Chapter 7
Team Rocket's Return
Angela and Crystal quickly made their way out of Ilex Forest and into the neighbouring town of Azalea. They had hoped they would find Silver there, but there was no sign of him anywhere. But Silver wasn't the only thing they couldn't find.
"Where are all the slowpoke?" Crystal wondered aloud, stopping in front of the city's pokemon center.
"Slowpoke?" Angela asked. "Why would there be slowpoke?"
"Azalea's a town renowned for being pretty much overrun with slowpoke from a nearby well. You're supposed to be able to see them lounging around just about anywhere," Crystal explained, gesturing out toward the town itself. "But we haven't seen any at all since arriving."
"It's almost evening, maybe they've gone back to the well?" Angela suggested. Crystal just stared at her in response and Angela soon realized what she said and slapped her hand against her forehead. "Oh yeah... slowpoke..."
"Yeah. They don't usually move at all," Crystal said, nodding. "And they never move as a group."
"Maybe we could ask around inside the pokemon center?" Angela suggested, then turned to enter the building. The sliding door suddenly opened as Angela approached the building and she walked straight into the young boy that was leaving, knocking both of them to the ground.
Whose bright idea was it to have opaque red doors on pokemon centers anyway? Crystal wondered. When she realized who Angela had walked into, though, she gasped.
"Ow! Why don't you watch where you're going!" Angela growled while rubbing her head.
"I could say the same to you!" the boy replied. He shook his head and sat up. He blinked when he finally saw who he had walked into and then, looking past her, saw Crystal and grinned. "Oh, hey! It's Crystal and Angela!"
"Ethan?" Crystal said in disbelief. "When did you get here?" she asked him.
"Just now!" Ethan replied, then quickly hopped up on his feet. He extended a hand to Angela, offering to help her up, but Angela got up on her own. "Umm, right..." he said, then coughed as if clearing his throat. "Anyway! I came through Union Cave just now and stopped by the pokemon center to heal my pokemon. When did you two get here?"
"Just now, too," Crystal replied. "We came through Ilex Forest and had another run-in with Silver..."
"Crystal did," Angela pointed out. "I was busy re-catching a pokemon. We would have had him if I was there!"
Should you really be bragging that you weren't there? Crystal and Ethan both thought.
Crystal then let out a sigh. "I'm just no match for that guy. I don't think I've gotten any closer to being able to beat him..."
"Then you need to train!" Ethan said to her. "If you want to catch up to him you've gotta train hard! Or else he's just going to get ahead of you!"
"So how should I do that?" Crystal asked.
"Battling, of course!" Ethan replied, then grinned and folded his arms. "In fact, why don't we have a battle! That'd be a good place to start!"
"Sure!" Crystal enthusiastically replied, excited about having the chance to battle Ethan.
Ethan grinned. "Great!" he said while pumping his fist into the air. "Then Ethan the Gold Trainer will test your strength in combat!"
Crystal and Angela made a quick stop inside the pokemon center to heal their pokemon. Ethan waited patiently while they did so. Once their pokemon were healed, the trio headed to the southern end of the town. For the time being, their conflict with Silver and the mysterious absence of the slowpoke seemed to have been all but forgotten.
"Since I only have three pokemon, we'll use three pokemon each. Agreed?" Ethan asked Crystal. Crystal nodded and both of them drew a pokeball.
Has Crystal gotten any stronger at all since she left? Angela wondered. She shrugged and then plopped down in the grass, folding her arms in front of her. Guess we'll find out now. I doubt it though...
"Mimitree, I choose you!" Ethan called out loudly as he thrust his pokeball forward. The pokeball opened up and released Mimitree, the sudowoodo he had caught with the help of Crystal and Angela previously, from its pokeball. Mimitree remained virtually still when he appeared, almost as if he was still trying to mimick a tree.
"Stan, you're first up! Go!" Crystal called out as she released her own pokemon. The pokeball opened and Stan the stantler emerged from it, standing proud and tall as always. His calm demeanour almost never changed.
"Stan, use Hypnosis!" Crystal called out quickly, hoping to make the first move. Stan aimed his horns at Mimitree and began releasing hypnotic waves of psychic energy. With Mimitree's stillness, it was hard to tell if the technique had any effect on it.
"Umm... then I guess we attack now!" Crystal said, unsure herself. "Stan, use Tackle to knock it over and follow up with Stomp!" Stan nodded and began to move forward, charging toward Mimitree.
