I sat in a clearing in the Viridian forest with a task force. We'd claimed the space and set ourselves up to be ready. This meant a lot of our flying-type pokemon were already out.
At a moment's notice, we would be able to mount up and attack if we needed to.I sat with my fingers laced, the very picture of cool, calm and coll—"Your knee is bouncing," Sabrina said.I glanced down and noticed that Sabrina was correct; I was bouncing my leg with nervous energy. I called up some rock-type energy and settled my nerves."Now you're stiff as a stone," Sabrina said, nudging me with her psychic energy.I let out an explosive sigh. "Sorry, I'll try to relax, but it's just that we're so close to cutting the head off of this Team Rocket Arbok!"Sabrina merely inclined her head. "Indeed, I too am rather anxious to begin." Her lips thinned. "And I am also less than pleased that we are having to wait."I sighed again. The problem with having so many people in the room was that there had been a lot of people demanding that due process still be observed.Half the room had demanded we storm Cinnabar, Viridian, and other sites.The other half had clamoured that we needed to be better. They'd argued that we ask Giovanni to come in nice and casually. It was the least risky and offered us the biggest payout.In the end, Lance had capitulated, deciding for the easiest option despite my and other vocal objections that it would work.Lance had stared us all down, and I had to wonder if his draconic pride hadn't gotten in the way with how he'd stubbornly rejected our idea of storming Viridian. It might cause more chaos and be a 'louder' option, but it would work.In the end, Lance dictated a message to his secretary to be sent off to Giovanni.Everything about it was kept was as normal as possible.Sadly, I simply could not believe in the plan.I'd been part of the group arguing to storm Viridian City and cuff Giovanni.Lance had listened to both and decided to compromise to keep everyone happy.The League was being manned by various officers and Rangers, while others had split off with us and were around Sabrina and I in the clearing.It felt like we'd split the party.I sighed again. I really was doing that a lot today. I glanced to the side, staring at the twilight scene of Viridian and how the forest had become a chorus of pokemon calls as some pokemon nested while others became more active.It wasn't the pokemon on my mind however."So, by the tomorrow's sunset?" I said thoughtfully. What would it mean to have Team Rocket gone from Indigo? What would I even do with myself? Will wouldn't have a chance to advance after this and the biggest threat to my family would be gone.I shook my head. I was counting my eggs before they hatched which wasn't a good idea.Still…Lance had rather surprised me with how quickly he was acting.I suppose Agatha had been right when she said that the League was a slow beast to rouse, but once it was awakened, it was deadly."It will be nice not to worry about Team Rocket," Sabrina said lifting up a book and turning the page idly.I shifted. "Yeah, I guess I just… I'm not sure I can believe it. It seems like Team Rocket has always been there…" I fiddled with my thumbs, unsure what to say.Sabrina gave me a measuring look. "And their erasure will be good. They are a rot that drains at Indigo.""Yeah, I guess it will just be different." I smirked playfully, "I'm not sure what I'll do with myself when I'm not out raiding Team Rocket bases with my friends.""It was a rather fun pastime," Sabrina said with a smile.I chuckled. "I'm going to have so much free time on my hands."Sabrina tilted her head. "I'm sure we can find something to keep you busy," she said, her smile firmly in place. I grinned as she winked at me. Then she very pointedly raised her book and resumed reading, ignoring me.I huffed at her and instead looked around at our compatriots. Looker wasn't here; instead, Lorelei and Agatha had joined us. Thankfully, Bruno was also somewhere else. While we were going to be going in loud when we had to, I did not want to work with him for a long time if I could help it. He'd given me way too many headaches while helping.There was loud and then there was just… whatever Bruno was.Pryce and Oak had departed for Cinnabar when it was determined that Blaine would not come in, even if ordered.Apparently, he was notorious for being terrible at arriving on time or arriving at meetings. Some of them he'd outright never attended. Since he'd departed the Elite Four, he never came to the League.It had been rather odd, in fact, that he'd attended both in-person Gym Leader meetings along with most of the video calls. Although… now that I thought about it… he usually had his video feed muted."Did Blaine ever actually attend any of the meetings over video call?" I asked Sabrina."Signs indicate no," she said.I stared at her, lacing my fingers together, a very amusing image of her acting as my magic eight ball playing through my mind before I shook it off. No, bad Brock, don't use your psychic girlfriend like that.… chances are she'd be way more accurate. Scarily so.I continued to consider the pros and cons only for a man handling the communication with Koga to speak up. "Koga says he has a visual on Giovanni!"That had everyone perking up and looking over. Sabrina merely turned the page of her book."He says…" The man stared at the screen for a few minutes before huffing. "Alright he's not saying anything now. Urgh, we should have set up a safe microphone or something.""Koga already said he wouldn't do that. Something about keeping the chances of locating him as low as possible," I said, making sure to shut down any ideas of people calling him.I liked to think that Koga would know to mute his transceiver, but chances were it might still vibrate, or even distract him. We didn't need to borrow any problems; this operation was already risky enough.Koga was also old, so there was a non-zero chance that his transceiver might ring."We've got a video feed from some security cameras," said another, who had quickly set up a desk and laptop to tap into Viridian's camera network.There happened to be a few around the Gym itself, and so we were able to watch as Giovanni stepped out of the gym with another man walking next to him. The man threw out a pokeball and a moment later, a Hypno appeared.The trio then vanished in a flash."Did they just flee?" I asked firmly. Damn we'd have some egg on our faces if he did it right in front of us like that.Lorelei shook her head. "Wait for it; we should have confirmation from the League in a moment."The group shifted only for a message ping to have everyone staring at Lorelei as she read the text. "He's arrived in the League; he doesn't appear to know anything is amiss," she said with a pleased nod.The group all sighed in relief, but I could only frown. This seemed… too easy… too cut and dry.Too naive of Giovanni, a crime boss and veteran of the war.Or was that the issue?His instincts were gone after having been called to the League so much that it became simply routine for him?Was he making a mistake due to overconfidence?I chewed my lip as people started to get ready to move out. I offered Sabrina a hand out of habit, and she accepted it but didn't even need to use it to float up to a standing position. She kept my hand as the others mounted their pokemon to fly to the Gym.While Giovanni wasn't going to put up a fight, we still had to secure the Gym, and all the pokemon that Giovanni should have. I paused as I considered something. "How many are going to the farm where he deposited his pokemon for the Gym?"Unlike the Pewter Gym, the Viridian Gym was the original, and despite being rebuilt in the last decade, it was still limited with the zoning and land it could build on.It was enough for the main gym itself and not much else, meaning Giovanni had to have a farm to keep his pokemon when they weren't fighting. We'd looked through everything on his 'known' pokemon roster and tossed around other potential options he would have available to him. It hadn't been a fun consideration, especially when I knew that Mewtwo was at the top of that list.Hopefully, with Sabrina, Agatha, Lorelei, and myself all working together with Koga lurking in the wings, we'd be enough to give Mewtwo pause if he was here.Lorelei nodded her head. "We are sending enough that it shouldn't be an issue. The farm is well known and we've been over this. "I grunted. "Yeah, yeah, I know, just antsy, I guess?" I shook my head. "Can't believe that Giovanni just delivered himself to us like that."Agatha harrumphed. "Don't count your pokemon before they hatch boy, and even then be careful!" she said jabbing her stick towards me."Think he's still got a trick up his sleeve?" I said.Agatha snorted. "Does a Haunter's breath stink? Of course, he still has a trick up his sleeve!" she snapped. I glanced at her shadow and found it to be miming, breathing into its palm before sniffing and recoiling. Agatha slammed her stick into the ground, stabbing her shadow as she did."We should be vigilant!" she said, glaring at the much more relaxed police and rangers.Lorelei hummed but decided to merely nod. "We will be careful," she said as she gave the leaders of the other group a pointed stare. She then