Brock woke up at the sound of some distant car engines. He felt himself lying on cold cement floor. His brain was still hazy from being drugged by the Rocket member. His eyelids ached as he slowly opened his blood shot eyes and looked around in the darkness. There was absolutely no light. Where am I? Oh no…my apartment..the Rocket members…He had remembered what had happened in his apartment when he was about to watch Ash's match on television. He tried to move his arms to pick himself up but was quick to realize the tight handcuffs holding his hands behind his back. This is just great. The repulsive feeling of nausea crept slowly up the back of his throat. Whatever they injected into his blood stream must have been powerful. Then he remembered the woman…the brunette who slowly walked toward him to fill him with the chemical. She was beautiful and as deadly as a snake apparently. But now he had no idea where he was, or what they planned on doing to him. Panic slowly started to flow through his body.
The sound of engines in the distance roared to a halt. His pulse rising as he heard the passengers close the doors to the vehicles. This is not happening. He squeezed his eyes shut. What the hell did I do to deserve this?...Am I just going to..to lie here and find out what they want? Hell no. Not happening. I have to do something. He rolled to his side and hoisted himself up using his shoulders and got on his feet. Feeling dizzy after the sudden change of position, he stared into the darkness waiting for his eyes to adjust. There didn't seem to be any windows or furniture in the room, everything was made of cold hard cement. He walked toward one of the walls and felt it with his cuffed hand. The cement was moist. I must be underground. He continued feeling his way along the wall looking for a door until his handcuffed hand found a door handle. Brock started turning the handle and with any luck it would be unlocked. Nope…Locked…of course. His hands started to sweat as his momentary surge of determination faltered. There seemed to be no hope to get out of this room. Unless I somehow figured out how to get through the cement walls using his teeth, he thought sarcastically.
Suddenly he heard quick footsteps approaching the door. The sound was muffled but it sounded like…high heels? Years of experience of chasing after hot girls had at least taught him to recognize the sound of some pumps. He listened carefully as the footsteps stopped right in front of the door. A small window at the center of the door opened and blinded Brock as light came through.
"Back up to the back wall." A woman's voice demanded, "Now."
Brock thought for a moment then conceded and slowly started walking backwards to the back wall, trying to get a glimpse of the woman standing behind the wooden door. He knew asking questions at the moment would just worsen the situation, so he decided against it. Brock slowly forced his expression to show one of anger, knowing that showing certain emotions, like freight, might work against him.
The woman unlocked the door and creaked it open. The hallway was well lit behind the woman and it's light shined throughout the room. Brock was able to see the woman clearly now, it was the brunette, the same woman who injected him and made him pass out. She had a hand gun holstered on her hip. Brock gulped loudly.
"Ness right?" Brock asked as she approached him.
"I prefer Vanessa," she said calmly. Her silky voice sent chills down Brock's spine. But this was no time to start hounding over some pretty girl.
"My name's Brock."
"I know who you are," she snapped, surprising Brock.
"Then you know why I'm here…" Brock stated as he felt his temper flaring. The stress of the situation had left him with little control of himself. "I have not done anything to Team Rocket. Please tell me why I'm here."
Vanessa looked inquisitively at Brock after noticing a shift in his gestures. She stopped walking towards him when she was within arm's length. "No, you haven't done anything to Team Rocket…not yet." She said as she reached into her back pocket and took out a black bandana. "I'm going to blind fold you so turn around." Brock reluctantly slowly turned around after eyeing her gun and faced the wall, still not trusting the woman. "As to the reason of why you're here, well let's just say you have become one valuable piece of treasure to our president. But why should I spoil all the fun? I'll just let Giovanni tell you himself."
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
"No!Charizard!"
