Hypnotic Performance Chapter 7 (Patreon)

Pocket monster parody: Patreon Reward

AN: stats for this chapter will be found at the end for space/easy reading

Chapter 6 

Chapter 7 The Seventh Catch

Ash had defeated the Beedrill swarm and Samurai. He had been hoping to catch up with either Gary or Damian. ‘Maybe they went to Route 22?’ Ketchum had been tempted to go to Route 22, but chose to continue their journey while working to get some new bug pokemon.

It was possible Gary was already at Pewter City, as for Damian he wanted to teach that jerk a lesson about how he treats Pokemon. Samurai mentioned them, but that didn’t mean they didn’t double back. Viridian Forest was also such a big place, it was easy to get lost.

Ketchum kept up the search, meeting all sorts of trainers. There was some hardcore bug catchers looking for powerful bug types. A lot of them were eager to test their bugs against other mons. Ash let Papillon get some training in, both in experience and his moves, Bug Bite and Gust were useful, thanks to his ability the bug move didn’t lose power even when fighting bug and poison types.

The trainer battles also triggered his Cash Card, allowing Ash to make money from the random battles.

Little did he know he was being followed by a few sources.

Team Rocket was looking for an opportunity to strike and steal Ash’s Pokemon.

Misty was following Ash, wanting payback for her loss before, but she couldn’t get close with Ash’s Butterfree out of the ball. She was following six feet behind.

A Beedrill was following Ketchum, observing the battles he was having and getting excited. He didn’t even need to use the special moves Beedrill had witnessed before. Beedrill liked to fight and wanted to get stronger, he often drove his swarm nuts with his desire to battle.

Papillon’s battling helped him learn a new move and gain a level. He replaced the move String Shot with Stun Spore, since it was mastered it couldn’t be forgotten, but Papillon didn’t have a free move slot. He wanted more variety and to learn more moves to master.

Ash continued into the forest, not finding any new bug types to catch. He began to set up camp when…

“Prepare for trouble…”

“Make it double…”

“To protect the world from devastation!”

“To unite all people within our nation!”

“To denounce the evils of truth and love!”

“To extend our reach to the stars above!”

Ash blinked. ‘What’s going on?’

A woman stepped out. “Jessie!” She was wearing a strange uniform with a big R on her chest.

“James!” A man with blue hair came out, wearing a similar uniform.

“Team Rocket blasting off at the speed of light!” Jessie said.

“Surrender now or prepare to fight!” James said.

“Meowth that’s right!” A talking Meowth appeared, surprising Ash.

“You can talk!” He gasped.

Meowth stroked one of his whiskers. “That’s right twerp, I’m the rarest of the rare the wisest of the wise, the world’s only talking Meowth.” He bragged.

Ketchum pulled out his Pokedex. Dexter: Meowth the Scratch Cat Pokemon, a Normal Type. Adores circular objects and shiny things. They are more active at night. Wanders the streets on a nightly basis to look for dropped loose change.

Meowth blushed. “I haven’t done that since I was a kitten!” He said, sounding embarrassed.

Ash crossed his arms. “Okay and who is Team Rocket?”

The duo smirk. “Team Rocket is a powerful group seeking powerful Pokemon to enhance our forces. Once we’ve gained enough powerful Pokemon we’ll unite the world under the banner of Team Rocket!” James said proudly.

“Okay...what do you want with me?” He was quite confused.

Jessie pointed at Ash. “You have powerful Pokemon and we want them. So we’ll be taking them!” Ash’s monsters got on the defensive.

Ketchum took a defensive stance. “So you lot are just a bunch of thieves!”

James shrugged. “Call us what you want, but you won’t stand in the way of our noble goal!”

Jessie struck a pose. “Surrender all your pokemon to us now, or we’ll crush you and take them by force.”

“You can’t have my pokemon!” Ash snapped.

They smirk. “Force it is then!” The two called out their pokemon. James sent out a Koffing and Jessie sent out an Ekans.

Ash’s hand balled into a fist. ‘A double battle, fine then!’ He had Gale and Papillon go.

Gale took to the air and battled against Koffing. “Use Smokescreen!” The poison type unleashed a thick black smoke. It spread around causing Ash and his other monsters to cough.

“What are you doing?!” Ash coughed.

