Ash found himself tugging uncomfortably at the scarf around his neck as he quietly rounded a corner in Dark City. He was dressed in the outfit of the Yas Gym members and traveling with a small group of kids, having managed to get himself enlisted as part of their group in accordance with the plan. The street was largely abandoned since, as he had come to learn, the city's residents often fled the area when they saw people dressed from either of the Gyms due to the collateral damage of their battles.
He was under the alias of Red, acting rather subdued as part of his cover to get the truth behind how these kids with him were obtaining their pokémon. And they really were just kids, as Ash had discovered. They didn't know the first thing about caring for their pokémon, aside from the fact that they needed to be fed to keep them alive and told who to attack during a battle. It was clear they weren't ready to be trainers without the proper education.
As they passed down an alleyway, he felt the prickling of electricity from Pikachu on his shoulder. Tipping the hat that he'd borrowed, to distinguish it from his usual one, allowed him to catch some people looking down on them from the rooftops. It was a couple of kids that were about to throw stones at them until they spotted the sparks coming off Pikachu in a warning.
They really don't know better… Ash couldn't help but think as his group left the alley and he heard the stones clattering down behind them. They'd thrown them only when the others were gone to avoid the repercussion of attacking someone who had pokémon when they didn't.
Ash couldn't find it in him to blame them for wanting to lash out. Not when he considered some of the collateral damage that he'd seen over the last few days caused by the warring Gyms. They don't even realize that they're causing people to be afraid of pokémon.
"SHE'S HERE!"
A shout rang throughout the abandoned streets and curtailed his thoughts about the kids he was grouped with. It was a warning and signal all in one. They had found the target they were gathered to hunt down.
"C'mon! That's the woman that Yas wants us to beat!" said the boy leading the group. He rallied the rest of the kids and they rushed ahead of Ash. "We've got her this time!"
Ash chose to linger back while clenching his fist, hesitating to go after them. He knew what he'd see if he went, having been back at their gym and witnessing the aftermath of those who ended up facing her. He didn't want to see her at her worst in action, to be honest.
Pikachu brushed his cheek with his electric pouches to encourage him. "Pikapi…"
"I know, Pikachu." Ash gathered himself and started heading toward where the sounds of battle were coming from. The wide street itself led to a cross-section where another road ran perpendicular. The other members of the Yas Gym had used the alleyways to surround the point where they all met, attempting to corral Gina—the newest and most dangerous freelance trainer that the Kaz Gym had brought.
The others had a head-start of maybe fifteen seconds on Ash. That had been more than enough time for the fighting to break out. Pained cries of pokémon and panicked shouts from the inexperienced trainers-to-be filled in the silence left behind by the normal folks, who had long gotten out of the way.
No sooner than he had gotten to the mouth of the crossroads did the body of a Scyther sail overhead at the speed of a rocket. The Mantis Pokémon hit the ground and crumpled in on itself, unconscious and defeated. It wouldn't be in any condition to fight for a while considering its wings were bent and its exoskeleton covered in fissuring cracks from where something hard had hit it.
It wasn't the only one either. There were many of them scattered across the impromptu battlefield in various states of injury. Some were hunched over in unconsciousness, soaking wet or coated in patches of ice. Others were left slouching as their bladed arms were chipped and useless while their bodies were battered and bruised.
The initial attack they had launched ended with more than half their numbers taken down. And the one responsible for all of this leaned with her back against the wall and her arms crossed, surrounded by three familiar pokémon: Wartortle, Graveler, and Nidorina.
"Don't back down!" one of the boys shouted at his Scyther, which had been slowly backing away after seeing its kin fall. "Attack her!"
"Yeah! Keep going!" another commanded. "Her pokémon can't take all of us down if we attack at once, and Yas told us to get rid of her!"
Reluctance. Acceptance. Obedience. Ash could make out the various emotions that crossed the Scythers' visages as they registered the commands. Pokémon were smart enough to know when they stood no chance, but these felt they couldn't disobey.
All they could do was let out a collective desperate shriek to rile themselves up before they launched forward to attack in desperation. "SCYYYYAAA!"
There were only the briefest hints of sympathy on the faces of Gina's pokémon. They could see the desperation for what it was. But their expressions and resolve hardened as soon as Gina gave them a single command.
"No mercy."
And with that, a lance of blue-and-white speared from Wartortle's mouth to put an end to their desperate attack. Her Ice Beam cut through the air like a frigid knife, raking its way across three of the charging Mantis Pokémon and encasing them in dense rime. There they remained in chunky ice, frozen in place with their eyes moving frantically in panic as the frost consumed their exoskeletons.