Ash sprinted onto the battle field through the debris. Barely able to see his fire pokemon's silhouette after the violent hyper beam bore into Charizard's chest. Please be okay, please. As Ash ran through the smoke, the crowd began to grow nervous for the pokemon's well being. Lance's Dragonite unleashed one of the most powerful hyper beams ever witnessed by league audiences. Dragonite had come in after Charizard had defeated Lance's Aerodactyl in spectacular fashion. Charizard had enough juice to take on Dragonite but in the end proved too much for the fiery pokemon. A collective gasp was heard throughout the stadium which was held silent by the uncertainty regarding Charizard's well being. The smoked had started to clear after the attack, and showed Ash kneeling in front of Charizard's body.
"C'mon buddy. Open your eyes." Ash whispered his plea.
Charizard flickered open his eyes and let out a muffled growl, a sure sound of pain. Ash's eyes wandered to his wing, which laid in the most unnatural angle.
"Oh no," Ash said to himself with worry showered over his facial features. "His wing is broken….Medic! Bring a medic!"
Two men ran onto the field wearing white uniforms and starting looking over the pokemon. The crowd waited anxiously after registering the events that had just transpired.
"His wing is fractured, sir. You should put him in his poke ball and we'll take him over to the pokemon center immediately." One of the medics said urgently.
Ash immediately retrieved Charizard, and after saying a few words to the medics made his way over to his trainer box. Charizard was one of Ash's most powerful pokemon. Everyone knew the chances of winning against Lance were dropping by the second.
"Charizard is out of the match! We wish it a speedy recovery after receiving such a devastating blow from Dragonite. And now Ash must pick his next pokemon. He has only two left, with Lance still having three!" the announcer yelled through the speaker phone. The crowd starting cheering Ash on, supporting the brave trainer.
Lance stood ready. This powerful trainer was not going to hold anything back against Ash, even if it meant hurting his pokemon. Though he did not personally like inflicting damage on any living thing, during a match, he was known to annihilate his opposition. Killer instinct flowed through the veins of Kanto's most powerful trainer.
Ash stared daggers into Lance. Standing in his trainer's box, he took a moment to seize the severity of the moment. The crowd chanting and cheering him on was like rain drops to a burning forest. There was nothing he wanted more than to win. He did not prepare for this battle for the last few years just to lose. Ash's temperature started to rise as he felt his drive kicking in, flowing through his body in harmony, delivering the necessary energy that was needed to impose his will over the match. This was what Ash was known for, being so clutch at the end of matches and being able to pull through, even though the odds were against him. There was no way he would let this go. I will crush you, Lance. No matter what it takes. I will not lose.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
After being escorted to Giovanni's office, Brock sat in a comfortable chair, still handcuffed. Vanessa was standing in one of the corners, waiting for her superior to come in. Brock shifted his eyes around the beautifully decorated office, with a large wooden desk and a leather chair in the center of the room waiting for its owner. Vanessa had been dead silent, even after a few questions from Brock, which he eventually gave up trying to ask.
After a few moments, the door swung open, and a tall man wearing a black suit walked through the door. He had slick black hair and a light smell of fine cologne filled the room. Vanessa saluted the man as he made his way to the leather chair and sat down. Tension filled the room as the man silently studied Brock with a scowl on his face. Brock was held speechless. He had so much to say and the intentions to question him but was held frozen by the intimidating man.
"Hello, Brock. My name is Giovanni." The man said in a low voice with a smile. Brock didn't say a word.
Giovanni looked down to Brock's hands and grimaced. "Can you please take the handcuffs off of our guest? I don't want him to think we're uncivilized you know." Vanessa quickly went over to Brock and quickly unlocked the handcuffs and quickly whispered into Brock's ear.
"You try anything I'll shoot you." She quickly made her way back to her corner.
"So Mr. Slate," Giovanni said looking at a few papers on his desk. "Do you know why you're here?"
Brock looked at Giovanni, temper flaring. "How would I? I had a syringe stuck into my neck after I got ambushed in my apartment, then woke up on a cold floor in handcuffs in some random room, now I'm here." He was trying to keep his voice controlled. He had no intention of pissing off someone that could have him killed in a second.
