Poke-genetics: Weaken
Pikachu stared at the vent. He needed to get inside the hideout. The best way was to use the ventilation system, again. Without losing time, he got inside. He had an hour to accomplish his part of the mission. After that...
Let's just say it would be dangerous, not to mention it may cause problems for the other part of the plan.
Pikachu went down the vent, hoping everything would go smoothly.
Genno was trying to calm down. The key was to be fast enough so that the two parts would combine for a maximum effect. If he couldn't coordinate well enough, Team Blast would be able to recover and realize their objectives. It was crucial that they didn't understand until it was too late.
He could barely see in front of him. It was even darker than he thought it would be, but, if the digletts he asked were right, he'd find what he hoped.
Behind him, a gigantic shadow was moving silently, curious about that human that dared entered its den.
Pikachu crawled through the ventilation system. He was focusing on the upcoming task. He had to do it, but somewhere in his mind, there was unease. He slapped himself. It was necessary. He agreed to do it and they deserved it.
The mouse pokemon arrived at the grill he was looking for. Just like they thought, the dormitory was full at this time of the day. It seemed that with its recent strike of success, the members were less occupied than before and could actually rest.
Though it was not ordinary members that Pikachu was staring at.
He gulped loudly. Pikachu looked at the face of the sleeping men and women under him.
«Okay, this is it. You've got to do this. Otherwise, all you planned with Genno and Ash will be for nothing. » he told himself.
The persons under him were peaceful in their sleep. For a second, his determination was weakened.
For a second.
He also saw the image of Ash, as a pikachu, struggling with himself, forced to stay behind, take care of his son while he also wanted to protect his family and his friends. Pikachu felt himself be overwhelmed by the anger. His best friend was suffering because of them! Why was he hesitating?
Pikachu charged his electricity in his cheek and unleashed the most powerful electric attack he could muster.
Pikachu restrained from throwing up. He could not suppress the image of what he had done. He did what he had to, for Kanto and for his friends…
He tried to stay focused on his next task. Pikachu could not afford to lose time. He had to move to his next target. It would be much easier to accomplish, but it would also ends up being more dangerous and he would have to be prepared to escape as fast as he could as soon as it was done.
He walked through the vents as quietly as possible. It was time for most people to sleep, but it would be stupid not to be cautious. Some humans were said to be wake up easily. Having lived with Ash for a long time, he had doubts but he listened to reason and was cautious.
He heard a few voices ahead. He bit his lips. He hoped he would not have to reproduce his previous behavior. His objective this time was material, but if there were members in his way…
Pikachu arrived to the grill of the computer room.
There were a few members staying up late, operating the computers and coordinating some members for another mission.
Pikachu took a deep breath.
He used thunder on the machines, frying their system and destroying all the data they were holding.
Pikachu hastily ran through the ventilation system. The dormitory was a closed room with enough isolation to permit uninterrupted rest. In case of emergency, an alarm would go off and inform whoever was sleeping at that time of the problem. It was fairly realistic to assume that no one had realized he shocked the members. It was stupid to believe that not even one member had realized that he destroyed every single computer they had. Besides, the few members in the computer lab were probably just shocked. He couldn't aim at them properly.
Pikachu was running toward the end of the ventilation system where he could climb toward freedom.
Genno was trying to stay still. He had it before his very eyes: the pokemon he was looking for.
He tried not to look too afraid. It was another one of those times when he told himself that he'd be okay when planning but turned out to be a bit harder to do in person. He had not realized it was behind him before, so when he heard the loud cry, he paralyzed under the surprise.
«Come on, you've been able to escape a criminal with a gun, just use Transform, you idiot! »
The huge creature stop looking at the small human and decided it was annoying. With on big swoop, it attempted to attack him with its tail.
Genno saw the pokemon move and almost froze when he realized that its tail was going toward him at a dreadful speed. He snapped out of it just in time.
The pokemon was shocked when it saw the human glow and suddenly expand. It was even more surprised when another member of its kind stared at him angrily.
Pikachu was catching his breath. He had run full speed until he reached this place. It was as much because of the plan as the fear of being caught.
Pikachu was waiting against the barrel Genno had brought in his claws. Pikachu was to open it as soon as Genno was done. It was really ingenious of him, but it was also dangerous. From the second Pikachu would open it, he'd have to fight for every minutes he'd stay around.
Mentally, he prepared himself. He had to focus on all his senses to make sure there wouldn't be a problem. He had an enormous responsibility to uphold right now.