But there was a fourth amongst the horde that escaped being entombed in ice. It had been just a touch slower than the others, using its kin as a shield to avoid sharing their fate. Now it rushed in, its sharpened arm glinting in the light as it scythed toward her exposed head to deliver a brutal Cut…
Only for the blade to crack itself against Wartortle's shell. She saw it coming and simply tucked her head and limbs into it before using Withdraw, strengthening it to the point the natural weapon did nothing. And once its strike was rebuked, she thrust her head out and slammed into the Mantis Pokémon with a Skull Bash to knock it right into the path of Graveler's massive stone hand.
The Rock Pokémon casually backhanded the Scyther into its frozen compatriots, leaving the four battered and defeated in a huddle of shattered ice blocks. At the same time, Graveler held another in its opposite hand while brushing off its companions' attempt to Slash into its rocky exterior. Using the one in its grasp as a weapon, it batted them both aside with enough force to leave both several meters away and unconscious.
As for Nidorina, she ducked under a swipe that was meant to slice into her neck and then launched into a full Body Slam. The shoulder check knocked the particularly reckless Mantis Pokémon away from her before she unloaded a full spray of Poison Sting directly into it, the baleful needles blanketing the Scyther as it futilely tried to use its arms to shield itself. The poison quickly seeped into its body and began its ruinous work, which was hastened as the Poison Pin Pokémon delivered a Double Kick that knocked it clean off its feet.
Gina dispassionately watched as the final Scyther skidded along the ground, splayed out and convulsing as poison-laden saliva frothed from its mouth. In a way, this was her taking it easy on them by not having Nidorina use Toxic. The reason that there weren't any other traveling trainers with the Yas Gym was that she had gone out of her way to explicitly hunt them down without holding back as much, forcing them to leave Dark City to recover since there were no nearby Pokémon Centers.
These pokémon would recover eventually. But only after Agent Joy had her people come in to take them from their irresponsible trainers. So, in the end, the 'battle' ended in a one-sided slaughter as all three of her pokémon remained standing while the opposition had been battered and beaten into submission.
"She's a monster," grumbled the kid who had been leading the charge as he and the others began to call their pokémon back into the balls they had been given. Then he turned to Ash, who still had Pikachu, and said, "Take care of her!"
Ash stepped forward, assessing the situation based on which of Gina's pokémon were on the field and how they had handled the group attacking her. Wartortle had excellent range and defense, allowing her to pin the enemies in place. Graveler was a stone wall that none of them could breach with physical attacks. And Nidorina was capable of inflicting lasting harm with the three poisons that she had at her command.
She might have gone easy against the kids, but Gina wouldn't hesitate to use everything to her advantage against him since she hadn't shown mercy to any other traveling trainer. Not if she wanted to maintain their cover. The only way to deal with her team would be to match her, so Ash tossed out Bulbasaur and Squirtle to go with Pikachu, all of whom squared up against Gina's team.
Then Gina gave them the order to attack. "Take them out."
Graveler raised his arms, gathering the dust from the air into a large stone equal to his own size, and then flung it forward in a Rock Throw. Wartortle's mouth began to exude frost-laden mist as pale-blue light pooled in preparation for an Ice Beam that would freeze them in their tracks. And Nidorina reared back while preparing to launch a ball of the vile, vicious Toxic that had debilitated no shortage of trainers since she'd taken to her role.
The simultaneous attacks hadn't been given commands, so there was no time for the trainer to respond with foreknowledge. The inexperienced would falter and hesitate, deciding on which was the one to prioritize and falling prey to the others in the three-pronged attack of stone, cold, and poison. Fortunately, Ash's pokémon weren't inexperienced and thus didn't freeze up as the large stone cast its shadow upon them.
Squirtle's shell shone radiantly as he jumped into the air while using Withdraw, tucking his limbs and head into his hardened shell. Then water jettisoned from the holes, propelling him forward like a spinning top and straight towards Graveler like an aquatic shooting star. The Rock Pokémon used one of his massive arms to intercept the Rapid Spin attack, but Squirtle stuck his legs out to bounce off before firing Water Gun square into his rocky body.
Right as that happened, sinuous vines lashed out towards Nidorina and coiled around her mouth before she could let loose her Toxic. The Poison Pin Pokémon braced herself as Bulbasaur tugged on the line, digging into the ground to avoid being pulled into where the rock would come down along with them. But the Plant Pokémon simply leaped forward and reeled himself into her like a grappling hook, using the momentum to hit her with a full-force Body Slam while pulling him out of danger at the same time.
As for Pikachu, pale light flickered over his body before he launched himself forward with a Quick Attack as the Ice Beam that was loosed. The running light and blue beam crossed one another as the latter slammed into the ground where they had been and blossomed into an ice spire while the former speared toward the Turtle Pokémon. Wartortle cut her attack short and twisted her body to avoid it by the narrowest margins but was met by a snaking bolt of electricity as Pikachu lashed out with a Thunderbolt the moment that he touched down on the ground behind her.
