CHAPTER 9
Somewhere in the middle of nowhere...
"...Jessie?" a weak voice called out.
"...Yes James?" a second voice replied.
"Do you think they're gone?"
"I sure hope so... that blast-off hurt a lot more than it usually does..."
"Dat make's Pikachu's Thunderbolt feel like a weak slap..." a third voice groaned.
"More like... a stroke with a feather..." James moaned.
"C-Can either of you even move?" asked Jessie.
"Hang on...ugh...nope".
"Me neither. I think my leg is trapped under something. Hang on... nope, it's too heavy. I can't budge it..."
"I think... we need to find help. Dose aliens pack a punch. We need to get back to base. I'm sure de boss will be able to do something about dis situation..."
"Doesn't he still have that secret project he was working on?" asked James.
"Possibly," replied Meowth, "'Cause if he does, den dat's just what we need to turn dis little alien incursion back home!"
"I'm sure he's working on it already..."
...
Meanwhile, at the Rocket Base, in an undisclosed location...
"Well this sucks".
Giovanni stared at the Alien horde that had stormed the base and had now cornered him in his office.
There had been a vicious fight that raged all across the base which teetered back and forth before the Covenant were finally able to capture the Control Room, redirecting the base's defences against the Rocket troops.
The next five minutes quickly became a massacre as the Rockets and their Pokémon all were killed off by their own turrets.
The crowd of Aliens surrounding Giovanni parted as a tall Chieftain boldly strode up to the man in the orange tuxedo.
In perfect English, it said, "I am going to give you a few moments to say a few last words, vermin. Make them count".
"Well isn't that nice," Giovanni said with a smile, "Come to think of it, there IS something I would like to say..."
They all watched as he sat down in his chair.
"Go to Hell," He said simply, pressing a button, "All of you".
There was a loud hiss as a large capsule on the far wall suddenly opened up.
The Covenant turned in surprise and took a few steps back as a creature emerged.
It opened its deep-purple eyes.
It looked about at the Covenant soldiers.
They raised their weapons to fire when a blue glow came upon them all.
All at once, they started screaming and writhing in pain, and then they were silent.
Giovanni smiled.
"Now... if you don't mind, we have an alien horde to drive off. If anyone's going to take over the world, it'll be Team Rocket! Not some rag-tag bunch of backwards-ass, alien fucks. Now... we have our work cut out for us, let's get to it...Mewtwo".
...
He stared at the photo in his hand, off in a daydream as everyone else bustled around him.
The Pokémon Centre was starting to become crowded, filling up with Police Officers, trainers, Pokémon and UNSC soldiers.
Officer Jenny, Nurse Joy, Jake and Jenkins were all discussing a change of location when Officer Jenny's phone buzzed.
"It seems that the radio tower was being used to disrupt our signals..." she muttered as she checked the message, "It's from the Elite 4, saying to meet up in the Whirl Islands".
"The Whirl Islands?" Ash scratched his head, "I've never heard of that place before".
"It's a small atoll south of Johto," explained Sabrina, "The caverns there will make a good refuge from the invasion".
"It's also rumoured to be the home of the Legendary Pokémon of the Seas, Lugia," said Nurse Joy.
That's no rumour, said Latias, he really is there. He's currently hibernating until something goes wrong, like the Legendary Birds starting another fight.
"Well then he's going to get a rather nasty surprise when he wakes up," He said dryly.
"Are you acquainted with the other Legendaries of this world?" Sabrina asked Latias.
Some of them, She replied, but the others are otherwise unreachable or too hostile to even approach. Not everyone is as civilised as me, you know.
"Uh-huh," He raised an eyebrow sceptically, "Define 'civilised', then".
What I'm saying is, some of the other Legendaries aren't exactly as friendly as me, and are rather a bit too in-touch with their wild side for their own good, and therefore are almost incapable of rational thinking for anyone but themselves.
"Is there anyone who you think would be able to help us?" He asked.
All of them will fight for their own safety, but you might be able to convince pretty much any of the Psychic-Types to tag along. We generally possess a higher level of intelligence than the others. For example, the Legendary Birds have the collective IQ of a bag of nails, and the Legendary Beasts aren't much better.
