Chapter 6

Team Rocket's Plight

Disclaimer: Do I look Japanese to you? Wait a sec... You've never seen me before, have you?

"ARRRGH! This just can't be happening! I can't believe this!" Jessie paced back and forth in the small room of the Pokémon Center muttering profanities every few steps, while James and Meowth watched from the bunk beds with worry written on their faces.

"Jessie, maybe you should sit down for a minute..."

"Yeah!" Meowth piped in, "You's gonna' wear a hole in dat' there floor if ya keep that up."

"Shut up Meowth! No one asked you!" Jessie snapped and continued her trek from wall to wall... to wall... to wall...

Brock and Max stood a few feet away, both sporting their own unique weary and annoyed expressions. After everything that happened the past few days, the boys didn't have the patience for dealing with those three. They already had enough to worry about, trying to break the young girl out of her depression, and now these idiots showing up weren't helping. May was off to the side sitting in a chair facing the wall, her hands folded neatly in her lap and her face blank. Her eyes stared off into space, not focusing on anything at all, whether it be a Pokémon or her friends. When Ash had first disappeared, May had been frantic, crying all the time and blaming herself. But when the Police came and talked to the trainers about their latest find, she didn't even react.

Brock was the first to speak, his hand on his forehead. "Look. We had a really long day, and if you don't mind, we'd like to get some rest right now."

"We're not leaving till the twerp shows up with Pikachu."

"Jessie. Please, can't we just—"

"Not now James!" The blue haired Rocket sighed and looked at his small companion.

"What are we gonna do Meowth? We've never lost the twerp's trail like this before." The talking Pokémon shrugged.

"I dunno..."

James huffed. "A lot of help you are."

Meowth glowered at James as he jumped to his feet and started waving his arms in rant similar to Jessie's, "Whad'da you want me ta do! Dance on my tippy toes, say a bunch of hocus pocus, an' make'em magically appear?"

James brought a hand to his chin thoughtfully, "Well, that would be nice."

"I ain't a MAGICIAN!"

"Will you guys knock it off!" Max shouted, exasperated. "Yeesh, they're acting more immature than you, May"

"Yeah..." May nodded before realizing what he said. "Hey!" She glared over her shoulder at her little brother. "You take that back!" she yelled.

Max walked to the corner and glared back, just as intense as his sister. (Which was still pretty goofy and childish) Inwardly, he smiled. It had been too long since he'd last seen her angry. "No. "

May's fierce look began to dwindle as she broke eye contact and let her gaze drift to the floor. "Four-eyes." She mumbled halfheartedly.

"Klutz."

Well that was unexpected. The young coordinator, lifting her head up again, could easily tell that Max was egging her on. The look on his face made it painfully obvious. He'd always smirk and turn his head slightly away after insulting her. Seeing that he was doing exactly that, she decided to end the childish argument in a mature and proper manner.

"Brat!"

"Baby!"

"Hey! Hey! Guys, calm down." Brock put his hands on both siblings' shoulders in a comforting manner. "I know it's been a rough day, and you're both upset and tired," He gestured to the bunks that were currently unoccupied, "So why don't you guys just get some sleep, and I'll talk to Team Rocket." Then, turning to the villains, he made a gesture with his hand to follow. "You three. With me. Now."

Jessie growled and continued pacing. "If you think we're going to listen to you like some kind of..."

"NOW." The tone in his voice surprised even him, especially when all three Rockets followed him out the door without another word.

'Hmm. I should talk like that more often.'

When they finally made their way downstairs into the lobby, Brock plopped down in a chair and began digging in his backpack. After a few moments of silence Jessie couldn't take it anymore. "Just what did you bring us down here for? I'm starting to lose my patience."

"You sure you had any patience ta' begin wit?"

Jessie scowled at Meowth, but before she could speak another word, a small envelope was tossed in her face. She grabbed it, slightly confused, but mostly angry. "What's this?"

"This is why you won't be following us anymore." Brock stated simply. "Open it."

Hesitantly, Jessie opened the paper flap and pulled out the contents. Her eyes scanned the top line and looked at Brock, her brow quirked. "A missing persons report on the twerp? What's this supposed to mean to us? We already know he's not here."

"Just read it."

James and Meowth watched as she slowly took in the words on the paper. Her face turned three shades of blue before resting on pale. "The twerp." She opened her mouth to say more, but nothing came out as she collapsed to her knees, dropping the paper.

"Jessie?"

The group leader stood shakily to her feet, barely able to stand. She looked at Brock, who had anger written plainly on his face. "It wasn't us."

"I know." He smiled slightly. "You're too stupid."

Her face went slowly to red, her voice laced with barely contained rage. "James. Meowth. C'mon... We're leaving."

"Why?"

"We've got a phone call to make."

Domino walked down the brightly lit hallway to the Boss's personal office for her first assignment since her injury.

