Disclaimer before you read: Around 30-40% of this chapter was written on a phone. I was feeling like I had too many distractions to write on a PC and writing this way helped me get into the groove of writing and write the rest on a computer. Although I paid attention to the phone making mistakes(I had to for things like Pokemon names), there still may be a couple small ones that got through. I hope that they won't diminish your enjoyment of the chapter and if you find some, be sure to let me know and I'll get them fixed.


Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 41: Color of Emotions.

Nets kept giving Red suspicious glances as they walked through the base towards Blaine's laboratory. Red noticed it and made sure to stare intensely at the other boy so that he would finally stop acting weirdly.

"Aah! Stop that. That's scary." said the red-headed one.

"If you want to say something, just do it. It's making me anxious when you're acting like that."

"Anxious? It's me who's anxious! You're still mostly a mystery to me but I like spending time with you. You've been in confinement before we started sharing a room. What if they want to put you back in there?"

"Why would they do that?"

"I... I can't provide an answer without gathering enough data."

"Besides, if they wanted to do that they would probably send an Admin to do take me there. Alex and Angie still haven't returned but Peter is in the base."

"I guess you're right."

They stopped the conversation since they were already in front of the main laboratory. Even though Nets was part of the science division, he was still a low ranking member and didn't work on any of the major projects so it was hard to hide his excitement as he pressed the button next to the doors. Someone inside spoke to them through the intercom and let them inside.

Since the whole base was already technologically advanced in his eyes, Red wasn't too impressed by what he saw inside. On the other hand, Nets, with his scientific knowledge, was quite capable of appreciating the technology that was being worked on in different parts of the spacious laboratory. He felt like approaching each and every scientist working there in order to learn more about what they were doing but knowing that he himself didn't like being interrupted when tinkering with something, he stopped himself and stood with his back straightened, waiting for someone to approach him and Red.

"Oh. You're here already?" Blaine noticed the two of them while walking near the door in order to reach the kitchen and fill up his empty coffee mug.

"Yes, Sir, Doctor Humane! It's an honor to see you! You probably don't remember me but my name is Nets and I'm a big fan of your work!" the bespectacled boy shouted while bowing.

"Umm... I do remember you. I called for you. I didn't say "bring me Red and a random other person"." Blaine pointed out.

"Huh? I... But what does that mean?! What does that mean, Red?!" the teenager asked while grabbing his friend by the arm.

"I don't know. Why are you asking me? Ask him."

"Oh, right." Nets said before turning to the other scientist "How may I be of help?"

"Well... The work we do here is crucial to Team Rocket's goals. I have many talented people here but the problem that comes with talent is that they are too prideful. None of them would ever want to admit about making a mistake and they would rather throw the blame on someone else. I'm trying to control this chaos but it's not so easy. I never thought of this as a problem since we've been working on our main project for years but now that we're so close I want everything to go as smoothly as possible. I can't control them alone. I need someone as passionate as you to keep an eye on everyone here and inform me of anything that may seem like it could cause problems later one. So, are you up for the job?"

"Am I?! Of course I am! I don't know of exactly how much use I will be with my limited knowledge but I'll do my best!" Nets responded.

"Good. You should get to know everyone but I don't want you to disturb their work. We're going to take a break in half an hour so until then you can just walk around and watch what everyone is doing while I deal with something else."

"Alright! Thank you!" the boy shouted while bowing once again before running of towards the part of the lab which he was the most interested in.

Blaine kept his eyes on him for a while before turning to Red "You were on a mission when I brought your things and after you returned it was me who was quite busy so I didn't have time to ask you if I brought everything or if something was missing from your belongings."

"Oh. Yeah. Everything was there." Red couldn't help wondering if there was something hidden behind the scientists calm words so he decided to check it in a non-direct way "Did Erika say anything? Like, how's the situation with her mother?"

"I don't know."

Red became more worried. The answer could mean that Blaine forgot to ask or that Erika didn't answer him but the boy couldn't help assuming that it was something worse.

"Red... What do you want... What are you trying to do?"

It was clear. He knew. But the fact that he approached Red and asked him in such a way made the teenager want to gamble even more than when he asked him to visit Erika.

"I just want to help." the boy made sure not to hesitate while saying it in order to convey that it was the honest truth.

"Help who?" Blaine had a strong suspicion as to what the answer would be but he wanted to hear it from Red.

"Everyone." the young one couldn't help but smile awkwardly after saying that.

"That's not what I... What do you mean?"

"At first there was just one I wanted to help. When I came here and talked with the other one, I thought "It's going to be hard but I believe I can help both of them". Then, after talking with more people and learning about them I... I don't know if I'm able to help them all. I don't even know where to start but... I want to believe that Cross was wrong. I want to give everyone a chance... It's just the way I am... I guess... When bad things happen to someone it makes me want to help them. I can't look into everyone's problems but what... what "he" wants to do isn't going to solve them. I think it's just going to create problems for other people."

"I see. I'm not going to do anything for now but... I'll need to think about it."

"That makes it sound like at any point he could decide to either help me or get rid of me." Red thought "It would be great if he did the first one but I probably shouldn't press him. I'll just have to be careful, even though my guts tell me that if he was to become my enemy, he would want to deal with me in an honorable way."

"Before you leave, there's two things." Blaine spoke up after being silent for a while, surprising Red "I heard that Angie is going to come back in a couple hours. You and Peter should probably meet up with her and discuss what she found out on her mission. I won't be able to be there, that's why I want you to go and inform me if there's anything they may need my help with but also... just in case anything happens. The Admins personalities clash a lot so it's important to have someone who can act as a mediator. That role is often up to me."

"Alright. What's the other thing?"

"It's about Mewtwo... or rather... I heard it's calling itself Cross. I want to talk about it when we'll both have more time. For now I just want to know this; what's the significance of the name?"

"The name? Uuh... He asked me what's a cross called and I told him. Maybe he likes the shape?"

At first the scientist looked surprised but he soon started chuckling, almost having to stop himself from starting to laugh.

