Chapter Five: The Lucky Number
Jimmy turned to his Quilava and nodded his head. The Quilava’s flames began to burn brightly and grew larger. Jimmy turned back to Lance and locked his eyes with him.
“There’s no turning back,” Lance chuckled darkly. “I can see you getting nervous. You’re not getting out of here… ever.” He sprinted straight at Jimmy, but just before they collided, Jimmy bent his knees, stretched his leg out, and spun. Lance tripped over the attack and fell face-first on the ground.
“What are you, five? You think just rushing at me will work?” Jimmy taunted. “There’s gotta be more to you than this.”
Lance quickly got to his feet and ran to his Dragonite’s side. “Why don’t we settle this the old-fashioned way, huh?”
The Quilava ran to Jimmy’s side. “You can do this, Quilava. I know it looks intimidating, but I believe in you.” The Quilava nodded its head right back at Jimmy.
The huge dragon spread its wings and flew into the air. The Quilava gathered a ball of fire in its mouth and fired it at the Dragonite, but the Dragonite conjured a gust of wind and sent it right back. The fireball smashed into the ground next to the Quilava, creating an explosion that sent the volcano Pokemon flying. It came crashing back down to the ground but got right back up.
“Hahaha,” Lance laughed. “You think your puny little Pokemon can take on the mighty dragons? Even if your Pokemon does have the 31 gene, it won’t stand a chance!” he smirked.
“What the heck is the 31 gene?” Jimmy thought. He pushed aside the memory momentarily and focused on the battle. “Quilava, use Heat Wave!”
A pulse of heat exerted from the Quilava’s back. There was no fire; it was simply a wave of heat. The Dragonite couldn’t escape from this one. The wave struck the Dragonite, causing it to start sweating and moving slowly.
The Quilava spun around in circles, generating more and more fire after each completed circle. After completing five circles, the Quilava jumped in the air and the fire exploded from the its back, sending it flying straight at the Dragonite with incredible speed.
The Dragonite tried to move away, but the heat wave still affected it. Dipping its head low, the Quilava erupted fire from its back as it collided into the Dragonite's belly, charring almost all of the front side of the dragon. The Dragonite roared in pain as it was sent back, burned and unable to control its flight as it fell right to the ground.
Jimmy and Lance watched attentively. The Quilava had fallen to the ground after the collision and it tried to get up, but its legs shook. The attack drained all of its energy. It could hear footsteps getting closer. It looked up, only to see the dragon towering over it.
The Dragonite picked up the Quilava and threw it at the wall, but the Quilava still had energy left. It slowly got up, but its little legs were trembling. The fire on its back was smaller than it had ever been. The Dragonite flew over to the Quilava and grabbed it. He bear-hugged it strong and shot a blast of fire out of its mouth at the ceiling. It flew through the newly created hole straight into the sky.
Lance smirked at Jimmy. “You overestimated your puny little Quilava. Should have just given up, but no, you had to get your Quilava hurt.”
Suddenly, a sort of ‘click’ sound came from the door Gary had previously locked. About ten grunts all armed with handguns rushed into the building. “Hands in the air, Agent Gold,” one of the grunts commanded.
Jimmy fell to his knees and put his hands in the air. “You won’t get away with this and you know it!” he screamed. The grunts ran over to him and handcuffed him. They escorted him away to a car and threw him into the trunk, but not before giving him a wack over the head with the butt of their handgun, knocking him out.
Lance pulled out his PokeGear and called up Giovanni. “The boy is ours and so is his Pokemon. I sent Dragonite over to you with Quilava. You should start the extraction ASAP.” Lance made his way to the car as well, and Team Rocket drove off.
A few minutes later, a man dropped down from the sky and stood in front of the lighthouse. He turned around and saw fresh tire marks on the ground. He bent down and felt them. Suddenly, his eyes flashed purple and his body shook for a second. Then he levitated into the air and flew off into the clouds.
A different figure was levitating in the sky as well. It was dark and shrouded in shadows, but its bright red eyes darted through.
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A few hours had passed since Professor Oak had parted ways with Jimmy and Gary, and he started to get worried. He pulled out his PokeGear and called Lance.
“Lance, have Gary and Jimmy reported anything? I haven’t heard back from them,” he said.
Lance sighed. “Jimmy is dead. Gary had to go undercover within Team Rocket’s ranks to stay alive. Its best you stay put where you are. We are already sending in an extraction team to get Gary.”
Someone knocked on the door to the JSA base in Goldenrod City, where Professor Oak was staying at. “One second,” Professor Oak shouted. “You can’t be serious Lance. I told you it was too early! The boy was not ready! We just lost our chance to beat Team Rocket for good!”
“I’m sorry Oak, but it was our best shot at catching Team Rocket. Good day,” Lance said as he hung up.
Once again, someone knocked on the door. Professor Oak threw his PokeGear on the ground and went to the door. Three JSA agents were waiting for him there, all armed with M4 assault rifles and wearing a full vest. “Come in agents,” Professor Oak said as he stepped away from the entrance.
