Day 2 — May 4th
Power Plant, Route 10
"Does anyone know where we are?"
"Well, we're in the abandoned Power Plant, obviously."
Misty stared at the Frontier Brain, expression flat, but irritation brewing in her blue-green eyes. "…Please tell me you're joking."
"Nope! We're definitely here."
"I think," Brock interjected, hoping to head off the beginning of an argument, "what Misty means is that…maybe we were operating under the assumption that you knew how to navigate this place."
Ash graced his two companions with a confused expression, brow furrowed. "How would I know that? It's not like I built this place." He glanced around the facility. "Not that it even would have helped. This place has definitely seen better days."
Even Misty and Brock were forced to agree with the dark-haired trainer's assessment. The facility was a veritable maze. Broken generators and other machinery littered the floor, loose wires stuck out of strange places, and rocks and glass shards of all sizes were scattered around the travelers' feet. The majority of the motorized doors were also non-operational, and more than half of those were closed and rusted with age, so when Ash and Brock couldn't push them open with brute strength, the Frontier Brain was forced to call on Tauros to ram down a path, creating even more of a mess.
"Besides," Ash continued, turning to Misty, "shouldn't you know this place better than us? I thought it used to power Cerulean up until like a decade ago."
"I manage the gym, not the electrical grid! And we were traveling most of that time!"
"Excuses, excuses!" he said cheekily.
Misty growled a response, but then took a deep breath and managed to reign in the brunt of her temper. "Okay then, assuming Zapdos is even here, how do you expect to find it if you can't navigate us through this place?"
Ash shrugged, the childlike glee on his face morphing to pensive thought. "I dunno. I figure we'll find some way to through. Dumb luck normally works out pretty well for us."
Misty and Brock exchanged glances, the latter shrugging at his younger friend. "Historically speaking, he's not wrong."
"That doesn't mean he's right," she grumbled.
The drone of robotic voices drew the trio from their discussion. They turned at the noise, drawing closer to each other at the site before them.
A crowd of Electric-type Pokémon – Voltorb, Electrode, Magnemite, and Magneton – surrounded them. Electricity crackled along their bodies, eyes hardened with anger at the intrusion upon their home. Sparks flew from the Magnemite and Magneton as the Voltorb and Electrode surged forward, bodies glowing white in preparation to self-destruct.
All three trainers blanched, though Ash recovered fastest. "RUN!" he bellowed, turning around and heeding his own advice. The Frontier Brain sprinted through the nearest open door, Misty and Brock not far behind, with the Electric-types hot on their trail.
After almost ten minutes of running, all three trainers were losing steam. The Magnemite and Magneton – lacking the speed that Voltorb and Electrode possessed – had fallen behind shortly into the chase, but the Ball Pokémon were able to keep pace with the trio, using Explosion and Self-Destruct when they were close enough.
"Ah!"
"Misty!"
Ash skidded to a stop and spared a glance backwards, finding Brock helping their redheaded friend to her feet from where she'd been thrown off-balance by a nearby blast. "Hurry!" he urged. A Voltorb jumped ahead of the pack, body glowing white, and Ash yelled, "Pikachu, Iron Tail!"
"Pi ka!"
Pikachu leaped from his shoulder and performed a horizontal twist, batting away the incoming Ball Pokémon with his tail. Voltorb struck the surging crowd of spherical Electric-types and promptly exploded, scattering Voltorb and Electrode like ricocheting pinballs. Pikachu landed on Brock's backpack as the trio continued their flight, Ash yelling, "Hurry up!" to spur them on.
Even as he tried to motivate his friends to keep going, Ash knew there wasn't much room left for them. They were beyond lost, and while they'd gotten lucky with the open doorways thus far, there was no way—
Oh crap!
The next area they ran into was a long corridor with a motorized door at the end, and by all appearances, it was rusted shut.
Figures, he thought with a scowl. He reached down to his belt and grabbed a Pokéball, opening it in his hand and allowing a figure to form just in front of him. "Tauros!" he yelled as the Bull Pokémon appeared in a flash of white, "ram down the door! Now!" The Normal-type lowed in response, stampeding ahead and lowering his head to ram the door in. The metal gave way with a harsh grinding sound and Ash sprinted the last several yards into the next room.
