The Year of Rocket's Revenge
Session: January, Part 4 (01.16.06/08.02.07)
The time is 1900 hours.
All teams, huddle up for the final briefing!
Our primary objective? The destruction of Team Rocket!
Our secondary objective? Well, that's classified, only to be known by a few pre-selected agents.
The objectives are independent of one another. Though it would be prudent for both to be accomplished, one does not have to be completed for the other to be. Strive for completion of all objectives without fail!
Once Team Rocket has fallen, we can truly show the world what the Pokémon Trainers' Association really is all about!
And everyone in the world will thank us for it.
For the preservation of the Pokémon League... IT'S GO TIME!
Thursday, January 10th, Team Rocket Headquarters
Dozens upon dozens of Pokéballs could be heard opening as agents on both sides started up impromptu battles all over the grounds. Magmar grappling with Charizard, Victrebel butting heads with Heracross, Flareon, Jolteon, and Vaporeon mixing it up with their brethren Umbreon and Espeon... it seemed as if there were hundreds and hundreds of different Pokémon duking it out. An amazing sight to behold, if it weren't for the fact that the PTA and TR agents were pushing them to their breaking points and beyond. All for the purpose of wiping the other side completely out.
"Houndoom, use Flamethrower!" one TR agent yelled, pointing at a trio of Exeggutor.
"Hunter and Gengar! Night Shade!" exclaimed a PTA operative, directing the attacks towards some Girafarig and a Kadabra.
It didn't take long for Pokémon to start dropping, at which point they were replaced by other Pokémon. The battles moved along at a fast clip, as trainers on both sides made attempts to go for type advantages and eliminate opponents quickly based on that strategy.
As the battles raged on, they were unaware that they were being watched from the command center inside the base. And the one commanding them smirked, that person's yellow blond curls the only other part of the face visible looking towards that dark corner of the room.
Meanwhile, Joel was leading a small squadron of four into one of the inner buildings. One of them had also called out his Mankey to lead the way, just in case they ran into trouble.
And it only took them turning around one corner to find it...
"It figures..." stated the lone Team Rocket operative standing in their way; a Pokéball firmly in his left hand.
"I should've expected to see you here, brother," Joel said aloud.
"So, this is the biggest operation in PTA's short history, huh?" commented Jude as he smiled evilly. "Big mistake... that short history will end here and now!"
"Mankey!" the agent behind Joel said, about to shout an order. "Use..."
"That won't be necessary," Joel cut in, raising his arm in front of the anxious Mankey. "I'll take care of him myself."
"HA! Big words coming from someone who lost the last time."
"If I remember correctly, it was your men being carried off to the slammer. Not mine. And this time..."
Joel threw out a Pokéball, and out of it emerged his Forretress.
"Forretress!" the bagworm Pokémon chirped.
"Boss, let us help..." the Mankey trainer shouted, before getting cut off again.
"No. Remember, this just isn't about revenge tonight."
"Awww..." Jude smirked, catching on. "So not only do you want to see us destroyed, but there's also something you want from us as well!"
"GO!"
Without hesitation, Joel's three operatives turned about and ran the other way, off to complete this 'secondary' mission.
"Let me guess... three low-level recruits? Whatever they're after, they won't get to it. This is the home base of the most devious organization in the world... Team Rocket!"
"The only person you should be worried about... is me! And my Forretress!"
Jude nodded his head. "For once you're correct."
"Heh... as the older brother, I'm always correct."
"So says you!" Jude yelled as he tossed his Pokéball.
The Pokéball collided with the ground, bursting open in an instant to release... a Skarmory!
"I'd like you to meet my Skarmory. I just caught it the other day."
"Hmmm..." Joel thought aloud. "That must mean it's weak."
"Weak? Hardly! Skarmory, Fury Attack!"
Skarmory flew straight at Forretress, planning to knock its block off.
"Forretress, Defense Curl!"
Forretress complied, shutting its shell closed just as Skarmory's left wing struck it. Skarmory continued to pound away several times more, with Forretress staying curled up in that defensive position. Once Skarmory stopped, Joel saw the opportunity to go on the offensive.
"Now, go into a Rapid Spin!"
