Chapter 20: Rocket's Evil Glare

As the tall, slender man sat there, waiting impatiently, he can only think about what has happened. He is Jason, son of Giovanni. So far he hasn't been able to live up to his father's name. First he lost the Viridian Gym to Gary Oak, then his cloning experiments were botched, followed by his Cinnabar plan being ruined, and the Pokémon Gala robbery busted, all by a couple of kids! He had to take care of them, and there was only one man who could do it, and that man walked through the door right then and there.
"Good to see you made it." Jason said, with his chair facing the door.
"Thank you. You don't have to worry about that President of China. He's been properly silenced for his foolishness"
"Very good. Now I have another job for you. Do you remember me telling you what happened on Cinnabar and Hell Fire's death?"
"Yes, I do. What about it?"
"Well, it seems that those kids who wrecked the thing also stopped Butch & Cassidy from stealing the Pokémon at the gala. Those two were my best duo, so I'm going to leave the task of taking care of them up to you. Do not fail me." Jason told his agent.
"Don't worry. These pathetic beings will soon be crushed." The large man said as he received a picture of the kids, "So these are those kids. Consider them dead."
"I hope so." Jason said, turning towards his best agent, and watched him leave.
After leaving the office, the large man said to himself, "Hmm. It would be a good idea to test out their strength. First I'll see how well they do against my Devils, then how well they fare against me. Hard to believe a couple of kids could do all this damage, but he should know better than to send his best agent after a couple of kids."
As he walked into his office and sat down on his computer, his large hands furiously typing, he smiled to himself.
"No matter, once I find what I need, then I'll be able to take on bigger fish" he said to himself as he looked over to a poster with the Grand Masters on it. Just thinking about it, the man started laughing insanely. His huge muscles flexing with every laugh. Just then, something appeared on the computer.
"Hmm. The kids are heading for Clamp Isle. This would be a good time to test them out while I find exactly what I'm looking for."
With that, he removed 3 Poké Balls from his belt and started to head for Team Rocket's hangar, heading for Clamp Island.
I was there, finally. After years of labor & training, I am finally here. I looked up and see thousands of screaming people wanting to see the battle, as did I, and as climbed the platform, I could only stand there, frozen, as I saw my opponent: the great Lance: Dragon Trainer. I was so excited, I finally made it to the fight with the Grand Masters! I picked up my Poké Ball, and was about to throw it, when Lance said something, something strange, like he was telling me to get up.
"Yo! Matt! Wake up!" Josh said as he shook me around.
"Huh? What? It was a dream?" I said, still wishing it wasn't a dream.
"We're almost to Clamp Island" Josh said to me as he showed me the map, "We need to stock up on supplies and I heard there's a Gym there"
"What!? A Gym! What are we waiting for? Let's go!" I said, jumping up.
We made it to the island in a little under 30 minutes. I wanted to search for the Gym right away, but Zach said that we needed supplies first. I told my brother that I'd help after I got the badge. Eventually, Zach agreed, so I ran off to find the Gym while the others searched for food stores.
"Hmm, where is it? I guess I should have taken the map with me" I said to myself as I walked around.
As I walked down the street, I noticed something strange. On a large viewable map, it seemed as if there were about 4 different landscapes. There was the main city, a country-like forest to the East, a desert on the other side, and a huge snow-covered mountain in the middle. I found this strange, but then I noticed an area that said "Clamp Gym." I traced the direction and ran off towards it. When I got there, I didn't expect what I saw. The place looked pretty old & beat up, nothing like any of the other Gyms I'd been to. Walking inside, I noticed that the place was kept very clean, but the paint was noticeably worn. It almost looked abandoned. There were two old generators near the wall, while a large, steel, box was planted on the other side. Zubat had no idea what was going on. Just then, someone tapped on my shoulder.
"What are you doing here, kid?" a large, gruff man with spiky, brown, hair asked.
"Umm. I was looking for the Gym Leader." I said with a gulp.
"So, you wanna challenge the Gym Leader, eh? Heh. Do you really think you can beat him?"
I regained my composure then, "Of course I can! I'll beat him and win the badge!"
"Well, you're looking at the leader, and I must say, I haven't been beaten since I opened up"
I gulped again at that, "What? Never!?"
"That's right. If you want to lose, follow me" the Gym Leader said.
I did as he said and walked over to the power generators.
"Now, if you want to beat me, Issui, you'll have to pass two of three ability tests. Think you can handle it?"
"Of course I can! What's the first test?" I asked.
"You need an electric Pokémon. Hook him up to the generator, then the first one to fully power it wins the first round. For this I'll choose my Electabuzz!"
"OK then! Go Raichu!" I shouted.
