I hope you're enjoying this fanfic. One could say that it's about to reach its climax.

But then again, we haven't reached the Silver Cup arc yet. We don't know how far our heroes are going to make it. Perhaps they'll do better than they did during the last tournament. But there's no guarantees.

I bet you're probably looking forward to that. Well, I would imagine it's only several chapters from now. If our heroes get their eighth badge...well, there's not exactly anything that's stopping them from competing, now is there?

It looks as if Pokemon Sword and Shield have come out.

Hooray!

I'm sure the fans are happy. Though there doesn't exactly seem to be a shortage of Pokemon games.

These two happen to be for the Nintendo Switch.

Incidentally, Bea and Allister happen to remind me of Ned and Chris. And yes, it seems that Nintendo is making characters similar to the original Pokemon Trainers I come with.

Chapter 37: Long-Awaited Rescue

Navigating the tunnel, Sarah found herself in Morgiana's mansion.

The Team Shadow Grunts seemed surprised to see her.

"Isn't that the former Team Shadow Grunt?" asked one of the Team Shadow Grunts. The one that Morgiana had fired? He was glad that he had never gotten on her bad side.

"What's she doing here?" asked another Team Shadow Grunt.

"It looks like we're in Morgiana's mansion." noted Sarah.

It looked rather luxurious, to say the very least.

If Lucy was there, she would probably be reminded of the mansion she lived in. Currently, she was elsewhere trying to stop Team Shadow.

She didn't think her mansion was a symbol of her greed though.

"I wonder why she has a secret passageway." questioned Murkrow.

"Did you know about it?" asked the girl.

Murkrow had known Morgiana longer than she did.

"She might have mentioned it once or twice." noted the crow.

Perhaps it was so she had a convenient way of communicating with Horace. Perhaps she didn't want to unlock the gate to her mansion.

There was also her cell phone...but perhaps she was worried that the police would trace her phone calls.

The Team Shadow Grunts got ready to fight.

However, her Oddish put the Grunts' Pokemon to sleep with Sleep Powder.

Unfortunately, there were more Team Shadow Grunts up ahead.

They seemed to be guarding something.

But what exactly were they guarding?

Eventually, Sarah managed to reach the director.

He was very happy to see her.

"I guess this must be the real director." remarked Murkrow.

"Oh thank goodness you're here! I don't know how long I've been held in this mansion!" exclaimed the director.

"You're the real director, huh?" asked Sarah.

"Yeah...Morgiana replaced me as part of her mission to control all Pokemon..." noted the man. She figured that it would make seizing the Radio Tower a lot easier.

"I see..." nodded the girl.

"You have to do something! If she succeeds, she'll conquer all of Johto!" exclaimed the director.

That was something that he did not want to imagine. Who knew where she would go from there?Perhaps she would go to Kanto next.

That would be the nearest country.

Fortunately, Sarah had already taken action against Morgiana. She decided to assure the director that there was still hope.

"Don't worry, I already have." answered Sarah.

"Oh. That's a mighty relief. But can you escort me out of here?" asked the old man. He would really appreciate her help.

He didn't like the idea of trying to leave the mansion by himself.

Those scary men were probably still in there.

The former Team Shadow Grunt nodded.

She began to escort him out of the mansion.

"You're a good girl." noted the man.

"You do realize that rescuing the director won't save the Radio Tower, right?" asked Murkrow.

They were going to have do a bit more than that. She was pretty sure that her former owner was still at large.

"Probably. But I think we shouldn't count the others out." noted Sarah. She knew from experience that they were strong.

Besides, it seemed to be a step in the right direction.

Meanwhile, Larry was battling Ned.

"You should know better than to cross Morgiana." remarked the executive. He knew that he wouldn't try that. She was definitely a stronger Pokemon trainer than he was. And she had six Pokemon.

Though strangely enough she only needed Wigglytuff to win a lot of fights.

"I'm not fighting her alone." remarked Ned.

Larry sent out Primeape.

"Primeape!" exclaimed the ape Pokemon.

"It seems he has a new Pokemon..." thought the boy to himself. He wondered where he had caught it.

Trying to put it to sleep probably wouldn't work.

Well, he had just the Pokemon to deal with the ape.

He sent out Exeggcute.

"Exeggcute." spoke the six eggs.

Larry didn't think much of the grass Pokemon. After all, they were smaller than his Primeape was.

"Looks like we're going to be making an omelette!" exclaimed Larry.

