The Year of Rocket's Revenge
Story Written by Freedom Fighter
This is it, folks! It's taken five years just for this story to get to this point... nearly eleven if you go all the way back to the original epic, "Adventures Series." It's time to see how this ends!
Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in the Pokémon anime series and other productions belong to Nintendo and Pokémon USA! Cassie Banks, Arius McFly, and several other characters were imagined up by me and can't be used by anyone else without my expressed written permission. Really, it doesn't pay to steal other people's characters, believe me.
This fanfic is only posted at two places: my place, which contains the full-length chapters in one piece, and , which has the same story, but split up into smaller pieces. It should not be posted anywhere else without my permission.
The Year of Rocket's Revenge
Session: July Once Again, Part 1 (06.20.06/07.05.10)
Previously, on "The Year of Rocket's Revenge," the Kanto region was thrown into further instability as Team Rocket prepared to complete their conquest of the Pokémon League. One of the key objectives yet to be accomplished: eliminating the biggest threat to their success.
And so, Team Rocket, with the help of Professor Werner Geissler, had captured Ash and Misty, in the hopes of stripping them of their supernatural powers from the two teenagers. It was to be done using the Dissolution Chamber, a machine the two learned had been tested on a fellow cursed teenager in Giselle, with nearly devastating results. But before the experiment could get underway, Ash and Misty were freed by a man named Joel Orino.
Joel told them that he was part of small group of members of the Pokémon Trainers' Association who were trying to break away from the group. That was because, as the two would learn, that the PTA's founding members all used to be part of Team Rocket. Even worse, now that it looked like Team Rocket's grand scheme was going to succeed, the PTA was trying to worm their way back into their old organization, at the hopes that maybe their lives would be spared. Joel and his men refused to be any part of it, and is helping Ash and Misty out as a continued act of rebellion against Team Rocket.
But his efforts seemed to have only delayed the inevitable. Just mere days later, the presence of a mass invasion force gave Lance and the Elite Four no choice but to give up control of the Pokémon League to Giovanni and Team Rocket. In promising a new world order, Giovanni promised to grant leniency to anyone who could locate and turn in Ash, Misty, Brock, Giselle, and Cassie to him.
As the word got out and most of the world turned on the young trainers, Ash and Misty fled to a safe-haven somewhere off the beaten path... the Imite House. Besides working out some personal issues, they hoped to figure out a plan to stop Team Rocket. But they were shocked, to say the least, when Duplica's guest, a young woman named Angela, revealed that Erika, the former gym leader of Celadon City who was thought to be killed in an explosion at a New Year's Eve party, was still alive!
How can that be? And can our heroes concoct a way to stop Team Rocket's evil plan once and for all? Let's find out...
Tuesday, July 1st, Route 12
It was about three or four in the morning as two Pidgeot were quietly making their way north towards Lavender Town under the cover of darkness. Ash, Misty, and Pikachu were on one, while Angela and Duplica were on the other. Both Misty and Duplica were asleep, with their arms wrapped around the waists of Ash and Angela, respectively, who were fighting to keep awake. Pikachu was resting peacefully while cradled in Ash's arms. Ash and Angela, meanwhile, were also trying to make sure their Pidgeot didn't fall asleep in mid-air.
"C'mon," Angela ran her fingers through her Pidgeot's feathers, "just a little more! We're almost there."
As Angela tried to convince her Pidgeot to keep going, Ash looked over at her. Despite what she had told them the last few days, he still wasn't 100 percent sure she could trust her. But could he after finding out she knew something only a few other people were knowledgeable about?
Three days ago...
Ash had a worried look on his face as he stared at Angela, who was smiling back at her. Misty was in shock, indicative of the tea that she had spat out onto the table. Duplica... was breathing a sigh of relief.
"Whew!" Duplica exclaimed. "So you DIDN'T know! Glad to know I wasn't the only one shocked by..."
"HOW DID YOU FIND OUT?" Ash yelled.
"This?"
Noticing the escalating situation, Pikachu turned towards Angela. His cheeks started sparking as he started charging electricity, as he felt that Ash felt something off about this girl.
"Tell me..."
