'THE ULTIMATE TEST'

PART 2

Jessie and James walked through the forest with confidence. They had heard that a major Team Rocket operation was underway here. The fact that the duo hadn't been invited indicates how much was riding on the plans success. Suddenly, two men with uzi's lept on to the path.

"Stop wear you are!" One shouted.

"Please don't kill me! I'll tell you everything, I swear!" James begged after he fell to his knees.

"Get up James. They’re on our side." Jessie said.

"They are?" James looked at the men's uniforms and says the familiar 'R' on the chest. He quickly got to his feet. "I knew it all the time. I just wanted to mock these rookies."

"Jessie and James, right?" The second man asked.

"Yes, that’s us." Jessie replied.

"Follow me." He said.

The man led the group deeper into the forest. Eventually they reached a large building. Armed members of team rocket were everywhere. There was a large satellite dish behind the main compound. The two men took Jessie and James into a room and sat them in some chairs. In front of them another chair spun around to face them.

"Boss!" Jessie and James said as one.

"I knew you two would show. For once I have a use for you."

"Anything for you boss!" the two said.

"This," he gestured to a man to his left. " Is Toran. He is your new field commander. Together you three must remove some....vermin from my path."

"Of course! What type of vermin? There're rats, cockroaches, silver......" James couldn't finish the sentence since the slam to his head by Jessie had knocked him out.

"James means, who needs to be silenced." Jessie translated.

"Huhh. You must remove two pokemon trainers from the target area." the boss turned his chair to face a large screen. He lifted a remote. "Our security camera caught these two entering our zone." He pressed a button and a large image of Ash and Misty appeared on the screen.

"Not him again!" Jessie growled

"They’re a problem?" Toran asked.

"Yes. Those two twerps are the once we've been chasing all year!"

"Excellent!" the boss exclaimed. "My research shows that the boy you've been after is an excellent pokemon trainer. With his added skills, this operation will certainly succeed! Find him and take him alive."

"Yes sir." Toran answered. He looked at Jessie and the recently recovered James. "Come on you two."

"Ash, Charmeleon is going to kill you!" Misty whined. She was starting to cry. Togapi had been crying for the entire time but no one noticed.

Ash ignored Misty and charged his pokemon. Charmeleon dove to the side and swung his tail at Ash. Ash brought up his sword and blocked then kicked Charmeleon in the gut. The small pokemon rolled away and quickly got up.

"When the hell did you learn how to fight?" Misty asked, even though she knew their would be no response. 'If I was fighting a pissed of Charmeleon, I wouldn't want to be distracted either' she thought.

Charmeleon shot a stream of flame at Ash, but the boy was to quick and he dodged. Ash surged forward and slashed Charmeleon's chest. Chameleon screamed in anger, then brought his claws down and sliced Ash's back. Ash backed of a bit at the sudden pain. Charmeleon swung his tail again and caught Ash's leg, knocking the trainer off his feet. Charmeleon lunged at Ash, but Ash kicked Charmeleon in the jaw and sent him flying.

The fire pokemon shook it's head to clear it. It looked up just in time to see Ash running at him. Charmeleon used Fire Spin and Ash was surrounded by fire. Ash flipped his jacket and jumped through the fire. He rolled to a stop and brought up the sword. Charmeleon was stunned. Few pokemon could do that, let alone humans. Charmeleon ran at Ash intent on going for the throat when the forest to his right exploded and a massive Rydon stomped into the clearing. Charmeleon stared at it a moment to long and slammed headfirst into a rock. A tree fell on Ash, pinning him to the ground.

"Prepare for trouble," a voice said

"And make it double," Another said. After that three people walked out of the gap made by the Rydon. Two were Jessie and James, Misty had never seen the third.

"To protect the world from devastation," Jessie said.

"To unite all people's within our...Ackkkk!" James said. The man behind him had grabbed James's throat and was choking him.

"What the fuck are you guy's talking about? Let's just grab the kids and go!" He dropped James and started towards Misty. Just then Ash wiggled free of the tree.

"Pidgeotto, use your sand-attack!" Pidgeotto flapped it's wings at ground level and sand covered the team rocket members. Ash ran to Charmeleon with the sword lowered.

"If we don't work together these guy's are going to capture us both. Are you with me?" He extended his hand to the pokemon. Charmeleon looked at the hand a second then took it. Ash nodded and smiled, then grabbed the swords sheath and ran for the woods. Misty followed, as did Charmeleon. "Come on, Pidgeotto!" Ask cried out.

The bird looked at it's trainer and started to follow but was smashed into the ground by the Rydon. It had managed to clear the sand storm.

"Pidgoooo!" It cried in pain.

Misty picked up a rock and threw it. The stone connected with the rock pokemon's eye and it stumbled back, releasing Pidgeotto. The flying pokemon quickly joined it's friends.

After the dust cleared, Toran looked and saw that not only had his targets eluded him, his Rydon was in terrible pain. He pointed the pokeball at the creature.

"Return, Rydon." The red beam lashed out and sucked in the rock pokemon. James got up and rubbed his eyes.

"What now?"

"We return to base. These kids are better than I thought."

"Told you so." Jessie said.

They then started back through the forest.

After running for a few minutes the kids stopped to rest. Misty cleaned and bandaged Ash's wounds. He didn't look to good, he was losing blood and his leg had a large piece of wood in it. He had also slammed his chest into a rock and damaged his breastbone. His own breathing was causing him pain.

