Chapter 8

We've Entered a New Era

Whitney leads the other trainers into what used to be the Goldenrod City Radio Tower. The others follow her as she climbs down the stairs to the basement. What she sees there is shocking.

"Guys, we've hit the jackpot," she says.

The other characters all gasp as they take their steps downstairs. Not only do they see computers up and running and electronic devices all buzzing, they also see two people.

"What the hell's going on down here?" Silver wonders.

"Excuse me," Sabrina asks one of the people, sitting in an office chair over a computer. "Could you please tell me how you've managed to survive?"

The man turns around in his chair, revealing a big "R" on the shirt he's wearing.

"Team Rocket?!" Sabrina exclaims.

"That's right," the man says. "Team Rocket survived Judgment Day."

Sabrina looks shocked. "But – but – Giovanni is dead! There's no one left for you to follow!"

"Au contraire," a woman pipes in. "Giovanni survived. And his goal is to create a new world which he will rule over."

Silver looks shocked, and Jasmine puts her arm around his shoulder. "My father is alive…" he mutters under his breath.

"But, how can all these machines be working?" Whitney asks. "We've had to live underground for the last ten years, and you're telling me that you've been able to create a whole network where you could actually work down here?"

The male Rocket smiles. "Simple, we just use the power of Pokémon."

"Pokémon?" Sabrina exclaims. "All Pokémon were wiped off the face of the earth by Judgment. Only a few survived, those that we hid in our Poké Balls underground."

The female Rocket cracks a laugh. "Fools," she says. "Didn't you realize that Bill's PC kept millions of Pokémon hidden away in boxes? All we had to do was hack into Bill's PC and steal others' Pokémon. The people are dead, anyway."

"So, you mean to tell us that you've managed to hack your way into the possession of all those Pokémon?" Liza asks.

"Isn't that what I just said?" the female Rocket says. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ariana. I have been a longtime member of Team Rocket behind the scenes. My hacking skills have been of great use. When Judgment Day happened, Giovanni sent myself and Archer to this hideout."

"That's right," the male Rocket says. "I am Archer, and I am second-in-command at Team Rocket behind only Giovanni."

Sabrina shakes her head. "But what are you going to do with all those Pokémon you've stolen? They all belong to Trainers, even if they aren't alive anymore."

Archer begins to laugh. "Simple," he says. "All these Pokémon will be kept under our access only, until we are able to rule over the world."

"How?" Sabrina asks. "Where are all the people you're going to rule over?"

"There are many people who survived," Ariana says. "They just haven't come out of hiding yet. Once they've begun rebuilding this world, we will enslave them by using the power of our unlimited collection of Pokémon."

"That's right," Archer says. "In fact, we may very well have every single Pokémon known to man, including some legendaries. We can choose from an almost unlimited selection. But for now, these Pokémon are all our slaves."

Archer gets up from his seat and walks over to another room, with the others following him. "See?" he says.

Sabrina and her friends are shocked to see Electric Pokémon chained up, being hit repeatedly by machinery in order to force them to keep on emitting electricity.

"Stop it!" Gold shouts. "This is cruel!"

"Yeah, even in my worst days I wasn't this mean," Silver says.

"I'm not letting this happen," Sabrina says, and she rushes over to one of the computers connected to the machinery. "I'm stopping this machine."

"Careful, now," Archer says. "You wouldn't want to unleash all these Pokémon at once. You could end up finding yourself dead in the matter of moments."

"I don't care," Sabrina says. "No way are you getting away with this."

She starts typing on the computer, while Archer watches silently.

"Archer, stop her!" Ariana yells. "If she's successful, she could throw the world into chaos!"

Archer grins. "That's exactly what I want to happen."


Giselle, Janine, Falkner, Joe, and Roxanne all arrive in Goldenrod City, where they immediately head toward the Gym. After climbing down into the underground chamber, they find no one around.

"Where the hell could they be?" Falkner wonders.

"Relax, Falkner," Janine says, putting an arm around his shoulder. "I'm sure they can't be that far away."

As they climb back up from underground, they suddenly hear a loud rumbling, coming from the northwestern part of the city. The five of them look over and see a multitude of Pokémon running free.

"It's – It's – Pokémon!" Joe exclaims.

"And they're coming this way!" Roxanne shouts.

Roxanne, Janine, and Falkner board one of the Pidgeot, but Giselle refuses to get on hers.

"What the hell are you doing?" Falkner yells at Giselle. "You're going to get crushed!"

"Giselle, suicide is not-" Janine begins to say.

"I'm not thinking like that!" Giselle shouts back. "I've got this under control. Cubone, Graveler, go!"

Giselle sends out both her signature Pokémon and calls for them to attack. What she doesn't realize is that the oncoming Pokémon are a legion so large that they cannot even be counted.

"Giselle, you're going to get yourself killed!" Falkner yells. "Get up on a Pidgeot and let's fly away!"

After seeing Cubone and Graveler unable to push past the first wave of Pokémon, Giselle quickly changes her tune and calls them back. But before she can even put the Poké Balls back in her pocket, she is overwhelmed by a Gyarados as well as a Tauros. With Giselle tossed and slammed by the oncoming Pokémon, Joe rushes over and grabs her, before boarding her Pidgeot.

