Misty strolled into the lab the next morning and was greeted by a roomful of dropped jaws. Erika, Ritchie, Gary, Ash, Sabrina, and Professor Oak all stared at her like her face was on backwards.
"Yes, I changed my look again," she rolled her eyes at them. "Get over it."
"I like it," Sabrina grinned.
"You would," Erika giggled at her.
Misty had cut her formerly shoulder-length jet black hair short, to the same length it had been when she'd travelled through Kanto and Johto with Ash, dyed it back to her natural orange-red, and she'd even tied it into a side ponytail. But that's where the similarities ended. Her eyes were still ringed with thick black eyeliner, which was odd for her – in times of peace, she usually wore much softer shades if she bothered at all. The black leather military knee boots she'd been wearing remained, but she'd ditched her skin-tight black skinny jeans in favour of a pair of tiny leather short shorts. Her black singlet top had been replaced as well, and she now wore a much smaller, lower cut and tighter-fitting black crop top along with a cropped black denim vest that she left open, replacing the leather jacket.
"Clearly you're not going with a stealthy approach, then," Professor Oak commented. "With that hair and those shorts, everyone will recognise you. Makeup or no makeup."
"Can we just get on with this?" Misty huffed. "This isn't about what I'm wearing."
"Fair enough," Oak nodded. "But this does change a few things. We were planning on having you sneak in to Bill's place undetected. But that's not really an option now."
"Bill's place?" Misty raised an eyebrow. "Why would I go back there?"
"Because I think he was lying," Ritchie explained. "Bill would know exactly how the pokéballs are being blocked. If the only hint he gave you was to check the communications hubs, then he was leading you on a wild Farfetch'd chase, probably hoping you'd be caught by Rocket United."
"I don't understand," Misty frowned. "Why would he do that? Bill's always been a good guy. Why would he suddenly buddy up with the Rockets?"
"He probably wasn't given a choice," Gary deduced. "Bill's no Pokémon trainer. If the Rockets went after him, there's no way he'd be able to put up any kind of a fight."
"But surely he'd be able to send out some kind of warning to us?" Ash countered. "He's Bill, after all. He's a pretty resourceful guy."
Misty turned and glared at him as he finished speaking, making him flinch. Even Pikachu hid behind Ash's head.
"If I was in charge of the Rocket's affairs right now," Ritchie surmised, "there's no way I'd let a guy like Bill go free. All the other stuff they've done up until now, there's no way he could have helped with any of that. But this? This is right up his alley. Him and Silph. I'd be willing to bet that Silph are in on this as well."
"Oh, for the love of…" Misty grumbled. "Why is it always Silph?"
Sabrina sighed loudly. "At least they're just scientists, and not trainers or Rocket grunts."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Professor Oak spoke up. "If this really is the culmination of the Rockets' plans up until now, then they'll have that place locked down tight. You'll need a lot of firepower if you hope to break in to Silph Co. That's why I was hoping Misty could sneak in to Bill's place. With Misty infiltrating Bill's place, we could have sent Sabrina and Erika to Silph, along with Gary and Ash. But now we can't."
"I'm not sneaking anywhere anymore," Misty told him firmly. "I've had enough of this. If I'm going to stop them, then I'm going to make them pay. I'm not messing around anymore. This is who I am now."
"Then you'll need some help," Gary told her. "We still need two teams. One to storm Silph, and one to extract Bill. But if we're using force to break into Silph, then we'll need you there."
"This is all very productive, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news," Erika interrupted, "but there's just one small issue. We have almost no Pokémon, remember? And we'll be fighting against Rocket United, who have legions of Shadow Pokemon."
"Then we'll have to pick the two teams carefully," Gary told her.
"So which Pokémon do you all have that aren't stuck in their pokéballs?" Oak asked them.
"I have my Vileplume," Erika answered, "but she's at the Celadon Gym."
"All of mine are trapped," Sabrina frowned deeply. "But I can help you get Vileplume. I'll teleport us there."
"I've got my Umbreon, but that's all," Gary added.
"I've only got Pikachu," Ash grunted. "I wish I had my Charizard too."
"I wish I could contribute, guys," Ritchie sighed, "but all of my Pokémon are stuck in their pokéballs."
"That's fine, Ritchie," Oak replied softly. "We'll need you here anyway."
"Raichu's all I have," Misty said flatly. "If I had my Starmie, this'd be a lot easier. Hell, I'd even take Psyduck."
"It's still a Psyduck? After all these years?" Gary laughed.
Misty stomped over to him and grabbed a handful of his shirt, then shoved him into a wall.
