Chapter 11: Team Rocket

At the professor's invitation, Dave spent the entire week in his lab. The professor had offered to examine Dave's Pokemon, but for some reason, Eevee refused to participate in any examinations, so the professor only performed a simple health check on him.

"Your Eevee is in great shape Dave, but he seems to have had bad experiences with machines before. He's very scared of them," Professor Noah told him.

"How did you find him, Dave? Now that I think about it, Eevee are not very common in this region."

Dave didn't know whether or not he should tell the truth about how he found Eevee, but he thought that maybe the professor could help him understand a little more of the mystery surrounding his friend, so he told everything to him. The professor seemed intrigued and worried after he finished his story.

"Team Rocket must have done some kind of experiment on Eevee. That's why he's so afraid of machines. Curious," said the Professor thoughtfully. "If only he'd let me examine it, maybe I'll find out what they did."

Dave didn't like the idea one bit.

"Sorry Professor, but I don't think it's a good idea to force Eevee," Dave said. "Whatever Team Rocket did to him, he seems to want to leave it in the past."

"Alright Dave," said the professor, a little disappointed. "Although I'm curious, I have to respect your decision as a trainer. I can see you really like Eevee. He was lucky to be found by you.

"Thank you very much, professor, "Dave replied. "But I wasn't the one who found him. He found me."

And with that, Dave headed out into the backyard with Eevee to train. He was looking forward to participating in his first tournament. Taking Sandshrew out of its pokeball, they left to explore the professor's vast lab.

The size of the place was unbelievable. It took more than an hour just to reach the lake he had seen from outside earlier. On the way, Dave saw more Pokemon than he had seen in his entire life.

When he reached the lake, he could see a river connected to it, and, as Mindy had said, the rocky area built by the professor. The lake was very wide and far away on the other side was Cardo City.

It wasn't exactly a huge metropolis, but it was the biggest city Dave had seen so far, and he was dazzled by the city's tall buildings, which from where he looked, were no bigger than the span of his hand.

He lay down on the grass by the lake and stayed there looking at the blue sky, while Eevee and Sandshrew played and made friends with the other Pokemon around them.

The weather was nice and despite knowing he needed to start training, he just wanted to sit here and enjoyed the stunning view.

It was then that he heard a loud noise coming from within the rocky area. Dave was so startled that he got up immediately. His Pokemon came running back to his side, looking confused and alarmed.

"Come on, let's see what's going on over there," Dave said to Eevee while collecting sandshrew back to the pokeball.

He and Eevee took off running and climbed several rocks until they discovered what was making the noise. Two humans with what seemed like a large vacuum cleaner tried to remove the Pokemon from the cave, but an Onix was stuck inside the tube.

"Hey! Who are you and what do you think you are doing?" Dave asked, trying to see the pair through all the dust the Onix had kicked up.

He was blinded by the increasing dust and could hear nothing but the two coughing. But after the dust settled, the first thing Dave noticed was their white uniforms with the red "R" painted on the chest.

It was a pair of a man and a woman. The woman had long purple ponytails jutting out on either side of her head, while the man had short white hair. As soon as they caught sight of Dave, they leaned close to one other and held out their hands.

-Prepare for double!

-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!

-Jody!

-Jack!

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

-Surrender now, or prepare to fight!

Their unexpected self-introduction threw Dave off. It was then he realised that he'd run into Team Rocket again.

"What are you doing here?" Dave asked.

"What do you think we're doing here?" the woman sneered. "Stealing Pokemon, of course."

"Well, looks like you guys are in trouble," Dave said, trying to buy time for help to arrive. He knew Mindy and the others must have heard that and should be on their way.

"Look kid, if you don't stay quiet and disappear from our sight, you're the one who's going to be in trouble!" the man threatened, taking his pokeball out.

"Get out of here if you don't want to get hurt, do you understand?"

'It seems I must hold them back for a while,' thought Dave. He couldn't let them steal the professor's Pokemon.

"I will not let you leave here! Dave said, removing a pokeball from his belt. "Go! Sandshrew,"

"Looks like the kid wants to fight, Jody," the man said, looking at his partner with a slight smile before throwing his pokeball out. "Go Cubone!"

"Yes, Jack!" The woman also followed suit. "Finish him off, Doduo!"

"Hey! Two against one is not fair!"

"Fair?" chorused the two Team Rocket grunts. "We're from Team Rocket, kid. What do you expect?"

Without waiting for Dave's reply, they immediately launched an attack.

"Cubone, use Bonemerang!" Jack ordered.

"Dodge Sandshrew!"

Dave's pokemon jumped aside, dodging the bone thrown by Cubone. It then turned to see where the boomerang was returning from, but at that moment Jody's Doduo attack came, forcing it to make an effort to not be hit.

"Roll under Doduo, Sandsheew!" Dave called out.

