There's a Bad Moon Risin' Beneath the Mountain
It had been a few hours since the ground had gone out from under everyone while trying to subdue that Rocket woman, dumping them all into the Mt. Moon Sanctuary, and Nidoran was growing anxious.
Never mind the general peril of having been separated from May by those Team Rocket cowards and exiled deep into the caverns of Mt. Moon as a result. Never mind the hovering threat that had driven all of these Pokemon to seek shelter together. Nidoran just wished that he had someone to talk to.
Ash and Misty were both gone, having been led away by what Nidoran could only describe as a great, glowing god. While he was finding their constant copulating more annoying than their ever-increasing sexual tension had ever been, Ash was still his trainer and Misty was still his valued companion. May was still missing. Even Nidoran's new friend Zubat wasn't available, as apparently he knew some of the other bats hiding in the sanctuary and had fluttered over to talk to them, leaving Nidoran by himself.
Nidoran wasn't sure what to do with himself. He didn't know anyone of the other Pokemon here. Even back in his little burrow outside of Viridian City, he had always been sort of a loner, a rarity among the highly sociable Nidos. When your species required the lunar energy emitted by a very rare mineral not naturally found in the fields that you made your home in order to reach full maturity, your only hope of attaining your full potential was to be caught by an aspiring trainer that could acquire a moon stone for him. As such, Nidoran hadn't really bothered to make friends. Why should he, when his goal was to be taken away from all that? He had learned to be okay with sticking to herself in preparing for his goal.
He just wished that he had someone to talk to right now.
Nidoran sighed. Then he scowled. No, wait, what was he doing? He didn't need someone to talk to! He needed to get back to what he had wanted be to caught for in the first place! He needed to find a stinking moon stone!
He looked around. None of the other crystals lighting up the place looked like moon stones. Some were red, some were green, some were blue, some were yellow, and a few other colors as well, but none were of that distinctive pinkish-white hue that had denoted the god of the mountain.
All right, time to start looking. Lowering his nose to the ground, Nidoran began to sniff his way around the gargantuan cavern. There certainly was no shortage of scents, from the musk of dozens of different species and their droppings, to the cold bite of the underground pools, to the weird zing he was getting off of the crystals.
He stopped next to one yellow cluster and gave it a look over. Moon stone or not, there was something weird about it, a sort of power emanating from those glowing shards that made his spines tingle. It reminded him of the static jolt that would fill the air every time Misty or Chuey would shoot one of their lightning bolts off. Huh.
A few more sniffs, and he paused next to a red cluster. The air around this one was warm, a sharp contrast to the cold of the underground. Actually, come to think of it, it reminded Nidoran a lot of the natural warmth given off by May.
Of course, Nidoran knew very well that certain Pokemon required the power of special crystals in order to evolve; he was searching for the one he needed right at that moment. He wasn't exactly clear on the nature of said crystals other than moon stones, or which Pokemon needed them, but he knew that it was a fact. And he was starting to suspect that the various clusters of glowing crystals that illuminated the Mt. Moon Sanctuary were those very minerals. Green crystals. Red crystals. Yellow crystals. Blue crystals. All of them corresponding to specific Pokemon typing.
But if that was the case, and these caverns contained a wealth of evolutionary stones, then where oh where were the moon stones?!
Maybe he should have asked Ambihilech, but how does one ask a god where his treasure is kept?
Then Nidoran cast an eye toward the wild Pokemon that were milling about, specifically the other Nidos. There were a few Kings and Queens among them. And over there? Clefables among the Clefairies! And over there? A small group of Jigglypuffs, with a smattering of Wigglytuffs among them! Maybe he could ask them.
Nidoran started to take a step forward toward the nearest Nidos, but then hesitated. He wasn't exactly sure why, but he did get the distinct impression that his presence was...tolerated at best. Zubat at least knew some of these wild Pokemon, having been one himself until very recently. But Nidoran got the distinct feeling that humans and their Pokemon were viewed with suspicious eyes around here, a sharp contrast to the more trainer-positive attitude where Nidoran came from, where many Pokemon actually hoped to get caught.
Actually, now that he thought about it, there was something...off about the local Pokemon. It was especially noticeable with the other Nidos. While the young Nidorans ran around and played under the watchful eyes of their elders, the more mature Nidorinos and Nidorinas seemed a bit more...organized. Many of them seemed to be fighting. In of itself, that wasn't unusual. Adolescent Nidos fought all the time. But there seemed to be a purpose in how they were charging and bashing up against one another.
As Nidoran watched, two Nidorinos roared and charged at one another. One caught the other under the shoulder and bowled his opponent over. When that happened, a gnarled old Nidoqueen snarled at the pair, and they separated. However, rather than admonish them for fighting, she instead barked a quick set of instructions, and the two then took their places across from one another to charge at each other once again.
Huh.
Nidoran then looked over the Geos. Normally they tended to cling to rock walls to save their energy, but now the many Geodudes were hastily crawling across the sanctuary's walls in swift formation. Down below, Gravelers were practicing balling up and taking off rolling to crash into various boulders. When a boulder was smashed to pieces, a Golem would bring in another one and set it in place.
Over there, Sandslashes were swiping at stalagmites, cutting deep furrows into the stone with their claws.
Over there, the elder Clefable with the staff was instructing the young members of its tribe to blast at various crystal clusters with white beams of light.
Nidoran stared. Oh crap, this wasn't just a hideaway of wild Pokemon fleeing from Team Rocket's machinations. They were preparing to go to war. Which, okay, made sense. Their home was being invaded and their friends taken. But from the look of things, this war was happening sooner rather than later, and if Nidoran and his friends didn't get out soon, they would very likely be caught in the middle. And he had a feeling that neither side would care very much what happened to the bothersome human children and their Pokemon.
Nidoran had never been one to back down from a fight, but he wasn't stupid either. This was a conflict that was way out of their league. But more than that, he found himself fearing for his human companions' safety. Even with the threat of Team Rocket aside, it was only by the grace of the glowing god that these Pokemon had not killed them already. And if one thing went wrong...
Suddenly a sharp commotion went up at the far end of the cavern. Nidoran heard cries of anger and fury, and it was then that he realized that the something wrong he had feared had just happened, and they were now in very immediate danger.
...
May had to admit: she was getting just a little tired of waking up sick and confused.
The sick feeling was bad enough. Retching nausea rippling through her, her own body thrashing violently against some unfightable contagion. Pain and injury she had no problem with and even enjoyed under the right circumstances, but poison was another matter entirely. The aftereffects of that Ekans's venom had been horrendous, leaving her shaken even after that antidote had burned it all away.
In many ways, waking up now wasn't nearly as bad. Whatever gas had been used to knock out her and Brock Harrison's PokeGirls hadn't been nearly as bad as that poisonous bite. Sure, she felt woozy, queasy, and more than a little parched in the throat, but it was so much better than the deathly cold of the poison. A few minutes of rest and some fluids and she would be fine.
But in other ways, waking up now was so much worse. At least she had been free and in the protective hands of Roxanne and Olivia before. But as life returned to her body and her mind slowly pulled itself out of the dizzying haze of unconsciousness, she became aware of just how dire her current predicament was.
Again she was naked, in of itself not a problem. But the hard clamps that encased her hands definitely were, as were the similar clamps around her feet. More than mere manacles, it was like they had been molded onto her extremities, covering them completely. There was some kind of mask over the top of her head, blinding her but leaving her mouth open.
What was more, she was bound spread-eagle to a hard, concrete wall. It was a position she had always hoped to be in one day, but under much different circumstances. As it was now, it only told her that she was in a lot of trouble.
"Wha…" she mumbled. Her tongue felt thick and swollen in her mouth.
Then she heard Olivia's voice to her right. "May? Hey, May? You awake?"
"Uh…I think so?" May flexed her fingers. Yup, her hands were definitely not going anywhere.
"Are you okay?" inquired Roxanne's voice, this time to her left.
May huffed. "Uh, no? Someone's handcuffed me naked and blindfolded to the wall, and for once I'm not into it!"
