AN: Great news everybody! My copyright finally went through so this mega update is to celebrate! My short story is called 'The Stranger' and you can find it on amazon. There will be a link to it on the Facebook page for my stories. I want to thank everyone for supporting as I write and for anyone who ends up getting my story. This is hopefully the latest step to becoming a full-time writer.

Spot Inspection

Chapter 3

-Ash-

Breaths sharp and short, Ash paced back and forth in the lobby of the Viridian Pokémon center, Jane sat on a sofa with a whimpering Growlithe in her lap. After Pikachu had blasted away the remaining spearow flock he and Jane had forced themselves to their feet, getting to the city as fast as their exhausted bodies could carry him with an unconscious Pikachu and Slakoth in tow. They had run into a problem at first when the local officer Jenny had stopped them under suspicion of being Pokémon thieves and it was only Jane diffusing the situation that stopped him from punching the imbecile for the baseless accusation and allowed them to get to the center as fast as they could.

That had been an hour before and he hadn't heard anything since. Growlithe had insisted on staying out to keep them company, doing his best to cheer them up while Scyther insisted on standing guard over Pikachu and Slakoth. Since the frantic Nurse Joy had wheeled the two Pokémon back into the medical bay with a chansey in tow he had been pacing back and forth, tapping random rhythms in sporadic bursts and checking the red surgery room light by the minute.

"Ash enough!" apparently Jane had had enough of his pacing, Growlithe yipping alongside his trainer as they pulled Ash onto the couch. "I know you're worried about them but pacing a hole in the ground is only going to wear you out more, it does, nothing to help and you still need rest." She rubbed his back as Growlithe pushed his head under Ash's hand and whimpered till he began to pet the small canine Pokémon.

"I," he yawned, his body starting to shut down now that he had finally stopped moving "I suppose you might be right." His eyes started drifting shut despite how much he tried to force them not to.

"I'll wake you the second Nurse Joy comes out." Jane promised him as she laid him down on the couch, Growlithe settling on his chest to make sure he stayed there.

"O-okay." He yawned, his breathing levelling out as his exhaustion caught up with him and he slipped into the realm of dreams.

-Jane-

Sighing softly, Jane looked at the guy she had been assigned to travel with, Growlithe drifting off as well on top of him. The guy was interesting at least, and with what happened earlier she knew he had some heart to him. Walking over to the video phones she typed in the number for the Oak laboratory, her sister picking up after a few rings.

"J!" her elder sibling beamed at her "I see you made…it…what happened?" her older sister's exuberance quickly became serious upon seeing Jane's expression.

"A violent Spearow flock," she explained "Ash and I were travelling to Viridian when we heard a Pokémon screaming in pain. Rushing to the source we saw an entire flock of spearow savaging a Pikachu. Ash's Slakoth attacked the spearow as we grabbed the Pikachu and started running to the city, the flock chasing us, Ash's Slakoth attacking any it could with Ice Punch from Ash's back. We passed a river where something that I believe was a Gyarados scared away most of the flock. Ash and I tripped and couldn't get up easily. A storm had started, and the Pikachu managed to get up and leapt up into the air. A bolt of lightning hit the Pikachu and it used it to fuel an electric attack that took out the rest of the flock. We managed to get to Viridian, despite one of our local cousins accusing us of being Pokémon thieves for having injured Pokémon not in a Pokéball, but now we're at the Pokémon center where the Pikachu and Slakoth are being treated. Ash is passed out on the sofa as we ran most of the way from Pallet town and he hasn't stopped moving since we got here."

"What?!" her sister's eyes widened at that before Jane saw her take a deep calming breath, "Alright, I assume you're both uninjured?"

"We're tired, got some bruises and scrapes, but nothing major." Jane assured her sister.

"Good, I'll let me team have some exercise and work on mitigating that flock. If they're that large and that violent then they can't be ignored. I'll be sure to have a word with Jasmine as well about calling you and Mr. Ketchum thieves. She's always been a little gung ho."

