The Boy From Viridian Forest
Chapter Two
"Thundershock!" shouted Yokiro. Battery used Thundershock on Geodude.
"Ha!" laughed Brock. "Electric attacks have no effect on Rock Pokemon!" Boy, was he wrong. Battery was so powerful that he fried Geodude. It took 50-something seconds, but Geodude ended up as black as coal. He fainted.
"Geodude is unable to fight!" cried the announcer. "Pikachu is the winner!" But Battery was tired too. He sat down on the floor, his eyes closing. He rocked back and forth. Yokiro gritted his teeth and thought, hang in there, Battery! You can make it. But Battery fell down onto the floor without even a thud.
"In a spectacular display of the almost impossible," continued the announcer, "This Pikachu has defeated a strong Rock-type Pokemon with one Thundershock! As you know, Electric attacks will usually have no effect on Rock-types. Rock does not conduct electricity. But if you have a powerful enough Pokemon, the electricity can be powerful enough to fry a Rock Pokemon. Unfortunately for both Pokemon and Trainer, though, doing this can exhaust the Pokemon to the point of fainting. What Pokemon will our challenger use next?" Yokiro returned Battery and took out Memory Card.
"Memory Card, don't Selfdestruct! Even if you can revive yourself quickly, it'll be too late! Use something else. I'll just watch unless I can think of something for you to use."
Memory Card said, "Electrode!" Yokiro assumed, or rather, hoped, that that meant, "okay". The battle went on for a while and Memory Card was winning nicely. Then he got bored. Yokiro knew he was about to use Selfdestruct.
"No!" he shouted. "I said, DON'T USE SELFDESTRUCT!" Too late. Memory Card exploded. Geodude collapsed, tried to stand up, and fainted. Brock returned him and used Onix.
"Geodude is unable to battle! So is Electrode! And those are all the Pokemon our challenger has! Pikachu and Electrode! It looks like Brock has won, because he still has Onix! But wait. . .Electrode is getting up! Can it be? He has awakened quickly! The battle continues!"
Meanwhile, inside his Pokeball, Battery was waking up too. He sat up and groaned. Then he remembered he was in a battle with Brock! If Memory Card had Selfdestructed, then the battle would be lost! But maybe there was still time! He exited his Pokeball quickly and looked around. Memory Card was still on the field. Battery leaned on Yokiro's foot and watched.
"Swift!" called Yokiro. Electrode used Swift. Onix was knocked down.
"Tackle him while he's down!" shouted Yokiro. Electrode complied. Onix stood up but started rocking back and forth.
"Again!" shouted Yokiro. "Swift!" Electrode used Swift and Yokiro ordered him to use Light Screen. Onix roared and fell to the ground, blinded.
"Don't get lazy!" yelled Yokiro. "He can still attack! Tackle, Memory Card!" Onix stopped moving. Yokiro watched. After a few seconds, Onix stirred. He got up completely and roared again. Yokiro looked down and saw little Battery standing next to him.
"Memory Card, return!" he shouted. Then, he whispered to Battery, "Are you strong enough yet?" The little Pikachu nodded determinedly.
"Pika!" he said.
"Go, Battery!" bellowed Yokiro. Battery ran onto the field and used Quick Attack. Onix collapsed and stopped moving again. Battery waited.
Presently, the announcer shouted, "Onix is unable to battle! Pikachu-- " But Onix wasn't finished yet. He stood up, his eyes half-closed and staring at little Battery. Battery looked nervous. Onix slowly lumbered around and moved his head close to Battery's. He stared him in the face for a long while. Then, he blew. Battery went tumbling backward. He fell down and then stood up. Onix made a sound that sounded like a snort.
"Quick Attack!" said Yokiro. "He's weak! We're going to win!" Battery used Quick Attack. Onix's great head fell on the floor and he fainted. The audience cheered. Yokiro grinned.
"Good job, Battery, Memory Card," he congratulated his Pokemon. The announcer started talking, but Yokiro ignored him. He was very annoying. Yokiro wondered who invented announcers, anyway!
Brock walked over to him and nodded. He wasn't smiling. He thrust out his hand, and in it was the Boulder Badge. Yokiro forced a smile and took the badge and a TM that Brock also gave him. Not that he would be using it. He only used electric Pokemon. He walked out of the Gym.
Once outside, he headed to the Pokemart so that he could sell the TM to the man there. The man greeted Yokiro and asked how he could help him. Yokiro snorted. As if the clerks ever said anything else. He walked to the counter, trying to look strict. He knew that if he let the clerk decide how much he wanted to pay, he would be ripped off, so he didn't give him the chance. He stated his price and waited.
"No," said the clerk bluntly after three boring minutes of waiting. "I won't buy it for more than 400¶." (I can't find the symbol they use in the game to show money, so I'm using this.) Yokiro knew that he wouldn't get anywhere by trying to negotiate.
"Fine. I'll go sell it to an intelligent person, then," was all Yokiro said, and he started out of the door.
"Wait!" shouted the shopkeeper. "I'll but it! Just a little less, though! Say--" but Yokiro cut him off.
"I don't think so. Your manipulative skills aren't as good as you think they are. My price is 550¶. Take it or leave it. You do want this TM, don't you?" Yokiro didn't like the shopkeepers. Any of them. They were stupid, cheating losers. He took delight in annoying them. The shopkeepers face was turning red now.
