Next to the stage, the double doors into the hall opened and Giovanni calmly entered, his arms crossed behind his back. Zager and Pierce followed, bringing the Meteonite with them in its container. The glowing rock enraptured the crowd so much that even the Team Plasma members and Looker’s group paid no attention to Giovanni taking the podium from his henchmen.
“You of Unova’s elites,” the boss of Team Rocket addressed the attendees, pulling their attention from the Meteonite, “you came here tonight to discuss an investment opportunity you hoped would expand your fortunes. That is the same reason why we are here. Team Rocket has come directly to you tonight to present a business proposal that will change Unova and the world.”
Zager, standing next to the Meteonite’s container, tapped the screen of his tablet several times. After his last press, the screen behind Giovanni suddenly lit up with numbers and letters, as the data from the Antimony Research Lab began to trickle out in in front of Team Rocket’s captive audience.
“This,” Giovanni announced, “is the Meteonite. Long ago, it was used by the people of Unova as an artificial sun following the eruption of Reversal Mountain. The idea of such power may seem to you like a fairy tale, but I assure you, it is very much real. You can ask your very own Antimony Research Lab if you don’t trust my words, but if you still need further proof, look at the events in your own city just yesterday. The light emitted from the Meteonite is even enough to influence the minds of Pokémon. The swarm of Venipede that descended upon Castelia City yesterday was acting under this force.”
Murmuring broke out among the crowd. Castelia City had indeed been brought to a standstill because of a sudden Venipede outbreak, and more than a few of the guests had heard from the mayor’s office that Professor Juniper had gone to the Desert Resort to find the cause. Absent confirmation from Juniper on the matter, the other party guests had no choice but to acknowledge Giovanni’s explanation as the first valid-sounding one they’d heard.
“Now you understand the power Team Rocket possesses,” he continued, spreading his arms in a grandiose gesture, “but this Meteonite has more uses than being a tool of suggestion. The strength of this artificial sun is such that, if we so desired, we could alter the climate to bend the weather to our whims, and that is the reality I have come to give to you today. Imagine your future in a region wracked by intense weather phenomena. Hurricanes leaving Castelia City and Virbank City underwater from storm surges. Nimbasa rendered uninhabitable by endless heat waves. Tornadoes grounding all air traffic in Mistralton and flattening its farms. Your Pokémon League frozen by an unending winter. All of those and more are now within Team Rocket's capabilities. My friends, you have a choice. Cede control of Unova to Team Rocket and pay us for the hard work of maintaining your region’s current state, or we will use the Meteonite to use Unova as a great meteorological canvas until you find value in our proposed arrangement.”
Giovanni halted his speech to allow the threat to sink into the minds of his captive audience. Where there had been nervous whispering amongst the guests, there was now silence. A terrible, absolute silence. The horrific imagery Giovanni had filled the crowds’ imaginations with vividly illustrated the weight of his threat.
“Consider this an investment opportunity,” Giovanni continued, sneering down at the crowd. “That’s why you came here tonight, after all. Your investment will ensure Unova has the right leadership and remains in a state both it and all of you can still prosper in.” Extending his hand toward the guests, he started to say, “We of Team Rocket will-”
Suddenly, the electricity in the room went off again, plunging the hijacked party back into darkness. Giovanni’s smile flipped into a confused scowl, and his speech was abruptly cut off.
“Dr. Zager, what happened?” Pierce asked.
“Let me check the security system’s last recorded data…” answered the scientist, fretting over his tablet. A few moments later, he said, “This must be it. The kids with the Pikachu and Axew were down in the basement playing with the power!”
“The twerps?!” Meowth exclaimed in dismay.
“They followed us this far…” James bitterly said to himself. “Typical twerpish actions.”
“No matter.” Giovanni’s disorientation had faded, allowing his overwhelming confidence to return. “Zager,” he directed, glancing down to his followers, “activate the Dream Energy system.”
“Sir!” Zager promptly responded. He pressed a button on the side of the Meteonite’s container, then stepped back.
A faint whirring sound could be heard from the container as the machinery started up, but only by those standing close to it. The vast majority of those in the room had no idea what was happening until the tiny generators that emerged around the Meteonite projected rays of the Dream Energy onto it. Almost immediately, the Meteonite responded by releasing its bright, vivid light onto the crowd.
“As I was saying, the Meteonite is an artificial sun whose light can be used to control the weather,” Giovanni reiterated to the partygoers, who were split between shielding their eyes from the Meteonite’s glow and staring dumbfounded at the Team Rocket boss. “We hold all the leverage in these negotiations. Your choice is clear: cede control of Unova to Team Rocket and pay us to continue maintaining your ordinary lives, or face the full might of the Meteonite.”
The crowd assembled before Giovanni broke out in a flurry of surprised gasps and glared en masse in his direction. Initially, he believed it was his threat that had earned such a reaction, and a smirk of satisfaction started to creep onto his face. It was stopped cold, however, when he saw Zager and Pierce staring up at him in much the same manner. Their horrified expressions prompted Giovanni to realize that something was very wrong, and he turned around just in time to see the symbol of Team Plasma emerge from the static filling the screen behind him.
Before any of the Team Rocket members in the hall could react to the sudden appearance of their enemy, the logo vanished from the screen and was replaced by Ghetsis. The mastermind of Team Plasma, sitting on a golden throne and propping up his head on his left arm, looked scornfully down at those standing before his image.
“You’re…” Giovanni gasped, taking a step back and nearly colliding with the podium.
