Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. This story isn't written to make profit, or even to get attention from girls. It is simply written for entertainment and to keep myself busy. The main characters are mine however (except for professor Oak and some Jenny's and Joy's) and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't use it without my approval.

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Chapter 16 – Seeing the light

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I can't really remember how I got out of the tunnel but I finally emerged back into sunlight. I hoped there was a pokécentre somewhere nearby so I could heal my guys. If only…

"Hey, I thought the tunnels were closed?"

… I didn't run into someone. Fuck. Here's another loss. Hey, I'm getting pretty good at this.

"Tony? That you?"

Huh? I had no idea who was before me since my eyes weren't adjusted to the bright sunlight yet, but the voice sounded strangely familiar, well obviously it sounded familiar since that guy knew me, just fuck off, alright?

"Who?"

"It's me, Allan."

"Allan?" I blinked a couple of times and indeed, out of the darkness his stupid grin appeared, "how did you get here? I thought you were in Cerulean?"

"I was, but I came here to train my pokémon. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to check what's wrong with the power plant," I said, still not really believing he was before me, "the electricity in Lavender is shot."

"Well, I'll help you if I can," he suddenly frowned as he looked closer, "but you should go to the pokémoncentre to freshen up, you don't look too good."

"Good idea, I don't feel too good either." I grunted.

I believe I actually leaned on him as we went to the nearby pokémoncentre.

"Hey, wanna battle?"

I froze. I had my hopes up when Allan had decided to help me instead of taking my money, but now some other guy was gonna beat my already beaten pokémon into submission.

"Now's not the time, maybe later," Allan said.

"Okay, maybe next time then." The guy replied.

"You can do that?" I asked.

"Sure, if you don't want to fight, you don't fight," Allan explained, "nobody can force you into a pokémonfight, otherwise the league gives him or her a serious penalty."

Fuck, I've been had.

!

"But how did you exactly get here?" I asked Allan as I ate my Tauros sandwich, "there's no way you could have passed me in that tunnel."

"I took the road." He replied.

"What road?"

He slightly frowned.

"You really don't know you're way around these parts do you? The road from Cerulean."

"You mean that there's a fucking road from Cerulean to the power plant?"

"Well, yes."

"Fuck. So I walked all this way for nothing? Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

"It's not that bad." Allan tried to calm me down.

"Not that bad? Fuck! Some hoodlum in those caves practically robbed me! I lost a pokémonfight and I had to give him 600 bucks! Six hundred! That was practically all I had! I only have about thirty left now! Fuck!"

"Six hundred?" Allan grimaced, "you WERE robbed. The maximum amount of money you can win with a pokémonfight is 200 in the junior league and 400 in the professional league and since you haven't collected all the badges yet and thus haven't fought in the league, you're still a junior, despite your age of course."

"But I already won over 300 dollar per fight." I raised an eyebrow.

"Like I said, you're probably the oldest junior around. You're what? Twenty? Most twenty year old pokémon trainers are all pro's. Heck, most sixteen year olds are pro. You were probably mistaken for a pro so normally you got more money."

"Wow, lucky me." I thought for a second. "I don't have to give the money back, do I?"

"Well, if you remember who you fought against…" he left it hanging and I just nodded.

"That reminds me," he grinned, "we never finished our fight in Cerulean."

"I don't have time now," I shook my head, "I have to go to the power plant to see what the problem is. Could you tell me where I can find it?"

"Sure, it's just up the river."

"And I get there… how?"

"You got surf?"

"Huh?"

"One of the HM's."

"Oh yeah, I have those doohickey's." I started to rummage through my backpack, "I think one of them is surf. Ah here it is."

"Who are you gonna give it to?" Allan grinned.

"Uhm…"

Oh great, that dilemma came up again.

"Best is a large pokémon that can carry you comfortably, like a Lapras or something."

Fuck, I didn't have any large pokémon yet. Except for Rocksnake and I didn't really see him surf.

"But if you want, you can use my Dragonair, I'm sure it can handle two persons."

"Two?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Sure, he won't listen to you. You have to take me, and besides, I think I can help you in the power plant."