turned her gaze towards Agatha and Sabrina. "Ready to proceed?"Agatha nodded, and a pokeball was tossed out for a rather harried-looking Hypno to be released. It offered both women its hands, and then, as one, Lorelei, Agatha, Sabrina, and I vanished in a Teleport.We reappeared in front of the Gym and quickly stepped away from each other, just in case.Lorelei eyed us all with a small frown, having stayed put. I shot her a wan smile.I'd spent too many mornings of the last week being drilled on how dangerous the period of first arrival was to not move.Sabrina turned her attention to the Gym. "Giovanni has better dark emitters for his Gym than Silph Co. did," she said idly."Makes sense, he would have had a corporate budget without the scruples," I said in an offhand manner.Agatha waved a hand, and we proceeded forward to the front doors. The doors themselves were locked, so we instead had to buzz the doors. I held in a chuckle when I noticed that some sections of the wall looked like they were slightly newer, despite the attempts to blend them in with paint.I shot Sabrina a look, recalling the time we'd just thrown a boulder through the entrance.Good times.The door opened to reveal a confused-looking trainer. "Ah? Two Elite Four and two Gym Leaders? Is this about the meeting the boss got called to? You just missed him," he said, pointing his finger over our shoulders."He should be talking with—" was as much as he got to say before Sabrina nodded her head.That was enough of a confirmation for us. This man was a Rocket. He was good too. What with how he was keeping his cool in front of us. He was a real professional."We're not actually here for that… Mr Butch, is it?" Lorelei said, her eyes dipping to read his name tag.I blinked. Now why was that name familiar? Was he an Executive from the games? I got ready to react at a moment's notice. I found myself suddenly wishing for a Haunter or a pokemon that I could hide while walking around.If this Butch was an Executive, he could be a threat. Sabrina noticed my focus, and I knew she was ready to throw down with me if it came to that.Butch nodded at Lorelei, unaware I was ready to put him in the ground if he twitched wrong.Lorelei smiled back. "This is not a social visit. You are aware of Champion Lance's latest announcement?""Yes?" Butch said, suddenly much more unsure of himself."We are inspecting this facility; will you allow us entry? Or will you impede us?"Butch shifted back and forth, suddenly appearing so out of his depth that I almost wanted to laugh. "Uhm… this is my first week here? I think I need to get someone who knows what to do in a situation like this," he said, his eyes sliding to the side."We know what we're doing," Sabrina said helpfully.Butch raised a finger, "I meant like… my superior… or something like that?" he said."Lead us to them," Lorelei said with a winning smile.Behind us, a small army of trainers landed and began to cordon off the Gym. Butch glanced around us and swallowed loudly. "I can go get them," he offered."Oh no, we'll come with you," Agatha said with an evil smirk. "We insist.""Oh," Butch said, his adam's apple now bobbing up and down nervously as shoulders drooped. Good, he understood that it wasn't a request.He led us into the Viridian Gym, and I allowed my eyes to roam around the gym. I had avoided challenging the Gym during my journey, despite wanting to complete the original big eight. I had decided to not step into Giovanni's home ground more than I had to. I had travelled through, but I hadn't stuck around.Caution being better than valour and all that wasn't a terrible mindset for just starting out as a trainer.The Gym itself was quite impressive with how it had columns holding up a roof where pokemon statues looked down. The roof itself was a fine blue that made the entire place seem free and open. The offices, when we reached them, had a rather large contingent of trainers still idling around.They looked up and stiffened when we walked in.Lorelei stepped forward. "Everyone, I need you to stand and make your way outside! The League has—" was as much as she got to say.A trio of trainers popped pokeballs. An Arbok lunged for Lorelei as an Electrode began to flash.The final pokemon grabbed its trainer like they were a package.Then they turned and bottled from the room, plowing right through a door.Lorelei surprised me by quickdrawing her Froslass, not faltering despite the Arbok coming at her. Suddenly, the temperature of the room plummeted as Icey Wind began to blow forward, freezing the Arbok stiff.Agatha nodded at the Froslass. "Excellent work dearie. Now I think it's time for my friends to go to work," she said and from her shadows, Haunter and Gengar surged into the room.Sabrina snapped her head and pointed to a woman at the back of the room. "She just sent off a message!" The woman flinched in surprise and dove behind a desk, her face close to her transceiver."We're being jammed!" screamed another Rocket as more pokemon began to appear."Now, now, come quietly, young ones," Agatha said as her pokemon grabbed up those trying to resist.Butch inched away from us, and I put a hand on his shoulder. "No," I said firmly. I then pointed to the side. "Put your pokeballs near the wall and step away." Selene, who'd been my first choice for defensive reasons twirled menacingly at him.Butch did as asked. He straightened in time for a squad of policemen to follow us in and assist in locking down the Gym trainers of Viridian.A chorus of shouts rose from the trainers as they were pushed to the ground by pokemon or police. "You can't do this!" "This is abuse of power!" "Brock help us! Not them!" "Agatha you senile woman!" "This is an invasion! Call the media!" "Traitor!"I spared the last few a look and glanced at Sabrina. "I'm assuming those are the Team Rocket grunts?"She nodded her head and waved a hand towards a door at the back of the room. We walked up and tried to open it, only for an alert to ping on a pad next to the door.Hmmm, it was identical to the pad I used to have. Used to have before…."Brock, kick the door in. I can't get my pokemon into the room. Kick just here!" Agatha said jabbing her stick close to the side of the lock."Actually I have an idea," I said, recalling how Team Rocket had gotten through my own security pad months ago. "Get me a security card," I said. I needed that… and a magnet.Hmmm.I released Sanchez as a keycard floated into my hand thanks to Sabrina. I rubbed the card on Sanchez's body and then slapped the card onto the pad. The door swung open."Eh?!" Lorelei said. "How did you know to do that?!" she said incredulously.I smirked. "Oh, well, with all these Rocket raids we've done, you learn a trick or two," I said.Mentally, I cackled. Oh, if only Meowth knew how he'd just helped me break into his boss' office. Would he be pleased someone was listening? Or would he curse his need to talk so much?I made to step into the room, only for Sanchez to roll through before me. He popped up and swept the room, bouncing so that he viewed the room in a tightly controlled arc. When he was satisfied he nodded. "Golem!" he said, announcing it was safe."Ah, right, good call, buddy. We don't need to hide what we're doing any more, do we?" I released Hypnotoad, Selene, and Cypher. I stepped into the room and instantly noted how different it was. My office was a place of work, with various forms and cabinets overflowing with paperwork.Even on a good day, it didn't look half as nice as this.The room had a soft maroon carpet with a wooden border around the edge. The room itself was dominated by the desk, with a single laptop folded neatly atop a leather-bound dark wood. I had no doubt that when Giovanni sat behind that desk, he felt in charge. The chairs on the other side were notably lower to the ground than normal.To the side, a liquor cabinet stood between two green leather couch. A perfect space for more intimate discussions over Shuckle port no doubt. I eyed the cabinet. I could see a lot of very expensive-looking bottles on display.Cypher, my porygon, whirled about before locking onto the computer. "Get in and open it up for us bud," I said, waving a hand towards the laptop.Cypher leapt across the intervening space and vanished into the computer.Sabrina stepped past me and surveyed the room. "He wouldn't keep his information on his office computer… not unless he was lazy.""He could also be arrogant enough?" Lorelei supplied. "We'll know more when we get back to the Plateau. They should have him detained by now."Agatha hissed. "Stop counting your pokemon girl!"Lorelei huffed but didn't say anything more. Instead, she began moving through a bookcase. Agatha sighed and stepped towards the liquor cabinet.Lorelei and I stared as she plucked a bottle from the cabinet, poured herself a glass, and toasted us. "To your health!" she said with a grin.Lorelei shook her head only and shared a look with me. "There are times when you make it really hard to feel like I'm going to miss having you on the Elite Four Agatha," Lorelei said towards Agatha."Feh, I'm not going to fade away, the prerogative of the old is to be sources of wisdom." She pointed a finger. "You won't see the last of me! I shall simply be… a consultant," Agatha said with a sinister smirk.Lorelei