Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 55: Thunder Castle.
As Red's Charizard started to approach the building the group was heading towards, Peter took a couple seconds to pop his shoulder into place, biting his lip to stop a grunt of pain from coming out of his mouth.
"Alex is most likely already inside but attacking from the ground up so it's good for us to strike from the sky." he pointed out.
Red wondered about how they should approach the landing since the building's roof was a spire. He realized that they would probably have to break in through a window so he started looking for one that would allow Charizard to fit in.
Peter seemed to realize what was troubling the boy since he said "Just bring us closer and let me jump inside. I won't need your help once I'm inside so you can buzz off."
"What's even the point of taking over this place?"
"Boss wants it. All you need to know."
Red instructed Charizard to get close to the building. Peter used a couple of his knives to create an hole which he could jump through since none of the windows were open.
"I guess… good luck?" said Red.
"Yeah… Thanks." the Admin responded before running off towards some security guards that spotted him.
Charizard flew away from the building as its trainer tried to think over his next move.
"I know that at least one, maybe two Admins are here so the only ones I have to really worry about are Giovanni and Angie. If Giovanni wants that building then he's most likely somewhere in the city, waiting for it to be captured. That means that Angie is…"
. . .
In another part of Kanto, a bunch of tents were standing next to the entrance of the Cerulean Cave. Inside one of them, Bill, the one responsible for creating the barrier that kept Mewtwo inside the cave, was having a cup of tea while observing various computer screens he had set up there. He started clicking away on a keyboard but stopped when he saw Misty approaching the tent. She was returning after doing a check of the area. He noticed that she had increased breathing so he reached towards a minifridge and took out a small bottle of water which he threw towards the Gym leader. The girl drank about one third and thanked him for it.
"You look worried but you're not panicking so I assume that the situation outside hasn't changed." said the scientist.
"Yeah. I could say the same about you. You keep messing with these computers but you didn't do that for all these months and even now I don't see any difference when you input something."
"Oh, no. I was always keeping one eye on the state of the barrier but I was doing it from the comfort of my home. But since you gathered any willing strong trainers here then I feel much safer being with you. Team Rocket must have figured out that they couldn't just destroy the barrier by messing with my equipment so they never attacked me but since they're finally going to make their move, I will try to counteract as much as I can." he explained "Although I would have felt safer if we had one of the Elite Four with us."
"No need for that. From what we know, our enemies are spreading themselves thin so at most they will probably send only one or two Admins our way."
"And you're saying you can beat them?"
She smiled and gave him a wink before once again leaving the tent.
"That's… not an answer…" he muttered to himself.
Suddenly, the siren, placed on top of a pole amongst the tents, started howling, which informed Bill that he needed to check another computer.
"Does that mean what I think it does?!" Misty shouted at him.
"They're approaching from the south! I'm getting twelve signals on the radar but… they're most likely in helicopters or something since the blips are quite big, so there's probably more of them than just twelve people!"
All of the gathered trainers quickly left whatever they were doing and reached for their pokeballs to prepare for Team Rocket's attack. Once they did that, Bill turned off the siren so that the enemies wouldn't hear it as they were approaching. They would still be able to see the tents but the sound would give them away faster and the element of surprise was to be one of their advantages.
There wasn't enough space to land so the criminals had to descend in the same way as their companions in Saffron, with the help of parachutes or their Pokemon.
"You're clear to attack anyone above water! For the other ones, wait until they're close to landing!" Misty ordered the group "We want to stop them, not break their legs or worse!"
The trainers listened to her and started summoning Pokemon which began using distanced attacks to knock Team Rocket members out of the sky. A bunch of them landed in the river separating this area from Cerulean City and got swept away by the current, allowing the trainers to reduce their enemies numbers by almost half. There were still a lot of them that managed to land without getting hit since the later ones ordered their Pokemon to dodge the incoming attacks.
"That one looks like an opponent for me." a boy announced, stepping out in front of the rest of the group.
"Wait. What are you doing?" Misty became worried when she noticed that the person he wanted to fight was a Team Rocket Admin she met in the past, Angie.
"I missed out on fighting against them back then but I got stronger since my fight with Red!" the boy shouted while sending out his Pokemon.