"Is that so?" he said while grabbing his forehead while still grinning.

It didn't look like he was going to stop, and since Red heard everything the man wanted to say, he left after bowing quickly.

. . .

"Now that I've sat here for 3 hours, I realize that coming here before Angie returned wasn't the best idea." Red thought while looking at a clock at the wall.

Although he was able to take a nap, he still waited enough to get bored. The weirdest thing was that even though he informed Peter about the meeting, the man didn't come so he had to sit in the Admins' meeting room by himself. He spent the next 20 minutes trying to figure out what decision, regarding what to do with him, Blaine would reach, and finally the doors to the room opened and both of the Team Rocket members he's been waiting for entered the room.

"What are you doing?!" Angie exclaimed in shock while Peter passed both of them on the way to his seat.

"Blaine asked me to attend the meeting in his place. Didn't Peter tell you?"

The girl looked at the other Admin who noticed that there was something different about the way she acted, as if she was trying to conceal that she was angry at him, even though normally she would reprimand him. Not that he minded this odd behavior.

Since it didn't look like either of them was going to say anything, Red decided to speak up "Umm... How did your mission go? The last time I saw you, you were talking about trying to find the location of the Darkness Gang headquarters. Any luck with that?"

"Luck? What kind of question is that? Whenever I'm in involved with something, the probability of success isn't based on luck but on my skill." the girl answered without even looking in his direction.

"Alright. Then should I ask "Any skill"? Wait. No. That doesn't make sense."

"Just get on with it!" Peter raised his voice "I have better things to do than sit here."

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Angie also became louder "There's nothing more important than your duties as a Team Rocket Admin! And part of that are these meetings!"

"I really hope that once we change the world, I'll never have to hear your annoying voice again. Besides, what I'd rather do, than just sit here and wait for you to finally start talking, is find a way to try and do something that will redeem me after that screw up with the masterball."

"I think I hate Blaine." Red thought to himself after seeing what kind of mess the scientist decided to put him in.

"Calm down already!" He shouted which was surprising enough to shut up both of the Admins "Look, Angie... Just say what you managed to learn and we'll be done."

She was still a little shocked so she turned her eyes towards Peter who seemed to be in agreement about allowing her to say what she wanted them to hear. She walked towards the wall opposite of the seats in order to be able to easily see both of them without turning her head in case of any potential questions.

"My mission was a great success. Not only did I learn the location of their base but I've also figured out a way to reach it while avoiding their outposts. There are however a couple troubling factors." she paused in order to see if any of them would ask about them but when they didn't she went on with her explanation "I know how to reach their base but getting inside could be a little problematic. I was alone so I was already taking a pretty big risk but since I turned off my communicator in case they could somehow detect it, it would be too risky to try to get inside without having anyone who could help me if things went south. So while I saw the defenses around the base, I don't know what's inside. There's a certain factor that makes me sure that this is their headquarters but before that there's another thing I should mention. It's just... I'm not sure how we should go about it. A group bigger than 3 people probably couldn't manage to reach that place undetected. We could try an all-out assault but they would see us coming from far away and since it's their home turf... So? Still no questions?"

"You mentioned something that makes it clear that this is their main base. What is that?" Red asked after looking at Peter to make sure that he wasn't going to interrupt him.

"I saw Faust."

"What?!" Red asked while standing up and leaning on the desk in front of him "I thought you said he was dead. What was that about anyway?"

"Oh. That's right. You've fought him once before. Well, from what I've heard, he was hunted down by members of Darkness Gang after his failure and escape. He was supposed to be killed but what they've done is much worse. They've turned him into a cyborg. Or a robot. It's hard to tell how much humanity is left in him. He looks pretty messed up."

"How does that prove that it's their main base?" Peter inquired "Faust was a high ranking member but if they've done something like that to him, it's hard to tell what's his position right now. Besides, we're both people who work directly under the boss yet we don't live at our HQ."

"Look... I've got a hunch..."

"A hunch? You said you don't rely on luck but a hunch is okay? What the hell happened to you recently? Normally you would investigate the matter more thoroughly instead of wasting our time."

"I told you the reason why I didn't do that."

"Then get this team of three you mentioned and go back there."

"Are you forgetting yourself? Since when do I get orders from you?"

"Alright, alright." Red said while stepping from behind the desk and gesturing towards both of them to stop them from arguing "What do you want do to do, Angie?"

"I'm going back there." she answered before glaring at Peter "And not because someone ordered me to but for the good of Team Rocket."

"Good. Then I'm going with you." said Red.

"What?!" Angie took a step back from being surprised and bumped into the wall behind her.

"I'm supposed to earn the trust of each of the Admins before I'm allowed to be a full fledged member of Team Rocket. You're the last one. Besides, since I've met Faust in the past, I'm the best person for this, aren't I?"

"Can't argue with that." Peter said before Angie could come up with an answer "Or rather, I don't really care. There were some unforeseen circumstances during our mission but I think he's pretty smart. Besides, that's what the boss wanted."

"Right. Since these are orders from him, I can't say no." the girl said to herself before looking at Red "Alright. You're in. Now we need to choose the third person."

. . .

It didn't take long for a third person to join the scouting party to be chosen. Angie seemed like she already had someone in mind and after a quick call, the chosen person arrived in a meeting room different to the one where Red talked with the Admins.

"Don't I know you from somewhere?" he asked after seeing who would be joining them.

The person, a red-headed girl with a ponytail, looked at him with a smug grin "I was hoping you would recognize me. After all I played a role in you joining Team Rocket. I was the one who realized that you and Green weren't members when the two of you tried sneaking into the base."

"Green? You know our names? Wait. Does everyone know our names? Could it be that we're like some kind of small time celebrities to Team Rocket members?" the boy allowed himself to fantasize a little but the girl was quick to shoot down his dreams.

"Not really. People who were there, and others whom you've met before joining, know who you are since we were curious after seeing you two walking around the base soon after your capture. I imagine that some of them would like a word with you two but are either shy or intimidated."

