55: Team Rocket vs. The Gym Leader Conference
"There he is!"
Though he was on his way to his latest speech and exhibition battle, Ritchie turned at the sound of the voice. Of course, he had now won the pokemon league twice before battling as a recognizable elite and officially being given the title of champion. Even if the former champion Lance did most of the real work, Ritchie had been given a lot of attention for rising up the ranks so quickly, and was used to being recognized. But this voice was familiar in a way that calmed him. Sure enough, it was Ash and Misty approaching him. They really looked different than before. Misty had her hair down, a different hairstyle than when she'd been traveling with Ash, but Ash's appearance in particular was striking. He now was taller than Misty, previously having been noticeably shorter, and towered over Ritchie as well. "Hey, Ritchie!" Ash greeted as they caught up. The other boy's voice had started to change as well. Ash really looked tougher, in general like a very put-together trainer.
"Hi Ash, hi Misty," Ritchie greeted.
"We're here to get a chance to learn from the champion!" Misty declared, playfully nudging Ritchie's shoulder.
"Misty told me about it," Ash said. "I've been busy training, but I decided to come. I think it's really cool that you're champion, but I want to be champion too one day."
"Of course you do," Ritchie said. "I'll defend the title, but I expect to be challenged by you before long. Will you give it your best?"
"Of course!" Ash declared.
Ritchie was surprised by the intensity of his friend's voice. Though Ash was generally boisterous before, Ritchie still wasn't used to the voice change. He smiled and nodded. "Well, as far as today goes, I dunno if I can help you, but I'd be glad to try. Of course, I've learned a lot from other trainers I've met here. It's not just one sided."
"But you're champion now," Misty said with a wink.
"Yeah," Ritchie said. There was no point in downplaying that. "So Ash is training for the next league... What about you, Misty?"
"I'm still a gym leader. I really like it now, actually," she informed, running a hand through her hair.
"You're also good at it, right?" Ritchie said. Talking about someone else's skills for once was a welcome change.
"I keep my win ratio pretty high," Misty bragged. "And do you know what? The semester meetings are so fun now, with Blaine of Cinnabar Gym as our chairman! I love going to them!"
Ritchie had heard some talk about the replacement. "How does your former chairman like it?"
"Hehe." Misty grinned widely. "You're talking about Giovanni and everything to do with Team Rocket, right?"
"Um, yeah." Ritchie couldn't help but look around the hall as he spoke. The doors were closed, everyone outside appearing caught in their own interactions, no one close enough to listen to the details of their conversation.
"He looked really mad the last time he was there. I also don't think he was happy when they said maybe his gym should get some guided supervision. And then the next time," Misty drawled dramatically. "He wasn't even at the gym when the other gym leaders showed up to see him. He didn't send the semester logs with his wins or losses either."
"That's really bad for a gym leader, isn't it?" Ritchie asked.
"It is!" Misty confirmed, eyes going wide. "At the semester meeting a few weeks ago, we sent him notice that Viridian Gym, at least his Viridian Gym will lose its status if he doesn't do the list of required things. Since he doesn't turn in the paperwork, he hasn't gotten his gym leader salary, either. I'd say we're totally purged of Team Rocket influence. Hehe." Misty couldn't appear more pleased as she shared the details.
"That's great," Ritchie said with an honest smile.
"They realized they couldn't keep getting away with being so bad," Ash said.
"Right, I haven't heard of Team Rocket stealing any pokemon recently either, or even trying to," Ritchie said. "I did see some of them last time I was near Viridian though."
"I don't really care what they do as long as they avoid that," Misty said. "They can do their science experiments or whatever, who cares? Blaine says maybe that's not good either, since Team Rocket's scientists don't care so much about ethics, but maybe it's not a real problem. Ash is right, they realized they couldn't get away with breaking the law and hurting people anymore."
"I'm glad you all took care of that," Ritchie said.
