Chapter Nine
Rockin' Team Rocket
When dawn came it found us still fast asleep. Soon it became morning and we were all still asleep. It wasn't until a knock came at the door, around the ungodly time of ten-thirty, that we all woke up. The man at the door was Norris, the man who was responsible for our presence here, and he wanted to know if we were ready to go. Syoran sleepily replied, no, but we would be in ten minutes.
Half an hour later, we were stored inside our Poke-balls and Syoran stepped out. Norris was tapping his foot impatiently and when he saw Syoran he pushed his glasses up his nose, heaved a sigh, and said, "Well, better late than never, I suppose. Have you had breakfast yet?" Syoran sheepishly replied that no, he had not and neither had we for that matter. Norris sighed again. "Well, come and get some. I'm sure there's a little left over from everyone else's meal."
He was right about that. There was plenty of food left for us, almost too much in fact. While we ate, Norris talked to Syoran, mostly at him, about the various challenges and what-not that were available. He wanted to know what Syoran was interested in so he could schedule him for those events. I didn't really pay attention. I was too busy scarfing down meat, something the humans called 'bacon'.
There was a T.V. in the corner, set to one of the humans' many news channels. It caught my attention because it was more of that stuff about the so-called 'Pokémon War' and the picture they showed was of that blue-cheeked Pikachu from earlier.
"New reports place what some are calling a new kind of shiny Pikachu in Sinnoh. Local authorities are concerned that this could herald a new breakout of inter-species warfare in that region. Police are currently offering a two-thousand Poke reward for any information on this Pokémon's whereabouts. And that's it for local news. In the Orre region today, police are still investigating the disappearance of Michael, a young trainer who…"
The door to the cafeteria was kicked in violently. It splintered and flew several feet into the room before sliding to a stop. All of our attention immediately was directed there. I growled and my hackles rose as my family's murderer marched into the room with a gang of four mean-looking men in black jumpsuits behind him. "Change the channel to twenty-six," he ordered the attendant. She started to protest, but he snapped at her. "NOW!"
Syoran rose angrily. "Hey…" he began.
Proton silenced him with a glare. "I'll deal with you in a minute," he growled, "Just sit tight for now and don't get in my way." He returned his attention to the attendant. "Well? Are you going to change it or not?" She swallowed and changed the channel.
The screen was suddenly filled with two more unwelcome faces. "Hello, everyone," the blue-haired man from the ship said, doffing his white fedora, "My name is James and this is my partner Jessie, but you can call us Commanders Archer and Arianna. We have a special announcement for you all this morning."
"Hmm, yes," the woman agreed, standing next to him, "We're here to announce that Team Rocket is now officially back in business and setting up shop in Sinnoh!" Confetti popped and recorded cheers accompanied this announcement. Syoran paled. "Naturally, this may come as a shock to you all, but just to get everyone in the Team Rocket spirit, we put together a little something to strike some fear in your hearts!" She smiled and adjusted her hair. "Hit it, Meowth!" she ordered.
"One Team Rocket t'eme song, comin' right up!" the cat called from off-camera. Rio gasped.
"Did that Meowth just talk in human-speech?" he asked us.
A jarring chord played, followed by a blitz of musical notes. I blinked and stared as the pair assumed dramatic stances and began…singing?
"We're back in black, so prepare for trouble! Better hold tight, 'cause we're making it double!" they said in unison.
"To protect the world from devastation!" Jessie/Arianna sang.
"To unite all peoples within our nation!" James/Archer added.
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie," she said with a wink and an artistic twirl.
James," he said, whipping out a rose and sniffing it.
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!" Jessie declared, linking arms with James.
"Surrender now or prepare to fight, fight, fight!" James added as they pushed out, holding one arm in the air each.
"Meowth!" the cat shouted, leaping onto their hands and posing, "Dat's right!" The music ended with a flourish, leaving us all staring at the screen, dumbfounded.
"What…" I began.
"Idiots," Z growled, finishing my thought.
"Now," Jessie said, a hint of menace in her tone, "As our first act, we are taking over the Battle Zone. All trainers, please head to the nearest Team Rocket personnel to turn in your Pokémon at a very…" She winked mischievously. "...competitive price."
"Your lives," James said and they burst out in a three-person laugh that started and ended at exactly the same time. It was kind of strange.
"Oh, before we go," Jessie continued, getting really close to the camera. She wasn't smiling now and a dangerous glint was in her eyes. "Ethan Gold, current champion of the Kanto and Johto leagues, we know you're here somewhere. Come stop us if you dare. We promise you things will be different this time. You remember, right? You were the one who stopped us at the Radio Tower. We'll see how lucky you are this time. We're at the top of the Battle Tower. Don't disappoint us." The T.V. turned to static
"Humph," Proton muttered, crossing his arms and glaring at the T.V., "How those two ever took over Team Rocket, I'll never know."
