Hey guys, long time no see on this story. I've been quite busy lately. I'll try to do better though! As for some updates, I'm probably not going to be including any Paldean Pokémon into my story, I probably won't be able to handle it. However, some Pokémon may get moveset changes based on the Paldean region. Shoot me a quick PM or review if you are okay with having moveset switches. Hope you enjoy this!


Kazuma's POV

Well I'm pretty much screwed. I've been sitting in this stupid room for about three hours. And stupid Mr.Shouty refuses to answer. It wasn't even my fault the mission was screwed up, I saw the guy move, and I reacted.

I looked around at the meeting room. Everything was familiar, which made it worse. The entire place is boring, and being trapped in here is even more boring. It's like being trapped in The Nightmare's chamber! Only that I'm dying with boredom and I don't have any cool Noivernman gadgets to break me free.

I heard the door open behind me, and decided not to turn around and appear as if I was totally calm and in control.

Executive Shout and the Emo Girl walked in. Which is strange, why would she be here to witness my punishment. Unless having to deal with her was the punishment.

Executive Boss-You-Around sat across from me as Emo Girl stood in a corner. "You screwed up the entire mission," he said for the millionth time.

I rolled my eyes. This guy really just loves to remind people of things, "Yes we've had this talk. Just get to the punishment already. Or better yet, don't. Me having to listen to you go on and on about how I failed is already enough."

"Don't worry Kazuma. I have your punishment. There is a place known as the Donalda Region. The Donalda Region is ruled by a royal family with a fancy castle and everything. Inside that castle is the Red Orb."

My heart raced as I listened to him. There was no way my punishment was to retrieve the Red Orb. Unless of course, it was going to be a decoy.

"You'll be sent on a special mission with Elaine to capture the Red Orb and bring it back."

"No way! I shouted, barely able to contain my excitement. "You call that a punishment?"

I knew from the smile on his face that he hadn't finished. Emo Girl was still standing in the corner, if she was surprised, she was hiding it very well.

"No actually. During the entire period of the mission, you'll be under the authority of Elaine. If she tells me you screwed up once, or gives a complaint. You'll be booted out of the Gamma Team. And of course, we take measures to make sure that ex-members don't talk."

I felt a chill run down my spine. If this was anything like the Confuzzler's gang, I'd be toast if I messed up.

"Seeing as Elaine will be your superior, you must listen to her every command. Failing to do so will also have you booted. She'll teach you how to execute missions properly, and a lot of the discipline you are lacking."

My shoulders slumped. This was perfect. He made something look super exciting and fun, and then slowly ruined it to the point where I wish I was still sitting in the room alone. It was as if this punishment was perfectly tailored to ruin- oh wait.

"Anything else?" I asked, gritting my teeth.

"Not particularly. You are dismissed."

I got up and walked out of the room. I can't deal with this anymore. I was walking out to the coffee chop when Emo Girl stopped me.

"We're leaving tomorrow morning. Get a small bag with necessities in it."

No way she's going to make me prepare for an early morning flight tomorrow during the afternoon. "Tomorrow? What about booking a flight and stuff?"

She looked me dead in the eye, sending yet another annoying chill down my spine. "I didn't plan on you being here. Everything's going to go according to plan. I'm not going to fail because someone else screwed up. Figure what you need to figure out by yourself, and don't bother me until tomorrow."

She turned around and walked away. I immediately knew this was one of the cases where it seems nothing can get worse, but it easily does.

No one's POV

The rest of the Gamma Team mission branch sat around a table, Mr.Henderson standing in front of them. Devon and Jacob had recovered mostly and were fit to do missions.

"Alright people, you've all been working hard in my classes. So, it is time for your final exam!"

"If we pass, will we be done with your stupid classes?" asked Gabrielle.

"Training sessions you mean. And yes, you will be done with my classes Gabby."

Gabrielle glared at him as Jacob raised a hand. "Will this mission involve planting devices?"

"Or beating up losers with our Pokémon until they're crying at our feet, begging for mercy?" added Olivia.

"No," said Henderson. "In light of a spectacular failure conducted by Devon, Jacob, and Kazuma." he paused as everyone in the room turned to look at them. "We no longer are friends of Team Rocket, and we don't have the serum. Instead, you six will infiltrate the main Team Rocket base and steal the serum."

Molly rolled her eyes. "Isn't that Elaine's specialty? The last time us gals infiltrated a base, it didn't go so well."

"Indeed," Henderson said in a wise tone, stroking his beard. "But Elaine has special missions and therefore cannot do this mission. Remember, stealth is key, so no crazy mega Sketches or anything."

