The Team Rocket Chronicles
By Red Dragonfly (aka Rebecca Lang)
. . .
Chapter 35
Jesse, James
. . .
. . .
Three sides of Mountaintop City were protected by long, thick invisible walls. These were unassailable. Its fourth side was guarded by a towering mountain that rose so high that even flying pokemon struggled to pass over it. But the mountain could be climbed. This was the city's only weak point.
Jared guessed—and the spies confirmed—that Kris would try to send his pokemon over the mountain and get into the city that way. Better to meet him on the slope where they had the advantage of height, rather than to wait for him to invade. So, here, on the backside of the mountain, they set up their defenses.
James dug in his shovel and scooped out crumbly dirt.
"Remember," he told the ground pokemon watching him, "you want your hole to have a perfectly round circumference. The sides should be smooth, so your enemy can't climb out. Now, the real trick is covering them up—"
"So this is where we'll be commanding the army," Jesse said, inspecting a large, upward jutting rock.
The rock looked over the side of the mountain, where Kris would launch his attack. James had burrowed under the rock the day before, so that all three could stand comfortably beneath it. Jesse arranged a fold-up chair below their shelter.
"Nice." She leaned back on her chair. "All I need now is a cool drink."
"I wouldn't sit there, if I were you," James warned. "The rock hasn't been reinforced yet with wooden beams. It could fall on top of you."
Jesse jumped out from underneath the rock very quickly.
Jared teleported in. "I've talked to the psychic pokemon. A few protested about not being in the fight, but in the end, they all agreed that what they'll be doing is just as important, if not more important, than the actual combat."
"Good," Jesse said, setting up her chair in the sun this time.
"So how are you guys doing?" Jared asked.
He looked around. Nidorino drilled a unit of pokemon caught by Jaquie (minus one) on barriers, reflects, and bides. Leah was in charge of fifteen Nidorinos and Nidorinas. They ran in zigzag patterns around James' holes, pushing their agility. Magmars flared and Machokes flexed. Meowth stood on a stool and cheered on the rest of the army.
"These clowns aren't doing much of anything," Jesse complained, plopping down in her chair. "I'm doing all the work."
"Like what?"
"I'm supervising."
Jared shook his head.
A shriek from the air caught his attention. Fearow flapped up the side of the mountain, panting and squawking.
"Fear, Fearow, Kris, Fear, Fear, Row."
"They've intercepted one of Kris' spies," Meowth translated. "What are their orders?"
"Tell them to eject the spy from our territory—" Jesse began.
"Wait," Jared interrupted. "For our plan to work, Kris needs to know that it's Jesse, not Jaquie, leading the defense of the city. This spy could be our chance."
Jesse shrugged. "All right. James, get over here!" she yelled and he sprang up. "We're going to put on a little act to show Kris just who's in charge of saving Mountaintop City."
"Try to look like pathetic, bumbling amateurs who don't know what they're doing," Jared encouraged.
"That shouldn't be hard," James said cheerfully.
. . .
In Kolb's study, advisor pokemon laid maps on the ebony table and eagerly discussed how many miles to Mountaintop City, how to get there, and which were the best paths up the mountain. Climbing the mountain, they agreed, would be the hardest part. That's where the fight would be. But they had superior numbers. They had to win. They'd free the city from the grip of tyrants.
Kris slouched in Kolb's chair, frowning, twirling a pen through his fingers.
"So what do you think Jaquie will do to retaliate?" he asked quietly.
The advisors hesitated. Their eyes turned to their maps.
Kris jabbed the pen into the center of the paper.
"I didn't say to look at the map. I asked you what you thought Jaquie would be up to. She has strategies in mind, she's going to think of some way to defend the mountain. I need ideas."
The advisors hushed.
"Great. Nothing. Don't you think? Don't you advise?" Kris yanked out his pen and slammed it down on the table. "What about my army? What do you think of that?"
Someone remarked in broken English that it was very good.
"I don't want flattery, I want you to tell me my flaws! Jaquie will see them, I know she will. Your job is to find them before she does. Now what's wrong with my army?"
They looked at each other and shook their heads. Nothing.
"My defense is poor, for one thing. My strategy sucks. I have no retreat, I'm attacking too soon, I don't know what my opponent is planning, and I'm being careless. What else?"
Silence.
"You're all useless." Kris threw his pen against the wall. "Get out!"
