I'd like to give a shout out to Juliet's Shadow for the awesome support. If you get the chance, check out her new story 'Written in the Stars.' And now, without further ado, here's the next chapter!
POV: Mars
I growled at the man on the roof, who turned to the men beside him. People around us were starting to panic, while all the exits were blocked off by more Rocket members.
"Start it up." He said. The men grinned and a whistle sounded, followed by the revving of engines. I cursed and turned around, watching as the Rockets readied some kind of tube thing. I growled and placed myself in front of April. The revving sound intensified, and suddenly pokeballs started to fly past me, being sucked into the tubes.
"Burn! Thunder!" April shouted. Burn and Thunder's pokeballs whizzed past me, being lost in the mass of flying pokeballs that were lost to the Rockets. I cursed. People were trying to surge forwards, but were being forcibly held back at gunpoint.
"Hey! Recall your Absol!" A Rocket called, advancing towards us. We were at the side of the crowd, and the other Rockets weren't paying much attention to us. "I said recall your Absol!" The Rocket called, leveling his automatic rifle. April took a step back, and I took a step forwards, growling. The Rocket pointed his rifle nervously at me. "I'm not going to ask again! Recall your Absol!" The Rocket called.
"Wha...b-but...You can't do this!" April shouted. The Rocket glanced up at her, distracted for a second.
"The hell I-Argh!" He shouted as I leapt forwards, slamming a shadow claw into his stomach. He doubled over and I smashed my head into his, knocking him unconscious. Another Rocket noticed, and began to raise his rifle.
"No!" I roared, firing an ice beam. The man was frozen solid, along with the three others closest to him. "Run, April." I yelled. April looked at me, looked at the Rockets, balled her fists and hardened her face.
"No. I'm not leaving you, or Burn, or Thunder." She said. I growled in response, and charged a razor wind.
"Fine. Don't get yourself into trouble." I said, and ran towards the frozen Rockets, still holding the razor wind. I could feel it in my gut that this one was going to explode. I leapt over the wall of ice, and landed in the middle of five other Rockets that had come to investigate. I loosed the razor wind, causing it to blow up in my face, which really hurt. I slammed into the ice wall from the blast, and shakily made it to my feet, glaring around. The Rockets weren't going anywhere soon. Dear Arceus, humans were fragile. Now there were only three Rockets left, each of which were having trouble keeping the crowd back with just threats now. One raised his gun and fired off a few rounds, scaring off the crowd and giving me an opportunity to rush forwards. The first Rocket fell under an iron tail, though I was careful not to injure him too badly. The other two whirled upon me, only to be met with an ice beam to the face.
"I'll shut off the machine!" April said, rushing past me and running towards the tube. I followed, vaguely aware that the sounds of fighting could be heard in other parts of the stadium. The large machine whirred as it worked, still sucking up pokeballs. Other people were starting to rush forwards as April fiddled with the machine.
"Stand back." I told her. She nodded and I hit the machine with an iron tail, breaking hopefully important structures within. Smoke curled up from the top, and pokeballs began to spew out the back. "There we go. Find Burn and Thunder, I'm going to go take care of the other machines." I said. Before she had the chance to reply, I raced off, cursing the Rockets. Why did they have to show up here? Rage boiled in my stomach, and I gritted my teeth. I wasn't going to let this happen. Down the hall I could hear someone yelling, and I headed that way.
"I said put your Pokémon back into their pokeballs!" Someone yelled. I rounded a corner to find that a boy and his two Pokémon, a Poochyena and a Growlithe, were cornered by three Rocket grunts and their Golbats. The dog Pokémon were fiercely defending their master, while the young boy just stared at the Rockets dumbfounded. My anger boiled over the top, and something inside me snapped. I loosed a razor wind, which hurled both the Rockets and their Pokémon against the wall, KO'd.
