PoKéMoN
Avenger by Ben Russell-Gough
Legal Disclaimer
Pokémon, the Pocket Monsters and their human friends and enemies are all the sole copyright and trademark property of Nintendo Entertainment. No breach of any copyright or legal property is intended.
Author's Notes
This is my first Pokémon fic. I don't know all the monsters or all the moves. I base my story purely on what I've seen of the cartoon. I thank all the other Pokémon writers on this board for providing plenty of inspiration.
Okay, this one is dedicated to fellow Fanfiction.NET author Charles 'RocketBoy' Reilly. You asked, Charlie, so I am going to demonstrate the reason why Giovanni isn't sweating about the response of the military to his plans. It is puzzling how many authors fail to recognise exactly how dangerous these creatures are in appropriately trained hands…
Text in [squared-off brackets] indicates the translation of a Pokémon's language into English.
Text in Italics but not in quotes indicates thoughts.
Ages: Ash is 16, nearly 17; Misty is 18; Brock is 24; Jessie and James are both 23.
Book 1 – The Last Hope
What has gone before…
Ash Ketchum was a boy who was well on the way to achieving his dreams. He had won the Pokémon Championship and was one-third of the way to claiming the rank of Master Trainer. Then his mother and his mentor, Professor Samuel Oak, faced him with the dark secrets of his past. The leader of the terrorist group Team Rocket, Giovanni de Rocketti, was in fact a man named Joseph Oak, his father. Professor Oak also revealed that Giovanni possessed an uncanny power with Pokémon that made him invincible in battle. Only one other Trainer had that power, only one other could beat him: Ash Ketchum, his son.
While Ash tried to come to terms with this fact and desperately tried to find a way to avoid having to fight Giovanni, his father was acting to deal with the threat to his power that his son represented. He replaced the agents who had previously opposed Ash, Jessie and James, with more brutal agents, Butch and Cassidy. He assigned these killers a squad of 'Black Rocket' grunts to assist them in their new assignment: Kill Ash Ketchum. As a dry run, he had them attack a mansion near Veridian City, James' home. With his parents murdered by his own colleagues, James immediately quit Team Rocket and, with Jessie, swore revenge.
Meanwhile, Butch and Cassidy moved against Ash. Although Misty and he survived the attack, another friend, Tracey Sketchitt, was killed. Realising that his father was determined to destroy him, Ash decided that he had to follow the destiny indicated by Professor Oak. Along with Misty and Brock, and now allied with Jessie and James, he determines to destroy Team Rocket and stop his father once and for all…
***
Everyone was busy attending to his or her equipment for a moment, pulling on backpacks and attaching Pokéballs to their bandoleers. "Professor," Ash said, walking over. "I'd like you to look after this for me, until I get back." Ash pulled off his battered League Cap and handed it to Oak.
"Your cap?" Oak asked. "Won't you need it, Ash? I thought it was your lucky charm or something."
Ash laughed good-naturedly. "It was a lucky charm for me when I was a League Trainer," he agreed. "But I'm not one of those right now." Ash's expression darkened for a second. "I'm a soldier now, going off to fight in the wars." He shook his head and gestured airily at the cap. "If… when I get back, I'll be a Trainer again, then I'll need the cap. Not until then."
He nodded in thanks and went over to join his allies. Oak stood straight and, responding to a surprising urge, hugged Delilah, who was trying to keep herself from crying. "Good fortune, my son," she called out. "Come back to me safe and well."
Ash turned around, pausing in the act of putting his sunglasses on. "Hey, it's me," he assured her with that maddening confident smile of his. He nodded once, turned back to his four allies and addressed them. "Everybody ready?" he asked as he put on his sunglasses. There was a chorus of 'ready' and a few chirps from Pokémon. "Alright then," Ash said in a firm tone, settling his pack to his shoulder, "let's go to war."
And now the continuation…
Chapter 5 – The Last Hope
The day had begun peacefully enough at Team Rocket's Viridian City staging area. The massive building looked like a medieval castle with four mighty corner towers with a low dome-like main building slung in between.
Inside the main Control Centre a newly promoted member of Team Rocket's elite, 'Red Rocket' force watched over his small empire like a predator. Around him, grey-uniformed technicians and dark-grey-uniformed 'Grunts' worked or hurried on their assigned tasks. Despite the level of urgency of the work underway, Viridian Base remained an orderly place. Clark smiled and promised to himself that it would remain that way.
Truth be told, he could not understand why The Boss was gathering such a huge force for such a mundane task. I mean, he thought to himself, eliminating just three stupid civilian trainers. That does not require five Field teams and over a hundred Dan'in! Still, as his partner Lois often remarked, what chance did they have of understanding the Boss's strategies? He was usually so far ahead that no one understood how he came up with his plans.
Of course, Clark had heard the rumours about this 'Ash Ketchum.' They said that he was invincible, and that he had defeated Team Rocket and insurmountable odds many times before. Clark had a healthy scepticism about such stories. No one was that good. In any case, the forces that The Boss had put under his and Lois' command were enough to overwhelm any opposition. The only thing Clark intended to worry about, therefore, was getting the mission completed as per his orders. Going beyond that... questioning your orders... well these things were becoming increasingly unhealthy activities in Team Rocket.
