CHAPTER 29: Team Rocket's Hideout!

"So whats the plan?" Candice whispers, as we watch yet another Team Rocket member press a secret button, hidden behind a poster, and enter a small door in the wall.

We got to Celadon city the day before around mid-day, and spent the rest of the day gathering information as to where the Team Rockets main operation was. We finally narrowed it down to the towns local casino, called the Game Corner.

But that's where the trail went cold. We rented a room for the night in the local PokeCenter, and this morning we staked out the casino, but nothing interesting happened.

Until a Team Rocket Member showed up.

She walked right in, checked to make sure no-one was looking, and pressed a button that is hidden behind a poster on a nearby wall, then disappeared behind a small revolving door in the wall.

That brings us to now, as we hide behind a row of machines nearby.

"We follow. Quietly." As the T.R member walks in, the door whooshes closed behind him, and we quickly follow.

Gardenia presses the button, and the door swings open, as we quickly dart in.

We enter a stair well, and we can hear footsteps heading down, and there's a lively tune being whistled from farther down the stairs.

Gardenia lifts her hand to her mouth, signalling to be quiet, and we make our way down.

Candice releases Sneasel, Gardenia releases Roserade, and I release Alto.

We make our way down the stairs, and it comes to an end in a long hallway, with multiple doors on either side.

Candice heads to the right, and Gardenia heads to the left, so i head forward, towards the end of the hallway. We all start checking rooms.

The first room i go into looks to be a storage room, as there are large crates all around, stacked neatly. Each crate is marked all down the side with different letters. I walk to the nearest one, and realize that they are names of species of pokemon, and read a few out loud;

Nidoqueen, Route 12.

Hariyama, Cerulean City.

Umbreon & Espeon, Route 25.

I recoil, as i see the label on the top of the crate.

POKEMON SAVED

Saved... as in stolen.

I make a mental note to remember this room, as I head back out to the hallway.

I throw the door open, and i walk smack into a man.

"Oh! Wait, your not-"

THUNK!

He goes to grab me, but is cut short as his eyes roll back into his head as he falls on top of me.

I see Candice behind him, wielding a large ice-bat, which now has the slightest hint of blood on it.

I kick him off, and she helps me drag him into the storage room.

"Are you okay?" I ask her as we walk out, and she just nods.

Gardenia comes out of her room, and see's Candice's weapon. She pulls out a long, thin vine, with a sharp thorn tied to one end.

"Is everything alright?" She whispers, and we both nod.

Both of the room's that they had checked were the same as the one i was just in, so we continue down the hallway.

We enter the room at the very end, and there is a small green pad in the center of the room.

"What is that?" I ask, but both gym leaders shake their heads.

"Well, I'll go first, i guess." I step onto the pad.

As soon as both of my feet touch it, I'm whisked away, into another room.

I quickly look around, and see that there are two female T.R Members, and both are looking at me.

"Get her!"

"Sound the alarm!"

I duck off the pad as Candice comes through, holding Ace and Sneasel.

She dives off too, as Sneasel freezes both of the members feet, freezing them in place.

"HEY!"

"NOT FAIR!"

THUNK! THUNK!

We drag both of the unconscious women to the teleport pad, and whisk to where Gardenia is standing guard. I notice that there is another member knocked out in the corner, and Gardenia smiles, pointing to Roserade.

"Sleep Powder. I prefer a much less... violent, approach." She laughs as Candice gives her the finger.

"So, am I staying here then, or do you guys want me to follow?"

"Stay here for now, but get out if anything goes wrong, or an alarm goes off." I say, and she nods.

"Good luck, girls." She hugs us both quickly, and we head onto the pad again, Alto in my arms.

I release Beatrice as well, as she is quiet and can help if we get into a fight. I'm to paranoid to let any other pokemon of mine out under ground.

We head back into the room where the two members were, and make our way over to another teleport pad, this one blue.

Candice steps on first, and i give her a couple seconds before stepping on as well.

I whisk into the next area, which is a long hallway with a large room on the end. A pair of hands grabs me from behind, and i start to scream, but recognize the gloves, as i whip around and Candice has her finger to her mouth.

"Shh!" She hushes me, and we make our way into the large room, which seems to be an office.

There is a man, sitting at a large wooden desk, and he briefly looks at us from over his mound of papers.

He has jet-black hair, and is wearing an orange suit and tie. His face is unsettling, yet extremely charming.

