Inner Strength part 13

Ash splashed some more water on Pikachu. Mr. Mime had left to get some more soap, so they used the time to have a little water war.
“Ah! You got me!” Ash said playfully as another splash of water was sent to his face. “How’s this?” This time, he got revenge on Pikachu with a huge wave of water towards his Pokemon friend.
Pikachu laughed as the water hit his face and sent some more over to Ash again. They played with each other in their bath for what seamed like hours, splashing, spraying, and swimming.
However, when Ash was getting ready to send another wave of water towards Pikachu, he paused. His new, better Pikachu ears where twitching at an unfamiliar noise. Pikachu heard it too and stopped playing.
To their left, there were some bushes and trees that made a small forest. Some of the trees started moving, but it defiantly wasn’t from the wind.
Both friends stood still in the inflatable pool, listening and waiting.
Then, out of the forest, came out a giant, white robot with a huge “R” across its chest.
“Team Rocket!” shouted Ash in anger.
The robot had two thick arms with a claw at the end of each arm. The legs where thick with metal and looked unbreakable.
At the top of the robot was a transparent dome, revealing Jessie, James, and Meowth. Jessie and Meowth sat in the back while James sat more in the front of the dome.
“That’s right!” said Jessie out of a speaker from the robot. “Now, prepare for trouble!”
“And make tha-”
“Do you always have to do that stupid moto every time we meet?” shouted Ash. It really did get annoying after awhile.
“Well, you don’t have to be rude about it!” shouted Jessie. “Get them!”
Both of the robot’s giant arms reached down to Ash and Pikachu and grabbed them, holding them with amazing strength, and raised them up off the ground. Ash and Pikachu both tried to squeeze and struggle out, but the robot was too strong.
“Agh. Pikachu! Thundershock!” commanded Ash to his Pokemon friend.
Pikachu stopped trying to struggle out of the robot’s hands and released a blot of thunder out from his body and into the robot’s.
The electricity erupted out of Pikachu’s body and swarmed into the robot.
Yellow streaks of static and thunder flowed through the robot, but didn’t have any effect on it.
“Ha, ha, ha! That little trick won’t work this time, you little brat,” said Jessie, happily from inside the robot.
“Yep, that’s right! The metal that this robot is made out of is covered with a thin layer of unbreakable plastic!” said Meowth, boastfully. “I could say the scientific word, but I can’t pronounce it.”
“Ha, ha! We’ve got them now, Jessie!” said James, holding two joysticks in front of his seat.
Ash tried to squirm free again, but the robot’s clutch was still just too strong. He looked around, no one was outside and Mr. Mime still hasn’t gotten back from getting the soap. He had to get everyone out here! But how?
<Noise.>
Ash looked around him. That voice sounded like someone was right next to his ear and whispered it. Pikachu was too busy trying to squirm out of the robot’s claws to be able to talk vocally or telepathically.
No time to think about it. If he could make enough noise, maybe everyone inside could hear him and come out.
“May! Brock! Max! Mom! Somebody come out here!” shouted Ash.
Pikachu found out what his trainer was trying to do, so he started shouting himself, trying to get anyone’s attention. But, as they were shouting, a clear glass came out of the robots claws and covered them up.
“Don’t bother. They can’t hear you with these over you,” said Jessie and started laughing.
Ash looked at the glass now covering him. Glass isn’t an conductor of electricity, so another thundershock wouldn’t work.
<Come on, Ash. Think, think!> He told himself.
He reached his paw out and touched the glass.
He can reach it! Ash pulled back a clenched fist and slammed it into the glass, shattering it into pieces. The shattered glass landed on the ground and even on the house, banging on the windows and walls.
Pikachu saw what his trainer did and scratched his claws on the glass covering him until it, too, broke into shatters.
“James! You said that you made those out of plastic!” said Jessie.
“I thought that you told me to get glass,” said James, looking away from Jessie’s angry eyes.
All of the noise and shattered glass banging on the house made everyone inside curious and worried, so everyone hurried outside.
