The Year of Rocket's Revenge
Session: January, Part 3 (01.09.06/07.26.07)

Preparations are almost complete... just waiting on a few things...

Good, good...

Many want to get rid of them, but no one actually wants to go through with it. Or has the resources to pull it off.

But soon... soon and very soon...

We're coming to chop off the head...

And everything connected to it...

Monday, January 7th, Lavaridge Town

Inside a local restaurant, one would expect many eyes to be glued to the two televisions hanging at either end of the diner-style counter. But instead, all of the employees and the customers were focused towards the front door. There, a conscious, yet very weak Cassie was lying on a gurney. The paramedics were talking with her to check on her condition as they prepared to wheel her out.

Arius was also there, but he was told to step aside as the gurney was pushed out to the ambulance waiting in the parking lot.

"Oh, Cassie, what's going on with these fainting spells of yours?" Arius thought to himself as he followed them out.

Tuesday, January 8th, Johto Region Training Dojo

The next day, a young purple-haired teenager named Shingo Macintosh was typing away at his laptop. Or so it seemed... he was actually using it to formulate battle strategies as he watched his Scizor, Blade, do battle with the dojo's headmaster, a man named Mr. Muramasa, and his own Scizor, nicknamed Masamune.

"Use Slash, Masamune!"

Masamune nodded, then leapt towards Blade.

"Agility, followed by False Swi..." Shingo said slowly before his voice faded...

Not hearing Shingo's entire command, Blade tried to go on his own. But that proved futile, as Masamune was upon him before he could move. Masamune slashed Blade across the chest, knocking him back. Blade prepared to produce a counterattack, but stopped when he noticed Masamune being recalled to his Pokéball. Blade looked to his right and gasped when he saw his trainer, Shingo, lying flat on his stomach, on top of his laptop, and out like a light.

"Someone get the school doctor, on the double!" Mr. Muramasa yelled, sending a few onlookers scrambling towards the doctor's office. "And a glass of water!"

He then, with some help of a few others, moved Shingo off of his laptop and onto his back, so that he was facing upwards. Blade looked on worriedly as they went to work treating his master.

Wednesday, January 9th, Crimson City Pokémon Center

A day later, young Jeanette Fisher was sitting in the middle of the nursery, feeding a baby Pichu cradled in her arms with a bottle of milk as a few sleeping Pichu and Igglybuff lied in the cribs around her.

"Okay, that's enough now!" Jeanette told the baby Pichu. "It's time for you to take a nap like your brothers and sisters."

She pulled the bottle away, and expected Pichu to start crying loudly. But instead, the little Pokémon seemed content with what it had gotten. Jeanette carried it over to an empty crib and placed Pichu inside of it. But as she went to tuck it in, she began to feel a little woozy. She reached for the crib's rail, but missed it as she fell to the floor, breaking the glass bottle in her other hand in the process. The loud noise awakened the other baby Pokémon, who started wailing as loud as they could.

"Is everything alright, daughter?" Nurse Joy asked, entering the room after hearing the crying.

"Chansey?" her Chansey chirped, coming in as well.

"Oh... my!"

Nurse Joy gasped as she saw her daughter passed out next to the crib, her right hand bleeding from the glass shards sticking into her right hand.

Pewter City Gym

At almost the exact same time, panic ensued at the reconstruction site at the Pewter City gym, as Brock had fainted while overseeing the process. A few of the workers were carrying him to a flat surface away from all the construction as they tried to get him conscious again while they waited for the paramedics to arrive to check him out.

"Brock," wept Forrest, the next eldest sibling. "Wake up, Brock!"

"I think he just fainted..." shouted one of the workers.

Thursday, January 10th, Goldenrod City

Hoothoot, Natu, and even a Murkrow or two could be heard chirping in the trees nearby. A Hoothoot was even sitting on the sign outside that read 'Bike Shop.' Inside, dozens of bicycles, new and used, were in place, ready to be sold. But the lone patron inside at this time of day already had a bicycle. In fact, she had just bought one from this very shop a few days ago.

