Part 9
"So what's the plan?" Elle asked, curiously.
"There was some sort of thought put into our attack and no one told me?" Molly asked, eyebrow raised.
Misty sighed, stretching her arms into the air a little as the rag tag group hid behind the nearest vehicle. Pikachu was perched on Ash's shoulder so delicately, a hawk on a tree branch, hunting its rodent prey below. There was a sort of determination upon her partner's face that made him more attractive than ordinary, yet, at the same time, sort of intimidating. His eyes were narrowed, in a rather dark way. It wasn't simply that he was determined to succeed, it was that he was driven. Misty wasn't sure how this emotion came about, though. Had excitement and anxiety driven him to the point where he didn't want to back down anymore?
Or maybe he was just really pumped to kick ass and chew bubblegum?
That was a terrible line.
"This is as far as Frollo will allow us to enter with teleportation," Sabrina whispered, glancing over the hood of the truck they hid behind as the great, austere building before them. Misty had before queried to herself how Team Rocket could remain hidden so close to a major city for so long, but, judging by the presentation of the building, had Misty passed by this place on her old bike, she'd never have given it a passing glance. Hiding in plain sight was a remarkable strategy, really. It probably doubled as a genuine research facility, too.
"Security doesn't look tight," Surge mumbled, about to rise to his feet, only for Sabrina to place a hand on his shoulder, keeping him restrained.
"It's all a façade. Frollo knows we're here," Sabrina murmured, "He's armed his men with flash grenades."
Lt. Surge laughed, reaching into his pocket, withdrawing several pairs of sunglasses, which he handed to each of the soldiers around him, including Misty, who placed them on the bridge of her nose, simply. "This'll take care of that problem. Don't worry; I used them during combat. If you were thrown into the sun, the light wouldn't blind ya even when you were five inches away from it."
"Wouldn't you be dead?" Misty asked, confused.
"That's beside the point."
"So when do we get ready to fight?" Ash asked, his voice betraying a slight tremble. Was he trembling out of a longing to fight, or was that him finally betraying his inner fear? Regardless of what the source of that slight tremble was, the simple fact was that Misty herself was completely and utterly terrified. After all, this wasn't simply a small brawl: it was an all-out war. Frollo was able to assimilate their very minds, take away all that gave someone their individuality. In a sense, Misty would utterly cease to be. Her very mind would be stolen, and all the might associated with it. She trembled at the mere thought.
It was a hell she couldn't comprehend: utter annihilation.
"We move now," Sabrina replied, "Get in any way you can."
Misty watched from the corner of her eyes as Surge and his two cohorts darted from around the butt of the car, darting toward the facility, their bodies ducked low as they ran against the wall, and, to the remaining quartet's awe, ran straight through the front door, and, if their ears didn't deceive them, unleash a torrent of electrical shocks that was so intense the windows bubbled out from within only to shatter outward. The ground was littered in glass as Rocket bodies were thrown out in all directions, bloody messes on the ground.
"Are they insane?" Molly stammered, "Didn't they ever hear of subtly before?"
"Well, they certainly will make our jobs easier," Sabrina replied, "I can sense it already. They're breaking into the basement. That's where the Rocket base is, and that'll give you a chance to find a disguise."
"A disguise?"
Sabrina nodded, at which the other three followed her. Misty avoided looking at the broken bodies on the ground, the forms bleeding and torn up on the ground. It was best not to think of them as human and more as glorified vermin. After all, it wasn't like they had families, friends, or any social lives at all. They didn't have someone they'd call home or talk to outside of this one little base. They were hardened criminals who deserved exactly what they got.
Right?
Inside the lobby, Sabrina roughly pulled off a Rocket uniform from the nearest female soldier, and pulled it onto her own body, hiding her old outfit under a new uniform. She glanced over her shoulder as she pulled the beret she had stolen over her head as she murmered, "Go crazy. Find one. Keep the computers intact. I need you to raise as much hell as possible, though. Kill anyone you see."
