Chapter VII
The Poison Power-Up

After James and Meowth had helped Jessie out of the hole, they helped her get all the marker scribbles off her beautiful face. Then, James came up with another brilliant idea. Really.

"I think we should catch Jigglypuff!" he exclaimed.
"Are you sure we shouldn't steal it?" asked Meowth.
"How do you steal a wild pokemon?"
"With a net."
"Why is that considered stealing?"
"Uh, it just is!"
"How do you know?"
"Because everyone always stops us when we try to use nets!"
"Oh, that's true."
"Now that you're done deciding what's stealing or not," Jessie interupted, "I have made the decision to capture it with pokeballs."
She threw a pokeball down the hole and it sucked in Jigglypuff and locked.
"See, it's easy. I just hope it acts nice."
Then the team headed off to Fuschia City. They heard there had been a wild pokemon attack. Like they say, "Where there's trouble, there's Team Rocket. Where there's Team Rocket, there's the pests." We're not sure which 'they' says that, but it's probably Meowth. He claims 'the pests' follow them becuase they think he is the ultimate pokemon. I don't think there's any following involved; it's fate that they will meet every single episode.

When Team Rocket arrived in Fuschia, James immediately insisted on getting some food. Meowth suggested they change out of their TR uniforms first. Jessie reluctantly agreed, trying to look like she wasn't hungry.
Along the way to the 'Food in Fuschia' restaurant, the team noticed a small booth on the side of the road. A large sign in front of it read, "Power Up Your Pokemon! Free today only!"
"Please can we go there Jessie? PLEASE!" James pleaded.
"You're getting ahead of yourself James! Did I say we couldn't go? Honestly James..."
James put his hands over his head in order to shield any incoming blows, but suprisingly, they were not delivered.
Meowth casually approached the booth. "Whaddaya got going here?" he asked the boy inside.
"I can power up your pokemon, or you, I guess, with my special formula. You can have a free sample today!" he replied.
"What's the catch?" inquired Meowth.
"Well, it's sort of experimental. I don't know if it will work. But there's no danger. Don't worry."
Jessie and James stepped forward. "Can you power up our pokemon? And Meowth too?" they asked.
"I don't know... I'm not sure I want to be powered up..." he said timidly.
"Well, you don't have to," the boy replied, "just come on back here and I'll see what I can do. Oh, and by the way, you can cll me Aust."
The team went around to the back of the booth, which was much larger than it appeared to be from the outside. Inside, they let their pokemon out of the pokeballs. Aust, seeing their pokemon, looked at them suspiciously, as if he recognized them. But he shrugged the thought off obviously.
Aust had their pokemon, and Meowth, sit down in on five little cushions. There, he walked over to each one and placed two small metal pads on their ears, arms or whatever. The larger component he held would beep after the pads were attached. Jessie and James watched curiously. Meowth sat nervously.
"Okay," said Aust, "I've determined which of your pokemon are compatable with my power up. The Weezing, the Arbok, and the Victreebel are."
Meowth let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, too bad!" he said.
"Would you like me to power them up now? That'll be $14.95."
"Huh!" cried Jessie and James. "I thought you said it wa--"
"It's a joke. Heh. Just kidding."
"Oh. Okay, power them up."
Aust them took the compatable pokemon and sprayed something from a purple bottle on them. All three winced as if they were in pain. But, in seconds they were feeling fine, but more than fine. All three even appeared to grow a little.
"Wow, this is great!" said Jessie happily.
"Well, thanks, Aust. I guess we'll be going now." said James.
"I have a question to ask you." said Aust. "Would you let me keep your Weezing for a while? To examine it some more?"
"I guess, but I really don't feel safe walking around with only three pokemon with us." said James.
"I'll have it done really fast! Uh, here. You can have these buffet passes to 'Food in Fuschia. Just go eat and then come back. It'll be done!"
"We'll take 'em!" yelled Meowth. He grabbed Weezing's pokeball and tossed it to Aust. "It's alright James. I'll protect us!" Then he thought for a second and asked,
"Hey, Jessie! What did you do with Jigglypuff?"
"Remember, I left it in the balloon."
Then Team Rocket left the booth feeling happy. As they headed for the restaurant, Meowth said, "We've been having pretty good luck lately. I won a battle, you got your pokemon powered up, we have a free meal in for us, and best of all, we haven't had to 'blast off' in quite a while. I know it's my luck machine that's doing this!"
"Yeah, sure." said Jessie and James sarcastically, rolling their eyes.
From the booth, Aust watched them head towards the restaurant. "Jessie, James, and a talking Meowth. Got a balloon and four pokemon that are mostly poison." he tought. "Could it be?"

Chapter VIII
The Battle of Brilliance

Why even bother to name this chapter?! The name is pathetic. Originally, I named it "Food 'n' Fights". I have to admit, that was really pathetic. See, poor planning does not pay off. If I would have thought about the chapters that would be difficult to name when I began writing...
Anyway, 'the heroes' decided to get some munchies before they left Fuchsia City (I've been misspelling Fuchsia...) at the 'Food in Fuchsia'. Sound familiar? It should, 'the villains' have selected this fine establishment too, by seeing where they could eat for free. I don't see a problem with that selection process.

