“And now I’ll show you exactly why,” said Lysandre.
Butch and Cassidy looked at him. Then each other. Then they laughed.
“That’s just rich!” Cassidy giggled, one hand posed aristocratically in front of her mouth.
“What are you gonna do, stare us to death?!” Butch chortled along merrily.
All around them, in ones and twos at first but spreading quickly, all the other members of Team Rocket began to join in their superiors’ laughter. Why would they not? The clearly delusional man had been stripped of his Pokemon and was caught in a Primeape’s vicelike grip. Why not savor an easy victory and play sycophant to their leaders at the same time? All the while, Lysandre’s piercing glare moved not at all.
“Mienshao,” Lysandre said quietly, “if you would.”
“Huh?”
Butch and Cassidy had barely had a second to look up from leaning against each other. One of Lysandre’s Poke Balls, hooked onto Butch’s belt, suddenly shook and burst open with a flash of silver. In an instant, a tall white and purple ferret-like Pokemon appeared on the scene, its eyes narrowed and its long yellow-tipped whiskers twitching angrily. The Team Rocket members scrambled backwards with wide eyes.
“Payback,” the Team Flare boss continued.
Mienshao turned on a dime. Fast as a striking serpent, it darted at the backpedaling Hypno. One of its paws alight with purple-pink energy, it hit the slower Psychic type with the force of a thunderbolt. Hypno barely even managed to cry out as it went flying backwards, hitting a tree hard enough to leave a notable indent in the wood. The yellow Pokemon slumped miserably to the ground, and did not get up.
“Take them.”
By this time Butch and Cassidy as well as some of their more perceptive subordinates were reaching for Poke Balls of their own. Mienshao didn’t give them a chance. Rushing headlong at the leading duo, it lashed out with its left foot and long tail and swept the legs easily from underneath them. They hit the dirt, but Lysandre’s Pokemon wasn’t done yet. It grabbed each of them in one paw, pulling both close to its chest in a surprisingly powerful headlock.
“If anything happens to me,” Lysandre went on, almost conversationally, “break their necks.”
Butch and Cassidy froze in place, color draining from their faces. Around them the grunts too stiffened up, shock and indecision not even allowing them to call out their own Pokemon.
“Are you nuts?!” Butch shouted more than a little hysterically. “If anything happens to us you’ll go too!”
“Ape!” the Primape still holding Lysandre barked its agreement, increasing the pressure to just short of rib-cracking. Lysandre squeezed his eyes shut.
“And I am willing… to die… for what I fight for,” he said through gritted teeth, now barely able to breathe. “Can you – ergh – scum say… the same thing?”
Though only a few seconds passed on the forest trail, time slowed to the barest crawl. Team Rocket grunts stared mutely at their leaders, wanting to do something but powerless to intervene. Mienshao glared at Primeape. Primeape glared back. Both Pokemon tightened their holds. Lysandre said nothing, even as he felt like his chest must surely give in. As they clutched futily at the iron paws wrapped snugly around their throats, Cassidy and Butch’s eyes slowly wandered to Mienshao, each other, and finally to Lysandre. Cassidy gave a small nod, and Primeape’s grip slackened marginally. Lysandre gasped for air.
“That’s…” he managed between gulps, “the difference between us, do you see? You’re nothing but selfish vermin, poisoning the beauty of this world with your mere presence! You connive and grasp and strive and steal all that you can get your filthy little hands on, but in the end what do you believe in? What cause do you fight for that’s greater than your wretched selves?!”
“Team Rocket,” one of the slower grunts said.
“Team Rocket?!” Lysandre laughed bitterly. “What is Team Rocket but a pitiful band of Pokemon thieves, loathsome miscreants brought together only by their petty desires for riches and power? You sulking cowards even now have me in your grip. If you were brave, if you cared for something, for someone else more than you do yourselves you could put an end to me and my plans here and now!”
There was silence on the forest road, even the chirping Nincada having long since scurried away.
“But you won’t, will you?” Lysandre wore a small, pained grin. “You believe in nothing. You care for nothing. You fight only to indulge your pitiful greed and from fear of your master’s punishment. It would be almost funny…” here his grin faded away, “if it weren’t so disgusting! People like Team Rocket are the blight that’s slowly killing this world. Look around you, you fools. See this purity? This innocence? This beauty? All of these things, all of them, are dying because of PEOPLE LIKE YOU!”
