Pokémon - The Journey Begins
Chapter 23: Escape!
Matt was pacing around in his cell, bored. For he along with Lizzie and Jordan had been Team Rocket's prisoners for the past two days, and he was starting to get very frustrated. Lizzie was no longer unconscious, but because of her injuries, was forced to rest.
"Matt, please, stop pacing around like that," Lizzie quietly said, "you're starting to make me nervous."
Matt shot a look at Lizzie. "I'm not doing this to make YOU nervous, I'm just completely ticked off at Team Rocket. They have gone way too far this time..."
"There's no way to get out of here?" Lizzie asked.
"I've looked and thought of many things the past couple of days, and I really don't think that there's anyway out. There's no books, no beds, no windows, just a couple of stones. And geez, I want Arrmun here right now, I want to punch his lights out."
"Calm down, please..." Lizzie rubbed her head.
"Don't tell me to calm down, Lizzie. I don't know how you can be so calm during such an intense situation." He sat down across from Lizzie, shaking his head. "Are we ever going to get out of here...and are we ever going to see our Pokémon again?"
* * *
Jordan looked around outside his cell. He wasn't exactly sure, but he believed that in the distance he saw on top of a large desk some racks which conained Pokéballs along with Greatballs. "Those must be where Matt's and Lizzie's Pokémon are." He stood up to take a closer look. On top of one of the desks was what appeared to be a Pokédex. Jordan grinned slightly. "The only person I know with a Pokédex is Matt. Perhaps if I could can get my hands on that, then perhaps I could get some of his Pokémon to co-operate with me."
Suddenly nearby, there was a very large squeaking sound of a steel door opening, followed with a loud slam. Footsteps could be heard, as once again Arrmun appeared in front of Jordon's cell. "Thinking of a plan to escape?" he asked. "If you are, forget it. There possibly couldn't be a way out of here."
"Come over here and say that," Jordan dared, snickering.
"If you're thinking of that old pathetic cliché, then forget it. Nothing that weak will work against me." Arrmun turned his back to Jordan, and began examining some of the Pokéballs on top of the desk. He examined each one, then placed them back from where he picked them up.
"You're such a coward," Jordan muttered. "You never were much without the financial and up-front support by Team Rocket. The only reason we're here is because you're with then. Regardless of what supports you, deep inside you are still a petty thief; good for absolutely nothing. You are weak."
Arrmun's eyes widened, as he turned around slowly. "What did you just say?!" He then took a few steps closer towards the prison cell.
"You heard me..."
"Weak? Peh!" Arrmun took a few more steps closer to Jordan. "I still believe that you don't realize the seriousness of the situation you've found yourself in. Blurting out continuous remarks is almost asking to be killed. Are you asking to be killed?" What Arrmun didn't realize is that he was closer to the prison cell than he originally wished to be.
Jordan smirked, and gripped his two hands tightly behind Arrmun's head. "You really are just an idiot." With that, he brought up his knee which fortunately was able to fit through the prison bars. It was brought up and connected hard to Arrmun's nose. Jordan then freed his left hand, created a fist, and launched it forward, connecting it violently to Arrmun's face. The impact sent Arrmun tumbling back into the desk behind him, then repelling off of it and crashing right in front of the prison cell. He then heard a slight jingle as Arrmun hit the ground. "Keys!"
Jordan pulled Arrmun as close as possible to search him, before picking up a set. "You are stupid. Perhaps you were eventually planning on unlocking us and taking you to your leader, perhaps? Regardless, it's careless, and now we're going to escape." He grinned.
Jordan looked for a keyhole, and found it on the outside of the door. He tried each key, one after enougher, eventually unlocking it. Slowly and quietly, Jordan slid the door open, tossed Arrmun into the cell, then locked it with him inside, and Jordan outside. "Nighty-night." Jordan looked around the large, dark room, and found Matt's and Lizzie's backpacks. He took the Pokéballs on the shelf and shoved all of them into one. "Sorry about this guys, I have no time to find out whose is whose here..." He then zipped up both backpacks, putting one on his back, and holding the other one in his hand. He then started to look for Matt and Lizzie's cell.
Matt, bored, sat down and began thinking outloud to himself. "Arrmun...hurry and come down here so I can kill you..."
"Matt, stop it!" Lizzie yelled. "You're really starting to creep me out here!"
