Mt. Moon Saga: Epilogue

The grunt's boot slammed into Ariana's rib. Hard.

The Rocket Executive clamped her mouth shut to keep herself from screaming, casting a very poisonous glare up at the grunt who had had the audacity to strike her superior, a young woman who was barely eighteen. The grunt returned the glare ten-fold, the fear she had once felt for her superior long gone. Executive or not, older or not, they were all going to prison – and as far as the grunts were concerned, it was all Ariana's fault.

Which was funny, really, because as far as Ariana was concerned it was all the grunts' fault.

The interior of the police van was dark and damp. It reeked of unwashed Growlithe and mold. The seats in the prisoner's compartment were ugly and worn, springs poking up through the moldy foam and worn plastic and right into the Rockets' rumps, for those who had chosen to sit down. The ride was naturally bumpy as they drove down the mountain path, the prisoners getting tossed about by the rough terrain.

The van shook as Ariana tried to stand, sending her right back to her knees. Before she could try to rise again another grunt, this one male, slammed his foot right into her gut. Ariana gasped, wishing that the police had at the very least strapped them all to their seats. She coughed wildly, spittle dripping from her mouth as she crouched over, trying to regain the breath that had been knocked out of her lungs.

Another kick was aimed for her rib, but the grunt who planned to deliver it fell flat on her face when the van hit another bump. Before she could get up, Ariana had squirmed onto her back and unloaded a shotgun of a kick right into the girl's side, both heels tearing through cloth and skin. The younger woman screamed loudly but was silenced when Ariana stood and viciously planted her foot into her stomach. Though all of the Rockets were handcuffed securely, the police had neglected to tie their feet together, nor bind them to their seats, leaving Ariana to fend for herself against her vengeful grunts.

Speaking of vengeful grunts, they were all beginning to dog pile onto their former executive, knocking her away from their downed comrade and leaping on top of her. Ariana thrashed and screamed in vain, wriggling uselessly as she was swiftly buried by her own underlings.

"Y-you miserable ingrates…" the woman gasped out as a particularly heavy young man leaped onto her. "After everything the Boss has done for you!" She loudly gagged out the last word as the grunts proceeded to press her into the ground, squeezing air from her lungs.

"Oh, shut up!" the grunt who had started the fight ordered, standing above her former leader. Ariana wisely did so, seeing that the grunt was in the perfect position to kick her right in the face. "Don't you dare act all high and mighty! You left us in that cave for the police! Whatever happened to 'true Rockets never abandon one another'?!"

"A t-true Rocket…" Ariana spat, "wouldn't have fallen for such an amateurish trick… like that Stun Spore…"

She regretted the insult the moment it left her mouth. The grunt drew her leg back, as Ariana had feared she would do, and kicked the executive right in the mouth. Ariana felt a tooth chip with a loud, shudder-inducing crack. Blood popped from her swollen lower lip and oozed down her chin and to the floor.

"You fell for that trick, too," the grunt snarled, drawing her foot back and kicking Ariana again. This time, the executive tilted her face just in time to soften the blow with her cheek, albeit not much. "And I bet you would've told the Boss it was all our fault, too!"

"K-knock it off," one of the sitting grunts ordered warily.

The female whirled and glared. "Why should we?!" she demanded. "We're going to jail forever anyways!"

"N-no we're…" another grunt, a young lady with a pale face, started.

"We stole fossils, stole illegal machinery, and tried to kill and ransom off two kids!" the older grunt bellowed, kicking Ariana in the face again. Ariana felt and heard her nose break, blood spurting from her nostrils like fountains. "Why not add violent assault to that list of charges? It's not like we're not going to be in prison forever anyways?!"

The van hit another bump. The moment it did, Ariana snarled suddenly, bucking back and lashing her whole body like a whip. The grunts on her back were sent flying off of her, getting slammed all about the steel interior of the transport. The moment that Ariana was feed she lashed out like a snake, ramming her skull right into her attacker's gut and sending her to the ground. Before the grunt could rise, Ariana slithered onto her and lashed out again, sinking her teeth into the younger woman's nose.