"Yeah, she's okay," Olivia said.
"A very subjective definition of the word 'okay!'" Roxanne snapped. "I think we can all agree that our current circumstances are very much less than ideal."
"And what are those, exactly?" May asked, trying to keep the rising anxiety from showing in her voice. Calm, calm, calm. She had to keep it together. "Where are we?"
"Not a clue," Olivia told her. "Teach and I have been awake for almost…God, an hour?"
"Forty-six minutes," Roxanne supplied.
"Yeah, okay, pretty close to an hour, but so far nobody's talked to us. And believe me, we've been yelling."
May swallowed back against the dry desert in her throat. "T-Team Rocket?"
"Probably," Roxanne hissed.
May whimpered. She had been caught.
It wasn't fair. She just wanted to go out on an adventure with her friends, and now pure chance had placed her in the hands of the freaking mob! Grown-ups were truly the worst! Why couldn't they just keep their stupid squabbles confined to each other and not drag her-
"Well, I am glad to see you are all awake," a deep, resonant voice boomed out from somewhere above May's head. "My sincerest apologies for subjecting you to far more of the tranquilizing agent than was needed to incapacitate you, Ms. Maple, but given the size and constitutions of your companions, I could not afford to be discriminate."
May went stiff. She did not recognize that voice, but the inflections told her that this was not someone to be trifled with.
Naturally, that only meant that she dearly wished to trifle with him, preferably with as much fire as possible.
Alas…
"Who is that?" Olivia demanded. "Where did you take us?"
"The answers to those questions are, quite frankly, none of your concern. And-"
"Uh, excuse me?" Roxanne said indignantly. "Oh, hell no! They are very much our concern! I can't fathom anything we'd be more concerned about at this moment!"
"A fair point," the voice admitted. "But regardless, I still feel no compulsion to answer, other than to inform you that your days as free women, or rather happily enslaved women, have come to a swift and definite end."
"Hey!" May snapped. "Screw you! If you think we're just gonna take this lying down, then you've got another thing coming!"
"An admirable display of defiance, but I feel compelled to inform you that your cooperation is not necessary. You are going to 'take it,' albeit chained to the wall rather than lying down, but the difference is unimportant."
"And what exactly are we expected to take?" Roxanne demanded. "What is Team Rocket even doing down here?"
There was a pause, and then the voice said, "Team Rocket? I do not recall claiming to be part of that organization."
Though the blindfold made the action pointless, May still had to roll her eyes at that poor excuse for a denial.
"But regardless, I shall tell you nothing of who we are and what our aims might be. However, you should know that the reverse is not true, as I know everything about you three."
May went stiff in her restraints.
"Roxanne Tiller, rock-typed, age twenty-four, hailing from Rustboro City in the Hoenn region. Bachelor's in Children's Education, currently training under Brock Harrison as part of a work/study program for your thesis. Olivia Pōhaku, rock and ground-typed, age twenty-two, hailing from Konikoni City in the Alola Region. Caught by Brock Harrison in a standard Pokemon battle." The voice paused, and then stated, "May Maple, fire-typed, age twelve, daughter of Normal Maple, the normal-typed Gym Leader of the Hoenn region, illegally caught by Misty Waterflower, aged ten, the previous water-typed Gym Leader of the Kanto region, based out of Cerulean City, and currently also an illegally caught PokeGirl, electric-typed ironically enough. I wonder how that happened? Currently owned by rookie trainer Ash Ketchum, aged ten, from Pallet Town, and currently lost alongside young Miss Waterflower somewhere beneath the mountain." This time the silence was lengthier, letting all three PokeGirls digest the implications of everything that had just been revealed.
"And what exactly do you intend to do with us?" Roxanne said at last. "Hold us for ransom?"
May shivered. Ransom meant contacting her father, which meant sending her home. Honestly, she wasn't sure if he would even pay to get her back. If he did, she would be stuck again, this time with no hope of escape. If he didn't, then she would remain in the hands of obviously Team Rocket, to use and abuse as they pleased.
It spoke to the situation she had gotten herself wrapped up in when she wasn't sure which fate scared her the most.
"Your ultimate fate is not mine to decide," came the response. "I am merely responsible for turning you over to those to whom it belongs."
"Ah, so you're just a flunky," Olivia sneered. "Got it."
"So says the literal sex slave. We all have our masters, and I serve mine without hormonal compulsion. Though speaking of which, it is now time for my questions, specifically regarding the location of Misty Waterflower and Ash Ketchum."
"STAY AWAY FROM THEM, YOU SLIMY BASTARD!" May screamed. She seethed and thrashed against her bindings while plunging deep into the core of her power, trying to summon up the fire, to billow up smoke, to do something to get at the awful creep. Unfortunately, something was keeping her fire restrained, and she couldn't whip up so much of an ember.
"Your concern for your friends is noted," said the voice as May continued to rage, as infuriatingly calm as ever. "However, I should point out that the longer those two remain lost within Mt. Moon's underground, the more likely their lives will be taken by one of its many, many hazards. It really is within their best interests if we were to capture them first. I assure you, I have no intention of allowing them to come to harm, as they are far more valuable alive rather than dead. Believe that, if you do not believe any expression of goodwill."
"Well, it's worthless anyway," Olivia said. "We have no idea where they are."
The voice tsked. "That is not the answer I requested. I want to know where they are."
"We don't know!" Roxanne protested. "We were looking for them when your goons showed up!"
"Again, you try my patience," said the voice. "I assure you, your continued resistance will do neither them nor yourself any good. I will have the information that I seek, by one means or another."
May gawked. He was going to torture them? Just to learn something that they couldn't provide?
Well, bring it on! She wouldn't tell even if she did know! She could take whatever they threw at her!
"You're wasting your time," Roxanne growled.
"Am I?" said the voice. "I would ask that you reconsider. I am well aware of both you and your partner's exceptionally high tolerance for pain. However, you do have a child with you, a child that you have displayed a substantial amount of protectiveness over, one whose typing makes her vulnerable to a very large number of interrogation techniques."
May started cackling. "Oh, bring it! I'll take whatever you dish out and spit it right back at you!"
"May, quiet!" Roxanne hissed.
"I'm serious!" May's fingers flexed in their restraints. "Come on, tough guy! You wanna threaten a little girl? Well, how about you come down here and try to scare me in person!"
"I will not," came the response.
"Coward!"
"Hmmm." Then, with a dismissive air that made May's already boiling blood start outright frothing, he turned his attention back to the two adults. "I will leave you now. Think on what I said, because I assure you, I will hurt her, and you will be near to hear every-"
"Hey, hold on," Olivia interrupted. "Do we know you? Because you're sounding all kinds of familiar."
"No." The voice was already cold, but it seemed to have dropped several degrees in that single word alone.
"Yeah, I do know you," Olivia said. "Where, though? Who are you?"
"Huh," Roxanne said. "You know, I think you're right. His voice does ring a bell."
"The only memory you need to be concerned with recalling is the memory of your little friends' location," said the voice. The scumbag was leaving, his voice growing smaller while the sound of footsteps against a metal catwalk echoed overhead. "Because otherwise, the memory I leave you three with will haunt your every moment for the rest of your lives."
And then a heavy door slammed, leaving the three of them alone in the dark.
...
It was a long time before Misty could stop crying.
Ash still didn't know what had brought it out of her. One moment the two of them had been cuddling in post-orgasmic bliss and he, out of simple affection, had called her a "good girl." The next moment she was sobbing into his chest while demanding that he keep calling her that.
Now granted, he was not at all opposed to that, but if something so simple was going to cause her to start crying, he sure would like to know why. He knew better than to prod, however, so he just did as he was asked, patting her head and letting her cry.
But finally the tears had stopped, and now Misty was huddled in his arms, her small naked body still shaking a little as she pressed herself against him. She had drawn up her arms between her body and his, and were now holding them to her chest.