“Ghetsis of Team Plasma, that’s correct. And you’re Giovanni, the boss of Team Rocket.” What Ghetsis could see of the crowd, both from those involved in Team Rocket and the civilians present, pleased him. He couldn’t stop himself from breaking out into one of his signature wicked smirks. “I do love to see the moment when a person’s loses all hope, especially when it a person like you, Giovanni. That’s right, even we in Unova know of you and your gang of thugs. To think you could come into the land of our king and steal what is rightfully his… you are truly a fool of the highest order.”
“The only fool here is you,” Giovanni countered, regaining some of his composure. “We’ve known about your secret organization from the start. Did you really think we would come unprepared?”
“You really are a fool,” said Ghetsis, ignoring Giovanni’s question. “I am but a simple servant of our king, the Hero of Ideals. I am here to claim the power that is rightfully his… that Meteonite that you stole from the hero’s palace.”
“I’d like to see you try.” Believing he had the upper hand, Giovanni closed his eyes and put his hand in his pocket. “That power already belongs to me for the glory of Team Rocket, am I supposed to fear that an old man in a cape will snatch it away from me? Do you really think you can do anything to stop me now?”
“Only a true fool sees the one he’s losing to as the fool,” Ghetsis disdainfully uttered, shaking his head in a mocking manner. “He is one who does not realize he has already lost.”
Perfectly on Ghetsis’ cue, a helicopter bearing Team Plasma’s insignia descended to hover outside the hall. Its pilot activated a spotlight attached to the bottom of the craft, flooding the darkened room with so much light that those inside had to shield their eyes moments after looking at it. Chaos set in over the crowd, with their nervous murmurs giving way to panicked screams as many of the guests fled for the exits. With so much going on at once, Team Rocket couldn’t stop them.
The Team Plasma grunt sitting at the open door to the helicopter’s cabin had a Liepard of his own with him, and once the chopper lined up with the windows of the hall, he ordered her to use Hyper Beam. Rising to her full height, she opened her mouth and launched her attack directly into the hall, shattering all of the windows as the helicopter strafed the tower. Those still in the room were left scattered, some being knocked down by the explosive force of Team Plasma’s attack while others dropped to the floor to escape it.
“You three!” Pierce shouted to Jessie, James and Meowth while shielding Zager with his body. “Protect Giovanni!”
“Oh no you don’t!” a voice unfamiliar to Team Rocket called out from nearby. It belonged to one of the only people in the hall who remained cool and collected through the ordeal, the three disguised Team Plasma members. They knew exactly what was going to happen and when to make their move. One of them, the one who had shot down Professor Juniper’s helicopter earlier, threw a Poké Ball toward the stage and released his Liepard. She immediately pounced and knocked Giovanni down before Jessie, James and Meowth could get to him.
“Hey, you keep your dirty paws off our boss!” Meowth complained, earning a snarl of contempt from the Dark-type feline. Liepard’s arrogance and refusal to move from Giovanni’s back made Meowth’s anger peak, and he leapt towards her with his claws out.
“You go and set that one straight!” James shouted to encourage his partner.
Liepard made seemingly no effort to escape from Meowth’s advance. She just stood still on Giovanni’s back, listening to him groaning while watching Meowth draw closer.
“Liepard, time to go!” her trainer suddenly called to her.
The attack on Giovanni had been nothing but a distraction. While the attention of the trio, Zager and Pierce was diverted to their boss, the three Team Plasma agents had made their way to the Meteonite and removed its cover. Liepard jumped off Giovanni and rejoined her trainer at his call, leaving Meowth behind.
“Stop it!” Zager scolded them. “You don’t know what you’re doing!”
“You’re telling us that and you’re the ones who wanted to use it to control the weather?” the lead grunt disdainfully said, looking down on him. “We know what we’re doing. We are liberating Pokémon in the name of our king, traitor.”
With that, the three grunts seized the cart and shoved it toward the broken windows. Zager, Pierce and the trio watched in horror as it rolled up to and then out of the window, seemingly plummeting toward the street. This, too, was part of Team Plasma’s plan. Their helicopter dropped a claw on a crane down after it and caught the stone, reeling it back up. All of the rough, violent motion the Meteonite was subjected to made it begin glowing brightly once again. Once the collection of the rock was done, the three grunts and Liepard jumped from the building into the helicopter, and Team Plasma made their escape. Left behind were a ravaged, dark party hall and the disheveled ruins of what was supposed to be Team Rocket’s moment of victory.
Jessie and James made their way to Giovanni’s side and helped him up, not noticing Looker’s group rushing out of the hall. “Boss, are you alright?” Jessie asked him.
“I’m fine,” he snarled, his anger at the situation filling his words with venom, “but Team Plasma must not be allowed to have the Meteonite. You three, go after them!”
“But where to, Boss?” Meowth wondered.
“Where it all began,” Zager interjected, stepping forward with his tablet in his hand. “I’m tracking the Meteonite’s energy signature… they’re taking it back to the Desert Resort.”
“Then that’s where we’ll go.” James started to turn away, but was given pause by a sudden realization that entered his mind. His eyes widened slightly, and he turned back to Giovanni. “What about you, Boss?”
“I’m pulling back for now. We need to regroup and plan our next move.” Giovanni pointed at Zager and Pierce, making them stand at attention. “You two are coming with me. Jessie, James, Meowth, retrieve the Meteonite! We can’t allow Team Plasma to have it!”
“Sir!” replied the trio. All three knew immediately that they had just heard the most important words Giovanni had ever spoken to them.
