Chapter 4

Chapter 4

X

I don't own Master X. His stuff doesn't say I can't use his character, so he is in here, because I need a psychic master with an energy blade and an ability to fight well. I also don't own Team Revelation, and they make an appearance. And Goddish knows what type of scum creature owns UMJ, probably Muk, and I'm glad I don't own him.

"Who was that?"

"Let's just say the Rockets know we're coming."

"Not good." The chopper landed, and we boarded.

"How are we gonna find this place?" David asked.

"I'll know when we get there, and besides, if this guy wants a fight so bad, he'll make it obvious," I replied. As we flew off, I ordered the pilot to where I knew our battle had to begin. Shadow City. The Shadow Gym was a place darker than the psychic temple, and no plants grew near it. It was dismal. A black kid stood by the door, twirling a gun on his finger, a sniper rifle strapped to his back. People passed the gym on the street, but steered clear of him. He was a henchman of some sort, I could feel it. We approached him, and suddenly there was a gun in my face.

"Who you be?" he growled.

"Who asks."

"I be UMJ, da rapper man, so you can suck my fat..." I cut him off.

"That'll be enough Mr. IMGay, or whatever." He lapsed into a cheesy rap,

"I be UMJ,

Dat be All I say,

I rap, rap, rap,

And you be thinking I'm crap!"

"That's cause you are," Snowflake said, under his breath. The kid couldn't even rap. He was really bad at being an evil rapper.

"What you call me, fuzzy head white-ass boy?"

"I called you crap." Now he had stopped sounding black altogether, and had just started being ridiculous.

"Ok, I be needing to kill you... Hello, ladies!" he started, noticing Sabrina, Kim, and Megan off to one side. His hand reached out towards the foremost, Kim's, midriff, but was stopped by a psychic grip I held him in. I flung him back, and crinkled the barrels on his guns, he pulled out the sniper rifle, fired, and caught a small explosion in his face. He fell over, and, stumbling, stood up and took a swing at no one in particular, I psyburned him lightly, not killing him, just hurting him a bit.

"Rockets!" Someone yelled, seeing the psychic fire. Four kids rushed up, wearing strange modified Rocket uniforms.

"You must be the infamous Team Revelation," I said.

"How do you know?" Asked the leader.

"Well, I'm psychic, and it says it on your shirt."

"James, meet Ryan, Daven, Garrett, and Jennifer," Sabrina said.

"Hold on a second, love. You know these people?"

"Sure we worked for a while when you were gone from the Gym on business."

"Why didn't you tell me when I got back."

"Well, I don't know."

"This is starting to sound like fanfiction again!" Russell yelled.

"Can we be sure you're not Rockets?"

"Yeah, they've pulled some tricks on us before, and it's not happening again.

"I wasn't expecting this from the good guys!" I yelled. Sabrina grabbed a pokeball. I did as well.

"Wait!" my pokedex beeped. I turned it on. Professor Oak, looking frantic, filled the screen.

"What, Oak?"

"It appears you have met Team Revelation, as your tracking systems are at the same location. They are my counter measure against Rocket threats, and have been wakened after 30 years of hypersleep, in order to defeat these Rockets. You will have to combine forces, if you wish to win.

"You're here to fight the Rockets?," I asked Ryan. He nodded.

"Coincidence, us too."

"Ry-chan, we would be stronger, with them to help us. It'd help, Do you think we should work in teams?" asked Jennifer. He thought for a moment, "yeah, sure."

"Thanks," I said, shaking his hand, "I'm Pokemon Ranger J, this is Ranger D, Megan, Snowflake, Russell, Brian and Kim. And you've already met my wife, Sabrina."

"So you got hitched?" Daven asked.

"Yeah, about a month ago." I thought of something.

"Hey, Ryan, did you guys get contacted by this guy?" I asked, showing a screen capture of the mysterious psychic.