Ash wondered if he ought to keep stroking her hair. She hadn't told him to stop, but she hadn't asked him to keep going indefinitely. His hand paused between her scruffy orange locks, and began to withdraw.
Her face still burrowed into his collar, Misty made an indignant sound of protest.
Sighing, Ash went back to what he was doing. "Okay," he said. "Um, are you…?"
Misty sighed, and turned her head to murmur, "I'm fine, Ash. I just…learned something about myself."
"Um, that you like getting head pats and being called a good girl?"
"Ugh," Misty groaned. "Do you have to put it like that? You make me sound like I'm your pet or something."
Ash very wisely decided to hold his tongue.
Then Misty started to shift around, squirming up in his arms so that they were face-to-face. "And just so we're clear, you will tell no one about this, got it?" The sparks flashing in her eyes spoke to how serious she was about this demand. "I'll figure things out, but the last time I need is for a bunch of punks using this to make fun of me."
Ash had no problem with that directive, but there were still a couple points he wanted clarified. "Um, does this mean you don't want me calling you that anymore?"
Misty's angry scowl darkened, and for a moment Ash was concerned that she was about to light him up like an Electrode with a bad temper. But then her face relaxed and she sighed. "In private, when I say so, so no using this to get one over me. Clear?"
"Clear," Ash said. He refrained from mentioning that she technically was compelled to obey him regardless, even without pushing that particular button. "But what about May?"
Doubt passed over Misty's features. "I…dang it, she's never going to let me hear the end of it." She sighed again. "Well, I guess it wouldn't make sense to keep it from her. Just help me stop her from abusing that little detail."
"You got it." Then a small, salacious smile spread over Ash's lips. Using the hand he had been using to pet Misty's hair, he gripped the back of her head while the other hand slipped down to grab a handful of her butt before pushing her face into his for a kiss.
He felt Misty tighten in surprise, but her hesitance was gone in a heartbeat, and she eagerly pressed into kiss. Her tongue slid over Ash's bottom lip, coming just short of breaching the border of his mouth, while her hands ran their way down his front, caressing his chest and belly before shoving up under his shirt.
That was as far as they went, though. Ash was fully spent, and Misty was worn down as well. After kissing a bit they relaxed, content with a little gentle fondling.
Ash yawned. Whew, the hard day he had been having was really catching up to him, and it wasn't like he had been getting the best sleep lately. Granted, lying fully-clothed on the stone ground wasn't the most comfortable place to take a nap, but the warmth of Misty's body pressed against him was making feel just so incredibly comfortable nevertheless.
It seemed that Misty felt the same way. Her eyelids were starting to droop, every blink growing heavier. With a yawn of her own she brought in her arms close to her chest against and wriggled her shoulders around to burrow herself lower into Ash's arms.
Well, there were honestly worst times to take a nap. Hopefully none of those Pokemon would need anything being stored in this cave for an hour or two. Hugging Misty closer, Ash rested the top of her head against his chin, feeling her mussy hair tickle his mouth, and closed his eyes.
The next thing he knew he was wide awake and being shoved up against the wall with a massive hand made from stone seizing him by the waist. Two eyes, two furious red eyes, glowered spitefully up at him. He screamed.
"GGGRRRRAAAAAHHHH!" bellowed a voice like cinderblocks being dragged across concrete.
It was a Graveler! A very, very, very angry Graveler had snatched him off the ground and shoved him up against the wall. The Graveler's hand encircled his enter waist, squeezing him with granite-crushing force while his legs dangled uselessly. And all around the Graveler were other Pokemon, from Geodudes to Zubats to Nidos to Sandshrews, all of them angrily screeching at Ash.
Ash was about to die.
BOOM!
Ash screamed again as a bright flash seared his vision and a thunderous clap assailed his eardrums. He squeezed his eyes shut and slapped his hands over his ears.
Misty. She had been grabbed up too, and was trying to blast the stony creature off of them. Unfortunately, all her electricity could manage was making the Graveler even more angry.
This is it, he found himself thinking in one of those strange moments of calm that always seem to occur during a crisis. This is how I die. Crushed to death by a living boulder without knowing the reason why.
The Graveler roared again. Then it began to squeeze.
But before the two children had their internal organs crushed to paste, another roar echoed painfully through the cavern, this one higher and more crystalline. Ash winced and tried shoving his hands down harder over his ears, as if that would do anything.
Clamoring in agitation, the crowd of angry Pokemon scattered, and through the cavern entrance slithered the towering visage of Ambihilech. The crystal Onix glowered down on all those gathered, displeasure evident in his amethyst eyes. He roared again.
The Graveler looked most displeased at having its attempted murder interrupted, but it obeyed, reluctantly setting Ash and Misty down and letting them go. Ash immediately collapsed and began gasping and wheezing. His waist felt like he had been thrown into a trash compactor.
At his side, Misty was doing a little better, though not by much. She had gone down on one hand and both knees, her other arm wrapped around her own waist. "Wha-What?" she managed to force out.
Ambihilech came up to the pair and looked down at them. He let out a low rumble.
Grunting, Ash managed to push himself up enough to slump back against the wall. He stared up at Ambihilech, hoping for some kind of explanation.
Clearly frustrated, Ambihilech rumbled again and tilted his roughly-hewn head toward the cavern entrance.
Ash stared blankly. Why wasn't Ambihilech talking? Where was Malakai?
Another rumble, this one more insistent. Ambihilech clearly wanted the two of them to follow him, but why couldn't he just tell them that?
"Ash?" Misty said. "What's going on?"
Though he was still trying to catch his wind, Ash managed a bewildered shrug.
Snorting in irritation, Ambihilech turned and slithered back out into the tunnel. Some of the Pokemon followed him, while others, like the Graveler, hung back, glaring at the two human children with burning malice. The message was clear: follow him or we'll make you wish that we had just crushed you and gotten it over with.
Ash and Misty exchanged a look. Then they both got up and walked gingerly in-between the two rows of furious wild Pokemon.
"What do you think happened?" Ash whispered to Misty. "Is it something with May?"
"I doubt it," Misty whispered back. "If you ask me, something happened with Jessie."
Ash's heart just about stopped. Of all the problems facing them, Jessie admittedly weighed a little heavier on his mind than the others, mainly because her presence was largely his fault. If she got hurt (and he still didn't want that to happen to her, despite how lousy of a person she was), it would be because of him. And if she hurt anyone here, it would also be because he had been an idiot who had not handed her off to the proper authorities when he had the chance.
"Oh no," he whispered.
Misty shot him a look and sighed. "Come on," she said. She took him by the hand and gave it a tug.
It was then Ash noticed two things. First, his penis was still hanging out of the open fly of his pants. That in itself wasn't really that big of a problem, as Misty had already seen it and was naked anyway, and Pokemon wouldn't care.
However, it turned out that having his willy flop about had actually been a fortunate stroke of chance, because that Graveler had scared him so badly that if it had been nestled within his underwear then he would be needing to change his pants right now.
...
Well, Jessie had to admit, she really was in quite the predicament.
Separated from her team (not really that bad, as she couldn't stand Cassidy anyway), caught by some random brat (oh, that smarted), turned into a dual-typed poison and dark PokeGirl (okay, that actually was turning out to be pretty awesome), beaten up and had her hair ruined by a couple of horny twerps (she still owed that little ginger a thorough beating for that one), captured and covered with bug goo by wild Pokemon (ugh, she could still taste the stuff!), having to beat the ever-loving snot out of that perverted old geezer of a Hypno (that part had felt pretty incredible, actually), and now she was fleeing through pitch-black caves deep beneath the earth away from a horde of angry Pokemon who wanted her blood (by far the most pressing concern of hers at the moment).
Surprise had given her a bit of a head start, and her long and limber legs meant that she could clear a lot of ground in a very short time (as well as absolutely kill it on any catwalk chosen to be blessed with her presence), but while she could run circles around most of the squat waddlers, others like the Zubats or Onixes could catch up to her quite easily.
