Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 35: Open Fire.
Even though they were on their way to a place where they would commit a crime, Red couldn't hide his excitement about getting to fly in a helicopter, even if Peter looked like he would slap him again if the boy wouldn't calm down. They were the only people inside besides the pilot who was too focused on getting them to their destination to answer any of the many questions the teenager asked him.
"Where are we going to land anyway?" he turned to the Admin after realizing that he hadn't thought about it yet.
"Our..." Peter began, hoping that it would make Red shut up, but he bit his tongue since he reminded himself that he couldn't trust him with every bit on information "...We have a base in Saffron City. It's not like Kanto has strict air control laws. Unless we make a scene, if people see a helicopter they won't bat an eye. It's the same as seeing a flock of Pokemon in the sky."
"I guess..."
Peter let out a sigh of relief thinking that he satiated Red's curiosity but the boy suddenly perked up signifying that he probably came up with another question, much to the Admin's dismay "Don't even... I will tell you everything once we land. You have to remember that this is a testing period. If it were any normal henchmen I would dangle the from a rope and tell the pilot to fly low and make them hit every tree on the way. I can't do that with you... yet. One mess up from you... One sign that you're planning to betray us... I'm going to kill you on the spot."
"I've been wondering... You seem a lot more negative than the other Admins. What's up with that?"
Suddenly, the helicopter leaned to one side and immediately returned to normal flight, causing Red, who wasn't properly strapped, to hit his head on the seat. It wasn't too painful but enough to make him pass out. Peter glanced towards the cockpit and surmised that the pilot must have noticed that he was reaching for his knife because of how riled up he was by Red asking him a personal question. When the boy woke up, they were already in Saffron, in what must have been the Team Rocket base of this city. He couldn't tell what made him fall asleep or what he and Peter were talking about before it happened. Instead, his thoughts wandered towards Green whom he last saw when Alex took him in the opposite direction after the meeting between the Admins ended.
. . .
Meanwhile, in Celadon City, Erika was having another busy day for almost two weeks in a row. If handling her responsibilities as a Gym leader and a model wasn't enough, she finally gathered up enough courage to discuss everything that has been bothering her with her father. What took precedence over all these things was the matter of Red and Green still remaining missing. She was confident that they would be able to handle themselves when she left them at the casino but the fact that they haven't returned the next day or any of the following days, made her unable to focus completely on anything she was doing.
She barely knew them but still felt responsibility for helping them enter the Celadon Palace. Seeing how the place was owned by a bunch of the richest people in Kanto, instead of trying to get police on the case, she was thankful that no one connected her to the accident that occurred that night. She couldn't however go on without doing anything so she enlisted the help of her friends and servants in putting up missing posters and contacting anyone who could help her learn something. The thought that they were captured by the casino stuff and executed by the mafia kept popping into her head but she didn't want to believe it. It was another day where she couldn't get enough sleep during the night so when she finally got up it was already afternoon. She immediately called the only nurse she had remain in the house while the others continued the search and asked her if there was any news.
"Umm... I'm not sure..."
"What do you mean?"
"We still haven't found them but there's someone here to meet you and it's possible that he could have some information about them."
"You're sure it isn't another person trying to trick us in order to get the reward I promised for finding them?" the leader asked while getting out of the bed and removing her nightgown, allowing it to drop to the floor.
"I... I don't think he would do that. It's someone you know."
"Someone I know?" she asked, still too sleepy to focus on figuring out who could it be.
Without wasting any time, she washed her face and put on some regular clothes she asked the maid to prepare, since getting into a kimono would take too long. She couldn't worry about appearances if there was a chance that she could get a clue about Red and Green's whereabouts. She had to stop herself from skipping stairs by jumping from excitement but she still managed to get the spacious living room fairly quickly. Before she could even see the person's face, she noted the tea and cookies prepared by the maid.