Forretress nodded, then spun around and around, heading in Skarmory's direction. Considering the cramped confines of the corridor, Skarmory had no choice but to take the attack head-on, since there was no room to evade it.
"Is that all you got?" Jude yelled, unfazed by what had just transpired.
"We've servin' up more right now!" Joel shouted. "Forretress, Take Down!"
"Beat it to the punch, Skarmory! Agility! Then, Drill Peck!"
The two Pokémon charged towards each other, colliding head-on as both employed their brute strength to gain the advantage over the other...
"Bring in that Voltorb and Electrode squad!" exclaimed a PTA operative. "This headquarters is going dow..."
He never got to finish his sentence, as he was suddenly struck down thanks to a bullet to the head from about a hundred feet away. It didn't take long for the sounds of several dozen more gunshots filled the air, as a large platoon of Team Rocket Grunts, all armed with shotgun rifles, had opened fire on the PTA agents. Caught off guard, many of the PTA's operatives and their Pokémon were dead or dying on the ground before they knew it.
"Shield and rifle patrols, move in!" yelled another PTA agent.
Moving in reinforcements of their own, the PTA scrambled to protect their heavily exposed agents as well as provide them with the chance to return fire. And they quickly took it, as some parts of the battlefield turned into a firefight. Some Pokémon moved to protect their trainers, using Reflect and other similar moves to shield them from harm. Others continued to engage in several groups of battles untainted by gunfire so far.
Though both sides were still quickly taking injuries and casualties, the battle overall was practically even, with no clear advantage to either side.
But one side was ready to change all that...
"Release them," ordered Team Rocket's battle commander from inside the Command Center.
Two ear-piercing screeches could be heard from the sky. Several PTA operatives took a moment to look up... and went they did, they suddenly wished they hadn't.
"Oh my gosh!" one yelled. "What are THOSE?"
One of them appeared to be a Yanma at first glance, yet it also had the snout-like nose of a Swinub and the tusks of a Piloswine! The other had the body of a Dragonite, but the skin color and wings of an Aerodactyl!
The smaller of the two quickly dived towards the front line, using Blizzard to freeze a good portion of the PTA's agents in their tracks. As it did that, the larger one started charging up for Hyper Beam in that general area.
"Take that thing down!" yelled one of the PTA squad leaders.
Three Meganium, lined up all next to each other, started charging up for Solar Beam. They were joined by a pair of Lapras, who were ready to launch Hydro Pump, and a Raichu, who was charging up to release a huge Thunderbolt!
"Ready... FIRE!"
The six Pokémon fired as if they were one, their attacks intertwining with each other in mid-air as they flew towards the combination Dragonite-Aerodactyl. The targeted Pokémon responded by firing its Hyper Beam, which tore through that mix of solar power, concentrated water, and electrifying energy, and dissipated it all. It then completed its flight path, coming down almost directly in front of the six attacking Pokémon.
Those Pokémon, all of the frozen bodies in front of them, and almost everything within a quarter of mile was completely eradicated. In a flash, nearly 200 humans and Pokémon had perished; thrice as many more were injured to various degrees with everything from minor burns to limbs and other body parts that had been completely destroyed, if not severed and/or damaged beyond repair. Needless to say, those PTA agents not in the blast radius were frightened at this new development. Heck, even a good number of Team Rocket's grunts were shaking in their boots, as many of them didn't even know what to expect. That was made apparent by the fact that they had lost a good deal of their own teammates as well in the blast.
"What... power!" stated one of the shocked TR Grunts.
One of the PTA agents turned on his communicator unit and started yelling new commands into it.
"Get me all the heavy-fire Pokémon you can! Shoot those monstrosities OUT OF THE SKY!"
Forretress and Skarmory had fainted at the exact same time, leaving the first round between brothers on opposite sides of the battle with a draw. They quickly recalled their Pokémon as they heard the rumblings of explosions from outside and spotted small pieces of the walls and the ceiling falling apart.
"You never let me win easily, do you?" said Joel with a twisted smile.
"This coming from the guy thinking he's entitled to winning 'cause he's the older brother," Jude replied.
"Round two?" Joel asked, pulling another Pokéball out.
"Round two!" Jude smirked, doing likewise.
And with that, Weezing and Magmar appeared before the two trainers, respectively.
