Not All Arrogance (A Gary Oak Love Story) Part 20~Blaze of Glory, Sailing Home
((Joyful Note: Hi. I know it's been a while, but it's May. Lots of homework. I consider myself justified in putting it before editing this))
To recap, Butch and Cassidy, flanked by Rockets and Pokémon to capture our heroes, had them cornered in the middle of a volcano and all their best Pokemon were too worn out to fight... not good.
"Damn its Bon and Cassidy," Gary groaned.
"Isn't it Butch?" Amy said blinking.
"OKAY WHY IS THAT GIRL THE ONLY ONE WHO EVER GETS MY NAME RIGHT?"
About 15 minutes later the group of kids had been stripped of possessions and Pokémon and lobbed into a prison cell in the Rocket Research Lab. Not a good day really. Blaine somehow managed to sneak away in the confusion though. The ditcher.
"I can't believe this! How did this happen?"Duplica cried, rattling the bars.
"Well maybe it wouldn't have happened if we'd fought Team Rocket BEFORE we trounced Blaine in back to back gym battles!" Amy snapped in anger. Duplica backed away from her rage.
"Chill out Amy. We're in trouble but we can get out of this if we just relax okay?" Gary said putting his hand on her shoulder. She twitched.
"Right, relax, like that'll work," she muttered sarcastically.
"Actually, I'd appreciate it if you'd give me a hand back here first," a crackling voice groaned from behind them. They all turned in unison to find Lance sitting, looking extremely beat up, at the back of the cell.
"LANCE!" Duplica cried and pretty much glomped the poor guy. "Are you okay?"
"I'm... fine? Who are you again?" Lance asked after wincing in pain at her hug.
"Duplica! Um, Ditto trainer? Met back in Vermillion?" Duplica said frowning at his memory lapse.
"Erm... oh yes I remember now. The one dressed like Officer Jenny," Lance said nodding.
"Yup that was me!" Duplica smiled.
Gary crouched beside the Lance. "What happened to you?"
"Well, after flying through the mountains, Dragonite got really tired and confused... he thrashed me around and I got knocked unconscious. When I woke up I had Rockets standing around me laughing and taunting... I was tied to a chair incidentally. They interrogated me for how much I knew as I'd been spying around here for a while and then I was thrown in here about 12 hours ago," Lance explained. Amy blinked.
"Did they fly through the mountain on purpose?" she asked after a moment. Lance nodded.
"They were trying to drive Articuno out and capture him, but the storm got too bad and when it cleared he was gone apparently," Lance explained.
"And they want to catch Articuno because they require a powerful ice Pokémon to open the gateway..." Amy said slowly recalling the computer hacking session.
"Can't they just use their own ice Pokémon?" Duplica asked.
"Yeah but I bet Articuno has more ice power then all of them put together," Gary said narrowing his eyes in thought.
"Yes, granted they could go steal some more but ultimately it would be easier to use Articuno, less Pokémon to hook up to the machine. Same reason as why they're using Lance's Dragonite as a dragon Pokémon, it's well known to be the most powerful dragon type known to this part of the world, aside from Rayquaza but good luck finding him," Tory explained. They all nodded. Suddenly Lance started
"Wait a second, they're using Dragonite?"
"Right, so, what are we supposed to do now?" Amy asked and they all lowered their heads in thought.
"I've got nothing," Gary sighed.
"Me either," Tory sighed as well. They others groaned. They were locked in a little cell. They had no Pokémon or equipment. Come tomorrow night Team Rocket's evil plan would be in motion. Doom clouds covered all.
Then a raspy voice came in through the bars. "So, you guys having fun in there?"
"Butch?" Amy said blinking.
"Yep!" and so it was. "I just wanted to let you all know that you'll have front row seats for the finale of our Moonstone plot, and then we were going to kill you-"
"WHAT?" everyone screamed but Butch waved his arms to silence them.
"I said we WERE going to kill you. But personally I didn't want the only person who ever remembers my name to die. So I talked to the boss and he was actually very supportive of the idea that anyone here who wants to join Team Rocket will be given membership! Except for Lance but that's because he's tried to stop us too often so we'll have to kill him," They all stared at the green haired Rocket. "You can thank me later," Butch said grinning.
"Like we'd ever join Team Rocket!" Gary snapped angrily.
"That's right, do you think we're insane?" Duplica growled in agreement. Amy nodded as well.
Tory however was quiet. The others seemed to notice and looked over at the surfer boy. He seemed to be thinking. Then he lifted his head and said, "Okay I'll join."
Everyone's eyes widened. "You can't be serious!" Duplica wailed.
"Come on, if we don't join we'll die! What choice is there?" Tory said weakly. Lance gaped.
"You can't just join them! They're evil!" he shouted.
"Where's your integrity?" Gary snapped.
Amy shook her head. "It's his choice. He doesn't want to die..." she sucked in her bottom lip. She obviously didn't want to die either. Butch was congratulating Tory on his great choice and trying to encourage the others to do the same. Ultimately, none of them could help anything stuck in death row. Maybe if they joined Team Rocket they could help stop them... hopefully before their plan was put into action. She wasn't sure how to get this point of view across to Duplica and Gary though and Lance... well they might be able to find a way to help him to if they escaped the cage.