Graveler was hurt by the water attack and failed to catch the more acrobatic Squirtle in a retaliatory swing. Nidorina was wrapped up in Bulbasaur's vines as parasitic plants sprouted from a follow-up Leech Seed. And Wartortle had streamers of electricity worming across her body even after the attack ended, showing she had been paralyzed.
Gina opted to return Nidorina and Wartortle to their balls upon seeing their conditions. Then she turned to Graveler, who had summoned another large boulder and slammed it into the ground in an attempt to crush Squirtle. It was more flash than substance considering it was cracking from its own weight, but it was enough to provide a shield against the second Water Gun. "Graveler, Plan B!"
The Rock Pokémon grinned in understanding before he summoned another massive stone over his head right before Gina used the Return function to pull him back to safety. That allowed the rock to crash into the other stone and both suddenly burst into a massive wave of dust that quickly spread over the battlefield. That forced everyone else to get some distance as they caught their breath, vision obscured until it finally thinned itself out.
And only then did they see that Gina and her pokémon had vanished entirely.
"Where'd the witch go?" asked one of the boys, leaving the rest to start frantically searching for her across the crossroads. But she was nowhere to be seen. "It looks like she ran away."
"So, she'll ambush people but then run when someone actually can fight back," another said, completely ignoring their own hypocrisy as children were wont to do. "Let's get back to Yas and report how much of a coward she is."
Ash had the feeling that, if Gina had heard that, she would have come down onto them like a ton of bricks. He knew for a fact that those were love taps at best considering these pokémon were training for the Gym Challenge, even if it was a better showing than the others who had faced her. His own pokémon didn't seem satisfied either as he returned Bulbasaur and Squirtle to their balls while Pikachu climbed back onto his shoulder.
Then they made their way back to the Yas Gym, where most of the kids split off to deal with the current issues they had. The number of trainers had drastically decreased since Gina had been specifically targeting trainers who had come in from the outside with Toxic. Since that required explicit medical treatment or curatives, most had skipped out of the city to get help.
Yas listened to the report with a stern expression before turning his attention to Ash. He then tossed him a ball, which he caught with his free hand. "Since you stuck around and put up a fight against Kaz's new ace, there's your Scyther as promised. You'll be on the final assault team next."
"What do you mean about a final assault team?"
"That girl running around and poisoning everyone cost us a lot of firepower, and now the majority of my kids don't have pokémon fit for fighting," he explained. "We can't wait out Kaz's men before the inspector gets here, so I had my supplier provide some extra muscle to give them a taste of their own medicine. They'll soften them up before we march on them and kick them out of town tonight… starting with that poison witch."
Ash fought to hide his grimace behind a mask of stoicism.He knew she had been making a menace of herself so far, but whoever was giving them these pokémon might attempt to seriously get rid of her. Then there was the fact that they were going to attack the Kaz Gym tonight instead of in a few days, meaning they had to act fast. I need to get to Brock and the others to deal with the Gyms so I can find Gina.
[-oOo-]
Gina was in a foul mood after she made her getaway from Ash and the others, having forced her pokémon to take a dive so that Ash could better integrate himself into the Yas Gym.
Unlike her, Ash didn't really try to distinguish himself because he wasn't comfortable in having his pokémon play the villain role. Not that she was either but, once Gina made up her mind, she would see it through. Her taking out all his options and handing Ash the win would leave Yas with no choice but to trust him now.
I just wish he didn't have to look at me that way. That had been another reason for her annoyance, the fact that she saw how Ash was looking at her. Like he was ashamed of her for doing what was necessary to end things as quickly as possible so they could get back to collecting their badges.
Crippling one side and allowing them to drive the other side out from their home base would make it so the fighting in the streets ended sooner. Even if that meant bullying a bunch of kids that didn't know how to do much more than attack whatever they were pointed at like a weapon. They didn't deserve their pokémon considering they didn't know how to take care of them, and those pokémon themselves would be better off without them considering their situation.
Her Electabuzz had been checked out by Agent Joy, since she was still a qualified pokémon nurse, and they found out just how bad his condition was. He was malnourished but afraid to ask for more food. Beneath his fur, there were signs he'd been lashed at with a whip. Add that to the fact that he was hand-shy around everyone made it clear he had been abused.
Gina had a low tolerance for people who abused or abandoned their pokémon. The breeders and phony Gym Leaders forcing the Electabuzz and Scyther through this were going to face justice for their crimes. And the sooner it happened, the better.
