Poke-Odyssey 2001 chapter 3

Entering Ryooku

On the tropical resort known as Seafoam Island, Seymour Scientist and 
Officer Jenny were lying in deckchairs on the beach enjoying their 
postponed honeymoon.  Normally, Seymour hated the sun because he burned 
easily, but Jenny had rubbed him head to toe with sunblock which made 
him eager for some actual fun in the sun. "You were right Jen", sighed 
Seymour as he adjusted his glasses-sunglasses combo. "The beach can be 
a lot of fun.  And I don't feel the slightest bit toasted."

"Always listen to your lady of the law my beloved sci-guy", smiled 
Jenny as she lifted up her sunglasses and winked at him.  Seymour took 
her beautiful tanned hand and kissed it making Jenny's tanned face turn 
red, and its not from sunburn! ;)

As they relaxed to some ukulele music playing on their portable radio, 
the music suddenly stopped. "We interrupt the all ukulele station for 
an important news bulletin", said an announcer. "The evil Rockets known 
as Jessie and James have just escaped from their island prison the 
other day."

"WHAT?!!!" gasped both Seymour and Jenny while their fruit drinks 
spouted out of their noses.

"You heard me", said the announcer. "The two leaders of Team Rocket 
that had imprisoned an innocent town a year ago have escaped." Seymour 
and Jenny stared funny at the radio wondering how that announcer could 
hear them. "Reports say that they escaped from prison by an exploding 
Weezing and they were last seen flying east.  Experts believe that they 
might be heading for Ryooku.  So if you got loved ones there, you'd 
better warn them and maybe kiss them goodbye while you're at it!  But 
if you're not in Ryooku right now, have a nice day!"

"This is terrible!" cried Jenny. "Cameron and his friends might 
actually meet Team Rocket there!"

"And once Team Rocket sees them, they'll probably do something horrible 
to them out of pure sweet bitterness!" panicked Seymour as he put his 
inhaler into his ear by accident.

"If only we knew where they were right now!" cried Jenny.

Seymour quickly pulled a calculator out from his Bermuda shorts and 
started typing on it. "By my calculations.  I'd say Cameron and his 
friends are on their way to Soy Town right now."

"We can only hope and pray", cried Jenny. "Hurry!  Let's get to a 
nearby phone!  I have to tell my cousin, the Soy Town Jenny ", and she 
grabbed Seymour's arm and sped across the beach dragging him behind 
like a flying towel while Seymour was going "WAUUUGHH!"

*      *      *      *      *      *

Cameron, Ash, and Misty had just arrived in Ryooku.  They had camped 
out in a quiet forest by the edge of the sea and they were now on their 
way to Soy Town.  As they walked, they noticed something by a nearby 
bush.

"What is that thing?" asked Ash as he pointed to what looked like a new 
kind of Pokmeon they've never seen before.

"Whatever it is, it's a cutie!" smiled Misty with stars in her eyes.  
And it was cute too.  It was a mouse with a round shaped body, blue 
fur, big round ears, and a tail with a little blue ball at the end.  It 
was picking berries off the bush and stuffing them in its cute mouth.

"Could that be a Pikablue?" asked Cameron.

"Pikablue?!" gasped Ash and Misty together. "Pika, Pi!" said Pikachu 
disgusted with the name he just heard.

"Whatever gave you such a ridiculous name?" asked Misty.

"When I first saw this Pokemon on the websites in my world", explained 
Cameron. "Most of them said it was a Pikablue.  But I don't think that 
was the true confirmed name of it though.  Maybe my new Pokedex will 
tell us what it is", and he took out his Pokedex and aimed it at the 
mouse.

"MARILL: the aquamouse Pokemon", replied Dextra. "The end of its tail 
serves as a buoy that keeps it from drowning, even in a vicious 
current."

"Marill?" asked Cameron. "I guess those sites were wrong."

"Marill, Mar", said the mouse as it rubbed its full stomach happily.

"I guess the sound it makes proves it too", said Misty.

"Well if it's a new Pokemon", smiled Ash. "I'm gonna catch it!" and he 
was about to reach for his Pokebelt until Misty stopped him.

"Hold it Ashy-poo", she cried. "This Marill is obviously a water 
Pokemon the way Dextra described it and you know that water Pokemon are 
my thing.  So let me catch this one PLEEEEAAASSSSE!"

"Aw, Mist", cried Ash. "You know I can never say no to you when you do 
that PLLLEEEEAASSSSE thing!  So go right ahead.  Knock your pretty self 
out."

"Thanks Ashy-poo!" smiled Misty as she gave him a kiss and took out a 
Pokeball.  "Go Poliwag!" she shouted as she released her tadpole right 
in front of the surprised Marill. "Poliwag, doubleslap attack!" 
commanded Misty.  Poliwag complied by slapping Marill around with its 
cute tail.

"MARILL!" cried Marill as it got out of the way of Poliwag's attack.  
Then Marill started shooting out a beam of bubbles at Poliwag causing 
it to cry out in a cute voice. "WAG!"

