Poke-Odyssey 2001 chapter 23 Rocket Vs. Rockets In our last chapter, Cameron had just won a Peak Badge from the seventh gym leader. Now they had just made it down to the other side of Mt. Mustard on their trusty, but rented, Stantlers. It was there they met an old woman who seemed to be waiting for them. "It's about time to youngsters got here", said the woman in a cranky voice. "If you'd taken your sweet time some more, I would've been meeting St. Peter by now!" "Hey, you're that same woman we met on the other side of this mountain!" said Ash. "How did you get way over here?" "I've never seen any of you before in my entire life", groaned the woman. "But I do recognize these little cuties!" And she approached the Stantlers who were cuddling up against the woman making soft cooing sounds. "My twin sister's always sending travelers over here with our Stantlers." Said the woman. "Then I come and claim my babies and take them back to my sis the very next day." "Twin sisters?" asked Misty. "It's just like how all the Jennies and Joys have sisters or cousins that look exactly alike", said Cameron. "Only the girls in my family are the cute ones", laughed the old woman as she looked at herself in a hand mirror, then it cracked. "Now can any Jenny or Joy do this to a mirror?" she asked proudly. "No, and thank goodness", thought Cameron not really liking the idea of being adopted by her. "That'll be $50 for the rental of the Stantlers please", said the woman. Cameron handed the woman his Pokedex and she slid it through a credit card machine and handed it back to him. Then she gathered all the Stantlers' reins and walked off with them. "I'm gonna miss those cute little deer", sighed Misty. "Yes, like the baby Spearow that leaves its mother's nest. I feel the same way", sighed Reiko. "At least they helped us get up that tall mountain", said Cameron. "For a fair price." "Wait a minute Cameron", said Tracey. "Didn't we already pay that first old woman for the Stantlers?" "Yeah, we did!" gasped Cameron. Just then, he heard some cackling. "HA, HA, HA, HA, SUCKER!" Cameron realized what just happened and ran off to find that swindling sister. But she managed to escape through a hidden door at the foot of the mountain and it closed up, just before Cameron could catch her. "Came-chan, are you all right?" asked Reiko concerned as she caught up with her discouraged boyfriend. "You know", moaned Cameron. "I thought after paying a swindler $500 for a non-rare Magikarp in my Gameboy, I would've become a lot wiser!" "Cheer up Cam", said Ash. "I too didn't have all of my smarts when I first left on my journey." "Since when did you ever?" giggled Misty. "But you still have seven Ryooku badges with you Came-chan", smiled Reiko. "And like the Shellder that makes a Slowbro complete, you just need one more badge to win and you can compete in the Ryooku League and win which I know you will!" "Thank you Moonray", said Cameron feeling a little better. "So why am I moping around like this?! I'll probably get more currency once I defeat the eighth gym leader as well as those guys in the Ryooku League!" "Now that's the Cameron Fusterman I know", said Ash proudly. "So where's the last Ryooku gym located Tracey?" asked Cameron. "Way over there", said Tracey pointing south to something that was stuck in the ground. "That looks like a huge meteorite!" said Cameron. "Huge?!" gasped Misty. "That thing's almost as big as a town!" "That's because it was once a town", said Tracey sadly. "What happened to it?" asked a shocked Ash. "Many years ago, that there used to be called Relish Town", explained Tracey. "Home of the final Ryooku gym. Until the day a huge meteorite crash landed destroying every bit of the entire town, including the gym." "Even the citizens?" asked Reiko. "Fortunately, no", said Tracey. "Luckily, a scientist from a nearby observatory saw the meteorite approaching so he warned the town and got every citizen to evacuate just in time." "What a sad story", said Misty. "But like the Digletts that escape a collapsing tunnel in the nick of time, I am truly relieved that the citizens did escape", sighed Reiko. "Too bad the eighth gym is gone forever", sighed Cameron. "Now how am I going to win my last badge?" Just then, an elevator slowly started to open at the foot of the meteorite. Everyone stepped back in fear as white smoke came out and a creature emerged. It was wearing a blue jumpsuit along with a white space helmet. "It's an alien!" cried Misty. "Take me to your gym leader!" said the creature in a staticky voice. "Uh, we don't know where