Memoirs of a Pokemon Master CHAPTER 4 Team Rocket blasts off
"You said it yourself. You don't play by the rules." - Trey

Pikachu woke me up the next morning. I rolled over, then he shocked me. What a
wonderful way to wake up, I thought. I called home after we ate.
"Good news son." my dad said. "Your friend Andrew is heading to Viridian right now. He just
got his license."
"Well that's good news. But I'm afraid I won't be here when he gets here." I said.
"Why not?" dad asked.
"We're heading into the forest today." I replied. "From what people tell me, I may be in there for
a week or so. I got challenged yesterday by someone from Pewter. He had a boulder badge but I
beat him easily with bulbasaur."
"That's great!" dad said. "I'll tell Prof. Oak. You be careful in that forest and make sure you've
got lots of supplies. And if you run into Andrew..."
"I'll keep my eyes open for him." I said.
We said our goodbye's and hung up. Pikachu and I headed into the Viridian forest.

The forest was overwhelming. The trees were so tall and full of leaves that they blocked
out most of the sun's light. Pokemon roamed free all around us. I had never seen so many wild
pokemon since Lavender. There was an abundance of bug type pokemon. I had Pikachu zap a
few. I caught a weedle and a caterpie. The rest of the day went pretty uneventful. Besides
catching the bug pokemon, lunch was the only break in the monotony. Even though we were
walking alone, I couldn't shake the feeling that someone, or something, was watching us.
Pikachu seemed to be feeling the exact same thing. He kept looking at the bushes. He even
zapped one but a pidgey was the only thing that came out. I tried to catch it but it flew away.
We found a small clearing and camped for the night. Pikachu and I didn't get enough sleep.
Pikachu started keeping watch and got bulbasaur and spearow to take shifts watching during the
night. Although nothing came out during the night, I still slept uneasily. The next morning the
trouble began. In fact, you could say it was double trouble. Pikachu and I were walking along
through the forest when we heard something. Pikachu looked around. I began to hear whispers
but couldn't make them out.
"Alright quit hiding and show yourselves, cowards!" I yelled.
"Pikapipikachu!" Pikachu yelled.
A voice from out of nowhere began to laugh.
"Heh heh heh. Cowards are we?" a male voice asked.
"Ha ha hah. I think he's the coward." A female voice said.
"You're asking for trouble!" I yelled.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu yelled.
"Trouble!?" Both voices answered.
Then two figures jumped out of the bushes and stood in front of me. A young man and a young
woman. The woman was a blonde with a nice figure but with evil eyes. The young man seemed
wiry and had black hair and deep blue eyes. They each wore a uniform that had a large red letter
"R" on the shirt.
"Prepare for trouble!" The girl started.
"And make it double!" The boy returned.
"To protect the world from devastation!" The girl struck a pose.
"To unite all people within our nation!" The boy struck a pose.
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!" The girl got in my face. I backed off.
"To extend our reach into the stars above!" The boy stood next to her.
"Lilly!" The girl announced her name.
"Kirby!" The boy announced his.
"Team Rocket! Blast off at the speed of light!" Lilly said.
"Surrender now! Or prepare to fight!" Kirby struck a final pose.
"Is that right?" I asked, trying to sound uninterested.
"Pikapika." Pikachu said with a yawn.
"Yes that is right! We at Team Rocket collect rare and unusual pokemon!" Kirby said.
"So what does that have to do with me?" I asked.
"Your pikachu." Lilly said.
"Pikachu? But pikachu isn't rare. In fact it's quite common to most forest areas and Lavender
town." I said.
"Your pikachu is rare for two reasons!" Kirby said. "First off we heard about it's low level of
development. And secondly it's not in a pokeball! A pokemon who isn't in a pokeball is
extremely unusual. So hand it over quietly and we might leave you with your teeth!"
"You can't take a pokemon that belongs to someone! It's against pokemon league rules!" I said.
"We don't play by the rules." Kirby said. "Now give us the pokemon!"
I walked over to Kirby with my head down. He smiled. But I remembered the boxing lessons my
dad gave me and I surprised Kirby with a hard right hook to his jaw. He stumbled back. I took
up a fighting stance and pikachu took up position next to me.
"Hey that wasn't fair! You're supposed to fight with pokemon! It's the rules!" Kirby said.
Blood was flowing from his mouth.
"You said it yourself. You don't play by the rules." I said with a sarcastic tone.
Lilly answered my remark by throwing her pokeball. Kirby did the same.
"Beedrill! Go!" She yelled.
"Voltorb! Go!" He yelled.
A beedrill materialized and began to buzz loudly. The voltorb materialized.
"Voltorb!" it said. The thing looked like it was under a lot of stress. I could tell because I've
always lived near a power plant. Voltorbs are very common around there.
I had never seen a beedrill before. I pulled out Dexter.
"Beedrill. The poison bee. Flies at high speeds and attacks using its large venomous stingers on
its forelegs and tail. Beedrill's attacks have little effect on grass type pokemon." Dexter said.
I pulled out bulbasaur's ball from my belt and threw it.
"Bulbasaur! Go!" I yelled. "Pikachu! Attack the voltorb!"
Pikachu took position in front of the voltorb as bulbasaur challenged the beedrill. The beedrill
swiped at bulbasaur. Bulbasaur charged the beedrill and hit it perfectly. The beedrill quickly
recovered.
"Beedrill! Poison sting attack!" Lilly yelled.
Beedrill charged at bulbasaur and tried to sting bulbasaur with it's stingers. It had no effect.
Pikachu was having his own problems. The voltorb kept trying to do a tackle attack but pikachu
kept dodging. I knew pikachu couldn't last much longer. I had to do something to end this battle
and get rid of team rocket. Then the idea came to me.
"Bulbasaur! Vine whip attack now!" I yelled.
Bulbasaur hit the beedrill dead on with the vine whips. The beedrill went flying and hit Lilly
square in the stomache.
"Pikachu! Thunder shock! Now!" I yelled.
Pikachu let loose with his thunder shock ability. It didn't do much damage but I knew that
voltorb had had enough. It began to glow. I quickly called bulbasaur back to his ball, picked up
pikachu and kicked the voltorb over to team rocket and dived into a bush. The voltorb did just as
I had planned.
"VOOOOOLTORB!!!!" It said. Then : KABOOOOOM!!!!
It had been under a lot of stress and had self destructed. Team rocket went flying into the sky.
As they were flying, they cried, "Looks like team rocket's blasting off again!"
Pikachu and I pulled ourselves out of the bush.
"Something tells me we haven't seen the last of them." I said.
"Pikachu." Pikachu agreed.
It took us a little over a week but we finally got out of the forest. We ran up the path to Pewter
city on the evening of the last day of our trek into the forest. We made it to the pokemon center
just before curfew. I put my pokeballs in the rejuvinator and went to bed. Again I made a mental
note to call home in the morning.

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