In the darkness of his well-hidden hideout, the boss of Team Rocket, Giovanni, is listening to an ominous voice that is speaking to him through his telephone.
"I see..." he calmly said while stroking the head fur of his Persian. "And you say that you will help Team Rocket when we make sure that the secret of those ruins stays hidden? What could you do that might turn out profitable for me?"
After listening for a while, a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. "I see... and what if I choose to use that force for myself?"
The answer of his business partner was harsh and resolute. Giovanni gritted his teeth, but kept his voice calm. "Well, I was only theoretically speaking... well, but how can I be sure that you will keep your promise?"
After some time, he nodded again. "Okay, I will do as you say, keep this formidable Pokémon you told me about as a bonus AND will help me find my own 'pet project' after the job is done, right? Sounds not too bad... but if you insist on keeping your identity a secret, how will you give that Pokémon to me?"
He then frowned. "It is... already in my desk?" He opened a drawer, and indeed, an Ultra Ball was lying inside. "I see... it seems your organization has many surprises up its sleeve. Very well, I accept the proposition. I will send one of my best teams."
Another pause. "No, that that incompetent trio!" He didn't show his surprise that his employer knew about Jessie, James and Meowth. "Fortunately, these fools are still in Sinnoh... I would have sent the Black Tulip, but she is on another mission, so I'll send the next best team I have. Don't you worry, sir! They'll get the job done. Yes, of course! It is a pleasure doing business with you!"
He put the phone down and picked up the Ultra Ball. "Curious, Persian... how could they have snuck this past my security? I must keep in mind to put up more guards..."
He then pressed on the button on the intercom that was standing on his desk. "Butch, Cassidy! Report to my office, now!"
Fifteen minutes later, the blonde female and her green-haired partner were standing in front of Giovanni's desk.
"Present, sir!" Cassidy saluted. "What seems to be the problem?"
"I have a mission for you two," he stated. "You will travel to Johto and visit the Ruins of Alph... as you might know, in this place, the mysterious Pokémon known as Unown are often sighted. I want you to scout the area, report any anomalies, capture any Unown you see and make sure that nobody else enters the ruins."
"Unterstood, sir!" Cassidy nodded. "And for how long?"
"Until I call you back," Giovanni said. "That's all you need to know... by the way, this is your new Pokémon partner."
He opened the Ultra Ball, interested in what kind of Pokémon his employer had sent him.
In a flash of light, a humanoid canine with dark blue fur, a black muzzle and spikes jutting out of his hands and chest.
It knelt down in front of Giovanni. 'What is your wish, Master?'
"A Lucario!" Butch shouted in surprise. "Those are pretty rare..."
"And he can use telepathy, too," Cassidy added.
Giovanni rubbed his chin. 'Well, let's hope he is as strong as my employer promised...'
"Listen up, Lucario!" he told the jackal-like Pokémon. "You will be Cassidy's and Butch's partner on this mission. Do everything they say, protect them from harm and make sure they can carry out their mission."
'Understood, Master!' Lucario replied and got up from the ground, staring at Butch and Cassidy. Cassidy winced... the steely glare from that Pokémon was a bit unnerving.
"How... how shall we get there, boss?" Butch asked.
"You will take one of Team Rocket's jets," Giovanni said. "Also, feel free to take any Pokémon from the storage room you need. I was told that Lucario is a fierce fighter, but we don't want to take any risks. Leave now!"
They saluted. "Yes, sir!"
'Yes, Master!'
Giovanni smirked. He really liked that blue Pokémon's attitude. Maybe he would make him his new personal bodyguard...
"Kaji, Flamethrower!"
"CHAAAAARRRRRR!!"
Kaji spat out a plume of fire, and the opponent's Sandshrew went down.
"Way to go, Maya!" Misty cheered.
"Too easy!" Maya smirked. "That one is finished as well. Next?"
"That... that was my last Pokémon..." the youngster with the baseball cap muttered. "Dangit, you beat my whole team... and here I thought Ground-types were strong against Fire-types."
"Only if you teach them Ground-type attacks," Maya smirked. "Try to teach your Sandshrew Dig or something like that, or else he'll be toasted by Fire Pokémon like any other opponent."
