(This scene features a few callbacks, as well as an unexpected "guest" character.)

Scene 7 – Team Rocket's Headquarters

Sean and the others spend the next couple of minutes aimlessly walking around the area, trying to figure out where to go next. Just then, Krystal developed a headache and groaned loud enough for everyone to hear. The heroes stopped walking and gathered around her.

Sean: "What's wrong, Krystal?"

Fox: (worried) "Your life span's not ending already, is it?!"

Krystal: (holding her head) "Of course not, Fox! I sense as though someone is trying to contact me through my telepathy."

Falco: "You mean your powers still work?"

Krystal: "Of course they still work! I never said I lost my powers."

Falco: "But you did say that you haven't been able to use them in quite a while, so—"

Fox: "Will you shut up, Falco?!"

Sean: "Yeah, seriously!" (Sighs) "What are you sensing right now, Krystal?"

Krystal: "Hmm…" (Concentrates on telepathy) "Someone is calling for help."

Sean: "Who's calling for help?"

Krystal: "It's not clear, but I can tell that they are calling from somewhere nearby."

Fox: "Somewhere nearby?"

Donkey Kong: "Maybe they're calling from that building with the big 'R' on it."

Sean: "Building with a big 'R'?"

Donkey Kong: "Yeah; over there." (Points north)

When Sean and the others looked where the ape was pointing, they saw a dome-shaped building. Just like Donkey Kong said, it had a big "R" on it. Ash and his friends recognized the symbol, and realized it was Team Rocket's headquarters. Sean and the heroes headed toward the building once Krystal confirmed that the call for help was coming from there.

When they made it to the headquarters, Sean and the others went inside…only to find it pitch black. A few seconds later, some lights shone on them, followed by a voice saying, "So, you've all finally decided to show up here." When more lights came on, medium stairs and a spinning chair facing backwards were shown.

Giovanni: (while chair is backwards) "I've been waiting all day to meet the newcomer."

Sean: "Hey, how about you turn around so we can see you?"

Giovanni: "Oh, yes. Where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself." (Turns the chair around, facing the heroes) "I am Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket."

Sean: "I know who you are. Why don't you just cut to the chase and tell us what you're up to?"

Giovanni: "…Very well." (Gets out of his chair and walks down a few steps) "So, you're the so-called 'leader' of the heroes, huh?"

Sean: "What if I am?"

Giovanni: "Well then…" (Walks down more steps until he reaches the bottom) "…I have a little surprise waiting for you and your friends."

Ash: "A surprise?"

Giovanni: "That's right." (Snaps his fingers)

After Giovanni snapped his fingers, the rest of the lights came on and revealed a giant robot with the letter "R" on its chest. When Sean and the heroes laid eyes the thing, they didn't see it as much of a threat. Suddenly, there was a sound of people laughing evilly. A moment later, the giant robot's head opened up—revealing Jessie, James, and Meowth inside!

Batman: (a little annoyed) "Not those three again."

Jessie: "Listen, is that a voice I hear?"

James: "It speaks to me loud and clear."

Jessie: "On the wind!"

James: "Past the stars!"

Meowth: "In your ear!"

Sean: (annoyed) "Hey, we already listened to that crap once today! We don't need an encore!"

Jessie: (offended) "Excuse me, bud! Didn't your mother tell you it's rude to interrupt people?!"

Sean: "Yeah, but she also said not to listen to criminals—especially lame ones like you!"

Jessie: "Did you just call us 'lame'?!"

Meowth: "I think he did!"

James: "Actually, guys, he might have a point."

Meowth: "What did you mean, Jim?"

James: "Well, for starters, do we really have to do our motto every time we appear before the twerps or anyone else?"

Jessie: "Of course we do, you jackass! We're the bad guys, and doing our motto is what we were created to do for the anime show!"

Meowth: "Yeah; we practically signed a contract for it!"

James: "…I guess I can't argue with that logic."

