Chapter 20: Team Plasma's Secret Base

"We need to help her," said Harper, staring sympathetically at the poor girl. The girl was deep in tears and distress. Harper looked over to her friends to see what they thought about the situation – they always knew what to do even when she didn't. "So how about it guys? Should we help this poor and defenceless little girl by finding her stolen Pokémon?"

"Yeah, it’s very important to help this girl. If we don't do this, then we will gain a guilty consensus. We need to investigate this so that we can stop Team Plasma from stealing even more Pokémon from unsuspecting trainers," Pedro exclaimed after Harper looked at him for an answer. "Let's start with asking this girl what happened. I'm sure we will be able to get enough information from her to search out the members of Team Plasma."

"You are certainly right there. We need to put an end to those wicked Team Plasma. I grow tired every time I must take on these guys. At least Team Rocket is entertaining – they're not very good at what they’re doing so they’re easy to take on whenever we come across them – unlike these guys who are a threat to all trainers across the world," Harper spoke out. Pedro and Brandon nodded in agreement with her. They were going to take on Team Plasma and stop them, no matter what gets in their way.

Brandon lent down to talk to the little girl, who was still crying and was unaware of their conversation. She looked up at him and glared a hopeful smile as if her saviour had arrived to help her. "What happened when Team Plasma stole your Pokémon? By telling us that, it’ll help us recover your stolen Pokémon."

"I was at the pier when a group of men in weird clothing came up to me. They kept saying that keeping my Pokémon meant that I was being cruel to it. They said it should be released so that they could be happy and free again like it is meant to be," the little girl explained to Brandon, trying not to leave anything important out. "I tried to argue against them saying that I keep my Pokémon happy and enjoy being with it. But they were very ignorant and kept trying to get me to hand my Pokémon over. I tried to walk away from them. But they got one of their grunts to jump at me and grab my Pokémon. I tried to scream and kick back, but they wouldn’t listen. They’d got my Pokémon and refuse to give it back. I was crying as they walked away with my Pokémon. They were very mean people and I really hate them. I’ve been looking for anyone to help me, but no one would help. Not until you came here and talked to me."

"Do you know where they went?" Harper probed. "If you can tell us where they went, then we’ll track them down, kick their butts, and recover your poor stolen Pokémon from those mean evil people."

"They went to that abandoned building over there," the little girl said, pointing to a building that had no signs or anything. It was obvious that the members of Team Plasma were hiding in there. "Go get them! They deserve a big whack over the head! No one steals a Pokémon from their trainers and gets away with it, especially when it's a poor and defenceless girl. Do this and I'll reward you as well! Good luck my friends!"

The group audaciously ran to the abandoned building, gallantly storming into it like warriors from an old Greek epic. The speed at which they moved was like they were cutting through the air the same way a woodcutter would cut down a tree. Harper’s heat was pumping mad, as adrenalin started kicking in. She was determined to stop these criminals in the act. Harper didn’t want to disappoint the small girl either. She could sense the girl cared for her Pokémon, and the thought someone would steal an innocent child’s Pokémon made Harper feel very angry.

As they reached the building, Ghetsis, Bronius, and Rood – three members of the seven sages – walked out of the building, along with some grunts. One of the grunts was holding a Pokémon that appeared to be really distressed. It was a Munna and it was trying to wiggle itself out of the hold of the grunt. It was obvious to Harper that the Pokémon was stolen – specifically the little girl's Pokémon – and it was their job to stop. It was time for a Pokémon battle.

"Stop it right there," announced Harper as she got closer. She took out one of her Pokéballs, ready for a battle. "What you’re doing is wrong and it is illegal. Release that innocent Pokémon back to its owner or I’ll do a citizen’s arrest on you for crime against young trainers. You’ve been caught before – who knows why you were let off before – so this is enough evidence to get you and your petty gang arrested. Give up now and you’ll be let off lightly."

"We’re going to release the Pokémon. WE ARE GOING TO RELEASE IT INTO THE WILD! That's how things should be like, unlike you, slavery-supporting maniacs," said Ghetsis, laughing like a madman. "Now I’ll force you all to hand over your Pokémon as well so that we can release them as well!"

"You will never do that. You will never get our Pokémon," yelled Brandon angrily. He looked extremely steamy. His fist tightening showed that he was prepared to punch the person. Luckily, he loosened his fists so that he could grab his balls. If a trainer is planning to punch someone, it is better to grab for their balls than to be arrested for assault. At least allowing your Pokémon to fight for you doesn't mean that you will get hurt or arrested.

