Sounds of conflict echoed through the darkness, the only thing shown is the sparks coming off the impact on the iron plating on Aggron's body while it fights against Buneary, Clefairy and Wartortle. It continued its brawl against the trio before it got hit with a volley of water bullets from Milotic along with a Hex from Vulpix. Seeing the attempt they made which did nothing to his Pokemon, Butch laughs as his Pokemon knocked away all his enemies with a single stomp that shook the cave. "Try harder if you want to live. Aggron, Heavy Slam!"
Aggron's tail started glowing intensely before it made a swipe, hitting all of its enemies into the wall, Leaf clicking her teeth while Red readies his slingshot. He was about to rush forward but was stopped by the brunette.
"Red, you're not going out there. Your condition hasn't gotten better." She said seriously which made him click his teeth before he heard giggling coming from a certain cream colored serpent.
"Alright, I'll go out there and do what I can against them. I'm the more agile one." When she said this, he then looked at the Steel type wreaking havoc before turning back to her with a worried expression on his face which she noticed and then putting a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright. I'll play safe."
"Wai-" He was about to say before she cut him off.
"Red. I need you to stay here as backup. Look for weaknesses. You know more about Pokemon wildlife than I do so if anyone can notice a chink in the armor, it's you." Leaf said with confidence which made Red look down on the floor, unsure about this until she held his hands. "Trust me, ok. I'll be alright."
He looked at her before sighing and nodding at her. "If you get hurt, I'm coming in."
"Wouldn't want it any other way." She smirked before she readied a Pokeball and dashed forward while Red observed Aggron, making Milotic use Aqua Ring before summoning an orb of water to shoot at the Steel and Rock type, staggering it. The brunette took this chance, sending out Swablu who used Hyper Voice which disorientated Butch and his Pokemon while her own took the opportunity to take down the armored creature.
"Aghh! My ears! Aggron, kill her!" The Rocket grunt yelled in pain which was not heard by his Pokemon. After a moment of taking multiple blows, Aggron roared loudly before running towards Leaf with its claws extending and glowing into blue rocky protrusions. She swiftly dodged the move, the spear like claws barely grazed her, ripping part of her outfit before she rolled over behind a rock then checking her side to see blood flowing down her blouse, the wound surprising her. She could barely find time to treat it when she saw Aggron breaking through the boulder, its horn just an inch away from her face.
"Watch out!" Red yelled, a blast of water hitting the armored creature's face which made it hit a wall. When she gut up from the floor, she turned to where her opponent was, seeing it trying to get out of the wall. "Thanks, Red."
"No problem. Now let's try this again." He said before they rush forward, their mind set on taking down the Aggron and Butch.
"I kn-know they said t-that the Elite Four is on another l-level b-but t-this…" Cassidy stuttered, shivering when a frozen stalactite fell near her, desperately trying to generate more heat. Across from her was Lorelei who was enveloped by her Pokemon's tails, a serious expression etched on her face while she watched the Magmortar that fought against her exhausted, trying to catch its breath. "I suggest you surrender. Don't want you to get frostbite now, young one."
"B-bitch! I'm t-the s-same age as y-you!" The blonde shouted, surprising the redhead who did a double take, apologizing for her manner of speech before creating another ice wall to block an incoming fire ball. Without missing a beat, she ordered for Ninetales to shoot a barrage of ice shards which Magmortar easily blocked before a huge snowball came its way, the Fire type evaded the move before smacked around several times by its six tails then knocked into a wall by the seventh one, much to its trainer's dismay.
"M-Magmortar, t-t-turn up the heat n-now!" The blonde stammered, her Pokemon's body turned ablaze, melting the ice around them. "W-why? Why are you so strong? You s-should be an Ice t-type user."
"You think because I specialize in one type means that I won't be able to cover my weaknesses in some way. If that's the case, I wouldn't be an Elite Four member in the first place." Lorelei stated with her arms crossed. Seeing the frustrated expression on Cassidy's face made her sigh before looking behind her to see Misty taking down a considerable number of grunts, stomping on one of them while her Gyarados swung the rest of them around like ragdolls. 'I think…I need a break.'
