Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 52: Final Fight.
The moment where Red and Charizard kidnapped Faust, and burned through the ceiling, happened so fast that Green was left standing below the hole made by Charizard, trying to deal with his anger that had nowhere to go after the source of its origin disappeared. He gazed above for a couple seconds until he was suddenly pushed away and hit the ground. He came to his senses and saw that the one responsible for that was Alex. He did it in order to save the dazed boy from droplets of molten metal that started falling from the ceiling.
"Thanks." he said as he was being helped get up from the floor.
"No problem. But you can't get distracted like that. We have to trust that Red will take care of Faust. I get the feeling that this one is a lot more dangerous." Alex said while observing how Kette used his tail to knock away Scyther.
The monster proceeded to grab Dragonair with two of his hands while using the other ones to guard against an attack from Peter. It looked like it wanted to rip the dragon apart so Angie quickly returned the Pokemon to its pokeball.
"How is it possible that he's giving you guys such a hard time?" Green asked "It's like some kind of boss battle that you can't do solo. Is he at least the last one?"
"We didn't exactly have a chance to exchange information." Alex responded.
"I guess our advantage is that we can coordinate our attacks. With Faust gone, it's four against one. Even if he has four arms and a tail, if we send six Pokemon at him, he won't be able to protect against every attack."
"So? You want to call the shots?"
"If you have nothing against it… But I'm worried about him…" Green said while nodding towards Peter who was at that time the only one actively engaging Kette.
Jigglypuff and Sandslash were rolling around the opponent, intending to keep his eyes on themselves, while the admin grabbed onto one of his hands and pulled himself towards his head. He wanted to fool him by attacking his head with a knife from each side, making it easier to land a Shadow Punch, but Kette headbutted him before he could do it. The man used the knives to block the attack but the metal easily broke. Realizing what would happen to him if he allowed himself to be hit, Peter tried jumping away but two of Kette's arms already blocked his way of escape, and a third one was about to slap him when Scyther came to his rescue. The bug flew towards the enemy before starting to spin in such a way that it was able to deliver multiple quick cuts and continue on moving out of his reach. Peter took that momentary distraction to get away. Kette's arm began to bleed but it seemed like all he needed to was flex it while focusing and the wounds started to close themself.
"F #k me. He has some kind of regenerative ability." Peter said before noticing that he jumped in the direction of the remaining people "Any ideas on how we're going to defeat him?"
"Wow. He actually asked for advice." Alex was surprised "So, Green? The floor is yours."
"I would have preferred to wait until Venusaur returns but I don't think he's going to allow us a time out. Give me a quick rundown of your Pokemon."
"Dragonair won't be able to battle anymore. Sandslash is getting tired. Seaking hasn't fought yet but it would be hard without water around." stated Angie.
"Ditto is out for the count. Jolteon had to battle some drones but Vaporeon and Flareon are in perfect condition." explained Alex.
"The only one I have left is Haunter but this merged state isn't easy to uphold for so long." Peter said while trying to stabilize his breathing.
"Besides Jigglypuff, I can still use Seadra and Nidorina. If Sandslash, Jolteon and Haunter get too tired it will leave us with six Pokemon if we're able to utilize Seaking."
"So do you have a plan alre…"
Alex stopped mid sentence since he saw Peter running at him. He couldn't react in time and got kicked in the stomach. He wanted to yell at the other admin but as he was falling towards the floor he saw that Peter did it in order to protect him from an oncoming attack. The long-haired man was hit by it instead and got thrown a couple meters away. There wasn't even enough time to check if he was alright since their opponent kept on swinging his tail and it looked like Alex was still his target. He jumped away and summoned Flareon to get ready for a counterattack.
"Jigglypuff, get thrown by Sandslash!" Green ordered the Pokemon.
"Do as he tells!" Angie added.
Sandslash spun around and launched Jigglypuff at Kette. He missed the monster's head but the quick flash in front of his eyes was distracting enough to make him look away from Alex who was free to get some distance and give a command to his Pokemon.
"Flamethrower!"
Even if the attack wouldn't hurt Kette too much, it would blind him and give others a chance to follow up.
"Go, Nidorina! Poison Sting!" Green sent out another Pokemon.
He wanted to see if the enemy's healing factor would apply to status conditions. If it worked, he was ready to initiate another part of the plan, holding onto Seadra's pokeball.
Kette got over the temporary blindness and started searching for the source of the stabbing pain he just felt. After noticing Nidorina, he realized that she was a new addition to the battlefield and concluded that she was responsible. As he started moving towards her, he felt a jolt of pain spread through his body which caused him to stop for a moment.
"Go, Seadra! Use Ice Beam on his legs!"
The Pokemon appeared in the air and immediately shot out a stream of cold water that froze once it reached Kette.
"And another one at his face!" Green added.
"It's all fine and dandy but all we're doing right now is momentarily stopping him." Alex said "I don't want to have to be the one to say it but it looks like anything short of killing him won't work."
"Setting aside whether I'm opposed to that or not… I just don't think we have anything that could do that." stated Angie "He heals almost instantly so we would have to hit him with something that would destroy his entire body but I don't think any of our Pokemon are strong and fast enough to do that."
"Why the entire body?" Green asked.
