Ditto! Gary's Story
A Pokémon Fanfic by Poryhedron
(poryhedron@hotmail.com; comments welcome!)

  This is Volume 8 of this fanfic. Look for more information in Volume
1.
  Here's a recap of what various typing styles mean here:

ALL CAPS - Pokémon move name
_Surrounded by underlines_ - emphasis (underlining, bold, etc.)
 (sometimes ALL CAPS will serve as further emphasis)
{Within curved braces} - Translated pokémon speech
<Within angle braces> - Flashback speech
/Within slashes/ - Telepathy
[Within brackets] - Walkie-talkie speech and similar

  This story is ongoing; there is a new chapter each week. For more
information, visit http://www.pokemology.f2s.com/ (unless you're
viewing this file from there, obviously.)



Ditto! Gary's Story
Chapter 141

                       _KNOWING THE ROCK TUNNEL_
        An Indespensible Guide to the Famed Northeastern Cavern

  The cavern known as the Rock Tunnel was created over many centuries by
tunneling Diglett and Onix. Much like Diglett's Cave, the branching
paths here are small and few, suggesting the pokémon used the Tunnel as
we humans do today; as a route of travel rather than a home. However,
the path twists in such confusingly random directions that some
pokémologists wonder as to the true function of this ancient
construction.
  Further complicating travel for the average person is the fact that
most of the length of the tunnel is cloaked in utter darkness. Unlike
the caverns within Mt. Moon, the bedrock through which the Rock Tunnel
winds makes artifical lighting highly impractical. Thus, travelers must
bring their own light sources, such as the Official Rock Tunnel
Flashlight that comes free with this Guide.

  "Official, huh?" Kate said as she examined the flashlight in the late
morning sun. It had the words KNOW:NG THE RCCK TUNNE| painted on the
side, and some of the letters that were still whole didn't look to
remain that way for long. "Where did you find this, anyway?"
  "There was a rack of them in the Pokémon Center lobby," Gary answered,
gesturing back towards the building they had left behind. "Hang on, I
found something important."

  Travelers should keep in mind that the Rock Tunnel was and still is
used regularly by wild pokémon. Watch, or watch out, for the following
species:
  Zubat (collectors' species #41.) This flying Poison-type loves to
confuse its enemies, so be careful around these. They can also drain a
pokémon's life to replenish their own.
  Geodude (collectors' species #74.) A Rock/Ground-type pokémon that
resembles a stone and is every bit as hard. Trainers carrying Normal-
types are advised not to fight these, but they can also be a bother to
other travelers. When they sleep, they are indisdinguishable from rocks,
and when they wake up and move, travelers who have mistaken them for
rocks could easily lose their footing.
  Machop (collectors' species #66.) A humanoid pokémon whose body is
built entirely of muscle, this Fighting-type enjoys training itself more
than anything else, and is known to approach pokémon trainers, seeking a
chance to battle. They are rare, but be prepared for them just in case.
  Onix (collectors' species #95.) The largest of all known pokémon, this
Rock/Ground-type is rare and extremely dangerous when provoked. If you
meet one, take great care not to disturb it. If you are a pokémon
trainer and cannot avoid combat, please keep in mind that _special
attacks work far better on Onix than physical attacks._ Even Fire
attacks, for example, are a better choice than Normal attacks. _THIS
INFORMATION COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE._

  Gary looked back at Kate after reading that aloud. "Poliwhirl, check."
  "Gastly, check." Kate wasn't raising Ivysaur because it wouldn't help
much against the Celadon Grass-types, but Gastly would do just fine.
Gary nodded and looked back to the guide book.
  The next page of the book was a map of the Rock Tunnel's ground floor,
and on the facing page was a map of a lower level. Sure enough, there
was really only one path in the Rock Tunnel, but it was ridiculously
twisty; it moved between floors four times, making a five-part trip that
looked about as long as the trip here from Cerulean. It looked like Gary
and Kate would be spending another night in Lavender or Saffron.
  Gary closed the book as they approached the entrance to the Rock
Tunnel. "So, you ready to explore the deep, dark unknown?" he asked with
half a smile.
  Kate frowned at the 'official' flashlight in her hands. "I'm still
debating whether we should trust this thing."
  "Well, we don't really have to, but you might want a light of your
own, and you're not using Jigglypuff right now," Gary replied, drawing a
more heavy-duty flashlight from his backpack.
  "Hey, where'd you get that?"
  "This? I took it off a guard while Ditto and I were rescuing you from
that casino in Saffron City," Gary answered casually.
  Ditto flew out of a nearby bush and landed on Kate's shoulder. {What
he means is, the guard dropped it when I scared the living daylights out
of him, and then our hero picked it up off the pavement.} Kate giggled,
and Gary just tried to ignore them.
  "Anyway," Kate said, getting back on track, "I _did_ teach Jigglypuff
FLASH for just this sort of thing. I don't think the rest of my party is
going to catch up to my Pidgeotto by the time we get through the tunnel,
so I can switch Pidgeotto for Jigglypuff while we're in there."
  "Sounds like a plan."
---
  The Team Rocket spy cursed to himself as Fields sent out her
Jigglypuff in the tunnel entrance and it brightened. Unlike the
flashlight Ford had swiped, the Jigglypuff would provide three-sixty-
degree lighting, which would make it hard for him to follow them without
being noticed.
  Fortunately, he had a solution to this. When Ford and Fields had gone
far enough into the tunnel so that he couldn't see the Jigglypuff's
light, he sent out one of his own pokémon: a Zubat.
  {Gah! Light!} The Zubat quickly flew into his shadow and then waited
there.
  The Team Rocket spy drew a miniature video recorder from his jacket
pocket. "Zubat, there are two humans in that cave, with a flashlight and
a FLASHing Jigglypuff. Track them with the usual cave spying routine,
and report to me at the other end of the tunnel. Got it?"
  {I'm on it!} The Zubat took the recorder and darted from his shadow to
the darkness of the cave mouth as fast as it could.
  The Team Rocket spy picked up his radio to call for transport to the
Lavender Town entrance. He prefered to do the spying himself, but Zubat
had a pretty good track record for cavern snooping. He was confident
that nothing important would be missed.

Chapter 142

  {Agh! Bad light!}
  "Another Zubat!"
  "I see it! Get it, Pidgeotto!"
  Just about all of the battles Gary and Kate had faced so far had been
against Zubat. Machop and Onix were quite rare, and the Geodude seemed
to be avoiding the light. The Zubat, of course, having no eyes, didn't
notice the light until they could feel it shining right on them.
  That was just fine for Gary. None of the four pokémon he was raising
here could confidently take on a Rock-type. The Zubat were no problem
for Pidgeotto, and Nidorino, Nidorina and Beedrill could take them if
they kept alert. Any Machop they might stumble into could also be
handled, but if an Onix showed up, Gary would have to resort to
Poliwhirl. He might have to even for Geodude.
  Kate was looking worse. Her Beedrill wasn't strong enough to handle
this many Zubat without healing, so she had to hope they met some Machop
deeper into the cave or Beedrill wouldn't get any raising. Spearow and
Vulpix were doing well against the Zubat, and Ekans wasn't doing too
badly, but if Geodude or Onix showed up, Gastly would have to make an
appearance.
  {Urgh...}
  {Another down! Hey, are we getting close to the exit yet? I'm not much
for this place.}
  "Well, let's see...I think we should be getting pretty close..."
  {Good!}
  "...to the first of the two places where we have to go even deeper."
  {...eheh...}
  "Tell you what, as soon as you learn WING ATTACK, I'll let you stay in
your ball until we get back in the sunshine. Deal?"
  {Attacking with wings, huh? Heck, I think I'll learn that right now!
Let's see...I'd...um...attack with...my wing?}
  Gary chuckled. "That's the spirit...if not quite the method." While
Pidgeotto tried to curl up its pinions and punch, Gary just raised its
Pokéball, and recalled it for the moment.
  "Why are you focusing on Pidgeotto so much if it doesn't like caves?"
Kate asked as they set off again.
  "Because Pidgeotto is the only one I have a goal for. It's close to
learning that attack, and I need it to know that by the time we get to
the Gym, but the other three just need level-ups."
  "Hmm...I wonder what my pokémon could learn..." Kate got out her
Pokédex and started looking up the pokémon in her party. "I know Ekans
and Vulpix just learned moves, but...whoa!"
  "What?"
  Kate pointed to the entry she had opened. "Spearow's going to evolve
soon!"
  "No kidding? How many levels does it need?"
  "Just a couple more...and right after that it'll learn that DRILL PECK
move they were using!"
  Gary chuckled. "So, how much raising are Ekans and Vulpix going to get
for the moment?"
---
  "Hey Kate, when you're done, there's a ladder here!"
  "Ah, good!"
  {Owww...}
  {Whew. Are there more Zubat in this part of the cave, or are you just
giving me more of them?}
  "Uh, yeah, I thought this would be a good time to work more on your
power level." Kate recalled Spearow, and then went to join Gary by a
large hole in the floor. A metal ladder was firmly attached to the near
edge. "Why is the hole so big?"
  "Onix used this path, remember?" Gary held his flashlight in his mouth
and climbed down the ladder to the lower level.
  {???}
  Kate turned to her confused Jigglypuff. "Oh, you can't use the ladder,
can you? Well, you're rubbery enough, right? Just jump down when I call
to you, okay? It's not too deep."
  {^_^!}
  Kate climbed down, and then called for Jigglypuff to jump down.
Jigglypuff looked down the pit, and its eyes widened. It sucked in as
much air as it could hold, then jumped into the pit, bounced off the
bottom and almost made it to the lower level's ceiling before coming
back down into Kate's arms. {@_@}
  Gary, Kate and Jigglypuff continued on the lower level. A certain
distance from Jigglypuff's light, two silent Zubat followed. One,
carrying a video recorder, kept far enough from the light to avoid being
noticed, but close enough for the recorder to see what was going on in
the light.
  The other simply watched the one with the video recorder, biding its
time.

Chapter 143

  "'Bout time!"
  The Team Rocket spy watched the helicopter descend. The door opened
and an operative leaned out. "All right, hotshot, let's go!"
  "Took you long enough! We're not that far from Vladimir's, are we?"
  The operative grunted as the helicopter lifted off. "We're not from
Vladimir. Samori wants total control over the operation now. So what
gives? I thought you were supposed to be on their tails twenty-four-
seven."
  "Couldn't follow them through the cave and be both observant and
unobserved. I've got an agent in there, and I'll meet it at the Lavender
end."
  "Leaving the mission to your pokémon, eh?"
  "You got a problem with that, _operative?_"
  "Who, me? No, sir. In fact, I know a certain other _operative_ who
owes me 500 Pokébucks."
---
  The Zubat in question shifted to get a better angle. A Machop had just
shown up to challenge Kate as the owner of the Jigglypuff, and fights
were good places to learn things about people.
  Kate couldn't believe her luck. Machop were probably worth more
experience than Zubat, and as Fighting-types they were weak against the
Flying-type Spearow. "Get'm, Spearow!"
  {Hmm, this one looks new!}
  {Aw, fnord, it's a bird...Hm! I'll beat it anyway!}
  "First PECK!" Spearow launched at Machop to PECK it, and Machop got
ready to KARATE CHOP Spearow when it got close enough.
  The ground began to rumble.
  Machop noticed and turned several shades lighter. It was so distracted
it forgot about Spearow and got nailed by its PECK. After that, Machop
tried to focus on its own battle, but it wasn't easy with that rumble
growing louder. The Team Rocket Zubat had to force down its own urge to
flee several times.
  Gary turned toward where the rumbling seemed to be coming from, and
saw the cave wall buckle just before a huge craggy head burst from it.
{Ah, the Big Windi--humans!}
  Gary gulped and put his hand on Poliwhirl's Pokéball. This had to
happen now?
  Onix noticed Gary's hand. {I won't let you take me!}
  "I don't _want_ to catch you!"
  {What, I'm not good enough for you? I'll show you I'm worth it!} Onix
slithered all the way out of the side tunnel it had dug and tried to
stare him down.
  It didn't want to be caught, but it was going to show Gary that it was
a good catch? Gary tried not to think about it.
---
  Seeing Onix was busy with the other human, Machop put all of its
concentration back into beating Spearow. It lashed out with quick KARATE
CHOPs that knocked Spearow to the ground. Then it crouched and swept a
leg forward in a LOW KICK, but Spearow had already gotten back into the
air and the attack missed.
---
  "Go, Poliwhirl!"
  {Here to help...out...whoa, big.}
  "Remember the last time you faced an Onix? Let's do it properly this
time!"
  {On it!} Poliwhirl ran to meet Onix.
  {Hah! You'll never beat me!} Onix lowered its head to right in front
of Poliwhirl. {I'm just too big for you, pipsqueak!}
  {Don't be too sure!} Poliwhirl answered, firing a WATER GUN at the big
target right in front of it.
  Onix backed off quickly. {Bleah! Guh, Htoo! I hate water!}
  {That's the idea, big shot!} Poliwhirl fired more WATER GUNs at
whatever part of Onix was closest, and Onix writhed in an attempt to
avoid the shots.
---
  Kate decided it was time for more MIRROR MOVE practice. "Use MIRROR
MOVE, now!"
  Taking in the LOW KICK Machop had just tried on it, Spearow dove at
Machop's legs, banked and raked a talon at them, scraping them out from
under Machop. Machop hit the ground hard as Spearow rose again.
  "Good work! Now, finish it with FLY!" Spearow flapped hard, and made
it to the cave ceiling as Machop rose to its feet again. Then, it folded
its wings and dropped like a bomb straight for Machop.
---
  Onix lunged forward, trying to stop the watery attacks, but Poliwhirl
leapt up and back and Onix' head slammed into the ground under it.
Machop, sent hurtling back by Spearow's FLY attack, passed under
Poliwhirl and smacked against Onix' head before Poliwhirl came down.
  Shaking the fainted Machop off of it, Onix bellowed in rage. Poliwhirl
remembered a trick it had used as a Poliwag in the Pewter Gym Battle,
and angled a WATER GUN so that it jetted upwards, arced and hit the roof
of the bellowing Onix' mouth. Onix choked and convulsed.
  This Onix was weaker than Grant's, and Poliwhirl was stronger than it
had been. Onix didn't have enough fight left in it to turn those
convulsions into an attack. Poliwhirl hit it with another WATER GUN and
it sank to the ground, causing a rumble as its head slammed into the
dirt.
  Spearow settled to the ground and looked at the fainted Onix. {You
coulda let me get a parting shot!}
  {Against an Onix? What good would that do?}
  {I want experience! I'm just about to evolve, I can feel it! If I
can't battle something real soon, I swear...}
  Team Rocket's Zubat heard that and quietly got a little farther back,
but stopped when it ran into another Zubat right behind it!
  {You heard the bird, little spy. I think it's time for another
battle!}

