The Pallet Pidgeots landed back at Professor Oak's ranch roughly two hours after they'd left. Misty quickly dismounted and grabbed Sabrina, easing her to the ground. She'd passed out from exhaustion not long after leaving.
"Professor! Brock! Erika!" Misty yelled. "I need a little help out here!"
Brock and Erika came rushing out of the lab and immediately ran over to help her. Together, they picked Sabrina up and carried her inside to a spare room and gently laid her down on the bed.
"That's twice in two days," Misty noted.
"What happened?" Brock asked her.
"I'm not even sure," Misty shrugged. "I mean, it was clearly a trap, but I don't know what happened to Sabrina. We split up when we got there. She went into the battlefield, and I snuck around the back to check out the back room, where Giovanni used to keep his secret stuff."
"But what happened to you?" Erika pressed.
"I was ambushed by a grunt," Misty explained. "He had another one of those GE Pokémon. A Venusaur. Starmie actually managed to beat it somehow, and I thought that was that. I stopped the grunt, and then Jessie dropped down out of nowhere and killed him herself."
"She killed her own grunt?" Brock spat in disgust.
"Yeah...in cold blood," Misty confirmed, looking down at the ground. "The grunt told me some interesting things though. He said that Team Rocket's plan was always to take down the Elite Four and the other crime organisations. They've been manipulating things from the start, and we've been playing right into their hands without even realising. But that isn't even the worst part. They've got a lot more of those GE Pokémon, and they've made certain that there's absolutely no way we can even challenge them. Starmie barely even beat one of those things."
"And I have more bad news," Professor Oak said from the doorway.
Misty sighed loudly as she stood up and faced him, leaving Brock and Erika to tend to Sabrina.
"I'm afraid Lieutenant Surge's assault on the Vermilion Hub didn't go according to plan either."
"That's not really all that surprising," Misty admitted sadly.
"Gary has been kidnapped, and Lieutenant Surge and Bella failed to report in. They're still missing."
"Then we have to go and get them!" Misty squealed.
"I don't think so," Brock shook his head.
"What are you talking about?" she growled at him. "They need our help! We have to go and save them!"
"I can't let you do that, Misty," Brock told her, blocking her exit.
"He's right, Misty," Oak agreed. "We can't risk losing you as well. If Surge, Bella and Gary together couldn't handle it, then I don't see what possible difference you could make on your own."
Misty grabbed Brock by the throat and slammed him into the wall.
"I'm going to Vermilion City, and I'm going to save them," she said softly, but extremely menacingly. She squeezed his throat a little tighter, and Brock's face began to turn red. He grabbed at her wrist and tried to remove it, but Misty used her other hand to grab him by the crotch and gripped him so tightly his eyes bulged, and he immediately stopped resisting.
"Stay out of my way," she ordered them. "I'm not going to ask you again."
"Do...what...she...says!" Brock wheezed.
"Good boy," she whispered to him, then slowly let him go and left the room. Brock slid down the wall and slumped, panting heavily and holding his wounded manhood.
She made it halfway towards the lab before she noticed Psyduck standing in her way, and his eyes were glowing blue.
"Out of my way, duck!" she yelled. "We're going to Vermilion City, and you're coming."
"Psy," he responded flatly with a slight tilt of his head.
Misty felt her body completely freeze, which just made her more angry. She gritted her teeth and tried to get moving again, but even speaking was difficult.
"I know what you're doing, Psyduck," she said slowly. "Save your Disable attack for Team Rocket!"
"Duck."
Psyduck switched to a Confusion attack, and now Misty could feel herself re-entering the spare room. Much to the amazement of the others, Misty was forced up against the wall near where Sabrina was sleeping and held two feet off the ground.
"Psyduck, what the hell!" she shouted angrily.
"My best guess would be that Sabrina is controlling Psyduck," Oak theorised.
"She's asleep!"
"She's also a psychic, and has far more control over her mind that any normal person," Oak countered. "I wouldn't be surprised at all if this were her doing. Clearly, she doesn't want you to go either."
"Then you're all cowards!" Misty shouted at them.
"Psy."
Misty was raised even higher off the ground, until her head was touching the roof. She started panicking, but was still unable to move at all.
"Let me go, you stupid duck! This isn't funny anymore!"
"Duck."
Suddenly Misty was pressed up against the roof, facing the ground. Her eyes went wide with fear as she panicked more and more, but Psyduck was still completely trance-like.
