The Silph Takeover, Chapter 13
The Boulderbadge, Cascadebadge, Thunderbadge, and Rainbowbadge. I had been out on my Pokemon adventure for a few weeks, and already I had half the badges necessary to get into Victory Road. Once I had the badge from Saffron City, it was all downhill from there. Of course, it wouldn't be that easy. Saffron had been locked off from the rest of the world for a couple weeks now, and almost no one knew what was going on in there. Gary had managed to sneak inside somehow, and he even gave me a clue on how to do that.
Route 7, the short road connecting Celadon and Saffron, was so short, in fact, that hardly any Pokemon made their home there. Of course, I did see a few running around the tall grass, like Meowth or even a Growlithe, a Pokemon I heard was pretty rare to see in the wild. However, I didn't try to catch any of them for myself. With a full team of six critters on me, I didn't want to go catching more, and have to force someone into Bill's storage system. Until he made a better system, and one that didn't turn him into a Pokemon, I would try my best to not use the system.
Saffron City is the only city in all the world that is actually fenced off. The limits are surrounded by a thick concrete wall, with entrances only available from the four cardinal directions, and those are guarded at all times. If what Gary said was true, the bottle of Seafoam Spring Water in my hand would be my ticket in. I opened the door to the entrance building.
"Saffron City is currently closed off to the public," the guard said the instant he heard the door open. "Unless you have authorization to enter, I will have to ask you to leave, under penalty of law."
"Um, I heard from a friend that the city was open again." I walked up to the guard behind the counter, Vulpix following close behind. I held the bottle of water in my hands, but not exactly in plain view. The guard shook his head.
"I'm sorry to say you've been misinformed, young lady. Please turn right around and return to Celadon City." He spoke with absolutely no enthusiasm, like it was the millionth time that day he'd said the same phrase. This time, I actually raised the bottle of water so he could see it.
"It's okay," I started, handing him the bottle. "You look thirsty, sir. Can I offer you some water?"
"Don't mind if I do, young miss!" He snatched the bottle out of my hands, and instantly downed the whole thing in a single gulp! After a few deep breaths afterward, he discarded the bottle in a trashcan behind the desk.
"You were certainly thirsty." I said with a smile.
"You have no idea, kid. They have me 18 hours a day, saying the same boring thing over and over to every traveler that tries to get into the city. I don't see why they don't just lock the doors and let us all go home!"
"At least you're still getting paid, right?"
"Well, yeah, I suppose so. Anyhow, you know I can't let you through here, fresh water or no." I let my head hang down for a moment, looking more distraught than I actually was.
"I just wanted to try to challenge the gym leader for a badge. Pretty please?"
"Do you even know who the leader is in Saffron?" The guard dug around behind his desk for a paper. He handed me a picture of someone, of two people, actually. One was a young woman, her eyes piercing through mine as I looked at the photo. The other was a little girl who looked a lot like the young woman. They were like sisters, almost.
"Is this her?"
"Sabrina, a Psychic Pokemon master. I'm personally amazed so many trainers get into Victory Road nowadays, with this nut-job running a gym."
"She's crazy?" I asked, now a bit confused. What's more, why was there a picture of her younger sister on the same paper? Did they run the gym together?
"She's certainly out there. Tell you what: I'll let you through, on account of the water you let me have, but believe you me, I wouldn't go near that gym if I were you. Matter of fact, Saffron has two gyms! I'd recommend the Fighting gym over Sabrina's. Their badge isn't worth as much, but I've heard stories of the Pokemon League accepting it as a substitute for Sabrina's."
The way the guard went on about Sabrina only made me more curious. How was she so dangerous? I mean, a Pokemon trainer could be a powerful person, with the right critters at their command, but this? Plus, the other gym sounded fake or cheap, and I didn't want to risk getting to Victory Road only to be turned away because one of my badges wasn't official. I'd have to face this Sabrina.
"Thank you, sir, for letting me through. But one more question: who's this?" I pointed to the picture of the little girl next to Sabrina. He made a shuddering noise, like simply thinking about her scared him.
"I'm not sure, but I've heard rumors. I'd rather not scare you away, so I'll let you hear them from other people. Enjoy your stay in Saffron City, and keep a low profile. You seem out of place, and they may kick you right back out."
~o~
It was still bright out, but for some reason there was this air of dread hovering over Saffron City. Maybe it was the tall buildings, but I just couldn't shake off this sense of doom around me. I was never one to believe in these bad feelings around places; ghosts were one thing, but just natural evil? What scared me more was that Vulpix was also on edge. At one point, it became too much for her, and she leapt into my arms. After a while of wandering around, I found the gym, tucked away in the middle of a park somewhere in the city. Unfortunately, there was someone blocking the entrance: a member of Team Rocket.
