Fist of the Pikachu Disclaimer: I'll let the reader fill in the blanks this time around. < >: Thoughts Chapter 7 Break Out! Sam Ryker sat in her room as she thought about the Pokemon trainer who had defeated her. It had been a long time since she had lost a match and to have been beaten by someone who had just recently started training was nothing short of unbelievable. "Still thinking about him, eh?" Sam turned at the sound of her father's voice as he entered her room. "Well…" "It's all right Sam. I kind of thought you would be. He is a very nice-looking boy and a great trainer to boot." "Really? I never noticed." Sam denied, but her father could see right through it. "Now I don't believe that." Joe replied as he sat down beside his daughter, still smiling. "But that's not the reason why I'm here. I came here to tell you that I'm thinking about coming out of retirement and becoming a gym leader again." "Why?" "Because I know that you won't be able to manage the gym while out on your Pokemon journey." "What Pokemon journey?" "Oh come on now. I saw it in your eyes. When Ranma left us, I knew that you wanted to know how he trained his Pokemon. Besides, I think that going out for a while would be good for you. For the last month, you've done nothing but battle one trainer after another. You need to loosen up and get out more often. Now don't tell me that you weren't considering following Ranma." Sam was about to protest, then nodded. "The thought had crossed my mind." Joe's smile became wider. "I thought so. Actually, I was getting worried with you being so caught up in being a gym leader, that you didn't have much of a social life or a boyfriend." "Hey! I just want to know how he trained his Pokemon! I'm not interested in that arrogant jerk!" Joe gave his daughter a fatherly pat on her shoulder. Meanwhile, back in Team Rocket's secret hideout… "Test? You stole my pack and sent those Pokemon after us, just to see what we could do?" Ranma said incredulously as he and Raiden went into defensive stances. "That's right, pal." Butch acknowledged as he and his partner Cassidy stood behind their Drowzee. "Though we gotta admit, we were expecting you to send out your Pokemon to battle, not take on ours on your own. That was real amazing though." "Yes." Cassidy agreed as she looked over Ranma's features with avid interest. "You've just proven yourself worthy of joining the illustrious Team Rocket." Ranma frowned, as his memories of the last time he met up with Team Rocket were not pleasant ones. "And why would we want to do that?" "Pika!" Raiden retorted. "You just showed us that as a trainer, your Pokemon are a lot stronger than normal. You've also got some skills that can be very useful to our organization. The boss liked what he saw and he wants you and your Pokemon to come work for him." Ranma shook his head and replied, "Sorry, I'm not interested." "Pikachu!" "And Raiden speaks for himself and my other Pokemon as well. We're outta here." Ranma began moving toward his pack, which had miraculously survived the previous battle and had not been touched. Raiden stood ready, his cheek pouches sparking and ready to let fly with electricity at a moment's notice. Butch snorted as he said, "You don't got any choice pal. The boss wants you and your Pokemon, and what the boss wants, he gets!" "And how are you going to make us?" Ranma replied as he picked up his pack. "Like this!" Cassidy gestured to Drowzee. "DROWZEE! HYPNOSIS ATTACK! Put them both out!" The Drowzee stepped forward and began emitting intense, sleep waves toward Ranma and Raiden. "Drowzee… drowzee… drowzee…" At first, Ranma didn't feel anything, but when he looked down, he saw that Raiden was becoming unsteady. His eyes were starting to close. "Raiden! Fight it off!" Ranma took a battle stance and began focusing his ki. The sudden appearance of Ranma's battle aura made the two villains a bit nervous and they stepped back a bit. The Drowzee began increasing the level of his sleep waves at Ranma and Raiden. The little Pikachu struggled to keep awake, its own battle aura beginning to flare. However, it was apparent that he was fighting a losing battle and his aura faltered and flickered. With absolutely no experience in dealing with psychic Pokemon, Raiden fell flat on his face and was out like a light. "Why you…!" Ranma was about to charge at the pair and their Pokemon, when he began to feel unsteady himself. He was starting to feel sleepy and he strained to remain on his feet. Cassidy smiled as she noticed what was happening to Ranma. "Give it up friend. There's no way you can resist our Drowzee's Sleep Waves. Drowzee here has been specially trained to not only to affect Pokemon, but people as well. Its sleep waves can affect the brain patterns of humans and thanks to a few operations, Drowzee can put an entire block to sleep." "Drowzee… drowzee… drowzee…" Ranma continued to strain as he began to slowly advance on his tormentors. His battle aura flared up even more as he slowly moved forward, each step seeming more agonizing than the last. The