P6 Communications
"How on this Earth are we going to get a hold of the others?" Gold walked along Route 33 with Crystal, sighing. The TVs were and their PokeGears where out of order because of Team Rocket's interference. Crystal had briefly managed to find a channel that someone had been on, but had quickly turned it of when they heart what sounded like Rocket commands being made. They both would have liked to listen and try to attack, but or right now it was just the two of them and they didn't have enough force to take the fight to them. And oh boy, if they managed to track their signal somehow, which was very doable with the right Pokemon. They could be extinct in the time it took them to breath.
"If we can just get a hold of Silver, we could have reinforcements." Crystal said quietly.
"Yeah, but even if we DID have communication lines open, he never answers the damn phone. I've tried. He never wants to talk or meet up." Gold sounded grumbly at that.
"I know. But... Green knows him. Maybe if we can get her number, she can get a hold of him. Hm. But her parents are all the way in Pallet." Crystal held up her wrist and opened up the maps on her PokeGear, "That's a long ways awah-"
Bring. Bring. Bring.
Crystal got a weird chill up her spine when the phone feature for a waiting call popped up.
"No way. I got a call." Crystal stared at her phone blankly, and feeling like she had no choice tapped it and opened the call, "Hello?"
"Oh thank goodness, Crystal!" A female voice spoke. Crystal couldn't place her, staring at her Gear with open confusion, "It's DJ Mary! Yano, 'Please tune in to me, for Professor's Oak's Pokemon Talk Show~!" At that line, Crystal perked up.
"Oh, right. Well, how did you get this up and running?" Crystal asked. Gold crowded close to her to stare at her screen.
"Well, I'm just really good at this kind of thing, yano. I've been trying to get a hold of someone else for days!'
"Really, who else have you gotten a hold of?" Crystal asked.
"I had Whitney's ears yesterday. I caught her as she was running away from Goldenrod. I'm here in Violet, hiding at the top of Sprout Tower for now. That's how I managed to get a hold of you. I'm high enough for the signal to reach you."
"Who else is with you?" Crystal asked.
"Listen, that's what I've been trying to get someone for. I haven't been staying up here, too open. Falkner's been guarding me up here as I tried to reach people. When we caught Whitney we told her to come here so we can get a hold of people farther away."
"So you can get people farther away?" Crystal gripped her Gear, awfully excited, "Look, Kotone was taken captive. We need someone to help get her free. If you have the phones cleared, then we could possibly get a hold of a Leader or Professor! We've been trying to get Green and Silver to help, but we can't reach them!"
"Oh no, all the Professor's and Leaders have checked out. Giovanni did a mighty good job of severing communications for us freedom fighters." Mary sounded exasperated, but that cleared when she started again, "But listen, listen! That's what we three were working on. I sent them to the Ruins of Alph. For some reason, the radios are being blocked out. I think they are interfering with my signals. I get mostly static. Falkner says it has something to do with the Unown, so they went to go see, but so far they haven't checked in since yesterday. Actually, I fear something must have happened to them. If you can check on them, we all might be able to get this thing sorted out and actually talk to someone who can DO something about this mess! We need to get together!"
"On it, Mary. Good thing you caught us, we're heading up Route 33 right now. We were headed to Violet to see if anyone was up there."
"Well, I'm glad you were on that Route. If you had decided to surf towards Olivine, my signal probably wouldn't have reached you." Mary breathed a sigh of relief, "But please. Falkner's got his police equipment that he was going to use to boost our signal. Find him. And oh- Have you heard from anyone else?" Crystal and Gold stared at each other, not wanting to give the bad news. When Gold saw the searing guilt on her face, he leaned forward.
"Hey, Gold here. Yeah, we got some news. Elm wouldn't come with us. We had to leave him in Azalea, where we were hiding, coming down from Goldenrod. Maisy's gone without a trace, and Vincent... Vincent's dead." There was silence over the line, "Moby, the charcoal man, was off searching for supplies. He hasn't been seen since he protected Elm from an attack."
