Chapter 13: Fossil Frenzy!
Six people were standing around a table in a dimly lit room. One of them was the mysterious boss of Team Rocket, one of them was the evil man that we all know as Norman Osborn, and the other four were the other mysterious Team Rocket Executives.
"The Poison Ninja is currently in Fuchsia for Operation: Fist," the leader stated as he slammed his hands onto the table, before glancing at Norman. "We had to send him there permanently after Norman's...Reckless actions during his last mission."
The other four important Team Rocket members all looked at the orange-haired businessman, who grumbled as he uncomfortably played around with his tie.
"I told you that I work best alone, sir. I was just taking some...Drastic measures to get my point across," the Green Goblin muttered in response, looking away from his peers. However, he quickly shook his head and looked back at his boss. "But sir, did you call this meeting to simply scold me for my actions? Frankly, I feel that's quite childish..."
Ignoring the insult, the mysterious leader of the villainous organization simply chuckled. "Trust me, Osborn, if I was THAT petty I would have killed you the moment I found out about what you did. The real reason that I called this meeting...Is for something entirely different..."
Pulling out a remote from his pocket, the leader of Team Rocket turned around and pointed it towards the wall. Immediately, it lit up, revealing a blue screen.
On the screen were two odd-looking rocks.
"You called this meeting...For us to look at some rocks?" one of the four mysterious 'Team Rocket Executives' asked, raising an eyebrow at him in the dark. "I'm a bit confused..."
"Not rocks," the leader of Team Rocket stated as he turned around to look at his underlings. "Fossils!"
"Fossils?..." the man who asked the question muttered in response. "Like...Of ancient Pokemon?..."
"Precisely," the leader of Team Rocket responded, smirking. "Our sources state that, in Mt. Moon, many fossils can be found. Our scientists have replicated the machinery that the scientists in Pewter use to resurrect these fossils. In other words..."
The screen behind the mysterious man shifted from the rocks to the images of two Pokemon that looked incredibly powerful.
One of them had brown skin, and had massive scythes for hands.
The other one was blue with a yellow shell on its back. It also had quite a few tentacles.
"...We can revive some powerful extinct Pokemon, and use them for our cause!"
Everyone present nodded at their leader's words. He did have a point. It was common knowledge that these Pokemon were extremely powerful. The reason why they went extinct in the first place is unknown, but if they had a chance to revive them and use them for their own evil gains, they were obviously going to take the chance.
"This is an incredible plan, sir," one of the other Rocket Executives stated, complimenting the leader of Team Rocket. "I shall prepare a squadron at once so that we can-"
"No."
Everyone looked at the leader, who was smirking.
"You're too...Valuable, Archer," he explained, name-dropping the Rocket Executive. The dangerous yet sophisticated man turned his head and looked at the man who had asked the question earlier. He was sitting in his chair lazily. "Petrel on the other hand...Well, he's not useless. Its just that a rough and tough job in an area which is constantly being used by ordinary people like this is right up his alley...So what do you say, Petrel? Will you take the job?"
The man who was sitting lazily in the chair smirked and jumped up to his feet.
"Of course, sir. I'll go get those Pokemon Fossils for you right away!"
Petrel then promptly went to the door to exit the room. However, he stopped right before leaving and flashed a wide grin at his boss. "After all, the 'Master Of Disguise' will never fail!"
Our heroes were continuing their journey through the Kanto Region, and to Cerulean City, where Ash's next Gym Battle was going to be held. To get there, however, they had to make their way through the incredibly dark Mt. Moon.
"I still don't get why nobody installed some lights for travelers around here..." Lillie muttered as she closely followed her friends, who all had their Rotom-Phones out so that they could see. "Mt. Moon is regularly used, so it'd make sense for them to try and make it feel at least a little safe..."
"Yeah, it's super annoying," Ash stated with sigh. "I can't catch any Pokemon if I can't see them..."
"Of course you'd think about catching Pokemon, Ash," Peter responded with a chuckle. "I can actually see perfectly fine in this dark cave, due to my superpowers, but I guess I'll just have to play along and pretend that its dark for me too so that nobody gets suspicious..."
"Yeah, well, this is actually a pretty good thing for the Pokemon living in the area," Brock interjected, smiling. "I would know, considering how I used to come here a lot when I was younger!"
Everyone looked at Brock, each of them raising an eyebrow.
"What do you mean, Brock?" Ash asked, getting intrigued. If he could learn a bit about how the Pokemon in the area lived, then perhaps he could use the information to try and lure one out and catch it!
"Well, you see, Mt. Moon is home to many Pokemon species, including, but not limited to: Geodude, Clefairy, and Zubat," Brock stated. "These Pokemon, especially Zubat, prefer the dark and live their lives here. Of course, when they're exposed to the outside world after joining a trainer, that's a different story, but that's the main gist of it. It also helps the Pokemon here hide, considering how they're pretty weak."
"Huh, I think I've read about something like that in a book before..." Lillie muttered. However, she quickly shook her head and smiled. "But yeah, the Pokemon are really smart to be able to use their surroundings to their advantage!"
"Yeah, but still, Pokemon are really mysterious creatures. We still don't know much about them!" Peter laughed.
"Yeah? Well, I know everything there is to know about Scorbunny!" Ash exclaimed, before looking downwards. "Isn't that right, buddy?"
However, when the raven-haired boy didn't see the Fire-type partner standing by his feet, he immediately became worried.
"W-Wait a minute, where'd Scorbunny go?!" he asked as he began frantically looking around.
"Ash, everyone agreed that they'd their Pokemon in their Pokeballs, since the cave is incredibly dark and we wouldn't be able to find them if they got lost, or something of the sort," Lillie stated, gently reminding her friend. "Don't tell me you seriously forgot..."