It was a Dragonair. He grabbed onto it and flew in the direction of Angie who was riding her own Dragonair. The two Pokemon butted heads and spun around in the air. The girl wasn't prepared for something like that and hesitated in giving an order while taking a glance at all the other opponents waiting for her on the ground. The boy didn't have the same problem.
"Dragon Tail!"
His Dragonair spun around and hit the other from above, causing it to rapidly descend.
"Forward!"
Angie ordered her Pokemon, hoping to avoid crashing into the ground, but they were already so low that even though Dragonair listened, all it did was make them fly into one of the tents. The girl fell off as the Pokemon strained to free itself from the fabric. She realized her position and sent out Sandslash to be ready against any incoming attack.
"I remember you." Misty said to the boy who also made his way towards the tents below "You were fighting against Red and his Eevee back then."
"I've spent the last couple months training and managed to evolve my Dratini. I was actually thinking about challenging you soon." he said "By the way, my name is Elsayed."
A bunch of Team Rocket members gathered around Angie, ready to support her. This gave her some time to think about the situation they found themselves in.
"They knew about the attack. We had spies who would check this place from time to time and there were some guards but not a whole squadron of trainers." she said.
"Does that mean that they also spied on us?" someone asked.
"A spy in Team Rocket? Is that possible?" Angie wondered in her thoughts.
Even though Red and Green would be the obvious people to suspect, her feelings towards the former caused her thoughts to get muddled.
"Doesn't matter. We'll deal with this obstacle and get the job done." she decided "Sandslash, use Rollout!"
. . .
The Gym leaders were growing impatient while waiting for Sabrina inside her gym, especially since they could see the ruckus Team Rocket was causing on the TV. Judging by the sounds outside, some of the criminals visited even this neighborhood.
"What will we do if she doesn't come back?" Erika asked the room.
"We can't think that way." said Brock.
"Don't say foolish things. You can't let optimism cloud judgment." Koga didn't mince his words "If we she doesn't return in another hour, we have to assume that she's incapacitated, injured or even dead. It very much seems like Team Rocket won't attack anyone who stays in their home but if someone is outside and outright hostile, that's when we can expect their true colors to show."
Surge needed to calm them down and bring some order but, before he could say anything, he got startled by a sound that came from behind. His first thought was that Sabrina teleported inside and hit something but that wasn't the case. As he tried to identify the source of the sound, he heard the same thing and realized what was happening. Someone outside was throwing rocks and bricks at the building and a couple of them hit a window.
"I think there's someone inside!"
"Is it that Gym leader chick?! You saw that announcement on TV?!"
"Yeah, man! I hoped we could beat up some bozos who would try to get in our way but because of that everyone stayed inside!"
"That b #$h needs to pay! I don't care what the boss says! It's not like he can see us here!"
Each voice belonged to a different person so there were at least four of them. They kept on throwing stuff at the windows which, even though fortified, started showing some cracks.
"I'll stay here." Surge announced quietly.
"No-" Brock wanted to protest but the other man covered his mouth since it was clear that the people outside would be able to hear the Rock type Gym leader's voice if he spoke too loudly.
"We don't know how many of them are out there but the worst thing that can happen is that they call for backup. If Sabrina comes back, someone needs to stay here but if all of us stay here we risk a chance of getting overwhelmed."
"So you staying by yourself is better?" Brock asked after moving Surge's hand away.
"If they're a small group, I will fare better than any of you. Once Sabrina comes back, we can use her psi whatever to find you guys. But if there's a lot of them, then I deal with these punks and start bringing the fight to other Team Rocket groups."
"You're talking like you can defeat the entire Team Rocket by yourself." Erika noted.
"Take care of them." Surge said while looking at Koga.
The ninja nodded and started walking towards a backdoor that Sabrina showed them earlier. Blue was the only one to follow him without needing to hear anything else.
"Go!" shouted Surge.
"Come!" Koga was equally loud.
"That's an order!" their voices synchronized.
Brock and Erika both felt shivers running down their spines which was enough to convince them to go after Koga.
The people outside must have heard them since they started throwing the bricks more vigorously. Some of them even started commanding their Pokemon and the window was about to give out. Surge walked across the room with the battlefield and left the building through the front door. He immediately saw over 20 Team Rocket members, and one of them called out to the ones trying to break the window and a bunch more joined. Surge glanced to the sides to make sure that he had all attention on himself, allowing the others to escape easily.
