Operation Matchmaker: Part 6
"So Team Rocket has resorted to surprise attacks now," Ash grumbled. One minute they had been asleep and the next, Team Rocket had tried to ambush them. Their Pokémon had tried fighting back but Team Rocket had a new weapon up their sleeves which was for use against annoying Trainers rather than annoying Pokémon. It was easy for Team Rocket to grab the Pokémon once the trainers had been taken out. "We need to bust out of here and find our Pokémon!" He rattled the bars of their cage and got absolutely nothing for his troubles.
"Well, way to go genius!" Iris snapped. "I already thought of that one while you were sleeping away without a care in the world!"
"Sleeping? I was unconscious!" he growled. "If you're so smart, why don't you get out us out of here?"
"We need our Pokémon to do that!"
"And we need to get out of here to find our Pokémon!"
"Guys," said Cilan with a tone that suggested enough was enough. "This is not the time to be fighting. If we're going to get out of here at some point, we need to stay calm. In any case, I hope to find out where Team Rocket has placed us. It surely can't be far from the Pokémon Centre. They wouldn't have been able to carry us and all of our Pokémon a great distance." Ash and Iris sighed.
"Yeah… guess you're right. But I hope that the guys are all OK," said Ash.
The trio heard voices from outside their cell. By the sounds of it, one of them appeared quite angry.
"I told you to check if we had got all of their Pokémon you dumb clots!" screamed Jessie.
"Relax, Jessie!" said Meowth, though feeling somewhat insulted. "We got da twerps' Pokémon and there ain't no way that any of 'em are gonna escape! Pikachu can't break out of an electric-proof cage and the rest can't break out either. Whaddya want me to do? Place myself on guard or someting? They sure won't like to see the likes of me!"
"We're already at the rendezvous point," said James reasonably. "What difference does one Pokémon make? Pikachu has always been our main objective anyway; just think how happy the boss will be to finally get his hands on such a powerful Pokémon!"
"Well unless we stay alert," said Jessie. "I still think we will be tracked down by that Pokémon which you two failed to capture. And remember that a Starter Pokémon is always worth more to Team Rocket anyway!"
"If it turns up, we can simply capture it seeing that it is outnumbered. And we may even be allowed to keep that one considering our haul."
Jessie considered it. "Maybe you're right, James. And I certainly wouldn't mind an Oshawott as part of the team. That thing it carries on its stomach would be quite useful for our operations."
"Oshawott!" Ash whispered to the others. "He didn't get captured! Maybe he'll be able to find us!"
"I don't know," said Iris fearfully. "How will Oshawott be able to follow us if we haven't left any clues behind? And they're right; Oshawott is outnumbered by himself. Oh, if we get out of here, I swear that Team Rocket will pay for what they're putting our Pokémon through!"
Even as she said those words, their Pokémon, in another part of the base, were already trying to break free although failing to do so. Each Pokémon was trapped within a separate cage of their own except that Pikachu was within a special sort of cage as Team Rocket were taking very few chances; they had had enough of the Pika-twerp's attempts of breaking for freedom. Pikachu and Snivy were the most vigorous in their pursuits until Meowth and the Pokémon owned by Jessie and James, Woobat and Yamask respectively, came to see what all of the commotion was about. They had been warned that this would probably happen.
"Now why don't ya just sit tight like good little twerp Pokémon?" said Meowth lightly. "You're gonna get picked up in a few hours or so by some associates of ours and no doubt that you'll be delivered to the boss. But relax, ya might well get a place in the ranks of Team Rocket if ya nice enough!"
"And you call yourselves Pokémon…" Pikachu hissed, staring at his enemy from behind his anti-electric sphere. "But I won't waste my breath on you Meowth; I've known you for too long."
"Well we've been enemies for so long that ya might well consider us friends!" Meowth laughed. "But don't get ya tail in a twist 'cause you ain't got no chance in busting out of there!"
"What have you done with Oshawott?" Snivy snarled. "You didn't bring him in with the rest of us so what have you done with him? If you have harmed any part of him…"
"Chill out! We ain't done nothin' to your little buddy yet but we kinda hope that he does turn up if only so we can have a full set!" Meowth smiled. "Of course, we might have to subdue him a little if ya know what we mean…"
"Why, you coward!" Snivy growled. She lashed out with her vines only for Woobat to counter her with Air Slash. Snivy, weak to Flying- Type moves, took a relentless battering as she tried fighting against Woobat from the confines of her small cage. Pikachu, try as he might, couldn't break free to help her and neither could the others. Snivy's body slammed into the metal bars and there she lay still, gasping for breath.
"If ya play ball with us, then we might just play ball with you," said Meowth. "I may as well tell ya that you're in a secret base in a cave… somewhere."
"Oh, yes, that really helps…" said Snivy weakly. She struggled to get onto her feet but she collapsed back down again.
