Author's Notes: I'll let this one speak for itself.
Chapter 16
"Prepare for trouble, the likes of which you've never seen." Said Kaylie.
"And make it double, there'll be fighting between you and me!" Said Jordan.
"To consume the world with devastation." Said Kaylie.
"To control the people within our nations!" Said Jordan.
"To glorify the evils of love and war." Said Kaylie.
"To rule the earth forevermore!" Said Jordan.
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!" Said Kaylie.
"Surrender to Team Rocket Jet or you will surely lose this fight!" Said Jordan.
Matt and I started to clap sarcastically. "Very nicely done, I must say." I said.
"I had no idea both Team Rockets still do those stupid mottos!" Matt exclaimed. Alex jumped in front of us but I covered his face before he could say anything.
"Are you looking for a fight?" Asked Jordan.
"Forgive our zealous friend." Fin replied as I struggled to restrain Alex. "A former war hero, you know the whole deal."
"A solider, huh?" Kaylie asked suspiciously. "Why aren't you serving one of us? Everyone knows it doesn't pay to be on the loosing side!" Alex swatted my hand free, revealing himself to Kaylie.
"I could say the same to you." He said to her. "I expected more from you after I went missing." Both Jordan and us were surprised when the two drew close to each other.
"I can't believe you're alive!" Kaylie exclaimed. "I thought you were dead!"
"That's the whole point of it." Alex explained. "No one is supposed to know I'm alive."
"Yeah, because he's our prisoner!" I exclaimed, pulling him back. "And if you want him back alive, you'll let us through to Vermillion!"
"What are you doing?" Alex whispered to me.
"Look, if you die, it won't mean jack shit to Ash." I reminded him. "If something happens to Kaylie then we're all screwed. As long as TR and TR Jet think you're being held against your will, Kaylie will be fine. If you tell her the truth now, it's gonna look real bad later on!"
"We're not going to let you get away!" Kaylie exclaimed. "You're going to be brought to justice!"
"You'll have to beat us all in a battle, first!" Nautica said as she stepped forward. "Seeing as there's 2 of you and 7 of us, you're not going to win!"
"We're not pushovers you know." Kaylie shot back, taking out a Poké Ball.
"We're going to show you how WRONG it is to mess with us!" Said Jordan, doing the same. They then sent out Primeape and Dark Umbreon.
"Katrin, Fin, go get them!" I exclaimed.
"With pleasure!" Said Fin, making an Energy Blade. Katrin transformed into her Pokemon form as well. Her skin turned purpose and her eyes began to glow crimson red as she tapped into her Sableye DNA.
"Fin, use Zap Cannon!" I exclaimed. "Katrin, use Dream Eater!" The converging attacks took out Kaylie and Jordan's Pokemon in one hit. They were unmoved, however.
"We're not done yet!" Kaylie shot back, sending out Flygon. Jordan sent out Dark Wailord.
"Let's see you take these now!" Jordan exclaimed.
"We'll take over!" Ann and Matt said as they each threw poke balls. Out came Regi-Ice and Raikou.
"Flygon, Earthquake!" xaid Kaylie. The powerful attack caused heavy damage to both Regi-Ice and Raikou but they were still standing.
"Raikou, Thunderstorm!" xaid Matt. The powerful attack KO'd Jordan's Dark Wailord but Flygon survived.
"Regi-Ice, use Sheer Cold!" xaid Ann. The OHKO freeze attack move worked on the spot, turning Flygon into an Ice Cube.
"I can't believe you beat us!" Kaylie exclaimed, obviously annoyed at how quickly she'd lost to us.
"We can't let news of this spread!" Said Jordan.
"They must be eliminated!" Kaylie roared into a radio. At this, the route quickly filled up with military vehicles from the air and land. Their target: US!
"Destroy those bastards!" Jordan exclaimed. "And I do mean ALL of them. Show no mercy!" We then heard the sound of hundreds of weapons powering up.
"There is no way I can get all us of out of here." Said Katrin.
"Even with my Psychic power I can't stop several million weapons at once!" Monica added.
"Then leave everything to me!" Fin exclaimed, charging a massive amount of electricity. "I'm going to destroy them all myself!"
"That's impossible!" said Nautica.
"Anything is possible with Finnaran." I replied, catching on to what he was planning to do. "Just try not to make too much of a mess. Now, go for it!" At this he ran across the road and headlong into the path of several hundred weapons.
"We should probably turn around." Said Monica. "This attack can blind you." A moment later we heard a deafening explosion. It was much more powerful than when Fin did it in Viridian Forest. This was probably because it had been done on the ground and we were very close by. The shockwave knocked us all off our feet.
"Ahh!" Nautica screamed. When the dust settled, all the attack vehicles were gone and there was only a crater. They'd been vaporized!