"It's not her." someone said.
"I know this guy! He's from the Vermillion Gym!" another person added.
"He's probably hiding her inside! Let's beat his ass! Go, Ekans!"
The snake Pokemon jumped out of its pokeball and lunged at the Gym leader but he caught it, when it was around 20 centimeters from biting into his shoulder, and threw it back at the one who sent it out. Such a feat was a good blow to the group's morale but they remained moderately confident because of the difference in numbers. Several others summoned their Pokemon, a mix of Koffings, Zubats, Ekanses and Grimers.
"Swarm him so he doesn't have a chance to protect himself! Zubats can deafen to force his hands while Grimers take his legs!" a voice ringed out from the back.
Some of the criminals turned around to see whom it belonged to but a lot of them recognized it. It was Roger, who was ready to join the battle together with his Weezing.
Ever since the raid on Darkness Gang's base, many Team Rocket members gained respect for him after learning of his contribution from other people that were present back then. The fact that his Koffing evolved was a big tell that the story about his deeds wasn't fabricated by him to make himself look better.
"He's not an Admin but if they listen to him…" Surge thought while looking at the crowd who were trying to decide if they should listen to Roger's orders.
He quietly dropped two pokeballs, summoning Raichu and Electrode that were kept inside.
"Let's do a drive-by Rollout! Left to right!"
Electrode started spinning and following the directions from its trainer, made a half circle while running into anyone and anything that stood in its way, knocking them back and making everyone trip over each other.
The other electric Pokemon was supposed to stay by its trainer and be ready to protect him if anyone managed to get past Electrode.
"Damn it. I should have known they wouldn't listen to me. If I still need to prove myself then… Weezing, let's attack from the sky! We'll need a Smokescreen!" Roger ordered his Pokemon who started spewing black clouds.
The Pokemon kept flying up so the move didn't reach the ground and allowed people to see around them if they crouched. Surge took note of that and fell to the ground so he could keep observing the situation. That was a mistake on his part. Roger was holding onto his Pokemon when it took off and knowing where the ex-soldier was standing before made it easy to attack from above. His Pokemon didn't have a good move for this occasion so he had to improvise. He let go of Weezing and fell on top of Surge knee-first. He could hear one of his opponent's ribs crack but he didn't have time to celebrate. Raichu reacted to his sudden arrival by using Slam and knocking him back into the crowd.
Surge slowly got up and looked around to try and see if Weezing was somewhere close by.
"I don't see it. This is a good chance to bring it out." he said before reaching towards his belt.
Seeing what his trainer was doing, Raichu smiled and ran off towards the area where Electrode continued using Rollout on their enemies. Meanwhile, Surge took on a pose he came to rely on while throwing grenades during his time in the army. He swung his hand and threw a pokeball straight up with such speed that the Pokemon inside it appeared only when the ball was well above the dark clouds, even though Surge clicked the button before the throw. At that point, Weezing was the only one who could see it and although the Poison type Pokemon didn't understand why, it somehow knew that it was supposed to be afraid of what it witnessed, so the only option was to fly down and try to find its trainer in order to warn him.
"Start with Rain Dance!" Surge ordered.
Another set of clouds appeared above the ones that Team Rocket was getting lost in and the droplets of water falling down started to slowly make everything visible again.
After Raichu reached Electrode, the other Pokemon understood what their trainer was planning and both of them moved back towards him to avoid what they knew was coming.
"Now use Charge!"
Someone helped Roger get back on his feet and at the same time his Weezing managed to find him. The Pokemon tried to warn him about what it saw above but it was hard to point without any limbs.
"Is that a bird?!" someone shouted, causing many others, including Roger, to look towards the sky.
Right beneath the clouds he could see a yellow, winged Pokemon surrounded by electricity.
"What the hell is that?!"
"It's Zapdos!" another person said.
"Wait. Like one of those legendary…"
"Thunder!"
Surge's voice interrupted Roger. The following noise was so loud that to some it felt almost as if they lost their hearing. Zapdos needed to flap its wings but once in order to release an attack which reached everyone with such speed and force that no one present could dodge it. Surge's clothes were electricity proof but he still needed his Pokemon to offset the attack by a bit, especially Raichu with its Lightning Rod ability. He still could feel some pain, but nothing like his opponents.
