บท 53: Team Rocket Retreat
"Meowth, that's right!" A Meowth jumped to the front.
"It's you again!"
Ash felt helpless after seeing the familiar Rocket trio appear before him again. Since he had thwarted their action back in Viridian City, this Team Rocket trio had always followed him everywhere. No matter how he tried to shake them off, they always returned and caused trouble for him time and time again.
"You brat, what's up with your attitude?"
Jessie, who had a fiery personality, couldn't stand the look on Ash's face. She then pointed her finger toward Ash, saying, "Do you think that it was only us three participating in this attack? Fool! All Team Rocket members have arrived on this ship. Now, if you give us your Pikachu and your other Pokemon, we will let you go."
"Meowth, that's right!" Meowth nodded its head repeatedly.
Ash was furious when he heard Jessie's words, " I will never give Pikachu to you."
"So do we!" Misty and Brock said in unison.
...
"That's the fifth person!"
Hisoka looked at the unconscious Team Rocket grunt under his feet after being knocked out by Weavile.
"Hey, a piece of advice. Instead of letting Team Rocket take your Pokemon, it's better to fight them rather than screaming uselessly for help," Hisoka said to his back.
Behind was a young couple who were hugging each with a frightened expressions on their face. It was obvious they were still traumatized by the Team Rocket attack just now.
After saying a couple of words, Hisoka quickly ran out of the room, not caring for their reply.
He had agreed to Matthias's employment request previously. For each ordinary member of Team Rocket he takedown, he could get a bonus of 10,000 dollars after the mission. And if he managed to capture a squad leader, he could get a bonus of up to 100,000 dollars from the League later.
"I knew you're going to be trouble later."
Just as Hisoka was putting down the tenth grunt, a cold voice came from his back. He quickly turned around and saw the bald-headed man, Dwayne staring at him with a gloomy expression.
"So, that bitch Lisa didn't get rid of you!"
Dwayne twisted his neck and said, "Well, it looks like I will have to kill you now. Remember not to mess around with what you aren't supposed to in your next life, kid!"
Hisoka calmly stared at the man and didn't bother to reply to the man's taunt. Then, he pointed his finger forward.
Weavile, who was standing next to Hisoka, understood Hisoka's gesture and immediately rushed at the man, raising her right claw to slash the man.
Dwayne sneered after seeing Hisoka's action. Then, he quickly retreated several meters. At this time, a humanoid Pokemon with a 1.6-meter height came out of a corner, blocking Weavile's attack. It had a body similar to a human male, but its bluish-gray muscles looked terrifyingly strong.
This Pokemon is Machamp. It has two arms on each side of its body, a pair located in the normal position and another pair directly above that attaches to the top of its shoulders.
Machamp was said to know every martial arts style in the world. It was also able to throw five hundred punches in a second. Because of its four arms, it can hit from a multitude of angles and pin all of its foe's limbs down at once. In addition, its arms allowed it to attack and defend simultaneously.
'Heh! Do you really think your sneak attack would work on me?' thought Dwayne in disdain.
He already knew that Hisoka had rich experience as a Hunter back in Viridian City after searching his information on the internet. This was why he told Machamp to stand on guard so that it could block the other party's attack.
Machamp knelt down on one knee, crossed its hands in front of its chest, and took a defensive posture to offset Weavile's attack, leaving only a faint scratch mark on its skin.
Although Weavile La did not use any kind of moves, her simple slash was still strong enough to cut a tree in half. Imagine her surprise when she saw that her slash was only able to cause a superficial injury to Machamp.
After that, it used its two arms to lock Weavile's arm. At the same time, its two free upper arms were slashing down toward Weavile's neck in the form of an 'X.'
This was Cross Chop, its signature move. With Machamp's powerful strength and Weavile's weakness to Fighting-type attack, it was enough to knock Weavile out instantly if it landed on the vital part of her neck.
Dwayne had no intention of showing mercy to his enemy. His plan was to kill the opponent's Pokemon first before killing Hisoka, who was an unstable factor in this operation.
Weavile was in extreme danger, but there was still no panicked expression on Hisoka's face. His calm attitude made Dwayne feel suspicious.
'Could this kid has something else up his sleeve?' he thought doubtfully.