"Think we'll be disabled that easily! Mimitree, Low Kick!" Ethan called out as Stan approached. Mimitree had used his deception to his advantage, making himself appear to be asleep. Mimitree dropped down just before Stan collided with him and kicked out a foot, sweeping Stan's legs out from under him. Stan ended up doing a headbutt straight into the ground.
"Now, follow up with Wood Hammer!" Mimitree hopped back up and then quickly spun around. While Stan was trying to get back on his feet, Mimitree threw himself into him and brought both pokemon crashing to the ground. Stan took the hardest blow from the impact, but both pokemon were quick to get back on their feet, distance themselves, then turn to stare each other down.
"Stan, Tackle!"
"Mimitree, Wood Hammer again!"
The two pokemon started running and closed the distance within seconds, slamming into each other. Crystal found herself wondering why she had gone with such a strategy. Mimitree was already proving herself to be the more powerful of the two and Stan's own attacks were having little effect on it. Thus, when the two pokemon smashed into each other, only Stan stayed down. Mimitree got right back up and was a bit wobbly on his feet, but was otherwise still quite capable of fighting. Crystal quickly recalled her pokemon.
"Ya gotta put more thought into your attacks than that, Crystal!" Ethan called out to her. "Especially when your pokemon is at a disadvantage!"
"So... should I have switched pokemon?" Crystal asked him.
"HECK NO! I'm not suggesting anything that drastic!" Ethan replied as if he was apalled by the thought. "A type disadvantage is no reason to recall a pokemon from battle! Use your head first and come up with a way to get around that type disadvantage!"
"Well let's see if you follow your own advice, then!" Crystal shot back, then drew a pokeball from her belt. "Rito, I choose you!" Crystal held out the pokeball and pressed the button to release her pokemon. The pokeball opened up and Rito the chikorita emerged onto the field, tossing his headleaf back as usual.
"Rito, Razor Leaf!" Rito quickly twirled his headleaf around, unleashing a barrage of sharp leaves upon Mimitree. Mimitree crossed his arms to brace himself against the attack. The sharp leaves sliced across Mimitree's rocky exterior, causing the pokemon to grunt in pain. He stumbled and nearly fell over after the last few leaves hit, but was able to stay on his feet.
"You'll need more power than that to get past Mimitree's defenses! Mimitree, Flail!" Mimitree gathered his strength and then rushed forward, flailing his arms wildily. He suddenly threw himself at Rito and landed on top of him, then continued to flail his arms and legs which resulted in him pounding Rito repeatedly.
Eventually, Rito was able to pull himself out from under Mimitree. Rito winced as he tried to walk, having taken a pretty heavy blow from Mimitree. Mimitree then got back up as well but was still pretty wobbly on his feet.
"You say we need more power, but your pokemon is looking pretty weak! Rito, finish this with Razor Leaf!" Rito quickly turned and twirled his headleaf around, launching a barrage of sharp leaves at Mimitree. Mimitree cried out sharply and finally collapsed. Ethan was quick to recall him, already having Mimitree's pokeball in his hand.
"Not bad! But it took you almost two pokemon to pull that off!" Ethan said to Crystal.
"H-hey! That pokemon of your's wasn't exactly a pushover!" Crystal shot back.
"Aw, don't worry about it! Let's keep going, alright?" Ethan then took another pokeball in his hand. "Crimson, your turn now! Let's go!" he called out, releasing releasing his fire-type pokemon Crimson from his pokeball. Flames erupted from Crimson's back as soon as he emerged from his pokeball.
"Crimson, let's finish this one before it can attack! Ember!" Crimson opened his mouth and spat a series of small fireballs at Rito. Rito cried out in pain as the fireballs struck him and pelted the ground around him, then collapsed. Crystal sighed and recalled her pokemon.
"Down to my last pokemon and he still has two left... is Ethan that far ahead of me?" she wondered aloud. She returned Rito's pokeball to her belt and then took another pokeball in her hand. If she was to beat Ethan, this last pokemon had to beat both of Ethan's pokemon.
"Yippy, it's all up to you now! Go!" she called out, releasing the dim-witted wooper from his pokeball. Yippy emerged from his pokeball wearing his usual dumb smile.
"Not bad! That one has the advantage against both my remaining pokemon!" Ethan said with a grin. "But we're not backing down! Crimson, use Smokescreen and then follow up with a Tackle attack!" The flames on Crimson's suddenly died down and were replaced with columns of thick, black smoke. The smoke filled the area around the two pokemon, blocking them completely from view.
"Yippy, roll with it!" Crystal called out, hoping that Yippy would understand the order so she could get him out of the smoke. Unfortunately, Yippy didn't really know what she meant and just ended up flopping around inside the smoke. She was still able to get him out of the smoke, however, as Crimson's Tackle was strong enough to knock him out of range.
