Excalibur – Charcadett (f)
Cú – Hisuian Growlithe (m)
Fatalis – Charmander (m)
Cookie – Caterpie (f)

Chapter 11:

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth! That's right!"

The trio finished their motto with – what they all agreed on being – a stylish pose, and waited for a terrified outcry. After years of training, field experience, and lots of sweat, they'd finally been recognized for their dedication and skill. Now one of the three prominent specialist teams – codenamed Team Rocket White – they were given orders that allowed them to work how they worked best. Unless called in for a job, they're left to their own devices, which, while it came with a lower budget, let them find their own targets and suited their well-rounded set of skills perfectly. It was also the reason they were at this spot in this point in time.

After James had pointed out the start of the next gym circuit, they'd agreed that it would be a quick and easy way to get some rare pokemon if they stayed around Pallet Town for a few days. It's a well-known fact that Professor Oak gave out the exceedingly rare regional starters every year, after all. Not only were their targets rare, but since they'd be given to fresh and inexperienced trainers it'd be a piece of cake to scoop them up and dip before anyone was any wiser.

Team Rockets Admins had decided that it was finally time to slowly come out of the shadows, which had prompted the trio to come up with the introduction they'd just recited. James had come up with the lines, Jessie with the poses, and Meowth with the timing and entrance. And while this hadn't been the first time they'd done the whole thing – they'd practiced many times to get it just right – it was the first time they'd get a reaction from it. Which was why they all stumbled on the spot when instead of fright, confusion, or defiance, they're greeted by applause and a loud whistle.

"Woohoo, that was amazing!" The boy in front of them exclaimed with a goofy smile, which apparently hadn't only surprised them but also the pokemon in his company. On his shoulder quivered a small Caterpie, nervously looking from side to side, while a previously on-edge Charmander now looked up at its trainer in confusion.

It took a moment before Jessie focused back on the task at hand and took the pokeball off her belt. The confusion came to her as well when James nudged her with a smirk before he motioned to the boy in front of them. Not getting what he wanted from her she looked at the young trainer more thoroughly.

He was almost as tall as them, only short of half a head shorter, and wore an outfit that had a bit more color than their white uniforms. Starting with a pair of simple brown hiking boots, he wore long blue pants with white outlines which came up into a black belt with already four pokeballs attached to it. A simple orange shirt with the red symbol of Cinnabar Island's gym badge over the heart was under an open red sports jacket with white stripes that ran from the shoulders all the way down its long sleeves. The boy's slightly spiky, blonde hair fell over his ears and flew around the right side of his face with an incoming breeze, his light-blue eyes shining as they met hers.

"A-Arty?" She stammered as she realized who the person they were about to mug really was.

"The one and only! Running into you guys sure is a welcome surprise." Arthur laughed in response and tilted his head slightly as he looked them over. "Those uniforms really suit you, but won't you guys get in trouble getting seen in them?"

While she gloated from the compliment and continued to show herself off, James took a step forward and bumped fists with their old friend. "You can say that again. Though I guess we shouldn't be surprised to find you of all people here. If anyone could manage getting a starter from Professor Oak, it'd be you." They shared a chuckle before James waved his hand dramatically. "And there's no need to worry. If anyone catches sight of us in uniform, we can just switch looks. We're masters of disguise, remember?"

"Fair point, but wouldn't it make more sense to wear a disguise while in uniform instead?" Arthur questioned in return. "You know, so that you don't have to wear a disguise whenever you're in public."

With the attention now completely away from her, Jessie was about to retort when Meowth interrupted himself. "Kid got a point. I for one would prefer not having to dress up everywhere we go." That said, their friends' eyes widened as he looked at their team member. They'd been both shocked and surprised when they'd met Meowth themselves. A talking pokemon was something special, even if many Psychic types could communicate telepathically. One that'd work as a full-fledged Team Rocket member instead of the pokemon of one even more so. It'd been awkward at first, but they got over it soon enough, unlike most people that encountered Meowth. Jessie glanced warily at Arthur, ready to jump in if needed.

"I take it you're their third team member? I'm Arthur, nice to meet you." The boy crouched down and held out his hand as if nothing was amiss, which earned him a chuckle from James.

