The Year of Rocket's Revenge
Session: July Once Again, Part 5 (07.11.06/07.11.10)


Friday, July 11th, Indigo Plateau

Giovanni was sitting quietly in the conference room inside the offices of the Pokémon League. To his right, one of his operatives was telling him all of the news about Team Rocket, as well as giving status updates for all of the platoons and squads stationed across the region. But he was only paying attention halfway, as he was calmly stroking the fur on the back of his Persian; the cat Pokémon purring as he rested on his master's lap.

But his peaceful, run-of-the-mill morning came to a halt when a grunt burst into the room, holding a piece of paper.

"Sir, you're going to want to the read this! It's from one of our field agents, and it's startling news!"

He ran over to Giovanni, who snatched the paper from the grunt and started reading it silently to himself. After reading it, though, his mood changed from happy to furious in an instant.

"When did this come in?"

"Uh, late last night, sir!"

"And how come I'm only finding about this NOW?"

Giovanni jumped out of his seat, ignoring his Persian as he flew off his lap and onto the ground, landing on his back.

"But, sir..."

"And why don't you know about this?" Giovanni asked as he turned to his news-spewing operative.

The man to his right was speechless, unable to come up with any sort of answer. Giovanni crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it at him, hitting the operative in the forehead.

"Such failures! Out of my office, now!"

The two quickly fled, not willing to be on the receiving end of their boss' wrath. Once they were gone, shutting the doors behind them, Giovanni walked back to the table, ignoring Persian as he licked his paw and moved to the nearest corner of the room.

"I won't let them succeed," he said aloud as he picked up the phone and started dialing a number, "Not now, not ever."


A group of trainers were gathered along Route 6, just south of Saffron City. Many of them had their Pokémon out and preparing for the upcoming battle against Team Rocket's forces. Among them was Richie, who had his Pikachu, Butterfree, and Charizard out and stretching.

"You guys ready to take on Team Rocket?"

They all responded affirmatively.

"Chuchino, Happy, Zippo... I have a good feeling about today."

"Good, because we're going to need that positive vibe to win the day."

Richie turned around and saw Wallace walking towards him.

"Did you manage to meet with Sabrina?" asked Richie.

"Yes. She said they will be ready."

Wallace then turned towards the sky, as he thought of the teams in Viridian City and the Indigo Plateau.

"I just hope the other teams will be as well..."


After the long recovery efforts of the previous night, only about half of the group sent out to take down Team Rocket's home base was preparing to do so. The other half, which included almost all the females, were planning to stay behind. Gary was among those about to head out, and Cassie was planning to come along... thanks to some coaxing by Arius.

"Stop worrying about me!" Arius told Cassie. "I'll be fine."

"No! After what happened, I can't bear to leave you again! Because... I'm afraid you won't be here when I come back!"

Arius clasped his hands over hers and looked down into her eyes.

"You're came here to do a job. A job that could determine the fate of the entire world! There are more important things to worry about than me!"

"I disagree," Gary stated, as the pair noticed he was standing next to them. "Obviously, Cassie's torn between you and the world. And that's something we can't have if we are to take down Team Rocket. It's better for all of us if Cassie stays here."

Cassie sighed. "If it's for the better for the mission..."

"No, I disagree with you!"

Arius wasn't going to let Cassie give up just like that.

"I know me and the surviving members of the PTA are grateful for what you did, but we also realize how much of a burden we are putting on your mission. You need Cassie more on that attack force more than we need her to help take care of the injured."

"But Arius..."

Arius shushed his ex by putting a finger up to her mouth.

"They need you right now more than I do."

Cassie was stunned to hear that from Arius, and admittedly, so was Gary.

"Fine. Cassie is with us."

Arius smiled with relief. But Gary wasn't going to allow her to come along without conditions.

"Just know that I'm now in charge of this operation. And... I want Cassie in my sight the entire time! We're on the buddy system... and we're to watch each other's backs? Understood?"

"Got it," Cassie agreed without hesitation.

"Fine."