"You’ll have no choice," said Ghetsis, as his grunts started to get closer to Brandon. They were about to grab Brandon's balls. Brandon stepped back and threw out one of his Pokéballs. Out of the boy’s ball came his Sandshrew, who was snarling at the grunts. Ghetsis took out what looked like a bomb. He threw it to the ground and everywhere went into smoke. When the smoke had gone away, Ghetsis was gone. Shockingly, Brandon's Sandshrew was gone as well.

Brandon – who looked extremely distressed – dropped down onto the ground, pleading for the Pokémon to be given back. "You’re really mean! You’ll suffer for that!"

"We don't care," said the grunt. "You were beaten fair and square."

"What you did is illegal," Harper stood up for her friend. "I’ll make you pay for this! I will challenge you to a Pokémon battle. If I win, you give my friend's Pokémon back."

"If I win, I will steal your Pokémon and release them!" laughed the grunt.

"I can safely say that we won't lose," replied Harper. "Tepig and Timburr – let us reclaim our friend's stolen Pokémon. Let us teach him not to break the law. Breaking the law is illegal and must be reported in all cases. A criminal could break the rules again if he is not caught. You should always report a crime!"

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"I'm not a criminal. I am a freedom fighter - a fighter for poor and innocent Pokémon. I only want to release them from being tortured in battles," said the Team Plasma grunt with a smirk. It was as if he didn’t believe in what he was saying.

"You, an innocent freedom fighter?" laughed Pedro. "You got to be kidding me?"

"Well, that's my opinion! I have a right to it!" said the grunt. "Trubbish and Minccino, let us steal some Pokémon!"

The Trubbish was a dark green – but somewhat grey – thing that looked like it was some knotted-up garbage bag. It had oval eyes and three teethes like vampires. The Minccino looked like a white chinchilla with massive scruffs across its body – forehead, neck and ears. It had massive ears with pale pink insides. It looked very cute, and it was obviously stolen. The Pokemon looked really scared as if being forced to battle against its will and having to listen to some strange person that is not its trainer.

The Trubbish approached the Timburr – the smell of garbage was so awful everyone wanted to puke – and spat out of its mouth Sludge Bomb which was a filthy sludge that impales its victim with poisonous smoke. Timburr started to chock on the gas, trying to swing its metal bar around in circles. It moved dazed and confused –caused by the poisonous smoke. The Timburr managed to hit the Trubbish back again with its metal bar, which caused the Trubbish to stagger, but then the Timburr fell over, after being finally knocked out from the poisonous gas. This gave Tepig the chance to charge from behind and flame the Trubbish, knocking the Pokémon out while it was trying to duck for cover to avoid the metal bar of the fallen Timburr. Tepig turned around to face the Minccino. Even though the other Pokémon looked extremely cute, Tepig didn't really want to hurt it. But the Tepig knew it had to knock out the opposing Pokémon. So, it charged at the Minccino and blasted out a fireball, that travelled directly to the Minccino and hit it accurately into the forehead, knocking out the poor stolen Pokémon.

"We ‘ve won, so now hand back my friend’s Pokémon, your stupid little dork-faces," Harper announced just after the Tepig had knocked out its opponent. "I’m going to only ask this the once and only time, the hand that Pokémon back! I demand you do so or else I’ll get the police!"

"We were playing around with you," scoffed the grunt. "We don't have it; our boss does. And he has gone to the next town since his Pokémon knows Fly. By the time you get there, he will be gone, and you’ll never get your friend's Pokémon back. We’ve won!"

"No, you haven't," said Harper, who looked down to her Tepig, who was waiting for its next order. "Go flame their butts. Teach them a lesson not to steal other people's Pokémon. And make sure it hurts. We don't want them to get off light this time, don't we?"

The Tepig nodded before charging towards the grunts. The grunts were starting to shake their legs. They soon got the idea and started to dash off towards the Central Plaza. Tepig kept following them, shooting out fireballs every now and then, each one hitting the grunts in the butt, which caused them to run just a little bit faster. When it was obvious that they had disappeared, Tepig returned to its trainer and jumped back into its Pokéball.

