Chapter 1
"How the hell did it get so bad?" Lance asked angrily. The Duel Champion was pacing inside the conference room that had five other people in there. All of them were champions, but none of them felt particularly powerful at the moment. They were Steven, Cynthia, Alder, Diantha and Wes.
"It's because we were caught off guard Lance, after the other teams disbanded we thought we were safe. So when they attacked all at once we weren't ready, hell they had been planning this for years" Alder answered from the window.
"Let's not forget the fact that it's literally the six of us against the whole of Team Rocket. I would say Lance has it the easiest when he has the G-Men but having to look after two regions in bad, especially when you had to make that choice" Steven added. All of them gazed softly at Lance as he looked to the floor.
"It's in the past, there is nothing we can do about it. But what are we going to do about it, that's the question" Lance said with a mournful tone.
"Indeed you're right Lance, what are we going to do about?" A short man said entering the room. All six champions stood up to greet the man.
"Mr Goodshow" they all greeted, each shaking his hand. After this they all sat down at the table with Mr Goodshow at the top. A short silence was present until Mr Goodshow placed a folder on the table. A man walked into the conference room with six identical folders, handing one to each champion before leaving the room again. All of them looked at each other before opening the folder to read.
This folder is meant for League officials only, do not under any circumstances make copies or remove from the building, this report or any documents held within.
Team Rocket were only ever considered a criminal organization that considered mostly of pokemon theft and experimentation. They are now considered a much greater threat since the Burning of Pallet Town and their infiltration into every region.
The Burning of Pallet Town was the first serious act commited by the team. In the late evening, witnesses reported a humming sound overheard but dismissed it as a bird pokemon. Roughly an hour later an explosion occurred at Professor Samuel Oak's Laboratory, this explosion being small only causing a meter wide hole in the wall. In the room at the time were seven teenage people, most notably was Ash Ketchum. Ash Ketchum was aged fourteen and had been responsible for preventing many of the team's plans as well as the other teams. He was reported to run after two people responsible for the explosion along with two others named Tracey Sketchit and Misty Waterflower following him. They returned ten minutes later saying that they had lost him.
Ten minutes later, a large force of Team Rocket grunts marched into the city destroying every house they crossed using pokemon. Almost all of the casualties were killed during this while the few survivors were able to make their way towards the Lab. Once Team Rocket had made their way to the Lab, they were met by resistance from local trainers defending the families. This continued for many hours until the G-Men were finally able to respond and drive their forces away.
Around six hudred people were killed, all of them from when the grunts were destroying buildings. The only one that did not fit this profile was a woman who was stabbed multiple times outside of Pallet Town, her name was Delia Ketchum. Only one person was reported missing, this was Ash Ketchum, his body was never found and is believed to be dead.
After this Team Rocket were reported throughout the regions with their activities, they have managed to construct many bases and have strong footholds in many towns and cities. They have managed to keep these footholds despite any plans made by the champions and the G-Men.
Goodshow closed the folder before turning to each of the champions "Team Rocket are a threat we can no longer ignore, people are scared and it appears that we can no longer defeat them like we used to. I know that I have asked a lot from you, having to balance the League as well as Team Rocket so I want to know if you guys have any better ideas". All of the champions remained silent until Steven spoke.
"Maybe if the G-Men were given greater funds they might be more effective" He suggested.
"As much as it would be appreciated, funding isn't our problem. It's the fact that we can't respond quick enough to their threats and we are always on the defensive do we can't take the fight to them" Lance said sighing.
"Would we be able to evacuate everyone to one region which would make it easier to defend?" Diantha asked sadly.
"The evacuation process would take too long, also we wouldn't be able to decide which region we would make our stand. Not to mention that Team Rocket have infiltrated every region so no single region is safe" Mr Goodshow answered.
There was silence.
"Why don't we form a team?" Wes asked finally speaking. The man had become Champion for the newly formed Orre League since Team Cipher had been destroyed. Everyone looked at him for a moment before Cynthia spoke up.
"How would that help us?" She asked extremely curious.
"Well the G-Men's problem is that they can't respond quick enough or bring the fight to Team Rocket. If we get a group of individuals who skills can help each other, then they might just be able to turn the tables" he explained.
"That could work, I know a few people already who would be perfect and with the funding from Mr Goodshow, it might actually work" Cynthia added. All of them nodded before turning to Mr Goodshow who appeared to be thinking.
"That's the best plan we have, I want a meeting exactly one week from now at the G-Men headquarters where we will introduce these people to each other and explain their mission" He said turning to each of them, receiving a nod. "In one weeks time then..." He finished before walking out of the room with the champions.
