Chapter 21: Rampage 

About fifteen minutes later, we had descended down the mountain far enough to spot a river. 

"We're really close," Lance promised. 

"Whoa, what's that?" I sat up straight, hitting Daniel in the chest with my elbow. 

"Ow!" 

"It's the Gyarados, look." I pointed out the front windshield. The Red Gyarados was in a river, using Hydro Pump in anger and swimming in the opposite direction of us. 

The others in the back attempted to look, but there were just too many people. Misty and Ash began bickering immediately. 

"Quiet down, guys. I need to focus," Lance ordered, beginning to shift gears on the jeep as we sped towards the river. Five minutes later, we were neck and neck with the Gyarados. Anthony attempted to unstick his face from the window as the Gyarados glared at us, roaring. 

We all screamed as the huge Pokemon sent a furious Hydro Pump at the jeep. Lance veered to the left, avoiding it. The jeep came to a halt and we all piled, more like fell, out of the car, gasping for air. 

"Where'd Ash go?" Misty dusted herself off from the ground. 

"Oh no." I pointed to my dad. He was running on the river bank to the side of the Gyarados. 

"It's great that you broke free, Gyarados!" he yelled. The Gyarados's eyes fell on him and narrowed. The dragon-like Pokemon opened its mouth, sending another Hydro Pump straight at my dad. 

"Ash!" we all screamed as Ash got knocked into the air by the blast, falling to the ground like a ragdoll. We sprinted over to him, Pikachu in the lead. "Pika pi!"  

Lance helped him sit up. "Are you ok?" 

"Yeah," Ash said tiredly, looking dazed.  

I sighed in relief, wondering how my dad could do something so stupid out of sheer love for Pokemon without thinking about the consequences- and that consequence was an angry Gyarados that most grown men would run from. I shook my head. I couldn't ever understand his courage. 

The Gyarados lost interest and swam towards the other side of the river, shooting a Hydro Pump at some log cabins. 

My dad stood up quickly, alarmed. "No, Gyarados! Stop!" 

"Nothing's going to stop that Gyarados now, guys," Anthony said solemnly. "It's in a rage." 

"Then what should we do?" Brock asked. 

"It's too angry to calm down." Lance sighed. 

"Well, we've gotta do something to stop Gyarados!" Misty cried. 

"Yeah, he's going to destroy everything in sight," I replied. 

Lance nodded. "I know what to do. Go, Dragonite!"  

Lance threw his Poke Ball and Dragonite appeared next to him. 

"Hold it!" a voice called. Three more jeeps pulled up, blocking our way.  

Tyson got out of one and slammed the door shut angrily. "Well, well, so you're the famous Lance I've heard so much about." He nodded to the jeeps. "You guys follow that Gyarados." 

The jeeps drove off, leaving us alone with Tyson. 

Ash watched them leave before saying to Lance, "Don't worry about Gyarados, we'll make sure nothing bad happens to it." 

"Us too!" I nodded, as did Ash's and my friends. 

We ran after the jeeps and I heard Lance call after us, "Wait, guys! Hold on!" 

When I looked back, he was already battling Tyson's Fearow with Dragonite, holding his own. I looked ahead and watched as the Red Gyarados was trapped in a huge net from the jeeps and electrocuted, a cry of pain escaping its mouth. 

"We have to hurry," my dad called, speeding up. 

They were dragging it up onto land by the time we got there. 

"Bayleef, I choose you!" My dad's Bayleef appeared, its pale yellow body and dark green leaves sending out a spicy, sweet aroma. 

"You too, Bella!" Amanda called out her Meganium. 

"Use Razor Leaf!" they both yelled. 

The net's ropes that were being pulled by the jeeps snapped as the slicing leaves made contact. It worked, but Gyarados was now fully on land and looked exhausted. 

"How do we get him back in the water?" I asked frantically. Water Pokemon didn't do well being out of water for long and the Gyarados had been through a lot of trauma and pain already today. 

"You'll be ok, Gyarados," Brock promised, still looking unsure. 

One of the grunts hopped up onto the top of the jeeps where the net launchers were. "I'm going to get you, you little punks!" 

Pikachu's ears quirked up and Ash turned around, his eyes determined. "Hey, stop it!" 

Right then, Gyarados suddenly rose up like a snake ready to strike and sent a Hyper Beam at the jeeps, disintegrating the net in the process. The grunts flew up into the air just as Team Rocket had earlier, disappearing from view. 

"How graceful," Daniel commented. 

"You did it, Gyarados!" Ash exclaimed. Right as we turned around, Gyarados collapsed, trembling. 

"He's really weak," Misty said. 

"With all those electric shocks and being dragged out of the river, who wouldn't be?" Brock's forehead creased angrily. 

Ash walked up to the giant Pokemon. "You have to go back in the river, Gyarados." 

