Chapter 25:
Nuclear Plant Epsilon, Part II
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Bonnie's scream echoed across the trees, drowning the constant rain and wind, before it was suddenly silenced.
"BONNIE!" Serena screamed, as she, Ash and the twins quickly ran towards the direction the scream came from, the same direction her GPS signal came from.
They ran as fast as they could, Ash quickly outpacing the other three. As they ran, the ruined exhaust towers of the old power plant became visible, getting bigger and bigger as they came closer. Ash was thankful that no Nuclear Pokemon had jumped out of the bushes to attack them.
"Roach!"
Spoke too soon.
Everybody stopped suddenly as a Pokemon they had never seen appeared before them. A large insect with a green and black carapace, four brown upper arms, large green glowing eyes, which stood on his black hind legs with a hunched posture. Clearly a Nuclear Pokemon.
"Pikaaaa!" Pikachu reacted instantly, jumping in front of Ash and landing on all fours, sparks jumping out of his cheeks, ready to attack.
"We don't have time for this! Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash hotly ordered.
"R-roach!"
Then, much to their surprise, the Nuclear Pokemon did something none of them expected: he took a step back and held his arms protectively.
"Ro, roach! Geig!" the Nuclear Pokemon cried, his voice sounding like a clickety-clack.
Pikachu didn't attack, and looked at Ash, a bit confused. The four teens were also looking at each other, as if anybody knew why this clearly Nuclear Pokemon was behaving in such a different way from the ones they had seen before.
"It doesn't want to attack us...?" Vitor asked, his eyes fixed on the large insect.
Wordlessly, Natalie pulled out her Pokedex and scanned the creature in front of her.
"Geigeroach, the Radroach Pokemon. Bug/Nuclear. Its simple body structure allows it to survive intense levels of radiation. They multiply rapidly and will eat anything in sight," the Pokedex droned.
"Wait, his natural type is Nuclear?" Natalie asked. "I thought that all Nuclear Pokemon were tainted by radiation!"
"Geuge, ge, roach!" the Pokemon, Geigeroach, continued, sounding a bit desperate.
"Not all of them. In fact, we already saw one such Pokemon before," Serena said, recalling Alain's Xenomite. Like this Geigeroach, that Xenomite behaved like a normal Pokemon, even obeyed a trainer, unlike the mindless beasts they had fought before. "Ash, I have an idea. Let's give the PST another try."
Ash nodded, and after getting the translating gadget out of his backpack, he aimed the microphone at Geigeroach.
[Please do not hurt me. I mean you no harm.]
After what they heard the previous time they had used the PST on a Nuclear Pokemon, hearing those words had a calming effect on the four teens.
"We won't harm you, Geigeroach, but we're in a hurry right now. We're looking for a little girl," Ash said.
"Blonde hair, blue eyes, carrying a Dedenne?" Serena asked, in hopes that the Geigeroach had seen her.
[All humans look the same to me. Especially now, with so many humans on the island. And I don't know what a "Dedenne" is. Is this human a member of your swarm?] Geigeroach asked.
"Yeah, she's part of our... swarm," Serena said.
"She was the one who screamed. If you're here, you must have heard her," Vitor pointed out.
Geigeroach perked up. [Oh. In that case, yes, I saw this human].
"Where is she!?" Ash practically yelled in Geigeroach's face.
Geigeroach turned around, and pointed one of his arms towards the old power plant. [Another pair of humans took her away inside the ruined building. I tried to help her, but in my current state, I was no match for the Pokemon they commanded.]
"You tried to help Bonnie?" Natalie asked, surprised.
[I haven't eaten anything in two days. This human realized my condition, and gave me food. It was the most delicious food my jaws had the pleasure to taste], Geigeroach recounted. [Normally there's no shortage of food here. But since those humans evicted the Pokemon out of their lair, they've been invading my territory and eating its food].
"Are there people in the old power plant? But... why? It makes no sense," Natalie began. "I thought everybody was working on the new plant."
"And why would they kidnap Bonnie?" Vitor asked.
"We can worry about that once Bonnie is safe and sound. It seems that we're going into the plant after all," Ash declared.
Serena then rummaged through her bag, and pulled out a bunch of pokepuffs which shehanded to Geigeroach. "Here. It's not much, but it should keep you going for a while."
The Radroach Pokemon smelled them, before quickly grabbing them and wolfing them down.
[Thank you, humans. Your kind's kindness knows no limits,] Geigeroach said through the PST. [If you plan to go into the ruined building, allow me to accompany you. I do wish to see that no harm befalls to the human that fed me first.]
Ash nodded, and the group continued their trek towards the old power plant, this time with no Nuclear Pokemon getting in the way. After five minutes of quick pace, they reached their destination.
Looming over them, surrounded by dense vegetation, was the destroyed power plant. The walls were covered in cracks, with moss and vines growing over them. The windows were almost completely devoid of glass, only having a couple shards each. It was crumbled on many sides, but there was no way to enter other than the main entrance, which was being watched by two men. Ash and his friends quickly hid behind a bunch of nearby bushes before the guards could see them.
Said guards were wearing a dull green bodysuit with a gray metallic chestplate, gauntlets, boots, belt and helmet, with more Omega symbols on them. The helmets had an orange visor-like monocle that covered a single eye of their faces. While not exactly the same, it was a uniform Ash and Serena had seen before.
"Team Omega? What the hell are they doing here?" Ash whispered, narrowing his eyes at them.
"Do you know those guys?" Natalie whispered.
"Yeah. They're a group of Pokemon traffickers. Though I'm with Ash, what could they want from a place like this?" Serena wondered.
"I don't care. All I know is that Bonnie is somewhere there, and I'm not leaving without her," Ash declared. Pikachu nodded energetically.
"We should return to somewhere with a signal and call dad, so he and his rangers can take care of this," Vitor suggested.
Ash, however, shook his head. "They may take time to arrive, and when they do, Team Omega might have fled with Bonnie in tow," Ash said.
"Understood," Natalie said, as she, Vitor and Serena did as instructed. "Though, how are we going to enter? We need to take those guards out."
"Those helmets have radios that can be used to alert their companions. We not only have to take the two of them at once, but do so without letting them warn their buddies," Ash said.
Serena smirked, as she held a pokeball in each hand. "Leave that to me."
…
Clemont paced back and forth in one of the plant's break rooms. This one only had a few chairs, Lilia taking one of them, her Buneary sitting on her lap, a table, and a single vending machine. From time to time, Clemont would stop and look through the only window, only to be greeted by the same image of greenery being pelted by the rain. Then, he checked his Pokegear for any missed calls, only to sigh when there was none.
