Chapter 25:
The group reappeared in an empty field approximately two hundred meters away from League Headquarters, for the shield extended fifty meters beyond the building. The moment they reappeared, Mewtwo sensed that the building's defenses had already been alerted to their presence and that there was movement. Sure enough, two attack helicopters with red Rs on their sides rose from the building's roof and made their way towards the group. The presence of the attack helicopters surprised the humans in the group.
"Attack helicopters?" Lance mused. "That's not the usual weapon of choice for Team Rocket."
"They want us dead and they're pulling out all the stops," Cynthia answered.
Ash made no comment as he and his Pokémon readied themselves for the coming assault and to launch their counterattack. Ash fingered his Key Stone and prepared to have Charizard Mega Evolve so he could quickly deal with the attack helicopters. Mewtwo, however, stopped him, stepping out in front of the group, telling them, "Save your power for the later fight, Ash. Let me take care of this."
Quickly deciding that it would be best to let Mewtwo deal with the attack helicopters, the others stood back while Mewtwo focused on the approaching aircraft. Mewtwo raised a shield over the party as the helicopters opened fire on the group. Lasers, rockets, and missiles erupted from the two helicopters as they targeted the group. The munitions struck the shield, causing it to flare a bright blue, but did not inflict any damage to it. Mewtwo then focused his gaze of the two helicopters and fired a single Aura Sphere at each of the aircraft. Each Aura Sphere scored a direct hit on the center of mass of each helicopter and pierced their hulls, destroying them. The helicopters exploded in midair, debris raining down on the landscape.
"Go," Mewtwo directed the others as the group surged towards League Headquarters.
The group cautiously made their way towards the League Headquarters, each one keeping a close eye out for any other sentries. There was no way that they had not been spotted by Team Rocket security. Still, there were no signs of any other types of defenses around the building save for the shield, which they could see pulsating in the distance. Not that any other defenses would be effective against Mewtwo, but it was doubtful that Team Rocket knew that Mewtwo was with them or what Mewtwo's full power was, for even Ash did not know that. They figured that Team Rocket must have been relying on the shield to protect themselves from assault.
As the group made their way towards Pokémon League Headquarters, Ash could not help but notice that as they continued on their journey, there was still no sign of additional security measures. It seemed as if the shield was the first and really only line of external defense for League Headquarters. They knew that Team Rocket had taken significant losses during the attack on Team Rocket Headquarters, as well as the attack on the Celadon City Game Corner, but they still had the Legendary Pokémon and likely other Pokémon to draw from as well, not to mention the potential of facing down this Ganondorf if he took an interest in the outcome of this fight.
The group quickly approached the barrier, which was now shimmering no less than twenty feet in front of them. Looking around, there were still no signs of additional security measures around the building. The group figured that whatever was left of security for the League Headquarters was likely inside the base. They still suspected that it consisted of Legendary Pokémon, though, and Ash and the others were ready to face just such an eventuality.
When they arrived at the barrier, Mewtwo stopped and prompted the rest of the group to stop as well, the psychic bipedal cat-like Pokémon holding up his hand. The others stopped and waited as Mewtwo scanned the area, and then the barrier, itself, his eyes glowing. After a few seconds, Mewtwo's eyes returned to normal and he told the others, "It appeared as if I was incorrect about the barrier. This one will not let us through even if we walk at a slow speed. It needs to be collapsed before we can proceed."
"Can you take it down?" Lance asked.
Mewtwo grinned. "Of course."
Mewtwo then stepped forwards and powered a Psystrike, blue waves of psychic energy appearing over his hands. The waves powered up for several seconds before he propelled them against the barrier. The barrier flared a deep gold when the waves of psychic energy made contact with it. That told Ash and the others that this was no ordinary barrier, something that Mewtwo already knew. The psychic attack struggled to pierce the barrier and Mewtwo was forced to push more energy into the attack.
As the psychic cat-like Pokémon pushed more energy into his attack, the barrier reacted. It glowed more brightly and an indent began to form where Mewtwo's Psystrike was making contact with it. The wave of energy pushed against the indent and was beginning to make headway against it. After a few more moments, cracks began to form on the barrier close to the point of impact. The cracks then began to spread out from the point of impact and the group realized that the barrier was beginning to fail. Knowing that if it fell, that its remains may fall on top of them, Ash and the others backed away from the barrier as Mewtwo made one final push against it. Pushing one last bit of energy into his Psystrike, he pierced the barrier, the shimmering golden shield shattering into thousands of sparkles of energy. Mewtwo backed away from the barrier as it fell, the sparkles of energy falling to the ground and dissipating, inflicting burns to the landscape around them.
Once the barrier was down, Mewtwo extended his psychic senses into the base. As he had suspected, Team Rocket was now on alert. There were not a lot of Grunts remaining, but those that did remain were equipped with the strongest Pokémon available to Team Rocket, as well as some Legendary Pokémon. In addition, Mewtwo was able to locate Giovanni and Delia, an instant before his senses seemingly became scrambled. He grimaced.
"He's here," the psychic cat told everyone.
"Who is?" Dawn asked.
"Ganondorf," Mewtwo answered. "He scrambled my senses as I was scanning the base."
"Did you locate Giovanni, my Mom, and/or Mia?" came Ash's question.
"Yes," Mewtwo answered, nodding. "Giovanni and your mother are at the top of the base in Giovanni's office. I could not find your sister, though. What makes you think she's here?"
Ash sighed. "I don't know," he answered. "I just hoped that she would be here."
"Well right now, we have to focus on the task at hand: the defeat of Giovanni and Team Rocket," Mewtwo told the boy. "Chances are that by doing that, we'll learn more about your sister's fate."
"Right," Ash replied, nodding. With that, the group proceeded to make their way towards Pokémon League Headquarters.
Meanwhile, inside of Pokémon League Headquarters, Giovanni was sitting in his private chamber with Delia. He would often glance over at Delia and give a grin while the woman would simply recoil and look away. Eventually, she managed to get a reaction out of him.
"You know you may as well resign yourself to the fact that you're going to be staying here with me for a long time."