"Welcome. I hope you haven't been waiting too lo..." she started while walking towards the opposite side of the table, but stopped while glancing towards her guest since it wasn't someone she would expect to bring her information, or even someone who would visit Celadon City.
"Don't worry. I've just arrived and the tea is so great that I didn't even feel the time pass. I'm sorry for waking you up, even if one normally wouldn't be found asleep at this time, but I hope that the news I bring will be enough for you to forgive me."
Erika couldn't properly take in what was said by him since she was too shocked after finding out that the person waiting for her was Blaine. Ever since Brock started communicating with the other Gym leaders in order to bring a stop to Team Rocket's actions, the Fire type trainer was the only one besides Giovanni with whom they couldn't contact. What's more, some of them were being suspicious of him since it seemed like he purposefully avoided taking part in what they've been doing. Even though Koga also didn't want to help them, he said it to their faces, making Blaine's stance even more suspect.
"Are you alright?" he asked since she was so lost in thoughts that she couldn't stop staring at him without even taking a seat.
"Oh! Yea... Yes. I'm fine." she responded and quickly moved towards her chair.
Even though she tried to calm down, she couldn't stop imagining the weirdest things without even first listening to what the man had to say. It was hard to tell if he knew how she viewed him but it seemed like he felt a little uncomfortable since he cleared his throat before starting his explanation even though he just spoke.
"I've come to you with information... but also a couple requests. I'm sure everything will be clear after I finish talking and show you proof. Maybe then you'll calm down." he said, noting that her hands were slightly trembling.
"I... My maid said you might know something about Red and Green... They're these tw... I've been searching for them and..."
"It's alright. I know who they are. Let me preface this with saying that they're safe. But before we deal with that matter, there's something else I would like to talk about. You can what I say here to yourself or pass it on to the other Gym leaders. I don't feel like I owe you anything but I don't want there to be any animosity between us."
"That must mean..." Erika started, visibly calmer after hearing even that small bit about Red and Green being safe "...you have some kind of explanation for your absence."
"Yes. That's actually the simpler part. As you probably know, I'm a scientist. I don't ever conduct my experiments with the idea of hurting others in my mind... but some of the work I do can be dangerous. I made a mistake that resulted in me getting hurt. I had to spend a couple months in a hospital, barely able to move. I'm still slightly limping but that's beside the point. As soon as I left the hospital I started working on trying to recover the thing I created since it was... taken from me. I was so busy with this that even though I've been out for quite some time, I didn't have time to respond to all the messages Brock's been sending me. I would want to promise that I'll help you with whatever you're planning to do but I don't know how long it'll take me to deal with my problem."
"That's a relief." Erika blurted out.
"Wait. You're happy that I got in an accident?"
"No, no! I didn't mean it like that! I mean... It's good that you managed to recover. Yes. That's what I meant."
"Oh. Of course. By the way, I have documents concerning my stay at the hospital with me so if you need to confirm it yourself..." he said while reaching towards the bag he left on the floor next to the table.
"It's fine. There's no need for that. It's a shame that you're unable to help us but whatever you're dealing with sounds extremely important." she said, hoping to move onto the stuff concerning her missing acquaintances.
"Alright then. I thought you would be more concerned about this. I know I haven't been great about keeping in contact even before that but I'm still a little hurt." he said while lowering his gaze.
"Are you really?"
"No. Of course not. I'm just joking. Hmm? Was I not believable there? I always thought I would make a good actor but it seems like I was mistaken. Oh, well." he responded while showing a more cheerful face.
"Look. I don't want to sound rude since I'm grateful that you've come here to explain what happened to my... friends, but I would prefer to hear something more about what happened to them if you don't mind."
"Alright. There is one stipulation and I'm sure you'll understand the reason for it once you hear what I have to say." Blaine said in a more serious manner while holding up his index finger.
"What is it?"
