Reid:
-"Hating technology and loving every minute of it."
Story 26:
A Rocket Powered Scheme!
Part 1:
Magneton Marathon!
The sun rises, as it tends to do, bathing our happy little trio in the early morning sunshine. Maybe things are looking up? One can only hope! Or maybe not... that would be boring, and we all hate reading boring stories! Cause boring stories... ok ok... I'll shut up.
Nothing would wake Keji, Rei, or Oddish from their deep slumber, or so it would seem. Rei was curled up into herself, snoring quietly, hardly audible over Keji and Oddish, sprawled out in the middle of the camp, Oddish on Keji's stomach, both of them snoring contentedly. Every so often one of them would twitch from some unseen dream. Yup. Seems like nothing'll ever wake our blissfully slumbering couple. Not even two of Keji's Pokéballs shaking on his belt. Nope. And certainly not Sandshrew and Cubone appearing in a flash of light. Of course, Sandshrew screaming at the top of his lungs and Cubone chasing after him with contempt, smashing anything in range of his bone club managed to stir at least Keji.
"Huh... wha?" He sat up, looking around confused, sending Oddish tumbling through the camp sight.
"Odd odd odd odd odd odd..." he mumbled as he rolled slowly, waking up even slower.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE!" A bellow erupted from the forest, scattering Pidgeys and Spearows from their own blissful slumber.
"SHREW!" A shorter, equally loud, and very frightened yell responded to it.
"Oh great..." Keji muttered, as he quickly began gathering his things.
Rei yawned and uncurled a bit, looking around as sleepily and dazed as Keji first did, "Huh... wha?" she mumbled.
"Exactly what I said..." Keji sighed and finished gathering his things, "Come on, Sandshrew and Cubone are at it again... we have to catch them."
Rei groaned a bit and stood, starting to gather her own things. Oddish looked around, exactly the same as Rei and Keji did, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs.
"Come on Oddish." Keji sighed, slinging his pack over his shoulders.
Rei stood, "I'm all ready to go Keji." she said, slinging her own pack over her shoulders.
"Good... let's go Ponyta!" Keji said, opening Ponyta's Pokéball and releasing her from its depths. Keji quickly climbed on the saddle, which oddly enough followed Ponyta in and out of the Pokéball, and helped Rei up, who had Oddish on her shoulders, "Let's go!" He yelled, urging Ponyta into a burst of speed, forcing Rei to cling to Keji's waist for support.
Cubone and Sandshrew weren't difficult to track, as Cubone and his wildly swinging bone club left an easily followed trail through the woods. Keji and Rei had no trouble catching up to them.
When Ponyta did catch up to them, Cubone was swinging wildly at Sandshrew, within melee range, and Sandshrew was barely dodging each savage blow.
"You guys... what am I going to do with you... retu... hey, what's that?" He stopped his Pokéball when he heard a faint whirring noise. It seemed that Rei, Oddish, Sandshrew, and Cubone heard it too, because each of them began looking around, baffled and confused. Even the battling opponents stopped their melee to find the source of the noise.
"Shrew? Shrew Sandshrew?"
"Bone! Bone Cu Cubone Cu Cu!" Cubone retorted. Keji was too busy trying to find the source of the noise to make out the conversation between the two Pokémon.
"Keji, what is that sound?" Rei asked, clinging tighter to his waist.
"I don't know, but... HEY!" Keji yelled as his sentence was cut off by a bolt of electricity hitting the ground by Ponyta's front hooves, causing her to buck off her three riders and whinny in fright.
"What in the world?!" Keji yelled, looking around confused at who their attacker or attackers were. It was then he spied the small floating ball with two magnets on its side and a large screw sticking out of its head.
"What in the..."
Magnemite
A Magnet Pokémon. This interesting creature is attracted too anything electrical or metal. It is able to emit powerful electric bolts and a high pitched screech.
Rei's Pokédex chimed in with the description of the little Pokémon before Keji could respond with his own.
"A wild Magnemite? Those things aren't found in these forests very often..." Rei muttered, putting her Pokédex away.
"Who cares?" Keji said, smiling, "I'm gonna catch it anyways!"
"Come on Keji!" Rei pleaded, "You have five Pokémon already, I only have three!"
