"This is going… poorly," James noted as he peered down on the battlefield below from the railing. The overhead perspective gave himself, Jessie, and Meowth an advantageous viewpoint to oversee how things were progressing. "Then again, I suppose the moment the jammer was taken out it couldn't be helped."
They knew their primary targets were Gym Challengers, some of whom had completed more than half the circuit. It was natural that they would have powerful pokémon, so the moment the Poké Ball Jammer went down it would be one-sided. The members of their organization who had pokémon that could match them were a higher rank than the ones who were chosen for this operation.
Team Rocket had an extensive training program for recruits who take to doing field operations. That was because it was a massive organization with many different operations being handled simultaneously. They needed to be capable of handling non-specialized roles where they could be deployed in a variety of locations, and part of that training included battling. So, at the very least, the members on the ground floor weren't incompetent.
But it was another story with the pokémon they were using.
Most agents of this rank had pokémon that were standard issued, which were often more commonly found pokémon that were captured en masse and then taken to a facility for rudimentary conditioning before being issued out. It wasn't all that different from how breeding centers operated, and ensured they were trained enough to not immediately turn on the agents. But it also meant that they could be discarded at a moment's notice and a new pokémon could be requested.
Easily disposable meant less training as a trade-off. There was no way they could match pokémon trained by more seasoned trainers that dedicated themselves to mastering their pokémon's abilities and limits. The exceptional or more seasoned members of the organization were those who trained their pokémon personally, or started as competent trainers to begin with, and were thus invested in seeing them flourish.
"Da Boss won't be pleased about dis," Meowth pointed out, watching as a pair of the grunts were knocked down and then encased in bindings of ice. "Dey don't know nothin' da cops don't already know, but a loss of personnel dis big'll be hard to explain."
Information control was strict among Team Rocket. It was telling that of all the agents gathered only the three of them knew the organization's leader personally. They were essentially special operatives and even they didn't know about the other major operations, in the event they were captured. But losing this many agents would look bad for them.
They were given a lot more leeway because of their accomplishments in the past, despite not possessing rare or powerful pokémon taken from others. Sure, their identities were compromised, and they were wanted fugitives. But their skill with infiltration and deception were high enough that wasn't much of an issue.
"I am not getting demoted for this," Jessie said, slamming the bottom of her fist against the railing. Then she gave James a side glance with her eyes narrowed. "Should we go with Plan B then?"
Before he could respond heavy footfalls on the metal stairs reached their ears. They turned to see Ash as he finished his climb from the lower levels. "It's over, Team Rocket!"
"Not yet, twerp!" Jessie said before looking to Ekans, Koffing, and Meowth. "What are you waiting for? Get him!"
Ekans slithered forth at the command without hesitation, moving across the floor in serpentine motions. Koffing looked to its trainer, received a nod in response, and then floated ahead. Last was Meowth, who threw off the rubber glove portions of his suit as he followed after them.
Just like that the conditions of the battle were set, so Ash flung out three Poké Balls. "I choose you, Bulbasaur! Butterfree! Squirtle!"
The Seed Pokémon on all fours appeared before Ash and focused on the approaching serpent. The Butterfly Pokémon emerged above him, wings beating at a slow rate as he took notice of the approaching flier. The Tiny Turtle Pokémon emerged on his hindleg while his paws were curled into fists as his gaze behind the pair of Black Glasses fixed on Meowth.
"Poison Sting!" Jessie ordered. The Snake Pokémon's maw parted, bathed in a tinge of sickly violet light. It let loose a barrage of the same poisonous needles that had buried themselves into Pikachu.
"Razor Leaf!" Ash countered. Bulbasaur reared back as his bulb began to shake before he then threw his legs forward. Leaves shot outwards from the bulb and sailed towards the incoming barrage. The needles shattered against them even as the greenery was torn apart by the battering points, leaving both at a standstill.
"Smog, Koffing!" James followed up. The Poison Gas Pokémon belched out a billowing screen of acrid fumes that surged forward to blanket them all. It would rob them of their sight and breath in a single swoop.
"Butterfree, blow it away with Gust!" Ash commanded. The Butterfly Pokémon's massive wings were wreathed in light before he fluttered them even harder. The strong winds scattered the fumes before they could reach their side and then continued as a focused stream that barreled into the floating pokémon.
"Puh!" Koffing was sent flying backwards until it slammed into the railing hard enough to bend it, before bouncing back into the air. Spinning into place until it could right itself, its cheeks swelled and then it let loose globs of Sludge that splashed across the flooring and walls.
