I'm back with two more chapters! Well, I don't own Pokemon! Enjoy!
Chapter 24: Rocket Radio Takeover
On another beautiful fall day, Angelina and Jeremy were on their way to the Ice Cave, a cave that leads to Blackthorn City, and the eighth final Johto badge. They had battled their way to the entrance to the cave, where all of a sudden a red penguin Pokemon appeared in front of them.
"Deli deli!" the Pokemon squawked at Angelina and Jeremy.
"What Pokemon is that?" Jeremy asked.
"I don't know, let's find out." Angelina said, taking out her Pokedex and pointed it at the Pokémon.
"Delibird. The delivery Pokémon." Dexette replied. "This Pokemon delivers food and messages to people faster than the postal service."
"Wow." Jeremy awed. "Do you think he has a package for us?"
"Maybe," Angelina said, turning to the Pokemon. "Do you have a package for us, Delibird?"
"Deli. Deli deli," the Delibird said to Angelina, handing her a package. (Indeed I do, this is for you)
Angelina carefully opened the package and found a letter inside. It read:
Hi, honey. It's your mother! I just wanted to remind you that today is October 8th, your eleventh birthday! There should be a small package included in the box.
Love you,
Mom
P.S.- Hope you like your new Pokémon!
"Huh," Angelina asked, looking down at the opened box and seeing a small, circular package. She picked it up and opened it, and inside was a blue-and-red Pokéball, a Great Ball. She looked at the Delibird, and then at the Great Ball, and then at the Pokemon again.
"So, you're my new Pokémon. Well, Deli- I mean Ice-Wing, return." A small, red beam came out and struck the bird, and it was sucked into the blue-and-red ball.
"Lucky," Jeremy muttered, somewhat jealous.
"I'm gonna give my Mom a call," Angelina said. But just then, her Great Ball containing the Delibird was zapped right out of her hands. "What? My Great Ball just teleported! Where'd it go?"
"Don't worry, your Pokemon teleported to wherever you got your Pokedex." Jeremy replied.
"Oh that's right," Angelina nodded. "Professor Oak's Lab, he'll know what to do with it. Now, about that phone call." Angelina dialed her house and waited for an answer. After four rings, the phone was finally answered by a purple haired woman with dark blue eyes.
"Hi, honey, how are you?" Clarissa asked.
"Fine Mom, and thanks for the Delibird!" Angelina responded.
"Oh, you're welcome." Clarissa smiled, then she turned serious. "Have you checked the radio yet? There is definitely something going on at Goldenrod City's Radio Tower. They said something about Team Rocket."
"Team Rocket?" Angelina and Jeremy exchanged looks knowing this wasn't good news.
"Yes, I was scared that you'd be around that way for a gym badge!" Clarissa agreed, also looking worried.
"Uh-oh, well I was in Goldenrod City like a few months ago," Angelina said. "We'll have to go over there right away. Thanks for letting us know."
"You're welcome honey, be careful!" Clarissa said.
Angelina closed off the connection and puts away her Poke-Gear. She turned to Jeremy. "See, I was right about Goldenrod City being connected to the problems from Lake Rage!"
"Okay fine, sorry for doubting," Jeremy said, taking out a Pokeball that revealed his Dragonite. "Let's go!"
Angelina and Jeremy climbed onto Dragonite's back, leaving the Ice Cave and flying high in the sky at speeds that made Angelina hang on tightly and her Togepi squeak with excitement. They arrived in Goldenrod City later that evening, landing near the Pokémon Center and saw something terrible. A man dressed in completely black clothes was pushing this 8-year-old kid and his Nidoran Male around.
"Come on, kid. Gimme your Pokémon," the man in black demanded, pushing the kid into a wall.
"No way! Nidoran, use Horn Attack on him!" the boy commanded.
"Heh, I'll see 'bout that." The man threw a purple and black ball in front of him.
"Go, Raticate! Hyper Fang, now!"
The Nidoran charged at Raticate to jab him with his horn, but Raticate bit it hard before Nidoran's horn even got close enough to hurt Raticate. Nidoran was apparently very weak, because this attack nearly knocked him out. But suddenly, something marvelous happened. Nidoran started glowing, and became a much bigger Pokémon.
