Chapter 73: The Next Course of Action
Toby groaned as he slowly regained consciousness, sitting up, "Ugh, what happened?" he questioned, as he looked around, seeing that he was in some sort of jail cell, "What the.... how'd I get here?" Toby questioned. In the cell opposite of him, he saw Busujima, who was also regaining consciousness, "Hey, Busujima!" Toby called out.
"Ugh, that's the last time I eat spicy Tamato Berry spaghetti before bed," Busujima commented, as he shook his head. He looked around, seeing that he was in a cage as well, "Alright, I hope this is just another weird dream," he commented, as he turned to see Toby in the cell across from him, "Toby? What happened?" Busujima asked.
"I don't know. The last thing I remember, I had just left the locker room, when a group of people ambushed me, and used some kind of twisted Pokeball and a Hypno to put me to sleep," Toby replied.
"That's so strange! That's what happened to me, except it was a Vileplume," Busujima replied.
"Well, no sense in us sticking around here," Toby commented.
"Quite right. The sooner we bust out of here, the sooner we can return to the stadium, and I can beat you and your wimpy Pokemon down!" Busujima said, as he reached for his Pokeballs, but found nothing, "Huh?! MY POKEBALLS ARE GONE!" he screamed. Toby checked his belt too, and sure enough, his Pokeballs weren't there either.
"Mine are gone too! What is going on?!" Toby exclaimed.
"I'm so glad you asked," a suave, authoritarian voice said. The boys turned to see Giovanni, walking into the room, followed by Ghetsis, Cyrus, and Lysandre, "Well, boys, allow me to introduce myself and my cohorts. I am Giovanni, co-leader of Team Rainbow Rocket, alongside these fine gentlemen. Ghetsis, Cyrus, and Lysandre. Individually, we are the heads of four major criminal organizations, each just as powerful as the next. But together, we have formed an alliance in the form of Team Rainbow Rocket," Giovanni explained.
"Ok, so what does that crap have to do with us?" Busujima said, most rudely.
"Know your place, impudent whelp! We're about make you both an offer neither of you can refuse," Ghetsis stated.
"To put it simply, we've been watching the Alola Pokemon League right from the start. We've done so to scope out potential recruits for our organization," Cyrus explained.
"And the two of you are the finalists in said tournament, so naturally, we're recruiting the two of you into our organization," Giovanni declared, as if he was expecting the two of them to comply.
"HA! Why would I ever join such a dumpy sounding gang like yours?" Busujima questioned.
"And there's no way I'm joining either!" Toby added.
"I figured you'd say that," Giovanni said, snapping his fingers. A spotlight shone down on a section of the room they were all in. It revealed all of Toby and Busujima's Pokemon, all locked up in a cage, battered, and beaten.
"Tsareena! Incineroar! Noivern! Metagross! Raichu! Lycanroc!" Toby exclaimed.
"What did you do to my Pokemon?!" Busujima yelled.
"Well, naturally, we had to take them out of the Pokeballs as an incentive to make you comply. However, they reacted negatively, as if they had emotions, and attacked everyone around them. Some discipline was enacted to get them to settle down," Ghetsis stated, holding up a Dark Ball.
"That Pokeball again!" Toby exclaimed, remembering that Pokeball.
"I'm afraid these are no mere Pokeballs, my boy. They are known as 'Dark Balls'," Lysandre replied.
"What do they do?!" Busujima demanded.
"Well, thankfully, we have twelve test subjects right over there, just begging us to demonstrate," Ghestsis replied, chucking a Dark Ball at the closest Pokemon in the cage; Toby's Lycanroc. The Dark Ball encapsulated Lycanroc.
"How can that be?! I though Pokemon that belong to trainers can't be caught!" Toby exclaimed.
"While the Dark Balls have some limitations to them, such as the Pokemon needing to be weakened, there's nothing that can stop them from capturing another trainer's Pokemon. They are true scientific marvels, as they turn Pokemon into what they are; heartless tools of war," Ghetsis replied, as he then released Lycanroc, who now had a much darker coat, and an evil look in its eyes.
"Lycanroc," Toby said, distraught at seeing his friend turned into such a cold, heartless zombie.
"You see, we're not being unreasonable. If you join us, you'll be allowed to keep all of your Pokemon in your possession. Refuse, and well, we have a sure fire way to make you cooperate," Cyrus said, as he chucked another Dark Ball, this time, capturing Busujima's Salazzle.
"We'll never join you! My friends will come and bust us both out of here!" Toby exclaimed.