He then proceeded to repeat the cycle again.
"Nothing?" Lilia asked, sharing some of Clemont's worry, while she stroked her Pokemon's head.
"No. No missed calls nor messages. And if I call them, the same automatic message about their numbers not being available," Clemont said.
"Well... you saw how strong Ash is, right? As long as Bonnie is with him, she'll be okay," Lilia reassured. "There's also Serena and the twins."
"Yeah. At least the GPS signal still works," Clemont said, checking such a function in his pokegear. The last time he did, the three of them were together. Hopefully they'll be heading back to the new power plant. Unfortunately, what he saw didn't bring him any comfort. "What!?"
"What? What's going on?" Lilia asked, worried, as she quickly got up, almost pushing Buneary to the floor.
"Ash and Serena's signals come from the old plant... but Bonnie's signal has disappeared!"
…
"Well done, you two. Your duets are simply unmatched," Serena said, as she returned Chicoatl and Selkid to their pokeballs. Thanks to Selkid's Sing and Chicoatl's Grass Whistle, they were able to put the two guards to sleep without giving them the chance to alert the grunts inside.
"Hey, these guys are carrying zip ties!" Natalie said, after frisking one of the sleeping grunts.
"Great. Let's use them to restrain them," Vitor said.
As the twins placed the sleeping, helmetless bodies of the two Team Omega grunts under several bushes, hiding them from sight, Ash watched how Pikachu disabled said helmets with a slight discharge of electricity. Even if they woke up, the grunts wouldn't be able to tell their friends of their arrival.
"Let's go," Ash said.
Led by the older boy, the group, Geigeroach included, crossed the door-less entrance to the nuclear power plant. Pure darkness and an eerie silence welcomed them, though after a few moments, their eyes accustomed to the darkness. Then again, it would be hard to advance with so little visibility. Natalie then took out a pokeball.
"I think Raptorch could provide us with some light. Come-" Natalie was about to say, but Serena grabbed her wrist before the younger girl could call her starter. "Huh?"
"If we use light, any Team Omega grunt patrolling the area will see us from afar," Serena whispered. "I know it will be hard to navigate this place in the dark, but we have no choice."
Natalie regretfully nodded, and clipped the pokeball back on her belt.
They continued their travel through the ruined plant in silence. Aside from the lack of visibility, the place was so warm they were starting to sweat, and the heavy air was making breathing somewhat difficult. A reminder that, even if the radiation levels were low enough to be harmless, this was the place of a nuclear meltdown.
After ten minutes of excruciating silence, they heard something, something that sounded like human voices. Soon after that, light followed.
"Somebody's coming! Hide!" Ash commanded, as he and the rest of the group hid behind a large, rundown machine, almost as big as a truck. As they waited, they heard the voices growing louder and clearer, until they saw a pair of Team Omega grunts, the two of them pushing pallets with metallic boxes in it, with louds growling noises coming from inside them. The boxes had slots on one of their sides, revealing something black and green inside.
"Are those... Nuclear Pokemon?" Serena whispered.
"...and I can't wait to get out of here. This place gives me the creeps!" one of the Team Omega grunts complained.
"Come on, the Professor said it was safe to go, so don't worry," his partner replied.
"Professor?" Ash repeated, and frowned. What kind of self respecting professor would associate with a group of thieving thugs like that? That was, before the memory of Professor Sebastian and Dr. Namba returned to his mind, a harsh reminder that not all scientists were as kind hearted as good old Professor Oak.
"If I find out I became sterile because of this, I'm going to murder somebody," the first grunt replied.
"Why do you care? It's not like any girl is going to let you nab her, haha!" his partner replied, laughing, before the first grunt punched him in the shoulder.
"Also, why are we even carrying these little freaks?" the first grunt said, tapping one of the boxes, the Nuclear Pokemon inside growling in response. "Do you think anybody is going to pay anything for them?"
"Why not?"
"Come on! Do you think these little fuckers can be trained to obey a trainer? All these things do is to viciously attack anything that's not them," the first grunt complained.
"I'm sure the Professor will find a way to bend them to his will," the second grunt replied. "I heard the higher ups talking about a new gadget that can brainwash Pokemon into absolute obedience. Maybe they can use it to rein in the little fuckers."
"I've been hearing that same bullshit story for years, yet we have to see any evidence of that," the first grunt replied. "Let's face it, the Professor hit a roadblock. That's why he sent us here to raid that secret underground lab of his, to see if he can salvage anything that Lucille chick was working on."
"Whatever. It's not our place to question his orders, just carrying them out," the second grunt replied, seemingly tired of his partner's whining. "Now let's keep going. The sooner we finish this task, the sooner we can get out of this forsaken place."
The two grunts continued walking, until they disappeared behind a corner. After a few minutes, once Ash and the others were sure they were far enough as not to be heard, they finally abandoned their hiding place.
"Did... did you guys hear the same thing I did?" Vitor asked, stammering. "Mom worked for Team Omega... and she had a secret lab under this plant?"
"I don't know but..." Natalie replied, sounding doubtful. "Dad sometimes said that he was sure the meltdown wasn't an accident. That... that may explain it..."
"Sorry to interrupt, but we have no time to ponder over that. Bonnie comes first," Ash reminded them. "If what those grunts said is true, then they must have taken her to said lab. Come on, let's see if we can find it."
"Let's take the direction those men came from," Serena suggested. Everybody nodded in agreement.
Their trek through the ruined plant continued in silence for another five minutes, until they reached a fork. The hallway split into three ways.
"Where to?" Natalie whispered.
Vitor looked at a sign on a wall, faded and corroded, but still legible. The three ways lead to the reactor control room, the fuel storage, and the steam discharge valves.
"Now, if you were to put a secret lab under the plant, which of those places would be better for an entrance?" Vitor asked, before he remembered something. "Wait... didn't Cameron say that mom designed the reactor and worked on it?"
"Yes. Should we check it first?" Natalie asked.
"Not that we don't have any other leads," Ash agreed.
Their choice proved to be a good one, as while they walked, they saw that there was some light coming from the room at the end of the hallway. As they got closer, they could hear some voices. They couldn't make out what they were saying, but it sounded like more Team Omega grunts. Trying to be as stealthy as possible, the group of four humans and two Pokemon approached the door-less control room, and could see another two grunts, bored out of their minds.
