Chapter 111, everybody! Giovanni came out to attack people and is having such a good time right now.

Yes Giovanni's quoting Beckett from Pirates of the Caribbean and Iago from Return of Jafar. Also possibly Steven He. The Rhydon, meantime, might be obliquely quoting Timon from The Lion King and Pikachu's quoting Captain America. And hey, we recognize that Rotom!

In other news, yes if you have broken ribs breathing hurts and since bones take a while to heal, that sucks for a long while.

In other news: thanks to Dragonkeeper10, Thor94, Segwayman, LongNightDragon, lukeanimelover, griffin blackwood, Cyan Quartz, and Guest for the reviews! Everyone report Cresselia to her manager Arceus!

Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo

And now, for something completely different:

The Pokémon League would like to remind you to please call a Pokémon removal agency in case of an infestation. Attempting to remove the Pokémon on your own may result in injury. Signs of Pokémon infestation include odd noises, scuttling in the walls, chewed wires, partially-devoured foodstuffs, furniture moved a half-inch, and missing left shoes.

Ash wasn't quite sure what he was expecting when he ran out, was mostly preoccupied with figuring out how to stop Persian when he couldn't even stop Giovanni's Rhydon when the sight of Pallet Town stopped him dead. It looked like the S.S. Anne, where the whole thing was covered with Rockets and their Pokémon, ordering them to attack a singular target—

The first went down to Pikachu's Quick Attack, him and Ash barreling through to the road where a glowing bird was hovering over Darkrai, surrounded by other Pokémon all ready to attack—not even Darkrai could stand up to a mob like that—

Time to even the playing field.

"Pikachu! Thunder Shock!"

Pikachu succeeded in getting the other Pokémon to back off of Darkrai, landed between him and the Persian, bristling and chittering to the large cat's amusement—

Ash, meanwhile, squared off against Giovanni, who turned and looked at him with the same sort of expression his Persian had.

"So in retrospect I probably should have expected you to get involved," he observed. "I don't suppose telling you to go back inside is going to do the trick."

"Not a chance," Ash gritted.

"Ah. Perhaps this will: get back inside, or Persian will eat your Pikachu. Understand that I'd rather not give that order."

"Why are you doing this!?"

"Consider it: a Dark-type Legendary. The Dark-type Legendary. What Pokémon in Kanto can stand against that sort of power?" Twitch a shoulder in a shrug. "As Team Rocket's leader, it's in my best interests to make sure that's in my corner."

Ash actually took a step back at that declaration—Team Rocket's leader? "But you're a gym leader! You're supposed to be a good guy!"

"Ah me, but you are young," Giovanni said. "You're looking at this like I'm the bad guy on one of your cartoons, where the world is a very clear-cut black and white. Well I'm sorry to inform you that the real world is not all black and white—you lose that as you get older and see it in shades of gray." Gesture. "Look at this—you've seen the state of Kanto. Run by a League that focused on a war that benefitted no one but themselves, failing their people at every turn. Some people, far too many people, will look at that and shrug, say that that's life. I, for one, would rather fight back."

Ash grit his teeth, barked "Then challenge the League like a normal person!"

"And what good would that do?" he asked. "The champion is beholden to those beneath him, and there's far too much infighting for there to be anything worthwhile done. No, I'd much rather burn a system that drove a boy to madness to the ground. If robbing them of their challengers didn't do it, there's plenty of other ways to do so."

His refusal to be challenged for the Earth Badge. "Then why bother with me?"

"Because you're like me," Giovanni said, making Ash's skin crawl. "You have a refreshing amount of cynicism in you—you're someone who could look at a system and see its faults. You have the potential to be dangerous as you get older. It's just good business."

"I'm nothing like you," Ash spat.

Giovanni actually barked a laugh at that. "You'd be surprised."

Ash huffed. "So what? You think I'm going to agree to this? To—to whatever this is? You are attacking my best friend!"

"You mean the displaced Legendary that's been leaving a trail of destruction in its wake?" Giovanni asked; took a step forward. "Or is the source really you. A question for the ages."

"Get stuffed!"

Giovanni sighed, shook his head. "I'll tell you what—you join Team Rocket, and we'll stop this whole thing right now. Your little friend goes free. What do you say?"

