Part Seven: Tribulations

The headquarters of Team Rocket, now the most powerful force in the world, was brimming with evil, as a light radiates illumination across a dark world--only this light was black with oppression, power, and control, and blinded the entire world in a muddy blanket of despondency. Thrice fortified to withstand even the most powerful opposition, with boats protecting its waters, tanks on land, and planes and search lights in the air, it was unlikely that anybody would be so foolish as to try and topple the mighty empire. The two unquestioned emperors, basking in the sheer glory of their speedy domination, continued to guide Rocket along its path of conquest, unstoppable forever.

But even the mightiest mountains may shift and crumble. News quickly came to the desk of Marion and Morrison that one of the Team Rocket bases had been taken over and destroyed, its Pokemon freed and the agents stationed there arrested or lost in the fires. The loss of a single base in a world where there was over a hundred seemed trite, so the two new leaders of Team Rocket dismissed it as unimportant.

But as a month drawled by, more and more bases were being taken and blown sky-high. News came that more agents were being put behind bars, all the precious Pokemon that had been captured were now running loose again, and the resistance that dared strike at the heart of Team Rocket was moving its Damocles Sword closer to the main headquarters, closer and closer still, like the flaming chariot of Apollo across the sky--and when this chariot landed, there would indeed be a bloody holocaust.

"Who do you suppose could be behind all this?" wondered Marion as she gazed at more reports of rebellious outbreak. Morrison shrugged.

"It could be anybody. I don't know how there's still a group of people large enough to hope for a revolution, but the fact remains that they're out there. The only way I can think of stopping them, however, is just to send an alert out to all the bases."

"No, there's definitely a pattern they're following," she reasoned. The deadly scarred woman activated the terminal that her former boss used from time to time, and downloaded a map of the entire world, where every single Team Rocket base was illuminated in red. Those that were destroyed were in black.

"This was the first one reported," she indicated, pointing to a base close to Pallet Town. "Then this one, and that one, and that one, and so forth. Four bases in all have been destroyed, and they all follow a pattern. These people are simply going to the nearest base available, and taking them one at a time."

"So if we move to the next one, we'll be able to intercept them."

"Exactly," she purred. "But there's a problem with that. They have two places to go to that are the closest: one of them is down there, near Celadon, and one's up in the frozen north where it's said the Articuno live. Of course, we could just split up our forces."

"I have an even better idea," growled the giant man wickedly. Marion turned around, sharing his smile inquisitively. "Why don't we deploy our six ultimate weapons across the world? Put one up there, one near Celadon, and scatter the other four in random places; our largest bases, let's say. You and I should personally see to it that we each protect another one of the bases. That way, no matter where they go, they'll meet up with an unstoppable opposition, and will be completely wiped out!!"

"Nice," she sang. "I always did like the way you thought, Morrison. But that still leaves about eighty-so bases left unattended."

"If they manage to slip by our walls, they'll be too exhausted to destroy anything else," he gloated wickedly. "Besides, we have our best agents right here at headquarters. We could just leave a skeleton force here, equip them with the best Pokemon we have, and scatter everybody else all across the world. It really doesn't matter how we do it, as long as we do it." Marion smiled up at her tall partner, feeling more and more glad that her old boss at least had the sense of recruiting somebody who was her equal, physically and mentally. They shook on it, and immediately called together all available agents for an emergency meeting.

Meanwhile…

If Butch's teeth were any softer, they would have shattered to pieces under the strain of his clenched jaw. His entire body was filled to the brim with rage and hatred, and nothing, not even his "new bosses", could derail him from his mission. Cassidy was barely able to keep up with his furious stride, keeping silent and watchful as her partner marched towards the chopper bay. Butch had overheard the shared conversation between his new bosses, and was absolutely determined to reach the very next base before they could. Hastily, he climbed into the nearest helicopter and began the liftoff procedure.

"You can't wait?" grumbled Cassidy bitterly as she climbed in after him. Butch remained silent as he fastened himself in and slowly lifted the bird up. Sighing, Cassidy did the same and resigned herself to looking out the Lexan glass, at an atmosphere that was not going to remain very peaceful for long.

"I'll show them," snarled the teal-haired man, breaking his long silence. "I'll show them, all right. I'm going to make them realize how dangerous we can really be…!"