Kette punched himself in the face to get rid of the ice covering it and started working on freeing his legs.
"What do you mean "why"?"
"There's no reason for us to believe that."
"I think Peter has passed out." Alex interrupted them while standing over the other admin's body "I'm not sure about his Haunter since he still has those creepy eyes."
"He's free!" Angie shouted, inadvertently attracting Kette's attention towards herself.
The group quickly scattered in order to avoid the opponent who used his tail to bounce off the floor in order to fly at them and punch them from above. Even though none of them got hit, something wasn't right. It was delayed by a second but the floor, where Kette punched, cracked before suddenly breaking, causing more cracks that reached Team Rocket and made them lose their balance and fall.
"Did he get stronger?!" Alex asked as he lifted himself up.
"Something like an ability?" Angie suggested.
"I've got a plan." Green interrupted them.
The admins looked at him with worried expressions. When he fell down his nose hit the ground and the lower half of his face got completely covered with blood which he didn't notice until he saw the looks they were giving him. He wiped it off and tore off parts of his sleeve and put them inside each nostril. Before he could explain, Kette was ready to initiate another attack. Green started running and put all of his Pokemon in their pokeballs. The rest wasn't sure what to do so they imitated them. With only Pokemon left on the battlefield being Scyther, the bug decided to follow the three humans.
"So?!" Alex shouted.
"We're leading him to one of the elevators! We can't go the same way Red did but I believe that we can win by leading this thing outside!"
"What if he's too heavy?!" Angie asked, glancing at Kette who was swinging his arms dangerously close as he followed them.
"To be honest, I hadn't considered that!"
"What?!" the two admins were equally befuddled.
"I came up with this plan when my head met with the floor! There's no guarantee that it makes any sense and I can't be sure that I don't have a concussion!"
"We're almost there!" Alex pointed out.
"Scyther, you're faster than us! You have to push the button!" Green ordered the Pokemon.
The bug used Vacuum Wave to propel itself and stopped by kicking the wall before gently touching the button with one of its blades.
"Grab my hands!" Green yelled.
The admins were running to his left and right so each of them took one of his hands and noticed that he was pulling them downwards. It looked like they were about to hit the walls either side of the elevator so they had to prepare themselves to lessen the impact while trying not to fall down. This allowed Kette to catch up to them but he couldn't have known that it was part of Green's plan. With the boy practically sliding on the floor, instead of getting into the elevator, the strain on the admins' hands caused him to be thrown backwards. They couldn't keep their hold onto him and let go. He slid between Kette's legs while crossing his arms to avoid any potential damage from hitting the opponent's tail. The monster was too late to realize what was happening and was already in the elevator. His confusion and relatively small size of his surroundings made it possible to trap him before he could understand what was going on.
"Close it!" Green shouted at Scyther.
The elevator doors closed shut and it started traveling towards the aboveground parts of the base. Green slowly got up and started chuckling to himself but stopped when he noticed a stinging feeling in his back. He slid with such speed that his uniform got torn and he experienced some burnage.
"It feels like you dislocated my elbow." Alex complained.
"Let's not do that again." Angie added.
Once everyone was back on their feet, the male admin looked at the elevator and then at Green "So? Was that it?"
The boy was so satisfied that his idea worked out that he almost forgot what he wanted to do.
"No, no! That was just step one! We need to go to another elevator!" he said before running off.
"How many steps are there?!"
"About five!"
. . .
In a faraway desert base of Darkness Gang's Boss, its owner was watching the events unfolding in Kanto on his many screens. He was grinding his teeth in anger, too occupied with what was happening before his eyes to realize that some time ago Giovanni released one of his Pokemon from its ball. Beedrill moved quietly and snuck behind the machinery and messed with the console in order to make it impossible to set off the explosives in this base. The bug couldn't be sure that it was doing the right thing so it tried cutting every cable it could see. Suddenly some of the screens started shutting down and the overlord realized that something was wrong. He wanted to bend down and see what was happening but Giovanni took that chance and smashed his head into a screen.
"Are you really that dumb?" the man asked despite the glass embedded in his face.
He swung his arm and a pokeball flew out of his sleeve, opening once it hit the nearby wall. Giovanni's Beedrill noticed that something alarming was happening so it jumped out from behind the console and met with a Fire Punch to the face. The bug winced in pain but managed to jump back and fly away since the opposing Pokemon didn't look like it could follow it.
"I didn't think about the possibility of him using Pokemon." Giovanni berated himself in his mind.
He didn't recognize this Pokemon but its attack and appearance led him to believe that it was some kind of fire type which put him at a disadvantage. He could switch to another Pokemon but he was holding his enemy in place and couldn't risk letting go since he didn't know if the explosives had been disabled yet.
"You want to do this?! Fine by me! Get him, Darmanitan!"
"Pin Missile!"
The fire type tried to use another Fire Punch by jumping off a wall but the bug ejected spikes from both of its arms. They were immediately replaced by new ones which also were shot out. The only thing Darmanitan could do in that situation was to knock them away but by doing so it put out the fire covering its hand, making it safe for the enemy to close in.
"Poison Jab! Do it until it works!" Giovanni ordered.
He wanted to take some precautions. Even if Beedrill lost, as long as the opponent would be poisoned, the situation would be more manageable.
