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A
Master in the Making: Part 7: ....Make It Double! by
Seth Bowman (I'm so tempted to write down my name as Zeth Raltier, I
must be using it too much) Zeth sat on a park
bench, staring down at the empty pokéball in his hand. He still could not believe what had happened.
[All my pokémon are
gone... And I have no idea where Team Rocket is by now...]
Zeth reached into his backpack and pulled out his moon stone. He had
left his backpack at the center, so the Rockets did not get everything.
[Only everything that was
important! I would give a
million of these rocks to get them back.] Zeth looked up at a trainer, who was playing with his
Nidoran. [We were doing so well, why did it have to be like this?]
In another part of the city, Kat and Duke were
enjoying themselves tremendously. They
had celebrated their most recent heist until far into the night, and
now, the Boss had just requested to see them.
They walked up the steps to his mansion, feeling a little nervous
but confidant that they would receive praise, not punishment.
The Boss rarely invited a team member to his mansion, but since
the gym had been destroyed, he HAD been having more meetings there.
They were greeted at the door by the butler, then ushered into
Giovanni's office, where the Boss waited for them.
"Good Morning, sir."
Kat began. "I
hope you were pleased with the pokémon we brought you." "Yes, I was.
That's why I have called you here.
Your service has always been exemplary, which is why I have
decided to give you an important assignment.
Recently, I have been expanding Team Rocket to other parts of the
world, and I am giving you two command of the operations in the Obsidian
League area. We have
already built a base of operations there, but I still need someone to
run it. Are you two up to the task?" The two Rockets were shocked.
The Obsidian League covered as much area as the Indigo League.
This was no small promotion!
"Yes, we're up to it!" Duke exclaimed.
"We would be honored to command the Obsidian area's
Rockets!" "Good, be at the airport at 8:30 tomorrow
morning. I have arranged
for you to travel on one of our planes, which is transporting supplies
to the new base. One other
thing." Giovanni
reached into his desk and pulled out four familiar objects.
"Here, take these pokémon.
You stole them, so you can train them.
You'll need more pokémon, anyway."
He handed the blue and white pokéballs to the duo.
"I'm counting on you. Don't
fail me!" Zeth walked down an alley.
He had been wandering aimlessly all day, trying to think of what
he should do. He
turned into a large, desolate street lined with warehouses.
Realizing that he was probably in the worst part of town, Zeth
turned to leave, when he heard one of the large doors start to creak
open. With only mild interest, he watched a flatbed truck loaded
with wooden crates pull out of one of the warehouses and drive past him.
Apparently, whoever loaded the truck did a sloppy job, because
one of the crates fell off and spilled open as the truck turned a
corner. The driver didn't
notice the accident and kept on going, but Zeth gasped as he saw the
boxes contents. It was full
of the black Team Rocket uniforms!
Zeth ran toward the warehouse's slowly-closing door and dove
under it before it could shut all the way.
It was very dark in the building, only one small
window let in light from the outside.
There was another truck and a LOT of shelves and crates.
Most of the crates were nailed shut, but he noticed an open one
and pushed the lid aside. The
crate was half full of pokéballs, but before he could check to see if
they contained pokémon, he thought he heard familiar voices.
He crept between the crates and proved his ears right.
It was Kat and Duke - and they were wearing HIS pokéballs!
Beside them were two burly Rockets.
He bit back a cry of rage, and listened to their conversation.... "Okay" said Kat, handing one of the
workmen a notebook, "here is the list of needed supplies the Boss
gave me. Take it to the
airport, hanger 12. Got
that?" The burly man nodded.
"Yeah I got it. I've
done this stuff before, you know." "Well I haven't, so don't get smart with me.
Hurry up and get this done, we leave in the morning."
At this Kat turned and headed out the door, Duke following on her
heels. The workman muttered something under his breath,
"I hate people like that. They
always think they know how to do our job better than we do." His companion agreed, and they went into some kind of
conversation about stuck-up team members.
By this time Zeth had stopped listening.
The men were starting to load the truck, and he had to move, so
they wouldn't catch him when they moved the crates he was hiding behind.
