Johto Chapter 2 - Old Acquaintances, new arrivals.
"Up there?"
Amber, Freddie and Lance had arrived in Goldenrod City, staring up the famous radio tower.
Lance looked to the device in his hand and then back up at the tower.
*** Flashback ***
"Good thing it's only seems to be attack moves the pokémon are forgetting …"
Amber and Lance were flying on the back of the Dragon Master's Dragonite. Freddie following closely on his Charizard. Lance pulled a small electronic device out and held it out.
"What's that?"
"It's a wave detector."
"Wave detector?" Amber queried looking over Lance's shoulder at the device.
Lance nodded. "Over the past few weeks, we've received numerous reports of pokémon acting strangely across the different regions. Professors of regions have also come to us with reports of unidentified radio waves emitting where the reports have taken place. Your father agreed that these are likely not a coincidence, he pooled all the resources of the league to follow up on the leads."
"So you're detecting waves now?"
Lance nodded.
"And you think that's why Jolteon and the other pokémon at the Silver League wouldn't listen?" Amber added.
Lance turned to look at Amber and Freddie. "See I wasn't completely honest with you two earlier, whilst I was at the tournament to represent the Pokémon League, I was also following up on an anonymous tip off we received."
"An anonymous tip off …" Freddie frowned and looked downwards, he looked back up. "You don't suppose …?"
"Whilst we don't know for sure … we're not ruling it out that yes it could be them…" Lance confirmed.
"Oh great … I'm never going to get to compete in a Pokémon League am I?! …" Tears streamed down Amber's face.
"The signal is getting stronger, turn west Dragonite!"
The Dragonite shook his head.
"Dragonite ... seems the waves are starting to have an effect up here too." The Dragon Master put his hands to his pokémons head and began to gently message, soothing him. Gently tilting his head in the position they needed to go, Lance repeated his command. "West direction Dragonite."
"Waaahhhh." Amber clung on tight as Dragonite's sharp aerial turn took her by surprise.
"We're headed towards Goldenrod. … Home." Freddie commented as he followed the dragons lead.
*** End ***
"There's no mistake, the readings are off the chart. The source of these mysterious waves are definitely coming from the Radio Tower."
"Makes sense, the broadcasting power of that antennae is huge, it easily covers the whole of Johto." Freddie agreed.
"Um so now what?" Amber looked between the two.
"We investigate." Lance turned to the two. "I think it's best we split up, you two take this door to side, I'm going in from the rear entrance. But be extra careful you pair, remember we can't rely on our pokémon to battle with us, so try to remain obscured."
"Obscured …" Amber cocked her head to the side.
Freddie gave the girl a side eye. "He means hidden."
"I knew that." Amber grinned with a sweat drop as Freddie rolled his eyes.
"If you spot anything, report into me using your rotom device. If any situation becomes too dangerous, get out immediately. Amber. Freddie. Good luck." Lance nodded and with that flicked his cape and walked off around the building.
Freddie turned to Amber. "Lets' go!"
The two teens walked in. Although it was daytime and the room was well lit up and illuminated inside, the building was eerily quiet, creating a creepy atmosphere.
"Isn't this a working radio station?" Amber mused out loud, looking around the deserted building.
"It is … or at least it's supposed to be." Freddie replied also looking around. "Where are all the employees?"
The two continued further into the building, unbeknown to them they were being followed by two shadows.
Turning a corner, the two came face to face with two Rocket Grunts. "Hey what are you two kids doing?! You're not allowed to be here!"
"TEAM ROCKET!" Amber cried out.
"I knew it!" Freddie growled under his breath.
The two grunts pulled out pokéballs releasing two Loudreds.
Amber and Freddie followed suit releasing Magneton and Magcargo respectively.
"Magneton." "Magcargo." "Thunderbolt!" "Flamethrower!"
The two pokémon remained still, not releasing any attacks.