An ear-piercing shriek filled the transport as Ariana sank her teeth into the woman's face. The two wriggled and bit at one another like a pair of wrestling Ekans. A lesser man might have found it arousing. Granted, there were plenty of lesser men present in the van, but they were all too upset about the fact that they would likely be in prison for the rest of their lives and weren't in any mood to get involved in the very brutal fight. They knew that they had to save their strength for when they actually were in prison.

Ariana hissed in an animalistic way as she rolled on top of the grunt, the woman's and her own blood dripping from her clenched teeth as she stared down into the younger woman's wide, teary eyes. The executive didn't feel the slightly bit of regret as she glared at the grunt. It was as if their brief time in the van and the promise of a lifetime in prison had regressed Ariana to primal, predatory instincts that humans weren't meant to have. She stared at the grunt as if she were prey rather than a fellow human being, as if she were a wild Pokémon trying to establish herself as the alpha female.

"Oh…" Ariana said, shaking her head back and forth, blood dripping from her wounds and mouth. "Oh, I hope you and I get the same cell. I really do. Then I can do this to you – and worse – day, after day… after day."

The younger Rocket swallowed, her confidence melting away at the thought of sharing a prison with Ariana, much less a cell. The air of the hold was tense as the others watched their superior with wide eyes, none of them willing to help their fellow grunt.

Suddenly, the van shook and came to a halt. The roar of the engine died away. They must have arrived at the station already.

There was a knock on the back of the van, followed by the clinking of locks being removed and plopped down to the gravel. The doors to the van swung open to reveal a young Officer Jenny, who stared at the Rockets within with a surprisingly mellow expression. She had a cigarette tucked between her lips, which was a clear violation against the Jenny Health Code, and occasionally puffed a foul cloud of smoke from the side of her mouth as she looked at Ariana and the poor grunt she had been brutalizing.

Ariana was hardly repentant, nor did she make any attempt to conceal what she had been doing. Before she could open her mouth to insult the officer, her eyes caught sight of the magnificent silhouette of Mt. Moon in the distance – a great distance. They were miles away from the mountain, parked on the side of the road. Even with their limited vision, all of the grunts could tell that they were not in Pewter City. Whatever was going on was clearly not a part of normal police procedure.

Ariana narrowed her eyes. "What's going on?" she asked in a slow, cold voice, feigning courage whilst internally fearing the worst. Perhaps the Jenny was the sort to take justice into her own hands and wanted to finish the Rockets off personally rather than seeing them rot away in cells.

The Jenny smiled. "Early parole," she said – in a very, very male voice. It was a jovial, soft tone, but unmistakably masculine, and assuredly not the voice of a Jenny.

Suddenly, the Jenny spat out her cigarette onto the gravel and then gripped the sides of her neck with her gloved hands, tugging and tearing at her skin. The Rockets watched in awe and horror as the supposed young woman began to tear her own face off. Underneath the skin was not muscles, veins, or blood, but more skin, paler than the hide she was tearing off.

The "Jenny" finally tugged face and wig from "her" head, revealing the thin, pale face of a middle-aged man with black, tired-looking eyes, light violet hair, and a light violet goatee. He smiled pleasantly at the Rockets within, enjoying the shocked looks of recognition that covered the former prisoners' expression.

Ariana recognized the man instantly and a slow smile crossed her lips as she tried to ignore the embarrassment that being rescued brought. Still, better she be rescued by a fellow Rocket Executive than by mere grunts.

She didn't know the man's real name – like Proton, he apparently had something to hide and preferred to go by a codename. Ariana, as well as everyone but the Boss, knew him only as Petrel. However, the man went by dozens of other names as well, having a million aliases he seemed to be able to make up on the fly. Petrel was a master of disguise and Team Rocket's chief spy, much like how Ariana was the team's brutal enforcer and Proton the charming con man, thief, and fence*1.

