Disclaimer: I own Loren, Castor, Pollux, Dr. Mason, John, Jou-san etc. Tom and Elin are real people, who own themselves. Pokémon, Giovanni, Mewtwo and other copyrighted material belong to the big people.
Chapter 11
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morning.
The early morning mist clouded the air and the humidity formed droplets on the leaves of trees. The sun just peeked over the tips of the trees, spilling light over the barren fields. A few birds chirped as they hopped around on the branches of trees, the vibrations sending droplets falling to the ground.
But not all appreciated the beauty of an early morning.
Giovanni and the army of Team Rocket stood in the cool morning air, waiting.
"Um, what are we waiting for; sir?" Asked Giovanni's third officer, Captain San.
"We wait for them to make the first move. We mustn't do anything foolish. Too much is at stake." Giovanni answered without turning his gaze from the forestline.
"Of course." Capt. San paused for a moment. "Where is the scientist?" He asked shortly after.
"He is inside. He is supervising via surveillance cameras." Giovanni said, gaze still fixed on the forest.
"Do we fully trust him?" Capt. San asked. "How do we know he doesn't just take off with it and leave us among ourselves?"
Giovanni turned from looking at the forest as he had for the last half hour and looked at Capt San. This struck fear into the third in charge, which he tried to hide. "I have my insurance policies," Giovanni said with a glint in his eye that made the captain shiver.
"What's that?" Fourth in command, Lieutenant Shi called, pointing to the forestline.
Giovanni turned the the forest once more and saw.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Great idea, John. Brilliant" Elin said as we sneaked past the TR crowd.
"Thanks." John said with a small smile.
"Just one question," Tom said. "Where did you get them from?"
"They're old friends. I'm a bit of an adventurer too." John said, peering ahead.
"I can see." Tom finished.
I, however, wasn't concentrating on their discussion. I was looking around for any sign of Mewtwo. Any sign.....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Capt. San, what's going on? Where are we?"
"I don't know, sir. We don't seem to be outside TRHQ anymore.... STAY CALM!!!" Capt. San shouted to the milling troops that were now shifting restlessly at the sudden change of terrain.
"Form up the troops while I figure this out." Giovanni said as he surveyed the new surroundings. The green grass field and the green trees around it were gone. So was TRHQ. What was there instead was what looked like a dead forest. The ground composed of dead bark and the trees were dry and leafless, but not contorted. Quite the contrary actually. They were all incredibly straight and the branches held not a single leaf on them. None of them were more than a few meters in height. These small trees seemed to go on and on until human eyes could not see further. One single enormous oak stood in the middle of all the smaller trees. The trunk itself was so large that ten TR members couldn't reach their arms around it. There were leaves on it, but they were also dead.
Before the captain could do as he had been ordered, a shout came from the crowd and someone pointed at the enormous oak. All eyes turned to the oak. All eyes watched in awed anticipation as the dark figure came out from behind the tree. Lt. Shi gasped. "That's......"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A WORM!?!?!?" Elin said, awe and wonder apparent in her voice.
"Yes. The worm of all worms. At least that's what they think. In reality, it's just an illusion, as is the environment they're in. My friends are providing us this diversion so that we can sneak into TRHQ and get what we're after." John explained.
Just then I spotted Mewtwo watching the commotion from not too far away. "Mewtwo!" I yelled, then realised that it had been a little loud... But I didn't have time to worry about that. Mewtwo heard my call and floated over. I have found what we seek. follow me. I obeyed, signalling for the rest to follow.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Giovanni watched as the giant invertebrate slithered into view from behind the tree. It didn't seem to have any eyes, but still it headed straight toward the TR group. It opened its four-jawed mouth and gave a great roar, displaying its tens of rows of teeth. All gasped at the sight, and those that weren't frozen in place by fear were pulling out their pokédexes to identify the creature, creating a choir of "information not found"s.
It was then that he heard the yell. Just barely, over the panicked crowds, but still audible. It sounded like "Mewtwo", which is why he reacted in the first place. He turned to where he had heard the sound from, to see some movement, but he couldn't recognize it.
"What are you doing, standing around like that?!? Attack! Kill it!!!" Lieutenant Shi yelled at the troops, who soon got organized and started summoning their pokémon, which appeared with their individual battle cries and started using their abilities on the giant worm.
'This..... Isn't real....' Giovanni thought to himself. At that thought, the dead forest vanished from his eyes, and he was once again outside TRHQ. He looked at the troops, who were obviously still living the illusion. "Captain San!" Giovanni yelled to his third-in-command.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Nice'n quiet in here..." I said as we followed Mewtwo through the corridors of TRHQ...... Or more accurately, I followed Mewtwo and everyone else followed me. "Probably because everyone is outside hallucinating."