"Let's get out of here!"

Both of the Pidgeot fly high over Goldenrod City, and the trainers are frightened by the sight below them. Tens of thousands of Pokémon have already been released, all coming from the northwestern part of the city where the Radio Tower was. More just keep on coming, too. Goldenrod City has become a de facto Safari Zone in only a matter of minutes.

"They're not slowing down!" Janine cries as she looks down. "These Pokémon are going to infest all of Johto!"

"I'm not sure that-" Falkner begins to say, when Janine points down. He then sees some of the Pokémon headed off in the direction of Violet City as well as the Burnt Tower.

"We've got to get out of Johto!" Janine yells. "Take us to a spot where it would be harder for the Pokémon to reach!"

"How about Indigo Plateau?" Joe calls from his Pidgeot.

"That's as good as anywhere right now," Falkner says.

Both Pidgeot fly over to Indigo Plateau, landing right where Giselle and Joe had been living with Synneva. The five of them quickly climb down into the basement, save for Giselle, who is knocked out cold. Joe carries her body down to her bed.

"Giselle," Joe says. "Giselle? Can you hear me?"

"Is she okay?" Janine asks.

"I'm not sure," Joe says. "Giselle? Giselle! Please wake up!"

Roxanne, meanwhile, looks around the room, taking note of everything. She sees Giselle's three Pokémon League trophies, plus two beds – a large one and a small one. She then peers over some boxes full of food. There she sees a picture that changes her world.

"Joe!" Roxanne exclaims. "Look at this!"

She picks up the small picture and hands it over to Joe. There, to Joe's shock, he sees himself in a bathing suit, with Giselle also wearing a swimsuit, with her arm around him.

"Joe, it's…"

In that moment, thousands of memories hit Joe at once. Suddenly he remembers everything, his life as a Pokémon Tech scholar, his adventure to the Pokémon League, his promotion to the Elite Four, and most of all, his marriage to Giselle.

"She was right," Roxanne says. "And somehow… I knew it all along."

Joe stands their silently, not knowing what to say. He then looks down at Giselle in her bed, her seemingly lifeless body lying there.

"This can't be happening…" Joe says. "Giselle, you've got to come through! I know now! We're married! It's just the way you said it!"

Suddenly, he sees Giselle's lips moving. Words come from her mouth, without any context at all. "…who made heaven and earth… and you forgave the iniquity of my sin…"

Joe leans down and places his lips upon hers. With her eyes still closed, Giselle enjoys a nice long kiss with Joe.

"This is how Arceus intended it!" Roxanne exclaims. "Joe's memories are back, and my memories are back! It's all Arceus's perfect will!"

"Excuse me?"

Roxanne looks over at the bed, where Giselle is now seated upright, with her hands on her hips.

"You can take that Arceus crap out where the sun doesn't shine," Giselle says. "I hear he's looking for someone new to unleash Judgment."

Roxanne smiles, while Janine and Falkner laugh. "It's so good to see you back to normal again," Roxanne says.

"Now get the hell out of here," Giselle states.

"Uh-uh-uh!" Janine exclaims. "We've got a new problem to deal with. Those thousands of Pokémon who are infesting Johto – they're coming for us too. It's only a matter of time until these Pokémon rule every inch of civilization, and we've got to stop them before they do."

"Would you at least allow me to find my Brawly?" Roxanne asks. "It's only fair that if you two are couples, that I get to be a couple as well! And now that I've been awakened, I remember that Brawly and I were together at the church of Arceus in Rustboro City. Someone needs to fly me there."

"I'll take you," Falkner says. "Janine, you stay here and make sure that everything's all right."

"Sure thing," Janine says, as Falkner and Roxanne climb out of the underground lair.

Giselle immediately puts her arms around Joe and squeezes him tight. "Oh, Joe, you don't even understand what I went through," she says, wiping away tears. "I thought I had lost you forever. I thought that I had nothing to live for. I saw that ring on Roxanne's finger…"

She looks down at her ring finger.

"And now it's on me. Oh, Joe, you and I were meant to be! And now we can thank the Lord that we're together forever at last!"

Joe smiles. "As long as you never change, I won't ever either," he says.

"Now we just have to go find Synneva, and everything will be hunky dory," Giselle says.

Joe suddenly looks solemn, completely surprised by what Giselle said.

"Sin – nah – vah?" he says. "What is that?"

"Our daughter," Giselle says. "The one that Sabrina stole away from us."

"But we have no daughter," Joe replies. "We never decided to have one."

Giselle angrily pounds her fist into the bed. "Aw, crap!" she screams. "Right when I think everything's fixed, something comes up and takes it back away from me again!"

"Relax," Janine says. "We'll figure this out."

"Well, first, I want to know, who do you believe, Janine?" Giselle asks.

Janine gulps. "I believe both of you," she replies.

"That's not a valid answer!" Giselle complains.

"No, it's true," Janine says. "I thought Joe was right all this time and that he was with Roxanne. Then suddenly we were all awakened to the truth. Now I'm doubting everything I know. I don't remember you ever having a child, but anything's possible."

"Well, then, there's only one thing to do," Giselle says. "Go find my daughter – our daughter – and restore peace and sanity to this Pokémon world."