Ash grabbed Angela by the collar of her shirt and pulled her down a few inches so they he could look straight into her eyes. Misty stood up and quickly motioned towards grabbing a Pokéball from her belt. Duplica's head turned back and forth between everyone, confused about Ash and Misty's reaction.
"Tell me how... how did you find out that ERIKA'S ALIVE?"
Except for the sound of Pikachu's sparking cheeks, the room went dead silent for a few seconds.
And then...
"If you let me go, I'll tell you what you want to know."
Ash glared at Angela for a few more seconds, and then slowly released his grip on her shirt. He took a step backward and sat back down in his chair, not taking an eye off of her as he did. Angela casually fixed her shirt, then grabbed the empty chair in between Ash and Duplica and sat down, crossing her legs as she did so. Seeing everything quieting down, Pikachu calmed down and Misty took her seat as well.
"I guess I should preface my story with a little identification."
She whistled, and to Ash and Misty's surprise, a Lickitung waddled into the room. Once he was close enough, he opened his mouth and unrolled his tongue. They watched as it unfurled to revealed a Pokémon League badge and an ID card. Angela took both of them, at which point the tongue rolled back into Lickitung's mouth.
"Thank you, Lickitung! That will be all!"
"Licki!"
Lickitung then turned around and left the same way he had came in... waddling. Angela handed the ID card to Ash and the badge to Duplica, who showed it to Misty.
"My name is Angela Yorimoto, and I work for the Pokémon League. My job is to act as security for very important people."
"In other words," Duplica stated, "you're a bodyguard."
"Sort of... but without the burly muscles, you know?"
"How come I've never heard of you?" asked Misty. "Me and my sisters run the Cerulean gym and never knew the League offered such a service."
"Truth be told... enough higher-ups believed you weren't any sort of high-priority target... so we just ignored you."
Misty scowled at the thought of being unimportant.
"Do you have a point?" Ash growled impatiently. "Because I still haven't heard the answer I'm looking for!"
Angela turned to look at Misty.
"Is he always like this?"
"It's... been a rough few weeks."
Angela looked back at Ash and continued on.
"The point, which I was about to get to, was that I was one of the many who worked the Celadon New Year's Eve Bash. Which means that I was there when it all went down..."
Monday, December 31st, Celadon City Business District
Downtown Celadon was packed with people, who were gathering around the stage, where Erika, accompanied by her fellow girls from the gym, had just pressed the button that activated the crystal ball above. The crowd began to countdown from sixty as the ball began its descent.
Somewhere along the protective barriers, about 700 feet left of the stage, Angela, dressed in an all dark-blue uniform, was keeping one eye on the ball and the other on the people around her... who were happily engaged in the final moments of the year ticking away.
Unfortunately, one of them was her co-worker and fellow friend, a blonde-haired girl also in uniform, who was mingling with the crowd rather than keeping an eye on them.
Until she ran over to her.
"Angela! I just met this guy who's just your ty-ype! I was about to give him your number, but I wanted to run it by you first!"
Angela blushed. "Tomiko, you're supposed to be working!"
"Stop being so serious! It's New Year's Eve! This celebration is being broadcast live across the country for the first time ever! It's time to let loose!"
"I'll celebrate in half an hour, after our shift is over! Not a second earlier!"
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, Ange! For all you know, you could wake up dead tomorrow!"
"What? That... that doesn't make any sense!"
In the background, the crowd started to count the final seconds...
"Ten... nine... eight..."
"How can you wake up if you're dead? I mean, you can do one but not both! It's completely illogical!"
"It's just an expression."
"And another thing... how can you be such a negative Nancy?"
"I'm not the one being pessimistic!"
"Well, excuse me for thinking it's wrong to think I should be partying with you because I'll be dead tomorrow!"
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" all the revelers shouted.
The girls stopped talking as confetti started falling from the sky, noisemakers went off, and the crowd was hysterical with happiness.
"Oh, thanks a lot, Tomi! We missed the drop! Talk about a horrible start to the year!"
It got instantly worse, as a series of explosions rocked the square, including several around the stage. Joy turned into fear as debris and bodies were blown every which way. As panic set in and people started trying to escape the area, the girls found themselves pushed against the barriers as the crowd struggled to get out.
