"I am so sorry!" Giuls said to the video call, worried "I wasn't there to help when you needed some!"

"Ah, don't worry about it Giuls." Draconix said with a smile "We managed somehow."

"It was a close thing." Raziel commented "And I'm still mad we didn't get back to Orville."

"Ehi, at least you got two sworn enemies out of it." Leaf said, pretending to be mad "I only fought some unnamed grunts, how sad is that?"

Giuls laughed as well "How are you doing Leaf?"

"Quite well, thanks, making some new friends and all." She said, pointing to Draconix and Raziel.

Draconix looked puzzled "Wait, you know each other?"

"Well duh, she is from Pallet Academy too, Dracotung." Giuls replied "I beat her in the quarter finals, actually."

"Please don't make that nickname stick." Draconix sighed. Raziel heard Gastly laugh from his left, where he was hovering slowly.

"Just a lucky shot." Leaf added, ignoring the young trainer.

"Oh, you wish." Giuls said "I'll gladly give you another go next time we meet."

"Oh my, how bold…" Leaf said, and both Giuls and the two boys blushed when they realized why.

"N-Not what I meant!" Giuls shouted, and Leaf laughed, soon joined by the two. The tomboyish girl looked flustered for a bit, then just chuckled as well "Fine, fine. Where are you three anyway?"

"Entering the second half of the cave today, we should be in Cerulean in a day and a half or so."

"Wow, we are pretty close then. I just made it out. Clefairy showed me another exit, so I'm a bit off the road, but made it in only a day."

"Nice. Good luck then." Said Draconix "I guess you are going for the Gym first."

"Yep. Well, second, Blue is probably there already."

"Knowing Blue, he probably already left the city." Draconix commented.

"Probably. Well, bye, and see you soon."

"For sure." Draconix said, and after the other two hung up Giuls put the phone down.

She sighed 'Well, nothing I can do about it. Let's just go.' And she walked off. But as she walked, she could only think at what her friend had gone through while she just had a fun day. Was it even fair for her to have it that easy?

As she walked on, those questions remained unanswered.

Blue entered the Gym with a large smile on his face. The day before, it was so overcrowded he had not managed to even try the Gym challenge, since they were over their limit. So instead he had left to train Abra a bit, and come back the following day, early in the morning.

Now the Gym was quiet. There were a few trainers walking around, but most seemed to be Gym Trainee.

A quick look told him how the Gym Challenge worked. He was supposed to either swim to Misty, or to walk on a series of precarious planks forming a labyrinth above the water. More trainers would challenge him in the water than on the planks, but falling from those while fighting meant you had lost for the day.

He pondered his choices and picked the plank, knowing he was only an average swimmer, and fighting while swimming was quite hard. He had tried a few times, and couldn't believe some trainers took that as their preferred fighting style. His way was interrupted by a single trainer, but the fight was quick, thanks to Pidgeotto easily fending off the Goldeen and Magikarp before they could even touch the plank. Once he did so, he saw Misty. She was exercising in a blue sport bikini but stood up the moment she saw him.

"Welcome." She said with a smile "I am the Tomboyish Mermaid, Misty. I suppose you are here for a challenge."

"Yes, thanks."

"So, how many medals do you have?" She asked. When Blue lifted a finger, she nodded "Out of curiosity, Brock or Cosmo? Usually it's one of those two when a one-medalist gets here."

"Brock."

Misty nodded, while apparently weighing some Poké Ball "Makes sense. So, did you just make it out of Mount Moon or…"

"No, I've actually been here for a few days. I got an encounter with Team Rocket as well."

"Oh, that was you!" She exclaimed "You could have told that at the entrance, we would have let you through without a fight. It's the least I could to repay you for helping Cerulean City."

Blue now blushed a bit "Ah, it's no big deal, really."

She smiled, finally picking two Poké Ball. "Very well, two v two for your second medal. You ready?"

Blue nodded and sent out Rattata, who found himself facing a pink Pokémon.

"Hello." Rattata said. Slowpoke remained quite, his empty eyes looking beyond him, his expression completely blank. "Uuuuh, are you ok?"

