Ash, Brock, and Misty waited on top of the cave hill with nothing but a ring of slowly melting ice separating them from the potentially hostile pokémon. Brock had pulled out an electric lantern to replace the dwindling lights of the Rocket camp. By that faint light the three humans and their pokémon could see Onix off in the distance in a standoff with several large wild pokémon.
Nobody was talking. Each of them was scanning the perimeter, trying to catch a glimpse of movement that might herald a new assault from the enraged wild pokémon. The roars of the pokémon attacking the Rocket camp and the screams of the humans within echoed throughout the cavern.
Eventually the screams ended and the mass of pokémon returned, the rhydon at their head. Ash unconsciously was holding his breath. He thought that whatever the not-noise was had lessened, but the boy knew that it might just be wishful thinking.
"Let's go say hello," Brock said quietly. "Aaron, you'll have to be our translator."
"Right," Ash said, taking a deep shaking breath. The three humans walked down to the gap in the ice barrier followed by their pokémon.
You were right, the rhydon said without preamble. Ash let out a sigh of relief.
"Good news I'm guessing," he heard Misty mutter from right behind him.
Why are they doing this? The rhydon continued, looking at Ash.
I don't know, Ash admitted. That's part of the reason why we came down here. We thought it was because they were attacking the city, but we don't know why there are so many of them in this cave.
Hmph. We'll tell the other wild pokémon who's to blame and to leave you alone, the rhydon told him, arms crossed. Hurry up and get rid of them.
We're trying, Ash said as the rock-type turned around and walked away, the other wild pokémon following him.
"I'm guessing it worked?" Brock asked as the mass of pokémon disbursed. .
"Yeah," Ash answered. "They're also going to tell the other wild pokémon to leave us alone."
"That's a relief," Misty said.
Yes! Butterfree nodded, hovering by Ash. I did not want to get squished by a rock-type today.
Stupid ground-types, Pikachu muttered from Ash's shoulder. I'd rather have fried the first pokémon to rush us to make an example out of them.
"Yeah, but we need to get moving," Brock said. "Aaron's solved one problem for us, but we've still got to deal with Team Rocket."
"Let's go see what the pokémon left," Misty said, pointing to where the Rocket camp had been. "Maybe that will shed some light on why they're down here."
When the trio arrived at the camp they found smashed equipment and pulped bodies. Misty and Brock immediately covered Ash's eyes when they saw that, stopping him from getting a good look, and then spun him around.
"Keep watch," Brock said.
"I know you've been through a lot, but you don't need to see this too," Misty told Ash. "Brock and I can search the camp. You can keep an eye out… and an ear out, I guess? If the wild pokémon are saying anything useful? Sorry, I'm not sure how that works."
Ash swallowed down the queasiness he was feeling from his brief glance at the carnage and then answered. "No, that's pretty much how it works. I'll tell you if I hear them shouting anything important."
Oh, yeah, Pikachu said, looking around behind Ash. Yeah, they made the right call.
"See, Pikachu agrees-" Misty began, looking at Pikachu before her gaze suddenly jerked back to Ash. "Wait, is he actually agreeing with me?"
"In this case, yes," Ash replied.
"Heh, you've known exactly what all our pokémon have been saying this entire time," Misty said, shaking her head and giving Ash a small smile. "Must've been useful."
"It has its drawbacks," Ash said. "Particularly when listening to Pikachu."
Hey! Everything I say is important and relevant!
"Do you know how often he demands people pay tribute to his 'cuteness'" Ash said, making air quotes around the last word.
All humans should pay tribute to my adorableness.
"Well, if you got it, flaunt it," Brock said from behind them. "But, Misty, we need to investigate this. We can interrogate Aaron on this later. At. Great. Length."
That's going to be fun, Pikachu said, giving Ash a shit-eating-grin.
You be quiet, Ash shot back at Pikachu.
"I can't believe that gibberish is communication," Brock said as Misty joined him in investigating the Rocket camp.
"I just know he's going to actually speak gibberish sometimes to mess with us," she said to the gym leader.
"Or to swear without us knowing."
"Well, that's why I wanted him to teach me the cusses when I thought he was just bilingual."
"So you could catch him swearing?"
"No, so I could swear without you or my sisters catching on."