"Butch…"

"We're going to the base near Celadon," he told her. "I hope you know what to do once we get there." Silently, Cassidy nodded her head, and prepared for the inevitable fight. The rebels, she reasoned, would never know what hit them…

---------------

The thick steel door crumbled to pieces as the powerful dynamite blasted it apart, and with a well-times kick, Captain Thatcher permanently removed it from its hinges. His team rushed in as quickly as possible, taking down any opposition with several well-placed kicks. Not wasting any seconds at all, the large group of ten scurried down the hallways of the base, setting explosives everywhere and fighting off Rocket agents as they continued to march in left and right. The shrieking of imprisoned Pokemon could be heard in the distance, along with the thud-thud of feet clamoring across the steel floor.

Brock quickly tackled an agent that had scurried in, and brought out his Onyx to take care of the other seven that followed him. Ash and Gary, forgetting about their rivalry, each brought out their favorite Pokemon and let them individually remove the enemy from their sights, giving Jessie, James, Jennifer, and Joyleen time to squeeze past the blockade and proceed further in, slapping more explosives everywhere they went. As the massive number of Pokemon brawled furiously, Misty guided Lenneth through the wall of soldiers and into another ward, searching tirelessly for the trapped creatures captured by Rocket.

And then, Captain Thatcher entered into the scene, his red cloak and corncob pipe making him stand out like a volcano in the plains.

"Hahaha! You yellow-bellied lily-livered booger-brained bed-wetting despicable curs want a fight?? Against the unstoppable Captain Red Thatcher?! HA! I'll show no mercy at all!!" The raging-red Captain slammed into the opposition with his fists flying, smacking up against faces, bodies, stomach, shoulders, backs, anything that he chanced to strike. The man moved quite fluidly for being so large, and slammed into the guards with such power that he made the ground shudder. Surprised by the outburst, Ash, Brock, and Gary could only watch in awe as the wild Captain defeated everything in sight.

"Go on now, I can take care'a these buffoons!" he cried. The three young boys understood and followed their comrades, taking the road that Misty and Lenneth went down so they could help free the Pokemon. They saw Nurse Joyleen taking care of Officer Jennifer right in the middle of the hallway, applying some stinging medicine to her injured leg.

"Jennifer! Are you all right?" shouted Ash as he ran to her. The teal-haired officer gave him a simple smile.

"Yes, I'm all right. You needn't worry about me; it's just a scrape. Misty and Lenneth need your help, though: Jessie and James are almost finished!"

"Right! You two be careful! Get out of here as soon as possible!" Grunting, Jennifer hoisted herself up and leaned against Joyleen for support.

"It's my responsibility to stay until everyone else has left," she managed. "When those two run by here, then we'll leave. I hope the Captain doesn't have too much fun, or else he'll miss his own ship lifting off!"

"Yeah, tough chance of that ever happening," muttered Gary sarcastically. He gave the duo another wave before springing down the hallway that the other girls had went, leaving the nurse and the officer to rest and wait.

Qucikly, Misty and Lenneth broke the locks keeping the trapped Pokemon from being free, working as hastily as their hands allowed. They were both given very powerful lock-cutters which could clip through steel that was two centimeters thick, and were making slow but sure progress as they freed more and more helpless creatures. Suddenly, their three male comrades burst into the room, asking how things were going.

"Great, but we could use some help!" shouted Misty. The three boys got right on it, freeing every Pokemon they could by any means. The process quickened significantly, and after five more minutes of hasty labor, every creature had been accounted for. The five of them carried as many of the Pokemon as they could, and sprinted back out of the hallway and out of the base.

Meanwhile, Jessie and James completed the last input for the base's self-destruct sequence, and scrambled back out of the hallway shrieking like wild children. They stopped only when they saw Nurse Joyleen supporting Officer Jennifer, and offered to help the pink-haired woman. Carefully, the four of them limped down the hallway into the main room, where Thatcher was literally tossing Team Rocket agents out of the base and into the grass outside.

"Looks like that's everyone!" he shouted as he spotted the three women and single man. "Ash and Lenneth already made it out, with those other two right after them. How long do we have?"

"We set the timer for ten minutes," replied James. "It took us about seven to spring back through the base, and we calculated in delays as well."

