Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 14: Shoot to Chill.
"Go talk to him."
"No. You go talk to him."
"I don't wanna."
"But somebody has to tell him that we arrived."
"Well, it ain't gonna be me, that's for sure."
"Me neither."
The conversation was taking place between two Team Rocket members, one who was guarding a room and another who came with the information that they reached their destination. The small, dark ship they were aboard had to maneuver between the iceberg labyrinth which had less spaces to get through the closer they got to Seafoam Islands. While the twenty person crew of low ranking members were either performing their duties and preparing for the time they would reach land, there was one person who got a room of their own and didn't leave it for the several days since their journey started.
The last time they saw him, he was mostly getting angry at the fact that they couldn't take an aircraft since the islands consisted mostly of uneven, rocky terrains and mountains. They didn't know what he was doing in his room, but they've served under him long enough to know that even if they had an important message for him, he still would get angry if they interrupted him in something important. When the two people quietly argued on who would go inside, the door suddenly opened in front of them, causing both to step back in fear.
"What the hell are you waiting for? Are you that afraid of me?" said Peter, the Team Rocket admin who emerged from the inside of the dark room "If you waste any more of my time by arguing about useless bullshit, I'm going to push your faces against and iceberg until you stick to it and then pull them off, ripping your flesh. I'm gonna do it again and again till even your parents won't be able to recognize you."
Both of them froze in fear as they let him pass between them. One of them looked down to his pants. He was ready to deal with the shame of peeing themself as long as he was safe from Peter's infamous wrath.
"Is everybody ready?" the admin asked after reaching the outside where most of his crew were.
They silently saluted him.
"Alright. Let's catch that bastard."
. . .
"Good morning. I'm here to see... Red." Green had to make a short pause while talking to the woman in the hospital lobby since he realized that he didn't know his friend's last name and they usually needed that when searching on the computer for a patient's room.
"Are you here to see him or are you bringing a gift, Sir?" the nurse asked without looking away from him.
"Uuh... Both? But don't you need to look him up?" he asked, a little confused.
"Oh, no. He already had three people who came to visit him today. He's so popular we had to make one of the closets into a room for all the gifts he received in the last couple days." she explained.
Green didn't completely understand what was going on but he thought it would be easier if he went to the man himself if he wanted answers "So, can you tell me his room number?"
"If you want to see him immediately, he just went through the back doors to our park. He does Pokemon battle with other patients and visitors all the time... But don't tell that to the head nurse since she's rather strict." the last few words were whispered, probably because a woman, who just passed Green, was the person the receptionist was speaking about.
"Thanks for the help" Green said to the nurse while bowing before going for the back doors she mentioned.
The park behind the hospital was full of trees and flower bushes. The paved walkway had several benches and fairly short, black street lamps next to it, some occupied by patients, visitors or hospital workers who were on their break. Green noticed a board pointing out a couple rules such as prohibition of littering and smoking and it seemed like everyone adhered to them. The place was bigger than he would have suspected. While looking around no to miss Red by accident, he heard a noise coming from somewhere in front of him.
After he walked about 30 meters and rounded a big tree in the middle of the park, he saw a round square with a big fountain in the center and a couple benches on the outskirts of the circle. Just like he suspected, the one he was searching for was the person behind the noise he heard. Although still wearing a bandage around his head and dressed in hospital clothes, Red looked completely healthy as he commanded his Pikachu in a battle against a young boy and his Vulpix. The two Pokemon looked like in some kind of synchronized swimming show when jumping through the gaps between the streams of water shooting out from various places in the fountain, each trying to hit the other one while avoiding getting themselves wet.
Suddenly, Pikachu gained the upper hand by using Quick Attack to get behind his opponent and sending it into air. The fox had nowhere to escape while being struck by the rodent's Thunderbolt. The boy called his Pokemon back to its ball before it could hit the pavement. Red came up to him and thanked for the fight while also expressing his hopes for the boy growth as a Pokemon trainer. The child noticed that his father who came to visit his work friend was calling him since they were about to leave, so he bowed to his opponent before running away.
"Hey, Red." Green finally spoke up, since he didn't want to interrupt the fight.