hypnotic sound of Drowzee's voice was starting to lull to sleep and Ranma wasn't sure if he could make it, but he had to try. "Whoa. This guy's got a lot of willpower. He's still standing!" Butch was a bit edgy at how Ranma was resisting Drowzee's attack. The pigtailed trainer and martial artist had slowed down to inching his way toward them, but he was still moving. At the same time, he was slowly reaching down toward the Pokeball that contained Wind Rider. When he got to within a dozen feet of them, Cassidy decided to use her ace in the hole. "My, you've got a strong will. I like that in a man. But this game ends now." She took out a Pokeball and tossed it out in front of her. "VILEPLUME! STUN SPORES!" The Pokeball opened up and released the flower-shaped Pokemon. "Vileplume!" The top of its flower exploded and released a cloud of dust at Ranma. He started hacking and coughing as the powder filled up his lungs. As the spores weakened him, Drowzee's Sleep Waves finally overcame him. Ranma blacked out and fell forward. His mind finally welcomed the darkness of unconsciousness. Some time later… Ranma regained consciousness several hours later as he heard the voices of Cassidy and Butch. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was in a room that looked to be a control center. He found himself in a sitting in a chair, but his arms and legs were held fast in the chair's built-in shackles. The cuffs were tightly bound around his wrists and ankles. Looking over to side, he noticed that the two members of Team Rocket had their backs to him and were talking to a large viewscreen. Butch and Cassidy were blocking his view so Ranma couldn't see whom they were talking to. Deciding to feign being blacked out; Ranma lowered his head, closed his eyes and listened to their conversation. "So he's doesn't want to join Team Rocket? Well, no matter. Bring him and his Pokemon back to headquarters. I still want to know the secret of how he trained his Pokemon. In any case, I'm sure that we can 'persuade' him to come to our way of thinking." "He's not going to be hurt, is he?" Cassidy asked. "Why are you asking Cassidy? Is there something… wrong?" "Oh no!" Cassidy said quickly. "I'm sure that he'll join us eventually. Nothing's wrong." Giovanni considered Cassidy for a moment, then nodded. "In any case, have you got his Pokemon?" "Yeah Boss!" Butch replied. "We put that Pikachu back in its Pokeball and took the other two that he had. They're in storage with the other Pokemon that we swiped in Viridian City. We'll be transporting them to you tomorrow morning. We'll bring that trainer to you afterwards." "Excellent! You've done well, Butch! You too, Cassidy. You're two are far more reliable than those fools Jessie and James. I see the both of you tomorrow." After signing off, the duo turned to their captive and assumed that he was still unconscious. With nothing left for them to do, they left the room, closing the door. Ranma immediately brought up his head and looked around his surroundings. He began testing his bonds and frowned when he saw that they provided him with no leverage and that they were bound so tight, they chafed against his skin. They were also connected to cables than ran across the floor and connected up to a panel on a wall. The chair was bolted to the floor. Ranma didn't know what was in store for him and his Pokemon, but he was none too eager to find out. He had to get out and get his Pokemon back. Besides Professor Oak, they were the only friends that he had in this world. After a long and lonely training journey with his idiotic father, he wasn't about to give up his new companions. Desperately, he looked around for a way out of his bonds. On a nearby table, he spotted a glass of ice water and something else. When he looked closer, his eyes widened as he recognized his Water Stone pendant beside the glass. Looking down at his chest, he realized that Cassidy and Butch must searched him and removed the necklace. Ranma thought about it a bit more then looked down at the cuffs holding his arms to the arms of the chair. They were steel bands and adjusted to tightly fit his arms, just behind the wrists, giving him no space to move them. Looking over to the side, a mere two feet away was the release mechanism to the shackles. Ranma's eyes then lit up with a realization. Ranma remembered that his wrists were more slender as a female. Looking back to the table, he saw that the glass of ice water was more than five feet away and was situated on top of a couple of thin books, making it a little higher than his chest level. Reaching for it was out of the question. He then saw that the stack of books was carelessly sitting atop a ruler and that one end was sticking out over the edge of the table. He saw above him on an adjacent wall just a foot away, a thin shelf. Straining his neck, he saw a couple of empty Pokeballs sitting on it. The martial artist smiled as a plan formulated in his mind. He was only going to get on shot at this. He began focusing his ki and let it gather in his right