Pokemon: The Return of Team Rocket

It's a beautiful night on the luxury liner S. S. Anne. All the Trainers are getting back from an impromptu Contest being held on the main deck, and it's just about time to turn in, when a voice comes on the PA system.

"Stop what you're doing immediately and surrender your ship!"

A Venusaur is released onto a nearby sandbar and prepares to use its Solarbeam attack while everyone flees in surprise and confusion...save for a few. These few just might be responsible for saving the famous ship that cruises around the world.

An analytical mind might notice that since the voice came from the PA, the ship has been infiltrated by the assailants, but now is not the time for thought, but action.

Three Hours Earlier

Katy stood on the Vermillian city docks, just one face amongst a crowd of the dozens of people who would be boarding the luxury cruiser that floated on the water in front of them, the Captain and Crew making the final preparations for the passengers' boarding. Most other people around her had somebody with them to talk to, and were chatting away happily, creating a hum of noise in her ears. The salty sea air disturbed her brown coat, and she pulled it tighter around her slim form, shivering slightly.

A few minutes later, the call came for people to start boarding, and the crowd moved towards the ship in a rush, Katy was carried along by the flow, bumped and jostled by hyper teens and self important rich people, until she reached the boarding steps, handing her ticket to the crewman and getting her pass. She walked up the steps, gazing around at the sights she could see on the deck in a level of awe.

When she stepped onto the upper deck, she blinked in amazement, in front of her was the massive battle arena on the ship, filled with terrains of all descriptions and platforms for trainers to stand on "Whoa." she breathed, hoping she would get a chance to battle there soon. But there was no time for that now, of course, she had to go to her cabin and get set up. Hefting her suitcase, she walked down a nearby flight of stairs and into the body of the ship, the decorative corridors lit by bright lights on the ceiling.

When she arrived in her cabin, she smiled, it was as she had expected and hoped for, simple but comfortable. She would have felt out of place in one of the grander rooms, so this was just right. She placed her suitcase down on the bed, now wasn't the time for unpacking, that could come later, then checked the pokeballs on her belt, and left the cabin, heading up to the dining hall that was the main room of the ship.

Walking in through the double doors, she stopped, her jaw dropping in amazement. The room was magnificent, the carpet was a royal red, with golden embroidery covering its soft fabric, there were flowers in the center of every one of the white clothed circular tables laid with silver cutlery, and service staff stood every few feet with trays of wine and drinks for the passengers who, like Katy, had flocked to the room to mingle before the voyage. Katy walked inside, and was quickly caught up in the flow of things, swept into conversation with a rather handsome boy from Johto that eventually led to a battle.

"Go Swampert!" Katy called, bringing her loyal friend out to counter the boy's Houndoom, and the battle was underway...

After a convenient time skip, Katy withdrew her Dragonair as the kid's Belossom fainted, smiling to him and offering him her hand. The boy scowled at her and turned away, storming off into the crowd who had been watching the fight without another word. Urgh, Katy hated bad sports. As one of the members of the crowd approached her to congratulate her, Katy smiled, allowing herself to be drawn back into the communal mingle.

Now

"Stop what you're doing immediately and surrender your ship!"

Katy looked up from where she was sitting at one of the dining tables in time to see a Veanusaur released onto the bar, its flower glowing ominously. "A solarbeam." she breathed, that would cause terrible damage to the ship! She had to stop it!

Jumping up from her seat and dodging her way past the fleeing passengers, Katy tossed a pokeball towards the plant pokemon "Go! Gardevoir! Use confuse ray!" she yelled as the graceful pokemon appeared from the white light that emerged from the ball. With a cry, its eyes glowed bright purple, and a flash of energy shot towards the Venusaur's head, striking it with a flash and confusing it completely, hopefully that would cause it to fail in its attack.

