Disclaimer: Just out of curiosity, if I owned everything Pokémon
related, that would include me being rich etcetera, right? Well, if I was rich,
I’d get myself a new PC, since this old hunk of junk is just about good for the
scrapheap. So sorry to disappoint, but no, none of this is mine. A sad thing,
isn’t it?
Category: General
Rating: PG-13
************
Fight For
Freedom.
By: WeirdDutchGuy,
email: swampthing1132[at]hotmail[dot]com
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Chapter Ten: Kane Unfolds His Plan.
************
Kane made his way to the crew quarters of his boat and
entered. Left foot chained to one of the beds, Gary Oak stood there. Bruised,
but otherwise fine, giving Kane the nastiest look he could manage. “What’s the
deal, Rocket? Why am I here?” He sneered at Kane.
“You are here to thank you for the kind and generous
offering of information, mister Oak. Thanks to your loose tongue I have turned
my brilliant ploy into the most important battle this country has ever seen!”
Kane’s eyes twinkled as he spoke. It was always said that genius and insanity
bordered narrowly, and Kane was walking on that thin line bordering the two. He
was thrilled at the prospect of a battle in which hundreds of men and Pokémon
alike would perish. Yes, in
“Don’t worry, mister Oak. We were already planning to
attack Cinnabar anyway, but now I know this will truly be the battle that will
decide the fate of this country, if not the world!” Why wouldn’t he just shut
up and leave?
“Humph and why would that be?”
“Your hostile attitude hurts me Oak. I just wanted you
to see what you made possible. I want you to see how your last hope gets crushed
together with the last resistance in this region. I want you to know you made
it possible for us to turn our attention to Johto
afterwards.”
“Oh there’s a time for everything mister Oak. Who
knows, maybe on the way back.” Kane grinned as he
continued. “You see, this is a very important battle. If we win, there will be
no resistance and we’ll be able to concentrate our forces on the Johto border in order to take it as well. In the very
unlikely case of us losing, I might get demoted and my plans postponed.
Furthermore the resistance would actually stand a decent chance at succeeding to
free Kanto. I really wouldn’t want you to miss it.” Kane walked back to the
bridge laughing loudly.
“Has the contingency plan been prepared yet?” He asked
upon arrival. After a nod from his communications officer he moved to the large
windscreen at the front. “It has sir, as you requested all the important
prisoners have been relocated to the maximum security facility near Saffron.” Good,
everything was going perfectly according to plan.
************
The sun had set a few hours ago, and the little light
that was left was barely enough to navigate. Using the coastline as a guide,
the convoy made good progress, but at that speed it would still take hours
before they got to Cinnabar. Chris sighed as he fidgeted with Gengar’s Pokéball. He was leading
a group of men towards a battle on an island far from home, but despite the
distance between the battle and home, it could certainly tip the scale in favor
of the winning side. The pressure was high, but as always he showed none. He
felt it though, pressing on his shoulders with more weight than ever. John’s
humor had kept him alive and positive, still burning with the same passion he
had when they first set off. Chris wasn’t so lucky. The continuous strain of
leading a band of rebels against the oppressive Team Rocket combined with his
already semi-serious attitude had left him cold and distant. “Like a ghost…” He mused as he spun Gengar’s
ball some more.
“Hey boss, do you think we’ll win?” A middle-aged man
asked as he sat down beside him. Chris always found it strange how even his
seniors considered him to be the leader. He gazed at the horizon while
pondering the question.
“If we get there in time, we have a decent chance. If
not, we’ll have a hard time. In any case, this could go either way, but should
we pull this off our dream might not be all that unrealistic anymore.” He
finally answered. The man frowned, an open answer, as usual.
“Yeah, it would really make my day when we can finally
kick that bastard out of his office.” Came the gruff
reply. The man stood up and started for the center of the raft, but stopped and
turned his head. “Do you want some coffee? You look like you need some. It’s
black though, we’re out of milk.”
Chris barely paid attention, but caught enough of it
to nod ‘yes’ before returning to his thoughts. Kane’s presence on the island
was pretty much a certainty now. Nobody could convince him otherwise, and his
hatred flared as the face of the man formed in front of him, the usual smirk
plastered firmly below his cold eyes. Perhaps now they could finish what they
started so many years ago. According to his rational side, the thought of
finally winning the ongoing fight qualified as a decent revenge for the death
of his father, but deep down Chris knew that when they would stand face to face
again, he would want more than just beat Kane in a battle. He just hoped John
or someone else would be there to stop him from killing Kane. Death would be
too kind for him. In fact, even rotting in a jail cell would be too nice. Chris
couldn’t come up with a decent punishment, though continuous torture should be
in it.