"But... it attacked my Pokémon, it should... uh-oh..." Keji looked behind Rei, wide eyed.
"What... oh..." She turned, and her face assumed the same frightened appearance as Keji's, "Looks like there'll be enough to go around..." she muttered, pulling out a Pokéball, and facing the five more Magnemites behind her now. She blinked and noticed that they were being surrounded by at least twenty at this point, on all sides.
"Sandshrew, Cubone, Scyther, Oddish, Ponyta, get ready!" Keji said, looking around worried, and releasing Scyther from his Pokéball.
"Poliwhirl, Venonat, Abra, go..." Rei replied by letting her own Pokémon out.
The Magnemites wasted no time. Two linked their magnets together and a huge bolt of electricity from both of the newly linked Magnemites floored Sandshrew before he could even act. Cubone spun on his heels and faced five Magnemites, hurling his bone club wildly, hoping to strike one. The five little Pokémon scattered and reconverged, and releasing another powerful blast, they floored Cubone, his club striking a tree and falling to the ground.
Scyther was in his typical meditative stance, but even through closed eyes he knew where his six opponents where. Suddenly his eyes flared open as he leapt to his feet, nimbly dodging a bolt of electricity, and leaping aside as one of the creatures flew towards him.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODD!" Oddish yelled, barely avoiding each bolt of electricity.
"Stun spore!" Keji yelled, leaping aside. These Pokémon weren't only fighting his Pokémon, they were shooting at him and Rei too!
"Keji!" Rei yelled. Keji looked over and saw she was surrounded by five Magnemites, shivering in terror, looking wildly around. She hadn't even gotten a chance to call her Pokémon out.
"REI!" He yelled, and darted towards them. He saw one of the Magnemites charge up another bolt. He jumped. The bolt fired. In one quick motion Keji pushed Rei aside, taking the entire bolt himself, falling painfully to the ground.
"KEJI!" She yelled, taken to the ground as well from his tackle.
Keji groaned a bit in pain and shook his head, offering a weak smile, "Hey... takes more'n that..." his sentence was cut off as he fell unconscious.
"ODD!" Oddish yelled, seeing Keji downed. He growled and strained, as beams of light began to become absorbed into his foliage, and suddenly released a solar beam that took out a good ten Magnemites in a line, all of them dropping to the ground, smoldering.
"SCYYYYYYYYYY!" Scyther flexed his own muscles and crossed his blades, his five foes closing in around him. With another savage scream he released a flurry of slashes, spinning and whirling. Finally he leapt out of the circle of his enemies, and landed, crouching, staring forward seriously. Then, one by one, each of the Magnemites dropped to the ground. He stood and nodded, an ever so slight grin on his face as he glanced over his shoulders at his felled foes.
Ponyta neighed as the last of her own foes dropped to the ground in a smoldering smoking heap. Rei rolled Keji off of her ever so gently and looked around, "Keji..." she leaned over, "I think they're gone..."
Suddenly she was proven wrong by a high pitched screech, that caused all in the clearing to clutch their ears in unbearable pain, writhing and screaming. The last thing Rei saw before the world fading to black was at least twenty more Magnemites converging on them from the depths of the forest.
Rei finally reawoke to a gentle shaking. She was no longer laying on the cold hard ground of the forest, but instead on the cold hard ground of some place indoors.
"Wake up please... please wake up..." a gentle, soothing voice repeated over and over. Rei shook her head, only to cause excruciating pain. It felt like her head would split in two, and her ears were still ringing from the combined screeches of the some twenty Magnemites that attacked them in the forest. Upon seeing the movement, the voice let out a soft sigh of relief, "You're alive... thank god."
"Just... barely..." Rei muttered, sitting up slowly, "Keji?! Where is he?!"
"Oh... that's his name? He's on my bed..." the young woman, no older than Rei herself, said. Rei looked around. It appeared they were in a small room with a comfortable looking bed and windows, blinds drawn, on two walls. It seemed less like a prison, and more like a bedroom.
"Do... do you live here?" Rei asked, very much confused at their surroundings.
"Yes," she replied, smiling a bit, almost sadly, "I feel I owe you an explanation."
Rei got up and slowly walked to Keji, not responding. He was sleeping soundly, albeit he appeared to be in a bit of pain still. His electrical burn was bandaged. It was easily visible now that he had his jacket off, through the hole in his shirt.