hand. In his current position, he could only concentrate it on his index finger, but that was all he needed. He then judged the angle of the shelf and prepared to fire off a tiny blast of electrical power, The shot would be no more than a tiny static bolt, but he hoped it would be enough to get things rolling. A small sphere of blue ki gathered at the tip of his index finger. It then began to change color and crackled as it was converted into electricity. Ranma then made a silent prayer and strained to point his digit in the right direction. He took a deep breath and fired off the electric spark. The tiny bolt of electricity impacted one of the Pokeballs and sent started it rolling. The device rolled off the shelf and fell to toward Ranma. The trainer strained, twisted his hand to face palm up, and spread his fingers wide. He was rewarded when the Pokeball just landed on his fingertips and rolled into his palm. He let out a sigh of relief as he pressed the activator button and enlarged the device. He then paused as he looked at the glass of water before him. With a flick of his fingers, he sent the Pokeball toward the end of the ruler. Ranma's aim was true and it landed on the wooden stick, causing the other end to flip the books and the glass toward him. In an instant, the trainer and martial artist was splashed, turning from a him to a her. Ranma-chan smiled as she looked down and saw that the bands around her wrists weren't as tight as they had been a minute ago. The transformed martial artist grunted and strained, but after a few minutes, she managed to wrench one arm free. She waved it around a bit to get circulation going again, and was about to reach over to press the control panel, when she suddenly thought of something. She no idea where her Pokemon were and even if she did know, she still had Team Rocket to deal with. Butch and Cassidy were of no consequence, but they still had that damned Drowzee. She had almost succumbed to its hypnotic effects and she wasn't sure if she could withstand it again. She thought back to when she had encountered it and remembered how irresistible its voice was, which seemed to amplify its Sleep Waves. When she looked on the table and saw something else on it, she smiled as she thought up of a way of countering the psychic Pokemon. Meanwhile, inside a large storage area, Butch and Cassidy were in the process of cataloging all of their ill-gotten Pokemon, when an alarm was heard. They quickly dropped what they were doing and ran out of the storage facility, heading toward the control room. When they got to the control center, they were dismayed to find that their captive had escaped. The control panel he had used to free himself had set off an alarm, but he was nowhere insight. "He's gone!" Cassidy exclaimed. "No duh! Check the surveillance cameras!" Butch said. "We can't! That guy shorted them out, remember?" "Oh yeah! Well, he's not going to go anywhere! He can't get out of this underground complex without the access codes or call the cops! If he's not here, then I would guess that he's somewhere in the place." "The storage area!" Cassidy exclaimed as she realized the most logical place where Ranma would have gone. Butch nodded. "Right!" The two rushed out of the room and headed back down the hall to where they kept the Pokemon. However, had they looked up, they wouldn't have needed to go anywhere. Using the patented Saotome Cling-to-the-Ceiling-and-Hope-the- Enemy-Doesn't-Look-Up technique, Ranma smiled as the villains departed. He dropped down and lightly landed on his feet. He had transformed back by using some hot water from a nearby sink. Snatching up his Water Stone, he then began shadowing the two Team Rocket members as they led her through the corridors. The two burst into the huge storage facility, which was about the size of a warehouse and had hundreds of Pokeballs on shelves and a few Pokemon in cages. They then began to quietly search the aisles for any sign of the pigtailed martial artist, unaware that Ranma had followed them and was now sneaking about several meters above them. Using the ceiling rafters, Ranma silently made his way and kept them in sight as they went around aisles until they finally stopped somewhere near the middle and took out a tray which contained three Pokeballs. Butch held them up to his partner and said, "Here's that guy's Pokemon. If he's coming here, we can use these as bait and hold them hostage." "Good plan Butch! He wouldn't dare attack while we're holding his precious Pokemon." She then held up another Pokeball. "I got Drowzee here for back up. Between it and these Pokeballs, he won't be able to do anything!" It was then that something dropped down from the ceiling and landed behind Butch. The male half of the duo turned around in surprise and was sent flying backward as Ranma launched a haymaker at his chin. Butch slammed into Cassidy and the two went sprawling. Ranma smiled as he sensed the ki energies being emitted from the Pokeballs that Butch dropped. Those were his Pokemon all right! Placing two of them