The Crystal Adventure
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
Chapter 10: Vs. Giovanni
Houndour falls to the ground, having fainted from the attack. Archer silently returns his Pokemon to its ball, glaring at the young trainer. Lucas throws a fist up into the air, shouting, "Alright Atlas!"
"Weezing, Sludge." Archer sends out his next Pokemon, a Weezing. It floats above Atlas and fires out sludge.
"Dodge it and use Aerial Ace!" Heracross takes flight and avoids the attack, before streaks of white light release from the tip of its horn. It then flies past Weezing goes around it twice, leaving the ball of gas to turn around in order to keep track of it, and manages to strike between the eyes.
Weezing falls to the ground, but manages to levitate back up. "Smokescreen!"
Weezing releases smoke from its holes, covering the entire room. Lucas says, "Atlas, blow it away with your wings!"
Heracross turns around and rapidly flaps its wings to blow away the smoke. "Sludge attack!"
"Aerial Ace!" Heracross avoids the attack once more and prepares to do a repeat of earlier.
"The same thing won't work twice. Tackle!" Weezing flies forward to tackle Atlas, but it dodges at the last second before spiraling around Weezing like before. The two Pokemon strike each other head on, which leads to a struggle for power. Eventually the two Pokemon back off.
"Atlas, Horn Attack!" Atlas flies towards Weezing and strikes using its horn, finally knocking Weezing out of the air. It faints shortly afterwards. "Alright, Atlas!"
Heracross proudly throws its hands up, even as Archer returns his Pokemon to its ball. Lucas tenses up as he awaits the next Pokemon. He knows that Atlas is already tired from having to dodge those Sludge attacks. Archer then sends out his last Pokemon, Houndoom.
"It seems I really can't let you live. If you were to stay around by the time news of our resurgence reaches Giovanni, everything we would have worked for would have been for nothing." Archer tells Lucas, gritting his teeth in anger.
"I don't care! I can't let you guys get away with hurting Pokemon and people! Atlas, Brick Break!" Lucas shouts, commanding his bug type to attack.
"Houndoom, Flamethrower!" Houndoom fires a stream of flame at Heracross, hitting the mark.
"Atlas!" The bug type falls to the ground, having fainted from the blow.
"What will you do now? Is there a Pokemon left under your wing that can battle?" Archer questions the child.
"Shut up." Lucas returns Heracross to its ball and pockets it. He then begins to think over what to do; Feraligatr hasn't recovered at all from that battle with Petrel, Pidgeotto has been poisoned so that's a pointless venture, and both Pichu and Heracross have become incapacitated from this battle. All that's left is Quilava. "Let's go, Plue!"
Plue appears on the field from its ball, almost immediately calling forth its flames. "Flame Wheel!"
"Crunch!" Plue wraps itself in flames and flies towards a biting Houndoom, causing an explosion on impact. Luckily none of the flames reach the explosives above, still there's only a minute left for them. Houndoom emerges from the explosion completely fine, but Plue is stuck in its fangs. "Houndoom possesses the ability Flash Fire, which negates the damage from fire attacks but increases its flame attacks. Unfortunately, Quilava has no such ability."
Plue cries out in pain as Houndoom's fangs continue to sink inside it. "Plue, try to break free!" Even with his words Plue can't seem to bust out of the dog's hold.
"Toss him away and use Dark Pulse." Houndoom hurls Plue to the ground and fires crossing rays of dark energy at Plue. It knocks the fire type even further away.
"Plue!" Lucas calls out to his fallen Pokemon, in hopes that it could stand back up. The flames on its back and head begin to dim. "Plue, please get up!"
"Finish it off." Houndoom prepares a second Dark Pulse. But before it does the fire on Plue bursts up violently. Luckily it doesn't reach the explosives. "What's this?"
"This is… Blaze?" Lucas begins to remember Plue is also a fire starter, and when its health is down to 30 percent health its fire attacks increase by a considerable amount. It's something Infernape did once a month ago in a battle. Quilava stands up and roars, before it becomes surrounded by flames. The fire turns blue amd inside Plue's outline and color fade out. "Plue?"
'This is…' – Archer
The blue fire rises up until it slowly fades out, revealing Plue. Only this time, it looks like a whole new Pokemon. Lucas gasps for a moment before smiling with his mouth open. "Alright! Plue evolved!"
"So that's it…" Archer grumbles, turning to his Houndoom. "Crunch!"
The dog Pokemon charges at Plue, preparing to bite down on it. "Quick Attack!"
