Brock's eyes took a few moments to adjust to the bright light of the sun after being led through the Grass Field's complex. Once they did, he quickly noticed Gary Oak being suspended by some sort of frame, with what appeared to be conductive cables attached to it, and a Shadow Electivire standing next to it.
Looks like he's had a rough time, too.
"Welcome, everyone," Jessie smirked. "I believe I've met all of you before, so we can skip the introductions. Of course, you recognise your friend Gary here."
"He's had a shocking experience with us," James laughed.
"I see your scars are magically healed," Brock frowned. "How strange."
"Yes, it's like they just disappeared along with all of your hope," he grinned.
"We'll see about that," Brock growled. "I can make those scars reappear real fast."
"Before ya try anyting," Meowth interrupted, "just let me push dis l'l button here, so ya can see what you're up against."
He held up a remote that was far too big for his paws, that had a large red button and several smaller black ones on it and slammed the big red one. Brock, Surge, and Bella felt the ground shake before the battlefield split in the middle and withdrew, and a fresh battlefield rose up to replace it. It was a mechanism the League used between matches so as not to have to worry about spending time maintaining the field that was last used. They'd seen it all before, but this time it was different. This time it had four very angry looking GE Pokémon on it: a Charizard, a Rhyperior, an Exeggutor, and a Dragonite.
"Oooh Jessie, how exciting!" James squealed. "I've always wanted to use a Dragonite in battle!"
"Too bad for you, I'm using that Dragonite," she smiled wryly at him.
"Hey! No fair!" James argued childishly. "You've had all the fun throughout this whole ordeal! Meowth and I have been stuck pretending to be good guys all this time! We want to use the Dragonite!"
"James, you can't be trusted with anything important. That's why I'm using it."
"If I can't be trusted, then how come we were chosen to do the undercover work and not you?!"
"Because it was less important than running the show in the boss' absence."
"Uh, guys?" Meowth interrupted them. "While youse two imbeciles was arguin' over who gets da toy, our prisoner escaped."
Shocked, they both looked over and saw Sabrina with Misty's Psyduck, who had used Disable and Confusion to move the Shadow Electivire away from the contraption holding Gary in place, then blast it across the battlefield, rendering it completely useless to them. She helped Gary to relative safety, sitting him down in the stadium seats where he could still see what was going on.
"You can't steal our prisoner!" Jessie screeched. "We spent literally hours planning how to capture you all. Who let this happen? Where are those three grunts?"
"You mean these guys?" Erika giggled.
She stood with her Vileplume in front of the three grunts who were supposed to be watching them, all of them lying paralysed on the ground.
"Oh no, it looks like they're just spectators now," she giggled again. "I'm terribly sorry."
"You're sorry," Jessie said through gritted teeth. "Right. And your outfit is cute too."
"Perhaps they need reminding about who they're up against," James suggested.
Meowth pushed another button, and some familiar music began to play through the stadium's speakers.
"I thought I was done with this years ago," Brock whined. "Oh, for the love of –"
"Prepare for trouble, we tricked you for years," Jessie began.
"And make it double, we faked our careers!"
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all peoples within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jessie."
"James."
"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light."
"Surrender now or prepare to fight."
"Meeeeowth, that's right!"
Jessie, James, and Meowth all looked at each other with jubilation, shortly before crying out in joy.
"That felt so good!" James wept.
"I promise we'll never send you undercover again, James," Jessie cried as well. "I can't keep living a life with no Team Rocket motto in it."
"The world needs to hear it!" Meowth agreed.
"Vileplume! Solarbeam that Rhyperior!
"Golem, Rock Slide on Dragonite!"
"Raichu, Thunderbolt Charizard!"
"Psyduck, Ice Beam that Exeggutor."
"Electivire, Ice Punch!"
Jessie and James paused mid-pose to witness the battle start without them, and both of them were horrified.
"You couldn't even wait for us to finish posing?!" Jessie screeched.
The battle had indeed begun, and Brock, Lieutenant Surge, Sabrina, Erika, and Bella were all intimately aware of how high the stakes were. There was no one left to oppose Team Rocket after them, and they knew it.
