A sleep in the Navy Town Pokemon Center had both been more and less luxurious than our heroes had anticipated. The sheets were certainly a higher grade than usual, but-
"You're telling me in this expensive freakin' town, they don't have a fancy breakfast buffet?!" Ash complained, slamming his now empty cup of orange juice on the table.
Dawn rolled her eyes, chewing on a donut.
Brock only shrugged. "They've got lots of creamers. It's rare that I get peppermint coffee," he said as he nursed his mug with a bit more of said flavor.
"That's your problem! You don't need a fancy breakfast. Take me, for example! A bowl of cereal is a very balanced breakfast!" Misty ate another spoonful as if to prove a point.
"What are you, and old woman?! I'm not gonna eat some high fiber nonsense for breakfast! I want waffles with whipped cream and syrup!" Ash shot back. "Dawn, you're just donuts, you should be in on this with me!"
"What? Hey! Don't call me out! I eat what I want!"
"Then, support me with the waffles!"
"I mean, waffles would be nice, but donuts are okay!"
"They're not as good as waffles!"
"Hey," Brock interrupted, "keep it down." He pointed towards the television, where a young anchorwoman was speaking live from Cerulean City.
Misty dropped her spoon. "The power's out." Her eyes widened. "Oh… Oh, crap, the gym! We've gotta have heated tanks, the water pokemon…! Some of them are tropical…!"
Without hesitation, Ash put his hat back on. "Pikachu! We're cutting breakfast short, buddy."
Dawn nodded, standing up and slinging her bag on her shoulders. "Empoleon! We'll have to train after this."
"So, we all know without saying that we're going with Misty?" Brock asked, wiping his mouth and standing.
"Yes!"
Misty, touched but not surprised, smiled. "You guys are great. Alright! I know there's a train from here to Saffron; if we take it, it'll only take us about two and a half hours to reach Cerulean in all! We'll be there before lunch!"
"Let's go, then!"
"Pikachu, you and me'll share a seat on the train, okay?"
"I hate this is how we do it, but it'll be nice to see Misty's gym again, huh, Empoleon?"
As soon as they set foot in Cerulean City, the situation was clear. Store owners were desperately trying to sell temperature sensitive goods at a discounted price. People wandered the streets, desperate for something to do now that their daily lives were interrupted. Misty, however, was not wandering. She was headed straight for her gym. The only thing between her and it was a police blockade.
"Hold it right there!" the officer Jenny began. She stopped as soon as she recognized Misty, putting her megaphone down. "Hey, you're the gym leader." She looked behind Misty. "Are they with you?"
"Yeah. So, please, get out of my way." Pushy due to worry, Misty hurled the police barriers, rushing inside.
Her friends followed, a bit more patient with weaving between barriers before they caught up. Inside, they were greeted by the sight of Daisy, Violet, and Lily crowding Misty.
"It's awful!"
"The boiler won't work!"
"Cloyster can keep the tanks cool, but no one can keep them warm!"
"Blaine's too far away to come help before there's trouble, and he doesn't even have a phone at his gym!"
Misty, however, was level headed. She looked back at Ash and Dawn. "I know you both have fire type pokemon," she said seriously, "so, please… Help us out."
Ash and Dawn exchanged a look.
"Well… Typhlosion could help? I don't know if Houndoom could keep a whole tank heated."
"Don't worry," Ash assured her. "I know someone who will. … Even if he'll hate it." Ash released Charizard, earning a squawk of exasperation from Empoleon. There was only room for one prideful pokemon in this gym!
The fire type looked the gym over, jaw clenching. Navy City had been more interesting than this. What was Ash up to, taking him to a gym they'd already defeated?
"Hey, hey, don't gimme that look," Ash started. "Our friend Misty needs our help."
Charizard tilted his head, as if asking how he was supposed to help.
"Pi! Pika Pika!" Pikachu explained, jumping to land on Charizard's shoulder.
The dragon considered Pikachu's words. That sounded an awful lot like grunt labor, which was infinitely beneath him. He cast a sidelong glance at Misty, recalling all she had done for himself and Ash throughout the years. He squinted. If it was for her… Maybe.
Brock, sensing that Charizard was on the precipice of agreeing, spoke up. "You know Charizard," he began, crossing his arms and looking haughty, "if you help, the kitchen'll work here. If the kitchen works here, I'll be able to cook. If I'm able to cook, well… I'm certainly not against taking requests for some of my super special pokechow. I still remember the recipe you like."