The wannabe Pokemon Master blinked twice before immediately scratching the back of his head, a wide grin spread across his face. "Oh! Well, I won't tell you, but..."
Everyone laughed. The four friends were having a good time.
Then, however, they noticed a light.
"Hey, what's that over there?" Lillie asked, pointing out the sudden appearance of a light-source. "Why is there suddenly light?"
"I'm not sure..." Ash responded, before grinning. He put his Rotom-Phone away, and ran towards it. "But I think we should check it out! Come on, guys!"
Lillie and Peter looked at each other before shrugging and chasing after their friend.
Brock however, was a bit apprehensive. He proceeded to try narrow his eyes at the light. However, since his eyes were pretty much closed all the time, it was a futile effort.
"I literally just explained how the dark was better for the Pokemon in this cave...Agh, whatever. Let's check this out..." the former Gym Leader thought to himself, shaking his head. "I have a bad feeling about all of this, though..."
The four of them made their way to the light-source.
As it would turn out, the light was coming from a large machine.
"Woah, what's this?..." Lillie muttered as she moved her hand over the machine. "It looks like those machines that we saw at Pewter Museum but...Larger..."
Although she was impressed by it, Peter had a different reaction.
He was BEYOND impressed.
"OH. MY. GOD. What the heck IS this thing?!" the secret superhero asked no one in particular as he zoomed from left to right, examining the strange machine from all angles. "It looks like something ripped straight out of a Sci-Fi book or something! Man, I wonder what it does?..."
Ash simply raised an eyebrow at it. "I don't see what's so good about this thing, Peter...It looks like every other fancy tech-thing that you obsess over..."
"WHAT?! Are you NUTS?!" Peter asked his friend in a tone that suggested that he had asked the stupidest question in the whole entire world. "This machine is clearly an impressive work of engineering! Can't you see that the exterior is made up of a rare metal, and that the light its emitting is actually due to all the energy is producing?! This is an amazing piece of technology and you should RESPECT it!"
"H-HUH?! W-Well...Alright, I think I got it, Peter..." Ash muttered in response, raising his arms to signify for his science-obsessed friend to stop. "Now can you please let me go?..."
However, among the four of them, Brock was the quietest. He simply stared at the machine, remaining silent.
Then...
"Well, well, well, aren't you an excited bunch?"
Everyone turned around and saw an old man. He had a slightly hunched back, and he was wearing a lab-coat. He was also wearing a pair of glasses, and had a white moustache. Finally, in his hands was a clipboard.
He also had an extremely friendly demeanor.
"Hello, children," the man smiled. "How are you all today?"
"Um, we're fine, but...Who are you?" Lillie asked, raising an eyebrow. "I-If you don't mind me asking, that is..."
"Ah, haha, how rude of me!" the man exclaimed with a chuckle. "My name is Dr. Fossil. I am the leading expert when it comes to all things regarding Pokemon Fossils!"
This answer intrigued Peter. "Wow, really?! So does that mean that this machine belongs to you?! What does it do?!"
"Haha, you sure do love science, don't you, boy?" Dr. Fossil asked with a hearty laugh.
"Well, it IS my dream to become a Pokemon Professor, so that's kind of a given!" Peter responded with a grin. "My name's Peter, by the way. Peter Parker!"
"Oh, and I'm Lillie!" the blonde-haired girl told the doctor with a respectful nod. "It's nice to meet you, sir!"
"Haha, and my name's Ash!" the wannabe Pokemon Master exclaimed, grinning. He then grabbed a Pokeball from his waist and let Scorbunny out of the device, who eagerly grinned at the old man. "And this is my partner Scorbunny! It's our dream to be a Pokemon Master! Right buddy?"
"Scor-Bun!" the Pokemon shouted, grinning excitedly.
While his friends introduced themselves to Dr. Fossil, Brock simply crossed his arms, remaining silent.
"Ah, well, it's nice to meet you all. I hope you achieve all of your dreams," Dr. Fossil stated, smiling at our heroes. "And, to answer your question, Peter..."
The old man took out a remote control device from his pocket and pressed a button. Immediately, the machine began buzzing, catching the attention of our heroes.
"...This machine helps us locate Pokemon fossils! Notice the small screen in the middle? It shows us the distance to the nearest fossil!"
"Wow!" Peter exclaimed, examining the screen with a grin. "This is amazing! I can't believe something like this exists!"
"Yeah, honestly, I didn't know you could even create something like that..." Lillie stated softly, turning her head to the machine. "A device that can point out the location of Pokemon fossils...The power of science sure is incredible..."
"You could say that again!" Peter stated, grinning.
Dr. Fossil chuckled at everyone's enthusiasm. "Haha, well, I'm glad you all think so highly of it. The scientists at our organization worked incredibly hard to-"
"This doesn't make sense, Dr. Fossil," Brock interjected as he stared at the machine, catching the attention of everyone. "No sense at all."
Surprised by Brock's sudden rudeness, Peter raised an eyebrow. "W-Woah, Brock, what are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about...This," the former Gym Leader stated, gesturing towards the large machine. "It doesn't make any sense. How can a machine detect the locations of Pokemon fossils?"
"Yeah, I also kind of find that weird..." Ash muttered in response.
Dr. Fossil opened his mouth to respond, but Peter quickly came to the old man's defense. "Brock, sure it doesn't make sense, but we live in a world where superheroes and villains are running around like crazy, and where animals in the wild can electrocute you to death. I think this machine isn't the weirdest thing to exist on our planet."
Ash blinked twice before grinning. "Aaaaand I'm suddenly on their side now."
"Well, even if this machine really DOES find fossils, it still is harming the natural order of Mt. Moon's ecosystem!" Brock bitterly continued. "Just look around you! Look at all of the Pokemon hiding in the shadows!"
