Chapter 25: Finding the Enemy

Foxy's POV

Man, did I ever hate waiting. Unfortunately at the moment that was all we could do while we waited for Sonar, Maggie and Scarlet to return. The three of them had volunteered to return to the sight of the battle in hopes of finding anything that would lead us to wherever Team Rocket took Brian. What if Giovanni sent some more agents? What if they were laying in ambush, waiting for one of us to return?

"(Do you think they're okay?)" I asked.

"(I'm sure they're fine,)" Esther reassured me. "(We all know Maggie can take care of herself, and Scarlet and Sonar are very capable.)" I smiled at my Psychic type companion. No matter how worried I was she managed to ease my fears and put my mind at peace.

"(You're right. They're fine,)" I agreed. "(In fact I wouldn't be surprised if they were already on their way back right now.)"

Scarlet's POV

So here we were, searching for some clue as to where Brian had been taken. Well, Sonar and Maggie were searching. I, on the other hand… er paw, I was laying on a rock in my Shifter form watching the two lazily.

"Find anything yet guys?" I asked.

"(Nope,)" Maggie replied.

"(Perhaps we would if you got off of ya tail, ya mangy fur-ball!)" Sonar snapped, and her tone made up for the lack of eyes. I flinched. Why had I captured a foul tempered female? I wondered how much more motivated I would have felt if she had had eyes. The Zubat and Mismagius were scoping the entire area out. I shrugged.

"Easy for you to say." Would I tell them? Would I mention the fact that despite having been fully healed my entire body lacked energy?

"No." I had to be strong. Brian's life was at stake.

"Alright. You know what? I'll get off of my tail." I stood up, fighting to keep my trembling legs steady.

"There, happy?"

"(Ya. Perhaps if ya looked around I wouldn't have to chide ya so much,)" She retorted. I sighed and began pacing around, kicking up dust. When I had first awoken, adrenaline was still pumping fiercely through my veins. But now, I was void of the pain numbing hormone.

"Crap, I don't think there is much for us to find," I muttered. Sonar twilled and swooped down in front of me, her wings stirring up the dust.

"(Ya just have to look harder.)" She picked something up in her mouth, and I gazed blankly at it.

"Well, look at that, an ID Card." Sonar nodded and spat the rectangular plastic card out. She then picked up a corner of a map.

"Pay dirt," I said and suddenly realized that I had always felt weak, even after being healed completely, but I had never given it a second thought.

"This is not good," I told myself, knowing that I would keep the knowledge to myself still.

Foxy's POV

When the three of them got back they shared with us what they had found. Apparently the found an ID card and a corner of a map showing a location near the Johto region. Unfortunately the torn corner didn't provide enough information for us to determine the location.

"(This is indeed quite frustrating,)" Esther sighed. "(To be so close to finding Brian, and yet so far away.)" The rest of the gang, who had been filled in while Scarlet and the others were gone, agreed with the Gardevoir.

"(Damn! If only he had called on us we wouldn't be in this mess!)" Riptide growled.

"(He couldn't. Giovanni disabled our Poké Balls. There was no way Brian could have called us out,)" Ivy reminded him.

"(Oh yeah…)" Riptide dejectedly sighed.

"(Come on, guys! Think! We've got to find out where Giovanni took Brian!)" I shouted, trying to motivate the others.

"(Foxy's right. Getting Brian back should be the only thing on our minds right now,)" Kane agreed.

"(But all we have to go on is a discarded ID card and a piece of a map,)" Shocky pointed out. "(That's not much to go on.)"

"But it may be enough," Alexis announced. "I might be able to use one of the Center's computers to determine what part of the world that piece of map shows."

"(Can you really do that?!)" I asked, hoping filling me for the first time.

"I can certainly try," Alexis replied.

"Well if you think you can do then go for it!" Scarlet declared. Everyone else agreed with her. This was our best chance to find out where Team Rocket took Brian.

"Okay. Give me the map piece and I'll do what I can." Scarlet handed Alexis the torn map corner. She then went to one of the computers located in the room and began searching for whatever location the map showed.

"(Okay, while she's doing that let's go over this plan of yours, Poka,)" I suggested. Everyone focused their attention on Poka, waiting to hear his plan.

"Okay, so we know that Giovanni took Brian to one of Team Rocket's bases, right?" Poka pointed out.

"(That much is obvious,)" Kane agreed.

"And I'm sure we can all agree on the fact that whatever base they have him at will be heavily guarded," Poka added.

"(Naturally,)" Esther said.