"Nidoran, you evolved! Okay, uh, Nido…. rino! That's it. Nidorino, use Horn Drill on Raticate!"
The newly evolved Pokémon's horn started spinning and then glowed red, as the Nidorino plowed right into Raticate and knocked it out.
"Whoa, no way, dude! Well, I guess I'm gonna have to use Koffing!" The man threw another black and purple Pokéball into the area, and out came a Koffing, a purple Pokémon with gas coming out of it. "Koffing, Take Down attack, now!"
The Koffing charged at Nidorino and then rammed into him at full speed, knocking him off its feet.
"I have been saving this until you evolved Nidorino," the boy said, pulling out a small, purple rock. He rested it on top of Nidorino and, once again, it started glowing.
But this time Nidorino could stand on top of its hind legs. Angelina and Jeremy recognized the Pokémon immediately as Nidoking, now not only a Poison-type but also a Ground-type Pokémon.
"Nidoking, use Mega Punch!"
Nidoking punched Koffing so hard, it slammed into a wall, making dust and rocks fly everywhere.
"Koffing, get up and use Fire Blast!" Koffing blew fire out of its mouth at Nidoking, which knocked it out.
"Aww, you still lost. Maybe I'm a bad trainer." the boy frowned.
"Thief Ball, go!" the man in black said, throwing one of his purple and black Pokéball at Nidoking. The boy was too quick and recalled his Pokémon before the man could steal it from him.
"You tried to steal my Pokémon!" the boy yelled and threw out another Pokeball. "Now you are going to pay! Butterfree, go!"
"No, don't," Angelina interrupted, stepping in with Jeremy right behind. "I'll take care of this. Shadow, finish Koffing with a Psycho Cut!"
The blade on Absol's head glowed blue and fired multiple blue circles at Koffing, knocking out the poison Pokemon easily.
"Ooh! You'll pay for that," the man in black growled and threw out another purple and black ball. "Venusaur, go!"
"Shadow, return." Angelina called back her Dark-type Pokemon and threw out another Pokeball. "Come out, Charcoal!" she knew that this was going to be an easy win as her Charmeleon appeared. "Fire Punch!" the fire lizard's fist ignites with flames and punched Venusaur, which was very affective and left the Pokemon burning. "Good job, Charcoal. Return!"
"No! I will seek my revenge on you! Goodbye for now, trainer." The man ran away, leaving Angelina and Jeremy and the small boy standing there.
"Are you okay?" Angelina asked the kid.
"Yeah," the boy replied. "My name's Derek. I was real impressed by the way you battled that Rocket Grunt."
"Oh, thanks," Angelina smiled. "My name's Angelina and this is my friend Jeremy, glad to meet you."
"It's not very safe out here." Jeremy warned lightly. "We'll take you to a Pokémon Center so you can get your Pokémon healed."
"Okay," Derek said, following the older trainers through the streets and walked through the doors of the Pokémon Center. Standing in front of the desk talking to Nurse Joy was a young man that Angelina found very familiar. He had wind-blown spiky red hair, dark brown eyes, and was wearing a red and navy blue jumpsuit with a black cape that was red on the inside.
"Hey Lance, what are you doing here?"
"I need your help. I've heard you're the one who saved the Slowpoke Well from Team Rocket. You can be useful."
"Really? I feel honored being asked by someone like you, but why?" Angelina asked, looking very flustered.
"I'm sure he wouldn't if you weren't strong and reliable as a trainer." Jeremy reasoned, and he knew his best friend took it as a compliment when she smiled.
"Yeah that sounds about right." Angelina said, then she grinned at a sudden thought formulating in her head. "And I know just how we can infiltrate the Radio Tower without them noticing."
In the next few minutes, Angelina and Jeremy made their way to Goldenrod Tunnel. From their last visit in Goldenrod City, they knew there was a corner of the tunnel where Trainers can have their picture taken with their Pokémon. They've recently added a new twist to it: you can have your picture taken while wearing a Team Rocket costume. So they figured if the Rockets were recruiting new members, they would eventually run out of uniforms and take the ones from the tunnel for any new recruits.
They soon found the gallery corner and headed for it. As they began to approach the desk, a Team Rocket Grunt suddenly stopped them, asking, "Hey, are you two newcomers too?"