They stampeded for the door. While they bunched at the exit, a spy popped in. A huge grin lit up his face.
Good news. He had figured out what Jaquie was planning—or wasn't planning in this case, because as it turned out, Jaquie wasn't even leading the army. Jesse was. She and James were digging holes along the side of the mountain, prancing around, and giving nonsense advice about making lemons out of lemonade.
Kris shot out of his chair. "WHAT?" he bellowed.
The spy stepped back.
Kris was angry, but not at him. "That cowardly, deceitful, arrogant little—Of all the ways to insult me, to throw her sister at me!" he hissed. "I'll crush that city flat! She thinks I'm so weak, I'll destroy her for this!"
The spy quietly made for the door.
"Wait," Kris said. "Did you see Karen there?"
The spy shook his head.
Kris leaned back until his face pointed at the ceiling.
"Get some sleep," he said in a flat voice. "We attack tomorrow."
. . .
Jesse awoke from her soft quilt-covered bed. Fearows cackled the alarm throughout the city.
"Kris is coming," Meowth translated. "His army is on the move."
Jesse ran into the hall in a flash. James went alongside her, pulling on his shoes. Jared hopped out of his room, adjusting his glasses and trying to pat down his hair. Jesse could already hear Gadara outside making a speech. She stuck her head out the window and saw the Kangaskhan standing in the park, surrounded by other pokemon.
"Civilians will stay inside their houses or in local shelters," Gadara said calmly. "All soldiers report to Jesse immediately."
Report to Jesse. She stood in the corridor of the mayor's building in her pajamas, shaking. Her companions looked at her anxiously.
"What do we do?" James asked.
"Get everyone into position," she heard herself ordering. "James and Meowth, you two meet me at the back of the mountain. Jared, make sure the psychics know what to do."
She skidded past numerous doors and opened the door to Jaquie's bedroom. Her sister wasn't there. For a moment Jesse panicked. Then, she remembered Jaquie had been haunting the library lately. She turned left, ran up the stairs, and burst into room.
Jaquie sat in a straw chair, one hand holding an open book, the other set on the table near her coffee cup.
"The battle's begun,"Jesse said in quick, flowing voice. "I need your pokemon."
Jaquie nodded and, in no particular hurry, moved her hand from the table to her belt. She fished out her pokeballs and tossed them to Jesse. Jesse nearly dropped them in her fright.
"Good luck," Jaquie said. "And remember to get dressed before you go out there."
Jesse scampered to her room, threw on some clothes, and, breathless, ran for the battle site. She felt sick. She felt truly sick to the pit of her stomach. Yet when she arrived in front of the waiting crowd, she somehow managed to walk up calmly. She had to appear in command of the situation. Certainly James and Meowth didn't look like they were in charge: both were pale and pacing. Jared's glasses were askew and his hair sticking up in odd places.
"Is everyone ready?" Jesse asked.
"They're all in place," James said. "Except Nidorino and—"
"I have that taken care of." Jesse held up Jaquie's pokeballs.
With much fanfare, she dropped them to the floor, and ordered Nidorino's group into position. Then she addressed the crowd.
"We are here for one reason: to defend Mountaintop City. Many of us are different, but we all love this city and we're not going to see it fall. Kris won't win. We won't let him win. He has disrespected us for the last time and this time he is not getting away with it! We'll show him who's boss!"
The crowd gave an obligatory cheer and fell silent.
"Now what?" James said.
"Now I guess we wait," Jesse replied.
Clouds churned black in the sky. The wind picked up and sent chilly blasts through her hair. Thunder rumbled and a light drizzle fell. Finally, Jesse's straining eyes picked up the faint outline of Kris' army breaking through the clouds.
"He's coming by air!" Meowth yelled. "His whole army's flying!"
Indeed they were. What seemed like hundreds of Fearows, Pidgeottos, Pidgeots, Charizards, and even (they all paled) a great Dragonite, which Kris himself rode on, darkened the sky. The flying pokemon carried on their backs or in their claws Raticates and Primeapes; Charmeleons, Ekans, and Magnemites; Vaporeons and Starmies; Voltorbs, Hypnos, and Seels; Vileplumes, Weepingbells, Parasects; Wigglytuffs, Krabbies, Koffings, Raichus, and Dittos; there were even a couple Dratinis. Flying pokemon not strong enough to carry others also joined them in the air: Beedrills, Golbats, Butterfrees, Scythers, and Venomoths. Heavier pokemon lumbered along on the ground: Golems and Gravelers and Onix and Dodrios and Kabutops, carrying on them Hitmonchans and Hitmonlees and Muks, with a few Hypnos, Alakazams, and Kadabras teleporting along besides them. But it was the flying pokemon, so many flying pokemon swarming the sky, which cast fear into their hearts.