Chapter 144

  _Flash!_
  The quick light of a TRANSFORM was more noticable in the darkness
outside Jigglypuff's light. Gary swung his flashlight around and
revealed a Magneton forcing a Zubat towards them.
  {Suggestion·to·Gary·Kate:·examine·object·held·by·Zubat}
  Surprised, Gary took a closer look at the Zubat. It held a small item
that reflected the flashlight's light like metal. As Ditto/Magneton
drove the Zubat closer, Gary saw a round glassy panel on the front.
  {Duration·of·careful·surveillance·by·subject·Zubat:·approximately·
·since·cave·entrance}
  "That thing's been following us through the whole cave?" Gary
translated in surprise.
  "It's a camera, isn't it?" Kate added. "What the Zubat's holding, I
mean?"
  {No! I am a wild Zubat! I am not recording you for my master!}
  "You're a poor liar, Zubat," Gary retorted. "Never actually been
caught until now, have you?"
  {No, I'm too good to be caught! Er, I mean, why would someone want to
catch me? I'm innocent!}
  Gary sighed. "So Team Racket is spying on us now?"
  {That's Rocket! ...oops...}
  "That's what I thought." Gary turned toward Kate's Spearow.
  {Waay aheadaya!} Spearow took off for the Team Rocket Zubat, who
turned and tried to get away, but ran into Ditto again.
  {Objective(leave·experience·to·Spearow):LOW·PRIORITY}
  {Eep!} After about a second's thought, Zubat decided to stick with the
opponent it had any chance of beating.  It opened with SUPERSONIC,
leaving Spearow dazed. Then, knowing LEECH LIFE wouldn't help, it
started using BITE.
  {Ugh, what am I doing?} Spearow tried to recover its task. What really
came to mind, though, was the strength, as Fearow, that it could almost
feel within it. Evolve! That was what it needed to do! It should battle
something...and there was something attacking it now!
  Good enough! Spearow met Zubat's next BITE with a hard FURY ATTACK,
lashing out at its head once, twice, three times! Zubat backed off and
used SUPERSONIC again, but the urge to evolve was too strong in Spearow
now to be shaken. It drove forward, PECKing madly, forcing Zubat to
defend as best it could.
  Zubat kept using SUPERSONIC in the hope that it would eventually get
through. What registered, though, was that Zubat was being insistent
about keeping Spearow from beating it. Kate's training focus on MIRROR
MOVE paid off as Spearow automatically responded to the SUPERSONIC by
raising its GROWL's pitch high enough to use SUPERSONIC right back.
  Zubat, its nerves frayed, was a lot more vulnerable to the mental
mess-up than Spearow, and succumbed in short order, dropping the video
recorder. Then, while it was confused, Spearow selected its strongest
attack, another move Kate could take credit for: FLY. Fighting its way
toward the ceiling, Spearow paused to relish the moment, then swooped.
  Gary bent to pick up the video recorder and Zubat sailed over his head
on its way to the cave floor. Walking near Jigglypuff, he examined the
device while Kate congratulated Spearow on its victory.
  There was a switch with settings labelled REC, OFF and PLAY, but it
was designed so that it wouldn't move unless one really wanted it to;
Gary would need something hard and thin to move it. A pen would be
ideal, but Gary didn't have one. Digging into his backpack, he found
Ditto's membership card for the Silph Scientific and Technological
Society, and used a corner of that to move the switch to the right, up,
and then back to the left.
  A whirring noise came from the camera, and Gary quickly turned it to
face a wall that Jigglypuff wasn't shining brightly on. A picture
appeared on the wall, and Gary walked forward until it came into focus.
  Ditto TRANSFORMed into a Machop and watched the same view unfold on
the cave wall that he had 'seen' himself after noticing the one Zubat
that seemed to be tailing them, and was holding something unnaturally
squarish. Gary watched himself, Kate and Jigglypuff walking through the
Rock Tunnel, beating several Zubat, climbing down the first ladder,
going up the second, meeting the Machop and then the Onix, and defeating
both.
  {That's me!}
  "Yeah, i--woah! Hi! Don't you look nice!"
  {Check out the wingspan!} Kate's Fearow proudly thrust out its wings,
and the left one fwapped against the cave wall.
  "Still not used to it yourself, huh?" Gary chuckled. While Fearow
nursed its wing, he turned his attention back to the video recorder,
which had ended its display and started rewinding again. "What do we do
with it?"
  {We can't let Team Rocket learn anything we can keep from them,} Ditto
answered. {We should probably destroy it so they don't get their hands
on it.}
  "What if it's already too late?" Kate asked nervously. "Maybe that
thing broadcasts everything it records to their base!"
  {Good point to bring up, but it's doubtful. You noticed the playback
was silent? They probably couldn't cram a microphone in there and keep
it small enough for a Zubat to carry easily. A transmitter couldn't be
any easier.}
  Gary nodded thoughtfully, then came up with something else. "Besides,
why bother to have a playback feature on the thing itself if it could be
viewed more easily somewhere else?"
  Ditto nodded. {So we're probably safe as long as this recording
doesn't get back to Team Rocket intact. Maybe we should tape over it
first just in case.}
  "Yeah...say! I've got an idea!"

Chapter 145

  {Uoough...}
  The Team Rocket Zubat slowly picked itself up off the cave floor. It
felt like a Rhyhorn had trampled over it, then gone back, used STOMP and
just stayed there.
  Blessedly, the annoying sensation of light on its skin was not part of
its torment. A few pained bursts of ultrasonic waves told Zubat that it
was alone in the cave now; the two kids had left, and taken their
Jigglypuff, flashlight and Zubat/Magneton with them.
  Wait...a small cube on the ground! The recorder! They had left it
behind! Zubat didn't bother to ask why. It had a mission to complete. It
might have lost its subjects, but it had recorded them this far, and it
should get that information to its master.
  Desperately wishing for a nice fat Paras it could LEECH LIFE, Zubat
slowly rose into the air, picked up the recorder and limp-flew after the
kids.
---
  "Wow, it's bright out here!"
  Kate recoiled from the Lavender entrance to the Rock Tunnel. Ditto
flew out of the cave, but soon came right back in again.
  "Couldn't take it either?"
  {Had a solution, but echolocation tells me there's someone in the
bushes...probably another spy.}
  "That's okay," Gary said a little louder, "you're a good fighter when
you're in caves. I don't need to catch any Zubat from in there when I
already have you." With that, Gary recalled Ditto and discreetly nudged
Kate.
  Kate sighed, also rather loudly. "I don't know what you see in those
things," she said. "I'd never want to get a Zubat in my team." With
that, they walked out squinting into the sunlight and headed for
Lavender Town.
  The Team Rocket spy waited for his Zubat to emerge so he could get the
recording and resume following them, but it didn't show. The spy
fidgeted. The longer it took for Zubat to return, the farther ahead Gary
and Kate would get. He might lose them at this rate.
  What was taking Zubat so long? What if it had been found? They might
have captured it...no, judging by what they'd said while they were here,
they wouldn't have. Zubat was still in there, and would come out
eventually. It had to.
  Just when the spy was thinking of going into the cave to look for it,
Zubat emerged, looking worn out. By now, the sun was behind a
mountaintop, so it flew right out and to its master, dropping the
recorder.
  "You look awful! Something in there beat you up, huh? At least you got
the recorder back to me. Good job." The Team Rocket spy gave a Super
Potion to his Zubat, recalled it, took out a stylus, turned the recorder
off and pocketed it. He could watch the recording later. Right now he
had to catch up.
---
  "...nice save, by the way. From now on, though, we'll have to be
extra-careful. Not just about me, but any information that might help
Team Rocket, like Kate being afraid of bugs or something."
  "What!? No, I'm not!"
  Tod Frost nodded. "I know, I was just giving an example of the sort of
thing Team Rocket might be listening for. If I'd given a _real_ example,
it would have ruined the point of my warning to be careful."
  "Oh, I see!"
  Gary rounded the next corner in the mountain trail. "I can't wait to
get to the Pokémon Center. I could really use some rest."
  "Fear not! There's no place like Lavender Town to Rest In Peace!"
  Gary froze.
  Kate giggled behind him.
  "You again!?" Gary turned to the man who had spoken. "Don't they have
more than one town greeter? And why do they still _have_ a town greeter?
I thought the economy would get better now that you can trade with
Saffron again..."
  The man grinned. "Actually, things _are_ better here now. I'm just
working on my routine on my own. I think I could have a future as a
comedian!"
  Gary resisted the urge to comment, as Kate and Ditto joined him.
  "Say, aren't you Gary Ford, and Kate Fields and Tod Frost?" the man
asked.
  Kate nodded. "Yeah, that's us!"
  "You looked familiar on the TV, but I didn't put it together until
just a minute ago. Wow, the three F's told me my jokes were bad!"
  "The three F's?"
  The former town greeter blushed slightly. "Uh, yeah, that's what some
of us call you three...because your last names all start with F...it's
nothing much..."
  "Hey, there's something I hadn't thought of!" Kate said. "If we're
going to keep on defending the people from Team Rocket's evil and all
that, we should have a team name that people can call us, like the Elite
Four have!"
  "Oh? Like what? The Mighty Three? Team Justice?"
  "Bleah, nothing like Team Rocket. I don't know, there's got to be
something cool we could call ourselves..."
---
  The Team Rocket spy glowered at the display before him. The mini-
recorder was projecting an image of a cave wall that looked like Machop
used it regularly for KARATE CHOP practice...except that the indents
happened to spell "WE KNOW" in dauntingly large letters. The recorder
had obviously been rewound and restarted; he had been staring at this
glove-in-the-face since he had started the playback.
  Eventually, the chilling words faded from view as Gary and Kate left
the area and the light dimmed to blackness. Several minutes of black
told the spy that nothing else would be shown until Zubat came to from
its obvious defeat at their hands and carried the recorder back into the
daylight.
  Enraged, the spy chucked the recorder at the wall, and was only
further angered when the rugged device landed intact. So they wanted to
get smart, huh? Team Rocket would show them smart!

