"It is a great irony for our enemy's inadequacies to work against us," Giovanni sighed, rubbing his forehead.
"Not even the League knows what it's up to?" Archer asked.
"Indeed," Giovanni said. He was sitting at a small table in a conference call room in the Silph Co building. Archer leaned against one of the walls and Arianna was sitting across from him.
"Well, that's the consequence of a decapitation strike," Arianna commented. "We wanted them running around like poultry with their heads cut off and now we can't complain that's what we got."
"The problem is that the Legislative Assembly panicked and stuck their oar into the proceedings," Giovanni said. "The Elite Four is absent as planned, the gym leaders are moving to secure their own cities first as planned, and there is no native, organized force from the Saffron territory capable of contesting our control of the city, as planned.
"But," Giovanni growled, "for the first damn time in its history the Legislative Assembly has acted swiftly, if not competently. Now there is an unknown force of unknown strength gathering at an unknown location with unknown leadership and unknown plans."
"Well, hopefully they'll flail around and trip over their own feet," Archer said. "In the meantime, we can finish fortifying Saffron. We've already collected the combat capable pokémon from the east half city, we've got barricades at all major intersections, we've found spots for most of our snipers and artillery pokémon so we can deploy them starting today, and we'll reinforce key buildings tomorrow.
"We've also finished setting up a new control station in the building," Archer went on, "and we've moved enough of our psychic muscle here-"
"A fraction of the psychic power involved," Giovanni said. "But using it to create an onsite focus will help keep Sabrina under control while we relocate psychic assets from the gym in preparation for the final stages of Stolen Fire, even if the new control station is far more vulnerable than the old."
"I'm thinking that we can use her to help with the fortification once we're done moving and containing the assets from the gym" Archer continued. "But I understand Arianna wants to use her to extract data from the minds of the researchers for Operation Totality."
"How is that operation proceeding?" Giovanni asked her.
"We have found several obsolete prototypes, the personal notes belonging to a few researchers, and a backup of the data that's six months out of date," Arianna answered, sighing. "but, according to the information you conveyed earlier, that may be enough to fill to produce our own Masterball."
"What happened to the most recent prototype? Did Silph destroy it?" Archer asked.
"They smashed it right as we breached the room," Arianna growled. "If I can, I want to take command of Sabrina to tear the information from their minds myself."
"You have better uses for your time," Giovanni pointed out. "Still no word on Oak?"
"No," Arianna shook her head. "He seems to be sitting still. I haven't even needed to warn him about what will happen to his grandson if he gets involved."
"He's smart enough that he doesn't need it spelled out for him," Giovanni said. "Or he's fooling us all. I wonder… it would be fitting if he somehow took command of that force the Assembly put together."
Giovanni suddenly slammed his fist down on the table.
"Damnit," he growled. "We're sitting blind here. We need more information. I haven't heard anything over the usual channels."
"Then go get some, Boss" Archer said.
"I would have to leave the city," Giovanni said, tersely, as if explaining things to a child.
"So?" Archer shrugged.
"If there was an attack in the near future, I wouldn't be around to support our forces," Giovanni said through gritted teeth. "I would be abandoning them-"
"And if a former Champion leading an army catches us by surprise, do you think you'll do much good sitting here?" Archer asked, raising an eyebrow. "Boss, just go do your double agent thing and quit worrying about us."
"I-" Giovanni began, but Arianna spoke up first.
"I agree with Archer," she said, looking Giovanni straight in the eye. "We need the information more than we need your personal power right now. Not only that, if there is a surprise offensive, there's a non-zero chance that your identity could be exposed. We've put a lot of work into keeping your identity secure over the years; just within our organization, almost no one outside the inner circle knows your real name. Don't let all that effort go to waste right when we need secrecy most."
"They might attack before I can return with the intelligence," Giovanni replied.
"That's just a risk we'll have to take," Arianna told him.
"If it happens, it'll be pretty bad, but it's not the worst-case scenario," Archer added. "We'll probably lose the city sooner than we planned, but it sounds like we got most of what we need for Totality."
"We'll make sure the teleportation rigs can handle enough volume to assist in an evacuation by tonight," Arianna went on. "And we'll start securing exit routes for the rest of our forces. We'll expand the underground tunnels that we used for staging and we'll make sure the base in Celadon is set up to receive and process a large number of personnel moving overland."
