A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! Thanks to Great, Julie Togepi, and Crestilia. Yeah, I'm glad to see you enjoyed the joke about Ash, and how he's still ten despite years having clearly passed in the anime.
All Trainers were aware of how difficult it could be to get an unwilling Pokemon out of its Pokeball. It was even harder when the Pokemon in question weren't even yours.
However, Wade didn't need to open the Pokeballs he had captured to know what sort of Pokemon Brock and Misty had. With the development of the Pokemon Storage System, it was also possible to examine Pokeballs and tell what kind of Pokemon were inside without even opening them. It was also possible to determine the 'level' of Pokemon so to speak, or in other words, to gauge how strong they were.
"So, that's their conclusive report, sir," Wendy said. "We didn't find anything too odd about their Pokemon, they're kind of strong- which is why the scouts had so much trouble- but they're not really anything compared to yours."
"Hmm," Wade stroked his chin as he read the report. "You're right- they are certainly powerful- ah, look a Gyarados, but not capable of defeating me. Does the girl really have only Water type Pokemon?"
"Yes," Wendy said. "We can't tell why, but all the Pokemon on her were Water type. Odd, I know."
"The boy's Pokemon are also powerful," Wade said. "But most of them are Ground or Rock types, giving my Gyarados a huge advantage there- wait." He frowned and squinted at the paper. "What's the deal with this… ah, Greninja?"
"We're not sure," Wendy said. "For some reason, it doesn't have the Torrent ability like a normal Greninja and the computer seemed to have difficulty giving a readout. Maybe it's just because, well, Greninja aren't very common in Galea and it had difficulty reading one for the first time."
"Yes, well they are rare," Wade said. "And this one so powerful, in the right hands of course. I would love to have a Pokemon like that…" he trailed off.
Wendy started looking nervous. She had only worked with Wade for three years, but they had been enough to get a gauge of his personality to some extent. And she saw something in Wade's eyes she hadn't seen before- avarice. "Um, sir… will you be appropriating the Greninja?"
Wade snapped out of whatever thoughts he was lost in and said, "Ah, no, I will not be appropriating the Pokemon. After all, I have a good stash of my own."
Both of them knew that 'appropriating' was simply a euphemism for stealing. It was not odd for a Gym Leader to take a Pokemon by force if they happened to fancy it, but Wade considered himself above that. At least, he usually did.
"So, if you don't mind me asking sir, why did you want this chart?" Wendy asked. "You've never asked for one before."
"Oh, see, I wish to interrogate the prisoners myself," Wade said. "Using my Badge. But, if one of them were to challenge me, I'd have to take them up on it."
"But how'd they challenge you? I mean, they don't even have their own Pokemon," Wendy said.
"According to the rules, I'd have to give them their Pokemon back," Wade said. "For the challenge, of course. But, now that I'm almost certain that they will be unable to carry the day against me, I can go through with it with ease."
"Shall I come with you to interrogate the prisoners?" Wendy asked.
"Certainly. Bring a notepad and pen along, take notes while we talk if anything important happens," Wade said.
"Yes sir," Wendy said. She sighed, she wasn't used to being treated like a secretary, but the thing was that this was a special case after all, and Wade would only want someone he trusted on the job so… she shook her head and decided that she would consider being assigned this job a compliment.
Wade had not imprisoned Brock and Misty in the normal holding cells, and instead had kept them in a remote cave away from prying eyes. The last thing he needed was stories going around about people coming from beyond the barrier, next thing you'd know people would think that the world was coming to an end.
The cave had been abandoned, but some lights had been put up by his men. There was only one chair, which Wade took. The prisoners were sleeping soundly on the ground, and Wendy guessed she was supposed to stand.
"Shall I wake them up?" Wendy asked.
Wade shook his head. "No. My Badge put them to sleep, and that is what will wake them up."
As Wade commanded his Badge to release the two from their slumber, The two awoke instantly.