Ash and the others were forced to dodge the sides while Butterfree rose out of the way, only to be hammered as Koffing ejected gases from its rear orifices to rocket towards its opponent with a Tackle. The blow sent the Butterfly Pokémon careening through the air until he shot out a spray of thick silk from his mouth and ensnared Koffing, spinning it around with him before he bit down on the cord. The living gasbag was sent flying into the air and Butterfree gave chase.
Meanwhile, lashing vines struck out from the base of the plant bulb nestled on the back of Bulbasaur. He stood stationary between Ash and Ekans, keeping the Snake Pokémon at bay when it attempted to get in close. The vines struck hard enough against the floor that the thumps of metal ringing out echoed, but the serpent managed to avoid them until he was within lunging range and attempted to Bite down on the Seed Pokémon. "Ekans!"
"Tackle it, Squirtle!" However, the attempt was intercepted as Squirtle threw himself forward shell-first at Ash's order. The hard carapace slamming into the serpent knocked it down, leaving the oval shell to spin in the air before Squirtle stuck his limbs and head out as he landed in a crouch. The Snake Pokémon got back up and bared his open maw towards the Tiny Turtle Pokémon in anger, preparing to release a spray of poisonous needles—
"Saur!"
—but then a pair of sinuous vines wrapped around the top and bottom to clamp it shut. His head shook violently, his body writhing in place as he struggled to free himself. But it was to no avail as Bulbasaur lashed the vines, slamming Ekans against the wall.
Squirtle then turned back to Meowth who was grimacing at him with a look of pure malice. "Squirtle…"
"Don't give me dat," he shot back, holding out his paws as his claws emerged from the tips. "D'ya know how long it took for me to grow these back because of dat stupid shell!?"
Squirtle gestured with his hands for him to bring it. "Squirt!"
The Cat Pokémon lunged, swinging his claws around. They cut through the air with streaks of light, attempting to tear into the Tiny Turtle Pokémon. But Squirtle dipped and dodged the claws before bringing his tail around, twisting the rubber suit's helmet and effectively blinding him. Then he crouched low and thrust himself forward in a shell-backed shoulder Tackle that caught Meowth in the stomach. "Ooph!"
Knocked back by the weight of the blow, he staggered while clutching where he'd gotten hit. Then Squirtle let loose a Water Gun that plowed into him with enough force that it knocked the breath out of him as he was sent airborne. Eventually, Meowth slammed into James and then slid down due to their rubber suits. "Owww…"
He was then joined by Koffing, the Poison Gas Pokémon now little more than a ball of white as it had been covered in String Shot until all of its orifices were plugged. Ekans followed, having been thrashed against the walls until he was knocked out. Now out of usable Pokémon, Team Rocket found themselves at the mercy of Ash's Team of three.
"Bulbasaur, cut their suits open with Razor Leaf!" he ordered. The Seed Pokémon released a dozen razor-sharp leaves that sliced into the rubber coating Jessie, James, and Meowth, exposing them once more. "Now, put them to sleep Butterfree!"
A look of tense panic came across their faces as the Butterfly Pokémon's wings began to glow and glimmering with sparkling blue powder before James looked over to Jessie. "Plan B!"
"Plan B it is!" She whipped out a device from inside the tattered remnants of her suit and held it out. It was a detonator. "Not so fast, Twerp. We fall asleep and all of us will be sleeping with the fishes when this ship sinks into the sea!"
Butterfree stopped, the glow dulling as his compound eyes turned back to Ash. "Free?"
"You're bluffing," Ash said. "There's no way you'd risk taking yourself out too."
To that Meowth smirked as the trio rose to their feet. "Haven't ya learned by now dat we always have a way out?"
"Bulbasaur, grab it!" Ash ordered, unwilling to risk them getting away or pressing the button. The vines burst from the base of the Seed Pokémon's bulbs, the sinuous lengths snaking through the air with intention of ensnaring the detonator before it could be pressed.
"Too late!" Jessie said as all three intentionally leaped over the railing.
Then she pressed the button while falling.
Turns out it was not a bluff.
[-oOo-]
On the ground floor of the deck, Gina stood with her hands on her hips as she looked over the defeated form of the various Team Rocket Grunts who had all been suppressed and surrounded. They stood no chance now that all of the trainers, both hobbyists and professionals, had their own pokémon out and had rendered all of theirs unconscious.
"We've confiscated all of their pokémon," Misty said, handing the last of the balls over to one of the other trainers with a Machoke that had a canvas bag large enough to hold them. "Now we just need to radio the coast guard to come and get them."
