Disclaimer: Welcome to the wonderful world that is Pokémon. Of course everything related to Pokémon is owned and licensed by Nintendo, and I'm sure the author of this story will do his best to treat Nintendo and Pokémon with as much respect as possible. Now, the characters in this story are all original except for professor Oak, Ash, Gary, Misty, Brock, several Jenny's and Joy's and some other weirdo's that wander around in the game and/or series and of course, the Pokémon.

I

Chapter 21 – Rallying up the troops

I

Loud knocking on my door woke me up and saying a bunch of words that would make even sailors blush, I threw my pillow to the door. Mental note: a pillow is soft, a door hard, this has no effect on knocking. I slowly raised my head and opened my eyes to discover I had taken my alarm clock in my hand and was ready to throw. With a sigh I put the clock down and staggered to the door.

"What?" I asked as I pulled the door open.

Lucas held his fist in the air for just a brief second as he looked me up and down. One of the cleaning girls of the Pokécentre (yeah, since I was back in Kanto and out of hiding, I had taken up trainer status again) glanced in my direction with a deep red blush spreading across her cheeks. What? She never seen a guy just out of bed before, or what?

"You're attendance is required in the gym," Lucas calmly said as I glared at him before he turned around to leave.

He suddenly seemed to reconsider and looked back at me.

"Oh, and put some clothes on," he said and then left.

I slammed the door and turned around.

"What did he mean with that?" I wondered out loud, "put some clothes…"

I looked down and understood why that cleaning girl had blushed.

Fuck.

I

When I arrived, Lucas led me to my father's office. Dave, Tom, Max and Dexter where waiting there and said nothing when I took place in my father's chair.

"So? What's first on the agenda?" I asked.

"The search for Mewtwo has of course top priority," Lucas said, "but for the moment I think it's best to focus our attention to the gym."

"How come?"

"Well, as you know, Giovanni was also employed by the Pokémon League as gym leader, and they would like to know if we have already chosen a successor. He, or she of course, will have to pass the required tests, but from what I have heard, you're quite capable of handling Pokémon in battle."

"Those tales are highly exaggerated," I said, "there's no way I'm able to compete with the top players. Besides, I have no interest in running the gym. Let the league choose their own successor."

"Are you sure?" Lucas raised an eyebrow, "the gym has proven to be an excellent cover for Team Rocket in the past."

"There you say it, in the past," I nodded before I leaned forward to look Lucas in the eye, "but not anymore. After this whole thing with Mewtwo, I'm disbanding Team Rocket."

"You're what?"

Dave and Tom could barely keep a smirk from their face and Max nodded, urging me to go on.

"The past year, I've been running away from my past, I admit," I said as I leaned back into the chair, "and I see no reason to stop now. I don't want anything to do with Team Rocket, so after we find Mewtwo, I'm pulling the plug."

"But…"

"Besides," I told him in a matter-of-fact voice, "you said it yourself, the Dark Squad is beating us on several levels. I don't much of enterprising, but I do know it's financial suicide to take over a company that's losing money, not to mention an illegal company. I don't want to go to jail because you want to keep Team Rocket alive. The organisation is dying and you know it."

Lucas opened his mouth to retort, but I cut him off.

"And before you say anything about my father's wishes, we all saw the tape in which he said he didn't care what I did to Team Rocket, meaning he knew it was going down hill and I was gonna cut it loose. So, after all of this, Team Rocket will fade into history as the first organisation to use Pokémon for criminal purposes, but now the Dark Squad can take that dubious honour. Any questions anyone?"

I rested my elbows on the desk as I brought my fingertips together and looked over them around the room. Dexter looked around as well to see the what the reaction was of the others and then shrugged. Lucas sighed and accepted his fate.

"Fine," I continued, "now the future of Team Rocket and the gym are no longer an issue, that leaves us with one last question."

"Unfortunately we have no idea where Mewtwo is," Lucas shrugged, "as we were careful not to tip off the Dark Squad, we had to keep our active search to a minimum."

"That's not the answer to my question," I said.

Lucas looked puzzled and asked me what my question was.

"Well, since no one knows where Mewtwo has been for the past few years, and that we have no apparent leads whatsoever, it would be foolish to chase after a ghost. The only thing we DO know, is that the Dark Squad asked Jaeger to find him."

"So?" Lucas shrugged, "how is that gonna help us?"

Dave suddenly laughed out loud and shook his head.

"Oh, this is a good one," he said, "truly a masterpiece! Way to go, Tony! Now I know why I think you're fucking brilliant."

"I don't get it," Lucas frowned, "what's so funny?"

"In contrary to Mewtwo," Tom explained, "it's easier to find Jaeger. So the real question is, where is Jaeger. If we find him, we're bound to be close to Mewtwo and we'll be able to snatch it away from under his nose."