shook her head. "I have no idea how you think that is going to play out, but for now, let's focus on other things, like checking over the office.""Oh, but I am," said Agatha snapping her fingers. Another Gengar rose from behind her and grinned at us. He then proceeded to bounce around the room, inspecting various points of interest.Sabrina ended up being the first to find something. "I think I have something," she said while sitting in the chair behind the desk. Her hands paused on a few artistic-looking carvings, only for her eyes to glow. She pushed in on a few points.Instantly, the door behind me snapped closed, and the sound of the lock clicking home made me whirl.I did not like the sound of that.Before I could shout my fears that Sabrina had triggered a trap, other parts of the room shifted.The window overlooking the arena floor grew darker, and most telling of all, the laptop flipped itself over to reveal a very different-looking computer.Sabrina glanced at the window. "The emitters... they just grew much stronger.""Well, that is rather telling," Agatha said, standing.She made to open the laptop only for Lorelei to stop her. "We just need to secure the information. Let's not be too quick now. Brock call Cypher out and put him in. I'll call this in with the League," she said raising up her transceiver."Cypher? Are you still in the other laptop? Are they connected?" I asked. I didn't get anything, and I huffed. "We'll probably need to flip it back over to get him out of the fake laptop."Sabrina eyed a panel of buttons on the table, her eyes glowing as she ghosted her fingers over them. She pushed a red button, and part of the wall folded in on itself to reveal an elevator."Anyone want to bet that he has a villainous hideout in his basement?" I said."Lair," Sabrina corrected. "They are called lairs."Agatha nodded, stepping towards the elevator. "We need to inspect this.""We'll call in more support first," Lorelei said firmly.I eyed the elevator. "It doesn't look like we'd fit more than six or seven people in there, and even then, that's going to be… cozy," I said. I rubbed my chin. "It's either not very important and is just a personal lair—" I doubted this very much, "—or there must be another entrance and or exit down there."Lorelei nodded and waved for Sabrina to return the room to how it had been. Sabrina inspected the other options and eventually settled on a blue button. The room flipped as the elevator shut itself up, and the desk flipped over. The room lightened as the window let more light in.The door clicked open and all of a sudden everyone's transceiver buzzed.I snapped a glance at it and cursed. "I've got five missed calls? What's going on?"Agatha clicked her tongue. "The room must go into communication lockdown when Giovanni is working on Team Rocket matters as a security feature."Lorelei frowned. "But then he'd be blinding himself as well?"Sabrina put her hand to the phone. "Not if there was a single dedicated line in and out that he could use."I huffed and opened the door, only for Koga and a number of Ranger's to appear on the other side practically in my face. I stepped back and took a breath to calm my suddenly racing heart."You fell out of communication," Koga said, stepping into the room. "Did you not hear us trying to enter?" he asked.Agatha tsked. "Soundproofed as well, it would appear. What has occurred?" she barked."The man that appeared at the League was been proven to be a doppelganger of Giovanni, a professional dupe if you would," Koga said."What? How?" Lorelei said."The academy… it's been training Rocket grunts for years… they must have someone like those two we nabbed. Professional disguise artists… Giovanni might never have been walking into the League when he was called in the past," I said, mentally connecting some dots."How did they work out it wasn't actually Giovanni?" I asked."Looker, he noted a number of discrepancies the moment Giovanni entered the League," he said, and I suppose that did offer something of an explanation.Koga glanced about the office space. "It took a few minutes to verify his suspicions, however."Looker was fast becoming a man to watch for; he must have eagle eyes, or rather, pidgeot eyes, to spot out the doppelganger like he had.Koga nodded. "What have you found?""Cypher come out," I said plucking the laptop off the desk and allowing my pokemon to escape the confines. I then waved for the others to enter fully. We then reformatted the room and opened the elevator. Koga grunted at that."Worrying, we might be entering a trap and have no idea what is on the other side." He worked his jaw back and forth and glanced at Agatha. "But we need to go down there."Agatha barked a laugh. "Just like old times eh?" she said, flicking her fingers and sending her pokemon into the elevator.Koga nodded, turning to the police that had come with him. "Some of you will remain here; others will join us in invading Giovanni's lair." He quickly pointed at two trainers, a man and a woman to join us.Cypher quickly swept into the Rocket computer and had it unlocked for the rangers to peruse at their leisure. We stepped into the elevator, and I was proven correct that with seven people, we were very cozy. Sabrina and I didn't mind but I had to return my pokemon bar Cypher and Selene who hovered above our heads."Have your pokemon ready to throw up a Barrier Brock," Koga said watching the doors as we soundlessly descended.I merely nodded. It took a few seconds for me to notice that the female ranger was counting as we descended."Three-one thousand, four one thousand, five—"I blinked as I realised I recognised the woman. She'd been with Janine when we'd toured Silph tower.I decided to not call her out on that, she was obviously a Guardian and I didn't need to bust her cover. But I did need to ask, "What's with the counting?""The standard descent of an elevator for safety purposes will usually only move at ten kilometres an hour. Meaning, I can calculate how deep this elevator shaft is. Twelve-one thousand," she said watching the door.I hummed, deciding to not point out that Team Rocket didn't really follow building codes. We'd have a minimum depth at least to work from though, so that was something.When the doors did open we exited to a large hallway that was well lit.There were only a few doors, and Koga got in front of met. He put his hand underneath each door and frowned at whatever he found."No gaps in the door; there is nothing for my pokemon to slip through. Agatha," he pointed at the door, and Agatha waved her hand, sending her ghosts through the doors.I stepped up and once more released my smaller pokemon, this time with Gawain. I pointed to the other doors. "Just hold them for now," I ordered.When the ghost pokemon returned, they looked strangely serious."Gengar," said one of them. They pointed at the door, and it opened.Inside was a large room that had large metal cables coiled and laying around, leading towards a raised platform that looked down into a space where a number of empty green vats rested. A circular platform rested at the lower point.A number of computers littered the room.I stepped up to them only to find them unresponsive. "Cypher?" I said. He tried to slip into the system, only to shake his head. "No power to them?"He nodded but then also pointed at the space that would hold a server. It was blackened like it had been burned out. "Ah damn," I said. "I think Giovanni knew we were coming."Lorelei nodded, and swept her gaze over the room. "We'll note this room down as a room with some scientific purpose but otherwise not vital right now."I nodded and we moved off. Before I stepped out of the room, a memory twinged. I glanced back and looked at the platform. If I'd stood there and looked down, I'd be looking straight at whatever was being studied.I had a flash of insight.It sort of looked like that room where Mewtwo had denounced Giovanni before escaping Team Rocket.I frowned again at the fried computers. Would they have contained Team Rocket's information on Mewtwo? I had no way to know. I would have thought that scene would have taken place in a site outside Viridian… then again, life wasn't like the cartoon. That or I might not be rememebring things correctly. It had been years.Still, this room stood out to me.I followed the group and found them looking through the room on the other side of the hallway which appeared to be a residence space for anyone working in the lair. We decided not to linger after making sure all the rooms were empty.When we'd done so, I could only click my teeth in annoyance. "Giovanni definitely knew we were coming for him if he cleared out this space," I said, feeling frustrated that he was one step ahead of us.Koga nodded. "Sometimes it is like that, I'm afraid. We have him on the run, however, and now we can openly pressure him."We approached the last door with a sense of trepidation, once again Agatha led the charge, and when her pokemon signalled that it was clear, we stepped through only to find a room that had a number of odd sweeping pillars that reached up into a very high ceiling roof.With the way the room was laid out and the lines that were set on the ground, it sort of reminded me of a rail system."Blast! This must be how Giovanni got out