Chapter 15

Sabrina smiled.  "Good.  We can always use brave trainers like you. 
Unfortunately, Indigo Plateau, the Pokemon League headquarters, was destroyed in
the initial attack, so you'll have to go to the secondary base at Pallet Town
for your assignment."
Everyone's mouths dropped open in surprise.  "Indigo Plateau was destroyed?!" 
They all exclaimed in unison.
Sabrina frowned.  "Yes, it was very sad, really.  Luckily, most of the trainers
were able to escape.  Here, we have a security tape of the event."  She pressed
a few buttons on her console.  The screen behind her changed to a view of the
outside of an enormous building, with the Pokemon League symbol on it.  "This is
the main headquarters building of Indigo Plateau."  Suddenly, a small red and
white orb flew through the air, and exploded upon impact with the building. 
"And that was a Voltorb thrown by Team Rocket."  Alarmed shouts started coming
from the building, as a mob of trainers in Team Rocket uniforms swarmed in.  The
view switched to a hallway, with several trainers standing behind their pokemon,
waiting for the rockets.  Soon they arrived, and attacked with their pokemon. 
The odd thing was, every single one of Team Rocket's pokemon was colored half
white and half red.  The view started to cycle through different areas, all
showing basically the same thing.  Team Rocket, with their pokemon's top half
white and bottom half red, fighting against other pokemon trainers.  The
location varied, but it looked like in most of the scenes, the Rockets were
being defeated.  After several minutes of this, the view switched back to the
outside.  Trainers, both Rockets and others, were running as fast as they could
away from the building.  There were pokemon running too, but there were none of
the red-and-white pokemon that the Rockets had been using.
"Where did all of Team Rocket's pokemon go?"  Bob asked.
"They left them inside."  Sabrina responded.
The flow of trainers running out of the building stopped, and all was still for
a moment.  Then, electricity suddenly crackled around the building.  It danced
along the edges of the building for a moment, before erupting in a gigantic
pillar of fire that shot up into the air.  A shockwave blasted out of the
immense conflagration, coming closer and closer to the camera.  It hit, and the
screen changed to static.
"Why did it explode?"  Jack asked.
"All of Team Rocket's pokemon, who they left inside, used self-destruct." 
Sabrina told him.
"That's impossible!"  David said.  "I saw Pidgeotto's, Staryu's, and all sorts
of other kinds of pokemon that can't use self-destruct!  For that big an
explosion, all of the pokemon Team Rocket used would have to be Electrodes!"
"They were."  Sabrina replied.  "Or at least, they all had had Electrode DNA
added to them, so they were a cross with Electrodes.  That was why they all had
the same coloring as Electrodes."
"What?!  Team Rocket is genetically engineering pokemon?!"  David exclaimed.
"Genetically whating pokemon?"  Jack asked, confused.
"Genetically engineering.  They're combining different species of pokemon."  Bob
explained.  He stopped and thought for a moment.  If Team Rocket was genetically
engineering pokemon, then that might explain what happened when that big mansion
that they had found near Mount Moon exploded.  "It really would explain a lot,
you know."
"Well,"  Lauren interjected, "We probably need to get going.  We're going to
Pallet Town, you said?"  She asked Sabrina.
"Yes.  Unfortunately, I can't spare a vehicle to take you there, so you'll have
to walk."
Lauren groaned.  "Are you sure you can't give us a ride?"  She asked.
"Yes, I'm certain."
"Pleeease?"  David pleaded.
"No.  You can rest here for the night, but you should get going tomorrow.  You
don't want to be trapped in here if Team Rocket attacks again."  Sabrina said. 
Her eyes glowed blue, and the group suddenly found themselves in the hall
outside.
"Oh well."  Bob said.  "C'mon, let's see if we can find a place to sleep."