he is!" said Ash nervously. "You can thank your oversized spaceship!" said Misty in an angry, but still shaking, voice. "It chased everyone away, including the gym leader!" "Actually, he's closer than you think", said the creature as he started laughing. Everyone look puzzled as the creature started to take off his helmet. Misty covered her eyes wondering if this spaceman had a slime-covered face or a fang-toothed face, or even worse, a Psyduck face! But then Misty became relieved as well as everyone else when they saw who they were looking at. It was a middle aged human man with a blonde buzzcut, a muscled jaw, and shiny white teeth. "Sorry about that everyone", laughed the man now speaking in an all-American accent. "I can never resist doing that to trainers!" "Are you the gym leader?" gasped Cameron. "As sure as there's a vast universe out there to explore!" said the man proudly. "My name's Neil." "Hi, my name is Cameron", said Cameron shaking hands with Neil. "And I've come here to challenge you for a badge." "Came-chan", scolded Reiko. "Do you not remember that his gym was destroyed by that meteorite?!" "No problem little lady", laughed Neil. "The gym maybe gone, but the gym leader's still alive and kicking!" and he picked up a piece of meteorite, tossed it up in the air, and kicked it to rubble with his boot. "That's so cool!" said Cameron amazed. "I'm sorry that your gym got destroyed as well as this town." "It's all water under the bridge", said Neil. "No, make that a hot fire ball under the town. At first, I was devastated to see my glorious hometown of Relish get destroyed. But I was thankful that all the townspeople got out safely. They all left this site and went off to start over in other towns and cities. I decided to stay here, because even though Relish Town is sadly gone forever, the final Ryooku gym must live on! And I'm here to take you to it." "Where exactly is it?" asked Tracey. "Right here", smiled Neil as he took out a remote control and pushed a button. The same door on the meteorite opened up and he invited everyone to step inside. "You mean your gym is inside that meteorite?" gasped Cameron as he and the others stepped inside a small room. "No, this is just an elevator I had installed", smiled Neil. "It's going to take us to the top of the meteorite." "Oh, you mean your gym is on top of it", said Ash. "We'll see", said Neil in a smiling voice as he closed the door with his remote. Unaware that three fiendish familiar faces were watching them. "Did you see that?" gasped Meowth. "They just went inside that huge rock like it was some kind of secret base!" "Maybe they're doing top secret stuff in there", said James imagining all the hot, juicy, things two couples might do in a closed up joint like that. "Who cares what they're doing in there?!" said Jessie wickedly. "What's important is that we now have those bothersome twerps right where we want them! Now, the only question is how do we do away with them?" "We could blow up the entire rock along with the twerps", laughed Meowth. "Good plan Meowth", said Jessie. "But one tiny flaw just like the size of your brain. We're all out of explosives!" "No prob Jess", laughed Meowth. "I'll just plant my Voltorbs all over that rock." "Since when did you ever catch any Voltorbs?" asked a surprised Jessie. "And I thought Pokemon weren't allowed to carry any Pokemon with them", said James. "Elementary my dear James", smiled Meowth as he reached into his fur and took out a small box marked, Instant Voltorbs." "You mean Voltorbs come in instant?" gasped James. "I wonder if Koffings come in the same deal?" "These ain't real Voltorbs", said Meowth. "These are only artificial ones. Once these babies explode, you'll never see them again." "Where did you get those?" asked James. "I sent away for them from a villain's catalog", said Meowth as he handed James a catalog. "Oooooh!" smiled James with wide eyes. "They're having a sale on villain's black capes and top hats. It includes a free handlebar mustache." "Give me that!" growled an annoyed Jessie as she snatched the catalog from James. "I didn't know you wanted a mustache that bad", said James. Jessie just whacked James on the head with the rolled up catalog. "We're wasting time here!" shouted Jessie. "Meowth, start planting those bombs so we can blow those twerps out of our lives!" "Righteeo!" said Meowth as he skipped around the meteorite dropping little specks on the ground and squirting water on each one with a Squirtlebottle until they grew into sparking little Voltorbs. * * * * * * The elevator had