"Looks like they've been taken care of." Said Matt. "Maybe now we can continue on our way."
"Not likely to happen!"Kaylie, who'd somehow missed getting blown away exclaimed. "I won't let you!" She then started walking at us with an upraised AK-47. Behind her was a legion of foot soldiers.
"What in the hell…" Monica trailed off.
"Looks like they have a second wave." I remarked. "Looks like I have something to do after all!"
"What do you mean by that?" Matt asked. I unsheathed the Moon Sword with one hand and a Machete with the other.
"Come, we fight!" I exclaimed.
"Are you serious?" Asked Ann. That's when the wave of soldiers charged at us.
"Now more than ever!" I said before rushing in their direction. "I'll take point!" Matt, Fin, Monica and Katrin followed close behind. Alex, Ann and Nautica could only watch from a distance. The first guy I came across tried to gore me with the bayonet on his rifle. I sidestepped out of the way and cut off his head with one blow from my Machete. I cut the face of the guy behind him in half. On instinct he lowered his weapon to try to contain the stream of blood that gushed from his eyes and nose but that proved to be in vain when I thrust my sword into his chest. I yanked it out in time to slice four more men in half with one swing from the machete. The two men directly behind them were drenched in blood. When they saw the crazed look on my face, they knew they were next. I swung the blades I held together like a giant pair of scissors and beheaded both of them. Their bodies fell to the ground like dolls as blood geysered from their carotid arteries into the air. I looked and saw one guy trying to line up his rifile to fire. I took the hunting knife from one of the men I just butchered and threw it in his direction. It struck him in the forehead. I continued hacking and slashing at each line of soldiers in my field of vision. Despite the body parts really starting to mount up around me, more men continued to advance on me.
"Numbers don't mean a thing." I said to Katrin, who'd just gotten ahead of me. "Let's keep pushing forward!"
"What are you all doing?!" Yelled Kaylie. "There's only five of them! Destroy them!" She then stabbed 3 soldiers that tried to flee. "It's kill or be killed!" We just kept pushing forward, however.
"We surrender!" exclaimed a group of soldiers who threw down their weapons.
"Too late for that!" said Fin before frying them all. Taking his Energy Sword, he then sliced through all twelve guys at once. This gave us a clear path to Kaylie. I surged onward and upward, methodically cutting down enemy personnel as I went. The adrenaline overflowed in me as I continued to quickly break through the Jets' lines of defense.
"We can't fight people like this…" said one man before dying. "They're not human."
"Some of us, maybe!" said Monica. After about another hour of fighting, the entire regiment was wiped out. Only Kaylie was left for us to deal with.
"Maybe you should just stand aside." Said Fin, Pointing an electrically charged finger at Alex. "Come any closer and I will erase his memory." I glanced at Fin. He was probably bluffing but he sure looked convincing!
"Better do as he says." Said Alex, who was doing a pretty good acting job himself. "I don't want to look at you as a stranger."
"This weapon doesn't have rubber bullets." said Kaylie, aiming the weapon at Nautica. "If you don't let him go, I will shoot that girl."
"Shoot her and I will terminate your pregnancy." Katrin suddenly, who'd somehow slipped behind Kaylie without any of us noticing said.
"You wouldn't dare." She said, not moving. Making herself transparent, Katrin put one of her hands into Kaylie's torso.
"I have a good grip on the embryo." Katrin said to her. "I can remove it from your body and show you." Realizing what was about to happen, Kaylie immediately lowered her weapon.
"Place it on the ground." Said Ann. "Very Slowly." Kaylie did as she was told. She then raised both hands above her head. At that point Katrin removed her hands from Kaylie's body.
"You won't get away with this!" Kaylie exclaimed.
"We already are." I replied, leading everyone towards Saffron City. Fin and Matt pulled Alex between them. "If you want your child to know its father, you'll do Alex a favor and fuck off." Nautica then tied Kaylie with some rope. After that we continued on our way.
"Hey!" She yelled after us. "You can't just leave me here!" We just kept going.
"Talk about playing hardball." Ann said to me. "Ted, I haven't seen you fight like that since you were insane!"
"Goodness, you're drenched in blood!" Nautica exclaimed, coving her nose. "Seriously, You smell like death."
"Well, this IS a conflict zone." I reminded her. "That battled reminded me of the opening weeks of the conflict in Ukraine. Fortunately for us, the enemies we dispatched were poorly trained and lacked morale."
"Where did you learn to fight like that?" Matt asked me. "It was like there were ten of you fighting at once!"
"Well when you've traveled around the world, you pick up some things." I explained. "One of the focal points of this hybrid fighting style is to know where they enemy is moving and respond accordingly. I mastered it in 5 years."