"Umm... good enough I guess..." Crystal mumbled in bewilderment. "Okay, wait for Crimson to show himself and then use Mud Shot!" Yippy rolled back on his feet and nodded. A spittle of mud began to drip from his mouth as he prepared his attack.
"We're not burning out just yet! Crimson, Ember!" Several fireballs suddenly shot out from the cloud of smoke, striking Yippy and knocking him off his feet. The impact with the ground caused him to spit up the mud he was readying to attack with, spitting a blast of mud straight up into the air. It soon came crashing down onto Yippy, splattering everywhere.
"You should try to keep a command like that quiet so your opponent doesn't know what you're going to do," Ethan advised her. As the smoke was starting to clear now he realized he needed to take advantage of what little cover he had left and make a direct attack.
"Crimson, follow up with Quick Attack now!"
"Not so fast! Yippy, Slam!"
Yippy rolled back onto his feet, not even bothering to shake off the mud that now covered his body. He tried to swing his tail around to attack Crimson. However, Crimson moved way too fast for him. Crimson shot out of the smoke and slammed into Yippy before he could react, sending him rolling across the ground until he came to a stop at Crystal's feet. After he was laying their for a moment, unmoving, Crystal realized he was unconscious.
"Wow... your pokemon are pretty strong, Ethan..." Crystal said as she recalled Yippy. "Even having the type advantage, I couldn't beat you..."
"Yep!" Ethan grinned. "My pokemon have been getting... huh?"
Ethan was caught off guard when Crimson suddenly began to glow, his body becoming nothing more than a bright white silhouette. Crimson's body began to grow. His body grew and his snout retracted. Then, as the evolution was nearing its end, flames shot out from his body to form a fanning tail and a mohawk on his head. The glowing ceased and Crimson let out a cry.
"Oh, awesome! Crimson evolved!" Ethan said, grinning. Crimson grinned as well and let the flames on his body flare up in full.
"That's great and all, but what about Crystal?" Angela said impatiently, quickly standing up. "She obviously needs more training..."
"Right." Ethan nodded. "I think you should definitely head to Union Cave, then. It's a good training spot and there's some pretty tough wild pokemon, too."
"That's not far from here, right?" Crystal asked.
"Right! I'll show you the way," he said to them.
The group stopped the pokecenter to heal their pokemon again, or at least the ones that had battled. With Crystal healing three pokemon and Ethan healing two, they were able to get their pokemon healed at the same time to speed things up. Once their pokemon were healed they immediately left the town, heading east. They were on their way toward Union Cave.
Instead, they found themselves witnessing a scene at the well.
"Who the hell do you guys think you are, kidnapping all the slowpoke and cutting off their tails!" a middle-aged man yelled. The individual he was yelling at was a man in a completely black uniform, hat included. On his shirt was a red 'R'.
"Didn't you get the memo?" the uniformed man asked gruffly. "We're Team Rocket. We do whatever the hell we want. If you don't like it, that's too bad."
"Grr... Bugsy will do something about this! Just you wait!" the man growled, then turned and walked back into the city. The Rocket grunt just shrugged. Crystal, Ethan, and Angela watched as the man walked away and then looked back toward the grunt standing in front of the well.
"Well that explains where the slowpoke are..." Crystal said.
"Cutting off slowpoke tails? That's just sick!" Ethan growled, clenching a fist. "I think it's time Ethan, the Gold Trainer, taught these punks... huh?" Ethan stopped himself when he saw a certain blonde-haired girl walking up to the grunt. "Angela...? What are you?"
"Why are you guys cutting off slowpoke tails?" Angela asked him. Ethan and Crystal stared in shock at her boldness.
The grunt grinned and shrugged. "Whatever are you talking about? I'm just an innocent bystander guarding this well!"
"Now he's trying to play innocent!" Crystal and Ethan said in confusion.
Angela narrowed her eyes at him. "Now you're just being stupid. Just for that, I'm taking you all down."
The grunt laughed. "You! Take on US! You're talking madness, girl!"
"Madness?" Angela grinned. "This! Is! Umm..." Angela hesitated a moment, trying to think of what to end her outburst with. In the end, she just kicked the grunt in the stomach. The grunt stumbled back, arms flailing as he neared the edge of the well, then finally lost his balance and fell in.
"..." The grunt's cry echoed throughout the well until it was eventually silenced by a loud thud. After the grunt had fallen in, Angela went in as well. She, however, was climbing down courtesy of a ladder that ran the entire height of the well.