"I...I'm sorry..." Matt said. "I'll just shut up now. I've only been upsetting you lately." He then heard footsteps as Matt raised his head. "Ha...I knew he'd come." Matt started tapping his left fist into his right palm. "Payback..." He then pulled himself to his feet and approached the cell.
"Matt, don't. Please, stop it..."
Jordan then walked up to the cell as Matt was winding up for a punch. "Hey!" Jordan said, as Matt dropped his fist. "What the...were you gonna hit me?"
"Yikes!" Matt dropped his fist, as suddenly for the first time in days a smile appeared on his face. "Jordan! How did you get out!"
"Jordan!" Lizzie said, also smiling while pulling herself to her feet.
"Shh..." Jordan replied, putting a finger to his lip. "We have to be quiet; once they figure out that Arrmun won't be returning, they'll get a little bit worried." He then tried certain keys to the lock, as he eventually managed to unlock it open. "I brought both your backpacks." He returned them to their owners.
Lizzie opened hers and searched around frantically. She found her extra sets of clothing, and her sleeping bag, but found no Pokéballs.. "My Pokémon aren't in here..."
"Funny, because I have way too many in mine," Matt said.
"Sorry, I didn't have time to find out which belonged to which; I don't know exactly how to use the Pokédex. I don't know how much time we have, but if you can do it quickly, then go."
Matt used his Pokédex to figure out which Pokémon belonged to himself, Lizzie and Jordan. It fortunately didn't take as much time as the originally contemplated.
"Great, we're ready, let's go," Jordan said.
"Good. If we see Arrmun on the way, I'll give him my best punch," Matt said, holding his fist high.
"I locked him up," Jordan replied.
"What?" Matt looked at him.
"No need to beat him up, I already messed his face up a little, then I tossed him in the cell."
"So that's how you escaped," Matt muttered. "Damn, I was looking forward to getting him back. But since you got him for me, I guess that's good. He had it coming to him."
"Come on guys, we need to leave now," Lizzie whispered.
"All right, let's go then. It's too risky to go upwards. We should take the emergency exit," Jordan suggested.
"Wouldn't the alarm go off?" Matt asked.
"Possibly. But it's our only way out of here."
"Shh...what's that?" Lizzie asked. Since they had more time to explore the room, near the large steel door, there were several footsteps heard nearby, along with several angry voices.
Matt took out a Pokéball. "Zenigame, come out!" He then opened it at Zenigame appeared, fully energized, although days ago a Thundershock completely wiped him out.
"I knew something was wrong; they're escaping!" somebody called from the stairs.
"Zenigame! Hydro pump!" Squirtle took in a deep breath, then sent forth a mighty stream of water, knocking back some of the Team Rocket members; a chain reaction was caused as many of them collapsed.
"Charizard!" Jordan released a Pokéball. "Flamethrower!"
Pairing itself with Squirtle's massive stream of water, Charizard itself unleashed a powerful, scroching stream of fire. "I...I can't get through!" Smoke began to rise, starting to fog the area a little bit.
"Anybody have a water or rock Pokémon with them?!"
"No, sir!"
"Idiots!"
"Well, then, looks like we'll have to..." before the member was able to finish his sentence, he realized that both water and fire streams were gone. However, the heavy layer of smoke was still there. "What? They're gone!"
"They seemed to have gotten their hands on a smoke bomb."
"Confound it!! Go outside, find them!" Some of the members dashed back through the steel door, while others blindly dashed into the smoke. Some of them collided into walls or desks, and unleashed howls of pain.
"Faster, faster!" Lizzie yelled, with Jordan running beside her. "Matt? Are you still with us?"
"I am!" Matt replied, holding Squirtle close to him. Suddenly, he saw a large rack containing many Pokéballs and stopped to look. "Wow, look at all these Pokéballs."
"We don't have time for this!" Lizzie exclaimed.
"Oh, come on, Lizzie, grab just one!"
"Fine!" Lizzie grabbed a Pokéball at random and tossed it it into her backpack. "Hmm...why not a few more." She then took two more and threw them in.
Matt stopped, took a handfull of Pokéballs, and threw them in his backpack. "This ought to piss them off a little." He then put his backpack back on, grabbed Squirtle and continued running.
A few moments later after dashing through the emergency exit, Matt, Lizzie and Jordan ran outside of the building and continued running passing through a forest. They continued to run blindly through a barrage of trees, before finally stopping, collapsing, hoping that they were safe.