"Hey, that's the guy that said he'd kill me for meddling with the Rockets!" Ryan replied. Team Revelation went for the door of the Gym, stepping on the recovering UMJ. He passed out again. I teleported us to the roof.

"Where did you meet these guys?" asked Kim.

"At my Gym, they came to see me," Sabrina replied.

"Well, these guys better be good, we're going to need the help," I said.

"I heard that! And we are good!" yelled Garrett, from the door below us. I cut a hole in the roof with my Psyblade, and we dropped into darkness.

We made out way along the dark corridor until we reached a throne room. There was a shaft leading down into the ground in the middle of the room. Team Revelation was entering as we walked towards it.

"To protect the world from Demonic Power!"

"To rescue people in their darkest hour!"

"To pronounce the power of our Creator's love!"

"This is sounding like a TV evangelist convention!" Snowflake whispered.

"Like I said, could we be a little quieter Reverend Ryan?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry."

"We're supposed to be stealthy with these guys following us?" Kim asked.

"Don't give 'em a hard time, they helped Sabrina, and we can trust them," I told her.

"Hey, Revs, um, aren't there supposed to be more of you? I mean, I've heard stories..."

"Yeah, but when we were frozen, they elected to remain behind and keep the world safe until they needed us in full force. They're almost fifty now, and with us back, they can retire." With this the four dropped down the hole, rappelling on ropes that had appeared, like this was a fanfic. We followed, hovering down, using Sabrina and my psychic power. Kim, Brian, Snowflake, and David stayed up top as backup and lookout, and they scouted out the Shadow Gym. We hovered down, past the Revs. They rappelled down quickly, but not as quickly as two psychics at full speed. I was free to use my psychic power here, because, if psychic dampeners were used, they would dampen 'the greatest psychic's' power, too. I wished I knew who he was. I'd find out soon enough. Then I sensed another presence, one I hated, Darien. Damn, that kid got around. Maybe I'd kill him, and he wouldn't become a recurring character. Wait, this was starting to sound really like fanfiction! I was getting suspicious. Well, I guess I'd have to live with it. Darien was close. We reached bottom, I raised my hands, and we landed. Russell pulled out a repeating pistol. Casey dropped down behind, he looked queasy. Megan pulled out her secret weapon, wait, no, that was lipstick. Casey recovered, and stood, shakily, he pulled out his favorite weapon, a special computer. It was three inches wide, and keyed to brain waves, so he could work at the speed of thought. He hooked into the mainframe, and downloaded a virtual map, which he loaded into my wrist mounted 3-D mapper. The entire process took about thirteen point eight seconds. He was too fast to notice or trace. I turned it on, and viewed the floor we were on. It was huge, maybe four miles wide, and ten long. It would be a tough battle, there were many mechanical defenses, and forty more levels, each increasingly larger. This would take time, which we didn't have enough of. The Revs landed. They ran off in one direction.

"Heading straight for a machine gun barrier. Bad career decision," I said, looking at the map. Ryan raised a hand, and the group stopped.

"What?"

"You'll be blown to pieces, we just saved you, be thankful."

"Well, uh, thanks."

"Follow us, this way." We headed down a smaller corridor, which the map said lead to a storage room, which had a utility access elevator in it, which went down to any floor. We came to the door of the room. Casey hooked in and keyed it open. It was pitch black inside.

"Casey, we need light."

"I'm on it." The lights flashed on.

"And God said, 'let there be light,'" Garrett said, smiling approvingly. We entered. I heard footsteps in the hall.

"Casey, lights out time, everybody, night vision goggles," I ordered. The lights went off, and my team slipped on their goggles. I locked into the Revs brains, letting them see in the dark.

"Huh?" Asked Jennifer at the sudden change.

"Night vision, courtesy of me," I said. We ducked behind some crates. Two Rockets walked in.

"Good, only two," Megan said. Then a squad of Rockets followed. The door closed and locked. They spread out.