Angelina said, "Yeah, we just don't have our uniforms yet."
"Makes sense. We had to recruit new members for the Radio Tower mission. Then we ran out of uniforms. I heard this studio has some, so I decided to 'borrow' one. As long as you two are here, why don't you change as well?" the Grunt led them behind the desk and pulled out a box of Team Rocket uniforms. "See if there are any that'll fit you two. There aren't a lot left."
A few minutes later, Angelina and Jeremy emerged from behind the counter, each clad in a Team Rocket uniform. They wore these over their regular clothes and they had their bags with them.
"Look at you two! Pretty good, no?" the grunt grinned. "Oh, but you shouldn't try to scare people walking around looking like that, okay?"
Angelina left the Goldenrod Tunnel with Jeremy, greeting Lance a couple streets away from the Radio Tower.
"The Director will either be at the top of the tower or hidden somewhere below. I'll take the underground, and guessing how you two are dressed will be up here. Good luck, and if things go badly, just remember you were great help and have real potentials as trainers," Lance said, explaining his plans and with a swish of his cape he walked down the street towards the Underground Tunnels.
When Angelina and Jeremy arrived at the Radio Tower, the metal door was swinging loosely off its hinges, and the bit of the inside that they could see was a mess; a potted plant was knocked over, as were a few stools and visitor's benches. They gasped audibly as they walked inside, and Angelina narrowed her eyes as she looked around the familiar lobby. A few windows were broken, the carpet was torn in several places and they found three very panicky people at the front desk. They went over to the receptionist.
"What happened?" Jeremy asked.
"Team Rocket has taken over the Radio Tower. I suspect that they did something with the director," the receptionist responded.
They approached the stairs and stopped in front of the Grunt guarding them. He looked at their uniforms and said, "Ha! You two must be new! You both look pretty good in the Team Rocket uniforms! Go on ahead!" He moved out of the way, standing next to the staircase.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of footsteps coming up behind them, a familiar voice saying, "Hey, Team Rocket! Stop going around in groups and troubling people. You cowards!"
Jeremy muttered to himself, "Irony… So we meet again."
Angelina thought to herself, "Seamus? How did he find out about this?"
Seamus suddenly glanced over at Angelina, who was standing next to Jeremy. "Huh? Are you Angelina?" The female trainer yelped when Seamus grabbed her by the uniform and pulled her back, saying, "I thought so! What are you doing here? Do you think you're strong now that you look like them?" He began to tug on Angelina's outfit.
Angelina was struggling and yelling, "Hey, let go of me!"
"Forget it! You shouldn't be wearing those things!" Seamus responded.
After a moment of struggling, Seamus yanked the uniform off the girl, dropping it on the ground as Angelina stumbled forward.
The grunt gasped, seeing Angelina in her real clothes. "What? You! You're not a newcomer! Then battle me!" With that, he sent out his Raticate to battle the female trainer.
Angelina sent out her Graveler to battle against Raticate, taking it out easily with Rock Smash. The grunt sent out another Raticate, which was easily defeated with another Rock Smash.
Having lost both of his Pokémon, the grunt groaned, "Y-you're strong…" He stood up straight, "You are too powerful. You could spoil our plan. I have to inform the others." With that, he dashed up the stairs to warn the rest of the squad.
"Thanks a lot, Seamus! We could've saved ourselves a little aggravation if you hadn't messed things up!" Jeremy said.
"So you were trying to be sneaky… Huh! A typical idea of the meek! No matter. You two can handle this." He then left the Radio Tower without another word.
Angelina and Jeremy defeated several grunts on the next four floors. The scientist was watching the stairwell to the fifth floor like a hawk. Not wanting to have another battle, Angelina and Jeremy ducked back inside the fourth floor stairwell.
"Frostine, use Sing on those men," Angelina said quietly, releasing her Lapras.
The grunt and scientist looked in the Pokemon's direction. Before they could release any of their Pokemon to attack, they fell under Lapras's hypnotic voice and were soon asleep. Angelina and Jeremy then came into the room.
"Nice work, Frostine," Angelina said before returning the Pokemon, then continued onto the fifth floor.