Matt began gasping for breath. "That was unbelieveably close."
"Hey, where are we?" Lizzie asked.
Matt looked around. "I don't recognize this place at all. Well, I do a little bit; that city down there looks familiar." He pulled out his map. "What building did we just run out of?"
Jordan took a look. "Just as I thought. It's Silph Co. That's too bad, it seems that Team Rocket has taken complete control over all of them."
"You're kidding me!" Lizzie replied. "There's only one Silph Co. building in all of Indigo, and that's all the way in Saffron City!"
"What?!" Matt shouted. "They dragged us all the way back here?!"
"Shh! Not so loud!" Lizzie shouted, looking back.
"Guys, deeper into the forest now!" Jordan yelled. "Team Rocket is coming out of the building; move, move!"
Matt picked up Squirtle and began to dash for his life again, with Lizzie and Jordan right behind them.
"How much more do we have to run?!
* * *
Late at night, camp was set up. Another tent was purchased back in Celadon City, and now they were using that for camping. They had to purchase new sleeping bags as well, as those were left behind in the last Team Rocket raid. Matt was tracing on his map with a pencil with a small lamp, giving him at least some form of light.
Lizzie peaked her head out of the tent. "Matt, it's practically midnight. Now come on, come back into the tent; you're going to catch a cold..." Lizzie yawned.
"I'm trying to pinpoint our exact direction. Don't worry, I'll have it figured out in another hour. I have a general idea to where we are," Matt replied, continuing to write on his map. "We're not back in Saffron, I know that much. Perhaps another Silph Co. building was just recently constructed. It looks relatively new."
"Well, your Zenigame is getting lonely sleeping all by himself."
"Take him to bed with you then; I'm trying to figure this out!"
"We can figure it out tomorrow, Matt. Come on. I don't want Team Rocket to find us with that light of yours on."
"Just leave me be! I'm almost done!"
"Fine, knock yourself out." Lizzie then angrily placed her head back into the tent lay herself down with Squirtle and fell asleep.
"At least SOMEBODY is trying to get us back on the right route," Matt muttered, yawning. He looked back at the map and slammed his pencil on it, frustrated. "I have NO idea where we are or WHERE we're going." He sighed, and folded back up his map. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Hey! I forgot to see which Pokémon I took!"
Matt stretched towards his backpack and opened it. He then pulled out the Pokéballs and his Pokédex. He then started to scan all of them. "Pokéball contains...Growlithe," the Pokédex voice replied. Matt grabbed another one. "Pokéball contains...Mankey." Matt grabbed the third one. "Pokéball contains...Abra." Matt grabbed the last one. "Pokéball contains...Seel."
"Awesome stuff," Matt replied. "They're all great Pokémon. I'll add them to my Pokédex." After a few seconds, the Pokéballs transported themselves to Professor Oak's laboratory. Matt smirked. "A Psychic Pokémon would do me good. I think I'll make a switch." Matt entered a few commands which loaded up on a screen his current roster. "No, I'm keeping Zenigame...Pikachu's useful. I like Bulbasaur, and Charmeleon. Hmm...Zubat and Pinsir I haven't really used lately." Matt thought hard. "Zubat could locate the gym for us, and Pinsir doesn't really evolve. I think he should go back for a little bit." Matt entered a few commands as Pinsir's Pokéball was switched with Abra's.
"A Psychic Pokémon. One of the strongest types. A little bit overrated, but, it should still come in handy. All right, I've found our way back. Time to sleep." Matt crawled into his sleeping bag, and fell asleep in only a few minutes.
* * *
In a dark office, a man of important stature slammed his fists violently on his desk in frustration. He was dressed entirely in black; his black hair used gel, to keep it flat and smooth. His eyes were also black, and somewhat mesmerizing, like a dark, bottomless pit. "This is the fifth time that they have done this to you, Arrmun! And to think an elite member outsmarted by a couple of teenagers!"
"But...sir...please..." Arrmun stammered.
"Yes?"
"One of them was an ex-member of the Elite Four! He, he--"
"Obviously, he pulled a cheap trick on you. I have told you SEVERAL times to watch your ego! I did tell you that, did I not?! Your poor display of judgment has greatly soiled the great pride of Team Rocket! You have greatly embarrassed your name, the names of your fellow members around you, and most importantly, MY name! My name is the one which is to strike fear in the hearts of my opponents, and when this gets out that one of my trusted elite members was foiled by the inability to control his emotions, then I will be the laughingstock of the entire world! Is this what you really want, Arrmun?!"