However, it gradually became apparent that he was at a disadvantage. Perhaps he shouldn't judge Pokemon based on their appearance.

Lucy's Clefairy didn't look the part, but she was pretty strong.

Primeape was having a hard time hitting the six eggs.

"'Primeape!" exclaimed the ape Pokemon. Why couldn't he hit them?

They would scatter whenever he attacked, then regather after he missed.

Larry groaned.

To make matters worse, they also had a decent offense. At least when you were up against a fighting type.

Exeggcute used Psychic.

"Primeape!" exclaimed the ape Pokemon. For a moment, he felt like his head was spinning.

He wondered why somebody would name an attack after its own type. Surely they can come up with a more creative name for it.

But then again, professors typically named Pokemon after what they said.

Well, he could ponder that when he wasn't being attacked.

"Who would have thought that a bunch of eggs would be tough?" asked the man.

He figured that they would be fragile, but Exeggcute actually had a very high defense stat.

Perhaps it had to do with their ability to foresee attacks.

Exeggute hit Primeape with another Psychic.

It was a critical hit.

Primeape fainted.

"Primeape..." murmured the ape Pokemon. For once instead of feeling anger, he had felt fear.

Larry was frustrated at the loss of his first Pokemon. It looked as if this battle was not off to a good start.

"Ugh! My Primeape should have scrambled them!" shouted the executive.

And yet, his Primeape was down for the count. Staryus were swirling around his head.

He withdrew his Pokemon into his Pokeball.

Exeggcute happily began to hop up and down.

Ned was feeling happy as well. It looked like they were winning.

"It looks like you underestimated them!" exclaimed the boy.

Perhaps he should have picked a Pokemon that was better suited for the situation.

"Shut your yap!" bellowed Larry.

"OK..." murmured Ned.

To be honest, Larry wasn't sure how that had happened. His Primeape was strong last time he checked.

Well, he still had two Pokemon left, so he wasn't out of the fight yet.

He decided to send out Golbat.

"Golbat!" exclaimed the bat Pokemon. Judging from the look on his face, he was eager to have something to sink his teeth into.

Perhaps his wish would be granted.

"This seems like a better choice than Primeape." noted Ned.

Exeggcute nodded.

They couldn't help but feel worried.

Were they going to get blown away? Or be bitten?

Sure enough, it seemed that the executive was planning the former.

"Golbat, let's blow our opposition away!" exclaimed Larry.

Golbat used Wing Attack.

"I see what you did there." remarked Ned.

The six eggs struggled to keep together against the harsh winds.

"Exeggcute!" exclaimed the six eggs in unison.

It was times like this when they wished they weren't so light.

Fortunately, they managed to avoid being separated. Being separated made them feel rather disoriented.

Still, they wondered if they could win this fight.

Luckily, while they had a type disadvantage, Golbat also had a disadvantage as well.

While grass attacks would be extremely ineffective, psychic attacks would most likely do significant damage to the bat.

Exeggute used Psychic on Golbat.

"Golbat!" exclaimed the bat Pokemon. He was nearly knocked out of the sky.

"C'mon! Don't let this brat beat you too!" shouted Larry. It was bad enough that Primeape lost to Exeggcute. He happened to like his new Primeape.

Fortunately for Larry, Golbat managed to avoid being confused.

Golbat used Bite on Exeggcute.

"Exeggcute!" bellowed the egg Pokemon as the bat Pokemon sank his teeth into them.

That too did super effective damage.

The six eggs fired another Psychic, but Golbat dodged it.

He then hit them with Sludge Bomb.

Unfortunately, that was all that they could take. Even their high defense had its limits.

Exeggcute fainted. All six eggs had swirls on their eyes.

"Haha!" laughed Larry.

He knew that he could scramble half a dozen eggs...though he wondered why he heeded two Pokemon in order to do so. Surely one was enough for the job?

Ned was disappointed at Exeggcute's loss. It looked like they were going to the Pokemon Center.

However, at least they managed to take down one Pokemon before they all fainted.

Fortunately, Ned had an idea as to how to counter Golbat.

He would send out Golem.

It looked as if Golbat was now in a bind.

"Golbat..." murmured the bat Pokemon.

Fortunately for Golbat, Golem couldn't use Earthquake, as flying Pokemon couldn't be hit by ground attacks.

Oddly, this included the Mud-Slap attack.

But since she could use rock attacks, it didn't really matter.