"Ya' know, Ash," said Brock, "We should've gone to the grocery store. I can cook way better than this place."
"It's not my fault this place couldn't cook if its life depended on it!"
"SHUDDAP!" yelled Misty. "They're going to spit in our food if you keep talking like that!"
"It's a buffet." said Ash cooly.
"Even worse!"
"I don't see your logic there, Misty." said Brock.
"Men..." she grumbled.

At a table within earshot of Ash's table, sat Jessie, James, and Joey. Joey is a cat.
"How rude." said Jessie. "Anyone within a mile could hear their pathetic conversation!"
"Oh, look now!" prompted James. "Brock is hitting on that waitress.
"How rude."
"While you sit there observing the pests," interrupted Meowth, "I am concocting a plan that won't fail. We'll have that Pikachu before the night is done!"
"What do we get to wear?" asked Jessie excitedly.
"It doesn't matter. As long as it's a disguise."
"Hey, we should wear Team Rocket uniforms with a 'P' on them instead of 'R'!" sugested James. "No one would notice."
"James, I would hit you if there weren't a stained-glass lamp in between you and I." said Jessie viciously.
"No, Jessie." said Meowth. "He's got a point. No one ever recognizes us. Besides, we have the luck on our side, remember?"
"Okay, let's do it!"
Team Rocket then retreated to the restrooms, where they emergerd seconds later in the costumes they just discussed. They walked around, sort of casing the pests table, for a few minutes. Sure enough, they weren't noticed. It's not that people are stupid, they're just cartoons, anime cartoons.
Then the team approached Ash's table. "What can I get you tonight?" asked James.
"We already ordered, and you only have a buffet, and you don't look a thing like a waiter." replied Brock.
"Ohh. Three strikes in one swing! Ouch James!" thought Jessie. "My turn."
"Haha. Ja- Jeremy was just kidding." she said out loud. "We came to tell you that you have won the special prize. If you can identify this pokemon, you can recieve it!"
From behind her back she pulled out a piece of posterboard with a Pikachu silhouette and various facts on it. It read:
Name: P _ _ _ c _ _
Type: Electic
Evolution: Raichu
"Hmmm..." said Ash. "That looks a little familiar."
"Is this pokemon yellow?" asked Misty.
"Yes, yes!" said Jessie excitedly.
"It's Psyduck!"
"No."
"Do you know what it is?" Ash asked Pikachu.
"Pi-pika. Pika-pika. Ka-chu!"
"You don't know either?!" said Ash.
"Pi-pikachu. Ka-"
"That's right it's Pikachu! You have such a smart pokemon. Can we see it?" asked James politely. Ash nodded his head, so Meowth popped up and snatched it. "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off with Pikachu!" yelled Jessie, James, and Meowth. They immediately rushed out of the building.
"Hey!" shouted Ash. "Those guys with the 'P' on their shirts took my yellow thing!"

Chapter IX
Pokemon Peril

Ash's Gang was falling prey to Team Rocket's luck machine, and were being even dumber than James usually is. After finally realizing Team Pocket was really Team Rocket, they headed off after them. With the help of Pidgeotto and Zubat as scouts, they followed the team to TRHQ. They immediately rushed inside and found Jessie and James talking to their notorious boss, Giovanni.
"You should have brought me all of this boy's pokemon!" he was saying. "And that Togepi thing too."
"You want my pokemon, huh?" Ash shouted jumping in the middle of the room.
"It took two almost a year to steal a Pikachu from a stupid ten-year old?!" Giovanni said to his two employees and former pet.
"It's a special Pikachu!" said Ash, Misty, Brock, Jessie, James, and Meowth in unison.
"Well, now that this boy came to us, we don't need you anymore." he said to the Team Rocket we have come to know. Then he snapped his fingers and four guards takled Ash and co. and stole all their pokemon. Then he looked at Team Rocket and said, "You can leave now, or we'll force you out."
"Hey!" they shouted. "We should get a bonus for stealing that. You at least owe us some sort of severance fee."
"Oh, do I?" He then snapped his fingers again and two more guards came out with a Venusaur and an Alakazam. Within seconds, the team was held by a jungle of vines and a psychic barrier. Then they were tossed out a little hatch in the wall. The guards tossed Giovanni four pokeballs, containing an Arbok, a Lickitung, a Victreebel, and a very unhappy Meowth.
"Now, about you little brats..." said Giovanni. "I might consider letting you have your pokemon back... IF you cooperate. You, the tall one, Brock is it? I have discovered you have a talent for breeding pokemon and making pokemon food. If you help us breed and feed our pokemon, we might help you in return."
"No! I'd never breed or help any of your pokemon!"
"OK, for the hatted one. Will you train-"
"NO!"
"Like I thought. And the girl. We really have no use for your pokemon skills. But you can join us and be in our recently dissolved squadron. It's really quite an honor, to be a rookie already in white uniforms. We have a male partner selected."
"Hmmm... How much would I get paid?"
"MISTY?!?!" cried Ash and Brock.
"Okay, Okay. Fine, I won't join Team Rocket." she said.
"Guards, take them away to the 'reconsidering area'. I have more important things to do."
With that, Ash, Misty, and Brock were thrown into the 'reconsidering area', which was really just a prison. Will they escape and recover their pokemon? How lucky is this luck machine? And who is Lilliardio?! Find out in the next chapter of The Luck Machine!!!