"C'mon, c'mon!" he urged Misty and Brock. On their last legs, both Gym Leaders dove for the doorway, scraping their limbs along some of the broken metal littering the floor. "Tauros, EARTHQUAKE!" Ash bellowed. Tauros lowed again, rearing onto his hind legs before bringing his sharp hooves down in a powerful strike to the floor. The three humans wobbled from the reverberations, clinging to each other for stability, but the attack served its purpose, throwing the Voltorb and Electrode off-kilter. "Again!" he commanded, and the bull repeated the attack, putting enough force behind the move to collapse several old generators across the doorway, blocking the entrance.
Ash looked at his two companions. "You guys alright?"
"Peachy," grumbled Misty. Ash grinned; if Misty could summon the energy to be sarcastic, they were fine.
"You did great, Tauros," Ash complimented. "Thanks for the assist." The Bull Pokémon mooed happily as his trainer held out his Pokéball, recalling him in a beam of red light. "Okay, now what?" he asked.
"How about a breather?" wheezed Brock. "I know we're all in pretty good shape, but that was ridiculous!"
"Seconded," agreed Misty.
"Alright," Ash acquiesced. As both Misty and Brock plopped to the ground gratefully, Ash took in the new area. It was in the same condition as the rest of the Power Plant with the only obvious difference being that there were three doorways – one of which was closed – instead of the usual one. "Hmm…"
"Please tell me that's a good 'hm' and not a bad one," Misty groaned. "We've been lost, gotten chased around this stupid place by a bunch of angry exploding Electric-type Pokémon, and Brock and I probably got tetanus from sliding across this floor with all its broken machinery. I'm not sure I can take any more bad news at this point."
"Nothing we haven't come across before. Just a couple of different paths to choose from, and, uh…no idea which one to take." He laughed in an attempt to relieve the tension of the moment. "No big deal, right? We should be pretty used to getting lost at this point."
Despite the attempted humor, silence greeted his proclamation, and Ash could have sworn that Misty was coloring a furious red from the neck up, a volcano about to rupture. He flinched in expectation of the ensuing eruption – because even this more mature version of Misty had her breaking point – but a quieter nose, like a muted buzzing, made its presence known first. Ash put a finger to his lips to signal for silence and reached down to his belt, grabbing one of the Pokéballs clipped there.
He glanced around as the buzzing sound continued, stepping forward cautiously and listening for the noise to get louder. After several paces, he pinpointed the sound coming from a pile of broken equipment in one of the corners. He approached it carefully, grasping the edge of the top piece of machinery and mentally counting to three before moving it aside in one swift motion.
After a few seconds, Ash promptly broke down into laughter at what he had revealed. A small, levitating metal sphere with one magnet on each side and three screws – one on top, the other two facing forward beneath a single shut eye – was shaking slightly in what Ash presumed to be fear. "Mag-ne-mite," droned the Pokémon.
Ash re-clipped the Pokéball to his belt, holding out his hand palm-up to the Magnemite. "Hey buddy," he coaxed gently, "it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." The Pokémon opened its eye, taking a moment to scrutinize Ash's open hand with distrust.
Pikachu – who had taken advantage of the lull in action by resting – finally seemed to notice the situation his master was currently in, and his cheeks began to spark in warning. Magnemite's eye immediately latched onto the output of electricity. The Magnet Pokémon levitated past the human and settled above the electric rodent, basking in the voltage given off. Pikachu almost stopped when Magnemite continued to hover above him, but some prompting from Ash told him to keep going.
Brock and Misty watched silently as Magnemite seemed to feed off of Pikachu while Ash walked back towards the group. "Ash," Brock spoke quietly, wary of disturbing the moment, "what are you doing?"
Ash's eyes were riveted to Pikachu and Magnemite when he responded. "You'll see."
The researcher let the feeding go on for several more minutes before he deemed it time to put his plan into action (and save Pikachu). "Hi Magnemite," Ash greeted cheerily, holding his hands up in an I-mean-you-no-harm gesture; the Electric/Steel hybrid looked up warily but made no other motions – positive or negative – so Ash continued talking. "We," he continued, gesturing to himself, Misty, and Brock, "are looking for the exit. Would you be able to take us there?"
"Ash! What about Zapdos? You know, the whole reason we came here?"
"One step at a time, Misty," he replied, keeping his eyes on the levitating Pokémon.
Magnemite appeared to be studying Ash, and time felt like it crawled as the trio awaited its decision. With an utterance of its name, it levitated towards one of the open doors, turning around at the entrance to check if it was being followed before going through.
Ash shot Misty a victorious glance, sticking out his tongue for added effect. "See, I told you it wasn't a big deal."
"Yeah, congrats," she returned dryly, standing with Brock and walking towards the door. "It only took six hours to find the way. That might be a new record!"