In the morning, after breakfast, they set out.
David poked his head hesitantly out of the gym door.  "I don't see anyone."  He
said, looking hesitantly around.  Considering that Team Rocket had been running
wild in the city for several days, he didn't want to run into a large force of
them, or any traps they might have set.  Even though he didn't see anything, he
still kept looking around.  After a few careful moments, he tentatively put one
foot outside the door.  It nudged a rock, causing it to roll and make a tiny
noise, and David jumped back inside.
Jack sighed.  "Stop being so scared."  He said, shoving David aside.  "Here,
I'll lead."  He stepped boldly outside.  He took a few steps, then turned around
to regard the others.  "See, look.  Nothing to fear."  For emphasis, he stomped
his foot on the ground as he spoke.  His foot impacted with the ground, and
broke straight through, leaving a jagged hole around his leg.  Jack cried out in
surprise as the ground beneath him collapsed, dropping him into a concealed pit.
Lauren rushed up to the edge.  "Jack!"  She called, straining to see into the
darkness of the pit.  She kneeled on the edge, still trying to see inside.  At
that moment, a net, which had been lying concealed by the edge of the pit,
tightened, trapping Lauren and lifting her up into the air.

Inside the pit, a dark shadow crouched under the rim.  A Team Rocket member, he
had been waiting here for someone to fall in.  His orders were to capture the
person, then return to base, using his Abra's teleport ability.  As the night
passed, he had lapsed into a sort of half-aware doze, but at the sound of
footsteps near the pit, he snapped back to full alertness.  He watched
expectantly as the ground above him started to crumble.  Then, he stopped
watching, and scrambled for cover, as Jack broke through the cover, right above
his head.  He was too late, however.  The rubble from  the rocky covering of the
pit smashed into him, knocking him to the ground.  Jack landed on top of the
pile and rolled over to the edge of the pit.

  David was about to rush out to help Lauren and Jack, but Bob caught his arm
and held him back.
"Wait.  That's what whoever set those traps wants you to do."  He told David. 
"I mean, look at what just happened.  Jack got caught in a trap, Lauren went to
help him, and got caught in another trap.  Do you really think that someone who
would set those first two would stop at just that?"
David thought for a moment.  "Good point."  He said, "But how do we get out
then?"
"I have an idea."  Bob told him, before reaching out to grab a large chunk of
rock lying near the door.  Taking it, he tossed it out onto the ground, near the
pit that Jack was in.   The rock landed on the ground, rolled around for a
little bit, then wobbled over to the edge of the pit and dropped in.

The Team Rocket member shook his head, then woozily dragged himself out of the
pile of rocks and dirt.  His pristine black uniform was streaked with dust from
the collapse, and he was covered all over in dirt.  A rock had grazed his head,
stunning him, but the boy who had fallen in appeared to be only semiconscious,
at best.  He would be easy to subdue and bring back to the base.  He slowly
walked over to Jack, pulling a coil of rope out of his pocket as he did.  He
smiled evilly, and bent over Jack.  A small grating sound from the top of the
pit caused him to look up.  A rather large rock was teetering on the lip of the
pit, right above him.  As he silently mouthed denials, the rock wobbled one last
time and fell in, spinning through the air before hitting him on the skull, and
knocking him away.

