Giovanni regarded Persian. "It seems we are at an impasse, Persian. You have information regarding our plans at the World Tournament. Information that could prove disastrous should it fall into the wrong hands. I offer you one last chance. Join us… or die." "I think I'll take door, if it's all the same to you," Persian said. He spun and raced towards the Admin, the jewel in his forehead flashing gold. Dozens of coins, glowing a bright white, hurled themselves at the Admin, who yelped and threw up her arms to defend herself from the monetary assault. Persian sprinted past her and down the halls. Giovanni swore. "Get him!" He ordered, and his Persian took off after the intruder. "Make sure he doesn't get out alive." Persian's paws pounded against the cold linoleum floors. His heart pounded with such intensity he thought he may have a heart attack. He could hear Giovanni's Persian, mere footfalls behind him. He couldn't stop to look, he couldn't attack; all he could do was run, run and pray he made it out.
He was nearing the exit. He rounded a corner, slamming into a guard on patrol. The two hit the floor, and in a flash, Giovanni's Persian was on him. Hissing, "Per persian sian, (Here we are again,)" Giovanni's Persian growled, circling the ex-Rocket. "I really should kill'd you when I had the chance," Persian replied, matching the other's pace. The two Persians circled each other, looking for an opening. Without warning, Giovanni's Persian pounced, flying through the air towards him. Persian sidestepped the assault and slashed out with his claws, tearing a thin gash into his opponent's cheek. Yelping, the injured Normal Type spun and rushed Persian, tackling him headfirst. Persian flew backwards, tumbling to the floor. Snarling, he leapt to his feet. His forehead briefly flashed orange, and dozens of stones, each no bigger than a fist, glimmered into existence, sped towards Giovanni's Persian, whose eyes briefly opened wide before the stones struck all along its body. The Rock Type move forced Giovanni's Persian back several feet. Crimson eyes narrowing to slits, the so-called Classy Cat Pokémon growled from deep within its throat. "Per ersian Persi Persian-Per, (Giovanni will have your head on a stake,)" It threatened, front paws glowing a deep violet. "You said something similar last time you and I fought. Look how dat one turned out." Persian countered, relaxing his muscles and taking a deep breath. "Per Persian sian! (Not this time!)" Giovanni's Persian cried, racing towards his opponent, claws extended and shining darkest lavender. Persian waited two heartbeats and closed his eyes. An orange outline surrounded him, and he moved. Tensing his legs, Persian leapt straight up, over the Normal Type, and twisted midair, landing perfectly behind his attacker. Persian lashed out with his claws, raking them over the other Persian's fur. It cried out in pain as the Persian's claws cut into him, slashing four long cuts into either side of the Normal Type. Giovanni's Persian collapsed, blood staining its creamy fur. Persian stood victorious over his enemy. "Twice now," he said, cleaning his claws on the loser's fur. "I've bested you. Dis is da second time I've had your life in my paws, and the second time I'm giving it back to you." He lowered his head so he was staring right into his conquest's eyes. "There won't be a third. Understand?" Giovanni's Persian nodded weakly. "Good." Twitching his tail in disgust, he turned and raced away. Persian made it to the elevator to find the guards still at their posts, making small talk about whatever it was elevator guards talked about in the small hours of the night. Persian grinned evilly at the two guards, flicking his tail as he had before. An alarm sounded somewhere within the headquarters. Giovanni's voice thundered throughout the underground. "We have an intruder," he said calmly, "a Persian to be exact. He information concerning our presence at the Pokémon World Tournament. He cannot be allowed to escape. Use any force necessary to bring him down. He does not leave. That is Silence reigned for a moment as the guards processed this information. Persian could practically hear the gears and cogs spinning in their minds. He took a step towards the two as they were unclipping their Pokéballs. "Listen, fellas." He smirked, seeing the Grunts eyes widen to the size of Voltorbs. "We can do dis da easy way, or da hard way." He raised paw, claws extending as he did so. "See dis paw? Wit' one cut, I can knock your head clean off your shoulders. Or I could go's right to ya heart. Get it? One way or another I'm getting outta here. The Grunts nodded, lowering their Pokéballs. "We-we didn't s-see nothing," one said, nudging her partner, who nodded fervently. "Yea! No Persian here! Please don't kill us! We only signed up a week ago!" Persian glared at the two for a moment longer. He walked backwards into the open elevator, not daring to trust these to newbie Rockets. Elsewhere, a man monitoring the security cameras saw Persian enter the elevator and press the button that led to the surface. He tapped a button on his radio. "Boss? I found him. He's in Elevator Nine barracks. I'm sending a team after him now." The doors opened. Persian blinked in the morning light. It was hard to believe it was still only sunrise. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he set off, jogging towards the city center. Avoiding the crowds of people going to work and tourists gaping at the sights, he stuck to the alleyways, not wanting to bring any more attention to himself. "Krow!" Persian glanced over his shoulder. Above him flew a flock of Murkrow and Spearow, honing in on him. "Arceusdamnit!" he swore, breaking into a full out sprint. The Flying Types above him cawed and screeched as he raced up, over an old wooden fence, through the busy streets and into a large apartment complex. He ran up four flights of stairs and all the way down the hall, bursting through a faded green door. Mallika jingled a greeting, floating happily near James, who barely glanced up from the stove. "Hey, Persian. We were wondering where you were. I'm fixing Jessie some eggs; I make –" "No time for dat! They're coming! they'll be here any minute!" Persian exclaimed, pacing around the tiny room. James raised an eyebrow. "What? Who's coming?" "Who da ya think, James? Team Rocket!" "What about Team Rocket?" asked a voice from behind Persian. The Normal Type whirled around to see Jessie walk in from the bedroom. "What's going on?"