"Master X said he felt their presence here," the Rocket leader said. One came up behind us, but I sensed him too late.

"Got 'em!" They all pulled guns. The Revs were already gone. I pulled out my pistols and let the Rockets eat some hyper speed bullets. The Revs appeared atop a high crate, and some mysterious music started. They started the motto. We kept firing.

"To Protect the world from Demonic Power!" We shot some more Rockets.

"To Rescue people in their darkest hour!" I double rolled on the ground, coming up next to Russell.

"Isn't it amazing how they aren't getting hit?" I said, pointing toward the Revs.

"Yeah, this is like, fanfiction or something!"

"To pronounce the power of our Creators Love!" I shot a few more Rockets.

"To extend that truth to the stars above!" I Psybladed several Rockets

"Ryan!"
"Devan!"

"Garrett!"

"The Toilet of Sadness!" yelled Casey.

"Casey!" I growled, "at least let them finish their motto!" I said harshly. Jennifer grimaced.

"And don't forget Jennifer!"

"Who can, she talks too much," Sabrina muttered.

"We are Team Revelation, sworn defenders of the gospel of Jesus Christ!" I flying-backwards-roundhoused another Rocket into oblivion.

"Give up! God has already won this figh..." They trailed off, realizing all the Rockets were in several pieces on the floor.

"We could have used the help," I said. They jumped down, surveying the damage.

"Ever heard of 'Thou Shalt Not Kill?'" asked Devan.

"What, let 'em live, then they'll alert the leader."

"He won't notice when thirty of his men go missing?"

"He'll know, but he won't know how many of us there are. He'll think there are more than what we have. He'll be scared."

"He'll raise security." Garrett said.

"We can handle more Rockets."

"Let's get ready.

We welded the door shut and opened the door of the elevator. I opened my mind to my power. I searched the place for the leader, 'X.'

"He's doing it again, that psychic stuff."

"Well, it's either God's power inside that he's discovered, or Satan's."

"Actually, I'm as non-psychic as you are, Ryan. My power was imparted to me."

"Huh?" he was caught off guard, not expecting me to talk.

"I was given it. I was a perfectly normal person, than I was given my power, by an Alakazam Tribe, in the jungle. I moved in with Sabrina's family when I was three. I adopted the Psychic culture. It's pretty weird, but it's the way I live now."

"That's interesting. You mean, that we too, could be given psychic power?"
­­"Yes, actually, quiet meditation will bring out your inner psychic power, a power that everyone has. If you work with it well, you can become as powerful as Sabrina, or me, or whoever is running this Rocket station."

"Wouldn't that be against God though?"

"Not if you used it for His work."

"God works in mysterious ways."

"Don't I know it. There have been times, times I needed help, when I prayed to every God I'd ever heard of to help me. And then, then I believed. The Psychic religion is based around Pokemon. We not really worship them, but respect them fro their powers. Level 32, room 1278."

"Huh?" asked Ryan.

"That's where their boss is, the Dark Man."

"James, we're ready," my wife said. We jumped down the shaft, again hovering, followed by our non-psychic friends.

28, 29, 30, 31, 32, this was it. I kicked the door open. We floated into a room, similar to the one we had just left. I landed, as did Sabrina and the others. Casey knelt and threw up.

"I hate that floating!"

"As I see." The Revs came in too. They pulled out pokeballs. I pulled out my Psyblade.

"Pokemon won't help in this battle. They'd get slaughtered. They can take a few Rockets, but to many will overwhelm them. I'm warning you now," I tossed Ryan a handgun, "I hope you know how to use this." The others in my group surrendered a handgun, until each Rev had one.

"I know how to use it, but the Pokemon'll do, we have the Genesis stone, and it powers pokemon up very well."

"Ok, but be careful, with yourselves, and your little friends. Then I sliced through the door and we headed out into a throne room, similar to the one in the Gym.

