All comments, by all means, please send to me at jinxycat@postnet.com. I’m fourteen, I own little of value, so it seems kinda obvious that I wouldn’t own Pokemon. If I did, I wouldn’t be typing this; I’d be somewhere off in the Carribeans, squandering my billions.

Jailed Body, Freed Heart

Chapter 1

Ash sighed as he continued plodding down the road. "Aren’t we there yet?" he whined.

Misty stuck out her tongue at him. Turning to the map that she had confiscated from Brock, she studied it intently. "Well, Brock’s gotten us so lost, it’s going to be a little hard for me to get us back on track again," she said pointedly, glaring at Brock. "But I’m pretty sure that, in an hour or so, we’ll arrive at Verdant City."

"Verdant City?"

"‘The Greenest City This Side of Viridian City.’"

"How come I’ve never heard of it?"

Misty smirked. "Probably ‘cause you’re so dumb."

"Hey!" Ash growled. "Take it back!"

Brock sighed. "Will you two stop it? If we’re going to be walking for another hour or so, the last thing we need is an argument!"

"Pika!" Pikachu agreed.

Ash sighed and crammed his hands into his pockets. "You’re right," he sighed.

Misty sniffed indignantly, but quit arguing.

After a few minutes of walking in silence, Brock smiled. "There! Now isn’t that better?"

Misty shrugged half-heartedly. "I guess."

"Hey, I’m being quieter than Misty!"

"No you aren’t! I’m being tons quieter than you, Ash Ketchum!"

Brock rolled his eyes. "It’s going to be a long night," he muttered.

"Pi," Pikachu added wearily.

In a nearby bush, three villians concocted a plan.

"Let’s dig a hole!"

"No, you imbecile! We’ve done that hundreds of times!"

"It’s almost worked in the past!"

"Yeah, well, the keyword in that sentence is ‘almost’!"

"We’ve got to do something new! Something that’s sure to work!"

There was a pause while the three villains wracked their brains.

"I still think a hole would be a good idea."

There was a thud.

"OW! Jessie, that hurt!"

"It was supposed to hurt! Now quit sniveling and think harder!"

Jailed Body, Freed Heart

Chapter 2

Ash was almost dead on his feet. "Gee, Misty, are you sure Verdant City is only an hour away?" he asked mockingly. The four had been walking for at least four hours.

The girl frowned at him. "Hey, shut up! It’s not my fault we’re so lost!"

Brock threw up his hands helplessly. "All right, all right! I get the point!" he cried. "I’m sorry! I have no sense of direction whatsoever!"

Ash looked at his watch. "Why don’t we turn in for the night?" he suggested. "Maybe we’ll have better luck tomorrow."

"Not if we can help it!" a new, if familiar, voice rang out.

Ash sighed for about the twentieth time that night. "Oh, just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse," he moaned.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

The red-haired Team Rocket member fixed the four do-gooders with a dramatic gaze. "Jessie."

Her blue-haired partner did the same. "James."

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of life!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

The cat Pokémon they all knew, and didn’t love, landed at the two humans’ feet. "Meowth, that’s right!"

"Oh, great, not Team Rocket!" Misty sighed.

Jessie’s eyes narrowed. "You keep quiet, ditz! We’ve got a foolproof plan this time!"

Brock rolled his eyes [that is, if he had eyes.] "Yeah, like you did last time?"

James winced. "No, not like last time!" He hesitated. "It had better not be like last time. Last time hurt!"

Jessie smacked her partner. "No, it won’t be like last time!" Out of nowhere, she pulled a huge, menacing gun. "That was then," she laughed as she pulled the trigger.

Ash, Brock, Misty, and Pikachu all gasped as a huge net whipped out of the gun and wrapped around all four of them, pulling them to the ground.

Jessie smiled. "This is now."

"Hey, let us out of here!" Misty cried.

Jessie laughed again. "Don’t be stupid."

"I still don’t see why we didn’t use the hole," James whined. "We’ve used nets just as many times as we’ve used holes, and every single time, we messed up! Why did we have to use the net?"

"Because the net was my idea, nitwit!" Jessie roared. She regained a little bit of her composure. "Anyway, this time, the net’s gonna work."

Ash momentarily struggled against the netting, but to no avail. He stopped his efforts, but he wasn’t beaten yet. "Okay, Pikachu, thundershock us out of this net, now!" he cried.

"Piiii-kaaaa!" Pikachu cried as it gathered up electricity.

"Ash! No!" Brock cried.

Too late.

"CHUUUUUUUU!!!!!"

Team Rocket stood back and watched as all three of the trainers trapped in the net were electrocuted by a mighty shock.

"Ash. . . the net. . . conducts. . .electricity. . ." Brock muttered, gritting his teeth, when the electricity stopped.

"And humans conduct electricity, too!" Misty burst out, agitated.

"I didn’t know," Ash ventured, grinning sheepishly.

"Pi. . ." Pikachu was just as sheepish as its trainer.

"As much as I like to stand here savoring victory, it’s time for Phase 2 of our marvelous plan!" James pulled a small glass cylinder out of his pocket. "Sweet dreams, do-gooders!" He threw the tiny tube down near the net.

A cloud of smoke burst out from where the tube shattered. "What’s this?" Misty coughed, unable to cover her mouth with her arms pinioned to her sides.

Ash’s eyes watered. "Try not to breathe!" he cried out to his friends. "Who knows what kind of gas this is?" He took a deep breath.

Jesse crossed her arms smugly, though in the thick smoke, none of her enemies could see. "Don’t be stupid. You can’t hold your breath forever."

James slipped a gas mask over his face, Jessie following suit. "Finally! After all those failed attempts! Team Rocket’s finally the winner!" the male trainer exclaimed happily.

Meowth, a good twenty feet away to avoid breathing the smoke, laughed happily. "Yeah! We finally got Pikachu!" He grinned. "Now I’ll be top cat again!"

"Not this again," James muttered.

"Please don’t start with the top cat thing again," Jessie prayed silently.

Trapped in the net, Ash felt Misty go limp next to him. Seconds later, Brock did the same. Ash’s breath began to burn in his lungs, but he continued to stubbornly hold it in. The smoke hadn’t even started thinning out, however, when his vision grew black and his mind whirled. Lack of oxygen had knocked him out. Ash Ketchum fell unconscious, Team Rocket’s laughs the last thing he heard.