"That seemed kinda cruel... and yet... I think I kinda wanted to do the same." Ethan muttered while rubbing his head.
"That's not nice! He could be dead now, you know!" Crystal chided him. "And who knows what she might do to the rest of the grunts! Sure, they might be criminals, but they have families too you know!"
"Right, right... I guess someone should keep an eye on her, huh?" Ethan said. "And I still want to kick their asses anyway. So why don't I go into the well with Angela while you keep going to Union Cave?"
Crystal nodded in agreement. "Right. Your pokemon would be better for this, but you better hurry up and get caught up with her!"
Ethan grinned and took out his orange-tinted shades. "Don't worry about a thing! The Gold Trainer is on the job!" He put his shades on and gave Crystal a thumbs up. "Good luck with your training! By the time you're done, these slowpoke will be as good as rescued!" Ethan then took off, heading for the well.
Crystal sighed. "This got complicated all of a sudden..." She then took a quick look around. "Just as long as Silver doesn't pop out of nowhere, I'll be fine." As soon as she was convinced she was alone, Crystal continued on her way toward Union Cave.
When Ethan reached the bottom of the ladder, he found the grunt from earlier lying at the bottom on his back. He was largely unmoving, but groaning in pain.
"Heh... seems like you survived afterall. Guess you're pretty hardy!" Ethan said to the grunt with a grin.
"H-h... help..."
"Help Angela kick your buddies asses? Don't mind if I do!" Ethan said, then took off running further into the cave.
The Slowpoke Well was fairly odd for a well. While most wells would be filled with water for people to draw from, this particular well was nothing more than a cave. There were certainly pools of water nearby, but not easily reachable from the well opening. While the well had been used as a more typical well in the distant past, it had since become home to wild slowpoke.
Ethan didn't get far in that cave before catching up with Angela. He had arrived just in the nick of time, before the actual fighting had start. Angela was facing two grunts, a man and a woman, and all three trainers had released all their pokemon. Angela had Bitey, Gorey, and Slicey facing down a trio of zubats, a rattata, and an ekans.
"It's over, kid! You're outnumbered five to three!" the male grunt said. "Now just buzz off and mind your own business!"
"Eh? I'm really not afraid of your pokemon..." Angela said boredly.
"Now that's no reason to be greedy, Angela!" Ethan said as he finally caught up to her, taking up a spot beside her. "There's two of them, so it's only fair that I get to help out, right?" he said, flashing Angela a grin.
"Whatever," Angela replied in annoyance. "Where's Crystal?"
"She's gone off ahead to train in Union Cave," Ethan said to her. "Don't worry about her, though. Besides, this shouldn't take more than a few seconds!"
"HEY! Quit ignoring us!" the female grunt said indignantly.
"Playtime's over, kids! All pokemon, ATTACK!" the male grunt called out. All five of their pokemon began to move forward. "Bite attacks all around!"
"I can command my own pokemon, you know!" the female grunt snapped at him, though she didn't issue any commands herself.
"Guess it doesn't matter which team it is, a grunt's a grunt!" Angela said. "Bitey, Gorey, Slicey, Triple Whirlpool!"
All three of Angela's pokemon shot forward with water trailing behind them. As they reached Team Rocket's cluster of pokemon they began to move in a circle to create a large, towering wall of water around them. The pokemon trapped within looked around in confusion and then tried to bite at Angela's pokemon, which were swimming along with the whirlpool, but were too slow and were forcefully thrown back when they struck the water instead.
"Interesting!" Ethan said with a grin as he took a pair of pokeballs from his belt. "But like I said, share the fun! Mimitree, Sparx, come on out!" The pokeballs in Ethan's hands opened, releasing Mimitree and Sparx from their pokeballs. "Angela, quick! Tell your pokemon to get out of the way!"
Angela took a moment to look at Ethan's pokemon and assess the situation. "...Fine, but you better not screw up!" she said reluctantly. "Bitey, Gorey, Slicey, clear out now!" she called out to her pokemon. The three of them quickly shot out of the whirlpool in different directions, leaving the wall of water to collapse around the pokemon trapped within.
"Sparx, Thundershock! Mimitree, Mimic it! Blast them all with a jolt of electricity while they're good and wet!" Sparx nodded and grinned, seemingly mimicking his rather smug trainer as he fired a blast of electricity at Team Rocket's pokemon. Mimitree followed suit, wearing that same grin and mimicking Sparx's attack to fire another blast of electricity at them.
The blasts of electricity struck Team Rocket's pokemon just as the water was collapsing around them, hitting all five of them simultaneously with a blast of electricity. All five pokemon screeched in pain as the electricity coursed through their bodies, then fell silent.
