Sixteen: Into Nibelheim

"There it is!" Gary was the first to spot the main Team Rocket base, a large and overwhelming fortress situated in the middle of a forest, perfectly hidden and perhaps perfectly defended from any attack.

"Look at the size of that thing!" gasped Ash as he closed in on it. The main base was indeed abnormally big, as large as four of the normal-sized bases and probably defended well; it would take them awhile to destroy it. From over their walkie-talkies, the voice of Captain Thatcher called out to them.

"My screen shows you're all closing in on them. All fighters report in."

"Ash Ketchum, standing by!"

"Gary Oak, standing by!"

"Brock and Lenneth, standing by!"

"Ritchie and Tracey, standing by!"

"James and Botch, standing by!"

"BUTCH!"

"Jessie and Cassidy, standing by!"

"Koga!"

"Lieutenant Surge!"

"Erika!"

"Sabrina!"

"Blaine!"

"The Elite Four, standing by!"

"Lance, guide the dragons in attack position."

"Aye, sir!" Lance whistled out to his dragons, ordering them to fly in offensive form, ready at any time to attack the Team Rocket headquarters. One by one, they all obeyed, spreading their arms forward and their wings out.

"…May the powers be with us," whispered Thatcher, his voice more hopeful than aggressive. Nobody could disagree that this was a very difficult time for them all, even when their numbers had leaped up and they were using dragon Pokemon. It was probably going to be their last battle, perhaps the most destructive as well, and many of them feared the loss of a comrade--or even themselves. Thatcher, Jennifer, and Joyleen could only watch from the ruins of the Dreadnaught as their comrades flew into the very heart of chaos.

"What's this!" shouted Joyleen over the comm devices. "I'm detecting a large amount of anti-aircraft guns stationed everywhere around the base! There're hundreds of them! Everyone, be careful!"

"I read ya, Joyleen!" shouted Gary, a smile tugging at his mouth. He flew his dragon apart from the main group, deciding it would be better to swoop in from a different direction. Ash shouted out to him.

"Gary, what do you think you're doing?"

"Weren't you listening? Nurse Joyleen said that this thing has teeth! They're gonna start shooting at us any second now! Disband from the main group and spread out! We'll be harder to hit individually!"

"He's right!" agreed Blaine, so he swooped his dragon away from the main group. Suddenly, an eruption of gunfire came right out of the base, narrowly missing Misty's dragon. She yelped in terror and barely clung on as the creature performed a hasty barrel roll.

"Aah! What was that?! Were those the guns?"

"Yes; separate now!" shouted Jennifer over the devices. The others grimly agreed and split apart from the group like billiard balls being broken and scattered. As soon as they separated, a vast spray of gunfire gushed out of the main base, like white-hot droplets of deadly rain come to destroy the intruders. Everyone screamed and shouted as they were being attacked from every conceivable angle possible, and just when it looked like things wouldn't get worse, they did.

What appeared to be the remainder of Team Rocket agents came marching out of the main base, loaded for bear and ready to defend their territory to the very last one of them. They fired guns and threw explosives up in the air; some even called forth Pokemon to take down the attackers.

"This is insane!" shouted Brock over all the noise. He forced his stomach to stay down as his dragon twirled around a blast of fire from below, and listened intently for any instructions from the others. Lance, who had taken over the leadership from Captain Thatcher, quickly organized a plan.

"Keep your heads, everyone! Koga, Gary, Sabrina! You three formulate an attack plan and assault the northeast tower of the base! Surge, Ritchie, Tracey, Ash! Take care of the northwest! Lorelei, I want you to lead Brock, Erika, and Blaine to the southeast; Agatha, you take the southwest with James, Lenneth, and Cassidy! Bruno, you lead Jessie, Misty, and Butch to those people on the ground floor! I'll join you in a second!"

"Copy, leader!" The dragon riders split apart again and joined forces with their respective teams, concentrating on a single area of the base instead of just dodging everywhere and hoping for a clear shot. Lance smiled thinly and guided his dragon towards the very center of the base, diving down on it like a bomb as it summoned up its incredible power.

