Kanto Chapter 19 - Viridian City
A few days had passed since Amber arrived back at her home town. She had spent her remaining time in Pallet Town helping look after the ranch pokémon and getting some training in with her own pokémon ready for her upcoming battle with Gary at the Viridian City Gym.
After an uneventful days walk, Amber stepped up to the Viridian City Gym. With her pokémon fully rested and ready, she pushed the buzzer to enter the building.
Why is it so hot out here? Amber fanned herself as she walked into the gym. The temperature had been steadily increasing since she had arrived in Pallet Town some days earlier. At first it was a welcome relief from the chilly weather she experienced previously, but now it was turning into a serious heat wave.
A camera locked onto her and a side light went green, the doors unlocked automatically allowing her entrance.
The young trainer walked through the door to be immediately greeted by the man himself. Gary Oak.
For a brief moment the researcher was taken aback by the girl before him. He'd known Amber since she was born, but now here she was all grown up. She looked just like Misty did at that age. But then there was those eyes. Those same fiery ambitious chocolate brown eyes, the eyes of his rival, Ash Ketchum.
He saluted the girl and grinned.
Time had been kind to the researcher, he had matured and kept his good looks. His hair was still thick, albeit not as wild, sporting a much shorter hair cut these days, much like his late grandfathers but with no signs of greying yet. His skin was still relatively smooth and he kept himself clean shaven. Crows feet donned the corners of his wise eyes but they still held a glint of mischief.
Gary had never settled down and started a family of his own, his work always took president. Being the sole air to the Oak Family fortune, the media painted him as one the most eligible bachelors in the world and he was never short of a date to a fancy Gala or Premier. Rumours of his love life swirled, which he never confirmed or denied, leaving the public and media always thirsty for more. Despite his outwards playboy lifestyle, Gary often looked at what Ash had with benign jealousy. That clueless boy from next door had accomplished is dreams, married his soul mate and been blessed with an amazing family. Ash was surrounded by friends and family who adored him and were loyal to a fault, himself included. This would make Gary sometimes address his own life choices and the loneliness he often felt.
"Hey Squirt, wow look how you've grown! I'll have to come up with a new name for you." Gary held up the teenager's left hand and spun her around under his arm playfully.
Amber giggled. Uncle Gary had a reputation of being an aloof smart ass, making little time for most people. But to Amber, Gary always showed his softer side. Sure he would still tease her a little but that was all part of the fun. Although not blood related, Gary had a been a doting figure in the girls life, always getting the best Christmas presents. In short there was almost nothing Gary wouldn't do for his former rivals family. He had continued his love/hate relationship with Ash, the former winding the latter up at almost any given opportunity, much to the amusement of Amber, her brother and even Misty. Despite this Gary and Ash had a solid friendship and viewed each other more like brothers.
"Hi Uncle Gary! Thanks for letting me challenge you for the Earth Badge. Um though don't I need to battle your gym trainers first?" Amber glanced around at the seemingly empty pokémon gym.
"Don't have any." Gary replied flatly.
"Huh?" Amber opened her mouth in surprise.
"Way I see it you can either beat me in battle or you can't. No point testing challengers to see if their good enough, all that achieves is tiring out their pokémon party before they have to face me. Doesn't seem fair. I want to beat trainers when they are at their best. So I just upped the level entry to weed out the wannabes."
"Hah" Amber pondered the unorthodox method.
"So, first things first, lunch?" Gary smiled.
Ash, Pikachu and Charizard we're flying through the skies of Kanto, following up on the information they had from Lugia. After another meeting with his Elite Four members, Ash had now set them on the trail of Articuno. The bird of ice had definitely uprooted and needed to be located urgently, but it was not the cause of the countries current upset just a symptom. It seemed Ash's hunch on the legendary birds had been correct and a sickening feeling gnawed away at the pit of his stomach as he thought of what Lugia had said of Zapdos. The situation seemed all to familiar ...
