The group of 6 walked out of the Gym after everything was done, but not without Ash messing with Gary and Green about how he isn't taking the 'easy' way out.
"I'm just saying, I'm doing all this, and yet you two are barely keeping up, I dunno…"
"Hey just because we aren't masochists like you doesn't mean anything!" Gary argued, "Besides I plan on doing it after, during the time we'll have in between now and the league."
What Gary was referring to was that the 'Gimmick challenge' could be done any time, and if you already had a badge then you could just get a rematch for the credit since you only need 3.
Gary is basically saying after he gets his 8th badge he'll go and rechallenge some Gym leaders' 8 badge teams since at the rate they're going they will probably have a good amount of downtime.
"Hey, if you're saying you need to be over-prepared then just say it,(¬‿¬)" Ash said taunting.
Green slightly snorted, "Says the one who doesn't battle Gym leaders without prep time,"
"Yeah well cope, I'm just better,"
Gary rolled his eyes, "Yeah whatever, anyway I guess we all just need 1 more badge then we're good."
"Yep" Ash nodded, "And the last 'licensed' Gym is way over in Viridian, which we don't even know if it's open."
Green looked at Ash, "Can't you just go take us all over there, you know since you have an Abra?"
"Well, 1. No, we still have that bet, don't think I forgot, and 2, even If I wanted to I can't, I didn't have Abra when we passed Viridian, heck I didn't even have her when I got to Pewter, at best I can go to Cerulean."
"That sounds… tedious," Misty said, "How long would that even take?"
"Well assuming we take the fastest path, and considering I can't use my Birds to fly, then probably like a little less than a month's journey."
Gary shrugged, "Well I may not have a magic teleporting fox, but I do have a car, so while you all struggle to get there I'll already be walking out with my badge, so smell you later!"
As Gary began walking away Green looked over at everyone, "He does realize that the next boat isn't until like 2 days from now right?"
Green just shrugged back, "Hey it's his loss, anywayyy-"
"Ash-y" Green said looking over at him
"I told you I hated that nickname," Ash said not even looking at Green
"What do I need to do to convince you," Green held her hands together.
"Not happening"
"Please-"
As this was going on Brock and Misty looked at each other watching the interaction, then at Yellow who was completely acting unfazed.
Misty leaned over, "How normal is this?"
"Hmm?" Yellow looked over, "Oh, well this happens a lot, it usually ends when one of them gives up or someone pulls them apart."
Brock looked back, "So should we-"
"I kinda want to see where this goes,"
Ash sighed after a moment, "OK so you're not exchanging your favor right?"
"No, I'm saving that."
"*sigh* OK you can go but I get to put stipulations in that favor."
Green looked at him skeptically, "Depends what they are."
"1. You are not allowed to braid my hair, 2. You are not allowed to dye my hair, 3. You can't make me change what I wear permanently, 4. You can't make me dress like a girl again, and 5. You can't make me your servant for the day."
As Green started thinking Brock and Misty couldn't help but wonder why those were oddly specific.
"Is number 4 negotiable?"
"It is not."
"Hmmmm… Finnneee," Green said begrudgingly.
"Alright, pleasure doing business with you," Ash said as he reached down his jacket to pull out Abra, not the Pokeball the whole thing, "You should probably put on appropriate clothes, it's still Fall," he said specifically looking at Misty.
"Do we have to…" Misty said
"Yes we do, so everyone should go grab their stuff and-" Ash started but was stopped when something happened.
Out of nowhere a Unidentified Flying Pokemon flew to the air and fell down very quickly, until it crashed into Ash's head knocking him to the ground.
The Pokemon in question was a majestic beast, standing at about 3 ft, with Yellow feathers, sitting on top of Ash's head was Psyduck, who looked like he didn't know what happened.
"Oh Psyduck there you are," Misty said as she picked up the duck, "Where even were you?"
As that happened Brock knelt down to look at Ash, it didn't take a genius to notice that a surprise duck attack took him by, well surprise. And he was actually knocked out.
"Yeah, it looks like Ash's out cold," Brock said as he picked Ash up by the shoulder, "He's probably going to be out for a few hours."
Misty heard this and then looked at Psyduck's derpy eyes, "Perhaps I Treated You Too Harshly."
Psyduck just tilted his head, "Psy?"
—
{In the League Building}
Lance just finished hearing the reports from Spark, Candela, and Blanche. And he was handed the reports Blanche collected along with some of the goop.
Lance wasn't an expert in this kind of thing so it was sent to the League lab, he would also probably talk to Blaine about it later.
"I see, well then this is a very particular situation," Lance said as he tapped on his desk, "I guess we can't do anything until we can get more information from one of those Admins that have been captured."
"I see," Blanche said deep in thought.
"Wellll, I guess that means we have some time to ourselves again!" Spark said, putting his arms over his head, "I have some eggs I need to check up on!"
Candela shook her head, "Only you can lighten the mood like this,"
Lance just watched the interaction and slightly chuckled, "I suppose so, until we receive more words then you can go tend to your Pokemon, so you can go."
Everyone nodded and as they were about to turn to leave Lance spoke up again, "Blanche a word?"
Spark and Candela looked at Blanche, who gave them a reassuring nod then turned back as Spark and Candela walked out and closed the door behind them.