"NOW!" The creature quickly belched out flames and blasts of destructive energy as it swooped back up into the air, sending the first indication of attack against the base. A thunderous clap shook the air as Lance retreated, lighting the sky up and frightening his dragon.

"Lance! Lance, you okay?!"

"Yeah, I just got a little cooked, that's all. What about you guys?"

"Receiving heavy firepower from southwest quad," reported Cassidy. "Multiple guns on towers 01, 06, and 09; main cannon's speed is greater than I remembered. Suggestions?"

"James, Agatha, try and draw that fire! Cassidy, you concentrate all your power on that big gun you talked about! I want Lenneth to take the small guns!"

"Copy."

"Why me?" wailed James. Lance growled at the poor man's cowardice.

"Because I gave you a bloody fast dragon, that's why!"

"Good heavens, I never asked foorrraaaaiiieeeeeeee!!!!!!!" Lance winced as he heard James screaming, probably over little more than his dragon doing a very good job at evading the shots. He hastily tumbled his own ride out of the way of a large blast, and swerved it around to help join his comrades on the ground floor. The agents on the surface were barely able to scatter fast enough to evade the blasts the three dragons were sending down them, although a few had found cover and were returning fire. Lance gritted his teeth like a mongrel before a fight and let his dragon assault them at will, scattering agents and debris to all corners as he fired.

"Thanks," sighed Bruno. "They were giving us a hard time."

"Watch your left, Ash!" shouted Surge. The brawny Lieutenant quickly soared his dragon in and smacked away one of the explosives that had strayed from the surface, sending it hurtling towards the base. Ash audibly sighed over the radios.

"Thanks, Lieutenant. …Aaah, look out!" Ash quickly steered his dragon to the left and preemptively shot fire before the cannons of the northwest tower could shoot first. The incoming bullets were fried and the guns themselves melted under the intense sudden blast; Ash yelped out in victory.

"All right! Got one!"

"Butch! You've got fire on your tail!" shouted Misty's voice.

"I can't shake it!" Butch swerved his dragon as quickly as he could, but the pursuing shots chased him relentlessly, sometimes coming so close that his dragon groaned in pain. He gritted his teeth nervously, beads of sweat coming down his forehead as he scrambled for ideas. Suddenly, a dragon swooped in from directly above and blasted back at the assaulter, destroying them and the area around it. Butch sighed with relief.

"I owe you, little girl."

"Lance, Thatcher! We have just destroyed all but the main cannon on the southeast tower!" shouted Erika's voice. "We're receiving heavy firepower from over here! I don't know how much more we can take!"

"What do you mean, 'heavy firepower'? Didn't you destroy it?"

"Lance, we've picked up a new signal coming from the base!" came Captain Thatcher's voice suddenly. Lance froze.

"What is it?"

"Enemy choppers, at least a dozen of them." Lance maintained radio silence as he slowly absorbed this new bit of deadly information.

"…I'll be there in a few seconds, Erika." Lance quickly dove away from fighting the ground battles and flew as fast as he could towards the southeast tower. He could already see the twelve black choppers rising out of the base like locusts from the Pit, and chewed his lip as he prepared for a prolonged fight.

"Lance!!"

"Just hold them off for a few seconds!" he shouted. Lance quickly reared his dragon up and commanded it to spew flames, and at least one chopper was struck hard with the blast. The others scattered and pursued the intruders individually; Lance stuck around to help completely destroy the southeast tower.

"Well, that's one less mess on our hands," sighed Erika wearily. "Boss, you okay?"

"I won't be until we get those choppers. Cassidy, any news on the southwest?"

"It's all clear over here, sir. We're going after the choppers now."

"Good idea. Lorelei, I want your team to go help them! The rest of you, once you've destroyed the towers, go after the choppers. Take them down individually; they'll be too hard to hit in groups."

"Copy, leader!" Erika, Lorelei, Blaine, and Brock soared away from the southeast tower and charged towards the choppers, who had begun to gang up upon those that were being overwhelmed by the anti-aircraft fire. The combined help of the dragons was destroying more and more helicopters, and Cassidy, Lenneth, James, and Agatha all let out a yawp as they joined their comrades.