I'm lucky that Rhyperior is a little slow, Erika thought to herself. Gives me time to charge up this Solarbeam.
She noticed pretty quickly that Jessie, James, and Meowth were busy watching the battles, but didn't seem to have any interest in actually directing their GE Pokémon.
That's good and bad. Their battling will be less efficient without a trainer, but they're also completely unhinged this way. With no orders, they'll just run rampant. I have to make sure I keep attacking this thing so it doesn't get bored and blindside one of the others' Pokémon instead.
Vileplume's Solarbeam was ready, aided by the bright sun high in the sky above them. It flashed out of the centre of Vileplume's flower in a magnificent display, striking the Rhyperior cleanly as it charged straight for them. Stunned by the blow, Rhyperior fell over backwards and slid several dozen feet, but got straight back up again after shaking itself off.
How typical, it's barely hurt at all. Even with a double type advantage, I'm still in for a brutal battle.
"Vileplume, Petal Bliz –"
She stopped herself when she remembered that Petal Blizzard would probably hit everyone around her as well.
This battlefield is crowded enough...it usually only has two people battling on it. I have to be more careful.
"Seed Bomb!" she changed her mind.
Vileplume launched several massive seeds from the centre of its flower, each one striking the charging Rhyperior and slowing it down for a moment, before it started straight back up again. The attack wasn't enough to stop it completely, and it was still gaining ground. Eventually it gained enough momentum that the Seed Bomb had no effect on it, and it rammed Vileplume at full speed, sending it crashing hard into the battlefield's transparent fence, which was in place to prevent the crowd being hit, much like in ice hockey.
Vileplume cried out in pain, but got back up, only to be rammed again, and this time Rhyperior sandwiched her into the fence.
"Petal Dance!" Erika cried out in desperation.
Vileplume began scattering petals around her, most of them smashing Rhyperior and forcing it to give up some ground, giving Vileplume just enough room to spin free. She spun round and round, flinging dozens and dozens of petals into Rhyperior and making it roar in agony.
Suddenly the ground shook, and the Rhyperior took some unexpected damage, giving Erika a much needed moment to think.
"Stun Spore!"
The orange cloud of Stun Spore washed over Rhyperior, making it pause for a moment before it became even angrier and started making its horn spin. Erika's eyes went wide with fear at the sight of it, but she quickly noticed that although Stun Spore hadn't completely paralysed Rhyperior, it had at least made its movements slower and stiffer. At least temporarily.
"Okay Vileplume, use this time to charge up another Solarbeam! And beware of that horn! It's trying to use Horn Drill!"
Vileplume nodded her understanding, and widened her stance accordingly, prepared to dodge at a moment's notice. Rhyperior roared again, frustrated and furious that it couldn't move properly. After a mere couple of moments though, Rhyperior surged with fury and shook off the effects of the Stun Spore, resuming its charge towards Vileplume with its dangerous horn spinning terrifyingly fast.
"Hurry, Vileplume!" Erika urged, her fists tightly clenched.
Vileplume wasn't ready yet, and had to jump out of the way at the last moment, pausing her sunlight-gathering momentarily. Rhyperior slammed straight into the battlefield fence, its horn driving straight through it and weakening it enough that the mad GE Pokémon piled straight through it. Vileplume resumed gathering sunlight, and luckily only just managed to finish as Rhyperior glared ominously at her and began spinning its horn again.
"Fire!" Erika yelled.
Vileplume pointed her flower at Rhyperior and blasted it, knocking it backwards with enough force to do further damage to the fence. Rhyperior was unconscious for the moment, but Erika knew it was far from over. She took that moment to look into the crowd to see how Gary was doing, but couldn't see him anywhere.
Not now, Erika. Rhyperior will get back up again. You still have work to do.
Charizard roared in pain as Raichu's Thunderbolt struck home, but it remained in the air. Surge's jaw dropped as he witnessed it. Since the last years of his time in the army, he'd repeatedly witnessed the power of electric Pokémon attacks, and this was contrary to everything he'd seen. The veins in Charizard's forehead bulged as it became angrier and angrier, and wasted no time in spewing out a vicious Flamethrower attack that just barely missed Raichu.