"Fine then!" he spat angrily. "Take your stupid money, give me the product and GET OUT! Out, I say! Get out of my shop! I never want to see you again! OUT!" The shopkeeper had stood up and walked over to Yokiro. He grabbed the TM out of Yokiro's hands and threw the money onto the ground at his feet. Yokiro calmly picked up the money.
"No, I don't think I'll go yet. I have some things I need to buy first. Hmmm. . ." He walked around the shop for a while, pretending to be interested in the merchandise on the shelves. Finally, he decided to buy two Potions, an Escape Rope, and a Max Revive. He took the Potions and Escape Rope off of the shelves and bought them.
"You wouldn't happen to have a Max Revive, would you?" Yokiro asked. "I really need one," he added. He knew the shopkeeper wouldn't have any, but he wanted to make him angrier.
"No, I wouldn't have that. I'll order it and it'll be here in. . ." He typed something on his computer. Then he turned back to Yokiro.
"A week. Week too long for you?" he asked.
"Actually, I needed it today," said Yokiro in a long-suffering voice. "I suppose that wouldn't be possible though, will it?" The shopkeeper's face was even redder than before now.
"Well," he said, trying to keep his voice from shaking with rage, "I could make it a special order and it would be here in a matter of minutes, if that wouldn't be too long."
"That sounds good!" said Yokiro in a feigned cheerful voice. The shopkeeper was about to explode. He scribbled something in pencil on a piece of paper. The pencil point broke. The shopkeeper said a word I can't repeat, and snapped the pencil in half with his fingers. He threw it at the wall at the opposite end of the shop and grabbed a pen. He continued his scribbling, and then scanned it on his computer. He typed a few keys, and then clicked the mouse. The computer made a long beeping sound, and the shopkeeper turned to Yokiro.
"It'll be here in a few minutes," he said. "Happy now?" he asked. Yokiro nodded and took out his laptop. It took him only a few minutes to hack into the shop's computer. He changed all of the prices of the items to ridiculously low prices, like 5¶, 10¶, 4¶, and 6¶. He chuckled to himself. He was setting up the shopkeeper's computer so that it wouldn't make him any profit right under the stupid man's nose! But he also set it not to occur until 10:00 that night, so that Yokiro wouldn't be present. He would probably be breaking in to Giovanni's place by then. He jumped.
He still had to round up a few of his friends and get to Viridian Forest! He looked at his watch. He had ten minutes before he had to meet Nathan. He logged on to his instant messenger service and sent out messages to some of his friends, including one that had once worked for Team Rocket because Giovanni had used Mewtwo's psychic powers to force him to.
15 minutes later, Yokiro and six others were running to Viridian Forest. When they got there, Yokiro called Nathan's name. There was no response. He walked farther into the Forest and called again. This time, there was a rustling in the trees and Nathan, along with Bulbasaur and Treecko, fell out of the canopy of trees and landed in front of Yokiro, who was in the lead.
"Hello, Yokiro," said Nathan, smiling slightly. "Is this our break in party?"
"Bulbasaur!" said Bulbasaur, jumping on Nathan's head.
"Yes," said Yokiro. He pointed to a tall blond boy who was holding a green Pokeball tightly.
"This is Mark. And these are George, Jordan, Roy, the other George, and Jamie." Yokiro pointed to each person as he said his name. George had brown hair and was pale. He was shivering a lot and he coughed. He had dark brown eyes. Roy looked exactly the same, except he was a little less pale and wasn't coughing or shivering. Jordan had dark brown hair and serious dark green eyes. He was strong and had a long, red scar going down the right side of his face.
"The other" George was shorter than Yokiro and he looked younger too. He had black hair and blue eyes. He also had a ridiculous grin on his face.
Jamie was short and stout. He had a sneer on his face and a tattoo of a skull on both of his muscular arms. His eyes were red and he was pale. Nathan assumed he was an albino. He looked mean. Yokiro started speaking.
"George and Roy are identical twins, obviously, and George has a cold, so stay away from him." He winked at George. "We call Roy 'Fred' because if you've read the Harry Potter books or seen the movie, Fred and George are identical twins. Jordan's nickname is 'Scar' because of that nasty scar on his cheek. The other George is called Georgie because otherwise it would get confusing. You know, with two Georges." Yokiro leaned close to Nathan and whispered, "He's kind of dim, so. . .you know."
"And last, but certainly not least, we call Jamie 'Devil' because of his red eyes. He's an albino. Obviously," he added. He leaned in and whispered again, "At least, he thinks we call him that because he's an albino. Really, we call him that because he's *mean*. Try to avoid him, and if you can't, don't try to be brave and stick up to him. It'll only result in you being beaten into the ground. I only brought him along because he's strong."
"What're you whisperin' about, Yokey?" boomed Jamie, or Devil. "It's not nice to tell secrets! If he can hear it, we can all hear it! Come on, tell us!"
"Nothing," said Yokiro in a fake cheerful voice. "Anyway, you guys already know! I told you a few days ago, remember?"
"Are you tryin' 'o dupe me?" said Devil, squinty-eyed. "'Cause if you are. . .hmm. . .I don't know *what* I'm gonna do with ya!"