Tomiko hopped over the barrier, then reached back to pull Angela over as well. Once out of harm's way, they finally saw that the stage where Erika had been on was now engulfed in flames.
"Tomi, help me move these!" Angela cried as she grabbed a hold of one barrier. "We've got to get as many people out of here as quickly as..."
She looked back at Tomiko, but she wasn't there. Her co-worker had instead decided to bolt for the stage.
"Erika!" Tomiko shouted.
"Tomiko!" Angela yelled. "Damn it, we're not trained for this!"
Angela gave up on moving the barriers and chased after Tomiko. They found themselves inside a heavy cloud of smoke as they reached the stage area. Tomiko cautiously inched forward before her left foot hit the bottom step of the stairs leading up onto the stage itself.
Both girls rose their left arm up so that they could keep from breathing in the smoke. But they ran into another problem as they started walking upwards. One Tomiko didn't see or feel until she banged into it head-first.
"Ow!" shouted Tomiko. "What the *cough* heck is this?"
Angela came up next to her and used her right hand to feel out what was blocking their path.
"It feels like *cough cough* a psychic barrier!"
Angela peered inside and noticed two Wartortle rushing to try and put out as much of the fire as they could. She also saw about a dozen bodies littered across the stage... and to her disgust, some of them weren't whole anymore.
"You *cough* see Erika in there?" Tomiko asked.
"Not sure yet..."
Angela scanned the bodies, while in her mind she tried to recall what Erika had been wearing. It didn't help that all of the females she could see all had kimonos on. Just as she was about to give up, she saw one with blue hair lying face down.
"Wait... I think I see her..."
She tried to focus her eyes, while having to deal with the smoke clouds inside the barrier intermittently blocking her vision. But when she found Erika again, she wasn't alone. There was what looked like a man kneeling next to her. He was covered from neck to toe in black, and he was wearing an oxygen mask.
Angela watched as the man seemed to be checking Erika's vitals. The next thing she saw was four more men, dressed exactly like the first, placing the gym leader on a stretcher and carrying her away. She then spotted another four men doing the same for one of Erika's assistants, the raven-haired one.
"Something's *cough cough* happening," Angela explained, as she stuck her left arm out to find her partner. "There's a bunch of people taking her *cough* away, and *cough* I don't recognize *cough*..."
She kept feeling around until her hand finally found the top of Tomiko's head... at about waist level.
"Tomiko! Tomiko!"
Angela couldn't see much, but she was already fearing the worst for Tomiko, who wasn't responding to her. She took one last look inside. This time, she only saw the first man and one of his Pokémon, a Hypno, attempting to create something...
But then Angela coughed violently, beginning to feel the last of the air in her body leaving her. She tried to reach down to find Tomiko in hopes of pulling her to safety, but her strength left her as she started to slip out of consciousness.
She managed to get down the steps and onto solid ground before falling to the ground. As her eyes closed, she swore she saw one of the men from inside start to run towards her...
"The next thing I knew," Angela admitted, "I was waking up in the hospital that night. And then, almost immediately, I saw the reports on TV about how Erika was dead! She was caught on camera crawling from the stage rubble before passing out... and that she died on the way to the hospital!"
Misty turned away, trying to hold back her emotions as she had remembered seeing that same video on TV.
"There was no way that could be true! I swear I saw Erika still breathing when she was being carried away!"
"No offense," Ash said to Angela, "but given all of the fire and smoke, it's possible you could've seen someone that looked like Erika being rescued and thought it was her!"
"Make no mistake!" Angela responded defiantly. "That was Erika I saw in there! But... but no one would believe me, especially given the tape. Not my boss, not any of the doctors or nurses... not even Tomiko! You were like everyone else. Everyone thought the smoke had made me delusional!"
"I'd think you were too," Duplica stated honestly. "I mean, you were the only one who has ever denied that the video was the real deal!"
"Sad to say, after a few days I was forced to realize that no one was ever going to believe I had seen Erika still alive. My only hope was to see if there was any footage of those masked men that took her away. Unfortunately, because it was a crime scene, all of the footage was in the hands of Officer Jenny and the police, and they refused to let me anywhere near it."
"Because everyone knew the truth!" Ash repeated. "That Erika died that night! Drop it already!"