Ash couldn't stop himself from letting out a small snort at that last one. He quickly calmed himself and kept an eye out on the dark depths of the caves around them.
Butterfree, do you sense anything? Ash asked the bug-type hovering by him.
Nothing nearby, Buttefree said, shaking his head. But it's hard to tell. There's just so much psychic energy here. It's freaky.
"Hey, Aaron! Wait, don't turn around!," Brock called out from inside the camp, preemptively stopping Ash from looking at the carnage. "Can you stick to Sinnohese while we're down here, for Misty and I's sake, unless you're trying to stop the Rockets from listening in."
"I guess," Ash said, shrugging.
"Thank you," Brock said. "Were you saying anything important to Butterfree just now?"
"Just asking them if they sensed anything," Ash informed the gym leader. "But he can't sense anything because there's a bunch of psychic energy in the cave."
"It's been that way for a long time now," Misty added. "Several years ago something moved into this cave. Daisy thought it might have been a slowking colony but no one's been deep enough to check."
"Do you think that might be what Team Rocket's after?" Ash asked.
"A slowking colony? No way. That's not worth attacking the city over."
"No, but they've been awfully focused on getting psychic pokémon," Brock said slowly. "The poachers that were after the Butterfrees, the caterpie collection, what they did to Saffron City and the gym…"
"You think that's connected to what's in the depths?" Misty said. "That… makes too much sense now that I think about it. But what's with these camps? Why did they need to take over the entire cave and attack the city?"
"We've got to figure out what this camp was really for," Brock commanded, voice stern.
Ash heard the two of them rummage through the camp for several minutes, rubble clattering, bits of metal clanking as they were examined and then thrown aside.
"This almost looks like an advanced capture array emitter," Brock said. "But it's not integrated into a cage or a pokéball…"
"You sure it wasn't part of a cage before the wild pokémon trashed this place?" Misty asked.
"Yes, look here, it's mostly intact. It was part of this machine here…"
"You mean like the poachers who were after the butterfrees were using?" Ash asked without turning around.
"Except much more advanced," Brock said. "Why would they have a free standing capture array emitter though.."
"Were they trying to capture all the pokémon in the cave at once?" Misty inquired.
"They'd have no way to control them though…"
"Maybe that's what the psychic pokémon were for?" Ash suggested. "To mind control them? Like they did with Sabrina."
"They used a machine to control Sabrina… but through her they controlled all her psychic pokémon…" Misty said.
"But only the psychic pokémon," Brock pointed out.
"And there's something psychic down here," Misty replied.
Something faint tugged at Ash's mind, like a memory he'd never had.
"I can't see how it could be worth attacking Cerulean City over," Brock said. "What kind of pokémon-"
"What about a new legendary?" Ash said, surprising himself. Something had just clicked in his head, instincts and unconscious thoughts swirling into an idea he couldn't help but express.
"That's… that's… that's a terrifying thought," Brock said. Ash could see the young man's face turn paler even in the scant light of the cave. "But a legendary pokémon should be able to defend themself-"
"Against a free-standing capture field powered by advanced emitters?" Misty asked. Ash could tell she had suddenly stood up in the middle of her sentence from how the sound of her voice changed. "Brock, it all fits. The attack on Saffron- they probably got this capture technology from Silph Co. It was one of the first places they hit. Their focus on gathering pokémon with psychic potential, all the pokémon they took from the Saffron Gym, Kygore's fuckin' teeth, what they did to Sabrina was a test run for this."
Brock was silent for a moment, lost in thought or lost in fear.
"I don't know if you're right, but it's a possibility we can't risk," Brock said finally. "Onix! Get ready, we're leaving soon! Misty, Aaron, you get on him. I want to look around the camp once more before we leave in case there's something we're missing."
"No, don't look back," Misty said as she rushed over to Aaron. "Just get on Onix."
"I mean, I have seen worse," Ash said, but let her gently push him towards the waiting stone serpent. "I think."
Once again, you of all people shouldn't be saying that, Pikachu said smirking on Ash's shoulder.
Be- "Be quiet you," Ash shot back.
"What'd he say?" Misty asked as they clamored aboard Onix.
"That I shouldn't be saying 'I think'" Ash answered with a sigh.
Misty giggled.
