Archer looked back towards Cerulean City. Pillars of smoke rose from the edges and flashes of light from explosions and special attacks lit up the sky. Resistance was fierce as gym trainers, the Cerulean City police, miscellaneous League personnel and even local trainers refused to give Team Rocket an inch of ground. They were operating in a coordinated manner, meaning that the gym leadership was still intact.
Obviously, Giovanni had failed. It was not a pleasant thought.
Archer looked towards the members of Team Rocket who were finishing hauling components and assembling Dr. Namba's device. It was a chrome structure composed of an antenna emerging from a sphere as large as a human with a console, in front of which Dr. Namba himself stood waiting.
"This should have been completed five minutes ago!" The not so good doctor snarled at the grunts putting together his machine. "I swear I am surrounded by nothing but incompetence!"
"Patience doc," Archer said. "Haven't you heard the saying, 'no plan survives contact with the enemy'?"
"Plans may not, but with the baresthint of competence from these fools my schedules would," Namba growled.
"It's within acceptable parameters," Arianna reassured him following up the last grunt who was carrying a box. "So, relax doctor. You won't miss out on helping Team Rocket secure our ultimate victory."
Namba crossed his arms in lieu of saying anything and turned away.
"Hear from the boss yet?" Archer asked Arianna.
"One of our monitoring stations got a tight beam radio transmission from him," she answered. "He's on his way back, but the gym leaders managed to survive his ambush and escape."
"Was he hurt?" Archer asked quickly.
"No," Arianna shook her head. "But his cover is blown, as if we weren't already all in on this."
Archer inhaled sharply. He looked back at the machine being assembled.
"Suddenly I agree with Namba," he said quietly. "This machine should have been ready five minutes ago."
The Cerulean City gym was a mess. People were running to and fro, carrying reports, talking-shouting into phones and radios. At least one decorative plastic plant in the lobby had been knocked over, dirt spilling over the floor, and no one had bothered to clean it up. The air was humid and carried traces of the scent of fear sweat.
It was darker than the last time Ash had seen it; the windows had been covered up by metal plates and the lights were red. He could feel constant faint vibrations from the floor and the constant sound of fast heavy footsteps.
Eddie led the trio straight through the center of the mess, past the lobby, past the arenas and pools where Ash had tried for his badge almost a year ago, and into the heart of the gym.
When they got there Misty let out a small sound that was half-way between a gasp and a growl.
"It's fine," Daisy said, pushing away a nurse who was examining the red stained bandages wrapped around the gym leader's midriff. "The bleeding stopped, it's just old blood."
"They're making a push down First Avenue," Violet said, sitting next to her holding a radio headset to her ear. Her right leg was propped up on a desk and her right ankle was covered in a temporary cast.
"Alex has been working with the gyarados," Lily said, her wrist similarly imprisoned. "If we can sneak them over then they can use a Hyper Beam to scatter the assault and then the squads from the 18th precinct can drive them off."
"Alex hasn't passed the qualifications!" Violet protested. "They shouldn't be out there without one of us-"
"And none of us should take the field now," Daisy interjected. "If Alex thinks that they can handle this, then let them try. In the meantime, we can reroute John, Natsu, and Emily to First and Ocean to delay the Rocket push if Alex fails."
"Fine," Violet said, grabbing a radio transmitter. "I'll give the orders."
"Hey, bosses," Eddie spoke up when there was a brief lull. "I found those trainers that were messing up the Rocket's advance on Market Street."
"Good," Daisy said without looking up. "If you're willing to assist in the defense-"
"You mean clean up your mess," Misty snapped.
"Misty?" Lily's eyes were instantly on her youngest sister. "By Kygore's Blessing, why are you here?"
"Misty?" Daisy and Violet said in unison also looking at their youngest sister.
"You told me to stay away because you were obviously up to something," Misty said, crossing her arms. "I decided to see what that was."
"And she dragged us along," Brock added, standing just behind Misty and to the side.
"Normally I would be mad at you for flagrantly disobeying us," Daisy said, her face set in a wry glare. "But right now we really need the help of a senior gym trainer, a former gym leader, and… how many badges do you have now, Aaron?"
"Seven," Ash answered.
"And a seven-badge trainer." Daisy finished.
"Which one are you missing?" Violet asked.
"The Earth badge," Ash answered.
The three sisters winced.
"What?" Brock asked. "Did something happen to Giovanni?"
"No," Daisy said before anyone else could say anything. "He just finally showed his true colors."
