A/N: First, if you haven't seen the new Pokemon Origins, go find a subbed version and watch it! Its amazing and nostalgic and much better than the actual anime.
Anyway, Here's chapter twelve. Please Enjoy!
Chapter 12
Prodigy quietly slipped into the conference room and he stopped abruptly as the wall of noise hit him. The entire conference room was in an uproar, admins were shouting at each other from across the room, and other agents were trying to get Charcoal's attention by yelling over the admins. The only ones that were actually behaving correctly was a small group of the Delta squad that consisted of Gravity and the technical analyst.
"What the hell happened?" one agent shouted.
"I can't connect to my division!" an admin yelled.
"Several of my projects depend on being connected to the mobile network!" a different agent said.
"Enough!" CHarcoal tried to shout over the arguing mass, "Everyone! Shut the hell up!"
The mass of people continued to argue as loudly as they possibly could. Gray quickly took a seat between Gravity and the technical analyst.
In front of the room there was a bright, white flash and a large red-orange Charizard appeared. It towered over the elderly, bald rocket agent. The large fire pokemon let out a deafening roar and a small plume of fire was ignited in front of its open jaws.
Instantly the arguing mass of agents were silenced at the large flaming lizard's outburst. They cautiously watched Charcoal, knowing exactly how he got his namesake.
"Thank you old boy," Charcoal said to the large fire pokemon and he returned it to its pokeball. "Now that I have all of your attention, it appears as if something to do with our mobile network connection has gone wrong. There is a press conference going on detailing it," he said and gestured to the large wall behind him was a giant screen.
"Sir?" one agent asked, "If we don't have a connection to the mobile network, than how are we able to view the press conference?"
"We have a connection through the hard-line that is connected to the city. When this base was built, several inside agents were able to divert a section of the line and route it to the base underground using diglets."
The agent nodded and they all turned as one to view the large television screen behind them. On the large screen was Officer Jenny as she stood behind a large wooden podium with half a dozen microphones pointed at her.
"Hello everyone," she said with false cheerfulness.
"Why the hell is there no internet?" someone could be heard shouting in the background.
"I'll get to that momentarily," she paused to clear her throat before she continued, "As you have heard by now I assume, that there has been a recent breakout of our police/prison complex. This breakout was orchestrated by none other than the criminal organization known as Team Rocket. The organization broke out one of their members that was caught prior to the breakout as he attempted to steal from the esteemed William Cornelius. This Team Rocket agent is Demetri Gray, codenamed Prodigy," she finished and a picture of the gray-haired teen's mugshot appeared on the screen.
The reaction around the whole conference room was instant, everyone silently turned toward the young rocket agent, their eyes almost protruding out from their skulls.
"You never said that you had been compromised," one of the admins told the young agent in a low dangerous voice.
"Quiet!" Charcoal shouted, "We'll discuss this after."
The agents grudgingly returned their attention to the large screen. A few of the admins continued to keep an eye on the young agent, almost expecting him to make a run for it.
"To help catch the teenage Team Rocket agent," Jenny continued, "We have temporarily shut down the mobile network until we catch him or gain more information leading to helping to stop Team Rocket."
"You shout down the network to catch one kid?!" someone shouted from the background.
"Its no-"
"And you're blackmailing the people of Cinnabar to help you find him!" a different person shouted.
The crowd could immediately be heard in the background getting more loud and boisterous.
"No!" Jenny said to the crowd, with a flash of white light her large majestic ninetales appeared behind her.
"NO!" she shouted into the microphone and the crowd was silenced. "Let me rephrase that and give you some more explanation. We are not blackmailing you into helping us, we are simply asking you to be more vigilant and on the lookout for this Gray, and to report any suspicious behavior. We are also not shutting down the mobile network to simply, 'catch one kid,' we believe that since Team Rocket for the first time tried and succeeded to break someone out of the police/prison complex that they are getting stronger and more daring."
A few of the gathered gents shot clever smirks at one another.
"And because of that," Jenny continued, "we have shut down the mobile network to attempt to stall and slow them down enough that we can stop them once and for all. In addition, to help keep the Team Rocket members that are on the island contained, and to prevent any reinforcements from arriving, we have worked with the coast guard to set up a blockade to attempt to completely surround the island."
