Chapter 91, everybody! Probably not a whole lot to say about this chapter beyond who's ready for the Mewtwo arc? :D
Also do have chunks of the next chapters done but not fully finished, will be working on those in the coming weeks. Darkrai is quoting National Treasure and Finding Nemo, by the by. Team Rocket, meantime, is referencing Zork. That one stupid game is Scorn, which definitely had art inspired by Geiger but came out much later than the 90s.
And now for reviews: thanks to Dragonkeeper10, BlastShooter87, DeathCrawler, Vulaan Kulaas, LongNightDragon, Speed Reader, Cyan Quartz, JoshPlater, thor94, Reader, griffin blackwood, Ardtornismyname, AverageHiveMind, talesfanjmf, Chryssal, Pegasus Sword Master, epantoja521, and Anonymous Person for the reviews! Yes you got Bee Movie-ed. XD
Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo
And now, for something completely different:
The Pokémon League would once again like to remind trainers to exercise caution when using weather effects in battles. Yes, Rain Dance will increase Thunder's accuracy. Rain Dance can also ruin others' days and make whoever used it the target of an angry mob. Please stop using Rain Dance in crowded picnic areas.
They reached the southern ferry right as a huge storm hit, and if it weren't for the fact that they were focused on reaching shelter Misty would have hit Brock over the head with his 'drying pan' for that terrible pun.
As it were, her first focus after they were inside and out of the rain was that the ferry was packed. Second was that the ferry was closed due to weather.
"Aw come on!" Ash groaned upon learning this. "Did that invitation have an expiration date?"
"Can you blame them for not wanting to go out in this?" Misty asked, looking out the big plate glass windows; some of those swells were taller than Lenny.
"It gets worse," Brock said, coming over from the crowd clustered around one of the counters. "The nurse manning this ferry has been missing for a few weeks now, they said—if our Pokémon get injured in this storm, they won't be able to heal them."
"Who would go out in a storm this bad?" Misty asked—which was when several trainers broke for the docks, throwing out Pokéballs and striking out. "Nevermind, that answered that question."
"Yeah—Ash!"
"Did you not listen to anything that was just said?" Misty demanded, running after him.
"We can take it!" Ash said, ducking around the Jenny trying to block the door.
Misty and Brock followed. "You can't just pick a fight with a storm, Ash!"
"Those guys did," Ash said, releasing Lenny. "And what if we're right and this is something sucky? We're going to have to go after those other guys anyway."
"Says who?" Misty demanded. "Ash!"
"We might as well," Brock sighed, jumping for Lenny's back as the Gyarados started swimming away. Misty groaned before running after them, leaping onto Lenny's back right as she ran out of dock.
This, in her honest opinion, was going to suck.
Okay so maybe he should have listened to Misty on this one.
"How do we tell if we're heading in the right direction?" Ash hollered.
"This is the sort of thing you ask when we're still on dry land!" Misty hollered back.
"Well we're past turning around now," Brock said, looking back. "We need a plan B."
"Again, this is the sort of thing you ask when you're on dry land."
"Darkrai!" Ash greeted, beaming at the now-soggy Legendary. "Give us a hand?"
"I'd give you a brain if I could," Darkrai said. "You'd get into fewer scrapes that way—whose idiot idea was this?"
"Technically, it was not my idea first."
"We'd probably have a better time of it if we went underwater for periods of time," Brock offered. "But we still need to know where we're heading first."
Everyone very pointedly looked at Darkrai. "Gee, why don't I do it," he grumbled.
"Thanks!" Ash yelled as Darkrai shot through the storm clouds.
"I want it on record that I thought this idea sucked from the get-go," Misty pointed out.
"We acknowledge this but also acknowledge that we're committed," Brock said.
"In every sense of the word," Darkrai said, dropping back down and pointing off in some direction. "You want that-a-way."
Lenny roared, dove underwater, surging under the waves and surfacing regularly for directions and air for his passengers. Storm progressively got worse, even though Darkrai said they were getting close—
Suddenly burst up into calm air.
"What the?" Ash noised, blinking.
"The sky! Look at the sky!" Misty said, pointing. Ash looked—
All around them was the storm, them in a perfect circle of calm—and in that circle, an island with a mansion on it.
"We're in the eye of the storm," Brock said. "And unless I miss my guess, that is New Island."
"Anyone want to question the mighty convenience of the island you're looking for being dead-center of a monster storm?" Darkrai asked as Lenny floated for the docks.
"Yes," Misty said. "What did this guy do, get Kyogre in his back pocket?"
"It's a possibility," Darkrai said, wringing out his fur as they climbed down off Lenny.
"You did great, Lenny!" Ash told the Gyarados, who bobbed his head. "Got us all here in all our separate pieces!"
"Ah," Darkrai noised, prompting them to look. Lenny flopped his tail on land—
"Team Rocket?" Ash asked, baffled.
