Chapter 12: Island Hopping

It's been about 5 hours after we took off to find Scott. Up ahead, we could see Cinnabar Island. From a distance, nothing looked wrong. As we got closer, I could see that that was a misconception. As we drove past the island, alarms sounded, and two black speedboats & 2 jetskis came after us.
"Well, this is nice" Josh told us.
The boats started firing machine guns at us & the jetskis fired torpedoes. Josh's Poliwhirl defused the torpedoes, but they were still after us. I suddenly had an idea. I told Josh, and he called out Butterfree & Pidgeot. I sent Zubat. All 3 used Whirlwind on the ocean and created a giant tidal wave that smothered the boats & jetskis. Now that that crisis was over, it was time to go find Scott.
It had been 2 days since we took off to find Megan's dad. Zach drove most of the way, but even though he double-checked the coordinates, he still thought we weren't headed in the right direction. We were running very low on fuel, and our extra tank was almost empty. Megan saw an island not to far away, but it was too small to be our main destination. We decided to stop anyway. Zach could make a substitute fuel for the boat with the items in the jungle, but it would take awhile. I decided to pig out. I munched down on some cheese curls while Zubat ate some Pokémon food. Zach was making the fuel, Josh was cooking some hot dogs, and Megan was feeding her Pokémon. Suddenly, we heard a small rustle in the forest. Megan went to see what it was. About 15 minutes later, a larger commotion was happening at the opposite end of where Megan went. All of us decided to check it out. We soon saw a campsite hidden in the bushes, so we hid to see what was up. A bunch of wild Pokémon was just hauled up by a net. They were loaded into a large van. Some of the Pokémon were crying.
"Pokémon poachers" I whispered to Josh & Zach.
I was ready to teach the poachers a lesson. We moved forward about a step, before us ourselves were trapped in a net. Unfortunately, our Pokéballs fell out of the net. The net was very thick so Zubat couldn't bite through. Suddenly, we heard laughing from the clearing. Guess who was laughing?
"Prepare for trouble!"
"Make that double!"
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jesse!"
"James!"
"You guys again! Can't we go anywhere without running into you?" I exclaimed.
"Grrrr. How come we can never finish our motto?" shouted Jesse.
"Because it's the same thing over and over and over" shouted Josh.
"Humph. Well, you shouldn't be complaining kid! After all, we're not stuck in a net!" Jesse said as she laughed.
All of us held our ears shut. I can't stand her laughing. Meowth picked up our Poké Balls and put them in the van. Jesse & James barely managed to get Zubat out of the net and into the van. I tried to get free but with no luck. There was nothing any of us could do to stop Team Rocket now. They were about to head off and leave us when someone shouted for them to stop. It was Megan!
"Let them go now!" Megan shouted.
"Why should we little girl?" asked Jesse.
"Because you'll be sorry if you don't" she shouted.
"Yeah right little girl now run along" said James.
"I challenge you to a 4 on 4 Pokémon battle Team Rocket!" Megan shouted.
Zach, Josh & I were confused. Megan had only 3 Pokémon. How could she do a 4 on 4 battle? Jesse thought this was going to be easy and sent Arbok. Megan called out Machop. Machop begun with Karate Chop, but was bitten by Arbok's Bite and binded. Megan recalled Machop and sent out Vulpix. James decided to use Weezing. Weezing floated up, while Vulpix used Flamethrower, but missed. Weezing used Smog and tackled the blinded Vulpix. Vulpix used Flamethrower, but was hit by flying Sludge. One more tackle & Vulpix was out.
Megan recalled Vulpix & sent out her Nidorina. Nidorina was ready to fight. Jesse decided to handle this one with her Lickitung. Nidorina leapt to scratch Lickitung, but Lickitung's tongue paralyzed the Pokémon. Megan recalled Nidorina. Zach and I thought we were screwed, but Josh had confidence in Megan. Megan grabbed her last Poké Ball.
"OK, It's all up to you now! GO GET 'EM!" she said as she threw her Poké Ball.
The Pokéball opened up and revealed a strange Pokémon. It was short & yellow with black tips on its pointy ears. Its face was very round and so was its small body. The Pokémon's small arms wobbled as it stepped up on some pretty big feet. Then, it shouted its cry.