"I'll join," Amy managed to choke out as normally as possible. Gary, Duplica and Lance stood agape at her.
"Perfect! I knew you weren't stupid Ari!" Butch said happily. She blinked.
"Um... my name's Amy..."
Butch stared. It was very awkward.
Gary's gaze steeled. "Amy... if you join Team Rocket, I'm breaking up with you."
Amy looked at him desperately, hoping her meaning would get across when she said, "Gary, I have to do this. WE have to do this," Gary looked at her. She looked back as intensely as she could manage. Was that a very faint sizzle of electricity? Then his eyes closed.
"Fine... I-I'll join too," he said gruffly. Duplica blinked in shock.
"B-but they're going to kill Lance!" she said softly. Lance sighed.
"Duplica... I appreciate your commitment to the side of good but... if you don't join you'll die. Don't let yourself die for my sake."
"Yeah Duplica!" Tory said taking her hand. "Please, I want to spend my life with you, despite having just met you! Come with me!"
"Duplica, please," Amy said clenching her fists to her sides.
"I... well..." Duplica's eyes teared up and she fiercely shook her head. "NO! I don't care if I die, I will never join Team Rocket! They're evil and I want nothing to do with them!" No amount of pleading would change her mind, but Butch didn't seem concerned. He led Amy, Gary and Tory out of their prison and towards the stairs. Other grunts came forward to congratulate them on their great choice. They all smiled awkwardly as they were lead over to be measured for their Rocket uniforms. They actually received their Pokémon back too, regarding the fact that a Rocket isn't a lot of use in battle if they don't have Pokémon to fight with.
They had a major shock upon discovering that Team Rocket had found Articuno circling Cinnabar in plain view and had captured him... not good obviously. The next day would be the Summoning. Amy thought over Team Rocket's plan as she had read it out on the screen when Tory hacked the file. When the full moon rose the following night, Team Rocket would hook up intensely strong Pokémon, one of each type to a machine. They'd collected one of each type of evolution stone, as well as many Moonstones and Sunstones. Sunstones were easy to buy but Moonstones are not on sale anywhere so they had to steal a lot of them. Their plan: to open a dimensional rift and release the most powerful Pokémon in existence, hoping to contain and control their power with special technology and the Sun and Moon Stones and take over the world.
These Pokémon were the legendary Pokémon of Light and Darkness, Sunraroes and Darentoes. Legends told that these Pokémon exist in a dimension parallel to ours, where only they exist. They are in a constant battle of Light vs. Darkness. Once, a long time ago, the fight grew so ferocious that they split the seams of time and space and plunged into the Pokémon world. They caused almost complete world destruction and to repair the rift and to send the Pokémon back to their dimension one powerful Pokémon of each type came together and sacrificed their energy to send the two Pokémon back to their battleground, but upon doing so their energy was used up and their bodies shattered and their life forces were poured into the rocks around, creating the elemental stones. If anything could control the Pokémon of Light or Darkness, these stones could.
Once they were put back into the rift though, the hole had to be closed. To do this one man, who was injured greatly in the battle, decided to give his life energy. He had a great spiritual presence and sent his soul from his body, using it to close the opening. Since then it has spent ages holding it together in a deep sleep. Team Rocket wanted to break the seal and release the forces of Light and Darkness. Amy worried what would happen if they succeeded
It wasn't long until they found out just what would happen in such a situation. Amy, Gary and Tory were standing with the rest of the Rockets. Duplica and Lance were tied up nearby. They were around the rim at the top of Cinnabar Volcano, intending to open the dimensional rift in the center cauldron of lava. Evenly spaced were special containers, each holding a Pokémon of a different type. This included Lance's Dragonite and Articuno, as well as Moltres, Raiku, and others, some containers held more than one Pokemon when one would've been too weak to work alone. It was time. You would have thought Giovanni would be here at such an important occasion, but he was apparently working on another project of his and didn't want to be in the vicinity if something went wrong.
Amy was feeling increasingly nauseous. She actually signed up to be on Team Rocket in order to maybe stop this from happening but it seemed like she could do absolutely nothing. There were Rockets everywhere, and Selene still hadn't recovered from her gym battle yet. This was not good. The moon was rising.
With the throw of a switch the cries from each Pokémon held rang out across the volcanic pit. They all began to glow, each in a different colour. Suddenly each stream of light burst from the casing and collected in the centre of the circle. There was a white flash followed by a glowing wind whipping around the stadium. The Rockets let out cheers, but Amy could barely contain her horror. Gary looked over and saw her distress. He grabbed onto her and held her against his chest. Amy's looked up at him in surprise, but ultimately ended up peering over his shoulder at the sight unfolding. Tory couldn't stand the act anymore and ran forward to shield a shrieking Duplica. Lance simply looked on in open wonder mixed with terror.