Peter looked around and, to his surprise, there REALLY were Pokemon hiding in the dark depths of the cave, examining the machine fearfully. Lillie, Ash, and Scorbunny all had to squint since they didn't have enhanced eyesight like Peter did, but they did eventually see the Pokemon.
"Woah, there really ARE Pokemon in this cave!" Ash exclaimed as he slowly grabbed an empty Pokeball from his waist. "Maybe I can catch one without anyone noticing!..."
Scorbunny grinned and got into a fighting stance. "Scor-Bun!"
"Now is seriously not the time, Ash," Lillie told her friend matter-of-factly.
The excited trainer and Pokemon duo both blinked twice before sighing and letting their shoulders slump downwards. "Agh, fine...Whatever..."
"I'm a Pokemon Breeder, and I know what a Pokemon needs to stay healthy and strong," Brock stated firmly. "From the science that makes little to no sense, to the fact that its actively harming Mt. Moon's ecosystem...I demand that you stop this operation at once!"
Everyone was genuinely surprised by Brock's forwardness.
"W-Woah, Brock, don't you think you're going a bit too far?" Peter asked the former Gym Leader. However, upon seeing that the Rock-type specialist's expression didn't change, he turned to Dr. Fossil, hoping to apologize. "I-I'm really sorry, Dr. Fossil. Brock's never really like this, and-"
"No, it's fine," the doctor responded seriously.
It was now time for everyone to look at Dr. Fossil in confusion. What was he talking about? Why was he so calm?
"After all...HE HAS A POINT!" the doctor continued, a smirk appearing on his face.
Suddenly, Peter's Spider-Sense started ringing, but it was too late.
Before anyone could even comprehend what Dr. Fossil had stated, the machine next to them exploded, causing huge amounts of dust to fill the area.
When the dust settled...
…Dr. Fossil was no more.
Instead, there was a different man standing in his place.
He was tall, young, and thin. He had bright purple hair cut short at the sides with a large curl on top, a short purple beard, purple eyebrows and purple eyes. He wore a black jumpsuit with yellow-gold lines, elbow length silver-gray gloves and knee high silver-gray boots, all with a red stripe at the edge, and a silver belt around his waist.
However, the thing that caught our heroes' eyes the most, however, was the massive 'R' on his chest.
He was a member of Team Rocket!
"W-What's going on here?!" Peter angrily asked, taking a step back involuntarily. "Was this...Where's Dr. Fossil?..."
"Oh come on, bro! Isn't it obvious?!" the Team Rocket member asked with a stupidly large smirk. "Dr. Fossil was just a persona created by myself! My true name is Petrel, the MASTER OF DISGUISE! I can change into any costume whenever I like! And not only that..."
The man with purple hair smirked as he snapped his fingers, immediately causing a horde of Team Rocket members to enter the area, each and every one of them having a pissed off look on their face.
"...I'm a Team Rocket Executive! One of the toughest trainers that the organization has to offer! And all of these guys? They're under MY command! HAHAHA!"
"A Team Rocket Executive?..." Ash muttered, before immediately scowling. "Like The Poison Ninja and The Green Goblin?!"
"Hah, I suppose you could say that," Petrel responded nonchalantly, hands in his pockets. He then smirked evilly. "Anyways, now its time for the evil supervillain monologue, right?"
"You're...Going to tell us your plan?..." Lillie asked, raising an eyebrow. "That doesn't seem like a very smart decision..."
"Ah, who cares? Even if that Spider-Guy came in and started beating people up, it'd be no use," Petrel stated coldly. "There was one thing that I told the truth about when I was in my Dr. Fossil costume: We came here for the fossils, since Mt. Moon is famous for being an area where you can easily find Pokemon fossils. And do you wanna know something?"
"What?" Brock asked, glaring at Petrel.
The Team Rocket Executive simply smirked and snapped his fingers again. "We've already completed the first phase of our plan. Now...We just need some test subjects to test the newest additions of Team Rocket on! And guess what? I think YOU guys fit the bill!"
Before our heroes could wrap their heads around what the villain was saying, they heard some...Very loud footsteps.
"What...Is...THAT?..." Brock asked in complete shock at what had appeared in front of him and his friends.
The remaining Team Rocket Executives, along with the leader of Team Rocket, were all seated around a long table, watching the madness unfold on a screen. Each and every one of them had a large grin on their face.
"So...It's time to test out the power of Team Rocket's newest member..." the leader of Team Rocket muttered, grinning in anticipation and waiting excitedly to see the action take place. "And these children will be our first victims...Hm...I can't help but say that they're an interesting group..."
He narrowed his eyes at Ash, before shaking his head.
"Whatever. Foolish children. They will all die."
Standing in front of our heroes was a powerful-looking Pokemon. It was bipedal, and had a skeletal build. It was mostly brown, except for its light gray chest and abdomen. Instead of hands, its forearms were large, sharp, gray scythes. Its thin legs which were brown lead to small feet with two large gray claws. Lastly, there was some sort of strange, metal device strapped onto its head, and its eyes were glowing a bright red.
It stopped right next to the Rocket Executive and glared at our heroes.
"What do you think, kiddies? Scared?" Petrel asked, smirking confidently. "Can't blame ya. This here is Kabutops, a Pokemon that we revived from a fossil recently!"
"Y-You revived a Pokemon from a FOSSIL?..." Peter asked, raising an eyebrow. "B-But my friend Eddie told me that you needed a license to do that..."
"We're Pokemon gangsters, do you really expect us to get a fricking license?" Petrel responded teasingly. "Anyways, lets cut right to the chase. Kabutops here? You don't wanna mess with it. See the scythes? It uses them to cut its prey clean open, and then suck the juices right out of them. Pretty nasty, but it gets the job done, you know? They're incredibly fast, too. You stand no chance!"
"W-Wow, I don't even need a Pokedex function on my Rotom-Phone..." Ash muttered to himself. "I could just ask this guy..."
