-With new allies, the Dragon Riders have arrived in Celadon City. What awaits, however, is not a walk in the park. Seventh in a series.
Pokemon and all related trademarks belong to Nintendo.
The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong
to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission.
By Gregory Stephen nightdragon0@hotmail.com
“Wow!” Nightslice’s body glimmered with purple energy.
At his feet, the stone tablet crumbled to pieces. He had just acquired one of the fabled forbidden techs.
“How do you feel?” Kris asked, brushing a hand through her black hair.
Nightslice stretched his jaws, spread his wings and did a back flip.
“Hyper.” The Scyther grinned, showing off his fangs.
“Well, you should.” Firestorm said.
The trio was back in the small cavern where Firestorm had acquired the first of his sacred skills. Kris had hidden the second stone they’d discovered and now, they’d come to retrieve it.
“This tech is called Shadow Images.” Nightslice announced, “It combines the effects of Double Team and Slash. Get this: illusions that really whack.”
“Fits you perfectly.” Firestorm commented.
“Yeah. You know, I think I’m not in such a bad position after all.”
“True, but don’t get cocky.” Kris said, “Hmmm…this reminds me of the old Chinese philosophy of Yin and Yang.”
“The what?”
“Yin and Yang. The balance of all things in the natural world, light and darkness, for example.”
“So the Firestorm and me create a sense of equilibrium, am I right?”
“Nightslice, I didn’t know ‘equilibrium’ was in your vocabulary. But yes, that’s what I mean.”
“Hello!” Firestorm waved his claws. “Now that’s our problem’s solved, and our important cargo’s safe in our secret base, shall we get moving?”
By ‘important cargo’ was referring to the Prophet’s Book, another ancient relic Team Rocket was after. Not like there was any method of making big bucks that TR could keep out of. After acquiring it on a previous adventure, Kris had stashed it the under-sea laboratory, or their so called ‘secret base’, figuring it would be safer than her carrying it around.
Kris nodded.
“We’ve still got to find Team Rocket.”
“Oh really? Pity we’ve found you instead.” A man’s voice sneered.
Two figures blocked out the sunlight streaming in through the entrance, above them on the ceiling.
“Wonderful.” Kris groaned. Aaron and Scarlet, a couple of Rocket agents who were her old ‘friends’.
“Prepare for trouble,” Scarlet announced.
“And make it double,” Aaron continued.
“To protect…”
Firestorm pointed a claw to the ceiling. Nightslice nodded. Simultaneously, they launched their Hyper Beams, blowing out the roof, interrupting Team Rocket’s motto and causing them to land face first on the hard, dirty, stone floor.
“WILL you ever let US finish??!!!!” Aaron got up and screamed.
“WOOHOO! We messed up their motto again!” Firestorm and Nightslice gave each other high fives and high tens.
“Grrrr! Watch those scythes of yours!”
“Ouch! Watch your tail ya stupid Charizard!”
Kris slapped her head.
“OK that’s it!” Scarlet declared. “Get them!”
The two agents pulled out a pair of machine guns.
“Uh-oh.” Kris muttered. “Bail!”
Her Pokemon grabbed her and flew out as the Rockets sprayed the area with bullets, littering it with stone fragments and empty shell casings.
“Defensive guys.” Kris ordered.
The party readied themselves as Aaron and Scarlet clambered out of the cave.
“Aaron, I’m dry.” Scarlet indicated her empty gun, “Hand me another clip.”
“The clips? I thought you had them!”
“What! I thought you did!”
“Idiot! Forget it.” Scarlet pulled out a Pokeball, “Let’s just fight them! Go Nidorino!”
“Go Golbat!”
“Now this is more like it!” Firestorm said as he dodged a Bite attack from Golbat.
Nidorino came charging at Nightslice, who simply somersaulted over it.
“Come and get me!” Nightslice taunted as the poison Pokemon slowly turned around, “Shadow Image.”
Immediately, several illusionary copies of himself appeared. Nidorino stopped, looking slightly confused.
“There’s just one real one!” Scarlet shouted, “The rest are just illusions!”
“Wanna bet?” Nightslice’s voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. “Rrrgggg!”
Each of the images rushed forward, made a slash, and then disappeared back into the crowd before the confused Pokemon could react.
“Huh…what?”
Nightslice took advantage of his ‘shadows’ distracting the enemy, readied himself and launched a Skull Bash. The blow sent Nidorino crashing into its trainer.
Meanwhile, Firestorm was dodging another attack from Golbat. Finally, he took to jumping off the cliff and spreading his wings. He caught a thermal, a rising current of warm air, and soared.
“Spin Slash!”
Spinning his body as he dove into a steep descent, he begun spewing out flames, making him seem like a ball of fire.
“Argh!” Aaron tried to run, but Firestorm was too swift. Both Golbat and him were torched. “Owowowowowwooowo!” he yelled, while trying desperately to extinguish the flames on his clothes.
“Aaron! It’s time for our secret weapon!” Scarlet said, reaching into her pocket. Immediately, her face fell. “Hey! Where’d it go?”
