"Chu!" the Raichu screamed, materializing a cloud of electricity around it.
Ryan flinched, waiting on the electric shock that would surely jolt him all the way back to R'lyeh, when all of a sudden he heard the snapping of metal, the breaking of chains, and the scream of a Pokemon he knew well.
"Neieieieie!" came the indistinct scream; it was one that sounded like a crusty homeless man trying to sing Creep but forgetting half of the lyrics.
Ryan knew that scream. Thurnax! Out from her cage, which had been partially melted by noble Aegon (the first of his name), came the blue dragon. The Raichu sent out its Thunderbolt attack, but it was too late. Thurnax soared through the air and intercepted the electricity, taking it head on. And since we all know that dragons are resistant to electric attacks, this Thunderbolt didn't do much to Thurnax at all. Indeed, she kept soaring right through the electrical cloud and hit the Raichu hard in the stomach. The Raichu screamed in pain and flew through the air like a ragdoll before crumpling at the feet of its well-dressed master. Lieutenant Miyazaki was quite upset with this, and he began to curse and spit and rant, but I can't repeat his words since this is of course a family-friendly story. Suffice to say, Mr. Miyazaki was not pleased with Thurnax breaking out of her cage.
Thurnax landed just in front of Ryan, keeping one eye on the Raichu. Ryan ran up to her. "Aw, Thurnax, you saved me!" His eyes were brimming with tears. When he placed his hand on her neck to pet her, suddenly Thurnax's entire body began radiating with white light. She looked back at Ryan for but a moment before being swallowed whole in the blinding whiteness. Ryan stepped back, his mouth agape.
"Impossible! Raichu, stop this madness!" Miyazaki screamed.
His Raichu flung itself forward and shot Thunderbolt after Thunderbolt at Thurnax's radiant visage, but all of them bounced off harmlessly. The cigar fell from Miyazaki's mouth; sweat covered his skin and he looked horrified. As the explosion of light died down, Thurnax stepped forward, and Ryan saw her not as she had been before. No, Thurnax had changed. She had evolved.
"No way! That's so awesome!" Ryan yelled at the top of his lungs. There before him stood the orange-skinned dragon Pokemon that was, of course, Dragonite. "You're a Dragonite! Woohoo! I have a Dragonite!"
Miyazaki stepped back and sneered. "Alright, kid. This ends now. Your Pokemon may have evolved, but she's no match for six of mine, ha ha ha!" The Painted Dragons Lieutenant threw five Poke Balls, and out from them came a Mr. Mime, a Nidoking, a Tentacruel, a Dodrio, and a Ninetails. "See if your Dragonite can take on six Pokemon at once!"
"Crap!" Ryan said, slinking his shoulders forward. "This's gonna be a heckuva test, Thurnax," Ryan said. "But don't worry! You're a Dragonite now! You're the most powerful Pokemon in the world, yeah!"
"Brawaaah!" Thurnax bellowed, her voice cracking in determination.
Just before Ryan and his new Dragonite were about to charge Miyazaki's six, the door on the far side of the room slammed open. "Wait!" came the voice of a woman. Derceyes, Ryan knew. "Stop!" Her hair was smoke-streaked, and her cheeks were flushed and covered in ash. Even so, Derceyes marched forward, beautiful as a new dawn. Two Dragonites flanked her. "Let all of these Pokemon go," she said, gesturing widely to the cages around her, "and we'll let you go."
"Fat chance," the man responded, coolly. "I'm the leader here. You're going to see the full might of the Painted Dragons now! No one disrespects me! You four," he nodded to Mr. Mime, Nidoking, Ninetails, and Tentacruel, "fight her!" He left Raichu and Dodrio for Ryan and Thurnax. "Let's show these meddlesome fools who we really are!"
Ryan gulped. "Alright, girl. Let's do this! I know you can take on two of that evil guy's Pokemon. You're a Dragonite! You're the best!"
"Brah!"
"Yeah, I agree!"