Lance flipped his computer screen showing the message from before, the one that warned them about Team Rocket, "You remember this right, well before I left I sent an encrypted version to our tech specialists to see if they could track the origin of this message."
Blanche nodded, "And what were the results?"
Lance shrugged, "Nothing, and I don't mean that it looked like it was removed, no they found that it was practically created and sent in the same computer, which is mine."
Blanche's eyebrow raised, "That… doesn't make sense, even if someone hacked it there should still be a signal that needed to be followed."
Lance nodded at Blanche's words, "Your right, it doesn't, so I resent them an unencrypted version to see if that changed anything, but also I want you to take a look, this is your area of express and you were the one who suggested it in the first place."
Blanche nodded, "Of course, I will work on it to the best of my ability."
Lance waved his arm, "There's no harm in not finding anything, I had them also check to see if anything was added or taken out of any League software, as far as everyone could find nothing was taken or even looked at by someone who shouldn't."
But then he turned serious, "But there's no telling if it will stay that way, whoever this is clearly has access to classified Team Rocket information, they may even know whoever this new Boss of Team Rocket is."
Blanche's ears perked up at that, "I was curious, you said there was a new boss, how are you so sure."
"Well, about 10 Years ago Koga, Surge, and Giovanni were all a part of Team Rocket as high-rank members, but they betrayed Team Rocket and turned in the Boss at the time known only as Madame Boss, and she is still in captivity."
Blanche's eyes widened, "You mean 2 of the Kanto Gym leaders and a member of the Johto Elite 4 were once part of Team Rocket?"
"Yes, they clearly didn't like whatever they were doing, so they were able to aid us in taking down Team Rocket all those years ago, and because of that they were rewarded by being given Gym leader positions."
—
{International Police headquarters}
"Due to exceptional work and being one of the main reasons we were able to learn of Team Rocket's invasion, along with aiding in the arrest of a Team Rocket Admin, it is my Honor to give you this promotion Anabel."
This was a somewhat party going on in the office, after everyone returned Looker and Anabel were given praise for their work, and were both offered promotions but Looker rejected him, but Anabel didn't.
The festivities went on for a while with everyone congratulating them and other celebrations, if you didn't know any better you'd forget this was a Police headquarters.
After a few hours, People started going back to their own work, they couldn't slack off due to there being 2 Admins in their custody when they could try interrogating them.
Looker and Anabel however were given some vacation time, about 2 weeks to recover from everything, so inevitably they were alone in the office again.
Anabel walked over to Looker and slightly elbowed him, "Hey look at me go, be careful or I might outrank you one day."
But Looker didn't take it to heart, "Then when you do please don't send me on tons of missions."
Anabel chuckled until she looked at him, "Why'd you reject your promotion, they offered you the head of the secret division, that's like one of the top spots!"
"It's…complicated, let's just say I can't outrank someone in all good faith," Looker scratched the back of his head.
Anabel felt there was something else but she didn't really want to pry deeper so she dropped the topic, "Well what do you think we should do in our vacation time, I don't think I've ever gotten any time off since I joined."
Looker shrugged, "I usually go and find a good book or travel around."
"Wow that's kinda boring," a third voice said
"Yeah you have a point," Anabel said agreeing, until she noticed what happened and she quickly turned to the source, which was obviously the computer, with Ash's silhouette and 2 red eyes looking.
"D. And here I was in a good mood," Anabel growled
"Wow, I'm hurt darling, and after all, I did to help you, by the way, congrats on the promotion!" that made Looker and Anabel frown.
"How did you know that?"
"Oh, but did you forget, I know everything," Ash said as his voice and the screen became distorted before snapping back to normal
Looker just shrugged it off, ignoring what he did, "He's right, he did help us a lot and everything he said turned out to be true."
"Aww thanks, Looker, but I recommend you try and capture all the grunts still undercover, I can't imagine they'll stay much longer if Cole was captured."
Anabel cut in, "Enough with the chit-chat, you promised to answer a question, so I want answers!"
Ash chuckled, "Ok, yes I promised, but remember I said 1 honest question, it can be anything and I will answer it, take advantage I might not give you another chance."
"Will you stop cooperating with us?" Looker said frowning
"No, I might give you more questions but there's no guarantee I'll answer truthfully, this however I promise you will be 100% truthful so use it wisely."
There were dozens of questions they could ask, from who Ash was all the way to the identity of the Boss of Team Rocket, Anabel wanted to use the question herself but she held herself back and was about to turn to discuss this with Looker, but suddenly he stepped forward.
"Tell us what you know about Anabel."
Before Anabel could say anything, Ash's voice turned serious, "Are you sure, this isn't something to be taken lightly, I want you to understand when I say you might not like what I tell you."
Looker looked at Anabel, she stopped for a moment and turned to Ash on the screen, "Yes, tell me what you know, I'll accept whatever happens."
Ash sighed, "Very well, first I must tell you this wasn't easy to find, I had to dig pretty deep, I assume you both understand how wonky those wormholes are."
They both nodded, not wanting to remember them, it brought back bad memories.
"Well, I need you to brace yourself, you're not going to like what I say," Ash said as he cleared his throat.
"Anabel Sterling was pronounced Dead 8 years ago, along with her Father Gabriel Sterling, and Mother Elena Sterling."