"So were you able to think of anything since I left?" Eric asked Mistral, glancing over at her. The busy noises of the floors below had faded to nearly nothing, as night had fallen, and the grunts were getting as much sleep as they could before waking in the early morning to work another grueling day.

"No. I couldn't think of anything. I figure, the safest thing to do, is to let Giovanni let you get back to your Gym Circuit, and get all your badges. When you get the chance, alert law enforcement to Giovanni's position, and when they capture him, you're off the hook," Mistral suggested, shrugging.

"First off, the law enforcement is what i'm trying to avoid, Mistral," Eric muttered, causing Mistral to sigh in frustration. "I was thinking of something better, though, on the way back."

Mistral looked up at him, her eyes wandering momentarily to Slowking, who was having a hearty chat with Mistral's Cyndaquil. "Okay, what'd you have in mind?"

"Completely dissolving Team Rocket," Eric nodded to her in suggestion, folding his arms across his chest.

Mistral gave him a curious look. "How do you plan to pull that off?"

"Turning Giovanni's grunts against him. I've already started, if you haven't noticed," Eric shrugged slightly, heaving a loud yawn. "With Jessie and James. I'm sure there are more grunts that're sick of being treated the way they are. And, if I can get Edd back, it'll be that much easier. I just hope he's okay."

"He's fine," Mistral reassured him. "I saw him the other day. He didn't like the fact that I was part of Team Rocket, or that you became part, but I told him the entire story, and he was alright with it. I'll see if I can get him released."

Eric nodded. "Where would he stay?"

"Cianwood, of course. If he needs to go elsewhere, he has that Pelliper," Mistral yawned, her eyes starting to droop. It was well past midnight, now, and the only people up were them.. and maybe a few other administrators.

"I think I should be able to call Falkner, Bugsy, and Whitney to help out, if their numbers weren't erased from my Pokegear," Eric suggested, rolling up his sleeve, looking at his Pokegear. A few numbers popped up when he selected the phone option:

Edd: 300-23-990 Mistral: 993-154-13 Whitney: 001-348-296 Falkner: 312-450-669 Bugsy: 111-752-015 Eugene: 000-122-94

"Yeah. I've got them. I'll call them up sometime in the future, when I start finding people who'll follow.. I forgot I had Eugene's on here, though. Think I should ring him up?" Eric asked, looking up at Mistral from the Pokegear.

"Well, depends on the situation. If things're getting desperate, you can call him and see if he's in the neighborhood," Mistral shrugged, standing up. She hopped onto Eric's bed, and sighed. "Mind if I crash here tonight?"

Eric glanced back at her. "Not at all. Go ahead."

"Great, because my mattress kills my back." Mistral crawled up to the pillows that had been lined up neatly at the head of the bed, and curled up beneath the covers, closing her eyes. Slowking and Mistral's Cyndaquil finished their chat, when Mistral had clambered into bed, and the Cyndaquil struggled up onto the bed, laying out near Mistral's stomach, and falling asleep. Or was it awake? It was hard to tell, its eyes looked closed all the time.

Eric pulled over a book that he had requested, and looked at the cover. It read, 'Elite Four and the Pokemon League Competition Through The Ages'. It would be good to brush up on some effective strategies for the Pokemon League Competition.. though, as he opened it, he closed it again.

"You're thinking too far ahead of yourself. You have a long ways to go, Eric. Think of this as.. a learning experience. Your joining this accursed cult might get you some powerful Pokemon to use in the future, as much as I hate to say it. Just remember the old saying.. 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer'. And with that, I bid you good night, loving master," Slowking nodded, leaping onto the bed. It took the end across from Mistral, and settled down, closing its eyes.

"I suppose you're right," Eric muttered, standing up, and moving over to the bed. He kicked off his boots and socks.. the cape came off, and the uniform top, throwing them all to the ground. Tommorow was another day, and another mission. He was briefed this time, though, upon his arrival back at the base. Something about Delibird.

-------

The next morning, Eric awoke to the sounds of whispers. He stretched, opening his eyes, looking around the room. He had fogotten to turn off the lights, and they had probably been on all night. Mistral was gone, but there were people in the room.

"Ah, morning, Eric!" Jessie said cheerily, dusting off the gold Persian in the corner. James was busy wiping down the tables, and arranging the magazines neatly.

"You guys are here early.. what time is it?" Eric muttered, rubbing his eyes.

Meowth hopped onto the bed next to Slowking, who was still dead asleep. "Eh? It's about noon. We figured you'd be up by now, so, here we are! I'm watchin' 'em to make sure they don't goof up or anything."