"Pi! Pichu!" exclaimed the Pokémon.
"What is that?" I asked. I grabbed my Pokédex to see.
"Pichu. A recently discovered electric species of Pokémon. This Pokémon is said to be the lower evolution of Pikachu. It has powerful thunder attacks and can be friendly" said the Pokédex.
"Humph. This little bug will be easy to get rid of. Lickitung! Use Wrap!" Jesse shouted.
Lickitung wrapped up the tiny Pichu with its tongue. All that was visible was Pichu's ears. It squeezed Pichu hard until all of the sudden, electric shocks flew out and hit Lickitung. Lickitung fainted. James decided to use Victreebel, and it covered Pichu. James thought he had won, when Victreebel was shocked hard and fainted. James recalled it. The duo thought about a double team, and sent both Arbok & Weezing. Pichu was frightened by the size of Arbok & Weezing. Arbok bit Pichu & Weezing tackled it, and Pichu was in rough shape. Arbok & Weezing were going in for the kill, so Pichu let out a blind Thunderbolt. Arbok & Weezing were shocked, as were Jesse & James. The rope that held the net up was snapped by a loose thunderbolt, and we fell down to the ground...hard. After wincing in pain, another loose bolt came straight at us. We got shocked as well. All of the sudden, an explosion occurred under Team Rocket. They sailed high in the air.
"We're blasting off again!" screamed the team.
"Pichu! Stop!" shouted Megan as she nearly dodged a stray thundershock.
Pichu stopped its attack and leapt up into Megan's arms. We were charred & paralyzed. After we healed, Zach asked Megan where she found Pichu.
According to Megan, a wild Fearow attacked Pichu, and was injured badly. Megan shooed it off and healed Pichu. Pichu gave a happy screech and hugged Megan. We decided to camp out again on the island, and in the morning, we would set off.
In the morning we packed our things and were ready to head out. I finished up the last of the pancakes we had for breakfast, while Josh gathered up some extra food. We were just about to cast off, when Pichu got a whiff of something and leaped into the jungle to find out what it was. Megan immediately followed the electric mouse. Zach tried to start up the boat, but it wouldn't turn on.
"Arg. What now?" I asked.
"Hmm. Let me see" Zach said as he looked inside the boat.
Meanwhile, Megan had finally caught up to Pichu. It found its way to a large river, and was ready to take a sip. Megan was about to take a sip as well, when she noticed something strange. She grabbed Pichu before it could touch the water. Megan was about to go back to the others to tell them when a strange Pokémon barely managed to plop its head on the river bank. Megan went to it.
"Dra...Dra...Tin" gasped the sick Pokémon.
"Oh my God!" exclaimed Megan. She inspected the Pokémon and carefully picked it up using some rubber gloves.
"Hmm. From what my dad taught me about Pokémon, it looks like..." Megan started, "It looks like you've been poisoned! Who would do such a thing?"
Luckily, Megan carried her bookbag with her. She grabbed an Antidote and cured the Pokémon.
"Dra...Dra...Dratini!" The Pokémon said with a loud yell.
"Looks like you're feeling better!" Megan said.
Megan decided to see who was dumping poison in the river. She headed upstream, when suddenly, she bumped into 2 familiar characters.
"Waa! It's the little brat again!" yelled the woman.
"Grrrr. You're not going to foil us THIS time! So prepare for trouble!" said Jesse.
"Make that double!" said James.
"Do you HAVE to say the same things over & over again?" asked Megan.
This made Team Rocket very mad. They advanced on Megan, when Pichu hopped up and shocked Team Rocket. In retaliation, Jesse used Arbok to bite Pichu, while James' Weezing hit Pichu hard. Megan picked up the weak Pichu, and decided to call out Vulpix & Machop, when Weezing tackled her. She dropped her Poké Balls & Pichu, and looked up to see Arbok coming in. She gasped, when all of the sudden, two Poké Balls hit Arbok in the face and dropped down. The Poké Balls opened up to release 2 Pokémon. Nidorino & Poliwhirl.
"Hey Megan, having fun?" asked Josh.
"About time you got here. Team Rocket's poisoned the river!" Megan replied.
"Not while I'm here! Nidorino! Double Kick! Poliwhirl! Bubblebeam!" Josh shouted.