Lillie, despite her fear of the situation, along with her natural shyness, decided to speak up against the criminal. "W-Well, Kabutops went extinct before, right? Couldn't we just abuse the reason it went extinct to allow ourselves to win?"
"Heh, I'm glad you asked that, girl," the purple-haired Rocket Executive snorted. "Because Kabutops only went extinct because of the fact that it evolved before its prey. It was able to walk on land while a majority of the early Pokemon were still swimming in the primordial seas. In other words: Kabutops only went extinct because it was ahead of the game!"
Brock grit his teeth and glared at the situation. "W-Well, how are you controlling it?...If it really is an ancient Pokemon, wouldn't it not respond well to humans, and be a hassle to try and detain?..."
"Ugh, enough with the questions! I want to kill you guys already!" the Rocket executive groaned. "We're using a freaking mind-control device to control his goddamn actions! You really think this fully-evolved Pokemon could be captured so easily?! We're forcefully controlling him, are you happy?!"
"W-Wait a minute, so you're FORCING that Pokemon to work for you guys?..." Ash asked, finding himself becoming a lot more angrier then he was just a few second prior. "You didn't even ask how Kabutops feels! You guys are...You guys are terrible people!"
"Scor-Bun Bun!" Ash's partner shouted, sharing a similar opinion to its trainer.
"Yeah, go figure," Petrel snorted in response. "We're Team Rocket, genius."
"Grrr!...That's IT!" Ash shouted, catching the attention of everyone, including his friends. Not only was he irritated with the way that Petrel was speaking, he was also being annoyed by the fact that he had the audacity to show off that he was controlling an innocent Pokemon forcefully. "Scorbunny, use Double Kick on Petrel!"
"O-On Petrel?..." Lillie asked quietly. "As in, on a human?..."
"SCOR-BUN!"
A brown aura quickly surrounded Scorbunny's body, before it immediately proceeded to dash towards the Rocket Executive at speeds that astonished everyone present, including the many Team Rocket grunts who were too shocked by Ash's forwardness to move. Like trainer like Pokemon, and because of this, Scorbunny shared the same opinion as its trainer.
The bunny Pokemon jumped in front of Petrel's face and brought its right leg back, ready to kick the Rocket Executive in the face.
"Scor..."
"Holy-What the hell?! Agh! Get that thing away from me!" Petrel shrieked, his ruthless and uncaring attitude being replaced by one that resembled that of a scared little girl as he took a step back. "Eek!"
"...Bunny!"
However, as the rabbit Pokemon extended its leg out, hoping to harm Petrel, Kabutops brought its giant scythe-arm in front of the Rocket Executive's face in the nick of time, protecting him from any harm.
"Kabu!" the Pokemon exclaimed angrily, staring into Scorbunny's eyes as its scythe-like arm collided with the rabbit Pokemon's leg.
"Bun!..." the bunny Pokemon responded as it jumped back, completely surprised by how quick the recently restored fossil Pokemon protected the Rocket Executive, despite the terrible way he was treating it.
"Grrr! That Kabutops...He's mega strong!..." Ash bitterly thought as he found himself clenching his fists and gritting his teeth. "This might be a little harder then I thought..."
Brock was also looking on angrily. "It seems to save Kabutops we're going to have to BEAT Kabutops!..."
Kabutops monotonously straightened its back and continued to simply glare at our heroes. Petrel, on the other hand, looked from left to right. Noticing that all of the grunts were staring at him because of his cowardice, he immediately straightened his back and cleared his throat.
"A-As you can see, uh, Kabutops here is really strong! You don't stand a chance!" the Rocket Executive stated, before glancing at the grunts that were under his command. "God freaking dammit I embarrassed myself in front of the grunts..."
However, he quickly shook his head and smirked. Pointing at our heroes, the purple-haired man shouted "Anyways, Kabutops, kill them!"
The fossil Pokemon's eyes glowed brighter for a few brief moments, before it immediately got into action.
Using its freakishly fast legs, it zoomed towards Ash and raised its hand, intending to behead the wannabe Pokemon Master.
"Kabu!" the Pokemon exclaimed as it swung its hand in an attempt to harm Ash.
However, Scorbunny jumped into action and comedically headbutted Ash in the stomach. Sure, it comedically hurt the raven-haired boy, but it also caused him to get pushed to the side, avoiding Kabutops' sudden attack.
"Th-Thanks Scorbunny..." Ash breathed as he fell onto the floor, Scorbunny sitting on top of him with a worried expression on its face. "But next time, be a little gentler, okay?..."
Scorbunny nodded at its trainer, smiling because he was okay. "Scor!"
The bunny Pokemon then jumped off of Ash and glared at Kabutops, ready to battle.
"I'll help out in any way I can as well! It's my duty as a Rock-type specialist to help that Pokemon whose clearly a Rock-type!" Brock exclaimed as he threw out his own Pokeball, releasing one of his own battle partners. "Go! Geodude!"
"Geo-Dude!" the Rock-type Pokemon shouted as it materialized onto the battlefield.
"I-I think I'll sit this one out..." Lillie muttered as she took a step back, frightened by the situation.
"Arceus dammit. We're completely surrounded, so I can't get into my costume!..." Peter exclaimed angrily as he looked from left to right. However, instead of joining the battle alongside Ash and Brock, he took a step back next to Lillie. "I think I should 'sit this one out' like Lillie is doing, just in case the opportunity for me to get into costume arises..."
"You aren't helping, Peter?" Lillie asked her friend, looking up at him.
"Well, let's just say I'm more of a researcher then a battler," Peter stated with a nervous chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Pew!" Nebby exclaimed as it popped its head out of Lillie's bag to watch the battle. Noticing this, however, Lillie quickly got to work in pushing it back inside.
"N-Nebby...Get into the bag..." she muttered bitterly.
