Not All Arrogance (A Gary Oak Love Story) Part 15~Return of the Mutants, Saffron City Takeover
Duplica, Ditto, Gary, Gabriel the Cubone and Amy had left behind Drew, Machala and a tearful Violet back in Lavender Town and were now headed for Saffron City. It was true that when Gary and Amy had tried to pass into the city from Cerulean City the gates had been closed, but it had been a while so Amy was sure they had to be open again. There was no way the guards would have them closed for over a week. Besides, she was a bit too preoccupied to worry about Saffron City being closed.
Gary had been trying to get her to hold his hand since they left; perhaps he had been spoiled by Violet's constant grip. He had the opportunities since Gabriel seemed to prefer walking to being carried by Amy. Amy had refused, insisting that she may have said that she was his girlfriend, but that was to shake off Violet. Gary didn't seem to believe her though and was now trying to grab her hand whenever she let her guard down. Duplica and Ditto found this extremely amusing and Ditto had even transformed into a clipboard with a tally chart. So far it was Amy 12, Gary 2. Duplica sipped her iced tea. She had gotten a 6-pack from the store before leaving Lavender.
Luckily Saffron wasn't far from Lavender, and they reached the gate within the hour. Not so lucky however was the fact that the barrier was indeed still up. A guard stood at his post watching them approach. When they got close enough he told them to halt.
"Saffron City is under quarantine. No one is allowed in or out," he said in a raspy voice. Amy tilted her head to one side.
"You sound thirsty," she said innocently. Gabriel cocked his head and leaned against Amy's leg.
The guard looked a little taken aback. "Why, yes, but I'm allowed to go get a drink. I've been here an hour..." he saw Duplica's iced tea. "Hey can I get a sip of that?"
Duplica shook her head and crushed the can. "Nope, sorry, it's empty."
The guard sighed. "Figures."
"Hey, why's the whole city under quarantine anyway? It's been like that over a week now. How're you getting supplies in?" Gary asked, for once asking a valid question. Amy was impressed.
"I'm not at liberty to discuss that," the guard said stiffly.
Duplica smiled and drew another iced tea from her bag. "If you answer our questions I'll give you some iced tea, how's that sound?"
The guard stared a second, looked like he was going to decline, and then broke down. "Okay!" He grabbed it and down it in 3 gulps. He wiped his mouth with his hand and sighed happily.
"So why's it under quarantine?" Amy asked now that he was done.
"Huh? Oh, they get helicopters to bring stuff in. I don't know exactly why it's quarantined, I think some scientists are doing a research experiment or something."
"But we need to get the Marsh Badge from the gym here. Isn't there any way you could let us by...?" Amy pled. The guard shook his head firmly.
"No way. Besides, the gym leader's gone on some sort of training excursion for a year. She'll be back in a couple months. They'll probably open the boarders for her, she's scary. I hope she doesn't come back in this way," the guard said with a sigh.
Duplica thought for a moment, looking at him closely. "That wasn't the whole truth that you just told us," she said, narrowing her eyes.
The guard looked a little freaked out. "What are you talking about? Of course it's the truth! Why would I lie?" Gary and Amy looked at Duplica, confused.
"I see that cloth in your pocket. It has a red 'R'." She leaned forward and grabbed it. He tried to snatch it back but Ditto smack into his, tackling him to the ground. Gabriel clapped gleefully and jumped on the guard as well.
"It's nothing! My name's Rodney!" he grunted as Ditto jumped up and down on him.
"Mm-hmm." Amy hummed sceptically inspection the cloth. It was sweaty, but she ignored that. Inside on the wash-tag was the name 'Liam'. She waved it in front of the guard's face.
"Okay fine! Maybe I'm a Rocket but you ain't getting in here! The boss has claimed this city as his base!" Gary took this opportunity to release Casper the Haunter. He had it prepare to use Nightshade in front of the Rocket who began sweating profusely.
"Who exactly is this boss?" Gary asked bending over the Rocket.
"I don't know his name!" the Rocket yelled in terror, "I'm just a grunt okay? Only executives are allowed to have that kind of information! I don't even know what our business here is, I'm just supposed to guard!"
