Chapter 11:

Down in the lobby, the sleeping Rockets awakened a few minutes after Ash had managed to make his way past them. When they awakened, they looked around to see if there was any sign of Ash or his Pokémon. So far, there was no one besides them and Vice Executive of Battle Aizen. Aizen looked to have awakened before them and he bellowed, "Wake up everyone. The intruder got away."

The other Rockets shot up and immediately began searching the floor for any sign of where he may have gone. This caused Aizen to lift his eyes skyward and utter, "Ugh." Glaring at each of them, he pointed towards the stairwell, shouting, "His goal is Leaf."

The Rockets still did not seem to get what he was saying, prompting him to groan even louder. "Upstairs, you morons! He's gone upstairs!"

The Rockets then realized their mistake and said, "Oh, right."

The group of twenty Rockets was about to file out of the lobby when a quartet of humans along with several Pokémon came bursting through the lobby entrance. Aizen glowered at the group and seethed, "Oh great."

The other Rockets turned to face the humans as they arrived in the lobby. A few of the grunts recognized the faces of Dawn and May from pictures and advertisements that they had done while they were Pokémon Coordinators. They did not recognize Tracey or Delia at first, but they suspected that the woman that was with the children was likely Ash and Leaf's mother. They looked over at the stairwell and the elevator and, realizing that they would not have a choice but to fight the new arrivals.

Aizen took the lead and cried, "Okay everyone, we have to make a stand here. No one can get by us! We have to keep the children separate from their base of support."

"Right," cried the other Rockets.

The Rockets then released their Pokémon. Each Rocket had six Pokémon, meaning that they greatly outnumbered the Pokémon forces of Ash's friends, but their Pokémon mostly consisted of Koffings and Weezings, with a Machamp or two tossed in but a few of them had a more eclectic group of Pokémon including a Magmar, Electabuzz, and even a Lapras, a blue Loch Ness monster-like Pokémon. The Pokémon opened up on Ash's friends and their Pokémon. The deployed Pokémon, which consisted of Scizor, Mamoswine, Typhlosion, Blaziken, and Delcatty, and they ordered the use of various ranged attacks to try to hold back the Rockets' attacks. The attacks collided and for the moment, it was a stalemate. This gave Delia and the others a chance to move. "Fall back!" Delia cried to the others. "It'll be suicide for us to stay here!"

She did not have to say it twice, for Tracey, May, and Dawn quickly followed her back outside the base. As soon as they were away, Mamoswine, Typhlosion, Scizor, Blaziken, and Delcatty made one last push against the Rockets. There was a massive explosion, with most of the force of the explosion being pushed the Rockets' way. A large cloud of smoke was produced by the explosion and the Pokémon used that as cover to retreat back outside the base. While they retreated, the Rockets and their remaining Pokémon, since two Koffings and a Weezing had been taken down in the initial exchange, fired into the cloud in the hopes of hitting some of the enemy.

Once everyone was outside and they had formed up once more, Delia directed, "Okay everyone, get a ways away from the entrance and have all of your strong ranged attack Pokémon target the entrance. We want to be far enough from the base so that if they blow a wall out that the shrapnel won't hurt us, but we'll still be able to target them. If they aren't smart enough to blow out a wall, though, they'll certainly come through the entrance. Once a Rocket, Pokémon or otherwise, appears, open up on it. That entrance is a good chokepoint and we were lucky not to be shot to pieces when we fled."

The others looked at Delia wondering what was coming over her. They had never known her to sound like this at all. For a second she, too, wondered where these almost military style tactics were coming from. She did not dwell on it right now, though. She had more important things to worry about.

The group soon deployed all of their Pokémon for the battle and they formed squads. One squad consisted of Ash's remaining Pokémon that he had used during the Championship that were not currently with him: Serperior, Gigalith, Garchomp, Glalie, Infernape, Krookodile, Swellow, Staraptor, Scrafty, Talonflame, and Greninja, while the other squads consisted of each of the other Trainers' Pokémon respectively.

It was not long before the first Rocket came bursting through the entrance to the building. Ash's friends' Pokémon let loose with a vicious volley of attacks. Serperior, wanting to conserve energy, merely fired an Energy Ball at the Rocket Grunt. The Grunt sustained a direct hit from the Energy Ball, along with a Flamethrower from Infernape. The Rocket was set ablaze and ducked back inside the building, screaming.

Soon, the Lapras that had been deployed burst through, only to be felled by a Stone Edge barrage from Krookodile and a Discharge attack from Pachirisu. Lapras's body blocked the entrance to the building, which would have prevented the others from being able to enter the building, but the Rockets did not see the wisdom of letting Lapras remain there and creating a huge chokepoint for the allies. The unconscious Lapras was immediately called back into its Poké Ball and two Grunts rushed through along with two Koffings. The Grunts and Koffings were met by a deadly barrage of elemental attacks from Glalie, Infernape, and Blaziken. Delia also joined in, using her recently acquired Ray Gun on a Rocket Grunt that had pulled a weapon of his own and was taking aim at one of the party. She felled him with a single shot to the chest.

