Days passed. For Celestia, these were days of learning and experiments. With Team Rocket mostly preoccupied preparing for their ambush and her presence not really required, she had plenty of time to spend doing research, both in the company of Alakazam and on her own. The first thing she looked into was, rather obviously, interdimensional travel from this world. New friends and moral imperatives notwithstanding, she was still princess of Equestria first and foremost. It was her duty to come home to shepherd as soon as practical. And it wasn’t that she disbelieved Alakazam, but she thought him singularly focused enough on his own chosen specialty to keep track of every development in others fields. He might well have missed something that she wouldn’t.
To the princess’ dismay, what other sources she was able to find indicated that her new friend had, in fact, been correct. There was no technology here related to interdimensional travel, and what magic was rumored to exist was far less codified than in her own world. Meanwhile, so far as Pokemon went, almost any legend related to such warping of space pointed to this Palkia character, while giving no clear indication of how to find him or otherwise attract his attention. Without her own magic to work with, Celestia was forced to call that particular line of inquiry a dead end, at least for the moment.
On the other hand, her second line of inquiry proved to be far more fruitful. This world of Pokemon was dangerous, she now knew, especially for someone who didn’t know how to properly defend themselves. It behooved her to learn just how to make use of her new powers, how they manifested themselves in moves. She would be able to contribute more to Team Rocket’s upcoming effort and she would be better placed to strike out on her own, if need be. Fortunately for her, Alakazam had had plenty of practice teaching inexperienced Pokemon (mostly his own children and grandchildren) the ropes and knew a good many other Pokemon around town. In return for his assistance, she regaled him with a selection of the most riveting tales from her long and storied past, as well as whatever knowledge he liked about her world. Several days in, he had collected a good amount of such information – enough to write a book with, really. Celestia considered it more than worth it for the new tricks she learned. The next time she had to fight, she would be ready.
The sun was just beginning to set when Celestia made her latest return to Team Rocket’s camp, again wearing the guise of a Rapidash. She could have stayed in Laverre longer – indeed, the library wasn’t set to close for some time yet – but she had found that she much preferred to be back and inside her ball by dark. She had never particularly been a night owl, but the effect was more pronounced on this world. The princess had yet to figure out the exact reason why it was so.
“Ah,” James looked up from the holographic Poke Ball Factory he had been examining. “You’re back.”
“And pleased to be so,” said Celestia, with a yawn that surprised even her.
James got to his feet. “I’m sorry that I haven’t had a lot of time to spend with you these last few days,” he said as he walked over towards her. “It’s just that, well, we’ve been so busy and all. We have to make sure that this goes well. The boss is counting on us.”
“I understand completely,” Celestia nodded sympathetically. “Believe me when I tell you that no one can empathize better with such stresses than I can.”
James reached the princess and began to scratch behind her ears. In response, Celestia cooed in a semi-voluntary manner.
“After we’re done with this job we’ll have more time together, I promise. Just you, me, and Inkay together for a little fun. How does that sound?”
“Pleasant,” Celestia admitted, taking a moment to enjoying the relaxing sensation. Then her thoughts drifted and her face drooped a little. “I wish Luna were here to meet you,” she said. “I think you might like one another… On second thought, I wish you were in Equestria to meet her. And my niece and nephews and my old student,” she glanced upwards in a slightly mournful manner. “I hope that they’re doing well. I had been wanting a vacation, but not like this.”
“Anyway,” James pulled out a Poke Ball. “Tomorrow’s the big day, and I want you be well-rested for when we pummel those Team Flare poseurs.”
“I find this suggestion agreeable,” said Celestia with another yawn.
“But first, I think we need to get you out of that disguise you’re wearing.”
Later that night, Team Rocket was moving to enter the Laverre Poke Ball Factory. Thoroughly disguised in all black, face-concealing clothing and with a full dozen Rocket grunts at their back, Jessie, James, and Meowth were feeling quite confident. A thorough study of the place during the period leading up to now had given them knowledge of the blind spots in the local security cameras. One by one the group vaulted over the perimeter fence, landing easily on their feet.