"That Marill knows bubblebeam!" gasped Misty. "It must be a very high 
level Marill for Poliwag to even defeat it."

"Try hypnotizing it to sleep", said Cameron. "That way it won't be able 
to attack back and it'll be easier to catch."

"Good idea", smiled Misty. "Okay Poliwag, use hypnosis!"  Poliwag 
complied by making the swirl on its stomach spin around.  Marill became 
very sleepy and it yawned and plopped right onto the ground with its 
ball-shaped tail sticking up.

"YES!" cried Misty quietly for she didn't want to wake up her prey. 
"Nice work Poliwag, return", and she sucked Poliwag back into its ball 
while it made a proud, "Poli!"  Then Misty took out an empty Pokeball 
and was about to catch the sleeping Marill.

"Marill, what happened to you?!" called out a voice.  Everyone looked 
around to find out where that voice came from and they found out who.  
It was a guy who looked about 19.  He had black hair with a red 
headband across his forehead and he was wearing a green tanktop and 
orange jeans with a Pokebelt.  He was holding the sleeping Marill in 
his arms.

"Come on Marill, you already had your nap for today", said the guy as 
he sprayed some awakening potion into Marill's tiny face waking it up. 
"Marill!" it cooed gratefully.

"My pleasure my true blue friend", smiled the guy as he put Marill back 
into a Pokeball and then looked over at our heroes.

"Oh, I'm sorry", said Misty blushing. "I didn't know that was your 
Marill I tried to catch."

"It's okay ma'am", said the guy. "It was my fault for leaving my poor 
Marill unwatched.  I should kick myself for being a bad watcher that 
minute!" 

"A watcher?" asked Ash.

"Wow!" gasped the guy as he stared at Misty's Togepi. "Is that what I 
think it is?!" and he zoomed up to the little egg baby, took out a 
sketch book and pencil out of his backpack and started scribbling like 
mad on it while Togepi giggled.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked Misty puzzled.  The guy only 
replied by showing them his drawing. "Wow, that's so pretty!" said 
Misty. "You've captured my Togepi without the use of a Pokeball!"

"It was an honor to sketch one of the world's most rarest Pokemon", 
said the guy blushing and then he looked down at Cameron's Sandshrew.

"What a neat looking Sandshrew you've got there", smiled the guy as he 
bent down and petted Sandy's head.

"Shrew!" said Sandy while wagging his tail.

"Thank you", said Cameron who was extremely proud of his first Pokemon.

"And judging by its looks and strength", continued the guy. "It looks 
like it's a high level Sandshrew and it's not even evolved into a 
Sandslash!"

"SHREW!" growled Sandy as he tried to take a slash at the guy for 
bringing up the name he wished he'd never become.

"Sandy, please keep your cool!" said Cameron as he picked up his 
Sandshrew. "I'm sorry about that.  Sandy's a little sensitive to that 
word you just said."

"Oh, okay", said the guy nervously as he felt his face for any 
scratches. "My apologies to you Sandy."

"Shrew!" said Sandy in a forgiving voice.

"And will you look at this?!" gasped the guy as he stared at Ash's 
Pikachu. "A Pikachu!  These kind of Pokemon are extremely hard to find 
these days!" and he took out a battery and some cables and connected 
them to Pikachu's cheeks. "Pikachu?" wondered Pikachu.

"Hey, what are you doing to Pikachu?!" demanded Ash.

"Don't worry, I don't want to hurt him", said the guy. "I just want to 
measure how strong his electric power is.  Okay, little Pikachu.  Now 
give me your best jolt." And he started monitoring the small screen on 
his battery.

"CHUUUU!!!" shouted a very aggravated Pikachu as he sent his most 
powerful thunderbolt shocking everyone around him, except for Sandy 
since he was a ground type.  "This is amazing!" said the guy while 
being shocked to death. "The number on my monitor is going off the 
chart.  It looks like they might jump off the screen!" and sure enough 
they did.  For his battery completely exploded knocking everyone back. 
"This is wonderful!" cried the guy holding his busted battery but still 
happy.

"How can you be happy?!" cried Misty while trying to coddle her crying 
Togepi. "Your experiment just shocked us to death not to mention 
blowing up your weird gadget!"

"I'm just happy to meet an unevolved Pikachu with very high voltage!" 
said the guy happily. "And it's not even a Raichu!"

"That's because he has a good trainer", said Ash proudly.

"Pika, pi", said Pikachu holding his head still trying to recover from 
that power trip.

"Just who exactly are you anyway?" asked Misty.

"Oh, I'm sorry", said the guy. "Whenever I start seeing Pokemon, I just 
go into a daze and lose track of anything else that's around me.  My 
name is Tracey Sketchit.  I'm a Pokemon watcher."

"A Pokemon watcher?" asked Cameron.

"What exactly is a Pokemon watcher?" asked Ash.

"Well just like there are all sorts of Pokemon types", explained Tracey. 
"There are all sorts of Pokemon owners.  You got the Pokemon trainers, 
the breeders, the gym leaders, the researchers, and then there's the 
Pokemon watchers, which I happen to be one."

