From here onwards, there's nothing holding me back anymore.

I had done my part, both as a member of Team Rocket and as Indigo's operative. I had put an end to Kain, ending his life and rule over Indigo. I had given everything I learnt about Team Rocket over to Lance and the Indigo and helped where I can.

There's nothing more I can do here. I don't want to help Team Rocket any further, but I certainly do not want to be any more involved in Indigo's affairs, not after what they had done to me.

My time is up. There's only one thing left to do before I take my leave. If I somehow lived through this, then maybe I can find somewhere to live the rest of my life in peace. If I die, that's fine too.

'This scene really is beautiful. So this is the whole of Indigo Plateau?'

'Yeah.' I replied to Mewtwo through the mental link we now share from where I am currently sitting on the highest peak of Indigo Plateau, taking a short break and thinking through things before performing my last act. Due to our psychic connection, he sees what I see and feels what I feel. We are both seeing this through together.

'You won't be caged in there any further. You will be released soon. You can go and visit Mount Silver that you had been so curious about.'

'Good.' I can feel Mewtwo's excitement through his voice. 'I cannot wait to get out and explore the world. What about you?'

'I don't know.' I answered truthfully. 'And it honestly doesn't matter.'

'I personally want to fully understand the Kanto region and see for myself what it really is. It is the region that I was originally created to protect, I want to at least understand the meaning of my existence, to see if Kanto is truly worth protecting.'

'Just be sure that you get the full picture, both the good and the bad, before coming to a decision. Don't be like me. In the end, even my pokemon kept things from me. Things that I should have known at least eight years ago.'

'It's-'

'For my own good?'

There was a brief pause of silence. It's not hard to tell that even Mewtwo knew about Jane's secret even earlier than I do. I may be a master of deception and illusions, but I am the one who got deceived the longest.

The irony.

'Do you hate her?'

'I could never hate her.' I confessed. 'Even after all that, I could never stop loving her.'

'So… is what you feel about her... love?'

'To love is to give without condition, even if your actions are never reciprocated. This is why love is such a powerful emotion.'

'I… see.'

'No, you don't. You still don't understand what love is.'

'You got me there.' Mewtwo chuckled before asking his next question. 'Jayce, we are… friends? Right?'

'If you would have me, I will be honoured to be your first friend. I cannot promise you that I will stay in this world for long though. You know how it is.'

My phone buzzed and I checked the message received. The first phase of Operation Skip has been completed. Now, Giovanni and the rest of the Executives will be handling the next few phases as per the plan.

It's time.

'Have you checked what we needed to know?'

'Surprisingly, it's Lance and his lackeys who first found out about what we didn't manage to find. You know about Kanto's Legendary Birds? The League suspect that they have been in Team Rocket's hands for quite some time now, they just don't have any proof.'

'So they need someone to verify their suspicions?'

'No one likes to be blindsided.'

'I see. I know now, what I should do.'

Regardless if Giovanni really has the legendary birds with him or not, someone needs to stop or at the very least, delay him. If he does have the birds with him, then I need to prevent them from ever being used. Even if the Legendary Birds are not in Team Rocket's grasp, someone needs to slow Giovanni down before things do get out of hand.

Giovanni needs to be tracked down, ASAP. To effectively halt or take down an organised group, it's always wise to first take down their ringleader.

However, nobody has a clue about Giovanni's current location, not even me. At least, it wasn't made known to me no matter how I tried to inquire about it. So, the old-fashioned method of tracking him down it is.

I removed the breton cap from my head and took in one last look at the scene in front of me. In front of me is the Indigo Plateau, one of the highest points in Indigo, conveniently located between the two regions. From here, one can get the full view of the two regions that made up Indigo. I can finally see for myself what the other 358 operatives and I had sacrificed to protect.

This is Indigo, and it is really, really beautiful.

It's all for the greater good.

Today, I had done my part as the Rocket's Exterminator and eliminated Kain. Today, I had also finally done my part as Indigo's secret agent, Operative 2046, Code name: Gengar, and gave the Indigo League all that I knew about the biggest blight in the nation, allowing them to remove Team Rocket for good.

Today, I'm finally free.

I am no longer bound to anyone and any organisation. From this point onwards, everything I am going to do is of my own accord. From this point onwards, I am no longer a nameless person. I no longer need to hide myself behind false names.

From this point onwards, I only have one identity: Jayce.

It is a large weight off my shoulders.

"You won't die a pleasant death too, 2046. We are one and the same."

I closed my eyes as his final words echoed in my head. Kain isn't wrong, we are both one and the same. We had both willingly stained our hands in blood to do what we think is right. It's no longer a matter of what is right or wrong anymore. To Kain, what he did is what he views as right, because it is the only way he knows how to improve Indigo. In the name of the greater good, he had committed many unacceptable crimes behind the backs of the people he is supposed to protect.

So did I.

My mind went back to Operation Skip, the largest operation Team Rocket had conducted to date. Operation Skip has four phases.

The first phase of Team Rocket's plan is infiltration. This is the phase that Petrel is in charge of. To make our statement as effective as possible, our stage must be properly set before we conduct our act. Taking over the stadium, playing the pre-recorded video of Archer's speech live on TV, holding 100,000 people hostages. All of these are to facilitate the proceedings of the subsequent phases.

The second phase is getting Kain out of the way through assassination and defamation. While I assassinate Kain, evidence of ALL his shady dealings will be posted on the internet for the whole world to see during National Day itself. This is made possible not only through my secret access to Indigo's database as a double agent. Team Rocket's cyber army of porygons also made it possible to get our hands on this huge load of confidential data beforehand and upload it in a very short period of time. Everything has to be done live on TV to make an impact and help Team Rocket make a statement to the entire world. The entire cabinet of ministers will be assassinated by zoroark before I deal with Kain. Nosy will lead the cyber army of porygons to do what they do best.

The third phase is taking over Kanto, the part of the plan in which Proton is in charge of. This is the stage where everyone in Team Rocket will be involved. Taking advantage of the confusion caused at Indigo Plateau and Kain's defamation, Giovanni himself will rally the army of anti-Johto Kantonians he had long since gathered under the name of Team Rocket's secret leader to quickly create chaos in Kanto, fanning anti-Indigo and anti-Johto sentiments as they lead the masses to fight for Kanto's separation and her rights right in Kanto itself. The chaos that ensued will hold the Kanto's leaders long enough for Giovanni to do what needs to be done.

To conquer Johto.

To Giovanni, as long as Johto remains standing, Kanto will never be free. In his eyes, only when Indigo as a nation had divided and only when Johto had fallen would Kanto be truly free. Thus, the need to conquer Johto as soon as possible, to strike while the iron's hot when the League is the least prepared.

Every Johto city and town has a sizable number of Rocket groups stationed near it, each capable of taking over their respective territories in a single day. It is very possible that Team Rocket is able to make their goals a reality even before the day is over. With that, Team Rocket will then have conquered Johto with Giovanni as her new ruler. On this Indigo National Day, a revolution will happen and Indigo will be no more, because Kanto separated from the merger through walking a bloody path, consuming their oppressor who had been taking advantage of them since more than 500 years ago.

Furthermore, the Executives and Giovanni are all confident that Team Rocket can easily rally a large number of Kantonians from the Kanto populace to support their cause the moment Kain's acts are revealed. However, Giovanni foresaw that the Johto Gym Leaders will be a problem. According to Giovanni, each of Indigo's Gym Leaders are undeniably loyal to the League and must be neutralised. My role in the third phase is to neutralise the person who is arguably the most experienced and strongest Gym Leader in the Johto region, Pryce. Mewtwo will be used to destroy the Elite Four and Lance.