"Right. Well I'm not going to try to sugar coat anything, Brock. I'm going to tell you exactly why you're here in a moment, and I want you to listen very carefully when I do, but first I was to show you something."
A small blank flat screen lifted out of the wooden desk, as Giovanni retrieved the control from his drawer. He pressed a button and an image appeared on the screen. The black and white image showed a familiar living room with a few children playing on the ground, and others watching television. The camera zoomed in to show the faces of these children. Brock gasped. The familiar living was somewhere that Brock had spent countless hours in. The image showed his family. His brothers and sisters in Pewter City. The camera was in their home. On the screen, Brock's father stepped into the living room and gave one of the children a plate of food. It seemed like a normal evening for the family. And every single one of them were completely oblivious to who was watching them.
"What the fuck is this?" Brock yelled as he jerked up from his chair.
"Sit down now!" Vanessa yelled as she quickly put the gun on Brock's temple. The tension in the room skyrocketed. Giovanni had not moved a muscle. He simply smiled at Brock's reaction. Brock had not yet listened to Vanessa's instructions either.
"I suggest you listen to her," Giovanni said slowly. "She'll kill you. And I need you alive."
Brock slowly sat down again, looking over to his family on the screen. He could not believe that somehow, someway Team Rocket had installed a camera in his family's home. He was terrified with the possibilities of what Giovanni might say next. Anger began to morph into fear.
"Listen carefully Brock." Giovanni's expression suddenly turned serious. "I'm a very straight forward man. And I only like to say things once. You're going to do a few things for me over the next few months. And you will oblige completely. Because if you don't…every person you see on this screen…will be dead. We have agents surrounding the area waiting for that command." Giovanni stood up and looked at his watch. "I don't have much time to explain this so I'll be brief."
Brock's heart dropped. Tears began appearing at the corners of his eyes. His family was being threatened by this monster and if he did not do what he was told they were going to be killed. His thoughts were in a whirlwind, he felt like he was having trouble breathing.
"Vanessa will be giving you instructions on your assignments throughout the coming months. For now, you're going back to your home here in Sinnoh. Again, you do everything we assign to you or your family will be killed, and you left alive. Just so you can feel the pain a bit more," Giovanni said with yet another smirk appearing on his sharp features. "You tell anyone, we'll know. You warn your family, we'll know. So don't give me any reason to order the hit on your family. Vanessa is going to inject you again with the same tranquilizer and return you home. Don't give anyone any trouble or you know what will happen."
And with that, Giovanni walked out the office. Brock was held petrified by this onslaught of information. How could have this have happened? What did they want him for? Now the only thing he could do was think about his brothers and sisters. His father. They did nothing wrong! He thought desperately.
The office was now dead silent. Brock had not moved throughout the whole explanation. He silently was having a chaotic storm of thoughts as he stared at nothing in front of him. He felt a small prick on his neck, and a warm, stinging fluid entering his body. Completely ignoring it, Brock let himself slip into the abyss of unconsciousness. Where nothing hurt.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
"C'mon Ash! I know you can do this!" A certain red head screamed at the top of her lungs from the stadium stands.
"Deliah! Your gonna fall over!" A worried Professor Oak grabbed Ash's mom as she almost toppled over the rail while yelling instructions frantically to her son. She was always his absolute, undisputed number one fan.
The crowds frenzied over the battle between Lance and Ash. "A double K.O. ladies and gents! The trainers are down to their last Pokemon! This match has been epic! The winner between this single one on one confrontation will walk away the victor!"
Misty's eyes dazzled as she cheered her best friend on as everyone drew quite. Silently waiting to see the choices of these spectacular trainers. She whistled sharply at Ash, and somehow through thousands and thousands of people, got his attention. He looked at her warmly and smiled. Misty signaled Ash and responded with a nod, recognizing her gesture. Lance did not expect what was coming next. And Misty knew it would come with all of Ash's fury.
