-A great battle is about to be fought across the vast region of cyberspace. Can the team pull through this breathtaking encounter? Tenth 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
“Here you go guys.” Kris handed Wartortle and Ivysaur an ice-cream cone each.
The two Pokemon happily accepted their treats as Kris sat down on the grass beside them. It was a nice, quiet park near the edge of town. It seemed like every one of these big towns had at least one park like this.
She leaned back against a tree and let the wind rustle through her short, black hair.
Wonder how the others are doing now? I hope Jade hasn’t screwed things up yet.
A thought came to her mind.
“Hey, you guys still remember those times when it was just Sensei and us?”
At that, both came over and snuggled on either side of her.
“Guess that’s a ‘yes’.”
It was a point in her life that she didn’t really remember, the earliest moments. However, there were some things she’d never forget. She’d grown up with these two, running through the woods chasing a Bulbasaur and a Squirtle. Having lost both parents at 3, the old Ninja master had taken her in, always keeping a watchful eye over her.
He was more than just my teacher, he was my family. As are the both of you and all the other Pokemon that have come to join us.
Those childhood memories that seemed to fade away as one grows older. However, time does pass and things change. Old age and illness had finally caught up with the only father she’d ever known.
“You may not have been my daughter by blood, but you will always be my daughter in my heart. Now, there is nothing more I can teach you, save one final bit of advice: always to walk the path your heart tells you to.”
Those had been their parting words.
Why she’d gone to Team Rocket thereafter, she’d never really know. Did she need the money that badly? Had she just wanted to show off her secret arts?
It hadn’t been a good choice, but that was where she’d met Firestorm. That had in turn lead to Nightslice, and now…
“All right guys, let’s get back to the present here. I’m supposed to go pick up Nightslice and…”
She realized Ivysaur and Wartortle had fallen asleep.
“Thanks for staying with me all this time.” Kris smiled.
“So, we going for the rush or the silent approach?” Jade asked.
“There might be more guards, so we’d better go stealth.” Firestorm suggested.
“Then there might be none, so we could just barge in.” Jade argued.
“If you had a particular idea in mind, why did you give two options in that suggestion?”
“Hey, I’m trying to look at the big picture and explore all our options here!”
Firestorm sighed.
While they debated, a couple of guards emerged from the cavern and stood at the entrance. These two were in uniforms.
“Great, we lost our chance.” Jade sighed.
“At least we didn’t try barging in cause it seems they’ve got more guys in there. Any ideas, trainer?” The Charizard had spoken the last word in an extremely mocking tone.
“Erm…Dracia!” Jade let out his Dragonair. “Any ideas?”
Dracia reached her tail into Jade’s backpack and pulled out a book entitled ‘Tactical Espionage for Dummies’.
(Everyone faints.)
“OK, that’s the last time I let Kris buy me books!”
“We need to take the guards out,” Firestorm growled, “but the problem is that any other guards will hear the fighting anyway.”
“Hey, I just got a great idea!” Jade beamed.
(The Pokemon sweatdrop.)
“I’ll lure them away with my outstanding, unparalleled, infuriating…TRASH TALKING!”
(He does that anime thing of pointing at the sky and the Pokemon faint.)
“You don’t strike me as a very smooth talker Jade.” Firestorm moaned, getting up.
“Just watch and learn!” He winked.
Jade got out from behind their cover and calmly walked up to the guards.
“Halt!” one of the guards ordered, “identify yourself immediately!”
“What was that?” Jade pretended to look around, “I’m sure I just heard an extremely effeminate voice calling out to me. Hey, maybe this part of Kanto is populated by fairies!”
“Huh?!”
“Erm…what?!”
“Yo guys, not that I’m a military expert or anything, but aren’t you two standing a little too close to one another?” Jade continued, quickly changing the subject.
“Well…”
“Actually, we’re both new recruits. DO you think we’re standing too close to each other?”
“Sure,” Jade grinned, “close enough for me to poop on! Hahahah!”
“Hey, this loud-mouthed kid is mocking us!”
“That’s it, let’s get him!”
“Catch me if you can, Suckers!” Jade took off towards the bushes where Firestorm and Dracia were hiding.
And the rest, as they say, is silence.
BAM! WHAM!
“OOOWWWW!!”
“WHAT THE *%#@!!!!”
TWHACK! BAM! CRUNCH!
Well, not really.
“I’m actually impressed, Jade.” Firestorm said, staring down at the two dazed guards.
“Yeah, well I’m good at something at least. Come on, help me get their clothes.”
“Cool, I sorta like this vest.” Firestorm was busy with one of the guards. “And this hat too!”
<We seem to be stealing Team Rocket’s uniforms rather often. > Dracia commented.
“Gggrrrrrraaa!” Nightslice was sparing with one of the Hypnos in the Saffron Gym.
He dodged a couple of Psybeams and took to the air, getting into position and smacking the back of his opponent’s head with his heel. The Hypno hit the floor, out cold.
“Well, don’t get too worked up.” Sabrina said, coming into the room.
“Hey, looks like you’re fully functional now!”
“You work with Kadabras, you pick up a few tricks. Recover for one thing. Anyway,” she offered him a cell phone. “it’s Kris.”
The Scyther took it between his ear and shoulder.
“Hey Nighty, how’s it going?” Kris’ voice came over the phone.
“Well, I found out a whole lota things I never knew, fought to save the gym from some crazed birds, almost got killed by those sneaky bastards…but other than that, I’m cool. How bout you?”
“Been exciting too.
Sabrina and I had a little information exchange session. Just get into a
Pokeball and let her send it through the transporter. I’ll fill you in on the
rest of the stuff.”
“All right then. Later!”
Sabrina took the phone back.
“It was an honor to meet you, Nightslice.”
“You too. We’ll be in touch.”
“Definitely. Here…” she held up a Pokeball.
“Could use the snooze anyway.” Nightslice muttered as his world faded to darkness.
Jade, Firestorm and Dracia moved quietly along the dark path. Firestorm had deliberately dimmed the flames on his tail and covered them with a piece of cloth.
“Damm, it’s so dark I can’t even see my nose!” Firestorm muttered.
“Well, this was your idea!” Jade whispered.
“It was a necessary one!”
“Wait! Shhh! I hear voices!”
Upon rounding the next bend, light streamed in through a door-like opening in the passageway. The group crawled forward to take a look.
There was a slight slope ahead leading down to the chamber below.
Ahead of them were half a dozen, black uniformed Team Rocket agents. All were armed with pickaxes and shovels and were spread out throughout the room, obviously digging for something. A series of light bulbs had been strung to the walls, providing the necessary lighting for their work.
“Jade, look there.” Firestorm pointed, “A couple of my old enemies.”
“Aaron, why did we end up with this stupid assignment?” Scarlet groaned.