The party continued to mount a strong resistance and take down anyone that tried to leave the building and come after them. They hoped that the whole of Team Rocket would be focused on them, rather than on Ash, but they knew that they would be able to not hold out forever. They merely hoped that Cynthia and Lance would be able to report back to the League and get some Pokémon League reinforcements to track them so that they could stop Team Rocket. As it happened, another grunt tried to open fire on the group, getting off two shots, both misses, before being set ablaze by Blaziken. They knew that they would not hold out forever, but if they could hold out for long enough, and take down enough Rockets, then it would give Ash time to deal with Team Rocket's leader once and for all as well as find and rescue Mia. Aizen was the next to peer out the window, but he quickly ducked back inside in order to avoid a laser blast from Delia's Ray Gun. He gave a smirk, wondering how she had acquired such a weapon. It did not matter. His reinforcements had arrived, and soon, they would power their way through the exit and take the fight to the humans and their Pokémon.

Meanwhile, Mia was ascending the stairwell, making her way up to the eleventh floor. For the first several floors, she encountered no resistance, but by the time she was coming upon the sixth floor, she came across several Rocket scientists that each had a Magnemite escorting them. They also carried briefcases that must have had important documents inside. Wasting no time, Mia pulled out two Poké Balls and cried, "Chandelure, Jolteon, go!"

The Poké Balls opened and out came Chandelure and Jolteon. He promptly unleashed a Flamethrower attack on the Magnemites, taking them down with a single hit. Meanwhile, Jolteon let loose a Thunderbolt and zapped the enemy scientists into unconsciousness. The still sparking bodies of the scientists fell tumbled down the stairs, causing Mia and Jolteon to sidestep them as they fell before she continued on her trek.

A couple floors up, she came across another source of resistance on the landing right next to the door that led to the eighth floor. This one came in the form of another Rocket Scientist that while Mia had no recollection of, she felt that Ash had known him from a previous adventure. The Rocket, Dr. Namba, a middle-aged man with orange hair on both sides of his head and a thick orange mustache, however, immediately recognized Mia and stammered, "You!"

Namba then grabbed a Poké Ball opened it, releasing Electabuzz. "Attack!" Namba commanded. "Use Thunder on that Chandelure! Then take out that girl!"

Mia had other ideas and glanced down at Chandelure, countering, "Chandelure, use Fire Blast on Electabuzz."

Chandelure gave a nod of affirmation and unleashed a massive Fire Blast on Electabuzz just as the Electric-type Pokémon unleashed a Thunder attack on him. The two attacks collided in midair, but the Fire Blast quickly pushed back the Thunder. After a few seconds, the human stick figure-like blast of fire struck Electabuzz and took him down with one hit. The Pokémon promptly fell to the floor, unconscious.

Namba grimaced at the sight and prepared to charge Mia himself. Just as he charged, though, a Thunderbolt from Jolteon struck him in the chest. He cried out in pain as electricity arced across his body and he convulsed. He was quickly rendered unconscious and tumbled down the steps until reaching the landing half a story below. Wasting no time, Mia continued her ascent.

Not far into her ascent, Mia was met by another group of Rockets. This time, a duo of Rockets came, flanking a Scientist. This Scientist was a high-ranking scientist in Team Rocket's Research Division known as Professor Sebastian. He had been second only to Gideon and Dr. Zager. Sebastian had dark gray hair, a pointy beard and wore what looked to be reading glasses. He had no Pokémon with him, but he was carrying a briefcase that contained important information. Flanking him were two Rocket Officers: the thin Rocket with long gray hair and gray eyes, wearing a gray Rocket uniform was named Hun, with the more muscular Officer with short blond hair and sunglasses wearing a gray Rocket vest over a blue muscle shirt was Attila. When they saw Mia, all they could do was almost moan, "Oh crud, not her," remembering a previous encounter with her in battle.

Once they entered the battle, they released their Pokémon, Steelix for Hun, with Skarmory and Muk being released for Attila. The officers and scientist also pulled out Ray Guns and took aim at Ash. They opened fire and green energy bolts sizzled by Mia, missing her head by inches. She immediately dove to the floor and crawled for cover. Her Pokémon also took cover by pinning themselves to the ground. The shots sailed over them.

Once the initial barrage was complete, Jolteon and Chandelure rose up and fired off their Thunderbolt and Flamethrower attacks respectively. They targeted the newly arrived Steelix and Skarmory first, wanting to take advantage of their own type advantage. The attacks collided with the Pokémon, taking them down with single hits. The two Pokémon then concentrated on the Muk, who launched a wave of sludge their way. Despite the enclosed space, the Sludge Wave was not effective since Chandelure used Psychic to divert it around the Pokémon, making it so that they suffered no damage. The Sludge Wave flowed around the psychic shield erected by Chandelure and broke upon the wall, then continued down the stairwell. This was unfortunate for a group of Team Rocket reinforcements as the wave of poisonous liquid washed over them, poisoning any who got it in their eyes, ears, or mouth, and carrying them back down the stairs. The Pokémon that were with them were also hit, with the Kadabra being poisoned in the process.