A loud roaring pierced the air. A screech of pain. A tearing. The glow faded, and the Pokémon around the vortex looked exhausted, many weren't conscious. Where the light was two gigantic Pokémon were left. One was Darentoes. The other Sunraroes. And they were in combat, seeming oblivious to the change of surroundings.
"ELEMENTAL STONE SHIELD ACTIVATE!" Cassidy yelled, grinning widely.
"RIGHT!" Butch yelled back and threw another switch. Suddenly the piles of elemental stones glowed bright and a large sphere encased the feuding Pokémon. The encasing seemed to be working to contain their power, and bright light and darkness swirled inside.
"Alright! Now we just need to open the sphere a little to release this energy and destroy our enemies! Team Rocket's reign begins now!" Cassidy shouted to the whoops of the crowd.
"GET AWAY FROM HERE YOU IDIOTS!" Lance suddenly roared, and the Rockets looked at him, some glaring, others curious. "That sphere may contain them for a little while but if you opened it even a little the power would blast it apart! These Pokémon don't have anything to do with our world, I don't think they even notice we're here, they just know to fight each other!"
"Shut up Lance! You're finished! Aim the sphere's opening at him Boof!" Cassidy yelled.
"BUTCH DAMN IT!" her partner yelled and slammed the button. The sphere exploded.
"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" Cassidy screamed and the Rockets started running for their lives. Tory quickly began untying Duplica while Gary and Amy rushed over to help Lance.
"What should we do?" Duplica asked her idol as blasts from the feuding pair demolished the rocks around them and caused the lava to boil and the ground to shake.
"HOW THE HELL SHOULD I KNOW?" Lance yelled and ran. Gary, Amy, Duplica and Tory stared at each other.
"So what now?" Gary asked.
"Now, you listen to me," a familiar voice said from behind. They quickly turned to see Blaine standing there.
"Tory, Duplica, go change the route of elemental stone energy in the machine from containment to opening the vortex."
"Uh, okay!" Tory said nodding, eager to do something to help. They went away.
"Okay, now I didn't get a chance to give these to you earlier but you deserve them. Here's your Volcano badges," Blaine said handing Amy and Gary each a badge shaped like a flame.
"Uh, this doesn't really seem like a good time," Gary said as Sunraroes let out a blast of energy that flew out into the sky, lighting it up as if daytime.
"There won't really be time after this," Blaine said with a sad smile.
"What do you mean?" Amy asked slowly.
"When the vortex opens, release all your Pokémon and have them sends blasts of attacks at Darentoes and Sunraroes to drive them into the light," Blaine said, sending out his fire Pokémon.
"Okay!" Gary and Amy said together and sent out their Pokémon teams. Selene, Isis, Socrates, and all the others.
"READY!" Tory yelled and flipped the switched. The blinding vortex was opened once more.
"GO!" Blaine, Gary and Amy cried. Attacks were issued, sending Sunraroes and Darentoes into the vortex, though they didn't seem to even notice the attacks were driving them, they were too absorbed in their own epic battle that had raged forever. Driven into the vortex Tory went to close it, turning off the energy input but the vortex remained open.
"What's wrong?" Duplica called to Blaine who sighed.
"Once inside, their power keep the doorway open. Only a human's life energy can close it again," he turned to his Pokémon. "You're free to leave," he said and they nodded, backing away respectfully. Blaine headed for the vortex.
"What? You can't be serious!" Tory called running toward him but Blaine's Arcanine ran forward and pushed him away.
"I'm an old man now, this is a fine way to go. The island's messed up anyway! All these tourists, you kids have fun and keep it hot!" Blaine said waving as he touched the vortex, not hearing the final cry from the teenagers questing what the hell 'keep it hot' was supposed to mean. The vortex closed. The small group stood in the silence, as all others had run.
"So... is he dead then?" Duplica asked in a small voice.
"I guess so," Amy said softly.
"So... we should free those Pokémon then now, right?" Tory said and the others nodded.
"Yeah let's go," Gary chimed in. They worked slowly, still in shock, but managed to release all the captives, allowing them to start heading away. Articuno spoke.
"I was not quite unconscious. I saw the battle and I think perhaps there will always be evil fighting good, in constant struggle. Myself killing all in my land will never fully eradicate evil and will also destroy much good. So I will not destroy Kanto, despite evil not being defeated," he stated before taking off for the Seafoam Islands.
"Isn't that what we were trying to tell him?" Amy said annoyed.
In any case, after they had freed the Pokémon they headed into the base. All was so quiet there... the Rockets had taken planes and helicopters trying to get away as fast as possible. They found their regular clothes, their belongings, and Duplica's Ditto. They had a happy reunion. Afterwards the group went to the docks. People were already worried as to what was going on and many were scared in this eerily silence after all the roaring and lights. They boarded a boat leaving for mainland near Pallet Town. In the calm after the storm, they sailed home.
((Joyful Note: I know. I finished the climax, so what's left? I'll tell you what's left, a final part an epilogue introducing the sequel that's what! So stay tuned. Incidentally, I am really bad at wring romantic situations. I mean, I've been trying like all heck, but plot and such keeps me away from hardcore fluff. Hopefully I'll improve eventually... well, later days!))