Ruminating on the fate of the criminals once she got her hands on them, the brush of Kadabra's mind against hers grabbed her attention. The Psi Pokémon was too sweet to play the role she needed of Nidorina, Wartortle, and Graveler. So, she had him keeping an eye on her from further away, which allowed him to tell of her any ambushes he could spot or help her track down her opponents.
Another ambush already? From the impressions that he was giving her, it seemed that there were two people with Poké Balls attempting to sneak up on her. Not kids, but older trainers who were covered up. Likely more traveling trainers she needed to get rid of. I'll deal with them so just keep an eye out for more.
Knowing there was a challenge ahead, she readied the balls containing her team and baited the trap. She turned at the corner into the alleyway where the two figures dressed in trench coats emerged. "You must be more goons bribed by Yas. I'll warn you now that you have no idea who you're messing with."
"Oh, but we do~" A familiar woman's voice slipped out from the one in front of her. "Not bad for a first attempt at a disguise, but there's a lot of room for improvement."
"A little makeup wouldn't hurt to start with," said the one behind her, another familiar male voice. "Perhaps something to bring out your complexion."
Her blood froze as she realized who her assailants were. "Team Rocket. What are you doing here?"
"Youse twerps got a bad habit of sticking yer noses where they don't belong," spoke a third voice from the rooftop above her, where she spotted a familiar feline standing on two legs and looking down at her. "So now we gotta get a little rough with ya."
Sticking our noses where they don't belong? Her mind raced as she pieced together everything that she could infer. "You're the ones who were handing out the pokémon to both sides, aren't you? What do you even gain from that?"
James pulled the hat covering his head off and put on a rather smug expression as he brandished his Poké Ball. "That's for us to know—"
"—and you to not find out," Jessie finished, pulling away her hood enough to where they could make out her hair had been bound back and tucked inside the coat. She also had a ball at the ready. "And really, you should be focusing more on yourself."
[-oOo-]
"Pidgeotto," Ash called out to the sky above, where one of his pokémon was getting an aerial view of the city while Pikachu stood next to him. He had slipped away from the Yas Gym and made his way back to where the others were, telling them of the impending attack. They had decided that they had enough evidence to resolve the matter by intervening directly, but there was the matter of someone being sent after Gina to deal with. Ash had opted to try and track her down before she got in trouble. "Do you see anything?"
"Otto!" The Bird Pokémon dove down to his eye level before pointing over towards the distance where Ash spotted a faint plume of violet smoke billowing up into the air. Whether it was smoke from a fire or something else, it stood out enough that Ash felt they should check. They ran towards the source, the scent reaching his nose becoming stronger until he realized it wasn't smoke from a fire.
Then, when they finally turned the corner and came to the fringes of it, they saw Gina stumbling out of the fumes. She had one hand held firmly over her mouth, shielding herself from breathing in the gas as best she could. The other was wrapped around Wartortle, who hung limp in her arms with purple-tinged saliva coming from her mouth. The Turtle Pokémon had been poisoned until she passed out.
"Ka… cough…da…cough…" Gina struggled to speak as she only made it a few steps before collapsing on her knees. Even so, space distorted and Kadabra appeared as she fumbled around trying to reach for one of her balls. The Psi Pokémon settled on levitating it and tapped the Turtle Pokémon to return her inside it before her condition worsened.
That was when a large grey blur breached the smoke next, a rolling mass that only came to a stop when it crunched against the wooden corner of a building and splintered its weight. It was her Graveler, battered with several parts of its rocky exterior sporting cracks and fissures. Something had hit the Rock Pokémon hard enough that even its stalwart defenses buckled, leaving it barely conscious as it struggled to pull itself out of the wall it had been knocked into.
And then the one responsible for leaving it in that state emerged from the cover of the purple smoke with tendrils trailing behind as it delivered a vicious Jump Kick that slammed right into Graveler to finish the job. Ash recognized it as a Hitmonlee from the tournament Brock had been participating in. The Kicking Pokémon was silently gloating as he ground his foot into the now unconscious Rock Pokémon until a red light snapped it up.
Gina finished recalling her defeated pokémon as Kadabra reached down to touch her, no doubt to teleport them away. But before he could his head jerked back, and he let out a pained cry as he fell to the ground. A fist-sized rock plopped down next to him, cracked from the impact with the Psi Pokémon's head.
It had been Hitmonlee's doing, standing there with his leg outstretched after having kicked a piece of the stone that had been knocked off Graveler's body straight into the Psi Pokémon. Since Psychic-Types were usually physically frail and he hadn't been expecting it, it had been enough to render Kadabra senseless. Thus, he remained inert as Gina tried to rouse him, leaving Hitmonlee free to charge at them both while they were defenseless.
