Chapter 38
Of course, it had to be raining. The drops bounced off Red's hood lightly as he strolled on the dimly lit sidewalk. Perhaps the rain's soft patter would be a blessing in disguise, but right now all Red could feel was its wet, chilling bite. Clenching his teeth together, he shoved his hands in his pockets and continued. While it would have been preferable to keep his head down and avoid the mist of water, he wasn't particularly familiar with the area, and now was not a good time for him to get lost. He felt slightly uneasy without pikachu or Leaf by his side. Not that he was scared of the dark or anything, but having someone to watch his back would definitely settle his nerves.
His dark eyes flicked up to the illuminated street sign before turning the corner. It wasn't much farther now. However, that wasn't a particularly comforting thought. He did take solace in the knowledge that Leaf wasn't too far behind him. To avoid any suspicion, they'd decided it was best they travel separately. The apartment complexes and homes seemed to progressively grow more run down with each block that passed, adding to the sense of anticipation Red was already feeling. The clatter of a garbage can as a ratata rummaged for leftovers nearly gave him a heart attack. A sigh of relief escaped Red's lips when he arrived at his destination.
Red slowed his pace as his eyes scanned the surrounding area for any signs of life. No sane person would be lurking in the alleyways at 2:30 in the morning in the rain, but better safe than sorry. Satisfied that Red was truly alone, he searched the skyline for the shadowed outline of his trusted pokemon. He spotted pidgeotto perched on the side of a building, taking cover from the rain under a balcony. Pidgeotto perked up as it spotted his trainer and immediately flew down to greet him when Red motioned for him. Red greeted him warmly as the bird pokemon swooped down next to him.
"Hey there buddy, did you see him leave?" Red asked, reaching out to stroke pidgeotto.
The bird pokemon cooed in reply, leaning in as Red scratched his head.
"Thanks so much, you're the best." Red smiled. Pidgeotto gave one last coo before it rose up to return to its lookout post.
As he watched pidgeotto fly off, Red's fingers brushed across his Pokeball belt until he found the right one. In an annoyingly bright flash of red light, ivysaur emerged from his Pokeball. Red took one last look around the dark street, his eyes straining to make out any suspicious figures in the shadows. There were no people to be seen - including Leaf. Trying his best not to think about it, Red gave the nod to ivysaur.
While there were many possible entry points in the house, they had decided that a top story side window would give them their best opportunity. In the days they had spent scouting out the area, there had been multiple occasions of it being left open. Even though Red could hardly make out the color of the home in the dingy lighting, the images of the tan, chipping house, overflowing garbage cans, and beaten-up porch were vivid in his memory. Ivysaur's two vines extended from his sides and rose up towards the selected window. Red's chest tightened in anticipation as ivysaur struggled against the window a moment before it finally gave way. Breathing a sigh of relief, Red thanked the lord that this man decided to leave his top story windows unlocked.
"Great work, Ivysaur, now lift me up," Red instructed his pokemon in a hushed voice.
The grass-type gave a firm nod before wrapping his vines around Red's mid-section and hoisting him up. Red struggled against the screen inside the window, conscious as ivysaur strained to hold him up. After what felt like much too long, Red popped the screen in and climbed through the window.
It turned out that the agreed-upon entry point was one to the bathroom, a bathroom that smelled as though it hadn't been cleaned for a few months. Crinkling his nose, Red climbed through the window into the dingy bathroom. Because turning on any lights would be too high risk, Red clicked on his flashlight instead. The beam of light swept across the floor, revealing a crusty sink, unwashed clothes littering the floor, and a stained shower. The man living here certainly didn't have a particularly clean standard of living, but that didn't make him a criminal by any means. Red couldn't get out of that bathroom fast enough.
An ominous chill crept up his spine as Red scanned the dark hallway. What they were doing was in the name of taking down Team Rocket. That didn't keep their actions from feeling dirty, though. Choosing a door he assumed led to the bedroom, Red peered inside. Like the bathroom, the bedroom was a bit of a mess. Clothes scattered the floor, the small garbage can was overflowing with used paper plates and candy wrappers, and the t.v. had been left on. The home screen on some gaming counsel had a game icon bouncing on it, begging someone to pick up the controller and play. At least it lent him some light.
Red released pikachu from his Pokeball, figuring the small pokemon would be a helpful search partner and also put his nerves at ease. Pikachu let out an excited cry as it was freed from its pokeball. However, the excitement quickly turned to confusion and then reproach.
