Chapter 102, everybody! Time to go to Dark City.

So this one I let sit for a week or two after finishing because I've been wanting to avoid doing stuff fresh off the presses and I was worried this one went a tad too dark. Saying that...I vaguely remember seeing this episode and after reading the episode summary on Bulbapedia, probably the only thing keeping it from being dark in the show was the fact it was intended to be for kids but at the end of the day it was a gang war. Also the return of Giovanni! And Muk as a concept are scary.

In other news, the kids are channeling Grunkle Stan from Gravity Falls, Darkrai's quoting the secretary from Liar Liar and Captain Jack from the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and Giovanni's quoting Sabrina the Teenage Witch and The Mummy. Also yeah usually the 'blood' you see in movies is corn syrup with red food dye.

In other news: thanks to BlastShooter87, Dragonkeeper10, Lucien Naviaux, Speed Reader, LongNightDragon, kazikamikaze24, thor94, Cyan Quartz, Horseman trash, and XXX777 for the reviews! Bulbasaur's former owner had better watch out.

Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo

And now, for something completely different:

Gold Coal presents—the thrilling adventures of the Shadow and the Nightmare! These dramatizations are designed to educate the public on the behavior of Pokémon and the nature of their existence, and to forcibly demonstrate to old and young alike that crime does not pay! Tonight's story: Night without End!

They had been walking for a few hours that day when the shapes up ahead prompted them to start trying to find where they were on the map.

"This upcoming city is called Dark City," Brock said, reading the travel guide. "And…if I recall there was some paperwork sent into the League about a couple of gyms planning on opening here? That could work."

"I'd still rather get the Earth Badge," Ash said. "But I'm certainly not backing down from a challenge!" Stomach grumbled. "Except maybe I should eat first."

"No kidding," Misty said, laughing.

"We left a whole beach of steamed crabs, you could have done something with that," Darkrai said, floating by.

"Nah, that felt like bad taste." Look at Brock. "What do you think? We eat out for once?"

"I wouldn't mind that," Brock said. "We'll look for a restaurant once we get to Dark City."

Well the good news: Dark City had plenty of restaurants.

The bad news: Dark City had plenty of closed restaurants.

"What happened here?" Misty asked, looking around at all the boarded-up buildings. "It looks like an Electrode got into a Self-Destruct fight with a Geodude."

"I…do not know," Brock muttered, flipping through his guide. "But what I do know is we shouldn't be out on the streets like this—come on, let's find someplace to hide and figure out what's going on."

"Like a restaurant—an open one," Ash suggested.

"Don't think we're getting that."

They did finally find someplace out of the way—the ground floor was burnt out but the second story was still sound, afforded them a view of the street below.

"So what's going on, and how do we find out?" Misty asked.

"And when's lunch?" Ash asked, nose to the window.

"Pretty sure lunch is cancelled," Brock sighed. "As for all this…I don't know. This is weird."

"Did some Pokémon go rampaging through here?" Misty asked. "You said this area was high-leveled."

"Yeah, but Pokémon generally avoid large settlements. Dark City implies large."

"People moved?" Ash posited. "I mean we really should have seen someone by now."

Which was when the ceiling behind them caved in.

"Yipes no!" Misty yelped, throwing the first ball she could grab at the collapsed bit of ceiling—ended up with Psyduck, who was never going to be all that intimidating.

On the positive side, it was something they could handle.

"Oh, Team Rocket," Ash noised.

The identified team leaped back to their feet. "Prepare for trouble and the stars of the show!" Jessie announced.

"And make it double—what do you mean oh?" James demanded.

"I figured you had taken Rayquaza Airlines again," Ash said.

"Dat's fair," Meowth said. "I mean it was an entrance."

"As if we'd debase ourselves with anything less than dramatic," Jessie said, posing.

"Well since you're here…I don't suppose you know anything about why this town is abandoned," Brock asked, as Misty returned Psyduck.

"Ah, that reminds me—hide," James said, herding them away from the windows.

"Why? What's going on?" Misty asked.

"So. Here's da ting," Meowth said. "Dere's dese two groups who both want ta be da gym fer da city, but dey's been fightin' a lot, so when da League representative came trew dey passed on da both o' dem so now dey's just fighting cause dey're mad at each other and blamin' da other guy fer losing dem da gym."

"There's maybe five people left in the city who aren't hooked up with either gym—well, gang at this point," James said. "Seemed like a good place for recruiting, but these gym gangs are nuts."

"Absolutely no respect for Team Rocket representatives," Jessie fumed.

"Uh, no offense, but we have no respect for you either," Misty pointed out.