"Has he been saying things like that the whole time?" She asked once the two were sitting on Onix, Ash in front, Misty behind him.
"Yes," Ash groaned.
Oh, don't act like you don't appreciate my sage advice, Pikachu said.
"Have my pokémon said anything interesting that I didn't catch?"
"Not really," Ash shrugged.
"And why do you call talking like a pokémon 'speaking properly'?"
"I mean, that's what they call it," Ash said with another shrug. "Plus it's easier than speaking like a human. You don't need to deal with different languages or anything."
"I guess that's true," Misty agreed.
"Not that I'll learn another language," Ash went on. "I don't want to have to work on listening to the sounds instead of the meanings again."
"Wait, what?" Ash turned around at her tone and saw her staring at him with wide eyes. "What do you mean by 'listen to the sounds instead of the meaning'?"
"What? Listening to the meaning is how pokémon do it." Ash said. He didn't see what was so special about it.
"Aaron, can you understand what people are saying no matter what language they use?"
"Well, yeah," Ash said, brow furrowing. "Why wouldn't I?"
He really didn't understand why Misty was staring at him like that.
Why don't you tell her about that 'joke' you like to play on all the pokémon you meet, Pikachu huffed, crossing his forelimbs.
"Why?" Ash asked his starter.
Because she should know what a monster you are, playing unfunny jokes on innocent pikachus like that.
"You were never an innocent pikachu."
I was back when I had my plump pikachu figure, Pikachu shot back, looking down at his body. And now look at me! I'm getting- dare I say it- thin! This is because I had to put up with your sense of humor!
"I thought it was my idiocy?" Ash said, rolling his eyes.
Well, that's the origin of your sense of humor.
"And despite that first impression, you still came with me…"
Only because I must have brain damage, Pikachu sighed.
"I'm only hearing half of this conversation but it's enough that I'm seeing Pikachu in a new light," Misty said, shaking her head as if to clear it. Her expression then grew serious. "We've been traveling with you for almost a year now? Were you ever going to tell us you could do this?"
There was an uncomfortable, worming sensation in Ash's gut at the question. He couldn't meet his friend's eyes and looked down at Onix.
"No human was supposed to know," he whispered after a moment in the darkness.
"Why not?" Misty asked, her voice soft as a feather, as if he were fragile enough to be shattered by that alone.
"I- I'm not going to talk about that," Ash said. He could feel the old familiar fear rising, the familiar sensation of tears gathering in his eyes. He swallowed them back and forced himself to ignore his fear.
His hunters weren't here. Team Rocket was, but Ash had fought them enough times that he only feared them in his nightmares.
"But," Ash said, taking in a shaky breath. "If you wondered why I didn't want to travel with you, it was because I didn't want to hide this all the time."
"I see," Misty said, voice even and neutral. "Why didn't you try to send us away later then? After getting your second badge you might have been able to make a good argument."
"I… I liked being with other humans again." Ash admitted.
"Aaron… how long were you alone?" Misty's voice still sounded neutral, but Ash heard something in it he couldn't identify.
"I was never alone," the boy answered. "Just because I wasn't with humans doesn't mean I was alone. But… I couldn't remember what it was like to spend so much time with people. It was.. good."
"Oh, Aaron…" The boy turned around to look at the first human companion he had gained on his journey. Beneath the earth, hidden away from the sun, her viridian eyes had turned grey and Ash had never seen them look so sad before.
Ash didn't understand why her eyes were like that.
After all, he had survived.
Before Ash could say anything more, Brock rejoined them.
"Nothing," Brock said in answer to their unspoken question and then moved on. "Misty, you said that the source of the psychic energy is in the depths of the cave?"
"We never found out exactly where, but it should be in one of the deepest, most remote parts," Misty told him. "Violet was pretty sure that it would be at the end of one of the water ways she never had a chance to explore."
"How's the integrity of the cave?"
"It's not strong enough for Onix to Dig through everything," Misty replied. "He'll cause localized collapses if we travel that way."
"Putting both us and the habitat of the local pokémon at risk," Brock sighed. "Then we'll have to go spelunking the traditional way."
"Couldn't we just smash all the capture stuff instead?" Ash asked.
"Maybe," Brock said, holding up a level hand and then wiggling it. "But we don't know how many sites have capture field emitters and where they are. We do have a better idea about where the source of the psychic energy is and what's more that's probably where we'll find Giovanni.