"Gary, they're back!"

The trio turned around and saw their two 'scouts' had returned. Gary walked over to see what they had found, while Arius and Cassie said their goodbyes.

"I... I don't know what to say."

"I do, Cassie. Go tell Team Rocket to hit the road!"

"We're moving out!" Gary suddenly yelled. "Time is short, and we've got a lot of ground to cover!"

As the trainers started heading north towards the Viridian Forest, Cassie quickly rose up on her tiptoes and gave Arius a peck on his right cheek. She then caught up with the others, picking up a fanny pack from atop a nearby box on the way. Arius stood there in stunned silence, wondering what had possessed Cassie to show him such affection, even though they were no longer together.

Cassie ran up to the front of the troop, joining Gary at the head of the line.

"Thanks for understanding, Gary."

"Yeah, whatever. Just looking out for a friendly rival, that's all."

"Oh?"

"I'm just making sure we're on the same page. I don't want to have to return after all of this having known I'm responsible for not allowing you two to see each other again."

"Heh heh... so the great Gary Oak isn't a monster after all!"

"Who said I ever was, huh?"

The two rivals, for once, were enjoying each other's company, even as an uncertain future lied just a couple miles ahead of them.


Along Route 23, the largest of the three groups were undergoing their final preparations. Ash, Pikachu, Misty, Brock, Duplica, and Ditto were the most anxious, as they were going to lead the assault to take back the Indigo Plateau and the Pokémon League.

"I guess this is it," Misty noted.

"There's no turning back," said Brock.

"It's time to take down Team Rocket," shouted Duplica.

"We're going to restore the League and put everything back to the way it was," declared Ash.

Ash, Pikachu, and Brock then walked away from the girls to address the rest of the group. Duplica picked Ditto up from the ground and was about to follow, but Misty placed her hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"Duplica, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"Well... Ash was a little too scared to say this to you personally, so I'm going to do it for him. Sigh... he's worried about you getting hurt, so he wants you to hang back with the other trainers, rather than trying to tackle the big guns with us."

"He really cares about me that much?"

"Of course Ash does! We all do! But... you have to remember, you perform on stage with your Pokémon! You're not someone who regularly battles and competes in tournaments like the rest of us. We're just trying to make sure we all get out of this alive."

Duplica looked down at Ditto and then back at Misty.

"I understand. But if you do end up needing a little help..."

"Don't worry," Misty winked. "If we do, you'll be the first person I look for."

"Mist! Duplica!" Ash shouted at the girls. "It's time!"


Meanwhile, in the basement of the League's headquarters building, the members of the Elite Four: Lorelei, Bruno, Agatha, and Lance were in the midst of doing... Team Rocket's laundry.

Agatha was uncomfortably sorting dirty uniforms, Lorelei was ironing clean ones, Lance was folding them, and Bruno was tasked with piling them in a basket to take back to their owners.

Suddenly, they heard sounds of two people running down the hallway outside. They stopped what they were doing as they tried to listen in, since the door into the room had been left open.

"They're really trying to attack us?"

"We'll show them not to try to rebel against Team Rocket!"

The two ran past the doorway, and the Elite Four shot glances at each other as they wondered... who would dare try to take on Team Rocket.

"Probably a bunch of idiots," suggested Agatha.


"Onix! Geodude! Vulpix! Zubat!"

"Ditto and Ditto! On stage!"

"Staryu! Starmie! Golduck! Vaporeon!"

"Bulbasaur! Squirtle! Charizard! Heracross! Pidgeot! And Pikachu! I choose all of you!"

Brock, Duplica, Misty, and Ash had called out all of their Pokémon, and the other trainers in their group proceeded to do the same. They were standing about 200 feet away from the entrance to the Indigo Plateau, where about two dozen Team Rocket agents were waiting. And worse, more were starting to trickle in behind them.

"Looks like they knew we were coming," growled Brock.

"There's no turning back now," Ash said, a little excited at the prospect of a large battle. "Let's GO!"

"PIKA!" Pikachu yelled.