Ash looked down at Pikachu – standing beside him – as Misty and Brock trooped past. "I sense sarcasm," he told the rodent. "What do you think?"
"Pi," he agreed, before bounding after the other two.
Magnemite led them through a complex maze of locked doorways, fallen machinery, and twisting pathways that Brock was sure they never would have deciphered correctly on their own. Throughout the expedition, Ash slowly but surely got Magnemite to open up to him, even getting the small Pokémon to hover over his shoulder like a guardian angel.
Brock shook his head in amazement. Only Ash would be able to pull off such a feat.
It only took 45 minutes before Magnemite stopped in front of a closed door. "In there?" asked Ash. Magnemite bobbed in response. "Alright! Thanks for your help, buddy."
"Mite magnemite," it droned, before sparks erupted from its magnets, overloading the circuitry in the door and causing it to slide open effortlessly. It floated into the room, followed by the humans and Pikachu.
Unlike the rest of the Power Plant, this room was huge. Broken equipment and machinery still littered the ground and were stacked along the walls, with a truly massive generator taking up the central area. There were a few rocks scattered about the floor among broken glass; chunks of brick, mortar, and pipes from the ceiling were also strewn about the ground. Noticeable by its absence was a second door. Ash turned to face Magnemite. "You're sure this is the exit?" he reaffirmed.
Magnemite buzzed confidently and Ash shrugged, trusting the little Pokémon. "Well then," huffed Misty, "if this is the exit, where is it?"
"Keeroh!"
Misty fell silent as Zapdos descended through the roof among shattering glass and rebar, perching itself upon the large generator and staring at the intruding trainers. The Legendary bird of thunder was all angles, its yellow and black plumage arranged in jagged spikes along its tail, wings, and head crest. Brown feathers covered its thighs, ending in leathery skin for its legs and talons. Black rings around its eyes and a dangerously sharp beak – easily a foot long – completed the smallest of Kanto's Legendary birds fierce visage.
The Electric/Flying hybrid remained motionless as the trio drank in its sight, none of them daring to move beneath its critical gaze. After a minute that felt like forever, Misty finally breathed, "Zapdos…" and the bird took action.
It spread its yellow and black wings wide as electricity coiled around them like so many live serpents. Zapdos opened its beak and screeched briefly as lightning surged from its body, traveling along the walls and broken generators in a show of strength. As electricity danced around the bird and surroundings, a metallic screech sounded out, followed by a loud clang of metal striking metal. All heads turned to the single door in the room, finding it closed by Zapdos' attack overriding the circuitry. Magnemite attempted to open the door with its own attack, but the effort proved fruitless.
"We're locked in!" Brock exclaimed.
Ash turned back to face Zapdos, a determined expression on his face. The bird stared him down, taking a moment to preen its left wing before meeting Ash's look again. "Well, this is what we came for anyway," Ash said. "I have to capture Zapdos so we can get out of here. Pikachu!"
"Pi ka!" responded the rodent, leaping in front of Ash, sparks flying from its cheeks.
"Let's go!" Ash shouted. "Start things off with a Thunderbolt!"
"Piiika-chuuuuuuuu!" he cried, loosing a stream of lightning from his body. The attack connected squarely with Zapdos, whose eyes appear to close in slight pain before spreading his wings and dispersing it.
"Pika!" Pikachu cried out, stepping back a pace in surprise.
"So, Zapdos can withstand Pikachu's Thunderbolt, huh? Time for a different strategy then." Before he could employ it, Zapdos decided to make its move. Electricity built up around its form, and with a screech it released it. "Use your speed!" Ash called. "Agility!"
Pikachu used his speed to dance through the attack, disappearing and reappearing at random intervals. "Now Pikachu, Volt Tackle!" commanded Ash. The electric mouse reappeared right in front of Zapdos, and with a cry of 'Pi-ka!' covered itself in lightning and rammed into the bird with all his might.
Zapdos screeched in pain as the electric attack surged into its body. It clapped its wings together and Pikachu was forced to springboard off the bird's body, back-flipping and landing on all fours twenty feet away, panting slightly.
The electricity surrounding Zapdos dissipated, leaving the bird with a noticeable glint of revenge in its eyes. It took flight, surging forward quickly with its beak spinning wildly.
"Dodge it, Pikachu!" ordered Ash, and his Pokémon leapt out of the way at the last second, allowing the Drill Peck to burrow into the spot he'd just abandoned. Zapdos kept up the offensive, following Pikachu around and stabbing with its beak as the rodent continued to barely dodge. Ash gritted his teeth in frustration, knowing that Pikachu couldn't stay on the defensive forever.