"Where… what is this place?" the girl asked, apparently a bit dazed from the spell.
"You are currently in a cave," Wade said. "Within my territory. I do believe that the two of you were trespassing on my domain. State your names for the record."
"Where're my Pokemon?" the girl asked.
Wade frowned. "I said state your names for the record!" Wendy flinched, it wasn't common for Wade to get angry or to shout, but Wade probably felt that a certain show of force would be necessary around these two.
Far from groveling or getting scared, the girl's eyes hardened. Wade was unused to that. "Where are my Pokemon?" she repeated.
"I have currently relieved you of your Pokemon," Wade said.
"Meaning you took them from us," the boy said.
"State your names for the record," Wade repeated.
"Misty," the girl said.
"Brock," the boy said.
Wendy was scribbling on her notepad.
"Where are you from?" Wade asked.
"The Pewter City Gym," Brock said.
"The Cerulean City Gym," Misty said.
"Where are these places?" Wade asked.
"Excuse me, how are they spelt?" Wendy asked. Wade turned to shoot an annoyed look at her.
"It doesn't matter for now how they're spelt, just make something up," Wade said. Turning to Brock and Misty, he added, "Now, where are these places exactly?"
"The Kanto region," Brock said.
"So where are we right now?" Misty asked.
"Ah yes, Kanto," Wade said. "I've heard of the place. As for your question, we are currently in my domain in the region of Galea."
"I thought so," Brock said.
"How did you get here?" Wade asked.
"Well, there was a machine," Misty said. "It was made to transmit signals to Galea, but there was an accident and we ended up here too."
Wade frowned. "A machine? Capable of getting through the barrier! Impossible!"
"It's true," Brock said.
Wade decided to check using his Torrential Badge, forcing the two of them to tell the truth. They repeated the exact same thing.
"This is distressing news," Wade said. "First of all, a child somehow manages to end up here. Then, a machine manages to get these two through. That can only mean that the barrier has weakened considerably to allow this to happen. Wendy, send a message to Selena and tell her that the barrier is unraveling far faster than it is supposed to."
"What is the barrier?" Brock asked.
"Well, you see, approximately thirty-three years ago, to protect this land from a great calamity, I, along with seven other Gym Leaders, created a barrier to send this land into a sort of limbo and cut it off from the rest of the world," Wade said. "Normally, it should have lasted for a good several hundred years before we'd have to come together and fix it again, but for some reason it has weakened considerably. Now, enough with that, I will be the one asking the questions."
"Have you heard anything about Ash?" Misty asked. "He was a friend of ours."
"Did you just go ahead and completely ignore what I-" Wade said before pausing. "Ash Ketchum? The two of you openly acknowledge knowing him?"
"Yeah, he's like our oldest friend," Brock said.
"So you openly admit that you're in league with that invader," Wade muttered.
"Invader?" Misty asked, confused.
"Yes," Wade asked. "Your 'friend' if you do not know, has gone and usurped power from four of my, ah, colleagues. He now controls half of Galea, and is planning to invade another region."
"Ash? Usurping stuff?" Brock asked. "Look, you've probably got the wrong Ash Ketchum here."
"Tell me all that you know about Ash," Wade said. "Now."
"What're you going to do with him?" Brock asked.
"None of your business," Wade said. "Now, do tell me about him."
Misty frowned. "Hey! You can't go and treat us like this you know! Both of us, we're Gym Leaders from Kanto! That means we have, uh, diplomatic immunity- yeah, we have that."
Brock said, "Uh- I mean, yeah, that's true. And the Pokemon League of Kanto will be pretty mad if they found out you've wrongfully detained us."
Wade scratched his chin. "Even if you do happen to have diplomatic immunity, in this current state, according to the laws of this land well, I can basically do what I want here."
"Then if you're so tough, why don't you battle us first, huh?" Misty asked.
Wade frowned. Did that technically qualify as a challenge? No, it wasn't a direct challenge.