Petrel smiled and bowed melodramatically. "Pardon me for the dress," he said, giggling slightly as he shamelessly curtsied with the fake Jenny skirt, "but I heard you might need a little help…"

The grunt who had kicked Ariana groaned loudly. "I can't believe we just got rescued by a man in a dress."

Ariana kneed her in the gut as she struggled to her feet. "P-Petrel," she gasped out, relieved. "I've never been so happy to see you in my life, drag or no drag." She had never been one to look a gift Rapidash in the mouth, even though she knew she'd have to ask Petrel just how in Heaven's name he managed to sneak into the ranks of the police and steal one of their vans. Of course, Petrel probably wouldn't tell her at all; he never liked answering questions much.

Petrel smiled apologetically as his fellow executive hopped down from the van, helping her steady herself as she landed. "Well…" he began, scratching his chin, "you'd better not thank me quite yet. There's, uh, someone who wants to talk to you…"

Before Ariana could ask Petrel what he meant, she finally heard the distant hum of an engine approaching from the bottom of the hill. A sleek-looking black armored van, identical to the ones they had been using in the caves, drove to the top of the gravelly hill, its all-terrain tires squealing as they cleaved through the gravel road and up to the police transport.

The van came to a halt next to the police jeep, its engine growling unhappily as it was put into park. The grunts and Ariana all winced as the door on the passenger side was flung open, a tall man in black stepping out and onto the side of the road.

The Rockets all swallowed, save for Petrel, who simply saluted the man (this time nixing the curtsy), and stepped as far from striking range as he could. Heads were about to roll and he didn't want his to be one of them.

The man was tall and muscular, the skin-tight, black jumpsuit he was wearing emphasizing his impressive figure. A grey, bulletproof vest was wrapped around his torso, a bandolier with six black and yellow Pokéballs strapped onto it. His belt had multiple pouches as well as a holster containing a wicked-looking pistol, and a scabbarded dagger was strapped to his right thigh.

The man's face was hidden behind a black mask, the dark double of Ariana's, featureless save for a single red R emblazoned above the space between his eyes. His dark eyes were narrowed into an authoritative glare as he regarded the slack-jawed grunts, all of whom snapped into salutes in response.

Ariana swallowed as she joined her underlings in hailing the man. Standing before them, in all of his intimidating glory, was her beloved leader and the mastermind behind all of Team Rocket, the man who ran the organization with an iron fist, who controlled politicians, police, and a region-wide crime syndicate. The dreaded man known only as "the Boss."

The Boss nodded approvingly at his underlings' greetings. He strode forward, his arms folded behind his back. His glare fell upon Ariana and didn't soften in the slightest, swiftly killing any hope she felt that the Boss was going to chew out the grunts and not her.

The Boss cast his glare to the nervous grunts. "Rockets," he said, his gravelly voice sending shivers down the spines of his underlings, "get into the transport. I'd like to have a word with Executive Ariana in private."

The grunts all rapidly nodded and beat a hasty retreat in as orderly a fashion as possible, lining up in single file as to seem professional and walking towards the back of the van, saluting the Boss as they walked past him. The Boss never even reacted to their hails, keeping his eyes locked with Ariana's, who swallowed as she stared back with wide eyes dreading what the Boss had to say to her.

Suddenly, the Boss raised his hand and cut into the line, bringing a young female grunt to a halt. He slowly turned to face her, raising an eyebrow behind his mask as he looked at her pale face, then down to her blood-smeared boots, and then to Ariana's bruised and bloodied face.

The grunt swallowed audible. "S-sir…"

The Boss didn't let her finish. He retracted his free hand, curling his fingers into a fist, and launched it forward with bone-breaking force. His knuckles smashed right into the grunt's face with an audible crunch as her nose and a few of her teeth shattered like glass. She didn't even have time to scream.

The grunt's limp body slumped to the ground and rolled down the hill, kicking up a cloud of dust when she hit the bottom. She didn't move again.

Good riddance, Ariana thought to herself, allowing herself some small semblance of satisfaction.

