THE MYSTERY OF BABA YEGA-CHAPTER 9
By Red Star
NOTE: I do not own Pokemon and I thank Dragoness for allowing me to twist her story around a bit.
"The final move is about to begin," Baba Yega nodded at the Prince's declaration. "Come, let us take our places,"
"Delia, please, I would just like to talk…" "Giovanni, we are beyond talking now!"
"But I…" "I knew it, I just knew I should have put my foot down the first time I heard your men were after Ash, but I didn't want to traumatize him. You know why, Giovanni?" "But, De-…" "Because he worshipped the ground you walked on! You have no idea how much he loved you, and you know why? Because you were never there!!"
Giovanni gulped and looked down at the ground. He had caught up to his wife in a small richly decorated drawing room in the Emperor's apartments; a massive pillar in the center had mirrors that reflected the enraged wife and besieged husband. "Delia, I just want…"
But Mrs. Ketchum was turning away. Giovanni became irritated then and ran over and grabbed her arm. "Delia," he said calmly, looking her in the eye, "I would just like to talk," She looked at him with anger in her eyes, but nodded in agreement. They went over and sat on a gold-bordered couch. "Now, Delia," he began, "I know that you are disappointed with me; and I have to say I can't blame you.
"Before I met you, Mother was the Leader of Team Rocket. You know as well as I do that she was an unpleasant woman when you met her, she had been that way all her life and I don't believe she even tried to soften a little when I was born. I always swore to myself that I would be ten times the father then she was a mother.
"I do love Ash, it's just that I couldn't try to stop Jessie and James for the same reason you never told him about me."
Her face hardened and her eyes gained that fiery look Giovanni had only previously in Jessie.
Her hand reached for a nearby object as she hissed, "I can't believe I wasted my time…"
"HEY! HEY!" The Ketchum's turned to see the Emperor Dane I jog up to them with panic in his eyes. "Mrs. Ketchum, I know you're upset but please don't smash my 17th Century Chinese vase against your husband's head." He carefully plucked it out of her hands and set it down. "Sir, I have something to tell you about my husband…" Dane glanced at her, "You're cousins?" "What? No!" He sighed with relief. " Good, you won't believe how many visitors come here like that…" Mrs. Ketchum took a deep breath. "Giovanni is leader of Team Rocket." The Emperor blinked once, as if lacking of recognition. "You know, Team Rocket? The Pokemon thieves?" Giovanni shook his head. "It's no use, Delia, he's probably forgotten about us; his secret police drove us out of Russia a year ago," Finally, an emotion came across the Emperor's face, "Oh, now I remember. I had to silence a few of your guys from telling the press about my gu… Never-mind." He picked himself up and looked at the two. "I told that Nekiro…thing to round you up, but I just found him flirting with my housemaid, Natasha," he shook his head, "Poor woman smells like an Ivysaur during mating season." He then looked into Mrs. Ketchum's eyes. "Nekiro found Ash in the Urals, my plane is waiting for you at Moscow Airport…"
Three An-124s flew alongside the Emperor's plane as they headed toward Narodnaya SKYSHIELD station's airstrip.
SOME TIME LATER…
"All right, listen up," ordered the Battalion commander. The group had landed at an Imperial Air Force Base. Brock and Richie leaned against a wall, listening with interest as the situation was explained and the strategy revealed. "The compound has one dirt road, leaving the area almost completely isolated. This may have helped them to guard against mischievous children, but we're going to make them regret it.
"I want a Lieutenant and three men to dress in civvies and hike up to the gates, acting lost. While they distract the guards, an explosives platoon will come up from behind and plant explosives on the back wall. The distracting team will be signaled to leave by an orange smoke flare on this peak here," he tapped said peak, "Once the team is clear, two Mil-24 gunships will approach along the front gate and blow open the front wall. Once this is complete, three companies will attack the hole and engage the guards. When the posts in the rear are vacant, the explosives will be detonated and the next three companies will attack from the rear. The objective: Engage the enemy while Lieutenant General Ivan Nikolov and Miss. Sabrina take action to rescue Ash Ketchum," Brock was somewhat surprised to hear rumblings of surprise and amazement rumble across the room. "All right, prepare your men and get going,"
"Now, after the rescue…" said the Emperor, "…We have a portable Revitalizing Unit here," he slapped a microwave sized metal box, "If he's harmed in any way, this baby will help him along, albeit a little slower than the larger versions," Misty, clutching her Togepi tightly to her chest glanced inside the machine. "When did you guys build this?"
Dane smiled at her. "Actually, funny enough, the Soviets did. They developed it for teams of Arcanines they used to help root out landmines. They were going to introduce it into the open market in 1992, but the Soviet Union collapsed and the Federation didn't have any money to produce it." Misty nodded. "Do you think Ash will be alright?"
The Emperor shrugged. "Most likely, he would be useless dead,"
THE NEXT MORNING, OUTSIDE POLOSEV'S COMPOUND
The forest shuffled and four eyes peeked out from the bush upon the concrete wall surrounding the compound. "There it is," "Geez, how'd we miss this thing?" "Yeah, you'd think MGB has enough eyes to spare to look for big freakin' forts like this,"
"Quiet! Everyone, act casual,"
Out of the woods emerged the four soldiers, wearing civilian hiking clothes and backpacks stuffed with camping gear in case the guards inspected the packs.
They stopped at the roadside and dragged out a map and began talking in hurried tones. The guards at the gates observed them closely. To them, it looked like they were arguing over directions. Then, the group of travelers turned and walked up to them. One of the guards whispered into his radio, "Request assistance at the gate, unidentified group approaching."
In back, the guards on patrol received the message and ran for the gate.
"Finally…" Six Camouflaged soldiers crawled out from the forest toward the wall.
In a few minutes, explosives were now attached to the concrete wall and the radio detonation device flipped on. Now all that would be needed would be a push of the button.
The Russians at the gate had directed the visitors on to the next town.
They returned to their positions and went on with the daily routine.
Until a heavy chopping sound thundered through the air…
Ash awoke from his exhausted sleep to the sound of screams and machine gun fire. He heard boots scraping across the ground of the compound and the screams of dying men. Rockets slammed into something and the sound of crackling fire roared up. Then even more gunfire rose as the sky began to darken and shouts rang through the air.
Urrah! Urrah! Urrah!
The Prince watched the advance from the safety of the forest's darkness. "Carefully now, Little Grandmother, a single twitch and it's all over…"