-:-
"Breaking news out of Castelia City," announced the reporter on the television in the suite shared by Nekou's team. An image of the external damage to the Join Avenue Corporation building appeared next to him. "An attack on the head offices of the Join Avenue Corporation has thrown one of Unova's biggest cities into chaos. Castelia citizens have-"
Ada leapt to her feet, no longer able to contain her nerves. Her laptop crashed to the floor, but she ignored it and grabbed the remote from the glass table instead. Once she turned the television off, she fumed to the others, "I told you we should have been there! Giovanni would have been safe if we were!"
"This is all fucked up," Nekou muttered, biting her left thumb. "How did Team Plasma know what we were up to? Were we fucking compromised?!"
“No, I doubt that,” Trevor sullenly said as he sat and hung his head. He shut his eyes, and in an instant, the hotel suite disappeared from his mind. In its place he visualized the day he watched from the alley next to the Virbank tavern as Ghetsis abducted Concordia and Anthea. Everything he sensed that day, from the smell of the garbage to the dampness of the alley’s soil, remained fresh to him as if no time had passed. “Ghetsis just… discovered us. It wouldn’t be the first time that something like this has happened. It’s terrifying. He knows everything, somehow…”
Rosalie turned her wheelchair away from her teammates and guided it across the room. She had nothing she could put into words, so as she always did at such times, she took a puff from her pipe and pondered the situation. “I’m not worried about Giovanni,” she thought to herself. “He has Pierce and those other agents with him. No, what concerns me is what Team Plasma might do with the Meteoni-”
The sudden sound of beeping interrupted Rosalie’s contemplation. One of the buttons on the left arm of her wheelchair was blinking, and when she pressed it, a hologram popped up. Team Rocket’s logo initially filled the entirety of the projection, but the symbol quickly gave way to an image of Giovanni.
“Giovanni, sir?” Rosalie exclaimed in surprise. When the name of their boss reached Nekou, Ada and Trevor, all three practically fell over themselves to crowd behind Rosalie’s wheelchair so they could see him. “Giovanni, what has happened?” the scientist questioned.
“You already know, Rosalie,” Giovanni growled, still consumed by his irritation over the collapse of their operation.
“Yes, yes, that is true,” Rosalie replied after taking another puff from her pipe. “What I should be asking is, what is happening now?”
Giovanni sat back in his seat and gripped its armrests. Rosalie and the others couldn’t see him do the latter, but they all heard its leather fabric being squeezed. “I have sent Jessie, James and Meowth back to the Desert Resort after Team Plasma, so they can retake the Meteonite. Pierce, Zager and I are going to return to Kanto, but we are coming to you in Driftveil first. Destroy everything that could be evidence and be ready to leave at once.”
With that, Giovanni abruptly terminated the communication, leaving an uneasy silence to settle in over the four teammates. None of them could figure out what to say until Nekou picked up a beer can from the table and, after shaking it to confirm it was empty, threw it at the wall. The way it smashed against the surface and clattered to the plush carpet on the floor made Ada jump.
“Well, this fucking sucks,” Nekou declared to nods of agreement from the rest of her squadron.
-:-
While Nekou's group awaited the arrival of their boss, the commander in charge of Team Plasma's operation was doing the same for his subordinates. He stood alone in the Desert Resort, watching the sky with a pair of binoculars. When he spotted his team's helicopter approaching with the Meteonite, his eyes widened behind the lenses.
The Meteonite was far bigger than he anticipated. It had easily doubled in size, if not more, since they stole it from Team Rocket. Their helicopter's crane still had a firm grasp on the brightly gleaming stone, but the Meteonite's growth had strained the claw to its limits.
Stashing the binoculars in his white Team Plasma uniform, he touched the communicator in his right ear and said, "Castelia Strike Force Epsilon, come in."
"Hearing you loud and clear, Commander," one of the agents who infiltrated the party promptly responded. "Currently coming in over the Desert Resort. What are your orders?"
"Hold at the previously determined coordinates and await further instruction." The commander furrowed his thick eyebrows. "You are aware the Meteonite has gotten significantly larger?"
"Indeed." The captain could hear multiple clicking noises in his ear as his subordinate called up information on the chopper's computer. "The Meteonite's been absorbing energy since we took it from Team Rocket. According to the data we've recorded, that's caused it to grow larger as it converts the energy into physical matter. Its growth should stabilize and stop soon, based on these readings."
"Lord Ghetsis's researchers at Facility P2 will be eager to get their hands on it," the agent's superior mused upon hearing his report. "For now, when you reach the planned coordinates-"
"Pardon my interruption, but we've already arrived."
The commander turned his chiseled, dour face skyward once more. Indeed, just as his underling had said, their helicopter was hovering almost exactly overhead, at most a mere dozen feet away from his exact position. Below it, the Meteonite's glow kept on intensifying, forcing the commander to avert his eyes as soon as he looked at it.
"Your orders, sir?"
"Release the Meteonite at your current position and then join me on the ground. Its current power should be enough to keep it suspended."
"Roger."
A few moments later, the helicopter's claw released the Meteonite. True to the commander's prediction, it did not fall to the ground but instead floated in the air where it had been placed. Its light flooded the area, bringing the desert around it into a state of faux daytime.
Meanwhile, the helicopter circled around and descended toward the earth, kicking up gritty clouds that grew harsher as it drew closer to landing. When it finally settled in the desert sand, three Team Plasma soldiers clad in identical hooded uniforms emerged and dashed over to their superior, while a fourth stood guard near the chopper.
