Spitfire, Chapter 28: It's an arms race.
Drew was nervous, but he was also pissed. Getting kidnapped and locked up wasn't on his list of things to do, but Team Rocket had come out of no where. Unlike Tracey and Delia who had been outside for hours before they were jumped, he had only been out there long enough to stretch his legs before he was knocked over the head. What upset Drew the most, however, was Team Rocket's brutality toward the women present. They didn't think twice before hitting Delia or Serena. Fortunate for them, they were lucky May wasn't out there; getting injured was the last thing that she needed, and would have been the end of them. How distasteful.
With his rage built up, he thought about what he needed to say; what story would suffice to get them to open the cage doors. As one could imagine, when Cassidy and Butch walked into the boiler room, scowling in over confidence, Drew couldn't wait to boot kick them.
"Oh look! The boss is going to be so pleased." Cassidy mused, and Drew raised an eyebrow.
"Really? He's going to be okay with a dead professor? Don't you think you went a little hard, he's bleeding out." Drew spit at them nervously, glaring as they walked over to the cage to look inside. Cassidy narrowed her eyes carefully, while Butch seemed neglectful.
"He looks fine to me."
"That's because you can't see him from my angle." Drew muttered heart-fully, causing the duo to pause and look at one another. The cage was placed against two metal sheets, so to see Professor Oak, they would have to walk inside to check on the professor.
"That sounds oddly convenient... We'll send some pawns to check him out later." Cassidy threw out skeptically while looking amongst the 'unconscious' bodies. Inwardly, Misty scowled at their safe nature. If it were Jesse and James, they would have already opened the doors.
"I don't know how much longer he will last." Drew insisted while he watched Butch pull a radio from his waist and press a button.
"We need a check in the boiler room." Butch radioed to an unknown source; causing Drew to scowl. Their plan wasn't working.
"Everyone else seems to be out cold still, I guess that means the new weapons are a success." Cassidy cheered as she stepped over to Team Rocket's cage, which wasn't big enough to fit a blastoise, let alone fit the three members comfortably.
"When we get out of here Cassidy..." Jessie warned, but Cassidy could only laugh in retort at her 'rival'.
"You'll have to get out first, and we won't make silly mistakes like you do." The blonde said while waving to her long-time enemy. Butch followed her dutifully leaving the heroes stuck in the cage like rats. Misty sat up a little to glare at them as they left.
"So much for that." She muttered, glancing around the room.
"They said that someone will be coming in to check... Maybe they'll slip up..." Drew offered with a trivial sigh.
"They will. We will make them." Paul argued with his fellow inmates. Misty cranked her neck gently, letting out a sigh while she laid back down; surely everyone else already knew that they were missing—and it would only be a matter of time before they showed up... But Misty wasn't one for waiting around to be saved, in fact, it was almost insulting.
"Look, there's another wan' comin'!" Meowth warned, interrupting her thought. Silence echoed through the boiler room while Misty waved to Drew to appear unconscious. They played possum as two grunts walked in, grumbling.
"Why do we have to check up on the old man?" the shorter of the two complained while jingling keys in his hands.
"Should we check the alarms?"
"They're all unconscious, not like they can do anything." the other one argued as he twisted the key in the lock and pulled open the gated door. Alarms went off in each trainers head, he took the bait!
His boots scuffed the ground below him as he maneuvered his way around the cage, stepping over Paul's body on his way to check professor oak.
"Hurry up, man, this creeps me out. They're like a bunch of dead bodies." The partner whined, eyes hidden under a black cap. He didn't know how wrong he was, because as he moved to the edge of the cage, where Paul could see him holding open the cage door; the purple haired trainer jumped the grunt, tackling him to the ground..
"What's going on-" Misty had stood up the moment Paul jumped onto the one who held the door, and holding her heavy restraints in her hands, she swung it desperately at the other member's head, hitting him in the face. He felt into a heap on the ground, the chains rattling while Paul struggled with the other one.
Refusing to admit that he needed help, he rolled on the ground, raising his arms around the mans neck to pull him into a head lock while Misty fished the keys out of the unconscious man's pocket. Carefully, she rushed over to Drew, freeing his hands after her third key.