The trio landed at the abandoned power plant south-east of Cerulean City. Lugia had specified this was the last remanence of Thunder energy it felt from it's unaccounted kin, so it seemed a good place to start. The Pokémon Master recalled his Charizard, thanking him for the ride.
Pikachu looked at the abandoned building and folded his ears back, sensing negative energy radiating from the place.
"Pikachu?" Ash looked down at his oldest companion and back up at the old plant. Ash frowned. He could feel it too. A strange cold empty sensation.
They braced themselves and made their way into the building, both feeling uneasy and on high alert. It was eerily quiet and abnormally dark. All the machinery was busted, as if blown out by an almighty power surge.
Raichu and her Pikachu clocked the strangers in the building and watched from behind the scenery. Wary of their intensions.
"Pika!" Pikachu spotted them, his ears pulled forwards in a friendly greeting.
Raichu merely hissed in response. The wild pokémon didn't return Pikachu's gesture and all of them dispersed into the shadows not wishing to be seen.
"Chuuu" Pikachu folded his ears down.
"This doesn't look right Pikachu." The Champion commented out loud, his ever faithful pokémon by his side.
The pair continued to walk through, the wild magnemite bobbed out of sight behind discarded machines. Ash and Pikachu made their way into the main control area of the plant, they gasped at the sight. The walls were scorched black, broken glass, plastic and metals covered the floor creating crunching noises under foot. Random electric cables stuck out in reckless abandon. It looked as thought a bomb had gone off. A far cry from the room Ash remembered.
"What the hell happened here?" Ash looked around with concern. His foot trod on something that made an unusual clatter sound from the other debris. Pikachu sniffed at it and slightly recoiled in disgust. Ash picked up the object, a broken device, and studied it. It almost looked like some sort of electro-magnet device. As he fiddled around with the object, turning around in his hands a beam of light shot out from it and projected a big mean looking eye.
"That looks like a ... Mean Look Attack? But this is a man-made device?" Ash turned the object over in his hands again and saw a logo that sent his blood cold.
A Big Red "R."
Team Rocket.
Ash flicked back is cape and made a hasty exit from the building. Pikachu hot on his heels. As Ash burst out of the door he pulled out his pokégear, now showing half strength signal. He dialled out.
After a few seconds, Misty's face appeared on the screen. "Ash!"
"Misty, are you ok? How is everything there?"
"It's all about the same. The weather is pretty crazy and some wild pokémon moved out the cave across the river, some real strong ones. But we've managed to keep it under control, trainers have been warned and we are enforcing that they act respectfully not to disrupt the wild pokémon further."
Ash nodded gravely. "I'm on my way to Cerulean now."
"Ash, what is it?" Misty grew concerned she could tell by her husbands face there was something more to all of this.
"I won't be long. I'll catch you up on everything."
"Ok, I'll see you here soon. I love you."
"I love you too." Ash ended the call.
Ash put the communicator away and gave the abandoned power plant one last look before releasing his Charizard.
"We gotta go to Cerulean, buddy. And fast."
Gary and Amber sat down to finger sandwiches and mini cakes. He poured them tea with expert finesse and finishing touches. Luckily the gym was fully equipped with air conditioning so neither felt the effects from the heatwave outside.
The conversation flowed with light discussion of Gary's research, catching up on family news, Coles dating life and of course Ambers favourite thing about Uncle Gary, the embarrassing stories of when her father was younger.
"He went running off out the door, didn't even know where the Indigo Plateau even was or that the tournament didn't even start for another 2 months!" Gary laughed out loud at his story.
Amber laughed out loud too, she really loved hearing these old stories from Uncle Gary. All she ever got from her Dad were the stories of his amazing heroism and out of this world experiences. It was nice to hear the other side of things and Gary told the stories so well. He was a natural speaker.
"So how's the journey going? I'm impressed you have 5 badges this quickly. Took your Dad a whole year to get 8 when he first started." Gary sipped his tea.
"It's going pretty well, I ..." Amber thought about Team Rocket and clamed up, thinking of something else. "I caught a massive Magikarp."