Snapping her fingers, another blast coming towards her being frozen solid before Ninetales slapped the attack right back which exploded on impact with the Fire type. "So what is it that you want here? Your grunts were kind enough to tell us some information but not the main goal. Care connecting some dots please?"
"None of your fucking business. Not like you could stop us anyway." Cassidy answered, seeing Magmortar finally able to fully melt an ice wall, only to be stopped when spikes come out of the ground, stabbing the fire duck and sending it into the air before it descended to the ground with a thud. She then tried a different approach, breaking the spikes through sheer strength only to be outmatched when her Pokemon was hit point blank by a barrage of fist shape ice projectiles, able to break some of them but ultimately failed as it was trapped within a cocoon of snow. "Give up. You're not winning this fight."
"S-shut up!" The blonde yelled furiously before she went for another Pokeball, her entire body except for her head instantly frozen which made her grind her teeth in frustration. Lorelei then walked up to the woman with a somber expression. "It's too bad. You could've done so much more if you were not in cahoots with these people."
This cause Cassidy to glare at the woman in front of her with pure malice before wording off with a growl. "You. Don't. Fucking. Know. Me."
"I know…but I can try." Lorelei stated before releasing Jynx, the Pokemon floating towards the blonde, placing its hands on her head then looking at its trainer. "Diane, if you would please."
Knocking out the last grunt with her bag, Misty looked ahead, seeing the red head reading Cassidy's mind. "You might not find much in there."
"I know but it's best to at least know who we're dealing with. We can leave the 'why' for another time." Lorelei said, closing her eyes and calming herself down as she can still hear the honey blonde woman cursing under her breath. 'Let's see who you work for.'
"Stone Edge!"
Leaf dodged another stone spike, doing a backflip off the wall then commanding her Buneary to use Thunder Punch, trying to paralyze it but was failed when the spikes coming out of its armor, the brown bunny nearly getting hit by one.
"Damn, he can use it as armor too?! That's so unfair!" She complained, a yelp escaping from her mouth when she had to dodge a few spears of rock followed by laughter from Butch. "Bravo, kid! Keep dancing for me!"
"Red. Anytime now would be-" She looked at the raven haired teen who gave her a nod before he commanded Vulpix to use Flame Burst on Watortle who used Water Pulse which made both attacks colliding into each other, creating a wave of steam that enveloped the area, much to Butch's dismay. "…fuck…"
The brunette ran with all her might before reaching her friend, letting out a relieved sigh. "What do ya got?"
"Aggron's powerful but it's slow. Very slow. The only attack being fast being Stone Edge and that's only when it uses it as armor or shoots it like a projectile. It looks like its ability is Heavy Metal which explains why Earthquake and Heavy Slam hits hard." Red explained coolly while inspecting the Iron Armor Pokemon, his mind racking itself with different ideas on how to take down the monstrosity.
"So what do we do?" Leaf said worried, a sweat bead travelling down the side of her face. Red looked at her with a reassuring smile then wiping the sweat on her face.
"Not much. While it's slow, its defense is gonna be a pain to deal with. Overpowering it is not gonna work either. It's best to trap it so that it's unable to move. In a perfect world, we can be able to use its weight or strength against it." He answered with his hands behind his head, the brunette's worry and fear increasing after he said this until he gave her a confident smirk. "Doesn't mean that we are out of options, Leaf. We just need an opening."
Noticing the posture of the Pokemon, his smirk grew more apparent on his face before he finished. "And I think I know how to."
As the steam dispersed, Butch's smile widened when he sees both teenagers riding on Milotic in the air, his smile fading upon seeing the gleeful expressions on his opponents' faces.
"Milotic, large tidal wave now." Red commanded, the serpent swiftly summoned a huge wave of water which travelled towards the man and his Pokemon. About to word a counter, he was not prepared for his voice to be overlapped by Swablu who used Hyper Voice to cancel out his order, making his Aggron get hit point blank by the move which made the ground capsized under its weight.