We all freeze as he see's us, but he goes right back to his paper work.

"Ah! Well, are you two the ones responsible for knocking out half of my grunts?" He laughs, finally standing up.

I put my hand out, as Candice goes to walk forward, brandishing her ice-bat.

"That would be us... who are you?" I say, mock bravery thick in my voice.

"Ah, a Sinnoh accent! How... interesting... But anyways! My name is Giovanni, and I run this whole... operation, you might call it. I am the boss, the leader, the emperor." He bow's dramatically.

"So your the one responsible for all those stolen pokemon?" I ask quietly, a deadly rage slowly building.

"Stolen is SUCH a strong word, my darling! I prefer the term... re-homed. Those pokemon were all taken form trainers who had NO right to train. Weak, pathetic people. Speaking of..." He smiles, looking over my shoulder at something.

I duck as Candice swings her bat, smoking a grunt in the face, causing him to fly back, into another lady, who is holding an unconscious Gardenia.

"Garden!" I point at the lady, but Alto and Beatrice are already on her.

I see a small cloud of concentrated bee minions swarm the poor girls face, and she screams and drops Gardenia into Beatrice's waiting claws, and Bea carefully backs up.

Candice steps off of a third woman, who had come up from behind me, and she has a large, bloody lump on her forehead.

The minion swarm finally lifts off the girl, who has stopped screaming, and is just twitching. As the bee's lift off, I see that her entire face has been stung, and she collapses into a heap, twitching.

"Oh my god..." Candice gasps, and i dive for her, but a large pair of hands grabs me from behind, lifting me up and squeezing the breath out of me.

I go to kick him, but i feel something sharp dig into my throat.

"Ah ah ah! No struggling, or you'll only make this harder on yourself." Giovanni chuckles as i go limp.

"Ser!" Candice goes to step forward, Beatrice now at her side, but Giovanni digs the blade a little deeper, making me cry out in pain.

"Now, why are you girls looking for trouble way down here?" He asks, and Candice sighs.

"You stole our friends pokemon!" I choke out, and he laughs.

"Re-homed. Remember that term. And i apologize that your friend is an un-worthy trainer."

"Shes a mother! She is one of the best trainers around!" Candice growls.

I feel the blade lift from my skin, just a bit.

"Obviously she wasn't a very good mother if- OOMPH!" He's cut short as I kick backwards as hard as i can, landing a square hit to his privates.

He drops me, and i dive forward, out of his reach.

Candice flies over top of me, not one to waste an opportunity, and slams her bat into his head, sending him flying against the desk, knocking it over, and sending papers flying everywhere.

Candice steps forward, bat raised again, but Giovanni raises his hand.

"Stop! I'll make you a deal!" He gasps, holding the spot where her bat connected.

Candice steps back, bat still raised.

"Battle me, and if you win, I promise to return your friends pokemon." He gasps in pain, but Candice steps forwards again.

I rush over to Gardenia, who is still unconscious and has a small trickle of blood running out of her nose. I see Roserade's pokeball on her belt, and sigh in relief.

I prop her up against the wall, releasing Roserade to watch over her, then turn back to the scene unfolding before me.

Candice has just slammed the bat into the tile beside Giovanni's foot, shattering it and sending shards flying.

"You will release ALL of your STOLEN pokemon if we win." She growls, a deadly tone in her voice.

Giovanni hisses, but nods.

"Fine, but ONLY if you can defeat me." He slowly stands up, and Candice walks over to me, and her eyes go wider as she sees me.

"Serena!" She rushes to my side, and signals to Roserade.

"What?!" I swat her hands away, and she points to my throat.

I place my hand to my throat, and it comes away, dripping in blood.

"Oh... Wow." Is all i can say. I must be in shock, as this is a pretty substantial wound, but i can barely feel it.

"All we have to do is win, and he will return all of the stolen pokemon." Candice says as Roserade wraps a light vine around my neck, absorbing all of the blood.

"I'll do it." I step forward, but both Roserade and Candice stop me.

"Rose!" Roserade gently pushes me back, but i push forward.

"Serena, NO!" Candice shouts, sobbing now, but i throw her to the side, and head to the middle of the room, where Giovanni is smirking.

"Get Gardenia to safety, I'll deal with him." I say behind me as i approach the Team Rocket Leader.

"Well well, look who's decided to party!" He laughs, and I release the twins.

"How many pokemon do you got?" I growl, and he laughs again.