Charmeleon was bleeding worse than Ash and had a large bump on his head. Pidgeotto had three broken ribs from the Rydon’s attack. Misty and Togapi were the only healthy ones, and they couldn't fight. Since the battle, Ash had sheathed the sword and put it on, Misty could see the handle sticking up over his right shoulder. Ash searched his pocket and produced Dexter.

"Great." He said.

"What is it?"

"Dexter was destroyed when that tree fell on me. I can't trade my pokemon for healthy ones." He answered. He jammed the currently useless device into his pocket.

"What are we going to do Ash?"

"Char char. Mel charmel."(We fight. Or die) the fire pokemon answered.

"No way. We have to get out of here before those idiots find us. Pidgeotto, can you fly?"

"Pidgeo." It answered with a nod. Ash reached up and took off his hat. He gave it to the bird.

"Take this to Brock in New Haven. If you can't fly that far, just try to find someone to take care of you. Good luck Pidgeotto." As the bird was going to fly off Misty spoke up.

"Pidgeotto, please take Togapi. He'll be safer with you." The bird thought about it then gently gripped the small egg-like pokemon in it's talon. Misty stroked the birds head. "Thank you." she whispered.

Pidgeotto flew off toward the town. Ash hoped it could do this.

"Charmeleon"(what now?)

Misty looked around. She saw a small mountain in the horizon. She pointed to it. "That way. We can find a place to rest over there."

Ash nodded

The trio headed to the mountain. After a while Ash noticed that Charmeleon was slowing down. Ash lifted the fire pokemon and started carrying him.

"Ash, you should let me carry him. You're to weak." Misty said.

"No. Charmeleon is my responsibility and I'll carry him."

Charmeleon had heard the brief argument. He listened carefully and could hear how Ragged Ash's breathing was. There was no way the kid had the strength required doing this safely. At first Charmeleon had thought that Ash was a weak, pathetic trainer. He was starting to think differently. He decided to get away from the kid without letting him know about his change of heart.

"Char char, mel mel cahrmel, meleon."(Give me to the girl, Ash. You stink too much to carry me.)

Ash sniffed himself a moment then turned to Misty. "He wants you to carry him. He says I stink."

Misty took the fire pokemon, then sniffed Ash. "You don't smell that bad. But I think pokemon have better senses than humans." They continued walking. Around sunset they reached the mountain and found a cave. Misty smiled to herself 'This is even better than I planned'. They would have arrived earlier but they had to stop constantly for Ash to rest. She put Charmeleon down, the pokemon looked much better. Unfortunately Ash looked much worse. The walk had sapped all his strength. Misty looked at the pokemon.

"Charmeleon, go gather some fire wood. I need to clean Ash's injuries again." The pokemon nodded and started his task. Misty helped Ash into the cave that would serve as home for a while. She cleaned all his wounds again. She then laid out their sleeping bags and got ready to make dinner. When she finished she wiped some sweat off her brow and noticed Ash was staring at her.

"What?" She asked

"I was just thinking how pretty you are." He said. Misty turned away from him and blushed. With her head still turned she said "Thanks Ash."

"I....I'm sorry if I embarrassed you." He said. Ash lowered his head 'What am I doing! She doesn’t like that way. We're just friends' he thought. Misty noticed his sudden change of mood. She couldn’t think of anything to say so she sat down next to him and gave him a hug. He smiled weakly and soon fell asleep.

"I love you Ash." she whispered as he slept.

"Char" She whipped around to see Charmeleon standing there with a pile off wood in his arms. She slowly got up and walked to the pokemon. She bent down to be at eye level with it.

"Did you hear what I said?"

"Char char" He nodded. Misty could feel panic building inside herself. If Charmeleon told Ash....

"Listen Charmeleon, don't tell Ash what I said okay?"

"Mel?" It said. It had a confused look on it's face.

" 'Why' huh? If he finds out it will be the end. I'll never have a chance to see if we could ever be together. I know he doesn't love me, but at least he likes me. You talk, and he won't even be my friend. Will you keep it a secret?" The pokemon nodded it's head. Misty sighed in releif. She stacked the wood in a pile and surrounded them with rocks. "Light this." Chameleon put his tail to the pile and it caught fire. The two cooked dinner together and then Misty woke Ash.

"Whaaa?" He grumbled.

"Wake up, Ash."

"Why?"

"You need to eat something." She handed him the bowl of stew. He ate a spoonful and smiled.

"Pretty good. It tastes different from your usual cooking."

"Well....Charmeleon has a way with spices." Ash looked at the fire pokemon. It was curled near the fire, lapping the stew out of a bowl.

"Hey Charmeleon," The pokemon looked at Ash "Nice cooking."

"Char."(Thanks) After that Ash and Charmeleon fell asleep, the days' journey and their injuries having exhausted them. Misty put more wood on the fire and was going to go to sleep when Ash woke up.

"How you doing, Misty?"

"I'm alright. How do you feel?" Ash got up and stretched.

"Much better. I'm still a little sore though."

"Don't be a baby, Ash. You'll be okay in a few days." She finished unzipping her sleeping bag when she felt Ash’s hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him.

"Thanks for taking care of me, Misty"

"Don't sweat it." She got up to go get something from her bag but Ash held her arm.

"Ash, what are you....." that was all that came out of her mouth before Ash kissed her.

END PART 2