The Siege of Goldenrod

[Ash_Junior]

Okay, this is an off-shoot of Operation: Celebi (which I just posted the last chapter to btw), to expound upon an event which I never really explored. This will be the first, and there may be a few one-shots dealing with the various battles fought in the Maquan/Indigo war, or even between Operation: Celebi and Retribution, and the early days of the rebellion.

if you don't know what I'm talking about, go read Operation: Celebi.

if you don't, I'll give you a basic run-down in the first chapter.

Prologue: En Garde

Chapter 1: Riposte

for now, here is the prologue:

+++++
+++++

A young man peeked around the corner of the Goldenrod Pokemon Mart, towards the Global Police Headquarters. He couldn’t believe his luck! Butch, the new leader of Team Rocket, had chosen him for this special occasion! They had chosen him as the advance scout for the grand siege of Goldenrod City! This was a do-or-die event. Fail here, and Team Rocket would die. Be victorious, and the majority of the Global Police Force would be completely gone. Mark Harson sauntered past the Global Police Station, and continued on down the street. When he was maybe three blocks past the Station, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed in the “go” number. He let it ring once, then hung up. It was done. Goldenrod was now effectively under siege. No one would be able to go in or out. Any flying Pokemon trying to get into the city would be shot down, digging Pokemon intercepted and stopped, and fleeing trainers or trainers trying to get into the town would be stopped. That included Mark, but he didn’t worry. He pushed his brownish-blond hair over his head, and grinned, heading towards his favorite ice cream shop in the city, his blue eyes sparkling.

+++++

Laira Koucho smiled at the Nurse Joy, and was on her way out the door when suddenly an explosion rocked the city, shattering glass windows for blocks. She stumbled forward out the door, and sprawled onto the ground. Three Pokeballs fell off of her belt and opened, revealing her Alakazam, Gengar, and Scyther. “Alakazam,” she gasped out, trying to catch her breath. “What’s happening?”

The yellow and brown humanoid closed its eyes, extending its senses around the city, sorting through the various psionic profiles, discarding those who obviously didn't know anything about what was going on, and attempted to put together a clear picture of what was happening.

Scyther flew up of his own accord, his blades at the ready, his insectoid wings fluttering quickly, almost blurring his mantilian features. The green Bug-type's eyes flashed near and far, looking for potential threats, coordinating its efforts with Alakazam via the Psionic link that all four and Laira's other Pokemon, her Kecleon and Dewgong, shared.

Gengar, for his part, closed his eyes and allowed himself to fade away from normal view, and move to the shadows. Gengar, for some reason, was not as powerful a battler as other Gengar, and thus resorted to sneak attacks from the shadows. Stealth was Gengar's specialty—especially because he had somehow inherited the Dark-type ability to be immune from nearly all psionic energy.

Finally able to breath again, Laira spat her dark purple ponytail out of her mouth. Glancing to her left, she reached out and put her black beanie back on, glanced down to make sure her boots were still on alright, then staggered to her feet. Scyther was immediately at her side, helping her up.

Her starter, Scyther had proved to be a very loyal Pokemon, and a terrific fighter, yet always had a heart for others, and rarely for itself. She smiled at him and he carefully removed his bladed claws. Laira pulled two of the last three Pokeballs from her belt and released the indwelt Pokemon. Her Kecleon and Venemoth sprang into existence, each instantly scanning for opponents out of habit.

Her Alakazam opened her eyes, and spoke telepathically to her trainer. Laira, they’ve destroyed the Cell terminal. Your cell phones is useless. They’ve also cut all outside lines of communication to the city. Transmissions to satellite dishes are blocked by a Psionic barrier, which prevents trainers and Pokemon from leaving or entering the city. This has also cut the power to the entire city. What power’s still up is because of either Electric types, Generators, or batteries.

Laira growled, “Terrific,” she muttered, and stalked off towards the Global Police Station, to see if they knew what was going on. “I’ve beaten Whitney, and I can’t move on. Unless someone tells me what’s going on, someone’s gonna be sore tonight.” Others might have been astounded by the speed of her Alakazam’s assessment of the situation, but after six years with her, Laira wasn’t surprised one bit.

+++++

Finele Daigo frowned, staring at empty air. She tried to move forward again, but was again stopped by thin air. This shouldn’t be happening. She should have been a bit closer to Goldenrod by now. What in the world was going on? She stepped back a pace or two, and glanced at her Ninetails, “What do you make of it?” she asked. The foxy Pokemon growled in an almost whimpering way, and Finele guessed that Ruby had no idea what to make of it either.

She glanced at her Gardevoir, who was glaring at the point where the strange barrier was.

Finele’s gaze tightened, “Gardy, is that a Psychic Barrier?” she asked. The Pokemon nodded stiffly, its featured into a mask of hate such as none Finele could recall it ever having had before. It seemed to be straining at something. Suddenly, Gardevoir could take it no longer and was suddenly flung backwards into a tree. “GARDY!” Finele shouted, and ran over to her beloved Psychic. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she could hear her Pokemon growling, and footsteps rushing towards her. She stared at her Psychic’s face in shock. What had it been trying to do?

