Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 56: Fire and Ice.

Somewhere on the streets of Saffron City, a lone Team Rocket member was running away from the scene of a battle. The group he was hanging out with encountered Blue and the Gym leaders. The criminals didn't have enough time to understand who they were facing before most of them got defeated by Blue's Electabuzz and Koga's Arbok.

Seeing his companions fall one by one, he used his Koffing to create a Smokescreen that allowed him to slip away. He kept on running for over a minute and was almost out of breath. He saw some other Team Rocket members on the way but he didn't intend to ask them for help since his intuition was telling him that none of them would be capable of taking on these mysterious opponents. He glanced backwards and saw that no one was following him. Just to be sure, he looked towards the sky and the roofs. Swinging his head while running wasn't too wise. Without paying attention to what was in front of him, he tripped after his leg got caught on an uneven piece of pavement. He scraped his elbow after falling down and the pain was enough to distract him from what he was doing until then which is why he didn't immediately get up.

"Need a hand?"

He accepted the offer without taking a moment to think that it might have come from one of the people that attacked his group. As he was being lifted up, he noticed that the person helping him seemed to be struggling a little, as if they also were hurt in some way. Finally back on his feet, he looked them in the face.

"It's you. I kinda thought that I recognized your voice from somewhere."

The criminal suddenly remembered why he fell down and nervously started scanning the environment but he still didn't see any of the people he ran away from.

"Is everything okay?" the other person asked.

"Yeah. Yes. Uhh… Do you need some help? Now that I think about it, it's weird to see you just out on the streets."

"I think I made a wrong turn and got lost. Maybe you can help me out. Have you seen any of the Admins?"

. . .

Back near Cerulean City, the battle was slowly dying down. Misty took a step back to get some rest and quickly eat something before she would return to the battlefield. Bill, who was keeping track of the battle, was starting to get worried.

"This doesn't look good." he said while looking over the data on one of his computer screens.

"The Saffron Gym still isn't answering our calls?" the girl asked him.

"It's not just that. I've been observing the situation carefully and it seems like some of the Team Rocket members, who initially got swept away by the river, have managed to return. When this started we had 76 people on our side and there were around 120 or 130 enemies. Enough of them fell in the river for the numbers to become almost even but I think that at least 20 of them came back."

Misty kept staring at him while chewing on a fruit sandwich.

"Half of our people's Pokemon have already been defeated. That means that we're most likely going to…"

She covered his mouth with her free hand and used the other one to pick up a glass of water which she chugged down.

"We're going to win." she stated "I was hoping to get the enemy's numbers down a little more before doing this but it looks like I will finally have to use my secret weapon."

"Wait. We have a secret weapon? Why am I just learning about it?" Bill asked the girl but, having already finished her meal, she started walking away from the camp and towards where most of the battle was taking place.

The scientist ran out of the tent in order to catch up to her before she left but stopped when he noticed a shadow passing over him. Looking up, he noticed one of their enemies who managed to slip away by flying with the help of his Golbat. Before he could say anything, Misty spun around on one of her heels and threw a pokeball at the person in the air. They had to stop after the Pokemon summoned by Misty blocked their way with its big, blue wings.

"It's you! Peter told us about you!"

"Sheer Cold!" Misty ordered.

The Pokemon backed away and released a wave of cold air from its entire body. Sensing the incoming danger, Golbat shook off its trainer who fell to the ground, shattering one of their ankles in the process. Their Pokemon soon followed suit. Once Golbat was hit by the attack, it immediately passed out and its frozen over body landed next to the Team Rocket member.

"That's one of the legendary Pokemon! That's… that's…!" Bill was at a loss for words after seeing this display of raw power.

"Articuno." Misty finished the sentence for him.

"Yes! Articuno!" exclaimed the scientist.

The bird Pokemon slowly descended and landed in the space between them. When its eyes landed on Bill, he felt as if he was being judged by it. He was too intimidated to say anything else until it turned its attention somewhere else. It took off towards the entrance to the cave. Most of the people who were present in the camp at the time saw the short battle and so none of them tried to stop it, as they have been doing with anyone else who tried to approach the cave.

"How did you catch it?" Bill asked the Gym leader.

"Weeell… It was easier for me than the others. When we learned that these two knew each other, we started searching for it and were able to convince it to join us and help find the others."

"The others?"

"I wanted Lorelei to take care of it since she's the ice type specialist but she insisted that I should keep it. Until the end of this whole thing that is. We'll release them after everything is over."

"You know… I'm what one could call "pretty smart" and yet I still struggle to follow what you're talking about. Why did it go towards the cave?"

"To say hi to a friend."