"Ash and the others will defeat you," Delia retorted plainly. "And you know this, otherwise, you wouldn't have made any deals with that stranger." Delia grinned at the Rocket Boss but he was not troubled.
Giovanni chuckled at Delia's statement. "You really think that your son can defeat me, don't you?"
"Not think, know," Delia answered confidently.
"I can assure you that if your son comes here, that he comes to his death."
Delia was about to make a retort when the building began to shake. Dust rained down from the ceiling as a glass that was situated too close to the table's edge fell off the table and shattered on the ground, causing Persian to look up in surprise. It then glanced over at Giovanni and went over to him, but the Rocket Boss was preoccupied with Delia.
"It looks like your plans are about to come crashing down around you," Delia said with a grin.
Giovanni merely reflected Delia's own grin back at her. "Far from it," he answered. "If anything, your son and his friends are about to be in for the surprise of their lives. I still have a base full of loyal Rockets. They'll have a fight before they reach me."
Delia merely grinned. "But you have nowhere else to go, Giovanni. This is it. If you lose now, it's all over."
"It most certainly will be, at least for your son," Giovanni retorted with a grin as he looked out the window. He knew that his trump cards would not fail him. Ganondorf had his own stake in this battle so he knew that his benefactor would not betray him, at least not yet. All he had to do now was wait. However, he would still take precautions. The last thing he could afford to do was to be taken off guard. Ash may not have been Mia, but he had still managed to defeat her in a battle. If it came down to a battle between him and Ash, he needed to have an edge. Fortunately, he just happened to have one.
Back outside the base, as Ash and the others approached the building's, they finally encountered more conventional resistance in the form of a quartet of Team Rocket Grunts. Each of the Grunts had two Poké Balls in their hands. Pikachu, however, did not give them a chance to deploy their Pokémon, though, for he simply powered a Thunderbolt and unleashed it on the Rockets. Electricity arced across their bodies as they were shocked into unconsciousness at best.
Once the Rockets had been dealt with, Lance and Cynthia charged over to the Rockets and placed seals on their Poké Balls, ensuring that Team Rocket would not be able to open those Poké Balls without going through a great deal of trouble. They also bound the hands and feet of the unconscious Rockets to further neutralize their threat without having to kill them. Besides, they would be useful sources of intelligence.
Once they had bound the hands and feet of the Rockets, the group made their way towards the League Headquarters. As they approached the entrance, the group carefully kept their eyes open to make sure that they were not ambushed by any enemies teleporting into the fray behind them and attacking from behind.
May took out one of her Poké Balls and opened it, sending out Beautifly. Once she had released Beautifly, she told the Pokémon, "Beautifly, use Psychic to find out if there are any defenses inside the building and if there are, send us their information."
"Beautifly," the butterfly-like Pokémon answered, nodding before its eyes began to glow. The Pokémon promptly scanned as far into the interior of the base as its abilities allowed it to. While it did know Psychic, it did not have the ability to use it at the same level as a Psychic-type Pokémon, so its scan distance was limited. Still, it was better than nothing and was able to get a cursory scan of the defenses inside the base from the mind of one of the Rockets on the inside.
It promptly relayed the information back to May and the others, including Tyranitar, who despite being a Dark-type Pokémon, was still able to receive friendly psychic messages. As such, the whole team knew the defenses that Team Rocket had stationed in the lobby of the headquarters. There were four Rocket Grunts and two Rocket Agents, each of who was equipped with Poison-type Pokémon, mostly Grimers and Koffings, along with a couple of Muks and Weezings, but there was one Rocket with two Abras and a Kadabra. This caused Ash to grow concerned, knowing that a Psychic-type Pokémon may have been able to fool the psychic senses of a non-Psychic-type Pokémon, something he was quick to point out to May.
"May, are you sure that Beautifly's scan is accurate?" the boy asked. "Those Abras and Kadabra may have been able to fool Beautifly's senses."
May nodded. "Positive," she answered in no uncertain terms. Her expression also showed her confidence in her Pokémon's assessment of the situation.
"Perform another scan once we deal with the Rockets in the lobby," Lance directed. "We need to know what to expect once we get inside."
"Will do," May answered.
With that, the group glanced at each other and checked on the Pokémon to make sure that everyone was ready.
"Okay guys," Ash directed. "When we go in, we go in hot. Everyone pick your targets and attack. There is no distinction between Trainer and Pokémon. Both are enemies here. We'll need to deal with both of them."
The Pokémon each nodded and uttered their name as confirmation of Ash's direction. Tyranitar and Charizard both gave eager grunts, smashing their fists into their hands in anticipation of the upcoming battle. Once everyone was ready, they proceeded to burst through the door and engage the Rockets on the other side.
Ash and the others burst through the entrance, catching the Rockets on the other side completely off guard, Beautifly used Psychic to take out two Weezings while Tyranitar burst through and used Earthquake to take down the two Muks that were preparing to launch Sludge Bombs at the group. The shaking of the ground also caused the Rockets to lose their footing, having to focus on attempting, and failing, to stay standing rather than deploying their Pokémon to defend the base. This left them open to attack from both Pikachu and Pachirisu, who unleashed a Thunderbolt and Discharge respectively. Electricity arced across the bodies of the Rockets and the Rockets were taken down with single attacks, the Rocket Agents having been completely electrocuted by the attacks, their eyes wide open in shock as they fell to the ground, likely dead. The Grunts were merely rendered unconscious and fell to the ground, electric sparks still arcing across their bodies.
Once the Rockets had been dealt with, Ash and Dawn went over to the unconscious Rockets and bound their hands and feet. Lance and Cynthia then went over to grab their Poké Balls and place seals on them to lock the Pokémon inside, not wanting to have to deal with any Rocket Pokémon if they could help it. They then returned the unconscious Muks and Weezings to their Poké Balls and locked their Poké Balls as well.
After they had neutralized the Rockets and their Pokémon, May looked over at Beautifly and nodded once more, telling it that it should scan the interior of the base. Beautifly nodded and its eyes began to glow once more. It scanned the base to try to ascertain the defenses stationed inside the base. This time, scanning the interior was far more difficult, for this time, there were several psychic barriers in place. It looked back at May and shook its head.