“Inkay,” James whispered as he pulled out a Poke Ball. “You’re on.”
The small cephalopod Pokemon appeared in the usual flash of silvery light.
“Just as we planned,” James pointed. “Use Hypnosis.”
“Kay!” Inkay saluted.
A nearby night guard, one of the only ones the factory had, was patrolling the exterior of the building when he suddenly found himself with a face full of something pink and blue. He jumped and swatted, turning his flashlight onto the newcomer. Even as he did so, the yellow spots on Inkay’s head glowed. A small beam of yellow circles drifted out, catching the guard full in the face. He staggered, then slumped to the ground, out cold.
“Well, that takes care of that one,” Jessie noted with a smirk. “And his replacement won’t be along for another two hours.”
“Plenty a’ time for Team Rocket!”
“And everyone will think that he just fell asleep on the job!” James noted as their grunts dragged the fallen man and propped him up against a factory wall in a plausible napping position. “Good work, Inkay. Return.”
Inkay disappeared back into its Poke Ball, and then the rest of Team Rocket made a quick dash for the nearest door. Once there, James took out a small toolkit and began fiddling with the exterior alarm system. It took him a few moments to pry off the alarm’s casing and adjust its insides, but at length he turned back to his companions with a smile.
“Got it!” he said. “The alarm’s been deactivated.”
“Excellent!” Jessie said. “Meowth?”
“With pleasure!” the cat Pokemon grinned, holding up a hand. A solitary claw slid out, which Meowth promptly stuck into the door’s lock. After several seconds of quick fiddling, the lock clicked and the door slid open.
“Alright!” Jessie clenched her fist. “Let’s go team!”
“Right!”
As one, Team Rocket moved into the Poke Ball Factory. The plan, as all their best plans were, was simple and efficient. They had marked out which of the local generators fueled the assembly line, and which fed into other aspects of the factory. The former they would sabotage by removing vital components and disabling the control circuits, the latter they would leave alone. Then they would bail, and wait. Unless someone knew what they were looking for, no one would even notice that anything had happened until they tried to fire up the assembly line next morning. And by then, if all went as anticipated, Team Flare would have already begun their attack, so as to maximize the amount of Dark Balls that could be churned out before someone came snooping.
Jessie, James, and Meowth were giddy with anticipation. It was a perfect, perhaps one the best ones they’d had yet.
What could go wrong?
On a hilltop some distance away from the Poke Ball Factory, another figure in black was peering through a pair of electronically-enhanced night vision binoculars. The figure watched for a short while, before reaching for a device attached to its ear.
“They are moving in now, sir. As you anticipated.”
It took a minute for a response to arrive.
“Thank you for informing me.”
For Ash and his friends, the last few days had been ones of previously nigh-unimaginable luxury. Lysandre had been as good as his word and more. Most people rarely got the chance to stay a five star hotel at no cost to themselves, much less received two separate rooms in one. For a group used to staying at the facilities provided by Pokemon Centers or camping out on some dirty wilderness trail, it was like a little patch of heaven on earth. There was good food and lots of it, comfortable beds, hot baths, ample gym space for the training of Pokemon and people, and a salon for Bonnie, Serena, and the latter’s notoriously fastidious Braixen. It was a vast step up from their normal accommodations, and they hadn’t had to pay a cent for it!
At that particular moment the group was just settling in for the night in their rooms. As usual, Ash and Clemont shared one room, while Serena and Bonnie took the other. Ash was comfortably wrapped in his pajamas and tucking himself into one of the two beds, Pikachu curled up at its base, when the phone beside him began to ring. And ring. And ring.
Blinking slowly, Ash reached over and picked it up, putting the receiver to his mouth. “Uh,” he yawned. “Hello?”
“Ash?” said a familiar voice. “It’s Lysandre. Please rouse your friends. I need your help.”
It looks like it's time for Ash and his cohorts to be tools. Gah! I know they'll probably win, or at the very least do enough damage to screw Team Rocket, but I find myself hoping they get trounced. Particularly by Celestia. You just haaad to end it there, didn't you? More please!
Uh oh. I sense a deception is afoot!