"Go for Quick Attack Rattata!" Blue shouted, and the Rat Pokémon collected himself lunging forward. He prepared to dodge a response, but there was none.

"Hello." Slowpoke simply said, as the attack impacted against him and flung him back, throwing him on his back. The Pokémon waited on the ground for a few seconds, then suddenly gasped and pulled himself back up.

'I'm so confused right n…' Rattata begun to think, then a Water Gun hit him square in the face, throwing him back. He barely held on the edge of the arena, surprised. 'Right, I shouldn't underestimate him.' He jumped forward and used another Quick Attack, the blow impacted on the Slowpoke's face, but there was no reaction. Instead, Slowpoke fired a Confusion, and the psychic energy sent Rattata flying against the arena floor, before dropping him down painfully.

He lunged forward again, noticing a pained expression forming on the Slowpoke's face – only now reacting to the Quick Attack before – but did not stop, impacting on him… and getting thrown away from another Water Gun.

"Seriously, how…" And then he heard the Gym Leader call Slowpoke.

"A Water Gun in three seconds." She shouted. Rattata counted to three, and there was no reaction from the Pokémon, so he darted forward.

"Dodge left, now!" Shouted Blue. Rattata barely reacted in time, dodging a Water Gun by a hair.

'But why now?' He wondered, before impacting against the Slowpoke's flank and sending him flying. In response, Slowpoke stood up and yawned.

Rattata yawned back, and only then he realized his mistake.

"Ok Rattata, before you fall asleep, get him with Hyper Fang!"

Rattata nodded, understanding that now he only had a few seconds. He focused his entire body on the next bite and darted forward. He ducked to dodge a Water Gun, barely avoiding it, and bit. Slowpoke showed no reaction, except a Confusion. Then, as Rattata fell to the floor after being thrown to the roof again, he just fainted. Rattata barely registered his victory before falling asleep.

"Slowpoke takes a few seconds to register any input they receive. Pain, commands, simple chatter…" Blue said, recalling his Pokémon.

Misty nodded "Correct. Did you figure it out on your own or was it the machine?" She said, pointing to the Pokédex Blue was holding in his other hand.

"I just wanted to confirm my theory…"

"Fine by me." Misty said, recalling Slowpoke "But you should check if a Gym Leader is ok with you reading information on their Pokémon. Some consider knowledge an essential part of the test."

Blue nodded, putting his Dex away "Sorry, I will ask next time."

"As I said, no problem. But yes, Slowpoke takes a few second to recognize any order. The trick is knowing how long that specific Slowpoke takes and calculating the timing to react to the enemy attack. It's a fine art." She explained, recalling it. Then she pulled a lever. The arena lowered, filling with water and turning into a pool. Six platforms were still available, connected by pathways, to ensure a non-swimming Pokémon was not at a disadvantage.

Blue nodded. The rules of the League allowed for a Water-type user to request at any point for the arena pool to be activated. This was to put Pokémon like Seaking or Seadra on a plain field, where they would have otherwise been at a disadvantage on land, with their movements hindered. Of course, there were rules, like a ban on diving outside of range except for dodging or the use of certain moves. More importantly, opening the pool required someone to use it. Sending out a non-swimming Pokémon after opening it was prohibited, to ensure someone wouldn't just use it to trick the opponent. Still, he couldn't help but think those rules favored slightly Water-types. 'Luckily, I have my own.' He thought sending out Squirtle.

The Water-type smiled, putting himself in position on a platform, and Misty responded sending Starmie. The Star-shaped Pokémon's core shone in bright red as it entered the water. Squirtle prepared, without following it. The Starmie begun by swimming around, propelling itself with a trickle of water from one of its arms and waiting. Both Squirtle and Blue waited, without moving except to not lose sight of the target.

"Bubble Beam!" Misty shouted, and Starmie immediately sprung to life. Squirtle, without thinking, darted forward, running on the platform. It ducked under the beam, the stream of bubbles hitting only his shell and tail, and jumped.