Marlow looked at him. "You're telling me about stealth. Thank Arceus Kazuma's not coming on this mission. We'd be caught before we walked through the door."

"Where is he anyways?" asked Devon.

Henderson shrugged. "Depending on how cruel she is, I'd probably stay in the airport with nothing but his Pokémon, awaiting the next flight to the Donalda Region."

Everyone perked up at that.

"The Donalda Region?" asked Marlow. "They're one of the last regions to still have a royal family. What's he doing there?"

"And what do you mean depending on how cruel she is?" asked Olivia indignantly. "You can't be talking about me because I'm right here."

"She's right!" agreed Molly.

Gabrielle gave them a look. "Obviously he's talking about Elaine. Who else would he be talking about."

"Lady," Jacob pointed out.

"Well if he's dealing with either of them he's screwed," said Devon. "It's pretty obvious Elaine has little patience with him, and Lady's scary."

"But why would he be with Elaine?" asked Marlow. "She always has these special missions, missions clearly out of Kazuma's skill set. She wouldn't have time to deal with him."

"Why don't we let Henderson tell us," suggested Gabrielle.

"Thank you Gabriella," said Henderson. "His punishment is to steal the Red Orb with Elaine."

"You call that a punishment?" asked Devon incredulously.

"During the mission, Elaine will be his superior. He must listen to her every command or else face consequences."

Everyone but Jacob chuckled. "Now that's a specially made punishment for him," said Gabrielle. "Probably deserves it too, his jokes always get on my nerves."

"Am I the only person who actually genuinely likes him?" asked Jacob.

Devon shrugged. "He can be quite annoying sometimes."

At that moment, the doors to the "classroom" opened. Henry walked in, pushing a cart filled with clothing.

"Hello everyone! Got your Team Rocket outfits right here," he said, pushing the cart through the seats as they took their clothing.

"Wait a minute," said Marlow. "The R feels like it's made out of a different material."

Henry nodded. "I sewed them on myself. A special fabric that glows under UV lighting. It's one of the many things Team Rocket uses to root out imposters. You'll find an identification card in the pocket, as well as the front of the shirt. There are IDs sewn into the front of the shirt in every Team Rocket outfit as another security measure. They

scan the card through the shirt. Most Team Rocket members actually don't know about them."

"Two things," said Olivia. "One, there are seven outfits, not six. And two, you can sew?"

"And knit," said Jacob.

"I'm a jack of all trades," said Henry. "I'm coming with you as well."

"One thing," said Molly. "You said that they scan the IDs hidden in the shirt. But we aren't a part of Team Rocket, and obviously we have to be in the system for it to work."

Everyone turned to Molly in surprise, causing her to look at them confused.

"What? You think I can't point out something. Do you think I'm dim witted or something?"

Everybody now seemed fixated on something else in the room.

Molly put her hands on her hip. "Seriously? Someone please explain."

Nobody said anything for some time. Jacob nervously looked up.

"Well it's just that you, you know. Like, you idolize Olivia, which somebody with half a mind would do. I mean, she's Olivia! Half crazy-"

"Is there anything wrong with that?" asked Molly and Olivia at the same time. Both of them gave him a fierce glare.

Jacob mumbled something that no one heard and shrunk down to the corner of the wall. Molly looked at Olivia and gave her a happy look.

"We just did two things at the same time! We're in perfect synchrony, like we were meant for each other."

Olivia turned her fierce glare on Molly. "You, be quiet."

Henry cleared his throat. Bring attention away from the awkward situation. "Molly, you asked a great question. We had help with getting you into the system. Henderson, if you please?"

Henderson gave a sigh. "Fine, but you'll owe me."

Five minutes later

They were all in a cramped hallway, standing in front of a door with a bolded sign that said, "WARNING! DANGEROUS EXPERIMENTS IN PROGRESS!" and in less bolded letters in a messy scrawl. "I mean it!"

Henderson walked to the door and knocked on it. "Mia! It's Paul!"

There was no answer from inside. He knocked on the door again, repeating his message.

"Stupid video games. Mia! Open the door-"

The door opened, revealing a short girl who looked to be fourteen. She had bulky headphones around her neck and a video game controller in her hand. She had short red hair with food bits stuck in it. She had shiny, purple glasses and a T-shirt with a Galarian Pokémon band on it. Behind her was a mess of a room with clothes and food lying around. Comic books were lying on what appeared to be a bed. The only clean places were her desk and an area in front of a small monitor that displayed a video game and had neatly stacked video game cases, an Ambipom doll on top of it. The desk had a desktop and a large book about programming.

