The Year of Rocket's Revenge
Session: June, Part 3 (06.06.06/06.28.10)
Monday, June 2nd, Pewter City
It was just after midnight in the Stone Gray City Between Rugged Mountains, but it was anything but solid. Several fires could be seen burning across the city; their smoke rising high into the sky, visible even from some parts of Viridian City. But there was no one attempting to put it out, as the city had essentially become a war zone. Most of the city was under Team Rocket's control, and it had been that way since the disappearance of Brock.
Nearly all of the city's commercial district had been destroyed in the month since then, and the residential district was mostly in shambles. Brock's gym was no longer standing; most of the rubble left after its destruction had been removed from the site to keep the populace from holding any sense of hope that the gym leader would one day return. As for the Pokémon Center, it still stood, though some parts of it were damaged, and instead of Nurse Joy and her Chansey running it, Team Rocket had taken refuge in it, using it as their base of operations.
The city's population had been cut to one-tenth of what it was prior to the attack. Most people had been enslaved by Team Rocket. Those who had resisted were killed. Some had been fortunate enough to flee to parts unknown. The few that remained lived in fear and poverty, with the evil organization content to let them be unless they needed more slaves... or if they sensed an uprising developing.
Underneath the city, though, another small group of people had gathered in a slowly-developing civilization that was being powered by portable generators and was only kept alive by the efforts of Joel Orino and his small group of rogue PTA agents.
Ash, Misty, and Pikachu gasped in horror as they looked at the worse-than-third-world conditions. There were no solid structures, only tents... and most of them were in tatters. They spotted about three dozen people; they were in various states of disarray. Many smelled as if they hadn't bathed in weeks, which was actually true given the lack of plumbing. Or any modern-day conveniences, for that matter. A handful had even been reduced to using bed sheets and blankets for clothing, as they had nothing left.
"This..." Misty shuddered, struggling to hold back tears, "this is horrible!"
They turned around as they heard Joel walking towards them. His face was one of sadness as he looked upon the makeshift town in front of them.
"Who are these people?" Ash asked.
"They're refugees from Pewter."
"Refugees?"
Joel nodded. "You're probably aware that Team Rocket has been in control of the city since Brock's disappearance a month ago."
"I had forgotten," Ash admitted. "Where's Brock now?"
"No one knows. It's doubtful Team Rocket has him."
"I'd agree," Misty added on. "Otherwise, they would be trying to do the same thing to him what they just tried to do to us."
"Exactly."
As Ash and Misty continued to chat with Joel, Pikachu continued to be saddened by the scene before him. And that was even after he saw a few of the town's Pokémon in a Geodude, a pair of Igglybuff, a Caterpie, and three Rattata, all of whom were too weak to move around.
"I can't believe Team Rocket has this much disregard for life..." commented Misty, "Human or Pokémon."
Ash clenched his fist in anger.
"We've... we've got to do something to help these people!"
"We're trying," Joel told him, "but our resources are limited. Not just by Team Rocket's heavy presence in the area, but also by the recent actions of the Pokémon Trainers' Association."
"What do you mean?"
Joel sighed. "It's hard to explain unless I go back to the beginning. And by that, I mean the very beginning..."
Flashback three years ago...
Joel was seen walking into Team Rocket headquarters, wearing a white uniform. He passed by several young recruits in the hallways, all in the midst of their first tour of the facility. He made his way to the conference room, where he learned that he was the last to arrive.
He took a seat at the 15-head round table, plopping down in the only open seat... next to his younger brother, Jude.
"Finally getting as slow as your ascension up the ranks?" Jude asked him.
"I've stolen a Slowbro, a Snorlax, and a pair of Electabuzz," he replied with a smile. "You do that much in the past day?"
Jude grumbled as he backed out of his taunt and turned his attention towards Giovanni, who was addressing the group via videophone from his office at the Viridian City gym.
"I'm glad you're all here today, for we are about to embark on a new endeavor. One that will solidify Team Rocket's place in the annals of history!"
Everyone listened attentively, wondering what their boss was suggesting.
"For years, we've been gaining infamy for traveling around the world, capturing the most powerful Pokémon to become the strongest trainers in the world! In addition, I've personally used our resources to gain clout with the Pokémon League, and that resulted in my appointment as the Viridian City gym leader."
The men and women in the room applauded the achievement.
"Now that years have passed since I've gained the position, allowing myself to rise to the ranks of one of the elite trainers in the entire region, it is now time to set our sights higher. To achieve the next evolutionary step in Team Rocket's quest for glory! And that's... the complete takeover of the Kanto region!"
