Pokémon City #017 - And In The End...
You know the legal stuff by... er, Pokémon, all related elements tm, (C) Creatures/GAME FREAK/Nintendo.
Storyline, art by Robert H. Magnusson.

"Come on, Marrilyn - THEN what happened?!" Ray looked up from cleanup work at Club Thunder anxiously as Lyn told of what had happened at Team Rocket's base.

"Well, although Tartaruga's minions had us surrounded, most of them were still out on Rocket patrols, so it was just Kruehler, Spiro, and Percy. It was a very one-sided battle, though, thanks to Chue's powerful attacks combined with my water energy..."

"Well, that's THAT..." Chue had surveyed the scene as the minions lay knocked out around the floor, near the now deactivated de-evolution beam.

"Thank goodness. I was beginning to get TIRED of fighting."

"Don't be silly, Lyn, who could get tired of fighting...?"

"Let's get out of here before... eep!" Tartaruga, angered at seeing his minions go down, had thrown aside his white vest and rushed at us...

"RRRRRRR.... YOU BRATS WILL PAY FOR THIS!!"

"So, of course, Chue stopped him cold..."

"If he did, Ray, why would he still be at the Pokémon Center?"

"You mean...?"

Chue had attempted his most powerful attack against the Blastoise boss, but all he could manage was a few pitiful sparks. "HAH - Oh... no! I'm out of ENERGY again!"

That was the opening Tartaruga needed to drench Chue with his most powerful water jets, knocking him clear off his feet and hard against the wall. It was clear he wasn't going to come to anytime soon, leaving me all alone...

I waited as Tartaruga rushed toward me, preparing to use his physical attacks to finish us off. Fortunately I had a plan...

"All right, you - OOP!" I had quickly and accurately placed a puddle of water where Tartaruga was to stop, which as I had hoped but wasn't quite sure about, caused him to slip, the momentum of his attack now sending him skidding out of control...

SMASH - Before I knew what was happening, Tartaruga slammed his chin hard into the control panel of the beam, which gave off awful sparks, followed by a sudden jolt of power. I was hoping it would knock him out, but it turns out he had been out cold once he hit the panel - the jolt was actually a beam fired by the machine as its last shot...

"No - *" From the next room, Sandra was just coming to, in time to see the beam of light coming right at her... A sudden, piercing scream filled the air, followed by a hefty thump. The beam unit gave off a few more sparks and quit working altogether.

I rushed into the next room - Sandra was Sandy again, laying where her quills had detached in the devolution. Although the machine had quit before de-anthroing her...

"De-anthroing?!"

"Oh, hey, Chue! Yes, de-anthroing, whatever you want to call it. You going to be okay?"

"As usual, I never felt better!"

Now then, although she still was an anthropomorph, the force had rendered her as unconscious as everyone else in the base... except me. "Sorry, Sandy... good night."

And so, normalcy had returned, such as it may be in Pokémon City...

"This just handed to me - " Marrilyn's recounting was cut short by the news reporter on the television, interrupting the nearest Pokémon event. "Thanks to Chue Raton, the Pikachu lightweight champion, and Marrilyn, his Pikablu friend..."

"....."

"Easy, Lyn..."

"...Team Rocket's Pokémon City headquarters have now been discovered. Unfortunately, the base was found abandoned, with only the following message found scrawled in heavy ink on the wall - "YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF US!"

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Lyn..."

"Tomorrow?! But it's only three!"

"I know, but I have a few loose ends to tie up..."

Charlie Blazer sat alone, sighing deeply as he looked out at Pokémon City from the cliff. He had such hopes for his career, and now it was all but over... Suddenly a shadow behind him drew his attention; it was Raton, the one who had... The two spend a long time in conversation, discussing what had happened since the fateful tournament... Soon the conversation turned into a friendly confrontation... no rules and certainly no Team Rocket...

"Wow - you really ARE that tough!" Chue made no effort to pick himself off the ground - he wasn't injured, just knocked off his feet after a tough battle. "YOU should be lightweight champion..."

"NONSENSE! You've already proven yourself to be a better fighter..." Charlie smiled. "Still, there's always NEXT year."