"Oh, come on guys! I told you a few days ago!" said Yokiro, shifting uneasily despite his cheerful manner. "If I tell you, you'll go 'oh yeah, I remember that'!"
"If that's what's gonna happen, Yokey, why don'cha tell us!" said Devil, his red eyes squinting even smaller. His chubby hands were balling into fists. Nathan decided to answer for him, and stepping forward, he said, "I'll tell you what he said, *Devil*! He said you think that they call you Devil because of your red eyes, but they really call you that because--" Scar's dark green eyes were concerned, and behind Devil's head, he was shaking his own very quickly. He mouthed, "Don't go there!" Nathan ignored him, smiling.
"Because you're mean. Because you act like the Devil himself. That right?" he looked to Yokiro's companions for confirmation. George and Roy nodded uneasily as Devil turned around. Scar nodded firmly, his mouth tight, but Nathan and Yokiro noticed a slight twinkle in his eye, as if to some unknown joke. For a moment, Devil looked confused, unsure of himself. Then he looked almost hurt. Nathan nearly felt sorry for him.
"All right, what's the joke?" demanded Devil. This time, Scar stepped in. He tapped on Devil's shoulder and Devil turned around angrily.
"Whaddaya want now, Scar?" he bellowed. Scar remained calm.
"Now when I say this, I think I'm speaking for everyone. I think we've all had just as much as we can take, Devil, and it's time to stop pushing everyone around. You don't have to be a bully. It's a choice you make, and you've made the wrong decision. But it's not too late. Am I right so far?" Scar turned to the rest of the gang. They all nodded solemnly, so Scar continued.
"Just because you're a year older than all of us except for Georgie, who you're two years older than, doesn't mean that you can push us around. We're all just at the end of our strings. The message I'm trying to get across in a polite way is, back off!
"We're just as smart as you. What makes you think you're any better than us? We can take care of ourselves. We don't need your help. We have our rights, and you have yours. One of ours is to walk around doing whatever we're doing without worrying about you breathing down our necks, ready to beat us up every time you get the urge. And your rights, I'm afraid, don't include clobbering us whenever you want. I think you get the point by now. Got it?"
Devil considered for a minute. Then, he got very angry. He bellowed in rage.
"Devil. . ." said Scar warningly. But Devil paid no heed. He tried to strike Scar with his right arm, but Scar lifted a hand and grabbed Devil's wrist. Devil screamed again. He tried to punch Scar in the stomach with his left hand, but Scar grabbed that too. Devil head butted Scar in the chest and Scar gritted his teeth, but didn't say anything.
"LISTEN TO ME, YOU PUNY LITTLE FREAK!" shouted Devil, yanking free of Scar's grasp. "If you think you can talk to me like that, THEN THINK AGAIN! NOW GET AWAY FROM ME!"
Yokiro whispered to Nathan, "Scar's the only one who can stand up to Devil without being hospitalized, or even getting a scratch for that matter."
"I noticed," said Nathan. Meanwhile, the fight between Scar and Devil had turned into a real battle. They were trading blows a thousand a minute.
Finally, Scar stepped back from Devil (who was still fighting with the air) and said, "Enough." Devil stared.
"This isn't the way to settle this. Fighting, I mean. Now Devil, you can stop beating up on people right now, or you can turn your butt around and get out of the Forest. The rest of us have things to do; places to break into. Now *choose*."
"You can't tell me what to do!" screamed Devil madly. "I will stay right here! You know what, no I won't! I changed my mind! I'm going to go straight to the police and tell them about this! You'll be arrested! HA!" He pulled a Pokeball out of his pocket and threw it as hard as he could at Scar. Scar reached up with one hand and, with a loud cracking noise, caught the Pokeball, which was starting to open. The Pokeball fell apart in Scar's hand and he stepped back as a Machop came out.
"Machop!" it said, looking around.
"CHOP, MACHOP!" shouted Devil. "You criminal! You broke my Pokeball! I should have you arrested!" he screamed at Scar.
"It was self defense," said Scar calmly. "You threw it at me. It could've broken my nose. You go to the police. See what they care. See what they care about a fat, stupid, bullying loser like you who abuses people and then gets mad at them for standing up to you instead of cowering from your mighty power like you, in your ignorance, expected them to. See what they care." Devil was getting mightily angry. Scar calmly leaned on a tree. Devil charged at him. Scar waited until the last moment before Devil hit him, and moved aside. There was a thump as Devil's head hit the tree. Devil groaned and collapsed.
"Come on," said Scar. "We've got to clean him up and get him out of here. Does anyone know where there would be water?"
"There's a stream nearby," said Nathan. "Come on!" He led them through the Forest until they found the stream, Scar hauling Devil's bulky form along. When they got there, Scar removed Devil's shirt. He made a face and George held his nose. Scar dipped the shirt into the water and dabbed at Devil's bleeding head with it. When the blood was gone, he used the dry half of the shirt to wipe his head dry. Then, he put the wet part on Devil's forehead. Devil groaned, and Scar dropped the shirt. He splashed water from the stream on Devil's face. Devil's eyes opened. He sat up.
"Hey! Where's my shirt?" he said. He was still weak from crashing into the tree. Scar wordlessly picked up Devil's shirt and handed it to him. He grabbed it away, ripping the material slightly. He put it on, and George came closer and let go of his nose.