"Wait, what?" Brock said, looking at her. "Did he… did he turn tail?"
"No," Daisy said, her voice flat. "He's with Team Rocket. He's the reason why we can't take the field."
Brock and Misty both went very pale.
"He attacked us while our backs were turned," Lily growled.
"I still don't know how you cottoned on to him," Violet said, looking over at Daisy.
"I didn't," Daisy shook her head. "I just never trusted him. But I thought the worst he would do is knock us out or capture us for some twisted political game. I didn't- I didn't think he was going to try and murder us."
"Are- are you sure it was him?" Misty asked, taking a hesitant step forward. "It wasn't someone in disguise, with magic or psychic powers or even some invention?"
"The pokémon he used to attack us was one of his personal pokémon," Daisy said and Ash realized that her voice hadn't been flat. It had been as cold and final as a tombstone in a harsh winter's night, no warmth, no doubt, only a total certainty. "And the whole reason he was here was because he volunteered to 'help' us investigate Rocket activity in the region."
"It- It just can't be," Brock said, soft and quiet, looking down at the floor.
"Well, it is," Daisy said, eyes hard as emeralds. "And now we've got, like, another Kygore damned Rocket invasion, directly supported by a gym leader level asset because he is a damn gym leader and knows enough about our security systems, procedures, and plans that we can't rely on any of them."
"Then we should take him out before he knows Brock's here," Ash said. He looked over at Brock. "Right? He doesn't know you're here. Or did you tell someone who might have told him-"
"No," Brock shook his head. "I didn't announce our travel plans to anyone. But what's with this 'we' you speak of. You're gonna stay here where it's safe. Help out with the non-combat jobs if you feel like you need to help, but-."
"I can help more by fighting!" Ash protested.
"Aaron, Brock, nowhere in the city is safe right now," Misty said, stepping between them. "They're going to attack the gym sooner or later, so you'll get your chance to fight."
"Then who's gonna cover your and Brock's backs when you go take out Giovanni?" Ash asked, crossing his arms.
"Like, hold your ponytas," Daisy interrupted. "We don't even know where Giovanni is right now. I'm trying to see if I can't figure out where their command center is along with whatever it is that they're up to."
"Other than invading the city?" Misty asked, coming to Daisy's side.
"Other than the invasion, yes," Daisy sighed. "We haven't been able to get scouts out very far, but the ones we've sent out have told us that there's a lot of activity by Cerulean Cave."
"Are they trying to tunnel under the city from there?" Brock asked, joining Misty.
"No," Violet answered. "Our seismic sensors haven't picked up on anything."
"I think they just haven't started yet," Lily added. "They've been moving a lot of heavy machinery over there."
"We might, like, get a vague idea of what they're up to if we look at how they deployed their forces," Daisy said. "But, like, I can't make heads or tails of what they're doing."
Ash felt a spike of unease at her words, if unease was the right term for the feeling. It felt like a greasy fear had been embedded in his soul, a fear that didn't feel like his own.
And then it was gone, just as suddenly as it had appeared.
"Finally," Doctor Namba said as the lights on the console came to life. "It's online."
"I'll warn our forces that we're about to deploy the Berserker," Arianna said with a nod and then walked off to grab a radio transmitter.
"How long will it take?" Archer asked, leaning against the rock face of the mountain.
"The startup sequence will take a minute or so, the initial broadcast another minute, and then the effect will manifest," Namba answered. "And I can guarantee that with almost 100% certainty!"
"Almost 100%? Archer asked, the corner of his mouth twitching up.
"As long as humans are not omniscient then nothing can be predicted with 100% certainty," Namba replied. "For example, we were delayed by weeks because of a bug in our security system that none of us could have predicted."
"Oh?"
"Yes," Namba nodded. "The system reported unauthorized access, oh, I think it was a few months before the Johto Beasts went on their rampage. My closest staff and I spent nearly a month combing through security footage, trying to discover the perpetrator or at least find where the recordings had been altered. We also obsessively combed through our designs to confirm that they hadn't been altered. In the end there was absolutely nothing."
"You did report this, right?" Archer asked, raising one eyebrow.
"Of course we did," Namba snarled. "Security performed their own investigation and came to the same conclusion we did. There was a bug in the system somewhere that resulted in a false positive for unauthorized access. There was no sabotage and no other group has deployed this technology."
"As far as you know."
