Dust and Jewels | A Pokémon XYZ Fanfic

3 》Ticket Thieves

As Jessie and James jumped out from the bushes, Ash and the others groaned.
"You guys again?" Bonnie pouted.
"Yes, it's Team Rocket, here to steal your ticket to that fancy little program," Jessie sneered.
"That's right," Meowth said with a grin.

The group began to chant their theme song, and Serena gave a troubled sigh.
Then, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see Ash.
"Don't worry, Serena, we'll get that gemstone back," He said, a glint determination in his eyes.
"Pikachu, use lightning bolt!"
Pikachu launched into the air, forming a ball of pulsing energy, then shot tendrils of electricity straight at the singing trio, hitting his target with a boom.

Jessie and James were blown backwards, along with Meowth and Wobbuffet following closely behind.
"Hey, we weren't ready!" screeched Meowth.
"Yes, that's definitely not fair!" said James.
"But stealing someone's program ticket is?" shouted Ash.
"Pika!" Agreed Pikachu.
"Alright, that's enough you twerps." Jessie glared, taking out a pokeball. "Gourgeist, use Bullet Seed!" she shouted.
As she threw her pokeball up into the air, so did Serena.
"Pancham, use Stone Edge!" She yelled.
Pancham materialized out of the pokeball and sent a row of ice rocks from the ground, heading towards Jessie's Gourgeist, who moved to the side and shot bullet seeds at Pancham.
"Dodge it and use Dark Pulse!" shouted Serena.
Pancham deftly dodged the seeds and jumped up into the air, releasing dark purple energy on Gourgeist, knocking it into Jessie, who toppled backwards onto Wobbuffet.
"Quickly, Pikachu, use Irontail!" yelled Ash.
Pikachu jumped up and whacked the group with his iron tail, sending them stumbling in all directions.
"And now use Lightning Bolt!" Ash said.
As Pikachu fell back down onto the ground, he shot Team Rocket with lightning in midair, sending them flying into the sky.
"We're blasting off again!" they screeched.

As they tumbled into the air, Serena noticed something small and round slip through Jame's hands.
"My gemstone!" she cried, running forward to catch it. It fell into her hands, and she gave a sigh of relief.
"Thanks for helping me get my gemstone back, Ash." Serena smiled.
"No problem," He said, "Now how about we start packing and get a move on, since we're 45 minutes behind schedule,"
Everyone nodded and finished their breakfast, then started packing up the pods.
A few minutes later, everyone was up and ready to go. Serena faced the road in front of her and put on a brave smile.
'Snowbelle City, here I come!'

~<>•••••<>•••••<>~

"Are we there yet?" panted Clemont.
"For the fifth time, we are not anywhere near Snowbelle City," Ash gritted his teeth.
Serena noticed that even she was getting irritated by Clemont's complaints.
As the sun beat down on the rocky desert ground, Serena felt a trickle of sweat roll down the side of her face.
"Maybe we should take break," she huffed.
"Yes, yes, a break." Clemont put his hands on his knees.
"Pika pikaaa," Pikachu nodded.

The group found a shady spot under a large overhanging rock, and sat down, with Bonnie lying face down, Serena fanning herself, Ash desperately drinking water, and Clemont complaining.
"Ugghhh, the sun's so hot," he said, "and to think we have to walk another few miles,"
His complaints went on for another five minutes until Bonnie couldn't stand it anymore.
"If you're so tired, why don't you just build a stupid science machine to carry your sorry butt around?!"
Clemont gasped, "Bonnie, you're a genius!"
"I am?" Bonnie said, taken aback.

Ignoring her, Clemont said, "The future is now, thanks to science!"
His glasses flashed white, "I thought we'd encounter a situation precisely like this one! Behold, the TravelCar!"
He took out a small black and red square, and threw it onto the ground, where it started unfolding itself into a vehicle.

It was black at the sides and red at the front and back, with a pokeball hologram displayed at the top.
"Oooohh," gasped the others.
"This machine is a transportation vehicle that consists of a small kitchen, sofas, comfortable seats, television, a bathroom, and a lot of other features. What's more, it doesn't need a driver - it just follows a GPS and uses scanners to look at the road."

"Isn't that basically just a caravan?" Bonnie piped up sceptically.
"Wow, when did you create this?" Ash said, ignoring Bonnie.
"Oh, a few years ago in an invention competition," Clemont said, "I've just been waiting for the right time to pull this out," He patted the vehicle's side.

After a few minutes of discussion, the group climbed onto the TravelCar.
"Wow, this looks so new!" Serena looked around wide-eyed.
"That's because you are the TravelCar's first passengers!" Clemont said.
As he went to set up the TravelCar GPS, Bonnie groaned and mumbled something like, "This invention better not blow up,"

The engine rumbled and the TravelCar began to move along the rocky ground.
Serena sat on the couch, staring out of the window at the blue sky. After a few minutes, she drifted off to sleep, her head resting on the window frame.

~<>•••<>~

||Word Count: 856||
||Chapter~3||