"It's a long shot," I admitted, "but it's the only one we got."

"Very well," Lucas nodded, "I'll go and tell our guys to get a fix on Jaeger. Oh, on a side note, I think it's best to keep the news of the termination of Team Rocket quiet until we have Mewtwo."

"Fine," I said, but then stopped him when he was about to leave, "no, wait. Dad died because of a possible leak. As long as we don't know if there are any deflectors in our ranks, I think it's best to keep a low profile as much as possible."

"Then how are you gonna find Jaeger?" Max frowned.

"Like I always do," I shrugged as I reached in the pocket of my coat, "I'll wing it."

Maybe Susan could come in hand after all.

I

Susan Jenny had spent the night with her niece, Katie, who was the officer in charge of the Viridian police department, and was ready to go step in a taxi to return to Pewter when I walked up.

"Well, Mr. Hunter," she said with some annoyance in her voice, "to what do I own this questionable pleasure?"

"Well," I said, trying to act casual, "you did say yesterday you wanted to help me, and now I might have something for you."

"What? Team Rocket needs a secretary?"

"Team Rocket isn't an issue here. The Dark Squad is."

She looked at me with suspicion.

"What? You changed sides?"

"No, I'm looking for somebody and I don't know who at Team Rocket I can trust. I want to ask you if you can use your influence with the police to find this man."

"I won't partake in anything illegal," she said, "so this guy you're looking for, better isn't somebody you're gonna rip off."

"Actually, that's exactly what we're gonna do."

"Who's the guy?" she asked as her eyes narrowed.

"Vincent Jaeger."

"Jaeger? What for?"

"We're gonna fuck him over." I grinned.

"Very well, I'll let you know what I find."

I

I entered the gym again and went to the garage in the back. There Lucas had placed my bike he had brought from Cerulean. Next to my bike was a dark shape, stretching as I entered and sat up, waiting for me to make a move. I slowly advanced and sat down on my knees before the Pokémon.

"Hey Prince," I whispered as I rubbed the head of the Persian, "long time no see."

The Persian purred loudly and nuzzled his head against my hand.

"I've got good news," I said, and then shrugged, "well, it's news anyway. This time, I'm taking you with me. And I got other Pokémon."

Persian slightly hissed at me.

"They're not in cages anymore," I assured the Persian, "I carry them around in Pokéballs."

The Persian seemed to nod approvingly.

"Wait, I'll show you," I said as I grabbed one of my Pokéballs.

In a flash of red light, Turtle appeared, who stood ready for action before Prince. The Persian just held his head high in pride.

"Prince, this is Turtle," I introduced the Squirtle, "Turtle, this is Prince, my first Pokémon. He was a gift to me from my father."

Turtle held up his front paw as a greeting, and Prince lowered his head in a bow. Okay, this was going good.

"Fine, now let's go meet the rest of the gang." I said as I called Turtle back.

I

I arrived about an hour later at Pewter, closely followed by Prince. I had decided to walk, since I didn't want to capture Prince in a Pokéball yet. As I rang the doorbell I hoped with all my heart those pesky kids were gone. After all, I figured, I deserved a break.

"Hey! You're that Tony guy! Right?" one of Oaks buddies greeted me as he opened the door.

Oh Lord, why hast Thou forsaken me? Haven't I endured enough?

"Yeah, that's me," I forced a grin, and tried to remember the little brat's name, "Ash…is professor Oak in?"

"Sure, come on in."

I entered the house and followed the kid to the living room, which held a great view on the Pokémon in Oak's care. Some of which belonged to me. Soon, I would be reunited with my loyal Pokémon! Muwahahaha!

"Excuse me?" Oak frowned.

Fuck, I laughed out loud.

"Never mind," I waved it away, "I'm here to see how my boys are doing."

"You're finally giving up your life in hiding?" Oak smiled, "very well, follow me."

We stepped outside, Prince following closely, still wary of my other Pokémon. Soon all my Pokémon had gathered. Fuck, I forgot how many there were. There were all there, Shocker and Shockrat, my two Pikachu, Sabretooth, my Rattata, Hawk, my Pidgey, and Sparrow, my Spearow, King and Queen, my Nidorino and Nidorina, Driller, my Beedrill, and Flutter, my Butterfree, Weasel, my Sentret, Rock, the Geodude, and Rocksnake, the Onix, Slasher, my Sandshrew, and Raddish, my Oddish. And how could I forget, Flycatcher, the disobedient Weepingbell I traded with Allan, and Lawrence, the punk Jigglypuff with the ill chosen name. And now, they were all mine again.

"Guys, I know I've been neglecting you… big time, but now I'm back and I promise we'll wreak havoc once more. This is Prince."