Red let Pikachu jump onto his shoulder before turning towards his friend and greeting him with a handshake. He pointed towards a bench which had a plastic bag next to it and the both of them went over there to take a seat. Red reached into the bag and took out two small cartons of chocolate milk and gave one of them to his rival. Green was a little hesitant since he didn't usually consume sweets but after opening it and taking a sip, he remembered the feelings of how it was to be a little kid and how he always returned home from helping his grandfather and the first thing he would do was to take out a carton of flavored milk from the fridge.
"Sorry that it took me this long to visit you." he said after putting down the carton.
"No problem. I know you must have been busy. They put a guard in front of my room for the first two days since the reporters wouldn't leave, and some even tried to sneak in by pretending to be visitors." Red responded while feeding Pikachu some caramel candy.
"Yeeeah. That's definitely Lt. Surge's fault. Since people heard that he helped save St. Anne, he was invited to a news show and told everyone how it was you who played the biggest role in saving the ship and the city." while saying that, Green scratched himself on the back of the head, since he felt like he was somehow responsible because he refused to take part in any interviews.
"I mean, it's kinda great to get all this attention."
"It is?" Green felt relieved.
"Yeah. Since the ship was full of rich people, a lot of them visited me to give their thanks and it seemed like they didn't know a better way than giving me various gifts."
"Is this part of that too?" Green asked while holding up the chocolate milk.
"Yes. I think I have like half a ton of sweets from some guy who owns a factory that makes it. I've contacted Fille to have her help me in distributing it to orphanages and stuff since I probably won't be able to eat even 1% of that."
"That's understandable. How are they by the way?"
"Who?"
"Fille and Jon."
"Oh. I think they're gonna have an engagement party next week."
"Wait... What?" that statement took Green by surprise.
"I told them I can't attend since I want to get Lt. Surge's badge as soon as possible and try to catch up with Blue."
"Wait, wait, wait. They are getting married?"
"Who?"
"Fille and Jon!"
Red didn't understand why his friend was making such a big deal out of this "I guess? Like, don't you think they kinda fit each other? They're both good looking, both like Pokemon, and both are... Like a shell, sorta."
Green thought about it for a while and responded "Yeeeah... I guess I see what you mean."
He also wanted to ask about Blue, since Red mentioned her, but he stopped himself since he felt like he could say something inappropriate. He still didn't know what exactly the relationship between her and Red was but judging by how his rival acted around her, he had some suspicions that, he decided, would be better kept hidden. While trying to search for another topic, Green remembered something important.
"What about the Crystal Eye?"
"I still have it." Red said while taking out a pendant he had tied around his neck.
Inside of it was the rock which the gem turned into.
"So it didn't turn back."
"Why would it? We're not even sure why it became a stone in the first place."
"Well... Wasn't that because it used up its power by giving you and Eevee a vision of the future?"
Red fell silent for a couple second while making a blank expression "Did... Did something like that happen?"
"What?"
"Maybe it's because of my head injury but I don't completely remember everything from the cruise. But... There was something..."
"Something?"
"Yeah, yeah. There was darkness. And it changed into light. And then another light appeared."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Don't worry. I've also no idea." after saying that, he started laughing.
"And what about the captain?"
"I showed it to him but he said that I could keep it, since in this state nobody would want to buy it."
Green finished his carton of milk and threw it in a trash bin before getting up. He adjusted his clothes and said "Well, I better get going. I have something important to do. You better get out of here fast so You can catch up to the rest of us."
Red also stood up and looked his rival in the eye "Better watch out. One of these days I'll pass you."
After exchanging a fist bump, the young trainers parted ways.
. . .
Hearing someone knocking on the automatic door to his room, Alex slowly got up from his bed, without stopping watching the TV. He took his card and slid it through the electronic lock, opening the door for a visibly annoyed Angie. He glanced at her and seeing that she probably didn't want to come inside, grabbed her sleeve and pulled her inside since he wanted to watch the whole thing through.
"Let go of me, you fool." she grabbed him by the wrist with her other hand and pushed him away.
"Okay, okay. But whatever you want, be quick about it. I have to finish this." He said without a care.
"Is this some kind of joke? Nobody has seen you for a full day so your underlings got worried that you were sick and you're doing what... Watching TV? For this long?"
