In this chapter, Sarah is going to fight Team Rocket once again. But there are worse things troubling Johto than them right now, I can tell you that.
And yes, I decided to make a surprise villain. As much fun as it would be to have Giovanni return for vengeance, I figured I would use a character that wasn't so obviously evil. You can't tell whether a person is good or evil in reality just by looking at them, trust me. I do like writing for Giovanni though, even if he is a canon character.
In other news, I heard that Jigglypuff appeared on Sun and Moon. I came up with an explanation as to why Jigglypuff hadn't appeared since Hoenn but I digress.
Chapter 35: Nightmare In Elm's Lab
Sarah's eyes widened with astonishment when she entered the building.
There was Team Rocket, trying to rob Professor Elm.
"Team Rocket's here?!" exclaimed Sarah.
She had noticed that there was a hot air balloon nearby...which based on the fact that it resembled a Meowth's head wasn't a coincidence.
Togepi couldn't help but feel concerned.
"Give us everything you got!" exclaimed Meowth.
"Aah!" exclaimed Professor Elm, raising his hands in the air.
It looked as if he was going to be taking money out of his cash register.
Well, Sarah knew from experience that he was more lax in security than Professor Oak was. Perhaps that was the reason why Team Rocket had chose him over Professor Oak.
But it was probably also because he was closer than Professor Oak was.
Suddenly, Jessie noticed Sarah.
She wasn't happy to see her.
"You again? Don't tell us you're here to stop us from robbing the professor!" exclaimed Jessie. Things had been going so well, too.
"It's funny seeing you again..." noted Sarah.
"Why?" asked James.
"Well, during the time period before we met again, I happen to have met a talking Pokemon...like the Meowth you have here." explained the young girl.
Overhearing the conversation, Murkrow was curious.
"There's...another Pokemon besides me that can talk?" asked Murkrow.
She looked astonished.
Personally she wondered why Pokemon never bothered to learn the human language. It would help them communicate with humans easier.
Ironically, they seemed to be able to understand the human language just fine...they just never bothered to try speaking it themselves.
Totodile simply seemed content saying his own name.
Meowth was just as surprised as Murkrow was.
"I thought I was the only one!" shouted Meowth.
Perhaps he wasn't a pariah among Pokemon anymore.
Professor Elm watched the entire scene with bewilderment.
"I don't believe it! Two Pokemon are having a human conversation!" shouted the professor.
This was definitely going in his research journal.
In addition, he was going to tell Professor Elm about it.
Jessie sent out Wobbuffet while James sent out Victreebel.
In retaliation, Sarah sent out Slugma and Totodile.
Wobbuffet prepared to use Counter...
...but Totodile used Water Gun instead.
"Wobbuffet!" exclaimed the psychic Pokemon as he was pelted with the cold water.
It was just his luck.
Victreebel launched Razor Leaves at Totodile, but Slugma burned away the leaves.
The grass Pokemon was disappointed.
Slugma then launched lava at Victreebel.
"VICTREEBEL!" shouted the grass Pokemon. That was really hot.
Totodile then bit into Wobbuffet.
Unfortunately for Wobbuffet, that was a dark type attack.
Wobbuffet fainted.
Victreebel fainted as well when Slugma deposited lava in her mouth.
Since both Wobbuffet and Victreebel had fainted, Jessie and James sent out Arbok and Weezing.
Totodile bit into Arbok...but Arbok bit back.
Unsurprisingly, he was poisoned.
"Totodile..." murmured the water Pokemon. Sarah wouldn't happen to have an Antidote on hand, now would she?
Unfortunately for Weezing, he was full of flammable gas.
Slugma exploited that.
Weezing exploded.
Fortunately, the explosion missed Arbok.
But Weezing fainted.
James groaned. At least he hadn't been sent blasting off like he usually did.
Unfortunately, Totodile fainted shortly afterwards from the poison.
Sarah wondered what she should choose to replace him.
She settled on sending out Phanpy.
"Phanpy!" exclaimed Phanpy.
Arbok attacked Phanpy by attempting to wrap around him.
But Phanpy countered by wrapping around Arbok.
"Arbok!" shouted the cobra Pokemon.
Unfortunately for her, Phanpy won out in the end.
"Good job, Phanpy!" exclaimed Sarah.
Phanpy stretched out his trunk so that Sarah could high five it.
"Thanks for not bumping into me..." remarked Sarah as she did so.
Phanpy nodded.
Fortunately, he could control his own strength now to some extent.
Shortly after Team Rocket had been defeated, Officer Valiant and Officer Cutter arrived on the scene.