Further compounding the problem was that the glowing crystals that had lit up the cavern only went so far, and it wasn't long before Jessie was having to feel her way through the dark. That was ridiculous, not to mention totally unfair! She had no doubt that her savage pursuers could see just fine in the dark, and even those that couldn't would be able to sniff her out. Meanwhile, Jessie was left-
She hit her head on a hanging stalactite. Again. Ow!
Finally, after smacking her face for the third time, Jessie finally ducked down behind a rock to catch her breath and reassess her situation.
Okay, what to do now? Find a way out, obviously. But how? She was all alone who knew how many miles beneath the earth with no light, no food, no water, no supplies whatsoever, being pursued by a bunch of bloodthirsty Pokemon intent on rending her limb from limb for the dastardly crime of defending herself from a perverted psychic known for molesting helpless human females. Now, that just wasn't right!
What was more, most of those Pokemon probably had no trouble seeing in the dark, and those who couldn't probably would be able to sniff her out without much trouble, while she had no choice but to proceed in total darkness. Now, that just wasn't fair!
Jessie took a deep breath. Okay, okay, calm down. You have powers now! Think, what could you do to improve your situation?
Poison gas? Probably not going to work. Dark energy?
Frowning, Jessie stuck her hands together and poured her newfound power into creating a pulsing sphere of dark power. Which was completely useless, because it was dark power! Sure, there were a few electric flashes, but those weren't enough to illuminate her surroundings!
Sighing, she banished the shadow ball. Stupid, stupid, stupid! This was so stupid! One would think that a dark-type would be able to see in the dark! It was her element, after all!
Actually, come to think of it, Cassidy's Sableye and Houndour never seemed to have difficulty navigating through the dark. Well, the Houndour could probably smell his way around, and he had fire to fall back on. But that deranged Sableye?
Hmmm…
Closing her eyes, Jessie took a deep breath and concentrated.
The comforting cold welled up within her, soothing her fear and anxiety. Her racing heartbeat slowed to calm, consistent patter, while her breathing began to relax. Okay. She was okay. What reason did she have to be afraid? Not of the dark, obviously. She was the dark! The dark was her friend now! And when one was friends with the dark…
(buzzing pressure built up behind her eyes)
…then there was nothing that it could hide from her!
Jessie opened her eyes. And she could see.
It wasn't as if there were suddenly light. Everything was still as dark as before. However, it was as if the world were now outlined in silver. She could see every loose pebble, every hanging stalagmite…or was it stalactite? How did that little trick go? Stalactite have a c, so that meant they grew from the country roads, take me home…darn it, wrong song!
Forget it, forget it. The point was that Jessie could now see! She was free, she could see, and she was now brimming with unfathomable power. Honestly, if she had known that being a PokeGirl would feel this good, she would have gotten herself caught a long time ago. But who would be the lucky trainer? James? Ha! She sorely missed her real partner, but even she knew that he could not handle that much quality woman! Actually, did James even like women? It had never come up, and Jessie really was starting to have her doubts.
Focus, focus! Get out here now, before the Pokemon find you!
Right. It was still time to go.
Now with a clear vision of the path in front of her, Jessie took off running, swift and surefooted, leaving the angry howls of her pursuers far behind.
...
Over an hour had passed since Olivia and the other two had woken up, and she was no closer to finding any means of escape.
As one might have expected, all of them had strained against their restraints the best that they could, but neither the two rock-types' considerable strength or May's heat had garnered any results. Olivia wasn't even sure what the manacles were made of. They didn't feel like metal or even stone. Some kind of special plastic, maybe?
After trying in vain to get them to break, Olivia slumped panting. "Well, anyone got any bright ideas?" she said.
"I," May announced, "am gonna kill that guy."
Olivia's stomach clenched, though not from the promise of minor-induced murder. May's violent impulses were definitely worth worrying about, but in this particular case, Olivia felt that they were justified.
No, what she was upset about was that their captor had all but promised to torture May and make her and Roxanne watch. That was bad enough, but none of them even had the information that would save her from torment, so it would all be for nothing!
Olivia had seen firsthand what Team Rocket's interrogation techniques could do to someone. And she knew that they had no reservations against employing those techniques on a child.
But the really scary thing was that Olivia wasn't even sure what she would do had they known where Misty Waterflower and Ash Ketchum even were. Would they give up the locations of two children to save a third? Olivia honestly didn't know. Either decision would be awful. Certainly, May would hate them for giving up her friends to save her.
But the alternative would be to do nothing and let her suffer.
Which they were going to have to do, if nothing came to save them.
"I mean it," May said. In contrast to her hot temper, her voice was utterly cold. "I'll do it slow, too. Start with just warming things up, a little at a time, maybe give him a nice tan. Then I'll go a little hotter, and then a little hotter, until his hair starts curling and his skin starts peeling. And after I've taken a layer off, that's when I'll go for his teeth." Her diatribe started to get louder, more heated. "But only one at a time. First I'll heat one up until it pops! And then I'll go for another! And then another! And he'll be lucky if I stop there if he so much as lays one finger on Misty!"
Though she couldn't see the girl, Olivia looked away anyway. She hated feeling just so darned helpless.
Olivia wished that she knew what to say to make May feel better. But what reassurances could she give? They were trapped, looking at a lifetime of pain and enslavement, and not the fun kind. May would be lucky if she were delivered back to her detested father, and even in that case she would be lucky if she were still in good health!
However, while Olivia was at a loss for ideas, it seemed that Roxanne was not. "Misty really means a lot to you, doesn't she?" the smaller woman said in a soft, gentle tone. It was the voice she used when comforting the younger Harrison kids.
May let out a bark of laughter. "Are you serious? Misty's my everything! She's the only person to really be worth loving!"
Olivia frowned. "What about Ash?"
"Ash is great and I want him back, too!" May insisted. "But he's…new, you know? Misty's been the only bright part of my life for years."
"How did you meet?" Roxanne asked.
Now Olivia was confused. What was Roxanne doing? This seemed an odd time to start delving into personal histories.
"Why do you care?"
"I'm curious," Roxanne said. "Tell me."
And then Olivia got it. There was nothing that any of them could do to escape or prevent what was going to happen, but the least they could do was help take the poor kid's mind off of things. There really was a reason why Roxanne was such an effective teacher. She just got kids.
In response, May let out a groan of frustration, but then she said, "Oh, it was at this stupid inter-region summit, with a whole bunch of Gym Leaders and their families. Everyone was ignoring me, and I was bored out of my mind. Then I see this cute little girl sitting by herself looking all lonely. And she was cute! You know, people go on and on about how beautiful her stupid sisters are and make fun of her looks, and I'm just, wow, are you idiots blind? You got this dead sexy firecracker here, and you're drooling over those overstuffed bimbos?" She laughed. "Of course, she had on this flirty red number and had her hair done all nice, and gotta admit, she rocked it, but you could just tell that she was so uncomfortable, like this was her first time going to one of these things and she was trying to impress all the boring grown-ups, but it just wasn't working. Honestly, she looks so much better in her regular outfit, or even better, no outfit! And-" Then she made a strange, hocking noise in her throat. "Hey, wait a minute! Weren't you there?"
"Huh?" Olivia said. "Us?"
"Yeah! I mean, everyone had their PokeGirls with them, I remember that very well! And ol' Brocky-boy had to be there, right?"
"Huh," Roxanne mused. "How long ago was this?"
"Uh...three years ago? Around that?"
"Then I guess we must have been," Olivia said. She frowned, doing the math in her head. "Actually, you said this was three years ago? I kind of recall Brock complaining about how one of the foreign Gym Leaders was a total deadbeat of a dad. You know how important kids are to the Harrisons, so that sort of thing really winds him up."
"Yup! That was probably dear ol' Pops!" May snorted. "Love to get Brock and him in an empty room together and lock the door for an hour. But anyway, there I was, bored as heck, nothing to do, hating everyone around me, when I notice Misty across the room, looking as bored as I was. 'Ah ha,' I think. 'A kindred spirit! And she's cute.' So I went right up to her and introduced myself!" May laughed. "Actually, what I said was, 'Girl, you must be using tail-whip, 'cause your booty is leaving me defenseless!'"