Unfortunately, it was in the process of being repaired, if the sounds of work being done in the background were any indication. The room was also filled with sounds coming from a TV hanging above the front counter, which was turned to a local station broadcasting the news.

"You know, you're very lucky..." the shop owner suddenly spoke up.

Apparently, she didn't seem to be paying attention as she browsed through the helmet section. A pair of elbow pads and one of knee pads were sitting on the counter next to the register, both colored brown and decorated with a Golem on each one.

"Most people your age in accidents like these? They're lucky if they're able to walk again... for weeks!"

The teenage girl picked up a brown colored helmet with white racing stripes running down its center, from front to back. After a moment of thought, she put it back on the shelf she had plucked it from.

"I'm still surprised someone like you's out here, going on a Pokémon journey all by herself! Why, if you were my daughter, I wouldn't have let you set one foot out of the house unless you had someone with you that I could..."

Before he could finish his statement, the girl had slammed down what looked like the skull of a Marowak, but was actually a helmet shaped to resemble one, on the counter. The orange-haired, husky sized shop owner blinked in confusion, then picked it up and examined it.

"This one?" he asked, as if to make sure she knew what she was buying.

"Yes, that's the one I want!" she reiterated. "But I need the next largest size. Or... actually, two sizes up. I can't subject my beautiful head of hair to being buried underneath those sweaty helmets more than I have to."

"Six months, and you're the first person to ever ask me about this model," he shook his head as he headed for the store room. "And I was ready to send these darn things back to the manufacturer..."

Once the store owner was gone, the girl sighed disappointedly as she reached into the breast pocket of her white blouse and pulled out a small compact mirror. She aimed it at first at the left side of her forehead, where a small reddish bump was slightly protruding out of her skin. She then aimed it so she could see the rest of her face in the mirror.

Giselle Gravelpot sighed once again as she raised her left hand to it, a hand that had its middle and index fingers wrapped up in bandages. She winced as her left thumb made contact with the aforementioned bump, sighing for her third time as she lowered her head and wandered over towards the bike shop's waiting lounge.

"And the rash of dizzy fainters continues," a news reporter on the TV said as Giselle approached it in the lounge. "Pewter City gym leader Brock Slate joins a quickly growing list of people around the Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn regions in the past few days. It's already the third report from yesterday, with close to two dozen widespread cases over the last 72 hours..."

Giselle glanced at the TV, apparently interested in the report.

"No clues as to what's causing it yet, but it's believed that weather is not a factor despite a January already several degrees warmer than normal all across the country. More as it develops."

The Tech graduate reached into her purse and, after a little bit of searching, pulled out a business card for the Goldenrod City Medical Clinic. She looked over it for a second, and then put it back in.

"Ridiculous," she said, jerking to the right to toss the permed locks of her hair back into place.

"Today at the Indigo Plateau," stated the 20-something female news anchor on the TV, "the Pokémon League has its first official meeting since the untimely death of Erika Byou, the former gym leader of Celadon City, and the appointment of Ash Ketchum as Pokémon Junior Master, made after the League stripped Marco Pereira, the young man who won the title in a four-trainer battle here last September..."

"That should've been me," Giselle scoffed as she drew her attention back to the TV again.

Indigo Plateau

The officials of the Pokémon League were gathered in a small assembly hall located inside the organization's headquarters, located within the town's business district. The room was filled with many gym leaders of both the Kanto and Johto regions, along with the Elite Four. A few leaders, unable to make the meeting in person, were in 'attendance' via videophone or by teleconference. Among those that were actually present were Ash, Pikachu, and Daisy, the latter in place of Misty, whose whereabouts were still unknown to either of them.

Lance got up of his seat and approached the podium to get the meeting started.

"Good morning, everyone, and thank you for attending this monthly meeting. Given recent events, I thought I was clear that everyone make every attempt to actually be here in person..."