The girl sighed and continued, "My name is Ellise. I... run this power plant..."
Rei did a take, "You... run this..." she blinked, even more confused, "Power plant?"
"Yes, the Pewter City Power Plant, and well, I run it with my father, only he's away."
"He's away? Where?" Rei asked, sitting on the bed next to Keji. She was talking to Ellise, but it was easy to see her worries were on Keji as she ran her hand through his hair.
"He's in Pewter, discussing funding for the power plant with officials... it's just me and a few workers, only they all ran away." She replied sadly, looking at the ground.
"Why?" She looked up from Keji to Elise.
"When the Pokémon started to flip out..."
"What happened?" Rei asked, her interest peaked now.
"They just... started acting funny. Eventually they all started attacking people. Even the Pikachus and Raichu, and they used to be so friendly!" She sighed sadly.
"And the Magnemites." Rei muttered.
"I must apologize for that... it's odd... it can't be simple Pokémon disobedience... why would they all disobey at the same time?"
"Do you mistreat them?" Rei asked, looking back to Keji as he stirred a bit in his pained slumber.
"No, we treat them very well! We owe it to them, as they have to do tasks too dangerous for humans. The electrical Pokémon easily handle dealing with high voltage, as humans cannot without special equipment."
"That is odd..." Rei nodded a bit.
"And the weirdest thing is that the Pokémon aren't randomly disobeying. I've been watching for a couple days now. The Magnemites appear to patrol the area, the Pikachus and Raichu continue their normal tasks, and the Voltorbs have attacked anyone that comes into the Plant... there seems to be an order to it all..." she said, thinking, "Come to think of it... I haven't seen Electabuzz around anytime lately..."
Rei hadn't heard most of what Ellise said, as she was watching Keji with worried eyes. She then snapped to, "How'd we get here?"
Ellise shrugged, "I don't know that one. You were here when I woke up. I was wondering that myself."
Rei frowned further, "How'd you know we were attacked by Magnemites?"
"The Magnemites and the Voltorbs are the only ones attacking people, and I guessed you didn't come into the Power Plant without being attacked by the Magnemites first."
Rei sighed and looked around, "We need to get out of here, it isn't safe. We're still alive now, but what if the Pokémon decide to change that?"
"I'd love it if you could find a way..." Ellise sighed, "but the door's locked and barred on the other side. There's no way out on this side... unless you intend for someone to come save us from the other side..."
One of the eight Pokéballs in the storeroom shook and rattled, followed by another one, and suddenly the room was bathed in light as Cubone and Sandshrew erupted from their balls. A tied Oddish was also awakened by the sudden flash of light.
"BONE!" Cubone yelled and swung at Sandshrew weakly. He was still wounded from the battle, but he didn't care.
"SANDSHREW!" Sandshrew yelled, frightened, and jumped aside, clawing at the door to get out.
Cubone grinned evilly. There was no escaping him this time! He had that sand-sucker right where he wanted him!
"CUUUUUUUUUUUUUB..."
A weakened, but very urgent, "ODD!" cut Cubone off, his club mere centimeters from Sandshrew's frightened, shivering face "Odd odd Oddish dish Oddish Oddish odd odd..."
WAIT WAIT WAIT! Even I don't understand what they're saying, and I'm writing it! Ok ok, rewind. Time for a little translation!
*REWIND*
Cubone grinned evilly. There was no escaping him this time! He had that sand-sucker right where he wanted him!
"I GOT YOU NOW YOU..."
A weakened, but very urgent, "HEY!" cut Cubone off, his club mere centimeters from Sandshrew's frightened, shivering face, "You guys have to cut it out right now!"
"Why?!" Cubone yelled angrily. Sandshrew, still shaking, released a sigh of relief.
"Cause Keji got hurt and we don't know where he is!" Oddish struggled to get free, "We gotta help him!"
Both Cubone and Sandshrew's eyes bugged out, "Keji's hurt?!" they both asked, worried.
Oddish nodded a bit, "Yeah, now lemme out, and we'll go help him!"
Sandshrew nodded and started towards Oddish, but Cubone stuck his bone club out in front of Sandshrew, causing him to stumble and tumble into a Pokéball, accidentally releasing a slumbering Abra, who yawned, woke up, and looked around.