Celestia VS Pikachu! Round 2! And this time, she'll be ready...
6204979 I am in agreement with my googly eyed friend here in regards to what happens to Ash and Co. I really do want to see them get beaten or forced to runaway due to Celestia now having learned how to fight and being in better shape and such.
I'll be really tweaked if when she fights them it goes like how the Changeling Queen battle went down. Just...irritates me to see Celestia made so weak or inept in most stories. With only the evil, manipulative, and/or harsh versions of Celestia actually having skills to back up their actions.
I honestly would expect Celestia to fully embrace the M.O. of `Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.` that Theodor Roosevelt was all about. If just in regards to her own combat ability.
Wasn't Team Rocket going to wait until Team Flare attacked the Laverre Poke Ball factory before acting?
Hmmm...
The good points: setting up a Celestia VS Pikachu rematch with Tia at full power and knows what's she's doing
The bad points: You missed out on a training montage moment.
And of course we're all wondering when Ash gets Twilight into his pokeball rotation, is she just going to take one look at Celestia and turn on Ash, or talk Tia into joining the less amusing side?
If this upcoming confrontation between Pikachu and Princess Celestia is going to be as wonderful as I expect, I will be recommending this bit of music for fight fun listenings!
6205083
Giovanni ordered them to sabotage the factory before Team Flare gets there, remember? In case the three bungle the ambush somehow, at least the enemy won't be able to make any Dark Balls. Those things are bad news, and he would know.
6205099
Good Lord, if he ever tries to draw Twilight against Celestia or Luna, I will flip every desk within a ten mile radius if Twilight doesn't immediately abandon Ash. That goes for Luna, and whoever found her too.
6205083 part of the plan was sabotaging the factory before hand
6205083
Team's Rocket plan :
- Step 1 : Infiltrate the factory.
- Step 2 : Disable its production systems.
- Step 3 : Wait for Team Flare agents to get in the factory before jumping on them.
- Step 4 : Locate and destroy the Darkball.
Now that i think about it, Jesse, James and Meowth may be the best/worst members of team rocket. Oh when it comes to capturing pokemon, normal or rare, they are terrible. But when it comes to dismantling other TEAMs they excel due to sheer luck or happenstance. Their habit of things blowing up always seems to go worse for any other team that they encounter. They're a walking disaster area!
"too separate rooms in one"
*two
Leave it to Lysandre to use Ash and his friends as pawns in a grand scheme.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
Ohhhhhhhh, ominous!
Very ominous indeed...
Curiouser and curiouser.
Whoa! Has this really been going on for 19 chapters? I've been enjoying it so much I lost track.
Just one thing.
I think you mean 'It took a minute.'
They're setting up Team Rocket to look like the bad guys aren't they?
I realy want to see Celestia bend the rules in some way simply becouse she can. Like fly past Pikachu and slam Ash into a wall or something like that. Like fu you, try fighting without trainer you yellow rat!
6205099
Should depend on the info both have. As of now, screw Ash, Team Rocket ftw.
There are so many different ways this might go wrong that I can barely keep track of them. The only positive bit of this I can see is that if Lysandre comes along, he won't turn Luna on her sister (if he's caught her). He can't be seen using a Dark Ball, after all.
I really hope Celestia puts on a stomping this time.
Anyone else picturing Farcry right now?
Hoping that Ash and Pikachu don't beat Celestia. Shouldn't happen either, Iron Tail isn't super effective on a Fire/Fairy.
6205331 I see what you did there!
I think my hypothesis may be correct.
what happend to luna?
... They'll fail misserably, won't they?
I want nothing more than this to work out wonderfully, and more importantly I want celestia to be the reason that rocket wins. I feel like Celestia need this in order to cement her place with rocket.
Thanks for the scene breaks. It's making transitions much easier to read.
Looking forward to more story. This is getting better by the minute :)
6205125 6205134 6205143
Thanks for the explanation, I'm properly scolded now,
6204979
Do you suppose Celestia will endure the "we're blasting off agaaaaiiinnn~~~" phenomenon herself?