Prince stepped forward and held his head high.

"Treat him with the same respect as you would treat me or any of you. Got that?"

Lawrence stepped forward to look at the Persian better and then flipped him the bird. Prince growled lightly.

"I see Lawrence still has no respect for anyone," I grinned and petted Prince's head to hold him back, as Lawrence grinned, "maybe I should feed him to Prince to teach him a lesson."

Lawrence paled as Prince licked his lips and looked around for support. All Pokémon took a step back. Prince pinned Lawrence to the floor and growled lightly. He then took his claw back and walked to the other Pokémon. They surrounded him and petted him as a welcome in my group. I took one of my free pokéballs out and caught Prince. About five seconds later, he came back into the garden from somewhere inside the house. He took his place back besides me and looked at me, searching for approval. I grinned and patted his head before I turned to the others.

"Listen here!" I addressed my Pokémon, "in a few days, I don't know when exactly, we're gonna crack some skulls. Serious skulls! So in the next days, starting today, we're gonna train hard, very hard! Any problems?"

None of my Pokémon objected so I took that as agreeing.

"Good, I'll return to the pokécentre and then start calling you out. See you then."

All Pokémon quickly scattered across the garden again, as Prince looked around, to think of a good place to run to, to prove I didn't need to tell him what to do, even if I owned him. Professor Oak once told me somewhere last year that Pokémon somehow adapt the ways of their trainer, but that none took over my traits like the Pokémon I had caught. And here I had Prince, who I just caught merely a minute ago, already showing that he didn't take any orders, but did it because he wanted to, just like me. Maybe he had taken this over from when he was with me before all this started, or maybe this is very creepy. I had no idea, and I didn't have the time or desire to find out right now.

I

"So what happens now?" Oak asked me as I had returned into the house.

"I have no idea," I shrugged as I accepted the coke he offered me (the drink you sick fucks, not the drug), "but that shouldn't be a problem. Ever since I woke up on that Squirtle Island I had no idea what I was gonna do and I worked out okay."

"Maybe," Oak shrugged as he watched the large Articuno flap his mighty wings in his backyard, "but I meant with Team Rocket."

"Can't say yet," I shook my head, "I'm sorry since we go way back, but every one's the same for the law, and for the moment I make the law."

"You…" Oak frowned, "I never would have thought you'd be the head of Team Rocket."

"You and every one else," I sighed.

The bell rang and Ash rushed to the door to answer it.

"Professor Oak?" he returned, "it's for you."

"Well, since is this your house," I said trying to hide my smirk by drinking from my coke.

Oak left to the hallway, and even though I'm not a curious person… oh, who am I kidding, of course I'm a curious person, I like to know more than the others. After all, my father said it best, it's good to know more than others. I listened very careful to the conversation that took place in the hallway.

"Professor Oak, it's a pleasure to see you again," the visitor said, "I have a huge favour to ask."

Something about that voice was familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"Of course, go ahead." I heard Oak say.

"Well, my resources inside the League are cut short ever since those… rumours."

"I can't believe anyone would believe those preposterous rumours." Oak said as he entered the living room again.

Right behind him, professor Dexter Thomas followed him. Dexter slightly froze when he saw me, but I assured him with a slight nod.

"Well," he said, "not all rumours were false."

Oak turned to him with concerned surprise and then saw him looking at me.

"Hello Tony."

"Dexter," I nodded, "here to find more about our… quest?"

"Indeed," Dexter said, as he glanced over to Oak, "everything that helps, helps, doesn't it?"

"It does," I nodded before I turned to Oak again, "a word of advice. Don't reveal anything you hear from Dexter to anyone. You never know who's listening."

Oak looked back to Dexter with a huge frown to see Dexter nodding.

"Very well, professor Thomas, please follow me to my personal study."

"I should be going anyway," I said as I finished my coke, "until next time, professor," I greeted Oak and then turned to Dexter, "professor."

I went to collect my Pokémon and then cursed the fact I came walking here. Oh well, now I could spend some time with those I had neglected in the past year.

I

When I arrived in Viridian it was somewhere in the late afternoon. Well, not much time anymore to go somewhere and train, so I decided to stay in the gym.

"Tom! Dave! Front and center!" I yelled out as I stepped in.

Dave quickly jumped into position with straightened back while Tom simply stood next to him.

"Okay!" I continued in a loud voice, "while we wait we might as well train our Pokémon. We need some volunteers to fight against. Anyone up to it?"

Some gym trainers raised their hands.

"Good," I nodded, "well Tom, time to train your Krabby. Dave, since you don't have any Pokémon yet, why don't you take one of these guys and go find a Pokémon somewhere."

"What the fuck are you talking about, not having any Pokémon?" Dave grinned as he opened his coat slightly to reveal three pokéballs.

