Pokémon: Fire Strike Continued Part 2: Augmentation From the twisted mind of Uiru, Gym Leader of the Galaxy Gym www.galaxygym.com webmaster@galaxygym.com ========== Disclaimer ========== All Pokémon, most of their attacks and most locations in this story are the property of Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures. All of the characters (with the exceptions of Gary and Koga) are my property, as are a few attacks I made up for the hell of it. In addition, the Pokémon's personalities and development are mine. ==== Note ==== I still don't like .txt's. I am about to spend a good two hours of my time turning this stupid text file into a readable (and hopefully enjoyable ^_^) story. It should look acceptable in 800x600 resolution or higher. If there's still trouble after changing your resolution, go to www.galaxygym.com and read the story online there. I think you'll get a lot more out of this story if you're familiar with the prequel, which should be available wherever you found this fanfic. And yes, this story is just as long as the last one. It may take up to two hours to get through (depending on how fast you read). And lastly, please EMail me all questions and comments you may have at the address above. ============================== Pokémon: Fire Strike Continued ============================== Chapter One: Sing Night had fallen on Cinnibar Island. All was silent, except for the occastional footsteps of a Sunder Force guard making his rounds. A young girl sat across the street from the Pokémon Center, hiding in an alley. "Look, Jigglypuff," the girl said to her musical Pokémon. "That's where the Boss keeps all the Psychic Pokémon." Jigglypuff softly cooed back at her. "We gotta get Eric's Poké Balls back so we can all get off the island." Jigglypuff nodded. At the little girl's signal, their plan began. Jigglypuff bounced into the street. The two guards at the door of the Pokémon Center noticed it at the same time. Jigglypuff hailed a friendly greeting. "Hey, look at that," the first guard pointed. "What do you suppose that is?" "I'm not sure," the second replied. "Looks harmless though." Jigglypuff laughed. "I suppose it's a Pokémon," the first guard stated. "Maybe I should catch it. Would make my little girl happy." "Is she still bugging you about working so late?" "Yeah, and her mom too." "Well, let's catch it then. Do you have a Poké Ball?" "Of course." The guard drew a red and white ball with a small button on it. "All right, whatever you are," he said to Jigglypuff. "Let's keep this quiet, all right?" Jigglypuff just looked back at it. "That's a good Pokémon," the guard stated. He threw the ball! Jigglypuff leapt back. It vehemently shook itself 'no'. "It doesn't want to get caught," the second guard told his buddy. "And if you try to weaken it, you'll wake up half the island." Jigglypuff laughed again. It's eyes started to twinkle as it opened it's mouth and began to sing. "Wow," the first guard declared. "That's a nice song." "So relaxing," the second guard added. "I wish things like this happened every night." It didn't take long before the hypnotic powers of Jigglypuff's Sing attack had rendered the two guards completely unconscious. From the alley, the girl saw that the guards were asleep, and removed her earplugs. Although she could stay awake longer then most people could, this wasn't the time to take chances. "Great job, Jigglypuff!" she congradulated. Picking it up, she quietly made her way into the Pokémon Center. The girl knew that there was only a skeleton crew left on the island. She also knew that Sunder Force was after something on the far side of Mt. Moon. Her older brother Eric had friends who got him all sorts of information. It had been a couple of months since Sunder Force had invaded their peaceful island. The mostly Fire and Poison Pokémon of the Island trainers were no match for the Water and Ground types used by Sunder Force. Many of the older trainers had been forced into joining the ranks. Eric had avoided being pressed into service by just not 'happening' to be at home when the guards made their rounds. However, his Psychic Pokémon, as well as everybody else's, were locked up in the Pokémon Center. There were very few guards inside the Center, because the few that were left were defending the island from outside interference. The girl and Jigglypuff had no problem sneaking past most of them. She tripped in something. The loud clang of some metal object alerted a guard to their presence. "Sing, Jigglypuff!" the girl whispered as she ducked into a shadow, covering her ears. A guard came around the corner and was greeted by Jigglypuff, standing innocently, starting to sing. "Hey, cut that out," the guard hissed. "You'll wake up everybody." This guard obviously didn't know what a Jigglypuff was either, and the girl had to fight down the urge to laugh at him. "I said stop..." the guard insisted. "Oh, what the hell..." He sat down. "Such a nice song... Might as well listen... to... it..." Within seconds he was asleep. The girl came out of hiding and patted Jigglypuff. "Let's go," she whispered. Making their way down the corridor, they came to the room that held the captured Pokémon. Jigglypuff's song must have had a longer range then she had thought, because the two guards here were asleep as well. *This