Chapter 21: The Lightning Lieutenant
The sun seemed to almost touch the ocean in the horizon when Mewtwo, Yan, and Charles arrived at the entrance to Vermilion City. They were tired from running for so long, having only stopped to eat something for a short break three hours prior to arriving at the city.
"We're finally here!" Yan said. "Now we need to find another hotel so we can rest until tomorrow."
Charles let his body fall to the ground. He was happy to be able to lie and catch his breath.
"This place is beautiful," Mewtwo said. "The oranges, the reds, the yellows … It's like the roofs of these houses follow the theme of the sunset."
Yan pointed at a tall, light-blue building that had yellow lightning decorations on its front and the tip of its gray roof. "Yeah, though I have to say, the gym doesn't exactly fit into the theme."
"So, that is Lieutenant Surge's gym."
"He's known as the Lightning Lieutenant and the Lightning American," Yan said. "I've heard he has fought in the latest pokémon war, during which he used electric pokémon to power a plane he flew. Also, he is one tall dude!"
"How tall?"
"Taller than you. Heck, he's taller than Charles!"
"I will challenge him to a gym battle when I'll have a team that has more defense against electric types. Let's go search for a hotel for now."
Just as the trainer pokémon and the youngster were about to leave the area, someone said, "Hey! You're that pokémon that mopped the floor with Team Rocket back in Celadon!"
Mewtwo and Yan turned around and saw the two blond, long-haired guitarists who had been present at the Rocket Game Corner during the fight between Mewtwo and Team Rocket.
"My bro and I thought that was an awesome battle, dude! I hope you liked our guitar cheering."
"Well, it definitely made a fitting atmosphere for what was going on there," Mewtwo said.
"I wish I had been there to witness the ass kicking you've served those Rockets," Yan told him.
The other guitarist twin said, "I see your charmeleon evolved into charizard. Awesome beast, man!"
Charles got back on his feet and started to growl at the guitarists.
The guitarist who spoke last took a step back. "I guess he doesn't like being called a beast."
"He just hates trainers for some reason," Mewtwo said. "I'm still trying to find out why, but he refuses to let me read that part of his mind."
"Let's solve this diplomatically," the other twin said to Mewtwo. "Do you have time for a pokémon battle?"
"I don't know … Charles is probably very tired after running with us for several hours."
Charles started growling and blowing streams of fire toward the sky.
"I guess he wants to battle," Mewtwo said.
"Then we will battle. But first, some introductions. I'm Tayler, and this is my brother Tory."
"I'm Mewtwo."
"And I'm Yan. I'm a pokémon trainer too, although not an official one yet. Since there's four of us, could we do a double battle?"
"We don't usually battle kids, but hey, if you think you got what it takes ..." Tory said and then shrugged.
"How many pokémon do you have on you?" Tayler asked the youngster.
"I only have my raticate."
Tory took a poké ball off a slot on his belt and held it in his right hand. "Then, to make it fair, each of us will use only one pokémon."
"I choose Charles," Mewtwo said. "Although it's more like he chose himself."
"Zaaar!" Charles roared, spreading his wings and using flamethrower toward the sky again.
"Alright, Nutcracker! Go!" Yan said, throwing the poké ball so his raticate could come out.
"Rat!" Nutcracker said. His whiskers were back to their full length, allowing him to maintain his balance again.
Tory threw his ball. "Go, Pikachu!"
Out of the ball came a yellow pokémon with two black-tipped ears, round, red cheeks, a tiny, black nose, a zigzagged tail, and, on its back, two brown stripes. "Pika!"
"I saw two of these pokémon back in Viridian Forest!" Mewtwo said.
"Yeah, that forest's full of them. That's where I caught mine."
Tory's brother threw his ball too. "Go, Elekid!"
Elekid popped out of its ball and materialized on the ground. It was mainly yellow with black stripes over most of its body and a black lightning bolt on its chest. It had a pair of rectangular horns, each with a round hole near its tip. Both of its lower arms were thick, ending in three white claws. The creature had no nose, but had two fangs extending out of its upper lip.
"As the challenger, I'll start," Tory said. "Pikachu! Thunderbolt on the charizard!"
"Pi ka chuuuuu!" the pokémon said as it launched the attack of yellow lightning from its red cheeks.