Clark continued his pacing behind the technicians. Well, at least it was shaping up to be an uneventful day. Just how he liked it.
***
About fifteen miles away in another forest clearing...
"Charizard, I choose you!"
"Go Dragonite!"
There were two flashes of rosy red light as the red and blue dragons emerged from their Pokéballs. Ash smiled approvingly as he pulled on his flying goggles. Misty pulled on her own goggles and shook her head in disbelief. "Ash," she complained. "You've been reading too many hokey Science Fantasy novels. This is the most... ridiculous idea you've ever come up with."
Ash looked over his shoulder as he and Brock got onto Charizard's back. "Where's your sense of adventure?" he asked teasingly.
Misty sighed again and pulled herself up onto Dragonite's back. "For this I gave up synchronised swimming," she grumbled. "I could be an Olympic gold medallist by now..."
Brock laughed at Misty's discontent. "Don't tell me that you aren't looking forward to this, Misty."
Misty couldn't hold back a smile any longer. She nodded to Ash who whooped a wild rebel yell and pointed to the sky. "Let's rock, Charizard!" he shouted.
Charizard roared loudly, shaking the leaves from the trees. Dragonite responded with just as many decibels. So much for the element of surprise Brock thought as he grabbed hold of Ash's belt to steady himself. Charizard and Dragonite leapt upwards, their strong wings taking the all-important first downstroke. Then they were gone, heading for their target fifteen miles distant.
***
James watched the base from the small copse of trees where he and Jessie hid. "Do you think Ash's plan will work?" he asked Jessie.
Jessie laughed gently. "Oh it will work," she assured him. "The bit that I'm worried about is how much this will hurt!"
"Meowth, dat's right!" Meowth added in a nervous tone of voice.
***
Inside the Command Centre, the uneventful day was about to come to an end in the most dramatic way possible. But as was always the case, the first signs did not clearly show the intensity of what was about to occur.
"Um, sir, we have a contact," one of the Technicians squeaked quietly. "Two airborne hostiles on an attack vector towards the base." Clark was at the Technician's side in an instant.
"What do you mean 'Two airborne hostiles on an attack vector towards the base?'" he snarled angrily.
The Technician immediately broke out into a sweat under his Base Commander's disapproving glare. "Um, I have two dragon-type Pokémon approaching out of the east, sir," he replied. "They can't just be wilds that have strayed towards us, there are no dragon-types native to this area."
Clark looked at the anonymous radar traces for a long moment before replying. "Activate our anti-air gun defences," he ordered. Who is behind this? he asked himself in concern. Not the military, they don't use Pokémon, besides they learnt their lesson about challenging Team Rocket years ago.
Outside, Jessie, James and Meowth watched as the four towers opened up and massive AAA gun batteries rose out into the morning sun. Almost immediately, they began to fire 90mm proximity-fused shells into the sky. James pressed the 'transmit' button on his mobile phone.
Instantaneously, Ash saw the email flak :-( appear on his on 'phone. "Start dodging Charizard," he instructed, pocketing the 'phone. Charizard accelerated forward, smashing through the sound barrier and beginning to weave around. Ash and Brock had to lean forward against the dragon's neck and hang on tight against the slipstream. Ash yodelled a gleeful cry, lost to the howling wind.
Charizard and Dragonite began to dodge around the sky, weaving effortlessly around the detonating shells. The turret guns attempted to track them, but their targeting systems were designed to deal with relatively un-manoeuvrable aircraft, not agile and intelligent flying creatures. They could not bring their muzzles to bear on either dragon before they had dodged away.
Charizard dived towards the building at over 800 miles an hour and unleashed a massive Fire Blast attack. The flame billowed harmlessly across the heat-resistant ceramic coating of the main dome. Ash wasn't hoping to penetrate it, however. His plan was both subtle and simple.
"How dare those trainers attempt to attack us?" Clark roared. "All hands to the guns! I want them brought down!" He didn't know it, but Clark was reacting exactly according to Ash's plans.
With every gun in the building and every eye and sensor trained on Charizard and Dragonite, Jessie and James could walk up to the building totally unnoticed. Jessie pulled out a Pokéball. "Fearow, I chose you!" Simultaneously, James released his Gyarados. The huge crane-like flying-type and the even larger water serpent emerged, looking for a fight. Jessie indicated the turrets, which were still firing away. "Fury Attack, Fearow. Take out those guns!"
James pointed to the secondary man-operated machineguns firing from various windows. "Smash them all, Gyarados."
Fearow rose up with a screech of "Fear! Fear!" Claws that were tougher than any on a normal animal tore through the armoured steel of the turrets. In seconds, Fearow had disabled the first turret. He agilely hopped across the top of the dome, seized the gun opposite in his beak and pulled, bending it almost to a right angle. The gun fired and the shell detonated in the breach, the explosion blowing the back out of the turret.