"Go for the Core!" He heard Blue shout, and smiled. With a quick maneuver, he brought down a Mega Kick like an axe, hitting Starmie square in the core. The Pokémon's jewel glowed blue and green as the strength of the Mega Kick forced them both underwater. Squirtle immediately followed up with a Water Gun, though most of the strength was not used to hit Starmie but to propel himself back on the platform, where he waited.

"Right, that started the fight the right way." He thought, looking around. Starmie emerged rotating on itself and threw a Swift. Star shaped energy flew against his starter, and Squirtle tried to dodge. In response, the stars curved and hit him on the flank, throwing him away. Starmie followed up with a Bubble Beam, that Squirtle intercepted with a Water Gun. It wasn't enough to completely stop the bubbles, but it did greatly soften the blow, as many bubbles went off course landing on the ground or popped before impacting against him. He moved forward, but as he did he stepped on something, and felt himself fall. In that moment he noticed he was covered in a weird substance, something like soap. "Dammit, it's that Bubble Beam". He realized, moving carefully to avoid falling again.

As he did so, however, he was an easy target. Starmie pointed at him, the core shining purple, and quickly attacked with Swift, the star shaped energy hitting Squirtle in the face. He felt himself thrown back and entered his shell before impacting the arena walls, softening the blow. Then he used a Water Gun to propel himself upward.

"You are at a disadvantage in long range, close the distance!" Blue shouted. Squirtle nodded as he begun to fall down. He saw a Bubble Beam coming, and in response used Water Gun to change his course, steering clear of the attack. Then he looked up using the Water Gun to further speed up downward. And as he did, he rose his fist, before bringing it down like a hammer on the surprised Starmie, now glowing yellow. The Mega Punch landed, even powered up by the hit, and the core once again shone blue and green as they both disappeared under the water.

Squirtle saw Starmie in front of him, and retracted his fist "Not over yet…" He thought, and punched again. The Mega Punch hook threw the Mysterious Pokémon upward, in the sky, before it came back down shining red. Without pausing, Squirtle propelled himself out of the water, slamming with Tackle into Starmie and changing their course. He tanked the Swift the Pokémon throw to blast him off and smiled, seeing that way he had landed first. He looked up, seeing Starmie was falling right above him, and shakily stood on his two legs. "What was that anime catchphrase… First comes rock…" and with that thought, right as Starmie fell in front of him, he threw another Mega Punch. The hit slammed into the star-shaped Pokémon, and threw it away, sending it flying and forming a star-shaped crater in the wall. Panting and huffing, he waited, to see if the Pokémon was going to stand up.

Then he sighed in relief.

Blue looked at Misty, then at the Starmie, faintly shining orange. The Gym Leader shook her head and called the Pokémon back. "Good fight, Starmie, your parents are going to be proud." She commented, before smiling to him. "Well congratulations. Is not really common for someone to take me on two on two and not lose a single Pokémon."

"To be fair, if Squirtle had lost I would have given up. There was no way Rattata could take on Starmie starting asleep."

Misty nodded "Yes, I suppose. Still, you shouldn't understate your…" She begun to say, then stopped and pointed at Squirtle "Well, that is always nice to see."

The Pokémon, Blue realized, was surrounded by a white glow, and starting to grow in height. Soon after, a Wartortle stood in place of Squirtle, the long fluffy hears matching his grown tail. The Pokémon put on a shaky grin as he raised his fist in the hair, and Blue nodded. "Excellent! Great job Sq… Wartortle." He said, correcting himself halfway.

Misty nodded "Absolutely, I always love it when this happens." She commented "It's proof of excellent training. And also a way for the trainer to see how well they are progressing. Speaking of which…" She jumped in the water and, at a speed that would have made any professional swimmer blush, she made it to Blue's side, elegantly jumping out of the pool. Up close, the trainer could see she was quite more muscular than she had seemed before, her body showing she clearly took swimming seriously. With a serious expression, she put her hand in a small pouch on her side, and took out a medal. "This is proof of your success in the Cerulean City Gym. As a reminder, since this is your second medal you have graduated from beginner level fights. Expect the next Gyms to grow harder."

Blue nodded "Yes, thank you. I will not disappoint."