"Wow.  That sounds so cool", said Cameron. "Do you travel around 
looking for battles?"

"No", said Tracey. "Pokemon watchers do not battle.  We like to hide 
and watch for all sorts of Pokemon so we can study their habits and 
learn how they behave around one another." And he took out his sketch
book and started scribbling something again.  When he was done, he 
showed it to our heroes.  It was a drawing of Pikachu, Togepi, and 
Sandy all standing together waving hi.

"That's beautiful", said Misty.

"You must really like watching Pokemon a lot", said Ash.

"I do", smiled Tracey blushing. "If you don't mind, I'd like to show 
this drawing to my old teacher, Prof. Bonsai."

"You know where Prof. Bonsai is?!" gasped Cameron. "We were on our way 
to meet her."

"Are you all going to see her to get registered for the Ryooku League?" 
asked Tracey.

"Cameron here is", said Ash.

"Cameron?" gasped Tracey as he dropped his sketch book. "As in Cameron 
Fusterman?  The hero who saved Pallet Town from the evil Team Rocket?!"

"I wouldn't really call myself a hero", said Cameron blushing.

"Wait a minute", said Tracey as he examined Cameron's face. "It is you!  
I remember seeing your face in the newspapers!  What an honor it is to 
actually meet you", and he started shaking Cameron's hand fast and hard.

"Uh, thank you Tracey", said Cameron still bouncing up and down from 
that handshake.  Then Tracey looked at Ash. 

"And you!" he gasped. "You're Ash Ketchum!  The other hero from Pallet 
Town!" and he started giving Ash the same wild handshake treatment. 
"This is such a double honor for me!"

"The pleasure's all mine", said Ash who was also trying to stop his 
shaking body.

"And do you happen to know who I am?" smiled Misty as she made a sexy 
pose for Tracey.

"Um, er", said Tracey scratching his head. "Can you give me a hint?"

"I'M MISTY!" she screamed while making her mouth bigger than Tracey, 
"One of the leaders of the Pallet Rebellion!  Surely some people out 
there must think I'm famous!"

"I wish I could say yes", said Tracey nervously. "But the people I've 
met mainly talk about Ash and Cameron.  They hardly mention anything 
about the rebels."

"The story of my life!" sighed Misty hanging her head down while 
plopping huge sweatdrops on the grass.

"I think you're the greatest story of my life",said Ash trying to make 
her feel better.

"Don't make me hate you", grumbled Misty.

"Do you know how we can get to Soy Town?" Cameron asked Tracey. "Prof. 
Bonsai is waiting for us."

"Sure I do", smiled Tracey. "Like I said.  Prof. Bonsai was my old 
teacher.  She was the one who gave me my Marill when I first left on 
my Pokemon watcher's journey.  Her home's right this way.  Follow me 
everyone." And our heroes followed their new friend through the forest 
until they finally arrived in Soy Town.  It was a beautiful small town 
with shrines, temples, and people wearing kimonos. "Heroes from 
Pallet", said Tracey proudly, "Welcome to Soy Town, Ryooku!"  Our 
heroes and Pokemon stood there gazing with starry eyes.  Even Cameron 
who finally mastered the art of making goofy anime faces.

*      *      *      *      *      *

In a huge temple, three figures popped their heads out of three trash 
cans. "There it is guys", said Meowth. "This is the place where that 
brat Cameron's supposed to get registered for the Ryooku League."

"Excellent", said Jessie evily. "Now all we have to do is to sneak in, 
tie up that professor lady, throw her in a closet somewhere, and finish 
off those twerps once they step inside!  What do you think of that 
guys?"

"Uh, Jessie", said James nervously. "You've got a slug on your head."

"WHAAAAT!" screamed Jessie as she felt her head and felt something warm 
and moist.  She screamed as she pulled off whatever it was on her head.

"What is that thing?" asked James as he gazed at the big red slug that 
was slowly crawling away.

"I think that's a Slugma", said Meowth. "I've heard about those things 
while watching those nature shows on TV back at our old palace."

"Who cares what it's called!" cried Jessie. "One of you check my 
precious hair and see if there's any mucous in it!"

"Nope, don't see any", said James as he studied Jessie's long lovely red hair.

"Thank badness", sighed Jessie.

"Just a little bit of fire, but no mucous", said James.

"FIRE!!!" cried Jessie as she felt her hair and found that her glove 
was burning as well. "AAAAAAHHHH!" she screamed as she ran away from 
the temple while the fire in her hair started to grow.

"Jessie, don't run!!!" cried James. "You'll just make the fire even 
bigger.  Remember what Smokey the Snorlax taught us in school!"

"I don't know!" she hollered. "I never stayed awake in school!"

"Come to think of it me neither!" said James as he and Meowth ran after her.

The Slugma watched as the three ran off while a fiery question mark 
appeared over its head.  Then it crawled up the temple wall and through 
an open window.

*      *      *      *      *      *

"Well here we are", smiled Tracey as he pushed open the double doors of 
the temple.  It was a beautiful home with a lovely Japanese background. 
"Prof. Bonsai!" called out Tracey, "Are you home?"