“Oh you mean this?” Kris grinned, juggling a bomb with a large letter ‘R’ on it.
“Hey that’s ours! Give it back you thief!” Aaron shouted angrily.
“OK!” Kris tossed it into Aaron’s hands.
The fuse was lit.
“OH SH—”
KA-BOOM!
“Looks like Team Rocket’s blasting off agaiiiiinnnnnnnn!!!” The unfortunate villains flew off into orbit.
“Ouch, that must’ve really hurt.” Kris muttered, “I wonder how they survive all that punishment?”
“Come on Muk! Use Body Slam!”
“Wartortle, use Water Gun! Push it back!”
Wartortle fired, straining against the weight of Muk’s shock absorbent body. It seemed like Muk was winning, but Wartortle gathered a final burst of strength and managed to shove Muk back. Finally, it sunk to the floor.
Kris looked over at the other trainer, a kid in a white T-shirt and jeans, and winked.
“Man! She beat me too!” he turned around and called to two more kids around his age.
“Please tell me you don’t have any more Pokemon,” Kris said, “because I don’t.”
Whew! That was rather intense.
Having already fought in the duel, Firestorm and Nightslice were resting under the shade of a tree and licking their bruises. They watched as Kris waved goodbye to the group of three. She came over and sat by them, pulling out her water canteen and taking a sip.
“I actually miss having these ‘normal’ battles.” Firestorm said.
“Yeah. Considering the things we’ve been through so far, that was pretty much a morning workout.” Kris replied, “Then again, when people happen to see you traveling around with a Charizard and a Scyther, they usually assume you’re a pretty tough trainer.”
Kris passed the water canteen to Firestorm. He took a gulp, then passed it to Nightslice, who took it in his jaws and emptied the contents down his throat.
“Whew! I’m beat.” Nightslice shoved the bottle back to Kris. “And that wasn’t really much of a challenge at all.”
“Hmmm. Using your powers probably takes more out of you guys than you realize. There were, after all, like ten minutes or so between that and our earlier fight with Team Rocket.”
“Not like we’d use them unnecessarily anyway.” Nightslice answered.
That was their agreement. As tempting as it was to show off, it just wouldn’t be fair to unleash any sacred or forbidden powers during a friendly trainer or gym match. Those could be saved for real threats, Team Rocket for example. After all, Kris didn’t want to cause any injuries in they could be avoided.
“You’re sure you don’t want us to just fly to Celadon?” Firestorm asked. Celadon City was their next destination, about a day’s walk or so.
“I’m sure. I told you before, both of you need to save your energy for more important things.”
Kris leaned back and looked up. As she did, her eyes caught a flicked of movement.
“We’re being watched.” She informed her companions, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Nightslice, take the tree out. Firestorm, we take him.”
Both nodded. The trio got up, pretending that they were leaving. Then, Nightslice spun round and cut the tree down with one swift stroke. They were rewarded by a scream as a man fell.
“GGrrrrrrrrr!” Firestorm plowed into before he even hit the ground, sending him flying several feet back.
Kris had seen something shinny in his hand, probably a weapon, and rushed forward.
“Get his weapon Kris!” Firestorm shouted.
“Got it!” Kris reached down and picked up….a video camera?
“Oops!” She muttered, staring down at the unconscious man.
“Hey, you didn’t kill him, did you?” Nightslice asked.
“No, he’s just out cold.” Kris said. She was busy shaking the guy and trying to revive him. Finally, she splashed some water in his face.
“Ow!” he moaned as he finally came to, “What’d you do that for?”
Kris grabbed him by his collar and slammed him into a nearby tree. He looked around 18 or so. Dressed in a black shirt with blue jeans and wearing a green photographer’s vest, with multiple pockets, over his shirt. He was of average built with his blond hair combed neatly. He had a knapsack with him too, which was still strapped on his back. Definitely not a fellow that would strike you as a bad person, but Kris wanted to be sure.
“All right blondie, start talking.” She held up his video camera, “Why were you spying on us?”
“Hey! Hey! I wasn’t!” he cried, holding his hands up defensively, “OK, maybe I was, but I didn’t mean to!”
Kris gave him an annoyed stare.
“Erm…could you let go of me and I’ll explain.”
Kris released her grip, but kept her gaze fixed on him. The young man pulled out a name card.
“My name’s Jade. I’m a freelance photographer, but I usually work with PNN, Pokemon News Network.”
“I see. And I’m Kris. So you’re one of those busybody reporter types.”
“Hey! We’re not that bad, are we? Anyway,” Jade looked over at Firestorm and Nightslice, “I just happened to be up that tree and I accidentally overheard your conversation. I thought that talking Pokemon would make a great story and…” he looked down at the floor, embarrassed, “…I’m really sorry. I know I should’ve asked for your permission first.”
“I think he’s sincere about it Kris,” Nightslice said, “but what were you doing up in that tree anyway?”
“Oh I was trying to get this to work.” Jade held up a rectangular object slightly longer than his hand. “It’s a satellite up-link. I was trying to get the TV station on this,” he indicated a laptop stuffed in his backpack, “but the forest around here was giving too much interference. So I had to find a higher place.”