Bob frowned.  "Well, that didn't seem to trigger any traps.  Let's try a few
more."  He grabbed some more rocks, and threw them.  They also rolled into the
pit.  Several thumps came from within, and a groan of pain rose from the hole. 
"Nope, I don't think rocks are going to set off any remaining traps."
	Bob and David both thought for a moment.  David snapped his fingers.  "I know! 
We can send our pokemon out to trigger any traps, then recall them if they get
in trouble."
	"Yeah, that's a good idea."  Bob said.  "My Charmander would probably be best,
because its tail can burn away any nets it falls into."  He suited actions to
words, and called out the small red lizard, its tail burning merrily.  "Now
Charmander, we need you to run over to Lauren and burn the net holding her
away."  Lauren had actually been yelling at David and Bob to come and help her
the entire time, but no one had been paying much attention to her.  Charmander
took a step towards Lauren, who had waited long enough.  She tossed out a
pokeball.
	"Graveler, get me out of this net!"  She called to the large rock pokemon who
materialized in front of her.  The Graveler reached for the ropes, but the
ground under it shifted, and it too was drawn up into a net.
	"Char?"  The Charmander asked Bob, looking hesitantly at what had just happened
to the Graveler.
"Well, go on."  Bob said, making shooing motions with his hands.  The Charmander
looked at him nervously, then took a few cautious steps forward.  Meanwhile, the
Graveler, agitated by the net, started flailing wildly around.
Lauren barely avoided being hit by the wildly swinging net.  "Hey, watch what
you're doing!"  She yelled at her pokemon, who was still thrashing around.
Bob's Charmander took a few more steps forward.  A pile of rock, which had been
carefully set up, shifted, then rolled straight towards him.  The Charmander
leaped over the rocks, turning a summersault in midair, its flame inscribing a
fiery arc in the air.  He landed on a hidden pressure plate, causing a net to
fly straight at him.  The small fire lizard blasted it to ashes with his flaming
breath.  He sprinted forward, just passing through a collapsing path between two
large piles of rocks.  He ran down a slope, while behind him, a doorway in the
hill slid open, and a large vat of boiling oil started to pour out.  Whirling
around, the Charmander blasted the oil with fire, causing it to burn up before
it could reach him.  He ran past a long ridge of rock.  Panels slid open all
along the outcrop, and arrows whirred out of them, narrowly missing the
Charmander.  A pit gaped open beneath his running feet, with the sharpened
points of spikes gleaming at the bottom.  Leaping over them, He skidded in a
large pile off mud, but quickly recovered and ran on.  Behind him, the mud
formed into two humanoid shapes, which began chasing the red lizard.  Running
down a hill, he tripped a switch, and a large door in the slope opened,  A
gigantic boulder rumbled out, and began bounding after him over the landscape. 
It squashed the mud men and kept on rolling.  The Charmander leapt over yet
another pit, and the boulder fell in.
Bob watched, amazed, as his Charmander ran in circles around the gym for a
while, setting off what must have been every single trap set.
"Did Team Rocket have some sort of contest or something to see who could set the
best trap?"  David asked, watching a door open in the ground and a herd of
stampeding cows come out, chasing the Charmander until they fell into one of the
pits that pervaded the area.
"It definitely looks like it."  Bob responded.  "You have to wonder how they 
set them up, though.  How can you fit three hundred irritated chickens inside
one small hole?"  He pointed to one of the various traps his Charmander was
springing.

While all this was going on, Lauren's Graveler was still swinging back and forth
in its net.
"Ow!  Stop that!"  Lauren yelled, as the stony pokemon grazed her arm, leaving a
long scratch.  The pokemon, however, was too busy attempting to escape from its
net to hear her.  Soaring around, the net began to groan under the force of
Graveler's weight.  The rope used to make it stretched, and stretched, until
finally, with a loud *SNAP*, the rope broke.  Graveler went flying through the
air, the net trailing out behind it like a comet's tail.  He landed.  Right in
the pit that Jack had fallen into.

The Team Rocket member looked up fearfully, as he stepped over to tie up Jack.  
The collapse had dazed him, the large rock had hurt, the small rocks had been an
irritation, but hopefully he'd be able to subdue this person and get away before
anything else happened.  He took a few more steps towards Jack.  After all the
rocks, he had somehow ended up on the opposite side of the pit.  A few more
steps.  Still nothing happened.  He took another step.  He was only a few feet
away from Jack, and then he'd be able to get out.  He took another hesitant
step, and something bloated out the sunlight.  He looked up, into the large,
grinning face of a Graveler.  He barely had time to cry out before it smashed
into him, smashing him away.  Then, he slipped into darkness.