However, Golbat was a lot faster than Golem was.

He hit Golem with Sludge Bomb.

Golem was poisoned.

Hopefully she could take down Golbat before the poison caused her to faint.

Fortunately, Rock Slide was doing a lot of damage.

Golbat used Confuse Ray, but Golem cleared her head.

"Dang it!" exclaimed Larry. So much for that strategy.

She hit the bat Pokemon with another Rock Slide.

The rock Pokemon cheered.

Golbat fainted.

"Golbat..." murmured the fainted bat Pokemon, who fell to the floor.

Larry was unhappy at the defeat of his Pokemon.

"No! Not Golbat!" shouted the executive, sweat coming down his face.

Golbat was his pal.

Well, that and he had fed him a lot of Rare Candy to buff him up.

"I won't lose!" exclaimed Larry.

For his last Pokemon, Larry sent out his Weezing. It was a balloon Pokemon like Jigglypuff, but not nearly as cute.

He hit Golem with Assurance, since she would resist poison attacks.

Golem hit Weezing with Rock Slide in retaliation.

But he didn't faint

Golem fainted from the poison.

"That took long enough." remarked the executive.

"It's lucky for me it didn't happen sooner." noted Ned.

Since Golem was down, he needed to choose another Pokemon.

He thought about what he should choose.

However. Larry was impatient.

"Hurry up already!" exclaimed the executive.

"Alright!" shouted Ned.

He sent out Eevee. It was the best he could think of on short notice.

Luckily, Eevee was fast enough to dodge Weezing's attacks.

Weezing fired a Sludge Bomb at Eevee, but missed.

"C'mon!" exclaimed Larry angrily.

He hit the poison gas Pokemon with Take Down.

Weezing fainted, deflating and falling on the floor.

"Weezing..." murmured the fainted poison Pokemon.

It looked like he had let his trainer down. He hoped that he wasn't disappointed at him.

The Team Shadow Executive was shocked at his loss.

"I can't believe I lost to a wimp like you!" exclaimed Larry. This was really ruining his reputation as a criminal.

First that rich girl, and now this.

Well, hopefully the other executives will be able to handle things from there. He knew that they were stronger than he was, though he wouldn't openly admit it.

"You...think Morgiana will forgive me for this?" asked the executive. He didn't want her to fire him. Especially since he had risen to the rank of executive. He felt it was a promising career.

"Well, she's probably in a good mood considering how far her master plan has come..." noted Ned. He was worried that he couldn't stop her.

"Yeah, you've got a point there." remarked Larry.

Perhaps it didn't matter that he had lost.

Violet currently had her hands full taking on another child.

"So, you're that rich girl that's been causing us so much trouble. Well, it's rich that you think you can stop us!" shouted Violet.

It seemed ironic that she was fighting a rich girl considering how wealthy her boss was.

"I won't let you enslave all the Pokemon in Johto!" exclaimed Lucy. Pokemon deserved to have freedom...though they wouldn't mind having a Pokemon trainer commanding them every now and the. They liked to make friends with humans, it seemed.

"Her plan is almost complete. Why don't you give up and go back home? Oh wait, Morgiana's taking precautions to ensure nobody can evacuate..." remarked the executive.

"Oh no..." noted Lucy.

It seemed that she had really planned things ahead of time.

Well, she wasn't going to just sit by and let Morgiana take over the country.

She was going to keep on fighting.

Violet sent out Raticate.

"Raticate!" exclaimed the rat Pokemon.

Lucy wondered what Pokemon she should use to counter her.

She had several options.

"Hmm..." thought the Pokemon trainer, putting her hand on her chin.

"I'm waiting." spoke Violet. Though considering that Morgiana was going to take over Johto soon, perhaps Lucy was the one who should be worried about time.

Unfortunately, it seemed that she didn't have a Pokemon that had a type advantage over Raticate.

So, she decided to go with a Pokemon that could keep up with her.

That Pokemon happened to be Rapidash.

"Rapidash!" exclaimed the fire Pokemon.

Fortunately, it seemed that Raticate couldn't bite into Rapidash without getting burned. Being a fire Pokemon had its perks.

"Raticate!" shouted the rat as she was exposed to the burning flames.

So it looked as if she had the upper hand.

"This is frustrating." thought Violet to herself.

Rapidash stomped Raticate.

She began to feel rather weak.

Raticate decided to use Pursuit...which would have been more effective if Lucy was withdrawing her Pokemon.