"What the fuck?" Butch yelled in anger while holding his eardrums in an attempt to stop the audio assault. He tried readying another Pokeball but a ball of silk hit him, glueing his hands to the wall which made him curse loudly. Aggron then started moving in the hole, thrashing around which caused the cave to shake, the stalactites falling from the ceiling almost hitting the teens, Red quickly voicing his next move. "Vulpix, Confuse Ray now!"
The fox jumped onto Milotic's head, using the attack which hit Aggron, causing the iron giant to stop moving, looking around in confusion. Leaf was busy feeding her Pokemon Berries along with Red's Clefairy, looking towards the Steel type struggling to get out of the ground and fighting against Vulpix's Confuse Ray and Hex. The moment they got near Aggron, they both share a nod before their Pokemon jump down, positioning themselves from Beedrill's String Shot which directed them perfectly to the Steel and Rock type.
'Alright! It's all or nothing.' She thought before she commanded her Pokemon. "Buneary, Jump Kick and Wartortle, Brick Break."
"Brick Break now, Clef!" Red followed, all of the Pokemon using their respective attacks. Aggron got out of its trap, ready to lunge against the trio but was stopped when a Smoke Ball hit its face, obscuring its vision. It then started lashing about, happy when one of its limbs connected to something but it paused when something went into its mouth which it accidentally swallowed before it felt a pain through its body, proof of Vulpix's Hex. It then started thrashing violently again, cracking the floor and anything unfortunate around it, its roars shaking the entire cavern.
Suddenly, it felt a huge hit unto its face, the area being enveloped in a lot of pain as it tries to swipe against them only to fail when its hand was swatted away. Butch could only watch in suspense before he saw his Pokemon fell out of the smoke and onto the floor, making his adversaries shouting in victory at the result and a scowl present on his face.
Before he could do anything, they returned their Pokemon, Milotic creating a blast of water to hit Aggron into the wall, making the Pokemon stuck there with a dazed expression on its face before a rock came towards his face, a hit following before his vision blacked out.
"No…" Lorelei said in disbelief, stepping away from Cassidy's frozen form, her eyes widening which surprised Misty. "No, nononono."
"What's up?" The orange haired asked, walking over to the Elite Four member who was breathing heavily. Taking a minute to look around her and calming her speedy heartbeat, Lorelei lets out a long exhale, able to stop her shaky breathing. "Yeah…yeah, I'm ok…I'm alright. It's just that this is a lot bigger than I thought."
"Wha? How?" Misty asked, perplexed by the situation. Tightening her fists, the redhead looked at the ground with a disappointed expression. "They finished this mission days ago."
The gym leader's eyes widened upon the revelation, looking around to find anything to debunk this theory until they heard chuckling from Cassidy who looked at them before speaking with every ounce of venom that she could produce in her voice. "D-damn fucking straight! W-we were j-just b-buying t-time and everything went smoothly. T-the cargo trucks are now on t-their way. W-we're just here to slow you d-down. We were informed about t-that red eyed kid and t-the c-commissioner's daughter with you and we don't want to risk things going to shit because of t-them."
Misty was surprised by this, thinking back to the incident at Underground Tunnel and also Red and Leaf's victory at the SS. Anne tournament, achievements like those would make Team Rocket be known of their presence and strength. This is especially true since despite Red being outnumbered and almost killed, he still found a way to foil their operation with Zapdos. On cue, they all see Milotic coming out of the cave, Red and Leaf jumping off its back, both teens cringing at the sight of the grunts in the area being sprawled on the ground.
"See what I mean? They're both too dangerous. But thank you for playing with us. Now…" Red sensed something in the area, about to direct an attack towards the darkness in the cavern but was too late. "Sableye, Gravity!"