Pikachu charged in, followed by the rest of the Pokémon. Team Rocket started throwing out Pokéballs, and their Pokémon came out to defend the gates.


The battle had already started in Saffron City, where the number of Team Rocket's agents there easily outnumbered the group led by Pokémon Champion Wallace and Richie.

"Hang in there, Chuchino!" Richie called out. "You too, Zippo and Happy!"

"Chu!" Chuchino nodded as he dodged an attempted Tackle from an Arbok.

Tentacruel and Gyarados were already engaged in battle for Wallace, each tussling with four or five opponents simultaneously. But knowing even they couldn't handle that for long, Wallace tossed out another Pokéball.

"Milotic, come on out!"

Wallace's most dazzling Pokémon, Milotic, entered the scene.

"Milotic, start with Ice Beam!"

Milotic used Ice Beam towards a line-up on opposing Pokémon, freezing some while knocking the rest aside. Wallace seemed confident in victory despite their number disadvantage.

Which was rectified at that moment when Sabrina and a large group of psychics appeared, along with all their psychic-type Pokémon.

"Confusion!" Sabrina shouted.

A large number of the psychic-types used Confusion on as many of Team Rocket's Pokémon as they could reach. Chaos started to reign as some of the enemies began attacking each other, to their trainers' discontent.


At Team Rocket HQ, the operatives that had stayed at home were already on the offensive, attacking the group led by Gary and Cassie just as it came into sight.

As Pokémon battles scattered both sides into multiple fragments all around the area, the most powerful of Team Rocket's Pokémon started going after Gary, Cassie, and their Pokémon.

"Looks like we've got quite a battle ahead of us," commented Cassie. "You ready, Gary?"

Gary smirked. "Just try and keep up, Cassie!"

With that, their Pokémon charged into battle, led by Gary's Umbreon and Cassie's Espeon...


Back at Indigo Plateau, Ash and company were fighting valiantly to get to and past the gates. But more Team Rocket agents showed up by the minute, and each were calling out anywhere from three to six new Pokémon onto the battlefield. Pikachu and the rest of the gang's Pokémon were already get triple- and quadruple-teamed, and the situation was hastily worsening.

"Onix!" Brock yelled out. "Use Iron Tail!"

Onix roared, then swung his tail forward. The attack knocked almost a dozen Pokémon, including several Ekans and Venonat, off of their feet. But as he did that, a pair of Muk and five Grimer attempted to latch onto the tail in order to weigh it down.

Seeing this, Geodude floated over to try and stop them, but then he became surrounded by a group of Koffing.

"C'mon, guys!" Brock called out. "Keep fighting!"

Meanwhile, Misty struggled to keep her cool as her Pokémon were unable to make any leeway.

"Staryu, Swift! Starmie, Bubblebeam!"

The two star-shaped Pokémon were doing everything possible to keep their enemies at bay. But every time they pushed two or three away, two or three more would step in their place. Things seemed to worsen when Golem, Exeggutor, and Ariados started entering to replace fallen Raticate and Nidorino.

However, Golduck and Vaporeon were faring much better. Between Golduck using Confusion and Vaporeon utilizing Aurora Beam, they were keeping themselves from being overwhelmed, as well as protecting Misty from any direct attacks.

"We can do this!" Misty exclaimed. "Break through, guys!"

Charizard was leading the way for Ash, locking horns with the larger, stronger Pokémon like Golem and Forretress, who were trying to slow the fire-type down. He was being assisted by Heracross, who was also having to deal with shoving aside any Houndour and Houndoom that got through.

In the air, Squirtle was riding atop Pidgeot, as the two teamed up to try and pick off other flying Pokémon in the skies above. Back on the ground, Bulbasaur and Pikachu stayed near Ash, using their attacks to stop any Pokémon who managed to get that close.

"Bulbasaur, Vine Whip! Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

Bulbasaur used Vine Whip to knock out a Golbat that had gotten too close, while Pikachu's Thunderbolt grounded a pair of hard-charging Tauros.