Lance then glanced to the empty seat to his left, on which a name plaque that read 'Pokémon Master' was placed. Ash looked a little miffed that he was sitting with the general assembly instead of up front with the Elite Four, but Pikachu quickly consoled him.

"Ahem..." Lance coughed. "Hopefully things will change when we have our first-ever Pokémon Master Open Tournament in March. Because, of course, the Junior Master Tournament last September was such a success!"

"And remember to send your best," Lance told them. "Because I'm going to win the title this year! Bwa ha ha ha!"

"That's... nice," Lorelei remarked, unemotionally.

"Be careful... your ego is showing," Agatha warned Lance.

"That reminds me," Lance chuckled. "Agatha is officially retiring at the end of the month as well. We're holding a 'Goodbye' party on Friday, February 1st - if you haven't reserved your seat yet, let me just remind you that attendance is mandatory!"

"Agatha's retirement means we need a new Elite Four member to replace her. And as you all know, Koga was chosen by us four to fill that position."

"Koga's gonna be a member of the Elite Four now?" Ash asked, whispering his question into Daisy's ear.

"Yeah," Daisy confirmed. "And that's hard... as the vote has to be unanimous between the Elite Four and the Pokémon Master."

"Naturally," Lance continued, "that means that Koga's old position, gym leader of Fuchsia City, will be vacant soon. Koga himself, you're giving us an update on the replacement process?"

"Yes," Koga stated as he stood up. "The formal election is this Tuesday, and the city's really divided among the two leading candidates..."

Koga pulled out a holographic display that revealed the latest polls surrounding the election. It made it apparent that it was, indeed, a two-candidate race... between two talented teenage girls, in fact. One with green hair in a pink ninja get-up, the other black haired with a purple get-up.

"The race has pretty much come down to my assistant gym leader, Aya, and my daughter, Janine. Support for each of them is practically even, and I wish them well... whomever wins the election."

"So you're assuring us the winner of the popular vote has your blessing?"

Koga nodded. "Indeed."

"Very well. We look forward to officially crowning the new Fuchsia City Gym Leader at next month's meeting."

Koga bowed, then took his seat again.

"Speaking of gyms needing new leaders... naturally, given Erika's tragic passing, there has yet to been any official candidates who've declared to fill her position."

"About that, sir?" a brunette wearing a safari camouflage outfit stated, jumping up out of her seat.

"And who might you be, lass?" asked Agatha defiantly.

"Uh..." the young woman hesitated, shaking nervously. "I'm... Simone. I served as interim gym leader while Miss Erika was away on her research expeditions. And also... also... also the only one of Erika's core gym staff not on stage when... when..."

"Say no more," Lance cut her off. "Lorelei, you're the Elite Four member responsible for overseeing the Celadon Gym. Give me a status report on their operations the past three months."

"Well... I'd give them a 'fair' grade," the ice master reported. "No serious incidents or any odd behavior to speak of. Aside from the research duties we gave her, which significantly impacted her popularity rating, the gym is operating under normal parameters. In other words... Rainbow is still really now."

"Thank you, Lorelei," Lance sweatdropped. "I think I got most of that. Now, as for you, Simone... would you be willing to continue as interim gym leader until a replacement is found?"

"Yes, but... but... why can't I?"

"No offense, my dear..."

"No offense?" Agatha interrupted. "The girl has no qualifications whatsoever! SHE'S NOT EVEN FIT TO BE AN INTERIM LEADER!"

Ash quickly jumped out of his seat to defend her, but Daisy quickly pulled him back into it. Good thing, too, because Lance had regained control of Agatha and elaborated further on the ghost master's honest application of the truth.

"Applying to become a gym leader is, at the minimum, a six-month preparation process... and that's under the normal process. In a situation like this, a possible candidate must have gone through an equivalent program already and shown remarkable progress in League competitions of all types to be eligible. Given your limited working experience at the Celadon Gym of only eight months, that's not possible."

"You do understand that despite everything you might know about running a gym, we cannot permanently place you in such a high position of merit, especially in a case where many other deserving candidates have already shown interest in it."