“Commander Hu-” the grunt in the middle of the trio, a blue-eyed man whose chestnut-brown hair peeked out from beneath his hood, greeted their leader as all three saluted him. He froze mid-sentence, however, as their superior officer shot him an intimidating glare.
“I believe I have told you many times that you will only refer to me as your commander?”
“Yes, yes, of course…” his subordinate fumbled. “C-Commander… the work is done.”
“Well done. Lord Ghetsis will richly reward us in the name of our hero.” Crossing his arms behind his back, the head soldier turned away from his men and gazed at the stars to the north. Surely each of his henchmen had their own wishes for what Ghetsis would bestow upon them, he reasoned, but he could only reflect upon what he wanted for himself. He had served Ghetsis and Team Plasma for years, yet he had never been able to rise out of the white-suited rank and file. The two who got to wear the black tactical uniforms, Aldith and Barret, were both newer members yet they somehow outranked him. More than once he had spent time trying to figure out what earned them such favor from Ghetsis, only to come up dry. As he gazed up at the sky that night, though, he found himself certain that he had found the answer to getting such honor for his own. “It is magnificent, is it not?” he mused to the others.
All three soldiers followed their commander's lead in looking up at the clear, star-filled sky.
"Castelia to the south, and Nimbasa to the north…" another of the grunts, whose countenance bore the look of youthful innocence and optimism, replied. He further elaborated, "With two of Unova's largest population centers surrounding us, it is only a matter of time before our hero's dream becomes a reality. As the Meteonite's influence continues to grow and spread, all the Pokémon in those cities will abandon their trainers to go to it. Then all we must do is bring them to the castle so they may be liberated."
As the boyish soldier spoke, his two allies caught notice of wild Pokémon already starting to gather at the site. Multiple Darumaka, Darmanitan, Sandile, Krokorok, Yamask, Sigilyph and Maractus were present, all enraptured by the Meteonite's light. Such was its sway over them that had Team Plasma simply carried them away, they would have put up little if any resistance as long as the Meteonite was present.
"The people of Unova will see this mass exodus of Pokémon as the concept of Pokémon liberation being validated," the squad's captain speculated. "That is certainly how Lord Ghetsis views the matter. Once N partners with Zekrom, our achievement will stand as inspiration for the people to follow his ideals." Clenching his right fist, he finished, "All we do is in the name of the Hero of Ide-”
Just as it seemed Team Plasma had achieved victory, a painfully familiar flurry of laughing from above snatched it away from them. Jessie, James and Meowth swooped down with their jetpacks, James carrying the Meteonite-powered laser cannon they used at the Relic Castle earlier. As they descended, the two groups locked eyes with each other. Icy, venomous fury seethed across the visages of all four Team Plasma members, but Giovanni’s henchmen didn’t reciprocate the emotion. They were serious and focused on their mission, but still with the smug arrogance they so often carried.
“Have you not had enough already?” the captain demanded of his nemeses as he glared at them. “Or do you want us to do to you what we did to your boss, you cut-rate criminals?”
“What a question, idiotic indeed,” Jessie replied nearly instantly. The Team Plasma commander sighed and rolled his eyes when he heard her words, realizing at once what they were launching into.
“We’ll answer it when we feel the need,” James sarcastically added.
“And we feel the need right now!” Meowth interjected. Team Plasma had expected to hear the entire motto, so his abrupt departure from it caught them off-guard. Jabbing his right paw toward them, Meowth taunted the four, “You listen here! You call us cut-rate crooks but what are you? A buncha cosplayers runnin’ around dressed like knights! We ain’t never gonna let jokers like you keep that Meteonite!”
“You’ve got that right, Meowth.” Leveling the cannon in the Team Plasma members’ direction, James coldly threatened their leader, “It looks like we’ve got all the cards here, so give back what you stole from us.”
“Never!” the brown-haired grunt yelled, tearing a Poké Ball from his uniform and flinging it towards Jessie, James and Meowth. “It’s all for our hero!”
The ball erupted in a burst of light, releasing another Liepard into the service of Team Plasma. As soon as she materialized, she snarled and fired a Hyper Beam straight at the trio, only for them to leap aside before it struck. It hit the ground instead, throwing sand high into the air.
“That Liepard’s strong,” Jessie observed, producing a Poké Ball of her own, “but we’re stronger! Come on out, Woobat!”
Jessie's Woobat responded to her trainer's call with a shrill chirp the moment she took form, but Liepard remained unfazed.
"You Kanto crooks really are out of your depth here in Unova," the captain mocked them with a dismissive shake of his head. Turning to his subordinate, he ordered, "Show them."
"Of course, sir!" Liepard's master replied, snapping to attention. "Liepard, Night Slash!"
Liepard lowered herself to the ground and tensed her muscles, but before she pounced, a red aura began emanating from her body. It was subtle, but visible enough for James to take notice of it. He cocked his head in curiosity, but Jessie acted before he could point it out to her.
"As if! Woobat, give that thing a taste of your Air Slash!"
Woobat spread her wings more broadly than she had ever before, and the aura surrounded her too. That was when Jessie finally took notice of it. She barely had a chance to form a question, only getting out, "Woobat, wha-" before the two Pokémon attacked each other.
Woobat was the first to act, closing her wings over her face before flinging them open to launch a broad blade of air at Liepard. Mere seconds later, the Dark-type feline sprang upward at incredible speed, leaving the Air Slash to tear harmlessly into the earth. She swiped at Woobat, but her black-tinged claws did little besides rip at Woobat's fur and send some of it flying.