“I know! I know! I messed up the bit at the Pokemon Tower!” The other agent yelled, “And the one at Maiden’s Peak! There, you happy now?!”
“No.” she said flatly.
“Humph, women.”
“Stupid men.”
Jade moved a foot, accidentally jarring loose a small rock. It rolled down the slope and attracted the attention of the TR agents.
“Hey, look there!”
“Shoot!” Jade whispered.
There was enough light for the agents to make out their shapes in the doorway.
“We’ve got intruders!” one of the agents yelled.
(Team Rocket motto music plays.)
“Well then they should prepare for trouble,” Scarlet began.
“And make it double,” Aaron added.
“To protect the…aaarrggghhh!”
A swift Thunder attack shocked the pair.
“Hey! Attacking the bad guys while we’re doing out motto isn’t fair!” Scarlet yelled.
“Yeah, that’s our job!” Aaron growled, waving his arms furiously.
All the lights suddenly went out.
“Huh…?” Aaron and Scarlet gasped together.
A bright Fire Blast lit up the doorway, revealing Jade and Firestorm, back to back, with their arms folded. Jade was dressed in the completely black uniform, save the ‘R’ on the front, with a cap pulled low down. Firestorm had donned a black vest (having ripped holes in the back for his wings), with an ‘R’ on its back too, together with a matching pair of black gloves (slightly modified, considering Charizards have three fingers), a cap and a mask covering his face, leaving his jaws exposed.
“We say YOU should prepare for Trouble!” Jade pointed a finger.
“Since we’re at it, make it Double!” Firestorm mimicked the action.
“Instead of causing tribulation,” Jade leapt to one side.
“Try learning cause we’re teaching!” Firestorm struck a battle stance.
“To uphold the goodness of truth and love!” Jade changed his pose, pointing a thumb at himself.
“And make our name known to the stars above!” Firestorm did a ‘V’ with his fingers.
“Jade!” He threw off his cap.
“Firestorm!” The Charizard spun his cap around.
“Dragon Riders, battling from beyond the light!”
“Team Rocket, come on and prepare to lose this fight!”
“Roaraaggghhh!”
Dracia formed her Fire Blast into the shape of a dragon’s head.
The lights then came back on.
“Who are they?! And how dare they steal our copyrighted material!” Scarlet was even madder now.
“Cool.” One of the agents gasped.
“WHAT WAS THAT?!!!” Scarlet yelled.
“Eh, nothing!” He gulped.
Jade looked over his shoulder.
“Nice work with the lighting, Electabuzz.” He waved to his electric Pokemon behind them at the power generator, which conveniently happened to be outside.
“A talking Charizard…” Aaron muttered, “Firestorm, I’d recognize you no matter what you’d evolve into! Scarlet, these people are allied with our ex-colleague Kris.”
“Oh, bad boy remembered my name. I’m soooooooooo touched.” The Charizard laughed mockingly.
“Don’t push you luck.” Aaron said darkly, “You won’t get lucky twice.”
“Enough talk,” Firestorm growled, “Whatcha doing here? Digging for fossils?”
“Actually, we’re looking for a legendary s…yeowch!” Scarlet stomped on Aaron’s foot to shut him up. “Either way, it doesn’t matter! I’ve been doing my reading. Now I will summon forth the demon dwelling within this pendant to des…hey!”
Jade used one of the TR ‘hand’ grabbing devices to snatch the pendant out of Aaron’s hand.
“Daarrgghhh! That’s only for US to use!” Scarlet was outraged.
“Finders keepers, losers weepers!” Jade taunted, sticking out his tongue.
“So this little sucker contains the black magic you used against me earlier,” Firestorm growled, taking the pendant. “pity cheap tricks won’t save you this time!”
“No! You’ll destroy it and its magic at this rate!” Aaron yelled, panicked. “I can’t control it like this! And it took me ages to steal that thing too!”
“Excellent! So it’s safe for me to neutralize of this for good!”
“But there are only two ways to destroy an artifact of this kind of power.” Jade cautioned, “And just smashing it…”
Firestorm dropped the pendant and crushed it under his foot.
“…is NOT one of the ways because it will summon forth the DEMON ITSELF!”
(Everyone in the room goes white.)
“Erm…oops!!!!”
“No luck, nurse Joy?” Kris asked.
“Sorry, none yet. I really don’t understand, it’s like the entire system is completely disorientated.” The nurse replied from her hunched position over the keyboard.
The computer screen was consistently pouring out error messages.
Nightslice…something’s up! I know it!
It was almost too coincidental. According to the staff, the system had been up and running just ten minutes or so before she’d arrived. Kris had arrived to find the normal computer technician completely baffled. He’d just run off to retrieve his notes from his office, leaving Nurse Joy and herself there.
“The Professor would know what to do in a situation like this.” Nurse Joy sighed.
“The who?”
Lost in thought, Kris had almost missed that statement.
“Professor Payote. He’s a local programmer who helped set up the Internet Protocol links for the Pokeball transporter system under Professor Akihabara’s research team.”
“Local? So he’s close by?” Kris inquired.
“Yes, just 3 blocks down South from here. A blue, two story building that’s very difficult to miss.”
“If you would, I’d like to go down there and inform him of this problem immediately.”
“You’d do that Kris? It would be much appreciated. I’d go myself, but I can’t leave the Center unattended.” Joy looked up.
Kris nodded and grabbed her backpack.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” She said.
“So do I.” The nurse agreed.
Unfortunately, your bad feeling is nothing like the one I’ve got. Kris though as she pushed open the door and jogged down the street.
Something was definitely up. A system normally bustling with endless activity was now at a virtual standstill.
The Virtual World is never as it seems, and this Pokeball transporting system was even more difficult to understand. But picture this: a long series of interconnected roads and highways, except this one was filled to its limit with all the Pokeballs being transported. With each one pushing against each other, it was much like a traffic jam with the vehicles packed back-to-back.
And like a traffic jam, almost nothing could move. There wasn’t even a roadblock in sight.
Yet, somewhere out there, on one of the millions of lines, a Pokeball moved. It rocked…once…twice…and was finally forced open.
Nightslice materialized, looking slightly dazed.
“OK, I don’t wait half an hour for some transportation process that’s supposed to take a few seconds.” He growled, shaking his head to clear his drowsiness, “Lucky thing Kris taught me how to break a Pokeball from the inside. Hey, this is…”
He was standing on the road-like surface of one of the many lines. All around, more lines seemed to pop up of nowhere, without any obvious start or end. As far as he could see, the background was white with numerous colored patterns painted like machine gears.
“Is this the Internet? Hmmm…cool, but they need new wallpaper.” The Scyther then turned back to his Pokeball. “Whoa!”
It was bigger than him, as were all the other Pokeballs that decorated the landscape (if you’d call it that) as far as eye could see.
“And I thought humans were weird enough already.” He shifted his gaze, looking around in all directions. The stillness of the place came as a first reaction. “Like everything’s stopped…it’s just too quiet.”