"Go home," said Scar shortly. "You're not coming with us." Devil stood up unsteadily, and started to retort, but remembered what had happened only a few minutes ago when he had messed with Scar, and stopped. He stood up, defeated, and walked away. Nathan said, "I'll watch him," and climbed into the trees. There was a rustling sound, and he was gone.
Yokiro and his friends besides Nathan heard yelling, and Scar went after Devil to investigate. He found Devil screaming at his Machop to make him come with him. The Machop just wanted to look around.
"Devil!" said Scar exasperatedly. "What I said before goes for Pokemon, too! Not just humans." Again, Devil looked ready to retort, but held back, remembering his sore head and what had caused it. He let the Machop look around for a few minutes, and then they left.
Nathan had watched the whole thing, and he followed Devil from above to make sure he left the Forest. He walked into Pewter City and Nathan watched as he walked away. Satisfied, he went back to the group.
When he arrived, Scar said, "Ok, listen up! Giovanni used to have the legendary Pokemon Mewtwo. He doesn't anymore. Mewtwo had psychic powers, obviously, and Giovanni took advantage of that by making him use those powers to turn me into a member of Team Rocket. Basically, he used the powers to force me to do his bidding. I escaped. But I still remember some stuff about his place. He thought I'd never escape, so he showed me secret places, because while I was in Mewtwo's powers, I couldn't betray him or anything like that. And I escaped."
Scar picked up a stick and started making a map in the ground. He carved the dirt for a few minutes, and then looked up. He pointed to different places on the map.
"This is the entrance. We just have to get past the guards, and then we're in. Of course, it won't be that easy, because he's got cameras and such. And the guards are well trained and have powerful Pokemon. Yokiro's going to hack into their system and disable them. They're bound to notice within a few minutes. So meanwhile, we'll stage a distraction at the other end of the building so they don't get suspicious. Once we're in, we'll follow *this* hall" he pointed to another part of the map "until we reach here. Then, run through here at *top speed*, because this is the dangerous part. Now, see that mark at the end of the hallway? That's the door. It'll take us into Giovanni's office.
"Once we're in, we'll figure it out from there. I don't know what we can do, though. I mean, charge in there and tell him 'don't knock down Viridian Forest or else'? Hmm. . ." He stopped talking. Nathan had an idea.
"How about we just break in to show him that we know what he's doing, and warn him to abandon his plan? And then we wait until the day they're going to do it and stop them. Like attack their machines or whatever they're using so they can't do anything. I don't know. Never mind."
"We'll be outnumbered by a lot," said Yokiro, looking up from his typing. "I'm trying to find out more, so I hacked in there again. They're hiring a whole force of Scisor, *and* they're using machines. Can't be good. Although I don't know how they're going to pull it off, because everyone for miles around is going to see them as soon as they start. They'll be lots of police for--" he paused, turning pale. His hands started shaking and he took them off of the keyboard.
"Uh-oh," he said. "Oh no. . .Oh no. No no no."
"What?" said George. "What's wrong?" Yokiro turned the computer around to face him.
"See for yourself," he said, still pale. George bent down to see what was onscreen, looking confused. Then he turned paler than before. He read out loud.
"'Two hours beforehand, the local police forces of Pewter City, Viridian City, Pallet Town, and Cinnabar Island will have all weapons disabled and Pokemon collected and captured by my forces. 15 Hypno, three for each town, will hypnotize the police officers so that they will fall asleep, and if they regain consciousness, my men will knock them out again.
"'While this is happening, the Scisor force will be prepared to knock down the forest, and we will force the police's Pokemon to protect the valuable Scisor and machinery. They will also scare all Pokemon Trainers and travelers out of the Forest, and then steal their Pokemon. The Scisor will strip the trees of their branches, while a team of Machop will collect the branches and pile them up outside the Forest. Two waiting Charizard will burn the branches and spread the ashes so there is no evidence of them having been there. The Charizard and Scisor will leave, while another team of Machop will enter the Forest to help the existing team.
"'As this all happens, the machinery required to cut down the trees will be prepared and brought to the Forest to start. As soon as the second team of Machop is prepared and the Charizard and Scisor are moved out, the machinery will start cutting. The Machop will collect the fallen tree and pile them up onto a large truck, which will carry them back to my existing base to be prepared for use in building my new base. The Machop will uproot all remaining stumps and remove debris, to clear off the land for building my base.
"'As soon as the clearing of the Forest is complete, the Machop will be moved out and the builders will start working. No time is to be wasted, because should anyone find out about my plan or there are traitors in the midst, then the plan will be ruined. As soon as the builders have the main frame of the building ready, we will mount cameras and other security devices on the building, as well as in the helicopters above. We will swiftly move in strong Pokemon to keep intruders away so that the building process will finish sooner.
"'This will continue for as long as it takes to build the place. I have hired the quickest builders, and offered them great amounts of money to make them even quicker. If the building process is done too slowly or too sloppily, the builders will be punished. They are sworn to secrecy about this project, on pain of death.
"'As the building takes place, more security systems will be steadily moved into the building, and the walls will be wired. Eventually, we will put in all of the computers as well. When the building is complete, it will take two days to move the rest of the equipment in, as well as buying new equipment that we will need. This base will be far better, more secure, and more powerful than ever before. The date we will start the building process is January 1st, 2004.'" It was December 24th, 2003.