Soon enough, May, Brock, Max, and Ash’s mother came running outside and saw Team Rocket and their robot.
“Team Rocket! What are they doing here?” said Max.
“They have Ash and Pikachu!” said May in terror.
Ash’s mother gasped in shock and worry, covering her mouth with her hands.
Team Rocket, up in their robot, could hear what the “twerps” were saying.
“Did they say ‘Ash and Pikachu’?” asked James.
Jessie and Meowth pondered for a little bit, then looked at the two Pikachus they had in their robot’s grasp. Indeed the second one with the all-too-familiar hat did look just like that twerp named Ash.
“Ash is a Pikachu?!” asked Meowth, both shocked and amazed.
“I just thought that they caught another Pikachu. I didn’t even consider this! All though, it does explain a few things,” said Jessie.
The Team looked at each other, then shrugged.
“Hey! Imagine what Team Rocket could learn with that! If we catch that twerp that’s now a Pikachu, and complete our mission, Giovanni will be so pleased with us, he might give us an even bigger promotion!” said James.
Jessie pondered it, then nodded her head with a smile.
“Yeah! I bet he will go high-over-heels with this twerp! Now, Meowth, pull them in!”
“With pleasure!” said Meowth while about to press a button, but James came running over and stopped him.
“Meowth, you always get to push the buttons. Could I push one this time?” he asked.
Meowth was surprised and slightly confused.
“Why?”
“Because I have never pressed a button and I want to know how it feels,” said James with an excited face.
Meowth gave him an odd look. A look that said, “Are you okay?” But, he stepped to the side and let James press his button. James jumped for joy and placed his finger on a button.
“NO! Not that one!” shouted Meowth, but was too late.
James pressed the button and gave a shrill of excitement.
Around them, with the speakers that were built inside the robot, a recorded voice came.
“Self-destruct has now been activated. Self-destruct will begin in ten seconds.”
“James! What button did you press?” shouted Jessie.
James looked at the button that he pressed. The words DO NOT PRESS were written in big, bold letters across the button.
“Oops.” That was all James could think of to say.
“Eight seconds.”
“Oops?! James, we had them! WE HAD THEM!” shouted Jessie in anger.
“Six seconds.”
“I’m sorry, Jessie. I just thought that since we were going to win, I could press a button for once in my life,” explained James, but wasn’t successful in calming down Jessie.
“Four seconds.”
“You just had to press a button this time, James? And now look what happened!” said Meowth.
“Two seconds.”
“I’m really sorry guys.”
“‘Sorry’ isn’t going to help us now! When this is over, I don’t ever want to see you again!”
“One second.”
“But, Jessie! It was only a-”
“Shut it!” She slapped him hard across his cheek, making sure that it hurt. “From now on, you are no longer a member of Team Rocket!”
“Self-destruct will now terminate. Good bye.”

May got out her Poke ball.
“Come on, Combusken! We have to help Ash!” she shouted and threw out her Poke ball, releasing a red beam of light that turned into her Combusken.
Brock got out one of his Poke balls and got ready to throw it.
“Come on out-” started Brock, but didn’t need to for Team Rocket’s robot burst into flames and exploded.
The explosion flung Jessie and Meowth into the air, sending them flying, but sent James, Pikachu, and Ash straight to the ground near everyone else, making them “oof” on impact.
The sudden change to their advantaged made everyone stand still with shock.
The only thing Brock could say was, “Huh?”
“What just happened? Just a second ago, you were trapped with Team Rocket, then we beat them without even trying,” said May, withdrawing her Pokemon back into her Poke ball.
“I’m just as confused as you are, May,” said Ash, trying to get back up.
When Pikachu finally got back to his feet, he noticed that James was right next to them. He immediately braced himself and got ready to release another thunderbolt.
James got into a small coughing fit as he tried to get bkac up, which caught everyone’s attention. Soon, everyone got into attack mode when they realized that James was with them.