Misty's expression changed, now a lot more cheerful "Oh, I am sure of it! I tried my best to hide it, but this is actually the first time I fight a Squirtle that specializes in melee rather than ranged combat. I'm sure your high-level battles will be very entertaining to watch." Misty replied, giving him a light pat on the back. Said light pat was enough to make Blue feel his back on fire, but he did his best to hide it. She still chuckled, so it probably wasn't that good of an act.

Rattata yawned, waking up in the Pokémon Center and looking at his trainer, that patted him on the head. Then he turned to Pidgeotto… who looked like he was having the time of his life.

"What did I miss?" He asked. The bird Pokémon simply pointed to the other side of the table, where a Wartortle was showing his moves to Abra, flaunting his kicks and punches around and commenting on how even a Gym Leader had complimented him for them.

"Oh, he evolved, that's nice. What's so funny though?" He asked, then he took a better look "He hasn't noticed Abra is sleeping, right?"

"Nope."

"How long has this been going on?"

"I think Abra started sleeping about twenty minutes ago."

They both looked at him, punching and kicking the air and talking to a sleeping Abra. Rattata was the first to crack and start laughing, and it looked like Pidgeotto was unable to hold back anymore. They ignored Blue and Wartortle's confused expressions until they were in tears.

Domino and Mondo were on edge. Or well, it was better to say they were terrified. To be summoned to the Team Rocket headquarter in Cerulean would have been bad enough, but instead their orders had been to come to Celadon. They waited, Mondo trying his best to appear cheerful and painfully failing. Domino appreciated the effort, but it was only making her more scared.

Finally, the secretary, a woman with square glasses and short dark red hair walked up to them. "The high council is waiting for you." She said. The order to move quickly was implicit but clear. Domino gulped and stood up. Mondo made to follow her but Matori shook her head "Only Lieutenant Domino, please." Mondo nodded, sitting down, but even as she proceeded to the room she could see him sweat heavily.

The Council room was large, with an oval table in the center. Only three men were sitting at it, meaning at least she did not deserve the attention of the whole Council. She almost felt relief.

"Welcome." Said the man sitting on the other side of the table, shattering the feeling in an instant. She gulped recognizing Giovanni himself, realizing only then how bad the situation was. The cool eyes of the Rocket leader did not abandon her for a second, as he took up the report she had filed "Care to explain what went wrong?"

Domino took a second to register the question. "Well, we were taken by surprise by the presence of a few trainers and…"

The younger man to Giovanni's left tapped his fingers on the table, his long dark blue hair flowing on his shoulders "A few trainers would be expected, wouldn't they?"

"Not in the deeper section of the cave. A few of Athena's men, led by codename Orville, were tasked with making sure the Markers were in place and to convince trainers to weaken themselves by battling each other."

Now it was the man on the right, in a common Rocket outfit, to speak "And all reports agree their tasks were taken care of. What thwarted our plans was the unusual behavior of the Parasect, that chose to intervene in a battle of this scale rather than fleeing. But this doesn't change the fact you should have been able to deal with two trainers and three Pokémon."

"Sir, we would have, but we went in a panic when the Skull was taken and acted, I will admit, out of order. I shouldn't have ordered all my men to run after it, and then I shouldn't have believed Mew to be there, no matter how good the illusion was." Domino said, choosing to admit her mistakes.

Giovanni frowned "Any other mistake?"

Domino clenched her fist and nodded "I… Should have listened to Ariana's suggestions. I underestimated the level of damage a few police officers would cause to our plan."

Giovanni nodded "I do believe so, yes. Overconfidence is a problem for anyone, but a Lieutenant is supposed to be able to keep it under control. You should know well that Team Rocket is not allowed to be picky in our selection of low-level agents, unlike other organizations. There is a reason if they are called grunts by the media. Numbers are useful, but in a Pokémon Battle they rarely overpower talent." He shook his head "For now, you will be reassigned to smaller operations. I believe there is a shipment that is to be taken from Cinnabar to Vermillion. I'll charge you and your deputy with taking care of it. To be clear, this is a demotion in all but name, and I'm being generous on ground of this being your first real failure. You are starting back from the basic roles of a Lieutenant, leading four men. Your deputy too. And you both will find scaling the ranks will be much harder this time. Perhaps this will ensure you will not disappoint again if you make it once more."