Clark finally realised what was going on and ordered the guns to target Fearow. The Pokémon hovered in between the two remaining turrets, waited for a moment and then, just as they fired, folded his wings and dived back towards his trainer. The guns fired twice. The first shells hit each other mid-air, cracking the armour on the dome from their combined explosions. The next two shells, which were fired as the guns depressed to follow Fearow's dive, hit the turrets, blowing them off of their turntables.
While this battle was taking place, Gyarados had been weaving along the walls of the base, literally tearing the small machineguns out of the walls by ripping into their nests with his strong jaws. He tore the last one out with a roar of "Gyyyyyyyyyrrrrrrrr!" The Dan'in who had been operating the machinegun found himself hanging onto one of the water serpent's foot-long canine teeth. He screeched and let go, preferring the 60-foot drop to the ground to a possible ingestion.
Inside the control centre... "We've lost our last external gun, sir," the Technician wailed. "There are two more Trainers at the walls directing their own Pokémon!"
Lois struck the technician dismissively, knocking him from his seat. "Tell us something we don't know idiot!" she shouted.
Clark turned to another technician. "Get Bill and Cody with Squad Six-Two out there," he ordered. "I want those two on the ground taken out! And get the crews to the blimps. We'll have to take those two dragons out air-to-air!" There were shouted affirmatives and the full military power gathered at the base began to stir itself.
At the very front of the building, two armoured doors opened up and a group of Team Rocket agents boiled out. Some were waving guns; some had Pokéballs ready to use. They immediately disappeared in a cloud of brown-black smog – Weezing's Smog attack. Visibility dropped to zero.
"Hold your position!" Cody, one of the Black Rockets commanding the attack coughed. "Don't get separated!"
Bill managed to stop coughing long enough to order his Spearow to begin a Whirlwind attack. The bird Pokémon began to circle faster and faster, creating a mini-tornado that funnelled the poisonous smog away from his trainer and the others.
Spearow rejoined his Trainer just as Jessie and James became visible. James had Victreebell standing beside him and Arbok coiled aggressively from behind Jessie. Before Bill could order Spearow forward, a fireball hit the bird. Spearow hit the ground and Growly leapt forward to finish the matter. A hail of razor leaves and venom darts shot towards the surprised Team Rocket agents. Bill had just enough presence of mind to dive to the ground as the attacks zipped towards him.
Cody unleashed her Jolteon and sent him to help Spearow. Unfortunately, it was the last decision she made. A venom dart struck her on her throat. She suddenly felt extremely sleepy and collapsed. Bill watched in horror. He was distracted just long enough for Victreebell to tangle him in its tendrils and dump him in its bell. Bill screamed in terror, something that only excited the carnivorous plant.
Without their trainers, Spearow and Jolteon were both easy meat. Growly finished Jolteon off with an Ember attack. He cocked his head and trotted back over to join James to accept a well-done pat. Weezing vomited out another Smog attack, neatly taking out the few remaining Dan'in who had not succumbed to either cuts from razor leaves or a dose of Arbok's paralysing venom.
Victreebell dumped Bill at its roots. Bill felt inexplicably happy and sleepy (even though his clothes were partially digested and smouldering at the edges) but he still remembered he was in trouble. He pulled his .44" Magnum revolver, only to have it slapped from his hand by a Meowth that appeared at his side. "Meowth! Oh no you don't!" it hissed, delivering a nasty scratch attack to the side of his face. The stinging pain was enough for Bill's brain to decide that it had had enough and he fainted.
James looked up and winced as Charizard flew overhead, the sonic boom driving James' eardrums six feet into his head. There was a flash of red and something large and round dropped from beside the dragon with a human figure clinging to it.
Brock held his breath as Graveler dropped through the air towards an anonymous patch of concrete at the back of the base. There was a sudden jerk and the sound of smashing masonry. When Brock opened his eyes again, he was in a brightly-lit generator room. A group of Team Rocket technicians looked on in horror as Graveler rose up behind him with a defiant roar. Brock shook himself and remembered his part in Ash's plan. He drew out a Pokéball and tossed it forward.
Two armed Black Rockets charged towards him just as Magnemite emerged from his Pokéball. "Graveler, disarm them," Brock ordered firmly. He turned to Magnemite and caught the floating robot's attention. "Target those junction boxes, Magnemite. Thundershock attack!"
There was an enormous electrical discharge from the horseshoe magnets on Magnemite's sides. The metal doors to the junction boxes were torn aside by the magnetic element of the pulse, then hundreds of fuses blew and dozens of circuit breakers fused.
In the Control Centre, all the lights, monitors and control displays flickered out. After a second the auxiliary generators far below came on line and normal operations in the room returned. "What the hell is happening?" Clark snarled. "Someone get me the chief technician in the power room."
Down below, Graveler was busy knotting the last standing Dan'in guard's assault rifle around him as an impromptu restraint. Magnemite was busy welding the access doors to the room shut. Brock considered the whirring generators thoughtfully for a moment before turning to Graveler. "Break these machines for me, will you Graveler?"