Since the road was blocked, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to take a look around.
Taking a deep breath, he spread his wings and stepped off the road, into space. A beam of red light passed through his body for a brief instant.
“Hmmm?” It was a weird feeling, but apparently it hadn’t done anything to him. He then realized he’d stopped moving his wings. “No gravity here. Kinda like that outer space movie we watched once.”
Adopting a series of swimming strokes, he propelled himself towards the nearest large structure, which reassembled a tall building.
Professor Payote was everything Kris expected a professor to be.
Old fellow, white lab coat, thick glasses, mostly bald, white and gray hair and beard, hunched over his computers muttering constantly to himself.
Except now Kris was seated behind the old man watching as he tried to rectify the problem. Judging from his expressions, he wasn’t having any luck either.
“I simply don’t know what’s wrong.” He finally gave in.
Kris was about to say something when the old man suddenly interrupted her.
“Wait look at this! Some unknown program.”
“A virus?” Kris looked over his shoulder.
“No its…” the Professor pushed a few keys. “A Pokemon? It did originate from one of the transport lines.”
“I thought there was one Pokemon capable of cyberspace travel?”
“Yes, that would be the Porygon young lady. But this one certainly isn’t.”
Payote enlarged the image. Kris stared closely.
Wait a minute! Could it possibly be?! Nightslice? I’d recognize him anywhere.
A scar that ran from the left forehead, between his eyes and down to the right side of his jaws even served to confirm it.
“Prof., anyway we can communicate with it? Talk to it that is.” Kris asked, heart pounding.
“Talk? I have a headset attached to my system here for sound recording…”
“Great! Excuse me!” Kris shoved him away, connected the headset and begun furiously entering commands.
“Be careful! The system is very delicate!”
“I know what I’m doing! A good friend taught me this!” She grinned.
“But what are you going to do?” Payote asked, worriedly.
“Well, no normal methods have worked so far, right?”
“Yes…”
“So we get abnormal.” She said.
Nightslice approached the building like structure with great caution.
“But now what?” he said aloud. “If only I had some clue…”
“Nightslice!”
The Scyther started. The voice had seemed to come from everywhere at once. But it had also seemed very familiar.
“Kris? Is that you? Hey! Where are you anyway?!”
“Nightslice, I can’t hear you. I’m watching you through a computer screen. But if that’s you, give me a sign.”
Nightslice waved his claws above his head. Kris’ voice lowered to a mummer. It sounded like she was talking to another person.
“Great! Nightslice, go over to that blue box on the wall and open it.” She said after a while.
He did as he was told. He had to force it open with his claws and discovered a bunch of headsets neatly lined up on the shelf. He didn’t need to be told the next step, although it took him a while of using his head, shoulders and scythes to get the headset on.
“You reading me, Nightslice?” Kris’ voice was much clearer now.
“Loud and clear.” He replied.
“Good. Listen Nightslice, we have a major…”
“Wait a sec Kris, first tell me what the hell’s going on down here?” he interrupted.
“Hold on…”
There was a long pause in which he could hear the other voice speaking excitedly with Kris.
“OK,” Kris said, “Here’s the scoop. A highly advanced computer virus has invaded the Internet and entered the Pokeball transport system. It’s locked down the entire system and we have no means to getting to it from out here.”
“OK…”
“By the way, I’m currently at the research center of Professor Payote, one of the guys who helped design this system.”
There was some yelling from the Prof. about Kris not pronouncing his name right.
“We think that you should be able to enter the system and eradicate the virus.”
“How can I?” he asked. This was a whole bunch of unwanted problems at once.
“Remember you stepped through a beam of light? When you did that, you were converted to digital data. You’re on the net now.”
“Prefect, this is almost better than being a computer myself.” Nightslice said dryly.
“Just remember, things are hardly rational out there. Be on your toes at all times.”
“I’d be on my fingers too, if I had any. Now let’s get this over with!”
“I’ll be with you all the way.” Kris assured, “Now, first thing you’ve got to do is undo the security settings so we can get into the central server. The virus is located there and its locked us out and changed all of Payote’s access codes. Once that’s done, you’ll be able to use our Internet connection to travel to its location.”
“Got it.”
“Payote says to go look near the blue box you just opened. There should be a red one nearby.”
“Here it is!” This one came open without much fuss. Inside it were three buttons; green, yellow and black.
“A combination of those buttons activates the security override. The instructions should be just below them.” Kris continued.
“I see them and…huh?”
“What?!” Outside in the lab, Kris and the Prof. both stared down at the screen.
“Anybody happen to read binary code here? You know, the one with all the 1s and 0s?”
“Hmmm…it seems that the translators are not working.” The professor muttered, “Without them, we won’t be able to translate the raw machine language to a readable, high-level language.”
“He means ‘no’.” Kris said dryly.
“Great, this is gonna be a long day…” the Scyther sighed.
With a roar that shook the entire mountain, a huge creature unlike anything they’d known burst from the ground in front of them. It was somewhat like a bull on two legs, a Minotaur, as most would know it as. This one was gigantic, almost 7 stories high, clad in a full suit of rusty armor and welded a mean-looking battle-axe the size of a man.
And by some unfortunate stroke of luck, the chamber was just big enough for it to maneuver comfortably.
The entire Rocket gang took off, screaming their guts out, at the first sight of the thing. That left Jade, Firestorm and the rest of their small party to deal with the threat.
“Do something!” Firestorm shouted.
“Do something!” Jade yelled at his Dragonair.
Dracia gave a moan of protest.
“I dunno! Anything! Any attack!”
The Dragonair fled the main chamber and hovered back to passageway where Electabuzz was cowering in fear.
“HEY! ‘Run away’ is NOT an attack!” Jade yelled after her.
“Then it shall be up to the brave and heroic dragon to save the day.” Firestorm declared.
He blew out a wave of intense flames towards the creature. The Minotaur simply stood still and seemed to laugh as the flames failed to penetrate its thick hide.
“Erm…uh oh!” The Charizard muttered.
“You have a plan B?” Jade asked frantically.
“That was plan B.”
“OK…then what’s plan C?”
“We…run like a bunch of schoolgirls screaming their heads off?”
The creature swung its axe. It hit the ground just inches away from the pair.
“…Argeed.” Jade said, “AAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!”
Jade and the three Pokemon ran for their lives.
The creature, which was too large to fit through the tunnel, simply smashed it open to continue the chase. Rocks, stone fragments and debris flew everywhere as it widened the tunnel for itself.
“Hey storm,” Jade gasped as they ran.
“Yeah…”
“If that was…plan B…,” he asked, “then…what was plan A?”
“Do you…have to…ask stupid questions…at such an…inappropriate time?!”
Up ahead, Dracia and Electabuzz dove into an alcove in the wall. Jade and Firestorm followed suit, barely being able to avoid being trampled flatter than pancakes.