Then, Josh saw a machine spewing the poison in the river.
"Sandshrew! Take out that machine!" shouted Josh.
"SHHHHREWWWWW" shouted Sandshrew as it dug deep into ground and used Dig to destroy the machine.
Meanwhile, Arbok & Weezing were getting beaten up by Nidorino & Poliwhirl. Josh called them back and decided to use Butterfree & Pidgeot. Both Pokémon used Gust and sent Team Rocket miles away.
"Good job guys!" said Josh.
"Thanks Josh," said Megan, as she gave Josh a peck on the cheek.
"Awww. It was nothing" Josh replied, blushing.
"Tini! Dratini!" Dratini said as it suddenly came out of the water.
"But I thought the water was poisoned," said Josh.
"It was, until I poured some Antidotes into the water. It didn't completely get rid of the poison, but a fair amount" said Megan.
Suddenly, a balloon appeared out of nowhere. It was shaped like Meowth.
"Looks like I didn't get rid of Team Rocket!" said Josh.
"You've caused us too much trouble!" said Jesse, "Now, it's our turn!"
A vacuum appeared under the balloon and started sucking up everything. Josh called for Nidorino & Polwhirl to fly on Pidgeot & Butterfree and stop the balloon, but they were sucked up. Sandshrew was sucked up as well. Megan tried to hold onto Pichu, but a rock hit her and Pichu was swallowed up as well. Suddenly, Dratini appeared, and mad to boot. It started swimming in a circle faster & faster. Then, a Dragon Rage tornado appeared, however, it wasn't strong enough to pull Team Rocket in. Just then Zach, Zubat, and I came on the scene.
"What's going on here?" Zach asked.
"Team Rocket's trying to suck all the Pokémon up using that vacuum!" Josh said.
"Dratini's Dragon Rage isn't strong enough! We've got to do something!" Megan shouted.
"Right! Gyarados! Use your Dragon Rage to help Dratini!" I shouted.
Gyarados appeared, and looked at Team Rocket. It was angry at them for what happened the last time they met, and shot them with a Hydro Pump. The blast separated the vacuum with the balloon, and sent Team Rocket into the Dragon Rage. They were sucked in and blown all the way across the ocean. Dratini stopped its Dragon Rage, and breathed a sigh. I was ready to congratulate Gyarados, when I was Hydro Pumped and slammed against a tree. Guess Gyarados still doesn't like me. I returned it, while Megan healed Pichu and thanked Dratini. Dratini was happy and grabbed one of Megan's Poké Balls and got in.
"Aw man. How come she's getting all the rare Pokémon?" I asked.
Megan was proud of her new Dratini. After getting rid of the rest of the poison, we got onto the boat and headed to our prime destination. I was busy thinking of something else. Wheather to switch Gyarados or not. It is a good Water-type Pokémon, but it doesn't listen to me. I do have other Water-types, like Staryu, that I could use. Finally, I decided to switch Gyarados. It was going to be awhile before it would listen to me anyway. As I was about to switch though, we hit some rapids. We bounced around, but then came a really big one, which knocked me over and made me drop my Pokédex. Unfortunately, it fell out of the boat.
"My Pokédex! No!" I said. I was ready to get it back by jumping in.
"Are you crazy? You'll die in there!" Josh said, holding me back.
"But without it, I can't switch Gyarados!" I said, "And I am going to need 6 obedient Pokémon on this trip!"
"We'll worry about Gyarados later. First, we need to survive. Those people that have Scott are probably after us. I don't think they want to have tea with us either." Josh said.
Finally, I gave in and nodded. Without my Pokédex, I'm stuck with Gyarados. We made it out of the rapids, and the Pokédex was the only thing lost. Luckily, nothing was damaged. We were concerned that we were lost. It's been another 2 days since we left the island. Megan was worried that she would never see her dad again. Zach then squinted forward, then told us there's an island up ahead. Josh looked through some binoculars and saw a pretty big island. Megan looked and lit up.
"That's it! That's the island!" she shouted.
We all celebrated, and as we got closer, we got happier. Zach then heard something and told us to be quiet. Josh saw what he heard. Two torpedoes were heading straight for us. It was definitely a time to panic. What are we going to do??

To be continued...

<< Previous Chapter/Back to Main Page/Next Chapter >>