A/N: Read, review, and enjoy the story!
Chapter 22: The Sinjoh Ruins – The Pivotal Planning
"RED ALERT! RED ALERT RED ALERT!" a siren in the laboratory screamed.
"Cynthia," Professor Rowan told her, "the dimensional distortions we discovered at Hearthome City turned out to be Pokémon-transporting portals just as we thought. Are you ready to fight off the incoming army?"
"We sure are," Cynthia responded. She then turned to a group of elite Sinnoh trainers around her.
"It's time," Cynthia told them.
"Right," Aaron, Bertha, Flint, and Lucian responded.
"Let's do this!" the other elite Sinnoh Pokémon trainers responded.
But it wasn't just the Sinnoh region. Thanks to Professor Rowan notifying everyone, the other five regions were also prepared for battle. In Hoenn, Steven, Glacia, Phoebe, Sidney, and Drake were in Lilycove City waiting to fight off the portal that emerged there. Unova had Alder, Caitlin, Grimsley, Shauntal, and Marshal stationed in Nimbasa City to fight the portal there. The Kanto region portal in Saffron City had trainers such as Lorelei, Blaine, Bruno and Agatha ready to defend the city. Kalos had its own powerful trainers ready to defend Anistar City. And in the Johto region, Lance, Karen, Will, and Clair were all in Blackthorn City ready to battle.
"What's going on?" Kenny gasped while looking out the window. Even though it was the afternoon, the sky was filled with dark stormy clouds.
"First Serena gets kidnapped and now this?" Drew said in shock.
"No wonder Clair left right after Ash's battle with Giovanni started," Conway deduced. "She was getting ready to battle."
As Malamar X entered through the Blackthorn City portal, he boldly proclaimed his control over the world.
"This world is mine now and from now on I'll be controlling all of you," Malamar X commanded. "It's time my army, bring them to their knees!"
The Third Group Meeting
"It's all over," Cilan stated depressingly.
"We can't win a war like this," Iris sighed while beginning to cry.
"No, we're going to win this," Ash asserted.
"Yeah," Clemont agreed, "we won't give up until it's over."
"That Malamar is pretty clever though," Tracey stated.
"Malamar knew that if we split up we would be much weaker," Brock concluded.
"That must be exactly what Malamar wants us to do," May decided.
"But we aren't going to fall for that trap," Max declared.
"Either way, we have to decide the best way to handle this situation," Blaziken Mask told the group.
"And I think I have a solution," Giovanni announced.
"Huh?" everyone responded in a puzzled manner.
"You mean youare going to help us?" Iris asked skeptically.
"There's something I realized when I checked the Team Rocket Pokémon inventory," Giovanni explained. "When I utilized my handheld technology, I saw that all of the reserve Pokemon have been stolen. I'm not talking about the Pokemon my grunts withdrew, we had an entire storage of reserve Pokémon that has been almost completely emptied!"
"I see, it is very likely Malamar withdrew some of your Pokemon for himself," Cilan evaluated. "Were there any Pokemon left?"
"Yes," Giovanni answered, "and they all have one thing in common – they either have the ability Magic Bounce or the move Magic Coat."
"Magic Coat?" Misty wondered.
"And Magic Bounce?" Dawn also wondered.
"What do those do?" Bonnie asked her older brother.
"Magic Coat and Magic Bounce reflect any status-causing moves such as Leech Seed and Thunder Wave back at it the user," Clemont explained to Bonnie.
"Let me guess," Donovan said, "Malamar's hypnotic powers can be reflected back with Magic Coat or Magic Bounce so he made sure to lock them away."
"That must be exactly what Malamar X was thinking," Giovanni concluded. "But I can't even modify my inventory; Malamar made sure that nothing could come in or out of Team Rocket's master storage."
All of sudden, Looker got an unexpected video call.
"Hello?" Looker wondered.
"Hello, this is Professor Rowan of Sinnoh," the caller replied.
"Hold on just a second," Looker said while throwing a small cube at a nearby wall. "Professor, do you see the hologram device that just appeared on the network?"
"Yes, I'm connecting to it now," Professor Rowan answered. "Sorry for not calling earlier – we were making massive preparations."
"Professor Rowan?" Dawn wondered, looking at the man on the big screen. "Hi!"
"Is everyone doing alright?" Professor Rowan asked with concern from the large screen.
"Yeah," many of the Team Pikachu members responded.
"Thank goodness," Professor Rowan sighed in relief. "The entire world was worried about you all being trapped in the Sinjoh Ruins."
"Professor," Clemont worried, "we just witnessed Malamar X and his army disperse into the regions for invasion. Now we're wondering whether we should split up or all travel to one region – any thoughts?"
"There's no need to split up – all of the other regions will be alright," Rowan assured.
"What do you mean by alright?" Iris wondered.