"I would like to hold the city for at least a month," Giovanni sighed, rubbing his temples. "Of all the damn times for the League to start using alternate channels."
"Think they might be on to ya, Boss?" Archer asked.
"No," Giovanni shook his head. "I'm fairly certain of that. I'm well liked in the gym community and almost all of the other gym leaders are at the very least cordial with me. None of them are good enough actors to fake that. The closest thing to suspicion that I receive is from Daisy, who holds some childish grudge against me."
"Why?" Archer asked.
"I don't remember," Giovanni waved away the question. "It's inconsequential in any case."
"Then it's probably the Assembly mucking things up," Archer said with a crooked grin. "Politicians, ain't I right?"
"Indeed," Giovanni sighed and then stood up. "Very well. You two win. I'll go gather intelligence while you two hold down the fort."
"Good luck boss," Archer said.
"When I come back this city better be pristine," Giovanni said sternly. "No parties while I'm gone."
"Yes, dad," Archer and Arianna said in unison.
Giovanni chuckled as he left.
A formation of pidgeots, fearows, and noctowls swept across the sky, accompanied by a small number of skarmorys and xatus. Each of them had a harness and a human rider. They were headed east, towards Saffron City. When the skyscrapers came into view the pokémon dove. Their formation was imperfect and they moved without cohesion, with both stragglers and riders rushing ahead of the rest. But their individual forms were perfect when they pulled out of their dive.
They swept over the scattered forests, small villages, grasslands, and isolated houses that formed the Saffron outskirts, the wind from their passage bending grass and bare branches.
A hidden eye observed their flight, lurking in the darkness that preceded the winter dawn. Not that dawn would bring much light that day; the sky was covered in a gray blanket of clouds. The concealed watcher turned back and gestured at some unseen figure. It then strode out to the meadow beyond as the fliers approached.
Its hand reached into its coat and then it threw something into the air, a streak of blue fire that burst into a cold azure flare. Immediately fliers began to head towards the light. The figure stood still, holding up its hands as it was surrounded by pidgeots and fearows.
"Alright, you got our attention," one of the riders said, getting off his fearow, while his pokémon fixed the still figure with a glare. "Who are you and what do you want?"
"My name's Torch," the figure said. "I'm with the Saffron City Gym. I've got information for your commanders, but first I've got a group of civilians that need help."
"Oh gods, this tastes like a dead rat's been floating in it for three days," Torch moaned, setting a cup of coffee down on the table.
"I'll go get you another one," Tory said, rolling her eyes.
"No thanks, I never said I didn't like it," Torch said, taking another sip.
"The civilians are being debriefed and we'll have them on the first flight out of here," Brock told Torch. "Now what can you tell me about what happened to the city? How did Team Rocket get in? What happened to the gym?"
"I don't know how they got in, but whatever they did started with the gym," Torch replied, before taking a gulp of coffee. "Oh, by the dead gods and the gods of the dead I needed this. I've been spying on Team Rocket for two days and trying to herd a bunch of civilians."
"What happened with the gym?" Brock asked, his hands together on the table in front of him.
"It started with Sabrina. It was like she possessed, but there was no presence there," Torch shuddered. "She moved like a puppet. I don't know how it worked, but I think whatever they did had a limited duration. It wore off right as she donned a helmet that I would bet a fortune was a control device of some sort."
Torch then went on to explain how he shepherded the civilians from the meeting. He described the battle in the gym, the barrier surrounding the building and how he got the civilians through.
"An accountant stayed behind," Torch said, his eyes dark as they started down. "Sabrina's boyfriend. He was going to try and get through to her. I don't think he succeeded."
Torch then explained what had been happening to the city in the days after that.
"They've been going door to door and taking any pokémon that might be combat capable," Torch told them, shuddering. "It's been awful. I'm glad I'm not an empath, I wouldn't have been able to function."
He told them about what happened to the police, about how Team Rocket had locked down the major roads in and out of the city, how their operation seemed to be centered somewhere downtown, and where their first fortifications had been erected.
"There's been some sympathizers of theirs in the street," Torch went on. "Team Rocket's been swelling their ranks with local recruits. They've also been using informants to break up any pockets of resistance before they can get organized."
He described the disposition and composition of Team Rocket's forces last time he had seen them.
"And I think they've got some tyranitars guarding something downtown," Torch finished. "But I'm not certain they were the same trainers."