Plue falls on all four, and disappears in the blink of an eye. It then tackles Houndoom, knocking it into one of those binocular stands. "It may have evolved, but it's still weak. Flamethrower!"
Houndoom fires at Plue, who is now visible. "Don't dodge it! Use Quick Attack and go straight in!"
Trusting him, Plue charges straight it, the effects of Blaze still apparent. The Flamethrower is pushed aside by Plue's fires, until it manages to tackle Houndoom. 38 seconds are left.
"Houndoom!" The dark fire type falls to the ground, finally having fainted from the super charged Quick Attack.
"Alright, Plue! You did it!" Lucas cheers, glad that his Pokemon was able to make it through. Plue growls as well, before twitching from the pain earlier. He then returns his Pokemon to its ball and glares at Archer. "Now, turn off that bomb!"
"You've indeed won. Unfortunately, you seem to be mistaken; I guess you were under the impression that if I lost you would be set free." Archer says as his Pokemon is reclaimed.
"What?"
Downstairs…
"What do you mean the place is going to blow?" Cheryl shouts at Ariana after calling back her Pokemon.
"Archer will blow up the top floor along with himself and the kid. In order to resurrect Team Rocket we can't let some kid who came out of nowhere get in the way again." Ariana explains as she reclaims her Pokemon.
"Don't mess with me! Lucas shouldn't die for your selfish ambitions!" Cheryl shouts at her. She prepares to head for the steps that were blown up.
"Shouldn't you be more worried about yourself? There's no guarantee you may survive either." Ariana says as she walks away. "It seems control of Team Rocket goes to me."
"Lucas! You have to get out of there!" She yells. As Ariana approaches the steps, she sees a familiar boy standing before her.
"Y-You!" She shouts startled at the person in front of her.
He releases a Pokeball, and out pops a sparkling Pokemon that shines brightly. Soon Ariana, Cheryl and the guy are enveloped in a bright light before suddenly disappearing. The sparkling Pokemon flies up to the top floor above Lucas and Archer.
"What's that?" Lucas asks as he notices the Pokemon. Before Archer could say anything, they two become enveloped in a bright light, and eventually disappear. The timer finally reaches the end, and the top floor of the Radio Tower becomes enveloped in an explosion.
Somewhere Unidentifiable…
Lucas, Archer, Cheryl, Ariana and that mysterious trainer appear within a weird space trench. Neither could see anything around them except for a white light. Lucas even comments, "Wow. What is all this?"
"Lucas!" Cheryl cries out, running towards her boyfriend and hugging him tightly. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
"Cheryl…"
"What's going on? Archer!" Ariana addresses her only superior.
"This wasn't in our plan. What happened?"
"That was me." The unnamed guy states, gathering everyone's attention.
"It's you!" Both Team Rocket members shout. The guy steps forward and reveals himself, showing his red cap and normal trainer clothes.
Not knowing who he is, Lucas asks, "Who are you?"
"I'm the Champion of the Kanto region, Red." He says, lifting his cap up to reveal his eyes. "It's nice to see you two again."
"No it's not! What the hell are you doing showing your face before us again!" Archer scuffs at the teenager.
"I'm here to bring someone. Apparently, someone important was put in danger, so I was called on by that guy up there to help him." Red says, pointing his left thumb up into the sky to the floating Pokemon; everyone gasps when they see it's Celebi.
"That's the time traveling Pokemon Celebi!" Ariana exclaims.
"Celebi has the power to travel through time. It used that ability to take us to this portion in time, away from the explosion." Red explains as Celebi flies down before them.
"Did Celebi ask you to come save Lucas?" Cheryl asks the two.
"Yeah. Dialga said he couldn't let him die yet. Anyway, you two can come with me." Red tells her.
"Wait! We're not done with you yet!" Archer shouts at him.
"Aura Sphere." Red fires an Aura Sphere attack at Archer knocking him into Ariana. Lucas and Cheryl could only gape in shock at the technique he just pulled off. "Celebi, do it now!"
Celebi flies over both Rocket Executives and soon they disappear. Red then compliments, "Good work! Now to-
"Now to tell us how you could do that Aura Sphere!" Cheryl shouts at him.
"Are you an Aura Guardian like me?" Lucas asks as if it's the most obvious thing. The Kanto champion turns to Lucas and lifys his hat up, removing the shadows over his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm one just like you. I didn't think I'd meet someone else like that too." Red says with a smile, turning his eyes to the floating Pokemon above. "You can come out now."