"It's no good," she grunted. "There are wards all over the place."
"I'll handle this," Mewtwo answered, stepping forward. The Psychic cat-like Pokémon's eyes then glowed as he performed his own scan of the base. As he scanned the interior of the base, he was able to identify the locations of each of the Rockets and what types of defenses they had with them. He also managed to glean the fact that Ganondorf was inside the base as well, as well as the fact that Ganondorf must have caught his scan, for the head of the Gerudo King turned and the cat-like Pokémon was able to see the glowing yellow eyes of the evil king. Mewtwo then cut the scan and made his report.
"There are fewer Rockets here than I initially expected," he reported. "Most of the Rockets are making their way to the Goldenrod City Radio Tower so they can release a code that would allow them to take control of all of the Trainer-controlled Pokémon in Japan. However, I think that this plan can be thwarted if we manage to destroy the Badge Amplifier. If we destroy that, then the code might not be enough to take control of the Pokémon."
"Where is this machine?" Cynthia asked.
"In the grand meeting room on the first floor," Mewtwo answered. "However, it is heavily protected by several Team Rocket Agents, Executives, as well as by their security chiefs."
"Where's Mom?" Ash asked.
"She's in Giovanni's office on the top floor," Mewtwo told him. "They're protected by several Rocket Grunts as well as the Trio," he added, indicating the presence of Jessie, James, and Meowth. "I also sensed the presence of another fighter, one that I could not identify but one that is still quite dangerous."
"So how do you want us to do this?" Dawn asked.
"Lance and I will go and destroy that machine. If we do that, Team Rocket's plan will be crippled," Cynthia volunteered. Lance nodded, curling his hands into fists in anticipation.
"I'll go and save Mom," Ash replied.
"We're coming with you," May and Dawn both volunteered.
"Tracey and I will keep watch down here and monitor the situation," Professor Oak volunteered. "We'll come to the aid of whoever needs our help."
The others nodded.
"I'll go with Ash, too," Mewtwo stated, looking over at the boy. "I have a feeling that Ganondorf may be close to Giovanni and you'll need to be careful if he appears."
"Got it," Ash, May, and Dawn answered, nodding.
Once the plan was made, the group broke off into their various teams, Lance and Cynthia forming one team, Professor Oak and Tracey, keeping watch in the lobby, and Ash, May, Dawn, and Mewtwo forming the other teams. Once they were ready, the teams went their various ways in order to take down Giovanni and Team Rocket once and for all.
Lance and Cynthia made their way towards the hallway that would hopefully take them towards the base's security center so they could take out Team Rocket security and also relay everything that they had learned about the Pokémon League's deal with Team Rocket as well as Team Rocket's plan to the country's Gym Leaders as well as rest of the Pokémon World. They soon found the door to the hall and stopped for a second, prompting their Pokémon to stop with them. They wanted to be sure that they were not heading into a trap. Peering through the door's
glass window, they scanned the area to see if there were any Rockets in her line of sight. Seeing none, they pulled the door open and rushed on in, both Lance and Cynthia pulling out their Ray Gun and holding them in front of them, peering down the corridor while their Pokémon surged through. They soon stepped out into the open, followed by their Pokémon. Cynthia turned to the right and led the way, followed closely by Lance with Garchomp and Dragonite joining them in the lead, and with Spiritomb bringing up the rear, looking backwards to make sure that they were not attacked from behind.
As they moved forward, Cynthia looked back at Spiritomb, inquiring, "Anyone following us?"
The part Ghost-type Pokémon spun around and shook its form, indicating that there was no one behind them. The group then moved forward cautiously, not wanting to give away their presence to Team Rocket. Lance and Cynthia both scanned the corridor for any signs of cameras. Surprisingly, though, there were none, which gave them no comfort. They glanced at each other and nodded, suspecting that Team rocket was using alternative methods of keeping watch on the corridors. That also meant that chances were that they had been discovered and Team Rocket was already making plans.
It did not take long for the group to arrive at the security center. The center was protected by a large metal door with a security panel next to it. There were several buttons arrayed in a standard configuration with numbers and symbols on said buttons. As they approached the door, Lance grunted.
"What is it?" Cynthia asked.
"Now's the time I wish we had a Psychic-type Pokémon on our team, or at least one that knew Psychic," Lance replied in hushed tones.
Cynthia had to suppress a chuckle, for Lance was, indeed, right. With Mewtwo and May going to help Ash, strongly suspecting that the real danger lay on the boy's path, rather than their own, they merely brought the Pokémon that were on them at the time they were without a Psychic-type Pokémon. However, they were not without a Pokémon that knew Psychic. Cynthia looked over at Spiritomb and nodded.
Lance looked over at Cynthia and asked, "What is it?"
"As it just so happens, we do have a Pokémon that knows Psychic."
Lance looked at her quizzically when he suddenly saw Spiritomb appear next to her and she smiled knowingly. Lance then grinned, realizing what she meant. This was even better since Spiritomb was part Dark-type, which would make it immune to a psychic scan from any potential Psychic-type Pokémon inside the security center.
Cynthia then went over to Spiritomb and told it, "Spiritomb, scan the people inside the security center. See if you can get the access code to the door as well. Once we do that, we'll play havoc with their security and also alert the Gym Leaders and other Elite Four members as to what's going on here."
Spiritomb nodded as it went about its work. While Spiritomb was scanning the interior of the room, Lance and Cynthia gathered the rest of their teams around them.
"Okay everyone, we're going to take down the security center and start playing havoc with the base's security," Cynthia began. "We'll also be wanting to contact the Gym Leaders and other Elite Four members too, so make sure that at least one of the operators is alive when we clear the place." She then turned to Roserade, a green bipedal Grass/Poison-type Pokémon with red and blue rose petals for hands, and told it, "Roserade, you'll be leading the charge. We'll need your Sleep Powder to disable one of the operators inside without killing him. Garchomp will go in and be the primary clearing force for those we don't need alive." She then turned to Spiritomb, and asked, "Before we go, though, what did you find in there Spiritomb?"