"Yeah! And the meetings are so fun now," Misty gushed. "Either of you could come along next time if you want. There's guests all the time, even people who don't work in the gym now. So I know they wouldn't mind seeing you there, especially the champion."
"I wanna go!" Ash declared.
"Come on, then," Misty invited.
"Yeah, I'll definitely go next time. I'll have a rematch against everyone I battled before, maybe." Ash grinned as he spoke.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu agreed with excitement.
"We have been battling just to battle," Misty informed. "I stayed the rest of the day after the meeting was officially done... It was really, really fun!"
"Well, I'll see if I have time," Ritchie said. It did sound fun, but he had a full schedule at the moment, and said meeting, even though it was months from then, may not fit into it.
"Yeah! Well, let's go get a seat," Misty waved before goading Ash into the room.
Ritchie went to take his own place in the room, feeling relieved. So, Misty had seemingly kept her promise, seeing the problem solved with her fellow gym leaders without any need for fighting. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't recall seeing anyone in a Team Rocket uniform in the audience of the most recent league at all. It seemed Kanto's, or rather, the whole pokemon world's Team Rocket problem was done and over. Apprehension about if this was really true along with bad feelings from various encounters with the group still lingered, but Ritchie tried to brush them off as he got ready to speak for the gathering of trainers that was eager to learn from him.
"Good morning!" Erika's cheerful greeting was in stark contrast to Sabrina's deadpan response as she entered the psychic institute just as the sun started to rise. Despite Sabrina's reaction, Erika remained cheerful, undeterred by what was now a familiar reaction. "May I have the keys for the documents?" the visiting gym leader asked.
"Right, let's set up," Sabrina said, nodding to the robed group in the hall. She took out two sets of keys, first unlocking the records room, giving Erika access and the keys to the cabinets. As the recently elected secretary went to retrieve the notes and other records for the day's meeting, Sabrina unlocked the conference room, allowing the students that had volunteered to help her do the work of getting everything ready.
It was very early, both for the meeting and the day in general, but last time, everyone had started arriving well before the designated time, so it could be assumed on this third meeting in Saffron Gym they may arrive even before then. They seemed to see it as a sort of festival. Sabrina put her hand to her forehead as she thought of how draining the upcoming day would be.
Erika wandered over after getting all of the documents set up. "Thank you very much for hosting us again!" she said, tilting her head down to better meet Sabrina's eyes.
"It's better than otherwise," Sabrina said, folding her arms. The other woman had already thanked her profusely on several occasions.
"I know you've gone to so much trouble, I really want you to know you're appreciated," Erika said.
"I know," Sabrina said. Erika's words weren't just words, the emotions the grass type gym leader emanated reflected their sincerity. "I'm just happy I don't have to do the real work, like you and Blaine. Especially you, in setting all of this up. Maybe I should be the one saying thank you."
"You're welcome!" Erika beamed at Sabrina's recognition.
"Hmph." Sabrina smirked as she recognized Erika's joy at their connection, the success of their mutual endeavor. This woman really was the one that could convince the psychic type gym leader to bother with any of this, though the obnoxious water type gym leader from Cerulean had planted the seed. How nice it would be to join in Erika's cheery outlook, but there was a damper on the situation. Sabrina folded her arms again, hunching forward.
"Sabrina, dear," Erika spoke in a concerned tone, gently touching Sabrina's shoulder. "Are you not feeling well today?"
Sabrina sat up, breathing in deeply. Erika seemed the true 'empath', noting the signs of discontent, and unlike Sabrina herself, was able to respond appropriately. Though she hadn't planned to say anything, the host decided to speak up, at least to this person. "I have a foreboding premonition of the current meeting today. It's strong, unlike for the past meetings."
"Oh, that's right." Erika pulled a chair over, sitting down next to Sabrina. "You're not just a psychic type trainer, you're a true psychic, aren't you?" Sabrina neither confirmed nor denied that, only shrugged. "Do tell, what it is you're predicting. What will happen today?" Erika inquired.
"If I could know specifics so easily, my life would be easier," Sabrina snapped.
