Chapter 12

Kanto Route 15

30 Ananeosis, 20 Zenoheld / March 31, 20—

Volt, on his way to Vermillion City, was headed down Route 15.

He was glad to have been able to get through Fuchsia City without being the center of attention again. Volt had bought a change of clothes after the events of the previous day; he was now wearing a white jacket over a red T-shirt. Three black straps held the front of the jacket together over the shirt. His Gauntlet was on his left arm, hidden under the sleeve of his jacket.

His lower-body wear was unchanged from his Vexos uniform: he still wore his belt, a pair of black pants, and white boots, each with a zipper up the middle and two parallel yellow stripes running around the sides and back of the cuff.

A black duffel bag was hanging from his right shoulder; Volt had lost the canvas bag that he had taken with him from the Vestal Motherpalace. Among the things in the duffel bag were the top half of his Vexos uniform, some camping supplies, his Poké Balls, and a book on the Unova region; Volt was determined not to be caught ignorant of the place that he supposedly came from.

A few yards into the Route, he heard a familiar-sounding voice croak, "Volt! That … you?"

Looking around, Volt found a blonde-haired girl by the side of the road. She was struggling as if her muscles had turned to gelatin.

"Maya!" Volt cried out. He rushed to her side and asked, "What happened?"

"Team … Roc…ket. Thun…der Wave. Look … out!"

Maya's warning came too late. Volt felt a shock to his back before he, too, fell to the ground, his muscles unable to keep him standing.

"What … just … happened?" Volt rasped.

Volt's question was met with a wave of cackling. Two familiar people emerged from atop a nearby tree.

"Prepare for trouble; remember us?"

"And make it double; you've caused quite a fuss!"

"To infect the world with devastation!"

"To blight all peoples in every nation!"

"To denounce the goodness of truth and love!"

"To extend our wrath to the stars above!"

"Cassidy!"

"And Butch, of course!"

"We're Team Rocket, circling Earth all day and night!"

"Surrender to us now, or you'll surely lose the fight!"

"Raticate!" The giant rat appeared from behind the tree, its fur sticking out in all directions.

"Team … Roc…ket!" Volt croaked. "How…?"

Butch answered, "I believe I told you that Team Rocket is no 'little gang.' Our agents are everywhere, and they led us straight to you."

Butch then grabbed Volt's duffel bag, saying, "Now if you don't mind, I'll be relieving you of this duffel bag."

Meanwhile, Cassidy took the two Poké Balls from Volt's belt and stuffed them into the duffel bag. She then started to rifle through the pockets of Volt's jacket when something whipped her hands.

"What was that?" Cassidy blurted out.

"Me-ga!" The whips returned, shoving Cassidy away from Volt and onto her partner.

Are those…vines…? Volt wondered.

The source of the Vine Whip was a green quadrupedal Pokémon that had a large pink flower at the base of its long neck. The Pokémon rushed between Volt and the Rockets, barring them any further access to him.

"Get out of the way, you long-necked nuisance!" Butch said. "This is none of your business."

"Leave … Volt … alone!" Maya rasped.

"Me-ga!" the Pokémon assented, brandishing its Vine Whips.

"We don't need to create a scene so close to the city!" Cassidy said. "Besides, we might already have what we were looking for. Let's get out of here, Hutch!"

"The name's 'Butch'!" Butch whined as he ran after Cassidy.

After the Rockets sped away, the Pokémon's flower started to give off a multicolored glow. Light green waves of energy started to wash over Volt and Maya, and a soothing floral scent that Volt could not identify accompanied the light. As the waves of light and scent washed over Volt, he felt the strength return to his muscles. When he finally stood up, he pointed Dextra at the Pokémon.

"Meganium, the Herb Pokémon. Anyone who stands beside it becomes refreshed, just as if they were relaxing in a sunny forest."