Ash nodded at Pikachu, who smirked maliciously as he nodded back, before jumping from his shoulder and scurried into the control room.
"Hey what the-"
"PikaCHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"
The room lit with yellow light as a loud crackle could be heard, followed by the sound of two bodies hitting the floor. The four humans and Geigeroach entered the control room, where they could see the two Team Omega grunts, wisps of smoke coming from their burned clothes, lying on the ground, unconscious. Once again, Natalie and Vitor took the zip lines they were carrying to immobilize them.
"Your guess was an accurate one," Serena said, as she pointed out at the open trapdoor in the middle of the floor, a series of step irons leading down below.
Natalie let out a whistle. "Boy this surely goes deep! I can't even see the floor!"
"So, how are we going down? Because there might be more guards down there," Vitor pointed out.
"Maybe we could send a Pokemon to scout for us," Serena suggested. "Which one of us has a really stealthy Pokemon?"
"Ro," before anybody could answer, Geigeroach took a step forward.
"You want to do this?" Ash asked. The Radroach Pokemon nodded.
"Hey, that's a good idea! If the Team Omega grunts see him, they won't link him to us," Natalie pointed out.
"I doubt Geigeroach offered because of that, but it's a solid plan," Ash said, before looking at the large Bug-type in the eyes. "Be careful down there. If you see something, come quickly back to us, understood?"
"Geig," Geigeroach nodded, as the Nuclear Pokemon descended the iron steps. After a couple seconds, he disappeared within the darkness of the tunnel.
After a few minutes that felt like hours, the Radroach Pokemon climbed back, and gestured for them to come down, confirming it was safe. Wasting no time, Ash went first, followed by Natalie and Serena, with Vitor coming down last.
Once they were all down, the very first thing they noticed is that, unlike the plant above them, this place had functioning lights, despite looking long abandoned. Wordlessly, Ash moved forward, his three friends and Geigeroach following him. While the illumination was a welcomed change from having to navigate the darkness of the plant above, it was a constant reminder that this place had people on it.
Even if it apparently had survived the nuclear meltdown from a decade ago, time had not been kind to this laboratory: the painting of the walls was almost completely gone, leaving the metallic walls exposed and vulnerable to rust. Small puddles were scattered around the area here and there. The rooms of the laboratory appeared to be untouched, but they were covered in thick layers of dust, and the glass of the cabinets were so faded, it was impossible to see what was behind them.
"What was mom doing here...?" Natalie asked, looking around, though no one answered her.
"I don't know, but between this and those Team Omega guys' interest in the place, I have the lingering feeling that the nuclear meltdown wasn't an accident," Vitor pointed out, rubbing his arms as a chill crossed his body.
"Ash, doesn't this place remind you to...?" Serena began.
"The Team Omega base north of Kevlar Town, yes," Ash replied before she could finish her question. "Only more run down and without their symbol everywhere."
"These Team Omega guys... are they dangerous? We've been avoiding them so far, but I don't think we'll be able to do that in a place like this," Vitor said. "Since I doubt they're keeping Bonnie unwatched."
"The grunts aren't that great. Individually or in groups of two or three, they aren't much of a threat," Ash began.
"I guess if they were good trainers, they wouldn't have joined a criminal organization as mere footsoldiers," Natalie said.
"The leaders, on the other hand, they're pretty dangerous," Ash continued. "The one I fought in Kevlar Town could easily match a Gym Leader. And I didn't fight him alone."
"Also, Team Omega equips their Pokemon with contraptions that increase their power, so be careful if you see a Pokemon wearing them," Serena added. "The sudden power increase comes at the cost of their bodies being far less resilient, so try to exploit that if you get to fight one of them."
"Good to-"
"PIKA!"
It all happened so fast, they took a couple seconds to process it. First, there was the sound of a metallic cable being unrolled, followed by Pikachu being snatched from Ash's shoulder by a mechanical hand with three fingers attached to a thick steel cord. The first thing that crossed Ash's mind was Team Rocket, but rather than the usual trio of buffoons, the ones who had taken Pikachu from him, now inside a cage not unlike those Nuclear Pokemon were being held inside, were a pair of Team Omega grunts.
"PIKACHU!" Ash yelled, as he dashed towards them.
"That's what happens when you keep your Pokemon outside of their pokeball, dumbass!" the grunt holding Pikachu's cage taunted.
"Corsola, use Reflect!" the other grunt said, tossing a pokeball.
The Coral Pokemon materialized in front of them, its eyes glowing, as a barrier appeared between the grunts and Ash just as he was about to catch them, and painfully slammed face first against the psychic construct.
"Ash!" Serena said, grabbing Ash as he bounced back.
"See ya later, kids! Thanks for the Pikachu!" the grunt laughed as he returned Corsola, and ran away with his partner.
"Don't worry, I've got this!" Natalie said, as she threw a pokeball forward. "Dearewl, Brick Break on that Reflect!"
The moment the Iron Horn Pokemon appeared before her, Dearewl jumped towards the Reflect and smashed it with one of its legs, glowing with a white light. The psychic barrier was shattered into a thousand pieces that quickly faded into nothingness.
"Thank you! Come on, we have to catch them!" Ash said, as he began to run, the other three people and two Pokemon running behind him. "I can still hear the sound of their steps!"
"Hey Ash, didn't that gadget they used to snatch Pikachu look a lot like Clemont's Aipom Arm?" Serena asked as she ran besides Ash.
"I don't know, I didn't notice!" Ash said, as he continued to run, his eyes focused forward. "Over there!"
The group entered inside a large, poorly lit chamber full of broken down machinery. They stopped in the middle, the chamber having no way out despite Ash being sure the grunts had gone through here.
They were startled by the sound of a door slamming behind them, and turning around, they realized they were trapped. Before they could call their Pokemon for help, four pokeballs seemingly dropped from the ceiling, releasing the same Pokemon each: a large butterfly-like creature with a green body, a pink underbelly, marron arms and legs ended in claws, pink wings and a pink bear-like face.
"Nimflora!" Vitor called.
"Nimwhat?" Ash repeated.
The Pokemon hovering over them, Nimflora, began to flap their wings, showering them with a blue sparkling powder.
Ash heard how his friends fell before the multiple Sleep Powder, their bodies hitting the cold metallic ground with a dry thud. Ash tried to fight it long enough to call one of his Pokemon for help, but sleep claimed him before he was able to.