Near the top, they heard a man say, "Ahem, do you hear me? …I am the Director. We have decided to broadcast wonderful shows to praise Team Rocket! Everyone, I don't want to hear you complain. Just do a good job to…" The voice's owner stopped in mid-sentence as Angelina and Jeremy arrived in the office, belonging to a man wearing a brown suit and a brown hat, he stepped back from the desk as he said, "Yikes! I am busy impersonating the… Who are you two?" After saying that, the man whipped off his disguise and leapt out from behind the brown desk. Landing, he stood up, showing his yellow-lined Team Rocket uniform and purple hair and beard. They recognized him as Petrel, one of the four executives. He groaned, "No! I was pretending to be the Director to influence the entire region to support Team Rocket!"
"Well, too bad! We made it past your security, so now it's your turn!" Angelina said.
Petrel replied, "Give me all you've got, little girl!" His team consisted of five Koffing and a Weezing, all of his Koffing knowing either one or two moves. With the help of Graveler, Absol, and Pikachu, Angelina quickly made short work of Petrel's team.
Petrel groaned in defeat, "Okay, okay. I'll tell you where the real Director is." Angelina and Jeremy listened carefully as Petrel continued, "We stashed him in the underground warehouse. It's at the far end of the Goldenrod Tunnel! Although, I doubt children like you will get far enough to see the Director anyway."
Angelina and Jeremy leave the Director's Office and the Radio Tower, heading back to the Pokemon Center to have their Pokemon healed. They knew that they needed their Pokemon at full strength for the battle ahead. After getting their Pokemon back, they were greeted by Lance and the Director; they explained the leader of Team Rocket was sealed behind a door that required a Card Key.
The Director reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the Card Key; he handed it to Jeremy and said, "That will open the shutters on the third floor. You've got to stop them. I'm begging all of you to help. There's no telling what they'll do if they control the transmitter. It might even be possible to control Pokémon with a special signal! Please, save the Radio Tower… and all the Pokémon nationwide!"
Angelina and Jeremy quickly exited the Pokemon Center and walked through the streets for a quick return to the Radio Tower. They arrived back on the third floor and walked towards the locked door. Reaching the top, they found Proton standing in front of the next set of stairs.
"Well, look what we have here. It seems you kids just like making me mad, don't you? Be careful!"
"You think your anger makes you strong? Just try me!" Angelina said.
Proton growled, "I've had just about enough of you, brat! I'll make you pay for what did to me back at the Slowpoke Well!"
As Angelina pulled out a Pokéball, Jeremy whispered to her, "I can take care of this guy. Leave him to me and go after the leader."
Although she didn't want to leave Jeremy to face Proton alone, Angelina agreed. Well after Jeremy's Scyther and Proton's Golbat started battling, she snuck past them and up the unguarded stairs. At the top, Angelina soon came across the elevator leading to the Observation Deck. As she was about to board the elevator, a female executive confronted her. She wore a customized white uniform, and her stunning crimson hair was cut above her shoulders leaving her ears bare and showing off a pair of gold earrings.
"Hold it right there! We can't have a brat like you do as you please forever!" the woman said. Her voice contained a sharp smirk, and a shard of annoyance and avenging enjoyment shone in her red irises. "So, it's time to finish you."
Angelina scowled back. "Yeah? And who are you to say that?"
"I'm Arianna, one of the four Team Rocket Executives," the red-haired woman answered her. "And if I'm correct, you must be Angelina. Well no matter how strong you may be, you'll have little chance of winning without help from your friend. Don't you agree?"
Angelina didn't answer her, knowing that she was right about Jeremy; she knew he was pretty occupied with Proton.
"Sorry, little girl," Arianna giggled. "Now, get ready to be thrashed! Go Murkrow!" she threw out a Pokeball. A small, black, bird-like Pokemon appeared with what seemed to be a hat-like formation on its head.
"Then I choose Shadow!" Angelina threw out a Pokeball as her Absol appeared, ready to take on its opponent. "Shadow, use Headbutt!"
Absol charged at Murkrow and bashed it with its head, doing a lot of damage.
"Murkrow, show this trainer we're not as easy to defeat! Faint Attack, now!" Ariana commanded.
Murkrow vanished from sight momentarily and then reappeared behind Absol.
"Shadow, Agility, now!"