The emotions in the room became mixed. A few instantly applauded the announcement, completely in agreement with their boss. Some weren't pleased at all, either in belief that such a task was impossible or that it was more than they had signed up for. And still others, including the two Orino brothers, had no idea what to think, confused by Giovanni's boast.
"How can we take over the whole region?" Joel asked his brother. "The other gym leaders won't stand for it, and the Elite Four certainly would take him down if they knew of it."
But Joel was only voicing his concerns at the moment to Jude. Someone else in the room, though, jumped up out of his seat, wanting to directly address the issue with Giovanni right there and then.
"We've achieved plenty of success in our current operating format," the man argued. "Why should we abandon that for a power grab that the League will never let us go through with?"
"Oh, I have no plan to give up our lucrative business of poaching the best Pokémon in the world for us. We will need such power in order to overthrow the Elite Four and the rest of the League! And once they are gone, we can then turn our attention to the rest of the world! Soon, no force in the entire world will be able to topple Team Rocket!"
More murmuring could be heard as the elite agents began to debate if they wanted to sign on to Giovanni's evil plan.
Two days after the meeting...
"Not all of the elites were willing to sign onto the plan," narrated Joel, "so they started putting into motion a way to break away from Team Rocket, without risking an execution order put on their heads."
The Orino brothers were sitting down to lunch in the building's break room, when one of the elites... one they were unfamiliar with by name, sat down at their table.
"I've been hearing your rumors that you two aren't enthusiastic with the boss' plan for Team Rocket's future."
"I'm not sure we should be talking about that here in such an open environment," Joel said in response.
"Yeah!" agreed Jude. "You want to be accused of treason and executed on the spot?"
The man quickly glanced around the cafeteria, looking to see if anyone was approaching him, as if to stop their conversation. When he saw no one making such a move, he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a calling card.
"If you're interested in jumping ship, come find me..."
With that, he stood up and left the cafeteria. The two brothers flipped over the card to see whose name was on it.
"Randy Vicardi," Joel read aloud, "Team Rocket Elite, Sector 2."
"After a little debate," Joel continued, "we decided to hear him out. We met with him the very next day, only to find out that we weren't alone..."
The two brothers walked into one of the building's classrooms, and found about forty Team Rocket agents, of different ages and rankings, had all gathered. The two took a seat about halfway back from the podium, right next to Randy.
"Glad to see you two made it," Randy smiled. "I'd like you two to meet my partner, Jones McGray."
"I've heard so much about you two," Jones said as he shook hands with the brothers. "So much, I feel I'm about to be passed by you two! I'm glad you're about to jump ship with us instead of staying here."
"We're not sure if we're leaving yet," Jude corrected him. "We want to weigh our options first."
Joel nodded, sharing the sentiment with his younger brother.
"May I have your attention!"
The room became silent as everyone gazed at the podium, where a man began to address them. Joel quickly recognized him as the man who audibly objected to Giovanni's announcement three days ago.
"I will be brief," he said, speaking into the microphone. "The longer a number such as ours is gathered here, the greater chance we risk of getting caught. For my own safety, especially since very few of you know my real name, I will be going by the codename Tiger."
"Yes, sir, Tiger, sir!" most of the room repeated, in a military fashion.
"We don't have much time to act. If we want to move on this breakaway, it has to happen tonight!"
"Tonight?" someone shouted.
"Yes. We'll leave under cover of darkness, beginning around midnight. If you plan to come along, be ready to go then. Until then... dismissed!"
Everyone quickly got to their feet and started to exit the room. Joel and Jude looked around, a bit confused.
"That's it?" Jude scratched his head. "He's not even giving me a reason to want to go with him!"
"I'm not too sure about this, either," Joel admitted.
"Trust him," Jones told the brothers. "He knows what the stakes are for what he's attempting. That can be figured out without words."
"If you guys are on-board," Randy told them, "be outside your room at exactly midnight."
With that, Randy and Jones exited.
That night, Joel was standing outside of his room with a small backpack on. He glanced down at his watch, noting that it was already three minutes after midnight. He was starting to get nervous.
"Man, where are they?"
Then, on cue, he noticed out of the corner of his eye three people jogging towards him. Two men and a women. He instantly identified the men as Randy and Jones, but the long black-haired woman in the black uniform she had never met before. Each of them also had backpacks on, packed with whatever they were bringing along.
"Just you?" Randy asked.
Joel nodded.
"Too bad," Jones noted. "Would've loved to have a team of brothers in our new organization."
The two stepped aside to let the woman introduce herself.
"Patti Masters," she stated.
"Joel Orino," Joel said in response.
"From here on out," Randy said to the group, "the only reason anyone other than me should open their mouth is if they see someone intent on stopping us. Understood?"