After the poisonous wave had subsided, Chandelure and Jolteon went back to work dealing with the Muk by unleashing a Flamethrower and Thunderbolt attack respectively. The two attacks converged on the Muk and were more than enough to knock it unconscious.

While Chandelure and Jolteon were dealing with Muk, Professor Sebastian, Attila and Hun went to draw their side arms so they could deal with Mia and her Pokémon directly, seeing that their Pokémon were of little worth against those of a Champion. Mia would not have any of that, though, and as they reached for their weapons, Mia lowered herself and charged into Hun, knowing that he would be the easiest of the three to deal with. She barreled into the Rocket and knocked him off his feet, his gun sliding out of the unbuttoned holster.

Attila and Sebastian, meanwhile, drew their guns and, noticing Mia wrestling with Hun, turned to shoot her. Mia, who was close to Professor Sebastian, swept her legs and knocked the Rocket scientist off of his feet. This, however, gave Hun the chance to get Mia off of him, which he quickly took. Hun thrust out his arms and shoved her off him. He rolled towards his Ray Gun, which was a few feet away, and went to pick it up. Just as he did so, and Attila had drawn a bead on Mia, a Thunderbolt from Jolteon struck the Scientist and two Officers and they cried out in pain, reflexively pulling the triggers of their guns, letting loose a trio green energy blasts, each of which went wide of their targets and gouged large holes in the wall and in one of the steps on the stairs. The Rockets soon fell to the ground and tumbled down the stairs, coming to rest on a landing. With the Scientist and the two Officers having been dealt with, Mia went down the stairs to grab a discarded Ray Gun. Once she had armed herself, she continued her ascent to the eleventh floor. Once she was at the eleventh floor, she noticed that the stairwell paused to catch her breath and prepare herself for the battle up ahead, for there was no way that Giovanni would be left unguarded. To that end, she deployed the rest of her Pokémon and told them, "This is it, everyone. This is the home stretch."

Each of her Pokémon nodded their heads and turned to the door, indicating that they were ready for whatever was on the other side. Then, wasting no time, she proceeded through the door, along with the rest of her team.

On the eleventh floor, just outside of Giovanni's office not too far away from Mia, Jessie, James, and Meowth stood on guard as they waited for the almost certain arrival of either Ash or Mia. When they saw the door to the stairwell open they immediately took defensive stances and gripped their Poké Balls. Soon, they saw Mia and her Pokémon friends emerge from the stairwell.

"You three," she growled in a low, cold voice. While she did not have Ash's past with the Trio, she still knew of the inconvenience that they had caused her twin brother and she was very eager to make them pay for their misdeeds.

Jessie and James grinned at the sight of Mia, with Jessie beginning their motto, "Prepare for…" but the motto was cut short by a Thunderbolt from Jolteon. She cried aloud in pain and then collapsed to the ground.

While Pikachu was shocking Jessie, the rest of Leaf's team surged through the door, prompting James to let out all of his Pokémon. Cofagrigus, Mr. Mime, Carnivine, Amoonguss, and Malamar came out and James cried, "Everyone, attack the twerpette and her Pokémon! Take her down before she can get an attack off!"

Before they could attack, though, Mia's Pokémon initiated their own attacks. Jolteon fired a Signal Beam at Malamar, taking it down before it could even get off a Psybeam or Dark Pulse. Chandelure then fried Amoonguss and Carnivine, sweeping a Flamethrower attack all over them. Tyranitar and Garchomp then finished off Cofagrigus and Mr. Mime with two Stone Edge barrages, knocking out the Pokémon with single hits. Starmie and Venusaur merely sighed as the other four Pokémon finished off James's Pokémon, their services not being needed yet. However, though, they would get their chance soon, for Jessie was recovering from her shock.

Once Jessie had recovered, she shot up and joined the battle, unleashing her Pokémon into the fray. Gourgeist, a black pumpkin-like Pokémon with two short, stubby feet and eyes and a mouth on it stalk; Swoobat, Seviper, Yanmega, Jellicent, and Wobbuffet all emerged from their Poké Balls and focused on Mia's Pokémon. Mia, knowing that Wobbuffet could be trouble with its Counter and Mirror Coat ability glanced over at Venusaur and smiled.

Venusaur gave grin and unleashed a massive Sleep Powder cloud on Wobbuffet while Starmie and Jolteon fried Swoobat, Yanmega, and Jellicent with two Thunderbolt attack, the attacks being sufficient to take down the three Pokémon without issue. As for Wobbuffet, Jessie saw the cloud coming and ordered, "Wobbuffet, use Mirror Coat!" She figured that since it was a ranged technique that Sleep Powder would count as a Special technique.