…
Ash woke up all of sudden to the unpleasant feeling of some smelly liquid being sprayed in his face. The first thing his blurry eyes saw was somebody wearing armor with a spray on their hands. However, that wasn't important for the Pallet Town trainer.
"Pikachu!" Ash shouted, as he looked around, trying to locate his best friend, despite his blurry vision.
"Don't worry about your Pikachu. He's okay. For the time being," a female voice said in a tone dripping with false reassurance.
He realized that he had been on his feet the whole time, his arms behind his back, his wrists tied together with a zip line, while a pair of arms firmly held him in place. As his vision began to clear little by little, he realized that Serena, Bonnie, Vitor and Natalie were next to him as well, also restrained by people whom he identified as Team Omega grunts.
Wait a minute, Bonnie? Yeah, of course she would be here. The fact that she seemed unharmed brought Ash a little relief. In fact, unlike the others, her hands weren't tied behind her back. Guess because she was younger than them, not a trainer, or both.
The same pair of grunts that had stolen Pikachu were also there, shooting taunting smiles at him while holding the metallic, high-tech cage that Pikachu was trapped inside. There was another identical cage on the floor next to them, this one holding Dedenne.
"Ash, Ash!" he heard Serena call him. "Are you okay?"
"Y-Yes, I am," Ash replied somewhat weakly, as his eyes focused on his electric rodent. "Pikachu...!"
"CHUUUUU! CHUUUU!" The Mouse Pokemon was trying to break the cage with his Thunderbolts, but to no avail.
"This little one has quite the fighting spirit, doesn't he?" the grunt laughed. "Too bad these cages have been made to hold Nuclear Pokemon inside. There's no way he'll break out from the inside doing just that."
"Of course he won't. Those cages are a creation of mine, after all," the same female voice said.
Ash saw how a Team Omega member walked towards him: it was a woman in her late twenties, her teal hair very short on her right side but very long on her left side, falling down the left side of her face. She had eyes of the same color as her hair, and teal lipstick on her lips. Instead of a helmet, she was wearing a metallic band around her head with a gadget attached to her left ear with an orange visor covering her left eye. She was holding a large metallic case on her right hand.
"After how much Zebos rambled about you, I was dying to meet you," the woman replied. "The famous Ash Ketchum."
"Who are you?" Ash angrily asked.
"My name's Alina, Co-Captain of Team Omega's Beta Division," Alina introduced herself, before chuckling cruelly. "Not that that information is going to do you a lot of good. Anyway, it's great to have you here, Ash Ketchum and friends. We were waiting for you."
"You knew we were coming?" Serena asked.
"Of course. That's how we were able to set that trap with the Nimflora," Alina explained.
"But... we knocked out the guards before they could alert you!" Ash protested.
Alina threw her head back and cackled loudly. "And you think that's enough to disguise your intrusion? Dear, those guards have orders to report status every ten minutes. The moment that report didn't come, we contacted them. When we got no response, we knew they had been taken out and that you were here. That was our cue to set the trap up," she said, as she walked towards Bonnie and caressed her cheek with a gloved hand. "After all, it was only a matter of time before you came for your little companion."
"Where are we?" Ash heard Serena ask. "What is that thing?"
Indeed, Ash realized that they were no longer inside that chamber full of rundown machinery. Instead, they were now in a much bigger room, with lots of computers and consoles to the sides, all of them inactive except for one, which was being used by another Team Omega member, another woman who looked identical to Alina, only replacing all the teal in her hair, eyes and lips with reddish brown.
And in the middle of the room, in front of them, there was a massive...something. A large metallic contraption shaped like a cylinder, easily four meters in height and six in diameter. There were many tubes and cables coming in and out of the machine, as well as an armored door that reminded Ash of the doors banks had on their vaults.
Alina, however, ignored Serena's question. "Boy, Zebos is going to be so mad at us when he realizes that not only it was our division who took you out of the picture, but the one who took your Pokemon," Alina then waved the case in front of Ash as if to taunt him. "Especially that Greninja of yours. The Professor was very interested in it."
"You... you won't get away with this! No one who tried to steal our Pokemon got away with them!" Ash furiously retorted.
"Then I'll be the first one to do so," Alina said, before walking past him and Serena, towards the twins, who were glaring daggers at her. "Say, you're Lucille's kids, aren't you?"
"Yeah, what about it?" Natalie asked. "Did you know our mom or what?"
"Not personally, but I'm aware of her work," she said, before waving towards the large cylindrical contraption. "Her loss was such a tragedy. Team Omega had never been able to find another genius of her caliber to fill the void she left."
"Team Omega...?" Natalie repeated, flabbergasted.
"Liar! Our mother would never work for the likes of you!" Vitor snapped at her with such intensity, the grunt holding him down had to pull him back from the teal haired woman.
Alina threw her head back and laughed. "No? And what do you think she was doing here?" she asked, spreading her arms to motion the room. "Because this place we're standing on was her secret laboratory. Where she worked on her masterpiece. Something revolutionary, as she called it. And it was our boss who funded her project. Then, the meltdown happened.
"Unfortunately, we've been unable to recover it and finish it ourselves, with the Rangers keeping a tight cordon around this place. At least until they began to build the new power plant," Alina explained. "Not only was the cordon lifted, but all the security was focused on the new plant, allowing us to come here undetected and claim the project for ourselves. That would be, of course, if my dear sister is able to do her job. Anika, dear, you've been quite some time on that console, are you sure you know what you're doing?"
The other woman, Anika, turned around, and glared at her sister. "Hey, I'm going as fast as I can! So shut your trap and let me work, okay!?"
"Sorry dear, but given how much you boast about being the best hacker of Tandor, I thought this would be a piece of cake for you," Alina replied.
"Well, it would if these computers weren't so fucking prehistoric!" Anika said, as she continued to furiously type. "At least they have USB ports..."
"Whoa, she said a bad word!" Bonnie gasped.
"Anika, dear, can you moderate your language? There are kids present," Alina chided her in a faux-soft tone.
"Who the fuck cares if they hear me curse, didn't you say we were going to let them be torn apart by the Nuclear Pokemon outside?" Anika retorted. Ash saw all his friends blanching upon hearing that. "But yeah, it's a goddamned miracle that these computers still work at all. Shit, another error!"
"You know we can't be here forever, right? Sooner or later, somebody is going to come here looking for these kids," Alina reminded her sister. "So please, be mindful of the time."
"Come here then and try to crack these corrupted files open if you think it's so goddamned easy!" Anika fired back.