The attack struck Charles hard, but he did his best to maintain his tough look by spreading his wings and glaring at the pikachu.
"Charles! Dig!" Mewtwo ordered. His pokémon flew toward the sky and then plunged into the ground, digging.
"My turn!" Tayler said. "Elekid! Thunder punch on the raticate!"
"Elekid!" it said as its right fist started to glow yellow. It swung the fist at Nutcracker, who avoided the attack.
"Nutcracker! Hyper beam on the elekid!" Yan ordered.
Nutcracker charged up a red orb in his mouth. He fired the beam at Elekid, knocking it out instantly.
"Whoa, that's a pretty strong raticate you got there, kid! Well done training it!" Tayler said before taking out a poké ball. "Elekid! Return!"
Pikachu was jumping around, trying to avoid Charles' dig attack. When it heard the rumble under the ground, it jumped away from the spot where the charizard burst out.
"Dang, he missed!" Mewtwo said. "Charles! Try a flamethrower!"
Charles puffed some smoke out of his nostrils and then stomped the ground with his right foot, causing powerful shock waves. Pikachu fell on its back, weakened by the vibrations. Nutcracker was also slightly harmed by the earthquake.
Mewtwo scratched the back of his head. "Well, that's good too, I guess."
"Pikachu! Use thunderbolt again!" Tory ordered.
Charles endured the attack, but he could barely stand. His tail flame burned bright white as he glared at the pikachu.
"Come on, Charles!" Mewtwo said. "Just use your flamethrower! It's your strongest attack, and you can hit more accurately with it."
Charles let out a "Hmpf!" sound and then flew toward his opponent.
"Pikachu! Get out of its way!" Tory ordered.
His pikachu jumped away and started to run around, but Charles eventually caught up with the yellow pokémon and struck it with his long, tough tail. Pikachu fainted.
"Pikachu! Get back here!" Tory said, recalling his pokémon back into its ball. "You've got a pretty strong charizard, Mewtwo. Although he could use a bit more training."
Charles glared daggers at Tory and tried to use his flamethrower on him, but Mewtwo used his telekinesis to keep the flames away from the trainer.
"Charles, return to your poké ball, right now!" Mewtwo ordered and then put Charles into the ball. "I'm sorry about that, Tory. I wish I knew how to get him to open up about his hatred for trainers ..."
The guitarist raised his left eyebrow. "You guys aren't very close, are you?"
His brother scowled at Mewtwo. "Do you happen to have any connection to that charizard that started causing trouble around Kanto? It didn't have stripes like yours, but … this one behaves almost like it."
"I've never met it," Mewtwo said.
"I saw the damn thing in person," Tayler said. "It came here yesterday. Caused a lot of chaos by chasing trainers and aiming its flamethrower at them."
Mewtwo looked at the ground while being deep in thought. "What could have pushed it to become so violent? If I'd meet it, maybe I could get a glimpse into its mind and ..."
Tayler shook his head while closing his eyes. "I don't think it would give you that chance. That thing is one wild beast!"
"Hey, Tay, it's getting late!" Tory said. "We gotta get back home. Concert's tomorrow!"
"Oh, right. See you around, guys!" Tayler told Mewtwo and Yan. Then he looked at his brother. "Last one home's a slowass rock pokémon!" He ran, and Tory gave chase.
Yan allowed his raticate to return to his poké ball. Then he said to Mewtwo, "Well, let's go look for a hotel."
The genetic pokémon and the youngster got a room at the city's only hotel. It was near the seaside, and had a good view of the beach and the starry sky. Mewtwo enjoyed looking out the window as he lay in his bed next to the wall opposing the window. "I wonder if there is life where those stars are."
Yan, who lay on another bed on the side of the room, asked, "Who taught you about the stars? Actually, who taught you how to speak?"
"I was created knowing some things. I have memories that aren't mine. What if they belong to whatever pokémon I was cloned from? Mister Boulder called it a mew, based on how Dr. Fuji named the clones he made."
"Who knows?" Yan said, resting the back of his head over his crossed arms. "I wonder what you'd be like if you had met those scientists who created you. Would you still be as nice as you are now?"
"I'd like to think that I would still be who I am now, but … circumstances can push people and pokémon to do bad things. If the scientists would have mistreated me, I'd probably end up trying to take over the world or something scary like that."