"Yeah, but dat's different," Meowth said. "Youse keep it professional-like."

"We do?" Ash asked blankly.

"Comparatively," James said, shrugging.

"Anyway shush," Jessie hissed. "We've got company."

Ash's question as to who was answered by loud cawing—ducked back with the rest of them, plastered against the wall, but was still able to see a flock of Spearow circling overhead before flying down the different streets.

"Da otha group uses Golbat," Meowth supplied once they were gone.

"Okay everyone in favor of abandoning this town and heading for the hills say aye," Misty said—got at least three ayes. "Yup, let's go."

"Uh," James started.

Why he felt that way was answered by someone stepping out of the hall, grinning as they readied a Pokéball—

Was knocked out quickly by Darkrai.

"Boy am I glad to see you," Ash said.

"On that topic, where have you been?" Misty demanded.

"An' why couldn't you have been here like two hours earlier?" Meowth sighed. "We had a mech an' everyting."

"To answer your question: around," Darkrai said, pointing at Misty. "And you," he added, pointing at Meowth. "I have questions about you people using giant robots to solve all your problems."

"Well see Team Rocket's mad scientist division makes those, and their needs Pidovetail nicely into our needs," James said, lacing his fingers.

"And what needs are those?" Brock asked.

"The need to pilot giant robots."

Brock pondered this for a moment. "I have at least two siblings that need to never learn of this information."

"Are you sure? We've told you about the dental and life insurance, right?"

"Well unless you plan on cashing in on that insurance policy, we need to be leaving," Jessie said.

"We could always knock you for so big of a loop you go blasting off again," Darkrai offered, a claw up.

"Let's call dat one a solid Plan B," Meowth decided. "Now let's get outta here already—I wasn't kiddin' when I said dat dese people were nuts."

There was plenty of cautious scanning once they were at street level.

"So if we run into non-Team Rocket trouble, the plan is to scatter," Jessie announced. "They can't chase everyone."

"How do we feel about throwing people to the ground?" Misty asked.

"We're not doing that," Brock said sternly.

"I thought I'd ask."

"I mean if youse gonna be dastardly about it dere's no point in avoiding dese guys," Meowth pointed out.

"See?" Brock asked. "Be better than that."

"Don't be better than that," Darkrai counseled.

"You can find us a safe way back out."

Darkrai rolled his eyes, sank into the shadows and zipped off.

"Wish I could do that right about now," James said, staring at where Darkrai disappeared to.

"Yeah well my plan is ta get someplace with phone service and den call dis place in," Meowth grumbled as they cautiously shuffled out, hopefully heading for the city limits. "Dis used up another one-a my nine lives and I wasn't wantin' ta go through all of dem dis year—"

"There!"

Everyone yelped and leaped together, grabbing for Pokéballs as people swarmed out of various buildings, some pretty high-leveled and dastardly-looking Pokémon at the ready—

"AAAH PLAN B!" Meowth screamed, leaping onto James' back.

"Koffing, go!" James yelped, releasing the purple orb—he and Jessie hugged it. "Use Explosion now!"

"No wait—" Brock yelped—dove for cover alongside everyone else as Koffing did as ordered—

And succeeded in blasting the trio off, them flying off into the distance and hollering "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off agaiiiiin!" before disappearing with an audible ting!

Which left everyone still on the ground staring at the little star they left in the distance.

"That actually worked?" Misty asked, dumbfounded.

"Quick who do we know who knows Explosion?" Ash asked her.

"Brock, Geodude."

"Misty, bigger problem," Brock said, hands up as the group focused back on them, Pokémon and weapons at the ready.

"Oh fine leave it to me," Misty said, crouching a bit so her reaching for a Pokéball wasn't as obvious.

"Hands where we can see them!" one guy barked.

"Nope," Misty said, releasing Muk. "Muk, go ham on these guys!"

As it turned out, that was not good advice to give a sentient pile of sludge that approached battling like Frenzy did.

"Okay," Misty noised when it was all over, grimacing as she returned a bloated Muk. "Um...there's no cops in this city we take this to our graves."

"I know I didn't see anything," Ash said, trying to duck from under Brock's hands.

"Trust me, that was a good thing," Brock said.

The general idea was to find another place to hide until Darkrai came back, Ash pointing out a restaurant as a likely spot.

"You just want lunch, don't you?" Brock asked as they slipped in.

"Look if this city kills me I don't want to go out on an empty stomach."

"A full stomach is going to complicate the run like a Blitzle strategy we're planning on," Misty pointed out.

"Yeah yeah have this conversation away from the windows," Brock said, steering them away from the boarded-up windows. "There's no point in making this easier for those guyeee!"

