Chapter 55: On the Way to Mt. Silver! The Great Battle in the Air!


With Team Rocket now gone from Goldenrod City, the rescue squad was helping cleaning up the place, along with the help of the gym leaders.

Meanwhile, the Pokemon trainers and the Smashers were discussing their next plan.

"So the Mask of Ice was Pryce after all…" said Silver.

"There were suspects and claims about this, but nobody ever proved it," said Crystal. "Guess the truth is there now…"

"Anyway, we need to head to Mt. Silver and put an end to this!" said CF.

"We'll help you!" said Gold.

"No, we do not want to drag too many people along into this," CF said to him. "This is our business in the first place, so we'll settle these ourselves!"

"Falcon has a point," said Ganondorf.

"But please let me go along!" said Red. "I've been to Mt. Silver to train myself various times, so I know that place very well."

"But we really do not-a want-a to get outsiders into theez…" said Mario.

"I won't be a burden to you!" said Red. "I'll do all I can to help!"

"Red does seem to know a lot about that place," Pikachu told the others. "I think it's best that we rely on him to get us there and find the Mask of Ice."

"Fine then… You'll be our guide," said CF.

Red turned to Green and said to him, "Green, mind if I trade one of my Pokemon for your Charizard?"

"What for?" he replied.

"Pryce uses ice Pokemon, and I don't have a fire type to counter him. I can very well use a fire type…"

"Fine then…"

"I'll trade using Aero!"

"It's a deal. Treat him with care." Green got out the Pokeball containing Charizard and handed it over to Red and took the Pokeball containing Aerodactyl from him.

Then Red turned to Blue and asked her, "Mind I trade for your Blastoise too? I have a feeling that I'm going to use him at one point."

"You want to? Okay! How about trading with your Poliwrath?" asked Blue. "They're both water type! I bet you want a big and strong water type like Turtley because he's so much cooler than a frog, right?"

"Whatever…" Red exchanged his Poliwrath for Blue's Blastoise. "Okay, I'll return them to you after all these are finished!"

"So how are you guys going to get there?" asked Green.

"Our warp star is busted…" said Yoshi. "That's the problem…"

"Actually, Kirby said before that if all the pieces of the warp star are brought together, they would mend themselves and become one again," said Peach.

"Really? Let's give it a try!" suggested CF. "I got my piece with me!"

Each of the Smashers got out the piece of the warp star that fell along with them when they were separated. They placed the pieces on the ground near each other, and then the pieces miraculously got together, and in a bright flash, the warp star is back to its normal condition again! "It really worked!" exclaimed Pichu.

"Okay, let's get moving!" said Sonic.

"The max capacity of the warp star isn't actually nine people," said Peach. "But it's actually determined by the weight. There can be more than ten people if the weight plus together doesn't go over a certain number. But I'm not sure if Red will fit in…"

"Don't worry; I can just use a flying Pokemon and follow you!" said Red.

"Okay, that's solved," said Mario.

"I doubt a baby like Riolu would take up any weight," said Yoshi. "I'm sure he'll get onboard without any problem."

"Let's move out then!" said CF, and then the Smashers all got onboard the warp star while Red called out his newly traded Charizard and climbed aboard him.

"Take care!" Blue said to them while waving good-bye.

"Hold it, Smashers!" shouted a loud voice. They turned to the source of voice and saw Officer Dinsmin coming towards them with a group of police.

"It's that police officer from earlier!" said Sonic.

"Surprise to see that they chased us all the way here!" said CF.

"I will no longer allow you Smashers to do as you want!" said Dinsmin. "In the name of justice, I will capture you right here and bring your evil ways to an end!"

"Oh no, I knew this would happen sooner or later…" cried Pikachu.

"Sorry, but we got bigger business to attend to," said CF. "We do not have time to mess with you, so just let us go and save the day before it's too late."

"I will take excuses from rejects such as you," said Dinsmin harshly. "Surrender now or we will resort to using force."

"Hey! Those people are innocent!" Blue told him. "They helped saved this place!"

"I understand the reason you want to capture them, police officer," said Green. "But you should consider their actions first before coming to the conclusion of arresting them. If it weren't for these people, this city would've been laid to waste and Team Rocket would've controlled all the Pokemon for evil purposes."

