Chapter 41; new nemesis
Detective Looker sat alone in the police headquarters of Ecutreak city, lost in the maze that were his thoughts.
In front of him on the wall was a big bulletin board with several photographs of people the police suspected to be a part of team rocket. One was spotted on the tourist outpost near the lake of rage, another one in Goldenrod city and most recently one in Azalea town. Looker looked back and forth at the photos trying to piece together what team rocket was planning if they were really on the right track.
Then his gaze went to the middle of the board. On the photograph depicting what he perceived as his greatest lead.
"What are you up to?" he thought to himself "hero of Kanto".
A few moments later his partner, detective Morrison entered the room carrying an envelope with him.
"I'm here 836" he joked.
Looker laughed quietly.
"I no longer go by that codename, remember Jake?"
"Hehe I know".
Looker then turned serious again.
"Did you get what I need?"
Morrison handed him the envelope.
"Only as much as I could get my hands on".
Looker looked at him raising his eyebrow in question.
"Well the thing is… I got very little. Sonic the hedgehog remains a mystery. I couldn't get my hands on info. The league staff told me, respectably if I do say so myself" he said not really meaning it "that unless he is under real suspicion, they can't and won't give us his data. Not to mention they were not exactly happy to hear we are, and I quote, harassing the hero of Kanto after everything he selflessly did for the region".
Looker sighed.
"Why can't anything ever be easy… what did you get then?"
"Well… only that he was not born in Kanto. They didn't give us his actual place of birth".
"Hm… what about the other kid? The one that confessed during the league to have assisted him?"
"Unable to track him. Keep in mind he is in possession of a Zapdos. He could be halfway across the world right now if he so chose to".
"What about security cameras from silph co?"
"The tapes were stolen from the Saffron city station two days ago sir. The only clue we got was several witnesses claiming seeing a Zapdos fly away from the city".
Looker looked down.
"So he stole the tapes. We could have him arrested for that".
"Not really. The witnesses were actually partying teenagers. Drunk" Morrison informed him regrettably "their testimonies are not exactly usable in the investigation".
"Alright then. Call them and tell them to get another copy from the silph co".
"Already tried. The recordings of that day were mysteriously erased".
"What?!"
"It must have been an inside job. That kid must have not been involved. But we questioned all the employees and the CEO. No one confessed or made a questionable statement. All their alibies stand".
Looker turned back to the wall with team Sonic's picture.
"So either they're all telling the truth and someone managed to break in and erase them, or they're all lying".
"Probably the 2nd Looker".
Looker went back to the table all the reports about team rocket were piled on and slumped down on the chair.
"I don't get it. Sonic the hedgehog has brought that company to its knees with his reckless actions. They are on the brink of economic collapse. And yet they are lying to protect him?"
Jake looked at his friend in concern.
"Hey Looker… I just can't help but wonder… why are we going after the hedgehog? Shouldn't we be putting all of our efforts in finding team rocket? More specifically their boss Giovanni?"
Looker looked back at his partner.
"Exactly. And the hedgehog" he said pointing to the photo "is our only lead. He was the last to see Giovanni before he escaped. For all we know he could have let him escape. Or even worse".
Morrison was not into this idea entirely though.
"Look I know what he did was not exactly by the book… but the guy is a hero throughout Kanto. He saved all the pokemon in silph co, all the employees. Even I believe he wouldn't let him escape. And what do you mean worse?"
Looker merely separated one envelope from the pile. He handed it to Morrison.
Morrison took the envelope. It was from the investigation at silph co after the incident there.
The report was mostly about the damage done along with the testimonies of the witnesses. However the part of the report describing the findings in the CEO's office.
Two samples of blood had been found. The first sample, was proven to belong to the Jolteon that had perished there. The other was a human sample. And to Morrison's horror it was actually matched to…
"Giovanni?!"
"Yes. This is the worse I meant. Either Sonic the hedgehog or the other kid assaulted Giovanni. When the CEO started coming around before the two fled, he testified that the hedgehog tried to prevent Giovanni's escape. So maybe you have a point in your assumption Giovanni wasn't allowed to escape. But that signifies Sonic the hedgehog as the one who assaulted Giovanni".
Morrison remained quiet.