"Sir, please, these kids aren't your average Pokémon trainers. These trainers are actually tough. They have phoenomenal Pokémon. One of them even has a Legendary Bird!"
Giovanni's eyes widened. "Legendary Bird? Articuno?!"
Arrmun nodded. "Yes, sir."
Giovanni pounded his fists on his desk again. "So, one of them stole our Articuno, the one that we fought so hard to get..."
"Well, sir, if I may..."
"Yes?"
"Well, it IS an Articuno, but, it's not Legendary."
"What?"
"The Legendary Articuno is practically impossible to capture. The Articuno that they have isn't legendary, it's just rare."
"I see. Very well, off with you."
Arrmun turned his back and began to leave.
"No, wait," Giovanni called out.
Arrmun turned around. "Yes, sir?"
"I strongly recommend that you use better judgment when you go out after them again." He frowned, and turned around in his dark, leather chair. "If you fail me one more time, your promotion will be cut, and you will be sentenced to cafeteria work. Don't forget, Arrmun, I was the one that made you. I can just as easily destroy you. Understood?"
"But, sir, I--"
"Is THAT understood?!"
"Y-yes sir." He then bowed, and turned around, leaving the office as the doors closed behind him. "I can't afford getting brought back down; I've worked so hard to get this far. If I get brought down again, I will be unable to support my brother, not to mention myself." He then pictured Matt's face in his mind. He formed a fist and shook it. "That little cretin. He and his group of friends have beaten me so many times, it frustrates me to no limit. Could...could it be that he has better Pokémon than I do? Does he have a better training method than I do? Or am I just bad?" Arrmun walked off in the dark hallway.
Arrmun walked into his bedroom and picked up a picture of his younger brother. He smiled. "This would be just his first year of high school. He has excellent computer skills; he's even been known for hacking. He could be of use to us, but I don't want him to be dragged down the same path as me. I don't want him to have to sacrifice his entire life to Giovanni." He put the picture down.
"Watch out, Matt." Arrmun clenched a fist. "From now on, things are going to get much, much more difficult...for both of us...."
TO BE CONTINUED.
Chapter 23: Escape!
Matt was pacing around in his cell, bored. For he along with Lizzie and Jordan had been Team Rocket's prisoners for the past two days, and he was starting to get very frustrated. Lizzie was no longer unconscious, but because of her injuries, was forced to rest.
"Matt, please, stop pacing around like that," Lizzie quietly said, "you're starting to make me nervous."
Matt shot a look at Lizzie. "I'm not doing this to make YOU nervous, I'm just completely ticked off at Team Rocket. They have gone way too far this time..."
"There's no way to get out of here?" Lizzie asked.
"I've looked and thought of many things the past couple of days, and I really don't think that there's anyway out. There's no books, no beds, no windows, just a couple of stones. And geez, I want Arrmun here right now, I want to punch his lights out."
"Calm down, please..." Lizzie rubbed her head.
"Don't tell me to calm down, Lizzie. I don't know how you can be so calm during such an intense situation." He sat down across from Lizzie, shaking his head. "Are we ever going to get out of here...and are we ever going to see our Pokémon again?"
* * *
Jordan looked around outside his cell. He wasn't exactly sure, but he believed that in the distance he saw on top of a large desk some racks which conained Pokéballs along with Greatballs. "Those must be where Matt's and Lizzie's Pokémon are." He stood up to take a closer look. On top of one of the desks was what appeared to be a Pokédex. Jordan grinned slightly. "The only person I know with a Pokédex is Matt. Perhaps if I could can get my hands on that, then perhaps I could get some of his Pokémon to co-operate with me."
Suddenly nearby, there was a very large squeaking sound of a steel door opening, followed with a loud slam. Footsteps could be heard, as once again Arrmun appeared in front of Jordon's cell. "Thinking of a plan to escape?" he asked. "If you are, forget it. There possibly couldn't be a way out of here."
"Come over here and say that," Jordan dared, snickering.
"If you're thinking of that old pathetic cliché, then forget it. Nothing that weak will work against me." Arrmun turned his back to Jordan, and began examining some of the Pokéballs on top of the desk. He examined each one, then placed them back from where he picked them up.