Thereafter, we can then proceed to the final phase of the plan, the phase which Archer himself had planned.

After taking over Johto and taking out their Pillars, Team Rocket will then proceed to unite Kanto. Giovanni had figured that after Kain's deeds are revealed to the world, the number of Kantonians who will side with them would probably be as much as those who oppose the idea, but there will also be an equally large number of people who will remain undecided. choosing to sit on the fence.

Thus, the siege on Johto must be conducted as soon as possible and our battles must be won as quickly as possible. This will be the final push for those who were standing on neutral ground to side with us, because nobody in their right mind would want to go against Team Rocket the moment Indigo fell. It doesn't matter if they chose to side with us willingly, all that matters is if we win today's battles and emerge as the victor from the war we had waged.

Even without Kain as President, Indigo is strong. Fighting Indigo's Gym Leaders is no cakewalk. Even if we have the numerical advantage in the form of an enormous and highly trained Team Rocket army, we don't have enough individuals to fight all of Indigo's Gym Leaders.

Assuming that Team Rocket does manage to conquer Johto within a day, there will undoubtedly be resistance from all sides. Kanto's Gym Leaders will no doubt be on our case. Our element of surprise will be gone after we neutralised Johto's Gym Leaders before the Indigo League knows what was going on, so Kanto's Gym Leaders will be expecting us. We will have to conquer Johto's towns and cities in the fastest way possible even before the Gym Leaders could react. Hence, the success of the final phase heavily relies on the Team Rocket members that are already present in Johto. They will be the deciding factor which determines if we can breach the various Johto cities and towns.

Because of this plan, this whole conquest is a race of whether Team Rocket can conquer both regions faster than the Indigo League can react to the sudden rebellion.

The first and second phase are already completed. Right now, Indigo Plateau is a warzone with everybody fighting with everybody else. Right now, public opinions are definitely divided about whether Indigo should continue to exist as a nation created by the merger of two regions. No doubt Giovanni is pleased at the results. With this, it is easier for him to persuade and convince Kantonians that Johtonians are nothing but their oppressors. It will be easy for him to persuade them to join Team Rocket's cause and I have no doubt that he can do it within the short span of a single day because he is a sincere and charismatic man.

If only we weren't enemies. I would have loved to work under him if we are not on opposite sides.

Unfortunately for Giovanni, I will not let Team Rocket's plan advance to the third phase. I can only hope that Lance can put a stop to things before everything goes downhill for the League but if we want to prevent the third phase from truly happening, someone has to stop Giovanni before he has the chance to really start fanning anti-Johto sentiments throughout Kanto.

There comes a small hiccup that I could not foresee until it happens now. I have no idea where Giovanni currently is, so stopping Giovanni begins with finding out just where he is right now. Someone needs to find him and the person best suited for this task is me.

If Giovanni were to try to escape, I would then need to stall for time for someone capable of bringing him down to appear. I will be forced to face Giovanni in a fight I cannot win because it will be a head-on fight, an area that I do not specialise in.

Nevertheless, I will take on this job to complete my original mission that birthed Project Illusion. My first and final mission, to protect the peace in Indigo at all costs. I'm not alone. My pokemon are with me. The lives of the 358 fellow child spies are with me and watching me, including Jane. I know she will be cheering me on like she always does from wherever she is right now.

My ultimate duty as a double agent is to uphold the peace in Indigo above all. The peace of Indigo, the greater good, that is what Jane had died for and I will uphold it for her no matter the cost.

For once, I don't feel like a villain. What a refreshing thought.

'Mewtwo, what's the situation on your side?'

'Still restrained in this accursed M2 Bind. My powers are still being sapped away. Is this the time to curse and swear? I recently learnt a new word for this very situation. It's called FUCK.'

'Language. I taught you better than this.'

'Language? Hello? We are at war now and you are reprimanding me for the use of my language?'

'You are at war. I am taking a temporary vacation.'

'Oh fuck you.'

'Language.'

'Fuck, YOU. And by the way, it seems that it may take some time, but I believe that the lizard tamer and his lackeys will succeed in freeing me from this accursed piece of metal… eventually. They will definitely take quite a bit of time but I can finally leave this horrid place once they are done. I will rinse the Rocket hideouts in blood and-'

'Mewtwo. We promised.'

'Fine.' Mewtwo relented. 'No unnecessary killing unless we really need it, I got it the first time. What about you? Are you really going to stop Giovanni all on your own?'

'Yes.'

'That's suicide and you know it.'

'If it means finally completing my mission, then so be it. You should know it better than I do, the longing to be free. No matter the outcome, I can finally be free once this is all over. No matter what happens, I can finally rest properly knowing that I did my best.'

'I still think that I should be the one fighting Giovanni.'

'He created you. He knows all of your strengths and weaknesses. I don't put it past him to have even more hidden countermeasures against you excluding the current M2 Bind. I need you to help Lance and the Thirteen Pillars to root out all the Rockets in every city.'

'I hope you mean only Johto's cities.'

'I mean every city. Starting from Kanto.'

'You, my friend, are a slave driver.'

'The League's main focus right now is at Johto, but Giovanni's homebase is at Kanto. It is where his influence is the strongest. Knowing him, he will use this opportunity to create chaos in Kanto as well to push his plans forward aggressively, not giving Indigo the space to even take a breather. The League could not possibly handle a war in Johto while dealing with riot outbreaks in Kanto. Someone needs to put a stop to whatever is going to happen in Kanto so that the League-'

'- can focus their attention to the war that is going to happen in Johto. I get it. Just why, why oh why, is that person tasked for the job, ME?'

'Because you are Mewtwo. Only a being as powerful as you can travel so quickly and frequently from one place to another with Teleport and not get tired. Only a being as powerful as you can take out Giovanni's massive and highly trained armies by himself and I trust only you to do it perfectly.'

'In that case, I will quickly wrap things up on my end before going to assist you.'

'No, stay away from my fight with Giovanni as planned.' I insisted. 'As long as we don't give Giovanni a chance to recapture you, it's half the battle won. Staying away from him as far as possible is the easiest way to do it.'

'I am Mewtwo. I won't be a burden.'

'I know you won't be, but it's the only way I know how to protect you. When I see you, I… I see myself in you, Mewtwo. I see who I was before I became Plague. I don't want you to end up with the same fate as me, to be someone else's tool. I know it is illogical for you to not take part in this battle against Giovanni, but it is a selfish wish of mine that I want to see done.'

'Jayce-'

'I want to protect you. You are the only person left that I can protect. For once, let me be the one to do the protecting instead of being protected. For once, let me protect something that I deem important enough to risk my life for. This time, not because I have orders to do so, but on my own volition.'

'You protect me, but there's nobody to do so for you.'

'I don't need it. I'm a dying man.'

'Jayce-'

'Be free, Mewtwo.' I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sensation of the cool breeze blowing across my face. 'Enjoy your life and be free. Enjoy the one thing that I could never enjoy. That's the last gift I can give you as Jayce, your friend.'

'Jayce? Jayce!'

My thoughts conveyed, I told Mewtwo the last thing I want to tell him before I forcefully severed our telepathic link.

'Thank you, Mewtwo, for being my friend.'