Bill was starting to get a faint picture of what was going on but he decided not to dwell on it and returned to his work. Misty waited for Articuno who returned after a short while. She grabbed one of its legs and they flew off towards the battlefield.

"Sorry that you didn't get much time to talk. I hope you can catch up once we defeat Team Rocket."

As they flew high over the two groups fighting on the ground, Angie and Elsayed, who kept on riding their Dragonairs, were the first to spot them.

"It's…" the Admin uttered before the realization of how much the scales just got tipped came to her "Everyone, watch out!"

"Air Slash in that direction!" Misty commanded.

She had to hold on tighter while Articuno moved about while using its wings to create the attack. The speed with which the windy blades traveled was too much even after Angie warned her teammates. The attack didn't hit them directly but was strong enough to knock them off their feet and make easier targets for the Cerulean trainers.

"I don't know what's happening but it looks like we just got a huge power boost." Elsayed said to himself while grinning.

Seeing that he was momentarily distracted, Angie didn't want to waste her chance and pointed her Dragonair to fly towards the camp.

"No! Wait!" the boy yelled after she left him behind.

"I'll take care of her! Help the others!" Misty ordered him.

Articuno followed after Dragonair, not realizing that it was doing exactly what the Admin wanted. The dragon type Pokemon started moving between the tents, startling the resting people. Articuno stopped above the camp and started tracking the enemy's movements in order to use another Air Slash on it.

"I don't know what she's trying to pull but we have to cut off her path! Over there!"

The legendary Pokemon aimed the attack to where Misty pointed to and Angie's Dragonair was almost in the same exact place when the wind struck the ground. The serpent avoided being hit and was able to stabilize itself mid-air, but the nearest tent got blown away together with people inside.

"No!" Misty exclaimed "This is what she was planning! Instead of going towards the cave, she's going to hide in the camp. Any attack you send her way is likely to hit our allies."

Misty let go of Articuno much to the bird's surprise. She grabbed two pokeballs and summoned both of her star shaped friends.

"Rapid Spin! We need to pin down that Dragonair!"

Staryu and Starmie flew towards the camp while spinning. The fact that they were falling down added to their speed. The former landed near Dragonair's head, in such a way that two of its arms sunk into the ground and trapped the opponent, while the latter hit Angie and knocked her off. She grabbed her forehead, feeling that it was cut open by Starmie's hard surface.

Articuno managed to place itself below the falling Misty so that she could grab its neck, and the two started heading in Angie's direction. The Admin didn't stay on the ground for longer than a second. The commotion caused by the sudden arrival of Misty's Pokemon was enough to make the people present wary of approaching Angie, which gave her a chance to look around. She spotted the tent where Bill and all his computers were situated and started moving towards it. One person tried to stop her by sending their Farfetch'd in her direction, but the girl called on the help of Sandslash while she herself delivered a quick jumping kick to the trainer's chest. Bill stepped out of the tent, holding up his fists.

"Damn it. I never punched anyone and the first person has to be a cute girl…"

He tried attacking Angie to stop her from getting to the computers but she easily sidestepped, causing him to fall down. At that exact moment, Articuno landed between the tents. The wind created by this blew away the sheets, granting Angie easier access.

"You're forcing my hand! Air Slash!"

The attack grazed Angie's hand as she was reaching towards one of the computers. Although the wind narrowly avoided the computers, a couple of the screens fell over. Blood spurted out from the cut on Angie's palm. Placing it over the device providing the power to all of the computers, she was able to allow the blood to seep inside. There was some alarming rumbling after which everything went quiet. The computers all turned off. Worrying about what that meant for them, Misty looked at Bill who was still on the ground. He was looking in a completely different direction. The leader followed, and looking past some other tents and people she realized that Bill was observing the entrance to the cave, which no longer was covered by a force field.

A gray hand reached towards them from inside. Everyone looked in awe as Cross stepped outside. Angie was on the ground after being knocked over by Articuno's attack. She wanted to slowly move away while everyone's attention was drawn towards Mewtwo, but she was too busy trying to stop the bleeding in her hand by using the other one. Her forehead wasn't faring any better. The pain was making it hard to focus and the blood started getting into her eye. All of a sudden, she started getting up but she wasn't doing it on her own and there wasn't anyone around her to lift her, so the culprit quickly became obvious. Mewtwo's hand was pointed towards her. The Pokemon used telekinesis to levitate her towards itself. Cross's powers increased as the distance between it and its target decreased, so at first Angie's Sandslash was close enough to try and help its trainer, but then the girl accelerated. A couple seconds later, she was hanging in the air, in front of the gray Pokemon.