"Hey Butch," one of his men said, tapping his shoulder, "should we…"
Proton whirled around and punched him in the face. "It's Proton, you moron!" he hissed, "Commander Proton. Got it?"
"Ye…yeah! Sure…commander!" the man said. Proton sighed, aggravated.
"What I wouldn't do to get Cassidy back," he muttered, "Instead of these losers." He turned to Syoran and Norris. "Alright, you both heard the idiots on the T.V.! Hand over your Pokémon, starting…" He pointed directly at me. "With that disobedient Absol."
Syoran sat frozen. "Team Rocket…" he muttered. Slowly, as if in a daze, he rose. I watched him worriedly. This was serious. If he went bonkers, I could bet that Nine and the others would get us captured trying to protect him. And if I was captured, it wouldn't be long before I was a fashion accessory. That had been made very clear. I shouldn't have worried, though.
"Hey! You listening, kid?" Proton snapped.
A very cold and hostile expression slowly crept over Syoran's face and a dark glare came lancing from his eyes. "Tell me," he said, addressing Proton, "Do you remember when Team Rocket attacked the Devon Corporation a few years back? When Champion Red drove you all off with your tails between your legs?"
Proton scowled darkly. "I was there. What of it?" he demanded.
Syoran chuckled. "I was there as well," he said, "I was on a tour when you attacked. The police were on their way when you all came running like Giratina himself was chasing you. Everyone else was trying to get out of the way, but I was stupid. I tried to block your path."
"Of course," he continued, "I couldn't stop you. One of your Pokémon sent a sludge-bomb attack right at me. I would have died if it weren't for…" He choked. "…if it weren't for my Kadabra. She jumped in front of it and as a result…" His face hardened. "She died to save my life. And now I've finally found the people that killed her." His eyes burned with anger and rage. I sensed a fraction of unease in the Rockets' expressions as they faced him. Syoran smiled darkly. "I am going put an end to Team Rocket so that no one else has to experience what I did," he said, pointing at Proton, "And I'll start with you, Commander." He turned to us. "Everyone, prepare for battle! Let's finish this today!" We fanned out in front of Syoran, Nine and Rio on the right, Z and I on the left. Psi perched on Syoran's shoulder, watching the proceedings with curious eyes.
"We'll see about that," Proton replied evenly, "I'm known as the meanest guy in Team Rocket, you know. So, since you won't give up your Pokémon, I guess I'll have to take them from you!" He threw two Poke-balls into the air. "Crobat, Weezing, teach these punks a lesson!" His companions threw out one Pokémon each until our opponents included Proton's two, a Swalot, a Toxicroak, a Muk, and an Ariados. It was quite an intimidating bunch, but I didn't care. Years of hate and rage blinded me to the odds. I barely saw the other Pokémon. I only saw my target, the specter of my nightmares. Everything else seemed enveloped in a black haze.
Norris stepped up and placed a hand on Syoran's shoulder. A look of determination was on his face. "We'll fight them together. I'm a trainer too, after all." Syoran nodded gratefully. Upon this, Norris produced a single Poke-ball from his pocket and tossed it onto the battlefield. "Come on out, Snorlax! Time to earn your keep!"
There was a brilliant flash and then the behemoth of a Pokémon appeared, flat on his back and snoring. "Snorlax! Wake…" Norris was interrupted by a strand of webbing from the Ariados that quickly gagged him.
"What?" Proton growled as we glared at him, "Did you think we were just going to wait around for you to get your act together?" He smirked. "Not a chance, losers! We're Team Rocket and we don't play by the rules! Crobat, Confuse…"
"Confuse Ray, Nine!" Syoran shouted over him. She leapt forward and pre-empted the Crobat by a mere fraction of a second and sent it wobbling drunkenly through the air. Proton cursed, which caused Syoran to grin. "Everyone, attack now!" he ordered.
I instantly leapt forward, heading straight for Proton, while the others engaged the rest of the opposing Pokémon. The Weezing, seeing my intent, tried to block my way. He floated in between me and his master, spewing a cloud of poisonous fumes. I sent a burst of energy to my legs, held my breath, and shot straight through it. The poison-gas balloon's expression became one of surprise, then pain when I slammed him into the ground.
"Ow…" he coughed, but it sounded like three different voices because he had three mouths. However, even that slight delay had managed to garner me the attention of the rest. A strand of webbing tangled my legs and the Toxicroak toppled me with some fighting type move. With my luck, probably Brick Break. I growled and snarled furiously, trying to struggle free from the webbing. The Toxicroak leered.