From the other side, Derceyes remained calm as four Pokemon came to challenge her two Dragonites. "Berion, Shiraxes, take two each. You know what you need to do."
The two Dragonites nodded and split off into the air, flying high to the ceiling of the large warehouse building. Ryan turned his focus back to his own foes - a Raichu and a Dodrio.
"Okay, Thurnax, use Agility!"
Thurnax grunted in understanding, but before it could enact its attack, Miyazaki roared, "Raichu, Thunderbolt! Dodrio, Drill Peck!"
The Painted Dragon's Pokemon were faster than Thurnax, so their attack each hit Ryan's Pokemon first. It appeared to Ryan, though, that neither the Thunderbolt, which he knew was a poor move to use against a dragon, nor the Drill Peck did much damage. Thurnax let out a small cry when she was shocked and pecked, but she remained steadfast all the same. After absorbing the attacks, she took to the sky and built up her speed.
"Same attacks," Miyazaki roared. "Take that Dragonite down!"
"Body Slam Raichu," Ryan ordered his Pokemon.
Silly dude, Ryan thought. Either he's dumb, or he's too preoccupied with having to fight Derceyes too. Otherwise he wouldn't be ordering his Raichu to use so many electric attacks. This time, however, Dragonite held the edge in speed. Before her foes could attack her, Thurnax flew high in the air with her now-superior speed. In a blinding flash of light, she descended upon the poor Raichu, covering it in a Body Slam so vicious that it rattled the building and left a crater in its wake. When Thurnax stood up, unhurt, the Raichu lay there slumped and long-fainted.
"Yeah, great work Thurnax!"
Yet, there was still a Dodrio, that cursed ugly bird that looked like a couple of dandelions glued together. It sprinted forward and pecked the heck out of Ryan's Dragonite, hurting her a little, but not much. That angered Ryan. No one attacks Dragonite like that. She just got a KO! That's not fair. Dodrio isn't playing fair… so I guess we won't either.
"If you're gonna play dirty like that, then so will we!" Ryan shouted to the man standing across the room. "Thurnax, use Wrap!"
"No! Oh, no! Not that move! Any move but that one! Please, I'm begging you! I know I'm a villain, but even I have standards!" Miyazaki spit. He fell to his knees, which was a terrible rookie mistake. Ryan knew the man's radical purple pants would be ruined now. It was a crying shame.
Regardless, Thurnax rushed forward and wrapped the Dodrio around its tail, squeezing it and squeezing it and squeezing it. And then when it was Dodrio's turn to attack, well, the Dragonite just wrapped it up again, because Wrap is broken and what were the designers of Pokemon thinking of? I don't know, but it's pretty ridiculous that such a broken move could have gotten through all the playtesting. After another series of Wraps, which were admittedly not that powerful, Dodrio looked like it was at about half health, at least to Ryan's well-tuned eyes.
"Body Slam to finish it!" he ordered Thurnax.
"Braahahahahahwrah!" the Dragonite roared. The power of his Pokemon, both in voice and force, gave Ryan goosebumps. Mom and dad would be so proud.
Dodrio staggered to its feet and had time enough to squawk before it was buried just as Raichu had been. When the dust cleared, Ryan saw his Pokemon stand up and Miyazaki's stay on the ground. He had won.
Elsewhere, Derceyes' two Dragonites were using Hyper Beams to clean up the mess. The Painted Dragon leader's four remaining Pokemon were wiped out rather effortlessly by the two dragons, leaving that man, improbably, as the only one in the room without a Pokemon to battle.
"Y-you cheated!" he spit, his eyes wild as a hungry Newman. "Dragonite is OP! The boss is gonna hear about this, I promise you that!"
"This operation you have led is a disgrace. Stealing Pokemon from the people of Cerulean City and doing who knows what with them… it's disgusting. You don't understand that Pokemon are living beings! You just see them as things to sell and buy - ways to make money. It's a disgrace. You are no true dragon!" Derceyes said, stepping forward. Then she thrust her hand forward, pointing at Miyazaki. "Avarian, dracarys!"