The group was catching their breaths when Dracia called them over. Apparently, she’d found something interesting as she was sweeping away the dirt from a spot on the ground.
“You found something?” Jade asked.
“Of course, I should’ve felt it earlier.” Firestorm walked over and dug his claws into the ground as well. Electabuzz joined in and the three quickly came up with a stone tablet about the size of an A4 sheet of paper.
“It’s one of my sacred skills! Ha! Couldn’t have come at a better time either!” Firestorm cheered happily. His mood quickly changed as several sentences appeared on the tablet.
The assailants strike from beneath the ground…
“Dammed! Why do they give me the riddles instead of Nightslice?!”
“Probably because they knew that Charizards have very limited brain capacity.” Jade whispered.
Firestorm heard him and promptly kicked Jade into the wall.
“But I know the answers will all be Pokemon techniques of some sort.” The Charizard continued, “This one would be Earthquake.”
When the fist is mightier than the sword…
“You are now one question away from the million dollars, with no lifelines left…” Jade begun to say.
Without taking his eyes off the tablet, Firestorm swung his tail and smacked the wisecracker aside.
<He is an idiot, but try not to kill him, OK? > Dracia said.
“A punch? Mega Punch?”
The tablet crumbled to pieces and Firestorm absorbed its power in a golden ray of light. As if on cue, the whole area began shaking again. The Minotaur was returning.
“This time, I’ve got it covered.” Firestorm winked and gave the others a thumbs-up. Then, he boldly stepped out to face their nemesis. “Hey you! Prepare to face the power of Mega Quake!”
Gathering up the power of the surrounding earth, Firestorm’s fists glowed with a yellow light. Again and again, he punched the floor, repeatedly sending out tremors, each more powerful than the last. The Minotaur demon roared and begun to stumble. Finally, a huge crevasse opened up beneath the demon, swallowing it up forever.
“Storm, get it to stop or you’ll bring the entire mountain down on top of us!” Jade leaned out of the alcove shouted over the noise, suddenly having realized the potential danger.
If the Charizard even heard him, Jade never knew. Some falling object hit his head before he had a chance to react. It was almost…soft, in a way, but the force of the motion was still enough to knock the unfortunate adventurer out cold.
“Aren’t you mostly computer when you transform into the Metallic Scyther?” Kris asked, referring to one of Nightslice’s unique abilities.
“Yeah…” Nightslice answered.
“I remember that all computers have to execute their commands in machine language.”
“Hey, I don’t know what goes on inside of me when I’m in that form, I just act natural. Geez, I’m just the Pokemon for cryin’ out loud!” He whined, “But let’s see... I think we need to push all the buttons.”
Nightslice did so. And ended up with a large ‘Program Deleted’ message to show it.
“Aw shit! Great going Nightslice!” Kris muttered, “Now we’re really screwed.”
“GGGrrrrrrrrrr! Forget it guys, I’m gonna try the universal cure all!” Nightslice growled furiously.
“Which is?” Kris asked.
The Scyther repeatedly began to kick the box.
“No, that’s not going to work!” Payote protested.
Amazingly, a door slid open on the wall. A swirling vortex lay beyond that, beckoning him to enter.
“I learnt that from TV.” Nightslice grinned as he flew through it.
“That’s what we do to our high school lockers, not the computer!” Kris sighed.
“Chill, it worked right?”
“Professor, do you think anyone from the outside could be watching?” Kris redirected her attention. “As in, hack into or access the system.”
And peek into more of our secrets than they should.
“Hmmm, highly doubtful, considering…”
“OK, that’s what I needed to know.” Kris began talking very fast, “Nightslice, I’ll need you to activate your Cybernetic armor. Professor, I’ll explain everything to you later.”
“Right on!” Nightslice compiled. “Cyber armor, energize!”
“Hmmm…all right. Since I couldn’t possibly get any more confused that I already am.” Sighed the Professor.
The next time the Scyther showed up, his body had been transformed into its metallic counterpart. Clad in the shinny silvery metal and armed with a considerable array of weapons, he stood a better chance of fending off any assault.
“Closing in on target,” Nightslice reported, “…5…4…3…2…”
“Jade? Hey, you all right back there?!” Firestorm ran back to help the fallen human.
Jade was unconscious, but otherwise seemed unhurt.
“Clefairy?”
“Huh?”
A Clefairy appeared from the shadows. Apparently, this was the ‘falling object’ that had smacked Jade on the head. In spite of the impending danger of the falling rocks, Firestorm found himself giggling.
Jade got knocked out when a flying Clefairy hit his head, wait till I
tell Kris!
“You’re lucky pal, looks like Jade just happened to be there to cushion your fall.”
Dracia tugged his arm with her tail.
<Let’s go. It’s not safe here! >
Firestorm and Electabuzz nodded.
“Not so fast, fools!”
“Now we’ve got you cornered!”
Aaron and Scarlet had appeared at the other end of the tunnel.
“Great, the Rockets just had to show up now!” Firestorm growled.
Dracia, Electabuzz and himself had assumed battle stances when the Clefairy suddenly jumped out in front of them to face Team Rocket.
“Clefairy, Clefairy, Clefairy, Clefairy…” the small pink Pokemon chanted, waving its miniature fingers in the air.
“Huh? What’s it doing?” Aaron wondered, hesitating.
“Waving its fingers about in the air?!” Scarlet replied, although it seemed more like a question itself. “How odd…”
“Clefairy!” Completing its chant, the Clefairy’s fingers glowed for a moment. Then…BBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM! The spot Aaron and Scarlet were standing on promptly blew up, sending them flying off into space, screaming all the way.
“Team Rocket’s blasting off againnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
The other Pokemon stared for a while.
“Whoa! I didn’t know something so cute would turn out to be a secret weapon. The demolition squad guys could certainly use someone like you. ” Firestorm gasped. Then he asked, “Say pal, why dontcha come along with us?”
Clefairy nodded. That was pretty much a unanimous question. The whole mountain was starting to collapse. Firestorm paused just long enough to grab Jade, then followed the others as they fled the doomed mountain through the larger-than-necessary opening created by Clefairy’s Metronome attack.
1983. Lower Levels of Undersea Lab, Just off coast of Maiden’s Peak.
Scyther peered out the elevator door, then gestured for his companion to follow. Charmeleon complied, mimicking his nearly soundless footsteps. Ahead of them was another T-shaped junction, looking just like all the others within the huge laboratory.
The pair had almost reached the junction when a guard abruptly stepped round the corner. In a flash, Scyther closed the distance between them and silenced the guard with a single swipe.
Unfortunately for him, another guard happened to be further down the corridor. As the guard fumbled for his gun, Scyther had no choice but to take him out with a Hyper Beam. That had the added effect of causing a whole lot of unwanted noise, plus creating a large hole in the adjacent wall.