"Okay, okay!" she finally relented. "I won't go to Vermilion. Will you let me down now?"
"Psyduck."
Much to her surprise, she was lowered very gently to the ground, and given her movement back as well. She landed softly on her feet, sighing in relief. She turned to Sabrina and frowned angrily at her.
"When you wake up, we're having a talk."
"So what's the plan now?" Erika asked.
"Well, we need to hear Sabrina's account of what happened in the Viridian gym battlefield before we do anything. Then we can sort out where we stand," Brock told her. "This much is clear, though: someone's betraying us, and we need to figure out who."
Misty waited impatiently for Sabrina to wake up, pacing up and down the hall outside her room for hours at a time. By her last count, Sabrina had been sleeping for twelve hours. It was taking everything she had not to rush off to Vermilion to hunt down Team Rocket.
"So how do you think they knew you guys would be there?"
Misty didn't turn around, but she did stop pacing.
"I have a couple of ideas, Brock. But until we hear from Sabrina, we won't know for certain."
"You think she knows something?"
"I'm not sure. None of this is going our way at the moment, and it's driving me crazy."
"A lot of things have gone against you lately. It's a lot of pressure. I can understand if you're feeling overwhelmed."
Misty turned around then, and shoved a finger against Brock's chest.
"Don't patronise me, Brock," she growled.
"I'm just trying to be a good friend, that's all," he replied, putting his hands up in a defensive gesture.
"You're right…" she sighed, dropping her hand by her side. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to lash out like that."
"It's when you stop lashing out that I really get worried," he smiled.
She smiled back at him, then wrapped her arms around his waist and held him tightly. He reciprocated straight away, wrapping his muscular arms around her shoulders and gently stroking her back.
"It also worries me that we've been betrayed though," he admitted. "We've dug ourselves into a far deeper hole than we know how to get out of, if it's true. Just how deep, we won't know until we know who's been doing the manipulating."
"I can answer that, and thanks for not letting Brock change my clothes," Sabrina said as she entered the hallway dressed in some bed clothes Erika had put her into. "They're not really my type, but I appreciate it nonetheless."
"Let's go," Misty frowned. "The others will want to hear this as well."
The three of them entered the lab, where Ritchie, Bill, Erika, and Oak were sitting, analysing some screens. Suddenly they all went black.
"Until we can find a way to mask your activity here from the rest of the world, no more computers. Got it?" Sabrina told them.
"What's going on, Sabrina?" Oak asked, turning his chair to face her. "What did you learn?"
"If you mean what I learnt at the gym, then nothing," she explained. "I was attacked by two grunts with a pair of Houndooms when I entered the battlefield. Both were GE Pokémon. I barely escaped that. If it weren't for Psyduck, I'd have been finished."
"That explains why you were so tired when you rescued me," Misty deduced.
"They were planning on me having a psychic type Pokémon with me, so Psyduck wasn't too badly hurt by their dark type attacks. And because of their weakness to water type, I managed to beat them both, but it wasn't easy."
"Wait a minute," Brock interrupted. "So you're saying Psyduck can use water type attacks?"
"Yes," Sabrina glared at him. "Anyway, I managed to defeat one of them, but the second one was giving me trouble. While I was battling, one of the grunts tried to kidnap me. I managed to get rid of him easily enough, but I was hit with a Dark Pulse while I was distracted. If Psyduck hadn't saved me, they'd have killed me easily. That's when I escaped and teleported us both out of there."
"So how do you know who's been betraying us then?" Misty asked.
"Because there's a logical explanation for all of this," she extrapolated. "Everywhere we go, we're expected. They always know we're coming. We've been able to escape so far; except for Ash being taken at Silph, I'd say we've actually done pretty well. So they needed to step things up. They lure us into a trap they know we won't be able to escape from. Something big enough and well-planned enough to actually work this time. The only things they didn't plan on were Psyduck and Starmie.
"They were expecting me to be on my own with no Pokémon, and Misty to have a Raichu. Otherwise, their plan was perfect. And who told us to go to the Viridian gym and Vermilion Hub?"
"Meowth and James," Misty realised. "I've been a fool! How could I possibly have missed that? It's so obvious now!"
"How do we know they're really behind it?" Brock countered. "They could be being manipulated just as much as we are."
