16 Captured - Part 2

Whitney grinned at him, whilst Mellanie turned and stared in shock.

"How do you know that?"

"I do read Mel." Sam grinned. "And you know it has been all over the news on the last couple of days? He's finished the review and they've listed all the Leaders replaced." He turned back to Whitney. "I'm sorry for your replacement it must be hard to take."

"It's not that bad" the ex-Leader responded. "I was upset when it happened, but I've been able to take a more active role in the Miltank farming up here, whilst being able to look after my Pokémon better and do some training, though not too much. And at least the Gym is in good hands, Olive was a good replacement. 'Champion' does know what he is doing I'll give that to him."

Sam and Mellanie looked at each other in surprise. They hadn't expected to see Whitney, and definitely not expected her to be fine with her getting sacked. Before they could say anything else, Whitney started speaking again.

"I'm assuming these Pokémon are yours?"

Sam and Mellanie nodded.

"They look strong. Did you beat Olive?"

"Yes" Mellanie answered.

"Took you two attempts though didn't it" Sam grinned at her.

"Sam I swear, if you don't stop going on about it..."

"How about a battle Mellanie?" Whitney asked, cutting her off.

"Err... sure" the younger girl replied. "How many?"

"I think three on three that was what my Gym battles always were."

The Team Rocket gate guards stood lazily watching out across the plain towards the base. They knew that they were secure, the gate was the only way in aside from an aerial assault, and an aerial attack was risky; there were enough Pokémon inside to bring down almost any attack.

Therefore, the only realistic way into the training base was through the front door, which had four guards on it permanently. In front of the base, there was open plain for half a mile. Nobody could sneak up on them.

Ash burst out into the plain, and started sprinting. He waved to Rapidash who charged forwards at high speed, crossing the half a mile in a mere nine seconds at a colossal speed of nearly 200 mph. It took the guards ten seconds to notice.

Before any of them could even move, Rapidash was upon them. The Fire Horse Pokémon used Flamethrower to take out the two guards outside the gate before leaping over it and landing directly in front of the guardhouse which overlooked the gate. Hardly stopping, Rapidash smashed into the two Rockets inside the guardhouse, knocking them both out. Prancing out of the building, the Fire Horse Pokémon looked out across the entrance with some satisfaction.

No alarm went off, and the rest of the team crossed the open terrain easily. Alakazam teleported to the guardhouse and opened the gates. The team was in.

Stepping into the base, Ash looked around. There were no Rockets around, so he walked into the guardhouse to pull up a roster of who should be inside the base. Scanning it, he found that there were no Rocket Executives currently present, but there were nearly six hundred Rockets, of which more than five hundred and fifty were recruits.

Ash grinned, Alakazam had not been wrong. The base was easy to take. Ash quickly pulled up a map on a screen before he gestured to Alakazam and they teleported into the command centre, along with Espeon and Sceptile. Inside were six rockets, none of whom had a chance to move before being taken out.

Ash cleared his throat pointedly; Alakazam hadn't even had a chance to strike, Sceptile and Espeon obliterating the Rockets before he could. Stepping over to the PA system, Ash set it to broadcast to the entire base.

"All Rockets to report to the main training room. Repeat, all Rockets to report to the main training room. There is a compulsory training session to attend"

Ash put the microphone down, and then gestured to Alakazam once again. Ash, his three Pokémon and the six unconscious Rockets all teleported back to the guardroom. Looking out across the plain, Ash saw the buses he had brought with him. All twelve of them were driving up to the base, and Ash spent a few minutes taking the Rockets he had already captured and tying them securely to seats. He then checked his watch; it had been four minutes since the announcement. Ash decided to give the Rockets a few more minutes before moving in.

After another eleven minutes had elapsed, Ash strode out of the guardhouse at the entrance to the base, and down a corridor, his Pokémon advancing at his back. Six turns later, Ash was grateful that he had managed to bring up a map of the base, enabling him to surround all four entrances to the training room with his Pokémon.

Espeon stayed with him, helping to coordinate the teams, but Ash trusted his Pokémon to be fairly autonomous under the circumstances. After they had surrounded the room, Ash stepped through the main door, flanked by Espeon and Sceptile.

Across the room Charizard led a group through another door, whilst Aggron and Snorlax led the other two groups all three of them having to smash through part of the wall as well. The room itself was huge, easily capable of fitting more than a thousand men inside, with a raised platform at one end which Ash stepped onto.

