Chapter 13: The Storm
"What are you doing here?" Red demanded as he glared at Giovanni. Yellow rose to her feet and hid behind Red, afraid of a possible battle.
"Relax, champion," Giovanni said with a smirk. "I'm not here to fight you."
"Senior, who is that?" Platinum asked Red as she stood beside him.
"He's Giovanni," Yellow replied instead. "He's the former Gym Leader of Viridian City, the leader of Team Rocket, and-"
"He's my father," Silver said as he stood in front of Red, facing his senior.
"Say what?" Red asked in shock.
"Giovanni is Silver's father," Blue said. "I could've sworn I told you that."
"What? When?"
"In the Hoenn Battle Frontier," Blue replied. "You were probably too preoccupied with the whole battle tournament to pay any attention to what I was saying. You can be a real jerk sometimes, you know that?"
Red rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh… sorry? But I really don't remember you telling me that."
Blue crossed her arms and turned away. But a thought occurred. 'Hmm… Maybe I actually didn't tell him…'
Red signaled his team members to relax. "Well, if you're really Silver's father," he said to Giovanni. "Then… okay." He sat back down and looked as if nothing happened.
Platinum returned to her seat as well and noticed how easily forgiving her senior was. The other Dex Holders returned to their seats except Silver, who remained standing. Giovanni suddenly tossed him a Pokéball. The Johto Dex Holder caught it and noticed that it was the Pokéball of his Ursaring. After looking at it for a second, he put it away and withdrew a different Pokéball. He tossed it to Green. Now that he had his Ursaring back, he felt the need to return his senior's Rhyperior.
"So, what are you here for?" Green asked as he put his Rhyperior away.
"Like I was saying, I came to be of some assistance. I'm aware of this ShadowNet growing in Johto."
"What? How do you know that?" Red asked.
"You forget who you're talking to," Giovanni replied. "And let's just say that knowing a really powerful psychic has its uses."
"A powerful psychic?" Red muttered. "Who?"
\\Surely you haven't forgotten about me?\\
Red jumped in surprise and looked around. Yellow looked at him with a worried expression. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"I just heard a voice in my head," the champion answered.
The door behind Giovanni opened again and two people entered. Red recognized them as Lt. Surge and Sabrina.
"It's been a while," the Saffron Gym Leader said. \\Red.\\
"So… what exactly are you two doing here?" Green asked.
"They are here to prove to you that they are willing to aid you in defending Kanto," Giovanni answered. "Now, I know that ShadowNet attacks in great numbers. And given your numbers, you won't be able to fight ShadowNet in Johto and defend Kanto at the same time."
"And you three will make that much of a difference?" Blue asked.
"We have lots of Team Rocket members willing to fight alongside you," Lt. Surge replied. "If this ShadowNet wants a war, we'll give them war."
Blue narrowed her eyes. "And why exactly should we trust you? It wasn't that long ago when you tried to take over Kanto or almost destroyed half of the Sevii Islands." The girl gritted her teeth as the unpleasant memories flooded her mind. "You had my parents kidnapped right in front of me before our reunion!"
"So, how do we know that you won't try to take over Kanto while we're at Johto?" Red asked.
"You have one guarantee," Giovanni replied. "My son Silver. Do you really think that I would betray my son, who I spent 11 years looking for?" He looked at Silver, who remained silent. "As long as Silver is on your side, I will not go against you."
Red, Green, and Blue looked at each other. Blue glanced at Silver and decided to trust Giovanni.
"Okay," she started. "If Silver trusts you, then so do I."
Red and Green nodded in agreement with Blue. Silver returned to his seat and looked at his father, wondering whether he really could trust him.
"Good." Giovanni turned away and headed for the door. "If you need support for your fight against ShadowNet, come find me in Viridian City."
Lt. Surge and Sabrina followed Giovanni out of Professor Oak's lab, leaving the Dex Holders to think about what happened.
"Silver, do you really think we can trust him?" Blue asked.
"Yes," Silver replied. "He spent a long time looking for me. He also protected me even though he knew who I was. I don't think he would have done that just so he could betray me now."
Blue crossed her arms and closed her eyes as she began to think. After a moment of thought, she opened her eyes and looked at Silver.
"If you think that we can really trust him, then… We might be able to handle ShadowNet better than we initially thought."
"What do you mean?" Red asked.
"Think about it. Our original plan was to weaken ShadowNet with constant raids to New Bark Town. But if we have Team Rocket on our side, then we can take New Bark Town and move on. Team Rocket will assist us in fighting ShadowNet and defending retaken cities."
"If we can trust Giovanni," Green added. "If he's untrustworthy and we go with your plan, we'll just be helping him take over Kanto and Johto."