"Kill?" Misty stammered.
"Actually, you don't need to. Surge will probably get pissed if you take away one of his victims. When you're ready, the elevator shaft looks screwed up, so just climb down the emergency ladder." Indeed, this was true. The steam and smoke rising from the remains of the emergency escape filled the ceiling with a thick cloud of smog, a repulsive thing that left it impossible to even see the walls and surface without seeing layers of dark soot.
"I can't do this," Molly mumbled, weakly, as she stared down at a broken body below her, a surprisingly young girl along the ranks of Team Rocket that looked no older than she was, "This is wrong, it's just evil."
"No, it's war," Sabrina replied, glancing over one last time, "If you don't fight, you'll die. It's that simple. Which do you prefer? Life? Or death?"
#
"Jessie, does this mean we have to actually kill someone?" James asked, his voice filled with anxiety.
Jessie shot him an anxiously frustrated glance as the sirens blared, lights flashing in all directions, glinting off the sweat on their skin as hundreds of grunts emerged from the wood works, darting toward the brawl in the first lab, where, apparently, absolute chaos was reigning. From what she could hear in the ear pieces stuck in their ears, the situation wasn't good. "There are three invaders on the first floor, and four in the lobby," Frollo's sociopathic calm voice whispered, delicately, "I want you to all retreat to Combat Section D, and then return to the lab once the trio are trapped."
"He makes it sound so easy," Meowth mumbled, glancing at the others, "So whadda we do?"
"We do as he says," Jessie said, simply, "What choice do we really have? If we do that, we'll get a good word in with the boss, and—"
"That doesn't sound like what Miyamoto's daughter would say."
Jessie turned around at the sound of her mother's name as Claude emerged from the darkness, his arms folded across his chest, a slight grin on his lips. How did he know who her mother was? How did he know where they were? How did such a big guy just sneak up on them like that, exactly? Rather than ask those important questions, all Jessie managed to sputter out was, "No one asked for your opinion, you gorilla!"
Claude chuckled, ever so slightly, a grin on his lips. "Gorilla? That's exactly what Miyamoto always called me when we were looking for Mew together."
"For Mew?" Jessie repeated, lamely, staring at this man with a look of awe and, for the first time in her life, reverence. He knew of her mother? He knew her mother? He had known her mother? Years had passed since the last time she had seen that woman, a woman who had vanished looking for Mew years ago, a woman who hadn't been seen in over a decade. Some said she was still looking for Mew, but aside from a crazy rumor here and there, Jessie had resigned to the fact that her mother must have died. Claude's confirmation that he was no longer looking for Mew all but proved Miyamoto died looking for a legendary beast.
"Yeah. She was such a great fighter she was," Claude laughed, "Ah well. Don't let an older man's memories get in the way of the present. Let's be fair: it's clear what must be done. You guys can see it. I'm departing now through the teleportation system. It's how we're transferring a lot of major instruments from this lab to the one in Viridian. I would stay and fight, but, as the one in charge of this operation, I can't afford to be arrested or killed. If you wish, you could come with me to defend me, or you can defend this base a little longer."
"Isn't the whole reason you hired us was to defend this here base?" Meowth asked, skeptically.
"That is true. However, that was long before I realized I was dealing with Miyamoto's daughter. So, how about it? Care to help an old man across the pond to the head of our operations?"
Grinning, Jessie nodded. It was a hell of a lot better than having to kill, and what did she really have to lose? In actuality, nothing whatsoever.