The Rockets were all stood in groups around the room. Once inside the room, Ash projected his voice all around, causing instant silence from the Rockets as his voice echoed around as if it was coming from a microphone.

"Team Rocket. Some of you may recognise me whilst some of you may recognise one or two of my Pokémon. I am 'Champion', the Pokémon Master. You are surrounded by my Pokémon, and there is no escape. Fighting is futile, you cannot win. I would rather avoid any deaths here, so I would appreciate it if you would just surrender without fighting; having to fight off every single of your Pokémon would be tedious."

As his words sank in, Ash smiled to himself. He was able to tell the general feeling in the room, and it had gone from shock to alarm, to fear to simple confusion. The Rockets had no idea what to do, most of them were new and those who weren't had no idea what response fit this situation. Ash then started to speak once again.

"Your base commander is currently unconscious and tied up, so I need his second in command to step forwards."

Silence reigned across the room, as the Rockets waited for something to happen. The men around Eric, the bases second in command were watching him. None of these men were recruits, but none of them were particularly high ranking Rockets; they were the men who trained Rockets before sending them out.

Eric met the eye of one of his colleagues before stepping out of the group and approaching the platform. As he reached it, he grabbed a Pokéball and threw it, shouting out for the Rockets to fight. Ash raised an eyebrow, as the Rockets quickly realised what was going on and started pulling out Pokéballs and releasing Pokémon.

Without needing an order, ten of Ash's Pokémon threw themselves into the fight, the remaining four guarding the doors out of the room.

Eric smiled in triumph as behind him more than eight hundred Pokémon were released. They formed groups, and started to face off against the ten Pokémon arranged against them. Confident that weight of numbers would easily give him a win, Eric turned back to see his Raticate appear in front of him.

As Raticate materialised, Ash's Sceptile surged forwards, smashing the Pokémon with a Leaf Blade attack that knocked it out instantly. Sceptile then hit Eric, knocking him out. Sceptile looked up from his first victory, to see a large group of Pokémon charging at him. A small smile crossed the Forest Pokémon's face as he fired a Bullet Seed into them, sweeping it across the charge causing maximum damage to as many Pokémon as possible.

On the other side of the room, Snorlax stood next to Onix as more than two hundred Rockets led sent their Pokémon to charge at the door they were defending. Snorlax waited for them to come closer, and then fired a Hyper Beam at the advancing Pokémon.

The beam whipped across the charge, sending every Pokémon it hit flying. Snorlax grunted with disappointment; the Pokémon he was facing had no strength at all compared to what he was used to, his attacks were knocking them out instantly.

As the Hyper Beam ended, Onix dived forwards, before changing orientation. He smashed into the Rockets Pokémon length ways in a vicious Take Down attack, colliding along a line eight meters long. Onixs rolling took him through six lines of Pokémon before he rolled back the other way to avoid another of Snorlaxs Hyper Beams. After repeating this twice, the two Pokémon stopped their attacks as the last of their opponents fell.

The Rockets facing them stood in shock. They had sent hundreds of Pokémon at just two, and been comprehensibly destroyed. The Pokémon facing them didn't even look tired. One of the Rockets near the front slowly raised his hands into the air in surrender, an action soon mirrored by his comrades.

Within a few minutes, the scene had been repeated across the room, the sheer power of Ash's Pokémon overwhelming the weak Pokémon that Team Rocket members had. Ash started to escort groups out of the room and to the Buses, Espeon and Alakazam using their psychic strength to prevent the Rockets from attempting to flee.

As each bus was filled, one of Ash's Pokémon stepped inside to watch the Rockets, all of whom were tied to their seats. It took him a while, but eventually Ash had rounded up every single Rocket, and the buses started to drive away. Since some of his Pokémon didn't fit inside the buses, Ash had sent nine Pokémon inside the buses with Rapidash running alongside the convoy.

He kept Charizard, Snorlax, Onix and Aggron, recalling them all to the Pokéball's at his belt. He then turned back into the Rocket base and went back to the command center. Ash was quickly able to hack into the system and find details of other Team Rocket bases. He found three other training bases, and then what he was looking for. The main Team Rocket base was located in Johto, hidden in plain sight. It was in Goldenrod City, a minor skyscraper in the city of huge buildings, but with more than a dozen underground levels. Noting the location, Ash turned and left the base, totally empty of any Rockets.

He had what he needed, and the breakthrough needed to track down Giovanni.