"Grav! Gravel-gra-ler!" [Ooh! I love it when I can do this!] Graveler replied.
The captured technicians reacted with horror as Graveler floated towards the generators. "Oh shit!" one shouted. "Duck!" The massive sentient rock thrust his four arms into the works of the generators. There was a scream of rending metal and the generator literally tore itself apart.
From above, Ash could see a mass of cogwheels, solenoids and other unidentifiable machine parts spit out of the hole Graveler made in his entrance to the underground generator room. At his urging, Charizard dove towards another large area of concrete that was just opening up. "Flame-thrower attack," Ash shouted against the slipstream. Ash saw the gas cells of a dozen Team Rocket 'Meowth' blimps beginning to rise from the underground hanger just as Charizard unleashed a series of short flame bursts. The gas cell on every blimp was torn open by the attack and they dropped back into the hanger. Flame began to billow from the underground chamber, indicating that a few of Charizard's bursts had hit fuel tanks or some other flammable material.
Behind Charizard, Misty directed Dragonite towards the open hanger. At her order, Dragonite fired off a long Blizzard attack on the parked air and ground vehicles within. As Dragonite climbed away at well over the speed of sound, Misty risked a look behind her. Graveler, Brock and Magnemite pulled themselves out of the Generator Room and ran towards the broached and open hangers. Graveler was holding one of the rotating magnet arms from a generator. Wielding it like a club, the big rock Pokémon tore into the grounded and frozen vehicles in the hanger with a certain degree of glee. She also saw a golden flash as Magnemite stun shocked the Team Rocket agents within.
Ash encouraged Charizard to slow down and level off. The base was disarmed and, with the destruction of the hanger, those within had lost all their means to launch a counter-offensive. Still, the base was tough and the base commander probably hoped to win by using his fortress-like base to mount a prolonged defensive action. However, with the destruction of the auxiliary generators, there was doubtless chaos within the darkened base. This was chaos that Ash now intended to intensify and use. He pulled his mobile 'phone from his belt and tapped out an email for Misty.
Misty's mobile 'phone trilled and she looked at the display. The email read phase two :) She smiled slightly and turned Dragonite towards the main dome of the Team Rocket Base. Charizard looped in front of her and she could swear she saw Ash wink. Then an enormous flame-thrower attack belched out from Ash's dragon. A few seconds later, Misty had Dragonite unleash her Ice Beam attack.
Again and again the two dragons attacked, each massive heat-then-cold switch weakening the armoured structure of the dome. Finally, it began to crack open like an enormous boiled egg. Ash waved to Misty and pointed down. Misty held her breath. This was it. "Dragonite, Pound attack," she instructed her dragon.
The two dragons dived towards the cracked dome. At the last second, They lifted their heads and stamped hard against the dome with their powerful hind legs. The battered masonry collapsed inwards with a roar. The sound echoed through the darkened base like the sound of thunder. "What the fuck…?" Lois muttered, looking up from where she was watching a technician strive to restore power by torchlight.
Two technicians, blinking at the sudden light, looked up at Charizard and Dragonite perched at the edge of the hole in the dome. They looked up at Ash and Misty, who smiled down at them. "Who the hell are you?" one squeaked.
"Bad news, pal," Ash replied with a smirk. Misty rolled her eyes at Ash's dramatic flourishes. What is it about action, she asked herself, that brings out the worst in him? He drew a Pokéball and Misty followed suit.
"Venusaur, I chose you!" Ash shouted, releasing his 2-tonne plant/dinosaur. Misty activated her own Pokéball and dropped it. Psyduck emerged and landed astride of Venusaur's neck. "Venusaur, Dino Rampage attack," Ash commanded.
"Psyduck," Misty added, "Migraine Terror attack!"
Poor Psyduck. It hadn't been a good day for him. First he was awoken early by his Trainer to listen to her friend explain something that he couldn't quite concentrate on. Now he had been abruptly released from his Pokéball only to fall and end up landing on the neck of this big lizard! This was not doing anything for his headache. He expressed this by psychically pumping out his own disorientation and pain. The two technicians were suddenly far more afraid than they ever were before. In a panic, they fled.
In the Control Centre, Clark was finding that no matter how much terror and pain you applied to a subject, you cannot change the laws of nature. No power means no power, no matter how many technicians you terrify. His walkie-talkie squawked. He pulled it out. "Clark," he snapped.
"Sir!" shouted a terrorised voice. "Hostiles are inside the base… monsters!" the message ended with a scream and silence.
Clark managed to shoot Lois just one worried look before his world exploded into a red agonising pain. His brain was trying to get out of his skull and he felt the deepest terror he had ever known. At that point, the roof collapsed on the other side of the room and something huge landed in front of the staggering humans. "Venus-ven-SAUR!" it roared. Vine whips, razor leaves and solar blasts flashed out, ripping apart fixtures and fittings and bowling humans over like ninepins. It was the final straw; in their psychically induced terror, Lois and Clark forgot everything and joined a general stampede to get out. No one knew where he or she was running to, they only knew that they had to run away.
