34
Kohan and Leah, along with Kohan's most powerful Pokémon, ran out of the boat and onto the beach of the first of the two Seafoam Islands. They quickly found their way to some cover so that they would not be seen. After establishing a hiding place just below the radio tower, which is located on the highest mountain on the beach, Leah asked, "Kohan, what are we looking for?"
"I suppose it would be an entrance into the radio tower. Wait. Hold on. What's happening over there?" Kohan whispered as he pointed to a giant rock located directly below the tower. It caught his attention by slowly shaking. As Leah and Kohan silently watched, the boulder began to move to the side of its original position. Before it stopped moving, Kohan and Leah heard a woman's voice coming from behind it.
"You really should have this fixed you dumb-ass."
"And who exactly should I call? The local 'moving boulder mechanic'?" As these words were spoken, two young looking adults stepped out from the cave that had been hidden behind the boulder. From what Kohan could see, they were almost identical. They were the same height, of about a similar weight, and had similar hairstyles.
"Kohan, who are they? Ohh."
"I don't know. Shh. They're talking again."
"…shut the hell up, bitch. Call Boss. He could send someone."
"That's not nice Lanna."
"Uh. Whatever Tico."
"Kohan, unh, could they be the people behind this?"
"Maybe. Hey, what's wrong?"
"Tico, checked that new boat yet?"
"No, Lanna. That's where I'm going."
"I might as well come too, seein' as I'm already out here."
"I'll tell ya later Kohan, let's follow them. Come on guys." Leah motioned to Kohan's Pokémon. He noticed how Leah held herself as she moved away from their spot. She was able to move easier the farther away she went.
"Leah, keep low and far behind them. Don't let 'em out of your sight."
"Why? Aren't you comin' with?"
"The rock hasn't closed. I'm goin' inside. Take a look."
"Kohan, at least take my cell phone. Just in case."
"Ok, thanks. Now go! Alakazam!" Kohan and Alakazam headed off toward and into the cave, soon leaving Leah's sight, and hoping that she was okay.
35
"Come on guy's, before we lose them." Leah and the others took off in pursuit of the mysterious 'twins'. Unbeknownst to Leah, she and her fellow partners had been speaking telepathically since finding the hiding place. All thanks to Newton's powers. It was very tricky to maneuver through the thick brush without bringing notice to herself. Xatu also had trouble, it was not used to walking and crawling instead of flying. Gengar, on the other hand just walked right through the thick leaves. "Oh no, I think we lost them, oh wait. Shh."
"Are we lost you numbskull?"
"No. You just don't go through here very often, so you think it takes longer. We're almost to the beach." He took four more steps, moved a fern leaf out of the way, and looked at Lanna, "See. There it is. The beach and the dock."
"Hey look. He does something right for a change."
"Lanna," He let go of the leaf. "why are you so mean to me? We used to be great friends. We used to do everything together and for each other. You were nice to your baby brother once. What happened?"
"Tico, I grew up. We got jobs with Team Rocket, and we grew up. We have to fend for ourselves now. Childhood is long gone. Now come on, lets get those Pokémon before they sleepwalk again." She moved the leaf to the side and began to walk away. "You remember what happened last time, right?" She quickly moved out of sight with Tico following close behind. "I made you chase them…"
"Guys, how are we going to follow them onto the beach." At first, Leah looked at Gengar. Then she got an idea. "Xatu, fly me up there. Gengar, follow them on the ground." Leah jumped onto Xatu's back, and it stealthily flew into the air. Gengar vanished and left the mini jungle of the island. Meanwhile…
36
"Where the hell do these tunnels lead! Al, they look too new to have been here long, is there some way to analyze their age?"
"Ala?" It shrugged.
"You're no help. Are they the only ones here?" Alakazam stopped to listen for any other noise.
"Ala!" It pointed to itself frantically.
"What are you saying? Do you mean, are there other Pokémon here!
"Ala, ala!"
"So there are no other people, just Pokémon here?"
"Kazam."
"Well." Kohan said as he sat down in the middle of the hallway and crossed his arms and legs. "We could do one of two things. Call Jenny, and the Pirateers, or we could set all of the Pokémon free to exact revenge on their own. The safest and smartest of the two would be to call Jenny. What do you think?" He asked as he looked at Alakazam.
"Ala." It held up its index finger.
"Good idea. Let's find the Pokémon first though. Use teleport." Alakazam leaned over so that it could put its hand on Kohan's shoulder. Then, it closed its eyes, and with a nod of its head, they disappeared.
