Chapter 15: Lost (Part 2)
The boss Rocket, Giovanni, sat alone in his office. He sighed as he opened the bottom drawer of his desk, pulling out a shot glass and a bottle of whiskey. He poured the liquor into the small beverage container and quickly drained it.
The strength of the brew made him wince and exhale noisily. He almost never drank anything alcoholic. He only drank when he was either feeling particularly festive, or when he was under record levels of stress. It was because of the latter he was drinking now. All because of Ash, he cursed under his breath. The Persian beside him took no notice of any of this.
The past 24 hours had been a nightmarish experience. In the past day alone, he'd been humiliated to no end. All was well at first – Pikachu and several other Pokémon were in his possession, and there were six prisoners in his basement.
Then that Ash kid came along and caught him completely off guard. By day's end, the Pikachu was missing and Ash and his five other prisoners had managed to escape. To add insult to injury, he went down to the basement to find two things: he had no Pokémon to pawn on the black market, and Harley was inexplicably locked within a cell, his wrist bound to the cell's bars. Oh, what a mess that was to take care of!
Giovanni poured another glass of whiskey and downed it. He had, of course, added several security devices and procedures that morning. The key-operated locks on the cell doors were replaced with high-tech combination locks that were resistant to electrical disturbances. On top of that, he now required any visitors to be escorted by not one but two guards, who were to keep a very close eye on them at all times.
Just as he was beginning to wonder if the extra security was really a necessary precaution, the cell phone in his pocket filled the air with its music. He quickly pulled the small device out of his pocket out of his jacket pocket and flipped it open.
"What is it?... I see. Excellent. Take them to the basement and make sure to shut them up correctly. Send their belongings to my office. …Great. Do me a favor – I want extra security to be keeping an eye on him at all times even when he's down there. I'll send someone shortly."
Well, this was a surprising development for the Rocket boss. He chuckled. Things might be starting to turn around. The phone call had been to alert him to the recapture of four of yesterday's escapees. He'd get the other two later. For now, he turned back to his administrative duties, beginning with the periodic email check. The inbox contained a few spam emails that had overridden the spam filter…and a message from Cyrus. Giovanni clicked it.
Hail, Giovanni.
The expedition that had been dispatched to Sinnoh has returned. The mission was a success. We now have Palkia and Dialga in our possession. I've alerted Maxie and Archie to this latest development as well. Prepare yourself. It is time…to begin the final phase of the plan.
-Cyrus, Team Galactic boss
About time. Now we can get started on reforming this world.
Giovanni had heard and seen enough. For all it was worth, this sudden turn of luck merited a celebration of sorts. He simply smiled and drank a third shot of whiskey. He knew he should stop soon – it wouldn't look good to be acting like a lunatic in front of his esteemed affiliates.
Just as he finished putting the whiskey bottle and shot glass back in their respective drawer, the double office doors swung open, and five of his own employees stepped in. One of them was carrying…PIKACHU?!
Giovanni felt his jaw drop.
Cassidy giggled. "We thought you'd be pleased, boss."
It took him a minute for Giovanni to find his voice. "Well done, you five. For once, you've actually succeeded," he said, turning to face Jessie, James, and Meowth as he spoke.
"Well, your timing is just perfect. I have a new job for all of you. Here it is…"
Ash had been asleep mentally ever since he and his friends were airlifted out of the restaurant. Now that all the touching, grabbing, fondling, yelling and pushing had stopped, he made himself alert of all that had happened.
To his great dismay, he found himself in an uncomfortably familiar scenario. In fact, he was locked up within the same cell he and Dawn had occupied only a short day ago. This horrid cell offered even less fortitude than yesterday. Less than 24 hours ago, Ash was in here with his girlfriend, Dawn. Since then, they'd parted ways. Ash thought it was somehow a cruel irony that he was here in this exact same cell. Alone this time. And once again, without his Pokémon.
Remembering the general proximity the cells had to each other, Ash approached the door to his cell. He noticed the lock was different now. He sighed in discouragement, but then remembered what he was going to do.
"Hey! Can anyone hear me?" Ash shouted.
"Ash! Is that you?" Brock's voice echoed.
"Yeah, it is! Could you check on Drew and Max?"
"Yeah, one moment, though!"
Ash stood silently as he listened to Brock's echo bounce off the walls. He began the same way Ash had started their own conversation. He took a step back and leaned his back against the wall. It was all he could do to wait while the chain of communication continued.
The communication line went from Brock's cell to Max's, proceeding on to Drew's, where the response began traveling in the opposite direction. It was a minute before Ash could get a reply to his request. He stood up as Brock's voice sounded through the empty hallway.