"Get him out of here." I snapped at the Poochyena and ran off. Soon enough, I came to another machine guarded by twenty grunts. A few were desperately trying to get the thing on wheels while the others guarded them. A few saw me and started to run towards me, leveling their rifles. I cursed and fired an ice beam, stopping two in their tracks.
"Use thunderbolt! Burn, use flamethrower!" I heard April shout from behind me. A group of the Rockets were fried from a thunderbolt, while a few more and half of the machine were hit with flamethrower. The machine began to spew smoke, and pokeballs came shooting out of it. Why were they so poorly made? I charged an ice beam and froze the remaining few Rockets before turning back to April. Surprisingly enough, Thunder wasn't an Elekid anymore, but rather, he was had to have evolved into the Electabuzz now standing next to April, who glared at me with her arms crossed.
"Never run off like that again." She snapped. I winced inwardly, and nodded.
"Yeah. Sorry." I muttered, hanging my head. April sighed.
"I just...I don't want you to get hurt again. Now let's go take care of the rest of the machines." She said. I nodded and turned back to look down the hall, noticing that a large group of Rockets were rushing towards us. I cursed. "Thunder, Burn, get next to Mars. Thunder, you use thunderbolt, Mars, you use ice beam, and Burn, you use flamethrower. On my mark. Ready...?" April said, waiting. I charged an ice beam, and waited for April to make the call. She didn't get the chance, as the wall in front of us exploded, revealing a Nidoqueen and Ninetails. The Rockets skidded to a halt, lifting their rifles in anticipation. I was beginning to think that they wouldn't actually use them, as they hadn't shot me yet.
"Hey, Mars! Good timing, huh? Give us a sec and we'll take care of these goons for you." Nidoqueen said, stepping in front of us. Ninetails did the same and glowered at the Rockets. I dispelled my ice beam and grinned. So James had evolved Vulpix and Nidorina, huh?
"I'm going to rip your throat out." Ninetails said. James emerged from the hole in the wall, and grinned at April. His Mew/Eevee Pokémon sat on his shoulder, while Kirlia stood at his side.
"Yo! April! We saw the Rockets and came running. It's kinda funny actually, we heard what was going on, and Nidoqueen and Ninetails over there evolved themselves. Woulda been here sooner otherwise, but I'm not complaining." James said, grinning and scratching the back of his head.
"Hey, kid. Uh, p-put your Pokémon back in their pokeballs..." A Rocket said nervously. James glanced at them, and shrugged.
"Kirlia, Corey, would you mind relieving them of their firearms?" James asked. Kirlia and Mewvee (who James had named Corey, I guess) glowed, and the Rocket's weapons were pried from their hands. "Thanks. Nidoqueen, use hyper beam. Ninetails, use flamethrower." The two Pokémon loosed their attacks, blowing away the Rockets. April ran up and hugged James.
"Thank you for coming." She said. James looked taken aback, and carefully pried himself from April's grasp, blushing the whole time.
"Yeah, well what was I supposed to do? Leave you?" He said, kicking at a piece of rubble on the ground.
"Is everything OK over here?" A voice called, running up from behind us. I turned around to see Luna, who was running with the Blaziken from the Pokémon center.
"Yeah, we're good. We just took out this machine here and are on our way to take care of the rest." April said. Luna grinned and stopped in front of us.
"Great! Oh, and don't worry about those. Ace here demolished them!" She said proudly, patting Blaziken on the shoulder. He shrugged nonchalantly. "Now all that's left is to get up to the roof and take care of the guys up there." She said. April nodded and recalled Burn and Thunder. James recalled his Pokémon, minus Corey the Eevee/Mew guy.
"Ok, then how do we get up there?" April asked. Luna glanced nervously at one of her pokeballs.
"Well, uh..." She began. My ears pricked at a sound; the sound of rotors.