"Thanks.." Eric glanced over to the side. A chair was resting against the wall, with his uniform cleaned.. someone must've come in the middle of the night and washed it. He hopped out of bed (reminding himself that his uniform pants were still on, since they weren't with the clean uniform), and slid on his boots, and uniform. The cape went on last. "So, you three, how do you feel about the boss? I mean, Giovanni?"

James and Jessie seemed to think about this for a moment, and James spoke up first. "Well, we've liked him ever since we joined up, but to be honest, he's a little uptight about failure, and we've failed so many times..." BAM! Jessie smacked him over the head, clenching her free hand into a fist. "Would you be quiet? Aha.. Well, we'd like to get out of here, but the boss has gotten strict on failures and.. well, you know. Hahaha!"

"Yeah.. Well.. I want to dissolve Team Rocket." Eric stretched again, and scratched his side, as if the topic he brought up wasn't such a big deal.

"W-what?" James muttered, looking around as if someone were there that shouldn't be. "You want to dissolve Team Rocket? What for?"

Eric moved over to the table, which Meowth quickly pulled out a chair for him to sit in, which he did. "Er.. thanks.. well, I wasn't made for this whole Team Rocket thing. I mean, the respect is great, and the opportunities to catch rare Pokemon are higher if I stick around, I don't want to stay here forever. So, if I get enough grunts on my side, I want to cast Giovanni off the seat of power, dissolve Team Rocket, set everyone free.. and, if possible, dissolve Team Magma, too. How's the idea sound? You two with me?"

Jessie and James looked at each other in disbelief, considering the possibilities. After a few minutes, they turned their backs to Eric, and huddled up with Meowth, talking amongst themselves. They soon turned back to him. "We've discussed your proposition," Meowth began, hopping up on Jame's shoulder. "And we think that it's a great idea. How're you going to get the popular support?"

"Remember on the helicopter, when we came back from that successful capture round, ALSO defeating law enforcement?" Eric asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"Of course. That was so great.. it felt so good to get out, and win against someone!" Jessie muttered happily, covering her eyes, as if to prevent them from overflowing with tears.

"Well, all the other grunts on that flight were happy too. If I can make them happy.. persuade them to join me.. and overthrow Giovanni.." Eric grinned, leaning back in his seat. "Then I can dissolve Team Rocket. If they stay with me, and not go, i'll also be hunting down Team Magma with Team Rocket's resources."

James and Jessie nodded, looking gleeful. "I like that idea," James grinned, nodding his head several times to add emphasis.

"Now, don't go around telling a whole bunch of people about my plan. Alot of people are fanatics, and would die for Giovanni, so we need to avoid them at all cost. Leave the recruiting to me," Eric nodded. At that moment, he heard the door open, and his heart nearly stopped.. had someone been listening?

"What're you three doing here?" Mistral's voice called from behind Jessie and James. Eric put a hand to his heart, breathing a sigh of relief. It was only Mistral leaving the bathroom. "Would you three get out of here? You've been cleaning since nine!"

Jessie and James looked to Eric, who nodded, and they all crept out of the room, pleased to be let off cleaning duty so early. Eric watched them leave, Meowth closing the door behind them. Mistral had her hair wrapped in a towel, and a towel wrapped tightly around her upper body. She was still wet from taking a shower, but Eric hadn't heard the water running. But there she was, dripping water from her hair, and her shoulders wet, along with her legs.

"I was hoping you'd still be asleep, so I could get dressed," Mistral muttered, walking back into the bathroom, returning with her uniform folded over her arm. "I'm getting dressed, alright? So don't look."

"You could've just gone into the bathroom and gotten dressed," Eric muttered, shaking his head slightly, lowering his head and closing his eyes.

"Yeah, I know, but teasing you is much more fun," Mistral giggled. The sound of wet towels hitting the floor alerted him, and he felt his heart begin to pound faster. There wasn't much sound after that, much to Eric's disappointment, but after a few long minutes, she finally chimed, "Alright! You can look!"

Eric opened his eyes, and nearly flew off his chair. Mistral had either accidentally forgotten her uniform top, or left it off on purpose, because she was without it, and her breasts bounced freely in the air as she crossed the room, messing with her hair. She had put up her hair most of the time, but her hair was out.. she had longer hair than Eric had originally guessed. It reached as far back as her waist, and now that she had washed it thoroughly, looked alot better than when she had it up. "Did you, uh, forget your top?"

"No. I just figured if I was going to tease you, i'd do it right," Mistral shrugged, closing her eyes, taking a brush to her hair. "Besides, it's alot easier to comb your long hair.." she paused as she hit a knot, "if you aren't wearing a top. Besides, you want me to look beautiful for your mission today, right?"

