"Admit it, I saved your ass."
"I would have figured out a way to get out of there, even if you hadn't intervened."
"So what was your plan to get past Lance and the kid from the Slowpoke Well without pokemon? Hm? Or did you even have one?"
Both Proton and Archer looked up from their work in their makeshift control room as they heard both Petrel and Arianna from done the hall, arguing as usual.
"There they go again," Proton rolled his eyes as Archer got up from his spot. "They fight like a married couple."
Archer didn't respond to the comment. Instead, he walked over to the door and opened it. Down the hallway, he could see the crowd of Rocket grunts slowly part, trying to stay out of the way of the two arguing admins so they're anger didn't suddenly turn to them. However, they soon stopped short when they saw Archer standing in the door way, and both went quiet.
"I'm actually surprised both of you were able to make it back in one piece," The main admin commented as both Arianna and Petrel walked through the door silently.
"Well, Arianna might have not made it if it wasn't more my help," Petrel glared at Arianna.
"Oh bullshit. All you did was trick them into thinking that radio machine would explode," Arianna glared back, "At least I didn't get my entire team beat by one pokemon."
"Because two is any better, and I weakened that one before you fought it so you might as well have just fought one fully-healed one."
"Enough," Archer stated, and both admins went quiet again, though they did continue to glare at each other.
"Look, does the guy from the Slowpoke Well even have a name yet?" Proton asked, annoyance lacing his voice as he turned from his work.
"He does, actually," Archer replied, picking up a folder from his desk, "Though his entire file is very strange."
"Strange how?" Arianna asked, taking a break from glaring at the other admin next to her.
"Well, his name for starters. I doubt any sane woman would name their son 'Arella'."
The younger admin snorted, and Archer continued.
"Plus he's been collecting badges like a mad-man. He only set out a good two weeks ago and he already has 7 badges," he closed the folder throwing it back on the desk, "Other than that, there isn't much to go off of."
"Eh, it won't take much to get 'im," Proton shrugged.
"Whoa, whoa. . .wait," Petrel looked at Archer, then Proton, then back at Archer, "What do you mean 'get 'im'?"
Archer smiled, "Did you really think we'd let him run wild while we're in control?"
Arianna smiled back, "Tell me more about this plan of yours. . ."
"How long has he been gone?"
"Only a couple minutes. He should be back soon."
". . .A lone Pidgeot would be kind of suspicious flying above Goldenrod."
"Even if it is, Daniel's tough. He can take it."
Both Arella and Matthew were standing by the entrance building to the north of Goldenrod, waiting. Other than them, the area was completely barren. The only noise besides them talking was the random chirps and growls of wild pokemon. Even those were a lot quieter than usual, however, since the ones that had sensed the danger taking place in Goldenrod had long disappeared.
Minute by tedious minute passed by in the silence as both pokemon and trainer looked different ways. Sometimes there would be the sound of flapping wings, getting Arella's hopes up, but it would end up just being a wild Pidgey or Spearow.
Finally, the sound of wings beating was much louder this time, and Daniel descended in front of the two, ruffling his feathers as he landed.
"Sorry it took so long," he apologized as he finished ruffling his feathers, "Goldenrod is a lot bigger than it seems."
"So what's the scoop?" Matthew asked.
"They haven't taken over just the Radio Tower; they've taken over the entire city. There are Rocket grunts everywhere on the streets, especially in front of the Radio Tower itself, so I don't think it would be a good idea to just barge in and hope we get lucky. We need a plan."
"Whitney."
Both Daniel and Matthew looked over at Arella, a confused look on their face.
"Whitney's the gym leader of Goldenrod, so she probably knows everything there is to know about the city. Plus, her gym is really close to the entrance so it'll be easy to sneak by without any of the grunts noticing us."
The Pidgeot smiled, "There's the Arella I know."
She was the gym leader. It was her job to protect the people in this town, and this is all she could muster?
