Taking Over the Shadows
Chapter 2: The Pokédex Kids
Author's Note: All right. Here's the next installment Taking Over the Shadows. *smirks* I like this story.
Key:
Thoughts
Memories
Dead language
xXxXx- line break or time skip.
XxXxX- point of view switch.
Onwards we go!
xXxXx
"Rosa."
The young woman turned at the sound of her name. When she spotted the older man in the lab coat, a surprised smile crossed her face. "Colress. It's been awhile. How have you been?"
The blond haired man gave a tired smile in response. "Is Nate around? I have something I need to inform you both about."
"Oh." Rosa remembered where she had been heading and grabbed Colress's hand and dragged him along after her. "I was just about to meet up with him and the others!"
Quickly she brought him to a room where Nate, Hilda 'White', Hilbert 'Black, Cheren, Hugh, Bianca, and N waited.
"Were the seven of you meeting up for anything in particular?" Colress asked, slightly concerned that something might have happened to bring the seven strongest Trainers in the Unova Region together.
Nate shrugged. "Nah, we often meet up like this."
"What do you want, Colress?" Hugh demanded. Even after the all the years that had passed since Rosa and Nate had taken Plasma down for the second time, Hugh still had a large amount of anger built up inside him.
In the reminder of why he was here, Colress's face darkened.
"Is there something going on with Plasma?" N's quiet voice came from where he was sitting holding Hilda's hand.
Colress looked at each of them in the face and took a deep breath.
"Team Plasma has a new leader."
Shock was written over all of their faces.
N stood, gently clutching Hilda's hand. "Ghetsis stepped down?"
"According to the Shadows, or at least what I gathered from them when they attacked us, Ghetsis is in no shape to be leading anything." Rosa spoke quietly.
"What's the new leader like, Colress?" Hilbert was standing behind his older sister.
"Maybe he's actually a nice guy!" Bianca threw in.
Cheren sighed. "Bianca, if the new leader is a nice guy, then he wouldn't be a criminal."
"He's dangerous." They all turned to Colress when he spoke. "He seems really friendly, but danger is radiating off of him. He managed to convince the Shadows to rejoin the group. Something about revenge, I think. It happened fairly quickly a couple of days ago. I tried to look for more information on him, but came up with nothing." He looked at his shaking hands. "He is completely different from Ghetsis. He seems to be incredibly strong, and I do not think that he will hold back."
xXxXx
Just outside the door to the room, a Shadow vanishes.
xXxXx
"So Colress went and told them already?" Nicgoli leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the desk that now belonged to him. "We were supposed wait until the end of the week…" Nicgoli spun around in the chair as he thought.
"Do you want us to get rid of Colress?" The Shadow that had followed Colress and informed Nicgoli of his actions asked.
"Oh, no no no." Nicgoli turned back around and started dialing on his phone. "No, I was planning on tricking him into telling them for me anyways. It would be no fun if they didn't know, after all. And it would make your revenge a lot less fun. Now, I have to make a call. Could you please keep everyone out of this room for a bit?"
"Yes sir." The Shadow quickly left the room and guarded the door.
Nicgoli watched him leave before hitting the call button. As soon as the other end was answered he began speaking. "Step three got a head start over here. Sorrrry."
"Colress."
"Bingo. Perhaps he is closer to the Pokédex Kids in Unova than we originally thought."
"Nope. This is just how I planned it." The smirk could be clearly heard in Donmi's voice.
"So why did you say to wait a week?"
"Because I wanted this part to be done without any nudges from us. More fun, no?"
"Yeah. It is more fun. Shall I call Narcissa, or do you want to?"
"Neither. In about an hour, she should be calling me."
"Now I know why you get along so well with Rockets." Nicgoli smirked. "Both of you are schemers."
A raspberry was blown on the other end of the line, causing him to laugh.
"I have to go. Things are starting to pick up speed in all the Regions. I need to get a few things ready over here." A few seconds of silence. "And quit pouting."
Nicgoli hangs up the phone after hearing a click. "Aww. I wanted to talk more. She always ends the call so quickly." A soft smile appears on his face. "And she knows me so well…"
A knock on the door.
"Come in, Colress. How was your day off?" Nicgoli's soft smile turned into a razor sharp one, sending chills down Colress's back.
Does he know? Does he know that I went and informed the children about him? If so, what will he do? Colress managed to keep all his thoughts off of his face, though Nicgoli knew what they were anyway. "It was relaxing."