Snarling out curses,
he turned and fled back towards the elevator as alarms begun sounding around
him. Charmeleon didn’t need to be told to follow suit, pausing only long enough
to set fire to a group of unlucky guards that attempted to pursue.
<Go! Go! Go! Hit down! Lowest floor! > Scyther yelled from behind.
Charmeleon dashed in and hit the button. Scyther executed a forward flip and rolled in just as the lift doors were closing. Outside, bullets could be heard ricocheting off the walls and doors.
<Not good. > Scyther muttered.
<Why down? > Charmeleon asked.
<Humans said power generator down there. They said it was important, so maybe if we destroy it… > It was a rather long shot and an uncalculated risk, but they’d come too far to go back now.
This is the ‘Dream World’? Wow…I never thought…
Charmeleon blinked. He was sure he’d heard voices in his head.
<What? > Scyther inquired.
<Nothing, forget it. > Charmeleon decided not to give it any more thought.
The elevator had reached its destination now, and its doors were opening! Expecting a fight, both Pokemon leapt out, only to find the lone hallway and single door at the end completely unguarded.
They wasted no time in barging through the door. Beyond it, machinery stretched from one end of the gigantic room to the other, like a web of metallic lining. It caused both Pokemon to stop and stare in awe for a few moments. Neither one had ever seen anything like it. And yet, both somehow felt they had to destroy it to ensure their escape.
It took a mere number of minutes and a few well aimed Hyper Beams and Fire Blasts to set off a chain of miniature explosions. As smaller explosions slowly merged larger ones, it was decided that they make their escape.
The lights were now gone due to the loss of power and the security systems had all but gone off-line. Even in the darkness, the pair located another door at the back of the room. It was the emergency exit, which was basically a long flight of stairs that led up, hopefully to the surface.
Approximately halfway up, Scyther suddenly stopped, so abruptly that Charmeleon crashed into his back. The fire lizard growled angrily, however Scyther ignored him and simply gestured for him to follow.
The bug Pokemon kicked open a door and led his companion through a twisting maze of corridors. With the entire lab in a state on panic, they encountered little resistance, save an occasional daring guard or two.
Finally, they entered a room with a machine that even seemed odd to Charmeleon. (And he hadn’t seen many machines at all.) Had he known about it, he would have seen it appeared similar to a ‘Para Para Paradise’ arcade machine. Something like a platform surrounded by screens and various pieces of equipment.
<Can you read? > Scyther asked, pointing a claw to a keypad beside the machine.
<9 to 0? Yes, I can. >
Hmmm…I take back the part about Charizards having limited brain capacity.
<Good. Get over there and push the keys I tell you to. > Scyther ordered, stepping onto the center of the platform, <They did this to me once before. You’ll see why I choose to come here. >
<OK, ready. > Charmeleon did as he was told.
<3-6-8-2, 4-9-5-0, 1-5-9-3, 7-8-4-3. >
With each button pressed, the machine slowly seemed to come to life. Its lights begun glowing, screens flashing, strange grinding and humming noises emerged. It was completely unaffected by the power loss on the levels beneath.
And Scyther was changing. His body was glowing with a brilliant white light. Charmeleon instinctively stepped back and covered his eyes. When the lights dimmed down again, Charmeleon slowly uncovered his eyes…and was unable to breathe for a full minute!
Scyther’s body had changed! No, he was now wearing several pieces of golden armor. A mask covered his entire face, leaving just his eyes, mouth and end of his snout exposed. It was decorated with three sharp horns, one on the nose and two at the back of his head. His shoulders were now covered with a straight set of golden shoulder pads, as was his upper body with a golden chest plate. Adorning the back of his body armor was the symbol of the Yin and Yang. Scyther’s sword-like claws were left unaltered, so he could use them to their full potential. His lower body was mostly untouched, the only armor there being a pair of shin pads that stretched from the lower legs down and around the feet.
(Just to note, this was actually meant to be a somewhat modified version of Flamedramon’s armor. Just with some extra horns and Magnamon’s shoulder pads and leg guards. And for those folks, who don’t know a thing about Digimon, you can ignore this note.)
It was a sight both awesome and terrifying to behold.
Woooo…dramatic.
“This, is my true power.” Scyther declared. He was now speaking in the language of the humans. “This, is what they desire so much…”
Present Day.
“There!”
Nightslice emerged into a large room that seemed to have neither a definite start nor end. Utilizing his state of the art scanners, he locked on to his target.
“Looks like an ordinary Porygon to me.” He said softly.
“Don’t be fooled,” Kris warned, “It’s the source of this entire disturbance.”
The Porygon was hovering motionlessly in space and had its eyes closed. It didn’t seem to notice Nightslice as he approached.
“Here we go!” Nightslice charged up for an attack, blue colored electricity crackling between his metallic wings. He let loose with a blast of blue lightning, which rapidly closed in on its victim.
At the last possible instant, the Porygon’s eyes snapped open. A translucent wall materialized in front of it, protecting its body and deflecting the lightning blast.
“What the…gggggaaaaarrrrgggghhhhhh!” Nightslice was shocked by his own attack. Momentarily stunned, he fell victim to a Hyper Beam that sent him all the way to the other side of the room.
Then, the Porygon opened another portal and disappeared through it.
“Wow, that was fast!” Kris gasped, “Nightslice, you OK?”
“Reasonably.” Came the reply. “I should be able to activate a repair cycle, but it’ll take time.”
Even from the other side of the screen, Kris could see that his robotic form had taken a considerable amount of damage in that matter of seconds. Pieces of the outer plating had been chipped off in various places, exposing the wires and circuitry beneath.
“Do it.” Kris told him, silently wondering how bad it could’ve been if he hadn’t transformed before attacking. She was beginning to doubt that he could handle this task alone.
“Excuse me Kris,” Payote spoke up, “but now that the Porygon/Virus has left the main system, I could get part of the Transporter system working again.”
“How would that help us?”
“By modifying the program a little, I could theoretically upload a Pokemon onto the net using the Pokeball Transporter technology.”
“And we could give Nightslice some back-up?” Kris’ mood lifted, “Then what are you waiting for?”
“Just give me a while.” Called the Professor as he learned over another computer and begun entering commands.
“And as for me,” Kris got out her cell phone, “I’ve got to let Jade and the others know…”
“Jade? Hey, wake up!” Firestorm was busy shaking the unconscious man.
<You won’t get anywhere by doing that. > Dracia protested.
The group had gathered outside in the forest to witness the collapse of the small mountain. Even as they watched, the police that were patrolling the main paths and the larger mountains were suddenly rushing to investigate this small mountain. Firestorm had been careful to choose a spot far away enough from all the commotion. Currently, they were left with just one problem.
“Ugh...huh…?” Jade was waking up.
Firestorm, who was holding him up, had turned his head to argue with Dracia.
