Welcome back everyone and as it was revealed, the stranger was indeed Kenji (Tracey) who was traveling with a weakened, badly injured Growlithe. Why does this Growlithe feel strange around Misty, though?

Now, here's another chapter for you readers willing to even get through this badly written story. lol Anyway, for this chapter, the group runs into Team Rocket, causing one of the group to become injured.

As for the "Twerps" they will be joined by one more character a couple of chapters from now. So, Ash's group will consist of five (Ash, Misty, Kenji, Brock, and a certain side character). I hope you'll enjoy the addition, but it's going to be a while before those chapters get written, as that character's introduction chapter will have to be rewritten from scratch and memory...and I have a bad one.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Pokemon franchise. Nintendo, 4Kids, Gamefreak, etc., have those rights, and here are the age reminders once again...

Ash: 13
Misty: 14
Kenji: 17 going on 18
Brock: 19

Oh yeah, about Kenji's age, I have it that way because in the sequel to this fic, he celebrates his birthday.

Part 04: "Oh no, are you okay?!" The Trouble with Growlithe!

Everyone slept peacefully, although Misty was a bit restless during hers, and started to awaken, the light from the beautiful sunrise starting to illuminate the sky and the birds singing happily from the tress around them. Unfortunately, a certain Pokemon trainer remained asleep, snoring loudly, ignoring all of the nature around him.

"I can't believe he's still asleep!" Misty complained as she rolled up her sleeping bag.

"Wasn't he the first one to fall asleep?" asked Kenji.

Brock nodded as he started to gather ingredients to prepare something quick for breakfast, allowing Geodude to help him by building another fire.

Kenji and Misty, along with Togepi and Pikachu, went over to the snoozing trainer and kept calling to him gently to wake up, but to no avail, the trainer remained motionless and started muttering about "beating Gary" in his sleep.

"Oh this is ridiculous!" All of a sudden, Misty pulled out a gong and shouted while hitting it, "TIME TO WAKE UP!"

This startled him, and he woke with a scream while jumping nearly 10 feet into the air. "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Misty put the gong away while grinning triumphantly.

"What'd you do that for?!"

"It's time to get up. Hurry up and get changed," the girl told him.

Ash went back to sitting stubbornly, while Togepi and Pikachu were laughing. Growlithe looked up from his spot and yawned. "I would've gotten up…eventually," he muttered while heading away to change.

Kenji Title: The Trouble with Growlithe!

After changing, Ash returned while sniffing the air. He saw both Brock and Kenji were preparing dishes for breakfast. With the leftover rice, Kenji had prepared *onigiri while Brock had reheated their leftover stew.

Misty sat with Togepi, and began to feed him some onigiri. "Here you are, Togepi."

"Togepriiiiiiiii! (Thanks mommy!)"

"These are good; what filling did you use?"

Brock and Kenji started to talk about the dish while also exchanging other recipes.

"Hey, Pikachu, do you want any ketchup for your rice ball?"

He nodded as Ash tossed him a small bottle of ketchup.

Misty smiled at the scene. "I really hope that the price of ketchup never goes up," she said with a small laugh.

Ash looked over at Misty, their eyes locking. "Yeah…me too...I hope…it doesn't…"

They both just stared at one another, lost in their own thoughts. The breeder and artist took notice. Brock just shook his head at the display, and quietly said to his new friend, "I'm really glad you're here. You can help me deal with those two. Their arguing drives me crazy!" He motioned to Misty. "It's also nice having someone else to talk to who doesn't slam you with a mallet," he then motioned to Ash, "or who doesn't snap at you when calling you out on something that's 100% obvious to see."

"That sounds rough," Kenji whistled. "Either way, though, I just knew they were a couple when I first saw them. The way they were glancing at each other, the way Misty was pulling Ash around the bazaar, the way they seemed to be talking to each other, like they were super comfortable with each other…I just figured they were a couple on a date. When traveling with them, there were times it just looked like they wanted to just throw themselves at each other."