An intense pressure hit the area which send everyone to the floor, Red trying to get his Pokeball which Cassidy noticed. She then quickly made Sableye phase her through the ice before she released Granbull who then use Roar which made every Pokemon retreat to their capsules. Before long, the ground shook, everyone looking to see Aggron coming out from it, Butch riding on its back.
"Kill them, Stone Edge." The Steel type roars before it hit the ground, multiple rock spears coming towards the quartet before a tremendous blizzard slowed the attack and made the four were taken out of the way of the attack, everyone seeing their savior being Lorelei's Jynx. "Thanks Diane. Now stop them!"
Jynx immediately flew to them, its speed surprising Cassidy and Butch, the latter making a shaky laugh before he commanded another Stone Edge. "Let's see you block this."
Aggron then shot multiple huge stone spears towards the Ice and Psychic type who immediately dodged some of the projectiles before it spread its arms, various balls of purple energy forming out of thin air before they flew forward, destroying the spears that Aggron created and knocking the Pokemon straight into a wall, the Pokemon being unconscious.
Upon seeing the knocked out Steel type, Leaf's eyes widened in disbelief as she witnessed the Jynx nearly knock out Sableye with a stray Shadow Ball before going towards Magmortar. 'What the hell? That Aggron took everything Red and I had and more to just damage it and she took it down in one move.'
"Fuck! Lorelei's a problem. We need to get out of here now, Butch!" Cassidy said, her Magmortar able to melt all the ice in the area holding the grunts hostage before they were all levitated and floated along with her towards the cave's exit. Looking back, she commanded her Magmortar and Granbull to take on the Psychic type to hold some time only to be surprised when they were both knocked aside by Diane's telekinetic strength. "Shit, this is not goo-"
In the blink of an eye, a bolt of lightning struck Jynx, the Pokemon able to protect itself from the attack with a shield before everyone looked on to see a Gothitelle. Leaf started shaking uncontrollably, gripping unto Red who immediately noticed the Pokemon. 'Wait. No…not her. Anyone but her!'
'I'm surprised you're taking this long with these losers, Cassy and Bill.' She said, floating towards them then stretching her hand towards the rest of the grunts, all of them being teleported.
"It's Butch goddamnit!" Butch fumed, returning his Aggron while Cassidy just clicked her tongue, returning her own Pokemon as well. The Psychic type cackled until she sees Misty and the group, her eyes narrowed upon seeing both Leaf and Red along with a smile showing on her face. 'Hmm. Never thought I would see you two again. Let's continue where we-'
She was interrupted by a Shadow Ball hitting her in the face, silence filling the room as Leaf looked at the situation with horror, trying to calm down herself.
'Someone's dead.' After a while, an enraged expression shows on Gothitelle's face before she sends a Pyshock at Diane who easily blocked the attack. She was about to continue the attack until her trainer walked into the cave. "Gothitelle! Stand down. This is not a battle that you can win. We have what we want."
Gothitelle shook in anger before looking at Jynx and then Red and Leaf before saying. 'Sorry we had to cut this short but next time, we'll have lots of fun.'
Before Lorelei could make Diane intercept her, it then teleported all the grunts in the cave, leaving her and the group alone. Misty was about to make a comment until the cave started shaking, the group running away from the falling stalactites. After a couple of minutes, they got to a safe section of the cavern, collectively letting out a sigh of relief. Upon seeing the amount of Pokemon in the area that are injured or worse from the operations of Team Rocket, Red felt anger welled up inside him which did not go unnoticed by Poli and Leaf who hugged him. "C'mon, Red. Let's go."
He nodded, taking a last look at the habitants before walking away with his cap covering his face. After taking a break and continuing the rest of their way through the cave, the quartet was greeted by the fresh night air as they all plopped onto the ground, exhaustion finally taking them.
"Not the workout I wanted but eh, it works." Misty said with a shrug, drinking a bottle of water. Leaf leaned on Red who was behaving oddly during the entire trip, patting Vulpix and Poliwag while looking at the night sky.
