Chapter 33
"You wished to see me sir?" asked the scientist.
"Yes. I simply want to find out how our little project is going," the boss returned
calmly.
"Oh, right. Ok. Well, so far, things are going swimmingly, and we should be able to
begin initial tests as early as tomorrow morning."
"Excellent! And how about our field rockets? Are they still giving…'feedback'?"
"Yes, but unfortunately, the flow is significantly less than we had anticipated.
Although the test should be ready for tomorrow, the rest of the experiment will take
far longer than we had originally estimated."
"Right. There is nothing you can do about this then?"
"…I'm sorry sir."
"Well, I can hardly punish you for this. Besides, you're one of my best workers.
Someday you'll be up to the rank of head lackey in 'r0'."
"Why thank you sir! That means a lot, especially coming from the likes of you!"
"Despite what you might think, I'm a nice guy deep down. Also despite what you
think, kissing up gets you nowhere in life," he closed. As he stopped, the scientist
turned back towards the door, jumping backwards as said door swung open
dramatically, a man barging in, with a piece of paper crumpling up in his hand.
Looking back, the scientist watched as the boss ushered him out of the room, the
second worker stepping forward. He was dressed in a uniform much like the typical
Team Rocket outfit, only designed in silver, with white trim and odd, but minute
patterns running their way up the side of his trouser legs. The tops sleeves had been
rolled up the arm, and the edges rolled, the sleeves themselves simply smoothed
round, resting up at the elbows. The top also had an elaborate color, folded up,
standing as if starched in place, the tips almost covering his ears. His hair was jet
black, short, and scruffily arranged, lightly spiked in places, running down to the base
of his neck at the back, lifted up with gel at the front. His eyes were an eerie blood
red, his expression stern and lifeless, but with a hint of lust in his eye. What this was
for, however, even he did not know.
"05 and 0116 reported back after the raid of the cruise liner, S.S.Aqua…" he began,
simply letting the sheet of paper he held float to the desk in front of the boss.
"…and?" returned the mans superior.
"And unfortunately the mission was unsuccessful in a certain sense."
"In a certain sense?"
"Well, suffice to say that they severely underestimated the abilities of the trainers on
board, and although the helicopter was able to intercept the proceedings, something
on the ship still managed to total it."
"Terrific," scowled the boss, leaning forward, tapping his fingers together tensely.
"The upside is that we secured sample 7Xgy5 once more."
"Superb. We finally have it back…his data shall come in incredibly useful. I'm glad
we have our old friend back…anyway, did they…" the boss faded out.
"Yes, the carrier has been planted."
"Excellent. So, do we know the names of those who resisted on the S.S.Aqua?"
"From what 05 says, he heard the name Setijin mentioned, and he claims that one of
the resistance struck a resemblance to R567," the man explained.
"Good work 02. I'm glad I decided to make you an admin…you don't give me any
grief."
"Much appreciated sir," he replied.
"And at least now I know who's been causing so much of this trouble. This Setijin
seems like quite a character."
"We have a trace on him now," 02 responded emphatically.
"Good, good. I expect him to be in Olivine city, am I right?"
"Perfectly sir."
"You may be excused 02…" the boss finished, standing up out his seat, resting his
hands down on the desk in front of him. 02 nodded in an exaggerated fashion, before
sharply turning and powerfully strutting down the corridor, only disappearing from
sight as the large, thick, double hard wood doors swung shut.
"Welcome Setijin. And good to see you again too Winona," Jasmine of Olivine Gym
invited.
"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Winona conversed.
"It has, yes. So, how did things go in Hoenn?" Jasmine asked, guiding Winona and
Setijin through the long corridor, leading from the entrance to the stadium at the
center of the gym, numerous doors leading to rooms branching out to the sides of the
building.
"Nothing much to write home about," Winona returned sarcastically. "I only got a
Gym leading place and stuff." She turned and grinned as Jasmine's face lit up.
"Congratulations!" she squealed. "So, how long have you been there?"