"What is it?" she asked, looking at the video game. "You have about two minutes because matchmaking is taking forever."

"I was going to introduce you to some people."

She looked at them, then back to the video game. "You do it."

Henderson looked at her, then shook his head. "This is Mia Henderson. Please forgive her attitude."

Everybody stared at the young girl.

"No way," said Gabrielle. "Are you saying you have-"

"No, she's my niece. I always told Joe he should abandon the human drug business. Such a sad way to end."

"He deserved it," said Mia suddenly, still looking at the screen. "He was a terrible father, person, and brother."

"Shouldn't you be in school?" asked Devon.

Mia turned around and snorted. "Those kids are idiots compared to me. And ignore the thing about my last name being Henderson."

"Okay, I'm Devon," he said, holding out his hand.

Mia looked at his hand. "I hope you dispose of the evidence. I wouldn't want to get my hands dirty."

Henderson looked at her. "Says the person who stole someone's identity and bought a Zereocar."

"It was only seventy five thousand pokédollars. He was a millionaire!"

"You don't even have a driver's license!"

"You don't have a Pokémon medical license!"

"Smart mouth," said Gabrielle. "Kazuma would already be friends with you. If he was here."

"I don't need friends," she said. "Especially, friends with common thugs like you."

"Excuse me?" asked Marlow.

"Well I guess special thugs. The common thugs are grunts who do the dirty work for the science branch, while you guys do the dirtier work."

"I'll have you know I am a very prestigious scientist!"

"Well you're in the mission branch so yeah."

"I got into a bit of trouble in the science branch, but that doesn't matter. You think you're so smart. Tell me, have you made your own mega Pokémon?"

"No, but I'm the one who hacked you all into Team Rocket's system. It was a joke, just like you making a mega Pokémon."

Marlow glared at her. "I'd love to show you. If fact, why don't you face-"

"Anyways," interrupted Henderson. "You didn't meet everyone! The man arguing with you is Marlow Gladwyn. The one with checkered colored hair is Gabrielle Lemmings-"

"Who looks like she's an emo gangster but continue."

"The one with purple hair and a grin that's creeping me out is Olivia Cartwright. The one with blue hair is Molly Edgeworth, the one who tried shaking your hand is Devon Manson, and the guy with silver hair is Jacob Tarot."

"Devon Manson? As in the guy who got banned from competing in the Voyanna Competitive Leagues?"

"Yes," Devon said.

"I honestly think that you getting banned from the VCL was unfair. Their reasoning for your Pokémon being 'unable to hold themselves back' was stupid. It's not your fault the Rampardos was stupid enough to charge head first into you Rhyperior. If it wanted its skull bashed then it wanted its skull bashed. Getting ninety seventh in the national rankings was amazing! As well as holding onto first place in you age group for some time. I'm surprised you're in the Gamma Team though. But meeting an actual high ranking competitive battler is epic!"

Jacob leaned over to Devon. "Kazuma would probably say you've got a fangirl. Are you going to sign an autograph?"

Before Devon could say something snarky, Mia's eyes lit up. "Please do!"

"Uh, sure."

As he followed her into her room. She asked him a bunch of questions.

"Yes, I do have a girlfriend. No, she's not here. I joined because I was hoping to find tough opponents, and my career was pretty damaged, because Voyanna is the biggest place for competitive battling. Yes, I do train my Pokémon a lot."

She opened a drawer on her desk and pulled out a permanent marker. The monitor flashed as the screen switched to show the in battle lobby.

"Oh, battle found! Here, you can sign my Ambipom," she handed him the doll and the marker as she sat down in front of the screen.

He signed the doll in neat cursive and put the doll back on the video game cases. He turned to Mia, but she was too engrossed in the video game.

As he turned and left the room, he heard Mia shouting from behind him.

"Stupid Greninja user! Clearly Ambipom is better! Die Mr.Haru-"

Her voice was cut off as Henderson closed the door. "It's soundproof."

As they walked up the stairs, everyone started asking questions.

"Why is she here?" asked Molly.

"Did you seriously train your niece to be a hacker?" asked Jacob.

"What's with her attitude?" asked Marlow.

Henderson turned around. "I'm sure you're all wondering. But you all still have a mission."

"I'm sure you can tell us. Or don't actually. I'd prefer to hang you over the Empoleon Province Tower," said Olivia.

Henderson sighed. "Mia used to live in a nice, loving family, until her mother died when she was six," he continued walking, signaling for everyone else to catch up.