"Uproar!"
Right as it was about to get struck, Darmanitan unleashed a powerful shout which knocked Beedrill back. The blazing Pokemon landed on the floor but didn't stop making a ruckus so Beedrill was unable to close in. Even when it tried another Pin Missile, the spikes got stopped by the sound waves.
"Heat Wave!"
Knowing that the tantrum was about to end, the overlord gave his next command, intending to change the course of the battle with it. The hot air released from his Pokemon's body didn't directly damage the opponent but the temperature in the cave drastically rose. The humidity made it harder for the bug to move quickly in the air. Darmanitan was the only one of the four of them unaffected by it and its trainer knew that and took the opportunity.
"Flare Blitz!"
Beedrill didn't realize that it was slowly floating down which made it an easier target for the ape which covered itself in fire and knocked the bug into a wall. Giovanni couldn't believe his eyes when he realized that his Pokemon got defeated. That attack was strong but according to his calculations it shouldn't have been enough to knock out Beedrill. There was clearly something he didn't take into account and all he could surmise was that it had to do with his unfamiliarity with Darmanitan.
He noticed that the overlord was trying to escape his grasp so he quickly tightened it, although quickly coming to realization that he was concerned about the wrong enemy. He didn't need to look since he remembered where the fire type Pokemon was positioned, so using his instincts, he jumped away while pulling onto the other man, making it so that Darmanitan couldn't attack him without hitting its trainer in the process. He was right to do that since right after that he saw how the ape stopped itself by punching one of the screens, after which it jumped down to help the overlord.
Giovanni was going through multiple scenarios inside his head. If Beedrill was able to disable the control panel then he had nothing to worry about and could use any of his other Pokemon to finish the fight, but if the bug failed then their opponent was in the perfect place to kill all of them and Giovanni had no Pokemon that would be able to reach the console while and destroy it while dealing with Darmanitan.
"Thunder Wave."
Giovanni looked around in shock. The voice didn't belong to him or his enemy. He didn't have time to find its owner since the said move got executed by an Electabuzz that appeared from the shadows and used it to paralyze both Darmanitan and its trainer.
"Thunder Break."
By combining Thunder Punch with Brick Break, the electric Pokemon sliced the control panel in half. The Pokemon then proceeded to knock out the overlord. With him unconscious, Electabuzz grabbed Darmanitan's pokeball and put the blazing Pokemon back inside.
Giovanni noticed that the Pokemon was heading towards the entrance so he assumed that was where the voice commanding it was coming from. He took only one step before realizing by the look on Electabuzz's face that the Pokemon wouldn't allow him to get close to its trainer.
"I understand that you don't want to be seen by me, even though you saved me. That must mean that you're someone I would recognize, yet I don't recall hearing your voice before. Why is that?"
"I… guess… it changed since the last time you heard it."
"What?"
When Electabuzz left the cave, Giovanni ran to the entrance, hoping to catch at least a glance of his savior, but there was no one there. He went back inside and looked around. With all the machinery destroyed, the screens also stopped working so he lost his ability to observe the battle taking place in Kanto. He spent another couple minutes inside the cave to make sure that he didn't miss anything before deciding to return to the helicopter waiting for him. After putting Beedrill back in its ball, he summoned a Machamp and told it to carry the unconscious overlord.
"Nothing to do but hope that those three will be able to win."
. . .
Green and the admins headed towards the elevator where most of their remaining companions were resting. On the way there, they picked up the unconscious Peter. They arrived at the right time to stop Green's Venusaur who was about to go back in their direction. The trio saw that Tarieli managed to wake up and was waiting with her Zubat, prepared to protect the group together with . Otari was looking after Mary. Even his strongest painkillers weren't enough to alleviate the pain caused by her broken leg. Roger was sitting next to the unconscious Archer, seriously debating the pros and cons of doodling on the man's face.
"Tell me you have some good news." said Tarieli.
"Damn it. There's not enough of us in good condition to do everything." Green said while looking at the state the group was in.
"Wait. What's going on? Your plan won't work without their help…?" Alex was worried.
"No, no. In the best case, even I by myself would be enough. I'm just trying to think about the entire operation."
"No one asked you to do that." Alex stated "We'll make this work. Just say what it is that's troubling you."
"If we assume that Red will be able to defeat Faust and I'll deal with Kette then that still leaves us with one enemy, but if they're anywhere as strong as those two then I don't believe that it's wise to try to take them on with how things are going on."
"Since they haven't attacked us yet, we can assume that they're the type to wait in the dome. Does that mean that if we never enter that dome we'll be able to leave without fighting them?" Alex wondered.
"I… I haven't taken that into consideration… Alright. This is how we'll do it. We'll need to collect the ones defeated by me and Peter as well as…"
"I got it." Alex said, realizing that Green wanted to avoid talking about Nets at that point since they had a feeling about what happened to him but didn't want to say anything without making sure.
"Take Roger with you since you won't be able to carry them by yourself. Tarieli too, in case the last asshole shows their face."
The three of them departed without much further discussion.
"Angie, you go with the rest and protect them. Leave the base and try to sneak by the people outside. I'll leave Venusaur with you. Even if you help Mary walk, Otari won't be able to carry the other two by himself."