is too easy*, the girl thought to herself. Then again, most of the guards were Cinnibar residents, and weren't about to exert themselves to serve the Sunder Force. She carefully opened the door and they slipped in. The feeble moonlight from the window presented row upon row of Poké Balls. Eric had told her that his four Poké Balls had a purple eye painted on them. Although it was hard to see, she soon found the four eye Poké Balls. The girl put them in her backpack. She was about to leave when she looked around the room again. Fifty or sixty Psychic Pokémon had been stolen from the Cinnibar residents. Was it right to just take Eric's and leave the rest here? Jigglypuff senced her hesitation. It looked out the window, and quietly called her over. Right outside the window were many packing crates and trolleys. In fact, one large open crate was sitting on one. Opportunity knocked. The girl climbed out the window and quietly pushed the trolly over. Then, in seven minutes, she and Jigglypuff had emptied the room of Psychic Pokémon. "Did you get them?" Eric asked. "Sure did!" the girl answered. She gave him his four Psychic Pokémon: Mr. Mime, Staryu, Abra, and Butterfree. "Got a few extras too!" "Extras?" Eric asked. "What do you mean? I hope you didn't take anyone else's Pokémon." "Yeah, I did," she replied. "I got every single one of them in a crate behind our house," she declared. "Before we go, you can put out an EMail telling all your buddies to come and get them." Eric nodded. "That would be best." He flipped on his computer. Although the Sunder Force controlled most types of communication, they still couldn't get EMail. Eric sent a message to all the people he knew telling them their Psychic Pokémon had been rescued, and to forward the message to everyone they knew. He added at the bottom that they were leaving that night, and urged them to do the same. "All right, Heidi, come on," he said. "Where's Jigglypuff?" It came out of the kitchen holding a banana. "Time to go?" she asked. "Yep." Most of Cinnibar Island's coastline was beach, but there was one rocky part. It was at this rocky part that Eric's friend Robert was waiting for them with his motorboat. Four other trainers that Eric didn't know sat in the boat waiting for them. "I hope you appreciate this," Robert snapped at him. Robert wasn't exactly friendly at the best of times, and having to wake up early really set him off. "Sure do," Eric replied. "Don't drive too close to the island, or the guards will hear the boat and we'll all be screwed." Robert nodded. The rocky side of Cinnibar pointed into the ocean, so after about 15 minutes Robert turned towards Pallet Town. Eric and Heidi introduced themselves when they were out of earshot. "My name's Leah," the older girl replied. "This is Thomas, Lauren and Pittman." "Pittman?" Eric asked. "Sounds like a last name." "It is," Pittman replied. Eric nodded. "What is THAT thing?" Thomas asked, pointing at Jigglypuff. "It's my Jigglypuff," Heidi replied. "Ugly, isn't it?" Robert asked. "It is not!" Heidi shouted. Jigglypuff shrilled it's agreement. A gunshot rang out! "Oh, damn!" Robert cursed. Spotlights lit up all along the coast. The seven trainers paniced. Robert pointed the boat straight away from the island. A shotlight shone on them, and a second later a rifle shot sounded. "We're hit!" Robert shouted. "Eric, we should turn back. We're better captured then drowned." Water started coming on board from the round hole in the bottom of the boat. "No way!" Eric shouted. "We've gotta try to make it. How else will we save Cinnibar Island?" Jigglypuff finished eating the banana it had taken, and jumped to the hole! With a triumphant shout, it jabbed the banana peel into the opening! "That thing is pretty smart," Leah stated. "It may look harmless, but Heidi's been training it extremely well," Eric told her. "Just now, it helped Heidi recover ALL the Psychic Pokémon from the Pokémon Center." The others were impressed. "How's that hole?" Robert asked. "Jigglypuff's got it!" Heidi answered. She was mopping up the water that had gotten in with a blanket. Soon, they were out of the range of the spotlights. But they weren't out of danger yet. The sounds of many motorboats firing up could now be heard. Lauren had been silent until now. "If we trash a few of their motorboats, they might give up," she suggested. "All right," Robert agreed. He could see one of them advancing on their escape boat. "Scyther, come out!" From Robert's Poké Ball came the fearsome Scyther, a ferocious Bug type that boasted two wicked scythes on it's arms. "Scyther, fly over there and take that boat out! Double Team, Slash attack!" Scyther's wings opened and it half flew, half leapt towards the other boat. Using it's Double Team move, it appeared to split into two! The two images of Scyther landed on either side of the boat, and began hacking it to shreds. The soldiers on board jumped and dodged to avoid being flayed apart. At the front of the large boat, the two Scyther became one again, and it actually carved it's name in the side of the ship before jumping up and plunging right through it into the sea. That, coupled with the huge chunks taken out of the side, ensured the ship wouldn't be long in sinking. Scyther burst from the water and landed next to Robert, careful