He managed to pull his attention from her chest long enough to look up at her face. Her eyes were still closed, but she was brushing her hair still. "What do you mean?"

"The boss wants me to go as the extra administrator. An extra administrator is an administrator who goes on high level missions, like the one you're going on, incase the main administrator is disabled somehow. That was, the grunts on the mission can still take orders. And you're taking Jessie and James, right?" Mistral asked, opening her eyes, smiling at him.

"Uh.. yeah. I am. Those pair.. I mean.. they're talented, they just need to learn how to.. control Pokemon better, and use their.. type specific.. attacks in battle." Eric continued to get distracted by Mistral's breasts, which bounced slightly as she took a swipe at her hair with her brush. (Narrator's Comment: Hey, it's PG-13. I can do this stuff!)

"Thought so. Well, there are a few new grunts on the helicopter, and they've been mistreated by the other administrators, so it'll be easy to get them into the fight," Mistral nodded, smiling. "Well, i'm done with my hair. Soon as I put it up.."

Eric sniffled in disappointment. "You have to put the rest of the uniform on? Aw, c'mon. I was beginning to enjoy myself here."

"Sorry," Mistral giggled, reaching a hand back to her hair, pulling it up, playing with it. "So, they're not too big or small, are they?"

"N-no. Of course not," Eric muttered. Any excuse to look at breasts was alright with him. After a moment, however, they became hidden beneath the uniform top. "Hey! I wasn't through watching those!"

Mistral grinned over at him, and stood up, pulling on her cape. "If you're lucky, tonight, you might get an encore."

At that moment, another administrator burst in, looking around frantically. Once he found Mistral and Eric (it didn't take long, the room wasn't hard to scan on one end), he rushed over, and saluted him. "Sir! We've got a problem at the other Cianwood base! We need your help!"

"Alright. Where do I go?" Eric asked, standing up. He pocketed his Pokeballs, and clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth, causing Slowking, who at that point was in the process of waking, to leap off the bed, and stand at his side.

"Follow me. Mistral, you should come too," the administrator muttered, leading out the door.

"Wonder what's going on," Mistral blinked. "I hope Edd's alright."

"That's where they're holding Edd?" Eric asked, glancing over at Mistral, who nodded. "Well, damn."

-------

"Jessie, James! Follow me! Mistral, hold the hangar, whoever it is will probably head for there!" Eric ordered, leaving Mistral behind in the hangar with a group of grunts. Slowking also stayed behind. Eric was pretty confident that his little team could take whatever came along. "Now remember, you two. If we have to battle, let out all the stops, use your types best attack, and have them use it as fast as possible."

James nodded, looking back at Meowth, who was struggling to keep up. "Alright."

At that moment, a grunt came flying down at hall towards them, and all three of them stopped. "Okay. Here it is. Summon your Pokemon, you two! Go, Gastly! Meowth, get up in front!"

"Arbok, go!"

"Weezing, let's show them how it's done!"

All four of the Pokemon appeared (Meowth was the only one who didn't come from a Pokeball), and waited for the intruder to appear. A young girl, about Eric's age, stepped from the shadows, followed closely by a large, muscular, sumo wrestler looking Pokemon, with broad arms. She laughed slightly. "Is this the best that Team Rocket can throw at me? A Gastly? If I had a psychic, I could decimate you all.." the girl grinned.

"Do you know who you're talking to?! This is the highest ranking person in Team Rocket, besides our boss! If I were you, i'd surrender now and make it easy!" James growled, balling his hand into a fist, gritting his teeth. Jessie followed the same example.

"Cool it, you two. You can't think straight if you're angry.." Eric brought out both his arms, before putting them back to his side. "What's your motive?"

"You have someone held up here. I was only helping him out," the girl smiled, stretching. The girl was of a slender build.. a similar build to that of Mistral, but this girl was younger, more inexperienced through age, though her Pokemon looked menacing. Her green hair was allowed to hang freely around her head, contrasting her hazel eyes. She wore typical trainer get-up, for exploration in tall grasses. A Pokemon trainer, but what amazed Eric was not only how she got here, but also how she knew this place was even here. "But enough talk. Let's get to the battle. Hariyama, use Arm Thrust!"

The Hariyama squeezed past the girl, and quickly began thrusting its arms out at the Pokemon. The Gastly laughed gleefully, as the attack went through it. The Hariyama realized its attack wasn't effective on the Ghost Pokemon, so it moved on to Arbok.