Said satisfaction died the moment the Boss returned his gaze to her. "Let that," he announced to all present, "be a lesson to all of you about the price of betraying the spirit of Team Rocket." He narrowed his eyes and glowered at his executive. "All of you…"

Ariana whimpered, deciding it was time to play the sympathy card. "B-Boss…"

The doors to the van slammed shut, leaving the two alone at last.

The Boss sighed. "Ariana…" he muttered. "Words cannot properly convey just how disappointed I am with you right now."

"I-it wasn't my fault!" Ariana swiftly protested. "I swear, Boss, everything was going according to plan until those idiots screwed it up!"

"There are no bad students," the Boss growled, turning Ariana's blood to ice. "There are only bad teachers. You trained those grunts yourself. Their success brought you congratulations and praise. Their failure, in turn, shall bring the opposite…"

Ariana nodded slowly, ashamed. "Y-yes, sir…" she muttered. She wasn't used to the Boss being angry with her of all people. "B-but, sir," she said, trying to save face, "the mission still succeeded! The first two transports-!"

"Have already been captured by the police," the Boss finished. "The Gym Leader who so effortlessly defeated you tipped the police off. The vans are already impounded and the fossils have been confiscated. Your operation not only failed, but it has cost the organization money as well as operatives." He folded his arms behind his back again. "You failed me, executive… No," he added, for the sake of shaming his heartbroken follower further, "no you did more than fail me. You failed all of Team Rocket. You took unneeded risks and I allowed you to do so. Why? Because I trusted you. Perhaps that was a mistake…"

"N-no!" Ariana pleaded. "No, Boss! It wasn't a mistake! You can still trust me! I-I just slipped up this once! This one time! I've never failed you before…"

The Boss cut her off. "A single failure can cost a general a war, Ariana, and his honor as well. Or her honor," he added. The Boss was a big believer in gender equality, which is one of the reasons that Ariana, and many other women, were so attracted to him. Unfortunately for said women, the Boss believed that women ought to share positions, privileges, and punishments with men – and the punishments he administered could be incredibly brutal.

"As I said before," the Boss continued, "there are no bad students. There are only bad teachers. I was the one who took you in and I taught you. And I taught you well… but apparently not well enough."

Ariana shook her head. "N-no, Boss," she pleaded. The Boss blaming her was one thing, but she loved the man too much to let him blame himself.

The Boss sighed again, this time sounding day. "Failure," he said, "is something that I disdain… but I tolerate it. It is a part of life. We all must make mistakes in order to learn, correct?"

Ariana nodded rapidly. "Y-yes, sir…"

"Failure is forgivable… but treason…"

Ariana's breath caught in her throat as the Boss unclipped one of the Pokéballs from his belt, his fingers clutching the black sphere with an iron grip. "Treason," the Boss continued in a grim tone, "is another story. It's funny, really; even in the most civilized regions in the world, treason is generally met with a death sentence."

Ariana stepped back, tears threatening to spill from her eyes as she eyed the Pokéball in the boss's hand, dreading what sort of horribly creature was inside. "B-B-Boss…"

The Boss scowled at the woman's whimpering. "Why are you so nervous, Ariana?" he asked. "As I've said…" He paused and stepped towards the trembling woman. "Failure is forgivable… unless…" His eyes narrowed dangerously. "Perhaps… you've done something beyond redemption."

"N-no!" Ariana protested. "No, I'd never betray you, Boss! Never!"

The Boss growled and stretched his free arm forward, wrapping his large hand around Ariana's throat. The woman gasped and fell to her knees, tears spouting from her eyes like warm, salty waterfalls as she looked up at the man she loved, the man she had so loyally served, the man who was about ready to kill her for her supposed treachery.