Apparently, James didn’t even know that he was with the twerps, for when he got back to his feet and saw them, he flinched and staggered backwards.
Out of desperation, James quickly grabbed his Poke Ball and threw it.
“Go, Cacnea!” he shouted as the Poke Ball opened and released the Pokemon inside.
As soon as the Pokemon came out, Pikachu released his thunderbolt and slammed it on James’ Pokemon. The creature didn’t even have a chance to defend itself and fell to the ground, knocked out.
James stood there, mouth open and awestruck. He didn’t know what to do next. Jessie and Meowth weren’t here to back him up, and he didn’t have an escape plan.
Well . . . there was one escape plan. . .
“Cacnea, return!” James thrust his hand out with the Poke ball and returned the Cacnea. After that, he quickly spun around and ran like hell was loose, screaming at the top of his lungs, “AH! HELP!”
James tried to run all the way back into the forest, but that twerp that was turned into a Pikachu appeared right in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. Then, the twerp jumped up and slammed his tail right into James’ face.
The ex-Team Rocket member fell to the ground, knocked out just like his Pokemon.

“Okay, does anyone have any idea what to do with him?” asked Ash.
“He is a part of Team Rocket. I say we put him in jail were he belongs!” said May.
“No! We can’t do that, May,” said Max. “Remember? The police are after us too.”
May was about to object, but couldn’t find anything to back it up and closed her mouth.
They were back inside Ash’s house. After Ash had stopped one of the Team Rocket members from escaping, they got some rope from Ash’s mom and tied him up.
They placed him in a corner of the house, away from them, and were now discussing what exactly to do with him.
“I say that we keep him here and keep a close eye on him. Maybe we could even get some information out of him about Team Rocket,” said Max.
“Why would we want to do that? Right now, we’re more worried about Team Aqua than any of the other organizations,” said May.
“No, Max is right. I have a feeling that Team Rocket is somehow connected to all of this,” said Brock.
“How?” asked Ash. “How could Team Rocket be tied into Team Aqua’s affaires?”
Brock shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t know, I just have this feeling inside me,” said Brock. “Just please, guys. Lets just keep him for a little bit and try to get some answers out of him. If my hunch is correct, then maybe we could find a way to beat Team Aqua.”
Ash thought about it. Everyone thought about it. This was the first time that they have ever captured anyone from Team Rocket.
<Well, I don’t know about “captured”,> thought Ash. He turned to Pikachu.
“What do you think, Pikachu?”
Pikachu looked at his trainer. In any other day, he would have been looking up to see his trainer’s face, but since Ash is his size now, he doesn’t have to do that.
“I don’t know, Ash. I just don’t trust him at all and don’t want to take any risks with him around,” he said while eyeing James, remembering all of those times that he had tried to steal him and take him away from his best friend.
James woke up awhile earlier, noticing his arms and legs tied up in strong knots. He started watching the twerps talk about what to do to him, waiting for something to happen to him.
He looked down at his ropes and check again my pulling his arms and legs apart.
Still tight as ever. No way from him to get out without any help.
James sighed. The twerps were still huddled on the other side, still talking about him. He strained his ears, but couldn’t make out any words they were saying.
But, by the tone in their voices, he could tell that they still didn’t exactly want him. He sighed again. Looks like he needs to get some of their trust if this is going to work.

Jessie sat back up and looked around. It seems that she and Meowth landed in the middle of a forest. The ground that they were now sitting on was very soft and fertile.
After seeing that she was all dirty, Jessie started dusting herself off from all of the dirt that now covered her.
“You think it worked?” asked Meowth, attempting to stand up from such a fall.
“It had better, otherwise I am going to get James for this. He’s probably sitting in the AC and filling himself up with food by now!” Jessie pictured James stuffing his face with an endless supply of delicious food.
The more she thought about him doing that, the more she actually got mad and annoyed at him.
“If this doesn’t work . . . oh, I’ll show him!” promised Jessie.
“As if you already haven’t?” mumbled Meowth.
