I've decided to start putting Author's Notes at the end of the chapters, as I've found it works better that way. Enjoy this short interlude chapter, and I'll see you at the bottom!
Chronologically, this story takes place two days after chapter 26.
"We're approaching Viridian City now, sir." Giovanni's secretary uttered tonelessly. "Five minutes from the gym."
"Excellent."
It had been two days since he'd effectively taken control of the Kanto region, and only two major obstacles remained in his way.
One was Oak's laboratory, and that was out of his hands for the moment. But all things in good time…
The other meant a sort of homecoming for him, and it was only fitting that he see to it in person.
The Viridian Gym. At first, leading it had been a mere necessity. It had been useful to him, allowing him to keep up the appearance of a figure interested in taking an active role in his community and giving him the opportunity to make connections he could exploit for Team Rocket's benefit.
Over time, it had become something more. A sense of attachment, almost belonging. He had grown to enjoy the days whenever a rare challenger brought him back to the quaint little city.
Then he had been forced out. The details of that day were hazy in his mind, but he remembered being followed back to the gym, being identified, and then… the gym had been raided. They'd been forced to abandon it, skulking away to rural hideouts and safe-houses around Saffron and the Tohjo Falls.
He remembered the humiliation, the rage that had filled him that day. Such intense, primal emotions.
And now they had returned to the gym, and he – almost – felt the same once again.
Agatha was waiting solemnly for them at the front of the gym, as he'd known she would be. His agents had been surrounding the gym for days, but they really needn't have bothered - she hadn't even tried to escape.
It struck Giovanni that she looked tired and old, older than she had last time he had seen her a few years before – and, given her age, that said quite a lot about the kind of strain she was under.
Good, he thought.
He got out of the car and started making his way across the plaza laid out ahead of the gym, his bodyguards and secretary following in his wake. He took his time – there was no need to rush.
The wind was blowing cold over the wide-open space. What should have been a summery day unusually disrupted by this chill weather pattern. He wondered if Agatha saw it as an omen.
She spoke first, addressing him as he made his final approach. "Giovanni."
"Agatha." he replied without emotion.
"So, the wayward son of Viridian returns. Was the army really necessary?"
"Of course."
"Scared that I would put up a fight?"
"No. A show of force to your allies. A demonstration that there is no way to resist… no point in resisting the might of Team Rocket. Defiance is futile."
The old lady smiled without humour and raised her arms, revealing her empty belt. "Well, as you can see I have sent my Pokémon on. You'll get no challenge here to sate your bloodlust."
"Nor did I expect one," he snarked back. "But you are still coming with us."
"Of course." she echoed him in the same tone.
"You would give up so easily?" Now this was a surprise. He had expected some kind of trick, so kind of smoke-bomb escape. He wondered if she was merely a hologram.
Agatha smiled thinly. "I am too old. Too much of a target. My part in this conflict is a small one. It is to deliver you a message." She paused, turning around to look fondly at the gym, then whipped back around to finish. "Kanto stands."
"Cute." He shook his head. He could have dragged the argument out further, but there was much work to be done – too much to waste time on a petty quarrel. "If you will, then."
She nodded and hobbled forward towards the waiting car. He saw no point in restraining her – no point in giving her that much respect – but two of the Rockets did move up to guard her. Just in case.
She stopped at a full halt just when she was at the edge of his earshot, startling the guards, but did nothing else but talk. "So what now? Will you operate out of the gym? Keep it as a shrine to your victory?"
Giovanni looked for a long moment at the tall pillars of the gym's entrance, at the intricate, decades-old works of art carved into the stone. He thought of the wide open battlefield, the labs where he had conducted his research…
…and then, just one word. "No."
""No?""
"No." he said firmly, signalling a waiting team of grunts who advanced towards the building, delicately carrying large cases. "I'm going to destroy it."
It was a symbol of sentiment in his mind, an ideal of simpler, calmer times.
It couldn't survive in his new world of strife, power and order soaked in the blood of those who would stand in his way.
He savoured the image of her eyes going wide as the work was completed, the explosives set. He savoured the sight of her turning away, unable to watch the precious building crumbling to dust from the detonations.