"Her father, my brother Joseph, couldn't cope with the loss of his wife and got into drugs. He stopped working and instead made a living selling and buying drugs, using plenty of them. Now of course, if you're supposed to be selling a product, but are using instead, your boss won't be happy. His life went on like this for six years before his boss found and killed him. During that time, he neglected Mia, making her bitter and sad."

"Relatable," said Gabrielle, her voice dark.

"During those six years, Mia got her hands on a computer when she was eight or seven. She fell in love with computers and taught herself coding, and eventually, hacking. She committed many cyber crimes, and was almost arrested for stealing a million pokédollars worth of cryptocurrency through a break in the system. When her father died, she ran from the social security agency and used the web to find her only living relative, me. When she came, I took her in. Then news came that the Gamma Team was being restarted, and she asked if she could join. Of course I said no, but she threatened to expose the fact I'd been affiliated with the old Gamma Team." Henderson chuckled. "At that point, she had her sweet little uncle wrapped around her finger."

Everyone was quiet as they walked. Henderson then spoke again. "I wish I could do more for her. But for a fourteen year old, she's very independent. Anyways, let's not stew over this, you have a mission to do!"

Gabrielle looked back down the hallway where Mia's room was. She then turned and followed the rest of them up the stairs


Kazuma was talking to Jacob on his phone, ignoring Elaine as she watched him.

"Now listen here. Obviously if I take you to try and steal the Red Orb, you'll fail with flying colors and get us all caught. Your role will mostly be background support."

Kazuma looked up. "Oh! I know, I can drive the getaway car!"

Elaine studied him closely. "The term is not suicide car, which it will be if you're the one driving. Anyways, I'll be teaching you basic thieving skills, how to move undetected, and different tools I use to complete my missions. These skills probably won't be enough seeing the place I'm going."

"Sure whatev- ooh! Devon's got a fangirl!"

Elaine looked at him. "Are you even listening?"

"Nope."

Elaine stopped in front of him, not saying anything. Suddenly, she snatched his phone from him, easily and quickly. Kazuma didn't have time to react.

"Now listen here Zack. I'm not going to end up failing the mission because of an idiot like you. I'd rather ditch you in jail. I won't hesitate to get you booted off the Gamma Team if it meant I'd fail. Am I clear?"

Kazuma was speechless. "H-How did you-"

Elaine snorted. "You think I'm stupid. Kazuma's clearly a fake name. A bit of digging and I found your real name. Trust me, I can find a lot of things. Not only am I a thief, but I'm well trained in espionage."

"Like The Liepard!"

Elaine looked at him. "From Noivernman?"

"Yes. Both of you are thief and spies, both of you are emo-"

"I'll stop you right there." she tossed him his phone back, almost making him drop it. "Now will you listen?"

Kazuma sighed. He didn't want to, but he knew Elaine wasn't playing around. "Fine."

"Great, and I hope you're packed. Because you're going to be spending the rest of the day here. And please pay attention, time is precious, and I'd rather not waste it on you."

An hour later

The Gamma Team mission branch were all in a helicopter flown by Henry. They were currently flying over a sea, causing everyone else to become doubtful.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" asked Gabrielle. "We've been flying over the sea for twenty minutes now."

"Maybe I should explain. The Team Rocket base is located within an old military base. Half of it is underwater, and it makes a good hiding place because it was abandoned years ago due to some flooding issues."

"Some flooding issues?" asked Marlow. "Because common knowledge says that some flooding issues wouldn't be enough to shut down a military base."

"Okay, a lot of flooding issues. The entire lower area broke open."

"Sounds fun," said Olivia. "And they decided it was a good idea to make a base there."

"Don't ask me. Anyways, we're here," said Henry.

They still seemed to be flying over the sea. But if they looked closely, they could see a small stationary building that seemed to be floating still on the water.

"There's a helipad there. I'm going to land on it."

"Is that a good idea?" asked Jacob.

"Trust me."

He eased the helicopter down. As they got closer to the helipad, they could see that there was more of the base underwater.

As they neared the helipad, a bunch of people and Pokemon ran out from the building. One of the people was holding a gun.

"Land on the helipad and come out with no Pokémon and your hands up! We have you surrounded! Don't try anything!"

"Stay calm," whispered Henry. "Act like you know what you're doing."

Henry opened the door and calmly got out, his hands raised. Everyone followed suit.

"Henry!" shouted the one with the gun. He lowered the gun and gave Henry a hug. "Should've known it was you! What's with the new heli?"

Henry laughed. "The last one got blown up. Fortunately, I wasn't in it."

"I see you're flying in new recruits. Legitimate and already registered?"

"The usual."

"Alright. Well, you can all go in. No funny business! Everybody stand in a line so I can scan you all. I hope you have your IDs!"

