Flinky: Hello world! It's Flinky.

Red: Finally, you have an update on time.

Flinky: Like I said in the last chapter, I won't keep you waiting off a cliffhanger. On a related note, i actually have something that will stop me from updating for a couple weeks.

Red: And what's that?

Flinky: I'm going on vacation to a place with little internet, and since most of this story is on Google Docs, I can't write for a while. The vacation will take a week, and then I'll need another week to get the next chapter written, so, sorry.

Red: Great.

Flinky: Anyways, the only review that I got for the last chapter was U.N. Owen's. Thanks for the compliment on how I wrote N. On to the story!


Red's Pokémon on hand:

Ignite (Charmeleon)
Moves: Flamethrower, Metal Claw, Dig, Smokescreen

Blacklight (Umbreon)
Moves: Shadow Ball, Quick Attack, Bite, Assurance

Omni (Mew)
Moves: Every one except Judgement

Blade (Scyther)
Moves: X-Scizor, Wing Attack, Bug Buzz (egg move), Slash

Driver (Sandslash)
Moves: Dig, Magnitude, Swift, Furry Cutter

Shadow (Zoroark)
Moves: Night Daze, Foul Play, Night Slash, Furry Swipes


"Let's look for a hiding spot and phone for backup. If we can get the Hoenn team over here, we may be able to fight off the grunts," I explained.

"What's that going to do though? Just beating them won't convince the public," said Blue.

"Yea, but it will give us far less opposition while showing to these citizens the faults in Team Rocket."

"Maybe," said Michael.

We ran through the city, destroying the occasional grunt who stood in our way, looking for a hiding spot. The search took us over to the S.S. Anne, where we forcefully entered the ship and locked ourselves in a room. I was finally able to get some downtime.

"Bzz... Red, hello?" I heard Brendan's voice say.

"Hey! Look, we're in big trouble. There are a lot of grunts in this area and citizens who like Team Rocket."

"You tried to capture Vermillion, didn't you?" asked Brendan.

"Yea, how did you know?"

"I should have warned you. That is one of Team Rocket's strongest areas in Kanto, and very likely the world. It's right behind Viridian."

"How do you know this?"

"I went there on a mission back when everyone was together. I almost got captured."

"Well, what do you recommend we do? I was hoping you guys could come in and help us fight off these grunts…"

"Sorry, but we can't. Wally's Gardevoir has a disease of some sort and is very weak. She can barely move, let alone teleport."

This is beginning to drive me crazy. "Great… any tips then?"

"They have a train network running underneath it. That's how they send in grunts and items. If you even want to have a chance at taking down the city, you have to stop the train lines. Oh, gotta go. Gardevoir needs her next dose of medicine."

He disconnected the call. Great. I have no idea how to take down the train lines, let alone where they are. This is not looking too good.

"Red?" Michael said.

"What?" I snapped, getting frustrated.

"I think that we need to retreat. This just isn't our battle. We did nothing here except knock out grunts. I don't think we can win."

"I agree with him," said Blue. "It's obvious that you need some rest, and this just fell apart."

"I won't give up!" I yelled. "If we run away then Team Rocket wins! And if Team Rocket wins, how do you think that will affect the people? It will confirm their fears that Team Rocket is an all-powerful being, and can't be defeated."

"Red, just calm down," said Leaf. But I had it.

"NO! WE CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE!"

"It's one loss, compared to everything else we did," Leaf said soothingly. "If you're afraid about people thinking that Team Rocket is invincible, don't be. We already liberated two cities, and took out a quarter of the grunts in this area."

I was slowly beginning calm down. "Ugh… alright. We'll fall back, but we will come back here!" I said.

"No one said we weren't, it's just that we can't right now," Michael said.

Just as he said that, I heard an unfamiliar voice.

"The kids are down here, right?"

"That's what they said."

I've come up with a nickname for Vermilion City. Australia. Everything here wants to kill us, from the citizens to the grunts. This is very likely not an exception.

We could go through the door, but they are guaranteed to see us then. Of course, there's always my way...

"What are we going to do?" Leaf whispered.

"Melt a hole through the side of the ship and jump out," I whispered to everyone.

Blue said "You do realize that if this room is underwater, then you'll not only sink the ship, but also cause us to drown? On top of that, what are we going to do if we jump out, we'll be on water, and have to swim to Vermillion, then escape somehow, and-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Halfway through Blue's rant, I had Ignite melt a hole in the ship. There was no water rushing in, so I know it's safe.

I overheard Michael asking Leaf "This is normal Red, right? It's difficult to tell."

"Yep."

I decided to ignore their comments.

Michael went through first, followed by Leaf, then Blue, who I had to push out, and I was last. The grunts or citizens (whoever they are) will find out we were there once they search the room we were hiding in, but we should be long gone by then.