"Hey," Brock began with a chuckle, "how long do you think this stare is going to last?"

"Hm, maybe about another minute. They'll notice us watching them sooner or later. I noticed this happened a lot while I was with them. They'd get caught in each others' gaze, they notice that either I or Pikachu were watching, then they both start to go a bit red, no matter how hard they tried to hide it, and then start bickering over the stupidest thing! One time, I think Misty started arguing with Ash about the trees in the area being too tall and that it was his fault."

Brock gave off a boisterous laugh, which broke the two out of their trance. The two slightly blushed and looked away, but didn't argue this time.

After breakfast, they packed up camp, and went back on their way to Viridian city, Growlithe walking by Kenji's side who was leading them, albeit slowly, not that anyone minded or protested given his condition. During the walk, Growlithe still couldn't help but feel a slight connection with Misty…a feeling that was still truly bothering him, while also causing him to feel remorse and guilt. He decided to try his best to ignore this feeling as he had to focus on his true task…getting back to Viridian.

"Hey, Kenji, you never did tell me why you were where you were when I bumped into you last night."

"Oh, well I was taking a shortcut to Viridian. With Growlithe's condition, I felt it would be best."

"See Misty, I told you two that we were going the right way!" Ash bragged arrogantly.

Brock and Misty sweatdropped at Ash's display, who was now dancing around as if he'd just won some grand contest.

"I have my map right here," Kenji pointed out. He pulled out a sheet of paper from his pocket and stopped walking. The others followed suit and looked it over. "See, we're round about here, so I'd say we'll arrive there in about a couple of hours."

"That's not so bad," Brock concurred. "At least it'll still be daytime by the time we arrive."

"Two hours seems like a long time to me," Misty muttered under her breath. The sun had risen higher, and the heat had started growing stronger. She started to fan herself with her free hand. She was about to complain some more, but stopped after glancing over at the fatigued Growlithe.

"Wow after all this time, you think two hours is a lot?" Kenji asked in surprise. "I guess I'm just used to it. I like traveling this way. It beats traveling around the Orange Islands where I grew up." He looked to his side, noticing Growlithe's state and that his breathing was a bit unsteady. "Are you alright, Growlithe? You sound tired."

Growlithe nodded weakly while still panting, but then slumped down to the ground.

"Guys, I think we should stop for a while. We've been traveling for over an hour now," the narrow-eyed boy wisely stated. "I'd like to check him over again anyway."

No one objected and felt it was definitely best.

Brock knelt down beside Growlithe, giving a caring, and gentle smile, while speaking in a soothing voice. "Do you have any pain anywhere right now?" He nodded and winced. "Where?"

Growlithe looked towards his stomach where the bandage was.

"So your stomach is still bothering you and the medicine didn't help as well as I thought it would…"

He checked him and then did something he hadn't earlier. He touched his stomach. This caused Growlithe to howl in pain, which alarmed the others.

"Growlithe!" Kenji called out, rushing to his side.

"Kenji, how was he when you came across him again?" asked Brock.

"It was a couple of days ago. I heard a yelping sound, so I followed it and came across him. He looked like he was trying to move, but was having trouble. He was bruised all over and pretty much just lying there. I tried to wrap his wounds as best as I could."

Brock's expression grew dark as an angered look made its way to his face. "We know he was abandoned, but to go to this extent…it's just horrible. My medicine can't help him. I'm worried that his stomach pain isn't from lack of eating or maybe from eating something bad. He may have internal injuries that are becoming worse because he's moving around. We really have to find a way to get him to a Pokemon Center and fast. I don't know how much longer he'll hold out, but he's obviously strong…"

Growlithe yowled louder than he'd meant to. "Growlithe, what's wrong?! Whoever did this to you needs to pay! I only wish I knew who your previous trainer was. I'd demand he tell me why he left you out in the woods like that! What if I wouldn't have found you?"

"I hate people who mistreat Pokemon!" Ash said, his fist bawled. "Growlithe, did your trainer abandon you because he thought you were weak?"