A twitch of the dragon's tail that might have become a wag was all the tell Ash needed.
"Yes! Thanks Charizard! You just need to make sure the boiler fire doesn't go out! The girls won't ask you for anything else!"
The Sensational Sisters let out cheers of glee. "Thank you, Charizard!" "You're so totally cool!" "Mega ultra cool!"
Needless to say, the dragon basked in their praise.
With that settled, Misty let out a sigh of relief. Finally, she could focus on the root cause of the problem. "Say, Daisy, what's caused all this anyways."
Daisy shrugged. "Do I look like Tracey to you? All I know is when I went downstairs to go check on things, this old rusty power box was sparking like crazy. They always said to not mess with electricity, so I left that alone!"
Misty tilted her head, thinking about it. "Power box…? Our power box isn't down stairs! I'm gonna go check that out."
"Hold on, we'll come with you! Charizard needs to see the boiler, anyways," Ash said.
Brock and Dawn remained above ground, figuring it'd already be a tight enough fit with Charizard down there.
While Ash made sure Charizard only ignited the boiler fire rather than setting the building on fire, Pikachu joined Misty over by the power box.
"Ugh… That doesn't make any sense! We haven't used this box in years! Heck, I think I was still in diapers the last time we opened this thing! Yeah, 'cause I tried to check on it about two years ago, and it was rusted shut! So… Whatever surge took out the power blew this thing wide open!" Misty muttered.
"Pi-ka," Pikachu answered.
"Yeah… It definitely isn't good. Wonder why Daisy didn't tell the police." Knowing her sister, though, she hadn't thought it a priority. "Oh well… Hey, Pikachu, you can sense electricity, right?"
"Chu!"
"Well, would you mind seeing where this leads? If we can find out what powerlines are messing up, we might be able to help everyone find a solution."
"Pika!"
Happy to oblige, Pikachu put a tail to the wall near the power box. He followed along the source of power, tilting his ears when he realized it would take him up stairs and outside the building. He quickly ran up the steps and out of the basement.
"Hey, wait up!"
"Misty? Where are you and Pikachu going? Hey! Hey! Slow down!" Ash left Charizard behind to run after them.
Outside, on the gym lawn, Misty stared up at the power pole that Pikachu had spotted. It was lonely, facing away from town and northward. Furthermore, the gym leader reached down, picking up the leaves and vines which suddenly littered the ground here.
"... They're fried."
Brock, who had come outside along with Dawn, let out a disapproving grunt. "That means they were on the pole until it went live." He looked where the lines led. "... Hey, weren't these a part of the old power plant's supply? They were all supposed to get taken down."
"Yeah, well, the Fuchsia City gym was supposed to get rid of their booby traps last year, but I'll bet it'll be on the league agenda again for them to do that," Misty retorted.
"So, something's going on at the old power plant, then," Ash concluded. "We should go check it out."
Misty nodded. "My sisters have things covered here, so I'm coming with."
Brock checked his medical supplies. "Electivire are known to do wild things when they're hurt. We may be dealing with an injured pokemon. I'm coming, too."
"Well, don't count me and Empoleon out, either!"
After briefly stopping to let the Sensational Sisters know they were heading off, our heroes roamed northward towards the power plant. The closer they got, the more the air crackled with electric energy. As soon as they could see the building, they knew something was off, and it wasn't just because one or two lights would flash on occasion.
Empoleon was getting the worst of it, but the humans' hairs were standing on end and Pikachu's ears and tail couldn't stay down.
"Empo…!" he whined, crackles of electricity rolling off his body. Being water and steel typed, this was absolutely unbearable for him.
Dawn touched him, but recoiled as soon as she was zapped. "Ouch! Aw, buddy, I'm so sorry! Empoleon, why don't you have a rest in your pokeball until this is finished?" With him put away, she looked towards her friends. "... This isn't gonna be good, is it?"
Brock sighed. "I'm afraid not… Whatever's going on is bigger than one Electivire. They can't do…" He waved his hands, causing a few sparks from just the friction in the air. "This."
As the group was about to clear the treeline, Ash held a hand back.
"Shit."
"Language," Brock gently chided, until he saw what Ash said it for. "Nevermind."