At once, the silver-haired woman's Charizard appeared shooting down the room, coming through the hallway from the far door, flying as fast as the winds. The fell beast reached Miyazaki, its snout extended, and its mouth frothing with dragonflame. Miyazaki's eyes bugged out and he tore off his purple suit in hysteria. Screaming like a Clefairy surfing down the side of Mt. Moon at 1 a.m., the first Lieutenant of the Painted Dragons fled the room, Avarian hot on his heels.
Derceyes strode over to Ryan. "Well done, Ryan. You and your Dragonite performed well."
"T-thanks!" Ryan stuttered, his face going red. He scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously, "It was really Thurnax who did most of the work!"
"Indeed," she said, walking over to Ryan's Dragonite. Putting her hand to the Dragonite's flesh, she murmured something Ryan could not hear.
In reply, Thurnax let out a bellow.
That took Derceyes aback. She looked back and forth between the two several times before settling on Ryan. "Where did you get this Dragonite?" she asked him.
"I found her near Fuchsia City a few weeks ago. She was wounded and alone, and I thought her owner abandoned her, so I took her to the nearest Pokemon Center. And afterwards," he shook his head, "Thurnax decided to join my group and help me win some Gym Badges!"
A small smile crept up across Derceyes' face like a single flame flittering across a sheet of paper. "Dragonites are rare in the wild. Finding one on land like that is most unusual. It is also… unusual that when you found this Pokemon, one of my own Dragonairs had recently gone missing. I have yet to find her. But," she said with a glimmer in her eye, "it appears I won't have to look for her any longer."
Ryan's jaw dropped. "H-hey, wait. You mean… you mean Thurnax is your Pokemon?!" Maybe that's why Thurnax is so powerful. I never meant to steal a Pokemon from Derceyes!
Derceyes walked past Ryan and did not answer. "We will have to let these Pokemon out. My Dragonites can do that." She turned back to Ryan and Thurnax. "Make sure the way is clear for us. Rahul and Alex have been holding off the rest of the Painted Dragons, but I do not know how well they are faring now. Go see."
"Okay." Ryan and Thurnax ran down to the other side of the room, to the door where Miyazaki had run through. He looked over at Thurnax and grinned. "I thought we'd try fighting our way out - y'know, mix things up a little. What do you say, girl?"
"Braharawr!"
Thurnax knelt down and Ryan climbed on her back. Then, she spread her wings and began to accelerate down the carpeted hallways of the secret Painted Dragon base. These hallways Ryan had once tread, going the other way. He never thought he would be leaving on the back of a Dragonite. It was awesome feeling the wind through his hair.
Numerous grunts were running this way and that, perhaps fleeing from Rahul and Alex or drifting about in confusion now that Miyazaki had been defeated. Either way, Thurnax pushed her way past all of them, knocking them and their Pokemon unconscious with her wings and tail.
They came upon Rahul and Alex in a great open intersection between various hallways and rooms. There, they stood, their Pokemon on all sides of them, surrounded by Painted Dragons. The fighting was intense and blindingly fast - Ryan could barely see what was going on. Amid the smoke and chaos, Thurnax came stumbling in, breaking a hole through the Painted Dragons' circle. She landed and immediately began to attack and subdue any and all of the enemy Pokemon she could find.
Ahead of them, on a pile of defeated trainers and Pokemon, stood Alex with his Charmeleon. Two Bellsprouts charged the two, and Charmeleon beat them back with flames. Then, a Scyther raced towards it, and a single, more powerful blast of fire decimated it. The Scyther fell over, as did its trainer, who appeared to be charred like a well-done steak. The nearby wall caught on fire, and the Painted Dragons nearby began to flee. Yet, Ryan's eyes stayed on the Charmeleon, for he saw that as soon as it had defeated the Scyther, it became enshrouded in white light - just as Thurnax had earlier. Awesome, it's evolving. Looks like everyone's getting a lot of experience from this!
