[Battle] ARCHER vs CARTH

[abyss]

ROUND 1
ARCHER vs CARTH
BATTLE COMMENCE

[Deleted]

A midnight stroll. Inside a cave. That was what Archer had decided to do on this night, while the rest of the Team Rocket Whirl Islands HQ was sound asleep. The Team Rocket Executive had been having quite a bit of trouble sleeping recently, doubtless due to his schizophrenia. Over the past few days he had been waking up completely exhausted after he had been tossing and turning constantly as he experienced hallucination after hallucination in his sleep. Even worse was the fact that his jaw was completely sore due to the constant chattering of his teeth while sleeping.

He wasn't exactly sure why he thought that midnight walk through the Team Rocket HQ complex would actually help him sleep better. He had never felt like doing something like this before, but then again, his schizophrenia had never been this severe, and he needed to try to tire himself out so that his mind might decided to stop messing with him while he slept. Archer knew that this would likely be a futile effort, but he had to try something.

Even more awkward about this moment was the fact that this 'leisurely stroll' had taken him through multiple rooms which wouldn't exactly give most people 'peace of mind.' Having walked through a generator room where multiple Electrode looked as though they were about to collapse from exhaustion and a laboratory with bloodstains covering an experiment table, Archer had now made his way up to the first floor of the HQ, and was now walking past the temporarily unmanned reception desk. It was here that the Team Rocket Executive had decided that he would be heading back down to his office to try and get some shut eye. He was beginning to feel somewhat worn out, a sign that this idea might actually have a small chance of working. He supposed that this was because he had decided to walk up the stairs to the top floor, rather than take the elevator. After all, he wouldn't get tired out simply by riding the elevator to wherever he needed to go.

The Team Rocket Executive turned towards the stairs, and began to walk towards them planning to walk back down to the floor where his office was located.

[carth]

((Mild Trigger Warning))

If only the Rockets knew what was coming. If only they were better prepared, but it would seem they weren't. Lux had come to the Whirl Islands, and they were seeking blood. I'm sorry, they were technically just seeking "Glory for Lux". It was Carth that was seeking blood. This was the first battle in which his dear sister Skell was appearing personally, bringing with her the might of the Saffron Army. By army I mean Mafia, but whatever you get it. Carth was an admin of Skell's Mafia, and thus would be dragged along to do his noble duty for King and Country. He didn't mind being dragged. An invasion of an island supposedly populated by mostly Nox civilians meant he could finally kill people and not be looked down upon for it. This was gonna be more like a vacation than a work obligation.

Or, Maybe not. The helicopter Carth and his men were on landed outside a cave, a good ways away from any civilians. Carth and ten grunts jumped out onto the sand and prepared to assault the cave. According to the Lux briefing, Team Rocket had made the Whirl Island caves their home. That was unfortunate, Carth was always a fan of Team Rocket. Heck if he wasn't stuck under Skell's thumb, he would have probably joined up with them. Oh well, maybe in another life. While his grunts adjusted the ammo of their guns, Carth straightened the tie of his suit and looked to his belt. On said belt sat six pokeballs ready for battle, Carth picked off two of them. With a ball in each hand, Carth enlarged them and unleashed their contents. Porksy the Blatoise and Darls the Roserade stretched themselves out as the copter pilot relayed some information to Carth.

"Alright, so you and your squad are gonna scout this cave. If you find anyone within, scare them out. We need the caves emptied for the fleet. Don't get into any big fights before backup arrives yeah? Good luck!" The copter flew off, leaving Carth and his men on their own. Carth scoffed, "Lux bitches trying to tell me what to do. As if I'd listen. K boys you know the plan. Get in, kill everything that moves, and have fun! If any of you even think of being merciful I'll shoot your balls off." Carth pulled out his own sleek gold pistol and twirled it on his right index finger. "If those maps we looked at are right, we're down south and the bulk of the settlements will be northward from here. If we just head North, we should reach them in no time. Then the real fun starts. Also if I hear any bitching I'm gonna rip out your eyes and leave ya in the caves? We clear?" His grunts cheered, ready to pound some heads in. Carth chuckled, "Perfect, let's move out! Porksy! Darls! Stay by me."