"Careful," said Meowth. "And don't bite the hand that feeds you. Ya might not like it if I use Slash upon you twerps! I'm stronger than I used to be and I ain't got no problems in letting these babies rip!"
Laughing, Meowth and his Pokémon partners exited the room. Apart from one small ceiling light and an overhead grid, the room was otherwise in pitch-blackness and the air seemed very cold.
"What's going to happen to us?" asked Axew fearfully.
"We're going to get out of here and then we'll find Ash, Iris and Cilan," said Pikachu firmly. "If I can only just break out of this…"
Pikachu's Thunderbolt had no effect though and he didn't have enough room to use Iron Tail. Enraged, Pikachu threw his weight against the cage and struck its sides violently, attempting to force it open. Snivy sat up and curled her fist around the stem that she had with her. All of the petals had fallen of it as they had done from the other stems. For all of their sakes; she hoped that it wasn't a windy night…
"Where are they all?" Oshawott whispered to himself. How could they have suddenly disappeared into the night like that? Had nobody in this Pokémon Centre noticed their disappearance? Had they even been disturbed?
Oshawott tried not to panic. He tried to approach the situation in a calm manner like Snivy probably would have done. Judging by the possessions that had been scattered all over the place, there must have been a struggle of some kind. All of the Pokéballs had gone missing too including his own it seemed. Oshawott gingerly stepped through the debris and explored his surroundings; seeing if there was anything else.
Oshawott noticed something glint in the moonlight. He went over to inspect it and to his horror, he discovered that it was a dart of some kind. It reminded him of the needles that the Nurse Joys occasionally used when treating seriously injured Pokémon and he knew this since the Nurse Joy here had to use one on him (the fun part had been getting Oshawott to stay still for any length of time despite his then weakened state; he hated needles). Could this thing here be a tranquilizer? He didn't dare touch it. And worse, he saw its 'R' insignia and there was only one group that he knew who proudly wore that sign: Team Rocket. Oshawott gritted his teeth; so they had decided to take revenge for their defeat the other day had they? Well, they were only about to pay for their mistakes again.
Oshawott heard movement outside and flinched. They couldn't have come back for him when they noticed that he was missing surely? Oshawott unhooked his scalchop and raced towards the main doors, just ready to take the intruders face on…
"Well, this certainly is a surprise," said a female voice. "I've had a call about you, you know and you have made me one worried professor, Oshawott."
Oshawott dropped his scalchop. Professor Juniper?
Professor Juniper tickled Oshawott's chin which, even under the present circumstances, never failed to delight him. She was still very much attached to Oshawott; she had witnessed his hatching after all which had been a very emotional experience and now he had more or less grown up. "I would have arrived a lot earlier but you know how it is, things to do, Pokémon to see, traffic to get caught up in even if it is about… 11:35," she said, consulting her watch. "I suppose the kids are asleep now but what are you doing up at such a strange hour anyway?"
"~Osha~Oshawott!~" said the Water-Type frantically. He tugged at his former owner, begging her to follow him. Concerned, Juniper raced after the distressed Pokémon and thus found the cause of Oshawott's distress. He showed Juniper what he had found and danced about on the spot with fear.
"Right," she said seriously. "We had better call Officer Jenny; she'll have an idea of what to do. We need to find them quickly. Now, Oshawott, I want you to stay safe and when I say that I want you to stay safe, it means that I want you to stay here. No disappearing this time, OK? You could be danger if you go off on your own."
But the others could be danger as well, thought Oshawott. And so could Snivy.
Snivy. Oshawott caught the faint scent of roses. He saw some of the petals from the bouquet had been scattered across the floor as well. They seemed to lead to the open window, presumably how Team Rocket made their escape. In the forming frost, there were also tyre marks which made sense as it would have been the only way to transport the lot of them. Oshawott clambered onto the window-ledge as Juniper made her urgent phone-call. With the moon out, Oshawott could clearly see that a trail had been left for him, whether accidentally or on purpose though, he could not say. He glanced back once to see if the Professor was watching him.
This was no time to be hanging about; it was up to him to not only find his friends but to save them. He snuck out and using sight and smell as a guide, he hurried across the frosty grass and began to track them down. He was soon lost to the darkness.
Professor Juniper hung up and soon noticed that Oshawott had vanished; he was very prone to doing this.
"I wonder if he'll stop and think this time?" she said to herself. But she smiled as she said so.
"So you think that Oshawott will rescue us? Well that's it, we're doomed," muttered Emolga.
"Shut up," said Snivy. She was getting sick of her rival's voice and it was her bad luck to have her cage right next to Emolga's.
"I mean, I'm not being pessimistic or anything but I'm a realist here," Emolga sighed. "How do you think he'll find us here anyway, wherever we are? And another thing, even if Oshawott does find us, would he actually be able to beat those fools out there? He certainly couldn't beat me even though I wasn't trying very hard last time."
