Disclaimer: Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver are the property of Nintendo.
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The man was sitting on a bench in the National Park, leisurely watching the Bug Catchers hunting through the long grass. The sky above was overcast, but although no sunlight caught his eyes he wore a pair of sunglasses. Despite being a Saturday and all the offices were closed, he wore a suit for business, his hair was trimmed short and his face clean shaven. For at least an hour he sat and just watched the Bug Catchers at work.
Another man in similar attire came and sat at the bench beside him. For a moment he sat and surveyed the Bug Catchers at work, including one trainer engaged with a Scyther.
"It's a beautiful day," the man who had sat down said at last. "Almost too hot for hunting Beedrill."
"But not hot enough to hunt Magmar," the man who had been sitting there before replied. "Agent Smith, I hope?"
"Affirmative, Agent Johnson," the new man replied. "What's the report from Mahogany?"
"Cleaned out," Agent Johnson replied. "They left a few Pokémon behind but they were too weak to even fight us. All the equipment was pretty much destroyed, but it looks like it may have been used to emit a radio signal before, but not one big enough to send a signal all across the country. They must have moved to another base."
"I don't think so," Agent Smith said. "To create a radio transmitter like that would be a massive undertaking. If they'd built a big enough transmitter we'd have seen it. They'd have to use one that we already knew was there."
"What are you suggesting?" Agent Johnson asked.
"There are only two radio transmitters big enough: the one we've got and the Radio Tower right here in Goldenrod," Smith replied. "There are Grunts in full uniform patrolling the streets of the city right now. I'll bet that they've taken control of the tower already."
"Then why haven't they made any demands? Surely they must have hostages!"
"You've heard the signal. Their demand is that Giovanni come out of hiding."
"Giovanni? Do we know where he is?"
"Negative. Police in Kanto lost him about three years ago, but no one's seen or heard from him for at least three years."
"What do we do then?" Johnson asked. Smith took a moment to reply.
"We storm the building," he replied. "I've contacted HQ and they went to the army. They're sending over a few squads of marines to storm the building. They'll come in from the south and use the buildings as cover. They'll have to take out any Grunts along the street as they go."
"That's insane," Johnson snapped. "What about civilians in the city or the hostages in the tower?"
"The civilians in the city are all indoors," Smith replied. "And it's Team Rocket, they use Pokémon instead of guns. Casualties will be minimal. But first, you and I will draw attention away from the south by coming from the north with a team of agents."
"What team of agents?"
It was then that he noticed the Bug Catching contest had stopped, and all the trainers were standing facing him. Johnson gave a small smile. Perhaps he was tired, but nonetheless he had let his guard down. He should have noticed the catchers were much better than usual.
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Sergeant Woods and his team of five other marines were waiting in the long grass to the south of Goldenrod City for the signal to attack. Behind him the other marines were getting impatient.
"What signal are we waiting for?" one asked him.
"Secret Services has some men coming from the north. They'll set off an explosion and draw the Grunts up that way," Woods replied impatiently.
The marine was silent, to say that he understood. The other marines were starting to let their guard down.
"We're taking the Radio Tower, right?" one marine asked another. "There'll be loads of celebrities in that building."
Another marine nodded. "Including that Mary. I like her. She's got a nice voice; I hope she's as she sounds."
"Professor Oak might be in there too," the first marine said. "Maybe I'll get his autograph."
"Cut the chatter, you're not thirteen year old girls," Woods snapped at them. "Get ready. That distraction is coming soon."
From the city there was suddenly an explosion and a series of shouts. The Rocket Grunt who had been patrolling the entrance to the city suddenly turned and ran down the road and out of sight. When he had disappeared Woods stood up and gave the signal to advance.
His team milled around him as they sprinted down the street for the Pokémon centre. He realised too late that it was too far to run, and a member of Team Rocket spotted them from her post beside the Game Corner. He motioned for the squad to dash in at the centre to hide.
"Hey, stop right there!" the Grunt shouted to them. Woods suddenly felt ridiculous when he realised that he had just ordered a squad of fully armed marines to hide from some punk kid in a black uniform. He dashed out into the street with his assault rifle in hand.
"Freeze, punk!" Woods roared. The Grunt couldn't have been older than fifteen, and froze, wide-eyed. Woods and the team advanced upon him, when the kid suddenly flung a Pokeball at them.
