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Chapter 33

When I teleported, I could only go as far as Azalea Town. Upon arriving there I expected to come across at least one or two grunts as the video suggested, perhaps disguised as civilians. But out of the several minds that I quickly searched, I could not find any. As I reflect upon this now, I realize that should have been my first warning.

I only ever heard rumors about this hideout and did not know exactly it was located, but I was confident that I could find it quickly by detecting the energy source. As a precaution, I remained invisible for the entirety of the journey. I could not be certain that there were no spies out in the forest, keeping watch for my arrival.

I was free of second thoughts about infiltrating the hideout up until the moment I discovered it, one entrance neatly concealed behind a waterfall in the mountains nearby. My pulse skyrocketed, and the pit in my stomach from earlier returned as I stared at the wall of water crashing down from afar. It was all I could do to remain calm, knowing that I was about to enter the very last place I should be going.

Pull yourself together, I thought, trying to snap myself out of it.

Too much time has been lost already.

I took a deeper, though unsteady, breath and continued onward.

As I approached, I could sense that this was not an ordinary waterfall. No human would have been foolish enough to venture through it without assistance from a powerful Pokémon. Not only was the water coming down faster and harder than any storm I could create, but I spotted manmade spikes just under the surface of the water below, waiting to ensnare anyone who was careless enough to attempt to cross it.

I shrouded myself with a force field and soared through the falls, but once across I quickly extinguished it in order to remain undetected. Still wary of my surroundings, I silently drifted through the cavern as I searched for an entrance to the innermost part of the facility.

It was not until a minute later that I reached the end of the tunnel, where there was a landing pad for a helicopter. Near the flat surface, a Rocket stood watching for intruders as he lazily shifted an automatic weapon from hand to hand. He was a middle-aged man, leaning against the rock wall with a sour expression etched into his face.

"This is so pointless," he grumbled to himself, "it's not like anyone can get through that waterfall, anyway."

I paid no attention to the rest of his complaining. The first thing I did was locate and freeze the image on any cameras I could find in the room. Then I slipped past the guard and searched for the entrance that he was supposed to be guarding, which was located on his left side. After trying to slide open it with telekinesis to no avail, I recognized that it needed some sort of key. Turning back to the male I searched his mind to see if he had one, only to be left disappointed.

I mulled over what to do next, examining my surroundings and the weapon he held.

Well, it's worth a shot.

Remaining unseen, I raised my arm and noisily removed a rock protruding from the wall across the room. Alarmed by the floating rock, the guard reacted just as I hoped he would and fired an entire round at it. Dodging his haywire bullets without a forcefield proved to be a difficult task. It became increasingly obvious that this man had likely never touched, let alone fired, a weapon in his life.

While he was figuring out how to reload it, I searched for the part of the door that accepted the key and moved the boulder next to it. The guard fumbled for his gun and began to shoot at the rock again, this time hitting the lock. It shorted before bursting into flame.

The guard began shouting all sorts of human profanities as he backed away from the door. When I saw that he was about to call for backup, I levitated and knocked him against the flat helicopter pad. He groaned before lying still.

I relaxed my invisibility and alighted on the ground to catch my breath. I knew that if he woke up before I was gone, or if he was found there by others, it would surely raise alarm. Admittedly I considered sending him down the waterfall and into the spikes, but Lilly would not have approved of that.

Then I'll have to do this quickly.

I became invisible again and opened the door, looking back at the unconscious man one more time before gliding into the tunnel ahead.

This may be more difficult than I anticipated, I thought to myself as I approached the main hub.

About twenty members alone were milling about in the main lobby. It was noisy in there, which must have been the reason why no one heard the commotion that I had caused. I flew up to the ceiling and scanned the area furtively for some clue as to where Lilly could be. I read each Rocket's mind, but none of them contained thoughts of her. Had she not arrived yet? Was her presence being kept a secret?

Then one boy entered the room bearing a stack of papers.

I can't believe that stupid girl didn't want the food, after all the effort I went through to go to the cafeteria and get it, he thought crossly as he practically stomped into the room. And she's so rude! Why does she hate Team Rocket so much, anyway? Giovanni created it to better mankind!

I almost sighed with relief as I drifted toward him.