Images of the interior of the security center then flashed through Cynthia's mind as if they were photo stills as Spiritomb relayed the information it had gathered to its Trainer. She saw the presence of several Team Rocket Grunts as well as a couple Agents along with the new Team Rocket Chief of Security. They also had some Legendary Pokémon but they were keeping their minds guarded against revealing them and Spiritomb was unable to get a clear image of what Legendaries were being used by Team Rocket. Still, it had managed to get the access codes to the door, which it quickly relayed to Cynthia: one, zero, fifty-three, forty, and thirty-four.
Cynthia immediately input the code and stood back. After putting in the code, the doors began to slide open. The woman and her Pokémon stepped back so that they would remain invisible to the Rockets as they launched their attack and looked back at her Pokémon team and Lance, letting them know that it was about to get real. Glancing over to Roserade and Garchomp, she gave a nod, which was the signal to attack.
Just then, the group stormed into the security center. Roserade immediately began the assault by firing a cloud of Sleep Powder into the room. The cloud caught several Rockets off guard and rendered them unconscious before they could even draw their weapons or deploy their Pokémon. A few others, however, had been more alert and the moment the two Champions appeared, they sprang into action. One guard rose, raising his gun and drawing a bead on the blond haired woman. He did not care that the intruder was the Sinnoh League Champion Cynthia, one of two Trainers that had ever given a challenge to Leaf, the living incarnation of Team Rocket's worst nightmare. To him, she was merely an enemy and intruder that had to be dealt with. He went to fire on her but Cynthia beat him to the punch and fired a single shot from a Ray Gun that Spiritomb had managed to telekinetically rocket into her hand, the energy beam striking him in the chest and felling the Rocket instantly. A second Rocket had drawn a bead on her, only to be taken down by a shot from Lance, who had managed to acquire a Ray Gun of his own. Garchomp dealt with two Rocket grunts that had attempted to draw their Ray Guns on him with a barrage of Stone Edge, skewering the Rockets in the process. A third unfortunate Rocket was taken down when Garchomp rocketed into the air and simply landed on him, crushing his back, and then slashing at his body for good measure.
Soon, the Chief of Security rose from his station and unclipped his five Poké Balls from his belt, tossing them into the air mere moments later. The balls opened and out came five glowing blue blobs of energy that formed into Heatran, a Pokémon that looked to be a cross between a tortoise and a ram with a reddish brown body, gray head and underside, and gray bangles locked on its legs; Shaymin, a hedgehog-like Pokémon with a pure white body with green grass growing out of its back along with pink flowers, and three large golem-like Pokémon that both Lance and Cynthia recognized as the Regi Trio, Regirock, Regice, and Registeel, each one looking like the element that their name represented. The Security Chief also had a pink flower on him, which he then placed onto the Shaymin. "Looks like we'll be giving the Badge Amplifier an early workout after all," he said as he watched Shaymin glow and transform from a hedgehog-like Pokémon to a small, reindeer-like Pokémon with a mostly white body but green and white legs, which were longer and more pronounced. It also had white, wing-like ears as well, which allowed it to fly. Shaymin immediately took flight and began to target Cynthia's Pokémon, viewing them as the greatest threat zeroing in on Garchomp first. "Shaymin, use Seed Flare on Garchomp!" the Security Chief cried.
Shaymin targeted the bipedal shark-like Pokémon and began to glow in preparation of launching the attack. Before it could launch the attack, though, Lucario and Glaceon targeted the Pokémon with Dark Pulse and Ice Beam respectively. Both attacks scored direct hits on Shaymin, Ice Beam striking first, with Dark Pulse hitting second. The sheet of ice formed by Ice Beam engulfed Shaymin and forced it back, causing it to cry out in pain, with Dark Pulse scoring a direct hit as well, piercing the ice sheet and striking Shaymin, forcing it back even further. Despite taking two super effective attacks, though, Shaymin was still able to get its attack off. An explosion of green light was unleashed at both Pokémon. Roserade and Togekiss rushed in front of Garchomp and Lucario to protect their comrade from the attack. They took the full brunt of the attack and despite their resistance to the attack, still suffered significant damage. Had either of them taken the full hit, they may have fainted. However, neither Roserade nor Togekiss would be taken down so easily from an attack that they had a type advantage against. They quickly recovered with Togekiss launching an Air Slash at Shaymin, with Glaceon joining in with Ice Beam. Both attacks hit the Grass/Flying-type Pokémon, with Ice Beam hitting second. This time, the Ice Beam managed to freeze Shaymin solid. Once Shaymin was frozen, Togekiss could take its time in finishing off the Legendary Pokémon.
Meanwhile, Garchomp and Spiritomb were dealing with Heatran. The Security Chief began the battle by ordering, "Heatran use Fire Spin on that Spiritomb!"
Heatran nodded and complied with the order, powering the Fire-type attack. It then unleashed a vicious, spinning stream of flame at Garchomp. However, the attack was difficult to aim and Garchomp used her agility to avoid the attack. That left Heatran open to an Earthquake from Garchomp. Spiritomb, not wanting to get caught in the attack, itself, floated into the air while Garchomp dealt with Heatran. Garchomp stomped the ground and the ground began to tremble and shake violently. Spiritomb was safe as could be in the air and the other Pokémon of Lance and Cynthia's teams were far enough away to not suffer damage from the Earthquake. That was more than could be said for Heatran who was really suffering from the Earthquake due to its Fire and Steel-typing, along with Regirock and Registeel, who due to their Rock and Steel-typing, respectively, also sustained super effective damage and were close to the Earthquake. Still, despite sustaining an attack that had a quadruple type advantage against it, the Fire/Steel-type Pokémon was still able to battle, as were the two golems. That would not last long, though, for Garchomp and Spiritomb were quickly joined by Lance's Gyarados, who unleashed a massive Waterfall on Heatran. The water-type attack was enough to do in Heatran and it promptly fell to the floor, unconscious. Next, Lance and Cynthia's Pokémon turned their attention towards the Regi Golems.