Ekans used the distraction and hit Papillon with Acid. Gale was hit with another attack. ‘That looked like Psybeam!’ That just wasn’t possible, neither Ekans or Koffing could use that move. “Gale, Papillon, use Gust and blow this smoke away!”

The two work together and their attacks blow the smokescreen away. Jessie had a Venonat out. “Hey! I thought this was a double battle, you are cheating!”

Jessie shrugged. “All is fair in love and war twerp!”

Ash’s mons were ready to rush in and fight back. “No, we’ll beat them fair and square but be on guard for any more of their tricks.” He wasn’t gonna stoop to their level.

Gale used Quick Attack to hit Koffing hard and then used Roost to recover and heal.

Papillon used Stun Spore on Ekans, and then used it again on Venonat. The two were dusted and became paralyzed. “Ugh, what a pest, Ekans Venonat get that bug, Poison Sting and Psybeam!” They were slowed down from the paralysis allowing Papillon to dodge.

Ash called for a Bug Bite, and he swooped down and landed a hit on Ekans doing decent damage. “Now use Gust!” Papillon unleashed a strong wind to knock the Bug/Poison type back.

Jessie got pissed. “Show ‘em who’s the better bug, Tackle it!”  Venonat bounced up and went after the Butterfree only for him to fly up and dodge it. “James help me!”

James had his own problems as fighting Ash’s Pidgey was proving difficult. “Use Sludge now!” Koffing spat out toxic sludge only for Gale to dodge. He used Sand Attack to lower Koffing’s accuracy. “Poison Gas attack!”

Koffing unleashed a purple cloud of toxic smoke.

“Not this time, Tough Gust!” Gale unleashed a powerful gust, that not only blew away Koffing’s gas, but hit the poison type hard. He was slammed into the ground and knocked out.

“Pidg…” Gale began to glow.

Ash’s eyes sparkled. “This is it!” His little Pidgey evolved into Piedgeotto! “Gale you evolved!”

“This is bad!” Jessie got a little worried. “James, Meowth, do something!”

James called out another mon. “Bellsprout go!” He called out the grass type. “Use Wrap!” His vines shot out, but instead of going after the monsters in battle, Bellsprout attacked Ash.

The boy was tied up and brought down. “Gah!”

Meowth chuckled and flexed his claws. “Now all of you surrender unless you want your trainer cut up!” Bezai wasted no time and used Hypnosis. “Hey what are you doing...ohh…” He was put to sleep.

James rushed over. “Meowth what are you doing?” Bezai’s hypnotic gaze fell on him. “Hey stop that...don’t do…” Ping!

The bluenette fell into a trance, a happy expression gracing his features as his eyes glazed over. Without orders Bellsprout was overtaken by Bloom who got Ash free. “Let’s finish these guys off, Gale use Clever Gust and Papillon use Bug Bite!”

Gale’s new power shined as he unleashed his stylish move, hitting Ekans, Venonat, and Bellsprout. The grass type was knocked out. Both were paralyzed and couldn’t move as the Butterfree swooped in and hit Venonat with a good hit. “Keep it up Papillon!” He used Bug Bite over and over knocking out the Venonat and then moved onto the Ekans who fainted next.

Jessie recalled her pokemon. “Just you wait, once my Venonat evolves into a beautiful Butterfree we won’t lose.” Ash was stunned by the statement.

She rushed over and hit both James and Meowth snapping him out of the trance and waking him up. “What happened?” He rubbed his head. “Oh no my Bellsprout!” He recalled his fainted grass type.

Jessie shook her head. “Time for plan B!”

Meowth pulled out a remote and pressed a button.

They called for their balloon, it was a hot air balloon with the balloon being in the shape of Meowth’s head. The trio got into the balloon. “Don’t think you’ve won twerp, I got something for ya, haha!” Meowth pushed another button and from the basket came a net cannon and it fired, scooping up Ash’s monsters.

“Hey stop it!” Ash tried to grab them but they were hauled into the air. “Give them back right now!”

“Bye-bye twerp!”

“BEE!” Beedrill charged in and with a well aimed Poison Sting stabbed the net rope and pierced it. The net opened causing the pokemon to be released. Gale caught Bezai, Papillon caught Bloom, and Tornado caught Kaido.

The Beedrill surged forth and popped their balloon, sending the trio blasting off somewhere in the forest. “Team Rocket is blasting off!” They cried out as they became a twinkle in the distance.

