Pokémon HGSS#17: The Red Monster of Lake Rage
The loud, piercing noise continued to be produced at The Lake of Rage as Jonathan and Beatrice made their way down the road towards Mahogany Town. They could still here the roars of the Red Gyrados which was terrorizing the lake as well as Lance’s Dragonite going toe to toe with the large, red Pokémon.
“We need to hurry,” Jonathan said. “You knows how long Dragonite can last against that thing.”
Jonathan and Beatrice were busy making their way back to Mahogany Town so they could shut down the radio tower at The Lake of Rage. Through some intimidation tactics, they learned that there was a souvenir shop in Mahogany Town acting as a front for an underground, Team Rocket base. This headquarters was housing a powerful generator which powered the radio tower. Jonathan and Beatrice’s mission was to shut it down.
They made their way past the large construction equipment and under the hole in the chain linked fence. Even from the edge of Mahogany Town, they could here the siren blaring from The Lake of Rage.
“Let’s head to the souvenir shop,” Beatrice said. “I saw it when we were leaving the Pokémon Center.”
“Great, let’s go,” Jonathan said.
As they entered Mahogany Town, they noticed that there was some kind of scuffle happening in the middle of the town. There were people and Pokémon fighting in the front of the souvenir shop. Two of them were Team Rocket Grunts which Jonathan and Beatrice recognized from The Lake of Rage. The third person was a red-haired boy that they were very familiar with.
“Silver!” Beatrice yelled as she got close.
“That will you teach you, Team Rocket scum,” Silver said dusting dirt off of himself. “Now get lost before I have Sneasel mess up your face.”
“Sneasel!”
The small, sharp-clawed Pokémon sat on Silver’s shoulder looking down at the Grunts.”
As the two Team Rocket Grunts picked themselves off and started to run away, Silver turned his attention to Jonathan and Beatrice.
“How did I know I’d find you two here?” He asked with a sneer.
“We were about to ask you the same thing,” Jonathan said.
Silver focused on Beatrice.
“Well are you somehow connected to what’s going on with that siren or whatever?” Silver asked.
“If you have to know, Team Rocket is behind it,” Beatrice said. “They are using some kind of signal to hurt the Magikarp at The Lake of Rage.”
“There’s also a Red Gyrados up there which we think it has something to do with Team Rocket and this signal,” Jonathan said.
“Red Gyrados….that sure is strange,” Silver said placing a hand on his chin.
“So what are you doing here?” Beatrice said stepping towards Silver.
“Sneasel!” The Pokémon growled.
“Don’t worry, Sneasel. These two aren’t worth the effort,” Silver said petting it behind its ears.
“Hey!” Beatrice crossed her arms.
“I tracked Team Rocket here,” Silver continued. “I didn’t know anything about the lake, but I did figure out that this souvenir shop is some kind of front for Team Rocket. There base must be under here.”
“That’s why we’re here. We need to shut off the generator in order to stop the signal at the lake,” Jonathan said.
“That doesn’t really interest me, but I do have my own business here,” Silver said.
“”Which is?” Beatrice asked.
“None of your business,” Silver smiled.
“Silver,” Jonathan glared.
“You two are no fun,” Silver said with a shrug. “I’m here to stop Team Rocket. That’s all you need to know. So get out of the way, so that I can get into the base.”
“We’re not letting you go in there! For all we know, you’re with them,” Beatrice said.
“I’m not with them,” Silver said getting serious suddenly.
“Look, we’re both wanting to stop Team Rocket,” Jonathan said. “Maybe we can work together.”
Both Beatrice and Silver turned and gave Jonathan a bewildering look.
“An enemy of my enemy is my tentative friend,” Jonathan continued as he focused on Beatrice. “Plus we have no idea what to expect down there. Every second we wait, the longer that signal keeps going. Come on. For me.”
Beatrice let out a sigh.
“Fine.”
“And Silver?” Jonathan turned to him.
“Fine whatever. Just stay out of the way,” Silver said.
All three of them, in their tentative alliance, entered the souvenir shop.
It looked like a replica PokéMart with very little wares on the shelves.
“Uh we’re closed,” The gentleman behind the counter said. “All sold out of Slowpoke Tails.”
“We’re not here for your crap,” Silver said grabbing the man by the collar. “We’re here to get into the Team Rocket Base. Now open up before we make you by force.”
“Sneasel!” Sneasel growled.
