Team Rocket47's Bestest Fanfic
Chapter 24: Loose Threads
"OW, OW, OW!!!"
"Shut up Ira!" Aly demanded, glaring at Ira dangerously.
Ira looked back at her with puppy dog eyes and whimpered.
Whining he said, "But it hurts!"
Aly continued to glare at him. They were both in the infirmary
wing of the underground base, with Ira practically tied to one of
the beds that was perpendicular to the wall. Aly was standing
next to him, tapping her foot with her hands on her hips.
"It will never get better unless you let me set the bone," Aly
explained. Her long pink hair was hanging down by her hips.
"But it will hurt more when you try and fix it!" Ira complained
again.
Scowling at him again she replied, "Well it's not my damn fault
that you broke your leg. Now quit complaining before I'm
forced to tie you down."
"Are you really a doctor?" Ira asked, trying to stall time.
Aly crossed her arms defensively. "No, I'm not. My mom was a
pokemon doctor though, and I grew up helping and watching her
in the pokemon center."
With a confused look Ira repeated, "Pokemon center?"
"Yes, Pokemon center." Sighing she pulled her hair up into a
few loops, causing Ira to break out into a smile.
"Dude, you look just like Nurse Joy!" He exclaimed with a grin.
She then let her hair fall back down to her waist and assumed
her glare again, causing Ira to frown and shrink back into the
pillows that held him up in a sitting position. "Now are you
going to cooperate or will I have to force you?"
***
Jads gave a small sigh as she slumped against the armrest of the
couch. It had been a really long night, but Magick hadn't come
back yet. Dreana was waiting in a comfy chair by the door of the
base, waiting patiently, while Kat was asleep on the other side of
the couch. Everyone else had gone to catch up on sleep with
exception to Ira and Aly. Ira had managed to break his leg along
with the gunshot wound he had apparently gotten from Tac, and
Aly was about the only person in the HQ who knew how to do
all the doctor stuff needed to make injury's heal faster. The two
of them were having an argument, because Ira was apparently
acting like a wuss.
There was a knock on the door, and Dreana jumped up
immediately. She hovered near the handle and asked, "Who is
it?"
A voice from the other side of the door answered, "It's Magick."
Dreana gave a small worried smile as she opened up the door.
Daren hopped in first, followed by Magick with Joey on her
back, the latter unconscious. The black mew gave a tired frown
and announced, "She's hurt pretty badly, and I don't know if
she'll be okay or not." Dreana nodded in understanding then
looked to Jads, who was lightly asleep.
"Jads," She said forcefully, snapping Jads to attention. "Wake
Kat up alright?" The blonde girl nodded. "Tell her to meet me in
the infirmary wing," she added before helping Magick carry
Joey to the room where Aly and Ira were shouting again.
***
"OW! Aly haven't you ever heard of a painkiller?" Ira
complained.
Aly glared at him and sat down on the bed next to his. "You're
making this impossible you know? Yes I've heard of painkillers
but we don't have anything strong enough to make this any
better for you."
Before he could argue back, the door opened and Magick and
Dreana entered carrying Joey between them. Concerned he
asked, "Will Joey be okay?"
The two mews set Joey down in the bed on Ira's other side.
Dreana sat down next to her with a frown, while Magick pulled
up a chair and sat on that. Dreana sighed and replied, "It all
depends on whether Kat will be stubborn or not."
As if on a cue, Kat walked in looking tired but attentive,
followed by Jads. The mewtwo smiled when she saw Joey, then
hurried over. In a mimic of Ira's question she asked, "Will Joey
be ok?"
Dreana looked at her with a critical look in her eyes. "It depends
on if you use a healing spell on her. You know that I can't do
it," she said carefully.
Kat gave a quick glance to Ira and Magick before saying, "You
know my policy on doing that, Dreana."
Dreana sighed, then looked to Joey. Slowly she replied, "Of
course. But if you don't, then all our efforts in saving her will be
wasted. It's most certain that Joey will die."
A silence filled the room, with some confusion from Ira, Jads
and Magick. Kat stood in the middle, being the center of
attention. She thought to herself for a few minutes before
announcing, "I swore I'd never heal a Team Smak member,
because I disapproved of Joey becoming a member." She looked
down to the ground, leaving the others frowning in disbelief.
She looked up again at the lavender mew unconscious on the
bed. The mewtwo gave a small grin and continued, "But Joey
isn't a Team Smak member anymore, is she?"
Dreana thought for a moment then announced, "You're right.
Team Smak was destroyed." She smiled as Kat bent down on
one knee next to Joey's bed and put her left paw on the mew's
stomach and the other on the mew's shoulder. The room was
filled with silence as Kat closed her eyes in concentration. Jads,
Magick, and Ira watched in wonder as a faint white light
surrounded Joey. The light flickered for a second before fading
out of sight. The pink mewtwo gave a tired sigh as she sat down
on the floor, breathing deeper then she was before.
