Chapter 12

Rocket against Rocket

The battle was about to begin. The whole nation was watching this battle event. Suddenly, an announcer from the Pokemon league stepped into the spotlight. Ash looked where the spotlight came from. Apparently, the announcer was using a helicopter to make him stand out. Ash sighed and had to feel sorry for these guys. They never got a break since they were battles everywhere. Ash stopped paying attention to the announcer and turned to Brock. Brock was about to announce the rules of this battle.

"This Duel battle shall commence. Each trainer in each duo may use one pokemon only. The duo's pokemon that is left standing is the winner. There is no time limit. Let the battle begin." Brock announced.

Both Rockets were gripping their pokeballs when they heard the announcement. Trevor and Max threw their pokeballs to the ground. The pokemon that appeared from the pokeballs were Arbok and Dragonite. Now it was Cassidy and Butch's turn. They had smiles on their faces. They looked at their pokeballs. No one would ever expect them to have powerful pokemon. Both Cassidy and Butch threw the pokeballs to the ground. The pokeballs opened to reveal two creatures, which were still covered in the white flash that comes from the pokeball. Everyone gasped as they saw what pokemon were being used for this battle.

"It can't be!" Ash said in amazement.

"How can those two get those pokemon?" Gary said in amazement.

The pokemon were Lugia and Suicune. Ash did remember Cassidy and Butch trying to steal the Baby Lugia and the Adult Lugia back in the Whirl Islands but his intervening stopped them. So how did they get hold of a Lugia plus how did they get hold of a Suicune? Ash remembered how Jessie and James tried to capture the rare Suicune but they failed. Cameras were focusing on the rare pokemon. The Twin Terrors were looking at their opponent's pokemon. They smiled but they didn't act worried.

"So how did you get a hold of the rarest pokemon in the world?" Trevor asked.

"You didn't steal them, did you?" Max asked.

"No, we hatched them. Although our encounter with Lugia was a bad one, we did apologize to the king of the sea. He accepted our apology and left us the Lugia egg." Cassidy replied.

"Yes, then after that, we came across Suicune. According to reports, Jessie and James tried to capture it. Since it was so hard to beat, we decided not even to waste the effort of trying. We were surprised when Suicune gave us a Suicune egg. So we have been raising these legendary pokemon. Now it is time to see if you can beat our legendary pokemon!" Butch explained.

Ash couldn't even believe what they said. After what Cassidy and Butch did, Lugia was still able to trust them. Both Suicune and Lugia giving Cassidy and Butch eggs from their own species was just impossible to believe but he had to admit that this was all real. Gary stared at the legendary pokemon. His grandfather told him about legendary pokemon but he would never expect that Rockets would get their hands on them.

"Legendary Pokemon? Even we haven't captured something that rare for Giovanni. How about this? If you win, we will leave despite Giovanni's orders. If you win, you will give us those legendary pokemon." Trevor suggested.

"Agreed but our legendary pokemon are well trained!" Cassidy laughed.

The battle began. The Twin Terrors ordered their pokemon to attack but Cassidy and Butch had a strategy planned out already. They ordered Lugia to lift Suicune in the air. No one quite understood the purpose of this but they all watched to see what would happen. Everyone was on their feet when they saw the next part. Suicune fired an Aurora beam at both Dragonite and Arbok. The Twin Terrors' Pokemon dodged it but the Aurora beam almost hit their pokemon.

"Impressive! Their pokemon are well trained!" Brock exclaimed.

"I can't believe that Rockets could train legendaries." Gary said.

"Something smells fishy to me, Gary. I don't think even Rockets could train legendaries. They most have done something to them." Ash said with concern.

Misty had to agree with this. Team Rocket wasn't one to play by the rules. She turned to the battle. Arbok and Dragonite were preparing to attack. Arbok fired Poison Needles at Suicune and Dragonite fired a Zap Cannon at Lugia. Both Lugia and Suicune dodged the attacks. That's when Misty noticed the pokemon's expressions. They weren't happy to battle; they were scared. It was almost like they were being forced to battle.

"You might have legendary pokemon. You were probably able to train them but you can't survive the wrath of the Twin Terrors!" Max and Trevor both shouted.

"We'll see about that!" Cassidy and Butch shouted back.

