Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.
Chapter 10
Team Mordred was, at that moment, moving out.
The negotiations between Giovanni's representatives and Mordred's had resulted in a cooperation agreement; now Teams Mordred, Aqua, Magma, and Rocket were united under the name "Coeus", a reference to the Greek Titan of wisdom. Mordred wasn't concerned with the name of the alliance. The plan didn't depend upon names.
Mordred stood on a plateau overlooking his army. The last of Team Mordred's fighting force had just emerged from the hidden cave leading to the Team's underground headquarters, and now Mordred could see the full strength of his command. Three hundred Team Mordred soldiers, a mass of black with spots of gray (their gloves), marched forward confidently. Each had bright yellow "M"s on the front of their uniforms and a maroon beret atop their heads. Each of the soldiers possessed various Pokémon of all types and most species, each trained for a different purpose, be it dive bombing or close combat. Some of the soldiers would be traveling in vehicles, but most would be marching (for intimidation of the enemy). They were more than capable of marching this distance. Two hundred soldiers had been left to guard the HQ. Team Rocket's helicopters, Team Magma's tanks, and Team Aqua's ships would be supplementing Team Mordred's arsenal, in addition to the one hundred troops they would each be supplying. The allies would meet in Guyana. Mordred watched as his great army began to split up. Being so large, the army had to make themselves as inconspicuous as possible, and that meant taking separate routes to the jungles of Guyana. Even with those measures it had taken a lot of bribing and sabotage to ensure that the huge combined fighting forces would not be noticed by governmental or international authorities. But, of course, it was all worth it. Soon the MID would be in Mordred's hands, and Mew would be ever closer to being in his possession.
Mordred reflected idly that most any other man of power would take this moment to laugh evilly. But Mordred never laughed; he only smiled a smile which would chill the coldest Ice Pokémon. For never was there a person more dedicated to his goal than Mordred.
/
(Written like a script)
Scene in a dark room.
Camera rolls slowly to right. We see a picture with a family (music - violins fade in with very high, happy note); the father's face is covered in the shadows (basses fade in with discordant notes, constant and thrumming).
Camera changes direction slightly, showing a paper on the desk. Somebody is writing on it. The music gets louder, the violins go down and the basses go up as we can see what's being written: it's a check to somebody from the Treasury of Guyana. As soon as the pen stops, the music cuts off.
Camera switches to front view of the man at the desk, also covered in shadows. He places the check in a pile; a distant thumping, like a giant drum, is heard.
The man doesn't hear it.
He writes another check, places it in the pile. Another boom.
Another check - this time the man hesitates, looking at the picture on his desk. Then he continues; we see the check land in the pile as the third boom comes - no louder, no softer...
Just another day at the government.
/
The next day dawned brightly. Ash opened his eyes and for a second thought he was still dreaming, because everything was silent. No Murkrow cawed, no Pidgey cried, no Hoothoot hooted. Ash craned his neck and saw Misty and Brock breathing, but he couldn't hear them. That's odd, he thought, they usually make at least some noise when they're asleep. Unlike me! I never snore! his egotistic voice (which, by chance, was the same voice as his over-confident voice) added in.
Ash's thoughts echoed in his head, as if waiting for some sort of reply, a sound to break the silence. But none came. Ash wondered sleepily if he had become deaf. Then he shifted slightly in his sleeping bag, causing an explosion of ruff-ruff-ling sounds that momentarily gave some nourishment to Ash's ears; but then that too died away, and silence returned, intact. It was then that Ash noticed that Pikachu was not beside him.
Now fully awake, Ash dressed quietly and crept out into the hall, closing the door of the room on the uppermost floor they had been granted by the MID to sleep in. He jumped and almost yelled when the neighboring door opened and Justin emerged.
"It's just me," Justin whispered as he closed his door. "Bulbasaur's missing. Why are you up?"
Ash looked down the hall, where the early sunlight shone through the huge windows. Ash was reminded strangely of seeing apple juice through a bottle. "Pikachu's missing too... hey, there they are!" He pointed towards the windows. Ash's Pikachu and Justin's Bulbasaur sat near them, viewing the jungle.
When their trainers reached them, neither Pikachu nor Bulbasaur moved. Intrigued, Ash sat down next to them. "Hey, Pikachu, what's up? Why are you and Bulbasaur here? It's still pretty early."
Pikachu turned briefly to Ash. Its eyes were full of worry. "Pika, Pikapi" it replied in a sad voice, before turning back to the window.
Justin's Bulbasaur also turned to its trainer. "Bulba, Bulbasaur. Bulb..."
Justin looked back into Bulbasaur's eyes. Like Ash, he didn't need a Pokémon translator to know what his Pokémon was saying. "They're worried. They think something's going to happen."
Ash recalled a dream he had had last night of all the Pokémon in the jungle behaving strangely - hiding themselves, flying away in groves, running away. Maybe it wasn't a dream. He recalled Professor Oak telling him one time that Pokémon are much more in tune with nature than humans. He and Justin looked on with Pikachu and Bulbasaur as the rising sun's peak emerged over the trees.
Then several things happened in succession.
Something bright, something fast, something on fire appeared in the distance, rising up over the trees. It sped like a comet, cutting through the air like a zipper on a giant coat, shedding light on anything that had not yet been penetrated by the sun. The flaming object grew larger as it rose higher, finally reaching a peak in the sky, then slowly descended, becoming larger ever still; Ash and Justin realized simultaneously that it was heading directly for the building.
Down in the basement of the MID, Officer Jenny was reaching for her coffee mug when the alarm went off. The building's satellite defense system had detected something heading towards the area from the south at high speed. Jenny instantly glanced to the southern camera screens, all of which depicted from various angles a bright, flaming object rocketing towards them. The missile, whatever it was, had been fired too close to the MID for the defense system to counter-attack in time. All Jenny could do was rap out orders to her hurriedly-awakened policemen and watch in horror as the object drew closer by the second.
Ash, Justin, and their Pokémon ran from the window as far as they could before the massive object, a flaming boulder, crashed into the ground outside the MID - not two hundred feet from its walls - and disintegrated. The entire building shook, and several windows shattered. Shouts and screams followed the incredible noise of the explosion as the occupants of the Mew Investigation Department awoke amid panic and confusion. Ash found himself on the floor of the hallway next to Pikachu. Justin hauled him up as Misty and Brock ran out of their room half-dressed. Togepi cried in Misty's arms. Security police dashed everywhere, yelling orders and herding dazed scientists and Pokémon downstairs.
Far, far away from this turmoil, Pokémon across the world stopped and listened. And one particular Pokémon, flying high above the earth, turned in an arc of fire and rainbows and headed for the country of Guyana.
A/N: How did you like the "script" scene? I got the idea for it right before bed one night and begged my mom to let me on the computer really quickly before going to sleep. Was it unclear what the man was doing? If so, he is illegally promising money from the Guyanan Treasury to... someone. You can probably guess who, given who was recalling bribing government officials just before this scene. I understand that the check thing may not make sense - it's the best idea I had that wouldn't change the scene too much. Exactly what the man is doing is irrelevant. The point is that he is betraying his people, including his family.