I sighed.

"Fine, but get a decent team of pokémon that stand a good chance against electric types," I suddenly wondered, "and also against ground and rock."

"Two types that are good against electric, are you expecting trouble?"

"No, but somehow I seem to get it anyway."

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So there I was, ready to leave to the power plant, along my faithful sidekick (ahum) Allan. I'm not gonna say I helped him pick his team and I definitely won't say that he helped with mine (although I did thank him for some good suggestions). My team consisted of Blaster, Slasher, Weasel, Rock, King and Shocker. His team included the Dragonair, his Geodude from the Cerulean fight, a Rattatta, a Rhyhorn he had caught in the safari zone, a Muk and finally a Machop he had recently caught. It's strange. When I first met him I didn't think we would get along this well. It seems somehow his dorkyness has mellowed or something, although that could be my personal opinion, since I've started to know him a bit better.

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Anyway. We got on the Dragonair and set sail (or how do you say that with a pokémon?) to the power plant, feeling in my gut things weren't gonna go as smoothly as I hoped.

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Allan and me arrived at the power plant, courtesy of his Dragonair. From the moment I set foot on the shore, I had the feeling something wasn't right. I would say my spider-sense was tingling but then I would get sued by Marvel comics.

"Hey, what are you kids doing here?"

"Kids?" I turned around and glared at the guy in the black and red uniform, "I'm twenty, I'm no kid anymore, asshole."

"Still no reason to be rude," the guy tried to defend himself, "just because I called you kid doesn't mean you should start calling me names."

"I'm sorry," I sighed, "it's just been a rough day for me, I didn't mean to…"

"That's okay, but try to be friendlier next time, okay?"

"I'll try." I smiled and readied myself to pass him.

"Hey," the guard suddenly came back to his senses, "no, you guys shouldn't be here."

"I'm not a guy," Allan grumbled, "I'm sixteen, I'm still a kid, asshole."

"Hey, I said I was sorr… what the fuck? That trick won't work with me again."

The guard's hand went to his pokéballs and I was ready to hit him when the Dragonair suddenly shot out of the water and wrapped himself around the guard, finishing it off with a headbutt. The guard fell down and the Dragonair slithered its way to Allan who returned it to its pokéball.

"Okay, something is definitely going on here," I said as I grabbed the guards uniform, "DS, fuck, the Dark Squad."

"Who are they?" Allan enquired.

"The new Team Rocket. They were the ones behind that whole thing in Mount Moon as well."

"Dark Squad?" he raised an eyebrow, "don't they know everyone's gonna change that to Dork Squad?"

"You would think so, wouldn't you?"

I dropped the guard and walked to the door of the power plant. I opened the door slightly and looked inside. There were two more guards talking and laughing. I slowly closed the door again and stepped back to Allan. I should have known things would be a lot harder than I first thought. Aren't they always?

"We're fucked. Apparently the Dark Squad took over the power plant. And they're with more than two, so, we're fucked."

"Shouldn't we warn someone?" Allan frowned.

I nodded and got my cell phone out.

"Hey Sue, it's me Tony… there's a small problem here… what do you mean, you could have thought so?… well, this is pretty serious… you know the power plant?… well, guess who took over… yes indeed, the Dark Squad… how do you think I know?… I didn't know when I got here… I'm here because there's a black out in Lavender… so you're coming with the SWAT?…why not?… … … fuck… okay, then I have no choice but to deal with this myself... then may be too late… don't worry I'm not alone… uhm, best you don't know… okay, Allan… yes, that Allan… don't worry, I'll… I'll… … I'll take care of him… I promise… have I ever let you down?… okay, that time doesn't count… yeah, but… I'll be fine… just send reinforcements as soon as you can… will do… see you later…bye."

I hung up and cursed.

"What's the news?" Allan asked.

"Bad news. They've found an old base of Team Rocket in Pewter and they're storming it with every force available, including the SWAT of Cerulean, so we have no back up… Fuck!"

"So we have to do it alone?"

I nodded.

"What do you know of the plant?"