And before Ryan could even blink, the light cleared, and standing next to Alex was not a Charmeleon, but a Charizard, the fiercest and coolest of the starter Pokemon.
"Heck, it's about time," Alex muttered, patting his new Charizard on the neck. "It didn't make sense for a trainer of my level to have a mere Charmeleon."
"Well, we dealt with that pretty logically, didn't we?!" Ryan shouted, but Alex didn't hear him in the commotion of battle.
Together, the three friends cleared out the rest of the Painted Dragons, KOing all of their Pokemon and forcing them to follow their Lieutenant off into the sunset of despair. When it was all said and done, they returned their Pokemon to their Poke Balls and helped Derceyes set the rest of the Pokemon in the cages free. As the building began to burn, they all fled with the Pokemon, who, though scared, realized that the four people had set them free - these four were not with the Painted Dragons, no siree. Thus it was that the four and perhaps a few hundred Pokemon made their way out of the secret entrance of the Painted Dragons' secret base and marched off into the rugged, wild land of Route 24. Derceyes assured the group that she would take the Pokemon back to Cerulean City, to the police office, where they would be held until their owners could be alerted that they were there and could go retrieve them.
"It's getting late," Derceyes commented, as they continued to walk. Indeed, it was. The sun was beginning to set. "Why don't you come back to my home for the night? You don't have to stay if you don't want to, but I have food and beds and plenty of Pokemon to keep you company."
Ryan's stomach rumbled. He was reminded of the crazy day he had had - from challenging Misty to chasing down the thief to fighting the Painted Dragons. He was exhausted. He was hungry. He didn't want to do anything else except fall into bed. So he looked at the others, and when he saw that they were nearly as weary as him, he nodded to the silver-haired girl.
"Alright, we'll stay the night."
Off into the sunset, they plodded on. Rahul took out a Poke Ball and shoved it in Ryan's face as they went "Hey Ryan, look. My Rhyhorn evolved into a Rhydon."
"That's great Rahul. Maybe if you would have come up with a cool line to say when he evolved, like Alex did, I might've noticed."
Her title of 'Mother of Dragons' could not have been more apt. Dratinis, Dragonairs, Charmanders, and Charmeleons crawled around Derceyes' home like many little children, eager to help and get the attention of their mother. Derceyes had them all help make dinner for Ryan and the others, though Ryan was more amazed at the sheer quantity of dragon and dragon-like Pokemon this woman owned. He let Thurnax out of her ball so that his former Dragonair could reunite with her old friends and family.
Derceyes invited her old uncle George over to the feast, and he was most pleased by the selection of food that was being prepared. Like Rahul, he was a big man, and he had a long, messy white beard. He wore dark overalls and a sailor's cap, and he carried a large appetite. He liked to grunt to himself and talk about his favorite child, Hugo (which angered Derceyes quite a bit), but no one wanted to listen to an old man babble, so they just ignored that.
Awaiting the group were tables and tables of delicacies: baked chicken glazed with sweet orange sauce and brushed with just a hint of red peppers; baked, lightly buttered naan; pots and pots of ramen, fragranced with chopped green onions, whisked eggs, white pepper, and shrimp; roasted vegetables with potatoes sprinkled with cheese; creamy risotto with buttered mushrooms and melted parmesan; lightly battered Magikarp tails with golden, crispy chips; hot Krabby pie with crumbled cheese and lemon juice; and tall glasses of orange juice for everyone. Chubby George particularly enjoyed the orange juice, but that was not something for Ryan, or Alex. Kelly would've liked this, Ryan thought then, and he felt quite lonely, despite the feasting going on around him.
Soon, the Pokemon joined in, and it was pure pandemonium. Roasted onions, red rice salad with pecans and fennel coarse black pepper, and strained tortellini with bruschetta filling, bathed lightly in garlic and olive sauce and tossed with tomatoes, began getting passed around. George engorged himself, as if he had never eaten before. Grease ran down his mouth and into his beard as he shoved handfuls of chocolate-covered bacon into his mouth. He grunted in pleasure and roared:
"More, more, more! More food descriptions! This is symbolic!" Spittle flew from his mouth and into his beard, running down with the grease to form a waterfall of liquid that culminated in a nice puddle in Uncle George's plump lap.