"Wow, look at this!" said Cameron as he gazed at a huge painting on the 
right wall.  It had 3 beautiful creatures that resembled either dogs or 
cats. "I've never seen those kinds of Pokemon before", he said.

"Me neither", said Misty. "But they sure look beautiful."

"What do you think of them Pikachu", asked Ash. "Pikachu?"

"Pika, Pi!" cried Pikachu for he was being chased by a small metal orb 
with one eye and two small magnets sticking out from its sides.

"Uh oh", sighed Misty. "It looks like another Magnemite has the hots 
for Pikachu!"

"I remember that episode", said Cameron remembering when a Magnemite 
was following Pikachu around for it was very attracted to Pikachu's 
electricity.  Cameron aimed his Pokedex at the lovestruck Magnemite.

"MAGNEMITE: the magnet Pokemon", replied Dextra. "The units at the 
sides of its body generate anti-gravity energy to keep it aloft in the 
air.  The Magnemites of today have developed a steel anatomy making 
them immune to poison attacks but extremely vulnerable to fire."

"Hey, stay away from my Pikachu", shouted Ash as he picked Pikachu up.  
Magnemite made a mean one eye and thundershocked Ash making him drop 
Pikachu.  Then Magnemite continued its pursuit for Pikachu.

"Sandy, you're immune to Magnemite's electricity", said Cameron. "See 
if you can stop it."

"Shrew!" said Sandy as he jumped in front of Magnemite and sprayed some 
sand into Magnemite's eye making it go blind.  That did the trick.  
Magnemite started floating around blindly bumping into things and 
floating into the arms of a woman with short black hair and wearing 
glasses along with a white lab coat over a red turtleneck.

"Oh, my poor little Magnemite", said the woman as she took out a rag 
and started wiping the sand out of Magnemite's single eye. "Who was it 
that did this to you?"

Sandy curled up in a fearful ball until Cameron spoke out. "I'm sorry 
Prof. Bonsai", he said. "I ordered my Sandshrew to distract your 
Magnemite.  We never wanted to hurt it."

"Oh really?" said the woman.

"He had to do it", said Ash. "Your Magnemite was chasing after my poor 
Pikachu and when I tried to protect him, it thundershocked me!" and he 
showed her the electric char on his clothes.

"Yep, those are Magnemite burns all right", said Prof. Bonsai as she 
studied him good. "I apologize for what this little rascal did to you 
and your Pikachu.  Now you apologize to them Magnemite!"

"Magnemite!" Magnemite said to Ash and then winked slyly at Pikachu. 
"Pika!" said Pikachu nervously.

"You'll have to forgive Magnemite", said Prof. Bonsai as she put it 
back into a Pokeball. "I still haven't inserted an anti-puberty chip 
into its body.  So it'll chase anything that's very attractive."

"Just like during the good old days, right Prof?" smiled Tracey.

"Tracey Sketchit?!" gasped Prof. Bonsai while smiling and giving Tracey 
a hug. "Why I haven't seen you in years!  This is a real treat.  How 
have you been?"

"I've been doing great", smiled Tracey. "I've been traveling all over 
the place watching Pokemon in places like Johto and the Orange Islands. 
I even managed to catch a couple of them."

"That's wonderful", smiled Prof. Bonsai. "And how's Marill doing?"

"Why don't you ask it?" smiled Tracey as he released Marill into Prof. 
Bonsai's arms.

"Marill, mar!" smiled Marill happy to see its old caretaker again.

"Oh Marill", smiled Prof. Bonsai. "Even though you look blue you always 
seem to be happy to me!  You've taken such great care of it Tracey.  I 
couldn't be prouder of you."

"Thank you Professor", said Tracey blushing.

"And are you still drawing?" she asked. "I still have some of your 
lovely crayon drawings stuck on my refrigerator.  All 999 of them.  I 
can hardly find the door anymore thanks to you."

"I hope you like these", said Tracey as he humbly handed his sketch 
book to Prof. Bonsai.

"Yes!" she smiled. "Very impressive.  You've definitely been keeping 
your eye out for Pokemon all these years." And then she looked at 
Tracey's final drawing that was the one of Pikachu, Togepi, and Sandy. 
She then looked up and saw the three new people holding the exact same
Pokemon. "Let me guess", she smiled. "This was your latest drawing, 
right?"

"Yes, that's right", smiled Tracey. "These are some new friends I just 
made, Ash, Misty, and Cameron.  Cameron here has come to register for 
the Ryooku League."

"Ah, so you're the famous Cameron Fusterman", smiled Prof. Bonsai as 
she gave Cameron a big hug. "Hello, I am Prof. Juniko Bonsai.  When 
Seymour told me you were coming to register for our little League, I 
was on pins and needles.  Mainly because I was sitting on my sewing 
basket at the time."

"Uh, thank you ma'am", said Cameron blushing confusingly.

"Why don't we all sit down for tea and I'll tell you everything you 
need to know about the Ryooku League", smiled Prof. Bonsai as she 
pushed a button on a remote and a low table with cookies and a teapot 
appeared right from under the floor.