A large collective grown and more shouting could be heard from the background.
"Now," Jenny said over the crowd, "You all will still be able to leave the island and other will be able to arrive as well. There will simply be a small inconvenience of having the vessel thoroughly checked to ensure that there are no hideaways, and to ensure that you have the proper documentation."
"You can't do this to us!" the first person shouted from the background, "This isn't fair!"
As the camera panend around to view the large gathered crowd, the realization that the man was right suddenly hit them and they started to get loud and unruly again. Obscenities could be heard being shouted from the background. The whole crowd suddenly started to sway back and forth, it was obvious that they were starting to get more violent.
"Thank you, and have a good day," Jenny quickly said into the microphone before she ducked into the police complex.
The camera whipped back around and behind the podium several officers streamed out from inside and complex and created a barrier along the steps between the crowd and the complex. The camera was blinded momentarily as there were several flashes of white and in front of each officer stood a large a large arcanine.
One man quickly stepped up to the podium, "this is the end of the press conference, you all need to go back to your homes."
The large screen in the conference room suddenly cut to black.
"So," one of the admins said angrily, "the great Prodigy, has shit over everything.I thought you were supposed to be some elite agent, but all you have turned out to be is one great fuck-up."
"Stupid-piece-of-shit," one of the other admins said equally as angrily, "You've not only managed to get yourself compromised, but you have fucked everything else up for the rest of us. We can't contact Saffron to give them any information, both our recruitment processes, and our shipments of pokemon have all been ground to a halt, all because of you. The entire rocket base on the island, and I'm sure including the factions within the city, have all been completely stopped, because of you."
"I say we simply hand him over, that would fix all of our problems," the first admin said, "It seems to me that he is the one that they are primarily gunning for, so let's just hand him over, it would fix this entire mess. The mobile network would get turned back on and the seas would get opened back up."
All of the blood drained instantly from Gray's face, They wouldn't do that would they? After all of the trouble they went to get me?
Sure they would, a small voice in his head, different from the one from last night whispered, After all you've seen them kill pokemon and people in cold blood. Hell! they killed your own damn parent in cold blood. You've created a mess for them and the easiest way they can fix it is to throw you back.
Would they really do that? My mission to take them down, over before it ever really begins…
They really would, the little voice said, at least this way you live. The way the admins were talking about how bad it is to be compromised, and after all of the trouble you have caused them, they surely would kill you.
The young teen let out a silent sigh of relief, At least I'll live, I'll find a way to take down Team Rocket from the outside.
"No we can't do that," a third admin said and Gray looked at him with a small glimmer of hope, "he knows too much about our….experiments."
"That's an easy fix, painful but easy," the second admin said, "simply have an alakazam or a hypno rip it out of his mind. Problem solved."
"You're right," the third admin said, whom by now noticed the look of hope on Gray's face and shot it down with a dark smile before continuing, "that would work perfectly well. It seems as if all of our problems are fixed."
Gray opened his mouth to say something in his defense but was cut off by Gravity.
"You guys do realized that you are about to throw away one of the most highly trained agents in the entire organization, right? Also, do you really think that that little bit of him that experiment before the meeting yesterday is the only sighting or information he has on them? Do you really think that two little grunts being stationed near his dorm would stop one of our best agents? I would be very surprised if Prodigy wasn't somehow involved in last night's lab incident."
Gray sat at still as possible and kept his face void of any reaction, Fuck, he knows! I'm already in enough trouble for this shit, if they catch me snooping around there's no chance I'll live.
"That does further complicate the matter," the second admin said and gave a sideways glance to Gray, "little shit."
"And as far as blaming Prodigy for all of the problems that have been caused by it, it doesn't solely rest with him," Gravity said sternly, "If anything most of it rests with my team and I. We chose to accept the mission and there were...problems that occurred during the execution that caused the escape to be more noticeable. You all are blaming Prodigy when the only thing he is truly guilty of is being in the wrong place in the wrong time, both on the ship and in the prison."
"So, if is partially your fault," the second admin said and turned to face Charcoal, "than the fault predominantly lies with you Charcoal. You gave the mission to hte Delta Squad, therefore if you hadn't given them the mission, we wouldn't be in this mess."
"Therein lies one of your problems," Charcoal said, "I didn't give the team their mission, it came for one of the top executive within Team Rocket."