"Jessie! We gotta get outta here! The Team's out for us!" Well, for me, he corrected silently. Jessie's eyes narrowed. "Why? What happened?" Persian glanced at the door. "I went down to HQ this morning." Ignoring the gasp from Jessie and the splatter of eggs hitting the floor, Persian continued, "You remember I was talking about how the Team had something planned for da PWT, right? Well, I had to know what, so I went down and spied on the Boss. He was talking about… troops or somethin'. They're supposed to 'mobilize at dusk', whateva dat means. "So, I was about to get outta there, and outta nowhere this Admin runs into me and sounds the alarm, and then the Boss's Persian and I fought, and I nearly had to kill de newbie Grunts, and now they're coming here! I saw a whole fleet of Murkrow and Spearows chasing me on da way back! We gotta get outta here!" Jessie raised an eyebrow. "How do you know they were chasing you?" At that exact moment, a rattling noise came from the window, as though someone were tapping on the glass pane. Jessie, in somewhat of a shock form Persian's story, turned and opened the blinds. A Spearow screeched at her, pecking once more on the windowpane before flying away from the building and rejoining the mass of birds that hung above the apartment like a thick cloud of feathers. "that proof enough for ya?" Persian questioned. "Come on! We gotta split! We need to head ta Indigo Plateau and warn Ash!" James looked up. "Huh? The Twerp's at the PWT?" Persian nodded, and he glanced at Jessie "We have to warn him. We owe Ash a lot and IT's our chance to help him." Jessie nodded. "I can have a bag ready in five minutes. Pack us some food." And with that, she turned on her heel and returned to the bedroom. Ten minutes later found the trio nearing Route 22. Persian glanced over his shoulder. Luckily, they seemed to have managed to sneak out of the city without alerting the swarm of Flying Types that still floated above the city. He hadn't realized Team Rocket had so many Murkrow and Spearow. "Man, I wish we still had our balloon," Jessie complained. "We'd be halfway to the PWT by now." "Mm." James agreed, taking all their pokemon. "But a huge Meowth-shaped balloon isn't exactly inconspicuous, now is it?"
"C'mon, guys," Persian said impatiently, "We gotta get to the tournament before the Boss does." "Krow!" As one, James, Jessie, and Persian looked skyward. The cloud of birds had drifted closer, and the mass of Flying Types were honing in on the trio. "Run!" they screamed simultaneously, dropping any façade of innocence and sprinting into the forests, Murkrow and Spearow right on their had destroyed their ballon and they kept running after the crash landing.
"Go! Go! Go!" Jessie yelled, purple hair flying behind her as she crashed through the trees. James feet had long since lost all feeling in them. He didn't reply to Jessie, merely quickened his raced ahead of them, not speaking except to cry for them to run faster or to turn this way or that. They'd been running for an hour now, maybe two. The Flying Types chasing them were relentless, not slowing even for a minute. They'd followed them all the way from intent on stopping the ex-Rockets at all costs. The birds' shrieking rang in Persian's ears, a cacophonous mesh of noise that pressed down on them like a dozing Snorlax. "This way!" Persian yelled. "I got Ash's scent! He's not too far from here!" Thank Arceus, James thought, running just a little faster. If anyone could stop the swarm of Murkrow and Spearow that bore down upon them, it was the Twerp. Jessie glanced over her shoulder. Was it her imagination, or was the cloud of Flying Types lessening? Were they getting further away? Her brow furrowed, and she returned her attention to the forests before her – only to trip over an exposed tree root and fall to the earth with a shriek. "Jessie!" James was at her side in a flash. She tried to stand, but a starburst of pain radiated from her ankle, and she collapsed again. "I twisted my ankle," she said between rapid breaths. "I can't walk." James snatched a Pokéball from his waist. "We'll have to fight our way out," he said, tapping the release button on the ball. In a flash of light, an orange canine Pokémon appeared. "Growlie, we need your help!" "Grow lithe growlithe!" the Puppy Pokémon nodded, turning to face the oncoming horde of Flying Types. "Aura sphere!" A Lucario burst through the trees, a ball of swirling blue energy charging in its hands. Roaring, the Aura Pokémon released the sphere into the crowd of Bird Pokémon. "Water Pulse!" A evee joined the Lucario, An orb of water swirled into existence before the water fox's forehead. "Evee!" the Eevee cried, firing the attack at Murkrow and Spearow. The orb exploded into water when it struck, soaking the birds through and through. Many of the Flying Types fell to the ground; some flew around, confused after the liquid onslaught. "Hyperbeam" The lucario fired the massive beam of energy knocking out all the flying types. "Nice job, guys." "Ash!"
Ash turned, facing the ex-Rockets. His face broke into a grin, "What are you guys doing here?" Persian spoke up. "It's about the Boss."
"We can talk about a bit later since you guys are in no condition to continue, let me take you where you will be safe for now", said ash and then he helped them and carried them to a spare room which brock gave him when he has got a new room at Pokémon center. After healing there wounds through his aura he let them rest and went to his room so that they can rest and he can think over it. When ash came back to his room he saw Dawn stood in front of his door. Tears were streaming down from her red eyes as she stared at him with only one word coming out of her mouth.
"Ash ketchum".
*To be continued*
