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Chapter 8 — First Strike

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Blurt stared at Latias with a shocked expression, as if unable to believe the dragoness had found them out so quickly. Through his peripheral vision, he noticed that the surrounding streets lacked people or Pokémon and that most places had closed. “Contact, Chico! Contact!” he shouted, dropping into the submarine’s interior and hastily closing the hatch.

“Contact, already? How!?” Chico focused on the control room’s screen and noted the empty street around them and the lone Latias. ‘Was that thing ready for us? Are we the ones being ambushed?’ He pulled back a lever and floored the pedal beneath him.

Blurt hurriedly sat on his assigned seat and grabbed hold of the controls. “Ready to start poaching procedures!”

The submarine rumbled on and pulled away from Latias, agitating the water behind it and spilling it on the canal’s sidewalks. With a steady mechanical drone, the submarine’s top fin lifted off the main body, revealing a large faceplate with three launch tubes embedded into it.

Chico smirked when a flashing red crosshair appeared on the video feed of his cockpit, centered directly on Latias. “Target locked! You’re ours!” He pressed a button on his control panel.

The submarine’s top fin angled down and fired a large orange projectile from its launchers. Latias scoffed and shook her head in distaste. The projectile expanded many times its size the moment it reached Latias, revealing itself as a reinforced rubber restraint bag.

Chico’s smirk sharpened. “You can forget about trying to escape. That genius Pokébag I invented is escape-proof! There’s no way you can break—” He stopped and made a face.

Blurt squinted and looked closely at the main screen. “Why is your genius escape-proof Pokébag lying tattered on the water and not intact while wrapped around that thing?”

Latias flexed her sharp claws, clad with a powerful rush of green draconic energy. “Listen, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” She levitated closer to the submarine with hardened eyes. “I don’t think I need to voice the consequences of the hard way.”

“It can talk!” Chico exclaimed, pulling at his bowl-cut hair. “It can talk! I repeat, it can talk!”

“Huh, I was so surprised I didn’t realize it earlier,” Blurt commented. His eyes widened and an enthusiastic grin formed on his face. “Its price just tripled! At least!”

“Aye aye!” Chico shouted excitedly while smashing his fist into another button. “You’re ours! Even more so now! Deploy Pokéshock!”

Two panels on the submarine’s side opened, revealing two harpoon guns attached to large generators. The dual guns aimed and fired their harpoons with cables attached at Latias, who raised her glowing claws in defense.

The soaring harpoons vibrated with a powerful electromagnetic field and abruptly repelled each other at a surprisingly fast speed just before they reached their target. The harpoons circled Latias’ neck several times, releasing powerful arcs of electricity that produced loud crackles. As the electrified lines tightened and closed in on Latias’ neck, her narrowed eyes flashed with a piercing gleam of blue psychokinetic light.

Chico sneered. “This genius Pokéshock I invented feigns a head-on attack and then attacks brilliantly from the sides to catch you off guard. You can’t beat that!”

Blurt blinked in confusion and scratched his head. “Why is your genius Pokéshock which feigns a head-on attack and then hits from the sides lying tattered on the water and not intact while wrapped around that thing?”

“Shut up!” Chico scowled while smashing his fists into his control panel. “I’m trying to figure that out!”

Blurt screamed when he saw Latias approach them steadily. “Do something, Chico! It’s coming for us!”

Chico waited until Latias passed just above the front end of the submarine’s hull and pressed another button. The hull spread open, revealing a large metallic cage that shot upward and encased Latias within it instantly. Chico laughed and pointed at the screen. “Too easy! My genius Pokécage I invented will keep even the feistiest Pokémon under control!”

Latias rolled her eyes and extended her arms. She spun once on her axis while her claws and wingtips erupted with a violent torrent of draconic energy. The cage’s steel bars melted upon contact with her sharp limbs. The shredded cage collapsed on itself with harsh metallic clangs against the submarine’s hull and unceremoniously sunk into the water below them.