In Lance's opinion, things had mostly gone according to plan thus far with a few hiccups. The biggest hiccup is that nobody knew where Giovanni and Kain had gone. Kain is unimportant right now, but not knowing Giovanni's current location is worrying. He had received an anonymous message from an unknown number telling him that whoever sent him the message is tracking Giovanni down and will relay to him Giovanni's location once he has confirmation. Lance can only assume that the sender of this message is his mysterious informant. That is the most educated guess that he can make given what he knew.

Upon getting wind of the entire situation about the attack Team Rocket had planned to launch on Indigo, Lance immediately knew that he cannot do this alone. He had enlisted the help of people he trusts the moment he made his decision to take matters into his own hands and do something to protect the fragile peace of Indigo. Any form of help he could possibly get, he took it.

Even if it means swallowing his pride as Indigo Champion and asking help from important figures from other regions, because he failed in his job as Champion.

And it paid off. Sure, the fact that almost the entire cabinet of ministers were somehow slain in front of their very eyes without anyone realising until his battle with Mewtwo started was something they could never expect to happen, but at least there are no other casualties among the civilians within the Indigo Stadium. At least, not to his current knowledge.

As of now, Indigo Plateau is on lockdown. The Rockets that he knew had infiltrated the place had all been arrested, defeated, and accounted for. Innocents are safe and are currently under protection from a very special department of the police force that he can trust.

Now, it's time for Indigo's counterattack.

There are many elite forces from the Police, Rangers, and STAR stationed here today that are not made known of this important event until right before it started. Fortunately for him, these people are the best of the best in what they do. They can handle a few emergency missions and adapt to the sudden threat thrown their way. It left a bad taste in his mouth that he has to assign them emergency missions immediately but he has no choice. He absolutely cannot allow any chance for a leak to happen for this counterattack they had been planning.

"Koga! Initiate the next part of the plan! We will end this in one fell swoop!"

His attention was brought back to the struggling man-made psychic pokemon in front of him that they are trying to free. They are not only succeeding in their endeavours, but they are making good time too. Discounting that unexpected public reveal about Kain by Team Rocket's Archer and the unexpected assassination of most of Indigo's cabinet members, everything else had gone to plan.

It's time.

It's time to do what he should have done the moment he became Champion.


Surprisingly, it didn't take me long. I found Giovanni at the outskirts of Violet City, right in the depths of the Dark Cave. He's alone. That also meant that I was too late. Team Rocket's main army that was hidden here had already marched out towards Violet City for war, to conquer the heart of the region as swiftly as possible.

The only time when Giovanni's guard is at his lowest is when he thought that everything had gone his way. This is the perfect time to strike, to stop him before things get too far. According to the original plan, Archer would be at Olivine to take over Johto's gateway to the world. I should be at Mahogany to prevent one of Indigo's strongest Pillars, Pryce, from interfering with our plans.

However, I don't plan on sticking to the script.

"Plague? What are you doing here? You are supposed to be at Mahogany."

"Giovanni." I greeted him when I finally found him at a secret Rocket hideout based in the bowels of Johto's Dark Cave. He sensed me even before I could do anything, no doubt because of his ground types. He is obviously suspicious of my appearance right now. The next phase had started and while our objectives had been achieved, things were not progressing as well as he had hoped. Me suddenly appearing before him at this crucial time is enough to make him worry.

Furthermore, I am not wearing my Team Rocket uniform. I had discarded it without a second thought the moment I finished my assignment to kill Kain.

I had wanted to take Giovanni by surprise. I had planned to either knock him out or kill him before this could turn out into a direct confrontation. There's no point in kidding myself that I could possibly stand a chance against him in a straight fight. A direct confrontation with him is something that I want to avoid at all costs.

Although seeing that I had failed, a direct confrontation with him is now inevitable.

"If this is what I think it is." Giovanni spoke in an ominous tone as he stood up from his seat. "I can still let this go if you walk out through that door right now and go do what you are supposed to be doing. My judgement of you still hasn't changed. You are a good man, Plague, but if you are so insistent on going against us then I will not show any mercy, even if it's you."

"I'm afraid I have to go against your orders, Sir." I said with a smile. Despite the fact that we are now enemies, he was one of the few people who had been genuinely nice to me. Even if I die by his hands, I have no more regrets.

I have already fulfilled both my roles as the Rocket's Exterminator and Operative 2046. Right now, I finally have the freedom to choose what I want to do. I had made my choice. I choose to try stopping Giovanni not as Plague, not as Operative 2046.

But as Jayce.

"Allow me the chance to reintroduce myself, Sir." I said as I took off the breton cap off my head as my sign of respect for him. "I am originally one of the three hundred and fifty-nine child spies trained under Kain's Project Illusion. Sadly, I am the only remaining one left because everyone else had perished in the line of duty. As such, their lives and mission are now mine to bear. I am Operative 2046, Code Name: Gengar. My duty is to protect the peace in Indigo and my mission was to infiltrate your organisation under Kain's orders for that very cause."

There is an unreadable expression on Giovanni's face as he stared at me for a short while in silence, but he finally spoke.

"So did you really assassinate Kain?"

I reported the truth without hesitation.

"I did, Sir. I may be his operative, but I want to see him dead as well. That was one thing we could agree on, so I did it. He's thoroughly dead and nobody would ever know what happened to him."

"I see." Giovanni gave a long sigh as he closed his eyes for a moment before reopening them again.

"And your name? Real name."

"I don't have one." I confessed truthfully.

"Don't have one?"

"It doesn't matter if you call me Jacob, Jose, Justin, whatever. Those are my names but at the same time, they aren't. All I have are codenames. The closest I got to a name was the one Jane picked for me. She called me Jayce. You know her by her previous codename in the organisation, Helen."

Giovanni remained silent for a little longer before he spoke up again.

"I take it she was like you? A spy?"

"Yes."

"Then this is for her. You want to avenge her, for us forcing you to kill her."

"That was my motivation, but not anymore. Not after I heard your side of the story." I said as a bittersweet feeling permeated my body at the thought of Jane and her sacrifice.

"I could not bring myself to hate you after your truthful confession about SKIP. I had felt your sincerity, and I even understood where you were coming from. Both of us have our own duty and the weight of our comrades' lives now rests on our shoulders. There is no way we can stop because too much has been lost. Hence, the only way forward is to push on. The only way forward for you is to push for Kanto's separation through war. The only way forward for me is to stop you by any means necessary. I hope you understand."

"I can understand you, but I don't understand Kain. Child spies?" Giovanni sneered as he banged his fist against a nearby wall. "So this is how low Kain had stooped? That bastard. How young were you when he abducted you?"

"I don't have any memories prior to Project Illusion but from what I had recently dug out, probably at around a week old."

"The reason I fought for so long is to make Kanto great again. To make things peaceful." Giovanni said in a firm but soft voice, surprising me. "It was to bring peace and prosperity to our land, to see children grow up happy and carefree, so that people like me and you would never appear again. You have my pity, Pla- no, Jayce, but I cannot stop. I will offer you this last chance not as a boss to his subordinate, but from a friend to another. If you don't want to help me, then don't get in my way. Leave, and don't ever come back."

"I'm afraid I am unable to comply. I know I cannot win, but I have to try."

"Then so be it."

The ground exploded as the marowak standing beside Giovanni used an Earthquake to bring the entire hideout down. There is nobody else here other than the two of us, so it is a relief that we both can fight at our full power.

"Exeggutor."

Exeggutor teleported me to safety before I got myself buried under the rubble. At the same time, I already had Nosy relay to Indigo Giovanni's current location. It shouldn't take long before Indigo's best trainers make their way here to stop Giovanni.