One week later
"Brock, do you know why we are here?" a man asked. He was reasonably tall with auburn hair and dark viridian eyes. He wore a dark shirt, purple cargo trousers and a lab coat.
"I assume it has something to do with Team Rocket, but to what extent I do not know" He answered. Brock appeared as he usually did apart from changing the body warmer for a lab coat similar to Gary's. Brock observed the room they were in, in seemed normal but it had a large table that could easily fit twenty people, on one wall there was a large screen while on another there was a window looking out of the headquarters.
At that moment two more people walk in. "Oh this has got to be bad..." Gary said.
"What's wrong?" Dawn asked, she wore her usual outfit and had grown a few inched but still looked tiny in between Gary and Brock. Brock had also noticed who had walked in and agreed with Gary.
"Dawn, that's Sabrina the Gym Leader of Saffron City and Janine the Gym Leader of Fuchsia City. They are two of the cities Team Rocket have taken over here in Kanto" Brock whispered. Dawn looked at the two as they made their way over to them sadly nodding.
"Do you guys know why Lance summoned us?" Janine asked. She had purple hair and eyes and wore her usual ninja outfit that was similar to her fathers.
"You guys don't know?" Gary said surprised. "Not even you, Sabrina?" Sabrina wore a pink top and shoes with white trousers along with two glowing bracelets. She stared at him for a moment before answering.
"No, he sent a letter to me so I couldn't read his mind. We will just have to play this out until he tells us". They all stood there in silence until they heard the door open, turning they saw three individuals enter the room.
"Paul!" Dawn shouted then she saw the person next to him "Oh, Maylene and Iris are with him too" she added cheerfully.
"Hello Dawn" Maylene greeted hugging her.
"Hello troublesome" Paul added with a smirk. He then turned to the others "Dr Slate and Prof Oak" he said shaking their hands.
"Dawn, pleasure as always" Iris greeted.
"Do you guys know why we are here?" Gary asked them.
"Me and Paul were given a letter from Cynthia asking us to come here today" Maylene answered.
"I got one similar but it was from Alder" Iris added.
"We got one as well but it was from Lance" Dawn explained.
"You did indeed, and there is a reason for that" a new voice said. They all turned and saw Lance, Steven, Cynthia and Alder all standing in front of them. "There are a few more people to turn up but please do take a seat as they won't be long" Lance added as he took a seat. They all followed him and sat down.
Shortly afterwards three more people came into the room. One was the champion of Kalos, Diantha. The other two were a young man and woman. The man had blonde hair and wore glasses along with a blue jumpsuit. The woman wore a red skirt and shoes with a black top and knee length stockings.
"Who are they?" Paul asked Lance.
"The man I believe to be Clemont, he was the Gym Leader for Luminose City in Kalos. As for the girl..." Lance explained.
"Is that Serena?" Gary asked wide eyed.
"You know her?" Dawn asked.
"I'll explain later..." Gary whispered.
"I'm glad you could make it" Lance said as the newest arrivals sat down "Most of you will be wondering why you are here and I will explain shortly but there is just one more group we are waiting for" Lance said.
When the door opened a few minutes later, only Wes walked through into the room, his navy overcoat had a few specks of sand still on it. He walked over to the group of people and sat down on one of the empty chairs. "I'm sorry for being late, the only person I trust with this I had to talk to in person. He will be here later but he said we can proceed without him" Wes apologised.
"That's fine, like I was saying most of you will be wondering why you are here, as for Sabrina, I'm sure she has already read my mind and knows what I'm going to say" Lance said turning to her. She just nodded and grinned, which scared everyone else. "The reason you are here is that I have a proposition for you, as you are most likely aware, Team Rocket are the greatest threat we have ever faced. The champions and the G-Men simply can't defeat them by ourselves, this is where you come in. We are forming a team that will take them down, each of you have a special set of skills that makes you useful to the team. Before I continue however, if anyone doesn't want to be a part of this they may leave now and we won't hold any grudges" He paused and when nobody moved he smiled.
"Alright then, you know who we are" pointing to the six champions "But from Kanto we have Dr Brock Slate, a former Gym Leader and now a leading pokemon physician, he will be treating anyone who gets injured out in the field. Professor Gary Oak, one of our region's professors like his grandfather, he is also a strong trainer. He will be feeding you information during the missions. We also have Dawn Berlitz, his assistant and a former pokemon co-ordinator. She will be working with Gary but will also be helping any undercover missions. Sabrina is a powerful psychic and was our psychic Gym Leader until Team Rocket took over Saffron City. She will be responsible for interrogating any prisoners we have. Lastly we have Janine who was the Gym Leader in Fuchsia City, she is a fully trained ninja and will be perfect for infiltrating their bases" Lance finished. Everyone nodded and greeted them.