A few days earlier Christopher had boarded this fine ocean-going vessel in the Sinnoh Region. Where he could not exactly remember as he had traveled through most of he world and had forgotten begun to forget specific locations in Sinnoh. As he got onto the ocean liner he had released his Sableye known as Gem onto the deck of the ship. He mostly did this to freak random people out but had a certain bond with that particular Pokemon that he couldn't explain to anyone. Or really that is what he would say to anyone who asked. The truth was that he would have let any one of his other Pokemon out in fact he used his Exploud Sonic the most. But either the rest were either too big or they could have serious undesirable effects on the environment which was not something he wanted to be blamed for.

He then had proceeded to walk to his cabin. He had rented a cabin in the somewhat middle class in the ship. His upbringing close to nature he did not like to be around a ton of modern devices. He mostly preferred to be around his Pokemon more than real people sometimes. Pokemon loved you unconditionally but people sometime seemed to have the weirdest conditions for their love. After he had gotten settled in his cabin he had gone to the deck and his first sight was was the multi-environmental battling arenas onboard the ship. He had fallen down on his knees and had almost cried at th sight of such a spectacle. He had had his first battle on the ship with another boy who had possessed a Tentacruel as his first Pokemon. Cut to the end of the battle and the boy's last Pokemon, a Peilipper had fainted. He had given a light smirk after the battle and had then wandered off to find the next battle.

Cut to the present and Christopher heard someone on the PA saying that they should surrender the ship. On a sandbar of the side of the ship he he saw a Venusaur charging for what looked like a solar beam. If that hit the ship there was no telling what kind of damage it could do. He saw another girl take out a Gardevoir and use a confuse ray on the Venusaur. He had an idea on what he could do next. He then said. "Go Flamer! Use Flame Wheel!" Flamer then caused a wheel of fire to cover him and he started to roll towards the Venusaur. That would cause great damage against a grass type Pokemon. After all grass was extremely easy to burn.

Flannery had boarded the S.S Anne in Sinnoh, what seemed like a lifetime ago, but was only three days. She'd nearly missed the ship after Blaze had attempted to take an extra few minutes to play-fight one last time with Flannery's Empoleon.
She'd brought a first class ticket, so her team had plenty of room to sleep in her cabin, and VIP access to the Multi-Environmental battle arena. Blaze and Terra weren't traveling that well, Blaze was either sleeping or fighting with Beon, and Terra got confused to easily and fell over at the slightest little wave.
Today she was on deck, Blaze asleep sitting up on a bench, and Flannery curled up beside him, dozing off herself. She'd been at a contest last night, and then Blaze had picked a fight with some Lass... in short, Flannery didn't get much sleep last night.
Shadow came flying across the deck and on top of Flannery, Beon not far behind her.
"Break it up," Flannery groaned, sitting up and pushing Shadow off her lap and onto Blaze. Beon was afraid of Blaze, very afraid.

"Stop what you're doing immediately and surrender your ship!"

The voice on the PA woke Flannery up alright. Blaze, Beon, and Shadow followed their trainer to the railings. Shadow cried loudly, Sparx by her side in a flash. A Venusaur was charging for an attack, obviously a Solar-Beam. Flannery glanced around at her team. Beon could deal a good bit of damage to it, with her Blizzard, but would hurt any other pokémon teaming up with her.
"Wing!" Flannery yelled, just before a girl send out a Gardevoir and a guy his Typhlosion. The Typhlosion would survive the attack, but Flannery wasn't sure about the Gardevoir.
There was another loud cry from the sky above, and Wing was soaring overhead. Flannery grinned. Fly was super effective against grass types.
"Quick Wing! Attack that Venusaur!" Flannery yelled, "It's gonna attack the ship!"

As the Venusaur is mercilessly assaulted by the actions of a few brave Trainers who choose to stand and defend the ship, it howls in pain and goes down. As that's happening, three Gyarados emerge from the waters, each with a Trainer riding it. The one in the center, with a black skullcap, flaming red jacket and blue jeans, takes out a bullhorn. "Heh. You guys are pretty quick on the draw with those Pokemon of yours. That was just a test. Now for part two: Fight your way to the Captain and maybe free this ship. We'll be watching you. Venusaur, return!"