The agents walked in and closed the door behind them. Two agents hurried around the base to close any windows and blinds, anything that would cause the outside to be aware. The third agent pulled out a silenced M9 handgun.
“What…what is the meaning of this?” Professor Oak questioned. “I dedicated my whole life to this organization and this is how it treats me? Do you understand the magnitude of your actions right now!” he screamed.
The agent pointed the gun at Professor Oak and pulled the trigger three times. Three bullets entered his chest, sending a splatter of blood on the wall behind him. He fell backwards on the ground, but was still breathing. The agent walked to the side of his body and pointed at his head. “The game has changed.” He fired off another bullet. This time, Professor Oak was motionless. A pool of blood began to form around his body. The agent put the gun back on his holster and walked out, along with his other agents.
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Jimmy slowly regained consciousness. He was in some sort of holding cell, sitting in a chair, and with his hands tied behind his back. A large screen appeared on the wall, which was streaming two other holding cells, Crystal’s and Gary’s. Crystal was unconscious, but Gary was wide awake.
“You let me out of here!” Gary screamed, trying to move around, but it was no use. His hands were tied up just like Jimmy. “I helped you get the Soul Merger, and this is how you treat me?! LIKE THIS?! You are ALL going to pay for this!”
The streaming ended. Instead, Giovanni was put on the screen. “Hello, Jimmy. Good to see you’re awake,” he said. “I have both Crystal and Gary in captivity, which I’m sure you’re aware of. I’m at quite the predicament, though. I have no clue what to do with them. Tell me, what should I do?”
“You let Crystal go!” he said angrily. “As for Gary…do what you want.”
“That was harsh, but thank you for your advice,” Giovanni said. “I wasn’t sure what to do with Gary, but I’m glad I now have the permission to do whatever I want to him. He’s just such a whiny bi-, excuse me.”
Now, the streaming of Gary’s room was playing in full screen. Giovanni walked into the room and untied Gary.
“What the heck is your problem Giovanni? I HELPED YOU! I BROUGHT YOU THE SOUL MERGER AND I HELPED YOU!” Gary shouted.
Giovanni chuckled. “Watch closely, Jimmy,” he said as he pulled out an M9 handgun. “You see, Gary, there’s something in this world that we call ‘assets’. We use these assets, and then we take them out once we don’t need them anymore. I think it’s time you come to terms with your death now.”
Gary’s eyes widened and his legs began to shake. “No…no…no! No this wasn’t supposed to happen!” Gary said as he sprinted towards the door. He tried to open it, but it was locked.
“Is this really how you want to die? Scared and alone?” Giovanni asked. “Such a shame.” He fired off two bullets into Gary’s chest. He fell to the ground, just like his grandfather had.
Jimmy looked away from the screen. Suddenly, the alarm went off. Jimmy looked up at the screen. Giovanni left Gary there to bleed out as he rushed out of the room.
A man came crashing through the entrance of the Rocket base. He opened up his palms and generated flames. The Rocket guards tried to pull out their guns, but the man fired a frenzy of flames at them, burning them alive.
The door to the next room in the base was locked, so the man punched the door. The door blasted open, but the man waited before he walked through. He put his index and middle finger on his head and closed his eyes. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared and reappeared at the end of the next room. All the Rocket grunts already had their guns pointed at the entrance, but none of them had the slightest clue of their enemy’s capabilities, and that he was standing right behind them.
The man put his palms together and then extended them forward. A large blast of electricity flew outwards, shocking every single guard. He turned around and continued to the next room. One of the guards came rushing at him, but with the flick of his wrist, the guard went flying. He took out every single guard that came at him until he reached Jimmy’s holding cell. He slammed open the door and untied Jimmy.
“Who are you?” Jimmy asked.
“I’ll explain later. Right now, we need to get to their laboratory room. They are holding your Quilava and have already replicated the 31 gene,” the man exclaimed. Both of them rushed out of the room and sprinted down the hallways until they reached the laboratory.
Giovanni had just exited through the back entrance of the base. He was holding a test tube filled with the 31 gene and had Lance by his side. The two men entered a helicopter and flew off.
Back in the laboratory room, Jimmy and the unknown man were searching for any remnants of the 31 gene tests, but there was nothing left. Jimmy continued searching and opened up a cabinet, but what he found was horrifying. He found the Quilava’s body all beaten and shot to death. He pulled it out and held it close to him as tears flowed down eyes.
“Here, give Quilava to me,” the man said as he accepted the Quilava and put it on the ground. He closed his eyes and his palms began to shine brightly. He put his hands on the Quilava and after a bright flash of light, the Quilava opened its eyes again.
“How…how did you do that?” Jimmy asked.
“Jimmy,” the man paused. “My name is Red. And I am a Soul Merger, like you.”
“I’ve heard about you, Red. People kept saying that I was the new savior. That I would save the world…but why? Why have you returned now?” he asked.