"Let me pull up a map with some cameras to show you what I mean," Rowan said back.
Professor Rowan then proceeded to display views of six different regions. Team Pikachu was distraught to witness that the fighting had already started. Armies of Pokemon marched down the streets and annihilated any human or Pokemon that dared to get in the way. Bands of Pokemon mercilessly ransacked and demolished Pokemon Centers along with the Pokemon Marts – not even Nurse Joy could help the fallen Pokemon. Violence ran rampant on the streets and in the skies - no one was safe from Malamar's ever growing legion of Pokemon. Buildings were blazing, structures were crumbling, and the bodies of defeated trainers and Pokemon. Not a single peaceful color shone on the screen – all six regions emitted a fiery red and a miserable dark gray from all of the chaos that had ensued.
"Wait a second," Brock pointed out. "Malamar told us that only a thousand Pokemon would be in each region."
"That's how many Pokemon came out," Professor Rowan started, "but that Malamar has boarded some type of airship that amplifies his hypnotic waves! Now his capabilities have skyrocketed tenfold – he must be increasing his numbers as we speak!"
"No way!" May said in shock.
"This is really, really bad," Misty sighed.
"And those portals must be allowing Malamar to hypnotize Pokemon from all six regions!" Clemont realized. "That was a reason he didn't tell us about!"
Everyone else was watching the atrocities in shock, but Iris was especially distraught about the destruction. Iris began to break down in tears as she witnessed the Nimbasa City tennis area heartlessly being torn apart. Groups of mind controlled Krokorok ripped up the tennis nets while unearthing the once spotless tennis courts.
"Y…you….you think this is funny?!" Iris yelled while sobbing. "Nothing is alright! Our regions are being destroyed before our very eyes!"
"Iris," Cilan spoke softly while hugging Iris to comfort her.
"I'm sorry," Professor Rowan said softly. Professor Rowan then shifted the cameras to the trainers fighting back. "What I meant by 'alright' was that the Elite Four and some Gym Leaders from each regions are working together to fight back. Each region even has its respective champion fighting for them. We've learned that each Malamar regional army has a head commander squad – if we can take down Malamar's commanders then the rest of Malamar's forces will be severely weakened.
"How did you learn that?" Tracey asked.
"To explain, I would have to tell you about this Malamar," Professor Rowan explained. "The airship Malamar just boarded was hovering high above Blackthorn City before the portals were complete, so we were able to analyze the suspicious aircraft beforehand. With the help of Professor Sycamore's team, we were able to detect amplifiers on the ship and concluded that hypnotic powers would be involved somehow. Thanks to our prior analysis, we were able to track Malamar's hypnotic waves just a few moments ago."
"Yeah," Gary interrupted from inside Professor Rowan's hectic lab. "Instead sending hypnotic waves everywhere, Malamar is channeling his waves through a single hotspot Pokémon in each region that can hypnotize any wild or caught Pokémon in their vicinity! In fact, I'll go warn all of the regional champions right now and let them know."
"And that airship is exactly where I need you all to be," Professor Rowan told Team Pikachu. "Our most powerful trainers will be too busy fighting off these commanders, so we need all of you to board Malamar's ship and take him down.
"So you're sure that none of the other regions need our assistance?" Blaziken Mask questioned.
"Taking down Malamar himself is far more important," Professor Rowan answered. "I'll ask a few of you to help battle in a region if there is a need for backup."
"Mind if I ask how you became a leader in this mission?" Looker inquired. "It seems to me that you're greatly assisting the other regions."
"It just so happened to be that our lab was the only one with a full team of researchers on duty. Our team is also a group that specializes in space anomalies and distortions – it was us that discovered the forming portals and we let everyone know about them. But we also thought ahead and realized that the portals could be used for transporting Pokemon armies, so we told the regional champions to gather up strong trainers to help defend just in case an invasion was coming. We have an overwhelming amount of tracking and information gathering devices in use so we know how to best help everyone, so yes, I will lead us to victory."
"Speaking of information," Cilan asked, "do you have a map of their airship?"
"That's right," Brock agreed, "we need to make a plan fast!"
"Unfortunately," Professor Rowan sighed, "I do not have information on Malamar's airship."
"Aww man," many of Team Pikachu's members sighed.
"You may not have the data," Clemont smirked, "but I do."
"Seriously?!" Iris gawked, fully recovered from her sadness.
"Yes," Clemont replied proudly. "As Malamar revealed the cages to us, James somehow snuck in his remote controlled flying cubes onto each of the cages. These flying cubes with cameras just so happened to contain my mapping software, so I was able to map out the entire airship for us!"
"Wow," Bonnie marveled, "that's the same mapping software you used to map the ruins!"
"But we have to plan fast," Clemont affirmed while putting the map on the screen for everyone to see.