"Thundershock!" shouted Yokiro. Battery used Thundershock on Geodude.
"Ha!" laughed Brock. "Electric attacks have no effect on Rock Pokemon!" Boy, was he wrong. Battery was so powerful that he fried Geodude. It took 50-something seconds, but Geodude ended up as black as coal. He fainted.
"Geodude is unable to fight!" cried the announcer. "Pikachu is the winner!" But Battery was tired too. He sat down on the floor, his eyes closing. He rocked back and forth. Yokiro gritted his teeth and thought, hang in there, Battery! You can make it. But Battery fell down onto the floor without even a thud.
"In a spectacular display of the almost impossible," continued the announcer, "This Pikachu has defeated a strong Rock-type Pokemon with one Thundershock! As you know, Electric attacks will usually have no effect on Rock-types. Rock does not conduct electricity. But if you have a powerful enough Pokemon, the electricity can be powerful enough to fry a Rock Pokemon. Unfortunately for both Pokemon and Trainer, though, doing this can exhaust the Pokemon to the point of fainting. What Pokemon will our challenger use next?" Yokiro returned Battery and took out Memory Card.
"Memory Card, don't Selfdestruct! Even if you can revive yourself quickly, it'll be too late! Use something else. I'll just watch unless I can think of something for you to use."
Memory Card said, "Electrode!" Yokiro assumed, or rather, hoped, that that meant, "okay". The battle went on for a while and Memory Card was winning nicely. Then he got bored. Yokiro knew he was about to use Selfdestruct.
"No!" he shouted. "I said, DON'T USE SELFDESTRUCT!" Too late. Memory Card exploded. Geodude collapsed, tried to stand up, and fainted. Brock returned him and used Onix.
"Geodude is unable to battle! So is Electrode! And those are all the Pokemon our challenger has! Pikachu and Electrode! It looks like Brock has won, because he still has Onix! But wait. . .Electrode is getting up! Can it be? He has awakened quickly! The battle continues!"
Meanwhile, inside his Pokeball, Battery was waking up too. He sat up and groaned. Then he remembered he was in a battle with Brock! If Memory Card had Selfdestructed, then the battle would be lost! But maybe there was still time! He exited his Pokeball quickly and looked around. Memory Card was still on the field. Battery leaned on Yokiro's foot and watched.
"Swift!" called Yokiro. Electrode used Swift. Onix was knocked down.
"Tackle him while he's down!" shouted Yokiro. Electrode complied. Onix stood up but started rocking back and forth.
"Again!" shouted Yokiro. "Swift!" Electrode used Swift and Yokiro ordered him to use Light Screen. Onix roared and fell to the ground, blinded.
"Don't get lazy!" yelled Yokiro. "He can still attack! Tackle, Memory Card!" Onix stopped moving. Yokiro watched. After a few seconds, Onix stirred. He got up completely and roared again. Yokiro looked down and saw little Battery standing next to him.
"Memory Card, return!" he shouted. Then, he whispered to Battery, "Are you strong enough yet?" The little Pikachu nodded determinedly.
"Pika!" he said.
"Go, Battery!" bellowed Yokiro. Battery ran onto the field and used Quick Attack. Onix collapsed and stopped moving again. Battery waited.
Presently, the announcer shouted, "Onix is unable to battle! Pikachu-- " But Onix wasn't finished yet. He stood up, his eyes half-closed and staring at little Battery. Battery looked nervous. Onix slowly lumbered around and moved his head close to Battery's. He stared him in the face for a long while. Then, he blew. Battery went tumbling backward. He fell down and then stood up. Onix made a sound that sounded like a snort.
"Quick Attack!" said Yokiro. "He's weak! We're going to win!" Battery used Quick Attack. Onix's great head fell on the floor and he fainted. The audience cheered. Yokiro grinned.
"Good job, Battery, Memory Card," he congratulated his Pokemon. The announcer started talking, but Yokiro ignored him. He was very annoying. Yokiro wondered who invented announcers, anyway!
Brock walked over to him and nodded. He wasn't smiling. He thrust out his hand, and in it was the Boulder Badge. Yokiro forced a smile and took the badge and a TM that Brock also gave him. Not that he would be using it. He only used electric Pokemon. He walked out of the Gym.
Once outside, he headed to the Pokemart so that he could sell the TM to the man there. The man greeted Yokiro and asked how he could help him. Yokiro snorted. As if the clerks ever said anything else. He walked to the counter, trying to look strict. He knew that if he let the clerk decide how much he wanted to pay, he would be ripped off, so he didn't give him the chance. He stated his price and waited.
"No," said the clerk bluntly after three boring minutes of waiting. "I won't buy it for more than 400¶." (I can't find the symbol they use in the game to show money, so I'm using this.) Yokiro knew that he wouldn't get anywhere by trying to negotiate.
"Fine. I'll go sell it to an intelligent person, then," was all Yokiro said, and he started out of the door.
"Wait!" shouted the shopkeeper. "I'll but it! Just a little less, though! Say--" but Yokiro cut him off.
"I don't think so. Your manipulative skills aren't as good as you think they are. My price is 550¶. Take it or leave it. You do want this TM, don't you?" Yokiro didn't like the shopkeepers. Any of them. They were stupid, cheating losers. He took delight in annoying them. The shopkeepers face was turning red now.
