"Where's an Abra when you need one…" Misty muttered under her breath.

Psyduck crawled beside her on the cold ground.

"You don't happen to know how to dig, do you?"

"Nope."

"Of course."

A projectile grazed Misty's hair—it was a bullet seed from an enemy Victreebel. There was no way out; she was stuck in a mess of paws and fins and wings and boots. Psyduck had disappeared. Had he been hit by an attack? Misty searched the chaos and found a flash of yellow. An injured Sandshrew. A quick apology, and then, off in the distance, a familiar head tilt. Psyduck found a way out.

Misty dragged herself forward with her arms, keeping herself as close to the dirt as possible as she got closer and closer to Psyduck. A Rattata had stepped on her—over her—digging its claws into her back. Gritting her teeth, she progressed past the front lines of the battle.

Psyduck waved his arms then pointed towards a trail in the woods. He started waddling in that direction.

"Just a sec." Misty leaned against a tree, struggling to catch her breath, which fogged in the cold. "You're sure it's clear?"

"Yep." The yellow duck continued walking on the trail and swished his tail feathers in response.

The bare trees hid them well. Rock Tunnel came into view, and Misty stepped back. She whispered, "Is there anyone in there?"

"Nope."

"Guess I'll have to take your word for it."

Sure enough, it was deserted, and their footsteps echoed throughout the space. Ears ringing in the silence of the main cavern, Misty searched frantically for the dog-eared booklet. She uprooted the communications equipment, each metallic clang reverberating. Notebooks thrown.

Buried under papers, walkie-talkies, and ringed with coffee stains, the manual peeked out from under a manila folder. Misty grabbed it and quickly flipped through its pages, finding the glossary of codes that could be used on Officers Jenny and Nurses Joy.

"'Code miracleberry.' A reset. That's the one we want."

Psyduck watched as Misty shoved aside the mess of walkie-talkies to grab a red and white megaphone. She poked her head out of the communications nook, and she stepped on something that crunched. Lifting up her shoe and inspecting it, she looked to the ground to find a letter—one of Gary's letters. Ash must have dropped it. Misty walked around it and jogged to catch up to Psyduck, who was already walking out of Rock Tunnel.

/

Venusaur had to admit the Ditto were pretty good. They didn't talk, but Venusaur was a quiet type himself and didn't mind the silence. He was flanked by five Ditto, identical copies of himself, though he couldn't see them in the dark.

"Guys, we want to stay deep until we're sure we're under the tanks."

Underneath twenty feet of earth, the only reminders of battle were an occasional rumble which would shake clumps of dirt loose from Venusaur's path. The tunnels they were creating were narrow, hugging their bodies. Venusaur would occasionally clear his throat to remind himself that he wasn't suffocating.

"Did you hear that?"

The Ditto did not say a word, but Venusaur could hear them scraping transformed claws against rocks beside him.

"Sounded like a hyper beam."

The dark world Venusaur found himself in began humming. The effect made his feet feel numb, and the vibrations grew as they dug forward.

"Must be the tank engines. We're close. Start to dig upwards."

They did, and the humming grew louder. Venusaur heard one Ditto scratch metal. He kept digging, breaking through the surface and hitting a sheet of metal as well. Ducking back down, he worked his way outward from the tank to create a pit that it would fall into.

Venusaur rubbed the sweat off his brow and winced at how little progress he had made over an hour. This would take time.

/

They landed on the windshield. Jessie made eye contact with the pilot, who plunged at the controls, tipping the helicopter forward. James reached for Jessie's hand as she started sliding across the glass. And then there was a thump.

"Hi!"

"Wobbuffet? How—"

"I grabbed on!"

Jessie yelled over the roaring propeller. "We've got to get into the cabin!"

James attempted to kick in a side window. "They're shatterproof!"

Without flinching, Wobbuffet easily punched in the window, sliding inside the cabin and pulling Jessie and James in with him.

"What the hell are you two doing?!" Giovanni screamed in anger.

"What do you think we're doing?" Jessie pinned him against the seat, her forearm blocking him from moving forward. "We're taking you down."

James fought the pilot for the controls. The helicopter accelerated downwards in a spiral. The pilot edged James in the shoulder, and James caught a glimpse of his face.

"Mondo?"

The pilot paused for a moment. "James?" Recognition washed over his face. "Look at you! You look so different without the uniform!" Mondo took control of the helicopter again, leveling the aircraft from its descent. "How have you been? We all figured you'd been iced by now."

"Oh, well, you know we've been trying to take down Team Rocket from the outside, trying to save all Pokemon, stuff like that." James crossed his legs and leaned back. "And look at yourself! A pilot! For the boss!"

"Yeah, the pay's pretty decent."

"Mondo!" Giovanni bellowed. "Stop chitchatting with the enemy, or you're dead!"

Jessie rolled her eyes. "James…"

"Oh right." James cleared his throat. "So, Mondo. We're just trying to stop the infinity energy program."

"The what-now?"

"We'll tell you more at a…more convenient…time, but, uh, just know it kills Pokemon, and Team Rocket's involved. As is our 'Earth Leader.'"

"Boss, is that true?"

"Mondo! You're fired!"

"Look at that. Guess I'm free to help you guys now." Mondo looked behind his shoulder and grinned at Giovanni, giving his former boss a thumbs-up. "Let's land this thing."

"What! I'll have you—"

Jessie moved her forearm closer to her former superior's throat. "Put a cork in it, boss."

"No." Giovanni freed one of his arms and pressed a pistol against Jessie's neck. "The helicopter lands, or she dies."

"James—"

"Wobbuffet!"

"On it."

