Chapter 10: Unleashing Rage
It has been nine days since Arc started the training regime under Clif's supervision and boy has it been eventful. At the end of the first day Arc and his Pokémon were feeling high and mighty mastering the obstacle course, but only to be crushed the next day when Clif changed the obstacles in the course. He did it to pit Arc against new challenges and as the days passed the obstacles went up in difficulty. It has gotten to the point where Arc and his Pokémon often go back to Clif's cabin bruised and battered from the obstacles.
As the sun rose Arc went through his morning routine. Ever since he started training with Clif, he has been waking up earlier and earlier. At first it was because Clif would toss him in the pond at sunrise, but now Arc wakes up before Clif does and prepares breakfast for the group. As he cooked, Arc could hear Clif roll out of his bed.
"The hell is going on?!" he barked.
"Well good morning grumpy ass" Arc said nonchalantly as he put breakfast on the table.
Unfortunately one of the nasty side effects of training under Clif was that Arc's language went south. He doesn't swear often, but his parents probably would not approve of it. Clif grumbled as he sat at the table and started shoveling his face, eating with the same amount of gusto as a starved Snorlax. While they were eating Clif started inquiring about what Arc has already accomplished since he started his journey.
"I never asked you this before, but how many Gym Badges do you have?" Clif asked.
"I currently have two badges. I won the Cascade Badge at Cerulean City and I also have the Boulder Badge from Pewter City." Arc replied as he lifted his shirt collar to show his badges.
"Boulder Badge ehhh…. Who did you face to get that one? Clif asked with some sharpness in his voice.
"Ummm…. Brock" Arc responded unsure of how Clif was going to react.
At that moment the cabin went dead silent. Clif sat there at the table giving Arc a faraway look of blatant disgust. His breathing grew heavy and Arc noticed that the veins in his neck and forehead started to throb.
"Are you okay there Clif?" He asked.
Clif continued to sit there and stare. Arc knew he hit a rather sensitive topic for Clif and decided not to pursue any further details on the matter. He motioned for Neeko and Snow Storm to go outside and wait till Clif was back to his normal grouchy self. Neeko and Snow Storm darted out the door without a second glance and decided to go stare at the pond.
While they looked at the morning mist over the pond, rustling could be heard from behind them. Suddenly a Raticate and Mightyena jumped them from behind a bush and cornered the duo from the cabin. Baring its fangs, Raticate attempted to separate Neeko from Snow Storm and lunged at Neeko. He dodged to the left, but in the process left Snow Storm completely exposed to Mightyena who had her backed up to a tree. Lunging at her with glowing fangs Mightyena grabbed her midsection and started running down the mountain side.
Hearing the commotion Arc and Clif ran out of the cabin to see Neeko and a Raticate brawling. Arc then looked over in the distance and saw Snow Storm in the jaws of a Pokémon he's never seen.
"Mightyena. The Bite Pokémon and the evolved form of Poochyena. They move primarily in packs, working together to capture prey" the Pokedex beeped.
Arc took off in a mad sprint after Mightyena knowing that she was in trouble. Running downhill made it easier to keep up, but it all changed when the Mightyena jumped and landed in the basket of a black hot air balloon. Arc stopped and stared at the balloon when he heard a familiar set of voices.
"Prepare for trouble... and make it double! To infect the world with devastation! To blight all people in every nation! To denounce the goodness of truth and love! To extend our wrath to the stars above! Cassidy! And Butch, of course! We're Team Rocket, circling Earth all day and night! Surrender to us now or you will surely lose the fight!" the voices said.
Arc sighed and thought to himself "Not these morons again…". He still remembered his last brawl with these clowns when they tried to steal Snow Storm by trapping him in a hole.
"Let me guess, you guys are after Snow Storm once again?" He sighed.
"You guessed right! After you torched us the last time, let's just call this sweet revenge!" Cassidy shouted making faces at Arc.
Clif and Neeko finally caught up and stared at the balloon. Neeko growled at their assailants for Pokénapping his best friend while Clif tried to wrap his head around the situation.
"Who the hell are those idiots, and why the fuck did they try to steal your Butterfree?" Clif asked trying to catch his breath.
"These guys are trying to steal Snow Storm because she is an Orange Island variant of Butterfree. They are called Team Rocket!" Arc said with a desperate tone.