"Fine then!" he spat angrily. "Take your stupid money, give me the product and GET OUT! Out, I say! Get out of my shop! I never want to see you again! OUT!" The shopkeeper had stood up and walked over to Yokiro. He grabbed the TM out of Yokiro's hands and threw the money onto the ground at his feet. Yokiro calmly picked up the money.
"No, I don't think I'll go yet. I have some things I need to buy first. Hmmm. . ." He walked around the shop for a while, pretending to be interested in the merchandise on the shelves. Finally, he decided to buy two Potions, an Escape Rope, and a Max Revive. He took the Potions and Escape Rope off of the shelves and bought them.
"You wouldn't happen to have a Max Revive, would you?" Yokiro asked. "I really need one," he added. He knew the shopkeeper wouldn't have any, but he wanted to make him angrier.
"No, I wouldn't have that. I'll order it and it'll be here in. . ." He typed something on his computer. Then he turned back to Yokiro.
"A week. Week too long for you?" he asked.
"Actually, I needed it today," said Yokiro in a long-suffering voice. "I suppose that wouldn't be possible though, will it?" The shopkeeper's face was even redder than before now.
"Well," he said, trying to keep his voice from shaking with rage, "I could make it a special order and it would be here in a matter of minutes, if that wouldn't be too long."
"That sounds good!" said Yokiro in a feigned cheerful voice. The shopkeeper was about to explode. He scribbled something in pencil on a piece of paper. The pencil point broke. The shopkeeper said a word I can't repeat, and snapped the pencil in half with his fingers. He threw it at the wall at the opposite end of the shop and grabbed a pen. He continued his scribbling, and then scanned it on his computer. He typed a few keys, and then clicked the mouse. The computer made a long beeping sound, and the shopkeeper turned to Yokiro.
"It'll be here in a few minutes," he said. "Happy now?" he asked. Yokiro nodded and took out his laptop. It took him only a few minutes to hack into the shop's computer. He changed all of the prices of the items to ridiculously low prices, like 5¶, 10¶, 4¶, and 6¶. He chuckled to himself. He was setting up the shopkeeper's computer so that it wouldn't make him any profit right under the stupid man's nose! But he also set it not to occur until 10:00 that night, so that Yokiro wouldn't be present. He would probably be breaking in to Giovanni's place by then. He jumped.
He still had to round up a few of his friends and get to Viridian Forest! He looked at his watch. He had ten minutes before he had to meet Nathan. He logged on to his instant messenger service and sent out messages to some of his friends, including one that had once worked for Team Rocket because Giovanni had used Mewtwo's psychic powers to force him to.
15 minutes later, Yokiro and six others were running to Viridian Forest. When they got there, Yokiro called Nathan's name. There was no response. He walked farther into the Forest and called again. This time, there was a rustling in the trees and Nathan, along with Bulbasaur and Treecko, fell out of the canopy of trees and landed in front of Yokiro, who was in the lead.
"Hello, Yokiro," said Nathan, smiling slightly. "Is this our break in party?"
"Bulbasaur!" said Bulbasaur, jumping on Nathan's head.
"Yes," said Yokiro. He pointed to a tall blond boy who was holding a green Pokeball tightly.
"This is Mark. And these are George, Jordan, Roy, the other George, and Jamie." Yokiro pointed to each person as he said his name. George had brown hair and was pale. He was shivering a lot and he coughed. He had dark brown eyes. Roy looked exactly the same, except he was a little less pale and wasn't coughing or shivering. Jordan had dark brown hair and serious dark green eyes. He was strong and had a long, red scar going down the right side of his face.
"The other" George was shorter than Yokiro and he looked younger too. He had black hair and blue eyes. He also had a ridiculous grin on his face.
Jamie was short and stout. He had a sneer on his face and a tattoo of a skull on both of his muscular arms. His eyes were red and he was pale. Nathan assumed he was an albino. He looked mean. Yokiro started speaking.
"George and Roy are identical twins, obviously, and George has a cold, so stay away from him." He winked at George. "We call Roy 'Fred' because if you've read the Harry Potter books or seen the movie, Fred and George are identical twins. Jordan's nickname is 'Scar' because of that nasty scar on his cheek. The other George is called Georgie because otherwise it would get confusing. You know, with two Georges." Yokiro leaned close to Nathan and whispered, "He's kind of dim, so. . .you know."
"And last, but certainly not least, we call Jamie 'Devil' because of his red eyes. He's an albino. Obviously," he added. He leaned in and whispered again, "At least, he thinks we call him that because he's an albino. Really, we call him that because he's *mean*. Try to avoid him, and if you can't, don't try to be brave and stick up to him. It'll only result in you being beaten into the ground. I only brought him along because he's strong."
"What're you whisperin' about, Yokey?" boomed Jamie, or Devil. "It's not nice to tell secrets! If he can hear it, we can all hear it! Come on, tell us!"
"Nothing," said Yokiro in a fake cheerful voice. "Anyway, you guys already know! I told you a few days ago, remember?"
"Are you tryin' 'o dupe me?" said Devil, squinty-eyed. "'Cause if you are. . .hmm. . .I don't know *what* I'm gonna do with ya!"
