Author's notes: No more excuses or vague promises. Chapters will be up when they're up. Sorry if it continues to take as long as this did.
Divided we Stand
By CidGregor and Dragonshadow
Chapter Seven: Beneath the Surface
Somewhere deep in the wilderness, in the uncultivated, untamed outer edge of the Kanto region, there was a small clearing in the middle of a thick cluster of trees. It was barely visible even from the air, and impossible to see on the ground unless you were practically right next to it. Even getting to it would be an extremely impressive feat, as the forest itself grew atop a plateau, virtually inaccessible on all sides unless you were a skilled rock-climber, and even then you would have to navigate through the thick trees with expert precision before you had a hope of finding the clearing. Virtually no one on the planet had seen it.
But if you could see it, you'd find that there was a small, concrete bunker in that clearing, the only way inside being an elevator guarded by a pair of men in uniforms of such a dark grey, they were almost black. Each of them wore several Poké Balls on their belts, and each of them, as well as the bunker itself, was stamped with the logo of a blood-red 'R.'
Still, none of it was very visible at all from most any point of view. And anyone who might have gotten close enough to see it would have been stopped well before then by several more men in the same uniforms, stationed discreetly in the woods around the bunker. It was evident that the place was intended to be secretive. Unseen. Hidden.
Of course, it was a lot more difficult for the place to be any of those things when a giant, Meowth-shaped hot air balloon was landing right in front of it.
"Hey hey hey, get that thing out of here!" one of the door guards demanded, rushing up to the balloon. Its occupants, however, didn't seem to care.
"Move aside, lackey!" Jessie announced with an upturned nose, shoving the guard out of the way with a long, gloved arm. "Make way for the Boss' most trusted agents!"
"Oooh, did he really say that about us?" James lit up with delight. "I feel so accomplished!"
"Oi…youse guys needs 'ta stop livin' in fantasy land," Meowth reprimanded them. "Besides, we all know it was MY genius plannin' skills 'dat got us 'dose twoips' Pokémon!"
"Now now, Meowth, no need to be greedy. There'll be plenty of praise to go around this time," Jessie said confidently, marching up to the bunker.
"Yes, we really came out on top for once! I'd almost forgotten how winning feels!" James agreed.
"Arright, arright, shut yer pie-holes!" Meowth cut them off as they strolled into the elevator. "Let's get 'dis prize to 'da boss already. And don't forget 'ta give 'dat duck an antidote!"
"Hey! What about the balloon?!" the guard yelled after them, but the trio simply laughed to themselves as the elevator doors slid shut.
"Staryu, Starmie, lay down some cover fire! Double Bubblebeam attack!"
Misty's pair of Pokémon nodded in agreement, tagging one arm-point each together and jointly charging energy in their crystal cores. A moment later they pointed their tagged arms at the enemy line and struck, spraying a torrent of bubbly foam at their opponents. At their masters' commands, however, the opposing Pokémon suddenly shifted ranks. The fire-types and ground-types quickly moved to take cover behind the bulky front line of water-types, who absorbed the twin Bubblebeam attacks with barely a scratch to show for it.
"Hah…! Perfectly predictable…" Misty smirked under her breath. "Ash, quick, before they can move again!"
"Right…!" Ash said, looking down at the two Pikachu before him, and his own Pikachu was already charging up electricity in anticipation of a command, but to Misty's slight surprise, he hesitated for a moment.
"…Ash? What's wrong?"
"…N-nothing!" he brushed her off. "Alright, Pikachu…use Helping Hand and feed AshTwo that charge!"
Pikachu blinked in slight surprise, used to hearing direct attack commands from Ash. But she didn't question it, pouncing a bit behind AshTwo and taking a light grip on his tail.
"Piiiiiii-KA!" she cried out, firing her electric charge at AshTwo's tail like lightning to a conductor. The electricity surged through AshTwo's body, crackling around the two mouse Pokémon until the little red spots on AshTwo's cheeks began to spark with barely-contained electric energy.