Jessie and her allies all regarded her Pokémon's resolute display with confused wonder. "What's with Woobat?" James asked her. "That should have scored quite the blow."
"No idea," she replied, shrugging. As the two Pokémon separated from each other, she pointed at Liepard and added, "Whatever it is, that Liepard's got it as well."
"They ain't the only ones…" Meowth suddenly interrupted. Jessie and James turned their eyes downward, discovering he too was giving off the mysterious crimson waves as he breathed deeply.
"What's wrong with you, old chum?" James hurriedly questioned, a bead of sweat forming on his face.
"It ain't wrong, exactly, but ever since we got here I've been feelin' like I got tons of energy I haven't got the foggiest idea of what to do with."
Jessie's gaze wandered away from Woobat and across the sky to the Meteonite, its light still growing brighter by the second. "It must be the Meteonite," she realized, her words bringing the others' attention to the artificial sun. "That energy drove the Venipede crazy, but now it's making the Pokémon stronger."
"We can use that to our advantage," James pointed out, but when he saw Liepard advancing on Woobat again, he panicked and added, "but so can they!"
"They can try!" Jessie swept her arm toward the sky and called out, "Air Slash!"
Liepard had the speed advantage in their second clash, setting upon Woobat before she could unfurl her wings. Team Plasma's Pokémon pinned Team Rocket's to the sand and reared back, a Shadow Ball forming near her mouth. The dark sphere steadily grew larger as the Meteonite's energy flowed through its creator.
Turning to James, Jessie demanded, "Give me more power! You've got that cannon Dr. Zager made, use it!"
"You got it!" After aiming the cannon at the Meteonite, James glared at Team Plasma's battalion, making sure they saw what he was about to do. "Fire!"
The small Meteonite inside the cannon sparked to life when James pulled the trigger. Its power could never hope to equal that of its larger counterpart, but for what Team Rocket needed, it was more than enough. The cannon fired with enough force to push James back slightly, but his aim remained true, and its blast collided squarely with the Meteonite. Sparks flew from the stone as it absorbed the power generated from its shard.
At that moment, the battle between Team Rocket and Team Plasma escalated to a level neither organization imagined. The Meteonite erupted with a volcanic burst of energy, discharging a red-and-green wave over the desert. Liepard had been distracted by preparing to finish off Woobat, so when new strength surged into her body, it left her unsteady. She faltered, and Woobat seized on her weakness to slam her own wings together, knocking the growling Dark-type back. Jessie, James, Meowth and the members of Team Plasma, meanwhile, were all thrown to the ground by the explosion.
“What power!” James marvelled as he and his allies pulled themselves back to their feet. “Just seeing it in action proves everything we believed about the Meteonite is true!”
“That is why you must not be given control of it!” the Team Plasma battalion’s leader threatened. He, like his followers, had to brush the dirt from his uniform. “You, you lot only intend to use it to enrich yourselves by dominating the masses! Our hero will use it to fulfill his noble ideal of freedom for all Pokémon!”
“You can blabber on about Pokémon liberation all you want,” Jessie retorted with a dismissive shake of her head, “but it’s not changing anything. All you are is a bunch of cosplayers with a bad case of motormouth! I’ll bet your so-called hero is probably some kid running around in a cape and a crown. Tell me, how far off is that?”
“How dare you!” the third soldier, characterized by his narrow eyes and the single pointed shock of dark hair poking from the edge of his hood, fumed. His reaction prompted a wide smirk onto Jessie’s face. “You’ll pay for that!”
“So I’m one hundred percent right. Good to know.”
-:-
Neither Team Rocket nor Team Plasma were aware of the scale of the fallout from their battle at the time. While they continued to squabble in the Desert Resort, the blast wave from the Meteonite reached the northern district of Castelia City, shattering windows and sending glass raining down on the streets below. The people out and about on that typically busy night were sent running for cover beneath whatever they could find, and their screams were inadvertently broadcast throughout Unova by the news crews already present for the Join Avenue attack even as they fled to safety as well.
-:-
“Liepard, Night Slash!”
“As if!” Jessie countered the Team Plasma Grunt’s order. “Woobat, use Gust!”
Having gotten used to the newfound strength the Meteonite sent flooding into her body, Liepard surged into the air again with her claws enveloped by a black glow. Woobat was ready for her this time, however, and fluttered back to avoid her initial swipe. The Psychic-and-Flying-type Pokémon then spread her wings as a display of intimidation before vigorously flapping them, whipping up a biting cyclone that engulfed Liepard and hurled her to lay prone at her trainer’s feet.
“Stand up, Liepard!” the soldier admonished her. “Dark Pul-”
He never got a chance to finish issuing his demand, as Woobat sent a wave of Air Slashes raining down upon Team Plasma. All four men had to shield themselves with their arms to prevent their faces from being cut. Once the barrage ended, the youngest grunt peered down at his uniform and noticed that his sleeves, like those of his compatriots, were completely shredded. His eyes widened at the sight, and before he knew it, his hands started shaking. How easily the attack could have slashed up his face was not lost on him.
“Sir, do something to end this stalemate!” he implored his superior.
For his part, the captain was no less panicked over the situation, but his fear was placed elsewhere. “I hadn’t come here expecting Team Rocket to pose an actual threat…” he considered, surveying the battlefield. Jessie and James stood tall opposite him, their arms crossed as they glared at his unit. When he saw them, he felt a chill run down his spine. They radiated such confidence that for the first time, the idea that Team Plasma could lose crept into his mind.
