The Year of Rocket's Revenge
Session: October, Part 2 (10.10.05/10.26.06)
The film you have just watched has been deemed classified information by Team Rocket. Assuming that you got that film by means that you know you shouldn't have, you must now disavow any knowledge you may have gained from the viewing of said film. Which I'll stop referring to now, since you should be forgetting seeing it in the first place. Therefore...
Last time, we learned that the three starters in Kanto compliment each other. Bulbasaur has a type advantage over Squirtle, Squirtle has one over Charmander, and Charmander the same over Bulbasaur. Today, we'll see what happens when a Pikachu is thrown into the equation.
Can you say 'Roasted Pikachu on a Stick?'
I know you could.
(The above recap is presented by Team Roc... I mean, Team Launch! For everything a beginner needs to start a Pokémon journey, trust in Launch!)
The movie had come to an end, but the house lights had yet to come up. Suddenly, smoke began to fill the area in front of the projection screen, and a round of coughs emanated from those who happened to be sitting in that area. Then, the Team Rocket theme song began to play as two voices... one male, one female... boomed across the room.
"Prepare for trouble!" shouted the female.
"And make it double!" exclaimed the male.
"To infect the world with devastation!"
"To blight all people in every nation!"
"To denounce the goodness of truth and love!"
"To extend our wrath to the stars above!"
At that moment, the duo was heard running towards the front of the room, under the cover of the smoke that had now made it impossible to see anything. Yet they managed to make it to their spots in front of the projector screen right on time, posing for their introductions.
"Cassidy!"
"And Butch!"
"We're Team Rocket circling Earth all day and night!"
"Surrender to us now or you will surely lose the fight!"
"That's right!"
By the end of the motto, a fan had been turned out to help dissipate the smoke while an odd person had managed to find the light switch and flick it on.
The setting was revealed, as a classroom full of young and eager Team Rocket grunts applauded with glee, impressed by the entrance of the experienced Rockets.
"My, my, don't we have a lively bunch," Cassidy remarked.
"We'll see how lively you are when I say this..." Butch threatened. "Out of the fifty of you in this classroom, only one male and one female will pass this class!"
That sentence killed the classroom's enthusiasm in a hurry, as it instantly became so quiet in the room that you could hear a pin drop.
"As my partner here stated, only two of you will leave this class at the end of the week as full-fledged Team Rocket secret operatives like me and Butch here."
"Luckily, most of you will just go back to being Grunts if you don't get the position. However, if you really screw up... well, being kicked out of Team Rocket is the best you can hope for."
Cassidy quickly gazed upon the students and then smirked evilly.
"Okay... everyone in the room who is NOT wearing pants, please stand up!"
"Butch says... everyone in the room who believes they have what it takes to be a Team Rocket secret operative, please stand up!"
After some hesitation, a good majority of the room rose to their feet. Cassidy and Butch nodded interestingly as they made a count of the room.
"That worked better than I thought it would," smiled Cassidy.
"I agree," concurred Butch. "Okay... those of you who are standing right now? Congratulations... you've just flunked out of this class!"
Cassidy then produced a rocket launcher out of nowhere and pointed it at the students.
"But why?" one of the students asked.
"Because the first test was a game called 'Butch says.' You were only supposed to follow whatever he said, not me."
"But he told us everyone who believes he's an operative..." a second started to cry.
"I know what I said!" Butch exclaimed. "But in our opinion, absolutely NO ONE in this room has what it takes to be a secret operative!"
"Wha?"
"Regardless of how much success you've had as a Grunt prior to this class, that only got you in."
"The records are stricken clean! As far as we're concerned, no one is worthy until they prove it so before our eyes!"
"Therefore," Cassidy said as she released the safety lock on the rocket launcher. "Those of you who are standing have ten seconds to exit the room... if you value your jobs or your lives!"
In a panic, all of the flunkies scrambled to the room's one exit, rushing to get out the door. Miraculously, all of them somehow made it through just as the ten seconds expired... leaving Cassidy without anyone to shoot at.
"Like I said, very lively."
"I'll say, Cass. The last time we ran this class, you ended up shooting about three or four of those rockets."
