c162: Ash vs. Rocket Trio!!
"Haha!! These brats are really too easy to fool. I didn't expect we'd get away with swiping so many Pokémon without breaking a sweat."
Deep within the forest outside the summer camp, the three "chefs" were pushing carts filled with Poké Balls, their faces twisted in glee.
"It's not that the kids are dumb it's just that I, Meowth the evil genius, am too smart!" Meowth boasted, tail flicking smugly.
"Meowth, you did great," James nodded. "Though we didn't manage to get every student's Pokémon some were cautious this was still a massive haul."
"We knew the League had undercover investigators stationed here. If we'd gotten tangled up with them, we probably wouldn't have made it out."
"So, let's not push our luck. We've hit the jackpot we bail now. As for that twerp named Ash… the boss wanted us to capture him, right? He's from Pallet Town?"
"Right," Jessie smirked. "When camp's over, we'll head there quietly and grab him. For now, we disappear."
"Roger that~!"
"Agreed!"
At this point in the timeline, the main plot hadn't officially begun. Neither Jessie nor James had been altered by the world's narrative gravity or Ash's protagonist aura. Their actions remained consistent with their status as members of Team Rocket's elite unit, acting directly under Boss Giovanni.
---
"Pelipper, come on out!!" Jessie pointed skyward with a dramatic flourish, her wristband sending a pulse of signal into the clouds.
Baba~ bababa~! Almost instantly, the signal was received by the Pelipper circling high above the camp like a recon drone. The moment it got the message, it folded its wings and swooped down like a guided missile.
Meanwhile, James and Meowth had finished transferring the Poké Balls from their disguised carts into reinforced black bags.
"Pelipper, take these Pokémon back to the Rocket base in Viking City. Safe delivery is priority one." James gently loaded the bag into Pelipper's beak and patted its head.
"Baba~!" Pelipper gave a loyal squawk.
With a gust of air from its massive wings, the Pokémon ascended with fierce momentum, rising sharply into the open sky until it vanished into the thick white clouds.
"With our loot secured and en route, it's time for us to vanish too," Jessie said.
"Meowth Balloon, engage!" Meowth barked.
In a cleverly disguised pit beneath the nearby brush, a trapdoor slid open and out emerged the Meowth Balloon, rising slowly but steadily, its cartoonish cat head contrasting comically with the dark forest clearing.
Jessie and James leapt into the gondola basket in perfect sync, preparing for a clean getaway.
But just then
"Stop right there!! Return those Poké Balls!"
The bushes parted violently as Ash burst into the clearing, Serena, Trevor, Tierno, and Shauna right behind him.
They had located the false chefs using Ash's increasingly sensitive aura perception, a gift he'd been refining ever since the earlier chapter's encounter with Lucario's training simulations.
---
"Oh hohohoho~!"
From within the slowly rising Meowth Balloon, the red-haired "chef" let out a laugh more grating than a Dodrio screech.
"You dare interrupt us?"
"In that case prepare for a show!"
The three chefs stood tall in the balloon's gondola, dramatically shedding their white uniforms to reveal their true identities beneath: Team Rocket's trademark uniforms, gleaming silver with a bold red 'R' stamped across their chests.
Ash's eyes narrowed. He'd suspected something was wrong, but now the truth had smacked him square in the face.
"Team Rocket…" he muttered.
He hadn't expected to encounter them this early in his journey. This trio Jessie, James, and Meowth.had embedded themselves into the summer camp as cooks, fooling even Professor Oak's aides. It wasn't just clever deception, it was tactical espionage.
More than that, Ash realized something else: this meeting had never happened in the original timeline.
"So this is the butterfly effect of me entering the Pokémon world early…?" he thought. "If events start changing too fast, I might lose the edge of knowing what's coming."
He clenched his fists.
"I've got to keep control. I can't let my foreknowledge go to waste not when Team Rocket is already targeting me before I've even earned my first badge."