"A battle would be futile. You wouldn't last for long," Wade said. "I know the strength of your Pokemon."
"Oh yeah?" Brock asked, in a fury now and in no mood to mess about. "Well, consider this a real challenge to a battle!"
Wade exhaled. Now that definitely was a challenge. "Get their Pokemon for them," he signaled to Wendy. "I'm guessing the girl won't agree to go the easy way either."
However, truth be told, he was quite excited. He hadn't fought a real challenger for ages, and it would be excellent practice for Ash Ketchum. Not to mention it was obvious that these two weren't going to cooperate that easily and defeating them would probably teach them a lesson.
And after all, deep down, Wade was a Pokemon Trainer. And what did a Trainer want aside from a battle, after all? The Gym Leaders had banned Pokemon ownership among the majority of the population, but that meant that they were deprived of any real challengers. And for how long would he continue to live like a trapped Rattata, afraid of someone challenging him?
Brock decided that he would battle first. They were having the battle right outside the cave and their field would be the open ocean and the beach.
Wade considered getting the rest of his Gym Trainers, but he was sure about winning and so decided that simply Wendy would do for now.
"Go! Lanturn!" Wendy shouted and sent out her trusty Lanturn. She liked it as its Electric typing meant that it could easily take down other Water type Pokemon.
"Go! Swampert!" Brock said.
"Huh… haven't seen one of those before," Wendy said. Still, she remembered reading something about it though, but couldn't remember exactly what it was. Still, it was a Water type. "Thunderbolt!"
It didn't seem to do anything to the Swampert. "Use Mud Bomb!" Brock said and it was then that Wendy nearly face-palmed as she realized what she had missed out- Swampert was part Ground type! Her Lanturn didn't stand a chance and was knocked out in a hit.
If Wade was disappointed in her, he didn't show it.
"Nice job," Wendy admitted. "But, I have a solution for that though! Lombre!"
Wendy smirked, the Water-Ground typing was something she had seen on some Whiscash before, and they always fell to Grass moves which where four times as effective.
"Mega Drain! Go!" Wendy said. The attack hit home and orbs of green light went towards her Lombre, but that Swampert was made up of some really tough stuff as it was still standing.
"Come back!" Brock said and switched out for his Toxicroak, which thankfully, after evolving, no longer tried to attack him. "Poison Jab!"
Now, that attack hit home and took out the Lombre. Wendy frowned, she was usually used to taking out her opponents with ease! She sent out another Lombre for it to meet the same fate.
"Go! Chandelure!" Wendy sent out. "Use Flamethrower!"
"Use Poison Jab!" Brock said.
They two Pokemon basically just went at it with those attacks continuously until they both fainted simultaneously.
"Go! Sharpedo!" Wendy said.
"Go! Foretress!" Brock said.
"Another one I've never seen before," Wendy muttered to herself. She wasn't even sure which type it was… it kind of looked like a Bug type, but also a Steel one as well.
"Use Pin Missile!" Brock said.
The Foretress spun around and began shooting darts at the Sharpedo. Wendy ordered it to dive, but the shots still went through the water. A good deal of them missed, but Sharpedo was hit by quite a few.
"Keep it up!" Brock said.
Wendy tapped her foot as she thought of an idea. Her Sharpedo was her best Pokemon, and it seemed to be holding up fine, but she couldn't figure out how to tackle the Foretress. "Sharpedo! Use Water Pulse!" she said, figuring a long-ranged attack would be the best bet currently.
"Foretress! Dodge it!" Brock said and his Foretress got out of the way.
"Well, this is getting nowhere very fast," Wade muttered to himself. The Foretress wasn't going to go into the ocean, and the Sharpedo wasn't going to come out of the water. At this rate the battle was going to be a large amount of nothing.
"Foretress! Rapid Spin!" Brock said and his Foretress began rotating even faster, and then began skipping on the waves like a stone. "Now find the Sharpedo and use Iron Head!"