"This should be interesting," the Team Rocket leader stated as he leaned forwards in his chair, resting his hands on the table sophisticatedly. "Isn't that right, Ariana?"
"Yes sir, undoubtedly." the female Rocket Executive quickly responded, not taking her eyes off the screen. This marked yet another case of the Rocket leader name-dropping one of the Rocket Executives.
Geodude and Scorbunny were fighting the fossil Pokemon with all of their might, but it was quite obvious that they were struggling.
"Haha! Get 'em, Kabutops!" Petrel cheered, raising his fist in the air. "Show these lousy kids what it means to meddle in the affairs of Team Rocket!"
"TOP! TOP! TOP!" the fossil Pokemon shouted as it swiped its scythes at the two little Pokemon, who desperately did their best to avoid being sliced in half.
"Agh! Scorbunny! Look out!" Ash exclaimed, getting more and more worried for the safety of his partner. "Scorbunny's not gonna make it out of this if it keeps going like this..."
Brock was worried about his partner as well. "Geodude is really struggling out there, even though I bred it to have amazing stats...Petrel was right, Kabutops is so incredibly strong...But we have to keep trying! I can't let Kabutops be abused by its captors!..."
Unfortunately, after a bit of dodging, the two Pokemon were eventually backed into a wall, and had nowhere left to run.
"Scor..." the bunny Pokemon angrily muttered as Kabutops raised its massive scythe-hand, ready to end the lives of its opponents.
However, as the fossil Pokemon slashed its dangerous body part at the bunny Pokemon, Scorbunny, at the last second, ducked, completely avoiding the attack.
"Alright, Scorbunny! Great job!" Ash excitedly exclaimed. However, the grin that had formed on his face quickly disappeared as he realized something pretty bad had happened. "Uh oh..."
Scorbunny dodging the attack was both a good and a bad move.
On one hand, Scorbunny had avoided getting its head cut off, so that was pretty great.
On the other hand, however...
There was now a massive cut in the wall, and the entire cave was beginning to shake because of it!
"W-What's going on?!" Brock asked in complete shock as he suddenly found it difficult to stay on his feet. "Why's the ground suddenly shaking?!"
"I-I think it's because of the fact that Kabutops' razor-sharp scythe-hands created a huge cut in the wall!" Lillie suggested, putting her hands on a nearby wall to keep herself steady. "That Master of Disguise Team Rocket guy wasn't joking- Kabutops' hands are really sharp! It must've dug in deep, and now the whole place is going to collapse!"
"This is terrible!..." Peter bitterly thought to himself as he looked on at the massive chaos that was happening. "On the bright side, though, I might be able to get into my Spider-Man costume without anyone seeing..."
In a dark turn of events, however, one by one, the Team Rocket grunts that were present proceeded to get crushed by massive chunks of rock that fell from the roof, crushing them to death. The scene was so incredibly gory that Lillie had to look away from it so that she could stop herself from throwing up. Peter simply looked on with an expression that was sort of a mixture of determination and disgust, and both Ash and Brock were completely shocked.
"Agh! I want my mommy!" Petrel exclaimed as he hopped from left to right, dodging some falling pieces of rock. "I should have listened to her and followed my dream of becoming a fashion designer! Now I'm getting to die!..."
Despite the massive destruction that was taking place, Kabutops was still being controlled by the mind-control device, and instead of being horrified of the current situation that it was in like pretty much everyone else, the fossil Pokemon instead saw this as an opportunity to do what it was ordered to do: Kill its foes.
Water surrounded the fossil Pokemon's body, and it wasted no time in using an extremely powerful move called Aqua Jet!
Kabutops zoomed towards Geodude and Scorbunny, defeating them in one-shot by using the super-effective attack, and sending them flying away.
"Scor-Bun!"
"Geo-Dude!"
"Agh! Oh no!" Ash exclaimed as he ran over to his partner, catching the bunny Pokemon before it hit the ground. Scorbunny reverted back to the Fire-typing as its trainer did this, signifying that it had lost the battle. "Are you okay, Scorbunny?...You aren't hurt, are you?..."
The bunny Pokemon looked up at its trainer weakly, smiling as it did so. "Sc-Scorbunny..."
However, it quickly flinched in pain once more.
"I can't take this anymore. Kabutops is too strong...We can't beat it..." Ash muttered as he took out Scorbunny's Pokeball and tapped it against the Fire-type Pokemon's head. "Return for now, buddy, and take a good rest..."
Ash's partner turned into energy and was collected back into the Pokeball, which was promptly put away. He then looked at Kabutops. It was absolutely insane! The fossil Pokemon looked like it still wanted to fight! "What are we going to do?..."
"Return, Geodude!" Brock exclaimed as he pointed his Pokeball to the Rock-type, allowing a red beam of energy to touch the Rock-types skin and collect it back into the Pokemon-capturing device. The former Gym Leader put it away and glared at Kabutops, who looked like it was ready to attack once more. "I don't know what it is...Maybe it's because Kabutops is a Rock-type, just like every other Fossil Pokemon, and I'm a Rock-type specialist, but...But I want, no, I NEED to help it! I need to save it from Team Rocket...And I'll do whatever it takes!"
"Damn it! I couldn't save those Team Rocket grunts...But I can save my friends and this Petrel guy! I have the opportunity, the chance!" Peter thought to himself angrily as he looked on at the destruction around him. "But I can't...If I just randomly disappeared and Spider-Man appeared while I was gone, everyone would put two and two together and know about my identity...I promised myself that I would do whatever it took to protect my identity, too..."
The secret superhero thought to himself for a bit, clutching his fists as he did so.
Petrel continued to run around like a scared little girl, however, a rock soon came crashing down from the ceiling, crushing him to death.
"AAAAGH!"
Sure, it was pretty gruesome, but it was also kind of comedic, in a way.