Angie nodded. With Venusaur's size, the group had to take the elevator two times. Green made sure to go up in the first one and started heading towards the part of the base where noises of the destruction, caused by Kette, were coming from.
As Green was running through the base, wondering whether his plan would work out now that he had to try and do it by himself, he got distracted by a buzzing sound next to him, took a look, and only then realized that Scyther was still following him.
"I didn't consider you helping out in anything besides that first stunt but it's kinda reassuring to have some who will have my back."
The bug looked like it wasn't sure what the boy meant but it nodded its head since it felt like he wouldn't stop looking at it if it didn't do it. It seemed to work since Green turned his attention towards something else. One of the nearby walls had a huge hole in it. He wanted to carefully check what was on the other side but the ceiling above started to crumble so he and Scyther had no choice but to quickly jump through. The room they found themselves in had another destroyed wall. Following the path of Kette's rampage through multiple rooms, they found him next to a fridge he doubtlessly tore open before starting to stuff his mouth.
"Here goes nothing… Or my life… Probably my life…" Green said quietly to himself before rising his voice "Hey, you big dumb oaf!"
Kette moved quickly but it still seemed like he needed visual contact with whomever insulted him before he would start attacking.
"You! Kette doesn't like you!"
"Well, the feeling's mutual. I'm sure we could sort out our differences over a cup of coffee but…" Green stopped to glance at the destroyed shelves "...I guess you ate that too?"
The monster tried to swipe at the boy with its tail before even getting up but it couldn't reach. Its next idea was to throw the destroyed fridge but Scyther managed to slice it like one would slice bread, by using Fury Cutter. Seeing no other options left, Kette stood up and charged at the two of them. Green and Scyther jumped through the hole in the wall but the enemy ran after them, disregarding the wall and widening the hole by punching aimlessly.
"The idea is to keep our distance and have him follow us outside. We should head towards the side of the base we arrived from originally since there's still a couple of our people out there. Which means we need to go… this way!"
Green suddenly swerved left after running through a couple rooms, only to realize that there was no hole or doors in the direction he was heading. Scyther went ahead of him and, using Vacuum Wave to spin around, cut out a way for them. It looked like they managed to get to a corridor but there was no time to check for any other doors since Kette managed to close the distance between them. Green lunged towards the ground to avoid the monster's tail. It got stuck in the wall, allowing the trainer to run away. This corridor had less space than the rooms so Kette wanted to widen it by dragging his hands through the walls while chasing after his foe, not understanding what he was doing to the structural stability of the place. The ceiling soon fell on him, with Green and Scyther barely escaping. They got only a moment of respite before Kette started to dig himself out, but thankfully they were close to an exit.
When they got outside, they found themselves surrounded by a small group of Darkness Gang members. Green's best guess was that the lower ranking members were instructed to wait outside so they decided to stake out the exits to catch anyone trying to escape. The underground battle must have lasted longer than they expected since none of them were ready to immediately act. Green managed to get past half of them before anyone even reached for a pokeball, and at that point it was already too late. The doors Green went through went flying and hit one of the people. This was done by Kette who was running after the enemy while putting two of his shoulders in front of him. He didn't care about the Darkness Gang members and a couple of them needed to duck out of his way, although not everyone managed to.
"I'm not sure if these guys know what he is or if he can tell friends and enemies apart but I don't want to risk anyone getting in our way. That means we need to leave this base and find some place where no one will interrupt us. Can you scare them off?" Green asked Scyther.
The bug wanted to believe that it was possible but, as it looked back, it noticed that the further they were from the exit, the easier it was for other groups of Darkness Gang members to spot them, and several started moving in their direction. The Pokemon jumped and rolled out of the way, as Kette kept following Green, and spread its blades to make itself as wide and intimidating as it could but only a couple people got scared enough to stop. Around forty were still running at it in waves. Even in the cold winter weather the bug could feel sweat running down the side of its head.
"Flamethrower!"
Green was already in the woods so he couldn't see what was happening but he caught a glimpse of something bright behind him and so he had a feeling that no one would get in the way of him executing his plan.
A wall of fire started forming in front of Scyther. It moved around like a serpent, separating Darkness Gang into smaller groups, until all of them were cut off from the possibility of following after Green.
"Sorry that it took so long. I need some time to get my head back in the game." Red said to Scyther while descending on Charizard.
The bug's instinct was to hug its trainer but it remembered that its bladed arms prevented it from doing so and was a little saddened by it. Red could feel its emotions and so he reacted by patting it on the head.
"Good job on keeping Green alive." the boy congratulated the Pokemon "It looks like he wants to take on that big guy by himself so in the meantime let's take care of these guys."
Scyther smiled and turned towards the enemies who started getting through the fire thanks to their Pokemon.
"You don't have to force yourself. The rest of the team are probably raring to go." Red said before throwing multiple pokeball into the air "Especially this one."
Eevee, Gyarados and Pidgeot appeared on the battlefield. The last one was Gloom.
"Are you ready? I've already decided but I need to know that you're also prepared."
The grass Pokemon scanned the approaching foes as well as the Pokemon it would be fighting together with before unleashing a loud cry, one that no one would expect from the usually timid Pokemon.