"The ways of the rejects do not need consideration," replied Dinsmin harshly. "Whatever they do, this will not change the fact they are criminals!"

"That's not fair!" protested Peach.

"Yeah! We didn't do anything bad!" said Yoshi. "We saved this place and now we are on the way to stop bigger threat! If you catch us now, the world will be in danger soon!"

"The only danger right now is the existence of you people!" said Dinsmin.

"Tsk! There's no use talking to the likes of him," said Ganondorf. "His mind is too messed up by his idea of world peace that he's gonna do anything for the sake of 'peace'. Ha!"

"What do we do…?" asked Pikachu. "We can't get out of this safely now… He refuses to listen to whatever we say."

"Well, there is a saying that if all else fails, use violence," said CF.

"Excuse me, sir," said Falkner as he walked up to the scene. "I can be of witness for this situation."

"Who are you?" asked Dinsmin.

Falkner reached under his clothes and got out his police license. "I, too, am a policeman, and I have seen the actions of the Smashers here. It is in fact these people that prevented the plans of Neo Team Rocket. If it weren't for them…"

"You call yourself a policeman and yet you defend the ways of a reject?"

"But…"

"You are showing the wrong example to all of justice! If you really know about your job, then you wouldn't be defending evil!"

"Man! This guy's crazy!" said Sonic.

"Okay, this settles it! We're out of here whether you like it or not!" said CF. "If you want to stop us, then don't blame us!"

"Arrest the Smashers, men!" Dinsmin commanded the other policemen.

"Are these the men you're talking about?" asked Ganondorf, pointing to a pile of beaten up policeman. "I took care of them already."

"What?! How dare you?! You won't get away with this!"

"Sorry, but we're going to prove you wrong!" Ganondorf hopped onto the warp star and rejoined the others, and then the warp star hovered off the ground and quickly flew away at a fast speed, and Red's Charizard (actually Green's, but you know that already) followed suit.

"See ya!" said Pichu, waving good-bye.

"Get back here, in the name of the law!" shouted Dinsmin.

"You'll have to catch them some other day," Green said to him.

"Ha! Too bad for you!" laughed Blue.

Dinsmin kept his calm and thought to himself, "I won't let you get away with this humiliation, Smashers!"

-

Up in the sky, the warp star is flying at a constant pace so that Charizard can keep up with it. "That's Mt. Silver!" said Red, pointing to a large mountain coming out from a sea of trees in the distance.

"It looks more shades of gray rather than silver," said Pichu.

"I can see something approaching," said Meta-Knight.

"What's that?" asked Peach.

They looked closely and found that it was a large bird made of ice, and on top of the bird are two people. "Welcome, Smashers!" said the blue-haired girl. "We both are followers of the Mask of Ice. I am Karen, the dark trainer."

"I am Will, the psychic trainer," said the guy dressed like a clown. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"The Mask of Ice saw your arrival, and so he sent us to welcome you and treat you."

"I hope you enjoy our welcoming!"

"That's nice of you!" said Peach.

"Don't get fooled! They're really here to halt our progress!" said CF.

"Looks like we're going to have a fight in the sky," said MK. "Of course, it's not a disadvantage for me since I can fly."

"Think about us… The warp star is quite cramp," said Pikachu.

"We will test to see whether or not you are worthy of facing our master," said Karen, and she threw out her Pokeball. "Take them down, Honchkrow!"

"Give them a show, Xatu!" said Will as he threw his Pokeball.

"We have the upper hand!" said Red. "Use Flamethrower to burn down the ice bird, Charizard!" The Charizard breathed out a stream of fire at the ice bird, but the Xatu flew in front and spread out his wings, and a translucent barrier appeared and blocked the fire. "What?!"

"Use Wing Attack on that group of people!" Karen commanded her Honchkrow. The Honchkrow spread out her wings and flew at the Smashers' warp star very fast.

"Watch out!" cried Peach. The warp star quickly dodged aside and the Honchkrow flew past it, but she turned around for another attempt, and as one would expect, she missed again.

"Thunderbolt!" Pikachu fired a beam at the Honchkrow, but the crow Pokemon was fast enough to avoid it. She did a loop in midair and swooped down at the warp star again. Once again, the warp star steered to the side to avoid the blow.

