Mission 1: Mystery of the Disappearing Pokemon! (part 2)
Pikachu's heart raced as he desprately looked for an escape route. Blocked on all sides...how am I going to escape? He backed away as the Arcanine robot lunged forward to grab him, but all of a sudden...
"FLAME STRIKE!" The Arcanine turned to look in the direction of the cry, only to be engulfed in Torchic's attack! It howled in pain as Pikachu ran to join the others.
"Nice shot, Torchic!" Pikachu smiled as he ducked into the alcove where the others were hiding and reached for his communicator. "Topaz calling Master Jewel, do you read me?"
"I read you loud and clear, Topaz." came the reply as the image of Ash in his office appeared on the tiny screen. "What's going on?"
"I narrowly escaped being eaten by a robot Arcanine!" Pikachu explained. "I was following the tracks in the alleyway, like you said; when the robot Arcanine jumped me! I ran as fast as I could, but it soon had me cornered!"
"And then?" Ash was interested.
"Before it could eat me, Torchic attacked it, causing it to short circuit and collapse." Pikachu concluded, gesturing to the burning remains of the Arcanine robot located a few feet away.
"Interesting...I'll have to tell Officer Jenny about this." Ash replied has he threw on his headset. "Stand by, Topaz." With that, the words "PLEASE STAND BY" appeared on the communicator screen.
"Say..." Mudkip started as she hurried over to the robot's remains. "Maybe if I put the flames out and rework this guys controls, maybe we can ride inside it! That way, we'll know just where these robots come from, what they do, who made them, and things like that!"
"It's worth a shot..." Treecko started, but was interrupted by Pikachu's communicator. "You still there, Topaz?"
"Topaz here." Pikachu replied.
"All right...what's your next plan?" Ash asked. "I've told Officer Jenny about the robots..."
"Well...the one Torchic attacked...we're going to try and salvage it; then ride it to wherever it came from...maybe we can figure out if it'll take us where Serena and the other missing Pokemon are being held." Pikachu explained.
"It's worth a try..." Ash smiled. "Good luck, Rescue Force...I've got Swellow on standby if you need help."
"Topaz out." With that, the communicator blipped to black.
Treecko and Mudkip looked at each other. "Well, no sense in standing here...let's get to work!" "With that, he fished out a blank blueprint and started drawing a rough model of the robot.
"I'm on it!" and Mudkip fired a stream of water at the flaming remains. "HYDRO BLAST!" The flames hissed as they died down, allowing the charred metal to cool off. Treecko, manwhile, gathered up his blueprint and toolbox, then ran to join Mudkip in tinkering with the smoking remains.
Several hours later...
"Okay...take a look!" Treecko smiled as he unveiled the newly repaired Arcanine robot. For the most part, it looked brand new, save for a few obvious vines and water stains that could only be seen in bright light.
"Wow..." Torchic was impressed. Pikachu nodded in agreement as he led the others aboard the robot. Once everyone was comfortable, Treecko hit a button marked 'HOME', causing the Arcanine to lumber off towards an omnious looking dome overlooking Pallet Town.
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"Are we there yet?" Torchic asked as the robot approached a pathway leading up to the dome.
"We're getting close." Treecko assured his comrades. "I can see an entrance up ahead, and two more Arcanines are there." With that, he proceeded to follow the other Arcanines inside the dome.
Pikachu's ears pricked up at various sounds in the room that vaguely sounded like calls for help. "Odd...do you guys hear calls for help in here?"
"I think we've stopped, so let's take a look." With that, Torchic eased open the escape hatch...and the Rescue Force gasped at what they saw.
The entire room was lined with cages containing Pokemon, with some cages containing two or three Pokemon at a time. The only other object in the room was an omnious looking robot with at least eight claws.
"What is this place?" Torchic stammered, apparntly afraid of the clawed robot.
"A nightmare, that's what!" Treecko shivered as he glanced around at all the caged Pokemon crying for help.
"Help!" a Rattata called as it clawed at the cage bars.
"Someone help us!" a Chikorita begged. The Cyndaquil nearby puffed out a smoky "SOS" with its quills.