"According to this map, there are 3 floors on this airship. The entrance at the bottom is always left open so that Malamar's Pokemon can enter and exit. There will be a lot of Pokemon to combat on this hangar like floor. Then, the elevator can take us directly to the third floor once we find it. Serena and Team Rocket are being held at the 3rd floor in the same room as Malamar, so it's important that we have as many trainers in that room as possible to stop Malamar. We won't have to worry about being hypnotized because I've equipped everyone with anti-hypnosis protection devices."
"Do we have a strategy on how to beat Malamar once we're there?" Ash asked.
"Yes, but first we need to discuss how to reach Malamar's throne room," Clemont told Ash while showing everyone the map. "The airship's 1st floor entrance, which is located at the back of the ship, is guarded by two Pokémon and it is left open so we won't even have to break in."
"Before that, what will we even use to fly up to the airship?" Cilan questioned.
"Good question," Clemont replied, "we will use that Team Rocket heliplane over there." Clemont then proceeded to point at the aircraft in the middle of the many Team Rocket vehicles and equipment.
"There was a heliplane in the ruins?" May questioned.
"I didn't even realize it was here!" Misty exclaimed.
"As it turns out," Clemont started, "Team Rocket brought many vehicles and equipment into the ruins that included the perfect aircraft for us. However, we're going to need a pilot – James piloted last time but they got kidnapped."
"Then I'll pilot," Giovanni offered. "It's my helicopter plane after all. And after I drop all of you off, I will fly myself to Saffron City – I have a special office at Silph Co. that contains something that could be very useful for me."
"Good," Clemont said in response, "Now as for the order of trainer exit, we'll have May and Blaziken Mask enter the airship first since they have powerful lead Pokémon. If there is anything in the way of entering, May and Blaziken Mask can clear it away with a powerful Flamethrower attack. Behind them we'll have Dawn and Iris followed by Misty and Brock. Cilan and Tracey will enter the heliplane next followed by Ashlyn and Donovan. Looker, Ash, and I will be last to board the airship."
"Got it," the members of Team Pikachu responded.
"The elevator to Malamar's room is at the very front of the ship, so we're going to traverse the entire first floor of the airship. Basically, we need to rush forward as fast as we can and defeat any Pokémon that stands in our way. Fortunately for us, the only guards on the ship are hypnotized Pokémon – we won't have to worry about any trainers."
"And the elevator goes directly to Malamar, right?" Brock questioned.
"Yep, right outside the elevator is a door leading to Malamar's throne room," Clemont answered. "We need to defeat the two Haxorus on Malamar's left and right in order for our hypnotic protection devices to work – their abilities are Mold Breaker so the Haxorus will nullify any Magic Bounce abilities - including our own."
"Do you think we'll be able to defeat the Haxorus that quickly?" Iris questioned.
"And couldn't we get hypnotized while we're battling?" Brock asked.
"The devices that I gave you all use the ability Magic Bounce as a permanent shield," Clemont told everyone. "However, the Mold Breaker ability can nullify our devices. So I'll just throw in a device that uses the move Magic Coat, which can't be nullified. But this device is only temporary. We need to defeat the Haxorus before the Magic Coat runs out."
"And the final step is to defeat Malamar right?" Cilan asked.
"Right," Clemont replied. "If we can defeat Malamar, this entire invasion will be over because Malamar won't be able to keep his army hypnotized. However, Malamar's airship will fall too, so there's something I need you all to do."
"What's that? Misty asked.
"On the first floor, there is a room to the right that holds parachutes that can we can easily attach to our backpacks. We're going to need these parachutes to safely land in Blackthorn City once the airship starts to crash, especially for those of us who don't have flying Pokémon."
"If I call any of you up for backup," Professor Rowan added, "you're also going to have to use the parachutes to jump off the airship and land next to the Sinjoh Ruins portal."
Got it," Team Pikachu agreed.
"I must warn you that bird Pokémon could attack you as you are parachuting down," Professor Rowan warned.
"But how will we know if you need backup?" May asked Professor Rowan.
"Wait a second," Clemont realized, "Does everyone still have their night vision scouters?"
"Yeah," everyone responded. Most of Team Pikachu told Clemont how they put them away as soon as they started battling Team Rocket in the HQ.
"Nice," Clemont said. He handed extra scouters to Ashlyn, Donovan, and Blaziken Mask since they didn't have any. "We'll use our night vision scouters to hear from the professor."
"Here Looker, take one," Clemont offered to Looker.
"Nah, I'm good," Looker replied. "I already have technology that can receive Professor Rowan's updates."
"Got it. Ok Professor," Clemont requested. "I'd like you to send us your maps and any other resources to our scouters and Lookers devices. In fact, send us any relevant updates."
"Hear that everyone?" Misty boldly declared. "The professor will send us notifications so let's all keep an eye out!"
"Will do," Professor Rowan agreed.