“Looks like you’re keeping up-to-date.” Nightslice commented.
“Even this,” he said as Kris returned him his camera, “it’s the latest digital video camera. Capable of both recording videos and capturing images. It even records all it’s data on CDs.” Jade pulled the CD out of the camera to emphasize his point.
“You know, you’d make a good salesman.” Firestorm said, “May I take a look?”
“At the CD? Sure, but only if I get to interview you later.”
“Deal.”
“OK, here. Be careful.”
Firestorm took the delicate disc carefully in his claws and examined it thoroughly.
“Interesting.” Firestorm then tossed it up, caught it in his jaws and swallowed it in one gulp. “Delicious.”
“Hey!”
“All right Kris, now that I’ve eaten his story, let’s go.”
“Yeah!” Kris agreed. The group turned and begun to walk away.
“Hey! What about that interview?” Jade called after them.
“I lied.” Firestorm grinned.
“Hey! Wait you guys! I heard you discussing about the dragon gods! Does it have anything to do with the prophecy about their resurrection?”
All three stopped dead in their tracks and slowly turned around.
“Resurrection? What do you know about that?” Kris asked. By the sudden, serious look on her face, Jade realized that she wasn’t fooling around.
“My dad was an archeologist. My mother died when I was very young and I used to follow him on most of his expeditions. He discovered part of a stone tablet with some words engraved on it. Those words foretold the resurrection on the dark god, Kaiser, which would bring about the apocalypse.”
“The end of the world.” Nightslice muttered.
“Kris, could this be the true purpose behind our journey?” Firestorm asked.
“Perhaps.” Kris asked. Then, she addressed Jade, “Jade, it there any chance that I could meet your father? I have a few questions to ask him.”
“My father…passed away a couple of years ago.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Don’t worry about it. Anyway, he recorded all of his findings. They’re all filed in his cabin, located on Cinder, a small colony just off the coast of Cinnabar Island. He took great interest in them, even through everyone else said that he was wasting his time. And that tablet, it’s in a museum in Pewter City. ”
“Well, he most certainly wasn’t.” Kris looked over at Firestorm and Nightslice. “The legend just might be coming true. Remember how they wrote about two descendants rising from the ranks and finishing their battle?”
“Yeah, there was something like that.”
“Look at these two.” Kris pointed at her two Pokemon.
“You’re kidding…”
“She’s sure as hell serious.” Nightslice insisted.
“It was…my dad’s dream to uncover the entire story. I made a promise to him before he died that I’d carry on his dream.” Jade wiped a small tear from his eye. “Kris, will you let me accompany you on your journey?”
“I don’t know…” Kris looked thoughtfully at the sky. “It’ll be dangerous.”
“No problem.”
“You face a bunch of supernatural stuff, like ancient spells, super powered Pokemon and probably Team Rocket as well.”
“I can handle it. I took Karate lessons when I was younger.” he said showing off a few moves. “Besides, I know a whole bunch of computer skills, plus I train Pokemon too.”
Jade pulled out a Pokeball and opened it. His Pokemon appeared in a flash of light.
“Wow…that’s a Dragonair!” Kris gasped.
“Meet Dracia guys.” He introduced, patting her on the head. “My dad raised her from a Dratini and I took over.”
“Your dad must’ve been a pretty good trainer.” Nightslice commented. “Firestorm?”
The Charizard’s face was actually red instead of orange. He was just staring with his eyes wide, his jaws open and his tongue hanging out.
“Hello? Earth calling Charizard!” Nightslice waved a claw in front of his face. There was no reaction. “Hey, how bout a bucket to hold all that drool that’s watering the grass?”
Firestorm continued staring dreamily at the female dragon.
“Kawaii…” he muttered. He walked up, got down on his knees and took her tail in his claws. “Will you marry me?”
(Everyone else faints. Dracia sweatdrops.)
“Talk about getting acquainted.” Nightslice groaned.
“…”
“…”
“All right Storm, let’s go.” Kris and Nightslice each took one of his arms in their hands/claws and begun to drag him away. “Jade, we’ll fill you in on the way.”
“Don’t worry! I know it’s a little sudden! You don’t have to give me your answer right away…hey! Let go you two! Wait! I’m not finished yettttttttt!!!!”
“Hey! I haven’t shown you my Magmar! Or my Electabuzz yet!” Jade called, running after them. “Look out guys! You two are walking on opposite sides of that tree! Watch his…”
WHAM!
(Author: Don’t worry, Charizards have pretty thick skulls.)
“OUCH! GGGRRRRRR! WHAT THE #%*@ WAS THAT FOR??????????!!!!!!”
(Author: Then again, maybe not. By the way, for those of you who don’t know, Kawaii means cute in Japanese.)
“So this is it?” Kris asked.
“Yep, Celadon City in all its beauty.” Jade replied.
A day had passed and the party was now gathered at the outskirts of the city.
“I heard once that Team Rocket had a secret base somewhere here, although I never visited it.” Kris said, “After all, I was stationed in Viridian City.”