"Well." Mary's voice was softer this round, "Let's just try to save who we can, okay? Come on kids. Just go to the Ruins, and we'll... We'll work from there."
"Wait, Mary. Where can we meet up with you?"
"Well... I was hiding out in the Union Cave. Before everything go shut off, I was in contact with Professor Oak... And I was thinking of going to Azalea..."
"Mary. Where can we get a hold of you? We can figure out where we're all going once we get back, with Whitney and Falkner."
"Well, I'll just hide out in the Sprout Tower, 'kay? Please hurry though. I feel too exposed."
"Alright, Mary. Over and out." Gold clicked the off button and looked at Crystal with a big grin, "Okay, Kris, we got ourselves a mission." Crystal smiled at him and they clacked their forearms together.
"Alright, Gold. Let's go." The duo headed further up Route 33 with the fire in theirs hearts rekindled a little bit.
The first thing they saw was a woman walking towards them. Both of them were alarmed, and went into the bushes. Anyone in their right mind wouldn't just be walking in the middle of the path with all this chaos going on. The woman, who appeared to be a psychic, walked past them. An Abra was hanging down her back, it's arms clasped around her neck. When she passed, Crystal moved forward.
"Good a time as any to try the fighter you gave me." Crystal called out her new Breloom. It shook it's tail at her and she rubbed it's head, "Come on guy."
"Welp, you got grass, I'll go with Donphan." Gold called out his Pokemon, and he had to grab it's trunk so it wouldn't trumpet at him, "Shh, buddy, glad to see you. Quietly, quietly." They walked forward. They got about halfway down the Route before three trainers broke away from the trees and stood in front of them.
"Well, hi there." Gold tried calling out.
"Gold." Crystal perked up. There were Abras on their shoulders. The Abras' hands were on their heads or necks, all of them, "Oh, shit." She turned around and that woman they had passed had walked up behind them. Her own Abra had it's head on her shoulder, "Mr. Mime, protect us from the single trainer!" A barrier went up as attacks started to fly. A bug catcher in front of them had his Butterfree use Psychic. Donphan flinched and then started Rock Throwing the hell out of that bug. Gold quickly realized that one wouldn't be enough, and Pinsir and Politoad were also out.
"Donphan, take down that bug! Politoad, keep the hiker from us!" Politoad engaged the Machoke and Graveler coming their way, "Pinsir, knock the hell out of that ace out of here!" Pinsir clamped is pincers on an incoming Electabuzz. The ace also sent out a Pidgeot. Despite the huge disadvantage, Breloom went at it headlong, hitting with a punch, and then threw a chunk of earth at it. Gold and Crystal both jerked to look behind them at the barrier that Mr. Mime had brought up behind them.
It was still up, but the psychic had her Kadabra fighting for control of it. A Haunter was rising over the barrier to attack them.
"DONPHAN! Drop that bug!" Donphan trumpeted and ran at the Butterfree and did a Rollout. The Butterfree was knocked out of the sky, and Donphan rolled towards them. Gold tried to hop backwards, away from the oncoming Haunter but it grabbed him with it's icy hands and started to lift him up. It's tongue licked over his face, and he started to feel suffocated and loose in his own body. The Donphan ramped off a piece of dirt and flew into the air, grabbing Gold around his middle and did a fall to the ground. Gold randomly roughly on his side, coughing and gasping.
The Haunter had tried to rip out his soul. A blast from over head from his Politoad had that ghost wailing as it got shot behind the barrier. It flickered briefly, whirling around it's trainer like it was getting ready to attack again. Gold looked to his frog to see it get hit from behind by the Machoke, who slammed it's fists into it's back. It had turned it's back to be attacked, all to get that ghost off him. Gold got up, teeth grit, "Donphan, Rollout that fucker!" Gold sent his Donphan to slam into the Machoke, and sent it flying back into it's trainer. They didn't have to worry about the Graveler; Politoad's water attack had seen to that, "Switch you two, Politoad, take that ghost and send it on!" Politoad's cheeks puffed, and water sprayed the Haunter as it rose and flew to Gold.