"I'm sorry," Simone apologized. "It's just..."

"I understand your position, but trust me... this is for the good of Celadon City and the entire League."

"You know, since we're on the subject," Bruno spoke up. "Miss Simone, are you in the process of lining up candidates?"

Simone nodded slowly. "Yes... though I'd personally like to keep up the tradition of Celadon Gym by keeping its favoring towards grass types."

"Are you willing to consider candidates who might think otherwise, particularly if they possess strong qualities elsewhere?"

Simone nodded again. "Yes... it is my wish to have the gym to follow in the same ways as Miss Erika did, but I understand if they have to be set aside in order to ensure the process does result in the election of the best person for the job."

Bruno wrote some notes down on the pad before him as Lance addressed the interim gym leader again.

"Please inform Lorelei when the application process is completed. She must be involved in all aspects of the election of the new gym leader from that point on."

"I understand."

"Also... well, it's no guarantee, but I think we all owe it to Erika to do our best to appoint someone who does have the same ideals as she did. Lorelei, you will do your best to ensure that."

"Very well," Lorelei agreed.

"Thank you very much," Simone said in jubilation.

"See?" Daisy smirked at Ash. "Like, they may look like meanies, but the Elite Four always does what's best for the League."

"In the meantime, Simone, though you will still be regarded to as an interim gym leader, will be granted all of the basic principles and support from the League as if she was the official leader, up until the point a replacement is named. Any objections?"

Lance glanced out to the panel, and there were no dissenters.

"Very well... Simone, please keep us informed of the details, including a date for the election as soon as possible."

"Yes," Simone replied, before taking her seat at last.

"With that matter settled, we have issues with yet another gym leader to settle. It's been brought to my attention by several members of the League that there are accusations out that a certain gym leader is involved with the notorious Team Rocket."

Ash and Pikachu were visibly growling, given they knew first-hand of Giovanni's role in Team Rocket.

"Normally, standard procedure would be to allow the accused to defend himself, even in light of any of concrete evidence. Still, since Giovanni is not present and gave no prior excuse for being unable to attend this meeting, we must immediately move onto a formal inquiry."

"What's there to question?" Morty of Ecruteak asked, speaking up. "We know the guy's got a significant role in Team Rocket's day-to-day operations!

"I agree!" Chuck of Cianwood piped in. "It's all out there! Ask any fairly-recognized Pokémon expert... they know the same thing most of us know, and yet we haven't done anything about it!"

"The guy's, like, a creep, and he shouldn't be running a gym as a side operation to Team Rocket!" Daisy added.

"What makes you all so sure?" Lt. Surge of Vermillion asked them all quizzically. "How come I haven't seen any of this so-called recognizable evidence?"

"I, too, think these accusations aren't worth getting spurious over," commented Sabrina, via videophone from her gym in Saffron.

"I agree," Clair of Blackthorn concurred. "I refuse to believe anything without hard evidence sitting right in front of me!"

"What's with all you whippersnappers?" asked an irate Pryce. "In my day, we went on gut instinct and accusations alone to decide who was worthy to be a gym leader!"

"They're probably in cahoots with him!" Whitney shouted.

"I agree," Bugsy of Azalea Town stated, siding with her. "Even as strong as he is, he can't have such an influence on the Pokémon League without strong help."

"You little runts dare accuse me of being against the side of good?" Surge shot back. "You have no right, after all I've done for the League!"

"Besides, I side with Clair and the others in mucking up another gym leader's reputation if it's not warranted," cautioned Jasmine of Olivine, getting her two cents in via teleconference.

"I understand your reservations," Morty replied to her, "but still, you have to be crazy to not have heard the rumors!"

"Rumors are just that, rumors!" Clair exclaimed.

"Like, how 'bout getting your head out of the clouds and looking at the same thing we are?" Daisy shot at the Blackthorn leader.

"If we don't stop them now, who knows what they'll do next?" Ash yelled, getting into the conversation. "Do you guys want them to ruin the Pokémon League?"