Giovanni: (annoyed) "Will you three cut the crap and tell these fools what we're doing?!"

James: "Oh, right! Sorry, boss."

Giovanni: (under his breath) "Idiots."

Jessie: (to the heroes) "Well, after our sudden mishap back in Pokémon City, the three of us decided to take what Meowth calls 'drastic measures'!"

Ash: (confused) "Drastic measures?"

Meowth: "In simpler terms, there was a change in plans at the last minute just before we could abduct your leader."

Sean: "What change in plans?"

James: "You see, after we stole a Pokémon from that lazy professor's lab, our boss was able to get his hands on a rare Pokémon of his own, along with a human hostage."

Brock: "A rare Pokémon?"

Dawn: "And a human hostage?"

Giovanni: "That's right; and I'm sure at least one of you knows the human."

Ash: "What about the rare Pokémon? Who is it?"

Misty: "And how did you manage to capture it?"

Giovanni: "Never mind that right now! Your leader asked politely for us to explain what we're up to, so I'll just get to the point." (Takes a deep breath) "You're aware that Team Rocket is usually a band of thieves, right?"

Ash: "Of course."

Giovanni: "Well, for the time being, that's about to change."

Sean: "What do you mean?"

Giovanni: "We've made a deal with the dark-masked character most of the other villains refer to as their 'master'. Apparently, he was aware that you heroes would have to stick together as you searched for a special item he planted somewhere."

Dawn: "Sounds like that 'master' is smarter than we know."

Giovanni: "Yes, it would appear so. But anyway, the bottom line is that—as of now—Team Rocket has gone from a soft band of thieves to violent criminals."

Sean: "…Are you saying that even you guys plan to destroy us?!"

Giovanni: "Well, to be more precise, we're being forced to do this by that dark-masked man. Normally, I wouldn't take orders from anyone other than myself, but I care about my organization, and that unknown bastard is threatening to destroy it."

May: "Unknown bastard?"

Max: "You mean you guys don't know who this dark-masked character is, either?"

James: "Sadly, no."

Meowth: "Although, he did mention his name once."

Jessie: "But we've been told not to speak of it."

Sean: "Is that right?"

Giovanni: "Yes. But enough of this nonsense! I'm sure you all understand what's going on here now. So how about you decide who will be taking this challenge?"

Sean: "Good idea."

Sean and the heroes huddled up to decide who would battle Team Rocket's big robot. Ash stated that the Pokémon gang should handle this, since the villains are of their world. Although Team Rocket's robot was bigger than Optimus Prime, he felt he should be included. And then, to everyone's surprise, Cream and Cheese volunteered to fight as well.

Amy: "Are you sure you want to fight a big machine like that, Cream?"

Cream: "Yes! Cheese and I have been looking forward to joining a battle ever since we began our adventure together!"

Cheese: (confidently) "Chao! Chao!"

Amy: "What do you think, Sean? Should we let Cream and Cheese join the battle against Team Rocket?"

Sean: (thinks for a moment) "Well, I don't really see why not. I mean, after all, I think it would be fair if everyone on this team gets at least one chance to fight." (Shrugs) "Okay, Cream, you and Cheese are in!"

Cream: (cheerfully) "All right!"

Cheese: (equally cheerful) "Chao!"

And so, it was official: Cream and Cheese were going to help the Pokémon gang fight Team Rocket's giant robot! However, even though the gang was ready to fight, the problem was that the only Pokémon they had were Ash's Pikachu and Dawn's Piplup. Brock, May, and Misty didn't have any Pokémon with them. Apparently, they had lost their Pokéballs during the ruckus going on in the playroom. In any case, due to this problem, the three trainers—along with Max—had to stay back, watch, and give Ash and Dawn support and advice. To offer more help, Sean agreed to have Optimus Prime join in the fight in case the gang couldn't handle the huge robot on their own, much to the Autobot leader's delight. And on that note, Cream, Cheese, Optimus Prime, and the Pokémon gang were ready to fight! The selected group stepped forward as Sean and the other heroes stood by the entrance of the headquarters.

