Team Rocket Vs Team Plasma Pt 2.
Ash
The conference room was in tatters. An eerie silence seemed to prevail in the aftermath of Team Plasma's attack. Slowly and painfully I sat up after having been blasted off my feet, and briefly checked myself over for hurt. As far as I could see I was fine. I'd suffered worse... much worse. But it was the large and imposing shadow that stood over me that made my gut clench and my heart sink to my toes. A ring-laden hand was extended and I glanced up into the solid face of none other than Giovanni himself. My own father.
"Are you alright?" his tone was barely above a whisper.
Ignoring his offer for assistance, I pulled myself to my feet and dusted my hired tux of glass shards. "Fine," I said curtly. "Never felt better."
"Ash!" the concerned calls from my friends snapped us from our momentary stare-down.
"Ash, are you alright?" Professor Juniper was the first to reach us, her face white and her eyes wide with worry. Because you see, I was closer to the window than they'd been. I'd suffered the full brunt of an exploding window in my face. For what it was worth, I looked pretty good... but then again I had a certain added ability that could help me with defending myself... when I remembered to use it.
Juniper was followed by Cilan, Iris and Agent Looker who all shared her concern.
"Your friend is fine," Dad felt compelled to answer for me. Then offering a dramatic sigh, he let his eyes scan the mess that was the conference room. "Though I can't say the same for the celebration..."
"That was Team Plasma," Looker's eyes narrowed into a squint. "They took your stone fragment didn't they?"
"Yes," affirmed Giovanni. "They are the true bad guys you're after, Agent."
Looker seemed momentarily taken aback by my father's forwardness. Even in the presence of high ranking police officers, the Mobster was unfazed.
"My sources tell me Team Plasma plan to use the meteonite stone against the inhabitants of Castelia City," Dad continued, "A far more sinister venture than what plans I had in store for it."
"They must be stopped!" not surprisingly Iris was the first to jump on the bandwagon and quickly found herself followed by the others.
Everyone except me. Instead, I was unusually quiet and focused my gaze on the floor, the hairs on the back of my neck bristling at the buttery words that came from the man's mouth. Oh I knew my father was not the righteous business man he made himself out to be. And as far as I was concerned, no one would be allowed to have that stupid stone. Not Team Plasma, not Team Rocket... no one.
Noting my composure Pikachu who had since kept himself sparse clambered back onto my shoulder and offered me a re-assuring cheek rub. The only one of my friends who was all too aware of my predicament.
After inciting my companions to action; as always seemed to be his talent, Giovanni offered us a data-readout that would allow us to track the stone and even a car that would get us there. With both Team Rocket and my friends on his side, he would surely succeed at getting this stone back... unless I had something to do with it.
Everyone took off through the door, eager to leap onto the trail of Team Plasma before it got cold. I followed suit but it was Dad's call stopped me halfway down the hallway.
"Ashton!"
Hesitant, I spun on his approach.
"You do realise what will happen if Team Plasma are allowed to succeed in their plans?" he questioned me and it was then I realised he was relying on the fact that I would act to defy him.
I nodded, slowly... carefully, "Yes,"
"You know what you must do."
Cold wind blasted me in the face as the jeep tore across the desert terrain. Sand and dust filled the air, getting into my hair, eyes, even between my teeth.
"West! Keep going West!" Professor Juniper in the front seat watched the readout on her e-pad with a careful eye.
"This is about as west as we're going to get!" Looker growled, his knuckles turning white under the grip of the steering wheel.
We found ourselves jolting and bumping into each other with every sway and movement of the jeep. There was hardly any room in the back seat and I found myself squashed up against Cilan and Iris. Pikachu sat precariously on my lap and it seemed the slightest jolt had the potential to send the little electric Pokémon flying.
"Look! Up there!" Iris was the first to spot three flickering lights on the horizon. They moved into the path of the moonlight and soon enough the three figures of Jessie, James and Meowth riding the sky via jetpacks came into view.
The Rockets spotted us immediately and they didn't seem happy with the fact either. I watched their silent deliberation before suddenly James panned around with his jetpack to face us. He was holding a huge gun or cannon of sorts and it was beginning to light up.
"Look out!" I barely got the chance to yell before suddenly a blinding, purple blast discharged from the gun.
"No you don't!" Looker wrenched the steering wheel, barely avoiding what would have been a direct hit.
On loose, sandy soil, the jeep fishtailed. One moment I was barely holding onto my lunch and then the next me and Pikachu were flung from the car. I rolled several times before coming to a stop, my face imbedding into a pile of sand.