"That's…pretty bad," Roxanne admitted.
"I know! I wanted to make her laugh, but I just ended up making her mad. She thought I was making fun of her. It got awkward." May sighed.
"I would imagine," Roxanne said. "I'm guessing that she's been put down a lot. Mocked for her looks."
"Oh, you have no idea. Remember what I said about her stupid sisters? It took a lot to convince her that I really thought that she was cute." Now Olivia could hear the smile in the young girl's voice. "I ended up getting a blush out of her, so I'd call that a success."
"And I'm guessing that you two have been inseparable ever since?"
"Well, not exactly," May admitted. "I mean, she was still a Gym Leader from a different region, and I was stuck being miserable at home. So we didn't get to see each other as much as I liked. But that just means that we made the most of whatever time we did have together. And by that, I mean we got into trouble a lot!"
Now Olivia was getting drawn into the story. "Trouble? What kind?"
"Oh, nothing serious," May said dismissively. "Just pranks and stuff. Like, this one time we broke into my dad's gym and battled each other with his Pokemon. That was fun. She whooped my butt, though."
"Oh," Olivia said. "Well, that doesn't sound too-"
Another time we snuck into the school and hid a vial of Stunky musk in the vents of the boy's locker room!" May laughed. "Turns out, the smell doesn't go away even after you've cleaned the place out. They had to close the whole school down for a week! Finally, I got an actual reaction out of Dad! Oh, he was so pissed!"
"You must have loved that," Roxanne said.
"You better believe it!" May gibed. "It was great! So you can imagine how things got when we started having sex!"
Olivia could imagine that quite well, actually.
There was a noticeable pause, and then Roxanne said, with evident reluctance, "And how did that start?"
Wow, she really was taking one for the team! Granted, encouraging May to tell raunchy stories would definitely do the trick, but there was no way that Roxanne was enjoying it!
"Seriously?" May gawked. "You really-" She let out another bark of laughter. "Okay! So, lucky us, Mom, Dad, and Max were all gone for the weekend, and I had this whole set of video tapes I wanted to show her..."
...
Misty had a sour feeling in her stomach, one that only grew stronger as she and Ash followed Ambihilech out into the main cavern.
The moonstone Onix was clearly furious, a sharp contrast to the kindly, almost jovial old serpent that had taken them in. He slithered forward with purpose, not even glancing back at the human children that he had just prevented from being crushed into paste.
He wasn't the only one, either. All of the wild Pokemon that had been gathered in his cavern, which before had seemed at least somewhat amused by her and Ash's presence, now were glaring at them with naked malice. If Ambihilech were not there, then they no doubt would have descended upon the humans and torn them to pieces.
And Misty had a pretty good idea as to why.
As the two of them reluctantly marched forward, two of the Pokemon broke off from the others and rushed toward them. Ash jolted in alarm, but then saw that it was Nidoran and Zubat. The two poison-types were clearly in a tizzy, with Zubat fluttering around Ash's head chittering up a storm while Nidoran anxiously squeaked up at him. Ash, who had a knack for understanding his Pokemon's chatter, looked sickened by what they were telling him.
Misty didn't need to ask for a translation. She already knew.
Sure enough, they were led to the place where she and Ash had been kept while unconscious, and, more importantly, where Jessie had been imprisoned.
It was as she had feared. Jessie was gone, leaving a puddling of white goo behind, the remains of the sticky webbing that had been used to bind her in place. Sitting slouched against a nearby boulder was Malakai the Hypno. The elderly Pokemon did not look well. His breathing was labored, his eyes unfocused, and he was gingerly nursing a purplish swelling on his head. Surrounding him was a trio of Drowzees, all helping treat him.
Misty's stomach clenched up. On the upside, at least Malakai was alive. But that didn't change the fact that he had been hurt by a human. A human that was owned by the same boy that owned her. Now she knew why everyone was so angry at them.
She shot a look over to Ash, who looked like he had seen a ghost, and not of the Pokemon variety. His face had, appropriately enough, gone ashen, while his eyes were wide with dismay and horror.
"How?" he squeaked.
Ambihilech glanced over to the gaggle of psychic-types and rumbled. One of the Drowzees straightened up and walked over to the two human children.
"Rocket. Woman," spoke the telepathic voice of the crystalline Onix. Apparently this Drowzee was not as adept at transferring another's thoughts as its recently assaulted elder was. "Broke. Free. Hurt. Him."
Ash covered his mouth. He looked like he was going to be sick.
"Will he be okay?" Misty asked.
Ambihilech looked to the groggy Hypno and growled a question. Malakai winced, but waved a hand at him.
"Yes. Head. Thick," said Ambihilech. Even when filtered through an inferior outlet the relief was evident in his voice. "He. Tough." But then it turned sour. "Your. Woman. She. Fled."
"Where?" Ash said.
"Gone. Swift. Ones. Give. Chase."
Misty took a deep breath. "Ambihilech, we are so sorry about this. Believe me, we didn't want to bring any harm to your or your people."
The Drowzee currently acting as a conduit scowled at her, clearly not buying her reassurances. But Ambihilech growled, making it back off. "I. Know. Not. Your. Fault."
The relief was slight, but it was there. At least they wouldn't be eaten.
However, surprising no one but dismaying all, Ash just did not know when to keep his mouth shut. "What are you going to do to her?" he asked.
"End. Her."
Ash was aghast. "You can't! She's mine! You said-"
"Ash!" Misty snapped. She seized his hand and squeezed, not to reassure, but to bring him back to his senses. "Shut up!"
Ambihilech's patience was clearly waning. "She. Hurt. Friend. She. Danger. Regret. But. Must. End."
"But-"
"Ash," Misty jerked his arm. "Don't!"
He looked stricken, but thankfully complied this time, though it was clearly tearing him up to do so.
That was when a small commotion rose up from the gathered Pokemon. An angry-looking Nidorino (though admittedly, there were few other kinds) shouldered his way past the others to approach Ambihilech. The pair had a small conversation of growls and snarls. Misty had no idea what they were talking about, but given that they both kept glancing over to the human children, she did not like the looks of it.
Dismissing the Nidorino, Ambihilech turned his attention toward Ash. "Young. Ashley. You. Can. Control. Your. Mate?" he inquired through the Drowzee.
Ash stared blankly up at him. "Mate? You mean Misty?"
Growling, Ambihilech shook his massive head. "No. Rocket. Woman."
"Control? Her? Don't you think-" Then he blinked. "Oh, you mean, does she have to obey me?"
A nod.
"Um…" Ash scratched the back of his head. "Sort of, I guess. She's got these instincts that push her to do what I say, or at least she's supposed to, but if she doesn't want to then it's not like she's forced to."
Ambihilech tilted his head, clearly not fully understanding.
"I…" Ash winced and glanced over to Misty. "Hey, Misty? Help me out here. You got way more experience in this than I do."
Sighing, Misty stepped forward. "Um, PokeGirls are compelled to obey their trainers, but it can be resisted without too much of a problem. If Jessie doesn't want to listen to Ash, then she doesn't have to."
The glowing amethyst lights of Ambihilech's eyes narrowed in a way that Misty did not like. "But. It. Will. Slow. Her. Down."
"Yes," Misty admitted.
Ash inhaled sharply.
"You. Will. Come. Help. Stop. Her."
"Hold on a second!" Ash choked. "I'm not going to kill her!"
"No. You. Won't. We. Will. But. You. Help."
"B-But you can't-"
With a roar, Ambihilech whipped his massive around to press his crystalized face right into Ash's, nearly knocking the young boy right off of his feet.
"You. Brought. Her. Here," Ambihilech growled. "Now. You. Help. Stop. Her. Danger. Must. Be. Stopped." Another push, and this time Ash did stumble backward. "Do. You. Un. Der. Stand?"
...
