Chapter 21: Bury the Burning Man The huge frozen sphere of water rolled over slightly and came to rest against the fence which separated the road from the fields. The fact that the fence wasn't crushed under the weight of the giant snowball was a testament to how wrong Chris and Karma had been. It looked weak, but in fact it had superior reinforcement. Arcanine bounded forward in a great leap and saw the two black figures within the semi-clear ice that were Chris and Karma. It opened its maw wide, inside wild flames danced between its teeth. It raised its head up as if breathing in, its intentions clear; it planned to roast down the great snowball. Relax, doggy. They're not dead...yet, said Mewtwo. A dark blue light suddenly emanated and Arcanine's mouth quickly jammed shut. Arcanine growled in a low and dangerous tone that clearly said, 'LET THEM OUT OR I'LL KILL YOU'. Mewtwo floated down and patted the icy sphere. Why? They're alright in there; it may look solid from out here, but I didn't want those two dying so soon. Before I froze it, I psychically separated their bodies from the water. They weren't turned to popsicles when the water froze, they're just a little cramped right now. Oh! Mewtwo's eyes widened as it stared at the sphere. Humans need oxygen too huh? I almost forgot about that... Arcanine was in a rage, it fought against the psychic hold on its maw with so much strength that it parted a little. Mewtwo allowed 15 more seconds to pass like this before it acted, relax my furry chum. As I said, I don't want those two dying so soon. Mewtwo tapped the ice ball and its psychic blue light emanated from it. Like corks, pieces of the ice suddenly popped out, leaving several golf ball sized holes around its surface. I'll deal with them after I turn you into a rug, doggy. Arcanine's ears prickled and it could hear voices. They were coming from the sphere, and they sounded so muffled and hollow that they were hard to discern, although it was able to guess Chris and Karma were screaming. When Chris and Karma had suddenly been submerged, he had instinctively reached out for her hand. Apparently, she had done the same and their arms met in midair. Clutched like that, the water around their bodies suddenly glowed blue and amazingly, it jumped away from them, leaving them practically dry. Then the water froze and Chris found himself encased in ice. He was now propped standing a little sideways in the ice. He could move his body an inch forward and backward, but was encased in such a manner than he was stuck in the position he had been in when frozen. This of course meant that he was frozen holding Karma's hand. And man was it freaking cold. Chris could have let go of her hand, he could have stopped clutching it and at least inched it up so to leave a space between them (he couldn't retract it: the ice around his wrist was too thin for that), but he didn't. And Karma didn't either; she held his hand as firmly as he held her's. It was wonderfully warm. "Karma," said Chris. "Don't panic." "It's Mewtwo?" "Yeah, probably...but don't worry about that." "But..." "Trust Greg. Please," she whispered. Her firm grip tightened. Seconds past and Chris found his breathing more ragged and the air a little warm. It occurred to him that they might be running out of air when he heard a pop, a flash of blue light, and a golf ball sized hole appeared near his forehead. Chilly air swashed his head and eased the stuffiness he had been starting to feel. He felt similar fresh air near his left hand and behind his neck; air holes. Then Chris flinched as a scream echoed around him. "BROTHER!" It was Karma Arcanine recognized first. She sounded hollow but her intention clear: "BROTHER! KICK THAT CAT'S ASS!" Chris joined in with a flurry of cheers, "SHOW THAT GLORIFIED MEOWLITHE THAT IT'S ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE FOOD CHAIN!" "GO, GO, GO!" "DON'T BACK DOWN!" "MEWTWO DOESN'T KNOW WHO IT'S MESSING WITH!" "FIGHT!" Arcanine stared in surprise at the cheers. Mewtwo only seemed bemused. Looks like they have no idea what I'm capable of. Arcanine roared. It wasn't a sound of fear, pain, or rage. It was a noise that signified: power. With that noise, the voices from the sphere died down. They didn't need anything more to know Arcanine had gotten the point. Mewtwo too seemed to understand. It disappeared and reappeared in the fields to the west of the road. It left the ice sphere next to the road and Arcanine could have taken the chance to free Chris and Karma but it didn't. It too entered the field with a graceful jump over the fence; it knew that this wasn't a time to run: it was time to face Mewtwo head on. It's only appropriate that this piece of information be included before the climax: Giovanni is dead. Quite surprising no? He perished after being trapped under Celadon in his burning base from asphyxiation. After the erratic beast had forcibly blasted its way forcibly upward through the floors, fire had