"That's good. I'm afraid that no one will be getting much time off from here on out." Nicgoli stands and walks to the door in the back of the office. "Things are going to get quite busy."
The new leader of Team Plasma walked out the door.
XxXxX
"Brendan."
The young man turned to see who had spoken. When he saw them, his eyes narrowed.
"That's Ruby to you Maxie."
"Even though I'm retired now?" The older man couldn't help but smirk at the boy's shocked expression. "What, can't I retire?"
"Sure you can, but why would you? You put so much into Team Magma. Are you really just gonna disband it?" Brendan looked at Maxie suspiciously.
"Who said anything about disbanding?" Maxie leaned against wall of a nearby house.
"Then what?"
"I came to tell you that there is a new leader in charge of Team Magma. And he is not to be underestimated. I would also try to keep your little friend from him."
"May? Why?"
"Because he does not discriminate. He will rip her to pieces and probably won't feel a thing."
Chills went down Brendan's back, but he ignored them. "It doesn't matter. No matter who it is, if they cause problems, I will take them down just like I brought you down."
Maxie shook his head sadly. "So he was right. You are getting too cocky." Maxie spoke quietly.
"What did you say?" Brendan asked innocent curiosity on his face.
"That it is amusing how quickly you decided that I am no longer a threat. I may no longer be the leader of Magma, but I am also not your friend." Maxie started to leave, but tossed one last parting shot behind him. "The only reason that I came here today was to alert you that you should be careful. You have not met the new leader before."
Brendan watched as the man he had been battling against for years walked away.
xXxXx
"Ello? Oh, hey Maxie. Eh?! You went and told him already? Hasp. We were gonna wait a week. I need to make a call. Vio." Dovan hung up the phone and rested his head on the desk for a moment.
"Things not going the way you were wanting?" Admin Mack sneered.
Underneath his hood Dovan rolled his eyes. "Is there something you needed Mack?"
Anger smoldered deep in the Magma Admin's eyes. He gritted his teeth and held out a stack of papers. "These need your signature."
"Thank you. Is that all?" When Mack didn't reply, Dovan continued. "Then please leave. I need to make a few calls."
Growling, Mack left, slamming the door behind him.
Sighing, Dovan dialed the first number. After a few rings, the phone is answered.
"You get busted already too? I was expecting Narcissa to be next." A laughing voice is on the other end.
"Maxie."
"Knew it!" Donmi crows.
"Jem'g lav yug yum. So now what?"
"Now we move forward. Step three starts now." A click signaling the end of the call sounds.
"Uf usyug. More work." Dovan leans back and throws his arm over his face.
XxXxX
"Psst. Over here!" Lucas, Barry, and Dawn all turned to see who had called out to them.
Dawn spots the speaker first. "Mars? When did you get back?"
"This morning. But when I returned to the Galactic Head Quarters I discovered something that I believe that you should be appraised of. Team Galactic has a new leader." The woman who had been one of the trio's long time enemies was nervous, eyes constantly on the move.
"We knew that. Saturn has been in charge for a few years now." Barry rolled his eyes.
"It's not Saturn. I don't know who it is but Saturn is no longer in charge." Mars practically growled, irritated that the younger people were not believing her.
"Then who? Jupiter? Charon? Who is the leader of Team Galactic now?" Lucas put his hand on Barry's shoulder and asked while Dawn stood to the side and looked thoughtful.
"I just said I don't know! All that I know is that it is a man, one who was able to get Saturn to relinquish control. I just think the three of you should be careful. That's all."
As Mars walked away from the kids, a man in a black trench coat walked by with a small smirk on his face. Once he was out of earshot he pulled an envelope from his pocket.
"Guess I should go ahead and mail this then. Since the gig is up." The man attached the letter to a Pidgey. "Take this to the Pokémon Professor. I don't care what you do after that." The man attached the Pokémon's Poke Ball to its leg as well.
The Pidgey flew off to deliver the letter.
xXxXx
Professor Rowan removed the letter and the Poke Ball from the Pidgey. He opened the letter and read it:
'Dear Cockbite, I am sending you this letter to let you know Team Galactic is under new management and well be called Team Solar for now on. Also to let you know all your Pokémon will be belonging to us. Though you can do whatever with this Pidgey.'