Butch had to admit: for a jury-rigged operation conducted out of abandoned mining facility wrecked decades ago by a bunch of angry Pokemon, the Mt. Moon Team Rocket HQ was in surprisingly good shape. Yes, there was still rust on the walls. Yes, the lighting had to all be replaced. Yes, there were large sections of the base that were completely unusable. But overall, Administrator Cliff had done a bang-up job not only reinhabiting the facility but also making it somewhat presentable.
This was best exemplified by the bathrooms. Again, not pretty to look at and still bearing scars from when the local Pokemon had torn the place apart. But it was clean and all the toilets flushed. There wasn't even any graffiti! That counted for something, right?
With a grunt, Butch headed for the furthest of the four urinals set in the wall. He was about to unzip his fly when the door opened.
James walked in. He paused by the door, clearly not having expected to see Butch there. The two Rocket Grunts locked eyes.
Then James huffed and walked over to the urinal right next to Butch's. He unzipped his own fly, pulled out his dick, and started pissing.
Butch shot him an incredulous look. Then he turned away and did the same. "Four whole urinals, three stalls, and you take the one right next to me?"
Ignoring Butch's perfectly valid point concerning bathroom etiquette, James said, "We shouldn't be here."
"What, at a Rocket base? We're Rockets, James! Pretty sure Rockets belong in a Rocket base."
"No! We shouldn't be sitting around on our butts, when Jessie is still out there, in danger!"
Butch rolled his eyes. "Look, if you're so eager to go runnin' back out into the cold and the dark, go right ahead! But I'm gonna stay right here and wait until Cliff brings those brats back! That way, I don't starve or get crushed, you get your dumb bimbo back, and we all get back into Archer's good graces with no one being the wiser. Everybody wins. Well, except the brats, but who cares about them?"
Butch finished pissing. He shook off the last couple of drops and was about to tuck himself back in when James made a noise of disgust and said, "What happened to you, Bill? You're really just going to sit back when someone important to me is in danger? I thought you were my friend!"
Something inside of Butch snapped. He whirled out to face the bluehaired idiot directly and shouted, "Okay, let's get one thing straight! My name is not Bill! It's not Biff, it's not Ben, it's not Bob, and it's not friggin' Pete! I don't know what made you even think of Pete! It don't even got a 'B'! But my name is Butch, okay?"
James's pale face went tamato-red with indignation. "Now, hold on! You can't-"
"Second, we was only workin' together 'cause we had to! But Cassidy is my partner, not you! And your precious Jessie ain't my partner neither!" Butch shoved a finger into James's shoulder. "Besides, accordin' to Cassidy, your Jessie didn't exactly treat her right, so I ain't all that eager to go and get her back! So you can take all of your...Oh, my friggin' God, James! How long yah gonna keep pissin'?"
Sure enough, James's stream was as strong as when he began. "Well, I didn't exactly have a chance to go ever since we left Pewter City!" he snapped.
Butch gawked at him. "You tellin' me you was holdin' it in this whole time? How have you not burst?"
"Well, when was I supposed to go? I don't recall seeing any public restrooms in the caves!"
"James, it's a cave! Go behind a rock! It's what I did!"
"I...Wait, you did? When?"
Butch was starting to feel a headache coming on. Closing his eyes, he pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a low growl. "Forget it. Forget it. It don't matter."
"Well, it matters to me! We were supposed to be looking for the ingrates that took my Jessie, and you were wasting time with bathroom breaks!" Finally, the dark stream of piss tapered off. James shook himself off and turned to face Butch. "And I for one don't appreciate the unkind things you've said about her! We used to be a team! But ever since she came back it's like I don't even know you!"
"James, have yah lost yer mind? The second you saw Cassidy you started insulting her, and you want me to be-"
"Ahem."
The two arguing Grunts turned toward the door, which was unfortunately open. Standing within the frame was Cassidy, who was staring at the pair with a mixture of disgust, bewilderment, and a slight amount of intrigue.
"On the one hand, I shouldn't be surprised that you two are getting into it," she said. "On the other, is there any reason why you're having this argument with your dicks out?"
Red with chagrin, the two men hastily tucked themselves back in and zipped themselves up. "For the love of-KNOCK, Cassidy!" Butch said.
"Yeah, this is the men's room!" James snapped. "And what happens in the men's room is no business of harpies!"
Rather than be offended, Cassidy merely looked even more perplexed. "Is this...standard behavior for the men's room?"
Sighing, Butch let his hands drop. "Forget it. What do you want?"
At that, Cassidy was troubled. "I don't know. But something's wrong. I think we should get ready to move."
"Which is what I've been saying!" James exclaimed. "Finally, someone is-MPHFURGUFFUR!"
Butch's hand had shoved itself into James's face, cutting him off. "Cassidy, what are you goin' on about? Cliff said to sit tight and wait for his people to bring back the brats! They already got the ones we was chasin', so they're bound to find the rest sooner or later!"
"I know, but..." Cassidy shook her head. "Something's wrong. Cliff isn't telling us everything. These people...they're all on edge, like they're waiting for something bad to happen. I think we should get ready to leave and leave fast."
...
"After that it became kind of a game, you know? Every time we got to hang out, we'd try to find the weirdest place to have sex." May laughed. "There was this one time at the roller-skating rink where I actually got her to finger me on the rink itself. We had skates on and everything! Nobody noticed!"
Olivia kind of doubted that nobody had noticed. It was more likely that those who had had deigned not to say anything. "And you parents never said anything?"
"Yeah, see, that's the thing about my dear daddy," May sighed. Even with their loss of eyesight, Olivia could still hear the eyeroll. "He didn't care! This one time I was eating her out in the janitor's closer during a banquet and we got caught, but when he found out he just told me to stop being an embarrassment! He still let me hang out with her!"
"Oh," Olivia said. She wondered how Brock would have reacted in a similar situation. "Well, that's-"
"And do you know why? Not because he actually cared about me having friends, but because me making friends with another Gym Leader was the only thing I had ever done in my life that was valuable to him!" She sighed again. "Honestly, if I didn't love her so much I probably would have broken things off just to spite him!"
Though May was Olivia's only source of information about Norman Maple, and she was admittedly extremely biased, Olivia was starting to heavily dislike the man. The Harrison household prided itself on its devotion to their children, and despite how many of them there were, every effort was made to make every single one of them feel loved and supported. Clearly Norman Maple could learn a thing or two from the Harrison family!
Then Olivia frowned behind her blindfold. Wait, the Harrison family…
"What are you going to do when you see her again?" Roxanne said.
There was a long pause, and then May said in a more somber tone, "You mean besides grab her tight and cry like a baby? I'm gonna kiss her so much that her cousins will feel it! I'm gonna find out everyone that's hurt her since we got separated and pay them back triple. Then we'll throw our clothes off and make love beneath the sky! After that, enough is enough. Ash is getting stripped naked, and we'll take turns riding him like a pent-up Tauros full of-"
Wait.
Cousins?
"Oh, Great Tits of Tapu Fili, that's it!" Olivia gasped.
"Uh, what's what now?" May said, clearly taken back by having her ramble interrupted.
Finally, all the pieces were falling into place! "That guy!" Olivia said. "The guy that's holding us! I figured out where I heard his voice from! It's Cliff!"
"Cliff?" Roxanne said in bewilderment. "You mean-" Then came a sharp sucking sound. "Oh."
Olivia nodded. "It's him! It has to be!"
"Oh, that little, traitorous bastard," Roxanne hissed.
Then May coughed. "Er, hey, glad you all are having this big revelation, but I have no idea what either of you are going on about, so maybe you can do me a favor and-"
"Cliff Harrison!" Olivia spat. "He's Brock's cousin! The son of Flint's brother! He was actually on the short list to take over from Flint if things didn't work out with Brock!"
"Which apparently they almost didn't," Roxanne said.
Olivia nodded. "Right. I heard something about that, where Brock was thinking of walking away from the family business and getting into Pokemon breeding, and Cliff would take over instead, but in the end, Brock decided to become Gym Leader anyway. I don't know. I wasn't there."