Lysandre’s last words came out like a sudden thunderclap, their intensity so palpable it seemed almost physical. The Team Rocket grunts shied away from the seeming madman. Butch and Cassidy winced, increasingly nervous expressions on their faces. Even Primeape seemed to cringe back a little.
“So, vermin…” Lysandre’s next words were a low hiss. “Since you lack the conviction to carry out your mission to the very end, how about we make a deal? Call your Primeape off of me, and I’ll call Mienshao off of you. Then we fight it out and may the better man win.”
Cassidy and Butch eyed the red-haired man warily, though they said nothing.
“Ah, I see.” Lysandre’s wry grin returned. “You think me some foam-mouthed fanatic, set off at the slightest trigger and completely untrustworthy, yes? Well, as a professional businessman I can assure you I would never have gotten anywhere if I didn’t know how to lock my rage in the deepest depths of my soul. I offer you my word that I will uphold any agreement to the letter.”
The duo remained silent, though their expressions were slowly shifting.
“How about a simple verbal contract? You will roll Mienshao’s empty ball over to me. Then I will count to three, and on three we both recall our Pokemon? More than a fair deal to save your cowardly skins, don’t you think?”
“Grrr…” Cassidy gritted her teeth, but slowly nodded. “Deal. Bob?”
Butch didn’t even say anything as he tossed the small orb onto the forest floor. It rolled slowly, vaguely in Lysandre’s direction. Primeape relaxed its grip just enough to allow him to grab it with one hand.
“On three then?” he asked. The duo nodded.
“One,” they said.
“Two,” went Lysandre.
“THREE! RETURN!”
Even as three voice shouted in perfect unison, twin beams of red streaked between them. In an instant, both Primeape and Mienshao vanished from the scene. All three of them hit the dirt as one. Butch was the fastest to regain his feet.
“You’re gonna pay for that!” he roared, eyes alright with indignant outrage. “Go Mightyena!”
“Granbull, you’re on!” Cassidy shouted.
Twin Pokemon, one a vicious-looking grey and black wolf with a mouth full of gleaming white fangs, the other a greyish-purple biped with a massive lower jaw and thick muscles, appeared before the enraged Rocket duo.
“Graveler, come on out!” one Rocket grunt cried.
“Muk, go get ‘em!” added another.
“Go, Golbat!” came a third.
In quick succession, the forest trail was filled with over a dozen Pokemon, as even the slowest of the duo’s minions caught on that their leaders had no intention of making it a fair duel. Rhydon, Weepinbell, Gloom, Mawile, Foongus, Doduo, and Hoppip all burst onto the scene. Through it all, Lysandre simply stood there, a tight but confident smile adorning his face.
“Is that all you’ve got?” he asked, palms up. “Honestly, I have to say I’m a little insulted your superior thinks this enough to beat me.”
“It doesn’t matter what you think!” Cassidy spat back. “That Mienshao of yours may be strong but it’s not unbeatable! You’re outnumbered here so just give up already!”
“Outnumbered, but hardly outmatched.”
“I think we’re gonna have to teach this punk just why Team Rocket is so feared.” Butch cracked his knuckles. “We’ll bring you back to the boss alright, but he never said anything about your condition when you get there.”
“Is that so, Mr. Butch?”
“IT’S BOTCH YA GOT I- wait what am doing?”
“Once again you fools prove you understand nothing. Relying on the sheer weight of numbers to intimidate me. What are mere mercenary numbers against heart?”
“A beating is what it’s looking like.” Cassidy leveled her finger at Lysandre. “Last chance, rich boy, come quietly and this won’t hurt too much.”
“Oh yes dear me whatever shall I d-” Lysandre’s eyes flashed. “Gyarados.”
Another Poke Ball on Butch’s belt began to enlarge. This time the panicked green-haired man snatched it up in an instant, throwing it as hard as he could at the infuriatingly smug philanthropist. It burst open in mid-flight, silver glow so vast and bright that it seemed to all present that a second sun had flared into being. Then the instant passed, and Lysandre stood there with a triumphant grin on his face.
“You see, you parasites,” he explained, even as the vast blue sea serpent let out an ear-shattering roar. “You have no hope against me. What are your Pokemon to you but tools? What are you to them but harsh masters?”