"They just keep coming and coming!" grumbled Ash.

He looked back at some of the other trainers and saw some of their Pokémon fainting from exhaustion or severe injury. Their numbers were starting to dwindle, while Team Rocket's continue to grow.

"I'm not giving up," Ash started telling himself. "No, wait... we're not giving up! We refuse to give up!"

Feeding off of Ash's intensity, Pikachu and the rest of his Pokémon felt themselves pulling out all of their strength from within. Recharged, they doubled their efforts to beat back Team Rocket's Pokémon.

"Charizard, Slash! Heracross, Fury Attack!"

Charizard and Heracross charged forward, ramming into opposing Pokémon left and right, knocking them aside or pushing them backwards. As they started to blaze a trail, Ash followed right behind, with the rest of his Pokémon keeping the enemy from attacking him.

High atop one of the buildings near the outer rim of the city, a group of six agents stood, each holding a Pokéball who had a black top and a navy blue bottom to it. And among them were two of the Team Rocket Elite... Jane and Calamity.

"If those goodie-goodies down there think they have any chance of defeating Team Rocket..." Jane began.

"...their hopes will be dashed after this!" finished Calamity.

The six agents tossed out their Pokéballs, and out of them came a dreaded cross-bred Pokémon. To make matters worse, these were made up of the most powerfully dangerous combinations yet.

One was a Quagsire that had the head and tail of a Raichu.

The second was a Golem with the arms, legs, and udders of a Miltank.

Another had the head of a Hitmontop, the arms and body of a Hitmonchan, and the legs of a Hitmonlee.

Yet another was a larger-than-average Eevee who had, in addition to its own head, the heads of Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon.

Then there was an Ursaring that had the nine tails of... well, Ninetales.

And last but not least was one that had the three heads of a Dodrio, the spikes of a Sandslash, the claws of a Parasect, the body of a Rhydon, the tail of an Ampharos, and the four legs of a Donphan.

All six Pokémon hit the ground running (or in Goltank's case, rolling), heading towards the battle. Ash, Misty, and Brock, being the closest to the city limits, were the first to spot them.

"What are those things?" Brock asked.

"They're still cross breeding Pokémon like that?" Misty gagged, as she stuck out her tongue in disgust.

"I've never even seen some of the Pokémon they're made of!" gasped Ash.

The Team Rocket members on the ground quickly got out of the way, but some of their Pokémon weren't as fortunate as they were tossed aside by the literal freaks of nature. But it wasn't Team Rocket's ordinary Pokémon that should be worried.

The Goltank was rolling right towards Ash's Charizard and Heracross. But while Heracross seemed a little intimidated, Charizard roared as he stepped forward and held his arms out in front of him to stop the ball-shaped hybrid.

"Watch out, Charizard!"

Goltank hit Charizard's hands head on. The force of the impact slowed down Goltank considerably, but it was still spinning and pushing Charizard back. Instead of taking steps back, Charizard quickly dug the claws of his feet into the ground as he tried to gain traction.

As that was going on, the Topchanlee raced towards Brock's Onix. It leaped up and executed a flying kick, striking Onix just above where he was bent upwards off the ground. Onix groaned in pain as Geodude and Vulpix forgot about the Pokémon they had been battling and turned their attention towards Onix's attacker.

"That thing's strong!" Brock shouted. "Geodude, use Rock Throw, and Vulpix, use Flamethrower!"

Geodude and Vulpix fired simultaneously, Geodude's rocks riding atop the beam-like fire attack. But Topchanlee used its speed to dodge it.

"And fast too! How can we catch that thing?"

Elsewhere, Staryu was on the receiving end of Ursatales' Slash, shattering portions of the jewel in the center of its body. Misty ran over to check on her fallen Pokémon, ignoring the danger she had just put herself in.

"Staryu! Are you alright?"

