Chapter Text
"Dragonair, Dragon Rage!" Dragonair reared up and let forth a burst of bluish-purplish flames, which roared towards Gyarados.
"Gyarados, Surf!" A large wave erupted from the water, and Gyarados rode it until it smashed over the dragon pokemon. The attack did little damage.
"Slam!" shouted Andrew. Over the past several days, he had worked hard to train his pokemon. Initially, he had focused mainly on Dratini and Machop, getting them caught up to his other pokemon. Both had evolved. Andrew insisted on giving Machoke some time to get used to itself as a machoke before trading it with Jake's graveler. Eventually, however, they traded their pokemon back and forth, so that Machoke evolved into Machamp and Graveler evolved into Golem.
"Surf!" Jake repeated. For his part, he hadn't been as concerned with even training, and Charizard was a good bit stronger than the rest of his team. However, his other pokemon were still coming along nicely.
Dragonair easily withstood another attack. Andrew loved how well it could resist so many common types of moves. "Alright, are you ready, Dragonair?"
They had also visited the power plant east of the Rock Tunnel, having been told it would be a good place to train Nidoking and Golem. Although they hadn't been able to access the entirety of the plant, they had explored a good part of it, and Andrew had found a valuable TM.
"Thunder!" The orbs on Dragonair's throat and tail glowed, and electricity pulsed around its body. There was a loud crash of thunder above, and a large bolt of lightning shot out of the sky and struck Gyarados. It landed in the water with a loud splash.
Jake grimaced, recalling his pokemon.
"That was awesome!" The brothers turned to Kyo, who was standing with his sisters higher up on the beach. He turned to Janine. "Can Venonat learn Thunder?" His venonat looked up at the question, chittering.
"I'm afraid not," Janine replied.
Kyo looked disappointed. "Well, I'm going to catch a pokemon that can learn Thunder."
Lisa gave her brother a knowing look. "Perhaps you can find one in the Safari Zone."
"When you're ready," Janine added.
Andrew and Jake walked up the beach towards them. "Is it about time for lunch?" Andrew asked. His stomach told him that it was.
Janine rolled her eyes, smirking. "Just about. Come on." She led the way to the gym.
As they walked, Andrew glanced at Lisa, but she ignored his look. After that wonderful day with the wrestling and the kiss on the cheek, she had withdrawn, dashing his hopes that something might begin between them. Instead, she had gone back to her reserved, aloof self.
Now wasn't the time to worry about that, however. Once Team Rocket was dealt with, he would try again to break through her walls.
As they ate lunch at the gym, Andrew realized that he felt much more comfortable here now than he had that first night. Koga was still paying a disproportionate amount of attention to him, but he understood why.
"You have been training well," said Koga, looking at the brothers.
"We've been training a lot," said Jake. "I think we're ready to fight Team Rocket."
"I'm not sure the same can be said for a lot of the other trainers in the city," said Janine. "They need more time."
"Team Rocket will not give them forever," said Koga. "It is only a matter of time before Giovanni learns of the activity here, if he hasn't already. Then he will most certainly act."
Andrew saw Lisa watching her father, perhaps trying to understand the exact history between Giovanni and her parents.
"We'll stop him," Jake said resolutely.
Koga looked at Jake, saying nothing.
After lunch, the brothers and Lisa stepped back outside. "Let's take a break and head over to the PC," Andrew suggested. "I want to give Vulpix some attention." His other pokemon in the PC could use some fresh air as well.
"You don't think lunch was a break?" Lisa asked, smirking.
He glanced at her. "It's nice to just relax with pokemon sometimes, you know."
"I know. We're supposed to be training right now, though."
Despite her comments, they found themselves walking to the pokemon center. When they entered, they were surprised to find the place in an uproar.
"What's happening?" Jake asked a trainer near the entrance.
"The PC won't work. It's just showing an image of Porygon."
"Porygon?" Andrew frowned, wondering what that was. They pushed through the crowd towards the PC.
Ash and Gary were there, frowning at the machine. Andrew looked over their shoulders. The screen was a dull gray color, and there was a small sprite of what looked like a strange pokemon at the center of it.
"This has to be Team Rocket," said Ash. "They're using Porygon to attack the PC system through cyberspace."
"They must have found out what we're doing," said Gary. Andrew looked at him, thinking about what Koga had said.
"Do you think our PC accounts have been deleted?" Jake asked.