"Pikachu, Quick Attack!" Ash ordered, drawing the eyes of both Gina and the Kicking Pokémon in their direction. Pikachu launched himself forward while wreathed in light to slam into his opponent mid-step, sending Hitmonlee tumbling backward and away from them. Ash ran over to help Gina up. "Are you okay?"
She fought through her coughing bout and uttered, "T-Team…Rocket…!"
"And dere's da second twerp, crawlin' out of the woodwork!"
His head whipped towards the rooftop where he spotted the three who he knew immediately to be responsible. It had been a while since he had seen them, but of all people Team Rocket would be the ones to do something like this. "You'll pay for this!"
Sparks crackled from red cheeks as the Electric Mouse Pokémon prepared to unleash a Thunderbolt. However, before he could send them blasting off, the ground beneath Pikachu erupted. His tiny body was sent airborne by a geyser of dirt, his surprised cry ringing out. "PIKA!"
"Pidegotto, grab him!" Ash ordered, shaking off his shock at the surprise attack. The Bird Pokémon swerved to catch Pikachu before he could fall back down when something wet and viscous slammed into his body. The avian screeched as he fell to the ground, greenish fluid bubbling across his body that was most likely acidic in nature—ruining his wings.
He wouldn't be able to fly with his wings burned like that, Ash realized and was quick to call Pidgeotto into his ball before his injuries grew worse. As for Pikachu, he managed to spin and slam his tail into the ground to soften his landing thanks to the muscles allowing it to spring him upright. But then they found themselves staring down at the three other pokémon that now stood opposite of them.
Emerging from the ground was what had once been Ekans, considering how it still retained its smooth purple skin and long sinuous body. But now it was much longer, lacking the rattle that it once possessed upon evolving into its next stage. Beneath its head was a flaring hood that sported the colors black, red, and yellow in a pattern that resembled a face.
Floating out of the Smog with acrid plumes of poisonous gas flowing from the multiple holes in its body was what had formerly been Koffing. The living gasbag had not only gotten larger but now had a second head growing out of its side. The second set of eyes fixed themselves on the trainers while its main head had its attention on Pikachu.
Hopping onto the scene last was what could only be described as a massive living plant that had an upside-down bell for a body. Its mouth was hanging open, the pink rims of it exposed as the massive leaf that served as a lid was folded back. Ash could make out streamlets of the same fluid that had hit Pidgeotto flowing down the underside, and he was reminded of how the Tentacool had weaponized their stomach acid into an attack.
"I believe introductions are in order," James began, brandishing his rose while looking down at them. "As you can see, Koffing and Ekans have evolved and thus have become much more magnificent as Weezing and Arbok."
Jessie's lips twisted into a grin as she looked Gina square in the eyes, a sense of superiority behind them that even Ash could feel. "And as for our new companions, Victreebel and Hitmonlee have already proven themselves to be quite effective."
Gina returned a glare that could have frozen the ocean as she rested a comforting hand on Kadabra's head, her other fist clenched. "Only because you got the drop on us with your stolen Hitmonlee. He's the one from that guy in the Grand Prix, isn't he?"
Hearing that, Ash turned to the Kicking Pokémon and tried to reason with him. "We can help you get back to your trainer. Don't listen to them!"
Hitmonlee's fingers only tightened aggressively in response. It seemed he really didn't like that offer.
"He ain't workin' with us unwillingly," Meowth chimed in, wriggling his finger back and forth. "He's gotta grudge to settle with ya for interferin' and stealin' that belt he'd been workin' ta get all this time. Since ya twerps always show up with each other, dis arrangement works out for all of us. We get ya, an' he gets the monkey and older twerp."
It wasn't just a shallow grudge against Brock and Primeape for winning the P-1 Grand Prix, but hatred at losing everything he'd spent years working towards. To get revenge for the loss he suffered, he was willing to work with Team Rocket. There was no way for Ash to reason with him then.
"And with that said, playtime is over!" Jessie said, pointing down at them. "Attack!"
The battle opened anew with a plume of Smog spewed straight from the twin maws of the Gas Pokémon. It was a tactic to hamper Pikachu considering how flammable it was, making the risk of collateral damage much higher should a stray bolt ignite it. And if they breathed it in, they ran the risk of being poisoned, meaning they needed some way of dealing with the billowing wave of gas that surged forward and devoured the ground between them.
"Fearow, blow it away!" Gina called out in a raspy voice while tossing out a Poké Ball in response. The Beak Pokémon emerged, took notice of the fumes, and released a powerful gale of wind to dissipate the gas before it could swallow them up. But before he could turn his attention to the one responsible, Gina called out a warning. "Above you!"