"Hey, Charizard!" Meowth yelled. "Dis Raichu's a slow coach. Lieutenant Surge never taught it da basic speed attacks it only learns in da Pikachu stage! We saw da twoip's Pikachu beat it no problem!"
It was hard to tell if the Charizard even bothered to listen to Meowth, much less pay any attention to the information. It bellowed another Flamethrower at Raichu, who again barely escaped the flames, then flapped its wings furiously to gain some altitude.
"Watch out, Raichu!" Surge cried out. "It's preparing to use Fly attack!"
Raichu stood stoically, his cheeks sparking in readiness. The Charizard flew straight towards the ground again with tremendous speed – too much speed. Surge knew something was wrong, and at the last second he figured it out.
"Raichu! Jump in the air and use Thunderbolt again!"
The Charizard wasn't using Fly at all – it landed with an incredible crunch that shook the entire stadium, shattering the battlefield floor in a spiderweb shape extending outwards. Luckily, the platform beneath the arena withstood the damage, but Surge wasn't entirely sure it would survive another one.
That was some Earthquake attack...that Charizard's completely mad. It must have done some serious damage to itself behaving like that. I doubt even Brock's Golem could perform an Earthquake of that kind of magnitude.
Raichu did as ordered while Charizard's Earthquake pulverised the stadium floor, leaping into the air to avoid the damage, while blasting Charizard with another Thunderbolt attack. Much to Surge's displeasure though, Charizard still didn't seem like it'd taken any damage at all.
This thing ain't muckin' around…
"Alright Raichu, Agility!"
Raichu proceeded to run rings around Charizard, who tried fruitlessly to stomp him again and again. Meowth's jaw dropped.
"I thought ya didn't teach it da speed moves?!" he yelled.
"After Ash beat me that one time, I did everything I could to make sure he learnt them," Surge grinned. "Raichu, keep runnin' around, and use Quick Attack!"
Charizard roared in either pain or frustration – Surge had given up trying to tell by this point – as Raichu repeatedly tackled it from behind whenever it turned around to stomp again. After being hit more than a dozen times, both Raichu and Charizard were both showing signs of tiring. Suddenly the Charizard snapped, and aimed a brutal fire attack straight at the ground that enveloped the entire area around the two Pokémon in an inferno.
"Damn, that was Overheat!" Surge growled.
When the flames cleared, Raichu was panting heavily, and had been scorched pretty badly. Thankfully, Charizard had done significant damage to itself as well, and wasn't looking great either. However, it roared in anger once more, pointing its head to the sky and letting loose another Flamethrower as a show of strength. It took to the sky once more, flying up high before once again charging straight at the ground where Raichu stood.
"Get ready, Raichu!" Surge shouted. "This time use Thunder, and give it all you've got!"
When the Charizard was within striking distance, Raichu blasted Charizard with a Thunder attack that even belittled Ash's Pikachu for power. Charizard roared once more, this time definitely in pain, before crashing to the battlefield.
The Earthquake attack from the GE Charizard did considerable damage to Brock's Golem, who was already clearly outmatched. Golem went down, while Dragonite was still in the air, avoiding any damage. Brock grit his teeth, trying to think of what to do next.
I've hit it that many times with Rock Slide, and it just refuses to go down. Golem's taken a lot of damage now, I don't know how much more he can take.
Dragonite charged down at Golem and struck with Dragon Tail while Golem was still on the ground, launching him into the battlefield fence with an almighty crash. Brock winced, realising his old friend was now on his very last legs.
This is a hell of a long shot, but I have to try.
"Okay Golem, this is it," he said, trying to sound as confident as he could to keep Golem inspired. "Time to try out your Rollout attack again!"