"Back off!" the lady behind the counter screamed, brandishing a mop. "We're not paying protection money and we're not joining your gang, so beat it!"

"Okay fair, but you're threatening us with a mop," Ash said when they recovered.

"And we're not with some stupid gang!" Misty said, throwing her hands up. "We were passing through and got nailed by those bozos! Why doesn't the League do anything about this? Brock!" she snapped, slapping a temporarily love-dazed Brock upside the head.

"OW! Uh—has anyone reported this to the League yet?" he asked the lady.

"Yeah, a lot of people," she huffed. "The League can't be bothered with coming back around after giving those two a list of what they needed to do to qualify as a gym."

"Okay, go back, we need full context," Misty said.

"Also lunch if that's possible," Ash said.

"I can guess," Brock said. "The League official came in, saw that there were two guys vying for the position, told them what to do to qualify, but also said there could be only one."

"That's about the sum and scope of it," the lady sighed. "They've been fighting ever since and just about torn the town to pieces—I'm Lynn, I own this restaurant, or what's left of it," she admitted, looking around. "Who are you?"

"They're heroes, that's what!" a younger girl said from the top of the stairs. "I was up here and saw everything, they beat those nasty gang guys off!"

"We are not removing witnesses," Brock whispered sternly at Misty.

"I'm concerned that that was your first thought," Misty hissed back.

"Mellie, go back upstairs," Lynn said.

"No wait, they can help us!" Mellie said, running down. "Please!"

"Answer my question first," Lynn said, looking at them.

"Ah, hold that thought," Misty said, tugging Brock and Ash away.

"You know we can't use our real names, right?" she hissed at them.

"Why not?" Ash asked.

"Do you want your name hooked up to some gang fight?"

"Guys, come up with something fast, we're looking suspicious," Brock ordered.

"Uh…right," Ash said, looking back at Lynn. "I'm Tom Ato!"

Misty groaned at that—decided to go with it. "I'm Anne Chovy."

"I'm Caesar Salad," Brock offered—shrugged at the looks Misty and Ash gave him. "What?"

"Seriously?" Misty demanded.

"Oh Tom, Anne, Caesar!" Mellie begged. "Please, help us with our problems!"

"Sure thing!" Ash said, giving her a thumbs-up. "You can count on us!"

"Great! We'll make lunch and then tell you where to go!" she said brightly, grabbing Lynn's arm and tugging her towards the kitchen.

As soon as the girls were preoccupied elsewhere, Misty rounded on Brock and thumped him one.

"Caesar Salad?" she hissed. "Did you even TRY?"

"Oh like tomato and anchovy are so much better," Brock hissed back.

"I was gonna go with Lamont Cranston, but I figured people would recognize that," Ash offered.

"They would."

"So now what?" Misty asked. "We're basically stuck in a turf war between two gangs!"

"We beat them both like drums?" Ash suggested.

"That might be our only option," Brock sighed. "We could report them to the League, as Gym Leaders we'd carry more weight, but they're busy elsewhere—it'd be ages before anyone got to here."

"So it's just us," Misty said.

"Unfortunately."

Misty sighed, sagging—went to the locals.

"Hey, what can you tell us about these guys anyway?" she asked.

As it turned out, both groups specialized in very strong Pokémon such as Electabuzz and Scyther, as well as Pinsir and Magmar.

"I vote you handle the bugs," Ash said to Misty.

"They'll never know what hit them," Misty said flatly. Glanced back as Ash did when they felt a tap at their legs to see Darkrai hiding in their shadows.

"Am I too early?" he asked quietly. "I can go around the block a few more times."

"We might have accidentally volunteered to take care of the problem," Ash said, matching his volume.

"You're an idiot."

"Be that as it may, we have a need to find these guys," Brock said. "Can you figure out where they are from here?"

"You could ask your employers."

"I don't think we're getting paid for this," Misty sighed.

"Back to you being idiots."

"I claim no responsibility for this."

"Do you guys know where these guys' bases of operation are?" Brock called over.

"No," Lynn said, shaking her head. "But I know where the gym was going to be—usually they meet there at noon to fight over that turf again."

"The two heads do?" Brock asked; when she nodded: "Then that's where we'll be. We cut the head off the Ekans, then the rest will fall in line."

"Unless that turns them into directionless rabble," Darkrai muttered.

"I prefer to think positive."

Following Lynn's directions sent them past a burnt-out Poké-mart and Pokémon Center towards the city center, at which point Darkrai directed them to advantageous hiding places.

"The dramatic entrance is very important," he assured them.