Bob's Charmander finally collapsed, panting, in front of him.  In the last forty
five minutes, it had set off hundreds of traps, some extremely strange.  Like
the one where a catapult had risen out of the ground and started flinging Jell-O
at it, until the Charmander had burnt it into oblivion.  "You did great,
Charmander."  Bob said, kneeling by it and patting it on the head.
"Char!"  The Charmander smiled at Bob, then began to glow.  It grew larger.  The
back of its head grew, then swelled into a backward sweeping horn.  Its claws
grew larger, and it roared out its name.  "Charmeleon!"
"Let me rephrase that."  Bob said.  "You did great, Charmeleon!"
Lauren cleared her throat.  "Excuse me,"  She called, "COULD YOU GET ME OUT OF
THIS NET NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Bob and David fell over, literally knocked off their feet by the force of the
yell.  "Just a second!"  David yelled back.
Bob and David entered into a whispered conversation.  "Should we let her out?" 
Bob asked.  "I know it's tempting to just leave her there, but+ICY-"
David shook his head.  "No, Jack would probably be angry if we left her here." 
He thought for a moment.  "And if she finally got out, would you really want her
hunting us down?"
Bob thought about this for a moment, then shivered.  He looked at David.  "Let's
let her out."  They both said simultaneously.
Bob walked over to Charmeleon.  "There's one more thing I need you to do, and
then you can rest in your pokeball.  Ok?"  It nodded.  "Go burn away the net
holding Lauren."  The lizard walked over to Lauren and studied the net for a
moment.  It then breathed a tiny lick of flame, which just barely brushed the
net.  The net flared up like it was soaked with gasoline.
Lauren fell heavily to the ground, streaked with ash from the net.  "Oof!"  She
glared at the others.  "Took you long enough."  She said venomously.
David and Bob picked their way through the rubble, ignoring Lauren.  David
leaned over the edge of the pit and stared in, while Bob kneeled on the side and
reached down into the gaping hole.  Finally, he stood up and brushed his hands
off on his pants.  "That hole's deep.  We're not going to be able to just climb
in and out."
David, still staring into the pit, called out.  "Jack!  Can you hear me?  Are
you ok?"  No response came.
Bob looked around.  "Now what can I use for a rope?"  He muttered to himself. 
His roaming gaze stopped on Lauren, and his face lit up.  "Ah ha!"  He said.
"Ah ha what?"  Lauren asked.  "And why are you staring at me?"
"I just thought of how we can get down there.  Give me a hand, will you?"  Bob
asked, walking to the edge of the pit and starting to lower himself down.
"Sure, but I can't reach all the way to the bottom."  Lauren said, confused. 
She walked over and tried to grab Bob's hand, to help him down, but he brushed
her hand away.
"Let me rephrase that."  He said.  "Could you give me a vine?"
Understanding dawned on Lauren's face.  "Oh, I see."  She said, while reaching a
hand towards Bob.  A bluish vine, about an inch thick, coiled out of her sleeve,
and slid down next to Bob.
"Thanks."  He said, grabbing onto the vine and letting it lower him into the
depths.