"Oh a good 4 years now," Winona replied. Jasmine beamed happily as she swerved to
her left, steering the pair behind her into a side room, lavishly furnished. Inside sat a
large cream sofa, with glass topped coffee table, and a worktop at the far end of the
room, fitted with a sink, and armed with a microwave, a kettle and numerous pieces of
crockery and cutlery. The walls were white, as was the thick, lush carpet, looking and
feeling like snow as Setijin waded through it, nervous at the thought of staining it. It
was obviously well looked after. The three sat down. Jasmine at the far end, Winona
in the middle, and Setijin resting in the space left.
"So tell me, what types of pokémon does your gym specialize in?" Setijin interrupted.
"Oh, this gym is renown for its prowess with Steel Type pokémon," Jasmine
explained. "Oh, I'm so sorry…us two talking and we've barely given you an
opportunity to ask anything."
"It's ok," assured Setijin. Jasmine smiled sweetly.
"So anyway, I know what you're here for. You wait here and I'll make sure
everythings ready." Setijin nodded, Jasmine rising up off of the sofa. She paced
towards the door, and slowly opened, brushing off her pert white skirt. As she walked,
her orange shafts of hair, standing side by side on the top of her head swayed
playfully. She gently edged the door shut; Setijin and Winona sliding back down into
the sofa.
"This place is so lush and big," Winona admired. "Wherever I end up, I'll have to
make a place like this…this is just so inviting and…" she trailed off into thought.
"So, how do you know Jasmine then?" Setijin inquired.
"Well, the obvious connection is that we're both gym leaders, but as you can tell, she
didn't know about it…" Winona replied.
"…and?" Setijin urged her on.
"What? Oh sorry, I didn't answer your question…lot on the mind. Anyway, way back
before I became a Gym Leader, I lived here in Olivine City. Me and Jasmine were the
best of friends…almost like sisters."
"Wow. I had no idea that you lived in Johto," Setijin commented with intrigue.
"That's the typical view of gym leaders…no life outside of their gyms," Winona
smiled back. She continued, "Anyway, after getting through school, we started to
separate. We had both really started to get into pokémon, and so I thought I'd take the
'smart step' and enroll in a pokémon academy, while she decided to attempt the
legendary pokémon journey that most trainers end up taking."
"Oh, the whole beat all the gyms thing?" Setijin guessed. Winona nodded in response.
"After two years, I graduated, but heard of Jasmine's progress. As she came back
through Olivine city on her journey, I had discovered that she had gained a lot more
from her experience than I could ever have gotten in school, so once she left town to
continue on her journey, I decided to leave for Hoenn, to start my own pokémon
journey."
"…and so you eventually got through the gyms…"
"Not quite," Winona sighed. "I just didn't have what it took to be a renown traveling
pokémon trainer. I beat the first few gyms, and then stopped in Fortree. I fell in love
with the place, and have rarely been elsewhere since."
"Well, now I know that much more about you," Setijin grinned. Leaning forwards,
crossing his arms on his knees. "So, do you know how Jasmine became Gym leader?"
"I think it was a simple case of ranking…once the cities old leader left, she was the
best person for the job."
"Who was the old leader here then?" Setijin asked enthusiastically.
"The old leader of Olivine City was my father…" she replied. Setijin's face curled
with confusion and surprise, not sure how to react to the information.
"So…what happened…to him?" he asked slowly, his heart and mind hoping with all
their might that he was not doing something that would dig up tortured memories.
"After I left for Hoenn, he moved away to Kanto, and died soon after," she explained
solemnly.
"I'm sorry," Setijin comforted, sliding closer to Winona. He rested his arm around the
back of her neck, cushioning her shoulders. She curled forwards, tears brimming at
the base of her eyes.
"I don't know why I get like this every time I talk about him…" she whimpered,
holding back the tragic tears with every inch of her body. As she talked, she grew
softer and weaker, as if asking Setijin to hold tighter.
