Chapter 20: Team Rocket vs. Team Flare
I landed near a Pokémon Center in Lumiose and stopped in to heal my Pokémon before making my way to Chaos Jackal's café. Not a Team Flare member was in sight, but the staff at the café were giving me dirty looks. When I asked about Chaos Jackal, I was challenged to a battle; the wait staff was Team Flare members in disguise! I quickly beat them both and learned the secret of the hidden entrance, making my way to the Team Flare Headquarters beneath the café.
Waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs was Chaos Jackal himself, dressed in all of his orange glory. "Welcome!" he greeted me, flashing me a charming smile. Oddly, he seemed less creepy now that his secret was out of the bag. I guess his face just fits for a world destroying sort of guy.
"What a surprise meeting you here." I rolled my eyes.
"You must understand, Jessie. This world will eventually reach the point of no return... Saving the lives of all is impossible. Only the chosen ones will obtain a ticket to tomorrow. Do you want to have a ticket? Or, do you want to stop me?"
"Look," I said, exasperated, "if you're going to give me some long speech about your plans, you can forget it. I don't care. I'm just here to stop you."
He grinned widely and held up a Poké Ball. "Show me."
I was honestly expecting Chaos Jackal to have a more impressive team than he did. I beat down his unevolved Mienfoo with a few crunches, Surfed my way past Pyroar, and took down both Gyarados and Murkrow with a pair of Thunderbolts. I didn't even break a sweat.
""Wah ha ha! Your convictions, and those of your Pokémon, please me!" Chaos jackal chuckled as he recalled his Murkrow. "You are here to stop me. But I ask you to wait. I tried to save people--"
"Can it." I held up a hand to cut him off mid-speech. "I already told you I'm not interested. The world's a piece of shit, I know. Trust me, I probably understand that better than most people. You don't need to justify yourself to me. The only part of your little plan that I have a problem with your plan is that it's Team Flare doing it. As far as I've been able to tell, you all are nothing but a bunch of rich losers with bad fashion sense. If there's going to be anyone taking over this stinking world and making something better out of it, it's going to be Team Rocket."
"Oho!" Chaos Jackal stood straighter, intrigued by my outburst. "Don't tell me, you were sent here all the way from Kanto by Giovanni? Most interesting."
I smirked. "Of course. Not only that, but I've made mincemeat out of every single Team Flare member that I've come across, you included. Your pitiful Team Flare can't hold a candle to the greatness that is Team Rocket." I probably shouldn't have broken cover, but I felt a weight lift from my chest regardless proclaiming my true intentions. I squashed an irrational desire to go into the motto; after all, it wouldn't be quite the same just by myself, anyway.
Chaos Jackal shrugged. "Try to stop the ultimate weapon if you must, but to do so, you will have to explore our lab and have Pokémon battles with all you meet. If we're all so easy to beat compared to the wonders of Team Rocket, that should be a piece of cake for you, I'm sure. Oh, and as for the Elevator Key, one of the Team Flare Scientists you've met on your journey has it." He lifted a hand in farewell and exited onto the elevator, leaving me standing there on the first basement floor.
A floor filled with spinner tiles. I groaned. At least I'd gotten plenty of practice using them back in the old Team Rocket headquarters. I hoped I wouldn't puke.
As Chaos Jackal promised, there were plenty of Team Flare grunts to block my path, and a few scientists too, but I bullied my way through all of them, following the path and trying to figure one which one of these bright-haired weirdos had the key so I could move on in this stupid place. They liked to talk, though, and I learned a bit more about their plans and the weapon they hoped to use. I finally managed to grab the key from the blue-haired one, the same scientist I'd just fought in the Frost Caverns. She smiled as she handed me the key and waved goodbye. I couldn't help but feel that they were just trying to steal my time.
I made my way back to the entrance and down a floor to the next part of the basement where I found Chaos Jackal standing next to a cell block holding an incredibly tall man who seemed vaguely familiar looking. Chaos Jackal introduced the man as AZ and then left, telling me to meet him in his office. I went to turn and follow him, but AZ called me back for a moment. I didn't think Chaos Jackal would do anything without me there to watch him and hear him tell about how glorious his plans were, so I hung back to listen to AZ for a bit.
"Listen, one who will face Lysandre…" he began. "A terribly long time ago, there was a man and a Pokémon. He loved that Pokémon very much. A war began. The man's beloved Pokémon took part in the war. Several years passed. He was given a tiny box. The man wanted to bring the Pokémon back, no matter what it took. The man built a machine to give it life. He brought his beloved Pokémon back. The man had suffered too much. His rage had not subsided. He could not forgive the world that had hurt the Pokémon he loved. He turned the machine into the ultimate weapon. The man became a bringer of destruction that ended the war. The Pokémon that was given life must have known that the lives of many Pokémon were taken to restore its life. The resurrected Pokémon left the man. Get the key back. It should not be used. Everything will vanish again. Do you want to know unending pain…like I have?"