I heard a thump from behind me, and turned to see a TR agent lying unconscious on the floor. Tom, Elin and John were all standing in neutral positions, so I couldn't tell which one was responsible. "Not everyone," said Elin.
"I see. Well in that case be on the lookout. We don't want someone to find us and go tell the folks outside." I said as I once again turned to Mewtwo. However, the sight that greeted my eyes was not the pale, ghostly, see-throughable Mewtwo figure, but two, very solid looking figures. As I focused my eyes, I recognised the figures. "Damn......"
It is in here! Mewtwo said hastily and floated through a doorway on the left. I quickly rushed in, and once Tom and Elin were in as well, closed the metal door. I leaned my back against the door, panting.
"What was that?" Elin asked.
"Two pokémon. Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee. Let's be quick." I pointed at the computer in the middle of the room.
We gathered around the console, looking at the screen. I tapped a button and the screen lit up. 'Password?' "Two?"
Drowssap.
"Drowssap?!?!?"
Password backwards.
"I see." I typed in the word. The screen filled up with info, numbers and text I couldn't understand. "Great."
Just then there was a tremendous bang at the door. We all turned to see a huge dent in the door, inflicted from the outside. "Crap" Tom uttered.
"Wait a minute." Elin looked at the console again. "I know this!" She started furiously typing at the keyboard.
"And how is it that you understand this stuff?" I asked over my shoulder.
"There are certain advantages at having a computer genius as a boyfriend." She said with a smirk.
"Shoulda guessed....." I said, right before the door blasted in and we saw the outstretched leg of the Hitmonlee. "Lovely. Tom, you get Chan, I got Lee." I said to Tom.
"Got it." And the fight commenced. Knowing the damage that the two pokémon could inflict, we were busy trying to avoid their attacks, keeping them busy as Elin fought her private battle with the console.
(A.N. Now the following two battles commence simultaneously, but I just can't be bothered to jump back and forth, so they'll be written separately)
Tom had a full time trying to dodge all the disturbingly fast punches that his adversary was sending his way. Seeing a punch coming, he parried to the left and watched the Hitmonchan send five punches in the spot where he used to be. All in one second, with one hand. "Holy-" Tom cut his exclamation short as he saw his opponent rear up for what looked like a mega punch. Knowing this punch would, at the very least, knock him out, he made a quick twist to the left. The Hitmonchan delivered his punch, which missed by just a few centimetres, and while it recuperated, Tom grabbed its outstretched arm and executed a certain twisting motion. Next thing the Hitmonchan knew, it was on its back, on the floor, looking up at Tom, who had its arm twisted in a most uncomfortable position. Suddenly, said arm, which Tom was holding on to, started glowing orange. Feeling a strong burning sensation, Tom hurriedly let go. The Hitmonchan's hand burst into flames. "Fire punch." Tom said to himself as the Hitmonchan quickly got up on its feet again. I'm not getting anywhere like this! Tom thought to himself. I gotta find a way to beat him! Hearing a great scream of pain from Loren's direction, which diverted his attention, he didn't see the Hitmonchan send his punch. He noticed at the last moment, but not soon enough. The huge fist impacted upon Tom's left shoulder. With a groan of pain, he stumbled backward and fell on the ground. The Hitmonchan advanced quickly and sent a punch at Tom's head. This time, however, Tom saw it coming and reacted. The Hitmonchan stopped suddenly as it noticed Tom's outstretched leg in contact with its chest. Shortly after, it fell over backward as an effect of the collision between its chin and Tom's foot. It was down and out. Tom breathed a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, I eyed the Hitmonlee menacingly, trying to stare it down. Seeing the Lee not backing down, I took a battle pose. Damn, I thought, I gotta work on my death glare. I immediately ducked a head height kick that came my way. Shortly after, I jumped over a second, low one. Damn, he's fast! I thought as I continued to dodge and parry its kicks. As I ducked a high kick, I delivered my own low, circular kick, swiping it off its feet. I quickly moved to "lock" him, but he was faster than I expected. He sent a small kick, which is all he could on his back, at my face, and as I recoiled, it jumped up and attacked again. A splitting pain went through my right arm, producing a great scream of pain from my lungs, and I concluded that it broke my arm. "Oh, you're good...." I said. I did my best to get in a fight pose again, but I had to hold my broken arm, so my arms were out. The Hitmonlee, seeing me hurt, decided to finish me off. It reared up and delivered a very powerful, but quite insecure, kick. I expected this and stepped to the left and whirled my leg around in an elevated position. The outcome was just as I planned. The Lee's kick missed, but mine didn't. It smashed right into the front of the Lee, where one might say the face is. It fell over backwards, and I quickly brought the back of my heel upon its face, knocking it out. "Geargh," I grunted and let myself fall to the ground, trying to catch my breath.