“Come on! I know what I’m doing!” He roared, waving both arms in the air to emphasize his point. In doing so, he let go of Jade.
“Argh!” TWHOMP!
Jade hit a fallen log and was knocked out cold again.
“%$&#!!!!!” Firestorm cursed.
“Odd, why isn’t Jade answering his phone.” Kris wondered, “Since he can’t seem to turn it off at the appropriate times.”
“Hello? People?” Nightslice’s voice came over the speakers, “I think we can move out now.”
“Hold on. We’re trying to get you some back-up, but I haven’t been able to get through to Jade yet.”
“Under these circumstances,” Payote said, “it would be safe to send just one other Pokemon. Too many could de-stabilize the entire system.”
Kris nodded.
“Nightslice,” she explained, “I’ll let you choose who you want from among the Pokemon I have now.”
“If you’ve got Jolteon, send him. I could use his speed.” He decided.
“All right then.”
“Kris, you just need to place the Pokeball in the transporter over there.” The Professor pointed to a machine Kris had failed to notice. (As it was stuffed in a corner.) “And I’ll do the rest.”
She complied and soon the electric Pokemon had materialized next to Nightslice.
<I assume you’ll have a good explanation for this. > He barked.
“Later you two,” Kris said, putting the headset back on. She took her place at the main computer while Payote worked at the secondary station. “The entire Internet is in danger right now!”
A portal appeared next to the two Pokemon.
“I’m tracking the virus now,” Payote reported, “this will lead you to it. Be warned, it’s gone out into the Internet.”
Nodding to each other, the duo entered the swirling vortex and…WOOSH! Shot off like a pair of rockets.
“That would be one heck of a roller coaster,” Kris commented as she watched the screen trail her Pokemon. “How you guys doing?”
<This is the reason why I don’t fly! > Jolteon whined in a high-pitched squeal.
“Hey Kris!” Nightslice called, “I’m picking up a strong energy reading of unknown origin!”
“I’m picking it up too,” Payote said. “Should we detour to examine it?”
“We’ll have to make it quick.” Kris said, nodding.
The screen changed from various flashing colors in the background to just a space-like black.
“We seem to be in an unknown part of the web.” Payote noted, “Even I can’t seem to tell where.”
“Look! There!” Nightslice pointed excitedly.
Against the darkness of the background, Kris noticed a faint, purple glow.
“Unbelievable,” Nightslice gasped, “it’s one of the Forbidden Skills!”
<Then whatcha waiting for? Get it! I wanna see what this one makes you do! > Jolteon barked in anticipation.
As Nightslice approached, the purple glow formed into a stream of light that shot towards his body. The robotic Scyther remained motionless as the purple glow engulfed his body. Then, it was gone, as if it never were.
“Matrix,” Nightslice said, “it combines Light Screen and Reflect. Ironic that it was in the form of computer data. If I didn’t have this form,” he tapped his chest, “I wouldn’t have been able to download it.”
“Both those moves were defensive ones,” Kris said, “so this new technique probably is too.”
“Hmmm? There seems to be no other information about it.” Nightslice said, sounding slightly confused.
“Heads up!” Payote suddenly yelled from the other side of the room, “The virus is headed right for your location!”
No sooner had he said that did the Porygon appear through another vortex. It ploughed through Nightslice and Jolteon, sending both in opposite directions.
Owing thanks to a few Hydro Pumps from Dracia, Jade was finally up.
“Ow…did you have to hit me so hard?” he moaned, rubbing his sore head.
“Hey, it was the Clefairy, not me!” Firestorm protested.
Dracia shot him a ‘liar’ look.
“Clefairy?”
“Oh, hi there.” Jade smiled, “Say, what are you doing hanging around here?”
<I think she likes you, > Electabuzz told him, <Hehehe...just imagine that. >
Clefairy took that more as a joke than a comment and continued smiling, nodding her approval.
“But I can’t take you along!” Jade’s mood suddenly changed, “Clefairy are meant for girls!”
<Then give it to Kris. > Electabuzz suggested.
“But Kris isn’t much of a girl, she’s a tomboy!”
All the Pokemon exchanged confused glances.
<I wish you humans would just make up your minds! > Dracia growled.
“Tell you what, just forget I said that.” Jade muttered. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, which had been set on ‘silent’ mode. “Huh? You have 5 missed calls?! And they’re all from Kris!”
“Jolteon, dodge it! Then give em’ some Thunderbolts!” Kris was yelling out commands, “Nightslice, cover him with some gunfire! No! Look out!!!!”
The Porygon suddenly changed direction, evading both of their attacks and returning fire with a Hyper Beam.
BOOM! The small explosion stunned them long enough for the Porygon to move out of striking range.
“Dammit!” Nightslice swore under his breath, “How can two of us be getting trashed by ONE #@&%ing Porygon?!”
Completely focused on the computer screen, it was a while before Kris noticed the monotonous ringing of her cell phone.
“Darn! Why won’t you answer?!” Jade muttered, frustrated.
“She could be in trouble…” Firestorm said worriedly, “Maybe we should go look for her?”
<Problem is, we don’t even know where they are. > Dracia reminded him.
“This might not be the best time,” Jade said, “but I was in the ‘Dream World’ just now.”
“You mean…”
“Yeah, the one with young Nightslice and the Charmeleon we suspect to be you, Firestorm.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” the Charizard muttered, “Nightslice and I should be the only ones able to enter.”
“How many things make sense these days? Talking Pokemon?” Jade replied, “Anyway, the dream seemed to continue from where you guys left off. The two were…”
The phone rang.
Jade anxiously snatched it up and answered.
“Jade? Where the dammed hell have you been?!” Kris’ voice came from the other side, “Are you guys all right?”
“We’ve been busy, but we’re fine now. What’s the…”
“The emergency? Some part Porygon, part megalo-computer virus is running amok in the net. Nightslice and Jolteon are there fighting it now, but they need help.” Kris sounded really serious.
“What?!” That was a rather lot to take in at once. “How’d they get onto the Internet?!!!”
“This Professor, Payote, modified the Pokeball transport system for us. But listen, I’m in town now and I don’t think the other transporter systems here are working now.”
“Then how are we supposed to help?”
“I hope you guys are still at Mount Moon.”
“We are.”
“Good,” Kris breathed a sigh of relief, “cause Payote happens to own at a summer cabin along Mount Moon’s Eastern path. And it has the necessary equipment to get some reinforcements onto the net. The Professor’s more than willing to provide you with the combination to the door. Think you can handle it, Jade?”
“I can handle any computer in existence!”
“I hope so. You guys have to get there. Just look out for a log cabin with a large satellite dish on the roof.”
“Let’s go!” Jade declared, looking up.
“Ugh!” Nightslice crossed his claws in front of his head and prayed that his cybernetic body would be enough to protect him from the barrage of Pin Missiles he was receiving.
