Chapter 2
New Beginnings
"Tonight," began the Rocket, " we will be accepting forty new recruits to our organization, of sorts. You will be working to help pokemon. Sabrina, standing next to me, rolled her eyes.
"How many of them do you think buy that?" she asked, gesturing towards the beginner trainers.
"Beats the hell outta me," I answered.
"Yeah, me too."
"Just remember not to use our powers in the Rocket Base until we need to. Can't give ourselves away."
"Yeah, that'll present some problems."
"There's more. What about us? I hope they at least let us sleep in the same room. I'm not about to let you sleep in any old Rocket room, with Goddish knows how many horny little Rocket trainees."
"You really think that those Rockets are that bad?"
"Who do you think my parents are?"
"You've got a point there!"
"...But for now, we'll start the music, and enjoy yourselves."
Someone turned up some old music in the background. Sounded like a waltz of some type. Rockets would do anything for new recruits.
"May I have the pleasure of this dance?" asked Lily. I looked up. She flashed me a seductive glance. Sabrina was there in a second.
"Shove off, Saffron Psycho," Lily said, "he's mine." Sabrina's bad reputation was always turning up.
"Wrong again," Sabrina said, "He's spoken for," she said, showing off her engagement ring.
"Oh, I see, how... interesting."
"Yeah, so move it." Lily walked away. Sabrina sat down on the arm of the chair I was in. She looked worried.
"Do you enjoy having girls fight over you?" she asked, jokingly, attempting to improve the mood.
"I don't know, it is kind of fun." I answered, playing along. I took her hand and pulled her onto the dance floor. I saw a Meowth tuning the music in the control booth. Typical Rocket pokemon. Sabrina and I discussed the action plans, trying to disguise the conference as a loving conversation.
"We'll have to use Confiscators," I told her, slipping her five of the strange pokeballs. We continued to dance, and discuss the downfall of Team Rocket. Hopefully soon the Rockets would be finished for good, and Sabrina and I could go back to training pokemon like we always had. I spotted Dave, dancing with a Jynx. It pulled him towards its face.
"No, please, don't kiss me! Arggh!" He fell asleep. A Machop dragged him over to a chair and propped him up. He continued to sleep.
"Another reason I'm lucky to have you," I told Sabrina. She laughed.
"And I've been your best friend for a long time."
"I think we can call it more than friendship now," I said, transmitting the memory about the storage closet on the chopper.
"Definitely," she said. I looked into her eyes, almost transfixed by the pupils, that seemed to swirl like water. I spied David and Jennifer from the corner of my eye, and Jake and Marissa. Even Keith and Lily were dancing. And then there was Dave, out cold in a chair. Sabrina and I kept dancing. The music slowed and the lights dimmed. We kissed. The lights flashed back on. I opened my eyes, and so did she. We pulled apart. We weren't supposed to be distracted on missions.
"Now, trainers, we are accepting any new volunteers for Team Rocket!"
"Yes, c'mon down!" Trainers that didn't wimp out walked down a ramp and into a giant underground passage. The Rockets were carefully monitoring anyone who left. Jennifer pretended to have second thoughts so she could transmit info to us from the Pokemon League HQ in Azure. We were bussed several miles along until we came to a door where we disembarked and were shown to rooms. I entered mine, and set my stuff down. Someone knocked at the door. I opened it to reveal Sabrina, with her bag slung over her shoulder.
'How'd you get them to let you in?"
"Slipped the guy a hundred bucks. Marissa and Lily pulled the same trick. That Rocket is rich!" I laughed, thinking about what the guy was going to spend the three hundred on. Probably booze. Or drugs. Or both.
"Unfortunately we were only given a single bed."
"No prob, we'll fit in fine," she said.
"Hey, wait, where's the bathroom?" As if to answer he question the loudspeakers in the hall said, "there is one unisex bathroom down the hall. It has hot tubs and showers."
"Yeah, whatever!" we said sarcastically.