"Again, without being omniscient we can never be completely sure of anything in this world. But given the potential of this device I would wager that anyone who got their hands on this wouldn't wait to use it."
"Let's wait until after the operation to start bragging about this technology," Archer said. "Speaking of which…"
"Initial broadcast has started," Doctor Namba confirmed, looking over the device's console. "We should start seeing the effects shortly."
As if on cue a series of explosions erupted from the wilderness around the mountain and the city, where no League or Rocket forces were fighting.
Beneath the earth, in the forests, in the skies, and in the waters, something was happening to the wild pokémon, the pokémon who had never known the embrace of a pokéball. Sedate and gentle creatures were baring their teeth in terrible snarls, while the habitually choleric were already attacking everything around them.
Pidgeys cawed as they attacked everything beneath their wings. Magikarp threw themselves out of the waters at whatever was nearby or rammed things beneath the waves. Within Cerulean Cave rhydons charged and electrodes exploded.
And in furthest, darkest depths of the caves, at the focal point where the strange machinery that Team Rocket had assembled, a sleep became uneasy.
"Look, your sisters need you here and one of us needs to make sure Aaron doesn't get any stupid ideas-"
"My sister can keep him busy with or without my help. You on the other hand need backup."
"And I can be back up," Ash insisted. "We're used to each other! We've fought on a team before!"
"You're too young," Brock insisted. "It doesn't matter how many badges you have-"
"I've done this before!" Ash raised his voice. "I've done this lots before. At least this time it'd be my choice!"
"No way buster," Misty cut in, glaring. "Just because you're good at fighting doesn't mean you know how to operate in a combat zone. You only survived Saffron because you were lucky-"
"No, I'm good at surviving!" Ash growled. "I've been good at it my whole life before I met you two!"
"Mhmmm… such juicy drama," Violet said from her station nearby, watching the trio out of the corner of her eye.
"Like, if only Team Rocket wasn't invading then we could pay more attention to them and get all the deets," Daisy sighed.
"Focus girls, focus," Lily sighed.
The three sisters tuned out the sounds of their sister and her friends arguing to focus on coordinating the battle raging outside. A few minutes later the reports started trickling in.
"That's weird," Daisy said looking over the latest reports from their scouts by the Cerulean Cave.
"What is?" Lily leaned in to look over her shoulder.
"We're getting reports of wild pokémon going on the rampage by the cave," Daisy said.
"Isn't that normal when there's a fight happening on their doorstep?" Violet asked.
"Sometimes," Daisy admitted. "But the pokémon from that cave don't usually leave it, especially when there's a large amount of human activity nearby."
"Huh," Lily said, looking over a report that she had just received. "It doesn't seem confined to the caves. Scouts have reported that pokémon from the outskirts where there has been no fighting or Rocket activity are starting to go on the warpath as well."
"The wild pokémon in the outskirts aren't the right species to be going berserk like that," Daisy narrowed her eyes. "What is happening out there? What is Team Rocket doing?"
"I don't know if the Rockets are responsible," Violet said. "The wild pokémon are indiscriminate in their attacks."
"Hmmm…. " Lily's tongue was sticking out of the corner of her mouth. "That's true, but Team Rocket didn't deploy any forces near most of the cave exits or where known concentrations of wild pokémon could be found."
"They knew this was going to happen," Daisy growled. "Brock, quit arguing and get your ass over here. We need your help with this!"
"What's the problem?" Brock said, jogging over.
"Wild pokémon are rampaging, Team Rocket seemed to know it was going to happen, and we need to know why," Daisy answered, shoving a sheaf of papers at him. "Help us figure out what they're planning if you can."
Brock pulled up a chair and began to help the sisters go through their data on the deployment of the Rocket forces. Ash and Misty quit their arguing and watched silently.
The sisters were forced to split their attention between analysis and commanding the forces defending the city, but Brock at least was able to give the disputation of the Rocket forces his full attention. After tens of minutes of anxious silence he spoke up.
"I don't think Team Rocket wants to take the city," Brock said finally. "They haven't surrounded it or cut off communication with the rest of the world. Even if they succeed in their assault, League reinforcements should already be on their way."
"Then what are they after?" Daisy asked.
"It's something about the cave," Brock said, jabbing a finger at the cave on a map. "I don't know what it could be, but whatever they're after is in Cerulean Cave. They're driving the wild pokémon into a frenzy to keep us away and to keep us busy. The entire attack might just be them keeping us bottled up in the city while they do whatever it is they need to do."
