Chereads / Pokemon: Shadow of Time / Chapter 21 - chapter 21

Chapter 21 - chapter 21

Near the Rock Tunnel - 2058 hours local time - Day 62 of Ash Ketchum's Journey

Belladonna Ketchum knew her mother got around, but this was insane. They were on the other side of Kanto, dealing with a new Rocket base dug into the side of Mt Kumo, where the infamously dark Rock Tunnel was.

"How the hell did they dig a base into a mountain made of dolerite?" she asked, as the entire region was made of the stuff.

"Pupitar, mostly." her mother answered. "Most of the angry Tyrannitar you see in the wild used to be Pupitar that Team Rocket ditched after they were done. They do NOT take abandonment kindly."

"Like Ash?" Belladonna asked, eyebrow raised. "You know he thinks Dad just left. He doesn't remember what happened."

"And I would like to keep it that way." Delia said sadly.

Belladonna couldn't blame her mother for that. She would like to forget too.

"He did give you all something." Delia continued as they approached. "Your hair, mostly."

"How is it Red got brown so dark it could be mistaken for black, me and Ash get dad's black hair and Yellow is blonde?" Belladonna asked rhetorically. She already knew the answer.

"I keep telling you: a random quirk of genetics." her mother said, giving her a dirty look. "Besides, you had Professor Oak run that DNA test. She's not your half-sister."

Belladonna had the shame to look away before the rock wall slid open, revealing a complicated door that was well hidden, something that wouldn't pop up unless you were using a deep probing radar or something like that.

And preparing to step out was Ariana, Team Rocket's sole female Admin. "D-Delia." she stammered as she noticed the woman in question, raising her hands in surrender. "Look, what happened at Silph Co was NOT my fault! I ordered them to fuck RIGHT off!"

Delia just stared at her. "One of your men shot my son." she deadpanned. "That makes you responsible for it."

"I told them to retreat! Pissing you off wasn't worth the effort!" Ariana said, knowing her Pokemon were no match for Delia's and that peace was only obtained through surrender.

Delia was a true Master, as were Giovanni and (though he didn't know it) Ash; Ariana was not. Type specialists were no match for the real Masters.

"Normally, Ariana, I'd just skip the begging and shoot you." Delia said, frowning. "But you're telling the truth. Besides, you knew the plan was never going to work. You only stayed because of Silver." This got Belladonna's attention.

"Who's Silver?" she asked, Delia looking at her eldest child, the look of disgust quickly vanishing.

"Your younger cousin: he's Red's age." her mother answered. "Now. The plan."

Ariana sighed. Delia knew the plan as well as she did: isolate Kanto, weaken the league, conquer the region. But that was so far in the future, there were never plans for what to do next: Giovanni knew it wasn't happening, so he didn't bother with planning. Archer and Proton had their own plans, Petrel was just INSANE and Ariana… didn't bother.

"It was your mother's pipedream, Delia. Everyone with two brain cells not wrapped up in their own megalomania knew that." the redhead answered, looking ready for death.

"Well, that's good," Belladonna muttered. "Don't have to worry about Team Rocket being our overlords any time soon."

"Your grandmother's day passed a LONG time ago." Delia said, patting her daughter on the shoulder before looking at Ariana. "Only question is, what do I do with you?"

The redhead shrugged. "I honestly expected 'beg for mercy, then get hyper beamed by that Goodra of yours' when I opened the door." she said.

Belladonna tilted her head to the right. "What's a Goodra?" she asked.

"Kalosian dragon-type." both elder women answered as one before Delia smiled.

"Well, I didn't want to shoot you, Hyper Beam or not. That's a waste. So, I'll make you a deal." she said to Ariana, who looked at her stepsister. "You turn yourself and your men over to the League and I'll convince Lance NOT to have you shot on sight."

"Life in prison? That's the best you can do?" Ariana snarked, no longer terrified out of her mind.

"Lance needs an army and you know SOMETHING'S brewing in Orre." Delia stated pointedly. "And you have the loyalty of, what, a third or more of the Team just because they stare at your rack?"