"Jesse, do something," Jared hissed. "They can't go past the clouds. They can't go past us. It will ruin the plan."
All their troops were on the ground. Some tried to shoot pin missiles or flamethrowers, but they fell short, and after Leah sternly rebuked them for wasting ammunition, they didn't try it again.
But Kris and his army were coming closer. What if Kris' army bypasses us altogether and flies straight into the city? Jesse thought. Fear bubbled inside her. She needed to get them down now.
"Rain," she said stupidly.
James looked up. The rain was pouring harder now. Already it had caused some of the Charizards to flinch and fly lower. A few of the Pidgeottos with heavier loads were swooning as their feathers became wet and heavy and ineffective.
"Hey, she's right," James said. "We need more rain."
"Now?" Jared said. "But we weren't supposed to have rain until—"
"Now!" screamed Jesse and James together.
Jared turned to Abra. "Tell the psychics we need showers!"
Abra disappeared. Moments later the clouds darkened and grew thicker. Rain pelted down. Dirt became mud; a mist rose eerily from this ground as cold rain met the warm humidity. The ground pokemon balked and stumbled. In the air the hundreds of flying pokemon flapped hard just to stay aloft. But damp feathers and the weight of cold water were pulling them down, lower and lower, until they were at last in range.
Fire now! Leah ordered.
Pin missiles flew. Battered from both above and below, the flying pokemon fluttered toward the earth.
All but Dragonite. At Kris' urgings, the dragon pokemon rose higher and higher. Kris flirted madly with the thunderstorm, weaving around the flashes of lightning, lifting his hand up to the heavy clouds of black, so close it looked like he was touching them. Then the silvery sheets of rain obscured Jesse's view, and she could only see his silhouette.
"He's too high," Jared said. "If he sees... If he knows..."
Jesse bit her lip.
Suddenly a thunderbolt broke the sky, and through the brief light of the electrical charge, they could see Kris and his Dragonite, plunging down, down, down...
"Nidorino, look out!" Meowth cried.
Nidorino looked steadfastly towards the sky. Everyone reflect! Now!
The thin little barriers went up together, like a line of shields. Dragonite thrust his bulk upon them and for a moment, it seemed like the reflects would crack. Nidorino's army slid backward. Then Dragonite recoiled. Jetting backwards, he flared his wings, caught the air, and charged again.
"Attack now!" Kris ordered his army.
"Defend!" Jesse yelled.
All around them invisible walls went up, just as Kris' army threw themselves off the backs of the flying pokemon and clawed their way up the mountain. They crashed upon the invisible walls like waves on a beach.
"Are we ready to go into phase one?" Jared asked.
Dragonite launched a hyper beam at the invisible wall. The golden white beam punched a hole into the barrier, incinerated the glass with a touch.
"We don't have a choice," Jesse said. "Phase one is coming whether we like it or not."
. . .
Karen sat under a small, sheltered ledge at the peak of an adjacent mountain, her legs tucked in and her arms crossed. It was cold. Most of the storm couldn't penetrate where she sat but every now and then an icy gust would push her hair back and make her skin turn to goosebumps.
She couldn't see Kris. She could barely see the army. Instead, she watched the storm. Sometimes rain would drizzle, sometimes lightning would flash and thunder rumble. Now it was slowly growing calm. The calm made her feel uneasy. The storm seemed almost to be waiting, a wide-eyed cat ready to pounce.
Obviously, the clouds were being manipulated by Mountaintop City. Kris had to realize this. He was smart; he'd figure it out. But would he know how to deal with it? Would he see the danger there? Or would he just get lost in the fight?
He made it clear he doesn't want me around. Well, he got what he wanted. I won't interfere; I won't ruin his strategy. He'll have to lose this battle on his own.
She felt good about this decision. She also felt empty.
And cold.
. . .
Another hyper beam, and the walls heaved and crumbled. The hole was large enough for pokemon to fit through, and Kris' army rushed through it like water escaping from a dam.
