Chapter 15; nemesis
Sonic woke up to the rays of the sun hitting his face. Blinking he looked around and remembered where he was and what had transpired last night. He checked his phone. The melody sent by Tails was still there, ready to be put to good use.
"Hopefully they're awake already" Sonic thought as he got up.
Checking his outfit he noticed it was washed, dried and ironed. Next to it was a message.
"I asked mom to make your outfit brand new. I'll be on the shelter in Lavender so if I don't see you good luck with the Snorlax. Wink".
"Wink?" Sonic thought confused "Nah. Either she's just being nice and I'm paranoid, or she just joking".
Walking downstairs he encountered Reina's mom who greeted him warmly. Refusing to let him go without treating him and his team to a good breakfast, Sonic agreed. After eating so much that he thought the Snorlax would think him to be one of its kind, Sonic thanked Reina's mom and headed back to the east exit of the town. Just as he expected, the Snorlax was still there.
"Hope this works" he murmured playing the melody in his phone. It worked better than he expected. The Snorlax unexpectedly woke up and started attacking him and raichu in a grumpy rage.
"Shit!" he thought as he dodged the headbutts causing Snorlax to knock berries of the trees "raichu iron tail!"
Raichu attacked exactly as Snorlax charged causing heavy damage to the Snorlax but also sending raichu flying and crashing into a tree. Snorlax waved its head around in pain and rushed off, each step causing a small rumbling on the ground. Sonic approached Raichu in fear it was injured. Thankfully it was nothing a visit to the pokemon center couldn't heal. As he turned to leave he saw several wild pokemon coming slowly out of the woods to feast on the berries. The happy faces brought a smile to his face.
After healing his pokemon at the local center he went to report his success to mr Fuji. His backyward was empty so Sonic decided to sent out his pokemon to train on their own as they waited. Mr Fuji arrived about 15 minutes later.
"Oh Sonic my boy. Am I to assume you have successfully freed the road from the snorlax?"
"Yes sir. Road's clear".
"From what I hear though you had outside help in achieving this" he said as his face turned serious.
Sonic did his best to remain calm but on the inside he was filled with shock and a bit of anger thinking Reina had heard of his chat with his friends and told mr Fuji.
"Though you did do what I asked, you used the melody of a pokeflute from your phone. What I was hoping you would do is to find out you needed a pokeflute to wake it up, then come borrow mine".
"I.. I didn't know you had one sir".
"But Reina did tell me" – Sonic was expecting to hear that she told mr Fuji his friends had helped him – "that you tried really hard with your pokemon. Your bond with them is obviously strong. You may have a lot to learn but I think you're worth my help".
"Thank you sir" Sonic said with a smile in the end, relieved he hadn't screwed his chance up.
"So what would you like your pokemon to learn?"
They spend the next few minutes with Sonic deciding what his pokemon would need for his upcoming mission in dealing with team Rocket, though he didn't reveal his plan to mr Fuji, and resulted in the following moves; raichu would learn brick break as Sonic thought its speed would put it in a unique position to land that move unexpectedly with devastating consequences, wartortle would learn ice beam which Sonic believed would be a good attack no one would expect, kadabra would be taught to use its psychic powers to launch the attack psychic early as mr Fuji deemed it strong enough to learn the move as it was a well as shadow ball for future use and last but not least Sonic decided his shiny nidorino would learn mud-slap which wasn't as strong as dig but Sonic knowing team Rocket would play by the rules didn't want to leave himself open to a direct attack from a pokemon until nidorino was done digging the tunnel and attack from below. While his pokemon were learning their moves, Sonic decided to walk around town for a while in an effort to locate the base of team Rocket.
After an hour of walking around he had only achieved in locating the 4th gym which he had told himself he would tackle after kicking team Rocket out of town. However apart from that there was no sign of unusual activity. Before returning to mr Fuji's house however Sonic remembered something he saw close to the city's game corner which in all actuality was a smaller scale casino with slot machines. Deciding to return there one more time before going to pick up his pokemon from their training, he climbed a pipe up to the top of the building opposite the game corner and waited. And as if on cue he saw a familiar woman come out of the game corner.
"Ariana!" he thought in terror "so this place is their base".
Rushing back to mr Fuji's house he found his pokemon having picked up their moves perfectly. Reina was also there. Sonic took back the pokeballs and recalled the pokemon, thanking mr Fuji. Before he could leave however Reina approached him.