"Nice work, Meganium," Maya said, patting its head. "Like I wanted to say, Team Rocket nabbed some of my Pokémon. After they paralyzed me, one of them kept a lookout while the other was taking my Pokémon. Lucky for us they didn't get Meganium; without its Aromatherapy, we'd still be flopping around like a couple of Magikarp!

"Those Rockets seemed to be expecting you, though. Before they could take all my Pokémon, they both hid themselves all of a sudden. What exactly did they want from you, anyway? They took two Pokémon from you, but it sounded like they wanted something else."

"They did." After patting himself down and feeling Boriates' marble in the inside pocket that he put it in, he continued, "Fortunately, they didn't get it."

"They still have your Pokémon, though," Maya said. "Sorry I wasn't of much help."

"Don't worry about it," Volt said. "It wasn't your fault."

Maya looked through her remaining Poké Balls. Looking up with a shocked expression, she exclaimed, "It isn't here!"

"What isn't here?" Volt asked.

"The Safari Ball isn't here! Team Rocket has it! Do you know what this means?"

"A Safari Ball … you don't mean … "

"Exactly!" She grabbed Volt's shoulders. "They have my Chansey! The Chansey that I spent two weeks in the Safari Zone to try to catch! We've gotta get after them!"

In an attempt to cheer Maya, he said, "Look, I don't know much about Pokémon, but I do know crooks. Once they figure out that they didn't get what they came for, they'll try to get back at me again. We should just be alert for when they show up again."

"I guess you're right." Maya said, letting go of Volt. "It's just that I tried so hard, just to have my efforts come to nothing!"

After walking down the Route for a few minutes, Volt noticed a big black mass slowly become visible above the tree line. Pointing to it, he said, "Maya, what's that?"

Looking in the direction Volt pointed, Maya said, "I don't know, but it looks like an inflating hot-air balloon."

"But whose hot-air balloon is it?"

A design soon became visible on the balloon: the top of a stylized red letter.

"A red letter on a black background?" Maya said. "That balloon must belong to Team Rocket! Come on, Volt; let's get them before they get away with our Pokémon!"

A few minutes later, Volt and Maya entered a tree-lined clearing on the northern side of the Route, where Team Rocket's balloon was parked. On the northern edge of the clearing were Cassidy and Butch, standing in front of their balloon.

"There you are, Team Rocket!" Maya said. "Now give us back our Pokémon!"

"If it isn't the blonde and the musclehead," Cassidy said. "We were actually waiting for you, Volt; we were beginning to think that perhaps the balloon wasn't a clear enough sign."

"Huh?" Maya said. "You weren't trying to run away?"

"Why should we? What your friend there has is worth much more than a few measly Pokémon," Cassidy replied.

"So just give Boraïtes to us, and we'll gladly give both of you your Pokémon back," Butch said.

"That's not going to happen," said Volt. "And come on, Botch. If you're going to steal something, at least know its name!"

"You got my name wrong on purpose, didn't you?!" Butch raved. "At least my name isn't some Greek tongue-twister! Once we get that robot from you, the first thing we'll do is give it a new name!"

"I don't know what 'Greek' is, but 'Boriates' is far from a tongue-twister," Volt retorted.

"And neither is 'Frisker,'" Cassidy interjected, a remote now visible in her hands. "Allow me to demonstrate. Frisker, activate!"

Immediately, Volt felt his hands get restrained from behind. Before Volt could even react, another pair of hands emerged out of nowhere and grabbed Volt by his sides, pulling the now-struggling Vestal towards their source: a robot that was emerging from the trees, dragging Volt away from Maya and towards the western edge of the clearing. The robot was simplistic in design: a black cylinder with an "R" in the front. A multitude of arms extended from all over the cylinder, of which four were presently holding onto Volt.

"Let Volt go!" said Maya. She tossed a Poké Ball in the general direction of the robot. "Medicham, come on out!"

Emerging from Maya's Poké Ball was a humanoid Pokémon with grey skin, a pink headpiece, and bulky pink legs with yellow knees.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Cassidy said. "Houndoom, intercept it with Flamethrower!"