“Well, I don’t suppose we could go from door to door asking for TR’s HQ.”
“Jade, I don’t think that’ll work out.” Kris replied, “But I’ve got a plan. Nightslice?”
“Yes?”
“Up for a little search and reconnoiter mission?”
“On the entire city?” the Scyther asked, “You’d need an army for that.”
“Fortunately, I do know that it’s somewhere in the Southeast district. That’s the casino area. Narrow down our search quite a bit.”
“But what if they’ve moved?”
“Well, it’s the best lead I have. Besides, they grow lots of those white Celadon roses in that district too.”
“Sensible. But the rest of us?” Firestorm asked. He seemed a little disappointed at not being chosen to go.
“I’m going to the gym to battle for the Rainbow badge and I need you with me Firestorm. Nightslice will go off on his own and meet up with us tonight. Anyway, it’s distinctively easier to sneak around a 4’11 foot Scyther than a 5’7 foot Charizard, agreed?”
“Guys,” Jade showed them a map of the city on his computer, “there a small hotel here called the Green Ridge Hotel. It should be a good place to meet up.”
“Catch on fast, don’t you?” Nightslice said, crossing his scythes. “I’m game. How bout you people.”
“It’s agreed.” Firestorm said.
“Good.” Kris reached into her backpack and pulled a leather object out. “Nightslice, I need you to put this on, just in case.”
Nightslice looked up and immediately backed away.
“What! No way! I’m not gonna wear a collar! Especially in a big city like this! Hey!”
Firestorm shoved him forward so Kris could grab onto his neck and strap the collar round it.
“Sorry, but it’s for your own good.” Kris firmly replied, “It’s got my trainer ID on it. Just in case you break something or cause some accident or something, people will know you belong to me and you’re not some wild Scyther wandering about.”
“Argh! Whatever!” Nightslice waved his claws in defeat. He twisted his neck and made several futile attempts at pulling it off.
“Too bad you can’t just pull off the clueless teenage girl act.” Jade grinned. “Oh I, like totally didn’t know that! Won’t you let me off? Please, OK?” he said in a high pitched tone.
Firestorm stomped on his foot and put a claw over his mouth to make sure he didn’t scream.
“By the way, this doesn’t give you a good reason to go berserk and break everything in sight, got it?”
“I know.” Nightslice sighed, “Well, I’m off.”
He sprinted down the road and flew off, soon disappearing between the tall buildings.
“Firestorm,” Kris showed him his Pokeball.
“Huh?” the Charizard was confused.
“I’m going to give the gym leader a big surprise.”
“Oh! I got it!” Firestorm winked and disappeared with a flash into the Pokeball.
Jade looked over to Kris.
“Let’s go. I’ll show you where the gym is.”
“What do you mean the leader won’t see me?!!!!” Kris screamed at the clerk at the door.
“Well she won’t and that’s that!” The clerk yelled back. She wasn’t very happy either.
“I believe that this has little to do with Erika and more do with you just now when I refused to do that survey for you back in the perfume shop.”
“What?!”
Kris pulled off her sunglasses and placed them in her pocket.
“I do have eyes you know. I can recognize people. And I can see when people are letting little misunderstandings get in the way of their jobs.”
“Well you have no right to tell me how to do my job!”
“I do because you’re certainly aren’t doing it properly!”
Jade sat on the stairs leading up to the gym and calmly listened as the girls went on for at least ten minutes or so. It finally, ended when the clerk drew the curtains and turned the ‘open’ sign to ‘close’.
“Jeez, what a b@*#%.” Kris muttered as she came back to Jade.
“From the looks of this place, they must’ve had a fire or some accident here recently.” Jade said.
“True. That, I can understand why she’s a little cranky. But telling me off because I’m the only person who ever said ‘no’ to her survey is just cutting the line.”
“So, what now?”
“We barge in.” Kris smiled. She turned around and walked to the door.
“You’re crazy.” Jade said as he joined her. “But since you are, I’ll handle any guards at the door. You’d better save your Pokemon for the gym leader.”
“Sure. OK? Ready?”
Kris gave herself some distance, then launched a strong kick, shattering the glass door into hundreds of pieces. Of course, this caused quite a bit of panic among the people there. Most of the junior trainers quickly ran off. A couple of the older ones approached them.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing!”
“I’m not going to say it again.” Kris said in a furious voice, “I want to talk to your gym master. NOW.”
“Get them!” the junior trainers let out a Victreebell and a Bulbasaur.
“OK, my turn!” Jade stepped in front of Kris, “Go Magmar! Fire Blast!”
The flame Pokemon appeared and made short work of the two grass types, burning them black.
“All right! Stop it! All of you!” a female voice commanded.
“Erika,” one of the trainers begun, “we…”
“You don’t have to tell me because I was on the second floor and I heard everything.” Erika addressed her subordinates, “You all should be ashamed of yourselves! Now, leave!”
Everyone else quietly disappeared from the main hall.
“You’re Kris, the trainer?”