Blue glanced at Silver before she looked at Red and Green. "Right. I'll see if I can spy on Giovanni in Viridian City, and see what he's really up to. If anything happens to me, then you'll know that Giovanni is up to something, and you can plan what to do. If he's really not up to anything, then nothing bad would happen." She looked at Green and smiled slightly. 'And if something does bad happen to me, you can always come and save me…'
Green looked at her and raised an eyebrow, wondering why she smiled like that. Blue avoided eye contact and rose to her feet.
"I'll… get ready. Spying on the leader of Team Rocket without getting caught is not an easy task, you know."
"Sis, I'll go with you," Silver said as he rose to his feet.
Blue shook her head. "No. If two people go, it'll be easier to get caught. I'll go alone."
"But…" Silver tried to object, but Blue signaled him to be quiet.
"Silver, I can take care of myself. And relax; nothing's going to happen to me."
"Be careful, Blue," said Professor Oak. "We'll need the information you gather to plan our next move." He looked at all of the other Dex Holders. "This has been a long day so far. I want all of you to rest and prepare yourselves for the beginning of a long fight against ShadowNet."
…
Later that day, 7 pm…
…
The Dex Holders gathered around the living room in Green's house, except those on dinner duty, who were around the kitchen and the dinner table. The Viridian Gym Leader didn't like the idea of having every Dex Holder in his house, but somehow, Blue had managed to convince everyone to invade his house. It was also decided (by Blue) that every Dex Holder will sleep at their team leader's house. Blue's team, however, had to sleep in Professor Oak's lab, as the girl's house was too far away. Yellow was to sleep in the lab as well, as she wasn't in any team.
Currently, every Dex Holder except Blue was in Green's house, as Blue had left for Viridian an hour ago. Out of the remaining 12 Dex Holders, Crystal, Diamond, Platinum, Ruby, and Sapphire have been selected to be on dinner duty.
"Why am I on dinner duty?" Crystal grumbled as she carried a large tray covered with dishes. "Gold's supposed to doing this…" She set the tray on the dinner table and started to set up the dishes. "GOLD! GET IN HERE!" she yelled all of a sudden.
"Crys, you're not in the position to yell at me," came the goggled boy's voice from the living room. "Remember, because Proto-Gal didn't get all the Kanto Gym Badges yet, you have to do whatever I tell you."
"Stupid ShadowNet…" Crystal grumbled. "If only they attacked after Platinum finished traveling around Kanto…"
Half an hour later, dinner was complete and all the Dex Holders gathered around the dinner table. The table wasn't big enough for all 12 Dex Holders, so some had to use miniature portable tables and trays.
During dinner, Ruby watched Sapphire closely. He noticed several unusual things about her. She kept looking at the clock and looked very guilty whenever Red talked to her. It appeared as if Sapphire was planning on doing something she considered to be disloyal to Red at a certain time. Perhaps she was trying to… …
Another thing Ruby noticed was that Sapphire didn't talk to Platinum at all or even acknowledge her presence. She kept ignoring her to the point where the heiress no longer bothered to talk to her at all. Sapphire was obviously upset at the heiress about something, and Ruby decided that he needed to find out what.
…
3 hours later, 10:30 pm…
…
Green was sitting on the couch in his living room, thinking about the upcoming fight against ShadowNet. He wasn't making much progress, as he wasn't used to having so many people in his house. He almost jumped in surprise when his Pokégear started to vibrate. He pulled it out and noticed that he got a message from Blue, telling him to meet her outside.
The Viridian Gym Leader soon left his house and could see Blue waiting. She had her hair tied into a long ponytail and had her Silph Scope on around her forehead. She was wearing a rather skintight black T-shirt, black shorts that were almost as long as her usual skirt, and a pair of black gloves and shoes. She would've been pretty hard to spot in the dark, if it wasn't for the fact that she left her legs bare.
"So you're back?" Green asked.
Blue turned to look at him and adjusted her Silph Scope so it felt comfortable on her forehead.
"Yep. But what do you think?" she asked as she slowly spun around, showing off her new attire. She struck a slight pose at the end and looked at Green expectantly.
The Gym Leader rolled his eyes and sighed. "I think you'll sneak into wherever you're going much better if you wore proper pants."
Blue crossed her arms. "But don't you think I look better right now?"
"What do you want, Blue?" Green asked after another sigh.
Blue sighed too. "You're no fun. Anyways, I found out where Giovanni went, but nothing else," she started. "There really wasn't much I could do in broad daylight."
"So what did you find?"
"It turns out Giovanni has a hidden base in Viridian City," Blue replied. "It's below your Gym."
"What?"
"Well, it used to be his Gym, so it makes sense. But the entrance isn't in your Gym. I think he sealed off the entrance when he abandoned it. But the entrance is close. So I'm going over there right now."
"So why did you want to see me? You would have called me if you just wanted to tell me what you found," Green said.