Ariana blushed at that, muttering something about 'not just that' that Belladonna didn't want to hear.

"Good. Now, I'll call Lance, you get your men-" Delia started before a blonde woman jumped down from above, wearing the Rocket uniform.

"Admin Ariana!" she said as she stood up, before noticing she had company and paled in terror. "Oh, hell."

"She's not here to kill us, Domino." Ariana said, giving them her name. Or at least codename. "Report."

"Well… It's Proton." she said, making both women groan and facepalm.

"Isn't it always?" they said as Belladonna sighed.

"What about Proton? My brother stabbed him in the gut a month ago. Shouldn't he still be in jail?" the black-haired girl asked the Rocket spy.

"Ghetsis bailed him out of jail and helped him recruit a small army. They're attacking Fuchsia Gym right now." Domino replied. "And… well… he's signed their death warrants: your son and his companions are there."

Delia glanced at her. "Excuse me," she stated.

Domino would later recall only one event terrified her more then Delia Ketchum glaring at her.

En route to Fushcia from the Safari Zone - 2103 hours local time

Pikachu had to keep slapping Ash upside the head to get him not to mope.

"Pikapi!" 'Ash, for the last time, you are not responsible,' Pikachu snapped at Ash as his trainer slowed down. "Pika." 'You were aiming for his knee.'

"That doesn't change the fact I got him killed." Ash retorted weakly. "I wanted to knock him out, not kill him."

"Pi-ka." 'Oh, please. Those Safari Zone Pokemon would've done him in anyways. That Vulpix torched his back and the Chansey?' his starter said before scoffing in amusement. "Piiika." 'Chansey are as non-violent as you can get for Pokemon and she lobbed an egg at his head! They wanted him dead anyways. There was no changing that.'

Ash looked at Pikachu when he said that. "You're joking." he hoped.

"Pikachu." 'I wish. Those were aimed to kill,' Pikachu said. "Chu." 'They just weren't powerful enough and then you put a bullet into his knee.'

"Cue the Basculin." Ash muttered, remembering the red foamy water before shaking his head. "I'll have to talk to that shrink."

Pikachu sighed himself. "Kachu." 'Just don't dwell on it. Killing's not a topic to joke about, but not something to obsess over. Besides, you aimed for his knee. Arceus' decree on violence was fuzzy on the subject of kneecaps.'

That made Ash feel somewhat better.

An explosion caught his attention before a Jenny on a bike rode up the road towards him, blowing her whistle to make him stop.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I can't let you enter the city at this time!" the officer, who sounded younger then ones he knew of, cried. "A Team Rocket attack force is assaulting the Gym and we're having a hard time keeping the fires from spreading into the forests and the city itself!"

That only pushed Ash into action as he reached for the pokedex, knowing he could transfer Pokemon from the ranch to him.

(Oak or no Oak, thanks to Bulbasaur setting up a watch cycle for those staying and Chimchar showing them how it worked)

"I'm sorry, officer, but I DO need to get to that gym." Ash said, transferring the Pokemon he needed into the balls on his belt.

"I don't think you understand." the Jenny said, Ash finally realizing this one was actually not much older than he was. "The entire area is a WARZONE."

"I do understand," Ash said, the Pokedex finalizing the transfers of Charmeleon, Gabite, Pidgeot, Squirtle and Oshawatt into the balls on him, sending Treecko, Snivy, Tranquill, Swaddle and Bayleef back to the ranch before stepping towards the young Jenny. "But YOU need to understand my friends are there and I need to help them, so either let me past or in the name of the Alpha and Omega Pokemon Arceus, I will force my way past and you will NOT enjoy the way I do it. STEP ASIDE."

The bluenette blushed and did just that, Ash releasing Pidgeot and climbing on her back.

He had a fight to stop.

Fuschia Gym - 2105 hours local time

Ninja, by their nature, were hard to hit, sticking to shadows and striking from behind.