"It's not my fault. He's just on all the time."
"What are you talking about?" she raised her brow before deciding to learn herself by looking at what was happening on the screen.
It was a news show covering the St. Anne incident. Even though she didn't care about it personally, she heard some of the other Team Rocket members talking about it since it seemed like Darkness Gang, their biggest rivals, were heavily involved in the situation.
"I've heard that that battle-hungry cretin, Faust was there and managed to not get caught with the rest of the bunch. Are you trying to deduce what he..."
"What? I've no idea what you're talking about."
Angie began to lose patience "Then why are you watching this all-day?!"
"For him! It's him!" Alex answered while putting his finger right against the photograph of Red which was displayed in the corner of the screen.
Angie squinted her eyes as if she was supposed to recognize the person "Who is he?"
"He's the one I told you about! I fought him on Mt. Moon! He's done it again! He's the one who stopped Darkness Gang!"
"I guess he really must be strong. But you said you wanted to recruit him? Although I don't like it, people consider us a criminal organization, similar to Darkness Gang. It seems like he's trying to be some hero of justice by taking on us and them."
"Don't you worry your pretty, little head. The next time I meet him, I'm sure I'll be able to convince him to join us."
"We'll see." she said while a vein popped up on her forehead because of being called pretty by person whose attention was unwanted.
"But why would you even worry about me? It's not like there's anything to do today."
"No. But I got intel that Peter managed to find the location of M2 and is probably trying to catch it right now."
"That bastard!" Alex clenched his fists "If he does it, the boss will surely make him his right hand."
"Yes. So while it's unbecoming of a Team Rocket admin, all we can do is hope that he fails. I don't want you to succeed either. I just didn't want to deal with this anger alone."
"Oh. Alright..."
The girl left the room and the door closed behind her. Alex jumped back on his bed and started to watch TV again, but suddenly he began to turn from side to side while trying to contain his irritation with both of the other admins.
"Gaaah!"
. . .
Peter looked down towards the group of underlings who were slowly climbing the mountain. It wasn't so steep that they would need special equipment, even though they brought it, but they still had to be careful since a lot of it was covered in ice and there was a long way down. The admin overcame that problem by riding atop his Dodrio who could easily judge which places were the best to step onto and quickly managed to get about 200 meters above the rest of the group.
His search was fairly easy since he had the idea of asking Doctor Humane of a way to locate M2. The scientist gave him a device which was used to measure the experiments psychic powers and could locate it from practically any distance whenever it used its abilities in a big way. Though, the doctor, who could not join the searching party because of the injuries he sustained in the explosion, warned Peter that whatever caused M2 to use its powers, could prove to be an even bigger problem than the experiment itself.
As he reached the top of the mountain, the criminal had to tightly grab onto his Pokemon to not be knocked off by a sudden gust of freezing wind. He gathered himself and looked forward with the use of goggles, since the peak was surrounded by a snowstorm which certainly didn't seem natural. The man could see some silhouettes but it was hard to tell what they were. He ordered his Pokemon to carefully approach but as he got closer, a wave of energy pushed them back, together with all the snow, causing the sky to become clear. He took off the goggles and looked at the scene, painted in front, of him in astonishment. The one he was searching for, Mewtwo was kneeling down on one leg and trying to catch his breath, but it also looked weirdly satisfied. Opposite of him was a blue bird, bigger than any flying species Peter ever saw. It looked similarly tired.
When Peter jumped off his Dodrio so he could approach them, they both turned their heads towards him in an instant and neither looked particularly thrilled about his arrival. Mewtwo got up and approached him. It used its telekinetic abilities to pick the man up while making a gesture as if it was grabbing him by the neck. Seeing that, Dodrio tried to help its trainer but before it realized what was happening, the other bird shout out an Ice Beam from its beak, which glued Dodrio's legs to the mountain. Mewtwo closed its eyes and looked like it was focusing on something.
"What... are... you... doing... here... human?" Peter heard a menacing voice speak from nowhere, as if it originated in his head.
Since he didn't respond, Mewtwo opened its eyes and glared at the man. Although it was hard to believe, the criminal arrived at the conclusion that the one who spoke to him was the Pokemon in front of him.