"Kekee-crooooak!" he laughed, "One down already! You really are pathet…" I slashed him across the legs with my head-blade and he screamed in pain. He went down, unable to stand. My victory was short-lived as more webbing hit me, pinning me to the floor like a fly. The Ariados scuttled toward me, malevolence in its eyes.
An icy stab of fear brought me to my senses. I quickly looked around for help. None was forthcoming. Norris' Snorlax was still fast asleep. Crobat had shaken off his confusion and was dive-bombing Rio. Z's claws were spraying poisonous portions of the Muk's body everywhere, but doing no real harm. The Swalot was holding its head as Nine bombarded it with psychic energy. I was all alone.
"Click-click-click," went the Ariados' mandibles as it got closer and closer, its face expressionless, "you die in web."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I growled. That fear penetrated a few inches deeper into me, as if someone was driving a dagger into my heart one push at a time.
"Spirit! Return!" Syoran shouted. A red beam shot out from my Poke-ball, but it hit the web and dissipated. "No! It's not working!" he shouted in despair.
"Of course not!" Proton taunted, "the web is blocking it. Now, prepare to say goodbye to your Absol, kid!"
"Kill it, Ariados!" his underling ordered. The blood drained from Syoran's face and from mine. Even Psi seemed to grasp what was going on. Proton's expression was one of smug satisfaction. I swallowed. This was it. I was going to die, just like my family had.
"Nine! Z! Rio!" Syoran shouted, "protect Spirit!"
"Don't let them reach him, Crobat!" Proton ordered, and his orders were repeated to the Muk and Swalot by their trainers. They formed a barrier around me and Ariados, using a combination of defensive shields and poison-gas clouds to keep them back.
"Psi! Use teleport!"
Suddenly, Psi appeared beside me. The Ariados flinched in surprise, giving him just enough time to grab me and…
…disappear, leaving me right where I had been before.
"GAAAHHH! WHY?!" I screamed in frustration. Psychic powers didn't work on Dark-types after all.
I saw Syoran beginning to panic. Norris was no help, since he was still struggling to get the webs off his face. Nine's flames burned away poison gas, but it was replaced just as quickly as it disappeared. Rio was hammering away at a green shield around the Muk, much to its amusement. Z was in the throes of confusion and was wildly swiping at Proton's Crobat. Weezing had recovered and was helping Swalot lay out more poisonous gasses and smokescreens. It was hopeless. They couldn't break through in time.
"No…" Syoran said, "I WON'T LOSE YOU TOO, SPIRIT!" He charged onto the battlefield, heading straight for where I lay helpless. He didn't make it. Crobat slammed into him, knocking him to the ground and stunning him.
"Heh heh heh!" he cackled, swinging around to attack Rio, "Take that, kid!"
"Why is the floor spinning?" Z growled, swinging at him. He ended up spinning around and falling to the floor. I groaned. If only I hadn't been so reckless.
The Ariados blocked my vision with it large body. "Click-click-click. Die now in web." I glared defiantly. I would not let the human who killed my family see me die whimpering in fear. I didn't want to die. I didn't want Syoran to lose another Pokémon. I didn't want to leave my friends mourning like I had mourned my family. I growled from the back of my throat. These humans and their Pokémon were evil. They had killed for no reason other than it was convenient. And they would again. They could not be allowed to win.
I began to struggle again. I felt something within me stir, the darkness in my heart coming to life and filling me like a storm. "You would kill me?" I asked the Ariados, voice trembling.
"Yes, yes," it hissed, baring its fangs, "It's time for you to die."
"You would hurt my friends? You willingly serve these monsters called Team Rocket?" I demanded, voice rising.
The Ariados paused in puzzlement. "Yes…" it replied.
"THEN IT IS YOU WHO IS GOING TO DIE TODAY!" I howled as the storm of darkness within me boiled over. I forced it out, intending to create a giant maelstrom of darkness that would tear the Ariados to shreds. Unfortunately, I instead got a minor shockwave that not only dissipated before it reached my target, but failed even to loosen the spider web around me. I cursed quite loudly.
"Click-click-click," went the Ariados, unimpressed, "Time to…"
"Phew!" Norris said, finally pulling the webbing off his face, "Snorlax! Wake up!" The sleepy giant stirred and sat up, stifling a yawn. "Go save the Absol!" Norris ordered. Rising with a sigh, the colossus began lumbering over towards me, each step shaking the ground.
