Chapter 4

Finally, chapter 4... Not the last one, though. Those who have sent feedbacks, thanks a lot, they have been a great encouragement for me. Anyway, keep reading... Oh, as for Marlene’s age, let it be 16.

“Oh, I can’t believe it...” Jessie mourned.

“How come that twerp manages to get us blasted off all the time?” James sighed.

“Meow, how will we get down? I feel dizzy...” Meowth complained.

After being blasted off by Ash and Pikachu one more time, Team Rocket was now resting on the high branches of a tree. They desperately tried to get down, but it was no use. Suddenly, the branches they had been holding on to cracked, and then they broke, so that Jessie, James and Meowth no longer needed to struggle to get down.

“Oww, it hurts…” James moaned.

“You fool, get up, I can’t breathe…” Jessie shouted. James had fallen on Jessie, lying head down at top of her, whining at the same time. As he strived to get up, all of a sudden he found himself face to face with Jessie, his face just millimeters apart from hers. He looked into Jessie’s eyes. Why hadn’t he noticed those beautiful blue eyes before? Jessie also was thinking how handsome James was looking right at that moment, especially when he was that close.

“Get off me, you twos!”

Their romantic moment was interrupted by Meowth, who was about to be a part of the ground, being mashed under James’s and Jessie’s bodies. Jessie and James abruptly parted, got up, and got Meowth off the ground.

“All right, now.” the feline began, after gasping for several minutes. “We’ve got to get those creatures, Digimon, or whatever, to take to the boss. He would just love it.”

“And he would pay us extra money for our service…” James continued.

“We won’t need to work for the rest of our lives!” Jessie completed.

“Alright, then, listen to me…” Meowth said mysteriously.

Next day, Ash woke up early to train his Pokémon to beat Marlene. He was trying to make them move faster.

Meanwhile, in the room in which Kari, Misty, Sora and Mimi were staying, Sora woke up with an uneasy feeling in her head. She looked around, and realized that it was Kari’s voice which woke her. Kari must have been dreaming, she was murmuring something. Sora couldn’t sleep anymore, she felt something odd had been happening. She decided to go down to the garden.

Ash was trying to teach Bulbasaur how to jump higher when Sora came down to the garden.

“Good morning, Ash.”

“Good morning Sora.” Ash replied. “What are you doing here? Isn’t it a bit early?”

“I know.”

“I hope I haven’t woken you up…”

“No, not at all. Actually, it was Kari… She kept murmuring words which I couldn’t understand while she was sleeping…”

“Oh, Brock’s like that, too. He always talks to himself in his sleep. ‘Oh, girls… Stop it… I love you…’ Of course, he can say these only in his dreams.”

Sora giggled, the suddenly stopped laughing. “Are you going to challenge that Marlene again?”

“Yes, why?” Ash replied. “I must win my badge.”

“You know, we all worried for you. Especially Misty. You must have seen how frantic she had got.”

“Really?” Ash asked eagerly.

“Really. I mean… Be more careful next time.”

Misty had woken up also, and now was looking out of the window, watching Ash and Sora speak. “Oh my God, I wonder what they’re talking about…” she thought.

Two hours later, all of the team was awake, and they were all sitting around a breakfast table.

“Well, what do we do today?” Misty asked.

“You will challenge Marlene again, won’t you?” Tai asked Ash.

“Of course I will.” Ash said, as though it was of no importance. He hadn’t failed to notice the considerate twinkle in Misty’s eyes, however.

“You’re not ready yet!” Brock objected. “Take your time, Ash, you know what will happen if you fail…”

“And we all know somebody will get frantic if such a thing happens…” Mimi silently added.

Not long after, the team decided to rest –in Ash’s case, practice- that day, thanks to girls’ enthusiasm for having a day off. They left the Pokémon Center to go to the beach.

Everything was calm and quiet. The girls were sunbathing, while Ash was practicing, Brock and Tracey were trying to impress the girls, and the others swimming and running around. This tranquility lasted until Tai accidentally splashed water on to Misty.

“You fool!” Misty shouted angrily. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Everybody turned around to look at Misty in surprise.

Tai was angry, too. “It was an accident! Why are you getting mad so quickly?”

“Because I don’t like being woken up while sleeping!”

“You are so spoiled!”

“Hey, stop!” Brock interrupted.

“She always fights.” Ash whispered to Sora.

“I don’t think she always does so.” Sora whispered back. “You know, it’s just you who she is mad at usually…”

“She is always mad at me.” Ash sighed.

