A Tight Spot - Koga Reflects
20 June 2001
I don't truly know what day it is, but I'm reasonably sure that no more than a day has elapsed. Perhaps it makes no sense to write now, but it will serve as a record of what has happened and perhaps by writing this I will get an idea about how to escape this predicament.
Sabrina and I ran out of driveable road at the end of the eighteenth. We had dinner and discussed Team Rocket, our pasts, and Pokémon till long after the fire had died down to embers. After our initial period of awkward silence, these conversations have been a real pleasure. I feel remarkably at ease with Sabrina in spite of her reputation as "The Sorceress of Saffron" and I have shared some parts of my past I never discussed with anyone other than Lorelei. For some reason Sabrina seems to enjoy my gruff company. It was necessary to discuss Team Rocket and the lore of Mewtwo at some length because we discovered we were being watched and harassed by a white Rocket trio. This made it clear that Team Rocket still has a proprietary interest in Mewtwo.
In the morning we broke camp after breakfast and headed up the rocky trail to the headwaters of the Viridian River. The great limestone cave where the Viridian arises was the rumoured lair of Mewtwo. I now know this for a fact, because I am held captive within the cavern. The going was difficult, but we made good time. I had to give the inexperienced urbanite Sabrina some extra help around some of the larger boulders along the trail. Fortunately it was not a hot day as we made our way up the rough narrow trail with the wind sighing in the scattered trees and singing in the stones. At about noon we came in sight of the great cave mouth whence arises the Viridian. We had barely caught our breath when an imperious, strident woman's voice rose above the wind, "Prepare for trouble!" it echoed off the mountains.
A smoother and more cynical male voice added, "And make it double!" We looked up to see our, heretofore invisible, antagonists. They were posed back-to-back with their arms folded and heads bowed slightly as they continued their motto, "To protect the world from devastation!" said the red-haired woman with the short white skirt, bare waist, long grey gloves, and tall grey boots. The blue-haired man with the cutoff white jacket, grey gloves, white pants, and grey boots said, "To unite all people in our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!" the redhead continued with a malevolent twinkle in her blue eyes. "To extend our reach to the stars above!" the man proclaimed swiping at a loose strand of his long hair hanging in his eyes. "Jessie!" "James!" they proudly spat out their names. "Team Rocket blast off the speed of light!" trumpted Jessie. "Surrender now or prepare to fight!" James stated with finality. At this cue a Meowth popped up, struggled with an equally eager Wobbuffet, and shouted it down with a jaunty "Dats right!"
Sabrina and I eyed them in silence for several seconds. The trio almost collapsed from our lack of response to their performance. Jessie, the redhead, collected herself and smirked down at us, "What have we here? The ninja Koga and Saffron's wicked sorceress teaming up to steal what rightfully belongs to Team Rocket!"
"Stealing from thieves hardly seems like a crime, but we're simply looking for a Pokémon created by Team Rocket to see if we can prevent it from doing any harm," I explained.
"We don't look at it dat way!" chimed in Meowth. "We're here ta protect da Boss's interests."
"How did you know we were on this expedition?" Sabrina asked.
"Ain't tellin'!"
"Ah, but you have little Meowth," Sabrina said smiling smoothly. She turned to me, "Giovanni has been leading a double life, he set them on us."
"Dat tears it!" the cat Pokémon screamed, "We're gonna leave yer bones ta bleach up here ta keep da Boss's secret!"
"Go Arbok!" shouted Jessie.
"Go Weezing!" followed James.
"You poor fools," breathed Sabrina, "Go Jynx."
I released my Venomoth.
It was a more difficult battle than we anticipated. Weezing poisoned Venomoth with sludge and Venomoth returned the favour with toxic. It was my good fortune that Venomoth hit Weezing with psychic causing the flying toxic waste dump to faint, but Venomoth was critically injured and losing health to poison as James produced his shrieking Victreebell. Meanwhile Arbok had paralyzed Jynx with its piercing glare allowing it to hit the ice psychic with its powerful dig attack. Jynx recovered with psywave, which made Arbok reel dizzily, but Arbok somehow managed to bite Jynx causing it to faint.