any of the important staff and himself! He has escape pods!" Agatha snapped."I thought this looked like a railway system," I said, rubbing my chin."No, we…" Agatha paused and shot a look at Lorelei's back. "Found these in other sites."I blinked. Ah, that's right, Agatha and Koga had to use one of these to escape Mewtwo in the past.I approached a computer and was surprised when it lit up. "Cypher!" I barked.He leapt into the computer, and soon a display of what looked like a list of destinations was being displayed. They were all variations of RB-One, RB-Two, and so on. With ten sites listed, I could only scowl, unsure what to do.A phone ringing caused me to twitch in surprise only to frown as I glanced around.Everyone was inspecting their transceivers with Koga even scowling at his only for everyone to slowly raise and shake their heads.We turned as one to a small recess where the symbol for a phone was on display. I popped it open and found the ringing phone.Before I could second guess myself I picked it up."Hello?" I said neutrally.I half expected to hear Giovanni on the other side. His smug tone rubbed his escape in our faces.Instead, an oddly husky female voice purred into my ear. "Hmmm well now, hello to you as well Gym Leader Brock," said a woman's voice.I frowned. "You have me at a disadvantage; I don't know who I'm speaking to," I said, relying on polite societal norms to fish for information.Koga leaned in and got as close as he could to listen in with me, but remained quiet.The woman on the other end laughed. "Ohoho, I think I like the sound of having you at a disadvantage, but I digress. You have no doubt noticed that Giovanni has escaped your clutches by now?""For now," I replied."Hmmm, I'm afraid he has rather set up a wonderful shell game for you to jump after more and more of his body doubles. The League knows this now, no?""That doesn't mean it is certain," I said."I suppose nothing in life is certain; that is true, but I wanted to offer you a small hint.""Well, aren't you kind?" I said, my words dripping with disbelief. "Why do that? You must be part of Team Rocket, why sell out your boss?""Giovanni was never my boss," said the voice. "No, I'm sure this isn't something you know, but Team Rocket, well, like any organisation that grows large enough, has factions." She paused and I could imagine her putting a hand to her chest. "I represent a splinter group, if you will. Giovanni has been chipping away at us for a while now. I was rather annoyed when I learnt about your raid on the Academy.""Sorry, not sorry," I said flatly.Agatha cackled quietly in the background, while Koga remained quiet."Hmmm, any chance you could ask about releasing Carl and Sham?""Not a chance," I said firmly."Oh well, I tried," she said with someone who had lost nothing of importance. "But there is one thing you can do for me.""Which is?""On the display for the launch pad, there will be ten currently listed locations. Check again, and you will find an eleventh location now uploaded."I did so and found that she was correct. I mentally made a note that she must have a camera feed on us. And if she did then she must have had a signal leading to her.I chewed my lip in thought and decided not to say anything about that while we were in the room. There might be a chance I could have it followed up on later."I see it," I said. "Where does this lead?""To Giovanni's private aerodrome," she said.I frowned. "And you're just giving us this location?""I'm not just doing anything. I'm wrapping things up in a manner and teaching Giovanni dear a lesson in guile. Do this for me, and I'll consider it a favour, hmmmm? Think about it? For me? I'll be in touch." She then hung up the phone.I stared at the phone like it was an ekans. I glanced at Koga. "What do you think?""She is most likely a high-ranking Team Rocket Executive, someone that Giovanni has slighted. She had certain tells of emotion when she spoke." Koga rubbed his chin. "I think she was telling the truth, but we will take precautions." He gestured to the pods we still had available to us. "It is a lead, which is more than we had before."I nodded, not liking it but not having a better idea of what to do.Sabrina laced her hands around me in a hug. "If it is a trap we can escape it easily," she said.I huffed at her confidence but felt myself relax.Koga directed the two trainers to remain behind as Lorelei, Agatha, Sabrina, Koga and I all clambered into the pod. I set the destination as the eleventh rocket base and crossed my fingers.This was a risk.I was an idiot for doing this, but I had to try otherwise Giovanni would slip through our fingers.I sat next to Sabrina, my energy already flowing through my body in case we needed to react quickly."Let's go," I said, hitting a central button. The door slammed shut, and arms shot down to lock us into place in the chair. I flinched at first, but a moment after the chairs were locked in place, the pod accelerated into action.Everyone gasped in surprise as we suddenly found ourselves moving at speed."Really hope we didn't make a huge mistake!" I said through clenched teeth.A moment later, we were pressed into our seats as we started arcing upwards. I spotted the night sky through a viewing window, only for a voice to chime out."The second phase is about to begin. Please brace," it said."What about a warning for the fir—" The second phase acceleration was much faster, and I found myself pushed right back into my seat as we accelerated, darkness encroaching on my vision as g-force asserted itself.I clutched Sabrina's hand in mine.It took a few moments for things to settle, but we soon reached a 'cruising speed' that saw the G-force settle on us.Agatha blinked. "That was rather rougher than I was expecting," she said wearily.Lorelei shook her head and worked her jaw. "Team Rocket, I wasn't expecting their name to be quite so literal," she said."Phase three, beginning, please prepare for landing," intoned the voice.I blinked. "How far have we travelled?" I asked.Sabrina's eyes glowed, and she shook her head. "Urgh, a few kilometres it would seem. We're to the southeast of Viridian.""Hmmm, good to know," I said as we began soaring down on a controlled descent.I was almost expecting us to drop out of the sky but was pleasantly surprised as the voice spoke up about deploying landing gears and deceleration flaps.We still landed roughly at what I could make out as a small hidden airport.We taxied towards a hangar where a sleek-looking private jet was being fueled up. The door opened with a hiss, and Koga vanished in a blur.Sabrina's eyes glowed, and she stiffened before rising up. "Will is here," she said.That got a mixed reaction. Part of me was glad for his being here. I suddenly had a lot of targets of opportunity to punch in the face. I was going to hit Will first and then Giovanni second before coming back around for Will a third and fourth time before going for more of Giovanni if I had my way."There are others as well; they are starting to move," Sabrina said.We quickly exited the pod, spreading out.The Rocket Grunt that was fueling the plane was staring at us with a slack-jawed expression. He glanced at us, and then towards the hangar. He seemed to run some mental math through his head. He then glanced at the plane and the fuel truck he was next to.The highly flammable fuel truck.He turned and sprinted in the opposite direction.Agatha flicked a lazy hand, and a Haunter followed after him. "I'll make sure he's out of any danger," she said, her eyes fixed on the hangar.A number of what looked like Rocket Executives sauntered out of the giant hangar doors, a few of them I recognised from the Silph Co. incident. They had the look of slicked-up individuals.Thankfully, there were only five of them.Thanks to Sabrina's warning, I wasn't surprised when Will teleported next to them; his smile looked rather fixed as he inspected us.Then Giovanni stepped out.Lorelei hissed and locked eyes with him. "Blast it, Giovanni, surrender yourself, and come quietly."Giovanni reached into his suit and drew out a cigar. "Quietly? To live in a cell and watch the world pass me by? I, who have the fortune to decide so many nations' fortune with but a word? No, I will not be diminished so." He inspected us and glanced around. "Hmmmm I suppose Koga must be lurking about if you're here, Agatha."He inhaled smoke and breathed it out, his eyes flickering at Sabrina and myself.He nodded to himself. "I'm glad I called in some favours owed to me. I had thought them a waste a few minutes ago, but now? With you being this tenacious? Well it seems they were warranted." His eyes flickered to the pod on the runway. "Blast that woman," he muttered.He glanced behind himself. "Care to join us?" he said.I tensed expecting Mewtwo to float out.Instead, someone much worse walked out.I knew I wasn't going to like it the moment the large shadow became visible to me.A giant of a man stepped into the light, and I heard Lorelei and Sabrina hiss in surprise.I simply stared at the man I thought I knew so well.He met my gaze. "Hey Brocko," he said morosely.I clenched my fists and felt dark energy rising within me as I locked gazes with Lt. Surge of Vermillion, the man I'd considered a mentor for years.
167