"Ash!" Misty shouted. "How can you say that?"
"He's saying it because HE wants to hide the truth from ME. But there's one problem with doing that."
"Eh? And what's that?"
"Erika is still alive... because Tomi and I have actually talked to her, face-to-face!"
Thursday, April 11th, Lavender Town
Angela and Tomiko were hiding in some bushes, observing the townspeople as they went about their daily business. The reason they were hiding was because they were both in Team Rocket disguises... where they were working under the codenames Belle and Starr.
"I feel wrong doing this!" Tomiko complained, sulking as Angela did all the spying for them. "We work for the Pokémon League! We should be trying to blend in the crowd, not be hiding from them!"
"Tomi," Angela said in response. "We're undercover as members of Team Rocket! Normal people would run from us in fear if we just walked down the street!"
"Why can't we just don disguises?"
"Because we already are in disguises! You can't put a disguise over a disguise! One renders the other one moot! Now, will you pipe down? We'll be in serious trouble if we're..."
Angela stopped all of a sudden, her face turning white for some unknown reason.
"What? You look like you're seeing a ghost!"
"If she's a ghost, then that's the most living ghost I've ever seen!"
Angela pointed out of the bush at someone, and Tomiko followed the direction of her finger towards the target in question. She elicited a similar reaction her friend upon seeing the person. The woman's entire body was covered by a green cloak, making the only part that could be seen her face.
And Angela knew whose face it was.
"That's Erika, the gym leader of Celadon City!"
"That can't be right!" argued Tomiko. "She died, remember? That must be her ghost! We are in Lavender Town, after all!"
"She's alive, I'm sure of it!"
They watched as Erika headed north toward Route 10. Angela started to follow her, trying to stay hidden as best as possible. Tomiko quickly followed.
"What are you doing, Ange?"
"I'm gonna prove to you she's still alive!"
"But our mission..."
Angela ignored her friend's plea as they tailed Erika out of town.
They followed the gym leader to what looked to be a man-made tunnel. Once Erika disappeared inside, the two made their way over to the entrance. Peering in, they saw that the tunnel headed downwards.
"Wow," Tomiko said in amazement. "She's going down! I always thought she was one of the nicer gym leaders."
"For the last time, she's not dead!" Angela shouted.
Shortly thereafter, the two proceeded into the tunnel, with Angela leading the way. At first, lights had been strung up on either side of the passage, illuminating the path. But after a short while, they completely disappeared. To compensate, Angela pulled a lighter out so they could see where they were going.
After about 15 minutes of navigating through a miniature maze of caverns, they started seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Angela put her lighter away as the duo got closer.
Upon reaching the light, they found themselves in a dome-like cavern, completely powered by electricity. They saw a pair of log cabins and a small plant nursery, all of which looked like were built from materials from the surface.
It was in the nursery that Angela saw Erika. She was no longer wearing the robe from earlier, and was dressed in her green and white dress that she normally wore in the gym. A younger woman, whom Angela recognized as the raven-haired girl that was carried away in Celadon City, was with her.
"I knew it," Angela smiled. "That is the Celadon City gym leader! But why is she down here, in hiding?"
"If she's really not dead," Tomiko said as she thought out loud, "then why is she keeping it a secret from the whole world?"
"You'll never get the chance to find out!"
The girls turned around and saw an imposing man standing behind them. His Weezing was out, and he looked ready to put a hurt on the intruders.
"Wait!" Angela shouted. "We can explain!"
"Save it for someone who cares," the man replied. "All I know is that those uniforms mean you're part of Team Rocket. And your kind isn't appreciated around here!"
He then turned in the direction of Erika and her assistant and yelled at them.
"WE'VE GOT SOME UNINVITED GUESTS!"
Erika and her friend stopped what they were doing and walked over.
"Get up," the man told Angela and Tomiko. "Hands where we can see them."
The two girls did as they were told. They then waited as Erika and the other girl came over to them.
"Spies from Team Rocket?" Erika gasped in realization.
"I knew this day was coming!" the other girl started to panic. "They finally found us! We're dead for real this time!"
"Maria, calm down! We'll be fine!"
"I'm sad to say we don't have a choice here," the man admitted. "I'm gonna have to get rid of them."
