~ Chapter 20 ~

Showdown at the Valley Windworks

"Just when we thought we could start to relax, Team Galactic showed up and shattered that dream. The beauty that was Floaroma Town was nearly destroyed by their plans. Team Galactic sought to take power from the Valley Windworks, and put it towards their schemes, and although we managed to defeat them, they still managed to steal the power they needed. It wasn't until later that we realized what they planned to do with all of that extra energy, and by that time it was too late to stop them—at least, before they could unleash their plans that is. We did manage to get them after though, but this was all much later on in my long story."

The group exited the Pokémon Centre after finishing their breakfast. They were hoping to help Alyssandra train for her contest tomorrow out in the meadow, that way she would have all the room she needed to practice.

While the group walked from the Pokémon Centre, Jeremy and Niya were in a heated discussion, causing Jeremy's Pikachu to prefer sitting on Alyssandra's shoulders instead, while Jeremy and Niya were talking quickly about Jeremy's decision to become a Pokémon Ranger.

"You should have called your mother back last night," said Niya calmly, "She deserves to know."

"But I can't," replied Jeremy, "I can't tell her, I'd feel bad."

"She's your mother, Jeremy, your family. She'd be okay with you going out there and chasing your dreams," responded Niya, "That's what you're supposed to do."

"I know, but what if I don't make it? Then I'll have done all that talking for nothing," said Jeremy with a sigh, "It'll be so embarrassing!"

"They're your family, Jeremy," said Niya adamantly, "They'll never laugh at you. You have no reason to feel embarrassed."

"Yeah," added Sam with a smirk, "Besides, if anyone's going to laugh at you it'll be us. We're your friends, only we have the right."

Niya gave Sam a look, not stern or angry, but simple a deadpan look, and Sam quickly returned to his conversation with Alyssandra.

"As I was saying," continued Niya, "Your family will never laugh at you mean too much to them. They'll support you no matter what; that's what families do."

Jeremy didn't have time to respond, as the entire group paused, speechless, and watched as Looker chased after several Team Galactic grunts. His chase soon ended as the grunts jumped into a nearby van and drove off down the road and out of sight.

Sam looked at the others, and with a nod. He need only say, "Let's go." In seconds, the promise to Professor Rowan was eclipsed by the group's desire to seek justice and do good.

The group bolted towards Looker, who stood in the middle of the street, bent over, catching his breath.

"Hey, Looker, are you, all right?" asked Sam.

Looker stood up and glanced over at the group. "Oh, hello," he said, "I never expected you to be here. It seems you're always around at the right time."

"We like to think of it as a special skill of ours," joked Jeremy. Looker chuckled then sighed and scratched his forehead.

"What were they doing here?" asked Alyssandra, pointing the in the direction Team Galactic had just driven off.

"They've been lurking around here for days apparently. They've been trying to steal the key for the Valley Windworks from Officer Jenny," explained Looker, "They just recently succeeded, and unfortunately I wasn't able to stop them."

"Why'd they go for the key?" asked Jeremy, "They are planning on stealing a windmill?"

Looker shook his head. "Not the windmill, the energy it produces," he said, "According to my sources, they're planning on stealing energy. They'll probably have taken everyone hostage by the time we get there, and they're not going to stop until they have all the energy they need."

"Is there anything we can do for you?" asked Niya, "We're happy to help in any way we can. We have experience with these guys."

Looker gave a small smile then turned back towards where Team Galactic had disappeared over the horizon. "All right," he said, "Since you're offering, I want you to storm the Valley Windworks and stop them. Same plan as last time. You go ahead, thrash them a bit, and I'll come in with Officer Jenny and her reinforcements. It seems you kids have better luck against Team Galactic than I do—besides, you've proven yourself capable to handle these thugs."

Sam nodded. "We'll deal with them, don't worry," he said reassuringly, "We'll be back and done with them before you know it."

"Thank you," said Looker, "It means a lot, all of this help you give us."

"It's nothing," said Alyssandra, "It's the least we could do as citizens. We heard what these guys can do, and we don't want that to happen to anyone else."