"Grab professor Oak!" Misty chanted nervously, adrenaline pumping movement through her hands while Cilan stood before her, awaiting his chance to be free. Drew sprung towards professor Oak, checking the older man's pulse as he did. He was fine, still breathing; his body just wasn't as young as theirs, so he hadn't recovered as quickly.
"Cilan, come help me with him." Drew echoed, while Misty stood behind Oak while the boys carried him out to undo his binds as well. With everyone free, she tucked the keys into her pocket, and helped escort Oak out of the cage with moral support.
"Paul! Throw him in here!" She said, watching Paul struggle with soldier. For a small guy, he thrashed pretty violently, so when she ran up and punched him in the face, nothing much came of it except for sore knuckles. Bad Misty, she thought while shaking her fist. Looking at Paul briefly, they silently agreed, and grabbed the grunt concurrently.
"Hey, stop!" he screamed but with one swoop, they hauled and managed to thrust him into the cage they were previously trapped in. Paul twisted to cut Misty off and grab the cage door, pulling it shut with a loud creak, and a snap.
"Yes!" Cilan chanted happily, nearly dropping Professor Oak onto Drew, who staggered under the older man's weight. Drew tossed a short glare at Cilan, who limped slightly.
"We did it!" Misty sang in disbelief, clapping her hands together. Of course, the excietment didn't last long as the grunt foot soldier didn't look impressed and revealed a radio from his belt and called for back up.
"...Okay, celebrate later, let's get the hell out of here!" Drew yelled, pulling on Oak and Cilan. While Paul had no immediate attachment to the group, he did push Cilan away to take over and they raced out of the boiler room. He couldn't just leave them, they didn't leave him.
Suddenly, as Misty was about to exit the room, a cry of distress rang out: "What about us!?" Jessie, James, and Meowth cried from their cage.
"Just leave them!" Paul snapped, but Misty couldn't do that. She stopped, and grabbed the exit way door and swore. If this situation was reversed, they would leave her in the cage—hell, they did it to her and Ash back when they were traveling to the Orange Islands; of course, they were on a blimp and they were the ones that did the kidnapping. She shook her head, either way, she couldn't leave them.
"I'll only be a minute!" She yelled in return to Paul. Spinning on her heels, she charged back into the boiler room, but hesitated before opening the cage—alarms sounded off on the boat, shortly after announcing an intruder alert. Misty raised her eyes to the ceiling; finding it odd that they would call for an intruder when they were breaking out; not breaking in. Who in their right mind would break in?
"Hurry up!" Jessie whined impatiently. Pulled out of her thoughts, Misty observed the cage that team rocket was being held in. They were in the darkest corner of the room, near the window facing the hallway. She raised an eyebrow. If she thought that their cage was small, Team Rocket was in one that would barely fit a small blastoise; it had to be uncomfortable.
"I don't know if I trust you." Misty admit while twirling the keys on her finger, taunting them.
"We know where they're keeping your pokemon." Jessie wagered, and Misty could only watch her. That would save them a lot of time and effort. Misty leaned forward. She had known Jessie, James and Meowth long enough, that if they did do anything; it would only suffice as their own end. It was impossible for the trio to do anything bad, right. Honestly, Misty didn't understand why they tried so hard to be bad; they were clearly terrible at it.
"Alright, but if you try anything funny, I'm throwing you into the ocean." She yelled, and with that, she opened their cage. Together, they ran for the exit, only to find outside in the hallway that a group of Team Rocket flunkies burst at the hallway split, separating her, Jessie, James and Meowth from the rest of the group. They looked, mostly Drew, really, looked back at her petrified, but she waved at him.
"I'll catch up, just go!" She yelled to them, and after grabbing Jessie and James by their backs, she hauled them in the other direction.