Dreana looked at Kat in concern. "Are you ok, Kat?" she asked
in a small tone of worry.
Kat gave her a nod then said, "I'm fine, I was just out of practice
so it wore me out a little."
"What was that?" Magick asked with excited curiosity.
"A healing spell," Kat replied. "Not something most can do."
Magick thought for a moment then asked, "What about Joey?"
"She's asleep now, and she probably will be for at least six
hours knowing her," Dreana replied cheerfully. She finished
pulling of Joey's bandages to reveal only faint scars where the
two gunshot wounds previously were. "You did a good job, Kat.
Much better then anything I could do."
Jads looked at Dreana. "You can do it too?"
Dreana sighed as she threw the blood-covered bandages away.
"Not as well as Kat, but I can do healing spells as well."
Aly cleared her throat. "Well now that one of the patients is
cured, the other is still a stubborn tauros."
"You're gonna use a healing spell on me?" Ira asked, with a bit
of hope and anticipation.
Kat stood up and crossed her arms over the purple tee shirt that
extended down to her knees. "No, that would be impossible. I
can only heal pokemon. Even if I could heal humans, you'd still
need the bone set anyway for it to heal properly."
He sighed. "Drat." Before he could say more, he found Magick
and Dreana holding down one arm and Jads the other. Kat
smiled then held down his non broken leg.
"Thanks guys," Aly said with a smirk.
Ira frowned in worry as he complained, "Hey! This isn't fair at
all! You're ganging up on me!"
"Be quiet, Ira," Dreana said while climbing up on his shoulder.
In his ear she whispered, "I think you owe Joey your thanks, and
an apology. If it wasn't for her, you'd be dead by now." She left
him to ponder this as she climbed down next to Magick and
helped hold down his arm again.
"Wait a minute!" Ira yelled before a sharp crack filled the air
followed by a yell of pain.
***
"Disneyland!"
While balancing the poke-egg on his knee, Kenny looked down
to the flareon who had her front paws up on the couch he was
laying down on. Sighing he replied, "You know I can't
understand you, Phido." The flareon hopped up onto the couch
fully then laid down next to him without another word.
He looked at the fire pokemon in confusion, then sighed. It was
about 7:00 at night, the night after they had rescued Joey and Ira.
All was pretty much calmed down, but Dreana called for a
meeting after Joey woke up. Who knew when that would be
though.
***
Ira sat in bed, wincing from the pain in his leg, which was now
in a cast and elevated on a sling attached to the ceiling. There
had been absolutely nothing to do for the past 10 or so hours
since he had gone through an immense amount of pain to have
his leg fixed.
He heard a small yawn from the bed next to his. He looked over
at Joey, who was just opening her eyes. She yawned again, then
looked up at him. She smiled and in a tired voice said, "Ira?
You're still alive?"
He smiled back to her and replied, "Apparently I am. And so are
you."
Suddenly she jumped from her bed and tackled him in a tight
hug around his neck. "Ira I thought you'd never come back
alive! It's so good to see that you're all right!"
With a look of small shock he slowly hugged her back. Puzzled
he asked, "You knew that the police were going to execute me?"
He felt her nod against his shoulder as she said, "Nurse Joy had
heard it as a rumor and since I'm psychic I found out and told
Dreana."
Ira then realized what Dreana had meant before and hugged Joey
tighter. "You saved my life, Joey. Thank you so much." The
mew didn't say anything, she only kept him in a soft embrace.
Ira took the opportunity to continue. "I'm also sorry about not
believing you back at the recruitment long ago."
"Don't worry about it," Joey forgave. "You should learn from
this though. Learn that my judgement is usually right on things
like that."
He let her go from the hug, and she sat down on his chest. She
looked at her arm curiously then asked, "What happened?"
"Kat did a healing spell or something on you. Dreana said that it
saved your life," Ira replied.
Joey smiled warmly before asking, "Is Kat still around?"
Ira shrugged his shoulders. "Could be. Why don't you go out
and see? You're in better shape then I am."
"What happened to you?" she asked in concern with a glance to
his leg.
Ira shrugged again. "I broke it when I was rescued."
Joey gave his cast a light tap before replying, "That's too bad.
I'm gonna go see the others, ok?"
"That's fine with me," Ira answered after giving her a quick
scratch behind the ears. The mew smiled at him, then ran off to
the other room.
***
"I'm so glad you're ok, Joey," Kat exclaimed while hugging the
small lavender pokemon.
Joey hugged back and replied, "Thanks for saving my life. But I
thought you said you'd never heal me again."
Kat sighed as she set Joey down on the back of the couch. "I
said," She explained, "That I'd never heal you as long as you
were a member of Team Smack. And you're not anymore, are
you?"