"Hmm, have it your way. Professor Nanba!" the aforementioned professor then walked in from the shadows, "Proceed with the Esentia Project on both of these two. Make sure they have no free will, whatsoever," Giovanni ordered.
"Of course, Giovanni, sir!" Nanba said. Ghetsis and Cyrus both left the Dark Balls that captured the two Pokemon with the professor.
"We have business at the Aether Paradise. See to it that they recapture their Pokemon in the Dark Balls as well," Giovanni ordered.
"Yes sir!" Nanba said, as the four men left. He then turned to both boys, "Alrighty then, let's begin!"
On an uncharted Island facility,
Will and friends were all transported by Colress to an uncharted Island, "Alright, so what's this about Colress?" Will asked.
"Ah yes. You see, some old friends of yours wish to join the battle against Team Rainbow Rocket, just for the sole purpose of crushing them," Colress said, as he led them all to a big conference room, the size of a football field. At the table in the center, Will, Steven, and Wallace could all make out some very familiar faces.
"Archie? Maxie? Shelly, Matt, Tabatha, and Courtney too?!" Will exclaimed.
"Ah, so good of all of you to come," the lanky man in the red suit said, adjusting his glasses.
"Will, do you know these guys?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah. They're Archie and Maxie. They're the leaders of Team Aqua and Team Magma, respectively. They caused quite a stir in Hoenn trying to revive the super ancient Pokemon, Groudon and Kyogre," Will replied.
"And after realizing that they could not be controlled, we changed the focus of our organizations and reformed them into nature conservation organizations," the burly man in the blue outfit and large anchor necklace said.
"And I'm pretty sure it goes without saying, but the old enemies have a common, new enemy," Maxie stated.
"Team Rainbow Rocket," a young woman with lavender hair wearing a red hoodie said, having a some what psychotic look on her face.
"So, what are we going to do about them?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Well, here's what we know about them in general. Team Rainbow Rocket is a joint organization, formed by four smaller groups, those groups being Team Rocket, Team Galactic, Team Plasma, and Team Flare, organizations that have caused a lot of trouble in the Kanto, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos regions, and seek to exploit the power of the Legendary Pokemon for some nefarious purpose," a chunky looking man in a red suit said, looking at a tablet in his hands.
"From what we've been able to gather from the little we've hacked out of their systems, they're apparently mass producing large quantities of Dark Balls," a dark skinned woman in a blue outfit said, her long hair covering half of her face.
"What are Dark Balls?" Lisa asked.
"They're outlawed Pokeballs, and the most despicable kind there is. They max out a Pokemon's power, but at the cost of their free will, and turning them evil," Will replied, his tone carrying a heavy trace of disgust.
"Have you had experience with these things before?" Lori asked.
"Once. A Team Rocket Member used them to make his Pokemon super strong and super evil. I was just barely able to defeat him and free his Pokemon," Will replied.
"What you say about the Dark Ball is initially true, but the designs we managed to get from Team Rocket's servers indicates that they have modified the original design of the Dark Balls, and made them even more horrible," the chunky man stated.
"How so, Tabatha?" Maxie asked.
"Well, from what I can gather, the new Dark Ball designs also forces a Pokemon into their final stage, disregarding any and all special conditions that need to be met, such as trading, giving the Pokemon an item, having high friendship, and things like that. They've even been modified to capture other Trainer's Pokemon," Tabatha replied.
"How awful!" Fluttershy exclaimed, appalled that any human would be so heartless.
"Hasn't the International Police been able to do something about it?" Will asked.
"I'm afraid that Team Rainbow Rocket unleashed an attack on the International Police headquarters. A warning to all not to try and resist their power," the huge, muscular man, wearing only blue pants replied.
"But all these organizations have records on them that are known by everyone, right? Surely the Police should still be able to arrest them," Celestia commented.
"True, but it would appear that the attack force also made it their job to wipe out any and all records of their existence. Fat lot of good that'll ever do for them," Maxie commented.
"Anyhow, as for what we're going to do is exactly why we brought you in, Will, as well as the champions," Archie stated.
"What do you mean, you want us to join up with you guys to take down Team Rainbow Rocket?" Wallace asked.
"For the most part, yes. But we need to be smart about this. We've heard the broadcast on television that they have kidnapped the two finalists for the tournament. They're most likely holding them hostage so we don't interfere with their plans," the woman in blue replied, as Colress pulled up a holographic diagram of the Team Rainbow Rocket Aircraft Carrier.
"What you see here is their base of operations. Somewhere inside, there's an energy signature, similar to the Dark Balls. We're assuming that's the power source," Maxie explained.