As the Venusaur is recalled, the PA crackles to life again. "You heard the Lieutenant. Everyone but the three that were involved in the defeat of the Venusaur, get back to your cabins. The real fun is about to start." The voice almost sounds like it's sneering at the newly made heroes.

"You have 30 minutes or the Captain becomes indisposed, starting...NOW!"

Chris watched as the three trainers rode in on some Gyaradosi. They then recalled the Venusaur and told the three of them that the captain would die if they didn't get to the captain within half an hour. He then said "Flamer, return. He turned towards the other two trainers and said "I think we should probably split up. We'll be able to cover more ground that way and we'll have a higher chance of finding the captain before time runs out. Now excuse me but I've got to get going. A captain to find and all." He then hurried and ran off to see if the captain was being held in the Multi-Environmental training facility. He said "Sonic!" and his Exploud came out of its poke ball. He then headed off and searched for the captain through all the different environments. He had a feeling that the action he was experiencing was just beginning.

Katy nodded to Chris as he went off "It's a good plan, in essence, but anyone can see that they've at least got someone in charge up in the bridge, or how else would they be using the P.A system?" she commented to the remaining trainer "You can either come with me or if you have your own idea, go there, but I'm heading toward the bridge!" she said, before running into the indoor area of the ship and dashing towards a staircase "Come on Gardevoir!" she called, and the psychic pokemon followed.

While earlier she had been awestruck by the decoration and ornaments of the ship, now she barely noticed them as she ran, set on finding the captain before it was too late.

(short post but I'm in a rush >>' )

Flannery called back her team, leaving Sparx and Shadow out. The guy decided to check the arena, while Flannery had already made up her mind to go to the bridge.
"You can either come with me or if you have your own idea, go there, but I'm heading toward the bridge!"
Flannery nodded, sprinting after the girl. "Sparx, Shadow, hurry on! We're going towards the Bridge."
Sparx and Shadow looked at each other, then chased after the Gardevoir, overtaking her. Sparx was starting spark with excitement, while Shadow was fading in and out of the shadows, her rings starting to glow faintly.

[Sorry for Short Post, have to share computer, and three other people want to 'check their email'.]

As the intrepid Trainers tried to fight their way through the masses and the rogues that stood in their way (mostly using defense tanks like Shuckle, Chansey and Wobbuffet), a different kind of action was going on inside the bridge: A getaway. Surely with all the panic caused by the Gyarados, Venusaur and particularly the supposed threat to the Captain, nobody would suspect that this was merely a test run, to see if Katy, Flannery and Chris had what it took to restart the evil organization known as Team Rocket.

As usual, their surface goals were lofty: Take out rival criminal organizations. Also as usual, their main goal was sinister: Establish a monopoly on criminal activity involving Pokemon. As for the name, they knew that choosing it (again) would spark fear in the hearts of those unprepared to stand against them, but they needed to see who would be strong enough to spread their message of exploitation of Pokemon for profit and something akin to respect. They didn't want to be undone by one kid like what had happened to them before, so they were looking actively for talent that would be resilient in the face of hardship and wouldn't just knuckle under so the boss would hopefully handle them.

Meanwhile, the timer on the locked door to the bridge counts down. 15:45...15:44... This, too, was a test; to see whether or not the Trainers were willing to commit crimes to achieve goals, most likely by busting down the door with a combined attack at the cost of destroying property, or possibly picking the lock on the door.

No matter what, there were some tough decisions ahead for the intrepid Trainers that chose to stand against this fledgling but still very real threat.

"Gardevoir! Use Psychic!"