"I am not in a good mood right now, Gary," she whispered threateningly, with barely controlled anger.
"I understand," he answered quickly, his hands up in a defensive gesture. He sighed with relief as she let go of him.
"Besides, it's hard to evolve when you're too stupid to even swim, let alone attack," Misty admitted with a sigh.
"Okay, we're getting off track a little bit," Oak interrupted.
"Right," Gary stepped forward. "I suggest that Erika and Sabrina go to Bill's place. Erika and Vileplume will be able to provide cover while Sabrina gets Bill out safely. But it needs to be done quickly. Don't stay any longer than it takes to get him out of there. With only Vileplume, your focus needs to be on distracting any Rockets that are inside, not battling them. And remember to conserve your energy to teleport back out of there."
"Sounds like James and his Weezing," Ash noted. "Too bad Vileplume can't learn Smokescreen."
"Misty, you should lead the team invading Silph," Gary continued, ignoring Ash. "Ash and I will go with you. You'll need Umbreon and Pikachu's powerful attacks and considerable experience if we're gonna have any hope of success."
"Fine," Misty shrugged in irritation, knowing he was right.
"We only need to find out if they're assisting the Rockets, and if they are, in what way."
"We should be trying to stop them," Ash argued. "Just going in there and finding out what they're doing won't be enough."
"I hate to admit it, but I agree with him," Misty said. "If they're helping the Rockets, then we need to stop them. There's no point blasting our way in there, only to run reconnaissance."
"We can't do any of that until we know what we're up against," Gary retorted. "Once we find out, then we can deal with them as we see fit. Besides, you're forgetting just how badly the odds are stacked against us. Even with three Elite Four trainers, storming Silph Co with only three Pokémon is going to be almost impossible. Especially when they're probably defended by a shit ton of Rocket grunts."
"Then let's get going," Misty told them all as she turned to leave. "Call the Pallet Pidgeots."
Her heavy boots clopped noisily as she walked out of the lab. Ash grunted angrily as soon as she was out of earshot.
"I can't believe her attitude," he spat. "If she's gonna be like this the whole time, then this is gonna be one long-ass mission."
"You're unbelievable, Ash," Erika frowned at him. "For someone who's grown up so much, and achieved so many things, you really are dense sometimes."
"What?" he blurted. "I would've much rather gone with you and Sabrina than deal with her bullshit. I don't see why she's in charge of this anyway. She can't even think straight. I should definitely be in charge of this."
"THIS ISN'T ABOUT YOU!" Erika yelled at him, then stomped her way out of the lab after Misty, followed by Gary and Sabrina.
Ash just stood there, totally stunned, then turned to Ritchie.
"Don't look at me, man," Ritchie laughed. "I just got here! I have absolutely no idea what's going on."
Misty, Ash, and Gary approached the main entrance to Silph Co fully expecting to be instantly recognised, especially with Pikachu, Raichu and Umbreon in tow. Ash and Gary hadn't made much effort to disguise themselves beyond a token change of clothes, but even that was more functional than anything else. They needed to be able to move freely, so they wore shorts and light t-shirts instead of jeans.
There were security guards stationed out the front of the building, and they halted the group as they got close.
"I'm sorry, girl. We can't let you in without an appointment."
"We have an appointment," Misty told him. "We're here to test out the new pokéballs."
"New pokéballs? Is this some kind of joke?" the security guard frowned down at her.
"Don't you have any idea who we are?" Gary asked them.
"Nope. Although you do look kinda familiar," the other security guard answered, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
"Good," Misty said, a split second before slamming her palm into the chin of the first security guard. He let out a cry of pain, then went down to his knees. He wiped his mouth as blood began to flow out of it, then looked up at Misty just as she was slamming the sole of one of her heavy boots into his face, knocking him unconscious.
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt him!" Ash ordered.
Pikachu grinned, then blasted the other security guard with a powerful electric attack that launched him fifty feet away, and sent him tumbling along the pavement, also unconscious.
"Let's move quickly," Ash said as he opened the door for Misty and Gary. "Remember, only use weak attacks that will subdue. We have to conserve our Pokémon's energy."
Misty grunted in disgust at him, then quickly made her way to the front desk as most of the people inside began to run away from them. The receptionist cowered behind her desk as several more security guards approached, this time armed with Machokes. Raichu and Pikachu quickly zapped them with Thunder Wave, and all of them went down, struggling to move.
"Umbreon, Confuse Ray!" Gary commanded.
Umbreon focused on the downed security guards and their Machokes, hitting them with a pale beam of light and sound that almost seemed to calm them down, but in fact just made them totally unable to process what was going on.