back on his belt, he held up the third one and said with a smile, "Raiden! I choose you!" The Pokeball opened up and released the electric mouse. Raiden had more or less recovered from Drowzee's Hypnosis attack and while shaking its head; it let off a delighted squeak at seeing his trainer. "Pikachu!" "Good to see you too, buddy!" Ranma squeezed his Pikachu tight as he jumped into his arms. The electric rodent happily nuzzled against Ranma then felt something being placed in his ears. Looking up at his trainer, he gave a confused sound. "Pika?" Ranma smiled and gave him a wink before setting him back down. Motioning his electric rodent to follow him, he began to slowly walk toward Butch and Cassidy, who were still struggling to get up as they had crashed into a pile of empty boxes some fifty yards away. When they finally got to their feet, they saw Ranma and Raiden walking up to them, battle auras glowing and the Pikachu's cheek pouches sparking. "Look out! He's got his Pokemon back!" Butch cried out. "No problem!" Cassidy stated as she tossed out her Pokeball. Drowzee appeared before them. "Drowzee." Cassidy smirked as she instructed the hypnotic Pokemon, "Drowzee, put them out again with your Hypnosis attack!" Once again, the Drowzee began emitting its Sleep Waves and chanting its name. "Drowzee… drowzee… drowzee…" Once again Ranma and Raiden's battle auras glowed even brighter as they advanced toward them. This time however, they didn't slow down. The smiles of Butch and Cassidy began to fade as they saw their opponents continue to advance without a single pause in their steps. "Uh… Cassidy… it's not working." "Drowzee! Full power!" Drowzee complied and poured out more intense sleep waves. It began chanting its name more forcefully. "DROWZEE… DROWZEE… DROWZEE… DROWZEE…" However, Ranma and Raiden did not stop. Their battle auras were now a blue-white, making them appear as walking coronas. They showed no signs of being affected by Drowzee's attacks, and this made Team Rocket extremely worried. "I don't get it! It's not working!" Cassidy said with fear in her voice. When the two came within ten yards of them, Ranma nodded to his Pikachu and pointed to Butch and Cassidy. The little mouse understood his master's silent command and let loose with twin bolts of electricity at the duo. "Pika… CHU!" The two screamed out as they were hit by more than 40,000 volts. They slammed into the back wall and slid down to the floor. The Drowzee stopped in its hypnosis attack when its trainers were attacked. It simply stood motionless. Apparently, it had been trained too well and was momentarily at a loss without instructions. Ranma took this opportunity to rush as the Drowzee. "RAPIDASH RUN!" Cassidy was the first to recover as she saw Ranma charge at her Pokemon. Seeing that the Hypnosis Attack was now ineffective, she gave the order for it to launch a physical attack. "MEGA-PUNCH DROWZEE!" "Drow… erk!" Drowzee had just focused its energy and was about to launch its devastating attack, when Ranma, executing a flying kick, slammed it in the head. The Mega-Punch was a strong attack, but it suffered from two major drawbacks. First was the fact that it focused much energy into the punch, leaving very little for defense. Second, it took about two seconds to set it up. For a martial artist with Ranma's talents, that was 1.99 seconds too long. Drowzee was sent flying and slammed into an empty cage. It slid down and was rendered unconscious. Not wanting to have to deal with it later, Ranma tossed one of his empty Pokeballs at it. "POKEBALL… GO!" The hypnotic Pokemon was captured inside the device, which returned to Ranma's hand. "Hey! That's our Drowzee!" Butch yelled. Ranma shrugged as he placed the Pokeball on his belt and smiled, saying nothing while crossing his arms. "VILEPLUME! STUN SPORE!" Cassidy yelled as she threw out another Pokeball. However, Raiden had caught the movement and gave the Pokemon a Thunderbolt just as it appeared. "Pika… CHU!" ZZZAPPPP! The Vileplume fell to the ground in a smoking heap. It was then that Team Rocket realized something as Ranma and his Pokemon began advancing them. They didn't have any more Pokemon to fight with. All the others in the storage facility were stolen and would not obey them. Ranma smiled as he saw the fear in their faces. These two were so used to letting their Pokemon fight for them, that they didn't have any combat skills of their own. Though he was taught never to pick on the weak, he was going to enjoy pounding these two for all the trouble they caused. As he and Raiden approached the two, he reached out and pulled out two small objects, dropping to the floor. Raiden did the same. Cassidy looked down and saw the objects. "Ear plugs?" Ranma smirked as he said, "You got it. Drowzee's Hypnosis Attack uses Sleep Waves, but it also uses its voice as a medium to carry those waves. I remembered that Drowzee kept on chanting its name when it used its attack. I also noticed that my battle aura helped me withstand Drowzee's attack. So I figured out that radiating