Chapter 7: Plans Don't Always Work 

After going over the main plan, the backup plan, the backup backup plan, and some odd moment involving memories of eating tacos, Daniel reassured us we'd all be fine as long as we stuck together like Magneton. 

Seeing Anthony and Amanda looking like they'd been captured and dragged here against their will (which, technically they basically were), I felt my face drain of the color it had left as we headed in the direction we'd heard Jason and Carter go. 

"There's a stairwell." Anthony pointed. "Let's go quietly." 

I noticed how he looked at Daniel as he said the word "quietly" with a little more force than necessary. 

As we entered the stairwell, I saw a sign that read "Main Control Room" pointing to level two while the other arrow that pointed down was labeled "Technology Testing Floor". We tiptoed down the metal stairs, trying not to make them echo and alert Team Rocket of our position. 

We made it to the bottom and Amanda grabbed the doorknob, looking as scared as if she'd just grabbed an Ekans by the tail. She opened it slowly, peering through the crack. 

"There are a bunch of crates set up in front of the door. We can stand without being seen," she whispered, opening the door slowly and hiding behind the crates which were stacked about five feet tall.

We all took turns running from the door to the boxes, which were about ten feet apart. Fortunately, there was so much going on down here that no one was watching the door. In fact, it seemed like the whole building's night staff was working and possibly part of the day staff considering how busy everyone was. 

"What are they doing?" I whispered, looking over the boxes at the huge metal anchors that seemed to be holding some sort of ten foot tall arch that looked like an overlarge bubble wand that was about eight feet in diameter. It had a ramp way leading up to it as if to make it easier to get to the center of the ring. Every Team Rocket member was flocking to it, connecting wires everywhere. Fighting type Pokemon moved heavy crates of materials in the room, arranging things for their Trainers as they connected all the equipment together.  

I looked up to see that there was a metal staircase leading to a second floor of the three story high room. Scientists wearing lab coats with "R" labels on the pockets worked at computers, occasionally leaning over and tapping a neighbor's screen or clip board and arguing. I saw windows above where the third floor would be in this huge warehouse-like basement. Other scientists stared down through a huge panel of windows, looking eager about the progress being made. 

"I don't know, it looks like they made some sort of door to nowhere." Daniel frowned, sitting with his back to the crates. 

Anthony's eyes narrowed. "I think they're working on some sort of portal." 

"Portal?" Amanda repeated. "What, to a different dimension or something?" 

"Maybe," Anthony answered grimly. "The Legendary Pokemon Giratina is supposed to be from a place called the Distortion World. Not to mention there are Pokemon like Dialga and Palkia, who can control time and space." 

I frowned. "Well, that can be a problem." 

"Whatever it is might not be to go to other dimensions, though," Daniel reminded us. "It could be some sort of death ray thing." 

We all gazed at him before I replied, "And that's better for the world how?" 

Daniel shrugged. "It could be a quicker way to snuff it, right?" 

"Way to be optimistic," I falsely cheered. 

"But I did tell you guys they were up to something huge down here, right?" Daniel said smugly. "When we save the world, I get the credit for discovering it needed saving." 

"Hey!" A Team Rocket crony shouted. "There are some kids over there!" 

Uh oh. 

Before we could even react, a couple of hands grabbed the collars of our shirts and heaved us off the ground. 

"Hey, watch it!" I yelled, pushing one off of me. Another pair of hands got a better grip on my shirt. 

"Cool it, kid, or else you're going to meet some of our Pokemon who don't play nice with others," a girl with blonde hair and cold blue eyes said, pointing to her Ursaring who had been helping her with some heavy lifting. Her Ursaring flexed his claws and growled. My eyes widened as I realized she was the girl from outside as she barked, "Grab their bags. We don't want them calling out any of their Pokemon to help them out, do we?" 

"Let go," I heard Daniel mutter as he tried to force his arm out of the grip of a guy three times bigger than he was as his backpack was taken. Amanda and Anthony stood silently, probably calculating their next move as they were held by their captors. 

"You know, you should have dressed up as Team Rocket members if you were going to sneak into our building, you little snot nosed twerps," the guy from behind Anthony said in a deep voice. 

"That was my idea," I exclaimed. "But smarty over here thought you guys were so stupid that you wouldn't see us waltz right in." 

I glared at Daniel who smiled at me, but his eyes said, "Ix-nay on the upid-stay. Leave me out of this." 

Either way, the guy ignored us. He actually looked pretty tired and hadn't seemed to hear us. 