#
Ash arrived in the totaled lab below. He landed on his feet after dismounting the ladder, staring down at the wide-spread wreckage that had consumed this place of stability, this realm of civil unity. It resembled the base they had demolished on New Island, except now it was littered with dead corpses, blackened and bloody as they rested on the ground, weak and frail, near death. Ash had hidden his old clothing, along with rest of them, in a secret hiding place only Sabrina knew of, as she had teleported them off into another place, potentially her own gym. The rocket uniform she chose was rather moist with blood, giving it the appearance of a person who had just waded through a sea of corpses. Misty and Molly looked the same, but somehow Sabrina had found the only bloodless uniform in the batch, looking like a flawless angel of death as she darted deeper into the depths of oblivion, her long tresses of hair dancing into the air as she ran deeper into the pits of the lair.
"So, uh, where do we go?" Ash asked after Sabrina was out of sight.
"Well, I guess we go deeper?" Misty replied.
"Sounds like a reasonable plan," Molly responded, "But the problem with that is that we kinda don't know which way deeper is."
"Don't worry about that. You really aren't going anywhere, so enjoy the ride where you are."
The high voice sent a furious shudder through Ash's body. There was something about that tone that was so irritating, so triumphant and dauntingly irritating. Clenching his fists, he turned to face two Rockets, berets on their heads as they glared at the intruders. One was a scarlet haired beauty, the other had locks of onyx. However, the thing that stood out to Ash was how the duo were quite literally four years younger than they were. They were at the same age Ash was when he first parted with Misty, that tender, emotional age.
"Oh, what're you talking about?" Misty asked, play acting as a Rocket Grunt, even lowering her voice to a more robust, hoarse manor, "We're on the same team, right?"
"Look, we aren't stupid," the girl replied, her eyes narrowed, "Well, he is, but I'm not!"
"Hey!"
"Shut up, idiot! Now, look, if you were on our team, what's our boss's name?" It was only then that Ash realized that the only name he knew of in association with this operation was Frollo's name, and he had no idea whether he was the boss or not. Regardless, it was worth a shot to say it. After all, what other answer did they have? There wasn't any other choice was there? Maybe he'd be lucky and that was the right choice.
Judging by the grin running up the girl's face, that cruel, sadistic grin, he guessed wrong.
"Oh boy," Misty mumbled, withdrawing a Poke-Ball from her hip, unleashing, with a flash of light, her Corsola, its appendages of coral sticking out in all directions, emerging before er.
"Sceptile! Help out Misty's Corsola!" Ash snapped, summoning the great green reptile in the air, leaves sprouting out of its skin as the seconds passed, the great beast roaring out into the air for a moment as Molly summoned her own Sneasel once more, its claws bared as the seconds passed, the trio of fearsome Pokemon glaring at the duo of Rocket Elites, their lips curled into satisfied smiles.
The scarlet haired girl tossed two balls into the air, as the boy tossed two Poke Balls into the air as well. There was a great flash of light as the room filled with a brilliant nova of brilliance. There, the energy condensed into four physical forms. At the black haired boy's side there were two of the most unlikely creatures Ash had ever expected to emerge from a Pokeball: a Phione and a Manaphy. How did this guy find himself in possession of two such powerful legendary Pokemon? How could anyone physically capture such creatures like that? How was it even remotely possible? However, the two creatures at the side of the scarlet haired woman were even more shocking than the creatures at her partner's side: Cresselia and Darkrai.
"This isn't gonna end well, is it?" Molly stammered.
"Sceptile! Use Razor—"
"Reflect," the girl replied, simply. The leaves that shot from the green Sceptile's body slammed against a barrier of white that appeared before the crescent-shaped deity, the leaves thrown aside harmlessly as Manaphy darted forward, a jet of almighty bubbles exploding from its form, great glowing bubbles that slammed into Sneasel's body, before the creature swung its jet of watery bubbles around, slamming all three Pokemon before them, the trio being thrown against the back wall as their trainers stared in horror at the destruction.
"There have to be easier ways to do this," Misty mumbled.