Entertaining that thought was like crossing a mental line for him, allowing vivid images to invade after it. His breathing grew shallow as he pictured himself forced to kneel before N and Ghetsis in the castle’s throne room.
“Lord N, this is the servant who allowed the Meteonite to be taken by people who harm Pokémon,” he heard Ghetsis telling N, who was seated on the throne at Ghetsis’s side. “Hubert, commander of Strike Force Epsilon.”
"Such a misstep cannot be tolerated!" Even in Hubert’s mind, N's passionate, pained declaration made him flinch. It didn’t help that he was already rattled thanks to Ghetsis using his name, an act the sage knew cut him right to the bone. "Because of your failure, Team Rocket will be able to harm countless Pokémon using the Meteonite's power. That power, which should have been used to free Pokémon from oppression, will instead be put to use enslaving them! My friends are crying out for me to save them, and I do not wish to use force to achieve my ideals, but your failure has made further conflict with Team Rocket inevitable. That I cannot abide.”
“I concur, my king,” he pictured Ghetsis saying. “Your punishment must be swift and decisive. This may be the moment when you lose all hope… Hubert... but you have brought this upon yourself.”
Hubert imagined Aldith and Barret seemingly materializing out of thin air and seizing him from behind in response to a gesture from Ghetsis. As soon as their black-gloved hands grabbed him, he snapped out of his daydream just in time to hear his youngest subordinate pleading with him.
“Sir, you must do something!!” the youthful grunt begged. “Team Rocket can’t win this!”
“Y-you’re right,” he stammered in response, fumbling to retrieve a Poké Ball from his uniform. The icy glare he’d envisioned Ghetsis giving him filled his heart with terror at the thought of what it could portend. He felt as if a Snorlax were sitting on his chest. “It’s all… all for the Hero of Ideals!”
Having composed himself enough to act, Hubert tossed the sphere in his hand. Yet another Liepard burst from it, but unlike all the others, this one’s fur was a dark red that bordered on black and a sparkle glimmered around him as he stretched out. He calmly regarded Woobat and the normally-colored Liepard, who had begun clashing once again before him.
Seeing the restrained demeanor his Pokémon displayed helped Hubert to quiet his own nerves. “It’s almost a shame that even we will have to release our Pokémon when all is said and done,” he thought, “but it is for the greater good.” Pointing toward Woobat and his subordinate’s Liepard as they exchanged attacks, he ordered, “Liepard, Knock Off!”
Fittingly for the partner of a higher-ranked soldier, the shiny Liepard was better trained than his counterparts. His muscles, which were typically well developed for his species, had been further honed through the rigorous exercises he had been put through. That allowed him to nimbly dash over the sand with not a sound, and he was on top of Woobat before anyone realized it. His ordinarily-colored partner pushed Woobat down, and he followed up by raising his right leg upward, intending to hit Woobat squarely atop the head with it.
Before he could strike, however, an unseen assailant took him from the side, driving a foot into his left flank. He snarled in pain as he stumbled away from Woobat, but when he managed to regain his balance, he looked over to see who had ambushed him.
The sight was so unbelievable that even the shiny Liepard had to stare, dumbfounded.
“You ain’t pullin’ tricks like that on us!” Meowth warned both the Team Plasma members and their Pokémon, baring his claws to demonstrate his threat. After kicking the shiny Liepard, he placed himself in front of Woobat to shield her from the opposing group’s assault. “You wanna try that again, you gotta go through me first!”
"Who knew he had it in him?" Jessie wryly noted.
"Indeed," James agreed. He then called out to Meowth, "Go get them! Show 'em what kind of heart we have in Kanto!"
“That’s right!” Meowth exclaimed, pouncing at the shiny Liepard with his claws at the ready. “Let’s see how you like a taste of these Fury Swipes!”
Meowth’s display of bravado left both Hubert and his Liepard stunned, but as he advanced on them, both swiftly realized they had to act. “Giga Impact!” the hooded soldier barked.
The shiny Liepard reacted immediately to his master’s order, showing no fear in the face of Meowth drawing near to him. Orange energy sparked to life around him, followed soon after by a sphere of purple light that completely enveloped his body. He charged straight into Meowth, forcing the latter to abandon his attempt at Fury Swipes in favor of just trying to hold Liepard back.
“Agh!”
Meowth growled in pain as the Dark-type Pokémon forced him backward, causing sand to pile up around his legs. It took all his strength to avoid being overwhelmed by Liepard’s onslaught. “You guys gotta give me more juice!” he called over his shoulder to Jessie and James. “I ain’t got enough to do this!”
“I got you, pal!” James lifted the laser cannon so quickly that he briefly lost his balance. He rushed to aim at the Meteonite in the sky, and without another word, pulled the trigger.
The resulting shot never reached its target. Right as James fired the cannon, a small figure darted past him, climbed onto a nearby stone and vaulted directly into the shot’s path. All the energy James intended for the Meteonite was instead absorbed by the figure, who flopped to the ground after taking in the entirety of its power.
It was at that point that Jessie, James, Meowth and the Team Plasma battalion all finally got a look at who had interrupted their fighting - a Pikachu, who began radiating a brilliant golden glow as he struggled back to his feet.
"Pi-ka!" the Electric-type mouse shrieked. His ire was directed at both sides, but carried a particular venom for Team Rocket. That fact wasn't lost on either team.
“What’s with that Pikachu?” the youngest Team Plasma Grunt wondered.
“I’ll tell you what it is,” Jessie bitterly answered through clenched teeth, having instantly recognized the intruder. “That Pikachu is nothing but trouble.”