"That should keep 'em from doing anything useful," Gary grinned.
The receptionist whimpered as Misty approached her, trying to hide under her desk, then realised that was futile and tried to run away. Misty grunted in annoyance, then quickly dived over the desk and grabbed the girl by the shirt. She tried slapping Misty, and then started screaming, which just annoyed her even more.
"Shut up," Misty demanded, but the girl kept screaming.
She grunted angrily again, then grabbed the girl by the throat and shoved her against a wall, squeezing just enough that she stopped screaming.
"I don't wanna hurt you," Misty told her, "but if you keep screaming and slapping, I'll knock you out cold. Understand?"
The girl nodded, frightened out of her mind.
"Good," Misty said softly as she let go of the girl's neck. "Now tell me which floor all your scientists are on, and we'll be on our way."
"I-I ca-I can't t-tell y-you...I'm s-so-I'm sorry," the girl whimpered.
Misty sighed, then took a half step back. She gestured at the girl's office chair.
"Please, sit down. I'm sorry I scared you."
The girl did as she was told and sat down. She sat with her hands clasped tightly together, looking directly at her lap, and crying freely. Misty knelt down in front of her, then gently grabbed her shoulders and started stroking her with her thumbs to try to calm her down.
"I'm Misty from the Elite Four," she told her. "And this is Gary and Ash. We're here to stop the Silph scientists from working with Rocket United. If there's any way you can help us, it would make our job a lot easier."
"You hurt me," the girl told her in between whimpers. "The-the Elite Four are s-supposed to be good."
"And I'm sorry about that," Misty sighed again. "Rocket United are very, very dangerous people, and Silph Co are responsible for helping them develop a lot of the terrible things they've used against us all. I know you're not necessarily aware of any of this – you just work here, right? But they need to be stopped –"
"Misty, we have company!" Ash yelled.
"Umbreon! Dark Pulse!" she heard Gary shout.
"Shit…" Misty scowled under her breath as she got to her feet. She turned around to see what was happening, and saw about half a dozen Rocket United grunts, and almost twice as many Pokémon.
"Hey, listen," Misty said to the girl as she turned back around, but was caught off guard by a knee to her belly. She doubled over as all the air left her lungs, and felt an arm sliding around her neck. She was wrenched onto her back as the arm tightened up, then a pair of legs shot out around her waist, gripping her tightly. Her eyes bulged as her vision instantly began to dim, and she grabbed futilely at the arm choking her, before feeling the legs tighten painfully around her waist.
"The-the Elite Four are s-supposed to be good," she heard the receptionist girl say softly into her ear, mocking her before laughing hysterically. "That was too easy, Waterflower. You're as gullible as you are pathetic."
Misty was wrapped up tight, totally unable to fight back at all. She could feel the girl's arm constantly tightening around her neck, making her cough, splutter, and panic more and more as the edges of her vision blackened, and her awareness of the world around her diminished to almost zero. The only other things she was still aware of were the girl's legs squeezing tighter and tighter every time she struggled, and her hysterical laughter as she savoured every moment of Misty's torture.
"I can feel your ribs bending," the girl teased. "I thought you'd be a real badass, you know? But you're a fucking buttercup. It's hard to believe you ever caused Team Rocket any trouble at all."
Tears streamed down Misty's face as the feeling of helplessness engulfed her. She knew the girl was prolonging the ordeal so she could enjoy it some more, and she knew there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. She just hoped that the girl would squeeze her out cold before she broke her ribs.
"Misty! Misty! MISTY!"
"Rai! Raichu rai rai!"
Misty panicked as she struggled to remember where she was, and panicked even more when she couldn't see anything, couldn't move, and had no idea what day it was or what she'd been doing before she went to sleep. Her vision very slowly returned, and her temporary paralysis subsided along with it, but it seemed to take forever. As the world came into full view once again and her short-term memory started to kick back in, she began to remember where she was and what she'd been doing.
Shit! We're at Silph Co! My waist is killing me, what the hell happened?
She got to her feet and looked around, and was almost hit by a flying Raticate that'd been launched across the foyer by an attack from Pikachu.
That receptionist girl...she took me by surprise and squeezed me out cold! Where is she? I'm gonna kill that bitch!
"Raichu! Rai rai! Chu, rai rai!"
"Huh? Raichu?" Misty muttered groggily. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just, gimme a moment. Where's the receptionist girl?"
"Rai, chu. Raichu rai chu."