"How do I tell you two apart again?" asked Professor Elm's wife. Those two always seemed to be together.
"Well, Officer Cutter is younger than Officer Valiant..." pointed out Professor Elm.
"Well, we've got these three off the streets. I'm sure everything will be fine in Johto now that these scoundrels are gone!" exclaimed Officer Cutter.
Nearby, a police officer's eyes widened with astonishment when he discovered the entirety of Team Shadow heading towards Goldenrod City.
He had never seen so many of them gathered together...
...he hadn't been to the hideout, of course, but it was still a stunning turn of events.
Murkrow then remembered something.
"I think...Morgiana wants to take control of Johto. She's going to brainwash every Pokemon in the country to do her bidding." explained the crow Pokemon.
"She's gonna what?!" exclaimed Sarah.
"Oh yes. I seem to recall her once testing out some sort of mind control CD on me...I just couldn't help but do everything she told me to..." noted Murkrow.
The effects had eventually worn off, but Morgiana mentioned that she was developing a CD that would have more permanent effects.
"Er, what would happen if she found a way to broadcast that CD over Johto?" asked the former Team Shadow Grunt.
"Oh, that would be the worst thing ever." noted Murkrow.
Sarah then remembered something.
Wasn't there a big Radio Tower in Goldenrod City?
What if she broadcast it there?
Then EVERY Pokemon would be hers to control, so long as they . Perhaps even the legendary Pokemon would be hers to command. She probably hadn't tested it out on them, but it could happen.
Nobody would be able to stop her. She could do whatever she wanted and there would be nothing people could do about it.
There had to be something she could do before the CD was broadcast all over the country.
The Team Shadow Grunts seemed surprised that the woman they thought that was kind and innocent was actually their leader the entire time.
Perhaps people shouldn't judge by appearances after all.
Morgiana recalled her youth where she could get virtually everything she wanted, due to how rich she was.
But all that started to get to her head. She saw Pokemon on TV and decided to catch them for herself.
But even so, it always seemed that there was a Pokemon Trainer that had a better Pokemon than her.
That's when it hit her...what if she found a way to control every Pokemon in Johto?
That way she would be the strongest Pokemon trainer in history.
And of course, that's where the concept of the mind control CD began.
She would need assistance from others, of course, since otherwise, there would be no way for her to broadcast it across the entire country. She might be able to enslave some wild Pokemon, perhaps, but that would be about it.
But she had the good fortune of meeting Horace. People stayed away from him due to his scary appearance. He wasn't a bad person, but he had the misfortune of having an intimidating appearance.
By comparison, Morgiana's appearance threw people off her true nature. She was grateful for that.
Sympathizing with him, she realized that he would be of good use to her organization. With Horace allegedly operating her criminal organization, people would not suspect of her being the true mastermind.
It worked surprisingly well. She could tell how surprised everyone was to find out the truth about her. At this point, she decided she no longer had to keep up the charade.
After setting up schemes to develop more and more money for her organization (the Slowpoke Well operation, for instance), it would finally be time to strike.
And that day was now.
Immediately, the Team Shadow Grunts invaded the tower and took everyone hostage.
They didn't know what had hit them. One moment they were playing songs and the next they were surrounded by Johto's notorious criminals.
"What do you want from us?!" exclaimed Mary. Surely they had a reason for invading the tower of all places. And the director did have a lot of money on his hands.
"Well, a bit of money wouldn't hurt." acknowledged Larry.
"I had such a good paycheck too..." remarked the DJ.
"Where's the director when we need him?!" asked Buena.
"Your director was kidnapped a long time ago!" exclaimed Violet.
Buena's eyes widened with shock.
However, someone else wasn't so surprised.
"That explains a lot." remarked the black belt that had prohibited entry to the upper floors of the radio tower. It was suspicious that the director had suddenly changed in personality.
Morgiana smirked and began to make her way to the top of the tower where a CD player was located. There was an elevator that could be used for quick access.
However, one of the Team Shadow Grunts decided to yell at her about something.
"Wait a minute! Why should we follow you? You deceived us all!" exclaimed one of the Team Shadow Grunts. Up until now, he had thought that Horace was the leader .
Morgiana threatened him with her umbrella. It was surprisingly effective.
"Let's be clear. I didn't create this organization so that other people would boss me around! Now are you with me or not?!" bellowed the leader of Team Shadow.
"Yes! We're clear!" shouted the Team Shadow Grunt, pressing his hands in the air. Morgiana was surprisingly scary now that she had discarded her metaphorical mask.