37
Leah and Xatu flew in wide circles above the now revealed Team Rocket members. They were too high up for Leah to hear or even really see the twins clearly. "Xatu, how is flying this high up supposed to do any good? I mean…" At that moment Xatu took a lightning fast dive toward the beach. "Xatu! What are you doing!"
38
"Here we are. What a shitty boat! Why would anyone travel in this pile of crap?"
"I think it's quite nice for a battle boat."
"Shut up, Tico. Now lets get inside so we can swipe all the lovely, sleeping piles of money that we called Pokémon before the waves wear off."
"Will you need my help, Lanna?"
"Of course I will, you idiot! Come on!" Lanna and Tico made their way on to the deck of the two-person battle boat, while followed by an invisible Gengar, and a silent pair of flyers landed undetected on the top of the cabin.
39
"Oh my Gods. How many Pokémon do they have down here? There must be at least one hundred, if not twice that many. It's a good thing that Leah gave me her cell phone." Kohan dialed the Pirateers closed line and asked them to call Officer Jenny and to head straight over to the island. "Ok, see you in about an hour. Bye. Ala, look at how cramped these Pokémon are in their cages, shouldn't we let them out? I mean, look at the wounds some of them have because their cages are way too small. Maybe I should just let out the Pokémon that have wounds, and then heal them." Kohan thought out loud. He got up and moved to the closest cage. Inside it was a Persian that had been confined in a cage meant for a Poochyena. It had burns from lying in its own waste that had continually opened due to the fact that it kept rubbing against the bars. Kohan opened the door, and it could barely smile. He lifted the poor Pokémon out and laid it on his lap. It tried to stretch its legs, but the wounds covering its body stung too much. Kohan sprayed the Persian with a full bottle of Super Potion. It fell asleep on his lap. He lifted the sedated Pokémon and set hit in the corner of the room away from the cages. "Ala, find out where these Pokémon are from and write it down, and put it around their neck so that we can give them back." Kohan moved to the next cage and opened it.
40
"What the fuck is going on here! There aren't any fucking Pokémon here! There isn't even a human on board! Ok!" Turns to face Tico. "You said there were only a few things that could resist that machine! What were they?"
"Uh, really powerful psychic things."
"More specific!"
"Well, anything that could withstand the ultra powerful psychokinetic hypnosis emitted from a Dro-"
"Whatever! Just think of why there isn't anyone here!"
"Uh. I was."
"Shut up Tico! Just tie up the boat before the current pulls it out to sea. I'm heading back to the hideout. Fix the rock when you come back."
"Oh no." Leah thought to Xatu and Gengar. "They'll run into Kohan if we don't help him." She looked at her Poképals for help. As Leah looked back at Lanna, who was almost to the trees, Gengar disappeared again and flew back to the caves to worn Kohan. "Oh. Good idea. Come on Xatu, let's kick this guy's ass." Leah and Xatu jump to the deck of the boat and see Tico tying the boat to a rock on the beach. As Tico turns around, Leah yells, "Hey! Get the hell off my boat or battle me!"
"Whoa! Where the hell did you come from?" Startled, Tico dropped the rope.
"It doesn't matter! Get off my boat or prepare to battle me!"
"Hey," Tico raises his hands. "I can't. I don't have any Pokémon."
"Fine. Xatu, check him." After Xatu confirms that he has no Pokéballs on him, Tico sits on the edge of the boat to finish tying it up. "Tell me what your doing here"
"My sister and I work for Team Rocket, a secret organization devoted to stealing prized Pokémon for our master, Giovanni. We are in the highest rank because of my genius. He gave us the island when he took it over after we showed him that we were loyal to him."
"So, how do you do it?"
"I rebuilt a machine that harnesses Drowzee's hypnosis so that we could just pick up the Pokémon from the boats. It was Lanna's idea to make something to lure the boats here so that we didn't have to sail out to them. In my opinion, it was the smartest thing she ever thought of."
"Are you two twins?"
"Yes. I look like my mother, with red hair, and she looks like our father. The black hair. That's the only good thing that came from our parents. Hey, why am I telling you my life story?"
"Because you know you can trust me?"
"Maybe? So, how did you escape the hypnosis?"
"I'll tell you after you have been defeated."
"Defeated? There's only one of you and two of us. Although, it will take Lanna a while to realize that I'm not there."
"Why does she treat you so badly?"
"She was born first, so she thinks that gives her the right to boss me around."
"Oh. I know that feeling. So, why don't you have any Pokémon?"