Now no-one will doubt the might of Team Rocket!
"…And that's the situation as it stands now." Cynthia finished, looking into the video-feed camera. Brandon stared back at her, the Snowpoint expanse in full view out of the window of his conference room in the Battle Pyramid.
"Fifteen of sixteen gyms, taken. Six of seven battle facilities, lost. Lance is missing. Goldenrod Radio Tower, out of our hands... Have the propaganda broadcasts started yet?"
"They kicked off this morning, filled with exactly what we expected." Cynthia replied sadly. "A new announcer, at least. Looks like they couldn't coerce Mary into doing it for them."
Brandon frowned. "Any contact with the other frontier brains?"
"None. Some have been confirmed captured, the others are missing."
"What of Agatha?" asked the Pyramid King.
"The Viridian Gym was ours until last contact an hour ago, but what agents the Indigo League has left in the area have reported known Rocket forces converging on the city. It may have already fallen."
"Will you reinforce her?" It was a blunt, piercing question, but Brandon had ever been a blunt, uncompromising man.
"No. We're too stretched thin as it is and we need time to regroup before we can strike back effectively. Agatha knows this, and has passed her Pokémon on to the Professor for safekeeping."
Brandon looked cross. "I understand the logic, but if we keep giving ground like this there'll be nothing left to reclaim."
"We have a plan." Cynthia offered uneasily, and Brandon got the message. Subtlety was not one of his strongest traits, but he knew there were certain things not suitable for a communications channel without guaranteed security… especially as Team Rocket held the main communications hub across both regions. All that had been discussed so far was information that everyone in the region with a sharp eye would have known, or at least guessed. But future plans were far too sensitive a matter for this medium.
He nodded. "Then I wish you luck on that, and I will be back as soon as I can. Brandon out."
The feed died and Cynthia let the tension slip out of her face, easing off the mask of stoicism that she normally wore and sinking back into the comfy chair. She hadn't really slept in the past two days; nor had Oak or Cameron. The laboratory – and by extension Pallet Town itself was one of the last places in the region where it was safe to be a league agent, and many of those who had stayed loyal after the disaster at the plateau had flocked to it as a symbol of authority.
With Lance and some gym leaders missing, most of the rest captured or cornered and the league's board of directors paralysed by indecision – several were even openly supporting Giovanni! – it fell to the three in Pallet to manage the crisis.
For all she knew that Brandon wished to hurry back, his distance quite effectively made him a non-player in the conflict. It would take him at least a day to pack up at Snowpoint, at least two to prep the pyramid to fly, and another to safely travel between the regions.
Four days. Kanto might not fall completely if they waited that long, but certainly Team Rocket's grip would become ironclad.
She doubted life would have changed very much for anyone in the captured towns, if at all. Giovanni would never declare himself so early on. No, having control over the gyms, transport and information would be enough. It would be a silent coup, no fanfare, no drama. Just a gradual change in the norm until fear and oppression were expected. The cancer ran deep throughout the region, if the few reports they were able to receive were correct in asserting that the number of Team Rocket agents reached one in ten. Cynthia wondered how it had escalated so far – never had she heard of any criminal group in any of the regions becoming so widespread. Plasma had been large and well-equipped, but Unova was a large, wealthy region.
Had Lance really been so lax? It hurt to suspect so, for more reasons than one. The disgraced champion was still her friend, even after what he had done, but more personally she saw parallels in his actions to hers.
He'd spent a lot of time out of the Indigo regions, fighting against Teams Aqua and Magma in Hoenn. In recent weeks he'd devoted a great deal of his attention to Wallace's fears of conspiracy, somewhat forgotten after such tumultuous events.
For the moment, as concerning as what the Hoenn champion had shared with them was, they couldn't afford to worry about it now. For the moment, Kanto had to be their focus.
But was she leaving Sinnoh open by being here?
There were some silver linings. Some of the gym leaders had escaped and made contact, such as Claire of Blackthorn City and Blaine in the ruins of Cinnabar Island. Both could be counted on for support. And as far as she could tell, none of the leaders themselves had sided with Team Rocket.