Giovanni: (cruel chuckle) "Is this the best group you could come up with?"

May: "Do you have a problem with this group?"

Giovanni: "Problem? There are six twerps, two little Pokémon, a big robot that's only half the size of ours, a talking rabbit, and a blue thing that almost looks like a Pokémon itself. This is the most unlikely pairing I've ever seen!"

Misty: "Well, deal with it! Most of us 'twerps' are unarmed with any Pokémon of our own."

Giovanni: "Is that so? Well then, this ought to be an interesting battle."

After saying that, Giovanni walked up the stairs and sat back in his chair. He then took out a remote control, said, "Let the show begin," and pressed a button. Suddenly, the entrance was sealed by an iron gate and the roof opened up. As the heroes wondered what was happening, Jessie, James, and Meowth closed the giant robot's head and rose it up through the opened roof, revealing it to be two times bigger than it had looked a moment ago! Seeing this led Sean and the others to realize that Team Rocket wasn't playing around with them.

Despite being trapped and going up against a giant robot that's about a head bigger than the headquarters, Cream, Cheese, Optimus Prime, and the Pokémon gang were still willing to battle Team Rocket. And so, the fight was on! Cream started off by using her ears to fly up to the head of the robot, with Cheese following after her using the wings on his back.

Batman: (somewhat surprised) "Is that rabbit girl flying?"

Sean: "She sure is."

Cream: (to the robot's head, while staying in flight) "You three creeps shouldn't have gone so far to get rid of us! Now we're going to teach you a lesson!"

James: (sarcastically) "Oh, we're so scared!"

Jessie: "Please. What's a little bunny brat like you going to do to a huge machine like this?"

Cream: "I'll show you! Let's go, Cheese!"

Cheese: "Chao!"

Cream and Cheese flew up on top of the robot's head. There, Cream stomped hard while Cheese pounded with his tiny fists. Surprisingly, the duo's attacks were causing a bit of damage on the machine, which deeply annoyed and angered the Team Rocket trio.

Krystal: (about Cream) "Wow; even that little rabbit girl has some spunk."

Sean: "Will you knock it off with that 'spunk' thing already?!"

Krystal: "Hey, I don't get to watch other females in action too often!"

Sean: "…Alright, then."

As Cream and Cheese pounded on the robot's head, Meowth—who controlled the head—tried to shake the two off by moving it back and forth, but to no avail. While this happened, Ash and the Pokémon gang realized the Team Rocket trio was too distracted by Cream and Cheese to notice them and decided to attack.

Brock: "Hey, Ash, Dawn, why don't you two have Pikachu and Piplup try to take out that robot's legs?"

Dawn: "What good would that do?"

Misty: "If you get the legs wet and electrocute them, then maybe you can slow the robot down."

Ash: "That sounds pretty good. Alright, Dawn, let's try it!"

Dawn: "Right! Piplup, use Hydro Pump on the robot's legs!"

Piplup: "Piplup!" (Sprays big water out of his mouth and onto the robot's legs)

Ash: "Okay, my turn! Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu: "Pika…" (His cheeks begin to spark) "…chu!" (Blasts lightning at the robot's legs)

The Hydro Pump and Thunderbolt combo actually made dents on the robot's knees, which caused it to bend down. Ash and the rest were briefly happy, because they believed they were winning. However, even though the robot was slowed down, the Team Rocket trio still had use of its arms. Jessie, who was in control of the robot's right arm, turned the hand into a fist. She used the fist to try and smash Ash and the rest, but everyone avoided it just in time, and the fist caused a big quake in the ground upon impact.

After the big quake, something fell from behind the robot. It looked like a piece of the wall. Giovanni noticed this first, and gave a sudden "oh no" look. Max was the next person to notice the piece of wall fall off. When he looked at the spot it fell, he saw something that looked like a big Pokéball, and then told the group about it. Once the others noticed the thing as well, Misty remembered Gary said Team Rocket stole a Pokémon from his grandfather's lab earlier, just before he was shot and "killed" by the Joker.