The other three nodded. With that, Randy took off down the hall, and they followed him without question. Joel took one last look back towards his room.
"I wish you could come along," he thought to himself, "but we must all follow the path we think is best."
Back to the present...
"About 20 of us successfully escaped from the organization, including a couple that weren't at Tiger's meeting but were sympathizers of the movement, and had been out on assignment at the time of our separation."
"And your brother?" Ash asked.
"The only person who attended that meeting that night that decided he wanted no part of the breakaway. Everyone else didn't make it out. All caught during the attempts to escape. All, to the best of my knowledge, executed for treason."
Misty gasped in shock.
"My brother is the only person that I know survived the breakaway while staying behind. I know because I've already battle against him several times in our organization's attacks on Team Rocket. Needless to say, he's not happy with me."
"So..." Misty picked up, "from there, you guys formed the Pokémon Trainers' Association?"
"Yes. But we didn't go by that name at first. Or any name..."
Two months after the breakaway, all 20 of the men and women who got away were in the process of building a headquarters somewhere outside of Viridian City.
"We had to lie low to avoid Team Rocket for awhile," narrated Joel. "We knew that if they found any of us, we would've been killed on the spot."
None of the former operatives were wearing their Team Rocket unis, as they had instead decided to switch to normal, everyday clothing to throw off detection.
"Once the PTA was formally established, Tiger sent us out to start recruiting new members."
Joel was among those asked to help with recruitment, as he started canvassing as far away as Fuchsia City.
"But it quickly became apparent that no one wanted anything to do with us... and that was before they learned that we all used to be members of Team Rocket."
Patti was seen running into a room where Jones, Randy, and Joel were having a meeting, with her holding up four completed applications.
"It took more than half a year before Patti found a base of applicants we had been mostly ignoring up to that point... kids and teenagers."
"No one's gotten four signees in a month," Randy remarked. "You just got four in one weekend! But how..."
"Let's just say... I stopped following the script."
At PTA headquarters, fortunes had changed as recruits started flowing into the organization like water.
"It turned out Patti had put her own spin on our advertising pitch. Instead of saying we were former Team Rocket agents rallying against them, she had just stated that we were providing a way to stand up against Team Rocket. She also began offering our organization's wealth of battle experience, something many young trainers look for when they needed help matching up against gym leaders and the Elite Four."
The former Rockets were seen training the recruits, not only to become better battlers, but to rise up against the evils of Team Rocket.
"Soon, 90 percent of our recruits were under the age of 18, and we had to start upping her standards. We also had to create a junior division, since very few of us had any experience in training other agents back in Team Rocket. In fact, other than Tiger, the only others were myself and Patti."
More youngsters are seen going through the recruitment process, and the selection of the top students was supervised among Joel and Patti, who saw many talents come their way...
"The two of us started off as co-leaders, but it became quickly obvious that my place was out on missions for the organization, helping the PTA make headway against Team Rocket, while hers was shaping the youngsters' minds. That, and many of the new members responded to her orders more than mine."
Including two of their best young agents, Arius and Cassie.
Present time...
"But naturally," Joel told the duo, "some people in organization believed that as we rose in popularity and numbers, the less true we were remaining to our mission statement. In fact, some were starting to believe that leaving Team Rocket was a mistake, and that they wanted to go back."
"But according to what you're telling us," Ash said, "Team Rocket would kill them for betraying them in the first place."
"And wouldn't your leader, Tiger, prevent such a movement?"
"Naturally, yes. But the thing is, he retired 15 months ago. He loved how the organization was growing, but his health was starting to fail on him... and he could no longer perform the day-to-day duties of his position. So he left us..."
Back to 15 months ago, as several former Rockets were seen visibly and audibly jousting for power following Tiger's resignation.
"There was a power struggle amongst three or four of our fellow agents to become the successor. After weeks of debate, it was determined that Lenny Yoma, who was Tiger's second-in-command back in Tiger's squadron on Team Rocket, would take over. But his adversaries weren't happy with that decision, especially since Lenny planned to keep the PTA's goals the same, despite the fact the organization had changed so much since its formation."
A small faction was seen scheming for a return to the ideals of Team Rocket in an off-the-books meeting, and leading them was one of those who had made a grab for power... Randy Vicardi.
"Randy, who had convinced me enough to want to leave Team Rocket, was among those in belief that we could change the PTA's model so that it could be run just like Team Rocket, but without having to resort to stealing others' Pok mon or dreaming of world domination."
Two months ago, as Team Rocket's plan began to fully roll out, dissent amongst the higher-ranked members of the Pok mon Trainers' Association began to grow.