Obeying its trainer, it took the shape of a ball and rolled between the legs of the two-headed bird. As Doduo looked to see where Sandshrew had gone, Cubone's boomerang came back and hit its legs, knocking it to the ground.

"Great job! Sandshrew!" Dave cheered.

However before Dave could celebrate, Cubone came charging in for a Headbutt attack. The blow landed directly on Sandshrew, knocking it to the ground. Soon, Jody's Doduo was up again, rushing at Dave's pokemon for the kill.

"Don't mess with Team Rocket, kid!" the two Team Rocket grunts laughed.

Seeing his newest friend in trouble, Eevee decided to act. He jumped in and pushed the two-headed bird away from the injured Sandshrew.

Dave knew that there was no point in hiding anymore. If Eevee decided to fight then so will I!

"Come back, Sandshrew!" Dave recalled Sandshrew and put the pokeball away. "It's just the two of us now Eevee!"

"Eevee!" Eevee yipped, focusing on the two Pokemon in front of him.

"Haha! Do you think you can face us with just that fur ball? What a joke!" the two grunts mocked.

"Go Doduo, continue with your Peck!"

"Cubone, Headbutt!"

The assault was initiated by Doduo lowering their head in an attempt to hit the fox Pokemon. Eevee avoided the attack without a hitch, but Cubone was closing in for another.

Eevee jumped, using one of Doduo's heads as a springboard, and landed behind the Twin Bird Pokemon just as Cubone arrived with a Headbutt. After receiving a powerful blow from Cubone, Doduo started to sway unsteadily.

"Good job!" said Dave, surprised by Eevee's smart move. "Now, use Sand Attack!"

Eevee turned around and, using his hind legs, kicked a cloud of sand at Cubone, who was still recovering from the blow he had landed. As the sand entered the holes in his skull, it had problems seeing clearly.

"You stupid Pokemon! You are supposed to attack that Eevee, not your partners!" the Team Rocket grunts roared.

"Well done Eevee, now finish off with Iron Tail!" Dave yelled.

The Iron Tail knocked Cubone toward Team Rocket.

Both Doduo and Cubone were thrown hard against their trainers after taking a direct hit from the Iron Tail. They slammed their backs against the giant vacuum, and the machine seemed to stop functioning, allowing the Onix to free itself.

After crawling out of the tube, Onix focused on the two Team Rocket grunts. It didn't appear to be pleased with what they had done.

Dave then heard the professor's voice behind him. "Onix, kick them out of here!"

With a flick of its tail, the Rock Snake Pokemon sent Team Rocket flying away into the sky.

"Looks like we're blasting off for real!"

Seeing that they had won, Eevee ran to Dave and leapt onto his shoulder.

"Great job Eevee! You taught them a lesson. But don't you worry that they might recognise you?"

Eevee didn't seem to care about it and was celebrating their win joyfully.

"Great job Dave. Your Eevee is really strong to face those two alone. Well done."

Looking back, Dave saw the Professor standing next to what looked like a golf cart.

"Thank you Professor Noah," Dave replied. "But I didn't do much."

"Nevertheless, you still managed to hold them back. So I have to thank you for that," the professor told him.

"You're welcome, professor. But you have to thank Eevee. He did all the work."

"Thank you, too, Eevee," the professor smiled, rubbing Eevee's head, who smiled back as well.

"Now if you don't mind Dave, can you give me a hand to remove the Pokemon stuck inside this thing," he said, patting the giant vacuum.

"Sure, professor."

Meanwhile, in the woods not far away, Jody and Jack were recovering from the unexpected trip they had just taken.

"I can't believe that happened," Jack said, rubbing his sore chest. "Where did that kid come from? And how did he manage to beat us with only an Eevee?"

Jody was sitting down on a rock with a thoughtful look. After a few seconds, she spoke.

"That Eevee is pretty strong. Jack, wasn't the boss looking for one of his Eevee that had run away?"

"Do you think that's the Eevee that the boss is searching for?" Jack said after coming to a realisation. "Quick, let's tell the boss!"

"Wait!" Jody hurriedly stopped him. "Think about it Jack, if we tell the boss about that kid, other people from Team Rocket will start hunting for that kid."

"Yes, and what's the problem with that?" asked Jack, not getting what his partner was talking about.

The problem is we won't get any credit if one of them gets the Eevee," Jody explained. "We'll have to steal that Eevee ourselves. Just imagine the boss's reaction when we hand him the Eevee. He'll be so happy with us that we'll get a promotion."

Her eyes sparkled as she spoke. "Just imagine it, Jack. Every Team Rocket members at our beck and call whenever we wanted, not to mention the incredible pay raise we would get."

"I hadn't thought about that at all!" Jack appeared to have fallen under the same spell as Jody at this point and was daydreaming about the riches he would get.

"That's it! We're going to steal that Eevee no matter what!"