"I guess I'm not," Joey replied with a smile and another hug.
Kat pulled Joey off again and set her down. "Well now that I
know you're safe, I can go home."
Joey sighed. "Ok. I promise to go and visit you ok?"
"You'd better. I miss you ya' know." Kat replied with a smile.
She then ruffled the fur on Joey's head and walked over to the
door. "And don't forget," she reminded and exited the
underground HQ.
The mew sighed sadly as her friend left, then hopped off the
couch back. She searched the HQ until she found Magick,
sitting in a comfy chair reading a book. Joey smiled, then snuck
up behind her and gave her a hug.
Magick gave a startled, "Ack!" before she realized it was Joey.
The black mew then smirked at Joey and used a small psychic
attack to break out of the embrace. She turned around in a jump,
bouncing on the soft cushion of the couch. Defensively she
snapped, "No hugs!"
Joey only grinned at her. "Thanks for rescuing me. If you didn't,
that stupid Michel would have had his way, and that wouldn't be
good at all."
Magick sat down. "You're welcome I guess. But you should
thank your dratini as well, he helped too."
"I will," Joey assured. Before Magick could react, Joey gave her
another hug, along with another thank you, before scampering
off. Magick watched her run off, then sighed and continued to
read her book.
As Joey was scurrying throughout the halls of the base, she was
suddenly brought to a halt by Dreana. She smiled to the light
pink mew, then gave her a hug as well. Dreana hugged back
with a sigh then announced, "Since you're awake, we can have a
meeting."
"Oh darn," Joey complained while letting Dreana out of the hug.
Dreana grabbed the purple mew by the wrist and led her down to
the meeting room. On the way there she asked, "Did Kat head
home?"
"Yeah," she replied.
"That's good," Dreana sighed. "She refused to leave until you
got back safely."
Joey gave a small laugh. "That sounds a lot like her."
After a small silence Dreana stopped in the middle of the
hallway and apologized, "I'm sorry for not trusting you when
you said that Tac was a traitor. I was still angry with you for that
whole masterball thing, and it clouded my judgement."
"I understand," Joey replied. "Being in a pokeball of any kind
isn't fun."
Dreana nodded in agreement. "Can you forgive me?"
Joey gave her another hug and replied, "Of course I can. And I
do as well."
Dreana hugged her back tightly. "Thanks, Joey. Now lets go to
the meeting."
***
Everyone was gathered around the oak wood table in the middle
of the meeting hall in the underground base. The room looked
like it could fit in an average business office, minus the fact that
about half of the people gathered around it were pokemon.
Dreana was sitting at the head of the table, with Joey, Magick,
Ira and Jads on one side and Kenny, Aly, Pelican, and Michi on
the other. Phido was sitting comfortably on the chair at the other
end. Only two seats were empty.
"All right," Dreana announced forcefully. "You probably all
know why I called this meeting." She looked around the table
for nods, then continued. "We're short two members, one whom
no one cares about and the other who was a traitor. It's obvious
that the one whom no one cares about will not be coming back
seeing as The Writer eternally hates him. But since Tac failed
his mission, he will come back."
Michi raised a hand and asked, "How do you know he will?"
"It's a pattern," Dreana explained. "When Joey, Aly, Kenny and
I were in Team Smak, we had Team Rocket members trying to
destroy us as well. They always received at least three chances
before the boss, Giovanni, sent a new member to try his or her
luck."
"How do you know the pattern won't change?" Michi inquired.
Dreana gave a small smile. "Because Team Rocket is too stupid
to change the pattern, or else they would have already changed
it. Even if they do, we'll still be on alert, right?"
Everyone around the table agreed.
"Good," Dreana said. "Now what do we know for sure about
Tac?"
Joey spoke up in a calm but slightly tensed voice. "Before he
was about to kill me, Tac said that he was high-ranking member
and scientist in Team Rocket, and that he was on this mission to
prove his loyalty to Giovanni. He was also ordered to single me
out to be killed first, probably because I helped out guys out of
jail. I don't think that they knew that Ira and Jads helped me, so
they must have thought I did it by myself."
"A scientist," Dreana remarked. "I'll look up his record later
tonight. Anything else you know?"
Joey paused in thought before replying, "Other then that Tac is
his real name, no."
Dreana gave her a small glance then announced, "All right. As
for what we're going to do about this, we will continue
functioning as normal, but with more caution. Joey, you still
have to train Ira and Jads, but since one of then broke his leg,
you'll start when he heals, all right?" Joey nodded in reluctant
agreement.
"Wait. We're not going to go looking for revenge or anything?"
Jads asked curiously. "I mean, he nearly killed Joey, sent Ira to
jail where he was going to be executed, and almost sent us all to
prison."
"Going after Tac right now would be suicidal, because they all
expect us to do what you suggested. So we'll wait until he
comes back to take our revenge," Dreana explained calmly.