"Hey wait. Why the rush?"
"I don't have time" Sonic said rather rudely but she insisted.
"Come on what is it?"
"The less you know the safer you'll be" Sonic warned her and attempted to rush to the game corner but finding his way blocked by Reina.
"What do you mean safer?"
"I told you I can't tell you Reina. Get out of my way".
"After literally opening my house to you it's the least you can do".
Sonic was about to relent but decided against it.
"Give me a couple of hours ok? I'll explain after. I promise" he said putting his hand on her shoulder causing her to blush. She nodded letting him go.
Sonic rushed to the game corner. Knowing that the entrance was inside he put on an improvised disguise of a hat wore reversely and sunglasses to pass of as a supposed cool guy. Walking inside he was deafened by the blasting music and discomforted by the low lighting. Walking through the slot machines he approached the bar and sat down asking for a drink. The bartender passing him off for an adult brought him a drink. Sonic pretended to drink as he let it sip to the floor knowing no one would see due to the lighting.
Looking around as best as he could through his sunglasses he noticed a staff door. Knowing he had to be sure, he took out an ice cube from his drink and after making sure no one was watching threw it at the staff door. No one noticed or heard but the result was the desired one; a staff member opened the door slightly to check what had hit it before being dragged back inside forcibly. Sonic noticed the staff member was wearing a hat with an R on it.
"Got you" he whispered in determination getting off his seat.
Approaching the staff door slowly he realized he needed a distraction first. Going up to the bar again he picked up his drink and threw it towards one of the men sitting in front of him. He then hid behind one of the nearby slot machines as the man turned around and thinking a second man sitting behind him had thrown the glass started arguing loudly with him. Sonic watched as the bartender took out a walkie talkie from his pocket and spoke to it. On cue the staff door opened and 3 men came out to stop the fight. Seizing the chance, Sonic dashed to the closing door and entered.
Following the flight of stairs he saw upon entering he took out raichu's pokeball ready to battle if need arose. And sure enough turning corner at the bottom of the stairs he crashed into a rocket grunt.
"INTRUDER!" he screamed as he sent out a zubat. Sonic immediately sent out raichu and ordered it to use thunderbolt as he rushed the grunt knocking him to the wall and out.
"I'd make a terrible ninja. Let's go raichu!" he said as he started running through the halls of the base, raichu running beside him.
The alarm echoed throughout the entire base. Sonic saw the red alarm lights go off as he looked at his back being chased by 2 grunts. Turning around he ordered raichu to blast the one as he sent kadabra out to deal with the 2nd one. Just like the previous grunt one sent out a zubat and the other an ekans. Raichu made quick work of the zubat while kadabra used its psychic power on ekans to throw it to the grunts, giving Sonic and the 2 pokemon the chance to rush off.
Turning to their right they saw a team of 5 sending out their pokemon at once. Minor pokemon like sandshrew, zubat, ekans, drowzee and a golbat. Sonic sent out wartortle and nidorino as well as they charged the grunts, raichu charging forward with its quick attack before landing a devastating iron tail on sandshrew, wartortle using its new ice beam to knock zubat out and freeze its grunt captor solid. Kadabra and nidorino on the other hand had combined their powers, nidorino firing multiple mud slaps as a smokescreen while kadabra used its psy-beam attack to strike them all at once knocking out ekans and drowzee but the golbat remained standing and used leech life on kadabra damaging it greatly. Raichu witnessed it and discharged a thunderbolt knocking it out. Sonic in the meantime had knocked out 2 of the 4 remaining grunts who to his surprise were not even bothering to attack him thinking the pokemon winning the battle would somehow cause him to surrender.
"And I thought if nidorino had dig they would attack me" he thought to himself as wartortle used rapid spin while being thrown by raichu with iron tail knocking out the 3rd grunt and knocking the 4th down. Sonic wasting no time, got on top of the last grunt and held him down.
"Where is your boss?!" he demanded.
"If I talk…"
"Let me guess. There will be consequences. Raichu get this gentleman to talk" Sonic said getting off of him as Raichu nailed its tail to the ground, the grunt's neck caught between it and the floor as raichu prepared to discharge its electricity.
"I'll… I'll never talk".
Sonic merely snapped his fingers. Raichu discharged its electricity causing the grunt to scream in pain as his comrades appeared on either side of the hallway.