"It's only natural," he whispered. She leant her head back, resting it on Setijin's
shoulder.
"I've just always felt that it was because I left that it happened."
"I know it's a cliché, but you shouldn't blame yourself for things like this," he
assured. Winona nodded.
"It's even stranger I feel like this, because I was never that close to him. He typically
spent all of his time in the gym fighting trainers, while I spent all my time with
Jasmine. It took every ounce of every feeling in me to go over to Hoenn alone. All of
me was here, and I just packed it up and left within the blink of an eye." She sniffed
wetly, sloping back off of Setijin's shoulder, wiping away the tears that were almost
formed in her eyes. Her sparkling purple eyes echoed with an innocence that Setijin
had never seen before, as if something had finally opened up after years of being pent
up and locked away from others.
"I was never too close to my parents…" Setijin returned. "I mean look, even now I'm
talking about them as if they are…'gone'."
"It's a horrible thing to look back on; not being close friends with your own mother
and father."
"They always seemed to be more fond of my older brother, probably because he was
another trainer who went off to challenge the league. I was just there. It's like the kind
of things you see in these fairy stories, or movies; kids sitting in their rooms, all
lonely because their parents favor someone else."
"We're they really that bad?" Winona asked.
"Well no…its just feelings like that seem to exaggerate things. It's not as if they
locked me in my room, said they hated me and so on…they just didn't seem to have
anything in common with me. They never really did much with me specifically;
nothing to interest us all. I think it got to the point where no matter what I did; I would
get the same response as last time. That's why I didn't make too much of a fuss when
I told them I was coming here and got little response from them." The two fell silent,
both wallowing in deep, shimmering and spiteful pools of self-pity. The tension in the
room had thickened, both staring down at their feet, all their thoughts slowing to a
halt. With nothing left, they steadily ebbed their views upwards, glancing longingly at
each other, jumping as the door to the room swung open.
"Back!" exclaimed Jasmine gleefully, armed with a traditional red and white
pokéball.
"You wished to see me sir?" asked the scientist.
"Yes. I simply want to find out how our little project is going," the boss returned
calmly.
"Oh, right. Ok. Well, so far, things are going swimmingly, and we should be able to
begin initial tests as early as tomorrow morning."
"Excellent! And how about our field rockets? Are they still giving…'feedback'?"
"Yes, but unfortunately, the flow is significantly less than we had anticipated.
Although the test should be ready for tomorrow, the rest of the experiment will take
far longer than we had originally estimated."
"Right. There is nothing you can do about this then?"
"…I'm sorry sir."
"Well, I can hardly punish you for this. Besides, you're one of my best workers.
Someday you'll be up to the rank of head lackey in 'r0'."
"Why thank you sir! That means a lot, especially coming from the likes of you!"
"Despite what you might think, I'm a nice guy deep down. Also despite what you
think, kissing up gets you nowhere in life," he closed. As he stopped, the scientist
turned back towards the door, jumping backwards as said door swung open
dramatically, a man barging in, with a piece of paper crumpling up in his hand.
Looking back, the scientist watched as the boss ushered him out of the room, the
second worker stepping forward. He was dressed in a uniform much like the typical
Team Rocket outfit, only designed in silver, with white trim and odd, but minute
patterns running their way up the side of his trouser legs. The tops sleeves had been
rolled up the arm, and the edges rolled, the sleeves themselves simply smoothed
round, resting up at the elbows. The top also had an elaborate color, folded up,
standing as if starched in place, the tips almost covering his ears. His hair was jet
black, short, and scruffily arranged, lightly spiked in places, running down to the base
of his neck at the back, lifted up with gel at the front. His eyes were an eerie blood
red, his expression stern and lifeless, but with a hint of lust in his eye. What this was
for, however, even he did not know.
"05 and 0116 reported back after the raid of the cruise liner, S.S.Aqua…" he began,
simply letting the sheet of paper he held float to the desk in front of the boss.