The two Pokémon were soon hooked up and ready to begin. Both Pokémon used their Thunder attacks to try and power up the generator. Raichu got out to a small lead, but it didn't last long. Both of them became tied soon enough. Electricity poured through the wires into the generators at an alarming rate. Raichu was starting to tire, but Electabuzz was straining as hard as ever. After a few minutes of pressure, Raichu gave a final jolt of electricity which propelled it to the top of the bar and lit the large ball light.
"All right! You won Raichu!" I said as I hugged my mouse.
Issui returned his Electabuzz as I returned my Raichu.
"You were lucky that time. Follow me to the second test." He said.
He lead me to a large steel box. Inside it felt like the North Pole. Issui gave me a parka to wear while inside. After putting on my coat, I noticed two large Ice collumns.
"First one to melt those columns will win. For this one I'll choose my Arcanine!"
"And I'll choose Flareon! Go!"
The two Pokémon squared off, right after Flareon coated itself with flames to warm up. The match began. Both used Flamethrowers, but Arcanine grabbed an early lead due to its size. Flareon had a much harder time reaching the top, but became easier when the collumn melted more. Arcanine's Flame got more intense, but Flareon's was weakening. The low temperature was starting to get to it, and became Flareon's downfall as Arcanine finished off the collumn easily.
"Flareon! You OK buddy? Here, take a rest." I said, holding out my Poké Ball.
"Heh. Guess you weren't as tough as I thought" Issui said.
"You were only lucky! If it wasn't for the freezer I would have won!"
"Whatever. Follow me to the final challenge."
I followed him outside. Zubat was almost frozen inside & out, and was glad to get out of the icebox. Outside were two giant boulders and a flag.
"In order to win, you & your Pokémon must manage to pull that boulder past the flag. First one to do it wins. I'll choose Rhydon for this match!"
"Then I'll choose Graveler!"
The two Pokémon grabbed the rope tied to the rock, then the trainers. An alarm sounded the beginning of the tug of war. Graveler and I pulled with all our might, and could barely edge the giant thing an inch. Issui & Rhydon could fare a little better. I told Graveler to power up with its Strength, and using all four arms, it was able to gain a bit on the other pair. It was a very close race. Both teams could only gain about an inch at a time. After about a half an hour of pulling, both of us reached the flags. An alarm sounded for both signaling that the race entered its final stretch. Graveler and I pulled as hard as we could. Rhydon & Issui were winning, though. Just then, I got an idea, and told Graveler to use its Seismic Toss. Graveler obeyed, and managed to pull the giant rock just enough to launch it 3 feet and made it cross the finish line first. I was excited, but in pain. I thought my arms were gonna be pulled out of my sockets!
"Arg! My first loss! How could this have happened!?" Issui shouted to no one.
"All right! I won! I got the badge!"
Sighing, Issui stood up and walked over to me, "All right, here you are, your Sea Shell Badge"
I jumped up excitedly at the fact that I won. I returned Graveler, said good-bye to Issui, then headed off to find the others. I soon found Josh picking up a soda.
"Hey! I won the badge!" I said, showing Josh.
"Cool. Zach & Megan are down at the mall over there" Josh said, pointing nearby.
The mall was much smaller than the one in Mandarin. There were a lot of people there, indicated by the sheer number of cars. Josh and I were about to go in when the door swung open and we were trampled. Dozens of people ran out screaming, heading for their cars. Josh & I regained our senses and looked inside, and were very surprised. Inside were three Pokémon carrying large bags, looking like robbers. One was pretty tall, all purple, with large claws and a tail, and a mean-looking horn on its head. I recognized it as a Nidoking. The other two were not so easy. One was all black except for white lines around its legs and back. It had a long tail with an arrow on top and two horns with a skull-like collar. The third one was short, and was covered in a brownish-black fur, two very long claws on each hand. It's face looked like a devil cat. I opened up my Pokédex to see what they were. First was the devil dog.
"Houndoom. The Evil/Fire Pokémon. It is said that if you are burned from this Pokémon's flames, the burns will never heal."
"OK. That sounds nice" I said sarcastically as I pointed it over towards the cat.
"Sneasel. The Devil Pokémon. As its name implies, this Pokémon is hard to control and will act on its instinct. It's nails are hidden in its hand and extend when needed."
Suddenly, a huge pile of rocks came out of nowhere, crushing Nidoking, Houndoom & Misdreavus. I looked to see where it came from and saw a sure sign. It was Zach's Golem! The three weren't fazed for long, as they soon got back up and took battle positions.
"Nidoking's a Poison type, so let's see how it does with Psychic powers. Go Butterfree!" Josh yelled.