When they were all checked out, they went into the elevator in the next few rooms..

"You know these guys?" asked Devon.

"Yeah, this isn't my only mission here," said Henry.

"So, what are we supposed to do?" asked Molly.

Henry reached into a small bag and pulled out three maps. The map showed the layout of the second, third, and fourth floor, with a circle around an unmarked area on the fourth floor.

"We'll split into three groups and head to the circled room. The room is the security room, we'll start avoiding cameras once we get to the fourth floor. Once all six of us are there, I'll ask Mia to update our rank so we can access the forbidden area. Once we're in, we'll steal the serum and make our escape.

"How will we escape though?" asked Jacob. "And surely someone will see us on the cams."

"That's where Mia comes in. We'll take out the guards watching the camera, in a subtle matter, then I'll plug a flash drive in so Mia can take over the security system."

"I have a question," said Marlow. "Just how skilled is Mia?"

"Very skilled."

"Has she ever hacked into the Oak Agency's system to delete stuff or something?" asked Gabrielle.

Henry shook his head. "Their system is very advanced for some reason. They have Rotoms and Porygons patrolling their system and stuff. Nothing she'd dare to touch."

"Okay yes we get it," said Olivia. "We're wasting time, press the button already."

Henry pressed the elevator button and the elevator immediately responded, slowly moving them down to the next floor.

They exited the elevator and walked in separate directions. Henry, Marlow, and Jacob went in one direction, while Olivia, Molly, Devon, and Gabrielle went in another. Eventually, Olivia and Molly went their separate ways, leaving Gabrielle with Devon.

"So," said Devon, trying to make conversation. "What do you think of Mia?"

"We have too much in common," said Gabrielle, her voice distant.

Devon gave her a look. "What do you mean?"

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter, we have a mission to do. We can't chitchat."

With that, she strode off, ignoring Devon.

Devon sighed. "Always playing off her troubles."


Jacob, Wihelm, and Henry were walking through the halls, headed for the stairs. Henry was stopping every few moments to shake hands with some person.

"I see you're pretty popular around here," said Jacob.

"Yeah, I'm the guy who brings in the new recruits once they are verified."

"Huh, who knows, this mission might be an easy, no fighting mission."

"I honestly doubt that, all of our special missions end up with us battling someone."

"Don't be a pessimist. There's a first for everything."

"I agree with Henry," said Marlow. "Our promotional mission ended up with us fighting Team Plasma. Our mission to get the Blue Orb ended with us fighting the islanders and the Oak Agency. Our mission-"

Henry shrugged. "Exactly. Anyways, let's make a stop at the cafeteria. We'd want to take our time a bit so as to not attract attention."

When they got to the cafeteria, Jacob immediately noticed a cafe that a lot of people were lined up at. The title of the cafe was "Pineco Beans: The Finest Coffee ever".

"Interesting," said Jacob. "I think we should have time."

They stood in line for some time and finally made their way to the front after a few minutes.

"Hello! May I take your order?" asked a young woman wearing a Team Rocket uniform.

Jacob looked to Henry for guidance, unsure of what to pick.

"We'll take two of the specials please."

"Alright then! Give us two minutes."

They waited off to the side for a moment before the woman came back.

"Here's your coffee!"

Jacob accepted his as Henry took his own. Henry almost immediately started drinking his, ignoring the fact that it was still extremely hot.

"You always had a tolerance for heat. How good is it?"

"Very good actually. Even Kazuma would be impressed. They tell no one what they put in the special though."

"Eh, I'll keep mine for Kazuma. He'd probably be able to figure out what's in it."

Henry raised an eyebrow. "Business competition?"

"Depends on how many criminal teams have coffee joints."


"Olivia, can we please slow down?" asked Molly. Trying to keep up with Olivia as she purposefully moved through a thick crowd.

"No, we can't waste time."

She pushed through the crowd and didn't wait for Molly to catch up.

"What's wrong?" asked Molly, half jogging to catch up. "You seem so annoyed. You can talk to me, it's fine."

Olivia gave a huff. "I don't like this place. It's reminding me about it."

"Oh, this place is reminding you about Tea-"

Olivia whirled around. "Don't even! Mention that name and I'll punch you!"

"That wouldn't be so bad."

Olivia gave her a death look, raising her fist between them.

"Just shut it and hurry up."

With that, she whipped around and started marching off. Molly giggled and followed her.

They continued on for a few more minutes, heading down some stairs and down another set of stairs. Eventually, they made it to the fourth floor.

"Let's see, on this floor are the dormitories," said Molly. "I don't think anyone else is here yet. Should we wait around the security room or go to the dormitories?"