“Watch out, your power levels are failing!” Kris warned.
“Tell me about it!”
“No, I mean…”
BOOM! Nightslice was engulfed in a cloud of smoke. When it cleared, he had reverted back to his normal self and seemed extremely dazed. Porygon geared up for a finishing attack.
With a roar, Jolteon shoved his friend out of harm’s way. The electric Pokemon took the full force of a Hyper Beam for his bravery, but as a final desperation attack, launched off several Thunderbolts of his own.
One of the bolts stuck home, catching the Porygon as it recharged. It seemed shaken for a few seconds, then quickly opened a portal and fled.
Nightslice could’ve followed, however his attention was focused on his friend.
“Jolteon! You all right?” he called, flying over.
<You owe me big time. > Jolteon moaned softly.
The Scyther carefully cradled Jolteon’s in his arms.
“Yeah…thanks.” Nightslice looked up, “Kris, you’ve got to get him out of here.”
“I know,” Kris replied, rapidly pushing several buttons, “his HP count is nearly depleted.”
“Huh?”
“Oh, I forgot to mention that there was a HP reader here.” She explained, “It’s been tracking your current hit points. You’re lucky cause the metallic armor absorbed most of the damage, but now that it’s gone…”
“Yeah, I know.” Nightslice said. Beside him, Jolteon flickered, then vanished.
“OK, Jolteon’s back with me now.” Kris reported, “But here’s another thing: when Jolteon hit Porygon just now, it took off more than 50% of his HP, which means…”
“His defenses must be relatively weak.” Nightslice finished, “He relies on dodging attacks. With all the extra functions programmed into it, I guess it makes sense.” He nodded. “But first, I’d better try this out. Matrix, activate!”
Nothing happened.
“Hey, what the?!”
“You sure you using it right?” Kris asked, worriedly.
“I am! Something’s supposed to be happening, but it’s not!”
“Forget it for now,” Kris told him, “You’ve got to go after the enemy first!”
“I’m on it.” Nightslice turned and entered the portal. Silently, he watched the colors flash by. Through his headset, he could hear Kris and the Professor talking softly.
“Watch out for those potholes around.” Kris warned.
“Why?” Nightslice asked, noting the black colored pits scattered around the area.
“Just don’t get near them, or you’ll be deleted and…we have a problem!” Kris suddenly spoke, “It’s going after the local Telephone Company! If we lose our phone connection, we’re…”
The transmission was suddenly cut off in a burst of static. At that moment, everything stopped. Literally.
What the %#@*?! What’s wrong with my mouth?! Hey! I can’t move!!!!!!!!!
Kris? Hello? Kris! Help!
While Nightslice remained hovering there, he noticed a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. It was the Porygon, which he could swear was giving him an extremely mean look.
He felt a nudge at his back. The Porygon was pushing him forward…straight towards one of the potholes.
“Nightslice,” the headset crackled an answer to his unasked question, “you getting deleted out there equals you being dead!”
The voice sounded faint and far away.
And you’re telling me now?! Nightslice thought. His own body was still not responding to any command his brain was giving out.
Porygon gave him one hard shove, sending him drifting helplessly towards the forsaken pit.
Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitgonnadiegonnadiegonnadie!!!!!!!!!!!
Closing in…
NNNNNnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Suddenly, he was grabbed and pulled away. Time had just as suddenly, unfrozen.
“Cut that one a little too close, I see.” Said a familiar sounding voice.
“Storm!” The Scyther cried happily, “Dammit, you couldn’t have chosen to show up at a better time!”
Accompanying him was Dracia, who fired off a Fire Blast to distract their opponent.
“Sorry about that,” Kris voice came over the headset, “he messed up our connection and the computer crashed. But we’ve re-established our connection.”
“You’re home free now!” Jade voice came up as well, “Go kick his butt!”
Their opponent, however, wasn’t defeated yet. A swarm of gun turrets materialized around them. The three scattered, taking off in different directions and executing a coordinated counter attack.
“Storm, left now!” Jade yelled.
“Gotcha!”
“Nightslice, target at 12 O’clock!” It was Kris’ turn.
“Rrrraaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr!! Got it!”
Amidst all the chaos, one thing was missing…
“The Porygon!” Kris suddenly realized, “Don’t let it get away!”
“Nightslice, go after it.” Firestorm said as he fired at the turrets. “You’re the fastest, you’ll have the best chance of making it through this blockade.”
“But how bout you two?” he asked.
“We’ll hold off the turrets. Look! They’re re-generating!”
Indeed they were. For each one taken out, two seemed to take its place.
“Guys, you’ll all need to fire at one spot to give Nightslice enough room to catch up.” Kris told them.
“Dracia,” Jade ordered, “you and Storm fire your attacks at the north exit!”
“On three.” Firestorm growled.
Dracia nodded.
“Three!”
The two dragons simultaneously launched their Dragon Rages, blowing a large hole in the enemy lines. Nightslice slipped through and pursued the main threat. He could still hear the roars and the explosions behind him. His friends were depending on him now.
Failure was not an option.
“Nightslice,” Jade’s voice came over the headset, “Kris told me you got a new skill that doesn’t seem to work.”
“Yeah…WHOA!” The Scyther had to dodge a floating mine hovering in the air. More mines were visible further down the tunnel.
“Cause I’m gonna try something.” Jade continued to talk, “Let’s see… 3-6-8-2, 4-9-5-0, 1-5-9-3, 7-8-4-3…”
“What are you doing?”
“All righty, I’m gonna hit the ‘Enter’ key and send the code to your location. I need you to activate the technique, OK?”
“OK, but…”
“No buts. Ready? Now!”
“Matrix, activate!”
This time, something happened. Something BIG. Nightslice suddenly felt completely energized, like he’d just gotten a whole bunch of steroids pumped into his system. After which, a bright, white light engulfed him.
When Nightslice next appeared, he was clad in the same golden set of armor Jade had seen in the Dream World.
“Awesome….” He gasped.
“YES! It worked!” Jade cried happily. He jumped so hard that he fell out of his chair.
“What a sight!” Kris muttered.
One window showed Firestorm and Dracia fighting for their lives. Another showed Jade’s image from the cabin. A third showed Nightslice racing towards the Porygon. With his new, golden armor, he was barging through the floating mines as an astonishing speed.
However, a fourth window showed a darker scene, one that could easily spell their doom.
“Nightslice,” Kris said, “a countdown from 1 minute has started. I don’t know what it’s…”
“Kris!” Payote called, “I’ve analyzed the Porygon. It’s preparing to self-destruct!”
“I assume that’s the good news.”
“Yes, the bad news is that it’ll take the entire net down with it.”
“Nighty, did you get that?”
“I got it. And I’m almost there…”
Nightslice emerged into a large room that reassembled a coliseum of ancient Rome. In the very center stood his opponent, ready for a final showdown.