"Do you know what kind of diseases you can get from those!"
We walked into the shower area, to learn that it was open, no stalls or personal shower areas. We headed towards the closed hot tubs. I was about to open the door when Marissa and Jake pushed past us and got in.
"Sorry, I know you'll understand, Kelley," Jake said, putting his arm around Marissa. The entered. I could here giggling as they locked the door.
"Well, there's no doubt as to what they're doing in there," Sabrina said, looking somewhat disgusted.
"You'll have to remember that we did that last night at the pokemon center," I said as Sabrina and I turned towards another room.
"It's not that that I'm mad about, it's that we didn't get the private room."
"Yeah, well, there's always tonight."
I turned on the faucet and soaked my hair, making it lose its usual spikiness. Suddenly the door burst open, and a Rocket, maybe seventeen entered. The other girls in the room quickly vacated, leaving Sabrina the only girl in the room, excepting Lily who stood in the corner with Keith.
"Looks like I got some fresh meat!" said the Rocket. A few Rockets laughed nervously. The bigger Rocket's eyes landed on Lily, and he walked over to her. Keith jumped in the way.
"Don't touch her, or there is going to be a fight," he warned, producing a pokeball from Goddish knows where. The rocket pushed him aside and approached his girlfirend.
"Go, Oodairu!" Keith yelled, releasing a water dragon.
"Argh! Don't hurt me," The Rocket yelled, pulling his hands off a shrieking Lily. She smiled as Keith's Oodairu flung the Rocket across the room. He landed.
"To damn greedy to share the wealth, eh?!" He yelled at Keith, who was comforting Lily. Lily smiled and kissed Keith on the cheek. They left back to their room, trying not to attract more attention. Now the Rocket headed towards Sabrina and I. I stepped into his way, he tried to push me over, but fell, my feet were firmly rooted on the ground. He suddenly look like he didn't want a fight.
"Don't make me hurt you," I said quietly. He got up, mumbled something uncomplimentary and walked away. I knew enough martial arts to floor the guy, as did my wife, but I was supposed to be the gentleman.
"Tight-ass new recruits," he said as he left. Sabrina and I started back towards the room. I locked the door, making sure the Rockets couldn't get in my room. Sabrina crawled into the bed and slept. I pulled out my laptop computer and logged on to the internet. I sent E-mail to the League, describing the base and its entrance, and then deleted my history to making it untraceable.
"Come to bed, James," Sabrina called, beckoning me with her hand. I walked over to the bed and got in.
"Aren't you gonna kiss me goodnight," she asked with fake sadness in her tone, masking the seductiveness of her voice.
"Yeah, I guess," I said, kissing her.
"Good, I'd hate to have to do without that," she said, again seductive.
"Do you think the Rockets will hear us? We are commiting a romantic act in a bed owned by Team Rocket, that's something I thought I'd never do."
"Get over it," she said. I could feel her skin against mine. I kissed her again and psychically turned off the computer, the last light in the room. Sabrina whispered into my ear, "I love you."
We awoke the next morning to find a small package slipped under the door. It contained two Rocket uniforms.
"Do you think this is too revealing?" Sabrina asked, questioning the shirt, which was cut very high.
"Nah, it's sexy, and besides, every other girl here is wearing one," I told her.
"And what about these?" she asked, holding up the matching pants that looked like they would be hard to fit on a pikachu, "kind of tight, doncha' think?"
"Hell, yeah, but they match, and they're sexy too."
"Whatever," she replied. I tried on the black undershirt. It was warm and tight. No wonder Jessie and James were well adapted. The Rocket clothing was cheap and synthetic, but at least the shirt was warm. It seemed to be made of
"We expect the best of the trainers here to work in Team. The worst trainers and their pokemon will be or imprisoned. You will have several match-ups, if you win, you survive, if you lose you will go to the loser's circle. The worst forty trainers are in the slammer. Got it?" asked a Rocket.