"Why would they be intimidated?"

"Are you kidding? Just take a look at this situation. This mission is going to be a culmination of months of work that our people put into figuring out the location of the enemy base. It makes sense that I'm one of the people picked for it since I've worked long and hard to get noticed by one of the Admins. But you're still a mystery and if people weren't afraid of Angie getting angry at them, they would probably complain about you being chosen."

"Hmm. Maybe me and Green should hold a meeting once we're both back so that we can put people's minds to ease."

"You're being awfully casual about this by assuming that you're going to be able to come back from this mission. One small mistake is all it would take. If the enemy finds out about us, it's all over. There's no hope of winning in a fight and running away also wouldn't be too easy."

"I think we would be able to force our way through if we had more firepower. I'm not taking about more people but about more Pokemon. Since I'm basically on probation, I'm allowed only two Pokemon per mission."

"Who said that?" Angie, who until that point was browsing some documents at a different table, approached them and interrupted their conversation even though she missed most of it.

"Uhh. Peter did."

"There are no official rules for people in a situation like yours so I guess it's up to each Admin when it comes to how they handle it during their missions. I will allow you to use a full team of Pokemon. I hope that you won't have to use any of them but it's good to take precautions. Just don't think about using them to turn on us once we're in the field. Try that and you'll be painting a target on yourself for all the Darkness Gang members."

"Do I look like someone who would try to do that?"

"The first time we met, you immediately tried to lie to me." noted the other girl.

"Well, that's just an unfair comparison... I just realized that I still don't know your name."

"It's going to be pretty important to know it once we're out there, isn't it? I'm Tarieli."

"Okay." Red's first instinct was to introduce himself but he remembered in time that everyone present already knew his name so he felt a little awkward, not knowing what else they could talk about.

"What were these documents you were looking at?" Tarieli broke the silence by asking Angie.

"It's a compilation of everything we know about Darkness Gang. Intelligence gathered by my subordinates but also all the data other Team Rocket members have acquired over the years. It's still not much and we can't be sure how much of it is true and what is just rumors but I wanted to go over all of it a couple times before we depart."

"Well, is there anything in there that you would like to share with us? Something we could or should get ourselves prepared for?" asked Tarieli.

"Of course. While the organization itself is even more secretive than ours, it's hard to remain completely anonymous so we have at least some information about a couple important members."

"You mean people like Faust?" inquired Red.

"Sort of. From what we gathered, we're lead to believe that Faust is almost like a second-in-command in sense of strength, even though we only assume their boss to be a trainer. When it comes to actual hierarchy, we can't tell if or how many people are above him. But we know about those below him. They're like their equivalent of Team Rocket's Admins. We know about four of them but there certainly could be more."

Angie continued sharing the data with them for another twenty minutes or so. After that, Red was allowed to take his Pokemon out of stasis but he still had to send one of them to a digital box by using a computer. He decided that Gyarados would be least suited for what was essentially to be a stealth mission. After that, the only thing left to do was to select a pilot who would use a helicopter to take the scouting team as close to Darkness Gang's base as possible. Angie contacted the person who took her there and back when she went there earlier and, after around an hour, they were off.

. . .

The helicopter carrying Angie's group landed in the mountains, a good distance away from what she believed to be the farthest reaching outpost. Even though their uniforms were able to help them against low temperatures, each of them wore a black coat as an additional measure. Red observed as the helicopter flew away to an even safer distance before he turned towards the two girls.

"So what now?"

"For now just follow me and keep quiet. It's going to be a long walk. If you notice anything just tap my shoulder. You're going to be in the middle and Tarieli in the back. Once a reason for doing so arises, I will give you orders by gesturing with my left hand since I'll need the right one to reach for my pokeball. Anything else?"

"These things?" Red asked while showing a black band around his wrist.

"Wait. Peter didn't give you one when he took you on a mission?"

"No. I think I would remember. Maybe I'm going senile."

"Was that a joke?" said Tarieli.

"Umm. I guess..."

"Then it wasn't funny. As to what's the deal with these things; they're beacons. If you think you won't be able to use your communicator, you touch this thing in a specific way and It's going to send out a distress signal to our pilot. From that point on, he has to decide if he's going to risk it and try to save us or if he's going to call for backup from our closest base."

"Alright. Then I think I don't have any more questions for now."

Soon after that, the group started traversing the forests, following Angie who tried to use the exact same path as last time. From time to time, Red would notice what looked like the outposts she mentioned but it seemed like the forest hid them well enough not to worry about it. The thing bothering him was that the sun was about to set. He didn't bring a flashlight or anything of the sort with him but he suspected that they would be too dangerous to use since the enemies could probably easily spot the light. Since they couldn't see almost anything in the darkness, the only thing they could rely on was Angie's memory. The boy thought to himself that if they did it on a cloudless night, it would be much easier, especially since at some point the Admin would change directions after noticing a nearby patrol and the only way Red could know was to be completely focused on her. At one point he got worried about the possibility of Tarieli getting lost but he could still hear three distinct pairs of legs making their way through the snow.

. . .

"Now that I think about it, how are we supposed to see any gestures Angie makes in this darkness?" Red thought to himself after walking in the night for over two hours.

As if to answer that, two, dim, green lights appeared in front of him. He quickly understood that Angie took off one of her gloves and was using a fluorescent nail polish to show them the way. Since she didn't do it before, it would seem that this change of direction was something more important than even avoiding the enemies. After following the girl up a steep hill, Red understood why.

They were still about half a kilometer away but, after getting to a higher place, they could finally see their destination, a big compound with a building resembling a factory in the middle of it. Even though the place was lit up like a tree on Bonding Day, this far from civilization, no one would be able to find it if they weren't looking for it. The surprising thing to the boy was that there were multiple trucks inside the base. There was a road leading to it but the other end was a mountain. He imagined that each driver had to press a button which would make the rocks move apart to allow them to pass through the mountain but he dismissed the thought as too silly. He wanted to come up with a better explanation than that but Angie had other plans for him.