"Use Quick Attack," he ordered. Pikachu complied, turning on the spot and rushing past Zapdos' head to strike the bird's chest. "Now, turn it into an Iron Tail!" Pikachu's tail glowed white before he swung it into the same area, causing Zapdos to shriek in pain again.
Zapdos flapped its wings, propelling itself backwards and roosting briefly upon the main generator. It seemed to be tiring, but compared to Pikachu, the Electric/Flying hybrid was still in fighting shape. The poor electric mouse was panting hard but still standing, even if just barely. Zapdos stared at its adversary momentarily before stretching out its wings again, calling electricity to them. Then, it raised its head skyward and sent the electricity upward with a cry of "Keeroh!"
Dark, stormy thunderclouds began to accumulate overhead, and within a matter of seconds a light rain had started. All present watched, mesmerized, as the Electric Pokémon continued to stare at the sky, where lightning started flashing between the clouds. As a thick bolt of lightning zigzagged towards the Legendary bird, Ash realized what was happening. "It's Rain Dance," he murmured to himself, his awe fading to realization as Zapdos was struck with the bolt. "That's gonna be one big attack…"
Zapdos absorbed the electricity like a sponge, lightning coating its entire body, before pointing both wings at Pikachu. A clap of thunder accompanied the bird's own Thunder attack, white lightning blitzing forward and striking Pikachu with perfect accuracy. The rodent's formed was illuminated in a bright flash and resounding boom that drowned out his pained cry.
"PIKACHU!" screamed Ash, another thunderclap sounding overhead to signify the end of the battle.
The three humans waited with bated breath until the Thunder attack faded, leaving Pikachu's crumpled form on the ground within ten yards of Zapdos. Ash made eye contact with Zapdos – who didn't move – before rushing forward and cradling his oldest Pokémon in his arms. The electric mouse opened its eyes slowly and weakly mewled "Pi…" before closing them again and resting in Ash's arms.
Ash returned to his friends, depositing Pikachu carefully into Misty's arms before turning around and facing his opponent once again. "Poor Pikachu," she murmured. "He took a real beating, didn't he?"
"He may have already been weakened a bit from feeding Magnemite, so he wasn't able to fight at his full potential," Brock said, "but he'll recover. It'll be interesting to see what Ash does next now that Rain Dance is active."
"Yeah, that's true," Misty agreed, turning back to face the Frontier Brain. The pair lapsed into silence as they waited for their friend to make a move.
They didn't wait long. Ash reached down and unclipped one of the Pokéballs from his belt, throwing it out with nary a word. In a bright flash of light, Ash's Pokémon was revealed to be a large crustacean with pale underbelly, red carapace, four spindly legs, a crest of red – almost like a crown – behind its eyes, and two claws, the left one noticeably larger than the right. "Kukie kukie," announced Kingler, stretching his arms into the air.
"Ash, are you insane?" Misty shouted from behind him. "Zapdos just toasted Pikachu, and you want to use Kingler, a Water-type, against the Legendary bird of THUNDER?"
"I know what I'm doing," he replied, though the boom of thunder overhead drowned out his response. He waited for it to pass before asking, "Ready to go, Kingler?"
"Kukie!"
Zapdos seemed to accept this as the beginning of round two, sending a Discharge at the large crab. "Kingler, Protect!" shouted Ash. Kingler held out its larger claw, forming an impenetrable shield that the electric attack hit and fizzled out upon. Zapdos crowed in anger, flapping its wings heartily and sending several of the smaller rocks and shrapnel on the ground flying towards Kingler. "Harden," Ash commanded smoothly, getting back into the flow of the battle. Kingler huddled in upon himself, raising his large claw to take most of the damage.
Brock and Misty watched as this trend continued for another several minutes. Zapdos would either use an electric attack that Ash would counter with Protect, or beat its wings ferociously, during which Kingler would strengthen his defense with Harden. When Zapdos started rapid-firing the electric attacks, Ash would alternate using Protect and having Kingler scuttle behind a decrepit piece of machinery for protection.
"What's he doing?" Misty asked, curious. "Zapdos can't get any hits in, but neither can Kingler. It's practically a stalemate, except that Zapdos still has the type advantage."
"I'm…not sure," Brock replied slowly. "I would say that he's trying to prompt Zapdos into getting angry, but I'm not sure what that would do for him."
"Keep it up, Kingler! You're doing great so far."
"Kukie kukie."