As the water was about to connect, the barrier broke in a spray of sparkling matter, and the Kadabra's spoons raised. Politoad raised in the air with it, and it squealed as Haunter hit it with a Sucker Punch. Between the punch and being squeezed by a Psychic, Polidtoad went limp.
"Mr. Mime! PSYCHIC!" Crystal turned to the Haunter with her Mr. Mime and sent a blast to it. The Haunter wailed and then flickered away, returning to it's ball. Gold called his Politoad back and turned to Donphan.
"Come on buddy! Finish it with an Earthquake!" Donphan reared up on it's hind legs and sent a shattered rip through the earth. Machoke got hit with the shake and fell back, fainting. The three trainers also wobbled on their feet and fell down. His Pinsir had leapt back from the Electabuzz, who was also taken out with the Earthquake. Donphan and Pinsir turned as one to face the Kadabra, but Breloom was kicking it back and stomping it into the ground. Gold and Crystal stood gasping for breath as they stared at the trainer's with the Abras. Now that their Pokemon were defeated they were walking forward towards them like they were going to attack them. Gold grit his teeth, "Come on, pal, use a minor earthquake. A Earthquake from Donphan and the trainers were on their asses. Gold ran forward towards them, and the Abras teleported away from them with the trainers.
"No!" Crystal called behind him, and he turned around. The psychic trainer had also been teleported away, with her Pokemon. Crystal turned to him and stared at Gold, "Whoever is controlling the Abras probably took care of Falkner and Whitney." She frowned seriously. If those two were okay, this Route would have been cleared. The two partner's revived Politoad and fed them a few Oran berries. They would have to save the hard medicine for bigger battles, and hope that the one in front of them wasn't too hard. They continued onward towards the Ruins.
When they reached the edge of the water that led to the Ruins, Crystal called out her new Staraptor that Gold had given her. It came out of it's ball and sat down so she could climb on its back. She flew across to land and sent it back for him. She looked around feeling tense, but nothing happened. They both walked to the ladder that went down, and Gold started down. The shaft was too narrow for her to fly beside him, so he was the one that got hit with the three Pidgeottos.
"GACK!" Gold fell off the ladder as the birds started to thrash him with wings and beaks. Crystal swooped down, hopping off the bird.
"Brave Bird!" Her huge bird slammed into the three and they got knocked down. She turned to face it's trainer, and ground her teeth in annoyance. There was Falkner, an Abra sitting on his shoulders. He pointed his hand forward, and the Pidgeot behind him slammed into the Staraptor, "You may be able to beat me in birds normally, Falkner, but not like this! Steel Wing!" Right before they were about to clash, Pidgeot glowed briefly and a Hyper Beam exploded from it's beak. Staraptor didn't have time to dodge, it hit is right in the beak, and sent it flying into the wall.
As it crashed to the ground, a Miltank came crashing into Gold's Pinsir, which he had just managed to call out, also slamming it backwards. Pinsir was slammed into the ladder, and the lower half snapped. Pinsir tried to get up, but a Granbull came barreling out of the darkness towards them.
"Hitmonchan!" Crystal called out to her Pokemon, and it came out of the ball. It tried to stop the roaring Granbull, but it too was shoved back. Whitney walked forward to stand next to Falkner, an Abra also on her shoulders. Sabrina is right behind her, and she is the only one with clear, thinking eyes. Crystal and Gold both attempted to call out their Pokemon. Sabrina raised both of her arms slowly, and snapped the hands up so they were flat towards them. In sync, so did the Pokemon behind her, an Alakazam. With that, both Crystal and Gold were forced to raise their arms just like them. They were left open to the three Pidgeotto who had recovered and started to chirp. They hopped forward and start to peck their legs.
