Part 2 Victory and Defeat

A/N: Darn, I thought I could get off without doing this so often. So anyway, much thanks to Dee for not being too pissed about my “borrowing” the RDS thing. And now to reveal more Gym Leaders, who own themselves and in most cases, the names of their cities. Gemma/Garnet Town, Kenneth/Zirconium Village, Rose/Moonstone (not the evolution one, mind you!) City, and Samantha own themselves. By the way, when Meowth talks, if I think a word is particularly hard to understand, the parentheses contain a translation. And the last line in this episode is from the end of “Holy Matrimony”.

“What is it?” called a voice. “If you’ve come to battle me, prepare to lose!” Penny stepped out into the battle arena and shook her short copper hair out of her face. Jessie, James, Meowth, and Domino walked to the other side of the arena. Penny looked confused. “Which of you is challenging me?”

“Jessie and James are a team entry and Domino’s on her own,” explained Meowth. “An’ I’m backup for everyone.”

“You are?” exclaimed the three trainers in unison. “Oh, Meowth-” all three ex-Rockets rushed over and started hugging him.

“Meowth that’s so sweet of you-”

“You’re the best ever-”

“Hey stoppit you’re choking Me-owth! Don’t hug so tight!”

“Oh Meowth you’re so great-”

“Why didn’t you tell us before?”

Penny cleared her throat and the trio dropped Meowth, embarrassed. “Oh. Right.” There was a short pause, then Penny began to announce the rules.

“This will be a two-on-two Pokemon battle. Anything goes,” she said, throwing out her first Pokeball. “Elekid, go!”

“James, you first,” Jessie said anxiously.

“All right, Jessie,” he nodded. “Victreebel, I choose you!”

“Um, James, that may not be the best idea…” Victreebel materialized in the ring. “TREE!” For once, it didn’t latch onto James’s head. He sighed with relief. “Victreebel, Razor Leaf attack!”

“Elekid, Thundershock!” The leaves collided with Elekid as the Thundershock hit Victreebel.

“Wrap it with your Vine Whip, Victreebel, we’re not blasting off this time!”

“Don’t count on it!” yelled Penny. “Elekid, use your Thunderpunch!”

“Dodge it, Victreebel!” Victreebel dodged the Thunderpunch and grabbed it with its vines. “Now use Sleep Powder!” James shouted happily. He was winning!

Victreebel put the Elekid to sleep.

“Now throw it!” yelled James. The Elekid banged into the wall and fainted.

“Elekid, return!” Penny cried, recalling her Pokemon. “Jolteon, I choose you!”

James recalled Victreebel as Jessie stepped out. “Go, Wobuffet!” Wobuffet appeared in the arena.

“Jolteon, Thunderbolt!”

“Wobuffet, Mirror Coat!” The Thunderbolt rebounded upon its originator violently.

“Tackle it, Jolteon!”

“Wobuffet, use your Counter attack!” Jolteon dove at Wobuffet, but only bounced into the wall.

“Jolteon!” shrieked Penny. “Okay, you asked for it! Jolteon, use your Thunder!”

“Wobuffet, do another Mirror Coat!” wailed Jessie in a panicked voice. “Hurry!”

The Thunder rebounded again and Jolteon crumbled to the floor. Jessie pumped her fist into the air. “YES!”

Penny recalled her Jolteon and walked over to Jessie and James. “You win.” She handed them a badge shaped like a lightning bolt. “The Sparkbadge is yours.”

James accepted the badge as Jessie grabbed hold of him and started doing a victory dance. “We WON!” Jessie screamed. “Holy Miltank, we WON!”

“It’s da foist time dey eva won anyting,” Meowth explained to Penny, who was reviving her Pokemon.

“Yeah, I could see that,” she muttered wryly, then glanced at Domino. “Ready?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Let’s go.” Domino sent out her Eevee as Penny sent out a newly revived Jolteon. Domino noted that it still looked a little weary, though. “Eevee, Quick Attack!”

“Jolteon, let’s make this quick and painless! Use your Thunderbolt!”

Eevee hit Jolteon right as it let loose a powerful bolt of electricity.

“EEE!” Eevee screamed as it crumpled to the floor. Domino gasped.

“Eevee!” She recalled her Eevee, then realized she had run out of Pokemon. “Uh-oh, we’ve got a problem…”

Meowth jumped into the arena, claws bared. “Domino chooses Meowth!” She sighed with relief and made a note to be nicer to the cat.

“Meowth, use your Fury Swipes!”

“Jolteon, use Thunder when it hits you!”

Domino thought fast. “Okay, Meowth, change of plans! Use a Slash, but be fast!”

Meowth darted in and slashed at Jolteon, but was hit by the Thunder attack. “Meowwwth! Dat hoits (hurts)!” He toppled over, eyes swirling rapidly. Domino sank to her knees.

“No!” she wailed. She rushed onto the field and picked Meowth up.

“I’ll be happy to give you a rematch,” Penny offered graciously.

“No, that’s okay,” Domino said. “I don’t want a rematch. Meowth, I’m sorry I put you through that.”

“Meowwwth!” was the faint reply.

Jessie and James exchanged worried glances. “We’d better get him to a Pokemon Center,” Jessie said anxiously. She took Meowth from Domino and the three of them rushed Meowth to the Pokemon Center, calling a hurried goodbye to Penny as they left.

Everyone in the Pokecenter looked up when James threw the door open (nearly ripping it off its hinges) and Jessie ran in with an injured Meowth in her arms. Domino was close on her heels, one hand on her hat to avoid losing it.

