The clock struck seven P.M. as I approached the valley behind the Pokemon Center. The shadowy figure in purple cape was already waiting for me. To my surprise in this cape Koga looked smaller than earlier…
"Okay… What now?" I asked my mysterious friend. In reply, this mysterious friend handed over a small folded piece of paper.
"This place." The voice of Koga sounded really like his daughter`s. I began to suspect.
"What is there?" I questioned her.
"You`ll see." Was the answer. The sudden explosion of smoke bomb followed it and when the cloud dissolved, Janine was there no more.
I opened the paper and realized it is a map. The red cross marked one specific place somewhere on south-east from Saffron City. So, I guess, this is where Sabrina`s resistance forces are situated now. This is where I`m going to head now.
But I`m going to head there not alone.
"Hey, Ven, what`s up?" Bill immediately replied to my PokeDex call.
"The time`s up, Bill. Project 'Ven Force' has to begin." I strictly said to him.
"I got you. Where do we meet?"
I looked at the map again and focused on it. What place could be the closest to point of meeting with Sabrina and equidistant to me and Bill at the same time? I think I know this place.
"The lake on Route 6. You will notice a really big tree there, that`s where we meet."
"Roger that." He replied and disconnected.
I headed to the abandoned building site nearby where I parked my transport. And he immediately roared with joy when I approached him.
"Good job, Ramos!" I petted the rock head of Aerodactyl. "Are you ready to go?"
He nodded positively. What cool pokemon this Aerodactyl is…
"Great." I jumped on him and prepared myself to flight.
I suddenly remembered how awesome was the feeling when I was flying the Aerodactyl first time… I can`t wait for my Dumpling to learn flying too.
"Maybe you can give my Charizard a lesson or two…" I said to Ramos. "Let`s go!"
The massive fossil pokemon waved his wings and ascended high in the sky. The familiar feeling of amazement and adrenaline filled me, and this was so awesome. But for a short time I focused and looked around to find the direction of where to head.
"That way!" I pointed somewhere to the North-East to give Ramos the direction where he immediately charged almost throwing me down. I just luckily grabbed his spiky back and somehow managed not to fall.
But then he raised me up to the clouds. I immediately felt this indescribable feeling of the wind hitting your face, the sky spinning around you and atmosphere pressure exploding your head… But this was amazing. This. Is. Frigging. Amazing! I really wish my Dumpling to learn flying as soon as possible. Too bad after his… unlucky evolution right in the falling made him a little bit afraid of flying. I can`t tell exactly, but I have some suspicions about it. He acts strange on height… But as a Charizard he will overcome this. He just has to.
I was enjoying our flight as long as it continued. The land beneath us looked so cool in the night, and when we soon reached the Kanto bay, I made sure that water looks even cooler. In the light of the moon glares on the surface of water are so… hypnotizing.
"Damn, I`m into that shit again." I said to myself loudly. "No time to enjoy your life, Ven. Don`t forget that."
Ramos looked at me suspiciously when I was talking to myself and quietly snorted. Yeah, this prehistoric guy will learn a lot about modern world while working with someone crazy like me. Possibly.
But everything good comes to an end and just in a couple of hours, when I almost froze to death in the heights of night sky, we reached Vermillion City. Just a little bit more and I will be able to finally land and set a bonfire or just release Dumpling to warm near his tail.
We headed to the lake on Route 6 and my plans were crushed very quickly as Bill was already waiting for us together with Ramon near the marked tree and… smoking. All the time we were working on the device for Leaf I was telling him to stop this crap, but… he seemed to catch a stubbornness from Misty. Bad Misty.
"Well, finally!" He gladly said when me and Ramos landed. The Rock brothers exchanged a couple of greetings too. "The night isn`t as hot as the TV tells."
"You tell me." I jumped off Ramon and threw a small layer of frost from my shoulder. "After two hours of flying in the stratosphere…"
"Here, take this." He gave me a small flask with something warm inside. When I immediately tried that out, the strong smell of alcohol struck my mind.
