Chapter 29 – "Shock
Waves"
Part 2: A Daring Escape
I awoke feeling very sore and cold. I sat up to find myself locked in a big metal cage, with bars like a jail cell. Across the room was another metal cage, with one little window. I could see Flamefox and Firestorm were inside. My backpack was on a table in the center of the room, but my pokeballs were nowhere to be seen. 2 guys dressed in black Team Rocket uniforms entered the room. "What are you scum up to now, and what have you done with my friends?" I shouted at them. One of them said, "You and your friends are too nosy for your own good! Did you really think the 3 of you could take on this operation? You have no idea what you're up against!" I replied, "Well, if it's a Team Rocket operation, I know it's a no good, rotten scheme, and you won't get away with it!" Then I shouted to Flamefox and Firestorm, "Guys, use your flamethrowers!" The Rockets just laughed at me. The other one spoke this time, and said, "Just how stupid do you think we are? Your Pokemon are in a fire-resistant cage! Their attacks will just be absorbed by the material!" Then the 2 Rockets started rummaging through the contents of my backback. I was getting very angry. I shouted, "What have you done with my friends? And where are my other Pokemon?" One of them answered, "They're safe! Your friends are locked up elsewhere. As for your Pokemon, well… they're ours now!" Again, both of them laughed, and continued to raid my backpack. "A Pokegear and a Pokedex? That's worth something. And look at all these empty pokeballs – even a lure ball! We can get some good money here!" The other one said, "And look at all these potions and antidotes! We could make a killing!" I felt so helpless! They were robbing my stuff and my Pokemon, and there was nothing I could do! Then, one of them pulled out the Rainbow Feather. "What's this?" he asked. I had a plan! I very straightforwardly said, "Oh please, don't take that! That's the Rainbow Feather! It was a very special gift!" The one holding it in his hand asked, "What's so special about it?" I answered him frankly, "I can summon the Legendary bird, Ho-oh, with it!" They both burst out laughing! "Oh, really? That's rich!" I said, "It's true! I just have to run it between my thumb and index finger 3 times, and she'll appear, anytime, anyplace!" The Rocket ran the feather between his thumb and index finger 3 times. "Nothing's happening!" he laughed. I said, "No, I have to do it! It'll only work if I do it!" He walked over to me, feather in hand, and said, "This I have to see! Okay, here, take it!" and he handed me the feather through the bars of the cage. "Thanks!" I said, and ran the feather between my thumb and index finger 3 times. They both laughed hysterically. "So now what?" he asked. I angrily replied, "Now, you will put your heads between your legs and kiss your butts goodbye, and you will rue the day you ever crossed my path!" The Rainbow Feather began to glow and levitated in the air. "What's going on?" one of them asked. At that, a powerful hyper beam burst through the ceiling! The impact slammed the 2 Rockets against the wall, which knocked them unconscious! The intense energy of the beam melted the locks on my cage, as well as Flamefox and Firestorm's cage! We ran to each other, and I hugged them both! "Are you guys okay?" I asked them. "Vul!" and "Nine!" they replied. Ho-oh flew in through the hole in the ceiling. "Are you all right?" she asked me. "I am now! Thanks a million, Ho-oh!" I ran up to her and hugged her large neck. "With your help, we can shut down this entire operation right now!" I ran over to the metal door to the room, and it was locked! "Ho-oh, hyper beam the door down, and we'll go defeat the rest of the Rockets!" A voice then said, "It is not her place. This is not her battle. It is yours". A mysterious figure appeared – it was Sage Li! "How did you get here?" I asked him. He only said, "Ho-oh is not anyone's Pokemon. She will help you in your dark times, but she cannot fight your battles for you. This battle will require you and your friends to work together." I said, "But I don't understand." Ho-oh said, "It is not my time, it is yours. I will return when you really need me - I will return at your darkest hour." Suddenly, Sage Li vanished, and only Ho-oh stood before us. "Do you understand?" she asked me. I replied, "I think so." Then I started to say, "Very well. Firestorm, use hyper…" when the door exploded open in a bright light! Ho-oh had hyper beamed it! "That one's on me! Now go rescue your friends. Remember me when your darkest hour falls upon you!" and she flew off. "Thanks for your help, Ho-oh!" I said. I wondered what she meant by "my darkest hour", as I returned my things to my backpack. Then Flamefox, Firestorm, and I ran down the hall. There was another door up ahead, being guarded by a Team Rocket agent. I said, "Flamefox, do your thing!" He burrowed under the dirt floor, then burst up under the guard, sending him flying. He was knocked unconscious upon falling to the ground. Then I said, "Firestorm, use hyper beam!" and he launched the powerful beam of energy at the metal door, bursting it open! The impact of the blast knocked out the 2 Team Rockets agents inside! Then I heard May yell, "Joe, is that you? Thank goodness! Get us out of here!" She was locked in a cage similar to mine, and Amber and Fierymane were locked up in the same kind of cage my fire foxes had been. "Flamefox, use your flamethrower to melt the lock on May's cage! Firestorm, you melt the lock on Amber's and Fierymane's cage!" In no time, we had all of them out. May ran for her backpack, which the Rockets had been rummaging through just like they'd been going through mine. "Oohhh, they took my makeup kit! Now I'm really mad!" she shouted. I looked at her in disbelief and said, "This is no time to worry about that! We have to find Trevor, Rapidash, and our other Pokemon and get out of here!" Suddenly, 2 more Rockets entered the room! "Fierymane, use stomp!" May ordered. Fierymane reared