From Sinnoh we have Maylene the Gym Leader of Veilstone City, she is an incredible fighter and I'm hoping she will be able to train you in hand to hand combat, she will also be infiltrating any bases they have. The other person with her is Paul, Paul is an incredibly strong trainer and has been training with Maylene so he is also very capable in a fight, he will be the second fighter alongside Maylene" Cynthia said.
"From Unova we have Iris, she was raised in the Village of Dragons and is very strong trainer, her skills rival mine and I'm sure she will be as strong as Lance one day. She will be providing support with her dragon pokemon" Alder complimented.
Everyone now turned to Diantha. "From Kalos we have Clemont, he was the Luminose City's Gym Leader, however his sister has now taken over that role. He is an expert in computers and electronics and is also an excellent inventor. His main job will be hacking their systems as well as gathering data from their computers, he may also come up with machines useful for the mission. And here we have Serena, she is brilliant with disguises and so will be working mainly with covert operations. However she is also the Grand Duchess of the Battle Chateau and an incredible trainer. She will be key to any undercover missions we have" Diantha finished.
Serena blushed slightly at the praise but that disappeared when a Pikachu appeared in the room and jumped on the table. It was a seemingly normal Pikachu if you ignored the red goggles on its forehead. It looked at everyone with wide eyes before scurrying over to Wes and sitting on his lap. "So Wes, who is this person you were talking about?" Steven asked.
"I don't know his name" Wes said casually. Everyone looked at him like he was mad.
"Then how can we trust him if you don't know him, what use would he be and why would you even suggest him?" Steven asked.
"Because unlike most of you, I have experience. And because I have a greater reason than the rest of you for hating them" A voice said from the door.
Everyone turned to see a man making his way over to them. He wore black boots, cargo trousers and T-shirt finishing of the outfit with a black overcoat that had red trim. He was reasonably tall with a decent amount of muscle and had ebony black hair. However his most discernable features were his blood red eyes that literally seemed to glow. The Pikachu jumped off Wes' leg and made its way over to the man's shoulder. "I apologise for being late, as for my name, you may call me Red".
"Okay then Red, so now everyone has been introduced I will go over a few things. You will each be given a room here at headquarters and over the next few weeks you will be taught some basics and accessed. Then you will be sent out on a few missions to evaluate how well you work together before finally giving you some of the difficult missions. For now you should return home and get some clothes and other essential items and let you get used to the building. Tomorrow we will start some training" Lance finished as he and the rest of the champions walked out.
Slowly one by one they left until only Red and Clemont were left at the table. Red pulled out a small device and handed it to Pikachu. Clemont watched as the pokemon began to unscrew a few things using its tail. It then began to look at a few of the electronics. "Your Pikachu is incredible, I've never seen a pokemon take apart something with such precision" Clemont complimented.
"He is, I must admit I was quite surprised when he first showed that he could do it, he's being tinkering with things ever since" Red replied. Pikachu looked at the device puzzled before turning to Red, the pokemon tugged at a wire indicating something. "I heard you are a great with electronics as well, I don't suppose you have some wire cutters do you?" Red asked as he picked up the device.
"Actually I do" Clemont said as he began to rummage through his backpack.
"Thanks" Red said. Clemont handed them to Red who then cut the wire for Pikachu before handing the device back to the pokemon.
"What is your Pikachu making?" Clemont asked.
"Pika Pichu Pi Pikapi" the pokemon said to Red.
"He is trying to make a GPS device for me, however he seems to be lacking something" Red explained. The small mouse nodded before bringing the device over to Clemont and pointed inside the device.
"He needs a receiver but I don't have one of them sadly, sorry Pikachu" Clemont apologised.
"You could always make a requisition you know" Wes said joining the conversation "If you need something and you have a good reason then you can get them, though in your case you could use one of our GPS devices" he added.
"No thanks, if I use one of the G-Mens then Team Rocket will know exactly where I am. They managed to find the signal for your devices so they know when you are coming" Red explained. "This is why Pikachu is building one from scratch, they won't know the signal so they won't know where I am" Wes and Clemont just looked at him stunned.
"I see now why you are on the team" Clemont said surprised.
"Indeed" was all Red said. "Well I suppose I better requisition a GPS receiver, Pikachu do you want to come with me or stay here?" Red asked. Pikachu answered by giving Red the device which he had put back together before jumping on his shoulder. "I will see you tomorrow for training then" he said to Wes and Clemont and with that he was off.
"He really is incredible, isn't he" Clemont remarked.
"You've only scratched the surface" Wes answered...