"Well, just tell me what's giving you a bad feeling. I'll hear it," Erika assured.
Sabrina paused before she did so. "It's just a general energy of animosity, perhaps some malice. It's very poignant, so I think there's a planned action associated with these feelings. I could blame the one that was absent last time, but the intensity seems like more than one person." She scowled. "I do think he's going to try something today."
"Oh, yes, I was also predicting that!" Erika agreed cheerfully. "Not from a premonition, but just knowing that we'll be stripping Giovanni of his status as a gym leader if he didn't show up. So, it stands to reason he might... Though it's not for sure. Perhaps he doesn't see a benefit. Then we'll be done with that business, won't we?"
"I don't know," Sabrina said blankly.
"It's fine," Erika chirped. "We'll all be here with some powerful trainers as guests besides. The two of us aren't the only ones expecting something. If anything happens, we'll be able to handle it."
"Perhaps." That was all Sabrina felt like saying. She couldn't really tell what the future would be, after all. She just noted collections of malicious energy, and other bad signs, then avoided it as much as possible. Except now, here she was inviting it all into her psychic institute that doubled as a gym. Maybe Erika was right, and they could all handle whatever was thrown their way. Canceling the event and withdrawing her gym as location might be best, but Sabrina had started to really think of herself as part of the community of gym leaders. She didn't want to let Erika or the others down. Though possibly unwise, everything would continue as planned.
"Hey!"
"Pikachu!" Ash and Pikachu together greeted various familiar faces throughout the conference room as he entered with Misty.
"You made it!" Blaine in particular stopped the group for a long conversation, quizzing Ash on various aspects of the gym experience, most of which he didn't know the answer to, before eventually becoming distracted by other guests.
"Hey, the baby's growing up!" Lt. Surge commented, grinning and winking at Ash as he did. "This little guy looks the same, though," Surge said, nodding at Pikachu on the ground. "Like other pokemon, you can get more powerful even without evolving, huh? Maybe you feel like taking on my raichu again today?"
"Pikachu..." Pikachu called to the tall man in anticipation. It wondered if it really could beat Raichu again. Maybe, maybe not, but it would definitely try its best.
"That would be fun! I've got other challenges already though," Ash said.
"Same here. We'll see after everything's over, huh?" Surge said. "If not today, maybe next time? There's a lot of people here today, eh? I think everyone except that Viridian guy, all here already."
Misty turned around, noting Flint and one of his younger children there. Brock had already said he wouldn't make it the last time she'd talked to him. But there was also... "I don't see Aya or Koga," she said.
"I see them." Surge nodded at a strange warping of the wallpaper nearby the door where they'd concealed themselves. "Those two are here already. It's fun to let them make an entrance."
"Oh... I was hoping to talk to them though," Misty said. She laughed, instead ignoring the hiding ninja, then talking to others that had arrived. Eventually, Blaine called for them to get to order and begin. Sabrina announced she'd be back and to start without her, stepping out as the crowd settled. The attendance was so good that there hardly seemed to be enough seats, but they eventually found some, Misty near the front and Ash in back.
As Blaine did attendance, neither Koga nor Aya answered. Had that not been them after all? Either way, no one tried to locate them, instead continuing with the meeting. Only representatives from Fuchsia and Viridian were absent, the rest of the gyms having at least one person involved attending, though plenty had introduced others during the attendance process, including Misty introducing Ash, who hadn't attended before.
As they finished, Blaine dramatically sighed. "Before we get to the win ratios... It brings me no joy to inform that the issue we talked about last time is still unresolved. Viridian Gym hasn't submitted its required records for another semester in a row. All attempts at contacting the Viridian Gym leader, including showing up in person to his gym, have been unsuccessful. Therefore, as far as Viridian Gym's status goes, I have no choice but to-"
"Are you speaking of my gym?"
The attendants all turned to the door that Blaine could see from the podium. He hooted aloud. "It's Giovanni! Here in person! We've missed you, my boy," the chairman said.