However, this had some pretty dangerous consequences.
Due to the way that the mind-control device was designed, it ensured that Kabutops would only listen to Petrel. It ensured that the fossil Pokemon would listen to no one but its master.
However, now that Petrel, the master, was dead...
Kabutops was completely out of control! It didn't even want to kill our heroes anymore, it just wanted to destroy everything in its path and sight!
"Kabu...TOOOOPS!" the Pokemon screamed at the top of its lungs, slashing randomly and accidentally hitting the walls in the process, speeding up the destruction of the cave.
This, unfortunately, caused Peter to come to a decision.
He wanted to save Kabutops, he really did, but now that the Pokemon was completely and utterly out of control...It was obvious that a sacrifice had to be made.
"Guys! This place is going down! We've gotta move NOW!" the secret superhero shouted to his friends before pointing to the right. "I think I see the exit over there! We've gotta hurry!"
Lillie immediately nodded upon hearing Peter's words. "Agreed!"
Ash, however, was reluctant to accept the idea. "But what about Kabutops?! Since Petrel's dead, it won't listen to anyone's commands anymore! And not only that, but if it stays here, it'll die! I think-"
"Ash," Peter interjected sternly, grabbing his friend's arm firmly. He was already disappointed in himself that he couldn't save the villains that had died, and he wasn't going to let his friends die on top of that. "I'm sorry...But there's nothing we can do! Kabutops is out of control right now. Would you rather die with it, or make it out of here alive? I know it sounds selfish, but right now, after seeing all of those deaths, I'm not in the mood to argue, Ash. Are you coming, or not?"
The raven-haired boy looked at Kabutops, and then back at Peter and Lillie. He then proceeded to think about Scorbunny, and how it was still hurt inside of its Pokeball.
Although he didn't like the idea of abandoning a Pokemon that couldn't control itself, he finally made a decision.
"Alright...I-I don't like the idea, but...Let's get out of here!" the wannabe Pokemon Master exclaimed.
And so, Ash, Peter, and Lillie all ran out of Mt. Moon using the exit, and just in time, too.
Immediately after they exited the crumbling cave, it proceeded to completely collapse, trapping everyone that was still inside with the beast known as Kabutops!
"Phew..." Peter sighed as he looked at the collapsed cave, before looking at the sky. "We made it out...That's a relief...But I kind of feel awful about leaving Kabutops in there...But still, it had to be done..."
"Yeah, imagine being brought back to life only to die just a few hours later," Lillie stated, shaking her head at the thought of the poor fossil Pokemon that was still in the cave. "Absolutely terrible..."
Ash solemnly nodded. He was the most hurt about leaving Kabutops in there. He loved Pokemon and, in his eyes, he felt responsible for the death of the creature known as Kabutops. Looking down at the ground, he quietly said "I can't believe it...I feel so bad about all of this...It never should have happened..."
After a brief pause, he continued.
"Kabutops was a Rock-type, right? Man, Brock, you must be hurt the most..." Ash muttered, addressing the former Gym Leader. "After all, you love Rock-types..."
…
However, after not hearing a response, everyone turned their heads to the side.
"Brock?" Ash asked, raising an eyebrow and looking around. "Where are you?..."
"N-Now that I think about it, I didn't see him leave Mt. Moon with us..." Lillie stated, remembering. "B-But then, that would mean..."
Peter, Ash, and Lillie all looked at each other in complete shock.
…
"BROCK'S STILL IN THE CAVE WITH KABUTOPS!" they all exclaimed in unison.
Brock coughed as he looked around. It was dark, and he was surrounded by rocks, due to the fact that the cave had collapsed. He pushed some rocks out of the way so that he could move. "Alright, good. They left. I know my friends mean the best, but right now, I need to be alone. I need to find Kabutops and save it!..."
The former Gym Leader looked around for a bit, before something caught his eye.
There was a small red dot, and it was blinking every now and then,
"That must be the mind-control device!..." Brock thought to himself as he made his way towards the small light, pushing past fallen rocks and, grossly enough, the fallen bodies of Team Rocket grunts. "If I can save Kabutops and then get out of here, that would be great!..."
Brock eventually made it to Kabutops. To his surprise, the intensely strong Pokemon was trapped under some rubble and couldn't get up. Due to the fact that its hands were massive scythes, it couldn't push itself up and, as such, was stuck.
"Kabu! Kabu! Kabu!" the Pokemon screeched as it desperately attempted to get up. While it was angry, Brock also noticed that it had many scars and bruises on its tough body.
"You're hurt," Brock stated as he got onto one knee and took off his backpack. "Don't worry, though. I'm a Pokemon Breeder in-training, and to be a Pokemon Breeder, you need to know how to treat hurt Pokemon!"
The former Gym Leader took out a Potion and pointed it at Kabutops' bruises. "Now hold still, this'll only hurt a little bit, and-"
However, before he could do anything, Kabutops sliced the Potion in half angrily, causing Brock to flinch. It seemed that, despite the fact that it was being crushed by all of the rocks on top of itself, the mind-control device was still making Kabutops act extremely violent!
If Brock wanted to save the fossil Pokemon before it inevitably got crushed to death, the Pokemon Breeder-in-training was going to have destroy the mind control machine first.
"Okay, so I need to break that thing on Kabutops' head, but how?" Brock thought to himself as he put his bag to the side. "There's too little space to send out Onix and Rhyhorn, and Geodude's currently out for the count..."
He then proceeded to smirk.
"I guess I'll just have to break it myself!"
Brock took out what appeared to be a rock-polisher, which he probably used to clean his Rock-type Pokemon's skin, and quickly got to work on bashing it into the machine that was strapped to Kabutops' head. He was very careful not to accidentally hurt Kabutops in the process.
"Kabu!...Kabu!..." the fossil Pokemon seethed as it attempted to lash at Brock.