"Oh!" she exclaimed as she stepped forward, then turned around. She looked down and saw the girl's unconscious body, crumpled against the reception desk with smoke rising off of her. Raichu had come to her rescue before the girl could do any more damage – she tackled her, then blasted her with a Thunderbolt attack after she'd knocked Misty out.
"Raichu! Rai raichu!"
"How do you know where to go?"
Raichu pointed to a sign on the wall behind the reception desk, detailing the contents of most of the floors of the Silph Co building. Misty scanned the sign, finding that there were laboratories and research centres on floors fifteen, sixteen and seventeen. She blushed as she turned back around.
"Not my finest work, is it?" she smiled, then set off after Ash and Gary, who were waiting for her at the lift, having dealt with all the Rocket grunts and their Shadow Pokémon.
"You guys alright?" Misty asked them.
"Are you?" Ash asked her back, folding his arms across his chest and raising an eyebrow. "That was a pretty vicious sneak attack."
"I'm embarrassed, and my ribs are a bit sore, but I'm okay," she answered as she got in the lift and pushed the buttons for floors fifteen to seventeen. "Let's just go. I'll take floor seventeen."
"Then I'll take sixteen," Ash offered.
"Fine by me," Gary shrugged. "Remember to use these if you run into any trouble," he told them as he handed them an earpiece each. "And remember, reconnaissance first, then we figure out how we proceed."
As the lift doors opened, the three of them and their Pokémon flattened themselves as best they could around the sides of the doors before Gary sent Umbreon out to scout. Umbreon dashed out quickly, and within a few seconds gave the all-clear for Gary to proceed.
"Good luck, you guys," he said with a grin as the lift doors began to close. "And Misty, try not to get knocked out again, okay?"
"You little shit!" she shouted, but the doors had already closed.
The doors opened on floor sixteen, and Pikachu listened carefully for any sign of movement outside the lift. Hearing nothing, he poked his head out to have a look, then took a few cautious steps.
"Pika," he announced, waving Ash onward.
"Wish me luck," Ash nodded to Misty.
"Just don't fuck up," she spat back at him.
"Whatever," he moaned, then followed Pikachu.
"Pika, pikachu, pikachu," Pikachu told him as they stepped quietly through the empty foyer on the sixteenth floor.
"Oh, now you're on her side as well?" Ash complained. "What is it with you all? I've been doing everything lately. Well, me and Gary, I suppose. She's done barely anything, and I should feel sorry for her?"
"Chu, pikachu, Pikapi."
"That was so long ago now. She has to get over it eventually. I'm not babysitting her forever. I'm tired of it. And treating me like dirt doesn't go down well with me either. I liked it better when she was the Cerulean Gym Leader, and I never had to see her."
"Pika pi pikachu pika pika pi pikachu, Pikapi?"
"Well, I guess I'd be pretty upset if anything happened to her. But nothing has."
"Pikachu pi pikachu, Pikapi. Pi pika pikachu pika pikachu pi pika."
"Well of course she cared about Amber as much as she cares about us. I know that, I'm not an idiot."
"Pika?"
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"Pi pikachu pika pika."
Ash stopped dead in his tracks as he realised that Pikachu was right.
I've been totally blind. I've been so obsessed with being an Elite Four trainer and trying to save the world, I've just ignored Misty and what she's going through. Pikachu can see it, even Gary can see it. It's just me. If l lost someone like that – someone like Misty – there's no way I'd be able to get over it. I never even considered that she cared about Amber that much. I just assumed Amber was a fling. How could I be so selfish?
"Oh man, you're right, Pikachu."
"Pi pi ka chu," Pikachu rolled his eyes.
"I really need to fix this. As soon as we're back at the Professor's ranch, I'm gonna tell her how sorry I am. I'll make it up to her."
"Pika!" Pikachu shouted, warning Ash just in time to avoid a Vine Whip attack.
"Touching," a Rocket grunt snarled as he appeared from a connecting hallway. "But it'll be hard to tell anyone anything when you're dead."
"I don't have time for this crap," Ash growled. "I have a job to do. Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"
Pikachu spent a brief moment powering up, then sent a powerful jolt of electricity at the Victreebel that had tried to Vine Whip them. It was sent hurtling back down the hallway, striking a wall, but it wasn't finished just yet.
"Finish them both, Pikachu. Thundershock!"
The grunt's eyes widened in fear as he realised he was totally unprepared for a trainer as powerful as Ash. The bolt struck him dead-on – a pretty weak attack for Pikachu – and sent him smashing through the foyer wall, and knocked the Victreebel out cold as well.