"Unlikely, but possible," Sabrina answered. "Misty said this has been in execution for years. There's no way Jessie was able to bring the crime teams together, manipulate them into doing her dirty work, then use us to wipe out both them and the old Elite Four unless she had inside help. James and Meowth's job this whole time must have been to gain our trust from within the police force, and use their position to supply Jessie with information. She's not smart enough to do this on her own."
The whole group looked back at her, blinking blankly in stunned silence. Finally, Misty broke the silence.
"I don't think she's smart enough at all. Jessie's more obsessed with getting back at me than anything. She spent nearly the whole time ranting on about how much she hates me for being prettier than her. But there was one thing she did say that really got my attention. She said she wasn't in charge, and that this has always been about me, and we'd been betrayed."
"If Sabrina's right, then yes, we've been betrayed by James and Meowth," Oak agreed. "That makes a lot of sense."
"You don't think that's what she was talking about, do you?" Sabrina said to Misty.
Misty shook her head, staring at the ground as she put the pieces together in her mind.
"No. I think you're right, but I don't think she meant James and Meowth. I think there's more to this, but I just can't think of anyone else who could betray us. CJ maybe?"
Even Misty didn't believe that, though. Celadon Jenny – or 'CJ' as they'd been calling her since she'd led their operation against the old Elite Four – had returned to Celadon City, but remained working for the Kanto Federal Police, and had been the one to recruit James and Meowth in the first place. It was entirely possible that she'd been secretly working for Team Rocket the whole time, and had deliberately planted James and Meowth within the PD –
– but if she could do that, then she could just as easily supply Team Rocket with the information herself. Why would she need James and Meowth?
"I've been trying to hit her up this whole time," Ritchie told them. "I've asked her to call us back on a secure line as soon as she can."
"You don't think she's in on this, do you?" Brock asked Misty, who shook her head, but kept her expression questioning.
"I don't think so...but it's entirely possible, I guess. We'll have to wait and see."
"Misty! It's good to hear your voice again!" CJ said with her usual bright but tough-sounding tone.
"You too, CJ," Misty replied, placing her on speaker phone. "I'm here with Brock, Sabrina, Ritchie, Bill, and Professor Oak. They can all hear you."
"Oh? What about Surge, Bella, and Gary? I thought they'd be back by now."
"Then you haven't heard?"
"Heard what, Misty?" CJ answered worriedly.
"Who received the intelligence about Vermilion Hub?" Brock asked her.
"Well, it was Meowth," CJ told him. "He said he'd been tracing the signals being broadcast by the hubs, and found them all coming from Vermilion. I asked James to confirm the data, and he said it was true. I was a little skeptical, because there's experts out there who haven't been able to figure out anything about it. But James said it was crucial that we acted on it as soon as possible, and frankly I agreed. That's when you guys called us and –"
"Surge and Bella reported that Team Rocket have taken Gary, and they've both failed to report in since then," Misty interrupted. "They're still MIA."
"What?!" CJ exclaimed. "But that can't be right. James and Meowth said you'd told them Gary, Bella, and Surge went to Vermilion, and they wanted to join them there."
"CJ, we never told them who was going where," Erika explained, "and we were under the impression that James and Meowth weren't going anywhere at all. They said they were going to check out the Viridian gym initially, but we could go instead, if we wanted."
"Viridian gym? I don't understand. Why would you go there?"
"Oh dear," Professor Oak sighed as he began to understand the depth of the deception.
"They told us they'd traced a lot of communication coming from Viridian gym, and it looked like a Team Rocket base of some sort," Brock said.
"But...we haven't traced any communication from there. We weren't even looking at Viridian."
"Where are they right now?" Misty demanded.
"They reported in about four hours ago, and said they were cleaning up the hub, making sure it was all business as usual before they left. I was about to call them."
"Don't call them, they're not coming back," Misty told her. "And if they do, be ready to interrogate them."
"You're saying they planned this? You think they're working for Rocket United?"
"It's Team Rocket," Misty growled angrily. "And now I'm almost certain they are. I'm sending you one of the Pallet Pidgeots. I think you should come here as soon as possible. And watch your back. Bring a Pokémon if you can."
Misty was outside the lab when Sabrina came out to join her, having freshened up after her twelve hour nap. She was sitting with Starmie, who was practising its Water Gun aim on a nearby tree's leaves. She sat down next to Misty, and Misty noticed she'd changed clothes again, this time wearing a jade-green leather mini-dress and black block-heeled ankle boots.
