As he started to un-do the latch, Pikachu hit his hidden escape button and leapt straight up and out of the cube, startling the lab tech. Landing on and using the man's head as a spring-board, he shot across the table and jumped to the floor, making a bee-line for the air-vent amid the chaos that had erupted. Doctor Falden roared for someone to catch him, viciously slapping the lab tech who had been dealing with him and berating him for letting Pikachu escape. Several assistants scrambled and dove in a desperate attempt to grab the small Pokemon. Pikachu sneered at them and let loose with Agility, effortlessly dodging them as he smashed open the air-vent's cover with a well-aimed Iron Tail and rocketed inside, leaving a chaotic and desperate scene in his wake.
Running over to the shattered vent, shoving aside several lab techs, Doctor Falden pulled a Pokeball from his pocket and tossed it, calling, "Rotom! I need you!"
Appearing, the small Pokemon trilled and turned to face his master.
A nervous assistant asked, "Do-do you think we should let someone know about this?"
Glowering at him, Doctor Falden said, "No! Not yet! Fool! No no! Of course not! We must try to handle this ourselves first."
Turning back to his Pokemon and pointing into the vent, he explained, "Rotom, we have an escapee; a Pikachu. I need you to go and retrieve him. He's very powerful, yes, quite strong, so it's best to use caution. Don't fail me. And remember, this is important, yes, very important," he wagged a finger at Rotom, "He needs to be alive. We don't need a repeat of last time, now do we?"
"Ro!" he cried with a nod, and turned, gliding inside.
Deeper into the air-ducts, Pikachu paused and tapped his communicator, "Pika-pi, piika!" he said quickly; "Meowth, I'm in!"
-"Now den," said Meowth, pointing to a section of the map, "De main power generator for de base is here. Ya can't really have an evil organization wit a secret base and keep it secret for long if yer connected ta de grid, ya know? So, we generate our own. We use a lotta power, not just for normal tings like lights 'n such, but also for all de sciency stuff de boss has goin' on down in de labs. Luckily dis generator makes more den enough power-so much in fact dat it needs three smaller generators in separate rooms encircling it ta absorb and re-distribute all dat energy ta de rest of de base."
James continued, "It's a balancing and fail-safe system. The smaller generators act as buffers, taking some of the excess energy from the main one. Otherwise it would overload. In addition, if one generator breaks, the other two will continue to function while the broken one is repaired to keep the whole system running smoothly."
"But if something were to happen to all three at the same time..." Jessie grinned deviously, "It'd be a disaster!"
Meowth said, "Dat's where you come in, Pikachu! Ya see dese lil' blue lines? Dese are de air vent system. The ducts run throughout the base, and a bunch of dem connect to de labs, which just happen to be right near de generator rooms which share the same vent tunnels!"
"So Pikachu could easily get from the lab to any and all of the generators?" asked Serena.
"No problem!" said Meowth with a wave of his paw.
"Then what?" Bonnie wondered.
Tracing the lines snaking across the paper, Jessie said, "Listen Pikachu; if you can get to all three rooms and Thunderbolt the crap out of those generators in quick enough succession, it would overwhelm the power system faster than they could repair or shut it down."
"You wouldn't even have to leave the air vents. You could just zap one, run to the next room, repeat for all three and be done." said James.
Meowth held out his paws, "Here's da real tricky part; once you break 'em, the main generator will go into over-drive and well, heh, explode. Ya gotta get outta dere as fast as ya can."
As Ash tried to make sense of the complex map he asked, "And how would he manage to escape?"
"Easily!" James said reassuringly, "The same ducts connect to outside intake vents. Pick one, get to the outside grate, smash it open and presto! Mission accomplished!"
Petting Pikachu's head, Ash asked him, "So, what do you think, buddy?"
Despite the very tempting prospect of never being bothered by Team Rocket again, the small Pokemon had to think about it. It was a dangerous and tricky thing to pull off after all. One wrong step and he could very well end up being a science project for the rest of his sure-to-be-brief life if caught, or suffer a quicker but equally terrible fate if he didn't get out in time. On the other hand, to never have to watch over his shoulder anymore was sure to be a welcome relief. Also, as his trainer had said, they had helped them out of a jam many times. Maybe it was time for a little mercy and forgiveness...
With a confident salute, Pikachu smiled, "Piii-kaa!"
The trio was sitting at a small, out-of-the-way corner table in the base's cafeteria area, munching some food and chatting, trying to look as normal as possible. James and Meowth each had their own plates in front of them, while Jessie had grabbed a tray and piled it with as many plates as it could hold, each heaped with a wide assortment of goodies.
As she gleefully dug in, James smiled with relief, "It's good to see you eating again."
Through a mouth-full of fruit she answered, "Now that I don't feel so awful, I'm making up for lost time! And sick or not, there's so way I'm passing up a chance for free food!"
He started to make a smart remark regarding eating for two, but managed to stop himself, especially with his companions shooting him a 'don't-even-think-about-it' glare.
Suddenly Meowth perked up and slyly looked around to make sure they weren't being watched before resting his head on one paw, quietly saying, "Alright, good job! You're by lab twenty-three so go straight ahead and at de first junction, hang a left. De second opening ya come ta will be de first sub-generator room. Here's a tip ta help ya out; pretend dat machine is us if ya need a power boost."
Pikachu giggled to himself and took off at a run, soon coming to said junction. Dashing to the left, he came to the second vent opening and stopped to peer inside. An enormous, hulking black metal and steel machine stood in the center of the room, cables snaking from it to the walls and a couple white-coated techs lounging at a folding table playing cards. They looked bored and of course didn't see the small electric Pokemon gearing up his attack until it was far too late.