Chapter 146

  The next morning, Gary gathered his equipment, ready for the journey
to Celadon City. Today he would battle for the Grass-type Gym badge, the
Rainbow Badge.
  Gary met Kate in the Pokémon Center lobby. "We set to go?"
  "Yes, I think so," she answered, discreetly handing him a folded piece
of paper with the words DON'T READ ALOUD written on it. "Tod gave me
this last night."
  Gary flipped open the paper and started reading. "Ah, he got today's
schedule worked out?" Remember we're being watched now. "Oh, that sounds
like a good idea!" Must be more careful than usual. "Is he sure we can
get that far today?" Suggest Saffron City, not Tunnel. "Hmm, I _guess_
that'd be enough training time..." Make life harder for TR tracker.
"Yeah, this looks good to me!" Gary folded the paper again and put it in
his pocket, returning Kate's amused grin.
  "Well, I'm fine with it too," Kate said meaningfully, "so I guess
we're ready!"
  The two left the Pokémon Center with an air of purpose. Baffled, the
Team Rocket spy left his shadowed table to follow them. He was sure that
paper was more important than it seemed...
  "Hey, Charmeleon! Time for some target practice! Get that paper
airplane!"
  _FWOOM!!_
  The spy grimaced.
---
  {Now THAT was evil. Do that sort of thing enough and we'll leave them
all nervous wrecks...as long as you do it properly,} Ditto commented
later, on Route 8.
  "Well, we handled Vladimir's little test in the end, so maybe we can
win here, too."
  {Keep in mind this isn't the same sort of skill--}
  "But that helps us, doesn't it?" Kate cut in. "You know how good Gary
is at mind games."
  {Team Rocket's no slouch either. They've tried things you don't even
know about.} Ditto finally filled them in on what had happened the two
nights after their victories in Cerulean City.
  "They did?" Kate asked, suddenly holding her Pokédex as if she meant
to shield it from the cruel outside world. "Why didn't I hear anything?
I don't think I slept too well that night..."
  {Because they're that good. The battle between the MIB and the Elite
was almost as silent as that recording we watched in the Rock Tunnel,
and the encounter the night after _was_ that silent.}
  "So you're saying we can't take them lightly at all?" Gary frowned.
  {Yes. They may know too much already. I shifted to Persian in that
battle with the Fearow because I knew the spies had been driven off by
the Spearow already, but seeing that Zubat with the camera made me
realize it may have been unsafe anyway.}
  "Say what!? We could be finished here!"
  "Well, at least we've gotten those MIBs off our backs, right?" Kate
asked, seeking some good news in all this.
  {Well, they've been silent for a good long while, but--}
  "Do me a favor and don't even start, hmm?" Gary interrupted. Ditto
nodded silently.
---
  Pidgeotto had learned WING ATTACK in the fourth leg of the trip
through the Rock Tunnel, so Gary was focusing on the Nidos now, and
Beedrill when it didn't have a disadvantage. The wild pokémon here were
mostly the same fare as on the other side of Saffron, near Celadon,
though no Vulpix or Growlithe showed. One occasion, though, completely
surprised Gary. With their TELEPORT ability, he had never gotten a
chance to see an Abra, but midway through Route 8 a wild Kadabra
TELEPORTed _to_ them in order to guage the threat they posed. Stunned,
Gary reached for a Pokéball until he realized all three of the pokémon
he was raising were weak against its attacks. He sent out Charmeleon,
his back-up muscle, and when Kadabra sensed Charmeleon's power, it
quickly TELEPORTed away again.
  Nidorino and Nidorina each gained a level, and Beedrill gained two,
which put it only a level away from another good attack, PIN MISSILE.
Kate's Vulpix improved as well, and Fearow got closer to learning DRILL
PECK. They were at Saffron City before either Beedrill or Fearow could
learn those moves, though.
  After recalling Ditto, Gary and Kate followed his suggestion and
walked up to the eastern gatehouse of Saffron City. Gary knocked on the
door, and when the guard slid the small hatch open, said, "Two travelers
intending to pass through here, sir..."
  "Okay, just a--...hold on..." the guard squinted at them, then opened
the door. "Well, I'll be! Mr. Ford and Miss Fields, am I right? Haven't
been here in a while, have you? You think you'll be staying long?"
  Gary shook his head. "Sorry, but when I said 'pass through' I meant
it. We have to go through Saffron City to get where we're going next. We
would have used the Saffron Tunnels and spared you the trouble, but
they're not built right for our needs right now."
  "Oh, that's okay, no problem at all. Yeah, you can go on ahead, no
problem here!"
  Gary walked through the guardroom and into the city, confident he'd
just scored another victory against Team Rocket's spies.
---
  The security guard watched the two young heroes enter Saffron City,
and wondered where they were headed. He'd said they couldn't get there
by the Tunnels, so it couldn't be Celadon. They'd just come from
Lavender's direction, and they'd been in Cerulean so long they couldn't
have any reason left to be there. They must be on their way to
Vermilion, he decided.
  There were people he knew in Vermilion City who would be overjoyed to
learn that Gary Ford and Kate Fields would be showing up there sometime
soon.

Chapter 147

  "K, G, T...Garkaytod..."
  "Eh?"
  "Oh, I'm looking for a good team name for us. You have any ideas?"
  Gary rolled his eyes. "I...haven't been thinking about it."
  The bus they rode rolled down the busy streets of Saffron City,
heading north. They'd boarded it at the first bus stop they'd found, but
it hadn't been the first bus; they'd let the first one go by, with any
passengers who recognized them gawking and then talking amongst
themselves. For that matter, the passengers on this one were trying not
to do the same thing right in front of them.
  "I wonder if I could make something out of the three F's the Lavender
folk noticed..." Gary tried to ignore Kate as he watched the streets.
From the faces of the people there, you'd think nothing special had
happened in several months. They gave themselves the lie if and when
they recognized Gary or Kate, but that wasn't too often; people here
didn't seem to care who happened to be walking beside them, let alone
who was in a bus passing by. It didn't matter, though. The few who
noticed would talk enough. He just hoped they mentioned where they'd
seen the two heading.
  The bus pulled in at a station near Saffron City Gym and the Fighting
Dojo, Gary nudged Kate and they stood to leave.
---
  The path they drew around the city was a windy, dawdling one. After
hanging out outside the Dojo long enough so no one could have seen them
both arriving and leaving, they boarded another bus, one that promised
trainers a direct trip from the Gym to the city Pokémon Center. They
stopped for a while in the Center lobby, where people recognized them
almost immediately, and then took another bus to the Silph Co. corporate
headquarters, staying there only long enough to make sure someone saw
them who was likely to talk about it.
  They walked this time, making sure plenty of people saw them heading
directly south. Gary had worked out that what he had told the guard at
the gatehouse suggested Vermilion City, so he had decided to let that
idea spread a little. Since their tour of Saffron had taken up some
time, they stopped for lunch at a deli that was a stone's throw from the
south gatehouse. Kate, amused at all this, was by now giggling at the
tiniest things.
  After lunch, Gary and Kate left the deli and turned down an empty
alley. A pair of twenty-something tourists walked out the other end and
strolled west, virtually unnoticed in the crowd.
  {Team Rocket might realize it's a false trail when no one in the
southern gatehouse remembers you,} Ditto pointed out in Gastly language.
He was too busy maintaining the illusion of the pokémon-less tourists to
bother with the illusion of English. {It depends on how savvy our
current Team Rocket shadow is.}
  "Well, unless you'd like to keep up this disguise all the way to
Celadon, it was either this or TELEPORT from Route 6, where they might
be watching for us after all the signs to Vermilion we left."
  "What good is this going to do?" Kate asked suddenly. "If we were
planning an attack on Celadon like we did last time we came here, it
would be good, but they have no reason to worry about us being in
Celadon, do they?"
  {If they knew we were coming to a certain place they could set up a
trap there,} Ditto replied. {Knowledge is power, as the saying goes, and
we want Team Rocket as powerless as possible.}
---
  The guard at the western gatehouse let the "tourists" through easily;
his job was to keep unsavories out, not to keep anyone in. As soon as
they were out of sight of the gatehouse, the illusion vanished.
  "Now," Gary said, "My Beedrill's got PIN MISSILE to learn, and your
Fearow needs to learn DRILL PECK. We don't have a whole lot of time, but
I think we can hang around in the forest long enough to get those
moves."
  "I wonder if we'll get to meet the Growlithe and Vulpix from before?"
Kate asked.
  "Probably depends on whether they feel like showing themselves." Gary
said. "And if they do, they'd better identify themselves before I send
out someone to battle them!"
  {I'll see you when you're ready to move on,} Ditto called, swinging
into the trees as agilely as any other Mankey.
---
  The Team Rocket spy growled.
  It had been hard enough work to trace Ford and Fields' circuitous
route through Saffron City to the southern gatehouse. Now, however,
there was more trouble. The guard swore up and down that he would have
noticed if Gary Ford and Kaitlin Fields had come through here, and they
hadn't. The trail went practically up to the door and stopped. He had
checked all of the shops around that delicatessen and come up with
nothing but a rather large set of odd looks.
  <WE KNOW.>
  The spy blinked as he remembered that message, hammered into the wall
of the Rock Tunnel. They knew they were being tracked. Was this a false
trail, left to throw him off? It would explain the way they had seemed
to cover nearly the entire city before coming here and vanishing. In
fact, it made so much sense he wanted to kick himself quite hard for not
seeing it before. He had underestimated them again. He'd have to stop
doing that.
  Now, where were they most likely to have gone? Certainly not Cerulean
again, or back to Lavender; not unless the entire trip from Cerulean was
to shake him. Not likely. Since it was apparently not Vermilion either,
that made it Celadon. Now that he'd reasoned it out, the trip made
sense; to Saffron by way of the Rock Tunnel and Lavender so they could
take the Saffron Tunnel and avoid this bustling city; then through the
city after all, to lose him. Celadon made perfect sense as a goal, too,
since they hadn't visited the Gym last time they had come here.
  <WE KNOW.>
  Then again...the spy shuddered as another possibility hit him. How
much did they know? Did they know what else lay in Celadon City? But
that didn't make as much sense; He wasn't up to anything right now. In
fact, He was deliberately avoiding them. Had they grown tired of merely
protecting the people from Team Rocket's attacks?
  The spy called for another helicopter. The sooner he got to Celadon
City, the better.

Chapter 148

  It was late afternoon, close to evening. The sun was an orange ball
hiding in the tops of trees when Growlithe emerged from his burrow to
look for dinner.
  He could smell other pokémon about, but couldn't see them. Probably
hiding from a human pokémon trainer. He dug up the nearest pokémon, a
Bellsprout, to ask about the situation.
  {Human battlers here...two...wielding Flying Stinging Bug and Big Beak
Bird...must hide...}
  {Hang on a minute! How long has it been since you saw them? Do you
know where they are now?}
  {Mustn't see them...they see me if I see them...hiding...}
  Growlithe briefly considered toasting some sense into this leafbrain,
but decided there wouldn't be any point to it. He had been studying his
past life and had come to see that violence didn't always solve
problems.
  {What's going on?}
  Growlithe turned to the Vulpix who had just followed him out of the
burrow. {Humans. Sounds like they're training a Beedrill and a Fearow.
Or were. I have no idea yet.}
  {I'll find out.} Vulpix slunk off into the shadows. She'd always been
great at staying hidden, a skill that used to vex him to no end.
  She came back soon after with reports from two different pokémon who
lived near the forest's edge that the humans had left a short time ago.
Satisfied, Growlithe set off to hunt...after finally drilling it into
the Bellsprout's head that all was safe again.
  Vulpix watched him go before heading in another direction for the same
reason. Funny how life worked out sometimes. Growlithe's burrow had been
the one place to avoid above all others for a long time. Now, with her
sister off training, her own hole under the tree had become lonely, and
now that the two were no longer at each other's throat, grudging respect
for the other's abilities had developed into something more.
  Idly she wondered where the two humans who had changed their lives
were now. Pokémon trainers seemed always on the move; they were probably
somewhere she'd never heard of.
---
  Gary and Kate entered the Celadon City Pokémon Center, conveniently
close to Route 7.
  "Shame we didn't get to see Vulpix and Growlithe again..." Kate said.
  "You can look for them tomorrow, if you want. I want to get at least
as far as the door guard today."
  While their pokémon were being restored to health, Gary unfolded his
map and looked for the Celadon City insert. There were a few places of
interest marked: the Pokémon Center, Celadon Department Store, Celadon
Game Corner, Celadon Mansion...Gary quickly grew bored with the local
theme.
  There was one building marked, other than the Pokémon Center, that did
not have the city in its name: Rainbow Perfume Co. The city Gym was not
marked. That was odd. Why would the map mark a perfume shop when it
didn't mark the Gym?
  "Excuse me," he said, approaching a clerk. "Can you tell me were the
city Pokémon Gym is?"
  The clerk gave him a blank look for a moment. "Uh...well, I think...
hm..." She turned to a co-worker. "Do we have a Gym?"
  "Of course we have a Gym. Every city has a Gym."
  "Where is it, then?"
  "Er..."
  It was the same with anyone else Gary, or Kate, asked, be it clerk,
nurse or fellow trainer. No one seemed to know where Celadon Gym was.
  Gary sighed as he looked out a window at the big city. Not as crowded
as Saffron, by either buildings or people, it was nonetheless pretty
close to the same size. Night might fall before he found the Gym if he
went looking for it.
  With another sigh, Gary left the window, heading for the main desk.
  "What are you doing now?" Kate asked.
  "I'm going to get an overnight room. I'll need a fresh start if I'm
going to comb this city for that Gym."
---
  "Can I...help you?"
  "It'd be nice. I was sent to work with the team tracing Ford and
Fields?"
  "Hm...yes, here it is. This way."
  The receptionist walked down the hall and opened a door into what was
assumedly a normal room. All that could be seen was wiring and
electronic equipment.
  "You in there? The...translator just got here."
  A man appeared from somewhere in the mess, taking off a pair of
headphones as he came. His eyes widened at the newcomer, and he lifted
an eyebrow.
  "What's the matter? Don't think I fit the bill?"
  "Uh, no, you'll do fine! Just fine!"
  "I was told there were two people working on this project. Where's
your partner?"
  "Following them. We decided it would be best for one of us to track
them and the other to stay here to monitor."
  "I should probably join him, then. Where are they?"
  "He requested transport to Celadon City just a minute ago."