"Gary, he's telling the truth," Duplica said stepping in. She had been watching the Rocket carefully through his short speech. "Just have Casper put him to sleep with Hypnosis."
Gary nodded to his Haunter. The ghost Pokémon relinquished the dark energy of Nightshade and instead pumped purple waves of light into the Rocket's eyes. The Rocket fought at first, but succumbed and fell into a deep sleep.
"Alright," Amy muttered, running her hand through her hair. She went over to the window at the other end of the gatehouse, followed closely by Gabriel at her feet. Saffron City was completely surrounded by walls because it was an experimental city, home to the Silph Corporation. It was a very secretive organization and nearly the whole city worked for them. All this probably made it very easy for the Rockets to take over and one look out that little window showed Amy the extent of the damage. There were clearly the remains of a battle all around. In the windows of the apartments she saw a few scared faces of the residents of the city. On the streets were dozens of Rockets in uniform. A pair stood in front of every building too. Amy beckoned to her companions to come and look with her. "There's no way we're getting in there like this, everyone outside has a uniform."
"Well we could take this guy's so at least one of us can get in there. I'm sure he has it around" Duplica pointed out.
"Yeah, but shouldn't we call the police for something like this?" Amy asked her friend as she checked the drawers in the small cabinet against the wall.
"Oh we are so lucky!" Duplica squealed pulling out not one, but four uniforms.
"But Duplica..."
"Look, Amy," Gary asked grabbed her hand. She froze in shock but Gary hurried on before she could say anything, "Haven't you ever wanted to be a hero? We can totally wipe the floor with these guys!"
Amy pulled away and snapped back "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? We are first time trainers! We only have 6 Pokémon each and many of mine aren't exactly battlers, like Gabriel. He's just a baby really. We have badges sure, but only 3 each. You act as if we're amazing but we're not!"
"Are you guys coming or not?" Duplica asked already at the door in full uniform. Beside her was... Liam? Amy blinked, stared at Liam, looked at the floor, and looked back. Liam was on the floor too.
"Ditto?" Amy asked suspiciously.
"Ditto!" the Rocket guard copy cried happily throwing a fist in the air.
"Duplica! We can't have Ditto be a Rocket! Especially one that some of these guys might know!" Gary snapped.
"Why not?"
"Because if someone sees him and tries talking to him, how long do you think it'll take before they figure out all he can say is 'Ditto'?"
"Oh yeah..." Duplica said with a sigh. Ditto transformed back into its blob state and sighed too. Duplica took out her Pokeball and put him inside.
"We can't go in there!" Amy snapped and stamped her foot. Why weren't they getting this?
"Well maybe you're not but we are." Gary grinned. Amy turned to see him in uniform too. He and Duplica headed for the door into Saffron.
"YOU ARE NOT!" Amy yelled grabbing both of them by the backs of the shirts "Are you both completely insane? You're both completely insane!"
"We just want to do our part for the greater good!" Gary said trying to pull away.
"Greater good my foot, you said you just wanted to play the hero..."
"I do not! I just-"
"Hey, where's Gabriel?" Duplica asked suddenly. Amy let go of Gary and he fell forward onto the ground. Amy looked around wildly.
"Gabriel? Gabriel! Where are you?" Amy asked frantically when Gary pulled her towards the window looking into Saffron City and made her look out it. Amy nearly fainted dead away.
Gabriel was headed straight towards the guard in front of a small house. The house looked out of place amid the apartments on either side but still had a guard in front of it.
"Oh no," Amy whispered. The Cubone hopped past the guard into the bushes. Amy blinked. He hadn't been noticed? She watched as Gabriel climbed the side of the house and jimmied open the window slightly before dropping into it and out of site. Amy slid away from the window and felt like all her blood was running cold. "Oh. My. God," she whispered. Suddenly Gary's cell phone rang. He grabbed it fast and put it to his ear.
"Hello? Gramps? What is- what? No way! Do ya think it was Rockets? We're right outside Saffron now! No, of course not we weren't just waltzing in! We-"
"You were about to, give me that!" Amy snapped grabbing the phone and elbowing Gary away "Prof. Oak?"