The group quickly thought up a plan, which was to have Brock, May, and Max check out the thing behind the robot, while the others continue to battle. As the three began to head toward their destination, Giovanni angrily shouted at the Team Rocket trio to stop them. James, who was in control of the robot's left arm, turned the hand into a fist and prepared to smash Brock, May and Max with it. However, Optimus Prime rushed over just in time to block the giant fist.

Brock: "Thanks for stopping that thing, Optimus!"

May: "Yeah; now we can get through!"

Optimus Prime: (struggling to hold on to the giant fist) "Don't mention it! Now hurry up and get under the machine! I can't hold on to this fist forever!"

Brock: "Right!" (To May and Max) "Let's go, you two!"

May & Max: "Right!" (They travel under Team Rocket's robot)

Once the three made it to the spot where the piece of wall fell, they confirmed that the thing Max saw was, in fact, a big Pokéball. Giovanni quickly ran toward them without being noticed.

May: "What Pokémon do you suppose is inside this ball?"

Brock: "Since it's from Professor Oak's laboratory, it must be a rare Pokémon."

Max: "Only one way to find out for sure." (Prepares to open the ball)

Giovanni: (appears with a handgun pointing at the trio) "Not so fast!"

May: "Oh, come on! Even you have a lethal weapon?!"

Giovanni: "A good villain always comes prepared for the worst."

Brock: "Yeah, but that's low—even for you! I mean, we're part of a kids show for crying out loud!"

Max: "Using guns as a threat isn't very appropriate for younger viewers to be watching!"

Giovanni: "I suppose you're right about that. But this isn't anything like the show now, is it?!"

May: "Well, no. But—"

Giovanni: "Then there's really nothing wrong with doing something out of the ordinary now, is there?!" (The trio is silent) "Look, I'll make a deal with you three. Just back away from that ball and I won't shoot any of you."

Brock: "We can't do that."

Giovanni: "Oh, I'm sorry. Do you three want to die?"

May: "Of course not! It's just that we've come so far to discover the main villain's true identity. If we're going to die before we succeed, then so be it. At least we'll die trying to help those we care about."

Giovanni: (lowers his gun) "Wow; that's pretty touching, young lady."

May: "Thank you."

Giovanni: "Too bad it won't stop me from killing you." (Cocks gun) "Are there anymore last words?"

Max: "Hey, look out; there's something coming behind you!"

Giovanni: (laughs evilly) "You think I'm going to fall for something stupid like that?!"

Brock: "No, really; that robot's leg is right behind you!"

Giovanni: "What?!"

When Giovanni looked back, he saw nothing. Then, Max and Brock suddenly tackled him and tried to hold him down on the ground. The tackle caused Giovanni to drop his gun.

Giovanni: (struggling to break free) "Let go of me, damn it!"

Max: "Not a chance!"

Brock: "May, we'll hold him down! Open that ball!"

May: "Right!" (Pushes the lock on the Pokéball)

Giovanni: "No!"

After May unlocked the ball, something big with wings came out and did a dragon-like roar. The Pokémon was a Charizard! It was enraged and began blasting fire out of its mouth violently through the air. May was a little frightened by this and ran back to the others. Brock and Max released Giovanni and followed after May. Once it saw the "R" on the giant robot, the Charizard flew upwards and began to attack it.

Cream: (while still on the robot's head) "It's getting pretty dangerous up here, Cheese! Let's go back to the others!"

Cheese: "Chao!" (They both fly down)

Jessie: (as the robot is being attacked) "What the hell is going on out there?!"

James: (looks outside the head) "It's that Charizard we stole from Professor Oak's lab! The twerps must've released it while we were distracted by that rabbit girl!"

Meowth: "And now, it's really pissed at us for capturing it!"