"You're such a coward," Jordan muttered. "You never were much without the financial and up-front support by Team Rocket. The only reason we're here is because you're with then. Regardless of what supports you, deep inside you are still a petty thief; good for absolutely nothing. You are weak."
Arrmun's eyes widened, as he turned around slowly. "What did you just say?!" He then took a few steps closer towards the prison cell.
"You heard me..."
"Weak? Peh!" Arrmun took a few more steps closer to Jordan. "I still believe that you don't realize the seriousness of the situation you've found yourself in. Blurting out continuous remarks is almost asking to be killed. Are you asking to be killed?" What Arrmun didn't realize is that he was closer to the prison cell than he originally wished to be.
Jordan smirked, and gripped his two hands tightly behind Arrmun's head. "You really are just an idiot." With that, he brought up his knee which fortunately was able to fit through the prison bars. It was brought up and connected hard to Arrmun's nose. Jordan then freed his left hand, created a fist, and launched it forward, connecting it violently to Arrmun's face. The impact sent Arrmun tumbling back into the desk behind him, then repelling off of it and crashing right in front of the prison cell. He then heard a slight jingle as Arrmun hit the ground. "Keys!"
Jordan pulled Arrmun as close as possible to search him, before picking up a set. "You are stupid. Perhaps you were eventually planning on unlocking us and taking you to your leader, perhaps? Regardless, it's careless, and now we're going to escape." He grinned.
Jordan looked for a keyhole, and found it on the outside of the door. He tried each key, one after enougher, eventually unlocking it. Slowly and quietly, Jordan slid the door open, tossed Arrmun into the cell, then locked it with him inside, and Jordan outside. "Nighty-night." Jordan looked around the large, dark room, and found Matt's and Lizzie's backpacks. He took the Pokéballs on the shelf and shoved all of them into one. "Sorry about this guys, I have no time to find out whose is whose here..." He then zipped up both backpacks, putting one on his back, and holding the other one in his hand. He then started to look for Matt and Lizzie's cell.
Matt, bored, sat down and began thinking outloud to himself. "Arrmun...hurry and come down here so I can kill you..."
"Matt, stop it!" Lizzie yelled. "You're really starting to creep me out here!"
"I...I'm sorry..." Matt said. "I'll just shut up now. I've only been upsetting you lately." He then heard footsteps as Matt raised his head. "Ha...I knew he'd come." Matt started tapping his left fist into his right palm. "Payback..." He then pulled himself to his feet and approached the cell.
"Matt, don't. Please, stop it..."
Jordan then walked up to the cell as Matt was winding up for a punch. "Hey!" Jordan said, as Matt dropped his fist. "What the...were you gonna hit me?"
"Yikes!" Matt dropped his fist, as suddenly for the first time in days a smile appeared on his face. "Jordan! How did you get out!"
"Jordan!" Lizzie said, also smiling while pulling herself to her feet.
"Shh..." Jordan replied, putting a finger to his lip. "We have to be quiet; once they figure out that Arrmun won't be returning, they'll get a little bit worried." He then tried certain keys to the lock, as he eventually managed to unlock it open. "I brought both your backpacks." He returned them to their owners.
Lizzie opened hers and searched around frantically. She found her extra sets of clothing, and her sleeping bag, but found no Pokéballs.. "My Pokémon aren't in here..."
"Funny, because I have way too many in mine," Matt said.
"Sorry, I didn't have time to find out which belonged to which; I don't know exactly how to use the Pokédex. I don't know how much time we have, but if you can do it quickly, then go."
Matt used his Pokédex to figure out which Pokémon belonged to himself, Lizzie and Jordan. It fortunately didn't take as much time as the originally contemplated.
"Great, we're ready, let's go," Jordan said.
"Good. If we see Arrmun on the way, I'll give him my best punch," Matt said, holding his fist high.
"I locked him up," Jordan replied.
"What?" Matt looked at him.
"No need to beat him up, I already messed his face up a little, then I tossed him in the cell."
"So that's how you escaped," Matt muttered. "Damn, I was looking forward to getting him back. But since you got him for me, I guess that's good. He had it coming to him."
"Come on guys, we need to leave now," Lizzie whispered.
"All right, let's go then. It's too risky to go upwards. We should take the emergency exit," Jordan suggested.
"Wouldn't the alarm go off?" Matt asked.
"Possibly. But it's our only way out of here."
"Shh...what's that?" Lizzie asked. Since they had more time to explore the room, near the large steel door, there were several footsteps heard nearby, along with several angry voices.