The entire hideout had been destroyed in that one move. When we finally got out of the Dark Cave, Giovanni stood opposite me amidst the wreckage, his entire team already released for battle. My team had been hiding nearby and they appeared before me when they knew my attempt at subduing Giovanni had failed. I had told them what we are going to do and they know full well the chances of us winning this battle.

Zero.

That doesn't mean that we couldn't try. Giovanni is insanely powerful. He is leagues ahead of me, but I could do something to make it easier for the people that will arrive after me to bring him to justice. I can never defeat him but that doesn't mean I cannot leave a mark that never heals. All of this is so that this might make it easier for the people after me to defeat him.

Giovanni is just that strong.

"Fire Spin!"

Ninetales unleashed a raging torrent of fire from her mouth that encircled Giovanni and his pokemon. However, a Bulldoze from his garchomp snuffed it out in a few seconds. That was ninetales at her full power after powering up beforehand with Nasty Plot and yet we couldn't even scratch it.

We are so severely outclassed that I almost burst out laughing.

"You haven't had an official Gym Battle before, had you? Not with that kind of life you lead." Giovanni asked casually with his hands in his pockets before his right hand emerged with his Earth Badge in hand, displaying it for me to see.

"Your point, Sir?"

"Why don't I grace you with this opportunity to let you experience your very first Gym Battle? Of course, the rules have to be amended a little because this is a life and death battle, but what do you say, Jayce?"

Even with the circumstances that I am stuck in, I cannot help but grin.

"It will be an honour to fight you at your full strength." I replied honestly.

For once, I need not lie. Experiencing the life of a normal trainer, catching pokemon normally and earning gym badges is something that I never thought I would have the privilege to experience. For Giovanni to give me this offer, this is the last act of kindness he can show me.

He must have really liked me a lot to do this. I must have really earned his trust before I stabbed him painfully in the back.

Somehow, the thought of it hurts me on the inside. Like a dagger stabbed in the heart before someone twisted it even further.

"I will change the stakes a little. If you win, the Earth Badge is yours and I will be at your mercy. If I win, you will rejoin Team Rocket once more as Executive Plague. You will swear your undying loyalty to us and you will fight for our cause without hesitation. What do you always like to say? I won't accept any objections. I'm returning your favourite phrase back to you, Jayce. I am not accepting any objections. Not this time."

"Then I guess I really don't have a choice other than to go all out, do I?" I said with a grin despite how wrecked with tension my entire body is. My instincts are going haywire, my muscles are screaming at me to run and I am shaking in fear but for the first time, I had never experienced such undiluted joy and freedom before.

For the first time, I'm happy, because I finally have the freedom to do what I want.

Sorry Jane, you will need to wait a little longer before I join you on the other side. Let me be selfish for just this once. I will join you as soon as my battle with Giovanni is over.

I promise.

Nosy is not with me now. I had sent him away to do what he needed to do, so I currently only have twelve pokemon with me. Not like Nosy's a battler in the first place but that's still one pokemon down. Coincidentally, that is the same number of pokemon that I counted Giovanni having on his side right now. I never knew just how many pokemon there are in his team but this should be it. Twelve versus twelve, this will be an equal fight.

Giovanni beckoned for me to come at him.

"You can have the first move, challenger. I want to see with my own eyes just how good you really are. Show me how you earned the strength to be called the Rocket's Exterminator."

With a subtle hand signal from me, my team leapt into action. Shiftry had immediately shot Leech Seeds at Giovanni's team as zoroark hid himself from view using his illusions. The rest of my team charged ahead towards the team of monsters Giovanni had raised.

"Earth Power."

A powerful Earth Power exploded the ground beneath us once more when Giovanni gave the order to his dugtrio. My team had managed to evade the attack in time. Still, this is not in our favour. A direct confrontation is not what we are good at and we are forced into a direct confrontation with Giovanni.

"Drapion!"

With a savage howl, drapion unleashed the largest volley of Toxic Spikes I had ever seen her fire. Giovanni's sandslash tried to disperse it with a Rapid Spin only to be intercepted by bisharp with a Sucker Punch.

"Destroy the Toxic Spikes!"

"Don't let them! Hypnosis!"

Gengar and ninetales immediately tried to catch Giovanni's pokemon by surprise and Giovanni quickly told them to abort their previous order and focus on not looking at gengar's and ninetales' eyes. Even then, they managed to get his nidoqueen to fall asleep.

Hypnosis works by employing a hypnotic suggestion. For most pokemon, they could only make it work by having the user stare at the eyes of the target while unleashing a psychic wave to induce sleep. However, the truth is that Hypnosis does not need the user to strictly rely on eye contact alone to ensure the move connects. A truly skilled user of Hypnosis can do it even through something as simple as pointing a finger or laughing into their ear.

Yes, for most pokemon Hypnosis is almost always done using the eyes, but the key to making Hypnosis work is to ensure that the psychic wave has successfully reached its target and has successfully interfered with their mind. Closing your eyes won't work if the psychic waves are not unleashed from the user's eyes.

"Nidoqueen, Sleep Talk!"

"Do it!" I immediately commanded before nidoqueen could fire off her first attack.

It is not easy and this is suicidal, but the only way our team could ever possess firepower on Giovanni's level is to turn his own against him. The only way we could do it is to hypnotise one of his pokemon and turn it into our temporary ally.

And so, to Giovanni's surprise, his nidoqueen started to attack its own allies instead when it used Sleep Talk. My pokemon had done a good job in tricking its mind that it is fighting us instead.

"Venoshock!"

With the Toxic Spikes succeeding in badly poisoning Giovanni's team, nidoqueen's Venoshock managed to do a lot of damage to them while they were still reeling from the surprise of having their teammate turned against them. Hydreigon and houndoom pressed on the advantage as they quickly fired blasts of ranged attacks at Giovanni's team, hoping to wear them down as quickly as possible.

The only pokemon on Giovanni's team who is immune to the poison is his Gliscor, who obviously possesses the rare Poison Heal ability.

"Gliscor, Sand Tomb!"

"Weavile, intercept gliscor! Exeggutor!"

Weavile immediately fired an Ice Shard to knock gliscor out of the air before following up with an Icicle Crash. Nidoqueen is still going on a rampage within Giovanni's backlines with Giovanni's pokemon trying to stop it. Exeggutor's eyes glowed before it used its next move to remove the Poison Heal ability from gliscor.

Skill Swap. Now, gliscor's Poison Heal ability is exeggutor's while exeggutor's Chlorophyll now belongs to gliscor.

"Hippowdon, Fissure!"

The ground split open at where weavile is at as weavile tried his best to run away. Gengar took weavile's place when she used an Ally Switch to switch places with weavile, using her immunity to ground type moves from her Levitate ability to guard herself from harm.

"You sure did your homework before coming to face me for battle, Jayce!" Giovanni shouted at me as he commanded his pokemon to regroup before launching another wave of attack at us. My team got into a defensive formation, prepared for the incoming attack.

"Honchkrow, Flatter!"

Honchkrow quickly used Flatter on Giovanni's garchomp, forcefully interrupting its charge due to its confused status. Weavile immediately followed up with a Punishment before freezing it solid with Blizzard. Giovanni's krookodile tried to catch weavile, only for umbreon to sneak up to its back and unleash a Confuse Ray on it.

The only pokemon on Giovanni's team that can possibly Mega Evolve is garchomp. If garchomp is down, then Giovanni could not possibly use Mega Evolution. That means that I will be severely limiting him from using his full strength.

"Foul Play!"