A white, reflective glow surrounded Wobbuffet as it used Mirror Coat, however, Jessie would soon be in for a shock as the Sleep Powder cloud was not reflected back towards Venusaur or any of Mia's Pokémon. That was when Jessie learned that status moves were not affected by moves like Counter or Mirror Coat. As such, when the Sleep Powder cloud made contact with Wobbuffet, the Pokémon quickly growing drowsy before falling asleep in front of Jessie.

Once Wobbuffet had fallen asleep, Chandelure and Jolteon fired Shadow Balls to knock out the Pokémon, leaving on Seviper and Gourgeist to deal with. Jessie, seething at how her Pokémon were looking like jokes against Mia, cried, "Seviper, use Poison Tail on that Jolteon! Gourgeist, use Shadow Ball on that Chandelure!"

Before they could launch their attacks, though, Jolteon used Thunderbolt to take down Seviper with a single hit while Chandelure dealt with Gourgeist by unleashing its Fire Blast on the Ghost/Grass-type Pokémon. The Fire Blast instantly overpowered Gourgeist's Shadow Ball, dispersing it on contact and continued until it hit Gourgeist, taking it down. That left only Meowth, along with Jessie and James.

Meowth's eyes went wide with shock and horror at the power demonstrated by Mia and her Pokémon. He promptly began to back away from the girl and her team as they neared. He stopped as he bumped into Jessie, who looked down at him, gritting her teeth, and telling him, "What are you doing? Take her!"

"Are you nuts?" Meowth retorted. "She'll kill me!"

Jessie was about to disagree as she, James, and Meowth were then fried by two Thunderbolts launched by Jolteon and Starmie. The three gave brief cries before they fell to the floor, unconscious. She then looked down at the fallen trio and their Pokémon and scoffed. She could see why Ash did not have her harsh view of Team Rocket. These three "Agents" were pathetic jokes. Now came the question of what she would do with them. The prudent thing to do would be to kill them so that they would not cause more trouble later on. However, she could not help but notice that they did not seem to be much like the other Rockets that she had encountered. While she surely did not view them as good, they had assisted her brother on occasion against greater evils. And besides, they were already beaten and they were also not nearly as evil as the rest of Team Rocket. The Trio may have been salvageable. As such, she shook her head walked past them, letting them live.

"Venu?" Venusaur asked, shocked that Mia had let them live.

Mia looked back at Venusaur and smiled. "Maybe my brother's rubbing off on me a bit."

"Venusaur saur saur venu venusaur?" came Venusaur's next question.

"I still won't do it; not like this," Mia answered. "Ash is worried about the darkness in me and I can't say I blame him. Besides, they're not like the other Rockets we've battled in the past. These three can still be saved. Just this once, I'm going to let them live; and hope I don't come to regret it," she added under her breath. She then shifted her line of thought. "Come on," she told her team. "We have to find Giovanni and finish this once and for all." She then continued down the corridor, searching for Giovanni's office so she could end this conflict once and for all.

Back in his office, Giovanni heard the sounds of battle erupting outside his office. Knowing that the time had come and that he had to retreat, he rose from his desk and glanced over to Persian. He went over to a bookcase and scanned it for a few moments. He soon found a conspicuous book and pulled it out. As he did so, a secret panel retracted from the wall and opened. Before leaving, though, Giovanni went over to his desk one more time and grabbed his briefcase. Then, Pokémon and master then rushed through the secret door and into a room with a single glowing panel. Before stepping on the panel, he went to the wall and pushed a single button, closing the door. He did not know how long this would delay Mia, but every second he managed to delay her would give him a chance to engage her on his terms should she manage to catch up to him. Once the door was closed, he and Persian stepped on the glowing panel and then disappeared.

Back outside the base, Delia, Tracey, May, and Dawn stared down Team Rocket as members of the Pokémon League came onto the scene. Delia stepped forward and declared, "Let us through now. I have to get to my children."

Aizen and the other Rockets grinned at them. "We can't do that," one of them replied in gravely voice. "We can't let you interrupt your our boss's meeting with your kids."

Delia gritted her teeth and looked over at the Pokémon League forces that had entered. They had yet to make a move. Meanwhile, several Rockets and their Pokémon were about to attack, and even shoot at the group, when Blaziken and Pachirisu stopped them, unleashing a Flamethrower and Discharge attack upon them, respectively. Two Rocket Grunts were set ablaze, along with a Scientist, and the cried out and writhed as they burned. Pachirisu's Discharge took down their Koffings and Weezings with single hits. The attack caused several of the other Rockets to retreat from the fighting, but others were more willing to stand their ground. The remaining Grunts and Rocket Pokémon tried to launch another attack, but Ash's team quickly dealt with them, using a variety of attacks to finish off the Pokémon and Grunts. Soon, she heard a voice from behind state, "Delia Ketchum, you and your companions must stand down immediately."

The request shocked the entire group. "What?" they each blurted at the sound of the voice.

The group looked behind them and found a group of what looked to be Pokémon League officials standing there, glaring at them. The Pokémon League troopers then declared in unison. "Your attack on this base is illegal and must cease immediately. We have been authorized to use deadly force in apprehending you should you resist. You will surrender to our custody now or we will be forced to use…more forceful means of gaining your compliance."