just reached the top of the meteorite and Neil and our heroes just stepped onto it. "Wow, this looks like some kind of shuttle launch site!" said an awestruck Cameron. "All you need is something to launch", said Ash. "Oh, I got something", smiled Neil as he pushed another button on his remote. A hole suddenly opened from the center of the site and out emerged something big and tall. "It's a rocket!" gasped Misty. "Rocket?! WHERE?!!" growled Reiko as she took out her katanas looking around cautiously. "No Moonray", said Cameron. "Not the evil Rockets, that rocket behind you." Reiko turned around and looked amazed at the huge rocket ship that was standing in the center of the launch site. "That would definitely put my former Rocket family to shame", said Reiko. "I'd like to introduce all of you to Moltres 13", said Neil as he patted the rocket's side. "The fastest rocket in the entire world." "Funny, the words rocket and fast don't seem to fit in the same sentence", said Ash. "I've heard of Moltres 13", said Tracey as he started sketching it. "Only a few lucky people get a chance to go into space in that cool rocket." "And the words cool and rocket don't seem to fit neither", said Misty. "That's because only trainers that have earned seven Ryooku badges can board it", said Neil. "Do you have seven badges with you Cameron?" "Right here", said Cameron as he opened up a little compartment in his Pokedex and showed Neil all the badges he had won. "Very good", smiled Neil. "Hardly any trainers have ever made it this far. Well then, let's get on board." And he pushed yet another button on his remote control and a door on the rocket opened and an escalator popped out. "You mean we get to go into outer space?" gasped Ash. "That sounds so romantic!" sighed Misty as she grabbed onto Ash's arm. "I agree Misty-chan", sighed Reiko as she looked lovingly at her Came-chan then looked sourly at Growlithe just waiting to growl her back. "Wait a minute", said Cameron. "Don't I have to challenge you for a badge first?" "Spoilsport", groaned both Misty and Reiko as their romantic visions shattered. "To do that, I'll have to take you to my gym first", said Neil as he pointed to the sky. "You mean your gym is on another planet?!" gasped Cameron. "Not really", laughed Neil. "It's on a floating space station. The galaxy is my habitat for Pokemon battling." "An outer space Pokemon battle?!" asked Ash. "That's probably a little too much for even this champion!" "I wonder what kind of Pokemon are made to battle in space?" asked Tracey. "You'll just have to come with me to find out", smiled Neil as he stepped onto the escalator while everyone followed him. "Did you hear that Sandy?" Cameron asked while he was riding the escalator while holding his Sandshrew. "We're going into outer space. What do you think of that?" "Shrew!" said Sandy shaking for this ground-type didn't really like the thought of leaving his Earth home. Once they were all inside the rocket, Neil showed them around the ship. "This here is the ship's engine", said Neil as he pointed to a reactor that looked like it contained some strange glowing rocks and glowing lizard scales. "What are those glowing things?" asked Ash. "Those are called King's Rocks and dragon scales", said Neil. "They're the fastest and safest source of rocket fuel around." "You mean you rip the scales off poor innocent dragon Pokemon just to power your rocket?!" cried Misty. Scaleon's Pokeball tried to shake itself open when she heard what Misty had just said while Cameron tried to keep the ball closed. "Don't worry Misty", laughed Neil. "I only use old shedded dragon scales. I'd never skin or harm any noble dragon." Scaleon's Pokeball suddenly calmed down once she heard what this noble human had said. * * * * * * "Is everyone buckled up?" called out Neil who was sitting in the pilot's seat while everyone else were seated in comfy seats while Ash, Cameron, and Reiko were holding Pikachu, Sandy, and Growlithe in their arms. "Yep, we're ready", said Ash. "Are we ready to blast off?" "No, not yet", said Neil as he took out a Pokeball. "I'll need my trusty navigator first." He released what looked like a small shiny robot parrot onto the control deck. "Porygon!" it said in a computer sounding voice. "Is that a Porygon?" asked Cameron. "But it looks different from the Porygon I remember seeing", said Ash. "Actually this is the upgraded version, Porygon 2", said Neil proudly. "You kids should really keep up with the times." "We were trapped behind an electric wall during those times", grumbled Misty. "And