Chapter 149

  {You didn't go to the Gym?}
  "No, I didn't. I don't know where it is. It's not on my map and no one
here could tell me. I don't have time tonight to go looking for it."
  Ditto pondered that. {Odd...}
---
  {I have an idea,} he said the next morning.
  Gary looked up from filling his pack. "Oh? What's that?"
  {As Alakazam, I should be able to scan the mind of everyone in this
city in short order. Not actually reading the whole thing, just
searching for references to a Celadon City Gym. Then you two could go
there without wasting your energy searching.}
  Gary brightened; he hadn't even realized he was feeling gloomy about
it. "That sounds like a good idea!"
  Ditto TRANSFORMed and began to concentrate, closing his eyes. Before
long, though, they shot open again. {Now _that_ I wasn't expecting...}
  "What? Is something wrong?"
  {Do you remember...what I said when we met Santiago in Saffron City?}
  <I have the sense of your mind now, Santiago, and I can locate you
anywhere you go...>
  {I just located Santiago. _He's here in Celadon._}
  Gary froze. "Is...is he going to attack us?"
  {I said I wasn't really reading anyone's mind,} Ditto answered. {I
could go back and read his...but I might accidentally tip him off that
we're here if he doesn't already know.} He grinned ruefully. {After what
I did to him in Saffron, feeling me in his mind again might panic him
into doing something dangerous.}
  Gary tried to think. "All right...what do we do, then? Just watch our
backs?"
  {Works for me. After you've settled with the Gym, maybe the three of
us should discuss looking into it.}
  "Right. This could be a great opportunity."
---
  "Hi, Gary! Got your fine-toothed comb ready?"
  "We won't be needing it," Gary answered, making Kate stop halfway up
from her seat in the lobby.
  "Why not? Did you find out where it was after all?"
  "Yeah, and I learned something else, too," and he lowered his voice a
trifle, "that we can discuss later."
  Kate nodded slowly. "Oookay...so where's the Gym?"
  "Turns out that's why that perfume company is marked on the map," Gary
explained while they headed for the door. "The Gym is owned by that
company. People have forgotten because not many folks have wanted to go
there lately. Apparently Grass-types are easier to train than most other
types, and what with Sabrina or Sydney to deal with, trainers going for
Badges haven't gotten this far in a while. The perfume company doesn't
advertise the Gym because they care more about cosmetics than pokémon.
There are people _in that company_ who have forgotten."
  Kate frowned. "Well, we straightened out the problem with Sydney, and
if Sabrina's too tough for them, couldn't they come here in case this
Gym is easier?"
  "Did you?" Gary stopped and looked straight at Kate. "When Sydney held
his own against you time after time, did you give up and go looking for
an easier Badge? That's not a good trait in a determined trainer."
  Kate sighed. "Point."
  "And, of course, we freed Saffron City only two or three days after
Sydney left Vermilion Gym, so there was no time for someone to beat the
new Leader there and then not be able to reach Sabrina."
  Kate nodded again. "Okay, so no one's gotten to this Gym on their
Badge journey, no one comes there to train Grass-types...say, how did
you find out about all this if no one remembers?"
  "Tod covered the city this morning. You know how he can sometimes just
pull answers out of people's heads..."
  "Okay, I get it. And did he also find out about this other thing you
won't mention in public?"
  Gary sucked in his breath at the reminder, even though he'd just
recently hinted at it to her. "Yes...the usual trouble, in a way."
  "Eh? What do you...never mind, public place, I know." She grimaced.
"Pardon me while I come to a slow boil over this..."
---
  The Team Rocket spy paced anxiously outside Santiago's office. He knew
for certain now that the two kids were in this city. Santiago needed to
know. Surely he couldn't have anything else in his busy schedule more
important than this.
  The longer the spy was kept waiting, the more he missed of the kids'
actions. They could be anywhere in the city by now. The Department
Store, the Gym...what if they were on their way here? The fool could
make his warning useless if Ford and Fields walked in right on his
heels!
  "Sir? Santiago will see you now."
  The spy's head snapped up so fast he winced. "About time," he gruffed.

Chapter 150

  "Welcome to Rainbow Perfume, how may I help you?"
  Crossing his fingers hoping she would know what he was talking about,
Gary told the receptionist, "I've heard this company owns the city
Pokémon Gym?"
  "We want to meet the Gym's Leader," Kate threw in.
  The receptionist blinked in surprise and searched an electronic list
of departments. "R&D, Production, Marketing, Sales...Pokémon Gym!? Well,
I'll be! Let's see...that's located at...the mezzanine? We have a
mezzanine?...Well, where's the mezzanine?" Gary rolled his eyes and sat
down to wait for the receptionist to get everything straight.
  "Gary Ford? Kaitlyn Fields?" He quickly stood up again and followed
Kate's eye to a woman in a green dress who was striding across the lobby
toward them. "Am I right?"
  "Yes, I'm Gary Ford."
  "I actually prefer Kate..."
  "Excellent. I'm Rose, the Leader of Celadon Gym. I've been waiting for
you!"
  While the receptionist looked on in embarrassment, Rose led Gary and
Kate to a stairway at the back of the lobby. "You may have noticed the
place doesn't get much attention."
  "I'll say! I've met Gym Leaders who were less of a challenge than just
_finding_ this Gym!" Kate gave him a sidelong look at that, one that
Rose missed as she came to an unobtrusive door halfway up the staircase.
  "It wasn't always that way. You see, the last Gym Leader, Erika, was
also the original owner of Rainbow Perfume. She named the business after
her Gym Badge. That's why the Gym is here. After she retired, the new
management of the company hired me to run the Gym, and then just forgot
about it." She opened the door and flipped a switch. "I think only
Accounting remembers, because they pay my salary. I could walk out of
here tomorrow and no one would ever know."
  The sound of gears that needed oiling filled the room as the ceiling
folded back to reveal a clear greenhouse roof. Gary and Kate looked
around at the sunlit room. It was filled with flowers, ranging from
common, to exotic, to downright strange. Gary's eyes widened as he
recognized the top half of a Gloom in the dirt among the plants. "That's
how they sleep," Rose explained when she noticed. "There are a few other
Grass-type pokémon about if you look hard enough."
  "Oh, here's a couple of Bellsprout!" Kate exclaimed from across the
aisle. "They're cute."
  Gary remembered something. "Say, if this is the Gym, wasn't there
supposed to be a door guard? Maybe standing in the hall or something..."
  "Door guards weren't added to Gym Staff until after Erika left. The
company just didn't care enough to fit one in their payroll," Rose
sighed. "I'm it." Then she reconsidered. "I suppose finding your way
here is enough of a test, really. When I found out you were in the city
last night, I was going to go to the Pokémon Center myself to find you,
but you beat me to it."
  "Yeah, I wanted an early start to search the city. I didn't find out
it was here until just this morning."
  "You know, I'm curious...just how did you find me? You came to that
front desk knowing the Gym was here, didn't you?"
  Gary paused, and Kate looked up from the Bellsprout she was still
playing with.
  "Erm...I have my ways. No one accomplishes what Kate, Tod and I have
without getting _ways_." Kate giggled, and the Bellsprout wriggled with
her.
  "Tod? ...Frost, right. The scientist. And speaking of which...the
Leader's arena is through this door when you're ready. I'll be warming
up in there; I'm afraid I haven't had a good match in a while." Rose
waved and disappeared through a door in the back.
  "'I have my ways'? You sounded like some sort of secret agent."
  "Well, what else was I going to say? So, you want to go first, or
should I?"
  Kate mused. "Well...I don't know if I want to fight a Gym Leader who's
this out of practice..."
  "Okay. I don't really mind, so how about I go first, and Rose'll learn
from her mistakes in my battle so she'll fight better in yours?"
  "Sound good to me," Kate answered. "Doesn't it?" she suddenly asked
the Bellsprout, poking one of its leaves. The Bellsprout poked her back
and swayed happily.
  Gary rolled his eyes again. "All right then, Rainbow Badge, here I
come!"
---
  "...okay, and ACID is strong against bugs, but only normal on
poisonous ones..." The door opened and Rose quickly put away the piece
of paper she'd been studying. "Ah, hello, Gary! You're ready to try for
the Rainbow Badge?"
  "That I am. How many pokémon each?"
  "Hm? Oh, that's right. Is a three-on-three okay?"
  "Fine with me." Gary took his place on the grass-covered ground that
made the room's floor.
  "All right, then! Let's get started! Victreebel, let's go!"
  {Finally, another trainer!}
  "Okay, Beedrill, go get'm!"
  {I think I can, I think I can...}
  Rose's face fell. "That's it?"
  "What do you mean?"
  "I was expecting something...you know, special..."
  Gary shrugged. "Beedrill's who I want to train right now."
  Rose gaped at him for a moment. "You treat a Gym Battle like a
practice match!?" Shock faded into amusement. "Now, that's closer to
what I was expecting!"