"It's no use … our pokémon are still affected by the waves!" Freddie held his arm out in front of Amber subconsciously trying to offer some protection.
The Rocket grunts smirked confidently. "Heh, stupid kids. You shouldda stayed in school. Loudred use Echoed Voice."
"Golbat use Supersonic!"
"Huh?"
Suddenly a Golbat appeared in front of the teenagers, letting off a supersonic soundwave, blocking the two loudred's attack.
Two figures jumped in front of Amber and Freddie. A young man with brown curtain style hair and a young woman with blonde feathered shoulder length hair and dark roots. They both wore tight fitting black clothes, with long sleeve black jackets ending above their midriffs. The man in trousers and the woman in form fitting leggings. Big black boots on their feet.
"Prepare for trouble." "And make it double."
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all peoples within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth of love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
The woman posed one hand on her hip and the other pointing outwards. Pink smoke puffing around her. "Thea."
The young man mirrored the pose. Blue smoke surrounding him. "Shane."
"The lovely, charming, vigilantes, blast off at the speed of light."
"If you're with Team Rocket, then prepare to fight!"
"That's right!" The duo chorused together in unison. More smoke explosions ended the well-rehearsed routine.
Freddie and Amber stood dumfounded at the two extra people in front of them.
The young man released his pokémon joining the Golbat. "Now Weezing use Belch!" The poison pokémon sucked in air and released a mighty blech. The toxic cloud blasted over the loudred pokémon and the Rocket Grunts. They clutched their throats as their faces paled, slowly falling to the floor.
"Euughhh! … That's … … disgusting! …" One of the Rockets wheezed out before they passed out and their pokémon fainted from the gross move.
"Nice one." The duo high fived before turning to face the two still speechless younger teenagers.
"AMBER! It's been too long!" The young brunette man grabbed Amber's arm and pulled her into a tight hug, lifting her off the ground pressing his cheek to hers affectionately as he rocked her back and forth in his arms.
Amber giggled. "Shane! You're here? I can't believe it!"
"You have no idea how glad we are to see you." Shane placed Amber down and held her hands at arm's length. "Ooh you've changed your look! Loving the new threads babe, and your hair! It's grown! Give me a spin." He lifted her arm and twirled her checking out her new style.
Freddie folded his arms and frowned, turning away slightly. "Who is this guy?!"
"Hey Kid. Long time no see." The woman gave Amber a wink and thumbs up.
"And Thea! Wow it's great to see you guys again."
Thea walked over to Amber. She gave the younger girl a nudge to gain her attention and lowered her voice, holding up her hand to hide her face as she spoke in the redhead's ear. "So, you found your plus one then? I approve! Mmm Mm."
"My plus one?" Amber raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Thea nodded her head and pointed in the direction of Freddie.
"What? Him?!"
"Yes him! He's totally cute! I'd go there if I were 3 years younger and not betrothed to the most gorgeous, amazing man alive of course."
Amber went beet red.
"Oooh you're blushing!" Thea teased the teenager.
"Theaaaa cut it out, he'll hear you!" Amber hushed the other woman down, who couldn't help but giggle.
"Ahem." Freddie cleared his throat. "What the hell is going on?! Who are these people?" He couldn't help the annoyed tone in his voice.
"Oh sorry." Amber turned and gestured out. "Freddie this is Shane and Thea. We go way back, they helped me out before rescue Zapdos from Team Rocket. Shane, Thea this is Freddie. He's a rival from the last pokémon league and also helped me against the head of Team Rocket, Silver."
"Silver?!" Shane and Thea cried out at the same time and then turned to face each other with pale faces.
"Just how many times have you gone up against Team Rocket?" Freddie looked at Amber.
"Umm. Enough." Amber slightly blushed. "So Shane, Thea, what are you doing here?"
"Same as you, I assume." Thea pulled out a device. "We've been tracking down Team Rocket and ended up here."
"You're tracking Team Rocket?!"