"What did you do that for bone head?!" Sandshrew yelled, causing Abra to clutch his ears.
"Keep it down you guys..." Abra said and yawned.
"Cause you'll only get in the way sand-sucker!" Cubone retorted, ripping Oddish's ropes and setting the perky plant free.
"Cut it out, both of you!" Oddish said menacingly, "And keep it down! Those Magnemites might here you!"
Abra frowned, "Where are Rei and Keji?" he asked, looking around, perplexed.
Oddish sighed, "We were attacked by some Magnemites in the forest. Keji got... hurt... and then we all got knocked out. They have to be in this building!"
Sandshrew and Cubone nodded at Oddish's logic.
"We have to" Abra yawned and shook his head, "Find them! I'll be able to find Rei if she's here, no problem."
Sandshrew nodded, "Let's hope they're in the same place!"
"Oh no! You're staying here Sand-sucker!"
"Like heck I am, bone brain!"
"CUT IT OUT!" Oddish yelled with such conviction that both of them shut up, "You are both coming! We'll need both of you!"
They shut up and nodded, but cast each other evil glances.
"Now, we need to find a way out of here." Oddish mumbled to himself.
"No problem." Cubone nodded. Suddenly the door was shattered by a quick and powerful blow from his bone club, leaving Abra, Oddish, and Sandshrew staring in disbelief, "How was that?"
"Good going bone brain, now they're going to know we escaped!" Sandshrew yelled angrily, "If they aren't already on their way here now!"
Oddish sighed, "Well we're out, let's go!"
"Is that so?! Well I'll have you know I can take out anything that does come down here!" Cubone retorted, waving his club angrily.
"Really?! I'll bet!" Sandshrew laughed, sticking out his tongue.
Cubone growled and was just about ready to clobber Sandshrew when Oddish cast an evil glance at both of them, "Get along you two!"
They both sighed and nodded. Cubone lowered his club and Sandshrew started slowly down the hall, looking around.
Oddish nodded waddled after Sandshrew, followed by a slower Abra, and Cubone, bringing up the rear of the group.
A groan snapped Rei out of her thoughts as she looked down to Keji and saw that he was stirring.
"Keji?" she said, unable to hide the relief in her voice.
"I feel like I was hit by a truck..." he muttered softly as he opened his eyes, shielding them from the painful light.
Rei smiled a bit, happy to see him awake, "You were hit by a thundershock from one of those Magnemites..." she said, running her hand through his hair again.
"Feels like a couple..." he groaned, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs, "Where are we?" he asked, confused, finally realizing they weren't in the forest anymore.
"You're in my room..." Ellise interjected, causing Keji to jump a bit in surprise, "I'm Ellise, and you were brought to my room in the Pewter City Power Plant."
He frowned, "Pewter? We're in Pewter?"
"No," Ellise replied, sitting back down in the corner, "The power plant is on the outskirts of Pewter."
"Maybe you can explain a few things, now that Keji is awake." Rei said, looking to Ellise.
Ellise sighed, "Like what?"
"Like how someone your age gets to be running a power plant." Keji said, sitting up painfully.
"Well I don't really run it, dad was teaching me to run it, and left me in charge for a couple days while he went into Pewter to negotiate some better funding." she looked out the window, "I guess that wasn't a good idea."
Keji shook his head, "I'm confused... why are we here?"
"The Magnemites brought you here while I was asleep." Ellise replied, standing again, "I don't know what's going on, but the Pokémon have taken over."
Keji frowned and watched her, "That doesn't sound very typical, Pokémon usually don't revolt on that level."
Ellise nodded, but did not respond, she just watched the door, as if trying to open it with her will. Rei and Keji merely looked at each other.
"There has to be a way out." She muttered, incurring only a nod from Keji.
"Nothing here either." Sandshrew said, pulling his head back around the corner. Oddish, Cubone, Sandshrew, and a lagging Abra then toddled around the corner. Their air was more like they were out for a leisurely walk rather than trying to save people.
"Which way Abra?" Oddish said, turning to the sleepy psychic Pokémon.
"Strait ahead." He replied, yawning yet again.
Oddish nodded, "Keep on your toes guys." He said, looking around for anything out of the ordinary.