"I say you're a liar," Ash snapped back. "If you're willing to do all this, then you're willing to do whatever it takes, including blowing smoke to make me buy what you're selling."

"Now see, that's where you're wrong," Giovanni said, affecting a hurt pose. "I do precisely what I say I will. Although I will give you one point: I will go through whatever means necessary to get the desired end result. For example."

Ash squawked in alarm at being grabbed from the back and hoisted off the ground—managed to spin around enough to see a Kangaskhan holding him aloft and looking rather bored with the whole thing.

"Make sure he stays in one piece for now," Giovanni told it; turned back to the Legendaries, tipped his head at Darkrai, apparently seeing something in the way he was holding himself, Pikachu stiff in front of him and torn between protecting Darkrai and trying to free Ash, Persian lazily poised to attack the moment an order was given.

"Perhaps an edit to my previous offer is in order," Giovanni said.

"I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say I'd rather die," Darkrai spat.

"I will not stand for this," the other Legendary hissed, feathers bristling. "Darkrai has evaded punishment for far too long—"

Giovanni stopped the other Legendary with a wave of his hand, stunning Ash—the fact that he could get an obvious Legendary to balk, to actually listen and stop talking—"You," he said, addressing the Legendary glowing in the moonlight. "Enlighten me on a Legendary's opinion of being captured: you view it as a great insult—a punishment, wouldn't you say?"

Darkrai shot the other Pokémon a look—wilted imperceptibly when it digested this statement and floated back slightly, making its position clear: it wasn't planning on interfering with what came next.

"Now back to you," Giovanni said, addressing Darkrai. "I do believe I've found your weakness, and it's not Fighting or Bug." Hook a thumb back at Ash. "You join, or he pays for the decision."

"HEY!" Ash hollered, feeling his insides turn to ice as the Kangaskhan's grip tightened slightly.

"You wouldn't dare," Darkrai snarled, bristling—shot a look at the other Legendary. "I'm surprised at you—all that baloney you spout and then you team up with a guy who's going to kill a kid."

"I never said he would die," Giovanni said. "But you'd be amazed at what you can live through." Darkrai focused back on him—

Snarled something low and guttural, Pikachu's ear twitching—

Pikachu darted to the side, angling to get to Ash—Persian intercepted, bowling him over, leaving Darkrai a clear shot to Giovanni—

Who stepped aside before Darkrai could connect, the wind from his passing making Giovanni's hat and coat flutter.

Darkrai didn't waste the momentum, adjusting trajectory slightly to aim for the Kangaskhan—

Who smoothly freed up a paw to catch Darkrai by the sawtooth ridge, holding him at arm's length as it held Ash off to the side, snorting as Darkrai clawed at its arm and kicked ineffectually at its chest, at one point aiming for a pouch that was empty—

Slammed Darkrai down before holding him back up, Darkrai wheezing wetly in pain, still digging his claws in and trying to get the Kangaskhan's grip to loosen, even with all his wind knocked out of him.

Giovanni watched the whole thing impassively.

"Perhaps we start with dealing some emotional damage," he decided; looked to Persian. "Kill it."

"NO!" ripped out of Ash as Persian dug its teeth into Pikachu, lifting him up to crunch down even as Pikachu shocked it as hard as he could—

And then something big and purple slammed into the Persian, knocking Pikachu free of its jaws, slamming a huge paw down on it and pinning it in place—

A Nidoking with a dark patch over one eye bellowed defiance in Giovanni's face.

Patches and the others were sleeping outside that night, Lenny curled up around the rest of them as they excitedly discussed what this Victory Road and League would have in store for them, eventually dropping off to sleep. Vee, on his back, kept kicking eagerly, like he was already dreaming of glory.

Patches, who had lost his last two battles, was trying to figure out how he was supposed to keep up.

"Hey," Magnemite noised, floating over. "You okay? You seem down."

"I'm a little worried," Patches admitted, not looking up at it (him? Steel types were so fiddly and unlike the Nido lines when it came to gender). "I know I'm one of the stronger team members, but...I'm not sure if I'm keeping up like I should, if maybe Ash would be better off swapping in someone else." Dangit it wasn't fair! He had helped to win several badges, rescued Ash and the others from that weird magician...he wanted to go that final stretch with the rest of them!