"It's going to get more intense from now on." she said after turning towards the group.

Red looked at Tarieli whom he noticed standing next to him and although he couldn't see her face too clearly, he imagined that she was making a similar expression to his.

Angie seemed to realize what they were doing "Since I'm already talking then yes... the two of you can also speak."

"Thanks." the two members of her team said at the same time, sounding almost like if they were out of breath because of the anticipation.

"Based on my previous visit, I suspect that we won't run into any patrols from this point onward. That doesn't mean that we can afford to be careless."

"It looks like there's a watchtower in each corner of the base." noted Tarieli "We won't be approaching from the front but even if we want to get in from the side we'll have to be careful not to get caught by a spotlight."

Red noticed that Angie smiled slightly after hearing what the other girl had to say but he didn't understand why. He thought that what she said was obvious enough that he himself didn't care to mention it but there must have been something about her, that he didn't notice yet, that made her the obvious choice for a member of this team for Angie.

"Can I make a couple suggestions?" Tarieli asked and judging by Angie's face, this was what the Admin was waiting for.

"Go ahead."

"I have my Zubat with me. It could draw attention to itself. Since this area is surrounded by mountains, wouldn't be surprising for one to appear here but it still could give us a couple seconds to reach the fence of the compound. Judging based on the size of the trucks, the fence isn't too tall so if we hurried we could climb over it."

"That's a good idea." commented Angie "Anything else?"

"It looks like they're unloading the trucks on the west side of the compound so if we're going to go through with this plan, we should approach from the east. After getting inside, we should stay put and observe for a while. We don't know what security measures are placed inside the building but since they have people stationed outside, that means that most likely they don't monitor the compound using cameras. If there's like a switch that's used to raise an alarm, I'm going to find and disable it. This way, even if someone notices us, we'll have time to escape before we get swarmed."

Angie and Red looked at her in silence, the first one seemed to be more proud of herself for bringing Tarieli along than of the girl herself, while the second one was trying to find anything wrong with what she said but the fact that he couldn't left him speechless. There were of course some things that could be added to her plan but they couldn't know all the factors that could change their decisions without getting closer. The group started moving again.

"Is she some kind of genius?" Red wondered quietly.

"She's just very observant and careful." Angie overhead the question and answered it.

. . .

The plan Tarieli came up with worked out exactly how she wanted it. The group got inside the compound and were hiding in the shadow of a shed that stood so close to the fence that it would be hard to see them unless someone got very close. Red was surprised by a part of the plan that he didn't consider, having Zubat stay outside the base since it flying back towards them could attract attention.

While he was thinking about it, Tarieli was already executing the next part of her plan. She swiftly moved towards a pole with a switch connected to a loudspeaker at the top of it. She cut off the cable connecting the two parts so that a sound couldn't be produced if someone were to pull the switch. Angie observed her from a distance and noticed someone going towards Tarieli. There was no way for her to alarm the other girl without revealing herself while doing it but it turned out that she was needlessly worried. Tarieli dropped to the ground and rolled towards the building. She was so close to the person passing her that if they looked down, they would surely notice her.

"If she's so good, why isn't she an Admin?" Red asked.

Angie looked at him with an irritated expression and whispered "Be quiet... Being good isn't what the boss wants from Admins. There are certain qualities that... What is she doing?"

The Admin noticed that instead of returning to them to figure out what they were going to do next, Tarieli decided to sneak towards the front of the building.

"If she's found out they're going to start searching for more intruders. What could she be trying to do?" Angie was doing her best not to raise her voice.

"I'm not sure but there's ways we could draw attention away from her." Red pointed out.

"Did you come up with something? We have to hurry."

. . .

Tarieli was hiding in the shadows, trying to get to a position from which she could have a direct view of the main entrance to the building. She noticed that next to a side door she saw was a panel with numbered buttons. Her hope was that each entrance used the same combination and that she would be able to learn them since people were sometimes entering and leaving the building. She finally managed to learn the numbers and realized too late that she got careless. A truck was about to drive into the compound and people gathered around it in order to check the contents would most likely notice her after turning back towards the inside of the base. Even one second of distraction would be enough to allow her to hide and start making her way towards the rest of the group but, knowing that she screwed up, she could only hope for a miracle. What saved her wasn't a miracle but rather a mystery hole.

"Hey! What's going on?" said one of the people responsible for examining the trucks.

"I think It's stuck!" the driver yelled back while leaning out the window.

Another person got on their knee next to one of the wheels and announced to the rest "There's a hole here! Looks like it was made by some wild Pokemon!"

"Can we lift it up?" asked an older men who seemed to be in command of this particular group.

"Maybe if we get some more guys."

"Then gather anyone who's wandering around and let's do it."

Tarieli, who already managed to get back to her team, observed with disbelief as everyone who could stand in their way to the side door went towards the gate. She looked at Red and Angie who was putting Sandslash back in its pokeball, and nodded to let them know that this was their best chance to get inside.

"I usually don't have a plan but if someone else has one I would li... Aaaand she's gone." Red didn't have a chance to finish since Tarieli started running towards the side entrance and after seeing Angie following her, he decided to do the same.

The red-headed girl selected the numbers and was happy to find that she was right about every door using the same combination. It took only three seconds for the three of them to get inside but they still couldn't be sure that no one saw them so they kept on going as fast as possible. They found another hiding spot inside and Tarieli began to scan their surroundings for cameras.

"We're in the clear. I saw a vent. Were getting in it." she reported her findings.

Red looked at Angie to confirm whether they were going with this plan but she immediately turned in the other direction. Red suspected that he must have angered her in some way but there was no time to try to think about how he could have offended her. He saw that Tarieli was already advancing towards the vent she mentioned. The rest followed her and the boy began to wonder if the Admin could still be considered as the one leading the mission. How was the mission even supposed to proceed from that point onward? They got inside the base but it wasn't clear to him what they were hoping to achieve by doing it. He would try to ask Angie but since they were already in the vent, it would be hard to have a proper conversation, not only because they didn't want to make noise but also because she was crawling behind him and it would be rude to talk to her when the only thing she could see in front of her was his butt.