Her big mistake is more like it. Just thinking the about beating she took made her blood boil for revenge. Oh she knew the old geezer was dead, but she wished that she could've done something to him. But how was she supposed to know that an elderly gondola designer would hit so hard? That was the first time she ever underestimated an opponent. The first, and the last. Snapping out of her thoughts, she looked at the large wooden double doors before her. Two guards stood, one on each side of the doors, with a powerful machine gun in their hands.

"Heh heh."

She groaned inwardly at guards' snickers. She had tried using cosmetics to cover the bruise, but the sheer size of the purple mark on her face just refused to be hidden. The makeup just distorted her appearance, making her look like one of those crazed zombie things in a cheap horror flick.

At least that's what a grunt said during lunch yesterday, before he had an unpleasant encounter with a small metal spoon that sent him on a one way trip to the infirmary. The doctors still haven't found the spoon.

"One more giggle outta your mouths and you'll all be singing soprano for a week while the doctors pick your guns out of your butts." The chuckling guards immediately ceased and returned to their duties, mostly out of fear of the woman in front of them. She was well known for going through with her threats, and they also saw what happened at lunch. "Idiots."

On the wall by one of the sentries was a small blue screen with the outline of a hand. She walked over to it and, after removing a glove, placed her hand in the outline. "Agent nine, Domino, requesting entry."

"Voice print recognized. Beginning scan." The pad began glowing brightly as a small beam of light scanned the prints of her fingers, thumb, and palm. "Fingerprints confirmed. Elite agent 009 Domino. Final code required."

"Oh shove it!"

"Processing... Confirmed."

The large double doors slowly creaked open to reveal a massive office enveloped in darkness. Only a tiny flicker of light from the vid-phone screensaver on the desk was present to combat the shadows. Strangely enough, no matter how hard she searched with her eyes, Giovanni was nowhere to be found. Before she entered the room, she looked at the guard on the left. "Where's the Boss?"

"He'll be here shortly. There was an explosion in the containment cell."

"Did any of them get away?"

The guard shrugged "How the hell should I know? But I'm sure everything's fine. There wasn't much that was said, and there's no alarms going off." He propped his automatic weapon on his shoulder. "Sides', if one did get away, the Boss'd be able to handle it, easy."

She nodded and entered. As soon as she crossed the threshold, the double doors gradually creaked shut behind her, taking with it her only real light. The vid-phone did nothing for the lighting in here.

After a few minutes of standing around and doing nothing, she leisurely made her way to the desk, and upon looking at the screen, realized that there was an incoming call. How long had it been ringing? The thought crossed her mind as she pushed the button to answer it. "What is it?"

"Domino?" Three figures appeared on the vid screen, temporarily blinding her. When her eyes adjusted to the burst of light, she saw a man with icy blue hair accompanied by a flaming redhead and a Meowth... There was something strange about those three. Almost as if she saw them somewhere before. "What the heck are you doing answering the Boss' phone!"

Domino's brows raised in confusion, "Um... Do I know you?"

The redhead looked like she was about to explode. Apparently, she wasn't having the best of days. "Why you self absorbed little blonde b..." The blue haired man quickly whispered something in her ear, preventing her from saying something that she'd later regret. (Though it didn't take a brilliant mind to figure out what she was about to say.) She then sighed, her temper deflated somewhat. "Never mind. Let me talk to the Boss."

"No. He's not here. Besides, only the elite executives are allowed to have access to this line, and I know you aren't."

The redhead sneered, "Well you shouldn't be answering the Boss' personal phone anyways."

Domino shrugged. "He won't mind, especially since he won't have to listen to idiots like you." She didn't know why, but for some strange reason she found great entertainment insulting the redhead.

"Listen you little brown noser, I don't have time for this crap. Now get me the Boss before I really lose my temper!"

"I said no. Look, if you won't give me your names, then just tell me why the hell you're calling. I'll give the Boss the message."

The blue haired guy grabbed the receiver from his hotheaded friend, "That'll be fine. Ask him if any more Team Rocket members were sent to Petalburg City in Hoenn."

"...Petalburg City?" She narrowed her eyes at the three, "Okay, I'm definitely gonna need your ranks and ID numbers. You two had better do it, cause if you don't, I'll put a report in and you'll both be taking a nice long permanent vacation." Both the young adults paled at the threat. Apparently they were stupid beyond normal terms. Anyone with a brain in their head would realize that she couldn't report them if she didn't have any info on them in the first place.

"Hey! What am I? Chopped liver!" Meowth yelled, obviously not getting the threat.

The redhead looked at him incredulously, "You wanna' end up dead too?"

"Uh, on second t'ought, just pretend dat' I didn't say a ting."

Domino sweatdropped. That Pokémon just talked, and not only did it not surprise her in the least, but she had actually expected it to say something. She even expected the bizarre accent of his. She made a quick mental note to stop by a shrink's office after her meeting with Giovanni. The two bickering white-clad Rockets didn't help matters either. Finally, she had enough. "Ok, that's it. After the Boss is through with you idiots, there won't be enough of your bodies left for identification."