Both duos had their pokemon attack. Misty searched around for an Officer Jenny to talk to. Fortunately, one had arrived. Officer Jenny was probably here to check up on this battle. Misty rushed towards the officer. Now this surprised Officer Jenny but she had to expect the unexpected.

"Now what seems to be the problem?" Officer Jenny asked, "by the way, is Brock around here?"

"He is hosting the match, but I need you to do me a favor." Misty replied.

"What sort of favor?" Officer Jenny asked confused.

"Can you check up any recent or past activities dealing with Cassidy and Butch?" Misty asked.

"Sure, why?" Officer Jenny asked.

"I think those two are up to something and I want to know what." Misty explained while glaring at Cassidy and Butch.

Officer Jenny could understand Misty's concern. Cassidy and Butch being giving legendaries sounded awful strange. Something smelled very rotten. She went back to her bike and picked up the microphone to the radio. She would call every single contact to solve this mystery of how Cassidy Butch got Legendary Pokemon.

"This is Officer Jenny to Contact Stations 545. I need information about Cassidy and Butch over the previous 120 hours or for those who didn't pass Algebra … over the past 5 days." Officer Jenny talked into her Microphone.

"We will get to it, Officer Jenny. It shouldn't be a problem but I did take Algebra so I knew what you meant." The Contact said.

Officer Jenny turned to Misty and nodded her head. Both of them paid attention on what was going on with the battle. Trevor and Max Venema were struggling with the battle. That would make sense. Battling against two of the most powerful legendary pokemon would seem hard. It is true that Dragonite is consider a legendary pokemon but not as powerful as Suicune and Lugia.

"How can we be losing to those pathetic Rockets? We are the main reason Team Rocket is powerful?" Max said to Trevor.

"Max, we shall show these ignorant rockets what our true power is but not now." Trevor said to Max.

Trevor ordered his Dragonite to use Blizzard on Suicune. Suicune as being powerful and fast as it is dodged the wave of cold. Max ordered Arbok to dig into the ground. Now Cassidy and Butch were the ones who were worried. Arbok could come up anywhere, which meant Suicune was vulnerable. The crowd watched as the moment of the battle happened. The earth began to rumble and shake. Then Arbok popped right out of the ground right near Suicune. It used Slam to knock Suicune down.

"Suicune!" Butch yelled.

Butch ran over to it but Suicune immediately got right up. The crowd was shocked. This Suicune was strong and powerful. Butch went to hug Suicune as if he were making sure it was okay. Ash noticed Butch whispering something into its ear. The Suicune shuddered and then turned to face Arbok. Now Ash knew he didn't see anything. He ran over to Officer Jenny. Gary noticed Ash and followed him.

"Officer Jenny!" Ash shouted.

Officer Jenny turned around to see Ash and Gary. Misty did the same double take. She wondered what Ash was up to. Ash went over to Jenny and whispered into her ear what he saw. Misty saw Officer Jenny cringe and then she went to her bike. She told the contact station to speed up the search since she had a lead now. Ash smiled at Officer Jenny. Then Misty and Gary looked at Ash. Ash knew something and they had to crack it out of Ash's head.

"Ash, what is going?" Gary said.

"What did you tell Officer Jenny?" Misty asked.

"I told her what I am going to tell you now. I saw and heard Butch whispering death threats to Suicune. It was something like "You had better win or you had wished you were never born." I think they are threatening the pokemon to battle for them. Something must have happened." Ash explained.

He could see Misty get angry. Suicune was considered a water pokemon and Misty adored water pokemon. So when she heard that Team Rocket was threatening water pokemon, she didn't like it one bit. Then she turned to the battle. She didn't like The Twin Terrors but she liked them more than Cassidy and Butch. The Twin Terrors looked like they treated their pokemon as equals.

"Go Twin Terrors! Show these disrespectful wimps whose boss!" Misty shouted.

Now everything changed. People were rooting for them. After Misty started to cheer for them, the rest of the crowd did also. What was going on, both of them thought. Misty smiled at Ash and then they knew right away. The kid, whose name was Ash, must have done something to turn the tables on Cassidy and Butch.

"Our luck is turning, brother. Somehow the kid has turned everybody against Cassidy and Butch." Max said.

"Actually, it was the girl who started rooting for us but it wasn't for the boy … nothing would have happened."