"It doesen't have much room in this small hall! Jessie, order your Arbok to wrap it up and squeeze it as hard as it can!" Eric commanded. Jessie nodded. "Arbok, Wrap that Pokemon!"

"Chaaabok!" the Pokemon cried, ducking under the powerful arm, wrapping tightly around the Pokemon so it wouldn't be able to move. "Okay, James. You know what to do next," Eric nodded.

"R-right! Weezing, Toxic!" James commanded his Pokemon. The Hariyama was soon covered from head to toe in hissing poison, but the Arbok was unaffected, due to its poisonous nature. The girl's mouth gaped open in utter disbelief, as the Hariyama fell over, a victim to the ever strengethening wrap attack, and poison. It was recalled into its Pokeball, and the Arbok returned to its owner.

"Ahaha! I told you you wouldn't be able to beat him," Edd laughed, moving out from the shadows behind the girl, causing her to jump slightly in alarm. "He's good, and he's a good leader. He knows his Pokemon."

The girl looked from Edd, to Eric and his group. "That's Eric? The one with the cape?" the girl asked, nodding slowly, grinning. "Impressive. You didn't have to use your Pokemon to defeat me. Pretty good."

"You know this woman, Edd?" Eric asked, looking back at Edd.

Edd gave a nod, smiling. "This is my big sister, Kimmy, but I call her Kim. She's been a trainer for seven straight years, and she nearly beat the Pokemon League Competition last year!"

Eric's eyes opened wide, as he took in the girl's details once again. "So THAT was where I recognized her! I remember watching her battle that other trainer on TV. Your Grovyle almost beat that Crobat!"

"You're observant. Well, Eric, now that I know i'm around an ally, how do I get out of this place without getting caught?" Kim asked, putting her hands to her hips, looking him over. "Oh, and the uniform doesen't do the leader persona justice."

"Thanks for the fashion advice," Eric muttered, looking back behind him. He recalled his Gastly, and Jessie and James reluctantly recalled their Pokemon. "Now's not the time to converse about what to wear on the runway. Jessie, James..?"

Jessie and James glanced over at him, looking off-guard, as if not expecting him to talk to them.

"You know this place better than anyone else. Is there any side-exit they can take?" Eric asked them, looking back over his shoulder again.

Jessie poked her chin a few times, before nodding. "Hmm.. There's the one that leads into the sea.. and then there's the solar room.. for the grass type Pokemon that the boss has been raising.."

"Can you get them to the Solar Room from here?" Eric asked.

"Sure. C'mon, James!" Jessie nodded, grabbing James by the earlobe, dragging him off to a door, opening it. "It's down this hall. Follow me, you two! We've got alot of running to do!"

Edd nodded, and gave Eric a thumbs-up, running quickly down the hall. Kimmy made her way over to Eric, moved right up in his face, and smirked. "I'll be seeing you soon, Eric. Expect for us to have a proper battle.. and I intend to win and show you that your lucky streak is just what it is.. lucky.." Her lips brushed against his, and she winked, turning on her heel, and speeding through the open door, down the hall.

Eric stood there alone, bringing a hand to his lips. "Great.. I join Team Rocket, and get another rival.."

-------

Back at the hangar, Eric explained that the intruder had escaped, and about Jessie and James' efforts in battle with a superior Pokemon. The grunts were quite impressed, and accepted that he would make sure to snuff out the intruder personally. Of course, he was lying, but ducks will always follow the mother, so to speak. He never did mention the fact that he had a new rival/love interest. Things were beginning to get confusing, but he had to get his ducks in a row, and focus on dissolving Team Rocket, first.

The trip that day consisted of two stops: first, the Ice Caves. Most of the day was spent hunting Delibird, which went without a hitch, as law enforcement wouldn't dare step into Ice Caves. Not with Fire Pokemon.

The next stop was around sundown.. in Kanto. Eric's first trip to Kanto, it took alot of time (and a stop at Viridian City for refueling) to make it to Mt. Moon. The moon was full, and Clefairy were plenty, as they danced atop the mountain in their usual full moon ritual. Eric was able to make another killer job there, as well, and was earning the trust and respect of the grunts he was working with by commanding them with excellent leadership, skill, and treating them all as equals. They especially enjoyed that.

With his own Clefairy and Delibird in hand, or in the PC if you want to get technical, the troop arrived back at home, where they scattered off to their destinations for the night. It would only take a few more days of successful misisons.. and a bit of word of mouth.. and he would soon be prepared for the dissolve of Team Rocket.

But that wasn't tommorow. And every good trainer needs sleep.

------

End Chapter 16