The Rocket Security Chief was in complete shock as Heatran was defeated. Turning to Shaymin, he saw that Glaceon had just finished dealing with it, too, taking it down with an Ice Beam. That only left the Regi golems. Regirock, who had suffered significant damage from Garchomp and Togekiss's Earthquake and Aura Sphere attacks, charged towards the two Pokémon, preparing to use Stone Edge on Togekiss in order to finish off the Normal/Flying-type. Things did not go as planned, though, since Garchomp quickly stood in front of Togekiss and intercepted the attack, suffering only moderate damage from the Legendary's attack. Garchomp then finished off the golem with an Earthquake of its own. The attack was more than powerful enough to take down Regirock, along with Registeel, who had not even been able to get off its Flash Cannon before being taken down. The golems quickly fell, leaving only Regice to go against the rest of Lance and Cynthia's team. Wanting to take down Regice quickly and with minimal chance of taking damage, Roserade quickly loosed a cloud of Sleep Powder on the remaining Legendary Golem. The cloud fell upon the Pokémon, despite its best effort to take down Roserade before he could unleash the cloud, a task made difficult by Spiritomb using Psychic to lift Roserade and allow her to maneuver away from Regice's Ice Beam. This allowed the cloud to land on Regice and put it to sleep, not that it would have been all that necessary since Togekiss launched an Aura Sphere at the remaining Regi Golem while Lucario engaged it using Close Combat. The energy sphere scored a direct hit on the center of mass with Regice, knocking it back, with Lucario quickly appearing in front of it and unleashing a vicious volley of punches and kicks. Those attacks, along with the damage it had suffered earlier from the Earthquakes, were sufficient to take down the Legendary Pokémon. It fell to the floor with a thud that shook the room and lay there with swirls in its eyes, showing that it had fainted.
Things were quickly going from bad to worse for the Rocket Chief of Security. Glaceon soon turned to face the Rocket as the Rocket Security Chief went for his side arm. Before he could draw his Ray Gun, though, Glaceon let loose with a single Ice Beam. The forking beam of freezing energy scored a direct hit on the Rocket Security Chief and a sheet of ice formed over his chest. The sheet of ice rapidly expanded until it encompassed his entire body. As he was being dealt with, the rest of the Lance and Cynthia's Pokémon finished off the few remaining security personnel and Pokémon that were stationed in the center. Within seconds, the remaining security personnel and the few Pokémon they had fighting for them were defeated and left on the ground either unconscious or dead.
Once the battle was over, Cynthia went over to the Rocket Chief of Security and took his Poké Balls. Pushing a single button on them, she released the now fainted Heatran and Shaymin from their captivity. She also did the same for the Regi Golems. When that was finished she went over to the primary control console and studied it. She was shocked at how everything was labeled, making it far easier for anyone to be able to use the computer than it should have been. She glanced over to Spiritomb questioningly. Could this actually be as easy as it looks? she wondered. Lance also came over to check on the computer and his expression echoed Cynthia's surprise. Spiritomb's nod told her everything she needed to know. Still, the Pokémon transferred the knowledge to operate the machine to her mind, which she did not object to at all.
She then input a series of commands to place all sectors on the screen. Soon, the large screen in the center of the wall lit up with a large number of images from all over the base. Many of them showed the positions of the few remaining Rocket grunts and officers in the base. An image in the lobby showed the fallen forms of the Rockets and Pokémon that they had faced when they had enter the base. Checking out another part of the base, they saw Ash, Mewtwo, and their friends headed towards Giovanni's location. Several fallen Rockets lined the corridors, all signs showing that the children and Mewtwo had caught the Rockets completely off guard.
They then focused on gaining hold of the files in the computer. Lance and Cynthia input a series of commands, a task made painfully easy by Team Rocket labeling everything almost as if it had never occurred to them that the security center might have ever been taken. They took a look at all of the files that pertained to Team Rocket's plans. Sure enough, there were recordings and transmissions indicating the whole plan of attack for Team Rocket. When they looked over them, their faces became ashen and their eyes went wide with shock and concern. They had known that Team Rocket was planning on taking control of the Pokémon in Japan; they just did not suspect that Team Rocket's plan actually had a good chance of success. According to the information here, though, Team Rocket's plan had an excellent chance of success. Not only that, but Team Rocket's plan included using their new Pokémon to take control of the United Earth's leadership, or even the Galactic Federation leadership since they could use the Psychic-type Pokémon to mind-control the Federation leaders into doing whatever they wanted. This plan had to be stopped, no matter the cost. And to make matters even worse, Team Rocket was already on its way to the Goldenrod City Radio Tower. Still, there was a chance to stop the plan in its tracks. If the Badge Amplifier could be destroyed, then there would be no way for Team Rocket to control so many Pokémon. It was clear what they had to do now.
First, Lance rushed over to a panel away from the main computer and pushed a button. The panel retracted and a series of unused datapads were revealed. He quickly pulled out one of the pads and activated it. He then rushed back over to the main console and plugged the pad in.
"What are you doing?" Cynthia asked the Johto Champion.
"Downloading Team Rocket's plans," Lance answered. "We need to have evidence of this when we present it to the rest of the Pokémon World, or even to United Earth or the Galactic Federation if necessary."
Seeing the wisdom of his decision, she assisted him by pulling up all of the files so they could be downloaded onto the datapad. Inputting another series of commands, Lance put up a map of the base, pointing the way from the security control room to the location. Once that was complete, she went over to get another datapad and plug it into the main computer. She then downloaded the map to the datapad and disconnected it from the computer. Once that was complete, she went and did a data search for the code that would be used by Team Rocket. She wanted all traces of it to be destroyed, even though it was also being taken to the Goldenrod City Radio Tower. It was her hope, though, that she could alert Mewtwo to what was going on and that he could intercept the attack force and destroy them before they could get anywhere with the code.
Seeing that the code had been stored in the base's main memory, which was located in the security control center, she decided that the best way to destroy the main repository for the code was to delete the main computer and then outright destroy it. Before doing that, though, she needed to contact Ash and his friends to let them know of the situation.