"Wow ... Exciting." Gary's eyes drooped with sarcasm.
Amber giggled nervously and sweat dropped. I can't let Uncle Gary know about Team Rocket, he'd flip out like Dad would.
"How's the mark VI pokégear working for you? Anything I need to know about?"
Amber pulled out the device. "It's worked great so far, cut out a bit at home, but then the signal there can be a little off being such a remote town .."
"Hmm interesting." Gary took the device off her and studied it. "It field tested fine in Pallet ... huh, maybe time I looked into making the mark VII." He passed it back to the teen, not spending too much time on it. Amber put it away.
"So go on give me the goss, who's the toughest Gym Leader you've faced so far?"
Amber pondered for a bit. "Honestly? I haven't found any of them really really tough. I mean Dusty at Cinnabar got me down to my last pokémon, but I had it all under control. Maybe the battle with Mom as it was my first ever battle challenging, but then I still won." Amber shrugged, her voice giving away more than a hint of bragging.
"So you haven't lost a match in awhile then?" Gary raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued.
"I haven't lost a single match since I was the acting Gym Leader at Vermillion City." Amber sat back on her chair folding her arms, looking smug. "And that's when I wasn't even using my own pokémon."
"Not one single match huh? Interesting." Gary replied, taking another sip of his tea. He looked hard at the girl in front of him, who was looking very pleased and confident with herself. His words not speaking what his eyes were saying.
The researcher put down his cup. "If you're ready we can make our way to the gym floor."
Amber nodded and jumped out of her seat eager to battle.
The two acquaintances made there way to the battle arena and stood at opposite ends of the Viridian Gym Floor. Gary had done away with the platforms from the old design and stood with his opponent on a level playing field on his own design.
"We're having an all out 6 on 6 battle." Gary folded his arms, his eyes serious. He was a Gym Leader now and all business. No longer "fun Uncle Gary".
"A 6 on 6?" Amber questioned with surprise.
"You're at the Viridian Gym now, it's all or nothing. Show me what you got Squirt."
Amber's eyes steeled with determination and she smirked. "I choose you Voltorb!"
"Hm, then I choose Scisor."
In Celadon City there was a lot of activity happening the basement of a certain Arcade Game building ...
"Ma'am, Sir!" A Team Rocket Grunt came running to the entrance of the Rocket HQ main office. He stood to attention at the door frame. The Rocket Bosses were sitting in their chairs, backs turned to their visitor. The Grunt continued with his message. "We've just had reliable intel from Agent Jenga that the Pokémon League are out investigating strange occurrences. Champion Ash Ketchum has been spotted at the Power Plant off Cerulean sir!"
"Shit, that's bad news. He could be on to us." The male boss was alarmed. "Are we any closer on securing the target?"
"We are in position, but Bravo Team has not acted yet." The Grunt replied.
"Begin operation Fireball." The female boss responded calmly.
"Ma'am?"
"Just do it! NOW!" The female boss commanded, thumping her hand on her desk.
The subordinate panicked. He saluted and ran towards to comms room to relay the message.
"That is a very risky play." The male boss commented to his partner, turning his chair to the side. "That could draw even more attention our way."
"It could, or it could distract the attention away from us. If we up the anti, it'll buy us more time." The woman replied with confidence.
"This could backfire. Literally."
"Who dares. Wins. And Team Rocket wins."
The battle between Amber and Gary was intense. Gary was down to three pokémon, Amber her final two.
"I got to hand it to you Squirt. Not seen an electabuzz with a move set like that before. Makes me want to try it out with my electivire."
Amber took the compliment, although it didn't seem to mean much after Electabuzz was feinted by Gary's pinsir.
That pinsir is something else, so I need to battle with something else as well. "I choose you Electrode!" Amber threw out her pokéball.
"Electrode!" The pokémon formed.
"Ok Electrode use Reflect."
"Electrode Electrode." The ball pokémon rocked back and forth on the spot. It didn't put up the defensive attack. Gary looked on, his expression unwavering.