He felt relieved that they coats were long enough or otherwise he would probably feel the need to look away from Tarieli's rear in order not to look like a pervert. Not that anyone could see where he was looking at the time. Still, he preferred to look around, hoping to finally spot some openings in the vent that could be used to peer outside and figure out where they were. It didn't take long before Tarieli suddenly stopped. Red noticed that she was looking through a metal pane with multiple slits. He couldn't see what she was observing from where he was but her face was at angle where he could view the visible disgust for whatever was going on on the other side of that pane. He grabbed her by the ankle but she was so taken aback that she didn't notice him until he shook her leg a little. She crawled forward to allow him to see the outside.

"What?" he couldn't stop himself from asking.

He was loud enough to be heard by the other two. Angie wanted to reprimand him but she couldn't think of a way to do it without making more noise than he just did. On the other hand, Tarieli could easily understand how someone could have this type of reaction. She was actually surprised how someone who wasn't really trained by Team Rocket could have such a mild reaction, but also happy that he didn't reveal their presence to the people in the room the vent was going through.

"These bastards..." the boy said in a quieter voice before lowering his head.

Angie still had no clue what was going on but Tarieli assumed that he was going to cry and tried rotating her body so that she could approach him, hoping that a face-to-face with her would help in calming him down. Right as she began to move, she felt something or someone grab her by the hand. She didn't have time for a proper reaction because Red also decided to start moving, although in a much swifter fashion.

"I'll kill you!" he shouted while bashing the pane with his head, with such strength that he caused it to fall out, with him following right after it.

Even though he managed to do something that should normally be impossible to a regular human being, he didn't come out unscathed. He landed on the floor and slowly got up. By touching his forehead where the pain was coming from, he accidentally smeared the blood flowing from it on the rest of his face. This sudden entrance and the way he looked was so stunning that no one in the room knew had to react. There were around twenty people there, all dressed like scientists, and all of them had their instincts telling them that if they tried to as much as twitch, they would be putting themselves in mortal danger.

Angie followed Red as quickly as she could but before she could make any comment about his behavior, she witnessed what it was that made him so agitated. On the opposite side of the room she could see multiple tanks filled with a green liquid and in each of them was a Pokemon, but none of them looked right. It was something more than just breeding them. These people were clearly conducting experiments that consisted of them forcing a mutation. It seemed almost as if they were hoping to create a hybrids that were a mix of Pokemon and humans. She was disgusted by the sight but she knew that despite that she would never react in the same way Red did. But she didn't have time to consider what could have been. She had to take advantage of the fact that these people were too scared to move.

"Go, Sandslash!"

Before she could give her Pokemon a command, she was distracted by Tarieli's voice coming from behind "Help!"

The other girl came flying out of the vent but it didn't look like she did it of her own volition. Right after she hit the floor, someone or something else appeared from inside the vent. It looked like a long haired man, in a green bandana, in his twenties, expect for the fact that his skin had a greenish-yellow hue to it, and instead of walking, he moved along the wall using slime from his bare hands and feet in order to stick to it.

"Faust was right." he stated, his voice sounding as if his mouth was partially filled with liquid.

"Are you like them?" Red was still visibly burning with anger but he could control himself enough to pose the question while pointing towards the experiments in the tanks.

"Don't compare me these abominations. They are just Pokemon that we're trying to improve. I'm a human. But why the hell am I answering you? You're not going to live much long..."

Having confirmed what he needed to know, Red pushed the button on the pokeball he's been holding for a while and summoned Eevee. He made sure to talk to his Pokemon before the mission began to let them know that if he summoned them, they were to be prepared for a serious situation. The dog instinctively recognized the man in the bandana as a threat and started running at him even before receiving any order.

"Quick Attack!" Red shouted.

The opponent jumped out of the way long before Eevee could reach the wall but he wasn't prepared for another attack from the direction he leapt towards. He turned his head at the perfect moment to see Red's fist pummel him in the face. With the speed he was moving at, the punch was enough to make him fall on the ground, unconscious, not to mention his broken nose.

"Now the rest of you!" Red yelled, his emotions causing his voice to raise to almost a shriek.

He swiftly moved towards the scientist and grabbed one of them by the neck, ready to deliver the same kind of treatment he gave the yellow-skinned man. To his surprise, his hand was stopped by something right as he was about to knock out the person he was holding. He turned to see Angie trying to stop him by grabbing his arm with all her strength.

"We don't have time! Don't you understand?! This was a trap! Faust knew we were coming! We have to get out!"

"You're asking me if I understand?! Can't you see what they did to these Pokemon?! How many more will meet this fate if we don't stop them?!"

"We will!" she raised her voice in desperation "But we can't do it right now! It's three of us against however many of them and Tarieli is already hurt! The best thing we can do is get out and get backup! If we get caught right now, then we won't be able to inform anyone about these experiments and Darkness Gang will probably move to another base! Just... Please, listen to me."

Red looked with disgust at the person he was trying to punch, and then at the rest of them who were still too intimidated to attempt anything, before turning back towards Angie and saying "Ok."

After she slowly let go of him, he decided to let out at least a bit of his anger by throwing the scientist at the others, looking as they fell to the floor like a tower of building blocks. In that time, Angie helped Tarieli stand up after hearing from the other girl that she sprained an ankle.

"I'll make sure that they won't be able to alarm anyone." said the Admin "Sandslash, use Sandstorm."

The Pokemon hit the floor with one of its feet, making particles of sand, that weren't there a second ago, raise from the floor before gesturing in the direction of the scientists which caused the sand to move in their direction while starting to move around as if they were about to form a tornado.

"Alright. What now?" Red asked their leader after taking Eevee into his arms.

"Tarieli won't be able to go back the way we came from with her leg like this. We'll have to find another path to an exit."