Pikachu landed neatly on my back and without thinking twice he was on his feet and sending a massive Thunderbolt at the hovering Rocket Trio. Their jetpacks spluttered before shutting down altogether which sent them freefalling. They hit the ground with a loud thud.
"Ash! Are you alright?!" once again, I found myself the focus of my friends concern. I pulled myself too my feet, a bit more bruised and painfully than the last time I'd been knocked to the ground. Didn't have the time to call on my aura to help me this time.
"What do you think you're doing, twerp?" Jessie and James were already on their feet.
"We're stopping you or anyone else from having that meteonite!" I retorted.
"Dis ain't none of yer business!" Meowth pointed an accusing finger.
But ignoring them I focused on the cannon still in Jame's hands. By the looks of it, it seemed to be powered by a fragment of this so called 'meteonite'.
"Pikachu, Quick Attack! Get that cannon off Team Rocket!"
"Pika!" he was instantly on it, taking off as fast as his little legs could carry him.
But all it took was for James to pull the trigger on his gun. The brilliant, purple light formed from its barrel and in one huge blast it shot out across the desert aimed directly for my Pikachu.
BOOM!
The dust cloud had barely settled and I was on my feet, hunting down my Pokémon.
"Pikachu!"
I found him lying barely a foot from a huge crater, looking dazed and slightly mortified. Team Rocket was already back in the sky with their jetpacks. But they suddenly became the least of my worries as I focused on my fallen Pokémon. His coat... it was sparkling!
I landed on my knees, scooping him up into my arms. "Pikachu?"
But the Pokémon seemed to be fine, he blinked once, twice and then clambered from my arms.
"Pika?" he was confused. His feet and ears were twitching like he'd gotten into the ketchup again.
"Pikachu, what's wrong?"
"Pika!" A yell was all I got before suddenly he took off into the fastest Quick Attack I'd ever seen. Racing across the desert, hot on Team Rocket's trail.
"Pikachu?!" What was going on?! I went to run after him but it was impossible, he was simply too fast!
"Ash!" The jeep pulled up next to me, allowing me the chance to clamber into the back seat before we tore off after Pikachu.
"Something's wrong with Pikachu!" I yelled into the wind that whipped about my face. "Its like he's trapped in a supercharged Quick Attack!"
"It's an effect of the stone, it's given him power," Looker was the only one able to offer me an answer.
"How long will it last?" I demanded.
But he could only shrug. "I'm not sure. As long as it does... I guess."
"As long as it does?! What if it hurts him?!" What had my father's stupid rock done to my best friend?!
Meanwhile:
"Commander, we have the stone," the Team Plasma grunt saluted officially and was followed by members of his team carrying a large container. They were back in the heart of the Desert Resort where their plans were set to take place.
"Good work," The Team Plasma commander mumbled, his eyes taking in the large burn marks that had eaten through the helicopter's paintwork and desecrated the Team Plasma logo. "Were you followed?"
"Not as far as we know. Team Rocket took chase but the Dragon Master seems to have taken care of them."
"Excellent," the commander nodded, "Prepare the stone."
The plan was as ingenious as it was simple and inspired from the very people they'd seized the meteonite from. Rather than using its properties in the active pursuit of this so-called 'future energy', Team Plasma's ideals were a little more sinister though righteous.
They would use it to power a massive release of Dream Mist collected from the old Dream Yard ruins which was set to hypnotize every inhabitant of Castelia City in their sleep. Come the morning, every Pokémon in Castelia and its surrounding neighbourhoods would be free.
Placing the stone on a small rocky outcrop, Team Plasma prepared a special cannon of their own. One that ended in three curved metal rods protruding from its barrel. These rods held inside them a peculiar, yellow ball of electricity.
"Fire the cannon!" The order was given and at the pull of the trigger this electricity was immediately discharged onto the unsuspecting meteonite stone until finally it began to radiate this same electricity, slowly rising and turning in mid-air.
It hissed and spat, causing the Team Plasma agents to step back behind the safety of their helicopter. It was pulsating; as though to be building up with more and more energy.
A single Plasma agent ventured from hiding, holding a notebook computer that screamed at him with the data readout. His big, blue eyes were full of intensity. "The stone is set. Like a supernova, it will release its energy in waves, each one getting bigger and more violent than the last before the big one. It's this final wave that we want to be riding on! We have exactly twenty minutes until that happens!"
"Right," the commander nodded before yelling out his next order to his colleagues. "Prepare the Dream Mist!"
"Commander! Lookout!"
The sudden appearance of three figures dropping down from the sky stopped the commander in his tracks, and he spun on the spot just as they landed. Red Rs blatant on their chest's it didn't take a genius to figure where they'd come from.
"Team Rocket!"