"I know you. I felt you outside. Couldn't be sure."

It looked the girl up and down. After noticing her injuries, it came to the conclusion that they could be fatal if not dealt with immediately. While still holding her immobile with one hand, it used the other one to create droplets of water which it then used to spray down her wounds. She winced in pain, but after looking down at her palm, she noticed the blood drying up and the wound slowly closing.

"I didn't have to fight anyone while inside the cave so I tried learning some other moves from the Pokemon living there. This one came from a group of Clefairy."

"Why heal me?"

"I had a lot of time to think, to talk with Misty and Bill whenever they would come to visit me. I don't need to hurt anybody. Tell me… the one who ordered my creation… Where is he?

The Admin wasn't sure how to react. The Pokemon could be saying one thing while thinking something entirely different. She did her part but Mewtwo wasn't under Giovanni's control. If she told him where the boss is located, there was a chance that it would try to take revenge before Team Rocket could start controlling it.

"It may take a while longer but if you don't tell me, I would be able to probe your mind. I really don't want to do it. I will be able to tell if you lie."

"Can you put me down for a second?"

Sensing no ill intentions, Cross allowed her to land on the ground. The girl looked at her hand. The wound was completely healed with a scar in its place. She turned around and pointed beyond the camp.

"He's in Saffron. It's the first big city you'll reach if you fly in that direction."

"Thank you. I hope… It's hard finding the right words. Just, don't follow me."

The Pokemon walked around her and levitated straight up before flying away with incredible speed. Angie kept watching Mewtwo until it disappeared from her view.

"What happened here?!" Misty asked while running in her direction.

Angie noticed that Sandslash and Dragonair also moved towards her, ready to protect her in case the Gym leader tried anything. Articuno was left a short distance behind, between the tents destroyed by its attacks. Since Angie accomplished her mission, there was nothing left for her to do there, but she wasn't sure whether she should return to Celadon or go to a closer base.

Following her gut feeling, she ran past Misty, who put up her hands, thinking that the other girl would attack her. Instead, the Admin jumped onto Dragonair who flew alongside her. She put Sandslash back in its ball and followed after Mewtwo. The confused state Misty was left in and the distance between her and Articuno, gave their enemies a bit of a head start, but the Gym leader decided to chase after Angie. She was a bit worried about what would happen to Bill and the others, but she felt that it would be even worse if she didn't stop Angie from reaching Saffron City.

. . .

While watching over the entrance to the building, Alex would sometimes take a short break to either eat, drink or go to the toilet. It was when returning from one of such breaks, that he saw a perplexed Archer looking down at his own feet.

"Alright. I'm back. You can go and rest for now. Did… Did something happen while I was gone?"

"Yeah. It was pretty weird." responded the blue-haired man.

"So? What was it?"

"It was Doctor Humane."

"Wait… Why is that weird?"

"I didn't know that he was going on this mission, and even if he was, wouldn't he be here already?"

"Hmm. He's the person who played the biggest part in the creation of M2 so it would make sense that he'd want to see the fruits of his work. The fact that he wasn't here from the beginning… Actually, I would say it makes a lot of sense."

"What?"

"There's a lot of things about this whole operation that don't make sense. Firstly, we're betting that Angie will be able to free M2 by herself. If our goal is to get it back, we could send our entire force there, to make sure that we're able to deal with any opposition. Secondly, the fact that only a bunch of us are in this building while others are committing random acts of vandalism around the city."

"Something else?" Archer asked.

"I think the boss might not be right in the head. On one hand it seems like he's confident that M2 will be freed from that cave, arrive here and fall under his control, while on the other hand he's afraid of interference from Sabrina, Red and Green."

"Why Red and Green?"

"Don't worry about it…"

It didn't seem like Alex was going to say anything else so Archer left the room in silence.

"I wonder if he's also an enemy." Alex thought about Blaine.

. . .

Giovanni was too deep in his thoughts to hear the knocking on the door. Resse was unsure if she should open them by herself or ask her boss about directions. She thought that if he wasn't so melodramatic and hadn't insisted on using this place as their temporary base, she wouldn't have to deal with such problems. The knocking didn't stop so she got off her seat. Before she could reach the door, it opened, and Blaine walked inside. He passed her by and smiled.

"My hand was getting tired. I told the guys outside that the knocking was just common courtesy."

As the one privy to most of Giovanni's decisions, Resse knew that he ordered two of his special agents to attack Blaine so that he wouldn't get in their way before they would gain control of M2. The woman's attention was drawn towards the scientist's back. His lab coat and shirt had huge holes through which she could see a big bandage that apparently was wrapped around Blaine's torso. Some blood must have sipped through it before drying off.