Blurt made a face. “Why is your genius—”

“Don’t you dare finish that question!” Chico snapped.

Latias sighed and looked at the submarine with contempt. “These three are complete idiots,” she mumbled. “Speaking of three, I should deal with the third one before he does something stupid.”

Meanwhile, on the rooftop of a building further down the canal, Braggo squinted and gazed into the scope of his tranquilizer rifle. He steadied his breathing while adjusting the gun ever so slightly to make sure the crosshairs landed squarely on Latias’ chest, where the chances of hitting her maximized.

As Braggo prepared to take his shot, his attention shifted from Latias’ center of mass to her face. His blood chilled when he realized she was no longer looking at his brothers’ submarine but instead staring directly at him, even from her place many city blocks away. Despite the distance, the intensity and striking power behind her golden irises sent a chill down his spine. He gasped and pulled his eye out of the scope in surprise, only to freeze and choke when he saw Latias levitating right in front of him, with the rifle’s barrel pressed against her stomach. The air came to an eerie standstill and everything fell deathly silent.

“A loud and ‘difficult’ distraction from up close while someone tries to hit me silently from afar? Good tactic,” Latias admitted with a disgruntled nod. “But it won’t work.”

Braggo trembled and felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Her presence felt frighteningly overpowering and the sheer weight behind her golden glare made his knees buckle feebly. ‘I can’t breathe… I can’t breathe… It’s like her presence makes me… I can’t find a rhyme!’ He slowly reached up and clutched his wildly thumping heart, which hammered within his chest with such intensity that he felt an uncomfortable pain rattling his core.

“Well, are you going to do something?” Latias asked calmly after waiting for a few moments.

Braggo took panicked steps back while tripping over, startled by Latias’ firm voice. He grabbed his tranquilizer rifle, though his sweat-drenched hands quivered so hard the gun almost slipped out of his grip a few times. He did his best to calm down and finally breathe while scurrying onto his feet and fearfully pointing the rifle at her. “Stay back! Or I’ll throw you out of whack!”

Latias stared at the poacher with an unimpressed expression. “Be my guest.”

Braggo screamed at the top of his lungs to rally himself up and finally pulled the trigger. The rifle released a swift whistling sound, firing the dart straight at the red dragoness.

The dart abruptly stopped just before Latias, surrounded by a gentle telekinetic glow from her psychic powers. She psychically dismantled the dart and released the substance in its interior, which she closely examined with her acute eyesight. “Looks like carfentanil.” She scoffed and glared at Braggo. “You really thought you could bring me down with this?”

Braggo gulped and mustered the courage to scowl at her weakly. “This can bring down a rampaging Tyranitar in a flash. It’ll bring you down no matter how much you thrash…”

Latias shook her head in pity. “Let me show you just how hopelessly outmatched you are.” She telekinetically put the substance back in and reassembled the dart, pointed it at herself, and abruptly shot it into her chest. She removed the dart and crushed it into dust with a swift flash of her psychokinetic powers. “So, is this the part where I go down? Or fall asleep? I’d like a nap because I didn’t get the best sleep last night.” She licked her lips. “…Now I’m craving coffee.”

Braggo’s eyes widened in panic. “This can’t be! You’re going down, you’ll see!” He hastily grabbed another tranquilizer dart from a pouch hooked to his belt and reloaded the rifle.

“Why are you rhyming all the time?” Latias asked, blinking. “I have to say, it’s quite impressive that you’re able to come up with rhymes on the spot under stress.”

Braggo shouted fiercely, pointed the rifle at Latias, and fired it again.

Latias didn’t even bother stopping the dart and let it hit her. She sighed as she casually reached up, plucked it off her lower neck, and snapped it in half with her sharp claws. “Tell me, oh so brave thief, how many Pokémon have you left in…” She made a face. “Uh, grief?”

Braggo made a disgusted expression. “Don’t try to rhyme, you slime!”