"Ugh… Looks like all of them passed out. I hope we didn't hit them too badly." the leader said while walking around the unconscious criminals.
Raichu grabbed its face which the trainer found a little weird until his nose was greeted by the stench of ammonia that his Pokemon must have felt faster than him.
"Great. A bunch of them must have pissed their pants. Let's hope that we don't have to repeat that or this neighborhood will smell like this for way too long."
Zapdos realized that its services were no longer needed so it stopped the rain and descended in order to get back inside its pokeball, while Surge started walking towards the gym in hope of finding something to stuff his nose.
Blue and the rest of the Gym leaders were a couple streets away when Zados's attack hit but they could still hear it which caused everyone but Koga to stop for a moment.
"What is going on back there?" Erika asked.
"I knew that he and Misty were making some preparations since we were expecting to fight Team Rocket at some point but I'm not sure what that meant." Brock responded "I mean, I did a bunch more training than normally and some of my Pokemon evolved but…"
"There's some Team Rocket guys coming from the west." Blue said in order to get the others to hurry up.
Koga smiled at the fact that his teachings were paying off. The enemies weren't visible at that point but her senses became so sharp during those couple months that the girl could tell by straining her ears. Erika and Brock trusted her without looking around and once more started moving away from the gym.
. . .
After encountering some initial resistance on the ground floor, Alex's group managed to get up the tower mostly unopposed. The top 15 floors didn't use the same set of elevators as the rest of the building and the Admin couldn't access them without a security card or hacking one of the elevators which was something that no one under his command was capable of. This resulted in them having to find the guards responsible for each of the floors in order to steal the cards from them. Once they obtained a specific card they could use it to disable the security system on that floor, allowing them free movement and use of the elevator. It wasn't too hard, especially since Archer chose to follow Alex and was trying to show off by dealing with the security before they could use their Pokemon, leaving the Admin with not much to do, but the entire process was taking a long time. Or was, until they reached a floor where the security was already mostly dealt with. Peter and his Dodrio were dealing with their last opponent when Alex and the others arrived.
"Quick Attack!"
The bird quickly swerved while running at the opponent and attacked them from the back, knocking them out.
"Oh, you're here." Peter noticed the group after walking by to confirm that the security guard passed out "Took you long enough."
"Can I assume that you beat everyone up, left them where you defeated them and are still carrying their cards?" Alex asked him.
Peter looked away for a while which was telling enough.
"Just… Just give them to me. We'll disable everything." Alex added "We left some of our guys on the lower floors and tied up the security. We basically took over the place so while we clean up your mess, you can contact the boss and let him know."
"Fine. I'll do it."
"Do you have any job for me?" Archer asked.
"I'll stay here at least until the boss arrives so we should be fine but I guess you could watch over the entrance to the building in case someone who wants to oppose us tries to get inside that way." Alex answered.
The blue-haired man saluted him before going towards the elevator that would allow him to get down.
. . .
Back near Cerulean City, the battle between Team Rocket and the local trainers was raging on. Even though initially Angie was facing off against Elsayed, she switched her focus to Misty who sent her Staryu out to fight Sandslash. The Admin realized that the other girl was trying to push her away from the cave and also the other Team Rocket members.
"She most likely thinks that attacking the highest ranking person will interrupt our plans." thought the dark-haired girl "Maybe it's good that she's focused on me, but that doesn't mean that I will allow myself to be defeated."
"Rollout!"
"Rapid Spin!"
Sandslash went on the offensive while Staryu used its move to run away. The Ground type Pokemon didn't want to let up and followed the opponent. Seeing that they were getting closer to the river, Angie realized that Misty's true purpose was to lure them over there. While her Pokemon was busy dealing with Staryu, another opponent appeared from out of the water. Starmie also used Rapid Spin and managed to strike Sandslash. Although the spikes allowed it to mostly protect itself from the attack, the surprise was enough to make it stop and leave itself open towards Staryu.
"We're far enough from others to do this! Use Sandstorm!" Angie gave an order.
Sandslash created a small hurricane that kicked up the surrounding sand. The Water type Pokemon didn't perceive things by using eyes so they didn't have to worry about their vision getting obstructed but their trainer realized that this move had another purpose, and so she kept watch of Sandslash's movement from outside the sandstorm in order to react to them in time.