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind..." the boy sighed as he recalled his Sandshrew. "Anyways, it was a great battle. I could use the practice. Bye!" And he continued his way along Route 5, towards Cerulean City.
Misty and Maya, on the other hand, walked towards Vermilion City. "Nice to see that Charmeleon obeys you," Misty said. "Ash had some trouble with his one after it evolved."
"Well, maybe it is because of my irresistible charm..." Maya giggled.
Kaji sweatdropped as he walked next to the path. "Charrr..." 'I don't believe this... I wouldn't have fought at all if you didn't give me the puppy-dog-eyes, Misato!'
"Pika pi," Misato giggled. 'Don't you mean the Pikachu eyes? And I already told you, it's normal for a Pokémon to listen to its trainer.'
'But I have my own free will,' Kaji protested.
Ritsuko and Butterfree listened to their conversation. "Free-ee-ee!" 'You are strange sometimes... I mean, isn't it an honor for a Pokémon to fight for its trainer? If she trains us well, we are unbeatable.'
Ritsuko sighed. "Squirtle squirtle..." 'Do you really want to listen to a trainer when he sends you into a fight? What if he makes the wrong choice? You could get hurt badly.'
Butterfree looked at her in confusion. "Free?" 'You are really strange... fighting is what a Pokémon's life is all about, right? Why would you prefer to have a boring life like some sort of lap dog?'
Ritsuko sighed. 'That wasn't what I meant...'
"Your Pokémon are well-behaved," Misty smiled. "It's unusual to have them all out while on the road."
"Ah, I just wanted them to have some fresh air," Maya said. "After that fight, they have earned it, right?"
'It's better than getting back into that weird ball...' Kaji shuddered. Misato and Maya giggled.
"Where will we meet your friend?" Maya asked.
"Todd said that he's gonna wait for us near the Pokémon Fan Club. Its members sometimes show up with rare Pokémon, and he takes any chance to get one in front of his lens."
"Sounds like he's really serious about his job," Maya said.
"Yup, he even helped Professor Oak on several occasions," Misty nodded. "He specializes in photographing rare Pokémon, which means there has to be a reason why he received permission to take pictures inside the Ruins of Alph."
"You mean he found a certain species of Pokémon?" Maya wondered. "How exciting!"
"It's a possibility," Misty said.
They had reached the outskirts of Vermilion City now. Ritsuko couldn't take it anymore, though. "Squirtle! Squir squirtle!"
Misty looked down. "Um, your Squirtle really is an excitable girl, isn't she?"
"Yeah, she is... what's the matter, Ritsu-chan?"
"SQUIRTLE!" 'Stop calling me that!! And tell me why you insist on keeping up this senseless Pokémon Trainer stuff! Why do you want to go sightseeing in some ruins while we could be trying to find a way back to Tokyo-3?'
Maya sighed. Then she bent down to Ritsuko's head and whispered something into her ear. That surprised Ritsuko so much that she nearly tripped over her tail.
Maya winked at her and followed her new friend Misty as they entered Vermilion City together.
Misato hurried over to her friends on all fours. "Pika?" 'What did she say?'
"Squirtle..." 'I must have misheard... but she told me that there might be a possibility that we can find a way back home in those ruins... because of the Pokémon that live there or something like that...'
"Charmeleon, Char!" 'Well, I hope she's right about that,' Kaji grumbled. 'I think it's rather depressing that I have fire all the time... and yet, no cigarette!'
'I know what you mean...' Misato sighed. 'We've been in this strange world for several days now, and I haven't had a beer ever since we started this journey.'
Butterfree shook his head. "Free-ee-ee..." 'You guys are REALLY weird...'
The raccoon smiled as he dusted the counter and shelves in his shop. When he was finished, he put down the cleaning cloth and smiled in satisfaction.
"There! Now the customers can come!" He smiled to himself. "As soon as we reach the Lylat System, I'm gonna make a fortune by selling all these tourist articles..."
He took one of his articles from its shelf to dust it off. It was a beautiful piece of art, a synthetic flower with a straight, green stem and orange petals.