"That guy from before set out to find the captain," Gina said, referring to the well-dressed Gentleman. He'd left with his Raticate to do so once they'd routed the majority of the thieves and the direction of the battle was clear—
BOOOOOM!
—that was when the ship dropped from beneath her feet. She, and nearly everyone else, cried out as they lost their balance when the entire ship buckled violently. The sound of metal groaning rang throughout the jewel of the sea as Gina toppled over backwards. She hit the ground with a minor pained sound as Misty toppled next to her. "Ow…"
Her Nidorina and Wartortle came over to check on her immediately as she sat upright, rubbing the spot where she landed. She'd be sore in the morning. "I'm fine, you two. But what was that?"
"It… sounded like it came from below deck," Misty said, perching herself up from the ground with Starmie and Staryu's help. "I think it was around the engine area."
"Sink or Swim time, trainers!"
They looked up at the shout to see Jessie, James, and Meowth pulling out grappling hooks as they fell and tossed them above, ensnaring the railing and turning their fall into a controlled swing. Then they tossed down smoke bombs that exploded into plumes of thick gray clouds that filled the entirety of the lower floor the moment they hit the ground. It left everyone confused and blinded until a heavy wind stirred from above and forced the smoke out.
"Is everyone okay?" someone shouted from above. Ash's voice, she recognized. She looked up to see that Ash was leaning over one of the rails with his Butterfree out. They must've forced the smoke out with a Whirlwind or Gust. "Where'd Team Rocket go?"
"Huh?" The moment her eyes turned back to where their captives had been, they found the space empty. The sound of a motor revving up outside of the ship forced her to her feet and she spotted the conscious ones dragging and tossing the other members over the edge of the ship. Gina ran out of the exit in time to see a pair of motorboats tearing through the ocean and slammed the bottom of her fist against the railing as she watched the thieves escape justice—
GRRRRRRR.
—then the entire ship lurched again. And it was followed by a blaring alarm resounding throughout the structure. While she might not have been exceedingly knowledgeable about ships, Gina pegged that wasn't a good sign and ran back inside where the Gentleman had returned with a man who she presumed was the Captain by how he was dressed. "What's that noise?"
"It's the alarm stating that the hull has been breached," he explained. "Water is flooding in through the lower level!"
"It was Team Rocket," Ash announced as he came down the stairs. "They had some kind of detonator and said it was part of their escape plan. We couldn't get it away from them before they pressed it."
A failsafe, Gina realized. Most likely to buy time for them to escape in the event they couldn't capture all the pokémon onboard. "We need to abandon ship!"
"We need the rest of the crew to follow the evacuation procedure, but…" The Captain looked over the assembled people and a grimace crossed his face before he said words that no one wanted to hear. "I'm afraid there might not be enough life rafts for everyone."
Pete Pebbleman grabbed the man by the lapels at that and demanded, "What do you mean there might not be enough!?"
The Captain stumbled over his words as others began to vocally let their displeasure be known. "Th-The event was largely spur of the moment when it was sponsored, and the ship was supposed to be unsinkable—"
Brock intervened. "Team Rocket probably arranged all of this to be a trap from the start so there's no point in blaming him. What we need to do now is divert all our attention to getting everyone out of here safely."
"Well said," stated the Gentleman before he turned to the Captain. "Then our first order of business will be to send out a distress signal. There should be a system in place for that, isn't there?"
The Captain nodded. "We're fairly close to Acapulco, so they should be able to send out rescue ships. I'll need to return to the bridge of the ship quickly, but we'll still need to find the rest of the crew!"
"In that case, I shall focus on finding the crew and make sure that no one gets left behind by searching the rest of the ship," the Gentleman said while looking towards his Raticate. "Your ears are still up to snuff, yes?"
It nodded in affirmation. To begin with, Raticate naturally had sharp hearing from before they evolved to avoid predators, so it could pick up sounds well enough to hear anyone else below deck. Likewise, their teeth could tear through metal if needed to free anyone trapped.
"Then we'll get him to the bridge," Pete said before he whistled. The Legendary Pokémon came out and onto the deck of the ship, crouching down on all fours. The speed of a well-trained Arcanine wasn't to be underestimated as they all but vanished towards the observation deck of the ship.
"Chances are that rocking knocked anything not nailed down loose so you're going to need some muscle," said the Machoke's trainer to the Gentleman. "Machoke and I will throw our lot in to help out in the search."