James' Victreebell was having a worse time against my own sinuous Arbok. My Arbok glared at Victreebell then struck with its own dig, and finished it off with acid. Sabrina countered Jessie's Arbok with Alakazam and the much faster and high level psychic beat Arbok to the punch with a devastating burst of psychic. Jessie wailed at Arbok's faint and produced her Wobbuffet. Sabrina again relied on her Alakazam's speed and power and hit Wobbuffet with an all out psychic attack causing it to faint before it could use its mirror coat. The battle was over quickly, but we had sustained a lot of damage. Sabrina looked morosely at her fainted Jynx, as I contemplated my almost comatose Venomoth.
The Rockets looked equally unhappy. "Now look what you've done!" growled a defiant Jessie.
Sabrina looked up at this and floored me, "I suggest a truce and brief alliance. We have sufficient supplies to revive your Pokémon. Given you have certainly been briefed about your gang's creation and we are better equipped with supplies and strong Pokémon, teaming up would benefit all of us. You already have seen you don't stand a chance against our best Pokémon. What do you say?"
I gaped at Sabrina along with the three Rockets. "Are you [i]kidding[/i]?" Jessie pointedly asked in disbelief.
"Of course not, I have a reputation for humourlessness to uphold," Sabrina replied half-smiling. "Your bravado is admirable because I can tell you dread this Mewtwo more than tackling Koga and I. That must be quite a Pokémon if you'd rather fight a gym leader and an Elite than face it. Something tells me none of us will capture this beast, and we all should cooperate to survive our respective missions."
"How could we trust them?" I asked Sabrina.
"Better to trust the untrustworthy, than face Mewtwo without these three," Sabrina noted, "Well Jessie?"
"What makes you think it's my call? Meowth is the Boss's representative here," Jessie replied uncertainly.
"Well then, what about it little schemer?"
"Aw, what could it hurt? OK ya spooky freak we're wit ya."
Sabrina betrayed the slightest look of hurt, but inclined her head to show her assent.
We had lunch together and Team Rocket provided what they knew about Mewtwo. We decided a frontal approach was needed to flush out Mewtwo and determined to enter the cave after the meal. We handed out revives and max potions to Jessie and James to recover their Pokémon, and ministered to our own as well. We checked our joint supplies at their moored balloon, arranged our packs and walked down to the mouth of the cave.
The cave opened onto the world like the mouth of a Golbat, its mouth was fifty feet tall and seventy-five feet across strewn with rocks fallen from its roof. The river, really a large brook at this point, spilled out over this dam of rocks from a dark and deep pool. We could hear gurgling echoes of water far down in the blackness. We put on hard hats and got out our escape ropes. We then produced our Pokémon with flash, James' Victreebell, Sabrina's Mr. Mime, and my Ariados. With that we worked our way along the narrow shelf on the south side of the pool and plunged into the darkness.
After about an hour of working our way down a narrowing tunnel, always with the infant Viridian River at our right we came to a split in the path. It would have been difficult to make a choice save for the presence of an enormous Venusaur guarding the left tunnel. "Ariados, leech life!" I commanded.
The draining technique did damage, but not near enough, because this was no ordinary Venusaur. It roared and spewed sleep powder in to the cavern. Ariados dodged the attack, but Mr. Mime was soon dreaming. Jessie and James released Arbok and Weezing — "Acid then dig!" commanded Jessie, "Sludge bomb!" prompted James. The Venusaur was greatly weakened by these attacks and retreated down the tunnel.
We followed the injured grass Pokémon at a safe distance, Ariados and I in the lead. Suddenly Sabrina froze alertly with a look of awe, "I sense a vast psychic presence here!" she hissed. She took out a pokéball and released her Alakazam, "Merlin, use future sight!"
Before Alakazam could act a bluish blast of psychic energy struck it causing it to faint. Sabrina reacted reflexively, her face contorted with anguish, then tears started to fall. "Merlin! My starter! Your pain is mine!" she cried piteously. I rushed to her side, "Sabrina," I shouted grasping her shoulder as she turned her tear-streaked face to me, "Let's get my pack and get some revive and full restore for your Merlin!"
That's when the second burst of mental energy arrived, "Future sight!" Sabrina cried. I couldn't handle the throbbing pain in my temples. I could sense her slender fingers curling in my hair and her fading voice crying my name. Then nothingness.
I awoke here in an artificially lighted cell deep in the cave. I could dimly see the pacing forms of Meowth and James, but no sign of Sabrina or Jessie. "Where are we?" I asked in a thick voice.
"Can't say for sure," James replied, "We were knocked out too. This seems to be some sort of cell."
"I can see that," I grumbled. "Well, let me get my journal out. I need to get this down. I'll discuss our situation with you two later."