Jessie: "What are we going to do?!"

James: "I don't know, but I hope the boss has a trick up his sleeve to save us!"

Meowth: "Me, too!"

Giovanni was able to stand back up after Brock and Max released him. He looked up and saw Charizard attacking the robot. The dragon Pokémon soon became a little more violent—blasting the robot with a Flamethrower attack and hitting it a few times with its tail. Giovanni went to where his gun was, thinking he could try to shoot down Charizard. He managed to pick up the gun, but just before he could aim it, the robot suddenly caught on fire! Then, Charizard hit it so hard that the machine began to fall backwards, with the Team Rocket trio screaming inside. The giant flaming robot fell toward Giovanni, who (upon realizing there was no way of avoiding it) then shouted, "No…!" The giant robot crushed Giovanni, and then exploded!

Sean and the heroes had gone to the far side of the headquarters after the Charizard began its violent attacking on Team Rocket's giant robot and took cover behind some boxes right when the machine exploded, with the Team Rocket trio heard shouting, "We're blasting off again…!" Once the explosion faded, Sean and the heroes came out of their hiding place and walked over to where the now-destroyed robot was. Charizard then swooped down in front of them.

Charizard: (gruff voice, through telepathy) "Ah; it feels good to be out of that prison ball."

Misty: (surprised) "Whoa; a Charizard that uses telepathy?"

Brock: "That explains why Team Rocket stole it from Professor Oak's lab."

Ash: "Yeah. But I thought only legendary Pokémon could use telepathy. Or at least, that's how it goes for our bigger adventures."

Charizard: "I'm sorry for my destruction. I just wanted to pay back the bad guys who forcefully captured and imprisoned me inside that ball."

Sean: "No need to apologize."

Ash: "Yeah; we're glad those creeps are gone."

Charizard: "So am I. Who's the one who freed me from that prison ball?"

Brock: "That would be May, standing right next to me."

Charizard: "Would this 'May' step forward, please?"

May: "Okay…" (Walks up to Charizard)

Charizard: "Thank you so much for freeing me. I am truly grateful."

May: "Don't mention it. I'm just willing to help out those in need."

Charizard: "Glad to hear. And again, thank you." (Licks May's face)

May: (slightly disgusted) "You're welcome…"

Sean: "Hey, Charizard, why don't you head back to Professor Oak's laboratory while the rest of us finish things here?"

Charizard: "Sure. I got my revenge; so farewell." (Fly's out through the opened roof)

Dawn: "That was one truly interesting Charizard."

May: (wiping her face) "Yeah…interesting."

Batman: "Well, that's taken care of. Can we move on now?"

Sean: "Not just yet. Krystal, was Charizard the one you sensed was calling for help?"

Krystal: "No; that Charizard had a pretty gruff voice. The one I sensed calling for help sounded more like a little boy."

Fox: "A little boy?"

Brock: "Wait; James said there was a human hostage here, along with a rare Pokémon! Maybe we should find them before we leave."

Batman: (becoming impatient) "You're kidding, right?"

Sean: "No, Brock's right. I think freeing hostages here is the least we could do for defeating Team Rocket!"

Batman: (gives an annoyed sigh) "Fine…"

Sean: "Krystal, can you sense where the hostages are?"

Krystal: "Hmm…" (Uses her telepathy) "They're up those stairs, behind the spinning chair."

Sean: "Alright! Let's go up, guys!"

Sean and the heroes went up the stairs. When they made it to the top and looked behind the spinning chair, they saw only a wall. Ash then noticed Giovanni's remote on the floor. He picked it up, pressed a button, and the wall suddenly opened—revealing a creature in a cage and a bag squirming next to it. The creature in the cage was Lucario, a very rare Aura Pokémon.

Lucario: (telepathically) "At last, rescuers have arrived!"

Ash: "It's a Lucario!"

Brock: "And it speaks through telepathy, too."

Krystal: "Interesting."