spread. Giovanni had retreated to his quarters and sounded the Red-4 Alarm. Then he made the decision to wait out the danger in the comfort of his special floors. The fire had not yet spread here and an incompetent Yes-Man Grunt had come in and gave a reassuring report: "No problems, sir! The escaped pokemon wont even make it to the surface and the few flames there are will soon be out, sir!" with that, the Grunt sped off. Giovanni had his misgivings when he heard the rumble of explosions above him but he settled down and even watched TV. "Sorry, sir! It seems the pokemon escaped to the surface but there is nothing to fear! Mewtwo is now searching for it and the fire will soon be under control!" chanted the Grunt when he came back. Then he turned on his heel and sped off again. Giovanni paced this time. Almost an hour passed when the Grunt finally reappeared. This time he looked grimy and out of breath. He brought no good news. In fact, just as he entered the room, the lights went out ominously. "I'm sorry, sir! It seems the fire has spread out of our control! We need to evacuate immediately, the above floors will soon be impassa-" Giovanni stopped him there and strangled him. He didn't let go of the thin Grunt's neck until the face turned a bluish purple and his eyes closed. He dropped the dangling corpse, cursed loudly and made his way to his door. It was still wide open from when the Grunt had entered. It would no longer close with no power. He entered a passage, tried to get to the elevators but found the doorway closed. He had to sidetrack around a few rooms but could find no way to get to the elevators with the power out. Eventually he found an air vent in an open room and managed to crawl into it, eventually ending up in the elevator passage. He pressed desperately for one to come but no lights flashed that signaled one and it became obvious that without power, the elevators would be of no help. He screamed in anger, he could have sworn that a back up generator was supposed to kick in in case of something like this. Evidently however, something had gone wrong. So it was then that Giovanni realized he had a problem. Below the B3, there were no staircases. Only elevators that went up and down. It was a security measure, however, there was an emergency exit shaft on the B16 floor that lead out to Cycling Road, west of Celadon. But Giovanni was stuck on B17 and had no way of getting to the emergency exit. He was now (for lack of a better word) fucked. In the darkness, he wished desperately that he had his pokeballs with him. All thoughts of not relying on pokemon left his mind quickly. Unfortunately (for him anyways), he had left his personal pokemon back at Viridian City a few days back. Back at his gym. There was little else he could do but crawl back through the vents (which now smelt distinctly of smoke) and get back to his quarters. He used his cellphone (which had terrible reception this low underground) to leave a message for his executives, demanding aide and the recapture of Arcanine. Eventually he would be rescued he figured. Consequently, he entered his kitchen and served himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and followed it with a cool glass of iced tea. Then he took a nap. He never woke up from the nap. In the hours while he slept, smoke silently filled B17 until eventually, there was simply no more oxygen for him to breath. He died dreaming of his red-haired son. Hours later, B7-B12 collapsed. Days later an Executive made the painful decision to remotely detonate several explosives hidden in B17. The following reactions caused B13-B16 to cave in with it, thus ensuring that many of Team Rocket's most dangerous and incriminating secrets remained buried under Celadon. Stolen property, stolen pokemon, corpses, drugs, and illegal genetics labs being only the tip of the iceberg. Team Rocket loved its leader, even if he didn't share their sentiment. The Executive's action was forced by a continuing police investigation and she detonated the base for the sake of Team Rocket. They would never regain what was lost under the rubble and they couldn't risk any of it being used against them. She detonated the base, but not without tears in her eyes; almost everyone in Team Rocket still hoped Giovanni was still alive down there. The collapse of the lower basements made the entire underground structure unsecure. The C.C.P.D. would not risk damage to the surrounding city or a loss of further lives, and with pressure from Team Rocket, they would call off the investigation. Giovanni's body would never be found. Of course Chris, Karma, and Arcanine had no way of knowing this (even Mewtwo didn't know), but their plan to alter the time line would also return Giovanni to life. Many people (especially in Saffron City) would argue that a few innocent lives are well worth the death of one of the most dangerous and influential men on the planet. Chris, Karma, and Arcanine would beg to disagree.