Before the entrance to the power plant was a small squadron of Team Rocket grunts. While Misty and Brock quietly tried to discuss what to do about them and how serious this made the situation, Dawn immediately yanked Ash and thus Pikachu back. The three shared a series of wide eyed looks.
This didn't go unnoticed by their other friends.
"... We can go back, if you want," Brock offered.
Misty nodded. "Reinforcements might be good."
Dawn shook her head. "Whatever's going on will only get worse if we wait." She looked at Ash. "... You decide, though. I won't… We won't…"
"I know what you mean," Ash answered. He looked to the ground, fist balled. "... Gonna be really honest. My stomach's in knots. But… Whatever's going on in there's hurting pokemon, maybe more than we know. I can't let that happen. Besides, what're they gonna do? Put another hit out on us?"
"That's not funny!" Dawn snapped. "They really might!"
Ash took his hat off, hiding his face with it a bit. "... Right. Right. Sorry, Dawn. We can't just let this happen, though."
"You're right," she agreed. "But, listen… We can do this safely. I'm not going to lose you again."
"You won't," Ash promised. He noticed the light shuddering in Pikachu's paws on his shoulder. "Buddy? You okay?"
Up until then, Pikachu had stoicly been looking ahead, tail and ears kept erect only thanks to the mysterious charge in the air. Now, however, when asked, he caved. His paws came up to his face and he quietly cried into Ash's jacket collar. "Pi…! Pika! Pikapi Pikaaa!" He didn't want to be afraid and he definitely wanted to help, but even seeing the red R of their uniforms made him want to run away.
Ash immediately held Pikachu, comforting him.
"Pikachu isn't going," Misty said. "I'm not gonna make him cry."
"He's not staying here by himself!" Ash snapped. "... I can't make him come, either; I won't."
"It's probably safest for everyone if he doesn't," Brock added.
Against all these voices saying no, Pikachu relented. He reached up, licking Ash's cheek apologetically. "Pikapi…"
"Hey," Ash insisted, "your job right now is focus on feeling better, okay?" Ash looked to Dawn. "Do you have Togekiss with you? She's slow, and she looks like a cloud from the right angle. If she takes Pikachu back, I know he'll make it safe."
Dawn walked back into the woods a bit with Ash after nodding, releasing the fairy. She kneeled down to speak to her.
"Okay, Togekiss. Please take Pikachu back safely to Cerulean City. Stay there with Charizard. You'll be safe until I get to you, okay?"
"Toge!"
Pikachu hopped on Togekiss's back. Before they took off, Ash held Pikachu's paws.
"You be safe, buddy."
"Pikapi, Pikachu."
With their well wishes said, Togekiss took off, climbing slowly into the air to disguise herself as a cloud, and then quickly gliding off. Ash watched them until he couldn't tell what was cloud and what was Togekiss, and then until he was sure what might have been Togekiss moved too far away for him to see through the trees.
"Rosa, I choose you."
Dawn gave him a questioning look, but didn't say anything.
The Aura pokemon appeared. ~What's up, Papa?~ Then, she hesitated. Ash and Dawn didn't look happy. ~...Papa?~
"Rosa, I'm gonna be straight with you." Ash reached to place a hand on her shoulder. "We found another messy situation, here." He frowned when the pokemon tensed. "I know… I'm sorry for springing these things on you. The Game Corner, Silph Co, and then my rescue…. I'm sorry, Rosa. You shouldn't have to deal with these things, so often. None of us should, but… Especially you. I didn't prepare you for this."
Physically, he had. Emotionally was a whole other matter.
"So, as much as I'd appreciate your help, I'm not going to push you into another one of these things. I remember you had a rough time sleeping, not too long ago… I don't wanna do that to you again. Whether you wanna get involved is your choice entirely, alright?"
Rosa held a paw to her chest. Her lip trembled. ~I-I'unno… I'm scared…~
"That's fine," Ash assured. He knelt down to her level. "The rest of us'll-"
Rosa dove into his arms. ~I'm scared you'll get hurt again!~ She clung to the teen's red jacket, tears staining her fur. ~When you were in trouble, I-I evolved…! I had to! 'N then you got snatched away from us… Y'looked so beat up! I was so worried!~ She was pounding a fist against her trainer's chest. ~What'm I gonna do when you really get hurt, huh!?~
Ash swallowed his guilt, gently stroking her back. Dawn watched, a closed hand held to her chest.