The leader then motioned towards the troopers who drew out not only their Poké Balls, but also energy pistols as well. The others then put their guns to the heads of May, Dawn, and Tracey. Despite the threat to May, Dawn, and Tracey, Delia knew that the real threat was being made to Ash and Mia.

Soon, the Poké Balls of six the Pokémon League troopers were let out of their Poké Balls. A group of Psychic-type Pokémon, mostly Hypnos and Alakazams, but also including a Latias, a female bird-like Dragon/Psychic-type Pokémon with a white upper half and a red lower half with red jet-plane wings, stood over the other Pokémon. Several more Pokémon came out of the Poké Balls of the other troopers, including a Salamence, Garchomp, the pink Egg-like Chansey, and a blue and black bipedal jackal-like Pokémon called Lucario, just to name a few. The other Pokémon turned to see the surviving Rockets and their own Pokémon approaching, too. They realized that there was little chance of them being able to beat both Team Rocket and the Pokémon League troopers, assuming they were Pokémon League forces.

Studying the Pokémon League troopers, she noticed that they all had undershirts on beneath their uniforms. She could make out a rounded red arch on those undershirts that reminded her of the top part of a red R. They were not Pokémon League troopers at all. They were Team Rocket. Her hypothesis was proven when two of the League Troopers removed their uniforms and revealed themselves to be Butch and Cassidy, the two of them standing near Dawn and May respectively. Looking behind them, the group could also make out the four additional Rockets.

Delia saw that the troopers were quite serious. Butch, the one near Dawn, looked to be close to pulling the trigger. "Wait!" she called.

Butch then relaxed his grip on the laser gun. "What is your decision?" the leader asked, flanked by Salamence and Latias.

Seeing that the fight was an unwinnable one, or that even if they did win, that there would be tremendous losses on either side, with the Tracey, May, and Dawn almost certainly dying or being severely injured, Delia answered, "We surrender," glancing downward, holding back tears. The others were shocked at the surrender, but they quickly realized why she had done so. There was no way for them to win this fight. However, it would give them a chance to get to Ash and Mia. And if they could get to them alive, then they would start the revolt and hopefully take down Team Rocket once and for all. She looked to her left and saw Greninja and Krookodile out of the corner of her eye. Both Pokémon indicated that they were ready to launch a surprise attack, but Delia shook her head, warning them off. She did not want to risk the lives of anyone else, and if things got worse, she knew that they would be in a position to help Ash and/or rescue them since they would not have been accounted for by Team Rocket or the Pokémon League forces.

The Pokémon League squad leader then stepped forward and removed his uniform, revealing himself to be a Team Rocket officer. The other "Pokémon League" soldiers did the same. He then motioned for a trio of Rocket grunts to step forward. "Bind their hands," he directed. "Make sure that they can't resist and make sure that their Pokémon are locked away in their Poké Balls. We can't afford to let them get out."

The Grunt grinned and then hit Tracey hard on the back of the head, knocking him to the floor, unconscious. Delia and May went to run forward, but were psychically restrained by an Alakazam. Blaziken prepared to launch a Flamethrower towards the Grunt, while Pachirisu attempted to launch an attack, but was taken down by a single Psychic by Latias. Meanwhile, a Hypno appeared in front of Blaziken and swung his pendulum in front of his eyes, using Hypnosis to put the chicken-like Pokémon to sleep. Blaziken struggled against the attack for a moment, but eventually, he succumbed and fell asleep. The Grunts then picked the Poké Balls out of the pockets of the group and recalled each of their Pokémon, all except Greninja and Krookodile, both of who remained out of sight.

As soon as the Pokémon were recalled, the troopers placed a sticker on the buttons of each Poké Ball. Delia could tell, though, that the stickers were more than just stickers. They were seals. The squad went over to the humans and led them to the helicopter, some of them shoving the group forcefully onto the aircraft. Delia noticed one of the Rockets, Aizen, head back into the base. The other Rocket Grunts were talking amongst themselves, laughing and joking.

"Man, if you guys hadn't arrived when you did in the manner you did, we'd have suffered far greater losses," one of the Grunts told the newcomers.

"Yeah, and I'll make sure you repay the debt," the leader of the new wave of Rocket Grunts replied jovially.

The group soon started shoving the captives onto the helicopter. Delia was the last to be forced on, two Rockets being required to push her on. "Don't be such a jerk about this, babe," one of them mocked. "Your greatest wish is about to be fulfilled."

Delia doubted that as the Rockets unceremoniously shoved her onboard. She tripped over the step and fell onto the helicopter floor, prompting the Rockets to laugh. As soon as everyone was onboard, the door closed. Staring at one of the Rockets that wore a white shirt with a stylized R on the left breast of the shirt, Delia angrily asked "Where are you taking us?"

"To see your children," came the response, a little too quickly for her liking as the helicopter lifted off from the ground. "You still have a chance to keep them, and yourself, alive."