The attack landed and unlike the Pin Missiles, it seemed to have done a lot of damage, though Foretress took some damage too thanks to Sharpedo's Rough Skin.
"Ice Fang!" Wendy said and her Sharpedo jumped out of the waves and chomped down hard on Foretress before its teeth broke on Foretress' iron-hard shell.
"Hah!" Brock said.
Wendy smirked. "A Sharpedo's teeth grow back almost instantly. Use Water Pulse now!"
"Use Pin Missile again!" Brock said. This time, the attacks hit home and Sharpedo petered out, but not before Foretress took a brutal attack head-on.
"I lost," Wendy said. "Sorry, Lord Wade."
"It's alright," Wade said. "Now at least I have a gauge of how good he is." And, Wade thought, a relative idea of how good Ash Ketchum was. Plus, this was good practice for Wendy as well, he reckoned.
"You'll face me now," Wade said. "But before we battle, let me explain my special rule to you. I can negate the abilities of Pokemon in battle."
"What?" Brock asked. "What's a special rule?"
"It's just something I can do, okay, I shouldn't be having to explain this sort of basics," Wade said before remembering that Brock hadn't been in Galea before ever.
"Alright then," Brock said. "Though I don't get it. Just how exactly do you do something like that?"
"You'll see. Go, Gyarados!" Wade said and sent out a Gyarados. A Shiny, red Gyarados.
"Whoa! How'd you get one of a different color?" Brock asked."I mean, I've seen one before, back in Johto, but..."
"Oh, it took several hundred tries to find a gold colored Magikarp, and then I evolved it," Wade said. "I have a fondness for rare Pokemon that are hard to get. They're usually not the best battlers, but I'm a- ah, a Pokemon collector as well, I guess one might say."
"Right," Brock said.
"Well, let's get to the battle then," Wade said. "Gyarados! Use Surf!"
The resultant tidal wave drenched everyone and everything, except for Brock and Wade, who were both protected by the Torrential Badge, Wade because he was Gym Leader and Brock because he was currently a challenger and got some degree of protection from the Torrential Badge.
Misty and Wendy were soaked though, and Brock's Foretress was down for the count.
"Well, then, go Steelix!" Brock said.
The Gyarados and Steelix were about the same size, and both were almost equally intimidating. But, type advantage favored the Gyarados, of course.
"Gyarados, use Brine!" Wade said.
The attack hit Steelix hard, and to Brock's complete and utter surprise it fainted in a single hit.
"What? But how?" Brock asked. He wasn't expecting it to last long against a Gyarados, but Pokemon like Steelix could always endure a single hit at least.
"Like I said before, I can negate abilities," Wade said. "A Steelix has the Sturdy ability, which would normally have given you the chance to hold out for some time, but I've taken that advantage away."
Misty frowned. "How is that fair?"
Wade shrugged. "It is how it is."
"Swampert! Go!" Brock said and sent out his Swampert, which was still doing pretty alright even though it had taken a bad hit from a Lombre.
"Ice Fang!" Wade said.
"Swampert! Dodge!" Brock said. Swampert barely got out of the way and rolled into the sand.
"Swampert! Counter with an Ice Beam of your own!" Brock said.
Brock's attack hit home, but all it seemed to do was enrage Gyarados even more.
Wade smirked. There was a reason his Gyarados was his pride and joy. "Use Dragon Rage!"
Gyarados released a haze of dark energy that struck Swampert.
"Ice Beam! Again!" Brock said, sounding desperate.
"Ice Fang!" Wade said. The attack should have taken out the Swampert, but it dodged, leaving his Gyarados with a mouthful of sand.
"Rock Tomb!" Brock then said. Swampert began hurling boulders from the ground at Gyarados, and they seemed to be doing quite some damage. Enough for Gyarados to be seriously enraged.
"Enough playing! Gyarados! Use Hyper Beam!" Wade said.