"Ash, stop stalling, they're going to move again!" Misty shouted, pointing at the enemy line. And indeed, just as Misty spoke, the water Pokémon were scrambling to move back and the ground Pokémon were rumbling forward.
"I know what I'm doing!" Ash insisted. "Alright…Pikachu, hang back! AshTwo, use Thunder! Give 'em everything you've got!"
Again Pikachu paused for a brief moment at the odd command, as she had been quite ready to fight alongside AshTwo for the long haul. But nevertheless Pikachu trusted her trainer and backed away from the front line, leaving AshTwo to step forward alone.
"Piiiiiiii…CHUUU!" AshTwo cried out, unleashing a huge bolt of electricity straight up into the air. The energy arced near the ceiling and tore back down toward the opposing Pokémon, but the delays and hesitation proved to have been too great, as the handful of ground-types were in place to take the brunt of the electricity by the time it reached them. A couple of Sandslash and a Graveler winced just slightly, but otherwise the Thunder attack was rendered ineffective.
"Ash, what was that about? Stop stalling!" Misty snapped over at him.
"I know what I'm doing…!" Ash insisted, but his teeth we gritted slightly in a way that Misty had seen on his face many times before that said no, he really wasn't completely sure what he was doing.
A second later the enemy line made its move. A pair of Blastoise near the back unleashed a duet of Hydro Cannon blasts like mortar launchers, rising over the heads of their fellows in a high, slow arc and coming down toward the bare half-dozen humans on the other side.
"Take cover!" Brock shouted.
"I've got this!" Misty announced. "Starmie, Staryu, double Barrier!"
Her own pair of Pokémon zipped into action. As one they spun in a rapid circle and hovered into the air, shifting beneath the arc of the water and emitting a soft white bubble of light around their bodies. The Hydro Cannons plowed into the bubbles, forcing Staryu and Starmie back a few feet, but the blunt force of the water was otherwise deflected and showered the rest of their party rather harmlessly.
"Resourceful…" the Sheriff commented with a slight nod of his head. "But you're only delaying the inevitable. This is your last chance. Surrender yourselves and your Pokémon before anyone else gets hurt."
"As soon as you do the same, Sheriff," came Flint's sneering reply.
"You certainly speak boldly for someone with a family at risk, old man."
"No one is touching our family!" Brock slid forward, standing protectively in front of his father and younger brother. "Forrest, you need to get your brothers and sisters out of here. Mom too. Go!"
"What?! But Brock--!"
"This isn't a debate, Forrest, this is serious danger! Get them out of here, NOW!"
Forrest recoiled slightly, frightened for a moment by Brock's intensity that was even greater than that which he showed as a gym leader. But he eventually nodded and turned tail, sprinting toward the door where the rest of Brock's family watched from.
"Touching, really," the sheriff drawled. "But again, futile…"
"You won't be talking so big when we wipe that arrogant smirk off your face," Brock growled.
"Hey, Brock!"
The former Gym leader whirled back toward the voice of his brother. The boy had paused at the door, holding a familiar orb in his hand.
"Give 'em hell bro!" he said, tossing the ball at Brock.
Brock caught it smoothly, and smiled at the comfortable weight he felt within it. "You know I will…" he echoed, turning back toward the fight. "You wanna mess with this Gym? You're gonna get its full power." He threw the ball out to the center of the arena. "GO, STEELIX!"
A huge flash of white filled the room, and the creature that had phased into existence once it faded seemed no less huge by comparison. Steelix's massive snakelike form coiled halfway across the room, the once-rough and gritty rock segments of its body now smooth, sleek and shiny steel. Its head reared up high over the heads of even the tallest of the other Pokémon in the room, letting out a low, heavy roar.
"Steelix, plow through that line with Iron Tail!" Brock commanded.