Fearow looked up at the prompt and then jerked his wings to the side while twisting in the process. That was all that saved him from getting stomped into the ground by the brown comet that was Hitmonlee, who'd used the attack as a cover to leap into the air as high as he could to hammer the avian from above with a High Jump Kick. The attack missed, but it did serve to give Fearow a target as he shot after him like a missile with his elongated beak wreathed in a spiral sheath of wind—a Drill Peck.
Weezing and Victreebel joined the fight by hocking out globs of the Acid and Sludge Bombs straight toward Fearow while he went after the Kicking Pokémon. If even one of those hit, he would suffer the same fate as Pidgeotto. His wings would be rendered useless from the acidity until they were cleaned and healed.
Fearow might have been aggressive, but his eyes were keen enough to read the bombardment. That allowed him to avoid them, even going so far as to fold his wings when necessary to minimize the exposed amount of surface area while chasing his target. But because he could only avoid what he could see, he was in an ill position to deal with an ambush.
That's when the ground behind him opened. Arbok stuck his head out of the earth, having used Dig to get beneath the surface and out of their vision when the Smog had blanketed their view. Its mouth was saturated in the venomous violet light as it prepared to unleash a spray of Poison Sting needles from behind, a pincer attack from both sides.
"Double Kick!" Gina commanded as she threw her second Poké Ball straight toward the Cobra Pokémon. The Poison Pin Pokémon burst free in midair with her legs outstretched, using the momentum of the release to slam them into her opponent. The barrage of poisonous needles went wide as Arbok's head jerked to the side as a result, leaving Fearow's attack unhindered.
Hitmonlee still managed to avoid it by twisting his body to get out of the path of the attack, as if he read the line perfectly and stepped out of the side. Then, right as the avian missile shot past him, he whipped his leg around fast enough for the spring-like appendages to stretch out from the momentum. It was an arching roundhouse that would batter the bird's frailer body from the side before he could turn around and avoid it.
"Pikachu, intercept it!" Ash ordered as he fished another ball from his belt. The Electric Mouse Pokémon turned into running light and slammed into Hitmonlee a second time in response, diverting the kick from its intended path. He then sent out a second pokémon to join the battle for the four-on-four match. "Haunter, come out and help!"
Haunter emerged right as Nidorina went sailing beneath it with a tumble, having been caught by Arbok's retaliatory strike using its tail. Fortunately, she was fast enough to recover as she managed to avoid its lunging Bite by a hair's breadth. Light shrouded her maw as she returned the attack, much to the ghost's delight as he clapped with an amused cackle at the violence. "Haw! Haw! Haw!"
"Don't just laugh," Ash said, pointing over to Weezing. The Poison Gas Pokémon was starting to live up to its name as it spewed out Poison Gas towards the rest of the non-Poison Type Pokémon this time. "Do something about that gas before it spreads!"
Haunter scratched his chin in thought for a moment about how to do so before snapping his fingers. Then he floated over and began to inhale as deeply as he could, sucking in the poisonous fumes as fast as possible before it could spread outcome out. Then he launched his shadow-wreathed claws towards both of Weezing's mouths and clamped them shut, leaving Fearow to swoop in and attack Victreebel as the remaining threat with Drill Peck.
That just leaves Hitmonlee. Ash thought to himself before turning his attention back to Pikachu. Flashes of yellow and light bounced around the battlefield. He was leveraging his smaller body and momentum, using Quick Attack in bursts to attempt and strike the Kicking Pokémon from multiple angles.
But it was to no avail. Hitmonlee's eyes were constantly shifting from one side to the next as he kept his focus on Pikachu despite his speed. Every time the spear of light cut through the air, he would twist his body and avoid the incoming attack. And then the moment that Pikachu touched down on the other side of the predetermined path, he would lash out with his foot and nearly crush the Electric Mouse beneath the hardened sole.
There was no doubt in Ash's mind that it was the result of the years spent fighting in the ring. If Pikachu slowed down to use Thunderbolt then he would eat an attack that would hurt him badly. But, if he kept moving in straight lines, he wouldn't be able to hit the opponent and eventually he would slip up unless they tried using Agility. Should I risk it when he hasn't mastered it yet…
"Fire!"
That was when a prismatic ray cut past Ash and towards Hitmonlee's unprotected back. The lance of psychic energy swelled into an expansive light that spanned the kaleidoscope as it swallowed the Kicking Pokémon in the resulting thunderous explosion. Shielding his eyes from the resulting shockwave kicking up dust, Ash saw that Hitmonlee now lay on the ground while half-curled and unconscious before turning his eyes over to the origin of the attack.
Gina was crouched with Kadabra standing next to her. His eyes were shining with the cerulean hue of psychic power that gathered into his Twisted Spoon held outwards with one hand. Without a word, psychic power began pooling into Kadabra's spoon and Gina's face scrunched up in stress as she pointed her fingers towards an empty space ahead of her.
