidy's answer. "And..?" asked Meowth. "He will have passed the trails of phychic power, The titains and tower. To reach the goals of the pokemon master, He will have to go through a disaster. His life in danger all the way, But to no avail, will he always stay, The ulimate trainer of all in the world. The plan is now unfurled." "Uh oh!" said the three rockets in unison. Butch grinned. "Thats right! Until someone solves this riddle the power cannot be released." Then all the rockets attention was adverted to a commotion up above. Three other rocket members where having a difficult time with a prisoner trying to break free of their grasps. The five rocket members from below had been too busy arguing to notice that the room was busting with activity. "Whats going on?" asked Meowth. "The experiment is about to begin." answered Cassidy. Then all the rockets in the room went silent as the leader came into the room. All eyes where on Giovonni as he went to the captive on the catwalk. He stopped and growled to the rockets who were holding the prisoner. "I thought I told you to take all of his optional cloths off. Why is he still wearing that rediculous hat?" He directed at the biggest rocket. "He wouldn't give it up sir." came a panted reply. "Then take it off for him!" said the senoir officer who had just entered from the right The senoir officer grabbed the captives head and brought it to his knee with a sickening thud. Hurt from the blow, the prisoner stopped struggling long enough for Giovonni to cast off the hat off the catwalk onto Meowths head. The three team rockets then realized that this was a terrible mistake. "Prepare to throw him into the vat." Giovonni ordered. Rocket scientists came from the right side of the catwalk and put some electric tabs on his bare arms and proceded to wash his hair with a white substance. "What's with the goo?" asked James.To his surprise someone answered him. "All who wish to try the test must first enter with the blood of the marking, so if he be the one with the heart of metal; there will be no dispute for the crest shall be known to all."said Cassidy. The three rockets in white winced at these words. "Real blood?" asked Meowth. "Don't be stupid Meowth. There is an inscription on how to make 'blood of the marking'" growled Cassidy. Still all three of the rockets in white thought the same thing; this was wrong. 'We have to do something.' whispered Jessie. 'It's too late. We can't do anything to help him now.' whispered James back to his female companion. 'Maybe we can't do anything but, there are people that could help him.' interupted Meowth. He held up the captives hat. Then they looked into eachothers eyes and saw that they had the same idea. "Let me go!" They heard from above. The captive was trying to struggle again and was promply hit in the head with a club. All they could do was watch as a young boy named Ash was dragged to the edge of the vat and was thrown in the silver liquid. Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon or anything related to pokemon. Pokemon and its associated characters are copyrighted by Nintendo/Game Freak. This is a pokemon fanfic created by my mind only.