My dark types immediately attacked garchomp with Foul Play but Giovanni's rhyperior got in our way before forcing them to scatter with a powerful Stone Edge. His golem rolled towards us with a Rollout and drapion met it head-on with an Aqua Tail, knocking it away from us. Drapion's abilities had been randomly raised with many uses of Acupressure. Right now, it has enough power to hold herself against any of Giovanni's monsters solo for at least a short period of time.

A familiar bellow shook the ground as a massive mamoswine unleashed a raging Blizzard our way. It is definitely the same one I poached at Cherrygrove. Maybe Giovanni wanted it so that he has something he can use against Lance's dragons, but that is just my speculation.

"Inferno!"

Houndoom fought ice with fire and successfully blocked off that Blizzard. Since the start of the battle, honchkrow had been circling far away from the main fight to ensure her Taunt and Torment are constantly in effect on Giovanni's pokemon. With that, Giovanni can only use offensive moves. His pokemon cannot power-up, nor can they heal themselves.

"Create a room! Rhyperior, Stone Edge!"

Right before our very eyes, the land around us changed again as Giovanni's rhyperior trapped us all in a dark room made of rocks and hardened earth. A booming sound could be heard before we spotted his golem propelling towards us with a Rollout once more. What's different this time is that drapion knocking it away can no longer change anything because golem simply bounced off the walls of the room before charging back at us again. The directions became more and more erratic, its speed getting faster and faster. It is just a matter of time before golem gets us all with just one good hit. This room is too small and confined for us to do anything.

"Rock Slide!"

Honchkrow was forced to fly under the protection of exeggutor's barriers before she could be taken out by surprise from this unexpected attack. There is close to no visibility other than the flames ninetales and houndoom are giving off. That also means that the multiple visual illusions that zoroark had set up might as well be useless. Giovanni's monsters are not relying on their sense of sight right now.

Giovanni's ground types can sense us through the vibrations that travelled through the ground. They don't rely on the sense of sight as readily as we do. With just one move, Giovanni has levelled the playing field and the flow of the battle is now his to direct.

We tried bringing down the room in one big attack but it is never enough to fully destroy the room for us to get out of there in time. Giovanni's pokemon will just repair the damage caused before we could make our getaway and golem will be there to run us down with Rollout once more. A sandpit is slowly forming beneath us and we are slowly sinking in. At this rate, we will really lose.

There's still something which we haven't tried.

Golem came rocketing at us once more and bisharp bodily stopped it with an Iron Head, shattering golem's rocky hide. However, golem used this chance to rain rocks at us at point blank. Ninetales barely stopped it with Extrasensory before exeggutor sent golem flying away with a Seed Bomb.

"Now, shiftry!"

Shiftry gave a howl before unleashing an extremely powerful Razor Wind that it had been preparing for quite a while. With a circular sweep of its bladed fans, he cut down the entire room while all of us quickly lay prone on the floor to escape his indiscriminate attack. That wild move had successfully caught Giovanni and his pokemon by surprise. Weavile used this chance to create footholds for us by using an Ice Beam, allowing us to climb out of the sandpit.

My ears caught a whirring sound as Marowak's bone came hurling after us with a Bonemerang. Shiftry attempted to cut it down with a Leaf Blade only for dugtrio to emerge beneath it and fired a Tri Attack, blasting shiftry away from us and right into Giovanni's nidoking's waiting claws.

"Umbreon, cover shiftry!"

Umbreon roared as he activated Wish, instantly healing shiftry's wounds as shiftry nimbly evaded nidoking's lunge with a Double Team. Shiftry also used this chance to plant a Worry Seed on the behemoth, effectively changing nidoking's ability to Insomnia instead of its usual Poison Point.

Giovanni's nidoqueen is no longer under our control and it charges at us, forcing hydreigon to constantly fire attacks to get it to back off. Nidoqueen responded in kind. Garchomp had also managed to free itself from its earlier frozen status and whipped up a Sandstorm, changing the environment of the battlefield into Giovanni's favour.

Dugtrio and hippowdon charged at us this time, no doubt taking advantage of this Sandstorm to use their Sand Force ability to its fullest potential. Dugtrio kept trying to ambush us from below while hippowdon kept charging at us like an unstoppable force, forcing us to keep retreating backwards.

"Houndoom! Zoroark!"

Houndoom dispersed the sandstorm by changing the weather with Sunny Day. A powerful Grass Knot snared both hippowdon and dugtrio, allowing ninetales and exeggutor to hit them with Solar Beam. Gliscor would benefit from the sunny weather thanks to the earlier Skill Swap exeggutor did with it, but we don't have a choice.

"Inferno!"

Houndoom and ninetales let loose a powerful wall of flames that engulfed hippowdon and dugtrio. Giovanni's krookodile attempted to blindside us as it burrowed beneath our feet and ambushed us, but exeggutor had sensed it coming and used a Stomp to close its opened jaws shut. Gengar fired a Focus Blast, pushing the krookodile away from us as we tried to take hippowdon and dugtrio down.

"Avalanche!"

The biggest Avalanche I had ever seen rained down on us and we have no choice but to evade that attack, letting hippowdon and dugtrio out of our grasp. Hydreigon then cleared the debris with a powerful Dragon Pulse, protecting us from harm.

"Night Daze!"

"Earthquake!"

Darkness met earth as zoroark's Night Daze ran rampant while garchomp hit us all with an Earthquake. Exeggutor warned us of an incoming golem, who had used the Earthquake to bounce itself into the sky in an attempt to take out honchkrow.

Shiftry whipped up a Tailwind that blew honchkrow away from golem's charge. Golem simply rained rocks down on us again from the air with Rock Slide before dropping down with a Heavy Slam. Nidoking and nidoqueen are charging at us from two different directions while rhyperior fires another Rock Wrecker, hoping to take us out in a pincer attack.

Exeggutor's psychic powers audibly hummed as he blocked all the attacks with the strongest Reflect he could muster, but not before golem broke through it with a Brick Break. Shiftry unleashed a Leaf Tornado and blew golem away. Drapion swung her mighty claws and attacked nidoqueen with a Night Slash as hydreigon blasted nidoking with a Dragon Pulse.

Gengar tried to ensnare them with a Hypnosis once more but dugtrio disrupted the Hypnosis with a Shadow Claw. The ground we were standing on sank as all of us were suddenly dropped down below the surface, much to our surprise.

A gigantic hole had opened up beneath us. Golem dropped down with us from the skies and started to glow a bright white.

There's only one attack that I know of that not only makes the user glow this white, and it also happens to be a move that golems are famous for using.

"Somebody do something and stop golem!"

We are defenseless while free falling and only a few of my pokemon possess flight capabilities. Hydreigon was the nearest to golem and immediately started attacking relentlessly and bodily pushed golem away before it could use Explosion, preventing it from taking us all out using just one move. However, it is getting gradually obvious that hydreigon does not have any attacks that can quickly take golem out before Explosion can be used.

"Hydreigon! Don't!"

To my worry, hydreigon physically grabbed golem before flying straight up into the air. The Explosion went off a few seconds later as golem self-destructed with Explosion far above us.

God damn it.

Exeggutor finally managed to catch us with his psychic powers before enveloping us all in a spherical psychic barrier of Reflect. By the time he teleported us out of the hole Giovanni dropped us in, hydreigon is lying motionlessly on the ground, bleeding profusely as many of golem's rock shrapnels embedded itself into his thick hide.

"I wasn't expecting you to only come out of that with only one pokemon down. To know how to cut your losses in a split-second decision is something that can only be seen in the higher level of Elite trainers, Jayce. You clearly have the potential to be one of my most favoured subordinates under the rule of the new Kanto. Give up. You cannot win now that your strongest fighter is out of the count."