"Got it!" shouted the whole group. What had we gotten ourselves into? This looked bad. I just hoped it wouldn't come down to me versus one of the other agents. Especially David or Sab. They were my best friend and Fiance, respectively. I'd sacrifice myself before one of them could get hurt. I knew, even then that that was what it would come down to in the end. The first match was me against a kid with blond hair and blue eyes. He reminded me of myself when I was younger. I didn't want to beat him, I knew he would probably die. My pokemon were more than a matchI beat him, realizing it was him or me that would die. He walked slowly towards the loser's circle, ready to face his cold cell. I respected him, but also pitied him. I watched David dispatch a kid with an Articuno. Then I saw Sabrina destroy a twenty-year-old woman with a Nidoqueen.
"Raichu, pulverize it!" I spun, and witnessed an amazing pokemon, a Raichu, which seemed to have psychic power. I saw its electric aura grow, engulfing its opponent, a Bakufuun, in a wave of yellow light. The Bakufuun reached for its head as if in pain and fainted. I clapped.
"Excellent battle, what's your name, trainer?"
"William. I'm from Vermillion City, on The Island."
"Oooh! William, I love it when you use that attack!" Yelled a girl, who ran up and hugged William. He looked kind of embarrassed, but hugged her back. He introduced her as Olivia, his girlfriend. Sabrina walked up, Alakazam tagging along behind.
"Hello, William," she said, knowing his name from the brainwaves she shared with me.
"Hello, uhh, uhh," he said. He had no psychic power.
"Sabrina," I said, introducing her. She and Olivia struck it off well. They chatted about pokemon, although their tastes conflicted. Sabrina was a psychic devotee, while Olivia was a bird person. William and I weren't any closer. He was a direct electric trainer, while I trained only the rarest pokemon, as well as psychic. As we talked we tried to hatch a plan to rescue the trainers the Rockets planned to kill.
"Well, we could... no, it won't do," he offered a suggestion that didn't work. We decided to watch the fights.
"Next up is Lily Waterflower fo Cerulean City. Her opponent is Zachary "Zap" Surge, of Vermillion!" yelled an anouncer.
"I really hate him," William said, pointing at Surge, "His grandad was a Gym Leader. We've always been rivals, but he cheated his way into Pokemon League.
"Why are you here anyway?" I asked him, " I mean, this is a Rocket scam, not Pokemon League."
"I'm here to stop the Rockets," he said. "Now that I know that what makes you so sure I won't turn you in?" "Raichu says I can trust you. And I trust my Raichu." "Rai!" said the Raichu. It wouldn't enter its pokeball, just like Ash's pikachu. "Dewgong, go!" "Jolteon, go!" The first pokemon were out. This was a one-pokemon battle. Lose one, lose all. It looked bad for Lily. "Dewgong, Ice Beam!" Lily yelled. Dewgong fired. The Jolteon was not hurt, but was frozen. It didn't attack. Dewgong pounded into the block, weakening it. The block of ice broke, and jolteon fell to the floor, injured severely. Dewgong came in fro the crushing blow with a tail slam, but Jolteon perked up its spike at the last second. Shocking Dewgong unconscious. "And Zachary wins!" yelled the announcer. Keith was stunned. Lily fell to the floor, crying A rocket walked up to her. "This is our first example as to what happens when you lose in Team Rocket," he said. The Rocket had a gun in hand and handcuffs at the ready. "Any last words?" he asked her. She sobbed. Keith was by her side immediately. He pulled her to her feet. He stood in the way of the Rocket's gun. "Natsume, we should do something!" I said to Sabrina, calling her by her Japanese name. "No, Kojiro, it'd blow our cover," she said, referring to me by my Japanese name. There was a gunshot and Keith fell over, blood oozing from a hole in his chest. "Li-ly," he gasped as the Rocket shoved the pistol in her face. She turned to run, but as she did, the Rocket fired. Her arm was hit. She fell. He aimed, Fired, her other arm was hit. The he repeated the prosess for her legs as well. He was going to make this painful for everyone. Us, and Lily. Now he aimed for her chest. He squeezed the trigger, and at that second Keith threw his last