"Opposite of what I said about my absence, i don't want anyone else to hear about what I'm going to tell you. From what I've seen there's only one maid in this place at the moment but I don't mean just her. Absolutely no one can learn about this, no matter how much you trust them."
"Why would..."
"Just... If you want to make it believable, have your people search for them some more but you'll eventually have to give up and also tell this maid that whatever I said proved useless. Are you following me so far?"
"Yes, but what's the reason for all this secrecy?"
"I've mentioned before that Red and Green are safe and that's true... for now."
"Stop making these dramatic pauses and spit it out already!" the girl showed her other side while slamming both her fists onto the table.
"From what I understand, when you parted ways with them, they were trying to gather information regarding the Pokemon disappearances that have been happening all around Kanto."
"So it's not only Celadon?"
"No. This is much bigger. One would naturally suspect Team Rocket but from what Red and Green told me it's the work of someone else. Someone much more dangerous. By trying to investigate this matter, the boys put targets on their backs and had to go into hiding after barely escaping the enemy."
"It's so bad that they couldn't even contact me?" Erika asked concerned, although there was a hint of suspicion in her voice.
"None of them have phones and going to buy one or use one in a public place isn't an option when they still have the enemy's eyes on them. I've met up with them by accident. I came to Celadon to ask another scientist some questions regarding my experiment and I ended up helping the boys chase away someone who hoped to capture them and bring them to their boss... whoever that may be."
"So where are they now?"
"I can't reveal that. As I said already, they're safe and I want you to focus on that. I offered them to use my phone but instead of calling someone, Red decided it would be better if he recorded a video and had me visit your mansion to collect their belongings."
"A video?!" Erika sounded more excited than at any previous point during the conversation.
"Yes. Let me just..."
After taking out his phone and touching it a couple times, Blaine handed it to Erika and she immediately played it.
"Hey, Erika. Sorry for not contacting you sooner but we've run into some trouble. I don't know when we'll be able to meet you face to face again but we're fine for now so don't worry. Were... were you worried?" even though Red took a liking to the girl during their fight, he didn't seem sure if she actually felt the same "Green is being grumpy about something so he didn't want me to record him. I don't know what else to say... I hope that our disappearance didn't stop you from trying to work out the problems with your mother. If it's not too much trouble, give our stuff to Blaine so he can bring it to us. I'm sorry that I won't be able to help you with the Team Rocket situation for some time but just keep in mind what I said and act accordingly, got it? Alright, Blaine. You can turn it off."
The message ended and Blaine couldn't help feeling somewhat happy about the joy it brought to Erika's face even though he knew the video was faked. He was proud of himself for figuring out that it would be safer to record Red instead of just allowing him to talk through the phone and everything seemed to work out just fine. Erika allowed him to finish the tea while thanking him multiple times. The maid gathered all of the boys' belongings and put them in one of several empty inventory pads belonging to her mistress. Before handing it to Blaine, Erika came up with a way to thank him for his visit.
"Oh, no. I don't need anything."
"It's not a "thing" per se. It's a view. I like flowers so much that that part of my garden is covered in flowers that bloom during the colder months. Would you care to see them?"
"I'm not a flower specialist but I can't deny that as a scientist I'm slightly interested." he responded, allowing the woman to lead him towards the garden.
It was much bigger than he expected and with various trees and bushes, even leafless ones, he couldn't help but feel like he would get lost in there if the other leader wasn't with him. Erika stopped and her started to look around. Although he could see what looked like a flowerbed, they weren't that close to it. He wasn't sure if it meant that they should be appreciated from a distance but didn't feel confident enough to ask their owner about it.
"Tell Red that I've started working on solving the stuff regarding my father."
"Oh, of cours... Wait. Your father? I thought he mentioned your mo..."
"Vine Whip!"
Suddenly, a green rope shot out from behind one of the trees, and moved around Blaine's body to form a circle that would restrict the movement of his arms. He had less than a second to react but his limping leg actually made it easier when he dropped down to the ground and avoided the attack. The hard part was standing up before another vine would try to catch him. That's why he immediately reached towards his belt and threw a pokeball from which appeared a Magmar.
