Disclaimer: Don't own any characters except Claude, Crag, and Hugh

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Disclaimer: Don't own any characters except Claude, Crag, and Hugh. If you want to use them, go ahead, but I'd appreciate it if you told me about it. If you want to send me money for this, it's more than welcome! What? I can get sued for that?! Um, on second thought why don't you just donate it to a worthy cause (Like Misty_Kasumi's fund for More Pokemon!) That doesn't count as a charity? *darn* Well, I guess I have to play by the rules... Anyway, all rights belong to Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures Inc, and about 20 other companies. I'm not going to do the research just for a disclaimer.

Rating: I'm guessing G, but I'll put PG, just to be safe (although I've seen quiet a few PG movies faaaaar worse than this fic)

Enjoy! This is the first installment with Team Rocket, for all you TR fans out there. Sorry it's not much^^!

Ash, Misty, and Brock raced through the woods. When they caught a glimpse of a clearing through the trees, they slowed down and caught their breath.

"We should be careful from here on in, you know," Brock whispered, "I mean we don't know who or what we're dealing with."

Nodding in agreement, they cautiously started forward again. As they reached the clearing, they spotted a blank, white building.

"Aw, poor thing. I understand. Why don't you get in a poke ball while we look around," Misty said, pulling an empty pokeball out of her backpack.

Eevee looked relieved and touched it's nose to the pokeball, which then opened up and zapped Eevee inside.

"Alright! I always wanted an Eevee! They're so cute!" Misty exclaimed. She put the pokeball containing Eevee into her backpack.

As the group moved on, they didn't notice a small camouflaged security camera zooming in on them.

Gary moved quietly through the forest. He had seen them come this way, and was trying to follow their trail. He had been doing a lot of thinking over the past few days. He had never tried to be "bad". In fact, he couldn't even remember exactly when it was he and Ash had grown apart. This thought disturbed him. He could remember a lot of good times they had had growing up. And then he had made some new "friends". It had been hard trying to fit in with them, and he could recall quiet a few times when he would run home crying after they had played a mean trick on him. He had finally adapted, and started acting like them until it became who he was, in a sense. They had left town a few month's before Gary set out on his Pokemon journey, but not before teaching him how to be part of a vicious gang of boys. His so-called friends had a motto that Gary had learned very well. "Above all else, WIN!!" He could still hear their mean voices yelling at him. He had hated them, but hated the thought of not being part of their group even more. He wanted to fit in.

But ever since the night of the banquet, Gary had been wondering if maybe Misty was right. He had needed a wake up call to make him realize he had been following the wrong path. *Maybe winning ISN'T everything. Maybe I've been wrong. I know Ash was a true friend, until I started treating him so badly. Maybe the only true friend I ever had. And now I've ruined it* he thought bitterly. Gary wished he had the guts to come right out and apologize to Ash. To make everything right again. Instead, he was sneaking around after them, trying to sort things out. He realized he had also treated Misty very badly. She had been the one who had set him straight. "How could I have made such a mess of things!?!" Gary cried out. The sound echoed through the trees. Well, at least he had gotten rid of that ego trip he called a fan club.

Ash halted and Misty, who had been looking behind, tripped right into Ash, knocking them both over. After collecting her wits, Misty whispered, "Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."

Ash was surprised. He had expected some sort of retort telling him how clumsy he was. But then again, Misty seemed really distracted.

"I thought I heard something. It sounded like someone far away, yelling," he explained, helping Misty up. He noticed that she blushed slightly. *Could it be possible she has feelings for me, too? * He thought staring, as she looked off into the distance. They continued carefully onward.

"I know, I thought I heard something, too. Maybe we should..." but Misty was cut off by a large net that sprang up around them, yanking them up so that they were hanging from a tree branch.

"So you have fallen into my little trap, have you? So nice; we rarely get visitors around here," a strange voice with an accent rolled out.

"Ha ha, no, my pets, I am communicating through an intercom. But don't worry, my guards will be coming to get you down soon. I so look forward to our meeting." the voice said, and then clicked off.

"We have to try to get down before they come to get us!" Misty frantically whispered.

They all started trying to find a weakness in the cords that had them trapped. Pikachu jumped on Ash's head and started gnawing at the ropes above Brock's head.

"Good idea, Pikachu! Once you make the hole large enough, we can climb out onto the limb near Brock!" Ash exclaimed.

After a minute had passed, Pikachu had made the hole large enough to fit a human through. Brock climbed out first, since he was the closest, and had just started climbing along the branch, when they heard footsteps coming nearer.

