Mahogany Town
Jackson, Leafeon, and Lyanne made it across the waters, finally reaching the next town, which was rather calming all things considered. "The next town where your Gym Battle takes place." Lyanne noted to Jackson.
"Remember not to speak too loudly, Lyanne." Leafeon warned her, "Remember you still speak like a Pokémon."
"Right, I remember." she answered.
"Morty did tell me that there was suspicious rumors about stuff going on around here." Jackson recalled, looking about.
"What rumors?" Lyanne asked.
"He said there were Pokémon acting very strangely around here. Sometimes they look like they're in pain. Others, they say, were growing more aggravated and attacking people out of nowhere. Even trainer's own Pokémon became feral."
"That's rather unnerving." Lyanne muttered, grasping her arm with her other hand, "What could cause them to be in pain or enraged like that?"
"That's the mystery, isn't it?" Jackson asked, "I'm telling you guys this just in case you feel something strange, as well. Be cautious." The two girls nodded in response.
Jackson pulled up the map of the town on his tablet, and found the Pokémon Center, and where it was. He guided the pair with him along the path, passing by an old shop as they did so. It looked like it was run by a middle-aged man in black glasses, smiling pleasantly as he watched them pass by.
As they were walking down the hill past the shop, Leafeon and Lyanne stopped as they felt something ringing in their ears, and they simultaneously grasped their heads in pain. Jackson stopped and looked over to them, asking, "What's going on?! Hey, Leafeon! Lyanne!"
"I...don't know!" Lyanne answered, "But...it hurts!"
"My ears...what's that noise?!" Leafeon gasped, trying to shut it out.
"A noise?" Jackson asked, looking about. He couldn't hear any noise whatsoever. But clearly, it was affecting the pair. What was going on?
(Insert 'STAND UP' by Twill (full version))
Music Intro
(Traveling through shining golden tunnel of energy, leading out into space with many world, all of which different colors, with the central world being the Pokémon world. The logo 'Jackson in Johto' appears on screen, before the camera passes through the arch of the 'n' from 'in, going into the world, through the clouds, where the glowing shadow of Ho-Oh can be seen, to the sea, where the shadow of Lugia is flying beneath the waters, before reaching the shoreline, getting blinded by the sun.)
Yeah, stand up boys!
Come on, face forward
(Jackson stands up, with Quilava at his side, followed by Dewott, Weavile, and Scizor, all of which expressing their unique personalities to Jackson.)
The call enveloping you is your guide
Step towards tomorrow
(Dewott gets angry at Weavile for trying to act so cool, while Jackson rolls his eyes before he, Quilava and Scizor took off ahead, with Weavile following behind, ignoring Dewott, who panicked and ran to not be left behind.)
Yeah, stand up girls!
At the end of what's more than real
(Leafeon rises up with Lyanne as Jackson and the boys pass by. The two look to one another, before giggling at the sight of the boys, before looking to the sky.)
We'll grab a light that's been covered by thick clouds
(Camera goes up into the starry sky, where a ball of light was slowly falling down, with the image of Gardevoir inside, her eyes slowly opening up as she looked up.)
How we spend our days before isn't good enough
(Camera passes by still images of all the companions and gym leaders that he has met or will meet in the future, including Cypher at the end of the pictures, while Jackson, Lyanne, Leafeon, and the rest of his current team walked along the bottom of the screen.)
At full speed
We can blast through
Even the highest wall
(Team Rocket suddenly appears, with the four admins of Team Rocket standing together, with the images of their ace Pokémon at their side, and the satellite system right above them.)
Stand up for your dream!
(Jackson draws his sword, while Lyanne turns into her Latias form, and the rest of his team ready to fight together.)
Be enthusiastic at what you do, no matter what it is
(Jackson rushes forward as he slashes his blade against Team Rocket grunts, followed by a spin kick, sending them flying, while Leafeon leaps up and unleashes a forward somersault Leaf Blade, taking out their Pokémon.)
