Chapter Two: Traitor
Jimmy looked up at the Burnt Tower. It was the largest building in the Johto region, but nobody was ever brave enough to climb to the top of it.
Many myths are told about the tower's history; how there was a disastrous fire and the legendary Pokemon saved it from being destroyed.
The stairs leading towards the Burnt Tower had been made with new wood, but the tower itself was named a historical landmark. Nobody was allowed polish it in any way to keep the history for centuries to come.
He walked up the stairs to the tower. The door creaked open as he entered the room.
There were countless holes on the floor that when looked into only led to darkness. The sounds of wild Zubats and Koffings echoed throughout the first floor, but none approached Jimmy.
"Hey Gary, I'm in," Jimmy whispered into his PokeGear.
"They wouldn't be stupid enough to discuss their plans on the first floor," Gary said. "They probably went downstairs. It's said that ghosts live there, so nobody would go there and spy on them."
"I'm turning my PokeGear off. Don't want to make unneeded noise," Jimmy said and pressed a red button on his PokeGear.
He put it back on his waist belt and searched the room. The first level was where tourists went to see the fire's effect on the tower and the Pokemon living there.
At the edge of the first level was a hole, with a ladder sticking out of it. "Looks like I found my way down." He approached the hole and looked through it before going down. It was too dark to see anything, but a crying sound echoed through the underground level.
Jimmy silently went down the ladder and took out his flashlight. He set it on the lowest brightness level to attract the least amount of attention.
He followed down a narrow hallway, but could barely see anything. The crying got louder as he walked and the hallway became brighter, as if another light source was being used at the end of it.
Jimmy turned a corner and noticed three Rocket grunts and two dark figures. Through the shadows Jimmy couldn't identify them clearly, but he could see they weren't wearing Rocket uniforms.
"It seems like the Legendary Pokemon are deeper underground than we had first calculated," a Rocket grunt said.
"First you said they were going to be on the first floor, then the underground level, now you want us to go deeper?" a shadowy figure exclaimed loudly.
"Please Morty, we can't go back with failure. Giovanni will scold us," the other shadow figure responded.
Morty? The Gym Leader?
"Alright Eusine, tell the Geodude to dig deeper," Morty said. "I'll contact the other Gym Leaders in Team Rocket."
Jimmy's PokeGear got loose from his waist belt and fell on the floor, creating a loud 'dink' sound. "Crud."
"Hey, who's there?" a Rocket grunt asked and walked towards the corner. The Rocket grunt looked around, but couldn't see anyone.
Jimmy jumped from around the corner and punched the grunt in the face. The grunt nearly tripped on himself, but regained his balance.
"You have no idea who you're messing with, kid," the grunt said and pulled out his pistol. "What are you doing here?"
"Take care of the kid and the Legendary Beasts, Eusine. This isn't my problem anymore," Morty said. He walked past Jimmy and exited the underground level.
"Nobody is here to save you, so why don't you tell us why you're here?" Eusine asked.
"Well, here goes nothing," Jimmy said. Let's do this, Tyrogue. A surge of energy pulsed through his brain, playing memories of Tyrogue training in Cherrygrove City against wild Pokemon.
Jimmy grabbed the grunt's hand and twisted it, forcing him to drop the gun. He kicked the grunt in the chest and pushed him into another grunt. "Who's next?"
The last grunt tried to reach for his gun, but Jimmy jabbed him in the face and side-kicked him in the chest, pushing him against the wall.
"I'm always up for a good fight," Eusine chuckled. He cracked his knuckles and got into a fighting stance, one fist up and the other on the side of his hip.
Eusine jabbed with his front fist, but Jimmy blocked it and kneed him in the chest. While Eusine was regaining his balance, Jimmy reached for the gun that the grunt had dropped and pointed it at Eusine. "I wouldn't suggest you make another move." Jimmy picked up his PokeGear that he had dropped and called Gary. "I've got the bad guys. One escaped, but I identified him. We should be able to get him too."
In seconds, Gary and a trained team of agents entered the underground level.
"Eusine, so good to see you again," Gary said as he hand-cuffed him.
"Your new agent here is good," Eusine said with a small chuckle of defeat.
Jimmy crouched down and looked at the Geodude. "You can stop digging," Jimmy said, hoping the Pokemon would understand.
The Rock Pokemon stopped digging and climbed back up the hole he had dug. He smiled and opened up one of his fists.
"A high five?" Jimmy asked. He slapped his hand down on Geodude, and with a bright flash, Geodude was gone. "I don't understand. I just saved him. Doesn't he want to be free with the other Pokemon in the world?"
"We'll talk about this later, not with Rocket grunts in the room," Gary said.
Gary locked the prisoners in the underground prison of the Ecruteak JSA base and rejoined with Jimmy on the first floor.
"Mind giving me an explanation now?" Jimmy asked, growing impatient.
"Like I told you before, the Pokemon is repaying you by giving you his powers. The Geodude is still alive, but inside of you. The more you use the powers he gave you, the more powerful Geodude will become inside of you."
"I sort of get it," Jimmy said. "What are we going to do about Morty? He left before I fought the Rocket grunts and he also mentioned something about other Gym Leaders being involved in Team Rocket."
"Already ahead of you," Gary smirked. "One of the professor's stolen Pokemon was being held by the Rocket grunt. It's a Cyndaquil." He pressed the middle button on the PokeBall and a red beam of light transformed into the fire Pokemon. A small flame sat on its back. When the flame was small, the Pokemon was calm and collected, but when the flame grew, it meant it was angry or battle-ready.
"Wow? Does it have any clues or something?" Jimmy asked.
"No," Gary chuckled, amused by Jimmy's lack of understanding. "You're going to challenge Morty to a 1-on-1 Gym Battle."
"But I hardly know the Pokemon!"
"Then here's your chance to befriend it. Every agent needs a partner Pokemon. Mine is Blastoise. Yours will be Cyndaquil. Try not to merge with it," Gary joked and patted Jimmy on the back. "You better get going before Morty realizes his team was captured." Gary threw Jimmy the PokeBall for the Cyndaquil. "Take good care of him."
Jimmy pointed the PokeBall at the Cyndaquil and put him back in it. "Come on, little buddy."
Jimmy walked through the doors to the gym, but it was almost pitch-black. "Light the way," Jimmy said and let the Cyndaquil out of his PokeBall.
The Cyndaquil's flame grew on his back, nearly lighting up the whole room.
Morty looked up to see his challenger, but his hopeful expression turned into an angered one. His blonde hair reached down to his shoulders and his blue headband was wrapped tightly around his head. "Are you here to arrest me?"
"I'm here to battle you, Morty. How about I make you a deal?" Jimmy asked. "I beat you in a Pokemon battle and you tell me who the other Rocket Gym Leaders are. You'll also be arrested."
"What's in it for me if I beat you?"
"You'll walk. We won't arrest you or question you. Take my word for it." The Cyndaquil walked up in front of Jimmy and the flame on its back grew even larger.
"Quite a big flame you're racking up there," Morty said. "Think it can take on my Haunter?" He threw his PokeBall into the air and released his ghostly Pokemon.
The Haunter's dark face was lit up by the flame's light. His tongue was sticking out, almost like it was laughing at its opponent. Its two claw arms floated next to his body, but weren't connected to it.
"Scared yet?" Morty smirked. "Haunter, use Lick!" Morty commanded.
Without Jimmy's command, the Cyndaquil jumped over the Haunter as it rushed at him and shot a series of flames out of his mouth.
"Now I see why Rocket wanted this Cyndaquil so bad," Jimmy said.
Smoke filled the room as the flames collided with the ghost Pokemon, but the Haunter shook it off.
"Haunter, use Shadow Ball!" The Haunter's arms came closer together and a dark blob formed in between his hands. The Haunter released the shadow attack at the Cyndaquil, but the Cyndaquil retaliated with his own Flamethrower attack.
The two attacks collided, but did not explode. The Cyndaquil's Flamethrower seemed to be pushing the Shadow Ball back to the Haunter, but the Shadow Ball also became stronger and pushed the Flamethrower back.
The power struggle ended as the Cyndaquil released all of his remaining strength into the attack. The Shadow Ball flew back at the Haunter, followed by the powerful Flamethrower attack. The collision between the Haunter and the powerful attacks caused a massive explosion.
Smoke covered the battlefield, causing both trainers to cough. As it slowly settled, the Cyndaquil's flame became visible. The Haunter was on the ground, defeated and knocked out.
"You're under arrest, Morty."
"No, it can't end like this!" Morty screamed. He pulled out a pistol and aimed it at Jimmy. "Give me one good reason not to pull the trigger!"
Geodude!
A surge pulsed through his brain, similar to that of Tyrogue. Images and memories of Geodude throwing rocks at wild Pokemon played through his head.
"I can't give you a reason," Jimmy said.
Morty pulled the trigger and the bullet rushed towards Jimmy. In that split second, Jimmy raised a wall of stone from the ground and blocked the bullet. He moved his hands forward and the wall of stone rushed towards Morty and smacked into him. He flew backwards and hit the wall at the back of the gym.
Jimmy ran up to Morty and grabbed him by his collar. "Who are the other Gym Leaders?"
Morty tried to headbutt Jimmy, but Jimmy's skin was as hard as rock. Blood trickled down Morty's forehead and into his mouth. He spit it out on Jimmy's face and smiled. "You really think I'll tell you anything?"
Jimmy jabbed Morty in the face, knocking him out. He pulled out his PokeGear and called Gary. "Bag and tag him."
"Good work, Jimmy," Gary said. "You're officially a member of this operation, which means that you get your very own alias."
"You mean like in the movies?" Jimmy joked.
"You need to take this seriously. You are now called Agent Gold. We don't want Team Rocket to find out our agents' real names. I already made that mistake before," Gary explained. "And from now on, you will call me Agent Blue. Understood?"
Jimmy nodded his head. "What do we do about Morty? We need to interrogate him. Get the information he knows. Who knows what Team Rocket could be up to next?"
"Don't worry about that, leave that to us. Right now, what you need is a good night's rest."
Before leaving the room, Jimmy took one last look at the Cyndaquil's PokeBall.
"Professor Elm would have wanted you to have that Cyndaquil," Gary said.
"I just can't believe he's gone. He taught me everything I know. How to tie my shoes, how to properly eat, and even how to cook scrambled eggs," Jimmy said. "He was truly like a father to me…"
"Don't trouble yourself with these thoughts. We'll find who did this to the professor, I promise," Professor Oak said as he walked into the Ecruteak JSA base. "I heard the way that man talked about you. He believed you had so much potential and he was right. He just didn't know what kind of potential you possessed."
"Grandpa is right. We'll find him," Gary said. "And when we do, that person will be locked up forever."
"Thanks guys," Jimmy said. "What's our plan for tomorrow? What's our next move?"
"We don't have the plan yet. A new agent will be joining our team tomorrow and will help us come up with something. I know you're still new to the way things work, but try not to break under the pressure so quickly." Gary patted Jimmy on the back and went to his room.
Professor Oak followed Gary to his quarters. "This whole operation rests on that boy's shoulders," Oak said. "Train him well. He'll need it for what's to come."
"Boss, our team was captured, along with Morty and Elm's Pokemon," a Rocket grunt spoke into a phone.
"Do we know who is responsible for this?"
"It's Agent Blue and his team. What do you want me to do?"
"Giovanni wants Blue alive and that's what he's going to get," the boss chuckled darkly. "He won't even know what's coming."
Jimmy walked into his room. In the corner was a bed with a nightstand right beside it. The rest of the room was entirely empty. I'm in way over my head, he thought. He lay down on the bed and closed his eyes, hoping to get some rest.
The sound of three knocks came from the door. "Come in."
Oak slowly stepped into the room and stood by the bed. His face showed a look of concern. "Jimmy," he began. "I know this is all moving very fast. We have contacted your mother and told her you are assisting us in some routine work. What I want you to know is that we are doing everything in our power to keep you out of harm's way. The level of danger the mission today reached was unexpected."
Jimmy smiled. It's nice to be appreciated for once, he thought. "Don't worry, Professor. I am here voluntarily and I will do everything in my power to stop Team Rocket from harming anyone else. When they killed Professor Elm, they made this personal."
"Good, good. Use the anger. Let me drive you forward. But don't let yourself become lost in it. The path of revenge is a difficult one to return from."
"Is that what happened to the other one like me?" Jimmy questioned and looked up at Oak.
"Now that is a story for another time. Get some rest now, child. You'll need it for the days to come."
And that's the end of Chapter 2! Any comments/questions/suggestions/criticism etc. are much appreciated. It's a light-hearted start to a pretty dark story so enjoy the happiness while it lasts. Hope you all liked it!