Sean: "Hey, Lucario; before we release you from that cage, is there someone in that squirming bag on the floor?"

Lucario: "Yes. There's a young boy in there."

Sean: "A young boy, huh? Hey, Ash, Brock, open that bag."

Ash & Brock: "Okay!" (They walk over to the squirming bag)

When Ash and Brock untied the bag, it revealed Christopher Thorndyke, Sonic's human friend from Sonic X. The boy started breathing heavily after being released from the bag.

Sonic: "It's Chris!"

Chris: (Griffin) "What about me?"

Sean: "Not you! This boy is also named Chris! Or rather, Christopher."

Chris: "Oh."

Sonic: "Chris, are you OK?"

Christopher: (takes a deep breath) "Yeah, I'm fine. Did you come to rescue me, Sonic?"

Sonic: (rubs the back of his head) "Well, to be honest, I didn't even know you were here."

Christopher: "You didn't?"

Sean: "None of us did, actually."

Christopher: "Oh. Well, thank you anyway."

Sonic: "Actually, now that I think of it, Shadow and Rouge mentioned earlier that one of the villains had a friend of mine held captive. They didn't say which friend it was, though."

Christopher: "Well, either way, I'm really glad to see again, Son—" (Tries to stand up, but then suddenly trips and grabs hold his right leg)

Sonic: "Chris!" (Catches him) "What's wrong?"

Christopher: (uneasily) "It's…my leg…"

Sean: (notices "blood" on Christopher's right leg) "What happened to your leg?"

Christopher: "One of Dr. Eggman's robots shot me with its gun hand."

Amy: (gasps) "You mean Gamma did that to you?!"

Christopher: "Yeah. Dr. Eggman captured me while I was searching for chaos emeralds. When I wouldn't cooperate, he had Gamma shoot me in the leg. Then, they put me in that bag and sent it here."

Sonic: "Why were you looking for the chaos emeralds?"

Christopher: "Well, since I couldn't find you or the others, I didn't know what else to do."

Sonic: "I see. How long were you in that bag?"

Christopher: "About two hours. Even though I could breathe, the bag wasn't filled with good air."

Lucario: "Hey! You haven't forgotten about me, have you?!"

Sean: "Oh, right—Lucario! How do you open that cage?"

Lucario: "There's a switch on the wall right next to you."

Sean: (sees the switch) "You mean this one?" (Pulls switch and cage opens, freeing Lucario)

Lucario: (exits cage) "Thanks for freeing me. I've been trapped in there for over an hour."

Sean: "Don't mention it."

Lucario: (walks over to Christopher) "It looks like you got hurt pretty bad, kid. You should see a doctor."

Christopher: "You're right; I've lost a lot of blood in this leg. Hey, Sonic, do you know if there's a hospital around here?"

Sonic: "Afraid not, Chris. Do you know, Sean?"

Sean: "Hmm…" (Thinks for a second) "I think we're right below the Springfield play set. Yeah, a hospital should be up there. So, if we could—"

Optimus Prime: "The Springfield hospital isn't there anymore."

Sean: "Huh?"

Optimus Prime: "The hospital was the last building that ended up destroyed during the first battle with Megatron."

Sean: "…Was there a black doctor in there when it happened?"

Optimus Prime: "No; the hospital seemed to be vacant."

Sean: "Oh, man! There are only three other hospitals around here with doctors, but they're all too far away from this location."

Lucario: "What are you going to do, then?"

Sean: "Um…" (Thinks for a second) "Batgirl, do you have any more of that first aid stuff?"

Batgirl: "Yeah, a little bit. Hold on." (Takes out first aid kit)

Cream: "Wait! Let me have that kit."

Batgirl: "…Okay." (Gives Cream the first aid kit)

Cream: "Don't worry, Chris; Cheese and I will aid you."

Cheese: "Chao!"

Christopher: "Thanks, you two."

Lucario: "I'll help, too."

Christopher: "Thanks, um…What's your name?"