"Damn… what`s that?" I loudly coughed a couple of times because that was too strong for me. Unfortunately, I`m not a professional alcoholic. "A boiled rum?"
"Whiskey." He replied after some gentle taps on my back. "A boiled whiskey. With my secret ingredient."
"If you… Ugh… If you tried to attract my interest with this – you failed badly." I honestly replied. "Can we go now?"
"Yeah, I think so." Bill said with a little offence in his tone. "Will we need these guys?"
I looked at the Aerodactyl duo near us. That`s one really good question, as we are going to meet the resistance forces… And we need to show that we are on their side. So any sharp move can be received as hostile. I`ve been in such situations, I know how to act.
"Let`s keep them on a safe distance from the camp." I took out the map from my pocket and showed it to Bill. "Somewhere here… So let your boys wait for us there. You have that magic whistle of yours, yes?"
"Of course! If something goes wrong – I will call them in a minute!"
"Great. We will have sixty chances to die until that moment. Anyway, we are ready." I took the paper away and fixed my cap. "Leave talking to me. Do a clever face and look useful."
"On your… parties… I always look like this."
"Even better, that means you have the experience! Let`s go."
And so we crossed the whole Route 6 and headed deeper into the forest. The time went over the midnight and the high moon was slightly enlightening our way through the woods. Sabrina actually hid her people pretty good – even with a map we can possibly lose them.
"Damn, I can`t see a shit here!" Bill swore loudly when a tree branch hit him in the face. "How do these… partisans live here?"
"Team Rocket forced them out of the city… They had to adapt. I heard Sabrina and her students are psychics… Maybe this helps them?"
"What, really? You didn`t mention it earlier…" Bill`s voice sounded really interested. "Can they read thoughts and move objects with their eyes?"
"I have no idea!" I replied. But his question made me worry a little… What if they can actually read thoughts? What if they will try to read mine? Well, they are free to try because my head for them is a minefield, ha!
"That would be cool to meet a psychic. I want to move objects with eyes too…" Suddenly my companion began to dream.
"Why would you need that?"
"What question is that?" He sounded a bit offended by that. "Just imagine… I work on my machine in one corner of my workshop… And the wrench is somewhere on the other. How do you think I`m gonna get it?"
"Use the… mechanical stretching hand you definitely have." I replied without thinking.
"Too bad, I do not have such." Bill disapprovingly looked at me. "I tried to make one… But it didn`t work. It`s harder than you think."
"Well, um… How about a teleporter pad?" I let my fantasy go wild. "You should have those. Or no, not teleporter pads… no, portals! Make a portal on the floor and another one near the tool box. Put your hand on one and take it out from another one on another side of your workshop!"
Bill gave me such judging look that I understood – this is too much even for him.
"You`re not serious, right?"
"No, I am not. This is where I`m serious…" I made a dramatic pause to prepare him for my latest and greatest idea. "Use… Your pokemon assistant to take that damn wrench!"
Bill opened his mouth wide in shock, confusion and misunderstanding. He really expected something else.
Our wild fantasies about modern technologies could continue, but they were interrupted by our sudden arrival to the point. I could immediately tell that by the sudden psychic explosion in my mind caused by someone`s Confusion attack. While I was recovering my senses, Bill was struck too and nearly fall on ground. I managed to catch him in the midair and move away from the road.
"Damn psychics…" I swore quietly.
"Psychos!" Bill agreed with me.
We quickly hid behind the large rock naively hoping this will help up from the mind attack.
"Stop that, morons!" I loudly shouted to the ones hiding somewhere behind the trees. "We came to help you!"
Sudden feeling of someone`s presence inside my head interrupted me. This is just so… annoying.
"Who are you?" The voice in my head asked. It`s hard to tell, but the voice seems to be male.
Well, you have some telepathic skills, I get it. Cool guy. But no one dares break into my head! You have your mouth – use it!
"Who. Are. You?!" He repeated again.
What a stubborn psychic… Well, I know how to deal with you, guys. Think about something… horrible… nasty, disgusting. One exact image from my past was perfectly fitting all of this… Damn… Even the memory of it makes me shiver. But the head intruder disappeared, good.