"We've got to attack the cave then," Misty said, clenching a fist.
"We can't," Daisy shook her head. "Every gym trainer, every police unit, and even deputized groups of trainers are where they're needed. We got nothing to spare."
"Then we can go after the cave instead of Giovanni," Ash said. "Or maybe we'll be lucky and he'll be in the cave too."
The Sensational Sisters exchanged a look.
"That would… probably be our best bet," Lily said slowly. "Brock, your onix should be able to get you past the wild pokémon outside the cave and you are the one who is most able to break into whatever safe zones Team Rocket has set up."
"Misty and Aaron, you can cover his back," Violet added. "Between the two of you there should be enough pokémon of varying kinds to compensate for type advantage."
"Out of the question," Brock declared, standing up. "I know that Cerulean Cave is home to some of the most powerful and dangerous pokémon in Kanto. It's not safe for Misty let alone Aaron to go."
"Oh, don't you even start," Misty glared at the gym leader from Pewter City. "I've been trained in the basics of surviving that cave and I'm not going to let you go in there alone with the fate of my city on the line."
"And I'm good with wild pokémon," Ash insisted. "You know that."
"And I know that you're twelve or thirteen, I don't know because you've never told us when your birthday is," Brock replied, turning to stare down at the boy. His jaw was clenched and he loomed over Ash. "I know you keep a lot of secrets. I know you get mixed up in things you've got no business getting mixed up in. And-"
"I know he doesn't mean to," Misty cut in, stepping between the two. "Brock, I don't know what's got you so suspicious of Aaron, but he's just unlucky and lacks any and all survival instincts-"
Have I ever mentioned that she's the smartest one of you three? Pikachu said. Ash ignored him.
"And you're acting like he gets involved on purpose or something," Misty continued. "He shouldn't be going with us, but that's because it's too dangerous not-"
"I can handle danger," Ash interrupted. "I've learned a lot since starting out. And all they need is a bunch of strong grass types to hurt you two if they realize who's coming. I've got the, uh, varied team! That will help lots!"
"No," Brock said, crossing his arms and glaring down at Ash. Ash glared up at the gym leader, his fists clenched at his sides.
They stood like that for a moment, before Daisy suddenly spoke up.
"You know, from what Misty's told us, you three somehow always arrive where you're needed," the blond gym leader said looking at the three travelers.
Ash, Brock, and Misty turned to look at her.
"She's right, you know," Violet added.
"Aaron and Misty disrupt Team Rocket's operations in the Viridian forest." Lily said. "Aaron helps distract that group of Rockets in Pewter so that you" she indicated Brock "could free your onix. The three of you uncover and stop the assassination squad sent after that Aboa guy."
"You stopped the poaching operation targeting that migratory flock of butterfree," Violet added to Lily's list. "You were close enough to Saffron City for Brock to take command, Misty to cover his back, and for Aaron to find out how to free Sabrina."
"And now you're here," Daisy's gaze was sharp and serious. "When Cerulean City is under attack by a traitor gym leader and Team Rocket is after something important in Cerulean Cave."
"That's all just a coincidence!" Ash replied. "I mean, mostly."
"It is interesting that Aaron keeps getting involved in these significant events," Brock said evenly, not looking at the boy.
"He's not responsible for this one, bub," Misty said, turning to address Brock, her eyes hard. "Remember? This was all my idea."
"Like, I don't know why this is happening and I don't particularly care," Daisy said, levering herself up out of her seat.
"What I am saying," Daisy continued, unsteady on her feet for a moment, before standing tall and firm "is the three of you are here when you're needed once again. And I think the best chance for you three to save the day once again is by going to the Cerulean Cave and kicking Team Rocket's ass. And that is what I, a gym leader of the Cerulean City Gym, am asking you to do. Will you go?"
Daisy stared each of them in the eye as she spoke, meeting Brock's eyes last. The gym leader and the former gym leader stared at each other.
Though the chaos of the command center didn't change, Ash felt like things had gone quiet and still at her question. He waited with baited breath while their eyes were locked in silent communication or invisible battle.
Brock was the one who dropped his gaze first.
"We'll go."
AN: I'd like to thank Amationary for beta reading
Happy 2024 everyone! Let us celebrate the death of the old year with a new chapter! Or by cursing the very nature of linear time that traps us.
Things are coming to a head and I think everyone's got at least a vague of idea of where it's all going to end up.
The next chapter will be released on March 6th 2024.