She input a series of commands and the map of the base disappeared. She input Ash's phone number and waited as she heard a ringtone at the other end of the line. Soon, Ash's voice sounded as she answered, "Can it wait? We're a little busy right now."
"Not really," Cynthia answered. "I'm at the security control center inside of Team Rocket's base. We've got a clear vision on what Team Rocket's plans are."
"We know, take over the country's Trainer owned Pokémon so they can take over the world," Ash answered.
"Yes, but we know exactly how they're going to go about doing this," Cynthia began, getting Ash's attention.
"How?"
"They're sending an assault force to the Goldenrod City Radio Tower so they can transmit a code to every PC in the country. Whenever a Trainer uses the computer to transport a Pokémon to a lab or to a PC Box, it will, instead, transport the Pokémon to Team Rocket, who will use a Badge Amplifier to amplify the effects of Gym Leader Badges, allowing Team Rocket to control all Trainer owned Pokémon in the country."
"Where is the assault force now?" Ash asked, fearing that he already knew the answer.
"They're already en route to Goldenrod City's Radio Tower," Cynthia answered. "However, we've still got a chance. I'll wipe the main computer here so the code here will be destroyed. However, we're pretty far away from the actual Badge Amplifier, so we'll need you guys to destroy it. We'll try to get to you, but Team Rocket may have security forces trying to keep us occupied."
"Don't worry. We'll get it."
"Okay then. I'm sending the data to you now."
There was a click and a map soon appeared on Ash's Poké Gear watch that would direct him to the Badge Amplifier's location. "Got it," Ash told the Sinnoh League Champion.
"We'll do our best down here and then come up to reach you and help you out against the rest of Team Rocket," Cynthia told him. "Good luck."
"And to you, too," Ash echoed. With that, he hung up the phone.
"What is it?" Dawn asked, siding up next to Ash.
"Team Rocket's makin' their move," Ash answered. "They're gonna try to take over every Pokémon in Japan so they can use them to control the world's leadership."
"As well as the Galactic Federation's," Mewtwo added.
"Well, Lance and Cynthia have isolated the location of the machine that Team Rocket needs in order to do this. We're gonna go and destroy it. If we do that, their plans fall apart."
"Then what are we waiting for?" May blurted. "Let's go!"
"Yeah!" the others cried. With that, the group made their way towards a stairwell and followed the map to the Badge Amplifier.
Meanwhile, back inside the security center, Lance and Cynthia cut the line between the center and Ash. All that needed to be done now was to shut down the main computer and erase it. Without it, Team Rocket would be blind, deaf, and unable to coordinate the defenses of the base, along with the only other repository of the code to transfer all Trainer owned Pokémon in Japan to Team Rocket. She scanned the computer and found the off switch in a very conspicuous position. Looking over at Spiritomb, projected the question of whether or not it was actually as easy to shut off the computer as it seemed. Surprisingly, Spiritomb indicated through a series of telepathic images that it was as easy as it seemed. She then pushed the off switch and the computer screens and consoles went dark, the faint hum of the computers lowering in pitch before going completely silent. Once the computer was shut down, both Lance and Cynthia checked their datapads. The map of the base appeared on her pad, along with all of the important areas. She quickly found them and focused on the path to the chamber that held the Badge Amplifier. Lance checked his datapad and saw that all of the evidence they needed to incriminate not only Team Rocket but the Pokémon League was also on the pad. Right now, though, they needed to get to the Badge Amplifier to assist the others so that Ash could fight Giovanni while Mewtwo dealt with the Team Rocket assault force over at Goldenrod City.
Before leaving, though, the duo scoured the room for any weapons or tools that might help her on their quest. In one alcove, Cynthia found a bazooka-like weapon that strongly resembled a Super Nintendo Super Scope. She was surprised at the sight of the weapon, for while she had heard of such weapons before, they were not in widespread use by the Galactic Federation, but were still powerful enough to be restricted. She began to wonder how Team Rocket had managed to get a hold of such a weapon. Thinking nothing more of it, she grabbed the bazooka-like weapon and slung it over her shoulder. She also found a few orange spheres that were encased in some form of adhesive. She figured that they were either grenades or bombs of some sort. She took them, too, just in case she needed extra firepower. Lance also scoured the armory for weaponry, taking a Super Scope, a Ray Gun, as well as a Steel Diver, a gun shaped like a submarine that fired explosive projectiles, along with a few Motion Sensor Bombs.
Once they had gotten their weaponry, they gathered of their Pokémon and told them, "Follow me everyone. We're not done in this base yet. We have to stop the rest of Team Rocket from escaping before it's too late."
The duo then exited the room and led the way down the corridor, followed by their Pokémon friends. They then followed the map on Cynthia's datapad as she went to take the shortest route to the chamber that held the Badge Amplifier, hoping rendezvous with Ash and the others at the room, and hopefully destroy the machine before Team Rocket could use it.
Meanwhile, inside of Goldenrod City, the helicopter carrying the Team Rocket assault force made its way towards the Radio Tower. As soon as they had entered Goldenrod City, the pilot turned on the comm and spoke into it, informing the assault force, "We've just entered Goldenrod City. Touchdown will be in five minutes. Everyone get ready."
That was the cue for the Rocket assault force to check their weapons and Poké Balls. They checked their weapons' settings and made certain that they were fully loaded. They also made certain that they had all of the grenades that they would need for the mission. The last thing they wanted was to be stuck without an essential weapon.
Gideon looked around at the Rocket Grunts and Agents and saw that they seemed to function much like a military or paramilitary force, rather than a group of outlaws. He then noticed that they were now staring at him. He was puzzled as to why they were staring at him until he realized that he had to make his own final checks, for if something was wrong with the code or the delivery system, they would either have to fix it on the fly or scrub the mission entirely. He took out his datapad checked it, performing several diagnostics on it and performing a series of tests on it to make sure that it would work. Fortunately, everything was functioning within normal parameters.
"I'm good to go," he told the other Rockets.
The Rockets nodded and sat back in their seats, waiting for the all clear.