"I'm here as requested," Giovanni said.
"How wonderful!" Blaine exclaimed with exuberance. "I know I'm not the only one glad to see you. But I'm afraid you can't participate. You haven't completed the required measures after being placed on a probationary status. We don't even have your regular battle records."
"I've accepted no challengers since the last time I provided records," Giovanni informed.
"So you went on a hiatus?" Blaine inquired.
Erika looked up from her notes. "That's allowed, of course, but requires official notice as well," she informed. "Of course, as the former chairman, I'm sure you knew that," Erika added happily.
"Yes, this situation is unprecedented." Blaine scratched his chin. "I suppose we'll have to have a group discussion on what to do."
"Finish your other business, then I'll discuss it," Giovanni said.
"Yes, maybe that would be best. Have a seat then," Blaine offered.
As Blaine went on about the win ratios, Giovanni scanned the crowded area. It seemed no free seats remained. "Hey, over here!" an adolescent boy in a hat near the back called him over, taking a pikachu off of a chair and putting it onto his lap. Giovanni went and sat. Instead of being quiet and listening, the boy started to talk to him. "Are you all done with Team Rocket now?" he asked.
"Who are you?" Giovanni countered. The kid looked familiar, but he wasn't a gym leader that the rocket boss recalled.
"I'm Ash from Pallet," the boy informed. "I know Jessie, James, and Meowth. We escaped the sinking St. Anne together."
"Pikachu!" his pokemon added.
Giovanni recalled the person next to him all at once. It had been a few years, him growing some during the time, but this boy was the one that had made the worst scene at the league. Just the memory of that display of contempt was enraging, but since the boy was being civil enough at the moment, it was better just not respond at all. As the meeting went on, the kid started to fidget, adding additional unpleasantness to the already dull event. He eventually groaned as they really got into the details of the budget. "This is boring," Ash commented. Giovanni couldn't disagree. "I just wanted to battle," he said, then turned to the rocket boss again. "Are you battling more, since you stopped being a gym leader and stealing pokemon?" he asked. Though there was still no response, the boy kept talking. "It's good you gave back all the pokemon you stole at the league. What's Team Rocket doing now?"
At that point, Giovanni stood, wandering away and standing near the side. As they finally got to other business, he interrupted Blaine introducing his topic. "I have something to say."
Blaine stopped his rambling, raising his eyebrows. "Yes, I'll welcome the former chairman to take the stage."
Giovanni did so, smirking as he stared into the defiant audience that had once, and likely still did, fear him. "I've decided that maintaining status as a gym leader no longer serves me," he began.
"Oh!" Erika exclaimed, raising her pen in the air. "Is this a resignation?"
Blaine spoke up from next to the podium. "Normally we'd take this in a timely manner, but we'll forgive the former chairman for not being prompt, won't we?"
"Hardly," Giovanni shouted. "Why resign from an organization that has no purpose in existing in the first place? I'm declaring your system to be done and over with."
Blaine and Erika tensed, and there was various murmuring in the audience. "I don't understand," Lt. Surge said in his native language. "Speak slower, please. Thought I heard something really stupid, but I must have misunderstood."
Giovanni just smirked at the loud interruption. "Hmph. You all heard me," he said. "All pokemon exist for Team Rocket. There's no point to your little competitions anymore."
"You really can't learn to play nice, can you?" a girl stood up, also spoke haughtily. "You should sit down, take your punishment, otherwise there might be a worse one coming."
"Misty, right?" Though she'd also grown a bit in recent years, Giovanni easily recognized the upstart from Cerulean. "You haven't learned much yourself, still making demands you have no method of enforcing."
"You don't think so? Look around you!" Misty dared, a grin on her face as she put her hands on her hips, swinging her head around to emphasize the various other attendees.
"You ought to look closer yourself," Giovanni said, then shouted out louder. "What's taking so long? Let's end this!"