Meanwhile, Officer Valiant and Officer Cutter attempted to rescue the hostages. They managed to arrive on the scene surprisingly quickly using their convenient police vehicle. They were just about to call it a day when they heard about what had happened.
Still, Cutter decided that he wasn't going to let Morgiana get away with her plan.
But there was a problem with Cutter's plan.
"I'm not sure we can take on all those Team Shadow Grunts by ourselves..." pointed out Officer Valiant.
There were only two of them and at least a dozen of the Team Shadow Grunts. And that wasn't accounting the executives, and especially not Morgiana, who wasn't lying about her Pokemon training skills though she lied about pretty much everything else.
"Nonsense! We can take them!" exclaimed Officer Cutter.
A few minutes later...
Officer Cutter and Officer Valiant ran out of the tower, their Pokemon completely and utterly fainted.
Violet had spotted them and had wiped the floor with the duo.
"OK, you were right!" shouted Cutter.
"And stay out!" shouted Violet.
It was such a shame. Who was going to rescue the hostages?
Meanwhile...
Currently unaware as to what was going on at Goldenrod City, Jake decided to challenge the Gym Leader.
However, he found that Jerry had already challenged the Gym Leader before him.
It hadn't turned out well for him.
His Pokemon had been frozen solid by the ice gym leader.
Jerry was very unhappy about the turn of events.
Personally he could not believe that he had lost...though Pryce had years of experience as a Pokemon trainer.
"I lost to an old man?! You've got to be kidding me!" exclaimed Jerry.
He stamped his foot on the ground in frustration. Luckily, it wasn't made of ice or it would probably crack.
He had decided to use a Hoppip against the gym leader...which was a big lapse in judgment.
His Hoppip was currently frozen in a big block of ice.
"You should respect your elders." noted Jake. Given his age, Pryce probably had a lot of Pokemon training experience.
Jerry left in a huff.
Next time he was going to cream Pryce.
"Are you here to challenge me? I was planning to take a coffee break soon...but I suppose I have time for one more Gym battle." noted Pryce.
Jake nodded.
Fortunately, he had an idea as to what Pokemon he should send out first.
He happened to know one of an ice Pokemon's weaknesses.
A fighting type.
Jake sent out his Machamp.
"You're not sending a Hoppip to fight me? A good call." remarked Pryce. To be honest, he wondered what Jerry was thinking when he sent that particular Pokemon to fight against him.
Didn't he know that a cold breeze could cause a Hoppip to faint?
Pryce sent out Dewgong.
Machamp Karate Chopped Dewgong, much to his surprise.
"Dewgong!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.
In retaliation, Pryce instructed the evolved seal Pokemon to fire an Ice Beam.
However, Machamp ducked underneath it.
Thank goodness for her quick reflexes.
She then followed by using Vital Throw.
Dewgong crashed into the ground.
He fainted upon impact.
"Dewgong..." murmured the water Pokemon. It was a shame that he didn't last longer.
But Pryce had a Pokemon that was more suited for dealing with Machamp.
He sent out Jynx.
"Jynx, use Psychic!" instructed Pryce.
"Uh-oh..." thought Jake to himself.
Machamp was hit dead-on.
And to make matters worse, she got confused.
She hit herself with her fist.
Jynx then followed with an Ice Punch.
Machamp fell over.
Jynx then hit Machamp with another Ice Punch to the face.
Machamp fainted.
"Machamp..." murmured the fighting Pokemon. It might have been hard to believe, but the fighting Pokemon had lost her strength.
"I guess I'm going to have to send out a different Pokemon." noted Jake.
Jake searched his bag to see if there was any other Pokemon that would suit the situation.
He then remembered that he had Quilava.
Those scorching flames would probably be very useful.
"Quilava!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon as he was released from his Pokeball.
"Smart move." remarked Pryce.
Sure enough, Quilava did very well against Jynx. The hot flames were simply too much for the ice Pokemon.
In fact, Jynx fainted without too much effort from Quilava's end. She managed to get an Ice Punch in, but since Quilava was pretty warm it didn't effect him much.
However, Pryce's last Pokemon was much more suited to deal with Quilava.
Piloswine hit Quilava with a Mud Bomb, and it was a critical hit.
"Quilava!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon.
However, he still managed to hit Piloswine with a Flame Wheel, which was also a critical hit.
Still, this did not stop Piloswine from making Quilava with another Mud Bomb.
"I guess you don't like to play in the mud." noted Jake.
Quilava shook his head.
"Well, at least you managed to take down one of them." remarked the boy.