Eventually, one Rocket got out a Poké Ball and opened it. Out came a Kadabra, whose eyes glowed as soon as it emerged from its Poké Ball. It then turned and stared at its Trainer.
"Kadabra, we're approaching the Goldenrod City Radio Tower. Once we're within range, scan the building so we can see just how much security this place has," the Rocket commanded. His command concerned Gideon.
"I thought we already went over that?" the scientist said in a concerned tone.
"We've done simulations of this but there are still questions as to the security of the Radio Tower, itself," the Rocket answered. "The Galactic Federation Civil War and the invasion of Earth changed a lot of things. Remember, the New York City Radio Tower, a Radio Tower that was larger than this one and had an army protecting it, was taken over in the invasion. Chances are that Earth has beefed up security over other sensitive locations as well. And don't think that the Pokémon World hasn't done the same with its own sensitive locations."
"But I thought we controlled the Pokémon World."
"We're in control of the League, not the world," the Grunt answered. "And even then, our command over it is tenuous at best. We've gotta do this before the Gym Leaders realize that somethin's wrong with the Pokémon League and launch a concerted effort against the Pokémon League."
Gideon nodded but remained curious as to why they were being so cautious. He had already mapped the Goldenrod City Radio Tower and knew exactly where his destination was. All they had to do was disable security, something that should not have been too difficult given the load outs of the assault force. They could easily storm the building, kill anyone in their way, and then get to the transmission station at a leisurely pace. Gideon then noticed the Kadabra looking at him and shaking its head. It then looked back at the Rocket and its eyes flashed.
"Yeah, you said it," the Grunt commented nonchalantly.
"What did it say?" Gideon asked.
"It said that your ideas are short-sighted," the Grunt answered. "Even though we could storm into the Radio Tower and kill everyone there relatively quickly, we'd never be able to do it without someone alerting the police or even the military as to what was going on. We'd then be besieged by a ton of cops and/or soldiers and none of us would get out alive. We have to neutralize their security personnel all in one fell swoop. To do that in the most efficient way possible, we need to know their stations and locations. If they aren't wearing any NBC gear or have any gasmasks, we may be able to take them all out in one fell swoop. That's why we've brought along a few Parasects. They can use Spore to fill their ventilation system and put everyone inside the building to sleep. Then we can raid the building at our leisure."
"I see," Gideon answered, nodding. He was learning a lot about how the Tactical Grunts and Agents worked. Still, he would rather have everyone inside completely neutralized so that they would not worry about anyone waking up.
As the helicopter approached the tower, the intercom crackled to life as the pilot informed the rest of the passengers, "We're approaching the Goldenrod City Radio Tower. Touch down will be in a couple of minutes, barring any unforeseen circumstances."
That was Kadabra's cue to get to work. "It's your time to shine Kadabra," the Rocket Grunt told the Psychic-type Pokémon.
The Psychic-type Pokémon nodded and then sat down on the ground, and assumed a meditative position. Once it did so, its eyes then began to glow. The Pokémon then scanned the entire tower, doing its best to identify security personnel, their stations, as well as anything special about the ventilation system, for it knew the preferred plan of attack by the assault force.
After a few seconds, the Pokémon sat up and then glanced over at the Rocket, its eyes flashing. In that flash, all of the information that the Pokémon had gleaned from its scan was transferred to the Rocket assault force. Each member of the assault force knew the entire layout of the tower, as well as the locations of its security personnel, their level of training, as well as their load out and any Pokémon that may have been with them. Surprisingly, the security at the Radio Tower did not have many Pokémon with them. Chances were that Team Rocket forces inside the Pokémon League must have convinced the workers at the Radio Tower to cut back on their Pokémon forces. Either way, it appeared as if this was going to be a little easier than expected.
Once the information was transferred to the Rockets, the first part of the assault began to get underway. Four Rocket Grunts immediately deployed their Parasects along with four Abras. They then took out some datapads that had the complete layout of the Goldenrod Radio Tower and highlighted four areas, each Rocket highlighting a distinct area. These were labeled as air service ducts that connected to the tower's ventilation system.
"Abra, take us to these locations at once," each Rocket Grunt commanded their Abra, pointing out the location that each Abra was to take their Trainer. "Also, once inside, disable all filtration systems inside the tower. We need to be able to have the Spore cloud spread throughout the entire tower."
The Abras nodded but Gideon was beginning to grow concerned. "Wait," he blurted. "What are the rest of us to do once we get inside? We'll be affected by the Spore cloud, too!"
"That's what the gasmasks are for," a second Grunt said, pulling out a gasmask as well as buttoning up his clothing. "We also packed some NBC gear too, just in case a gasmask wouldn't be enough. Don't worry, Gideon, we packed a suit for you, too," the Grunt finished almost patronizingly.
That put the scientist more at ease as he nodded and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Alright Team One, are you ready?" came the voice of the pilot over the comm.
"We are," came the response.
"Roger that," the pilot stated. "Good luck."
With that, the Grunts of Team One vanished from the helicopter, along with their Parasects and Abras. That left Gideon alone with the rest of the Rocket assault force, waiting for the all clear from Team One.
"Alright everyone, get your suits on," came one of the Rocket Agents, who was already dressed in his NBC suit. This suit more closely resembled light powered armor than most standard nuclear, biological, chemical suits worn by those who worked in toxic atmospheres.
The Rockets did as the Agent directed, putting on their suits. One of the Rockets tossed Gideon a suit and gruffly told him, "Put it on smart guy. You're needed to input the code so we can take control of all the country's captured Pokémon."
The scientist struggled to put on the suit as he attempted to fit inside of it. It was sized a little too big for him, seemingly designed for use by the more muscular or rotund Rocket soldiers that were already dressed. The suit was gray and had a red R on its torso. It also included a helmet with faceplate that had atmospheric filters on it, allowing him to breathe in toxic atmospheres.
"Make sure your suits are all buttoned up tight," the Rocket Agent bellowed. "You don't wanna get put to sleep by the Spore cloud once we infiltrate the building, do you?"