Before Murkrow could attack Absol, she jumped out of the way and started running around the room and in circles around Murkrow, making it dizzy.
"Murkrow, Nightshade!"
Murkrow's eyes glowed red and fires a black beam at Absol, which did little to nothing as the Dark Pokemon counter-attacked with Slam, which knocked out the Darkness Pokemon.
Ariana recalled her Murkrow, saying, "You really are powerful. It's too bad. If you were to join Team Rocket, you could become an Executive."
Angelina growled in disgust, "Save it, Ariana. You're done, and so is Team Rocket."
Ariana smirked, "That's what you think. Go Gloom!" she threw another Pokéball releasing the Grass Pokémon onto the rug, and ordered a Solar-Beam. Gloom gathers sunlight in the middle of the flower on its head, a ball of light appeared and fired a white beam at Absol.
"Shadow, Substitute!"
Absol made a small clone of itself. The Solar Beam struck the clone and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"No! No, you should have been destroyed. Well, I guess my Gloom will have to finish you off another way. Mega Drain, now!" Ariana exclaimed.
Gloom started sucking the life out of Absol, only to have the Dark Pokemon come back with Faint Attack. This almost knocked out Gloom, so Angelina ordered Absol to use Quick Attack, which finished the job.
"Gloom! How could you lose?" Ariana cried. "I thought I trained you better than that! You WILL be punished for losing," she recalled the Pokemon and threw out a black-and-purple Pokeball onto the ground. "Now, as my final Pokémon I choose Arbok!"
Out of the odd Pokéball came the towering cobra Pokemon hissing as it writhed into the fray.
"Shadow, Quick Attack!" Angelina ordered, and Absol slammed into the snake Pokemon much faster than it could have ever reacted, sending the Cobra Pokemon reeling backwards but re-collected itself quickly.
"Arbok, Poison Sting!" A volley of stingers burst from Arbok's mouth and threatened to spear its opponent, but Absol was too fast and darted away from the Poison Stings, zooming closer and closer as the Quick Attack trail glowed behind her.
"Arbok, Wrap! Let Absol come close!" Ariana warned her Pokemon. Absol ducked beneath the last barrage of Poison Stings and slammed into Arbok, but was caught by his flailing coils and enwrapped. "Use Bite to finish him off again!"
"Counter with Flamethrower!" Angelina cried, and Absol released a stream of red-orange fire from its mouth and struck Arbok. The snake Pokemon screeched in agony and was sent flying until he landed at his master's feet, beaten.
"All right, Shadow! You did it!" Angelina exclaimed while Ariana recalled her unconscious Arbok. She then entered the elevator and made her way up to the sixth floor. The elevator doors slid open, she stepped out and walked around one of the corners.
There was a man with teal hair wearing a Team Rocket Executive uniform looking out over Goldenrod City. He turned around at the sound of their footsteps and, upon seeing Angelina, said, "Oh? You managed to get this far? You must be quite the trainer, Angelina."
"And you must Archer!" Angelina said.
"Yes, the current leader of Team Rocket. However, I can't compare to the real Boss, Giovanni who will lead us to our future of riches and glory of being hailed as the ultimate people!"
Angelina stared in shock and disbelief, her father owned a criminal organization. She thought her father was just only the Viridian City Gym Leader, but it made sense why he was away for long periods of time. "Better think twice about that once I get through with you!"
Archer glared at the girl and threw out a Pokeball, "I will not allow you to interfere with our meticulous plans anymore! Houndoom, go!" he released a large black dog-like Pokemon with a long, skinny tail that ends in an arrow-head and a pair of curled horns. Angelina called out her Azumarill, which took a fighting stance than her playful appearance.
"Use Flamethrower!" Archer yelled.
"Blast it away with Hydro Pump!" Angelina countered.
At that moment, twin blasts of water collided with a rather large fireball, and then hit the Pokémon as well. Houndoom howled as the attacks pushed it backwards slightly, and Angelina sighed as the executive gasped suddenly.
"Ugh… Houndoom! Use—"
Before the sentence could even be finished, Azumarill launched another Hydro Pump from her mouth. Houndoom tumbled backwards, its forked tail twitching weakly as it collapsed.