"Forget the invisible walls!" Jesse yelled. "Let them go! Stop Kris from getting further!"
The barriers trembled for a moment, then disappeared. Kris' army swept in, teeth, claws, and muscle aching for this fight. The two armies locked together. For a brief moment, Jesse's army held their own. Then the massive bulk of Kris' military overwhelmed Jesse's pokemon, biting and slashing until...
Until that familiar cry filled the air.
From atop his Dragonite, Kris made a face.
Clones were melting like butter on a hot day. Kris' army sank their claws into pokemon only to have them disappear. Instead, from out of the ground, the real army burst through Kris' ranks, gnawing into the bulk like so many mice through cheese. For a moment, confusion reigned over Kris' army.
But only for a moment.
"Everyone, use substitute, now!" Kris yelled.
Previous battles had stressed the importance of clones, and Kris had gone to great lengths to make sure all his pokemon knew substitute. At this time when Jesse and James were supposed to have an advantage, Kris' army doubled and all advantage was crushed beneath its goliath bulk.
"Now what do we do?" James asked in a panicked whisper. "They already outnumbered us."
Jesse blinked and felt a cold, swooning terror creeping in her chest. For every one of Jesse's pokemon there were four, five, six of Kris'.
"We have to eliminate the clones," Jesse said. "I need strong attacks and I need them now!"
A ripple began through Jesse's army. Only a few heard her command, and an occasional hyper beam, an occasional blizzard, an occasional solar beam flew. These attacks tore through enemy's tightly-packed pokemon, hitting two or three at once. The news spread, the ripple grew into a wave, and suddenly the earth moved, geysers erupted, the winds blustered, fire raged, and pure raw energy split the air and collided in a white and golden shock.
Leah's unit didn't attack. Much to their surprise, she ordered agility.
Don't just run, she clarified. Herd the enemy together.
Pushing and speeding and weaving through Kris' army, Leah's unit annoyed most of the opposing pokemon. They tried to step on these pests only to find that they'd scurried away. Many enemy soldiers came together in tightly-bound groups to defeat a common opponent. At this point, Leah stopped the agility and with one large hyper beam, cut the enemy asunder. The real pokemon screamed; the clones dissolved like a fog. Leah's army savagely finished off the remnants.
In the meantime, Nidorino noticed a substantial group of psychic pokemon quietly teleporting their way to the front. He couldn't let that happen. If they went too far, they'd prematurely set off phase three.
We need to contain them, he told his unit. Get in front of the psychics, get their attention, and use bide.
His unit swiftly fell into place, molesting the psychics with spores and sleep powders and disables. The psychic pokemon by pooling their mind power into a single massive attack. But Nidorino's unit was already using bide. They collected the psychic energy, compounded it, and added their own energy. When the time was right, they sent back twice the pain they had received. Clones broke and originals reeled back. Nidorino gathered his unit and bodily shoved the psychic pokemon back down the mountain.
But it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough because Kris' army was still advancing. Too many clones, too many attacks. Kris' forces needed space and they weren't about to back up for it.
Dragonite swooped down and Kris scouted for trouble. His army was winning, but they moved like they were stuck in one giant traffic jam. Kris ordered Dragonite to find out what was the problem.
Five pillars of flame blocked entry up the mountain. When Kris' pokemon came too close, fire would snake out from the pillar and burn them. Whatever fire pokemon stood there must also have a pretty strong psychic attack. Kris' memory flickered. Fire and psychic...
Five of Kris' water pokemon rushed to the front and let loose a wall of water. The shroud of fire left the pokemon; five Magmars stood where the pillars had been. Kris memory lurched. The Magmars teleported away, leaving five Machokes, arms crossed, to brace against the water.
Magmars and Machokes. It was the first battle all over again.
The Machokes doubled over and punched the ground in unison. Mud reared up like a tidal wave and crashed back onto the water pokemon. Kris flinched, remembering the force of the blow, remembering smashing into rocks. Mud came towards him, but Dragonite veered upwards and Kris avoided the hit.
"Thanks," he said.
But he was angry with himself. For a moment, he'd let his concentration be broken. Well, that wasn't happening again.
"Flying pokemon attack the Magmars and Machokes. They're so good at attacking things from the ground, let's see how they do when they're opponents come from the sky."
Fearows, Pidgeots, and Pidgeottos swooped down.