"Well, I'm glad we don't live in a world where that happened. Good night Mewtwo."
"Good night, Yan."
As the sun rose, Mewtwo and Yan woke up and went to a restaurant to have breakfast.
"Do you think you could challenge the Cerulean Gym on our way to Pewter City?" Yan asked.
Mewtwo finished chewing the piece of bread he had smeared in fried egg yolk, then he said, "Well, I have Vixie as an electric pokémon, so my team might stand a chance there now. Sure, Charles beat a pikachu, but I wouldn't challenge the Vermilion Gym just yet. He's still disobedient, and Lieutenant Surge probably has way stronger pokémon."
"Yeah, his raichu is known for its brutality. It put several pokémon in the hospital."
"Charles' recklessness would likely make him share the same fate as them. I'll wait until I'll get a ground type."
Hearing this, Charles popped out of his poké ball from the backpack's pocket. He glared at Mewtwo.
"No, Charles! We are not challenging the Vermilion Gym today!" Mewtwo said.
Charles spread his wings menacingly. "Zaar!"
His trainer was not intimidated by this display. "It's too risky with our team's current composition. I need to catch a ground type first."
Charles grabbed Mewtwo by the tube behind his neck and dragged him away from the table while Yan and the other people stared at them.
"Charles! You have no idea what you're getting into!" Mewtwo said, but his pokémon ignored him.
Yan abandoned the last quarter of his breakfast – a bagel with cream cheese – and ran after the two pokémon.
Charles dragged his trainer all the way into the Vermilion Gym and then proceeded to roar and stomp the ground, hoping to attract the attention of the gym leader.
"What is going on here?" a redhead woman asked. She and the man with short black hair and tanned skin next to her wore camouflage pants and black leather jackets.
"Um … my pokémon wants me to challenge this gym's leader," Mewtwo said after Charles released him.
The man and the woman laughed at him.
Yan arrived and looked at them. "What happened? Why are they laughing?"
"A pokémon wants to challenge the Lightning Lieutenant," the man said. "When Lieutenant Surge heard about a trainer pokémon, he went all paranoid, saying that a new pokémon war might start brewing. If you really want to challenge him, you better be prepared, because he said he will throw everything he has at you. Oh, there he is right now."
"Is that …?" a tall blond man with tanned skin said as he walked down the hallway. He wore a black leather jacket and black pants. "Oh, my God! It is him! The pokémon called Mewtwo!"
"Yes, sir, I am Mewtwo. I am here to challenge you for the badge, but I'm not here to start a war or anything like that."
"W-war?!" Surge said, his body trembling and his stare going blank. "I've been in a war … The horror of seeing so many people and pokémon get burnt, smashed under rocks, or ..."
"Raichu?" a pokémon said as it hugged Surge's leg. The creature looked almost like a pikachu, but its fur was orange, its ears were floppy, mostly black with yellow interior, and each had a straight tip and a curled tip. The pokémon's tail was long, black, with a yellow tip in the shape of a lightning bolt. Its hands had no fingers and were dark brown, just like its three-toed feet. On the creature's belly, there was a round, white patch. It had cheeks just like a pikachu's, but they were yellow.
Surge snapped out of his state of shock. "Huh? Oh, thanks, Raichu. I … just had a flashback about the war. I was so lucky to have met you back then. I never would have survived if it weren't for you." He petted his raichu on the head.
Mewtwo couldn't resist peeking inside the lieutenant's mind. He saw how Surge's squadron lost all of its pilots except for the lieutenant. He saw how Surge lost his arcanine, his ekans, and his vaporeon to the attacks of his enemy's pokémon. The ground was shaking, rocks were thrown around, jets of fire burned everything around them, and Surge hid behind an airplane, shocked by the loss of all of his pokémon. A pikachu came up to the lieutenant and inspected him. Thinking fast, Surge captured the pikachu and then asked it to help him power up the plane. The pikachu agreed, but his electric attacks weren't powerful enough to fully allow the plane to take off. Surge had a thunder stone in his pocket, so he used it on the pikachu, turning him into raichu. In this form, the pokémon was able to not only power up the airplane, but also attack the enemy with thunder. Surge was declared a hero for helping what remained of America's ground troops to push back the enemy and stop the war.