He waited for the signal with burning determination.
Soon enough, he felt the earth shake under him. Pikachu got himself ready, Genno was doing his part.
It was a weird sense that he now had. He could mentally see where everything underground was. It would make his work much easier. He could already «see» the shape of Team Blast's hideout.
His body was tossing aside the earth and the rocks, making him feel like he was swimming. Genno prepared himself. In a few seconds, he would make contact with the headquarters. It was time that someone broke the pedestal that Team Blast was resting on!
Genno focused his energy a little and used Harden. He braced himself for the impact.
Team Blast was not going to have a nice night of rest today!
In his glass box, a small pichu was trying to forget the horrors of the day by sleeping. It had work at first. He could see the image of his father, strong and proud, next to him, protecting him from all those horrible persons. Unfortunately for him, his dreams were slowly becoming corrupted, growing darker with each passing day. His father was appearing less and less often, leaving place to dozens of strange scientists with malicious grins.
As they surrounded him with syringes filled with toxins, he was woken up by an earthquake.
Confused, he looked around and realized in horror that he was still in his box. If the earthquake made the base collapsed…
He shivered.
The whole lab began shaking.
Half of one of its wall was send flying by a steelix.
The steel pokemon carefully eyed the laboratory before entering fully. The pokemon was huge: the biggest pokemon to live on land, mostly under the land though. With one gigantic swoop of its tail, it destroyed the pillars supporting the boxes.
Sebastian was free!
Genno did not stop to see the gratitude in the eyes of the pokemon he freed. Instead, he turned around and told them to follow him. Genno dived into the ground ago, this time aiming for the surface.
He felt the night breeze on his face when he erupted from the ground, shouting at the top of his lung:
«NOW, PIKACHU! »
His scream echoed as a terrifying roar over the forest.
And he disappeared into the ground again.
Genno had to make another move before escaping.
Alexchu was crying. He had woken up in the middle of the night and Ash was trying to comfort him.
«It's okay, Alex. Dad's here. Chhh… » the teenager whispered softly.
The pichu was hiding his face in his father's fur. He had heard a loud roar and was afraid.
«Don't cry. Dad will protect you. » he continued, stroking his son's head.
Alexchu still let out a terrified «chu» and clang harder to Ash.
«Genno, was it possible to sound more terrifying? » he thought angrily.
But somewhere in his mind, he was also worried.
They were there, fighting against Team Blast while he was staying behind. It was as hard as he thought it would be.
But his son was so afraid of that sound that he was crying.
How could he ever leave him alone?
He just hoped his friend would be alright. He remembered the moment they thought of that plan. Ash saw the scene very clearly.
Genno was explaining his idea while looking desperate at the same time.
«Team Blast is getting too powerful. It won't be long before they completely own this region… and I doubt they'll stop there. Right now, they've got the most powerful threat any criminal organization has ever obtained against Kanto. They're holding all the cards. We can't win if things stay this way. »
«Then what do you want us to do? » Pikachu asked.
«We steal their cards. » Genno replied.
Up until five minutes ago, he was just bored. Looking after the prisoners was always a boring task, no matter how important it was.
He really needed to stop wishing for more exciting duties.
It started when he felt the floor and the walls shake. It happened without a reason and continuously, like it was man-made. Then, he was almost thrown to the ground when Genno made contact with the lab.
«What was that? » he shouted.
He was not the only one to be afraid. The prisoners were all awake. They were all asking the same question: what was happening? Was it an earthquake?
The member looked in the corridor leading to the dining hall. The lasers were still in place. Apparently, the structure hadn't been so badly damaged that the electric system was not working.
He sighted. It was probably just an unexpected earthquake.
The floor began to shake again.
«Huh?»
Just as he shot a look in the corridor, it was blown away.
A steelix had head-butted the passage between the cells and the hall. Instead of a corridor, there was a hole. One enormous hole that went so deep inside the ground that he could not see the bottom.
He gulped. What was he supposed to do?
Another shockwave shook the room. This time, he hit his head on the wall and passed out.
Stan was not believing his eyes. A steelix had just destroyed the wall of the room and the sides of the cells. They were free.
With a meaningful look, the pokemon urged them to climb on its back.
«Everyone! Quick, climb on the steelix! It's here for us! » he relayed the pokemon's order.
As they all climbed on the steel pokemon's back, they realized with overflowing joy that they had been freed.
They disappeared inside the earth.