"Max and Drew say they're fine, but don't have their Pokémon with them. Same as I!"
"Sorry to hear that, Brock!" Ash called back.
Presently, Harley came by Ash's cell, whistling a tune and not taking notice of Ash.
"Hey, Harley, what's the combination for the lock?" Ash mockingly asked.
Harley rolled his eyes and scoffed at the trainer. "Right. Like I'm telling you. Especially after what you did to poor me yesterday! The master was most displeased, I'll have you know!"
"Yeah, and I aim to make it happen again! Just go easy on yourself and let me and my friends out." Ash bragged.
Harley closed his eyes and let out a chuckle. "You won't be going anywhere while I'm in charge down here. Letting you out of that cell was a mistake in the first place. A HUGE mistake. So if I'm not mistaken, nothing'll happen if I DON'T let you out!"
Laughing, Harley then resumed his patrol, soon disappearing behind the corner. His whistling soon became inaudible. Ash sighed. He wondered what time it was.
From the nearby basement door, Ash could hear footsteps approaching. It was Team Rocket! Butch and Cassidy stopped at Ash's cell and entered the code to unlock the door. Jessie, James, and Meowth continued down the hallway and out of sight. They took no notice of Ash.
Ash turned to face Butch and Cassidy and frowned.
"What do you two want?" he snarled.
"You're in our territory now, twerp, so you'll be doing as we say while you're out of your little internment. The boss wishes to see you and one of your friends together. Since he knows more about you now, he's requested to do things a little differently. Now, quickly, you'll be coming with us." Butch explained.
Before Ash could protest, Cassidy locked Both of Ash's hands together in handcuffs and, with Butch's assistance, led Ash out of the cell and towards the elevator to the top floor. Despite escape attempts, the two Rockets had a very firm grip on his arms as they escorted him.
May and Dawn were still in the Pokémon center while this was happening. The two girls had had their fill of televised Pokémon contests, and were now working on Sudoku puzzles together. May took a glance at the clock. It read 4:47 PM. A look of worry came over her face. Dawn, looking at May, noticed this.
"Something wrong, May?" Dawn asked.
May blushed as she turned to face Dawn. "Oh…nothing. Just thought the guys would have returned by now."
Dawn smiled. "No need to worry. I'm sure they're just out somewhere, probably even exploring the outskirts of town!"
May giggled. "I guess you're right. Hopefully, they'll be back any time now."
"Well, in the mean time, let's try and finish this puzzle. We've still got a few more rows and columns to fill in…"
Ash was angry and nervous as he and his escorts stood outside the guarded doors to Giovanni's posh office. The guards said no entry would be allowed until both captives were present. Ash wondered who it could be. He didn't wait for long.
Jessie, James, and Meowth came from behind them and stood to their sides. In between Jessie and James, Brock stood with a look of scorn on his face. His mood seemed to lighten up as he looked and saw Ash.
The door guards pulled the doors open and both parties entered. This time, the guards closed the doors and stood inside the office itself. As Ash and Brock were seated, their bonds were left intact.
Giovanni, who was facing the window in the back wall, swiveled around in his chair to face the newcomers.
"So. We meet again, Ash. And who might you be?" he said, looking in Brock's direction.
"I'm Brock."
Giovanni smirked. Presently, both Ash and Brock looked at the cage sitting on the desk, where Pikachu looked overjoyed to see some friendly faces. "Pikachu! Pika, pika pi, Pikachu!"
Ash clenched his teeth. He had no idea whatsoever of how he was going to free Pikachu this time. There were too many guards present this time around, and the cage definitely looked like it could withstand a fall from almost any height. As far as he knew, he definitely wouldn't be as lucky as he was last time. To escape with Pikachu and his friends, Ash would need a well thought-out plan, not something that was thrown together in five seconds.
"Truly a pity I must increase my security presence here today." Giovanni started.
"Why? Is it because Harley's an incompetent fool?" Ash grunted.
"No. Don't you get cocky with me, boy. It's because of you I had to crack down on everything the way I did! It's lucky your escorts found you and brought you to me."
Ash sat back and folded his arms. "So what? All I did was free Pikachu, help my friends escape, and laid a pounding on Harley. Besides, we've found ways to get around the guards of yours in the past."
Giovanni shot him a look of annoyance. Clearly, the past day had only made this kid more reckless.
"Let's not forget who's the one in charge here. I have all your Pokémon here with me, and there's nothing you can do to get them back."