"Oh, come on guys! I told you a few days ago!" said Yokiro, shifting uneasily despite his cheerful manner. "If I tell you, you'll go 'oh yeah, I remember that'!"
"If that's what's gonna happen, Yokey, why don'cha tell us!" said Devil, his red eyes squinting even smaller. His chubby hands were balling into fists. Nathan decided to answer for him, and stepping forward, he said, "I'll tell you what he said, *Devil*! He said you think that they call you Devil because of your red eyes, but they really call you that because--" Scar's dark green eyes were concerned, and behind Devil's head, he was shaking his own very quickly. He mouthed, "Don't go there!" Nathan ignored him, smiling.
"Because you're mean. Because you act like the Devil himself. That right?" he looked to Yokiro's companions for confirmation. George and Roy nodded uneasily as Devil turned around. Scar nodded firmly, his mouth tight, but Nathan and Yokiro noticed a slight twinkle in his eye, as if to some unknown joke. For a moment, Devil looked confused, unsure of himself. Then he looked almost hurt. Nathan nearly felt sorry for him.
"All right, what's the joke?" demanded Devil. This time, Scar stepped in. He tapped on Devil's shoulder and Devil turned around angrily.
"Whaddaya want now, Scar?" he bellowed. Scar remained calm.
"Now when I say this, I think I'm speaking for everyone. I think we've all had just as much as we can take, Devil, and it's time to stop pushing everyone around. You don't have to be a bully. It's a choice you make, and you've made the wrong decision. But it's not too late. Am I right so far?" Scar turned to the rest of the gang. They all nodded solemnly, so Scar continued.
"Just because you're a year older than all of us except for Georgie, who you're two years older than, doesn't mean that you can push us around. We're all just at the end of our strings. The message I'm trying to get across in a polite way is, back off!
"We're just as smart as you. What makes you think you're any better than us? We can take care of ourselves. We don't need your help. We have our rights, and you have yours. One of ours is to walk around doing whatever we're doing without worrying about you breathing down our necks, ready to beat us up every time you get the urge. And your rights, I'm afraid, don't include clobbering us whenever you want. I think you get the point by now. Got it?"
Devil considered for a minute. Then, he got very angry. He bellowed in rage.
"Devil. . ." said Scar warningly. But Devil paid no heed. He tried to strike Scar with his right arm, but Scar lifted a hand and grabbed Devil's wrist. Devil screamed again. He tried to punch Scar in the stomach with his left hand, but Scar grabbed that too. Devil head butted Scar in the chest and Scar gritted his teeth, but didn't say anything.
"LISTEN TO ME, YOU PUNY LITTLE FREAK!" shouted Devil, yanking free of Scar's grasp. "If you think you can talk to me like that, THEN THINK AGAIN! NOW GET AWAY FROM ME!"
Yokiro whispered to Nathan, "Scar's the only one who can stand up to Devil without being hospitalized, or even getting a scratch for that matter."
"I noticed," said Nathan. Meanwhile, the fight between Scar and Devil had turned into a real battle. They were trading blows a thousand a minute.
Finally, Scar stepped back from Devil (who was still fighting with the air) and said, "Enough." Devil stared.
"This isn't the way to settle this. Fighting, I mean. Now Devil, you can stop beating up on people right now, or you can turn your butt around and get out of the Forest. The rest of us have things to do; places to break into. Now *choose*."
"You can't tell me what to do!" screamed Devil madly. "I will stay right here! You know what, no I won't! I changed my mind! I'm going to go straight to the police and tell them about this! You'll be arrested! HA!" He pulled a Pokeball out of his pocket and threw it as hard as he could at Scar. Scar reached up with one hand and, with a loud cracking noise, caught the Pokeball, which was starting to open. The Pokeball fell apart in Scar's hand and he stepped back as a Machop came out.
"Machop!" it said, looking around.
"CHOP, MACHOP!" shouted Devil. "You criminal! You broke my Pokeball! I should have you arrested!" he screamed at Scar.
"It was self defense," said Scar calmly. "You threw it at me. It could've broken my nose. You go to the police. See what they care. See what they care about a fat, stupid, bullying loser like you who abuses people and then gets mad at them for standing up to you instead of cowering from your mighty power like you, in your ignorance, expected them to. See what they care." Devil was getting mightily angry. Scar calmly leaned on a tree. Devil charged at him. Scar waited until the last moment before Devil hit him, and moved aside. There was a thump as Devil's head hit the tree. Devil groaned and collapsed.
"Come on," said Scar. "We've got to clean him up and get him out of here. Does anyone know where there would be water?"
"There's a stream nearby," said Nathan. "Come on!" He led them through the Forest until they found the stream, Scar hauling Devil's bulky form along. When they got there, Scar removed Devil's shirt. He made a face and George held his nose. Scar dipped the shirt into the water and dabbed at Devil's bleeding head with it. When the blood was gone, he used the dry half of the shirt to wipe his head dry. Then, he put the wet part on Devil's forehead. Devil groaned, and Scar dropped the shirt. He splashed water from the stream on Devil's face. Devil's eyes opened. He sat up.
"Hey! Where's my shirt?" he said. He was still weak from crashing into the tree. Scar wordlessly picked up Devil's shirt and handed it to him. He grabbed it away, ripping the material slightly. He put it on, and George came closer and let go of his nose.