"Electrode?! Ok all out attack it is! Use Thunderbolt!" Amber compromised, hoping this was just a blip.
"Trode!" It stopped and sparked slightly, before carrying on rocking back and forth. Ignoring it's trainer.
Gary let out a small sigh of disappointment. "Pinsir, use Brick Break."
"Pin!" The bug type sped forwards smashing herself into Electrode.
"Electrodeeeeeeeeeee" The ball was hit square on and went rolling back. It righted itself and narrowed its eyes at being hit. The pokémon began to glow.
"Ah no, Electrode return!" Amber pulled out it's pokéball and recalled it before it unleashed an explosion attack.
"Hmph" Gary crossed his arms unimpressed. "What a let down, with 5 badges I'd have thought you'd at least have obedient pokémon."
Amber cringed. "Pikachu I choose you!" The pokéball flashed open, soon revealing the yellow mouse. "Pika!"
"Ah so your Pichu evolved. Good. Pinsir don't your guard down. I bet this Pikachu packs a punch."
Amber smirked. He was right there. They may be down but they were far from out.
"Pikachu Agility."
"Pinsir use Swords Dance."
Both pokémon buffered their stats.
"Now Pinsir attack with Bug Bite."
Pikachu easily evaded the attacks, bouncing around the bug pokémon.
"Pikachu Quick Attack."
Pikachu smashed into Pinsir at full speed. The attack hit but wasn't enough to phase the pokémon. Gary smirked this was the opening he'd hoped for. "Now Pikachu is in close range use Close Combat!"
Pinsir hit Pikachu with the fighting move. Pikachu squealed as the attack made contact. He flew back but soon got back up, still able to battle.
"Pikachu! Floaty Fall!" Amber commanded.
"Floaty Fall?" Gary raised an eyebrow.
Bouncing back from the hit, Pikachu charged his tail and sprung up high into the air, he launched himself at his opponent, spiralling down at an intense speed and barrelling into the bug type hard, hitting her with full force.
Pinsir fell back, her eyes spinning.
The Viridian Gym Leader was taken aback, he'd never seen a move like it, this girl was pretty special alright. "Pinsir return. Nice come back. You two are not to be underestimated. But neither am I. I choose you Nidoking."
Gary released the giant purple pokémon. It towered over Pikachu in a David vs Goliath like match up.
Amber remained confident. "Pikachu Agility once more."
"Nidoking use Rock Tomb, slow that pikachu down."
Nidoking roared and unleashed boulders smashing down around Pikachu. The mouse avoided the attacks but his manoeuvrability was reduced significantly.
"Excellent Nidoking, reduce the running space." Gary spoke out.
Amber growled under her breath, she called out to her pokémon. "Floaty Fall again Pikachu!"
"Pika pika chuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu" Pikachu unleashed his pent up energy, and again launched himself into the air, ready to aerial dive bomb his opponent.
"Ha, this move again. Well we're ready for it this time. Nidoking wait ..."
Pikachu dived down from his high jump, spinning around as his aerial tackle picked up speed.
"Now dodge and use Bulldoze." Gary called out. He was in complete control of the match.
Pikachu's eyes widened as his target ducked out the way at the last second. The Nidoking, smashed his foot into the ground.
Amber gasped. Pikachu couldn't avoid falling into the ground attack and he took the full brunt of the move.
"No Pikachu!"
The electric mouse rolled on his back. His eyes spun.
The match was over.
Amber had lost.
I ... lost.
Thea and Shane were walking in the sweltering heat, they were both feeling very unmotivated and demoralised from their last failed attempt at capturing Amber Ketchum and trudged along towards Viridian City at Slowpoke pace.
Thea smacked her communication device. It seemed to have broken in their latest fall, and it began to automatically broadcast feint voices and gibberish, completely unreadable against the crackling and interference. It's annoyance doing nothing to lighten the mood.
"This thing is driving me crazy!" Thea cried out in frustration, smacking it one more time. It fuzzed and then the voices became clear.