"Good, now hurry over to Valley Windworks, before Team Galactic gets way," said Looker, and with that, he ran back towards the police station, while the group ran down the road after Team Galactic.

The group continued to run, down the street and to the edge of town, and then out past the town and into the nearby valley. Were it not for the circumstances that had brought them there, the valley would've been much more beautiful, as the group would've had more time to take in the scenery and enjoy it. But instead, time was of the essence.

They continued to run for almost twenty minutes; then skidded to a halt just outside of the Valley Windworks gates. There were windmills everywhere, on the hills nearby and all over the lawn of the Windworks. Two Team Galactic grunts stood guard outside the door and didn't seem like they were going to let anyone get inside so easily.

"All right, I'm going to take them on, someone join me," said Sam in a whisper, "It'll be easier if it's two on two."

"I'll do it," said Alyssandra, "I've been using my Buneary a lot lately, but I want to keep using it. I want it to evolve, hopefully this will do it."

"Come on," said Sam taking Alyssandra by the hand and running with her until they stood in front of the two Galactic grunts.

"Hey! What are you kids doing here!" yelled the grunt on the left.

"Get out of here or we'll make you sorry you came!" shouted the grunt on the right. Sam and Alyssandra looked at each other and nodded then tossed their Poké Balls through the air towards their opponents. Sam sent out his Prinplup, while Alyssandra sent out her Buneary. The two grunts didn't take this lightly, and each sent out their Pokémon, a Murkrow on the right, and a Houndour on the left.

"Prinplup, use Metal Claw on Houndour!" shouted Sam.

"Buneary, use Jump Kick on Murkrow!" cried Alyssandra.

Prinplup's fins began to glow, and it charged towards Houndour, ready to slash at the Pokémon with its hard-as-metal claws. Prinplup gave the first swipe, landing a hit that sent Houndour flying, but as it swiped a second time, the grunt on the right called for Houndour to retaliate with Flamethrower. Prinplup was struck before it could react and skidded back several feet before the blast of flames ended.

Buneary didn't have any better luck either and was left disappointed as its Jump Kick missed its mark when Murkrow flew into the air and out of the reach of Buneary.

"Time to take things up a notch," said Sam with a hint of anger, "All right, Prinplup, use Bubble Beam on Houndour then charge towards it!"

"Buneary, jump up and grab Murkrow's feet!" cried Alyssandra.

Buneary sprung on its hind legs and reached for Murkrow's feet as it flew into the air. Luckily for Buneary, it grabbed onto its mark, and dragged Murkrow back down the ground. As Buneary returned to the ground, Alyssandra reacted it quickly.

"Buneary, slam Murkrow into the ground then jump back up again!" commanded Alyssandra skilfully.

Buneary did as it was told, and Alyssandra continued her commands. "Buneary, jump up and slam down into Murkrow with a Jump Kick!"

Buneary again did as commanded and jumped back into the air while Murkrow lay there, stunned. Buneary straightened its body as much as possible, extended its legs towards the ground, ready to kick them into Murkrow and knock it out. Buneary's feet hit their mark, and the Murkrow fell unconscious almost instantly.

Meanwhile, Prinplup unleashed its Bubble Beam at Houndour, which Houndour dodged with ease. However, as it was busy dodging the Bubble Beam, it didn't notice Prinplup getting closer. By the time it realized, Prinplup struck at Houndour with another Metal Claw.

"Good, Prinplup!" shouted Sam, "Now use Bubble Beam while you're close up!"

Prinplup did what it was told, and the Bubble Beam shot from its mouth, and slammed into Houndour, causing it to also fall unconscious.

The two grunts glared at Sam and Alyssandra, and charged towards them angrily, until they were stopped in their tracks, following two loud whacks. The two grunts then fell to the ground, as unconscious as their Pokémon, and it was revealed that Jeremy and Niya had snuck up behind them and struck them over the head with a stick they had found nearby.

"We could've handled it," smirked Sam as Jeremy threw the stick aside.

"You might've been able to, but Alyssandra's not a fighter," said Niya, "We were doing you a favour. Two against one isn't a fair fight."