"Wow", smiled Ash. "I wonder if Prof. Oak would want that for his home?"

"Prof. Oak?!" gasped Tracey.

*      *      *      *      *      *

Soon, everyone was squated down at the table enjoying tea and having a 
nice conversation while Pikachu, Togepi, Sandy, and Marill were 
enjoying their tea at their own tiny table.  After Prof. Bonsai had put 
Cameron's Pokedex through a little computer registering him for the 
League, she continued her conversation with them. "So Seymour Scientist 
has actually married an Officer Jenny, eh?" smiled Prof. Bonsai. "I 
kind of thought that would be the last woman to fall for Seymour."

"Yes he has", said Cameron. "And they couldn't be happier."

"I'm so happy for Seymour", smiled Prof. Bonsai. "After what I did to 
him."

"What did you do?" asked Misty.

"Well you see", said the Prof. Bonsai humbly. "We were good friends 
back in college, but Seymour kind of wanted to have something more with 
me.  And the day of graduation, he declared his love for me in a weird 
poem."

"And what did you do?" asked Tracey.

"Unfortunately, I turned him down", sighed Prof. Bonsai sadly. "I just 
didn't feel the same way about him.  I had my scientist's career to 
think about.  And Seymour is nice, but he's sort of uh, geeky."

"Ouch!" said Misty flinching

"But don't worry", said Prof. Bonsai. "I didn't tell him that to his 
face.  But Seymour was so totally crushed, that after graduation, he 
quickly left and moved to Mt. Moon.  And I haven't heard from him until 
a couple of days ago when he called me about you."

"So that's why Seymour likes to live in the mountains", said Ash. "I 
never knew that about the happy poetry loving guy I first met on my 
first journey."

"Yep", sighed Prof. Bonsai. "I guess he felt that the ones who could 
never reject him were Pokemon.  But now that he's found someone else 
and married, I can now look at his face without any guilt.  I wish him 
and his Officer Jenny the best of luck."

"Thank you Professor", said Cameron. "And I'll tell them that for you."

"Arigato", smiled Prof. Bonsai.

"Uh, excuse me please", said Misty. "But I think this tea is a little 
too cold."

"I guess it is", said Prof. Bonsai sipping her tea not getting a chance 
to first taste it after talking about Seymour. "But don't worry, I know 
someone who can help heat it up.  Oh, Slugma!"

"Slugma?" asked Cameron and Ash together.  Suddenly, something started 
to drop from the ceiling and plop onto Misty's plate

"WAAAUUGGHHH!" cried Misty as she pointed to the huge red slug. "A 
SLUG!  AND IT LOOKS LIKE ITS ON FIRE TOO!"

"Slug?" asked Slugma wondering what's with this human.

"Relax Misty", smiled Prof. Bonsai as she picked Slugma off her plate 
and put it in front of the kettle. "Slugma's a very warm hearted 
Pokemon.  Show 'em Slugma.  Use your ember to warm up our tea."

"SLUGMA!" said Slugma as it happily breathed a little bit of fire at 
the kettle warming up the tea.

"Amazing", said Cameron as he aimed his Pokedex at the little teapot 
heater.

"SLUGMA: the lava Pokemon", replied Dextra. "A common sight in volcanic 
areas.  It slowly slithers around in a constant search for warm places."

"Wow, two new Pokemon in one day", said Ash.

Prof. Bonsai smiled as she picked up Slugma and cuddled it. "This 
Slugma's supposed to go to a girl trainer who's going to be starting 
her journey tomorrow."

"But won't she catch on fire if she touches it?" asked Misty nervously. 
"And why aren't you burning up either?" 

"Don't worry", smiled Prof. Bonsai as she patted Slugma's head. "This 
is only a level 5 Slugma.  Their ember attacks only hurt low level 
grass, bug, ice, and steel types.  And besides, Slugmas only burn if 
they feel threatened.  Once a Slugma gets to know and love you, they 
won't burn you at all.  Besides, Slugmas are very nice to hold because 
they're so warm.  Especially when traveling through cold, snowy places. 
Go ahead and hold it Misty." And she extended the smiling slug to Misty.

"Uh, no thanks", said Misty nervously. "I got cookie crumbs on my hands 
and that might make Slugma feel all itchy.  I'll just blow it a kiss 
instead." And that's what she did while Slugma made out a grateful, 
"Slug."

"What about that Magnemite we just saw?" asked Ash. "Are you going to 
give it to another trainer as well?"

"Actually, it's going to a boy who wants to be a watcher like Tracey", 
smiled Prof. Bonsai. "Magnemite's have built in radar so they can track 
down any type of new Pokemon that might be nearby.  A very popular 
choice for most beginner Pokemon watchers."

"But I decided to choose Marill instead", smiled Tracey. "Its big ears 
can hear anything that might come or be nearby and also I think it's 
cute."

"Marill!" said Marill blushing.

"Are Magnemite, Slugma, and Marill the 3 main types of Pokemon in the 
Ryooku League?' asked Cameron.