Unbidden, I had flashbacks of all the times Surge had come around and helped me out. All the times he'd helped advise me on how to run my gym and schedule out my year to make it manageable.He'd stopped into a role of mentor that should have been Flint's to fill.He'd never be a father figure, but he was like an uncle to me.To see him standing with Team Rocket…I clenched my fists and felt darkness run through me.Surge offered me a shrug. "Hey, sorry about all this, I got—"I felt some of my darkness leak out of me. "No," I said heatedly.My words caused a ripple in the people around me. They shifted in agitation, with Sabrina and Will twitching. Sabrina didn't take her eyes off Surge though."I don't want to hear some excuses or any reasons that you have for this—" I took a deep breath, before exhaling venom in a single word, "—betrayal."Surge grimaced and opened his mouth but I beat him to it."No, as far as I'm concerned you've set yourself against me, and I'm going to show you how much of a mistake that is." I pointed at Will. "I'm going to beat you half to death with him," I said.Everyone blinked at the strange phrasing I'd used."I beg your pardon?" Will said in astonishment.I held my finger in place, still levelled at him with all the intent of a loaded gun. "You heard me. You've been strutting around and pissing me off for way, way too long. I knew you had to be dirty, and I was right. So you're getting a beating, but I'm not going to let whatever you think you're doing here pass," I said shifting my hand to point it at Surge.I slashed a hand through the air. "Hell no. So I'm going to use Will like a whacking stick so you both get what you deserve."Intellectually I knew I was being ridiculous, but the hateful part of me that had reared its head with Will, Giovanni, and Surge of all people standing together was far too strong.Everyone but Sabrina stared at me. She merely nodded her head, like what I said was perfectly reasonable.Surge just threw his head back and laughed. "You gonna beat a motherfucker with another motherfucker? I love it!"I growled, annoyed that he was praising me and at myself for enjoying this. In another set of circumstances, this could almost be considered pre-battle banter.I swept my hand across my belt and unleashed all of my pokemon, sparking a reaction from everyone.On our side, fifty six pokemon took to the field, spreading out by sinking into the ground, floating up, or outright taking to the sky.From me, Titan, Bertha, Sanchez, Cypher, Jormungandr, Link, Shrek, and Selene all appeared. I kept a single pokemon back, knowing that if I released Empress, she'd rampage. I wanted her focussed and unleashed when I was ready.This triggered a response from Team Rocket with their hands sweeping across their own pokebelts to disgorge pokemon.It took me a moment to register that there appeared to be almost an equal amount of pokemon on their side, if not more.Giovanni's team of Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Rhydon, Marowak, and Persian were all powerful examples of their species. But they were footnotes compared to the Hippodown, Gliscor, Gastrodon, and Torterra.The second half of his team all but screamed that he had inroads with Sinnoh, a region no one had discovered safe routes to as yet. If I hadn't already encountered Gible, I would have been surprised by how many pokemon he had access to."Watch out for those foreign pokemon! They're Ground type but they're all strong pokemon!" I said firmly. I glanced about, surprised to find that the most notable pokemon Giovanni commanded wasn't here.Agatha huffed. "They've broken their carry limit, be careful as they are carrying more pokemon than they should! They will be like cornered Raticate if they start to lose as their energy may cause them to white out… or worse," she muttered.I nodded and swept my hand in a predetermined manner. My pokemon instantly shifted around me. "Cypher by my side!" I commanded, calling back the small digital pokemon that I'd brought along for his assistance with technology. I was slightly regretting that choice now but in a pinch he could bolster Selene's defense so it wasn't a complete loss.Agatha floated to Lorelei's left side, her pokemon shimmering and vanishing while Koga vanished.Lorelei spared her fellow Elite Four member a glance before nodding her head and thrusting her hand forward. "WIND!" she ordered, and from the maw of all her pokemon a huge gust of Icey Wind howled forth.I noted the inclusion of Mamoswine standing tall next to her Lapras.For my part, Selene, Cypher, and Link took up positions behind me only for Link to point his hand at Surge and shoot a finger gun.From the tip, a Moonblast rocketed forward only to be intercepted by a Thunder. I stepped to the side and allowed Selene to unleash her own version with a blast from the crescents of her body.It arced forth only for a poison pokemon to fire off a Gunk Shot and swat it out of the air.Hmmm, it seems someone had been keeping up to date with the latest research on Fairy type pokemon.They'd only just worked out poison pokemon were counters to the enigmatic Fairy type. Rocks flew as my pokemon unleashed a huge barrage, only for Will's pokemon to grasp them with Psychic and attempt to hurl them back upon Lorelei's team.Sabrina intercepted them, and a contest of Psychic might once more played out with Will having to drop the rocks and raise Barriers for Team Rocket. The rocks slammed into shining Barriers and Reflects.A roar preceded Giovanni's Nidoking jumping forward and stomping his whole body into the ground."Brace!" Lorelei shouted as she leapt atop her Lapras' back. Lapras and most of her pokemon formed Aqua Rings around themselves to allow them to float despite the Earthquake that Giovanni's Nidoking had unleashed.My pokemon strode forward and unleashed their own Earthquake to negate the attack.The ground buckled between our two groups and the truck that was off to the side was thrown slightly to the side. Another attack slammed into it and fuel began to leak out.Giovanni grimaced. "Work them to the side! I need the plane to remain safe for our exit!" he said loudly.I didn't trust that a man like Giovanni didn't have at least another method of getting out. With one of the easiest methods being the still-absent Mewtwo.But then again, perhaps he wasn't willing to put his faith in a pokemon?I left that thought for later consideration as Team Rocket began to retreat in lock step back into the warehouse, narrowing the points that we could attack while making us tread over uneven ground."Golem?" asked Sanchez, flicking a finger at the ground.I shook my head, not willing to commit my pokemon without knowing where Mewtwo was. If I knew I might commit them, but with him lurking I knew there was an axe just waiting to drop on a pokemon that got itself out of position."Keep up the pressure on that Blastoise over there," I commented.A flash of light had me snapping my head around to watch as one of Surge's pokemon hurtled forward, glowing and discharging light as it rocketed towards our group. Titan and Bertha stomped their feet, unleashing Stone Edge into the pokemon but it barrelled on only to slam into a layer of Barriers that Sabrina's pokemon erected.Lorelei and Agatha had their pokemon unleash a barrage of attacks to take up the pressure only for the Electrode that had shot towards us to explode in a blast of light and sound.The actual shockwave was knocked away thanks to the barriers but it still blinded us for a few moments.Titan and Bertha slammed their hands into the ground using Protect to absorb any incoming attacks.When the light died away and we were able to take in the field I was surprised to find Team Rocket had pulled all the way back into the warehouse."Trap?" I said to Sabrina as the last Rocket Executive smirked at us as he vanished behind the large open doors."Trap," Sabrina agreed. Her eyes glowed for a moment before she spoke up once again."They've deployed poison pokemon in the chokepoints, and appear to be retreating back into the hangar proper," Sabrina said."Appear?" Agatha questioned."The hangar has dark emitters on it. Weak ones, but I wouldn't be confident in using Teleport to ambush them in the warehouse," Sabrina replied. Her eyes continued to glow and she hummed. "There is an exit at the back that we need to secure."Lorelei hummed and looked around. "I'm not sure about dividing ourselves any further with Koga…" she trailed off uncertainly, obviously unsure what to make of his disappearing act.Sabrina, Agatha, and I all spoke at the same time, "He's scouting ahead." In perfect sync we continued to speak, "He will lay traps and attack from ambush positions where possible or support us with disruptions," we said.Lorelei stared at us. "You all know him that well?" she said incredulously.We all nodded and she coughed. "Well that is reassuring." She chewed her lip. "I think I agree we need to advance after them, as I don't want them to have time for themselves. But I also want them cut off."Sabrina nodded and locked eyes with Lorelei. "I can transport Brock and our teams to the other side of the warehouse." Her tone was dead serious. "If you encounter a powerful pokemon that is armoured I will return to assist you," she said."Do it," Agatha said