Then the ground exploded as Nidorina emerged from belowground and Gina gave the order to attack at that very moment. "Fire!"
Kadabra launched a second Psybeam straight ahead towards the Poison Pin Pokémon at the prompt, seemingly uncaring that the prismatic ray would hit his own ally. But right before it connected, Arbok emerged from the hole in an attempt to Bite her. The beam met with the Cobra Pokémon's flared hood and the swirl of colors bloomed once more as the powerful psychic attack struck home with pinpoint accuracy, knocking out the second of Team Rocket's pokémon.
Haunter's raucous laughter rang out as he watched the display, even as he slammed the Poison Gas Pokémon into the ground with an engorged shadow-wreathed claw. There was an elongated groan from both sets of heads as the ghost pulled the detached appendage away, slowly shrinking back to its normal size. They weren't getting up again either—three down.
Better make that four, Ash corrected as he spotted the Beak Pokémon perched atop the battered and beaten form of the Victreebel moments before red light speared out to return it and Weezing back into their balls, with Jessie's pokémon following. "It's over, Team Rocket!"
"Might wanna focus more on yer friend there than us!" said the Scratch Cat Pokémon as he pulled out a Smoke Bomb and threw it down. It burst into a thick plume of smoke that swallowed up the building itself and spread out, hiding the criminals while threatening to blot out the sun over the street. "She's lookin' a bit under da weather!"
Ash made to follow them until he heard the sudden cry coming from the pokémon and turned to see the reason was that Gina had fallen onto the ground. Kadabra was trying to shake her awake but there was no response. "Gina, what's wrong!?"
He kneeled to the ground and took her into his arms while the pokémon gathered around. Immediately he felt how hot her body had gotten, as if she was running a fever. Her breathing was labored, and her cheeks were tinged with a sickly violet hue. "Don't tell me she was poisoned from the Smog earlier!"
He should have known since Wartortle had been poisoned as well. There was no way she could run while carrying her through the Smog without breathing in too much even while covering her mouth. It was just that Gina was taller, so it took longer for the symptoms to show.
"We need to treat it somehow!" Ash said. But Potions and Antidotes were made for pokémon, not people. None of the ones he had would help her.
At the cue, Nidorina hastily nipped at the belt keeping the satchel around Gina's waist with her teeth, pulling it off. Then she held it up for Ash and gestured towards the zipper with her claws. "Ni! Ni!"
He took the cue from the Poison Pin Pokémon and opened it. There were medical supplies for her pokémon inside of it, including a few Pecha Berries that could alleviate the poison. He grabbed one and pressed it to her mouth. But she was unresponsive, only struggling to breathe and running a fever that gradually seemed to be getting worse.
There's no way she can chew and swallow it like this. She needed to swallow the juices and fruit into her body for it to work. But in her condition, she wasn't aware enough to do it on her own. No choice then.
Ash did what he had to before he rallied the other pokémon to get her back to safety.
[-oOo-]
Gina could feel her breath washing against her as she slowly regained consciousness.
Her eyes opened as she took another deep breath. The ceiling laid out before her was that of the hotel room. In the bottom of her eyes, she could make out the clear plastic of a mask, the taste of medicinal oxygen on her tongue. She shifted her head up from the pillow and looked down to see that there was a portable oxygen mask fixed on her face.
Confusion bubbled to the surface of her mind. The last thing she remembered was dealing with Team Rocket. Half of her team had been taken out, so she resorted to rousing Kadabra with a Revive and linking his mind to hers. That way he could concentrate on charging his Psybeam while she provided him with the visual feedback and timing to take out Hitmonlee. Then she added Nidorina into it so that she could do the same with Arbok, who was following her underground.
Her head felt like it had been splitting after that. Everything turned liquid and the world went black like she had sunken beneath the ocean. There was some vague noise that seemed to be drowned out by the depths and then a pleasantly soft sensation pressed itself upon her lips.
Just the ghost of that memory alone left her heart to flutter for some reason. Her fingers rose to her lips to trace them, but the mask blocked them. Then she felt the familiar touch upon her mind and reached out to it. Kadabra?
Space distorted before the Psi Pokémon popped into existence next to her. His expression was one of concern and happiness. He probably felt horrible considering the last time she was bedridden was due to what happened with Sabrina and the Saffron City Gym.
If she wasn't so tired, she would reach out to brush his head in an attempt to comfort him. What happened after I passed out?
His eyes grew cerulean, and visions flashed into her mind. She had collapsed right after the second Psybeam had taken out Arbok, allowing Team Rocket to get away again. Ash had figured she must have been poisoned from the Smog and Nidorina had quickly gotten to the satchel that she kept the Pecha Berries in.