"READY TO TURN IT UP?"
"BRING IT!"
"SMOG!" the two yelled simultaneously.
The two Pokémon went to work quickly filling the corridor with artery-clogging smoke, making it hard for both Pokémon and trainer alike to see or breathe.
Hyper Beams aplenty were being shot from the ground and up towards the two cross-bred Pokémon flying above. The Yanma-Swinub-Piloswine hybrid fired an Ice Beam down towards the firing squad, but the attack was stopped by two Jynx, who absorbed the ice attack in an instant. Meanwhile, the combination Dragonite-Aerodactyl just circled above the battlefield, more or less observing and dodging any attempts to bring it down.
Two Snorlax, an Octillery, and a Gyarados continued firing Hyper Beam as often as their bodies would allow, but they were beginning to show signs of exhaustion. An Electrode and an Ampharos were protecting them with Light Screen, but they too were tiring.
One of the PTA commanders was watching the whole scene unfold and continually screaming orders into his communications radio.
"Don't tell me we're running low on reserves! Any agent that has a Pokémon that can use Hyper Beam or some attack just as strong needs to get over here to the south side and take these freaks of nature down!"
Suddenly, a black tulip was thrown to the ground, landing just a few feet in front of the commander and the few soldiers still standing around him.
"What the..."
Then, two more were thrown, this time right at the operatives! Before they knew the tulips burst into nets, ensnaring the PTA agents and pinning them to the ground. And with no way out, apparently, as the net's wires had a powerful purple-colored electric charge running through them.
The men looked on in fear as the owner of the tulips appeared before them with a sadistic smile on her face. She seemed to be dressed just like any ordinary female Team Rocket agent, yet the white beanie cap that covered a good portion of her golden, curly locks suggested otherwise.
Not to mention the pointy black tulip she held in her left hand.
"You're the best the Pokémon Trainers' Association can offer? Tsk tsk... I guess Team Rocket was right in letting your founders go off on their own. Because they just weren't 'world domination' material."
"How dare you speak of our organization like that!" the commander shouted. "We're nothing like you!"
She smirked and flicked both of her hands back and forth. Just like that, the one pointy tulip had become eight. Then, without warning, she flung them at the trapped prey before her, killing them as the points pierced vital organs and the like.
"Exactly."
In the background, most of the aforementioned Pokémon fighting force were flung about in several directions as if they were rag dolls, as they were all on the receiving end of another Dragonite-Aerodactyl massive Hyper Beam.
"Fire Punch!"
"Slow it down with Sludge!"
Magmar charged forward, rearing back with his right arm. Approaching the blast of mucky sludge, Magmar punched forward and through it with relative ease. Weezing gasped in shock, now that he was wide open for an attack.
"DO IT!" Joel yelled.
Magmar drilled Weezing in the face with Fire Punch, sending the poison Pokémon flying into the side wall.
"Weez..." Weezing trailed off, a pained look on his face.
"Hang in there!" Jude said to his Pokémon. "We can still win this!"
"Not if I can help it!" exclaimed Joel. "Magmar, let's finish this! Another Fire Punch!"
"Mar!"
Magmar charged forward again. But this time, Weezing was ready for him.
"Okay, Weezing, use Smog!"
Weezing puffed out a cloud of poisonous smoke at Magmar. The fire-type ran into it and was stopped dead in his tracks.
"Magmar!"
"Ha ha ha! Looks like the battle's over for you, brother!"
Weezing then began to glow yellow... a glow that grew brighter and brighter very rapidly. Before Magmar could guess what was going on, Weezing self-destructed, resulting in an explosion that quickly filled the hallway with smoke and cause the already deteriorating ceiling and walls to come apart even more.
"Koff koff!"
"Sir... SIR!"
Joel turned about and saw the three agents that had run off minutes ago had returned, all with a few wounds and such, but otherwise okay.
"Secondary mission complete, sir!"
Joel nodded in response. "And the primary?"
"Unfortunately, not so good. You see..."
Joel raised his hand up to stop him. "Should've figured... we waited too long. How bad is it?"
The agent pulled out a small carrying case and took five rewritable CDs out of it, numbered from one to five.
"And that's just what we could get without having to break through encryption codes in the database. We just didn't have the time."