up on her hind legs, and kicked them with her front hooves, knocking them out! "Not bad!" I exclaimed. "Thanks!" May said, turning to look at me. Then a couple more Rockets ran in and I shouted, "May, behind you!" With lightning speed, she turned and did a series of impressive karate chops and kicks on them, until they were at her mercy! I just stood there, my jaw dropped to the ground, staring at her! She looked at me again, and asked, "Why do you look so surprised?" I just said, "Well, I really didn't expect all that from you, because you're… you know… a girl." She looked at me angrily and said, "Look, we can discuss the role of women in a crisis situation later! Right now, we have to get out of here!" She hopped on Fierymane, and Amber hopped up on her shoulders. May said, "Come on! Get on Fierymane!" I got Flamefox up on my shoulders, and climbed onto Fierymane's back. "Hold on!" May shouted, and Ponyta began to gallop down the hall, with both of us and our Vulpixes on her back, and Firestorm ran behind us. There was a door ahead of us, which Fierymane fire blasted down, and we proceeded through. I asked May, "Where did you learn moves like that?" She said, "Daddy's a martial arts instructor! He says every little girl should know some self defense." I said, "Remind me never to pick a fight with you!" A few Rockets came running from behind us. "Firestorm, cover our back! Use fire blast!" I shouted. He turned and launched the "t"-shape of flames at the Rockets, knocking them out! There were 3 more Rockets ahead of us, but Fierymane ran at them full speed, then reared up on her hind legs and kicked them, knocking them all out! May and Fierymane seemed an unbeatable team! We ran ahead, and more Rockets came at us from behind, but Firestorm held them off! However, up ahead was a dead end! "Oh no!" May shouted. We turned around to see about 20 or so Rockets. Firestorm was pretty worn out! "It's the end of the road, kids! You can't stop all of us!" one of them shouted. "This looks very bad!" I said as all of them started ganging up on us. Suddenly, we heard a very loud "Yeeehaaa!" The Rockets turned around – it was Trevor, riding on Rapidash! Rapidash trampled a bunch of the Rockets, and Trevor leapt off and began fighting some of them, himself. Soon, not one was standing! "Are you guys okay?" he asked us. I replied, "Yeah, we're fine. But how did you get out?" He responded, "Did you really think they could hold back me and Rapidash? The better question is, how did you guys get out?" May looked at me and asked, "Yeah, how DID you escape?" I said, "It's a long story." Trevor said, "Never mind! I have something for both of you" and he handed us our pokeballs! "Thanks Trevor! But how did you find them?" I asked. "I managed to 'persuade' one of the guards into telling me where they put them" he replied. May and I put our pokeballs back onto our belts. Trevor said, "Now we have to get to the bottom of this! I think I found their control room, but I'll need your help to get in." I released Tauros and got onto his back, and the 3 of us rode our Pokemon down several hallways, until we came to a very solid steel door. "Rapidash couldn't burn through it!" Trevor said. I said, "Then let us try!" May released Blastoise and I called up Firestorm. "Use hyper beam!" we both shouted. Both of our Pokemon launched powerful energy beams from their mouths at the door, and completely destroyed it! Inside was what appeared to be a large control center. The Rockets inside were completely taken by surprise! They released several Pokemon, and we released ours! A battle ensued! Most of Team Rocket's Pokemon were poison types, like Weezing, Koffing, and Muk. Our fire foxes and fire horses made short work of them, exploding their poison gases right in their faces. The rest of our Pokemon overpowered the Rockets' Pokemon, and defeated them relatively easily. May and Trevor jumped into battle, fighting Team Rocket agents one on one, but May's and Trevor's impressive martial arts skills left only one Rocket standing! He tried to run, but Trevor grabbed him by the collar, picked him up, and shoved him against the wall. "All right! What's going on here?" he yelled at him. The Rocket scientist said, "You fools! You really have no idea what you're up against! This little operation is just a staging area for our master plan! Here we were just experimenting with different radio frequencies to see which ones affected certain Pokemon. But we have just completed our experiment! We now know the signals to control every Pokemon in Johto! As we speak, our agents are infiltrating the radio tower in Goldenrod City, the tallest radio tower in Johto! The transmitter will be installed and the signals will be spread! Then in a matter of minutes, every Pokemon in Johto will be ours for the taking!" Trevor said, "No way! They'll never let your people in the radio tower!" He said, "Oh yes they will. You see, Goldenrod City's radio tower just happens to be installing a new transmitter, anyway! They just don't know that their transmitter is coming from us! I'm afraid you're already too late!" Trevor said, "We'll see" and decked him, knocking him out. "So that's why the Gyarados at the Lake of Rage were going crazy! That particular signal must have affected just them!" I exclaimed. "We have to call Officer Jenny!" May said. I pulled out my pokegear. "Well, I guess I should use this thing for once." May asked, "You never used your Pokegear yet?" I answered, "Well, not much. I never really liked the idea of cell phones. I much prefer the video phones at the Pokemon Centers." May said, "You know, the trainers in Kanto don't even GET a Pokegear from Professor Oak!" I dialed the number, but there was no signal. "That's strange. Great, the first time I use it in ages and it's defective!" Trevor ran over to a wall phone. "No, all the phones are out! Team Rocket must have set up a block! They don't want anyone to find out what they're doing!" I said, "Then it's up to us! We have to get to Goldenrod City and stop them!"