ki interfered with the Sleep Waves and as long as we didn't hear Drowzee's voice, it didn't have any way to affect me or Raiden." He then looked down at his Pokemon. "Cassidy is yours but Butch is all mine!" When the two villains realized that they were now at Ranma's mercy, Butch gulped and said, "Cassidy… I think we're in trouble." Ranma smiled as he cracked his knuckles. "You better believe you're in trouble!" "Pikachu!" "And Raiden says to make it double!" "Uh oh!" Butch and Cassidy gasped. Ranma smiled evilly. "To inflict Team rocket with massive devastation!" "Pika!" "To deal out pain without hesitation!" "Chu!" "To make the world safe for truth and love!" "Pika, pi!" "By knocking Team Rocket to the stars above!" "Pika pika!" "Ranma…" "Pikachu!' "… and Raiden. Just itching for a fight!" "Pikachu!' "Look out Team Rocket, 'CAUSE WE'RE GONNA PUNCH OUT YOUR LIGHTS!" "YIPE!!!" One brief, but very, very, very, VERY violent scene later… Officer Jenny was closing the door to the paddy wagon, which had a bruised, battered, and barely conscious Butch and Cassidy inside. As it drove off to jail, the two moaned out together, "Looks like we're being carted off again." Cassidy's body was littered with bumps and bruises, courtesy of Raiden. Who would have thought that a Pikachu could hit so hard? Raiden had also added insult to injury, by using a Thunderbolt on her after pounding her into the floor of the storage area. Butch had received even rougher treatment from Ranma who had flattened him and bent his joints in new directions. Ranma and Raiden smiled as they watched the duo being hauled off to jail. As the paddy wagon disappeared into the distance, Officer Jenny approached the two and held out her hand. "I'd like to thank you for helping us catch those Pokemon robbers and finding all the stolen Pokemon." Ranma warmly took her hand and shook it. "No problem. It was just lucky that those two were the same people you were looking for." "By the way, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you for Team Rocket's Drowzee. It is evidence you know." He then released her hand and reached down for the Pokeball that contained Drowzee. Gazing at it for a moment, he nodded while handing her the Pokeball. It wasn't his after all. Officer Jenny took it, then became thoughtful as she considered the handsome teenager before her. "Say… Ranma is it? Why don't you stay awhile? The police department could use someone like you." The pig-tailed martial artist and Pokemon trainer shook his head as he brought out Wildfire's Pokeball. "Nah. My Pokemon and me need to head to the Pewter City Gym for our next badge. Thanks for the offer though. Goodbye. Let's go, Wildfire!" The Pokeball opened up and released the fire-horse. As Wildfire reared back and neighed, Ranma leapt onto his back and grabbed onto the reins. Raiden hopped up onto Ranma's pack and the fiery steed began galloping away at a fast clip. Ranma waved back to Officer Jenny before he was out of sight of her and then urged his mount onward. About twenty or so miles beyond Viridian City, Ranma had decided to stop for the night and set up camp. As he had a fire going, he had decided to let Wind Rider out of his Pokeball. The Pigeotto was perched on a large rock beside Raiden, while Wildfire stood nearby. Ranma was tending to the fire and cooking their dinner in a pot. A few minutes later, the four of them were eating their dinner. For the time being, everything seemed right with the world. Back in Viridian City, in the home of Samantha Ryker, the gym leader in question was busy making preparations for a long journey as well. Her father entered her room, just as Sam closed up her pack. "Looks like you're all set Sam." The girl nodded as she turned to face Joe. "I'll be heading out first thing in the morning, Dad. Are you sure you can handle it while I'm gone?" "No problem. I've wanted to get out of retirement and I think this Pokemon journey is just what you need. You've been battling other trainers nonstop ever since we got the gym." "It's not just that, Dad." Sam blushed a bit, which her father caught. "Oh I see. I had a suspicion that you had another reason for wanting to go on a Pokemon journey." "It's not THAT, Dad! I just want to know how Ranma trained his Pokemon, that's all." "If you say so, Sam." Joe didn't buy it for a minute. He had noticed how his daughter looked at Ranma and he couldn't be happier. She had even admitted to him that he was cute, after a lot of nudging. Sam had become so serious while being the gym leader and Ranma may just what she needed to lighten up. "I'll take care of the gym while you're gone. Be sure to write whenever you can." "I will, Dad." To be continued… Author's notes Well, that takes care of chapter seven. For those of you who think that Ranma should have kept the Drowzee, well I do have some plans for Ranma to get a psychic-type Pokemon in the near future, so don't worry. I just couldn't resist Ranma's own version of the Team Rocket motto as I felt that Butch and Cassidy was long overdue for some punishment.