So Proton solved that problem with cackling pyromaniacs, using crazed Houndoom and flamethrowers. He wasn't that far off, as he was shooting two pistols at the building, emptying the weapons just to hit one of the ninja.

Or the Waterflower bitch using a light machine gun to pin his men down. Why was SHE here?!

Well, he wasn't going to complain: where she was, Ketchum was. His gut still hurt from getting impaled and he wanted payback.

One of the flame grunts torched part of the building where that purple-haired brat was. They learned she was psychic quickly when she used her 'talent' to mess with one of the grunts, making him trip over his feet and accidentally shoot himself.

Top priority: kill the telepath fucking with his men. Secondary priority: kill the Waterflower sow.

The grunt torching the purplette's cover soon had his tank leak on him, dosing him in napalm, which didn't catch fire until an ember touched his soaked uniform. And cotton burns oh so easily.

'Never mind.' he thought before raising one of his pistols and putting a round into the grunt's head to end his suffering and keep him from running around and setting more of his men on fire. 'The Waterflower whore dies first.'

"Rocket team, I want that bitch dead!" he ordered, the three bazooka-using men and one woman loading their weapons from relative safety before taking aim.

A kunai slammed into one of their heads, his weapon firing upwards.

And as Sir Issac Newton discovered in Galar over three thousand years ago, what goes up must come down, which happened six seconds later, the bazooka crew dumbly watching before the rocket came back down.

Newton's first law was a BITCH.

Proton screamed, losing his only option to quickly demolish the building, which, while looking all traditional, was a reinforced fortress once you got past the facade.

"You never could learn, Proton," a familiar voice said from a spruce tree above Proton, who pointed his two pistols at the tree and fired wildly.

He hit nothing but wood, the guns running dry.

"I would feel sorry for you, nephew, but you serve a master that seeks only to make the Era of Shadow longer." Koga said, Proton reloading and firing at the source of the voice, which jumped to another tree.

"You are NOT my uncle!" Proton screamed.

"You may be right," Koga said as he appeared on the burning third floor. "You forsook any right to our family name the moment you left our home, discarded your name and joined Team Rocket. And unlike your youngest cousin, you are not worthy of being called family!"

Proton flicked the setting on the machine pistols to full auto. "DIE!" he screamed, Koga diving into the building.

The Rocket Admin rushed towards it, the ninja being occupied with his men.

Janine was not used to fighting a war of knife against gun.

They were noisy and inaccurate, not suitable for silent kills.

Her father did have that odd one, though, where the magazine was the grip.

Her targets were two Rocket grunts, one with yellow hair, the other green, firing at… nothing. Their aim was at the ground just before the gym.

Odd.

Still, she dropped behind them, throwing knives in hand.

The green one looked over his shoulder as he reloaded. "Uh...Cass?" he asked as he saw her.

"What?" the yellow haired one (a woman? With her body, Janine thought she was a man) snapped as she fired her two pistols at the ground.

"He is referring to me." Janine said, speaking up and spooking her into stopping. "You are ineffective. You aren't even hitting anything."

"That's the POINT! This was fucking stupid, but Proton's gone NUTS!" the green one said. "We do nothing, we got a chance of not gettin' killed by you!"

...Smart.

"Then leave." she snapped, both taking their chance to get the hell out of there, rushing through the forest.

Janine hoped never to see them again.

Then the ground in front of the treeline was plowed by a Hyper Beam before meteors rained from above, throwing the grunts all over the place.

A Charmeleon and Squirtle landed on the ground before the turtle retracted into his shell and used rapid spin and a high powered water gun, spinning on the ground while the Charmeleon jumped on top, a Protect bubble keeping him from spinning with the Tiny Turtle Pokemon as he torched everything that was wearing a Rocket uniform.

An otter then appeared from a thrown Pokeball, putting out the fires started by the Rockets and anything accidental by the Charmeleon.

And on high, a Pidgeot flew, blasting all below with gusts and Air Slashes.

On its' back, Pikachu on his shoulder, was Ash Ketchum, looking resolute.