"We should wait around the room. But not in a way that's suspicious. Anyways, I think I see Gabrielle over there."

They went over to where Gabrielle was and saw Devon as well. Soon after, Henry and Jacob came.

"Why are you holding coffee?" asked Devon.

"It's a souvenir. Anyways, we have more important things to worry about. According to Henry, there are three guards, and two camera watchers. One of the guards is armed."

"Ugh," groaned Gabrielle. "Why do so many people have guns these days?"

Jacob scoffed. "You should see Unova, practi-"

Jacob froze, realizing what he said. He looked to Olivia, who suddenly seemed to have teleported centimeters from his face. She grabbed his shirt and with surprising strength, pulled him towards her.

"Don't you dare mention that cursed region or I'll take your cussing monster and shove it down your throat."

Jacob froze, knowing she was indicating his Cinccino. Everyone around tried to awkwardly intervene, but Olivia paid no attention to them. Jacob nodded quickly, and she released him, causing him to fall.

Jacob got up and dusted himself off. "Anyways. We need to come up with a plan to quickly take out the guards, and leave things subtle. So no burning people, freezing them, poisoning them. Basically nothing that will kill them."

"I can have my Gardevoir use Teleport on them," said Molly.

"Or it will just run away back to its ball," said Olivia.

"Easy," said Marlow. "Sketch will put them all to sleep."

"I said we have to be subtle!" shouted Jacob.

"Sketch can be subtle. Watch."

Marlow sent out the Mimikyu and approached the door. He turned around and faced Sketch.

"Alright. Mega evolve!"

He twisted his watch as energy flooded into Sketch. A rainbow light surrounded him as he mega evolved, turning into his shadowy, monstrous form.

Marlow put his ear to the door. "I don't think they know we're out here. Now to open the door. Sketch, when the door opens, you put all of the people inside to sleep."

Henry turned on his communicator. "Mia, are you there?"

"I'm here, but I'm playing against a stupid Blaziken that's spamming Blaze Kick. Argh you stupid, no skill. Die!"

"Mia, this is important."

"So is my ranked score! I'm currently in third place worldwide with a thirteen point seven hundred thousand score! This guy is apparently first place, but he's literally just a spam- Yes, yes! Fake out! Get the, no wait, yes! Double Hit! Bounce, Slam, Fling, okay got the combo down-"

Henry sighed and shook his head. "Apparently, our little gaming hacker is too busy to help us."

"You're still on the mic- stupid little. Ha! See! That's what you get, Die! Oh you little s-"

Henry cut off the microphone. "We're going to get caught unless-"

Marlow raised a hand. "Don't worry. Sketch, cover us!"

They were all enveloped in a cloud of shadow, much to the surprise of everyone else.

"Yes, which one is more suspicious and would cause an entire legion of people to come?" asked Gabrielle. "A shadow cloud or a group of Team Rocket grunts, all gathered suspiciously around a security room."

"Logically, both would."

Henry turned on his mic again. "Mia, are you still here?"

"Yup! And I beat the stupid son of a gun. Still need to do more ranked matches though. I'm almost in second place though!"

"Enough of your silly games. Can you update our rank?"

"Silly games?" asked Mia indignantly. "This is Pokémon Star Fighters DX! The most popular and best selling game on the Sinlendo Swap Plus! One of the best consoles ever made. Anyone who says the ZCube is better is stupid."

"Okay. Can you update our permissions now?"

"Fine. Gimme a second."

Henry sighed and sat down inside of the shadow cloud. After a few seconds, her voice sounded on the mic again.

"Alright, your permissions have been updated. All doors are open for you now. Also, if you're wondering why you haven't been caught, I fed a loop to the cameras near you."

"Thanks, you took some initiative. Alright Marlow, do your thing."

Marlow took out his card and unlocked the door. Sketch waited nearby, a hungry grin on its face.

Marlow pushed the door open, and Sketch immediately rushed into action. He shot out a barrage of shadow tendrils, dragging the people into its body before they could react. Sketch went still for a moment before five shadow spheres were ejected from its body.

"Well that's new," said Marlow.

The shadows spheres faded, revealing five ghostly pale people, all with horrified expressions on their faces.

"And that isn't. At least it won't go wild, right?" asked Jacob.

"Of course. Sketch, return."

Sketch obediently went in its ball. Its mega evolution fading as it did.

"Alright," said Olivia. "Let's pick up the pace before someone finds out."

"And so we don't have to see that thing again," said Gabrielle.

Eight minutes later

They were all making their way into the science storage room, slowly and careful. Mia had complete control of the security system and was disabling all the necessary alarms as they went.