"Amy?" Oak's voice came over the phone "As I just told Gary, Bill's prototype transfer system has been stolen. I was with him at the time on business; the men who took it said something about Saffron City. I thought you'd be in the area so I wanted to let you know it might not be safe."
"It's not!" Amy cried, "Team Rocket has completely taken it over! They're keeping all the citizens trapped in their own houses and Gabriel went in there!" she fought to keep from crying. She was not breaking down over the phone, this just wasn't the time!
"Gabriel?" Prof. Oak sounded confused, though it was really no wonder.
"Oh, my baby Cubone I got in Lavender Town, he went into Saffron and got himself into one of the houses!"
"Well don't panic and do something rash like running in after him. If he's inside a house I'm sure he' be alright for the moment, you just get away from that city and get the police."
"But I- oh alright. Bye," Amy sighed and hung up.
"Amy come look!" Duplica called. Amy rushed to the window and saw to her horror that clearly a Rocket had noticed Gabriel crawl into the house after all. They had infiltrated the house and brought the Cubone outside. They seemed pretty excited. Amy recalled that it was Rockets who had tried to take Gabriel's skull before.
"So what's the plan now- AMY!" Gary yelled as Amy ran out through the door towards the Rocket holding the squirming Cubone in his grip.
"LET GO OF GABRIEL RIGHT NOW!" Amy screamed and tackled the Rocket to the ground. He let out a shriek and Gabriel went flying, to be caught by Duplica. She held him tightly and Gary appeared beside her.
"Gedoff, how'd you get in here?" the Rocket grunted from the ground. He grabbed Amy's upper arms and flipped her off, getting to his feet and yanking up Amy with him. Gary made to move forward but Duplica stopped him. "Hey, you two there!" the Rocket holding Amy snapped looking straight at Gary and Duplica.
"Who, us?" Gary asked.
"Yeah you, give that Cubone to me and find somewhere to put this girl, find out who she is too come to think of it," he growled, shoving Amy into Gary who looked surprised for a moment, then grinned and grabbed her around the middle, trapping her arms to her sides.
"Will do," he said in his most evil sounding voice.
"Gary!-uh, let me go you evil man!" Amy shouted squirming around fighting a violent blush.
"Hey, why should I hand over Gabriel-I mean this Cubone?" Duplica asked crossing her arms over Cubone's stomach.
"Because I'm an executive, and you're just Grunts. Which is why you have to deal with squirming intruders while I hand over more test subjects for Bill's mutant machine," the Rocket explained sounding irritated. He reached forward and snatched Gabriel from Duplica before stomping off, getting lost in a crowd of Rockets. Amy could hear Gabriel crying as he went.
"Did he say... laboratory? Like, where they do experiments? MUTANTS?" Amy shrieked and tried struggling away but Gary held her back, with some help from Duplica.
"Cool it Amy!" Gary groaned dragging her down an alley between apartment buildings.
"I will not cool it! He just took Gabriel to do some mutant experimentations! I can't just let him-!"
"Do you want us all caught here? We have to think! And get you a uniform; you stand out like this," Duplica said exasperatedly.
Amy looked at Duplica surprised. She was talking sense. "Duplica, you're... right. But I don't think there's time! We don't even know where he went!"
"Then we'll find out. But first you need a uniform. I don't think we can get back to the gatehouse, we'll have to mug someone, " Gary said, edging to the mouth of the alley. Amy blinked.
"Did you just say mug?" she shrieked. Duplica clapped a hand over her mouth.
"Ssh!" she hissed and went over to Gary. Amy tried to follow but Duplica told her to stay back. She sucked in her cheeks wondering what they were going to do. Suddenly a Rocket passed by himself in front of the alley and Duplica and Gary jumped him, quickly dragging him into the alley. He struggled but Amy released Harmony and got her to sing into the Rocket's ear, putting him to sleep. She recalled her Jigglypuff and they proceeded to remove the Rocket's uniform. Amy donned it and found she had to roll up the pant legs and sleeves to get it to at least look like it fit. She wasn't sure how this was going to work out.