Wait, I couldn't eat one in that condition so how… Her unfinished question was left behind as she saw what happened next from Kadabra's vision. Ash chewed on the Pecha Berry in his own mouth before he took a firmer hold of Gina's body in his arms. He then cradled her head with one of his hands, brought their faces close, and then he'd pressed his lips to hers. He kissed me!
Her heart ran rampant as she watched the two of them bound together at the lips for what felt like hours despite it being a matter of seconds. Logically, she could understand that he had resorted to forcing the pulped berry down her throat so that it could reach her stomach and be absorbed. But it didn't change the fact that he'd basically kissed her to do it.
Gina covered her eyes as she bid Kadabra to stop the memory sharing. She had seen enough of that and just wanted to curl up out of embarrassment. If the others have finished with the other business, go and get my badges back from the Kaz Gym. We're done pretending to work with them.
He hesitated for a moment, concerned about leaving her. But after she reassured him that she wasn't going anywhere, Kadabra vanished. That left Gina alone with only her thoughts as she sat up and tried to process everything until the door to the room opened.
"Gina, you're awake!" Misty said as she came inside and shut the door behind her. "How are you feeling?"
"Just a bit lethargic," she answered. "What happened while I was out?"
Misty took a seat on the edge of her bed. "Well, we managed to deal with the fighting without any real problems when Ash came and told us what happened with Team Rocket and forced the two to admit they got those pokémon from them. Since they're directly involved things are going to get a bit complicated."
"How so?" Gina asked.
"For starters, both of those Gyms will be shut down," Misty began. "The League is pretty strict when it comes to having criminal ties and for good reason since even if one of their Gyms was approved they would be under the thumb of Team Rocket—whether willing or blackmailed due to the fact that they obtained pokémon from them illegally."
Gina suspected as much. The fighting alone pretty much ensured that would likely be the case, but the fact that it was Team Rocket who was supplying them with their pokémon guaranteed it. "It's not like they would have been a major Gym though."
"Major or minor, Gym Leaders have a certain level of prestige and influence over the area, in addition to access to information and privileges that others don't get normally. Team Rocket having any of that will make them a lot more troublesome to deal with."
Since they were among the most influential authority figures it would be easy to use that to coerce people into doing something seemingly innocent that would benefit the criminal organization. Perhaps telling them to use a service or vendor owned by a shell company run by them. Or maybe even passing out badges to their members to help get them into the conference. Not to mention how tight-knit some Gyms were with one another.
"Then there's the fact that they were handing out dangerous pokémon to unlicensed kids," Misty continued. "It could be seen as trying to induct them into being Team Rocket trainees since they're at an impressionable age where they don't know better. They were so thrilled to simply be given a pokémon but none of them knew a thing about taking care of them or seeing the signs of abuse."
"So, what's going to happen to the pokémon and the kids?"
"The pokémon are going to be rehabilitated and then released into an area under the protection of the Pokémon Rangers," Misty explained. "As for the kids, they'll have to undergo evaluation courses and community service since they did cause collateral damage, but they shouldn't have that many problems in the future with obtaining their Trainer Licenses when they reach the appropriate age. That way they'll know what they did was wrong and why they can't treat pokémon like they did."
Gina hummed in understanding. Them not knowing better was the only reason they were getting a slight pass, but at least they would be made to see what they did wrong. The Gym Leaders wouldn't be that lucky though.
"In anticipation of that and to make sure Team Rocket won't get a foothold, they'll be establishing a smaller Pokémon Center in Dark City," Misty added. "That being said, it's with the caveat that someone from the League will have oversight since allowing this to happen proved the current governing body doesn't have the best interest of the people in mind."
In other words, they'd partially get what they wanted in that Dark City would receive a Pokémon Center. But because the one running it allowed those two Gyms to fight with each other while trying to cover it up, they would have someone effectively looking over their governance. Fitting, but something that went over her head as a traveling trainer.
"Anyway, you need to rest," Misty said, shifting topics. "Agent Joy said that you'd need a day to clear out the remnants of the poison from the Smog. We'll look after your pokémon until then."
She'd prefer to be doing that herself, given she needed to tend to Wartortle and Graveler. Not to mention discussing what they should do with Electabuzz. But in her current condition, it would probably be for the best if she rested. "Did Ash… say anything about what happened after I passed out?"
"No…" Misty tilted her head in curiosity as she trailed off. "Why?"
"N-No reason." Gina slid back down on the bed and settled in to get some more rest. Everything's settled and we'll be on our way to getting our next badge, so I shouldn't make a big deal of it. Ash was just feeding me a Pecha Berry and that's it… right?