“Yes.” Jade stepped aside and allowed Kris to pass.
“I must apologize for the actions of my people.” Erika bowed to them.
“I guess I should too,” Kris returned the bow, “about the door.”
“Oh never mind about the door,” Erika closed her eyes and smiled, “I was going to get it replaced anyway.”
“Good. Now it’s settled. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what happened here?” Kris indicated the burnt out walls.
“It was this incident involving some nasty people from Team Rocket.” Erika went on to explain about the incident, the fire and how Pokemon trainer Ash had saved her Gloom.
So Ash is in town, Kris thought, he’s pretty fast. I’ll make it a note to say hi if we happen to meet.
“Erika, about our match…”
“Oh yes,” Erika said, “all this talk made me forget you were here to battle me. Since, my gym is still damaged, would you object to me selecting another location?”
“No, not at all.”
“Excellent.” Erika then walked over to Jade and introduced herself.
“Hi.” Jade smiled shyly.
“That was very brave to you to protect your girlfriend like that just now.” Erika told him.
(Both Kris and Jade fainted.)
“Erm…did I say something wrong?”
A crowd of spectators had gathered in the park where the match was to be held. The scene was rather beautiful. A wide, open sports field with its edges lined by trees and a pond at its side.
Erika stood on one side with Kris and Jade on the other.
“We’ll each use three Pokemon,” the gym leader announced, “ready?”
“Let’s go.”
“All right, I’ll use Tangela! Go!” Erika threw the Pokeball, letting out the first of her grass types.
“And I’ll start with Jolteon!”
“Pssss, you do know that electric attacks are ineffective against grass Pokemon, right?” Jade whispered.
“Who says I have to use electric attacks?” Kris returned a wide grin.
“Tangela, Vine Whip!”
“Use Agility, Jolteon!”
Speeding around the field, Jolteon was easily able to dodge the lashing vines, in addition to impressing the crowd by pulling off a bunch of fancy flips and summersaults.
“Now, Pin Missile!”
The needles easily pierced Tangela’s vines, knocking it over. It was crying out in pain, forcing Erika to recall it.
“Well done. But let’s see how you handle this. Weepinbell go! Acid attack!”
Jolteon jumped back to avoid the acid spray.
“Back off towards the pond Jolteon!”
Avoiding more acid sprays and Razor Leaves, Jolteon stepped into the water and kicked with his front legs, splashing some water onto Weepinbell.
“That won’t do much good.” Erika called out. “Slam attack.”
“Jolteon, jump!”
Jolteon went up while Weepinbell landed with a loud splash in the pond.
“Now I’ve got you where I want you!” Kris smiled. “Thunderbolt!”
“Oh my!”
BBBZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTT!
Since water conducts electricity, in addition to amplifying its damage, that maneuver easily won the match.
The gym leader wasted no time in selecting her last Pokemon.
“Gloom, I choose you!”
It was what Kris had been waiting for.
“Jolteon, return.” The exhausted electric Pokemon disappeared. Time to play her trump card. “Firestorm, time to tear up the field!”
The crowd gasped as the Charizard materialized.
“Humph. I knew you’d try a fire type sometime or other.” Erika said, “But I have my own tricks. Gloom, use your Stun Spore.”
The crowd immediately backed away and pinched their noses. Gloom was not only letting out its Stun Spore, but it’s awful scent as well.
Firestorm, however, didn’t seem the least bothered by it. He simply stood there, with his head turned away from Gloom, and waited.
“Strange.” Erika gasped.
By now, the Stun Spore had cleared out, being blown away by the wind. Firestorm now looked back up…revealing he had his nostrils plugged with cotton wool!
“Yeah, that’s the way. Now let’s wrap this up!” Kris ordered.
The Charizard roared, sounding a little odd with his nose plugged, and rushed forward. Faster than the crowd could see, his attack was over.
(Screen goes black and we see one slash appear across it.)
At first, it seemed like nothing had happened. Then, Gloom’s flower ‘head’ burst into flames.
“GLOOM! Gloom! Gloom! Gloom! Gloom! Gloom! Gloom!” cried the Pokemon as it started running round in circles.
The crowd burst out laughing.
“Gloom!” Erika cried, “Use the pond!”
Gloom ran for the pond and jumped it, extinguishing the flames with a satisfying hiss. Meanwhile, Firestorm pulled the cotton wool out of his nostrils and begun taking deep breaths of air. He’d been holding his breath all this while.
“Awesome.” Kris congratulated, patting him on the shoulder.
Firestorm could only nod and continue gasping. He was a little blue in the face.
“Defeated.” Erika sighed.
“Gloom?” her Pokemon asked.
She bent over and patted Gloom. “Don’t worry, you tried.”
Erika waved, holding the Rainbow Badge in her hand.
“That’s empathy.” She said quietly, “You work very well with your Pokemon. Good luck though, the rest of your journey won’t be easy.”
Nightslice was frustrated.
Seriously, it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Kris had just told him to do his best, but it looked like he was going to come up empty handed anyway. Or in his case, empty clawed.