"Yep, seems they're up to their old tricks again. Looks like they've gone back to experimenting with wave frequency technology in order to manipulate pokémon. "
"Manipulate pokémon ... About that. All the pokémon in the Johto League are confused and won't listen to their trainers, even our own pokémon … but your pokémon and Team Rocket's pokémon seem to follow orders no problem. What's with that?"
Thea tapped the device she held. "Well, you see the waves emitting from this tower are soundwaves at a pitch that's not really affecting many, if any, humans, but it's just at the right frequency to confuse pokémon, preventing them from following their trainers orders. Right now, the frequency is just putting the pokémon in a state of confusion, but with the technology they have, they can experiment with all kinds of states. Inducing sleep, paralysis, even force evolution."
"Force evolution?!" Amber and Freddie looked at each other their expressions troubled.
Thea nodded. "If they so wanted to. However, my Golbat is also able to emit soundwaves, so to put it simply, Golbat emits soundwaves at the same level as Team Rockets machine to cancel out the effect, which allows my Golbat and pokémon put within Golbat's supersonic range, example, Shane's Weezing just now, to be unaffected."
"Awesome!" Amber beamed.
Freddie spoke up. "So then the Loudred …"
"Have the ability Soundproof." Thea finished the trainer's sentence.
"So pokémon with that ability are immune!" Amber looked down at her pokéballs. "Good to know."
"We really are glad we bumped into you Amber." Shane reached out and gave the teenagers wrist a gentle squeeze. "See we have a plan to put that machine out of commission for good, but we were lacking some power to pull it off. Electric specifically. We taught my Weezing Thunderbolt, but we're worried his power wouldn't be enough. But you're pokémon, well we know they'll be enough."
Amber stood a little dumfounded. "Enough? For what?"
"We'll explain more on the way." Thea interjected. "Right now, we better get moving, more grunts will be coming this way."
The four began to walk. Shane and Amber in front, Thea and Freddie walking behind.
"So, you went head-to-head with Silver?" Shane exclaimed as Amber caught him up on what had been happening in her life. "That's really impressive. I don't know, know Silver, but I do know he's a really strong trainer, not one to be messed with." Shane turned to the girl and grinned. "But of course, if anyone was going to take him on and partner up with a legendary pokémon it would be you. You really are amazing Amber."
Dazzling green eyes met warm chocolate brown as the young red head blushed at the compliment. Shane always knew what to say to flatter her.
Freddie deadpanned. "Seriously who is this guy …"
Thea narrowed her eyes and smiled slyly. She leaned into Freddie and whispered in his ear. "Getting jealous are we?"
"What?!" The fire trainer looked at Thea and blushed beet red. "No! … I'm not … I mean!"
"Don't sweat it, you have nothing to worry about. My Shane has no interested in younger girls. Trust me." The blonde winked.
Freddie clenched his jaw and looked away. These two newcomers were annoying. But what annoyed him even more was Amber's casual introduction of him. "Rival." Is that all they were? After all they'd been through together … He looked at Amber and Shane. Though it would appear she's been thought a lot with other people as well …
"So Shane, last time I saw you, you were in Galar with your parents. How have you ended up here in Johto?" Amber questioned.
"Right. Well, after my parents were revived and spending some time with them, me and Thea were at a little bit of a loss of what to do next. After some soul searching, we've decided to dedicate our skills to stopping Team Rocket. They won't be manipulating any more young vulnerable people into joining their sick organisation. Or leaving little kids orphaned without their parents." Shane pictured the dark silhouettes of Rocket members Butch and Cassidy and gritted his teeth. "So long as we're around, we won't let anyone else go through what we went through."
"What you went through?" Freddie queried feeling very out the loop.
"Following Team Rocket's movements, we've been travelling all over the globe stopping them where we can. Which bring us here." Shane carried on his explanation.
"Are you with the G-Men?"
"Absolutely not!" Thea retorted in a disgusted tone.