"No… Giovanni… Forgive me…" Archer choked. With that, he knelt down next to his Houndoom, and the dog Pokémon lifted its head and weakly narrowed its eyes. "How could this be…?" He then looked at Angelina and said, "Our dreams have come to naught. I was not up to the task after all. Farewell…" After saying that, the shutters around the Observation Deck covered the windows and the lights went out for a minute. When they came back on, Archer was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, the sound of the elevator was heard and Angelina turned around to see Jeremy, Lance, and the Director come towards her.
"Thank you so much for freeing us. Team Rocket has left the city. Everyone is grateful for what you have done for us." the Director said, shaking Angelina's hand.
"No problem. Helping out is what we do best," Angelina said, her Azumarill nodded and Jeremy grinned proudly. Angelina then returned her Pokemon and headed outside the Radio Tower with Jeremy and Lance. They found quite the reception waiting for them.
All the people of Goldenrod City had gathered around the Radio Tower. They cheered, hailing Angelina and Jeremy as their heroes. Then the mayor stepped forward.
"On behalf of our fair city, I would like to thank you for freeing us from the dastardly Team Rocket," the mayor said.
"It was no problem sir," Angelina said, blushing.
Angelina and Jeremy stopped Team Rocket's plan to use the radio signals to control Pokémon. They also learned that the purple and black balls Team Rocket was using were called Thief Balls, Pokéballs used for catching other trainers' Pokémon.
"Well, at least they'll be put out of business for a while." Angelina said.
"Yeah, and everything's back to normal," Jeremy added.
Lance made sure all the Rockets were herded off to the police before flying Angelina and Jeremy back to Mahogany Town. They were standing in front of the Pokemon Center just as the sun was setting in the distance.
Looking up at the sky, Lance spoke, "Angelina.… The journey to fulfilling a dream is long and difficult. Knowing that, will you keep going?"
Angelina gave a stern but insulted stare which caught the Dragon Master off guard, "Well of course, Lance! I was very certain about where I was going with my dreams, and if I gave up that easily, I would've never chased them in the first place! I plan to keep moving forward and not lose!"
Lance nodded, "I see. And you're right. I really appreciated your help and good luck against the Blackthorn Gym." At this point he had a faraway look in his eyes, which prompted Angelina to ask him what was wrong. "I encountered another trainer in the Underground Tunnel, but not a Team Rocket member. It was a boy with black hair... He challenged me to a battle and even threatened to attack me personally unless I complied. I could tell that he was angry and misguided, and his Pokemon worked their fingers to the bone as he yelled at them in the battle. But I decimated him, Angelina. I don't know why I feel so guilty, but... the look in his eyes as Dragonite took down his Wartortle in one hit was scary. I told him that he had to love and respect his Pokemon to succeed as a trainer, and he just ran away, with actual tears of fury and frustration in his eyes. I don't know who he was, but I hope that he's realised the error of his ways. Anyway, I've dawdled too long already. Goodbye Angelina, I look forward to seeing you again!" he pulled a Pokéball off of his belt and releasing his Dragonite. The large Dragon-Type leaned forward slightly so that Lance would get on its back easier, and stood back up when Lance had wrapped his arms around its neck. Lance nodded to the two stunned trainers, and Dragonite slowly lifted into the air. By the sound of it, Seamus had succeeded all too well in his quest for a powerful opponent. She wondered whether Lance's crushing victory had set Seamus on the right path or unhinged him completely. Either way Seamus would be an even deadlier opponent next time they met.
Angelina and Jeremy decided to spend the night in Mahogany Town to stock up on supplies, knowing their trip through the Ice Path wouldn't be easy to get to Blackthorn City for Angelina eighth and final Johto badge.
§To Be Continued§
*Angelina receives a Delibird from her mother for her eleventh birthday.
*Angelina and Jeremy are told that Team Rocket took over Goldenrod's Radio Tower.
*Angelina and Jeremy help Lance take down Team Rocket.
*Seamus figured out Angelina in her disguise; he is later defeated by Lance.
*This chapter is Lance's second and final appearance.
*Jeremy defeats Proton while Angelina defeats Petrel, Ariana and Archer.
*Team Rocket is no more (for a while) and Goldenrod City goes back to normal.
Made some changes with this chapter as well. Thanks for checking it out! Read onto the next chapter!