Looking away from everyone, he nodded hesitantly. Pikachu studied the dog. Something wasn't right.

"Pika chu pi. (I don't believe you.)"

"Pikachu! How could you say something like that!"

"Pikapi, Pika chu pikachu cha? (Ash, can't you tell that he's lying?)"

Ash gave his friend a disapproving look. "Come on. We have to hurry to Viridian. It's the closest."

Pikachu, at this point, was actually arguing with the fatigued, yet quiet Growlithe who wasn't defending himself at all. He truly felt that the puppy wasn't being completely truthful. Ash grabbed Pikachu and started to scold him, but Pikachu gave him a Thundershock, causing him to fall over, and broke free of his grasp.

"Pika chu cha, pikachu chu pika pi! (You didn't have a trainer, you're hiding something! There's more to this story than what you're telling them!)"

"Let's go!" Ash repeated, shooting the electric mouse a look.

It wasn't only Ash giving Pikachu a look, but the other humans as well. Brock had a look of perplexity, trying to figure out why Pikachu was acting in such a way. Kenji had a look of disappointment on his face. Misty just frowned at him. Togepi just looked on in confusion.

Growlithe rose from the ground and stood, telling himself that he must continue. There was way too much at stake. Once he was ready to go, they were about to start off, but they heard three familiar voices coming from the trees above.

"Prepare for trouble!" the first voice cackled.

"And make it double!" a second, male voice replied.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nations…"

"To denounce the evil of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above…"

One of the figures, wearing a white skirt and a shirt with a giant "R", revealed herself and landed in front of the group, her long pink hair soaring. "Jessie!"

A handsome, blue-haired man in a similar outfit, only with pants, holding a rose stood next to her. "James…"

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

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

A small cat like Pokemon jumped down in front of the pair and posed, both his paws up. "Meeeeeeeeeeowth, that's right!"

"Hand them over, twerps," James ordered in a somewhat bored voice.

"Not you guys again," Ash grumbled in annoyance. "Why don't you go dig a hole like you normally do! We have more important things to do than to deal with you!"

"I would have, but Jessie and Meowth wouldn't let me."

"James, shut up! Stop being a shrimpy ignoramus!"

"Ooo, shrimp! Do you have any? I'm hungry."

Jessie gave off an exasperated sigh. "Am I the only one around here who cares about stealing Pokemon for the boss?"

Meowth held out his paw to Ash's group. "We're takin' all of your Pokemon, so hand dhem ovaa, now!"

Misty looked over at Growlithe then back at Team Rocket. "Not without a fight!" she told them hotly.

"So, you guys want to do this the hard way, eh?" Jessie pulled out a Pokeball and tossed it. "Arbok, go!"

A giant, purple snake, which resembled a cobra emerged.

"Wheezing, go, smoke screen!"

James tossed his sphere, and a floating, gray round two-headed Pokemon came out and started to breathe out a thick, hazy black smoke, which caused everyone to cough and the inability to see clearly.

Ash instinctively reached for his belt, about to call out his Pidgeotto, but surprisingly, Arbok and Wheezing showed to be too fast for him. Jessie had ordered Arbok to use "Wrap Attack", and now had its coils wrapped around him, Misty, who was holding Togepi still, Brock, Kenji, and Pikachu.

"We're actually winning this time," Jessie victoriously laughed.

"Yeah, you're right. We are winning," James laughed along hysterically.

"It's about time," replied Meowth coolly.

"You better...let us go...you…hag," Ash grunted as he, and the others, tried to free themselves from Arbok's grasp.

"Wh-what did you say?" a nerve forming on her forehead.

"I said you're an old hag!"

Jessie's face started to turn red, and her incisors seemed to turn to that of fangs that could rival her Arbok's. Flames also surrounded her, her fists bawled.

"Oh no!" James shook.

"She's gonna blow! She's evolvin' into a Flareon!"

"Maybe she'll evolve to something even worse this time," James input.