"Use Slash!"
Seeing that the opponent picked Starmie as its target, Misty gave an appropriate command "Protect!"
"Magnitude!"
Sandslash stopped in front of the barrier created by Starmie and, instead of striking it, hit the ground, sending waves of seismic energy that caused a piece of ground to rise up below Staryu and send it flying.
"And now Rollout!"
Sandslash rolled into a ball and used the same piece of ground as a ramp in order to go after Staryu and strike it mid-air.
"Bubblebeam!"
Starmie's attack would most likely hit both Pokemon but knowing that Sandslash would take more damage from it, Misty was willing to take the risk.
Angie looked back towards where most of the others were fighting. Her Dragonair was trying to escape Elsayed's one and it was too far away to call for its help over the noise of the battlefield but it was clear that fighting one on two wasn't the best idea so the Admin used the river as a place to summon her Seaking. Since it was a fish and couldn't be too useful outside of a body of water, she didn't get to use it too much and as a result it remained weaker than her other Pokemon, but at that point she didn't have much of a choice if she wanted to stand a chance against Misty.
"Waterfall!"
Seaking lifted its horn towards the sky and the water around it rapidly shot out into the air before stopping at the height of a couple meters after which it fell down atop Starmie with similar speed. It didn't do too much to the star-shaped Pokemon but it was followed-up with a surprise attack. Seaking rode the stream of water it created which allowed it to get close to the opponent.
"Poison Jab!"
The fish coated its horn in purple substance and used it to stab Starmie in one of its arms. Seeing that her Pokemon got poisoned, Misty called it back to its pokeball and almost immediately sent it out again, cured from its ailment thanks to its ability.
"That's annoying." Angie commented "Father is waiting for news of our success. I need to stop wasting time and figure out how to take this girl out."
Several meters away, inside the cave, Cross was standing directly in front of the exit, on the opposite side of the barrier, drawn there after sensing the turmoil with his empathic abilities.
"All that anger… It hurts but… Misty and these other people are fighting in order to keep me safe…"
He took a step back and formed a blade of pink energy in its hand. He struck the forcefield with all his power but it just bounced him back.
"This helplessness… It's another feeling that I don't appreciate… Even though my ability to sense others is limited inside this place, I can tell that Red isn't amongst the ones fighting outside. That must mean that he is waging another fight somewhere else. I hope that we can meet again."
. . .
After dealing with the initial group of Team Rocket members, Surge's use of Zapdos' powers attracted more people to the Gym and he had to deal with a couple waves of them. It was already way past the time Sabrina was supposed to come back but he didn't want to leave this spot in case she would return. The legendary bird managed to defeat most opponents without getting hit but the amount of electricity it had to use was starting to get to it so the leader decided to call it back to its pokeball in order to give it some rest.
"Finally."
He looked at where the voice was coming from and saw a single Team Rocket member approaching him. It didn't feel like he was in any danger so he held off on using Zapdos but still wanted to remain wary.
"Go, Raichu!"
"Wait! It's me!"
The Team Rocket member summoned a Wigglytuff that stopped Raichu's tail from reaching its trainer.
"Wait… It's you! Green!"
Raichu looked back at Surge and then again at the person it was sent out to attack and realized that there was some kind of mistake and so it returned to the former.
"Not so loud. You were a soldier, right? I'm still undercover." Green said after approaching the leader.
"Can you tell me what's going on out there? How did you know where to find me?"
"Fi… Wait. You're alone? What about the other Gym leaders?"
"They're in the city but currently we're split up. Koga, Brock, Misty and Blue went that way…"
"Blue is with them?" the boy was surprised but kept that thought in his head.
"...and I don't really know where the hell is Sabrina. She was supposed to come back here but Team Rocket attacked the place so I keep driving them back, waiting for her to return."
"Yeah. I managed to find this place some time ago but seeing how you kept on relentlessly attacking any Team Rocket guys you saw, I kept back. There's another group near here but I put them to sleep in order to make you take a break."
"That's clever but, why were you searching for us alone? Where is Red?"
"We also split up. I wanted to have a way of communicating with you guys so I have some phones but, seeing that you're alone, I'm not sure if I should give all of them to you or search for the others and deliver them personally?"