without hesitation.Lorelei nodded and checked her transceiver, the League are aware of our position, if we can simply hold them here, that will be enough. I'm not sure how long, but Lance will be coming."Sabrina and I nodded, and a moment later we vanished in a mass Teleport. We appeared at the back of the giant hangar.I shook myself. "Hope Koga knows what he's doing," I said. I then whistled to my pokemon. "Buff up!" I shouted. Around me my pokemon began to snarl, or glimmer with polish. Cypher wobbled next to me uncertainly. I stroked his head. "Use Agility buddy, the others are getting stronger. This isn't like Gym matches, if we're each giving each other time, expect the opposite side to be doing the same," I said, recounting some of the lessons I'd picked up from trianing with the Guardians."Koga knows where he is best and he is working to his strengths," Sabrina said to reassure me as she copied me with her own pokemon. "Agatha can handle herself long enough if Mewtwo returns, but like this ,we can deny them fleeing from one point."She pointedly looked behind herself at yet another plane parked on a hidden runway. Interestingly this looked like a cargo plane with its much greater wingspan and yawning cargo bay that had its back ramp deployed.I noted that there was a forklift sitting in front of the ramp and an operator in hi-vis sprinting away as if his life depended on it. He obviously knew that standing near a plane while a fight was breaking out was a bad idea. Weird how much common sense these people were showing.I stared at the massive plane that had been out of sight from the front of the hangar. "Of course, he had another plane just sitting ready," I said.I noted that this one had two prop engines on each wing. This thing wouldn't be pretty or as sleek, but I had little doubt it could fly a very long distance. And it was just another way Giovanni might have escaped if we'd allowed him the chance.He always seemed to have another card to play.I narrowed my eyes as that thought properly registered to me. If his last few bases had underground escape tunnels and escape pods… "Bertha! Check underground! First, check if there is anything dangerous, and then also if there are any deeper structures?"Bertha threw herself into the ground while the others took up guard positions around us, more flashes of light indicated they were buffing themselves up more and more, boosting for our eventual clash with Team Rocket."Brock about Surge," Sabrina started to say only to stop when I shook my head."I'm sure he has his reasons but stopping to listen is just playing into whatever reason Team Rocket brought him here. It was by no means a small implication for him to turn up here.Sadly, now was definitely the wrong time to ponder on them. If I did so I would be distracted. I had to push them to the side and stay on task. Surge was just another threat, and he'd be one that I was very well suited to handling.Bertha popped her head up and shook her head. "Traps, mines, and buildings underneath the hangar?" I asked.She shook her head again. I hummed. "Any chance to get underneath them?"She shook her head. I clicked my tongue. "Figures the one time Team Rocket would care for proper building codes would be when it's Giovanni's air base for escape."Sabrina nodded but otherwise didn't comment. With a gesture, the back door began to grind open. Inside a number of storage containers littered the area, making it impossible to determine what was on the other side. The storage containers were laid out in huge towers that formed small walkways between a few of them that cut off to dead ends suddenly. It was like a maze.This hangar must have been used as a holding site for whatever the massive cargo plane had brought in. I controlled my urge to open the containers to peek inside and instead took in the rest of the cavernous hangar."Any read on where they are?" I asked.Sabrina focused only to frown. "It is rather hard with the emitters in the hangar still active. They appear to be in front of some containers in the middle of the hangar." She continued to hold out a hand while narrowing her eyes. "Now they are breaking apart. Four of them are heading into positions that will see them intercept Agatha and Lorelei, while two more are… making their way towards us."Without Sabrina even saying anything, I knew who was about to show up.I waved a hand and grunted, "Team, Stealth Rock."My pokemon shifted and sharp needle points appeared around them, floating in preparation. Sabrina gestured her own hand and Barriers and Reflects appeared in front of us.A Medicham and Exeggutor walked into view and stiffened when they caught sight of us. Exeggutor's rear-facing head barked a warning and shimmered as Medicham took up a fighting stance.A moment later Raichu sprinted up only to scowl at us. "Rai!" it barked.Titan snorted in response to whatever Raichu had said earning a dark look from the electric mouse.Surge stepped forward and clicked his tongue. "Damn it should have known this was going to go tits up," Surge said as he locked eyes with me.He grimaced at whatever he saw. His eyes darted about, taking in my pokemon and our position. "Good to see you've prepped the field," he said approvingly."Stand down," I said. "I'm not letting Giovanni escape Surge."Surge sighed. "Yeah, I know. You gotta do you, and I gotta do me."I almost spoke up demanding an answer for why he was carrying on with this before I shut my mouth.Not the time, I forced myself to think. I needed to act on that.Surge's arm snapped up and I tensed, Rock energy flowing through me. I started to step in front of Sabrina only for Sabrina to have a Barrier raised in front of me as a gunshot went off.Surge nodded again, the smoking gun in his hand a damning display. He'd shot at me?Part of me couldn't believe what he'd done. The other part crushed that thought ruthlessly. "Launch!' I barked and my pokemon unleashed a barrage of Stone Edges straight at Surge.Surge stepped back and Psychic pokemon poured forth to deflect the attacks. Sabrina's team joined us with their own Psybeams and Link got off another Moonblast as Selene orbited me protectively."They must have acquired guns from the containers," Sabrina said tonelessly.I grunted. "So it would seem, think Lorelei will be alright?" Of all of us, she was perhaps the one most likely to be in danger to such weaponry. With my rock aura, I'd… hopefully be able to shrug off any bullet but I really didn't want to test that theory.Agatha, out of all of us would be best suited to handling guns.A burst of gunfire punctuated that thought, and I chewed my lip, wondering what Koga was doing.When the gunfire died off, a mad cackle rose from behind Will and Surge. This was followed by a chill sweeping through the hangar"Oh fuck this! I'm not dealing with Agatha in a maze like this shit show! Get us an exit!" he barked.His Magnezone, and… I blinked as a huge shaggy form that hadn't been present before strode forth, It exhaled a torrent of fire at the steel wall of the hangar. Damn it, of course, he had an Electivire."You're not going to get out that way! We need to blast our way out!" Will said with a scoff as he gestured and had his pokemon return fire with Psybeam, Ice Beam and other attacks. With the narrow walkway created by the containers Sabrina and I were forced to block or match attack for attack.This resulted in our team overpowering the beams in a straight head-to-head battle as our pokemon quickly overpowered Will's.Will was quick to react as he realised how dangerous clicked his tongue. "Protect!" he shouted and two pokemon stepped forward to absorb the attacks.Sabrina flicked her eyes upwards. I grunted and whistled. "Selene up!" I said. Selene to a level close to the roof to gain a better angle to unleash her attacks. Alakazam followed her a moment later, levitating with his spoons raised threateningly."A little help!" Will snarled towards Surge who was focussing on the steel wall."Gimme a second!" he barked back. "Stop the Flamethrower and go hard on Ice Beam!" he said and a moment later his pokemon unleashed a blast of powerful ice that dropped the temperature of the wall he'd just been melting. A huge cloud of mist billowed out, obscuring him and Will.I clicked my tongue in annoyance."Recall your pokemon and get outside," Sabrina said firmly.I didn't question her I simply did as she asked, but I did question one issue that stood out to me. "What about the plane behind us?""We're going to leave it as bait, Giovanni would need to hold the plane while it builds speed. It isn't viable for him but if it looks possible we will step into a trap," she said as we darted back so that we were outside."Sounds good," I said. The instant we were outside we vanished once again into a Teleport.We reappeared to the side of the hangar where Surge and Will were. I swept my hands out and once more my team appeared and locked eyes with their foes.Will waved a hand towards our team which was one more blocking his escape. "Well, that achieved a lot! Didn't it!?" Will said waspishly.Surge grunted and swept his hands outwards. "What it achieved, punk, was to get us out of advancing along a defended, trapped kill zone, and into the open where we're on a more even footing."His pokemon