James Meets Gardenia

Ash's new Chimchar, which was once Paul's, did start living happily with Ash and the others. He found out that Ash was kind, caring and understanding to his Pokemon; nothing at all like Paul who abused and pushed his own Pokemon too hard. Chimchar started crying because he had a kind trainer, and he was happy that he had new friends. And he made lots of new friends with Ash's and Tomo's other Pokemon at Prof. Oak's lab, especially Ash's Charizard and Tomo's Chimchar because of the bitter lives they had before meeting Ash and Tomo, so Chimchar was happy at last and knew he had a better future ahead of him.

Today the gang was visiting Emeragrove Town; it was a beautiful town in the countryside. To their surprise, Gardenia was visiting the town. Gardenia promoted Pokemon battling so she was having Pokemon battles all over the area. Right now some kids, who were fans of Gardenia, were talking to her.

Gardenia and the gang were not the only ones visiting Emeragrove Town. Team Rocket was there as well. They were there to plan what to do next. They were dressed in normal clothes so no one would recognize them as Team Rocket members.

"So what are we doing today?" Meowth asked.

Jessie and James thought for a moment.

"I suggest we take our time today with training." James said. "After all we have gained new Pokemon and they need to get stronger."

"Very true, especially the ones we received from headquarters yesterday." Jessie said.

"What? You got some Pokemon from the boss?" Meowth said in surprise.

"Yeah apparently their old trainer, a fellow agent, didn't want them anymore and the boss decided to give them to us." Jessie said.

"Why would that guy not want them anymore?" Meowth asked.

"Oh he's some snob who keeps on switching Pokemon partners; he is never satisfied." Jessie said.

Meowth snorted.

"What Pokemon are they anyway?" He asked.

Jessie sent out a big grey and white cat with long whiskers, a long swirly tail and purple ears. This was Purugly, the evolved form of Glameow and it was female. James sent out a big purple and cream colored skunk Pokemon. This was a Skuntank, the evolved form of Stunky and it was male.

"Wow nice Pokemon." Meowth said. "That guy really is a snob for not wanting these Pokemon."

So it was agreed that the rocket trio was going to train their new Pokemon today.

James went to a big field outside town and called out his Skuntank.

"Okay Skuntank, I want you to show me what moves you've got." James said.

He called out his Weezing to battle Skuntank. Skuntank proved to be a strong battler; it knew Scratch, Focus Energy, Poison Gas, Screech, Fury Swipes, Smokescreen, Toxic, Slash, Flamethrower, Night Slash and the egg move Crunch.

"Wow, you are very good Skuntank." James said, stroking it on the head. "I can't believe that your old trainer didn't want to keep you; there is nothing wrong with you at all."

Skuntank felt happy being with James.

"Well then, let's start teaching you some new moves. Now let me think what will be the best moves for you." James paused to think. "I know. Iron Tail and Poison Jab."

He called out Breloom and Cacnea; Breloom knew Iron Tail and Cacnea knew Poison Jab.

Before they did anything, they heard a scream. It had come from Gardenia and she went over to Cacnea and Breloom.

"Oh my gosh, your Cacnea is so cute and your Breloom looks really strong." She said.

She gave Cacnea a hug despite the spikes. James thought Gardenia was crazy.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" James asked.

"Oh many pardons." Gardenia said, putting Cacnea down. "I'm Gardenia, the Eterna City gym leader and I really love grass type Pokemon."

"Oh well, I can understand that because I like grass type Pokemon myself." James said.

"You're a grass type Pokemon trainer yourself?" Gardenia asked.

"Not exactly, because I like having many different types of Pokemon." James answered.

While Gardenia was talking with James, the gang and the kids watched them speak.

"Hey, that's James from Team Rocket." Ash whispered.

He could tell right away that it was James.

"Really? What should we do?" Dawn whispered.

"We'll wait and see what happens." Ash whispered. "We can't scare these kids."

So the gang continued to watch on what was going to happen. Just then Gardenia and James walked over. She explained that she and James were going to challenge Ash and Tomo to a tag battle. The gang was surprised to hear this, but Ash and Tomo agreed to battle; since James wasn't doing anything wrong, they had no reason to get worried.

James, Gardenia, Ash and Tomo took their places while the kids and Dawn sat down on the grass to watch. Brock agreed to be the referee. James sent out Cacnea, Gardenia sent out Turtwig, Tomo sent out Bidoof and Ash sent out his male Aipom. Ash then began the tag battle.

"Aipom, Swift." Aipom released a bunch of stars from it's tail.

Cacnea countered it with Pin Missile.

Turtwig attacked next with Leaf Storm, but Bidoof used Protect to keep Aipom and himself safe. Then Aipom proceeded to use Double Slap on Turtwig.

"Cacnea, use Needle Arm on that Aipom." James said.

Cacnea struck Aipom with it's glowing arms.

"Bidoof, use Rollout on Cacnea." Tomo said.

Bidoof rolled towards Cacnea, but Turtwig stopped it in it's tracks with a strong Razor Leaf attack.

"Cacnea, use Drain Punch." James said.

Cacnea punched Bidoof really hard and drained most of it's energy.

"Woah, James and his Pokemon are strong but that won't beat me so easily." Ash said.

"Aipom, Aerial Ace." He ordered.

He tackled Cacnea really hard with the move. That didn't knock Cacnea out and it used Leech Seed. Gardenia's Turtwig also used Leech Seed and both Aipom and Bidoof were caught and zapped by the vines.

"It seems like Ash and Tomo are going to lose." Dawn said, worried.

She was right because Cacnea used Focus Punch and Turtwig used Tackle. Aipom and Bidoof were knocked out. So James and Cacnea won the battle.

The kids cheered for Gardenia and James. James felt proud with himself for winning a Pokemon battle and it felt good to him.

"I've got to hand it to you James you trained your Cacnea well." Gardenia said.

"That's because I train my Pokemon well." James replied.

Even the gang admitted that James did a very good job during the battle.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Jessie and Meowth had been watching the battle.

"Wow, James actually beat the twerps." Meowth said, surprised. "And we have never done that before."

"That's only because he had a gym leader as a partner." Jessie said.

Despite not wanting to admit it, she did think James was excellent in that battle.

After the battle Gardenia talked with James for ages about his grass type Pokemon and he showed Gardenia his other grass type Pokemon, which delighted her. James also told Gardenia that his grandparents taught him all about raising grass type Pokemon and things. Gardenia was impressed.

"Hey James, give me your email address." Gardenia said. "That way I can keep in contact with you about grass type Pokemon."

James wasn't so sure about this, but Gardenia was so desperate he couldn't say no.

Hours later, James was able to leave with Jessie and Meowth.

"Boy James, I thought your talk with that gym leader would never end." Meowth said. "I mean, it's already the end of the afternoon."

"I know, but that lady has such a big mouth." James sighed.

"I must say you did good in that battle especially since you defeated the twerps." Meowth said.

"I have to say." James replied. "If I had been born a normal kid, I mean not been born in a very wealthy family I would have gone on Pokemon journeys as a kid and beaten many people in Pokemon battles like that. And of course won many tournaments and things like that."

"I get what you mean." Jessie said. "If I had gone on a Pokemon journey like other kids at the age of ten I probably would have won many things too. But the past is the past and all we can do is just continue what we are doing now."

So Team Rocket left Emeragrove Town to head to a new destination.

As for the gang, they said goodbye to Gardenia and left Emeragrove Town too.