But what if he was just deadweight, slowing them down—what then?

Magnemite wobbled a bit in the air, considering this. "Well...I'm not good at this, honestly, but maybe practice more? You could practice on me, it's not like you can poison me."

True. "Ash is training for speed, though—I'm not as fast as I was as a Nidoran. Nidorino and Nidoking...well we're built to be tanks, and tanks aren't speedy." Shake his head. "And the power levels we're going into...I'm not going to be able to dodge a hit."

"Maybe you're overthinking it," Magnemite offered. "How do trainer battles work, anyway? I haven't been in enough to have a good idea."

"Well, the good news is, it's not to the death," Patches told it. "And you have to be able to trust your trainer to make smart decisions...I'm not sure why Ash put me up against a Rhydon, though."

"Wait—a big, scary Rhydon? Kind of looked at you like you were lunch?" the Magnemite demanded; shivered when he nodded. "Oooh that thing was scary—had me out flat right away—"

"Wait, you got put up against it too?" Patches asked, sitting up.

"From the sounds of it everyone did—it belonged to the last gym guy Ash had to battle, and it wiped everyone out! Even the Tauros herd, all at once!"

Well at least Patches felt a little better upon hearing that it wasn't just him—

Winced and ducked as Magnemite did when the moon suddenly gained a blistering intensity.

"Hey, what's going on!?" Magnemite demanded. "Who turned up the lights!?"

"Someone turn that light off!" Gengar hollered, tugging Lenny's fluke over his head.

"Guys—guys wake up!" Patches barked, on his feet. "Wake up this isn't normal!" It was like how the Clefairy did on Mt. Moon—"This is a Pokémon move, someone's having a battle!"

"Oh they're going to get one all right," Gengar grumbled—started with the rest of them at the flock of bird Pokémon shooting across the sky, chasing something dark as it fled before them—

"Hey wait!" Vee barked, jumping on Lenny's head as he raised it to get a better look. "That's Mr. Darkrai! He finally made it!"

"And is in major trouble," Lenny observed, head swinging about as he tracked the movement—froze, looking down into the town. "Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh? What's 'uh-oh' you don't say 'uh-oh' when some of us are on the ground and can't see!" Gengar griped, floating up along with Magnemite to look. "Uh-oh."

"Ground-bound!" Patches reminded him.

Gengar quickly dropped down. "There's a bunch of guys with big red Rs on them, but that's not important—Darkrai's getting ganged up on by a bunch of Pokémon!"

"The big red Rs are important!" Lenny insisted. "That's Team Rocket! What are they doing here?"

"Hey it's Ash and Pikachu!" Vee hollered, pointing a paw. "They're fighting too!"

"Wait—where are you going!?" Magnemite demanded as Vee bounded down Lenny's back.

"We have to go help them!"

"Are you crazy!? That's Mr. Rhydon-guy down there!"

"Wait what?" Patches asked. "Vee, hold it—get the others first!" he barked, causing the Eevee to skid. "If that's who's down there then we're going to need everyone's help!"

"The rest of the team?" Vee asked.

"EVERYONE!" Patches ordered, stomping a foot. "Anyone who'll come! This is serious business—we'll need all the help we can get!" Ramped up and stamped both feet, eliciting a small rumble from the ground. "NOW!"

Vee shot off, barking and caterwauling to wake the whole ranch.

"Okay," Gengar said, pulling a hammer and nail out from nowhere. "Plan is, I get close and hit the main guy with Curse—take the head, the rest will fall."

"You can't attack a trainer!" Lenny said, appalled.

"Hel-LO! OUR trainer is in the grip of his Kangaskhan!"

"Wait—where are you going!?" Magnemite demanded of Patches as he ran for Professor Oak's lab. Not that he could answer right now—right now the focus was on rounding about and ramming the door to the lab, canter back around, paw at the ground, do it again—again—

Broke through on the fifth time, shook himself before orienting—

"HEY!" a Rotom barked, zapping into the room. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"No time!" Patches told it. "The Moon Stone Ash gave the professor—where is it!?"

"Well I don't have to tell you—gaak!" it barked, dodging the Poison Sting. "Now I really don't have to tell you, and you can't make me!"

"GENGAR!"

Gengar slid in behind him, dropped through a shadow—

Down through the ceiling behind the Rotom, grabbing it in his paws. "Hi there."