Harper, Pedro and Brandon decided that it was too late to go after Team Plasma. They decided instead to return to the Pokécentre to have their Pokéballs healed before resting for the night. They found a neat boutique café on the pier where they had supper. And after that, they returned to the centre and went to bed. Harper and Pedro went to sleep. Brandon laid there, however, worrying about his poor Sandshrew. It was his first Pokémon, and it was his favourite. He always used it in battles. Its roll technique always got the job done. He struggled to sleep, instead worrying about his Sandshrew and what nasty things Team Plasma was doing to it.

The next day, they woke up. After having breakfast, they made their way to the plaza, before walking toward the city’s exit. They arrived at the North Read, which lead to Route Four. The next leg of the journey was through a desert. Standing in their way was a blond girl – her hair was so long it keep tripping her up. It was very apparent she had low intelligence since she said some of the most offensive stuff anyone could imagine.

"Me? I’m Joanne Isabella. And da the biggest racist person ever! I don't like other people from different cultures since I’m scared that they’ll take over my own one – which is a big lie since I'm only racist just because I’m a heartless bitch," she said. Harper couldn’t believe what was coming out of this girl's mouth. Someone had to put a stop to it. This girl deserves to have a large bar of soap stuffed up her mouth. A large crowd had gathered by now to see what was going on, so Harper decided to use this lesson to show the error of Joanne's way.

"Hey, racist! Didn’t we kick your butt back in Nacrene City " yelled Harper. "And in this town, we don’t tolerate stuff behaviour. Stop it now or else I’ll have to beat you up again!"

"Like I’m ever going to take orders from you! I’m above the law. I think I can get away with first-degree murder!" laughed Joanne. Her racist smirk made Harper want to punch her straight in the face. But she knew she had to sort this out safe and clean.

"Then I’ll challenge you to a Pokémon battle," Harper stood up bravely.

"Challenge accepted." Joanne grabbed for her Pokéballs. She took two out. "It will be a double battle. Jynx and Registeel - let us teach this bitch a lesson or two!"

Harper wondered how someone as dumb as Joanne could get a legendary Pokémon. The Jynx was the original design, which was predictable for someone like Joanne.

"Tepig and Pansage - let us teach this girl not to be mean!" said Harper, has she taken out her Pokemon, who stare sneeringly at the disrespectful Pokémon of Joanne Isabella. "Let us go all fallout! Let us give this audience a battle they will remember!"

Tepig charged at the Jinx, which tried to perform its Lovely Kiss, which if succeeded would have caused Tepig to fall asleep. But Tepig quickly dodged the attack and blasted a fireball at the Jinx, knocking it out. The Registeel came from behind and shot Tepig with its Flash Cannon, knocking Harper’s Pokémon out. It was up to Pansage to defeat this legendary Pokémon. Pansage tried to perform Seed Bomb, but it didn't work. The Registeel wasn't affected by Pansage's attack. It looked as if Pansage was going to be defeated by the seemingly undefeatable Registeel when the enemy Pokémon started to glow red, and then it started to flicker between reddish and yellowish glows. Suddenly it exploded. It knocked itself out and nearly knocked Pansage out, but the Pansage was able to dodge for cover behind a garbage bin. Joanne was defeated.

"Give it up, you stupid hog!" said Harper, "you racist comments hurt people! If you mess with my friends, you mess with me. And I’m not willing to put with bullying tactics. You may think you’re cool and mighty, but trust me, you’ll regret it one day, I hope. I hope you understand this, hog, I know what you did! And hopefully one day everyone else will know the mean things you’ve done."

"I’ll never ever give up my racist rants and remarks!" screamed Joanne. This gave Harper no choice. With the point of her finger, Harper's Tepig charged at Joanne, who realized what was going on. She had no choice but to run off in the direction of the desert, which was ironically northward. Tepig made sure that some of its fireballs hit Joanne in the butt, forcing her to run even faster. Everyone in the crowd cheered, including Team Rocket – Toby, Havana, and the newest recruit Hector. The members of Team Rocket were hiding but were also glad that the racist had been defeated, even if by Harper.

After the crowd had congratulated her and then dispense, they wandered towards the gate. Harper looked up at Brandon, who had a glimmer of hope in his eyes. He was eagerly ready to reclaim his stolen Pokémon.

"We will get it back," Harper promised. "Even if it means that we have to defeat every single Team Plasma member. We’ll get it back, trust me." Brandon nodded his head, happy that he had friends like her.

Once they were prepared, they wandered through the gate and into the unforgiving desert.