Sure, there’s nothing I like more than jumping from roof to roof and
searching the shadows for some secret headquarters. I wonder how’s plan B
supposed to work out?
Exhausted, he came to rest on the roof of the Game Corner. It was a pretty hot casino in town and as usual, the place was packed. The skylights were open as he stared down into the crowd. Not a single person looked up. They were all way too busy with the slot machines.
Nightslice was about to leave when some interesting caught his eye.
Wait a minute! Isn’t that the same guy leaning against that poster?
Having passed the building a number of times, he’d counted three different guys in that exact same position. All dressed in black, caps pulled low over their eyes. All were leaning against that particular poster.
It’s almost as if they were…guarding it.
As if to confirm his suspicions, another black dressed person came up and begun speaking to the man at the poster. Another man in a business suit happened to come too close and one of the guys in black roughly shoved him away. Seeing he was outnumbered, the suit guy chose to disappear quietly into the crowd. When they were sure one was else was watching, the two men in black switched positions, one at the poster and the other into the crowd.
If that doesn’t look suspicious, then I don’t know what qualifies. Nightslice grinned, Jackpot. Now I’ll just watch em’ for a while more…
“So this is Scissors Street.” Kris muttered. “Spiffy place.”
“It’s also known as Breeder’s Lane.” Jade informed her, “Since we have some free time now, might as well relax a little.”
Firestorm was busy looking at the numerous dressed-up Pokemon. Some of them really made his skin crawl. Seriously, the Charizard was thankful he didn’t get stuck with some fashion designer.
Firestorm nudged Kris and pointed. A familiar figure was rounding the corner. The Pikachu on the boy’s head was equally excited when it spotted Kris.
“Pika!” it jumped off and ran in her direction.
“Hey Pikachu, where’re you going.” Ash Ketchem asked. He and his companions then noticed Kris. “Hi guys! It’s been a while!”
“Sure has. How are you all doing?” Kris now had Pikachu in her arms and was petting the electric mouse.
There was a brief introduction to Jade and an exchange of information.
“That’s a Charizard?” Ash asked, “Woah! Cool!”
“Firestorm evolved. I’m sure you’ll remember him.” Kris replied proudly.
“But you have a pretty neat Pikachu, Ash.” Jade pulled out his camera. “Pose for a picture?”
“Me? Oh yeah!”
With Pikachu on his shoulder, Ash adjusted his cap and gave a big smile with his victory pose.
“1…2…3…smile!”
CLICK!
Unfortunately, Pikachu was startled by the sound of the camera and unleashed its Thundershock, giving Ash a big shock too.
“Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhhh!” Ash hit the floor with a thud.
“Pika? Pikapi?”
“Don’t worry,” Misty assured them, “he’ll be alright. Considering the number of times it happens a day.”
“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?” Ash sprang back up.
“Look! There it is!” Brock interrupted. He was pointing over to a salon across the road.
“He was looking for this place?” Misty asked.
Brock walked up to the door, but he hand was trembling so much that he couldn’t open it.
“Why you so nervous Brock?” Ash asked as the pushed open the door and entered.
“Maybe I’ll hang out with you guys for a while.” Kris decided.
“OK.” Jade agreed.
“Fine with us.” Misty led them into the building. She then noticed Brock was still outside, shaking. “Come on Brock!”
“…Argh! Hey! Wait!” Brock ran in after them.
There, the group met up with world champion Pokemon breeder Susan. After a little mishap in which Misty found out the hard way that Susan’s Vulpix didn’t like being touched by strangers, Kris decided to see how good she really was.
“Susan,” she asked, “how bout you give my Charizard here one of your famous massages?”
“Sure, I’d love to!” Susan was really excited, “I’ve always wanted to try this out on a Charizard!”
“Rrr—” Firestorm tried to roar out his protest, but Kris slapped a hand over his jaws.
Although he didn’t seem to like it at first, by the end of it, he was sleeping like a log.
“So, he slept through the entire fight?” Nightslice laughed.
The Dragon Riders had finally met up in the designated hotel room. After exchanging the vital details, a decision had been made to stakeout the Game Corner that night. For now, it was waiting and discussing the day’s events. Particularly, the events in Scissors Street.
(As seen in TV episode ‘Pokemon Fashion Flash’, with a few modifications of course.)
“Yeah, Kris couldn’t wake him at all.” Jade said, “Even with all the noise, plus Jessie and James’ ‘transforming battle platform’.”
“Hey! That was the best massage I’ve ever had!” Firestorm protested, “Not to mention the only. At least I’ll have more energy than the rest of you tonight!”
“I’ll give it to Ash and company for foiling another of Team Rocket’s schemes.” Kris sat down on the bed and folded her arms, “I don’t think Jessie and James can throw anything at the kid that he can’t handle. But remember, we’re the ones dealing with the bigger fish here.”
“Is that why you didn’t help in the fight?” Jade asked.
“Well, he requested I stay out of it. So I did.” Kris looked up, “And Nightslice, great job.”
“Hehe…thanks.” Nightslice grinned a toothy grin.
