Brock's home was a short walk away from his gym. It was a spacious home that seemed to have room for two families. Brock lead them into the living room and he went into the kitchen to start dinner. It was a little cluttered; toys and games were scattered across the floor. It was clear that children lived there, but none seemed to be around. The house was quiet, as if whoever was in the living room before had suddenly disappeared.
"Hey, Brock?" TJ called. "Do you have kids?" Brock stepped out of the kitchen, wearing a bright pink apron and holding a mixing bowl.
"Me?" Brock said, sounding half surprised, half amused. "Oh, no no no! Those are my siblings' toys. I have eight younger brothers and sisters. About half of them are out taking on the Pokemon League Challenge, the others are probably out with my parents somewhere."
"Ah, ok." TJ said. "I've always wondered what it would be like to have a lot of siblings."
"Sometimes its nice. They are all sweet kids." Brock explained. "Most of the times its like living in a blender, all topsy-turvy. But, still, its a lot more calm than my life a few years ago."
"Really? What did you use to do?" TJ asked.
"You don't know?" Aden said, mouth hanging in astonishment. TJ just shook her head. "Brock use to travel all over the place! He's been to all the regions, met a ton of rare pokemon, and he even fought Team Rocket when they were in their heyday!"
"You sure know a lot about me, kid." Brock called from the kitchen. An oven door slammed shut and an apron-less Brock walked into the living room and took a seat. "I'm really not that interesting."
"I practically grew up at the Cinnabar Gym, so I've read up on all the leaders." Aden told him. "I plan on taking the challenge one day and you would be one of my biggest challenges because of my preference for fire-types. You and Misty, so I've studied you guys."
"Ah, Misty." Brock said, staring off. "She's one of my best friends. You'll meet her in Cerulean. As for your pokemon, Aden, lets take a look at that magby of yours." Aden nodded, taking out his pokeball and releasing Mags. He appeared with a shake and a happy cry.
"Mags, this is Brock. He'd like to see you're thunderpunch." Aden said.
"Aim for this pillow." Brock told the pokemon, placing a cushion on the floor. Mags stared at it a second, before:
"Maaagby!" He punched the pillow. Sparks flew from his tiny fist with a crack. A seam of the pillow broke and it spouted a few feathers into the air. Mags looked up Brock expectantly, as if his strange move was as much of a mystery to him as it was to everyone else.
"Hmm," Brock said, rubbing his chin. "That was definitely thunderpunch and, you're right, normally magbies don't learn them. I do think I know why, though."
"Really? Why?"
"It has to do with his parents." Brock explained. "While we still don't know everything about breeding pokemon, there are a lot of things we've come across over the years. With pokemon, the species is determined by the mom. So, Mags' mom was a magmar. That is the easiest thing to see passed down from parent to child. As for what comes from the father, that has been a lot harder to figure out. It seems like certain moves known by the father can be passed down, so the baby knows them right out of the egg. But, its not every move, just some of them. What is even stranger is that pokemon can pass down moves that the babies can't learn on their own, if the father knows it. Which means that either Mags' dad was a magmar that happened to thunderpunch, by TM or otherwise, or he could have been a different species entirely."
"So, he got it from his dad." Aden said, half to himself. "Is there any way to know what kind of pokemon he was?"
"No, unfortunately not." Brock replied. "Unless you know the trainer that bred them." Aden's eyes lit up.
"I do, actually! I lived there after the eruption!" he said, happily. He stopped suddenly as an idea hit him. "I just got an egg from a couple we met that came from their luxray and typhlosion. I know the typlosion was the mom, so could the cyndaquil know something strange?"
"Maybe, you'll have to wait for it to hatch." Brock said. "But, if it does, let me know. I'll add it to my information." A bell sounded from the kitchen. "That would be dinner! I'll have it out in a sec." Brock returned to the kitchen as TJ and Aden headed to the table.
"Brock sure knows a lot." TJ said, sounding impressed.
"Well, yeah, he is a pokemon breeder." Aden said, matter-o-factly. "One of the most well known in Kanto."
"That's why I didn't know that." TJ said, defiantly.
"You should have known that. Professor Elm is also a leader in pokemon breeding and you've lived with him how long?" TJ glared at him.
"Yes, I know what Elm's specialty is. I'm not stupid. I just never read up on the subject, that's all. I was always more interested in training."
"Its a good thing I'm here, then." TJ was about the hit him with a reply when Brock came out with dinner, so she let it go, this time, and sat down to eat.
Brock allowed them to stay in a couple of rooms vacated by his trainer siblings. They went to bed early, expecting an early start. The sun dipped low beyond Mt. Moon and hoothoots came out to start their nighttime serenades. TJ laid on her bed, staring absently at the ceiling. Her mind was spinning with the events of the day. What if everything Brock had said was true? Stranger things had happened in history, especially if legendary pokemon were involved. But, these things never happened to her. She was just an orphan with a fondness for adventure. That wasn't so strange in a world where ten-year olds went off to catch dangerous creatures and battle them, and she was even older than that. Before she could sleep, she had to sort things out. And, as much as she hated to admit it, there was only one person that could help her do just that.