"Welcome, Kojiro, to your doom." A young man, my age, sat on the throne, his face barely visible. He had an energy blade in his hand. It ignited, and it shone black. It was a rod of nothingness. I ignited my purple blade. Why purple? It's the color of the Psychic Energy in Pokemon Cards. We squared off. The Revs backed out, and went down the halls, looking for Rockets to defeat, buying us time with a risky distraction. Sabrina ignited her blade, a crimson one, ready to help if I needed it. Casey logged into a computer terminal and contacted Ash and the league, who didn't know we were here.

"Who are you?" I asked, tightening my grip on the blade's handle.

"I am Master X, the last thing you'll ever see." He shifted stances, and his black leather jacket changed positions, revealing several handguns. He swung at me, and I parried. I jumped, psychically fueled, up, twelve feet. I spun in the air, and brought my blade down at him. He blocked it easily. This guy was good. I spun again, and he sliced the air where I had stood, milliseconds before. I gave a combination swinging attack. He ran toward me, and jumped. He flew over me, and at Sabrina. She blocked his attacks easily.

"How about, if you join me, I won't kill him, baby?"

"Who are you calling 'baby?'" She pulled a complicated attack, and knicked his right arm. He grimaced, but was otherwise unfazed.

"I'll let you live, and, hey, if I liked you enough, you could join my other concubines."

"She's married, asshole." I swung in at him, and he turned his attention from her, and back to me. He flung a dark psychic fireball at her, and she tried to block with the blade, but, because of its dark composition, couldn't. I psyburned him, but he reflected it, I ducked, and it hit the wall above Casey.

"Watch it, evil dude!" I took the distraction's advantage, and attacked fiercely. He parried.

"I know something you don't know," I said.

"What?"

"I'm immortal, to sum it up. Because I came through a temporal variance, I have been broken from my place in the web of life. Sabrina too, we'll live forever.

"I know something you don't know," He said, smirking.

"What?"

"Me too."

"Well, don't that just take the cake," I said, changing tactics, and teleporting the blade from my hand and into his chest. He fell.

"It's not over yet...." he choked, going into a healing trance. I withdrew my blade and hurried over to Sabrina and Casey. We were about to start a self-destruct sequence when I heard the voice.

"James, my worst enemy, Sabrina, my dearest love. I'm back!" Darien strode into the arena, the pheromones just running off him. He was clad in black only. And he was carrying a psyblade, the one that had killed Dave, the Pikachu thief. He ignited it.

"Hey Sabrina, after I kill him, then, if you're lucky, I'll make you into my consort. My, won't that be fun? I can see it now, I'd just snap my fingers and you'd come in and..."

"That's quite enough, Darien. What makes you think you can kill me? I won last time, and all the times before that."

"Well, actually there was this time while Sabrina was evil, actually, quite a few times, where we got to know each other quite well. Looks like you didn't win that one, did you, James? Isn't that right, my dear?"

"You can kiss my Psyblade, Darien!" Sabrina yelled.

"Darien, she's married now."

"Soon she'll be a widow."

"That's what your friend said," I said, pointing towards X.

"What friend?" I looked, X was gone. Darien ignited his weapon. I ignited mine. We clashed.

"You know, James, I'm going to win this time."

"Why?" I asked, blocking a low shot.

"I've been training against simulations of you, and all the other great psyblade masters. I'm so good now, I always win."

"Simulations mean nothing." The battle joined, and we caught each other with vicious psyblade swipes. Master X's personal attendants, flocked by guards, entered the throne room. Sabrina ignited her blade and went after them. Megan changed into an Alakazam, and flung Rockets around the room. Then she changed again, into Mewtwo, and let them have a psyburning. Darien and I parried and struck, neither winning, both knowing that one mistake would decide the match. Casey pulled out an automatic pistol and fired. Darien and I fought. Slash for slash, cut for cut. My both of my arms, and left leg were slightly grazed by his blade. He was cut on his right side, and his left cheek. He slashed, I parried. He came at me, swinging frantically, bluffing, I knew, and switched into a direct attack. We clashed again. The Rockets were winning the other fight by pure numbers when the Revs showed up. Pokemon came out, as did Rocket pokemon. Battles, not following any direct rules, followed. Darien and I fought. He pulled a terribly clever move, swinging, changing direction, and teleporting his blade, throwing my blade out of my hands. He stuck his blade into my face. I could feel the warmth of it, burning my hair. He decided to make that last little speech that the bad guys always make.