Jessie heard his remark and slapped him over the head with the back of her hand, sending his face straight back the ground and filling his mouth with dirt.
“Would you rather want me to show you first, or James?” asked Jessie.
Meowth tried to say something, but the only thing that came out was a groan of pain with his dirt filled mouth.
“I’ll take that as a ‘James first’.”
Jessie looked away from Meowth and pulled out a small black screen from her pocket. As Meowth got back to his feet, she turned the screen on.
Three red dots started blinking along with green lines of latitude and longitude. Two of the red dots where close together while the third was farther away, by itself.
“Looks like we weren’t blasted off too far away. James is only a couple miles from here,” said Jessie.
Meowth spit out some of the dirt and turned to Jessie.
“Wait, where did you get that?” asked Meowth, pointing at Jessie’s screen.
Jessie put the small screen back into her pocket before answering.
“Before we brought the robot over to the twerps, I was able to take out a few parts and make this tracker.”
“But how are you able to track James?” asked Meowth.
“I put a tracking chip in his hair, along with you and me.”
“You put one in me?” Meowth started feeling around in his hair, checking his tail, his legs, his arms, and his head.
“Don’t bother, Meowth. It’s too small for you to see even if you did find it.”
After hearing that, Meowth stopped looking for the chip, for a new question came to him.
“But, Jessie? How could you have made a chip that small and that fast?” asked Meowth.
Jessie stood up and dusted her legs off.
“What do you think I do to entertain myself on those long balloon floats or those long walks? Stare at the horizon? Wonder what it would’ve been like to have actually catch a Pokemon?”
She finished dusting herself and started walking out of the forest. Meowth followed her while still considering what she said.
“Ya’ know, Meowth, I was wondering something,” said Jessie.
“What’s that?”
“How did you make it to where James would fly towards the twerps instead of with us?”
Meowth chuckled at hearing Jessie amazed voice at his creation.
“It was very simple actually,” started Meowth. “The button that James pressed was right on top of where the explosion started. So, when I backed away from the button, I was farther away and closer to you. Plus, the floor that we stood on was actually angled away from the twerps, but the side of the button that James stood on was angled towards the twerps. That way, we would blast off away from the twerps while James blast off towards them.”
“Just like we planned,” muttered Jessie.

“Okay, we could do that, but we don’t have a lie detector!” said Max, annoyed at his sister’s suggestion.
“Sorry, just a thought,” said May at hearing her brother’s annoyed voice.
Ash walked away from the group. It was obvious that this was getting nowhere.
He started wondering what the Professor was doing and went to the phone.
“Please wait while your party is reached,” said the computerized voice when Ash dailed the number.
He waited through elevator music that was played while “his party was being reached”. Soon, the music stopped and the screen showed Prof. Oak at his desk.
But he wasn’t just at his desk. His desk was filled with papers, notes, folders, and scrolls, but it was his body that Ash was looking at. The professor had his face berried in the papers, asleep. Ash could even hear the professor snoring.
“Prof. Oak?” said Ash.
The sleeping professor mumbled something in his sleep, but didn’t awake.
“Professor!” shouted Ash.
Oak awoke with a start and started fumbling with his papers, expecting that something was happening to him.
Soon, he calmed down and saw that Ash was on his phone.
“Oh, it’s just you Ash,” he said.
“Sorry to wake you Professor,” apologized Ash.
“No, no. No need to apologize, Ash. I needed to wake up anyway.”
Oak let out a long yawn and smacked his lips.
“Why are you so tired?” asked Ash.
Oak looked behind him and at his desk filled with papers.
“I’ve been looking for something to help us with Team Aqua’s base. I’ve gotten every kind of blue prints known to man, but I can’t figure out which ones are the right ones or if any of them are right at all.” He let out another yawn and looked at his watch. “It seems that I have been working for over twenty-three hours.”
“You’ve been working that long?” asked Ash, surprised. “Did you find anything? Anything at all?”
“I’m afraid not, Ash.”
“What about the antidote to change me back?”