"Koga! Stay on target! You're too close!" shouted Sabrina's voice suddenly.

"I'm okay! I know what I'm doing!"

"No, pull up! You'll get fried!"

"Gotta stay my course…"

"Koga!!" A cloud of smoke and flame erupted out of nowhere, slamming into Koga's dragon with an immense force, disabling it severely. Koga screamed as his mount plummeted to the ground, and a shower of fire cruelly blasted after it as it fell.

"NO!! Return to the Pokeball!" Acting quickly, Lance summoned his dragon back inside the safety of the ball, while Koga drifted down to the surface on a parachute. Blaine could hear him sigh with relief.

"Good thing you all had these… but don't worry about me. A ninja can find more than one way to defeat an enemy…"

"Koga?" Koga's transmission had ended, so the only thing they got was silence. Gary shook his head, not sure what to make of things. Acting hastily, he wheeled his dragon around and opened fire on the northeastern tower.

"This is for Koga!" he shouted. The tower was instantly engulfed in flames and blasts of energy, until it could take no more and erupted in a column of flame. Gary couldn't quite pull up in time and got caught in the rain of debris and fire.

"Hey, kid! Are you all right?!" Gary could be heard screaming as his dragon careened out of control, and both Lance and Sabrina bit their lips in worrisome anticipation. They were mercilessly shaken out of their silence by a blast from below, so they hastily dove away and took care of the nuisance. Meanwhile, Gary took control of his dragon and his senses, and quickly steered it back to normality before it could crash. He let a relieved breath come out.

"That was too close! Hey, did I get the tower?"

"Don't scare us like that, kid!" snapped Sabrina angrily, her voice strained from fighting. Gary chuckled.

"Ehh, I'm all right. I am the great Gary Oak, after--"

"Okay, okay, we've heard enough from you!" interrupted Sabrina. "Now if you're still able to fight, go help the people on the northwest tower! I'll take care of the ground floor!"

"Gotcha!" Gary swooped his dragon over to the northwest tower, the only one still posing a threat, and saw that Tracey, Ritchie, and Ash still had their hands full.

"I caught one on my tail!" shouted Ritchie, glancing back to see a deadly chopper bearing down on him.

"If you catch a chopper, make evasive maneuvers! Pair up in groups of two and watch each other's backs!"

"I'm on my way, Ritchie!" shouted Ash. Gary smiled in spite of himself and watched poor Ritchie sweat until the very last, when Ash performed an impressive barrel roll around a column of bullets and smashed up against the chopper. The dragon slapped the machine away with its immense strength, sending it soaring down to the ground where it smashed into pieces.

"Thanks, Ash…" sighed Ritchie. Gary snorted.

"You guys still need my help?" he asked. Ash actually looked glad.

"You couldn't have come at a better time, Gary! This is a tough tower!"

"Yeah, but look at who's attacking it! You're so weak, Ashy-boy!"

"Enough of this!" boomed Surge suddenly. "Your petty rivalry can be put aside for now! Concentrate on destroying that tower!"

"Aw, it's okay, Lieutenant," replied Ash in a carefree voice. "I'm used to it now. It's just hot air from a buffoon."

"Huh?" Gary stared back at his rival in astonishment, surprised that he had made such a comment. He couldn't help but think of Ash in a higher light now, simply because of that last statement. Maybe he has grown up a bit during this journey… Grandpa was right; he's matured! Not willing to be outdone like that, Gary took his dragon and assaulted the tower mercilessly. Tracey and Ash joined him, and together the three young boys annihilated the final tower. They all cheered, but a surprise announcement from the Dreadnaught jarred their good mood.

"Not so fast, lads! We're pickin' up more choppers comin' in! At least fifty more!!"

"FIFTY!!!!" shrieked everyone. Ash gawked.

"Captain, you gotta be joking!"

"I wish I was, lad! I triple-checked just to make sure! There's fifty, all right, all coming towards you!"