Jads sat back in her chair. "I guess that makes sense."
"Of course it does," Dreana announced arrogantly. "Now unless
there's anything else, you can all go back to what you were
doing. Meeting adjourned." She waited a few moments before
taking hold of Joey's shoulder and quietly adding, "But I want
you to stay here for just a little." Joey looked at her in confusion,
then sat down comfortably.
Dreana waited til everyone was gone, then she checked outside
the door to make sure no one was listening. Then she shut the
door and walked back over to the table where Joey was still
seated. She hopped up into the polished wood table and sat
down in front of Joey, looking her over thoroughly.
"So why did you want me to stay?" Joey asked with the sound of
confusion in her voice.
"Tac told you something that really affected you, didn't he?"
Dreana inquired. "I could tell you were leaving something out at
the meeting."
Joey's confused look turned into a depressed frown as she
nodded. Dreana slid off the table and onto Joeys chair, and sat
next to the lavender mew. She put an arm over her shoulders
then replied, "Sometimes it helps to tell someone else about
what's bothering you, rather then keep it bottled up inside. I'm
not forcing you to tell me or anything, but it may be helpful."
Joey took a deep breath before revealing, "About a year before I
joined Team Smak, I was still a pokemon trainer. It was just
after I had won my Soul Badge. I was walking along a pier when
Gary and I ran into two team Rocket members. One of them
challenged me to a pokemon battle and I accepted, using my
cubone, Wufei, to battle. But the Team Rocket member didn't
play fair, and he told his scyther to grab hold of Wufei. His
scyther was fast so I couldn't do anything to stop it." Her voice
had become gradually shakier as she told the story.
"So he stole your cubone?" Dreana asked.
Joey shook her head and continued. "No, The scyther only
brought Wufei back to his trainer. The Team Rocket member
held onto Wufei and pointed a gun at his head, saying that I
should give up all my other pokemon or else he'd kill Wufei.
Gary wouldn't let me go so my Wufei . . . " The purple mew
couldn't say any more because she had begun crying.
Dreana hugged her tightly and softly guessed, "And that Team
Rocket member was Tac." Joey only nodded in reply, caught up
in her own tears. "I'm sorry, Joey. Team Rocket never plays fair,
but what happened to you is much more cruel then what they
normally do."
"I miss Wufei so much," Joey sobbed.
Dreana gently rocked the purple mew as she replied, "I know
you do. I'm sorry for making you tell me, because it's obvious
that it hurts you a lot."
Joey sobbed softly, then wiped her tears away. She sniffed then
said, "Now that I know who did it, I want revenge so badly."
"But you know that if you try and go after him, he'll most likely
kill you as well," Dreana warned.
Joey nodded in agreement. "I won't, at least not now."
"Good. There isn't anything else, is there?" Dreana asked
questioningly.
Joey shook her head and said, "No, nothing else. I'm going to go
thank Daren now ok?"
Dreana let Joey out of the hug and replied, "Alright. But be sure
to tell Daren that if he goes on any other unassigned missions
again that he'll be skinned alive."
The purple mew sweatdropped, then smiled. "I'll be sure to tell
him that." She gave Dreana a small hug then ran out of the
room.
***
Down in the pokemon training area, which was a level down
from the rest of the HQ, Daren was curled up on a small bench.
His fish like ears perked up when he heard the door opening,
and his eyes lit up when he saw Joey's small purple cat form
enter.
"Joey!" he exclaimed while slithering over to her. He gave her a
light tackle and slammed her against the wall.
She grinned and gave the dragon pokemon a hug. "Hello, Daren.
How are you doing?"
"I'm ok," he replied in pokemon speech. He was still learning
English.
"I was worried you might have gotten hurt while coming to
rescue me," Joey replied, letting go of him.
The dratini led her over to where Confusion, Lance, Teller and
Sakura were. He smiled and said, "No, I wasn't hurt too badly.
Kat healed me all up from what that evil guy did."
Joey gave greeting pats to her other four pokemon, then said,
"I'll have to thank her next time I visit." She gave a small laugh
and remarked, "You beat Michel up pretty good back there."
"It was nothing," Daren replied. "I did it for my Joey."
"That's sweet Daren," Joey praised. "Thanks for helping to
rescue me."
Daren smiled. "Again, it was nothing."
Joey hugged him again then warned, "But if you try it again
without permission, Dreana will skin you alive."
"That's not good. I'll just have to ask next time." Daren wrapped
his tail around her as she sat down amidst her other pokemon.
They all chatted for a while, and all throughout the time, Joey
felt something missing. It probably was Jackie being missing,
even though she never took part in group conversations very
much. But it didn't seem like that. It felt like something else
missing.
Suddenly it occurred to her. With concern she exclaimed,
"Lucky never came back, did he?"
(c) Joey Oak
December 2, 2001