Meanwhile, Lance and Cynthia were making their way to the World Pokémon League Headquarters on Indigo Plateau. The fact that they were flying on their Dragon-type Pokémon made it a short trip. As the Poké Ball shaped roof of the headquarters came into view, they made their descent. As they descended, they noticed more guards than usual stationed outside the headquarters, something that puzzled them.

When they landed, they dismounted their Pokémon and made their way to the walkway that led to the headquarters. As they approached the building, they glanced at their surroundings and saw the guards and other personnel outside the building glancing at them curiously. At first, they thought that the people were just surprised that they had not returned their Dragonite and Garchomp to their Poké Balls, but upon further examination, the people seemed a little more apprehensive and even began glancing at each other, as if wondering what they should do.

As they approached the doors to the headquarters, they were met by two guards dressed in ornate gold armor with spears and Poké Balls clipped to their belts. As they approached, the two guards held out their hands, commanding, "State your identification."

This puzzled Lance and Cynthia, for their likenesses were plastered all over the headquarters and they were very well known Champions. Still, they indulged the guards. "Lance," came Lance's answer.

"Cynthia," came Cynthia's.

After giving their answer, the guards waited for a moment, holding up a device that looked similar to an Earth twenty-first century smartphone. Eventually, they nodded. "Voice match and retinal scan confirmed. Welcome to Pokémon League Headquarters Lance and Cynthia."

"Thank you," Lance answered with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

"We're glad you made it here so quickly. We were not expecting you for another fifteen minutes or so."

Ignoring the guard's comment, Cynthia asked, "Is there any reason why security is this tight?"

"We're implementing new security protocols," the guard answered. "It will keep the League Headquarters safer. We also needed to be absolutely sure that it was you. We can't afford to have any spies using Dittos or other means of deception manage to enter the League headquarters and gather intelligence on our activities."

Lance and Cynthia were not completely satisfied with their answers but they offered no further question and went to make their way inside the building, but the guards did not budge. "We're sorry," one of the guards began. "But before you enter, you will have to return your Dragonite and Garchomp to their Poké Balls."

"Why's that?" Lance and Cynthia asked in unison.

"It's part of the new security procedures," the guards answered. "And it's also because they're so big. We want the League headquarters to look pristine."

Lance and Cynthia glanced at each other, each glance echoing the other's concern. Still, they did as they were bade and returned their Pokémon to their Poké Balls. However, they made certain to ensure that the locks did not activate so that their Pokémon could hear what was going on in the outside world and come out without having to be called if they were needed. Once they had returned their Pokémon to their Poké Balls, they entered the building.

Inside the building, they walked down a long corridor that was lined with a red carpet with statues and pictures on each wall to the sides of the two Elite Trainers. The majesty of the statues, paintings, and general ambiance held no sway over the two trainers. They were here simply to meet with the President of the World Pokémon League and apprise him of the situation regarding Team Rocket and come up with a strategy to counter them. Statues of previous champions from the beginning of the Pokémon League sitting on columns lined the walls creating a corridor for the duo to walk through. There were several doors on each side, each one having a guard standing next to it, each guard being equipped with six Poké Balls. Both Lance and Cynthia began to grow concerned, for the arming of the guards indicated that the League was getting ready for a battle.

As Lance and Cynthia glanced at the statues, they noticed that two of the columns that the columns had no statue on them, something that puzzled them since Ash had only become the Champion early in the afternoon, so Mia's image as well as that of another individual was also missing. While it may have been that they had not gotten around to getting Mia's statue up, she did not like getting a ton of publicity, they were still curious as to why that was the case. They would ask about it later, though. Right now, they had to make their report to League President Mercier.

The duo soon reached a door at the end of the hallway. The door was flanked by two guards and a keypad. The guards, seeing the two approach and recognizing who they were, stood aside for the two World Elite Four members. Cynthia quickly stepped up and entered the combination for the door. After doing so, the door slid open and granted both champions entry. Once they had entered, the door promptly slid shut once more.

The interior of the room furnished with a huge table that had no less than a dozen chairs at it. On the wall at the other end of the room was a large HD TV screen on the wall. The moment Lance and Cynthia entered the room, the screen immediately turned on with a flash and a red screen met them. After a few seconds, a feminine monotone voice from the screen told them, "Identify for retina scan."

"Lance," came Lance's answer.

"Cynthia," Cynthia answered.

A light emerged from the screen and scanned their retinas and almost instantly, the voice stated, "Identification confirmed. Welcome Champions Lance and Cynthia."

The screen then went blank for a second before it came to life once more, the face of a man appearing on the screen. He had brown hair and green eyes and wore a Pokémon League uniform with the emblem of the Pokémon League emblazoned on the left breast of his uniform. Lance and Cynthia instantly recognized the man as being Jean Mercier, the President of the World Pokémon League Committee. After the President appeared on the screen, the President's face burst into a seemingly welcoming grin.