“Don’t hurt me!” The man begged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just sell things.”
“Liar,” Silver shook him. “You are a member of Team Rocket. Now tell us how to get into the Team Rocket Headquarters.”
“Silver, maybe he doesn’t -” Jonathan began to say before he was interrupted by the shop owner.
“Fine! Fine! I’ll tell you. Just let me go,” He begged.
“Tell me first,” Silver tightened his grip.
“Behind that cabinet!” The shop owner pointed to a cabinet across the room that sat in the corner. “There are stairs that descend behind that.”
Silver let go of the man and the man crumpled behind the desk.
“That’s how you get results,” Silver said. “Now let’s move the cabinet.”
Jonathan and Silver both pushed on the cabinet and it slid open revealing a staircase of metallic stairs.
“Come on, let’s go,” Silver said taking the lead with Jonathan and Beatrice behind them.
They made their way down the stairs to a hallway filled with statues of the cat Pokémon, Persian.
“Hold up,” Silver said holding out a arm. “I think there’s something up with these statues.”
“Like what?” Beatrice asked.
“I think they are a part of some kind of security system,” Silver said.
“I can knock them out with my Flaafy,” Jonathan said pulling a Pokéball from his belt. “Go, Flaafy!”
The electric sheep Pokémon appeared in a flash of red light.
“Flaaaaafy!”
“Flaafy, use Electro Ball to knock out these security cameras.”
Flaffy nodded as the blue sphere on its tail began to light up. An sphere of electrical energy surrounded it and then Flaffy spun, unleashing the ball of electricity. The ball hit the first Persian statue and the electricity jumped from statue to statue. The statues’ glowing eyes then went dull.
“You did it,” Beatrice said.
“Great, now let’s go,” Silver said forging ahead.
“Remember, we’re looking for a generator,” Jonathan said.
“You are. I’m looking for something else,” Silver said as he ran ahead.
“Right,” Jonathan sighed.
Jonathan, Beatrice, and Silver made their way through the Team Rocket Hideout dodging Team Rocket Grunts and Scientists walking around the Headquarters.
“Aren’t you going to beat them up like you did the grunts outside?” Beatrice asked Silver.
“I could spend hours down here beating up Team Rocket Grunts,” Silver said. “It’s not worth it. I’m looking for the people in charge.”
They continued to make their way deeper and deeper into the base. It was a multi-floored Headquarters that looked practically the same. Hallways full of rooms with metallic doors. Team Rocket Grunts wearing Black and Red uniforms walking around. They also passed a cafeteria, conference rooms, research labs, and office space.
“It’s like a maze down here,” Jonathan whispered to the others.
“I think we’re getting close now,” Silver said. “There has to be some kind of monitoring room around here.”
“And the generator,” Beatrice said.
“Yeah that should be nearby as well,” Silver said. “Let’s just be careful.”
As they rounded the corner, they were met with a hallway blocked by Rocket Grunts and the Purple Haired Man from The Lake of Rage.
“Well there they are,” The Purple Haired Man said. “Nice to see that people stopped by.”
In that moment, Team Rocket Grunts filled the other hallways surrounding the three of them.
“I knew it was too easy,” Silver sneered.
“You think we wouldn’t notice when three people barged into the souvenir shop and just let themselves in? I knew you were foolish, Silver, but I didn’t think you were that naive,” The man sneered.
“Who let you off your chain, Petrel?” Silver asked keeping up his cocky attitude.
“You think you’re funny, brat? I’ll show you what’s funny,” Petrel said pulling a Pokéball from his belt. “We’ll see who’s laughing after this. Go Weezing!”
This purple ball of smog with a skull and crossbones on its stomach emerged.
“Weezing!” It said.
As it spoke, smoke emerged from ports on its body as well as its fanged mouth.
Silver turned back to look at Jonathan and Beatrice.
“I’ll keep Petrel busy. You need to break out of here and find that generator,” He said. “Don’t let me down.”
“Silver -” Beatrice began.
“Don’t get emotional on me, girl. You have your mission and I have mine,” Silver said.
Jonathan and Beatrice nodded.
“Now let’s go, Sneasel, use Icy Wind!” Silver yelled.
“Weezing, use Smog!” Petrel yelled.
Silver and Sneasel began to battle Petrel and his Weezing which created enough of a distraction for Jonathan and Beatrice. Jonathan grabbed Beatrice’s hand as they charged a group of Team Rocket Grunts.