"Not much," Allan sighed, "there's a hall before you can get in the factory part, but beyond that, I have no idea."

I glanced down at the unconscious guard. His uniform didn't seem to be isolated.

"Let's take a long shot," I sighed.

!

The door flew open and a yellow blur ran into the hall. The two guards jumped up and reached for their pokéball but stopped when they saw a Pikachu sitting before them.

"Great, one of those," one of them sighed, "man, this place is crawling with Pikachu's and Raichu's. Luckily they don't attack people."

"Actually," the second one frowned, "this is the first Pikachu I've see-"

Shocker let out a burst of energy that stunned the two guards. Allan and me quickly made our way in and dragged them outside. Well, I dragged them outside, Allan came behind with a roll of isolated wire. We tied up the guards and re-entered the power plant. We found the staff tied up in the office behind the welcome desk.

"Thank you for saving us," one of them said, "we thought we were done for."

"How many are there?" I asked.

"About seven," he replied.

"So that means there are four left," I nodded to Allan, "any of you guys wanna help us?"

The staff members looked at each other to see if somebody would volunteer and I sighed.

"Just get the fuck out of here, okay?"

The staff ran out and Allan and me continued our way into the plant, careful not to touch anything that looked suspicious (I had to warn Allan three times not to pick up a stray pokéball, reminding him it might be a Voltorb). We found three of the four Squaders or whatever they called themselves in the factory part. Allan and I decided an all out attack would be best so I sent in Rocksnake for a surprise attack. Boy, there's really no such surprise as a massive Onix bursting in. While they ducked for cover, Allan and me ran in with our pokémon taking out the evil doers without much of a problem. Before they could react they were either shocked, poisoned, clobbered or a combination of the three.

"Okay, that's three, where's the fourth?" Allan asked.

"Who cares, let's start this puppy back up so the people in Lavender can relax."

I found the main switch for Lavender and turned it on. I heard the turbines starting up and soon the board flashed up.

"Bingo. Now, we can look for number four."

Suddenly a door in the back swung open.

"Hey guys, you'll never believe what's behind… Fuck!"

Before we could react he had grabbed his pokéball and brought out an Onix.

"I thought you might use rock pokémon to counter the electric," I grinned as I reached for Blasters pokéball, "so I took precautions."

The Wartortle made his watergun attack and the Onix fell down after one blow. The Dork Squid (yeah, that sounds about right) hesitated for a second and brought out a Voltorb. Before I could react Allan had brought out his Ryhorn that stormed full speed at the Voltorb, ramming it. In the mean time Allan's Dragonair had slithered behind the poor guy and jumped him.

"We won!" Allan shouted.

"Was there ever any doubt?" I grinned.

"Well, honestly, I wasn't too sure about the outcome. I mean these are renowned criminals."

"True," I nodded, "but actually I was asking a rhetorical question. Now, let's see what had that guy so worked up."

I walked to the door that bozo came out of and opened it.

"Fuck…"

!

My hair stood up as I entered the room. Before me there was a huge bird that seemed to shimmer. Electric jolts ran over its body as it clapped its wings. I stood speechless while a little voice in my head said "go for a pokéball", but I couldn't react. I mean, that bird was so fucking awesome. It was the same size as that Articuno that had saved me from the islands but it didn't look anything like it. It let out a screech that seemed to go through my body like one million volts and clapped its wings again. I looked around and saw there was no way out for it, except for a large gate that was closed. I stepped to the gate and pushed the button to open it. The bird blinked as the gate slowly opened and let out another screech. He flew out, circled above the plant while it kept looking at me and left.

"Oh my God," Allan said, "that was a Zapdos, you just let a Zapdos fly away, oh my God."

"I know." I responded.

"Why did you let it out? You could have caught it."

"I don't know," I said, "it didn't seem right, I mean, it had no way to go, he couldn't run…"

Suddenly, I don't know why, my mood dropped. Like I remembered something that was far from pleasant, but I couldn't remember what I remembered. It's hard to explain, but… I suddenly felled very depressed.

"Just…" I shook my head, "let's just get out of here, okay?"