Matt took out a Pokéball. "Zenigame, come out!" He then opened it at Zenigame appeared, fully energized, although days ago a Thundershock completely wiped him out.
"I knew something was wrong; they're escaping!" somebody called from the stairs.
"Zenigame! Hydro pump!" Squirtle took in a deep breath, then sent forth a mighty stream of water, knocking back some of the Team Rocket members; a chain reaction was caused as many of them collapsed.
"Charizard!" Jordan released a Pokéball. "Flamethrower!"
Pairing itself with Squirtle's massive stream of water, Charizard itself unleashed a powerful, scroching stream of fire. "I...I can't get through!" Smoke began to rise, starting to fog the area a little bit.
"Anybody have a water or rock Pokémon with them?!"
"No, sir!"
"Idiots!"
"Well, then, looks like we'll have to..." before the member was able to finish his sentence, he realized that both water and fire streams were gone. However, the heavy layer of smoke was still there. "What? They're gone!"
"They seemed to have gotten their hands on a smoke bomb."
"Confound it!! Go outside, find them!" Some of the members dashed back through the steel door, while others blindly dashed into the smoke. Some of them collided into walls or desks, and unleashed howls of pain.
"Faster, faster!" Lizzie yelled, with Jordan running beside her. "Matt? Are you still with us?"
"I am!" Matt replied, holding Squirtle close to him. Suddenly, he saw a large rack containing many Pokéballs and stopped to look. "Wow, look at all these Pokéballs."
"We don't have time for this!" Lizzie exclaimed.
"Oh, come on, Lizzie, grab just one!"
"Fine!" Lizzie grabbed a Pokéball at random and tossed it it into her backpack. "Hmm...why not a few more." She then took two more and threw them in.
Matt stopped, took a handfull of Pokéballs, and threw them in his backpack. "This ought to piss them off a little." He then put his backpack back on, grabbed Squirtle and continued running.
A few moments later after dashing through the emergency exit, Matt, Lizzie and Jordan ran outside of the building and continued running passing through a forest. They continued to run blindly through a barrage of trees, before finally stopping, collapsing, hoping that they were safe.
Matt began gasping for breath. "That was unbelieveably close."
"Hey, where are we?" Lizzie asked.
Matt looked around. "I don't recognize this place at all. Well, I do a little bit; that city down there looks familiar." He pulled out his map. "What building did we just run out of?"
Jordan took a look. "Just as I thought. It's Silph Co. That's too bad, it seems that Team Rocket has taken complete control over all of them."
"You're kidding me!" Lizzie replied. "There's only one Silph Co. building in all of Indigo, and that's all the way in Saffron City!"
"What?!" Matt shouted. "They dragged us all the way back here?!"
"Shh! Not so loud!" Lizzie shouted, looking back.
"Guys, deeper into the forest now!" Jordan yelled. "Team Rocket is coming out of the building; move, move!"
Matt picked up Squirtle and began to dash for his life again, with Lizzie and Jordan right behind them.
"How much more do we have to run?!
* * *
Late at night, camp was set up. Another tent was purchased back in Celadon City, and now they were using that for camping. They had to purchase new sleeping bags as well, as those were left behind in the last Team Rocket raid. Matt was tracing on his map with a pencil with a small lamp, giving him at least some form of light.
Lizzie peaked her head out of the tent. "Matt, it's practically midnight. Now come on, come back into the tent; you're going to catch a cold..." Lizzie yawned.
"I'm trying to pinpoint our exact direction. Don't worry, I'll have it figured out in another hour. I have a general idea to where we are," Matt replied, continuing to write on his map. "We're not back in Saffron, I know that much. Perhaps another Silph Co. building was just recently constructed. It looks relatively new."
"Well, your Zenigame is getting lonely sleeping all by himself."
"Take him to bed with you then; I'm trying to figure this out!"
"We can figure it out tomorrow, Matt. Come on. I don't want Team Rocket to find us with that light of yours on."
"Just leave me be! I'm almost done!"
"Fine, knock yourself out." Lizzie then angrily placed her head back into the tent lay herself down with Squirtle and fell asleep.
"At least SOMEBODY is trying to get us back on the right route," Matt muttered, yawning. He looked back at the map and slammed his pencil on it, frustrated. "I have NO idea where we are or WHERE we're going." He sighed, and folded back up his map. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Hey! I forgot to see which Pokémon I took!"