"We left our home before our tenth birthday, so we didn't get our starters. And, Lanna won't let me get a Pokémon. Apparently, she thinks I'll become a better trainer than her. She knows I'm a genius. She can tell that I am a potential Master."
"So, you really want to be something more than you are? You want to leave Team Rocket and become a Pokémon Master?"
"Yeah, I guess I do."
"Then why don't you?"
"Because they would track me down if I left."
"How?"
"Well, Team Rocket has basically the same covert technology that the government has. All it takes are a couple of good spies to find someone. With our specific appearances, we stick out like a sore thumb."
"Then why don't you tell Giovanni, hey, isn't he a Gym Master?"
"Yes. But no one has been smart enough to put two and two together."
"You really want to leave, don't you?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"You wouldn't be telling me all of Team Rocket's secrets like this if you really were a genius. Geniuses don't go around spilling information to anyone without a reason."
"You're one too, aren't you?"
"Yeah, actually, I am."
"How?"
"Electronics. Medicine, though, that's do to my gift."
"Gift?"
"Only my friends know about my gift."
"Oh. You were saying earlier?"
"Why don't you tell Giovanni that you want out? Won't he let you leave?"
"We know too much. He trusts us now, and he owns us, but he feels that as soon as he lets us free, we'll rat him out."
"Haven't you already?"
"Good point. If he didn't know how to track us, we could just leave. I'm frankly surprised he doesn't have us bugged. But, we're two of his top agents; he couldn't afford to lose us. Though, if we did manage to evade him, he'd suffer a serious loss. Oh well, it's not like it's torture. Although, it is torture for the caged Pokémon in the cave."
"What! You have the Pokémon in cages!"
"They won't let us get bigger cages. We did the best we could for them." Tico defended.
"Well, I could tell the horror those Pokémon are in. Tell ya what," Leah stood up and dusted off her pants. "I know most of the Officer Jenny's. How 'bout I cut you a deal. Say that you are arrested, and," Leah cut off Tico's upcoming statement, knowing what he was going to say, "that you cannot be put on bail, but in fact, you could be put on probation and set free. Giovanni will think you are stuck in jail, and he won't be able to break you out seeing as he doesn't know where you are being kept. He also won't send anyone after you because he won't know that you're free. But only if you stay completely out of trouble. They're very strict about the word 'trouble.'"
"Would that work?"
"Well, if it doesn't, and he finds you, you could just say you broke out and that you didn't contact him 'cause you were afraid you would get caught again."
"It couldn't hurt, but I don't think Lanna would go for it. She likes our gig. I wouldn't mind getting out though."
"That would help you get out of jail time. Admitting that you want out." Leah smiled at Tico's hopeful face. "You look like you were dragged into this. It was all her idea huh?"
"Yeah, I never wanted to join. Lanna said it was a good idea. I had always followed her, she was older. She knew better. Not in this case, huh?"
"Nope." She bent over and kissed him on the cheek. "You'll be free soon. Now," She turned toward the cave. "help me and my friends free the Pokémon."
41
"There. All the totally thrashed Pokémon have been temporarily freed from pain. Good thing you guys are constantly getting your asses kicked, huh Al? Or else I wouldn't be carryin' all of these Super Potions. Ok. Jenny and The Pirateers should be here… Hey, do you here someone coming?" Kohan asked as he placed a newly healed Sneasel next to the other sleeping Pokémon.
"Ala!" Alakazam whispered as it got up from Kohan's side.
"Oh crap! Where should we hide! Should we hide? We should fight. Get ready Ala." Alakazam moved to stand between the door and her master. They could hear Lanna's footsteps in the hallway along with her loud voice as she cursed Tico for no apparent reason.
"He thinks he's soo smart just because he knows how to make a computer from scratch. Well that son of a bitch, literally, doesn't know a damn…" Then the door opens. "thing. What the hell are you doing in here? How the hell did you get in here? Get out!"
"How dare you treat Pokémon like this?" Kohan gestures toward the group of sleeping Pokémon in the far corner of the room. "How dare you stick them in cages meant for Pokémon half their sizes! What the hell is wrong with you! Who are you anyway?"
"Who am I? Who the hell are you? If you don't give me your Pokémon and get out of here now, you're gonna get your ass kicked!"
"By whom?"
"By Lanna Hitoma of Team Rocket that's 'whom.'"
"Team Rocket? I thought you disbanded when your leader got his ass kicked by that Ketchum kid?"
"How dare you say that our beloved leader would lose to some insolent kid?"