*****
Only 10 minutes later the three of them had managed to discover where the lab was (there was a map in one of the Rocket's pockets with it marked out) and had managed to sneak into the building. Duplica tugged on Amy's shirt sleeve and pointed across the lobby where the elevator was closing.
"Score! It's the Rocket, with Gabriel!" Duplica whispered pointing as the doors closed. Gary nodded and motioned for the girls to follow him as they walked as calmly as possible across the lobby. They watched the numbers above the elevator drop to basement 4. Gary pressed the down button and the doors slid open. A nerdy looking man stepped out, muttering something as he scanned a clipboard. He didn't seem to notice any of the people he passed. Amy and Duplica glanced at each other quickly before following Gary into the elevator. The door shut.
"Okay. So, we're in. Now what?" Amy sighed leaning against the wall.
"We save Gabriel of course, what do you think?" Gary snapped.
"Actually, even if we reach Gabriel and get him away from this lab thing, we'd still need to get out of this place. By the time we get out they'll probably find the guard. Then the guy who saw Amy earlier will tell them we're here," Duplica mused, almost to herself. Amy and Gary looked horrified.
"So, we're pretty well doomed then?" Amy whispered.
Gary set his jaw and shook his head. "We are NOT doomed. Stop talking like that Duplica."
"I'm only saying this will be hard, I'm not saying it's not possible. We can't just barge in and take Gabriel though. We need an excuse to do so. Also, we need to be able to get out of this city and alert authorities."
"We could just use my cell to call the police," Gary offered.
Amy shook her head sharply. "No, they'll probably be able to detect the signal," They looked at each other warily as the elevator clanked to a stop. The doors opened and the three of them viewed the most horrid sight they ever had. The light was bright and all was sparkling clean, but the walls were lined with cages. Each cage had a Pokémon crammed uncomfortably inside. That was bad enough, but many of the Pokémon were also sporting clear mutations. There was a Pinser with Kingler legs. A Pigeot with Kingler claws in the place of wings. A Tangela covered in feathers.
"This is horrible." Duplica said in hushed tones. Amy nodded ever so slightly in agreement.
"Hey, what if we released these guys as a diversion?" Gary whispered excitedly. The girls glared at him.
"What?!"
"We can't just release them! That'll give us away immediately!" Amy hissed.
"We just have to get Gabriel out of here, he's just a baby!" Duplica snapped.
Suddenly a sharp voice echoed from the right and all three of them jumped. "What are you three doing standing around there? You're needed at the back; the professor is doing a new experiment, trying to graft Sneasel claws on a Cubone or something..."
Amy stared at the Rocket and felt boiling anger raise within her. She swept towards the back without a second glance at the Rocket who told them to go back there. Gary and Duplica did see his face however and immediately raced after Amy to stop her. Unfortunately they were a little late. From the floor around them just as they caught up with Amy iron bars sprang up, fencing them in.
"Hey! Let us out- ow!" Duplica sucked her finger after touching the bars. Apparently they were electrified.
"Okay, clearly we were expected," Amy groaned.
"But how, damn it!" Gary snapped as the Rocket who Amy tackled and a man with grey hair and lab coat came towards them smiling evilly. Duplica, Gary and Amy glared at them.
"So you are Gary Oak I assume? Interesting. In case you haven't figured it out, which I doubt considering how young and stupid you are."
"Hey!" Gary growled but the old scientist man ignored him and carried on.
"There was a video camera and microphone in the toll house where you took out our guard. In fact, the entire city is being monitored. You got in only because it was allowed. We thought your Pokémon could be good testing subjects and more hostages are always good in police business. Don't you wonder how the police from other cities haven't intruded on us yet? We've already told them what would become of the residents of Saffron if they raise any kind of alarm," he smirked. Amy felt a rising disgust for this man.
"Why are you doing this? Why the hell have you taken over a city, mutated Pokémon, and then led us in here only to capture us?" Amy snapped.
The scientist blinked in surprise. "Why, it's simply orders. Also, when Giovanni takes over the world using his mutant army and his own secret project...well I was promised a city or two to rule over. It's all personal interest. Don't take it out on me; you'd do the same thing if you had the opportunity."
"No we wouldn't!" Duplica snapped.