And now on top of my regular duties, he scowled as he slammed the mass of papers onto a desk, startling a woman that was sitting behind it, he's assigned me to her like some kind of personal servant! Why's Giovanni treating her so nicely? Is she a prisoner or what?!

I had absolute confidence that he was speaking of none other than Lilly and followed him closely as he left the hub. When I probed his mind further, I learned that his name was Kyle, he was fifteen years old, and that he was recruited by Team Rocket a few years ago after running away from an abusive mother and stepfather. The idea that he felt safer here than at his own home shocked me, but I did not allow myself to think about that too much.

While I did not expect him to immediately return to Lilly's cell, the boy seemed to travel the entirety of the hideout as I trailed him. He went to the cafeteria, the nap room, and I even waited outside the bathroom for him multiple times. I left his side once every few minutes to search for Giovanni, but he was nowhere to be found.

Though it had only been about forty minutes, I was beginning to become fatigued from prolonged use of invisibility. Just as I was about to hide in an empty room to take a break, Kyle returned to the cafeteria to get more rations for Lilly.

She probably won't eat this either, but I'll get on Giovanni's bad side if I don't try.

It was another few minutes before we arrived outside of Lilly's cell. I seemed to take an eternity for the boy to pull out the card key from his pocket and press it to the door, I had to stop myself from ripping it out of his hands.

The door slid behind the wall to the left. I slipped inside before the boy could and desperately began searching for Lilly's mind.

Lilly?

The only other living thing I detected in the room was Kyle. The panic that I had suppressed when I first entered began to resurface.

Lilly? Are you hiding?

After another moment, my stomach dropped when I realized that she was not there at all.

Did she escape already?!

I turned around to look at Kyle, whose jaw had dropped, and his eyes were bugging out of his head.

"C-Code Red!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, dropping the food he held on her bed. "Code—"

When he looked in my direction, he screamed again and jumped backward. I looked behind myself, but nobody was there. Unfortunately for the boy, he was directly in front of a wall. He knocked his head back into the steely surface with a loud bang and stumbled forward again, quickly losing consciousness and falling forward onto the bed.

Confused, I looked down at myself but saw nothing.

I am still invisible, how did he . . .

There was a small piece of plastic that functioned as a mirror taped to the wall on the other side of the bed. I took one look at it and nearly cried out in surprise: my head and neck were entirely visible.

What . . . but . . . how is this possible?!

I stood there for a moment, doing my utmost to make them disappear again. To my dismay, the opposite began to happen. Almost like a rash, my shoulders and chest slowly faded back into view in small patches.

No, this cannot be happening, I groaned to myself.

I heard footsteps quickly approach, but with nowhere to hide I positioned myself in the front corner of the room and remained silent. Turning to look toward the entrance, I saw a rather innocent-looking Rocket Grunt peering inside. She could not have been much older than Lilly; perhaps she was the same age as the unconscious boy.

Where is Team Rocket getting all these youths from?!

The first thing she saw was the boy on the bed, and she took a few steps inside to investigate.

"Kyle? What are you—"

I was practically pressed into the wall in an effort to remain unseen, but she still spotted me out of the corner of her eye. The girl turned and took one look at my floating head and torso before she gasped and accidentally fell back on the bed.

Both of us stared at each other in shock for a moment. Just as I was about to say something, the girl came to her senses and finally exclaimed "Holy shit!" before turning and taking off as fast as she could down the hallway.

"No, wait a minute!" I shouted after her as if she would have actually heeded my request.

I stumbled into the hallway in a half-hearted attempt to catch the girl and lock her inside, but the damage was already done. Nearly gasping for breath, I went back into the room to regain some of my strength. I leaned against the cold wall before completely relaxing my invisibility. Though I had never been invisible for as many consecutive hours as I was that day, I was still shocked by the toll it took on me, both mentally and physically.

I straightened up once I began to hear voices in the hallway, taking a deep breath and focusing all my energy and willpower. When I looked in the mirror again, I could not see myself at all.

I must find Lilly soon, I thought to myself nervously, before it becomes too late.

I exited the room just as other members of Team Rocket were approaching. The last thing I heard was more expletives as they discovered that neither their prisoner nor myself were in the room.

At that moment, the race to find Lilly began.