An awe-inspiring beam of destruction left Gyarados' mouth… and missed its target by a hair, punching a hole through the mass of rock and and thereby generating a new tunnel in the cave they had been in.
"Rock Tomb!" Brock said, and with Gyarados unable to move after an attack like that, the rocks hit home and Gyarados fainted.
"Argh! You'll- you'll pay for- you know what, actually, it's been quite some time since someone took down my Gyarados," Wade said and smiled. "I suppose I shouldn't be so enraged. Unfortunately for you, although he was my favorite and my rarest Pokemon, he wasn't the strongest. And I haven't even shown my trump card yet… Go! Shiftry!"
Shiftry came out and looked around like it hadn't been out of its Pokeball in a long time. Misty kind of felt sort of sorry for it.
"I don't normally use her that much anymore," Wade said, "But with a type advantage necessary, well, anyway, Razor Leaf!"
Swampert was unable to dodge, and was taken out quickly.
"Go! Crobat!" Brock said and sent out his Crobat. It was really sunny out, which seemed to annoy it, but this was hardly the time for Pokemon to be wearing sunglasses like it was a Pokemon Musical. "Use Poison Fang!"
"Extrasensory!" Wade said. Both attacks had the type advantage, but Brock's Crobat seemed to have come out on top.
"Poisoned…" Wade muttered to himself. "Shiftry! Get out of range and keep using Extrasensory!"
"Crobat! Use Air Slash!" Brock said, rather than trying to get closer.
The Air Slash missed unfortunately, but the Extrasensory hit home and Crobat went teetering down to the ground. Before it could collide with the beach, Brock withdrew it.
"Greninja! Go!" Brock said. Greninja may not have technically been his, but Brock sure hoped that he would respond to his commands. This was his last chance.
"So that's the Greninja," Wade said. "You know, the report did say it was odd, and now that I look at it… it is certainly quite different from the one that Arthur of the Elite Four had. To a collector such as myself, it certainly stands out. And it's not because it's a Shiny, so to speak. Boy, tell me just what is different about that Greninja?"
"Um, not much that I know of, but it has a close connection with its Trainer," Brock said. "Plus I think it can transform or something. Anyway, that's not what I'm here for. Greninja! Use Quick Attack!"
Greninja didn't obey instantly and glanced back at Brock and at the Shiftry in front of it, as if contemplating whether or not to go ahead.
"Come on now! This is for Ash! You want to meet him, right?" Brock asked.
"Shiftry! Feint Attack!" Wade shouted. Greninja watched as Shiftry disappeared for a second before reappearing near it and striking it.
The attack didn't seem to do much other than startle Greninja, however.
"Ah yes, I forgot, it's also a Dark type," Wade said. "Shiftry! Razor Leaf! Again!"
Greninja was sufficiently mad enough to start dodging, though it still wasn't listening to Brock much and using Water Shuriken, which had little effect on Shiftry.
Wade smirked. "Tell me, what kind of Gym Leader can't even get his Pokemon to obey him? Even Marley and Freyja could handle that at the very least."
"It's just kind of new, that's all," Brock said.
The fight had deteriorated form an orderly Pokemon battle to Greninja dodging and striking of its own will while Wade commanded Shiftry to continue attacking relentlessly with Razor Leaf.
In the end, Greninja fainted, and Shiftry did two seconds after as well, succumbing to the poison.
"I cant' believe I lost," Brock said, falling to his knees.
"Let me heal your Pokemon," Wade said to Wendy after healing his own. "Now, I do believe that I've won. I must say though that I really do admire that Greninja though. It's quite a shame that it has to end up with a Trainer like you. I think it would do better in my hands."
Wendy realized what was happening and bit her lip. Wade was going through with his plans on taking Greninja. She wasn't sure what to say without risking Wade's wrath.
"Wendy, hand me the boy's Gr-abahfabea," Wade said.