"Prepare for trouble, but not quite yet," Jessie moaned.
"And make it double, 'cause I'm all wet," James agreed.
"I hate da stupid ocean," Meowth groaned.
"Good news: it feels much the same about you," Darkrai told him. "What are you three doing here?"
"Currently? Regretting life choices."
"If you guys are going to try something, can it wait until later?" Misty asked. "Oh!"
Brock started too at the sight of the lady from the hologram appearing between them. "This way," she intoned, turning and heading into the tunnel.
"So that was creepy," Ash observed.
"I told you guys dis was a horror movie," Meowth said, batting at Jessie's hair.
"Don't worry, I've watched Screech, I know all the horror tropes to avoid."
"Like furnishings designed by H.R. Geiger?" Darkrai asked. "By the by, who wants to follow her into the long creepy tunnel first?"
Everyone looked at each other. "Don't all jump at once," Darkrai said.
"Look, I don't care, the tunnel is dry," Jessie said, staggering up.
"Just drag me in out of the rain, I can shenaniganize later," James moaned.
"Get up, you."
"You coming?" Ash asked Darkrai.
"Nope," Darkrai said, floating up. "I'm going to reconnoiter and come swooping back in at the opportune moment to save your sorry hides. Ta."
"Dat actually sounds like a good idea," Meowth said as they entered the tunnel. "Youse'll excuse us."
"That's how you get eaten!" Ash pointed out.
"Technically we're in a group of three!" James called back.
"You are all of you nerds," Misty decided.
"Actually, they're not," Brock said. "A nerd is a number-cruncher; a geek is who knows about movies and such."
"Does this make you the king of geeks then?"
"Wow," Ash breathed as they reached the end of the tunnel.
Wow being the usual reaction to reaching a ballroom with towering ceilings that were just barely visible through the gloom up high, spiraling staircases doubling as pillars and fanning out above pools. Past them looked to be a giant stadium, currently unlit but for the moonlight but possibly huge considering Ash couldn't see the other end. Between them and the stairs were several buffet tables laden with food, several trainers and their Pokémon already busy eating.
"Please wait here, my master will be with you shortly," the woman said, drifting off.
"So…she's weird," Misty decided.
"All of this is," Brock said, looking everything over before settling on the other trainers. "Should we introduce ourselves?"
"To the food? Yes," Ash decided.
There was chatting and eating and nervous glances at the sky as the storm continued to rumble around them, mostly just ticking down the time until the lady finally came back to the open room.
"My master will see you now," she intoned.
"Great," one guy said, standing. "Where is he?"
"Here."
Everyone looked up at the beam of light coming down from the ceiling, at the shape descending within the light, gently touching down on the floor—
Whatever it was, it stood taller than Brock, muscular legs and tail supporting a humanoid chest, something feline in the general shape but also human and putting off some majorly creepy vibes—
"Presenting the world's most powerful trainer," the woman announced. "As well as the world's most powerful Pokémon.
"Mewtwo."
So in other news, Team Rocket wasn't assured that they wouldn't be messily devoured by a grue in the foreseeable future.
"Remind me again why we decided to do this?" Jessie asked.
"To steal Pokémon," James told her.
"Ah, right."
"For da record, I was against dis decision," Meowth said, a paw raised. "Dis place gives me da creeps—I haven't been able ta shake da feelin' of being followed since we got here."
"Same," James said, looking behind them. "It feels like there's something watching us."
"That's because of the stupid décor," Jessie said, gesturing irritably. "It looks like that one stupid game you played what was it called again?"
"Do you actually care?"
"No not really. Where are we?"
"If I had ta guess, somewhere behind dat main room," Meowth said, looking around. "Hey, what's dis?"
This—was a massive room, dark and creepy and made even more so by the various test tubes coming out of a massive machine.
"Well dis isn't ominous," Meowth said.
"Hey! That's Charizard, Venusaur and Blastoise!" James said, pointing. "What are they doing in those tubes?"
"Sleeping? Other dan dat it don't look like dey're doing much."
"I haven't seen a mad scientist setup this creepy since the last time we visited Team Rocket R&D," Jessie said—started with the rest of them when a lever slid down and the machine booted to life. "What did you do!?"
"Why do you assume I did it!?" James asked.
"Because you were right over there I thought you knew better than to throw weird switches."
"I DO know better!"
"GUYS!" Meowth squawked—which was when they realized that the machine had grabbed him.
"MEOWTH!" they yelped, leaping for him—managed to catch him, tugged back frantically, him yowling in panic—
The three of them went flying backwards as the machine finally lost its grip on Meowth—but not on three hairs, which it pulled in and displayed on the largest screen. The hairs warped into the shape of Meowth—
And then a curled up, sleeping Meowth joined the three starters in the tubes.
"I'd like ta go home now," Meowth announced.