Soon, they made it to a place that was marked "DNA TESTING".

"This should be it," said Jacob.

"Indeed it is," said a voice behind them.

Everyone whipped around and saw a man and four other Team Rocket grunts.

"Shoot," said Jacob. "Hey James, how is it going?"

"Well, well, well. It turns out I was right. I knew the Gamma Team would come crawling here at some point."

Henry carefully spoke into his communicator. "Mia, this is urgent. Disable all locks and cancel override. Make sure every Team Rocket member except for us loses all privileges."

"You caused us to lose a lot of money back there. Should've known you were just slimy Arboks."

"Kazuma left the money behind," said Devon. "You should've picked it up."

"The money was blown up! I know it, that was all a setup! And you shall pay! Go, Pidgeot!"

At that moment, the other people behind him sent out their Pokémon. Out came a Blastoise, Alolan Sandslash, Primeape, and a Tauros.

"Fresh from Kanto huh?" taunted Jacob. "Go, Lily!"

Marlow looked at the pokéball with Sketch in it. "Out, Snox!"

"Go, Charizard!" shouted Molly.

Henry pulled out a pokéball and threw it. "I choose you, Taiho!"

"Out, Nerium!" shouted Olivia.

"Go, Tony," said Gabrielle.

Devon was the last to send out his Pokémon. "Now Rhyperior!"

The five opposing Pokémon retreated a bit, seeing they were outnumbered. Devon decided to use this to his advantage.

"Rhyperior, Earthquake!"

Devon's Rhyperior slammed the ground, knocking the opposing Pokémon off balance and hurting them.

"Charizard, Flamethrower!"

"Nerium, Dazzling Gleam!"

"Pidgeot, Hurricane!"

The flames were wiped away by the powerful flying type move, hitting the Charizard and Serperior. The Alolan Sandslash leapt forward as the Tauros charged.

"Tony, use Darkest Lariat, throw style!"

"Taiho, use Close Combat!"

Taiho, a Heracross, opened his wings and flew forward, ramming into the Sandslash and sending a flurry of punches and kicks. Tony the Incineroar ran forward and grabbed the Tauros as it charged, digging his claws onto the ground as he brought it to a stop.

"Charizard, use Thunder Punch on the Pidgeot!"

"Use Agility and dodge!"

"Primeape, use Close Combat!"

"Stop him Tony!"

As the Primeape charged at any random Pokémon, Tony was finally able to overpower the Tauros and picked him up, swinging him around.

"Nerium, Psychic!"

"Sandslash, Dig!"

Nerium, an Espeon, used Psychic and picked up the Primeape right as Tony threw the Tauros. The big Pokémon slammed into the Primeape as Nerium threw them into a wall. At that moment, the Sandslash appeared directly under Nerium, slamming into the Pokémon with its powerful claws.

"Heracross, use Close Combat!"

"Pidgeot, ignore the Charizard. Attack the Heracross with Hurricane!"

"Bad move!" shouted Molly. "Air Slash!"

Molly's Charizard shot sharp blades of air at the Pidgeot, flinching it and preventing its move. Instantly, purple energy surrounded him as he charged forward, slamming into the Pidgeot with Dragon Rush.

"Thunder Punch!"

"Now Blastoise, attack with Hydro Pump!"

The Blastoise, which had been staying out of the fight, blasted the Charizard with Hydro Pump, taking the fire dragon out of the sky.

"Rhyperior, use Stone Edge!"

"Taiho, use Megahorn!"

"Nerium, attack the Pidgeot with Psychic!"

Olivia had spotted the Pidgeot, which was trying to sneak attack Tony, who was currently fighting the Primeape. Taiho and Rhyperior attacked the Blastoise with their moves.

In another part of the room, Snox was fighting the Tauros. The Tauros was trying in vain to attack him, but was too confused to do much.

"Use Thrash!"

"Psycho Cut!"

The Tauros bucked and thrashed around, trying to his Snox. The Malamar calmly moved backwards and sent out a stream of psychic energy waves, his boosted attack allowing him to deal massive damage.

The Tauros shook its head as it snapped out of confusion. It snorted and stared at Snox, giving him a deadly glare.

"Giga Impact!"

"Stop it Snox! Use Swagger, then Psycho Cut!"

Snox puffed himself up, confusing the Tauros and boosting its attack. He immediately started sending psychic wave after psychic wave, wearing down the Pokémon.

The Tauros velocity was too much to stop. He slammed into Snox, but didn't faint him. Snox hadn't received any damage before. The Tauros rebounded and fainted.