"I know it's not pretty, but I could use some help looking around," Red explained in a hushed voice.
Pikachu gave a soft sigh of agreement and began to scamper around, gingerly picking up dirty clothes and looking through the clutter. Red sifted through the rubbish in the bedside table, hoping that something useful might be buried there. After about ten minutes of searching through the room, it became evident there was nothing of use in there. Scowling, Red motioned for pikachu to follow him as he made his way back into the hallway. The next door they opened revealed a closet close to bursting with an assortment of useless things. Closing the closet and turning towards the dark stairs, a growing sense of dread that maybe they had made a mistake began to take root.
…
Leaf struggled to control her shivers as she bounced on her toes. She couldn't tell if they were from the fear of being in such a run-down, dark alley, or the cold bite of rain seeping into her clothes. Maybe it was a combination of both. Ivysaur was crouched in the shadows of the alley, ready to spring into action the moment his master needed help. Pidgeotto perched under a balcony, his keen eyes constantly scanning the area for any signs of danger. The presence of the two pokemon helped put Leaf a bit more at ease. However, Red had been gone longer than expected.
She glanced down at her watch, silently begging that Red's head would pop out of the window at any moment. Instead, the sound of feet splashing through puddles echoed down the alley. Leaf whipped around, heat hammering inside of her chest, to spot a slightly hunched figure approaching. What if it were him? What was she going to do? Forcing herself to take a deep breath, she mustered all her courage and plastered a smile on her face.
"Hi, there!" Leaf called out, waving with more excitement than anyone should be at that time of night.
The hunched figure looked up, startled, pausing for a moment before approaching slowly. As the man grew closer, Leaf prayed the eagerness on her face didn't look too forced.
"You wouldn't happen to be the fine gentleman who lives in this lovely estate would you?" Leaf gestured to the beaten-down house Red had just crawled into.
"What if I am?" His voice was gruff and prickled. He watched her through narrowed, close-set dark eyes. Surprisingly, he was clean-shaven and seemed like he did brush his teeth and shower regularly. Leaf had assumed that because Team Rocket was full of rotten people, they'd probably look fairly rotten as well. He definitely didn't look like the owner of the house Red was currently scavenging through.
"I've been waiting all night for you to come back!" Leaf blurted out, her mind racing to concoct some plausible story.
"Why would you be waiting here for me? It's the middle of the night." He growled suspiciously.
Leaf struggled to keep the smile on her face as a shiver ran down her spine. "Well, rumor on the street is that you have a sweet tooth."
He seemed caught off guard at that. To be fair, Leaf didn't know what she was saying either.
"What?"
"So you bet I have something just for you! Recently, I've started up my own little cookie business. Pokecookies! We have all different kinds of cookies that remind you of your favorite pokemon pal."
"Look, kid, I'm not interested in whatever you're selling. It's been a shitty day, and I'm tired." He moved past her, grumbling with his head down.
Leaf's eyes scanned the side of the building, but there was still no sign of Red. She couldn't let him go back in there.
"Please, sir, could you give me a chance? I really need the business." Leaf persisted, rushing to him.
"I already-" He began before Leaf cut him off.
"My father left my mom to take care of me and my four siblings. We don't have any money, and I know that my baking abilities can help pull us out of the gutter," Leaf blurted out.
He paused with a loud sigh. "I'm sorry, but no. I don't know who the hell told you that I liked cookies, but I don't." And with that, he trudged up the stairs and slammed the front door. All Leaf could do was pray that Red get out of there as fast as he could.
…
Red's head jerked up at the sound of Leaf's high-pitched overly excited voice. Pikachu and he stared at each other for a moment as they struggled to make out what she was saying. It couldn't be a good sign. Despite having looked through a fair amount of the house, neither of them had found anything linking the owner to Team Rocket. Dread weighed down on Red at the realization that maybe they had been wrong. Either way, their time was up.
Carefully, Red closed the drawer he was sifting through and began to creep back to the stairs. He could still hear Leaf outside trying to stall. Did she just say something about cookies? Pikachu scampered up the stairs in front of him, stopping and waiting at the top. Red glanced around the hallway once he reached the top, checking to make sure nothing seemed out of place. At the sound of the door creaking open, his heart practically jumped into his throat. Pikachu rushed, as quietly as he could, into the bathroom and hopped up on the window sill. Waving desperately, he waited for ivysaur to spot him and pull him down. Downstairs, there was a clink of keys being set on the counter accompanied by a loud sigh and low grumbled.