"You could be right," Meowth agreed. "Hmm, maybe she'll evolve to a Magmar."

"Most definitely," James nodded, like a professor, "or maybe that of the rage of a Charizard."

"Or betta yet-"

Before anyone could blink, Jessie attacked James and Meowth. It was so fast, the others had no idea what she'd done to them or even what she'd hit them with. James and Meowth were now knocked out, their eyes swirling. Once done with them, she went back to taking her rage out on Ash.

"Call me an old hag, I'll show you! Arbok! Squeeze them tighter!"

Arbok reluctantly obeyed, as he didn't want to literally harm them, knowing that he could possibly end up killing one of them. Growlithe looked on helplessly as the group screamed in pain. He was so weak from his journey, he could barely muster up the strength to use something as weak as "Ember".

"Arbok, that's enough. Loosen your coils just a bit. I don't want any guts on my nice boots. Only wrap them enough so that they can't escape. I think the finally realize that we mean business!"

Everyone breathed out in relief, the crushing feeling lessening and glad that they could breathe steadily again.

"Enough of dis. Let's grab dheir Pokemon, especially dat Growlithe! Da boss really wants him."

"How do you know it's the right Growlithe?" asked James who'd just regained consciousness.

"It doesn't matter; I just know, okay?"

"Wait, didn't the boss also say something about that bratty girl?" asked Jessie.

"Hey yeah, you're right. I think he did say something about her...I think he said something about keeping her out of Viridian..."

"Yeah, but I don't know why," Meowth told them halfheartedly.

James made his way over to the injured Growlithe. He looked at the Pokemon, a bit pained over it as it reminded him of his Growlithe. He actually had a soft spot for Growlithe and Arcanine in general.

"You're not going to get away with this," argued Misty, who was still trying to free herself for Togepi's sake.

The others also took suit and yelled at the three criminals.

The pink-haired woman could only laugh. "We already have, brats. Let's finish this battle now. Lickitung, go!"

A fat, strange pink Pokemon materialized in front of them. Its long tongue flailing, but it seemed different, Ash noticed. He'd seen Jessie's Lickitung plenty of times, but its tongue seemed longer than usual.

"Lickitung, use your Lick Attack on all of them, but only enough to stun them, not kill them. Just knock them out so we can nab their Pokemon and that Growlithe, and don't forget, we have to keep that bratty girl away from Viridian. The boss says that she's trouble to him!"

"Lickeeee!"

"Why don't you give up now! You know you're going to fail like you guys always do!"

"Ugh, I'm sick of your mouth! Lickitung, lick her first and make sure she doesn't wake up anytime soon!"

"Tung!"

Licktung attacked the group, but used "Screech" first, but it only affected Misty. How Licktung managed to do this without affecting the others was beyond the boys and Pikachu. Misty screamed slightly, her ears hurting from the high-pitched sound. Next, Licktung proceeded to lick her.

"Ewwwww," she shuddered. The redhead felt herself growing drowsy and slightly woozy. "You're…not…going…to…get…away…with…this…" the girl threatened, her voice slurring. She then slumped over, her head lolling. Togepi started to cry over the sight.

"Waah, Misty!" Ash snarled angrily at the Rocket that stood before them. "You'll pay for that, Jessie!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever," she answered, nonplussed. "Lickitung, don't forget the rest of those twerps."

Licktung licked the rest of them, ignoring Togepi, who was still being held snuggly in Misty's limp arms, but with the coils wrapped around them, he was still secure. Just like Misty, the others fell victim to the attack, but still yelled threats to the three Rocket members before falling asleep, which included Kenji threatening, "You're not getting my Growlithe!"

James laughed. "Correction, our Growlithe!"

"Dat Growlithe is now da property of Team Rocket!" nodded a triumphant Meowth, but he soon frowned slightly. "Da boss wants it…only dead."

Hearing this, Jessie and James turned to their furry companion, looks of shock on their faces and their eyes wide. "'Dead'?!"

Jessie vigorously shook her head. "No way we're killing that Growlithe, Meowth!"