Oak turned back to face Ash on the telephone screen. Ash could see the professor’s eyes were almost completely covered with yellow and purple spots where there was supposed to be white.
“I’m sorry, Ash. I have been trying to get that as well. In fact, I have almost everything, but I need something strong enough.”
Ash was confused. The professor must be so sleepy that he forgot to explain everything.
“What do you mean, ‘not strong enough’?” asked Ash.
“The antidote is ready, but whenever I try it on your blood, it gives away, as if it’s too weak to fully work. I need something that will not mess up the antidote and have enough power to make it work,” explained Oak.
Ash sighed and thanked the professor, then turned off the phone.
He needed some time to himself for a little bit.
He walked over to his old room, the room that he had grown up in and dreamed of becoming the best trainer the world would have ever known.
All those dreams.
All those wishes.
Ash looked at his hands. His paws, now.
“What is it that you want from this world?”
Those words popped back into his head. Was it this dream that started all of this? Was it the want to be the best that made him get into this mess?
No. It probably would’ve happened no matter what he said.
Then again, maybe it was a good thing that this happened.
Ash climbed up onto his old bed and laid down on it, remembering all of the times he had slept on it and felt its warmth.
Maybe if this didn’t have happened, he would’ve never known what happened to Misty and would have never have met Misty II.
Ash turned to his side. Misty II. It seems like it has been years since he had last seen her.
Did she live? Could she possibly still be alive?
Is she dead?
Ash sat up in his bed and tried to think of something else beside death.
<Come on! Cheer up! I’m sure that she’s just fine, thought Ash to himself. You’re probably overreacting.>
Ash tried to continue calming himself down, but didn’t need to for Pikachu walk into his room.
“So . . . this is your room,” he said in his Pokemon tongue.
Ash jumped off of his bed and landed next to Pikachu.
“Yeah. It’s not much, but this is where I used to live before I met you,” said Ash.
Pikachu smiled and walked around, looking at his trainer’s stuff in his room and examining everything.
When Pikachu came by a stuff toy Pikachu, he stopped and looked closely at it.
“Is this me?” he asked.
Ash chuckled and walked over to the toy.
“No, it’s just a toy that I asked for when I was four.” Ash looked at it, dusted it off a little, then placed it back to where it stood before. “I thought that since I wasn’t old enough to collect real Pokemon, then maybe I could get the toy versions.”
Pikachu looked at the toy, then looked around at all of the other toy Pokemon in the room.
Then Pikachu started to laugh.
“What’s so funny?” asked Ash.
“It’s just.” Pikachu had to calm himself down from his laughing fit to answer. “It’s just that it seems funny that you where so obsessed with us. Are all humans like this when they’re young?”
“I wasn’t obsessed! I was just . . . I was just a little kid. I didn’t know any better!” objected Ash.
“Right,” said Pikachu.
Ash wanted to say something else, but couldn’t think of anything and closed his mouth.
Pikachu continued looking around the room. He looked at the bed, in the closet, on the cabinets, everywhere. Ash followed his friend closely, just to see how curious his little partner is.
Pikachu found a small desk with a chair and thought about exploring that as well. He jumped on top of the chair, then jumped on the desk. Ash followed closely behind.
When both Pikachu and Ash got on the desk, they found a book laying on its side. Pikachu walked over to it and picked it up. The words “Ash’s Journal” were written across the cover.
“You had a journal?” asked Pikachu.
Ash looked at the book, making sure that it was his.
“I don’t remember ever having a journal,” he said.
“You don’t? Then who’s could this be?” asked Pikachu.
“Your guess would probably be as good as mine,” said Ash.
Pikachu was confused that his trainer couldn’t remember something like this. He handed it to Ash and he opened it. Ash read the first page out loud so that Pikachu could hear.
“Monday. Dear Journal, today me and Gary got into a fight again. He said that just because his grandpa had a real Squirtle that he was better than me with Pokemon. I tried to tell him that I knew a lot about Pokemon, but he wouldn’t listen.