"What are the Legendary Birds and Beasts?" He asked, confused.
The Legendary Birds are Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres, the Titans of Ice, Lightning and Fire respectively. The Beasts are little more than their ground-dwelling counterparts: Suicune, Raikou and Entei, although Suicune is a Water-Type, not Ice, She replied.
"What about your brother, Latios? Would he join us?" asked Joy.
I'd be able to convince him no problem, said Latias, He's in Johto at the moment anyway.
"...I'm curious," said Officer Jenny, "Why are you in Kanto anyway? Aren't you from Hoenn?"
We're here on a quest to find the Soul Dew, an item of great importance to us. We heard a rumour that it is in one of these regions somewhere, so we decided to see for ourselves.
"The Soul Dew?" Jenny murmured in surprise, "I have heard of it, but I don't know why it would be all the way out here..."
"What does it do, exactly?" He asked.
It vastly increases our speed and offensive capabilities, She replied, Not to mention it looks fantastic on a necklace...
"Um, excuse me?" Jake spoke up, "When are we going to be leaving? We have arses to kick and no time to kick them in".
"Just hang on a second!" Officer Jenny snapped, "One does not simply move to the Whirl Islands without a bit of preparation! Once we leave the safety of the Pokémon Centre, we're at the mercy of the Aliens, so we'll need to-"
"Uh-huh, that's nice. None of us have anything but what we have on us, so we're ready to go pretty much anytime," he interrupted.
Officer Jenny grumbled under her breath.
"Hornet Squad, I think it's about time we cleared up the first LZ," said Jake loudly, ignoring her.
The ODSTs nodded and walked out.
"UNSC Tornado, this is Hornet 0-1," he said into his radio, "the first LZ will be clear within the hour, copy?"
"Copy that 0-1," a voice spoke back.
The Spartan and his team filed out of the Pokémon Centre and off into the distance.
"Well people," said Officer Jenny, "We're leaving this place. Our journey will be taken in several dozen stages. We'll stop at each city on the way for a brief rest, and then we keep moving. If we run into survivors, we bring them along with us. Leave no humans or Pokémon behind".
"When are we leaving, miss?" asked a trainer.
"In the next half an hour, so start getting ready now," she replied.
Gary quickly dialled a number on his phone, and the ring dial started beeping.
"C'mon Grampa, answer it!" he begged softly.
The dial continued to beep, with no answer.
"Dammit," he cursed under his breath, "I hope he's still alive when we get there".
"Are you alright Gary?" asked Ash, concerned.
"No, it's fine," he shook his head.
...
Hornet Squad quickly shuffled through the backstreets of Saffron and headed for the east exit.
Upon entering the gatehouse, they quickly scanned Route 8, before bursting out the door.
"Watch your sectors," Jake cautioned, "Any one of these trees could be hiding a Covvie".
"Scanner's clean," said Hawk, "We're in the clear".
"UNSC Tornado, this is Hornet 0-2, LZ Foxtrot is clear," said Jenkins, "Do you copy?"
"Copy that Hornet, Birds en-route. ETA ten minutes," replied the radio voice.
A high whistle quickly caught their attention, causing them to race for cover as more rang out.
"Contacts! Contacts!" yelled Jenkins, "It's an ambush!"
"Oh, you did NOT just shoot that pink shit at me!" yelled Jake, dashing for a tree.
"Covvies at 2 o'clock!" yelled Graze.
"More at 9 o'clock!" exclaimed Sparky.
They split up in different directions, trying to find their hidden assailants, but the intensity of the fire forced them to keep low.
"Where are you, faggot?" Jake muttered under his breath, "Bloody Scanner's fuckin' useless..."
The snapping of branches caused him to look up, to see a Jackal with a Needle Rifle stepping on a weak branch.
He grinned and pulled out his Pistol, killing the hapless creature with a shot to the head.
A pink spike suddenly appeared in front of his face, startling him.
"Jesus, that was close!" he exclaimed as he ran around behind the tree, with more shots zipping past.
