Chapter Thirteen: The Perfect Storm

Rocky awoke with a throbbing pain on his forehead and blurry vision. "Wakey, wakey, sleeping beauty." Taunted a female voice. Rocky's vision slowly became clearer.

He was sitting in the seat of a car but chained up. Sitting on either side of him was the twins, Rose and Violet. They appeared to be in the backseat of an SUV. Two gang members sat in the front, driving it, while several other gang members on ATVs circled the vehicle.

"Where's my Sentret?" Rocky muttered groggily.

"In the backseat, in a cage. As it recognizes you as its master, which even for such a weak Pokemon we find surprising, we believe it necessary for it to watch you die " Violet told Rocky with a evil grin.

Rocky managed to keep his cool as he asked, "Why is that, Violet."

"How'd you know I was Violet and not Rose?" Violet asked, curiously but somewhat cautiously.

"Yeah, most people can't tell us apart." Rose commented, also eager to know. Rocky hesitated as if he were about to touch an electric fence. "Violet is hotter." He snickered. Violet laughed as Rose elbowed Rocky in the face causing thick droplets of blood to spray from his nose.

But Rocky didn't break. He figured that if he were going to die, then he was going to have a good time before dying. "Oh no! I'm not at all implying that you aren't attractive…"

Both of the gang members sitting in the front seat of the SUV snickered, unable to retain their laughter.

This time it was Violet that elbowed Rocky in the face. Rocky already had his face beat by Arby earlier so many old wounds were opening up. Though he wouldn't admit it, the girls hit harder than Arby.

"The next smart-ass comment earns you a strike to a very, very painful place!" Violet yelled. Rocky was silent for a moment, then he decided to get serious. "So where we headed?"

Rose replied, "To the corporate district, for your formal execution. Consider yourself fortunate that your death will be well known. We are going to throw you off a skyscraper and your blood will stain the sparkly clean streets."

"Why not kill me more subtlety?" Rocky asked, curiously.

"Wow, I'm impressed. Your taking the news of your upcoming death lightly." Violet commented. "But if you must know… let's say that the Goldenrod Wildflowers are taking a few steps up in the natural order of things. Our gang has been bought by some very powerful and important people who don't like you. You know to much."

"PokeTech." Rocky muttered. "The Goldenrod Wildflowers work for PokeTech?"

Rose continued the story. "They heard about your brush with us and they told us that they could use a powerful hold in the ghetto. With something as powerful as PokeTech backing us, then all of our other rival gangs will submit to our rule and the entire ghetto will be ours. The Southside Crew, The 13th Street Kings, The Slash… We'll have the leaders of those gangs kissing our feet for forgiveness once we've proven our loyalty to PokeTech and we represent the mammoth corporation."

"Sorry to interrupt your megalomaniac rant, but I have another question. And since I'm going to die, I don't think you have a problem with me knowing too much, right?" Rocky requested.

"What?" Rose asked, rolling her eyes.

"PokeTech usually does their dirty work very secretly and subtlety. It makes sense that they'd have a gang kill me, but why kill me for the world to see?" Rocky asked. Rocky already knew the answer to the question. If he were thrown off a skyscraper, it would serve as an example as to what happens when someone crosses PokeTech. Rocky didn't want to exist after death as a tool of PokeTech and he didn't want his little brother, Ted, to see his older brother's body splattered on the pavement, over and over again on the news.

"So everyone knows what happens when you mess with our employer." Violet told him.

"And what happens to my Sentret?" Rocky asked, gloomily.

"What do you mean by 'your Sentret'?" Rose asked. "That little scrap of fur is property of PokeTech and it will be returned to them."

"Actually, I bought and paid for him. He's mine." Rocky retorted angrily.

"Don't make me rip your balls off." Violet growled.

Rocky defended himself by saying, "I bought it from this dude named Arby Jones. He stole it from PokeTech. If anyone deserves to get thrown off a building for crossing your employer, it's him!"

Rose replied, "No, Arby redeemed himself by giving us a call to let us know that you stopped by the school. Because of him, as well as a tip-off from PokeTech, we found you so easily."

Rocky was silent but more furious than he'd been in his entire life. He wasn't mad about Arby selling him out, he was mad about that everything else. Rocky was furious about Arby getting away with stealing the Sentret because he came from a rich family, furious about being chosen to be murdered as an example, furious about the entire hierarchy of society. He was furious about the people with the most power were the ones that deserved the least power. He was furious about being downtrodden his entire life. I'm going to live and then I'm going to let out some of this rage. I'm going to turn the hierarchy upside down.

The SUV and the convoy of ATVs entered an underground parking garage of a very tall skyscraper.

"Hey ladies, what's with the trash your lugging around?" Arby asked as he climbed out of his Corvette, gesturing to Rocky whom Rose and Violet were dragging outside the SUV. Rocky didn't respond as he was in some kind of trance, though the sight of Arby's bandaged face gave Rocky a twinge of satisfaction. Observing every little detail of his surroundings, Rocky was hoping to see an escape opportunity. But it wasn't looking good for him. He counted about fifty gang members, he, himself, was bound in chain, and he was severely beaten and exhausted which caused him to feel lightheaded and weary and certainly not up to any grand escape.