“RRAaaaaaaagggggghhhhhhhh!” Opening a series of hidden missile racks on his shoulder plates, Nightslice fired off a volley of missiles.
Porygon dodged the assault and begun to multiply.
“It’s using a modified version of Double Team!” Jade gasped.
“Nighty, you’ve got 30 seconds left!” Kris yelled.
“Hey! One thing at a time please!”
Nightslice fell upon the illusions in a frenzied rage, taking two out with one swipe, then turning and firing off more missiles. One by one, the hallucinations vanished.
Shaking with tension, Kris watched the timer slowly counting down. Professor Payote was not leaning over her chair and watching the scene.
Miles away, in the cabin, Jade was watching the same scene and praying.
Finally, two were left. Each one took off in a different direction and begun circling round him. Nightslice swore, realizing he had but a single missile left. Firing his missiles aimlessly like that, he’d depleted his ammunition much more quickly than was necessary.
This is frustrating! I have the power to take him out, but not enough
time!
“Shoot it between them,” Kris interrupted his thoughts, “it won’t destroy both, but it’ll stun them long enough for you to take one out…”
Nightslice complied, timed his shot and fired. The missile struck its mark. Both Porygons hit the ground several meters apart from one another.
“10 seconds!” Kris yelled.
There was only time to take one out. Nightslice rose into the air and prepared for a Sky Attack.
Dammit! Which one?!
“…9…8…”
Nightslice felt the wind rushing past him. He was now descending towards his target.
“…7…6…”
The Porygons were recovering, but they wouldn’t be able to move in time. If only he had some way to know…
“…5…”
Shit!
“…4…”
“Come on! Jeez…” Jade said softly.
“…3…”
Left!….No, right! Left? Right? Crap!
“…2…”
Dammit all! Right! Left?!
“...1…”
Right!…..arggghh! Left!
Nightslice swung his claws to his left, closed his eyes and prepared for the worst.
“…Sequence terminated!” Kris cried happily. “You did it!”
Behind her, Payote fainted.
Nightslice collapsed to the floor, dizzy with both tension and exhaustion.
“Ow!” Jade moaned, “Argh! I’ve got muscle cramps! Argh!”
Firestorm and Dracia were just entering the area and spotted Nightslice.
“Hey guys,” Firestorm called, “did we miss something?”
There was a long session of information exchanging that night, mainly via phone. Most of all, it was simply the joy of winning this ‘secret’ battle.
The next morning, Kris and Nightslice shook hands with Professor Payote.
“Seems like all of you have a difficult journey ahead.” He smiled, “Good luck. And don’t worry, I can assure you that I won’t disclose your personal information to anyone. In fact, come to me if you happen to have any problems. I know a lot of people in the field of science.”
“I’ll remember.” Kris said, “Thanks again for everything.”
“I actually feel quite happy,” Payote said, “an old man like me may not have much time left to wait around, but I’ll make the best of what I have. And I’ll keep improving on my systems as long as I’m able to.”
I once knew someone who was just like you, Kris thought, and I now know that he died a happy man, for I was always his greatest pride and joy.
Instinctively, Nightslice realized that Payote reminded hid trainer of her adopted father. Inwardly, he smiled, wishing he had a chance to thank the man for bringing Kris up to the way she was now.
“Oh, a present? For me?” Professor Oak’s image beamed, “Really, you shouldn’t have, Jade.”
“Nah, consider it thanks for all the stuff you’ve done for Kris and me,” Jade replied, “besides, I’ve heard that you always wanted to study Clefairy behavior.”
“Yes, I did intend to do that.” Oak patted the Clefairy, which smiled and laughed. “Thank you very much.”
“No prob! Besides, it can’t be any worse than Ash’s Muk or Kris’ Onix.” Jade gave the old man a grin as wide as the morning sun, whose light was streaming down and in through the window.
“Well, I’m sure of that.”
“Clefairy! Clefairy! Clefairy!” Clefairy begun waving its fingers in the air.
“Hmmmm?” wondered Professor Oak.
“Erm…Prof…” Jade begun. He was secretly glad the Professor was miles away, on the other side of the phone.
BOOM! The video phone screen went blank.
(Jade, Firestorm and Dracia sweatdrop.)
“Oopsie!” Jade muttered.
“Uh, Kris?” Nightslice suddenly asked, abruptly halting in the middle of the pavement.
“Yea?”
“I didn’t tell you this just now, but in the moment that I struck down the Porygon, I’d swear I heard something.”
“It screaming?”
“No. A voice, but not from it. Like it was from deep within my being.” The Scyther closed his eyes and looked to the sky, “I am you and you are me. Yeah, that’s it.”
“For a sentence that takes more than a split second to say, you sure remember it rather clearly.” Kris muttered.
“Yea, it’s silly. Probably just some figment of my imagination…”
“No,” Kris stepped behind her friend and put both her hands on his shoulders, “it may be nothing, or it could be something important. Who knows?”
Yeah…who knows anything anymore? Nightslice said to himself.
“I still find it hard to believe you could remember that entire combination, Jade.” Firestorm was saying.
“Well, I have to be good at something, right?” Jade grinned, zipping up his knapsack.
“Swell, huh?” said a familiar female voice.
Jade and Firestorm both jumped. They glanced over to the corner, where Dracia was lying down. She turned her head to look up at them.
“Hey, watcha staring at?” She asked, “It’s just me.”
“You’re talking…” Jade staggered.
“I’m not mute or anything, you dimwit!” she growled.
“No, he means you’re speaking human language!” Firestorm told her.
“Hey…so I am.” Dracia beamed. “Heeeellllloooooo!!!!!!” she yelled, testing her voice.
“Wow…something on the Internet just now must’ve affected you.” Jade concluded.
“Hey, welcome to the talking Pokemon club.” Firestorm put an arm around her head, “You’ll fit in just nicely. Say, stick with me and I’ll tell you everything you need to know about when to keep your mouth shut.”
“But can I still crack jokes about what an air-head Jade is?” Dracia whispered.
“Only if I get to hear them!” Firestorm grinned, showing off his fangs.
The two Pokemon begun laughing.
“No fair!” Jade whined, “You’re ganging up on me already!”
Giovanni sat alone in his secret office. The unending ‘clicking’ of the clock on his desk was the only sound emitted.
He sat there, waiting patiently until the hands of the clock read exactly 10 O’clock.
On the dot, he picked up a phone.
“Begin operation, Takeover.” He said calmly.
“Mission accomplished.”
Alugard closed his laptop and unplugged it. He slid it into a backpack and paused to look out into the night sky. It was a clear night and the sky was full of stars.
It was something he’d seen more times than any living being could remember.
“Be thankful Nightslice, that I’m guiding you towards your destiny.”
The old warrior let is mind drift for just a second more, then silently took his leave, becoming one with the night.