"But you slaughtered so many people like that." Alex pointed out. "It was like watching a demon."
" No offense taken." I replied. "It will be useful when I finally fight Ash."
"People are going to be talking about this once word gets out." Katrin noted. "They will be talking about how one man butchered 5,000 of TR Jet's best without so much as a scratch." After passing under Saffron City through a tunnel we reached Vermillion City. Not only would I be able to get my third badge but Zora Ketchum was supposed to be here as well! We decided to check out the Pokemon Fan Club for gossip. Upon entering, the several dozen people inside swarmed us. It was as if they'd been waiting forever for us to show up.
"Wow, you're actually here!"the President of the fan club exclaimed. "We'd heard you were coming out of retirement but to actually meet you, your family and your former rival…!"
"It's no big deal." Said Katrin. "We're ready to go all the way!"
"Soon and very soon Kanto will be free." Said Nautica. "We're going to show those Jets who's boss!"
"You've even got a TR General on your side." Said one fan. "You must be a real hotshot trainer!"
"Believe me, you have no idea." I replied. "I'm looking for Zora Ketchum. Have any of you seen her?"
"Of course they have." Said someone near the back of the room. The crowd parted so we could see who it was. Standing near a window was a tall young woman. She was wearing a TR uniform but the R had an X on it surrounded by a circle. She had long, jet black hair and warm brown eyes. She also had several scars on her face and arms. Aside from her breasts and the number of scars she could easily pass for Ash. Not that she needed anyone to tell her that.
"Only they didn't even know it." She said, walking towards us. "I'm Zora Ketchum, the sister of Ash and daughter of Giovanni."
"I'm Ted Toss." I said, extending an arm for a handshake. She returned it. "I'm leading the resistance against Team Rocket and Team Rocket Jet."
"Nice to finally meet the man that has bested both my father and brother." She said. "Wow, what a stench! You smell like death."
"That's because I wiped out an entire regiment of Soldiers a little under 2 hours ago." I explained.
"With that kind of skill, you couldn't possibly need my services!" Zora exclaimed. "Just HOW good are you?"
"Take a look at my records." I replied. "It more or less speaks for itself. 7-time Pokemon League Champion, 4-time winner of Pokemon Stadium League, Elite 4 Member, Gym Leader, Force Evolution Master and now Resistance Leader. I've also collected all 386 known Pokemon to date and discovered 57 new kinds."
"Not bad at all." said Zora.
"If that's not enough, there's more." I said. "3 of the people with me are not exactly human. Fin is half-human and half Pikachu and Katrin is half-human and half Sableye."
"I'm a Mew." Said Monica, transforming into her Pokemon form.
"It's nice to see we have something in common." Said Zora. "That will make this job more interesting. How much are you willing to pay me?"
"I thought you would've done this for free." Ann remarked. "It's not going to be cheap if it isn't."
"$10 Billion." I said to Zora as I, wrote a check. "In US currency. I'll even give you an $8 Billion advance now."
"That's a lot of money!" Matt exclaimed. "Are you sure you can pay that much?"
"Of course." I replied with a shrug . "I get $300 Billion every time I make a public appearance. Besides, She could even cash in on the bounty that's been put on me for more cash."
"Whoa, whoa!" Zora shot back. "I don't kill potential clients. I'm not like my brother."
"Now that we've gotten the money thing sorted out, how about you do something for me?" Asked Matt. "Depends on what it is." She replied.
"What the hell…" Said Monica, who'd apparently read his mind.
"Either of you can answer this, actually." He said. "Would you like to go out on a date?"
"NO!" They both said in unison.
"I certainly would not." Said Zora. "Besides, I'm not some love-starved twit!"
"I just want you." said Monica after reverting back to her human form. "In that way."
"Uh, really?" He asked. "I didn't know you cared!"
"I wouldn't say that much." Said Monica before kissing him. "Aw!" said all the Pokemon Fans.
"I do believe we should move on, now." Said Fin. "After getting the Thunder Badge we're going to Celadon City!"
"It's been a long time since I battled Lt. Surge." I said.
"When I was in the Army, he was my CO." said Zora. "He taught me a lot of interesting things."
"That's…interesting." Said Fin. "I can't wait to see how this battle goes!" We then entered the gym. Unlike the first two Gyms we visited, there was no warm homecoming. In fact, we jumped up in surprise when several Thunderbolts came flying at us. Fin sent them back where they came from with his Energy Blade. We were all surprised with how fast he'd reacted. The shockwave from the returned attacks unlocked a door.
"That saved us 5 minutes of looking around." Said Katrin. We then entered the final room. In it was Lt. Surge.
End Chapter 16.
Lots of action in this chapter, yes?