Lucario: "I'm Lucario."

Christopher: "Lucario, huh? Say, how are you talking without moving your mouth?"

Lucario: "It's telepathy. You're actually hearing me with your mind."

Christopher: "Oh, really? Are you psychic or something?"

Lucario: "You could say that. Now, hold still for a moment." (Crouches and uses his aura powers on Christopher's right leg)

Christopher: "Thanks for helping. You know, it's kind of weird. I feel as though I've been shot in the leg once before."

Sonic: "You have, Chris?"

Ash: "Come to think of it, I have a feeling that you and I have met somewhere before."

Christopher: "Have we?"

Sean: "Actually, in one of my videos, you two do meet each other, and Christopher was shot in the leg during that time."

Ash: "Really? This kid was used in your videos?"

Sean: "Yeah." (To himself) "However, in the video, Christopher was shot in the leg with a sniper rifle by an assassin." (Aloud) "Hey, Cream and Cheese, how about you two begin helping Lucario fix Christopher's leg?"

Cream: "Right!"

Cheese: "Chao!"

As Cream, Cheese, and Lucario treated Christopher's leg wound, Sean checked his watch and realized he and the heroes have been in the headquarters for almost twenty minutes, meaning that they had to leave soon. But he also realized that they didn't find out anything.

Sean: "Hey, Christopher, did Dr. Eggman or any other villain mention anything about a special disk or a man in a dark mask?"

Christopher: "I didn't hear anything about a special disk, but one villain did say something about a man in a dark mask, whom they referred to as 'master'."

Batman: "Did they mention their 'master's' name?"

Christopher: (shakes his head) "No, they didn't."

Batman: "Damn."

Sean: "Did you hear anything else, Christopher?"

Christopher: "Well, while I was inside the bag, I heard a villain mention something about a place called the Krusty Krab."

Sonic: "Krusty Krab?"

SpongeBob: (gasps) "Oh, no! That's the name of a restaurant Squidward and I work at!"

Sonic: "This 'Krusty Krab' is the restaurant you mentioned earlier?"

SpongeBob: "Yes!"

Sean: "Thank you, Christopher! Okay, everyone, it looks like our next destination is Bikini Bottom—home of SpongeBob and his pals! Let's go!"

Sonic: "Wait; what about Chris?!"

Lucario: "Yeah; it could take a while before his wound can be healed completely!"

Sean: "But we need to get going!"

Cream: "It's OK! You guys can leave now if you want while Cheese and I stay here to continue treating Chris's leg."

Sean: "Are you sure you wouldn't mind staying behind again, Cream?"

Cream: "Of course not. One battle was good enough for me and Cheese, so we'll take a little break."

Sean: "Alright; if you say so. But come and find us when you're done here, because we might need you again."

Cream: "Sure thing!"

Cheese: "Chao!"

Sean: "Okay, that's settled. Cream and Cheese stay here, and the rest of us, to Bikini Bottom!"

Heroes: "Yeah!" (They start to leave)

Sean: "Let's go, Sonic!"

Sonic: "Right! See you later, Chris." (Puts Christopher down gently and leaves)

Christopher: "See you later, Sonic!"

Cream: "Good luck, everyone!"

As Sean and the heroes were about to leave the headquarters, they saw that the entrance was still sealed off by an iron gate. Luckily, Ash still had Giovanni's remote in his hand. He pressed a button that unsealed the entrance. With that done, Ash put the remote aside as he and the others left Team Rocket's headquarters while Cream and Cheese stayed behind with Lucario to heal Christopher's leg wound.

