fun fact: this is the first thing I've ever written without /any/ sort of OCs in it… I'M GROWING UP. ((…Took me long enough 6_6))
Summary: Several years after Team Rocket's breakup, Proton is hiding from the police in the abandoned HQ when strangely enough, he gets a phone call; from Team Plasma. Unbeknown to Proton – the person clearly has the wrong number, but takes no notice and threatens Proton that he'll freeze Johto if he does not surrender. Proton doesn't take it seriously… which actually leads to Johto being frozen. In a turn of events, he runs into Lyra a couple days after pretty much all of the Johto region had been evacuated, and to their disdain, they have to travel the frozen, abandoned region together. Will they be able to break their 'ice'? You'd be surprised… (ProtonxLyra fluff)
Chapter 1
Proton walked around the abandoned headquarters, tracing the exact footsteps he had constantly trod all those years ago. After all the years he had spent trying to sneak by the authorities, the one place he had tried to avoid seemed to shelter him a lot better than anywhere else. An abandoned HQ had its advantages; most people had forgot it even existed. There was constant solitude - meaning that nobody would be able to start another dog hunt to place the lone executive behind bars again, and there was nobody to constantly tempt him to lash out in anger.
"This is the life…" Proton muttered to himself as he made his way through the darkness to the generator room. The only bad thing about the HQ was the fact that there was no electricity – and, with it being underground, there was no light. There was a slight possibility that he could get the generator working again… which was highly unlikely. Even though he hadn't stepped foot in the dank, shadowed base in over five years, he was still lucky enough to know his way around like the back of his hand… not very well. Considering he had gloves almost permanently on, he didn't exactly know the back of his hand, and considering the HQ was still booby-trapped, he had to be extra cautious. The only thing he dreaded was if the generator room's door was still locked by Petrel's voice – he couldn't even remember what Petrel sounded like, never mind if he was still knocking around the Johto region. Unfazed, he walked onwards, hoping to find his destination soon.
That was until he heard a phone ringing.
"What the…" he murmured out loud as he turned around to the source of the ringing. "How the hell is a phone ringing without electricity?"
He started following the rrrring! of the phone and eventually came face to face with Archer's old office. Opening the door, trapped dust escaped into the corridor and masked the damp smell with a scent of time. Coughing, he wafted it away with his hand, before striding over to the desk, which seemed to be glowing from the seams.
"I haven't been on the run for that long to know that desks don't glow…" he spoke to himself as the light continued to buzz through the room. He mustered the courage and rammed one of the draws open – to find a rusting Pokégear. Picking it up hesitantly, he flipped it open and came face to face with an 'unknown number'. Disregarding who even owned the old piece of technology, he answered it.
"Yeeeello?" he chimed down the phone as if it was second nature – when in actual fact, he couldn't even remember the last time he had even held a phone.
"Lance. If you don't surrender Johto over to me, I won't hesitate to destroy it and take it by force" an old, intimidating voice echoed down the phone. The executive should have been worried, but he couldn't help but feel smug. He was in possession of the champion's phone which somehow was in the ex-interim head of Team Rocket's office. 'He must have left it in here when he raided our HQ…' Proton pondered, ignoring the threat.
"This is your final warning before Johto falls" the voice continued, butting into Proton's trail of thought.
"Yo, old man, my name's not Lance. It's Proton" he shouted down the phone, a huge grin spreading across his face. He hadn't taunted anybody in a long time…
"You can choose to fool around, but that won't delay the inevitable" the voice responded almost instantly – as if by script.
"What inevitable? I've already told you, I'm not Lance" Proton carried on teasing the phone, taking more delight in it than he should have.
"I won't hesitate to freeze your home" the voice continued, more serious than ever.
"What do you mean freeze? Should I be shaking? Because it's not working…" Proton carried on joking, jumping on top of the old desk as the phone blared out more idiocy.
"Do not underestimate m- our power… Team Plasma is stronger than ever."
"Team Plasma? Are you kidding me?" The green-haired executive finally snapped, cracking into dry laughter.
"The very same-"
"What sort of a name is Team Plasma?" Proton was now in hysterics before realising the irony of his words 'Be honest, what sort of a name is Team Rocket?'
The man broke out into laughter himself – menacing laughter. The younger man couldn't help but take the phone call seriously as he listened to the laughter which now echoed around the abandoned base – the echoing made it seem as if even the walls were laughing at him.