The two trainers faced each other across the field. Sam stepped up as referee, before the two threw their Pokéballs out.

"I choose you, Geodude!" shouted Mellanie, releasing her Rock-type.

"Clefable, come on out!" called Whitney.

"Geodude, Magnitude!" Mellanie ordered.

"Clefable, ride it out and use Ice Beam." Whitney countered.

Geodude smashed down into the ground, causing it to rumble ominously. The shaking became stronger, and Clefable crouched down to try to ride it out. As the Fairy Pokémon fired her Ice Beam, the shaking ground overcame her and caused her to fall, the Ice Beam fading.

"Rock Throw" came Mellanie's curt command. Rocks slammed down onto Clefable, causing severe damage. Before Whitney could come up with another move, Mellanie struck to finish the battle.

"Geodude, Double-Edge."

The Rock Pokémon flew through into Clefable, knocking the Fairy Pokémon to the ground once more, and this time she was unable to get back up. Whitney recalled her Pokémon looking at it sadly.

"Clefable, I thought the training would help. Perhaps it's time for you to quit battling, you clearly don't enjoy it. I'll talk to you about it later." Whitney then turned back to Mellanie. "Good start, but that was my weakest. You'll have to do better to defeat me. Girafarig, you're up."

The Long Neck Pokémon materialised, the head on its tail grinning back at Whitney, a look of fierce intelligence in its eye. It eyed Geodude and its eyes flashed.

"Girafarig, Psychic, and don't let it go."

"Geodude, Earthquake"

Geodude started to descend to the ground to start its attack, but didn't quite reach. As the Rock Pokémon came close, its progress was slowed, and then it was catapulted up into the sky. Grinning at her opponent, Whitney gave another order.

"Psybeam"

A multi-colored beam of light flew out and caught Geodude in a direct hit. Girafarig then let its Psychic hold go, and Geodude fell to ground, crashing down, clearly knocked out, the fall being too much for it. Thanking her Pokémon, Mellanie recalled it, and threw out another Pokéball, releasing a Mareep.

"Mareep, Thunderbolt"

"Psychic"

"Dodge"

Mareep fired its electric attack at Girafarig and then tried to dodge the psychic strike. It wasn't quite quick enough to do both, being sent flying by Psychic as its Thunderbolt smashed into the Long Neck Pokémon. Both Pokémon repeated their attacks several times, becoming progressively more tired as the battle went on.

"Mareep, end it with Thunder!"

"Girafarig, fire a Psybeam before it can get its attack in."

Whitney's strategy nearly worked. Mareep fired a bolt of electricity into the sky before being hit by the multi-colored beam of light which knocked the Wool Pokémon out. However, before Whitney could celebrate, a Girafarig was hit by a bolt of lightning from the sky, sending the Long Neck Pokémon to the ground as well. Both trainers grimaced before recalling their Pokémon and throwing out a final Pokéball each.

"Miltank, you can win this."

"Totodile, I believe in you!"

The two Pokémon appeared, one a small blue bipedal crocodile and the other a pink cow, with small horns. Mellanies eyes narrowed, she knew how powerful this Pokémon was, she could tell just by looking at it.

"Miltank, Rollout" Whitney ordered. Miltank curled up into a ball and started to roll forwards, straight at Totodile. At a command from Mellanie, Totodile dived sideways, before firing a Water Gun at Miltank. The jet of water hit Miltank, but the rolling was enough to divert it. Mellanie gritted her teeth in frustration as Miltank rolled back at Totodile.

"Totodile left then Water Gun at the ground in front of it."

Totodile moved to the left out-of-the-way and then fired his Water Gun just in front of Miltank, causing the Milk Cow Pokémon to slow its spinning as it couldn't spin through the water. As Miltank came out of his ball, Mellanie attacked again.

"Totodile, Hydro Pump"

A huge torrent of water flew out, smashing into Miltank and sending the Pokémon sprawling across the field. On the sideline Sam winced, he knew what it felt like to be on the receiving end of that attack. Miltank slowly got to her feet, glaring across the field at Totodile. Whitney watched her Pokémon struggle to its feet, and then gave another command.

"Miltank, Sandstorm."

Mellanie gasped, as sand kicked up in the field. "Totodile, use Water Gun to clear the area around you, and start to move towards me" she called into the sand. After a few moments she saw Totodile edge out of the sandstorm.