As the psychic pokemon delivered this attack, yet another grunt's pokemon fainted, unable to keep fighting, and Katy ran on past. Gardevoir was looking tired, it was time to bring out a different pokemon to give her a rest. "Come on back Gardevoir, you've done great!" she said, smiling at her friend before the red light of the pokeball returned her to her rest.

"Go! Absol!" she called as she threw her second pokeball, the white and black pokemon emerging in a flash of white light with a growl "Come on, we've got a captain to free!" she exclaimed as they darted down the corridor, before coming face to face with a big, metal door. "Dammit, how are we going to get in here?" she exclaimed, glancing around for any sign of a way in.

"We'll have to force our way through I guess, I hope the captain won't mind..." she said reluctantly "Go, Swampert!" she yelled, releasing her oldest friend out into the corridor "Use ice beam on that door!"

"Swampert!" the water pokemon cried, unleashing a beam of ice at the door, frosting and freezing it completely.

"Now, on my count, we hit it! One, two, three!" Katy yelled, before both she and the two pokemon flung themselves at the weakened door... and bounced off. "Well that worked..." Katy muttered ironically, "So much for subtlety." she said with a sigh, before recalling Swampert and sending out Dusclops "Alright Duclops, use Hyper Beam! We're getting in there!" she yelled, too caught up in the adrenaline of the situation to think about the possible damage to the ship.

As instructed, Dusclops took a deep breath in, before unleashing the orange beam of power at the door, blasting it in on its hinges and clearing the way. Coughing and spluttering, Katy made her way into the room after recalling the spent Dusclops, followed by Absol "Captain? Are you alright!" she called into the fading smoke from the attack.

Chris had been looking around the Multi-Environmental battle arenas for a little while and could not find the captain. Blast it, that girl might have been on to something. He hit himself on the head for going through that moment of intense stupidity. Yes he had faced some Wobbuffets there but nothing more. Sonic had been recalled a while ago. He was now replaced with Raichu. Chris then realized that this was a distraction. He then remembered that when he had gone onto the ship a few days earlier he had noticed that whoever had owned the ship had placed maps around it so people could easily get around it. As got down through all of the environments -being careful stop to step into any of the hazards- he noticed a map on the wall right in front of where he was. It located the bridge not to far from where he was. Up some flights of stairs and around the corner.

He ran as quick as he could, Ray right on his heels. A few minutes later and after fighting 3 Shuckles he had recalled Ray back in favor of using Flamer. His Typhlosion ran after him. He got to the bridge just in time to see Katy's Duclops use a Hyper Beam to break down the door to the bridge. He was about to suggest that that was too much and that they could have found a different way around the door but Kay had rushed in to free the captain before he could say anything. He ran in after her to help free the captain from whatever unseen threat loomed to do harm to him. When he got into the room he saw Katy but he couldn't see the captain through all the smoke that the Hyper Beam had generated.

As Katy and Chris run through the busted door to the bridge, they see a shocked crew, none more shocked than the Captain himself. Above him, a sword can be seen hanging on the wall.

"You...you two are with them, aren't you? You've come to hijack this ship! I, I would...ooooooh..." The Captain clutches his stomach and runs to the wastebasket, obviously excited to the point of nausea over the recent events, then kneels and leans over it as if getting ready to hurl his guts out. The assistant captain, however, is more decisive and less prone to seasickness, and runs over.

"Sorry, but while we appreciate what you did to protect the ship, we'll have to stop off in Vermilion early this year to file an incident report and fix the door. I hope you don't mind your cruise being cut short, and know that we'll do all we can to make the rest of your voyage as enjoyable as possible." Then he gets on the PA system and hits the button for the all clear signal, which brings many a sigh of relief and curses from the Rockets making their getaway by rappelling down the sides of the ship with the likes of Rock Climb and escaping by Surfing.

As the announcement comes explaining what has just happened and the early stop in Vermilion, an audible collective groan seems to escape the craft. But to the older Trainers, especially those that know their history, the opening salvo in the newest war against a team of twisted Trainers has just been fired.