"Please tell me they're paying you overtime, man." Daniel sighed as if he knew what Anthony's captor was going through. 

"Hey, Doctor, I think we found some test subjects," the girl called to the second level, her jaw locked in annoyance. 

I watched as a metal chair swiveled around and a man in a lab coat stood up, moving with that air of superiority that I'd learned to dislike. The man, his spectacles perched at the top of his skinny, crooked nose, descended down the stairs. His grey hair was long and considering how old he was, he seemed very agile and strong. 

"So," he said as he surveyed us, "you caught a bunch of teenagers. Bravo. I have no idea how they even found our secret facility in the first place considering the door is supposed to be locked at all times." The blonde girl stiffened behind me. "But at least they're here to serve a higher purpose." 

"What higher purpose is that?" I asked, glaring at him. For the first time I realized I was being super brave and not cowering or crying or throwing up out of stress of being held captive. If I didn't have my arms pinned painfully, I would have patted myself on the back. 

"I'm so glad you asked," he exclaimed, walking swiftly over to the weird arch they'd just finished putting together. 

"Ugh, he's going to start a monologue," Daniel groaned, then grunted as his captor kneed him in the gut and told him to shut up. Daniel winced, but besides that didn't react. I had to force myself not to struggle and try to help Daniel- my friends getting hurt hadn't been part of our plan. 

Daniel seemed to know I was torn on sticking to the plan and gave me a look that I read as "Wait." My eyes burned into his and he nodded that he was ok. Gritting my teeth, I turned back to the dude in the lab coat, aching to set all my Pokemon on him. Then he wouldn't look so high and mighty anymore.  

The Doctor spoke, "I, Dr. Hazling, have created the ultimate-" 

"Hazling? What kind of last name is that?" I asked, attempting to hold back snickers. Maybe I was being more stupid than brave, but that was funny. Besides, this was the only annoyance I could bestow upon this guy right now and if I could pester him in any way, I was going to start now. 

"My parents are from-" 

"I Hazling a Mudkip," Daniel stated, grinning. I had to keep myself from mimicking his expression. 

"What are you talking about?" Hazling asked wildly. 

"Do you like Mudkips?" 

"What?" He looked blankly at Daniel. A normal reaction people had when meeting him, really.  

"How do you spell that anyway?" Daniel asked. "H-A-Z-E-L-" 

"No, it's H-A-Z-L.-" the Doctor corrected, then roared, "It doesn't matter! You're about to be sent back in time to make sure we don't contract radioactivity or anything dangerous!" 

We all stood there silently for a minute as his mind blowing information sunk in, then Daniel said, "I think his parents dropped him a lot as a baby. He doesn't Hazling any sense." 

"Arceus, do they ever shut up?" Hazling yelled.  

"Nope." I yawned. 

"We tried therapy for them, but I think the psychiatrists committed suicide because of the stress," Amanda said innocently, somehow actually remaining calm. 

I heard Anthony sigh. "I don't blame them." 

"Just throw them in the portal, will you?" the blonde said behind me, obviously irritated. I ended up doing that to people I didn't like. Must be a gene from my dad. 

"But I Hazling a question for you!" Daniel exclaimed and I couldn't help but grin at how annoying he could be. He really did know how to get on peoples' nerves even more than I did. It was a gift. 

"Go ahead," Hazling bellowed to the grunt, glaring at Daniel as he did so. All the main computers upstairs whirred and the bespectacled lab coats began typing furiously on their keyboards. The metal framework surrounding the arch began to vibrate and a humming started growing louder and louder. Suddenly, a flash of bright green light blinded us. It dimmed, showing a green circular portal that glimmered like a waterfall. If anything besides green light existed on the other side, if there even was an "other" side, I couldn't tell. 

"It works," the Doctor cried, obviously jubilant. I rolled my eyes as grunts started fist bumping and whatnot. "Now we'll be able to travel back in time and make sure we end up as the most successful business owners, thus buying the world to call our own." 

There was so much going on that no one seemed to notice Zuko had appeared out of his Poke Ball. I ignored him with my eyes, but sent a hand signal for him to gather all of our bags together and get help from the rest of our Pokemon. 

I was so glad Daniel had come up with Subsection J of what to do if ("When," Anthony had corrected) we got caught. Zuko nodded while I became increasingly annoying to continue keeping their attention, "Hey! So, um, I really have to go to the bathroom. If you guys are seriously going to make us travel back in time so you can mess with the stock market or whatever, I'm going to have to empty my bladder first." 

"You really better let her. She can't hold it," Daniel said innocently. 