Wobbuffet, in a single motion, twisted and took Jessie's place. His blue skin gleamed with a pink reflection.

"Mirror coat. Shoot, and you die."

Giovanni returned the pistol into his coat's pocket. "Hmm. Well played." He took a deep breath and puffed out his chest. "What do you want?"

Jessie spoke deliberately. "We want to end the infinity energy program. And: we want you to resign. Forever."

"That won't happen."

Mondo piped up as he brought the helicopter to a lower altitude. "You're not in a position to negotiate, boss."

"This is how it will work—if you don't want to get roughed up." Jessie counted on her fingers. "One, you will take us to your office at HQ. Two, you will notify the government of your resignation in our presence. And three, you will end Team Rocket."

Giovanni's shoulders slumped. "Take us to HQ, Mondo."

/

Meowth was itching to get out of the Ketchum house—a cluttered, primary-colored hell—but too dizzy to do anything but sit upright.

Mr. Mime was fussing over him again. The guy was creepy. He would watch Meowth as he slept, waving those strange hands in the air as he announced himself.

"Mr. Mime."

"I know who you are."

"Mr. Mime."

"Cut it out." Meowth called out, "Delia!"

"Yes?" She entered the room. "What's the matter, Meowth?"

"Someting is seriously wrong wit your Mr. Mime."

"Mr. Mime."

"What could be wrong with Mimey? He's wonderful."

"He's…he's an idiot."

"Meowth!"

"Look Delia, it's hard ta hear, but all he says is his—"

"Mr. Mime."

"—his name."

"Oh no!" Delia rushed over to Meowth's bedside and placed a hand on his forehead. "You've…you've lost the ability to speak to Pokemon!"

"No I haven't, Delia."

She shook her head and frowned. "Denial will make it so much harder."

"Delia. I can hear da Pidgey and Spearow talking outside in da trees. Your Mr. Mime…is just…" He trailed off, realizing that this was going to be a losing battle.

"Did you want anything?" Her voice was colder.

Meowth paused, taken aback. "I'd like ta be alone for a while."

"Sure. Come on, Mimey."

"Mister Mime."

Delia shut the door behind her.

Meowth slumped back down and turned on his side. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep but gave up after a few minutes. The gnawing soreness that had been present ever since he woke up tugged at his mind. He distracted himself by reading the titles of the books that lined Ash's bookshelf.

Pokemon and You. A Guide to Type Strengths and Weaknesses. Secrets of the Pokemon League.

He wondered if a Pokemon had ever written a book. Probably not; he was, it seemed, the only Pokemon that knew how to read. And even, then, he could never hold a pen well enough in his paws to draw out the human letters and characters. He had paws, not hands.

Picking up a ballpoint pen left on the nightstand, Meowth clumsily clicked it open and closed. He set the pen down and stared at his right paw. He extended a single claw, then retracted it. He blinked.

"Delia? Can ya hear me?"

"What?" Delia opened the door and poked her head into the room.

"You got paper? Blank paper."

"You are a very strange cat."

"Please."

"Yeah, hold on." Delia left for a minute and returned with a stack of white paper. "Here…no idea why you'd need this, though."

"T'ank you."

"Let me know if you need anything else…" She left, shaking her head.

Meowth picked up the ballpoint pen again and opened it with his teeth. He slid out the plastic tube containing blue ink.

"Bingo."

Extending one claw, he dipped it into the ink and began to scratch out simple marks on the paper. A new alphabet.

/

The door was opened by a graying man in a blue polo shirt.

"Who's knocking at this hour?" Professor Oak sat at a kitchen table.

"It's—" Bill stumbled over his words.

Ash stepped around him, Pikachu on his shoulder.

Her cheeks sparked. "Where is it?"

Bill looked to Oak, who shook his head. "I don't know what it's saying."

"Where is it." Ash repeated her words.

"Where is what, Ash?" Oak stood up.

"Just tell us."

Bill turned to Oak. "I bet they're after the server cluster. It's the only valuable thing here."

Pikachu spoke into Ash's ear: "That's what Mewtwo must have been talking about."

Ash crossed his arms over his chest. "We don't want to hurt anybody. We just want to stop the program."

"Come in. Let's talk about it," Bill sighed.

As Ash and Pikachu entered, Oak sat back down at the kitchen table, propping his head up on his hands. "You're making a terrible mistake."

Bill looked at Ash, then Pikachu. "Do you know what will happen if there's no infinity energy?"

"No more Pokemon will be used for it."

"Our civilization will collapse. We're so dependent on technology, that—"

Oak finished Bill's sentence. "—It's the only thing keeping our world together." His voice rose slightly. "You saw how once you interrupted the supply of infinity energy, Giovanni became Prime Minister—and cracked down hard. Curfews. Propaganda. There was a need for control. The old Prime Minister was too soft, and Giovanni, well…"

"He did what Giovanni does best." Bill drummed his fingers against the table. "It's not right, but as long as there isn't another war…"

"The war was caused by the energy crisis. When resources were scarce…" Oak tilted his head. "…Humans did the best we could with what we had."

"That was the humans' problem. It had nothing to do with Pokemon." Pikachu nodded. "And now there's a new war going on right now because of infinity energy. Or does that not count, since the casualties are Pokemon and clones?"

"As the world's foremost computer scientist, I have to warn you that ending the program will have consequences." Bill gave a sideways glance towards the door. "I can't stop you, but—please—don't do this."

"Ash, Pikachu—" Oak held out his hands.

Pikachu hopped off of Ash's shoulder as he stood up. They left the cottage without saying anything.

"They don't need to tell us where the servers are. There's so much power now…it's like a trail."