"No, I don't think they can do that," Gary replied. "But they've cut off the accounts. All of our pokemon in the PC are locked away for now."
Andrew thought of Vulpix and Butterfree, and his stomach tightened.
"We have to stop them," said Ash. He turned to the crowd. "It's time to attack!"
There was a mixed reaction from the crowd. Andrew wondered how many of the trainers actually had their strongest pokemon with them at the moment. It was fortunate that he and Jake did.
Ash began striding through the crowd to lead the way out of the pokemon center. Gary turned to the brothers. "This was unexpected, and rather brilliant on Giovanni's part. Many of these trainers might not have their strongest pokemon with them right now." He looked from one brother to the other. "I have a feeling we're going to have to do a lot of the fighting. Are you ready?"
"Yes," Jake replied immediately. Andrew nodded.
"Then let's go," said Gary. They followed the crowd out.
Once they were outside, Lisa tapped Andrew's shoulder. "I have to go to the gym to let everyone know what's happening. I'll meet you in Saffron."
"Alright," Andrew replied. He watched as Lisa ran back towards the gym, then turned to see Gary watching him.
Saying nothing, Gary let out his pidgeot, and Andrew let out his own. Jake let out Charizard.
"Ready?" Ash shouted, already astride his own charizard. "Let's go!"
Andrew had half-expected some kind of rallying speech from the trainer, but perhaps the porygon attack had dashed that plan. Everyone was anxious to get their pokemon back.
He climbed onto Pidgeot and lifted off, rising amidst a cloud of other trainers on their flying pokemon.
* * *
As the tall buildings of Saffron came into view on the horizon, Gary flew up to the front, alongside Ash. The brothers followed, and soon the two charizards and two pidgeots were leading the force behind them. "Let's do this," said Ash. His charizard sped up a little. Jake leaned forward a little, and his own charizard sped up alongside Ash's.
As they reached the city, a bolt of electricity erupted from the nearest building. "Look out!" shouted Gary, barely managing to dodge the bolt on his pidgeot. He looked down. "They have electrodes on top of the buildings!"
Jake looked down, seeing large, white circles on the roofs. There were Rockets on the roofs as well, and they pointed up at the trainers. The electrodes turned towards them.
"Dodge!" shouted Ash. The trainers scattered as electrical attacks raced towards their pokemon.
Jake made straight for the nearest roof. "Flamethrower!" he shouted, pointing to the electrode. He felt the power course through the pokemon beneath him as it attacked.
Once the electrode was knocked out, Jake rose again, looking around for Andrew. He found his brother aiming for another roof. Pidgeot landed, and Andrew let out Nidoking. After absorbing an attack, Nidoking quickly knocked out the electrode. Andrew recalled it and took off again.
Jake turned to see a bolt of electricity racing towards him. He dodged just in time, then aimed Charizard toward the attacker. "Flamethrower!"
Many of the trainers had landed below, and pokemon were battling in the streets. Jake contemplated joining them for a moment, but decided it would be best to take out as many electrodes as he could first to protect other trainers flying in.
As he flew over to the next building, however, Ash and Gary intercepted him. "We'll take care of the electrodes," said Gary. "You should go over to the gyms and get help from the trainers in there. My guess is they're more than ready to fight against the people who have trapped them in their own city."
"Where are the gyms?" Jake asked. The fact that there was more than one gym was puzzling, but there wasn't time for that question.
"In the northeast corner of the city." Gary pointed. "Andrew is already heading that way."
Jake nodded and took off. He flew lower, weaving in between the buildings so as not to be attacked by the electrodes. Soon, he saw Andrew, and caught up to his brother.
As they reached the northeast corner of the city, they found an open area infested with Rockets. The Rockets were having a bunch of raticates fighting each other. As the brothers landed, the Rockets and their pokemon turned towards them.
Jake let out Primeape, and Andrew let out Machamp. The raticates lunged at them, and they began knocking out their attackers in earnest. The raticates were no match for the powerful fighting-type pokemon.
Seeing that they were losing, the Rockets turned and fled. The brothers looked up and saw two gyms sitting side-by-side. They ran into the nearest one, which was the smaller of the two.
Inside, they found a single room, with two pokemon they hadn't seen before fighting each other in the center of it. Men in martial arts uniforms were sitting cross-legged around the room, watching them.