"He said something that wouldn't sound suspicious yet you would recognize it as a lie. I didn't know what to think of him but this..." Blaine said, coming to terms with what just happened while his Pokemon stood in front, protecting him from any attack Erika could plan to initiate.
"So you're also part of Team Rocket?"
"Team Ro... Oh... Oh yeah. That's even more clever. I should probably be getting mad but I can't help being impressed by his ingenuity." the scientist said after realizing how the woman reached that conclusion "Oh. Sorry for spacing out. That wasn't very tactful of me."
"Are you important enough that me catching you would make them release Red and Green?" she said as Tangela quietly moved between the trees in order to attack the man from the back.
"Probably. But you would have to catch me first, no?" he responded and immediately moved his head and stared right at Tangela who was so shocked by this sudden movement that it left itself open to attacks "Fire Punch!"
Magmar spun around and, in one swift movement, reached the grass Pokemon in order to deliver a fiery blow that sent if flying into one of the trees. Right after landing, it started swinging around the tentacles on its back in order to put out the fire in the front.
"Unfortunately for you my dear..." Blaine said while looking at Erika "...this battle has no meaning to me."
"You don't expect me to just let you escape?" she said while glancing towards the pokeballs at her belt, thinking that she should be ready to go all out in order to stop this man.
"You're not going to have a choice. Magmar, use Confuse Ray!"
The fire Pokemon snapped its finger, creating a spark that transformed into a ball of light that quickly reached Tangela despite its efforts to avoid it. As soon as the move landed, the grass Pokemon lost the ability to move how it wanted. Its movements became so wobbly that it looked like it could fall down at any moment.
"And now you." Blaine addressed Erika who visibly felt uncomfortable imagining what he could mean by that "Smokescreen!'
That wasn't something that the grass type leader was prepared for. Evidently, Blaine's glasses must have been made in a way that would allow him to see even in this black cloud since Erika felt him touch her for a second and immediately understood that he stole the inventory pad. She cursed herself for not just bringing an empty one with her but the fact that Blaine still wanted the boys' belongings seemed suspicious. The smoke started to disappear and both the scientist and his Pokemon were nowhere to be seen. Erika waited a little to make sure that they were gone before returning Tangela to its pokeball.
"Damn it... But... if he took their stuff with him, he clearly doesn't want to get rid of them just yet. Still, I don't feel too proud of how he played me. The worst thing will be explaining it to the other leaders."
. . .
"Wait. So this is your plan?" Red asked Peter who didn't seem to understand why the boy would be so surprised.
"Yes. Stop questioning me."
"But we look ridiculous." the teenager responded while pointing out their clothes which were probably based on the first result that would appear if one searched the word "scientist" on the internet "Your plan is to just walk in there and act like we belong and hope that the security doesn't catch us?"
"No, you moron. Look. We're getting close. We'll stop over there and I'm sure you'll understand once I show you. Just follow my lead and remember that I have eyes on the back of my head."
"My point was that people are going to be suspicious no matter what. I'm too young and you're too... scruffy."
"Why don't you understand that it's taking all of my will not to open your stomach with a knife and make a shashlik out of your entrails? The reason you're on this goddamn mission is to prove your worth to me. And if you're not going to at least keep quiet for now, I'll be sure to use you as a meat shield if the need arises."
"Okay, okay. You've made your point. I'm just going to watch you do your thing if that's what you want."
They walked between a bunch of trees before stopping on the edge of the forested area, close to fence protecting the back of the building housing the headquarters of Silph Co. There weren't any cameras pointed in their direction but Red could see some hanging from the building. He thought there would be at least one security guard walking around but it seemed like all of them were inside with the outside being left to technology.