The Boss was breathing heavily, his fingers twitching as he clutched her throat. "Ariana," he growled in a low, warning tone, "my contacts in the police force have just learned that an anonymous tip was recently received by every single police station in the Kanto Region as to the whereabouts of our two finished hidden bases. The Viridian City Police Force is already combing the Viridian Forest for Facility 1, and the Kantonian Coast Guard will be scouring the area around Cinnabar Island for Facility 2 tomorrow morning. I've already ordered Facility 2 to be evacuated but my men will have to work fast to get it done. According to Dr. Grey's calculations, we'll be losing almost a million Poké-dollars' worth of equipment at best."

"B-but… I didn't-!" Ariana protested.

"The anonymous call came mere moments after your arrest," the Boss interrupted. "That was either an incredibly coincidence… or a clear sign that you talked."

"I didn't talk!" Ariana cried desperately. "I didn't! I swear!"

"Then who did, executive?" the Boss asked. "Someone had to."

"I-it must have been that Gym Leader!" Ariana stuttered, sweat dripping down her bruised face.

"And how did she find out about it?" the Boss asked.

Ariana opened her mouth to speak but her explanation died before it could reach her lips. "I-I…" She coughed as the Boss's grip tightened around her throat. "I-it wasn't me!" she screamed desperately. "I promise, Boss! I swear to Heaven that it wasn't me!"

"Then how," the Boss growled, his fingers drumming impatiently on his Pokéball, "did they find out?" he asked again.

"I-I can't remember!" Ariana wept. "I just woke up in the van! I don't know what happened, Boss, but I'd never tell her anything…" She sobbed. "You know I'd never do that… don't you?"

The Boss's finger slowly reached for the button on his Pokéball.

Ariana couldn't take it anymore. She broke down completely, slumping to her knees, clutching the Boss's shirt, and burying her head into his lower torso. "Boss…" she sobbed, tears streaming freely from her eyes. "Boss… you know I'd never betray you… I… I… love you… H-how could you ever believe that I'd ever betray you? After everything you've done for me… and after everything I gave up for you… A normal life… a nice home in Johto…" She looked up at her master, her eyes wide and watery, and her swelled lips quivering. "The children…" she whispered. "I gave it all up… so I could serve you…"

The Boss slowly lowered his Pokéball. Sensing an opening, Ariana desperately pressed on. "My every waking moment is devoted to you," she cried. "Everything I do is for you. I'd do anything for you. I've taken shots for you. I was in the hospital for you. And today… today I was going to go to prison for you. I never would have talked… and I'd be happy in there. Happy that even though I was captured that you, you would be free…"

The Boss sighed. "You'd say anything to save your own skin, wouldn't you?" he said, trying to stay aggressive. If he showed any weakness, any compassion, Ariana would assuredly escape his wrath whether she was guilty or not.

Ariana looked up, shocked. "H-how could you say such a thing…?" she whispered. "I… I could be living a normal, safe life right now and I gave it up, gave it all up, to be with you… And I'd do it all again, a hundred times, no, a thousand times, if it meant I could spend just one minute with you, Boss…"

The Boss felt his heart wrench. It seems that even mob leaders had hearts. His hand twitched and his finger fell away from Ariana's neck. "You… you're right…"

"I am…" Ariana nodded rapidly. "I am, Boss, I swear. I never told anyone. I'm loyal only to you and…"

The Boss raised his hand. For a moment Ariana thought he meant to strike her, but quickly realized he was merely signaling for her silence. "That's enough," he ordered her. "No more groveling. Your failure is forgiven…"

Ariana beamed in delight, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks. "B-Boss!"

The Boss's eyes turned hard again. "But it is not," he rumbled, "forgotten. There will be consequences for your mistakes. You will not embark on a mission again until I deem that you are ready. You will not be given fully evolved Pokémon to replace the ones the police took. You will be given low-level, unaltered Pokémon and you and you alone will be responsible for raising them to their full potential."

Ariana nodded rapidly. "Yes, sir."

"And," the Boss added, "you will no longer take your injections."

Ariana's eyes went wide again. "B-but Boss-!"

"No." The Boss's voice was firm and made it clear that there would be no argument. "Those injections clearly have skewed your judgment. Dr. Grey will no longer provide you with any and you will not try to steal them or pay another grunt to bring them to you. Do you understand?"