"Which is why I took it upon myself to create something that will not only destroy the energy source, but severely cripple Team Rainbow Rocket's forces by consequently destroying the Dark Balls," Colress said, pulling out a USB stick, "Inside here is a very powerful virus that can and will corrupt and ruin all systems in the carrier, as well as transfer the identities of every member of each organization to each of the International Police's branch offices."
"Ok, so why don't you go and use it then?" Lynn Jr. asked, her tone being a bit rude.
"Because I only know that the energy signature is coming from inside the carrier. I have no idea where inside it is," Colress replied.
"What does that have to do with it?" Ross asked.
"Because, for it to be the most effective, the virus has to be uploaded directly into the main computer terminal. And I can't send it by email or anything like that. If I tried, it would fry the electronics in this facility instead," Colress replied.
"Which means we would need to get into the carrier, find the Dark Core, and use the virus, right?" Lincoln asked.
"'Dark Core'?" Lori asked.
"Something we can call the source of the energy reading," Lincoln replied.
"Sounds acceptable," Colress commented.
"Feels like we're in a Spy movie," Lola commented.
"Well, now we need to formulate a plan," Archie commented.
"Well, what about a diversion movement? We can have large groups attack the outside of the carrier, drawing the attention of Team Rainbow Rocket, while a smaller team sneaks in through an air duct," Lincoln suggested.
"That plan has merit. There are several air vents around the outside of the carrier," Colress said, as several small lights came on, indicating air vents. Lucy then noticed a few vents on the top of the carrier.
"What about getting into the vents on the main deck?" she suggested.
"Could work. Who ever goes will need to use this device to avoid detection," Colress said, as he puled out some small, spherical devices, "These are the Colress Machine #345, the anti detection cloaking mechanisms. It'll create a forcefield that'll make you invisible to those around you, while also jam the radar they might have," he explained.
"Ok, so who should be the distractions, and who should infiltrate the carrier?" Twilight asked.
"Well, we should break in, obviously. They have Toby, and we need to get him out of there, along with that Busujima kid," Rainbow Dash stated.
"Hmm. A smaller team of trainers to search for and rescue Toby and Busujima is a good idea too," Maxie said.
"But once you enter the carrier, we will be unable to assist you in anyway," Tabatha stated.
"It's a chance we'll have to take," Applejack replied.
"Ok, but while you guys are looking for Toby and Busujima, we also need a group to go and deal with uploading the virus. It'll be virtually worthless if it get's interrupted, so the group will need to stay and make sure it get's uploaded," Colress said.
"Well, why not let us go? We've all got Pokemon too, and we can hold our own in a fight," Lincoln suggested. Before anyone said anything, Lynn Sr. stepped up.
"Absolutely not! No way! I am not having my kids get endangered because of you, young man!" the Loud patriarch stated, his tone sounding like he didn't trust his son.
"But he won't be alone. Because some of us are going with him," Luna Loud declared.
"It's not that we don't trust Lincoln not to endanger you girls. It more like we don't want to trust him with your safety. He's already lied not once, but now twice with this whole Team Rainbow something mess!" Lynn Sr. refused stubbornly.
"Seriously?! You guys are basing everything that's going on as a lie on MY part for something someone else is doing?!" Lincoln exclaimed, sounding like he was mad with disbelief at his parents.
"Don't take that tone with us, young man! We should've known you couldn't be trusted to keep your word, and this whole mess proves once and for all that you can't be trusted," Rita declared, before turning to her siblings, "And as for the four of you, I expect my son and daughters to be released back to our custody the minute we get home!" she demanded.
"Not a chance, Rita. This was your last chance, and you guys are blowing it! Lincoln is right. You can't blame him for the actions of another," Ross argued.
"But he said that Pokemon are cool and fun creatures. Now that we've seen their destructive nature firsthand, he is never to be trusted again!" Rita fought back.
"Well guess what you guys, I don't need to take this! You guys are bad parents, and you're letting one bit of circumstances decided that I'm lying! Newsflash! I already learned my lesson about lying more that enough after what you guys did!" Lincoln said, storming off.
"And once again, the Loud family falls apart," Silver Spoon quietly murmured.
"We apologize for our sister and her husband's actions. Is there any cells we can put them in until this is all over?" Ross asked Archie and Maxie, as he and Randy placed handcuffs on the Loud Parents.
"Of course. Courtney, be a dear and show them to the brig," Maxie requested, unbothered by the scene before him, or if he was bothered, he pretended not to be.
"Certainly. Right this way please," Courtney said, leading them all out of the conference room.
"Dare I ask what that was all about?" Rarity asked.