As the two sisters bickered, Ash began to look around, trying to find a way to escape their captors and rescue their Pokemon. The grunts holding them seemed to be amused by their captains' argument, but weren't holding them any less tight for it. But no matter where he looked, there was nothing he could use to his advantage, at least not as long as he was restrained. Nothing on the walls, nothing on the ground, nothing on the... ceiling?
There was something crawling on the ceiling. Something big, green and brown, and with many legs. Geigeroach! Geigeroach was there!
The Radorach Pokemon waved one of his legs at Ash. Ash shook his head, hoping the Pokemon would understand that he didn't want to attack just now. Geigeroach nodded, and remained still. Ash then lowered his head, thankful that the grunt holding him was still watching the sisters argue and hadn't realized that there was something on the ceiling. Okay, now he needed to wait for the appropriate moment for Geigeroach to ambush them.
"Yes, I fucking did it!" Anika cried in triumph. "I have access to the stasis tank!"
Stasis tank? That's what that giant contraption was?
"Good! Now open it, quickly!"
"Alright, 'Execute Restoration Process'? I think that's going to be a big fucking YES," Anika said, as her finger hit the last key with more energy than necessary.
That moment, the whole place trembled as the stasis tank hummed to life, followed by a multitude of beeps and hisses, as several led lights turned on with a green hue. Some worrying sparks jumped from the places cables were attached to. Alina stared at the metallic behemoth expectantly, as if waiting for something to happen. But her wait was unrewarded.
"Of course, a fucking loading bar. Estimated time: 17 minutes?" Anika read aloud.
"It would be better if the tank opened instantly, but that's some time frame we can afford to wait," Alina said. "Then again, we can use that time to-"
"Captains, captains! Do you copy?" Alina and Anika's earpiece cracked with the desperate call of a man. "We have an emergency here!"
"I copy you, soldier. What kind of emergency?" Alina asked, her voice carrying a hint of worryness.
"The Nuclear Pokemon! They're returning to the plant in droves! We can't hold them back! Send us reinforcements!" the grunt pleaded.
All the grunts present started to look at each other, clearly worried over an horde of Nuclear Pokemon heading their way.
"We can't send you reinforcements! Hold your position until we're done here!" Anika insisted.
"We can't-AAAAAAAAGH!" the grunt loudly screamed, making both women wince.
"Soldier! Soldier! Answer right now!" Anika demanded. But all she got was static.
Alina looked at the stasis tank. "Those Pokemon returned the moment we reactivated this thing. It is possible that-"
"GEIGEROACH, NOW!" Ash yelled, taking advantage of Team Omega's distraction over what was going on.
"Roach!"
Ash's cry came to the surprise of his friends and confusion to Team Omega, who wondered if they missed any of their Pokemon and where the attack would come from, none of them expecting the attack coming from above. As he landed, Geigeroach's four forelegs were glowing with a sickly green light typical of Nuclear moves, and slashed the two Team Omega grunts holding Serena and Bonnie.
"The Nuclear Pokemon! They're here!" one of the grunts keeping Pikachu and Dedenne yelled in panic, as he instinctively took a few steps back.
Taking advantage of the confusion, despite not being able to use his arms, Ash shook himself free of his captive and rammed towards the remaining grunt, slamming his shoulder against the man's chest. Ash winced in pain as his shoulder hit the metallic armor, but managed to knock the man backwards.
"Bonnie!" Ash yelled.
He didn't need to elaborate any further, as while Serena, now free of her restraints, grappled with her captor, and Geigeroach attacked more grunts who fumbled to draw their own Pokemon, Bonnie rushed towards the cages containing the two electric rodents, and pressing a switch to the side, they were opened, releasing them.
"Dedenne!" Bonnie shouted, as the Antennae Pokemon quickly ran out of the cage and into Bonnie's arms.
Pikachu, however, rushed towards Alina, smashing his small body against the woman with a powerful Quick Attack, knocking her backwards and making her drop her case, which opened upon hitting the ground, scattering the pokeballs inside across the room.
"Well done, Pikachu!" Ash praised. "Open all the pokeballs, quickly!"
"Sister!" Anika cried, before glaring at Pikachu, while holding a pokeball. "Oh, you're so going to pay for that, you filthy rat! Sableye, go!"
Pikachu, however, ignored Sableye and following Ash's instructions started to open the pokeballs one by one. From one it came Frosulo, from another Pancham, from another Aveden, from another Costraw, followed by Slothom...
This seemed to snap the Team Omega grunts out of their confusion, as they were finally able to call their own Pokemon. In a few seconds, the room they were in quickly turned into a chaotic battleground, with Pokemon trading attacks, while Ash and his friends used their Pokemon to free themselves from their bindings, before recovering their now empty pokeballs.
"Geigeroach, quickly, pick Bonnie and take her outside the plant!" Ash told the Bug and Nuclear-type.
"Roach!" he nodded, as he easily hoisted Bonnie with his four arms and dashed out of the room, leaving the chaotic battle behind.
If the equipment inside the room was still functional despite a decade of lack of use and maintenance, it would no longer be the case now, as many attacks quickly landed on the computers and consoles spread around the place. Some of the attacks, though, landed on the stasis tank.
"Watch out, you idiots! Don't harm the tank until the restoration process is complete!" Alina shouted, losing her normally cool head. Unfortunately, none of her grunts were listening to her, too busy keeping the opposing Pokemon at bay. She reached out for a pokeball. "Gardevoir, go!"
As the Embrace Pokemon materialized, Ash could see that it was wearing a metallic headband with a red Omega symbol on it. The trainer from Kanto could tell it was another gadget similar to the Muscular Enhanced Zebos and Maury had used on their Pokemon.
And his suspicions proved to be correct when the teal haired woman pulled out a familiar remote, before pressing a button on it. "Psionic Enhancer, activate!"
Gardevoir flinched and closed its eyes shut, as the gadget hummed to life, the Omega symbol glowing red. The Psychic and Fairy-type looked as if it was having a major headache.
"Gardevoir, use Light Screen to protect-"
However, Alina's words died on her lips as a loud hiss echoed through the room. For a moment, the battle stopped, and all eyes present moved towards the large stasis tank. Following that, there were many loud, screeching noises coming from behind, causing some Team Omega grunts to panic over fear that it was going to explode.
"What did you shitheads do!?" Anika shouted.
Then, much to everybody's surprise and no small amount of fear, the armored door of the stasis tank slowly slid open...
"Could it be...?" Anika asked.