Chapter 151

  "Victreebel, SLAM!"
  "Beedrill, TWINEEDLE!"
  Beedrill raced in to attack as Victreebel coiled its leaf-tipped vine.
Victreebel could reach farther, though, and lashed out to strike
Beedrill, knocking it back before it could attack.
  "All right, then, PIN MISSILE instead!" Beedrill pointed all three
stingers at Victreebel and fired a spray of needles. Victreebel reared
back as its bell and leaves were punctured.
  "Victreebel, ACID!" Rose called. Victreebel shot a spray of ACID at
Beedrill, who was unable to dodge. It dropped halfway to the floor as it
struggled with the pain.
  "Now, SLAM it!" Victreebel prepared to strike.
  Gary hesitated, then called, "FURY ATTACK _now!_" Beedrill jumped into
action, jabbing repeatedly with its front stingers, recognizing the
urgency of the command...even though there was nothing right in front of
it yet. Victreebel's attack came--and got turned aside by the flashing
stingers. Twice more it tried to get a SLAM through to Beedrill. The
second time the vine was turned aside again, and the third time a
stinger actually punched through the leaf at its tip. Rose gasped.
  Gary followed up on his advantage. "Now TWINEEDLE!" Beedrill drove
forward, bringing the vine with it. Victreebel couldn't SLAM Beedrill
away this time, and if it used ACID again it would hurt itself as well.
  "I know! Use SLAM to shake Beedrill off!" Rose said. Beedrill struck
then with TWINEEDLE and Victreebel recoiled from the attack, taking
heavy damage. Then it used SLAM, whipping the vine away from Beedrill
and pushing it back beyond TWINEEDLE range.
  Gary considered Victreebel, and decided it was weak enough. "Another
PIN MISSILE," he called, and Beedrill launched another barrage of barbs.
This time, Victreebel tried to use its vine to block the attack.
  When the pins stopped flying, Victreebel's vine hung limp, nearly
severed in some places. Its sacrifice hadn't done much to protect the
bell, either. Victreebel reared up, trying to gather energy for another
attack, hung there for a moment and then fell back on itself, out for
the count.
  Rose nodded weakly and recalled Victreebel. "I'm impressed. I don't
think most trainers get Beedrill up to learning PIN MISSILE." She took
up another ball. "Let's see if it can handle Vileplume! Let's go,
Vileplume!"
  Vileplume emrged and faced Beedrill. {You up to the challenge?}
  "Beedrill, TWINEEDLE it!" Beedrill dove in for the assault.
  "Vileplume, SLEEP POWDER!" Vileplume blew a puff of light blue powder
into the air toward Beedrill. Beedrill tried to fight off the effects,
but Victreebel's still-smarting ACID was wearing away at its willpower.
Beedrill hit the grass in slumber.
  Gary recalled Beedrill and threw another Pokéball. "Playtime,
Pidgeotto!"
  Pidgeotto flew out of the Pokéball. {Play dead, Vileplume!}
  {Make me!}
  {If you insist.}
  "Vileplume, SLEEP POWDER this one, too!"
  Gary couldn't afford to let that happen. "Pidgeotto, counter with
GUST!"
{Well, _yeah_...ahem. 'Gosh, _just_ what I was thinking!'} When
Vileplume released its SLEEP POWDER, Pidgeotto flapped hard and stirred
up a wind that blew the powder back toward Vileplume. It settled all
over Vileplume's flower, where it did nothing.
  "In that case, try a PETAL DANCE!" Vileplume spun into action,
twirling like a ballet dancer closer and closer to Pidgeotto, intending
to smack it with its large petals. Pidgeotto started backing away.
  "Pidgeotto, hit it with WING ATTACK! The _right_ wing!"
  {Now? And what's the diff--_oh_, I gotcha!} Pidgeotto came in to meet
Vileplume, and gave it a hard whack with its wing, knocking it out of
its spin. Vileplume tottered dizzily, stumbled a few steps and then
crashed onto its side.
  Pidgeotto, meanwhile, had taken the brunt of Vileplume's attack in
halting its spin, and was currently nursing its smarting wing. {_Now_ I
see why I didn't think of that...} Then it saw what had become of
Vileplume. {...eh, but I guess it was worth it.} It flew over and
settled where Vileplume could see it. {You're good at playing dead.}
  {I'll show you how dead I am!} Vileplume waved its arms and legs like
a maniac, trying to do something.
  Gary looked at Rose, wondering why she didn't recall the Vileplume.
She looked like she was waiting for something. Did she expect Vileplume
to right itself?
  {No, but seriously, folks, I have to wonder which is less of a threat:
a Vileplume on its side or a Magikarp who hasn't yet--}
  {All right, I get the idea already!} Vileplume shot. It looked like it
was swelling with anger. In fact, its petals did seem to be bigger now,
and brighter...
  It all clicked. "Pidgeotto!" Gary called, "_move_!"

Chapter 152

  {Huhwha!?} Pidgeotto shot up halfway to the ceiling...and Vileplume's
SOLARBEAM passed under it. With a string of vegetable curses, Vileplume
tried to roll to get the beam aimed at Pidgeotto, but it still couldn't
move.
  {Oh, so you've still got some fight in you!} Pidgeotto dove into a
QUICK ATTACK, and then struck with another WING ATTACK that sent
Vileplume rolling along the floor, still trying to get up or else attack
from where it was.
  Finally, Vileplume's roll put Pidgeotto in the line of fire for an
ACID attack. Seeing that, though, Pidgeotto raced in with a QUICK
ATTACK, flipping over Vileplume so the attack missed. Then, one more
WING ATTACK finally put Vileplume out of the fight.
  Rose recalled Vileplume. "Wow, you're really pasting me! Let's see how
you do against my last pokémon..." She tossed her third and final
Pokéball. "...Exeggutor!"
  The palm tree Pokémon emerged, and all of its heads started talking at
once. {Hey, this room again!} {Ooh, battle!} {Nice day out!}
  "Pidgeotto, WING ATTACK!"
  Rose closed her eyes. "Exeggutor, HYPNOSIS!"
  "Hold up, Pidgeotto!"
  {No, it's okay, I can get it!}
  Gary sighed and closed his eyes. To Pidgeotto's merit, he did hear the
sound of a wing striking Exeggutor, but the sound of a bird hitting the
ground followed soon after.
  Gary recalled Pidgeotto. "You sure like putting pokémon to sleep,
don't you?" He reached for another Pokéball--and realized Nidorino and
Nidorina were weak against Psychic-types. Exeggutor didn't learn much in
the way of psychic attacks, but Rose might have taught it one via TM.
Not worth the risk. Gary sent out his reserve heavy-hitter. "Charmeleon,
time for action!"
  {And the crowd goes wild!}
  {Whoops, problem...} {Fire BAD!} {You guys smell something?}
  "Exeggutor, HYPNOSIS again!"
  "Charmeleon, FLAMETHROWER interrupt!"
  "F-FLAMETHROWER!?"
  Charmeleon reared back and blew a jet of flame straight at Exeggutor,
scorching it in the faces and cutting short its HYPNOSIS. Pained,
Exeggutor began to stomp in place, its coconut-like heads wobbling.
  "Exeggutor, EGG BOMB!" Rose called. Exeggutor stopped stomping about,
whirled its top part around and let loose a coconut to fly toward
Charmeleon.
  {Bomb, huh? Can't block it, can't toast it...} Charmeleon jumped back
as the EGG BOMB came in, trying to dodge the blast. It underestimated
the move's range, though. The bomb detonated with enough force to knock
the landing Charmeleon off balance from a couple feet away, and
Charmeleon fell back and landed on its back.
  Grumbling, Charmeleon righted itself. Gary checked its tail flame, not
from any worry for Charmeleon's health but from a sense of déjŕ vu...and
saw that Charmeleon's tail had set fire to the grass on the ground
there.
  Pidgeotto was asleep, and the Nidos couldn't help. Neither could
Exeggutor, which meant neither could Ditto with Rose there. "Charmeleon,
freestyle mauling!" he called as he turned his attention from the battle
to put Poliwhirl back into his party. Rose turned a slight shade of
green.
  Charmeleon got ready for another FLAMETHROWER. "STOMP!" Rose cried out
in desperation. Exeggutor raced in, too late to avoid the attack, and
planted a foot squarely on Charmeleon's head as fire wreathed it.
Charmeleon squacked indignantly and tried to shove the foot off, and in
the end, both pokémon went sprawling. Charmeleon started another fire,
but it was nothing next to the fire spreading from Exeggutor to the
grass.
  "Hey!" Gary cried out. "I already have _one_ fire to put out here!"
Rose noticed the earlier fire and eeped. Exeggutor, confused and in
pain, jumped up at Gary's outburst and started running around the room,
trailing flame.
  Gary recalled Charmeleon and sent out Poliwhirl. "Guess what we get to
do again! I can't send out the help I used last time, so just do the
best you can!" Then he called to Rose. "Recall Exeggutor! It's not
helping things any!"
  Still burning, all of its heads wailing discordantly, Exeggutor tried
to run in two different directions and slammed into a wall. Tottering,
it fell back into the grass, finally out. Rose recalled it, but it was
too late. The wall was now on fire.
  Poliwhirl surveyed the situation in something approaching panic. {I
have to put out all of this by myself!?}
  "No one else can--wait a minute, yes, there is someone else!" Berating
himself for his mistake, he sent out Ditto. "Ditto, TRANSFORM into
Poliwhirl! It's just the two of you against this blaze!"
  {Swell.} Ditto TRANSFORMed and called to Poliwhirl, {Smaller ones
first! Reduce the number of fires!}
  The two set to work, putting out fires they could put out quickly,
banding together to put out larger ones. Ditto ran to the wall and tried
to confine that fire.
  {I'm going to run dry at this rate!} Poliwhirl called.
  {Try to hold on!} Ditto gritted.
  Just then, water descended from above. The emergency sprinklers had
kicked in. Poliwhirl and Ditto paused to let the water re-energize them,
then set back to work with a will.
---
  As the fire alarm wailed, Kate waited anxiously in the greenhouse. She
jumped when the door opened and Gary and Rose emerged, wet and coughing,
with smoke trailing after them. She got a good look at the arena, and
turned to Gary.
  With a grim expression, she said, "Tell you what. Next Gym we go to, I
battle first." Gary just nodded weakly.

Chapter 153

  "There's no problem, though, right?"
  Gary nodded in answer to Kate's question, watching the people
surrounding the Rainbow Perfume Co. building, now empty save for
firefighters answering the fire alarm. "At least as far as I know. It
was the fire in the Gym Arena that set off the alarms, and we put it
out."
  "He put it out," Rose corrected. "That was clever, sending out the
Ditto to help the Poliwhirl. I'll bet that kind of resourcefulness helps
against Team Rocket, right?"
  "Got that right. Strength just isn't enough most of the time. In fact,
strategy can give you the win even when strength is sorely lacking."
Thinking of Beedrill and Gastly's role in the second battle against the
Seven Deadly Twins, Gary was reminded of Beedrill's present condition.
He sent out Beedrill, and tended to its ACID wound.
  Beedrill woke. {Mm...what happened?}
  "Rose's Vileplume put you to sleep with SLEEP POWDER," Gary said
gently. "It's all right, though; Pidgeotto beat it afterward."
  {Pidgeotto is stronger than I am...}
  "Well, you're decent yourself. You beat Victreebel on your own! That's
an accomplishment there."
  {Hm...I suppose it is...}
  Gary finished with Beedrill and recalled it. Then, he sent out
Pidgeotto and just waited.
  {Snrk...huh? What? Where?}
  "We're outside the building because there was a fire...caused
accidentally by Charmeleon, who I had to send out because you let
yourself be caught by HYPNOSIS."
  {Oh...erm...yeah, I suppose I did at that...but at least I hit it!}
Pidgeotto came closer to a nervous grin than Gary had ever seen on it
before.
  "Yes, you did. Good for you. Why, if you'd _listened_ to me, you might
even have been able to beat it on your own instead of getting
humiliated." Pidgeotto flinched. Gary recalled it, and moved on to the
last participant in the battle.
  {Why are we outside now?}
  "Well, the fire's out, but the city fire department likes to be sure."
  Charmeleon got quiet. {Oh...did I blow the battle?}
  "Hmm? What do you mean?"
  {I was last in a three-on-three, right? You had to recall me when I
set the place on fire. Does that mean we lost?}
  Gary thought back. "No...Exeggutor fainted before Rose recalled it.
You didn't lose." He glanced at Rose. "I'm not sure we won, either,
but..."
  "No, no, you're right. That was a win, whatever the...side effects.
The Rainbow Badges are still in there, though."
  "Well, you've still got Kate to deal with," Gary said, and chuckled.
"We got our _last_ two Badges together, might as well keep up the
tradition."
  {Woohoo! Another win for the home team!} Charmeleon jumped, relieved
that it hadn't cost Gary the win. Gary recalled it and waited for the
all-clear from the fire department.
---
  Santiago's door burst open. "Secretary, a message to all operatives in
Celadon! Find Ford and Fields somewhere in the city; I want their
whereabouts sooner than humanly possible!"
  "Y-yes sir!"
  Santiago had been humiliated in Saffron City by those two, with their
scientist friend. It had been mollifying when Vladimir had done little
better against them, but his failure still stung. Ditto/Alakazam's
threat a distant memory, he had been toying with the idea of attacking
them in force to try to wipe them out when they weren't expecting it,
and learning that they were in easy reach of his base of operations had
decided him. He struck now or they might find him and make sure he
couldn't cause any more trouble.
  "I'll join the search, sir, if you don't mind; it is my job, after
all." The Spy Network man said.
  "Very well. Get back to me _as soon_ as you learn anything. TELEPORT
if you can manage!"
  A new voice answered. "That won't be necessary."
  "Huh? Who's there?"
  The speaker faded into view. "Remember me, Santiago? Looks like I'll
be staying with this matter after all; now I'm supposed to be
translating pokémon speech for the tag-alongs." He indicated the spy.
"There was a fire recently at Rainbow Perfume Co., and after terrifying
the right people, I've learned the place has some connection to pokémon
trainers. Suspicious, isn't it?"
  Santiago's eyes narrowed. This one deserved part of the blame for
Saffron, as well. "For your sake, this had better be a useful lead."