Out of nerves, Proton replied back to the ominous voice.
"So… let me get this right. If I, Proton – not Lance, choose not to 'surrender' Johto, what exactly will happen?"
The transmission cut off and left a static noise to reverberate around the room – replacing the cackling laughter. Proton couldn't help but shiver with anticipation as he stared at the screen of the Pokégear… suddenly, the dark HQ didn't seem so welcoming. Using the static Pokégear as a torch, he exited the dusty office. His interests turned to the contact list of the rusted device… and it seemed less and less convincing that this was actually Lance's property. There were unrecognisable names… until one piped his curiosity. Ariana.
He wasn't exactly sure how, but something told him that this was in fact his old boss's phone. He hadn't had any connection to Team Rocket since the radio tower, the only thing that betrayed his old alliance was the fact he still wore his old cap. But, he had swapped over the jumpsuit for a black shirt and dark, washed jeans – as well as a brown trench coat for warmth. Convinced the contact was the only female executive, he quickly pressed 'call' on the screen and stared at it with anxiety; the ringing was the only noise he could hear except for his thudding chest. His heart dropped as theringing dragged on and he realised that even if it was the Ariana he knew, she wasn't going to reply. Memories came rushing back to him as he carried on staring at the screen… he remembered the time when Lyra – the child who had thwarted Team Rocket's plan of finding Giovanni over five years ago – tried to stop his scheme of selling Slowpoke tails for money… although half way through, she got a call from another kid called Joey who didn't want to shut up about his Rattata. 'How old would Lyra be now, anyway? She wasn't even a teenager when I first crossed paths with her' Proton thought to himself as he thought back to the annoying kid with the pigtails. There had been rumours that mere days after she had beat Team Rocket to the ground that she had became the Johto champion and carried on to sweep through the Kanto region's gym leaders – he had seriously overlooked her strength. None of it mattered anymore though, she was just a rumour now – just like himself. He had avoided the police for so long that nobody really cared about him anymore, just the bounty over his head. People couldn't even remember his name properly – one kid was convinced the ex-executive was called "Po-Go" and managed to get the entirety of Azalea to chase him out of their town. Lost in his imagination, he started to wander back towards the exit of his old domain before out of the blue, the walls started shaking a little. The executive watched in dread as the ceiling started to crumble a little – before the shakings turned into a full on tremor. Breaking out into a sprint, he pelted towards the stairs leading towards the boarded up shop – passing the security Persians that still seemingly leered at any passerby. He managed to stumble up the stairs and emerged back in Mahogany town when he noticed that the town was completely blacked out with shadows.
"Ugh, this can't be Team Plasma?" Proton questioned out loud, mentally kicking himself. With dread, he looked up into the sky – and was seriously taken aback by what he saw. There was a flying galleon. Out of all the things that could have happened – the last thing he expected was a flying galleon. Many other locals had gathered outside in awe of the flying ship, completely blanking out the appearance of a forgotten criminal. Suddenly, the ship fired out a beam of energy straight towards Mt. Mortar – which then completely froze over as if it was a glacier. Shock completely stunned Proton of any reaction, but it changed the reaction of the awe-struck crowd into one of panic. Screaming, they all started flustering around everywhere, as if they had just witnessed the murder of a monarch. The executive still stood frozen out of shock, but eventually he managed to rub his eyes to check that he wasn't hallucinating. The hallucination wouldn't rub away and he was still face to face with a roaring galleon that was freezing everything before his eyes. A voice struck out from the chaos and grabbed everybody's attention.
"Look! It's Lance!"
Proton thought it was another zany identity crisis, but sure enough, there was a Dragonite flying towards the galleon at full throttle. The executive could only watch in awe as the champion started ordering the Dragonite to attack the galleon, letting out a barrage of Hyper Beams and Dragon Rushes – but alas, as big as the Dragonite was, it was like an ant compared to the galleon which was wrecking havoc left, right and center. Proton couldn't help but grab hold of his one pokémon – his Golbat – he instinctively wanted to join in and hoard the attention. Well… he would have liked to if most of Johto wasn't constantly trying to arrest him. And, as much as he didn't want to admit it, if a Dragonite couldn't sink the ship, a Golbat wasn't exactly going to fare well. Toying with the idea of flying directly onto the ship, he was on the verge of releasing his only Pokémon – before the ship retaliated and knocked the Dragonite flat out of the sky. The chaos arose again – but this time, the Dragonite flew back up and soared over the panic-struck town. It landed with a thud amongst the chaos and perked the curiosity of the executive, but also perked his dread. Without hesitation, he hid back inside the gift shop and peered out through a crack in one of the boarded up windows. Lance stepped off from the Dragonite – his cape crusted with ice.