The ODSTs searched the trees for the source of the attacks, but the Covvies remained elusive.
And then at once, it all stopped. Everything went deathly quiet. The ODSTs looked about nervously, unsure of what was happening.
A deep growling sound echoed through the shrubbery.
"That doesn't sound good..." murmured Sparky.
They all scanned around their surroundings.
A bush rustled to their right. In an instant, they turned on a dime, training their weapons on the bush.
The growling continued as the bushes continued to shake.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are, you son of a bitch..." said Jake.
A creature suddenly burst from the bushes behind them.
They all turned to fire.
The creature tripped and fell on its face.
They stared at the Pokémon before them, and started laughing.
It was a small cat-like creature, closely resembling a lion cub from Earth. Except its face and forelegs were blue, with a yellow band around each leg, and its hind legs were black with blue toes. It had large, yellow eyes, and its ears had yellow insides. Its thin black tail had a yellow star-shaped thing on the end of it, and there was a band of black fur around its neck.
"Shinx..." it mumbled softly, wide-eyed, then it got up and ran off.
"I can believe we got spooked by THAT little thing!" chuckled Jenkins, "Heh-Heh-Heh..."
"What a crack-up..." laughed Sparky.
An enormous column of fire suddenly consumed an ODST.
"Holy Shit!" exclaimed Jake.
"Dexter!" yelled Jenkins.
Dexter's charred form dropped to the ground.
They all stared at a large canine-esque Pokémon before them.
It was covered in brown fur, with patches of cream and silver on its chest. There were large black bands around its legs, which also had white fur around its feet. Its face looked like some sort of festival mask, with three red spikes on either side, three yellow spikes at the top, and a white mustache-looking thing. On its back was grey-coloured fur flaring off in different directions, and what looked like a white plume of smoke that stretched from the base of its neck and into a tail. It had deep, red eyes that were trained squarely on the large, robotic-looking humanoids in front of it.
Dexter groaned as he struggled to push himself off the ground.
"...How are you still alive?" asked Sparky in surprise.
"...I... don't know..." Dexter cringed, breathing heavily.
The large creature roared loudly, shaking the bushland around them and almost knocking them off balance, then launched a Flamethrower at them.
They all scattered to avoid the stream of destruction.
A loud gunshot echoed out. The creature grunted and turned to stare at its left leg in surprise, as a stream of blood suddenly trickled from the bullet wound. It turned at the Spartan, who had his pistol raised towards its head.
"The next one goes between your eyes," he threatened coldly, "if you don't piss off and leave us alone".
There was a tense standoff as the Pokémon and the Spartan stared each other down.
The creature suddenly snarled lowly with a sneer, before turning away and disappearing in amongst the trees.
"What the hell was that?" exclaimed Hawk.
"Buggered if I know," replied Jake, holstering his sidearm, "But hopefully it won't try that again".
The scream of jet engines caught their attention as several Pelicans slowly descended to the ground.
The rear hatches opened up, and several squads of Marines dropped out, armed with a variety of weapons, along with two Warthogs.
Each Marine had a pitch-black phoenix emblazoned on their right shoulder guard.
"Welcome to X-295, people!" said Jake, "Don't worry, I assure you there are still plenty of Covvies to go 'round, so make yourselves comfortable".
A Marine walked up to him with a salute, "Phoenix Company reporting for duty!"
"Righto you lot!" replied Jake, "There are a group of civvies in Saffron City to the East planning to head across to the Johto region west from here. I want them to get there alive, clear?"
"Got it, sir," replied the Marine.
"We're going to clear up the next LZ in preparation for Vulture Company, so we'll probably rendezvous somewhere in Johto".
The Marine nodded, "We'll see you there then".
The Marines all trundled off towards Saffron City, and Hornet Squad headed on towards Lavender Town.
...
"Are we all ready to go?" asked Officer Jenny.
Everyone nodded.
"Then this is the plan so far: Using Saffron as a hub, we will organise teams to search each city around us for survivors. Namely, Cerulean City, Celadon City and Vermillion City. After that, we will go to Fuchsia City, where we will take a boat to Cinnabar Island. Next, we will head up north to Viridian City, stopping in at Pallet Town along the way. From Viridian, we will send a team to search out Pewter City, and then when they come back we'll cross over to Johto. Does everyone understand so far?"