“Let’s all get some rest,” Kris declared, “cause tonight’s going to be a very long one.”
The Game Corner just happened to be across the road from one of the city’s many parks. It wasn’t difficult to choose a concealed spot in the bushes. The only problem was the waiting.
“Still nothing…” muttered Jade, who had the binoculars, “Wait! I see some!”
A pair of men in Team Rocket uniforms had appeared from the door. The casino had closed two hours earlier and they seemed to be having a smoke before they carried out their duties.
“About time,” Firestorm crouched low, carefully hiding his tail, “what do we do now?”
“Leave that to me.” Kris grinned.
Dressed in a mini skirt and a short shirt, Kris approached the two men and waved.
“Hi boys!” she pulled off a sexy pose.
“Whoa! Hello!” the two agents dropped their cigarettes. They’d thought they had just gotten really lucky.
Kris waved and slowly walked towards the bushes. Eagerly, the pair followed. The rest of the party waited till they were in range, then…
WHAM! BAM! WHACK! BAM!
“What the—?”
“Argh!”
POW!
“Ow! Jade! That’s me you just punched!” Firestorm yelled.
“Sorry!”
Kris and Jade tied up the unconscious agents and donned their uniforms.
“Hey Kris, I kinda liked ya with that mini skirt on.” Jade remarked.
SLAP!
“Ouch! Hey! It was just a joke!”
“Forget it.” Kris told him. “Anyway, I hope you’re ready.”
“As I’ll ever be.”
“Good. Just act like you know what you’re doing and no one will stop you. And stick close to me.” She looked over to Firestorm and Nightslice. “Same for both of you.”
Firestorm gave a thumbs-up. Nightslice winked.
“All right, let’s go.” Kris pushed open the door and stepped inside, followed by her companions.
At the other side of the now empty room, a Rocket guard was at the poster. Kris and Jade walked up and saluted.
“You two are late.” The guard growled.
“Yeah, we had a couple of things to pick up.” Kris replied in an equally gruff voice, jerking a thumb at the Pokemon.
“Fine. Let’s hurry.” The guard turned and reached behind the poster. He pulled a hidden lever, causing a secret door to open at the adjacent wall. Kris could see that it led down to a brightly-lit hallway.
She let the guard get a few steps ahead before raising a fist and knocking him out. The unfortunate agent never knew what hit him. After tightly binding him and stuffing him in the broom closet, she took a moment to check up on each of her team members. All of whom nodded their approvals. They were ready.
Kris took a deep breath and descended the stairway.
No turning back now…
Now, I remember this scene pretty well. Kris thought.
It wasn’t too long ago that she’d been part of the organization. This base was similar in design to the one she was used to, in Viridian City. Offices, communications rooms, cafeteria…all familiar and yet foreign at the same time.
It was like coming home after spending years overseas.
Anyway, back to business.
The objective was to locate the central office and find ‘the boss’. But doing that wasn’t going to be easy. Even if they could find the place, it would definitely be guarded. Not just anyone’s allowed into the Giovanni’s office. Fighting would only draw the attention of more guards than they could handle.
Therefor, she’d come up with a simple plan.
Cause some sort of ‘accident’ and in the midst of the chaos, locate a computer terminal, find the office and barge in. Of course, it wasn’t foolproof, but certainly better than nothing.
Kris led her party to the locker room and opened a locker with a set of keys she’d found on one of the guards.
“What are you looking for?” Jade whispered while Kris rummaged the locker.
“This.” Kris produced a small keycard. “It’ll help us gain access to where we want to be.”
A few minutes later, Kris located a computer room. Jade sat down at an empty workstation far away from the other people in the room. He flicked on the power, but secretly plugged in his laptop as well. Using the keycard, he was able to access the computer system. Kris, Firestorm and Nightslice all stood behind him, deliberately blocking him from view.
“Ok, let’s see.” Jade muttered. His fingers flew rapidly across the keyboard. “It’s pretty high level security, but nothing I can’t handle.”
“Since you said you could handle it, what’s the plan?” Kris asked.
“Just wait.” Jade clicked an icon on his computer. A ‘downloading’ screen appeared. “This virus will really…”
Just then, alarms begun blaring.
“Warning. Unauthorized access to central computer system detected.” A female recorded voice announced.
“Oh shit.” Jade whispered.
Kris stepped on his foot to get him to keep his cool.
“Hey! What’s going on?” she played the part and asked the other agents in the room.
“Don’t know.” One answered.
“Maybe some rookie forgot his password?” another suggested.
The next second, the power went out. All the lights and computers went too.
Jade secretly gave Kris a thumbs-up.
“What the heck’s going on?”
“Now!” Kris yelled.
Firestorm unleashed his Flamethrower on the unprepared agents and Nightslice followed up by charging and knocking down those that remained standing.
“Come on Jade!” Kris grabbed him by the arm and disconnected his laptop.
“Hey wait! I’ve almost located Giovanni’s office!”
“No time for that! They’ll be all over us in minutes!” Kris pulled him out of the room.
Firestorm and Nightslice ran up behind them.
“We’ll find another terminal!” Nightslice said.