I gave my companion a careful sign to get out of our shelter and when we did so, two people were standing right before our stone – a man and woman. These two were wearing some strange clothes that suspiciously resembled the cultists I saw in Lavender town. Two pokemon were accompanying them – the one being Kadabra and the second was obvious evolution of Slowpoke, I don`t remember that name. Pretty scary evolution with something big, angry and toothy chewing on his tail… Nature may be really crazy sometimes.
"You are Vengeance." The man stated. His voice sounded like echo in my head, despite him being there no more.
"Yes, I am, and what the heck is this, a face control?" I began to scold these incompetent guards.
"You said to be alone." Woman strictly said to me.
"No, I wasn`t. I can take whoever I want. And THIS guy…" I nodded in direction of Bill. "Will return your city back to… well… the state it was before. Without Team Rocket."
They mistrustfully looked at both of us and then – at each other. Maybe they were discussing us telepathically. What strange people.
"Follow us." They turned away from us and headed deeper in the forest.
And they led us to their camp in complete silence. At least, it was silent around us – I bet they were still talking telepathically. But when we reached the place, it surprised us just to the extreme.
This large glade in the center of forest was completely… empty.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" I asked while trying to step on this glade but something really solid stopped me from doing this. Another invisible wall?
Our companions didn`t answer anything and just stretched their arms forward. Their pokemon did the same and eyes of all four of them began to glow. Invisible wall soon became pretty visible and… when it dissolved, the large settlement appeared before our eyes.
"An illusion…" Bill realized.
This place really looked like a refugee camp of some sort – a bunch of trailers parked on the glade formed a small metallic mobile village. People and their pokemon were working everywhere: repairing cars, packing things in cars, modifying cars to live in… Looks like it`s not just Sabrina`s students are here. All those who somehow managed to break through the police cordon and escape the Team Rocket are evacuated there. Not all of them look like battlers… Just civilians, unable to protect themselves and their home. Giovanni must have a really strong reason to capture the whole city.
Now I begin to understand… Sabrina and her gym is the city`s only line of defense from real threats like organized criminal groups. And when Giovanni got his control over the city and threw Sabrina out… The stream of people who do not appreciate his power just flows outside of that place. And psychic trainers have to protect them – there is no time for counterattack. This looks serious.
But is this really THAT bad? A real war action happening right in the center of region and no one notices it? I don`t surprise too much lately, but this… This is something really strange even compared to everything I`ve been through.
"There." The woman guardian pointed at the big red trailer truck parked in the center of settlement. Yep, this really looks like a command center… And some dirty swears are heard from there. Definitely a command center.
I looked at Bill that was amazedly staring at some sort of metallic tower near us. Two Alakazams were standing on the top of it and doing some manipulations in the air. I also noticed the same towers on other corners of glade and, I guess, all together they cast this massive illusion on camp. A real work of psychic power… Amazing.
"Let`s go. You will never understand how it works…" I pulled my companion away from this construction.
"But I can try!" He replied to me and followed me to the command center.
People around were distracting from their work and looking at us mistrustfully. I can`t blame them – in hard times like these you can`t waste trust on other people. But Bill was much more optimistic than I, so this was uneasy for him. He`ll learn, I`m sure of it.
And when we finally got inside together with a couple of another psychic guards convoying us, I saw the one who is called Sabrina. A tall stately woman in modest leather red suit and with long dark-grey hair. The red eyes mean she is not a person to mess with. Damn, she looks much harsher than other gym leaders, except for only Surge, and at the same time there is still femininity in her appearance. And also she looks even bitchier than Erika at the moment we first met. The mix of unmixable things… I like it.
She was standing near the table and shouting at master Koga that was sitting on the chair nearby and listening for her with closed eyes, like he doesn`t care.
"Absolutely not!" Her loud and strict voice reminded me of lieutenant Surge. In a skirt… Well, not in a skirt exactly.