***
Outside, in the sudden and almost supernatural silence, Charizard and Dragonite touched down in front of the hanger doors. Jessie and James watched as Ash and Misty leapt down from the Dragons' necks. Misty raised a Pokéball and commanded "Dragonite, return." The blue dragon disappeared in a flash of red light and Misty slid the Pokéball onto her bandoleer.
Graveler lifted Brock out of the hanger. With a smile, Brock presented Ash with a crash helmet full of hollow teeth. Without a word, James presented Ash with another bucket-full of the suicide devices. "The way I figure it," James said in an easy-going tone of voice, "at an average of a quarter a tooth, the tooth fairies owe us about $20 on the day."
Ash tried not to laugh, but his eyes sparkled. "I'm just glad that none of these people will be able to injure themselves," he replied.
Misty was looking towards the now silent Team Rocket base. There was no indication of any kind of movement from within. "I hope that Psyduck and Venusaur are all right," Misty said quietly.
Ash walked up to join her. "Don't worry Misty," he said reassuringly. "With Psyduck's headache to contend with, I don't think anyone will be inclined to give them any trouble." He reached out and squeezed her shoulder. "You know I wouldn't have done this if I didn't think that they would succeed. I would never let either of them risk their lives."
Misty shot Ash a slight smile of thanks. Just then the armoured doors of the base suddenly slammed open and a mass of terrified humanity boiled out, each desperately trying to get as far from the building as they possibly could. As the last terrified person fled the building, Venusaur appeared at the door, roaring like a demon and waving her tendrils around. Even for her Trainer she was a fearsome sight.
Ash stood back for a split second in amazement. As he had told Misty, he was confident, but he hadn't been expecting quite this level of success. Then he got himself back under control. Easy kid, he warned himself. You knew something like this would happen. "They're stampeding," he said out loud. "Charizard, keep them back with a wall of fire!" He turned to Brock. "Brock, we'll need Onyx to barricade them in, just like I said."
Charizard rose off of the ground and arced around through the air, before diving towards the front ranks of the fleeing mass. With a roar of "Chaaarrrr!" he unleashed a long flame blast that created a wall of flame between the routed Rockets and the five Trainers.
Simultaneously, Brock released Onyx, his huge rock/snake-Pokémon. "Onyx, dig a rock barrier around those people," Brock ordered. As Onyx dived forward, tunnelling through the earth like a dolphin swims through water, Weezing shot overhead, spraying knockout gas at the disoriented and terrified crowd.
Ash and Misty took the opportunity to sneak around to the rear and recall the still-rampaging pair of Venusaur and Psyduck. It was a measure of how bad Psyduck's headache had become, and how mad that had made him, that Misty had to repeat her recall order three times before the little psi-Pokémon obeyed. Misty rolled her eyes and shot a look at Ash, wiping her brow in an exaggerated gesture of relief.
At the back of the disoriented crowd, Clark paused and shook his head. His mind cleared for the first time in what seemed to be an age. How the hell did I get out here? He asked himself, looking around. He was about to move away from the crowd of technicians, Dan'in and Black and White team field agents when something ripped past just below the surface of the ground, raising a five-foot high barrier of rock and earth in front of him.
He turned, coughing from the clouds of Weezing gas that were drifting around and saw two figures standing by the entrance to the base. A tall, broad shouldered man with untidy black hair and a slightly shorter woman with short ginger hair and the sort of eyes one normally sees staring at you from the face of great humanitarians or kindly nurses. The man had a Raichu perched on his shoulder. Lois and Clark stepped forward to face the two young people, gathering themselves to face these enemies. Neither knew who these two were, but they instinctively knew they were the ones behind this. The two Red Rockets swore that they would have their revenge for their humiliation.
Ash tensed as the two Team Rocket agents in the unusual red uniforms turned to face him and Misty. These two are going to be trouble, he predicted. He caught Misty's eye and nodded towards the dark-haired woman. Misty nodded back and slowly side-stepped away to give herself room to fight.
"I don't know who you are," the tall man with the sandy hair said angrily, "but you will pay for this attack here and now."
"Oh really?" Ash asked nonchalantly. He took a moment to look around the battlefield. Most of the Dan'in, field agents and technicians were already unconscious. As Ash looked on, Growly, playing sheepdog, swerved in front of a fleeing White-uniformed agent and chased him back towards the mass of captured Rockets. Arbok hissed and put the agent down with a venom dart. "You seem to have run short of manpower, my red-clothed friend," Ash commented with an infuriating smile.
Clark went bright red in the face. "I don't need grunts and field scum, my naïve young friend," he hissed. "I am a Team Rocket Elite, and that is more than enough for you!" He drew a Pokéball and threw it forward. "Charmeleon, I choose you!"
Ash reacted immediately, throwing a Pokéball of his own forward. "Go, Snorlax!" The twelve-foot tall bear-Pokémon materialised before the TR Charmeleon and looked down at it sleepily. At Ash's urging, the big teddy-bear waddled forward towards Charmeleon, who shifted uncertainly, shooting his trainer a look that seemed to say 'help!'