"Ekans, attack!" the kid called.
"Open fire!" Woods replied. The squad levelled their weapons and unloaded into the Ekans, which gave a scream of agony and fell into a bloody heap. The kid gave a scream, turned and ran.
"Halt or we'll shoot!" Woods roared. The kid didn't respond, but he ran straight into another squad of marines that had come up from the tunnels and caught him from behind. One marine smacked him down with the butt of his rifle and sent him sprawling. Woods and his team dashed up to meet the other marines.
"Sergeant Allen," Woods acknowledged. "Any trouble?"
"We caught a few off guard and they've all been restrained so far. There's no time for chit chat. Get your men to that tower," Allen snapped. Woods made a face, but acknowledged the suggestion.
"Cover us," Woods said. He and the team made a dash for the Radio Tower, and were surprised at the lack of resistance to their advance.
When they reached the tower Woods ordered one of his men to kick the door down. He dashed through first, scanning around the room for any enemies. To his right was a counter where a woman ducked and screamed. Over at the far side of the room was a staircase guarded by a Grunt. Woods quickly shot him down.
"They'll know we're in the building now, move fast!" Woods shouted to his men. Allen and his men were now arriving behind them. The team made a dash for the staircase.
"Can we shut off the power from down here?" one of Allen's squad asked the receptionist.
"P-p-p-please don't h-h-h-hurt me!" the receptionist pleaded. "H-h-h-here, take my purse!"
"She's in shock, move on," Woods called to them. "Macy; Lawrence; take point on the staircase."
The squad charged up the staircase. Despite the noise they'd made downstairs the Grunts still looked totally in shock. They were nothing more than kids, probably about fifteen or sixteen. They surrendered without a fight. This floor was almost like a large staff room, so the marines handcuffed the Grunts and sat them all down on sofas. In a recording booth off to the left two girls being held hostage greeted them.
"How many Rockets?" Woods asked them.
"Can't be much more than twenty," one girl replied. Woods nodded.
"We'll leave two marines behind to guard the prisoners. Stay here with them; it's not safe outside."
The next floor was filled with desks where a group of Grunts tried to fight them off with their Pokémon, but the squad made short work of them. A man in a lab coat hid behind a desk lobbing bottles of some noxious chemical at them, but his shots fell short. Woods rushed the man's desk and rolled past him, before emptying the clip into the scientist's cowering form.
"There's another staircase!" a woman called to them. "But you can't get through without a key card!"
Woods ran over to where she was hiding, and found himself faced with a large metal door there was no way to get through. To the left of the door was a small panel for taking the key card. "Ford, bring up those explosives," Woods called. "Allen, take your squad up the other staircase."
Ford quickly rigged up some plastic explosives on the large metal doors and blew them open. When Woods and his squad rushed through there was a stunned looking boy there.
"What happened?" he asked. "Where did the door go?"
He surrendered without a fight. Woods and his team made a rush for the stairs, and at the top found themselves faced with an older Grunt with distinctive green hair.
"Weezing, use Self-destruct!" the Grunt called out.
"It's a bomb!" one of the more jumpy marines shouted. The squad fired their guns up the stairs, and rushed up to surround the Grunt.
"Surrender!" Woods shouted.
"Never!" the Grunt replied. "For the glory of Team Rocket!" The Grunt pulled a small knife from his pocket and rushed the nearest marine, driving the knife into his shoulder. The marine gave a cry of anguish and another stepped across to beat the man down to the ground.
"Hold your fire!" Woods called, but it was too late. The marines had already riddled the fallen Grunt's body with bullets.
"PROTON, NO!" a woman screamed. Woods looked up. There was a window from their staircase through to one of the recording studios, where a young girl was watching them with tears streaking down her face. "How could you?"
"Calm down!" Woods called. "Don't do anything rash!"
"Gloom!" the girl called. She gestured to two hostages on her side of the window. "Use Razor Leaf to slit the hostage's throat!"
"Men, fire!" Woods called. They tried to shoot the Gloom through the window, but the bullets just bounced off the glass. Gloom seemed to hesitate, but the deranged look in her owners eyes meant she obeyed, and used Razor Leaf to cut a young man's throat. Powerless to help, the marines could only watch in horror as the girl set the Gloom on the young woman also in the booth. A Meowth tried briefly to defend her, but it was sent flying by an Ekans called by the girl.