As they’d expected, the place was in a state of chaos.
Kris ended up blindly leading the others on a mad dash, silently cursing herself for not expecting this. The winding corridors certainly didn’t make things much easier. Left, right, right, down the stairs, up again…luckily, she happened to run pass one familiar sign.
Armory. Perfect!
“Here!” Kris threw open the door.
Before the solitary guard inside could react, she threw a kick, connecting squarely with his lower jaw and knocking him out. Firestorm slammed the door shut and threw his weight against it.
“Jade, find an outlet!”
“It’s here.” Jade kicked some vests out of his way and plugged his laptop into a wall socket. He frantically hit his keyboard. “This is gonna take a while since you didn’t let me shut my computer down just…”
“Just do it! All right?” Kris yelled. She was browsing the shelves for anything useful.
“Kris!” Nightslice pointed a claw to something.
Kris read the sign.
“Tear gas grenades. And there are some oxygen masks conveniently hanging here too!”
She grabbed a couple, then tossed one to Firestorm, then Jade.
“Hurry people!” Firestorm warned. “I can feel some guys banging on the door!”
“I found it!” Jade turned his laptop so the others could see the screen. He’d downloaded a map of the entire base. “That red dot is Giovanni’s office. It’s two levels below us, but there’s a secret elevator that leads straight there.”
He traced a path from the room marked ‘Armory’ to the elevator. Although it was just two rights down the corridor, the trip wouldn’t be easy.
“Excellent. Now put your mask on.” Kris told him.
Firestorm had a little difficulty, but managed to stretch the strap far enough. Nightslice declined.
“I’ll transform to my mechanical alter ego.” He volunteered. “It should help us out a lot. Kris, you just need to enter the command.”
“Ready?” Kris fished out the small device and entered the code. “Go!”
“Cyber armor, energize!”
The others watched in awe as his body begun to change. Blue lightning seemed to course through every part. The scyhter’s body became clad with a layer of super hard steel. With sword sharp scythes, wings like helicopter blades and glowing red eyes, he was a fearsome sight. His head turned as he stared towards the others.
“Don’t worry. I’m in control.” Nightslice assured. His voice was different, sounding mechanical and emotionless.
“What’s with the quote?” Firestorm asked.
“Oh, I just needed something fancy to say.” He replied in the same emotionless voice. His red eyes flickered off and then on again. Nightslice had probably meant to wink.
“Awesome.” Jade muttered.
“Alright, battle time!” Kris declared.
Firestorm threw the door open and stepped away.
“Argh!”
“What’s that?!”
Nightslice took full advantage of the Rocket agent’s initial shock and charged up the blue colored electricity from his wings. He fired off the electric burst, literally shocking them senseless.
“Fire in the hole!” Kris tossed a tear bomb.
All the soldiers who’d managed to avoid Nightslice’s surprise attack immediately begun kneeling over and coughing.
“Go! GO! GO!”
The Dragon Riders ran past the stunned agents with Nightslice leading.
“Here, make a right.” Jade instructed.
More soldiers were approaching from directly in front of them. These were armed.
“Behind me!” Nightslice shielded his companions. The bullets bounced off his armored plating with minimal damage caused. Nightslice armed his waist-mounted twin machine guns.
“Let’s see how you like it.”
He fired, not at the men, but at the ceiling, dislodging huge blocks of concrete, which fell and sealed off the passageway. Annoyed and angry shouts could be heard from the other side.
The next few seconds were a blur, with any opposition being swiftly dealt with by tear grenades, Firestorm’s flames and Nightslice’s weapons. Before she knew it, Kris found herself staring at the elevator control panel.
“It requires a key.” Firestorm remarked.
“They never said we needed a key!” Jade protested, consulting his computer.
“Allow me.” Nightslice stepped forward. A wire emerged from his claw and he inserted it onto the control panel. He stayed silent for a while.
“I am unable to break the code.” He said at last.
“I can do it!” Jade brought up his laptop.
“Quick you two.” Kris hurried, “Firestorm and I will hold off the guards.”
They disappeared round the corner. Screams and curses could be heard over the sounds of guns and Firestorm’s fire attacks.
“Link up.” Nightslice tapped a section on his shoulder. It opened to reveal a socket that Jade connected his terminal to.
“Come on baby! Do us proud!” Jade fingers flew. Then, he hit the enter key.
The lift door opened.
Kris and Firestorm came running and piled into the elevator just as the doors closed.
“No rest for the weary.” Kris said, pulling out a Pokeball.
Jade nodded and did the same.
“Whew!” Nightslice reverted back to normal. “That was better than I hoped for.”
“You’d better hang back buddy,” Firestorm patted his friend on the back, “you’re done enough.”
“Guess I should. Thanks.”
“We’re almost there,” Kris warned, “keep on your toes.”
The Dragon Riders watched as the elevator lights changed.
B2…B3…B4!
The doors opened!
The Dragon Riders are about to confront Giovanni, leader of Team
Rocket. Will they succeed? What will the outcome be like? All I can say it this
story is…
…to be continued…