"I'll take that as a "yes"!"
Red reached inside his pocket and took out a box which he threw into the midst of the enemies. Gloom ran up Gyarados, who arced its back for the other Pokemon, and jumped after the box. After catching it, the grass type Pokemon took out its contents and hugged them while flying through the air. It started to glow and slow down while blinding the enemies surrounding it. It grew in size as it floated down to the ground and for a second it looked like it disappeared and a big flower appeared in its place but the people further away could see that beneath the flower hidden was the Pokemon's body. Vileplume looked at its hands before seemingly realizing that they didn't change. It started to panic a little until it remembered that it was surrounded by enemies.
"For now let's try Petal Blizzard! We'll find you a mirror later!"
The Pokemon nodded and started spinning around on one of its legs while simultaneously releasing, from its flower, hundreds of pink petals which began to stick to everyone around, blinding them and inhabiting their movements.
"Now we can start taking them out. Pidgeot and Scyther, use Wing Attack! Eevee, run in with Quick Attack and back up Vileplume! Charizard and Gyarados, use Flamethrower and Hydro Pump to stop anyone who tries to get away!"
. . .
Green was already far enough to not hear the sounds of Red's battle. He was also getting more and more worn out after running through the snow but, as he suspected, that task proved even more difficult for his opponent. Once the boy stopped, Kette did the same, but instead of attacking he looked around, just then realizing what kind of environment he found himself in. The cold, the white stuff on the ground and falling from the sky and the steam coming out from his mind were all equally confusing to him. He looked at Green as if he blamed him for the existence of winter.
"Can't deal with a little snow?"
"Snow?" Kette repeated "Snow! Why?! This… Why snow?! No!"
The monster tried to lunge towards Green but was too slow and the boy managed to disappear behind a thick tree. Kette broke the tree with a double lariat but the teenager was already gone. It was hard to follow his movements within the snowstorm.
"Careful where you thread." Green said while walking out from behind another three.
Kette didn't heed the warning and fell for the boy's trap as he sunk even further into the snow because of holes dug by Nidorina.
"Now it's your turn!"
Green sent out his two remaining Pokemon, Jigglypuff and Seadra and had the latter use Ice Beam on the former, hitting it as lightly as possible, so that it could copy the move with Mimic.
"I noticed it before but it seems like cold is your weakness. I guess they had to have a way to keep someone like you in check. You won't mind me taking advantage of that, right?"
"Cold! Stop! No! I hate you!"
"Well, that's a little… cold."
Green pinched himself for making a bad pun that no one around would even understand.
"Ice Beam!"
The two Pokemon simultaneously shot out streams of cold air which worked even better thanks to the cold air and falling snow. They started by aiming at Kette's hands so that he couldn't try to use them to get himself free. He still tried to resist by moving forward but he was only able to take one step before he found himself completely frozen.
"It's not over yet. I'm not sure if this ice will suffocate him or just keep him preserved but I have a bad feeling that he will somehow be able to escape it so let's take some precautions. Team Rocket scientists will have to come up with a way to extract him. Nidorina, dig some more holes so that he will sink underground if he manages to move. Jigglypuff and Seadra, keep on using Ice Beam until the ice is so thick that we can't see him anymore."
. . .
Several minutes later, Green returned to the Darkness Gang's compound and found it overran by Team Rocket's forces. Their enemies were either lying unconscious or giving up and being tied up. Green noticed Red's Gyarados from far away and as he got closer he saw that its trainer was sat leaning against the Pokemon while the rest of his team gathered around a bonfire created by Charizard. Vileplume was getting praise while Eevee was trying to get the boy's attention by jumping into his lap. Scyther was showing off by taking various poses, trying to impress Pidgeot by mimicking what happened in the underground battle.
"What happened here?" Green asked after coming up to the group.
"Remember how we had multiple groups of people attack the outposts to draw out Darkness Gang and make the main base less protected? They managed to win their battles one by one and started moving towards here. They met up with Angie's group. Archer woke up and so the two of them and your Venusaur were a great help. There was apparently some really strong girl there but I haven't seen her. As for me… I'm just trying to distract myself."
Green lowered his gaze after hearing the last words.
"Where is he?"
"He's not the only one, you know? I managed to get through so many dangerous situations. I have scars, sure, but death… There were people in our forces who were designated carriers of storage pads containing body bags. There's around 20 dead and they're laid out together so it's going to be hard to find him if you search for him now. You'll have to wait until we get back to the base…"
"What about a funeral? Does Team Rocket…?"
"Shut up! I don't know, alright?!" Red raised his voice.
"I… I'll go search for Venusaur."
Green left and Red's Pokemon looked at him for a while before turning attention towards their trainer. Eevee tried to cheer him up by licking his face but stopped after feeling the saltiness of his tears but the boy still hugged the Pokemon.
Green quickly found his Venusaur since it stood out due to its size. Angie, Archer and Otari were hanging around it.
"How is he holding up?" Otari asked since he saw from afar that Green talked to Red.
"I don't think he wants to talk to anyone right now… Maybe…"
He looked around and hesitated once his eyes stopped on Angie.
"No." the girl responded firmly "I… I would like to help but it's not a good idea."
"I guess you're right."