"You all need to flee to Kanto – now!" his voice echoed around the surrounding, the roar of the galleon siloetting his voice.
"What's happening?!" a woman screamed out from the audience, her expression showing nothing but fear.
"I'm not sure…" Lance pondered, looking back up at the ship. "But please – gather any belongings you want and return back here!"
Red light flashed around the clearing as the champion released an Aerodactyl and a Charizard. "When you're ready – climb onto my team, they'll fly you over to Olivine where you can all catch one of the ferries"
Murmurs of doubt rippled through the crowd.
"Won't we be in danger on the water?"
"What if we get knocked out of the sky like you did?"
Lance ordered the crowd into silence.
"Aerodactyl is one of my fastest Pokémon – Charizard is a fire type, you should have no problems with the ice. The ferry is the fastest way out of Johto – it's your only hope while this attack carries on… you're lucky enough to live in a small town, we should get you all out in one go"
Reluctantly, the small crowd disbanded into their homes, before rushing back out again with antiques and hastily-stuffed bags. Proton watched in awe as the two Pokémon flew off with Mahogany town on their backs and disappeared into the hustle of the sky. He wanted to escape – but from what he could see, most of Johto would be in Olivine – which gave him an incredible risk of getting found out. He could attempt to climb through Tohjo Falls and through Victory road… but that was a risk in itself considering a flying ship was freezing everything. It was either be frozen, or be in prison. I'd rather being frozen… but then again, I could camp out in the falls until the hype dies down. He eyed the champion as he flew off in the direction of Ecruteak before averting his gaze back over to the ship – it was flying in the same direction. Risking it, he exited the shop and released his Golbat with a flash of crimson.
"Golbat – we're going to Tohjo Falls" he indirectly ordered, grabbing onto the massive bat's legs. With a struggle, the Golbat rose up into the air and started flying the opposite direction to the commotion. Proton didn't look back as they flew over through the icy clouds.
Eventually, they landed outside the secluded cave and entered it before anybody could see them. The cave was still completely unaltered by the terror that was taking place across the map – but that didn't comfort Proton in the slightest as he ordered his Golbat to fly behind the waterfall. A flash illuminated the cave as he returned the bat to its ball, and he settled down into yet more solitude. The waterfall crashed against his ears and the rocky floor dug into him as he sat down, and he huddled into the trench coat he'd taken to wearing. It wasn't as comfy as his Rocket jumpsuit, but it wasn't suspicious looking and kept him warm when he had to camp outside. Although, he was still wearing the cap that the grunts had to wear – almost out of spite of authority. He hated looking common, but he had to if he wanted to try and evade a prison cell. Out of curiosity, he pulled out the rusted Pokégear and flicked it over to its radio function to be reunited with the panic he had just left.
"This is an emergency announcement – Johto is under threat by a mysterious flying ship and has been ordered by the champion, Lance, to evacuate towards Olivine city where a ferry will take them to the Kanto region. Nobody should stay inside – I repeat, nobody should stay inside! Everybody needs to go to Olivine City as soon as possible!"
The transmission repeated itself – giving the anxious executive a headache. This was all his doing – but he held no remorse, nor guilt. Staring at the Pokégear in anger, he threw it into the waterfall.
"But who are Team Plasma?" Proton thought in frustration, before allowing the waterfall to block off all senses as he drifted off into a rough sleep.
Wow so yet again I have dragged on an introduction waaaaaay longer than I really should have… oh well. If you couldn't gather, the main main character is going to be Proton – not Lyra – but Lyra will be appearing in the next chapter and won't dissapear.
PS – this isn't going to be complete full on romance – it's fluffy and it'll only appear in the last few chapters! Well – I've only planned around 9 chapters for this fic (but with around 3000 words per chapter it's not going to be that short) so you won't have to wait long for it. 8D