"Beefreee!" The flying bug shouted as it flew above its opponent.
"Butterfree! Use your Psybeam attack!" Josh shouted.
Butterfree nodded and shot a psychic beam at Nidoking. The purple menace jumped aside then charged up. Its eyes glowed yellow for a second then shot out a bolt of electricity at Butterfree. The bug was hit, and immediately fainted.
"Crap. That thing's got a Thunder attack!" Josh said as he checked on his bug.
Sneasel took this opportunity to attack and leapt at Josh. Its claws were about to strike when it was hit hard. Josh looked over to see Machop.
"Machop! Low Kick! Now!" Megan shouted.
"MaaaaaCHOP!" Machop shouted as it kicked Sneasel hard. The attack stunned Sneasel a bit.
"This is perfect. That thing's weak to Fighting attacks, but Machop's our only fighter!" I said.
Houndoom took this chance to send a Flamethrower toward us, but it was blocked by Golem. Megan & Zach ran over to us.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Well, we were shopping in the mall when we heard lots of screaming. We ran out the shop and saw these three hurting innocent people and stealing all they could." Zach said.
"Well, they're about to be history! Raichu! Graveler! Flareon! Go!"
The three Pokémon took battle positions, but I forgot that they were still tired until it was too late. Nidoking slammed Raichu hard, Houndoom tackled Flareon, and Sneasel slashed Graveler's rock hard skin. It didn't take long for the three to faint. I recalled them and sent out Zubat. Zach called Rhyhorn out to assist, Josh sent out Nidorino, Poliwhirl & Sandslash, while Megan called out Pichu, Vulpix & Nidorina to assist. Golem tried to Mega Punch Houndoom, but the fire dog dodged it easily and Flamethrowered Golem, sending it into Rhyhorn. It coated both Rock types in a Fire Spin, which was more than enough to take the both of them out. Vulpix tried its own flame attack, but it was too weak, and was overcome by Houndoom's Ember.
"Man. That Houndoom must be super strong if it can beat two Rock types and a Fire type with just a Flame attack." Josh said.
The others weren't faring as well. Sneasel slashed Sandslash, then threw it at Nidorina. Both of them ran into the wall and were crushed. The cat then rammed Machop before it could strike, then kicked it through another wall, almost killing it. Meanwhile, Nidoking threw its tail around, slamming Nidorino and throwing it into Josh. Poliwhirl tried to Hydro Pump it, but Nidoking Thundered the water and shocked Poliwhirl. Pichu tried it's own Thunder, but Nidoking grabbed it, and slammed it nearly a foot into the ground. Megan ran over to check on it, while the rest of us recalled our Pokémon.
"Zubat! It's all up to you! Supersonic now!"
Zubat understood, and sent out tons of sonic waves. The three were surprised at first, but Houndoom Fire Blasted the waves, then Sneasel slashed it, then Nidoking jumped on it. Zubat was crushed under Nidoking's intense weight. After checking to see if it could still fight, the three Pokémon left Zubat and focused on us. They had backed us into the wall, when a megaphone was heard.
"This is the police! Come on out or we're coming in!"
Nidoking ran out and thundered all the policemen. Sneasel and Houndoom leaped to attack, but stopped right before taking off. They looked into the sky for a minute, then took off with Nidoking, leaving behind the valuables. None of us knew what just happened, but we knew we got lucky.
"Wow. That was weird." Josh said.
"I wanna know who those Pokémon belong to, and why did they just run off?" I asked.
"First thing we have to do is heal our Pokémon" Megan reminded us.
We all agreed and headed off to the Poké Center. Little did we know, though, that the entire fight was being watched.
"Hmm. Those kids are pretty strong trainers, too bad they had to get involved with Team Rocket. Otherwise they might have lived to see next week."
The tall man sat there, watching the whole thing.
"Now I can see why they managed to foil Team Rocket's schemes. Of course, having pathetic troops head them would have something to do with it too. No matter. I've almost found what I'm looking for. Once I do, the world is mine!"
The man looked over at a folder. It contained what was left from the cloning experiments. The main picture showed a tall cat-like creature, with two ear sticking up, a large forehead, and large, brown eyes. It had a small arc connecting its head to its back, and its chest had three different sections. Its hands had three fingers, each finger looking like little balls. It had a long tail, and a large gut. Its legs were tall and slender, and it looked like it was standing on its toes. The man looked and the photo and laughed.
"Soon my friend, we will meet, and I will conquer everyone who stands in my way" The man said as he stood up and walked outside.
"But on to more important matters. I've got a job to do. Time to give a little charity to a couple of kids." The man said with a smile.

To be continued...

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