Derceyes nodded and silently produced many more dishes with her Pokemon servants. Ryan had barely helped himself to a nibble of one or two plates before plates of boiled quail egg salad - full with basil and white pepper and yellow mustard and watercress and leafy, iceberg lettuce - and piping hot plates of red and green and yellow tofu curry with rice and flat noodles with vegetable medley were brought forth. These curries swam in sauces of butter and spice, and George felt as if it was his prerogative to lower his face into them and blow, to essentially be a pig amongst mud, to frolick and eat and taste and be content. With how happy this made George, Ryan wondered how the man got through the days he couldn't feast.
Soon came the pizzas, of the anchovy and pineapple variety, and fish tacos, decorated lavishly with cilantro, white cabbage, red and green onions, sour cream, and a good helping of salsa. When George saw those on approach, he began to lick his lips and rub his belly really hard.
"Mine, mine, mine! Ooh, gimme! Mexican food is my specialty!" He reached out and took all of the fish tacos off of the massive silver serving plate a Charmeleon was carrying over. In the blink of an eye, he downed all of them and then burped long and hard, patting his belly once again. Grease continued to run down his mouth and into his beard, though he was no longer eating. Ryan had no idea what was going on with this man. "Ah, reminds me of my childhood," he said wistfully.
In comparison to Uncle George, Ryan, Rahul, and Alex were all rather tame in their eating, and indeed, even Rahul, who was known for his unabashed serial gluttony, looked like a Victorian mistress in the company of George. In fact, after a few moments, Ryan became so disgusted by what he was seeing that he got up to leave. The whole room was getting hot, and he was sweating. He had reached beyond the point of being tired, and he felt lucid again. His body was weak and ached with tiredness, but his mind was awakened anew, and he couldn't just sit around watching the old hog eating endless plates of food. Pokemon and people were roaring with laughter; there were so many conversations going on that Ryan couldn't make out what anyone was saying, though he could hear them all talking at once. It was pure noise, chaotic in its inanity. When he got up, he passed by a Charmeleon carrying a plate of fresh, cold sushi. Ryan turned around and saw that old George was snorting jello shots off of the belly of a Dratini. This place is nuts I have to get out of here. In the midst of the childish nattering and feasting in Derceyes' house, no one noticed him walking out.
Ryan went for the door when he bumped into Derceyes, whose face was also flushed. Her eyes, he noticed, were not in fact a deep blue color. They were purple - a delicate shade of summer lilac. That made his heart beat just a little bit faster. She smiled cheekily. "Need some fresh air?"
"Y-yeah, it's getting crazy in here."
Derceyes opened the door, and the two stepped outside. The gust of bitter wind that met their faces was a welcome relief, one that made Ryan feel like he had broken free of the hot, sweaty lunacy that was taking place in that house.
The woman sighed. "My uncle is always like that. He likes food too much. I'm sure some of it is symbolic, and a lot of it tastes good, but he goes overboard. I don't know that I've met anyone who likes food as much as him."
"It shows," Ryan said. "I thought Rahul was a big man."
Derceyes chuckled. "Rahul has a long way to go before he can equal my uncle's size."
They walked down from Derceyes house to the nearby lake, where many other Pokemon lived. Here, Magikarp were king, though Ryan spotted a Gyarados as well. Some Dratinis, Dragonairs, and Dragonites were also down here. Ryan noticed that Thurnax was amongst them.
Ryan gulped. "I-I'm sorry… I didn't mean to take her. I didn't know sh-she was yours," he said awkwardly.
Derceyes shrugged. "I have many Pokemon. If one of them finds a good trainer willing to raise them and take them around the world to battle and meet other people and Pokemon, who am I to stop them? I can't give all of my Pokemon equal attention. It's good that some of them will be able to go out into the world and make names for themselves. Besides, it appears that Thurnax is very happy with you."
