Gotta Catch That One

Chapter 43: Rise of the Ape

"Take your pick." Giovanni gestured to a line of Pokemon next to him. Some of Team Rocket's finest and most powerful Pokemon. The only ones that could be used for a mission of this importance. Giovanni was going to trust the trio of Jessie, James and Meowth, but he wasn't going to allow them to use their own weak Pokemon.

Jessie stepped forward first, eyeing the Pokemon with wide, amazed eyes. Her eyes scanned across them and then rested on one of the rarest of the bunch. A Kabutops that Giovanni had acquired a few years ago in the Kanto region. "I'll take Kabutops, please."

Giovanni nodded and waved Kabutops forward so he was standing next to Jessie. "Night slash, X-scissor, ancient power and hyper beam are its moves." He looked at James. "And you?"

James studied the Pokemon a few moments and then pointed at a Drapion. "I'll take Drapion, please."

Again, Giovanni waved the Pokemon forward. "Cross poison, venoshock, pin missile and poison fang are its moves." Giovanni then looked at Meowth. "You will have to rely on your own...strength. These Pokemon will not take orders from another Pokemon."

Meowth nodded, as though expecting it. "Yes boss." He looked at Kabutops and Drapion. "I think these two will allow us to do our mission successfully, though."

"Of course." Giovanni said. "And if not...you know I won't be pleased. Make sure you are successful. This is one of your most important missions. You're lucky to have been selected for it. Perhaps it isn't wise to choose you, after all of your failures, but you have done reasonably well, lately. I do reward acceptable work."

"Yes, boss." They all said, bowing.

"Now, you all remember the plan I hope?" Giovani asked, eyeing them carefully to make sure they didn't lie.

"Yes, boss." Meowth said. He held up the bag with their disguises. "It's sure to fool the twerpette and even the twerp later on. They won't have any clue."

"Good." Giovanni said. "Now, you may go. Be quick. Be strong. Don't fail." The three subordinates all nodded and quickly exited, recalling their new Pokemon. Perhaps they weren't the most capable, but Giovanni still expected that they would succeed. He'd planned the operation perfectly, so if they failed, it was only due to not following his orders. Soon, they'd have the girl and then, Ash Ketchum would have to obey any command Giovanni gave him.

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Over the next few days, Ash kept extremely busy with his training. While he and Pikachu were practically flawless at the obstacle course, some of his other Pokemon were struggling. He'd been transferring them regularly, multiple times a day. Charizard, Pidgeot, Sceptile and Infernape were fairly good at it, but it was definitely a struggle for most of the others.

On the first day, Muk had somehow managed to get logs embedded in his slimy body, so it was pretty difficult getting him out. After that, Snorlax, who was actually doing fairly well through about a quarter of the course, suddenly looked at the kitchen area of the room and then was knocked down by a few logs at once. Donphan also did part of the course fairly well, but a log jammed in his horns and ended up pulling him aside and he started to get continuously hit after that.

The first successes started happening with some of Ash's smaller Pokemon, who were obviously a little more agile. Hawlucha perfectly performed a flying press to swiftly whip through about a third of the course. He was ultimately hit after that, but he had definitely performed well up until that point. After that, Buizel managed to get through about the same amount, using sonic boom, water pulse and ice punch to knock aside the swinging logs.

Finally, after five days, the first Pokemon besides Pikachu, was able to accomplish the course. It was quite strange to see, as Totodile almost didn't seem to take things seriously at all. He just started to dance his way through the obstacles, occasionally using water gun to hit some of the logs away. When they'd finished, Ash explained that he thought Totodile was able to do it, because it was easy to encourage him to relax and have him do what he thought felt right.