"Bleargh." I blurted as I got up. I looked over at Tom, lying next to the knocked-out Hitmonchan. "You okay?"
"Took an nasty blow to the shoulder." He said. "You?"
"Broken arm. It's my right, so I won't be wielding a sword for a bit." I cradled my arm with the other.
"We probably better do something about these." Tom said. "How're you doing with that computer?" He yelled over to Elin.
"Few more minutes. Almost there," she answered without looking back.
"Right. Two, there a kitchen or something nearby?"
Just opposite this room. He said indicating to the direction of the door.
"Thanks. Keep watch, will ya? Don't want any Rockets catching us by surprise." Mewtwo nodded and headed down the hallway while we headed into the kitchen. Tom went straight to the fridge, opened it up, and grabbed an ice tray from the top. He poured the ice into a plastic bag and put it against his shoulder. I, meanwhile, found myself a tea towel and tied it around my neck as a sling for my arm. "What I would do to be able to recover now......."
"Be happy you can actually do that. Think of me and Elin who have to get better the old fashioned way."
"But I'm the schizophrenic. You don't get yourself as messed up as I do."
"Ja pyhh." He snorted.
"Let's get back to Elin." I said and headed back to the other room, where Elin was leaning against the table, looking proud of herself. "You get in?" I asked.
"Yup," she exclaimed with a smile.
"Jolly good." I said and rushed to the computer. Tom and Elin came up behind me and we all quieted down as we read. "So we need to find a certain console.... Only Gio and Mason are allowed at it...... We gotta clamp a metallic arm from the console to the collar...... And tell the machine to disable it..... Sounds simple enough."
"It may sound so, but I assure you it won't be."
"Hwa?!?!" I turned to face the doorway.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We stared at the figures in the doorway, which be began the recognise as the blinding of the bright light behind them seemed to start fading.
"Giovanni." I said as I looked upon the leader of Team Rocket and the hordes of TR members behind him. The two Hitmons got up again and positioned themselves loosely at the sides of Giovanni.
"Give it up, you're surrounded. You can't get away. Not again." He smirked. "You were fools to return here. Had you just stayed away, you might have gotten away. But instead you decided to return and turn yourselves in. And that little distraction outside...... Didn't expect anyone'd figure it out, did you? Well that's irrelevant now. What's important is that I've got you now. And now won't you come with us." This was not a question. A few rockets threw some metallic looking rings our way, intending to disable us. (see Mewtwo Returns.) I didn't see this coming, and neither did Tom. We both got our arms pinned to our sides, disabling them. Elin, however, was able to avoid this, and was suddenly wielding her katana, eyeing the Rockets menacingly. The Rockets hesitated, but Giovanni was not phased. "Move! It's just a little girl with a kitchen knife! Get her!" The Rockets weren't entirely convinced, but they sent more rings her way, only to find them ending up on the floor in multiple pieces.
"Practice paid off...." I said to Tom as we noticed that most attention was drawn to Elin, giving us the possibility to do something. "Quick! Get the portal stone from my pocket!" Tom came alongside me and started digging around in my pocket. He got the portal stone and took it out.
"Hold it right there!" Yelled Giovanni as we stared into the barrel of the .44 magnum he was pointing our way.
"Damn..." I whispered. An evil grin appeared on Giovanni's face. Suddenly it disappeared as he looked at the red wall of eerie power that materialized before him. "What the..." Came from more that one mouth, including my own. I looked around, searching for a potential source, and my eyes rested upon John, who was standing at the edge of the room, his open palms pointed at the wall of power. "Quickly!" He said to us through gritted teeth.
Tom understood and cast the portal stone. The eerie black portal appeared before us and Tom jumped in, shortly followed by Elin. I turned and glared at Giovanni, who in turn answered with a glare of his own. I turned and jumped into the portal.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I landed on the hard metal floor with a roll and stopped in a kneeling position, my hand on Castor's hilt. I looked around and detected nothing dangerous looking, so I got up and turned to see John coming out of the portal, collapsing on the floor and laughing. "That was intense....." He said.
Tom looked at John with a 'what-the-fuck?!?!' expression. I walked over to John and helped him up. "Where did you conjure that thing from?" I asked as John shook his head, looking disoriented. He fumbled around, then gathered his senses and focused his eyes. "Magic."