Red silently followed the girls and Sandslash as they were leaving the room, stopping for a second to take one last look at the Pokemon in the tanks and biting his lip to force himself to leave despite wanting to help them.

. . .

The group slowly made their way through the facility. The ordeal was made harder after a while since it seemed like the scientist were able to notify other members of Darkness Gang of their presence in the base. There weren't many spots they could hide it and the only way they could increase their chances was by putting Sandslash back in the pokeball since making the group a little smaller would make it harder to notice. It turned out that it wasn't enough. Although Tarieli knew the general direction towards two other doors leading to the outside, they had to take detours in order to avoid getting into a fight but they did't know the layout of the building which meant that sometimes someone would surprise them by appearing from somewhere they wouldn't expect. Red kept on using Eevee in order to knock out singular opponents before they could get help or summon their own Pokemon.

"It's no use." Tarieli said while they were hiding behind a bunch of crates "I'm only slowing you down. If Angie didn't have to carry me, she could use her Pokemon and both of you could move faster. You should leave me..."

She couldn't finish her sentence because of the sharp pain in her cheek. Both girls looked at Red with shock after he just slapped Tarieli.

"What the hell are you doing?" Angie asked.

"I... It just seemed like the obvious thing to do. I already feel terrible about leaving those Pokemon behind and you're asking us to do the same with you? You can't do that. If you ever think about giving up, you have to stop thinking and rely on your gut. Do you want do die here?"

"Of course not." Tarieli responded.

"Good. You want to live. That feeling is enough to carry you forward."

"Except I can't move by myself."

"When I said "carry"..." Red said as he grabbed her by the waist "...I meant it literally."

He lifted her up and threw her over his arm. He wasn't the strongest person but he had a lot of stamina and the girl weighed less than he would suspect so he was confident that he could keep her like that for at least a couple minutes. This position also allowed him to keep one of his hands free.

"Can you tell me the directions while hanging backwards?"

The girl needed some time to process what just happened but she answered "Yes. I'll also be able to keep a watch on anyone trying to attack us from behind."

"Alright. Angie, we're gonna run." Red said to the Admin who still looked astonished but managed to nod so the boy started running in the direction they were moving towards before.

Not having to help Tarieli anymore, Angie called out her Sandslash which used Slash on anyone who would try to get in their way. This way they were able to reach one of the exits. Everything was happening fast but the Admin couldn't get rid of the feeling that they were ignoring something.

Red kicked the door open and the group was greeted with a half-circle of Darkness Gang members waiting for them outside. They couldn't move backwards since Tarieli alarmed them about another bunch following them from inside the building. Angie closed the door behind them and had Sandslash damage the lock so that group wouldn't be able to get in their way. The Admin noticed that it started to snow but she was more concerned about the opponents in front. It seemed that if they would be able to get through them, they would be in the clear.

"We finally meet again, boy." a familiar voice came from above.

"On the roof!" Tarieli shouted while pointing towards a person standing on the ledge about 5 meters above the door.

Red turned around. Although most of the body was robotic, the face remained mostly the same besides gaining an artificial eye, so the boy immediately recognized Faust. His limbs were replaced by robotic ones, with one of his arms being an enormous pincer claw, and both his feet replaced by tracks that looked like they could change shape depending on the way he needed to move in, It looked like he was about to jump down so Team Rocket moved away from the door. The cracks made in the ground after his fall suggested that he must have weighed hundreds of kilograms.

"The last time we faced each other I was just a normal human. When I returned to Darkness Gang, they wanted me to turn me into a human-Pokemon hybrid like they did with a couple others but I wanted to stand out from the rest. That's why I underwent a different kind of transformation. I heard you beat Krote but I'm not like that fool. Your Eevee won't be able to put so much as a scratch on my new body... but I invite you to try."

"Come back, Eevee." Red put the dog back in his pokeball.

"Are you planning on giving up without putting up any resistance? I'm a pretty merciful guy so I won't cause you much pain... but I still plan on killing you."

"Angie, keep an eye on Tarieli." Red said while putting down the latter.

The Admin nodded and turned towards the lesser Darkness Gang members. It seemed that they were eager to fight her at the same time Red would be facing their superior so she gave Sandslash a look that meant that it had to be prepared for sudden attacks.

"We're supposed to run away, not fight, but I don't know what this new body of his is capable of so I have to test out if escape is possible at all." Red thought as he stared down the man "Last time I had to use my whole team and I still wasn't able to defeat his Machamp. It looks like he's so confident that he doesn't plan on using any Pokemon but there's a chance that he's underestimating us, not knowing how much my Pokemon changed since then."

"I've waited long enough." Faust stated before his treads started moving, carrying him towards Red as he was preparing to attack with his pincer.

"Charmeleon!" Red released the Pokemon from his ball before the opponent could reach them and decided to try a counter similar to the attack "Metal Claw!"

The two clashed and although the Fire Pokemon was moved back a little thanks to the speed Faust gained before delivering the blow, he didn't fall which filled Red with optimism. But that wasn't all that the enemy planned to do. He tightened the pincer around Charmeleon's arm and started moving his treads faster than before. The lizard struggled to push back but he couldn't keep up. The combination of snow and mud beneath his feet made it harder to keep his balance and after a couple seconds, he slipped up, allowing the one-eyed man to lift him off the ground and throw him into air in order to make an easy target once he would fall down.

"Flamethrower!" Red ordered.

Charmeleon shout out a stream of fire which hit the opponent while also slowing down his descent but he noticed that Faust put up both his arms in time to block the attack, and while his metallic body looked like it was heating up, it would probably take a lot more to actually damage it. By making an "x" out of them and swinging his arms in the direction of the lizard, he sent the attack back to the one who used it. It didn't do much damage but Red could see that his Pokemon was momentarily blinded by it and he was about to fall belly-first into Faust's closed pincer. The boy sprung forward and stretch himself out as much as he could in order to punch the only part of Faust that still looked human, his face. Because of his weight making him grounded, the man wasn't moved at all by the attack, but he didn't expect it which was enough to make him turn slightly to look at the boy. That offset him enough to allow Charmeleon to miss the pincer and land safely on the ground in front of him.