"Yeah. Who knew life threatening situations would make you lose a lot of calories?" The brunette joked, getting a laugh from Misty while their Pokemon are resting on the grass and eating the Poffins Red made for them, much to Leaf's confusion. 'Is that what he was doing when he went to the Berry guy in Cerulean?'
"I'm going back to the Pokemon League. With the recent Team Rocket attacks, we need to get something done to increase our strength against the organization." Lorelei said before standing up, her Jynx floating beside her with a worried expression on its face. "They have got away with this for far too long."
"I can't help but agree." Misty said sighing, putting her hands behind her head before continuing. "They have been way too active lately…and they were stronger than I thought. We need to get our shit together if we want to take them down."
Leaf and Red nodded, seeing firsthand the power they have and how much danger they are towards the public. The brunette always thought they were an urban legend, just a low level gang but what she experienced with her confrontations with them made her know that they mean business. She nearly lost her friend multiple times to them and now she realized that they are planning to weaponize the power of the Legendary Pokemon when they have an army like organization with each grunt having strength comparable to that of a Gym Leader. She then looked at Red who has been stargazing, a somber glint showing in his eyes while Vulpix and Poli cuddle with him.
"And I want to enjoy this stay too." Misty whined, stretching then checking her phone. "I'm going to hitch a ride, Lorelei. Hope you don't mind."
The redhead nodded to the orange haired woman, Diane floating in between them, Vulpix and Poli trying to touch her dress which made a smile appear on Red's face despite the seriousness of the situation and the impeding danger that may befall the entire region before he hears Lorelei mutters. "I can't believe things are like this…"
"What should we do?" Leaf asked the question, she knows how serious the situation is and it could put the whole region in jeopardy if not unchecked. Lorelei looked at her with a somber expression before she patted her head which surprised the brunette.
"You both just keeping doing what you do. The Pokemon League activities will continue regardless. If you experience anything mysterious, let your father know." Misty said to the two teens before glaring at Red, squinting her eyes on him. "Especially you, No Face. I'm keeping my eyes on you."
"I enjoyed my time with you." Lorelei said, hugging both of the teens before giving them a present. "I hope that we meet again soon."
"See ya later, Feraligatr." Misty waved before Diane put her hands on both their shoulders, the two started to float before they rocketed in the sky, Leaf and Red waving at the two yelling their farewells. When they are out of sight, both teens decided to put up camp, Red making dinner while Leaf looked at their presents, seeing two Clefairy plushie keychain along with a TM and some Ice Gems.
"A plushie, huh? That's…odd." The brunette said, lifting one of them which Cleffy took from her, enjoying the item while Clef took out the other, trying to connect it to its Pokeball which got a chuckle from its trainer. The two smiled at each other as they continued to enjoy the night under the starry sky.
Coming back from her meeting with the Pokemon League and sitting down on a chair, Lorelei looked at her reflection in the mirror, putting a hand on it before sighing as she remembered what she saw in Cassidy's mind earlier. "With how things are, if they continue, this may lead to the next great Kanto War."
She remembered seeing some of the heads of Team Rocket who she explained to the other Elite Four members along with what she knew about the plans so far. Watching the various Volbeat and Illumise roaming the area, a sorrowful look etched on her face as her thoughs showcase her current emotions.
'Why did you go with them, Ari?'
Sup guys? Hope y'all like this chapter. It was easy to write but I wanted to make sure I didn't mess up anything. From here forward, we have reached what is essentially my favorite part of this: the Lavender Town and the shenanigans. You will be introduced to references galore from here on out. Man, I'm gonna love this. Woo! I might take a while before I can send another chapter out because I'm making sure that everything goes perfectly from here. I hope you like the big brain play that Red did and the introduction to how the Elite Four members battle through Lorelei…and she's just playing around. Scary. Well, let me know how you think about the story so far and thanks for your thoughts and for you favoriting and following the story. I know it's like a running gag for this but I really am grateful to you all so thanks and enjoy the chapter and keep safe. Enigma out!