"Four." In response, he also releases two pokemon.

A large, blonde cat pokemon with a small red jewel in it's forehead, and a Rhyhorn.

I waste no time.

"Belle, Hypnosis! Bane, Dream Eater!"

"Persian, Bite! Rhyhorn, use Rock Throw!"

The Rhyhorn throws a large boulder in my direction, and it misses Belle by a few spare inches, as she lands a perfectly place Hypnosis on the Rhyhorn. Bane lands a strong Dream Eater, but gets thrown back as the Persian sinks it's fangs into his wing.

"Belle, Nightmare! Bane, Psychic!"

The Persians eyes go wide as Bane lifts it up, and throws it none-to-gently against the far way, knocking it our instantly.

Belle clamps onto Rhyhorn's back, sending malicious purple waves of negative energy into the rock pokemon. The Rhyhorn lasts a couple seconds, before succumbing to the nightmares, and slips into unconsciousness.

Hissing, Giovanni returns his two pokemon, and sends out two more. I return the twins, and send in Ace and Beatrice.

He sends out an Onix, whom is almost to big to fit into the room, and... a large brown pokemon, with a pouch on its stomach, which has two small beady eyes peeking out of it.

"Onix, Rock Tomb! Kangaskhan, use Brick Break!"

"Ace, Twister! Beatrice, use-" I'm cut off as the large brown pokemon, Kangaskhan, reaches forward, and grabs Ace by the wing.

Holding him suspended, the pokemon looks back at it's trainer.

"This will teach you not to mess with Team Rocket." He smirks as he nods, and everything goes in slow motion.

First, the Kangaskhan snaps Ace's wing in two, like a branch from a tree.

Second, I see Candice's Abomasnow lunge forward, knocking the Onix out with a strong Wood Hammer.

And third, I hear a familiar voice, as someone pushes me back, rushing to get Ace, who is now writhing on the floor, having been dropped on the floor to suffer.

I realize who the person is, as Beatrice sends a huge cloud of angry bees at the Kangaskhan.

"DAD!" I screech, as he dives into the bees, to grab Ace.

"DAD!" I screech again, rushing forward, but a strong pair of hands reaches around from behind, yanking me back.

"Serena, NO!" Brocks voice rings in my ear, as i see Seadra, Tia, and Pikachu join the fray.

Brock pulls me back, but i keep my eyes glued to the spot where Dad just disappeared.

Suddenly, he bursts out of the fog of bees. and is carrying Ace, who looks to be unconscious.

"CALL THEM OFF!" Dad shouts at me, and i signal to Beatrice, who in turn summons the minions back to her.

The Kangaskhan is on the ground, breathing shallowly, and Seadra & Pikachu stand guard over it.

Tia is holding Giovanni against the far wall, snarling in his face, as Ash and Misty finally show up.

"Let him go!" I shout, but everyone is shouting over me, so i point to Alto, who nods, letting lose an earsplitting shriek, which succeeds in shutting everybody up fairly quickly.

"Let. Him. Go." I shudder, suddenly cold from blood loss, but Tia looks at me with a worried expression.

"NOW!" I thunder, and she drops the man to the floor.

I grab Candice's ice-bat as i walk over, and step right up to the man.

"I won, fair and square."

"Actually, your friends Abom-" Hes cut off as i slam the bat into his leg, buckling it and causing him to fall.

"You promised."

"Little girl, do you know who-" I slam the bat into his knee, and there is a loud cracking sound.

"WILL YOU RELEASE THEM." I whisper, so quiet that he can barely hear me, and he nods.

"Take them, i don't care anymore." He shivers in pain, as i walk back to where everyone is standing, looking at me with fear and worry.

"Get Officer Jenny in here ASAP, we are free to take all those pokemon they stole. Ash, find a grunt and get him or her to tell you where Mimie is." I walk past them, and Brock stops me, pointing to my Dad.

"Serena, you need to go to the doctor."

"I'm... I'm fine." I stutter a bit and my vision goes a bit hazy, and i start to fall, but Dad catches me quickly.

"What... what are... you guys doing here?" I mumble, starting to fade out, and Dad shakes me.

"Dont you fall asleep! Brock mentioned something about me asking about Team Rocket, and we finally figured out that you three had left, so we rushed right over." He cries quietly, and i start to fade out again.

The last thing I remember is seeing Ace, his wing bent the opposite angle it should be.

Everything goes black.