"She should be here any moment," Misty told her.
Suddenly Starmie leapt into action, standing ready to attack.
"Looks like someone else is here instead," Sabrina frowned.
An aircraft appeared on the horizon, and as it got closer they realised it wasn't an ordinary plane. It was embellished with a massive red 'R' on either side of the fuselage, and looked big enough to carry a whole company of men.
"Tell Oak to start transferring the pokéballs, and call in the Pallet Pidgeots. All of them. We have to go."
Sabrina nodded, then quickly ran inside. Brock came out a few moments later, followed by his Golem, then Erika and her Vileplume.
"I don't know why I wasn't expecting this," Brock grumbled.
The three of them stood firm as the aircraft landed, using Oak's vast land as a runway. It stopped several hundred metres from the house, and a single person stepped out of it.
"Jessie," Brock growled.
She took her time approaching them, which Misty was perfectly happy with, as it gave Oak more time to transfer all the Pokémon to the nearest Pokémon Centre, and for the Pidgeots to arrive.
"Well?" Jessie said as she reached them. "Aren't you going to welcome me?"
"What was that?" Brock spat. "I don't speak hag."
"What?!" Jessie screeched. "Hag?!"
"Careful," Erika whispered to Brock and Misty. "We don't know what else she has aboard that plane. Let's not give her a reason to show us. Just bide some time."
"Why are you here, Jessie?" Misty growled at her. "You're not invited, and you're certainly not welcome."
"It doesn't matter what you think anymore," Jessie frowned. "This place now belongs to Team Rocket, as do you. You'll be coming with me."
Misty scoffed. "I think your brain is leaking out through all those wrinkles."
Jessie was getting more and more furious the more they insulted her, and her face was glowing red already.
Erika's right though. We can't risk her emptying that plane of whatever she's brought with her. Not until the Pidgeots arrive.
"Well well," Jessie grinned suddenly. "You survived. Twice. Next time I'll just kill you myself and be done with it."
"Let's just get through this time first," Sabrina glared at her.
Suddenly Jessie was lifted high into the air, then thrown hundreds of feet away. She screamed in fury as she flew through the air, landing halfway between the plane and Oak's house. Unfortunately, she wasn't hurt terribly badly, and quickly got to her feet again.
"Sabrina! What were you thinking?!" Misty scolded her. "Now she's gonna empty that plane and attack us, probably with more GE Pokémon!"
"It's fine," Sabrina assured her. "The Pallet Pidgeots are almost here, and all the Pokémon have been transferred to Pewter City Pokémon Centre."
"But we still have to survive until they get here!"
Sure enough, a Charizard – the same one Jessie had produced at the Viridian gym – exited the plane, followed by the same two Houndooms that had attacked Sabrina. They began burning everything in sight immediately, and the Charizard exacerbated the situation by fanning the flames with its wings. Within seconds the guest house was lit up from top to bottom, and the flames were quickly spreading.
"We have seconds!" Misty yelled. "Head to Pallet Town!"
"Just use your Starmie to create a wet line that the flames can't get past," Erika suggested.
"Won't work!" Misty told her, grabbing her by the arm. "Do you see that?"
Erika turned to look, and there was a wall of flames heading towards them at a tremendous pace. The fields of Oak's ranch were perfect fuel for the GE Pokémon's Flamethrower attacks, and with the Charizard also fanning the flames, there was nothing they could do but run.
"Come on!" Misty shouted, dragging Erika by the arm as Brock followed, with Vileplume, Golem, Psyduck, and Starmie all fleeing ahead of them.
By the time they reached the house, the flames had taken half of Oak's property, and there was still no sign of the Pidgeots. Misty and the others all ran inside, screaming for Oak, Bill, and Ritchie to get out and run for Pallet Town. But when they got out of the front of the house, they noticed Sabrina wasn't there.
"No, no! SABRINA!" Misty screamed.
She bolted for the house, but was grabbed by Brock just as something inside exploded. The entire house erupted in flames, and Misty started shrieking hysterically, trying desperately to break free from Brock's grasp. She turned around and started punching Brock's arm as hard as she could.
"Let me go! Are you crazy? Sabrina's still in there!" she screamed at him.
"Look," he pointed.
She turned back around, and saw the flames part aside in the front doorway. Sabrina stepped through the door calmly, the flames surrounding her, but never touching. She walked towards them with her usual confident grace, and Misty wrapped her arms around her immediately.
