Disclaimer; In case I didn’t already say so, I don’t own pokemon. It belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics! This is non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanwork written by yours truly.

No real notes…

Chapter 4: Check

“You just know when to show up, don’t you sis?” Red asked.

Charlotte shrugged and brushed some soot off her outfit. “Yep.”

“Well, let’s get busy before some more rockets come.”

“Sounds good to me.” Ash volunteered. The two trainers released flying types and climbed on.

Ash hung on to Red as his Aerodactyl took off. * I’m getting dizzy… *

“So, where are we heading?” Charlotte asked as she nudged her Skarmory to follow Aerodactyl.

“Let’s try Rock Tunnel!”

“All right… the closest rocket outpost to that is in Cerulean, so we should be okay.” Charlotte said after a bit of consideration.

After about 1/2 an hour of concentrated flying, the group arrived.

“Wow, it’s dark here.”

“Shh!” Red hissed. He pulled a flute out of his pocket, ignoring Ash’s weird look, and played six bars of music.

Suddenly, there was a small opening in the side of the cave.

Red smiled and walked in. Charlotte and Ash followed.

They found themselves in a rather sparse, if well-furnished area. Sitting on a sofa was someone Ash hadn’t expected to see in a million years.

“MOM!?”

Delia Dragyn looked at Red’s new friend curiously. “Who are you?”

“It’s a long story,” Red said, “Which we don’t have time for now, unfortunately.”

“I’m his counterpart from another universe.” Ash explained.

Delia’s eyebrows shot up. “All right…”

Ash couldn’t get over the fact that this woman was nearly identical to his mom, except for her hair, which was a glossy black instead of an auburn color. That must be where Red got his dark hair.

“Still, I cannot believe that you are going to try something this dangerous.” Delia was scolding.

“Mom, we can handle the problem.” Charlotte said.

“Six squads, six members each on a floor, for a grand total of thirty-six pokemon per floor.” Delia said sarcastically. “If I recall correctly, each of you only carries twelve.”

“Ours are better trained. And Ash will be coming too.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of! He’s an untrained child rushing into battle!”

Charlotte excused herself. A few minutes later, Delia fell over, asleep.

Ash rushed over. “What did you do?”

“Relax.” Charlotte said. She pointed to a short needle in the woman’s neck. “Sleep point.”

“How long does it last?”

“Long enough for us to get away and start the attack.”

“Just make sure…”

“I’m sure.” Charlotte said.

Ash was a bit in shock, seeing his alternate counterpart’s sister attack her mom. Red frowned.

“Ash, this is war. We have to do things we normally wouldn’t do.”

“But…”

“Let me see your pokédex.” Charlotte suddenly said.

Ash blinked and handed it over.

Charlotte scanned for a second, and then handed it to Red. “Do you have the Override chips?”

“Yes.” Red said. He took three out and handed one to each of them. “Plug this into your pokédex.”

Ash did so.

“You will be able to carry more than six pokemon.”

“But…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll transfer some more over from Birch.” Red said, misinterpreting Ash’s reluctance.

“I don’t think that’s it.” Charlotte said.

“I can’t control too many pokemon at once… I think four is the most.”

“All right then.” Red sighed. “Never mind.”

“Let’s see…” Charlotte said. “Poke balls are two pounds each, so luckily, we can hopefully carry a good supply to deal with the rockets.”

“Hai.” Red stated.

Lights began flashing as he transferred over his own pokemon. “We have how much time?”

“Well… about half a day.”

“Okay, let’s get some sleep now.” Red told Ash and Charlotte. They shrugged and unpacked their sleeping bags and were soon asleep.

Later, after a nutritious meal of chicken soup and wheat crackers, the three sat by the table discussing their strategy.

“We should just take them out floor by floor…”

“Do you think we should split up? There are seven floors.” Charlotte said.

“Maybe… but then we could be at a severe disadvantage.” Red stated. Ash flushed slightly, knowing that he was weaker than they were.

“Which floor is our target on?”

“Fifth.” Red stated. “And sixth and seventh are supposed to be just storage rooms.”

“Sure, aniki?”

“No, but that’s what our latest intelligence says.” Red said, as he enlarged a poke ball, revealing a Haunter. “They never caught him.”

“And how recent?’

“Yesterday.”

“Maybe it’ll be okay.” Ash said timidly as they suited up. The two shrugged. ‘Maybe.”

Soon, three black Kevlar-clad teens headed towards the radio tower in the night.

“How do you propose to get in?” Ash asked as they approached.

Red snapped his fingers, and Charlotte nodded, tossing a poke ball. “Steelix, I choose you. We’re going to dig our way in.”

“Great…” Ash said.

“Its safer than blasting the door open.” Red said as Steelix tunneled underground. “Let’s go.”

Soon, they peered cautiously around in the basement. “Well, coast is clear so far…”

“So far…” Ash echoed.

They let their eyes adjust to the darkness and then followed the small trail of light that came from the half-open door that led to the first floor.

“Let’s go.” Red kept a tight grip on his poke balls as they crept up the stairs. From far away, a bell chimed, six, seven times. Ash shivered. He suddenly had a very bad feeling about this whole mess.

“Ready?”

“Yep.” Charlotte replied.

“Yes.’ Ash managed to squeak out.

They stepped through the door and into the light of the hallway. The rocket on duty spotted them and immediately rushed forwards as if to attack –.

And promptly dropped to the ground asleep, as a well-aimed blow of sleep powder from Venusaur downed him. His walkie-talkie crackled, static filling the air.

“Shoot. This won’t last long.” Red said. “Ditto, I choose you! Transform.”

Ditto nodded and copied the man, as the others tied up the guard and stowed him in the basement, before continuing onwards.

Soon, the group ran into a squad of five members.

“Halt!”

“Here goes…” Red said. “All right then! Venus, go! Sun Scatter! Pika, Thunderbolt! Gardevoir, Psybeam! Gyra, Dragon Rage!”

“Poison and normal types, mostly…” Charlotte muttered to herself. “Steelix, Skarmory, go! Steelix, use Iron Tail! Skarmory, use Steel Wing!”

“Two?” Ash asked. “Oh well, Pikachu, just use Thunder!” He kept his other pokemon in reserve just in case.

The rockets released nine Rattata, two Koffing, a Growlithe, and a Golbat.

“Golbat! Confuse Ray!”

Pika quickly fried Golbat before it could do any damage. The Growlithe attempted to Fire Blast the two steel-types into oblivion, but fortunately, Gyrados managed to knock it out with Hydro Pump. However, Gyrados himself fell under the combined Smog attack and was forced to recall mode while the two pikachus went after the koffings. Gardevoir was picking off the Rattatas with Psybeam, doing some damage, while Venus’ sun scatter was doing the rest. In a few minutes, the group had been dispatched with minor casualties.

“Let’s keep going…’

They didn’t find any more squadrons on the first floor. Red was a bit worried. * They better not be all on the fifth floor waiting to ambush us… *

End Chapter 4…

Started 5/26/04

Completed 6/26/04