"Pikachu, use Thunder—" Darkrai turn toward the offending mouse, and, without warning, the ghoul's eyes glowed bright blue, a shockwave of radiant azure soared through the air, slicing through oxygen in a sharp explosion forward as the energy collided headlong into Pikachu's face. To Ash's horror, the poor critter fell from his shoulder, unconscious and asleep, snoring lightly.
"Pikachu! Wake up!" Ash snapped, pulling his friend, slapping him across the cheek. Doing this, however, managed to successfully awaken his friend, along with summoning his wrath, which came in the form of several volts of electricity. He was thrown into the air, electric waves stimulating every painfilled nerve in his body as he was thrown into the ground at the duo's feet, at their mercy. As Pikachu stared in horror at where his master had fallen, Cresselia glanced over at him, only for a pulse of invisible strength surged toward him, the very earth being ripped apart as the wave tore through the air, into Pikachu, throwing him straight into the now cratered wall, a wall cratered from the force of Cresselia's very attack.
"If you surrender now, maybe we'll let you live," the girl replied, smirking smugly.
"But Ka, we can't kill them like this," the boy replied, "We can't kill anyone."
"You idiot, Shi! The hot guy said kill 'em, so we'll kill 'em! I told him I'd do what he said, and by God, I don't wanna piss him off. He was so dreamy, too, like how he never shaved and everything."
"Are you talking about Nathanael Butler?" Misty asked, her eyes narrowed.
"Why yes, of course we are!" Ka replied, laughing, "But of course someone of your inferior caliber couldn't possibly manage to stand up to someone of our elite status."
"Hell! Take him if you want! He's a rat bastard anyway," Misty snapped.
"A rat bastard?" Ka repeated, her jaw clenched, "You don't deserve to say his name with that mouth of yours!"
"Ka, this isn't the time for this," Shi whispered, tugging at her sleeve, "Let's just take them to Butch and Cassidy."
"Shut up!" Ka snapped, "I—wait, what?" For an instant, her face grew blank, only for a slight grin to spread across her face, a wicked little grin on her pretty face. "Yeah, ya know, that ain't too stupid of an idea, ya know?"
"What're you talking about?" Molly asked, terrified.
The scarlet haired beauty turned toward the younger girl, a grin on her lips, "You just shut up and take this." Ka handed Molly a trinity of grenades, which Ash recognized as light grenades. "If you do us a big favor, then we'll take you straight to the center of this little base, okay?"
"What's that?" Ash asked, watching with an eyebrow raised as Shi handed him his grenades, carefully and delicately.
"We need you to make Butch and Cassidy, and those other two idiots Jessie and James, look like complete losers again," Ka replied.
"Ditto!"
"Hey, what was that sound?" Misty asked, glancing around as sweat suddenly burst from both Shi and Ka's foreheads.
"Probably one of the dying clones. Yeah, that's it," Ka laughed, hastily returning both her Cresselia and Darkrai to their balls as Shi did the same, "Listen, I'm gonna say this one more time just to make it easier for you two to understand, okay? We're going to arrest you, then bring you to Butch and Cassidy, alright? We go back on duty, you do crazy stuff to embarrass 'em, then move on to Jessie and James. Got it?"
"Lemme get this straight. So you let us destroy this base, and in return we just embarrass your competition?" Misty asked, skeptical.
"Yup."
"And who's saying you're gonna keep your word?" Molly asked.
"Well, we don't have anything to really prove we're being honest," Shi replied.
"But we can always just kill you the old fashioned way," Ka replied, shrugging lazily.
"We'll go with the whole embarrassing Butch and Kassidy thingy," Ash replied, nervously laughing to himself.
"Yeah, figured you'd say that."
#
Surge darted down the empty hall as bodies litered the walls, their very skulls pressed up against the surfaces, blood running down the surfaces. Rotom drifted before Elle, a grin on the girl's lips, sparks flying from the magnificent field of Magneton, a couple Electabuzz at their sides. Before them, on Surge's shoulders, was Raichu, sparks flying from their cheeks. It was odd like this, almost nostalgic in a way.