The doors to the conference room swung open. Outside, Koga and Aya were bound, along with the students and staff of the institute. "Sorry, boss!" a grunt apologized as he came into view. He pushed Sabrina back inside, also bound, with a blindfold as well. "We wanted to make sure to take care of this one before she started with her psychic show."
"Psychic, right," Giovanni said as he stepped off the podium.
"She's not psychic enough to throw us without seeing us!" another mocked.
"Just get her pokemon, along with the rest of theirs," Giovanni ordered as he walked out the door. As he began his exit, various Team Rocket agents flooded into the room behind him, fights quickly breaking out. Despite the rockets being able to take some pokeballs before any pokemon were released, other pokemon battles broke out in the room. It didn't matter. Despite their skill, these gym leaders would be completely overwhelmed by numbers alone, both human and pokemon. Giovanni took one look back at the chaos he'd caused before leaving the institute. Everything else would be taken care of by the entire team.
Jessie and James helped load the pokeballs onto the truck in front of Saffron Gym as their excess of coworkers brought them along. "Move it," Jessie goaded them along. "Are you done yet?" she asked one that dumped a few into the box in the back.
"Pretty much," he informed. "There's one more on the way."
The last man came running toward them, ready to dump the last of the pokeballs into the back of the truck before being tackled by a rogue kid.
"Come on!" Jessie shouted. "Ah! The twerp with the pikachu?"
"Pikachu! We could finally get it," James said, nodding to Jessie as they saw Pikachu, standing alert nearby, seeming to wait for its trainer's orders.
"Hey, twerp!" Jessie began. As she stepped out and shouted at Ash, James ran and took the pokemon from the rocket that had been pushed down. "Go, Lickitung!" Jessie threw out her pokemon to continue her distraction as James ran back to put the stolen pokeballs in the truck. Her large pokemon blocked the rowdy kid from attacking any humans further. "Lick!" Jessie ordered.
"Pikachu, thunderbolt!" Ash followed with his own order.
Lickitung's large tongue touched the electric type's head. "Pika!" Pikachu called as it shivered, initial sparks of the attack dying down as it momentarily felt partially paralyzed. James threw the pokeballs in the truck without regard for the battle. "Come on, Lickitung, get inside," Jessie directed, pointing in the truck. "Let's make our getaway!"
"Licki!" Lickitung called before jumping in.
"No you don't!" Ash insisted. "Pikachu, hurry, follow it! Use thunderbolt!" Before starting to prepare the thunderbolt technique, Pikachu hopped into the large truck to see its opponent better. As it did, Jessie and James slammed the back of the truck shut, latching it.
"Mondo, go!" Jessie ordered as they stepped back.
Ash's eyes grew wide as he saw the truck speed away. "Wha..." Ash couldn't form a sentence in his shock. He ran toward the road, but the truck was nowhere to be seen.
Jessie and James laughed in unison. "Looks like we've finally got your pokemon," Jessie said.
"At last, that powerful pikachu will have a venue worthy of its skill and potential," James added.
"Give Pikachu back!" Ash shouted, stepping forward and getting in their faces with his fists tensed and raised.
"Why would we do that?" Jessie asked coldly.
"I thought you were all getting better..." Ash said, his hands shaking as he looked down.
"We are getting better, aren't we?" Jessie bragged, tossing her hair.
"Indeed, that's how we completed such a heist," James said. The pair of rockets then laughed together heartily. Ash threw himself toward James, who managed to dodge the attempt while Ash himself tripped and fell on the ground.
"Let's go," Jessie ordered. With that, they ran off, retreating from the successful mission aside many of their conspirators. On foot or by vehicle, the rockets piled out, walking around the shocked boy without much notice.
After a failed search for the truck that contained all or at least most of the stolen pokemon on foot, Ash tried his flying pokemon. They likely couldn't pick out one generic truck from another, so he also couldn't find anything. Ash returned to Saffron Gym to see what was going on. The gym leaders and other guests had freed themselves from their various bonds by then. Some people had been really hurt, and were being treated medically. No pokemon however, since they were all gone. Ash was lucky to still have the five he did, but Pikachu... Ash tried to shake off the awful feeling of his companion being gone as he ran through the area. The police had arrived, asking everyone questions. Ash pulled Misty away from speaking to one of them, saying he had something important to talk to her about.
