Another chapter

Disclaimer: I don’t own pokemon. It belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This is non-profit fanwork, no copyright infringement is intended, and since I wrote it I own it!

Chapter 3: Lock

“Eevee, Flamethrower now!”

Eevee shifted into Flareon while he flashed a Fire Stone, flaming the Oddish. Red smiled, the last pokemon of his opponent finally falling.

“NO!” Katie cried.

“I’m afraid so.” Ash said, getting up as he gave Eevee a hug. “Let’s go. We’ll have another match soon.”

K!

Can I have some fruit?

Ash handed Eevee a pear. “Here you go.”

Yay!

She smiled and wagged her tail. She stayed Flareon form until the battle was over and he had left.

No need to reveal too much of his advantage. At least the legendary stones kept her power under control. She yawned and bit into the fruit happily.

Pokemon were so child-minded sometimes. It worked for the better in some cases though. They kept the creativity aspect.

Very important to be able to change tactics and think up new ones on the spot, for a Team Rocket member.

No use getting caught by the police. That was just stupid.

He noticed a girl watching him. < Oneechan? >

< Yes, Red. >

< Can you keep an eye on that girl? >

Sabrina was in the crowd, disguised as just another fan with a simple illusion. < The one with the blue hair? >

< Yes. >
< Sure. >

< Thank you! >

Sabrina smiled mentally. < No problem. >

It was black and thick and gooey.

Surge groaned. “Why did I have to wade through this muck to the power plant? This area is crawling with poison-types. Giovanni should have sent Koga, he’d be right at home here…”

He sighed and continued on. Soon, though, he saw something else.

“Wait a second…”

It wasn’t – it couldn’t be! But it was.

“Zapdos…”

No way… but now, it made perfect sense! Who better for the Lightning master to handle the bird.

With a broad grin, Surge released his army of voltorbs and electrodes. Soon, Zapdos was his.

The trek back through the sludge didn’t even faze him. Now, Team Rocket had both Zapdos and Moltres.

“Wonder if Koga’s going after Articuno then…”

Koga had already caught Articuno. Poison wore down ice pokemon, even a legendary.

Satisfied, he also reported back to Giovanni.

“With Mewtwo gone, these three will be our aces.” Giovanni said.

He looked content as he turned on the T.V. to see how Red was doing.

“And Red will be moving on to the semifinals!”

“Well, that was revealing.” Giovanni said, clicking off the T.V.

“Hmm?”

“Informative.”

“Oh…”

He wasn’t worried – why should he be?

Yes… that was the way things worked, wasn’t it?

A pair of gold eyes looked at him appraisingly. “I still think he’s too young for our cause, Lorelei.”

“What do you mean?”

“And then there is his loyalty to Team Rocket to consider…” Agatha injected in a gravelly tone.

“What?!”

“Oh, you didn’t notice, Bruno? His style… its modified, but he does act like rockets in the past have.”

“You mind-read, didn’t you?”
“But of course. It might be dangerous otherwise.”

“You’re always steps ahead of us, Lance.”

“Why else would I be Leader?”

The Dragon Master smirked to himself as he continued to watch.

Lorelei looked at Agatha, who shook her head. < Lance’s own motives are often unclear, but it is for the good of the world. >

“I know that.” She said softly. * I only wish he would tell us… *

< Perhaps it is better that we don’t see the entire picture. I doubt it is very nice. >

< Ah… >

That was true enough.

Lance did have his own odd quirks, which were not always nice.

Manipulation to a goal was nothing; the end justified the means after all. Machiavellian.

Was that the right way? Well, as long as it worked…

Lorelei took another sip of her iced tea and continued watching. Some of the trainers had obviously zero talent. It was so glaring she wondered why the announcer didn’t simply drop them.

Did they steal the badges?

Red smirked as he faced Violet.

Violet glared, her long shimmery purple hair waving in an artificial breeze. “I won’t lose so easily!”

“Let your actions do the talking.” Red said, before the battle began.

Violet started off with her Vileplume.

Red released Espeon, as she quickly Psychic out the Vileplume and the Muk following.

Eevee inwardly cheered for her cousin.

Violet tripped over Gyarados, although how that was possible was up for grabs, since Red had switched his pokemon, and sent out her own Gyarados.

It wasn’t much of a contest, unfortunately. She must have just evolved her Magikarp because it couldn’t even do Rain Dance.

Ash’s Gyarados bared his teeth and used Thunderbolt.

Violet was down three pokemon and starting to sweat.

End Chapter

Created 3/13/04, completed 4/13/04