"Kadabra use psybeam on the ones behind us! Wartortle, nidorino with me! Raichu keep it up until he talks".
The grunt begged for mercy while kadabra held the grunts behind them at bay. The grunts in front of them sent out and arbok and a koffing. The arbok glared at Sonic's 2 pokemon using its intimidate ability.
"Wartortle use ice beam on the koffing! Nidorino mud slap on the arbok!"
Koffing was knocked out. Though arbok was still standing the mud-slap covered its eyes blurring its vision.
"Nidorino leer! Wartortle bite!"
Nidorino using its leer move weakened the arbok's defense allowing wartortle to knock out the arbok. As the grunts fled in fear, Sonic turned back to the interrogation as the grunt's hair were now pointing upwards.
"Ready to spill it?"
"N-no".
"Fine then you're useless to me. Raichu finish him off".
The grunt was consumed by fear and relented.
"W-wait! Ok the boss is on the floor below".
"Any captured pokemon?" Sonic asked as kadabra approached hearing the question.
"…N-no".
"Are you sure?" Sonic asked as raichu cried out in a threatening manner.
"Gulp. Ok, ok. At the end of this hallway. The keycard on my belt opens the door".
"Good. Let's go guys. Raichu brick break!"
Raichu smacked the grunt on the head knocking him out so as to not interfere. Rushing to the end of the hallway, Sonic used the keycard and opened the door, finding tens of cages with pokemon. Knowing he didn't have time to free them all, he once again had raichu fry the circuit to open the cages knowing there a high chance it would lock doors around the complex making their raid harder. As the pokemon fled, Sonic saw an Alakazam. Kadabra approached it and both hummed for a while before Kadabra lowered its head in sadness. As the Alakazam fled Sonic approached the kadabra.
"Hey buddy it's ok. We're still here with you. We will find her one day" Sonic comforted it as raichu rubbed its head on kadabra causing it to spur back into the fight with determination.
After all the pokemon had fled, Sonic and his pokemon battled their way to the lower level before finding a double door. Taking a deep breath he kicked the door open but there was no one inside. Cursing at his supposed lost chance to capture team Rocket's boss he turned to leave, before raichu grabbed his leg with its paw.
"What is it?" Sonic asked as raichu pointed at the end of the hallway at a half opened door.
"Sneaky bastard! He had an escape route!" Sonic said in anger as he recalled his pokemon except raichu and the duo rushed to the door and up the stairs. Reaching ground level again they exited through a door finding themselves on a helipad. Sonic saw a black haired man giving instructions to a woman as she was taking notes.
"Hey you!" he yelled getting the man's attention.
The man turned around and saw Sonic, his eyes widening momentarily. Smiling maliciously the next moment he turned to his secretary.
"Matori take off and return to the main base. I will take care of this nuisance".
As the chopper took off, Sonic and the boss started circling each other not talking.
"So… I finally get to meet you. The kid that screwed our storage in Saffron".
"Your base is finished. You should have fled on that chopped when you had the chance".
"Hahaha. You think you are a match for me, the great Giovanni?"
"I don't care who you are! You're going down!"
"Very well then! I will make you and your pokemon experience a world of pain!" he said as he sent out a persian.
"Go nidorino!" Sonic screamed sending out his nidorino which sparkled.
"My that's a nice pokemon. Maybe once I beat you I will add it to my team!"
"Shut up you monster! Nidorino mud slap!"
Nidorino threw mud at persian who dodged.
"Slash" Giovanni said calm and confident.
Persian slashed at nidorino at such great speed that Sonic only saw a white blur. Nidorino was sent flying to the wall behind him and knocked out. Persian growled in determination though poison bubbles started coming out of it.
"Fascinating. Your luck has given you a lifeline. Too bad that against me it won't suffice".
"Nidorino return! Wartortle go!"
Wartortle was sent out.
"Ice beam!"
"Pay day!"
Persian threw a copy of the coin on its forehead towards wartortle canceling out most of its ice beam, though a small part of it landed on Persian pushing it back a bit, The pay day attack however hit the spot as wartortle was knocked down but managed to get back up with a lot of effort.
"Fury swipes" Giovanni ordered unrelenting.
"Rapid spin!" Sonic shouted.
Wartortle span really fast, causing the attack to fizzle and slightly hurting Persian while the poison also took its toll on it.
"Slash!" Giovanni ordered a bit impatiently.