From their rock shelter, Jesse, James, and Meowth surveyed the battle.
"I think we've destroyed most of the clones," James said. "Time for phase two?"
Jesse nodded. "Phase two begins now!"
Her voice blared confidently, but she felt much less certain. Her eyes shifted through the dreary scene. The clones were indeed gone, but so were roughly a third of her troops. Kris' already large army loomed larger. His troops slowly advanced up the mountain, seeming almost to swallow the bodies of the defeated. This was all going much faster than she thought.
Jesse bit her lip.
. . .
When Jaquie looked out the window in Gadara's library, she saw the back of the mountain rising up. If she turned at a certain angle, slouched down, and tilted up her eyes, she could see the gathering storm clouds in the sky. They hadn't broken yet. The battle was still going on.
Jaquie buried herself in her book. The epic, what she had read of it, was enthralling. The coffee had been good while it had lasted. The softly fragranced room breathed a simple peace and quiet. No one would guess a battle raged on only a few miles away.
The door swung open, and Gadara walked through. She sank into a chair and uttered a long sigh.
"You aren't with your citizens," Jaquie observed.
"I've done all I could. The people seem calm. I was surprised by their reaction. I should not have been." Her face grew tender. "They are a strong people, a brave people. I don't want them to get hurt," she added softly.
"Me neither," Jaquie said.
Gadara gazed out the window. The mountain seemed to hypnotize her; she stared at it for a long time. Then, abruptly, she stood up, got a book, and, like Jaquie, screened her eyes from the view.
"Sometimes the hardest thing is to do is to stay out of the fight," Jaquie commented. "Because then it's out of your hands. All you can do is trust others to win for you."
Gadara nodded.
Jaquie bent her eyes back to her book. The Adventures of Roanoke. A rousing epic.
. . .
Kris felt the conductor of a symphony. With the wave of his hand, four Pidgeots swooped from the sky and their short crescent beaks pecked the toughened skin of the enemy Machokes. The Machokes swatted in vain, but the Pidgeots flew off in different directions.
Kris waved his other hand, and four Fearows dove down into the Magmars. Long needle beaks burrowed into molten skin of the Magmars. Another motion and four more Pidgeots came. Another gesture and four more Fearows arrived. More signals, more movements, more pokemon. Kris didn't stop until he had twenty-eight synchronized birds rushing at the Magmars and Machokes.
In, attack, out, in, attack, out, and suddenly the Machokes were covering their heads and cowering. The Magmars, less hurt by the pecks, showed their defiance by sporadically combusting into flames. They were trying to disrupt the pattern, and yes, a few Pidgeots, a few Fearows, had to veer away. But instead of letting the confusion distract them, the flying pokemon adapted to it, just as Kris had trained them to do.
Now three Pidgeots flew in one second, then a Fearow, then four Fearows and three Pidgeots. The Magmars cringed, confused by the chaos they had created. A nod of Kris' head and started lifting up the enemy and dropping them. The Magmars and Machokes desperately reflected and jabbed and withered.
Satisfied, Kris turned to the rest of his battle.
On the whole, it was going well. His army surrounded Jesse's pokemon and squeezed them. Three of his psychics combined their powers against an Arbok, fighters raged against a Weepingbell, ice pokemon frothed against a Persian. Kris caught a glimpse of a Nidorino, not Jaquie's, but doing fairly well anyway. He ordered his Dragonite to attack...
"Phase two begins now!" Jesse's loud voice ripped through the cacophony of battle.
Nidorino vanished.
So did Arbok, Weepingbell, and Persian. The whole of Jesse's army shifted positions. Then the field was shuffled again. All Jesse's pokemon were teleporting in an ever-shifting flux. Kris saw Nidorino materialize near Primeape, club it with his tail, and vanish again.
Kris rolled his eyes. Where had he seen this before?
His pokemon ran around, like children trying to capture their shadows.
"Don't go after them!" Kris snapped. "We outnumber them. Why should we chase them? Stand still, and let them come to us."
Standing still was making James. So he began to count pokemon.
"One, two, three, four..." James licked his lips. "...Five. Kris has five pokemon to every one we have."
"We knew we'd start off losing, but not this badly," Jesse murmured.
Jared paced in circles, wringing his hands. "This was a stupid plan."
"Don't say that!" Jesse said ferociously. "This 'stupid' plan is all we have. But I wish we had a Dragonite!" she added passionately. "Or some other pokemon we could ride around on! We're so useless here! All we can do is watch."