"Halt." a computerized voice shot from behind them, "Intruders will be punished." suddenly the Magnemite behind them aimed its two magnets and released two thin bolts of energy. Sandshrew leapt out of the way, narrowly avoiding one of the blows. Cubone parried the second blast with his bone club.
"That's it! I'm sick of being target practice!" He bellowed, leaping at the Magnemite, swinging his club. He landed a solid blow, that floored the little Pokémon.
"For once I'm with you, bone brain!" Sandshrew nodded, and jumped into the air, rolling into a ball, and plummeting into the downed Magnemite, putting a deep dent into its side.
"Intruders... sector... 8..." the creature sputtered before closing its little eye. Suddenly red lights were flashing and sirens were wailing.
"What did you guys do?!" Oddish yelled, barely audible over the sirens.
"We beat up the enemy!" Cubone retorted, "What were we supposed to do?!"
Sandshrew shook his head, "That's what I get for following your lead bone brain!"
"Shut up and run sand sucker!" Cubone yelled as he jumped aside, avoiding another bolt from the Magnemite that spun around the corner.
Oddish lowered his head and released his stun spores, causing the Magnemite to shiver and fall to the ground with a thud, "RUN!" he emphasized Cubone's statement with his own, and started to run down the hall, followed by a much more rapidly levitating Abra.
Cubone and Sandshrew cast each other a worried glance, and it looked like Sandshrew would speak, but a bolt of electricity that landed in between them ended any discussion before it would start.
"What is that?!" Rei yelled over the lights and sirens.
"It's the alarm! We use it if there's an electric error, or some threat to the power plant or personnel!" Ellise replied, hands on her ears.
"Since when do the Pokémon know how to use an alarm?!" Keji yelled, his own hands on his ears.
Ellise didn't answer. This was getting weirder and weirder. The Pokémon couldn't have set off the alarm. They didn't know how to use it.
Suddenly the door was knocked off its hinges from a powerful blow.
"BONE!" Cubone yelled, getting zapped in the butt again.
"Shrew!" Sandshrew dove into the room avoiding a bolt himself.
"Sandshrew! Cubone!" Keji yelled, overjoyed!
"Aaaaaaabra!" Abra flung himself, levitating still, into the room.
"Abra!" Rei said, bending over and hugging her friend.
"OOOOOOOODISH!" Oddish ran into the room, three Magnemites on his tail.
"And Oddish!"
"AND MAGNEMITES!" Ellise screamed.
"Magnemite!" The Magnemites all said in synchronization, pointing their magnets at Keji, his eyes going wide.
"ODDISH! SOLAR BEAM!" Rei yelled, flinging the blinds on the window open, letting the sunlight fill the room.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOODISH!" Oddish drew in his energy and released his Solar Beam, connecting to the three Magnemites, causing them all to drop to the ground, smoking.
"Hey... that's my job..." Keji muttered, but shrugged when Oddish smiled at him, and leapt into his arms.
"Odd! Dish, odd odd!" Oddish said, smiling, nuzzling into his lost friend.
"Yeah, I'm glad you're alright too Weed Head. Thanks for the rescue, all of you."
"Cu!"
"Sandshrew! Shrew!"
Yawn, snore. Abra was fast asleep, causing small laughter to drift through the room.
"So, these are your Pokémon?" Ellise asked, patting Sandshrew on the head, who was happy to get the attention.
"All of mine except Ponyta and Scyther." Keji replied, setting Oddish down.
"And none of mine, except Abra here." Rei said, picking Abra up, "We need to find them Keji."
Keji nodded, "Hey buddy, was everyone in the same place?" Oddish nodded, "You remember how to get there?" Oddish nodded again.
"Great! Lead the way!" Rei said, smiling. Things were finally looking up.
"We need to get out of here!" Ellise interjected urgently, "Who's to say we'll even get to your Pokémon in one piece?!"
Keji frowned, "I am not leaving them here!" he said, turning to the door. Suddenly his eyes opened wide as he saw the three Magnemites rise into the air, and hover in a sort of triangular formation.
"Mite."
"Mite."
"Mite."
Suddenly the room was bathed in a bright light.
"TON! MAGNETON!" A mechanical voice filled the room. When the light cleared, the crew could see the three Magnemites had attached themselves to each other.