"HQ did you copy? This is Spy Agent Jenga."
"Agent Jenga?" Shane cocked his head. "Isn't this a closed frequency?"
"Guess this busted thing is picking up rogue frequencies. Shhhh let's listen in!" Thea put her finger to her lips and turned the volume up.
"With Articuno going rogue, the weather has quickly become unnatural and unpredictable along with it so have the wild pokémon. The Pokémon League are now investigating."
"Articuno?" Shane and Thea looked at each other.
"Champion" cczzzzzzkkkkkzzzz "Route 10" cccczzzzkkkkzzzz "likely he's trailing Zapdos' last known location. He could be" ccccczzzzkkkkzzzz
Thea hit the device again and the signal cleared up.
"Repeat Champion Ash Ketchum is on the trail."
"Champion ... Ash ... Ketchum?" The pair both paled, their faces turning blue.
"WEGOTTAGETTHATGIRLRIGHTNOW!" They both squealed in unison and ran full speed towards Viridian City.
"I ... I lost the Earth Badge." Amber looked down at the floor disappointed in herself.
Gary walked over to the young red head and spoke up.
"No, but you've earned something much more important than that. Now you've experienced losing and with it humility and empathy. Without the experience of loss you would never grow and become a great pokémon trainer. Trust me it's a lesson I wish I'd learned sooner. I discovered it the hard way and far too late too." He put his hand on the teens shoulder. "Overconfidence and ego are a weakness, remember that. With you're new experience, you're now ready for the Pokémon League."
Amber looked back up at him, eyes widening. "Does that mean ... I've earned the Earth Badge?"
"No."
Amber faltered.
"But you have earned the right to challenge me again."
Amber's face lit back up.
"When you get more experience of course and get that Electrode of yours under control." Gary held up his index finger and winked.
"Oh …" Amber slumped her shoulders.
The front door of the gym buzzed and natural light poured in from it's opening.
"Gary Oak! I've come to challenge for you an Earth Badge!" a voice called out from across the room.
A woman with long thick flowing brown hair tied up in a high ponytail strode into the gym confidently. She had soft chocolate brown eyes brimming with determination. She was dressed casual and had a bag slug across her left shoulder.
Amber took in the woman's appearance and let out a slight gasp. She looks a lot like Champion Leaf!
"Oh no not again." Gary rolled his eyes and covered his face with his hand. "Elaine. You've already earned the Earth Badge. Twice in fact. You really don't need to challenge me again anymore. Surely there are other trainers you can bother?"
"But I'm entering the Kanto Championship again this year and you know how good the prestigious Earth Badge looks on the entrance form." The woman put her hand on her hip.
Elaine was a respected and known Kanto pokémon trainer. She had begun her pokémon journey with a starter pokèmon from Professor Oak some years after Ash, Gary and Leaf started, with her own rivals Chase and Trace. Whilst not managing to win a Championship title for herself yet, she was a more than capable trainer and continued to enter tournaments and always placed remarkably high in the rankings.
"I'm really regretting my decision giving you an open invitation here." Gary grumbled. "The other pests don't bother me like this."
Elaine grinned. "You know you love battling me the most."
Gary smirked and turned his nose up. "Well I'm afraid you'll have to wait; see I have just finished a very intense, very close, battle with this young talent and my pokémon are all in need of some rest and TLC before they can battle again."
"Oh? And who's this?" Elaine turned her attention to Amber slightly narrowing her eyes.
Gary put his arm around Amber's shoulders and pulled her into his side. "This is Amber Ketchum. Daughter of my very dear friend Champion Ash Ketchum. She's quite the prodigy, and although wasn't quite able to beat me this time, came very close and on her first try as well! Not even you managed that." Gary grinned slyly.
"Excuse me? I've beaten you how many times now?!" Elaine retorted.
"Yeah but after how many attempts?" Gary jeered.
Elaine raised an eyebrow and was about to continue the banter when the ground shook violently.