...and a thick, green mist quickly poured from inside the tank, quickly flooding the place on it. Both human and Pokemon quickly found great difficulty to breathe, and began to cough loudly. All except Geigeroach, who seemed to be fine, and in fact was looking at everybody else a bit confused.
"Shit! This gas is radioactive as hell!" Anika complained, as information flashed on her one-eyed visor. "What gives? I thought all the radiation had dissipated already!"
"Of course it's radioactive!" Alina replied, as if stating something obvious, but didn't elaborate any further. "We can't remain here anymore. Gardevoir, Teleport us back to the submarine!"
"Vooooir...!" Gardevoir cried, and in a flash of light, all Team Omega members were gone, leaving Ash and his friends alone in the lab.
"We need to get out of this place as soon as possible!" Ash said, covering his mouth with one hand as he began to recall his Pokemon back to their pokeballs with the other. His friends quickly followed, until the only Pokemon outside was Pikachu, whom Ash placed inside his zipped up jacket.
Wasting no more breath on talking, the four trainers ran away from there while covering their mouth and nose with their hands. Despite not knowing where the stasis tank's room was in relation to the rest of the lab, they quickly managed to find the main hallway, and from there, the iron steps that lead back to the reactor's control room in the power plant.
Unfortunately, the radioactive gas had leaked into the plant as well, the whole place looked an eerie green. Still, they had to soldier on if they wanted to live.
"Come on guys, just a little more!" Ash encouraged the other three.
Unfortunately, his words didn't have the intended effect. Ash heard the sound of a body hitting the floor, followed by Vitor crying his sister's name. Wordlessly, Ash helped Vitor carry Natalie, but soon, the Moki Town boy fell prey to the noxious effect of the radioactive fog, and fainted.
"A.. Ash...!" Serena said, her hand weakly pointing at something, before the Kalosian girl fell.
Ash was starting to feel woozy. Everything began to spin around him as his sense of balance eroded. His legs felt like jelly. He struggled to keep his eyes open. But he wasn't going to let this be the end of his adventure!
"Muuuuuunk..."
Ash turned around, and realized what was what Serena had pointed at: several Nuclear Pokemon advanced towards him and his unconscious friends, completely unaffected by the radioactive mist. A couple Chyinmunk, a Kinetmunk, and a pair of Costraw.
"Munk!"
The closest Chyinmunk lunged at Ash, but that moment Pikachu jumped from his jacket, and smacked the radioactive chipmunk with a powerful Iron Tail.
"Pikachu... no...!" Ash said, as he began to cough violently.
The Nuclear Pokemon realized that Pikachu was the bigger threat, and they all attacked him at once. While Pikachu would have wiped the floor with his enemies in normal circumstances, the radioactive gas was quickly chipping the electric rodent's health away. Pikachu's moves quickly became slower and sloppier, he began to cough as breathing became more and more difficult, and his senses quickly dulled. In no time, Pikachu went from protecting Ash, to becoming the Nuclear Pokemon's punching bag, only dishing out maybe one strike for every ten he got.
"Pikachu... leave him...!" Ash wanted to help his beloved starter Pokemon, but before he could give another step, he couldn't hold anymore, and his body collapsed on the floor.
The last thing his eyes saw before everything turned dark was a blurry vision of Pikachu enduring a barrage of Nuclear-type attacks.
…
The muffled sound of voices talking woke Ash up. He tried to open his eyes, blinking slowly to get used to the light. As his vision became less blurry, so did his hearing, the voices becoming something he could identify.
"Ash!" he heard somebody calling his name.
As his senses slowly returned to him, he realized that he was lying on a bed, covered by white sheets, in what appeared to be a hospital room. He was no longer wearing his jacket nor his sneakers. Serena, Vitor and Natalie were in other beds as well, though they looked to be awake for some time already. Clemont, Bonnie, Lilia and Cameron were also there, the former two next to him.
There was also Geigeroach, standing next to a corner, completely still.
"Ash! You're awake!" Bonnie squealed, prompting Clemont to shush her for doing so.
"How are you feeling, Ash?"
"W-What happened?" Ash weakly asked.
"We worried when Bonnie's GPS signal disappeared. Then all of yours, and realized that you must have gone inside the old power plant," Clemont began.
Ash opened his mouth to explain why, but Clemont held a hand. "It's okay, Bonnie already explained everything that happened, including the secret underground laboratory, what Team Omega was doing there, and the role Lucille apparently played in all of this..." Cameron said the last part as if it hurt him physically.
"The Rangers have already been informed," Lilia interceded
"I lead a few men into the old power plant," Cameron said, before grimacing. "Imagine our faces when we found the four of you lying on the floor, not sure if you were still alive or not."
"Fortunately, we were on time. Cameron and his men brought you here, and the medics were able to heal you before anything irreversible could happen," Lilia said, smiling. "You might feel weak for a day or two, but after that, you'll be good as new."
"Still, it was a miracle that those Nuclear Pokemon didn't hurt you," Cameron continued. "If it wasn't for that Pikachu of yours holding the line like that-"
"Pikachu!" Ash shouted all of sudden, as the memories of his starter Pokemon defending him against the Nuclear Pokemon at his own expense made their painful return to his mind. "Where is Pikachu!? Is he okay!?"
As if on cue, a Nurse Joy flanked by an Aromatisse and a Miasmedic entered the room. The nurse was pushing a small stretcher with Pikachu on it. Ash was filled with relief upon seeing that Pikachu appeared to be fine.
Appeared, however, being the key word. Upon watching him further, Pikachu didn't look like his usual self. He looked thin, weak, tired... as if his spark had been permanently snuffed.
"Your Pikachu..." Nurse Joy began, stopping to choose the best words to use what Ash knew were bad news. "The fact that he spent a lot of time fighting Nuclear Pokemon while breathing that radioactive mist and taking so many Nuclear attacks... had Cameron and his men been a couple hours late, Pikachu would have been turned into a Nuclear Pokemon."
There was a collective gasp, and Ash paled upon imagining his best friend turned into one of the radioactive aberrations that he had seen today.
"But... he's okay now, right? He's out of danger?" Ash asked, looking the nurse in the eye, his voice cracking with desperation.
The way Nurse Joy looked at him didn't fill him with any hope, though. "I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"
Ash could feel how a huge lump formed on his stomach. No, that wasn't what he was hoping to hear. Still, Nurse Joy said there was good news, so maybe it wasn't so bad?
"The good news," Ash said. "I... I need to hear something good."