"Come out, Dodrio and Haunter." Peter said quietly while making sure that the Pokemon would appear close to him.
They looked at him and then behind to check out the building before nodding. It looked like they knew what they were about to do so Red felt all the more grumpy about being left in the dark.
"Let's do this." Peter stated while looking at Dodrio who immediately took the clue and approached the fence as each of its beaks began to spin at great speeds.
The bird's heads moved around and easily cut through the fence, creating a circular opening for the group. Red took a step forward but the Admin put up a hand in order to stop him.
"Not yet." he said before looking at Dodrio while still speaking to Red "You thought that I wasn't prepared but I've done my research. The reason they don't need anyone out here is that these cameras are able to track movement. They won't react to anything too small. A Rattata wouldn't set them off. But a Rattata wouldn't be able to help us get inside without them noticing our presence."
"Is there a way for them not to catch us? Would we have to move really fast so they couldn't follow?"
"We don't have to move that fast but we still need to hurry before someone notices what's going on while Dodrio does his thing."
"What "thing"?"
"Just like we planned, we're starting off with Agility and following it up with Quick Attack." Peter said to the bird who raised one his legs before seemingly disappearing while kicking up a cloud of dust "Now we can go."
Peter jumped through the hole in the fence with Haunter following right behind. Red was confused about what was going on but he remembered that the Admin told him to follow his lead so he decided to trust his plan. Soon, it became clear what was the purpose of Dodrio going first. The camera's were made in such a way that when there were multiple moving objects, they followed the fastest one. Dodrio moved around at such speed that they were focusing on him and part of the plan was that even though they couldn't exactly match him so every time he would change paths, they would be a little too late to make out a clear image of him. The Pokemon made sure to avoid the rest of the group which allowed them to reach back doors to the building without being seen. Red's amazement at Peter's cleverness weakened a little when he saw that the doors were heavily reinforced and had an electronic lock. He wondered if he made a mistake by not bringing Raichu with him but he couldn't tell if disrupting the lock with electricity would work.
"It's your turn." Peter turned to Haunter who immediately flew straight through the doors and moments later opened them from the other side which wasn't secured in the same way as the outside.
The humans went inside and the Admin whistled by using fingers to let Dodrio know that his job was done. The next part was the greatest gamble since they had to close the doors right as the bird would move through it yet before the cameras could see that they were ever opened. They started pushing the doors before Dodrio made it through them but a fraction of a second later, when they were closed, the bird was already inside, all his heads trying to calm down their breathing after dealing with maneuvering at such high speeds. Peter put the bird back inside his pokeball and started walking through the building. Red got a little sad thinking that neither Pokemon received praise for doing a good job.
"What now?" he asked the Admin after catching up to him.
"Now comes the hard part."
"That wasn't hard?"
"You didn't exactly do anything."
"No. But you... That was actually impressive."
"What do you mean by "actually"?"
"I guess I just never thought that joining Team Rocket could lead to me... appreciating what you guys do... I guess. Like, if you watch a slasher movie you don't think "Oh, that murderer killed them in an interesting way"."
"I do."
"I should probably have expected that." Red said with a little sarcasm in his voice "But that makes me think. Why do you carry knives if you're this good with your Pokemon?"
"If my Pokemon is in a pokeball, it'll take a second to release it and another one to give an order. Meanwhile, if I use a knife, I can slice your throat in a second. As long as this world is about survival of the fittest, then I'll always be prepared to dirty my hands to keep my life."
"Is that connected to why you joined Team Rocket?"
Peter turned around and within a second his knife was right next to one of Red's eye. The Admin purposefully avoided slicing him since even the tiniest drop of blood could lead someone back to them.
"That's enough. I don't want to open up to you. I don't need anyone to know about me or try to understand why I'm doing this. The boss told me his plan and I liked it enough that I decided to follow him. I can tolerate the existence of other people but I dislike anyone who interrupts my peace of mind."