Blue sighed. "I know… I wanted to see you because… I just wanted to see you," she said honestly. "I mean… I am trying to infiltrate Team Rocket's base. I might not make it back, and I wanted to see you one last time."
"You'll be fine, Blue," Green said after a sigh. He shook his head and headed back into his house. "But do be careful. We all need you here," he said just before he opened the door.
"Thanks Green," Blue said rather quietly. "I'll see you in the morning then…"
Meanwhile, Platinum approached Ruby, seeing how he wasn't talking to anyone at the moment. The Hoenn Dex Holder was still lost in thought as he looked at Sapphire.
"Um… senior Ruby?" the heiress started nervously.
Ruby snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her. "Oh, hey. What is it?"
"I wanted to ask… do you know why senior Sapphire dislikes me?" Platinum asked rather sadly. "She was very nice to me before we left for New Bark Town, but after that mission, she seems to have developed an enmity towards me."
"I… don't know, actually," Ruby replied. "But I noticed it too. I'll try to find out why she doesn't like you as fast as I can."
"Please do," Platinum said. "I am afraid that I may have accidentally insulted her. I would like to apologize, but she is ignoring me… Please help me…"
"I will."
…
August 14th, 1:30 am, Red's house…
…
Sapphire opened her eyes and quietly sat up. She took a look around the room and spotted Gold snoring on the couch and Platinum sleeping quietly on the floor on the opposite side of the room. Satisfied that she was the only one awake, Sapphire quietly rose to her feet and headed towards the door. She put her shoes on while constantly looking back and forth between her two team members asleep in the living room. She didn't want anyone to see her leave… what she was doing was a sort of a betrayal, after all…
Sapphire quietly opened the door and took 7 steps out of Red's house before she stopped. She turned around and right beside the closing door, she could see Ruby leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
"Ruby? What are you doing here?" Sapphire asked.
"Knowing you, I'm surprised that you managed to stay this long," he said quietly as he slowly approached her. 'I waited out here for two hours!' "I knew that you would attempt to go to Hoenn since earlier today. Well, yesterday, I guess."
"If you knew, then you know you should stay out of my way," Sapphire said as she turned away.
"Sapphire, I know you really want to go to Hoenn to avenge your coach. But you can't leave right now."
"Why?!" the girl demanded angrily as she turned to glare at him. "Why are you stopping me?!"
"If you go right now, you'll suffer the same fate as your coach. Think about it, Sapphire. This ShadowNet has taken over the entire region of Hoenn and the Pokémon Association is hiding, waiting for a chance to strike back. If you go over there right now, you'll be all alone. Without a way to contact the Pokémon Association, you'll have no help whatsoever. You'll eventually be captured… or killed."
"I… I know that I'll be at a huge disadvantage," Sapphire started. "But… they killed Coach… If the same thing happened to Wallace, what would you do?"
"I'd probably do what you're doing," Ruby replied without much thought. "But I know that you would do what I'm doing."
Sapphire looked at Ruby in the eyes. "How… how would you know?"
"It's natural to stop someone from doing something very dangerous if you really care for them."
The girl remained silent for a few seconds. She shook her head and turned away again. "I… I can take care of myself," she said, her voice shaking. "I need to avenge Coach."
"No one's saying that you shouldn't." Ruby slowly walked around her. He put a hand on her shoulder and looked at her in the eyes. "But you need to calm down. Listen, I know that you can't stand knowing Hoenn is in danger. But if you go over there right now, what would that accomplish? Stay here. We'll eliminate all of ShadowNet in Johto before we move on to Hoenn. But without you, we won't be able to clear Johto quickly. We all need you here; especially your team members."
Sapphire suddenly sighed. "No, they don't really need me."
"What are you talking about?"
"Red, Gold, rookie… they don't need me here. They're perfectly fine without me."
"No they're not. I don't know about Gold, but I know that Red and Platinum need you in their team. Red needs another competent battler and Platinum needs someone she can look up to; a role model, if you will," Ruby said calmly.
"Gold's good at fighting, and Red even trained with him before. And as for rookie, she looks up to Red more than me. Besides, Red and Gold seems more focused on taking care of rookie than anything else."
'Oh, is that why she's been ignoring Platinum?' Ruby carefully picked what he would say so that it would affect Sapphire the most. "Sapphire, you can't be jealous because Platinum seems to be closer to Red than you are. As her seniors, we have to take care of her. That's what Red's doing. He's making sure that she feels comfortable and not rejected. And listen. He's 7 years older than Platinum. She needs someone closer to her age that she can look up to. She has nothing but respect for what the other Dex Holders did, including your accomplishments. And think about how you've been treating her. She's afraid that she accidentally insulted you. She's really hurt, you know. We've all been with her for a few days now, so you should know that she's extremely sensitive of what her seniors think of her. You are her senior. You can't be jealous of her."