"Excellent, you made it!" he exclaimed. "Thank you for coming so quickly. We have much to discuss and not a lot of time to do it." Mercier then gave a pause before he continued, "We face a grave danger."

"What danger is that?" Lance asked. "Is Team Rocket planning something?"

Mercier shook his head. "No," he answered. "It's not Team Rocket we have to worry about. In fact, they may be able to help us."

"Team Rocket? Help us?" Cynthia nearly gasped, dumbfounded. "They launched a full-scale assault on the Champion's birthday party. They nearly killed his mother! Why would we entertain the idea of associating ourselves with them?"

"Because we have no other choice," Mercier stated plainly. "United Earth and the Galactic Federation are recovering from the Galactic Federation Civil War sooner than anticipated and are placing the Pokémon League under tighter scrutiny. It won't be long before they make a move against us."

"The only reason the Federation or United Earth would move against us is if we side with a known criminal organization," Lance retorted.

"This is madness," Cynthia declared, echoing Lance's sentiment. "Team Rocket needs to be destroyed."

"Unfortunately, they have something we need for the upcoming conflict," Mercier answered.

"I've heard enough. I'm leaving," Lance declared.

With that, he made his way over to the door, Cynthia following him closely. As they approached the door, though, it did not slide back to let them pass. Instead, a click could be heard. The duo grimaced. Lance went over to the control panel and input the combination to open the door, but it merely beeped and the door did not budge, all buttons turning red, indicating that an improper code was entered.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to leave just yet," Mercier said in a melancholy tone. "I had hoped that we could avoid conflict, but it appears as if the likelihood of that is dwindling. Still, before you make your final decision, you must learn all of the facts and the reason why the League came to this decision."

"Charles Goodshow would not condone siding with Team Rocket!" Cynthia blurted.

"Charles Goodshow isn't the World Pokémon League President right now," Mercier retorted just as loudly. "I am!" He then gave himself a couple moments to cool off before continuing, "Anyway, there is much you need to know, particularly about the origins of Pokémon. Only then will you understand the reason we have taken such drastic action."

Back on the eleventh floor of Team Rocket Headquarters, Mia burst through the entrance to Giovanni's office and scanned its interior. She scowled when he found no sign of Giovanni inside. She grimaced as she considered the possibility that Giovanni had managed to sneak away during the fight. Given that the fighting had been loud, she doubted that Giovanni would have used the front exit to his office. He likely had a secret exit to the room that would take him to another sector of the base where he could get to a helicopter or some other type of aircraft. Scanning the room, she looked for anything suspicious that might look like secret exit. She saw a suspicious area on the wall behind the desk but could see no panel for retracting any door. After a bit of searching the rest of the room, she came upon a bookcase that had a suspicious looking book that fit tightly in the bookcase, but seemed to be tilted forward a bit. She pulled it and in the back of the room, a panel retreated and revealed the secret doorway. Mia stepped through the doorway and saw a glowing panel on the floor. Not bothering to close the door, she stepped on the panel and was whisked to one of the wings of the base.

She reappeared in a narrow corridor that appeared to be deserted. Behind her, a wall cut off all other avenues of escape. Wasting no time, she charged down the corridor.

On the other side of the corridor, Giovanni rushed towards a large set of doors. Standing guard were two men in old uniforms that looked similar to Roman centurions. Each of them also held a halberd with energy projectors built inside of them. Looking at the two guards, he said, "You two stand here and wait. Leaf and her Pokémon are coming. Try to stall them."

"Understood, sir," came their response as they then stood at attention, preparing to intercept Ash. As Giovanni pushed the doors open, he heard a voice come in on all speakers, "Security alert," the voice of Chief of Security Joe Marsden reported. "Intruders have entered from the main lobby. Our forces are being overrun. All available Rockets are to report to the lobby immediately.

Giovanni grimaced. The last thing he needed was to lose more Rockets, especially since whatever forces were down there would likely not last long enough to be reinforced by the forces in other sectors. Giovanni then took out a cell phone-like device and spoke into it, saying, "This is Giovanni to all Team Rocket personnel. We have been breached. Get to your battle stations at once."

As soon as he had given the order, the lights dimmed and a reddish hue could be seen throughout the hall, as well as the entire base. He then dialed a number on the cell phone and began to speak. "Gideon, what is the status of Genesect?"

"It's not ready yet, sir," came Gideon response. "It's revived but it'll be about a half hour or so before we can have it ready for battle."

"We don't have a few minutes!" Giovanni blurted. "Leaf's right behind me! How long until you'll be ready to take your team to Goldenrod City to upload that code?"

"At least a half hour," Gideon answered. "We're going as fast as possible, but it will still be quite a while before we're even able to test it. What are your orders?"