"There, there, it's going to be okay," Brock stated, fighting the urge to wince in pain as Kabutops left some light scratches on his arm. "I just have to...There!"
Immediately, the control-device broke in half thanks to Brock's efforts, and it promptly fell to the ground.
"There you go, Kabutops!" Brock exclaimed with a grin. "You're free to be yourself again!"
Immediately, Kabutops' eyes turned back to normal, losing the red light that was present inside of them.
However, with this change came yet another, more shocking one.
The control-device was only making it seem like Kabutops was a violent Pokemon.
In reality, this particular member of the fossil Pokemon species...
Was actually very timid!
"K-Kabu-Tops?..." the Rock and Water-type whimpered, looking around fearfully at its surroundings. It did not recognize anything, and had no idea about what was going on! And not only, but the pain from the fact that it was being crushed by rocks, and the fact that its body was covered in bruises, began to kick in as well!
"Hey, hey, it's going to be all right. I'm not going to hurt you, I'm here to help," Brock stated as he took out another Potion and sprayed it onto Kabutops' bruises, healing them instantly. "Who knew such a gentle and timid Pokemon could become so aggressive so quickly?...Man, Team Rocket truly are the worst!..."
Noticing that Brock had healed its injuries, Kabutops felt a little safer around the former Gym Leader. "Kabu...Tops..."
"See? Your injuries are all better!" Brock happily exclaimed as he stood up and put on his backpack. He then looked at the large boulder on top of Kabutops, and rubbed his chin. "Now how are we going to get this thing off of you?...I guess I'll just have to push it off, then! It's a good thing that I'm actually pretty-"
However, before Brock could complete his sentence, Kabutops comedically got up to his feet and roared, causing the boulder to be sent flying away. This startled Brock, who was astonished by how quickly Kabutops was able to get on its feet.
"Kabu!" the Pokemon roared before looking down at Brock.
"W-Wow, that's...Great..." Brock stated as he looked up at the fossil Pokemon with a nervous grin. "I...I didn't actually think you'd be able to get that thing off of you...You're actually pretty strong!..."
Kabutops smiled and leaned its head down towards Brock happily. "Kabu, Kabu!"
"Hey, easy there!" Brock laughed as Kabutops nuzzled its large head into the side of his face. "You're really big, and I don't want to get crushed, haha!"
Kabutops gave a smile and a nod, before taking a step back. Brock smiled in return and petted the scary Pokemon's head, much to its amusement. "Huh, you're a good guy, aren't you, Kabutops?"
"Kabu-Top Kabu!" the Pokemon excitedly exclaimed in response, nodding its head up and down.
Brock's smile grew wider as he saw this. "Well, I'd love to continue to get to know you better, Kabutops, but right now, I think we've gotta get out of here. What do you think?"
The fossil Pokemon quickly nodded in response. "Top-Top."
The former Gym Leader looked at the exit of the cave, and frowned. "Hm...But the exit's blocked...I think we're gonna have to find another way out of here, and-"
However, before he could finish his sentence, Kabutops quickly used Aqua Jet and zoomed towards the exit of the cave. Brock was pretty worried that this would cause the entire structure to collapse, however, his worries seemed to be misplaced as the fossil Pokemon simply broke through the large wall of rocks, jumping outside of Mt. Moon. It also left a pretty large hole for Brock to exit through.
Peering inside, Kabutops smiled and gestured for Brock to follow it. "Top-Top!"
The former Gym Leader blinked twice before chuckling. "Man, what a Pokemon! Kabutops sure is funny, and strong too!"
And so, the two of them exited Mt. Moon, free from the clutches of the dark cave at last.
"Oh man, what do we do?!" Ash asked his friends worriedly. "Brock's still stuck in the cave, and there's absolutely no way out!"
"Not to mention that Kabutops is still in there too!" Lillie added, fearful for her friend's life as well. "Kabutops is still under Team Rocket's control, too...This is really bad..."
"Yeah, uh, I think you guys should go tell the authorities," Peter stated as he attempted to make up an excuse so that he could secretly change into his Spider-Man costume and rescue the former Gym Leader. "I'll, uh, go and see if I can help Brock, you know?"
Scorbunny raised an eyebrow at Peter's suspicious behavior, but decided to shrug it off anyways. "Scor-Bun..."
However, while the friends were all in panic mode, they failed to notice a human and a Pokemon making their way towards them.
Once near enough, the human called out to them.
"Hey guys!"
Ash, Peter, and Lillie all turned their heads to the side to look at Brock, who was grinning at them while the shy Kabutops stood behind him, since it was afraid of making new friends.
"Not now, Brock!" Peter exclaimed as he turned his head back to Peter and Lillie. "Brock's still trapped in Mt. Moon, and-"
However, the secret superhero quickly did a double-take, and his jaw dropped. "W-Woah! Brock, is that you?! How'd you get out of Mt. Moon?! We thought you were dead for sure!..."
"And how'd you remove the mind-control device from Kabutops' head?" Lillie asked, pointing out that the strange metal device was missing. "Oh, and is Kabutops friendly now that its been removed? Its standing awfully close to you...I have so many questions..."
Brock chuckled and stroked the fossil Pokemon's head, giving it much satisfaction. "Hehe, yeah. Sorry for scaring you guys like that. Kabutops here was only acting violently because of the way that Team Rocket was controlling it. Its actually really shy, but kind. As for how I got out of there, well, let's just say that although Kabutops is shy, its really strong! It used Aqua Jet and allowed us to break out of there, haha!"
Everyone nodded, smiles on their faces. Wow! Brock sure had bonded with the fossil Pokemon!
"So that means you're gonna catch it now, right?" Ash asked the former Gym Leader, grinning. "I honestly think that Kabutops suits you, Brock, and it'd be really mean to just bond with a Pokemon and not catch it!"