"Do not engage him," the former gym leader said, giving Ash a grave look. "Knowing his true colors, he will not hesitate to kill you and is strong enough to do it easily."
"Right," Ash said, nodding.
Ash was honest in his reply to Brock, but there was a piece of him, beneath the fear, beneath his belief in Brock's words, that wanted to see how he compared against an opponent like Giovanni.
The part of him that wanted to leap out of the tall grass, ready for battle.
Dragonite touched down in the middle of the fortified Cerulean position at one of the major intersections behind the front lines. Lance casually stepped off the dragon type's back, his cape fluttering as he reached the ground.
Without speaking he held out a hand to one of the trainers manning the position who handed him a radio in an equally wordless fashion.
"This is Lance," the Champion of Kanto said into the receiver.
"Like, thank Kygore and Articuno you showed up to save our asses," Daisy's voice came out of the speaker. "But you're not supposed to be in the area."
"I submitted a false itinerary," Lance informed her. "Has Karen made contact yet?"
"Yep," Karen's voice sounded out of the radio, popping the last letter. "Just waiting on you, boss."
"What do you know about the situation on the ground?" Daisy asked.
"I know enough," Lance told her. "Karen's trainers were feeding me intelligence. How long until their network is patched in with yours?"
"Another couple of minutes according to the techs," Daisy replied. There was a pause and then she continued. "Do you know about Giovanni?"
"So, it's true then," Lance's eyes narrowed and his grip on the radio tightened. "He's a traitor."
"And I thought it was just a battlefield rumor," Karen said lightly. "Well, I'm just glad this came out before I had to work with him."
"I always thought he was an ass but like I wasn't expecting the murder attempt," Daisy said, her voice cold. "I don't know if he's the head of Team Rocket or just high up there, but I can't imagine that he'd let anyone else lead this attack."
"I submitted that false itinerary because I thought Team Rocket might try to take both you and Giovanni out. I came in expecting to save Giovanni." Lance's voice was level even as his grip on the radio continued to tighten. "Not even in my wildest nightmares did I expect this."
"Eh, it was always going to be a gym leader or an Elite," Karen said. "No one else could feasibly get their mitts on all the intelligence needed to execute that attack on Saffron."
"Before today it was unthinkable that a gym leader would betray the League."
"Well, boss, that says something about your thought process and it ain't very complimentary," Karen replied. "But I'm not sure you could call what Giovanni's done 'betrayal'. I think it's more like 'infiltration'."
"What, like, you think he tried to fucking murder us so he could infiltrate Team Rocket?" Daisy demanded.
"No, I'm saying that from the very beginning he was a member of Team Rocket who became a gym leader to infiltrate the League," Karen answered. "I don't think any of you knew the real Giovanni-"
"He was always putting on an act," Daisy muttered over the radio.
"-just the mask he used to get close to you," Karen finished. "Now, where is he so we can go murder him?"
"We think he's with the Rocket forces in Cerulean Cave," Daisy answered. "Where the forces from the city are retreating to. We also think that they're behind the rampaging wild pokémon but we don't know how. Brock, Misty, and a seven badge trainer have gone there after him."
"Then let's make their job easier by clearing away the chaff," Lance said.
Onix roared through the cave, his battle cry mixing with the echoing battle cries of the wild pokémon. The cave was as much of a warzone as the city, only now there were no civilians to worry about and the pokémon native to the cave were unafraid of collateral damage. Elemental attacks lit up the darkness and the iron tang of blood wafted through the stale cave air.
Misty knew the basic layout of the cave and directed Onix through the main routes. Team Rocket had readied fortifications along the way but they weren't prepared to stand up to a gym leader's rampaging onix, especially while fighting off hordes of wild pokémon. Onix didn't even need to slow down.
They descended deeper into the cave, running parallel to a raging subterranean river, the frothing rapids gray in the scant light provided by the battle and the Rocket camps.
"I'm going to cover the river!" Misty shouted. "If we get separated, follow it until you reach a water system!"
"Then where do we go?" Brock shouted while Misty was getting ready to leap off of the stone serpent.
"No idea! That's as far as anyone's really gotten!" Misty yelled before grabbing a pokéball and jumping towards the river. White light blazed and then Misty was riding Starmie next to them.
