CHAPTER 34: Expedition! Day Two!

I feel the eyes staring at me as I wake up.

I dont open mine, but I can tell that my pokemon are all asleep.

I am trying to think of a plan, when something brushes my shoulder.

I swing my fist up, connecting to something solid and fleshy with a THUMP!

There is a feminine cry, as I quickly stand up, waking Beatrice.

"Beatrice, use-"

"Stop!"

I pause, the figure now standing by the door.

The light flicks on, and my eyes take a second to adjust, then I can see the figure clearly, and it's someone I don't recognize.

Her hair is a dark mauve, and is tied back in a tight pony-tail. She is wearing a black body-suit, and has a light pink ribbon tied around her waist. She is not wearing shoes, but her bodysuit comes under the arches of her feet. She is also wearing a long pink scarf, that matches the ribbon around her waist and grazes the floor.

"Stop." She says again, hands up.

"Who are you?" I ask, stepping closer to the twins and Beatrice.

"My name is Janine, daughter of gym leader Koga, of Fuchsia City. I am a ninja of the Koga clan." She bows quickly and deeply.

"Okay... Janine. My name is Serena." I say awkwardly, bowing as well.

"I know. I also know that you have come to find your mother." My eyes must reveal my thoughts, because she quickly backtracks.

"I have not been following you... for long. I would like to assist you in the recovery of your mother, and take out Team Rocket in the process." She smiles, sitting gracefully on the chair next to the door.

"Oooookay..." I sit back on the bed, still ready to fight or flight if necessary.

"I have scouted the building, and would like to show you the entrances least used." She smiles again playing with what looks dangerously like a knife.

She must see me looking at it, because she flips it in her hand and holds it out to me.

"It's a kunai. Please, take a look." I gently grab it from her hand, weighing it carefully.

"Now, would you please inform me of your plans to infiltrate the building?" She asks, crossing her legs.

"I was... um... going through the front door?" I say, ending in a question.

Janine laughs. Hard.

"Oh goodness! That wasn't actually your plan, was it?" She squeals with laughter, and Beatrice moves forward a step, buzzing angrily.

She instantly flies against the wall, another Kunai in hand.

"Hey! No!" I put my arm in front of Bea, who buzzes apologetically, and Janine sits back down.

"Well? Shall I help you?" She asks, now impatient, and I nod.

Smiling, she stands.

"Meet me at the Noctowl's nest in half an hour." With that, she disappears out the door.

I quickly shower and get changed, before heading out.

"We enter from the back, there is a door that I can unlock." Janine says, and I nod. "We will approach from the ground, there's more cover." She finishes, and I nod again.

The twins take us down, and I return them, before we set off.

It doesn't take long, and soon we are at the back door.

"Quiet. I will scout the perimeter." She whispers, and I crouch into a bush nearby as she disappears with ninja speed.

A few minutes later, there is a "HUH!" from inside the back door, and a body is thrown out of the now open door. Janine steps over him, gesturing for me to enter.

I try not to look at the thin trail of blood coming from his mouth as I step over him.

She drags him inside, hiding the body behind some crates, and she snatches his belt.

"Why?" I ask quietly, and she whispers in my ear.

"These pokemon deserve better lives. I shall release them once we are finished." I nod.

We walk down a dimly lit hallway, that ends with a doorway.

Janine quickly opens the door, kunai at the ready to throw, but the doors clangs quietly against the rails of a stairwell.

Sighing in relief, we quietly head up the stairs.

We get to the second floor, and there's voices from behind the stairwell door.

"You may want to turn around." She tells me, then shrugs when I shake my head.

She pushes me against the wall behind the door, and throws a pebble down he stairs, and it makes a loud CLANG! noise against the metal rail.

"What the..." The door flies open, and a man and woman enter. The man turns, and makes direct eye contact with me.

"Hey, who-" Is all he gets out, as Janine drops from above, snapping his neck with her legs and disabling the woman with her hands, all in a matter of a second.

Both bodies drop to the floor, Janine landing on her feet.

I take the belt off the man, and she does the same for the woman, placing the pokeballs in her bag.

We enter, and I instantly recognize the hallway.

"This is where Giovanni was in the video!" I gasp, and Janine nods, slowly checking all of the rooms.

She checks every door, except for the one on the end, and they all come up empty.

"This is it. There's bound to be guards but I will take them out. Shout if anyone comes from behind." I nod, and she throws the door open.

In the far corner, I see mom, huddled under a blanket.

I also notice the ten or so Team Rocket Members, all standing around the room, and I ALSO notice as they all turn as one to see me.

But thats just it, Janine is already off, and I watch with guilty pleasure as one by one, the bodies drop like flies, and the rest start to panic at the shadow that is flitting around the room.

I shut the door to a crack behind me, glancing back to make sure the sudden noise hasn't attracted any unwanted visitors.

"WHAT THE MEANING OF THIS?!" I hear booming from downstairs, and the sound of someone running.

"Janine! He's coming!" I run over to mom.

"Se... Serena?" She croaks, and I hug her tight.

"Mom." I cry quietly.

I hear the stair well door fly open across the hallway.

"GET THEM!" Giovanni booms.

Janine grabs us, motioning for us to go to the window.

"The Noctowl, NOW!" She releases a large bug type pokemon.

"Venomoth, PoisonPowder!" I release the twins, and they quickly fly out the large window, shattering the glass, before circling back and waiting underneath.

I release Bea, pointing to the open door. "ATTACK ORDER!"

She sends waves of minions swarming out the door, and I am sadistically satisfied to hear the screams of several T.R members, before I return her and run to mom.

I gently lead mom to the window, and carefully help her onto Belle's back.

"Take her to Bill!" I kiss her head, and she nods, making sure mom is secure, and takes off for Cerluean, flying quick and high.

The door bursts open behind me.

"GO!" Both Janine and Giovanni shout at the same time.

Janine flies past me, grabbing me by the shirt and launching out the window onto Bane, who quickly takes off after Belle, who is now a dot in the distance.

"HOLD ON!" Janine hooks her legs through Banes talons, throwing kunai and shurikens at the building as we escape.

I watch as body after body falls out of the window, pokemon and human alike, all struck down by Janine's superior aim.

Just as we reach the end of her range, she throws three kunai at once.

I watch as the first one skims past Giovanni's head, the second one lodges itself in the forehead of the last Team Rocket member standing beside him, and the third pierces his neck, but only barely.

"SERENA!" He shouts, pulling out a gun.

"JANINE, WATCH OUT!" But it's to late.

The bullet flies into her shoulder, throwing her back onto me.

The next few skim past us, barely missing.

"BANE, HURRY!" I cry, and he puts on more speed.

We make it to Bill's house in about half an hour, and Belle is already there,k waiting nervously outside.

"BILL!" I screech, and he bounds out of the house, assessing the situation.

"She's been shot!" I sob, and he gently grabs her and runs inside.

I go to follow, but I feel my legs give out from under me, and I crash to the ground, my vision blurry.

The last thing I see before I go unconscious is a group of people, running up from down the Route.

Everything goes black.