"Daniel." I gave him an irritated look. 

"And I'd like a hamburger," Daniel added, ignoring me completely. 

"What is wrong with you kids? You're captives- you don't get bathroom breaks, last meals, or anything. We're Team Rocket and we're all far more advanced than the likes of you. Nothing you do will ever surprise-" 

BOOM! 

Everything in the room shook as a group of our Pokemon attacked the multiple henchmen around the room, destroying multiple machines which exploded, letting off smoke and electrical flashes from the ends of skewered wires. 

By the time the smoke had faded, the room was in chaos. The four of us had broken free from our shocked captors and were heading over to our Pokemon- Zuko, Fenrir, Smoky, and Rapier who stood tall, looking ready to kill considering we'd just been threatened. 

The blonde's Ursaring ran at us, but Zuko stopped him with a Flamethrower. Zuko dropped to all fours, his fur standing up menacingly and his teeth bared as Ursaring toppled over onto his Trainer. 

"Thanks, bud." I winked at Zuko. 

"Rapier!" Anthony gasped. A Weavile had cornered him and a lighting fixture was about to fall from the ceiling. Rapier moved in a flash, slithering around everyone in his way and slapping Weavile down the stairs with a Dragon Tail. Hissing, he grabbed Anthony with his tail and pulled him just in the nick of time- the light fell, breaking and sending sparks flying in all directions. 

In the meantime, Daniel was charging into battle with Smoky, setting things aflame while Daniel yelled, "Burn, Rockets! Burn!" 

Amanda cried out, "Emma, we need help!"  

Fenrir was standing in front of her, using Outrage on about ten different Pokemon. I gasped as I watched him concentrate on only sending the red explosion of power forward and not at Amanda. I dashed over, Zuko on my heels. We dodged a falling computer and Zuko pushed a grunt over the railing of the second floor as we ran down the stairs. 

Everything was in a greenish light because of the portal which refused to close, but I paid no attention to that. Half a dozen Pokemon were still approaching Amanda and Fenrir, ready to attack. 

"Snover, use Blizzard," a grunt commanded. 

"Flamethrower!" I yelled. Zuko hurled himself forward, flames erupting from his jaws. The Snover collapsed. I heard a thump behind us as Fenrir fell, too exhausted to continue after the multiple Outrage attacks. 

A Raticate crept up behind Zuko. The Raticate jumped on top of Zuko's back and used Hyper Fang on his front paw, hanging on. Zuko yelped, but used Thunderpunch with the same paw, making the Raticate let go and cry in pain. 

Anthony and Daniel had come to the first floor to help us, and good thing too. About twenty more grunts and their Pokemon appeared at the doorway, looking pissed. They must have been on the third floor looking down on us. 

"Um, what do we do now? It looks like this place is going to cave in on us!" Amanda yelled above the noise of our Pokemon fighting. The ceiling did seem to be shaking and the green light kept changing from dark to light. 

I winced as something exploded. "I don't know." 

"The only way is through the portal," Anthony said. 

"What? Are you crazy?" I gaped at him. 

I heard my dad in my head, as if his voice was an echo, It's dangerous....You're still just a kid! 

"Do you want us all to die in here?" Anthony shouted, bringing me back to the present. 

Anthony had never yelled at me before, so I knew he was being absolutely serious. 

"I'm all for it as long as we're all together," Daniel said solemnly. Smoky stood in front of him, fighting a Tyranitar that had just scraped his cheek with sharpened claws. 

"Let's go, now," I said. "Come on!" 

Zuko turned towards the source of the green light, his quill mane flaming as he ran. We, Pokemon and humans, all took off toward the portal. As we neared it, we didn't slow, but ran straight through. I winced, sure it'd feel like walking through concrete, but it was actually more like trying to walk through water. I had my eyes closed and prayed the others were still with me, that I wasn't alone. 

I couldn't breathe. 

I opened my mouth, but couldn't find any air to suck in. I opened my eyes to see a forest through a thin blurry green screen. With all the energy I had left, I stepped forward, pushing with all my might, bursting through the green bubble and toppling over into the grass. I heard multiple plops and grunts besides me and then a sudden, piercing silence.

Hey guys!

Hope you liked the chapter :) If you did, make sure you comment, vote, and/or follow. Whatever floats your boat. I'd really appreciate feedback on the story.

Pokemon Question of the Day: What's your favorite type of Poke Ball? It could be because of looks and no power. I mean Master Ball, duh. There are other Poke Balls out there :P 

Have an awesome weekend!

-Flips