"I have to thank you again for giving me a place to stay, Turner."
"Oh, it's no problem Archer. Anything for my little brother."
The door of the nice cozy home opened, and two older men walked in, one holding a suitcase. Both of them looked very similar in appearance as they chatted, smiling, though one was clearly a little older than the other.
"Oh, Turner, you're home," a woman walked into the hallway to see the two men and turned her gaze to Archer, "You're Turner's brother that I keep hearing so much about then?"
"Yes, my name's Archer," he nodded, shaking hands with the woman.
"It's a pleasure to meet you finally."
"Oh please, the pleasure's all mine," he smiled.
"You should meet our son too," she turned just in time to see a teenage boy running down the steps, "Brandon! This is your Uncle Archer!"
"Hey," he lifted up a hand, then continued on to the kitchen without any sign of interest in the new-comer.
"Brandon! Didn't any of those manners stick in your head when. . ."
Opting to block out the scolding, Archer turned back to his brother.
". . .Thank you again, really"
"As I said, no problem," he smiled again, then looked towards the kitchen where his wife was yelling before whispering, "Just. . .try not to let my wife know too many details, okay?"
Arella was surprised when she woke up, mainly because of the familiarity of the place, and the fact that she hadn't been there in a while.
It was the endless white plain, stretching all around her like she remembered it did. But weirdly, Ellen was nowhere to be seen. Instead, she heard a faint sobbing noise somewhere in the distance, and the constant muttering of words she couldn't understand at all. Curious, she walked over to the sound of sobbing, though not entirely sure she was actually getting anywhere due to the endless white.
Finally, she saw Ellen in the distance, sitting down on the ground with her back hunched over and her knees drawn as her chest sporadically heaved up and down.
". . .Ellen?" Arella called finally, and the Pikachu looked up, her tear-streamed eyes meeting the trainer's.
"This. . .this. . .this wasn't supposed to happen," she sobbed, "I'm so sorry for dragging you into this. I'm so. . .sorry. . .
"What do you-" Arella started to ask, but fell through the floor before she could, and Ellen watched her as she fell into nothingness.
Click click
Arella's eyes slowly opened, and was greeted by unfamiliar surroundings. She almost panicked, but then the memories of what happened earlier came flooding back to her. Some guy had grabbed her and knocked her out, and now she was here.
She started scanning the room to find out where exactly 'here' was, and sighed. Windows stretched around the entire wall, showing the early morning version of what she recognized as Goldenrod. And other than a giant pillar in the middle and a railing wrapping around the room, it was completely empty.
Click click
Well, except for Proton, standing rather far away, but still close enough for the pillar not to block her view of him as he toyed with his knife.
And then it dawned on her, and she cursed under her breath.
She had fallen in their trap, and they had captured her. She should of figured this would happen after she felled both the Slowpoke Well and Lake of Rage operations, but she thought she could handle it. Of course, now her right hand was handcuffed to the railing above her and all of her pokeballs were missing. She tested the handcuff, and found it to be definitely sturdy. There was no way in hell she was getting out of this.
And for some reason, she felt really calm. She should have been freaking the hell out right now, but it was like her brain wouldn't let her. Hell, she almost wanted to laugh for being so stupid.
Click click
That's when Proton looked up, and both trainer and admin locked eyes. It didn't last long though, as Proton turned away with a smug look and to the other side of the room.
"Archer. He's awake."
Okay, nowshe was panicking.
Lance had said himself that he had no idea who was controlling the resurrected Team Rocket until they got Giovanni back, so she had absolutely no idea what to expect as a shadowy figure came out from behind the pillar. As he stepped into the early morning light, Arella could see more than just a shadow.
The man's soft turquoise hair was a breath from the other admins brightly colored dos, but his face was sharp and drawn out, almost like a cat's. Glancing back at forth at both admins also made her notice that their facial structures were somewhat similar, but she dismissed it off as nothing.
"You've been out for quite a while now," Archer stated, a tiny smile forming on his lips, "I thought you'd never wake up."
Click click
Arella remained silent, only glaring at Archer, who returned the gesture with a chuckle.
"I guess you're still MADDEN about what happened in the tunnel, and I do apologize for that. But, it was necessary, because you know as well as I that this is the only way we'd just talk, and not jump to conclusions so easily."
"Just to talk?" Arella finally spoke, skepticism lacing her voice as she pointed to her handcuffed hand.
"Precaution. You're temper was quite famous after you nearly killed a certain admin of mine," he glanced quickly at Proton before returning his gaze to the trainer before him, "But there's more pressing matters at hand, like. . .let's say. . .your pokemon, perhaps?"
She body went rigid and her jaw dropped down a little. Remember the position she was in, she closed her mouth back up and looked down, trying to hide her expression.
"Don't worry too much about them, they're fine. Of course, it may not seem that way, but we had to take the same precautions that we did with you," Archer shrugged, "But they'll be fine. . .that is, if you let me speak."
Click, click
Arella remained silent again, making the Rocket admin take it as an allowance to speak more, not that he needed it in the first place.
"Tell me this," he walked over to the side of the observation deck, letting himself bask in the sun of the early-morning light, "Have you ever seen it? All that random terror that goes on everywhere? Theft, robbery, even murder is all a part of ours lives at one point or another. When we rise to power, however, that's all going to change once Team Rocket comes to po-"
"Are you even listening to yourself?"
Click cli-
Both Proton and Archer looked up at Arella, surprised at her sudden outburst.
"You're going to reduce random crime by giving rise to organized crime? It'll make a difference to you, sure, but that'll just make everyone else's lives even worse! Why don't you get your head out of your arsehole and actually look around for once!"
Archer simply stared at the trainer, then looked over at Proton. He nodded, Proton nodded back, and the admin put his knife away in exchange for a radio, turning it on.
"Kill one of 'em," he spoke into it.
"Which one?" the staticy reply came from the radio.
"Don't care, just one of them."
"Aye sir."
"No. . ." Arella simply stared at Proton as he left the radio on, static filling the room until a single gunshot silenced it, the admin turning the radio off right after.
"You said, you Arceus damn bastard!" she yelled at Archer, "You said they'd be fine!"
"I said they'd be fine if you let me speak," Archer stated flatly, "And you didn't."
He turned to Proton, nodded again, and walked off. The sound of metal doors opening could be heard, then the sound of them closing and an elevator going down, leaving the shaking trainer alone with the Rocket Admin, who got his knife back out.
Click, click