'Giovanni, is that their boss then?' Amy thought to herself as Gary started screaming profanities at the Rockets. Suddenly a sharp course of electricity blasted through her body and a shriek involuntarily burst from her lips. Duplica and Gary seemed to have had a shock as well, and Gary shut up.
"Such language! Didn't old Professor Oak ever teach you any manners?" the scientist said in mock pleasantness. Gary seemed more furious, but didn't start yelling this time. Amy thought that was the most mature thing he'd done, or had refrained from doing, all day "Well anyway, back to mutating this Cubone," the scientist said smiling and going across the room with the Rocket to a machine Amy automatically registered as the prototype Pokémon transfer system. Recalling its power to transfer qualities at random of the last Pokémon transferred to whatever Pokémon was put through it, Amy did not like where this was going.
"He's just a baby! Leave him alone!" she cried but another shock went through the cage.
"Be QUIET!" the scientist snapped angrily. Then he smiled again. "I think a nice blend with a Sneasel will be most interesting. We've been working on ways to determine which qualities to pass to the next Pokémon. I think claws would be a good idea... you see here we store all the failed mutations for further analysis, but whenever a useful mutation is produced it's shipped to our boss's project's location. In any case, our last Pokémon to go through the system was a Beedrill... thing lost his wings and got covered in fur thanks to the Ninetails DNA. Oh well no matter, we've discovered that more useful attributes are transferred when the Pokémon are closer to the same species and shape. Now let's put this Sneasel that was brought in the other day," the scientist took a cage that held a perfectly ordinary looking Sneasel, but it had clearly been sedated. Beside that cage was one that housed a terrified looking Gabriel. Amy felt tears come to her eyes. The Sneasel was dumped into one container of the bulky machine. It looked up apathetically, not seeming to understand what was going on. The container was closed.
"Stop this! Can't you see you shouldn't mess with nature? Or use Pokémon in random genetic experiments? It's just wrong!" Duplica yelled; getting another zap as the transfer was begun. The Sneasel disappeared. A moment passed, and then it reappeared in the other container. Only now it had a pair of Beedrill wings on its back, and its claws had been replaced with stingers.
"Hmm, an improvement, if he can use them to fly." the scientist muttered as he loaded the still groggy Pokémon back into its cage and the other Rocket took the cage.
"Should I ship or stack it?" he asked in an almost bored voice, as if he'd said it too many times to count. He probably had.
"Hmm... stack I think for now, in the ability test room."
"Roger," the Rocket left.
"And now for this Cubone," the scientist said grinning as he took Gabriel's cage.
"NO!" Amy yelled and tried to hit the bars but stumbled back from the electricity. The scientist smirked as he dumped Gabriel into the container. Suddenly Amy realised something she certainly hadn't before... Gabriel didn't have its signature bone club. She hadn't even thought about it, but it was the source of most of its attacks. It was probably in panic that she noticed such things.
"And now, presto chango..." the scientist chuckled. Amy couldn't hold back tears anymore. She'd never felt so helpless. She started to cry and Gary looked at her a little shocked at tears coming from her.
"Amy, it'll be okay," he said softly, putting his arm around her and holding her to him. She leaned against him, she couldn't help herself. She was in distress.
"Wait a second," Duplica said blinking, taking her Pokeball holding Ditto from her pocket. Gary noticed and reached into his own pocket for his Pokeball. Amy raised her head, felt a wave of embarrassment for not remembering sooner that they all still had their other Pokémon. Just as the scientist pressed the button, he was tackled by Ditto, Isis and Socrates. Gary then called out Casper who sent the old man to sleep. Their Pokémon proceeded to release them from their cage and Amy went to check the damage to her sweet little Gabriel.
"Um, actually, he doesn't look too bad," Duplica said smiling a little when they saw.
"If he can build up the strength to lift those claws," Gary said crossing his arms.
"Gabriel? Do you feel alright?" Amy whispered, picking up Gabriel cautiously but almost dropping him as he tried to embrace her. The little Pokémon had turned black, its skull silver and shining. Its arms were now however two overlarge Sneasel claws. Naturally that was a pretty dangerous thing for a baby Pokémon to have. "Gabriel, it'll be okay, we'll find a way to reverse this," Amy moaned softly. Gary put his arm around her again but she shrugged him away. This was not the time! "Okay, we need a plan again!" Amy said turning to face the others.
