Chapter 6

Bigger Plans

The three executives had all been summoned to Giovanni's office. They were all being given assignments for the plans of Team Rocket, ones that would ensure their return to the Kanto and Johto regions.

'Ariana,' Giovanni addressed her first, 'I want you to oversee the mission in Rustboro City.'

'What's in Rustboro City?' Ariana asked.

'The Devon Corporation,' Giovanni replied, 'Devon is very much like Silph Co. in many respects. I want you to infiltrate and find out their secrets about resurrecting fossils. One other thing and I'm very sorry about this.'

'About what?' Ariana asked. She didn't see any reason as to why Giovanni would say sorry.

'Jessie, James and Meowth are going on that mission,' Giovanni said with a look of sympathy. Ariana look annoyed about that but didn't say anything. Giovanni continued, 'It won't be as bad if this mission fails because Petrel is going on a far more important mission. I need those three on your mission because I can't afford to have them ruin Petrel's assignment.' Ariana left the room in compliance. Giovanni then turned his attention to Petrel, 'I'm giving you this assignment because of your abilities to disguise yourself.'

'What is it?' Petrel asked.

'I want you to steal the key to the secret garden behind Professor Birch's lab.'

'What's in that garden?' Petrel asked.

'Very rare Pokémon gather there, in particular the Hoenn region's starters, Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip. They are almost impossible to find elsewhere. When you're in I want you to catch them all. Butch and Cassidy are coming with you. If you can do this successfully than we will go back to Kanto and sell these rare Pokémon. We will take back the Celadon Game Corner and these will be our top prizes. I know you can do this.'

'Thank you sir,' Petrel said and then left. Then Giovanni sighed and tilted his chair back.

'Something wrong Giovanni?' Proton asked.

'We can't stay here much longer,' Giovanni started, 'that kid, Red, found us with his little band of trainers. I beat him in battle but they all know where our base is. On of the trainers with him is the current Hoenn Champion.'

'I have some more bad news,' Proton said, 'we failed at the Contest Hall because the bosses of Team Aqua and Team Magma defeated us. They struck up an alliance with two young girls that came in here. This used to be Team Aqua Headquarters. Archie would know this place really well.'

'That's not what I'm really worried about,' Giovanni said, 'what's really troubling me is that Archer was in that group. He's on their side now. He knows a lot about us. All of these factors have made me decide what your assignment will be. I need you to start rallying our followers and, depending on whether Petrel's mission succeeds or fails, either prepare to return to Kanto or find a new base in Hoenn.'

'I think we're ready to return to Kanto soon anyway. If Petrel's mission fails then it will only be a minor setback.' As Giovanni's Persian purred with pleasure, Giovanni stroked his pet while he and Proton took a drink little knowing of two people, disguised as Rocket grunts, on the other side of the wall.

'I hope Petrel succeeds,' the woman said.

'Are you insane?' the man said.

'Only so we can arrest them on the way back to Kanto,' the woman replied, 'I don't think we can really take much more time away.'

'If they succeed, it won't be long,' the man said, 'I'll tell Red to go to Rustboro City. He can stop their operations there while we wait until Giovanni leaves for Kanto.'

'Perhaps we can go with Petrel to Littleroot Town to oversee the mission.'

'We have to be really good at disguising ourselves?'

'We've been fooling them for a while now.'

'In that case, that sounds like a good idea.'

In Rustboro City, a Noctowl flew out of the sky and Ariana dismounted. As she made her way to the Devon Corporation building she heard a voice saying, 'Stop right there!'