“And if Pikachu is here,” James added, “there’s no doubt more trouble is coming, on the double.”
Speak of the devil and he shall appear, as the saying goes.
Mere moments after Pikachu’s arrival, Looker’s buggy came tearing up to the scene of the two teams’ conflict. The International Police agent was at the wheel, and he wasn’t alone. Professor Juniper was at his side, and in the back of the vehicle were the three young trainers who had been with her in the helicopter Team Plasma shot down earlier.
“Team Rocket, Team Plasma, you will be ceasing this at once!” Looker charged, flashing his International Police badge as he and his passengers lept out of the buggy.
“I knew the twerps would be coming, but not you, Boxed-Lunch Guy,” James greeted the inspector, who he, Jessie and Meowth had encountered in the past. Waving his finger at Looker and the others, he warned, “Stay out of this. That goes double for you, head twerp! We aren’t after your dear old Pikachu today, so get out of here!”
“You’re lying!” the boy in the Poké Ball baseball cap angrily countered, jabbing his own finger toward his persistent nemeses. “Whatever you’re doing with that Meteonite made Pikachu come here!”
“Don’t hit us with your twerpy accusations,” Jessie dismissively said. “We’re only here to take what belongs to the Boss. If you wanna know what’s up with your Pikachu, go ask those cosplayers over there.”
“I will tell you exactly what is taking place,” Hubert interjected, offering an answer to the boy’s question before he even asked it. Taking a step forward, the Team Plasma commander spread his arms and joyously proclaimed to the heavens, “This Pikachu was drawn to the Desert Resort by the Meteonite’s power, abandoning the trainer who kept it under oppression! You should rejoice, Trainer. When we of Team Plasma rewrite the history of Unova in the name of our hero, you shall be held up as the very first to have their Pokémon liberated! How truly wonderful!”
“Pokémon liberation?” wondered the green-haired, tuxedo-clad young man in Looker’s group. “Pikachu wouldn’t abandon Ash. What a foul taste to even suggest that!”
“That’s right!” Ash insisted, turning his accusatory finger toward Hubert and Team Plasma. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but Pikachu’s my buddy!”
“Pika!” Pikachu vocalized his agreement.
Faced with such resistance to N’s ideals, Hubert felt his eyebrow twitch. “You cannot fight the future,” he gravely intoned. “Our hero will take his place as the king of Unova, and all Pokémon will be liberated from their oppression. It is that simple. You will need to choose whether to be on the right side of history, or be swept up in the all-consuming thunder of our hero’s ideals. Regardless of your choice, the Meteonite is going to stay here with us, drawing more Pokémon toward its light of freedom.”
“You can’t keep using it like this!” Professor Juniper pleaded with both teams, tightening her arms around her gray tablet computer. “The Meteonite isn’t just having the effects you think. It’s releasing pulses of energy that could destroy Castelia and Nimbasa if they get any stronger! Whatever you’re doing that’s drawing out its energy, stop before it goes critical! You won’t be able to reverse it!”
Unnerved slightly by the professor's plaintive tone and dire warning, James crossed his arms and coldly said to Hubert, “You best hand it over to us, then. What kind of hero would want his followers to destroy cities, hm?”
“You’re not only corrupt but also misguided,” Hubert shot back, “You would use the Meteonite to extort control of Unova using the very threats you’re telling us not to use. For us, our ideals are so important that if sacrifices must be made, we are prepared to make them. Our hero may be disappointed in some of our tactics, but if Pokémon are to be liberated, hard decisions must be made.”
“Listen to you go,” Jessie mocked him. “Like I said, you’re nothing but a fake knight with a motormouth. You talk so much and never notice how hypocritical you and your so-called Team Plasma are. At least we accept what we are… and we didn't jump right to destroying cities either.”
Resigning himself to what would happen, Hubert crossed his arms. “I already told you we are willing to make sacrifices in the name of our ideals, so I don’t know what you think you’re threatening me with.” He tilted his head toward the two Liepard and barked, “Both of you, attack!”
Both Dark-type Pokémon obeyed the command without hesitation, despite one not actually belonging to Hubert. They pounced at Team Rocket, the normally-colored Liepard baring claws wrapped in shadow while the shiny one had his leg pulled up in preparation for Knock Off.
“We ain’t losin’ to you!” Meowth screeched. “C’mon, Woobat, let’s go!”
Woobat squeaked and fluttered next to Meowth. Though his bravado usually faded when confronted with opponents tougher than himself, a combination of the Meteonite’s influence, the encouragement of his trainer and his own anger at the situation spurred him to Meowth’s side in a shared charge toward the oncoming Liepard duo.
“Don’t do it!” Juniper cried out, her words falling on deaf ears. Neither Team Rocket nor Team Plasma were anywhere near willing to stop, not until their respective enemies were vanquished.
Right as the two sides drew near each other, another voice cut through the chaos. “Pikachu, Thunderbolt!”
An electrical blast intensified by the Meteonite’s power sliced through the midst of the two teams’ battle like a hot knife, driving the four Pokémon apart before they could clash. The humans and Pokémon in both groups pivoted from each other to face the intruders, Ash and his Pikachu.
“Neither one of you should have the Meteonite!” At the boy’s feet, Pikachu cried out and released a cloud of sparks to emphasize his point. “Team Rocket, all you ever do is steal Pokémon and use them for bad stuff!”
“See?” Hubert said with a smug smirk. “Even the child knows what you do is wrong.”
