Chapter 7

The Devon Corporation

Red had gotten off his Pokégear and received word about Team Rocket's next plans. The whole group decided to make their way over to Rustboro City to head Team Rocket off and prevent their plans.

'Charizard!' 'Pidgeot!' 'Fearow!' 'Salamence!' 'Swellow!' 'Tropius!' 'Altaria!' The seven Flying-type Pokémon all came out of their Poké Balls and their trainers jumped on them and they flew across the Hoenn region from Lilycove City to Rustboro City. Team Rocket was planning to steal some very valuable technology that would allow them to easily acquire fossil Pokémon.

The first thing they did when they arrived was go to the Rustboro Gym. Marcus had asked Roxanne, the gym leader to help them out. As they left the gym, Blue spotted something in the sky.

'Look up there!' Blue said, 'That could be Team Rocket.'

'That's not Team Rocket,' Roxanne said, 'That's a Pelipper.' The Pelipper landed and Brawly jumped off.

'Thanks Peeko,' he said, 'Take this back to Captain Briney.' Brawly gave some mail to Peeko and she took off.

'Peeko's been great since she evolved,' May said.

'Glad you made it Brawly,' said Roxanne.

'Good to see you Roxanne,' Brawly said, 'You too Blue. How's my latest winner?'

'What?' Red exploded.

'Take a look Red,' Blue said without looking at Red, 'I won a Knuckle Badge. That brings my total up to seventeen now.'

'I challenge both of you to a battle right now,' Red said quickly to Roxanne and Brawly.

'Now's not the time Red,' Roxanne told him.

'Look that's Ariana,' Red said as if his last conversation had never happened, 'She's a Team Rocket Executive.' The group saw her dismount from her Noctowl and they ran over towards her and hid in the bushes. Roxanne quickly jumped out of the bushes and said, 'Stop right there!' Ariana smiled and said, 'You're too late. I already have three agents inside. They're not the best but they are great at disguise.' The group quickly went into the building and when they got to the top floor they saw two men, one old man wearing a blue business suit and a younger man with messy silvery-blue hair. This was the president, Mr Stone and his son, Steven. Then there were two scientists with a Meowth. Ariana came in shortly after the group. The two scientists were very familiar to Red, Blue, Leaf and Brawly.

'Prepare for trouble!' the female said.

'Make it double!' the male followed up with.

'To protect the world from devastation!'

'To unite all peoples within our nation!'

'To denounce the evils of truth and love!'

'To extend our reach to the stars above!'

'Jessie!' the female said as she tore off her lab coat revealing Team Rocket uniform. The male did the same by saying, 'James!'

'Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!'

'Surrender now or prepare to fight!'

'Meowth, That's right!' their Meowth said to finish off the motto.

'You twerps won't stop us this time,' Jessie said. 'Go Arbok. Go Wobbufett!'

'Go Weezing and Victreebel! No not me! Get the twerps!' James's Victreebel had bitten his head but James managed to get it to fight.

'Vileplume, Noctowl, Murkrow! Go!' Ariana said.

'Espeon!' Red said as Blue said, 'Arcanine!' and Leaf said, 'Cloyster.'

'Go Delcatty,' May said as Brendan said, 'Come on Magcargo,' and Wally said, 'Go Gardevoir!'

'I choose you, Sceptile!' Marcus said as Roxanne said, 'Go Nosepass!' and Brawly said, 'I choose Hariyama!'

'Jessie, James, Meowth,' Ariana said, 'Grab the machine!' Jessie, James and Meowth made their way towards the safe containing the machine but Steven got in the way and said, 'Not so fast!' as he dropped a Poké Ball.

'It's a Metagross!' Meowth said shaking with fear.

'Meowth, use Fury Swipes,' James said with as much fear as Meowth. Meowth walked up to Metagross but Steven just said, 'Meteor Mash,' with a smile on his face. Meowth ran away faster than was possible to hide behind Jessie who said, 'Don't be such a coward Meowth. What is it James?' James was shaking with fear as he pointed at Metagross. Metagross had been charging up to use Hyper Beam that let loose on the trio. At the same time Red's Espeon used Psychic on Weezing, Blue's Arcanine used Extremespeed on Arbok, Marcus's Sceptile used Solarbeam on Wobbufett and Brawly's Hariyama used Mega Punch on Victreebel. Jessie, James, Meowth and all their Pokémon went through the roof and shouted, 'Team Rocket's blasting off again!'