"Uh, guys," Iris told everyone, "I found a Pokeball stuck in my hair."
"Huh? Misty wondered while looking at the ball in Iris's hands.
"James's Inkay?" Cilan realized.
"How did it get left with us?" May wondered.
"Beats me," Dawn said.
"Speaking of which," Ash started, "what are we going to do about our fainted Pokémon?
"That's right," Dawn realized, "All of us have had tough battles, so our Pokémon might be too weak to fight."
Everyone was depressed when they realized this. They all sighed for a few seconds and believed that there was no more hope for them. But then, Giovanni spoke up.
"I think I have a solution," Giovanni told everyone while pulling a small sack out of his pocket. "In my hands I have the legendary medicine known as the Sacred Ash."
"The Sacred Ash?!" everyone marveled.
"Yes," Giovanni answered, "this medicine can heal entire armies of fainted Pokémon! However, I'm not sure how I would apply the Sacred Ash."
Brock, who was studying to become a Pokémon Doctor, knew exactly what needed to be done. This was Brock's time to shine.
"Allow me," Brock told Giovanni. "I'm studying to become a Pokémon Doctor, and I read up on how to use it."
"Very well," Giovanni agreed while handing over the ash.
"Ok everyone, put down all of your Poké Balls in one pile right here," Brock instructed while pointing at the ground."
"Right, "everyone agreed. Once the Poké Balls were placed, Brock began to sprinkle the ash onto the Poke Balls while talking to everyone.
"This legendary medicine originates from Johto, and it was because I happened to be studying in the Johto region that I learned about it. I didn't think I would ever come across the rare medicine, let alone use it. So it's amazing that I get to use the Sacred Ash when only a few in the world have ever had access to such healing power."
"What's the general way to obtain the Sacred Ash?" Giovanni asked Brock.
"That's a good question," Brock said while continuing to apply the Sacred Ash. "From what I've read, the Sacred Ash mainly appears whenever the legendary Johto bird Pokémon Ho-oh is in the area. The fact that Ho-oh is so rare is probably why the Sacred Ash is rare too."
"But why would Ho-oh be around Giovanni?" Ashlyn wondered.
"No," Donovan realized, "this can't be…Ho-oh too?"
"What do you mean?" Looker inquired.
"This must mean that Malamar must have hypnotized Ho-oh!" Cilan told Looker.
"If I had to guess I would say Malamar used my Honchkrow to help hypnotize Ho-oh," Giovanni thought. "And then Malamar must have put the Sacred Ash in my pocket just in case all of my Pokémon fainted."
"Alright everyone," Brock announced, "the Sacred Ash healing is complete! Everyone is at perfect health and ready to fight!"
"Thank goodness," Dawn said relieved while holding her fist to her heart.
"That's a relief," May said.
"Without the Sacred Ash, there would be no way for all of our Pokémon to be healed," Tracey pointed out.
"Yeah," Ash agreed, "it's a good thing we had Brock and Giovanni with us."
Departure
With all of the Pokemon healed and the plan to take down Malamar prepared, all of the Team Pikachu members said goodbye to Professor Rowan before walking to the heliplane.
"Do you think we'll be able to take down Malamar?" Clemont asked Ash.
"Of course," Ash answered. "We're going to beat Malamar no matter what!"
After a couple minutes of walking, they finally boarded. Team Pikachu was very fortunate that the heliplane had a capacity of 25 people.
"Are we all ready?" Giovanni asked everyone behind him.
"Yeah!" Team Pikachu chanted in a serious tone.
"Then let's begin," Giovanni said.
The heliplane flew through the vast air space of the ruins and flew straight into the portal that led to Blackthorn City. Team Pikachu was in for a shock once they arrived.
"Here we are," Iris pointed.
"This is just awful," Cilan remarked.
"Look at all of the destroyed buildings," Bonnie said with sadness.
"Plus the sky is all dark and gray even though it's the middle of the afternoon," Max pointed out depressingly.
"We can't let this go on any further," Ash declared. "We have to win!"
It is the middle of the afternoon and the Great Invasion has now been set into motion! Will Team Pikachu be able to stop the mighty Malamar X? Will the other regions be able to hold off Malamar's commanders? Will Team Pikachu be able to save Team Rocket and Serena? And most importantly, will Ash save his Pikachu? Find out in the next chapter of Saving Pikachu!"
"Professor Rowan," Gary started, "Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina were all in the Sinjoh Ruins and they all emerged from the Johto portal with Malamar. But for some reason, they're nowhere to be found!"
"It's likely that the Malamar decided to keep them hidden. We have to keep a very close eye on all of the regions – Malamar could make them spawn anywhere," Professor Rowan cautioned. "It will mean very bad news if Malamar decides to unleash Dialga's, Palkia's, or Giratina's powers out of nowhere."
To be continued…