Push your way through to make an opening
(Weavile unleashes an Ice Punch as Dewott throws a Water Pulse at a different direction, followed by the pair unleashing simultaneous Night Slashes. Quilava leaps through their attack, going into a Flame Charge.)
No matter how far
The answer you're seeking is
Stand up for your dream!
(Scizor flies in, striking with a couple Bullet Punches before firing a Hyper Beam. Latias flies above him, unleashing a Mist Ball, sending it ahead. The attacks all created an explosion that consumed the scene in smoke.)
Even if my feeling show weakness
Your voice that I hear close by
(In the burning Ecruteak City, a serious Jackson raced along the path with Leafeon and Quilava at his side, towards the two towers, where a deranged Ho-Oh and Lugia were at, unleashing Aeroblast and Sacred Fire onto the city.)
Gives me courage and strength
I can go the distance
(Jackson leaps high, landing on Latias's back as they flew off, with the rest of the team leaping with him before encased in a stream of their signature colors, before the screen turn white, with a crystal blue Pokéball with a gold and silver sword crossing behind it the only thing remaining.)
Jackson quickly acted by wrapping Leafeon around his shoulders, while carrying Lyanne in a princess hold. He activated his Extreme Gear Air Shoes, and dashed to where the Pokémon Center was. He deactivated his shoes as he walked in. He saw some people notice Lyanne in his arms, and put the disguised Pokémon back onto her feet when they entered.
"You doing okay?" he asked her, as she regained her footing.
"Yeah..." She replied softly, massaging her head, "The pain isn't so bad around here."
"Same..." Leafeon agreed, shaking her head, standing on Jackson's shoulders, looking about, "But I can't understand what that was all about. All of a sudden, I heard a noise, and my head felt like it was gonna explode."
"Same. It felt like the noise itself was coursing through my body." Lyanne added.
"That's unnerving." Jackson stated, furling his arms as he thought about what they were feeling.
He walked over to the Nurse Joy of the Pokémon Center, who asked, "Hello. I noticed the young lady here and your Pokémon were not looking well when you entered in."
"Yeah. Seems like there was something that was bothering them." Jackson answered, "Lyanne here has sensitive ears, so she must've picked up something outside."
"That's the first time I heard of a person getting hurt by that." Joy noted, "But there has been plenty of trainers who came in with their Pokémon who were in pain or invigorated by some sort of noise outside. The police have been trying to figure out where it had been coming from, but so far, nothing."
"I see." Jackson understood, pulling out his Pokéballs as Leafeon propped herself on the counter, "Well, in any case, can you take care of my Pokémon for me, please?"
"Of course." Joy answered, taking the balls, and guiding Leafeon to the back, leaving Jackson and Lyanne to walk away.
For the next fifteen minutes, Jackson spent a good amount of time talking with some of the people inside the center to gather information of what was happening, before spending another thirty minutes in a spare room he gained from Joy, using the materials he had on hand to create a couple of new devices. Well, one of them was premade, which was an earpiece with a microphone attached, which he used to connect to speaker systems.
"What are you making?" Lyanne asked as he finished up tightening the pieces together on something that looked like six sets of earplugs.
"Something to help you deal with the noise outside." Jackson answered, handing a pair of them over to her.
She took them, examining them for a second, before placing them in her ears as she noted, "This might do well dulling out the noise I heard earlier, but how will I hear you?"
Jackson smirked as he attached the earpiece, speaking into the mic as he answered, "I thought about that part." Lyanne jumped as she heard Jackson's voice through the earplug. She pulled out the device, looking at it, noticing the tiny speaker system inside them.
"Amazing!" she gasped.
"I made sure each set comes with a speaker set exclusively on this speaker." Jackson told her, pointing to his mic, "It allows you to dull out the noise around you while still being instructed by me. It has a one kilometer radius range of connection, so it's even good for all of us if we are separated from one another."
"You really thought it through." Lyanne noted, putting the earplug back in.
"I have ones for all of the team, so we can communicate through any noise that is going about." Jackson stated, taking the other earpieces, "Now, I just need to know where their ears are. Do you have a clue where Scizor's ears are at?"