The Roserade and Blastoise moved next to their master and stayed by his side as the band entered the caves. It was pretty dang dark, but no one seemed to mind. It was just as Carth said, they would shoot anything that moved. So what did they possibly have to worry about? I'll tell you what...nothing. Seriously, this place was abandoned! There wasn't even any Zubats, what did Rocket catch them all? Talk about a let down.

Carth tried to push their path northward but the cave kept going west. Besides the sound of the group's collective footsteps it was silent. Combine that with the dark and apparent lack of life and you can surely understand why these goons were itching their triggers. They walked onward, perhaps for hours, perhaps for minutes. A while in, a little seel waddled in front of their path. Carth's men took shots at it. Needless to say, the poor thing was obliterated. Carth looked on with disgust...those punks just ruined a perfectly fine potential hat.

They moved onward, keeping a watchful eye out for any funny business. Since they have gone so far into the cave, ti was only natural that they would eventually run into an entrance to the Team Rocket Base. You would think they would do a better job of hiding it. How could you miss a moderately sized metal sliding door with a bit red R painted on it and a blue light hanging over it? Carth stopped the group and they stared at it for a while. One of the grunts was about to say something but a shot would interrupt him...and never let him speak again. Another shot went out and took out another grunt. Carth pointed his gun forward and began to fire into the dark. His men did the same. His two pokemon stood in front of him, waiting to take a bullet for their master. None would come, after unloading their rounds toward the door they would find no more shots coming toward them.

The party stepped forward, and as they neared the door they would eventually find the source of the enemy fire. Three Rocket Grunts lay dead in the shadows. It would have probably been a fine idea to invest in some hip high barriers near these entrances, but whatever funding was probably needed elsewhere. With the coast clear, Carth examined the current environment. The sliding door needed a keycard, surely one of these dead chumps had one on them. To the left was a wall, and to the right was another wall with a medium sized opening into it. Carth peeked into the opening and found found that it led a bit downward to a northward water route. Carth thought for a moment before formulating an idea."Alright listen up, seven of you are gonna crawl through this opening and follow that water. Me and Mr. Slim over here are gonna infiltrate this here Rocket Base and get some goodies to bring to Lux. Go as far as you can and if you hit an exit, wait for us there. We wont be long. If more than three hours go by, you have my permission to shoot yourselves. Move out!"

The men gave each other odd looks before beginning their crawl. The Mr. Slim (whose real name is Jeffery by the way) that Carth referred to was a skinny weirdo who had taken extensive acting classes in college. What Carth had in mind would need an acting type. He motioned for Slim to follow him and walked over to the dead grunts. He examined the three bodies carefully. One was shot in the head and had a clean uniform. Carth would take that one. Another was shot straight in the heart, but the bullet hole in the uniform was small and the blood was unnoticeable on the black uniform fabric. The third was pointless to examine, there was barely a person left no less a uniform. Carth and Slim quickly changed into the uniforms and also examined the cardkeys to their respective grunts. I could go on about Carth's complaints about the design but that cause more filler than there already is. Carth slid his key into the key slot next to the door and replaced the grunt's belt with his own pokeball belt. He quickly returned Porksy and Darls to their pokeballs before turning to Slim. "Don't fuck this up Slim. We have to keep up this cover until the proper moment. We ain't revealing ourselves until I say so. Crack under the pressure I'll rip your ass off. Same goes for if you die." Slim nodded, looking a bit clammy. His uniform was still wet and it didn't feel very comfortable. The door eventually opened, revealing an elevator. The two of them stepped inside and Carth pushed the button to the first bottom floor.