suddenly accelerated out to the side with his Magnezone and Electrivire stepping up in front of him."And it got me back into the open where I can fight at my best," he said. His Raichu became a line of light as it continued to accelerate away from him before arcing around."Shit, Selene, Future Sight," I said while waving for her to get into a position that would see her guarding my team's back with Cypher. Link stayed at my side with his eyes tracking another threat that looked to be Jolteon."Metal dig dip," I said deciding to keep Surge and Will guessing. Jormungandr vanished beneath the earth. I didn't want him coming under fire from that Electivire if it knew fire moves.Sabrina seemed to be very aware of the danger that Jolteon presented to her as her Farigiraf took a solid step back while still facing forward. The eyes of the hood on her Farigiraf shot backwards instantly.Surge cupped his hands in front of his mouth. "Any chance we can just—""Quake," I said, shutting him down. I was going to beat Will and him down."Hup!" Surge said and his pokemon all kipped up into the air where they discharged a wave of electricity towards us."Bertha," I said, deciding on something simple instead of attempting to constrain a Sandstorm that might block the oncoming electrical attack. Sabrina would be impeeded by it as well and I needed to consider her and not just myself.Bertha stepped forward with her arms spread wide to tank the Thunder Wave as others stepped behind her."Hydro Pump!" Will said, snapping a finger right at her to take advantage of her stepping forward like she had. A huge torrent of water from his Starmie fired off only to be intercepted by Sabrina's Exeggutor. I mentally noted that this would be a perfect opportunity for a pokemon like Cradilly to be part of the team.Jormungandr chose that moment to erupt from the ground underneath Will's feet. He leapt back quickly but I scented blood. "DP," I said.Jormungandr erupted with Dark energy causing all of Will's pokemon team to stagger."Lanturn! Rescue that punk!" said Surge."Dig dip retreat!" I barked.Surge's attack proved quick enough to clip Jormungandr. I clicked my tongue in annoyance but quickly noticed that Sabrina had made good use of my pokemon's distraction to hammer the Hydro pump Will had unleashed back into Will's Claydol.It staggered under the weight of the blows but remained standing thanks to Medicham forming Barriers in front of Claydol, allowing it some breathing room."Surge once more tried for diplomacy. "Alright I get that you—"Sabrina jerked her chin and her Espeon traded places with her Slowking. Espeon then leapt overhead to unleash a Psybeam that tore what few Barriers Will had in front of his Medicham.The dual fighting-psychic type was hurled away in the face fo the attack. It slammed into the hangar behind Will and grunted in pain. It started to slump in on itself only for Will to rouse it."Get back in the fight Medicham! I need all pokemon fighting!" Will said. Medicham staggered to its feet only for an Arbok to appear in the hole that Surge and Will had used.It spat a wad of poison that slammed into Medicham's head and ended any comeback Will's pokemon might have made. Will gaped at the sudden insertion of another pokemon striking from the rear."Blast that snake!" he snapped directing his Claydoll to unleash a Psybeam. Arbok dove behind the cover of the hangar wall."Shit! Koga!" Surge said. "Team Spark up! We're in a kill zone!" he barked.Suddenly they all sparked up only for Magnezone to absorb the energy and begin to glow. Surge chopped his hand forward. "You better dodge kids!" he roared.Magnezone unleashed a huge lance of lightning straight at us. Bertha inserted herself in the way but I didn't feel as confident in that so I punched my hand upward. "Jormungandr! Up now!" I barked my fist shooting upwards even as I flooded all of my energy towards Jormungandr.He shot out of the ground slightly to the side and I watched as the lightning curved to slam into him.I reached out everything I had to empower him, knowing he'd be my best bet to deny Surge's attack and defend my team.Through my bond, I knew he felt the same way.Right before the lightning touched him I felt something click as we worked together. The keystone on my forearm glowed with incandescent light.The battlefield vanished as the lightning attack slammed into Jormungandr, he roared and for a moment I thought I had made a terrible decision, but then elation swept through the bond and I felt my energy vanish as Jormungandr took it in.A moment later his energy swept back into me and I felt like I'd just gained the best second wind I'd ever experienced in my life.A calm certainty swept through me as the light died down from the electrical attack.Surge was already walking forward with a grim certainty to his gair only to pause as he took in my Mega-Steelix."Holy shit! You can do that too? Fucking A Brock that's nice!" Surge said.I snorted. "Surrender now," I said firmly.Jormungandr growled, and with how his body spun about he also unleashed the sound of screeching glass that sent a shudder through everyone that heard it.I just grinned wider. "Or don't, I seriously am hoping that you won't," I said as I cracked my neck from side to side.Will stared at Jorm only to scoff. "That Steelix took a powerful hit earlier and is weakened. We can take it!" he said directing his Exeggutor and Starmie to unleash their own attacks on it."Dig deep to my side," I said neutrally. I made a gesture and Link nodded, an orb of energy forming up in his hands.Jorm evaded the attacks and tunnelled back to my side in mere moments.I was surprised by how quickly he appeared at my side and with him now towering over me I realised just how much he had grown from Mega-evolving. The gems that I had fed him and laced through his body during his evolution from Onix to Steelix were now gigantic crystals that bulged from his sides with sharp edges. He gave off a slight shimmering field of energy and with him being so close I could feel the power that was contained within him."Ha! I was right! You were bluffing!" Will crowed.I snapped a finger and Link raised his hands, a glowing orb held aloft which he then pressed into Jormungandr's flank.Instantly I felt another kick of energy surge through the bond as I suddenly felt even more energetic. The sparkle around Jormungandr intensified and his front thorax spun around quickly."Steeeeeeeeeeel!" he roared, rising up even taller to loom large over the battlefield.I grinned and pointed straight ahead. "Your turn to dodge," I said to Surge. "Jorm, Go," I said.Surge whistled and the streak of light that had been threatening to attack us from the rear suddenly sprinted in and coiled its tail around Surge. Surge's pokemon team either hunkered down or were withdrawn.Jormungandr threw himself into the attack and his landing caused a quake that caused everyone to buckle or be thrown from their feet. Will's Alakazam hurriedly raised Will off the ground and pulled him to the side while other Psychic pokemon also tried to evade the side effect of Jormungandr merely hitting the ground as the first part of his attack.Jorm didn't build up speed like he normally would in a Giga Impact, instead he simply lunged tore through the earth and reached his top speed."Get me outta h—" was as far as Surge got before Jormungandr shot through his and Will's team of pokemon.Rocks and metal flew everywhere. I saw pokemon thrown about like toys in the face of a toddler's rampage.A screech of metal announced Jorm impacting the hangar itself only to tear an even bigger hole through the wall. A huge boom resounded and I winced knowing Jorm had probably just slammed headfirst into the containers.Apparently that had been enough to stop his Giga Impact. If it wasn't for the pokemon, and the wall before it, I had no doubt he would have sent thsoe containers flying as well… which, with Lorelei still in there, made for a worrying image.It took a moment for the dust to settle and I felt a wave of sheepishness fill my bond as Jormungandr righted himself and turned around. His massive form loomed through the dust.I saw a few pokemon stagger into an upright position only to totter about.The dust fell away and I realised that a number of them seemed to be shocked or, in-game mechanics, stuck in a state of flinching merely due to be caught in the wake of Jormgandr's attack. I noticed that Jynx, Exeggutor, and Slowking were all down and were not getting back up.I whistled, impressed. Three pokemon, with more greatly weakened from one attack in a widespread area. Very nice."Close and take them out," I said to my pokemon.Sanchez and Shrek were quick to lunge forward. Titan stalked after them while Bertha and Selene stayed close to me.I glanced back at Link and found him kneeling and regathering his energy, his eyes shut in Rest. I grinned. He'd pulled off the specialised Healing Wish perfectly.I gave the state of the battlefield another look. Honestly, his renegerising Jorm like that had probably contributed to the devastation of Jormungandr's attack."A powerful strike," Sabrina said, her eyes still locked forward. "Will is not done however," she said indicating Will and his Alakazam off to the side.Will took in the field, his mask