"I'll explain later," Fluttershy said.
"Anyhow, as for the Dark Core team, who will it consist of?" Archie asked.
"I'm pretty good with navigating through vents, so I'll go," Lucy said.
"And we'll need my brains to figure out the virus upload," Lisa said.
"Why don't we all go? There is strength in numbers," Luan suggested.
"Some of us should go too," Josh said, as he and the rest of the human and pony turned human kids stood behind him.
"Good call. I'll go find Lincoln and tell him the plan," Lori said, taking off after her brother.
"Ok, and the rest of the infiltration team will scour the corridors of the carrier to find Toby and Busujima," Colress stated.
"As far as the outer distraction goes, just leave that to us, and these lubbers," Archie said, as a group of people dressed like squires piled into the room. They all had the same Team Plasma crest as the grunts who attack the tournament.
"Are these guys with Team Plasma too?" Twilight asked.
"Yes. They're a faction of members who wanted to follow the ideals of a man they call 'N'. Apparently, a civil war broke out between these guys and the ones who we saw at the stadium," Will replied.
"It's true. The ones you saw follow a man named 'Ghetsis', who only used us to fulfill a plan to conquer all of Unova. He even used his son as a key part in his plan," an Ex-Plasma grunt stated.
"Right. Ghetsis was the mastermind behind Team Plasma. In fact, apart from Team Rocket, I've encountered the leaders of every organization from the various regions," Will commented.
"Well, according to our sources, the leader of Team Rocket is a man by the name of 'Giovanni'," Tabatha replied.
"Where have I heard that name before?" Will wondered.
"Giovanni was the former Gym Leader of the Viridian City Gym. I would never guess the Pokemon League association would be a part of a criminal group like Team Rocket," Lance replied, as Lori came back with Lincoln, who had calmed down a little bit.
"Ok, so this is basically the plan. The forces of Teams Aqua and Magma, as well as the former members of Team Plasma will attack the outside of the carrier, drawing the attention of Team Rainbow Rocket. While they're all distracted, both the Dark Core demolition team and the rescue team will infiltrate the carrier. The Dark Core Team's objective is to find the Core itself, and upload the virus, while also guarding the terminal while the virus transfer is underway. As for the rescue team, their job will be pretty straightforward. Locate Toby and Busujima, and get them out of there. We can worry about the Leaders later," the blue suited woman explained.
"Well said, Shelly," Archie commended.
"I've contacted Looker and Annabelle. They're on their way with that N guy to help out," Cynthia said, putting her cellphone away.
"Good. Every amount of help will make a difference," Will said.
"Maybe we should also divide up into smaller rescue teams? We could cover way more ground in the carrier that way," Mako suggested.
"Another good idea. Just remember, the goal of each team is not to defeat Team Rainbow Rocket, but just to locate and rescue Toby and Busujima," Nico replied.
"Alright. We'll need time to prepare. We'll begin the operations in two hours. Make sure you're all prepared to go," Maxie said, as he, Archie, and their subordinates left.
"We should go over our strategies for dealing with any Grunts we encounter," Twilight suggested. Everyone then broke off into small groups to discus their plan of attack.
"Who'd think we would get caught in the middle of a full scale war like this?" Randy said, as he slumped down in a chair.
"All we can do is hope for the best that they pull through," Rhonda replied.
Back in the Carrier labs,
Nanba and Xerosic both cackled loud and boisterously, "Now our project has been finally reached the final stage! Now we're ready to conquer the world!" Nanba cackled, as he looked over both Toby and Busujima, who were both wearing the same robotic suit. Both boys looked to be in a trance.
"Just like the Dark Balls, my Esentia Suits are more than capable of stripping the wearer of any and all independent thought and free will! My masterpieces, now in their most powerful states!" Xerosic said proudly.
"Just you both wait. Giovanni and the others have big plans for you!" Nanba said, as he pulled out a communicator, "Giovanni, sir! The Esentia Suits are functioning perfectly!" he declared.
"Good. We're nearing Aether Paradise. Our inside agent should have things ready for when we get there," Giovanni said.
"I look forward to studying the Ultra Beasts, and see how they react to the power of the Dark Balls," Nanba replied.
"And you'll have your chance. Have the two of them ready to enter the Ultra Wormhole in about, oh, 2 hours. That should be plenty of time to take over Aether," Giovanni ordered.
"Certainly, sir!" Nanba said, turning off the communicator, "Well, looks like your first mission will be happening very soon," he said to the entranced boys.
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*Sighs* Looks like the parents have dug their own grave...
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This time, it's for good