Vanish

Chapter 8

"How could you let him hang up!" Brock said loudly.

"I didn't know he was going to hang up! He didn't even let me say anything!" May protested.

Brock groaned. "We have no idea where Ash is. This doesn't make me happy, it makes me worried. I don't like the idea of Ash being off on his own."

"I'm worried about Ash too, you know!" May retorted.

"Really? I couldn't tell by the way you were talking to him!" Max cut in. "We'll probably never find him, and when he does run into Team Rocket, who knows what will happen!"

"Why don't we just forget about Ash right now?" May asked. "It was his choice to leave. Let's just go to the next town, and the next contest. We'll...we'll...call Ash later."

"How can we? We don't know where he is!" Brock pointed out.

"I don't care if we have to call every pokémon center in Hoenn," May hissed. "We will call him. Later."
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"Chu pika pikachu... Pika chu chu...," Pikachu whispered to Meowth the next night.

Meowth looked to Pikachu, and then whispered to Jessie and James, "Pikachu says that the twoip without da hat is spyin' on us. He thinks dat the twoip is going to pull somethin'."

James glared slightly. "Doesn't that kid ever give up?"

"It might be a good ting that dat twoip is here. We could steal all his pokémon and give 'em to the boss!" Meowth exclaimed, but still low enough so the twerp who was spying couldn't hear.

"Say what?" James asked, confused.

"Imagine the boss wakin' up one morning... He sees all dese fine pokémon, and when he does, do yah know what he's gonna say? 'Meowth and his friends are the reason that I got all these fine pokémon.'"

Jessie shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so. I mean, it should be easy now that we have Pikachu...back."

They all nodded on the plan and James stood up, saying something that he thought he'd never say...
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"Come on out and get us, you lame excuse for a twerp!" James called out.
Ash stood up, surprised. They had noticed him? Great, just great. Well, if it was a battle they wanted, that was what they were going to get... As long as he didn't have to hurt Pikachu.

He stepped from the bushes and began to say something.

"We already know what you want, twerp," Jessie said. "And the answer is no." She took out two pokéballs. "Seviper, Dustox, let's go!"

James threw his own pokéball. "You too, Cacnea!" He smiled down at Pikachu. "And of course you can fight as well."

Ash frowned at this, but took out his own pokéballs. Throwing them into the air, the pokémon came out and looked ready to battle.

"Okay, Seviper, use Wrap on Corphish. Dustox, you use Pysbeam on Grovyle!" Jessie shouted out.

"Pin Missile on Torkoal, Cacnea. And Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on Swellow!" James called, a triumphant tone in his voice, as if he had already won.

"Swellow, Corphish, dodge it! Torkoal, use Iron Defense, and Grovyle, use Bullet Seed on that Psybeam!" Ash ordered, feeling a little weird, battling with four pokémon at the same time.

Grovyle's Bullet Seed broke through Dustox's Pysbeam and hit the bug pokémon head-on. Torkoal pulled himself inside his shell to protect himself, and Corphish narrowly dodged Seviper. Swellow, on the other hand, failed to dodge Pikachu's attacks, and, being weak against electric attacks, fell to the ground.