At the back of the room, a single man was standing. He looked up at the brothers in surprise. "How did you get in here?" Then he looked at Primeape and Machamp. "Hitmonlee! Hitmonchan! Stop!"
The two pokemon in the center of the room stopped fighting and turned towards them. Jake wondered if he and Andrew were going to have to fight them.
"You are here to drive Team Rocket from the city?" the man asked. The brothers nodded in unison. "You must be powerful if you have made it this far. We will aid you. Come, brothers, it is time to free our city."
He strode across the room, and the hitmonlee and hitmonchan fell into step on either side of him. The other trainers around the room stood up.
As the brothers exited the gym behind the man and his pokemon, they saw more Rockets running towards them.
"Attack!" shouted the man. The hitmonlee immediately leaped forward as the Rockets sent out their pokemon. The hitmonchan was not far behind, and Primeape and Machamp quickly went to aid them. Jake noticed that Primeape had attempted to imitate the hitmonlee's leap through the air, though it hadn't managed to get as far.
Suddenly, several of the Rockets' pokemon flew into the air, knocked backwards by an unseen force. Jake looked over to see a large Alakazam in front of the other gym, accompanied by a woman who must have been Sabrina. Other trainers and psychic pokemon were behind her.
Together, the fighting-type and psychic-type pokemon began to drive the Rockets steadily backwards. As the brothers fought their way through the city, they saw more of the trainers that had come from Fuschia skirmishing with Rockets. Others were still in the sky above, battling the electrodes.
Then Jake had a sudden thought emerge in his mind. Giovanni was in Silph Tower, the tallest tower in the center of the city. Turning, he saw Sabrina looking at him. She nodded, and he nodded back, then turned to Andrew. "I know where Giovanni is."
"What?" Andrew frowned. "How?"
"Sabrina. Let's go." He led his brother down a nearby street, aiming for the center of the city. He could feel the psychic watching through his eyes, navigating his movements. It was a weird feeling, but it was helpful. Then he felt her withdraw, and he looked up to see a massive building in front of him.
There were three Rockets outside. As the brothers approached, they sent out a grimer, a nidorina, and a parasect. Jake sent out Golem. "Magnitude!" Golem launched itself at the trio of opponents, landing right in front of them. The ground shook violently, and both the grimer and the nidorina were knocked out.
The parasect attacked Golem, but could do little damage against the rock pokemon's strong defenses. Suddenly, Pidgeot was there as well, and struck the parasect with a Wing Attack, knocking it out. Jake turned and nodded to Andrew.
Running past the Rockets, the brothers made to enter the building. "Wait up!" They turned to see Lisa running towards them, her golbat flying behind her.
"You made it," said Andrew.
"Of course I did."
They entered the building, finding themselves in a vast lobby with a large fountain in the middle. It would have been quite inviting, but since the fountain was not running and the whole room was deserted, it was instead rather ominous.
Climbing the stairs in the far corner of the lobby, they began searching the upper floors, battling any Rockets they found. Soon, they came across a glowing circle on the floor.
"What do you think this is?" Andrew asked, kneeling down and examining the tile.
"Only one way to find out," said Lisa. She stepped into the circle, and abruptly disappeared.
"What?" Jake looked around. Andrew quickly stepped into the circle himself, and disappeared as well.
Frowning, Jake hesitated for a moment, then stepped into the circle. It felt like he was shooting up into the air, until suddenly he was standing in a circle in a different place.
He quickly jumped out of the circle, grabbing onto Andrew. "They're teleporters?"
"Apparently," Andrew replied. "I don't know how that can work."
"No worse than those awful spinner tiles in their base in Celadon," Lisa muttered.
"He he, I agree with you there." They turned to see a Rocket watching them. He was leaning back against the wall, his arms crossed.
"Where's Giovanni?" Jake demanded.
"Heh, you think I'm gonna tell ya?" The Rocket stood up straight, lifting a pokeball. "I'll tell you this, though. You're gonna have to step on several more of those warp tiles to find him. And you never know where you'll wind up." He chuckled darkly. "Or what will be waiting for you." With that, he let out a Koffing.
Jake sent out Charizard. "Flamethrower!" Charizard quickly knocked the Koffing out, but not before it had released some of its smelly gas into the room. Charizard flapped its wings to blow the gas away from itself.
Covering their noses, the trainers left the defeated Rocket behind and continued searching. Soon, they came across a locked door. "I suppose we'll need a key as well to get around?" said Andrew.