"Woah! Guys take cover!"
The three braced themselves and looked around panicked as the lights flickered and floor and walls shook.
As the shockwave finished, Gary ran to the buildings exit to see what was going on outside the gym, followed closely by Elaine and Amber. As he opened the gym door he was hit with a blast of hot air. Not hot enough to burn but unnatural all the same.
"What is going on here?!" Gary called out.
"Soooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr"
A large shadow flew over their heads, the three shielded themselves from another blast of warm air.
Elaine gasped. "Is that?"
"Moltres!" Gary cried out.
They watched the Legendary fire bird launch a flamethrower attack. The flames stayed airborne not hitting the ground but the air turned scorching. The pokémon cried out and continued it's flight, moving further away.
"Something's got Moltres fired up, we can't let it carry on like this, it could hurt someone." Gary looked to the other two trainers, concern written across all their faces. The Gym Leader instantly took charge of the situation. "Elaine can you fly?"
The woman nodded.
Gary released his Aerodactyl and Elaine released her Pidgeot. They climbed onto their pokémon. Amber jogged up to them and Gary called down to the teenager.
"Amber. You stay here and contact your Dad, tell him what's happened."
"But I want to come too!"
"No, it's too dangerous. Elaine and me will handle Moltres." The two seasoned trainers looked at each other and nodded. "Let's go!"
Amber shielded her face with her forearm, as the flying pokémon kicked up dust clouds as they became airborne and flew off.
Amber frowned. Even Gary treated her like kid. She pulled out her pokégear. Hmm no signal
The teenager looked down the road and saw the sign posted "Route 22."
Dad will be at the Indigo Plateau, I can get there in no time if I run! The teenager took off, feet pounding against the pavement. She jumped ledges and bounded through the tall grass, ignoring the wild rattata and nidoran scurrying about. It wasn't long before she reached the entrance of Victory Road. A cave route pokèmon trainers venture through as a final test before the pokémon league.
Amber hesitated. "There are a lot of strong wild pokèmon in there, perhaps too strong ... I could find myself in real trouble."
"Did someone say trouble?" A female voice called out.
Amber turned to see who the voice belonged to when a zubat appeared in front of her and used screech at close range.
Amber covered her ears and crouched slightly at the offending high pitched squeal. "Arrggghh cut it out!"
"Prepare for trouble!"
"Make it double!"
Amber took her hands from her ears, her eyes widened and pupils shrank. I know those voices.
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all peoples within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Thea." The young Rocket agent appeared atop a large rock.
"Shane." Her male counterpart appeared on an adjacent rock.
Both of them posed, looking smugly down at the teenager with their height advantage.
"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light."
"Surrender now or prepare to fight."
Zubat and Koffing were already out there pokèballs and began to float around Amber menacingly.
Amber gritted her teeth and looked from one to another. Nononono No! Not this again! Not now! Argh it's just like last time, they've cornered me when all my pokémon are exhausted from battling!
"Listen, I don't know if you've noticed but there's bigger things going on right now! Let me pass and we'll settle the score later, okay?" Amber called up to them, trying to reason with them, her fists clenched and voice tinged with anger.
Thea and Shane looked at each other completely unmoved by the trainers words. They turned their attention back on her.
"Uhhh. No." They both called out, pulling their eye lids down with a finger.
"You leave me with no choice then!" Amber reached to her belt.
I can't use Pikachu this time he's totally wiped out from the last battle, and so are Chinchou, Electabuzz and Magnemite ... But I could use ...
Amber flashed back to her recent battle. Electrode rocking back and forth not listening to her. Then time time it did the same thing and blew up in the Fuchsia Gym match.
I have no other choice. "You're my only hope, go Electrode!"
"Electrode!" The Ball pokémon appeared.
"I'm counting on you" Amber called out. The evolved pokémon looked in its trainers direction then back out at the battle field, it began to unceremoniously rock on the spot.
"Oh no ..."
Another red light flashed from her belt and formed into a yellow electric mouse.