I gritted my teeth, my fists clenched as Giovanni said those words. Hydreigon's defeat so early on is something we never planned for. Even while being hindered by Taunt, Torment, and Toxic, the rest of Giovanni's team still looked as right as rain, as if they are not the least bit affected by the restrictions we imposed on them.

This is how strong Giovanni is. This is how powerful the strongest Gym Leader of Kanto is.

I returned hydreigon back to his pokeball as Giovanni recalled his golem. I took this short respite to forcefully calm myself down, letting my rational mind do the thinking. I don't need to win, I just need to stall long enough for someone strong enough to defeat Giovanni to reach here. By now, Nosy should have successfully sent our current location to someone strong enough to defeat Giovanni. All I have to do is to draw this out for as long as I can.

"Zoroark. Blind them."

Zoroark roared and unleashed waves after waves of Night Daze, destroying our surroundings and hiding us from view as the shockwaves of pitch black energy covered us like a shroud. Many of Giovanni's team consisted of behemoths that we have no hope of taking on when they are grouped up like that. We need to pick them off one by one.

We will start with the weakest.

Gengar took this opportunity to dive into the holes that dugtrio had made. If it is a battle in the darkness, the possibility of gengar losing is close to nil. Gengar cannot be felt through vibrations on the ground because she is near weightless. With Night Daze blocking Giovanni's sight of me, we can use this opportunity to take out dugtrio, who definitely had been the culprit in digging and then dropping us in such a big hole without us realising until it was too late.

Meanwhile, honchkrow can prepare for our final move without Giovanni knowing. I cannot let him know that this move had been used, so blinding him was necessary.

I gave my next order using an almost inaudible whisper.

"Honchkrow, Perish Song. Weavile, cover it up with Screech."

I have no idea if these twelve pokemon are the only ones Giovanni has, but I know that these twelve pokemon are Gym Leader level kind of strong. It is hard to raise pokemon to this level. Regardless if Giovanni has anymore pokemon other than these twelve, taking them down will only be good for us.

I will stop Giovanni using whatever it takes.

Weavile's Screech is loud enough to obscure the sound from Honchkrow's Perish Song, just like we had practiced. With that, Giovanni shouldn't have known that Perish Song had been used and an invisible timer is now ticking down.

Three minutes, that is the time limit for Perish Song to take effect. Now, I need to do all I can to take his attention away from the fact that all we have to do is to hold out for another three minutes before I accomplished what I came to do.

I cannot allow Giovanni to escape. I cannot allow him to be able to fight at full strength against whoever is coming to stop him next. I need to severely cripple or hinder him until someone strong enough arrives to stop him. I don't know who that will be, but at this point I can only blindly put my faith in Lance and Indigo's Thirteen Pillars to be able to come here in time to stop him.

Gengar burst out from the ground, cackling loudly as a badly wounded dugtrio was brought to the surface, too injured to continue battling. Meanwhile, Umbreon secretly casted a Mean Look in case Giovanni found out about Perish Song and wanted to switch his pokemon out.

"Press on! Night Slash!"

Bisharp swung his bladed arms towards marowak, who retaliated with a Bone Club. Zoroark continues to let loose with Night Daze in order to provide us with the darkness we need.

"Don't let up! Dark Pulse!"

As one, our team fired Dark Pulses at marowak while bisharp held it down to not allow it any chance to defend or evade our combined attack. Giovanni's mamoswine fired an Ice Beam in an attempt to defend marowak but our combined firepower is enough to overpower it, scoring a critical hit on mamoswine instead. Ninetales unleashed an Overheat to quickly make use of this opportunity to bring mamoswine down but rhyperior held off the attack with a Surf.

"Drill Run!"

Rhyperior began its charge and there's nothing we can do to stop it. Drapion might be able to, but I don't want to overcommit when I don't have full confidence for us to last until the effects of Perish Song finally kicks in. I can see gliscor diving down on us from above, making use of the Chlorophyll ability that exeggutor had swapped with it in this sunny weather. Weavile fired beams of ice at it for it to stay away but the gliscor simply opted to brave through it.

Giovanni isn't letting up as the rest of his ground types unleashed a collective Earth Power to not even give us a stable foothold to stand on. If we cannot do anything against Giovanni's unstoppable behemoths, then everything will be for naught. Giovanni will escape before any League reinforcements will arrive. He will get away scot free and Team Rocket will simply regrow again, this time without a spy to feed Indigo with the information it needs.

I cannot give up here, not when I'm so close. My pokemon and I had reached an understanding long ago, that we will do whatever it takes to stop Giovanni.

If we cannot last until Perish Song takes effect, we will take down as many of his pokemon as we can.

"Get the rhyperior! Shiftry!"

Shiftry leapt towards rhyperior and blew another Leaf Tornado, only managing to briefly slow rhyperior's charge. Drapion's Venoshock wasn't any good either, rhyperior barely flinched despite the pain it was feeling. That doesn't matter. What matters is whether we can bring it down.

Shiftry tripped rhyperior with a Low Sweep before started to attack wildly with various attacks, attempting to wear rhyperior down. Gliscor wanted to aid rhyperior but was intercepted by honchkrow and weavile. Umbreon started to attack without care of his safety, utilising Yawn before releasing a large amount of psychic energy with Stored Power.

"Nidoking, nidoqueen!"

"Gengar! Bisharp! Stop them at all cost!"

Bisharp took on a defensive role as it took on before returning every attack he received with a Payback, Revenge, or Metal Burst. He won't outlast the nidoking he is facing. Gengar is blasting ghostly attacks at nidoqueen but nidoqueen's defences are too strong for her to break through.

"Take them all down! Incinerate!"

"Gengar!" I cannot help but cry out worriedly. Bisharp had thrown up a Protect while Gengar willingly let herself get hit by those flames, letting out a pained shriek in the process.

'Master Jayce. Do not falter.'

I gritted my teeth at the reminder. Exeggutor is right, now is not the time to falter.

"Do it! Explosion!"

At my signal, exeggutor immediately used his barriers to cage rhyperior together with shiftry and nidoking and nidoqueen with gengar. With that, there is no place for them to run.

The results didn't disappoint.

A gigantic Explosion later, Rhyperior, nidoking, and nidoqueen were all knocked out by the Explosion they received. Usually, gengar's Explosion wouldn't have dealt so much damage, but combining that with Destiny Bond is a different story. Shiftry had managed to single handedly defeat rhyperior with Explosion by wearing it down with Giga Drains and Leech Seed on top of its already poisoned status. Umbreon's previously utilised Yawn might have also helped.

Bisharp was suddenly sent flying towards us as sandslash appeared from the ground, attacking it with a Brick Break. Another Focus Blast took it out for the count and I was forced to recall bisharp.

'How long left?'

'Two minutes.'

If sacrificing three on our side only bought us one minute, then I have no choice.

"Houndoom!"

Houndoom howled as he finally leapt into the thick of the battle. Giovanni's eyes widened as he recognised what I'm about to do.

"Are you crazy, Jayce?! Your body is already in pieces! You might die if you use Mega Evolution again!"

"Then so be it!"

Mega Houndoom represented our determination to stop Giovanni as he scorched mamoswine with his flames. Giovanni was obviously about to invoke Mega Evolution on his garchomp when the rest of my pokemon interfered, more than ready to steal the garchompite from garchomp.