"And where exactly did you learn magic?" I asked him as he started walking forward.
"All over. Been travelling. Anyhoo. It seems we've landed just where I planned," He said, giving Tom a slight nod. "Now let's get that anklet off your leg."
"Howsabout we do something about these stupid rings first?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Giovanni watched as the portal closed up before any of his men could get to it. The silence that ensued was astonishing to Giovanni. He didn't know his troops could even be this quiet. One by one, they turned to face their boss, with a 'please don't beat me, mommy' expression on their faces. "DON'T JUST STAND THERE!!!!! AFTER THEM!!!!!!!" He screamed and pointed at the door. The troops started milling out, just wanting to get out of the room.
Giovanni turned to look at where the portal had been just moments earlier. "There's only one place they could have gone....."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So set the anklet here and we can....."
"Wait. Shouldn't we seal the door somehow?"
"How?"
"Portal outside, smash the console, portal in."
"Yeah, whatever." I opened up a portal and Tom jumped in. Meanwhile, I turned to John and Elin. "Listen up. While I'm clamped to this machine, I'll be pretty much defenseless, what with this broken arm. You guys'll be my only defense." Tom returned with the usual smirk of satisfaction that he always had after having blasted something with his shotgun. Sure enough, his 12-gauge was slung over his shoulder.
"Sure, we'll protect you, but you'd better get clamped in now or they'll be here before you can even get started." Elin said.
"Yeah, okay." I turned to the console and clamped the metallic arm onto the metallic pain in the ass and turned to the console. "Now let's see." I typed in the command to disable containment collar and loudly slammed my index finger on the enter key. A gauge appeared on the screen and started veeeeery slowly turning green.
"Brilliant, now let's prep for battle."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Giovanni strolled through the hallways of TRHQ, planning ahead at the recapture of the teenager. 'They will surely put up a fight,' he thought. But what will they come up with...? One thing is for sure. They'll probably use that hallucination thing again.....
He came up to the masses of TR members milling before the doors to the technical control room. "What's going on? Why are you just standing there? Do something!"
"We can't, Sir," sixth in command, lieutanant Roku said.
Giovanni gave him a piercing glare. "And why not?"
Roku cringed at the glare. "B-because they smoosh.... smash........ Destroyed the console to the door, Sir." '
"Oh for God's sake!" He yelled at the crowd. "Use your Pokémon! That's what they're for!"
The TR members looked at each other, then one pulled out a pokéball. "I'll see to this." He threw it forth, releasing his Magmar. "Fire Blast!" He cried and pointed at the door. The Magmar reared up and drew a large breath.
"Wait!!" One of the other members shouted, but too late. The Magmar sent forth his great fiery heap and for a few seconds, no-one could see anything, but when the smoke cleared, everyoue could see the door... Or what was left of it. Namely, all of it. The fire blast hadn't even left any mark other than a lot of soot.
"Hmmm......."
"You idiot!" Yelled the above-mentioned member. "That door is designed to withstand Pokémon attacks! Only the most powerful of Pokémon can get through that door!"
"Oh..."
As the two continued to bicker, Giovanni sighed and pulled out a walkie-talkie. "Why don't you make yourself useful and open that door from where you are, Dr. Mason?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The radio crackled in the empty room. "Dr. Mason? Dr. Mason!!" There was no answer. There was no-one to give one. The room was empty.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Giovanni was steaming at his ears. "MASON!!!" He shouted once more into the walkie-talkie. "Goddamn it...." He squeezed the walkie-talkie in his hand. "That worthless labcoated swine. He betrayed me. That damned son of a slug......." The walkie-talkie cracked and burst to pieces in his hand.
Giovanni woke up to reality again and he noticed that everyone was looking at him. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "YOU!" he pointed at a random TR agent. He grabbed him by the shoulder and brought him closer. "Go to the control room and open this door for us, if you please," he said calmly, which frightened the agent. Knowing what was best for him, he obeyed and ran off and out of sight.
Before the other agents had time to turn around, there was a "What the...?!" and a sound of a blade forcefully cutting flesh, followed by a scream. The group turned around to look in the direction of the noise, uttering random exclamations. What they saw was beyond all of them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What the hell is going on out there? First they try to get in, then they yell and scream, now they're all quiet. Something's not right."
"Sure not, but what's the situation with the anklet thing?"
I looked at the monitor. "I figure a few more minutes."
"I'm guessing they'll take a lot longer than a few minutes to get through that door," said Elin.