Just then, there was the familiar healing tune over the speakers of the Pokémon Center, with Nurse Joy announcing, "Jackson Alpphire, your Pokémon have been rested and restored."
"Let's find out where they are." Lyanne answered, as Jackson put his things away, and gathered himself up, following her from behind.
Moment's later, Jackson had attached the earplug devices into his teammates before returning them to their balls, as he, Leafeon and Lyanne walked out of the center.
"So, got any clues for us to go on?" Leafeon asked.
"According to trainers, the focus of a lot of aggravated Pokémon seems to be taking place in an area north of here called the Lake of Rage." Jackson explained, speaking through his headset, "It's called that due to the fact that the only Pokémon that can be fished there are Magikarp and Gyarados, the latter giving its namesake. There were even some trainers that said they saw a Magikarp-colored Gyarados."
"A Magikarp's color is red, but a Gyarados's color is blue." Lyanne pointed out, "So this Gyarados is red instead of blue?"
"I read that there are Pokémon that have different colored-variants to the normal." Jackson noted, "But either way, we should investigate it. That might contain a clue as to what's going on around here." The other two nodded in agreement, and they raced off northbound, heading to Route 43
They made their way along the path, with no particular issues until they noticed, on a grassy path ahead, there was a fight that was going on. It was between a Flaffy and a Girafarig that were enraged and fighting one another. There was also another fight involving a group of Venonat and Mareep. The attacks they were shooting at each other were going all over the place.
"This is caused by the noise?" Leafeon asked.
"No doubt." Jackson answered, frowning at it.
"It's so bad." Lyanne muttered, seeing the untamed aggression between Pokémon, "Who would do something like this?"
"Let's find out." Jackson answered, before guiding the team along the road, not able to get through that path safely.
They found a building that would safely take them around the grassy areas, leading them to a free path to the Lake of Rage. However, the moment they entered in, instead of guides at the help desks in the building, they got jumped by a pair of guys in familiar attire. It was Team Rocket, who had been waiting for unsuspected trainers to approach them.
"Hold it, you!" shouted one of the Team Rocket members, "There's a toll for entering through this place!"
"He's right! It'll cost you 1,000c to enter through here!" the other member told him, "Better pay up or pay the price a different way!"
"Team Rocket..." Jackson growled, closing his eyes, before looking at them harshly as he answered, "I got a better idea." A second after this, he lunged forward, unleashing his martial arts to strike their nerves and knock them out before they could do anything to fight back. With Leafeon and Lyanne watching, he wandered over to the desk, and found some rope used for Pokémon Rangers, before using them to tie up the pair, making sure they didn't have anything to break them out of their restraints.
"What are these people doing here?!" Lyanne asked, a little frightened by them, considering her last experience with them.
"Jackson, do you think?" Leafeon asked.
"No doubt. They're the top suspects." Jackson answered, "But these guys were mere grunts, and don't have anything on them that could affect the Pokémon like that. Maybe the Lake of Rage will have answers for us." He took the Team Rocket members and made sure they were out of the way, choosing to alert the police once they were done with whatever is going on at the lake. With that settled, they took off, now taking the situation more seriously.
It took a while, but the team finally reached the Lake of Rage, where they saw people were rather abundant here and there, mostly fishermen. They were looking out into the lake, where something was taking place.
"How come a lot of people are around here?" Lyanne asked as they looked around.
"I think we have our answer out there." Leafeon answered, indicating the center of the lake. The trio turned to see something swirling around in the center of the lake, in an enraged state. It was none other than the red Gyarados that they heard of before. It was a long, dragon-like Pokémon with a wide open mouth and a constant angry face. Its body was primarily red, with a beige underbelly, and red and white fins going down its back. It was flailing around, looking pained and angry.
Jackson pulled out his dex, looking at the information on it. "Gyarados. The Atrocious Pokémon, and the evolved form of Magikarp. Once Gyarados goes on a rampage, its ferociously violent blood doesn't calm until it has burned everything down. There are records of this Pokémon's rampages lasting a whole month."
