PART III “All right!”

“It’s about time we succeeded in capturing this little electric rodent.”

“It feels good to be a winner.”

Team Rocket had finally captured Pikachu, and with some extra hard work from Meowth and James, they had gotten away—for once, without losing the stolen merchandise. James’ Weezing had left Ash, Misty, and Tracy coughing and sputtering in a cloud of smokescreen. By the time Tracy’s Venonat had led them out of the smoke, Team Rocket had gotten away.

“But ‘dis time, we actually got away wit’ ‘da Pikachu!” Meowth said with a laugh.

“Pkaaa, chuuuu!” cried Pikachu from inside the bag it had been put in. It’s electricity lit up the bag, which James was carrying.

“Hey, you two!” called James to his teammates. “Can you believe that this thing is actually still trying to shock me?”

The three members of Team Rocket laughed triumphantly at the Pikachu’s futile attempts to escape.

“It’s cool to be cruel.” Said Jessie with some satisfaction.

“Dis calls for a celebration!” agreed Meowth.

Jessie, James, and Meowth sat down in the basket of their hot air balloon and tied napkins around their necks. Jessie picked up a cell-phone and dialed a number.

“Hello?” She said into the phone. “Is this Dodrio’s Speedy Pizza Delivery? I’d like to order a large pizza, please.”

She put her hand over the receiver and turned to James and Meowth. “What do you guys want on the pizza?”

“Extra cheese!” said James excitedly.

“Anchovies!” added Meowth. “I gotta have my daily serving ‘o fish, ya know.”

Jessie removed her hand from the receiver and spoke into the phone again. “We’ll have a large pizza with extra cheese, pepperoni, and anchovies. Half of it with everything on it.” She paused. “Have it delivered to our hot air balloon. It looks like a Meowth. You can’t miss it.” Another pause. “My charge account number?” She smiled after a few seconds and gave the pizza delivery cashier James’ charge account number.

“Hey!” said James.

Jessie hung up the cell-phone. “Well, that’s over with.”

“What ever happened to your charge account number?” asked James, annoyed.

Jessie put on an innocent face. “Well, James, I thought you wouldn’t really mind if I used your account number. I mean, the Boss will probably give us a bonus anyway.”

James sighed, seeing that arguing wouldn’t help any. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a Fearow coming towards them.

Jessie took out a stopwatch. “They’re a few seconds late, but I’m in such a good mood that I’ll let ‘em off easy.”

The Fearow flew up next to the hot air balloon, and Jessie took the boxed pizza, which was being held in its beak. As she did this, she happened to glance down.

“Wow…” She said, still holding the pizza.

James came up and took the pizza from her. “Don’t drop it!” he said. “That’s our meal!”

He noticed Jessie’s intent stare and asked cautiously, “What are you looking at, Jessie?”

Jessie pointed toward the ground below them. A Nidorino and a Nidorina were feeding on berries from nearby bushes. The reason Jessie was staring was the fact that both the Nidorino and Nidorina were larger than average, much larger.

“Hey,” said James thoughtfully. “We got a Pokemon for the boss…”

Jessie finished his sentence. “So why don’t we get some Pokemon for ourselves?”

They brought the hot air balloon down, and landed a short distance away from the Nidorino and Nidorina.

“Whoa,” said Meowth in awe. “ ‘Dose Pokemon are really big for their species!”

“We’re gonna catch them.” Jessie and James stated proudly.

“Hey!” Meowth complained. “What do I get?”

Jessie stared at Meowth in disbelief. “You are a Pokemon.”

Meowth gave that a thought. “Oh yeah.”

“Weezing, go! Attack the Nidorino!”

“Arbok, get me that Nidorina!”

James and Jessie sent out their Pokemon, and the ‘double’ battle began.

The Nidorino and Nidorina were caught completely by surprise, but they put up a great fight.

Arbok and Weezing could tell that these Pokemon were meant to be captured, as well as added to their own trainers’ Pokemon team. They battled as they had never battled before—and won.

“Pokeball, go!” shouted James as he threw a pokeball towards the defeated Nidorino. “You’re mine!”

Seconds that seemed like hours went by. Then, sure enough, the pokeball containing James’ new Nidorino finally was still.

“Haha! Sweet success!” Said James triumphantly as he picked up the pokeball containing his Nidorino. “Great job, Weezing.”

As Weezing returned to its pokeball, Jessie was throwing an empty one towards the worn out Nidorina.

The Nidorina broke out of the pokeball after a few seconds, and made a tremendous comeback by knocking Arbok unconscious with its double kick. Jessie sent out Lickitung to finish the job that Arbok had started.

“Come on, Lickitung! You can lick it! Show it what you’ve got!”

The Nidorina went down the very second Lickitung licked it. This time, though, it didn’t break out of the pokeball.

“Yes!” Jessie cried happily. “I got Nidorina! You’re the best, Lickitung!”

When they got back to the hot air balloon, Meowth was reading a newspaper. According to the worried and angry expression on his face, there wasn’t any good news.

“We’ve got trouble, you two.”

The smiles disappeared from James and Jessie’s faces.

“And when it comes to the three of us, the trouble’s double.” He held up the newspaper.

It said: Wanted: Two escaped prisoners. Go by the names of Butch and Cassidy. Said to be members of Team Rocket. If you have any information, please contact the Orange Island Police Force immediately.

The very same day these nefarious villains escaped, a rare and prized Arcanine working on the Police Canine Team and belonging to the Chief of Police disappeared. Experts believe there may be a connection between the escape and the disappearance. Again, if you have any information, contact the Orange Island Police Force immediately.

--Officer Jenny

Whew! This was a hard one to write! I personally think it is the best in the series so far. How about you?