Gyarados, hearing him, began slinking slowly to the river. Right as his head was about to enter, a net dropped on him from above. He roared in outrage, thrashing in the net. 

"Where'd that net come from?" Anthony gaped. 

"We have really bad luck," Amanda groaned, annoyed. 

We looked up to see a Meowth shaped air balloon. 

"Oh, no!" Ash whined. 

"Just when you think you got rid of them." Misty sighed. 

"Prepare for trouble, or you shall be caught!" Jessie warned. 

"And make it double with the net we've brought!" James sang. 

"To protect the world from devastation!"  

"To unite all peoples within our nation!" 

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!" 

"To extend our reach to the stars above!" 

"Jessie!" 

"James!" 

"Team Rocket blasting off to the speed of light!" 

"So surrender now or prepare to fight! 

"Meeeowth, that's right!" 

They finished and I asked, "You mean you have to deal with this practically every day?" 

"Sometimes twice, as you can see." Misty sighed. "But they're usually not this big of a problem." 

"Maybe we're just bad luck, like Amanda said." Daniel shrugged. I stepped on his foot again. 

"What are you going to do with that Gyarados?" Ash yelled. 

"We're going to steal it, of course." Jessie smirked. 

"Seeing as our enforcements are running late, we're forced to take matters into our own hands," James informed us. 

"Gentlemen, start your engines." Meowth held up a paw, hitting a button in the balloon. Engines mounted to the balloon's basket exploded with fire power and the balloon began rising slowly, even with the weight of Gyarados. 

"Ta-ta!" They all waved at us from among the clouds, going back to HQ. 

"Oh no you don't." Ash ran after them, undeterred, somehow jumping and grabbing onto the net as Gyarados was lifted off the ground.  

"Is he crazy!?" I screamed, my eyes widening. Why did my dad do such insane stunts!? 

"Ash!" we all yelled, watching him climb the net. He didn't hear us and, if he did, I guess he wouldn't have stopped anyway because he's so darn stubborn. 

"We have to help him." Amanda regained control of her logic first. "Fenrir!" 

"Smoky!" 

"Fortis!" 

"Sadie!" 

All of our Flying Pokemon appeared- Amanda's Flygon, Daniel's Charizard, Anthony's Braviary, and my Dragonite. We all hopped onto our Pokemon, not bothering with saddles, and took off, flying underneath the Gyarados , circling in case Ash would fall, which seemed quite possible considering Team Rocket was moving the balloon around at whiplash speed as they tried to shake him loose. 

Ash screamed, but held on tight. The net knocked into me and Sadie as they took a quick turn and flew over the river, dipping the net into the water to try and peel Ash loose. We all continued to circle around, focusing on Ash's position on the net. 

As hard as we tried to get near, the balloon was moving so fast that we couldn't get close without getting whacked, as I had already found out.  

They dipped the net into the river again and the Gyarados roared to life, shaking the balloon around like a Poke doll as it attempted to break free. The material finally tore, sending the Gyarados crashing into the water. Ash fell as the net broke. 

"Dad!" I yelled, missing his hands by inches. 

I screamed, but stopped as Smoky flew under us, rolling so his belly was facing the sky. Daniel hung upside down as Smoky caught Ash in his arms and rolled again to fly. I gaped, wondering if my dad had made it out of the ordeal unscathed. 

We all flew to land on the river bank and waited as Smoky descended. 

"Ash, are you ok!?" we all yelled as Smoky landed, placing Ash on the ground.  

Misty knelt down, quickly outstretching a hand to touch Ash before thinking better of it and waiting for him to respond. Ash sat up, a hand on his head. "....I think so." 

We sighed in relief. 

"Daniel?" I tugged on his arm and he turned towards me expectantly. I grimaced, looking down at my shoes before meeting his eyes. "Thank you for saving him." 

Daniel nodded. "You're welcome, Emma." 

"How'd Smoky learn to do that?" I asked. 

Daniel grinned. "We fly a lot and we're not scared to try new things." 

I remained silent. Daniel was about to say something else, but a ground-shaking roar came from down the river. We all remembered Gyarados, who was still rampaging and deadly. There was never a break when you were around Ash Ketchum.

Hey Time Travelers! 

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Team Rocket is so annoying, right? I love them, and yet I don't know how I would seriously put up with them if I saw them every day, trying to steal my Pokemon. Just think about how strong they'd be if they just worried about catching their own Pokemon and raising them. Or with running their own business. They're really good at that. They'd seriously be rich. But no, they want Pikachu. 

Ok, I think I'm going to go watch Harry Potter. I'm pretty much snowed into my house and I mean... Harry Potter. No explanation needed. Chamber of Secrets. I've had enough time travel for the day :P (Plus I'm going in order or my friend will freak out. Such an Anthony). 

Pokemon Question of the Day: How would you try to get rid of Team Rocket/avoid them? 

Have a great day! 

-Flips