"You're really quick, aren't you?" said Karen. "Use Dark Pulse then!"

The Honchkrow spread out her wings and a dark aura appeared around her body, and then it burst out in the form of a shockwave. The shockwave was too big to avoid and the warp star was pushed backwards and rocked around.

"Whoa! Watch-a out!" cried Mario. But Pichu was unfortunate enough to get knocked off.

"PICHU!!"

"Oh no!" MK quickly swooped down at him and grabbed him by the tail in time. "Phew, just in time…"

"Don't grab my tail; it hurts!" cried Pichu. MK quickly carried him back to the warp star and dropped him there.

"I'll take on that bird myself!" said MK. He flew at the Honchkrow and began swinging his sword at her.

"Counter with Steel Wing!" commanded Karen. The Honchkrow's wings flashed and turned shiny and metallic, and she clashed her hardened wings with MK's sword and a loud clang is heard to signify both the metallic objects clashing. The two kept up the clashing for a while, but MK is obviously more skilled than a crow, and he was able to score a hit in her body.

"How dare you hurt my Pokemon?!" said Karen angrily. "Use Razor Wind!"

The Honchkrow flapped her wings against the air multiple times and shot out several wind blades. MK easily deflected them using his sword, but the Honchkrow sped up the pace and shot out even more with a speed that increases every once in a while.

"This is getting too much!" thought MK, and then he quickly pulled his cape in front of him and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The Honchkrow was surprised by his sudden disappearance, but MK reappeared behind her and slashed her in the back. The Honchkrow was able to regain her balance and glared at him angrily.

"You can do it, Meta-Knight!" cheered Pichu.

Meanwhile, Red's Charizard was dealing with the Xatu. Charizard kept on attacking with fire attacks, but the Xatu would just remain in one place with his wings spread out, and the fire struck the barrier and disappeared. "You cannot do anything about this barrier, nyanya!" laughed Will.

"Charge it down, Charizard!" said Red. The Charizard flew at Xatu and tried to ram him with his shoulder, but he simply bounced off the barrier.

"Haha! Not even brute force will work!"

"There has to be some way to get through this!" thought Red. "I know a move that allows the user to break through barriers like this, but I don't think Green's Charizard knows it." He looked down at the Charizard while the Charizard looked back at him. "Um… Can you do Brick Break?"

To Red's surprise, the Charizard gave a nod and then he flew forward again, this time swinging a punch at the Xatu. When the fist came close, it obviously hit the barrier, but this time, the barrier began to crack! The Xatu was shocked at this and Charizard gave a second punch which shattered the barrier. "All right!" exclaimed Red. Charizard did a spin and whipped the Xatu with his tail, knocking him away, and then he opened his mouth and breathed out fire.

The fire touched the side of the ice bird, but it quickly flew up to avoid getting hit even more. "That was close! I didn't see that coming!" said Will.

"Me mustn't let them get the upper hand!" said Karen.

"I know that!"

"I think it should be us getting the upper hand!" said CF. The warp star has flown above the ice bird, and CF leaped off from the star and delivered a flying kick onto the back of the bird. "Falcon Kick!" The kick shattered the bird in half, leaving only the front half. Because of this, the ice bird wasn't able to gain its balance in air and shook around as if it is going to fall.

"EEKS!!" shrieked both the trainers as they grabbed onto the remaining parts of the bird tightly to prevent falling. CF quickly leaped off the small piece of ice he was standing on and hopped back onto the warp star and grabbed onto its edge.

"Whoa! Don't shake us all down!" cried Pikachu.

Meanwhile, MK is still fighting the Honchkrow by clashing his sword against her metallic wings. After a bit of clashing, both of them flew back a fair distance and charged at each other again, this time spinning like a drill. "Drill Rush!" shouted MK. They came in contact with other and grinded against each other as sparks flew everywhere.

MK eventually overpowered Honchkrow and knocked her backwards, and then MK slashed against the air multiple times, firing out a crescent-shaped beam with each strike. The beams struck the Honchkrow in the body hard and sent her flying backwards.