"E-eh, erm, well … likewise." Meowth responded with a stutter and blinked profusely at the boy as he shook his hand. "Call me Meowth."

"I've never met a pokemon capable of human speech, you must be pretty smart."

Meowth turned to his teammates with a wide grin. "Oh, I like him already."

"That's our Art for you. Always good with people." James laughed.

"So, what are you guys doing here? I doubt you're waiting here for me." Arthur asked and got back up, his pokemon now both more at ease as well.

"Oh, you know, the usual." Jessie answered, a hand on her hip as she grinned. "On the lookout for rare pokemon to scoop up."

Arthur let out a noncommittal "Ah" at that and shuffled a bit on the spot. "In that case you might as well come with me to Viridian City, the other guys won't show up for a while if at all. Oak's granddaughter will take a few more days and probably isn't someone you should mess with. And the other one takes a completely different route."

She clicked her tongue at that, it should've been an easy cash grab but of course they got just the wrong people. There's no way they'd mess with an Oak, the whole family was blacklisted from being interacted with by the higher-ups. They might have a chance going after the other one, but they weren't exactly mobile at the moment, nor did they have pokemon to properly scout ahead. And there's no way they'd mug Arthur of all people. Even if they tried, she doubted they'd manage to do so given how strong she remembered Arthur to be in a battle. With that their plans were easily crushed, so what to do instead …

"Can't anything go according to plan for once?" James sighed as his shoulders slumped.

""No plan survives first contact with the enemy"" Jessie and Arthur answered simultaneously, then looked at each other in surprise and laughed.

"I guess you have no Plan B then?" Arthur asked and received a three-fold shake of heads. The awkward moment was interrupted by a growling stomach. "Alright, then who's up for some food? You gotta tell me what you did since you left the academy."

The three of them looked at each other and nodded one by one, before Jessie responded with a smirk. "Depends; you buying?"

"- after our initial blunder we did some strategizing and came up with a new maneuver. With that we managed to capture the whole group of Pinsir and a few extras. I think they're used as prizes at the Game Corner in Celadon City now." James finished his story and ate the fries he'd been swirling in sauce for the past minute or so.

The slurping noise to his right stopped when Jessie successfully emptied her cup. "Our biggest haul to date. I'm pretty sure it helped in getting promoted before Cassidy did." She said with a self-satisfied grin.

"You got to show me sometime." Arthur replied with a fry pointed at them. "So, you're in the big leagues now, right?"

"You could say that," Jessie answered and snagged the exposed fry with ease. "Why're you asking?"

"Doesn't that mean you've a lot to do, even with your original plan failing?" He continued and tried to get his fry back. After a short back and forth, it was lost in Jessies mouth.

A loud burp to Arthur's left caused the three to turn towards Meowth, who'd been struggling with the big burger he'd insisted on getting earlier for the past few minutes. "Eh, oops?" The pokemon rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "But you're wrong. See, we're a team of super special specialists that gets to choose their own targets. Unless we're called in from our superiors, that is."

"That means you guys are pretty much free right now then?" Arthur concluded, his hand holding the tray with his remaining fries away from Jessie. Either she was somehow still hungry, after she ate about as much as the three of them combined, or she's messing with him. Either way, he wouldn't give up his food that easily.

"Sounds to me like you have an idea, Art." James said, his head resting on the palm of his hand, his elbow propped on the table.

The fight over the leftover fries ended with Arthur quickly gulping them down after he almost fell out of his chair to secure them. "I do, but before I'll tell you there's something I want to see first."

"Oh, this is gonna be good." Meowth chuckled knowingly. He'd heard Arthur's idea earlier when Jessie had been ranting about one of the female secretaries at HQ she hated with a passion. He also knew what was coming and wondered how it would play out, it was himself that had proposed the idea after all.

Jessie and James looked at them expectingly, so Arthur continued. "Since we haven't seen each other in so long I want to see how well you've improved since then. So, we'll have a nice pokemon battle where I can test you. If you're good enough, I'll tell you what I have in mind." While not necessarily true, his words had the intended effect of firing up his friends.