Just then, we heard a metallic scrape from the direction of the door. We all turned to look, and saw something that looked like a strange sword jammed between the doors. "What the....?" Someone twisted it sideways, creating a small crack between the doors. The doors slowly started to open, seemingly pushed by some great force.
"Whatever this is, get ready for a fight." I said to everyone.
The doors finally opened completely and we saw what had been forcing them open. We saw a man, at least six foot, wearing a hockey mask, dirty, old clothes and holding a large, bloody machete.
"Oh, shit." The man stopped just inside the door and looked around. "Jason." I said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Jason?" Tom asked. "Jason who?"
"Y'know. Friday the 13th?"
"I only saw number one!"
"Well put it this way." I said as I watched Jason's every move. "Brutal, strong, and undead." I equipped Castor in my left hand, seeing as my right was broken.
Jason make a lunge for Elin, who deflected his machete and ducked to the side, sending Jason sailing past her. While he recooperated, she swapped her katana to her elbow-blades. As Jason proceeded to make a chain of slices with his sword, Elin proceeded to block them.
As Jason moved out of the doorway, I saw the figure behind him. The one who brought him here. The one in control. Mason.
Tom, meanwhile, grabbed his pistols and started emptying his clips into Jason's torso, sending a few to his head. Jason was not fazed by this, but kept attacking Elin. Tom saw this and turned to me. "So how do we kill him? He's got a weakness, right?"
As Mason moved out of the doorway and I lost sight of him, I was jolted back to reality. "I only really saw Freddy vs. Jason, so I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sire water is his weakness. He drowned, after all." Just then I heard a beep from behind me and looked at the console. The word COMPLETE was shining in red in the screen. I looked at it, excitement taking me over. Until I saw the next bit of text. SELF-DEFENSE PHASE TWO "What the...?!" I cried, but was interrupted when I felt a surge of pain and fell to the ground, losing consciousness.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(3rd POV)
John watched Loren collapse and rushed to him. He noticed the containment collar lying in two pieces on the floor, but Loren was unconcious.
"Water...." Tom said, not having seen Loren fall. "Where can we get water 'round here?" He looked up at the ceiling and paused. "Sprinklers." He rose his gun to a smoke detector and fired, sending all the smoke and fire toward it.
"NO!!" John cried when he saw what Tom saw doing, but too late.
A single beep sounded, the doors closed and a white gas started spewing from little holes in the walls and ceiling. "Don't breathe!" John shouted. He dug the portal stone out of Loren's pocket and opened a portal. Tom rushed in, and John lifted the unconscious Loren onto his shoulders, following Tom. Elin sent a blow into the back of Jason's knee, sending his falling to the floor. She rushed accross the room and jumped into the portal, which closed up behind her.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John landed on the soft ground of the forest to which he had opened the portal. He laid Loren on the ground and turned to Tom as Elin came out of the portal. "Idiot! That was a computer room! Even Team Rocket aren't stupid enough to spill gallons of water on their own computers! They use halon gas! It's poisonous!"
"Well How was I supposed to know?"
"I'd've thought you'd've watched enough movies to know that."
"Well I haven't."
"Gyeargh." John turned to Loren again.
Tom came up to him. "What's up with him?"
"The machine must've electrocuted him as a backup. He's unconscious."
"But the containment collar is off. That's good."
"Yeah. Just gotta get Mewtwo here. Problem is Loren is the only one who can see him."
Tom turned to Elin. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," She smiled. "That was refreshing."
A sudden movement alarmed all three of them. They turned to see..... Mewtwo, getting up off the grass.
"Mewtwo" Thay all said in unison. Mewtwo said nothing..
"How's loren?"
He will recover.
There was at least one sigh of relief.
"So can we go home now?"
Not yet. There is one more thing to do.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Giovanni walked down the dimly lit corridor of Team Rocket Headquarters. His mind was racing over the events that had not only cost him Mewtwo, but had also created the problem of how to get rid of the undead mechete-killer in his computer-room.
He absent-mindedly babbled his name into the voice-recognizing sensor next to the door to his quarters. He poured himself a glass of whiskey and sat down at his desk. He took a sip of his beverage and lay back in his chair. It was then that he noticed the piece of paper on his desk which he did not remember having placed there.
He picked it up and read it:
Giovanni
You do not own me, my other, or any that we say you do not. There will come a time when we shall finally settle our scores. Until then, good luck with the Mason. He should be a formidable business partner, with you having so much in common.
Yours never
Mewtwo
Team Rocket Headquarters shook with the enraged cries of Giovanni.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Behold chapter 11. Took me a long time to write it, but it's finally done. R&R please.
A.N. Well, MetalMyersJason, Jason is now in. Aren't you happy?