"One person's definition of ruin is different from another's!" Surge shouted back.

The gym leaders yelled furiously amongst one another, trying to get their point across and defend their views, right or wrong. The Elite Four seemed a bit stunned by the sudden disorganization of the League... all 'cept Agatha, who seemed determined to bring it all to an end.

"SHUT YOUR PIEHOLES, YOU HELLIONS!"

That quickly quieted everyone in the room. The other Elite Four members looked in amazement at Agatha, then quickly regained their composure.

"Ahem..." Lance coughed, taking control again. "Yeah. I see this is a strong point of debate. Perhaps this inquiry is needed after all, just to clear the air and to check out these accusations in detail."

"There shouldn't be any inquiry at all!" Clair spoke up again. "It'll be a black eye on the League if we make such a brazen accusation at someone who's helped in many of our endeavors to keep the League running the way it should be."

"I'm with the Cianwood babe!" Surge added, though he got an angry glare from Clair for the 'babe' bit. "You guys are just looking to pin the Celadon explosion and all that other hoopla on a scapegoat, and you just picked him because he's not here."

"Who's the one making accusations now?" Morty asked snidely.

"You wanna a piece of this?" Surge shouted, jumping out of his seat and flexing his muscles in Morty's direction.

"You call that a piece?" Chuck bit back, ripping his shirt and showing off his own peck-tacular body.

"Somebody's been working out," Whitney commented dreamily.

Bugsy shook his head in dismay. "This is not how I envisioned this day..."

"THAT'S IT!" Lance yelled, finally losing it. "THERE WILL BE NO MORE DISCUSSION ON THIS!"

Lance's angry exclamations calmed the chamber down, and most likely for good this time around.

"Look, it's better to be safe than sorry," Lance said more calmly, having cooled down. "It's already been decided upon by myself and my fellow Elite Four members. Bruno will lead the inquiry, since it falls under his jurisdiction. Until it's complete, all discussion of it has been tabled. Understand?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, though some reluctantly. Ash seemed to be one of them, though only because the League wasn't going to charge in there like he thought they would.

"Good. Now, let's move on to the individual gym reports..."

Ash leaped out of his seat, and this time Daisy couldn't stop him from doing so.

"Why don't you go after him now?" Ash yelled. "Everything he's doing... to Erika and all the others... don't you..."

"Junior Master Ketchum, I said the matter is tabled! That means there's to be no further discussion of that until the inquiry has been completed!"

"But..."

"No! And one more outburst from you, and you'll be removed from this room! That goes for everyone in here!"

Ash grumbled as he sat back down again. Daisy did her best to settle him down.

"It may not seem like the right move," she told him quietly, "but let it be. I know you're upset, but let them do their job. They may know something you don't."

"Well... that still doesn't make their call the right one," Ash complained, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Pika," agreed Pikachu, doing the same.

"Now," Lance spoke up again, "I guess we'll start with Kanto this time... let's start with Cerulean City."

"Like, here!" Daisy bubbly announced, standing up.

She then turned to Ash one last time and gave him a few more words of reassurance.

"Have faith in the League," she whispered to him.

Daisy then addressed the other League members and began giving a status report on everything happening at the gym. All the while, Ash sat there and sulked, dismayed that the League didn't agree with his views.

"I still say Team Rocket's has to go down today..." Ash muttered under his breath.

Outside of Viridian City

That night, scores of Pokémon trainers clad in nothing but black masks and jumpsuits descended upon the outer boundaries of Team Rocket HQ. Somewhere amongst them was Joel Orino, who had a group of operatives with him as he tapped on the wireless communicator in his right ear.

"Attention, all teams! This is Field Commander Operative Orino. We have a green light... all teams advance with Phase Two! Before dawn breaks, Team Rocket... will be no more!"

With that, dozens and dozens of black-clad trainers and their best Pokémon charged towards the gates from all sides, ready to finish off the evil organization once and for all.

To be continued next week in Part 4!