"That's right", smiled Prof. Bonsai. "Whenever I send a trainer, 
breeder, or watcher off on their Ryooku journey, I give them a choice 
of one of those 3 Pokemon.  Either Slugma the fire type, Marill the 
water type, or Magnemite the electric/steel type."

"Gee, back in Kanto, Prof. Oak lets us choose either Charmader the fire 
type, Squirtle the water type, or Bulbasaur the grass/poison type", 
said Ash.

"But instead you got an electric type Pikachu", smiled Misty.

"And I couldn't be happier", smiled Ash winking at his Pikachu. "Pika, 
pi",said Pikachu winking his cute little eye back at him.

"And my starting Pokemon was this wonderful ground type Sandshrew you 
see before us", smiled Cameron. "Right Sandy?"

"Shrew!" smiled Sandy making his usual but cute claw's up sign.

"Yes, starting Pokemon do seem the most precious to masters", smiled 
Prof. Bonsai. "In Ryooku, we give out these 3 particular starters as a 
tribute to the 3 legendary beasts." And she pointed to the same 
painting they saw when they first entered her home.

"Magnemite represents Raikou, the beast of thunder", explained Prof. 
Bonsai as she pointed to each beast one at a time. "Slugma represents 
Entei, the beast of fire, and Marill represents Suicune, the beast of 
the sea."

"I remember seeing this earlier", said Cameron. "Do they live around 
Ryooku?"

"Nobody knows", said Prof. Bonsai. "For years, many people believed 
that they've caught a quick glimpse of either of these three.  Legends 
say that the beasts like to help out people who are lost or hurt, but 
once they're better, the beasts speed off never to be seen again by 
that person."

"I always dreamed that I'd be the one to see at least one of those 
beasts", sighed Tracey. "I'm usually tempted to get myself injured in 
vast open spaces hoping they'd come and rescue me."

"You don't actually do that, do you?" Prof. Bonsai scolded.

"Oh no", said Tracey sweating. "One thing we watchers especially know 
how to do is to watch out for ourselves."

"I would truly love to meet Suicune", said Misty marveling at the beast 
that resembled the blue sea.

"Yes", said Prof. Bonsai. "It is definitely an honor just to see one of 
the 3 beasts in person."

"Well look no further!" called out 3 voices.  Suddenly, a smoke bomb 
went off and standing right in front of the group were Raikou, Entei, 
and Suicune.  

"It's them!" cried Misty. "And Suicune is here too!"

"I can't believe it!" gasped Prof. Bonsai. "Why would they just walk 
into my home?  They usually try to avoid crowded places!"

"Maybe they've just developed their social skills?" asked Ash.

"Wait a minute", said Tracey as he studied the beasts. "First of all, 
the legendary beasts always stand on our fours but these three are on 
their hind legs.  Second, all three beasts are supposed to be the same 
size but this Raikou's a lot smaller than the other two.  And third, 
since when did the beasts have stitching or patches or tags that say, 
"Please do not remove under penalty of law", on them?" and he 
approached Raikou and pulled the thread from its side.  The stitching 
suddenly fell apart and the beast turned out to be Meowth.

"Uh, oh guys, I think my cover's blown", said Meowth nervously.

"Well so it has", said Entei removing its red fur and revealing itself 
as Jessie.

"And all that jazz", said Suicune who revealed itself as James.

"TEAM ROCKET!!" gasped everyone.

"Correct as usual, and prepare for trouble", cackled Jessie.

"And as usual, better make it double", laughed James as they recited 
their normal sick-of-hearing over and over again motto.

"Meowth, that's right", ended Meowth.

"So that infamous Meowth really can talk", said Tracey.

"He must have an extremely high I.Q." said Prof. Bonsai as she took out 
some tongs to measure Meowth's head.

"Aw, you're just saying I'm smart because it's true", said Meowth 
blushing.

"Keep lying like that Meowth and you'll soon grow a nose", laughed 
James. "A very long nose."

"How about I take yours instead?!" growled Meowth as he slashed James's 
face.

"Knock it off you two!" shouted Jessie. "We have some twerps to take 
care of!  Any last words?"

"Yes", said Cameron. "What happened to your hair?" he asked as he 
pointed to Jessie's hair that was now short and charred black.

"EEEERRRGGGHHHH!" growled Jessie. "Those'll be the last words you'll 
say!  Boys, break out the gloves!" and she, James, and Meowth, suddenly 
slipped on some metal gloves with razor sharp fingers.

"As you can see, these gloves are no mere backscratchers!" laughed 
Meowth as he and the other two Rockets slowly approached our heroes.

"Pikachu, protect us with your thunderbolt!" shouted Ash.

"PIKACHU!!" shouted Pikachu as he fired his thunderbolt, but the 
Rockets smiled as their gloves seemed to absorb all the electricity.

"What, what just happened?" gasped Ash. "Pika, pi!" gasped Pikachu.

"That's the magic of our new gloves", smiled James. "And they aren't 
even magician gloves either."