"Go!" Red shouted, opting out for a quick command instead of using an attack names, knowing that even a fraction of a second could make a huge difference.

Seeing that the lizard was about to use Flamethrower, Faust had little time to react. The attack was aimed at his head and he wouldn't be able to put up a guard fast enough so he swung his torso backwards. After seeing that his foe planned to continued the attack by trying to reach his face despite him dodging, he put his treads to use and started moving backwards as fast as he could. Unfortunately for him, he didn't account for the distance between him and the building and although he managed to avoid the fire, he crashed into the wall, his metallic limbs piercing it and causing him to get stuck. There wasn't telling how long it would take him to get out but this was the best chance Red could get.

"We're going!" he announced to Angie who already managed to defeat a bunch of opponent's with her Sandslash "Charmeleon, use Smokescreen!"

He ran over to Tarieli while he could still see the girls and picked her up. Once he was holding her, she pointed towards a direction to tell him and Angie which way they should go to escape. The group ran outside the cloud of smoke and reached the fence. Charmeleon and Sandslash exchanged quick looks as if to confirm whether the other one knew what they were supposed to do, even though neither of them received an order. The two used their respective slashing attacks in order to cut through the fence. A person on one of the towers noticed them and planned to intervene in their escape but Tarieli's Zubat appeared in front of them suddenly, making them stumble backwards and fall to the ground from such height that they must have broken at least a couple bones.

. . .

"It's no use!" Angie yelled, not worried about the pursuit because the wind picked up and they were now in a snowstorm that made it hard to hear if she talked normally "My beacon doesn't want to activate! It's already troublesome because of all the mountains around us but this weather makes it even harder! How about you?!"

Red and Tarieli both touched their bands but theirs also wouldn't react.

"At least we know which direction we're heading in!" Tarieli tried to look at the positive side of the situation.

"Won't that make it easier for them to find us?!" Red asked but neither girl wanted to answer that which itself was enough to know that they weren't in the clear, not by a long mile.

"Damn it. We can't just keeping on walking like this. Even if we manage to avoid them, it's getting colder by the minute. We'll freeze if we stay out in the open." Angie thought right as they were approaching what looked like a clearing in the woods.

There was a chance they would be able to spot some hiding place once the trees wouldn't obstruct their view but it would also mean that they themselves would be easier to spot if their enemies were somewhere nearby.

"Watch out!" Red shouted, even louder than before, making Angie stop completely.

She didn't understood at first what was going on but after a while she understood that she was so busy looking around that she didn't bother to look down. Otherwise, she would have noticed that she was about to walk off a cliff, Seeing where she was standing, she immediately took a step back.

"Thanks! This looks like a dead end! We'll have to pick another way!" she said but after turning around she felt like her words may have jinxed them.

From between the trees appeared Faust. The fact that he found them so quickly must have meant that he was following them fairly closely and this stop was what he needed to catch up. With him blocking the way towards the forest and with a cliff behind them, the group had nowhere to escape. Angie and Red hid their Pokemon back in their balls soon after leaving the compound since they didn't want them to get needlessly tired but standing face to face with their enemy made her think that it was a mistake because she wasn't confident that she would be able to summon her Pokemon before Faust's attack would reach them.

"I won't be taking any chances." stated the one-eyed man, although none of his enemies were close enough to hear it.

They didn't need to hear him since his next actions were enough to make them understand what he wanted to do. He hit the ground in front of him a couple times, until he made a hole into which he inserted his pincer claw. The fact that he did it with his hand being sideways, didn't escape Red's attention. The boy had a feeling about what it could mean but trying to confirm his suspicion by approaching Faust would be equally dangerous to what the man wanted to do to them. It took him only a second to get over this worry and start running forward in order to stop him but that second was all the criminal needed.

Beside making a hole, Faust's punching caused multiple cracks to form underground, weakening the cliff enough that when he used his pincer, he could cause the earth to move apart by expanding the claw. Red could probably make it over the gap but there were two things that made him stop. Firstly, it was now clear that Faust would use his other hand to send him back, and secondly, he and Tarieli would be leaving Angie behind even if he somehow avoided getting punched. Part of the cliff detached itself and the three of them fell together with it. Faust lifted his hand and looked below. It was hard to see because of the snow but he was certain it was a long way down and with the visibility so low, the group would have trouble trying to grab onto anything.

"I'll have to send some people to confirm their deaths once this snowstorm stops." he made a mental note "Now... Which way was the base?"

. . .

"Hang on tight!" Angie yelled to the rest of the group.

"Red, you can let go of me! I don't need my leg for this!" Tarieli informed the boy.

"I would but I don't know how to do it without letting go myself!"

Thanks to Angie's quick thinking, they were now flying on her Dragonair. That didn't mean that they were out of trouble. The bottom of the ravine they were thrown into had a fast stream going through it and the lower the altitude the less space there was between rock formations. Everything happened so quickly that Angie was hanging from the bottom of her Pokemon, feeling like her arms could give out at any moment. Red was the right way up but his grip wasn't much better since he still was using one of his hands to hold onto Tarieli. They wanted to get out of this place as fast as possible but flying through the ravine while avoiding the sharps rocks and the freezing water was a task Dragonair wasn't expecting to be carrying out that day. They couldn't just fly up with worrying about falling off the Pokemon or about their pursuers noticing them. The ride was bumpy but they finally reached the end of the ravine where the stream formed a small waterfall, and flew over a stretch of forest for some time before noticing that they were in the clear.

"We'll have to find somewhere to land!" shouted Tarieli.

"That won't be enough! We have to find some place to hide! Dragonair, fly closer to the mountain! Maybe I'll spot a cave!" Angie answered the other girl before giving a command to her Pokemon.