But after thinking about it a few times, Dwayne shrugged his shoulders, clearing the thought out of his mind. There was no use for him to think about it so much. As long as this Weavile was brought down, there was no way for Hisoka to resist his next attack.
Huh?
"Machamp! Why are you stopping your attack?"
Dwayne suddenly found that the two arms on Machamp had crossed its arm, aiming toward the locked Weavile. But after waiting for a while, it still didn't finish its attack on Weavile.
"Ha!"
Machamp frowned and let out a loud cry. The blue veins on his arm muscles were bulging. It was obviously trying its best, but it couldn't bring its arms down, no matter how hard he tried.
At this moment, a smile appeared on Hisoka's face. He then loudly said, "Kirlia, raise it up in the air!"
Kirlia slowly walked out from behind Hisoka while stretching her hand out toward Machamp. Her initial red eyes were now glowing light blue, and every time she took a step forward, the blue light in her eyes became brighter.
Kirlia let out an ethereal cry as she raised her hands up. The Machamp that had been pinning Weavile was suddenly raised in the air by the light blue aura that had surrounded it, making it float helplessly in the air.
When the telekinetic force touched Weavile, it was invalidated by her Dark-type so that the Psychic that was released by Kirlia only affected Machamp. Kirlia then pushed her hands forward, releasing shockwaves at the floating Machamp.
"Finish it, Weavile!" Hisoka waved his hand.
Weavile, who had regained her freedom, did not hesitate at all after hearing Hisoka's order. She quickly used Quick Attack to exert her fastest speed to catch up with the floating Machamp and jumped on top of its body.
An Ice Punch was quickly slammed on Machamp's face, causing it to whimper in pain due to the cold feeling brought about by the icy fist. She then swung her glowing white hand toward Machamp's neck.
Brick Break!
Crack!
There was a faint sound of a bone being broken. If you were to look closer at Machamp's neck, you would find its neck was a little bit off with a huge swelling on the lower side of the neck. If it weren't for its powerful neck muscles, Hisoka wouldn't doubt that this Pokemon might be killed instantly.
The Machamp luckily got out with his life. It then slowly fell to the ground with a thud.
...
Dwayne wanted to release his second Pokemon from the Pokeball on his waist, but how could Hisoka give him a chance? In the wilderness, how many trainers and hunters had lost their precious lives because they couldn't get their Pokeball out in time?
Especially in this life-and-death fight, Hisoka, who has taken the initiative, will definitely not give the opponent any chance to take out his second Pokemon.
Dwayne's Pokeball was quickly snatched away by Kirlia's Psychic just after removing it from his belt. He tried to catch the Pokeball back, but unfortunately, he couldn't grab it, and the Pokeball flew to Hisoka's raised hand.
Hisoka tossed the Pokeball in the air and laughed, "Well. What now, Mr. Dwayne?"
Dwayne gritted his teeth and looked at Hisoka with a warning look, "A loss is a loss. There's nothing I can say about it. I admit that I underestimate you a little, brat. But I still have to remind you that since you have decided to fight against Team Rocket, you'll have to be prepared for Team Rocket's revenge later."
"What's your ranking in Team Rocket?" Hisoka ignored his threat and instead asked a question that puzzled Dwayne.
Dwayne smiled coldly and said, "Why? Are you scared? It's already too late for you to do anything now. Anyway, I'm a squad leader."
"Fuck!" Hisoka swore.
He then muttered, "A squad leader can bag me 100,000 dollars. So plus the previous ten grunts, the total is only 200,000 dollars? Damn! This mission is a big loss for me!"
Dwayne heard Hisoka muttering and looked at him with an incredulous expression, "You're fighting us just for 200,000 dollars?"
"Of course not!"
Hisoka then smiled and continued, "As an honorable citizen of the League, it is my duty to help the officers fight against a criminal organization like Team Rocket," he finished with a righteous expression.
Duty?
Dwayne was speechless after hearing Hisoka's fake righteous words.
Boom!
There was a sudden deafening explosion, and the entire S.S. Anne shook violently. Kirlia was also affected by the shaking, causing her to fall to the ground. Fortunately, Hisoka helped her in time.
However, Kirlia also lost control of her psychic power. Because of this, Dwayne broke free from her Psychic. He then stared at Hisoka with resentment. It was this guy that had caused him to fail this mission.