"Pikapi." 'I think you enjoyed that, Ash.' Pikachu said from his position hanging on Ash's shoulder and back.

"You're damned right!" Ash said as Gabite glid down, burping out Draco Meteors all the while until hitting the ground. Then he did what Gabites did almost as well as Gibles and 'swam' through the ground.

Vun-vun. Vun-vun.

"…Does that happen all the time?" Ash asked as it continued.

"Pika?" 'I don't know.' Pikachu said shrugging before Zubats and the occasional Golbat flew at the bird, starter and trainer.

This was going to be simple.

"Pika!" 'Down you go!' cried Pikachu as he hopped off, firing Thunderbolts into some of the bats, sending them towards the ground.

A Golbat tried using Supersonic, but Pidgeot whacked it with Steel wing before it could disorientate Pikachu, right before more of them were shocked into submission.

Pidgeot expertly swooped in to pick up the mouse in her talons, like an eagle would a real mouse, but while that eagle would eat the rodent, Pidgeot threw him into the air for Ash to catch in his arms.

Which he did, Pikachu happily climbing back onto his trainer's shoulder.

The Team Rocket grunts stood no chance for three reasons: one, Ash was unexpected. Two, his attack was swift. And finally, his team knew what to do, when to do it and how to do it.

This was what it was meant to be a Pokemon on Ash Ketchum's team. No matter their quirks out of battle, in it, they were virtually unstoppable.

Proton climbed into the burning building just as the Draco Meteor barrage started, one meteor collapsing his only way out and keeping him from getting to the busty water trainer.

A kunai slammed into the wood, making Proton flinch before getting his head back in the game.

"What was the point of this, nephew?" Koga asked kindly before Proton fired b ck with his two machine pistols.

"For the Team! I kill you and your daughter, I can take this damned clan over and give them to Team Rocket so Giovanni can actually start taking over the damned region!" he snapped as he kept firing, one gun running dry before he ejected the magazine and reloaded it with one hand.

"And you can be the power behind his throne?" Koga asked sardonically. "So you can rule without ruling?"

"You rule from the shadows! You keep Lance in power!" Proton yelled before firing again, bullets spraying wildly, Koga struggling to keep ahead of them. "You rule Kanto through Lance!"

"I rule no one. I advise." Koga retorted as he vanished, a knife cutting Proton's ear before a fist slammed into his side, delivered from his left, breaking several ribs.

"Fuck you!" Proton yelled as he drew a bayonet, hacking wildly at Koga, who dodged and parried expertly.

"Watch your mouth, child." Koga said before spitting blood onto the floor of the burning building.

"I can damn well curse if I want, old man!" Proton yelled as he slashed at Koga, who jumped to the side, slamming two fists into Proton's spine, knocking him over.

Proton reacted quickly, fighting the pain to dump an entire magazine at Koga at point blank range.

Out of the 25 rounds, only two hit their mark and those two only grazed his leg and arm.

"You are clearly mad." Koga said, finally drawing a short sword from the wall. "And I will put down Giovanni's mad dog."

Proton's expression said it all before Koga shoved the sword into his gut.

In the same damn place Ketchum did.

"First the brat...now you…" Proton spat, blood leaking from his mouth. "In the same fucking place…"

Koga slid the blade down, cutting into Proton's internal organs. There would be no recovery from this.

"You will die today, Proton." Koga spat, coughing up blood. "But you will not be dying alone." With that, life left the Rocket Admin as he slumped to the floor, finally dead.

Pidgeot landed, Oshawatt and Squirtle now putting out the fire, along with a transferred in Totodile and Palpitoad, hosing the building down.

Charmeleon and Gabite were not happy being sent back, but the 'bring in everyone' button was for dire emergencies.

"Flashy," Ash jumped at the sound of Janine's voice as she suddenly appeared behind him, Pikachu sparking threateningly. "But effective."

"I wasn't doing that to be cool." Ash muttered. The hyper beam was to distract, the draco meteors were to force into submission and Charmeleon… well, Misty was in danger, so he was pissed.