"…and?" returned the mans superior.
"And unfortunately the mission was unsuccessful in a certain sense."
"In a certain sense?"
"Well, suffice to say that they severely underestimated the abilities of the trainers on
board, and although the helicopter was able to intercept the proceedings, something
on the ship still managed to total it."
"Terrific," scowled the boss, leaning forward, tapping his fingers together tensely.
"The upside is that we secured sample 7Xgy5 once more."
"Superb. We finally have it back…his data shall come in incredibly useful. I'm glad
we have our old friend back…anyway, did they…" the boss faded out.
"Yes, the carrier has been planted."
"Excellent. So, do we know the names of those who resisted on the S.S.Aqua?"
"From what 05 says, he heard the name Setijin mentioned, and he claims that one of
the resistance struck a resemblance to R567," the man explained.
"Good work 02. I'm glad I decided to make you an admin…you don't give me any
grief."
"Much appreciated sir," he replied.
"And at least now I know who's been causing so much of this trouble. This Setijin
seems like quite a character."
"We have a trace on him now," 02 responded emphatically.
"Good, good. I expect him to be in Olivine city, am I right?"
"Perfectly sir."
"You may be excused 02…" the boss finished, standing up out his seat, resting his
hands down on the desk in front of him. 02 nodded in an exaggerated fashion, before
sharply turning and powerfully strutting down the corridor, only disappearing from
sight as the large, thick, double hard wood doors swung shut.
"Welcome Setijin. And good to see you again too Winona," Jasmine of Olivine Gym
invited.
"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Winona conversed.
"It has, yes. So, how did things go in Hoenn?" Jasmine asked, guiding Winona and
Setijin through the long corridor, leading from the entrance to the stadium at the
center of the gym, numerous doors leading to rooms branching out to the sides of the
building.
"Nothing much to write home about," Winona returned sarcastically. "I only got a
Gym leading place and stuff." She turned and grinned as Jasmine's face lit up.
"Congratulations!" she squealed. "So, how long have you been there?"
"Oh a good 4 years now," Winona replied. Jasmine beamed happily as she swerved to
her left, steering the pair behind her into a side room, lavishly furnished. Inside sat a
large cream sofa, with glass topped coffee table, and a worktop at the far end of the
room, fitted with a sink, and armed with a microwave, a kettle and numerous pieces of
crockery and cutlery. The walls were white, as was the thick, lush carpet, looking and
feeling like snow as Setijin waded through it, nervous at the thought of staining it. It
was obviously well looked after. The three sat down. Jasmine at the far end, Winona
in the middle, and Setijin resting in the space left.
"So tell me, what types of pokémon does your gym specialize in?" Setijin interrupted.
"Oh, this gym is renown for its prowess with Steel Type pokémon," Jasmine
explained. "Oh, I'm so sorry…us two talking and we've barely given you an
opportunity to ask anything."
"It's ok," assured Setijin. Jasmine smiled sweetly.
"So anyway, I know what you're here for. You wait here and I'll make sure
everythings ready." Setijin nodded, Jasmine rising up off of the sofa. She paced
towards the door, and slowly opened, brushing off her pert white skirt. As she walked,
her orange shafts of hair, standing side by side on the top of her head swayed
playfully. She gently edged the door shut; Setijin and Winona sliding back down into
the sofa.
"This place is so lush and big," Winona admired. "Wherever I end up, I'll have to
make a place like this…this is just so inviting and…" she trailed off into thought.
"So, how do you know Jasmine then?" Setijin inquired.
"Well, the obvious connection is that we're both gym leaders, but as you can tell, she
didn't know about it…" Winona replied.
"…and?" Setijin urged her on.
"What? Oh sorry, I didn't answer your question…lot on the mind. Anyway, way back
before I became a Gym Leader, I lived here in Olivine City. Me and Jasmine were the
best of friends…almost like sisters."
"Wow. I had no idea that you lived in Johto," Setijin commented with intrigue.