"I…." Ash reached to rub his own eyes. "I won't…! No one will!"
His usual confident gaze only erred towards the grass. That was a tough promise to make, these days.
The Lucario sniffled, wiping tears from her puffy eyes. She pulled back to look up at Ash. ~I dun…. Dun mind punchin' bad guys… But, losin' any of you gets me bad! Especially you, Papa.~
Ash gently scratched behind her ears. Whenever he opened his mouth, he was admittedly at a loss for words.
"We'll be here with you," Dawn reminded her, placing a gentle hand on her back. "Like always."
"And, you've got us, now." Brock had finally joined the scene, and Misty with him.
"Yeah, you don't have to worry," Misty chimed in. "We're used to saving Ash's butt when he does stupid things!"
Ash lacked the usual urge to bicker. He laughed, instead. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
Misty, Dawn, and Brock laughed with him.
"Don't get mad at me for telling the truth," Misty winked.
"Much as I don't wanna admit it, she's got a point." Ash rubbed his eyes with a glove, looking back to the Aura pokemon before him. "It's pretty much a tradition."
Rosa sniffled. ~If you're all here… Okay. I'll come along. But, only if I stick by your side the entire time, Papa!~ She held one of Ash's hands with both paws, wide, ruby eyes set on his. ~And, promise this'll all stop, soon?~
"I…" Ash opened his mouth, only to find his throat dry. This felt like a big punch in the gut. Could he even answer that properly?
Misty rested a hand on Rosa's shoulder. "I'll promise for him. Anything else that pops up after this, I'll take on my own! I'll make Ash stay behind, if I have to." She gave a smirk Ash's way, turning back to the pokemon with a more genuine smile. "He'll be resting this off, like he should be."
"I'll double down on that," Brock volunteered. "You all've done plenty for Kanto, lately, already. We'll pick up the slack, if we have to."
Ash's lip trembled. On impulse, he yanked Brock and Misty into a hug. "You guys…!" He swallowed. No use staining their outfits with tears. "...I owe you one."
Dawn brushed a bang from her face with a smile. It was no wonder Ash thought of them so highly. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that at all… Because we'll shut them down, here! No need to worry!"A thumbs-up was flashed to the group.
Ash opened his mouth instinctively. "That's when I…" He looked to Rosa, and pulled back from his friends. He shook his head. "Right. No need to worry!" He held a hand out to Rosa. "Rose, you've got yourself a deal."
She grabbed Ash's hand with both paws, frantically shaking it. ~It's a deal, Papa!~
The mood had lightened, for a moment, at least. Brock looked towards the Power Plant. "Then, that leaves us to figure out how we're going to get in, undetected. Beating them should be easy, but we're better off not attracting too much attention."
"No need to worry," Dawn repeated, unclipping a pokeball from her belt. "Houndoom, spotlight!"
"Hou!" the dog barked, wagging his tail and brushing his horns against Dawn's side.
"Ssh, buddy. It's good to see you, too." She looked to her friends. "Houndoom knows Smog. We're going to use that to knock out the grunts. Once we do that, we can sneak in. I'll change into a grunt uniform and look for what's going on. I can see them using walkie talkies, so we'll find a channel that isn't in use to keep in touch. Since Houndoom looks like a pokemon Team Rocket would have, no one's going to suspect a thing!"
Ash gave Dawn a look. "Are you sure that's a good idea? You've done that before."
"You've done this before?" Brock echoed, shocked. "Dawn, it's way too dangerous to split up!"
"Well, do any of you have any pokemon that can pass? Misty, your orange hair is a big give. Brock, you and Ash stand out too much. If I put my hair up in a hat, I can walk around unnoticed with the cap covering my eyes."
No one had an argument. As much as they weren't crazy about the idea, they could only nod. It was their quietest bet for getting more information.
Smiling at them, Dawn shrugged off her pink jacket, tucking it into her bag. She motioned for Houndoom to head towards the grunts from the side with her, trying to flank them.
Ash watched tensely as Dawn disappeared into the woods. Misty quietly released Starmie, ready to come running if Dawn needed help. Brock, lacking anything as small and as quiet as the others for this situation, remained vigilant, though his jaw was clearly clenched.
