The N Team moved through Hacker's Inverted Palace of Power, virtually unopposed. The entire lower chambers were in fact completely unguarded. Eike kept himself at the ready, poké ball in hand; ready to throw to counter whatever was willing to jump out of the shadows. He wasn't this nervous as far back as he could remember. He'd rather fight the Elite Four from all of the Pokémon League Headquarters in all of Pokémon Land than to have to spend one more minute in this place. It just didn't feel right.
He looked to their Leader, Captain N, Mackenzie Buffington, to see if she was nervous too. If she was, she wasn't showing it. She had a weariness to her now though, as though she was tired of the whole scenario she had been thrust into.
The last few weeks in Videoland had been harsh on her. Zero and Arthur had kept her training for the coming battle intense, only letting her get a few hours for sleep, having to eat while training. He remembers having to do that a few times while raising some of his greatest pokémon, so he knows how she must feel. But she certainly didn't seem uneasy about what was to come. At least she seems ready to face Hacker.
How would he take on this Hacker person anyway? If prior history was any indication, no amount of training would be any good. Hacker disposes of his enemies very quickly, knowing their weaknesses, exploiting them and dispatching them with his blade. There is no way to fight fair against someone who doesn't play by the rules.
The N team stopped suddenly in front of him, snapping him back to attention. Before them stood several doorways, each looking almost exactly like the other, for the exception that above each door was a sculpture of each one of the members of the N Team, including one for Eike. Hacker had been expecting them for some time, it would seem.
"It looks like Hacker means to split us up," Midna said, more to herself than to the team. Mack looked to her. "I see no reason why we should play by his rules any longer..."
Zero walked up to one of the doors, the one that had Link's bust above it. The door did not budge for him, as though it were more a wall than an actual door.
"It won't let me in this one."
"It would seem we have no other choice, my friends, but to take the path that Hacker has laid out for us,” Arthur said bravely. As he approached his respective door, it opened for him slightly.
"Guys, be careful. We don't know what to expect, but I assume we can find a way back to each other on the other side...” Mack was trying to keep everyone's spirits high. The team was definitely not as strong on their own as they were together. Hacker must have known this, and meant to wear everyone down, if not defeat them outright.
"See you on the other side," Zero waved over his shoulder and stepped in first. Eike envied how cool and calm he looked as he walked in. After he stepped through, the door disappeared, leaving a bare wall.
Each of the rest of the team stepped through their doors, until Eike was left with Mackenzie.
"See you on the other side, be careful." Mack said, her voice wavering a bit. With everyone else already facing what lays ahead her guard had dropped. Eike could see she really was as nervous as he was, which was somehow reassuring. She smiled at him somewhat nervously as she moved to her door.
"Good luck, Captain," Eike forced a smile, Poké ball in hand, and they both stepped through their respective doors to whatever lay beyond.
***
The room was dark and had an echo, so it must have been spacious and largely empty. The ceiling was very high, possibly domed based on the echoes he could hear from his footsteps. The air was slightly stale, so there weren't any openings to the outside or easy means of escape as far as he could tell. He paused briefly to let his eyes adjust to the darkness.
"So, the twerp finally shows up!" A woman's voice remarked. Eike startled at the sudden noise.
"Indeed, we certainly were kept waiting!" A male voice now.
"Quiet down youse two! The boss says once we take care of this kid, he will give us anything we want!" something snarky cried out.
"Who's out there!”? Eike declared out into the darkness.
"Allow us to introduce ourselves!" a female voice called out as very bright floodlights illuminated the area. Eike had to shield his eyes and take a step back while he adjusted to the sudden brightness.
"Yes, introductions are in order!" a slightly effeminate male voice chimed in.
Eike was finally able to get a better look at the place he had fallen into. It appeared to be a large fully functional pokémon arena, like would be used in a Coliseum battle. It clearly had fallen into minor disrepair, a layer of dust covered just about everything; the teletron screens were dark and dusty as well. Most of the equipment was gone, including the customary table where judges or announcers would sit.
He looked up to see a large hot-air balloon up in the bleachers that resembled the face of a Meowth, in its basket were two people; a woman and a man, clad in gray and red jumpsuits adorned with the letter "R" and a Meowth, strangely enough.
"Prepare for Trouble!" The red headed woman thrust her arms out dramatically to the left.
"Make it double!" The blue haired male made a similar motion to the right.
The two figures leaped down from their balloon to the floor, as they jumped, they continued with their dramatic verse.
"To protect the world from devastation!" She cried. As she landed, she kicked up a huge cloud of dust.
"To unite all peoples within our nation!" He matched her movements very deliberately expelling more dust from the arena floor.
"To denounce the evils of Truth and Love!" she pointed at Eike.
"To extend our reach to the stars above!" He grasped at the air above his head, as through looking up to grasp the very sky above the dome.