“What you’re doing isn’t any better!” Ash’s furious reproach of their nemesis made Jessie, James and Meowth laugh. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about, all this about liberating Pokémon… all I know is that people and Pokémon belong together! There are things I can’t do without my buddy, and things he can’t do without me. That’s why you shouldn’t have the Meteonite either, Team Plasma!”
“This boy believes what he says with all his heart…” Hubert realized, a thought that brought his mind to a standstill. “For him, keeping Pokémon and humans together is not even a question… could he be the Hero of Truth that would stand against Lord N? No! Preposterous!” Refusing to let on what he had been pondering, Hubert clenched his fists and reverted to the threatening words he had often heard Ghetsis use. “I’m warning you, boy, if you stand in opposition to Team Plasma, you will know what it feels like to lose all hope!”
“As long as I’m together with Pokémon, I’ll never lose hope!” Ash argued back, leaving Hubert further stunned. The boy paid him no mind, however, instead turning his attention to his best friend. “Pikachu, if Team Rocket and Team Plasma won’t stop fighting over the Meteonite, then we have to destroy it.”
“Pika!” Pikachu exclaimed in agreement.
“That’s right, buddy. Let’s do it!” Thrusting his fist forward, Ash called out, “Quick Attack!”
Pikachu was never a slow Pokémon, but with the Meteonite pouring energy into his body, his Quick Attack only grew even faster. In the blink of an eye he was sprinting over the sands, not at Meowth, Woobat or the two Liepard but in the direction of the Meteonite.
“No!” Jessie, James, Meowth and Hubert all cried out in horror, though for differing reasons. For the three Team Rocket members, their potential defeat was largely a matter of personal pride. Giovanni would be disappointed in them, sure, but there would always be a tomorrow for them, another chance to earn his praise. They were three of his elite underlings, after all, having earned the position by working to defeat Team Galactic in Sinnoh. If they were to experience a setback in their struggle to conquer Unova due to Team Plasma, well, they’d just have to get back up and even the score next time. Besides, they still had the smaller Meteonite, and even a partial victory still was a victory.
On Hubert’s part, things were different. N’s belief in Team Plasma’s crusade made him an uncompromising king, and with Ghetsis whispering in his ear he only became harsher. Should Hubert and the rest of Strike Force Epsilon fall short, he knew there was a significant chance their physical safety could be at stake. Even if N had mercy on them, he feared Ghetsis might force them to work like slaves on one of his personal projects instead, whether it was the experimental Project G at the P2 Laboratory or the construction of Project F in eastern Unova. There was no way he could afford to let the Meteonite be destroyed, especially by someone who could potentially be the Hero of Truth, the only person who could oppose N.
The youngest of Hubert’s grunts instinctively understood what his leader feared, and reacted by tossing a Poké Ball with a flick of his wrist. “Liepard, stop Pikachu with Hyper Beam!”
Still another Liepard burst from the ball, spinning around as a Hyper Beam started forming near her mouth. When she stopped twirling, she launched it directly at Pikachu, only for him to leap over it and use the force of its detonation to gain even more speed.
“Woobat, do something!” Jessie shrieked.
Woobat acted quickly on her trainer’s order, rising to a greater altitude before flinging multiple Air Slashes toward the ground. Pikachu managed to dash under the first and leap over the second, but the next three converged upon him too tightly to be evaded. He took a direct hit, only to end up unfazed by it. All he needed to do was know what he wanted to accomplish, and the power overflowing inside him gave him the energy he needed to make it happen. The three Air Slashes exploded when they hit him, but Pikachu managed to turn even that to his advantage, leveraging the blast to leap into the air.
“Giga Impact!!” Hubert roared. This was it - he was the last line of defense for the Meteonite. If its destruction was to be avoided, he would have to do it himself.
Understanding this, Hubert’s Liepard bolted skyward, wrapped in the churning auras Giga Impact brought on. He got directly between Pikachu and the Meteonite, putting himself on a collision course with the Electric-type Pokémon.
“Pikachu, Iron Tail!” Ash yelled as he watched Pikachu and the shiny Liepard draw near each other.
The one downside about Liepard’s great momentum was that he couldn’t stop it. Normally, that wouldn’t be an issue. In fact, it was beneficial, since it only made his Giga Impact stronger. When he saw Pikachu flipping over right in front of him, however, he knew what was coming and had no way to escape. Pikachu hit Liepard squarely in the head his shining, temporarily-metallic tail, not only swatting the Dark-type Pokémon to the ground but launching himself right toward the Meteonite.
“Alright, buddy, go for it!”
As Jessie, James, Meowth, Hubert, the Team Plasma Grunts and all their Pokémon watched in terror, Pikachu collided with the Meteonite. Every bit of Pikachu’s pent-up energy discharged upon the impact, causing a smoky explosion that was soon followed by a massive eruption of white light and a tremendous shockwave that radiated from the detonation. All present, no matter whether they were human or Pokémon, were both blinded and strewn around the area like rag dolls. The force of the explosion even managed to sweep up Looker’s buggy, flipping it and throwing the vehicle against a rock.
“No! NO!!” Hubert futilely protested, knowing but initially unwilling to accept that what had happened could not be reversed. He still couldn’t see anything going on in the maelstrom of light, which only heightened his fear further.
“Commander, come in!” a voice sounded in his ear. It belonged to one of his henchmen who was still on the helicopter, he realized. “What’s happening out there? Why did the Meteonite’s energy suddenly vanish?!”
As much as he dreaded what it would bring, Hubert saw he had no choice but to resign himself to his fate. “The Meteonite was destroyed!”