"I know Gyarados have violent natures, but this one's clearly more than a bit enraged." Jackson noted, turning to one of the fishermen, "How long as that Gyarados been going on for?"
"A few days, actually." the guy answered.
"And no one's bothered to go stop it?" he asked, confused.
"It's too strong for most folks around here, and it stays too far away for land battles." the fisherman explained. "It still fires off attacks all over the place, causing all the Magikarp to flee for their lives, and the Gyarados around here are unable to do anything."
Jackson looked out into the water, seeing the enraged red Gyarados. He felt like he could do something about that. The problem was how to get over there. There were no boats that could lead them out there, and his Air Shoes could not allow him to hover out there and be above the water without constant momentum. The only choice he could use was Latias, but that would require her to be seen by many. And considering her past experience with Team Rocket, she wasn't gonna take that big of a risk. He had to plan it out. Suddenly, he remembered something, and realized he might not need to go out there to deal with the Gyarados himself.
"I think we can fight it from here." Jackson informed his team, walking to the shoreline, and pulling out two of his Pokéballs. He tossed them up, and out came Dewott and Scizor, the former landing in the water. Both of them had their earplug speakers in their ears, though Scizor's was hidden from view.
"Is there something you need, sensei?" Scizor asked.
"Need something from yours truly?" Dewott confidently asked.
"Yep. We're gonna test the range of your earplugs and my speaker." Jackson answered, pointing to the Gyarados from afar, "That's not a kilometer away, so we can communicate from here. I'm gonna direct you guys in battling from the shoreline. If my commands aren't fast enough to react to its moves, act on your own, okay?"
"Understood." "Sure thing!" Scizor and Dewott answered together. With that, they took off, with Dewott swimming while Scizor flew across the water, heading towards Gyarados. Many of the onlookers saw Jackson's Pokemon go off, including one that approached the scene, who was intrigued by the sight of Jackson being there.
Dewott and Scizor raced each other towards Gyarados, with Dewott calling out, "This is gonna be fun! I'm totally owning this guy with the power I have!"
"Do not let your ego get to you again, Dewott." Scizor warned him, "Remember, our trainer is counting on us."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Dewott answered, as the Gyarados noticed the pair coming in. It then roared at them, causing the pair to halt and endure the shockwaves, before feeling their attack strength fade a bit. "Darn it! That's his Intimidate ability!" Dewott growled.
"Deliver a message back to him!" Jackson informed through the speakers in their ears, "Swords Dance and Agility!"
"Yes, sensei!" Scizor answered, flying forward with his speed-boosting move, while Dewott concentrated, as energy swords circled around him, boosting his physical strength.
On shore, Lyanne asked, "Can you even see the fight from here?" Lyanne asked.
"Are you kidding me? I had to learn to improve my eyesight back in Ryouzanpaku." Jackson explained, "I had to count how many fingers he was raising while running from one side of a wide river. God, that was a strain to keep watch."
"You know, every exercise you tell me they do to you sounds like it should be impossible to deal with." Leafeon muttered.
Gyarados created a ball of draconic energy and fired it at the pair, with Dewott calling out, "Dragon Rage?!"
"Dewott, Razor Shell!" Jackson called out. Dewott leapt out of the water and cut the attack with his water crescent blade from his shell, destroying it in one go, causing its' two halves to fall to the water, detonating upon impact.
"Scizor, Bullet Punch!" Jackson ordered, and Scizor zipped in, unleashing a flurry of punches with his glowing pincers, causing damage to Gyarados, knocking him back a bit.
"Dewott, Night Slash it!" Jackson followed up.
"Let's do some REAL damage!" Dewott roared, readying his blade, and launching at Gyarados, who turned to see him approach. He suddenly created icicles from his fangs, unleashing Ice Fang onto him, causing both to deal damage to one another with the collision of attacks. Dewott was knocked back into the water, while Gyarados reeled its head, before regaining itself, and saw Scizor approach with an X-Scissor. It raised its tail, with water swirling around it. Using Aqua Tail, it swung its tail at him, causing their two attacks to collide, but Scizor getting overpowered by his opponents attack.