"You will change your mind, Sabrina." Koga calmly replied to her. "You are in no condition to refuse."
I already understood what was the topic and thus coughed a couple of times to attract their attention.
"Ah, Vengeance!" Master Koga spread his hands in greeting. "Here you are!"
He got up from his chair and approached us under the strict stare from Sabrina. When gym leader came to me, I bowed and shook his hand.
"Master Koga… Looks like I came to the right place." I greeted him.
"Yes. And this… This is Sabrina." He roughly pointed at her.
"Oh, my lady…" I smiled widely and even took my cap off. "Nice to meet you." For some reason I just couldn`t take my eyes off her breasts… Why, my eyes? It`s not that big… I guess, the character contrast attracts just by the fact.
After some seconds of complete silence Sabrina crossed hands on chest, letting me finally look at her eyes, and made a step forward.
"Why did you bring this clown here?" She asked.
"Hey, don`t hurt Bill, he is an inventor…" I tried to protect my companion but Sabrina interrupted me.
"I`m not talking to you!" She shouted and switched her look to Koga.
He didn`t reply in some seconds and then I realized she was talking about me. Ouch…
"Vengeance is one remarkable trainer…" Master Koga calmly explainer her. "You would like to see how he battles. The style! The taste! The inventiveness! And what`s the most important – pure hatred to Team Rocket!"
This interested Sabrina a bit more. She approached me and inspected me from top to bottom, like evaluating. That was a thing I didn`t like.
"What do you need?" She roughly asked me.
"Me? Ha!" I walked away from her staring in her strict red eyes. "I want… myself. I want Vengeance. Because Team Rocket took something that doesn`t belong to them. And to get it back I`m ready to tear the whole world apart, my dear. That`s what I want!"
She didn`t look impressed, much more… pissed off. This a really hard woman to interact. Her students must have like her.
"We don`t need you." Sabrina said while facing Koga. "We will destroy Team Rocket without you."
"Really, my dear? You have been telling this for six month already." Ninja master answered her. "Why didn`t you do this earlier? The all-mighty Sabrina?"
This man talks incorrectly. Personal feelings will not help there.
"Because you just can`t." I answered to Sabrina instead of Sabrina. "Because gym leader is the only person in the city that has at least some power. Damn Leading Pact broke our system – you see? That`s why you have the responsibility over all those guys. That`s why you just can`t make a choice between protecting people from dangerous wild nature there… or go and return your city."
She was really angered by my words but she knew it`s truth. This is a thing that can be easily seen by an unarmed eye.
"Look, baby, you need a man that has experience. Someone who knows Team Rocket from inside… Well… Without being the part of it." I walked past her and slowly approached her table where the letter was lying. "You need a view from the outside… to invent a strategy and create a plan… I am the perfect man for this."
"And I can provide some forces to destroy Team Rocket once and for all." Koga joined me in this.
We attacked Sabrina from multiple sides at once. At the correct amount of pressure she will break and… why are entreating her at all, again?
"Ah, let`s go, master Koga." I playfully waved at Sabrina and turned away. "We will go and take on Team Rocket by ourselves. With or without you."
The ninja master realized my idea and played along with me.
"Yeah. We can handle it. Let`s free Saffron City from Team Rocket and capture the free gym there. It`s previous owner doesn`t need it now anyway. I think you will be a great gym leader, Vengeance."
"Great idea, master Koga! I will make that gym… Dark-type! Although I have no dark-type pokemon on me… And I`m not going to catch any more, because I don`t like them…"
"YOU TWO, STOP IT!" Sabrina furiously shouted at us. "Idiots… This is… This is much more serious than you can imagine!"
"Really? I don`t think so." I replied her. "A group of bandits came to the city and literally shrouded all of you… And kicked out those who were not pleased with this. Usually mafia does this to small shops or casinos… But taking the whole city? You guys screwed up badly to allow this."
I noticed how some other psychic trainers come to our room to listen or, maybe, threw us out when Sabrina will tell them. Maybe I should not be that persistent… Sabrina is already almost as red as her suit is.