'Magcargo! Use Flamethrower!' Brendan called. Ariana's Vileplume was knocked out. She tried to get Brendan back with her Murkrow but she head Leaf saying, 'Cloyster! Blizzard!' Murkrow fainted and not long after Roxanne called, 'Nosepass use Rock Slide!' This was the end of Noctowl. Ariana ran out of the bulding and went to find a phone to call Giovanni.

'What is it?' Giovanni's voice was altered as he spoke over the phone. His face was also hidden in the shadows with only his mouth and chin visible.

'We failed,' Ariana said, 'Someone told that group of kids what we were doing.'

'Are you serious?' Giovanni asked. Although his voice was altered it was clear he was angry.

'Jessie, James and Meowth got in first disguised but they stopped me before I came in. They also had three gym leaders with them. Counting Blue.'

'What happened to those three?'

'The president's son sent them blasting off.'

'We can still go back to Kanto soon,' Giovanni said. 'I am confident that Petrel will succeed in his mission. I have sent Proton into the northwest part of Hoenn in search of a temporary base. Right now he is in control of Lavaridge Town. I know that Team Magma used to have a hideout near there. Anyway I want you to come back to Lilycove City now.'

'Yes sir.' Ariana got on her Noctowl and flew off. She didn't know that the group had been listening to her conversation.

'Thanks for helping out, Steven,' May said, 'Team Rocket would have stolen the machine for sure.'

'Just doing what I need to do,' Steven replied.

'But they're in Lavaridge Town,' Brendan said, 'I'm going there–'

'When we're all ready,' Marcus said he then turned to Red, Blue and Leaf and said, 'Don't worry about it. I don't think I told you but I'm part of the Elite Four.'

'What type do you train?' Red asked.

'Grass-types,' Marcus replied, 'Here's my team. Sceptile, Tropius, Ludicolo, Shiftry, Exeggutor and Victreebel.'

'At least yours doesn't bite your head like James's,' Blue joked. Red's Pokégear suddenly rang. After a five-minute talk Red got off, 'We have four hours to spare. I want to battle Roxanne and then Brawly!'

'I want to battle Roxanne!' Blue quickly said.

'Alright,' Roxanne said, 'But we'll have a double battle. If you win we'll give both of you Stone Badges and we'll give a Knuckle Badge to Red.'

'And if you lose,' Brawly said, 'Then Blue has to give both of us Earth Badges.'

'Go Medicham!' Brawly called as Roxanne called, 'Go Sudowoodo!'

'Go Pidgeot! Blue called as Red called, 'Go Charizard!' Charizard used such a powerful Fire Blast that it took out both Medicham and Sudowoodo. Brawly then used Heracross and Roxanne used Nosepass. Blue swapped Pidgeot with Blastoise to beat Nosepass while Charizard beat Heracross.

'Omastar, Go!' Roxanne called, 'Waterfall!' This was bad for Charizard. 'Go Pikachu!' Red then called, 'Thunder!' This knocked out Omastar.

'Blastoise! Use Skull Bash on Hariyama!' Then Brawly used Blaziken as Roxanne used Golem. 'Blaziken. Thunderpunch on Blastoise!' Brawly ordered as Roxanne ordered, 'Golem. Earthquake!' Blaziken was faster than Blastoise this time and severely weakened Blastoise. Golem's Earthquake was very powerful so it beat Pikachu, finished off Blastoise and even knocked out Blaziken.

'Go Espeon! Psychic!' Red called. Blue then called, 'Go Exeggutor! Razor Leaf!' Roxanne's Golem was knocked out after that and Brawly's Machamp was knocked out before it even moved. Roxanne sent out Kabutops and Brawly sent out Primeape. Kabutops knocked out both Espeon and Exeggutor with X-Scissor.

'Go Alakazam!' Blue called, 'Use Confusion on Primeape!'

'Go Venusaur!' Red said, 'Use Vine Whip on Kabutops!' Kabutops was down but Primeape dodged the attack and used Shadow Punch on Alakazam. Roxanne sent out Aerodactyl and Blue sent out Rhydon.

'Venusaur, return,' Red called, 'Go Blastoise! Use Hydro Cannon on Aerodactyl!'

'Rhydon! Use Horn Drill on Primeape!' Both attacks hit and Red and Blue won the battle. It was just after the two boys had been given their badges that Red's Pokégear rang again. When he was finished he said, 'Let's all go to Lavaridge Town. We're going to steal some Team Rocket uniforms and then go to Littleroot Town where their boat is.'

'Charizard!' 'Pidgeot!' 'Fearow!' 'Salamence!' 'Swellow!' 'Tropius!' 'Altaria!' 'Aerodactyl! Brawly, hop on!' They all flew away from Rustboro City towards Lavaridge Town.