I stared at him blankly. "You killed thousands of people and Pokémon just because you were pissed off that a Pokémon you loved, who had chosen of its own volition to fight knowing the consequences, was killed in a battle? You're a terrible selfish asshole. I can see why your Pokémon left you."
Without waiting for a response, I turned around and went back towards the elevator to get to Chaos Jackal's office. All of these people were crazy.
I found Chaos Jackal standing next to a bald, fat man in a scientist's jacket in a room filled with complicated machinery and a humongous monitor screen. When he heard me enter, he turned to face me and smiled. "Jessie, you're just in time! The only thing left to do is put the plan in motion. I'm counting on you. One push of a button, and we can activate the ultimate weapon from this room."
"I already told you, Team Flare doesn't deserve to have anything better than a kick in the pants."
"But, Jessie, didn't you hear me? I said we. Surely you must realize that I could not neglect a woman as talented as yourself. While you were battling my scientists, I did some digging around and managed to pull up your dossier. Such a boring life, really, living as a grunt in Team Rocket for all these years, when you have so much talent and potential! Surely, that talent would be much better off put to use in an organization that would treasure and support you.
I believe being a chosen one such as yourself means you have the potential to change the future! As such, I would like to formally invite you to join Team Flare, entrance fees waived, of course. You can choose to join and we'll proceed as planned, or... if you'd rather continue this folly of yours and go back to living as a grunt in Team Rocket, that of course is your choice, too. Whether we activate the ultimate weapon or leave it safely underground will rest on you."
With a wave of his hand, Chaos jackal left, leaving me to battle the fat scientist, a pushover. He giggled as he withdrew his last Pokémon, blathering about the power of the ultimate weapon and finally inviting me to make my choice. "Choose the red button to join Team Flare and help us achieve our ultimate victory... or you can pick blue. Push one now! Come on! Push one!"
I walked up to the machine, hesitant. Part of me really did agree with Chaos Jackal said, not about how Team Flare deserves to destroy the world, but about how Team Rocket didn't really seem to appreciate the work I've done. Sure, I never managed to capture the twerp's Pikachu, but my success in Kalos proved that I really could be competent with Pokemon under the right circumstances.
I ground my teeth and pressed the blue button. Team Rocket might not appreciate all my skills, but they gave me my friends and a place where I belonged. They gave me a home. They deserved my trust.
"You pressed it! Oh ho ho! You pressed the blue switch! Winner, winner! Congratulations!" The fat scientists danced around the room, acting for a moment like the fat twerp, then turned and looked at me with a smug look on his face. "But I'm still going to activate the ultimate weapon! I know the boss promised that we wouldn't if you pushed the correct button, but I refuse to let the potential go to waste! I'll just use my remote, here! Click-click! And the power is ON! Come on! Look! Look at the monitor!"
"You asshole!" I raised my sleeve and prepared to punch him, but before I could, my attention was captured by the site on the screen, a large crystal device rising out of the center of the stone ruins of Geosenge. The ultimate weapon, brought to life at last.
"Did you see? The ultimate weapon is reborn! The poisonous flower has bloomed! All shall perish! Except for Team Flare! Look at Geosenge! It has bloomed in Geosenge Town! The boss's dream of creating a beautiful world will come true! Add it all up, and it equals... a victory for our SCIENCE!"
"I don't have time for your shit," I growled, rushing out of the room and back up the elevator and out to the café and Lumiose. I quickly flew out to Geosenge, right in the middle of the disaster zone. I spied a Team Flare grunt off to the northwest and headed over, only to be joined by Ash. Of course, there's no way I'd be able to do anything of importance without him tagging along. I sighed and joined along with him as we went through the elevator into Team Flare's secret headquarters.
Chaos Jackal was there waiting for us, of course, laughing. Ash hadn't gotten a chance to hear his spiel earlier, so I sat back and tapped my foot waiting as both of them debating back and forth. Talk about boring. I guess Ash was able to out talk him because finally Chaos Jackal put his foot down. "Enough of this. You want to stop the ultimate weapon, and I refuse to do so. So, I will keep you busy for just a moment..."
"I got this, no worries." I stepped up, confident, and prepared to battle Chaos Jackal all over again. It wasn't really much different from our other battle, though he had somehow managed to find time to evolve 2 of his Pokémon since our last battle only a few hours ago.
Chaos Jackal grimaced as I pounded him a second time. "You're as strong as ever. But... It's too late! There's no hope for you now! Go down to the lowest floor, and see for yourself!" With another round of maniacal laughter, he strolled off, leaving Ash and I to make our way down to the basement.