"Huh?" Wendy asked.
"I don't know why that happened," Wade said. "I felt the Badge vibrate and, and I just couldn't speak." He frowned, that meant that he was breaking the rules somehow. But what? There was nothing against taking a Pokemon from a commoner! The others had done it so many times!
"Boy! Give me your Gr- addasgaf. I wish to possess your Greninja! Wait- why does that work?"
"You can't take his Greninja!" Misty said. "You have no right!"
"I am a Gym Leader!" Wade said. "I have as much right as any king or queen- no, greater than that of even a king or queen within my territory! I could have him executed right now should I wish it!"
Wendy took a step back. She'd never seen this side of her master before, he was behaving very oddly what with all the shouting and there was a weird look in his eyes. Had he always been like this, deep down?
"Wait? You mean like… killed?" Brock asked and then gulped. He had met villains like Team Rocket before who did occasionally kill people and Pokemon, and had always known of course that people died… but to kill someone over a Pokemon battle? What kind of messed up world was this?
"Well yes, one does need to kill people in my position from time to time," Wade said. "I suppose you would know, of course, being a Gym Leader. It's that justice and the people demand it. A serial killer, for instance, in the eyes of many deserves nothing less than to be put to the sword."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Brock said. "I'm a Gym Leader… or at least I was, and I didn't kill people."
"Really?" Wade asked, confused. "But then… how did you maintain law and order within your realm? Did you go ahead and ban the death penalty?"
"The police kept law and order," Brock said. "And Officer Jenny- well, she kept my hear- ouch! Misty, you don't need to pull so hard! My ears are very sensitive, you know!"
"But- don't they work under you?" Wade asked incredulously. "Or do you just delegate all tasks to them?"
"I don't really get what you're saying," Misty said. "All we did as Gym Leaders was take on challengers."
"But- but what's the point of that?" Wade asked.
"Please, don't take Greninja though," Brock said. "I mean, he's one of Ash's favorite Pokemon."
Wade's eyes widened. "One of- of course! Now that explains it! If that Greninja belongs to one of the seven other Gym Leaders, well then, I can't take it. Accord and all forbids us from taking each other's property. So I can't order you to give it to me, or take it myself, or get one of my officers to do so."
Wendy was afraid that Wade would get angrier, but now that he knew that he couldn't have it, he seemed to have calmed down. "Well then, Brock, that was ah, an interesting battle. I've fought people of course, but those were my own officers and I could tell few of them were really trying. And you're not bad either, really, you clearly beat Marley out of the water. Now, I do believe that Misty wishes to be next?"
"You bet!" Misty said. "Don't worry Brock- I'll handle him!"
"I doubt it," Wade muttered. "First, take on Wendy. You're a new challenger, so you'll start from the beginning."
Misty had a greater difficulty handling Wendy due to her Lanturn and the fact that she only had Water type Pokemon. Her Corsola and Politoad were both knocked out before the match was over.
"Well, Wendy's lost again," Wade said. "No matter, don't fret Wendy, these people are clearly good." As he turned to face Misty and their match began though, he asked, "By the way, why are all of your Pokemon Water types? I mean, it is normal to have a favorite type, but why would you keep a full team, and then only have a single type?"
"Water type Pokemon are very versatile," Misty replied.
"Yes, well they are, if you use ones which have mixed typing," Wade said. "Most of yours are just Water types and for that matter nothing that guards against Electric attacks."
"Well, we'll just see about that," Misty said.
"And another thing," Wade said. "Do people really dress up like that where you come from?"
"Yes," Misty said. "Go! Gyarados!"
"Ah," Wade said, smiling. A Gyarados v. Gyarados match was bound to be interesting, especially since he was sure his was the better. "Well then! Ice Fang!"
"Gyarados! Dragon Rage!" Misty said.
A Gyarados on its lonesome was scary enough, but with two of them moving at each other, spraying waves five feet high onto the shore and making noises that echoed for miles around, it was something that made Wade and the others feel very small indeed.