"Okay, run the other direction!" Misty screamed, turning around and heading south down the corridor, trying to stay a ways ahead so that the electric guns couldn't be used on them.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXOXO
"Does anyone else feel like they're in one of those mission impossible movies?" Dawn asked, breaking the silence while they staked out the premises of the boat. Now that they had Team Rocket in their sights, the only thing they were waiting on was an opening. Apparently, no one thought her joke was funny. Ash was riled up, and Gary was as calm as ever. Tension hung in the air again and while they scoped out the area, she wondered how long the silence would last. Her heart was much ligher, however, since she knew that her friends would be fine. But she understood Ash, Gary, and May's worry most of all. She didn't have a loved one trapped in there; arguably, she didn't even have a best friend trapped in there. She and Misty were close, but they were not the best of friends; and she was only on friendly terms with Drew and Professor Oak; she didn't even know Cilan. But they were her friends, friends; and for Dawn, that was more than enough of a reason to fight for them.
Ash was on the fence, he wanted to rush in and decimate any team rocket member that got in front of him, but he also knew that there were too many; and Mew knew how many different types of pokemon.
"I still say we should just run in there with everything that we got. There's enough of us here that.." Ash grumbled, but Gary disagreed vehemently once again.
"Not until we figure out what those taser guns are. We will be useless if we're unconscious." Gary spoke quickly as they dipped around another section of the dock, hiding behind excess cargo.
"Don't get hit." Ash murmured, growing tired of their waiting. He wanted, no, he needed to get in there. They not only had Pikachu, but they had Misty as well. Mew knew what was going on in there. Misty was a delicate, precious, well, and attractive – he rolled his eyes in thought – there was no telling what they would do; and it made his skin crawl like he had caught on fire.
"Ash, just because you've been electrocuted so many times that it's a natural part of your morning breakfast, doesn't mean the rest of us can get shocked and remain unaffected." Max offered while rolling his eyes behind his glasses. Ash pursed his lips, thinking once again that he was not with Pikachu, the culprit of all of his electroshock therapy, and hung his head. Most of the guilt had passed when they found the boat and his anger was mostly subdued when they found Team Rocket; so as he lurched around another crate of boxes, he played patty-cake with waves of depression, and flash floods of anger.
"Either way, we need to do something. They look like they're going to leave soon." Ash warned them; stopping to look at an open, unguarded door that everyone else seemed to miss.
"Ash, we told you for the last time, not yet."
"Then when, Gary? They have Pikachu and M-"
"You don't think I know?" Gary snapped back quickly, anger reflected in his eyes, "My grandfather is in there too! I'm worried, but we need to be smart about this, there are a lot more of them than there are of us!" Gary hissed silencing Ash who lowered his eyes, staring once again at the unguarded door.
An idea formed in his mind; maybe what they needed wasn't a way in—but a distraction. Frankly, he could probably handle a few shots from a taser before he went down proper... Maybe he could...He raised his eyebrows in thought, maybe this was his time to shine in Misty's eyes. She would be completely astounded by his bravery if he managed to save her. Putty in his hands. He shook his head, feeling a small blush form over his cheeks as he lagged behind when the group moved forward. What was he even thinking? That was some Brock level creepiness; maybe what the older man said earlier did stick. Mercy on his soul. Regardless, if he could draw Team Rocket's attention, it would give Gary and the rest plenty of time to find a way in and stop them.
When he looked up, he noticed that Gary had lead May, Max and Dawn around a bend, right before a Team Rocket grunt passed, cutting Ash off from joining them. May looked back at Ash worried. It was now or never. Ash inhaled, and then with the strength of a leopard, he darted around the corner, separating from the rest of the group.
"Ash, what are you doing? Get back here!" May whispered worriedly at the young man as he tucked past an infantry soldier, and then around another crate of boxes undetected. He threw his hand out at them as if to tell them "not to worry" and then with no one else around, he started up the small flight of stairs that led into the loading dock.
"What is he thinking?!" Gary hissed to himself as Dawn gave a soft whistle,
"I guess you could say that he's the better Tom Cruise? Huh, huh?" She said with a stony smile, but was met with deadpanned faces. Tough crowd.