The marines looked through the window at the bloody scene before them. Soon the other marines arrived, but by this stage the girl was soaked in blood and curled up in the corner sobbing. Woods made a gesture to his wrist to ask what took them so long, but Allen only shrugged.
Woods checked the injured marine and ordered him to go downstairs with the others, before leading his remaining three men up the stairs. They came to a long corridor which turned onto something else up ahead. Woods was about to order his men charge forward when suddenly a woman with long red hair stuck her head around the corner, followed briefly by a handgun.
"Get to cover!" Woods cried, but there was no cover. He and the men ducked down the stairs as quickly as they could while she wildly fired bullets their direction. The bullets quickly stopped.
"She's reloading!" one marine shouted.
"Go! I'll cover you," Woods ordered. The marine dashed forward without hesitating and Woods ran to the top of the stairs just in case she dared stick her head around the corner. The marine reached the end of the corridor.
"Surrender," the marine ordered.
"Never!" the woman shrieked. She suddenly sprang from her hiding place and tried to bite the marine, but Woods did not hesitate to gun her down.
"Nice shooting, sir," the marine acknowledged, looking like he felt very lucky to still be alive. "There's a life here. Says it goes to the observation deck."
"You hold it here, we'll go up and see," Woods said. "If we haven't checked in in ten minutes go back down for reinforcements."
"Sir, it could be a trap," the marine said.
"If we were fighting any other enemy I'd be certain it was, but these Rockets just don't seem organised enough to pull something like this off."
The remainder of the team took the lift to the observation deck. When the doors opened they were looking out at a circular room which looked out at the whole city. They quickly made their way from to the far side of the room, where a man much older than any of the Grunts had been was looking out the window.
"Giovanni?" the man suddenly spun around. His face fell. "You're not Giovanni. Do you know when he'll be here?"
"Giovanni disappeared three years ago," Woods replied. "No one's seen him since then. He's probably dead."
"No, no, no, no," the man said. "He's alive. The great Giovanni will come back when he realises the good work we've done here."
"What good work is this?" Woods demanded. "You've dragged kids into this. These kids you've brainwashed came up against soldiers with guns. One of your kids even murdered two innocent people for you and your Team Rocket."
"Giovanni will come," the man said firmly. "He's going to be so proud of me."
"Give it up," Woods pleaded. "This isn't worth dying for. He's not coming back."
"GIOVANNI!" the man suddenly screamed, turning around to look out the window. "I will not surrender! I fight in your name!"
The man suddenly pulled two pistols from underneath his uniform. The marines reacted instantly, emptying the clip into bastard. Even when their guns were empty the man seemed to stand there, with a crazed look on his face and his guns pointed straight at them. His lip twitched.
"Why wouldn't he come?" he asked, and then he slumped against the window behind him. His body slid down the glass, leaving a trail of blood behind.
"Secure the area, men!" Woods said. It was a large circular room, and it didn't take long to make sure there was no one else there.
"Looks like the fight in the north of the town is over too, sir," a marine called.
"Excellent," Woods replied. "Come on, let's go back downstairs and make sure Allen and his group are okay."
They met Allen's group further down the stairs.
"We found someone impersonating the Director," Allen told them. "He says the Director is down in the basement of the Department Store. We have a key to a secret underground entrance. It will not take long to storm the place."
"Affirmative," Woods replied. "Let's move out."
In the entrance room there were two boys and a girl arguing. One of the boys and the girl were dressed as Rocket Grunts, though they looked even younger than all the other Grunts had been.
"Don't move!" Woods shouted, pointing his gun at them.
"Don't shoot, please!" the girl pleaded. "You're making a mistake! We're not Team Rocket!"
"Then who are you?" Woods demanded.
"I'm Lyra, and that's Ethan and this is Silver," the girl said.
"What are you doing here?"
"We were trying to sneak in," the boy dressed as a Grunt responded. "We just wanted to help."
"Let me get this straight," Woods said. "You, a ten year old boy, decided that you were try and take this tower back from a group of terrorists single handed? Who do you think you are, John McClane?"
"We have our Pokémon," the boy answered, looking at his feet. Woods glared at the other two kids.
"I wanted to beat Lance," the other boy said, looking at the wall.
The End