Ash rushed over. “Wow thanks Beedrill!”

The bug monster flew over to him, buzzing with victory. He jabbed the air with his needles showing how tough he was. Ash recognized its familiar movement. “You must be from that swarm from before.” Beedrill nodded. “Did you wanna join us on our Journey?”

“Bee!” It said in confirmation.

Ash looked down at an empty monster ball and looked at his team. “I’d love to have you on the team but there are rules, a trainer can only carry 6 monsters at a time.” For beginners this was the case, members of the elite four could carry 10, and league champions got to carry 12. “If I catch you, you’ll be sent to Professor Oak and he’ll be looking after you until I can rotate you in.”

It was a mutual benefit situation, Oak got to study the pokemon the trainers caught, and they were well cared for and looked after while their trainers traveled. Beedrill thought about it and felt that was fine, as long as he got to battle and train he didn’t care if he had to wait a bit.

Ketchum tapped him with the monster ball and it sucked him up. Ping! The catch was complete, and the ball shrank down before being teleported to Oak’s lab. “Aww man!” He folded his arms. ‘Maybe I can talk to Professor Oak about the whole carry limit thing.’

There had to be a pokemon center in Pewter City so they rushed towards the end of Viridian Forest.

-x-

Team Rocket landed in a heavy forest area. “Blast it we were so close!” Jessie snapped and kicked a tree.

“Shouldn’t we stop her?” Meowth asked.

“Better she take her anger out on that tree than us!” James said cheekily.

This was a mistake as this was Viridian Forest, all sorts of bugs made their homes in trees, such as…

“Pin!” A wild Pinsir dropped down, looking very annoyed.

Jessie screamed and hid behind James. “Do something!”

The bluenette had one Pokemon left. “Growlie I choose you!” He called out his fire type.

They battled and after a couple of Flamethrowers Pinsir was down for the count. James threw a Monster Ball and it sucked up the tough bug. Jiggle...jiggle...jiggle...ping! Pinsir was caught. “Hehe!” He smirked, but his coolness crumbled as Growlie tackled him and began to lick him. “Hahaha yes good boy, you did great, thank you Growlie!”

“We should send that big bug to the boss!” Smack!

James wasn’t having it. “I need this guy to complete my half of the mission!”

Meowth rubbed his noggin. “Oh yeah...right…”

It was off to the Pewter Gym where he’d be challenging the gym leader for the Boulder Badge.

What sinister plans do Team Rocket have for the Kanto region? Will Ash be able to increase his carry limit? And what kind of person is the Pewter City Gym leader?

To be continued

Ash: Trainer : Size – 8 inches soft/13 inches hard
Badges: 0
Ribbons: 1/5: Viridian Ribbon
Monsters on hand: Bezai (Exeggcute), Bloom (Bulbasaur), Kaido (Magikarp), Gale (Pidgey), Tornado (Spearow)
Items: Monster Balls x 3
Key Items: Tent/Sleeping Bag, Pokedex, Pokeblock Case, Rainbow Feather, Contest Outfit, Fishing Rod, Cooking Set, Cash Card, Battle Pager, Kanto Contest Pass, Performance Tools: Hoop, Frisbee, Balls,

Bezai (Exeggcute) Ability Trance – Boosts the effectiveness of Sleep Inducing Moves, and when using offensive Psychic type moves has a chance for Sleep.
Power Level: 20
Moves: Hypnosis*(Beauty/Clever), Reflect* (Cute/Clever), Leech Seed* (Cute/Clever), Mega Drain

Bloom (Bulbasaur) Ability Chlorophyll
Power Level 18
Moves: Sleep Powder, Razor Leaf, Vine Whip* (Tough/Clever), Leech Seed,

Kaido (Magikarp) Ability: Rattled
Power Level 16
Moves: Splash, Bounce* (???/???), Tackle

Gale (Pidgey) Ability: Tangle Feet
Power Level 17
Moves Quick Attack, Sand Attack, Gust* (Tough/Clever), Roost

Tornado (Spearow): Ability Keen Eye
Power Level 16
Moves Peck* (Cool/???), Tailwind, Leer, Fury Attack

Papillon (Butterfree) Ability: Tinted Lenses
Power Level 14
Moves: Gust, String Shot* (Beauty/Clever) Harden* (Clever/???) Bug Bite