strength into his legs and threw himself at the Rocket. The Rocket's hand jumped, but not enough. The bullet went into Lily's head. Her head kicked back into the floor. Keith and the Rocket executioner were spattered with blood. "Oh, Goddish," I heard David say. Lily Waterflower was dead. And her boyfriend, Keith, was injured severly. William and Olivia were in the ring, beside Keith immediately. They picked him up, and Raichu shocked the guard. It took twenty minutes of battling to subdue the Raichu. It was captured and sent to the Holding Area. William was thrown, struggling, into a cell far beneath the arena. Olivia was sentenced to working for Dan, the big Rocket that Sabrina and I had encountered in the shower, as an aide, or to put it more bluntly, concubine. I carried Keith to his room, where we lay him down and gave him a blood transfusion with some of David's, who was type O. I used psychic healing techniques to heal the bullet wounds, and keep him alive. Sabrina helped when I ran out of energy. A Chancey David had called out stayed with Keith through the night, keeping him safe. He mumbled about Lily into the night. She was gone. I couldn't believe it. I was only getting to know her, and now, she was dead. Gone forever. Forever, the word echoed in my mind. Sabrina and I meditated n our room, sitting in the Lotus Position, hovering inches above the floor. We pushed the bed off to one side of the smallish room, and teleported a medium sized futon, from the Pokemon center in Azure, there to sleep on instead. She said she'd sleep on the bed that night, but I woke up in the morning to find her next to me on the futon. I lay there, holding her tightly, wondering what would have happened if it had been her, and not Lily. She opened her eyes. I knew she could read my thoughts. "It'll be all right in the end, Jiro," she said, kissing me. "I hope so, Sab. I really do." We changed out of the usual Black psychic outfits we wore, and back into Rocket uniforms. Maybe today we'd find out just what was so secret here that it was worth killing trainers over.
New Beginnings
"Tonight," began the Rocket, " we will be accepting forty new recruits to our organization, of sorts. You will be working to help pokemon. Sabrina, standing next to me, rolled her eyes.
"How many of them do you think buy that?" she asked, gesturing towards the beginner trainers.
"Beats the hell outta me," I answered.
"Yeah, me too."
"Just remember not to use our powers in the Rocket Base until we need to. Can't give ourselves away."
"Yeah, that'll present some problems."
"There's more. What about us? I hope they at least let us sleep in the same room. I'm not about to let you sleep in any old Rocket room, with Goddish knows how many horny little Rocket trainees."
"You really think that those Rockets are that bad?"
"Who do you think my parents are?"
"You've got a point there!"
"...But for now, we'll start the music, and enjoy yourselves."
Someone turned up some old music in the background. Sounded like a waltz of some type. Rockets would do anything for new recruits.
"May I have the pleasure of this dance?" asked Lily. I looked up. She flashed me a seductive glance. Sabrina was there in a second.
"Shove off, Saffron Psycho," Lily said, "he's mine." Sabrina's bad reputation was always turning up.
"Wrong again," Sabrina said, "He's spoken for," she said, showing off her engagement ring.
"Oh, I see, how... interesting."
"Yeah, so move it." Lily walked away. Sabrina sat down on the arm of the chair I was in. She looked worried.
"Do you enjoy having girls fight over you?" she asked, jokingly, attempting to improve the mood.
"I don't know, it is kind of fun." I answered, playing along. I took her hand and pulled her onto the dance floor. I saw a Meowth tuning the music in the control booth. Typical Rocket pokemon. Sabrina and I discussed the action plans, trying to disguise the conference as a loving conversation.
"We'll have to use Confiscators," I told her, slipping her five of the strange pokeballs. We continued to dance, and discuss the downfall of Team Rocket. Hopefully soon the Rockets would be finished for good, and Sabrina and I could go back to training pokemon like we always had. I spotted Dave, dancing with a Jynx. It pulled him towards its face.