Giovanni grimaced. That was not what he wanted to hear. His strongest Legendary Pokémon was still at least a few minutes away and Leaf was not far behind. She would likely catch him well before Genesect was ready. Eventually, he told Gideon, "Get out of here now and make sure that you take the Badge Amplifier with you. Before that, though, give Dr. Zager the code and tell him to go to our hideout in Mahogany Town to take aboard the operatives that will carry out the mission in Goldenrod City. Tell him to take everything he thinks he'll need. Things are getting bad, here. Make sure you keep a copy of the program here on the off chance that Dr. Zager fails. Tell him that once the program is ready, he go to Goldenrod City to proceed with the attack as quickly as possible. We don't have a lot of time."

"Understood," Gideon answered.

With that, Giovanni charged through the doors and headed to his helicopter, which was already beginning its startup sequence. He knew that his guards would not hold off Mia for long. He then ran towards the helicopter, which was now opening its doors, hoping to reach it and evacuate before he was caught.

Not too far away, Mia ran down the corridor, chasing down Giovanni. The two guards, who were supposed to stop her stood by the door. They were wearing ornate clothing that made them look like guards for Egyptian Pharaohs. They quickly drew a type of weapon that looked like an old Super Nintendo Super Scope and tried to draw a bead on Mia. Suddenly, Starmie burst forth from its Poké Ball and quickly spun in the air, powering a Thunderbolt attack. It unleashed it upon the two guards and quickly felled them, electricity arcing across their bodies as they fell unconscious. Not stopping to question why they did not have any Pokémon of their own, Mia and her Pokémon rushed past the fallen guards, following after Giovanni.

Meanwhile, Giovanni and his Persian were running as quickly as possible to get to that helicopter before Mia caught up to them. The helicopter was a twin rotored behemoth that had a chain gun mounted on its belly for defense. Giovanni and Persian were within a few dozen yards when a bolt of lightning flashed past Giovanni's face and hit the helicopter squarely in the cockpit, causing electricity to arc across the vehicle. The lightning bolt fried all of the electronics onboard the vehicle, making it nothing more than a massive paperweight.

"Surrender now Giovanni," Giovanni heard Mia call to him. "Your helicopter is nothing more than a paperweight, your guards are beaten, and we're blocking the only exit."

He stared at the girl and her Pokémon, each of who were outside of their Poké Balls and ready to fight if it came down to it. Still, he did not back down, only staring right back at Mia and grinning evilly.

"It's over Giovanni," Mia reiterated. "There's nowhere for you to go." While she tried to make it sound as if she were sincere, which she was, to an extent, she knew that Giovanni would refuse and that she would have to battle the Team Rocket Boss.

Giovanni was unfazed by her declaration, though. "No," he answered with an evil grin. "Besides, there is still something that I can do," he countered. He then placed the briefcase at his side and grinned, saying, "Let's end this the way it should end." Standing tall and taking out a Poké Ball from his pocket, he held it out in front of him and proclaimed, "Leaf, I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"

This declaration shocked Mia. Of all the things she would have expected, this was the last. She looked over and saw two people, one male, the other, female, come out onto the pad from the disabled helicopter wearing Roman style armor. Surprisingly, they were not making any moves against her. They had not even deployed their Pokémon, assuming they had any. She then noticed that their armor had the Pokémon League insignia on it. One of them, the female, then turned to her, and then to Giovanni. "He may be Team Rocket's leader, but he is still a Pokémon Trainer," she said in a hushed tone towards her companion. "As is Leaf."

"I agree," the male official said, nodding. "Their dispute must be settled the way it always has been."

"What?" both Mia and Giovanni called out in shock, albeit for different reasons.

"He's a criminal and has authorized the murders of humans and Pokémon alike!" Mia cried.

"She is an enemy to Team Rocket and has attacked our base," Giovanni countered.

"Yes," the man began, "but you are both Pokémon Trainers, and the laws of the Pokémon World state all disputes between Pokémon Trainers are settled by means of a Pokémon battle. If either of you refuses to fight, that will count as a forfeit. Do you still wish to battle?"

"Yes," Mia blurted in a serious tone with a note of suspicion. She looked at the officials suspiciously. They were almost certainly members of Team Rocket. Yet, they were giving her a hand, allowing this battle to take place. She could not figure out why they were allowing this battle to commence. She quickly went on guard, expecting there to be traps and for Giovanni to cheat.

The officials then proclaimed, "The Pokémon battle between former Pokémon League World Champion Leaf and former Viridian City Gym Leader and current Team Rocket Leader Giovanni is about to begin. The rules shall be decided by the two Trainers. If Leaf wins, then Giovanni must surrender himself to the Pokémon League to face trial for his alleged crimes. Should Giovanni win, though, he and the rest of Team Rocket shall go free and may deal with Leaf as he sees fit. Any questions?"

They had none. Giovanni then declared, "This will be a six-on-six battle, no time limit. World Pokémon League Championship rules apply. No two Pokémon may be asleep or frozen at the same time. No two Pokémon may be of the same species, either. Neither Trainer may enter the battle and fight directly. Only one Mega Evolution will be allowed for each Trainer. Any objections?" He grinned as he asked her the question.

Mia returned his grin. "No objections," she called out.

"Then let the battle begin!" the two League officials declared.