"In other words" Looker said turning back to the bulletin board "we have a vigilante capable of and possibly willing to kill or at least hurt those associated with team rocket" he turned back to Morrison "do you understand now what is at stake? That the so called hero of Kanto is our best lead and at the same time our greatest priority?"
Morrison was at a loss for words.
"But Looker, those are mere speculations".
"Yes. Which is why we need to find him and keep tabs on him. I need but one proof that he is potentially dangerous. Then we can bring him in and finally maybe start unravelling the mystery of Giovanni's disappearance".
Morrison nodded slowly though he still couldn't fully grasp the possibility. He admired Sonic deep down despite his questionable actions in the eyes of the law. Could he really be capable of such dark deeds as his partner suspected?
A long distance away, team Sonic was heading south from Violet city towards Azalea town, the next stop in their gym challenge.
As the three friends walked alongside the shoreline, Sonic enjoyed the peace and quiet as their pokemon run around them chasing each other as a game, sometimes leading the way and other times following the team.
In the back of Sonic's mind of course was still team rocket. Or more specifically, the absence of team rocket. He was sure there would be clues to find them all over but so far only that one random lonely grunt they had found.
"Damnit" he said out of the blue.
"What did you say?" Tails asked.
"I just realized something" Sonic said "that grunt we found a day into our journey. We could have questioned him, learn where team rocket was. Maybe even ambush them. Now they are probably aware we are coming for them. They will possibly even relocate. We screwed up".
Tails nodded. It was indeed a logical conclusion. But at the same time…
"We messed up indeed. But what else can we do but move forward? Train, become strong. They will have to show themselves eventually Sonic. Maybe not straight up like when they were in Kanto. But I'm sure when the time comes to tackle them we will know where to look".
Sonic scratched his head.
"How can we be sure?"
"We can't. But we're talking about team rocket right? Their motto is not just dominance but fear. Just making money, probably by harming pokemon" Tails said grimly "it won't be enough for them. Giovanni wanted to be feared throughout Kanto right. Not be in the forefront don't get me wrong. But be feared by being shrouded in darkness and giving himself a vibe of the unknown. So it's only natural that his pawns would behave the same way".
Sonic found this to be actually accurate. He remembered how Ariana had acted back in that warehouse. She feared and respected Giovanni so in his absence, she, Archer and Petrel would probably try to run team rocket like he would.
"So you think that we won't have to look hard to find them right?"
"Yup. I'm sure they will show themselves. But just to be safe I modified my phone to notify me when something nefarious is posted on social media or just on the net. Anything that could be rockets, we will know instantly".
Sonic smiled. He was lucky to have his two best friends along on this journey.
After a long walk, many challenges from trainers they encountered and wild pokemon that got in their way, team Sonic once again made camp for the night. Sonic was in shock to hear Knuckles' Cyndaquil had evolved and Tails himself stated he believed it was still too early and should have grown a lot more before evolving.
That came to show how great Knuckles was with pokemon unbeknown to even himself. Sonic wondered if that meant his chikorita was also close to evolving. After all evolution meant higher stats, meaning more power and stamina which a defensive wall that he was intending his chikorita to someday be needed to be fully evolved.
The three friends got to training, testing Quilava's speed, power and endurance and found it to be slowly turning into a menace on the battlefield. Its rapid fire ember attack was now a minigun of embers that could actually hurt Sonic's wooper. Though as they expected raichu still had the edge over it.
During the training, Sonic spent a lot of time with chikorita and pushed it hard during the training. Cyndaquil's evolution made him excited for chikorita's evolution.
Raichu observing its trainer give all of his attention to chikorita got a little jealous. At one point it tried to get Sonic to help it practice thunder punch, though it was merely an excuse to get some attention too.
"Not now buddy" Sonic said softly "our new teammates need training. Come on Chikorita give it all you got".
Chikorita obeyed but it was clear it wanted to rest.
"Sonic maybe you should let it take its time with evolving" Tails adviced.
"Oh come on, look at quilava. Can you imagine how tanky chikorita could be if it evolved if quilava is that speedy? Raichu I said not now please".
Raichu observed stone faced for the rest of the training session.