Everyone in the conference room froze and went silent instantly.
"Shit…" the first admin said, "now we're fucked we have to keep him. If one of the big execs gave them the mission, than it had to have been for a good reason and we can't just turn him back in after something like that."
"That's not even the biggest problem," Charcoal said, "The fact that you were about to hand over Prodigy at all is a bad idea in itself."
"Oh great, here he goes again on one of his "prodigy tangents," an agent whispered to the tech analyst.
She shot him a questioning look.
"Ever since the rumors started flowing in about the Prodigy he's been obsessed with it, and now that he's really here its like his dream come true. No wonder the admins thought he gave your team the mission."
"I mean," Charcoal continued, "we've been hearing about him for years and he shows up on our doorstep and you just want to throw him back? That's a complete waste of a great agent!"
All of the gathered agents slowly shifted their gaze to Prodigy and glared at him as if blaming this tirade on him. Gray, despite his best attempt at keeping a stoic expression, still showed a faint shade of red as he was embarrassed at the prase. The teen tried his best to slink lower in his chair to avoid the glares.
Suddenly there was a loud bang as one of the conference doors opened to reveal a young grunt holding a spearow trying its best to get free while it pecked furiously at the agent. His arms were already covered in cuts and his jumpsuit was in tatters as a result from the razor sharp beak and talons of the young bird pokemon.
Charcoal whipped around and glared at the intruder so intently he could have burst into flames. "Who the hell are you?" he spat at the young agent, "and why the hell are you interrupting our important meeting?"
"I'm sorry sir," the agent said and winced as the spearow pecked his forearm and left a shallow gash, "I'm just a lowly grunt. This spearow flew in a short while ago," he dropped the bird pokemon, which quickly scampered up and stood patiently in fron of the rocket division leader with one of its legs extended. "I tried removing the letter," the grunt said gesturing to the bird, "I could see that it was addressed to you, but it wouldn't let me."
"Ok, thank you. You can go now," Charcoal said and shooed the agent away with a wave of his hand.
The grunt nodded before he quickly exited the conference room and shit the large door.
"I haven't seen rockets use this form of communication since…" Charcoal said and trailed off for a moment, "since I was an agent or an admin, shortly after this base was built."
"Um sir?" one of the agents asked, "what does this mean?"
"Nothing good unfortunately…." he said and quickly untied the letter from the spearow, opened it, and quickly read it.
For not the first time that day, the gathered agents waited in anxiety-filled silence. Some twiddled their thumbs, others suspiciously kept an eye on their fellow rocket members.
"It appears as if," Charcoal said looking up from the letter, "that we can't depend on the factions within the city for much of any help. They're plenty busy doing a covert mission for Sleuth to try and destabilize the city by creating riots, I guess that was them that were shouting in the conference. They sent us this letter the old fashioned way because it was the only way they could get any information out. It appears that the officer also decided to leave out the fact that the city is essentially under martial law. They couldn't any messenger out because the city is being heavily guarded to ensure no one leaves, and they also wanted to let us know to not send anyone in because for the same reason, they will be instantly identified as rockets. They also said that on account of the increase in patrols throughout the city that they are suspending all rocket projects including the recruitment and pokemon raids, with the exception of the mission from Sleuth."
"Shit…." several agents around the conference table said in unison.
"What I want to know," the third admin said, "is why the fuck we were effected by this. We are Team Rocket for crying out-loud. If they were able to build this base under the fucking ground, why the hell aren't we using a separate mobile network devoted solely to us?"
"We don't have our own separate network, like they do on the mainland because we are so remote and the tower that Team Rocket uses to amplify their network doesn't reach this far out. To stay connected to the Team Rocket divisions on the mainland we piggyback on the city's mobile network with encryptions to keep us secure and hidden. At least that's what I've been told by the agents that came from Saffron to help set it up a few years ago," Charcoal said and took a deep breath, "As far as what exactly happened today, that I have no clue about."
"Miss?" the second admin asked as he turned to the tech analyst.
"Byte."
" Byte, you're the expert technical analyst, have you had the chance to look through the system to see what exactly is wrong?"
"Um…" the woman hesitated, "err….well….I've had a small chance to glance through some of the code….but I haven't really been able to see much yet."