"Where did they come from?" wondered Bruno. Lance shook his head slowly.

"They must be what was left over from the other bases. While we were kept busy with the guns and the first wave, the other bases were alerted all around the world of our invasion. They sent all their forces over to surround us!"

"Then what're we supposed to do?" wondered Misty fearfully. Lance could only shake his head and sigh.

"We fight, of course. We fight and we fight until one side goes down. That's all we can do. Jessie, Bruno, what's the status on the ground floor?"

"Resistance fleeting," replied Bruno. "There's nobody left. I think we got them all."

"And the towers?"

"All main guns destroyed and accounted for," replied Erika. "The base is wounded, and aside from those choppers, there's only one other defense, and that's the sub-guns stationed everywhere we didn't get."

"So the base is…"

"I think it's ours," replied the Grass master with a smile. Lance let out a cheer and quickly gave a very enthusiastic order.

"Okay then! All it took was patience and persistence! We lost a few people, but the bulk of our attack force is still here! Guys!! I want everyone to focus all his or her attacks on the main base! Blow it to smithereens, and then blow the smithereens to smithereens!"

"What about those choppers?" asked Agatha. Lance chuckled.

"They won't be here for awhile. Elite Four, I want us to hold them off when they arrive. If we need help, I want the former members of Team Rocket to come to our aide. Everyone else should focus everything they have on that base! Don't stop until there's nothing but rubble!"

"Copy that!"

"It's dangerous, but I'm willing to give it a try!" exclaimed James. Jessie agreed wholeheartedly.

"Right! Take one last look at Team Rocket's main base, because it's about to be destroyed!!" The dragon riders swooped down on the main base, all of them simultaneously letting their firepower pour out on the fortress like the wrath of God. Massive explosions erupted everywhere as it was being pummeled from above, and although there were still enough small guns to constitute as a threat, there were far too many attackers to be taken down. They kept swooping down and letting loose the firepower of the dragons, wave after relentless wave, until the base was awash with flame.

"Incoming!" shouted Agatha. Just as predicted, a whole swarm of Team Rocket helicopters chased after them, their blades whirring like the sound of giant killer bees. Bruno bellowed out a war cry.

"COME AND GET SOME OF THIS!! ELITE FOUR!!!!!" The four master trainers flew towards the choppers, expecting to get into a ferocious and perhaps final fight, but a strange radio signal intercepted them.

"Wait, stop! Don't shoot! We're on your side!"

"Say what?" muttered Lorelei. "Team Rocket's on our side? Hey, don't you know what we're attacking?"

"It's okay," reported a voice from one of the choppers. "We're members of Team Rocket who were loyal to Giovanni. We heard of his death and wanted to avenge him by striking back at those who killed him. We've been waiting for somebody to take a stand like this."

"You can't possibly be serious!" exclaimed Brock. Cassidy and Butch assured him that all was okay.

"We told a few of our friends of what happened, and they promised to help us fight. Unfortunately, this was all we could gather; everyone else isn't quite as loving of the true Team Rocket as we are."

"Son of a gun!" whispered Lance in awe. "I never thought I would see the day! Team Rocket off to destroy Team Rocket!"

"We don't like attacking our own base, but those two people gave us no choice!" said one of the helicopter voices. "It's a shame, and it'll feel weird, but… it's what we believe in. Now they can face the wrath of the true Team Rocket!"

"Oh, brother," moaned James. "And to think that we used to be like that!" One of the helicopter pilots croaked in sudden surprise as he heard James' voice.

"Holy cow, is that James William Wyatt?!?! It is!! JAMES, you son of a devil! We all thought you and Jessie were dead!"

"You honestly can't expect the most famous members of Team Rocket to die so easily, now!" boasted Jessie proudly. The chopper pilots laughed heartily.

"No, of course not. It's great to hear your voice, Jessie. Frankly, we'd rather see your blessed hairstyles than a hundred helicopters!" James and Jessie blushed as they were complimented with such regard, and the helicopters continued moving forward towards the base. With the crew of the Dreadnaught still in awe over what they had heard, the choppers and the dragons combined their forces and laid waste to the main Team Rocket base, erupting it in a wave of fire until it was completely destroyed.