Thankfully, all of my gear is waterproof, so there were no issues. Now that we were in the ocean, we could either climb up the boardwalk, which is in plain sight; or swim back, which would be much more exhausting, but we likely won't be seen.

"Okay," I began. "We're going to swim back to the shore at the border of the city. From there, we'll just walk down whatever route we end up on, provided it's not back to Saffron or Vermillion."

"Got it," said Blue, as he took out a Pokéball. Inside was Wartortle, who he was using to ride back. Why didn't I think of that? Michael used his Azumarill, Leaf had her Ditto turn into Wartortle, and I had Omni transform into a Blastoise, just to mess with Blue.

We rode back without many issues. There were no boats out, thankfully. We ended up at a cave entrance, and having nothing else to do, we entered. It didn't show up on Michael's map, but there was really no issue with taking it. If we end up a friendly city, we can rest. If we go to a Rocket city, we can liberate it. If we go to a Rocket heavy area, like Viridian, we can use it as an entrance route when it comes time to get those cities.

The Pokémon in the cave are SO FUCKING ANNOYING! It's all Digletts or Dugtrios, and they all had Arena Trap. I couldn't run away from ONE BATTLE! It doesn't help that they virtually ignored Blue and the others. One did battle Leaf though, and she now has a new Dugtrio.

The upside though was that some of my newer Pokémon got to battle. Blade listens just about always, Driver does most of the time, and Shadow only does it if it's a life-or-faint (I still don't get how they don't die, not that I'm complaining) situation.

On a side note, I have a very strange combination of Pokémon. My second most common type is Dark, which is strange since this region has no Dark-Types. Given, one of them evolved from a native, so I guess it's not too difficult to believe.

By the time we reached the end of the cave, Michael drew where the cave is and where it goes on the map. It ended at a spot that was very close to Pewter, so we decided to go there and take a rest.

We met up with Brock again to ask some questions.

"Hey Brock!" I yelled to him in the center of the town.

"Huh? Oh, it's you guys. How have you been?"

"Good," Leaf responded. "We kinda failed at taking down Vermillion though…" she added, sheepishly.

"Figures. It's one of the most Rocket dominated areas around, behind Saffron and Viridian."

"Why was I the only person to not know this?" I asked.

"We didn't either," said Michael.

"Anyways," said Blue. "I heard you guys were attacked by Team Rocket."

"Yea, but we destroyed them. The trainers around here have been getting stronger and stronger, myself included. I'd say that in three years, I'll be 9th gym badge material."

"But aren't there supposed to only be 8 gyms?" Michael asked, curiously.

"Yea, I don't know why I said that…"

"Well okay then," I said. "Fourth wall breaks aside, we have to go rest up and decide what to do now."

We went to the Pokémon Center where we were greeted with the same Nurse Joy who went fangirl over us a couple months ago. She gave us a room again and we spent the night.

The next morning we planned out what to do.

Michael started explaining "So, the closest city we haven't been to is Viridian. Since that is out of the question, the next closest is either Pallet or Lavender. From Pallet, we can surf to Cinnabar, Cinnabar to Fuchsia, Fuchsia to Celadon, Celadon to Lavender, and there we can decide to go back to Vermillion or keep going to . Or, if we go to Lavender, we do it the opposite way. It doesn't really matter."

"So, right now, it's either Lavender or Pallet?" I asked, more for the purpose of clarifying.

"Yep," Michael responded.

"I say we do Lavender," said Blue, a bit more solemnly than normal.

"How come?" I asked.

"I have a friend there… He was a Raticate… I'd rather not talk about it..." Blue started to tear up.

I know not to mess with Blue when he's like this, but I need to ask him later why he brought up a topic if he doesn't want to talk about it.

"It's okay," said Leaf. "You don't have to tell us if you don't want to."

"Yea…" He sniffed. "Maybe another time."

"So, any objections to Lavender next?" I asked.

No one said anything, so I assumed that the answer was no. We started to pack up and were beginning to head out.

As we were packing, I noticed Michael's Pokéball belt, which reminded me of something.

"Hey Michael," I called.

"Huh?"

"I want to have a battle with you."

"Why so sudden?"

"I've been wanting to do it for a while, I just keep forgetting."

"Well, sure. Just be warned though, I will use Shadow Pokémon. Battling is the best way to purify them, but they can get out of hand."

"It's okay. Let's go!"

We ran out to the battlefield near the Pokémon Center. As we were doing so, a certain man with near non-existent eyes spotted us.

"Red! Michael!"

We turned our heads to see Brock, walking over to us.

"Are you two going to have a battle?"

"Yea, why?" I asked.

"Well, I was wondering if you could do it at my gym. It would be great for some of the new trainers to see more Pokémon than Bug, Flying, Normal, and Rock types."