Gyarados stared down at the little insects who had dared attack its partner and friend. Its massive, pearly-white fangs gleamed in the afternoon sun. Hoppip took one look up at the towering Pokemon and fainted on the spot.
“To you, your Pokemon, as with your ‘Team’, are simply another means to satiate your greed and indulge your vanity. But they are so much more than that, these wonderful creatures.” Lysandre rubbed a hand gently across one of Gyarados’ shining scales, sounding almost philosophical. “They are our friends, our companions, dearest to the hearts of all true trainers. It is this, our friendship and affection, which in turn brings out the true power within them.”
“I’d say the ‘true power’ of that thing is being fifty feet tall and made of muscle and bad attitude!” Cassidy pointed up at it. “But if you think that’s gonna scare Team Rocket off, you’ve got another thing coming!”
Lysandre simply shook his head, smiling like a world-weary teacher correcting an ignorant child.
“I never thought my words would reach people like you,” he said. “They never did before, not really. Those ‘innocents’, so eager to receive my generosity yet so reluctant to part with so much as a single coin for the sake of another. Those vicious liars who nod and smile and call my words wise yet do nothing to heed them. Those selfish, greedy, short-sighted insects who sully this world with their mere EXISTENCE!” Lysandre snarled, clenching his fist tight. “Words solve nothing! Patience solves nothing! ‘Charity’ solves nothing! Only heart and action will save the beauty of this world! Gyarados!” His head jerked up, meeting the serpent’s eyes. “Let’s show these vermin the true power of two hearts together as one!”
Gyarados nodded, then let out an eager bellow. Lysandre raised his right hand high, a ring on his middle finger beginning to shine. The gem affixed to the center point of the Pokemon’s crown-like crest did likewise.
“Alright I’ve had enough of this nonsense! Mightyena!” Butch pointed. “Attack now! Crunch!”
“Granbull, Thunder Fang!” Cassidy joined him.
One by one, the others called of their own attacks, save for the poor girl still trying to awaken her limp Hoppip. Moving as one, a dozen Pokemon charged the shimmering giant.
“Gyarados,” said Lysandre. “Mega Evolve”
The gem on his ring flared bright. The sea serpent was encased in a sphere of roiling rainbow energy. A slightly smarter man took a few steps back.
“Blizzard.”
The orb surrounding Gyarados shattered into a million pieces. The giant now wore a new form, but none of Team Rocket had even a moment to appreciate it. A veritable tidal wave of freezing energies burst from its mouth without delay, all but burying the luckless Pokemon now but a few feet from the epicenter. That barely even slowed the attack down, pelting hail and swirling mists and newborn spikes of ice surging forward as if in a frantic race to consume the whole world. Butch and Cassidy had just enough time to hold one another and scream as the tide washed over them as well.
Even then the attack didn’t stop, tearing through the woods around them as if driven by an insatiable, ravenous hungers. Trees that had stood for generations, weathered the storms of centuries, were ripped from their proud pillars and tossed about like so many sticks in a hurricane or ripped apart by wild icicle spears. Gyarados unleashed its fury onto the world around it, letting loose bitter rage long locked inside its poisoned soul. And perhaps not only in that soul.
It was only when his Pokemon had reduced whole swathes of forest about him to frozen wastelands that would surely take decades to recover, if they ever did, that Lysandre finally raised one hand. Immediately, Gyarados ceased, form already beginning to change back to normal as the fires of battle cooled.
“Thank you old friend,” Lysandre said warmly, scooping its Poke Ball from the frozen earth. “We’ll go out swimming together, soon, just you and I on your favorite reef. Return now, and rest.”
Gyarados vanished as suddenly as it had come, disappearing into the orb in a flash of red light. Lysandre stared down at it, just for a moment.
“One last time,” he said, then put it away.
The leader of Team Flare walked almost casually through the icy ruins he had created, looking around with a neutral expression as if simply judging an unusual piece of artwork. It was only when he spotted the frozen forms of Cassidy and Butch that his expression changed.
“As you can see, I don’t think I’ll be coming with you,” he said matter-of-factly. “Perhaps you all might instead do me the honor of accompanying me back to my home.”
Inside their icy prison, the duo shivered.