“I don’t know.” Sora answered. “You hurt the one you love the most.” She was mentioning Ash and Misty of course.

At that moment, Misty shouted again. “Tai, do whatever you want, but LEAVE ME ALONE!!”

Ash suddenly felt something break inside him. “Misty got mad at Tai. They didn’t get along well, anyway. And Sora said… Did she mean Misty loved Tai? No!! But why do I feel so heart-broken?”

“Pika?” Ash came out of his daze by his little friend’s question.

“N-no. Nothing Pikachu. Let’s get on with our work.”

It was no one but Misty who realized that Ash hadn’t said a word about this little row. Ash was standing next to Sora, whispering something to her. Misty remembered seeing them together in the morning. Was there something going on between Sora and Ash?

Everyone went back to their work soon.

Team Rocket had a very creative plan once again: to follow the “twerp” and his friends. They had disguised themselves in swimming suits, hats and sunglasses, looking for Ash and co. all the time. Tired and thirsty of walking for ours, they approached to the bar near the beach. They hadn’t noticed Marlene was standing close to them.

Suddenly, James felt someone touch his shoulder. He turned around to see a beautiful, tall and thin young lady. He thought he recognized that face for a second.

“Err, may I help you?" he nervously asked.

Jessie had seen the woman, too, and now was looking anxiously at James.

“May we all talk for a second?” the young lady asked. She had a deep, mysterious voice.

“Why, yes.” James answered immediately, nearly drooling. Jessie frowned.

They followed the young lady out of the bar, until they arrived at an empty, quiet corner of the beach.

“What do you want?” Jessie asked impatiently finally.

“Business, guys.” was the lady’s answer.

“What business?” Meowth asked.

“I know you want to get those Digimon.”

“We do.”

“And you follow that twerp all the time. Now, dear Jessie, James and Meowth…”

“How do you know our names?” Jessie interrupted.

“I know everything. You cannot hide anything from me. Don’t ask how.” lady in black mysteriously answered.

“Go on.” Jessie told her after a gulp.

“Yes, I will. I can help you catch those Digimon.”

“Why?” Jessie inquired.

“Just don’t ask anything young lady. I just want to help you. Is that a bad thing?”

“N-no, just curiosity…”

There was something menacing about this young lady. She was dressed in a black swimming suit, wearing a black hat and sunglasses. She was extremely beautiful, her skin was white as a marble and her hair was the darkest shade of black. She was holding her slim silhouette in a very menacing way.

James was acting oddly, too. He had now stopped drooling over her and started to examine her. She looked familiar…

“And how will you help us?” Meowth asked.

“Don’t worry. Just trust me. So, are we allies?” she took Jessie’s hand.

“O—OK. Yes.” Jessie took young lady’s hand. They shook hands. James gave Jessie a disapproving look.

“Fine.” lady in black answered. “I’ll find you when I need you.” She turned around to go.

“Wait a minute…” James finally spoke. “What is your name?”

“Oh, sorry… I’m Veronica.” Then she left.

Meowth saw a big mosquito fly after her.

“Who was she?” Jessie muttered.

James just shook his head and shrugged. “She’ll help us, huh?”

Little they knew was that Marlene was, too, at the bar when Veronica came and that she had seen them talking. She too, thought she knew that lady somehow…

Ash was having a break from training. He was swimming with Misty and their water Pokémon. Izzy was sitting on the coast, trying to repair his computer. Still, there was no improvement. In despair, he put it aside and started to play with his Digimon.

Kari and TK were collecting seashells with Matt, who couldn’t avoid impressed looks of girls. Suddenly, Joe, sitting close to the computer noticed the buzzing and beeping coming from the computer. Kari had heard the strange sounds too, and was looking at the computer with Joe.

Fortunately, Izzy arrived at that second. He was very surprised at what he saw. Lots of letters were appearing at the speed of light, as though someone invisible was typing them. However, those letters and those words seemed to have no meaning.

“Bring Tai here.” Izzy ordered Kari. “Let him see this also.”

Kari ran to call his brother.

“Oh no!” Izzy swore. The writings had disappeared, as though someone had turned off the computer. The computer gave no sign of being in order.

When Tai, along with Sora, Misty and Ash came, the computer still wasn’t responding.

“Is this a joke?” Izzy muttered angrily.

That’s it for chapter 4… feedbacks are welcomed. lucky_sans@hotmail.com .