Clark immediately went down in Ash's estimation. He looked up at Snorlax looming towards him with an expression of panic and selected the least appropriate tactic. "Flame-thrower attack, Charmeleon," he shouted. The flames billowed out around Snorlax, who roared in fury and pain. Of course, Snorlax, the toughest Pokémon of them all, could take this and more without even being singed.
Gee thanks, Ash thought. You've woken Snorlax up for me. Snorlax walked out of the flames and paused right in front of Charmeleon.
"Slash attack!" Clark yelled desperately.
"Belly flop," Ash countered with a slight smile.
Charmeleon just had enough time to squeak in surprise before one-and-a-half tonnes of Snorlax landed on him. The ground shook from the impact and Ash winced in sympathy for the poor Charmeleon. He never made the error of blaming the Pokémon for its' trainer's sins. [Yawn, time for a nap.] Snorlax muttered. As he pulled himself to his feet, Snorlax revealed Charmeleon, pounded into the soil like a nail. Ash restrained a laugh as he recalled the big toss pillow back to his Pokéball.
To Ash's right, a far more hyper-kinetic battle was taking place. Misty had already taken down Lois' Primape with Staryu, and now a serpentine conflict had begun between Lois' Onyx and Misty's Gyarados. However, the old 'water weakens rock rule' was allowing the smaller Gyarados to slowly gain an advantage.
Reassured that Misty did not need his help, he turned his attention back to Clark, who had just recalled his defeated Charmeleon. Time to take the offensive, he decided. "Okay, Raichu, you're up," Ash commanded.
[Okay,] Raichu replied. The electric squirrel leapt from Ash's shoulder and bounced towards Clark who pulled a Pokéball. The ball split open and released a Pidgeotto. The big bird circled up and took up station above Raichu.
Ash waited, allowing Clark to make the first move. "Whirlwind attack," Clark ordered. Pidgeotto's circling flight speeded up and a mini-tornado began to form. Ash shot Raichu a wink and the little Pokémon responded in kind. Passive defence, the gesture meant. This was one of those times that familiarity and training bore fruit. Besides, Raichu and Ash's Pidgeot liked to do this as a game for Pete's sake.
The tornado struck Raichu, lifting him off of the ground. Instead of panicking, the little electric squirrel simply extended his arms and legs to the side and soared up through the whirlwind as if he had wings. As he reached Pidgeotto's level, Ash shouted out a command. "Thunder Storm!"
Raichu released an omni-directional burst electricity. The blast enveloped Pidgeotto who was forced to break off his attack. The bird was clearly stunned and his flight path wobbled unsteadily. Raichu dropped down to the ground, landing on all fours and ready for a fight.
At a furious command from Clark, Pidgeotto shot towards Raichu aiming for a quick peck attack or five. "Thunder Ball attack," Ash countered. Raichu leapt up and fired off one of his guided ball lightning discharges. Pidgeotto attempted to evade, but Raichu steered the blast onto target. Clark winced this time too. There was a sizzling sound and Pidgeotto dropped to the ground. "Finish it, Raichu," Ash ordered. "Tail Whip attack."
Raichu bounced forward. Just before he could deliver the strike from his charged tail, Pidgeotto managed to get airborne and managed a glancing blow with his razor wings. "Keep your distance Pidgeotto," Clark warned. "Take him from range." Raichu rolled and came upright as Pidgeotto arced around. Ash held out his hand flat, wait. Pidgeotto flew upright and unleashed a hail of razor feathers.
"Dodge," Ash snapped, pointing forwards. Raichu leapt upwards and then dashed forwards, dodging two Razor Feather Throw attacks. "Up and Thunder," Ash commanded.
Raichu dashed past Pidgeotto, who turned and tried to follow him. The electric squirrel jumped up, twisting in mid air to face Pidgeotto, who Clark had ordered to close in again and use his razor wings and beak. "Rai… CHUUUU!" Raichu cried, unleashing a massive Thunder attack. There was a hiss of electricity and the smell of ozone. Pidgeotto tumbled to the ground unconscious.
Clark began to back off as he recalled Pidgeotto. He realised now that this was no ordinary Trainer. It was just possible that he was outmatched. He ground his jaw and stood his ground. He was Team Rocket and it would take more than this half-grown… kid to beat him.
Ash, ready to counter the Elite Rocket's likely next moves, suddenly noticed that everything around him had ground to a halt. Jessie, James and Brock were waiting on Onyx's makeshift barricade, watching the duel.
To one side, Misty's Tentacruel had stung Lois's Bulbasaur into submission. A second later, he had knocked the Team Rocket agent off of her feet with an almost-dismissive blow from his tentacles, and she was now lying, half covered by the gigantic jellyfish, clearly out of the fight.
Clark looked around him nervously. He sneered at Ash and attempted a display of bravado. "Pretty good, kid," he said. "Now let's see if you're ready for the big leagues." He drew a Pokéball and tossed it to the ground between them. "Go, Machamp!" The ball split open and revealed the seven-foot tall berserker fighting-type Pokémon. The huge creature roared and charged.