"But there is more." Koga seriously added. "My scouts saw how a Team Rocket member and cop on the blockade were talking…"
"How did he defined that is a Team Rocket member?"
"By the uniform! They don`t even hide in Saffron City, this is so obvious." Ninja master explained to me. This is becoming much more interesting…
"Perfect!" I clicked my fingers and then pointed at Bill, then – at Sabrina, later – at master Koga and then at everyone at the same time. "This proves my theory! And you`re not gonna like it."
I quickly headed to the window on the opposite side of trailer and looked at it. Trees let me see absolutely nothing but I was sure city is that way.
"This is the secret of that police cordon… They are there not to stop Team Rocket from escaping from inside… They are there to stop anyone coming from outside!"
My statement was really obvious I was surprised how surprised everyone else were, especially Sabrina. She looks like a smart woman, even more – she is a psychic! It`s strange she didn`t thought about it earlier. And right now the sudden enlightenment made her even angrier than before, but the target were not us.
"You see, Sabrina?" I addressed her carefully and calmly. "Everything is even more serious than YOU thought. Giovanni is doing something in Saffron City. He NEEDS Saffron City for something. What is your city famous for?"
She lowered her eyesight to the floor and thought. After some seconds she quietly pronounced the answer.
"Silph Co…"
"Silph Co, exactly!" I agreed with her. "This is a large technological laboratory, yeah? And this is almost the only workplace for citizens. So whatever is happening in Silph Co, means a lot for the whole city. I know that because Team Rocket had a lab or their own in Celadon City. And now Giovanni blocked the whole Saffron because he needs what is in Silph Co."
I gave her some more seconds to pull her thoughts together while I return back to her and bend to her level.
"What is in Silph Co?" I seriously asked her.
"I don`t know…" She replied.
I hoped for more. But this is not surprising at all. Silph Co is famous for many interesting technological stuff for casual life, pokemon training tools and all that, but there is also something much bigger in Silph Co. I`m sure this is the reason Giovanni and his men captured the whole city. I bet they also have a recruiting program there. The horror comes to my mind when I imagine how many people of Saffron City they turned into Team Rocket…
"This is why we need you, Sabrina." I made a step away from her. "I want the vengeance… You want it too. You know this city, you can lead me to Silph Co and keep Rockets away from it for some time. I will handle the rest."
"Ugh…" She just said.
Her extreme pride couldn`t just let her agree. She is just like me, and that`s… not good.
"Yes." Leader Sabrina finally decided. "We will destroy Team Rocket and kick them out of my city!"
"That`s the spirit!" Koga cheered her.
"And I allow you to help us just to kick your poisonous ass again!" She suddenly pointed at ninja master almost poking him into his nose.
"We`ll see whose ass will be kicked this time!" He replied with a grin and moved back. "I will bring my crew to set up a camp of our own nearby."
"And YOU…" Suddenly leader Sabrina addressed me very loudly. "Tell me your plan."
"It`s about time, baby!" I gladly rubbed my hands and headed to the table. "I need a map of Saffron City, the bigger – the better. One-to-one scale would be perfect." I pointed at one of Sabrina`s students mistrustfully looking at me. He didn`t hurry to execute my order, but they will get used to it. "Koga, the scouting is on you. Collect all data on our foe – their numbers, their positions, their influence on citizens. I also need the list of all people that have battling pokemon or can fight by themselves. Oh yeah, and you, psychic one, bring me also the local newspapers for the last six month and a big cup of coffee with milk!"
Sabrina displeased crossed her hands on chest staring at me. Looks like I said something wrong… Did I?
"Oh, yes… Sorry, my bad." I apologized for such impudence. "No need for milk in my coffee. Bill, let`s go outside, we need to talk."
I grabbed my pal Bill and together we came out of the building and headed a bit away from the camp. Like always, I`m going to store the whole plan in my head, and Bill is a vital part of it.
He suddenly looked like under a hypnosis of some sort. Maybe that`s why he was silent all the time… Or just because I asked him. It doesn`t matter not. What did these damn psychics do to him?