"Pi Pikachu!"
"Pikachu! But I thought you'd be too tired to battle!" Amber exclaimed.
"Chu." Pikachu stood in front of his trainer and began to spark. The effects of his last battle still clearly showing.
"Ok, we can do this. Pikachu use Thunder Wave, slow them down. Electrode follow it with GyroBall!" Amber commanded her pokémon.
"Koffing Sludge attack." Shane called out. "Zubat use wing attack." Thea followed.
Pikachu released a flurry of electric waves, hitting Koffing and Zubat, paralysing them respectively and stopping Zubat moving, the bat fell to the floor twitching.
Koffing released his sludge attack, splatting Electrode with gunk. The attack merely hit then slid slowly down it's smooth shiny exterior doing little damage, but that didn't stop the giant ball pokémon from getting thoroughly peed off.
"Electrodeelectrodeelectrode!" The pokémon glaring angrily at the Koffing and began to glow, sparks flying from it's sphere body. "Eleccccccc."
"Electrode! That's not Gyroball, that's!" Amber cried out. The world seemed to slow down to a stop. Dread came over Amber and Pikachu. Electrode narrowed it's eyes.
"Trode." The ball blew up in an explosion attack, feinting itself, Pikachu, Koffing and Zubat.
Seconds after another explosion went off nearby. The extend of the impact caused a portion of the nearby mountain wall to collapse into a rock slide, hurtling down towards where Amber and her pokémon were.
Amber instinctively dived over her pokémon to protect them. She covered her head with her hands in vain attempt at blocking the incoming slaughter.
A flurry of rocks and debris fell, causing a huge dust cloud.
"Rockslide was super effective." Thea laughed as she recalled her Zubat.
Shane recalled his Koffing, but his stomach dropped as the dust clouds settled and revealed their red headed target was lying on the floor not moving. Small rocks and debris partially buried her, the rest scattered around her.
Electrode and Pikachu turned to red and automatically withdrew into their pokéballs.
Thea gasped with horror, holding her hand to her mouth, her mood instantly changing. Shane jumped down from the rocky out cropping and ran to the girl. She was never supposed to get hurt. Not like this.
He knelt down by her side and breathed a sigh of relief. She was still breathing. He gently wiped her bangs from her face and pushed some of the larger debris off her, assessing her condition. Thea ran down to join him.
"Is she?" Thea asked with concern.
"She's OK I think, just knocked out." Shane replied as he gently lifted Amber up bridal style, supporting her head and neck and cradling her into his chest.
He looked down at the unconscious girl's dirt covered face, a bruise appearing on her temple, blood trickling down. Amber I'm sorry. I never meant for this. His eyes saddened and he very gently placed his forehead against hers.
All of a sudden a swarm of men and women dressed in black appeared. Alpha and Bravo Rocket forces descended on the trio from nowhere. Jumping from behind the mountain terrain and abseiling down the cliff edges. The forces surrounded the area, securing the perimeter.
Thea gasped and Shane gritted his teeth, hugging Amber in tighter to him. Now they were in trouble.
"Well done Agents, we'll take it from here." A very tall, well built Elite Rocket Leader strode up to Shane, pulling the girl from the young Rocket agents' arms. The Elite simply held Amber casually under his arm, her body and head hung limp.
"Hey give her back!" Shane protested angrily and reached out for her. Thea stood to the side, fear strewn across her face at the unfolding scene. The Rocket Elite put his hand up in front of Shanes face, as a blocking gesture.
"Tryin' to take the credit for an Elite's job eh Agents? It's a gutsy move I'll give you that. Stupid. But gutsy."
"That explosion was you guys wasn't it?!" Shane shook and angrily pointed accusingly at the Elite.
****Flashback****
The Elite Rocket Leader was sat at the Bravo Team's make shift base a few clicks away from Victory Road. His communication device went off and he answered it without hesitation, it was was of his subordinates on the line.