Watching across the field, they settled down to wait it out. Suddenly the sandstorm stopped, and a white beam fired across the field from Miltank. With Mellanie taken by surprise, and unable to command, Totodile instinctively fired a Water Gun straight into it that was rapidly upped to a Hydro Pump as the white beam pushed straight through.

As the Hydro Pump collided with Miltanks attack there was an explosion which hid the field once again. As the smoke cleared, Totodile was looking somewhat tired, but Miltank looked exhausted. Whitney looked at her Pokémon who smiled at her, before tucking into a ball once more.

"Miltank, Rollout."

"Totodile, Hydro Pump."

As Miltank came rolling at the Big Jaw Pokémon, a torrent of water crashed into him, only for Miltank to smash straight through. Totodile was unable to get out-of-the-way quickly enough, and was sent flying. As Totodile hit the ground, Miltank arced back around.

"Totodile, Hydro Pump the ground in front of it!"

This time the water did stop Miltank, with the Milk Cow Pokémon being sent skidding back by the attack. Totodile now looked exhausted, but Miltank seemed barely able to stand. As the trainers watched, the Milk Cow Pokémon tottered on her feet before crashing down to the ground. Sam stepped forwards.

"Miltank is unable to battle. Victory goes to Totodile and Mellanie!"

Mellanie hugged her Totodile, before standing and offering her hand to Whitney who shook it.

"That was a great battle Mellanie, you would have earned the Plain Badge from me had you faced me in the gym." Whitney said.

"Thanks. That was really tough; your Miltank was really strong."

"She was my first ever Pokémon, and my strongest. Not many can beat her..." Whitney broke off, causing Mellanie's eyes to narrow.

"What's wrong?" Mellanie asked.

"Your way of firing water attacks in front of Miltank reminded me. Tell me, have you ever heard of a trainer called Ash Ketchum?" Whitney asked.

"No I don't think so..." Mellanie answered, looking to Sam and seeing a shake of a head there as well. "No, why, did he beat you as well?"

"Ash was a trainer who came through nearly ten years ago. The first time he fought me he lost but then he managed to trap Miltank using a Totodile to create ditches that disrupted Rollout. That's why I taught Miltank Solarbeam, she needed a way to fight other than Rollout." Whitney's eyes became somewhat distant. "Ash went on to make top eight in Johto, and then went to a different region. I never saw or heard from him again."

Before either Sam or Mellanie could answer, a fourth voice added itself to the group. "Sam, Mellanie!" Turning around, the two young trainers saw a woman jogging towards them. She looked about twenty, had shoulder-length brown hair and was dressed in a simple shirt and trousers. As she reached them, she came to a halt.

"Nurse Joy said you two were looking for some training. I need to talk to you." It was at this point that the newcomer realized that Whitney was staring at her.

"Whitney. I didn't think you would be interested in trainers."

"Just because I'm no longer a Gym Leader doesn't mean I don't follow things going on in Goldenrod. I still know as much as you Olive." Whitney countered.

The new Goldenrod Gym Leader grinned. "I'm sure you do. Still don't want to come and train at the gym?"

"No."

"Well can't blame me for trying." Olive turned back to Sam and Mellanie. "Cynthia Shirona is holding a training camp for trainers based in Johto, and all the Gym Leaders are sending trainers that they feel are good. However, a couple of mine had to drop out, and so I need replacements. I don't want to lose any more of my trainees, so I wondered if you two would be interested in attending. It's a week long, at Indigo Plateau."

Sam and Mellanie stood stunned. Cynthia Shirona, the ex-Pokémon Master, and Olive thought they should go? Sam managed to croak out a question.

"Why us?"

"Because, you both have a hell of a lot of potential and you're strong trainers already. You both beat me, and Mellanie you beat Whitney, no mean feat" Olive told them. "One of my jobs is to keep an eye out for trainers like you, refer you to Cynthia. I spoke to her about it, and whilst she knows that you are both on a journey, she still would like to offer you the place. You are apparently good enough to already be tracked by her, though I'm not sure how. So, how about it? I need an answer quickly."

"Yes, I'll go." Mellanie burst out. Sam looked at her, before nodding. "Likewise. We would be stupid to turn it down."

"Wonderful." Olive smiled at the two of them. "I'll inform Cynthia. If you come to the gym now we can arrange some transport for you. Whitney, good luck with the farm."

With that, Olive turned and headed off, the two youngsters traipsing after her. Whitney watched them leave with a smile, and then turned to head back up towards her Miltank farm. She had milking to do, but having heard about the two trainers she knew she couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet them.