"Jesse!" She woman cried out, revealing her name.
"James!" He followed suit, bringing a rose toward his face, coyly smiling past it at Eike.
Jesse continued, "Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!" James added, poké ball in his other hand.
The Meowth leaped from the Balloon and landed in front of Jesse and James, crying out, "Me-e-owth! That's right!"
The three stood in place dramatically, panting slightly from their exertion. Two red smoke flares popped to life behind them to further add to their over-the-top entrance.
Eike stood in place, rather confused.
"So, let me get this right... You two... Protect the world, defend truth and love, have a talking Meowth and you want to fight me for no reason?"
"Not for no reason, you little brat!" Jesse snapped. "You have some Pokémon we want, and we're going to take them from you!"
"The boss says your adventure ends here, kid" James added, putting his rose away, and standing ready.
"Now hand over your poké balls and walk away real slow-like, and maybe we'll just let you walk out of here!" The Meowth commanded.
Eike was in no mood to be dealing with any bad-mannered pokémon, talking or not. He prepared his poké ball.
"Looks like you're in for a fight, then."
Jesse and James both smiled. "Fine, have it your way!" The both cried out, throwing their monsters into battle.
"Go, Seviper!" Jesse called.
"Go, Mime Jr!" James exclaimed.
Both of their summoned Pokémon appeared in the middle of the arena floor before Eike. He smiled. What amateur choices for their opening round. Still this was hardly a fair fight. He counted six poké balls each on their belts, plus their Meowth. Eike had only six, so he was clearly outnumbered.
Eike reached behind his back and prepared a second poké ball to counter their challenge, "Well, good to see you know how to catch pokémon anyway. Let me show you what real battling pokémon look like!"
Eike threw two of his poké balls out to the Arena. In a flash of energy two of Eike's Pocket Monsters emerged: Charizard and Aggron. Charizard, a flying/fire type would be a good match against Mime Jr, a Normal Type. Aggron, being a sturdy steel/ground Pokémon would match well against Seviper. Eike grinned confidently. Team Rocket didn't stand a chance if this was the best they had to offer.
Charizard was the first to act. He pulled his serpentine head back, then expelled forward a stream of molten flame at Jesse's Mime Jr. It was Charizard's signature move, Flamethrower. Mime Jr. had nowhere to go to avoid the attack and seemed to just take the hit. As the flames subsided, Eike was dismayed to see that Mime Jr. had in fact used Safeguard and protected himself from the almost guaranteed knock out. Charizard snorted, apparently sharing his master's displeasure.
Jesse's Seviper used Stockpile and started storing energy for a later attack. Eike would have to drop it quickly or potentially get overwhelmed.
Aggron roared and leapt into the air. The heavy steel monster slammed into the ground with a force that shook the whole arena, if not the entire palace. Its Earthquake move made short work of Seviper, just as Eike had expected it would. Mime Jr. withstood the attack with Safeguard, but he clearly wouldn't last another round under these conditions.
"How dare you!" Jesse exclaimed, recalling her fainted pokémon and preparing the next. She expertly tosses the nondescript red-and-white orb into the fray, revealing a Wobuffet. The Psychic pokémon raised his arm to his forehead in salute and stood fast.
"So now you're getting serious!" Eike smiled. Wobuffet was a indeed a serious contender, but if he planned it right, he wouldn't have to worry about him until the end of the battle.
"You just don't know how serious we are!" James piped up. "Mime Jr., use Metronome!"
Mime Jr.'s eyes glowed fiercely as his hands waved side to side in perfect timing. He rose up from the floor and hovered in place for a moment. The sound of rushing water could be heard from all sides of the arena.
James giggled, "Looks like he used Surf! so much for your 'Battling pokémon!'" No sooner had James spoken than the bleachers behind them erupted into the air as a colossal wave formed. Team Rocket leaped to the safety of their balloon just was the water came crashing down.
Charizard saw the attack coming and hurled its master to safety, taking almost the entire blow. Aggron was far too slow to get out of the way in time.
Eike was thrust back towards the bleachers on the far side of the arena. By the time he recovered, both of his pokémon were unconscious. Wobuffet stood fast, largely unharmed, albeit quite wet. The remaining water drained loudly, gurgling down several drains built into the arena floor.
Eike hopped down with a splash and ran back to Charizard. "Charizard!" He checked his friend to see if he was still conscious. Unfortunately, he had fainted completely.
"You did a good job, Charizard. I'm sorry to have put you into this much danger. You too, Aggron." Eike retrieved his unconscious friends, putting them back into their poké balls to recover.
Jesse and James returned to their places on the arena floor as did Eike. He pulled out two more companions from the pouch on his belt. Team Rocket was down just one pokémon of their thirteen, and he was already down two of his six. He had better get serious, or this battle, and possibly the fate of his friends and even all of Videoland would be sealed very soon!
***
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