"Dewott, Water Pulse!" Jackson called out, and Dewott unleashed his watery orb at Gyarados. He saw it and spun his body around, unleashing his Twister move, creating a barrier of draconic winds that blew away the Water Pulse. "Come on!" Dewott growled, unleashing his Night Slash on his own, and coming in at the Twister, only for the winds to blow him off course.
"Jackson, it doesn't look like we can get to it." Leafeon noted, "Plus, despite its enraged state, it is able to react to the attacks well."
"Then we need to cut through that Twister and faze it long enough to deal a sure blow." Jackson answered, "And fortunately, Scizor can work both defense and offense." He placed a hand to his earpiece, saying, "Scizor, float above the water and ready your Razor Wind. Dewott, distract it any way you can."
"Distract it?!" Dewott asked, "Nah, I'll beat it!" Dewott launched out of the water with a Night Slash, fighting against the Twister with all he could.
Scizor floated above the water, and concentrated, remembering the lessons Jackson taught him about gathering the wind quickly and efficiently. The winds gathered about him, almost matching the winds around Gyarados. It started to create a tornado of water around him thanks to the lake water beneath him, and the winds scooping it up. It was becoming stronger and stronger. Gyarados saw Scizor gathering the winds, and as soon as Dewott was flung away again, he dismissed his Twister and unleashed a Dragon Rage attack on him. The attack connected with Scizor and his watery wind barrier, causing an explosion. Everyone from the shoreline saw the detonation, wondering what was taking place, while Jackson frowned as he wondered if the barrier worked.
Sure enough, the smoke of the explosion was dismissed by Scizor's charging winds, before he had enough power. "Take this!" he called out, unleashing slicing winds from his slicing pincers, striking Gyarados numerous times, causing him to be knocked backwards and take a heavy amount of damage.
"He got him!" Leafeon noticed.
"Alright, Dewott, time for the finishing blow. Night Slash him!" Jackson ordered.
Dewott found his opening, swimming with all his might as he readied both scalchops, both of them glowing with purple blades. He shot himself at Gyarados, slashing right past him. He slowed down, dismissing the blades, as Gyarados crashed to his side, creating a big splash. When he was seen again, his eyes were in spirals. He was beaten.
"That's how you do it!" Dewott declared.
"A fine job, Dewott." Scizor commended him, causing the Discipline Pokémon to look rather proud of himself.
"Alright guys. Bring that Gyarados to shore for me, would you?" Jackson requested, the cheers able to be heard in his mic, "I'll capture it so it won't cause any more problems."
"Understood, sensei." Scizor answered, turning to Dewott, who nodded in understanding. The pair started to push the backside of the Gyarados as they pushed it towards the shoreline.
A couple minutes later, the red Gyarados reached the shores, with Jackson, Lyanne, and Leafeon approaching it. Scizor and Dewott hopped over the unconscious Pokemon, approaching Jackson.
"A great job to both of you." Jackson told the pair, shaking Scizor's pincer while patting Dewott on the head, "I'm proud of both of you."
"You honor us with your words, sensei." Scizor answered.
"Heh! No biggie." Dewott answered, trying to act like it didn't matter, but blush marks were forming on his face.
"Jackson, capture that Gyarados." Leafeon told Jackson.
"Right, I gotcha." Jackson answered, taking out a Pokéball. He tossed it at the unconscious Pokémon, sucking it in. After a few shakes, the ball clicked, signaling the capture. The crowd cheered as Jackson went over and picked up the ball, looking at it.
"Jackson, look at this." Lyanne spoke up once she got close enough to him. Jackson looked to her as she handed him a red object. "It looks like one of the scales that was on Gyarados." she assumed, "Must've come off him when he came ashore."
"You grew quite a bit since the last time I saw you, Jackson." said a voice. Jackson turned around and was surprised. The person that had saw him before now made his appearance, and it was none other than Lance, the Champion of Johto he met back in Blackthorn City.
