Now surely you remember Lucy? The news reporter who was meant to be there, but had fallen ill?
Well, this was certainly a plot twist. Lucy wasn't ill, was she?
'Who's Lucy?' asked Goh uneasily.
'She's the news reporter that I was meant to temporarily replace,' I explained. The Ariados was still cornering us.
'Well done, Mr. Ketchum,' snarled Lucy, stepping out from the shadows. Just so she's better to imagine, Lucy had brown hair, a red jacket, and black trousers. 'That's right. It's me. Ariados?'
Ariados backed away.
'Now, we must be gentle with our prisoners,' sneered Lucy.
'Prisoners?' I asked.
'That's right. You and your friend.'
I shook my head. 'We aren't your prisoners!'
'You are. Now, Ariados, would you kindly use String Shot?'
Ariados tried to launch a String Shot at us, but the String Shot ended up zooming right past us and onto the wall.
'Lucy, stop!' I said. 'Why are you doing this?'
'I have my reasons,' she said. 'Now I work for the great Giovanni.'
'ONLY WE'RE ALLOWED TO CALL HIM THAT!' boomed 3 voices at once, mixed in with the sound of a Wobbuffet. Jessie, James, Meowth and Wobbuffet jumped down right before my eyes! I had never been this happy to see them!
'Team Rocket?' exclaimed Goh.
'Oh, thank goodness!' I sighed.
'You, my friend, aren't fit to be part of Team Rocket!' shouted Jessie.
'Especially being a former friend of the twerp!' shouted James.
'That implies that you're one of the twerpettes!' shouted Meowth. I had never in my life been so glad to hear that annoying voice.
'For once I think they're on our side!' whispered Goh, clearly surprised. I grinned back at him.
'And there's nobody else to fit the job,' I whispered.
'Oh, get out! You boneheads were fired!' snapped Lucy. Me and Goh looked at each other with wide eyes. They were fired??
[Oop, Goh just told me that I'm not meant to write two question marks in a book. Oh well, it's too late now..?]
'Ariados, use Fury Swipes to break out of those Electrowebs!' ordered Lucy. Several Ariados used Fury Swipes and were soon free from the webs.
'Now get them!' exclaimed Lucy. The Ariados chased after Team Rocket, who ran frantically out of the building. I slapped my forehead.
And before I knew it an Ariados had jumped on top of me! I fell to the floor, kicking frienziedly, but missing greatly!
'Use Poison Jab!'
Red-hot pain shot up my right leg. I gasped in agony: the pain was unbearable!
Soon enough I found myself being marched outside by Lucy, who held a hand over my mouth and an arm securing my own arms to my sides. Pikachu was stuck on the backs of various Ariados.
'You're going to present the most recent news story,' she sneered, 'and I'll make you!'
'Why?' I tried to say.
'After all, Mr Armond needs a better news reporter, doesn't he?'
I think she pulled on my hair at this moment, because I experienced something highly agonising.
To be honest, the rest of this part was pretty boring. I sat imprisoned in a String Shot in the back seats of Lucy's car, trembling the whole way, with Pikachu up front with Lucy. So I'll pass the pencil on to... hmm... Let's let Chloe have a turn!
(POV: Chloe)
The whole time I had been hiding in the Pokémon room, breathing heavily. I decided to get out Eevee -- yup, Eevee hasn't evolved yet! -- and jump into battle. But when I opened the doors, there were no Ariados to be seen!
I scanned the area to find Goh sat in a corner, hyperventilating.
'Goh!' I said, drawing nearer to him. 'Wh-- What happened?'
'I don't even know..!' whispered Goh. He then pulled himself together and let out a deep breath. 'There was a girl there, called Lucy. She's who Ash was meant to replace as a news reporter... And all the Ariados were hers, and she took off with them -- along with Ash and Pikachu!'
'They've been kidnapped again?' I moaned.
'Not exactly,' replied Goh. 'Lucy said that Ash has enough notes for the news story, and that she's gonna force him to present it... She made Ariados Poison Jab him... And then they took off!'
'Then we gotta go after them, don't we?' I exclaimed.
Goh nodded briefly, then forced himself to stand up.
We both ran out of the doors to see a black car driving off. Lucy could be seen in the front seat, along with the tops of Pikachu's ears.
The car began to gather speed.
'Flygon, come on out!' exclaimed Goh. I held onto Eevee tight and we both clambered onto Flygon's back. Flygon took off with great force, and the wind screamed into our ears. After an impressive while, we were finally in the air.
Eevee squeaked. Flygon zoomed after the car, but even so the car was faster against the tremendous wind.
We glided after it for a long while, so I'll give the pencil back to Ash.
(POV: Ash)
Lucy pulled me out of her car when we had arrived at the Armond News Building. She freed me from the String Shot, then handed me Pikachu and forced us into the building.
The Armond News Building has 20 floors. The 20th floor was where we recorded news. And the ground floor was unusually empty. Me and Pikachu stared at the (is it elevator or lift?) nervously. I glanced back at the front door, but Lucy was glaring at me threateningly. I turned back.
'We've gotta do it, Pikachu,' I breathed.
'Pika.'
I marched towards the (elevator/lift), Pikachu at my heels. The doors opened. Hands trembling, I clicked on the button to go to the 20th floor.
'Closing doors,' said the cool voice of the robot lady thing in (elevators/lifts). I quivered.
When the doors were closed, I tried to scream, but nothing came out of my mouth; Pikachu did the job for me...
'I can't do this!' I said hoarsely. I needed water, and I needed it now. But my thirst was the least of my problems...
DING!
We had arrived on the 20th floor.