"That's the typical view of gym leaders…no life outside of their gyms," Winona
smiled back. She continued, "Anyway, after getting through school, we started to
separate. We had both really started to get into pokémon, and so I thought I'd take the
'smart step' and enroll in a pokémon academy, while she decided to attempt the
legendary pokémon journey that most trainers end up taking."
"Oh, the whole beat all the gyms thing?" Setijin guessed. Winona nodded in response.
"After two years, I graduated, but heard of Jasmine's progress. As she came back
through Olivine city on her journey, I had discovered that she had gained a lot more
from her experience than I could ever have gotten in school, so once she left town to
continue on her journey, I decided to leave for Hoenn, to start my own pokémon
journey."
"…and so you eventually got through the gyms…"
"Not quite," Winona sighed. "I just didn't have what it took to be a renown traveling
pokémon trainer. I beat the first few gyms, and then stopped in Fortree. I fell in love
with the place, and have rarely been elsewhere since."
"Well, now I know that much more about you," Setijin grinned. Leaning forwards,
crossing his arms on his knees. "So, do you know how Jasmine became Gym leader?"
"I think it was a simple case of ranking…once the cities old leader left, she was the
best person for the job."
"Who was the old leader here then?" Setijin asked enthusiastically.
"The old leader of Olivine City was my father…" she replied. Setijin's face curled
with confusion and surprise, not sure how to react to the information.
"So…what happened…to him?" he asked slowly, his heart and mind hoping with all
their might that he was not doing something that would dig up tortured memories.
"After I left for Hoenn, he moved away to Kanto, and died soon after," she explained
solemnly.
"I'm sorry," Setijin comforted, sliding closer to Winona. He rested his arm around the
back of her neck, cushioning her shoulders. She curled forwards, tears brimming at
the base of her eyes.
"I don't know why I get like this every time I talk about him…" she whimpered,
holding back the tragic tears with every inch of her body. As she talked, she grew
softer and weaker, as if asking Setijin to hold tighter.
"It's only natural," he whispered. She leant her head back, resting it on Setijin's
shoulder.
"I've just always felt that it was because I left that it happened."
"I know it's a cliché, but you shouldn't blame yourself for things like this," he
assured. Winona nodded.
"It's even stranger I feel like this, because I was never that close to him. He typically
spent all of his time in the gym fighting trainers, while I spent all my time with
Jasmine. It took every ounce of every feeling in me to go over to Hoenn alone. All of
me was here, and I just packed it up and left within the blink of an eye." She sniffed
wetly, sloping back off of Setijin's shoulder, wiping away the tears that were almost
formed in her eyes. Her sparkling purple eyes echoed with an innocence that Setijin
had never seen before, as if something had finally opened up after years of being pent
up and locked away from others.
"I was never too close to my parents…" Setijin returned. "I mean look, even now I'm
talking about them as if they are…'gone'."
"It's a horrible thing to look back on; not being close friends with your own mother
and father."
"They always seemed to be more fond of my older brother, probably because he was
another trainer who went off to challenge the league. I was just there. It's like the kind
of things you see in these fairy stories, or movies; kids sitting in their rooms, all
lonely because their parents favor someone else."
"We're they really that bad?" Winona asked.
"Well no…its just feelings like that seem to exaggerate things. It's not as if they
locked me in my room, said they hated me and so on…they just didn't seem to have
anything in common with me. They never really did much with me specifically;
nothing to interest us all. I think it got to the point where no matter what I did; I would
get the same response as last time. That's why I didn't make too much of a fuss when
I told them I was coming here and got little response from them." The two fell silent,
both wallowing in deep, shimmering and spiteful pools of self-pity. The tension in the
room had thickened, both staring down at their feet, all their thoughts slowing to a
halt. With nothing left, they steadily ebbed their views upwards, glancing longingly at
each other, jumping as the door to the room swung open.
"Back!" exclaimed Jasmine gleefully, armed with a traditional red and white
pokéball.