"No, please, don't kiss me! Arggh!" He fell asleep. A Machop dragged him over to a chair and propped him up. He continued to sleep.
"Another reason I'm lucky to have you," I told Sabrina. She laughed.
"And I've been your best friend for a long time."
"I think we can call it more than friendship now," I said, transmitting the memory about the storage closet on the chopper.
"Definitely," she said. I looked into her eyes, almost transfixed by the pupils, that seemed to swirl like water. I spied David and Jennifer from the corner of my eye, and Jake and Marissa. Even Keith and Lily were dancing. And then there was Dave, out cold in a chair. Sabrina and I kept dancing. The music slowed and the lights dimmed. We kissed. The lights flashed back on. I opened my eyes, and so did she. We pulled apart. We weren't supposed to be distracted on missions.
"Now, trainers, we are accepting any new volunteers for Team Rocket!"
"Yes, c'mon down!" Trainers that didn't wimp out walked down a ramp and into a giant underground passage. The Rockets were carefully monitoring anyone who left. Jennifer pretended to have second thoughts so she could transmit info to us from the Pokemon League HQ in Azure. We were bussed several miles along until we came to a door where we disembarked and were shown to rooms. I entered mine, and set my stuff down. Someone knocked at the door. I opened it to reveal Sabrina, with her bag slung over her shoulder.
'How'd you get them to let you in?"
"Slipped the guy a hundred bucks. Marissa and Lily pulled the same trick. That Rocket is rich!" I laughed, thinking about what the guy was going to spend the three hundred on. Probably booze. Or drugs. Or both.
"Unfortunately we were only given a single bed."
"No prob, we'll fit in fine," she said.
"Hey, wait, where's the bathroom?" As if to answer he question the loudspeakers in the hall said, "there is one unisex bathroom down the hall. It has hot tubs and showers."
"Yeah, whatever!" we said sarcastically.
"Do you know what kind of diseases you can get from those!"
We walked into the shower area, to learn that it was open, no stalls or personal shower areas. We headed towards the closed hot tubs. I was about to open the door when Marissa and Jake pushed past us and got in.
"Sorry, I know you'll understand, Kelley," Jake said, putting his arm around Marissa. The entered. I could here giggling as they locked the door.
"Well, there's no doubt as to what they're doing in there," Sabrina said, looking somewhat disgusted.
"You'll have to remember that we did that last night at the pokemon center," I said as Sabrina and I turned towards another room.
"It's not that that I'm mad about, it's that we didn't get the private room."
"Yeah, well, there's always tonight."
I turned on the faucet and soaked my hair, making it lose its usual spikiness. Suddenly the door burst open, and a Rocket, maybe seventeen entered. The other girls in the room quickly vacated, leaving Sabrina the only girl in the room, excepting Lily who stood in the corner with Keith.
"Looks like I got some fresh meat!" said the Rocket. A few Rockets laughed nervously. The bigger Rocket's eyes landed on Lily, and he walked over to her. Keith jumped in the way.
"Don't touch her, or there is going to be a fight," he warned, producing a pokeball from Goddish knows where. The rocket pushed him aside and approached his girlfirend.
"Go, Oodairu!" Keith yelled, releasing a water dragon.
"Argh! Don't hurt me," The Rocket yelled, pulling his hands off a shrieking Lily. She smiled as Keith's Oodairu flung the Rocket across the room. He landed.
"To damn greedy to share the wealth, eh?!" He yelled at Keith, who was comforting Lily. Lily smiled and kissed Keith on the cheek. They left back to their room, trying not to attract more attention. Now the Rocket headed towards Sabrina and I. I stepped into his way, he tried to push me over, but fell, my feet were firmly rooted on the ground. He suddenly look like he didn't want a fight.
"Don't make me hurt you," I said quietly. He got up, mumbled something uncomplimentary and walked away. I knew enough martial arts to floor the guy, as did my wife, but I was supposed to be the gentleman.