"Why are you challenging gyms? What are you planning to do? Who made you? What is your purpose?"
Bombarded by Surge's questions, Mewtwo didn't know where to start. "Well, I am a trainer and I …"
"Did those people from Cinnabar Island make you for the purpose of starting a new war? Answer me!"
"Sir, they're all dead. They can't start a new war now. Some pokémon called ditto killed them in revenge for being discarded by them. As for me, I've decided to become a pokémon master at first because I thought the legendary pokémon Ho-Oh chose me to become one, but then I realized that I could train pokémon to protect everyone from the crimes of Team Rocket. The pokémon I train will also become stronger, which is exactly what they seem to want too."
"I cannot trust you," Surge said. "Even when your creators are gone, you could be captured by the wrong people. Then those people could use you as a weapon. I've heard that you've been training with Sabrina. That witch knows her stuff. She gave you knowledge that could turn you into a hazard to everyone. I can't imagine the chaos you could bring if you would go mad with power some day. I must capture you for the good of humanity."
"For the good of humanity and pokémon alike you should let me be free so I can take on Team Rocket. They are stealing and injuring trainers' pokémon right now, and you are afraid of what I might do in the future. I am here to challenge you as a trainer, not as a wild pokémon. I have captured myself, just so you know and don't waste poké balls on me."
"You are more of a threat than the average trainer, so I might as well know how you've trained your pokémon. I accept your challenge, but unlike how I treat the beginners' teams, I will use more than one pokémon against your team. How many do you have on you?"
"Three."
"Okay," Surge said, then he looked at his raichu. "My first pokémon is already out. I'm guessing you will start with your charizard."
"Yes. He's the reason I am challenging this gym anyway."
Surge smiled. "It's nice to see someone use a fully evolved pokémon for a change. Most trainers just use unevolved ones and lose pathetically against my raichu. You will have some chances of winning, since I'm sure Raichu can make quick work of your charizard here."
Charles puffed flames through his nostrils, then growled at the lieutenant.
"Raiii!" Raichu said, glaring at the charizard while whipping the air with his tail.
"Let's get to the arena before these two decide to duke it out here," Surge said. "I don't want this place to get messed up; the cleaning lady just finished mopping the floor."
The battle started, and Lieutenant Surge gave the first order. "Raichu! Hit it with thunder!"
"Rai!" Raichu said, charging up his cheeks.
Realizing that thunder would mean bad news for his charizard, Mewtwo said, "Charles! You need to dig, right now!"
Charles decided that his trainer had a good idea, so he flew toward the top of the arena and then plunged into the ground, digging his way down. The thunder attack missed him.
Raichu raised his ears and stared at the hole that Charles made. "Chu?!"
"You taught your charizard to dig?!" Surge said.
"Actually," Mewtwo said, "he learned it on his own."
Raichu kept looking around, but he could not figure out where Charles was lurking below the ground. In the end he received a surprise hit with the soil of the arena straight to his face. "Raiiii!"
"Raichu! Retaliate with a thunderbolt!" Surge ordered.
Raichu's lightning struck Charles as soon as the charizard flew out of the hole. The attack paralyzed Charles, making him unable to fly.
"Charles! Use flamethrower!" Mewtwo ordered.
Charles could not open his mouth, because his jaw muscles were stiffened.
"This is why I love electric attacks," Surge said. "Raichu! Finish him with thunder!"
Raichu charged up his cheeks and then shot the thunder attack at Charles, causing the charizard to faint.
Mewtwo took Charles' ball out. "Charles! Come back!" He swapped it for another ball. "Buzz, it's your turn! Go!"
Buzz came out and was ready to fight.
Surge grinned. "Another fully evolved pokémon. I am pleased with your team composition so far. At last I get a battle that doesn't feel one-sided like the ones against baby pokémon."
"Evolved or not, I think what matters is the pokémon's training, not its evolution stage," Mewtwo said.
"Bullshit," Surge told him while crossing his arms and scowling. "Unevolved pokémon are weak. If my raichu had stayed a pikachu, I never would have powered up my war plane in time, and the enemy would have turned us into ashes."
Mewtwo pointed a finger at the gym leader. "But you didn't take into account Raichu's thoughts on evolving. I've read your mind. You forced him to evolve."
Raichu's ears drooped. He knew that Mewtwo was telling the truth.