A soft knock on his door made him turn around. "Yes?"
The door opened and a young hedgehog girl stuck her snout into the shop. "Are you ready, Tom?" Sable Able asked with a nervous blush. "They are starting."
"Yes, of course!" he nodded and put the flower back. He then offered the nervous girl his arm. "Shall we go?"
Her blush intensified even more. "S-sure..."
They left his shop and closed the door behind them. In its shelf, the flower-like stick was giving off a light shimmer...
Tom and Sable walked along the huge promenade. Every now and then, other villagers were running past them, laughing with joy.
"I, um... am really glad you agreed to come with me to the festival," Sable muttered. "I mean, I know that you don't have much time on your paws... I'm really grateful."
Tom scratched his head in embarrassment. "Well, I must apologize... I should have taken a few days off... I know you always wanted to go out with me. Sorry, Sable..."
"Th-that's okay..." she smiled dreamily. "But isn't this exciting? All of our village, drifting through outer space... building this new space ship was the best idea Mayor Tortimer could have come up with..."
"Well, we couldn't have stayed on our little world forever..." Tom replied. "And we were lucky, too... if Kapp'n hadn't found this weird space engine on one of his travels... Well, here we are!"
Together, they entered the huge ship's town hall, the big plaza in the middle of the shop, underneath a huge dome of indestructible glass. This is where most of the floating town's festivals and special events were being held. At the end of the hall, a big podium was erected, on which Mayor Tortimer was standing, trying to calm down the enthusiastic villagers.
"Well, then, my friends," he smiled. "I'm glad to see you all came to our first festival together in space! Indeed, who would have thought just one year ago that we would travel to faraway planets? Not me, that's for sure!" He made a gesture across the room. "We also have to give our thanks to Tom Nook, Saharah and the Able Sisters... without their fantastic wares, we would have never been able to equip this marvelous ship with everything it needs... and we certainly don't want to forget our dear captain, Kapp'n, who unfortunately couldn't make it to our festival... he has made it his own duty to steer the ship while we're having fun. And speaking of fun: I hope you'll all have fun this evening. And to make sure of it, here is our all-favorite singing guitarist, K.K. Slider!!"
The crowd erupted with cheers when the white dog with the guitar appeared on stage. He hummed, strummed on his guitar, and started whistling before starting to sing his newest song in his goofy, but loveable voice:
"We all live in a yellow spaceship, yellow spaceship, yellow spaceship. We all live in a yellow spaceship, yellow spaceship."
A trio of sleek spacecrafts appeared in the distance. As they approached the huge, floating town of Spaceville, they reduces their speed.
"Is this it?" Gecko asked curiously.
"It certainly is," Lupe nodded. "Now remember, boys: The Master is willing to overlook our last failure if we bring him the artifact hidden on this ship."
"I don't quite get it what he wants with it..." Pardus grumbled. "We should try to find Shinji instead... or go back and have a rematch with Star Fox! I'm itching for a fight!"
"You will do as you are told!" Lupe angrily barked. "And if we are told to attack this ship, we will attack this ship!"
"Whatever, I think this is going to be easy," Gecko grinned. "The scanners don't indicate any type of weapons, and their shield are rather low... this won't take much longer than ten minutes!"
"Gimme five!" Pardus growled.
"Now, now, don't underestimate this old ship," Lupe said. "If our boss's information is correct, there could be some surprises waiting in store for us... anyways, we shouldn't keep the ladies and gentlemen waiting, don't you agree?"
"Yeah, time to start our own barbecue!" Pardus grinned as he charged up his laser.
The festival was at its peak, when all of a sudden, the whole ship got shook around.
"What in blazes...?" Tortimer stuttered.
Sable was scared. "What happened, Tom?" she asked.
K.K. had started a new song. It sounded surprisingly like the Imperial March from Star Wars...
"We... we are under attack!" came Kapp'ns voice over the intercom. "Three small space fighters, they just appeared out of nowhere and attacked us without any provocation."
"But this is madness!" the mayor blurted out. "Did you try to contact them? Ask them for the reason of this attack? We are a peaceful ship and carry no weapons!"