However, Rapidash hit Raticate with Fire Blast.

A huge stream of fire burst from her mouth.

It was a direct hit.

Raticate fainted.

"Raticate..." murmured the rat Pokemon. Some Pokemon were just too hot for her to handle.

Violet sighed and withdrew her fainted Pokemon.

"Man, I wish I had as much money as she does..." muttered the female executive. She did make a lot of money working for Morgiana though. One might dislike her for being a criminal mastermind, but she did pay pretty well.

This time, she sent out Ditto.

"Ditto!" exclaimed the shapeshifting Pokemon.

Unsurprisingly, Ditto shapeshifted into Rapidash.

Ditto used Take Down.

Rapidash followed suit.

It seemed the two of them were at a stalemate.

The two of them kept fighting.

Eventually, both Rapidashes fainted.

Violet withdrew her fainted Ditto.

Lucy noted that Ditto reminded her of jelly.

For her next Pokemon, Violet sent out Vileplume.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Poliwhirl was at a disadvantage.

And it didn't help that she could potentially be poisoned. Last time she checked, Vileplume was both grass and poison type.

In contrast, Bellossom seemed to be a pure grass type.

Vileplume used Petal Dance.

"Poliwhirl!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

That attack had nearly knocked her off-balance.

Fortunately, she was not.

Luckily, she had given her Poliwhirl Ice Beam.

Unfortunately, Vileplume was not frozen.

She hit Poliwhirl with Pearl Dance.

"Poliwhirl!" exclaimed the water Pokemon.

Poliwhirl fainted.

"Oh dear." remarked the rich girl.

"She should have swam back to her pond." taunted Violet.

Lucy sent out Pidgeot.

She would have a much easier time if it was her who had a type advantage.

Vileplume used Petal Dance...

...but this didn't hurt Pidgeot much.

Pidgeot used Wing Attack.

Vileplume fainted.

"Vileplume..." murmured the grass Pokemon, who now had swirls in her small eyes.

"I'm down to my last Pokemon! Why is fighting a child so difficult?" exclaimed Violet.

Clefairy shrugged. Perhaps some trainers were stronger than their age would suggest.

Since she had no other Pokemon left, she sent out Muk.

"Muk!" exclaimed the sludge Pokemon.

Lucy was reminded of Jake's Grimer. Though Muk was much bigger than his Grimer was.

Fortunately, since she regularly fought against Muk's pre-evolved form, that meant that she knew how to deal with her.

She would have Pidgeot weaken Muk first though.

Unfortunately, she couldn't do much before Muk took her down with Sludge Bomb.

Pidgeot fainted.

She sent out Dugtrio next.

"Muk muk." remarked the poison Pokemon. She was at a disadvantage.

Dugtrio used Earthquake.

"Muk!" exclaimed the poison Pokemon.

Personally Dugtrio reminded her a tad of the electric Pokemon Magneton, who evolved from Magnemite in a similar way.

Incidentally, she would also have a disadvantage against that Pokemon.

Muk used Sludge Bomb, but Dugtrio ducked into the ground to avoid it.

She used Earthquake once again.

"Muk!" exclaimed the sludge Pokemon.

Muk fainted. It seemed that she couldn't win three against one...not when she had a type disadvantage anyway.

"Muk..." remarked the sludge Pokemon.

Lucy smirked. It looked like she won.

Clefairy cheered with pom poms...which she had probably taken from a cheerleader.

Violet dropped to her knees, shocked that she had lost to a mere child...though admittedly she hsd lost to a teenager not too long ago.

"I may be a master of disguise, but there's no disguising how I feel right now..." noted Violet.

She pressed her hands against her head and screamed.

Lucy was happy she defeated Violet...but she wondered how Jake and Chris were doing.

It seemed it was up to them to stop Morgiana.

And of course, they still had Horace to deal with.

Could they defeat them both? One could only help.

Jake had already defeated Horace once...but he had Lance backing him up that time.

This time, it seemed he was out of the picture.

Well, she had faith in her teammates. After all, Chris and Jake had battled executives before and won.

She figured they could handle it.

Hooray! The director has been saved! He's been held hostage long enough. No doubt he wants to go outside and have some fresh air.

And it looks as if Ned has defeated Larry.

Violet has fallen too.

In the next chapter, Horace will be fought again.

And so will Morgiana herself.

After that is Morgiana herself.

Can she be defeated?