Hard Enough

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.