Persian slashed at Wartortle as it came out greatly injuring it and even scratching its face. Sonic watched in horror as Wartortle tried to get back up but fainted.
"So weak" Giovanni said maliciously.
Sonic gritted his teeth in anger.
"Kadabra! Lend me your power! Psychic!"
Kadabra emerged and lifted Persian off the ground damaging it in the process. To their great shock however Persian broke out of the psychic and slashed at kadabra knocking it out.
"How is this possible?!" Sonic said in horror.
"Such a novice" Giovanni laughed "your will is not as strong as mine! Strong enough will can overpower psychic! Now it's over!"
"Not yet! Raichu it's all up to you!" Sonic said looking at his partner.
"A mere raichu won't stop me!"
"Quick attack!"
Raichu moved faster than Persian expected landing a good blow.
"Now brick break!"
Raichu used the momentum of its attack to spin and land the brick break greatly damaging Persian.
"You have spirit I'll give you that. But your efforts are futile! Persian fury swipes!"
Persian recovered from the brick break and lunged at raichu, pinning it to the ground and slashing at it over and over. Sonic attempted to rush to it only to be kicked back by Persian who continued to scratch at his partner.
"NO! STOP!" Sonic screamed as tears began streaming down his face "PLEASE STOP!"
"There it is" Giovanni said with a sadistic pleasure "there's the world of pain. Persian. Playtime is over. Put them to sleep. Slash".
Persian raised its paw and prepared the attack as raichu and Sonic looked at each other. Raichu attempted to discharge electricity but its wounds were too severe. Persian brought down the slash attack but it landed right next to raichu's head as the poison finally drained Persian completely which toppled to the floor fainting. Giovanni looked in shock as he didn't expect it.
"How can this be?! How dare you humiliate me like this?!"
Sonic wasting no time attempted to tackle Giovanni to the ground. A flying machine resembling a fusion between a fox trot with a boosted underneath came out of nowhere slamming him to the face and sending him flying, landing besides his now fainted raichu, harming his leg in the process. Giovanni recalled Persian, rode his flying device and took one last look at Sonic.
"I will not forget this humiliation. Till next time" he said before leaving on it.
Sonic crawled over to raichu's pokeball, recalling it fast. He then got up and limping, he managed to avoid the authorities who were now investigating the game center. Hoping the rockets had no security cameras, he limped his way to Reina's house knocking on the door before losing consciousness just as the door opened.
Sonic felt he was floating in a dark empty space. Giovanni's twisted evil words echoed in his mind.
"I'll show you a world of pain. There it is. There's the world of pain".
Raichu then could be heard crying out in pain. The shock of it was so strong Sonic jolted awake screaming.
"NOOO!"
His scream of terror cause Reina who was sleeping on the bedside to jolt awake in terror as well.
"R-Reina?"
She looked into his eyes ready to tear up and smacked him as hard as she could.
"What was that for?"
"For scaring me! Twice!"
"Twice?"
"I opened the door and you fell right on top of me without your senses! Don't you remember?"
"No" Sonic said as he tried to get up, his right leg now bandaged up but still hurting a bit.
"What happened to you? And don't try to dodge the question this time".
"I… I raided team Rocket's base".
"You did WHAT?!"
"I found their base. At the game corner. I sneaked in and raided it. Freed the pokemon inside, beat up as many grunts as I found. But their boss roughed us up. So strong… Oh my god! Raichu! Where's Raichu?!"
"Relax. Your pokemon are already healed. My mom's taking care of them. Though I think the scratch on you wartortle is now permanent".
Sonic took in the info as he looked down.
"Please take me to them".
Reina helped him up and escorted him to her backyard where he fully healed pokemon team was waiting. They all rushed at Sonic rubbing against him.
"I'm so glad you're all ok" he admitted.
After explaining in full detail what had happened and asking Reina and her mother not to reveal any of it to anyone, Sonic got up to leave. The battle with Giovanni was a wake-up call. Tails had been right. He had let his arrogance get in his head and his pokemon had been badly injured. Wartortle would now be scarred. They needed to train hard. And Sonic needed to process some stuff. Though he considered Giovanni a monster, he had noticed how calm and confident he looked as he took on 4 pokemon with his one Persian.
"Is that what Tails meant when he said confidence does not need flaunting?" Sonic wondered as he headed outside of town, his pokemon ready for some hard training.