[Deleted]

At the exact moment that Archer had put his foot down the first set of steps. Archer had heard a loud, yet spontaneous banging sound. The sound faded away in practically a nanosecond, just as suddenly as it had come. Even though the sound was somewhat faded having traveled through layers of walls and stone, it was unmistakable to Archer as to what had caused it. Gunfire. This was somewhat confusing to the Rocket Executive, as the shooting range had closed hours ago. Why would someone be using a gun now? Unless...there were hostiles nearby! Archer couldn't jump to conclusions just yet, since the presence of intruders would mean wake up the entire base, and they would be none too pleased if this turned out to be a false alarm.

Of course, there was a way for Archer to investigate where the sound had come from, and it was right on this floor. The Executive darted back up the stairs to the 1st basement floor and ran across the room to the entrance to the security center. Surely the guard who was supposed to be watching over the base via the many monitors connected to the large amount of security cameras would be able to tell what had happened.

With Archer's luck however, it wouldn't be that straightforward. No sooner had he opened the door to the security center, than had he noticed the guard who was supposed to be watching the monitors for any out of the ordinary activity, was laying back in his chair, snoring up a storm. The Executive growled angrily, and stormed over towards the chair. He didn't even try to verbally wake the guard up. He was so livid that he grabbed the chair and quickly threw it down to the ground in a not so gentle way. Needless to say, the guard woke up instantly, and quickly felt a strong pain in his left arm, and clutched it while crying out in pain. Archer did not care enough to tend to the mans wounds and simply said "Imbecile!" Before turning his attention to what he had come here for. Staring at the monitors, his eyes scanned each of them for a few seconds before he finally found something out of the ordinary, and boy was it ever out of the ordinary.

Archer stared in shock at the scene on the monitor which was connected to the camera at the main entrance to the base. Laying there, in pools of blood, were 3 Team Rocket grunts. Alarm bells immediately went off in Archer's head. There were hostile intruders here. But where were they now? Archer quickly looked over all of the other monitors to see if he could find anything, but none of the monitors revealed anything. Perhaps they were hiding in one of the restrooms, or elevators, places where security cameras had not been installed (for obvious reasons with regard to the former). Thinking quickly, Archer decided that maybe he could persuade them to come out of hiding if he let them know that he knew that they were here. And since he was at the security center, that wouldn't be too difficult. Archer reached for a large red button on the left side of the console. Immediately a loud siren began to blare loudly. Surely the intruders would be able to hear that. Now what Archer had to do was to demand that they give themselves up. Archer leaned over the console with his mouth adjacent to the microphone, connected to the bases PA system. He keyed the microphone and said, "Attention intruders, wherever you are, come out from your hiding place and put your hands on your heads!" Archer quickly turned his gaze back to the security monitors to see where the intruders might emerge from.

[carth]

They made it to their destination, fueled with adrenaline and crippling anticipation. What lay on the other side of this door could mean the difference between this little side mission's success or failure. Carth was keeping himself close to the wall and near the floor buttons just in case things were bad from the get-go. He could not even imagine the actual horror he saw as the metal door slid open.

The room in which they emerged on was very very big...and very very empty. Where the hell was everyone? Did Rocket already know about the attack and were hiding themselves in some bottom floor bunker? Were they doing some sort of drill? Were they assembling for the fight? Whatever it didn't matter, where ever they were it pretty much screwed Carth and Slim since the interior of this place was probably covered in cameras and they would be seen as the only dumb ass grunts running around looking suspicious. Carth's immediate reaction was that they should hide, hide somewhere where the cameras couldn't see them. Perhaps the bathroom or some sort of grunt changing room or-