Archer was a little confused by how easily the two of them understood each other.
"Good job helping everyone, Venusaur." Green praised his Pokemon before putting it back in its ball.
"So, where are the others?"
"I made sure that Mary and Peter are taken care of. They're waiting for a helicopter pickup. It should arrive soon." Otari explained "As for the rest, they still haven't returned from the underground since they couldn't find the fifth operative in the dome they were supposed to be in, so a group of people went to help them look for them. Since most of our Pokemon are worn out, we didn't want to get in their way so we stayed outside."
"I should probably find someone who will know how to deal with Kette. I trapped him. Like, really good." Green added the last two sentences since he realized that the first one alone could be misleading by itself.
He promptly left them and the group remained silent for a while. Archer thought about the scientist he encountered inside the base and as his mind wandered further he felt like there was something all of them were forgetting about.
"We have people searching around for Faust, right?"
The other two nodded.
"But Faust isn't like the boss of Darkness Gang. Neither was Kette or that invisible chick that Green and I encountered. So does this mean that we just defeated some underlings while our main enemy is still out there?"
"You look like an idiot but you say some surprisingly insightful stuff sometimes." Otari said bluntly.
Archer scoffed at him.
"Oh no. I wonder how our boss will react to this news." Angie couldn't help but mess with hair while saying that "This makes me kind of happy that our communicators are still jammed."
"Oh, there you are." an unfamiliar member of Team Rocket approached them "I was told to inform one of the Admins that communication is back up and the boss wants to talk to one of you."
"Good luck." Otari said before he and Archer quickly left to avoid having to help Angie with what would undoubtedly be an awkward conversation.
. . .
A couple days later, all of Team Rocket's members were back inside their base situated in Celadon City. Thanks to their medical staff Mary has made an almost complete recovery in this short amount of time. Alex paid her a visit in the medical wing and was going to return to his room but he thought that he should check in on Red. As he was getting close to the boy's quarters, he ran into Angie who looked visibly angry, although she also had tears in her eyes.
"Umm… Can I ask what happened? Did you talk with him?"
She stared daggers at him but stopped when she thought there was no need to antagonize him after the Admins finally started getting along.
"It's not me. He was locked in his room and I tried talking to him ever… a couple times. He wouldn't open the door for anyone, be it me, Green, Otari or Roger. The one who finally got him to do it was the boss."
"What? You mean that he's here right now?"
"I think he went to see Blaine."
"You must have overheard what they were talking about, right? Otherwise you wouldn't look like that."
"Red was still dealing with Nets' death. F… The boss wanted to thank him for defeating Faust and helping in other battles but he also wanted to stop him from doing something. It was Red's idea to cremate Nets' body since he wanted to return him to his family and it would be hard to do it with the state his body was in when he died without raising suspicion. The boss decided that wasn't enough. Even if they couldn't tell the way their son died, Nets' parents would still get suspicious if they suddenly got the ashes of their son… They could start investigating."
"So what?"
"We're close to realizing our plans and when we do it won't matter anymore so until that time the boss will keep sending them the same amount of money that Nets sent them every month. He will even have someone fabricate messages, keeping up the facade that Nets is alive as long as needed."
"H… How did Red react?"
"He punched him."
Alex's eyes widened and an uneasy feeling appeared in his stomach.
"Then… Then I slapped Red."
"Are…" Alex was struggling to find the right words "...Are both of you insane?! What the boss is doing is definitely shitty but also pragmatic. I understand Red's feelings but he should have found something else to take his anger out on… even if the boss' punchable face was right there… But then you… Why the hell would you do that?!"
"It didn't look like the boss wanted to punish him or retaliate in any way so… He's the boss. Red can't just punch him without repercussions, right? That's logical, right?!"
As Angie talked, more tears appeared in her eyes.
"It may be logical but you shouldn't care about making the logical choice if it's going to put you in that state! It was wrong for Red to act on his feelings but you should have gotten in touch with yours in that moment and not after the fact."
"If I did that… I feel like I would also punch him."
"Red?!"
"The boss!"
Alex was shocked that Angie would admit the possibility of something like that happening.
"Even after knowing him for so many years, I'm still unable to put my feelings for him into proper words and I know Red since a couple months ago. That's why I try to act on logic! It's easier when I do it this way and don't have to think about…"
"In that case maybe you should be the one that gets hit, huh?!" Alex asked while getting really close to her face "If you keep being afraid of getting in touch with your emotions then you're going to keep on hurting yourself and pushing away those you love. The fact that you still call Giovanni "the boss"... You really think that Peter and I haven't realized the true nature of your relationship?"
"Wha am I sups ta dah?!" she was bawling so much that it was hard to understand her words.
"Just… cry as much as now when you're apologizing to Red and don't come to me for advice until you do it."
He was about to leave but stopped himself and gave the girl a hug. He didn't know if it would help but it seemed to calm her down a little.
. . .
Somewhere in Celadon City, Green and Peter were sitting on a bench near a Pokemon Center. The former was looking around while using a newspaper to camouflage himself.
"No one reads a newspaper outside in the middle of the winter." Peter pointed out "Put that away and just act natural or you'll draw more attention."
"I guess you're right."
"Is that person even going to come here?"