"When it started to become apparent that our efforts to stop Team Rocket's grand plan were failing, more and more of our agents, even the new ones, were starting to see that adapting the Team Rocket model was needed for us to turn the tide before it was too late. But Larry refused to budge on the issue, even as the organization became almost evenly split because of it."
Days later, a small group of the dissenters were meeting, about to reveal a radical plan.
"Soon after, a movement began to attempt the get the organization to fold back into Team Rocket. They were fearful that the PTA was a sinking ship, and after the Elite Four and the gym leaders were all taken care of, Team Rocket was going to come after them."
Present again...
"It started gaining momentum last week," Joel told Ash and Misty, "when rumors started going around that the group had pitched an offer to Giovanni himself!"
"What did he say?" asked Ash.
"From what I've been hearing, he said he would allow anyone who wanted to come back to Team Rocket back in, with two stipulations. One, that they agree to be demoted back to recruit status, and to have to go through the organization's entire orientation process to prove their loyalty. And two, they could get a majority of all five of the PTA's higher-ups to sign off on the merger."
"So," Misty prompted, "who are the five?"
"President Lenny, most importantly of all, along with Randy, Jones, Patti... and me."
Ash and Misty looked at each other, already fearing the answer to the question they were about to ask.
"How many have agreed?"
"To my knowledge, only Jones as of yesterday. But Randy has been working with Jones for years. He may like Team Rocket's ideals, but not the way they run. Still... with each passing day, I suspect he will side with his friend, rather than his heart. The president will only agree if he has no choice. I, as you can see by being here, have already made my decision on that matter."
"By my count," Misty counted out, "it's split two to two."
"How about Patti, Cassie and Arius' old boss?" Ash asked him.
"The only who knows is her. As much as I'd like to influence her to be on my side, she's kept completely silent about the issue. Regardless for her reasons to be indecisive, I couldn't wait for her decision. It might've been too late by then..."
"So, I staged a breakaway of my own, and formed a splinter cell made up of about a dozen people. We're still dedicated to carrying out the PTA's mission to stop Team Rocket, even if all we have is our drive to see it through to the end."
Joel then pointed out to the people in the makeshift town before them.
"As you can see, we've been trying to help these refugees get out of the area, to places where they can be safe. Where they can try to rebuild their lives. My group is trying our best to help, but with no help from the PTA, we're fending for ourselves. Barring a miracle, at this time tomorrow, our supplies will run dry. If we don't get these people out of here by then, they will die down here... and so will me and my men."
Joel stopped when he saw Nurse Joy approaching them, with a small medical kit in hand. Ash and Misty turned around and saw that, instead of her traditional pink dress and apron, all she was wearing was a white T-shirt and some faded jeans.
"Yes, this is the Joy from Pewter," Joel clarified as she knelt down and put her kit down on the floor. "She gave up her dress so that the fabric could be used to help clothe the children."
Joy turned to look at Ash and Misty.
"I heard one of you has a Pokémon that needs medical attention?"
Misty solemnly nodded, then reached down to her belt to get the Pokéball her Horsea was in. As she did that, Joy opened her kit. But all that was in it was a small amount of bandaging gauze and a two-inch see-through bottle of sterilizing iodine, of which very little was left.
Misty pressed the button on the Pokéball to make it regular size, but then she saw Joy's supplies and stopped in her tracks. She looked over at the suffering villagers and their Pokémon and then back at the Pokéball. Ash grabbed her left arm and turned her towards him so he could look into her eyes. After a few seconds, he figured out what Misty was contemplating.
"It's okay, Misty... do it."
Misty nodded, then turned to Joel and Joy.
"I appreciate everything you've already done for us... but as much as Horsea's been through, I think you'd be better off saving that for someone who needs it more."
"But," Joy tried to object.
"I know I should be doing what's best for my Pokémon, but I can't do it here, in good conscience, especially with all of the sick people and Pokémon! I'm sure if I could call Horsea out, she'd agree with me. I'm... I'm sure she can hang on until we can find a Pokémon Center that can treat her without sacrificing the lives of others."
Misty then started to cry, and Ash quickly wrapped his arms around her, letting her sob into his shirt. Understanding her feelings, Joy put the gauze and the bottle of iodine back into the kit. Once down, she bowed her head to Joel and then walked off.
"You didn't have to do that," Joel said to Ash and Misty.
Misty, too distraught over the situation to speak, continued to cry as Ash asked Joel a question.
"There's one other thing we don't have to do..."
Ash turned to look at the villagers, and a smile formed on Joel's face, as he figured out what the young trainer was insinuating.
To be continued in Part 4!