"I am a kunoichi, Ash Ketchum. I constantly think in terms of stealth and completing my missions without being noticed getting in or out," Janine replied before smiling. "But that was… cool, as you said."

"Ash!"

Ash turned to find Misty running out of the smoking gym, Anabel shakily following, her Natu keeping out the smoke. He wasn't prepared for her jumping and glomping onto him.

The Pallet Town trainer protested, but his voice was muffled by Misty's bust.

"Thank Arceus!" Misty said before letting Ash breathe, not caring about the fact he was shoved into her cleavage this time.

The first time, she was embarrassed. This time, she was grateful.

"Well done." said another voice as Koga weakly walked out of the building, blood leaking from his mouth. "But I do not think… I can give you your gym battle." With that, Koga fell to his knees, Janine rushing to his side.

"Father, what have you done?!" she cried, Koga looking at her with disapproval.

"A ninja does not show concern." he said before coughing. "But a daughter can." He spat up more blood, making Ash rush over to him.

"What happened?" Ash asked hurriedly.

"Proton. He is dead." Koga summarized. "But in his final moments… he brought an end to my life, as well."

"You should not have done that!" Janine said. "I could have-"

"You would have died," Koga stated. "And I will not see my daughter's life end before it can bloom." Koga reached into his torched cloak, presenting Ash with the Soul Badge. "This is yours. For saving my family's ancestral home."

Ash shook his head. "I, I can't-" "You WILL." Koga insisted, putting it in his hand. "This will be my last badge." He spat up more blood, his organs finally giving into entropy. "You are the hope of this world, Ash Ketchum. Do not fall into darkness." Koga continued coughing before falling on his back.

Janine helped him to a sitting position against the wall, Koga chuckling as she did.

"At least… my daughter… won't end as I did. Take care… of her…" Koga's voice trailed off before he bowed his head.

Ash took off his hat, placing it over his heart as a sign of respect as Janine started crying.

"Pika." 'At least he died protecting his child,' Pikachu said, bowing his own head before the surviving ninja from the attack appeared themselves, kneeling before their fallen leader as Janine mourned. Misty and Anabel stood awkwardly in silence, unwilling to say anything before Janine stopped crying and stood up, facing Ash with red eyes from her sobbing.

"Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, Pokemon Trainer and Prince of Rota," she intoned before closing her eyes and kneeling. "My father, Koga, saw in you the end of this dark age. And in this I shall aid ye."

Ash grew VERY uncomfortable with this. Pikachu, on the other hand, was just surprised.

"As the new head of the Fushcia Ninja clan, I vow to serve you until such time as dismissed from this mortal coil." she said, voice shakily but with iron will. "May you not find me wanting."

Ash just blinked dumbly, not knowing what to do before she reached for his hand and kissed it.

Pikachu just cackled. "Pi…" 'Oh, I am going to be drowning in Ashlings…' he laughed.

Ash's psychic scream made Anabel's Natu recoil in shock as he tried to block it out.

Celadon City - 2348 Hours local time

A phone rang, a Natu perched on it as he looked at it before a hand reached for it, the Natu hopping off before the reciever was picked up.

"Whatever this is, can it not wait until morning?" the irritated Gaffery asked as he sat up in his bed.

"Doc?"

Gaffery fully awoke at the sound of Ash Ketchum's voice. "Mr. Ketchum." he said as he turned on the lamp at the side of his bed and put on a pair of glasses. "I wasn't expecting you."

"Look, doc, I know it's late," Ash said on the other end. "But I need to talk to someone that'll tell me the truth."

"Can it wait?" Gaffery said before turning on the radio.

"-At 10:21 pm, this evening, the legendary ninja Koga passed away after defending the Fuchsia City Gym, also home to his clan, from a massive attack by Team Rocket. He is survived by-"

Gaffery turned it off. "Tell your Natu to teleport you to Celedon City's department building. Mine will teleport you here." he said, knowing this couldn't wait at all before hanging up.