"Well, pardon the fact that he has a type disadvantage against you!" Snivy snapped, losing her cool. "If you have nothing useful to say, then will you please keep quiet? Can't you see I'm busy here?" Snivy tried to reach the key to their cages with an outstretched vine but the blasted thing, hanging from a nail on the wall, was proving just out of reach. Emolga tutted to herself but kept silent.
"It's no good," Pikachu sighed. "You'll never reach it from where you are." Snivy pulled her vines back and strode about the little space that she had with impatience. She hoped that Oshawott would get here quickly; she was worried about their condition but she was also worried about his…
"So what do you think of him?" So much for the whole keeping silent thing.
"What was that?" said Snivy as she curled up on the cold metal floor.
"Come on; don't play Miss. Mysterious with me! You obviously like him so what do you honestly think about him?" said Emolga.
Keeping her voice down that the others couldn't listen in, Snivy answered the Electric Pokémon.
"What I think doesn't concern you at all and as soon as we get out of here, you will wish that you were still trapped in here because I will sort you out. Undeerstand?"
Emolga smirked to herself as Snivy continued to threaten her. Denial was always a good indicator of one's true feelings. She supposed that Snivy could have Oshawott if they got out because he was an idiot at the best of times and what did she want with an idiot anyway apart from apple-collecting services?
Overhead, a klaxon began to wail loudly and they heard Team Rocket charge past the door, muttering to themselves and armed with their Pokéballs at the ready. Emolga groaned out loud.
"Don't tell me that Oshawott set off the alarm system."
"I thought you said that Oshawott wouldn't be able to find us?" Snivy asked lightly.
"Huh. Well, I'll believe it when I see it. And if so, he better hurry up otherwise we are all going to be taken away by some criminal gang to Arceus knows where where they'll torture us and everything!"
Way to keep up the morale, thought Pikachu as Axew and Scraggy started crying with fear.
The petal trail was working a treat even as the tyre marks vanished as it stood out clearly upon the white frost and snow leading him up a craggy mountain side where a few Beartic and Cubchoos normally roamed. As they were fast asleep, Oshawott had been thankfully able to avoid them although in the darkness, it wasn't entirely easy. He tripped over the outstretched paw of one and breathed heavily as it made a growling noise. The Beartic moved its paw, almost cuffing back of Oshawott's head. Oshawott did not move until it yawned widely and turned over in its sleep. The danger had passed.
Oshawott slipped on black ice more than once and would have been sent painfully careering back to the rocky bottoms if he had not grabbed onto a frozen, overhanging branch. With chattering teeth, the Water Pokémon yanked himself up and continued upwards, trying to use his instincts to locate Team Rocket and his captive friends. When the moon hid behind thick cloud, Oshawott was left nearly groping about in the darkness, unable to see much more than a few feet before him. He then discovered that he could find no more petals, no more of Snivy's precious clue.
Oshawott cursed to himself when it ran out; Team Rocket must have surely cottoned onto what was happening after a certain length of time. They couldn't have gotten much further though, not in this worsening weather. Even as Oshawott thought about this, snowflakes began to slowly drift downwards; a startling contrast to the weather the previous night. As he watched the snow, it suddenly occurred to him that Team Rocket must have continued the journey on foot; no locomotive would have been able to make it up here. Oshawott jumped; he had to keep on moving before the snow covered their footprints.
"Don't worry guys, I'm almost there," said Oshawott as he trudged onwards. His feet felt like ice and his body was shaking like a leaf but there was no way that he was stopping now.
Oshawott came across the footprints again when the moonlight revealed them to him. It was during this time that he found himself suddenly sheltered from the weather and in a slightly warmer environment. He had ended up in a giant cave buried within the side of the mountain and ahead was an abandoned military base carved within the very rocks (trust the humans to ruin nature in such a way).
Oshawott approached it and deemed it to be the correct place. There was nowhere else for Team Rocket but within these walls. The large metal doors of the secret base were held wide open as if luring him into some sort of trap. Oshawott peered inside and saw a corridor leading downwards, perhaps to an old mine shaft of some kind. Rusting equipment lay scattered across the place, never to be used again by human hands. Trap or not, Oshawott had no choice but to enter.
This was the point where Oshawott triggered the alarm mechanism as his tail brushed against an invisible laser. He winced as unseen klaxons wailed loudly and unseen cameras twisted to view his position. His heart pounded as he imagined Team Rocket suddenly pouncing down on him and throwing him to where the rest of the Pokémon were. Oshawott couldn't abide the thought of his own failure and anyway, Emolga probably thought that he was incapable of doing anything; she said as much. So he ran down the only path available to him. He hoped that he wouldn't bump into the villains on the way.
"You can count on me, guys," said Oshawott bravely. "And you can count on me, Snivy."