After training, the team got together to once again taste Knuckles' cooking. After dinner, the team let their pokemon play around. Raichu wanted to stay with Sonic for a while just to hand out but Sonic insisted it go play with its teammates. Raichu obeyed, albeit not wholeheartedly. While the pokemon were playing, team Sonic just sat in their big tent discussing possible strategies as well as what they would do should they encounter team rocket soon.
Hours later, everyone was out like a light. At one point Sonic got thirsty and reached for a bottle of water when he heard rustling in the grass.
He crawled to the edge of the tent and slid the zipper open.
He saw a dark figure holding his sleeping chikorita.
"HEY!" he yelled instinctively.
The figure made a break for it.
"GIVE ME BACK MY POKEMON YOU THIEF!" Sonic screamed reaching for chikorita's pokeball but it was pointless. It was well beyond the range of the pokeball's signal.
"Sonic?" Tails looked outside from the tent's opening still half asleep.
"A creep stole chikorita. I will hunt him down! Raichu! Come quick!"
Raichu was roughly awoken but realizing what happened immediately rushed after the thief.
"Sonic wait for us!" Tails managed to scream but Sonic was gone before he could process the situation.
"Knuckles get up we have a problem" Tails turned to wake his other friend up.
Sonic, running as fast as he could saw the dark figure make for the woods.
"Hang on chikorita I'm coming!"
The thief jumped over a bush, chikorita still somehow asleep in his arms. Sonic also jumped over the bush and raichu followed suit.
Entering the thick treeline, Sonic began having trouble catching up with the thief. He was slick and agile, and obviously knew where he was headed.
As if the entire thing was planned.
Raichu was racing behind Sonic, attempting to keep up as well.
Momentarily the three got to another bush. This one however had spiky leaves on top of it.
The thief rushed through the bush, making sure not to scratch himself. Sonic followed suit ignoring the risk and getting cut in the process.
Raichu also rushed through the bush and a couple of leaves got stuck on its face.
It stopped to remove them. Once its eyesight was restored, it raced forward hoping to catch up to its trainer.
Sonic felt his breath slowly running out. His eyesight started becoming blurry from the exhaustion but his mind only had one target.
Save chikorita.
Eventually the thief reached a clearing and stopped. Sonic caught up and looked on as the hooded thief revealed, chikorita was now wearing…
"A team rocket collar" Sonic thought in horror.
Instinctively he went to recall chikorita but just as he suspected the collar jammed the signal.
The hooded figure then removed the hood.
"You" Sonic whispered.
It was the kid who had stolen totodile.
"Me" he said. A voice full of anger and hatred.
"Give me back my chikorita!"
"Sure" the kid said releasing the chikorita from the collar which rushed back to Sonic who was not expecting this development.
"Everything's in place now! You will pay for what you did! Go zubat!"
A zubat emerged from the kid's pokeball.
"Astonish!"
Zubat attacked the unprepared chikorita.
"Chikorita use leech seed!"
Chikorita however had flinched, having taken a defensive stance but its face showing the fear it had.
"Again! Leech life!
Zubat bit chikorita and absorbed a bit of its energy. Chikorita cried out in pain.
"Chikorita return!" Sonic recalled it "Raichu thunder punch!"
No attack occurred. Sonic turned around to see if raichu was ok.
Raichu was not there.
"What?!" he said slowly but in shock.
"AHAHA! Not so tough without that rodent by your side are you?! Zubat leech his life!"
Sonic ducked to avoid the attack. The zubat however did manage to scratch him with one of its fangs. Sonic groaned and cursed the fact that he had not paid enough attention to raichu.
"Wooper help me out!"
Wooper emerged looking around, and then realizing a battle was going on. It turned its eyes to zubat and braced itself for the attack.
"Zubat leech life!"
"Wooper slam!"
Wooper slammed into zubat dealing a big amount of damage. Zubat managed to bit wooper but the water and ground type stood strong. The combined facts of the attack being fairly weak and doing normal damage left zubat in a pickle.
At the same time, Tails and Knuckles who had hurriedly packed up the tent and the rest of their stuff, tried to find Sonic but found his footsteps leading deep into the woods.
"He didn't take his compass" Tails murmured holding it "what now?"