Bob strained his eyes to penetrate the inky blackness.  A small amount of light
leaked down from the entrance to the pit, but all it did was make the darkness
look that much darker by comparison.  Bob grimaced.  If only Jack wasn't so
impulsive, this never would have happened.  He made another attempt to penetrate
the gloom, but failed.  Remembering that he had a flashlight in his backpack,
Bob let go of the vine with one hand, and used it to search for the flashlight,
but was unable to find it.  He sighed, and concentrated.  Electricity sparkled
around his cheeks, then condensed and ran down body in bright, glowing fingers
of energy.  It ran along his neck and shoulders, then down his outstretched arm
to the palm of his hand.  There it stayed, and formed a sphere of soft, glowing
white light, illuminating the pit.  "That's better."  Bob said in satisfaction,
gazing around the hole as he descended.
Several minutes later, his feet finally touched the floor of the pit.  It was
covered in rubble, probably from when the ceiling collapsed, and the air was
heavy with dust.  Bob looked around, but all he saw was rocks and dirt.  He
walked around the floor, poking at some of the larger piles, when a rock rolled
out from under his foot and grinned at him.
"Graveler."  It said smugly.
"Oh, so that's what happened to you."  Bob said.  "Well, just wait a bit, and
I'm sure Lauren will bring you back up."  The rock pokemon nodded, then rolled
over, revealing a small, dark splotch on its back.  Bob glanced at it, not
seeing anything unusual, then did a double take.  "Oh my god, is that blood?!" 
He exclaimed, staring at the splotch.  He bent down, and touched it, then
sniffed it.  The ball of light he had created floated up, to hover above his
head.  "Yes, it is."  He turned an accusing eye upon the pokemon.  "Where did
this come from?"  He asked.
The Graveler looked sheepish, at least as much as an animate rock can.  "Grav
ler grav grav graveler."  It said, walking over to the far side of the pit and
pointing to a large pile of rocks.
"Huh?"
The pokemon gave Bob an exasperated look.  Again, at least as much a a walking
boulder can.  "Graveler grav ler!"  It said.
"What?"
The Graveler sighed, then started to move the rocks.  A few minutes of
excavation revealed the unconscious face of a man.  He had dark brown hair, a
rather bruised face, and looked about twenty-five years old.  The most
noticeable thing about him, however, was the thin trickle of blood leaking from
a large bump on his head.
"Where'd this guy come from?!"  Bob exclaimed, realizing the obvious fact that
it was not Jack.
"Grav."  The rock pokemon pulled away some more rocks, revealing the rest of the
man.  The feature that stood out the most about him was the large, conspicuous
red "R" on the front of his black uniform.
"He's a member of Team Rocket!"  Jack might have gasped, had he not been lying
unconscious at the bottom of the pit.  Or Lauren might have said it, if she had
been down at the bottom.  Unfortunately, there was only Bob and the Graveler, so
he had to improvise.
"Um..  Uh+ICY-"
"Graveler!"
"Thank you.  Yes, it does look like he's a member of Team Rocket.  I wonder what
he was doing down here."  Bob nudged the comatose form of the Rocket with his
toe, then sighed.  "I guess we can't just leave him down here."  He walked over
to the vine that dangled down from the surface, and started to climb it. 
Lauren, feeling the pull of Bob's weight, began to withdraw her vine.
Once Bob got within hearing distance, he shouted up to Lauren.  "Could you lower
some more vines?  There are some people down here we need to bring up."
"Ok!"  She yelled back, extending a few more vines and starting to lower Bob
back into the pit.
"And by the way, your Graveler is down here!  Toss me the pokeball and I'll
recall it!"  Extending another vine, Lauren used it to grab her Graveler's
pokeball and hand it to Bob.  (Well, not really hand, more vine it to Bob.  But
you get the point.)  She then continued lowering him.
As Bob vanished from sight, David, who had been silent throughout the
conversation, suddenly noticed something.  "Wait a second, did he say people?"

Bob landed again on the floor of the pit.  Clouds of dust puffed out around his
feet, and the Graveler grunted in greeting.  Pulling out the Red-and-white
sphere Lauren had given him, Bob zapped the pokemon into red energy, then gave
it to one of the vines.  He then walked over to the Rocket, and pulled the last
few rocks off him.  Grabbing one of the vines, he tied it around the Team Rocket
member, then watched as it slowly lifted him out of the pit.
Bob dusted his hands off in satisfaction.  It looked like he had done everything
he needed to in the pit.  However, he couldn't shake a feeling that he had
forgotten something.  He pushed it out of his mind, the walked over to one of
the vines that were still dangling down.  Just as he was reaching for one, he
realized exactly what he had forgotten.  "Jack!"  He exclaimed, as he realized
that Jack was still somewhere in the pit.  However, gazing around, he saw no
sign of him.  Bob kept searching.
A few moments later, a low groan came from a pile of rocks on one side of the
pit.  Bob hurried over.  Pulling aside a few rocks, the battered face of Jack
was revealed.
After a few minutes work, Jack was finally free of the rocks, and being lifted
up towards the surface by Lauren.  Bob followed on another vine.
When you could see Jack in the full light of day, it was obvious that he was not
in a good condition.  He had bruises and cuts all over, from the battering the
rocks had given him, and was semiconscious at best.  One exspecially long scrape
ran along his arm, and was leaking a tiny trail of blood.  However, that was not
the worst thing.  The delicate material of his wings, which were showing because
of his comatose state, was battered, and even ripped in some places.
Lauren looked at the jagged rents helplessly.  "With those rips, it doesn't
looks like Jack will be able to fly again."  She said sadly.
David knelt down next to Jack.  He rubbed his finger along some of the bruises,
and fingered the loose edge of one of the holes in Jacks wings, then nodded to
himself.  "There may be a way to repair his wings."  He said, walking over to
his backpack.
"Huh?"  Lauren said in confusion.  "Look at those tears!  I don't think you can
just sew them up and he'll be able to fly."
David pulled a medium-sized white box, maybe a foot and a half along one side,
two and a half along the other, and about six inches deep, with a large red
cross on the top, out of his backpack.  "I think I should have something in here
that can help."  He said, opening the lid.
"What?"  Bob asked, intrigued, walking over to peer at what David was doing.
David pulled a small plastic bottle from the box, and peered at the pink-tinged,
transparent liquid inside.  "Well, Jack is part pokemon, so theoretically,
potions should work on him."
"Potions?  But I thought those were just for general aid in healing.  How will
that help heal the big holes in Jack's wings?"  Bob queried, confused.
David, after a small amount of searching, pulled a screw-on nozzle from the box.
"Yes, potions can work that way, but a lesser known fact about them is that they
can also heal specific wounds, when applied directly."  He screwed off the top
of the bottle, attached the nozzle, and walked over to Jack.  "Let's hope this
works."  David pushed the edges of one of the largest rents in Jack's wings as
close together as he could, then sprayed a little of the pinkish liquid where
the edges touched.  There was a pause as the fluid sank in, and then, like two
puddles joining, the torn edges melted together, leaving smooth wing behind,
with no sign there had ever been a jagged gash.
"It worked!"  Lauren exclaimed, seconds before a similar statement from Bob.
David gave a slight smile.  "Now, for the other rips."  He quickly mended the
rest of the holes, and sprayed some of the most severe bruises and lacerations
too.  Finally, when just a few droplets were left in the bottle, he unscrewed
the cap, tilted back Jack's head, and poured the last little bit down Jack's
throat.
For a moment, there was no effect, then Jack groaned, and opened his eyes.  "My
head hurts."  He said plaintively.