His Natu looked at the aging man. "You heard. It gives me time to get coffee into me." he said, rubbing his leathery face. "I think I'm going to need it."

Ten minutes later, Gaffery had his coffee and Ash walked into his apartment/office. "You woke me up near midnight." the old man groused. "This better be good."

Ash nodded. "I was in the Safari Zone." he started, Gaffery pausing in the drinking of his coffee.

"The Safari Zone?" he asked. "Not the gym?"

"The gym was after." Ash said. "While I was there, the warden-"

"Kaiser?" Gaffery cut in, scoffing. "Obsessive bastard thinks every Dratini and Dragonaire on the planet is his. Believe me, I know. Let me guess, he tried to kill you."

"He did." Ash said before shamefully adding "I shot him in the knee and he fell into a pool filled with Basculin."

Gaffery's amusement disappeared. "You didn't know about the pool?" he asked, putting his coffee down.

"I saw it, I just didn't see the Basculin." Ash admitted. "They… ate him."

"They don't have the nickname 'Piranha Pokemon' for nothing." Gaffery said before reaching for a bottle of brandy and uncorking it. "Ash, I know this may seem the wrong thing to say, but you did nothing wrong."

Ash looked ready to protest, but Gaffery glared at him to shut him up. "You didn't mean to kill him." he said rhetorically as he poured the brandy into two glasses. "Just 'put a cap in his ass', as some of those fools would say and knock him out."

Ash nodded before being offered the glass. Another glare made him accept it. "Small sips." Gaffery said. "Alcohol kicks your ass the first time."

Ash did as he was told, sipping the drink, gagging the first time, but after the second, he was drinking like an old friend of his.

"Not going to do this often, just so you know." Gaffery said sitting down. "You needed it this time."

"Thanks, doc." Ash said, sipping the brown substance carefully.

"I know this wasn't easy for you. Hell, no one likes talking to me." Gaffery admitted. "I won't bother setting up a visiting schedule. Just know if you need to work out a problem, you come to me."

Ash opened up his mouth, Gaffery then saying "Girl problems are not my business." he chuckled as Ash silently screamed, then poured him another glass.

Fuschia City Pokemon Center - 0036 hours local time - Day 63

Ash could barely see straight as Natu teleported him back to the Pokemon Center, where… all three… girls were waiting for him.

Asleep.

Ash knew the evils of alcohol. He would not give into the urges NOW.

He opened the door, Misty and Anabel sleeping on bunks on the left side of the room, Janine on the top right bunk.

"You reek of alcohol." Janine said, being a light sleeper, apparently.

"I accidentally sent someone to their death." Ash admitted, his face red from the alcohol in his system. "My shrink thought it would help… nerves."

Janine hmmed. "You have not killed on purpose." she stated.

"First time Rocket shot himself in the head by accident fighting me." Ash said as he stumbled into the lower bunk. "Kaiser was the second. Fell… to the pool of piranha."

"The insane warden? We only tolerated him because we were too busy to end his pitiful life." Janine said. "You did Fuchsia a service."

Ash mumbled as he fell asleep, Janine scoffing at his drunkenness, though grateful he didn't try anything… untoward.

The morning after - 0539 hours local time

Ash took the earliest chance he could get to take a cold shower. As in ice cold.

"La." 'Do I have to do this every time you react this way to Misty and other pretty ladies?' Lapras asked as he chilled the water to just above freezing.

"I'm not getting yelled at for a bodily reaction I have no control over," Ash said as he dived into the cooled pool of water, the shock like thousands of knives being driven into him.

It was enough to wake him up completely and deal with that issue of his as he got out of the pond, steam rising off his chilled body.

"Thanks," he said, teeth chattering.

"La!" 'Sure. Just call me for a Gym battle sometime soon, please!' Lapras said before Ash returned him to his Pokeball.

"Effective," Ash tried not to jump at Janine's voice. "You understand your problem and take measures to deal with it."

"Please, stop," Ash asked as he hid himself behind a fence to change out of his boxers and get dressed.