Now it all started to make sense. Lance said he was on the trail of Team Rocket, and the entire reason why Saffron was sealed was because they were using it as their HQ. Not very subtle, considering they drew attention to themselves by taking over an entire city, but I'm sure that Giovanni guy had a plan in mind. After all, he managed to sneak away when Lance raided the hideout in Celadon. I had to assume that since the city was locked, no one has tried to enter the gym, so that meant I had to try and get to the bottom of the Rocket problem before I could challenge Sabrina. It's just one obstacle after another, isn't it?
Of course, now the question was how do I find their HQ in the city. The easy way would be to get caught, and they'd probably just take me to see Giovanni again. Last time I got lucky, but I didn't want to risk losing my Pokemon again. So, I came up with a different idea. I reached for Clefairy's Pokeball.
Clefairy waltzed right up to the grunt guarding the gym door. Once he saw the rare Pokemon, he called it in on his radio. That was the signal, so Clefairy came running back to the bushes where I was hiding. After I put her back in her Pokeball, I moved to a different hiding spot in the park, but I still had a full view of the gym and the grunt. A little while later, a few more members showed up. I overheard the grunt tell them what he saw, and the other three went looking through the bushes where Clefairy was last seen. After a little while of searching, they obviously didn't turn up anything.
One of the three grunts yelled at the guard, and then left the scene. That was my cue, so I started shadowing them for a change. The grunts wandered around the city for a little while, but eventually ended up at a huge building somewhere in the center of town. A large sign outside read 'Silph Company'. Oddly enough, there were no guards at this building, but inside there were all sorts of Rocket members lounging about. It looked like this was their hideout after all.
For the rest of the day, I staked out the entrance of the Silph building, trying to see if there was any way to sneak in. Unfortunately, the entire first floor was covered in glass windows, so even if I got close to the door I'd be spotted before I could even open it. There was a back door, but it was under lock and chain. Day turned to night, and still I couldn't think of a better way to get in other than just be caught. I took off my Pokeball belt and strapped it on Vulpix.
"Stay here, Vulpix," I ordered her, pointing the spot where she was sitting. I had been hiding underneath a bush just outside the entrance to the building the whole time, and no one had noticed me yet.
"Stay here, and no matter what happens," I said, once again pointing to the spot where she was, "don't do anything until I tell you to."
Vulpix nodded, and stayed put. Of course, it wasn't until I went knocking on the front door of the Silph building that I realized a fatal flaw in my plan.
Just how was I going to let her know when I needed her?
~o~
"It's meetings like this," said Giovanni, grinning from his seat on the highest floor of the Silph building, "that really don't help your case."
"What do you mean?" I asked, now more confident than ever. Since he didn't have my Pokemon in custody, there was really nothing he could threaten me with. Other than hurting me, personally, that is. But would he really hurt a little girl?
"When you last 'stumbled' into my operation, I dismissed you as nothing more than a trainer who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. But twice? That, my dear, is not coincidence. The fact that you escaped the Celadon facility with Lance, now leads me to believe you're working for him."
Giovanni took a drink from his glass. It was probably wine or something, but all the same it looked delicious. I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.
"So tell me, where are your Pokemon?"
"You tell me! You took them, remember?" Unlike last time, I had the pleasure of sitting down at the other end of the table from Giovanni this time, instead of being held in the arms of two of his grunts.
"You underestimate me. I saw you walk out of the Celadon facility with my own eyes." And that meant he saw Vulpix in my arms. I swallowed slowly, realizing he had just taken the upper hand.
"Your Pokemon will be found. I'm pretty sure they're hiding out somewhere in the city. In the meantime, you get to enjoy the hospitality of another one of my jail cells. That is, after one of my men check you."
"Ch-Check me?"
"For bugs. I've said only as much as I've wanted to say for Lance to listen in on. Take her."
The grunts forced me out of the chair, this time I was kicking and screaming the entire way. As far as I knew, I wasn't working with Lance, but on the off chance he was listening in, now would be the perfect time to swoop in and rescue me again.
The grunts took me down a few floors, throwing me into another holding cell. At least this one had something for me to sit down on. Not that I could sit down for long, within a few minutes, another grunt walked into the room, a female grunt. She locked the door behind her, and placed her briefcase on the floor.
"Stand up," she said, removing her uniform's leather glove. I followed her order, and watched as she replaced the leather glove with a clear one, the kind a doctor would use.
"What are you going to do?" I asked, backing away from her. She took a step forward.
"Boss asked me to search you for bugs. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."