"Do you have one in mind?" Gary asked seeming a little put out by Amy rejecting his touch.
"I have an idea! We'd have Gary dress up as the scientist and-"
"No Duplica! No more disguises! I think the only reason they worked before is that they were expecting us, and besides, trying to be someone who's important is harder than a few nameless Rocket grunts, there is no way!" Amy snapped, "I have a plan, we release these Pokémon in here, and as they cause a distraction, we get out of here. Though they've probably tightened security on exits to make sure we won't get away..." Amy trialed off
"They think we're still trapped though!" Duplica said determined.
"Yeah, but here's my idea, we get the mutants to cause a distraction, and we use it to sneak up to this Giovanni's office and hold HIM hostage!" Gary said excitedly.
Amy growled in frustration. "WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IF HE'S IN THE CITY GARY!" Amy shrieked.
"Well, actually, I think Gary has a good idea. He at least probably has an office he uses here. We could totally get in there and find something incriminating enough to stop them!" Duplica said happily. Amy couldn't believe this.
"Even if that's true do you have any idea what kind of security they'd have there?"
"Always a dark cloud with you isn't it?" Gary smirked. Amy stared at him. That sounded familiar. "Yes, you said that before. Back when my car got crushed by a tree..."
"Your car got crushed by a tree?" Duplica said blinking in confusion.
"Yeah, and Amy thought winging it was an okay idea then."
"Our lives weren't in danger then!" Amy snapped, but felt herself starting to break down just a little. "Oh... okay. We'll release the mutants. Then we'll get out of here and play it by ear okay? Make sure your Rocket uniforms are on right," Amy said as she headed for the cages, the Pokémon behind her.
*****
It turned out that Gabriel's new claws were excellent lock picks. All the same, it took a while to get only a few out before Ditto noticed a button to release all the cages at once. After that the alarm was soon sounded and the three of them returned their Pokémon, even placing Gabriel a little un-wilfully, inside their Pokeballs. They then headed into the elevator, as it seemed the only way out of the laboratory. (Amy noted that it was probably poor fire planning on the builder's part.) From the elevator Amy intended to have them get off on the ground floor. Unfortunately her travel partners decided through conversation that since this was the tallest building in the city, Giovanni's office was probably at the very top floor of it. Amy said that was ridiculous. But they made her stay on the elevator till the top. Amy felt like she was going to be sick as they stepped out into a small room. On one side was a staircase. On the other was a door. The words 'Silph Co President' were on the door. Gary reached for the handle. It was unlocked. Inside was a typical CEO office, with the big deck and tall chair. It faced away from them.
"Do... do you think he's in the chair? Waiting for us?" Duplica whispered nervously, her voice echoing in the room. No movement was to be seen nor any other sound heard except for shouts and running on lower floors, echoing up the elevator shaft as the doors closed, leaving them in silence.
"I don't think he's in it," Amy said cautiously walking around the desk. No, the chair was empty. But on the desk something very startling caught her eye. It was a picture. She stared, her mouth dropped open. "G-Gary..." she stuttered motioning him over to look. He came over confused, along with Duplica. For Duplica, it held no meaning; Gary on the other hand joined Amy in astonishment. The picture had a man with matted black hair and dark eyes with his arm around a woman with long red hair tied back in a ponytail. Her stomach was round from pregnancy. It was Ash's mother. Delia Ketchum.
"Oh my gosh!" Duplica gasped when they told her what this picture meant. "Um, maybe it was the Silph Co president? Doesn't make sense seeing as Ash's dad left his family but-" Amy shook her head, reading some freshly shuffled papers on the desk. They were for Giovanni Ketchum. Amy was certain she was going to throw up.
"Well... I guess he was bad news huh," Gary said quietly. Amy glared at him.
"Shut up! This is not the time for I told you so! Besides, Ash is so NOT like him!" Amy shouted.
