CHAPTER 6
GhostKing and Ivan entered back into Silph Co. to find two other trainers waiting for them, along with twelve Pokémon roaming around near the stairs.
"Kaylee…Jake…this is Ivan." GhostKing said, handing Jake his Pokѐball that Skeebee had found earlier. "We're going to take out Team Rocket together."
Kaylee was a short girl with black hair trimmed at different lengths around her head. Her eyes were the color of rich soil and were hardened with worry and slight anger. She was wearing black, just like GhostKing, with the G.A.T.R. logo on the upper pocket of her shirt. She had a small backpack slung over one shoulder.
Jake was a bit taller, nearly GhostKing's height. He had short blonde hair and green eyes, and wore glasses and braces, which made him look a bit like a nerd. He too was wearing all black, matching the other two G.A.T.R. members.
"Great, we need all the extra people we can get." Kaylee said. "But…GhostKing…what did you tell him about us?"
"Everything. I joined." Ivan said for himself. "So what Pokémon do you have?"
Kaylee whistled loudly and her Pokémon rushed to her side. She had an impressive Empoleon, Lucario, Garchomp, Milotic, Grovyle and Dusknoir, all of whom looked ready to kick Team Rocket's butt.
Jake was a whole different story. He only had three Pokémon, but those three could easily defeat Ivan's six…twenty times over. Jake had a Gyarados, Dragonite and Feraligatr, all higher than level 89.
"So can we go now?" GhostKing asked impatiently. "We have an evil band of nerds to stop, if you haven't noticed."
The four of them recalled any Pokémon and darted up the stairs. As they were reaching the third flight Kaylee gasped out, "Oh, for crying out loud! There's an elevator! Let's take it!"
Everyone crammed themselves into the small elevator. GhostKing hit the button for the fifth floor and the car lurched upwards.
"What do you think will be waiting for us at the top?" Kaylee asked worriedly.
"A coffee maker and doughnuts." Jake said sarcastically.
"Be on your guard." GhostKing advised. "The Rockets seem to be getting more powerful as we ascended the stairs."
The elevator car lurched and stopped. The lights flickered on the roof.
"Wha…what's…" Ivan didn't get a chance to finish as the car gave another lurch and began freefalling.
"KADABRA! TELEPORT!" Ivan screamed, throwing the Pokѐball he had clutched in his hand.
They went from falling to their death to landing heavily on the cement sidewalk outside the Pokémon Center.
"AND THAT IS EXACALLY WHY I NEVER TAKE THE ELEVATOR!" GhostKing screamed, getting shakily to her feet. "We could have died!"
"Thanks, Kadabra, you saved our lives." Kaylee gasped. "Ivan, when this crisis is over I swear I'll buy you a ton of Rare Candies or something…"
Ivan still hadn't gotten to his feet. "What do you think happened?" He stuttered.
"No doubt they cut the cable." Jake said. "I guess the only way is the stairs."
"Thank you, Captain Obvious." GhostKing hissed.
After everyone recovered from the near-death experience, they headed back to Silph. GhostKing whistled loudly when they entered the building; calling to her all of her Pokémon, save her Lucario and Growlithe. She also attracted a Rocket member.
"I…Intruders!" He yelled. "Go, Grimer!" A dark green Grimer appeared, glaring at the G.A.T.R. members and their Pokémon.
"Go, Eclipse!" GhostKing shouted. Her Espeon leapt forward and stared down the Grimer. "Show him we mean business. Psychic!"
Eclipse hit the Grimer with the Psychic attack and before anyone could confirm what had happened, the Grimer collapsed on the ground. The Rocket member recalled his Pokémon and backed away from the group slowly. "Y…you won't stop us that easily!"
"I think we will." Jake said, taking a few menacing steps toward the member. "What are you doing here?"
"T….that's classified!" The member turned and ran off through the doors.
There was complete silence save Eclipse's happy purring as she wove around her trainer's legs.
"Come on. The sooner we get rid of them, the better." Ivan turned towards the stairs while calling each of his Pokémon to follow. "And…didn't they have hostages?"
"Yeah." Kaylee confirmed. "We need to make them our top priority for right now. Save them and then drive Team Rocket out of here."
"Does anyone know what Silph could have done to attract Team Rocket?" Ivan asked. "Have they been working on something important?"
"I don't know, but if it is related to that, then this whole thing just became more dangerous." GhostKing said. "I found a note written by a Rocket that concerned Mewtwo a few days ago..."
Everyone stopped climbing the stairs. "Mewtwo…?" Jake finally asked in a hoarse whisper. "The most difficult Pokémon to ever capture?"
"No, Jake. The easiest and most friendly Pokémon in the universe." Kaylee said sarcastically. "What do you think?"
"I think we need to keep climbing the stairs and fight any Rocket along the way to the top floor." Ivan said. "We can work our way up, drive them off, and save people at the same time."
"Good enough for me." GhostKing said. "Now we just need to do this as fast as we can. Within the next three hours sounds good to me."
They searched the entire second floor to find no one, save a TM that contained Sunny Day.
"Maybe another G.A.T.R. member could use it…" GhostKing put the TM in her TM case.
The third, fourth, and fifth floors were equally deserted. Although the trainers sort of feared running into any people, they wanted to at the same time, due to the quiet.
"Umbreon…" Dusk exclaimed, running over into one of the office cubicles. The G.A.T.R. members quickly followed.
There, huddled behind a chair, was a Silph worker, looking scared out of his mind.
"Are you ok?" Ivan asked. "We're not from Team Rocket."
"Y…you're driving them off by yourselves?" The worker said, looking terribly surprised.
"We're trying to." Kaylee said. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine…" The worker was still deathly pale.
"Can you do us a favor?" GhostKing asked. "What attracted Team Rocket here in the first place?"
"We…we were working on a Pokѐball that would catch anything without fail…" The worker said. "And…then they showed up, saying that they'd take it and no one gets hurt."
A wave of understanding swept over Ivan along with a sense of dread. "They're going to use the Pokѐball to catch Mewtwo." He said, although he needn't say it. His other companions seemed to realize it too.
"Our president is up on the 11th floor." The worker continued. "If you get to him, I'm sure the Rockets will go away."
"We'll do that. You need to get out of here." Kaylee said. "As far as we know, there's no Rockets on the lower floors."
"Thank you!" The worker said, running for the stairs.
"You know what this means, right?" Jake asked. "We need to make sure Silph doesn't give in until we get to the president."
"Hopefully we can scare some of the Rockets into scaring the others so they're occupied with something besides getting the Pokѐball." Ivan suggested.
"Sounds good to me." GhostKing said. "Hurry. We can't linger very long."