"Well, seeing as he got arrested for trying to steal, well you know the story. I would think he would have given up, especially when Team Magma and Team Aqua showed up."
"How dare you mention those names to me! I challenge you to a battle! Ampharos, go!"
"Ok! Ala, Fire Punch!"
"Ahh! Hey, try to evade it! No!" Lanna's Ampharos fainted as Alakazam's punch connected with it.
"Uh, ok. Your Pokémon hasn't been trained in a while has it?"
"No! Return! Granbull, g…" The door behind Lanna burst open.
"Lanna! Stop! Don't fight him!"
"Why the fuck not Tico!" Lanna yelled as she turned around to look at him. "Who the hell is she?" Lanna asked as she wiped a tear from her cheek.
"Lanna, we have to stop. Team Rocket is ruining our lives. Lanna, do you remember when we left,"
"Ya."
"How I asked if we were going somewhere better?"
"Ya."
"Was this torture better? Lanna, we were taught to steal the one thing we loved more than our own parents, and you were brainwashed! Look around you Lanna. Look at those poor Pokémon that we hurt. Your Ampharos was KO'd just because you haven't battled another living soul except yourself since we've been stuck out here. Lanna, lets leave. If we don't, the cops on their way here will arrest us. If we give up, they'll let us go sooner. Lanna, we used to be best friends, ever since we joined Team Rocket just so that you could have friends, you've been treating me like shit. Leah and her friend can get us out of Team Rocket. It can go back to the way it was. Please, Lanna, I want friends who won't compete for my position."
"Tico, dammit, it's not that easy. We know too much. Even if we do get out, what'll we do? We never went to high school, and even with your brain, that won't give us a job."
"I have an idea. Ala, Xatu, Gengar, return. I worked for Professor Oak through my probation, maybe that could work for you; it's good for rehabilitation. The cops would allow it, the Prof. has great security."
"Tico, where did you suddenly get this courage to stand up to me like this?"
"Leah showed me that my life could have been soo much better than this. She showed me what I could have done with my knowledge of electronics and things. She told me that what Team Rocket does is not only immoral, but also ruins peoples lives. Lanna, just like Dad ruined Mom and our lives. We have to leave, please Lanna, if you truly love me, as much as you did when we were kids, please, leave with me." Tico took a step toward his sister and held his hand out to her. Lanna looked from her brother, to Leah, and then turned around to look at Kohan and the sleeping and still caged Pokémon. She took a step towards the Pokémon, then spun around and embraced her brother in tears.
"Tico, what have we done? We used to spend our days in our room pretending to be each other's Pokémon. How could I have let this happen to us?" She turned her head back to look at Kohan. "Can he really help us?"
"It's a possibility. You'll have to confess to the cops, as, much as you feel necessary." Kohan shifted and looked at Leah as he scratched his head. "You could still be arrested though. What you did, and kinda are still doing is beyond what I did, and also a felony, they could lock you up for life if they feel like it. But I'm not a lawyer, so I can't tell you exactly what can happen, but if you cooperate, you'll get off easier."
"Kohan, when will Jenny get here?"
"I called them about twenty minutes ago, we should probably go out there and wait for them. It will probably fair better for you two if I tie you up. Cops like cooperators. And people who aren't a threat."
"I will if you will, Lanna."
"…Will they put us away forever?"
"I don't know. But like I said, if you let them arrest you, they might take into account the fact that maybe you're sorry and you might get a lowered sentence. And Professor Oak would do anything for Leah and me. Come on, let's get out there."
"Kohan, I'll stay here and watch the Pokémon."
"Ok. Come here you two." Tico walked to a cabinet and got out two pieces of rope. He walked back to Kohan and turned around. When Kohan had finished, he motioned for Lanna to take Tico's place. She hesitated as she glanced at Leah, but when she saw her nod, Lanna strode over to Kohan with her head held high so that she could look into his eyes.
"This is the right thing?"
"Yes."
"Good. I'm sorry Tico." As she glanced back at Kohan she sent an uppercut right into his gut. "Giovanni will not fall! You will regret this you sorry son of a bitch!" Lanna yelled right into Tico's face, then she rushed right out of the hideout through a hidden door.
"Lanna! Stop! Please. Lanna." Tico collapsed onto his knees and started to sob.
"Kohan! Tico, where did she go!"
"I,…don't knohoho. I'm soo sorry Leah, Kohan. I'm sorry."
"Leah…I'm fine. Go wait for…them."
"Ok. We, did the right thing?"
"We tried to help her. She was too blind to see it. Go."
"Ok."