XOXOXXOXOXOXOXOXXOXOXOXO
Ash didn't mean to alert Team Rocket by throwing out Charizard and lighting their barracks on fire; he also didn't mean to flood their kitchen area, and he obviously didn't mean to start releasing cargo pokemon at random. What could have been the perfect mission was quickly sabotaged by a few unhooked cages, a few pissed off pokemon, and several randomly thrown pokeballs.
As he danced around the cages, he was surprised that no one had noticed him until he made his way up the main stairs.
"Pikach...Oh, wait, right." He struggled, watching as they pulled their electric guns on him. Typically, Ash would have told Pikachu to use a thunder attack and call it a day, but without the pokemon; he needed to think outside of the box. Ash had drawn two pokeballs from his belt while they pointed the weapons at him, and smiled innocently. Raising his hands, he clicked the buttons just in time for Charizard to appear, as well as Greninja. The two pokemon jumped simultaneously towards the group of flunkies, but not before they could get off a shot onto Ash's stomach.
He flinched backwards, grabbing the taser and ripping it out of his shirt before standing up, amazed. He hadn't even winced at that; this was nothing compared to Pikachu, and as the light turned on in his head, he grinned; that would be reflected through his pokemon as well.
"Alright boys, it's a battle then." he said while wiping his nose confidently. "Charizard use wing attack to make a path; Greninja, use water shuriken to get rid of the rest!"
"Quick, call out your pokemon!" a grunt member yelled while taking out his ball.
"Don't give them a chance!" Ash yelled back, watching as Charizard and Greninja made quick work of the several members. He dusted of his hands, and then pumped his fist upward; his pokemon copying suit.
"Yahoo! That was great! Now we just have to go find Pikachu!" Ash said confidently, dashing into the hallway, he made his way down ward with Charizard and Greninja up ahead, attacking anything that looked threatening. It didn't take long for Team Rocket to start using pokemon of their own, but the spray of Ratata and Zubats was nothing in the fierce nature of Ash's leading pokemon.
"Ash is that you?!" The familiar, sort of pitched voice called from behind Ash as he finished off another group of flunkies down a third corridor. Ash turned around to face a metal, swinging door where Drew, Paul, Cilan, and an unconscious professor Oak stared back at him. His heart sank slightly, waiting a moment to reply as if he expected Misty to be with them, but she never showed.
"Yeah it's me! You guys are alright?" He asked, trying not to make it too apparent that he was looking around, but Drew caught on right away.
"She's fine, we just got separated is all." Drew said cautiously, watching as a wave of relief pressed over Ash's features. He exhaled as his shoulders relaxed.
"Thank mew." Ash muttered under his breath, but they didn't have any more time to talk as the sound of stomping feet worked their way up the stairs behind Drew and his gang. Ash pulled them through the door, and then shoved a metal bar between the handles. It was at that moment he noticed Paul, and Ash pointed dejectedly at him.
"Paul? When did you get here?"
"A story for another time, Ash, which way to the exit?" he cut right to the chase, unsurprisingly. Ash nodded and pointed them south, but they stopped suddenly.
"Aren't you coming?" Cilan asked, but Ash shook his head.
"I have to find Pikachu, and Misty."
"Right, after we get these two outside, I'll be back to find my pokemon as well," Paul paused and grimaced, "And to even the score." he added hatefully. Nodding to one another, they distributed only to have Ash stop thoughtfully.
"If you see Gary," Ash shouted to them, giving a smug grin, "Tell him I was right." He pumped out his thumb, wished the group good luck, and then delved darker into the depths of the boat.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXO
Ash was only partially right, alerting everyone that intruders were in the area worked great in theory; and great when they were in small groups; and even better when the person who started it was immune to a freakin' taser, but when nearly one-hundred foot soldiers of Team Rocket poured out of the boat's cargo area, all Gary could manage was swearing loudly and pulling on his hair. Each member was equip with weapons, as well as pokemon. Even if they were weak pokemon, in great numbers, they could be devastating.
"Don't hold back, every pokemon you have, toss it. This is going to be one hell of a free for all." Gary grumbled, looking over the cargo boxes, but he didn't need to give the command, both Dawn and May were already standing before the flood of Team Rocket members, confidently holding out their pokeballs.