"Not only they can absorb electricity", cackled Jessie. "They can also 
fire it back too!" and the Rockets did just that causing all our heroes 
to get electrified and paralyzed.  But luckily, Sandy wasn't affected 
by the electricity.  "SHREW!" growled Sandy sticking his claws out at 
Team Rocket.

"You got some neat claws there yourself rodent", said Meowth. "But do 
they have a fancy feature like this?" and he pushed the button on his 
glove and water started shooting out of the fingertips dampening poor 
Sandy causing him to collapse.

"SANDY!" cried Cameron.

"Don't worry twerp", smiled Jessie evily. "There's plenty more of that 
left for each of you!  HA HA HA HA!" and she slowly started to approach 
our heroes ready to launch her steel claws into their hides.

"Ooooh!" smiled James. "This is so wonderfully intense.  I can just 
feel the sweat falling from my face!"

"Uh, Jimmy", said Meowth, "I think that sweat's coming from something 
else."

"Huh?" asked James as he felt something warm and squishy on his head. 
"SLUGMA?" gasped James as he pulled the same slug he saw today off his 
head and threw it onto the floor.  He then looked at his metal gloves 
which were pretty charred and then looked into a nearby mirror. "AAAAH!" 
he cried as he ran around with his hair on fire. "PUT ME OUT! SOMEBODY 
PUT ME OUT!" Jessie and Meowth quickly complied by pointing their 
gloves at James's head and squirting water on him putting out the fire.

"Oh thank you my friends", sighed a dampened James and then looked at 
the mirror again.  His hair was now short and charred black just like 
Jessie's. "I guess we're kindred spirits now Jess", he sighed.

"Please, don't insult me like that", scoffed Jessie. "It's time to make 
that little firebug pay for damaging our doos!" and all three Rockets 
aimed their gloves at the frightened Slugma getting ready to waterlog 
it to death.  Just then, their gloves suddenly got pulled off of their 
hands by some strange force.

"Hey, who took our gloves?" cried Meowth.  They looked up in the air 
and saw Magnemite.  It used its magnetic powers to snatch away their 
metal gloves.

"Hey, that's an insult stealing from Team Rocket!" screamed Jessie. 
"Give those back!"

"Sorry, but Magnemite doesn't want to do that", called out Prof. 
Bonsai.  Team Rocket saw that she and the good guys were free from 
their paralysis.

"How come you guys are moving around?" gasped James. "We thought we 
shocked you stiff!"

"Thank Magnemite", smiled Prof. Bonsai. "It absorbed all the 
electricity you fired at us.  Isn't that right Mag?"

"Magnemite", said Magnemite winking its eye.  Especially at Pikachu.

"Pika, pi!" said Pikachu in a nervous but grateful voice.

"Now how about giving them back that power?" asked Prof. Bonsai smiling 
wickedly.  Magnemite complied by shocking Team Rocket non-stop.

"Marill, double attack with your water gun!" called out Tracey.  Marill 
complied by squirting a jet of water from its mouth at the totally 
shocked Team Rocket.  And with the powers of electricity and water 
combined, our villains were now on the floor all damp and staticky.

"Anyone got a cigarette?" said Jessie all dazed.

"Yeah, way to go guys!" called out Tracey.

"Mag, Slug, Mar!" said Magnemite, Slugma, and Marill cheering for joy.

Cameron quickly went over to his damp Sandshrew and sprayed some full 
restore potion on his wet skin making him all dry and well again.
"Shrew!" said Sandy slurping his master happily making him the wet one 
now.

"Think nothing of it old friend", sighed Cameron.

"What should we do with those three pains in the butt?" asked Misty 
pointing to the beaten Team Rocket.  Just then an Officer Jenny came 
charging in.

"My cousin was right!" she said seriously. "You three criminals would 
show up here.  I'm placing you all under arrest!"

"Sorry madam", said James as he released his Weezing. "But we've got 
some other plans.  Weezing, smokescreen now!"

"WEEZING!" said Weezing as it sprayed smoke all over the place making 
everything black.  And when it all cleared and everyone finished 
coughing, Team Rocket was gone.

"Blast it!" shouted Soy Jenny. "Pallet Jenny was right again, that does 
get annoying when they keep escaping from your grasp!" Then she 
suddenly smiled when she saw Cameron. "Hello Cameron", she said while 
pinching his cheeks. "My, you're a very handsome boy."

"Uh, thank you", said Cameron blushing. "Wait a minute, do you know my 
name?"

"Of course", she smiled while winking. "You're the kid of Pallet Jenny, 
my third cousin twice removed.  It's so nice to finally meet you."

"And it's nice to meet you too", smiled Cameron.  He noticed that the 
Soy Town Jenny had on a different uniform.  She was wearing the usual 
hat, but also a light blue shirt with a black necktie and long dark 
blue pants.

"How did you know Team Rocket would be here?" asked Prof. Bonsai. "I 
didn't call you."

"My cousin phoned me and warned me that you all would be coming here 
and Team Rocket might show up as well", said Soy Jenny. "She instructed 
me to escort you all to the next location."

"Hey, that sounds great", said Misty relieved. "We won't have to worry 
now that you'll be joining us every step of the way."