"Do you know what's Team Rocket's exact plan? This thing has been going on for a couple hours and I'm still pretty much in the dark about everything. I would gladly deal with Giovanni myself but if we don't know his whereabouts…"
"I'm sure that Red is already on it… I can't imagine him waiting in our meeting spot for too long without doing something reckless. Look, I need to go before those guys wake up. You can either wait here or try to look for Giovanni on your own but I'm leaving all the phones with you."
Green and Wigglytuff disappeared between buildings soon after that.
"Maybe we're wasting time here. What if Sabrina hasn't come back because she needs someone to help her?" Surge wondered.
Raichu didn't have an answer for him.
The leader stretched his arms a little before also leaving to search for Sabrina in other neighborhoods.
. . .
After returning to the spot where he and Green were supposed to meet up, Red waited there for a couple hours which for him was a task harder than any other. Team Rocket were mostly gone from this area after causing as much havoc as they could so he couldn't even observe their actions. His instinct was to watch the sky. If Team Rocket would be successful in taking control of Cross, he would probably arrive in the city by way of flight, but the only ones Red could see were the occasional Team Rocket members flying on their Koffings.
"We've been here since the morning. I was expecting things to unfold a little faster. I could check out what's happening in that tower but I would probably draw suspicion towards me."
His thoughts were interrupted by rumbling that came from his stomach.
"Oh, yeah. I haven't eaten anything since breakfast. I think I saw a Mr. Briney's over there. I always wanted to eat at one."
He started moving towards the fast food restaurant by jumping from roof to roof. When it was finally in his sights, he took a leap and summoned Vileplume to the street below since its bouncy flower could be used as a comfortable landing spot. The Pokemon was a little confused but it didn't seem to feel the boy's weight.
"Sorry. I would have used Charizard or Gyarados to get here but they attract too much attention."
The grass type Pokemon smiled, happy that it was able to help.
"I'll buy you something good too." the boy decided.
He tried to enter the restaurant and almost walked into the automatic glass doors. Since they didn't open, he wondered if the place was closed. As he peered inside, he could see some people trying to sneak a peek at him from behind the counter. After seeing the big, red "R" on his clothes, they scrambled to hide.
"Oh… Right. No one will let me inside a restaurant since I look like a Team Rocket member. But if I take this off, my allegiance may be questioned by the actual members. We'll just have to search for a restaurant or shop that either got abandoned in a hurry or wasn't closed when the employees started to hide. There must be at least one place like that."
"...Red…"
"What? What was…"
He realized that the voice was coming from his communicator.
"... Green… even Roger… I need your help… I'm in some park… There's a statue… Echoed Voice!"
"Otari is in trouble! It sounds like he's been calling for help before we got here so we must be on the edge of his communicator's range. That means that he's somewhere in that direction…" he said while pointing towards a street running past the restaurant "...There's no time for subtlety anymore!"
Red returned Vileplume to its pokeball and in its stead summoned Gyarados.
"We need to Bounce! Thataway!"
He grabbed onto the serpentine Pokemon and the two of them rapidly traversed the city by flying above the streets. They moved so fast that, even if someone from Team Rocket saw them, it would be hard to tell if someone was riding on top of Gyarados. In a matter of seconds, they found themselves above a park, so Red tried to quickly search for some kind of statue.
"There!"
He put Gyarados back in its ball and once again summoned Vileplume. He was able to lessen the impact of his fall by landing on his Pokemon, but the bounciness combined with velocity sent him flying towards the statue.
"Go, Scyther!"
The bug type Pokemon sunk one of its blades into the marble of the statue and spun around it in order to stop in place, while its trainer grabbed onto its leg. The two of them managed to safely land in front of the statue and were immediately greeted by a curious situation.
Otari and his Chansey were standing between two frightened children and a group of Team Rocket members as well as their Grimers and Parases.
"Red! You got my message!"
"Yeah. What is going on here?"
The other Team Rocket members were a little stunned by the boy's sudden arrival, which gave him and Otari a chance to exchange a couple words.
"Since they're not supposed to attack the people hiding in their homes, these assholes assumed that attacking those who are outside is fair game. I think these children were worried about their parents so they ran away from school. I happened to be in the right place at the right time to stop them from doing anything, but you know that fighting isn't exactly my speciality."