"My mistake," I said, "what you got?"

"May I present to you," he said as he took his pokéballs, "Hellhound, Biter and Tails."

He let out a Houndoor, a Growlithe and a Vulpix.

"All canine Pokémon," I noticed, "seems appropriate. Very well, find a trainer and go practice with him."

"What about me?" Max asked me.

"What about you?"

"Oh yeah, with that amnesia and stuff, seems you forgot I wandered around Johto two years ago, collecting Pokémon while you still stuffed them in cages."

He let out a Typhlosion, a Yanma, an Azumarril, a Noctowl, a Tangela and a Marowak.

"Fine," I sighed, "you're on the team as well. Go crazy."

He grinned as he called them all back except for his Typhlosion.

"Come on, Firestarter, time to burn."

We trained until late in the evening, winning some, loosing some, and preparing as much as possible. Who knew what the next day would bring, but it was sure we had to be able to depend on our Pokémon.

I

The phone awoke me from a deep slumber and I couldn't really focus when I picked up.

"Huh? What?" I asked as I tried to rub the sleep from my eyes.

"I said," Susan repeated on the other side of the line, "that there's no sign of Jaeger in Kanto."

"Make sense," I replied, "the last time I saw him was in Johto."

"I can't get there anymore," Susan said, "I used up all my contacts to search Kanto, I have no one to turn to in Johto."

"Maybe I know someone," I said, "still wanna be part of the team?"

"Just to nail Jaeger," came the reply.

"That's all it's gonna be," I assured her.

When I hung up, I walked to the bathroom to put my head under the faucet. That woke me up. I returned to the phone and dialled Tom's number.

"Tom?" I asked when I heard someone pick up, "it's Tony."

"What is it?" came the reply with a hint of fatigue in his voice.

Good to know I wasn't the only one straight out of bed.

"Your brother's a cop in Johto, right?"

"Andy? Yeah, he is. Why?"

"Susan can't find Jaeger in Kanto, which means he's still in Johto. Can your brother get a tag on him? If he's like Susan, he'll be happy to help us put him away."

"I can try, I'll let you know later."

I suppressed a yawn as I hung up and decided to take a shower to wake up completely. I don't think that really did the trick since I apparently was under the shower for over 45 minutes.

I

Fuck, I was tired. Still, I decided to grin and bear it and headed out to the gym. Dave was already there, training his canine Pokémon.

"Hey," he grinned as I dragged myself inside, "care for a match?"

"Sure," I said, "let me go get some Pokémon I want to train a bit more. I'll be right back."

"Okay, go get some water types mine are defenceless against."

"You know I don't do that," I said as I walked to the door, "well, I do, but not now."

As I opened the door I saw Susan standing there, ready to open it herself.

"Oh, sorry," I said and let her enter, "you're ready?"

"I am," she replied, "any luggage I might need is in my car."

"Good," I nodded, "one final question before you're admitted to the team. Do you have any Pokémon?"

"Just two," she said as she showed me two pokéballs, "a Growlithe and a Teddiursa."

"Are they any good?"

"K-9 was my police Pokémon, he's a trained cop dog. As for Moonspell, well, she's my personal Pokémon. I haven't had much time to train her, but she can hold her own in a fight."

"Good," I said as I went to the door again, "you can train with Dave. I'll take on the winner."

As I opened the door, Tom was ready to open it himself.

"Heh, what are the odds?" I mumbled and let him in.

"Bad news, Tony," he shook his head as he passed by me.

"What is it? What did your brother find out?"

"He can't look for Jaeger. I can't look for Jaeger."

"What? Why not?" Dave asked as he frowned.

"She's gone! My sister… Karen is gone!"

"What? How?"

"I don't know, she suddenly disappeared. I can't go with you guys, I have to get back home."

"I'm sorry, man," Dave said as he patted Tom on the shoulder, "if there's anything we can do…"

"We're going with you." I said.

All looked at me in surprise.

"What?" Susan frowned, "What about Jaeger?"

"Yeah," Tom said, "you have to find Mewtwo."

"Mewwhat?" Susan asked.

"That's why we're going to Cianwood. Go get Max and Dexter, we're leaving at once."

Without asking further information Dave ran off to get my brother and the professor while Tom went looking for transportation. Finally it was all becoming clear…

I

AN: I know this is a lengthy chapter, but that's just because the last part was supposed to be a separate chapter but it wasn't long enough and there wasn't anything I could add that still had something to do with this stuff… Man, I hope this makes sense… Anyway, I would like to apologise for the lateness of this chapter. I almost finished the story (well, I said everything I had to say), but I have some trouble finishing up nicely, also some case of writer's block on some loose ends. I will try to finish it and post it, even if it's not really to my liking.