I was trapped in a psycho's head", sighed Ash. "And I just came to this world a couple of years ago", said Cameron as he aimed his Dex at the new upgraded Porygon. "PORYGON 2: the virtual Pokemon", replied Dextra. "This advanced and upgraded version of Porygon is designed for space exploration. It can't fly though." "Though it can't fly, it can still navigate mighty good", said Neil. "Show'em #2." The Porygon 2 complied by opening up its beak and extending a cord that inserted itself into a slot on the control deck. The lights on the deck started to blink and a bunch of zeroes and ones appeared on the computer screen. "Coordinates are set", said Neil as he grabbed onto the controls. "Blast off will begin in sixty seconds!" "I can hardly wait", said Cameron anxiously, but nervously for he had never in his life dreamed that he'd be going into outer space. * * * * * * Back on the ground, Meowth had finished planting all of his Voltorbs around the meteorite while all the Voltorbs started sparking like mad just waiting to explode. "It almost looks like a Christmas tree with those pretty glowing balls", smiled James. "Christmas may not come early for those twerps!" cackled Jessie. "But doomsday will!" "Let's get behind that hill", said Meowth. "I've set those Voltorbs to go BOOM in exactly one minute!" They all rushed behind the hill, closed their eyes, and covered their ears counting down to the explosion. However, the Voltorbs started to roll away from the meteorite and were heading for the direction of the Rockets who had their eyes and ears still closed unaware that they were being surrounded. "BOOOM!" Neil's rocket suddenly blasted off into the sky. "WE DID IT!" shouted the Rockets happily thinking that the boom came from the Voltorbs. "We finally got our revenge on those twerps!" laughed Jessie while jumping around. "Now I can sleep a happy woman!" "How come that meteorite's still standing?" asked James as he pointed to the same meteorite that wasn't damaged one bit. "WHAT?!!" growled Jessie as she grabbed Meowth by the throat. "MEOWTH!" she growled. "Those Voltorbs you got were duds you dud!" "Hey, the catalog said they would work guaranteed!" cried Meowth as he took out his stopwatch. "Besides, the minute isn't up yet! Those Voltorbs still have 10 more seconds left!" "You mean like those Voltorbs surrounding us?" gasped James as he pointed to the Voltorbs that were rolling over to the Rockets. "WAAAUGGGH!" cried all the Rockets as the Voltorbs exploded sending them blasting off into the sky. "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" shouted Jessie. "And this time it looks like we've gotten a boost too!" shouted James as he found himself clutching onto something metal. "It's a rocket!" gasped Jessie and Meowth together who found themselves clutched onto the same rocket as well. "Hey, maybe the Great Spirit of Team Rocket sent us this magical vehicle to save us!" smiled James with sparkly eyes. "There's no great spirit of Team Rocket you bonehead!" growled Jessie as she tried to bop James, but the wind force caused Jessie to bop her own face. "Well, we're lucky this rocket came to us when it did, cause look!" said Meowth as he pointed to the window. Jessie and James looked through it and found their enemies sitting in seats. Cameron started to look through the window just as the Rockets ducked their heads away. "So the twerp thinks he can escape our wrath by going into outer space, eh?" sneered Jessie. "Well, they won't escape our black hole of cunning. HA HA HA HA!" she cackled, but then she started to cough and hack. "We're losing air!" cried James as he started gasping as well. "Quick guys, in here!" coughed Meowth as he managed to find the door to the ship. They all pulled it open, jumped inside, and quickly shut the door. * * * * * * Soon, the rocket had left Earth and was traveling through the stars. "Look at that Pikachu", smiled Ash as he held up Pikachu in front of the window and showed him a totally cosmic sight. "That's our home planet, Earth", said Ash. "Isn't it pretty?" "Pika! Pi!" sighed Pikachu while smiling. "Your world sure is pretty", smiled Cameron looking at the different shaped continents on this particular Earth that was different from his own. "But this is your world now Came-chan", smiled Reiko as she winked at him. Cameron smiled while Sandy felt a little sad that he was leaving his Earth turf for a while, but was also happy seeing how pretty his home world was. "Just look at all that beautiful blue water!" sighed Misty. "And to think, all of my precious water Pokemon