"They ceased firing and are now transmitting a message... I'm putting it on the intercom, just a second..."
And then, the voice of Lupina was heard all throughout the floating city of Spaceville.
"We are the Star Wolf Team! There is something aboard we need. Give it to us and nobody will be harmed. Resist, and we will reduce this big heap of scrap to a burning pile of space junk!"
Lupe giggled when she took her finger from the communicator. "Are you nuts?" Pardus complained. "If we destroy their ship, we can't bring that artifact to Master Andross..."
"Yes, but they don't know that," Lupe smirked. "We'll just scare them long enough until they give in."
And she was right. Back in the big hall, every villager was sweating and shuddering. The animal people were peaceful and knew nothing of battles, especially not of space battles.
"Machine room!" Kapp'n called out. "How much longer can we endure these laser shots?"
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME??" came the furious voice of the head technician. "Holding this bucket of bolts together is difficult enough as it is. You think I'm having FUN doing this? Do you think those are spitballs they are shooting with? Listen up, we are unarmed, we are under attack, and you ask me how long this ship is going to hold? You've got some nerves! I mean, who went and made you the captain? Me? No, certainly not! I have a job to do here, and if you want me to do it well, you better not bother me again with pointless questions. Now SCRAM!!"
Kapp'n winced as the connection was cut. "Resetti's getting more erratic by the day..." he grumbled.
"Oh..." Sable shivered. "What are we going to do?"
"Whatever could they be looking for?" Tom Nook wondered.
"Oh, I can't stand this!" the giraffe girl Gracie sobbed. "Why won't anybody save us?"
And K.K. Slider started a new song:
"I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
He's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight!"
"How much longer, if I may ask?" Olimar asked as he sat at the edge of Yui's console. His Pikmin were still busy cleaning the inside of her cockpit.
"Hmmm, let me ask Kat..." She activated her communicator. "Katt, how longer until we reach the Lylat System?"
"Just a couple of space flight hours," Katt replied. "If we're in luck, we'll come across Sauria soon."
"Well, I hope so. This flight has gone on long enough," Yui said.
"And in the meantime, my friends and family will wonder where I am..." Olimar sighed. "My poor wife..."
"Hey, don't worry!" Yui tried to cheer the tiny spaceman up. "As soon as we reach Corneria, I'm sure that general will be able to help you further."
"I sure hope you're right," Olimar muttered.
"Hey, Samus!" Katt suddenly shouted. "There's something big on my radar. Looks like a pretty big ship... do you see it too?"
"Yes, I do," Yui nodded. They flew past a single, drifting asteroid and then they could see the giant, yellow spaceship. It was shaped like a huge, floating, Japanese temple.
Katt was amazed. "I've never seen a space vessel this big," she blurted out. "Even the Great Fox is nothing compared to this..."
"Wait a minute..." Yui frowned. "Do you see these small, quick spots on your radar? Looks like there are other ships out there..."
"Oh my god!" Olimar shouted. "Was that a laser shot? They are attacking the bigger ship! And it looks like it can't fight back."
"Is that Star Wolf?" Katt wondered. "What dirty job did Wolf and his team accept now?"
"According to my scanners, the big ship doesn't have any weapon," Yui noticed after doing a quick scan. "We need to help them!"
"A magical wand?" Tortimer gasped. "Aboard our ship?"
"You heard me, old man!" Lupe growled. "We don't need to tell you why we need it, but if anyone of you know where it is, you better spit it out!"
Tom Nook sighed and looked at the floor. "Fine..." he whispered. "Mayor, I have what she is talking about... it's in my store."
"Tom, but... why did you never tell me about this?" Sable asked with surprise.
"Yes, I would like to know that as well," Tortimer frowned.
Nook looked embarrassed. "I... I thought I could sell it for a big prize when we reach Corneria... you know they don't know much about magic and would sell any price..."
Tortimer sighed. "Tom, you are hopeless sometimes..."
"So, you have it after all, eh?" Lupe asked.
"Yes, but... but how are we supposed to bring it to you?" Tortimer asked.
"We'll come aboard," Lupe said. "And no tricks... we still can make you pay if you plan to betray us!"