A/N: After 10 long months, Action Figures has returned! WOO! Don't worry; I didn't forget about this story. I just haven't been able to find the time to actually work on it lately due to life and circumstances beyond my control. ^^; But things in my life are a lot less crazy now, so hopefully, I can share more chapters/scenes soon (at least one more before 2022 ends). ^^

Anyway, this part was both fun and hard to write. Fun because I enjoyed having characters other than just Ash Ketchum and his friends take on Team Rocket, as well as making fourth wall jokes at the Pokémon anime. XD But hard because I had difficulty explaining some aspects of the battle (I've mentioned before that I'm not great with those), as well as deciding which characters get a chance to talk. :S Also, you might notice that this is one of the longer parts of Act IV (took up almost 20 pages believe it or not), which was another reason for the hardness. :B Well, even though Sean and the heroes still haven't found what they're looking for, at least a few callbacks like which Pokémon Team Rocket stole from Professor Oak's lab and which friend of Sonic's was being held captive were answered. So that's SOMETHING, right? *shrug*

Btw, sorry for not including other Pokémon besides Ash's Pikachu and Dawn's Piplup with the Hero Toys. The truth is Ash's human friends come and go throughout the anime series and rarely keep the same Pokémon in each season/generation; so it was hard to determine which ones would've stayed with them the longest (plus I couldn't remember whether or not May had her Blaziken with her during her guest appearance in the Diamond & Pearl saga). Even though Brock, Misty, May, and Max were technically part of this battle, I hope the fact that they didn't have any Pokémon with them nor did any official fighting didn't make them appear to be rather useless (if they did, apologies once again). Oh, and if you're wondering about the actual fate of Jessie, James, and Meowth...it's hard to determine, really. But in any case (and slight spoiler), the Team Rocket trio doesn't appear again for the rest of the story.

Now for a few things:
1. Some fans probably don't know this, but it's been occasionally shown throughout the Sonic franchise that despite her age and height, Cream the Rabbit seems to have some form of super strength; most notably in Sonic Heroes where she's able to carry both Amy Rose and Big the Cat while in flight. Cheese the Chao has also occasionally shown to be quite strong despite his size. So it should make some sense that both Cream and Cheese would be able to cause at least a dent on a large machine.
2. There's an ironic fact about what's being said while Giovanni threatens Brock, May and Max with a gun. While the Pokémon anime IS technically a kids show, there's different rules on what's considered appropriate for its targeted audience in Japan and America. In Japan, certain things such as swearing and the use of guns are not considered inappropriate for younger viewers like they are in the US. And there have been several occasions in the anime—mostly during the first few seasons as far as I know—where guns were involved, with most of them being cut out in the English dub. (One infamous episode's use of guns was so heavy, it never got dubbed in English.) So whether the characters are referring to the original Japanese version of the Pokémon anime or the English dub is not very clear. :p
3. Originally, the Charizard wasn't going to speak through telepathy until Krystal used her powers on it. But thinking it over, and unless I missed something from Star Fox Adventures, I don't think Krystal's powers work that way. I may have certain characters being OOC for this story, but I have to keep at least SOME form of accuracy to them. In any case, I decided to have the Charizard naturally have the ability to speak through telepathy instead, which is a better reason why Team Rocket stole it from Professor Oak's lab.
4. A bit of an unpopular opinion, but I DON'T hate Christopher Thorndyke. He's not one of my favorite Sonic characters, but I don't find him as bad as many fans claim him to be. Sure, Christopher wasn't so great during the first season and a half of Sonic X where he was often whiny, useless, and hogging much of the spotlight. But he got better (or at least a lot more tolerable) during the second half of Season 2, and especially in Season 3, where he was more mature and helpful to Sonic and friends. So if you expected Christopher Thorndyke to mercilessly tortured or worse...you came to the wrong story. :/
5. In addition to 4, regarding Christopher Thorndyke and Ash Ketchum being in one of Sean's stop-motion videos together, I don't know if I mentioned this before, but once the main AF story is done, I will share what all of the videos prior to the events were. So look forward to those sometime in the future. ;)

Any feedback is accepted, including fair constructive criticism (but petty hate will NOT be tolerated! :x)

That all being said, I hope you enjoy and stay tuned for more! :) Next stop is Bikini Bottom! :D