"She sounded like she was about to run out the door after I talked with her over the phone. I have no idea where she lives but this is where I met her so I chose this as the meeting place. You can go wait outside and keep an eye on me through the window."
"You really have no idea about how to be stealthy, do you? I would look like a creep spying on a teenage boy. Besides, I need to hear what you're going to talk about to make sure that you're not trying to convey some secret message."
"Did you bring a tape recorder?"
"I did."
"I… I was joking. But I guess that being paranoid is your modus operandi."
Peter stood up and looked down at him with an annoyed expression.
"Don't talk shit. You don't know anything about me."
"And whose fault is that? I mean… I guess I never asked but it also kinda seems that if someone asks you about your past or something, you will stab them."
Peter grinned slightly while lifting a part of his coat to reveal an array of bladed weapons. He hid them soon after when he noticed that someone was approaching them.
"I knew I recognized the voice over the phone. You're Pro… Green. I already lost hope that I would ever hear from you a long time ago. Police picked up my case soon after that but they haven't been able to find any clues."
It was the woman who asked Green to search for her lost Mankey soon before he got dragged into joining Team Rocket.
"Could you give us some space?" Green asked Peter.
The Admin looked the woman up and down and after giving it some thought he moved two benches over. He wasn't able to hear what the two of them were talking about but he kept sneakily observing them. The woman didn't pay him any attention, completely focusing on whatever Green was saying to her. Suddenly, she slapped him and yelled some insults before storming away. The boy went back to the Admin with a red hand imprint still on his face.
"Was that deserved?"
"No. Not really." Green responded as he felt something in his mouth.
He touched his face. The woman hit him so hard that his nose bled a little so he wiped the blood away with his sleeve and kept it there for a while until it stopped dripping.
"I hope that she still likes my grandpa."
"What?"
"Hmm. We can leave."
"Wait. You're not going to explain what the f #k that was about?"
"Since you have your secrets, I'll have mine."
. . .
Giovanni reached Blaine's quarters. Although the scientist didn't lock himself away like Red, he would rarely leave his room. The device that would allow Team Rocket to destroy the barrier around the cave that M2 was residing in was almost done so the only thing remaining was something that would allow them to control it. He felt like he had an idea of how to create something like that so he wanted to stall for time by pretending that he was conducting research while actually he had two other goals, come up with a failsafe that would override the device's control but wouldn't be noticeable to the other scientists and get in contact with the other Gym leaders and the Elite Four to give them information that would help them stop Team Rocket's plan before it would get too out of hand. Getting this unexpected visit from Giovanni meant that he had to explain his behavior in a way that wouldn't make the other party suspect anything, especially since he felt that he gave away too much, about how he feels, during their last conversation even though he was trying to be reserved that time.
"Is everything alright?"
"Are… Is… Is your eye swollen?"
The boss instinctively reached towards his face but stopped himself once it became obvious why he would have a swollen eye.
"Worry not. It may very well be the best proof that I'm still in charge of even the most untrustworthy… Of course he has some plan but the fact that this ended with just one punch proves that Red wants to see things through at least until we begin the execution of our plan."
"You say "our plan" but it's really your plan. What I know is mostly your means and intent but not the specific."
"Is that why you're still wavering?"
"Yes. That's the leading reason. I feel like with how close I am to figuring things out I could… or rather, the science department could have the control device finished around the beginning of spring."
"Around two months?"
"It's just an estimate."
"Then let's say that I'll reveal more of my plan to you now while figuring out the specifics while observing the progress and I'll tell you the rest once the device is finished. That way you'll be in more control. You could even halt the development and try to rebel people against me if you feel like my plan doesn't align with your views."
"There was a lot of common ground in the past when it came to our worldviews and that's why I agreed to work for you in the first place. I don't think either of us changed our thoughts too much but the way we go about things…" Blaine stopped himself "...I'll hear you out and I'll try to come to a decision soon. If we were to become enemies, it would be easier if it was just me against you rather than something like separate factions of Team Rocket.
"You don't want any more of them to get hurt, I see."
Giovanni gifted Blaine a genuine smile and the scientist became a little flustered.
"These days I worry about him so much but when he acts like this, it feels just like when we met for the first time. I would prefer it if I could trust him wholeheartedly." Blaine thought as he watched the doors to his room close after Giovanni came inside and took a seat.
. . .
After asking around, Angie managed to find Red in one of the training facilities. Tarieli noticed that the Admin was unwell and tried to figure out what was wrong but the other girl convinced her that she didn't need help and would feel better once she would do a certain thing. As Angie quietly entered the room, she saw Red crouched next to his Nidorino and Vileplume.
"That was great, you two. I was a little worried with my choice of leaving you out of the mission, Nidorino, since you're my newest partner besides Scyther but someone would always need to be left out. That's why I'll focus on training you now and I'll definitely have you as part of the team on the next mission. Although even without additional training you're already plenty strong. I was just thinking that it would be a neat idea if maybe one of you learned Venoshock. That would make for a neat combo if for example Nidorino attacked with Poison Jab and then Vileplume followed up with Venoshock."
The Pokemon were listening to him intently although it looked like Vileplume was a little confused about what its trainer was talking about, likely because it wasn't familiar with how the mentioned moves were connected to each other.