Raichu used Thunderbolt on the fighting-type, driving it to its knees for a moment, but Ash knew that it would take a lot more to put it down for the count. He recalled Raichu and then circled around cautiously, moving to stand besides Misty. Clark circled too, keeping Machamp between him and Ash. Machamp staggered to his feet and began to pound his chest. With a roar of "Maaaaaaaa!" he charged towards Ash.
Ash already had a plan. He drew out a Pokéball. "Clustanode, I choose you," he shouted.
The Pokéball split open, revealing Clustanode who glided forward to hover before Machamp. The fighting Pokémon stopped dead when he saw the unfamiliar Pokémon and looked towards his trainer for guidance. "Clustanode," Clustanode said in a confident tone of voice.
"What the hell is that thing?" Clark blurted. He shook his head. "Bear hug attack, Machamp." With a satisfied growl, Machamp hugged Clustanode in his four huge arms.
Now that was dumb, Ash thought. Can't he see that Clustanode is an electric type? "Thundershock attack," Ash ordered. There was a blue-white flash and Machamp was blown back a good ten yards by the discharge. The fighting Pokémon rose to his feet, shaking his head in amazement. Then he roared again and charged Clustanode again. "Clustanode," Ash commanded. He raised a hand and waited until Machamp was almost touching Clustanode. "Explosion!" he ordered, brining his hand down.
"Clusta… NODE!" Clustanode shouted. There was an enormous explosion that blew Ash off of his feet. After a stunned second, Misty extended a hand and helped him up. When his vision cleared, Ash saw that Clark was lying on the ground, his face blackened and his uniform shredded. Above, there was a Machamp-shaped crater on the side of the ruined base building. Clustanode hovered in the centre of a burned area. The cluster of spheres rotated back and forth along its long axis for a moment and then, unexpectedly, re-formed into a 'smiley face' for a moment. Ash couldn't restrain a chuckle as he recalled the exploding Pokémon to his Pokéball.
Clark pulled himself off of the ground. He looked around him again and realised that the kid was right. He was in a bad position. Then he looked at his adversary carefully and realised that he recognised him. Ash Ketchum! He did not know how or why Ketchum was here, but Clark was a company man to the bone. He drew his snub-nosed Browning Hi-Power and lined up on the person The Boss wanted dead. He had forgotten, of course, that Raichu was still out there. A massive Thunder-shock crackled through his body and Clark surrendered mercifully to the blackness.
Ash smiled and nodded to Raichu in thanks. Raichu, who was perched on the earthen embankment, seemed slightly smug at receiving the accolade.
Ash walked over to where Lois was being restrained by Tentacruel. It was impossible, of course, to know exactly what the jellyfish-Pokémon was thinking. It was simply too alien a mind to understand with any certainty. Misty was standing next to her charge, maintaining physical contact at all times. This told Ash that Tentacruel was probably hungry and thought Lois looked appetising. Misty was a good enough Trainer to restrain such an instinct, but even she could only barely do so.
Ash knelt besides the terrified woman. "Who… who are you?" she whimpered.
"Perhaps we're just passers by," Ash replied. "Maybe we are another terrorist group looking to knock Team Rocket off the top. Maybe we're nothing but a dream." Ash's expression hardened. "Or maybe we are a nightmare!" he concluded. He cocked his fist and punched Lois full in the face. The woman's head bounced off of the concrete. Her eyes crossed over and she blacked out.
"Was that really necessary, Ash?" Misty asked. Ash looked over at her. Although her expression was disapproving, her eyes were alight with laughter and satisfaction. A kind soul she might be, but she owed Team Rocket as much trouble as Ash did himself.
"My knuckles don't think so," Ash replied, massaging his sore fist. "But they'll all be less trouble unconscious."
James laughed and walked over to Ash. He patted the younger man on the shoulder. "Welcome to my reality," he said with a broad smile.
Jessie was looking around at the piles of unconscious Rockets. "You know," she commented. "I don't think we've got them all."
Ash shrugged. "We don't need a clean sweep, Jessie," he reminded her. Ash paused thoughtfully before continuing. "Still, it pays to be careful." Ash pulled out a Pokéball and activated it. Seeker, Tracey's Marril, materialised. Ash knelt before the round water Pokémon. "Seeker," he said. "We think there might still be a few Team Rocket agents loose in this area. Could you check for me?"
"Marril!" the cute Pokémon replied. Those astounding ears rotated for a moment, and then he waddled off to the west.
***
In a small ditch two White Rocket agents were crouching. Every now and then, their Beedrill would risk hovering up to a few feet to see what was happening at the base. It was sheer luck that they were out exercising their assigned Pokémon in the forest when the attack suddenly rolled across the base.
Clyde looked at his younger partner, Bonnie. "Can Beedrill see either Clark or Lois?" he asked. Bonnie asked Beedrill the question. The bug Pokémon buzzed a reply.
Bonnie shook her head, her whole body radiating fear. "Lois and Clark are both down," she told Clyde. "There is no one moving apart from the attackers and their Pokémon."