Ryan went red and got a tingly feeling in his stomach. "I hope so."
They came to a stop at the water's edge, watching the Pokemon play about - the dragon Pokemon in particular seemed to be playing racing games through the cold, midnight waters. The moon hung in an empty sky, and its reflection in the center of the lake seemed to be rippling with a constancy that could only mean there were many Pokemon having fun in the waters.
"Uh, Ms. Derceyes, why do you have so many dragon Pokemon?" Ryan blurted out.
She did not turn to face him. "It is my passion to study these kinds of Pokemon. And not all of my Pokemon are dragons - I have many other types that look only superficially like dragons. Still, I enjoy their company. Breeding them, studying their genetics, their fighting capabilities, their eating habits… all of it… I am trying to unlock the mysteries of these rare creatures. I do not know if what I am doing will result in anything meaningful, but I have discovered a few little things already."
"Like what?"
"The preferred moves for each species, for one. I talked with Alex about that earlier. He was mostly interested in the moves and training I gave all of my Dragonites."
"Does Thurnax have good moves?"
Derceyes looked up at the moon. "If I remember correctly, I gave her Body Slam. Otherwise, she should have Wrap and Agility," the woman trailed off. Ryan nodded. "She also has Surf, I believe."
"Yep."
"Her moves are good. I trained all of my Dratini from when they were born to be great fighters. They have the natures and instincts that are needed of them. You will want to give Thurnax Hyper Beam when she gains some more experience, however."
"Alright."
"But other than that, she is ready to take on the best Kanto has to offer. You are lucky you got your Dragonair from me, and not from the wild. These beasts are notoriously difficult to train if you catch a wild one. Will you use her in the Indigo League?"
Ryan nodded in determination. "She's gonna be one of my best Pokemon!"
Derceyes bit her lip, perhaps hiding a smile. "I'll be there to watch. Don't disappoint me. I don't want to see her losing to Shellders or Drowzees."
"I won't let that happen!" Ryan declared. "I'm a great trainer! I know how to counter the Pokemon that are supereffective against mine!"
"Yep, sure." Her voice was thick with sarcasm. It was sudden and unexpected, causing Ryan's pride to swell in his throat. How dare she question my prowess?!
"Fine, let's have a battle!" Derceyes turned around, not believing Ryan's declaration. "Come on, Thurnax, get over here! There's a battle you need to win for me!"
Thurnax popped her head from the water and cocked it in surprise. When Ryan continued to shout across the water and gesture wildly with his hands, she came flying over and landed next to him in the mud. Derceyes shook her head and then whistled. A second later, one of her own Dragonites appeared. It was the shiny one - the one with green skin.
"Trinnetar, show Thurnax just how strong you are," Derceyes commanded. "You know which moves to use."
"How can you say that?" Ryan asked. "How does your Pokemon know what moves to use without you telling it?"
"We've been together for a long time. Trinnetar was the first Dratini I ever captured. He's been with me since the beginning. After all these years… well, we've been in a lot of battles together.. He knows what I want him to do."
"Hmph, well then, we'll just have to show you who's really good, isn't that right, Thurnax?"
"Wraaahahah!"
The two Pokemon took their places opposite one another. "Agility, Thurnax," Ryan commanded.
Derceyes stood as still as a statue. The two Pokemon flew at one another. At the last second, Thurnax split off and took to the skies to build up its speed. But Trinnetar was not one to be outdone. It followed Thurnax up there, and just as Thurnax was about to begin its Agility, Trinnetar hit her with a Thunder Wave, instantly paralyzing Ryan's Pokemon.
"Wha…?! How does that Dragonite know Thunder Wave?!"
"It's something I learned in my research. Dragonites can learn that move," Derceyes replied. "Not the best move for all Dragonites, to be fair. But since I have so many, this move is very valuable for my team as a whole."