Sapphire sighed and closed her eyes as she began to think. 'He's right… how could I have treated her like that? Oh, I feel terrible…' "You're right. I shouldn't be jealous at all. I'm going to apologize to her first thing in the morning. And hey, maybe rookie and I will be able to train together like Red and Gold."
"That's it. Just like that. I'm sure she'll be more than willing to train with you."
Sapphire took a deep breath. "Thanks Ruby. Thanks for stopping me from doing something reckless, and thanks for letting me see how childish I've been." She looked into his eyes, waiting for the right answer. "But… how long do you think I'll have to wait to avenge Coach?"
"It won't be too long. I promise," Ruby assured with a smile. "And when the time comes, we'll avenge your coach together. But until that time comes, I want you to promise me that you won't try to go off to Hoenn all by yourself."
"I promise," Sapphire said. She was being sincere, but Ruby decided that he needed additional guarantees.
"Good. But if you do try to go to Hoenn all by yourself, I'll have to follow you."
Sapphire froze. "What?"
"I can't have you doing something so reckless all by yourself. If you try to go to Hoenn, I'll have to go with you to make sure that nothing happens to you."
"But… our seniors will really need your help."
"I know. But you are more important to me than all of the other Dex Holders put together," Ruby said as he slowly turned away. He headed back towards the lab with his hands in his pockets. "Just remember that, Sapphire."
Sapphire couldn't help but smile as she watched Ruby walk away. "Thanks Ruby. I promise I won't go to Hoenn by myself."
She soon got lost in thought. It appeared that the feelings Ruby had were mutual. She knew that if Ruby tried to go to Hoenn all by himself, she would be there to stop him and try to convince him. And if that failed, she knew that she would probably go with him to ensure that nothing bad happened to him. She was relieved to know that he really cared for her, as much as she cared for him.
With a bright smile, Sapphire headed back into her senior's house. She still had a lot to think about, such as how she had been jealous of Platinum and how childish that was. She promised to herself that starting in the morning (or in one minute, if the heiress woke up), she would take better care of her junior.
…
Meanwhile…
…
L: Did we get the prisoner's brother yet?
D: No, sir. We still don't know who it is we're after. We did find one really strong trainer in Lilycove City. He avoided us for two days after we initially found him, but when we finally caught up to him, he destroyed several of our squads single handedly and caused an uprising in the city before he escaped. Some of the Hoenn Gym Leaders helped in his escape and vanished as well. We haven't a clue as to where they went.
L: … Well, that's nice. All you morons managed to do was give this really strong trainer a reason to be hostile to us when he otherwise would've remained neutral.
D: Uh… yes.
L: And our Sinnoh group got utterly destroyed. And those Dex Holders successfully raided New Bark Town and seems to have gotten whatever they wanted. So… all of our initial plans have gone very well, but all of the plans that followed have failed miserably. And now, we have the Johto and Hoenn Gym Leaders waiting to strike at our forces from behind, and the Dex Holders preparing to take us on headfirst. And Sinnoh is completely out of our reach now. If our enemies in Sinnoh try to help those in Kanto and Johto, we're doomed.
D: Yes sir. We're at a disadvantage.
L: We'll need some help. See if we can contact the executives from previous teams. Team Rocket Admins, Galactic Commanders, and the likes. They have some experience in fighting Gym Leaders and Dex Holders. Their assistance would be invaluable. As for Sinnoh… Get Project 05-032 activated as soon as possible. But perfect it first. If it backfires, we'll be screwed. If Project 05-032 works as it's supposed to, then Sinnoh, Johto, and the Sevii Islands will not be of any concern.
D: But what about the Dex Holders who are planning to strike us right now?
L: We'll strike them first. In the morning, we are going to send every squad we have in our Johto and main HQs and send them straight to Pallet Town of Kanto. It's time we launched a full scale assault.
Current good guy KIA/MIA list: Winona.
The Dex Holder KIA/MIA list will be posted when someone is actually killed or goes missing.
By the way: "Dialogue/Quote", 'Thought', Flashback, "Dialogue/Quote in Flashback", 'Hard to see but Thought in Flashback. The one difference between regular Thought and Flashback Thought is the italicized punctuation marks', \\Telepathy. I originally wanted the use the less-than and greater-than symbols, but those characters don't appear\\, / /OTHER METHODS OF COMMUNICATION, DECRYPTED MESSAGES/ /.
Also note: I boosted Sabrina's psychic powers. I mean… she's supposed to be some sort of prodigy to the psychic-power thing, and what does she do in Pokémon Special? See Mr. Mime's invisible barriers? That's it? Well, not anymore.
Next up:
Two massive forces clash! It's time to go to war against ShadowNet.