"So it is worse than I thought. Hmmm... okay. We're pulling out. Radio to the forces to retreat to rendezvous points C, D, and E."
The young operative looked past Joel and into the smoke.
"But what about..."
Joel pulled out Magmar's Pokéball and recalled it.
"Okay, Magmar, we're done here! Good job!"
Magmar crawled out of the smoke just as he was drawn back inside his Pokéball.
"Are you retreating?" Jude yelled angrily from the other side of the smoke cloud.
"Let's just call it 'living to fight another day.'"
With that, Joel pocketed the Pokéball and then tossed out a small black orb, which he threw up at the ceiling above.
"I'd not come after me if I were you, brother!"
Joel and his team then headed out the way they came, just as the poisonous smoke cloud was beginning to dissipate.
"What are you talking about? Get back HERE!"
As Jude took a step forward, the orb attached to the ceiling exploded, causing a small cave-in that was enough to block the hallway and also take out the lights as well. Jude had managed to avoid the falling debris, but he now had no way to chase after his brother. Frustrated by his failure, he kicked Weezing, who was lying on the floor unconscious, into the newly piled mound of rubble.
And with that, the remaining Pokémon Trainers' Association operatives retreated for the hills, escaping from the grounds of Team Rocket's headquarters. A few Team Rocket grunts gave chase, but most were content to lick their wounds and be thankful they were more than able to avoid complete annihilation at the hands of a rival organization. The two hybrid Pokémon flied back towards their nest on the opposite side of the headquarters.
As for the golden-haired agent who had taken many lives that day single-handedly, she was hovering about 200 feet in the air using a rocket jetpack, as she observed the PTA's withdrawal. As she did, a familiar voice rang out over her radio.
"Domino! Status report!"
"Yes, sir," she replied. "Preliminary reports indicate that only 35 percent of the opposition's forces escaped without serious injury or death. Ours is a more respectable 75 percent. No official reports on structural damage as of yet, but from here it looks like they got a few buildings on the south side... the first-level R & D labs and Pokémon indoor training facilities."
"Very well. Enact Emergency Plan B-29."
"At once, sir!"
Once at a safe distance, Joel gazed upon the compound from afar using a pair of binoculars. He noted that Team Rocket was already in the process of cleaning the mess left by the huge battle. With that settled, he lowered his binoculars and addressed his fellow squad commanders behind him.
"It looks like they're gonna try to cover the whole incident up before word spreads to the authorities."
"All the more reason to go back in there and finish them off!" one of them retorted.
"If you hadn't noticed, McGray, we were getting our butts kicked out there once they pulled out their cross-breeds. And we don't have nearly the amount of forces in place to counter them. We're better off living to fight another day. Even if it means we'll have to find their main headquarters all over again."
"Very well, sir."
"Besides, I'd like to think all of those men and 'mon down there didn't sacrifice their lives for nothing. After all, we did complete our secondary objective. At least with that, we're even closer to finding the 'legendary' trainers than we were before. Team Rocket may have one... but we'll beat them to the other four!"
Friday, January 11th, Indigo Plateau
The following morning, the League was in the midst of their second day of meetings as they were interrupted by Bruno, who was giving them a live report from Viridian City.
"As you may have heard, fellow gym leaders, several homeowners from the outskirts of Viridian reported sounds of explosions and the like. After substantiating the reports, I was led here..."
Bruno repositioned the camera so that everyone could see the clearing where Team Rocket's headquarters stood the night before. Only now, it had been pretty much abandoned, and many of the damaged buildings had been demolished.
"It looks there was a huge battle here last night, with Team Rocket trying to defend their turf from somebody. We don't know who, but it has to be somebody or some organization with the firepower to match up with Team Rocket. It seems that Team Rocket won, but probably felt that their location had been or would be compromised as a result. So, they packed up as much as they could and left."
"And we're assuming they won because..." Lance started, trying to get a straighter answer out of Bruno.
"A huge amount of human and Pokémon prints entering and leaving the grounds from the compound's south side. We believe this was the invasion force. But there's so many prints on top of each other that we may never know just how large they were in number."
"So, theoretically, the force could've been anywhere from five to 500 trainers... and their Pokémon."