"I wasn't either," Roxanne said. "But I do remember Cliff always having issues with Brock after I showed up, like he was owed the gym. Even offering him a place as an administrator wasn't enough, the little brat."
"Big brat," Olivia corrected.
"No, little brat! Big body, big sense of entitlement, tiny little speck of maturity!" Roxanne groaned. "Oh God, I was so glad when he turned Brock down. I did not need that whiner hanging around."
"Didn't he steal Brock's girlfriend?" Olivia wondered.
"Who, his wife?" May asked in bewilderment.
"No, not Lucy. There was this other girl..."
"Oh, her?" Roxanne snorted. "No, they never dated. It was just some would-be scientist that Brock met on his journeys and got all infatuated with. Didn't last long. That woman was a devil!" She sighed. "Of course, once Cliff heard about that, he started bringing her around, parading her in front of Lucy and everything! You can guess how well that went."
"What happened to him?" May wanted to know. "This Cliff guy, I mean."
"What happened is things came to blows!" Roxanne said. "Every time Brock and Cliff were in the same room they'd start arguing, and everyone else would have to separate them. Well, one day, things got way out of control. It was at our annual family picnic, and I'm pretty sure a certain belligerent jerk had been hitting the bottle a little too much. I was watching over the kids when I heard this big commotion. And there they were, throwing punches while Cliff was cursing up a storm. In front of the kids! Can you believe it?
"Uh, seeing everything else this guy has done, kind of?"
"Fair," Roxanne admitted. "Well, of course everyone jumped in to pull them apart, but not before Cliff had broken Brock's nose. A couple of the PokeGirls pretty much forced Cliff to go home, and that was the last time I ever saw him."
"I remember asking Lucy about it," Olivia said. "She said that Cliff had...basically disowned everyone. Had taken all his things and left without telling anyone. He left a note, though. Apparently, it was, um, how do I say..."
"Infuriating?" Roxanne suggested. "Self-absorbed? Showed him for the entitled brat that he was?"
"Yeah, I'd say that that just about covers it."
Roxanne let out a growl. "Well, we never heard from him since, though I always felt that some of the family was at least keeping tabs on him. But he was gone, and he had taken his girlfriend with him, and honestly that was so much of a relief that I was glad that things ended the way that they did."
"Except they didn't," Olivia grimly pointed out. "If he's with Team Rocket, then that means he could have been involved during their takeover attempt a few years back."
The two of them fell silent, each digesting this new possibility. The war to drive Team Rocket from Pewter City had been a harrowing one, and they were all very aware of what a close thing it had been. There had been multiple sabotage and kidnapping attempts, not only of Brock's Pokemon and PokeGirls, but also of his family. Olivia remembered well what it had been like to be beaten to near unconscious, tied up so tightly that even her immense strength could not free her, and shoved into a helicopter. She might have been lost then had it not been for the luckiest of hyper beams, courtesy of Brock's Onix. And none of them would forget the cry of anguish from Brock's mother Lola when Forrester had been reported missing.
What made it such a close thing had been Team Rocket's uncanny knowledge of not only the gym and its construction, but the family's houses, the police department, even the PokeCenter. At the time they had just chalked it up to spies and bribes, but now Olivia was wondering if there was more to it than that. Like, say, an actual member of the Harrison family, one with extensive knowledge their inner dealings and vulnerabilities.
Olivia found her fingers clenching in her restraints. If that was the case, and Cliff had indeed sold them out, then it was well and good that she was imprisoned so thoroughly.
"Hey, guys?" May said at last. "You know how you kept stopping me from roasting that one Rocket asshole a few hours ago?"
"Yes," Roxanne said, her voice utterly flat.
"Can I ask that next time, if this Cliff guy and I are in the same room and he's not shutting me down like a coward, if you could maybe not stop me from hard boiling his brain inside his skull? Because I kind of think it needs to be."
Roxanne growled again. "You are not killing him, May."
"Oh, come on! After everything he's done, you can't tell me that he doesn't-"
Olivia, on the other hand, had picked up on what her partner had actually meant. "You don't understand," she told the younger PokeGirl. "She's not saying you can't kill him because he doesn't deserve it. She's saying that you won't have to."
"Right," Roxanne said. "Because we'll have done it first."
...
Within the peacefulness of his garden, Rocket Administrator Cliff Harrison sat on a bench beneath the trailing arms of his willow tree and thought. It was where he did most of his thinking.
Kneeling in front of him was a voluptuous young woman, one with shoulder-length hair of a deep violet color and sleepy brown eyes. She wasn't wearing what one might deem appropriate for a villainous underground layer, wearing not much more than a white lab coat over a black miniskirt and a low-cut tube top, but that didn't seem to bother her. Her top had been yanked down even lower, letting her bountiful breasts pop free, and her mouth was currently wrapped around Cliff's impressively large cock, happily bobbing her head up and down its length. Some people might point out that having your dick sucked while trying to think was counter-intuitive, but those people were not Cliff.
The garden had not been easy to cultivate, nor was it easy to maintain. An incredible amount of labor had gone into converting one of the old mining facility's storage rooms into something suitable for the growth of plant life, and even more had gone into constructing the intricate series of tunnels and mirrors that brought sunlight down from the world above to nourish his plants, which had included having to demolish an entire Sandshrew colony that had been in the way.
However, that was the nature of things. Hard work and sacrifices were always required in order to create beauty from the ugliness of the world. Sometimes you had to wreak even more ugliness in the process. But now, look at the fruits of his labor. Beauty. Peace. Tranquility. All in a place of ugliness. It was all worth it in the end.
And that was really a testament to his whole outlook on life. Yes, Team Rocket's methods were often...crude, sometimes even brutal. Yes, there were those who were trampled along the way. Yes, one had to stomach working with some rather unsavory individuals. But only Team Rocket had the wherewithal to do what was necessary in order to correct an imperfect world, no matter how distasteful the journey.
Such as the one he was about to embark.
Cliff sighed. "I," he declared, in part to the woman servicing him, and in part to himself, "am not going to enjoy this."
The woman did not stop, nor should she. If he required her to respond then he would have indicated for her to do so. For now, it was her place to do her duty and listen.
With one hand he reached down to brush his fingers over the petals of a daffodil growing near his feet. "There is an irony in this, I know. I left my family long ago. I shed the name. I destroyed the weak and bitter young man that I was and rebuilt myself into something...new. Something stronger. Something with purpose. And yes, I find that some of those old ideals still linger." A tug, and the daffodil was plucked. He brought the flower to his nose and inhaled its sweet scent. "My family has always valued its children above all else, and here I am, preparing to torture one child in order to enslave two more. I have to admit, I do still find the prospect...distasteful." With his other hand he gently stroked the hair of his woman. "But then, at the very least, I will not be the one handling that aspect of the interrogation. That duty of course will fall to you."
The lips and tongue running themselves over his cock paused momentarily before continuing. The hesitation was brief, almost unnoticeable, but Cliff never missed a detail. He considered mentioning the lapse, but decided against it. It was unimportant.
"I suppose we all have our lingering weaknesses. I can not find it within myself to enjoy this aspect of my duty, whereas you, I feel, will enjoy it entirely too much." He could feel the lips sliding back and forth over his shaft curl into a cruel smile. "That is our burden to bear. In order to bring about Giovanni's vision of order and unity, we must become the monsters necessary to enact that change."
He slid his hand down to caress the woman's face. Smiling around his cock, she tilted her head, pressing her cheek into his palm.
"But the strangest of ironies is that they would find themselves falling into my grasp. My cousin's own PokeGirls." Cliff shook his head. "How often did we try and fail to take them during the Battle of Pewter City? And now, here they are, bound in chains in my house? By rights they always ought to have been mine, just as you are mine. I suppose the universe has a way of correcting...erk!"
The building climax had finally reached its zenith. His loins tensed up, and his cock spasmed, releasing his load into the woman's mouth. She gulped it down without complaint and withdrew, happily laying her head against his inner thigh as his cock slowly deflated. Peace and pleasure washed over him, bringing with them a sense of clarity.