"Dammit," the admin said, "well, you need to get on it as soon as possible. We need as much about what happened as possible."
"Uh," the girl said nervously, "Yes, sir."
"I have found some information on what happened," Gray said and the admin locked eyes with him for a moment before he nodded for the teen to continue. I almost lost it before I even had the chance to begin, if I want this to work I have to go deep.
Gray took a deep breath before he started, "Prior to my being summoned for this meeting, I was doing my own investigation of what exactly occurred. I thought maybe we were still connected, just everything was essentially being sent to a site that made it look like we weren't connected. However I discovered that we really weren't connected to the internet. I searched through the network connection to make sure we really were disconnected and I found out that the mobile network really is shut down."
"Fuck…." the admin said.
"Why couldn't you do that?" the second admin asked Byte.
"Because….I hadn't had the chance."
"Bitch, you're supposed to be one of the leading technical analysts in the entire organization. That's why you are on the damn Delta Squad. Why the hell was he wable to do it quicker and more efficiently than you?"
"I don't kn-"
"Well, isn't it obvious?" Charcoal asked.
"Damn it all to Mew," Gray heard the agent next to Byte mutter.
"Its because he's the Prodigy," Charcoal said, "He's an elite agent, so obviously he was trained in all aspects, including in technology analytics, and in this case better it seems."
Gray's cheeks burned yet again and he quickly tried to hid beneath the table again as all the eyes glared at him for the second time.
"So, what are we going to do?" the first admin said.
"What about contacting one of the head executives?" one of the agents said, "surely they would help us."
"Great idea," the first admin said sarcastically, "oh wait, except for the fact that the damn mobile network is down!"
"What if we break into the police complex?" a different agent suggested, "they have to have some way to contact the mainland. They wouldn't be completely left out in the dark all the way out here."
"That would be good," the first admin said, "except for the fact it is nigh on impossible to get into the city, and even less of a chance to get in the complex and find it."
"Fuck," the second admin said, "if they find that hardlined cord, it will lead them straight to us."
"So we're trapped," an agent said, "We're sitting psyducks, can't leave, can't go get help."
"No," Charcoal said as his eyes suddenly lit up with an idea, "there is a way we can get help."
"There is?" the first admin asked in disbelief.
"Yes, on one of my last trips out to the volcano, I realized that it was so high that I was having trouble getting the mobile network to work properly. So, in case I got trapped or injured and needed help, I left one of Team Rocket's Charizard Firecrackers up there with a minicomputer I had a techie set up with a porygon so that I could launch it for help."
"So why would this help?" an agent asked.
"You stupid bastard," the second admin said, "this can be launched to within the range of the rocket network so we can get an executive admin's help."
"Charcoal, why didn't you say this in the first place?" the first admin asked.
"I'm old and forgot about it until now."
"So, now we have to figure out who is going," the first admin said, "it has to be probably a two man team because I'm sure the jungle is still crawling with offices."
"I think Gravity should go," the third admin said, "He's one of our most experienced agents we have on hand."
"Yes," the first admin said and turned to the Delta leader, "Gravity, and probably your best person on yo-"
"And the prodigy of course!" Charcoal said cutting in.
"Of course the Prodigy has to go," the agent near Byte muttered.
"The Prodigy is one of our other best agents, he needs to go."
"Sir," the first admin began, "I'm not sure that's such a good idea, he is the one that they are looking after the hardest, wouldn't it be smarter to leave him here where he is safer?"
"That makes sense, but the Prodigy still is probably the best for the job, and he needs the Kanto experience anyway."
"Fine," the first admin said grudgingly and turned toward the two agents, "report to the armory early tomorrow morning and be ready to ship out at dawn."
"Sir," one of the agents said, "why not send them out tonight?"
"Because, they are going to be sending off a giant firecracker, if they sent it at night it would immediately attract all of the attention of any surrounding agents in the jungle. If they send it during the day, there is a much less chance of them getting caught."
"Good, you are all dismissed," Charcoal said and the agents left.
A/N: Please review and leave me your questions, comments, thoughts on the chapter or what you think is going to happen, it all helps encourage me to come out with chapters faster and it helps make the story better. Also if you like the story and want to read more follow it please. Feedback from all of you makes my day, sometimes my week and helps me encourage me to make it the best I possibly can.