"I'm not trying to psychoanalyze you but the reason I'm here with you and not back in a cell in the Celadon base is that I want to learn if what you're doing is actually good. Giovanni convinced me to give Team Rocket a chance. That's what I'm doing. I don't know why Alex is part of this organization but he at least doesn't act like he's scared of something all the time."
Peter moved his hand back and looked at Red with disbelief. It seemed like something the boy said affected him. This was the first time when he didn't seem bitter or angry.
"You would be..."
"Hey. What are you guys doing here? Are you lost?" someone interrupted their conversation.
They were so occupied with talking that they didn't notice that they stopped in the middle of an intersection of corridors. A man who looked like a security guards doing rounds approached them and sized them up.
"I don't recognize you two. Are you new? Do you have identifications?"
"Oh, yes. I'll show it to you right away." Peter said while turning towards the man and approaching him.
He took something out of his pocket. It wasn't what the guard wanted to see but that wasn't important. Peter wanted to bring him close enough so that he could use his usual trick. Haunter's hand appeared from within Peter's body and used Sucker Punch to hit the man's belly, making him unable to catch his breath, before delivering a Shadow Punch to his head in order to make him faint.
Peter bent down and checked the man's pulse before turning towards Red, the marks from fusing with Haunter still on his face "I don't see any good place to hide him around here. I don't trust you enough to watch him or to steal the masterball by yourself so this means that we'll have to hurry up. Our objective right now is to find the place where they get the camera feeds. They don't have them here since they have assholes like this one patrolling the place but I'm sure they have them wherever the ball is stored as an additional security measure."
Red wanted to ask the Admin what he wanted to say before they were interrupted but he stopped himself, understanding that they didn't have time for that.
I managed to control myself slightly better this time. You still got a decent amount of the main story even if the side story takes up half the chapter. But I still have problems. I don't have a release schedule but if I don't release a new chapter for a long time even if I have time to write, I kinda feel like an asshole. Does anyone have like a preference? Each chapter has been at least 4000 words long for a long time. I release new chapter at least 2 times a month. This time I managed 4 chapters in one month. But none of them is how I originally planned because I feel like I want to keep the readers engaged. That's going to be a problem when I'm writing the next Special Chapter since I spent over a month on the previous one, but it's a different matter when it comes to regular chapters. I kinda feel like it helps by leaving you wanting more but if it was a book, cliffhangers wouldn't really make sense. I probably said something similar in the past but I'm just really worried if me cutting the chapters in order to release them faster results in decreased... not quality... but enjoyment. I enjoy writing them even if I take unexpected detours but I want the readers to like it as much as I do.
About the chapter itself. Hmm. Originally, Erika wasn't supposed to learn that Blaine was a member of Team Rocket but I thought about it when writing and decided that here being clever enough to connect the dots would improve how people percieve Gym leaders since there's a lot of talk about how they're trying to take down Team Rocket but it doesn't seem like they never do anything. I stopped myself from making this go into a full fight but I think both Erika and Blaine came out of the encounter with something good, while also showing off a little. The other Gym leaders will all play a role later on and these two will also remain in the story but I can't just have the chapter be entirely about Red and Peter.
Speaking of Red and Peter, there's actually not much to say. I did everything mostly how I imagined it. The improvised part was that just like with Alex, I put hints as to Peter's reason for joining Team Rocket. I don't know when exactly but you'll learn their backstories in the future, as well as Angie's.
I struggled with the title. I wanted to make a japanese pun but I realized that I used one in the past so I went with the title that's supposed to allude to the fact that the truth concerning the Fire type expert is in the open while also relating to the fact that Erika couldn't defeat Magmar.
Red. Team: Nidorino, ?.
Stasis: ?, ?, ?, Raichu, Pidgeotto.
Badges: 4
Green. Team: Jynx.
Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.
Badges: 3
Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).
Badges: 3
Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, ?.
Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.
Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.