"In war you sometimes have to make sacrifices if you want to survive," Surge said.
"You've sacrificed someone else for your own sake," Mewtwo told him. "When he was a pikachu, Raichu saw that you were sad and came to cheer you up. You've captured him without a second thought. After that, you've ordered him to help you. In spite of being angry with you, he did his best to help you escape, even if he wasn't strong enough. Then you've forced him to evolve, to become a better tool for your escape."
"Enough talking! We have a battle to fight here! Order your pokémon to attack or I will take this turn!"
Mewtwo sighed. "Fine. Buzz, sludge bomb!"
Buzz fired the poison blob at Raichu, poisoning him.
Noticing that Raichu was shaking, Surge decided to attempt to end the battle fast, before his pokémon would faint. "Raichu! Use thunder!"
Raichu charged up his cheeks and then used the attack, but the strike missed Buzz, who flew out of the bolt's way.
"It's our turn, Buzz! Raichu's very weak, hit him with outrage!"
Buzz gained the red aura and flew straight for Raichu, attacking him rapidly with his arm needles. In just four jabs, Raichu fainted and was recalled by Surge.
"You've trained your beedrill well. Now, let's move on to my next pokemon. Electabuzz! Go!"
Electabuzz came out of the poké ball that Surge threw. The creature looked similar to the guitarist's elekid in terms of color, being predominantly yellow with black stripes and a black lightning bolt on its chest. Electabuzz's horns looked more like antennae with spherical tips, and the top of its head had a crest formed out of two hairs. Its mouth had a pair of big, white fangs. The creature's hands ended in five fingers without claws. However, its feet had pairs of ivory claws. It also had a long, striped tail.
"Electabuzz! Thunderbolt!" Surge ordered.
Electabuzz put its hands in front of itself and sent its body's electricity through its arms, firing a blast of yellow lightning at Buzz, who crashed after being struck.
"Buzz! Are you alright?"
The beedrill heard his trainer and got back on his feet. "Bzzzz!"
"I'm glad you're still able to stand," Mewtwo said.
Buzz started to sway. He was still confused due to using outrage.
"I don't think he will stand for long," Surge said.
Mewtwo scowled at him and then looked back at his beedrill. He sent a personal telepathic message to him. "Okay, Buzz, we need to think ahead. Electabuzz seems strong, so we have to weaken it somehow to ensure that Vixie can still do something in case you get knocked out too." He remembered how Koga used toxic on Vixie and Charles. "Try to gather all of your poison inside your stingers and fire it at Electabuzz!"
Buzz nodded and focused on the opponent.
"Use toxic now, Buzz!" Mewtwo ordered.
Buzz fired two jets out of his arm stingers simultaneously. They hit Electabuzz and covered it in purple goo, which badly poisoned it.
"Looks like that battle with Koga taught you something, Mewtwo," Yan said.
Mewtwo smiled. "It sure did. Let's hope this will give us a chance of winning."
"Interesting strategy you chose," Surge said. "I guess it's time for me to get strategical too, as you've proven to be a worthy opponent."
"Bring everything you've got!" Mewtwo said.
"I like your attitude. Electabuzz! Thunder wave! Let's paralyze it!"
Electabuzz fired thin streams of lightning at Buzz, who ended up unable to flap his wings and landed on the ground, twitching.
"Hang in there, Buzz," Mewtwo said. "The poison is weakening Electabuzz. We need to strike hard and fast. Can you build up another outrage?"
Buzz was starting to regain his balance. He nodded at Mewtwo.
"Then go for it!"
The beedrill glowed red and charged at the electabuzz, striking it with his stingers ten times before getting dizzy again.
"Electabuzz! Use thunderbolt on it and it's done for!" Surge ordered.
Electabuzz did as told, striking Buzz with a bolt of lightning. The beedrill was knocked out and recalled.
"You're on your last pokemon now," Surge said to Mewtwo. "I still have two."
"You have two, but one of them is badly poisoned," Mewtwo said, preparing his next ball. "Probably won't hold out for long against my next one. Go, Vixie!"
"Jolt jolt!" Vixie said, happy to be out again.