"We'll keep that in mind," Tory said, looking over the shoulder of a secretary who was taking a dictation. "What do you know about their anti-air defenses?"
"Nothing solid," Torch replied. "They were moving machinery to a couple rooftops and skyscrapers, but it might not have been AA."
"We'll just have to assume that they have a full umbrella then," Tory sighed. "Flying types will be restricted to close support and there will be altitude restrictions in effect unless they're BVR of the city."
"BVR?" Brock asked.
"Beyond visual range," Tory explained.
Torch then described how he led the civilians into the wilderness, avoided Team Rocket patrols when he could, and ambushed those he couldn't avoid.
"When are you making your move?" Torch asked.
"In ninety minutes," Brock said, standing up. "We're going to be breaching the city before they can fortify it in an attempt to evacuate as many civilians as we can."
"You're moving quick," Torch remarked. "What's your hand like?"
"Not good," Brock admitted. "Irregulars comprise about forty percent of our force. We'll be using them to evacuate the population and guard the refugee camps. We're trying to leave as many of the minors at camp as we can."
"Dem's the breaks," Torch sighed. "What'cha doing with the ones who aren't staying at camp?"
"Those minors have teams that are well suited for search and rescue operations," Tory said with a grimace. "They'll be assisting with the evacuation."
"If they're that good you could use them in the fight," Torch said, leaning forward. "Darkai knows I was pretty young my first time."
"No," Brock said, his face as stony as his pokémon.
"I'd like to think we're further along than we were when you were a minor," Tory said flatly. "It's bad enough that they met the requirements for the draft. We're not going to make them fight too."
"I'm not going to win this argument," Torch sighed, leaning back. "Fine. Any other information you want from me?"
"No, I think we're good here," Brock said, standing up. "Go to the infirmary and get checked up. You've done enough already."
"No can do," Torch shook his head and stood up. "I'm going to join in the assault. There are things I need to do."
"It's your funeral," Brock said.
"Oh, I've already had one," Torch smirked. "Funny story. I'll have to tell you after the battle…"
When the wake-up call sounded, and Ash crawled out of his tent, he was surprised to find Misty waiting outside.
"We don't have much time," Misty said, holding a large bag. "I pulled some strings and got some surplus body armor assigned to your unit."
"What?" Ash said, yawning and rubbing his eyes.
"It's not much, only five sets, but it might save some lives," Misty said, dropping the bag at his feet. "I have to leave, so you're going to have to give this to your commander, but you and any other minors in your unit get first pick, so see if anything's in your size."
"Okay," Ash said, barely processing what was going on. "Thanks?"
"Of course, you're not even a little worried," Misty muttered, glaring. "Look, Aaron, let me be straight with you. If something happens to you today, Brock will be crushed, your pokémon will be crushed, and I will learn necromancy to drag your soul back to the world of the living so I can describe in great detail how you were an idiot."
And I'll help, Pikachu said, crawling out of the tent.
"What's going on?" Leaf asked, poking her head out of her tent. "Aaron's, who's this?"
"It's Misty, the gym trainer who travels with me," Ash explained. "She brought body armor for us."
"Ooooh, presents!" Leaf said, instantly perking up. And then her face fell. "Though I guess it's really a small mercy, given what's about to happen."
"See, she gets it," Misty said, glaring at Ash. "Anyway, I gotta run. Die and I'll kill you."
"Sure," Ash said, yawning again. His yawn turned into a yelp when Misty grabbed him and pulled him into a tight hug, one that he could feel in his ribs, pressing his chin into her shoulder.
"Seriously, Aaron, stay safe," Misty told him. "We've still got a bunch of places to go."
"Got it," Ash replied, returning the hug. Misty released him and then took off at a jog, waving goodbye as she went.
"Hey, Aaron, what size are you?" Leaf asked, looking into the bag.
"Uh, male body twelve I think?" Ash said. "But we got to take this to Jared."
"Oh, fine," Leaf rolled her eyes. "Well, I guess he can help us put it on. And remind me to thank Misty for this. She must be a really good friend."
"Yeah," Ash said, looking at the bag. "I guess she is."
Winter mist drifted around the city even at mid-morning as the sun hadn't shown its face to burn it away. Anyone looking out from a high building on the edge of the city would see the surrounding lands covered in a wispy gray blanket.
Small groups from Team Rocket were wandering in that fog, looking through the forests, grasslands, and small villages that made up the Saffron outskirts. They were on patrol, on the hunt for any possible sign of enemy activity.