"Yeah, we may be villains, but we're not insensitive."

"I don't know about yous two, but I want dat promotion to get rid of dat stupid Persian da boss has!"

"But Meowth-"

Meowth interrupted James' protest by leaping up and slashing him in the face. "Who cares what you think! We're killin' dat dog!"

Jessie was about to pound Meowth for slashing James, who was holding his face in pain, until the small feline pulled out a gun and aimed it at Growlithe, causing both to gasp. Growlithe was trying to get the strength to lure them away to keep Kenji and the others safe, but he just couldn't bring himself to move.

"Da boss said dat dis mutt would be better off to him dead! He thought the grunt dat was supposed to do the job, had, but it's obvious dat he didn't. Dat grunt lied about it. Seems dat Growlithe managed to escape 'im. I'm gonna make da boss proud of me, and while we're at it, why don't we just off all of dem?"

James felt disturbed over Meowth's desperation, while Jessie looked on in disbelief. Killing just to get promoted? She just couldn't fathom that.

Everyone, at that moment, started to regain consciousness. Kenji was the first to notice what was going on, seeing Meowth in front of the weakened Growlithe, a gun pointed at him.

"No, don't," he weakly called out.

Seeing what was going on, Ash tried squirming again, but still wasn't able to accomplish anything. He then came up with another idea and bit down on Arbok hard.

"Chaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrr!" Arbok screamed in pain as he let go of them.

Hearing the scream, Jessie quickly called back both her Pokemon, in fear of them getting hurt. She also told Wheezing to return, who obeyed promptly. She was still a bit distraught over Meowth and actually wasn't paying either of the "twerps" any attention at all.

James dove for the gun. "Stop that, Meowth! You're going to hurt him, not to mention maybe us!"

"Be careful James!"

He managed to knock the gun from out of Meowth's paws, which just caused him to slash James again.

Ash finally had access to his belt, and pulled one of the red and white spheres off and tossed it. "Bulbasaur, go! Knock the gun away and attack them with Vine Whip, now!"

"Bulba!"

Quickly, Bulbasaur tossed the gun aside, and then started to whip the three Rocket members.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

Piiiiiiiiiiiikaaaaaaachuuuuuuu!"

The attack connected, causing the three to fly off. "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off agaaaiiiin!"

Kenji went to check on Brock, who still seemed a bit dazed. Ash then went over to Togepi and Misty. Togepi was crying while trying to wake her. Ash started to shake her, who was soon joined by Kenji and Brock.

"Misty?" Ash shook her a bit harder. "Wake up."

"Priiiii? (Mommy?)"

The girl didn't move.

"Brock, what's wrong with her?!"

"I don't know," the boy said, his narrow eyes slightly wide in fear.

"She's not waking up! We have to get her to a doctor or something!"

There was no argument from the two older boys, as both prepared.

"Leave it to me, Ash. Come out, Onix!" The rock snake emerged in front of them with a roar. "Onix, we have to get to Viridian as fast as we can. Misty has been knocked out, and this Growlithe is sick and too weak to move on his own."

Onix was happy to oblige.

"We need to something to lay them on," Kenji muttered while looking around.

"Right! Geodude, let's go!"

The rock Pokemon came out, awaiting his orders. Brock asked him to knock down a tree for him to build a makeshift land-raft or something along the lines of it. Pikachu consoled Togepi while Ash held the limp Misty in his arms, too out of it to even offer help to the artist and breeder.

Kenji went through his bag for rope while Geodude laid the now chopped logs in place, working diligently and efficiently.

Once done, the two older boys dragged Growlithe onto the wooden structure, while Ash, with all his strength lifted Misty and laid her out on it while sitting with her. Pikachu sat with Ash, while Ash held Togepi tightly. Since they worked fast, Brock and Kenji rode directly on Onix as it wasn't big enough for all of them to ride on the wooden sled-like structure. They tied it to Onix's tail.

"Okay, everyone hold on tight! Onix, let's go, but try to be careful!"