Chapter 154

  "Here's hoping this one goes better!"
  "Same here," Kate answered Rose, glancing at the charred portion of
the grassy floor of the Gym Leader Arena. She reviewed what she'd gotten
from Gary's conversations with his team. Two Grass/Poison-types and one
Grass/Psychic. So much for Ekans. She'd also have to be careful with
Vulpix, given the terrain.
  "Victreebel, you're up!"
  {Here we go again...} Victreebel twitched its restored vine in
irritation at its recent loss.
  Gastly and Beedrill would not be as useful against Exeggutor if it
knew any Psychic attacks, so Kate would use them on the Poison-types...
like this one. "Beedrill, go for it!"
  "You, too? I don't suppose yours knows PIN MISSILE, too?"
  "No, I don't train Beedrill as often as Gary has recently. Beedrill, 
TWINEEDLE!"
  Rose remembered how she had handled Gary's TWINEEDLE attacks. "SLAM to
block!"
  Victreebel's vine whipped forward, but Beedrill was alert and flew
over it. Then it struck with TWINEEDLE, and Victreebel reared back
before bringing its vine around again and smacking Beedrill across the
back. The blow sent Beedrill tumbling a short distance, and it paused to
reorient.
  "ACID!" Rose called, still drawing on her battle against Gary. His
Beedrill had not enjoyed the move at all, and if Kate's was weaker...
  Beedrill took the attack in the belly and shot up toward the cieling,
getting a hold of itself just in time to avoid crashing. It settled back
down toward Victreebel, and used FOCUS ENERGY to try to take its mind
off the ACID clinging to it. Then it drove forward to FURY ATTACK
Victreebel.
  Last time, Victreebel had tried to SLAM Beedrill while it was FURY
ATTACKing and had regretted it. "ACID again!" Beedrill had to be right
up near Victreebel to FURY ATTACK, so the ACID hit it again, on the back
this time, and it hit the ground. It tried to get up, and managed to get
back into the air, but couldn't do anything else right then. Victreebel
SLAMmed and Beedrill went flying across the room.
  Shaking her head, Kate recalled Beedrill. It was overmatched here.
She'd already lost one pokémon in a three-on-three match; she couldn't
afford mistakes now. Gastly would have to wait. "Get'm, Pidgeotto! We
need to gain some ground!"
  {We WANT this ground?} Pidgeotto looked at the burn marks until
Victreebel harrumphed. {Right, right, prepare to suffer...}
---
  Outside, a man in a Team Rocket uniform clambered onto the roof of
Rainbow Perfume after a tiring climb. Walking to the far edge, he peered
down at the greenhouse below him, and took out a pair of binoculars.
  "Yup, that's him all right..." A cell phone followed the binoculars.
"I found Ford, sir. He's in a greenhouse at the back of the building. No
Fields, though. Not sure what he's doing...maybe he's waiting for
something?"
  [Hang back, and keep an eye out for Fields. We'll give them something
to wait for!]
--
  _Give them something to wait for?_ That didn't make any sense...
Santiago shrugged uncomfortably. His nerves must be getting to him
again. The more he thought about his defeat in Saffron, the less he
liked it. This needed ending pronto. A sudden tidal wave of power to
crush Ford and Fields like Bug-types.
  "All Rockets to the roof of Rainbow Perfume! Do not strike until I
give the order!"
---
  Gary paced in the greenhouse outside the Leader Arena. Now that he was
basically done here, the next important matter was Santiago in Celadon.
He'd already rearranged his party for anti-Rocket action, just in case.
  Should they try to find out if Santiago had any tricks planned for the
near future? That might be dangerous, but Gary wasn't sure whether it
was more dangerous than the other possibility; attack Team Rocket for
once, rather than just defending. Was that necessary? Was it wise? They
might just find out today.
  Gary looked through the greenhouse roof at the midday sky, hoping
today would go well...and caught a glimpse of a man in a Team Rocket
uniform standing on the brick part of the roof? Quickly he looked down
again, in case the operative hadn't noticed his cover had been blown.
That was odd...usually the spies were more subtle than that.
  Ditto thought the spies didn't come from Santiago or Vladimir; that
there was a third mastermind in Team Rocket. If that were true, it would
explain the less talented spy above; one of Santiago's men instead of
the spy master's, now that they were in Santiago's territory.
  Was Santiago planning a strike now? While Kate was busy? This building
had already seen one near-disaster. It would actually be rather fitting;
Gary had made a royal mess of Pewter Gym's Leader Arena, hospitalized
one of the Cerulean Leader's pokémon, and chased the Vermilion Leader
out of town. Sabrina had probably been very smart not to challenge Gary.
Celadon Gym had gotten away with just a minor fire so far, nothing to
keep Rose from another battle shortly afterward; Santiago storming the
building might be considered poetic.
  No, things like that really needed to be avoided. Gary just hoped Kate
wouldn't take too long in there. Some time soon, wherever Gary and Kate
were was going to become a battlefield, he just knew it.

Chapter 155

  {This oughta do you!}
  {No!}
  For the third time, Pidgeotto swooped down, and having given up on
ACID, Victreebel tried to intercept with a SLAM. Pidgeotto rolled away
from the vine and then back in to smash into Victreebel, completing its
FLY attack.
  Victreebel slumped to the ground, beaten. Rose recalled it, and sent
out Vileplume. "SLEEP POWDER!" Maybe Kate wouldn't know the strategy
Gary had used here; it was really a helpful manuever, as had been proven
with Gary's Beedrill...
  "GUST it away!" ...but not against either Pidgeotto. In fact, this
time Vileplume's luck was even worse; Pidgeotto, who had started
climbing back upward in case Victreebel didn't faint, blew the SLEEP
POWDER down as well as back, with the result that it cleared Vileplume's
flower and hit it in the face.
  Vileplume were nocturnal in the wild; the chance was slim that
Vileplume would wake up before Pidgeotto knocked it onto its side and
reduced its fighting power to a joke. With a sigh, Rose drew on her
battle with Gary once again; she emulated Gary by simply withdrawing her
sleeping pokémon and moving on.
  "Exeggutor! HYPNOSIS!" _That_ had worked against Gary's Pidgeotto...
  "Look away!" Kate thought fast. Something to stop Exeggutor from using
that gaze..."SAND-ATTACK!" Still not looking at Exeggutor, Pidgeotto
started blowing sand at it.
  "Move aside and keep it up!" Exeggutor danced clumsily to one side and
kept its HYPNOSIS power on. Pidgeotto had to open its eyes to see where
to blow the sand now...and was caught.
  "Oh, great!" Kate complained as Pidgeotto dozed off. "Hurry up and
wake up!"
  "EGG BOMB!" If Kate wasn't going to recall Pidgeotto, Rose wasn't
going to wait until it did wake. Exeggutor swung its heads and leaves
and lobbed an EGG BOMB at the sleeping bird. It hit dead on, exploding
and leaving Pidgeotto severely damaged...and still under Exeggutor's
spell.
  Kate got the hint and recalled Pidgeotto. "Get'm, Fearow!" Fearow
emerged and, without even waiting for the order, drove at Exeggutor with
a DRILL PECK.
  That kind of enthusiasm was useful, but could be dangerous if Fearow
got careless. The very last thing Kate needed now was carelessness; the
battle had become one-on-one.
---
  Gary quietly closed the door behind him and looked around. Everyone
was in their offices, or at least no one was using this staircase.
  A flash of light marked Ditto's emergence from his Pokéball, and
another immediately followed as he took on his Tod Frost form.
"Something's wrong, I can tell. Mr. Saffron?"
  "Exactly. There's a bunch of people staring at the ceiling, the wrong
way around. Kate's still busy with the Leader; I haven't even told her
what's going on yet. Nowhere's been private enough."
  "Hmm. That's the trouble with a large city; you never know who's in
earshot. Case in point," Tod added as a woman came down the stairs in
something of a hurry, muttering about the time that alarm had cost her.
  When she was gone, Tod brought up another point. "Something that
occurs to me is, are the folks staring at the ceiling the wrong way
still sitting there staring, if they can't see what they came for?"
  Gary whistled a long, low note. He'd avoided reacting to the Team
Rocket operatives watching him, despite catching glimpses on a shiny
metal watering can of more joining the first. He'd finally left, though,
so he could consult with Ditto and so he could escape the eyes. Might
they decide to break in and search for him now?
  "Tell you what," Tod said, watching the nearby landings intently.
"I'll join you in there as soon as I make myself good at hiding." When
the landings remained empty, he TRANSFORMed into Haunter.
  {...Plus I can put them to sleep if I have to...} he noted as he faded
into invisibility. Then he floated straight through the door into the
greenhouse, leaving Gary with the task of opening it.
---
  Invisible, Gastly floated through Rainbow Perfume, searching. There
seemed to be no evidence of the fire, and no sign of a pokémon either.
Instinct insisted, however, that this was the right place.
  Instinct scored a point when Gastly passed through another wall,
emerging in a stairwell, and spotted Gary looking at some kind of
disturbance in the air before it disappeared. Gastly opened his
supernatural senses and detected a Haunter in that spot, now gliding
through the door Gary was standing near.
  As Gary opened the door and stepped through, Gastly pondered. What was
Gary doing with a Haunter? Memory flashed of a Haunter associated with
Gary; that cursed Ditto scaring him away in Route 11. Surely there
couldn't be a Haunter hidden around _here_ for Ditto to TRANSFORM into,
could there? Not unless Gary was somehow carrying around a Haunter for
Ditto...could they TRANSFORM based on a photograph, without just
becoming the photograph? Gary with that Ditto and a scrapbook could be a
very dangerous opponent then...
  Then a more sensible answer came to Gastly. Gary was known to have
captured a Gastly on the way to Saffron City; perhaps he'd trained it
enough to evolve. If that was so, the Haunter was new to its greater
power; perhaps Gastly could wile a defeat out of it.
  Gastly slipped through the door, still invisible, to continue his new
assignment: spying on Gary & Co. to find an advantage for Team Rocket.
Maybe not the sort of advantage Samori and Santiago were expecting, but
if Gary Ford fell, the ends could justify _any_ means.

Chapter 156

  {Stand still, whydoncha!}
  {Well, THAT’S no fun...} Fearow taunted the distraught Exeggutor.
Tired of trying to dodge DRILL PECKs, it had started lobbing EGG BOMBs
at a furious pace. Flying around the room dodging those projectiles kept
Fearow too busy to attack further.
---
  Gary studiously avoided looking up as he entered the room. A lone
flower wiggled nearby, and as he approached it, furrowed words began
forming in the dirt below it: STILL THERE.
  THANKS, he wrote back, trying to look bored enough to doodle in dirt.
---
  The operative risking a peek through the roof breathed a sigh of
relief. Ford was doing something with the greenhouse flowers, and not
looking up at them. Maybe he wouldn't notice the panel of glass that
they had removed so they could drop into the room, and had not had time
to replace when they saw the door reopening.
---
  {Ha HA!} Fearow cried out in triumph as Exeggutor realized it had run
out of EGG BOMBs. Fearow took the opportunity to strike with yet another
DRILL PECK that sent Exeggutor sprawling.
  Lying on its side, any other ungainly, no-armed pokémon would be in
trouble, but Exeggutor was a Psychic-type, as it proved by lifting
itself telekinetically until it could stand again. Unfortunately,
Exeggutor were much better suited to telepathics. By the time it had
completed the exercise, Fearow was swooping down with another attack.
  "LEECH SEED!" Rose called. Exeggutor bent towards the oncoming Fearow
and fired a large seed from the center of its leafy fronds.
---
  Invisible, Gastly floated through the door and soon located the
Haunter, still hiding from human eyes even though it should have
believed Gary the only one here...it was looking upward, at something
beyond the cieling, it seemed. Curious, Gastly rose to the cieling and
through it, and paused in surprise. What looked like at least half the
operatives in Santiago's base were gathered on the rooftop, with more
arriving every so often. They were watching Gary through a hole they had
put in the roof. Santiago must have planned an assault...but surely
there were enough here to take the boy down. Why did they not attack?
---
  "Why aren't we attacking?" an operative hissed quietly.
  "Because Santiago hasn't given the word yet." The second paused a
moment; if Santiago was not here to watch, what would make one point in
time any better than another for him? He radioed the base again. "Sir,
when do we move?"
  [Is Fields there now? Is Ford still waiting?]
  "No, sir. Yes, sir."
  [Then keep waiting. I don't know how much they know, but I will not
give Fields any more warning than she has now. Attack when Fields shows
up or if it becomes clear she won't.]
  "Yes, sir." Click. "That answer your question?"
---
  This was an attack Kate was familiar with. The LEECH SEED could not
touch Fearow's body or she'd lose for sure. Fearow was coming in too
fast, though; she didn't have time to warn it beyond a knee-jerk "No!"
  Fearow reacted. Suddenly rising from its original course, it snatched
the oncoming seed out of the air with its talons. Then, before the seed
decided it could manage to take root there, Fearow did something rather
nasty. It used what had become its second-favorite move short of DRILL
PECK: MIRROR MOVE. Streaking past Exeggutor, it dropped the seed like a
bomb, and the seed got wedged between two of Exeggutor's heads, where it
took root.
  Having energy flowing from itself to itself was far too disorienting
for Exeggutor to handle. It stumbled and fell on its rump, all of its
heads jabbering incoherently in their confusion.
  It was certainly in no condition to defend against Fearow's follow-up
FLY attack.
---
  The Haunter could make trouble, Gastly decided, if and when Santiago's
operatives made their move. He slipped back through the cieling to deal
with it.
  Still invisible, Gastly came down behind the Haunter and used NIGHT
SHADE--a very weak NIGHT SHADE, that would just feel like a twinge if
the target didn't know better. It was the way to deliver an open
challenge.
---
  Ditto spun around, feeling the almost-attack; the Haunter body
recognized its import. He quickly caught 'sight' of the Gastly; like
him, it was invisible to Gary.
  Using its hypnotic power, the Gastly spoke in a way that made Ditto
certain Gary would no more hear than see them. {You like staring at
humans on rooftops? Well, I'm afraid I can't let you interfere with
these.}
  Oh. _This_ Gastly. Ditto wondered where Bonnie and Clyde were. The
last time Gastly had encountered Ditto as Haunter, it had been made
quite plain that Gastly could not handle him. Why was he so bold now?
  What Gastly had said came into focus. Gastly thought Ditto was just a
normal Haunter. Ditto decided not to disillusion Gastly; the last thing
he wanted was the loud alarm that would probably result.
  Recalling as much as he could from the incident at Pokémon Tower,
Ditto answered in the same secretive mode. {...De Sade. De Sade the
deserter. Who consorts with the living by his own choice. It will be a
joy to bring you down.}