Medicham was forced to step back as a jet of flames roared between it and the still-bound Volt.

Volt took a look at Cassidy's Pokémon: it was a black canine creature with backward-curving horns for ears and a tail with an arrowhead-shaped tip.

In the meanwhile, the Frisker managed to pull Volt towards itself, at which point two more arms clutched Volt tightly across the belly, while the four arms that previously held Volt now spread his arms and legs out. Another two arms then started frisking the still-squirming Volt.

"I'll save you, Volt!" Maya called out. Throwing another Poké Ball, she said, "Meganium, cut him loose with Razor Leaf!"

Meganium emerged from its Poké Ball and launched a bunch of razor-edged leaves from the flower on its neck.

"Forgot about me?" Butch cut in. "Hitmontop, intercept that with Rolling Kick!"

A squat brown humanoid Pokémon with a tail and a horn on its head emerged from Butch's Poké Ball. To Volt's surprise, the Pokémon balanced itself on its horn and spun like a top towards Meganium's attack. It kicked the stream of Razor Leaves away from the Frisker almost as fast as they arrived.

At that moment, one of the Frisker's arms had taken hold of Volt's Gauntlet. The arm retracted into its body, came out empty-handed a second later, and quickly rejoined the other in searching Volt.

"So, are those all the Pokémon that you have left?" Cassidy said to Maya. "Looks like you won't be able to save your friend after all!"

"All I have to do is beat your Pokémon and dismantle that robot!" Maya replied. "Piece of cake."

"Let's see about that!" Butch said. "Hitmontop, use Triple Kick on Meganium!"

Hitmontop spun and smacked Meganium across the body three times: once with each foot, and once with its tail. The attack forced Meganium back a few inches, but did not do much damage.

"Medicham, use Confusion on Hitmontop!" Maya commanded.

Medicham's eyes glowed blue, and a blue aura started to appear around Hitmontop.

"Houndoom, get that Medicham!" Cassidy ordered.

Houndoom charged towards Medicham, barking furiously. Medicham had enough time to turn and face it before it leaped and struck Medicham in the gut. The aura around Hitmontop promptly vanished, and Houndoom growled.

"Aw, come on!" Maya groused.

"Good boy, Houndoom! Use Crunch to keep that Medicham distracted!"

"Help it out with Triple Kick!" Butch said to Hitmontop.

"Are you serious?" Maya remarked. "Meganium, intercept Hitmontop with Vine Whip! Medicham, dodge Houndoom and counter with Force Palm!"

A Vine Whip grabbed Hitmontop's tail and stopped it in its tracks. Meganium then wrapped another whip around one of Hitmontop's legs and set the Pokémon spinning right across the clearing and crashing into a tree.

Medicham easily sidestepped the lunging Houndoom and landed a fierce open-palm strike on its ribs. It then shot an energy blast from its palm, sending Houndoom a short distance away.

Meanwhile, another arm of the Frisker searched Volt's jacket and removed his Ability Cards from an inside pocket.

"All right, Meganium, new plan: Stop that robot!" Maya said.

Meganium ran towards the Frisker, Vine Whips ready to go.

"We're not done yet! Houndoom, Flamethrower!" Cassidy countered.

Maya rolled her eyes. "Yes, you are," she said flatly. "Medicham, another good Force Palm ought to finish Houndoom off."

As Houndoom prepared to attack Meganium, Medicham appeared in front of it and blasted the dog Pokémon with another Force Palm, knocking it out.

Meanwhile, Meganium Vine Whipped the robot's arms away from Volt in time to keep it from finding Boriates.

"Medicham, use Confusion to dismantle that robot!" Maya commanded.

Using its telekinetic powers, Medicham ripped all of the Frisker's arms off. After the robot stopped sparking, Volt reached inside the robot and reclaimed his Gauntlet and Ability Cards.

"Thanks, Maya," Volt said.