All of Team Rocket's Pokémon converged on him. Weezing spewed forth poisonous fumes right in his face, but he just stepped right through it and yawned again, accidently swatting the Weezing with the arm he brought up to stifle it. Muk tripped him and he fell right on top of it, sending puddles of Muk-sludge all over the room. Snorlax rose slowly, seemingly unaffected by this very poisonous and acidic material, and kept walking. Crobat dive-bombed his head, but he ignored him. Swalot attempted to block his way, but Snorlax, oblivious to him, raised his foot and stepped on him, turning the Poison-type into a pancake. Crobat, tired of attacking his head, went for his stomach. He hit with impressive force, but Snorlax's stomach acted like a trampoline and sent Crobat shooting into the wall.
"What in the…?" Proton said in bewilderment, "how could he not be affected by our poison attacks?"
"He's immune to poison, burns, and paralysis," Norris bragged, "If only he wasn't so lazy…"
"Well, we're not out yet!" Proton countered angrily, "We still have Ariad…"
"Nine! Flamethrower!"
A stream of fire shot from her mouth. With no allies to block for him, Ariados couldn't dodge it and was set afire. It ran screaming around the room for a few seconds before its trainer was able to return it to its Poke-ball.
Snorlax leaned over me. "Stuck?" he asked slowly in a deep, rumbling voice. His hands gripped my sides and chest, encircling my torso with their massive might. I became painfully aware of just how strong he was and how frail I was next to him. It would have taken very little for him to have snapped my body in half. "Let me help…"
"What are you going to…" I was cut off when he suddenly jerked me upwards. There was an awful, painful pulling sensation as he yanked me free of the webbing, nearly pulling out most of my fur in the process. "AHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed for several long moments, "You son of a…!" He dropped me suddenly and I landed on my back. "OW!"
"My mother was a very respectable Snorlax," he muttered.
I glared at him. "You nearly ripped all my fur out at once," I hissed.
We regarded each other for a long moment. Then, he fell over backwards, once again fast asleep, crushing the still-stunned Swalot. I winced in a rare moment of sympathy.
"Oh…" Rio said, drawing back, "That's got to hurt…"
"Weezing, Crobat, return," Proton ordered, sucking them back into their Poke-balls, "I suppose I must surrender now. And it's these two's fault. Tch. Worthless Pokémon."
"Hey!" Syoran yelled, "They're yours, aren't they? You shouldn't be insulting them like that!" Proton glared icily at him.
"Pokémon are only tools, kid. If they can't get me what I want, then what good are they?" he asked, "Even your Absol would be better than these two losers. At least I can sell him."
A growl crawled its way up my throat. He smirked down at me. "You would make a very nice coat, once we got the webs off of you. The ones up by Fortree did. Were they friends of your, perhaps?"
That was the last straw. With a howl, I tackled him and knocked him onto his smugness turned to fear as my claws slowly pushed against his chest, penetrating his clothes to the flesh underneath. My lips were pulled back into a snarl that came from deep within the recesses of my heart. I never had felt such intense desire to kill something, not even when I was starving from lack of food. I was on the brink, a fraction of a second from tearing his throat out, and he knew it. Nine and Syoran started for me, but were really too far to stop me unless I delayed.
"They were my family!" I barked, my voice trembling with rage, "And you, you monster! You killed them! I ought to kill you, slice you into little bits, and feed them to the Magikarp! But…I can't." A tear came to my eye. "Because we a saviors, not destroyers! My family died trying to warn you ungrateful humans, and I will not tarnish their legacy! I may hate you from the depths of my soul but I will not kill you! As much as I want to…"
I shook my head, ridding it of violent images of him dead on the floor. I curled my lip in disgust. He hadn't understood a word I'd said, of course. He still thought I was about to kill him. Suddenly, I felt only disgust for him. I didn't even want to be near him for fear that his taint might be infectious. He was scum and beneath me. Tossing my head, I stepped off him and sauntered toward Syoran's side. Proton scrambled backwards, as far away from me as possible.
"Get out of my sight," I growled over my shoulder, "I never want to see you again. I never want to think about you again. I plan to forget about you as soon as possible. But I doubt you will ever forget about me. About us."
I noticed all eyes in the room were staring at me. The humans were concerned, most likely thinking that I had been about to kill Proton. The Pokémon, on the other hand, were staring at me in amazement. "Well?" I growled to Nine, "What are we waiting for? Aren't there more at this Battle Tower place?"
"R-right!" she replied and turned to Syoran. "Hey! What about the others?" He blinked, coming to himself slowly.
"That was…interesting," he said, "And by that I mean dangerous." He held out his hand to Norris. "Thanks for your help…I can see why you work here. Your Snorlax is very strong." Norris laughed.
"He does well in a pinch," he said, scratching the back of his head. He gestured to the Rockets. "I can guard these guys if you want to go on. I bet they need all the trainers they can get to beat Team Rocket if they've really come back at full strength." Syoran nodded gratefully.
"Thanks. Come on, everyone! We're headed to Battle Tower!"