"Argh! This shouldn't be happening!" growled Karen as she tried to stand up, but the moment she did, she was hit by the Honchkrow and was knocked off the ice bird. "YAAAA!!" But she acted fast and grabbed onto the edge of the ice to prevent falling down, but the surface was slippery and she couldn't hold up very well. "Help me!!"

"I'll help you!" said Will as he lent her his hand.

At the same time, Charizard and Xatu were still in their dogfight. They traded fire and psychic beams at each other, but the beams would cancel out each other or they would fly away to avoid getting hit.

Charizard then flew at the Xatu and tried to ram him. The Xatu quickly flew aside to avoid the hit, but to his surprise, the Charizard swung his hand at him unexpectedly and grabbed him by the neck. "Fire Punch him!" shouted Red. The Charizard lifted up his other fist as fire appeared around it, and he delivered a fiery punch into the Xatu's face and sent him flying back to the ice bird, where his trainer is.

While Will was trying to pull Karen back up, he was hit in the back by his own Xatu and was knocked off, but he grabbed onto Karen's legs. "Eeks! I'm falling!!"

"You're pulling me down!" cried Karen.

"Ha! Looks at the two of them acting like a fool!" said Ganondorf. "Who was it that said wanting to give us a nice welcome?"

"Okay, give them the final blow, Charizard!" said Red. "Use Fire Blast!" Charizard breathed out a large fiery Chinese character at the remains of the ice bird and burned it down.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" screamed Karen and Will as they and their Pokemon were burned badly and they plummeted towards the trees below.

"I hope they're all right," said Peach.

"No need to show mercy to the likes of them," said Ganondorf.

"That was tiring," said MK. "I hope we didn't use up too much energy or else we will have a hard time with the final battle."

"Okay, let's get this show on the road!" said Sonic. "I'm impatient to start already!" And so, the group continued flying towards Mt. Silver.

-

To make a long story short, the Smashers finally flew to the peak of Mt. Silver, where they saw a large castle made of ice situated at the peak. "I don't remember something like this," said Red. "It must be Pryce's castle!"

"It's so beautiful!" said Peach.

"But it's going to crumble under our hands soon enough!" said CF. "C'mon, the final battle is on!"

As they were approaching the ice castle, a hole was suddenly tore in the air before them and a large hand came shooting out and swatted the warp star, sending the Smashers crashing onto the ground near the castle area.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!

"Smashers!" gasped Red.

"Ow… What-a wuz that-a…?" asked Mario, getting up and rubbing his head.

Then a large 'door' appeared before them, and the Spatial Pokemon Palkia stepped out and roared loudly. "It's Palkia!" gasped Pikachu.

"He's picking a fight with us," said Ganondorf. "We'll give him one too!"

"Fighting someone the size of this should be a change of pace!" said Sonic, sounding enthusiastic.

"I'm not afraid to face a big mean thing like you!" said Pichu, generating electricity from his cheeks.

"Bring it on! I'm not afraid! My Riolu and I will take on you anytime, as well as my eggs!" said Yoshi. Riolu also got into a fighting stance.

CF turned to Red, who is still in air, and shouted to him, "Leave this guy to us! You go ahead and deal with Pryce!"

"You sure?" asked Red.

"Sure! Palkia is the Gamfax here, so only we can deal with him. You take on Pryce so that we can save time!"

"Got it! Leave Pryce to me!" And Red flew his Charizard into a window on the higher part of the castle.

The Smashers got out their weapons and readied to face Palkia. "Let's show him that size doesn't matter!" said CF.

-

Red flew into the castle and landed on the icy floor, and he saw Pryce sitting on his wheelchair, which has turned into an ice throne, on the other side of the room. "It's you, Red," said Pryce.

"I will put an end to you and your Neo Team Rocket organization for real this time!" said Red.

"You sure talk big, young man. If you think you can beat an experienced trainer like me, think twice! I will show you the cold natures of a real Pokemon battle!"


TO BE CONTINUED

Next chapter: The Coldest and Harshest Pokemon Battle in History!

Trivia:
1. In the manga, the Pokeballs are see-through so that you can see what Pokemon is inside. You can even see how and what they are doing inside!
2. Will does indeed dresses like a clown in the manga. You know, polka-dotted suit that makes people look fat and silly.