Steelix rumbled its agreement, the whole back segment of its long tail suddenly glowing white. It whipped forward a second later toward the enemy Pokémon, who scrambled to get out of the way, though a good handful of them were smacked around by the massive swipe of Steelix's tail.
"Irrelevant," the sheriff blew off the attack. "You think we were not prepared for your Steelix? Nidoking, Earthquake!"
The sheriff's Nidoking roared right back at Steelix and raised one heavy foot, slamming it back into the ground. In an instant the rocky, earthen floor cracked beneath its foot, and the crack split its way straight at Steelix, who could not hope to move out of the way fast enough. The ground beneath the massive steel snake suddenly became wildly unstable, ripping and cracking until Steelix was half-buried in the ground and roaring in pain as the rocks jabbed into its weak spots.
"No! Steelix!" Brock shouted vainly.
"Call it back, Brock!" Misty shouted. "You won't be able to heal it if it gets seriously hurt, we can't go to Pokémon Centers anymore!"
Brock growled stubbornly for a moment, but slowly conceded to Misty's logic, recalling Steelix back to its Poké Ball. "Nnhhh…this is ridiculous…!"
"All of our Pokémon are at risk now!" Ash echoed Misty. "We can't afford to let them get hurt fighting a battle like this!"
"Ash's right," May agreed. "We have to get out of here…!"
"We can't abandon the Gym!" Brock countered, his voice tense.
"We have no choice, Brock," Flint admitted. "The only thing that matters is that our family and our Pokémon are safe. The Gym can be rebuilt someday, but lives can't. We have to pull back. This is an unwinnable fight."
"But…!" Brock growled again, visibly unwilling to admit to their logic.
"We need a way to cover our escape," May said quickly, her eyes lighting up after a moment. "Hey, Misty…didn't you have a Gyarados?"
Misty nodded curtly, not taking her eyes off the enemy line. "Yeah, why?"
"Send it out. It's MY turn to have an idea."
"You sure?"
"Just for a minute, trust me!"
Misty nodded again, withdrawing her Staryu and Starmie and snatching a third Poké Ball. "Misty calls….GYARADOS!"
Almost as a mirror image of Brock's motions, Misty's equally huge Pokémon burst out in a big flash of white and another gigantic snake-like figure had filled the room. Its massive frame and huge, snarling face were the stuff of nightmares, and its roar was downright vicious, sending intimidated shivers down the collective spines of their enemies.
"Okay, now what?" Misty asked. "Hurry before they can use any electric attacks!"
"Use a Dragon Rage, quick!" May ordered.
"Do it, Gyarados!" Misty relayed without question. "Dragon Rage!"
Gyarados' eyes shone with fiery green energy at its trainer's command. The whole building slowly seemed to start shaking in response, the energy building up and swirling around Gyarados' body as if being conjured out of thin air. The energy slowly grew, until the specks of greenish energy grew into full-fledged flames, whipping around in erratic circles and waiting to be unleashed
"Now, Glaceon! Another Ice Beam!" May directed.
Glaceon let out its soft, wispy cry and glowed a cold blue for a moment, firing its Ice Beam again, straight into the Dragon Rage attack. And to Misty's amazement, though the sparks of energy quickly froze over, they continued to whirl around Gyarados' body, still fully under control. Only now instead of a cyclone of dragon energy, it was now a whirlwind of hundreds and hundreds of small but sharp and wicked-looking ice shards.
"Whoa…" Misty marveled.
"Learned that one from a contest battle," May said with a grim smile. "Dazzled the judges so much they didn't know who to give more credit to, me or my opponent."
"Effective, too," Misty noticed. "Okay, Gyarados, hold that attack as long as you can! Everyone else out!"
The group collectively nodded their agreement, withdrawing their Pokémon to their Poké Balls save for Pikachu, who hopped up on Ash's shoulder as he headed for the door, and Gyarados, who kept the whirlwind of ice whipping around the center of the arena, blocking their enemies. Only Brock hung back, staring longingly at the Gym's interior.