Sim reached over and pressed the button for the next floor down. Carth nearly slapped him across the face for doing something without his command before quickly "calming himself down" and hissing, "What the hell are you doin'?" Slim's eyes were cold and tight as he replied, "Look around, there aren't any cameras in this elevator. It is strategically in our favor to keep moving so that we may avoid detection. Besides, there was nothing of use to us on that floor anyway." Carth processed this information, glancing around the elevator to make sure Slim told the truth, and then responded in a much calmer tone, "How would you know if there was nothing there? You saw all those hallway...things. They probably led to some labs or some-"

The elevator doors unexpectedly opened as it reached the B2nd floor. Carth and Slim looked outward to see a lone man in a lab coat staring back at them, most likely waiting for the elevator. After staring for a moment, the scientist nodded to the two before stepping onto the platform. It seems he fell for their disguises. "3rd floor please." The scientist wearily said. Carth did as he was told, asking him as the door closed, "Do you work on this floor?" The scientist stared at Carth as if he had three heads. "Of course I do what kind of que-" Slim cut the man off by slamming his fists into his head. The man fell to his knees in surprise, Carth joined in by letting loose a swift kick to the man's face. He toppled backward and was out like a light. Slim looked over him, "You'd think he would find our presences initially alarming." Carth scoffed, "Shut up and give me his clothes."

As soon as Carth finished that sentence, the worst case scenario happened. An alarm went off. Carth's heart rate doubled and he soon fumbled as quickly as he could to switch out his grunt suit with the scientist's attire. As Carth finished his wardrobe change, a voice would come on the intercom. The door opened as the man spoke, and Carth quickly pressed the button for the B2nd floor. The man knew there were intruders and that they were hiding, making this a shit situation for Slim and Carth. Carth looked to Slim as he exchanged his uniform for Carth's and rolled his eyes, "Damn it does it matter?" Slim huffed, "Mine had a hole in it." Carth grunted and fumbled for the Scientist's ID card. This should get him into whatever is on the B2nd floor, though would that matter now? If the guy from the intercom was watching for them somewhere, it probably wouldn't matter if he could get into the B2nd whatever or not! He'd be on his ass so fast that Carth's head would spin and fall off. Talk about shit creek.

The door opened, Carth pressed the button that closed the door but didn't choose a floor. Slim chipped, "You would think they would shut down the elevator by now." Carth ignored him and formulated a plan. Alright so with this siren going off emergency protocols would probably begin to take place, Grunts from all over the hide out would probably reveal themselves to make sure they went smoothly, and scientists aught to be making their way to the several entrances of the whatever-is-on-B2-section meaning he probably had a narrow chance of blending with those stragglers and make his way safely to the whatever. He would think of the rest from there. Carth turned to Slim and said, "I'm gonna go for it. Get to the first floor and make your way to the others. If you find them, just tell them go on without me. I'll catch up later. Alright?" Slim knew better than to argue with Carth and agreed with a nod. He would have liked to accompany him but with all this change in circumstance he felt this would be the best path to self preservation. Carth took a deep breathe before pressing the open door button and stepping out.

He strode at a brisk yet casual pace down a long hallway that would lead to a set of double doors. Carth's eyes immediately settled on the key card slot at the far right of the doors. With the scientist's key card in hand, he slid it through to gain access. He was approved. The doors opened inward to reveal another hallway that Carth quickly began walking down. His heart just pumped harder as he continued, what if he was wrong? What if all the residents of this B2 section were already huddled in their safe rooms waiting for the "intruders" to be extinguished? Carth's fears would be subsided as four sweaty individuals in lab coats would rush in from an upcoming fork in the hall and begin moving forward. Carth would let out a sigh of relief and hasten his pace to join their flock. The four would lead him down the hall and to a large sliding metal door. One of them would slide in their card and usher the others and Carth in before going in himself. What Carth found confirmed his previous suspicions. In front of him were a multitude of desks and tables with an assortment of technologies and test tubes scattered throughout. The B2 whatever was a lab, and the enemy had lead Carth right to it. The question now was what to do next...

[The Crash Man Ω]

VICTORY: CARTH

+200 WEP to Lux