"Team Rocket!!" Ash called out, stepping forward. "Return those Pokémon now or face the consequences!"
Jessie smirked. "Oh? You're going to stop us, little Pallet Town hero?"
Meowth curled his claws. "Let's see what you got, twerp!"
Ash watched intently as the Rocket Trio escaped into the sky aboard their Meowth-shaped hot air balloon, drifting above the forest canopy.
And then, with exaggerated theatrics, they launched into their infamous motto
"Since you've asked so sincerely,"
"We'll answer with compassion and clarity!"
"To prevent the world from devastation,"
"To protect the peace across the nations!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love,"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
Together they declared in perfect unison:
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!
Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"
Meowth popped up at the edge of the basket and, tail swishing, added with flair:
"Meowth, that's right!"
"Ah! So it really is Team Rocket!" Ash exclaimed, eyes narrowing in recognition.
"It was Team Rocket all along...!"
"No way…" a nearby camper gasped.
"Wait, what exactly does Team Rocket do?" another student asked, blinking in confusion. "They're just Pokémon thieves, right?"
"Watch your mouth, brat!" Jessie snapped, clearly offended as she flailed her hairsprayed magenta locks. "We are not just common thieves!"
"That's right!" James added, eyes gleaming with self-importance. "Team Rocket is a grand criminal syndicate that executes evil on a galactic scale. Join us and help reshape the world in our image!"
"You think that makes you less of a thief?" Gary Oak scoffed from beside Ash, folding his arms. "You're still just cowards who steal from kids. Now hand those Pokémon back!"
Jessie smirked, her red eyes flashing. "Oh, you're too late for that."
"Meowth, tell them!" James prompted.
From the balloon gondola, Meowth leaned over and shouted gleefully:
"Too bad, twerps! We already sent the Poké Balls to our HQ in Viking City with Pelipper those Pokémon are long gone! If you want 'em back, you better join Team Rocket!"
"Pelipper delivered them…?" Ash echoed, his brows furrowing. He clenched his fists as pieces fell into place. "That must've been the signal Jessie sent earlier."
He processed it rapidly Team Rocket had used a Gen VIII Pokémon like Pelipper for tactical transport, even though the timeline should only reflect earlier generations. The implications were troubling.
> "Wait, Pelipper's supposed to show up later like in the Hoenn arc at the earliest, and more notably in Galar. Could this world be mixing arcs?"
"Also, weren't Jessie and James supposed to be comic relief villains? Why are they suddenly competent and thinking ahead…?"
"The canon is off. My arrival must've disrupted the original timeline more than I thought."
Ash narrowed his eyes, his expression now serious.
"This isn't just a game world. It's real and the Rocket Trio are acting like actual elite operatives, not Saturday-morning cartoons."
The other campers looked around, confused and disheartened. Serena clutched her Poké Ball case, visibly upset.
Ash took a deep breath, steadied his mind, then pointed toward the balloon. "If they're not giving them back peacefully… we'll just have to take them back!"
He turned sharply. "Froakie use Water Pulse! Aim for the balloon!"
"Froahh!" With a sharp cry, the Bubble Frog Pokémon, already perched on Ash's shoulder, leapt high into the air. Stretching his arms wide, Froakie concentrated, forming a dense orb of spinning water energy between his palms.
The air cracked as the Water Pulse shot upward like a bullet, aimed straight at the Meowth Balloon's gondola.
Jessie snarled. "You little sneak! Attacking during our monologue?!"
"You're messing with professionals now!" James said as he and Jessie whipped out Poké Balls of their own.
"Gourgeist, come on out!"
"Yamask, battle ready!"
The balloons rocked slightly as their Pokémon materialized beside them. Meowth braced himself on the side.
"Absol, teach that brat some manners!" Jessie ordered furiously, clearly fed up.
As the battle escalated, Ash stood tall undaunted, focused.
"This world's changed. And if I want to protect my friends and Pokémon… I need to change with it."
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