Zapdos appeared to grow incensed at the cat-and-mouse game, screeching angrily before taking flight with a flap of its wings. Its beak starting spinning wildly and it dove in a furious path directly towards Kingler.
Finally! "Kingler, stand your ground and wait for my signal."
The crustacean prepared himself, hunkering down and doing as his trainer bid. Zapdos was closing in fast, and it took everything she had for Misty not to scream at Ash to do something.
Zapdos was fifteen feet away when Ash reacted, yelling, "Kingler! Grab it now!"
As if able to read Ash's mind, Kingler's larger claw shot forward and closed around Zapdos' whirling beak. The Electric/Flying hybrid released a surprised trill that was muffled by its inability to open its beak, but then recovered and continued to press forward with its attack. Despite the lost momentum, the larger Pokémon was still able to make Kingler move, the crustacean's feet fighting for purchase on the slippery ground.
"CRABHAMMER!" Ash bellowed, and Kingler's smaller claw glowed a bright white before he slammed it into Zapdos' body. Despite lacking the power of his larger claw, Kingler's attack was strong enough to stop Zapdos' Drill Peck, stunning the electric bird. Ash capitalized on the moment, shouting, "Now, SLAM IT INTO THE GROUND!"
With tremendous strength, the Pincer Pokémon brought his larger claw straight up – with Zapdos still in it – and then smashed the bird into the ground with a modified Crabhammer.
The shaking of the floor was drowned out by another clap of thunder that resonated deep in everyone's bodies, and it took Ash several seconds to realize that Zapdos was not moving. "Pokéball, go!" he cried, throwing the red and white sphere at the downed Legendary. It connected squarely, and Zapdos was swallowed by the capsule in a flash of red. The ball hit the ground, and no one moved as it shook back and forth before finally settling down.
The sudden storm dispersed with its progenitor's capture, and Ash let out a whoop of excitement at the realization. "We did it!" he exclaimed, running up and hugging Kingler. "You're awesome, Kingler! You deserve a good rest," he congratulated, returning the crab to his Pokéball. He stepped forward and picked up Zapdos' Pokéball, bringing it close as if to inspect that it was real before something else caught his attention.
The generator that Zapdos had perched on when it landed was sparking violently, and after several seconds it finally seemed to die, releasing a burst of smoke. As Brock and Misty ran up to Ash, a door seemed to materialize on the opposite wall. "Zapdos must have been hiding the door with some sort of hologram," Brock theorized.
"But…Zapdos can't set up a hologram," Misty pointed out.
The trio pondered the mystery for a moment before Ash shrugged. "A mystery for another day."
"Yeah, we should get Pikachu and Zapdos to a Pokémon Center," Brock added.
"Right," agreed Ash. He started walking towards the door, but Magnemite had already beaten him there. The Pokémon was already sending electrical pulses into the door, and after a moment it opened with a grind of metal on metal. Magnemite motioned for them to approach with an eye-smile, and as they came within range, Magnemite surged forward and began to return energy to Pikachu through electric shocks.
The electric mouse opened his eyes soon enough, and Ash promptly hugged him out of relief. "Thanks, Magnemite," he told the Pokémon with gratitude. "We owe you a lot. See ya!"
The trio turned away and began to walk out the door, but Magnemite seemed to buzz in response. They looked back at it to see that it was following Ash; the Frontier Brain was distinctly reminded of so many of his other Pokémon friends that had exhibited this same behavior. "Magnemite," he began slowly, "do you want to come with us?"
"Mag-ne-mite," it droned, bobbing its body in affirmation. Ash gave it a smile before pulling out another Pokéball, opening it up for the Pokémon to climb into. In a flash, Magnemite was captured, leaving Ash with a giddy expression that reminded his companions of when he'd been a teenager.
"Come on, guys, let's go!" With that, they stepped outside of the Power Plant, blinking at the sun's brightness.
"Ash?"
"Yeah Misty?"
"Is that the front door to the Power Plant right there?"
Ash looked to where she was pointing, noting that, not fifty feet away, were the giant double doors that opened into the Power Plant. "Hey, yeah! Well what do you know!"
"You realize that if we had just searched a little harder, we could have saved the hours of wandering that maze, getting lost, and being chased by angry Electric-type Pokémon, right?"
High on his victories, Ash ignored the warning bells chiming in his head, including the signs Brock was sending him from behind Misty's back. "Not with the hologram there, though. And besides," he continued cheerily, lacing his fingers behind his head and closing his eyes to the sun, "where would the fun in that be?"
He never saw her enraged attack coming.