"I won't let you take another step!" Resse announced while summoning her Venomoth.

She jumped in front of the scientist, creating a barrier between him and the boss. On one side were windows and on the other a big table. Blaine would either have to go through Resse or try to jump onto the table.

It was only after hearing her shout, that Giovanni realized what was happening. He stood up, visibly surprised by Blaine's arrival. He focused himself and tried to calm down in order to stop his hands from shaking.

"You're surprised to see me. Were your minions supposed to kill me?"

"No. They weren't even necessarily supposed to hurt you. I just didn't want you getting in my way until everything was over, or rather, until everything had begun… Did they at least tie you up?"

"No. Pretty much just sliced me open and kicked me in the face."

"Damn them. That means you've come here to stop me."

"Obviously."

"Were you influenced in any way by those two boys or was this a decision you arrived at by yourself?"

"I think I started having my doubts when an explosion caused by my creation sent me to a hospital for a couple months. That made me take a step back which allowed me to take a better look at the whole situation. I did some reading. Turns out there's many books describing visions of bleak futures that are eerily similar to the one you want to create."

"You don't have to name the titles. I'm fully aware that what I'm doing will make me look like a dystopian big brother. At the same time, I'm still of the mind that things can't stay as they are. The inequality that exists in this world is what led my ex-employees to kidnap my son. If everyone has the same quality of life, then no one should want to commit crimes. If someone is unhappy, the only person to blame will be me."

"You're saying "unhappy" as if you think that anyone will actually be pleased with this new world order. Just because someone falls in line, doesn't mean that they're satisfied with how things are. In this whole situation, the only one who will be truly at peace will be you. Because even if someone will have negative feelings towards you, you'll just use M2 to stop them from doing anything that will disturb this "peace" you created."

"After some time, people will see that trying to oppose me is a worthless endeavor. If someone thinks "I'd rather live my life just like everyone else rather than try to change my situation by opposing Giovanni" that means that they're content with letting things stay the way I want them to be. To me that means that they're happy."

"Is this a thing where you think you're right or do you have your doubts but you've convinced yourself that you're right because the implication that you're not would mean that you've wasted all these years?"

Giovanni's face soured.

"I don't have to answer your questions or listen to your words. Resse!"

The woman jumped up. They seemed so absorbed in their conversation that she thought that they forgot about her being in the room.

"Yes?!"

"Leave us. Have the people outside barricade the door and make sure that we're not interrupted. After I deal with Blaine, the only one I want to see is M2."

"Yes, sir." she responded before leaving the room in a hurry.

"This is your opportunity to get in my way." said Giovanni "As my best friend, this is the last bit of favoritism I can offer you before everything changes."

"I'll take you up on that."

Both of them reached for a pokeball and threw it so that they would collide above the big table. Blaine's Arcanine landed gracefully, but Giovanni's Rhydon broke the table with its weight, causing the fire Pokemon to get launched towards the ceiling.

"Fire Blast!"

The dog Pokemon sent a five-pronged fiery star towards the opponent.

"Iron Defense!"

Rhydon steeled itself and took the full force of the attack upon itself. Its trainer was hoping that the opponent's Pokemon would be an easy target while falling down, but Blaine realized that.

"Jump off the ceiling!"

Arcanine gently bounced towards the opposite side of the room and was ready for another order.

"Extreme Speed!"

"Stone Edge!"

The fire type Pokemon started running through the room while the opponent punched the floor, causing parts of it to rise up and become obstacles that the dog's legs would trip on. Arcanine slowed down enough to where it was possible to hit it with another attack before it would reach its target.

"Thunderbolt!"

"Iron Head!"

Rhydon created a ball of electricity and sent it towards the foe who changed the mane on its forehead into steel spikes that protected it from the attack by allowing it to simply bounce off towards one of the windows.

"Close Combat!"

Once Arcanine got close to the enemy, it easily spun around thanks to the Extreme Speed, and hit Rhydon multiple times with each of its paws.

"Poison Jab!"

Giovanni was waiting for the opposing Pokemon to get closer so that Rhydon could cover its horn in poison and stab them. Arcanine jumped back after being hit, and waited a couple seconds to see if the poison took effect. Unfortunately, it did.

"We'll have to pick up the pace if we want to win before the poison completely defeats us!" pointed out Blaine "Extreme Speed plus Iron Head!"

. . .