"Come on," Ash waved Pikachu on. "We need to find out what they're researching here, then report back to Misty and Gary. Be careful, and get ready to Thunder Wave anything that makes a move towards us."
"Pika," Pikachu affirmed enthusiastically, his cheeks sparking in anticipation.
They rounded the hallway leading out of the foyer, passing the Victreebel and continuing around another corner, where they saw the new research facility Silph had built after the last time Ash and the others had destroyed it. Ash had to admit, it was definitely impressive.
"It's hard to believe they've rebuilt all this so quickly," he noted as he looked around, slowly and quietly walking through the entrance to the facility as he scouted for any danger or clues. "They must rake in more profit than I thought. I'm definitely in the wrong business."
"Pikapi!" Pikachu called from an adjacent room, pointing at a computer monitor that had been left on.
Ash ran into the room and began reading the screen, muttering every other word out loud as he scanned the text.
"Evolution machine…pokéball blocking signal...Shadow Pokémon...blah blah blah…oh wait, here we go."
He sat down in the chair at the computer's desk, focusing on a passage of text on a report left open, while Pikachu attempted to read the text as well. He couldn't, but tried anyway. Frustrated at his inability to comprehend the strange symbols, he huffed in annoyance, folding his paws across his chest and turning away.
"Chu!" he cried out in surprise as a rubber bag was thrust over him out of nowhere, then quickly sealed shut and tossed aside.
"What the –"
Ash yelped as he was knocked backwards off the chair, barely bracing himself enough to keep his head from hitting the floor.
"Pikachu!" he shouted, but all he got in response was Pikachu's muffled, desperate cries as he tried to get himself free from the rubber bag. "Use Iron Tail, buddy!"
Pikachu tried to use Iron Tail as Ash tried desperately to fight off his masked attacker, but it was no use. He had no leverage while trapped in the bag, and without that and some manoeuvring room, Iron Tail was impossible. The attacker pinned Ash to the ground, holding his wrists above his head, but he found that he had slightly more upper body strength and was able to get his arms free.
It's a girl, whoever this is. She's good. Man, I wish I had Pikachu's help right now. I'm a trainer, not a fighter.
He squirmed free and shoved her off of him, rolling onto his knees, but was surprised again as his attacker's foot shot out and kicked him in the chest, knocking him over. He grunted in frustration, but his assailant was all over him before he could counter. She mounted his chest, sitting heavily on him, then smashed a fist into the side of his face before he even had time to be astonished at the speed of her attacks.
"Dammit! Get off me!"
"That would be counter-productive, twerp," the woman grinned as she removed her mask and his earpiece, crushing it with the heel of her palm.
"Twerp?" Ash muttered in shock. "I know that voice…"
"Good, then I can get right to the fun part without having to introduce myself again."
She clicked her fingers, and a Seviper appeared behind him. He looked up, and it was inches from his face – and mad. Ash gulped.
"Here's the deal, twerp," she continued as the Seviper's tail began coiling around his neck, "we're taking you prisoner. If you try anything – if you do so much as reach up with those grubby little childlike hands of yours, then this Seviper will use Poison Jab on your very red little face."
"We?" Ash asked, his voice straining as the Seviper's tail constricted tightly.
It was then that he heard the footsteps of several Rocket grunts entering the room. They stood around the two of them, looking down at Ash and chuckling in amusement at him. Ash felt waves of embarrassment, then waves of excruciating pain as the woman began slamming her fists repeatedly into his face.
"Hey, what are you doing?" one of the grunts asked. "We were told to bring him in unhurt!"
The woman stopped, growling angrily as she looked up at the grunt.
"This is my operation, and we're doing it my way," she shouted. "I've wanted to do this for a long time, and you will not ruin it for me. So unless you want your life to become significantly shorter and more painful, I suggest you mind your place and SHUT UP!"
The grunt did as he was told and stayed quiet, even taking a step backwards.
"Now, where were we?" she grinned down at Ash, then punched him several more times, until blood poured out of his nose and mouth. He looked her in the eyes the entire time, and once she stopped pummelling him he spat out a gob of blood in her face.
"Those lines on your face," Ash grinned painfully. "Are they from advanced age? Or just a lifetime of being shit at everything?"
The woman roared in anger, even as a few of the grunts failed to suppress their laughter. She punched Ash several more times as hard as she could, then got to her feet, her shoulders heaving from her rage.
"Seviper, choke him until he passes out. I'll continue this later."
Ash felt the Seviper's tail constrict with incredible force. The pain of almost having his throat crushed was unbelievable, but short lived. Within a few seconds he was completely unconscious.