Matt stretched towards his backpack and opened it. He then pulled out the Pokéballs and his Pokédex. He then started to scan all of them. "Pokéball contains...Growlithe," the Pokédex voice replied. Matt grabbed another one. "Pokéball contains...Mankey." Matt grabbed the third one. "Pokéball contains...Abra." Matt grabbed the last one. "Pokéball contains...Seel."
"Awesome stuff," Matt replied. "They're all great Pokémon. I'll add them to my Pokédex." After a few seconds, the Pokéballs transported themselves to Professor Oak's laboratory. Matt smirked. "A Psychic Pokémon would do me good. I think I'll make a switch." Matt entered a few commands which loaded up on a screen his current roster. "No, I'm keeping Zenigame...Pikachu's useful. I like Bulbasaur, and Charmeleon. Hmm...Zubat and Pinsir I haven't really used lately." Matt thought hard. "Zubat could locate the gym for us, and Pinsir doesn't really evolve. I think he should go back for a little bit." Matt entered a few commands as Pinsir's Pokéball was switched with Abra's.
"A Psychic Pokémon. One of the strongest types. A little bit overrated, but, it should still come in handy. All right, I've found our way back. Time to sleep." Matt crawled into his sleeping bag, and fell asleep in only a few minutes.
* * *
In a dark office, a man of important stature slammed his fists violently on his desk in frustration. He was dressed entirely in black; his black hair used gel, to keep it flat and smooth. His eyes were also black, and somewhat mesmerizing, like a dark, bottomless pit. "This is the fifth time that they have done this to you, Arrmun! And to think an elite member outsmarted by a couple of teenagers!"
"But...sir...please..." Arrmun stammered.
"Yes?"
"One of them was an ex-member of the Elite Four! He, he--"
"Obviously, he pulled a cheap trick on you. I have told you SEVERAL times to watch your ego! I did tell you that, did I not?! Your poor display of judgment has greatly soiled the great pride of Team Rocket! You have greatly embarrassed your name, the names of your fellow members around you, and most importantly, MY name! My name is the one which is to strike fear in the hearts of my opponents, and when this gets out that one of my trusted elite members was foiled by the inability to control his emotions, then I will be the laughingstock of the entire world! Is this what you really want, Arrmun?!"
"Sir, please, these kids aren't your average Pokémon trainers. These trainers are actually tough. They have phoenomenal Pokémon. One of them even has a Legendary Bird!"
Giovanni's eyes widened. "Legendary Bird? Articuno?!"
Arrmun nodded. "Yes, sir."
Giovanni pounded his fists on his desk again. "So, one of them stole our Articuno, the one that we fought so hard to get..."
"Well, sir, if I may..."
"Yes?"
"Well, it IS an Articuno, but, it's not Legendary."
"What?"
"The Legendary Articuno is practically impossible to capture. The Articuno that they have isn't legendary, it's just rare."
"I see. Very well, off with you."
Arrmun turned his back and began to leave.
"No, wait," Giovanni called out.
Arrmun turned around. "Yes, sir?"
"I strongly recommend that you use better judgment when you go out after them again." He frowned, and turned around in his dark, leather chair. "If you fail me one more time, your promotion will be cut, and you will be sentenced to cafeteria work. Don't forget, Arrmun, I was the one that made you. I can just as easily destroy you. Understood?"
"But, sir, I--"
"Is THAT understood?!"
"Y-yes sir." He then bowed, and turned around, leaving the office as the doors closed behind him. "I can't afford getting brought back down; I've worked so hard to get this far. If I get brought down again, I will be unable to support my brother, not to mention myself." He then pictured Matt's face in his mind. He formed a fist and shook it. "That little cretin. He and his group of friends have beaten me so many times, it frustrates me to no limit. Could...could it be that he has better Pokémon than I do? Does he have a better training method than I do? Or am I just bad?" Arrmun walked off in the dark hallway.
Arrmun walked into his bedroom and picked up a picture of his younger brother. He smiled. "This would be just his first year of high school. He has excellent computer skills; he's even been known for hacking. He could be of use to us, but I don't want him to be dragged down the same path as me. I don't want him to have to sacrifice his entire life to Giovanni." He put the picture down.
"Watch out, Matt." Arrmun clenched a fist. "From now on, things are going to get much, much more difficult...for both of us...."
TO BE CONTINUED.