came from those seas!" "This is a Pokemon watchers dream come true!" smiled Tracey who was almost too spellbound to sketch anything. "If you think that's neat, then unbuckle your seat belts", smiled Neil as he set the ship on auto-pilot. Everyone unbuckled and started floating around the deck. "I'm actually floating around in a rocket!" smiled Cameron liking this very much. "SHREW!" smiled Sandy for this was the first time he was floating around without having to get wet. "This is so neat!" smiled Tracey. "I'm weightless!" smiled Misty. "My dream has come true!" "This is fun, huh Pikachu?!" said Ash happily as he and Pikachu started to do backstrokes all around the deck. "PIKACHU!" he giggled. "I am like the Wigglytuff that puffs up like a balloon and floats to safety!" sighed Reiko as she swam around while Growlithe did his best to dog-paddle after her. "It's just one of the rewards for getting this far in the Ryooku League", smiled Neil as he leaned back into the air like a hammock. * * * * * * In the engine room, we find Team Rocket also floating around the place bumping into the walls. "I feel like we're in a pinball machine!" whined Meowth. "I feel so great!" said James while floating around happily. "I actually feel light-headed!" "How's that different from the way you normally feel?" asked Meowth. Jessie looked around and found a small round capsule that read, ESCAPE POD, and started to get an idea. "Meowth", she asked. "Do you have any more of those instant Voltorbs left?" "Only a few of them", said Meowth as he opened up the box and let out five floating specs. "Perfect!" said Jessie evily. "I got a plan. All we have to do is plant some Voltorbs on that engine over there. Then we'll get into that escape pod and head back to Earth. And along the way, we get to watch this rocket of goody- goods explode out of our lives forever! HA HA HA HA!" "It's a shame we'll have to destroy something beautiful like a rocket though", sighed James. "Meowth, can you set the Voltorbs to explode in about five minutes?" asked Jessie. "Sure I can", said Meowth as he added water to the specs and they grew into Voltorbs. "But why not a much sooner time like a minute or two?" asked Meowth as he set the timers on each Voltorb. "I want us away from this ship before it blows up on us!" growled Jessie as she opened the escape pod's hatch and stepped in while James followed her. "I don't want the same disaster that happened to us a minute ago happen again", she continued. "Now hurry!" "All right kids", said Meowth as he placed the last Voltorb near the ship's engine. "Now you be good little balls and don't follow me!" And he went into the pod and closed the door. "Okay boys", said Jessie. "Let's blow this ship before it blows itself! Start 'er up!" "Jessie", asked James. "Where is the start button?" "It's right on the control deck dummy", groaned Jessie. "What control deck?" asked Meowth nervously. They looked around and discovered that there was no way to start up the escape pod and blast off out of the rocket. "What kind of escape pod doesn't have a way to escape?!" cried Jessie. "A slave labor made pod?" asked James. "I wish I can say it was a blast working with you guys", cried Meowth as all three Rockets held each other in fear as they watched the Voltorbs through the pod's porthole just waiting to explode. * * * * * * Back in the cockpit, a red alarm suddenly started to go off. "What was that?!" gasped Reiko. "We got a red alert!" shouted Neil. "#2, show us the emergency!" "Porygon!" said #2 as it concentrated and showed an image on the computer screen. "It's that engine you showed us earlier!" said Cameron. "And why are there Pokeballs surrounding it?" asked Ash. "Those aren't Pokeballs!" gasped Neil nervously. "They're Voltorbs!" "How did Voltorbs get onboard this rocket?" asked Tracey. "Who cares how they got onboard!" cried Misty. "I only care about if they'll blow up this ship along with us!" "Don't panic everyone", said Neil as he pushed a button and opened up a hatch. "We'll just have to calmly apprehend those Voltorbs before they have a chance to explode." And he swam out of the cockpit while everyone else swam after him. * * * * * * Soon, they had reached the engine room and cautiously floated back hoping not to surprise or scare the self-destructive Voltorbs. "If only we can find some way to get them away from that engine", whispered Neil. "I know", said Ash. "Pikachu, can you lure them over here with your thunderwave?" "Pika!" nodded Pikachu as he released some electric waves that the Voltorbs seemed to like very