Clyde drew in a deep breath. He and Bonnie had run back towards the base when that Charizard and Dragonite flew overhead at supersonic speed. By the time they arrived, the building was already broached and they saw two of the attackers take down Bill and Cody. They decided that rushing in half-cocked was probably a bad idea and took cover. It was all over within fifteen minutes. Now they were cowering and watching the attackers tying up the hundreds of unconscious agents and technicians. The question was what should they do now?
"We should do something," Bonnie finally commented.
Well, duh! Clyde thought. "Got any ideas?" he asked, laying on the sarcasm thick and heavy.
When Bonnie shrugged helplessly, Clyde sighed and risked a look out of the ditch. The attackers had finished tying everyone up, and were doing something with their prisoners' mouths that he could not see. Then he saw something that froze his heart. The shorter dark haired Trainer who appeared to be leading the attack was wandering towards them. In the lead was a Marril. Although primarily a water Pokémon, the Marril was also known for its superb senses. It was a tracker par excellence. If one was walking this way, it wasn't a fluke, it meant that the little blue ball of fluff had found them. As Clyde watched, the man smiled and said something to the Raichu riding on his shoulder. With a gesture, the man dropped a Pokéball and a Rhyhorn materialised. The huge rock-Pokémon was the organic equivalent of a main battle tank.
Bonnie was besides Clyde and she managed a quiet shriek. "Oh man, this is not good!" she gasped. "We are really outgunned here, Clyde."
"Yeah," Clyde agreed. "Unless you want to be a hero, Bonnie…" He raised a brow and looked at her.
Bonnie shot him a sour look. "Discretion is the better part of valour, Clyde," she replied. "Those are words I always live by!" She pulled out a Pokéball and released her Pidgeot. The two agents scrambled onto its' back.
Ash watched as the bird-Pokémon took off closely followed by a Beedrill. He smiled slightly. They couldn't have seen anything that made them a danger to him and his friends. Let them take their terrible report back to his father. His only disappointment was that he wouldn't see Giovanni's face when he heard what had happened here.
[Is that it?] Seeker asked. Ash leaned down and gave him a caress between his ears. "Yeah, that's it," he confirmed. "You found them, all right. Too bad they didn't want to play." Ash raised a Pokéball. "Rhyhorn, return."
***
Ash dumped the last bucket of hollow teeth at the entrance to the base. Fires started by Venusaur's rampage were beginning to spread. Seeker had confirmed that no one remained within the building, something Ash was grateful for. He didn't want anyone to die if he could avoid it.
Misty walked up beside him and put her arm around his waist. Ash hugged her back. "Well, Ash," she said in a sunny tone. "You sure know how to show a girl a good time."
Ash turned to her and made a surprised sound. "Why, Ms. Waterflower, you sound almost as if you approve."
"Team Rocket is a bad thing, Ash," she replied. "What we did today was something that needed doing for a while now. I was worried that we might become just another problem, but now?" She smiled and leant her head on Ash' shoulder for a moment. "Now I know better. Maybe we can make a difference after all." Ash gave Misty a quick kiss that she clearly appreciated and looked at the burning building again. "Take a picture," she advised mischievously. "It will last longer."
Ash chuckled and hugged her closer. "I can't quite shake the feeling I'm missing something," he told her. She looked at him with concern. "Oh nothing important," he reassured her. "Just something that will complete the message we are trying to send." Ash trailed off and suddenly clicked his fingers. "I've got it."
"What?"
"Father might guess I'm behind this, but he will have no proof. Let's let him think I'm not the only problem. Can you call out Staryu please, Misty?"
Misty gave Ash a strange look, but she pulled out Staryu's Pokéball anyway.
***
"Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Phone Call! Phone Call!"
"Viridian City Police Department, Officer Jenny speaking, how can I help?"
"Hello, Officer Jenny, I'm calling because I think I can help you."
Jenny frowned. She realised that this wasn't a natural voice. It had no real tone. The caller was using an electronic voice distorter. "Who is this?" she asked angrily.
"That isn't important. If you and an arrest squad go to map reference 23-33-07 north, 18-77-82 east, I think that you will find something of greatest interest to you."
"Who is this? What are you talking about?"
"Aren't you interested in a Team Rocket staging area with about 200 members of that organisation all wrapped up and ready to go?"
"What are you talking about? You are saying you have information about Team Rocket?"
*Laughs* "Yes, that's one way to look at it. Just come along to that map reference and bring plenty of prison vans. There are an awful lot of prisoners to move."
"I can't just put together an operation like this on your say so… Who is this?"
"Just call me a concerned law-abiding citizen, Officer." *click*
"Hello? Hello, are you still there? Oh, blast." Jenny put down her handset and sat in her chair for a moment, thinking furiously. She would be rich if she had a dollar for every crank call she had taken but… But in this case, something told her this was for real. Even if it was just a very convincing hoax, she couldn't just disregard a tip-off about Team Rocket activities. After only a moment's hesitation, she reached for her internal 'phone and began to make the preparations.
To be continued…