A crackling blast of electricity surged across the room and struck the generator head-on, causing a terrific screeching, grinding noise. Suddenly, a flurry of alarms went off, and one tech dashed to the generator, trying to shut it down while the other went to the vent and tried to figure out where the hell that had come from. By the time he got there, however, Pikachu was long gone and on his way to the next room.
Grabbing a phone on the wall, he jabbed a couple numbers and frantically cried, "Sir?! Something's going on; I think we may be under attack!"
Rounding the next corner, Pikachu skidded to a halt as he found himself faced with an unexpected dead-end.
Looking around, he froze, unsure of which way to go and so cried into his microphone, "Piii?! Pika-pi kaaaa!"
Having finished their feast, the trio were making their way back towards the labs on the pretense of having dropped something when Pikachu's frantic call came in.
Meowth's fur bristled and he forced himself to keep a straight face, "What?! Okay, don't panic...turn around and make a right at the first junction-that'll take you back around in the other direction. You'll have to hurry a little more but it'll still work."
"Problem?" asked Jessie quietly.
Shaking his head, Meowth replied, "Nah, just a lil' hiccup. We got it-"
Rounding a corner, the group found themselves face-to-face with and nearly ran into just about the worst thing they possibly could-Butch and Cassidy.
A sneer spreading across her face, violet eyes narrowing, Cassidy said in a syrupy-sweet tone, "Well, well, well! Long time no see! Never thought you losers would have the guts to show your faces around here again!"
"Nice to see you too, Cassidy..." muttered Jessie through gritted teeth.
"Hello, John." Butch grinned.
James smirked back at him, "And hello to you, oh what was it? Botch? Hutch? Dear me, I can never remember."
Stepping forward a bit, Butch raised a fist and growled, "So help me I will break that smug, pretty-boy face of yours-!"
Stepping forward so that she was nearly between them and raising her hands, Cassidy sighed, "Gentlemen, please; enough with the testosterone. You can get your rulers out later, although I can't imagine that they'd be necessary considering Tutu-boy here, am I right?"
James crossed his arms and looked away with a huff, and Meowth finally piped up, "Whattya want?! We're kinda busy!"
Ignoring him and planting her hands on her hips, Cassidy asked, "So just what are you doing back anyway? Come to collect your things? Did the boss finally fire you useless idiots?"
Clenching her fists, Jessie stalked toward her but only got a couple steps before James snatched her by the arm and hissed, "Jess, don't! She 's not worth it!"
"That's right sweetie, listen to your little guard-pup," said Cassidy sarcastically, then looked at James with a feigned look of sympathy, "James dear, I do hope you're at least getting pity-sex out of this deal-you deserve something for having to put up with her."
James flushed red and he nearly lost his grip on Jessie's arm for a second, who was trying to wrench herself from his grasp and lunge at the blonde girl, snarling, "One swing, James, just give me one swing!"
"No!" he sternly replied, using most of his strength to pull her back to him and glaring at her with a knowing look,"We have more important things to worry about now, remember?!"
Relaxing a little, the rage and adrenaline still pumping through her veins but cooling down, Jessie thought inwardly, 'Dammit, he's right...I hate it sometimes when he's right. Okay kid; for your sake I guess I won't curb-stomp this bitch.'
Cassidy raised an eye-brow, "Oh? Such as...?"
Stepping back and straightening herself, Jessie said casually, "I suppose you have a point, James. After all, the boss gave us an important mission, and we have to get started on it."
Butch and Cassidy's smirks fell, with Butch saying, "You're lying..."
"To answer your question, that's why we're here," said James, "We just brought the boss a very rare and valuable gift, and he was so grateful that he gave us a crucial mission!"
Cassidy pouted, "I don't believe you!"
"Go ask de man yerself if ya don't believe us!" chuckled Meowth, hopping onto James' shoulder.
Smiling, the trio stepped around them and continued walking on their way, Cassidy and Butch yelling after them to come back.
Determined to have the last word, Jessie called over her shoulder, "You shouldn't get so worked up, Cassidy; you'll get wrinkles! See you hopefully never, honey!"
As they stepped out of sight, Cassidy crossed her arms, "I think they're full of shit."
"Well, of course they are," replied Butch, "But I really don't think even they'd lie about something that could be so easily checked. We do have a meeting with the boss later, we'll just ask him."
"There was something else about them too...something I can't put my finger on..." she said more to herself than anyone.
Butch asked, "You don't think they're, you know, actually banging do you?"
Waving a hand Cassidy said, "Ugh, there's a mental image I never needed...and nah, I know her, and there's no way Jess would put out for someone like him."
"You're probably right, but," he grinned sideways at her, "People will surprise you...we should know."
Flushing pink, she lightly slapped his arm, "Butch! Shush! Not around here...anyway, let's get going, we actually have work to do."
As they rounded the corner, Jessie slipped her hand into James' for just a moment, giving it a squeeze and flashing him a smile before letting go, "Thanks..." she dropped her voice so low she was barely audible and added, "For both of us."
-With plans finalized, they agreed the best way to reach their destination was the high-speed train system. The nearest station, however, was several towns back. The trio offered to air-lift them all via their balloon, and while Ash, Serena and Clemont were standing there hesitantly, Bonnie had already run to the balloon and scrambled into the basket, hopping around, playing with the wheel and happily yelling "Prepare for take-off!" while making air-plane noises.
"Well...that settles that." sighed Clemont.