"…We'll go check as well," Gina decided. Letting Team Rocket escape rankled her, but right now they had to be decisive and quick if they were going to get through this. "My Geodude can handle any heavy-lifting and I have Nidorina and Rattata, so I can cover more ground a lot faster."
"Zubat's echolocation will be useful in searching around too," Brock said as held out the Bat Pokémon's ball. She took his pokémon with a nod and then sprinted for the closest entrance into the ship's lower deck. He then turned to Misty. "Can you do something about the damage to the hull?"
"We might be able to freeze over the hole to stop any more water from getting in," Misty answered, Staryu and Starmie alongside her as she pulled out a pair of goggles and rebreather from her bag. "Starmie's core can illuminate brightly enough to act as a searchlight so we'll be able to make out the damage to the hull and freeze it over with Ice Beam. It won't stop the ship from sinking, but it'll buy more time for everyone."
"If the hole is too big you won't be able to manage without something to block it and act as a foundation for the ice," said the Sailor from before. He then looked over to his Poliwrath and then gestured to the metal door off to the side. "You know what to do."
The Tadpole Pokémon nodded in understanding. Then it promptly punched the door so hard that the metal buckled and was wrenched free of the hinges tethering it to the wall. There was a reason why Poliwrath were comparable to Machoke in terms of raw strength, which was proven as it lifted the heavy door overhead without so much as breaking a sweat and made its way towards the railing.
"Thanks for your help," Misty said with a smile to it before she gave a nod of thanks to the Sailor as well. Then she placed the rebreather and goggles on, climbed onto Starmie's back, and tapped it twice with her hand. The Mysterious Pokémon jumped over the railing, its pre-evolved counterpart and the Poliwrath following as they carried her into the depths.
That left Brock to focus on coordinating the rest of the crowd. "Okay everyone, we're going to start evacuating the ship! I need for all of you to keep calm and do as I say so that we can make it through this!"
Ash didn't really grasp how influential a Gym Leader was until the moment Brock spoke up in an authoritative tone. The crowd that was beginning to unravel from the panic got themselves organized. Then it was a matter of getting everyone off the boat safely with the help of the crew that had been restrained and locked away prior by Team Rocket.
Floatation devices were gathered and strapped onto the passengers. The crew enlisted the help of some of the trainers in deploying the life rafts that were strapped onto the side of the ship as canisters. They were dropped into the water and then inflated, while the passengers were lowered into them.
Every trainer who had a pokémon capable of traversing the ocean or the sky while carrying someone made preparations to ferry those who wouldn't be able to get in a life raft. The belongings would have to be left behind given the urgency, but it was that or their lives and no one wanted to make that trade. Fortunately, they all managed to get off the ship in time to watch its final descent.
The unsinkable S.S. Anne—the luxury liner had traveled from Kanto to Unova and everywhere in-between. The ship that had created countless memories sank beneath the surface of the night-painted waters. The jewel of the sea was now lost forever beneath the waves.
Swallowed by the deep.
[-oOo-]
The rescue boats had arrived to collect the ship-wrecked passengers faster than they expected. Even so, the experience of what should have been a celebration of the bond between pokémon and their trainers turning into a fight to uphold that bond had left them tired. Many of them fell asleep the moment they were safe aboard the vessels that were to be carted over to Porta Vista.
But there was one in particular who abstained from a well-deserved rest.
The well-dressed Gentleman patiently drummed his fingers against the head of his cane as he waited for the call to connect. He had a communication device that wasn't in mass production as of yet but would soon be, a privilege of his position. His Raticate was by his side and keeping an ear out to make sure they weren't overheard once the line connected.
"I've got the initial report for the SOS through our official lines," a voice said over the line. "It seems our suspicions were well-founded."
"You'll receive the full report once I have a proper moment once we reach landfall, but this was indeed Team Rocket's doing," he answered. "It's a shame we couldn't bring them in, but at least the boats that were stationed for transporting them could be used to get everyone to safety."
"We might not be closer to unraveling their organization, but it's just as well that everyone made it out and Team Rocket didn't get what they wanted. I'm glad you volunteered to go undercover and investigate the matter ahead of time."
"As much as I would love to take credit for the outcome, I'm afraid the majority of it goes to the Gym Challengers present at the time. I believe that in the future it might be appropriate to keep an eye out for some of them. The G-Men could use a few youngsters like them in our ranks, provided they don't eventually claim the title of Champion from you before then."
A short sound of amusement came across the other end. "I'll keep an eye on their endeavors then."