Chapter Text
Disclaimer: I do not own "Pokemon," "Digimon," "The Avengers," or "Justice League," or its characters. They are all properties of their respective owners.
Plot Summary: The Pokémon world, still buzzing with the excitement of the London 2012 Summer Olympics, is plunged into an unprecedented global crisis on August 12th. News breaks of "Operation Phoenix Rising," a brazen act of terrorism by Team Rocket that has destroyed thirteen North American-bound British Airways flights originating from London. Thousands of lives are lost, including many prominent trainers, Pokémon, and ordinary citizens returning from the Games.
As the Pokemon world remembers the lives lost, the American, British and Canadian governments along with help from three superhero groups, respond and work together to hunt down Team Rocket's leader, Giovanni and bring him and his associates to justice.
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"Pokemon: Shadows of the Phoenix"
Written by Jeff Snyder (GoDistance3562)
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Chapter 1
"A One on One with the BBC"
One year…that's how long it's been since the Pokemon World was savagely attacked by Team Rocket on a day when the world as a whole was supposed to come together in unity through the human spirit and through the human spirit of competition. Now I, Ash Ketchum, having achieved my lifelong dream of becoming a Pokemon Master have now become a celebrity, a role model for other trainers to look to. Today, August 12th, 2013, is an important day for the Pokemon World and in just a short time, I would be heading to the Indigo Plateau for the one year anniversary remembrance ceremony. With Pikachu at my side, dressed respectively for the ceremony, I proceeded downstairs and this morning, I would reflect on the events of that fateful day and summarize everything that led up to this point.
"Mr. Ketchum," said the journalist in a British Accent as he got out of his chair to greet me in the center of my living room. "I'm Hue Edwards from the British Broadcasting Corporation. Thank you for taking time to speak to us this morning."
"The pleasure's mine, Mr. Edwards," I replied, trying to be polite as Pikachu looked up at me.
"Call me Hue, let's lighten things up a bit," he chuckled, trying to displeasure the formalities between us. "You're Ash and I'm Hue."
Taking my seat, I noticed that the lighting of our living room was slightly dimmed for the large lights that would be illuminating our interview. After all, it wasn't every day that we would get an international journalist coming to Pallet Town to interview me, although I wish I was being interviewed for achieving my dream of becoming a Pokemon Master.
"Now, Ash," Hue began, taking out his notepad. "The purpose of this interview is to reflect on the events of August 12th, 2012, the events of Operation Phoenix Rising."
"Yes, I've quite a lot to say about that," I replied as Pikachu, who had his own seat next to me, agreed. "Even one later, it still feels so raw."
"Pika, Pika, Pi," said Pikachu as a translator translated what he said which meant that he too feels the same way."
Taking a deep breath, I took in what I was going to say and prepared to go back to that dark day in 2012 that shook the Pokemon World to the core.
"We're set, Mr. Edwards," said a cameraman and the interview began. It was not even sunrise yet and in three hours time, we would be gathering in the Indigo Plateau for the one year anniversary of Operation Phoenix Rising.
"Mr. Ketchum," began Hue, going back to the formalities once the camera started to roll. "If you can think back to where you were on August 12th, 2012, what would you want to say?"
"Well, I just wanna say a few words about Operation Phoenix Rising," I began. "For one thing, Team Rocket had always had a desire to do more than just steal my buddy here. They dealt with criminals, selling Pokemon to them for the purpose of being used as weapons and killers. But, Pokemon aren't suppose to be turned in killing machines or used as weapons. They are no different than you or me and that is something that I learned very quickly once I became a trainer. But one year ago today, Team Rocket set about carrying out the deadliest attack that generations of Pokemon trainers and enthusiasts will remember forever. In fact, I can remember exactly where I was when I learned about the attacks."
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As I spoke, I began to think back to that moment, the morning of August 13th, 2012 when I woke up from a sound sleep after a day of training for an upcoming Pokemon Competition in the Seville Regions. Coming downstairs, my mom and her Mr. Mime, named Mimey, would normally be preparing breakfast, but for some reason, they didn't. Instead, I found my mom sitting in front of the television in the living room. There was something on the news that showed flames on the waters, flames burning in the fields and fire stretching out of small beachside homes.
"Mom?" I asked, walking over to her with a concerned look on my face. "Mom, what's happening?"
Turning around towards me, I remember seeing the sad look on her face, a look that showed murder had taken place. My mom was usually an emotional woman, but this was different.
"Ash, honey, there's something I need to tell you," she said, gesturing me and Pikachu to sit down next to her on the couch. Turning the television off, she gave me her undivided attention. "There's been a problem."
Right away, Pik and I became nervous. Just what was it that showed my mother was upset? Was it something related to the Closing Ceremonies at the Summer Olympics in London? Was there some post-ceremony incident that took place within the stadium?
"What happened, mom?" I asked. "What's going on?"
"They're saying that a bunch of airplanes out of London mysteriously disappeared during the night," she explained, taking a deep sigh of regret.
"Airplanes? How many airplanes?" I asked nervously.
"12 airplanes, from British Airways," she answered plainly as I took in the shock of what I had just heard. Now, I knew British Airways very well as it was one of the official international carriers for the Pokemon league competitions along with Japan's national airlines, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways. Even though it wasn't confirmed to me, I knew that somehow this was going to relate all the way back to Team Rocket.
"Did they say where they originated from?"
"They said all 12 originated in London and were all heading to destinations in the United States and Canada. They're saying some of the passengers on the planes were Pokemon Trainers."