"Let's do this!" Dawn and May chanted happily, "Mamoswine, go!"
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXOOXOX
Thanks to Jessie and James, Misty was able to lose the gang of flunkies that followed them out of the boiler room. The were hiding in a compartment behind the wall, where they watched the foot-men run right past them. Misty raised her eyebrows, impressed.
"Can't say I would have thought of this." Misty said politely as they slipped out of the rafters, she looked back at the trio, "So where are they keeping our pokemon?"
"In da observatory deck, Cassidy and Burt will likely be there though." Meowth added wile raising a paw. Misty turned and started down the hallway while James, Jessie and Meowth shared a look that Misty didn't catch; they were up to something, but she didn't care.
"Alright, then that's our destination." She said eagerly.
They only walked for a couple of minutes, just long enough to arrive on the north side of the boat. As they drew closer to their destination, she could no longer hear the sound of loud explosions and pokemon rampaging. By this point, she knew that her friends had arrived and were attempting to save them, but, wouldn't Ash be impressed when he found out how she freed herself? She grinned while touching her wrist gently, feeling the sting. However, it did come with it's downside. She should have known that her friends would come for them, but she was so used to doing everything on her own...it was... it was just a strange feeling. She exhaled loudly as they turned the final corner leading into the observatory room.
She didn't speak when she opened the door; half expecting to see Bart and Cassidy, and half expecting that she wouldn't see anything at all expect for a trap. Fortunately, neither of these were true, and behind the door was simply a mountain of bags against the wall, and a rubber bag rolled into the center of the room. They didn't lie to her! Misty cheered mentally, and rushed in head first to grab Pikachu, who was being confined in a bound, rubber sack.
"Pika, Pikachu!" It screamed upon being lifted up by the water pokemon trainer, letting out a useless electric shock that made Misty's fingers tingle.
"Calm down Pikachu, it's just me." Misty spoke tenderly to the pokemon, getting a sigh of relief. As she struggled to remove the bind on the bag, Pikachu chanted at her aggressively, panicky; retelling the events of the story that she already knew. At the door, Jessie and James collected their pokemon, and gave a worried look to one another before turning at Misty.
Feeling the cold, daunting stare, Misty turned very slowly to the trio. They stood tall with one of the taser guns pointed at her. One that they had taken off a stand beside the door, Misty could only exhale loudly.
"What are you doing?" Misty warned dangerously, and they didn't break eye contact as they spoke.
Jessie started, albeit a little sadly, "it's nothing personal; but we are evil..."
"But you're so bad at it! Can't you just call it a day for once?!" Misty yelped tiredly, still tugging on Pikachu's bag, who called out desperately for her.
"Mmm, I suppose; but this is too great of an opportunity to take. If we take Pikachu to the boss now, we will look like heroes next to Cassidy and Biff's failure." James say coyly, flipping his long purple hair. Misty drew her grip around Pikachu closer and frowned.
"I helped you guys!" She tried, and Meowth revealed his claws and she grit her teeth together.
"Yeah, but what did ya' learn about helpin' da bad guys?" He asked in his heavy accented voice, and Misty could do nothing but roll her eyes. The bags were across the room from her, there was no way that she could get to hers before Jessie could fire the gun—and Jessie would if she didn't know any better.
"I'm not just going to hand him over." Misty warned, taking a battling stance even though she didn't have a pokemon to battle with. She couldn't get the twine off of Pikachu's bag, but she struggled with it anyways.
"...chaaaaa" The rodent whined, but Misty couldn't offer words of comfort.
"Then we'll just have to take him!" Jessie and James barked in unison. Misty wasn't sure why she was even surprised to begin with. Team Rocket was known for doing this. Every other time she helped them, they have alwaysdone this. They were the definition of giving an inch only to be walked right over; she only hoped that today would have been different. She leaned over to squeeze Pikachu tightly as if that would negate their horrible plans.
"Don't worry Pikachu, I will find you again." she whispered as Team Rocket closed in.