No one said anything.
"Well, I know the plan, so that's all that matters now," she continued, "So without further ado, here's our first plan of action. Misty and Sabrina will go to Cerulean, Brock and Gary will go to Celadon, and Ben and Ash will go to Vermillion. There won't be a group out to Lavender, since it has been established that everyone there perished. Everyone else, hold tight for now and wait for their return. We're leaving as soon as the last group gets back. Clear?"
Everyone looked about at each other with nervous tension.
"Then let's get to it! We'll be waiting here for your return, so good luck!"
Ash turned towards Him, "So...we're going to be teaming up, eh? Then let's give it our all and rescue Vermillion City!"
He nodded in reply.
Gary and Brock shook hands, "Let's try to get out in one piece, eh?"
Brock nodded, "It'll be very dangerous, so let's take this with utmost caution with this".
Misty turned to Sabrina worriedly, "I hope my sisters are alright".
"Don't worry," she replied gently, "We'll find them and get them to safety".
"ODST," called Jenny, "Is there anything we should know about how to go about these missions? Any advice on how to survive...?"
"Actually yes, there is," He replied, turning towards the others, "Stay low, and use buildings and trees for cover, don't attract ANY attention at all to yourselves, only engage in fights if there is literally no other option, and whatever you do, for the love of God, don't get killed. That is all".
The pairs filed outside, saying a last "good luck", and going their respective ways.
Shortly after they disappeared, the Marines of Phoenix Company burst through the eastern gatehouse.
"Stick together, Marines," said the commander, "Call out any Covvies you see, and keep an eye out for the civilians".
The Warthogs rolled slowly alongside the column of Marines as the turret gunners rotating about cautiously.
"We got movement on the Scanner up ahead!" called a Marine.
"Hostiles?" asked the commander.
"Unlikely sir, they're not going anywhere. Covenant would've picked us up a while ago and engaged us if that was the case," she replied.
"True... Approach with caution and watch for an ambush".
A squad of Marines all held their guns pointed towards the entrance as they rapidly approached.
Officer Jenny poked her head out of the doorway just as a Marine was about to perform a breaching manoeuvre. The Marine couldn't react fast enough as he accidently rammed his Assault Rifle in Jenny's face with a sickening crunch.
"Agh! Son of a BITCH!" she yelled furiously, clutching her face, "What the hell, man?"
"Oh shit! Sorry about that! Are you alright?" he asked apologetically.
Jenny withdrew her hand as blood trickled from her nose, "Do I look alright? You broke my nose, you friggin' klutz!"
The Marine slapped his Assault Rifle across his back and reached for his pocket, producing a small rag. She snatched it from his hand and pressed it against her face.
"So... you guys must be the reinforcements the Spartan was talking about?" she asked, trying to regain some sense of professionalism.
"That's right," he replied, "We've been asked to provide escort for your group as they move about".
"Well, we could use the help," said Jenny, "Everyone's in here, and we have 3 small teams out searching for other survivors. Hopefully they won't take too long. You didn't miss them leaving by much, so you still might be able to catch up to them. One group went north; another west and the third went south".
The Marine nodded, "Alright, we'll dispatch squads to follow and keep an eye on them," He turned to the commander walking up to them, "Right boss?"
"Affirmative," confirmed the commander, "2nd Platoon, follow the northern-bound group. 1st Platoon, you're going west, and 4th Platoon, you're going south. 3rd Platoon, hold the fort here".
The Marines all nodded and got to business.
...
Up north...
Misty swallowed a lump in her throat as she approached Cerulean City's southern entrance, with Sabrina close behind.
"Don't worry," said Sabrina, "The Pokémon Centres and the Gyms in major cities all around the world are built like fortresses, Cerulean included. They were originally intended to protect people in case of a Pokémon like a Legendary going on a destructive rampage, and keep those inside safe from harm, but it's highly likely that they will be more than a tough nut to crack for the aliens and their weapons. If your sisters usually spend most of their time in the Gym, I can assure you their safety".