Nostalgic how? Years ago they had been soldiers on the battlefield together, fighting wars that most children tried not to think of. They fought organizations just like Team Rocket, some even more vile in the past, some that had attempted experiments and procedures that defeated all sense of moral limitations. Though these fiends were underground, and not nearly as mainstream as the Rockets, they existed. Team Aqua and Magma were not the only groups that sought to alter the world using legendaries, nor were Team Galactic the only ones that sought to create new realities. There always had been groups like them, always would be, and no one could ever stop 'em all.
That's where people like Lt. Surge had come in. During battles of magnitudes the likes of which no mortal ever could imagine, he had come in, armed with firearms and Pokemon that would infiltrate the bases, and destroy every last member so no one would even need to know they existed. To him, he had learned that everyone was just a baby. Elle and Watson had been young recruits of his, training alongside him on his missions.
Elle's Rotom was, and always would be, one of the greatest Pokemon he'd ever had the pleasure of meeting, powerful and mighty, able to manipulate all the equipment around them, all sorts of mechanical objects within range, if not only for the sole purpose of destroying a target. Watson was perhaps the greatest hacker he had ever met, and his Pokemon were pretty damn powerful in and of themselves to boot.
But what about Surge? The power house, a trainer who actually told his Raichu to go easy on the trainers who came to his gym, if not only to ensure he didn't kill the opposition. Whenever there was an issue too big for ordinary people, the League used to come to him at his gym to just take care of it, and, with the aid of Watson and Elle, he'd destroy the problem in an instant.
His gym.
Nathanael Butler had no damn idea who he had just fucked with. The bastard was an oblivious suit on a board of directors who didn't know about battle, nor about true heart ache, struggle, and the euphoria of triumphant victory. Those were emotions familiar to Surge, awfully familiar, and awfully potent. Even now, as he neared the end of the room, where a light shone brightly before him, he knew what to do.
"Let's finish this."
The large stadium before them was lined with seats, seats occupied by Rocket grunts who stared down at the trio as they entered. Surge found it amusing how they had all settled down to watch Surge kill them all. All it took was Rotom one fast charge, and the stadium would swallow them up, ensnare it in a great pair of jaws. Or at least it would have, had Surge not noticed their opponent. His black jacket drifted out behind him as he approached the trio, the white hair eerily levitating around him as he glared at Surge with eyes so dark and cruel that even the most monstrous man in the world could not compare. There was something so evil, so purely cruel and perverse, with that man.
Still, the guy was a light weight.
"Listen up!" Surge snapped, pointing right at the enemy, his arms folded across his scarlet R emblem, "We're here for one reason and one reason only. Everyone in this room is gonna die tonight, you ya better get a few last prayers in before we pulverize ya! So why don't you just bend down and beg for mercy, baby?"
"Baby?" chuckled the enemy, "I fear you are very much mistaken. The roles are reversed, you see. It is you who shall die, and I who shall laugh over your bodies. Not only that, but it'll be fun."
"Just who the hell do you think you are, talking like that?" Elle snapped, clenching her fist fiercely as the army of Pokemon behind them roared in disapproval.
"Well, I'm Frollo."
"So what? We're still gonna kick your ass no matter who you are!" Surge snapped.
Frollo chuckled, grinning slightly. "I don't know if you realize, but that comment just there just sealed your fate. I can sense the fear in your heart, Surge. I can tell it's there. You know it. I can sense it."
The lieutenant laughed at this, shaking his head. "What's that supposed t' be? Psychological warfare? C'mon! We're trained professionals. That might work on some fourteen year old chump, but it ain't gonna fool us."
Frollo chuckled again. "I see. Well then, I suppose I need to put fear into your hearts the old fashioned way." A ball appeared in Frollo's outstretched hand, no, six balls appeared, as they all simultaneously exploded into a brilliant nova of light. "Well, let us begin."