"……" Silently he glared across the room, meeting eyes with the sheriff and murmuring under his breath. "…You won't get away with this…"
A second later he too finally turned and ran for the door, and it wasn't until he and everyone else had piled into the jeep parked outside that Misty finally recalled Gyarados, sending the whirlwind of ice shards rocketing in all directions. None dared look inside to see the kind of damage it caused as Brock gunned the engine and peeled out of there, but it made no difference anymore.
The Gym had been taken.
Bzzzt. "Boss, sir?"
A man in a faded orange business suit looked up from his computer, his cold eyes glaring at the intercom a little further down the desk. Roughly he jabbed the button and growled. "What is it?"
"A couple of the Rockets are insisting on an audience with you," a disinterested voice droned through in response. "They're rather scrappy-looking and they have a talking Meowth with them."
The man grimaced almost painfully. "What do those idiots want?"
"They say they have some quality Pokémon to offer."
"I rather doubt that," the man countered, running a hand over his slicked-back hair in annoyance.
"Shall I have them dismissed?"
"No, don't bother…they're too thick to take the hint. Send them in, I'll deal with them."
"Right away, Mister Giovanni."
The man known as Giovanni leaned back in his chair and reached down to stroke the head of the sleek, perfectly-groomed Persian that sat beside him. "I suppose they'll offer me a rare Magikarp…or that blasted Pikachu they won't shut up about…"
"Mrrreooww…" the Persian responded, leaning its head into its master's strokes.
"Don't worry, my pet, I won't let those dimwits waste more than a few minutes of our time. We have far more important things to take care of…"
A second later the office doors were flung open, and Jessie, James and Meowth strode in with confident grins and, to Giovanni's surprise – mild though it was – a pair of Poké Balls in their outstretched hands.
"Mister Giovanni sir, we bring you an over-WHELM-ing success!" Jessie announced proudly.
"Success like you've never ever seen!" James added.
"Yeah, 'da kind that comes from youse twos…" Meowth snickered.
Jessie quickly silenced him with a boot to the face, all smiles at Giovanni. "If we may present our capture…?"
Giovanni growled softly. "This had better be good…" he said, the Persian beside him hissing as though in warning.
James nodded rapidly. "Oh yes, it's very good, boss, you'll see…"
The two Rockets took a step back, and tossed their two Poké Balls in unison into the center of the room. "Poké Ball, GO!"
A burst of light filled the room for a moment, and when it faded, the captured Venusaur and Psyduck had appeared in the office. Venusaur remained fast asleep from the sleep powder attack that had defeated it, but Psyduck was wide awake and clutching its cranium as always, the wounds it suffered from Jessie's Seviper already healed by the Rockets' doctors.
Giovanni eyed the pair of Pokémon critically. "Hmmnnhh…better than I expected from you two, at least…"
James grinned wide at Jessie. "Yeeeee! Did you hear that? He likes them!" he murmured privately to her.
"Maybe we'll get a promotion…!" Jessie added dreamily.
"I'd just like ta' point out dat it was all MY idea!" Meowth boasted.
"Nnhh, would you three shut up?!" Giovanni growled.
The threesome froze in place, and jerked to attention, mouths snapping shut.
Giovanni returned his attention to the Pokémon, looking each of them over, studying them. "…The Venusaur could be useful. I'll see to it that it is sent to the storage facility. Dispose of the Psyduck, it's useless to me."
Jessie twitched slightly. "…Dispose of it?"
"Psy?!" the little Pokémon quacked in surprise.
"Do you have a problem with that?" the boss said with a glare.
"B-but boss, dis Psyduck is special," Meowth interjected.
"I don't need a Pokémon with a perpetual headache. Put it out of its misery," Giovanni repeated.
"But that's just it, sir…observe!" James said, whipping out a frying pan.
Jessie yelped in surprise. "Not our good frying pan!"