This time, Tomiko was the one panicking, as she started to shudder with fear.
"I knew this was a bad idea!"
"Please," pleaded Angela, "let me explain who we are!"
"And I told you..."
The man started to deny Angela's request again, but stopped when he saw Erika raise her hand. He and Maria then watched as Erika walked over to Angela.
"Um..." Angela gulped, a bit nervous.
Erika clasped her hands around Angela's, and then began to stare into her eyes. Angela gulped again, not sure what the gym leader was doing. After a few seconds, Erika stopped, made her way over to Tomiko, and did the exact same thing.
Once she was done, Erika breathed a sigh of relief.
"Joel and Maria... we have nothing to worry about."
The two of them were shocked. They couldn't believe Erika could trust the two intruders, just like that. And, not surprisingly, Angela and Tomiko couldn't believe it either.
"So you believe us?" Angela asked.
Erika nodded. "I could see it in both of your eyes... you two are very kind-hearted people. And I know that's one thing people who work for Team Rocket can't be!"
A few minutes later, they were all sitting in the living room of one of the cabins. Angela and Tomiko had explained what they were doing here, and then Erika proceeded to do the same.
"So you've been hiding underground all this time," summarized Angela, "because you knew if Team Rocket knew you were still alive, they'd try to kill you again?"
"Yes," Erika calmly replied. "They obviously believe that the research I was doing was something they and only they wanted knowledge of. I had to find a way to be able to continue my research without endangering anyone else's lives. And, oddly enough, my passing afforded me that opportunity."
"Whoa..." gasped Tomiko.
"I don't like lying, so I would be up on the surface if I had a choice. But I found it was important that this research get done as fast as possible, without any more interference."
"Yes," Maria added. "Though the fact that are lives are in constant danger isn't the only disadvantage."
"I heard Professor Geissler is working with the League now," Erika said to Angela and Tomiko. "Are the rumors true... about what I heard happen..."
Angela and Tomiko looked at each other, wondering if they should answer Erika's question... if they even knew the answer.
"The rumors are," Joel spoke up to clarify, "was that Professor Geissler had created a device called the Dissolution Chamber. It's intention was to cure those who have been diagnosed with Celebi-rus Syndrome. A young woman named Giselle Gravelpot was to be the first subject. But the test went horribly wrong, and she was knocked into a coma."
Joel looked at them, waiting to see if that rang any bells.
"Sorry," Tomiko apologized.
"Unfortunately," Angela told them, "we're just lowly security workers, who just happened to be temporarily entrenched as spies within Team Rocket. None of that stuff you just said sounds familiar to either of us... and sounds like stuff we wouldn't even be privy too."
"Oh," Erika sighed.
"Wait, didn't you say you were researching the Celebi-rus Syndrome?"
"Yes. That's why I wanted to know. If what I've heard is true, then our most recent findings may be too late to help her."
Back to the present day...
"After that," Ash thought as he continued to look at Angela, "she said that she and Tomiko left, promising not to divulge Erika's hiding place. Which is all and good, but..."
Below, the group was passing over Lavender Town, and no soul down there was stirring... save for a Haunter or two.
"We're here!" Angela shouted.
Angela's announcement was loud enough to wake Misty, Duplica, and Pikachu from their slumber. Angela guided her Pidgeot down to the ground towards the north end of town, and Ash's Pidgeot did the same.
Once on the ground, Ash and Angela recalled their Pidgeot for a good long rest. Angela then beckoned Ash, Misty, Duplica, and Pikachu to follow her up Route 10.
"I told her to meet us around here at about four thirty," Angela said aloud as she tried to peer through the darkness.
She led the group up the hill, and at the top, behind a giant rock, Angela spotted whom she was looking for. Tomiko waved her arm back and forth happily, while next to her stood a smiling Erika.
"You made it back safely!" Tomiko exclaimed as she ran over to hug her friend.
"I told you I'd be okay," Angela said as she hugged back.
"Glad to see you're still alive," Misty said as she looked at her fellow gym leader.
"I could say the same about you and Ash," Erika stated in reply. "But we can talk about all that once we're inside."
Erika then proceeded to lead them all to her home-away-from-home.
To be continued in Part 2!