"Maybe one of these Rockets will kindly drop it for us, like last time," said Lisa.
They continued on, stepping on several more warp tiles and battling several more Rockets, until they found themselves in front of a narrow corridor that they could only fit through one at a time.
"You go first," Lisa said to Jake, frowning at the small space. "You can get through there fastest."
Grimacing, Jake stepped into the narrow space. As he walked, he put his hands against the walls on either side, making sure they weren't going to close in on him.
Something glinted on the floor. He frowned, squinting. Walking over to the object, he picked it up. It was a small card with a swipe strip on it. "This might be the key."
"Huh?" Andrew was well behind him, moving slowly.
"I think I found the key," said Jake. "And this corridor doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Let's go back to one of those locked doors."
Andrew sighed, then turned around with some difficulty. "We're going back the way we came," he said to Lisa.
"Ugh, fine." They began progressing slowly back up the narrow corridor. Jake waited for a moment before following them.
Once they were out, Lisa turned to Jake. "We better not have to go all the way through there after all."
"Come on, let's find one of the locked doors and see what's behind it." They retraced their steps until they found one of the locked rooms they had passed, and Jake opened the door.
It was a storage room. "Well, there are a few useful items in here," said Andrew, looking around. "But it's certainly not the way forward."
They collected the items, then tried another door. Inside, there was another Rocket and a warp panel.
They continued on, unlocking more doors in their way, until they found themselves in a large conference room. There were papers scattered across the tables, and a single person inside. He wasn't dressed in Team Rocket attire, but he frowned when they entered. "What? There shouldn't be any children in here. Are you the little mice I heard crawling around in the wall just now?" With that, he sent out a kadabra.
Lisa sent out her gengar. While she battled the non-uniformed Rocket, the brothers looked at the papers on the table. Jake saw the mention of Porygon on one of them. "This mentions Porygon."
Andrew walked over and looked over his shoulder. "It was created by the pokemon lab here? As the first virtual reality pokemon?"
"A pokemon that can invade computers. What a great idea," Jake muttered.
Lisa defeated the Rocket. "Ha, fine," he snapped. "But you're only on the fifth floor. It's a long way to the boss."
"The way these warp panels work, it probably doesn't matter what floor we're on," said Andrew. "We're hardly climbing one by one." He picked up the report that talked about Porygon.
There was a locked door behind the Rocket. Jake went and unlocked it, finding a man sitting on the floor in a small side room.
He quickly stood as the door opened, grabbing his glasses as they threatened to fall down his nose. "Ha, I knew someone was coming. I heard the commotion outside. Team Rocket was in an uproar over some intruder. That's you, right?"
Jake nodded. "It's us. You can leave now."
The man gratefully stepped out of his little room.
"Hang on a sec," said Andrew, holding up the report. "Do you know where the pokemon lab is?"
"The lab?" The man frowned. "What do you need to go there for? If you're looking for Giovanni, he'll be up on the top floor with the President."
"First we need to stop Porygon. Team Rocket used it to disable the PC system."
The man's eyes widened. "If they're using Porygon, it won't be in the lab. It will be in the server room. Follow me." He led them out of the conference room and down a corridor, stepping on a warp panel. There was a Rocket waiting at the other end. Jake battled him.
"So, what's your name?" Andrew asked their guide.
"Jeffery."
"Pleased to meet you, Jeffery. I'm Andrew, and this is Jake."
"And I'm Lisa."
"You look familiar." Jeffery squinted at her. "But, it's like I saw you a long time ago. You're too young for that to be the case."
Jake turned as Golem defeated the Rocket's magnemite. "Giovanni said she looked like her mother."
"Her mother?" Jeffery considered this. Then he abruptly turned. "Come, we should carry on." He went up to a locked door and began patting his pockets. "Key... key... where did I put it?"
Jake glanced at Lisa, who looked uncomfortable. He walked over to Jeffery and offered the key. "Here."
Jeffery looked at him in surprise. "Thank you." He took the key and unlocked the door, then led them through another room and into the corridor beyond it. There was another Rocket, and Lisa quickly stepped forward to battle him, perhaps letting out some frustration.
Then Jeffery unlocked a pair of doors in quick succession, and they found themselves in a room with beds.
"Jeffery," said a woman standing between the beds.
"Anna," Jeffery replied, walking over to her. "Are you okay?"