not to accidentally decapitate anyone. Robert recalled it. "Are they turning around yet?" Thomas asked. "Not yet!" Robert declared. "Then it's my turn!" Pittman declared. "Golduck, go!" The sleek Water fighter dove into the water. "Golduck!" Pittman ordered. "Take out those boats with Whirlpool!" Nodding, Golduck swam underwater and began it's unique attack. It soon caused a large whirlpool which sucked in three of the enemy's motorboats. "Showoff," Robert scoffed. Golduck returned to the boat. Pittman recalled it. "They're turning around!" Heidi cheered. Jigglypuff shrilled. It was sitting on the banana peel. Robert changed course. "They're going to start looking for us in Pallet," he declared. "We should head for Viridian. I think I have enough gas to get there, as long as Jigglypuff keeps the boat plugged." Eric nodded. "Does ANYONE wanna tell me what we're doing on this godforsaken mountain?" Geoff shouted. "Calm down," Nick told him. "Getting all worked up won't find the way out of here." "Be quiet," Geoff snapped. "I feel like bitching at something. Uiru!" "What?!" Uiru shouted back. "What are we doing wandering lost on this dumb mountain?" "We are not wandering lost! I know exactly where we're going!" "Then tell me how to get off it!" Jessica sighed. The three of them had been in foul moods for the past week. "Boys, boys, boys," she inturrupted. "Would you like me to explain what's going on for you?" "Be my guest," Geoff replied icily. "I sure as hell don't know." "Should have been paying attention," Uiru muttered to Nick. "Shut up Uiru!" "Quiet!" Jessica shouted at them. In a much more civil tone, she began. "All right, about a week ago, we gave Sunder Force a good thrashing at the Battle of Magenta Park, at the base of this mountain. Although we royally beat them down, before we could catch Sunder, their leader, he had made off towards this mountain. The locals call it Mt. Moon, and many of the world's legends have their origins here. "Anyway, it was only after we cleaned up Magenta Park that we realized our friends Erin and Patrick were missing. Reports indicated that two of Sunder's lieutenants had grabbed them and had taken them to their base, not far from the town. And right now, while we chase Sunder, Matt and Allison are attacking Sunder Force's base." "Where I should be," Geoff growled. "I'm only here because he's the leader." Geoff thumbed at Uiru. "But next time, I do as I please." "You don't think I'd rather be taking down their fortress too?" Uiru replied. "Right now, catching Sunder is more important then trashing their base. The base can't escape and plot against us in private." "But Sunder isn't holding your best friend captive!" Geoff shouted at him. "Hey- We're all worried about them," Nick inturrupted. "Patrick's been my friend for ages. But you don't see me getting all pissy about not being there." "Mustn't be very good friends then." "Geoff!" Jessica shouted at him. "That's low, man," Nick informed him. "What you need to understand is that this isn't playtime during recess- this is war! Uiru leads Fire Strike now because he puts the cause before himself. He knows that stopping Sunder will save a lot more lives then trashing one of his many bases." "That's right," Uiru agreed. "I like crushing enemy bases just as much as everyone else on Fire Strike. But right now this is more important." An awkward silence fell. Uiru and Nick exchanged glances as Geoff stared at the ground. "It's getting late," Jessica stated after a while. "Are we going to stay here for now, or keep going for a while?" "I'll tell you what I'm going to do," Geoff announced. "Arcanine, come out!" He hopped onto the back of the big puppy Pokémon. "I'm tired of walking." "Good idea," Uiru admitted. "Sandslash, I choose you!" "Let's go, Starmie!" Jessica called out her big starfish. Nick stood there. "None of my Pokémon are ridable," he said. Geoff nodded. "Nidorino, come out!" Nidorino appeared next to Nick. "You can borrow my Nidorino for a while." Nick hopped on. Uiru pointed southeast. "From what I've heard, there's a path that goes more or less straight around and then down the mountain. It's in this direction." A few hours later, the four Pokémon were getting tired, and it was really late. However, they had covered a lot of ground. "Hey, look over there!" Nick pointed towards a plateau. He got off Nidorino and went over to it. "You can see for miles from up here!" Uiru rode up on Sandslash. "Mt. Moon seperates this part of the world from the area we're familiar with," he explained. "The PLM has no power here; this place is run by the Pokémon League." "Never heard of that," Jessica stated. "Not many people have. There's very little contact between this country and our own." "Do they at least know about the PLM?" Nick asked. "Some of them," Uiru answered. "However, the PLM has absolutely no influence here. So if we screw up, Booster can't come bail us out." Above, a Pidgeotto started cawing noisily. "What do you suppose that thing's problem is?" Geoff asked. "Who knows?" Jessica replied. She called back her Starmie. Arcanine, Nidorino and Sandslash were recalled as well. "Another night of sleeping on the ground. Uiru, when we get home I'm gonna max out the PLM's credit rating at the biggest, fanciest hotel in Charteruse." "Good idea," Nick replied.