Their attacks didn't do much damage, but they did enrage each other. Wade wanted to be riding his Gyarados while his opponent did the same- it would be so much more amazing and worthy perhaps of a portrait! But then again, also a bit impractical, so he didn't voice the idea.
"Ice Fang! Again!"
"Dragon Rage! Again!"
Wade's Gyarados held its opponent in a firm grasp between its icy-cold teeth while the other Gyarados writhed in pain and sent a blast of haze back, but Wade's Gyarados didn't release its grip.
"Gyarados! Hyper Beam!" Misty said.
The ray of destruction was as beautiful and deadly as last time, except for the fact that it actually hit its mark. And, it occurred to Wade, of course it would, if they were so close together there was no chance of it missing. That girl must have learned from his mistake up against Brock.
"Oh dear," he said as he saw that the attack had done more damage than he had thought, and his Gyarados fainted. "Come back, you did a great job."
Truth was though, he was quite mad that a Gyarados that wasn't even above average had come and defeated his Shiny one. Oh, he would have his revenge, of course!
"Go! Shiftry!" Wade said. "Use Razor Leaf!"
It seemed that Misty's Gyarados had been weakened considerably, and also had to recharge from that attack now, so Shiftry was able to take it out without taking a hit herself.
"Go! Starmie!" Misty said.
Wade said, "Again, you don't seem to understand type disadvantage. A Pyschic type against a Dark type? On top of the Grass on Water disadvantage? Shiftry! Use Feint Attack!"
Shiftry disappeared again.
"Starmie! You have your radar. Wait for her, and when she appears, use Ice Beam!" Misty said.
Shiftry appeared, and Starmie dodged it by the skin of its non-existent teeth and fired an Ice Beam away at it.
"Shiftry! Razor Leaf!"
"Starmie! Use Rapid Spin to get away!"
"Shiftry! Extrasensory!" While that attack hit, it hardly did any damage.
"Starmie! Use Ice Beam again!"
"Use Razor Leaf!"
A very beaten-up Shiftry finally took down the Starmie.
"Go! Psyduck!" Misty said. She hoped that her Psyduck wouldn't mess up like usual and maybe even show some of its hidden powers that it did sometimes.
The next two minutes proved how wrong she was as Shiftry took Psyduck down.
"You're down to your last Pokemon," Wade said. "Make it count."
"Go! Seadra!" Misty said. "Use Dragon Pulse!"
Shiftry was barely hanging on at that point.
"Razor Leaf! Again!" Wade said but Seadra just dived beneath the ocean's surface.
"Seadra! Water Pulse!"
Shiftry managed to avoid the attack, and used an Extrasensory that didn't do all that much damage. Wade withdrew his Shiftry as this was clearly not working and switched it out for his Skarmory.
"Skarmory! Aerial Ace!" Wade said. This battle had gone on for too long in his opinion, and now was a time to bring it to a rapid conclusion. If the Skarmory didn't work… he would go directly to his strongest Pokemon.
"Water Pulse!" Misty said. She knew that trying to dodge an Aerial Ace was a futile move, and so the best way to counter was to strike back as hard as she could.
It turned out that Seadra got the raw end of the deal, with Skarmory shrugging the Water Pulse off but with Seadra bobbing dazed in the water, as if it was no longer conscious.
"Oh no…" Misty said before Seadra seemed to snap back into cognizance. "Oh, good. Use Hydro Pump!"
"Use Aerial Ace to dodge it and strike at her!" Wade said.
The Skarmory flew around in an arc in the air, moving so that the Hydro Pump completely missed it and then striking a finishing blow on Misty's Seadra.
"And so, you too, fall," Wade said. "I'll say it again, you two are reasonably decent Trainers."
"So what now?" Misty asked. The fire that had been in her eyes had been doused. "Are you going to kill us?" She seemed to have already accepted her fate.