Fortunately for me, before she could get started, the door behind her was forced off its hinges, and in came Lance. The grunt reached for one of her Pokeballs, but Lance's Dragonite reached into the room and yanked her out like a plastic doll.
"Are you alright, Star?"
"A little scared, but I'm fine. How did you know where I was?" To answer me, Lance stepped aside, and in came Vulpix, with my belt still strapped to her.
"I'm sorry for using you, but I had a feeling you'd run into Team Rocket again if you came to Saffron, so I threw a bug into your bag, to track you down. I didn't expect you to actually go after them, or Giovanni to sniff me out."
"It's okay," I told him, strapping the belt back on my waist. "So, are we going to go fight him as a team?"
"No, you get out of the building as fast as you can. I'll take care of Giovanni myself."
Lance ran back outside the room, leaving me behind with Vulpix. Despite his order, I wasn't about to go running again. This time, I wanted to fight Team Rocket myself!
I followed Lance's trail of destruction all the way to the stairs. His Dragonite was too big to fit in an elevator, so I figured I'd beat him to the top by taking it myself. I pressed the call button, and after a few seconds, the doors opened, revealing a grunt inside!
"You! The girl from Mt Moon!" He yelled at me.
"Um, no! Wrong person!"
Of course, that wasn't going to stop him. He threw out a Pokeball, and out came a Weezing. Though I still didn't recognize the grunt personally, I now knew more or less who it was. Without his buddy, though, it was an even match this time.
"Vulpix, Ember!"
"Weezing, Smokescreen!"
Before Vulpix could move, Weezing let out a horrible cry, and out came a wave of blinding smoke. I could hardly see a thing, but I could still hear the grunt's laughter through all the smoke. I walked forward and grabbed Vulpix, darting through the smoke and straight into the elevator as it closed. Before the grunt realized what I had just done, I mashed the top floor button on the elevator.
"Sorry, but I have more important business to attend to!" I screamed through the doors. I could hear the grunt saying all sorts of bad words as the elevator rose.
When the elevator stopped on the highest floor, I ran into Lance again, just outside Giovanni's door. He was clearly not happy to see me again.
"Star, I told you to get out of the building!"
"Don't worry about me," I said, standing by him. "I can take care of myself. I'll even help you against Giovanni!"
Rather than waste time arguing with me, Lance ordered his Dragonite to smash open the door. Inside, Giovanni stood on the other end of the room, the table already smashed and in pieces before him. He let slip is evil grin, and Lance made the first move.
"Dragonite, catch him!"
"Lance, wait!" I screamed.
I tried to stop him, but it was too late. As soon As Dragonite got halfway towards Giovanni, his Nidoking came crashing down on Dragonite from above. With Dragonite pinned down, Nidoking awaited his next command.
"Nidoking, Horn Drill."
What happened next still haunts me to this day. Horn Drill, one of the few Pokemon abilities banned from use, and for good reason. I watched in horror, as did Lance, as Nidoking's horn began to rotate faster than we could see. It then drove the spinning horn into Dragonite's neck. Who's to say if Dragonite suffered much, but the spray of red that followed still chills me to the bone. Once the attack was done, Nidoking got off Dragonite's lifeless body.
"Consider that a warning. I shall not be crossed again, Lance!"
Giovanni jumped on Nidoking's back, and the massive Pokemon started digging right through the floor. Despite what had just happened to his Pokemon, Lance ran after Giovanni, watching as he continued to dig through floor after floor in the building. I didn't get closer, not wanting to see with a better view what became of Dragonite.
~o~
With Giovanni gone, the rest of Team Rocket scattered, and while the Saffron City Police tried their best to apprehend as many of them as possible, it didn't matter anymore. At least, not to Lance. I stood by his side the entire time after we left the building, even as he explained the policeman in charge what happened on the top floor with Giovanni. After a firm handshake between the two men, they went their separate ways. Before Lance left, though, he turned to me.
"Are you alright, Star?"
"Am I alright? I should be asking you!"
"It was my mistake that caused Dragonite's death. I am truly sorry you had to witness such a poor display of Pokemon training." Maybe this was just Lance's way of dealing with it, but I couldn't imagine such a fate befalling any of my Pokemon. Lance offered me a pat on the head, trying to help me forget what I had seen.
"Get some sleep, Star. You've earned it."
Lance once again disappeared into the night. I couldn't be certain, but I had a pretty good idea where he was headed. His Dragonite deserved a proper burial, and the only place fitting enough for the act was in Lavender Town. I, on the other hand, made for the Pokemon Center. I knew it was late, but I had a phone call to make. And I was certain Mom wouldn't mind waking up to answer the call.