Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Team Rocket's Secret ❯ Chapter 1

Team Rocket's Secret

Disclaimer: They ain't mine.

Warnings: violence, sexually mature themes, James torture ('cause it's so fun)

Other Info: Rocket-shippy

~*~*~*~*~

The sky was unnaturally dark, even if it was night. The stars and moon were hidden by thick storm clouds, and this forest road had no lamps or rest-stops for the exhausted traveler. Or travelers.

"Oh, when is this road gonna end?" Ash moaned. He'd been carrying a sleeping Pikachu for the past three hours, and now his arms felt sore and numb.

"You know, we could just sleep for awhile on the side of the road," Brock suggested. His backpack was starting to cut into his shoulders.

"What? Sleep out here in the dark with the bugs! We can't even see where we'd be sleeping!" Misty shuddered. "No way! Let's just keep going until we find the next town."

They walked on for several minutes, and the only sounds they heard were their own footsteps crunching on the pebbles and Pikachu's snoring. A moment later, the little yellow rodent woke up with a start and jumped onto Ash's shoulder, looking back excitedly at the road behind him.

"Hey, what's up with Pikachu?" Misty asked, stopping.

They all stared into the darkness, straining to hear anything. Pikachu jumped from Ash's shoulder and ran a few feet away, his tail twitching.

"Pikachu, what is it?" Ash asked.

"That's weird," Misty mumbled.

"What is?" Brock asked, looking at her.

"It's so quiet," she said, looking around. "The crickets have stopped chirping."

They grouped together for safety, trying to stare in all directions before anything pounced on them. Pikachu ran back over to them and pulled on Ash's pant leg, pointing frantically into the forest.

"Pika pi pi kapi!" he yelled. "Chu chu!"

"I think he wants us to hide," Ash said, and Pikachu nodded.

Misty and Brock followed them into the even darker forest and ducked behind a thick patch of bushes, poking their heads up a little.

"Togi?"

"Hush, Togepi," Misty whispered, stroking it. "Just try to go to sleep."

"How long do you think this will take?" Ash asked.

Brock shushed him. "Quiet, look!"

They glanced up and fell silent. Far in the distance, they could make out a dim glow that slowly came closer and closer until the light grew almost too bright for their eyes.

"What is it?" Ash cried.

"I think...it's a herd of ponytas!" Misty said, pointing.

"I think they're chasing something," Brock said.

As they came closer, they could see people riding those ponytas, with several cars running in between them. And at the very front of the herd were three very familiar faces, two humans riding and one frightened Meowth hanging onto Jessie's back.

"It's Team Rocket!" Misty yelled.

"No," Brock said, "it's all of Team Rocket, and it looks like they're chasing James and Jessie!"

As they watched, the ponyta James and Jessie were doubled up on stumbled and threw them off. They hit the ground hard and rolled a few times, stopping right in front of Ash.

Jessie groaned and stood slowly, and our heroes could see just how exhausted she was. Her once perfectly brushed hair was now tangled and her clothes were torn almost beyond recognition.

"James, get up," she ordered. "This is no time to slack off!"

No answer. She looked down at him for a second, then knelt down. "James, can you hear me?"

"Jessie...?"came the weak reply. "I...I can't..." His eyes fluttered and he clutched his hands into fists. "Hurts..." Nestled beneath his arm, Meowth mewed pitifully.

"Jessie! Stop right there!"

The posse came to a stop, and one of the riders came closer. "Jessie, there's no place for you to run! Give yourselves up and things will go easier for both of you!"

"Hey, that's the Viridian gym leader!" Misty whispered. "He's Team Rocket's boss?"

"Wow, who'd have guessed?" Brock nodded.

Jessie rose, putting herself between James and the pack after them. "I won't let you turn us into lab rats! I'd rather die than let that happen!"

"Fine, we'll just cut you up and find out your secret," the boss said cruelly.

"No..." James gasped, pushing himself up to face them. "Ponytapota!" he yelled at the pokemon. "Ponyta ponty ytapo! Ponyta ponyta poyta!"

The ponytas suddenly grew restless, then turned and raced away, ignoring the riders yelling at them to go back.

"Did he just...?" Misty gasped.

"He just spoke to the pokemon!" Ash said in wonder.

"Pikachu."

"Cute trick, James," the boss said. "But cars don't listen to your pokemon talk!"

Several men in black team rocket uniforms came forward, gloved hands reaching out at Jessie and James. James turned away, holding Meowth against him protectively. Jessie took a step back, not knowing what else she could do.

"Oh, we have to help them!" Brock said loudly.

Misty looked at him in shock. "What?! Are you nuts? Why should we help them?"

"Brock's right," Ash said. "It doesn't matter who they are, they're in trouble and we still have to help them!" He stood up, ready to do battle. "Pikachu, thundershock, now!"

Pikachu ran out in front of the boss and stood up on his hind legs, gathering energy.

"Oh no, not again!" Jessie cried, closing her eyes in fear. "Even when we're not doing anything bad we still get shocked!"

"Pikachu!"

*ZAP!*

There was silence for several seconds, and then Jessie looked up again in surprise. "We...we're weren't hit?"

"We're not blasting off again?" James asked.

Meowth moaned. "Geez, the one time it'd help us to blast off, and we don't..."

James slumped back on the ground. "We're failures at being failures."

"Hey, look!" Jessie gasped, pointing up. Everyone followed her stare as the rest of Team Rocket was launched higher and higher into the sky, becoming a tiny spec of light until they disappeared all together.

Jessie slumped down to her knees and sighed wearily. "Well, looks like we've got a little more time..."

"Um, where'd Pikachu come from?" Meowth mumbled, dragging himself out from under James. "Unless that one's a wild pokemon, I bet that kid's around here--"

"Are you guys okay?" Ash asked, stepping out of the bushes. Pikachu ran towards him and jumped onto his shoulder.

James gave an uncharacteristically bitter laugh. "Oh, sure, we just run around tearing ourselves up because we enjoy it."

Meowth rolled his eyes. "Well, ya'd think so the way things keep happenin' to us."

"Why were they chasing you?" Misty asked, coming out at the same time Brock did.

"And how were you able to talk to those ponytas?" Brock asked. "I've never seen anyone do that before."

Jessie was about to reply when James gave another tiny whimper. With a groan, she leaned over and adjusted his body, gathering him into her arms. "We'd love to stick around and chat, but I'm afraid we've got to keep moving. The boss is bound to come back after us, there's no way he'd let us go."

"You're just gonna keep walking?" Misty cried. "You won't get half a mile like that!"

"You got any other ideas?" Jessie snapped, understandably upset.

Brock considered, narrowing his eyes even more. "Didn't we pass a herd of rapidash a little ways back?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah. If you guys can talk to those rapidash, you can probably convince them to carry you."

Jessie glanced down at James, who was resting his head on her shoulder. "James? Do you think you can do that? You haven't spoken to any rapidash in a long time."

He gave her a weak smile. "They're just like ponytas, really. I'm sure they'd understand if I could get to them."

"We'd better go now, then," Misty said, "before Team Rocket recovers from that blast and starts after you again."

Meowth laughed at that. "No, I think it'll be a couple days before they get up again."

"Really?" Ash asked. "How can you be so sure?"

The trio groaned simultaneously. "Trust us, we know," they said.