She heard a shout behind her and the snarls of her team. Well, snarls and a sharp hiss from her Zangoose. She whirled around, and saw six men, one of whom had a gun to Ruby’s head. The Ninetails glared at the man, growling softly, “Call off your fox,” he said darkly, “Or I’ll shoot your dog. My bullets are specially formulated, and could pass through Ho-oh’s fire itself without bothering it in the slightest. Now. Return your Pokemon.”

Finele glared at the man, and recalled her team. “I suppose,” she said, her gaze drifting to the “R” emblazoned on his chest, “That you want my Pokemon as well?” she asked harshly.

He glared at her, “That won’t be necessary. But I’m afraid,” he said, pulling another gun out of a holster he had had behind his legs, out of sight to her, “That I can’t let you go, either.” He pulled the trigger, and she barely had time to scream before the Tazer’s red-hot needles slammed into her, pumping her full of a thousand volts of electricity for four short seconds. She was unconscious before she hit the ground. “Area four secure!” the man said into a small radio, reholstering the small gun, “Outskirts of Goldenrod are secure. No one got away. Tagging the last one for Teleport,” he said, fastening a small tag onto her clothing, and stepped back as the long-range teleportation effect took its hold on the girl.

 

[Ash_Junior]

Okay, so these chapters are gonna be WAY shorter than their Operation: Celebi counter-parts. And not as many. I'm guessing about 5-6 should be good.

anyway, here's Part 2:

+++++

Laira closed her eyes, and felt her Alakazam carefully reach into her mind. It was getting more and more common, she had heard, for trainers to connect with a Psychic to be able to coordinate their team better. Kecleon, Scyther, and Gengar were out patrolling the outer reaches of the barrier with a bunch of other Pokemon, and Alakazam, Dewgong, and were in with her, resting from their patrols. So far, all that the people of Goldenrod had been able to tell was that even with all of them focusing their Pokemon to attack a single spot, they were still not able to bring down the Psychic barrier, although Dark and Ghost types COULD pass through the barrier.

After an initial panic, Whitney had done an excellent job of organizing the food supplies, which she had simply confiscated from wherever she could. She had been selected due to her record of hard work and consistent results to help Whitney as a personal adviser.

Plus she was twenty, older than the average trainer, so that always helped. Despite the large number of people in the city, Whitney had figured out that there was enough food for two months. Fortunately, the pipes that brought water into the city weren't affected by the Psychic barrier, as they'd been treated before they'd been put in to prevent any Psychic tampering.

Suddenly something within Alakazam's mind shifted, and he turned to Laira, his eyes glittering. He sent what he had come up with from Laira's rambling to her, and her eyes widened. It was so obvious. Why hadn't anyone thought of that before?

“Thanks, Ally,” She whispered, and hugged Alakazam. “Find Whitney, and teleport me to her now.”

++++

Finele groaned and rubbed her forehead. “Queenie, if you were playing football in the house and hit me in the head while I was sleeping again, I am seriously going to kill you.” She heard someone chuckle, and shout something to somebody else.

Finele frowned and opened her eyes. And stared right into the fangs of a Mightyena. “What the-” she bit off a curse, and rolled to her right, bringing her right foot up and smashing into the Mightyena's jaw. It yelped, then roared, and came for her. Finele dove over the attacking canine, and reached for her belt, but there were no Pokeballs. “Oh crap.” she muttered. Then the Mightyena slammed into her back, its teeth tearing into her left shoulder, sending her into a wall, screaming.

The pain was more intense than anything she had ever felt before, and the Mightyena wouldn't stop. It was shaking her shoulder. Finele gritted her teeth, balled her right hand into a fist, and slammed it into the Mightyena's face, right between the eyes. The Mightyena reeled backwards, and Finele staggered to her feet, touching her left shoulder gingerly. The Mightyena crouched, and Finele braced herself and readied her fist.

“Spike, heel!” a commanding voice shouted, and the Mightyena sat down instantly, but didn't stop staring or growling at her. Finele looked up, and saw a young man with blue hair and the standard black and red Rocket uniform. He sighed. “Why did you have to do that?” he asked. “Spike's trained not to attack prisoners unless they attack him first. Come on, let's get you fixed up.” He moved towards her, and Finele for the first time looked around the room. It was actually just a dirt cube with a metal door in one side. But it had felt like a real wall—She reached behind her, and the unmistakable feel of a Psychic Barrier met her outstretched hand.

The Rocket grabbed her arm roughly, sending waves of pain shooting through her shoulder, and half-dragged her through the open door. Finele looked as they passed through, and saw more dirt walls, leading to more metal doors that looked exactly like the one that had sealed her in her cell. “What's going on?” she asked. “I mean, I know that you've cordoned off Goldenrod,” she looked around some more, “And you've taken a lot of prisoners, but what exactly is going on?”