"Hurry Brock! Keep going and go find help! Don't mind us right now!" Ash hissed. "Pikachu, get into your Pokeball! I don't want you getting hurt!" Ash commanded, and Pikachu complied.

Brock had just moved out of sight into the foliage when two bulky guards with guns noisily appeared.

"Ha ha! Looks like we'll have some fun with these ones, eh, Hugh?" one of the guards laughed. The one named "Hugh" moved closer.

"Well, well! I'll say! What have we got here? A cute little doll! A pretty little thing like you shouldn't be around these parts! But now that you're here, we can't exactly let you go, now can we? heh heh heh!" Hugh said eyeing Misty (I am NOT implying anything, here).

Hugh's attention moved to Ash, "Oh HO! What have we here? The protective little boyfriend, eh? Well, we might as well get 'em back to headquarters, Crag."

They cut the ropes and tied Ash and Misty's hands behind their backs. They prodded them forward with the butts of their guns. As soon as they had retreated far enough, Brock jumped out of the tree and raced off in the other direction, mentally calculating how long it would take him to get to the last Pokemon center they had passed. When all of a sudden, he collided with the form of...Gary Oak.

"We've been wandering around here for three days, James, and no sign of Pikachu! I thought you said they would have to come through this forest for sure in order to reach the harbor!" Jessie exclaimed.

"Well that's what that guy at the information center for this area said. Don't take it out on me because you've gotten us lost!" James said in a squeally voice.

"Will you two keep quiet! If they do come along, you'll give away our position!" Meowth stated.

He should have known better. After a second of sitting in a daze at the pain on their faces, they leapt upon Meowth kicking and hitting.

"YEAH!" James exclaimed, then turning red, stated, " I mean MY beautiful, er, handsome face!"

After punishing Meowth thoroughly, they sat down to wait some more. Suddenly a scream sounded throughout the forest.

"That's them! I've heard them yell before when they fell into one of our traps!" Jessie exclaimed.

With a menacing glance at Meowth, James exclaimed, "Well it's the first lead we've gotten in days, so I'm going to follow it!"

"It makes perfect sense, come on, lets go! It came from that way!" Jessie cried jumping up and heading off in that direction with James and Meowth following.

Ash and Misty were escorted into the lab and down a long hallway. The sights they saw through some of the windows into other rooms along the way made them feel ill. Pokemon in cages, and other containers filled every room, and all of them looked unhealthy, ill kept, and abused. *I don't even want to think what sort of stuff they've done to these poor Pokemon* Ash and Misty thought to themselves in disgust.

"We'll be back in a little while," the guards said, leaving them alone in the room.

After their eyes had a chance to adjust to the darkness, they could see each other through the bars.

"Ash!" Misty whispered loudly, "We need to hide our Pokemon, or they might take them away and do stuff to them!"

"Yeah, but where? Look around and see if you can find a place!" Ash whispered back.

They searched all around their cells looking for possible hiding places. After running his hands over the brick wall that made up one side of his cell, Ash found a loose brick and quickly pulled it out.

"Misty! I found an area large enough to hold all our pokeballs if they're shrunken down to their smallest size. It's behind one of these bricks!" Ash whispered excitedly.

"Hurry and give me yours, they're coming!" Ash said sticking his hand through the bars into her cell.

Misty quickly took out all her Pokeballs and, giving them a quick hug, handed them to Ash. He stowed their Pokemon safely behind the brick and put it carefully back into place, making sure to remember exactly which brick they were behind. Suddenly, the room was flooded with light as the guards returned escorting an older man.

"PROFESSOR OAK!" Ash and Misty exclaimed in unison, their eyes widening at the site of the man they had always trusted.

"You would think so, wouldn't you? Genetically reshaping my face is the smartest thing I ever did! Now everywhere I go, people trust me!" he exclaimed gleefully, then changing his voice so as to get rid of his natural "evil scientist" accent, he continued in a voice remarkably like Prof. Oak's, "Hello, I'm here to pick up that shipment of Pokemon I ordered! I'm doing a new special research on Eevees..."

"You're mad!" Ash exclaimed. (Why do good guys always say that to insane bad guys? It's stating the obvious!)

After simmering down he continued, "I have finally succeeded in creating an Eevee that can change from Vaporeon, to Jolteon, to Flareon, and back into an Eevee again. I tried genetically programming it so that it could change into any type, but it didn't appear to work. But what I have achieved is already a major triumph! I'll get the rest right over time. The only thing is, the only successfully finished Eevee escaped, " at this he shot his guards an angry, meaningful look, "and I believe you have it in your possession now, my dear." he turned directly towards Misty. "So just be a good girl, and hand it over, and I won't hurt your little boyfriend, here." he said pointing to Ash.