"Still..."
Out of the fifty that had started, only eight were left. Five men and three women, all of them either in their teens or 20s.
"There's a gender imbalance in here that needs correcting."
Cassidy randomly pointed the launcher at one of the males remaining in the room. The guy started to shiver furiously in fear.
"Fear isn't listed in the Team Rocket dictionary! So why are you shaking in your boots, you?"
"I only joined this class to get a pay raise," he squealed as he ran for the door.
"You want a raise? I'll give you a raise!"
Cassidy fired one rocket, which hit the ground only a few feet behind the guy. The resulting explosion sent him and pieces of doorway and desks flying all over and out of the room. The other students ran for cover to avoid getting hit by any debris.
"Rule number one of a Team Rocket operative!" Cassidy shouted as the smoke started to clear. "You must not be afraid of anything! You'll take many risks on your missions across the globe, and you must be willing to accept all of the consequences, good or bad! Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, ma'am!" the seven remaining students yelled from various parts of the now disheveled room.
"Good," Butch snickered. "You're finally starting to get it. Now, if you're still interested in being an operative... Butch says meet Cassidy and I at the Green Course in fifteen minutes!"
"Anyone who doesn't show up on time... well, you don't want to know what will happen to anyone who doesn't show up on time."
"Isn't the Green Course a mile and a quarter away, in the woods?" somebody remarked.
"Then I suggest you better get moving!" the two operatives shouted in tandem.
Sounds of furniture being moved, dust kicked up, and feet having shuffled over all of the excess debris, were heard as the remaining students made their way out.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Team Rocket compound, Giovanni was sitting as his desk in his office, rubbing his aching head with his thumb and pinky fingers.
"That's it," he mumbled. "Effective with the next training class, all operative orientations will be held outside!"
Suddenly, Giovanni heard a buzzing on the intercom system. A red light flashed on it, indicating someone outside was asking for access into the room.
"Yes?" he growled, pressing a button on the speaker.
"Team Rocket's Orange Division, reporting for assignment!" came two voices.
"Very well. Enter!"
Giovanni folded his hands over his lap as the two of his best operatives opened the doors to his chamber and walked in. It was Jane and Calamity, whom Giovanni saw to personally that they were broken out of jail after the Orange Island incident.
"Ah, good to see you all again. I take it you're up for another mission even after all of that field testing with the new Pokémon?"
"We're always ready for action!" Jane stated.
"We'll take on any mission for you!" added Calamity.
"Good. There's one outstanding job that many of our other top agents have had trouble completing."
Calamity snickered. "Those bumbling oafs... you should've left the job to two real operatives. Namely, Jane and I!"
"Funny you mention bumbling oafs... because two of them are standing right in front of ME!"
"What?" Jane objected. "We've never failed a mission! Ever!"
"Don't patronize me! Even as my top operatives, any failure is one too many! Especially this failure!"
Giovanni opened a desk drawer, pulled out a manila folder, and threw it at Jane. It promptly struck her in the face, something she would've had enough sense to avoid if the boss hadn't just corrected and flustered her.
Jane opened the folder and gasped in shock. Calamity peered over to see what was in it... and he too elicited a similar reaction.
"It's Jessie!" began Jane.
"And James!" finished Calamity.
"Do you two remember the original reason why you were sent to the Orange Islands?"
Jane gasped as she recalled. "It was... an order of execution!"
"We were supposed to take them out!"
"Which you should've done while behind bars! You two had the best opportunity to eliminate those worthless nitwits!"
"But, sir... if it was so important to see them get the axe, why didn't you wait until we had completed the job in prison before you broke us out?"
"To put it bluntly, it had fallen on my list of priorities. Still, I was hoping that it would be a job some of our lower-ranked operatives could handle easily."
"Really?"
"Unfortunately, that proved not to be the case. Things got even more complicated a few weeks ago when they somehow managed to break out!"
"Break out?" Jane gasped.
"But that was a Maximum Security Prison!" Calamity said aloud. "No way those bumbling fools..."
"How they got out is not our concern!" Giovanni cut in. "What IS our concern is that they are captured before they start blabbing about Team Rocket to the media!"