Crystal tried to turn, hearing the sounds of pain coming from her Hitmonchan, but she couldn't manage, being stuck in a Psychic. Most trainers could only hit you with a blast from a Psychic, but Sabrina and Alakazam had them in a vicegrip. She was distracted from the pain of her Pokemon, but mostly all she could think about was the research that was in her backpack. If Sabrina was working with Team Rocket, oh god. Why hadn't she tried to leave the research somewhere before coming in here to find Falkner and Whitney?
Hitmonchan fainted behind her, as did Gold's Pinsir. The Miltank and Granbull turned towards the two captive trainers. Crystal glare defiantly at her captor. Gold grinned at her, teeth exposed. Neither would give her the satisfaction of being afraid. They didn't question why she was doing this. This just accepted it as that was what Team Rocket did. They destroyed lives to make money and gain power. Sabrina motioned a hand each at Whitney and Falkner. The arm hold was broken, but before Crystal and Gold could fight back, Miltank and Granbull were pinning them against the wall.
Sabrina turned back down the deep end of the tunnel, her arms outstretched in front of her. Her Alakazam was beside her, it's own arms outstretched, mimicking her. They were slowly walking back and forth along the corridor. Crystal and Gold looked at each other quickly, before staring back at her, wondering what she was doing. She went around a corner. They could hear her walking around for several minutes. By Gold's time, it was at least an hour. Crystal started to worry about Mary back in Sprout Tower, waiting for them. But she couldn't do anything. Every time she moved, Miltank would headbutt her.
Suddenly the walls started to glow and there was a squeaking all around them. Unown started to lift off the walls and went flying down the corridor towards Sabrina. There were several blasts of purple and pink light, and then one very bright green light. The squeaking of the Unown quit, and there was a click. Sabrina came around the corner, carrying a green case with black bands on it. When she got closer, Crystal could see little brown tiles with Unown symbols on them through the green glass of the case.
Now what could she possibly want Unown for? They're pretty harmless... Crystal stared at her as she palmed the case. Her Alakazam raised its hand and the case flew up to the light of the ground outside. Sabrina turned to the two, staring at them. Crystal and Gold tensed as her vision stayed on them. She was deciding theirs fates.
There was crumbling around the tunnel entrance, and all three looked towards it. Black boots descended the ladder, and for a split second both thought that it was Silver.
"So, I got an SOS." Kamon smiled as he turned away from the ladder. Gold breathed a sigh of relief as his original Rival stepped into the scene. Kamon had no love for them, but he definitely liked a challenge. Sabrina's eyes narrowed, and she glanced towards the ladder. Her precious cargo was up there, "I thought I was going to get a challenge, but this is cheap." A bright light and Kamon's Nidoking was out. A mighty Rock Throw and the three birds were down.
"KAZAM!" Alakazam's spoons made an X like it was about to attack, but not before a Shadow Sneak came down the ladder and shot at it, phasing it backwards. Haunted floated down into the tunnel, laughing and pointing at the stunned Alakazam. Before it could regain composure, a little shadow of a Pokemon darted forward and started slashing at it. Kamon's Sneasel was ripping gashes on its arm. Alakazam used a Focus Blast to get it away, but Sneasel just dodged and leapt to cling on the curved ridges of the wall, snickering at the missed attack.
"Please, I thought you two were in some real danger!" Kamon started laughing as his Nidoking stomped the three birds.
"Kamon, leave them alone, they're Falkner's Pokemon!"
"Yeah, well too bad! Looks like he's attacking me right now. Ooup! And Whitney too!" He turned to face Miltank and Granbull as they both tried to tackle Nidoking. It took one Pokemon in each hand and raised them up. With a Seismic Toss, both were slammed into the floor. Both were knocked out. Sabrina's eyes widened at this display of strength, "God, why did you two struggle so much? I don't know why the hell YOU losers were sent to save these two worthless idiots." Kamon stepped forward and pointed at Whitney and Falkner, "Haunter, Hypnosis. Sneasel, take care of that damn Alakazam." The fight for Whitney and Falkners' minds started, and they appeared to feel woozy, stumbling on their feet. Sneasel didn't get to attack Alakazam. Instead, zipped itself and Sabrina up and out of the tunnel after the container that she had been holding.