Domino could almost cry. She had given everything to get where she was, she had reached the highest ranks of a Lieutenant's powers in no time, and now she was plummeting down to a five men team? Thankfully, she was skilled enough to control herself, and simply nodded. Giovanni simply pointed to the door "You can go. I will summon you again if needed, but I doubt I will."

And with that, the girl was dismissed.

Giovanni looked at Black Tulip leave. Once the door closed, he turned to the man to his left. "Now, Pierce, any info on who where those trainers that got in our way?"

The young man raised his gloved hands "I don't have a direct interview with them on the incident yet, unfortunately. I already dispatched a journalist to Cerulean, though, so we will know more on their team. However, the one I had sent to Mount Moon to hopefully get an interview got his hand on this photo." He took it out of his pocket and showed it to Giovanni. The Rocket Boss studied the three teenagers and their Pokémon. An Ivysaur with a peculiar color, a Jigglypuff, a Clefairy, a Charmeleon and a Fearow. A quick count of the Poké Ball on their belts showed they had at least two more Pokémon. One was likely the Gastly Domino and Mondo had described in their reports. All in all, those appeared to be some low tier trainers, probably in the early part of their journey. 'This is already the third report of a young trainer ruining our plans. First the two in Cerulean, now this.' He thought, frowning. "Anything else to add?"

"Yes, actually." Pierce said "One of my journalists has sent to the magazine this article, which refers to the Charmeleon in the picture. It's going to be published in the next month's number."

Giovanni quickly scanned the article "Draconix Karyu… I assume is a branch of that same family?"

"Hard to say. If it is, a distant one, as the name never came up in interviews."

"I see. Well, this Breaking Claws hardly says anything to us, except that acquiring the Pokémon might be worth our time. For now, keep searching for information on those three." Then he turned to his right "Archer, what about the Skull?"

"The researchers are already organizing a search party, since apparently the Fearow could only point them to a general area. It is believed today or tomorrow they will find it. Brock has also confirmed he will leave the city to ensure it is safely transported back to the Museum. I fear any further attempt to steal it will require to open hostility with the Gym Leader of Pewter." The man explained.

Giovanni took the information in. Taking on a Gym Leader was hard. Not impossible for his upper echelon, but he was hesitant to use it. It had taken time to carefully convince the media that Team Rocket was composed by inefficient goons with at best a few leaders.

It was that perception that had allowed them to exist for so long and slowly build their network through Kanto: no one suspected the existence of an upper echelon of highly skilled fighters, Lieutenant and Generals alike. When one was sent in, he was usually disguised as an already known, fictional leader. The Iron-Masked Marauder was Giovanni's favorite. Sending in Domino had been a move determined by the nature of the mission, but he was positive at worst the police were going to suspect the existence of a new skilled trainer in his ranks. At best, they were going to think fear and the presence of a few strong Pokémon had made the trainers and researchers over-estimate the threat of two grunts, but he did not believe they would be so lucky. Openly taking out Brock, something they could have done, was however going to shatter that illusion he had carefully built.

"Project M-3 is scrapped then, at least until we have a new lead. We will have to reconsider our plans. Do we have our hands on the reports from the Police?" He asked.

"Not yet, but a copy should arrive soon. We don't have many I-agents in Pewter, so it takes a bit longer. Once that is done, we will know exactly who our targets are." Archer replied, "Ariana assures me that."

"Very well. We will decide later how to proceed with the payback. For now, that will be all." The two men nodded and rose almost simultaneously, leaving the room.

Left alone, Giovanni examined the picture once more. He could swear there was something familiar about one of the three, but after a while he chose to just ignore it. If he couldn't recall it, it was unlikely it mattered. He clicked on a button, and started to give instructions to Matori. If M-3 was out, the recovery of M-2 was a priority. 'Operation MB. The only option left, and yet a most dangerous gamble.' He thought. But if successful, M-2 was going to be his.