"We got two minutes left, then," muttered Red as he glanced at his watch. "No time to dawdle, then! Get moving! I'll leave once everyone else is okay!" Thatcher guided the four out of the base and onto the Dreadnaught, making sure that nobody was left behind. He quickly shouted orders to the crew in the bridge, barking at them to lift the hunk of machinery off the ground and into the air.

As it descended and flew away, the countdown slipped to zero, and a blast of fire and smoke erupted in the air, eliminating yet another Team Rocket base.

Ash Ketchum blew out a big sigh as he reclined on a nearby couch, sprawling his arms out wide as he allowed his entire body to slump into laziness. His weariness was perfectly natural: even at his youthful age, going through five straight Team Rocket base missions was very tiring. Misty soon joined him, letting out a squeal as she rested her head on the sofa, and soon Brock and Lenneth reclined next to him, both of them weary.

"Ohhh… what a day…" moaned Ash. Brock agreed.

"You're telling me. I never ran or fought so hard in my life! Then again, it certainly does feel great to be doing something besides running around all the time, collecting Pokemon."

"Yeah… it's like we're really doing something to help the world," agreed Misty. She just had a thought, and ignored her weariness in order to lean forward and grab the attention of her fellows. "You know, I kind of feel bad for not doing any of this before. I mean, I know that the three of us alone were pretty much powerless to do anything about it, but we could have avoided a lot of trouble if we actually took the offensive against Team Rocket."

"…Maybe," murmured Ash. "But things tend to have a way of working out. If we had started to attack Team Rocket, then we never would have made Jessie and James our friends. I used to feel weird calling them that, but now it just comes natural."

"They really have come through for us," smiled Misty warmly. "I'm proud to call them friends. I just can't believe that we were ever really enemies to begin with. Somehow, I always felt that those two were good on the inside. They just needed a push in the right direction."

"Yeah!" exclaimed Brock. "And if those other two people hadn't replaced Jessie and James, and if we didn't fail during that crisis in ZERO City, then I never would have met Lenneth!!" The beautiful silvery-haired girl chuckled at the mention of her name, and scooted closer to Brock.

"Thank you, Brock; you're sweet. I just wish that more people saw you that way. Oh well; I guess they don't know what they're missing." Sighing, she rested her head on his shoulder and hugged his arm, making the poor guy nearly go faint. Normally, Misty or Ash would have groaned at the sight of Brock hitting on another woman, but Lenneth was a special young girl who defied the carbon-copied molds that so many other women seemed to come from. She was beautiful and gentle, sure, but there was just an unusual mystique about her, something else that radiated from within.

The first indication that anyone got was when she told them the story of how she discovered the Dreadnaught, purely by accident (even though it had lain hidden in a very inconspicuous place for years). There was also Misty's account of her easily disabling a large machine simply by touch, and her silvery hair gave off an almost-heavenly aura, not seen in any woman for eons. She seemed simple enough, though, and content to be the affections of poor love-stricken Brock.

The four of them were content to rest there on that couch for some time, loathe to remove themselves unless the powerful scent of dinner made them rise up. Even so, Gary passed them by awhile later and asked to speak with Ash in private. Since their heated rivalry was forced to cool off because of the chaos happening all around the world, Ash temporarily regarded Gary as more of a comrade and ally than a competitor, so he didn't treat the rusty-haired boy with contempt, nor did he refuse the offer.

"Sit down," pointed Oak, as he and his rival entered into a private room. Ash sat and removed his cap, wondering what Gary wanted to say to him. The arrogant young boy slumped down on a sofa and sighed, perhaps the first real indication of regret and unrest that he had experienced since his loss at the Pokemon tournament, long ago. Both boys remained silent for awhile, wondering who would break the quiet first.

"That was… a really awesome run today, that we did," murmured Gary, keeping his eyes on the floor. Ash nodded his head.

"Yeah. I guess when we want to, we can make a pretty okay team."

"Yeah, whatever… So, ah, are you and Misty, uh…"

"Huh? Gary, what do you mean?"

"……You know," he muttered bashfully. "Are you… well, I mean… do you like each other?"

"I… guess," he replied, not sounding 100% sure. "I mean, we fight a lot and all, but… I guess I like her."

"No, not like a friend… I mean, do you… like her? Like, do you have a crush on her or anything?"