"You mean they haven't yet?"
"What's taking them so long?"
"My guess is that they're in hiding. They're probably afraid to go to the police... they expect us to be waiting for them there. Or be sent back to prison."
"So... where are they hiding?"
"And are they still on the Orange Islands?"
"We really don't know. About five days ago, one of our Grunts reported seeing them near the Trovitopolis ferry docks. He was, unfortunately, unable to keep up with them. But since then, I've sent a few teams down there to observe any and all modes of transport out of the city."
"What do you need us for then? To flush them out?"
"Pretty beneath our standards, you know?"
"I wouldn't be jabbering on about standards when it was your job to get rid of them in the first place!" scolded Giovanni. "And it's going to be your job to finish it!"
"Very well then, sir!"
"Sorry for questioning you, sir!"
"Good. Now, you'll be in disguise, since you two are also wanted for jailbreak like Jessie and James! Take care not to get caught by Officer Jenny... because I swear, if you do... you won't be the ones carrying out the order of execution! You'll be the ones it'll be carried out on!"
"Yes, sir!" the two saluted, knowing their jobs and their lives were now riding on this mission.
The next afternoon, Jane and Calamity arrived in Trovitopolis by plane. To protect their identities, the two were in disguise. Jane was wearing a straw hat, which was covering her noticeably shorter pink hair, and an orange sundress. Calamity had opted for dying his hair a bleachy yellow and for contact lenses instead of glasses, while he sported a matching T-shirt and shorts decorated with a pine tree print.
"I can't believe you're wearing that," Jane commented. "And that you guys convinced me to get my beautiful hair cut!"
"Well, you didn't want to dye it!" Calamity exclaimed. "It was our only other option!"
After successfully traversing through the airport, Jane and Calamity made their way to the local Team Rocket headquarters. Which, of course, was hidden underground, out of sight from the local law enforcement. Once there, they got a quick briefing from the man in charge.
"Once again, it is an honor to have Team Rocket's best to assist us in eliminating some rogue operatives," the leader told them.
"The one thing I wanna know is..." Calamity began, holding up two 'Wanted' posters: one of him and Jane, the other of Jessie and James. "How come the reward for their capture is so much more than ours?"
Jane gazed at the posters and nodded in agreement. The reward for their capture was 300,000P. The one for Jessie and James was 5,000,000P.
"What the heck did those losers do that made them a more desirable catch?"
"Let's just say... they've been busy since they broke out."
"Probably a lot of the basics," Jane said, counting off the possibilities. "Stealing money, food, and clothes. Walking out on restaurant and hotel bills. Trespassing on private property. Stuff like that."
The Orange Island leader nodded in agreement. "They're doing everything they need to just to survive."
"And you guys still haven't caught them despite how they're haphazardly keeping themselves in the open?" Calamity asked in dismay. "Pathetic!"
"I don't think any one of us expected them to be such great escape artists! I mean, every time we think we had them cornered, they somehow got away from us!"
"Ha!" Jane laughed. "Well, that stops here and now! We're going to follow their trail and put an end to these slackers once and for all!"
"Then we really will be worthy of the praise the boss showers upon us!" added Calamity haughtily.
And so, the search began with a bit of investigating and interrogating. Jane and Calamity's first stop, as directed to them by the Orange Islands operations leader... the Shore Spot, a restaurant inside the Starmie Inn, one of the swankiest hotels in the archipelago.
"So, they were here three nights ago?" Jane inquired with the waitress, as she took a bite out of the filet mignon before her.
"Yes," she nodded, then sighing with disappointment. "I got reprimanded for that. I'm even lucky I still have a job here."
"What exactly did they do?" wondered Calamity, who was nibbling at a fish stick.
"Well..." she stuttered, as she forced herself to remember the horrible incident...
Flashback to three nights ago, where Jessie, James, and Persian were stuffing their faces with plate after plate of oysters, fried fish, and other seafood delicacies. The dishes piled up on their table as all of the other customers, as well as the staff, just gaped in awe at how much food the trio was downing. But most surprised of all was the waitress, who seemed to be running in and out of the kitchen with a new tray full of hot food every few minutes.