Suddenly three other portals appear within the dimension they reside in. The pink one brings out Palkia, the blue one has Dialga and the gray/platinum one has Giratina, both in human form. Dialga says, "Hey, how's it going?"
"You guys again? What are you doing here?" Lucas asks the dragon trio of Sinnoh.
"I wanted to keep you safe so I called for Celebi to save you and bring this guy here. We have an important thing for him to do." Dialga says to the Sinnoh Champion. He then leans towards Lucas and whispers, "While we're explaining it to you, try not to say too much. Your girlfriend isn't an Aura Guardian so she can't see us like this."
"Lucas, who are these people?" Cheryl asks as she glances at the three humans.
"Eh?" All three Pokemon glance at Cheryl in shock. Even Lucas is surprised. Palkia moves towards her and asks, "You, you can see us?"
"Yeah, who are you?" - Cheryl
"But how? Only an Aura Guardian can see us! I don't sense any from her!" Dialga comments.
'Could she be...' These are Giratina's thoughts as he looks at the girl, this being the first time he's actually paid attention to her. Red remains silent just like him.
"Anyway, something is about to happen in the very near future that will affect the world negatively; Giovanni apparently heard the broadcast Team Rocket sent out for him. Unfortunately, so did someone else. He will approach Giovanni and present to him the technology that copied the Red Chains he made last time." Dialga explains.
"Red Chain? You mean..."
"Yes. It's Cyrus." Palkia says for Lucas, shocking him even more. "Giratina found him one day and decided to dump him out of the Torn World, but he promised he wouldn't stop finding a way to make his perfect world. So when he meets up with Giovanni they will begin to pour their research into making a Pokeball powerful enough to completely enslave a Pokemon with the power of Red Chains."
"I see. So he didn't learn a thing." Lucas muses as he crosses his arms.
"Even worse, he found out about the ceremony we were performing and used that ball on Arceus. With the old man under their control they could take control of the world with ease." Giratina adds.
"Arceus?" - Lucas/Cheryl
"Arceus is the Pokemon that created those three dragons. It also gave birth to the Lake Trio Pokemon." Red tells the couple. "So say it's the true creator of Sinnoh, no, the universe."
"Luckily I could go back in time to this point and inform these guys of what would happen. We still need to perform the ceremony, so in the meantime Red here will have to handle Giovanni." Dialga says as he finishes explaining what's going on. He then points to the left, and a portal appears before them. "Over there will take you to a few minutes ago. Palkia,"
"Yeah." Palkia holds his hand out and an image appears in the portal. "On the other side is Tohjo Falls. It's where Giovanni has been hiding."
"Thanks." Red dashes through the portal. Lucas follows after him, knowing he can't miss this battle.
"Lucas, wait!" Cheryl chases after them, knowing she wouldn't want to stay here. Celebi follows after them, and the portal closes up behind them.
Dialga then turns to Giratina and asks, "So why did you want me to save that guy?"
"...It's what the old man wants." The platinum dragon replies.
...
Red, Lucas, Cheryl and Celebi exit the time portal to the insides of Tohjo Falls. Unfortunately, something seems a little off. Looking around, the teenagers could see that they're actually outside. After passing for a moment Red eventually states, "We're not in Tohjo Falls."
"Yeah, I kind of figured as much when I saw no water!" Cheryl says in a sarcastic tone.
Hearing her, Red turns to Lucas and asks, "A bit of a temper on her, eh?"
"What's that?" - Cheryl
"Why did they bring us here? We could be anywhere in time!" Lucas adds. Suddenly, he hears someone up ahead. There the three trainers can see a red haired kid around their age.
Red takes the moment to check his Pokegear, and his eyebrows lift up. "I see. We've gone back three years in time," after saying that he takes a moment to look around, and continues by saying, "And from what I see, this is Route 22."
"We're in Kanto?" Cheryl questions, to which he answers with a nod.
"But how can you quit now? You told me... You told me you were the best in the world!" The red haired kid shouts to a man cloaked in a dark suit. Red tenses up when he looks at him, and Lucas and Cheryl gasp in shock as they look at the red haired kid.
"That's... That's Silver!" Lucas and Cheryl surmise. Lucas then turns to the guy in the dark suit, and asks, "Then he's..."
"That's Giovanni, the man who started Team Rocket; this must be after I defeated him." Red answers. He pushes Lucas and Cheryl to the side so they can hide.