"What are you three doing in here?" A sharp voice sounded from the door. The three looked up simultaneously and saw the man from the picture, Giovanni. Only he looked older. Deep wrinkles had formed under his eyes and his hair was shorter. He was also wearing what Amy decided was an extremely unattractive orange rich man suit. At his heels walked a Persian.
"We were just, um, leaving," Gary said awkwardly as he and Duplica tried to head for the door. Amy did not accompany them. She snatched the picture off the desk and faced Giovanni with it, anger blazing in her eyes.
"WHY DID YOU JUST LEAVE THEM? FOR THIS? HOW COULD YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?" she yelled pointing accusingly at him. He stared at her, seeming surprised.
"What are you talking about? That was... a long time ago. What do you care? You don't know them."
"I do!" Amy seethed. Gary motion for her to shut up, but she wasn't up for listening to him. "Ash, this woman's son, my best friend! My name is Amy," she took off the Rocket hat revealing her hair and face, "and these are Gary and Duplica. Ash lives practically next door in Pallet Town with us, well not Duplica but Gary and me, damn you, have you any idea... you are a MONSTER!" Amy shrieked again and charged at him, probably to tackle him again. He narrowed his eyes and stepped aside quickly, she tripped and fell forward, only just being caught by Gary who happened to be in the right place at the right time. Giovanni did a strange double take on Duplica with an odd look on his face but it was quickly washed away into an annoyed expression.
"Silly girl, you don't understand, and I don't intend to explain it to you. So shut up and get out of here before you`re caught. If you are then I will not help you," Giovanni muttered and took the picture from Amy who seemed more than a little surprised.
"You... aren't going to tell them where we are?" Amy asked softly.
"Get out of here now and I won't. And don't even think about telling anyone who I am. Do you think they'd want to know?" he growled, glaring. "I don't think so. Just be glad I'm letting you go." Amy stared at him a moment, then went to leave. Though at the door appeared a woman with long blue hair. She had a dark coldness in her eyes.
"What the hell are you doing in my city? Your men said I'd find their boss here," she said in a monotonous voice.
Giovanni's eyes narrowed at the woman. "Sabrina, you were supposed to be away for a year. It's only been 7 months," he said softly.
"I felt a great surge of panic from the city so I came only to find it was your own Rockets who had panicked, not the citizens. I do not care about the people of this city, but I do care that you have transformed my gym into a tavern," he glared and ice seemed to penetrate everything around her. "Leave," she hissed. Giovanni stared at her, seeming to be shaking in fear and rage at the same time. He marched toward the elevator and went down.
Sabrina turned to Amy and the others. "You are not Rockets," Sabrina said in the same monotonous state. Amy was still in a state of immense confusion, Duplica was still a little freaked by Giovanni's odd look at her, but Gary still had sense enough to nod, despite Sabrina's freezing stare. "You have come to challenge me to a match. Very well. But first I will get rid of the Rockets," she closed her eyes. Amy glanced out the window it time to see hundreds of Rockets on the street glow blue and vanish. Sabrina's eyes opened and she staggered slightly "There were more than I thought. But I said I would battle you. I do not require full strength for that," she breathed.
"Wait, where did all the Rocket's go?" Duplica asked a little warily.
"I teleported them all to wherever their boss had decided to go."
"What? You could have sent them into the police you know!" Gary snapped, breaking free of Sabrina's icy stare.
"I told you, affairs of other people do not interest me. Besides, the police are useless. The Rockets would have easily escaped," Sabrina said softly and suddenly Duplica, Amy and Gary felt a tingling sensation, and disappeared.
*****
A flash of blue light and they all stood inside what was clearly the gym. There was garbage all over but it was being quickly swept away by several hooded individuals, who seemed to be Sabrina's disciples or something.
"Ah..." Amy said awkwardly as Sabrina floated to the opposite end of the arena.
"Who will challenge me first? Be forewarned that should you face me and fail, you will remain here, forever," The three of them stared at each other.
"Do we have a choice? Because, I'm not really here to challenge you, just to cheer them on.," Duplica said pointing to Amy and Gary.
"Then should one of them lose you will stay with them."
"Oh," Duplica squeaked.