much. They quickly left the engine and surrounded Pikachu. But a little too tightly though. "PIKA!" he gasped. "Sorry Pikachu", said Ash. "If there was only some way we can catch them without them exploding." "We can put them to sleep", said Tracey. "Trainers usually like to do that to wild Voltorbs so they won't explode before they have a chance to catch them." "I'll just have VP use sleep powder on them", said Cameron as he was about to take out a Pokeball. "No, you can't", said Neil. "The powder could get into the ship's circuitry and damage it like crazy." "How about hypnosis beams?" asked Misty. "No, they won't harm this ship", said Neil. "Good!" smiled Misty as she released her Poliwhirl and ordered it to use its hypnosis powers. Pikachu closed his eyes so he wouldn't get hypnotized while all the Voltorbs suddenly stopped sparking and went to sleep. "Good job Poliwhirl", smiled Misty as she hugged her frog. "You too Mist", smiled Ash. "Thanks to you, these Voltorbs won't be blowing up for a while. Until they wake up that is." "What do we do with them once they wake up?" asked Cameron. "The big question is, how did they get onboard my ship?" wondered Neil. "Three guesses!" sighed Ash. "Okay, you three! We know that you're the ones who did this. So come on out from wherever you're hiding and let's start battling!" "We'd thought you'd never ask!" said Jessie's voice as the door to the escape pod opened and smoke filled the room. Everyone coughed while four shadows emerged. And there was Jessie and James dressed in old Star Trek uniforms while Meowth had on fake Vulcan ears with Hakking wearing fake Klingon foreheads on all three of its heads. Jessie: "Prepare for trouble out here in space!" James: "And make it double. We won't miss a trace!" Jessie: "To protect the universe from catastrophe!" James: "To unite all aliens within our galaxy!" Jessie: "To denounce the evils of universal love!" James: "To extend our photon beams to the stars above!" Jessie: "Jessie!" James: "James!" Jessie: "Team Rocket boldly going where no villain has gone before!" James: "Surrender now or prepare to get sore!" "How very logical", said Meowth in an emotionless voice. "Team Rocket?" asked Neil. "Are you people a rocket repair crew?" "Watch out for these guys Neil", said Tracey. "They're not a repair crew!" scowled Cameron. "They were the ones who tried to blow up your rocket!" "And it was pretty foolish of you to stick around for the supposedly explosion as well", scowled Reiko. "It wasn't our choice!" whined James. "There was no starter inside that escape pod!" "No matter", laughed Jessie. "You stopped the explosion just in time for us! And let us show you our gratitude by letting us hijack this wonderful rocket! Go Snubbull!" and she released her pink puppy. "Snub?" gasped Snubbull as she found herself floating around. "Don't worry sweetie, you're not in any danger!" called out Jessie. "Just do what you'd normally do whenever I call you out." "Snub!" nodded Snubbull as she smiled and started swimming after Meowth while trying to bite his tail. "What do I look like, rocket chow?" cried Meowth while Jessie just sighed. "Hakking, use your smokescreen attack!" commanded James. "HAK!" coughed Hakking as it released smoke all over the place causing everyone to cough and go blind. "Seadra! COUGH!" cried Misty. "Use your leer power to clear this smoke! COUGH!" A pair of red eyes started glowing dissolving all the smoke. And there was Seadra leering at Hakking causing it to back away nervously. "Snubbull!" Jessie called out to Snubbull who was still busy trying to bite Meowth's tail. "Forget that mangy, fuzzy tail. Why don't you try biting that Seadra's tail? Seafood is good for you!" "SNUB!" said the puppy as she swam over getting ready to bite Seadra's curly tail while Misty tried to think of something. "Pikachu, stop Snubbull with your thunderbolt!" commanded Ash. "CHUUU!" shouted Pikachu as he fired a bolt at Snubbull shocking her like crazy. "My poor Snubbull!" cried Jessie as she saw the electric currents shocking Snubbull. Suddenly, those currents did something to Snubbull. She started to evolve. She was now a huge purple bulldog with huge sharp fangs. "Gran?" gasped the new Pokemon as she looked at her reflection in a porthole and found out she now looked like her deceased Granbull brother. "What's that?!" gasped Cameron as he took out his Pokedex. "Whatever she is, I hope she's had her shots!" gasped James nervously. "GRANBULL: the evolved form of Snubbull", replied Dextra. "Because its fangs are too heavy, it always keeps