"Hey, I don't have to take this!" Zapped Gengar—wilted a bit when that didn't do anything. "Uh..."

"Yeah, I've had harder shocks during practice," Gengar said, dropping down to Patches. "Now what?"

Patches' response was to point his horn right at one of the Rotom's eyes. "The Moon Stone. Where is it?"

"Nngh—other room! Other room!" the Rotom squawked, flailing.

"Wait—Moon Stone?" Gengar noised, startled as Patches stampeded into the room the Rotom had indicated. "Patches, hold on—"

"No time!" he barked back—scanned the area quickly—

There. Sitting in a patch of intense moonlight on the desk—

Rammed the desk, knocking the Moon Stone down to the floor, clattering into the moonlight and still glowing intensely—a shard of the Moon Stone of Mt. Moon. The most powerful source of Moon Stones, not having lost any potency upon entering the atmosphere—so potent, in fact, that it was rumored by those surrounding Mt. Moon that it caused the Clefairy's lunacy.

But Ash was in trouble—there was no time for hesitation, and he needed a Pokémon strong enough to take those tanks down.

He stomped down on the Moon Stone.

"OI!" Gengar barked, voice lost in the process of evolution, of the feeling of himself expanding, splitting open his old form like a Metapod, what remained of his Nidorino form converting to energy to further fuel it—bones stretching, expanding, toughening, new thicker skin forming—tried to bellow to release the pressure, couldn't—

The light of evolution dissipated, leaving him to reorient to his new size—Gengar peeked in cautiously. "Uhhh...Patches?"

Snort, point himself at where Ash was—idle chit-chat could wait.

He had a trainer to save.

The wall of the lab ripped like paper, him thundering down the hill—not as fast as he had been as a Nidoran or even a Nidorino, Nidoking were the kings of their warrens for a reason, and that was because very little posed a proper threat at this point. Send Pokémon and Rockets flying, world narrowing down to the Persian trying to kill Pikachu—

Hit it hard, sent it flying, Pikachu tumbling out of its mouth—

Stomp down on the Persian to keep it from moving as he turned and bellowed in its trainer's face.

Said trainer barely reacted, barely twitched at having a full-grown Nidoking roaring at him. "Was I supposed to be impressed?"

Patches didn't even have time to blink at that nonreaction—the Persian twisted under his paw and fired a Power Gem at his underside, point-blank—

The Kangaskhan spread its arms and fired a Flamethrower at him as he reared back.

"Patches! Earthquake!" Ash hollered, still dangling from the Kangaskhan's paw—Patches stomped down, punched the ground for good measure, rattling the ground around them and getting everyone off-kilter, if only for a moment—

Pikachu used that moment to hit the Kangaskhan with a Volt Tackle, knocking it back and winding it enough to make it drop Darkrai and ash.

Patches fired a Venoshock at the Persian as it spun to react, used Iron Tail to give himself some space—had to duck down as various Flying Pokémon tried for him, beaks trying to dig through his tough back or gouge his eyes—

One of the Fearow suddenly disappeared with a squawk, big wings beating as Amber the Aerodactyl swooped away, Lenny firing Hydro Pumps at the bigger clusters of Rockets and Pokémon—

"Enough!" a Clefable barked, leaping forward. "You will not stop this!"

Patches snorted in its direction, dividing his attention between it and Ash—Pikachu was staggering, but Vee was with him now too—twitched at a weight landing on his back, glanced up to see Gengar perched there and readying a Sludge Bomb. "Back off, loser!"

The Clefable sniffed, insulted. "Leave now, fell doppelganger."

"That's Gengar, and you leave," Gengar snarled.

"You will not win this."

Gengar grinned. "Oh yes I will—Poison beats Fairy." Fired the Sludge Bomb—

Patches swung, horn ready as Persian lunged—

The big cat caught itself, twisting away from impaling itself on his horn, swung a paw around to slam into his face and eyes—Patches managed to turn his head so the top of it was taking the hit instead, so it'd hopefully get a pawful of spines—

Lost a few moments to bells clanging in his head, but the yowl told him that he had succeeded in at least slowing it down. Gengar spun, launched himself at the Persian—

Led with a Mega Kick to the gut before slugging it with a Power-Up Punch.