Latias cringed. “Okay, yeah, I agree with you, that wasn’t so good.”

“It was terrible. You’re unbearable!” Braggo retorted. He hastily reached into his pouch and fiddled with its contents.

“Anyway, I meant to ask, how many Pokémon have you captured? How many lives have you ruined over your career, poacher?” Latias asked, voice growing icier with every passing word.

Braggo ignored her and pulled out another dart, which slipped from his trembling, sweat-sodden hands and clattered harmlessly against the rooftop.

“Looks like you won’t answer that. I could read your mind to find out but I think the results will disgust me. Anyway, we’re done here.” Latias reared an arm back and spread her claws, prompting Braggo to scream and fumble harder with his rifle. The guardian goddess stopped when a shadow abruptly fell upon her. She tilted her head and glanced out the corner of her eyes at the hot air balloon above them.

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“Prepare for trouble!” a feminine voice called out.

“And make it double!” a semi-masculine voice added.

A woman with vibrant reddish-pink hair that flowed to her lower back stood up from the balloon’s basket and revealed herself. “To protect the world from devastation!”

A man with short blue hair stood with her while holding a beautiful rose. “To unite all peoples within our nation!”

Jessie smirked and leaned over the basket’s edge, striking a dynamic pose. “To denounce the evils of truth and love!”

James mimicked Jessie’s actions, only doing it on the opposite side of the basket. “To extend our reach to the stars above!”

“Jessie!”

“James!”

“Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!” Jessie pointed at Latias challengingly.

“Surrender now, or prepare to fight!” James mimicked Jessie and pointed at Latias as well.

Meowth abruptly leaped from the basket and neatly landed on its edge between his two partners in crime. “Meowth! That's right!”

Latias stared at Team Rocket puzzledly for an awkwardly long time, allowing the rooftop to fall into an uncomfortable silence.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…What’s up with everyone rhyming today!?” Latias groaned, utterly confused.

“I don’t know but we’ve got you! You’re about to be on a one-way ticket to our boss’ office!” Jessie shouted with a grin. “We’ll surely get promoted when we offer him a Legendary Pokémon!”

Latias sighed in relief and held a hand to her chest. “Oh thank goodness you’ve stopped rhyming. Honestly, that’s the only thing about this that’s worried me. It’s kind of creepy.”

Meowth grabbed a remote control with one of his paws and pressed its big red button. A hatch on the underside of their hot air balloon’s basket opened, revealing a gray cannon that immediately aimed at Latias.

“So, that’s how it is.” Latias narrowed her eyes and adopted a defensive stance, ready to take on anything the weapon fired at her. Her eyes glowed as she readied her telekinetic powers and spread them to her surroundings in preparation.

The cannon fired with a potent thunderclap that boomed across the nearby canals and released its payload straight at the guardian Legendary with pinpoint accuracy, shrouded by a thick plume of smoke.

The instant Latias’ psychic powers got a good read on the cannon’s payload and identified it, she froze and the blue light around her dimmed into nothingness. The cannon’s projectile emerged from the smoke and revealed itself to be a large and sturdy-looking rope net, which spread widely throughout the air and snared the immobile, unresponsive Latias.

Jessie, James, and Meowth looked at each other repeatedly, astounded.

“Huh, that was way easier than I thought,” Jessie commented, scratching her head in confusion. “I kinda expected a fight.”

Wobbuffet burst out of his Poké Ball and voiced his agreement while giving a military salute.

“She didn’t even try to move or fight back,” James added with a raised eyebrow. “What’s going on here?”

“Eh, maybe she gave up,” Meowth said with a shrug. “We got ‘er!”

One of Latias’ eyes twitched. “…Seriously?”

“What?” Jessie asked. “Seriously what?”

Meowth gulped and shrunk in place when his eyes met Latias’ golden eyes. A primal urge flared within him as his instincts screamed at him to run. She looked furious.