"Ah no, of course not!" Wade said. "I wouldn't kill Ash either, truth be told, if I could stop him either. I do not kill people as young as you, and after all, I do believe that you didn't mean any harm. I may have gotten carried away in threatening you- I had merely meant that I could have and that there are others who would have done something along those lines." He folded his arms. "Now, so long as you two don't cause any more trouble, you will simply be imprisoned."
"Imprisoned?" Misty asked.
"Oh please, you make it sound so terrible! As if I'm going to place you in an old dungeon with rotting bricks and only lice-infested gruel to eat. No, no, you'll be given every comfort. See, your friend, Ash Ketchum, has refused to battle me. I'm certain with you two as hostages, he'll definitely come running to challenge me, and if not, at least for his Greninja. I can't imagine a Trainer abandoning a Pokemon as special as that. I certainly would, if it were me," Wade said.
He turned to Wendy. "These two won't be causing me any more trouble, but I say we now take them to somewhere with a telephone booth. I haven't actually kidnapped anyone before you know- but desperate times and all. I do assume of course, that Ash want to see proof that his friends are alive before he comes running to challenge me."
"Dang it James! That was our last coconut!"
"Well, I was hungry Jessie, you know, I need my food!"
"And you took the last piece of food on this island? What gives you the right?"
"Right? What gave you the right to be such a lousy partner who never does anything aside from whining all the time?"
Meowth, meanwhile, wasn't shouting, as he was trying to conserve his energy. His stomach rumbled again- man, it was hard not having food. It was even harder having no Pokemon, as both of his so-called 'smart' humans had decided to leave them at the Team Rocket base except for Jessie's Wobuffet, which was only slightly less useless than Jessie herself at this point.
As such, they had only a few bits of equipment they had on hand with nothing that was useful in trying to get out of this place.
"And all of this wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for your idea, James! You're the one who thought that Professor Sycamore was onto something!"
"Well! He was onto something, wasn't he! And what were we supposed to be doing anyway? Moping around! Boss Giovanni was going to have us fired!"
"Yeah, well now we're starving too death! That's soooo much better, James! You should get a medal!"
It was then that something occurred to Meowth: if these people starved for too long, he would be the first one that they would eat in order to survive. He shuddered, there were a lot of problems in being a Pokemon in a world ruled by humans, but by far this was a scenario he never thought that he'd run into. He completely zoned out of what the other two were saying as he imagined himself being roasted over a fire…
"Meowth! What do you think?"
"I think that if we starve for too long, we cook Jessie's Wobuffet first!" Meowth said. "It's much larger!"
"That wasn't what we were talking about at all…"
"And anyway, we could always try fishing," James said.
"The only thing I've managed to catch was something the size of a goldfish after two hours," Meowth said. "And I'm much better at fishing than either of you are!"
A/N: And so, there ends one of the longest chapters in this fanfic. Also, it's almost been a year since I started this. We're only at the 43rd chapter, so the once-a-week thing hasn't gone as planned and has had some delays, I'll admit. Also, we've crossed 100,000 words, making this the longest fanfic I've ever written.
I glossed over Misty's fight with Wendy as I thought this was long enough. As for 'levels' I know that the Pokemon video game has them, but they've also been mentioned in the anime like in the episode 'The School of Hard Knocks' I think that it was mentioned which levels Pidgey evolves, but I'm unsure if they're mentioned later on in seasons like XY&Z. Also, the idea for the machine scanning their Pokemon and making a report is kind of based on an idea of basically using X-Rays on a Pokeball.
Also, I've always gotten the impression from the anime that Brock and Misty were almost as Ash's level, despite the fact that Ash got far more experience in battling than either of them. Of course, it also seems that Ash's abilities haven't grown at all, but for this story I've decided to depict Ash growing and as such, Brock and Misty are currently weaker Trainers than Ash.
Thanks for reading, and do please review if you liked!