Shane turned his head tiling it slightly back to address Freddie. "We're not exactly in with the good graces of the G-Men, or the Pokémon League. We have … our own way of doing things, see. Things they may not always approve of."
"We actually used to be in Team Rocket, but we defected." Thea added.
Freddie stopped dead in his tracks. "You were in Team Rocket?!"
"Don't worry Freddie. That was a long time ago, Shane and Thea clearly have no loyalty to Team Rocket any longer, we can trust them."
"You sure can Amber." Shane turned and smiled warmly at the girl from Pallet Town, his face illuminated by the warm lighting of the room. Amber returned the warm gesture.
The ex-Rocket turned around and grinned at Freddie, his features cast in shadow from his positioning to the lighting fixtures above.
"… Clearly …" Freddie narrowed his eyes at Shane. He didn't have Amber's confidence in these two new "allies".
Soon the small group came to a halt at the stairwells. Fortunately, they hadn't encountered anymore Rocket Grunts yet.
The four rallied round as Shane began to divulge their plan. "Ok, so if our intel is correct, Team Rocket have built the wave machine at the top of the radio tower. The buildings power supplies are down in the basement level. The plan is, Thea, being the most tech minded and brilliant." Shane stopped to give his girl a big goofy smile and leaned into her, which she responded with a simple smirk back, teasingly pushing his face away. "And with the only pokémon battle ready, will go down and take out the buildings main power supply."
"Of course, there will be back up generators, so we can't leave it at that." Shane continued "So me and Amber make our way up to the top. When the power is down, Amber, we'll need you to be ready with your pokémon. You'll have a short window when the power has just rebooted back to the machine to unleash hell and fry the machine for good with your electric attacks!"
Amber nodded in agreement and understanding.
"I'll use Weezing's Flamethrower attack during the power out to set the fire alarms and sprinkler system off, distracting the Rocket Grunts from you and the machine and boosting the electric moves power with the water."
"Got it." Amber clenched her fist showing she was ready.
"No." Freddie stepped forwards. "I'll go with Amber. If she needs fire power, my pokémon can more than provide it." Freddie grabbed Amber by the wrist and pulled her over to stand by him, away from Shane.
Shane shrugged. "Okay then, Freddie and Amber will go to the top. But remember until Thea throws the power off, you're pokémon are still affected by the wave machine. So, avoid confrontation at all costs."
"Don't worry about us." Amber smirked with confidence looking at her pokébelt. "What will you do Shane?"
"Back up."
Freddie piped up. "You know Lance from the Elite Four is here too, we should get him in on this."
Shane and Thea exchanged looks.
"That's right! With Lance and the Leagues help there's no way Team Rocket can get this crazy plan of theirs off the ground." Amber exclaimed excitedly.
"No. No League." Shane shook his head. "We can do this without them. If too many people are involved, the mission will be jeopardised."
Freddie felt like protesting further but Thea cut him off. "Ok times a tickin' team. Let's do this!" The blonde put her hand out in which the others placed theirs on top, Freddie slightly more reluctantly. The group raised their hands and set off.
"Good luck gorgeous. Mwahh" Shane planted an exaggerated kiss on Thea's cheek for luck, making Amber and Freddie go a little red and slightly shift around uncomfortably in the PDA. The confident man flicked his hair and looked over at Amber, his intense green eyes sparkling. "You too babe." Giving her a wink.
Amber couldn't help the small blush on her face from growing, Freddie noted the exchange between the two and slightly scowled.
"Come on Amber, let's go." The fire trainer gently shoved his rival in the direction they needed to go.
"Remember wait for the power out." Thea warned.
"Yeah, yeah we got it." Freddie grumbled as the duo walked away.
Shane and Thea exchanged smirks as they separated to fulfil their mission.
Authors note - Look out Shane and Thea are back! Have you missed them? I have. But what gives? Have they truly reformed? Or are they upto their old ways again? Keep reading!