"You see, James, I win. I always knew I would. I get everything I've ever wanted, you dead, instant access to all the Pokemon data files," he motioned to my masterdex, "the death of those pesky Mercs, and your wife, Sabrina. Oh, sweet Sabrina, I've waited for this day for so long. You stole her from my bed, and now I get her back."

"She'd die before sleeping with you again, Darien."

"She had no argument last time, actually, she seemed to like it."

"Darien, you're starting to get me mad. You know it gets bad when I get pissed."

"Good, that'll start you down the road to being a dark psychic. It'll be great, we can fight side by side, maybe we can share your wife."

"Over my dead body."

"I was thinking that, too."

"One thing, Darien."

"Huh?"

"Make your claims..."

"What?"

"...After I'm dead!" I called the Psyblade to me. I slashed, catching him in the neck. His head rolled off, landing at Sabrina's feet.

"Well, you got rid of him, good work."

"I'm not gone yet," Darien's head spoke. Sabrina jumped higher than I thought possible, and teleported into my arms. I walked up to the head, and kicked it.

"Oww, stop."

"Why aren't you dead?"

"Well, you see, X and I followed Sabrina through the time-portal."

"So you're invincible too?"

"You bet, you'll never get rid of me."

"Riiiight..."

"I'll get Sabrina back, and then, like the good old days, I can..." Sabrina cut the Darien-head in two.

"Thanks, I'm sick of him talking like that."

"Anytime, my love, anytime."

"Really? I don't have a real need of beheadings often, but, it's nice to know you'll be there."

We walked back towards the shaft, ready to leave. I knew X wasn't dead, and neither was Darien, but I couldn't kill them without help. We floated out of the shaft. Emerging in the first storage area, we were greeted by guards. Megan handled them, easily, with the power of Charizard. The door opened, revealing X, and special guards. He and I joined in an energy blade clash. Darien, putting his head back on, followed.

"Man, that's gonna leave a mark!" he said, heatedly. The Revs called out Pokemon.

"Charizard!"

"Alakazam!"

"Gengar!"

"Dragonite!" And their pokemon, super powered, were more than a match for any one Rocket pokemon. Then the Rockets teamed up, ten to one, and it was almost fair. Sabrina and Darien fought, psyblades clashing. X and I fought.

"Well, James, can you guess what I have in store for you now?"

"No, why don't you tell me?"