Quilava nodded his head.
Jake withdrew Quilava.
Since Piloswine was part ground type, Jake sent out Blastoise next.
But Piloswine fainted from his burn as soon as Jake sent her out.
Both trainers shrugged.
Accepting defeat, Pryce gave Jake his gym badge.
"It's good that you're such a strong trainer. I have a suspicion that you'll face a crisis in the near future." noted Pryce.
Jake wondered what crisis could that be.
He was about to find out.
As Jake reunited with Lucy, they discovered there was a very frightening message on TV.
It was on every single channel.
"What is going on here?" asked a gentleman.
Jake was happy to see Morgiana on TV...until he found out the truth about her, that is.
"Greetings, everyone. You've probably already heard of me. I've become somewhat of a celebrity throughout Johto. But in case you haven't, my name's Morgiana. I'm here to announce that today is a day that's going to change Johto's history. Everyone shall bow down to me, leader of Team Shadow!" exclaimed the leader of Team Shadow.
Morgiana took off her dress, revealing the Team Shadow uniform underneath.
"What?!" exclaimed a black belt.
"She's taking over the world?!" shouted a lass.
"She was the leader of Team Shadow the entire time!?" exclaimed Lucy.
"She played us all..." noted Jake.
"I know what you're thinking. Why not go to the Radio Tower and stop me? I'll have you know that I've taken everyone in the Radio Tower hostage...you wouldn't want to risk hurting them, would you? I didn't think so." noted Morgiana.
"She's not getting away with this!" exclaimed Chris.
"I don't believe it...she was a criminal mastermind the entire time..." remarked Ned.
Lucy decided to contact Chris and Ned.
"Did you hear what was on TV?" asked Lucy.
"Yes...Morgiana has a real knack for throwing suspicion off herself." noted the blonde boy.
The fact that she was planning to take all the Pokemon in Johto for herself was most concerning.
Would he have to say goodbye to his Eevee? He had his best friend since basically forever. He wasn't sure what he would do without him.
"Well, if she thinks she can take my Pokemon for herself, she has another thing coming!" exclaimed Chris.
"We're going to need to head back to Goldenrod City." remarked Lucy.
Quickly, the four of them flew towards the city on their Pokemon.
Morgiana had to be stopped as soon as possible. For one thing, they couldn't participate in official Pokemon tournaments if their Pokemon were all enslaved.
However, they knew from experience that Morgiana was an accomplished Pokemon trainer. She had lied about a lot of things, but her skills as a Pokemon trainer wasn't one of them.
After all, her Wigglytuff had defeated Chris's Jigglypuff.
Could she be defeated?
Well, it was worth a shot.
Back at Professor Elm's lab...
"Before I go try to save Johto, there's something I figured I should do." said Sarah.
Sarah offered up Totodile and Togepi.
"You're giving them to me?" asked Professor Elm.
"Well, they kind of belong to you." answered the girl.
Professor Elm thought this over.
"Hmm...are you two happy with Sarah?" asked Professor Elm.
Togepi and Totodile nodded, though they didn't mind the professor's company.
"You should probably stay with her then." noted the scientist.
"Huh? Me?" asked Sarah.
Professor Elm nodded.
Perhaps she wouldn't be saying goodbye to the two of them after all.
She decided to take her leave.
"We have to stop Morgiana!" exclaimed Sarah.
"Very heroic of you, but have you thought how we were going to get there? By the time you reach Goldenrod City, Morgiana will have probably already broadcasted the signal." pointed out Murkrow.
"Aren't you a bird?" asked the girl.
"I have wings and feathers, don't I?" inquired Murkrow.
"Maybe you could fly me there!" exclaimed Sarah.
"Well, to be honest, Morgiana never taught me how to fly. She was worried that I would fly the coop." noted Murkrow.
Although, she had found a way to discourage her from leaving.
"Oh. Well, you're not exactly a heavy bird. Maybe if you flap your wings, you can get airborne." noted Sarah.
Murkrow shrugged and tried that.
It actually worked.
"Would you look at that..." noted Murkrow.
Since she could fly now, she decided to grab Sarah and take her with her.
Not before Sarah grabbed Togepi and put Totodile back in his Pokeball of course, though.
Sarah took a deep breath and entered the tower.
One can only hope Morgiana can be stopped before it's too late. If she succeeds, she'll have every Pokemon in Johto, both wild AND trained! There just won't be any stopping her.
In the next chapter, our heroes will fight Team Shadow. They won't be fighting Clair yet...they have bigger priorities than the Pokemon League.