As Ash looked around, he saw a chest along the back wall. It looked just like the one in the storage room yesterday, except it had a combination lock on it, and only Giovanni knew the code.
"So I'm assuming you're going to try and talk me into joining up with you again. Sorry, I still say not interested." Ash plainly stated.
Giovanni smirked. "Just as well. I wasn't even going to ask. The time for negotiation has come and gone. I'm afraid your choice will contribute to your undoing. Now I must eliminate you before it's too late. You know too much."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Brock forcefully asked.
Giovanni laughed. "Why, our plans, of course! In case you didn't know, I've teamed up with Teams Aqua, Magma, and Galactic to bring this world under our control. As we speak, I have everything needed to make the Team Rocket vision a reality! By using the combined powers of Mespirit, Azelf, and Uxie, we forged a red chain to contain the powers of Palkia and Dialga. And now that those two are here, we are so close to accomplishing my late mother's goal!"
"Wait. Am I to understand there's five legendary Pokémon in this building?" Brock inquired suddenly.
"Oh, yes, my unfortunate friend, and soon there will be more amongst their ranks! And once that happens, there'll be nothing anybody can do to stop us!"
"Then what're you keeping us in here for?" Ash wondered.
"You see, there were six of you yesterday, yet my underlings could only locate the four of you. Regardless of how many are here, you are all now a threat to this achievement, and I'll be a Mankey's uncle if you ruin this!"
Ash could contain himself no longer. "Not today, you won't be taking rule over anything!" Ash then jumped out of his seat and tried to secure Pikachu's cage. Butch and Cassidy, who stood guard over him, grasped the ill-tempered trainer and told him there would be trouble if he tried anything like that again.
Now Brock was agitated into taking action. "We've got trouble already!" And in the blink of an eye, Brock leaped out of his seat and swung his bound fists up into James's chin, knocking him flat on his back.
Jessie and Meowth attacked Brock. The door guards ran towards the brawl to pry the other grunts off of Brock. Unfortuantely, Brock still managed to get a forceful blow to each of their faces.
Butch and Cassidy slightly let up their grip on Ash as they became aware of the tussle. Taking advantage of the situation, Ash kneeled down, pulled on of Cassidy's legs out from under her (causing her to crash loudly to the floor and knocking the wind out of her), and punched Butch where the sun don't shine. As he got up, though, a Magma guard and Aqua enforcer (who entered the office right after the fighting began) ran up to Ash, punched him in the nose, and grabbed him by his arms and legs. They carried him out of the office.
It took the combined efforts of Jessie, James, and Meowth to pin Brock to the floor. They were assisted by Cassidy as she came up to them, holding one arm under her ribs. Behind her, Butch slowly regained his feet, holding his hands cupped over his groin. Together, they took the feisty breeder back to his basement prison cell.
Giovanni sighed as he was left alone in the office. "Truly a pity you couldn't see things my way…" he said, referring to Ash. He got ready to leave. This had been a crazy day, and he wanted to get out of here before anything else happened.
May sat on the couch in the lobby of the Viridian City Pokémon center. About ten minutes ago, she and Dawn had finished all the Sudoku puzzles they wanted to complete.
On the other side of the couch, Dawn had just fallen into a relaxed nap. Since she hadn't slept well the previous night, she decided to make up a few Z's before dinner. May also hadn't been able to sleep last night, but she just didn't feel drowsy at the moment.
She glanced at the clock again. 5:29 PM. May then looked in a forward direction. She began jabbing her index fingertips into each other. This was a habit of hers which she did whenever she was nervous or uncertain about something. Why haven't they come back yet? They should've been here by now. Especially Ash – I know he'd never miss out on a meal!
May looked at the clock yet again and saw it was 5:32 PM. Something was wrong. She knew it in her heart. She couldn't shake the feeling the boys were stuck in some situation and needed help. For 45 minutes, she'd waited patiently. Now, she could wait no longer. May went over to Dawn and shook her.
"Wha – what time is it?" Dawn yawned.
"Well past the time when the guys should've come back! Dawn, I think something's happened to them! It's almost dinner time, and I know Ash'd never miss a meal if he could eat it!"
"Where do you think they could've gone?"
"I don't know…Wait! Maybe they were captured by the people who took us hostage yesterday!"
"I bet you're right. Let's go!"
The two young ladies readied themselves for their trip, making sure their loyal Pokémon were at their sides. Once this was done, they ran outside into the fading daylight.
"Going somewhere?" two raspy women's voices called, freezing Dawn and May in their tracks. They turned around to find themselves ambushed by a pair of Rocket grunts.