"Well, it's my invention, and it dampens all non-dark psychic power. It's an evil Generator. Diego, hit it!" I felt my power drained, and Sabrina was visibly weakened. I fought harder, but couldn't be as precise as he was, and he could read my mind, making me vulnerable. I fell back, under an extremely hard blow, m psyblade flew up, and he sliced the handle in the air, destroying it. I scrambled backwards, defenseless. I would never subject my pokemon to his Dark Abilities. Even Lugia couldn't beat him. Sabrina was in a similar situation, half of her psyblade on the floor, smoking. The Rev's pokemon were disturbed by the Evil, and weakened. This invention could not get into the Rocket Leader, Giovanni's, hands. I was not the one to stop X, though. My time had come. I sat in my meditative posture. I watched Ryan's Charizard take a terrible hit, and it fell. I felt a tear in my eye. I didn't want to leave this all behind. I was defenseless, and outnumbered. I at least wanted to go down fighting. I closed my eyes, and thought 'maybe Ryan's right.' I prayed. To his God, to mine. I knew help had come. First there was a thunder-like noise, and a screaming, like rending metal. I opened my eyes to see my Lugia, the Great Guardian, fly from its pokeball. It flew high, light gathering around it. Bullets ricocheted off it, and it came on undaunted, hyper beaming the Rockets. I smiled. And then something, like I'd never seen, appeared near the Rockets. It was barely visible. Rockets saw it, and fired. The bullets, stopped in front of it, their shapes visible, perfectly shaped, as if they had never been fired. Had I summoned this, too? No, I saw Ryan, eyes closed, concentrating. It must have been one of his God's warriors, or maybe The Warrior, an Arc-Angel, Michael. I had read of him, and had always wished it was true, my skepticism clouding my mind, that there was something to stop the evil that the Dark Psychic sects and Rockets had done. I was wrong to wish, all I needed was to believe. Michael cut through the Rockets easily, cornering Darien and X. They were lifted from the ground, and Michael's voice rang out, like the toll of a huge bell, booming.

"Do not believe, because your Dark books have guaranteed you invulnerability, that you cannot die. Your evil is overwritten by Good. I am a servant of the light, and you have violated the laws of the light, and have studied the Dark arts. If you ever harm another soul, you will be dealt with!" He dropped them. They didn't move, and just cowered on the ground. He turned to face us.

"Thank you. Thank you," was all I could mutter. I was stunned. I had always disbelieved, but, somehow, had always known, that the book had told the truth.

"Thank you, Michael," Ryan said, reverently.

"Remember my words, Ryan. 'Twas not only you who called me here."

"Who else, my siblings?" Michael shook his head.

"Yes, and no. Their prayers were with yours, but there was another." He pointed to me.

"A boy who never believed, found it in himself to trust in the Lord, and asked for help." Our savior turned to leave, but I found strength, and called out.

"Michael?"

"What, friend?"

"What about my religion? I mean, Lugia came as well. It was given power I'd never seen."

"James, Ryan, all of you, all pokemon are God's creatures, and your religion, James, is an offshoot, which does them an honor, which is repaid, through God's grace when you need it the most."

"So, our religions are the same thing, viewed in different ways?" Michael nodded.

"Each to his own, but one and the same." He faded from view, and Lugia landed, power gone, tired from battling. I pet its head.

"Thanks, Lugia."

"I had help James," It replied.

"You can talk?"

"I have the skill to communicate, yes."

"Well, that's a new one!"

We left the smoking Rocket base. Darien and X had gone, but I didn't think they would be bothering us. I had learned something today, and it would stay with me always. Ryan and the Revs had agreed to come to the Ranch so we could study the Genesis stone. Evan, days later, Michael's word rang in my head, "Each to his own, but one and the same." I would never forget what I had learned.

"Well, we have a while 'til we have to go off to the meeting, and the Mercs are at lunch, David's with Jennifer, the Revs are shopping for Pokemon Items, and Casey's surfing in the main computer lab," I said, putting my arms around Sabrina's waist. We were in the bedroom at our Mansion. She pulled back.

"What?"

"I just remembered how to keep David out."

"What's this devious plan of yours?"

"Ever heard of a lock?"

"D'oh." I lay back on the bed. She locked the door, and then came and next to me. My hands traced up her back, and then up the front of her jacket.

"Sabrina?"

"What?"

"Sorry, where're the buttons on this one?" I asked, jokingly, recalling a few past experiences.

"No buttons, you just pull it off."

"Oh, well, maybe you should take me shopping with you. I wouldn't get so confused, like this." She giggled.

"Well, maybe, but you know you hate all those designer clothes people."

"Hey, I'm your husband, I'm supposed to, but come anyway."

"Well, we have better things to do than talk about shopping, as interesting as it is."

"You're right." I kissed her. Snowflake attempted to open the door, and smacked into it.

"Not now Snowflake, I'm busy!"