"Wh-what!" the male grunt cried out in disbelief.
"See! You should have let me command them!" the female grunt chided him.
"What's going on here?" a gruff, mean-sounding voice said. Another grunt, this one with white, bloodstained gloves and cyan-colored hair approached the group. He first looked at the grunts, then at their fallen pokemon, and finally at Angela, Ethan, and their pokemon. Angela's three pokemon had since gathered in front of her again.
"Tch... kids..." the newcomer muttered. "It doesn't matter whee we go, there's always someone that doesn't agree with us..."
"That might have something to do with your illegal means of obtaining cash," Ethan pointed out. "Seriously, did you expect people to actually agree with you when you're kidnapping slowpoke and cutting off their tails!"
"Hmph. I don't really care whether you agree with us or not, personally," the 'grunt' replied. "The name's Proton, and I've got a reputation as being the cruelest and scariest guy in Team Rocket. I strongly advise you not to interfere in Team Rocket's business."
"Yeah, don't interfere!" the male grunt added, earning him a sharp glare from Proton that quickly shut him up.
"Scariest or not, Angela and I still have three strong pokemon each while you clearly only have two," Ethan said, pointing to the two pokeballs attached to Proton's belt. "So just what do you think you're going to do now?"
"Alright, here's the deal, kiddies..." Proton began to say, then drew a single pokeball from his belt. He pressed the button and released a round, purple pokemon with a poison symbol on its body. "We're leaving. Don't try to stop us and my pokemon here won't blow us to kingdom come."
"Can he actually do that?" Angela asked Ethan.
"Selfdestruct and Explosion ARE techniques a koffing can learn," Ethan replied, glaring at Proton from behind his orange shades. "Better take him seriously and let him pass."
"An excellent decision," Proton said with a smirk. "You two grunts there, we're leaving. Now."
"Hey, we have names you..." the female grunt began to say, only to be cut off by Proton.
"I don't give a crap what your names are. You could be Cunt and Ass for all I care," Proton snapped. "We're leaving. NOW."
The two Rocket grunts swallowed nervously and quietly recalled their pokemon. Proton then moved past them and the two followed behind him and his koffing, not even glancing at the two trainers as they passed by. Proton and Ethan briefly locked eyes as they passed by each other.
When he finally reached the ladder, Proton stopped and looked down at their fallen comrade.
"You have two options, grunt. Either stay here and get caught, or shrug it off like a man, get up, and follow us out," Proton said tersely.
"D-damn it..." the grunt muttered weakly. Using the nearby ladder as support, he managed to pull himself onto his feet. The other two grunts helped him along as he made his way up the ladder. Once the three grunts were gone, Proton turned to face the trainers again.
"This was only a small operation, so don't get any ideas," he explained to them. A wicked grin then formed on his face. "Just wait until you see what Team Rocket has in store!" Proton then turned and made his way up the ladder, leaving the two grunts behind.
"I can't believe we just let them get away like that!" Angela said indignantly.
"Don't worry about them, they'll get what's coming to them," Ethan assured her, then ran off further into the face. After passing over a narrow plateau, he found a fairly large group of slowpoke. Many of whom had their tails cut off, though none of them looked particularly concerned about it. "Looks like these guys will be alright... hmm?"
Ethan jumped down from the plateau and then moved closer to one of the slowpoke, one that was missing its tail. The slowpoke had something around its neck. When he bent down to get a closer look, he realized it was a nametag. "Looks like this slowpoke belongs to someone..."
"What about it, then?" Angela asked him.
"I'll see to it that this slowpoke is returned to its trainer," Ethan said as he turned around to face her, then finally lifted his shades from his eyes. "You go catch up to Crystal and help her train. I'll finish things up here."
Angela shrugged. "Fine. This is the boring part anyway," she mumbled, then took a pokeball in her hand. "Let's go, everyone. We're done here," she said. She then quickly recalled each of her pokemon and made her way out of the well, leaving Ethan alone to take care of the slowpoke.
"That Proton guy..." he muttered to himself. "I don't think I like him at all."
Author's Notes: I'm not sure whether Heart Gold/Soul Silver made Team Rocket less serious or more serious. I think they somehow managed both at the same time. On one hand, some of the characters seem a bit more serious. On the other hand, there's the grunt in front of the well who can't seem decide whether he wants to be scary or try to cover up Team Rocket's activities. On top of that, there's the "tree" in Mahogany...
And, yeah, as noted, Crystal needs to get more serious. She's starting to lag behind the boys.