Chapter 157

  {Still...sure you...want to...take me?}
  {You haven't...won yet!}
  By the strain in Gastly's voice he was using a very great amount of
his power in the push-and-shove of ethereal forces this had become.
Ditto inserted the same strain into his own, faking it entirely. Gastly
must think little indeed of him if he felt confident enough to challenge
a Haunter. Ditto would give him little...right up until the sneak attack
he was readying even then.
  Gastly's power was no real match for Ditto's in Haunter form. He
marveled that they had been equals as two Gastly. If the Haunter he'd
met in Bill's Valley had had the gift of hypnotic English, he would
forget his Gastly form entirely. For that matter, how likely was it now
that he would wish to talk to someone as a pokémon, someone who should
not see him as Tod Frost? In fact, someone who would not understand him
as any other pokémon?
  {Your mind wanders!} Gastly cackled. {You'll never beat anything that
way!}
  {It's not all that wanders.} The trap snapped shut as Gastly was
suddenly squeezed from top and bottom by the one advantage of Haunter
over Gastly that any fool could see.
  {Fascinating things, are they not?} Ditto chuckled as Gastly squirmed
in his hovering hands. The surprise had cost Gastly in the battle of
wills, and now he could not muster the ability to batter them away.
  His eyes went wide as Ditto came in for a LICK. Ghost-types could be
fascinating at times; for one thing, they had the rare condition of
being weak against their own type attacks. Ditto's ectoplasmic tongue,
that would have given most targets the shivers for a good long while,
left Gastly positively spasming.
  {Come near my trainer again,} Ditto said, {and I won't stop here.} He
drew back his hands...there was the windup...and the pitch! Gastly went
soaring toward the ceiling, wailing all the way.
  With no concentration remaining to mask the noise from mortal ears.
  Gary looked up in confusion. Rocket Operatives zipped back from the
hole at about the same time that they, too, heard the noise; Gastly had
passed right through the ceiling and was still climbing.
  Ditto quickly wrote GASTLY. DEALT WITH in the dirt, but Gary wasn't
looking now.
---
  Several operatives frowned at the formless cry that echoed in their
ears. "Maybe...we should go?" one timidly suggested.
  The one with the radio frowned deeper. "I don't know...Ford didn't do
it from what I could see, so it probably isn't related." Then he glanced
about and licked his lips. "Of course, we could just claim Fields
never..."
  "Gary! I won!" a girl's voice echoed from the room below. "It was
close, but...Gary?"
  "Too late now," someone muttered. "Now it really _would_ be
disobeying."
  "All right, three teams!" the one in tentative command hissed. "One
swarm Ford, another bury Fields...and a third find out what made that
noise. Maybe we just heard it leaving." Anxious nods met that.
---
  "Is something wrong?" Kate asked a trifle nervously.
  "Several somethings," Gary answered quickly. "Santiago's in the city,
a small army of operatives are on the roof and I think something just
happened to Ditto."
  Kate swayed before getting hold of herself. "Sant-!?" she shrilled.
Pause. Okay, _now_ she had hold of herself. "I take it that's what you
wouldn't say in public?" she whispered, whipping out her Pokédex.
Beedrill and Pidgeotto would have to go, and Ivysaur and Graveler made
fine replacements.
  She did not have time. Operatives began dropping from the ceiling...
without a rope or even a parachute or anything. Gary half expected them
to land with twisted ankles or worse.
  He hadn't reckoned on the training even an operative would have under
his or her belt. Some positioned legs to absorb the shock while others
turned the dive into a roll, to spring to their feet afterwards.
  The Rockets, on the other hand, hadn't reckoned on landing in a
greenhouse. A good many of the rollers fetched up against the aisles of
plants, messing up their landing. The crouchers had to move quickly lest
their teammates land on top of them, and there wasn't a lot of room to
maneuver. One unlucky fellow even landed among the plants. By the time
they were somewhat straightened out, Gary and Kate had made it to the
far end of the room and two of Kate's Pokéballs were glowing in
transition.
  A shape appeared between Gary and Kate. Both gasped, but Kate's fear
settled when she realized Gary's was of relief. "I thought something had
happened to you!" Kate put two and two together and realized why Gary
hadn't named the Haunter who only shrugged in answer.
  Ditto's appearance did nothing to stoke the operatives' confidence.
Those with pokémon they felt could handle Ghost-types sent them out, but
most backed away a step or two.
  Then, the operative who had landed in the plant life made it to his
feet...and saw what sort of life he'd encountered.
  {Wake me at this hour!? Take this!} The Gloom Gary had noted earlier
registered a complaint that quickly filled that half of the room,
leaving operatives and pokémon gagging for air.
  It was just too much. Grinning widely, Gary sent out Pidgeotto.
"Pidgeotto, your WHIRLWIND can keep that Gloom's stench away from us!"
he said, in a tone that all but shouted that it might do other things as
well, given a chance. Pidgeotto took one look at the absolutely
priceless situation, and decided it simply couldn't resist. The wafting
odor started pressing back against the Rockets.
  "I know that smell!" The door on that side opened and Rose stepped out
of the Leader Arena. She took her own one look at the choking gang in
Team Rocket outfits, and tossed a Pokéball. "Vileplume! SLEEP POWDER!"
  {Not ag--oh. Okay!} Rose ducked back behind the door again, and
Vileplume added bright blue powder to the already thick air. Some
operatives managed to throw Pokéballs before they succumbed, but then
succumbed before they could give orders. The pokémon were left with
nothing to do but recoil from the stench, and drop off to sleep.
  Rose walked back in again and recalled Vileplume, then frowned at the
mess. Comforting the distraught Gloom, she looked at Gary and Kate.
"They were after you, right?"
  "Yes," Gary said. "Thank you for finishing them...but..." Kate looked
a little queasy.
  "But how can I stand it around here?" Rose laughed. "I don't mind
Gloom's scent. It's something rare and genetic, I'm not sure what, but
it doesn't smell that bad to me." She watched Gloom rebury itself in the
sod.
  Gary looked up at the operatives' entrance. "There may be more,
though. Their leader wasn't here, and he _really_ doesn't like us. We
should probably leave before he brings a real battle in here."
  "And what's wrong with battling in third-party property?" a voice
asked from behind.
  Santiago stood in the door to the hall, with operatives, Elites and
two or three hostages behind him. "It puts the 'good guys' in such a
delightful pickle."

Chapter 158

  "...Take them."
  The operatives and Elites swarmed around Santiago and into the
greenhouse, save for those who were keeping the hostages close to hand.
As the operatives lined the walls, blocking any potential escape, the
Elites sent out pokémon to bring down Gary, Kate, Ditto and Rose.
  Boxed in by a Nidoqueen, Graveler and Aerodactyl, Gary sent out
Poliwhirl and Golem to deal with them as best they could. Kate, pressed
by a Pinsir, Sandslash and Hitmonlee, sent Fearow back out and added
Gastly as well. Rose was less lucky; the Rockets knew what type she
used, and used Magmar, Dodrio and Jynx to keep her from aiding them.
Ditto found himself confronting a Venomoth, Gengar and Kadabra.
  Before even trying to take on her opponents, the wide-eyed Rose backed
against the wall--and hit a switch. Clear material rose from the aisle
edges to form domes over the greenhouse plants. "Those were designed to
shield against pokémon battles," she said. "So much for your 'delightful
pickle'!"
  "Thanks, Rose! EARTHQUAKE, Golem! Poliwhirl, cover the Aerodactyl!"
  "Gastly, put out the Sandslash! Fearow, DRILL PECKs away!"
  "Exeggutor! HYPNOSIS! Give it all you've got!"
  Ditto scanned the crowd. He was sunk in this form, but couldn't revert
to Ditto until he knew what to move to from there...the Gengar
approached, eager to prove its superiority over Haunter. Whoops, out of
time. Ditto focused on the Hitmonlee trying unsuccessfully to fend off
Kate's Fearow, and was a Hitmonlee himself in short order. Gengar,
thrown off by this new development, couldn't think of a reaction before
Ditto charged right _through_ it, confusing it further. Leaping into the
air, Ditto lashed out with MEGA KICKs from both feet at once; one
slammed into the Venomoth and knocked it into a dome while the other
made a disturbing crunching sound against Kadabra's face.
  His legs quickly under him again, Ditto spun to face Gengar, who had
by now decided that, in the end, it really didn't matter how it chose t
react to a Hitmonlee.
  Except that it now had to react to a mirror image of the fallen
Kadabra, albeit healthier.
---
  Nidoqueen and Graveler were still trying to regain their footing after
the punishing EARTHQUAKE, but Aerodactyl had no chance to gloat.
Poliwhirl's WATER GUNs were pushing it slowly back. It hissed in anger
at the irritant. Poliwhirl's answering shot hit it right on the snout.
  Finally, Aerodactyl decided it had had enough. It dove straight for
Poliwhirl in a TAKE DOWN. About to fire another WATER GUN, Poliwhirl saw
Aerodactyl coming in and changed its mind, leaping up and back.
Aerodactyl squacked in irritation as it passed under, and then squacked
again when Poliwhirl came down--right on Aerodactyl's back!
  Aerodactyl, a Rock-type, took little damage from Poliwhirl's BODY
SLAM, but the momentum was too much for it to counter in its water-
weakened state. It hit the floor jarringly. Poliwhirl bounced off,
landing right in front of Aerodactyl. Aerodactyl snapped at it angrily,
trying to get up--until a final WATER GUN put it out.
---
  The Hitmonlee Ditto had copied had had rather less success against its
opponent than he had. Now it lay stretched out on the floor, and Pinsir,
its pincers clacking weakly, looked ready to join it there. Fearow
paused in the air, considering how best to finish the distressed bug,
while Gastly hovered in front of the slack-jawed Sandslash; the pointy
pokémon was strong-willed and only continuous effort on Gastly's part
kept it from shaking off the HYPNOSIS.
  Finally, Fearow dove down and, taking in Pinsir's feeble clacking,
opened its beak and struck with a MIRROR MOVEd VICEGRIP. After the DRILL
PECKs Pinsir had already taken, its carapace cracked in Fearow's beak
and it fainted at last.
  "Great work, Fearow!" Kate called. "Now, start on Sandslash!" Fearow
dropped Pinsir and circled back to finish the job.
---
  "Maaag..."
  "Doo..." "Doo..." "Doo..."
  "Jynx, Jynx!"
  Eyes closed, Rose nodded. Magmar and Dodrio down, Jynx still active.
Its Psychic-type qualities must have helped it resist. No matter; the
Jynx was physically the weakest of the bunch. "EGG BOMB!"
  "Jynx! ICE PUNCH!"
  Exeggutor lobbed an EGG BOMB, but missed as Jynx was already gliding
forward, one fist glowing blue. Jynx connected with Exeggutor's trunk,
sending a chill through it. The tree pokémon yelped and shuddered at the
cold, and two more EGG BOMBs dropped from its fronds, knocking Jynx back
into an aisle.
  "Before it recovers! STOMP!"
---
  {Thanks for the save!}
  {No problem. You'd have done the same.}
  Since both Nidoqueen and Graveler were Ground-type, Golem's ROCK THROW
didn't do much to them, and it couldn't keep up EARTHQUAKEs all day.
With two opponents to deal with, it hadn't managed to do more than hold
them off. Now that Poliwhirl was finished with Aerodactyl, it could step
in and take care of Graveler so Golem could focus properly on Nidoqueen.
---
  {Well, fine, ignore me then!}
  {Shut up, loser, I'm busy!}
  Being attacked by Fearow had proven enough to break Sandslash
completely out of Gastly's HYPNOSIS, and now that it had a physical
enemy to defend against, it was able to keep its focus straight on the
battle. Fearow hovered uncertainly overhead; Sandslash couldn't attack
it from down there, but it was very good at blocking Fearow's attacks.
  {No one but NO ONE calls me loser and gets away with it!} Gastly
struck Sandslash with a different move, one it couldn't resist no matter
how strong-willed it was: CONFUSE RAY. {Let's see how well you block
now! Hahahaha!}
---
  {Oogh...} {Ugh...} {Hey, neat! I can think again! Isn't that great?
                     ...Hey, you two, wake up! I've got a tree to beat!}