Now paralyzed, Thurnax could do little as the other Dragonite used Wrap on it and then finished her off with a simple Hyper Beam. Thurnax crashed into the water, soaking Ryan in the process. Just great… now I'm tired and cold.
"That's enough, Trinnetar. We don't want Thurnax to get too injured."
When Thurnax came back up from the water, Ryan waved her off.
"Great try, girl, but the battle's over. You can go back to playing."
And thus his Pokemon swam away to mingle with its friends for one more night. Derceyes approached Ryan and held out her hand, as if to shake his. He shook her hand and felt a small rock or something similar in the woman's palm. When their hands broke off, he held up the little stone, though he held no understanding over what that thing was.
"Dragonitite," Derceyes said. "It's the mega stone for Dragonite."
"Huh, what are you talking about?"
Derceyes said, "Perhaps when you've journeyed a bit more, you will learn about mega stones. It is not my place to explain what they are or how they are used. But make sure you keep that stone with you. There aren't many of them in the world, and I have most of them." She smiled. "Just a perk of me being the dragon expert in Kanto."
"Th-thanks! I guess…"
"Make sure you battle with your Dragonite often. You two will build your bond primarily through battle - the understanding you will share during the heat of battle that will allow you to adapt to and beat any opponent you may face, regardless of the Pokemon you are up against. If you wish to become a Pokemon Master, or even a dragon expert, you must keep at it. The more you two practice together, the more you two will grow in tandem. And you still have a while before you will face the other trainers in the Indigo League Tournament. You have plenty of time to learn all there is to know about Thurnax."
"Maybe," Ryan said, lowering his head, "but it's going to take a lot of work. I'm not nearly as good of a Pokemon battler as you… Your Dragonite defeated mine in a minute! And I thought Thurnax was one of the most powerful Pokemon in the world!"
Derceyes clasped Ryan on the shoulders. "Don't worry about that now. Let's get back to dinner. Come on, I'm sure you can bear with my uncle George a little longer. If you get past his eating habits, he can tell you some really twisted and bloody tales."
"Awesome!"
And so the two walked back to Derceyes' house. Ryan kept the mega stone clutched tight in his palm, and he looked up at the moon as he walked. I'm going to become a great trainer. I'm going to make all of them proud of me… Derceyes, Rahul, Alex, mom… and even dad. It wasn't a mistake that I became a Pokemon trainer. This is what I was born to do. But I've got a long way to go yet.
The moon flickered pale and lonely in the starless sky. Ryan clutched the mega stone tight in his hand for several moments. And when they reached the house again, he pocketed it and walked inside, ready to meet the insanity that awaited him.
It was full tonight, she knew. The loonies'll all be out. Good thing I've got Haunter. She remembered where she had first befriended her ghost Pokemon. It had been very near where they were standing now, a little ways beyond the Pokemon Tower. She remembered that day as vividly as if it had been yesterday. I had been picking flowers for mother when I had stumbled upon it hiding in the forest. I felt something watching me and walked right into the forest, completely oblivious to the fact that it was a scary ghost Pokemon awaiting me. But he was more scared of me than I was of him. She giggled a the memory of it. It took me a week to get him to work up the courage to come out of that forest. He didn't tell me why he had been hiding in there until years later… I guess I never actually caught him, but ever since he realized he could trust me, he began following me around.
She thought about how having a Haunter from such a young age had helped her to catch other Pokemon. When she had applied to Team Rocket, she had had more Pokemon than any 13 year old girl should have had. And now I'm the second-in-command. But that's not worth much, in this dying organization.
"Is it ready yet?" she snapped at the Team Rocket grunts around here.
"A few more minutes, please," one of them grumbled.
"We don't have much time. This is the best time to try out our device. Hurry up! Gilly?! Where are you?"
"Here," Gillford said with a bow. "I was just meditating into transatlantic planes. And my name's 'The Supreme Extreme', don't forget that!"
"Shut up," she said, handing him the remote control. "Here, you're in charge. Make sure the device gets turned on."
"Wha… what?! Me? Why me?!"