"What in the world?" The Professor said as he reread the letter. Rowan looks up when the door to his lab opened. "Oh, Barry, Lucas, and Dawn. Perfect timing. What do the three of you think of this?" He held the letter out to them. As they were reading, he told them how he received it. "This Pidgey just delivered it to me. I was also sent the Poke Ball. Can you figure out what any of this means?"
"It means that Mars was telling the truth. Saturn is no longer in charge of Galactic." Lucas handed the letter back to the professor. He turned to face the other two. "What are we gonna do?"
xXxXx
"So you knew that this was gonna happen? What are you up to girl?" Klade put the phone on speaker and set it on the desk.
Laughter bubbled from the other end. "Don't worry. My plans will get you what you want."
"That doesn't answer my question Donmi."
"Nope. It doesn't. Just enjoy the fun. Besides, if Mars is back then Jupiter and Charon can't be that far behind." Donmi's voice started of light but got more serious as she talked.
"You don't think that Cyrus will return?" Klade was just as serious as he spoke.
"After what he went through? No. He will not return." The sound of typing came from the other end of the phone.
"You know why he disappeared." It was not a question.
"And the fact that you don't know tells me that you haven't been keeping a close enough eye on your Team. You should see if you can find out why he left on your own. I won't help you with that." Some background noise interrupts her. "I have to go."
"Bye." Klade hung up the phone and sat for a few moments in silence. He adjusted his eye patch before standing. "I suppose I should prepare to meet the others. Sometimes revenge is such a pain."
XxXxX
"Why did you bring me here Amber?" May watched the Aqua Admin that had isolated her in Pacifidlog carefully.
The man glanced at her before returning his glare to the sea. "Archie has retired. The new leader is some nobody Grunt that worked under Shelly."
"Wow. You didn't even last a week before you spilled the beans." A low, gruff voice spoke from behind them.
May and Amber spun around. Amber's face paled as he saw Archie, the previous leader of Team Aqua.
Archie was floating in a boat, and seemed to have simply been drifting by when he overheard their conversation.
A smirk covered Archie's face. "You really that sore about not becoming the next leader, Amber? Ah, May." He focused on the young woman. "You probably would have been warned about her eventually, so it doesn't really matter. In fact, it definitely doesn't matter to me. I'm retired now! Good bye!" Archie's Sharpedo quickly took his boat away.
Amber watched until the boat had completely disappeared. He then turned and vanished into the small town.
May watched both of them leave before pulling out her phone and dialing her Rival/Friend.
"Brendan. We need to meet up and talk."
XxXxX
"Ello?" A tired voice answered the ringing phone.
"Exhausted already Narcissa?" Archie's voice was entirely too smug.
"Hasp iea. Hasp. Iea. What do you want, you cruel, cruel man?" Narcissa fished around in her bag for an energy drink. Pulling one out, she opened it and took a drink.
"I just saw Amber in Pacifidlog with May. You have been partially exposed."
"Only partially? Meaning you interrupted them before he could give her a detailed description of me." Narcissa finished the drink and tossed the can into the trashcan by the door. "Why did you call? You don't usually tattle."
"It's not tattling if you already knew he would be doing that." Archie's voice got even more smug.
Narcissa laughed. "That obvious? I was talking to a friend. We both agreed that the one who would 'go traitor' would be Amber. Speaking of which, I should call and update her. I'll have to talk to you later."
"Fine. Goodbye."
Narcissa hung up the phone and waited for a minute before dialing another number.
"Donmi? I think you are the only one that has not been exposed at all. I'm sure that will change soon.
XxXxX
Donmi held her phone to her ear with her shoulder as she carried a box over to the counter of the store. "I am fairly sure that I will be exposed later today. I've got some people curious about the store. I'll call you later." Donmi ended the call and turned to face the group of people that had just entered her store.
"Hello. Welcome to R. A.M. P. S."
Six young men and women stood just inside the door looking around.
Donmi smiled at them from behind the counter. "Unfortunately, the store does not officially open till the day after tomorrow. However, I can at least let you look around for a bit and discover what all we sell."
"That's what caught our eyes. We were wondering just what it is you sell here." The young man wearing a backwards baseball cap came and leaned against the counter.
The boy with red hair rolled his eyes. "I would assume that they sell ramps here."
"Well, we do sell ramps here." Donmi placed a box on top of the counter. "But we will be selling a lot of other things as well. Basically, anything that you could need for your bike, you'll be able to find here."