"A man must acknowledge their defeat before they can move on... I will go, alone, so that one day I will form a stronger organization!" Giovanni proclaims proudly.
Silver could only look at him in disgust and anger. "What kind of aspect of you was the best? You gathered so many only to be defeated by a damn kid!"
"Putting together the potential of many is how you produce a huge power... That is how one makes an organization! That's the strength of an organization! I failed to make the best of my subordinates, but you shall soon witness the revival of me and Team Rocket, one day! So until then listen to Ariana."
"No way! Not after what she did to Mars-neesan! She ran off to Sinnoh because mom couldn't accept her!" Silver shouts back. He steps forward to his dad and continues, "I don't understand! How can you go through with this?"
"... One day, you will." With that, Giovanni walks away and leaves Silver alone.
"That's Giovanni alright..." Red states quietly.
"So that's it; his mom is Ariana, and his sister is Mars! I knew I felt something similar in them." Cheryl adds.
"But why is he around Giovanni?" - Lucas
"I don't want to understand you!" Silver shouts as his runs towards the man before he disappears. "I will never become a man like you. You're just a coward when you're alone and you act like a tyrant when you're in front of smaller cowards! I will become strong, stronger than anyone else all by myself! I won't need to rely on others like you, dad!"
Silver then runs off, covering his face as he does. Lucas doesn't catch more than a glimpse, but he sees what seems to be tears coming from his eyes. "Silver..."
"Well, that was informative, but what now? We need to get to our time!" Cheryl states.
Suddenly, Celebi begins to sparkle like before and flies above them. The trainers are all consumed in a bright light, and soon disappear.
Three Years Later...
The three trainers appear within a cave, this time for real. Looking around confirms the area they're in. "Y-you!"
The three trainers turn around and spot someone standing behind them. Immediately they recognize him as Giovanni. Red says, "Nice to see you again, Giovanni."
"It's a funny coincidence; I was just on my way to rejoin my fateful followers, and what do I see here? The boy who started all my problems has appeared before me." The leader of Team Rocket glares at the Kanto Champion.
"I'll defeat you. I'll make sure those events never happen." Red says, taking out a Pokeball. 'I didn't bring Pikachu with me, so I'll just have to make due with him. Eh, it'll be fine.'
"Nidoqueen!" Giovanni sends out his first Pokemon, the Poison/Ground female version of Nidoking. "Superpower!"
Nidoqueen comes charging in towards Red and the others. "Charizard, stop her!"
Red sends out his Pokemon, the fire dragon Charizard. The dragon reaches out and grabs hold of Nidoqueen's horn, slamming the beast to the ground. Nidoqueen shortly faints afterwards. "I-Impossible!"
"Wow. That Nidoqueen looked strong too!" Lucas comments.
"You have gotten stronger too. No matter, for I have trained for this day!" Giovanni retrieves his Pokemon and sends out Kangaskhan. "Dizzy Punch!"
Kangaskhan prepares to slam Charizard in the face. The fire type opens his mouth and bites down on the attack. "Air Slash!"
Charizard holds his right hand up and gathers a ball of compressed air, slamming it down at the Pokemon. The attack causes an explosion, and as the smoke clears Kangaskhan falls backwards fainting. Giovanni continues to tighten his fists in anger. He recalls his Pokemon and looks at Red, saying, "You have indeed become a powerful opponent, far more than you use to be. But this isn't where it ends. My subordinates are waiting for me back in Goldenrod! I will not fail them!"
Red just stares at him silently, even as Giovanni sends out two Pokemon, Nidoking and Honchkrow. "Shadow Claw!"
Nidoking charges at Charizard in hopes to slash it, but the dragon flies high up to the cave's ceiling. Honchkrow follows after him in close pursuit. "Charizard, Flare Drive!"
The flame on its tail lights up and surrounds Charizard's body, cloaking it in a blue fire. The dragon spirals to the ground around Honchkrow before the bird crashes in flames and then strikes Nidoking. The attack causes an explosion, one that completely consumes Nidoking, and Charizard dispells the flames, just as red electricity courses through its body by way of recoil.
Both Honchkrow and Nidoking have fainted, leaving Giovanni surprised and shocked to the bone. He could only look down appalled. "Has, has all this been a waste of time? Is Team Rocket's goal of controlling the world just an illusion?"
"Giovanni, give up on your stupid goal. Even if I let you do what you wanted, there would be other people who would get in your way. You've already made so many people suffer, like your son."
