"Sir, is it right to wait, given the current situation?"
Within a dense forest, a man with his face covered by a mask spoke to another man.
Atlas looked at his subordinate and shook his head. "We have orders from Lady Agatha. She asked us to attack only when she gives a green light."
"But…"
"We cannot disobey an Elite Four. And do you think she does not care for the lives of those children?" Atlas sighed and looked toward the cave entrance. "Even if those kids are to walk out of that hell hole miraculously, we are to stay still until we are told to move. As much as I hate it, I believe in Lady Agatha just as much." He looked at his vice-captain. "Make sure others know it too, and don't make a mistake."
"Yes, Sir."
"Also, is the backup here?"
-0-
A man with a Persian by his side looked down at the city in a room on the highest floor of a tall building.
"Boss, why are we helping the League? Why do we need to send a backup?"
Giovanni said nothing and kept looking down while patting the Persian.
*Meow*
The Pokémon purred as it enjoyed the pats.
There was silence in the room before Giovanni rotated his chair toward his subordinate.
"Koga, how long have you been under me?"
"Two decades."
"Hmm. Then you should know I am not helping the League, right?" Giovanni looked at his subordinate with a smirk on his face. "It's a smokescreen."
"A smokescreen?"
"I have a project that is in an undertaking, and I cannot have the League look at Team Rocket till it is complete. Therefore, I need a smokescreen to cover it."
"Then The Syndicate…?"
"Do you think those third-rate criminals of Orre, who have been playing house in their small lands, had the guts and brains to do what they are doing?" Giovanni laughed as he looked at Koga's shocked eyes. "I influenced them from shadows."
"The old coots at the top would now focus on this new threat and ignore Team Rocket which they believe is already in their hands." Koga marvelled at Giovanni's plan. "It will give you enough time to complete your project."
Giovanni nodded. "I called you here for a reason."
"Please, give me the orders."
"It is nothing too taxing. I heard an interesting rumour from Kalos. Since you are the eyes and ears of Team Rocket, I want you to have your subordinates investigate it." Giovanni threw a small file toward Koga. "Read it and then burn it. No one should know about this than the two of us. Once you confirm the information, kill the one who gathered it."
Giovanni rotated the chair once again, looking down at the city.
"Good night, Boss."
Koga bowed and left the leader of Team Rocket alone in his penthouse.
'The Syndicate. Put on a good show for me.'
-0-
"How could they be so cruel?"
At first, Aeron and the group thought that The Syndicate was using Electric-type Pokémon for energy, but no. What they were doing was pure torture.
The Pokémon were wired up and forced to run on treadmills. But this was not the end of it. The wires attached to them were sucking the life energy from these Pokémon to create more energy than they otherwise could.
There were at least fifty Pokémon, and each one was worse than the other.
Pichu and Pikachu were absent-mindedly running on the treadmills, getting their life force engulfed.
The state of Pokémon running on the treadmill sent shivers down the spine of all those who saw. All of them were on the verge of death. It was a pure miracle that they were still alive.
"Axew."
Even the always-scared Axew showed visible anger on his face, and as calm as Aeron had been for the whole time, he could not control his anger. Something deep inside him bubbled up as he looked at the poor state of these Pokémon.
Without a word said, he walked forward toward the Pokémon.
"Pichu!"
He felt a tug at his leg and saw a Pichu biting his shoe. Its cheeks were caved in, and its once pure eyes were filled with despair and anger.
Aeron felt his chest squeeze. How could one be so cruel?
He kneeled and raised his hand toward the Pichu, but the little mouse Pokémon used its immature teeth to bite his fingers. Aeron felt no pain, just anger at the bastards responsible for this.
With a soft sigh, he picked the Pichu, who was now afraid, in despair, desperate for its life.
"I will end it here." He whispered to the mouse's ears.
Despite its protest, Aeron took out the best potion on him and used all of it on the yellow mouse. Once done, he removed one of the pokeballs registered under his name and tapped Pichu's head with it.
With zero resistance, the little mouse got sucked into the Pokémon and, after three beeps, locked inside the Pokeball, safe.
"Does anyone have spare Pokeballs?" He turned toward the four leaders and the trainers. Without asking twice, everyone with a spare Pokeball walked forward. As scared as they were, the state of the Electric-type Pokémon was not something they could bear.
"There are colonies of Pikachu in Viridian Forest; they must have taken them from one of the many."
"This is where the last and most crucial part of our plan begins," Aeron spoke coldly, something Nessa had never heard in the last few days. But she could understand why the usually calm and cheerful boy acted as such. She was filled with anger, but she knew, and he knew it too; they were too weak to do anything to these criminals, or at least the Boss who gave the orders for such cruelty.
"I will pull the plug, cutting off all the power. Their towers will be down, and they won't be able to use their microphone linked to those towers." He showed them the microphone he got from Jinga and the one from the man he just thrashed with the help of Ekans. "Three people are guarding the path we have to follow. One, as soon as we take a right from the end of this path." He pointed toward the direction they would go from here. "Two at the exit of the cave."
Everyone gulped. They knew a fight was incoming.
"But the grunts are nothing but novices, the same rank as you guys, and their leaders are sleeping. If we can charge simultaneously and bombard them with our attacks, we can defeat them and be out by the time the two strongest appear." His words made others understand the advantage they had. The surprise factor and the numerical advantage. "Once we are out, follow your leaders, and they will lead you to the Viridian City Pokémon Centre."
"But first, let's save these guys."
Aeron walked toward the power supply. But before he could do anything, he felt a tug on his head as Axew jumped off, his tusks glowing in purplish light. It was denser and stronger than he had used against the training dummy last time.
"AXEW!"
Aeron could hear the rage in the Dragon's scream as he spun in the air and slashed his tusks at the control board. He did not stop until the whole thing was smithers.
As soon as the control board was destroyed, the treadmill stopped working, and the Pokémon lifelessly dropped to the ground.
The trainers did not wait and threw Pokeballs, capturing all of them. They had another goal now; bringing these guys to Viridian or Pewter City Pokémon Centre as soon as possible.
Aeron walked forward and patted the head of the panting Dragon.
"Feels bad, right?" Aeron felt the slight nod from the young Dragon. "Unfortunately, we cannot do anything since we are too weak."
"Axew…"
"Remember this rage. Don't let it burn out."
He picked up Axew and placed him atop his head. Once all the pokeballs were collected, it was time to move.
"Let's go."
The forty-five trainers made a beeline for the path that led outside. After running for two minutes at full speed, Aeron saw the path divide into three.
"The right-most."
The group kept running toward the exit without pausing for even a moment. Aeron, who was at the front, kept looking for the enemy, but so far, he saw none. A frown appeared on his face.
'There should have been one guarding the path right about here.' He looked to his left. A path that led deeper into the cave appeared before him. At the end of this path was the Boss room and the rooms of the rest of the grunts. It was supposed to be guarded at all times, but currently, there was no one there.
'Something doesn't feel right.'
-------------------------End of Chapter-------------------------
Author's Note:
- Let me know your thoughts in the comment sections! Have any suggestions? I am open to them!
- Drop some Power Stones to support the book.
- Peace!