"He will be ok. Raichu is with him" Knuckles answered.
But he was wrong.
Meanwhile Raichu had become lost. It cried out its name and run through the woods, trying to find or be heard by Sonic. But it was pointless.
Raichu momentarily wondered if Sonic had realized its absence. Until of course it felt Sonic's small jolt of pain.
Letting go of the small jealousy it held towards Sonic's recent slight neglect of it over Chikorita and determined to find its trainer Raichu looked around. A small distance away was a rocky and steep cliff. Raichu immediately run towards it.
It knew there was no way to climb to the top. But if it could climb up a tree and then a bit higher than the treetops, there was a good chance it would find Sonic or a clue to his location.
Tails and Knuckles in the meantime were still trying to find a way to find or call Sonic to them.
"Dumbass didn't even take his phone" Tails said disappointed.
"So how do we find him now?" Knuckles inquired. With the rush they were in, he had roughly grabbed the tent with everything still in it carrying it around as a pile of cloth, ropes and stakes.
Tails rubbed his chin. And then his face lit.
"We get to higher ground and find him!" he said as he pointed to the same steep cliff raichu had noticed.
"Let's not waste time then!" Knuckles rushed forward. Tails followed.
He was surprised that they were able to be this calm at such a situation. But from a certain point of view, such an incident would be another day in the office for Sonic and Raichu.
And that would be true if they were together.
While unbeknown to everyone else they were racing towards the same steep hill, Sonic was seizing the chance to get the advantage.
"Wooper slam it down!"
Wooper rammed zubat into a tree knocking it out. His opponent cursed in anger.
"Damn you! Croconaw get him!"
A familiar pokemon emerged from the pokeball. Eerily similar to totodile.
"Totodile evolved?!" Sonic thought in shock.
That meant that totodile was probably ok with its trainer. Sonic couldn't wrap his mind around it neither did he have time for it.
"Wooper don't let up now! Slam it!"
Wooper rammed into its new opponent but the difference in size minimized the effects of the attack.
"Croconaw bite!"
Croconaw seized the opening and bit down on wooper causing it to cry out in pain.
"No wooper! Water gun!"
"More croconaw! Bite it more!"
"Wooooopeeee!" Wooper cried out in pain.
Sonic couldn't take this scene.
It was just like old times.
Back when Giovanni had raichu pinned down and tortured it.
Sonic unable to stand by any longer recalled wooper and sent out chikorita instead.
"Why are you doing this to us? What do you want?!"
"To watch you suffer! Just like you made me suffer!"
"I made you suffer?! I don't even know you!"
"You took my father away from me!"
Sonic was confused beyond belief.
"Who is your father? What did I do to him?"
His opponent instead attacked.
"Croconaw bite!"
"Chikorita dodge and use leech seed!"
Chikorita jumped away at the last second and fired a seed towards croconaw. Croconaw was ensnared by the vines of the leech seed.
It moved with extreme speed however just the next moment and once again bit on chikorita causing the previous scene of terror to repeat.
"NO!" Sonic yelled in despair.
That kid was giving off too much Giovanni vibes.
"Wait… no…" Sonic thought momentarily forgetting about the situation.
He took that kid's father? The kid looked like Giovanni?
"It can't possibly be… can it?" he thought before he returned to the present.
Chikorita was still crying out in pain but unlike wooper, its energy was being regenerated after every bite because of the leech seed.
"Chikorita use poison powder!"
Chikorita unleashed the poisonous powder causing croconaw to spit it out. It then knelt on one of its paws from the damage before the leech seed again regenerated.
Sonic looked on as chikorita struggled to stay up. They were balancing very tensely.
"Maybe it can evolve now" Sonic thought "Cyndaquil evolved. Totodile evolved. It's your turn now chikorita".
Chikorita managed to stand up straight after the regeneration. Its opponent was in a bad shape but very much still standing as well.
Sonic encouraged chikorita to fight on. This was their chance.
Chikorita used vine whip trying to throw croconaw around but found it too hard. Croconaw despite the poisoning and the energy draining unleashed a water gun.
Chikorita rolled back. Sonic racked his brain momentarily.
"Come on chikorita. You can do it. Especially if you evolve" he thought.