They both agreed and told both pokemon to slam Suicune again. Both Arbok and Dragonite slammed into Suicune so hard that Suicune flew off the ground. It landed on both Butch and Cassidy. Brock was looking how powerful Arbok and Suicune. He thought that Cassidy and Butch had the advantage but now The Twin Terrors had the advantage. He thought things couldn't get any strange. That's until police cars started arriving and when Butch and Cassidy made a startling comment.

"You pathetic pokemon. You are a legendary pokemon. A pathetic dragon and a scrawny snake beat you. I knew it wasn't worth the effort to threaten your mother into her giving you to us." Butch shouted at the Suicune.

"And you, Lugia. You are just floating there. You don't care about what is happening to a fellow legendary. We knew that we shouldn't have made that deal with Lugia. You are not worth it. I guess our reminders of how Team Rocket treat their pokemon isn't working."

"Ready, Cassidy, one, two … "

"Bayleef, use Vine Whip to capture those two rockets."

A vine whip appeared and it tied both Cassidy and Butch up. They looked and they saw the crowd. Evil glares were coming from them. Officer Jenny went to the rockets. She glared at them and searched them. Cassidy and Butch didn't know what they were doing until they found out. Officer Jenny took out two pokeballs. They were the same pokeballs that were use to contain the legendary pokemon. She handed them to Ash.

"You two are under arrest for mistreatment of pokemon. And that includes the mistreatment of Legendary Pokemon." Officer Jenny said while growling.

She turned to Ash and he ordered them to throw the two inside the cop car. The two looked at the crowd. They didn't expect this to happen. Both Cassidy and Butch thought the twerps were on their side so what went wrong? The doors to the cop car closed behind them and both of them wondered what Giovanni would think of them now. Officer Jenny looked at them with disgust. Then she walked over to Ash. He was now trying to make sure if the Suicune was all right. Misty was near him also. Gary and Brock were checking up on the Lugia.

"Are you okay, Suicune? I want to make sure you are all better. I am sorry that you had to go through that." Ash said in a quiet voice.

"Ash, I never thought you were so caring. Too bad this legendary needs to return to its mother." Misty said.

"Maybe the mother will let you keep it." Officer Jenny said.

"What do you mean?" Misty asked.

"Since it was Ash who found out about the whole threatening and mistreatment thing, it should be him to return the pokemon. When the mothers learn of what Ash did, they might allow him to keep both of them." Officer Jenny explained.

"That's a good thought, but I can't do that. I am not that experienced to handle a legendary pokemon." Ash said to Officer Jenny.

"If you can handle a Charizard, you can handle a legendary pokemon. If you can ride a Ponyta who evolves into a Rapidash, you can handle a legendary pokemon. If you can ride an Arcanine, you can handle a legendary pokemon. I believe in you, Ash!" Officer Jenny explained to Ash.

Ash blushed and turned to see the crowd clapping. He turned to find the Twin Terrors but they somehow disappeared. Ash wasn't surprised about that. Even though they were being cheered on to win this battle, they still were criminals just like Cassidy and Butch. Now Ash had to figure out where he has to deliver the two legendary pokemon. He went to them. Pikachu woke up and followed Ash. Ash asked them to come with as Pikachu help out translated what Ash was saying. Both legendaries nodded their heads. Ash held out the pokeballs. Both pokemon touched it and soon they were incased in the pokeballs. Now what was Ash supposed to do?

"You need to go to Legendary Falls, Ash!" Gary said.

"Legendary Falls? What is that?" Ash asked Gary.

"Grandfather has always told me about it. It is a town near the largest waterfall you have ever seen but it is also home to legendary pokemon."

Ash was shocked to here this but he told Gary to continue more. The legendaries hide in caves once in a while but they did leave to visit the world. When they return, there is a great festival honoring the legendaries. The place is a no-capture zone though Rockets have crashed the party and ignored the rules. Ash had a feeling that The Twin Terrors would be heading there. He went over to Misty and Brock and explained everything. So the group headed out. Misty and Brock were talking about the battle. Ash and Gary talking were about their pokemon. Pikachu and Togepi were smiling at each other. The journey to stop the Twin Terrors was going to take a detour to Legendary Falls to return the two legendary Pokemon. Where is Domino? Where are Jessie, James and Meowth? Only time will tell as the Ash and company, which includes Gary, travel on the road to Legendary Falls.