As Arby pushed him into an elevator, Rocky finally considered giving into death. Who knows, maybe I'll become a martyr. Maybe I'll inspire a revolution upon the injustice of this society. Maybe Classico, Jazzy, Erich, Ted, and possibly a few others will hook up. Maybe PokeTech's plan will backfire. Maybe rather than striking fear into the heart's of their peasants by killing me, they'll instead ignite a revolt.

The elevator door opened and Arby dragged Rocky onto the last floor of the poorly secured office building. Then he dragged him up a maintenance staircase and onto the roof, followed by Rose and Violet and several other gang members. The roof was large, two thousand feet above the ground, and scattered with antennas, air ducts, air conditioners, satellites, and what not.

Rocky seemed to felt a source of power coming from the sky where a dark storm cloud was forming. Lightning forks danced on the horizon. Rocky wondered if the other gang members could sense the energy radiating from the stormy sky.

Arby and the twins placed Rocky on the very edge of the roof. "Any last words, worm?" Arby sneered.

"You can kill me, but the plan will backfire. Contrary to popular high school belief, I have friends. You'll only inspire a fight." Rocky growled.

Arby let out a cackle. "You mean Classico Colley? I admit he would have been a friend a high place-"

"Would have?" Rocky asked, suspiciously.

"He isn't your friend anymore. Our people told him some things about you. He believed them. The little boyscout is now committed to putting you behind bars. To bad he won't get the chance." Arby informed a now heart broken Rocky.

I'm completely alone. Maybe I should just die. Rocky suggested to himself. Then Rocky realized, I'm never alone.

oOo

The two gang members guarding the SUV in the underground parking lot were sharing a cigarette. But they were interrupted from their smoke as they heard a crash inside of the SUV. The opened up the trunk to see the Sentret thrashing around in its cage.

"I thought this weak thing was already doped? Hey, your Haunter knows Hypnosis attack. Maybe you can put it out like that until those people stop by take the Sentret away." The first gang member suggested.

"Okay, but why is it glowing?" The other gang member asked. Without warning, the Sentret smashed the cage open and leapt out of the SUV.

"Get it!" The Wildflower yelled. But it was too late. The Sentret was tiny but incredibly fast. It disappeared inside an air vent.

oOo

Rocky wasn't sure if he were hallucinating or if his Sentret's thoughts were really entering his head. Either way, he tried to buy himself time.

"So, a spoiled little rich boy like you is really going to dirty your hands with this sort of thing?" Rocky taunted Arby.

Arby replied, "I've been thinking that the sheltered and safe lifestyle of an aristocrat isn't what I want. But seeing action, selling contraband items is definitely worth it."

"You really think you're all that and a bag 'o chips, do you 'eh?" Rocky continued to talk. "But you're really just a soft little bitch trying to be a big man by playing gangsta." Rocky spat.

Arby stepped forward and pushed Rocky off the building, but grabbed the end of the chain so Rocky's life literally hung in the hands of Arby. "Take that back!" He yelled.

"Why? I'm going to die anyway." Rocky pointed out, trying to keep his cool as he dangled off the edge of a two thousand foot building. After, taking a deep breath, Rocky asked Arby, "How bad-ass would you feel if I wasn't chained up and you didn't have a double digit number of cronies watching your back. Actually, when have you ever not had cronies watching your back. You'd probably crap your pants if you were ever in a fight without mommy and daddy's money and power and all your steroid-pumped homeboys."

"TAKE THAT BACK! I CAN KILL YOU RIGHT NOW!" Arby bellowed. Rocky smiled. His plan was working.

"If you can prove me wrong, then I'll take it all back with an apology." Rocky laughed. Arby's eyebrows narrowed, meaning that he was thinking about it. Arby pulled Rocky off the edge and kicked him on the ground. "Someone unchain this piece of crap." He ordered.

Rose and Violet said at the same time, "This will be interesting." A gang member unchained Rocky who stumbled to his feet. Arby took off his jacket and football jersey to reveal a very muscular body. The many gang members started to chant, "FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT…"

To everyone's surprise, Rocky let out a condescending chuckle. "Oh, I didn't mean this kind of fight. I think I already proved how pathetic you are without friends in this kind of fight, earlier today at the school."

A confused look appeared on everyone's face. Then to everyone except Rocky's shock, Sentret busted out of an air duct on the roof and hopped onto Rocky's shoulder. Rocky, the malnourished slum-dog, bruised, sore, and bloody all over from the previous week's events, with a very malnourished, abused, and weak juvenile Sentret on his shoulder, going up against Arby Jones, the ripped football player whom had an arsenal of well trained and cared for Pokemon. And fully confident with a dark stormy sky behind him, Rocky actually looked formidable.

Rocky said very loudly, "When I said fight, I meant… POKEMON BATTLE!"