A noise behind them startled them, causing them to freeze.
They turned as soldiers with guns approached them from behind in complete silence.
"Uh...who are you?" asked Misty.
"Don't worry," said a Marine, "We're here to help you with your mission".
Sabrina stared at them for a short period of time, then nodded, "I'm glad to have you with us. We could use the extra help".
"I'm Sergeant Fredrickson," the Marine extended his hand, "Leader of 2nd Platoon, Phoenix Company".
Sabrina shook his hand, "I'm Sabrina, and this is Misty".
Fredrickson turned to his platoon, "Alright people, let's do this! Sabrina, after you".
They all silently moved towards the Pokémon Centre. The building was looking worse for wear, with broken windows, signs of plasma fire and a small inferno raging inside.
Misty's stomach churned violently, "I highly doubt we'll find anyone alive in there".
Sabrina closed her eyes, concentrating her telekinetic powers on the building, searching for signs of life.
Something caught her attention. A small wail of despair.
That was it, she snapped alert, "There's someone in there, alive. Let's check it out".
She rushed towards the building.
Movement caught Fredrickson's eye to the left.
The muzzle of a weapon poked through a hole in a ruined building.
"Sabrina, STOP! It's a trap!" he yelled.
A high-pitched whistle rang out. Sabrina grunted as she jumped forwards inside the Pokémon Centre.
"Sabrina! Are you alright?" yelled Misty.
Sabrina cringed as she clutched the back of her neck, "Ugh, I think it's only a flesh wound, nothing too serious".
"Marines, get off the road!" yelled Fredrickson, causing his team to scatter for cover.
Four Marines ran towards a ruined house, jumping the levelled wall.
"OH SHI-"
A mix of plasma fire and gunfire rang out, followed by screaming, Human and Covenant alike. Two Marines jumped back over the wall.
"We've got company!" yelled one.
"And two men down!" yelled the other.
As the Marines all stormed buildings for cover, they all encountered Covenant hiding in ambush.
A bitter firefight quickly broke out.
Fredrickson quickly pulled Misty behind him and barged in amongst some ruins.
He spotted four Grunts jump from behind cover.
He shot them all in quick succession with his Battle Rifle.
Loud roars emanated from nearby.
"Watch out!" yelled a voice, "We got some Brutes joining the party!"
"Alakazam!" yelled Sabrina, producing a Poke Ball, "Let's do this!"
Alakazam appeared in a red flash. "Kazaam..."
"Use Psychic on the Aliens!" she commanded.
"Kazaam..." the Pokémon's eyes glowed blue, and then a blue aura surrounded the Brutes, stopping them in their tracks.
"Fuck 'em up good!" yelled a Marine, opening fire on one.
Immobilised, the Brutes could only roar in agony as the Marines shot them to ribbons.
"I don't know what just happened," Fredrickson stared in awe, "But it'd be mighty helpful if you did that more often".
Sabrina nodded, "Just doing what we can to help".
The remaining Covenant stared in fear and surprise at the Psychic-Type in the Pokémon Centre, backing away slowly, before turning into a full retreat.
"Let 'em go!" said Fredrickson, "Status report!"
The Marines all gathered in the Pokémon Centre. Five soldiers carried a wounded comrade with them.
"We've got two confirmed dead and five wounded, sir," said a Marine, "Everyone else is accounted for".
Fredrickson sighed, "Let's just continue the search and get out of here".
Sabrina walked deeper into the building. "I felt something hiding behind a piece of fallen rubble..."
She spotted a collapsed piece of roof blocking a door.
"In here," she beckoned.
Fredrickson and a Marine cleared it away with a heave, and Sabrina opened the door.
A small voice screamed in surprise.
She looked to see a young boy cringing in the corner.
He cowered away briefly, before recognising the Psychic Gym Leader.
"...M-Miss Sabrina?" he asked nervously.
"The one and only," she replied gently, crouching down, "Don't worry; we're here to get you out of here".
The boy slowly stood up and brushed himself off before walking towards her, rubbing his eye, "I...I don't want to die..."