"Exactly."
"Who could this force be?" many of the League members murmured amongst themselves.
"Could it be?" Ash thought to himself. "Would it be?"
"The fact that they decide to move out as quickly as they did means whomever attacked them potentially has the resources to engage in secondary and tertiary attacks on the compound at a later date," Lance deduced.
"It seems that way," Bruno nodded in agreement.
"How could they move the headquarters of a huge organization like Team Rocket's in one night?" Agatha asked in rash disbelief.
"No clue, but they could have had a contingency plan in place for emergencies such as that. And they did a very good job... all we're finding in the buildings is random trash and a fully-stocked pantry or two."
"That's it?" questioned Lance.
"Oh, wait... there was this too."
Bruno showed off a framed photograph of Giovanni in a group picture of about 15 to 20 uniformed Team Rocket agents. Everyone gasped in shock at this proof that a gym leader was definitively working hand-in-hand with an organization determined to bring them down.
"What did I tell you!" Morty yelled, jumping out of his seat. "Giovanni's done nothing but soil the reputation of the Pokémon League and the gyms! I say we should revoke his gym leader powers immediately and shut the Viridian gym down completely!"
"That's, like, goes without question!" Daisy added.
"That's unbelievable!" exclaimed Lt. Surge. "Besmirching the good name of the Pokémon League! I ought to give that Giovanni a piece of my mind!"
"Fairly quick turnaround for someone who wanted to wait for a fair investigation yesterday," Morty reminded him.
"Well, I didn't believe it until now!"
"To be fair, Giovanni cannot be completely stripped of his powers until the conclusion of a fair and thorough investigation..."
"Screw that!" Surge yelled. "That photo's proof enough!"
"Yeah!" yelled all of the gym leaders in the room.
"WILL YOU LET HIM FINISH, YOU INGRATES?" Agatha shouted at them all.
The room went dead silent.
"Uh... thank you, Agatha. As I was about to say, but given the physical evidence as presented by Bruno, it is the decision of the Elite Four that the Viridian Gym cease operations until further notice. Giovanni's gym leader license is also suspended indefinitely, and he will not be allowed to perform any duties related to the position until such suspension is lifted."
"Though given what we know," Agatha cut in, "he could definitely be facing the revocation of not only his gym leader license, but his trainer's license as well! Not to mention the many laws the authorities could book him on, potentially putting him in prison for the rest of his life!"
"Does this mean the end of Team Rocket?" Whitney wondered aloud.
"It's too soon to tell, but this is a big step towards accomplishing that goal at long last!"
"Hooray!" many of the gym leaders cheered.
Ash smiled in relief.
"Finally... Team Rocket will soon be taken care of once and for all!"
About an hour later, the League's monthly meeting came to an end, and the gym leaders and Elite Four members dispersed to head back to their respective hometowns. There were a few stragglers, as they were dragged into personal conversations off to the side.
Among them was Lance, who was still up at the podium and talking to Morty, who was endlessly thanking him for finally taking action on Giovanni and his dealings with Team Rocket. At that point, Lt. Surge approached them, with a two-finger-width manila folder in hand.
With that, Morty bowed his head to Lance and Surge, and then headed out of the room."What is it, Surge?"
"These files that Miss Erika was working on... the ones you gave me to pick up her research?"
"Yes?"
"Well, apparently she was onto something big when... the whole incident happened. Remember when she originally reported that after a person embedded with these 'possession' powers dies after accessing that ability three times?"
"Yes, I remember her reminding me and the rest of the Elite Four about that incessantly. Your point?"
"The point IS, sir, that there's a way to tell when someone has already done it twice!"
"How?"
Lt. Surge opened the file to the top page and plopped it down on the podium. Lance quickly skimmed through it, his eyes racing past line after line until he found a bit of information that was new to him.
"And you're sure of this?"
Surge nodded. "Without a doubt! The next three pages are archived testimonials of people who had a loved one that had this ability."
"So there is something to all of those news reports after all!"
"That's right! It turns out that anyone who has used this ability twice already can be easily spotted by an obvious side effect!"
Lance put the file down and looked up to the lights, aware of what Surge was getting at.
"They're prone to constant fainting!"
To be continued next week in Part 5!