"Lance!" Jackson greeted, amazed at his appearance, "What are you doing here?!"
"I heard the wild rumors of the red Gyarados, so I came here to check on it." he told him, looking to his companions, particularly at Leafeon, "Is that the same Eevee I saw last time?"
"Yep. She evolved into Leafeon." Jackson answered.
"A pleasure to see you again, Lance." she greeted him, which Jackson interpreted.
"Great to see you, too." he answered, looking to the Pokéball containing the shiny Pokémon, "I could see it from a distance. That Gyarados was not acting right. It was acting rather odd." Jackson looked to Lyanne, who was confused at first. Jackson then remembered that she and his Pokémon had earplugs in, so they couldn't hear what he was saying.
"You have improved quite considerably since the last time I saw you, Jackson." Lance told him, "I'd bet with skills like those, you might give my cousin a run for her money, this time around."
"Thanks. That means a lot, coming from you." Jackson answered, "I'll fight her once I am done with the Mahogany Gym Leader."
"You mean Pryce?" Lance asked, "Hate to break it to you, but he has frozen his doors shut for the time being, until the rampaging Pokémon are dealt with. That's why I'm here, actually; to deal with the situation."
"Right. I gotcha." Jackson answered, "Let me ask the Gyarados, now that its' calmed down." Jackson addressed him, tossing the ball he had on hand upwards, and out came the battered Gyarados, who was panting from the exhaustion, and not just from the battle. "Gyarados, I need to ask you something." Jackson asked him, "What caused you to go on a rampage like that?"
"I'M...NOT SURE!" he answered with a roar, "LAST THING I REMEMBERED, I WAS JUST A MAGIKARP! I SURFACED ABOVE THE WATER, AND I FELT AN AGONIZING PAIN IN MY HEAD! I CAN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING AFTERWARDS! NEXT THING I KNEW IT, I WAS IN THAT BALL, EVOLVED!"
Jackson interpreted the message to Lance, who nodded in understanding, saying, "It's good you have a translator for Pokémon. It confirms my theory; someone is not only causing Pokémon to go on a rampage, but forcefully evolving them.
"Someone was forcefully evolving Pokémon?!" Jackson asked, his question spoken through the mic for his companions to hear and gasp at.
"I have a suspicious feeling I know who it is." Lance answered, "Team Rocket has been resurfacing as of recently. I don't know what's going on with them, but I had heard rumors they've been recently working with radio waves."
"Radio waves?" Jackson echoed, "Yeah, that would make sense. Some waves can cause major headaches with the right frequency. Are you saying they're trying to use that to cause Pokémon to go rampant and evolve them?"
"That's a possibility, but I'm not sure." he answered, pulling out a device from underneath his cape, which turned out to be a tracking device, "I brought this with me, just in case, after I heard the rumors. According to this, there were radio waves that had been coming around here. They seem to be coming from Mahogany Town."
Jackson thanked Gyarados for his cooperation, returning him to his ball as Lance asked, "Jackson, after seeing you and your Pokémon in battle, I would like to ask for your assistance in solving this mystery. We need to find the source of the radio waves. I did a little investigation before coming here, and the first place I want to look at is that souvenir shop I saw in town."
"Oh, yeah. That shop we passed by before." Jackson recalled, looking to Leafeon and Lyanne, "It was just passed that when you guys started getting major headaches."
"I remember that." Leafeon answered.
Jackson saw Lyanne's worried expression, and a second later, understood what she was thinking. She was worried about confronting them again, after Alto Mare. He understood her worries, so he turned to her, handing Gyarados's Pokéball to her. "You should head to the center, and hand over Gyarados to recover. He might need it."
"Thanks." she whispered to Jackson.
Jackson turned to Scizor, Dewott, and Leafeon, calling back the former two, before looking to Lance as he said, "We're ready to go, anytime."
"Excellent." he replied, smiling at him, "Let's see you and your team put to the test." With that, Jackson and his team followed behind Lance, making their way back to Mahogany Town. The test that Jackson was gonna take was going to pit him against Team Rocket and all they had to offer.