And count, James thought.
Morbidly, he began counting the number of their pokemon that had fallen.
Nidorino and Leah hadn't fallen into the teleporting craze. Rather, they had planned to meet up during phase two. They kept their units intact and snuck onto quiet segment of land behind the lines of chaos.
I don't think there's much to discuss, Leah said. Our army's getting slaughtered. I say we jump into the thick of things and help as many pokemon as we can.
Nidorino shook his head. Look up. Half of Kris' army consists of flying pokemon. Most of them are still completely unharmed.
That will help us in the long-run.
But not in the short run. What do we do?
Leah glanced at the black dashes that blotted the sky. Well, we're in phase two. Why don't we teleport into the air and play leap frog on their backs?
Nidorino responded with a fierce smile. Agreed.
A Pidgeotto looking at the battle suddenly found Nidorino on her back, clawing her feathers. She shrieked and shrieked, then craned back her head and trying to peck Nidorino. Her cries caught the attention of a Charizard. The fire dragon streaked towards Pidgeotto, fire streaming from his mouth.
Nidorino stayed put until he could feel the heat prickle his skin, and then he vanished. Charizard pulled up, and Pidgeotto pulled down, and both avoided a narrow collision.
The drama replayed itself throughout the sky as Nidorino's and Leah's units teleported, attacked, and left. The flying pokemon thumped their wings and snapped their beaks.
Land on their wing, Leah yelled to her army. It will do even more damage. Here, watch.
She teleported onto a Pidgeot's wing. With the arrival of new weight, Pidgeot's wing tilted at a crazy downward forty-five degree angle. Leah, tail straight to balance herself, aimed pin missiles at other flying pokemon. They smacked into a Golbat and a Charizard. Leah leapt acrobatically off the wing and teleported midair.
Kris saw and let out a groan of disgust.
"Don't just hover there like your paralyzed," he shouted at his birds. "Move! Spin, twirl, turn upside down! Do whatever crazy tricks you can think of. Just keep on moving!"
Leah, teleporting onto the wing of a Charizard, suddenly lost her balance when Charizard overcompensated for the weight and flipped sideways. Leah's claws scrabbled, but she slipped and had to teleport prematurely. She teleported onto another wing and immediately dropped. The Pidgeotto was flying upside down, in the middle of a loop.
Wings are no good anymore, Nidorino yelled. Teleport onto their claws and hang on!
He demonstrated by hitching himself onto Fearow's scaly leg and biting down, resisting the gravity of a ninety degree turn. Fearow screamed and clawed at his face.
Leah welded her teeth to a Pidgeot and felt claws rake her back. She bit down harder, flipped in just the right way to double kick the bird, and teleported away. Other pokemon thrashed and scratched and teleported in huffed breaths.
On the ground below, the struggle was far less even.
Kris felt personally compelled to one-better any of Jaquie's old strategies that Jesse used against him. "Smokescreen," he ordered. "Get back to back and use your attacks!"
Smoke billowed in patches across the field, where Kris' fire and poison pokemon fought. Wind blew, and the dark smog dispersed like ink in water. The hazy field became like a maze for Jesse's teleporting. They couldn't see where they were going.
Some panicked and teleported randomly from place to place. In this way, they quickly drained their psychic power. Other members of Jesse's army hesitated, trying to figure out where they were. But Kris' pokemon, eyes locked in a single direction, spotted them quickly and bashed them with their strongest attack.
Jesse could only listen to the horror that unfolded in the darkness.
" 'Help! We can't see—!' " Meowth translated. "Venusaur is gone. 'Try reflecting. That—!' That's all Ninetails said. Parasect is crying for some sort of strategy and Marowak is encouraging them on... now he's screaming..."
"Jesse we're losing most of our army down there," James said.
"Jesse," Jared said. "We just lost our Magmars and Machokes."
Jesse twisted her hands. "Who do we have left?"
"Nidorino's unit. Leah's unit. There's a couple of random pokemon holding their own, but they're all spread out."
"Tell everyone teleport to the front. They need to form one big group and block Kris from getting further up the mountain."
"Phase three?" Meowth asked.
"We're not ready for phase three!" Jesse yelled. "Get them into a group! We'll go to phase three when I say so!"