"It's a Magneton!" Ellise said, frightened, pointing.
"DISH! ODDISH!" Oddish jumped in front of Keji.
"TON!" All six of the new Pokémon's magnets pointed at Oddish, each releasing a bolt of electricity, that all combined into one powerful blast, and launched Oddish into the wall, setting a small crack in it.
"ODDISH!" Keji yelled, rushing to his friend's side.
"BONE!"
"SHREW!"
Both Cubone and Sandshrew rushed at the creature, Cubone swinging his club menacingly.
Magneton reaimed its magnets at the charging duo and launched another attack, but the duo jumped aside, both landing softly.
"BONE!" Cubone yelled as he released his bone club in a graceful arc at this new foe, landing a solid blow, causing a metallic "clunk" sound. Sandshrew launched himself at the Magneton just as Cubone caught his bone club, rolling into a ball, and likewise landing a blow, hitting the Magneton, and rebounding off of it, sending it flying into the wall. Then it slowly slid to the floor, groaning in pain the entire time.
"Maaaaagnet... ton ton..." Magneton groaned, and spun around, only to face Cubone, grinning evilly, eye to eye with the other Pokémon.
"Bone bone bone..." it said, and brought its club down hard on Magneton, who sputtered another exclamation of pain, then made no more sounds, and just laid in pain on the ground.
Keji just stared as he held Oddish, "Did... Sandshrew and Cubone just work together?!"
Rei nodded, too flabbergasted to say anything about the matter.
"Bone? Bone cu Cubone..." Cubone muttered to Sandshrew as he made his way to Keji.
Sandshrew gave Cubone a raspberry as he followed him.
Keji chuckled weakly, "Well, all good things must come to an end, I guess." He stood, "We need to get out of here."
"Wait..." Ellise said, examining the Magneton.
"What is it?" Rei asked, walking to her.
"These." She said, pointing to three small disks, attached to the top of each of the three Magnemites that made up Magneton.
"What are they?" Keji asked, bending down to the felled Pokémon.
"Bone." Cubone said, shrugging, and bashed all three of them in turn good with his bone club.
"Hey!" Keji exclaimed, jumping back in surprise, "What the heck are you doing?"
Each of the disks made electrical crackling noises, and released a bit of smoke after being hit.
"What did you do, Cubone?!" Rei asked, knowing full well she wouldn't get a response she could understand.
"Shrew, sand sand..." Sandshrew shook his head.
"BONE BONE!" Cubone yelled angrily.
"Stop it you two!" Keji yelled, "It doesn't matter what he did, we still..." he was cut off as the Magneton opened its three eyes, and lifted off the ground again.
"Magnet... Magneton..." it sputtered in its typical mechanical voice.
"BONE!" Cubone yelled in surprise, and jumped back, in a defensive stance.
Keji, Rei, and Ellise likewise jumped back, causing the Magneton to look around, confused.
"Ton? Magnet, Magneton?"
"Shrew?" Sandshrew walked forward and looked up at the floating Pokémon, "Shrew, sandshrew, shrew shrew?"
"Ton, Magneton, magnet Magneton."
"What's it saying Sandshrew?" Keji asked.
"Shrew, sandshrew, shrew shrew!"
"It what?"
"What is it Keji?" Ellise asked.
"It doesn't remember attacking us, or anything for the past few days, it seems." Keji replied, walking forward to the Magneton.
"Bone! Cu Cubone Cubone!" Cubone yelled angrily, causing the Magneton to slink away in shame.
"No, wait! Come with us!" Keji said, causing Rei, Ellise, Sandshrew, and Cubone to look at him as if he had grown a new head, "Think about it! It knows its way around the Power Plant! And if it's not going to attack us again, we'll need another Pokémon to help us get out of here!"
"I guess... but... who's to say it won't attack us again?" Rei asked, examining the Magneton.
"We're going to have to trust it... come on... there's more at work here than simple Pokémon disobedience," Keji said, starting out of the room, Magneton on his heels, "And I'm going to find out what it is."
Really Keji? Do you think you can escape this Power Plant alive? And what really is going on? I smell a rat... and I'm not talking the small fuzzy type. Keep your eyes open gang. You never know what's around the next bend in this kooky place...
Catch all the action at Keji's Pokémon Gym!