Up in the sky,
John sighed in annoyance as Frank complained about the
cramp in his leg for the nth time. Following his count, this was the fourteenth
complaint in the last ten minutes. Even John had a limit. They’d have bigger
things to worry about when they got there. Cramp would be the least of their
problems. Besides, Franky agreed to riding on Pidgeot himself, it was not like they’d forced him. John
tried to peer through the darkness as they passed the rafts again. With flying
being so much faster than sailing, the airborne had to keep circling to let the
rafts keep up. John checked his watch again, like he had ten minutes ago, and
several times before that. At this pace it would take until dawn to even get
within view of Cinnabar.
“Are we there yet? My leg is getting stiff! Seriously,
it hurts!” Franky lamented again, causing John to
growl in annoyance. “No, it’ll take a few hours at best, so stop whining and
sit still. You’re throwing Pidgeot off course with
your squirming.” More groans ensued.
************
The workers at the Cinnabar docks looked at the
horizon as the first rays of sunlight rose above the waves. The moment didn’t
last very long, as they quickly got back to work.
“Hey, are those the guys from Lavender?” The lookout
turned in the direction the worker was pointing at.
“It could be. But I don’t think Lavender’s that way,
is it?” The man responded as he took out his binoculars. After taking a long
look through the glass there was a sharp intake of air before he ran off. The
worker watched on confused as the man made his way to the Gym. Minutes later
the first ship buried itself in the concrete wall of the dock with its steel
bow, tearing a good chunk out of it. The worker saw the big red ‘R’ and ran
away as fast as he could. All over the north coast of the island ships were
landing. The defenders were in disarray as they weren’t prepared for the attack
this early. Still, some groups stuck together and tried to get some form of
organized defense up.
************
The sun had risen not too long ago and Cinnabar was
finally within sight. But neither of the men and women approaching the island
liked the sight. The city on the coast of the volcanic island was burning and
sometimes the occasional flare of a powerful Pokémon attack could be seen on
the mountain itself. They would be too late to make a real difference. Chris
put down the binoculars he’d been watching through and called John to land on
the large raft. There was barely enough space, but John somehow managed to
squeeze on.
“We need a plan, and fast.” Chris started. “If we keep
going like this the fight will be over before we even get there. You and the
other flyers should get there as fast as you can and stall us some time. I’ll
see if we can speed things up over here.”
John nodded before taking off again. He knew his
brother was right and they should get there fast. Flying back up into the
concentration of Flying types, he motioned all of them
to come closer. Once they were within hearing range he explained the new plan
before leading the way. As the birds sped off, Chris turned to the rowers and
the trainers of the Water types pulling the rafts.
“Listen, we need to go faster. I know I’m pushing you,
but if we don’t get there soon there won’t be a Cinnabar to save. I want you to
give it your best, even if it means being drained when we make it there. The
important thing is getting there on time, no matter what.” He said as he raised
the binoculars again, watching for a good place to land. “If we can make it, I
want to land on the south side. Even if it’s farther than the east it’ll be
worth it as we’ll be landing near
************
As Chris was busy speeding up progress on the water,
John led his group straight to the island. Ash was having mixed feelings
towards this fight. He’d never experienced open warfare before, in fact not one
person in this group had. What they were heading for was beyond the normal
in-and-out jobs done by the resistance. He’d already come to terms with the
fact that most likely he’d be required to kill, but he wasn’t sure if he
actually could. More people and Pokémon would be dying every minute. “So if we stop the fight quickly, less will
die.” His
decision was made. He glanced back at Ritchie, who carried a determined look.
At least he wouldn’t stand alone.
Now that they got closer to the island they could make
out the fighting sides. As they got closer the fighting paused as both sides
looked up in surprise. The pause didn’t last long before the first people got a
grip on themselves. Soon several Rockets had their Pokémon targeting the loaded
birds. Charizard barely dodged a good aimed
Thunderbolt and opened his mouth to retaliate with his favorite attack while
Ash and Ritchie clung on trying not to fall. John’s Pidgeot
gracefully dodged all attacks thrown at it while Frank was suffocating John
with his vice-like grip in an attempt to stay on the Pokémon. The so far
one-sided battle for
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To Be Continued…
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AN: A very overly large Thank
You to all who voted for me in the RCA of last December. I really do appreciate
it, though I’ve had my problems understanding it. Not that I’m complaining, but
I find it odd that I won a RCA but have so far failed to win any BIC award. I’m
still trying to figure that one out, as surely it’d be easier to win the BIC
than it is to win the RCA?!
Please feel free to review; they’ll be put to good
use. Flames shall light my barbeque, constructive criticism shall be used for
overall improvement, and compliments framed to fuel my drive forward.
And again, a big ‘Thank you!’
to all of you. In an effort to show my gratitude, I have updated both my stories at
once. Huzzah! *runs off to celebrate*
WeirdDutchGuy