Chapter 10

The Grunt's True Face

The Hoenn region grew smaller by the second. It was only two days ago that Red, Blue and Leaf had arrived in Hoenn to travel and catch new Pokémon. So far none of them had caught any new Pokémon and Red and Blue had only earned two badges. Red looked over the deck of the ship as he saw Hoenn disappear from view.

'Look what we have here!' Proton yelled. The group all ran up on the top deck and saw Archer without his hat surrounded by grunts and Proton.

'You'll be finished!' Archer yelled. Proton punched him to the ground and the crowd stepped apart to reveal Giovanni.

'Very brave of you to come back Archer,' he said calmly, 'but you have to understand. We will never be finished. Take him away.'

At the back of the crowd the male grunt whispered to Red, 'Change of plan. As soon as we see Cinnabar Island we'll all reveal ourselves.' Proton escorted Archer to the holding cells at the bottom of the ship as they sailed onwards to Kanto.

After dusk Red looked out to the horizon again. He could see a smoking mountain in the distance. That was Cinnabar Island. As soon as dawn broke they would all stop this act and reveal themselves. It wouldn't be long now.

Down in the holding cell Archer sat surrounded by very sad looking Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip.

'Why are you here?' Proton asked.

'To stop Team Rocket before you reach Kanto,' Archer replied.

'Who's with you?' Proton asked again.

'I'm on my own,' Archer said, 'I know your plan.'

'Enlighten me,' Proton said.

'Giovanni and the executives go back to Kanto while you leave grunts behind.'

'What's your plan?'

'Have help arrive, defeat Giovanni and the executives, arrest you and defeat the grunts in Hoenn.'

'You said all the executives are coming back to Kanto?'

'That's right.'

'Have you seen Petrel anywhere?'

'I haven't but someone else must have.'

'Nobody else has. He stayed in Hoenn.'

'What?'

'We had a feeling someone may have been spying so we decided to lie about the plans. The only ones who knew Petrel was staying were myself, Petrel, Ariana and Giovanni.'

Back up on the deck dawn had broken. The sun had risen and all the grunts were back on deck. Proton had brought Archer out again to listen to what other Team Rocket members had to say.

'You're in a lot of trouble now old friend,' Ariana said.

'Trouble?' a female voice said, 'Prepare for trouble.' It was the female grunt. Her partner then said, 'Make it double.'

'To rid the world of devastation!' the female said.

'To protect the people in every nation!' the male said.

'To embrace the goodness of truth and love!'

'To extend our views to the stars above!'

'Clair!' the female took off her Team Rocket uniform and then the male took off his saying his name, 'Lance!'

'The Pokémon League! Protecting people and doing what's right!' Clair announced.

'Surrender now because you really don't want to fight!' Lance said.

'That's right,' the rest of the group said. They all took off their uniforms and said their names, 'Maxie!' 'Archie!' 'May!' 'Marcus!' 'Wally!' 'Brawly!' 'Roxanne!' 'Flannery!' 'Brendan!' 'Leaf!' 'Blue!' 'And Red!'

'What are you all doing here?' Giovanni demanded.

'You stole our motto!' James cried.

'We came up with that?' Meowth said.

'I'm gonna sue you for copyright!' Jessie said angrily.

'Actually I'm going to sue them for copyright,' Cassidy said, 'Then I'll sue you too Jessie!'

'Cassidy!' Jessie said.

'We came up with that first,' Butch said.

'Botch!' James said.

'The name is Butch!' Butch said angrily.

'Enough of this!' Giovanni said, 'Where did you get the uniforms from?'

'We stole them from your new hideout,' Red said.

'How did you get in?' Giovanni asked.

'I have the key in my bag,' May replied.

'How did you not get noticed?' Giovanni asked bewildered.

'That used to be Team Magma's hideout,' Maxie said. 'I know all the secret passages through there and I found the storage area.'

'Who are you?' Giovanni asked Maxie.

'My name is Maxie,' he replied, 'I was the boss of Team Magma. The key that May mentioned is the Magma Emblem that opens the door when it is nearby.'

'So what will you do?' Giovanni asked. He then sent all of his Pokémon out of their Poké Balls but he was surrounded. Five helicopters appeared over the boat and all the Kanto Gym Leaders and Elite Four surrounded them.

'Red!' a female voice called out.

'Misty!' Red called back, 'I've missed you.' They ran up to each other and embraced tightly.

'Not now you guys,' the Pewter City gym leader, Brock, said, 'you can play lovey-dovey later.' They stopped hugging but Misty whispered to him, 'Good thing Nurse Joy or Officer Jenny isn't here.'

'Finish them Onix!' Brock said.

'You too Starmie!' Misty said.

'Go Raichu!' Lt. Surge, Vermilion City's gym leader, said.

'Vileplume, Petal Dance!' called Erika, Celadon City's gym leader.

'Ariados!' said Janine, Fuchsia City's gym leader, 'I choose you!'

'Use Confusion Alakazam!' Sabrina, Saffron City's gym leader, announced.

'Magmar! Go!' said Blaine, Cinnabar Island's gym leader, even though his gym was in the Seafoam Islands. The rest of the group called on their own Pokémon. Red used Charizard, Blue used Blastoise, Leaf used Venusaur, May used Blaziken, Brendan used Swampert, Marcus used Sceptile, Wally used Gardevoir, Brawly used Hariyama, Roxanne used Nosepass, Flannery used Toarkoal, Clair used Kingdra and Lance used Dragonite.

'Zard zard!' Charizard roared.

'What is it pal?' Red asked.

'Charizard!' Charizard roared pointing at the helicopter taking off.

'We're going after that, Charizard!' Red said.

'Wait!' Misty cried. 'Don't leave me again. You could get hurt!'

'I won't leave you,' Red said with determination. 'Hop on!' Misty jumped on Charizard and they flew after Giovanni's helicopter. When they caught up Red said, 'Go Espeon!' as Misty said, 'Go Cloyster!' Espeon used Psychic to slow down the propeller while Cloyster froze it.

'Go Pikachu!' Red announced, 'Thunder!'

'Piiiii kaaaa chuuuu!' Pikachu said as lightning bolts shot from its body at the helicopter. Giovanni's helicopter went flying into the distance out of view. When they landed back on the ship they were applauded. Suddenly a Skarmory appeared in the sky and it landed on the ship.

'Sorry I'm late,' Steven Stone said, 'What did I miss?'

On Route 7, the road between Saffron City and Celadon City, Giovanni's helicopter crashed. It was wrecked but Giovanni himself wasn't hurt too badly.

'Well, well,' a big, muscular man said, 'what have we here?'

'You know perfectly what this is Bruno,' Giovanni replied.

'I got a call from Lance earlier,' Bruno said. 'Am I right in assuming Team Rocket's back and you're still the boss?'

'That's right,' Giovanni said before quickly adding, 'old friend.'

'Giovanni you should get this straight,' Bruno said, 'we were never, and never will be, friends. You disgust me.'