"Tight-ass new recruits," he said as he left. Sabrina and I started back towards the room. I locked the door, making sure the Rockets couldn't get in my room. Sabrina crawled into the bed and slept. I pulled out my laptop computer and logged on to the internet. I sent E-mail to the League, describing the base and its entrance, and then deleted my history to making it untraceable.
"Come to bed, James," Sabrina called, beckoning me with her hand. I walked over to the bed and got in.
"Aren't you gonna kiss me goodnight," she asked with fake sadness in her tone, masking the seductiveness of her voice.
"Yeah, I guess," I said, kissing her.
"Good, I'd hate to have to do without that," she said, again seductive.
"Do you think the Rockets will hear us? We are commiting a romantic act in a bed owned by Team Rocket, that's something I thought I'd never do."
"Get over it," she said. I could feel her skin against mine. I kissed her again and psychically turned off the computer, the last light in the room. Sabrina whispered into my ear, "I love you."
We awoke the next morning to find a small package slipped under the door. It contained two Rocket uniforms.
"Do you think this is too revealing?" Sabrina asked, questioning the shirt, which was cut very high.
"Nah, it's sexy, and besides, every other girl here is wearing one," I told her.
"And what about these?" she asked, holding up the matching pants that looked like they would be hard to fit on a pikachu, "kind of tight, doncha' think?"
"Hell, yeah, but they match, and they're sexy too."
"Whatever," she replied. I tried on the black undershirt. It was warm and tight. No wonder Jessie and James were well adapted. The Rocket clothing was cheap and synthetic, but at least the shirt was warm. It seemed to be made of
"We expect the best of the trainers here to work in Team. The worst trainers and their pokemon will be or imprisoned. You will have several match-ups, if you win, you survive, if you lose you will go to the loser's circle. The worst forty trainers are in the slammer. Got it?" asked a Rocket.
"Got it!" shouted the whole group. What had we gotten ourselves into? This looked bad. I just hoped it wouldn't come down to me versus one of the other agents. Especially David or Sab. They were my best friend and Fiance, respectively. I'd sacrifice myself before one of them could get hurt. I knew, even then that that was what it would come down to in the end. The first match was me against a kid with blond hair and blue eyes. He reminded me of myself when I was younger. I didn't want to beat him, I knew he would probably die. My pokemon were more than a matchI beat him, realizing it was him or me that would die. He walked slowly towards the loser's circle, ready to face his cold cell. I respected him, but also pitied him. I watched David dispatch a kid with an Articuno. Then I saw Sabrina destroy a twenty-year-old woman with a Nidoqueen.
"Raichu, pulverize it!" I spun, and witnessed an amazing pokemon, a Raichu, which seemed to have psychic power. I saw its electric aura grow, engulfing its opponent, a Bakufuun, in a wave of yellow light. The Bakufuun reached for its head as if in pain and fainted. I clapped.
"Excellent battle, what's your name, trainer?"
"William. I'm from Vermillion City, on The Island."
"Oooh! William, I love it when you use that attack!" Yelled a girl, who ran up and hugged William. He looked kind of embarrassed, but hugged her back. He introduced her as Olivia, his girlfriend. Sabrina walked up, Alakazam tagging along behind.
"Hello, William," she said, knowing his name from the brainwaves she shared with me.
"Hello, uhh, uhh," he said. He had no psychic power.
"Sabrina," I said, introducing her. She and Olivia struck it off well. They chatted about pokemon, although their tastes conflicted. Sabrina was a psychic devotee, while Olivia was a bird person. William and I weren't any closer. He was a direct electric trainer, while I trained only the rarest pokemon, as well as psychic. As we talked we tried to hatch a plan to rescue the trainers the Rockets planned to kill.
"Well, we could... no, it won't do," he offered a suggestion that didn't work. We decided to watch the fights.
