A White Tomorrow [A Team Rocket Fanfiction]

Chapter 29

Pokemon battles. So. Many. Pokemon battles.

Why did the Pokémon League have to be so long?

It took forever until the first rounds were over before the main competition started. The only plus was that Jessie and James were able to spot Ash early on, but Misty, Brock, and Meowth were lost in the crowd.

The pair were standing with two Team Rocket grunts on one of the upper levels of the stadium. They were hidden from view, behind one of the many tinted windows in a room that was an extra in the stadium that Team Rocket had managed to find beforehand. No one knew they were there, and no one probably would.

James pulled at the knotted rope keeping his hands behind his back, as he had been doing the entire morning. It earned him a glare from the grunt beside him and he frowned as he paid attention to the battle again. Ash had just won in the quarter-finals. If only there was a way to tell him they were there, but the room absorbed all sounds, and yelling would only get them in more trouble.

Just as the next round started, James heard Jessie start taking deep breaths beside him. She looked uneasy and her face was slightly pale.

"Everything alright?" He whispered to her, his words sounding tense. She just nodded and hung her head, shutting her eyes and swallowing uncomfortably before responding. "Yeah. Just a little nauseous. It'll pass."

James tried to give her a sympathetic look, to try to comfort both her and himself but she didn't look his way. She was only focused on the boy and his Pikachu battling from the center of the stadium.

His mind began to wander. What was going to happen once Team Rocket interrupted the battle? What would happen to him and Jessie? Would they get taken back to headquarters without a trace of them ever being there? He most certainly didn't want to go back. They weren't going back without a fight.

Ash and his opponent had two Pokémon left each, four already gone and fainted. It felt like just seconds had passed, and he didn't feel ready to act just yet.

He tried to be discreet as possible as he looked for something that could cut the rope around his wrists. At a time like this, Meowth's claws would've been super helpful.

The referee announced the battle over. Ash had made it to the finals. James smiled a little at his reaction to the victory. Misty and Brock ran to congratulate him and they joined together to throw their fists up in one big cheer. They should have been there too. They were traveling with him for half the journey, after all, and even if it wasn't their victory they were still happy for him.

"Meowth..." Jessie whispered as she kept her eyes fixated somewhere in the crowd. James followed her gaze and searched the bleachers for the cat, and sure enough, he was there too. He was sitting in the front row, not far from the twerps, looking downcast despite Ash's victory. James' smile fell. His ears were down and he slouched in his seat, holding a single pokeball in his hands. Meowth, we're right here! If only I could find some way to get to you...

The two grunts behind them looked to one another. "Any time now."

Several Team Rocket grunts throughout the stadium began to slip out of their hiding places, waiting for the final match to start. Ash and his opponent stood in a waiting silence with a pokeball readied in their hand, and the referee started the battle. Not more than a second after, smoke clouded everything that was happening on the battlefield. Muffled gasps and screams filled the air through the other side of the window, and once everything cleared back up, chaos erupted.

Ash and his last opponent had run to the same side of the field once they were surrounded. Other contestants from previous rounds ran back to the center and all of them sent their six pokémon out to defend themselves. The grunts behind Jessie and James smirked at the scene; Team Rocket's scheme was going as planned so far, and just as Giovanni had said, the couple could do nothing but watch as the Pokémon Leauge went down.