Disclaimer: All Pokemon characters are copyrighted by Nintendo. No permissions have been given to use their names. Exceptions: The characters of Chief Scientist Evans and Pokemon trainers Jenni and Allan are my creations.
Loyalties
By Allan North
Chapter One: The Betrayal


"This is ridiculous, Ash.", Misty said as the group trudged through the forest. "How many times can one person get so lost, anyway?"

"Gimmie a break, Misty." Ash replied. "I haven’t heard you throwing out any great directions, you know."

"Around you, it’s a wonder I have any sense of direction left at all anymore", Misty grumbled. Behind her she heard a snicker. Brock always found it amusing when Ash and Misty would argue about where they were going, as it just happened so often. Misty turned to face him with an annoyed look on her face. "And I suppose you know where we are?"

Brock couldn’t resist. "Of course I do." he replied. Reaching behind him into his knapsack, he pulled out a map with a flourish. "According to this map, the position of the stars last night, the position of the sun, and my calculations, I would say that we are definitely.... in a forest... on the planet depicted on this map." Brock fell over laughing at his own joke. Ash groaned, and Pikachu just looked at Brock with an exasperated "Chu."

Misty, however, failed to see the humor in the situation, and she showed it quite clearly when she calmly rolled up Brock’s map and used to hit him over the head. Brock stood up half laughing and half apologizing to Misty, who still maintained a look of annoyance. "OK, OK," Brock said, becoming serious again, "We just left Cerulean City...."

"Don’t remind me" Misty muttered, remembering the teasing she’d gotten at the hands of her sisters about how she and Ash should become an item, of all things.

"And we were heading for Saffron city.... We’ve been traveling for about one and a half days... we’re about here", he said, pointing to a spot on the map between the two cities.

"So the best thing to do is stop discussing it and keep moving." Ash said impatiently. "I want to get to Saffron City before Gary does. It’s the key to earning my next badge."

Brock nodded. "Ash is right. We’ve just got to keep moving if we want to get Saffron City by...." He stopped suddenly.

"What is it, Brock?" Misty asked.

"I think I heard something in the trees." Brock said, looking around.

Ash’s ears perked up at the sound of Brock’s words. "Whoa, maybe it’s a Pokemon!" he said excitedly. He reached in his pocket and pulled out Dexter. he opened the cover and pointed Dexter’s sensor at the trees.

"No Pokemon detected in area." Dexter said repeatedly as Ash pointed the Pokedex at various trees, searching for new Pokemon to catch. Suddenly, he heard the rustling coming from the branches above him. He spun around quickly, and pointed Dexter at the trees. Dexter’s chime sounded, and a familiar Pokemon appeared on the screen.

"Meowth." Dexter stated. "This catlike Pokemon...." Ash snapped the case shut.

"Meowth?" Brock repeated. "But that could only mean...."

Brock’s words were interrupted as the trio heard the familiar voices ring out from the tree tops: "Prepare for trouble!"

"Make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation..." Jessie began. Ash groaned and rolled his eyes. How often could Team Rocket find them, anyway? He squinted at the trees, trying to spot the familiar forms of their enemies. Brock glared at the trees, his fists clenching. Pikachu remained perched on Ash’s shoulder as he muttered angrily, "Pika....."

Only Misty seemed overly concerned, wordlessly backing up behind Brock.

"....extend our reach to the stars above." James said.

"Jessie!" Jessie said, as she leapt to the ground with a flourish.

"James!" James added, landing next to Jessie.

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth! That’s right!" chimed in Meowth, as he landed in front of Jessie and James wearing a small parachute with a big red "R" on it.

Ash looked at Team Rocket with a look of casual boredom on his face. "Look, guys, we’ve been walking for a couple days and we’re not really up to a big thing right now...."

"Shut up, you little twerp!" Jessie shouted at Ash. "You know what we’re here for."

"It’s pointless to try to resist." James added, absentmindedly sniffing a rose he seemed to have produced out of nowhere.

"You guys just don’t get it, do you?" Ash snapped. "For the last time, YOU CAN’T HAVE PIKACHU!"

James looked angrily at Ash, turning his attention from his rose for the first time since he’d landed on the ground. "Then we’ll just have to battle you for it."

Brock folded his arms and laughed. "Yeah right." he said with a grin. This won’t take long. Will it, Misty?" It was then that Brock noticed that Misty was standing behind him.