Whitney sunk to her knees as she watched her precious Milktank fall, the Golbat that downed it flying victorious. Everyone in the city had taken refuge in here, and it was her job to protect them. Why was she so weak then?
She looked over at the rest of girls of the gym, and all of them slowly shook their head. They too were out of pokemon.
"Looks like your time is up girlie," The rocket grunt grinned as Whitney recalled her Milktank, her face down. How could she have disappointed everyone like that? They were all counting on her, and she failed.
She looked back up, however, when collective gasps suddenly spread through the people crowded in the gym, and she saw why. The Golbat was downed, and someone was standing in the doorway.
"Didn't your mom ever tell you to play nice with girls?"
Everyone in the room, including the Rocket grunt, turned to the doorway, and Whitney smiled in glee as she recognized the person.
"Arella!" she called, and the grunt's expression dropped into pure horror.
"Because you never know which ones have a guy behind them," Arella smirked, and the Feraligatr standing beside her cracked his knuckles.
"T-This won't be the last time you hear from us!" the grunt yelled, then sped straight past Arella through the door. She watched him through the transparent doors, smirking, before nearly being knocked over by something. When she looked, it was Whitney, hugging her tight.
"I thought I was done for sure. . ." she said quietly, sniffling a little, "I'm such. . .such a terrible gym leader."
Arella hugged her back, patting her on the head, "It's okay. I'm sure you did the best you could," she looked down at the gym leader, who's face was buried in her chest, "How many Rockets have you been attacked by anyways?"
"That was the 32nd," one of the girl in the gym answered for Whitney, "We're all out of useable pokemon, and the person we sent out to go get supplies from the market still hasn't come back."
"What about locking the door?" Arella asked.
"The lock's busted. Been for a while now, and it was supposed to be fixed today, but then Team Rocket took over the Radio Tower," the girl replied.
"Someone's coming," Matthew stated, and everyone turned back to the door as the room fell silent. Eventually, a girl came staggering in the door, beat up and carrying a rather large sack. Whitney unburied herself from Arella's chest and looked up, then gasped.
"Kelly, you made it!" she exclaimed, hugging her.
"Yeah. . .barely though," Kelly forced out a smile even though it was obvious she was in pain, "But I grabbed as much as I could carry."
". . .So you'll be good then?" Arella asked as Whitney helped Kelly to the back of the gym.
"Yeah. . .why?" Whitney turned to Arella.
". . .Is there an underground entrance to the Radio Tower?"
Whitney nearly dropped Kelly when she heard the question, instead dropping her jaw.
"You're not seriously thinking about taking on Team Rocket, are you?"
"I've done it before, I can do it again," she nodded, "Look: when I listened to the radio before they completely took it over, the authorities were denying anything was wrong in the first place, so there's no way they're coming anytime soon."
The gym leader mulled it over, leaving the gym in an awkward silence, before she turned to one of the girls and nodded. She nodded back, and went to work removing a tile from the floor, revealing a secret entrance.
"That'll get you to the underground tunnel, which'll get you to the Radio Tower," she nodded.
"Thanks," Arella nodded, walking over to the entrance, "I owe you one."
"No. . ." she shook her head, "We're even. And. . .uh. . ."
Arella paused, looking back at Whitney as she seemed to stumble on words, blushing a little as she did. Finally, the words came out.
". . .Be careful."
The trainer nodded back and descended down into the darkness, Matthew following close behind.
Arella had to admit: she was quite unnerved by the dark tunnel, only lighted by the occasional light on the side of the wall. The metal hallways echoed both hers and Matthew's footsteps as they walked, making it hard to tell if they were really the only ones in the tunnel. However, her Feraligatr's presence in front of her as they both walked somewhat calmed her.
That is, until something grabbed her by the hood of her jacket, pulling her back into another person. She tried to scream, but a hand instantly clamped over her mouth, and a knife pressed to her neck.
"You're a thorn in our side, and the boss needs you gone," were the last words she heard before she felt something hard hit the back of her head, and she descended into darkness.