Crystal stared at him, amazed. Sure, they had worn the three down a bit, but for the most part, Sabrina and her two mind controlled goons had taken them down quickly.
"You're welcome." Kamon turned to them, and grinned at them like he'd just saved the world, "I just did what you couldn't. Those two are safe." Crystal breathed a deep sigh of relief. If Sabrina had thought to just check her backpack, then they might have really been in trouble. With a slow revelation, Crystal looked down at her feet. Since Professor Oak was incognito, and Elm was left behind, the only one who knew his research was her. She actually had been his assistant for years, and a lot of people knew that fact. She sometimes traveled with Elm. They'd probably be after her once Sabrina got back to the Rocket Headquarters and realized her mistake.
"Gold, we have to go to get Mary, now. She may know where Oak is, or a way to find him, or something." They both turned to stare at Kamon, "Can you help us get to Sprout Tower?" Crystal was loath to give him information, but they had no more revives, and not very many potions.
"Puh-lease. I got what I wanted, some experience. There's nothing left for me here. I already proved that you two losers couldn't handle it." Kamon answered, calling his Pokemon back into their balls, "I've got my own shit to do." He turned, and when Crystal tried to get in front of him, he shoved her hard to the side. She fell over, her legs still hurt from the Pidgeotto pecks. Kamon looked up at the ladder. When Gold looked at him like he wanted to fight, Kamon looked away from it and grinned, "What? You want something?"
Crystal hauled herself and piped up before Gold could get fighting mad.
"Actually, yes. If you give me your number, I can tell you when there are some Rocket Grunts hanging around. You always told me you hated them hanging out together. It made them seem weak." Kamon looked at her for a moment, and then up at the ceiling. When his eyes found hers again, he spouted off his number. Crystal whipped open her PokeGear and put it in quickly as Kamon hauled himself up the broken part of the ladder with no problem, and climbed up.
"Wait, Kamon!" Crystal called after him as he was climbing, "Have you seen your brother? We can't get a hold of Silver!" Kamon snorted at her question.
"I have better things to do than take care of him." With that, Kamon was gone. They could hear his boots stomping away.
"Well, he wasn't much help." Gold looked annoyed, his brow twitching. He'd never really liked Kamon. Besides Poke battling they really didn't have anything in common, and more than once their battles had ended in fist fights for the two of them.
"Not true. If we can call him before we save Kotone, he might help us." Crystal told him.
"Why didn't you just tell him about the plans now?"
"Because he would have just charged in by himself and not waited for our plan. We have to USE him, Gold. He won't listen to us." Crystal sighed, and heaved up her pack, "And anyways. We have to go get Mary. At least Sabrina did us one favor, the Unown are gone." She checked her PokeGear, "And yup, the weird signal is gone. Maybe Mary can get her signal out to some others." Crystal smiled, feeling a little bit more hopefully than she had in days. Gold grinned at her, until he saw her arm.
"Lemme hold your pack, Kris." Gold told her, staring at her arm. Crystal looked down at herself. There was blood dribbling down from her arm. The toxic place on her shoulder was apparently rubbing raw. In all the excitement, she hadn't really noticed.
"I'm okay."
"Kris. Gimme. Your. Bag." Gold looked at her, and held out his hand. With a sigh, she gave it to him. Secretly relieved that the weight would be off it, "Just help me to the ladder and I can carry it all. Get Staraptor to carry those two. Donphan'll do the rest." Crystal hauled Gold up by his foot onto the ladder, and he scurried up. Crystal turned, returning all of Falkner and Whitney's Pokemon to their balls, and got her bird to carry them up, after using her last revive on it. She kicked a clump of wall near the wall and jumped off of it to reach the ladder. Once they got to the top, they headed towards Violet City, Donphan carrying the two trainers. The sun was going down, and they didn't want to be here long.