"The good news is that none of the aftereffects of the exposure to both a radioactive environment and the harm taken by Nuclear-type attacks will be permanent," Nurse Joy explained, and indeed, Ash felt a little better hearing that. "If Pikachu rests and takes the medicines I'm about to prescribe him on a regular basis, his health will recover to the point before all this madness happened."
"That's great to hear!" Ash said, now a little more hopeful. "What is the bad news, then?"
"The recovery process might take a long time. And as long as it lasts, Pikachu won't be able to battle without risking his health," Nurse Joy sympathetically said. "I'm sorry. I've been told how close you are to your Pikachu, but I'm afraid you won't be able to use him for your Gym Battles for the foreseeable future."
Ash felt as if something had knocked out all the air out of his lungs. Pikachu has been his permanent traveling companion since the beginning of his journey. He had played an integral role in every league Ash took part in.
Yet Tandor might be the first League where Pikachu wouldn't take part in.
"Ash, I…" Clemont began, walking closer to Ash and placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I'm very sorry for Pikachu. This must be a huge blow for both of you."
Clemont had no idea how right he was. Still, Ash decided to push those gloomy thoughts away, and focus on the positive. He shook his head, and smiled. "It's okay, Clemont. The important part is that Pikachu is okay, and will get better over time."
Pikachu jumped out of the stretcher into Ash's lap, and gave him an apologetic look. "Piiika?"
Ash could tell that Pikachu felt bad over not being able to help him on his badge quest anymore. "It's okay, buddy. There will be more leagues, but there's only one you. If I had lost you..." Ash decided not to follow that train of thought, and he patted Pikachu on the head. "Plus, you already helped me win two badges, so it's not like you haven't done anything. I doubt any of my other Pokemon would have taken down that Mega Gyarados as you did!"
"Pi..." Pikachu said, feeling a little proud at such victory.
"So instead, let's take this as a vacation, alright?" Ash asked.
"Pikapi?" Pikachu asked, a bit worried.
"Nah, of course I plan to keep you with me, even if you can't fight. It's not like we can't continue traveling together, " Ash reassured the Mouse Pokemon. "I can like, do like Clemont and send your empty pokeball to Oak's lab if I need a sixth battler. That's it, unless you want to go back to Oak's in order to rest...?"
"Pi, pika!" Pikachu cried, shaking his head profusely.
Ash chuckled. "Heh, figured as much," then he looked at Bonnie, and asked. "Oh, I almost forgot! What about you, Bonnie? Did Geigeroach escort you outside?"
"You can bet he did! He ran so fast, and dodged every other Nuclear Pokemon that got in our way!" Bonnie excitedly recounted the tale of their escape. "Before we could realize, Dedenne and I were already outside!"
"Nene!" Dedenne agreed.
"What about Geigeroach? Did he leave after that or...?" Ash asked.
"Oh, right, you weren't awake when it happened," Clmeont said in realization. "See..."
…
After we took the four of you here to treat both you and your Pokemon, Bonnie told me about Geigeroach, and the role he had played in saving her. She asked for us to bring him with us and give him some food as a reward. A request nobody rejected, given how much that Pokemon had helped us.
As he ate his plate of food, I wanted to personally thank him, so I approached him with the PST, with Bonnie coming as well.
"Hey there Geigeroach," I asked him. "Is the food good?"
"Geige, ge," he replied. [This food is nothing like the berries you can find around these parts. The taste is incredible].
"I'm glad you like it. It was the least we could do with how much you helped us," Clemont said.
"Geige, ro, geige," he said. [Perhaps I should offer my help to more humans, if this is the reward that entails.]
"Hehe," Bonnie chuckled.
"Geigeroach, ro?" he asked. I[ am curious. Where did you find this food? It doesn't look like something you can find anywhere on this island.]
"Mostly because it isn't. It's a special food prepared by us humans for Pokemon, using many different ingredients," Clemont explained. "That way, we can give our Pokemon food that's both tasty and gives them plenty of nutrients."
"Gei... geige, geigero, roach," he said. [I see. In that case, would it be possible for us to make an exchange?]
"An... exchange?" Clemont asked.
"Geigero, geige, gei, roach," Geigeroach nodded. [I will continue using my abilities to provide you with services and assistance. And in return, you'll give me more of this food. I saw that it's possible to bind yourself to one human through a certain, sphere-shaped artifact. Maybe we could do that?]
"You want Clemont to capture you?" Bonnie asked, visibly excited.
"You really want to come with me?" Clemont asked.
Geigeroach nodded. "Gei, geige, roach." [In the past, I used to belong to a swarm. But one by one, all of my kin fell before the unhinged ones. Now I'm the last of my kind. If I remain here, I don't know how long I will last on my own. Please let me become a member of your swarm.]
No more words needed to be spoken. Clemont pulled out an empty pokeball, and brought it close to Geigeroach. The Radroach Pokemon touched its central button with one of his arms, and allowed himself to be absorbed by the ball, which dinged immediately.
"Yay! We made a new friend!" Bonnie cheered.
"Today's a great day for science," Clemont said in a rather soft and subdued manner. "Welcome to the team, Geigeroach."
...
"And thus, Geigeroach is now a member of my team," Clemont finished his recounting, as he held Geigeroach's pokeball with one hand.
"Geigeroach is a great Pokemon," Ash said, looking at the Bug and Nuclear-type Pokemon fondly. "If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have escaped from Team Omega either. I'm sure he'll be a great addition to your team."
…
Ash, Serena and the twins remained the rest of the day in the clinic, since the doctors wanted to make sure there were no aftereffects from the radiation exposure before giving them a clean bill. Thankfully, with the exception of Pikachu, their other Pokemon were fine, since the pokeballs protected them from the ambient radiation.
They were released the next morning. After bidding Clemont goodbye, Ash, Serena, Bonnie and the twins boarded the same ship that brought them to the island the previous day, which would return them to Bealbeach.
The rains had finally stopped, and the sun shone on the blue sky, unmolested by any cloud, so most of the ship's passengers were on the deck, basking in the sunlight as they watched the sea and the Pokemon in it.
Not Ash, thought. He was in the ship's living room, sitting on one of the couches with Pikachu on his lap. Despite what he said the previous day, he still felt a little crestfallen over the fact that he might not be able to use Pikachu for the remainder of the journey through Tandor. Pikachu would still be with him, but it didn't feel the same.
"Ash?"
The boy turned towards the room's door, and saw Serena standing there, looking at him with worried eyes.
"Are you okay?" Serena asked. "I didn't see you on the deck and wondered where you were..."
