Now this was a tricky one to write, due mainly to the difficulty of finding a Pokémon 'bad guy' that would be able to cause so much damage without any of the 'good guys' knowing about what it could do. I was originally going to go with Gyarados but went with this instead.
Anyway, reviews/comments are still very much wanted
Episode Seventy-Seven: Chaos and Destruction
There were craters everywhere. Bits of debis littered the remaining flat ground. Up ahead, the PokéMart building had smoke pouring out of the windows. Another building had completely collapsed on itself.
"Why the hell would anyone do this?" Squirtle asked, before Alpha cut him off with a smack to the head.
"Shush, whatever it was, it might still be around." he warned, while I was gawping at the devestation.
"I hope not, I don't think we'd be able to take it down."
While they were arguing, I had stepped out into the open and was heading towards the burning building. I was half way there when a sudden noise caused me to freeze. It was a small clicking, coming from the bottem of a crater.
"Flame?" Alpha called, from the corner where him and Squirtle crouched, "what are you doing?"
I ignored him and lept into the crater, it was a big one and I ended up sliding most of the way down. The clicking noise had gotten louder, the source had to be nearby. Squirtle skidded down and landed on his butt.
"If that noise turns out to be a bomb, I'm holding you responsible," he sighed, as I hauled him to his feet.
"What's a bomb?" I asked, as I started to follow the noise.
"It's a machine that goes boom. The explosion hurts people. A lot."
"Well, let's hope that it isn't a bomb then. Now shut up and help me look."
Squirtle took the other side of the crater, even though the noise was obviously coming from my side. I rolled my eyes as I hauled a small piece of rubble to the side.
"I found it!" I yelled out, grabbing the object in question and lifting it up.
It was a Pokéball. Or at least, it used to be. The usual red colour was stained black by ash and it was hot to the touch. I assumed that it had been in the center of an explosion, probably the one that caused the PokéMart to catch fire. The Pokémon inside was trying to get out, which was causing that weird clicking noise.
"Well, it definatly isn't one of your bomb things," I called out.
I hit the button that would release the Pokémon inside and nothing happened. I tried again and it still wouldn't open.
"Work damnit!" I muttered, mashing the button as hard as I could. Still nothing.
"Let me try," Squirtle said, taking the Pokéball from me.
I watched as he looked the charred ball over several times and then lobbed it at a rock. The ball slammed into the stone and bounced off, cracking open and releasing the Pokémon inside.
"You gotta bung 'em at stuff," Squirtle said as the red light revealed who it was we had just saved.
"Scout!" I cried out, as the bird Pokémon lay crumpled on the floor. He got to his feet and ruffled his feathers.
"That was one hell of a ride," he muttered, stretching his wings. I felt like hugging him, but managed to hold back at the last minute. Squirtle didn't bother and nearly crushed Scout before I could prise him off.
"Nice to see you guys," Scout said as he flapped his way out of the crater, while me and Squirtle had to get out the hard way and climb.
"What happened here," Alpha asked, as I pulled myself back onto flat ground.
"Hello to you too," Scout muttered and looked around, "Joanne had bought all the provisions and stuff so we were heading out of the PokéMart and there was an explosion. People were running everywhere and I lost sight of Joanne and Pika."
I bent down and helped Squirtle up out of the hole in the ground, "and then?"
"I managed to get onto a rooftop so I could get a better look around and try to find Joanne. Then this flying blue thing appeared and launched a beam of some sort at the building I was ontop of. There was a second explosion and I was knocked off of my perch. I guess Joanne must have spotted me because I felt myself getting pulled into a Pokéball. And I'd been trying to get out of it for a fair while before you guys showed up."
Alpha was silent for several moments, while me and Squirtle were trying to catch our breaths.
"Can you describe the flying blue thing that attacked here?" he eventually asked.
"Well it was like a snake in shape, apart from the head," Scout started, "it had a white horn and what looked like white wings on the side of its head. And it was firing this blue beam that was causing explosions everywhere."
Alpha seemed to freeze up, leaving all of us confused and scared.
"Alpha?" I asked, "what's wrong?"
"Dragonair," came the deadpan reply.
"Wha?" Squirtle burst out.
"I know that Pokémon. It was the one that had me stuck in a cage in the first place."
We all stood there, gawping at this.
"So it isn't just saving people, there is also revenge involved," Squirtle sighed.
"There was always revenge. Revenge for the devestation and injuries these bastards have caused others," Alpha said, going into leader mode again, "but now it is personal."
Suddenly, the burning PokéMart exploded and it started raining burning rubble on us.
"Maybe we should get under some cover!" I yelled out, covering my eyes from the dust wave.
"Agreed," Alpha replied, herding all of us into a side alley. Scout had the hardest time, only being able to hop along on foot compaired to our sprinting.
We stayed put for several minutes. We were sheltered from the rock shower by hiding under stairs and, in my case, a trashcan. I wanted to look for something to eat but decided that it wasn't the time or the place for a snack.
Eventually we all came back out into the open. Squirtle was very jumpy after the explosion and spun round at the slightest sound, following through with a blast of water. Which was unfortunate for Cubone, who had picked that moment to rejoin us.
"I didn't need another shower, thank you," he muttered while I struggled not to laugh (not at Cubone, but at how he had tied his club to his waist using a piece of string as a belt) "Boss, I sent the others back to the Pokémon Center. Bulbasaur was too pooped out to be any use in a fight and Hitmonchan is in a similar state."
"You sent them alone?" Alpha cried out in shock, I was in a similar state.
"Calm down boss, I sent them back with a Police officer," Cubone explained.
Scout and Cubone simultaneously froze on the spot, Cubone slowly reaching for his club. Me and Squirtle realised that something was up and tensed ourselves up for whatever was about to come. Alpha was out of my sight and I didn't want to move so I didn't know what he was doing.
"We are not alone," Scout muttered, leaping up to get airborne.
"Fly low," Alpha ordered, "we don't want to attract any more attention."
"Will do, Sir."
Scout circled above us, never going above the rooftops, while all of us slowly moved towards the PokéMart. I spotted movement from the corner out of the corner of my eye. I tapped Squirtle on the shoulder and nodded at it, he spotted it instantly and muttered across to Alpha, "Team Rocket."
We all took cover behind rubble, to keep ourselves hidden for as long as we could. Scout flew into the side alley and waited there, while my piece of rubble allowed me to peek out under it at the Humans that were approaching.
They were definatly Team Rocket members, I could see a big 'R' on their shirts. (Not particually subtle really. How can you be discreet when you broadcast to the world that you are a bad guy with your stupid clothing?)
"You sure that there were Pokémon around here?" One asked the other, who I realised was the one I fireballed in the head. (Well, I couldn't see him too tell, but I could smell the burnt hair)
"They have to be here, the guys further up the road would have spotted them if they had gone any further. I saw a Police officer take away two injured Pokémon and a third headed this way. Even if they had got past the group up ahead, that one couldn't have gotten far."
'Damnit, cornered,' I thought, 'We're going to have to fight our way out.'
I was so absorbed in thought that I didn't notice that the footsteps were getting closer. I only spotted them when they walked past my hiding place and strait towards Squirtle. They hadn't noticed me, which was suprising. But I was going to use that to my advantage.