Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Team Rocket's Secret ❯ Chapter 10

"Ow!" James cried, putting his hands in front of his face. "Jessie, stop doing that!"

Jessie didn't even look back at him. "Doing what?" she snapped.

"You pulled a branch back and it hit my face!"

"Then you should have ducked!"

"But we're moving too fast!"

Behind them, Brock rolled his eyes. "Will you two quit arguing? We need to find your balloon before anyone else shows up!"

"Pikachu, keep your light up!"

"Pikachu." The little rodent allowed his body to brighten up, barely allowing them to see.

"Togepri?"

Misty cradled her egg pokemon just a little tighter. "It's okay, Togepi. I'm sure we're almost there."

"It should be just up ahead," Ash yelled. "It must have gotten stuck in all the trees around here."

"No, I'm sure it just ran out of hot air," Jessie said.

This time it was Misty that rolled her eyes. "Plenty of that with these two," she mumbled to herself.

"Look, there it is!" Meowth cried.

They all looked up and spotted the dull yellowish balloon, hardly worse for wear despite the hole in the forehead and the scratches in the sides. Jessie and James grinned and ran faster. In a moment, Jessie vaulted into the gondola.

"There they are!"

*crack*crack*

"Oh no, I know that sound!" James whimpered.

Jumping onto his shoulder, Meowth glanced back and spotted several shadowy figures chasing after them. "Ack, it's da boss!"

"Jessie, are we hung up on anything?" James yelled, leaping up to patch the hole. When he didn't hear her gripe at him, though, he looked back and found her crumpled on the ground, a feathered dart in her shoulder. "Oh no, she's been hit! Meowth, get that thing out of her!"

"Right!"

While the cat pokemon worked at tugging out the dart, Ash, Misty and Brock finally climbed inside the gondola. "How do you start this thing?" Ash asked. "Where's the key?"

"It's not a car, you idiot!" Misty yelled. "You have to light a fire!"

"Do we pull here?" Brock asked, tugging on a cable.

"No, wait!" Meowth cried.

Flames shot up, immediately warming the inside of the balloon. Unfortunately, Brock had pulled too hard on the cable, and the illegal modifications Jessie and James had made to the balloon (why wouldn't they?) caused the inflatable Meowth head to fill up so fast and hard that result was instant lift. The gondola rocked hard to one side, throwing everyone to the floor, and James, who just finished sealing the patch, toppled on top of them.

"Ow!"

"They're getting away!"

Hands fell on top of the edge of the gondola, trying to hold it down. Meowth, who was more afraid of being captured than shooting up in an out of control gondola, swiped at the hands with his claws. Giovanni's face appeared in the firelight and grabbed the scruff of his neck, hauling him up into the air. "Now I've got you little pests!"

"James! Jessie! Help!" he shrieked.

Misty leaned back and pulled out a pokeball. "Go, starmie!"

"Psy..."

Misty face faulted. "Psyduck? What are you doing here!"

*pow*pow*pow*

"Ow!" Giovanni cried, dropping Meowth.

*pow*pow*

Now that they were looking, they could see two stones hurtle through the air and strike Giovanni's face, sending him backwards onto the hard dirt. Ash glanced back and saw James on one knee, a slingshot in his hand, loading another stone.

"Wow, you're a great shot!" Brock complimented him.

James grinned and fired again at another Team Rocket member. "I've always been good with this thing."

"There are more of them coming!" Misty yelled.

"Why isn't the balloon taking off?" Ash asked.

Brock peered over the edge. "We're hung up on a tree branch. Hang on!" He jumped over the side and started fighting with the branch.

"Hurry, Brock!"

Ash watched as the rest of Team Rocket approached, all of them followed by their own pokemon. "Pikachu, thundershock!"

"Pikapi!"

"No!" Meowth cried. "You'll set the balloon on fire! The patches are flammable!"

"Then what are we going to do?" Misty wondered.

Finally Brock freed the gondola and jumped in just as it lurched free, knocking everyone to the opposite side. It still didn't take off, though, and when they looked up, they saw it was because there were a dozen Team Rocketers holding it down.

They all screamed.

"Psyduck!"

And poor little Psyduck, crunched in the corner under everyone else, felt his headache flare up into a full blown migraine. Purple light flashing around him, he groaned and pushed.

"Whoa!" The passengers in the gondola were thrown against the other side, while everyone around them were blasted back in a powerful psionic attack, thrown against trees, rocks, and other members. With the sudden burst in the air, the balloon shot up into the sky, gaining so much altitude the nauseous feeling in everyone's stomachs faded but they were left flat on the floor.

"Hey, we're going up!" Ash yelled.

"You did it, Psyduck!" Misty grinned. "Such a good pokemon, even if you are kinda stupid."

"Psy..." his headache fading into a dull throb, Psyduck groaned and obligingly went back into his pokeball for a well deserved nap.

"How far up are we now?" James asked as the balloon started to level off. He moved to Jessie's side and picked her up, cradling her in his arms.

Meowth sighed and started climbing the gondola's weaving. "Well...considering there are three unexpected passengers and the balloon isn't too strong right now..." He peeked over the edge and gasped. "Eek, nosebleed territory!"

"What?" Misty joined him and looked over. "Oh my gosh, we must be miles up in the air!"

"No wonder it's getting cold," Ash said, shivering.

"If we keep going up," Brock said, "we could freeze to death."

"Then we need more weight," James said.

Meowth nodded. "Yeah, let some of your pokemon out."

"Um...okay." Ash opened one ball and let Bulbasaur out to join Pikachu. Beside them, Brock released geodude and vulpix.

"Okay, now starmie," Misty sighed, and her familiar water pokemon came out.

"I think that's good," Meowth said as the balloon dipped.

"Just kinda crowded," James sighed.

Now that the shock was beginning to wear off, they slumped in the corners, their pokemon hopping on their laps. Meowth curled up next to James and drifted off to sleep. When James glanced at the other passengers, he sighed.

"Everyone else is asleep, and I'm all wound up. This is going to be a long flight..."

Back down in the forest, Officer Jenny spotted several bits of torn, black clothing in her flashlight's beam, but no one was around anymore. When she looked up, though, she saw a yellowish hot air balloon glowing in the early morning sky. "They made it," she smiled. Heading back to the Pokecenter, she hoped the Viridian chief wouldn't be too upset when she called this early.