And one group found some.
"Oh, human gods," a green haired woman in a Team Rocket human heaved, looking through a broken doorway in an isolated cottage. "What happened to Joseph's squad?"
"Some serial killer or a rampaging pokémon," a black-haired man said. "I'll call it in and then we can get a search party to find out who's responsible."
"No need," a voice said from behind them. The Rockets turned around as blue light blazed, bright enough to hurt their eyes.
A machop and an arbok smashed into them pinning them up against the cottage wall. When their eyes cleared, the members of Team Rocket could see a man in a gray long coat, accompanied by a mismagius and a haunter, with two humans in League uniforms standing next to him.
"And this time I brought friends," the man in gray glaring.
Similar scenes played out everywhere in the outskirts. The patrols were suddenly attacked by trainers in League uniforms. Skirmishes broke out, running battles where Team Rocket deployed their pokémon to cover their retreat, or to try and counter attack, while the League forces went in for the kill.
Whatever their eventual fate, death or escape, the patrols managed to radio their warnings back to the city. Sirens sounded and the Team Rocket forces dropped whatever it was they were doing and rushed to defensive positions.
A squad rushed to the walking entrance for the city, a purple arch rising from a low purple wall, with the name of the city written on the top, bracketed by globular lamps. More lampposts stood on the edge of the grey street leading up to the arch, unlight and barely visible through the fog.
The squad released their pokémon and then took cover behind the low wall on either side of the entrance. Their teams, a motley collection of large and mean looking pokémon stood in front of the entrance. The ground-types in the group raised an earthen wall in front of them as cover for themselves.
It didn't save them.
Without even the slightest tremor preceding him, Onix burst out of the ground, roaring and charging forward. He smashed through the earthen construction and scattered the pokémon like bowling pins.
One machoke shook its head as it sat up and lunged forward at the rock type. It tripped as something else burst from the ground and grabbed its ankles. With a cry of fear, it was dragged underground.
Blue-white light shone and ice creaked as frozen walls erected themselves between groups of the scattered pokémon, cutting them off from each other. Onix roared as he tore through the isolated pockets. The Rocket trainers shouted instructions and their pokémon rushed to weak points and gaps in the walls, only to stumble and fall as they did so, their skin tinged purple from the poisonous stingers that had been embedded in the ground that they had stepped on.
Some Rocket trainers instructed their pokémon to burst through the ice walls where they were strong instead, enough getting through to form a pocket of strength with which to attack Onix. But the rock-type dove back into the ground just as they arrived. The Rocket pokémon growled their frustrations as their foe escaped.
"Time to wrap this up!" A deep female voice shouted. Visquez and a raichu appeared out of the fog, charging towards the gathered pokémon. "Wipe them out, Scarbolt!"
Her raichu sprinted forward on all fours, a corona of buzzing yellow power blinking into existence around it. It leapt into the air and came down on the gathered Team Rocket pokémon like an electric comet. A dome of electricity exploded around the point of impact, the screams of people and pokémon swallowed by the crackling of the raichu's power.
The light faded; the gate was broken and the wall was shattered. Pokémon covered in electric burns lay scattered around Scarbolt, unmoving. Several Rocket trainers lay strewn about like discarded dolls, bleeding and burned.
"Atta girl, Scarbolt!" Visquez crowed, running over to her pokémon. "Gate's down everyone!"
"Visquez, I told you to stay low!" Brock growled as he and the other gym trainers emerged from the mist. Zubat hovered over Brock's shoulder. Onix popped its head out of the ground next to Brock, and a nidoqueen did the same thing next to Cindy. Misty had Starmie with her and Amanda had a jynx following her. Kaydeen had a beedrill; he and his pokémon immediately began doing something to their fallen foes.
"No can do, Brock, Scarbolt's a close combat pokémon and she needs me nearby to direct her," Visquez smirked, rubbing the top of Scarbolt's head. "Anyway, you can yell at me after the battle, we need to move on."
"Damnit, Visquez," Brock growled, pulling out a radio.
"Even with body armor what you're doing is too risky," Cindy said. "Visquez, do you want to end up benched because some Team Rocket grunt gets off a lucky shot with a crossbow?"
"Oh fine," Visquez rolled her eyes. "I'll keep a lower profile."
"Thank you Visquez," Cindy said.