6206200
I thought she already did, after her first encounter with Ash and company. Actually being blasted off that is, not saying the line. Might be misremembering tho.
It is reminders of a personally independently enriching life outside of the story plot events that i absolutely live for/utterly adore/squee spontaneously for!!!!
Thank you thank you thank you for fleshing out the characters and world with tidbits like this! Its how to add realness to a story without adding tasteless nitty gritty IRL junk!!!
6206398
That is a serious non-sequitor. If you want good writing and with an exploratory theme, i would recommend Austraeoh and its six sequels by ImplodingColon.
6206587
Well considering the extremely dark tone of "Fallout Equestra" as well as the story's general lack of a cohesive A-to-B narrative, meaning the plot is simply focused on Little Pip and her group more than an overarching narrative, and clocks in at over six hundred thousand words . . . I needed something more light-hearted, yet with an interesting premise.
After reading your suggestion "Austraeoh", all it says is . . . "Rainbow Dash flies east".
Doesn't give much on what it's about. I'd need to hear more about it before taking it up as something I am going to read before/after "Fallout Equestria".
Thank you for the suggestion though!
6206052
Uh, those have been there since Chapter 1.
You know what? I think if James, Jessie, and Meowth, left Team Rocket, and joined Celestia i Equestria the trio could do quite well for themselves.
6206718
I know, i was turned off by the summary as well. Reading the commentsof the later books changed my mind, what with the whole Noble Jury phenomenon IC instituted. Never seen commenters do invested before, but now i am too!!!
Oh, boy! Team Rocket is in trouble now. Haha, because someone watched them. And I bet Ash and his friends will face Team Rocket!
6206936 Hah! Sorry. I had my background color on one computer set to medium light, and the breakers just blended in entirely :P
Short, but it sets the stage for the next chapter quite well. I can't wait!
6205132
Then you're really not going to like what would be one of the most likely outcomes of the next chapter and the one after.
Ash grit his teeth as Pikachu let out a weak sound before passing out. What's worse, he'd just watched it happen to two other pokemon at the same time. He didn't know what had happened with that weird winged Rapidash Team Rocket had found, but nothing in his arsenal could compare with the devastating attacks that were unleashed often even before James could call them out... Unless.
"I hope you're feeling better..." He said to himself before a few rapid button presses resulted in one of his pokeballs glowing, vanishing, and another taking its place. The ball was prepared and lobbed forward. "Go!"
What emerged brought Celestia to a sudden stand-still.
"Twilight?"
End chapter.
6207239
Personally I'm just sick to death of seeing tons of what are effectively nonsense names with nothing worthwhile for synopses stories popping up. The magical word here is "concatenation" which is a word meaning to link things together, or it can also be used to indicate 'gather in one place'. It's almost like they don't want people to read it.
6205304
Leave it to Ash and company to make it easy.
6205389
Well strictly speaking, Psychic can bodily pick up James, and perform fine manipulation. Because it's a kid friendly world, and because it's Celestia this wouldn't happen but... She could very easily snap a neck by twisting a head, or even just a concentrated kinetic force applied to where the neck meets the head. And she could do it to a rather large swath of people at once.
That will never happen of course, but... Frankly if someone does send out Luna from a dark ball I hope an exception is made and the Dark tag gets added.
6207596
I'm not sure Twilight will be that soon in his team, she just started talking with Oak and gathering informations... Now, what would surely be another hell of a fight would be Celestia VS Ash's Charizard.
6207618
At least one day has passed since then, wherein Twilight has obviously been getting medical attention. Talking or not, if Ash was desperate and made the connection between Twilight and Celestia in terms of species or capabilities, do you really doubt for even one minute he'd try it? He's the same idiot that fought rock-type pokemon with a pikachu.
Night disadvantage or not, I hope you don't make Celestia lose again. After all she is a planer and probably has a decent plan to deal with Pikachu.
Some suggestions:
Alakazam had had plenty practice teaching
one of the only few ones
6212884 Team Rocket gets "blasted off" almost every episode they appear in the anime.
Team Rocket is still my favorite team of badguys. They're just more fun.
plenty of what?
the "what" is not needed