"Next up is Lily Waterflower fo Cerulean City. Her opponent is Zachary "Zap" Surge, of Vermillion!" yelled an anouncer.
"I really hate him," William said, pointing at Surge, "His grandad was a Gym Leader. We've always been rivals, but he cheated his way into Pokemon League.
"Why are you here anyway?" I asked him, " I mean, this is a Rocket scam, not Pokemon League."
"I'm here to stop the Rockets," he said. "Now that I know that what makes you so sure I won't turn you in?" "Raichu says I can trust you. And I trust my Raichu." "Rai!" said the Raichu. It wouldn't enter its pokeball, just like Ash's pikachu. "Dewgong, go!" "Jolteon, go!" The first pokemon were out. This was a one-pokemon battle. Lose one, lose all. It looked bad for Lily. "Dewgong, Ice Beam!" Lily yelled. Dewgong fired. The Jolteon was not hurt, but was frozen. It didn't attack. Dewgong pounded into the block, weakening it. The block of ice broke, and jolteon fell to the floor, injured severely. Dewgong came in fro the crushing blow with a tail slam, but Jolteon perked up its spike at the last second. Shocking Dewgong unconscious. "And Zachary wins!" yelled the announcer. Keith was stunned. Lily fell to the floor, crying A rocket walked up to her. "This is our first example as to what happens when you lose in Team Rocket," he said. The Rocket had a gun in hand and handcuffs at the ready. "Any last words?" he asked her. She sobbed. Keith was by her side immediately. He pulled her to her feet. He stood in the way of the Rocket's gun. "Natsume, we should do something!" I said to Sabrina, calling her by her Japanese name. "No, Kojiro, it'd blow our cover," she said, referring to me by my Japanese name. There was a gunshot and Keith fell over, blood oozing from a hole in his chest. "Li-ly," he gasped as the Rocket shoved the pistol in her face. She turned to run, but as she did, the Rocket fired. Her arm was hit. She fell. He aimed, Fired, her other arm was hit. The he repeated the prosess for her legs as well. He was going to make this painful for everyone. Us, and Lily. Now he aimed for her chest. He squeezed the trigger, and at that second Keith threw his last strength into his legs and threw himself at the Rocket. The Rocket's hand jumped, but not enough. The bullet went into Lily's head. Her head kicked back into the floor. Keith and the Rocket executioner were spattered with blood. "Oh, Goddish," I heard David say. Lily Waterflower was dead. And her boyfriend, Keith, was injured severly. William and Olivia were in the ring, beside Keith immediately. They picked him up, and Raichu shocked the guard. It took twenty minutes of battling to subdue the Raichu. It was captured and sent to the Holding Area. William was thrown, struggling, into a cell far beneath the arena. Olivia was sentenced to working for Dan, the big Rocket that Sabrina and I had encountered in the shower, as an aide, or to put it more bluntly, concubine. I carried Keith to his room, where we lay him down and gave him a blood transfusion with some of David's, who was type O. I used psychic healing techniques to heal the bullet wounds, and keep him alive. Sabrina helped when I ran out of energy. A Chancey David had called out stayed with Keith through the night, keeping him safe. He mumbled about Lily into the night. She was gone. I couldn't believe it. I was only getting to know her, and now, she was dead. Gone forever. Forever, the word echoed in my mind. Sabrina and I meditated n our room, sitting in the Lotus Position, hovering inches above the floor. We pushed the bed off to one side of the smallish room, and teleported a medium sized futon, from the Pokemon center in Azure, there to sleep on instead. She said she'd sleep on the bed that night, but I woke up in the morning to find her next to me on the futon. I lay there, holding her tightly, wondering what would have happened if it had been her, and not Lily. She opened her eyes. I knew she could read my thoughts. "It'll be all right in the end, Jiro," she said, kissing me. "I hope so, Sab. I really do." We changed out of the usual Black psychic outfits we wore, and back into Rocket uniforms. Maybe today we'd find out just what was so secret here that it was worth killing trainers over.