"Shhh," she whispered, pulling the boy into a hug, "It's alright now. You're safe with us, okay?"
The boy nodded, returning the embrace.
The Marines looked around, wary for another attack.
"Let's move on," beckoned Fredrickson, "This place is giving me the creeps".
With the boy still in her arms, Sabrina turned and led them to the Gym.
The Marines formed a defensive circle as Misty fumbled through her pockets for the keys.
She produced a small silver key and opened the lock.
Two Marines forced the unresponsive automatic doors open as the rest of them rushed inside.
There was no-one there. Not alive, anyway. The pool was completely empty, save for a small mound of corpses carelessly stacked in the middle. There were blood stains everywhere, and the gut-wrenching smell caused Misty to throw up. She was utterly horrified, to say the least.
"Now that's a scene I've seen far too often for my liking," remarked Fredrickson grimly, "They don't usually bother with burying their victims, preferring to leave their handiwork in the open for all to see, those shameless bastards".
Misty recognised several of her Gym subordinates, unable to speak at the butchery.
The little boy shied away from the scene, hugging his face into Sabrina's leg.
Sabrina sighed, "There's obviously nothing left here. Let's go".
They filed out of the Gym dejectedly.
As they walked, Misty finally spoke up, "Before we leave... there is one more thing I want to check out before we leave for good".
They followed her north to a bridge crossing a small river. Across the bridge, the path turned right towards a small bluff with a view. Up on the bluff was a house nearby the cliff.
Misty slowly walked up to the edge, looking about at the view. Columns of smoke rose in the distance.
She turned when she heard a click behind her.
A young man peered out of the house. "...Misty!" he exclaimed.
She struggled to remember him. "...Sorry, who are you again?"
The man stepped outside into full view.
He was about average height with a thin build, brown eyes and brown hair.
"Bill, the famous researcher and inventor," He said, "Remember?"
Misty stared hard.
"...Nope".
"Don't you remember? You and your 'boyfriend of the week' used to come past here all the time".
"...Still no bells ringing," she shook her head.
"You stole one of my Eevees so you could have a Vaporeon," he said flatly.
"...Oh I remember now!"
"No you don't," he facepalmed.
"Yeah, I don't," she slouched over.
"Anyway, how are things with you these days?" Bill asked politely.
"...What".
"You know, I haven't seen you around here for a while. How are you?"
"... Have you been living under a friggin' ROCK up here?" she exclaimed, "Our planet has been invaded by ALIENS for Arceus' sake! Everyone's getting killed!"
"Well now that you mentioned it, yes I have noticed a few... interesting visitors," he pondered.
"Interesting? How can you call a bunch of murderous MONSTERS interesting?"
"Well, they're actually quite open to conversation once you get to know them," he shrugged.
"Wait...what?" she blinked.
"Isn't that right...fellas?" he casually turned to his right. Misty felt her blood go cold as she turned left.
A horde of Covenant had clambered up the cliff-face and caught Sabrina and the Marines by surprise, surrounding them.
"Drop your weapons, vermin!" growled a Brute.
"...You fucking traitor," was all Misty could splutter as Jackals formed a circle around her.
"Meh," he shrugged, "Instead of killing me outright, they were willing to barter me down for my humanity in exchange for a few little tips and secrets".
"You didn't!" she exclaimed.
"But I did," Bill smiled smugly, "I'm sorry, but that's the way things roll".
"You do realize they're going to kill you once you're useless to them, right?" asked Fredrickson.
"No skin off my back," he shrugged, "We're all going to die someday anyway. It's just a matter of when, how and what you're remembered for afterwards".
"You'll be remembered as a traitorous bastard," Sabrina spat venomously.
"Not my issue," Bill hand-waved, "Not like I'll be able to care anyway".
"Enough talking!" roared a Brute, "We have work to do!"
The Covenant disarmed the Marines of their weapons and grenades before leading them all away.
A Jackal shoved its Needle Rifle in Misty's back. "Move forward!" it screeched in a strange accent.
Misty gave Bill once last death-glare before turning and walking off with the others. Bill simply turned and walked back inside, closing the door behind him.
...