"Yeah, I can tell." She grunted, rubbing her stiff neck "I'm going to call, Ash's mom and give her a head's up as well. Catch you later sis."

"Stay safe J!" the screen went black as she typed in the number Delia Ketchum had given her as a precaution. One repeat of the story later and assuring the woman that none of them were hurt, she was finally able to sit back and relax.

"You!" a high-pitched screeching voice came from the entrance as she her chair back to see an orange haired girl she recognized as the one who had been fishing during their mad run after a moment. Then she noticed the orangette was holding a charred and shredded bike.

"Me?" she asked, still leaning the chair back and looking at the girl upside down.

"You idiots ruined my bike!" the orange haired girl screamed again, glaring angrily at them.

"What are you screeching about?" she groaned, rubbing her ears that now hurt along with the rest of her body, "Actually why are you screeching at all? This is a medical facility, not a playground."

"How dare you?!" groaning at the continued screeching she got up and went to go make sure Ash and Growlithe were fine, to her amusement the boys were able to sleep through the ear-piercing voice.

"Okay, use your inside voice and calmly tell you what has you so pissed off?" she ordered the orangette, slipping into her officer mode as she did so.

"You two imbeciles pissed off the spearow and a Gyarados who shredded my bike and that Pikachu's lightning fried it!" luckily the yell wasn't approaching window shattering levels this time, but it was still loud.

"We didn't cause the spearow to be pissy, we never even saw the Gyarados, and there was a friggin lightning storm, how do you know it was Pikachu?" she demanded, getting in the orangette's face, neither of them noticing the red surgery room light turning green.

"You two owe me a new bike!" the orange haired girl apparently refused to listen.

"We owe you jack shit." Jane snapped back.

"Language!" Nurse Joy chided, startling them both as Chansey wheeled out a tray with two Pokéballs and a sleeping Pikachu. "Young man," the woman shook Ash's shoulder, startling the rookie trainer awake he jolted up before his eyes settled on the tray "your Pokémon are perfectly alright. A good night's sleep and they'll all be fighting fit, just try to avoid angering any more spearow flocks, alright?" the last part was added playfully as the nurse patted Ash's head and Chansey waved cheerfully before they both went back to work.

Before the argument with the orange haired girl could resume there was a sound of shattering glass, shards raining down from the ceiling along with a gut churning smoke. Coughing, she backed up to where Ash and Growlithe were, her Pokémon leaping down beside her and growling angrily. From the smoke she heard a pair of voices began chanting.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And Make it double!"

"To protect the world from Devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket-"

"Headbutt!" Jane ordered, having been trying to find the source of the chanting since it started and upon hearing the name of the major crime syndicate of Kanto and Johto she ordered the attack.

"Growl!" her canine partner leapt into the smoke as two started voices squawked in alarm, the smoke clearing to reveal two people in white team Rocket uniforms, an ekans, a koffing, and a meowth.

"Why you little brat!" the female of the Rocket duo growled out angrily, reminding Jane of the orangette, "How dare you interrupt our motto?!"

"Iron tail!" Jane didn't bother to banter with the duo whose strength she wasn't sure of, despite their stage one Pokémon. With a howl her partner leapt forward and slammed his now metallic tail against the ekans, slamming it against the Rocket duo who get knocked back down again.

"Koffing!" the poisonous Pokémon tried to charge forwards despite its vacant expression only to be met with an ember. The resulting explosion blinded her, light filling the building as she faintly heard the criminals get blasted away. She was surprised when she didn't feel any pain from the explosion or from being thrown back. Blinking away the spots in her eyes she saw that she and the others were behind the couch which had shielded them from the blast, Ash having pulled the three of them over, but his arm got caught, showing a great deal of burns.

"Young man!" Joy panicked at the burns on Ash's arm while the orangette blacked out from sensory overload.

"It's alright," Ash chuckled, forcing back a wince, "don't they say chicks dig scars?"