"And STAY DOWN!" he hollered, punching it again for good measure. And with the others keeping the mob at bay—

Patches surged up, grappled with the Kangaskhan as it came back to grab Ash again.

"Why are you doing this?" Patches hissed between his teeth.

"The same reason you are," the Kangaskhan said evenly, not sounding like it was even exerting itself. "My trainer desires it, and so I help make it to be."

"You can refuse!" Patches roared. "Rebel! You don't have to go along with something like this!"

The Kangaskhan raised an eye ridge, like what he said was amusing, somehow. "You act as though his desires differ from mine."

The comment threw Patches enough that it was able to fling him away with a Circle Throw.

"You would die for this boy," the Kangaskhan said, grabbing Ash by the shoulder and not giving any indication that it registered Vee firing Swift at it or leaping to Bite at its arm, legs kicking as he struggled to hang on. "How does that loyalty differ from my own? Would you not follow him to the ends of the earth and back, straight into the teeth of Eternatus, if he asked it of you?"

"This is wrong," Patches hissed, pushing himself back into a charging position but not daring to attack with Ash so close. "You know it is."

"There, you and I differ." It picked Ash up, held him between it and Patches. "And here, I and my trainer still agree. The end justifies the means."

"Hey!" Gengar barked—yelped as the Persian recovered and tackled him to the ground. "Get off!"

Ash glanced at Persian, at Patches, hands gripping the Kangaskhan's claws—"Patches, use Fissure."

The Kangaskhan actually barked a laugh at that. "He thinks you would actually follow that order!"

No, no he wouldn't—there was too much of a risk he'd hit Ash—

Ash, who was glancing at Persian before hooking a thumb at the Kangaskhan, tightening his grip—

Patches pivoted, roared for Gengar to roll out of the way—the Kangaskhan barked a warning to the Persian—

He swung and slammed his paw down in the Kangaskhan's direction, fervently praying that yes Ash knew what he was doing—

Ash hauled up, lifting his legs and curling them against his chest as he clung to the Kangaskhan's paws for dear life, startling the Kangaskhan into tightening its grip—

And as focused as it was on Ash, it didn't even think of the Fissure until it opened up beneath it, sending it tumbling in, Ash yelping in alarm—

Patches surged forward, grabbed Ash and yanked back, the Kangaskhan's claws scratching him and yet still instinctively trying to toss him out of harm's way—

Saw him collapsing against Patches' chest as the Nidoking did his best to protect his trainer, snarling at the remaining threats. Far, far too many for them to get out of this in one piece.

"Are you done?" Giovanni asked, not seeming at all concerned that one of his Pokémon had gotten knocked out. Judging by the way Persian had Gengar pinned and the fact that he likely had a full team on him, there was probably a good reason. Now if only Ash didn't try to plant himself between Patches and Giovanni—no, no, it was his job to protect you, scoot over, Ash—

"No," Ash spat in defiance. "You're hurting my friends, tearing up my hometown—give me one good reason why I should stop fighting!"

Giovanni actually seemed vaguely amused at that, if the arched eyebrow was any indication. "Persian, give him a reason."

Gengar howled at the claws digging in, Persian wrestling him to get a better grip and aim for his neck through the poisonous quills, Gengar curling himself to try to take advantage of that defense—Ash starting, moving like he could stop it somehow—

Patches suddenly getting hauled back and flipped around, scrambling to recover—

Bristling when he realized who it was. "You."

"Me," the Rhydon from before said, looking down on him, unperturbed by Ash hollering for Gengar, scrambling to get to him before Giovanni intercepted, tugging him off-balance before shoving him at a Rocket. "You got lucky against Cara. You won't have such luck again."

Patches snarled, shifted his weight, calculating his odds—if he ran for the Persian the Rhydon might not risk hitting the trainers—

"GET OFF!" Gengar railed—twisted out of the Persian's grip, red flecking as he spun to his back—

Used the momentum to drive in the spike he put against its neck, prompting a yowl as it reared back, pawing at where the Curse hit. Gengar fainted—Patches charged—

Was caught by his horn and slammed into the ground. Hard.

Oh this was bad. This was very, very bad.