"Of course. Doctor Humane said something about telepathy. But it seems like you're still getting accustomed to our language."
"Speak... up... Don't... waste... my... time..." The Pokemon said while clenching one of its fist as a sign of warning.
"Calm down. Since we can speak to each other, the whole thing will be much easier. You see, our organization put a lot of time, money and effort into creating you and we would like you to come back with us."
"That's not... going to... happen." it seemed like the Pokemon could probe the man's mind to get a better hang of the language but he couldn't read his mind since he would predict what was about to happen.
"Well, it's a shame. It really is. But if you don't want to come in peace... I will haunt you until you give up."
Reacting to those words, two three-fingered, purple hands appeared from within Peter's body and reached towards Mewtwo who, surprised by them, let go of the trainer and jumped back. Peter landed safely on the ground and when he got up, his face looked weirdly deformed. His eyes were more sinister with something similar to an eyeliner surrounding them and his teeth all changed into fangs. The purple hands joined with his own and his whole body started being enveloped in a miasmatic aura. Both Mewtwo and the blue bird looked shocked by that scene.
"You're not human?" the psychic Pokemon asked.
"Oh. I am. It's just... I have this demon inside of me." Peter answered while quietly laughing.
After saying that, he tried to take Mewtwo by surprise and got fairy close, but his opponent realized what was happening in time and used Disable to stop the oncoming attack, even if it didn't know what Peter wanted to do. That stunt angered it to the point where it decided that talking was no longer necessary. Just as it expected, humans couldn't be reasoned with. Its eyes glowed in the pink color as it instantly unleashed a wave of psychic energy which knocked out its enemy. After that, Peter's body returned to normal and it turned out that the thing that caused him to change appearance in the first place was a Haunter that hid itself in the criminal's body and after fainting, fell next to its trainer.
Mewtwo walked up to the Dodrio, which looked terrified of the psychic Pokemon, and used Psycho Cut to cover its hand with energy and release the bird from the icy trap. Using telepathy, it convinced it to take Peter and Haunter on its back and get out of the island. After Dodrio did as told, Mewtwo's angry expression turned to sadness. It turned towards the blue bird. Although at first, it felt unwelcome at Articuno's, since that was the Pokemon's name, island, as they fought every day, covering the sea in icebergs, they came to like and see each other as rivals. But regrettably, Mewtwo was the one who brought enemies to their home.
"Hide for now." he spoke in a way that the legendary bird could understand the best "They're after me, not you. I'll go somewhere else and hope that they'll follow and leave you alone."
As it began raising into air, Articuno fixed his saddened eyes on its friends back. Just when the bird thought their rivalry helped Mewtwo forget its sorrow concerning what it felt towards humans, everything got destroyed and the psychic Pokemon was once again absorbed in a mix of negative emotions as it took off towards parts unknown. The only consolation it got was that the Team Rocket, in fact, never returned to Seafoam Islands. But that just meant that its friend could be going through something horrible after their separation.
For the first time, I think I really don't have a lot to say about the chapter, other than it was completely changed. In the original plans it was a filler about Red using Oddish and Magikarp to fight Digletts since the special chapter didn't exist and that would be their first fights, but since that wasn't necessary, I focused on some leftovers from the special chapter and also added the whole thing with Peter. I actually started thinking about an explanation for the icebergs as soon as I mentioned them in the special chapter and I decided to have them be remains of a battle between Mewtwo and Articuno but only during writing this chapter, I decided to make them rivals instead of just enemies fighting over territory. The next chapter will have a little more stuff before going into Red's gym battle since I didn't want to slow this thing down. The name of the chapter is a reference to the ACDC song Shoot to Thrill. Also, I regret that I didn't make some kind of Shaman King joke when Peter fused with Haunter.
If you're reading this story, don't be afraid to leave comments. Even a simple "good chapter" would be appreciated. Unless, of course, you didn't like the chapter. Then you can write "bad chapter" if you feel like it.
Red. Team: Eevee, Charmander, Pikachu, Oddish, Magikarp.
Badges: 2
Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee.
Badges: 3
Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), ?.
Badges: 3
Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.
Angie. Team: ?, ?.
Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.