"No problem," she replied. Putting a finger to her chin, she mock-wondered aloud, "Well, now that Volt got his stuff back from the Frisker, what's left to do?" She snapped her fingers as if in realization. "That's right!" Pointing at Team Rocket, she ordered, "Team Rocket, give me back my Pokémon!"

"I can tell when we're beat," Cassidy said as she and Butch recalled their Pokémon. Reaching into the basket of the hot-air balloon, she pulled out Volt's duffel bag. Tossing it to Maya, she said, "Catch!"

Maya caught the duffel bag just as the hot-air balloon started to ascend. Quickly searching through the bag, Maya noticed that there were no Poké Balls inside.

"Hey, you tricked me!" Maya whined.

"Finders, keepers!" the Rockets taunted from inside their steadily rising hot-air balloon.

"Well, let's at least give them back their stuff," Maya said. "Medicham?"

Using its psychic powers, Medicham threw one of the detached Frisker arms at the hot-air balloon. The ragged edge at the shoulder joint of the ripped-off Frisker arm punctured a hole in the balloon, causing it to deflate and descend.

When the balloon landed, Maya said, "Medicham, use Confusion!"

A blue aura surrounded the two Rockets, pulling them out of the basket of the hot-air balloon.

Maya said, "Now let me ask you again: Where are my Pokémon?"

The Rockets did not answer.

"Suit yourselves! Medicham?"

The Rockets were then turned upside down and shaken up and down, as if their legs were in the hand of a giant invisible baby. Poké Balls and other knickknacks fell from the airborne Rockets.

"Medicham, keep those Rockets off the ground until I get my Pokémon back," Maya ordered.

"Medi-cham," Medicham assented, nodding its head.

Maya and Volt then looked through the Poké Balls, sending out and returning Pokémon until their Pokémon were found.

Volt was the first to find one: Apollonir, which hugged Volt for joy at having been rescued.

Next to be found was a giant brown bird with a long neck, a long beak, and a pink crown. Maya punched the air when she saw it. "Yay! We got my Fearow back! Now let's find Misdreavus and Chansey."

After a few more seconds, Maya found a Safari Ball amongst the Poké Balls in the group. Her eyes widened, and she opened it fairly quickly. Instead of her Chansey, however, Clayf emerged from it. "Oh. Oh, well. This one's yours, Volt," she said, tossing him the Safari Ball.

After Volt recalled Clayf, he found another Safari Ball. "Then this must be Chansey," he said, tossing the ball to Maya.

Maya sent out the Pokémon, and indeed, inside was her Chansey. Maya got on her knees and embraced her once-lost Pokémon.

"Chansey!" she cried. "You have no idea how devastated I was when they took you!"

Chansey put its stubby arm on Maya's shoulder and cooed reassuringly.

After a few more seconds, Maya found the last Pokémon that she was looking for: a floating grey Pokémon with red-irised yellow eyes and large red beads around its neck. Volt got the general impression of a half-finished doll with short, floating hair and a short skirt. Creepy…

"Misdreavus!" Maya exclaimed, hugging the Pokémon upon seeing it. "Oh, it's so good to have you back! I swear, I'll never let them get to you ever again."

"Misdre?" the Pokémon replied blearily as if it had been sleeping.

After Volt and Maya recalled their Pokémon, Maya then turned to the Rockets, glowering as she looked upon the helpless duo. "Now, as for you, it's time to send you packing. Medicham?"

Medicham then threw the Rockets back into the basket of their balloon.

"And take your stuff with you!" Volt said, chucking Poké Ball after Poké Ball back at the Rockets.

"Good idea!" said Maya. "Medicham, I think they'll want their robot back, too!"

Medicham then used Confusion on the Frisker and threw it towards the Rockets. However, the Frisker landed on the balloon's fuel tank, which ruptured at the impact. The Frisker emitted one last spark, which ignited the fuel and created an explosion that hurled the Rockets and pieces of the Frisker high into the air.

As the Rockets flew away, they wailed, "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"

A/N: The inspiration for Volt's clothes was a drawing by Superwinx8 on deviantart. A link to the picture is on my profile.