It was just past midnight when Aden finally went to bed. He'd been looking over his old notes and maps he had created before heading out on his trip. Following a map of Kanto, he'd either have to go back to Pallet or all the way to Fuchsia City in order to reach Cinnabar. Pallet would be the easiest, but did he want to go back so soon? As curious about Mags' father as he was, there was his new cyndaquil he had to think about and he would hatch much quicker being around TJ and her pokemon. And, what about TJ? She treated him kind of rough, but he knew she would need all the help she could get facing Rocket. Plus, they would be heading towards Route 7 and 8 and he knew there would be fire pokemon there. It seems that his decision was made for him. Aden just climbed in to bed and closed his eyes when there was a knock at the door.
"Hello?" Aden said, looking at the door. It creaked open and TJ peeked her head in.
"Hey, did I wake you?" she asked, stepping fully into the room. She was wearing her pj's, but didn't look like she had actually been asleep yet.
"No, I just went to bed." Aden replied. "What's up?"
"Nothing much." TJ said. "Just need to talk stuff out. Is that OK?" Aden was a little surprised by this; she seemed worried about something and that just wasn't like her. He nodded and made space for her on the bed. She looked at him seriously, as if deciding if he was worthy of the conversation
"Do you think," she finally said. "that what Brock said was true? The whole 'destiny' thing?"
"I don't know." Aden replied. "It does seem a bit out there. But, who knows? If it was a hoax or something, I honestly don't think Brock would have made such a big deal about it."
"So, what should I do? What would you do?"
"That really isn't the question you should be asking." Aden told her. "You should be asking what do you want to do." TJ thought about this for a moment, as if the thought hadn't crossed her mind. And, it really hadn't. She wasn't use to being able to make her own decisions. But, now, she could. And that answered all of her questions.
"I want to stop Team Rocket." TJ said proudly. "I want to know what they are up to and prevent them from doing what ever that is. If anyone can do it, I can. They wouldn't see me coming." Aden smiled at her; she was starting to sound like herself again.
"Then there's your answer." Aden said. "Like Brock said, go your own way. What's supposed to happen will happen. Might as well follow your heart for the duration."
"What about you?" TJ said. "Are you gonna go back to Cinnabar?"
"I don't think so." Aden replied. "Not yet. I have to hatch cyndaquil yet and I plan on catching some more fire pokemon, so I think I'll stick around for a little bit."
"So, I'm stuck with you?" TJ asked, making a face of disgust.
"Sounds like."
"Fine, you can come. I need a meat shield, anyway. Just stay out of my way." TJ stood and walked to the door. She opened it and turned. "Thanks." she said quietly, then she left quickly, shutting the door behind her.
"Your welcome." Aden told the door. He put his head down on the pillow. "Good night."
Using the intel received from Team Rocket, both Team Magma and Team Rocket found themselves in an abandoned warehouse outside of Rustboro City. Also using the information from Rocket, neither team was surprised to see the other there. With out a word, a large battle started. Poochyena and zubats clashed; numels and carvanhas charged. Maxie and Archie were in a fierce battle using their higher level pokemon. As the battle raged, the teams didn't know that they had an audience, high in the rafters.
After a long, tiring battle, Maxie finally raised his hands high, shortly followed by the rest of his team. Archie smiled silently at his victory, Shelly and Max shared a high-five. Above Team Aqua's celebratory hurrahs, a loud clapping sounded from behind them.
"Well done, boys." a feminine voice said. Aqua quieted down and turned. Jess was walking up to the group, her heels clicking and echoing with every step. She was clapping, long, slow claps, and smiling. Archie smiled back at her; Maxie's mouth dropped at the sight of her Rocket uniform.
"Thank you." Archie said.
"Who are you?" Maxie demanded. "And, why are you congratulating the enemy."
"Enemy?" Archie said, shocked. Jess giggled.
"Oh yeah, didn't I mention?" she said. "Team Rocket has been working as a double agent. Maxie, my dear, you might know my friend…" There were more footsteps and Jay came up to stand next to his teammate.
"Aw, Jess, looks like you won." he said, smiling. He looked at the other teams. "We had a bet, you see." Jay looked directly at Maxie. "Thanks to you, I owe her a dozen doughnuts."
"What does all this mean?" Archie asked.
"What it means is," Jay started. "You've just been duped."
"Team Rocket doesn't like competition." Jess explained. "We don't like it at all. So, what do we do with competition? We get rid of it. And, getting all of you together in one place makes our job that much easier."
"All we did was play off of your hatred of each other. Easy-peesie." Jay smiled, but his smile quickly turned serious as he reached for one of his pokeballs. "Weezing, go!" Jay sent out his weezing and the members of both teams that had usable pokemon used them.
"Arbok!" Jess said, sending out her own pokemon as well. "Glare!" The move paralyzed the attacking pokemon. Jess and Jay pulled out gas masks. "Good night all! Arbok, return!"
"Weezing, poison gas!" Weezing launched his attack as the duo put on their masks. Everyone else in the room, pokemon and trainers alike, began choking to death on the gas. Archie lifted himself off the ground slightly, looking up at Jess.
"How could you?" he choked. "We would never…use our pokemon…to murder…"
"That is where our teams are different." Jess told him. "We stop at nothing to get what we want. That is why we succeed." Archie passed out, having heard his last words. Jess and Jay watched as they all fainted, and then waited that extra minute or two to make sure it was fatal. Once their work was finished, Jay called back his pokemon and the two walked out, laughing and ready to report the success to their boss.