"Now Snox, take out the Pidgeot!"

As Charizard dueled in the air with the Pidgeot, psychic waves slammed into the Pidgeot, knocking it off balance and allowing Charizard to finish it off with Flamethrower.

One by one, the rest of the Pokémon were easily finished off. The Blastoise looked between the seven opposing Pokémon and quickly retreated into its shell, and eventually into its ball.

"It's over," said Devon. "So why don't you just stay quiet so we can get what we need."

"It's not over!" shouted James, suddenly pulling out a gun. Before anyone could react, he fired.

Olivia screamed and fell to the ground as the bullet whizzed by her face, grazing it as it barely hit her.

Molly reacted instantly. "Charizard!"

Knowing his trainer's intentions, he flew off and grabbed James as he struggled to reload his gun. The last thing heard from him were pained screams as Charizard used its favorite move.

"And that's why they call me Crimson," she said bitterly.

Three hours later

"I've told you for the last time I'm fine," said Olivia, sitting on her bed with Nerium on her lap. She had a cotton bandage on her left cheek.

"But you could've died," gushed Molly, examining the bandage for the millionth time. "Does it hurt?"

"It hurt less if you'd stop touching it."

"Too bad most Pokémon moves don't work well on people. I'd teach my Gardevoir Heal Pulse in a heartbeat."

"I already told you, I'm fine."

At that moment, Kazuma came in with a tray of coffee. Having been released by Elaine, he took the time to study the coffee Jacob brought.

"I was finally able to discern what was in their coffee!" he declared. "No so different from mine, but with two added ingredients and different proportions. With my genius, I was able to make it even better. Have some!"

He gave a cup to Molly and Olivia, the latter of which looked inside the cup.

"It looks just like any cappuccino."

"It's what inside that counts."

She tasted some of it and nodded. "Huh, this is pretty good."

Molly also agreed. "You sure do make good coffee."

Kazuma laughed. "Too bad I'm going to the Donalda Region tomorrow. If you ask me, I think Elaine doesn't want to go. She's been acting different."

Molly shrugged. "People have their secrets. Anyways, you should leave now. Olivia needs to recover and can't do so with you and your big mouth around.

Kazuma laughed and got up to leave.


Gabrielle walked down the steps and through the hallway, remembering the directions to the place. She stood in front of the door with the "WARNING! DANGEROUS EXPERIMENTS IN PROGRESS!" sign and knocked on the door.

"Hello?"

"Go away Paul, I'm busy."

"It's not Paul."

The other side of the door was silent for a moment. The door suddenly opened, revealing Mia. She still looked like she'd had before, except with more food crumbs in her hair.

"Well that's a surprise. I didn't expect anyone of you guys to visit."

Gabrielle smiled. "I guess you can't expect everything. We haven't properly introduced. I'm Gabrielle Lemmings," she said, sticking out her hand.

Mia looked at it. "I hope you disposed of the evidence."

"You did that actually."

Mia smiled. "Glad you remembered. I'm Mia," she said, shaking Gabrielle's hand.

"Just Mia?"

"I don't take the name of my father. He was a terrible person."

"I heard about it. My dad died when I was younger, and my mom did what your dad did. She eventually abandoned us, saying she didn't want us."

"Us?"

Gabrielle was quiet for a moment. "I have a brother. But- I don't really want to talk about it."

Mia nodded, understanding. She looked back at her paused video game. "Want to play something?"

"I'm not really good at those things."

Mia took her hand and pulled her into her room. "Neither was I but look at me now."

Henderson listened from the hallway, satisfied with what happened. He then sighed as his phone rang, a call from Executive Stewart.

"Yes?"

"I'm going to need you to deliver some of the Alpha Gene Pokémon to Scarlet near Sharpedeo bluff."

"What's happening?"

"During the mission where we had the mission branch steal the Blue Orb, Elaine reported she saw what looked to be a Noble Pokémon. Possibly some form of a Lanturn. It turns out it's a dark and water type, so Scarlet's having a bit of difficulty."

Henderson sighed. "Isn't she technically a legendary Pokémon? I don't see why she should drag me from my important business."

"Three sixths of a legendary Pokémon actually. And the only important business you have is with the Gamma Team. So, you'd better get there, and fast."

Henderson sighed as he put his phone away. One day, he knew he was going to leave the Gamma Team behind with Mia.


And that's the end of this chapter. Worked very hard to get this one out quickly, so I hope you all enjoyed it. As I mentioned in my other story, some Pokémon may be getting moveset changes, I will also not be introducing any Paldean Pokémon. Maybe in a future story, maybe never. See you next time!