"They were like vacuum cleaners!" she exclaimed in narration. "I didn't dare fathom where all of it was going to... the three of them seemed to be bottomless pits!"
"I've never... had so... much delicious... food!" Jessie exclaimed between bites.
"Simply irresistible!" James cried with tears as he gulped down the leftover juice from the shell pile of consumed oysters.
"We're eating like kings and queens!" Persian said with a smile as he scarfed down half a dozen butterfly shrimp in one gulp.
"When my supervisor learned what was going on, she demanded that I make sure they had enough money to pay for the meal. Which, apparently, I was supposed to inquire about when I first took their order. For some reason, that never occurred to me when their first order was the entire left side of the menu."
"Bright, aren't we?" quipped Jane and Calamity sarcastically.
"It just slipped my mind, okay?"
The waitress approached the table, empty-handed for the first time since she had first welcomed them, and gulped as she noticed all of the plates were completely empty. Again. For the seventh time in an hour.
"Our favorite cute little waitress is back!" Jessie said with a smile.
"But she's empty-handed!" Persian shouted, a bit upset with nothing in front of him to stuff his mouth with.
"That's okay," James said in a forgiving tone. "After all, we shouldn't be making pigs of ourselves. And we have a budget to keep. That, and I'm sure Aoi here's a little tired after everything we've put on her."
"Heh heh," Aoi giggled nervously. "I guess... that will finally be it then?"
"I guess so," Jessie sighed. "James is right... after all, I'll never keep my gorgeous figure if I gorge anymore tonight."
"Easy for you to say!" Persian exclaimed. "I'm still famished!"
"Quiet, you!" Jessie and James stated angrily, covering his mouth.
"Well then," Aoi said, sighing with relief herself. "I'll just go total up your bill and bring it right back so you can all get outta here."
"Thank you, dearie!" winked James. "You've been a sweetheart!"
"Th-th-thank you," Aoi replied in response, blushing as she bowed once, then ran to the register.
As soon as she had turned her back, she heard the sound of chairs screeching and being dropped on the floor. Turning around, she found her jaw had fallen all the way to the ground as the trio had jumped through the glass window facing the street and ran off. Shouts and screams over what had happened rang through the restaurant as the supervisor came out to see what all the hubbub was about.
After seeing that the table Jessie, James, and Persian had been eating at was devoid of anyone to pay the bill, she then angrily turned her attention to the shocked and frightened Aoi, who was still in disbelief over what happened.
Aoi was wailing as she remembered the punishment she got for it. "I had to clean their table and wash all their dishes myself, plus their meal and the broken window came out of my weekly paycheck! I'll have to work every night for a month to make back all the money I lost!"
"You poor thing," consoled Jane, giving Aoi a reassuring pat on the back.
"We'll make sure they're caught and made to pay for all of the damages," Calamity said.
"I'd really appreciate that, Detectives Frank and Joe!" complimented Aoi, blissfully ignoring any suspicion she had of them, including their names, despite the fact that one of the two at the table was clearly female.
"So, could we have our bill now?"
"Yes... we'd really like to continue our investigation at our next location."
Aoi smiled and told them chirpily, "I'll be right back!"
She headed off to retrieve it when she heard an eerily familiar sound. The same sounds she had heard when Jessie, James, and Persian had ran out on their bill. Chairs being dropped hard onto the floor, followed by glass being shattered, and then murmuring from the other patrons and staff in the area. Regrettably, Aoi turned around and once again was greeted with the aftermath of another bill runner. All of the color drained out of her skin, and her clothes as well as she stared in disbelief over being duped again.
Meanwhile, out on the street, which had a few gawking individuals of their own, Jane and Calamity ran for the nearest alley. Without any scratches or visible bleeding after having jumped through that glass window, apparently.
"I told you we should've gone with Bert and Nan!" Jane exclaimed.
"And I told you there's no way we could've passed for twins!" retorted Calamity.
"I knew we shouldn't have gone with this plan... we're going to have to change disguises again!"
"So? You said you hated this look!"
"It's still better than the other disguise you brought for me!"
"I thought one of your dreams was to be a lifeguard on the beach..."
To be continued next week in Part 3!