Onix nodded and took off…

x x x x

Meanwhile, right before the group, and while they were working on creating a more comfortable mode of transport for Growlithe and Misty, they were being watched…

"Ugh, I can't believe those idiots blew it," a green-haired male with a husky voice groaned. "All they had to do was kill a Growlithe that was already weak to begin with! They didn't manage to bump off the girl with the Togepi and they didn't grab Pikachu!"

"Yeah," the man's blonde, female friend said. "I guess it was a good thing that the boss sent us along to keep an eye on them. He probably knew that they'd fail…like always."

"What else would you expect from them? They're too soft. We would've gotten the job done and we would've grabbed Pikachu."

"Meowth really doesn't belong with those two. He'd be better of with us." She looked to her associate. "Do you think he would've actually pulled the trigger?"

"I think he would've, but only if that pretty-boy freak of a boyfriend of Jessie's hadn't have interfered…"

The two saw Brock instruct Onix to take off. The two mysterious strangers hopped onto their motorbikes to follow them, but made sure to keep their distance.

"We'll keep them from Viridian," the blonde declared.

"Yeah, the boss is going to be proud of us, and then maybe he'll finally kick those two idiots out."

"I wonder why the boss keeps them around anyway. I know that they weren't always screw-ups, but their failures probably outnumbers all of that now," the woman thoughtfully pointed out.

"I wish I knew, Cassidy, but we shouldn't probably question it or worry about it. We have a mission to focus on."

"Yeah, who knows what the boss'll do or say if they manage to reach Viridian. Oh Butch, he'll be furious!" She shook her head and focused again. "Anyway, I already thought of a plan to slow them down."

"That's my girl," he complimented sweetly, "always thinking. Smart and beautiful, unlike Jessie."

Cassidy cheeks went slightly pink. "Not now, Butch. Anyway, here's my plan…"
x x x x
"Thank goodness you have Onix," Kenji complimented. "We would never be able to go this fast on foot. We'll get to Viridian in no time and get help for Growlithe and Misty."

"Yeah." Brock glanced back. "How's she doing, Ash?"

Ash looked devastated, not even hearing Brock. He was drowned in his thoughts. He felt like crying. 'I'm sorry for saying all those things to you over the years…please, don't leave us. We need you…I need you.' If he hadn't have been holding Togepi, while also trying to keep a grip on Misty, he would've definitely hugged her. The urge was strong.

"Ash?" Kenji called this time.

"Huh? What?"

"How's Misty?"

"She's still out and breathing kind of funny," Ash answered back loudly. Togepi started to cry again, wondering if his mother was going to ever wake up. The boy leaned down slightly, and whispered to the slumbering girl, "Hang in there, Misty, we'll get to Viridian soon. I promise that I won't let you down! I don't care about battling or badges or anything, just please wake up. I should've gotten to my Pokeball faster! This would've never happened if I hadn't have been so slow!" His voice shook. "I'm sorry Misty…I'm so sorry!"
x x x

Author's Note

Note 1: Onigiri is a rice ball.
x x x

Fic Chapter Changes

I changed quite a bit for this one. Originally, for this chapter, it started off similarly, but with the Narrator (in other words RP) poking fun and breaking the fourth wall. Ash also did the chapter originally, while yawning. As a matter of fact, Ash announced practically all of the titles, unless his name was in it.

There was also another fourth wall joke at Brock's expense regarding his narrow eyes, after awaking after Lickitung's attack. As mentioned earlier, I definitely wanted to cut those out as they weren't as necessary.

James showed to have more qualms over taking Growlithe to Giovanni.

I also had them build something for Misty and Growlithe to ride on as opposed to all of them riding directly on Onix.

Butch's James insult was originally, "cross-dressing freak" as opposed to "pretty-boy".

The part where Ash had the urge to hug Misty was changed so that it wouldn't seem sudden or as sappy. Originally, Ash was resisting the urge to kiss her. I was really into AAML back then, no matter how badly written it was. lol