Then an idea came to mind.
"Chikorita use vine whip as a whip!"
Chikorita obeyed. Croconaw took the attack head on and charged to bite chikorita again.
The attack found its mark and chikorita found itself again between croconaw's jaws.
"Chrikorita don't give up!"
Chikorita looked at Sonic and unleashed another vine whip. Unlike with poison powder earlier it wasn't released. Until it started emitting a blue glow. Croconaw spit it out as it was caught off guard.
"Yeah!" Sonic shouted in excitement.
"No!" his opponent exclaimed.
But the excitement was short lived. The glow suddenly stopped and chikorita was still chikorita.
"What? How can this be?" Sonic said, totally unprepared.
His enemy seized the opening.
"Now croconaw! Finish it with rage!"
Croconaw having built its anger over the consecutive damage charged chikorita and tackled it as hard as it could sending it flying straight into Sonic's lap where it fainted.
Sonic couldn't process the situation. Chikorita was supposed to evolve right there. Why didn't it?
"Damnit. Get a rest chikorita" he said recalling it and sending out wooper.
Wooper looked up at croconaw trapped in the leech seed and poisoned and immediately felt more confident at its chances of victory.
As this was taking place, Raichu was climbing the steep hill, trying to get a grip and get to a high enough ground to find Sonic.
It however tripped when the rock it was stepping on gave in.
Raichu fell down rough and got badly hurt. Tears started streaming down its face as it tried to get back up.
Sonic felt the pain as well and shivered which bewildered his opponent.
"Oh no raichu. Where are you buddy?" Sonic thought realizing his recklessness of pursuing this kid had led to raichu somehow getting hurt.
Once again however the opening was seized.
"Croconaw bite!"
Croconaw bit down on wooper trapping it in its jaws. Wooper cried out in pain.
Sonic was finding himself helpless again. Just like when he first battled Giovanni.
"Like father like son" a small voice echoed in his mind amidst all the confusion and inaction.
Wooper noticed this inaction and feeling of helplessness from Sonic. Getting a determined look just like back in the ruins of alph it opened its mouth and launched a new attack.
Croconaw was blasted in the face by mud. Wooper was released in the process and rushed to Sonic.
Sonic saw it happen but took a moment to process. Immediately taking out his pokedex he asked for the last recorded move.
"Last recorded move; mud shot".
"Mud shot?!" Sonic said in surprise. He was not aware of this move.
It seemed to work in great effect despite the lack of knowledge on his part. Croconaw was already ensnared in the leech seed, poisoned and now covered in mud slowing it down.
"Wooper again! Mud shot!"
"Woooopeeer!" Wooper cried out unleashing mud shot.
Croconaw too exhausted and not expecting this level of power from a mere small pokemon like wooper had a critical hit strike it. It balanced momentarily and then toppled, fainting.
"Damnit no! How could this happen?!" the kid screamed in rage.
Wooper rushed back to Sonic's feet in excitement. Sonic met the kid's eyes.
"Who are you?" he asked the kid.
His opponent was staring at him in intense rage. But unexpectedly he turned to leave.
"Hey I said, who are you?!"
The kid was shaking as if he was trying to stay calm.
"Even after my trick to separate you from your raichu, you still came out on top. No matter. You may win this time, hero of Kanto. But mark my words and remember my name. I, Silver, will make you pay".
And before Sonic could ask anything else he was gone.
Sonic stood there for a few moments until he remembered raichu was hurt. Recalling wooper fast he started calling out raichu's name.
Tails and Knuckles managed to reach the steep hill and to their surprise found themselves in the entrance of the union cave which was the cave they were planning to traverse the next day to reach Azalea town. Close by was raichu roughed up from the fall.
"It's raichu!" Tails exclaimed and rushed to its side. His sentret came out of its pokeball on its own trying to comfort raichu.
Tails saw the small rocks around raichu and then looked up.
"It must have thought the same thing as us. Trying to get to higher ground to find Sonic"
Knuckles then remembered something. Dropping the tent he ravaged through his backpack until he found what he was looking for; a road flare.
"Stay here with raichu" he said and proceeded to effortlessly climb the steep hill reaching a high enough ground.
