Chapter 3
"News of the Surrender"
Now, I am going to say something straight off the bat. We did not get news of Giovanni's surrender right away. In fact, it was still late at night when me and Amanda got the news. At the time, we were living together in Providence, Rhode Island where we had our own private practice specializing in Pokemon related crimes. On the day that Giovanni and his associates surrendered, we were at a benefit for the Special Olympics of Rhode Island at the Newport Yachting Center in Newport, RI, being the charitable people that we were. However, while I personally found them boring, it gave us the opportunity to get dressed up and meet people that admired our cases. Some even called us "slayers of Team Rocket and the Superman and Super girl of Pokemon justice." Anyway, before I get into too much detail, let's cut right to the chase, shall we?
On the night of May 1, 2011, while the raid was already going on, we were in the middle of hearing a speech from famed trainer, Ash Ketchum, who announced that he and his friends, Misty and Brock were planning to settle down from their training and open a Pokemon Academy on the grounds of Brown University. There was not very many Pokemon Academies in the United States, however Amanda and I felt that there should be one since Team Rocket had all but disintegrated after many vain attempts to attack the United States since 9/11. After the speech, we had found the opportunity to meet Ash and his friends.
"Mr. Ketchum?" I asked. "Very nice speech you gave about your intentions."
"Why, thank you so much," said Ash, although he had a sense of me and Amanda. "Do I know you from somewhere?"
"Ash," interjected Brock. "This is Jeffrey Schineder and Amanda Aspirino. The two attorneys for Pokemon related crimes."
"They helped many Pokemon trainers recover their stolen Pokemon," added Misty.
Ash chuckled slightly and put his hand out to shake mine.
"I see," he said, with Pikachu responding. "I knew I've seen you somewhere, although I have heard about your works. Thank you for all you have done for trainers everywhere."
"Not a problem, Mr. Ketchum," I said, taking my hand away.
"Just call me Ash," he suggested. "All my friends and peers do."
But, before Ash and I could strike up a conversation, Brock was beginning to take notice of how beautiful Amanda looked. She was wearing a sleeveless purple sequined dress and gray high heels to complement the purple shirt and tie I wore with my gray suit.
"My, don't you look lovely," he sighed, making Amanda blush. "I have always admired your looks more than your cases."
But, before Brock could go any further, Misty grabbed his ear and pulled him away.
"She's not your type, Romeo," she groaned. "Now, come on."
Amanda was dumbstruck by what had just happened and turned towards me and Ash. Of course, Brock was always the womanizer and maybe getting close to my partner and best friend was not exactly a good idea to begin with.
"I'm sorry about Brock," said Ash. "He is very weak around beautiful women."
"That's all right," said Amanda. "I've had worse in my career. Criminals would always gander at me whenever they were on the stand or in the dock. As a result, I wear pantsuits as opposed to skirt suits since I am there to be professional and not show off my legs to any passing male criminal."
Trying to change the subject, we then began to hear the music of the band being played in the foreground and once Brock had gotten over his obsession for Amanda, he and Misty began to walk out onto the dance floor as the sounds of a 18th century waltz began to play.
"Why don't we hit the dance floor?" I suggested and me and Amanda got onto the dance floor and joined the dancers already on the floor. As Ash watched us dance, he could not help but think to himself how far he had come as a Pokemon trainer. Of course, he wanted to open this school to train others in the art of Pokemon training and that by doing so, he would be doing a service to Pokemon trainers everywhere.
Meanwhile, a black Mercedes pulled into the parking lot and the valets who were just about to get the cars ready for the guests, quickly got alongside the car and ordered it to stop. The driver, who was one of our agents, quickly ran out and was soon stopped at the door by one of the security guards.
"What are you doing?" said the guard. "No one goes in without an invitation."
"I have to see Mr. Schinder and Ms. Aspirino," said the agent. "It's urgent news."
"Is this so important that they have to be disturbed?" asked the guard impatiently.
"Yes," replied the agent. "It's urgent news from overseas and they must know about it at once."
Rolling his eyes, the guard allowed the agent to pass and fortunately, Amanda and I had just finished our dance and were just about to leave when the agent ran in.
"What is it, son?" I asked, taking note of the shortness of breath that the agent was possessing. "Is it important?"
"It is," he gasped. "Osama Bin Laden is dead."
Amanda then looked at me with content and I looked back at her with the same response as the man who orchestrated 9/11 was dead, however since we specialized in Pokemon related crimes, we wanted news of Giovanni or his associates, although we were impressed with the news.
"It's good to hear the news of Bin Laden," I said. "But we need news on Giovanni? Have they finally located him?"
The agent took in a deep breath and sighed heavily, knowing that he had to be professional about what he had to say next.
"Mr. Schneider, Ms. Aspirino," he said. "There is news tonight that Giovanni and his fellow leaders have surrendered to British soldiers at Camp Bastion."
Now, we were beginning to get very interested in what was happening in front of us at that very moment. The man we had been personally hunting down since we graduated from high school and the Pokemon training academy was finally in the custody of the victors. To us, it was the equivalent of Hitler's cronies in captivity at the end of the Second World War.
"Jeff, don't you realize what this means?" gasped Amanda, looking over at me. "Our man is in our custody."
"Along with many others," I said. "We are now in the midst of the biggest war crimes trial in over 60 years, Amanda. This is now our Nuremberg."
So, we left the benefit that night with the intention of preparing ourselves for the biggest trial in more than half a century…