"Not for them. Not if they're fighting me," joked Sam as the group approached the door of the Windworks.

"Be careful Sam," said Alyssandra with her tongue out, "Your head might get too big and you won't be able to fit through the door."

Sam rolled his eyes playfully, and the group fell silent again.

Quietly and quickly they threw open the door, using a key they found on the now unconscious grunts, and dashed into the small power building.

Jeremy was quick to act, as he is noticing that there were two more grunts inside standing beside a redheaded woman, whose hair went off into three different points, while her jumpsuit top branched off into a dress with a perfectly circular hem. She looked like an astronaut in a dress. The Team Galactic grunts stood with the woman in the main room of the building, surrounded by hostages.

"Pikachu use Thunder Shock on the two grunts!" shouted Jeremy.

Pikachu jumped from Jeremy's shoulder and loosed two bolts of lightning, which struck and incapacitated the two Galactic grunts.

The woman with red hair wheeled around and threw a Poké Ball in response. Out came a Zubat, and she started to give it a command for Poison Sting, but she was stopped as Niya commanded her Roserade to let loose a Magical Leaf, which struck Zubat, knocking it out in one shot.

The woman paused halfway to her next Poké Ball; then stopped. Instead of retaliating, she gave a condescending smile and started to clap slowly.

"Give up, Team Galactic," said Sam, "You're outnumbered four to one, and you're down to your last Pokémon, you won't win!"

The woman threw back her head and laughed. "I'm impressed, really," she said, "I've never seen kids with the courage to stand up to us before. It's brave. Futile, but brave nonetheless."

"Why are you laughing?" asked Alyssandra, "You're outnumbered, and you're captured. Looker should be here soon with the police and then you'll go to jail!"

The woman laughed again. "Do you know who I am?" she asked, "No, I don't suppose you do, I'd best introduce myself them. I'm Mars, Galactic Commander Mars actually. I'm in charge of this operation."

"Not very smart telling us who you are," said Jeremy, "Now you're captured, and this operation is over."

"Says who?" asked Mars coolly, "You think my men won't continue this operation without me? Please, by all means, bring me in—but I have more men in this building, and once they return they will outnumber you."

"So, what? We'll just fight them all off," said Sam, "I've fought your associates before, and believe me, they could use stronger Pokémon."

"Is that so?" asked Mars, "Then perhaps you can tell them that yourself when you meet them."

"You mean once we kick their butts," said Alyssandra with a smile of determination on her face.

Mars laughed again. "Foolish little girl," she said softly.

"You're the fool," returned Jeremy, "We kicked you guys out of Jubilife, and we're going to kick you out of here too!"

Mars' condescending and wicked smile disappeared with a look of anger.

"You?" she said slowly, "You?! You're the ones who ruined our operations in Jubilife City? I was told several skilled Trainers did that! How can it be that a bunch of kids destroyed our Jubilife operations?"

"We're not just a bunch of kids," laughed Sam, "We're the bunch of kids."

Mars' calm composure returned, and she closed her eyes, regaining her calm.

"Well, I suppose I should feel honoured then," she said, "I'm in the presence of such skill and talent. Congratulations—you've managed to defeat a handful of useless grunts."

"If they're so useless why do they defend you?" asked Niya almost as coolly as Mars, "Could it be your boss finds you useless as well? Not worth the good guards?"

Mars reached for her last Pokémon. "Why you little—" she yelled but was stopped as a voice came over her walkie-talkie.

"Ma'am, we've filled the batteries and the energy converter," said the voice, "We're loading them onto the helicopter now; it's waiting out back to take us to HQ. Are you ready to depart?"

"Almost," said Mars, "How much energy did we steal?"

"It should be enough to last us another six months if we need it," said the voice, "They had a lot of it stored up here."

"Good," said Mars, "I'll be out there in a minute. Wait for me." The connection between the walkie-talkies cut off, and Commander Mars turned back towards the group.