"Hey, you're Red. I heard about you taking out Faust from Darkness Gang." one person pointed out.
"Yeah." the boy responded.
His cold stare was enough to immediately make them hesitate about trying to continue this battle.
"We didn't mean to do anything bad. We just…"
While one of them was trying to explain themselves, another person made a run for it, but tripped. After taking a look at their leg, they noticed that it was trapped in some sort of grassy trap. Red's Vileplume walked over from the other side, making clear that it was the one responsible for stopping this person from running away by using Grass Knot.
"I would let you off with a warning but considering your intentions… that doesn't seem fair. Vileplume, give us a couple spins, will ya?"
The Pokemon started turning around on its foot while releasing hundreds of petals from its flower. Said petals started circling around the offenders. One of them ordered his Grimer to break through but the Pokemon was blinded by some of the petals getting in its eyes.
"Your turn, Scyther! Send them flying!"
The bug type Pokemon used its blades to create a wind current that lifted the criminals and their Pokemon up and carried them away before dropping them in a nearby pond. At most, they would get a couple bruises but it was enough to make them stay away for good.
"Are you guys alright?" the boy asked the children which were being looked after by Chansey.
"I think they're still a little scared of these uniforms." Otari said when the youngins didn't respond.
The two of them also went quiet, thinking how to deal with this situation.
"I guess this is the end anyway." Otari stated.
He took off the upper half of his uniform, revealing a white tank top.
"I'm not in Team Rocket. I'm a policeman and I was just spying on them. I will help you get back to your parents, alright?"
The kids were still unsure but after looking at each other, they nodded slightly.
"Okay. I guess this is it." he said, looking at Red.
"What do you mean?"
Otari glanced at the kids and motioned Red to walk a couple steps away so that they wouldn't hear him and get scared again.
"I believe that you'll do everything you can to take down the boss but I'm not sure… You know that Team Rocket isn't just a criminal organization. People like Tarieli, Mary… Nets. They're not criminals. If you defeat Giovanni, Team Rocket will most likely fall apart, but does that mean that the police will try to bring everyone in? Would I gain amnesty if I helped you? There's just too many unknowns."
"So what you're saying is… You're leaving."
"I'll try to contact the girls and other people who I think deserve getting out of this mess and try to convince them to do the same. As for what I do after… I will contact Nets' parents and tell them everything. I'll most likely have to leave Kanto…" he kept swallowing his saliva but more kept on coming because of how uneasy he was "...I'm sorry if I was a disappointment."
"You were a good friend and a good person. That's enough for me." Red responded while patting the other boy on the shoulder "I do have one request though."
"What is it?"
"When this whole mess is over, make sure to watch my fights in the Pokemon League."
"Of course! You got it!"
The two of them high-fived each other before going in different directions. Scyther and Vileplume followed their trainer as he once more began looking for a place to grab a bite.
. . .
After one of the citizens got a look at Sabrina's wound, they realized that it was worse than they thought and insisted on having her visit a hospital. She thought that all she would have to do is get the wound sewed up and take a couple painkillers so she had her Pokemon teleport her to the nearest hospital. The blood loss made her dizzy and she almost hit her head while falling onto the lobby floor. When she saw how late it was after she woke up, she immediately got up. She was still in pain but her wound was patched up. She was more worried about the other Gym Leaders since she was supposed to return hours ago.
"If they left the gym, I will have to search the city for them, but this pain is so distracting that I'm not sure if I'll be able to use my powers at full capacity."
There was no one else in the room and her clothes were hanging on a nearby chair. She put them on and disappeared right before a nurse opened the door and got shocked by the patient's absence.
. . .
Back in the tower, Alex was sitting on a couch in a big meeting room and listening in on a conversation that Peter was having with Giovanni.
Even after they notified the boss about taking over this place, it took some time for him to arrive since he didn't want to be seen by too many people while traveling there so he got there by moving in roundabout ways. That gave him a chance to observe what Team Rocket were doing, on the streets of Saffron, from up close. Resse arrived before him, using a limousine with Team Rocket's logo on it, which was enough for most people to get out of her way. Once the boss, his secretary and the Admins gathered in one place, the latter two relayed their activities. Alex was the first one, and since he mostly focused on taking control of the tower and protecting it afterwards, Giovanni didn't have too much to say to him and called the next person to the desk he was sitting at.