"It is nothing I haven't seen before," Janine said before Ash sighed and got his new underpants and socks on, at least, surrendering to the fact Janine was going nowhere.

"Are you going back to the Gym?" he finally asked as he got his pants on.

"The Gym is badly damaged. It will take months, if not years, to repair," Janine said. "I also need experience traveling before I take my father's place as Gym Leader. Thus, I will go with you."

Ash was about to say something before a familiar and unwelcome being appeared.

"Bi." 'Ash, I-' Celebi started before seeing Janine. "Cele." 'Aw, fuck.'

"Lady Celebi?" Janine gasped before bowing. "It is an honor!"

"Celebi, do you mind?" Ash asked.

"Bi." 'I was about to warn you about Grandpa Canyon. It's going to be bad,' the Time Travel Pokemon said.

"I know it's going to be bad," Ash said, Janine looking up at Ash for disrespecting the Mythical Pokemon before realizing he was holding a conversation with her.

"Can you… No, you can clearly understand her." she muttered. "What is going on?"

Ash sighed. "Oh, boy."

60,000 Feet in the air - Above Kanto - 2314 hours Local Time

To most of the people of Pokemon, general air travel simply wasn't possible due both lack of aviation fuel and how dangerous aerial Pokemon could be - specifically those of the Shadow variety. However with enough advanced technology, and a lot of luck, it can actually be pulled off… especially at night, when any major aerial predator that could pose a threat to large transport aircraft are asleep.

This is why the large C-1 Transport Plane was able to reach such high heights, cruising above the clouds unharassed by high-flying predators like Fearrows. However the rear hatch of the transport began to lower down - as a single figure clad in atmospheric gear stepped onto the ramp. He seemed to make a few stretches, before he casually leaped out of the plane - dropping down towards the ground. He remained in freefall for a few solid minutes - eventually breaking through the cloud cover before he could actually see the ground itself.

With the pull of a cord, the Parachute went off as he floated the rest of the way down to the ground - coming to a gentle fall. He gathered his parachute gear into a wadded-up ball, before he began to ditch his gear. He pulled his helmet off, revealing the man to be a young man - no older than 19 or so, no younger than 17, with black, crew cut hair, and scarlet eyes.

He pulled out his backpack - retrieving his gear which included basic survival gear, as well as his weapons of choice from his Howa Type 64 Battle Rifle, a SCK/Minebea pistol, and of course… his collection of six Pokeballs.

As he picked them out, he then retrieved his radio - pulling out the antenna for it. "This is recon one," He spoke, "Spearow has landed."

"Understood Recon One," Came a voice, "We're returning to base. Report your findings and the status of Kanto and surrounding regions at associated times, and ascertain the condition of the clans."

"Understood, moving out," He began to put it away, but the voice spoke up.

"Kyoji," The voice said, as Kyoji paused. "Under no circumstance must you inform them of where you are from. Understood?"

He paused for a moment, but smiled "Relax Commander." Kyoji chuckled, "As far as these people today know, Ransei doesn't even exist anymore."

"Make sure it stays that way," the voice said. "Ransei Banzai."

"Ransei Banzai," He sighed, before turning it off. "Well… furthest from home I'll ever be…" He reached for his pokeballs, tossing one out - and emerging from it was Charizard that cracked his neck. "Alright buddy, we got ground to cover so-" he was cut off as his second Pokeball activated and…

CHOMP!

"Gib!" A Yellow Gible warbled on Kyoji's head, as he sighed - but smiled.

"Gible, come on now…" he chuckled, removing the landshark off his head. "We've gotta go, you can chomp and dig in the morning!"

"Gible!" The Land Shark leaped onto the ground, sparks of energy flying off of him before he began digging into the ground - speeding into a single direction.

Du-dun, Du-dun, Du-dun, Du-dun, Du-dun, Du-dun, Du-dun, Du-dun,...

"…we're never gonna figure out how he does that…" Kyoji sighed, and Charizard shrugged before he climbed onto the back of the flying lizard-like Pokemon, and took to the skies to chase after their… wayward and adventurous land shark.