“Nurse Joy,” panted Jessie. “Thank Celebi… Meowth… electrocuted… Jolteon…Gym battle…” she gasped before collapsing onto the floor. James scooped her up and carried her to a chair in the lobby, where he laid her so she could rest.

“She’s not used to running so far,” he explained, “and she was putting on extra speed because she was worried about Meowth.” He looked at Nurse Joy. “Will he be okay?”

“Oh my,” she exclaimed, “he’s in horrible condition! Penny’s Jolteon is powerful. Chansey!” A Chansey ran up with a stretcher and she laid Meowth on it. “Take this Pokemon to emergency care at once!” The Chansey ran off with the stretcher as Domino twisted her cap in her hands.

“Oh, man…” she murmured, staring after the stretcher. “Meowth…”

Several hours later, the gang was absolutely exhausted. They had spent the time pacing the lobby, waiting for news of their friend’s condition. James checked his watch. It was 9:30PM. He sighed tiredly. When would they find out how Meowth was?

Suddenly, the red light over the emergency room door went off and Nurse Joy stepped out smiling. “Your Meowth will be just fine!” she announced cheerfully.

They heard a loud, somewhat angry protest from the ER. “Hey! I ain’t THEIRS! I’m MINE!” The ex-Rockets laughed. Meowth already sounded normal.

“Do you have a place to spend the night?” asked Joy. “You can stay here if you like.”

“Thanks,” Domino said. “We’ll stay here with Meowth. I wouldn’t feel right about leaving him.” Nurse Joy nodded and walked back into the ER.

“Domino,” Jessie asked, “are you going to challenge Penny again?”

She shook her head. “No. I don’t want my Pokemon hurt. I think that instead of training for battles, I’ll stick to field battles and stuff. I don’t want to do Gym battles until Eevee gets strong enough to handle it. Since you two got your badge, we can move on.”

“What’s the next town?” inquired James.

Domino checked the guidebook. “Noda City. The Gym Leader is Dee and she uses dark-type Pokemon.”

“Dark-types, huh?” said a voice from across the room. All three of them turned to see Meowth. “We can handle doze (those), dey’re easy to bring down. We can start traveling again tomorrow.”

“Lights out!” yelled Nurse Joy, hitting a switch on the wall. “See you in the morning!” The gang settled themselves as comfortably as they could and went to sleep.

The next morning, James risked the wrath of Jessie’s Mallet of Doom by shaking her awake. Meowth had scratched Domino awake.

“James, stoppit,” mumbled Jessie somewhat incoherently. “I wanna sleep.” She covered her eyes with an arm and tried to get some more rest.

“Jessie!” wailed James. “Don’t you wanna get our next badge?”

She moved her arm and reached for her mallet. “James,” she began sweetly, “all I want is to get some sleep. It’s FAR too early to get hit, don’t you think?”

He nodded, getting the hint. “You win, Jess.”

“No she don’t!” yelled Meowth, Fury Swiping her across the face. “Get up! We’re gonna go get our Nightbadge from Dee!”

Jessie dragged herself off the chair. “You’ll pay for that, cat!” she snapped, malleting him angrily. “How DARE you ruin this perfection?!”

“I dares!” he replied, running behind Domino, who scooped him up good-naturedly.

“Aw, let him go, Jess; he didn’t do any lasting damage, after all,” Domino said.

She nodded. “Just this once.”

They foursome had a breakfast made by Nurse Joy, which James swore was “made of cardboard” before getting on Route 60 towards Noda City.

“Aagh!” screamed James, grabbing Jessie in a tight fearhug. “Get it away!”

“A Farfetch’d!” Domino yelled delightedly. “I’m gonna give Eevee a little practice! Go, Eevee!” She tossed out Eevee’s Pokeball. “Eevee, use your Tackle!”

Eevee tackled the Farfetch’d, who responded with a fierce Fury Attack.

“Eevee, Quick Attack!” Eevee used a Quick Attack, fainting the Farfetch’d. “Pokeball, go!” Domino yelled, throwing a Pokeball towards the Farfetch’d. She held her breath as the ball wobbled, then sighed with relief as it came to rest. She picked it up, grinning. “I caught Farfetch’d!” she shouted in a perfect imitation of Ash and gave a victory sign. “Yeah!”

Jessie, James, and Meowth burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Domino demanded irritably.

“You…were acting like…the twerp…” James gasped between giggles.

“You…looked just like Ash…” added Jessie.

“Wonda how dat brat is?” Meowth said. “We haven’t seen him for a while.”

Jessie (who had pried James off her during the battle) shuddered. “I hope he doesn’t show up in Imato any time soon.”

James rubbed his stomach. “I’m hungry!” he whined. “Jessie, why didn’t we bring food from the Pokemon Center?”

“Gee, I wonder,” Domino said sarcastically. “YOU were the one who described it as cardboard!”

“It’s betta dan nuttin (nothing)!” Meowth snapped. “I’d radda (rather) eat dat dan starve!”

Jessie silently pulled a handful of Fruit Roll-ups from her backpack and passed them around.

“Geez, what else is in dere?” asked Meowth. “A grocery store?”

She smacked the cat. “You know full well that wouldn’t fit!”

He rubbed his head. “I was kiddin’!”

James shoved his snack in his mouth and started to run ahead of them. “Come on! If we run we can make Route 61 by night! Maybe even get to Noda in two days!”

Domino and Jessie exchanged Looks before chasing after him, leaving Meowth in the dust.

“Hey! Wait! You forgot Me-owth again!”