After giving Jack a few more minutes to recover, thoughts turned to what to do
with the Team Rocket member.
"Throw him back in the pit."  Lauren suggested.  "He started there, we shouldn't
bother with him."
"No, we should probably give him to Sabrina.  She should know what to do with
him."  Bob countered.
"And, a Rocket locked up means one less Rocket for us to fight."  David
commented.
"A Rocket trapped in a pit is one less Rocket for us to fight."  Lauren replied. 
She was understandably annoyed that a Team Rocket member was going to do
something unknown, but probably unpleasant to Jack.
"No, we really should turn him over to Sabrina."  Bob said.
"Yeah."  David agreed.
"Ok, fine."  Lauren said, disgruntled.

"So, you found this person in a pit outside?"  Sabrina asked, staring coolly at
Bob.
"Yes.  We don't know what he was doing there, but we thought you would know what
to do with him."  Bob replied, a little nervously.  Something about Sabrina gave
the impression that if she felt like it, she could make very bad things happened
to you.  Not any sort of bad thing in specific, just a general suggestion of
things that you wouldn't want to happen to you, and probably were better off not
knowing what they even were.  It caused respect, and some nervousness.
"I see."  Sabrina paused for a moment.  "Well, he does probably have some useful
information.  Let's see what it is."  Her eyes glowed blue, and a blue aura rose
up around the Rocket.  After a few moments, the glow subsided, and the Team
Rocket member slumped to the floor.  Sabrina glowered at him.  "To put it
lightly, this is not a nice man.  If he had succeeded in his mission, then you"
She paused to fix a penetrating stare on Jack, "Would currently be under
interrogation in his headquarters."
"That's not good."  Jack said, perhaps one of the greater understatements ever
made.
"Yes, it isn't.  He has also done other things.  Evil things."  Sabrina stared
at the man's slumped form, and her eyes glowed blue once again.  The Rocket's
form glowed blue, and seemed to collapse in upon itself, before finally
vanishing.  Faintly, as if from a large distance, came the sound of a young
girls laughter.  Except, this laughter was no carefree, happy sound, but a dark,
soulless sound that chilled the heart.
"Wha+ICY-  What did you do to him?"  David asked hesitantly.
Sabrina smiled coldly.  "Sent him to the dollhouse."