Ursatales roared loudly, then in a fit of rage it charged towards Misty. Vaporeon, the closest to her, used Sand Attack to blind the Arbok in front of her, and then took off towards Misty. Just as Ursatales was about to sink its claws into Misty's skin, Vaporeon used Quick Attack at the last second to get there and push the Pokémon wide enough so that it missed at its swipe. Ursatales' momentum kept it going, though, and it stumbled into a pack of Muk and Sneasel that were trying to gang up on a Meganium belonging to one of the good guy trainers.

"Thanks for the save, Vaporeon!" Misty said with exuberance.

But the attack ended up hurting Vaporeon more than Ursatales, as her head had become severely bruised, affecting her brain. Vaporeon stumbled over her own feet and fell to the ground.

"Por...eon..."

"Vaporeon!" Misty cried out as she made her way over to her. "No... hang in there!"

"Is she okay?"

Misty looked up from Vaporeon and saw Brock was standing in front of them, standing back as Onix, Geodude, and Vulpix worked to try and take down the speedy Topchanlee.

"I don't know... but I doubt she can battle anymore."

Misty wasn't the only one down a few Pokémon, as Ash gasped in surprise when a trio of Electabuzz teamed up to knock Pidgeot, with Squirtle still aboard, out of the sky. Both Pokémon had been knocked out by the attack, and they were heading for the ground separately. Squirtle was near Ash, so he only had to move a few feet to catch him in his arms.

Pidgeot, on the other hand, was diving downwards away from the city, back towards some of the other trainers.

"Pidgeot, pull up!"

Although Pidgeot couldn't hear Ash's command, someone did hear it. A Machamp appeared out of nowhere, muscled its way past a few enemy Pokémon in the way, and lifted its arms up to catch the falling Pidgeot.

Pidgeot hit the Machamp dead center in the stomach, and the fighting-type used all four of its arms to get a hold of it and keep it from falling to the ground. But Machamp now had a problem, as it was surrounded by no less than a half dozen Weezing.

"Pikachu, Bulbasaur, clear a path!"

Between Pikachu's electric attacks and Bulbasaur's grass attacks, Ash headed away from the city borders and back towards the Machamp and his Pidgeot, as enemy Pokémon were blasted away or simply moved out of his way.

Still carrying Squirtle in his arms, Ash got to Pidgeot, whom Machamp had since put down gently on the ground. Pikachu and Bulbasaur kept on their guard as they again played defense against would-be attackers.

"Thanks, Machamp! But... who's your trainer? I'd like to thank him personally!"

Machamp nodded and then proceeded to transform... into a Ditto.

"Ditto?"

"Pika pi!" Pikachu exclaimed, pointing to Ash's left.

Ash saw a Raichu, which he assumed was also a transformed Ditto, was trying to protect Duplica and simultaneously fight off two Nidoqueen. But Raichu-dit was struggling to keep its form, and Duplica herself was beginning to panic.

"I've gotta save her..." Ash thought out loud.

He took a step in that direction, but quickly jumped back when the Vapjoltflarevee stopped in front of him, blocking his path. The hybrid growled, electricity starting to spark from its body.

Ash quickly looked around for Charizard or Heracross, but saw that he had left them 'ahead' to tussle with the Goltank, which they were both having trouble taking on.

"This isn't good," remarked Ash.

As for Misty and Brock, the former had recalled Vaporeon and Staryu to their Pokéballs. Her Golduck and Starmie moved to her side, looking at her for advice as the Ursatales from earlier had finally gotten to its feet and wanted another go at Misty. Brock, who was now standing back-to-back with her, was watching as even his Zubat had joined Onix, Geodude, and Vulpix in taking on the Topchanlee. But it was so fast that not only was it dodging all of their attacks, but dealing out damage at its own discretion.

"I think we're in trouble," Misty noted.

Brock was beginning to feel the heat too as he saw his Pokémon starting to get tired.

"Things just can't get any worse."

Misty then gasped in shock as some of the Team Rocket agents that were huddled around the gate had pulled out rifles and were preparing them to be fired.

"You just had to go and open your mouth!"

Brock looked at what Misty was complaining about... and he got her point.

"Aw crap."

To be continued in Part 6!