This caught Brock off-guard, and he looked up at the fossil Pokemon. "I-I never thought about that...Me and Kabutops...Travelling together?..."
"Kabu! Kabu!" the fossil Pokemon exclaimed as it grinned and nuzzled its head into Brock's neck, causing him to laugh.
"Alright, alright! Hahaha! Calm down, Kabutops!" Brock laughed as he managed to pull away from the fossil Pokemon, before taking out an empty Pokeball and aiming it steadily. "Don't move, now. I'm gonna try and catch you!"
Kabutops nodded.
Brock threw the Pokemon-capturing device at Kabutops and, as it touched the fossil Pokemon's skin, Kabutops got sucked inside of the device.
Landing onto the ground, the device wiggled three times, before three stars came out of it, signifying that the capture was successful.
The former Gym Leader had successfully added a new member to his team!
"Welcome to the team, Kabutops!" Brock happily stated, smiling at the Pokeball as he walked over to it and picked it up. "I hope we can be the best of friends!..."
"Congratulations, Brock!" Peter exclaimed as he walked over to his friend with a smile. "You and Kabutops are a great match."
Brock nodded in response. "Thanks, Peter."
"Oh, and while I'm still here, sorry for not listening to you back there," Peter apologized, scratching the back of his neck nervously. "It was kind of obvious that it was a trap, but I still fell for it because of my obsession with science, haha...I hope you can forgive me, man..."
"No hard feelings here," Brock smiled in response as he attached the Pokeball to his waist. "I'd probably react the same way if there was a cute girl involved, hahaha!"
The secret superhero nodded with a smile in response and was about to speak up when, suddenly, he was cut off by Ash.
"Come on guys! The more time we waste here, the more time it'll take for me to get my second badge!" the impatient Pokemon trainer exclaimed before turning around and dashing. "Let's go!"
All of the friends looked at each other and laughed.
Ash was acting like his normal, usual self. How unsurprising!
…
And so, our heroes continued their journey towards Cerulean City in high-spirits, unaware of the evil that had spied on them just a few moments prior...
All of the Rocket Executives that were seated around the table knew and saw what had happened.
Petrel had failed spectacularly. Not only did he not use his disguises to his advantage, but he also got himself and a bunch of grunts killed. Yikes.
And, to top it all off, some BRAT had just ran off with their Fossil Pokemon.
Saying that the Team Rocket Leader was in a bad mood would be an understatement.
"That dirty son of a..." the angry man muttered to himself, sulking in his chair. "I can't believe this...My own goddamn Rocket Executive...If he was alive I would kill him!...So much money down the drain, and wasted because of those goddamn KIDS!... If I ever see them again in my life...I will DESTROY them..."
The other Rocket Executives, with no exceptions whatsoever, all immediately stood up and exited the room upon hearing their boss mutter angrily to himself. They knew that when their leader was angry, it was best to just leave him alone to cool off. If they didn't, well, they'd probably end up getting on his bad side, which would in turn cause them to get executed.
Norman Osborn, however, didn't care about that, though.
As he walked through the hallways of the Rocket Hideout, he pulled out his Rotom-Phone, which was green, and began swiping through it. He eventually reached an app which seemed to be a map of the Kanto Region.
It was edited, however. Viridian City and Pewter City both had a big, red 'X' on them.
"Using my genius level intellect, I've calculated PRECISELY where I will attack Spider-Man next," the orange-haired businessman madly thought to himself as he circled Route 5 using his finger. "Only THEN can I get revenge on him for all of the humiliation he's put me through!...I guess I'll just lay low for a while, probably until-"
Suddenly, however, someone grabbed the phone from his hands.
"Oooo! What're YOU looking at, Gobby?"
"HEY!" Norman growled as he saw who had taken it from him. "Give that back, right this INSTANT!"
"Or what?" the teal-haired Rocket Executive who had taken it from him asked as he tossed the phone from one hand to the other, smirking. "You're gonna put on your Goblin mask and chase me around with your stupid pumpkin-bombs? Grow up, Osborn. It's not Halloween. Maybe you should start using Pokemon like the rest of us, too. Maybe THAT'S why you fail on your missions so much!"
"Proton!..." Norman seethed, name-dropping the final Executive of Team Rocket. "Give me back my phone before I rip your head off!..."
"Fine, sure, whatever," Proton replied as he turned around and threw the phone at Norman, who easily caught it. He then proceeded to walk away, smirking to himself. "You've clearly got an unhealthy obsession with killing Spider-Man. And you know what? You do you, man. I'M going to track down those kids who caused us trouble today, and I'm going to make them pay for humiliating Team Rocket. Just thought I'd let you know since I view you as my rival in the Team Rocket ranks. Later!"
Norman scowled as he watched the man known as Proton walk away. "That damn Proton...I hate him with a passion...Always one step ahead of me in everything...But who cares? He can chase those brats. I'm going to find the true threat: Spider-Man! And when I find him...I'm gonna make him wish he was never, EVER born! HAHAHAHAHA!"
Q: Is Misty going to join the group like in the anime?
A: No, but she will be a very important character when the gang makes it to Cerulean City.
With most chapters, I usually just write everything down, proof-read it, and then upload it. This one, however, was not so simple. I had multiple scrapped ideas, like making Mt. Moon be a two-parter so that I could flesh out Petrel's backstory a bit more, giving Brock an Aerodactyl instead of a Kabutops, and one of my old ideas even included throwing Doctor Octopus in there!
However, I ultimately decided on writing the story like this, and I think its acceptable.
Since I had to rewrite it so many times, however, it ended up taking a while, so I apologize for that.
Side note: The whole 'Master of Disguise' thing that was briefly touched on by Petrel was a reference to the Pokemon Adventures Manga, where he had a similar ability.
Anyways, that's all, folks.
Until next time!