"You're my second-in-command," she explained. "But, if you don't get this Mew hologram to turn on before the moonlight fades, I'll fire you from Team Rocket."
"No!" Gilly bellowed. "I'm the Supreme Extreme, you can't do that to me!" He took out his little wooden-painted girlfriend, fondly known as 'Mrs. Supreme Extreme' and thrust her in Jessica's face. "You can't do this to my husband! He's beautiful and talented and so powerful! He can levitate! You'll be making a big mistake if you try to fire him."
"Gilly, stop it. I'm not in the mood for your nonsense. Just get the projector running, and once it's up, radio me."
"Where are you going?"
"None of your business."
"Ms. Jessica," a grunt said, bowing, "before you leave, I should inform you that we have just received some information about the Painted Dragons' operations in Cerulean City."
Jessica's blood turned cold. "What of those fools?"
"They were defeated by some sort of police force, we think. The entire branch was disbanded, and First Lieutenant Miyazaki himself was defeated! He's since gone missing; our spies assume he's retired from the organization and given up on Pokemon fighting after being humiliated in front of his whole force! The word is he's going to become a really popular anime and manga producer now!"
A small smile crept onto Jessica's face. "Pity. Very well, if that's all, I'll be leaving now."
The grunt bowed and let Jessica move out. She walked through the desolate streets of Lavender Town alone, catching glimpses of ghosts coming from the Pokemon Tower and the various abandoned buildings around the place. It was a dead city, for the most part. It was creepy, but that was just how Jessica liked it. Much of its population was either dead or gone, and this place was little more than a cemetery now. Why would the Mew come here? Pressing on, she came to the edge of the forest, where she had once played as a child. But that was a lifetime ago.
Unhooking the Poke Ball from her belt, Jessica released her Haunter.
"Haunter, haunt!" the ghost croaked.
"Hey Haunty. We're home."
"Hauu!"
Haunter began to fly around in circles, overwhelmed with happiness. His euphoria was enough to make Jessica smile - for a second. Then, her thoughts and plans came flooding back into her brain, and she began to pace. This was her time; Jessica found it easiest to think, to plan, to scheme when she was alone, and there was no better place to do that than this forest.
Giovanni will want to know that the Painted Dragons have been crippled. If it's true Miyazaki's gone, that organization will be vulnerable… we could move forward and crush them. We have the soldiers for it. Gilly and I alone could probably take out most of those pathetic trainers who call themselves members of that gang. Kanto is Team Rocket's territory. There is no room for other gangs. We have to eliminate them if we are to regain our power.
But she was in a tricky situation, she knew. She had to catch the Mew - she knew not how much longer it would be around Lavender Town. And yet, she would also need to lead the assault against the Painted Dragons' main base soon if she wanted to destroy them. If she waited too long, someone else would be promoted to First Lieutenant, and the Painted Dragons would recruit enough new people to their gang to make up for those they lost in Cerulean City.
Jessica sighed and kneeled down to pick up a withered flower at the forest's edge. Killed by the frost of winter, she thought. But every spring, the flowers come back, in full bloom. She looked to the sky, scanning for any sign of the Mew. Our projector will fool the Mew into thinking there's another member of its species in Lavender Town. And once we get it to come to us, to act on its curiosity, catching it will be the easy part. But… where are you, Mew?! Where are you?!
The sky was dark and cloudless, save for the overbearing whiteness that was being exuded by the moon. It was beautiful, in its own way, but Jessica didn't have time for sentimentality. She needed to think up a strategy to catch Mew and take out the Painted Dragons in one fell swoop. And as her Haunter roamed about her gleefully, Jessica knew she had no answers for how to do that… yet.
The girl dropped the dead flowers and motioned to her Pokemon to follow her. "Come on, Haunty. Let's see if mom and dad are still awake." They haven't seen me in a year. They're going to be in for a big surprise. Jessica twisted her tongue between her teeth. I wonder if they will be proud of me becoming the second-in-command of Team Rocket.
Not a chance, she thought sadly.