"Yeah, I am," Ash reassured her. He then moved aside, making room for her to take a seat. Serena took the unsaid invitation, and sat next to him. "What about you, Serena? The Bealbeach City contest is tomorrow. After all of this, do you feel like taking part?"
"I don't see why not. The doctors said that I'm fine. And I think I could use the contest as a distraction," Serena admitted. "Plus, I talked with Vitor, and he plans to take part in it as well."
Ash didn't say anything, the two of them falling into a moment of comfortable silence. Serena then began to gently scratch Pikachu under one of his ears, making the rodent purr softly.
"Hey Ash?" Serena asked.
"Yes?"
"After the contest is over... can we just stay on Bealbeach for a bit?" Serena asked. "Bealbeach... is a really nice city, isn't it? And it's not that we're in a hurry. We could use a couple days off. No training. No gym battles or contests. Just... us, and our Pokemon, having fun and relaxing."
"I can agree to that," Ash replied. "Pikachu could use some rest more than anybody."
Serena smiled and nodded. Then, much to her surprise and growing worry, a scowl developed over his face.
"What were those Team Omega criminals doing there?" Ash asked all of a sudden, his fists clenching in anger. "It's all their fault. We lost sight of Bonnie because of those Nuclear Pokemon they displaced from their lair that attacked us. And then they kidnapped Bonnie, forcing us to go to the plant. And then they opened that... that thing, which flooded the place with toxic gas and drew all the wild Nuclear Pokemon back to the plant..."
Serena placed a hand on Ash's knee. She opened her mouth, probably to say some gentle reassuring, but then she frowned as if a thought crossed her mind. "Now that I think about it... what were those guys looking down there? Because there's no way they went that far just for a tank full of toxic gas."
"Who knows. Perhaps it's nothing. I mean, that place has been abandoned for a decade, right? So maybe whatever they were looking for it was no longer there," Ash reasoned.
"Guess we'll never know," Serena replied. "Then again, maybe it's for the better this way."
…
Somewhere dark
She opened her eyes, but could hardly discern what was in front of her. She had no memory of this place, yet at the same time there was a feeling of familiarity that she couldn't shake off.
How long has it been? Months? Years? Centuries? After all the time she had spent suspended, time was something she no longer held any meaning to her. Besides, it's not like there's anybody she was supposed to return to, right?
Or... there was?
Where was she? Who was she? What was she supposed to do?
She didn't know. Her mind was a jumbled mess. She didn't know where she was, who she was, or if the thoughts that pounded on her aching brain were her own to begin with. Everything was chaos and confusion, nothing made any sense. Not just time, reality itself was starting to lose any meaning as well.
She could feel her sanity slowly slipping away with the last of her memories...
"MOTHER, I HUNGER."
Then, as if somebody just flipped on a switch, everything changed.
Her thoughts were no longer chaotic, as her mind began to put them in order.
Time didn't matter, only the here and now did.
Reality recovered its meaning, allowing her sanity to crawl back into her mind, which was slowly rebuilding itself, clarity of thought returning as it did.
And then, she remembered who she was: a mother.
She now had a purpose, something that could drive her actions, something that would give her chaotic existence a meaning.
Her child needed her. She would protect her child. She would nurture her child. She would see her child grow big and strong.
And she would annihilate those who would get in her way.
Author's Note: Well, a lot of stuff to unpack, so let's begin, shall we?
First of all, do you REALLY think I was going to kill Bonnie off? Come on, even if this fic is going to be darker than the anime, it's not going to be THAT dark. And if I were to kill anybody, Bonnie would be among the last of my choices.
The more observant readers, at least those with enough game knowledge to identify the Pokemon that allegedly attacked Bonnie as Geigeroach, correctly realized that Geigeroach is one of the few Nuclear Pokemon that's not mindlessly feral since Nuclear is one of his natural types. I admit I cheated a little, since you can't find Geigeroach on Nuclear Plant Epsilon, but it's not like the anime respects Pokemon locations from the games all the time. And with his capture, Clemont's team is now complete! Also, regarding that comment about being the last of his kind, it means that he's the last Geigeroach in the island, not the last Geigeroach at all. There are many other Geigeroach out there.
As it was foreshadowed in the end of the Garlikid chapter, Team Omega is here causing more trouble. You see, aside from filling the void of antagonist until the canon villain shows up, I also needed them to adapt the plot better. In the game, once you're dropped on the island, you're just told to explore it. However, in order to keep the plot moving and being allowed to leave, you must enter the ruined power plant, explore it until you get to the tank and activate the restorating process. What follows is the same as what happened here, the room fills with toxic gas, you're attacked by Nuclear Pokemon suddenly going (even more) berserk, lose consciousness and wake up in the Rest House after being rescued by Cameron in the nick of time, before finally being put on a boat back to the continent. The thing is... why would Ash and co. do such a thing? Don't worry, Team Omega is here to do that for them.
Also, fun fact, Anika's original name was Anya. Then I started watching Spy x Family, and I simply couldn't have a villain with that name.
Needless to say, I'm taking a lot of liberties with how nuclear radiation works, or else the whole story would end with its protagonists dying horribly. Oh, regarding what those grunts said, don't worry, Ash and co. aren't sterile now because of radiation exposure.
Still, radiation isn't entirely harmless, as Pikachu just found out. Sorry for those miffed by the idea of Pikachu being benched, but I needed a victim to bring home the kind of dangers our heroes are going to face from now onwards. And funnily enough, my original idea was much darker: Cameron would rescue Ash and co., but Pikachu would be nowhere to be found, only to reappear later as a Nuclear Pokemon. Ash would battle him a number of times through the story, before finally capturing him back and restoring him to normal. But in the end I scrapped the idea since it would severely bring the mood down way too much. I simply can't see Ash just going on with his journey as if nothing happened with his best friend first vanishing without trace and then turned into a radioactive monster. Still, even if Pikachu will be benched for some time, he will be with Ash and will help him in other ways.
Next chapter, Serena will take part in her next contest, hoping to win her third ribbon.
Thanks a lot to 61394, Fox McCloude, cricketlaxwolvesbandy, MegaSalamence64, Viroro-kun and hirowriter for their reviews last chapter, and special thanks to Viroro-kun for his work as a betareader, whose edits and suggestions made this chapter so much better.
Check the Ao3 version for a picture of Alina, Anika and Beta Division.
Alright, I think this note is long enough. Make sure to leave a review, and see you next chapter ;)