Soon, they got their signal. At first, it was like a thin haze, too loose for the grunts to notice. By the time they began coughing, the Smog was thick and purple. Dawn and Houndoom stepped out of the woods, still pouring on the fumes. Dawn had her jacket over her nose, blocking out the noxious gas. As soon as the last grunt quietly passed out, she gave a thumbs up to her friends.
Rosa was the first to approach, having performed a raid at Dawn's side before. ~Good job!~ she praised. ~No one noticed! We're safe!~
Dawn patted the top of the jackal's head. "Mmhm! Thanks for trusting me again, Rosa."
She wagged her tail. ~Always!~
Brock knelt down, gathering the walkie talkies. "One for you, one for you, one for you, and one for me. There, all four of us have one. Rosa's staying with Ash, right?"
"Right," Ash agreed. He watched as Dawn slipped on the grunt's uniform over her regular clothes. He was a lot bigger than her, meaning the bottom of his shirt passed as a skirt on her. "Where should we go while you're scouting?"
Misty spoke up instead. "We shouldn't linger near the door."
"There's a basement," Brock suggested. "That's where the control panels were. At the very least, let's try shutting down the power here. That should solve things back in Cerulean City, right? We might be able to call for backup from down there, too."
"There! While you guys check out the basement, I'll blend in with the grunts and see what I can learn."
Recalling what happened the last time they got split up, Ash hesitated. "Dawn…"
She smiled at him. "I'll come back for you no matter what, okay?"
He nodded, smiling at her in turn. He knew she meant it. "Okay."
With that, the group headed inside.
The path down to the basement was thankfully quiet. The entrance only led in two directions; stairs headed down to the basement were where Brock, Misty, and Ash headed while Dawn began walking down the corridor to seek out grunts to spy among.
"If we finish this early, I'll try dressing up to go after Dawn," Misty suggested as they turned the last corner.
Ash shook his head. "Me and Rosa'll go after her. We'll be able to sense… where… Oh. Fu-"
"You!"
Our heroes looked in horror at the mass of backlit Team Rocket members standing before control panels, the callow yellow light from the power displays giving them all a ghastly glow. Particularly, Archer, who was seated on the only cushioned chair in the room, glowed a devilish blue thanks to the blinking display next to him. He stood upon seeing the teens, though.
"What absolute luck!" he said, sounding anything but glad. "I thought I got shafted; I'm only watching to make sure the power stays on in the plant, after all. But, look, LOOK! The brat with the bounty on his head walks in!" He laughed. "You're so stupid."
Brock reacted first, withdrawing a pokeball and facing it forward. "Steelix, come on out!"
"They know we're here!" Ash yelped.
Misty quickly ripped her walkie talkie off her pants, bringing it to her face. "Dawn! Dawn, come in! Our cover's blown! Meet back up with us!"
"It's no good! If anyone hears that, she's done for! I'll hold these guys off! Ash, Misty, go find what the problem is and meet back up with Dawn!" The former gym leader put a hand on Steelix's head. Right now, the snake blocked off the room at the end of the basement hall, temporarily holding off the grunts. Brock could already tell by his expression they'd need to turn around and battle soon. No doubt a horde of Zubats and Rattata were chipping away at the snake's hide.
"What about you, Brock?!" Ash asked.
The eldest child of the Pewter Gym looked solemnly at Ash. "Worse come to worse, I'll have Steelix Dig us out of here. Don't worry, we won't get taken. But, I'm going to hold them off so we won't have to retreat. So, hurry. I'm a little rusty; I guess it's a good thing we had a chance to brush up in Navy City."
Misty hesitated, stubborn pride and her care for her friend both telling her to stay and fight. However, she could tell he meant it. He could handle himself, right? Furthermore, Rosa's expression made it clear she wanted to go check up on Dawn.
"... You better not make me drag you out of here!" Misty snapped before she turned and ran up the stairs. Ash and Rosa followed after, throwing Brock concerned looks.
Brock let out a deep sigh, rubbing under Steelix's chin. "Alright, big guy. We talked about horde battles in Kalos, what, a month ago? We said we wanted to go visit the pretty girls there. So… Let's get some practice in." As Steelix moved, ready to face the mass of pokemon, Brock stomped a foot, throwing his hand out. "Use Dragonbreath!"