"Hey, Bill, wake up!" I gently shook him to bring him back to senses.
"Wha… what? Ow…" He slowly recovered and realized where we are.
"What the heck was that?"
"I was lost in thought for a bit…" Bill shook his head and stared at me.
"What so important made you think so… deeply?"
"It`s nothing, I just…" He modestly replied. "I just feel sorry for Sabrina. Really."
"Yeah, I feel sorry for her too. It`s hard to communicate with people when you have such character… She can finish just like me. Badly."
"Sabrina is not like you! But…" Some obviously nasty thought suddenly made him smile. "But someone like you could get along with her."
"I don`t like the direction you`re thinking in… But you do have the point. Fixing people is also my specialty. One night with me – and her life will change forever!" I proudly said to him with determination.
"Seriously? No. She is not Misty, you know…" He answered with mistrust.
"You want to say Sabrina is not my level?"
"Far beyond that." Bill leaned on a tree and crossed his hands on chest.
"Sound like you`re challenging me."
"What if I am?"
I already forgot what I wanted to talk about earlier. Bill`s words sounded a bit… hurtful for me. Just a bit, but hurtful. But partly he was right, the first thing I thought when met Sabrina – can I conquer her? I have no need to, but can I? That sounds like I`m challenging myself already. This never happened before.
"Let`s move this away for now… We have a job to do. We have a city to save, Team Rocket`s ass to kick… How about… right after I challenge and win the gym of Saffron City?"
"I will be there to watch over you!" Bill strictly pointed at me.
"Hey! A challenge or not, I will have a date with Sabrina WITHOUT you! And especially what will come next… You know."
"I got it. You got it. Deal?" He gave me his hand.
We shook hands and each of us grinned evilly. I even felt even more sorry for Sabrina after this but we had much more important thing to discuss.
"And now let`s return to the dark reality… How is that laser-gravity thing of yours?" I asked him.
"The gravity beam? It`s almost finished…" Bill began to talk quietly while looking around.
"How much time do you need to finish it?"
"I didn`t test it at all. And I have no energy source safe enough…Maybe, a week or so."
"Okay, cool. How much time you need to finish it and transport it to the gates of Saffron City?"
"What?" He surprisingly asked. "Well, the travel itself can take also nearly a day. Maybe, a bit more. I can try my pokemon to carry it on place too – it`s not much heavier than trading machine was. But you need to keep it secret, aren`t you?"
"Yes, is that a problem?"
"Then I will need also to find the way to detach the cannon from my car, transport it dividedly, then attach it on place… I need to design and create a special crate for it – this thing is really fragile…"
"Yeah, yeah, I got that, it will be not easy. How long?"
"…nearly a month."
I expected a bit less. Well, we can work with that.
"A month… So, we have a month to make all preparations." I gave Bill my trustful look and put my hand on his shoulder. "I need to do lots of things. Seems like my journey as a trainer for a month stops here … I hope it doesn`t not end here."
"Wait a second!" Bill broke the touching moment. "What`s your plan exactly? You use ninjas and psychics to clear path to Silph Co building and then what? Assault it just by yourself? Are you really going to do this all alone?"
"Ha! Who do you think I am, an idiot? Or – what is worse – a hero? No, I have some good guys lending me their firepower for this!"
I proudly looked up in a heroic pose. If my life was a movie, all other gym leaders would immediately appear behind me, strike pathos poses too and impress Bill even more… But they didn`t. We were alone there.
"I`m going to call all gym leaders." I explained and suddenly noticed the worried look on Bill`s face. "And don`t worry, Misty will be behind all this. She will be in the safest place on a battlefield."
"Sometimes you scary me, Ven." Bill admitted. "This is a dangerous thing you`re organizing."
"And the cost is too high." I closed my eyes and nodded. "It means a lot for me, for them… It will mean a lot for the whole Kanto, and so for you too if we fail. I have a bad feeling about this. And I have to trust my bad feelings."
"That means all of us have a lot of work to do."
"You can`t even imagine, Bill. You can`t even imagine…"