"Uh, right. not long at all." Misty said with a nervous chuckle. Ash looked at her strangely. Was Misty actually afraid of these two clowns? After all they’d been through and all the times they had defeated Team Rocket?

Ash’s thought was broken as he realized that Jessie and James were drawing their Pokeballs. Jessie threw hers into the air. "Arbok, go!" The large cobra-like creature appeared instantly.

"Arrrrrboook!" it hissed.

James threw his Pokeball into the air. "Weezing, go!" he cried.

The poison gas Pokemon appeared and said in a high-pitched rumble, "Weeeezing!"

"Weezing! Sludge attack!" James ordered, pointing his gloved hand at Pikachu. Weezing hovered around Pikachu and shot a stream of black sludge into Pikachu’s eyes. Pikachu was too stunned to respond.

Brock’s fighting instincts kicked in as Ash looked nervously at Pikachu. Throwing a Pokeball, he cried, "Geodude, I choose you!"

The rock Pokemon appeared in midair. Jessie glared at it, and said with a sneer, Arbok! Wrap attack!" Arbok shot forward rapidly and wrapped itself around Geodude’s small body. The Pokemon tried to fight back, but it was no match for the strength in Arbok’s coils.

"Geodude!" Brock cried, looking as worried as Ash did about Pikachu.

"Misty!" Ash cried. "Quick! You’ve got to call out Staryu or Starmie or something!"

Misty looked at Ash with a blank expression. "I- I can’t." She replied. James shot an evil smile at Jessie, and she returned it with a barely hidden chuckle.

Ash couldn’t believe his ears. "What do you mean you can’t!" he snapped. "You have to!"

"No, she doesn’t." Jessie said with a smile. "Very nice work, Misty"

Ash and Brock’s faces fell. What did they just hear Jessie say?

"Indeed." James added, clapping his hands together.

"Misty, what are they talking about?" Ash asked, looking at her.

Misty’s eyes began to water with tears. She reached to the bottom of her yellow halter top and pulled it over her head to reveal a white tank top underneath.... with a big red "R" stitched onto the fabric.

Pikachu, just barely recovering from the sludge attack, got his sight back and saw Misty in the tank top. "Pika!" He cried, and fell backward from shock.

"That’s right." Jessie said, grinning ear to ear. "Guess who’s been playing on our side without you realizing it?"

Ash was dumbfounded. "But.. how.... I.... Who...." he stammered.

"Oh come on." James taunted. "Surely you must have suspected something."

"Really." added Meowth. "The world’s a very big place, ya know. Didn’t you ever wonder how we always knew where you were?"

Ash paused. He never had given it much thought, but he had also never figured that there was a traitor, a spy in their midst. All he could do was look at Misty sadly and ask, "Why?"

Misty returned the sad look and said quietly, "You wouldn’t understand, Ash. I’m sorry."

Brock shot an angry look at Team Rocket’s newest member, and snarled at Jessie and James, "Either way, you’re not going to win. You’re never getting Pikachu."

"We already have." Jessie sneered. Pikachu had nearly rubbed all of Weezing’s sludge out of his eyes, and James could tell he was getting ready to do a thundershock, only awaiting Ash’s word.

Before Ash could recover enough to blurt out the word that would send Team Rocket blasting off again, James quickly yelled, "Weezing! Sludge attack again!" Weezing shot another stream of sludge into Pikachu’s eyes as Jessie ran back to the balloon and produced a large glass mason jar with a black rubber stopper.

"Pikachu! No!" Ash cried as he charged toward Team Rocket. James scoffed, and pulled a small grenade off of his belt. He pulled the pin, tossed it in the air and quickly covered his mouth. Jessie did the same, and Meowth ran over to Misty to give her a rag to cover her mouth with.

The grenade released a large green cloud of smoke, and Ash could feel himself getting weaker as he and Brock breathed the gas and fell to the ground. He could barely keep his eyes open as Jessie and Misty stepped forward, still covering their mouths with one hand, and scooped Pikachu into the jar. James shoved the stopper into place tightly, blocking any potential electric attacks from the little lightning mouse. The smoke started to clear, and Ash and Brock fought desperately to keep their eyes open as Jessie, James, Misty, and Meowth quickly climbed into the hot air balloon and lifted off, laughing maniacally all the way. Out of the corner of his eye, Ash noticed Misty’s back pack lying by the rock where she had been hiding behind Brock when it had all started. He looked up into the sky as the balloon disappeared from sight. And with that, the world went black as his head fell to the ground and he and Brock were knocked out.

Loyalties Chapter Two: The Letter