Rise of Rainbow Rocket Chapter 9

Back in Kalos, Joe has made it through the Winding Woods and found the fabled Pokémon village. Pokémon here included Jigglypuff, Amoonguss, Gothorita, and Noctowl.

“At least one of these Pokémon has to be a Ditto.” Said Joe, sending out Linoone. “If a Ditto gets tickled, it will lose its shape. Linoone, I want you to Tickle each Pokémon until one of them turns out to be a Ditto. Got it?” Linoone nodded his head yes.

“Great!” Said Joe. “Now, Tickle each Pokémon until one of them turns out to be a Ditto!” Linoone rushed around and started Tickling each Pokémon until one of them turned out to be a Ditto. There were no Ditto, but there was a Zoroark.

“Cool, but no thank you.” Said Joe. “Perhaps it’s in the water.” Joe walked over to the river and looked at a trio of Lombre, but one of the Lombre looked different: One of them had no curves on its lily pad. Joe pulled it out of the water, and it turned out to be a Ditto!

“Linoone!” Said Joe. “Use Headbutt!” Linoone rushed over to the Ditto and rammed into it, dealing a good amount of damage.

“Now to throw an Ultra Ball!” Said Joe, throwing an Ultra Ball at the Transform Pokémon. The Ball wobbled for a few seconds until it clicked.

“Great!” Said Joe. “10 down, three to go! Next up are Munna, Kricketot, and Bronzong! I know I already have Solrock and Lunatone, but evil teams apparently love to use Steel-Type Pokémon. Next stop, Wayward Cave in Sinnoh!” Joe returned Linoone to his Poke Ball, sent out Talonflame, and rode her to Sinnoh to catch Bronzor.

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Back in Eterna Forest, the Super-Strong Seven were just finishing off some Grunts.

“That was the last of them.” Said Cynthia.

“Not quite!” Said a voice. It was Giovanni. A few seconds later, he, Archie, and Lysandre arrived on three different Flying-Type Pokémon. “You all thought I retired, right? Wrong! We’re going to summon the all-powerful Arceus, and there’s nothing you can do about it!” Giovanni blew into the Azure Flute, and faster than you can say ‘Goldeen Need Log’, Arceus appeared out of a vortex.

“Arceus!” Everyone but Giovanni gasped. Giovanni threw a Master Ball at the Alpha Pokémon, and after a few seconds of wobbling, the Ball clicked.

“YES!” Giovanni shouted. “Lysandre! We’re not done yet! Off to Aether Paradise! And don’t bother following us! Archie will keep the Headquarters barricaded until our new planets are born!” As Giovanni and Lysandre flew off, Maxie got out of the HQ and sent out Claydol.

“Claydol!” He said. “Use Reflect!” Claydol covered the entire Chateau in a mysterious force field that only RR affiliates could enter. “Just give up, you morons! Even if you find a way inside, you won’t stand a chance between me, Archie, Giovanni, Lysandre, and four powerful Legendaries!

Claydol! Strip these Trainers of their Items and trap them in Cerulean Cave!” Claydol did just that, and the Super-Strong Seven were sent to Cerulean Cave.

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In the skies of Alola, Giovanni and Lysandre were having a conversation.

“Arceus can change Types depending on the elemental Plate it holds.” Giovanni explained. “With the help of an expert scientist, we can reverse engineer Arceus so it can switch between the Plates with ease. Luckily, they have all 17 Plates at the laboratory.”

“Excellent plan, boss!” Said Lysandre. “But what scientist will we ask to work on Arceus?”

“I know the person in mind.” Said Giovanni, and the two of them landed in Aether Paradise. Faba was walking around with research notes in his arms.

“Will he do?” Asked Lysandre.
“Definitely.” Replied Giovanni, sending out Nidoking. “Nidoking! Use Bind!” Nidoking used his long tail to wrap around Faba like an Arbok.

“What do you want?!” Faba asked frantically.

“We want to reverse engineer Arceus so it can switch between the 17 Plates with ease.” Replied Giovanni.

“But you don’t even have…” Said Faba, until Arceus was sent out. “Arceus? No, I won’t do it.”

“Okay.” Said Giovanni. “Have it your way. Nidoking, use Head Smash!” Nidoking was about to pierce its mighty horn into Faba’s body until the scientist gave in.

“Okay, okay! I’ll help!” Pleaded Faba. “Just please don’t kill me!”

“Great.” Said Giovanni. “Now, pack what you need. We're taking you to our secret base in Sinnoh.”

Author's Notes: In Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, enhanced remakes of Red and Blue, one of the passwords to the Rocket Warehouse is apparently 'Goldeen Need Log', which is the same spelled forwards and backwards.

Giovanni's plan to reverse-engineer Arceus so it can switch from Type to Type is inspired by a genetically-engineered Eevee in the Pokémon Adventures manga, in which Team Rocket put a chip on an Eevee that will let it switch back and forth from Vaporeon, Flareon, and Jolteon. Red, who acts a lot like Ash in the anime, catches Eevee, names him Vee, removes the chip from the Evolution Pokémon, and eventually evolves it into Espeon.

The original trading card for Nidoking actually states that the Drill Pokémon actually wraps its tail around its prey like a python.

It reads "Uses its powerful tail in battle to smash, constrict, then break its prey's bones."

In Pokémon X and Y, the only place where you can catch Ditto is Pokémon Village, a secluded area west of the Winding Woods in Route 20. Players will be able to catch some cool Pokémon only found in this area, including Ditto (like in this chapter), Banette, and even Mewtwo!

Faba is a scientist players encounter in Sun and Moon, and he specializes in Psychic-Type Pokémon.