Chapter 4: The "Fail-Proof" Plan


Kim and I waited at the front desk for Hunter to arrive. Her sports watch beeped, signifying that another hour had passed, "2:00," she said aloud.

The front door blasted open. Frightened out of my mind, I fell off the front desk and landed hard on the floor. Kim dived for cover behind it.

"I've got it!" Hunter cried, entering the room, "The perfect fail-proof plan!" he strided towards the front desk carrying a stack of papers, with Ivy following him. He slapped them down on the desk.

"Hunter? Can't you use the doorbell like sane people?" Kim asked with a slight tone of anger, "You scared us!"

"Whoa! Sorry! Sheesh!" he backed off.

"Ow, that hurt..." I added to the conversation.

"Sorry Pika," he lifted me back onto the desktop, "But this is important!" he began to show the papers to Kim.

"Don't you mean 'fool-proof'," she commented, reading over it.

"No, fail-proof, because it can't fail!" he crossed his arms.

"Hunter, I hate to be the one to tell you, but this plan isn't feasible..."

"What?!"

"It means, it won't work."

He grunted loudly, "I know that! But why?"

"Where are we going to get these supplies? A grappling hook? Lock-picking kit?"

"Sounds dangerous," I commented, reading the hastily scribbled notes over Kim's shoulder.

"More like suicide... I think I have a better idea, Hunter," she handed back his papers.

"Like what?" he asked indignantly.

"First, we need to figure out where he's holding Matt."

"Duh, in the Team Rocket HQ."

"We don't know that for sure," Kim pulled a tiny pokéball from her pocket, "So that's why I'm sending Gusty to check it out," she pressed the white button and it grew to normal size. She pointed it at the ground, it opened, and a pidgey came out. Hunter ducked as it flew around him and came to a rest on Kim's shoulder.

"Oooh! A pidgey!" he melodramatically covered his face with his hands and trembled, "Giovanni will be sorry he messed with us!"

Kim ignored this sarcastic comment and talked to her small pokémon, "Okay Gusty, I need you to fly over to Team Rocket Enterprises Skyscraper, in Viridian City, and see if you can find where Matt is being held," she explained, as she walked towards the front door and opened it, "Good luck!" she called as Gusty flew off her shoulder.

"Now what?" Hunter crossed his arms, "We wait?"

"No, we plan," Kim answered, "Let's assemble some pokémon rescue recruits!"

"That is the hokiest thing I ever heard of."

"It is not hokey!"

"You're right, the pidgey was hokier!"

"Hokier isn't even a word, Hunter!"

My ears were growing tired of their arguing. Things were bad enough with Matt gone - he usually helped settle these kinds of problems, "Stop it!" I finally said. Surprised by my outburst, they looked at me.

"I'm sorry, but I can't stand this. We need to work together. Ivy and I would be glad to help in any way we can."

"Saur, Ivy-Ivy!" she agreed with me, "Saur ivy saursaur, Ivysaur." she said to Hunter, anger in her tone.

"You're right, Ivy," Hunter admitted, "I'm sorry Kim."

"That's alright. Let's head over to the pokémon room and see who's up for an adventure."

* * *

An hour later, Kim and Hunter had finally decided on which six pokémon were to accompany us on our rescue mission. Kim had chosen three of her personal pokémon: two twin spinaraks and a ditto. Hunter had chosen three abandoned pokémon (because he had forgotten the rest of his pokéballs at home on his dresser) from the center: a doduo, a geodude, and a rattata. I guess he hadn't figured that he would need pokémon in his "plan".

It took a bit of arguing from Ivy and me, but we finally convinced Kim and Hunter that we should go too. I just couldn't stay behind knowing that all my friends would in danger.

"Okay, time to check the supply list," Kim handed it to Hunter.

"Fine..." it seemed he had given up arguing his crazy ideas - which he knew full well wouldn't work unless James Bond or Jim Phelps lead the mission - and had been helping Kim formulate a more reasonable one, "... Pokémon and pokéballs?"

They examined their trainer belts making sure each ball was secure. Hunter had amassed some hodge-podge Team Rocket grunt uniforms: black pants, shirts with scarlet "R"s double-side taped (***A/N - Gotta love double-sided tape!***) to the front, black rubber boots and gloves (from the janitor's closet), and two floppy black hats which shadowed their faces when they wore them.

"Check," Kim replied, placing the hat on her head, and watching in the mirror to make sure everything looked tidy. Hunter made a mark on the paper.

"Costumes?" Hunter read as he also took a look in the full-length hall mirror - he looked pretty cool - for a lousy, good-for-nothing, Team Rocket jerkoid, that is, he thought to himself.

"Check."

"Map?"

She held it up, "Check."

"Fake documents?"

She grabbed a manilla folder from the chair in the hallway, "Check."

"Luck?" he asked, half in fear - half sarcasm.

She smiled, "Not luck, Skills. That's all we'll need."

Hunter set down the clipboard on the chair just as someone tapped on the door, "What's that?" My muscles tensed. It seemed every time someone was at the door, it was always bad news.

"I'll get it," Kim answered the door.

We turned to see who it was, but couldn't see anyone besides Kim in the doorway. She quickly shut the door and started back to us, a pidgey now perched on her shoulder.

"Oh... it's just Gusty," I sighed heavily.

Gusty looked winded. She must have been flying for all of the afternoon. The sun had just set, so we were glad she made it back while there was still light. We hurried into the kitchen and gathered around the counter to hear her report. Or, rather, me translate her report as she told Kim. That way, Hunter would understand as well.

She rested on the counter for a minute and had a bite to eat before she gave us the news. She turned towards Kim and began to chirp away. Flapping her wings during the exciting parts of the conversation. Ivy sat next to me and listened patiently to the tiny bird.

"Okay, first of all, Matt is being held at the Team Rocket HQ." I said.

Hunter immediately responded with an, "I told you so."

Kim ignored him and continued to listen with interest to her feathery friend.

"A-hem!" I began to translate again, "She says we should not go in the main entrance, but there is a special back way used by the Team Rocket members that we can use. It's guarded, but if you give them the password, they'll let you in..."

"Which is?" Hunter interrupted again.

"Pjoou-joou!" Gusty answered..

"Vanilla Gorilla?" I commented.

"That is really lame - even for Team Rocket," Matt added, no one disagreed.

"Back to the subject," Kim said, "Anything else we need to know, Gusty?"

She began to chirp some more, "She says that everyone is on the lookout for kids matching our description. Also, Giovanni's office is somewhere in the top floors, but she's not sure. We should send a scout in to figure it out."

"Thanks a lot, Gusty," Kim gently scratched her neck and Gusty chirped happily.

"Now that were done with that, are we ready? It's already 7:00pm!" Hunter complained.

"Yes... Ivy, Pika, are you guys ready?" We nodded in unison, "Then let's go team! For Matt! And PikaPals!"

"Right!" we answered her, and our enthuastic band left Pika Pals.

"Watch the center while we're gone, Gusty. We're counting on you!" Kim called back to her as she locked and shut the front door.

End of Chapter 4