Surge smiled. "Yet another fully evolved pokémon. It's an electric type as well. Hmm … I can't use electric attacks against it, because of its ability to absorb them and heal itself. But I can use a normal type attack that every fully evolved pokémon is capable of pulling off. Behold! The power of hyper beam! Show him, Electabuzz!"
"Ele!" the pokémon said before forming a ball of orange light in its mouth.
"Vixie! Watch out!" Mewtwo said.
Vixie kept her eyes on the electabuzz, who fired a beam out of the orb from its mouth. The jolteon used her dance moves to dodge the attack, ending up standing on her left leg while sticking out her tongue at the opponent. "Joltee!"
Electabuzz was glaring at her while the poison continued to tear it down from inside. The hyper beam attack only drained Electabuzz's strength further, and Surge could not order it to attack for a few more seconds.
"Let's knock Electabuzz out, Vixie!" Mewtwo said. "Dig!"
Vixie dug her way under the ground.
"Oh, no ..." Surge said. He knew his electabuzz wasn't the best at dodging attacks. It was far too slow, and the poison made it even more sluggish.
Electabuzz looked at the ground and sidestepped. Its antennae weren't sensitive enough to pick up the sounds made by the jolteon's digging, so Electabuzz had to hop around while trying to avoid the attack from below.
Vixie found the perfect time to strike, bursting from under the ground and throwing mud and dry soil all over Electabuzz. The round was won by Vixie as the lieutenant recalled his second pokémon.
"Good job so far, Mewtwo. We're both down to the last pokémon."
"You are worried that we might win," Mewtwo said.
"Of course I am worried. My last pokémon is also an electric type, and I've made it specialize in electric attacks, which are no good against your jolteon. However ..."
Mewtwo's eyes widened as he realized that Surge had one last trick up his sleeve.
"Go, Electrode!" Surge said as he sent his last pokémon out of its ball.
The creature looked almost like a poké ball with two tiny eyes, two eyebrows, and a mouth, but without the black band and the button. It grinned.
"I have seen one of these before," Mewtwo said. "A Team Rocket grunt used one against me." He remembered the way that electrode exploded while it was hidden under the ground. Checking Surge's mind, he found out that this electrode was capable of doing the same thing.
"I have only one attack that I could use against your jolteon, and I'm not afraid to use it. Electrode, explosion!"
Electrode's body started glowing white as it overcharged itself. "Lectrode!"
Mewtwo had one last chance to avoid this tactic that made his team lose during their last gym battle. "Vixie! Dig!"
Since Vixie was quicker, she managed to dig her way under ground just in time to avoid the explosion attack.
Electrode had knocked itself unconscious and rested in the middle of a crater on the arena.
"It's safe to come back, Vixie!" Mewtwo said. "We won!"
Vixie dug her way back out and then jumped into Mewtwo's arms, licking his face.
Surge took out his poké ball. "Come back, Electrode!" He went up to Mewtwo and gave him a badge that looked like an eight-pointed gold star with a red octagon at its center. "You and your team deserve this thunder badge, Mewtwo. This match has been very entertaining, and you've even managed to make me eat humble pie."
"Uh … I didn't see any pie around here, sir."
Yan chuckled at Mewtwo, then told him, "It's an expression."
"Yes," Surge said. "It means I admit that I was wrong about you. When I first heard of a trainer pokémon, I thought it was all a joke. Then I've heard that you were winning gym fights. I started to think less of those gym leaders who had lost to you. I could not believe that a pokémon could do what only us humans were known to do. I … I apologize for misjudging you."
"You should also apologize to your raichu for forcing him to evolve!" Mewtwo said.
Surge brought out a poké ball. "Very well. Raichu! Come out!"
Raichu materialized sprawled on the ground, his eyes half-closed. "Rai rai rai chu ..."
The lieutenant picked him in his buff arms and said, "Look, buddy, I'm sorry for what I did back then. I was scared. I still am. Those days of the war are going to haunt me for my entire life I guess, but … as long as you're here, my life isn't as unbearable as it could be. Thank you for sticking around even after I've changed you against your will."
"Rai-chu!" Raichu said, smiling at his trainer.
"Raichu forgives you," Mewtwo said, smiling as well while still holding Vixie in his arms.
With the fifth gym badge in his bag, Mewtwo went with Yan to the pokémon center to heal and feed the exhausted pokémon, and then resumed their journey toward Pewter City.
▶ To be continued.