"No sir," the other Rockets stated, some of them chuckling as they checked their suits. Once they were ready, they simply sat down in their chairs, gripping their weapons and/or Poké Balls, waiting for the signal from Team One.
Over in one of the air vents, one of the Rocket Grunts and his Parasect and Abra appeared next to the vent. A clap sounded as the trio appeared near the vent. Once they appeared near the vent, the Rocket Grunt looked to each side to see if there was anyone in the vicinity. When he found no one, he looked down at the Abra and told it, "Abra, scan the area. Make sure that there's no one around here. We can't afford for anyone to detect us during the mission."
"Abra," the Pokémon answered without moving. The Rocket then waited for a moment while Abra scanned the area using Psychic. After a few moments, the Abra looked back at the Rocket and gave a telepathic 'all clear' signal.
"Good work Abra," the Rocket told the Pokémon. "Keep watch."
The Pokémon nodded and the Rocket then went over to the ventilation shaft. He then turned to Parasect and told it, "It's time. Come over here now and use Spore on this vent. Keep pumping Spore into it until you run dry."
"Parasect," the bug-like Pokémon answered, nodding.
Parasect then approached the shaft and once it was within range, it let loose with a massive Spore cloud. The Rocket Grunt and Abra backed away from the Bug/Grass-type Pokémon, not wanting any of the spores to make contact with them and risk putting them to sleep, too. This was not a problem for Parasect since it was not only its own technique, but it was also part Grass-type and as such, it was immune to powder and spore techniques.
The Spore cloud traveled into the shaft and was immediately distributed through the air vents and ducts. While the Spore cloud was being propelled into the vent, Abra went to work shutting down any filtration system that would have filtered out the Spore cloud and protected the tower's occupants. Once everything was finished, the Rocket simply waited and hoped that the rest of the team managed to pump their Spore clouds into the ventilation systems and shut down any filtration systems in the tower. That would make the raid a whole lot easier.
Sure enough, all around the Radio Tower, the rest of Team One was hard at work making certain to pump the tower full of the Parasects' Spore cloud so they could enter the tower at their own leisure. Each Rocket made certain that there were no security forces patrolling the exterior of the tower as they pumped the Spore cloud into the tower. They also made certain that they pumped in the cloud at the exact same time so that the people inside the tower would not know what was happening until it was too late.
Inside the tower, everyone was busy at work, just as they would be any other day of the week. Radio programs were underway and other technicians were hard at work making sure that everything functioned smoothly. Security personnel were making their rounds to keep out any potential miscreants. Some of them had a feeling that something was about to happen but they just did not know what exactly it was. One thing that no one had expected was a Spore cloud to emerge from the ventilation system. As such, when the Spore cloud started emerging from the vents, no one knew what was happening until the spores made contact with their skin or they breathed in the spores and immediately fell asleep at their stations. Everyone else in the hallways managed to lay down on the ground before completely falling asleep. Soon, everyone inside the Radio Tower was asleep, and defenseless before the assault that was about to occur.
On the exterior of the Radio Tower, the Rockets waited while the Parasects pumped as much Spore as they could into the vents. Once they were finished they retreated from the vents, indicating that their part of the mission was over.
Once the Parasect retreated, the Rocket Grunt turned to Abra and told it, "Scan the interior of the tower to make sure that everyone's asleep. If they're asleep, tell Team Two that they're a go."
Abra nodded and quickly scanned the interior of the Radio Tower. Extending its telepathic senses into the tower, it managed to glean that everyone inside the tower was asleep. In addition, there was no one outside the tower besides the Rockets and their Pokémon, meaning that the tower was ripe for the taking. Turning back to the Grunt, the Abra nodded, indicating that everything was a go. The Rocket Grunt grinned and soon took out a small radio and activated it.
"This is Rocket Alpha of Team One. The baby is asleep. I repeat, the baby is asleep. You're good to go," the Rocket spoke into the radio.
"Excellent," came the pilot's voice over the radio. "Return to the helicopter at once. We'll need you guys for backup in case something unforeseen occurs."
"Roger that," the Rocket Grunt answered. He then took out a Poké Ball and returned Parasect to the Poké Ball, the red beam striking the Pokémon, turning it into a red blob of energy before drawing the energy back into the ball. Once the Pokémon had been returned, the Grunt turned to Abra and told it, "Take us back to the chopper."
The Abra nodded and with a flash of its eyes, the Abra and Rocket Grunt vanished from the tower.
The duo reappeared back on the helicopter, immediately being rejoined by the rest of Team One. "Mission accomplished," the leader of Team One reported.
"Not yet," the Rocket Agent in charge of the mission countered. "Part one is complete. The mission isn't accomplished until we transmit this code to every PC in Japan and take control of every Trainer owned Pokémon."
The Agent then went over to a comm line and pushed a button. Once he did that, he bellowed, "Phase one is complete. Take us down to the tower."
"Understood," came the response from the pilot.
Gideon took a deep breath as the helicopter began its descent. They needed to find a safe landing area close to the Radio Tower. While some of the Rockets had wanted to teleport into the tower, the leader of the assault had decided against it on the off chance that there were teleportation inhibitors inside the tower as a security measure against criminals that may have had Psychic-type Pokémon. As such, it was decided that they would take the longer, but safer, way to the transmission station.
After less than a minute, the helicopter shuddered as everyone heard, and felt, a small thud inside, indicating that the helicopter had touched down. "We've landed safely close to the tower," the pilot stated over the comm line. "It's your show now."
Gideon took a deep breath as he put on the helmet and snapped it in place. The rest of the Rockets made one last check of their weapons and the Pokémon that they would take with them. They then gripped their weapons as the rear boarding ramp opened.
As soon as it had extended fully, the Rocket Agent in charge bellowed, "This is it. Everyone move out!"
Then, as one, every Rocket filed out of the helicopter, keeping their rifles trained forward on the chance that there was unexpected security forces that they would have to deal with. Gideon brought up the rear, being escorted by two Rocket Grunts whose mission was to make certain that he reached the transmitter alive and unharmed. Once the Rockets were outside the helicopter, they turned towards the Radio Tower and began their assault.