“A net…” Latias murmured, a vein popping on her forehead. “A. Net.”

“Yeah, it’s a net,” Jessie confirmed, confused. “You can see it, right?”

“Yes, it’s a net. That’s the issue here,” Latias replied while looking at the Team Rocket trio with an extremely offended expression. A low growl that made the air around her rumble ominously made its way up from the depths of her throat. “I’m the guardian goddess of Alto Mare. I’m a Legendary Pokémon capable of supernatural feats that would blow your mind away and leave you speechless. I’ve braved challenges and faced countless enemies that’d make you three quiver in fear. And, despite all of that, you’ve come to challenge me armed with only…” She bared her sharp teeth. “A. Plain. Rope. Net.”

James grabbed a sample of the same net from a compartment inside the balloon’s basket. “It’s reinforced and has high performance. I’d hardly call it plain rope! Our vendor says it can catch even the wildest Pokémon of up to three hundred pounds without fail. You don’t look that heavy.” He took out a reference sheet and read the fine print. “We’ve got a thirty-day money-back guarantee on it, even.”

Jessie nodded excitedly. “It’s also fire-proof, water-proof, grass-proof, and shock-proof! We’re covered for the most basic Pokémon types.” She looked at Latias with a thoughtful hum. “We probably should’ve requested psychic-proofing and dragon-proofing, though.” She glared at Meowth. “Did you get the order right?”

Meowth didn’t reply to Jessie. Instead, he trembled in fear and dove into the basket to escape Latias’ eyesight. Wobbuffet did the same and dove into hiding along with the feline, where they huddled for mutual support.

“Huh, what’s gotten into you two?” James asked, concerned.

Latias stared at them with her jaw hung ajar, rendered utterly speechless. “I… I just can’t. Not with you guys, at least. I give up. You’re unbelievable.”

Jessie triumphantly raised a fist. “Excellent! That means you’re coming with us!” She took out another remote control from Meowth’s assigned pouch and pressed its big red button.

Two large canisters at each side of the balloon’s basket opened to reveal a pair of powerful rocket engines. They sparked briefly and ignited with a roaring blast that rocketed the balloon into the sky… only for a few feet. Team Rocket let out frightened shouts when their basket jolted violently and stayed firmly in place, knocking them over.

“What gives!?” Jessie asked as she leaned over the basket’s edge, her hair ruffled into a mess.

“Not her!” James called out.

Latias flared her levitation, canceled the two rockets’ pull, and remained in place. “Just when I thought the first three were idiots…”

“She ain’t budging!” James cried out in alarm. He snatched the remote from Jessie and pressed the button on it, which caused the rocket engines to flare potently and increase to maximum thrust.

The net holding them together creaked as it stretched to its limit, held in place on one end by the cannon and on the other by Latias, who still hadn’t moved. Latias retracted her arms into her sides, not caring about the immense pressure the net exerted on her body as it tried to pull her skyward. “Are you done?”

“Team Rocket!” a voice shouted out of nowhere, barely audible over the powerful roar of the rocket engines.

Latias glared to the side and snarled. “Whoever’s coming better not say a single rhyme or I’m losing it.”

“Pikachu, use Iron Tail!” Ash shouted as he emerged from the side of the building, holding onto a flying Staraptor’s feet. Ash let go and landed on the rooftop while Pikachu jumped off his shoulder and charged at the stretched net, which barely held itself together under the immense stress of the unmoving Latias and the balloon’s rocket engines.

Pikachu cried out bravely as his tail took on a silver sheen that gleamed brilliantly under the sun's rays. He leaped and spun in midair, swinging his tail at the net with such force that the net finally snapped in half.

Now free of the force holding them in place, Team Rocket screamed as the rocket engines abruptly fired them off into the sky so fast that their hot air balloon crumpled around their basket. “Looks like Team Rocket’s blasting off again!” they faintly cried out in the distance.