was interestingly absent and this allowed me to see how his eyes roved around the battlefield in disbelief. "No, that's… it's a Steelix…" he said to himself.Sabrina's eyes glowed and a moment later her Alakazam Teleported behind Will and into the space Jorm had carved up. From there it was a simply matter to float up behind Will.Will spun about on the threat and pointed. "No! We're not getting trapped here! Damn Giovanni!" Alakazam flickered for a moment and I grinned. He'd forgotten why I'd sent Jormungandr into his team of pokemon.Dark Pulse was a wonderful method of disabling a pokemon from Teleporting away.Both Alakazams eyed each other off and glowed, rocks forming around them as they began exchanging blows. Will's head roamed around. "To me!" Will shouted and his pokemon, those that weren't being manhandled by my pokemon already, ran or floated to comply.I didn't even have to order my pokemon to intercept them. Will's Espeon attempted to flee to Will's side only for Sanchez to flatten it. Espeon wailed in pain and tried to give Sanchez Baby-doll eyes to get off but he merely pinned the smaller pokemon and zapped it harder, not falling for the trick.I turned my attention to Jormungandr. I could feel the energy holding his mega-evolution starting to corrode. It might not have been the wisest of moves to have him perform Giga-Impact, as that seemed to have accelerated the process.He was still regathering himself but his attack had turned the battle for us.Still, it was time to seal the deal. "Titan, Dig dip like you did last time against Will," I said.Titan vanished into the earth. Without Sand Tomb giving away Alakazam's location Titan wouldn't be able to lock onto Alakazam.Not that he needed to.Will's Alakazam, locked in battle with Sabrina's was taken unawares as Titan surged out of the ground behind him. It had enough time to turn and gasp in fear before Titan caught it once again.A dark glint of joy sparked in Titan's eyes right before he whipped his head back and forth, slamming Alakazam over and over into the ground.This time no psychic energy was able to stop Alakazam from being slammed repeatedly. Titan didn't let up until with a mighty, final slam he hurled Alakazam down.He then planted his foot on Alakazam's chest and loomed over it.He growled and inspected the other pokemon before nodding in satisfaction.Titan then turned his attention to Will who dropped to his knees and raised his hands. "I-I s-surrender?" he said weakly.I growled and stalked up to him. He seemed to have an idea of what I intended as he waved his hands. "No you can't I surren—" I stepped close, planting my foot and twisting through my body as my fist rocketed forward. I pictured punching through him and was rewarded by my punch shattering something in Will's face.He flew backwards and topped into the ground only to lay still."That's for Forrest," I said.Will didn't reply and I stalked over to him to give him another punch only to scowl when I saw that he was knocked out."Daaaaaaamn! That was good! It feel nice?" said a loud voice from the side.I paused, my fist raised and recalled that Surge was still here. I snapped my head around only to note that he had no pokemon out beyond Raichu. Surge's arm was limp and hanging oddly.I blinked and considered asking him if he was alright before clamping my mouth shut and scowling at him. "Shut the hell up!" I said, contemplating following through on my earlier threat. Sure Will was knocked out but throwing a dead weight wouldn't be that hard right?Surge inspected Will only to scoff. "Urgh really? One punch is all it took? Damn, he's a pussy," he said before looking at me."I guess you did remember how to throw a punch. Now you gotta work on your speed. Make it so they can't see it coming!" Surge glanced at his limp hand and raised his other hand. "Hang on a second," he said as he grabbed his arm and wrenched it back into place.I shuddered at the sight but Surge merely grunted. "Urgh, been a while since I've had that happen."Sabrina and her pokemon encircled us. "I assume you're surrendering?" she said.Surge nodded, his eyes roaming the field. "Yeah, I was considering running off but I reckon you and Brock would be able to track me. Was still going to do it, sort of have this epic showdown with Brock, man to man, but then I realised that he didn't need to learn that lesson from me."I scowled. "Of course I didn't!" I snapped, my anger returning in force.Sabrina narrowed her eyes. "I would have also not allowed it, and I would have made you think you were a Rattata about to be eaten for the rest of your life if you had," she said.Surge nodded, his head bouncing up and down as he said without a hint of shame, "Yup! That factored in as well!"I scowled harder. "Is this a fucking game to you?!"Surge dropped his jovial expression. "No, it ain't. What it is is me paying for a lot of debts I built up in the army. I might be a lot of things, but I am a man of my word, and you wouldn't get Lt. Surge," he said gesturing to himself, "without Giovanni…" He sighed and slumped."You wouldn't have even gotten Sergeant Surge for that matter… Giovanni saved my life during the war Brock. I'm sorry but there's been a debt hanging over me for years. Giovanni, he called it in and I…"Surge looked at his feet only to frown and look behind us. "Now ain't the time to chit-chat if you want to stop Giovanni." Surge turned and pointedly looked at Sabrina. She blinked in surprise and I could only frown. Something had just happened."No, it is not," Koga said as he blurred next to us. He threw some dust into Surge's face and Surge shook his head."Did you just fucking Pocket Sand me, Koga you ol—" Whatever Surge was saying died as he collapsed onto the ground.Koga pointed at the Raichu that growled at him. "Protect your master," he said before turning to me."Brock, Sabrina, we don't have time to stand around," he said, turning to face us. I noted he had a lot of singe marks and some wounds about his body."Agatha, Lorelei and myself have whittled away at Team Rocket's pokemon but he sent out another signal, we expect things to escalate. Sabrina, are you able to replicate what you did during your match against Will?"Sabrina nodded tightly. "I can but it will take a little time… I'm not sure if it will be enough.""We just need to hold out!" Koga stated firmly.I glanced back hangar in time to see a pair Rocket Executives emerge with Giovanni in their midst. A much smaller number of pokemon were with them and they looked battle-worn and tired.Giovanni swept his gaze about, pausing on the still-present aeroplane only to continue around. He grimaced as his eyes took in the downed forms of Will and Surge only to snap his head back around.The other Team Rocket Executives openly gawped in fear when Jormungandr's giant glittering head swivelled onto them."What in Kanto is that?!" screeched one."They've got foreign pokemon as well?!""No," Giovanni said, his tone flat as he stared at Jormungandr. "That is another Mega-evolution that Steelix is capable of." His eyes turned to me and a flash of respect appeared in them."Never mind it, it won't last long," he said firmly.He snapped his fingers and smirked.From the skies, a figure descended.The armour glinted in the morning sun and Koga hissed slightly as his gaze locked on the hovering Legendary.Giovanni looked back and grinned. "Mewtwo! Take them out!" he ordered.Sabrina tossed her head and stepped forward only to pause. Her eyes glowed and Mewtwo's head snapped towards her.Sabrina buckled slightly only for her pokemon to dart in and form a ring around her. Alakazam steadied her.I stepped up to her other side and helped support her.Sabrina groaned. "You…. don't…. Need… to fight… us!" she said through clenched teeth.I flickered my gaze from Sabrina to Mewtwo. It seemed they were conversing but just doing so was straining Sabrina."No…" she said, each word coming as a struggle. "You… are… not… just… a tool… don't—""Mewtwo! Obey!" ordered Giovanni. He glowered up at the pokemon angered by its lack of immediate action. At his sides, the pair of Rocket Executives shifted in agitation.I noticed Agatha and Lo[relei emerge through the hangar doors only to stiffen when they caught sight of Mewtwo.Lorelei stabbed her hand forward and I realised with dread she was still reacting instead of thinking. "Lorelei! Don't fight it! Sabrina's trying to talk it down!"Lorelei paused at that and glanced at Sabrina. I'd missed whatever Sabrina was muttering but she seemed to be getting worse."..... resist," she said. Then she shook herself an gasped. "Mewtwo is having to fight the programming Giovanni has placed in him. I think a lot of that is reinforced by the armour he wears!" If we can get that off he might be reached!" she said.I sighed. Why couldn't this just be easy?I pulled off the last pokeball I had on my pokebelt. "Well, I do happen to have a pokemon that has been looking for that rematch," I said.Mewtwo locked eyes with me and I tossed out Empress' pokeball and she emerged.Instantly she locked eyes with Mewtwo and roared her challenge.Titan, Jorm, Bertha and all of my pokemon joined in their challenge echoing over the runway.This would make the third encounter I'd had with Mewtwo.What was the saying, third time's the charm?