Golem roared, then somersaulted into a forward roll, picking up speed quickly before hitting the Dragonite, who wasn't quite quick enough to fly out of the way. It went down, but only for a moment before getting straight back up again and trying to fly off. Golem came around again, hitting Dragonite from behind and knocking it over once more. Clearly becoming furious, Dragonite opened its mouth wide and used Dragon Pulse, but missed the wildly traversing Golem who struck two more times before careening off course, smashing through the barrier and landing in the seating.
Dragonite struggled to get up straight away, but this simply angered it even more. Enraged, it fired another Dragon Pulse attack that cleanly hit Golem and knocked him out.
"No, no, no, NO!" Brock cried, running straight through the smashed fence to tend to his old friend.
He was so worried, he didn't notice the Dragonite approaching them after easily shaking off the pain. It roared at them, making Brock jump in fright before he winced and closed his eyes, preparing for the inevitable end.
Psyduck's Ice Beam was impressive, which made Sabrina wonder all the more why Misty had such disdain for the poor Pokémon.
This little guy is really strong. She did mention that he's only capable of battling when he has a bad headache though. Or maybe it's just my psychic abilities?
Exeggutor seemed on the surface to only suffer minor damage from the Ice Beam attack, and again from Bella's Electivire using Ice Punch. But Sabrina knew better.
For all their claims of superiority with these genetic freaks, they really aren't any hardier than a regular strong Pokémon. They just show less signs of fatigue. As long as you can avoid their attacks and keep them on the back foot, it's only a matter of time before they go down.
"Psyduck, Psychic attack," she ordered calmly.
"Psy."
The Exeggutor fought back with its own psychic powers, forcing Sabrina to augment Psyduck's abilities with her own in order to prevent unnecessary strain on Psyduck. It worked though, and the Exeggutor fell to its knees growling in agony.
"Electivire, Fire Punch!" Bella yelled.
Electivire leapt forward, his fist enveloped in flames, and struck the Exeggutor cleanly in the belly. It howled in pain again, but the anger of being struck only made its abilities that much stronger. Sabrina stopped augmenting Psyduck, as she herself was being fatigued now, and the Exeggutor stood up again, using Seed Bomb to barrage Electivire in return.
"Electivire, Agility!" Bella ordered, and Electivire quickly zipped away while Exeggutor kept attempting to pummel him.
"Psyduck, Blizzard attack."
"Electivire, get outta there!"
"Psy–"
Psyduck tilted his head to the side before taking a breath, opening his beak and launching a powerful Blizzard attack that knocked Exeggutor over. It didn't get up straight away, but Sabrina knew it still had plenty of fight left in it.
"Duck," Psyduck finished as the Blizzard attack ceased.
"Bella," Sabrina said without turning to regard her. "I can handle this on my own. Brock needs your help."
"But –"
"This isn't a request, Bella," Sabrina interrupted, her voice flat and emotionless as usual. "Do it now."
Suddenly the ground shook violently, knocking Exeggutor, Bella, and Electivire over, while Sabrina levitated herself and Psyduck to avoid it. Bella and Electivire both turned to see what had happened, and realised that it was Charizard using Earthquake, and Bella immediately started thinking about going to help Surge.
"He doesn't need your help," Sabrina told her, causing Bella's eyes to bulge in disbelief.
"How did you –"
"If you don't go and help Brock right now, I'll make you regret it," Sabrina warned her, her eyes flashing blue for a moment. "Do you like dolls?"
"Okay, okay, I'm going!"
Bella took another look at her mentor, Lieutenant Surge, before rushing off to help Brock in his fight against the fearsome Dragonite.
"Alright Psyduck, Ice Beam."
"Duck."
Psyduck spewed another Ice Beam at Exeggutor, and its head became partially frozen. Sabrina immediately felt its psychic powers diminish substantially, and she managed a rare smile.
"Now you're mine," she stated. "Psyduck, Psychic attack."
The Exeggutor again fell to its knees, roaring in pain as Psyduck's powerful attack overwhelmed it.
"Slam it into the ground."
"Psy –"
Exeggutor was telekinetically lifted off the ground, still roaring in agony, then forcefully smashed into the surface of the battlefield.
"–duck."
Psyduck repeated the attack again and again, until the ice surrounding half of Exeggutor's head smashed to pieces, freeing it.