"(What are you getting at?)" I inquired.

"Well, I was thinking that if we could somehow get inside the base and find the security room we could broadcast a sleep-inducing attack over the loudspeakers and put everyone there to sleep. That would give us enough time to find Brian, get to him and get out," Poka explained.

"(That could work, as long as someone here knows an attack that induces sleep,)" Sonar said.

"(I know Grasswhistle,)" Ivy announced. "(Would that work?)"

"That'll be perfect," Poka said.

"(Great! We're that much closer to getting Brian back!)" I cheered.

"(But we still don't know where they took him,)" Crazefire said. That brought everyone back down to Earth. Even if we had a plan to rescue him if we didn't know where Giovanni had taken him any plan would be useless.

"(Great… now we're back to square one!)" Riptide roared in frustration.

"(Calm down, Riptide. We'll find out where they took him,)" I said in an attempt to calm my much larger ally.

"(But there's no telling how long that will take!)" he argued. "(It could be days, weeks, months…)"

"Or maybe just a few minutes," Alexis announced. Upon hearing this we all gathered around her, eager to see what she discovered.

"What did you find out?" Scarlet asked.

"It took a while but I finally pin-pointed the location in that torn map corner," she informed us. Everyone looked at the computer screen.

"That looks like… the border between Kanto and Johto," Poka observed.

"The Silver Mountains to be exact," Alexis said. "It's a mountain range that separates Kanto and Johto." As I continued to look at the computer screen a feeling of dread began to come over me. Minutes later it dawned on me why.

"(Oh no… not there!)" I cried.

"(What?! What is it?!)" Crazefire inquired.

"(That place… I… we know that place!)" The rest of Brian's Pokémon looked at the screen and soon realized the same thing I did.

"(Shit! Of all the places to bring him why there?!)" Ivy griped.

"Hold on. Just where is that place?" Scarlet asked.

"(Team Rocket's main headquarters,)" Kane growled. Now Scarlet and the others knew why we were so bummed out.

"(Infiltrating that place will prove to be a challenge, even for us,)" Maggie commented.

"(True, though we must attempt regardless of the difficulty. Brian is depending on us,)" Esther said.

"That he is," Scarlet agreed.

"(So I take it we're going anyway?)" Morse asked.

"(Of course. He'd do the same for us,)" Maggie answered.

"(Now that we've established that we will go through with our rescue mission we must now determine who will go and who will stay,)" Esther announced.

"(Why can't we all go?!)" Riptide demanded.

"(A smaller group will be more difficult to detect than a larger one,)" Maggie explained.

"(I shall remain behind,)" Esther announced.

"(Are you sure?)" I inquired.

"(I am. My injuries would be a hindrance to the operation,)" she explained. "(For that reason I believe it is better if I remain.)"

"(I understand,)" I said to her.

"Alright, who else is staying behind?" Poka asked.

"(I'm coming with you guys,)" I announced. All eyes turned to me. It was clear that no one was expecting me to say that.

"(Are you sure? You haven't fully recovered yet,)" Zero questioned.

"(Oh, I'm positive. The way I'm feeling right now not even Kyogre would want to get in my way,)" I declared. No one objected. Out of everyone here I knew Brian the longest and was the closest to him.

"(Just promise us you'll be careful,)" Esther pleaded.

"(I will,)" I promised. After that was resolved we got back to the task of determining who would go and who would stay. After a lengthy debate we finalized the team. Poka would be bringing along Inferno and Featherblade, Scarlet would be accompanied by all her Pokémon and from Brian's team Ivy, Maggie and myself would go.

"(Okay. Is everyone ready to get going?)" I asked.

"(Ready, willing and able!)" Ivy announced.

"I'll be praying for your safe return," Alexis called. With everyone ready we headed outside the Pokémon Center. Scarlet called out Miora while Poka called Featherblade. Ivy and I climbed onto Miora with Scarlet. Maggie would fly along side us.

"I suggest we fly to Blackthorn City and land there. We'll go the rest of the way on foot to avoid being detected," Poka suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Scarlet commented. "Okay, Miora! Let's take to the skies!"

"(Hold on tight!)" With a flap of their wings the two Flying types took to the skies. As my gazed was focused in front of us one thought kept going through my mind…

"(Wait for me, Brian… I'm coming…)"

Looks like the cavalry is on the way, and not a moment too soon. I don't want to stay in this hellhole any longer than I have to. I'm sure everyone here is as eager as I am to see if they succeed, so stick around for the next chapter of The Shifter Chronicles!

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