"You know, the hard part about Pokemon like Nidorino is deciding when to use the evolution stones…"
It didn't seem like these words were aimed at Vileplume so Angie tried to sneakily look around to see if there was someone else whom she didn't notice.
"...It's easy when a Pokemon evolves by itself since you can't do much but accept it but when the choice is yours it really makes you think. You fight a wild Pokemon and, most of the time, when you catch it in a pokeball it's immediately ready to listen to your commands. Is that like an instinct thing? Like them thinking they're part of a herd and you're its leader? I have a Moon Stone but I'm still debating when to…"
"Umm… Are you talking to me?" Angie asked after listening to him for some time.
"Oh. No, no. I was talking to that ghost behind you."
Angie shuddered and jumped towards the boy while turning around but didn't see anything there. Red laughed a little and put the Pokemon back in their balls before standing up.
Realizing that he joked, Angie got closer to him and raised her hand.
"Why, you…"
"Going to slap me again?"
Angie stopped herself and looked down.
"Do you know Giovanni's plan?" Red asked her.
It wasn't in an accusatory tone but Angie still hesitated despite having nothing to hide.
"No."
"And yet you still follow him. You're probably the most loyal Team Rocket member."
"W… Where are you going with this?"
"I'm not going to try to change your mind if you think that's what I was planning on doing. There's times when I know I have to let go and so I won't try doing anything regarding Nets' parents but I still needed to get that punch in to feel a little better about it. I think that Giovanni understood and so he let it happen even though he could have easily dodged."
Angie immediately went back to that moment in her memories and realized that her mistake was even bigger than she thought at first.
"I'm willing to let things go. I don't care if I get slapped once or twice. But there's something I'm not giving up on."
"Is that…" Angie wondered if what she was about to say was too presumptuous "Are you talking about me?"
"That's right. I don't want something like that to change our relationship. I'd rather get to know you better so I can, if possible, live in a way that will save me from more slaps. Of course, that's up to you."
"I'm…"
Angie was searching for an answer but Giovanni kept popping up in her head.
"I'm willing to agree to that… but…"
There was no "but". She had to come up with something.
"...but you have to tell me about yourself… And explain."
"Explain?"
"You're not doing this just to avoid getting slapped, are you? If you want to hear the truth then you also need to be true."
Red tried to hide his blushing face with his hands.
"Is this how Blue felt back then?" he said quietly "I'll have to apologize to her, won't I?"
He put his hands away and looked straight into Angie's eyes.
"I think… No, that's not good. I'm certain. I…"
I don't have a lot of free time but whenever I do have time and motivation I make sure to write at least a little so bit by bit new chapters get completed. This one especially had to be as long as it is. I promised that it would be the end of the Darkness Gang Arc but at the same time it's also the finale of the Team Rocket Arc. I'm not sure if anyone even remembers me mentioning it but originally this arc didn't even exist and a time skip was supposed to happen but I felt the need to fill that void to have better explanation for some future stuff happening. I got ahead of myself and started creating new characters and plotlines to the point where I've been writing this arc almost three times longer than the M2 Arc.
There still will be a timeskip since I covered all the important things and need the timeline to align a little better with my future plans. I also have had enough of having to remember that it's the winter so in the next chapter we'll be moving onto spring. What does that mean for the story? Why is this the end of the Team Rocket Arc? You'll have to wait and see.
Instead of thinking ahead, let's talk a little about the current chapter. The title is a reference to a series of beat 'em up games.
The battle against Kette was like a raid battle in Pokemon Go or Sword/Shield but as I wanted to move various characters outside the base I found myself with only being able to use one character and so I decided to have Green finish it.
I feel like the different ways in which Red reacted to Green and Angie will make someone write a review calling me out for making Red look like a simp even though it should be obvious that he had those couple days to deal with the situation and got mellowed out. That anti lesbian review gave me a good laugh. I wonder how that person felt/will feel about Alex being gay.
I was considering having Gloom's evolution in chapter 48 but I otped for Pidgeot back then so instead we have Vileplume's debut here. There's also some musings about when Nidorino will evolve.
The last part of the chapter had the usual pairings but I used Alex in a place where it probably would be more obvious to use Tarieli. You can see that all of the Admins are changing. Even Peter is being more playful with Green although he still doesn't fully trust anyone.
The end is probably what you think but I try to do things calmly this time so I don't have to cry like with Blue.
This chapter we also have the deus ex machina Electabuzz trainer as well as mention of another character. The hints are so tiny that I'm willing to bet that no one will be able to guess the identites of both characters. You can try writing me a PM if you're really confident and maybe I'll think about a prize like having your OC appear during the Pokemon League or something.
Red. Team: Vileplume, Nidorino, ?, ?, ?, ?.
At hand but not officially his: Scyther.
At Team Rocket Base: ?.
Badges: 4
Green. Team: Venusaur, Jigglypuff, Nidorina, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Seadra.
At Team Rocket Base: Jynx.
Badges: 3
Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Golbat(Ken), Graveler(Grimm), Ponyta(Dasher), Electabuzz(Buzz).
Badges: 3
Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon.
Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash, Seaking.
Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, Gengar.
Blaine. Team: Magmar, ?, ?.