Misty gasped, "I don't have it!" but that's all she could manage. She desperately hoped the Imposter Prof. Oak would believe her and not hurt Ash. If she gave away the hiding place of Eevee, she would be putting all their Pokemon into this insane man's hands.

The fake Prof. growled, " Don't be foolish! I saw you put it in a Pokeball and put it in your backpack!"

Motioning for his guards to take her bag and search through it, the Mad Professor grinned down at Misty who was blushing as the guards went through her personal belongings.

The fake Oak ignored Ash and continued to Misty, "It doesn't pay to lie to me, little girl! But there is another matter I would like to discuss. How did you..." but his guards cut in.

"WHAT! Of course it's there! I saw her put it in her...Oh never mind! If it's not there, then search the boy's bag!" the scientist yelled.

"Ha, you think you're so smart! We gave it to Brock, and he escaped! It's long gone by now!" he laughed at the mad scientist. Misty was thankful for Ash's quick thinking. She shot him a smile that he returned.

The Imposter Prof. Oak boiled over; "I WILL find that Eevee! Or my name isn't Claude, the World's Greatest Scientist! I will find and capture your friend also!" he declared.

"Well, then it's settled. You won't ever find Eevee or Brock, just like you won't ever be the greatest ANYTHING." Ash stated looking bored. Despite of the danger they were in, Misty couldn't keep in a giggle.

"If you were the greatest, you wouldn't make innocent little creatures suffer for your own gain! You are the worst!" Misty yelled trying to keep Claude's attention from Ash.

"I want to know how you knew where my lab was and how you knew it existed at all," he said in a voice so quiet it was horrifying.

Ash, seeing the effect Claude’s piercing gaze had on Misty, stepped in and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. The truth.

For a moment, Claude's expression turned to one of surprise. Then he asked in a silky voice, "Is this true? You mean to tell me you can understand what that Eevee says?"

"VERY interesting! I was thinking of trying some experiments on communication between Pokemon and humans. You should prove to be an interesting test subject if what you say is true. If not, you shall be paid back for lying to me in the process." he said with great coldness.

After they had thrown Ash into the cell and locked him in, they grabbed Misty at Claude's behest and started taking her from the room. Suddenly she snapped out of the daze she was in. Quickly breaking free of the guards, who were caught by surprise, she ran to the bars of Ash's cell, tears streaming down her face.

"Keep the Pokemon safe! I'll try to escape when I can! And Ash, if I don't make it back..." her whisper was broken by a sob, " I just want you to know that..." but she was stopped by Crag grabbing her and pulling her away. Ash grasped her hand.

"I love you." she sobbed as she was yanked out of Ash's grasp and dragged from the room.

Hugh came up and slammed the butt of his gun into the side of Ash's head. He immediately collapsed to the ground in a dead faint.

Misty was struggling so hard, that Claude injected her with anesthesia, and after a few moments she also fainted.

"I don't have time for this!" Brock said pushing Gary aside and starting to leave.

"That's why I'm in such a hurry! They were just kidnapped by a couple of thugs who work for some mad scientist and they told me to go get help! But why the heck am I telling this to you?!" Brock turned and ran off.

Gary was in shock. They were kidnapped?! Surely he must have been joking...but he had looked so serious. Gary turned around and set off quickly in the direction Brock had come from. He would see for himself if this was true. He hastened his steps. *Maybe if I rescue them, they'll forgive me after all! * He thought. He surely hoped so.

Brock continued running as fast as he could. *I wonder why Gary was there? * He wondered. Well, he wasn't going to worry about it at the moment; he had to focus all his energy on moving fast...he lowered his head and charged on with all the speed he could muster.

Suddenly he crashed straight into the midst of Team Rocket. He flew a couple of feet and landed upside-down, cracking his head on a rock and blacking out.

"Hey, It's Brock! I was right! It was them. But where are the other two and Pikachu?" James asked looking around.

"Well, lets tie him up and try to wake him up. I'll bet he can tell us where they are." Meowth ordered.

Oh no! What will happen now? Our three heroes are all out of commission! Will their fate lay in the hands of...Gary and Team Rocket? Who'd have thought? More heroics on the way, in part 4 of, "Of Loooooove aaaand Pooookemon!"