its head tilted down. However, its bite is incredibly powerful." "How wonderful!" laughed Jessie, "My cute little baby's grown up into a tough big bruiser! What do you think guys?" "MGMRLF!" called out Meowth's voice. They all saw something wriggling inside Granbull's cheeks. Now that Granbull was bigger, she now wanted to chomp on the whole entire Meowth. Jessie just patted Granbull's back causing her to spit out a wet Meowth. "So that's what it's like to be one of my hairballs", moaned a floating, chewed up Meowth. "Okay my new little Granbull", cackled Jessie. "Let's see what you can do!" "GRAN!" smiled Granbull as she made an electric fist and socked and shocked Pikachu at the same time. "PIKACHU!" cried Ash as the poor paralyzed Pikachu floated into Ash's arms. "Being exposed to Pikachu's electricity must've given Granbull a thunderpunch attack!" gasped Tracey. "Wow!" smiled Jessie evily. "Thank you Pikachu!" "Sandy", said Cameron. "Thunderpunches won't affect you. Try using your swift attack on that bull!" "SHREW!" said Sandy as he fired his swift stars, but before the stars could touch Granbull, they floated up to the ceiling of the ship not hurting anyone. "Shrew?" gasped Sandy. "What just happened?" gasped Cameron. "Fool!" laughed Jessie. "Have you forgotten your in outer space?!" "Those stars just wanted to return to its rightful home!" laughed Jessie. "Granbull, take down now!" commanded Jessie. Granbull then swam really fast and crashed into Sandy bad causing him to fall back into Cameron's arms. "Poor Sandy!" cried Cameron. "Seadra", said Misty. "Try confusing Granbull with your agility!" Seadra then started to zip all around Granbull causing her to look in all directions confused. "Keep biting until you eventually catch it", called out Jessie. "GRAN!" said Granbull as she started snapping her jaws like a bunch of chattering teeth until she finally was able to nip Seadra's tail. "OH NO!" cried Misty. "Nice work baby!" snickered Jessie as she watched the purple dog spin the poor Seadra around and then throwing it into the direction of the ship's engine. "Poliwhirl! Catch Seadra!" cried Misty. Poliwhirl leapt up and managed to catch the approaching Seadra, but unfortunately, both Pokemon hit the engine smashing into all those glowing King's Rocks and dragon scales. "NOOOO!" cried Misty as she and our heroes watched in fear as Poliwhirl and Seadra fainted and were covered with lots of green glowing energy. "Looks like it ain't easy bein' green for your little froggy and your Seadra!" laughed Meowth while his teammates laughed mean spiritedly as well. Just then Poliwhirl started to wake up and slowly approached the shocked Granbull. Then Poliwhirl started to glow and grow. "What's happening to my Poliwhirl?!" gasped Misty. "I think getting exposed to all those King's Rocks is causing it to evolve", said Neil. "You mean it's going to become a Poliwrath?" asked Cameron. Sure enough, the Pokemon did evolve. It became a huge green toad with a cute face and a long green curly hair on top of its head. "POLITOED!" it croaked. "That's not a Poliwrath!" gasped Misty while Cameron activated his Dex again. "POLITOED: the frog Pokemon. An alternate evolution of Poliwhirl", replied Dextra. "Whenever three or more of these guys get together, they sing in a loud voice that sounds like bellowing." "Well we'll make sure that frog will never sing again!" growled Jessie. "Granbull! Take down Kermit over there!" But before Granbull could even touch Politoed. The frog started making loud croaks knocking Granbull back and out of commission. "MY BABY!" cried Jessie as she caught her newly defeated Granbull. "Wow!" said Ash. "Talk about winning by croaking!" "That looked like a swagger attack!" said Tracey. "Oh, Politoed!" smiled Misty as she hugged her new Politoed. "You're even cooler than ever!" Politoed just silently blushed. "Oh no! I forgot about my Seadra!" cried Misty as she turned to the engine and found Seadra gone. "What happened to it!" "Quick Hakking!" said James. "Get in there and use your rapid sludge while they're distracted. Hakking slowly floated to our heroes and was about to belch out its poison, until a zip of blue zoomed by knocking Hakking upside- down. "HAK!" it coughed in surprise. "Seadra?" gasped Misty as the blue figure stopped. It looked like Seadra, but it was more elegant looking and it had a head like a dragon with horns. Cameron activated his Dex one more time. "KINGDRA: the dragon Pokemon. The evolved form of Seadra", replied Dextra. "It is said that Kingdra usually hides in deep underwater