Of course, I knew that it was Team Rocket. Only they could carry out something like this, but why? Then again, we were just learning the news for the first time, so I couldn't jump to any conclusions.
"Then, were those fires…?" I started to ask.
"Yes, they were from the planes," my mom explained. "Two flights headed for Los Angeles and San Francisco went down near Kansas City, one or two flights went down over Cape Cod in Massachusetts and the rest went down in the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of the Northeastern United States."
Right away, both Pikachu and I began to get pits in our stomachs. Hearing about one plane filled with Pokemon trainers was one thing, but 12? A dozen? This was clearly along the lines of what we as a Pokemon community saw on September 11th when I was only a baby. Immediately, I got up and ran to the phone because I needed to tell someone that I knew of what happened and the first was Brock over in Pewter City.
"Brock, it's Ash," I said, my voice shaking in the phone. "Did you hear…?"
"I did hear, Ash," Brock replied on the other line. "12 airplanes carry Pokemon trainers amongst the passengers. If Team Rocket is responsible, this is low, even for them."
Now, the only time we ever had a strong connection with Team Rocket was through Jessie, James and Meowth. But even they wouldn't do such a thing. It wasn't in their character. No, somebody else within Team Rocket was likely responsible.
"Makes me sick, Ash," Brock said angrily on the phone. "Why take the life of someone just to obtain a rare Pokemon? In fact, they're saying that all Pokemon gyms and competitions are being cancelled as a precaution."
"Have you talked to Misty yet?" I asked, thinking about our other close friend.
"No, I haven't. She hasn't been answering her phone in Cerulean City, but it's likely she is closing her gym too."
"Would you like me to try and call her?" I asked.
"See if you can," Brock said. "Call me when you hear from her."
So Brock hung up and I tried to reach out to the Cerulean City gym to get in touch with Misty, but even I wasn't able to get a hold of her.
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In fact, Misty was in her bedroom just staring at the news coverage of the flames spewing up out of the Atlantic Ocean. Being a water Pokemon trainer specialist, this was a personal attack on her. Even Togepi, Misty's baby egg Pokemon, couldn't get through to her. Like the rest of us, she probably couldn't bear to think of what had just happened.
And it wasn't just the three of us waking up to the news…everyone in the Pokemon world was waking up and reacting to the news that 12 British Airways flights flying from London to North America and carrying Pokemon trainers and their Pokemon as amongst the passengers had just fallen off radar and crashed without warning. Every Officer Jenny and every Nursy Joy in the regions were already taking necessary precautions, ordering all Pokemon Trainers to shelter in place as a precaution. All the Pokemon Centers would only be open for emergencies, cancelling any scheduled appointments.
Essentially, the world of Pokemon and the people in it were essentially stopping because some of our own had most likely be killed and who knows what could have happened in addition to what transpired?
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Meanwhile, in a hotel room in an undisclosed location, two other people and their talking Meowth were also watching the news in stunned disbelief. All three of them had their eyes wide open in shock at the horrors that transpired. The people sitting in that hotel room were our enemies, Jessie, James and Meowth of Team Rocket.
"What have we done?" gasped Meowth, now seeing news reports of people breaking down at crying at various airports. "What have we done, guys?"
"Prepare for trouble, but not like this," said James solemnly.
"Make it double," added Jessie just as solemnly. "Or make it a dozen for that matter. All this time, we were lied to by the boss. The Pokemon we tried to steal…were being used to kill people. How could we do this?"
Anguished, Jessie buried her hands in her face as James tried to console her.
"We didn't know, Jessie," sighed James. "We didn't know that Pokemon could be used to kill innocent people, even if there were trainers on board."
"Either way, the boss had a twisted intention and he succeeded," remarked Meowth. "All of sudden, I don't really feel like I want to be a part of Team Rocket anymore."
"Me too," added James.
"Yes, me too," sobbed Jessie, raising her head to reveal the streams of tears flowing down her face. "I can't…I can't work for Team Rocket after this. Why would we even be considered associated with an organization that is supposed to exploit Pokemon, but instead turn them into killing machines? If I had known…"
"We didn't know, Jessie," said James. "We just didn't know."
"So, what do we do now?" asked Meowth as James deeply considered the fact that there was only thing that they could do: they would have to turn themselves into the authorities for all their past crimes as Team Rocket members.
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So, as a trio, they walked into a nearby police station as a group of Officer Jenny's and other police officers surrounded them, with half of them drawing their weapons. But Jessie, James and Meowth did the sensible thing and raised their hands to them. They were surrendering themselves to the law of Pokemon.
"We're Jessie Musashi, James Kojiro of Team Rocket," said Jessie. "And this is our Meowth. In light of what has transpired, we're surrendering ourselves to you for all the crimes we committed in the past."
All the law enforcement in the room couldn't believe that such wanted criminals as Jessie, James and Meowth would surrender so easily, but they did. Everything was surreal to the touch and it all stemmed from an attack against the Pokemon world using killer Pokemon onboard those 12 British Airways flights.
But Jessie, James and Meowth surrendering was only the beginning of this story. The first big question I was asking myself was how? How could Team Rocket pull off such an attack when they had tried to do similar in the past and failed? Well, we would have to go back one month earlier in July 2012 when Team Rocket's leader, Dr. Giovanni Sakami, held a meeting with his executives to reveal his ultimate plans for Team Rocket's so-called Operation Phoenix Rising…
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