Latias blinked as the damaged net fell over her. She turned to face Ash and giggled melodiously. “Oh! It’s you again. Glad to see you. Did you get that food I recommended—” She felt a sharp sting on her lower back. “I thought you learned by now that those don’t affect me,” she grumbled as she telekinetically plucked the tranquilizer dart out of her and crushed it.

Braggo’s jaw dropped. “How are you still awake? Do you at least have a headache? That had ten times the normal dose, that’s quite the uptake!”

Latias hummed. “Well, I’ll admit it had a funny kick.”

“Last dart, this one will surely make you fall apart!” Braggo hastily grabbed another dart from his pouch and reloaded his rifle.

“Watch out!” Ash warned. “Pikachu, stop that dude! Iron Tail!”

Pikachu dashed across the rooftop and charged at Braggo, who gasped in surprise while shifting his aim and pulling the trigger. The rifle let out a shrill whistle as it fired the dart at the incoming electric-type.

Latias moved so fast that none reacted to her movement. One moment she levitated at the side of their upcoming clash, the next she appeared between them, two claws daintily holding the fired dart in midair. She snapped it in half with a flick of her claws. “I got you.”

Pikachu smirked, nodded, and carried on with his attack. He jumped atop Latias to use her as a springboard and launched himself at Braggo. His tail glowed with a powerful silver luster as he swiped it at the poacher, smashing the tranquilizer rifle to pieces.

Braggo fell onto his back from the impact and hastily scurried away. He gasped as a torrent of memories surged through his mind. “What a trip down memory lane, I must be insane! A trainer with a cap and a Pikachu, it’s you! The one who defeated my crew!”

Ash pointed at him. “A poacher with a lame suit who speaks in rhymes? It’s…” He scratched the back of his head. “Uh, can you remind me who you were? Sorry, I don’t quite remember you.”

“You don’t remember us!? What a fuss!” Braggo turned red and fumed as a loud thumping noise echoed from Chico and Blurt parking the submarine behind him. “We’re poachers like none of the others, for we are the Pokémon poacher brothers!”

“Oh no! You’re…” Ash paused and gave him an apologetic look. “Actually, never mind. I don’t have a clue who you are. Can you be a little more specific, please?”

Braggo screamed and kicked at the floor. “We battled on Mount Silver over a Tyranitar two years ago. We lost in the end, though!” he clarified while glaring at the teenage trainer. “My patience is thin, so I’ll hurry up and win!”

“Oh! It’s you three!” Ash returned the glare as he went over to Latias and hastily tore away the net pieces that still hung from her. “Looks like you three losers are back for more!”

Latias blinked and raised a claw in protest. “I don’t need any he—”

“Don’t worry, Latias. We’ll protect you!” Ash interrupted while reaching to his belt and grabbing two Poké Balls. Pikachu adopted a defensive pouncing stance and let arcs of bright yellow electricity emit from his red cheeks.

Latias’ mouth curled into a subtle smirk. “Oh! I think the darts are having an effect! I’ve been defeated!” she cried out dramatically, pressing her claws to her forehead. She wobbled exaggeratedly in the air and slumped down onto the rooftop with her eyes closed, casting a slight plume of dust from the impact.

“If you were an actress, you’d starve,” Latios quipped into Latias’ mind.

“Shut up!” Latias snapped telepathically.

Pikachu glanced at Latias over his shoulder with a flat expression, wondering if anyone would ever buy such poor acting.

“Latias!” Ash called out in concern while rushing to the red dragoness’ side. He kneeled and caressed her long neck to check up on her. “Are you okay?”

“The dragon’s gone into a trance, now’s our chance!” Braggo shouted while pointing fiercely at Latias. The Pokémon poachers’ submarine released a plume of smoke just as Braggo ran back toward it.

Pikachu face-pawed, groaned, and shook his head in exasperation.

Ash stood protectively before Latias and threw his Poké Balls forward, ready to fight. “Infernape and Buizel, go!”

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Chapter End

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