"What are you still doing here?" the boss asked Peter who was standing in front of him.
He didn't sound angry but rather disappointed which to Resse was even more worrying. She was standing behind him but tried not to look at him since he always had a way of knowing if someone was staring.
"We were awaiting your arrival." the Admin was confused about what was the intent behind the question so he just stated the truth.
"From what you told me, it seems like you abandoned the task given to you. Not only did you have to be saved by Red, but you also left without taking Sabrina out of action. Explain yourself."
"You want me to go out there and find her again. Is that it?"
"I said… explain yourself."
"Fine! I'll do it!"
Peter took one of his bigger knives and stabbed the desk with such force that the blade went through. Giovanni seemed unimpressed and didn't say anything as he watched the Admin leave towards the elevators.
Alex anxiously approached the boss.
"Should I help him out? Or would you rather I stay here?"
Giovanni looked him in the eye but remained silent for a long while, pondering whether he should be worried after hearing that Red learned about this place.
"No. I'd rather you and Archer stay inside the tower."
"Yes, sir."
Alex gave a quick salute but he didn't leave since he felt that the boss still wanted to say something.
"It's come to my attention that Red and Green aren't completely devoted to our cause…"
"Sir…?"
"I don't want you to do anything drastic, but if they try to enter the tower for whatever reason, try to dissuade them from doing so. Use force if necessary."
Alex also left the room. Resse looked about both of them and became worried with how both of them seemed bothered by this conversation. She got even more strung when she saw Giovanni pluck the knife out of the desk.
Once Alex was on the other side of the doors, he let out a big sigh.
"I guess this is how it was always going to be. It would be easier if that bastard just instructed us to keep them as prisoners instead of allowing them to… But then again, when did I start getting attached to them? I hope they do attack this place. If I could pick their minds…"
Another Team Rocket member noticed the Admin talking to himself.
"Um…"
"Go get me a juice."
"You mean like a glass of juice?"
"No, you idiot. A juicebox! Do I look like someone who drinks from a glass?!"
There was so much jumping around in this chapter that I made a small map to remember where everyone is supposed to be. Figuring out what time of the day it is and where each character should go to meet the character I want them to run into, these are the things that make writing take longer. Normally I would just sit down and write for like an hour and that would be it but here I have to be like "I don't have anything else to do today so I can focus on this".
The assault on Saffron started in the morning but by the time Sabrina leaves the hospital it's already the evening, so even though there were two scenes showing what's happening in Cerulean, we haven't actually checked in with them for a couple hours. Same with Koga's group. So, maybe next chapter you'll see what they were doing at the same time as Red's and Green's scenes took place.
I think I talked about it when I decided to kill Nets, but I didn't really have plans for the Team Rocket members that aren't Admins after that arc was over and so I used this chapter to write a scene where they leave the story. Otari is the only one present but you can assume that Tarieli and Mary will arrive at the same decision as him. That doesn't mean that they won't ever appear again. I can bet that no one remembers who Elsayed is and yet I brought him back. Cross also appears after a long absence. He's kinda like Princess Peach in Super Mario Bros. Yes, he's important, but you don't see him much while playing.
Giovanni finally decided to do something about Red and Green but he's still obviously reluctant. He let them do whatever they wanted for so long because he was confident that they couldn't interfere in his plans(and even helped further them) so he can't start to doubt himself when he's this close to his goal.
I though that naming the chapter "Thunder" would be a little too obvious so I expanded upon it. Castle refers to castling from chess which inolves the king and the rook moving past each other. In my language we call rook "tower" so it refers to Giovanni moving towards the tower taken over by the Admins. Thunder Castle is also the name of an old video game but that doesn't mean that I'm going to continue the naming trend from the last arc.
I had at least two more scenes planned, but since it feels like the following chapter will be on the shorter side, I will include them in that one.
Fun fact: This chapter(counting only the regular ones) has the most different Pokemon species appearing in it. Almost 1/6 of the first gen.
Red. Team: Eevee, Charizard, Raichu, Gyarados, Vileplume, Nidorino.
At hand but not officially his: Scyther.
With Koga(?): Pidgeot.
Badges: 4
Green. Team: Jynx, Wigglytuff, ?, ?, ?, ?.
At Team Rocket Base: ?.
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.