“Flaffy use Elctro Ball, Scizzor use Metal Claw!”
Jonathan blasted through the Grunts and their Pokémon and continued to run.
“After them!” They heard but Jonathan and Beatrice ran forward trying to find the generator.
They battled through Team Rocket Grunt and their Zubats, Raticates, and Koffings without much trouble, but they couldn’t battle forever. They fought through a few more Grunts, before they were able to get away from any grunt and find a hiding space into an abandoned office space. They ducked under some desks and were out of sight. Jonathan and Beatrice heard some Rocket Grunts run by, but they lost track of them.
“Where is this generator?” Beatrice asked as she tried her best to regain her breath.
“It has to be around here somewhere,” Jonathan said as he peaked his head up to look through a large, glass window.
“We can’t keep running around here taking out Grunts,” Beatrice said. “We need to find that generator now.”
“Alright. Let me think for just a moment. It’s not like a generator is just going to be in a closet somewhere. It’s going to be large and use a lot of electricity, right?”
“Sure.”
“Well maybe my Electric Pokémon can find it,” Jonathan said looking at Flaffy.
“That’s a great idea,” Beatrice smiled.
“Ok, Flaffy. We’re looking for a huge source of electricity. Think you can find it?”
Flaffy nodded its head and its tail glowed.
“Flaaaaaffy!”
They cracked open the door and emerged into the hallway again. This time Flaffy lead the way with Jonathan and Beatrice in the middle and Scizor covering them from the rear.
Flaffy lead them down another set of stairs down to what Jonathan assumed was the bottommost floor. All around them was a ton of electrical equipment and displays showing a variety of information that Jonathan didn’t understand. Then Jonathan looked out through a large glass pane to see the generator. It was a large machine with a ton of wiring going in every direction. In the center there were stations hooked up to red and white balls.
“Those are Pokémon,” Beatrice said seeing the same thing Jonathan was seeing.
“That is correct,” A new voice said and they turned. “Those are Electrode and they power the entire generator.”
Standing in the corner was a woman with red hair dressed in a white dress with a Rocket emblem on it. It looked like a mix between a formal dress and a scientist’s lab coat.
“Who are you?” Jonathan asked.
“My name is Team Rocket Executive Ariana and I’m in charge of this operation,” She said as she took a step forward towards the two of them. “I knew that Petrel couldn’t handle this so I came down here to protect the generator as soon as I heard we had company. I honestly expected Lance to show up, so I’m a little relieved to see that it’s just two kids.”
“We’re not afraid of you,” Beatrice said.
“Well maybe you should,” Ariana smiled. “Or maybe you’ll be more afraid of my Pokémon. Go Arbok!”
A large, purple Snake Pokémon slithered out from behind her and showed off it’s large fangs and even larger hood.
“Arbok!” It hissed.
“Go Marill!” Beatrice said as she unleashed her own Pokémon. Her blue mouse Pokémon emereged from its Pokéball ready for the fight.
“Marill! Marill!”
“Jonathan, I’ll handle her,” Beatrice said. “You go shut down the generator.”
Jonathan turned to Beatrice.
“Are you sure you can handle it?” He asked.
Beatrice nodded and he noticed the fierce expression on her face.
“I’m not afraid of this lady or her giant snake,” Beatrice said. “We can handle it.”
“Ok,” Jonathan said with a smile.
“Arbok, use Poison Fang!” Ariana shouted.
“Marill, use Bubblebeam!” Beatrice shouted back.
Arbok shot forward baring its fangs as Marill unleashed a stream of high-pressured bubbles at Arbok.
“Scizor, get me down there,” Jonathan shouted as the battle raged behind him.
Scizor but its metal arms around Jonathan and picked him up. It charged forward breaking through the window and then flew down to the lower floor where the Electrode were hooked up to the generator. Flaffy jumped down after them.
Jonathan could hear the sounds of battle between Arbok and Marill, but he couldn’t focus on that. He needed to shut down this machine.
“Uh, any ideas?” He looked to both of his Pokémon but they just stared back at him. “Right. Well I guess we need to shut down the machine.”
Jonathan continued to look around but there was a lot of different wires and he didn’t understand any of it.
“Ok Scizor, I want you to use Metal Claw and start hacking away at all the wiring. Some of it has to be important and if you slash through it the machine should stop,” Jonathan said and Scizor gave a nod.
“Flaffy, you’re with me. We’re going to try and free these Electrodes,” Jonathan said.