"Well, I would love to stay and chat, but I need to get going," she said smilingly slyly, "You see I was merely a distraction while my men got what we came for. I'll let you go—as I have no need to crush you. But I give you this warning: do not interfere in our affairs again, or we will not hesitate to do you harm, do you understand? Now with that said, goodbye!"

"Get her, quick!" shouted Sam, moving in to try and grab Mars, but he was too late. She dropped a smoke bomb and escaped before anyone could grab here. Coughing and blinded by the smoke, Sam managed find the door and escape with everyone before they collapsed from the smoke bomb.

As they exited the building and dropped to their knees, hacking up spittle and gasping for air, Looker arrived on the back of Officer Jenny's motorcycle, with several police vans behind them. They stopped in a semicircle in front of the building, just in time to see the Team Galactic Helicopter fly off towards the north. Looker ran over to the group, helping them up and dusting them off.

"Are you, all right?" he asked, "What happened?"

"Mars," coughed Sam, "Mars was a distraction."

"She got away with a smoke bomb," added Jeremy.

"We tried," started Alyssandra, who then had a coughing fit as well, "Tried to stop them, but they got away before we could do anything."

Looker sighed. "Well, it's all right," he said, "You can't win them all. You got these two grunts out here."

"And two more inside," said Niya as she regained her breath, "Mars left them behind."

"Mars?" asked Looker, "You mean one of the Commanders of Team Galactic? This must have been a big operation then…I don't blame you guys for not succeeding—I mean, I know you could have had you been expecting her, but—anyway don't worry about it. There's no harm done, we'll get them next time, and you can help."

Sam smiled weakly. "Thanks," he said, but it was no consolation for his damaged ego.

The whole group felt dejected. They were on a winning streak with Team Galactic and now they finally lost, and even though they technically beat Mars, she had still played them and managed to escape with her goal.

Looker left the group quickly, running over to help apprehend the two now very conscious and very angry grunts that had woken up outside of the building.

Alyssandra sighed. "My Buneary didn't even evolve either," she said, "I was so hoping it would."

Just as she said that however, she looked down as she felt her Buneary tugging at her dress and was just in time to see it glow white. With a proud look on her face, Alyssandra watched as her Buneary evolved into a Lopunny.

"Lopunny," said Lopunny in a very sweet and innocent tone.

"I take that back," said Alyssandra beaming, picking up her Lopunny and hugging it, "Something good did happen after all."

Sam was about to congratulate her when a tall man in a pair of overalls and a hard hat walked over to the group. He tipped his hat to Niya and Alyssandra and looked down at Sam.

"Thank you, young man," he said thankfully; "You saved this Windworks from Team Galactic."

"But they got away," said Sam, "How did I—?"

The man cut Sam off with a laugh. "You got them out of here, that's all that matters to me," he explained, "And now we can all return to our families. Here, have this."

The man in the hard hat passed a Poké Ball to Sam.

"What is it?" asked Sam.

"It's a Drifblim," answered the worker, "They're common in this area. I found it the other day, it was stuck in the current caused by the windmills, but I'm not a Trainer, and I don't have any use for it. I'd be honoured if you took it."

Sam didn't know what to say, and after finally exiting his state of shock, accepted, and smiled up at the very tall, well-muscled man.

"Thank you," he said, "I'll take good care of it."

With that, the man was gone, walking towards the police to give his account of what happened. Sam placed the Poké Ball into his shoulder bag then turned to the group.

"Let's go get dinner," he said, "Celebrate a job well done."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" asked Niya with a smile, "Didn't you say we failed?"

"The man was right though," replied Sam, "We did something right. We got them out of here—and Looker was right too, we'll get them next time!"

"Let's just hope it's no time soon, because they really take a lot out of my poor Pokémon," frowned Alyssandra, "And they cut into my contest practice time!"

Everyone laughed and walked back towards Floaroma Town.

Even though it was a day wasted on what would seem like a hopeless endeavour to some, it was a learning experience for the future, and this one loss gave Sam and the others the passion and desire for revenge on Team Galactic. It was then that they made a vow, to never let Team Galactic get away again. From now on, they were not allowed to prevail—the group would beat them, no matter what.