Cliff sighed again. "But that is the old Cliff talking. The gym no longer matters. Roxanne and Olivia do not matter. They are merely resources in service of Team Rocket's glory." He continued to stroke the woman's head. "As for the children, distasteful as it might be, they at least will neither be physically nor irreparably harmed." That was both a statement and a warning. As the daughter of a Gym Leader, May Maple had her uses beyond the information that could be extracted, so it would not do to ruin her. Fortunately, they had methods that did not require physical damage.
The woman sighed in disappointment, but nodded.
It was for the best, Cliff mused. Acquiring Misty Waterflower would secure their foothold in Cerulean City far better than the current dealings taking place ever could, and the boy would be useful in controlling her. Roxanne and Olivia will open doors into Pewter City that had previously been closed, and May Maple will further their expansion into Hoenn. As for the hapless Rocket Grunts that Archer was playing his silly little games with, hopefully they will have learned something from all of this.
Then his communicator beeped.
Cliff paused. There were only so many lines that could reach that particular device, and none of them were to be ignored. Interesting. He pulled it out of his pocket and clicked the button on the side.
"This is Cliff," he said.
...
If Ash were in any state to find humor in anything, he might have found some bitter amusement in the cruel irony of his current situation.
As none of the other wild Pokemon could be trusted with the human children's safety, Ambihilech had taken on the responsibility of overseeing them during the hunt for Jessie. And since not even Misty could have kept up with the hunters through the dark and twisting tunnels of Mt. Moon, that meant that they had to ride on his head. Misty was in the front, clinging onto the elder Onix's crystalline horn, while Ash rode behind her, holding onto her waist.
This ought to have been the greatest moment of his life. Here he was, riding on an Onix made from living moon stone through the bowels of Mt. Moon alongside a multitude of wild Pokemon, holding onto the bare waist of a beautiful naked girl whom he now owned. It was virtually every single one of his most treasured fantasies combined with several that he never even knew that he wanted. This would have been the peak of any young and aspiring Pokemon trainer's life, and here he was doing it a little more than a week into his journey.
And yet he found no joy in his present circumstances. Because he now had to help these Pokemon kill another human being.
He did not like Jessie. Jessie was a terrible person who had been nothing but nasty to him and his friends ever they had the displeasure of meeting. She was mean, cruel, and kind of stupid, someone who willingly worked for an organization as reprehensible as Team Rocket. Ash had no doubt that she had done awful things to both humans and Pokemon and had not lost one wink of sleep over it, and should the opportunity present itself, would not hesitate to hurt Ash and his friends, maybe even kill.
But that did not mean he wanted to kill her! He didn't want to kill anyone! Have her arrested? Sure. See her put in jail and have her out of his life forever? Most definitely. But not kill her! That wasn't what being a Pokemon trainer was about!
But what choice did he have? Jessie had attacked and wounded Malakai. And now she was putting all of these Pokemon in danger. Ambihilech was furious! It was a testament to the old serpent's endless grace that he hadn't permitted the other Pokemon to tear the humans apart.
And then a roar went up, and Ash's stomach clenched. Oh no. This was it.
He craned his neck. The light emitted by Ambihilech only went so far, so he could just barely make out several shadowy figures up ahead, all wearing black. The beams of their flashlights fell upon the hunting party.
Wait, several?
The figures seemed surprised to see the pack of rampaging Pokemon. There was yelling, most of it male, and none of it sounding like Jessie. What was going on?
And then it hit him. Team Rocket. They had come across on of their patrols, the ones that Ambihilech had warned them about.
But was this totally a chance meeting, or had they been heading for the sanctuary? Had they found Jessie before Ash's group could? Were they-
Then came the distinctive sound of Pokemon and PokeGirls being released from their capture balls. Another roar filled the cavern, and Ash instinctively let go of Misty's waist to cover his ears.
This proved to be a mistake. Possibly forgetting the children sitting atop his head, Ambihilech reared up and threw his head back. Ash yelped and tried to grab onto Misty, but her grip had been loosened as well.
And then they were falling, falling, falling, with the glowing length of Ambihilech's body shooting up to meet them.
...
"Administrator!" said the panicked voice of Grunt Clark, who was currently on duty in communications. Gold Patrol just reported in! They encountered a large Pokemon invasion force, heading through the tunnels in section F-5!"
Cliff blinked. "An invasion force?"
"That's what they said! What's more, the Crystal Onix was leading them!"
Cliff had to restrain himself from shouting out Ambihilech's name. Instead, he merely stated, "Did he now? This is the first I've heard of him leaving his nest since our arrival. What happened?"
"Gold Team engaged, but were outmatched. They retreated. Some of the wild Pokemon pursued, but Gold Team's own Pokemon were able to hold them off long enough to make their escape."
Hmmm, a most interesting turn of events. Ambihilech so rarely left his hiding place, so for something to have drawn him out, leading an actual invasion force no less, than perhaps the Stellar Guardian of Mt. Moon had finally decided to take the offensive.
But why would this supposed invasion force be in section F-5? While one could eventually reach the Mt. Moon Rocket HQ from there, it was hardly the most direct route, and he knew that the old snake knew where Team Rocket was holed up. After all, he had been the one to chase the original miners who had built the place.
"Where they able to ascertain exactly how many and what kind of Pokemon that the Crystal Onix had with him?"
"Uh, mention was made of Golbats, but not really. They, um, did say that there did seem to be some humans with them."
Cliff's brow knitted together. "Humans, you say?"
"Yeah, a couple of kids, riding on the big snake's head, if you can believe that. Looked like a boy and a girl. And...Sorry, sir. Hang on just a sec."
Cliff waited patiently as his agent had a conversation with someone else.
"Sorry about that, sir. They say that the girl was, um, naked. For some reason."
Hmmm, a strange new wrinkle. Or perhaps not. If Misty Waterflower was indeed still a PokeGirl, then she would be susceptible to a PokeGirl's instinctive need to expose herself. But of greater concern was Ambihilech. Now, what could have lured him out of his hole?
Cliff's mind started racing. "Put the base on lockdown, high alert," he ordered. "Recall all exploratory patrols, abandon all tunnels save for sections A through C, and send suppression teams Alpha and Beta to section F to head off the invasion force. If possible, capture the Crystal Onix alive, and affix him with a tracker if not. The girl is likewise to be captured alive and with as little harm as possible. The boy is also to be taken alive if circumstances permit, but if not, then I will understand. He is not to escape, however. The other Pokemon are left to our agents' discretion."
"Yes, sir!"
Hmmm, what else, what else? "Send the invasion force's location and potential path over to Strategy, have them add it to the other known sightings of the Crystal Onix, see if they can finally triangulate the location of his hiding place. Also, see to it that our water, waste, and emergency exits are covered. I do not think he would risk himself as part of a diversion, but I prefer not to take that chance. Cliff out."
Placing the communicator back in his pocket, he tucked his spent cock away and stood up.
"My apologies, Doctor," he said to the woman now looking puzzled up at him. "It seems that your interrogation skills have been rendered unnecessary." He deigned not to show how relieved he was about that. "The wayward children have been found. We should have them soon."
The woman's disappointment was both evident and expected. "What?" she said. "B-But you promised! I have this new technique that-"
Cliff sighed. "No, Ivy."
"Just a little? I won't even leave a mark, I promise! She won't-"
In answer, Cliff reached down to grip the disgraced Pokemon Professor by the hair. "I said no, Ivy. You forget yourself."
Rather than be intimidated, Doctor Ivy glared sullenly up at him. Cliff held her gaze, his calm, cold eyes boring into her own.
Finally Doctor Ivy huffed and looked away.
"That's better." Cliff rose to his feet. "See to it that your work is properly packed up. If things end badly, we may need to make a hasty exit." That taken care of, Cliff turned to head for the control center. If Ambihilech was indeed making his move, then this would necessitate an acceleration of Cliff's timetable.
However, he had anticipated that very scenario, and had ensured that his people would be ready for it.