"Do we get to do the dramatic laugh too?" Ash asked.

"I need to hear it first." Gave Ash a flat look when he tried. "No. No. They'll laugh at you and then stab you. Try again when your voice cracks."

"Guys, shh," Brock noised, indicating where people were starting to file into the square. They watched, starting to despair as more and more people and Pokémon filed in...this would be like with the Krabby, a war of attrition if they weren't careful.

"I better not hear any of you suggesting anything resembling a fair fight, because you aren't going to get it," Darkrai said.

"I'll keep my mouth shut," Brock said.

"So!" one guy barked, stalking forward. "Are you ready to surrender?"

"Not hardly!" a different guy challenged, stalking forward to meet him. "Dark City is going to be home to the Yas Gym! Get used to it!"

"No, the Gaz Gym is the rightful gym!"

"Okay usually I'd say something about waiting for the opportune moment but I'm starting to lose brain cells here," Darkrai sighed.

"Hard same," Misty said.

"All righty then," Brock said, releasing Geodude and then pointing at the bell in the clock tower they were hiding in.

Okay so that was loud but it succeeded in getting everyone to look up at the ledge above the town hall entrance, where Ash, Misty, and Brock were poised.

"I've got bad news, neither of you are getting the gym position, ever!" Misty hollered down.

"Are you with the League?" one of the guys hollered up.

"If I say yes, are you guys going to stop?"

"NO!"

"So it doesn't really matter," Brock said. "Look around, you're tearing up your own city!"

"And you're totally misrepresenting trainers!" Ash argued. "You're turning it into just—I don't know but it's not battling!"

"Animal fighting," Darkrai suggested from behind.

"If you're so smart, then get down here and teach us a lesson!" one of the guys said, gesturing at his laughing mob. "See how well that turns out!"

Okay, time for the big guns then. "You asked for it. Go, Frenzy!" Ash ordered, throwing the Parasect out—

And causing the guy to laugh. "Seriously? a Parasect? Are you mad?"

Ash smirked. "Frenzy, take them out."

It was always going to be very satisfying, watching the look of horror Frenzy's war cry brought on. Also satisfying: the look of terror when Frenzy got to work.

"So originally I was going to throw some of mine in too, but I think I'd rather stay up here and watch the carnage," Misty said.

"You could always throw Muk out," Ash pointed out.

"Nah, I don't want it getting fat."

"Also that was horrifying," Brock said.

"Wait what did I miss?" Darkrai demanded.

"Enough of this!" one of the guys roared, flinging a Pokéball. "Go, Electabuzz! Kill that thing!"

"Hey wait—" Ash squawked at that command—the Electabuzz roared, zapped Frenzy—

Who froze for a moment before very deliberately turning to face the Electabuzz.

This time it was Darkrai covering Ash's eyes as Frenzy roared and tore into the Electabuzz.

"So you guys do know I can hear, right?" Ash asked.

"So can I, that doesn't mean I want to watch," Misty said, eyes covered.

"Just keep telling yourself it's Cornn syrup," Darkrai assured them.

Eventually it was agreed that it was better for Darkrai to start spamming Dark Void to get this all over with. Mostly out of concern that Frenzy was getting tired.

"Also, again, there's no cops in this city, we're taking this to our graves," Misty insisted as they walked back to the restaurant.

"Granted today's gonna haunt me for a while," Brock sighed. "We tell them the threat's been neutralized for the most part and then head for the hills and not stop for a few days."

"Sold," Misty said as they came up on the restaurant. Millie came running out, followed by Lynn.

"Well?" they demanded.

"So at the very least we've instilled a healthy fear of Parasect in those guys," Ash said. "Also I don't think they've got the strength to try anything for a while."

"Which should buy everyone the time to get out of dodge," Brock said.

Lynn shook her head. "Not yet. I want to, but...Dark City's my home, I don't want to give up on it just yet."

"But now we don't have to!" Mellie said brightly. "Dark City will forever sing the praises of Tom Ato!"

Oog, right….

"I should have picked a better name," Ash sighed.

"Y'think?" Misty asked drily.

Dark City had technically been in tatters before with the two warring gyms, so there really wasn't much left to sweep up.

Saying that...desperate people were always the easiest, especially when they were shown just who the superior power was. And considering what those three reported...well, Team Rocket always needed fresh grunts.

"Now then," Giovanni said when the two 'gym leaders' were produced, keeping half an eye on his Steelix circling the town and preventing others from escaping. "I feel like we ought to have a little chat."

"D-Don Giovanni," one guy managed.