"All this is incredible. Is this your only store?" Two pigtails bounced under the girl's hat as she bent down to look at the lower shelves.
"There are branches opening up in all the Regions except for Kanto. I want to open one in Kanto as well, but I haven't found the right person to be in charge there."
The girl with pigtails turned to the other girl in the group. "Hey, Green weren't you wanting to try opening a store?"
"Green?" Donmi looked anew at all of the people in the group. "Oh, of course. All of you are the ones that took Team Rocket down awhile back, aren't you?"
The boy in the backwards baseball cap perked up. "You know of us? That's right. I'm Gold, the grumpy-pants over there is Silver, and the girl with the pigtails is Crystal."
Silver glared at Gold while Crystal waved.
"This is Red." Green pointed to the boy with a baseball cap covering all but the small smile on his face. "The guy that has been glaring at your poster over there is Blue."
Red turned to the young man wearing a bomber jacket. "Why have you been staring at the poster?"
"You remember that poster in the Rocket's Game Corner?" Blue asked the other boy.
Red thought for a moment. "You mean the one that had that hidden switch behind it?"
"Yup." He reached out towards the poster.
"Ah! Don't!" Donmi called out in attempt to stop the man.
A flash of triumph crept into Blue's eyes as a faint click sounded through the room. The section of wall that held the poster quietly swings open to reveal a staircase leading down.
The entire glanced at her before starting towards the opening.
Quickly Donmi gets in front of them and blocks their way. "I can't let anyone down there."
"Why? Because there are criminal activities going on down there?" The red-headed Silver spoke with a sneer.
"What? No." Donmi looks at them all. "It's true that I got the idea for the door from the Rocket thing, but what is going to be down there is going to be completely legitimate."
"Then why can't we go down there?" Red tilted his head to the side in curiosity.
Green placed a hand on Red's shoulder. "These boys are stubborn and won't take no for an answer. It would be easier to just let us see what is down there."
Donmi sighed and got out of the way. "If any of you get hurt, it is not my fault."
Donmi sees Silver and Blue roll their eyes as the others start down the stairs. Once the entire group is far enough ahead, Donmi allows herself a small smirk. She turned it into a slightly worried look just in time for Blue to glance back to see if she was following.
Donmi caught up with them just as they reached the bottom of the steps. She couldn't help but show amusement at the awe they couldn't hide at what lay in front of them.
It was a huge underground cavern. Several Rock and Ground Type Pokémon were moving stones and piles of dirt around.
"What is it?" Red's voice was breathless with awe.
"It is GOING to be a bike park. A place for kids and teens to ride their bikes without worry of wild Pokémon. A place for them to perform tricks on their bikes without worry of getting badly hurt." Donmi watched as Rhydons carried boulders past them and Gravelers rolled down embankments, turning them into smooth slopes.
"And just how are they supposed to remain from getting hurt?" Blue looked everything over with a critical eye.
"Do you see those alcoves spotted along the walls? There are also special shelves spotted around the ceiling. They are for Psychic Type Pokémon. They will watch over the bikers and if an accident occurs, they can catch person before they make contact with the ground. I also plan to have some people trained in first aid around just in case."
"This is incredible!" Gold turned to look at Donmi. "The reason you didn't want us coming down here was because you didn't us being in risk of getting hurt, right?"
Donmi smiled softly. "That's right. It would be awful if someone got badly hurt before I even opened shop. Especially if they are one of the people that helped bring down Team Rocket. Can we please head back up stairs now?"
When they had all returned to the store Crystal's phone went off.
"Hello? Oh, uh, sure. We'll be there soon. Good bye." A myriad of emotions played across Crystal's face as she ended the call. She looked around at the other people she was with. "Um, we have to go. We need to meet up with someone. It seems important."
Red pulled his baseball cap a little lower on his head. "Alright then. Let's go." Red walked out of the shop and a minute later poked his head back in. "Where are we going?"
There was a nearly collective sigh from the group as Donmi fought to hide her laughter.
Blue glanced at her when he heard the sounds that escaped her. He attempted to continue glaring but ended up sighing again in exasperation. "He's always like that."
"I had heard he was incredibly dense." Donmi finally got herself under control enough to speak.
"He's a space case, end of story." Green smiled a smile full of fond exasperation. She glanced at Donmi. "We never got your name. You know ours, you gonna share?"