"Fine, but I was trapped in here for ages." The woman looked at the trainers. "Are you our saviors? You're rather young."
"They battle quite well," said Jeffery.
"Well, your pokemon look tired. They should take a quick rest." With that, she revealed a healing machine.
"Thank you," said Andrew.
"So, what are the beds for?" Jake asked as their pokemon were healed.
"Sometimes we have to pull late nights here," Anna explained. "The work can be round the clock from time to time."
"That sounds awful."
Jeffery chuckled. "It sure is, but I'm sure you'll have to do it someday."
"I hope not," Jake muttered, not willing to think about that. With their pokemon healthy, they continued on.
Through a few more locked rooms and past a couple more Rockets, they stepped onto a warp panel and found themselves face-to-face with Gary.
"What kept you?" he asked. "Ha, I knew you'd turn up if I waited here. I guess Team Rocket slowed you down." He faltered as Lisa appeared from the warp panel.
"Who are you?" Jeffery asked.
"My name's Gary. I'm here to take down Team Rocket."
"Then why were you waiting for us?" Jake asked, a little angry at the condescending tone Gary had used before Lisa appeared.
"Ha, I just figured I shouldn't have all the fun." His eyes fell on Lisa again. "I'm glad you made it here."
"Come on," said Jake. He glanced at Jeffery, who led them onto another warp panel. They found themselves in a long corridor. Jeffery made for a locked door about halfway along it. There was a humming noise from the other side of the door.
The door opened, and heat emanated from the dim room. They walked in to find the room crowded with computer servers.
"That's... a lot," said Andrew.
They walked among the servers until they found the porygon. It was hooked up to several wires which trailed from the nearest servers, and was facing away from them.
"Now what do we do?" asked Andrew.
"Take it down," said Gary.
"Is it that simple?"
Jake sent out Primeape. "Karate Chop!" Primeape lunged forward.
Just before it could strike, however, the porygon spun around. A beam of bright light shot from the tip of its face, striking Primeape. Primeape was sent flying back the way it had come, and landed at Jake's feet, unconscious.
"It knows Hyper Beam?" Gary sounded somewhat awestruck. "That's an incredibly powerful attack."
Jake frowned, and sent out Golem, hoping its greater defenses would hold up against the powerful pokemon. "Rock Tomb."
The porygon used a different attack, this time sending out three waves of red, yellow, and blue light, which swirled around each other in the air. Golem withstood the attack, and hurled rocks at the porygon. Before the rocks struck, however, the porygon disappeared.
"Where did it go?" Jake asked.
"It's connected to the servers," said Jeffery, "so it can move through cyber space." He looked around. "It will turn up again."
They started searching again. As they passed within sight of the entrance to the room, a pair of Rockets spotted them, and ran in. "Hey, you!"
Andrew and Lisa stepped forward to battle them, while the rest kept searching.
"There it is!" said Gary. Jake ran over. Gary sent out a flareon. "Flamethrower!"
Before the flames could reach, the porygon disappeared again.
"This is going to be tricky," said Jeffery, looking around again.
They searched again. Andrew and Lisa finished off the Rockets, then returned to the group. They encountered the porygon twice more, but again it disappeared before any damage could be done to it.
Andrew looked at the servers. "I have an idea." Then he let out Machamp. "Machamp, use Strength to push all the servers against each other. Porygon won't have anywhere to hide." Sparks flew as Machamp began pushing aside the servers.
Soon, the hiding places in the room began disappearing. Jake wished that Primeape were able to help out to make this go faster, but instead, he sent Golem back out to take down the porygon as soon as it was vulnerable. The porygon repeatedly appeared, but it would vanish again just as quickly once Golem or Gary's flareon attacked.
"It's still connected to the servers," Jeffery muttered. "It will keep jumping all around the room, even if it's in plain sight."
Jake felt his frustration rise. Turning to the machines, he sent out Raichu. "Raichu, use Thunderbolt on the servers!"
Machamp jumped out of the way as Raichu attacked. The lightning struck the machines, and suddenly, everything glowed. Electricity raced back and forth between the servers, and then sparks began erupting everywhere.
Porygon appeared in the center of the room. "Now!" shouted Gary. Golem and Machamp both lunged at the pokemon, while Flareon shot a Flamethrower at it. Everything struck at once, and there was an explosion of white light which engulfed everything in the room.