Sabrina was using Kadabra to teleport herself across the city while trying to help any people that were stuck outside and in danger of getting harassed by Team Rocket. She had to stop from time to time since the pain in her abdomen was spiking up. She was standing on a rooftop with her Pokemon watching her with a worried expression, when she heard the rumbling of a thunder. She looked around and noticed Zapdos who was flying a couple blocks away and sending electrical discharges towards the ground. Ignoring the pain, she ordered Kadabra to take her in that direction.

She scanned the area from the rooftop since she was sure she would be able to find Surge somewhere nearby. Kadabra's yellow body stood out amongst the red roof tiles which drew Zapdos' attention towards them. When Surge realized that the bird stopped its attack, he called its name. Thanks to that, he looked where the Pokemon was looking and spotted Sabrina. There were a couple Team Rocket members that Zapdos hadn't defeated yet, but Surge was too occupied with his reunion which gave the enemies a chance to flee.

"Let them go!" he told the legendary Pokemon when he noticed that it was hesitating about whether to follow them or not.

He put Zapdos back in its pokeball and watched as Sabrina and her Pokemon disappeared from the rooftop to join him on the ledge he was standing on.

"Watch your step." he warned the woman since there wasn't a lot of space to stand there.

She looked down. It didn't seem like too high a drop but she decided it would be more courteous to accept his warning.

"Thanks. Can you fill me in on the situation?"

"I'll try to be short."

"All I can ask for."

"Team Rocket tried attacking the Gym, probably angered by your appearance on TV. I stayed behind and dealt with them using Zapdos while allowing the rest to flee. After a couple hours of protecting the Gym, I was visited by Green."

"That's one of our "spies", right?"

"Right. He gave me a phone so I could stay in contact with him and Red, and a couple to distribute amongst the other leaders. I've been trying to find you guys ever since, but now that you're here, it shouldn't be too hard."

"What do you mean?"

"I… I assumed you could find them with your psychic powers. Isn't that how that works?"

"It… is."

Her injury was getting in the way of her being able to focus on using her powers, but she didn't want him to worry about her. She decided to try her telepathy once more. If it wouldn't work, she would have to come up with some excuse for him.

"Come out, Alakazam!"

It got even more crowded but she hoped that the power of her Pokemon would be able to amplify her own to the point where it would be at least a little useful.

"I'm feeling something. But it's far away… The fact that I'm able to sense it… Oh no!"

Surge grabbed her arm since it looked like she was about to fall off the ledge.

"What happened?"

"I can't be sure but I think that Mewtwo is free and it's heading towards Saffron City."

"What? Did Misty fail? No. More importantly, why is it headed here? According to what we know, Giovanni can't gain control over it from far away, and the first thing it does after leaving the cave is fly straight to him?"

"It's angry."

"Yeah?! Well, now I am too! We don't even know where Giovanni is!"

"Maybe one of the other groups found him. I'll try searching for Koga and the others again."

Surge punched his open palm.

"I'm tired of dealing with these low ranking goons. If we don't find Giovanni and destroy the device he wants to control Mewtwo with, our other option is trying to stop Mewtwo from reaching Giovanni." he said "But then Giovanni may start looking for Mewtwo by himself. It's getting dark already. Zapdos will be a lot easier to spot during the night."

"I think I found them! But they're on the move… We're going to have to hurry!"

"Alright! Let's go!"

"Grab onto Alakazam!"

Surge took hold of the Pokemon's arm and the four of them disappeared.


Happy New Year. I wanted to get at least one more chapter out before the end of the year but I keep getting sick which affects my personal life to the point where I don't even have time to think about writing. I also got way too much into LEGO, and then specifically into LEGO Star Wars which is an enitrely different beast. Now I have to juggle my food money, medical money, manga money, anime figure money and LEGO money and it starts to feel like I'm either gonna go broke or just stop existing, but for now I'm okay-ish. I managed to include pretty much everything I wanted to in this chapter so I didn't try to extend it so that I could get it to you sooner rather than later.

M2/Mewtwo/Cross is free and heading towards Saffron City. Blaine returned in order to do something he should probably have done a long time ago. Another legendary bird joins the fray. All of the leaders are about to be able to get in contact with Red and Green. Pretty much everything is heading towards the climax.

If you ever look at the things bellow, you may have noticed that Blaine was absent from the list of characters for the last couple chapters. I know that his death fake out probably didn't fool anyone, but you still had no way of knowing when or how he would come back.

As for next time, I really have no idea. The next chapter looks like a whole bunch of nothing so I may need to combine it with stuff from the following one. I made sure to have Surge pointing out that the day is about to turn into night because I trap myself in dumb ways regarding at what time everything is happening. There is a way for me to save myself. Might switch some things around.

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.

Blaine. Team: Magmar, Arcanine, ?, ?.