"Sacrifices for the cause, Jessie!" James announced, and swung the frying pan down, whacking Psyduck in the head with it.
"PSYYYYY-YAIYAIYAI!!" the poor Pokémon wailed in pain, waddling around in a circle and clutching its head tightly.
Giovanni growled in annoyance, covering his ears. "Shut that nuisance up!"
"Just wait, boss, you'll see!" Meowth insisted, and brought down a clawed fist on Psyduck's head.
"PSYYYYYYY!!!" it wailed again, stubby little limbs flailing.
"Mrrreeeeeeeooowww!!" the Persian yowled, hissing and spitting at the Psyduck and really only adding to the assault on their eardrums.
"Enough! Get it out of here!" Giovanni barked, rounding his desk in annoyance. He swung a leg out, booting Psyduck in the head and flinging it toward the door, but that would be the last straw.
"PSY!" the Pokémon yelped suddenly, freezing in midair just in front of the door, its eyes glowing a pale blue.
"What the…?" he murmured, standing still and staring at it.
"Mreow?" the Persian tilted its head, staring as well by its master's feet.
Jessie, James and Meowth, however, all dove behind his desk at once. "TAKE COVER!"
The maneuver proved to be rather useless, however. Psyduck's glowing eyes flashed bright enough to fill the room, and before Giovanni knew what was happening he was being lifted off the ground, as was everything else in the office that wasn't bolted down. His desk, the trio of Rockets hiding behind it, the Persian, even the great, heavy Venusaur all hovered a foot or two off the ground, flailing uselessly for more sure footing.
"PSY!" the Psyduck shouted again, and this time everyone in the room except the Venusaur were flung roughly into the walls, and pinned there while the contents of Giovanni's desk suddenly burst out of the drawers and flew at the hapless Rockets, pelting them over and over.
"Aaaauugghh…!" Giovanni snarled, trying to shield his face from the onslaught of empty Poké Balls and heavy paperweights. "How do you stop that thing…?!"
"I'm sure it will--OW--run out of power--OW--eventually, sir--OWW!" Jessie assured him, even as she was herself being pummeled with pens and staplers.
Sure enough, just as Jessie said so, Psyduck began to calm down, drifting back to the floor and losing the pale blue glow in its eyes. It raised its hands to its head again and gave a quiet quack, and a split second later everything else in the room dropped painfully to the floor.
"Mrrooowww-owww…" the Persian groaned, struggling to its feet.
"Nnnhhh…" Giovanni growled, staring at the little duck Pokémon. "A Psyduck with psychic powers that strong…?"
"See, boss? We toldja 'dat duck was special!" Meowth reminded him.
"Whenever its headache gets bad, it unleashes amazing psychic powers!" James added.
"I know that, idiot!" he snarled. "But I've never seen one with psychic power THIS strong…"
"Yes, we've learned that the hard way…" James said with a wince of pain.
"More than once, I might add…" Jessie agreed.
"…Hmmmhh…" Giovanni murmured to himself, looking at Psyduck with much greater interest now. "Unprecedented psychic powers…but only when its headache is bad…interesting…"
"So you like it…?" Jessie smiled hopefully.
"…Yes…I can put this Psyduck to VERY good use…" Giovanni nodded, a sinister smile growing on his face. It was quickly masked, however, as he whirled toward his underlings. "Good work, you three. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some important business to take care of…"
"Er…what kind of business, sir?" James probed.
"The private kind. Out!" he snarled.
The three Rockets jolted into action. "Right away sir!" they squeaked in unison, and sped out of the room.
The moment they were gone, Giovanni picked up the intercom from the floor where it had fallen, and pressed the button.
Bzzt. "Yes, Giovanni, sir?"
"Put me through to the science team…" Giovanni answered, grinning darkly at Psyduck again. "I have another psychic Pokémon to add to our…special collection…"
Comments and critiques welcomed and appreciated, as always.