"What is it?" Misty asked.
"They don't do anything anyway, right?" Ash said, nodding to the police officers.
"Now I'm sure they'll have to!" Misty insisted.
"Yeah, we'll see," Ash said, frowning. "Team Rocket got Pikachu too," he said, clenching his jaw after his voice broke.
"Pikachu..." Misty frowned, looking down at the ground as she held back tears. "It's the same with all of mine," she admitted. "I couldn't even battle before they took them away in their pokeballs... Starmie, Staryu, Gyrados..."
"Where did they take them all?" Ash shouted.
Misty shook her head. "I don't know for sure. Maybe Viridian Gym. I'm sure the police are there by now, though."
"I'm going there too!" Ash ran off after that declaration.
"Ash, wait!" Misty called. She ended up following him to the train station, and they ended up going right over to Viridian. "Ash, if they're there, what to you plan to do?" Misty had asked the question several times along the way, but Ash didn't really respond. "I can't do anything, you know," she noted. "Not when they've got all my pokemon."
"I'll get them back. Yours, mine, everyone's. All of them," Ash declared. "Then I'll make them pay."
"Slow down there," Misty said. She tried to laugh about his over the top declarations of heroics, but the hurt of her missing pokemon still weighed heavily, so she didn't. Before they could talk about it more, they were in front of Viridian Gym. The building's doors were wide open. Ash ran inside, going up and down the halls into the arena where he'd fought Jessie for the badge before trying other rooms. "There's nothing," he realized. "I don't see any of those rockets from before!"
Misty noted some officers instead. "Come on, Ash. We'd better go explain ourselves. They might get suspicious," she said.
Ash ignored her, going by the back exit instead. He noticed a door he hadn't been in before. There was a TV with other electronic equipment. Ash quickly pressed the large button in front of it. "Ash, you shouldn't just mess around with things!" Misty fretted.
However, the face of one of their adversaries soon came on screen. "Mondo!" Ash called out in recognition, shouting the rocket's name.
"Ah... Good afternoon," Mondo said. "I wondered why anyone would be at Viridian Gym."
"Where's our pokemon? You'd better give them back," Ash demanded.
"Senpai, maybe you can deal with this," Mondo said, stepping away from the area the camera captured.
"Who is it?" Jessie's voice rang out, though she wasn't seen.
"It's the bothersome brat, lamenting his loathsome loss!" James informed gleefully as he appeared on the screen. "You won't be getting any pokemon back," he added.
"He's really there," Jessie realized. "Did you think you could keep Team Rocket's righteous property for long? You must have realized this time would come some day!"
"That's not true!" Ash shouted.
"He doesn't realize what kind of situation this is," James noted, glancing to Jessie. "We're finally shining bright, a beautiful rocket blinding others with its reflection of the sun."
"Just a reflection? Oh, no, James. We're becoming the sun itself. We'll provide life to the world, and burn up anyone who gets in our way." Jessie started to laugh after her declaration, James soon joining in.
Ash slammed his hand on the monitor, the action getting their attention. "That's enough! Tell me where Pikachu and everyone else is, right now."
"At our secretest of secret locations. You'll never find it," Jessie said.
"So just give up now. You may as well," James suggested.
"Just hang up. There's no point in talking to someone like this any longer." After Jessie's declaration, James's hand went to a button and the video cut out, the screen showing only static. Ash shouted out in frustration, throwing the single chair in the room. He ignored Misty and the officer that tried to talk to him. Neither of them had much helpful to offer, just saying to calm down or asking him dumb questions. There had to be some way to get Pikachu and the others back. He'd do whatever was necessary.
Next chapter: Pikachu vs. Giovanni