But there were definitely more negatives than positives springing up every day. The Elite Four were scattered and out of contact – it seemed Team Rocket had conspired to put every one of their potential assets out of their hands. From a logistical stand point, Rocket had both terminals of the Magnet Train, which meant that they would either have to start at Kanto – long considered to be the region where Team Rocket had the most influence – and then move onto Johto, or mount a risky operation to cross via the Tohjo Falls, skirting Victory Road. Were the plateau under their complete control it would be an easier crossing; as it was, they could almost guarantee being ambushed somewhere on the route.
So there were decisions to be made, risks to be evaluated and plans to be drawn up. All of which meant that sleep was a luxury that they couldn't really afford.
Hell, this was strictly her break time that the others had practically enforced upon her, and she was still using it to contact Brandon. And yet… she hadn't asked the question she'd be planning to. She hadn't asked about Sinnoh.
That the Pyramid King hadn't mentioned anything about problems in her region was a good sign, true, but she couldn't help but worry. She knew that her actions and her presence in Kanto were now necessary, but it didn't make the feeling go away – the nagging, horrible feeling that she was abandoning her duties to Sinnoh and didn't deserve to be its champion.
There would be a reckoning, she knew, when she returned to face Sinnoh's board of directors, but now was not the time to come up with something to say to them.
Sometimes she greatly envied Diantha, but equally knew that she would never be content with the star's lifestyle. The Kalos champion had a strict policy of non-interference outside of her region. It was even rumoured that she took this laissez-faire attitude closer to home, too, though Cynthia didn't know whether to believe that.
She sighed. There was work that could have commanded her attention, but the others had demanded that she see to getting some rest.
Maybe they were right. Maybe I can afford to… relax… for a few… hours…
Closing her eyes and leaning her head back, Cynthia drifted off to sleep.
Far elsewhere…
The blizzard outside was getting worse – he could hear the rush against the windows and occasional creaking of his walls – but he had no reason to fear it. His house was well-built, easily able to withstand the worst of winter's excesses. He had far more important things to concern himself with, anything.
He smiled as he gazed down at the game board. His plans were proceeding exactly as they he needed them to.
Of course they were. How could they not be?
The pawns were in place all throughout the regions, various rival groups played off against each other, good, bad and neutral.
The knights, the bishops, the rooks. The great and the elite, so self-important. They were barely of greater standing than the pawns to him.
The kings and queens were in their counting houses, preparing for a reckoning. Pallet, Saffron, the frozen north of Unova. There were more than two sides to this game.
Not the final reckoning, of course, however much they though it to be.
He raised a finger over one of the interface icons, pondering for a moment about how best to move it.
The game only ends when I allow it to.
Sooooo, I owe you all both an apology and an explanation as to why I haven't updated in so long. So sorry!
Partly it's because I've been very busy, both with work, where I've been getting a lot more responsibility, and also with uni, as I'm in my third and final year. Video games certainly haven't been helping, but lately I've been trying to dial back my MMO-playing time. Still psyched for ORAS when it comes out in Europe this Friday though!
I've also struggled with writer's block once more, and also focused more on writing Azeroth's Skies without balancing them a bit. From now on, I'm going to try to update both with some regularity.
I know this chapter is significantly shorter than normal; it functions as a sort of interlude between the last arc of the story (beginning roughly around chapter 16) and the next one, where, as you may have guessed, the fight back against Team Rocket begins. I appreciate it might be a bit disappointing compared to a good 6k words chapter, but I always was intending to make this interlude short; it just took me so long to write it!
On to reviews!
Agent of Fire, J.F.C. sorry, I'll stop being vague – originally, this was indeed meant to be an Advanceshipping story between Ash and May. I think I'll leave Serena out for now; the anime's doing a pretty good job as it as of fuelling the shipping fire! Anabel might appear at some point soon, however…
Bluedragon, thanks for all the reviews! I'm afraid I didn't mean to imply that Anabel escaped, the only frontier member to avoid capture was Brandon – he wasn't even in the region at the time, as this chapter shows. Sorry about the confusion!
Typhlosion, heh, well, I'd say we're about 40% of the way through so far…
Blooms, sorry again! As I said, I'm going to try to be more active from now on!
Thanks again for the reviews! See you next time!