They broke into two groups. Scizor took to the air attacking the machinery around the room with its metallic claws and slashed through machinery and wires.
“Flaffy, use Electroball on the machines!”
Flaffy unleashed a series of electrical balls that crashed into the machinery leaving large holes and frying the circuits. After enough damage, the machine would shut down and the Electrode was freed.
“Keep going, Flaffy!” Jonathan yelled and encouraged.
Both Pokémon continued to attack the machine over and over again resulting in more and more Electrode being freed from the generator.
“Flaffy, Electroball again!” Jonathan yelled again as Flaffy attacked another part of the machine.
There was an explosion of electricity as the last Electrode was freed from the generator. Sirens began to go off and the lights began to flash as more machine parts started to give way and electricity jumped from one part of the generator to another.
Flaafy’s tail began to glow bright and then its whole entire body began to glow. The electricity surged from the machine and circled the glowing Pokémon before the bright glowing stopped and a new Pokémon was revealed.
“Ampharos!” It called out.
“Wow, Flaffy, use evolved into an Ampharos,” Jonathan smiled big. “That’s amazing!”
Flaffy had evovled into an even more power Electrical-Type Pokémon similar to the Pokémon that powered Olivine City’s Lighthouse.
“Ampharos!” It cried out again.
“You’re absolutely right, we need to get out of here,” JOnathan yelled.
There was an explosion from the machine and the Electrode began to exit through the hole in the glass.
“Jonathan!” Beatrice emerged from the hole.
“Are you alright?” Jonathan asked.
“I’m fine,” Beatrice said. “That Team Rocket Lady ran off as soon as the warning sounds started. “I think the whole thing is unstable. We need to get out of here.”
“Way ahead of you,” Jonathan said as he ran towards the hole in the glass.
Scizor helped both Jonathan and Ampharos up and the whole group ran towards the entrance of the Team Rocket Headquarters.
Jonathan and Beatrice noticed as they escaped that the whole place seemed abandoned. It was like the entire group of Team Rocket Grunts had fled the building when the generator started to malfunction.
“Do you see Silver anywhere?” Beatrice asked, but he was nowhere to be found.
They ran up the staircase into the souvenir shop and out the front door. The siren from the lake had stopped, but it had been replaced by a new sound.
Jonathan and Beatrice looked up and saw a large helicopter hovering above Mahogany Town and the wind swirled around them. Team Rocket Executive Ariana and Petrel poked their heads out and gave a wave to them in order to taunt them as the Helicopter took off into the air.
“Where are they going?” Jonathan shouted over the sound of the helicopter, but Beatrice just shrugged.
The helicopter took off and eventually it had disappeared.
“We need to track down that helicopter,” Jonathan said.
“Jonathan! Beatrice!”
They both turned and saw some friendly faces running towards them.
“Falkner! Bugsy!” Jonathan recognized them.
Running their direction was the Flying-Type Gym Leader from Violet City and the Bug-Type Gym Leader from Azalea Town as well as Lance, the Dragon-Type Pokémon Champion.
“What are you two doing here?” Jonathan asked them.
“Professor Oak contacted us,” Falkner said. “He told us that there was some kind of trouble going on at The Lake of Rage.”
“Yeah we came as soon as we could, but when we got to the lake we ran into Lance instead,” Bugsy said. “My Beedrill and Falkner’s Pidgeot helped subdue that Red Gyrados.”
“Then I was able to capture it,” Lance said.
“You caught it in a Pokéball?” Beatrice asked.
Lance nodded.
“I also noticed that the siren stopped. Does that mean that you stopped Team Rocket and disabled the generator?” He asked.
“We stopped the generator, but two Team Rocket Executives got away in a helicopter,” Jonathan explained. “We weren’t able to stop them.”
RING RING
Jonathan looked down and picked up his Pokégear. It was a call from Professor Elm.
“Hold on, this might be important,” Jonathan said answering the call.
“Jonathan, where are you?” Professor Elm asked.
“Hey Professor, we’re in Mahogony Town,” Jonathan replied.
“You need to make your way to Goldenrod City,” Professor Elm said. “There’s a situation going on!”
Header Photo Credit to The Official Pokémon YouTube Channel and their video Pokémon Generations Episode 4: Lake of Rage. I got the image from Bulbapedia.
All photos of Pokemon and related content used were taken from Bulbapedia
https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Main_Page
Allen The Writer 