Chapter 159

  {Hey, mind your own battle!}
  {Already over,} Poliwhirl answered the distraught Graveler. {'Sides,
that's rich coming from someone who was content with a two-on-one
gang-up!}
  {Grr, I'll teach you to mess with me!}
  {What are you gonna do, Mr. Doubly-Weak? Force me to pity you?}
  {That does it!} Graveler closed its eyes, wrapped its longer arms
around itself and squeezed tightly.
  Poliwhirl wasn't sure what to make of this. Golem could have warned it
if it hadn't been busy with Nidoqueen. As it was, when Graveler erupted
into a ball of fire, Poliwhirl was caught wholly off guard.
  The blast from Graveler's SELFDISTRUCT knocked Poliwhirl back into
Gary and both hit the ground. _That_ Golem noticed, and it stood gaping
until Nidoqueen, who needed an advantage, scored a BODY SLAM on it.
  Gary tried to push Poliwhirl off of him until he noticed the burn
marks. "Poliwhirl! How bad is it?"
  Poliwhirl's eyelids fluttered. {Cheap trick...} It forced itself up
and yelled at the blackened husk, {It's called GIVING UP! Just couldn't
...handle me...couldja...} It sank back down.
  Still plenty of fight left in it, but Poliwhirl was in no shape for
battle. Gary recalled it and stood.
---
  Gengar lay in front of Ditto/Kadabra, trying to hold on to
consciousness. One more PSYBEAM would put it out.
  Suddenly, Ditto felt weight on his back, and as he was turning his
head to see what it was, pain shot through him. The Kadabra he had
copied had been laid out with one MEGA KICK, but the Venomoth he'd
attacked the same way had not actually fainted. Now, adjusting to the
new situation, it was using LEECH LIFE to rescue Gengar.
  Ditto filled the area around him with a CONFUSION attack, which, after
the MEGA KICK, was enough to faint Venomoth despite the life it had
regained from LEECH LIFE. Nearly snarling, he turned back to face
Gengar--and met a CONFUSE RAY head-on.
  Gengar needed energy badly. As a rule, it wasn't easy to catch a
Psychic-type with HYPNOSIS, but now that the enemy was confused, Gengar
had more time to try. It set to work, looking forward to the upcoming
DREAM EATER.
---
  "Jyiyiyiynx..."
  Exeggutor gave the beaten Jynx one last STOMP before turning back to
its other opponents.
  "Good work, Exeggutor!" Rose said. "Now--"
  "Do! Do!" "Drrrio!" "Do do drio do!" Dodrio suddenly shot forward, the
head that had shaken off the HYPNOSIS having succeeded in rousing the
other two. Poor Exeggutor, not a terribly fast mover, was pummeled with
DRILL PECKs before Rose could react.
  "HYP--no, EGG BOMB!" Rose called out desperately. By then, though,
Exeggutor was hurt badly enough to interpret that as HYPNO EGG BOMB,
which it obviously didn't know. With three or four final discordant
cries, it fell under the flashing beaks.
  "Blast it!" Rose said crossly. "Vileplume! SLEEP POWDER!"
---
  _*groan*_
  The Team Rocket operative slowly picked herself up off the floor. The
SLEEP POWDER and that Gloom's toxic stench seemed to have cleared.
Around her, other operatives from the rooftop drop were also coming to.
  The scene that met their eyes gave most of them pause. Santiago
himself stood in the doorway looking on as his bodyguard of Elites
battled Ford, Fields, the Gym Leader and...it looked like the Gengar
slowly putting a Kadabra under HYPNOSIS was a separate battle as well.
  However the battles had started, they seemed to be nearing a close.
Ford's battle was one-on-one and his Golem seemed to have an edge over
the enemy Elite's Nidoqueen. Fields also seemed to be facing a one-on-
one, but aside from her Fearow strafing a Sandslash that looked to be in
real trouble, there was a Gastly on the side cackling every so often at
the Sandslash's misfortune. The Gym Leader was not doing so well, with a
Vileplume against a Dodrio and a Magmar, though the Magmar looked oddly
vapid. As for the fourth battle, the Gengar seemed to have the upper
hand, but who could tell what that meant in the overall struggle? A
Haunter had appeared to join Ford and Fields before the Gloom had
struck; could it have evolved?
  Santiago caught their eye and gave them Meaningful Glance #37: Stay
Where You Are and Wait For My Instruction. Obediently, they blended into
the background; if no one else noticed they had awakened, the element of
surprise would be with them.
---
  On the rooftop a lone figure crouched, unnoticed by anyone in the
greenhouse below. Unlike Santiago's operatives, he knew how to stay that
way. It was his specialty, after all.
  He had no intention of joining the battle; he knew full well that he
hadn't been raised to Elite for his skill in combat. To Samori's Elites,
battle was only for those who weren't good enough to escape notice.
  Samori had taken control of this matter. Santiago's attack was wholly
uncalled for. It would be suitable if he failed again, and maybe learned
his lesson this time. Nonetheless, it would be unfortunate for Team
Rocket to suffer another defeat.
  "Ah, here you are. I hope you're easier to find in the future; I _am_
supposed to be working with you."
  The Spy Network agent frowned. "I should be saying that to you. Where
have you been?"
  Gastly flinched. "There were...events elsewhere that needed my
attention."
  "Events more important than the dismal failure of the operatives'
first wave here?"
  "Um, well...Ford! He was most clever, distracting me with a cunningly
wrought decoy..."
  The agent rolled his eyes. "Just shut up and watch."

Chapter 160

  {Agh...curse...you...} Nidoqueen sunk to the floor.
  Golem smiled. {You have no idea how much I get that.}
  {No...can't...too much...aarrrghhh...} Sandslash followed Nidoqueen's
cue.
  Fearow came to rest. {Well, that was fun. What next?}
  The beaten Elites recalled their fainted pokémon and retreated to
Santiago's side.
  "Kate, you doing okay?" Gary called.
  "I'm fine," Kate answered.
  "Lucky. One down on my side." Gary turned to check on Ditto and Rose,
and frowned. "Rose isn't doing well...where's Ditto?"
  "There! The Gengar beating the Kadabra...I'll bet one of those is
Ditto...but which?"
  "I don't think he--" Gary began, then stopped. It didn't matter
whether Ditto had the Gengar form coming into this battle; there was a
Gengar involved in one way or another, and if it wasn't Ditto, then
Ditto had seen it and could now TRANSFORM into it. He raised his
Pokédex.
  [Gengar, currently using DREAM EATER.]
  [Ditto, currently TRANSFORMed into Kadabra. Status: Asleep. Confused.]
  "Problem!" Gary hesitated, a hand floating near his belt. "Can't use
Golem, it's too likely to hurt Ditto in the process...Pikachu, then!" He
sent out the Electric-type. "Pikachu, get that Gengar! THUNDERBOLT!"
  {Finally, some action!} Pikachu charged up and blasted Gengar with
electricity.
  {Yaaagh!} It had taken Gengar no little time to put Ditto fully under,
and then DREAM EATER was weak against Psychic-types. Gengar had not
regained enough energy to take this attack. It puffed into a cloud of
smoke, reformed in midair and fell to the ground, out of the fight.
  {What, that's it? What a wimp!}
  "Want more, huh? Go help Rose, then!" Gary nodded toward the
beleaguered Gym Leader and approached Ditto. "A Full Heal will wake him
up...but he's confused, too. I just read up on curing confusion a couple
nights ago...what was it...right, recalling is the only way short of
time." Regretting the necessity, Gary recalled Ditto.
---
  "Rgh...go to sleep already!" Rose and Dodrio were at a stalemate.
Vileplume could never quite catch all three of Dodrio's heads with SLEEP
POWDER, and then the head that was still awake was able to wake up the
other two. Fortunately, that took long enough so that Dodrio couldn't
attack before Vileplume's next try with SLEEP POWDER...but sooner or
later Vileplume was going to run out, and then it would be in trouble.
  "PIka! Pii pi CHUUU!" A THUNDERBOLT abruptly broke the stalemate as
Gary's Pikachu zapped Dodrio. The crispy-fried Dodrio wheeled to face
this new threat.
  "Now, Vileplume!" Rose called. Vileplume used SLEEP POWDER one more
time, and the distracted Dodrio was unable to avoid the attack. The
three heads dropped.
  "Pika...pi chaa Kachu!" Pikachu scolded Rose.
  Rose blinked. "Um...okay...I guess Gary's pokémon are used to being
understood, huh?" Pikachu deflated, then fainted Dodrio with a
THUNDERSHOCK and headed back to Gary.
  Rose watched it leave, then shrugged. "Vileplume, ACID! That Magmar
isn't going to stay under all day!"
---
  Santiago sighed and gave the back-seat operatives Meaningful Glance
#14: Prepare to Swarm. Then, when Magmar snapped out of the HYPNOSIS
just in time to faint from Vileplume's last ACID, he gave them
Meaningful Glance #5: NOW.
  The operatives all jumped up and sent out pokémon. "_Get'm!_"
  Turning in surprise, Gary and Kate sent out all of their pokémon in
response--except Poliwhirl, who was still injured, and Ditto, whom Gary
belatedly remembered he hadn't actually woken.
  Santiago sighed again. "You know, this really isn't my usual style,
but..." He suddenly grabbed one of the hostages from the building--the
secretary who had failed to help Gary and Kate that morning--and lifted
her into the air by the throat. "Congratulations! You've just been
promoted...from police repellant to trump card!"
  Gary and Kate turned again, facing Santiago in shock. Rose tried to
say something and got shoved into the Leader Arena by an operative.
  "If you won't be beaten the usual way, I'll just have to compromise!"
Santiago declared. He pointed behind them, ignoring the secretary whose
face was taking on a bluish tint. "You! Take them away!"
  From the operatives' ranks a Pidgeot and a Fearow darted forward,
recognizing Santiago as their masters' master and a man to be obeyed.
Before Gary and Kate could turn a third time to face this new gambit,
the Flying-types had each seized one's shoulders in their talons and
were heading for the operatives' hole in the cieling.
  "Stop their pokémon!" Santiago barked. In short order a Weepinbell had
Pikachu WRAPped and was dragging it toward its mouth while Kate's Fearow
and both Pidgeotto were grounded by a Dewgong's ICE BEAM. Gastly tried
to follow the Flying-types and got taken down by a Parasect's ever-well-
aimed SPORE.
  No one else could do a thing.

SANTIAGO'S OFFENSIVE CONCLUDES IN VOLUME 9!

This Fanfic is divided into volumes of twenty chapters each. Download
Chapters 161-180 at http://www.pokemology.f2s.com/pokegear/ditto/9.txt!