The Aura is With Us

Chapter 27: That's the show!

 Glass had flown in every direction after the skylight caved in. On instinct he threw himself to the ground, hiding his body behind the bleachers and his face in his hands. Ash really shouldn't be so surprised. It had been a hot minute since he had met with his usual trio of stalkers, so a visit was due, but seriously? Right now?

The blue light of a Sir Aaron's shield slipped away as he let it drop. Ash clamored to his feet, no even realizing that the knight had tried to shield them until that point. The dark-haired trainer looked to the battlefield for his cousin and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a similar blue shield dissipate above her head. She looked confused at first, locking eyes with Sir Aaron, before turning her attention back to the balloon.

What's happening?

"Team Rocket is here," Ash said.

"The ones' who kidnapped you?" Sir Aaron said.

"No these are the three grunts who just follow us everywhere. They're mostly harmless," Ash said, taking off into the screaming crowd. Jumping from one bleacher to the next.

"Why would they be attacking? This is a front for a Team Rocket facility! Are they running it or stealing from themselves?!" Goh called out after him.

"Well, that was rather rude," A woman with the longest pink hair said looking down at Amanda from above her nose.

"Such language is unnecessary it's true," the man with the blue bob said shaking his head.

Amanda scoffed in disbelief, "What unnecessary language? You literally just slammed through the roof with giant meowth head for a balloon! And why are you talking in rhyme?!"

"Ya know some people just can't appreciate a good show," The fucking meowth of all things said.

"It's sad, the other twerpettes were more fun, you know?" The woman said.

"Wobbuffet!"

Okay what the ever-loving fuck? Amanda tried desperately to comprehend the utter insanity in front of her. A woman with way too much spray in her hair, a man who looked both confident yet unsure, both of which were in Team Rocket uniforms, and a talking meowth just crashed through a skylight in a meowth shaped hot air balloon. What part of secret criminal organization did these grunts not get? Where were the normal grunts who just tried to beat up and kidnap her?

"Team Rocket!" Ash screamed as he ran into the Arena.

Wait, her cousin knew these guys?

"My, my looky here's the twerp!" The Meowth said.

"Are you seriously doing this right now?" Ash said, "We're on a time crunch here!"

"Pika Pika!"

Amanda tuned out the banter that Ash was sharing with the grunts. The crowds around them were running wild, some clearly trying to leave as fast as possible while other just seemed plain confused. Uncle Aaron, Goh, and Lucario were still in their place, clearly paying close attention to the scene unfolding. Ready to intervene should they need to.

Odette was stuck in her place, just staring on in bewilderment. She looked to Amanda, and the young aura user just motioned for her opponent to flee. Thankfully Odette listened, recalling her Sylvoen and booking it out the arena.