The dragon turned around although it was still hard to move like it wanted to. If they were to find a cave, they had to do it fast since the humans' hands could lose their strength at any moment but if the Pokemon moved too fast it could risk dropping them.

"I see something!" Tarieli announced to the rest.

. . .

"You have a good eye." Angie complimented Tarieli while examining the walls of the cave with her hand.

"We may not be in the snowstorm anymore but it's still terribly cold." the other girl commented, sitting as far away from the entrance as she could, while also trying to examine the damage to her leg.

"Not for long." Red interjected while jumping into the cave from Dragonair's back, carrying some wood.

Charmeleon and Sandslash were right behind him. The boy used the two Pokemon to quickly cut down some trees in order to start a fire that would keep the group warm until the snow subsided but since the cave was fairly high, it was safer to fly to it on Dragonair's back than trying to climb the ice-covered wall of the mountain.

Angie returned both her Pokemon to their balls to let them rest after everything they had to. Meanwhile, Red and Charmeleon arranged the wood and some stones around it before the lizard set it on fire.

"You did well, buddy." the boy said to the Pokemon before putting him in his pokeball.

As he was approaching Tarieli in order to help her get closer to the fire, Red kept on scratching his left hand.

"Did something happen?" Angie asked, sounding a little worried, most likely thinking that he had to fight someone or something while collecting wood.

"No. It's a little itchy. I probably got a splinter or something. Nothing to worry about."

"Ohh. This fire is so nice." Tarieli noted while warming her hands "I don't suppose either of you will be able to fix my leg so I won't be able to be on the lookout but one of you should probably stay awake. Decide that between yourself. I'll hit the hay for now... I wish there was hay. This rocky floor isn't the most comfortable."

The other two sat in silence for a while. Red would sometimes poke the burning wood with a stick. Angie was waiting for Tarieli to fall asleep and when she was fairly sure that the other girl went off to dreamland, she sat a little closer to Red and turned slightly towards him.

"Don't take this the wrong way but... you were kind of scary back there. Being able to intimidate your enemies is a useful ability but it looked like you lost control of yourself."

"Not really."

"What?"

"By saying that I lost control, you make it sound like I should dislike the way I acted. What I dislike is that you were right. Leaving was probably the best thing to do and I hate that we couldn't save those Pokemon."

"I told you that we'll save them later."

"I know but... Aren't you mad that we didn't do it back then?"

"I thought about it at the time and I waged our chances. That's all."

"You're talking about probability... You're missing the point."

"Then explain your reasoning to me."

Red couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny?" the Admin asked.

"There's no reasoning. It's all based on emotions. If I feel that I want to help someone, I'll do it, even if they tell me not to. If I feel like someone deserves a punch to the face, I'll deliver it even if it gets me into trouble."

"That's no way to live. If you don't think everything through, you'll get yourself killed one of these days."

"Then how about a hypothetical scenario?" he asked while leaning towards her.

"Alright... I guess?"

"You see someone in a dangerous situation and think "there's a chance that this person could die right now". You aren't completely sure if they will die. If you try to save them, there's a chance you will die. You could also live but there's definitely a chance you could die and it could be that it was all for nothing. Would you save them?"

"Who is the person in this scenario?"

"Doesn't matter."

"What I would do would depend on who it was."

"You know... If I thought that way, there is a chance you would be dead..." he said before lying down "...Or not."

Angie didn't immediately understood what he meant but after running what he said through her mind once again, she understood that his hypothetical scenario was alluding to the time he saved her in Cerulean City. The boy went to sleep, turning her back to her. She remembered how he hurt himself on shattered glass back there and without thinking she reached out towards him but realized what she was doing right before touching him.

"They're very different yet somehow... Somehow he reminds me of father." Angie thought as she sat there observing the fire.


So, right after writing the longest chapter up until that point, I went and started writing this one which turned out to be even longer. Now I'm starting to worry. I wanted this chapter to stand out but I also want the couple next ones to stand out together with this one and I don't think I'll be able to make them this long and it may seem like I don't care about what's going on in them as much as I care about this one.

Let's go over some major points of this chapter:

- I gave Nets something to do beside being Red's roommate

- Red and Blaine finally have a much needed talk after what happened in chapter 35

- Faust returns. If I wanted to be dramatic, I could have kept it hidden until he appeared but there then the conversation between Red and the Admins and even the mission would probably go completely different. In-universe it's been around 3 months since Red last saw him but in actual time it's been more than a year.

- I introduced various concepts like experimental Pokemon, people with Pokemon abilities and cyborgs and I realize that some people probably won't like it. I think I can safely say that the first two will be limited to Darkness Gang and their storyline won't go on forever so you'll only have to deal with it for some time. There are a couple others like Krote and I hoped to have them appear at least for a bit in this chapter but there wasn't a good place so I'll introduce them another time. But the slimy man and the others was mostly just me wanting to have some fun, silly characters that don't need to have any backstory or development and are there just for flair.

- Red got his Pokemon back. Eevee and Charmeleon haven't appeared since chapter 28. Speaking of Pokemon, I updated my profile so it lists all the Pokemon of the current main characters and the chapters in which they got them so if you ever read about someone using a certain Pokemon and you aren't able to remember where it came from, you'll have an easier way to check.

- Tarieli came back. Of course she didn't have a name when she was first introduced but I pointed her out from the crowd back then so that I would have a Team Rocket member I could use later on if I wanted to. There was a lot of stuff about the mission that I had to figure out as I wrote it and adding a third person to the party was one of them. She's like a tie-breaker for Red and Angie's conflicting views in this chapter but she's also essentially the master of "I spy".

- Red. He's not a character that can get much development but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's simple. That's why you and Angie get to learn more about how he views the consequences of his actions which I hope is enough to explain why he's acting so rashly a lot of the time.


Red. Team: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Gloom, Pidgeotto, Nidorino.

At Team Rocket Base: Gyarados.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Jynx, Jigglypuff.

Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Zubat(Ken), Graveler(?), Ponyta(Dasher).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, Gengar.