Chapter 8

The Break In

All the Pokémon arrived in Lavaridge Town. As soon as Brendan dismounted from his Salamence, Flannery, the town's gym leader, ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him.

'Team Rocket is controlling the town!' she cried.

'It's okay,' Brendan said, 'My new friend Red has some friends trying to stop them.'

'This is why he wanted to come here,' Marcus said quietly to Red and Blue, 'Flannery is the town's gym leader and Brendan's girlfriend.'

'If I'm right,' Red said, 'Team Rocket is in the Magma Hideout not far from here. Brendan, May, Wally, Marcus, Roxanne, Brawly and Flannery do any of you know where that is?'

'In Jagged Pass,' Flannery said still with her arm around Brendan and his around her.

'It's hard to get up there from here,' Wally said, 'but we can take the cable car on Route 112. It goes to the top of Mt. Chimney. We'll get down much more easily from there.'

'We have to sneak in and steal Team Rocket uniform,' Red then said, 'That won't be easy'

'Good thing I've called Maxie to get him to help,' May said, 'we should have asked Archie to stay in Lilycove.

'What are they doing right now?' Blue asked.

'From what we heard Ariana and Giovanni saying I've gathered that Giovanni is still in Lilycove City but he won't be for long. I think that us discovering the base with Archer may have been bad for him.' Red replied 'When we've done we're going to Littleroot Town and we will stow aboard Team Rocket's boat. They're trying to pull off a mission that will ensure that they can return to Kanto.'

'What's the mission?' Leaf asked.

'They're breaking into the secret garden behind Professor Birch's lab,' Red said.

'They're breaking into my dad's lab,' Brendan said with enough shock to tear him apart from Flannery. 'We have to stop them!'

'No,' Red said taking into account the look on Brendan's face, 'We have to let them succeed. The people I've been talking with are disguised as Rocket Grunts right now. They want to catch them out as soon as Giovanni's back in Kanto and they want to arrest Giovanni with them. The plan will be that only grunts remain in Hoenn for the time being. But they're easy to beat. They want all three executives to re-familiarise themselves with Kanto before sending one back.' After Red finished talking, a Crobat appeared from the clouds and it landed as Maxie dismounted.

'We need to sneak into the old hideout?' Maxie said, 'You chose the right person for the job May.' The group all made their way towards the cable car on Route 112 and went up to Mt. Chimney meeting with Archer and Archie.

'Good to see you Archer,' Red said he turned to Archie and said, 'I don't think we've met, I'm Red.'

'I'm Archie,' he said, 'I used to be the boss of Team Aqua.'

'And I used to be the boss of Team Magma,' Maxie said, 'We used to be arch-enemies but we made up when we saw the damage Kyogre and Groudon caused.'

'We tried to control them but we failed,' Archie said, 'I wanted Kyogre's flood powers to expand the sea.'

'I wanted Groudon's drought powers to dry up the sea and expand the landmass,' Maxie said.

'Controlling legendary Pokémon is a bad idea,' Archer said, 'they're just too powerful. Gold said to me that he had an encounter with Celebi. It took him back in time three years. He landed on Route 22 just after Red beat Giovanni in Viridian City. Giovanni abandoned his own son, Silver, there. Celebi then took him to Tohjo Falls at the same point in time that we took over the radio tower in Goldenrod City. Gold beat Giovanni and at the same point in time Gold, at a different point in his own time stream, defeated us in Goldenrod City. I vowed to disband what was left of Team Rocket. My fellow executives just didn't understand.'

'What did Team Rocket do in Johto two years ago?' Red asked. 'I had been training on top of Mt. Silver for a year and a half by then. I had no idea what was happening.'

'First we did some petty acts like cutting off Slowpoke's tails and selling them for a high price in Azalea Town,' Archer started.

'That's barbaric,' Flannery said. 'You should be ashamed.'

'Do you think I'm proud of once being part of Team Rocket? Anyway that was Proton's idea,' Archer said, 'I was only interested in contacting Giovanni. We were lying low for a while after that. Except one grunt tried to take over the Kimono Girls' Dance Theatre in Ecruteak City. The next scheme we did was to try and evolve all the Magikarp in the Lake of Rage using radio waves. We only evolved some of them and one of the Gyarados even retained its red colouring it had as a Magikarp. Then we took over the Johto Radio Tower. We tried to contact Giovanni but Gold stopped us. I'm glad he did because he made me see reason. When I met up with Gold again he said he ran into one more grunt in Cerulean City. This grunt stole a machine part from the power plant and hid it in the Cerulean Gym. Apparently this grunt had no idea that we had disbanded.'

'We're here,' Wally said, 'the entrance just opened.'

'That's because I still have the Magma Emblem,' May said.

'Go very quietly,' Maxie said, 'I know a shortcut to the storage room.'

'They'll have a lot of spare uniforms,' Archer said.

'Talk quietly,' Archie said. They snuck around without being seen. They got to the storage room and found some spare uniforms.

'How will we hide our bags and clothes?' Leaf asked.

'Go Charizard,' Red whispered, 'Hold my bag. Now return.' Charizard went back into its Poké Ball and Red's bag went in as well. Everyone else did this until everyone's bags were hidden in Poké Balls.

'Wear your clothes underneath,' Red said. 'When we reveal ourselves we have to tear off these uniforms.' The group all left the hideout together although they didn't need to sneak out as they were disguised. Proton walked past them at one point and Archer bowed his head down really low so Proton wouldn't see him. When they left the cave they flew to Littleroot Town.

'I really hoped I would never wear this again,' Archer said.

'It won't be for long,' Red said, 'Once my friends reveal themselves so can we.' They flew across the skies with only the sound of the wind until Roxanne yelled, 'Flannery! Stop snuggling up to Brendan. Team Rocket Grunts do not show any signs of affection.' Brawly laughed so loudly that Brendan yelled, 'Shut up Brawly!'

'Sorry,' Brawly replied, 'I nearly fell of Aerodactyl.'

'Land here,' Red said, 'if they see my Charizard they'll know we're imposters.' They landed and then they walked towards the docks outside Littleroot Town. Brendan and Flannery were gazing up at the building on the hill. Red stood next to them and said, 'Don't stand so close together.'

'That's my dad's lab,' Brendan said, 'Right now it could be getting broken into.'

'You're dad will get all the Pokémon back,' Red told him, 'I promise.' They all walked in double file towards the boat and boarded.