Clif's eye narrowed at the sound of Team Rockets name. Standing tall, Clif showed anger unlike that he has ever seen before. To Arc, Clif looked more terrifying now than when he first met him and when he mentioned Brock's name combined. Fuming with rage Clif pulled six Pokeballs out of his pockets and threw them all at once.
"That's it! I've had it with Team Rocket! You guys will pay for this and what you did to me all those years ago! Now Butterfree, Sawk, Gengar, Steelix, Ampharos, and Vaporeon, break their will!" Clif said releasing his pent up rage.
All six of Clif's Pokémon appeared and readied themselves for battle. The most impressive one in Clif's arsenal was the massive Steelix that towered over the rest. Team Rocket saw Clif's Butterfree and decided to go for a pair of rare Butterfree. Butch commanded his Mightyena to attack using Bite attack. Meanwhile Raticate came up from behind the group using Super Fang at Clif's Butterfree as well.
Clif commanded it to dodge and then had his Ampharos use Thunder Punch. Ampharos ran forward and socked Mightyena sending it sailing. Sawk on the other hand used Close Combat to beat up Raticate. Suddenly Steelix shot forward and used Crunch on to the bottom of the balloon to keep Team Rocket from escaping. Neeko saw this as his chance and ran up Steelix's back and into the basket of the balloon. He then used Slash attack and freed Snow Storm from Cassidy's grip.
"You little brat. I'll show you and that old timer a thing or two! Now Raticate use Giga Impact on Steelix!" Cassidy roared.
Raticate started glowing and a purple swirling aura surrounded Raticate as it charged at Steelix. Hitting its mark, Raticate was able to free the balloon from Steelix's grip, but at a heavy cost. Half of the basket was still in its mouth and it left Cassidy and Butch wide open for an attack. They stared at their ruined basket unable to speak.
"Ha! Now Steelix use Dragon Breath, Ampharos use Thunderbolt, Vaporeon use Hydro Pump, Sawk use Stone Edge, and Gengar use Night Shade!" Clif shouted pointing at the balloon.
"Neeko use Fire Spin and Snow Storm use Psybeam!" Arc shouted not wanting to miss out on the fun.
All of the Pokémon attacked at once and their moves merged together to form one giant glowing beam of energy. It collided with the balloon and sent Team Rocket flying over the mountain side. Arc leaped for joy showing his enthusiasm for beating Team Rocket for a second time. Clif just stood there breathing heavily and showing the middle finger in the direction that Team Rocket went flying. Arc noticed Clif's rude gesture and decided that he was tired of not knowing.
"Alright Clif… What caused you to go over the edge like that? I realize Team Rocket had to be stopped, but did you really need to send out your entire team after them? I think that any one of your Pokémon would have been enough to stop them" Arc said glaring at Clif.
Clif sat down on Steelix's midsection and sighed. Arc's constant questioning was getting annoying to say the least, but he knew that he went over the edge with that fight. Leaning forward he stared at Arc.
"This is the reason for my complete loss of self-control" He said pointing at his eye patch.
Arc realized that Clif didn't wear the eye patch to look tough or to help maintain night vision, he wore it because he lost an eye.
"Wait. You're telling me that you lost your eye to Team Rocket?" Arc said dumbfounded.
"It happened many years ago when I was in the military. Back then Team Rocket was a real problem and my unit was called in to deal with them every once in a while. During one particular mission I was ambushed by a Persian. During the fight, I lost my eye when it fired a Power Gem attack" Clif stated.
Arc then understood the severity of Clif's hatred of Team Rocket. To lose an eye during a mission to stop those scum bags must have been mentally devastating. Still thinking about what Clif said, Arc walked up to Clif's Pokémon and looked up the ones he's never seen before in his Pokedex.
"Ampharos, the Light Pokémon. Ampharos emits a strong light from the tip of its tail, which can be seen over long distances and serve as a beacon to those who are lost."
"Steelix, the Iron Snake Pokémon. Steelix is the evolved form of Onix. It has been compressed underground, making its body harder than diamonds."
"Sawk, the Karate Pokémon. Sawk train high up in the mountains by punching trees and rocks and the sound can be heard from far away."
He marveled at each one of them. All of his Pokémon looked incredibly powerful and well taken care of. While he stared in complete adoration of his Pokémon a massive roar could be heard in the distance. The two of them looked in the direction of the cabin and saw smoke billowing.
"Ah shit! The bastard is back again" Clif said returning his Pokémon and taking off towards his cabin.