"Silver?" In response to his words the boss lifts his head up to Red as he reclaims his Pokemon.
"He's right. Silver has become obsessed with being a strong person, so much so that he's become a jackass. He now resents Team Rocket, Pokemon that lose in battle, and everyone around him. all because of you!" Lucas adds.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Lucas of Twinleaf, the champion of Sinnoh like this guy is champion of Kanto. I battled against your son some times, and I could see the hateful look in his eyes. It's because of you that he's such a terrible person!" Lucas tells him.
"Is that true..." Giovanni remains silent as he begins to think about his only son.
"Just put and end to Team Rocket and we'll all be better off." Red tells the adult.
"... I guess. From now on, Team Rocket is finished forever," Giovanni turns to the radio behind him, still hearing his shout out from the Radio Tower. "I'm sorry Ariana. I failed once again."
After he wallows in his defeat, Lucas, Red and Cheryl exit the cave, coming before the beautiful waterfall in front of them. Cheryl then asks, "What now? Do we move through time again?"
"No point. Since we're only a few minutes from the time you disappeared, we can just wait." Red explains to her.
Lucas crosses his arms over his chest and asks, "So we just do nothing, so we don't change history or anything?"
"That would be a good thing. After all, it's just a few minutes." Red adds as he walks down the path to outside.
"Wait, hold up!" Lucas calls out to him, stopping the trainer from moving any further. "You met my dad, right? Allen Kongouseki? What was he helping you with? What happened?"
"Oh, so you're his son. You do look like you're 3 years younger... Well, he was helping me. There's something I was doing at Mt. Silver that I can't turn away from. I couldn't let Blaine and Mewtwo die."
"Blaine?" - Lucas
"Mewtwo?" - Cheryl
"It should be ready soon. See ya." Red says as he heads out the cave.
"Blaine and Mewtwo... This mystery just keeps getting more complicated the further I dive into it." Lucas muses as he holds his right hand to his chin. "I guess I'll just have to go ask this Blaine person before this Mewtwo, as soon as time connects up and we finish our adventure in Johto."
"There's still one badge left and we need to return to Goldenrod to see if anyone was hurt." Cheryl adds.
"We'll have to wait so we don't change time. But then, that means we have some time to ourselves!" Lucas says to Cheryl with a smile. She catches on and latches to his arm as they walk outside.
'This was a long day, but it's good that everything is back to normal. Cheryl is safe, the world is safe, no one got hurt, and Team Rocket is finally finished.' Lucas comments in his head as he continues to walk with his girlfriend.
Elsewhere...
"That ends that; now all that's left is to retire to our places." Palkia says as he watches the events Red and the others went through in a portal.
"You sent them to the wrong time." Giratina comments.
"Shut up! It all worked out, didn't it?" Dialga shouts in anger. In truth, he did goofed, but he's too prideful to tell them. "Besides, Palkia is at fault here too."
"Hey, shut up ya blue bastard!" Palkia shouts at him. The two quickly engage into battle, which is actually just a thumb wrestling contest.
'Such immature idiots my brothers are... But there is still one thing that worries me,' Giratina muses in his mind as he walks through a reflection to his world. 'That was the first time I actually looked at the girl that boy Lucas is always with so I probably didn't notice earlier, but she was able to see us in human forms. Is she just like him, or is she... No, it can't be. That could only happen if she was from Isshu.'
As Giratina ponders this mystery, he notices Cyrus is trapped inside of a glass mirror. "I should have just done that from the start."
Back to The Correct Time...
Lucas and Cheryl are lying on a grassy field cuddling one another before Tohjo Falls. Lucas looks up at his Pokegear held in his hands and sees that time has corrected itself. "Good. Time to head for the next gym."
"Aw, I wanna stay like this a little more." Cheryl childishly complains, cuddling up closer to Lucas. He leans up with her and kisses her passionately on the lips.
After removing his mouth he looks at his girlfriend and says, "I really do, but it'll get dark soon."
"I guess. Let's cuddle in bed." She suggests, kissing back at her boyfriend. The two then stand up and with Feraligatr they swim to the nearest Pokemon center to spend the rest of their time together. Tomorrow they would fight against the gym leader of Blackthorn.
Kenshin: Alright, next time Lucas will face off against Clair and receive that test thing, after they go to Goldenrod and receive the gold feather. The final Kimono girl shows up and a five match battle begins.
Julia: Also, Red seems extremely strong here because in the game his Pokemon are at level 82 and above. That totally overpowers Giovanni's level 42-46.