"Sorry ma'am", said Soy Jenny. "But anything past Soy Town and the area 
around it is out of my jurisdiction.  Once I get you to the next place, 
I'll have to head on back."

"Where exactly is the next place?" asked Ash.

"A village called Chutneyville", said Soy Jenny. "But don't worry, 
just talk to my sister there and I'm sure she'll be able to escort you 
to the next location."

"Thank you, we'll be sure to do that", said Cameron.

"Well I guess it's off to Chutneyville then", said Ash.

"And I'd like to join you too", said Tracey. "If you don't mind that 
is?"

"You want to join us?" asked Misty. "But why?"

"You said that you all knew Prof. Oak, right?" asked Tracey.

"Yes, that's right", answered Ash.

"Great!" Tracey smiled happily. "Prof. Oak is my hero.  It's been my 
childhood dream to meet the famous professor of Pokemon."

"Yes", said Prof. Bonsai. "Prof. Oak is quite a celebrity here in 
Ryooku.  All us scientists, including Seymour and myself admire him 
greatly.  Even Tracey admired him ever since he was a little boy.  
Every Halloween he dresses up in a labcoat and a gray wig."

"Professor!" said Tracey blushing with embarrassment.

"Sorry Tracey", said Prof. Bonsai, "Anyway, I would really love it if 
Tracey went with you all.  He knows his way all around Ryooku.  He 
would make an excellent guide."

"And all I ask in return is if you'd take me to see Prof. Oak once you 
return to Pallet", said Tracey.

"What do you say everyone?" asked Cameron.

"That sounds great", said Ash. "Welcome to the group Tracey."

"Thank you", said Tracey still dreaming about meeting Prof. Oak.

"I agree Tracey", smiled Misty. "It'll be a relief to have someone who 
won't get us lost, unlike someone we know in this group."

"What does that supposed to mean?!" demanded Ash.

"You know who I'm talking about, Ashy-poo", said Misty as she winked 
at him slyly.  Ash became too mesmerized to argue back.

*      *      *      *      *      *

Prof. Bonsai was standing outside her temple along with Magnemite and 
Slugma waving goodbye to Ash, Misty, Cameron, and Tracey who were being 
driven away in a police car on their way to Chutneyville.  Magnemite 
started crying out tears from its single eye seeing Pikachu leave.

"Aw, please don't be sad", said Prof. Bonsai as she took out a tissue 
and wiped Magnemite's face. "You'll meet your rightful love someday.  
Maybe your new master might catch something that'll get you really 
charged up."

"Magnemite!" said Magnemite floating in circles around Prof. Bonsai 
feeling a whole lot better.

*      *      *      *      *      *

Back at their hotel room, Jenny just got off the phone and walked over 
to Seymour who was sitting on the bed. "Well my love", she said. "I 
just received a call from my cousin.  Team Rocket tried to do away with 
Cameron and his friends, but luckily they defeated them as usual."

"That's a relief", sighed Seymour putting away his inhaler. "Did your 
cousin arrest those Rockets?"

"Sadly no", sighed Jenny. "They managed to pull the old Weezing 
smokescreen ploy and escape.  But luckily, Soy Jenny's gonna be 
escorting our friends to Chutneyville.  If only I wasn't on vacation, I 
could be there to protect them!"

"I wish I could be there too", sighed Seymour. "If only we decided to 
have our honeymoon a month earlier."

"I might know somebody that could go with them and protect them while 
we stay here", said Jenny. "But to get to her, I'd have to book another 
flight and completely cut short our honeymoon."

"Maybe you don't have to", smiled Seymour. "I know someone who can get 
you to this person in just one second", and he took out a Pokeball and 
released a cute little fairy-like Pokemon. "Clefairy!" she replied.

"You brought Clefairy with you?" smiled Jenny.

"She has teleportation powers", smiled Seymour while patting her cute 
head. "I brought her along just in case of an emergency.  Clefairy, can 
you please teleport Jenny to any place she requests?" 

"Clefairy", replied Clefairy smiling at Jenny.

"Thank you Clefairy", smiled Jenny as she patted her head while 
Clefairy blushed. "And thank you too Seymour", she said while kissing 
him making him blush even redder than Clefairy.  Then she went behind a 
screen and threw off her blue tanktop and brown shorts.  Seymour and 
Clefairy could see the shadow of her naked form behind the screen.  
Seymour started turning redder than ever while Clefairy wondered why 
her master was doing that.  Then Jenny came out from the screen back in 
her uniform.  She whispered into Clefairy's ear asking her where she 
wanted to be teleported.  Clefairy nodded and started up her 
teleportation powers.

"Don't worry my wonderful sci-guy", smiled Jenny as she blew Seymour 
a kiss. "We'll be back by nightfall.  Until then, keep that bed warm 
for me", and she and Clefairy disappeared from Seymour's sight.

"Good luck Jen", sighed Seymour as he plopped down onto the bed. "And 
good luck to you Cameron.  May you have a safe journey."

TO BE CONTINUED

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Just who is this person Jenny's going to request help from?  To find 
out, stay tuned for the next chapter. ;)