Chapter 19: Rescue Mission 

We ran back to the lake just in time to see a large boat speeding towards shore pulling a huge net. 

"Oh no, they've captured the red Gyarados!" Ash yelled. 

"It looks unconscious." Misty frowned. 

"Hey, isn't that Jessie, James, and Meowth?" Brock pointed to the net. Inside were three small figures in scuba gear, scrambling to stay afloat and not swim into the Gyarados's open mouth. 

"It looks like the live story of Jonah and the Wailord." Daniel grinned. 

"Daniel, focus," I urged. 

"Are they always that clueless, or are they just having an off day?" Daniel asked Brock. 

"Hm, I don't know. I'd say it's actually better than normal considering that Gyarados hasn't eaten them," Brock answered, "at least yet." 

"They're not getting away with this." Ash took out a Poke Ball. "Totodile, go and help that Gyarados, fast!" 

Totodile, who seemed healthy again, jumped into the lake and disappeared.  

"I never really liked that big Gyarados, but it needs help." Misty held out a Poke Ball. "Poliwhirl, go with Totodile." 

"Crikey, you go and help too!" Daniel's Feraligatr jumped into the lake. 

"You too, Conch!" Carracosta did a cannonball into the water. 

"Shell, you're up!" Amanda's Blastoise joined them. 

"Manny, please socialize for once and team up with them!" I threw my Swampert's Poke Ball. He hesitantly swam after the group of Pokemon, swallowing his shyness. 

We watched as they swam up to the net and grabbed on. Totodile bit Jessie's hair, and we saw her squirm. 

"Aren't Totodile the best?" Daniel sighed, seeming dazed. 

I stared at him. "Cyndaquil are way better." 

"Will you two stop it?" Amanda rolled her eyes. "Now's not the time." 

Suddenly, all of our Pokemon let go off the net and appeared to be floating in the water. Pikachu and Togepi immediately looked pale and tired. 

"Hey, what's going on?" Ash yelled. 

"It looks like the Pokemon are sick again," Misty exclaimed.  

"Well, whatever is making our Pokemon weak isn't natural." I gritted my teeth. 

"You better call them back into their Poke Balls, guys," Brock suggested. We all took out our Poke Balls and recalled them. "This is just like before." 

"It must be the experiment they're doing," Anthony confirmed. 

"Ah!" we all yelled as whirring coils hurled themselves at us, spinning like frisbees and wrapping around our waists, forcing our arms to lock at our sides.  

Laughter came from the lake. The same muscular man, who Lance said was called Tyson, was standing on a life boat. "Well, I'll say you kids sure are persistent, but you know too much about our business for my taste. Now you'll be our permanent guests!" 

With that, Team Rocket grunts dragged us away towards their secret facility. 

Daniel and Ash kicked and struggled while Anthony just said, "I told you, Daniel! I told you this would happen!" 

"Shut up!" Daniel snapped back as he tried to fight off the grunts that were holding him who didn't seem like the gentle type. 

I was angrier than a Charmeleon using Rage. Amanda looked like she was on the verge of tears. Brock and Misty said nothing, but walked in the middle of a dozen grunts, looking for a way out of this mess. I looked behind me to see Jessie and James, smiling hugely on the dock as we neared the facilities. 

Jessie grinned. "Ok, it was going rough for a bit, but all's well that ends well." 

"And now our names will go down in Team Rocket history!" James clutched Meowth, who was apparently unconscious, in his arms. 

Ash, frustrated, started demanding answers from this creepy looking guy in grey who seemed to be the mastermind behind the whole operation. "Hey, you, what are you doing to that red Gyarados?" 

The guy turned around and I noticed he had an ugly, pointy beard. He smiled. "Well, seeing as you are all going to be permanent guests, I don't see why I shouldn't enlighten you about Project R." 

"Do they always monologue, or is it just me?" Daniel whispered. I kicked him to make him stop talking. 

"What's Project R?" Ash glared at the man.  

"Short for 'Project Revolution', it's a revolutionary discovery that actually allows Team Rocket to manipulate a Pokemon's evolution," The weird bearded man said. 

"Control evolution!?" Brock repeated, outraged. 

"You can't do that, it goes against nature!" Misty shouted. 

"Case in point, that Gyarados," the man pointed to the red Gyarados which was hanging limply from a giant crane fifty feet above the water before being placed in an aquarium-sized tank, "is proof that our evolution inducement wave is a success. Just as soon as we have focused my beautiful new invention into Lake Rage, there appeared a single Magikarp that promptly evolved into a Gyarados. This one." 

"But how could you?" Ash, confused, stared at the man with sadness. 

The man smiled even wider. "Thanks to you, we learned that the wave can be used as a weapon." 

Tyson appeared behind the scientist and added, "Thanks to your Pokemon, we should say." 

We all glared at the men, angered beyond belief that they would even think about hurting our Pokemon like that. 

"Oh, so that's why Meowth is feeling so puny." James wriggled Meowth in his arms, who still looked dead. 

"So if you had kept that wave on us, would he have evolved into a Persian?" Jessie looked at Meowth, curious. 

"I'm just amazed that Team Rocket is at the forefront of science," James said gleefully.  

Jessie put her hands on her hips. "It's a bit rude that you did all this groundbreaking research without letting us know." 

The scientist replied, "Well, there are still bugs in the machine. As you can see, the Gyarados is red, probably a trait from his Magikarp stage. Once we study the Gyarados, we will be able to extract all the problems from the evolution inducement wave. Then we'll evolve all Pokemon until they are in their strongest forms and create a Pokemon army."  

I snorted. "You think you're getting away with that?" 

"Talk about a big ego," Daniel said coldly. 

"Your plan won't ever work!" Misty yelled. 

"Yeah, evolution is supposed to only happen when a Pokemon wants to evolve!" Brock roared. 

Tyson grinned. "Complain about it all you want. There's nothing you kids can do about it." 

The scientist turned around, done with his speech. Tyson snapped his fingers together and the grunts grabbed us, hauled us into the nearest Team Rocket building, and threw us roughly into a large cell. 

"You know, I'd love to stay and chat, but you look a little tied up." Tyson laughed. 

"That's the best line you've got?" I banged on the bars. 

"Yeah. That line's been used so many times that it's just pathetic," Daniel called as the grunts left, slamming the door behind them. 

"What do we do now?" Anthony sighed. 

"As long as we're locked up like this, there's nothing much we can do." Misty looked at the floor. 

"But there's no way we're giving up." Ash's eyes burned. "There has got to be a way to stop them before it's too late."

Hey fellow time travelers! Or not.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It's still weird writing based on an episode that already happened, but that's what happens with time travel. Things rehappen.

Pokemon Question of the Day: If you could pick one adventure in Pokemon to time travel to (till the adventure ended, usually a day long, could be a Pokemon movie type adventure), which one would you pick? Episodes count too. And why do you pick that one? Would you try to change the past? Why or why not?

Thanks so much for reading! Have an amazing day.  

-Flips