Ariana slowly nodded. "Y-yes, sir…" she muttered, wishing the Boss understood what a boost her injections gave her and how they made her stronger.

The Boss nodded. "Very well." He grabbed his underling by the hand and daintily helped her to her feet. "Now," he said, in a much more gentle tone, one that seemed almost alien to the man's voice, which had been so harsh and cold, "let's go home."

"Home?" Ariana asked. "B-but the Facilities…"

"Are lost to us, yes," the Boss said. "You'll find that one of the most important skills a businessman can have, my dear Ariana, is to turn any loss into a gain. Whilst the police are closing in on our older bases their guard will be down. I've already had Facility 3 prepared for us. We'll be going there for now. Dr. Grey is on his way as we speak, with the parts of the A.B.C. We may not have the fossils I sent you for but I'm certain that we can find an alternative use for the machine…"

"What do you mean?" Ariana asked.

The Boss reached into his pocket. Ariana could practically sense his handsome smile as he pulled out a folded newspaper clip. "This was in Pokémon Watchers magazine today," he said, handing the clip to his executive.

Ariana unfolded the clip. There was a picture on the paper, of a cragged, rocky-looking island by the see, in the middle of a fierce blizzard. In the center of the raging snowstorm, she could faintly see the outlines of some sort of great avian creature, its wings outstretched, its barely visible feathers covered with snowflakes.

She read the article's title and credits, the only words that were left on the clip: "'Legendary Pokémon Discovered?!' Story by Ruki Sutōrīterā. Photo by Patrick Midori."

Ariana felt a grin tug at her lips, hardly able to believe what she was seeing. "And Dr. Grey wanted fossils… when we can have this?" she laughed.

The Boss nodded. "Get in the cab, Executive Ariana," he ordered. "More valuable quarry is in our scopes. This time, we'll be certain to pull the trigger."

He held out his hand, as if he were offering to dance with her, and the two set off to the van. It wouldn't be until much later that the police would find the van, as well as the unconscious grunt, who was taken to the hospital to recover from her concussion, and by that point the Rockets were long gone.

In spite of the trials of the day, Ariana would sleep that night with a clear conscience, her heart and body warmed by the embrace of her beloved Boss. But even as she laid in bed with him, her mind never left those accursed, snot-nosed brats and how she would make them suffer once they accomplished their new mission.

After all, revenge is a dish best served cold.

Author's Note:

300+ reviews! Hoo-rah!

Looks like the Boss has finally shown his face to rescue Ariana! Who is this mysterious man? Will Ariana ever work her way into his favor again? And what is the Boss's ultimate goal? Tune in again to find out! Same Tony time, same Tony channel! :D

Oh, and always remember: reviewing helps me write faster and helps you get your update on time! So be sure to review and let me know what you thought of this chapter and what you hope to see in the future!

Reader Question Time! Since Pokkén Tournament is a Pokémon fighting game, a genre not usually associated with the franchise, it's got me thinking about all of the other games that aren't traditional RPGs and what other games might come: we already know that there is a Pokémon detective game coming around, but what other games do you think the franchise could put together? A racing game? A platformer? I think a Pokémon racing game would be pretty cool. :D Be sure to answer after you review!

Culture Time!

*1: "Fence." A fence is either a cheap barrier meant to repel your neighbors or, in this case, a criminal who knowingly buys stolen goods and resells them. Basically, Proton is Team Rocket's version of Face from the A-Team.

*2: "Ruki Sutōrīterā." Sutōrīterā is the Japanese word for storyteller (say it slowly and you'll get it). I thought it'd be kind of a cute pun name for a newspaper writer à la Akira Toriyama. Her first name is also the name of the female lead in Digimon Tamers, though she was renamed Rika in the English dub (for some reason…). Kind of a pointless shout-out there, but I liked that show. :D

Next Chapter: Cerulean Saga: Chapter 1: Clefairy very quiet!