"WAHOO!!! We did it!!!" Gary shrieked out joyously as the explosion rocked the world, and everyone joined him in cheering for the devastation. The dragons and the choppers quickly landed, and the survivors of the fight dismounted, wobbly and weary but full of victorious energy. Hugs and embraces were shared everywhere as former enemies and rivals put aside all their differences and celebrated together.

"WAIT!" shouted a familiar voice. The brief party stopped as everyone turned around to see Koga running towards them, his entire body covered with smoke and scratches, a bundle wrapped in his arms. Erika gasped as she saw him.

"Oh, goodness! We forgot about you, Koga! Were you caught in that explosion?"

"Just barely," he wheezed breathlessly, his entire body looking burnt (although there probably wasn't any real damage done to him). "I originally wanted to infiltrate the base and destroy it from within, like a true ninja master, but I had second thoughts once I found this!" Carefully, he presented the bundle to the group, and out of the blanket came an extremely familiar and annoying voice, coughing and sputtering as it was freed from the ninja's grip.

"Aaah! I can't breathe! Help me, get me some air! I think all my nine lives just flashed right before my eyes! What kinda crazy dope is this, anyhow?!"

"It's Meowth!" squealed Jessie and James. Despite all their past enmities, the loveable duo pounced on Koga and embraced Meowth fiercely, hugging him and squealing over him to no end. The poor kitten was barely able to scream because of the sudden attention he was being given.

"Ow, OOOOOOOWWWWWWW!!!! That hoits! It hoits all over! Ahhh, stoooooop!!!!" Meowth quickly slashed at poor Jessie and James, ceasing their overbearing actions just like old times. The unfortunate duo glared at Meowth angrily, who could only stutter and shirk backwards as he saw his one-time partners back from the dead.

"AAAAHHH!! It's a ghost! Aaah, it's two ghosts! James, Jessie! How on Oith did you two get here? H-h-have you come b-b-back to haunt me?"

"Meowth, ghosts don't get scratches all over their faces!" spat James in a booming voice.

"You don't seem very happy to see us, either!" screamed Jessie, baring her fangs to the poor feline. Meowth's face paled deeply as perspiration washed over.

"Aah, uhh, umm… well, ahh, I just didn't t'ink dat you'd be alive and all… I mean, uh… I guess… yer not as clumsy as da boss made ya out to be!"

"Meeeeeoooowwwwth!!!!!!" James and Jessie ganged up on him in a rage, but instead of pummeling the poor cat, they hugged him even tighter, which was even more of a surprise to the poor Pokemon.

"Oh, Meowth… it's really you… We missed you so much!!"

"HUH?????"

"It's true!" sang James, cuddling the confused cat. "It's like we weren't even complete without an annoying ball of fuzz following us around all the time! Have you been in the base all this time?"

"Uh… yeah, I guess. But jeez, where have you two been? I really t'ought youse was dead!"

"It's a long story!" gushed Jessie happily, her eyes tearing up from the joy of reuniting with Meowth. The cat smiled coolly and held his paw out as if there was nothing to it.

"Well, youse can tell me later! Hey, who are all these people? And why are you with the twerps?"

"Didn't we tell you it was a long story?" growled James. Poor Meowth shrieked as he towered over him, but of course, James couldn't be mad at Meowth forever and hugged him one more time. Everyone else burst out in riotous laughter, glad that the "team" was now whole once again.

"Wait, why are we all laughing?!" shouted Butch suddenly. Everyone stopped and looked at him in confusion. "This isn't over yet! This isn't over by a long shot! We still have Morrison to deal with!"

"Oh, you're right!" exclaimed his partner. "I nearly forgot! But wouldn't he be in the base?"

"I wouldn't count on it," muttered Butch warily. "It's not going to be that easy to eliminate Team Rocket completely. In fact, he probably found that last machine and is looking for us right now! Stay on your toes, everyone. This last battle of ours isn't over yet."

To be continued…