We argued and argued for hours until his mom told him it was dinner time.”
The rest just told about what he ate for dinner, so Ash skipped it and flipped the page.
The next page just told about how Ash got a new Pokemon toy to add to his collection, so he skipped that page as well.
Ash eventually just skipped all of the pages and went to the last page of “his” journal.
“Friday. Dear Journal, only two more days until I finally get to go on my quest to become the best Pokemon trainer the world has ever known. I so excited that I can’t sleep! I still haven’t decided which starter Pokemon to pick. Maybe Bulbasaur, because grass types have a good defensive advantage to them.”
Pikachu gave Ash a look. Ash just chuckled and continued reading.
“Then again, Charmander, the fire type, has great aggressive moves. Good for taking opponents out quickly.”
Pikachu gave Ash another look. Ash shook his head and continued reading again.
“However, Squirtle is a very balanced Pokemon, so having a water type might not be a bad idea.”
“And you never even considered me,” said Pikachu, giving Ash another look.
Ash looked up from the journal and at Pikachu.
“Look, I’m sorry Pikachu, but this was before I knew that I could’ve picked you. At this time, I thought that I had to choose between these three,” said Ash.
Pikachu dismissed it and Ash kept reading.
“But that’s not why I’m writing this,” read Ash. This caught Pikachu’s attention.
“When I was outside today, I thought that I could take a walk around the river and think about which Pokemon to pick. I always liked to go there, the water clams me and helps me think.
Anyway, when I got to the river, a giant flash of blue light came out of the water and blinded me for a couple seconds. When the light faded away and I was able to see again, a guy with blue clothes appeared next to the river, holding some rolled up papers.”
Ash stopped and looked at Pikachu.
“Team Aqua?” asked Ash to his friend. Pikachu shrugged his shoulders.
“The man walked quickly over to some bushes and . . . went to the bathroom?”
Ash gave a questioned look at Pikachu, as if asking him if he read it right. Pikachu (once again) shrugged his shoulders.
“When the man was done doing his business, a whole nest of Beedrill came out of the bushes and attacked him. I guess that the man accidently ‘went’ on the Beedrill without knowing it.
The man tried to run away, but the Beedrill were already all over him and made him drop the papers. The man tried swatting them away, but that just made them mad, so he ran over to the river and jumped in. Another bright flash of blue light came and frightened the Beedrill away.
After all of the Beedrill had gone, I went and picked up the dropped papers the man had dropped. I stored them in my box underneath my bed so no one will find them.
I haven’t told anyone about this except this journal, not even Mom knows about this. It makes me feel more like an adult and more responsible to have my own secret.”
When Ash was done reading, Pikachu jumped off of the desk and landed next to the bed. As Ash closed the journal and followed, Pikachu crawled underneath the bed and searched for the box.
Soon Pikachu came crawling out of the bed with a big, black, metal box. It had a silver lock hanging in the middle of it on the locking part.
“Locked,” said Pikachu.
Ash pulled the bottom of the lock up and showed that it was a combination lock. There were three rows of dials, all filled with ten different numbers each.
Ash didn’t remember ever having this box. He didn’t even remember ever having a journal, and yet, here they are, both saying that they belong to him.
“Open it,” said Pikachu.
“What?” asked Ash.
“Open it. It’s your box, you should know the combination.”
“Maybe I should, but I don’t remember any of this. I never even knew that I had a box under my bed. How should I know the combination?”
<3-7-2.> Those numbers just appeared in Ash’s head, almost as if someone was saying them right next to his ear.
Ash got the lock and tried the numbers that appeared in his head.
The lock opened.
“I thought you said that you didn’t know that combination,” said Pikachu.
“I didn’t,” said Ash and opened the box.
In the box, laying on the very bottom, were some papers. Ash pull the papers out of the box and showed them to Pikachu while looking at them himself.
It was filled with shapes, numbers, mathematical equations, lines, and angles everywhere around some sort of dome.
Ash gasped.
They were the blue prints of the Team Aqua’s base.