"Alright, everyone who isn't dead shouldn't be getting up for the rest of the day," Kayden said, standing up from where he had been crouched over a human body and wiping his hands. "Lancer, you done?"
His beedrill buzzed what sounded like an affirmative as it hovered over several fallen pokémon.
"Good, then let's move out before the reinforcements arrive," Brock said. "Kaydee, scout ahead. Zubat, help him out. Everyone else, stick to cover and let's go!"
"The squad at the West Gate has gone dark," Archer growled, slamming down a radio headset. "Arianna, what's the status on the patrols?"
He was standing in a command center set up in a commandeered atrium in the Silph building. Various pieces of communication equipment and monitoring equipment lined the room, with members of Team Rocket manning each piece, running to and fro carrying messages from station to station.
"They're withdrawing," Arianna shouted from across the room. "Heavy casualties. We're blind in west outskirts."
"Of course we are," Archer grumbled, picking up the headset. "Send immediate reinforcements to the West Gate, we've got to plug that breakthrough. Pull them from the other border fortifications if you must! And then send the next wave of reinforcements to shore up our defenses all along the westside, I don't want them pulling some trick while we're blind."
"I'm sending the depleted westside patrols to keep an eye out on the north outskirts," Arianna informed him. "And I'm pulling in the full-strength patrols from the north to reinforce the city!"
"Tell the east and south patrols to patrol in force, I don't want to lose them like we lost the westside," Archer shouted.
"On it," Arianna nodded. "Everyone else, get to your positions! We're not giving up this city again!"
A stream of people in Team Rocket and their pokémon flowed along the west side of Saffron City, towards the ruined gate. Brock's squad had moved on, leaving a trail of destruction and chaos in their wake.
At two other points on the west border of the city proper, gunshots rang out, accompanied by the various energies of long-range special attacks. It was two squads from the Safari Zone's Anti-Poaching unit, wielding hard to procure rifles, blazing away, hidden inside the forest outskirts.
Team Rocket grunts fell behind cover under the hail of gunfire. Their pokémon attempted to defend themselves from the bullets and special attacks, standing their ground behind earthen walls and defensive moves, blasting back at the forest.
Various energies and projectiles were exchanged, shredding both the forests and the structures at the edge of the city. Out of the blaze of energies a group of rhyhorns and tauroses came charging towards the city. They slammed through the occupied defenders, felling and trampling the Rocket pokémon and bursting through the cover that the Rocket trainers were sheltering behind.
It was too much. Team Rocket fell back, recalling their downed pokémon and rallying the rest. And that was the signal for more League trainers and their pokémon to emerge from the forest rushing to take advantage of the openings.
"We've got two more breeches in the West," Archer shouted. "Are we done transferring the psychic assets from the gym yet? Is Sabrina ready for deployment?"
"Not yet," Arianna shouted back. "We're in the middle of a delicate part of the transfer, where we disconnect the assets from the control network and then contain them for later use. We shouldn't deploy her just yet anyway; we need information on the League forces, we don't want to lose her to an ambush by forces with type advantage."
"Great! Just fuckin' great!" Archer swore. "Everyone fall back to the first interior line of defense! Broadcast a general warning to the civilians, tell them to stay home."
"Someone find where the group who broke through the West Gate is," Arianna shouted into her own radio. "We're getting all sorts of reports about a group that is wreaking havoc behind the frontlines."
"Oh, ain't that a cherry on top of this shit sundae!" Archer snarled. "This is just what the boss was afraid of. Fortifications aren't complete, the city ain't pacified, and a League force of unknown strength is pounding on our door. Well, let's see just how much worse this day can get."
AN: I'd like to thank Amationary for beta reading.
Don't you hate it when you step out for a moment and then all hell breaks loose?
This chapter was exposition heavy as it was, so I didn't find a place to mention that using Gary as a hostage to keep his grandfather out of the situation wasn't a plan they had, it was a spur of the moment thing they did after they found out that their cover had been blown. (Of course, assuming things went according to their plan as soon as they got their hands on the pokemon center's visitor records they would've tried to capture him to hold him hostage for when they were eventually discovered, so...)
So, here's the news everyone's gonna hate. My buffer's getting low again and I'll be taking a week off releasing for the purposes of both writing and editing. So expect the next chapter of Symbiotic on Wednesday March 24th 2021.
Don't forget to leave a review! Concrit is welcome!