Leah's and Nidorino's units dropped from the sky. The rest all teleported in. Less than thirty pokemon held off the advance of hundreds. So little against so much. Jesse wanted to scream their surrender. It was easier than watching her forces collapse.
But she was gambling now. She was betting everything on this last phase. As her army became concentrated, so did Kris'. His pokemon merged into a solid mass that steamrolled her pokemon. A pressure built in Jesse's lungs, like a balloon filled with too much air, threatening to burst. She gasped and slowly let out her breath.
"Okay." She pushed past James and Meowth and tried to appear confident. "Phase three."
. . .
"Phase three."
Their numbers were cut into a fraction of the original number. Their army strained and backed up, flimsy against Kris' concentrated forces. Leah's matted fur bristled and her claws dug into the earth. Nidorino's sides heaved against his rib cage, and his eyes were wild and desperate. The rest of the pokemon reeked of defeat. Some limped back, some cowered, some set up constant reflects to shield against the barrage of attacks. Many swooned and lay still in the mud.
Phase three. Jared's stomach wrenched. If this didn't work...
He looked towards Jesse, James, and Meowth to see how they were reacting. Jesse's head was up, her hands was on her hips, and there was a triumphant look in her blue eyes. She looked like a leader. No, she looked like she was trying to be a leader. Her face was almost stupidly arrogant, her chest was puffed up.
Jared wondered what Jaquie would look like in her place. Her eyes would be cool, her expression would reveal nothing. Kris would suspect.
Maybe the plan would work, but only because Jesse was in charge.
"Phase three!" Jesse yelled more loudly. "Everyone into phase three now!"
At Jesse's cry, her remaining troops gave ground rapidly. In long, backward strides they advanced up the slope of the mountain. The rain was pouring harder now, not quite in sheets, but enough that pokemon on both sides clenched their jaws against it. Flying pokemon flew lower and ground pokemon roared in pain. Steam hissed from the backs of fire pokemon. The mountain side became slick in mud. Jesse's pokemon were slowing giving ground with difficulty, and Kris' pokemon dug in their claws and advanced at a cautious pace.
Then, with sudden impatience, Leah issued her own order. "Niiia, Nidoriona! Rina, Ri, Niiia!"
"We're close enough," Meowth translated for them. "Break and run!"
Jesse's pokemon turned and ran recklessly up the slippery slope. Kris' pokemon shot at them as they fled, cheering and pursuing them up the mountain.
Then one fell into a hole. Jared saw it, a Jolteon, disappear below. More of Kris' pokemon fell, an Alakazam next, and then an Exeggutor. They gave small, trailing cries before the thick ground swallowed them into nothing.
Phase three. Jared wrung his hands and prayed it would work.
. . .
"Everyone into the air, now!" Kris screamed.
The traps appeared like a minefield, suddenly and randomly. Five pokemon were swallowed by the earth and the rest stopped running.
"Into the air!" Kris roared. "NOW!"
Fearows and Pudgiest snatched what pokemon they could. A few psychic pokemon teleported onto the backs of large birds. Kris' Dragonite set the example by shooting straight into the sky.
"Go, go, go. Hurry up!"
Wings stretched out and flapped heavily. Flying pokemon pulled into the air. The birds strained against the downpour, desperate to go up, up, up.
"Higher!" Kris ordered. "You're still in range."
In range of what? They'd ask if they had breath. But the rain pounded too hard, added too much weight, and they had no excess energy to question their leader.
Kris knew his army was wrecking themselves in this upward plummet, but they could rest later. All that mattered was getting his army off the ground. The holes didn't concern him but what was hidden inside.
Let them get out of range. Then all the exploding Electrodes and Cloysters wouldn't do Jesse and James a lick of good. Kris knew their strategy before they even deployed it; those dimwitted fools had done nothing but copy Jaquie throughout the battle. Let his army get out of range, let them shatter their enemy's last hope, then Kris' pokemon would slaughter Jesse's army from above.
They broke from the ground, drenched and nearly touching the clouds. Now the flying pokemon stopped. They hovered in midair.
Kris stared.
An army of Mountaintop City's finest Pidgeots, Fearows, and Pidgeottos dove down from behind the clouds, where they'd been waiting. Atop each flying pokemon sat a small, cute, yellow mouse pokemon.
Jesse, James, and Meowth looked at each other and grinned.
"Pikachu," they ordered together. "Thunderbolt attack!"