caves. It can create vicious whirlpools by yawning." "WOW!" cried Misty with starry eyes. "Not one, but two of my Pokemon have evolved today!" "KING!" said Kingdra as it winked at its mistress. "It must've been the affects of the fully charged dragon scales", said Neil. "Very fascinating!" "What's really fascinating is I've noticed that a lot of Pokemon have the word, KING, in them", said James. "Really?" asked Meowth. "Sure", said James. "Listen to this. Kingdra, Seaking, Nidoking, Slowking, and of course, Hakking." "HAKKING!" smiled all three mouths of Hakking while blushing. "And do not forget Kingler", said Reiko who missed the banter she use to have with her fellow ex-teammates. "Oh yes", said James. "And there's only one queen though, Nidoqueen." "Which I'd still be if it weren't for you twerps!" shouted Jessie. "James, don't just banter there! Order Hakking to attack that freak!" "Oh yeah, sorry", said James coming back to his evil side. "Hakking, smog attack now!" "HAAK!" coughed Hakking as it breathed smog at Kingdra. But Kingdra just took a deep breath and spat out a small twister vacuuming up the smog. "I've never seen Sead.. I mean, Kingdra use that before", said Misty. "That's called a twister attack", said Tracey. "An attack only advanced dragon- types know." "And it's twisting our way!" cried Meowth as the twister started to head right for the Rockets. They tried to swim away, but the twister managed to trap all three Rockets and their Pokemon. Then the twister threw our villains into the escape pod while Kingdra zipped over and shut the door. "LET US OUT!" all three villains cried while banging and scratching through the pod's porthole. "You know why there're no controls inside this pod?" Neil asked them through the porthole. "It's because the controls are right here!" And he took out his remote and pushed a button. The pod suddenly blasted out of the ship like a pinball and took off like a comet. "Neil", asked Cameron. "What's going to happen to them? Will they float around in space forever?" "Don't worry", smiled Neil. "That pod is programmed to head for Earth. They should arrive back there in a few hours." "My poor fellow Earthlings!" sighed Ash. * * * * * * "This is fine kettle of Goldeen!" groaned Meowth as he and his fellow Rockets were sitting inside the pod. "Lost in space!" "That sounds like a good name for a sci-fi series", smiled James. "Maybe we'll end up on a planet of giant talking vegetables too!" "Silence you chattering collection of cluelessness!" shouted Jessie as she started whacking James on the head with her fan. "At least those Voltorbs we planted are still on that ship", said Meowth. "You're right Meowth", said Jessie. "At least we'll drift happily knowing that those twerps will be blown right out of space!" "DANGER! DANGER, MEOWTH POKEMON!!!" gasped James as he pointed to the five stowaways that had boarded the pod. "Voltorb!" said the balls who knew that their five minutes were up. "Couldn't you give us an extra five seconds to scream and panic?" asked Meowth while shaking. "BOOOOM!" went the pod as it caught on fire and started heading for Earth even faster than the speed of light. "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off for real!" they all screamed as the pod disappeared into the clouds. * * * * * * Back on the ship, everyone was back inside the cockpit with Neil back at the control panel. Misty was looking at the Pokeballs that contained her newly evolved Politoed and Kingdra while smiling proudly. "Hey Mist", asked Ash. "You've been looking at those Pokeballs for a long time. You're missing the beauty of space." "It can't compare to the beauty of my new Pokemon!" sighed Misty as she started hugging them. "Not even that thing on the screen?" asked Ash as he and the others looked up and saw something big floating in space. "A floating space station!" said an awestruck Cameron. "Like the one in Deep Space 9!" "Amazing!" said Tracey wishing he had enough pencils and paper to sketch this marvelous piece of work. "Like the Hoot-Hoots that can see for many miles", gasped Reiko. "Now I've seen everything!" "Ladies and gentlemen!" said Neil proudly. "Welcome to Space Station Relish. The home of the eighth and final Ryooku gym!" "Yeah, whatever!" said Misty as she was still admiring her Pokeballs to even look at what they were docking into." TO BE CONTINUED AUTHOR'S NOTES: Well! This is probably the biggest moment in Cameron's Pokemon training career ever! How do you battle and what kind of Pokemon do you use in an outer space gym? Stay tuned to find out!