"Um, I, uh, I guess I'll go first then," Gary said stepping up to the challenger's space. A disciple stood as judge. Amy wondered if perhaps the hooded people were once challengers here. She shivered. The judge did not speak; it was Sabrina who said it was to be a one on one Pokémon battle.
"Go, Abra," Sabrina said softly, a Pokeball appearing in front of here and pushed towards the field. The brown and gold Pokémon emerged, sitting peacefully almost. It was asleep. Gary seemed clear that this would be an easy victory. Amy didn't like this. Sabrina seemed powerful on her own. Her Pokémon were probably just as, if not more powerful.
"Go Casper!" Gary caused and threw the Pokeball containing his Haunter. Sabrina did not seem worried despite the type disadvantage. This unnerved Amy all the more."Alright! Casper, Hypnosis!"
"Gary it's already asleep!" Amy shouted. Gary blinked.
"Oh, yeah, Dream Eater!"
"I'm doomed," Duplica murmured. Ditto released itself from its Pokeball and cowered beside her. Duplica hugged it for comfort.
"Abra, Teleport," said Sabrina. Abra's closed eyes seemed to open ever so slightly and glowed red. The Pokémon vanished and appeared behind Casper just as it lunged for it.
"What the, but it's asleep!" Gary said in shock.
"Abra can use attacks while it is sleeping," Amy's Pokedex explained as she asked.
'Great,' Amy thought sarcastically.
"Well, then, Nightshade!" Gary yelled. Casper spun around just as Abra used Flash. All in the gym were blinded by the light. When the light dimmed a Thunder punch had been sent straight at Casper and had sent him reeling across the room.
"Oh no," Amy moaned. She didn't like this at all and Sabrina scared her. She didn't want to face her. But how could she back out now? Sabrina knew she had wanted to fight her.
"NIGHT SHADE FULL POWER!" Gary yelled. Clearly, he wanted this over with. Casper used it. It engulfed Abra.
"Wow, I didn't actually expect that," Amy muttered. The black light faded. Abra lay still. Sabrina frowned and returned it. Clearly the match had been won. Casper made like he was about to victory dance with Gary, but instead fell to the ground.
"What's wrong?" Gary said confused going to his Pokémon as he checked his Pokedex.
"When ghost Pokémon are backed into a difficult situation, they can use up all their life energy at one time to defeat its opponent. Being a ghost, this means it can recover, but it can take over a week to come back into consciousness. Usually wild ghost Pokémon will dissipate into a vapour form when in this state as protection, but a trainer's ghost Pokémon on will usually not due to the influence of a Pokeball capture. Trainers are urged to keep their ghost Pokémon inside their Pokeball during rest time if their Pokémon has used up its life energy."
"What? Oh great," Gary groaned returning his Pokémon. Duplica breathed a sigh of relief as Sabrina had a Marsh badge appear in front of Gary. He took it and went back to cheer on Amy. Amy took her place, shaking slightly, and wondered what Pokémon she could possibly use. She decided on Isis, she did know Bite, a dark move. However, as Amy reached for her Pokeball, Gabriel burst from his. He looked up at Amy almost accusingly. She had forgotten to let him out again, but she wasn't quite sure the danger had passed.
"Oh no, Gabriel you can't come out here! I wanted to use-" but Gabriel stepped onto the field. He seemed to actually want to battle. Amy stared. But maybe he knew what he was doing...? Sabrina released a Hypno. Hypno are known for being rather slow, but Gabriel couldn`t have adjusted to the new weight of the claws already. Amy didn`t like this.
"Hypnosis."
"Ah, just close your eyes!" Amy yelled. Gabriel did so... and then swung its claws. It crashed into Hypno's skull. Hypno seemed stunned, but Amy couldn't tell if Sabrina felt the same. She had a very expressionless face. Then without warning, Gabriel let loose an ice beam over Hypno, freezing it solid. Amy blinked. Clearly Gabriel had gotten a lot stronger.
*****
With new Marsh badges in hand and all thoroughly relieved to leave this city far behind as they headed out the gate toward Celadon. As they left though, with Gabriel at her heels and Gary still trying to hold her hand, Amy kept wondering what was it that made Giovanni leave his family, why didn`t he ever come back, and why did he look at Duplica in that odd way...?