"Sir. We have visual on the target, she's headed down route 1 on the way to Viridian. The intel recovered from Pallet confirms she's headed to Viridian City Gym. There's not a soul around. Ready to move in on your command Team Leader."
"No." The Elite sharply replied.
"No? Team Leader with all due respect."
The Elite cut him off. "Listen. That Viridian Gym Leader ain't just any 'ol Gym Leader, it's Gary Oak. Gary Oak happens to be a close and personal friend to Champion Ash Ketchum. Should that kid not make it to the great Anal Oak's, he'll sound the alarm for sure and Champion Ash will be on us like stink on a muk. We'll act once she's left him." The Elite deduced.
"... we await your command. Team Leader."
"Good. Stay on her. Keep me updated. And keep a watch on those clueless field agents! If anyone's going to mess this up, it'll be them."
"Understood. Over and out."
The large man kicked back on his chair and stretched. "Why the Bosses keep those lil punks around is beyond me."
His peace was once again interrupted by the shrill of his communicator again. "Already?"
"Elite Leader this is base HQ. Initiate operation Fireball."
"Operation Fireball?"
The Rocket Alpha and Bravo Teams stared up at the sky. The bomb detonation they had orchestrated near Moltres nesting place had unsettled the legendary fire bird and it now off took off above their heads, releasing it's flames in warning against any that might oppose it. It was an impressive sight.
"Why aren't we capturing Moltres Sir?" A team member enquired.
"Dunno. The Bosses said are only interested in having one bird. The remaining are merely fodder." The Elite replied, his hand against his forehead blocking the sun as he watched the legendary bird rage it's fire in the bright skies. He didn't particularly understand why himself, but he also didn't care enough to question their master plan.
"Sir, some of the detonation didn't go off, should we get the bomb squad in?"
"Na waste of time."
"But what if it goes off?"
"Don't be near it." The large man shrugged and walked off. "I want a minute by minute update on the target. STAT!" He shouted out at no one in particular.
****End Flashback ****
The Elite shrugged. "Team Bravo merely apprehended the target like we were excepted to. The how was never a factor."
Shane bared his teeth, his green eyes blazing with anger. "You could have killed her!" Thea held him back, restraining her partner.
"Now, now Agent, you've done more than enough yourself. Unless you'd like to tell the bosses what happened between here and you're little boat ride?"
Shane stopped struggling and looked at Thea. They both paled. They had been tracked for days and didn't even know it.
The look on their faces conveyed their guilt. The Rocket Elite laughed. "You didn't really think The Bosses weren't keeping tabs on you did you? We've been following you since SeaFoam Island. As if Team Rocket would leave it's ace in the hole to a couple of idiot kids who we dumb enough to get blasted by ice."
"You, you were at SeaFoam?" Thea stammered.
"Yeah we saw it all. How you messed it all up."
The penny dropped for Shane as he pieced together events. He stared down his superior. "You're the ones who riled up Articuno aren't you? You're the reason Champion Ash is alerted to us!"
The Elite's narrowed his eyes. "Listen you upstarts, the bosses really 'aint gonna be happy with you two if they hear about the little stunt you guys have pulled. Trying to pull the wool over everyone and take all the glory for yourselves? Tut tut, you couldda lost the target and ruined years worth of hard work and planning." The large man grinned jiggled Ambers limp unconscious body. "But hey I'm a reasonable guy, I'll cut ya some slack. So how about we take the girl, you keep you're mouths shut about the detonations and maybe you'll just about keep your heads. Got it?"
Thea felt helpless, she looked to Shane. He stood ridged, eyes steeled over, jaw clenched. He was pissed off. Regardless the pair stood silently. Their silence an acknowledgement of their compliance.
"Good kids. Now lets get back to HQ." The Elite turned his back on Shane and Thea and began to walk away.
"There goes our promotion." Thea grumbled, her voice barely a whisper so only Shane would hear. Shane narrowed his green eyes, the look he was giving practically burning a hole in the back of the Elite officers head, as the pair quietly walked along with the Rocket forces towards their transport back to HQ.
This isn't over.