"WHAT, a crush on MISTY??!! No way! I don't feel that way about her at all! She's too spoiled, loud, childish, bossy, fickle, she's hard to understand, and she always makes me feel like I'm messing things up! Of course I don't like her like that!!"

"But if she were hurt… or in trouble… I'd bet that you'd be the first one at her side…"

"Well… yeah, I guess," he murmured. "Why are you asking me this? Do yoooouuu have a crush on her?"

"It's not that," he answered, his voice getting lower and softer by the minute. "It's just… well… I can see the chemistry between you two--I mean, really see it. Every time I ran into you while we were on our separate journeys, I always saw you two fighting bitterly and screaming at each other, but now that I'm spending more time with you all, I guess that you two really have a strong friendship together. You look out for each other; you're there when you need each other. Some people would call friends crutches, but I say they're pillars, necessary parts of architecture that keep the building up. That's…… uh…"

"That's what?" wondered Ash. Gary sighed and shook his head, almost sadly.

"That's… probably… the one thing I really envy of yours, Ash…"

"Huh? You envy me?"

"Just on the friendship deal," he stated. "Everything else, I rule at…… but in the end, I guess you may very well beat me. It's your friends that make you stronger, the people willing to run back to you when you're injured, even though they put their own lives in danger. I only have fair-weather friends, people that bolt at the first sign of real danger. I like my entourage of girls, but… most of their adoration is just empty and fake. When I need people to tell me that I'm doing something wrong; when I'm being held accountable for my actions, I don't have anybody to turn to. You do."

Gary sighed and silenced himself, keeping still as he stared at the floor. Ash, meanwhile, stared at his rival as if a whole new side of him had just blossomed right in front of him. He never knew that Gary ever experienced anything like that, or he envied Ash for something he took for granted. Ash wanted to boast about how great he now was, but with Gary looking almost miserable, it didn't seem like the right time.

"I bet Misty really cares about you a lot," he murmured after some time. "I bet she's secretly wondering how you feel about her. She must like you a lot, because any other woman would be repulsed."

"AAHH! That's not the case!" shrieked Ash. Gary snorted.

"It's also obvious that your other two friends, Jessie and James, care about each other a lot as well. They really do make a good team, and I don't just mean when they're fighting you or other Team Rocket agents. They've been through a lot, or so they tell me, and came out of it stronger and closer than before. Your friend Brock…… I guess he deserves a nice lady like Lenneth. From what Jennifer and Joyleen have told me, she'd be just his type. That means that all your friends have somebody who cares for them, or who they care for. But I don't…"

"Gary…" Compelled by forces he didn't even know existed within himself, Ash's hand reached out and touched his rival's shoulder. Gary shrugged it off and gave the slightly-younger boy his same old sassy smirk.

"At least not until recently! I think both Jennifer and Joyleen have a thing for me! But can you really blame them?! It's not every day you come across a handsome and talented young man like myself!" Ash grumbled angrily at his rival, surprised at how easily his mood changed. If he had been a more mature boy, he would have known that it was all just a well-placed front that Gary put up so he wouldn't have to feel so down.

But, as Professor Oak and so many others had said before, Ash had a long way to go if he wanted to be mature.

---------------

The steel teeth of Morrison Glidden shined brilliantly in the light of the hangar as he smiled up at the six colossal machines standing before him. Years ago, when the Dreadnaughts were being created for the great wars, Professor Oak and Giovanni (among other brilliant minds) had found a way to harness incredible powers into six great machines, which they then stored somewhere inside the Dradnaught Amazon, hoping that such destructive power would never be needed. But in his haste to completely dominate the world, Giovanni had once again revealed their location, and Marion and Morrison took them into their own possession, finalizing the use of the old boss.

Now, with the six legendary weapons of Team Rocket available once again--six gigantic mechanical beasts, each bearing powers of the six elements of the world--the entire world would face a threat not seen since the days of the violent wars. For this challenge, there could be no possible victor; the machines were made solely for the purpose of destruction, and they would be used to finally put an end to the rebellion against Team Rocket's rule.

Upon Morrison's command, the six machines launched out of the hangar and soared across the air, each one destined to protect one of the six powerful bases of Team Rocket. If the world thought that its complete domination by Team Rocket was twilight, then this was certainly its darkest hour of all…

To be continued…