Tails was impressed by this and wondered just how much free time Knuckles had and was able to learn all those useful skills and know to carry around all this gear.
Knuckles made sure he was over the top of the treeline and lit the flare waving it around as well.
"Come on Sonic" he murmured.
Sonic noticed the flare as well.
"Knuckles!" he thought as he rushed towards it.
Only Knuckles would be prepared for such an occasion.
After a short run he found the group; Raichu hurt on the ground looking up to meet his eyes, Tails and Sentret by its side and Knuckles climbing down from the hill.
Sonic slowly approached and knelt before the hurt raichu.
"How did.. how did this happen?"
"It tried to climb the hill" Knuckles explained.
"Wha.. why?"
"Rai" raichu cried out.
"Tails can you hook up your voltmeter to it?" Sonic asked rather ashamed.
Tails took it out from the mess that used to be their tent but sighed in disappointment.
"Algorithm got all scrambled in the chaos from earlier. It was in the tent and Knuckles had to carry it, rather chaotically if I do say so myself, in order to catch up to you".
"And besides" Knuckles added "there is no need for it. It's clear as day raichu was trying to find you".
Sonic met his partner's eyes.
"Raichu i… I'm sorry. I…I don't know what to say".
Raichu looked at one of Sonic's pokeballs. Sonic knew what it was about.
"No. I know what to say. I neglected you earlier and I'm sorry. I don't know how I got so lost chasing chikorita's evolution. And for that you got hurt. Had you been back there with me things would have been so different. Can you forgive me?" Sonic apologized.
Raichu's eyes gleamed. It tried to get up to hug Sonic but the pain kept it down.
"It's badly hurt" Tails explained "it needs a doctor urgently".
"Violet city is too far away" Sonic said in concern.
"And the cave is not exactly safe to traverse during the night" Knuckles said looking inside.
The team remained silent for a bit trying to find a solution.
But they didn't need to.
A golden shine pierced the darkness of the night. The team covered their eyes for a moment due the sudden change in light. After their eyes got used to the brightness, Sonic gasped.
"That's… that's the pokemon! The one I saw when I met my Moltres the 2nd time!"
Knuckles observed the flying type shining pokemon for a while and then gasped as well.
"You saw Ho-oh before?!"
"Ho-oh?" Sonic asked in confusion.
"Ho-oh is one of if not the most common pokemon met in Johto's legends! It is said that those who see it will be blessed with eternal happiness! And you have seen it before?!"
Sonic couldn't believe it.
Ho-oh's eyes met Sonic's. Then raichu's.
And then the same sparkling dust that had healed Sonic's Kanto team and Moltres during their first battle confrontation, started dropping from Ho-oh wings.
The dust collectively fell on raichu, slowly but surely healing all of its wounds and allowing to get up and finally hug Sonic. The latter gleamed and looked up at Ho-oh.
"Thank you Ho-oh. For back then and for now".
Ho-oh cried out but then something caught its eye.
Unbeknown to everybody, Knuckles had climbed the steep hill again, getting to the same height as Ho-oh's eyes.
Ho-oh wasn't startled at all. It turned mid-air wings still flapping to meet Knuckles' eyes.
Knuckles looked back into Ho-oh as if he was entranced. Both of his friends noticed it.
After a few more moments of shared staring, Ho-oh let out one more ear piercing cry and flew away. Knuckles was left there stunned.
A little while later the team had rebuilt their tent and were ready to get a little more sleep before their next day of adventure.
Before they fell asleep however, Sonic had one thing to ask Knuckles that he could just not wait until morning to ask.
"Knuckles… back when Ho-oh was here… it seemed like meeting it was a big deal for you. Like bigger than just being a fan of legends and well… meeting a legend".
Knuckles contemplated momentarily before answering.
"Ho-oh was… is my mother's favorite legend".
Sonic and Tails glanced at each other momentarily. Unbeknown to Knuckles they had caught the 'was'.
"That's cool" Tails said after a moment to ease the tension "it means it meant a lot to you to meet it".
"It did. Anyway I'm beat. Goodnight guys" he said turning to face the side of the tent.
Sonic and Tails exchanged another glance of concern before laying to sleep as well.
They would have to have a talk with Knuckles when they got a chance.