"Sure. Michael, are you okay with that?"

"Yea."

"Okay. This way to my gym."

We walked over to where the tower once stood. Now, it's a building with a brownish roof and the words "GYM" on the front. Very creative.

Inside was a crowd of about 20 people, so it wasn't too big. I hoped that Michael 's fear didn't get in the way. An official looking ref with a yellow shirt ran the battle.

"This is a 3 on 3 battle between Red and Michael. Both sides are allowed to substitute Pokémon. Trainers, please release your Pokémon."

"Blacklight, go!" I called.

"Meganium, let's do it!" Michael yelled. He sent out the same Meganium he took from Lyra at the cave. The Meganium still had the shadow aura thing around it though.

"Battle, begin!"

It's been a while since I had a fair battle, so I'll see how it goes.

"Meganium, Magical Leaf!" yelled Michael.

"Make a large shadow ball and use it as a shield!" I commanded. Yep, I still got it.

Blacklight generated a Shadow Ball the size of himself, which was too big to launch, but he kept it in front of him. The leaves just hit it and bounced off.

"Yea Red!" I heard Leaf yell, but it didn't really matter right now.

"Now Blacklight, rush in with Quick Attack and use Assurance!"

Blacklight charged in before Meganium could react, and hit Meganium with the attack. It seemed to do a little damage.

"Body Slam!" Michael ordered.

Meganium jumped up over Blacklight extremely fast.

"Shit! Try to dodge it!" I yelled. Blacklight tried to, but failed and was hit by the attack.

"Umbreon is unable to continue!" the ref declared. "Red corner, please send out your next Pokémon!"

Great. I had a hard enough time when I battled Meganium the first time.

"Blade, go!"

I sent out my Scyhter. Normally, I try not to abuse type advantage, but I'm out of choices here.

"Battle, begin!"

"Blade, X-Scissor!"

He wet in fast and delivered the attack. It didn't knock her out, but it did a lot of damage.

"Meganium, return!" Michael yelled. The red beam sucked her up and she was back in her ball.

As he put away his Pokéball, the ref said "Would the blue corner please send out their next Pokémon?"

"Go, Houndour!"

This was one of the Pokémon I had Omni purify back at Mt. Moon.

"Okay, Blade, use Bug Buzz, but make sure you don't get hit by any of his attacks," I ordered.

He kept using the attack from a long distance, avoiding the Embers and Flamethrowers Houndour sent at him. Eventually, Houndour went down.

"Houndour is unable to continue. Blue corner, please send out your next Pokémon."

"Magnetric, Let's do it!"

His Magnetric took the field. This was the other Pokémon Omni purified.

"Blade, use X-Scissor!" I commanded.

"Dodge, then Thunderbolt!" Michael yelled.

The X-Scissor grazed Magnetric but Blade took the full force of the Thunderbolt, severly injuring him.

"Blade, return!" I yelled. "Go, Driver!"

My Sandslash took the field. Before Michael could call back Magnetric, I had Driver use Earthquake, knocking him out.

"Magnetric is unable to continue. Blue corner, please send out your final Pokémon."

"Meganium, let's do it!"

"Driver, return. Go, Blade!"

Once our new Pokémon were on the field, the ref said "Battle, begin!"

"Blade, use Bug Buzz" I ordered.

"Meganium, use Body Slam!" yelled Michael. But instead of using Body Slam, Meganium cloaked herself in the shadow aura thingy and charged at Blade."

"Not again…" I heard Michael mumble. Meganium was stopped by the Bug Buzz, and after it cleared, she ran her head into the ground multiple times. I looked at Michael for an explanation.

"She's in reverse mode," he said. "She won't obey me and does damage to herself at the end of every turn."

"Why would she do that?" I asked.

"She's confused and doesn't know where the enemy is."

"So, because she has no idea where the enemy is, she attacks herself?"

"I honestly have no idea how this works," said Michael.

"Moving on, Blade, use X-Scissor!"

He charged in and hit Meganium with the super-effective attack, knocking her out.

"Meganium is unable to continue, making Scyther the winner, which means the victory goes to Red!" the ref declared.

The crowd cheered despite having to sit through our discussion of Reverse mode and confusion. Michael and I shook hands and left with Blue and Leaf to Cerulean City.

-POV SHIFT-

"How far along is the weapon?"

"Not much longer. Just one or two more months. Soon, the rebel scum will be nothing but a pile of ash."

"Well, speed it up. I don't like to be kept waiting."

"Yes sir!"


Flinky: There it is. For the record, the last part is foreshadowing, not a cliffhanger. I'm not going to skip a couple months, so it will be a while until it's relevant. It also doesn't take a genius to guess who they are or what they're talking about. With that being said, Flinky, Signing off for two weeks.