The Rocket stopped, and turned around, a thin, menacing smile on his face. “How stupid do you think I am?” he asked, grabbing her left arm and jerking her closer to him, eliciting a sudden wave of pain, so that her face was mere inches from hers, ignoring the blood that coated his hand from her wound. “Look, in all the books, when someone has a prisoner, and it looks like there's no way out, they blab all their plans to their prisoner, who gets out, rats them out, and hangs them out to dry. Not that there's any way out, but that's not happening here. Now let's go!” he said roughly, and shoved her forward using her left arm as leverage, sending another numbing wave of pain roaring through her brain.

Maybe it was the pain, or maybe it was the blood loss. Whichever the case, Finele could stand no more, and collapsed to the ground, unconscious. The Rocket sighed, picked her up, threw her over his shoulder, and kept walking down the corridor, undeterred but a little annoyed.

+++++

Whitney glanced up at Laira. “That just might work,” she said. “I can't believe that we hadn't thought of it before.”

Laira nodded, grinning.The thought hadn't occurred to her until she had been thining about the specially treated water pipes. If a Pokemon were small enough, it would be able to squeeze through the pipes and get a message to the outside world. Or, even better, a Water-type could be stationed in one of the pipes, and act as a Psychic conduit, sending messages both in AND out.

“One problem, though,” Whitney said, getting up from the table at which she had been sitting. “We'd need at least two Psychics in the pipe—one on our side of the Barrier, and one on the other side. Barriers DO create interference with Psychic communication, I've seen it happen on my journey. But if we had a Psychic on each side, and a water Psychic on either side of the barrier in the pipes, serving as amplifiers, it might just work. It would drastically cut down on the amount of water we'd have to drink, but it might just work. Assemble all the trainers and see what Pokemon we have available to us.” Laira nodded. Of course, it would have to be a water Psychic, because an ordinary Psychic wouldn't be able to survive being surrounded by water for a long time.

Laira nodded, knowing that Whitney wasn't done. She could almost hear the Normal-type's mind churning with the possibilities that this opened. Laira glanced around the room as she waited.

It had been Whitney's bedroom, now converted into a war room, as Whitney's bedroom had been the biggest room in the gym, except for the arena, which was reserved now for trainers to train their Pokemon in preparation for a battle with whoever had done this. Where once posters of singers and movie stars had hung, blueprints of various buildings throughout the city were now displayed. Where her bed had once been, a communications center had been set up, constantly manned by at least one person to coordinate relief efforts across the metropolis.

“We're going to have to have the receiving Psychic pretty close to the pipeline, but if we could get blueprints of the pipelines to someone on the outside, then that wouldn't be a problem, but whoever did this is probably keeping an eye on the edge of the shield.” Whitney paused at the head of a long table that had been brought in that actually had a map of the entire city carved into the top. Whitney stared at the table for a moment, then jabbed a finger towards one edge. “Here.” she said. “This is the water reclamation plant.” Laira stepped forward and looked. It took her a moment to get her bearings, but then she recognized the area. It wasn't a good neighborhood. It was one of the worst slums of Goldenrod, where people were starving even before this happened. “If we can get the water Psychics into here, and station a Psychic there, then we'll be good on our side.”

Laira nodded, glancing down at the map uncomfortably. She didn't especially feel comfortable trusting the ruffians in that neighborhood. Not comfortable at all. “We'll need someone on the other side to get this information to the rest of Johto,” she said quietly.

Whitney nodded. “I know. And I can think of only one Pokemon I'd feel comfortable with this responsibility. Send your Gengar.”

Laira started. “Excuse me?” she demanded. “Why Gengar? Why not someone else?”

Whitney sighed. “Gengar was your second Pokemon, and he's been trained for six years, just like your Alakazam. There's not likely to be a better Gengar in the city, they'd all be training up with Morty. Besides, you and your team have been practicing stealth to avoid battles since pretty much day one, correct?”

Laira sighed. All of what she said was true, of course. “Yes,” Laira sighed, not liking where Whitney had gone.

“Then it's settled. Besides, it makes more sense to send a Ghost-type through the piepline.” Whitney said, almost dismissively. Laira froze.

“Wait a minute,” she said. “Through the PIPE?” She shook her head. “Whitney, whatever you're thinking, it'sa BAD idea.”

Whitney shook her head. “No, it's not. Ghost-types have the ability to phase through solid matter. That ability will keep Gengar safe from the water.”

Laira's eyes narrowed. “It's also VERY taxing on the Ghost. And once the Ghost can no longer phase, it's subject to the same forces as a normal Pokemon. If Gengar were to unphase in the pipeline, he could drown. Or worse, he could unphase in the middle of the ground, and he would die instantly!”

Whitney's eyes narrowed. “I KNOW that,” she said quietly. “But I also know it's the only way. If Gengar were to pass through the Barrier, whoever had it up would spot him instantly, just like the other Ghosts and Dark-types that barely managed to get back into the city. This is the only way, Laira.”

Laira's eyes narrowed. Whitney was right, and Laira knew it. But that didn't mean that she had to like it. “Yes, Ma'am.” she said darkly. She turned on her heel and headed for the gym. She had to find a couple of Starmie. The only other Water/Psychic type would be the Slowbro family, and those were notoriously stupid and easily distracted. Hopefully there were at least two in the city.