Red watched as finally two vines wrapped pikachu and pulled him down to safety. Below, the stairs began to creak.
Red was about ready to start literally scaling down the side of the house when something big and red caught his eyes underneath the pile of clothes sitting by the side of the shower. Excitement pulsing through him, Red rapidly dug through the clothes until he found what he was looking for. The bold, red R stared back at him from the top of the Team Rocket uniform. Quickly snagging the pants to go with it, Red rushed towards the window, praying Ivysaur was ready.
His trusty pokemon lit up at the sight of his trainer and swiftly wrapped his vines around his torso. Clutching the uniform tightly, Red breathed a sigh of relief when his feet finally touched the ground.
"You about gave me a heart attack," Leaf said in a hushed voice, "I thought he was going to catch you."
A smile crept onto his lips as he held up his prize. "Have some faith in me, Leaf. I got the job done."
Leaf's eyes went wide at the sight of the Team Rocket uniform. Struggling to hold back a grin, she grabbed his wrist and hurried him away from the crime sight.
Red had to admit, the rush of adrenaline from the night was a bit intoxicating. They had actually pulled it off. It was a small step, but they were done sitting around and waiting for Team Rocket to pounce on them. Where they went from here, Red had no idea. The pair was exhausted once they finally made it back to their rooms in the pokemon center. While Red was eager to begin plotting out their next moves for Team Rocket, he could barely keep his eyes open. They mumbled a good night to each other before crashing into bed.
The next morning they decided to reward their work by treating themselves to breakfast. Finding a fairly private outdoor table, they pulled out their notebooks and pens and quietly began to get to work.
"So, we know where a potential Team Rocket base is, and we also possibly have access to that base," Leaf pointed out, taking a bite of syrup-soaked pancake.
Red nodded, tapping his pen thoughtfully on the paper.
"We need to learn more about the game corner. How could Team Rocket's base be hiding in such plain sight?"
Leaf chewed as she pondered on the words. "Yeah, it is weird. When we went there we didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I don't know if It'd be a good idea for us to go back in there, though."
"Just as long as we aren't recognized," Red countered her, sipping on his coffee.
"What do you mean? I'm sure they've seen our faces all over by now. Probably hand out wanted posters of us to everyone," Leaf scoffed.
Red rolled his eyes. "I don't think we are that recognizable or that important to them. Besides, I thought we were getting pretty good at fooling everyone with our disguises."
Leaf tilted her head in thought as she took another bite. "Yeah, I suppose you could be right."
"We need to infiltrate their base," Red proposed bluntly.
Leaf paled a little, setting down the pancake-speared fork she was raising to her lips. "Infiltrate the base?"
"I know it sounds crazy, but what other choice do we have? At this rate, we won't be able to figure out anything else about Team Rocket. It's only a matter of time before they catch us if we don't do anything."
Leaf flushed. "I know we need to do something… I don't know about this, though. It seems pretty risky."
"That's why we'll come up with a plan. Figure out a safe way for me to get in and out of there while gathering as much information on them as possible. Maybe doing a bit of damage in the process," Red paused, taking a deep breath. "The truth is, we are going to have to start taking risks and fighting back at some point. This is a great opportunity for us. We need Team Rocket to think twice about coming after us. Sometimes that requires throwing a few punches."
Red had a glint in his eyes that Leaf wasn't used to seeing. He watched her closely as she disgusted his passionate little speech, noting the tensing of his hands and the tightness of her jaw. Of course, this was going to be difficult for her. The memories of Kyle were still fresh in both their minds. Red just hoped the anger was also.
"At the end of the day, I won't do anything that makes you uncomfortable, Leaf. It's both of us, or neither of us," Red's voice softened as he comforted her.
Leaf nodded with a sigh. " Of course. I just don't want anything to happen to you." Compared to her excitement just a few days ago at the prospect of them fighting back, Red could see the fear behind it. She bit her lip and then added, "I do want to fight back, I really do. Last night was exhilarating, but it also scared the shit out of me. For a second, I thought you were going to get caught, and I don't know what I would do if something happened to you."
Red forced himself to exude confidence as he gave her his best smile. "Don't worry about me Leaf. Even if anything does go wrong, a few grunts are nothing my pokemon can't handle. Honestly, they should be the nervous ones."