"That's just swell," Brock muttered under his breath.
"Want me to ask a wild pokémon for directions?" Ash said, scooting forward on Onix.
Brock considered the idea for a moment, while the wind of their passage bellowed around them.
"Maybe, once we get down there," Brock answered. "But only if it seems safe."
Another Rocket fortification came into view, larger than the previous camps. From the bodies of humans and pokémon scattered outside the defenses it appeared that this outpost had managed to fight off the initial assault by the wild pokémon.
"Misty, cover us!" Brock shouted. "Aaron, keep your head down!"
Ash ducked as Onix smashed through hasty stone barriers raised by Team Rocket's rock-types, bowling over or crushing people and pokémon alike. White blue light flared and ice creaked and groaned all around them as Starmie froze their surroundings, forcing the surviving Rockets back.
And then they were through. Ash glanced behind to see people and pokémon scrambling over the ice and the debris, shouting and pointing at them.
"They're going to give chase!" Misty shouted.
"Nothing we can do about that!" Brock yelled back as Onix thundered along.
"Nothing you can do about that!" Misty retorted. "I'll hang back here and keep them off your back!"
"Misty-"
"As long as I stick to the water they won't be able to touch me!" She said, cutting off the gym leader. "Now go stop Giovanni! I'll catch up!" And then she and her pokémon vanished into the underground waterway.
"Her sisters are going to kill me," Brock muttered.
"She'll be fine, right?" Ash said, looking back at the underground river.
"I hope so," Brock sighed as Onix sped further into the depth. "I really hope so."
"We'll be deploying in two minutes," Arianna announced.
She was standing in a small cavern connected to the main Cerulean Cave, strings of bright lights hung across the ceiling high above. Other members of Team Rocket bustled around the cavern, preparing for the deployment.
And in the center of the cave, penned in by forcefield enhanced electric cages, was a collection of collared pokémon, stolen from the citizens of Saffron City, ready to be sent on a rampage against the forces of Cerulean City.
Arianna was under no illusions as to how effective the tactic was going to be now that there were Elites and their trainers on the field. But they needed as much time as they could get, both for Giovanni to complete Operation Stolen Fire and to cover the retreat of the rag-tag remnants of the Rocket forces from the city. The disposable assets from Saffron would buy precious seconds and minutes.
"We will be deploying in sixty seconds," Arianna announced, looking down at the tactical reports streaming over the screen of her pokégear.
And then the lights went out.
Before Arianna could do so much as look around something struck her and knocked her off of her feet, leaving her dazed. Continuing to move too fast for Arianna to comprehend, she felt ropes encircling her body and found herself bound to a large rock.
There were shouts and cries from the other members of Team Rocket in the cavern, sounds of impact, and cries of confusion in the darkness.
The stolen pokémon had been trained out of making noise, but when the darkness fell there were low moans from the cage. And then there was a great clattering, as if hundreds of small objects fell to the floor, followed by surprised sounding cries from within the cage.
Hushed whispers followed and in turn were followed by the sound of the cage opening combined with the forcefield shutting down. Still in pitch darkness Arianna heard the pattering and stomping of rushing pokémon.
Light returned and all the stolen pokémon were gone, with their electric collars on the cave floor.
Arianna could only stare in blank amazement.
"Alright, dat's all of them," Meowth said as he, Jessie, and James made their way down a tunnel, followed by a herd of rescued pokémon. "What we doin' now?"
"I have no idea,"Jessie and James said at the same time.
The two looked at each other while Meowth rested his face in his palm and sighed.
AN: I'd like to thank Amationary for beta reading.
Life has it out for me, ya know? I had taken some time off around memorial day and had planned to do a bunch of writing during that period... only for me to get really sick during my vacation. Yeah, thanks a lot body.
(I had no plans to do much writing during the later half of this month as the Elden Ring DLC came out on the 20th)
Anyway, unlike the confrontation between Daisy and Giovanni I didn't have this exact scene planned from the beginning but I did plan for the Team Rocket Trio to do something like this from the beginning. It's nice to finally write it.
Anyway, given my hurdles I will not be releasing the next chapter until August 28th 2024.
Anyway, don't forget to review. Concrit is welcome!