Donmi smiled, something hidden deep within her eyes. "My name's Donmi. I hope to see you all again once the store finally opens."
"It's nice to meet you Donmi. Good bye." Crystal tossed over her shoulder as she followed the others out of the building.
Donmi smiled as she watched them all leave. "It's nice to meet you all." Ethan, Silver, Lyra, Ash, Gary, and Leaf. It is very nice to meet you all indeed.
XxXxX
"Hello Crystal."
"Proton. What was it you needed to tell me- to tell us? It sounded like it was really important." Lyra 'Crystal' walked up to the youngest of the Team Rocket Executives, but stopped a few feet away.
"If it's about Team Rocket started back up, we already know about that." Gary 'Blue' leaned against the opening into the alley where Proton had called the group.
"Eh? Team Rocket is starting up again?" Ash 'Red' exclaimed in surprise, causing Gary to sigh again.
Leaf 'Green' rolled her eyes. "How many times have we discussed the recent activities? Twenty times?"
"Nothing sticks in his head." Ethan 'Gold' commented with a chuckle.
"Proton, what's going on? Some of the recent activities…" Silver looked the Executive over critically. "And you seem very nervous and uncomfortable."
The blue haired Executive glanced uneasily at the end of the alley way. "Silver's right. Giovanni is no longer in charge of Team Rocket."
"Giovanni wouldn't just hand over control of the Rockets. Not even to one of his Executives." Even with them hidden under his baseball cap, they could tell that Ash had narrowed his eyes.
"This…woman showed up. She knew that Giovanni was going on a training journey. Something not even we Executives knew. She convinced him to give her three months to bring Team Rocket back stronger than before. If she can't, she leaves." Proton was keeping his eyes locked on the entrance to the alley as he spoke.
"And if she can?" Ethan asked.
"She gets to take over permanently." Proton replied.
"And just who is this woman? Name? Description?" Leaf was determined to find out more about this new, mysterious adversary.
Proton paled and shook his head, refusing to say anything more.
"Does this woman have something on you?" Lyra asked quietly.
Proton looked her straight in the eye, causing her to catch her breath to catch in her throat.
"She has something on ALL of us." Proton looked at the end of the alley again. "I only came to tell you that Giovanni is gone, at least for now. I don't dare say any more. Goodbye."
Lyra reached out to stop him, but Proton was already gone.
XxXxX
Donmi settled down at her desk and started the video chat with the other four.
"Things started rolling over there yet, Donmi?" Nicgoli's were smoldering with amusement.
"Nicgoli, as if she would be having any problems at this stage of the game." Narcissa rolled her eyes.
Dovan seemed to be leaning off the screen to get away from the smirking Nicgoli. "MUST we be on a five way video call?"
Klade's eye was glaring at Nicgoli. "Things are fine over here. Can I go shoot something now?
Narcissa and Donmi rolled their eyes at each other. Donmi somehow managed to glare at all three of the men at once. "Get over it. I have news. My entire group of Pokédex Kids was in my shop today. Before they even found out about Giovanni being gone, they met me. They don't realize who I am yet, of course. By the way, how are the shops coming along over there?"
"The one over here in Hoenn is almost complete, though I seem to be doing most of the work." Narcissa glared at Dovan, who pretended not to notice the intense gaze.
"Sinnoh's seems to be complete except for that little underground thing you decided to add." There was some venom in Klade's voice as he spoke.
"The branch of R. A. M. P. S. here in Unova is fully complete. So you got to meet your kids already? That's not fair. I thought that was going to be step four." Nicgoli pouted and slouched in his chair.
Donmi rolled her eyes again. "It is step four. In fact, the only one of us who has completely finished step three is Klade. The rest of us still have to contact the Professors. And I get to contact two of them. Once that is done, the rest of you can come up with scenarios to meet with your Pokédex Kids. Tomorrow is going to be busy. Let's get to work."
"Oh! One last thing! Huchol and Nechol have an Egg!" Dovan held up a Pokémon Egg for all to see.
"When it hatches you should come show me. And this gives me an idea on how to meet one of the Professors in my regions." Donmi smiled softly at the sight of the Egg.
xXxXx
Author's Note: There's chapter two. No translations for you this time. Gave you some hints here. If you figure them out, throw them in a pm or a review. Meh. Tell me what you think.
I am not a writer! I am a puppet controlled by fictional characters!