Sandslash got in the way as it unleashed a Rock Slide that drapion quickly got rid of. Hippowdon emerged from beneath the ground and caught drapion with a sickening Crunch, easily breaking through drapion's tough armour.

"Don't stop! Don't let Giovanni use Mega Evolution on garchomp! Push on!"

Umbreon let out an ear piercing Screech that got Giovanni's pokemon to flinch for a short while. Weavile took this opportunity and dashed ahead with a burst of speed in garchomp's direction, using his small size to his advantage to dodge attacks it otherwise wouldn't have been able to avoid.

"Dragon Tail!"

Garchomp easily caught weavile with its next attack. I can hear the snapping of bones as weavile's body sailed through the air and landed away from us in a crumpled heap. Weavile didn't get back up. Drapion finally managed to free herself from hippowdon and unleashed a Cross Poison on garchomp which it responded with a Dual Chop. Hippowdon tried to take drapion down only for zoroark to suddenly make his appearance and fired a Dark Pulse into its eye, blinding it for good on one side of its face before hiding himself once more.

Upon seeing Giovanni's confused expression on his face as he failed to invoke Mega Evolution, I knew weavile had succeeded in using Embargo. It is not a common move that anyone would use as it simply prevents the target from utilising their held items for a short while. The League regulated battles doesn't allow you to use held items anyway, so most trainers wouldn't even bother to teach their pokemon this move.

However, in our case, this move is more than enough to buy time for us for Perish Song to take effect and make sure garchomp cannot mega evolve within this same period of time. We just got ourselves a small advantage.

"Exeggutor! Grassy Terrain!"

The barren land bloomed as it gradually restored the health of every grounded pokemon. That is not what I'm aiming for. What is important in our usage of Grassy Terrain is that ground type moves like Earthquake, Bulldoze, and Magnitude will have their powers halved while Grassy Terrain is in effect. It is the perfect move to use against Giovanni.

Exeggutor used a Gravity to pin gliscor down, making it so that now gliscor is also grounded and affected by Grassy Terrain and unable to fight effectively for the moment.

"Solar Beam!"

Ninetales and exeggutor fired their combined attack at marowak once more, the only pokemon on Giovanni's team that is most unlikely to survive such an attack. Garchomp fired a Dragon Pulse that Umbreon copied with Mimic, allowing him to land a cheap shot on the dragon instead.

Marowak dodged the Solar Beam with a Detect before charging at us with a Double Edge. Exeggutor started a bombardment of Egg Bomb and Bullet Seed but marowak simply batted all of them away like an expert swordsman.

Umbreon let out a cry as he used a powerful Psychic to forcefully halt marowak's charge. It only succeeded for a short while as sandslash hit umbreon from below a second later with Dig. Umbreon only managed to hang on with a use of Endure.

"Flail!"

With a desperate cry, umbreon slammed his body at sandslash, dealing a massive amount of damage as zoroark appeared behind sandslash at the same time and fired a Dark Pulse, finally taking it down from how close the Dark Pulse was fired in its face. Marowak leapt towards zoroark from behind, intending to take him out before he could hide himself with illusions once more.

A squawk could be heard before honchkrow dove in with a Drill Peck, knocking marowak away and into drapion's direction. Drapion's tail extended and caught marowak while it was busy fighting Giovanni's garchomp, krookodile, hippowdon, gliscor, and mamoswine together with Mega Houndoom and ninetales. With a swing, drapion swung the captured marowak around with Brutal Swing and slammed it into hippowdon's side which zoroark had blinded, further aggravating its injury.

Zoroark had gone back to hiding once again. Even if Giovanni's ground types can sense zoroark's exact position through vibrations instead of sight, zoroark has always been good at hiding his presence. I'm sure he can find a way to get a drop on Giovanni's pokemon again.

'A minute left.'

"Draco Meteor!"

Upon Giovanni's command, his garchomp rained down a Draco Meteor whose power and scale is unlike anything I had seen before.

'Exeggutor, can you block it?'

'I can try.'

I blew a whistle and my team regrouped around exeggutor, who had now been forced to use a Protect to defend us from harm. The rain of meteors had barely died down when a Fissure opened beneath us again and exeggutor was forced to use a Teleport to bring us to safety.

Umbreon had finished recovering with Wish and blasted Giovanni's team with a Psychic, only for us to realise that garchomp is missing.

'Behind us!'

Ninetales was the first to react as she leapt and put herself in between us and garchomp, who had emerged behind us the moment exeggutor gave us the warning. She bit on one of garchomp's arms and unleashed another Overheat but garchomp braved through it. In the short span of time exeggutor teleported us to a safe distance away from garchomp, garchomp had knocked ninetales away with a Dual Chop before crushing her beneath its foot with an Earthquake. Ninetales gave a pained howl before going limp, no longer able to battle.

"Give up, Jayce! Before I'm forced to kill you! Pokemon can be replaced, people like you can't! I understand your confusion and your sense of duty but don't you see?! The current Indigo is cancerous! Like a growing tumour, slowly leading us to our ruin! We can only change it if we carve ourselves a bloody path to freedom! Join us, Jayce! You know what Team Rocket really is after all these years! Good and Evil are only mere concepts talked about by people who cannot differentiate one from the other! People who would never understand what we had sacrificed for the greater good! There is no good, nor is there any evil! There is only what is right for our people!"

"If by doing what is right for our people is to massacre those who are innocent, then I don't want to do the right thing! Dark Pulse!"

Mega Houndoom knocked garchomp back with a powerful Dark Pulse. Krookodile emerged from the ground on our right as that happened, catching us by surprise once more. However, exeggutor sensed the attack coming this time and knocked it away with a Wood Hammer.

"Mamoswine, gliscor, krookodile, return! Garchomp, Outrage!"

I clicked my tongue in frustration. For Giovanni to suddenly recall his pokemon without a good reason to, he must have found out about the Perish Song. It seems that we didn't manage to hide it well enough. The effect of umbreon's Mean Look seemed to have worn off prematurely as well.

Garchomp continued on its rampage and we could only run. By the time the Outrage wore off, Giovanni had called out the remainder of his team once more while recalling garchomp. This time, Giovanni's remaining pokemon are no longer affected by the Perish Song.

"Jayce, without a doubt you are one of the most dangerous trainers I have ever faced." Giovanni told me with a serious look. "I haven't been pushed this far since SKIP's downfall. You might not understand and accept what I am doing, but I will make you see reason. I told you, each of Ariana's and my chosen Executives are our good friends. I forgive you. I can let this issue go if you surrender right now and swear your loyalty to Team Rocket. Please do not put up futile resistance. Your body cannot sustain Mega Evolution any longer. Look at you."

Giovanni is right. I can barely stand. The only reason why I can move around the battlefield right now is because I am riding on drapion's back. I still don't know how Giovanni found out about the Perish Song. I am out of options and it doesn't seem that help from the League would be arriving anytime soon, if there is any. My vision is blurring as he speaks. My hearing is starting to fail me.

To make things worse, weavile's Embargo would end soon. Mega Houndoom could use Embargo, but Giovanni would be a fool to let the same trick get him twice. There's no way in hell he will let me do that.

I guess this is it for me.

I looked back at my pokemon who are still standing around me. They are all worn out and heavily injured, but willing to stand with me till the very end of the line.

I could not ask for a better team.

I gave my last order.

"No matter what happens, just keep going. Everything that we had done and sacrificed, it's for today. We are not backing down. I'm not accepting any objections."

