Chapter 26

In the morning I wake up to the sound of something tapping on the walls of my tent. I look in the direction of the sound and I see a human silhouette reflecting on the wall. I quickly get up and throw on some random clothes from my bag before grabbing Skadi and stepping out of my tent. I see Bea stepping out of her tent at about the same time while yawning.

"Morning~" I call as I yawn because of Bea. I don't know why, but seeing someone yawn always makes me yawn as well.

"Morn'/Mornin'" The two of them call back at the same time. I let Chingling and Zephyr out of their pokeballs and I go about making breakfast for everyone. It does not take us long to inhale the food and then clean up our campsite and get back underway in the darkness. I recall Zephyr before we leave as it is still too dangerous for her to be about in the cave. 

As we walk along, Chingling creates a gentle music for us as it flies along just behind my shoulder where it can hear my music. Normally as I am walking, the music player just plays some quiet lofi style music extremely quietly to where I can just barely hear it. It seems to sense around me, so when a pokemon that can cause me harm is near. If I want to, I can turn off the music but currently I haven't had any issues besides the Paras from two nights ago. 

We seem to be moving at a faster pace today. I guess the two of them don't want to spend any extra time in the dark or away from the sun. The darkness and lack of sun were not really bothering me as I was actually much more comfortable as it was cooler than being in the sun and the darkness was nothing to my eyes. Our pace isn't so fast that we can't talk, but it is about double the speed we had when we first entered Mount Moon.

After some time traveling, it is hard to tell how much time passes when you don't have any visual cues, I spot a large area of unnatural light. I furrow my brows and try to focus on the light in the distance. The light isn't the white of daylight, but the yellowish light of artificially made light.

"Girls, do you see that large spot of light?" I ask as we get closer as I am not sure if they could see it earlier.

"I see it, I've been wondering what it was." Flannery replies with a thoughtful voice.

"Whatever it is, it shouldn't be here. That amount of light would disrupt the pokemon." Bea answers as we continue to move closer.

"Check it out?"

""Check it out""

I giggle slightly at the response and so does Chingling. I got the feeling that they are both bored and this is a good distraction. We continue to get closer and I decide to turn off my music for the moment so I could listen. For a moment, all I hear is our footsteps and the quiet crunch of loose stone below our feet, but suddenly I hear some unintelligible voices coming from ahead. The voices sound excited, until I hear the sounds of pokemon cries as well. I press on Bea and Flannery's shoulders to indicate them to move faster. As we move into the light, I can finally see what is going on.

In front of us, there are about five people in black uniforms tossing odd colored pokeballs at any pokemon they can see. Swarms of Zubat, Geodude, Rattata, Paras, Sandshrew and Clefairy and running around try to escape from the people in black. I can see a few pokemon fighting against the wild pokemon, trying to keep them where the people in black can try to catch them. I see a pokeball fly and land on a Sandshrew, only for it to be sucked in by a black light and the ball promptly disappears. I focus on the people and as one turns slightly I see the telltale sign on their chest, the huge red R for Team Rocket.

"Team Rocket," I hiss out to the girls as I catch them before they get any closer. "There are only about five that I can see, we can take them out if we catch them by surprise."

"Why would we do that? Who is Team Rocket?" Flannery asks, looking confused.

"They are a criminal group that are catching pokemon in large numbers for some unknown reason." Bea answers as she releases her two main pokemon. "Frost happened to fight some back in Viridian City when they attacked a Pokecenter there."

"When we get out, check the forums, you will see they are a problem all over Kanto and Johto." I reply as I release Zephyr while thinking of a plan. I look at Chingling, "Hey buddy, I know you are new on the team, but would you be willing to help? These are bad people." Chingling looks around at what is happening before giving me a nod. "Thanks buddy."

I take a few more seconds before coming up with a plan. "Alright so, how about I try to disable as many of the Rocket members as possible and then Bea and I take out whomever is still standing. I figure our training would make quick work of them. In the meantime, Flannery, how about you take out the pokemon that are attempting to stop the wild pokemon from leaving?" I offer, as I tell them the plan I came up with. "Skadi and Chingling both have status moves that would be effective against trainers, while I can leave Zephyr to you as she is better at taking out pokemon."

Flannery furrows her brow, thinking about what to do. I can tell she is uneasy about attacking the group. "Are you sure we should attack? There are more of them than us."

"If we can take out the trainers or distract them, the wild pokemon might be able to attack their pokemon, making the fight easier. Right now they are attacking with coordination and the wild pokemon are not working together." I watch as another pokemon gets in range of the criminals and quickly disappears into another one of those odd pokeballs.

"I think Frost has the right idea, Flannery. I don't know what they are going to do with these pokemon, but it is better to prevent it." Bea offers as she watches what is going on while doing a bit of warming up with a big grin on her face.

Flannery looks at the two of us before sighing and nodding. "Alright let's do this."

"Great!" I give her a smile before turning to my pokemon. "Zephyr, follow Flannery's commands. You are to take out the pokemon preventing the wild ones from escaping. Skadi, Chingling, I want you two to attack the people in black. Skadi, use Icy Wind and Confuse Ray on them, it should slow them down and give us time to attack. Chingling, I want you to use Astonish on them and then use Confusion on their legs to trip them up." My pokemon nod at me in understanding and I see Bea is also giving out directions. As for Flannery, she has her Ponyta out. "I'll start us off then… Chingling use Astonish on the people in black!" I call out the attack.

Chingling moves in front of me before he starts to vibrate and glow a deep purple color before a clamorous sound erupts from the little bell. I flinch slightly at the sound as I am not expecting how loud it would be, but I see it hit all the members of Team Rocket and they stagger under the assault. "Skadi, Icy Wind!" I call out as I run towards the closest Rocket Grunt. From behind me, a wave of pale blue energy soars past me and hits all the staggered grunts, causing them to glow a faint blue color as well. I see that their movement has slowed down as I reach my first target. 

The target I pick out still has his back turned towards me due to the unexpected assault. Making use of my momentum, I plant a foot and deliver a beautiful kick to the back of his head. My kick lands with a beautiful sound and the unfortunate recipient of my attack is sent flying face first into a stone column where they hit and collapse to the ground in an unmoving heap. 

As my foot hits the floor again, I redirect myself towards my next target who turned just in time to watch what happened to my first victim. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Bea reach her first target, but I don't have time to watch as an untrained punch comes flying at me. I see my target stumble over something as I grab their arm and perform a shoulder throw that would make any Judo master proud. The Rocket member looks up at me in shock as wind gets knocked out of him. 

"Sorry, not sorry" I say as I kick his head like a soccer ball, knocking him out like the other rocket. I hear something crack from my kick but I don't pay any attention to it as I turn to look at my next target. I raise my eyebrow as I notice him attacking the air instead of Bea or me. I take a second to look at Bea and notice she is looking at the last guy as well while at her feet are two more unmoving bodies. I tilt my head towards the last guy and Bea gives me a smirk before walking up to the poor sap and punching him hard in the solar plexus. The last rocket collapses on the floor a second later.

I look around to see the situation with the pokemon, and I see that the wild pokemon disperse or they are helping to take out the Rocket pokemon. I start grabbing the pokeballs from the belts of the unconscious grunts and start to recall their pokemon. Once all the pokemon are recalled, almost all the rest of the pokemon disperse while a couple watch us warily. I smile at them and call my pokemon to me as I pull out the neon pink rope from my bag. I see Flannery raise an eyebrow at me when she notices the rope and I just blush lightly as I start binding their arms in a hojojutsu capture tie, and stringing them together so we can easily bring them out and call in the Jennys.