"Don't do that!" she cried, tears streaming down her face. "I thought I'd lost you too."
"Just making sure they don't follow us straight away," Sabrina grinned. "I think they might be in for a shock if they try to start the engines on that plane."
"But...there must have been dozens and dozens of GE Pokémon on board that thing!" Erika squealed.
"Exactly," Sabrina confirmed. "If Jessie survives this, she won't be happy about it. And we'll have a whole lot less of those freaks to deal with as well."
"Good work, Sabrina," Oak smiled. "But we really should get going to Pallet Town before this fire spreads."
"Stay here," Sabrina told him firmly. "Why do you think they burned your property in the first place?"
"But if we stay here, we'll all die!" Brock argued. "Fire bad! Very hot!"
"No, she's right," Misty told him. "Look up there!"
They all looked up and saw Jessie riding the GE Charizard, cursing so loudly they could hear her from on the ground, and she was heading for Pallet Town.
"I see," Erika nodded. "If we'd gone to Pallet Town, she'd threaten to burn the whole town down if we don't give ourselves up. She was counting on us fleeing into the town so she could use them to blackmail us."
"Indeed," Sabrina said. "Now, keep watching."
They all looked up at the Charizard, and suddenly it was hit by some kind of shockwave. It spiralled towards the ground, but managed to regain its composure and fire off several Flamethrower attacks at a flock of Pidgeots.
"They're using Air Slash!" Brock yelled enthusiastically. "Look at 'em go!"
There were seven Pidgeots in total, and although the Charizard was giving them a lot of trouble, they seemed to be holding their own. They were watching so intently that they almost didn't notice an eighth Pidgeot landing nearby. CJ leapt off the Pidgeot and ran over to the group.
"You guys stay here!" she said to them. "Misty, you have to take your Starmie and see if you can help the Pidgeots! They're not trained for battle! At this rate, that Charizard is going to barbeque them!"
"Right," she said with a serious frown. "Come on, Starmie!"
The two of them leapt aboard, with Starmie riding up front just behind Pidgeot's head. It took Pidgeot all of a second to reach full speed, and in barely longer than a blink later they were already in the thick of the battle.
"Okay, Pidgeot! Just concentrate on dodging and giving us a clear angle of attack, okay?"
"Pijjjohhh!"
Pidgeot weaved through the battle, dodging the flames Charizard was spewing forth. From further away it was harder to see, but up close she could tell that the battle was taking a serious toll on the Pallet Pidgeots. They just weren't as fast or anywhere near as powerful as the Charizard was. Each Flamethrower was bigger than anything Ash's Charizard could accomplish, and the pure heat of each blast was enough to cause the Pidgeots some damage, even if they missed.
"Starmie, Hydro Pump!"
Pidgeot had given Misty and Starmie a clear shot from behind, and they took it. The powerful blast struck the Charizard in the back, and it roared in pain. That's when Misty noticed that Jessie wasn't on board.
We have to take this thing down. If Jessie's out of commission, then this Charizard will kill everyone in Pallet Town. Nothing will be able to stop it!
Pidgeot circled back around, and luckily for Misty, the Charizard was only focusing on whichever Pidgeot attacked it last. Its ability to think and reason was non-existent.
"Pidgeot, you think you can hit it with a steam of Air Cutter attacks?"
"Pijjoh!"
The Pidgeot flew up close to the Charizard, then pulled up. It reared its wings back, then flapped hard, hitting the Charizard with a shockwave that stunned it a little, but didn't really hurt it.
"Now, Starmie! More Hydro Pump!"
Pidgeot kept the Charizard stunned while Starmie blasted it for a solid ten seconds, but then Pidgeot had lost too much altitude and needed to fly off again. As they came back around, they saw that the Charizard was going down, crashing just outside the town. Two of the Pidgeots swooped down and scooped it up in their talons, then flew off at an unbelievable pace due south.
"They're going to Cinnabar Island, aren't they?" Misty asked.
"Pijjjoh," the Pidgeot confirmed with a very bird-like nod.
"The volcano?"
"Pijjjoh."
"Thank you, Pidgeot. We owe you our lives again."
Pidgeot landed near the group, where the five other Pidgeot had already landed. The remaining two arrived a few minutes later.
"So, where are we supposed to go now?" Erika asked sombrely as she watched Oak's house burn to the ground.