"Quiet down in there!" a male voice barked, startling the Rescue Force! Treecko quickly opened the back escape hatch, shepherding the others into a storage closet as two shadowy figures approached.
"That was close!" Pikachu gasped as Mudkip closed the door behind them.
"I'll say...maybe I can get my communicator to show what's going on outside." Treecko suggested. The others watched as Treecko tinkered with a small camera mounted on his communicator. After a few minutes, an image of the room blipped on the screen, where the others could see a male Rocket grunt wearing a hat and a blonde haired female grunt walking to meet the Arcanines.
"Okay, guys...line up!" the male grunt commanded. The three Arcanines obediently lined up in a row.
"All right, my puppies...cuve!" the female grunt ordered. The Arcanines opened their mouths, including the one the Rescue Force had tinkered with. The male grunt calmly reached for what looked like a small cell phone and pressed a button, causing the clawed robot to come alive!
"What's it doing?" Mudkip asked. She suddenly gasped as the claws retrieved an Espeon from the first Arcanine and a Squirtle and Pichu from the second. All three Pokemon were then thrown into three spare cages.
"Well done, ARCA 01 and 02..." the male grunt smiled as he petted the two Arcanines that had brought a Pokemon.
"What about ARCA 03?" the female grunt asked. At that second, the connection began to break up.
"So that's who's doing it...Team Rocket..." Pikachu gasped.
"I'll notify Ash!" Torchic volunteered. She quickly switched on her comunicator. "Ruby calling Master Jewel..."
"I read you, Ruby..." Ash replied. "Any news?"
"We have appeared to have arrived at a Rocket base." Torchic explained. "The Arcanine robots take the Pokemon here, then cage them up!" She took the shocked look on Ash's face as the sign to continue. "Our next objective: find Serena and rescue her!"
"Okay, good luck and be careful!" Ash replied, then the communicator switched off.
"Speaking of Serena...I think I've found her location in this room..." Treecko mused as he showed the others a map of the room, which also had an arrow pointing out Serena's location.
"Left side, second row, fourth cage over...got it!" With that, Pikachu peeked outside...the Rockets had gone, so he motioned for the others to follow him. After some climbing, they made their way over to the fourth cage over, where a tiny Persian wearing a magenta bow with the name "Serena" written in gold writing lay, asleep.
"Hey..." Treecko rattled the cage bars in an attempt to get the baby Persian to awaken. "Wake up!"
"Mrrggh...who are you guys?" Serena groggily yawned as she woke up.
"We are the Pokemon Rescue Force!" Pikachu replied, flashing a Rescue Force badge for emphasis. "We came to rescue you!"
"Rescue me? That's great news!" Serena cried, elated that someone had come to rescue her. "But...how are you guys going to get me out of here?"
"Easy! FLAME STRIKE!" Serena jumped to the back of the cage as Torchic fired an ember or two at the cage bars, creating a large enough opening for Serena to fit. After a quick jump to the floor, the Force led Serena back to the closet they had hidden in earlier.
"Now, we'll call Ash and let him know you're okay..." Treecko began as he switched his communicator on. "Emerald calling Master Jewel..."
"Master Jewel here...any news?" Ash asked.
"We've sucessfully found and rescued Serena." Treecko began. "We're coming home soon..."
"NO!" Torchic interruppted, startling Treecko. "We're not leaving until ALL these Pokemon are freed...Ho'oh only knows what Team Rocket has in store for them!"
"Torchic's right, Emerald..." Ash began as he brought up an information log. "I've tapped into some of the computers at your location...the Rockets are using the claw robot to drain the Pokemon's power, using that power to power up a laser beam! If you guys don't hurry, Pallet will be wiped off the map!" Everyone gasped at this.
'Is there anything we can do?" Treecko asked, a note of worry in his voice.
"There's still some hope..." Ash assured Treecko. "If you guys can find the master controls somewhere in here, shut them all off, drain the laser's power, and free the Pokemon, we can save the city. The only catch is: You have six hours to do this..." At this, a six hour clock appeared on Treecko's communicator as the image of Ash faded, which began ticking away...
To Be Continued...
Six hours remain...