But its nearly spent...
It was no surprise to Sabrina that Exeggutor began attacking again immediately, and with full force. It charged towards Psyduck, then reared back its entire body and proceeded to attempt a Wood Hammer attack.
...unfortunately, so is Psyduck.
Psyduck lacked the energy to telekinetically halt the Exeggutor's attack, taking the full force and knocking him down hard.
I forgot about Psyduck's weakness to grass type. How foolish of me.
However, before she could chastise herself further, the Exeggutor promptly fainted, having taken more recoil damage than it could stand. Psyduck collapsed backwards, holding his head as his headache intensified some more. Sabrina noticed the sudden surge in power he received, but she was also acutely aware of how little endurance he had left to battle with.
Not important right now, she realised, I have to help the others while I still can.
Bella raced over to Brock, and immediately saw why Sabrina wanted her to help him.
"Shit," she cursed out loud, then raced over to him.
"Electivire, Thunderbolt!" she yelled as Electivire raced past her.
The attack was completely ineffective from a battling standpoint; it didn't cause any measurable damage to Dragonite at all. However, it succeeded in exactly the way Bella had intended it to: Dragonite got mad, and turned away from Brock and Golem, focusing on Electivire and herself instead.
"Come get some, ya son of a bitch!" she yelled. "Electivire, get ready!"
Dragonite roared in fury, then charged straight at Electivire, its tail glowing blue.
Dragon Tail. Not smart, Dragonite.
"Wait for it," she said to Electivire. "Wait...wait...NOW! Ice Punch!"
Electivire dodged deftly, using the Dragonite's fury-powered momentum against it and sending it skidding along the battlefield's grass surface for dozens and dozens of feet before coming to a stop. It screeched in pain, but to Bella's surprise it got straight back up again and began powering up a Hyper Beam.
I can't believe how crazy these things are. It's in a whole 'nother league to anything else I've ever seen before.
"Okay, Electivire," she thought out loud, partly to herself. "We need to distract it before it can attack again. Let's go with a Thunder attack!"
"Bad idea."
"Huh?"
Bella turned around and was almost surprised to see Brock standing there, looking grim and determined, his Golem standing at the ready next to him.
"But I thought –"
"Thunder might be your best attack," Brock told her, "but it won't do much against that Dragonite. You're wasting Electivire's energy. We need to time this just right."
"What did you have in mind?" she asked.
Brock grinned at her. "When Dragonite attacks, use Agility to run, drawing its fire away from everyone. Golem will hit it with a Rock Slide, and when it becomes fixated on Golem, that's when you hit it with all you've got. One last Ice Punch. Ready?"
"Ready," Bella grinned back.
Dragonite fired the Hyper Beam, and the two trainers could feel the power of the blast even from where they were standing. Bella's long black hair felt like it was about to be torn from her head, and she needed to stabilise herself by planting a foot half a step backwards.
"Electivire, Agility! Draw its fire!"
Electivire did exactly as he was told, running straight towards the arena fence in a long arc, then curving out and running alongside it for a while as Bella awaited Brock.
"Rock Slide, Golem!"
Dragonite didn't even growl this time. It just glared at Golem, as if the attack was merely offensive. Golem didn't like that, so he ramped up the intensity, firing several more large boulders in quicker succession and with more speed. Bella knew her time was up though, as their section of the arena was becoming bare – Golem had torn up most of it to throw at Dragonite.
"Quick Attack, Electivire! Then Ice Punch!" she yelled. "Finish that thing off!"
Dragonite was too angry at Golem to pay any attention to Electivire at all, and as a result it was completely blindsided by the Ice Punch attack, which overwhelmed it completely. Dragonite promptly passed out, leaving all four GE Pokémon out of action.
"Finally…" Bella sighed. "I've never experienced anything like that before."
"You still haven't," Brock muttered.
Bella's jaw dropped as Rhyperior, Charizard, Exeggutor, and Dragonite all got to their feet again, their eyes glowing red, looking more furious than ever.
"Did you really think this was over?" Jessie cackled with glee.