Vee's goal, after getting everyone alerted, was to run to Ash and Darkrai and try to protect them, and he wasn't certain he was doing a good job. His only healing move was Heal Bell, which only covered status conditions, and the offensive moves he did know would require him leaving Darkrai unguarded, and it didn't look like he could move right now. Resign himself to boosting his stats and readying helping moves, not sure what to do to help—

Gengar and Patches going down, Pikachu struggling, didn't help matters.

The Rhydon from before looked at the Persian, hissing and spitting as it clawed at its neck, just about rolled its eyes before stomping down a light Magnitude to get its attention. Like it hadn't just knocked out a fully-evolved Patches with no problem.

"Are you done?" it demanded, prompting the big cat to hiss—

Made Vee freeze when it turned its attention to him. "You didn't win before, little kit—lay down before you hurt yourself."

No—lock his legs, refuse to run—he hadn't been much help against the Kangaskhan, wouldn't be any help here, but he wouldn't run. "You're going to have to get through me first—"

The Persian slapped him, sending him bouncing off the Rhydon's stomach before landing on the ground, dazed. Blearily aware of being lifted—

"Can you be pettier?" the Rhydon demanded of the Persian, shaking Vee slightly.

"You ask stupid questions," the Persian hissed, prompting another eyeroll—

Vee squeaked as it squeezed. "Trust me, me killing you is the nicer option," the Rhydon told him conversationally. "Someone here likes to play with his food too much."

"He didn't say to kill them, just to make the boy regret his defiance," the Persian said—tossed its head at Darkrai, wincing when that pulled on the Curse wound. "If anything, this one is going to be my next meal."

The Rhydon snorted, shook Vee a little. "Go on then—fight back, struggle. Convince your trainer that resistance is futile." Tip its head a little. "You could save the day—by getting him to stop you're saving him and your comrades. You all might get out of this with only a few scars if you do this properly."

A weak wheeze from Darkrai. "And if you believe that I've got some lunar green cheese to sell you," he managed, sounding like breathing was painful right now (Vee could empathize).

"Quiet, you," the Rhydon said, shifting a foot to stamp down on Darkrai's tail—he hissed, claws digging into the ground, but didn't cry out. "The stoic type, are we?" Twist their foot, grinding bones in Darkrai's tail from the sound of it—

"Get off him."

Look to see Pikachu forcing himself to his paws, upright—

"We're not done yet," Pikachu wheezed, sounding like it wouldn't take much to be done. "I could do this all day."

Persian licked its lips, padded forward. "You can live without a few extremities."

"Will you let him destroy your trainer's starter?" the Rhydon asked. "Or will you end this?"

Vee's response was to Bite down as hard as he could on the Rhydon's paw—which, at best, probably chipped a tooth.

"I see. Defiant to the end." Squeeze hard enough to make his ribs protest—

"Enough."

They looked at the Clefable standing next to Pikachu, Pikachu bristling at its nearness. "Get away from me," he spat.

"The purpose of this exercise was to separate the chosen one from the Ultima Umbra's fell influence," the Clefable said, ignoring Pikachu. "Stay on task."

Persian seemed amused at this. "You don't tell me what to do."

"I may not, but I do tell you what fate intends—" Looked when Pikachu released a small shock, assuming a battle pose even as he staggered.

"Screw fate," Pikachu snarled. "What I see, here and now, is you teamed up with the bad guy trying to kill my trainer, my teammates, and my friends. You think Darkrai's the one with the fell influence? Bold words coming from someone playing the straight-up villain."

The Clefable narrowed its eyes at him, looked to Persian—

Persian smirked and sat down. "That's not the task assigned to me, remember? Dirty your own paws."

The Clefable snorted at it. "Very well."

And with that, it spun and slammed a Meteor Mash into Pikachu, sending him tumbling—Ash cried out—

Pikachu wheezed, winded—managed to roll away from the Clefable's next attack, released a powerful Discharge that managed to push the Clefable back and shock several of the Rockets, allowing Ash to dart away—

And then the Clefable hit him with a Body Slam, following it up with Play Rough—Vee squirmed, trying to get free to help—

"HEY!"

Clefable turned, pausing in its pummeling of Pikachu, to face an orange figure on the hill.

"What…what are you doing here?" Pikachu gasped, winded.

"What does it look like?" Charmeleon asked. "I'm here to save the frekkin' day!"