"Shh. Do you hear that?" I asked, walking to the hole in the wall and looking outside. A helicopter was flying in, with the red Rocket logo plastered to the side. I cursed and ran outside, April following. I watched as the helicopter came to land on the roof, and charged an ice beam.
"Mars, wait!" April shouted. I ignored her and fired, the white ice arcing up and hitting the spinning helicopter blades, doing absolutely nothing. I cursed and fired again, this time aiming beneath the rotors. Again, nothing happened.
"Ace, get up there and stop the helicopter! Bravo, you too!" Luna said, throwing out another pokeball. A Gallade leapt out, following Ace up onto the roof in a single bound. We watched as the two of them made quick work of the Rockets on the roof, and leapt back down, each holding a brown sack full of pokeballs.
"Woah! That was awesome!" James said. Luna beamed at her Pokémon and took the bags, recalling Bravo and Ace. There was a rumbling noise and I turned around, noticing that a truck was driving away with the few Rockets that were conscious. Luna cursed and reached for a pokeball.
"May I?" I asked, looking at April. She nodded.
"Go get 'em." She said. I grunted and took off, gradually gaining speed, though it wasn't fast enough. If I could just get close enough, slow them down just a bit, then I could stop them with an ice beam. As if to answer my prayers, a car pulled out in front of the truck, causing it to swerve and slam into a light post. Just as I got in range, the Rockets got over their whiplash and started to open the doors. I stopped half of them from getting away by freezing them to the truck with an ice beam. I leapt onto the hood of the truck and glared at the Rockets inside, who looked up at me fearfully.
"Stay in the truck." I snapped, charging an ice beam. The Rockets must've gotten the gist of it because they didn't budge. Sirens sounded, and suddenly Ace landed next to me.
"Nice work! Alright, I'll get these five to Officer Jenny, you get back to your trainer." The Blaziken said. I nodded and hopped off the car, glaring at one of the Rockets frozen to the truck. He winced, and I nodded, slowly trotting back towards April. Multiple police cars had pulled up around them, along with a few TV crews and ambulances. Officer Jenny was talking to Luna and James, while April just beamed at me.
"Great job, Mars!" She beamed. I shrugged and slipped past the vans to sit next to her.
"Hmph. Like I was going to let them get away." I muttered. April just beamed at me, and Officer Jenny turned to April. A blonde reporter and her cameraman were standing behind her, chatting with Luna and James.
"This reporter here would like to start her interviews with you. Is that ok?" Jenny asked. April nodded, and Jenny motioned for the reporter to step forwards. She smiled at April sweetly.
"What's your name, sweetie?" She asked.
"April." April said nervously.
"That's a nice name. You said that you helped stop the Rocket attack?"
"Yes." April said. The reporter smiled and turned to the cameraman, motioning for him to start rolling.
"I'm here at the biannual Celadon contest tent, where Team Rocket decided to make its first appearance in Kanto for the first time in six years. However, this attack was stopped in large part by three brave trainers, Luna, James, and the young girl here, April. Tell us, April. What exactly happened?" The reporter asked. April recounted the story, largely exaggerating my involvement. Apparently I had taken out twenty Rockets and their Pokémon with one attack. The reporter nodded and turned to me.
"And this is Mars, I take it?" She asked, leaning down to look at me.
"Yes." April said. "But be careful, he...he doesn't really like people all that much." April said. The reporter reached out to touch me and I growled in warning. The reporter withdrew her hand with a chuckle.
"I can see that. What a wonderful Absol you have here, heralded as the disaster Pokémon, and yet he risked so much to protect everyone. Now, here I have James, who..." I tuned out the rest of the reporter's speech. April scratched the top of my head, watching the reporter.
"What should we do now? I bet the contest's been called off." She said. I shrugged.
"How about the gym challenge?" I asked. April nodded, absently shifting her weight foot to foot.
"Maybe. Anyways, let's rest tonight, and then we'll figure it out tomorrow. Sound good?" She asked, and I nodded.
"Sounds good."