"That will be quite enough 009." A voice boomed from behind.

Domino flinched. Looking up, she saw the silhouette of Giovanni himself towering over her. "Sir!" She backed up and bumped the receiver, which hit the floor with a crack. He looked ticked, and that was never a good thing. "I'm sorry sir, but you weren't in here and the phone was ringing off the hook and I..."

Giovanni quickly cut off her babbling with a raised hand. "That's enough." She quickly shut up.

Giovanni sat down in his armchair and shooed Domino away from the desk with a glare, before leaning back and addressing them. "Jessie. James... Meowth." The last one he named as an afterthought. "I told you never to call this line unless there was an emergency or you had information that was in some way vital, so you'd better have a good excuse."

"Not ta worry Boss. It's very important." The Pokémon spoke with a hint of pride.

"Hmph, I'll be the judge of that. Now what do you want? Have you finally completed in setting up a base of operations?"

"Not exactly..."

"And why is that?"

Jessie swallowed slightly and spoke timidly. "Um, well you see... We've been following the twerp and his Pikachu for some time now..."

"The twerp..." Giovanni stroked his chin in thought. "Refresh my memory. What is his name?"

"I-it's Ketchum, sir. Ash Ketchum."

"Ketchum..." Giovanni's Persian slunk into view and sat beside his chair. "Is that the name of the boy who destroyed my gym 5 years ago?" It purred in contentment as he began scratching it behind the ear.

"Yes sir." James squeaked.

"And?"

James rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment and fear. "And well, we kinda lost track of him."

"What's your point?" He growled.

"Da police are saying dat Team Rocket gots something to do with him disappearin'." Meowth piped in.

Giovanni mentally rolled his eyes at their idiocy, "You call my private line for this?" He said, quickly approaching his limit of tolerance. "This matter is of no concern to me as of now, and won't be ever. Now if I get another call from you imbeciles with no progress to report, I will personally hunt you down and skin your hides alive!"

"But- but Boss..." Jessie began.

"No buts!" Giovanni yelled, leaning forward and slamming his fist on the armrest, causing Persian to jump and the three on the sceen to flinch, "Now get out there and do your jobs! I want a Team Rocket base in Hoenn completed by the end of the week. Do I make myself CLEAR?"

"Y-yes-s Boss!"

"Good." Giovanni leaned back into his chair and spoke in a more relaxed tone. "Once the base is completed, I want you three to contact Cassidy..."

"Cassidy!" Jessie interrupted, fuming again.

"Yes. Do not interrupt!"

"Sorry!" Domino raised an eyebrow at James' girlish squeal, though her leader seemed unaffected.

"Contact Cassidy and send her the location. They are currently on an assignment in Hoenn. After they reach the base, I am ordering you three back to Headquarters to deliver your reports on Teams Aqua and Magma personally. Understood?"

"U-understood sir!"

Giovanni immediately ended the call with the press of a button and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Idiots."

Domino stepped forward,"If I may ask, who were those two? Why did they have your private number?" No matter how she tried, she just couldn't shake that creepysense of déjà vu.

"They are former elites, but that is none of your concern." Giovanni pulled a file from his desk and held it out to Domino. "Besides, I believe you are ready for a new assignment."

"Dang. We never got ta tell'im about da jeep." Meowth griped. "An now we gotta base to make by da enda the week!"

"I'm more worried about that report." James plopped on the ground and sighed. "We don't even have a pinch of info to give him, and he wants us to deliver it to him face-to-face!"

Meowth patted him on the shoulder reassuringly. "Don't you woiry about that. We gots a week right? I'm sure dat we'll find some doyt on Aqua and Magma by den."

James looked at the Pokémon hopefully. "You think so?"

Meowth pounded on his furry chest confidently. "I know so! All we hafta do is do a little infiltrating and ease-droppin. In and out. How tough could it be?"

Jessie growled in frustration, catching the attention of her comrades. "What's Cassidy doing in the Hoenn Region? The boss gave this mission to us personally! How dare she try to steal Pikachu from the twerp! That was my privilege and mine alone! I'll bet anything that Cassidy got the twerp! Oh I'll make her pay for taking what was rightfully mine to steal! Take that! And that! And that!" She began taking her anger viciously out on the road by stomping her foot continuously.

After watching her rant like that for several minutes, James spoke. "Think we should stop her?"

Meowth shrugged, "Eh, let'er blow off the steam. If she breaks her foot, I'm sure we'll stay healtier longer."

"True."

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I was going to put a scene with Ash and Latias, but I couldn't find a good place to put it without diverting the main focus off TR. The next chapter will be focused primarily on Ash and his new journey with Latias, so please R&R! Your reviews help inspire me to write and get the chapters out quicker! I want to thank everyone who reviewed in the past. You guys have kept this story alive!