Before Hisoka could do anything to him, he quickly recalled the fainted Machamp back to its Pokeball and ran toward the stairs, disappearing from Hisoka's view.
Hisoka did not do anything to stop the man from escaping. He then stood up and looked in the direction of where the explosion occurred. He saw that the engine at the rear of the cruise ship was blazing with flames and black smoke rising toward the sky. It was very likely that the turbine engine of the cruise ship had exploded.
"Run away! Save yourself! The water has entered the ship!"
Several frightened screams came from the back. The rest of the passengers also rushed toward the front of the ship, running away from the fire. Despair was seen on their faces as they looked back several times, only to see the rear hull up in flames, black smoke shrouding the air.
Hisoka grabbed a passenger that was running toward him and asked loudly, "What the hell happened over there?"
The scared man gasped in shock, swallowing the lump in his throat, and said, "Someone used a Magmar to fight against Team Rocket. But its Fire Blast missed its target and hit the fuel tank near the engine. After that, it exploded, killing many people."
Fuck!
Hisoka's face was gloomy and uncertain after releasing the man from his grasp. The thing he was most afraid of had happened.
Team Rocket attacked S.S. Anne to snatch the passenger's Pokemon. Obviously, many people weren't going to standby and just watch their Pokemon get stolen. But they were in the middle of the sea right now. If they weren't careful, they would be stranded here. In a worst-case scenario, the ship might even sink under the water, which had a high probability of occurring due to the heavy damage to the ship's hull.
The fate of more than a thousand people on board the ship now was on thin ice. He didn't know how many people would survive in the end.
Hisoka is not a saint, and he couldn't save so many people. He had to ensure the safety of himself and his Pokemon first.
While Hisoka was packing his bag in his room, the loud explosion in the rear of the ship also alarmed the people fighting on the upper deck. The two Arbok was severely injured with many scars on their body. Meanwhile, the two Fearow in the sky was also inflicted with the same injuries. One of the Fearow had a nasty wound near its neck. It was heavily bleeding with purple color, clearly poisoned after suffering from Arbok's attack.
The most powerful Gengar in Matthias's hands was holding the other Team Rocket member back. And in the face of Fearow, who had Normal-type, Gengar's strongest Ghost-type moves did not play a big role in this face. It was much better for Gengar to fight against the other Team Rocket member.
"I'll remember this, Matthias!" Tyson growled. He had wasted his time fighting this man, and the support from the League was already on its way.
Matthias also felt a headache when fighting this man. He had obviously underestimated the opponent's strength.
Come to think of it, how could a criminal who had been wanted by the League officers for so many years be easy to put down?
The two Fearow cooperation was simply perfect. And under Tyson's personal command, the strength they exerted was even more terrifying than in the previous battle.
"Boss Tyson, you have to leave now! We have intercepted a message from the League that the police force from Cerulean City, Saffron City, and Vermilion City will arrive at S.S. Anne soon. If we don't leave now, we are going to be captured by them.
The hurried voice of his subordinate appeared on Tyson's earpiece.
"Damn!"
Tyson clenched his fist, then put a hand to his earpiece and sharply asked, "What's our harvest this time?"
"We have lost contact with three teams, but we have captured all of the people in the VIP section. We also have brought them back to the boats. We can leave at any time, boss!"
"Huh!"
Tyson took a deep breath after hearing the man's report. Although kidnapping the wealthy people was only half the mission, at least he wouldn't suffer much blame when he returned to the headquarter. With these many rich people, Team Rocket would have the chance to tide over their financial difficulties.
"Men! Listen to my order! We are retreating now!" Tyson said decisively.
"Yes!"
Following Tyson's order to retreat, the members of Team Rocket who were facing other people immediately retreated to his side. Everyone then took out a black circular ball and threw it on the ground.
A thick grey smoke instantly appeared, engulfing the upper deck area.
When the smoke faded away, the Team Rocket was already gone, leaving only the wreckage caused by the fierce battle just now.
After seeing Team Rocket's retreat, Matthias did not give the order to his men to give chase. His Pokemon was severely injured, and his man was also weakened by the battle just now.
He also only had a few experienced men on his side compared with the elite members of Team Rocket, who had rich combat experience. Just Tyson alone took him a long time to defeat. If he wanted to prevent them from leaving, he could only fight them with his life on the line.
...
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง