Chapter Three: Inner Darkness

A Rocket grunt entered a small room. It was full of books stacked on shelves. There was a small desk in the center, along with a man seated behind it.

"This better be good news," the man said. "I don't need you wasting my time."

The grunt was shaking. He was nervous to be standing in front of his boss. "Boss, sir, everything is going according to plan. The Rocket grunts that were captured yesterday activated their tracking devices, which we placed inside of them so JSA wouldn't notice," he said.

"And where is their location?" the Boss replied.

"In Ecruteak City, sir, in a small building next to the Pokemon center," he said. "Should I send a team there?"

"Wait until my order, I will tell you when to strike." He got up and took a book off his shelf. It was called 'The Secrets of Dragon Pokemon'. "In the meantime, get the team ready. We're sending in our best men."


Jimmy yawned loudly as he got out of bed. Through his window, he could see the sun was out, but it was a bit cloudy. He got dressed and placed his PokeBall on his waist belt. He went into the main room and poured himself some coffee.

He enjoyed the architecture of Ecruteak city. It had an old feeling to it. Almost every house was made of fine wood, except for a few exceptions.

He sat down and took out his PokeGear. There was a text message from his mother which read: "Have a great day. Love you!"

Gary came up from behind him and patted him on the back. "How'd you sleep?"

"Fine," Jimmy replied. "What are today's plans?"

Just as he said this, a woman entered the base. She wore a tight, red shirt with a white jacket over it. Her black and yellow shorts were very short, not hitting anywhere near her knees. She had two pigtails, but they weren't normal. They went down to her shoulders, and then slanted upwards, almost like Jimmy's tuft. Her hair was crystal-colored, but most of it was covered by a cap on her head.

"Good morning, boys," she said. "Let's get down to business, shall we?" Her voice was intelligent. She did not stutter or hesitate. Neither of the boys responded. They were shocked by how she looked. "Snap out of it boys!" she said and smacked the table with her fist. "My name is Agent Crystal and I have been assigned to your team. So please, let's get to business."

Gary shook his head. "Sure, what did you have in mind?" he asked.

"Morty has intel we need. Good thing for me, I know just how to extract information out of men," she said as she repositioned her bra, pushing up her boobs. She pulled out a small knife from her pocket and made her way towards the holding cells.


Morty was tied to a chair with his hands behind his back. His head slouched down, but as soon as Crystal entered the room, he looked up. He smiled creepily and licked his lips. "Is this the kind of people they send to interrogate criminals these days? Young bimbos?"

Crystal pulled her arm back and sent it back at Morty. A backhand slap to the face left Morty with a bright red mark on his cheek. "Please, keep talking. Give me more reasons to hurt you." Her face revealed no emotion. She stared blankly at Morty, who was still shocked by the slap.

"Oh the things I would do to you if my hands weren't tied," he said with a smile. He slowly brought his face up and stared right back at Crystal. "Those big, beautiful bo-," but before he could finish, Crystal pulled out her knife and stabbed him in the upper leg. "AHH, you whore!" Blood oozed out of the wound and down his leg.

"Tell me what other Gym Leaders are compromised and I'll let you keep your leg," she said as she drew the knife closer to him.

"You're going to have to try harder than that," Morty said and spat in her face.

"Tell me who they are!" She repeatedly stabbed Morty all around the first wound. Morty screamed out in pain. "Next thing I stab into is your crotch. Give me a reason not to or you will no longer be considered a man," she said as she wiped the blood off her knife on Morty's pants.

Morty remained silent. "Alright, your decision." She inched the knife closer and closer to his crotch until the tip of the knife pressed up against his pants. "One last chance. Tell me what I want and you get to keep it," she said, pointing at his crotch. Sweat dripped down Morty's forehead. His teeth shook as the tip of the knife cut through the pants and pushed up against his skin.

Crystal pushed the tip of the knife through Morty's skin. He screamed out in pain.

"Okay! Stop! I'll tell you everything you need to know. Just please, stop!"


Crystal walked out of the holding cell and back to Gary and Jimmy. "The two other compromised Gym Leaders are Chuck and Claire. I've already contacted headquarters. They've ordered Agent Gold and I to get Chuck. Agent Blue, you have been ordered to stay here."

"What, why?" Jimmy questioned. "I think we'll need as many agents as possible for a mission like this."
"It's an order from the top. It's not a negotiation." Her response was quick, cold, and cruel. She did not care for how Jimmy might feel about this decision, at all. "Agents take orders. You're an agent now."

"Don't worry about it, Jimmy. I'll be fine here at the base. I'll keep gramps some company." He got up and went to his room.

"So, how do you plan on doing this?" Jimmy asked. "What's the game plan?"

She opened up a map of the Johto region. "Our private jet will drop us off at Olivine City. Landing straight in Cianwood City will alarm Rocket operatives. Instead, we will take a ship all the way to Cianwood from the Olivine Port. Got it?"

"Got it."


The jet landed near the Battle Tower. It was a small airfield that brought in many challengers from all across the world to fight in the Battle Tower.

Jimmy and Crystal entered the port and bought a ticket. They looked around the room. There were many different people of all shapes and sizes, but one caught Crystal's eyes. He was a tall, well-built man. She would have to keep an eye on him, just to be safe.

They entered the ship and entered their assigned rooms. "It's not going to take long," she assured Jimmy. "It's only about a half hour away."

"Gotcha." Jimmy went to his room and lay down on the bed. He tried to get some shut eye. He dozed off quickly.

His room door opened and a shadowy figure entered the room. The figure placed his palm on Jimmy's face for a moment. Then, the figure walked away and left.

Jimmy began to shake violently in the bed. Images of fire and death plagued his dreams, turning them to nightmares. One final image of the entire Johto region aflame woke him from his slumber. Sweat covered his entire body. He immediately rushed to the bathroom to clean off.


Back in Ecruteak City, Gary was looking over some surveillance footage from the night of Professor Elm's death. It was nearly impossible to identify the killers. They were caught on tape, but it was too dark out. All that could be identified was a big red 'R' plastered on their shirts. They were all wearing masks and gloves, to cover their faces and to avoid leaving fingerprints.

"I'm going to find all of you," he thought to himself. Suddenly, a loud pop noise came from the main room. Gary ran to the main room, only to find the front entrance completely blown up. Six Rocket soldiers entered the room.

They all held M4 Assault Rifles and wore tactical vests, filled with different equipment. "You're coming with us, Gary," they said and grabbed him. They handcuffed him, put a bag over his head and took him away.

Professor Oak ran to see what happened, but by the time he got to the main room, Gary was gone. He took out his PokeGear and dialed a number. "Tell Lance our base was infiltrated. If they know where we are, that means they know about Agent Gold and Crystal. Contact them immediately!"


The ship arrived at Cianwood and no call had been made. Crystal and Jimmy exited the ship.

They both looked around until they noticed the Cianwood Gym. "That's probably where Chuck is hiding. We will surprise attack him using the back entrance of the gym," Crystal said.

Jimmy followed behind her as they approached the gym. They entered the gym from the back and were amazed. There was a waterfall in the center and several staircases on the sides. Many black belts were training with each other. The ones without partners were using punching bags to train. Several even trained with their Pokemon.

Chuck was completely unaware of his surroundings. He was under the waterfall, meditating.

"Does anybody know how to turn off the waterfall?" Crystal shouted. None of the fighters listened, except one, who made his way down to her from the upper level.

"Chuck usually makes us fight you before you fight him, but because you're a girl, I'll let it slide," he said in a condescending tone. "We wouldn't want to beat up on a girl."

"Turn off the waterfall before I smash your face in," she said assertively. She pushed him to the side and stood in front of Chuck. The water stopped running and Chuck opened his eyes.

"Well, well, well. Looks like we have ourselves some challengers, huh?" His muscles were huge. His tone was tough. His pants were ripped and his black belt was tied tightly around his waist. "One on one? Two on two? What's your battle style?" he asked.

Before Crystal could answer, Claire interrupted. She jumped down from one of the higher levels and landed next to Chuck. "Chuck, these people are JSA. We need to take them out," she said. "Come on girl, I can take you," she said confidently.

Crystal went for a cross-punch, but Claire blocked it with one hand and proceeded to roundhouse kick Crystal in the chest. The strike landed and Crystal fell backwards; the wind knocked out of her.

She slowly got back up, but her feet shook. She was struggling to regain her strength.

Jimmy came forward and confronted Chuck. "Come on Chuck, think you can take me on?"

Geodude!

A surge pulsed through his brain. Images of Geodude blocking attacks from Pokemon played through his head.

"Confident, aren't you? I like that!" Chuck replied. Jimmy went for a punch to the face, but Chuck grabbed his fist. "Strong grip, I can feel it. But it's not going to be enough."

Chuck twisted Jimmy's arm and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying backwards.

"How did you do that? I'm made of freaking rocks!" Jimmy shouted.

"Don't you know, young man? Fighting is strong against Rock," Chuck said. "JSA scum. Not even trained properly!"

"I'm trained perfectly well!" Come on, Tyrogue! Images of Tyrogue punching rocks played through his head. "I may not be as strong as Rock now, but at least I can fight properly," Jimmy thought.

Chuck tried kicking Jimmy again, but he dodged the kick and countered with his own kick. Chuck stumbled backwards, but quickly regained his balance. "I've had enough of this kid!" He crouched down and started sprinting towards Jimmy. He slammed his head into Jimmy's chest, sending the boy flying backwards again. This time, Jimmy's head smashed into the wall behind him and he blacked out.

"Good work, Chuck," Claire said as she pulled out a tranquilizing gun. She pointed it at Crystal and shot a dart. Crystal fell on the ground, unconscious. She walked over to Jimmy's body and checked his pulse. There was nothing. "You killed the boy! He could have told us useful information." She shook her head. "Never mind this. Take the girl to the chopper. I'll be waiting for you."

Chuck picked up Crystal's body and disappeared with Claire.


Jimmy opened his eyes and took a deep, loud gasp. He was in a small room, lying on a bed. There was a needle right next to him, but it was empty. He took a look around and saw a man with orange hair. "Wow, I never thought it would work on a human, but I guess it does!" the man said.

"What? What is going on?"

"Ssh, lie down. Let me explain everything," he said. "After all the commotion going on in the gym, some of the local policemen went to check what happened. What they found was, well, you! They checked your pulse, but there was none. So they brought you here, to me. I am a doctor, but mostly a Pokemon doctor. I checked your pulse again, and I found one. It was extremely faint, but it was there. I injected a full serum of my famous Secret Potion, and here you are, alive!"

It took a few seconds for Jimmy to digest what he had just heard. "What about a girl? Did they find a girl? My age? Weird hairdo?"

"No, the police only found you. I'm sorry, was there someone else with you?" he asked. "By the way, the police will probably want to know what happened."

Jimmy jumped out of bed, but he could feel the pain in his chest from where he was hit. He took out his PokeGear and dialed Gary's number, but there was no answer. Instead, he dialed Professor Oak's number.

"Hello? Jimmy is that you?" Oak asked. "Where are you?"

"I'm at Cianwood. They kidnapped Crystal. I'm alive, but injured," he replied.

"I'm sending a chopper your way. It'll wait for you in the outskirts of Cianwood."


A Rocket grunt took the bag off of Gary's head. He was sitting in a pitch-black room and tied to a chair.

A spotlight shined on a man, but his identity was still unclear. "Welcome to Rocket Headquarters, Gary," he said in a deep voice.

Gary struggled in the chair, trying to free himself, but it was of no use. "What do you want from me?"

The man laughed. "Gary, you've got it all wrong. The real question is, what do you want from us? Ever since the first Soul Merger, we've noticed your behavioral change. Jealousy and anger consumed you. If you help us Gary, we can help you too."

Gary's eyes lit up. "I…I don't understand. Tell me who you are!"

Another Rocket grunt entered the room. He was holding a needle. It had some weird liquid in it, along with a tiny device that would also enter his bloodstream. He injected Gary with the serum and left the room.

"What we just did there was put in your body a device that could explode anytime we wanted it to," the man said. "You either help us, or you die. There's really no other choice."

"I'd…I'd rather die!" Gary shouted and spat on the ground. "You're a bunch of crooks."

The room's lights turned on. Gary looked around and saw another room to his left that was separated by a window. In the room, Crystal was tied up just like Gary. A Rocket grunt had a gun pointed to her head.

"Don't you touch her!" he shouted. "Don't you lay a finger on her!"

"It's up to you, Gary. You bring us your new agent, the Soul Merger, and we give you the powers you've always wanted. And of course, we'll give you your little girlfriend back." He walked up closer to Gary. "Do we have a deal?"

Gary could finally identify the man. "Yes we do, Giovanni."

"Good, we're going to release you now. What you're going to do is lead a fake operation at one of my operative's base. All the coordinates and information will be sent to you on your PokeGear." He took out a knife and cut off the rope that tied up his hand. "Good luck, Gary. You are now a Rocket agent."


The chopper that picked up Jimmy from Cianwood landed in Goldenrod City. Professor Oak greeted Jimmy and led him to the new JSA base.

"Why Goldenrod? What happened to our base in Ecruteak?" Jimmy asked.

"Sit down, Jimmy," Oak said. Jimmy did what he was told. "Gary was kidnapped by Rocket from the JSA base. His location is unknown and right now, this is the only safe place you've got."

Jimmy was shocked, but his shock was soon replaced by relief, as Gary came through the front door. "Gramps, I'm…exhausted," he said as he collapsed.

"Jimmy, pick him up and get him to the bed." Jimmy picked Gary up and moved him to his room. "He must have escaped from them and sprinted all the way to this base. Let him rest. We'll talk to him in the morning."


Back in Rocket Headquarters, Giovanni was having a meeting with his recon team. "Where was the last place Agent Red was seen?"

"A few months back, our recon team spotted him in Victory Road, heading towards Mt. Silver it seemed," one of the Rocket agents said. "Sadly, they couldn't keep up with him and soon lost him."

"Anything recent?"

"In fact, there is something very recent!" Giovanni was not amused by the agent's enthusiasm. "There have been drastic weather changes in the peak of Mt. Silver. We think someone might be up there; however, nobody has ever reached the top and survived. The trip is extremely tough and the Pokemon there are even tougher. We would need someone close to the skill level of Agent Red himself."

"That is being worked on," Giovanni replied. "Good work. Train your men to withstand the cold conditions of the peak. What about a possible aircraft that could fly up to those heights and still be functional?"

The Rocket agent wrote the idea down. "We'll get our engineers working on it as soon as possible."

"We'll speak soon, men," Giovanni said and opened the door for his men to exit. He went back to his desk and began to pet his Persian. "Soon, the whole world will be crumbling at my feet. And nobody will stop me."


End of Chapter 3! Lots of little teases all over this chapter and set up for many fun things to come! As usual, any comments/suggestions/criticism are highly appreciated. To the one reviewer I've already got, thanks for the support! I'm glad you liked it!