"You think you can just waltz in and steal our meteonite stone?!" the woman bellowed.
"That stone rightfully belongs to Unova's hero!" unable to resist, the commander's second man stood up to them, fists clenched and ready for battle.
The Plasma commander extended a hand to stop his companion before all hell broke loose. Rather, he simply called on his Liepard to step in and take matters into its figurative hands.
The Team Rocket Woman was quick to throw a pokéball, releasing its inhabitant; a Woobat. "Woobat! Use Air Slash!"
"Woobat!" the small, fuzzy bat obliged. Its black, leathery wings became sharp and took on a blue glow before with every sweep, they began to expel razor discs upon the opposing Liepard.
The feline barely managed to dive out of the way of the attack that hit the ground with such force it sent a spray of rock and dirt flying in every direction.
It moved to retaliate, but it was the glowing meteonite that beat it to it as its electrical charge reached a peak and it expelled a giant bubble of energy, knocking everyone standing off their feet...
"What is this?! The energy's acceleration has stopped!" Juniper's voice sounded panicked across the lash of wind that whipped at our faces. She clutched tightly the read-out of the stone's energy that had expanded in a huge wave before losing power and dispersing across the desert. "Each surge seems to be getting stronger! How much further?"
"There!" Looker pointed ahead to a brilliant, star-like object that hovered in the air just above a rocky outcrop.
It was where Pikachu was heading too. He still powered on, trapped in his Quick Attack and glowing like the sun.
Looker made an effort at speeding up but the jeep was already going as fast as it could across this terrain. What had once been sand and dirt had since formed into rock and cliffs; making our ride even more bumpy and treacherous than it already was.
We saw the next wave with our own eyes; this one was bigger than the last and caused Juniper's e-pad to scream. Like a giant electrical storm, it blew across the desert engulfing everything in its path. So there was nothing we could do but take the storm at its full force.
Arms covered faces, and dust and sand blew into our eyes and mouths. I heard Looker curse out loud as he hit the breaks and we skidded across the rocky floor.
The surge passed in a matter of seconds, and taking a moment we each in turn checked ourselves for hurt. Everyone seemed to be in order. We weren't mutating... or missing body parts. But when Looker went to start the engine, it was then we realised the car was dead.
The car choked and he frowned. "There must be sand in the motor, this isn't good."
No, it wasn't, especially not while Pikachu was still out there and already disappearing over a ledge. I didn't give myself the time to dwell on that. And resisting the warning calls of my friends I immediately jumped from the jeep and made my way on foot.
"Pikachu!" I bolted on after the little Pokémon. How was it that he wasn't beyond exhausted already?!
Struggling my way over to a rocky wall, I soon found myself peering into a small valley of sorts where I saw the Team Plasma helicopter that'd attacked my father's people had landed. Team Plasma was engaged in a fierce battle against Jessie and James. But it was the glowing stone that grabbed my attention. Located only several yards from where the teams fought, it drifted and turned in the sky just above a small rock mound.
James was armed with his cannon, and had decided to turn the tides by firing his cannon at the stone. I guess in the hopes of accelerating the process and preventing Team Plasma from fulfilling their plans. Whatever the reason, the reaction was instant. The stone went from glowing yellow to a deep, purple hue. A storm of electricity mixed with the meteonite's own home-made energy and exploded outward into another shockwave that practically demolished everything in its path.
I immediately ducked behind the boulder I hid behind, tucking my body into a ball as the heat of the explosion blasted over top of me and across the desert. The sounds of snapping electricity and breaking glass filled my ears until the storm shockwave dissipated.
Heaving up a sandy breath, I braved peering back over the boulder to see the Team Rocket/Plasma scene now in tatters. In fact they were now focused on a new threat; namely one supercharged Pikachu who invaded the site. He was heading straight for the meteonite with one objective on his mind.
"He's going for the stone!" I heard the loud cry of Meowth.
Both Team Plasma and Rocket turned on my Pikachu, focusing their attacks on him which he was able to dodge with super fast speed.
"Pikachu! Go!" I was on my feet, yelling at the top of my lungs.
Pikachu was already clambering the outcrop for the stone, dodging the heat of Hyperbeam attacks and razor sharp Air Slashes. He tumbled on the rock as the floor beneath his feet began to give way and my heart nearly missed a beat. But the Pokémon was agile, and using the momentum of his own Quick Attack he leapt up into the sky; into the direction of the glowing meteonite. Its power was already intensifying, readying for another shockwave that would surely make it to the city this time.
"Pikachu! Thunder!"
At that point all I saw was a flash of light before the meteonite seemed to finally give out and short circuited. Then BOOM! It blasted into oblivion and the world around me fell black...