Do I own Pokemon? Let me see. . . Last time I checked, I didn't.

Chapter 6

Battle for the Cascade

"What?" the rocket gasped. "B-but there's no way . . . but you have the c-card. . ."

"Stop sputtering!" Amber snapped.

The rocket immediately silenced.

"Now," Amber said, calmly. "Do you have anything else to report?"

"Yes."

This surprised Amber. She hadn't been expecting him to have any other assignment than to dispose of them.

"Speak up, then, and put away that pokeball," she added.

The rocket complied.

"We scanned the kids when we had them cornered at the base."

Amber raised her eyebrows.

"And?" Amber dreaded the answer. These were her friends. Her only friends. One of them couldn't be the one they needed.

"It's the black haired one," the rocket reported proudly. "We'll have it within the week."

Amber stood, open-mouthed, shocked at the answer. Ash? No way! He was the one she was closest to!

"Don’t even think of retrieving him," Amber said, hardly believing what she was saying. "Not until I give the command, and even then, I will be the one who does the retrieving, not some worthless inferior who doesn’t know what he’s doing."

The grunt hesitated, for a moment, and then nodded. Under orders from the rocket that was second in the ranks only to Giovanni himself, he crept away into Mt. Moon.

* * *

What? Ash thought as he watched the grunt sneak away. What's going on? Why were they talking about him? It was a good thing Amber couldn't see Ash. He was glaring daggers at her. The daughter of the boss of Team Rocket? The girl he had grown to call friend? The idea disgusted him. Had she been playing them the whole time? What did they need him for? Ash quieted his thoughts as he saw Amber sidetrackedly walk in his direction. He quietly crept away back to his bed. For now, he would keep his findings quiet. He had to sort out these new facts.

* * *

"All right, Misty," Amber said, ready for her second gym battle. Ash, Brock, and the Waterflower sisters were watching the battle. Ash had seemed distracted all day, but Amber couldn't get a confession out of him. "Let's get this show on the road!"

It was to be a two pokemon battle, just like last time. Amber was ready. She threw her first pokeball.

"Go, Pidgey!"

The Bird appeared in a burst of red light.

"Pidgey!" it called. Clearly, it had been looking forward to this.

"All right, then," Misty called from the other side of the pool. "I choose Gyarados!"

A giant sea serphant like pokemon appeared. Misty smiled.

"Let the games begin," she said.

"All right, Pidgey, use sand attack and gust at the same time!"

Amber grinned as she said this; she had been working on this combination with Pidgey ever since she caught it. The Pidgey obliged and sent something that looked like a Sandstorm at Gyarados. That caught Misty off guard, but she quickly recovered. Not in time, though. The attack hit Gyarados full blast. The Gyarados recovered from the blow quickly, but the attack had done its damage.

"Gyarados," Misty called. "Use Flamethrower!"

It was Amber's turn to be caught off guard; she had no idea a Gyarados could learn that attack. Pidgey was hit by the impact. Hard. It fell to the platform in the middle of the pool and forced itself back into the air.

"Sand Attack, then follow up with Quick Attack!"

Pidgey followed orders, throwing sand into its victim’s eyes, and then took advantage of the temporary blindness to attack.

"Headbutt, Gyarados!"

As soon as the Quick Attack hit, Gyarados countered with a powerful Headbutt, smashing it into the wall. Both pokemon were taking their toll.

"Finish it with Hyper Beam!" Misty commanded.

Indeed it did finish it. Before Amber had given the command to dodge, the blinding beam shoved its way through the air toward its target and collided with Pidgey. The Pidgey was too exhausted to use another attack.

“Pidgey is unable to battle,” Brock called from the sidelines. “Gyarados is the winner!”

Amber recalled her pokemon. She still had both the Gyarados and another pokemon to fight her way through, but still, Charmander was her starter pokemon and her strongest. She looked up. Gyarados seemed tired. It could be taken out soon, if Amber acted quickly. The recharging period after Hyper Beam couldn’t last much longer. One quick Growl followed by a Scratch should take care of it.

“Quickly, Charmander, use Growl, then follow up with Scratch!” Amber said as she released her starter.

“Chaaaaaarrrrrr!!!” Charmander growled as it was released, making Gyarados cringe a little, making it vulnerable. Charmander followed this attack up beautifully with a powerful Scratch attack, causing the great sea serphant to collapse into the water.

“No way!” Misty said, bewildered.

Amber smiled. She had caught the gym leader off guard. Misty recalled her pokemon and reached for another pokeball. She threw it and a great white seal with a horn on its head appeared before her.

“Dewgong, last chance!” Misty said. “Headbutt, now!”

“Charmander, use Ember!”

The embers shot through the air, but Dewgong plowed right through them, taking barely any damage due to its speed, landing its Headbutt squarely on her Charmander’s stomach.

“Charmander!” Amber called, concerned about her pokemon’s strength.

But the concern wasn’t necessary. Charmander pulled itself up . . . and started to glow.

“What?” she said, confused.

“Congratulations!” Amber heard Brock say. “Your Charmander is evolving into a Charmeleon.”

“Charmeleon . . .” Amber said with wonder.

Finally, Charmander stopped glowing to reveal. . .

“Charmeleon!” it said, and it turned to her, almost smiling.

“Wow,” she breathed.

It had darker scales, no longer the orange-ish red she had gotten used to, but unmistakably red. Its claws were much sharper than before, and there was a bump protruding from its head.

Amber snapped herself out of her stare in time to order Charmeleon to dodge a Pound from Dewgong.

“Now, Charmeleon,” she said, amazed at its speed. Wait, if it was that fast, it must have reached a high enough level to use. . . “Dragon Rage, Charmeleon!”

The Charmeleon almost grinned. Immediately, a swirling twister of energy was launched at Dewgong. It met its mark; the Dewgong was sent flying.

“Dewgong is unable to battle; Charman- Charmeleon is the winner! The victory goes to Amber Temkell!”

Amber was flooded with congratulations from Brock and Misty’s three sisters while Misty placed a Cascade Badge in her hand, but Ash just sat on the stands, examining the floor as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. Had he cringed when Brock had said her last name? Amber had never seen Ash like this. A thought entered her mind.

Maybe he knows about Dad’s objective.

Amber immediately pushed that thought from her mind. It was ridiculous. There was no way he could know what was in store for him.

At least, she hoped not.

________________________________________________________________

So, what exactly is this mysterious thing that Team Rocket needs Ash for? What in the world is going on? Only one way to find out . . . read Chapter 7! Don’t worry, that will be the last gym battle for a while. I remind you, this is NOT a new trainer fic.