"Good, we can skip the pleasantries and move on to saying I'm with the League. Your performance is lackluster, you will not be making gym leader. Either of you. I'm sure you've already been told why," he added with an ironic gesture to the town. "At this point the whole town might as well be shuttered."

"I—we—"

"Shut up. I have a proposition for you and your crew. Understand that it's a limited time one."

"What is it?" the other guy asked.

"I run an organization by the name of Team Rocket. You and your little gangs can join as fresh recruits and actually do something useful. Or you could turn me down, that's always an option."

"But—Dark City," the first guy protested.

"Is in shambles, thanks to you trying to please a League that doesn't even care enough to put you on the tourist map. People from miles around know to give this town a wide berth thanks to you. Now here I am offering you a chance to make that sort of behavior useful. What do you say?"

"I...say that's a fair deal," the second guy said. "I'm in."

"Good, you can take you and yours over to the recruiter there," Giovanni said, indicating one of his subordinates. "What about you?" he asked, turning his attention on the first guy.

"I...no," the guy said. "I'm not joining a criminal organization."

"Sir, you are a criminal organization; law-abiding citizens don't turn their cities into rubble."

"So I'll stay and fix it."

"Hey wait no," the second guy said. "You're not staying here and trying to snitch gym leader—"

"You: hush," Giovanni told the second guy. "There is no gym leader position for either of you. I believe I made that quite clear."

"You also said I could turn you down," the first guy said.

"I did say that," Giovanni said, smiling at him and giving a short nod.

Persian slammed into the man, claws dug in and jaws around his throat keeping his end relatively quiet.

"That was his mistake; now back to you," Giovanni told the second guy. "You were saying?"

"Uh-uh-uh—"

"Oh come now, are you really trying to convince me that you never ordered an attack on another person? Silly me, here I thought you had teeth."

"Ah—wh-what I mean to say is of course, Mr. Giovanni sir, I'd be happy to join Team Rocket, I'm sure the rest of my guys are too."

"Much better. Now...you," he said, pointing at a guy who had been on the other guy's team. "You just got promoted. What say you to my proposal?"

The guy grimaced, still staring at Persian. "I...we don't have much of a choice, now do we?"

"Oh, there's always a choice—it just boils down to whether or not you can live with the consequences," he said, Persian licking his chops to punctuate this statement. "So, yea or nay?"

"I...vote the first option."

"Good man, take you and yours over there to get sorted," Giovanni said, hooking a thumb over his shoulder as he walked down the street some, Persian slinking after him. He had noticed a few people peeking out, people now trying desperately to act like they hadn't seen anything.

One woman, however, had apparently decided that she might as well go for the gusto. "Kinda lousy of the League to show up after we had everything fixed," she spat.

"I'm not here with the League," Giovanni told her.

She blinked. "But—over there you said—"

"I said I was with the League, and under severest technicalities I am. This is not League business."

"Then...why are you here?"

"Because the League couldn't be bothered," he said, gesturing broadly with the hand holding his hat. "All this mess, and none of them could be bothered to come here and help. You had to be rescued by three children over any League official. But I'm here to change all that."

She eyed him warily, attention kept slipping to the guy from earlier. "How do you figure?"

Smile at her, put his hat over his heart as he bowed slightly.

"Because I'm a big advocate of preparing for trouble," he told her. "Protecting people from devastation, uniting the people, all the things the League won't do. You'll be seeing Team Rocket around here a lot these coming weeks, and should the League finally deign to come visiting...well I do hope you'll remember who actually came and put your town back together."

"City," she corrected automatically, seeming a little dazed.

He gave her a wry look, put his hat back on. "It used to be a city—just like so many others used to be." Head back for the helicopter, whistling for his Steelix—it cut off from its circling pattern and surged down a couple streets to be returned.

Persian seemed to share his opinion about the day—flopped down on the seat next to him as the helicopter doors slid shut, leaning his shoulder and neck heavily against Giovanni's side as he groomed his paws. Purred when Giovanni started petting him.

"You know, I think it's time we paid this kid and his friends a little visit," he said, rubbing one of Persian's ears. "It's about time I saw such a useful asset for myself." And confirm a few things as well—pull up those three's reports, review the information on the kid...hmm, given his trajectory, he'd be heading back to Viridian...would it be worth giving him a gym battle.

Although there was that little thing about the Legendary following him. And then next to Viridian—Pallet Town. Much smaller, more out-of-the-way.

Persian turning his head to brush a few whiskers against his face told him he had stopped petting and that Persian objected to this—scratch under the large cat Pokémon's chin, smiling. "Ready to go hunting?"

The deeper purr said yes.