My pokemon acknowledged my order immediately. Honchkrow used a Tailwind followed by another Perish Song to give Giovanni another three minutes time limit. Drapion stood in front of us while umbreon and Mega Houndoom stood at the back and fired attacks in Giovanni's direction indiscriminately. Exeggutor continues to fulfil his role as our defender by putting up Light Screens and Reflects as zoroark continues to lurk about at some unseen corner, ready to get a hit in once the opportunity presents itself.

We pushed onwards as the earth ruptured once more. Umbreon vanished in a Feint Attack as he went straight for Giovanni, forcing krookodile to forgo its offense in order to protect its trainer. Honchkrow zipped right into the backlines of our enemies, trying to cause as much mayhem as she possibly can in order to distract Giovanni's pokemon from our heavy hitters.

My fingers curled and twisted behind my back out of Giovanni's sight. Trusting that zoroark had seen the cue that I had given, I jumped off from drapion's back and landed on mega houndoom's instead. However, zoroark would give them the illusion that I am still on drapion's back and thus they would go for drapion instead of mega houndoom.

We continue to charge ahead with reckless abandon, knowing that our time limit from Perish Song will be approaching soon. The remainder of my team fell one after the other in quick succession, having already done their best in lasting as long as they could on this impossible mission. The only ones left are zoroark and mega houndoom.

Mega houndoom made a leap. Giovanni's garchomp got in our way and bodily blocked mega houndoom from advancing forward. Mega houndoom roared and bit down with a Fire Fang at the same spot where ninetales had injured it earlier, inflicting nasty burns on garchomp and causing it to scream in pain.

We are now close enough, so I jumped off from mega houndoom's back and over the garchomp, rushing for Giovanni who is standing behind his garchomp just a few metres away. The dagger which I had used to kill so many people before slipped comfortably into my hand and I lunged.

I will end Giovanni, using whatever it takes.

"You are a good man."

"I think I would beg to differ, but if you say so."

I am close. I am very close. It's like the time around us slowed down just to magnify this very moment. I knew zoroark's illusion had been dispelled because it is obvious that Giovanni had already spotted me the moment I am within range. Zoroark must have fallen as well, but it's fine. I am the Rocket's Exterminator. At this range, I cannot miss.

"Speaking of which, I need an IT expert to work for me in my gym, just to ensure that all the high tech stuff runs smoothly and all that. The previous one that worked for me just resigned. You interested?"

"Sorry, but I think I will pass. I love my current job as it is. I think there is a purpose for me being there."

"Ah, a pity. I guess I will have to continue my search for one. I'm sure that a good man like you will undoubtedly go far in your career no matter what path you choose. Do me a favour and drop by my gym for a visit if you ever have a person in mind, okay?"

"Sure thing."

I saw how Giovanni's eyes widened in disbelief when he spotted just how close I am to him. To him, I had just mysteriously reappeared in front of him when I should have been on drapion's back far ahead. I could see how my dagger is being held in my hand, outstretched and ready to find its mark on Giovanni's neck. Giovanni had instinctively taken a step backwards but he wouldn't be fast enough.

"The other half of the wine, Alice and I will keep it for now. Once everything is over and we return victorious, we will finish the remaining half together at the Indigo Plateau when the Indigo is no more."

Giovanni stumbled. I pushed myself forward, trying to push the unnecessary emotions and memories away from my mind.

I don't need them to hinder me, especially right now.

"That is our promise to each other, as comrades, and as family."

An uncontrollable hotness welled up within my eyes. My vision blurred. For some reason I don't understand, I could not block out my emotions like how I had done so since Jane died. I had never failed an assassination no matter the circumstances and targets assigned, not even once.

But for some reason, this time, I had failed. For some reason that even I do not know why, my dagger stopped short just a centimeter or two away from Giovanni's neck.

And I have no idea why this was the case. I could tell that even Giovanni was surprised at this turn of events.

However, whatever that caused me to hesitate only lasted for one short second, the crucial second that could have had Giovanni killed just exactly like how I had killed Jane. Three hundred and fifty-eight lives had been sacrificed for this moment. This is a chance that was made possible because of their efforts and sacrifices, I cannot stop here.

So, this time, I shove all of my thoughts and emotions away and let my dagger move once more. I cannot fail. Not here, not right now.

I will apologise to Giovanni in the afterlife when I meet him there.

"Stone Edge!"

What?

I don't know what happened. The only thing I recognised was pain. Extremely thin and sharp spikes of rock stabbed through me and I coughed up blood.

No bloody way. That Stone Edge. No way.

How? I don't understand. Where did that Stone Edge come from? I'm very sure that this Stone Edge didn't come from any of Giovanni's pokemon that we were fighting earlier. In that case, then which pokemon did it? How did none of us see this coming?

How?

With great difficulty, I tried to turn my head, spotting my team laying on the ground, defeated and unconscious. Their injuries are grievous. They had given it their all and this is the result. I know this is going to happen when we attempted to stop Giovanni but-

We lost, and it's all my fault.

I can hardly move due to the number of rock spikes impaling my body in various places. My vision is fading and my hearing is dulling, but I can recognise Giovanni walking up to me. Is he going to deal the final blow?

Strangely enough, I don't feel fear. I feel strangely at peace.

For once in a long while, my heart doesn't feel heavy.

I failed, but I had done my best. I'm fine with the results. I can only hope that Giovanni would be kind enough to not kill my pokemon. They deserved better. They deserved a better life and a better trainer. I could not ask for a better team, but they deserved better instead of living that kind of horrid life with me.

It's starting to get really hard to stay awake. There's no point in staying awake anyway, so I closed my eyes and waited for death to claim me. It won't be long now, a minute or two at the most, perhaps. All I know is that the Rocket's Exterminator will no longer need to reap lives any further. It's a good thing.

Jane, I'm coming.

Had I done well? I did good, right? I tried my best. With the exception of my identity and existence, I had revealed everything I know about Project Illusion through SKIPedia, something that even Giovanni never knew I did. People are going to find out about Project Illusion, people are going to know about what you had sacrificed.

Most importantly, you will now be remembered after what I've done. I had made sure that the whole world knows who you are and what you sacrificed. Not just for you, but for all 358 of you. Each and every one of you will no longer be a nameless face that was sacrificed in the shadows, but heroes of an entire nation. You will be known, you will be remembered.

People will remember the three hundred and fifty-eight of you, for what everyone had sacrificed to protect the peace of Indigo.

Did you hear that, Jane? We completed our mission. Project Illusion is a complete success. We protected Indigo.

I cannot wait to see you again, to hear you sing again. I'm so happy right now. There's no longer a need for the Rocket's Exterminator or Operative 2046 to exist any longer. We are free.

I can finally rest.

We can finally rest.

I'm just so happy.


Character and Pokemon List:

Name: Jayce

Age: 22

Official Identity: Jacob Myers

Real identity: Oldest son to Grimsley Dandolos

Pokemon Team:

1. Ninetales, female

2. Exeggutor, male

3. Weavile, male

4. Honchkrow, female

5. Gengar, female

6. Houndoom, male

7. Umbreon, male

8. Hydreigon, male

9. Drapion, female

10. Zoroark, male

11. Bisharp, male

12. Shiftry, male

13. Porygon-Z, (Nosy), genderless

Name: Giovanni

Viridian Gym Leader, Leader of Team Rocket

Pokemon Team:

1. Nidoking

2. Nidoqueen

3. Rhyperior

4. Golem

5. Sandslash

6. Marowak

7. Garchomp

8. Gliscor

9. Krookodile

10. Hippowdon

11. Dugtrio

12. Mamoswine