One of them noticed the open crate Zeth had found and spat out a
curse about certain incompetent people, followed by another curse when
he couldn't find the nail gun to nail it shut.
Finally, the two workmen finished loading the truck and drove
away. Zeth waited until
they were out of sight, the rolled back under the warehouse door as it
closed. [So, Team Rocket is taking an airplane ride! Maybe I can save my pokémon after all!] It was a long walk to the airport, but Zeth's
hope of saving his pokémon kept him going.
He found hanger 12 and checked to see if anyone was around. He spotted the two workmen loading the last of the cargo into
the plane with forklift. [Okay,
Zeth, what NOW?]
He noticed the single open crate still on the truck and had
an idea. While the workmen
were busy with an unusually large crate, Zeth dove into the open one,
pulling the top back on as he buried himself in the pokéballs.
He waited a few minutes, then held his breath as his crate was
lifted up by the forklift they were using.
He waited for another ten minutes as the last of the cargo was
loaded, then lifted the lid of his crate to look around.
He was inside the plane, but Kat and Duke weren't here yet.
[They won't be here until
morning. I'd better get
some sleep.]
He sank back down into the pokéballs and pulled the lid over
himself again, wincing because of his uncomfortable bed.
[It's going to be a LONG
night....] Zeth woke to the sound of voices. Apparently, the Rockets had arrived. Suddenly, everything started moving. [They must have been
here longer than I thought! Oh,
well. Nothing to do but sit
back and enjoy the ride.] The plane was mainly used for hauling cargo, so
it had limited passenger space. Kat
and Duke took turns sitting in the copilot's seat, although neither of
them knew anything about airplanes.
Zeth was stuck in the crate for about an hour, because one of the
two was always using the crates as a seat.
He was finally beginning to feel confidant again, when the
unthinkable happened: His phone rang! Zeth
scrambled to turn it off, but the damage had already been done.
He heard footsteps walk toward him but was unable to hide under
the shallow layer of pokéballs. The lid started to move and Zeth knew it was time to act.... He jumped up, bowling Duke over. The man yelled in surprise as Zeth ripped his pokéballs off
of Duke's belt. Zeth dodged
the man's flailing arms and sprinted for the cockpit.
Behind him, he could hear Duke yell out a warning to the other
Rockets. Kat turned to see
what he was yelling about. "Duke, what are you - it's the kid!"
She didn't have time to react as Zeth pitched two of the empty
pokéballs at her. He dove
on her, grabbing the blue pokéballs that hung at her belt.
The pilot shouted out something about fighting somewhere else,
but Kat was too busy trying to push away the angry teen to notice.
She gave Zeth a hard shove that sent him flying into the
airplane' s controls. Something
he landed on cracked loudly, and the combatants paused for a moment.
The pilot cursed and pulled Kat out of the cockpit, slamming the
door behind them. Zeth
turned and saw WHY the pilot had left in such a hurry.
The flight controls had been snapped off and the fuel gauge was
flashing a red light. [Oh, no!
I dumped the fuel and those controls are a total loss!]
Zeth threw open the door, and was nearly flung to the ground as
suction from an open hatch pulled at him.
The Rockets stood at the hatch, grinning evilly as Duke threw
something out the open hatch. [What are they... Oh,
NO!]
He watched the Rockets leap out of the doomed plane, leaving
him behind without the parachute he needed to escape! With nothing else to do, Zeth hopped into the
pilot's seat and buckled himself in.
[This is going to be a VERY
hard landing!] The
plane was starting to tilt down now, plunging toward a mountain in the
distance. [This
can't get any worse.]
The mountain - no! volcano! - loomed in front of him. [It's worse!] Suddenly, the plane slowed down and seemed to
hover in the air. It banked
toward a nearby field, slowly losing altitude.
[What? How is this
possible?] Zeth braced
for an impact, but the plane landed without a jolt..... High in
the sky, a small, pink pokémon watched as a young man appeared from the
open hatch of the downed plane and looked around in amazement.
Satisfied with her good deed, Mew shot off into the distance.... |