Ash and I ran into quite a few Team Flare members on our way down, but he stepped up to help me fight and the battles were a breeze, taking up time more than anything else. Ash blabbed on while we walked, but I tuned him out, lost in thought. Perhaps killing time really was all Chaos Jackal was trying to do...
Floor after floor, stairway after stairway, we continued on, eventually joined by... James? "I'm sorry… I know… I'm just going to slow you down," he explained slowly while catching his breath. "But… But friends should stick together!" Ash welcomed him and then we went down the three of us.
I soon welcomed James' addition to our party, however, when we finally reached the bottom of the series of stairs and were confronted with a large door with a keypad lock. James whipped out a device given to him by Gym Leader Clemont and picked the lock for us! I thanked him with a kiss on the cheek and strolled into the room, both boys following along behind me.
In the center of the large room was... a tree, dead by the looks of it, with all sorts of wires and tubes hooked up into it. Surrounding the tree were about a dozen Team Flare admins, every one of them ready to slow us down. James, Ash, and I split up, though that still meant I had 4 admins to take down, and as quickly as possible. I beat them in good order while Ash and James were still working on there, then I walked up to the giant tree to see what the fuss was all about.
There was a button on the pedestal the tree was sitting on, so I pressed it, and was immediately blinded by a flash of light. When I could finally open my eyes again, the tree was gone, transformed into a Pokémon: the Legendary Pokémon Xerneas! This was my chance! Finally, I would be able to capture a Legendary Pokémon for the boss!
I stepped up to confront it, palms sweaty, knees shaking. I'd never caught a Pokémon of my own before... but it couldn't be that hard, could it? I had a good selection of Poké Balls in my bag, and it seemed to be waiting for me to make the first move. I reached into my bag, pulled out a blue and yellow Poké Ball, and tossed it, fingers crossed. The Poké Ball shook 3 times and then stood still. Xerneas was caught! I walked up to grab the Poké Ball, still shaking, but this time with excitement. Finally, I'd done something the boss could be proud of.
"What a startling development! I never would've thought you were really a chosen one!"
I quickly turned around, looking into the face of Chaos Jackal.. at least I thought it was him. He was decked out even more flamboyantly than usual, with some large orange shades and these weird... robot arm things coming around his shoulders. "So THIS is the mighty Xerneas?!" He laughed. "I expected more from a Pokémon called a legend! You desire help from people? YOU need help from a human? For me, victory is using the ultimate weapon. In order to do that, I need to reclaim the Legendary Pokémon's power and send it to that weapon once again. I'll be taking the Legendary Pokémon back now! This time, I won't lose. I, too, shall use the Mega Ring and Mega Stone that you researched during your travels."
Another battle with Chaos Jackal, but this time was the toughest yet, especially his Mega Gyarados which was more resistant to my Thunderbolts than before. Still, I managed to take him down without any losses of my own, but I was sweating by the end of it.
"It's over..." Chaos Jackal sighed, slumping. "Fools with no vision will continue to befoul this beautiful world. They will go on until the only thing left to do is squabble over the remaining scraps of hope..." He cursed. "I can only see one future! One where selfish, foolish humans like Team Rocket think about nothing other than themselves and steal more and more from one another... It's a tragic future!"
Suddenly he stood tall, raging. "The original purpose of this device was to bring a Pokémon back to life. But the ancient king transformed it into this ultimate weapon... Hmm. When the Legendary Pokémon awakened, it took back much of its energy--its power--that had been sent to the ultimate weapon. There's not much power left... But there IS enough to use it once..." He looked at my slyly. "Jessie... Let us live forever... That's right! I shall grant you eternal life! I'll give you the pain of endlessly waiting for a beautiful world to finally be built!"
The building started to shake, even though we were deep underground. That was definitely not good. "Quick, let's get out of here!" I called to Ash and James, racing them out the door and up the stairs while the building trembled violently. It felt like an earthquake! Finally we reached the top floor and took the elevator to the surface. We exited out into Geosenge just in time to see the ultimate weapon fire up into the sky, then collapse onto itself in a huge sinkhole of rock and ruin, destroying the headquarters and everything, and everyone, inside."
James snorted. "Good riddance. Now let's go back to our journey!"
I walked along behind the others as they moved away from the wreckage, but I couldn't help glancing back occasionally. It may be nothing now, but that rubble was the site of where I captured my first Pokémon, and where I really made my first big steps towards pleasing the Boss. He may have been a psychotic rich guy with bad fashion sense, but Chaos Jackal had made that happen. I waved goodbye to the wreckage one last time, then prepared to fly back to Anistar City for some well deserved rest before moving on to the next gym.