“After I had found out that JSA was completely corrupt, I set out to work on my own,” Red said. “I couldn’t trust anyone. Not even my own partner, Gary. This wasn’t the first time he worked with Team Rocket. It was only a matter of time before they would kill him and his grandfather.”
“Professor Oak..he’s dead too? This is all because of me. If I hadn’t rushed into this so quickly, things could have gone better…” he said looking down at the ground.
“Don’t blame yourself,” Red said. “But we can’t think about the past right now. We have to think fast. Team Rocket escaped with the 31 gene and we have to find it fast.”
“Before we go any further, what is the 31 gene?” he asked curiously.
“Pokemon have a certain gene that determines how powerful they are and how fast they are going to evolve. After many Pokemon studies, they made a scale. 0 were Pokemon that were extremely weak and were most likely never going to evolve. 30 were Pokemon that were very strong and were going to evolve very quickly. However, Professor Elm and many other scientists brought up the theory of the 31 gene. After lots of studies based around the 30 gene, they realized that it was still not the maximum rate. But they studied every Pokemon they could and none showed any gene above 30. So they set out on a mission to genetically create the 31 gene. One special day, Professor Elm must have come up with the secret to the 31 gene, so Team Rocket killed him and stole the three test subjects for their own use,” Red said. “And now that Team Rocket has the 31 gene, who knows what they plan to do with it.”
“I don’t understand still,” Jimmy said. “Didn’t they steal a two other Pokemon from the lab as well? Why would they need my Quilava?”
Red pulled out two PokeBalls from his pocket. “Well, I couldn’t let Team Rocket get away with these suckers. It would have been way too dangerous.”
“But something still doesn’t make sense,” Jimmy questioned. “Why would Team Rocket take these Pokemon to Ecruteak City and start digging? There has got to be some sort of secret back at Ecruteak City and the Burnt Tower. We have to go back there.”
Red put his two fingers on his head and disappeared. He reappeared moments later with Crystal in his hands. “If what you say is right, then we have to go investigate whatever is going on down there. We’ll drop Crystal off at the PokeCenter, there’s no reason for her to be involved in this.” Red held Crystal with one hand and put his two fingers on his head. “Hold my hand.”
Jimmy put his hand on Red’s hand, and they teleported to Ecruteak PokeCenter, where they dropped off Crystal and left a note for her, which read, “Red and Jimmy saved you from Team Rocket. Stay at the PokeCenter until we return and rest.”
Jimmy and Red made their way to the Burnt Tower. “This is it,” Jimmy said. “Whatever we find here should lead us to our next location.” Jimmy walked forward, leading the way.
A dark smile grew on Red’s face. “The boy knows nothing, and soon, the plan will fall right into place,” Red thought as he followed Jimmy into the Burnt Tower.
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Gary woke up on the floor of his holding cell. He put his hand on his chest, but the bullet wounds were gone. “Was it all a dream?” he thought, but he shook his head. “No, it felt too real.” However, the pain was still there; an unbearable throbbing pain.
A ticking sound, almost like that of a bomb, was stuck in his head. Tick…tick...tick…over and over and over. “What the heck is going on with me? WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME GIOVANNI? WHAT?!” The shouting echoed throughout the holding cell.
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Team Rocket’s helicopter landed at one of their bases at an unknown location. Giovanni and Lance exited the helicopter and headed inside to the laboratory.
Giovanni placed the test tube with the 31 gene on the counter. “I want this gene to be put inside me and Lance, and then replicated and sealed off in a secure location, is that understood?”
The scientist nodded his head. He took out a syringe and filled it with the 31 gene. “Hold still,” the scientist said as he inserted the gene into Giovanni’s and Lance’s body. Both of them screamed out in pain. The gene was already working.
“Do you feel that power flowing within you Lance?” Giovanni asked. “That is the power Pokemon feel within them every day. And that is the power the Soul Merger feels as well.”
Lance got up slowly and pulled out Dragonite’s PokeBall. “Me and you Dragonite…we will become one!” He let Dragonite out and placed his hand on Dragonite’s head. After a bright flash of light, Dragonite was gone. Lance clenched his fists and looked back at Giovanni. “I…am a God. Thank you Giovanni. You have created Gods.”
A surge of energy pulsed through Lance’s brain. The strength of Dragonite flowed through his veins. In one palm, he held a ball of fire, and in the other, a ball of electricity. All around him, gusts of wind shot out. He held his palm into the air and shot a blast of fire, creating a hole in the roof. He flew straight up into the sky and watched the world below him.
“The Soul Merger stands no chance against my power. A whole army of Soul Mergers along with 31 gene Pokemon will send him running home to his mother, or to his grave,” Lance thought. “And when he is defeated, nothing will stand in our way to taking over Johto…and the rest of the world.”
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Well, I know I haven't updated in like 4 months but I suddenly got inspiration to start writing again and this is what I was able to come up with. All comments and criticisms are appreciated. I hope you enjoy. =)
EDIT: Chapter Five is being improved grammatically still with the help of Zyflair, so it will be looking better soon!