"Go home," said Scar shortly. "You're not coming with us." Devil stood up unsteadily, and started to retort, but remembered what had happened only a few minutes ago when he had messed with Scar, and stopped. He stood up, defeated, and walked away. Nathan said, "I'll watch him," and climbed into the trees. There was a rustling sound, and he was gone.
Yokiro and his friends besides Nathan heard yelling, and Scar went after Devil to investigate. He found Devil screaming at his Machop to make him come with him. The Machop just wanted to look around.
"Devil!" said Scar exasperatedly. "What I said before goes for Pokemon, too! Not just humans." Again, Devil looked ready to retort, but held back, remembering his sore head and what had caused it. He let the Machop look around for a few minutes, and then they left.
Nathan had watched the whole thing, and he followed Devil from above to make sure he left the Forest. He walked into Pewter City and Nathan watched as he walked away. Satisfied, he went back to the group.
When he arrived, Scar said, "Ok, listen up! Giovanni used to have the legendary Pokemon Mewtwo. He doesn't anymore. Mewtwo had psychic powers, obviously, and Giovanni took advantage of that by making him use those powers to turn me into a member of Team Rocket. Basically, he used the powers to force me to do his bidding. I escaped. But I still remember some stuff about his place. He thought I'd never escape, so he showed me secret places, because while I was in Mewtwo's powers, I couldn't betray him or anything like that. And I escaped."
Scar picked up a stick and started making a map in the ground. He carved the dirt for a few minutes, and then looked up. He pointed to different places on the map.
"This is the entrance. We just have to get past the guards, and then we're in. Of course, it won't be that easy, because he's got cameras and such. And the guards are well trained and have powerful Pokemon. Yokiro's going to hack into their system and disable them. They're bound to notice within a few minutes. So meanwhile, we'll stage a distraction at the other end of the building so they don't get suspicious. Once we're in, we'll follow *this* hall" he pointed to another part of the map "until we reach here. Then, run through here at *top speed*, because this is the dangerous part. Now, see that mark at the end of the hallway? That's the door. It'll take us into Giovanni's office.
"Once we're in, we'll figure it out from there. I don't know what we can do, though. I mean, charge in there and tell him 'don't knock down Viridian Forest or else'? Hmm. . ." He stopped talking. Nathan had an idea.
"How about we just break in to show him that we know what he's doing, and warn him to abandon his plan? And then we wait until the day they're going to do it and stop them. Like attack their machines or whatever they're using so they can't do anything. I don't know. Never mind."
"We'll be outnumbered by a lot," said Yokiro, looking up from his typing. "I'm trying to find out more, so I hacked in there again. They're hiring a whole force of Scisor, *and* they're using machines. Can't be good. Although I don't know how they're going to pull it off, because everyone for miles around is going to see them as soon as they start. They'll be lots of police for--" he paused, turning pale. His hands started shaking and he took them off of the keyboard.
"Uh-oh," he said. "Oh no. . .Oh no. No no no."
"What?" said George. "What's wrong?" Yokiro turned the computer around to face him.
"See for yourself," he said, still pale. George bent down to see what was onscreen, looking confused. Then he turned paler than before. He read out loud.
"'Two hours beforehand, the local police forces of Pewter City, Viridian City, Pallet Town, and Cinnabar Island will have all weapons disabled and Pokemon collected and captured by my forces. 15 Hypno, three for each town, will hypnotize the police officers so that they will fall asleep, and if they regain consciousness, my men will knock them out again.
"'While this is happening, the Scisor force will be prepared to knock down the forest, and we will force the police's Pokemon to protect the valuable Scisor and machinery. They will also scare all Pokemon Trainers and travelers out of the Forest, and then steal their Pokemon. The Scisor will strip the trees of their branches, while a team of Machop will collect the branches and pile them up outside the Forest. Two waiting Charizard will burn the branches and spread the ashes so there is no evidence of them having been there. The Charizard and Scisor will leave, while another team of Machop will enter the Forest to help the existing team.
"'As this all happens, the machinery required to cut down the trees will be prepared and brought to the Forest to start. As soon as the second team of Machop is prepared and the Charizard and Scisor are moved out, the machinery will start cutting. The Machop will collect the fallen tree and pile them up onto a large truck, which will carry them back to my existing base to be prepared for use in building my new base. The Machop will uproot all remaining stumps and remove debris, to clear off the land for building my base.
"'As soon as the clearing of the Forest is complete, the Machop will be moved out and the builders will start working. No time is to be wasted, because should anyone find out about my plan or there are traitors in the midst, then the plan will be ruined. As soon as the builders have the main frame of the building ready, we will mount cameras and other security devices on the building, as well as in the helicopters above. We will swiftly move in strong Pokemon to keep intruders away so that the building process will finish sooner.
"'This will continue for as long as it takes to build the place. I have hired the quickest builders, and offered them great amounts of money to make them even quicker. If the building process is done too slowly or too sloppily, the builders will be punished. They are sworn to secrecy about this project, on pain of death.
"'As the building takes place, more security systems will be steadily moved into the building, and the walls will be wired. Eventually, we will put in all of the computers as well. When the building is complete, it will take two days to move the rest of the equipment in, as well as buying new equipment that we will need. This base will be far better, more secure, and more powerful than ever before. The date we will start the building process is January 1st, 2004.'" It was December 24th, 2003.