"But Art, you've just started your journey today." James pointed out. "You went straight here to Viridian too; I don't think you even had the time to fight with your pokemon yet. We've been on and about with our pokemon since we've left the academy. Don't you think that's a bit unfair?"

"Then it shouldn't be a problem for you guys, right?" Arthur replied with a grin. "And like you said, the newest members to my team didn't get much action yet, so it'll be a great opportunity for them." He clapped his hands and stood up. "I know; to see how good you guys really are we'll do a double battle. That way you can show off that teamwork of yours too." If he wanted the training of his pokemon to be as good as possible, he'd need people that could keep up with him. If they're ahead of him, even better.

James sighed in acceptance and stacked their trails, but Jessie apparently wanted to take things further. "You're giving us a lot of advantages, Arty. I think you're underestimating us a bit." She got up herself and leaned in close to Arthur, a smug grin on her face. "How about we raise the stakes a little?"

"S-sure, what did you have in mind?" He replied with a cough, his eyes looking at the floor. After his friends had changed out of their uniforms earlier, he'd a hard time looking at Jessie, and the proximity didn't make it any easier. While James just wore a black shirt and jeans, Jessie's top was practically the same as before just without the Team Rocket Logo. Her criminally short skirt changed for a pair of tight pants that stopped just above her knees. It didn't help that she was beauty either, something most men agreed with him on if the looks their group got when they walked through Viridian City was anything to go by, even with her peculiar hairstyle. He wasn't used to having problems like that; he never reacted to Missy in the years they knew each other, or any other woman on Cinnabar for that matter. And here he'd thought puberty wouldn't affect him a second time …

"I for one like getting some premium food, but our budget doesn't allow for much pleasantries," she cooed and nudged his side, obviously happy with how flustered she got him as her grin grew wider. "You surely don't have a problem with taking your old buddies out again, right?"

While he thought that the 'premium food' part was debatable, they literally went into the first burger place they'd found – a chain called 'Charifries' with a fries-breathing Charizard as a mascot –, he didn't have a problem with that idea. "Alright, so let's say that if you win, I'll take you guys out some more. What do I get when I win?"

His choice of words flew right over her head, though the other two snickered in the background. "Well, we're experts in our field, you know. We could get you anything you want; a rare pokemon, a pricy item, a prank on a rival …" She leaned in once more and added in a low tone. "… maybe you need a wingman, or ..."

Arthur felt the heat in his ears and cheeks and promptly stepped towards the exit, a laughing trio in tow. He's happy that there weren't any mirrors nearby, the thought of him being as red as his jacket only made him walk faster in the search for an open battlefield. After he'd thoroughly cursed himself for being so easily flustered, he looked forward to what's coming next. Since he'd trained with Jessie and James for a while back in the academy, they had to be better battlers than their original counterparts, right?

"This will be a double battle with two pokemon per side, no switches allowed." Meowth started from atop the stump he's standing on. They'd found themselves a nice secluded battlefield where he could do that without attracting attention. "The battle ends when one side is down, you know the stakes."

Arthur watched his friends talk to one another while he rolled the two shrunken pokeballs of his newest team members in his hand. Jessie and James both had only one pokemon each, thus the restriction of only two mons per side. They'd explained that was the case due to grunts not getting additional long-term pokemon and they hadn't added any since their promotion for a lack of funds. Whether that meant that the pokemon they did have were more experienced or not would remain to be seen. His chosen pokemon didn't have any battle experience under him at all, so it was a trial by fire. He could've substituted one of them, of course, but he felt like that would've put him in too much of an advantage. The training he'd put his first two pokemon under while on Cinnabar had been intense after all. This way he'd get a feel for his newest pokemon more easily as well, and while they didn't have much in terms of moves – as he'd seen due to the pokedex's functions – he'd come up with something.

Jessie and James finished their talk and got ready, so Meowth raised the small flags he held in his paws. "Send out your pokemon!"

"Ekans, show him what we're made off!" "Let's go, Koffing!" they announced and released their partners. Ekans coiled up where it was, while Koffing hovered next to it. Both looked like they were in good health, but otherwise remarkably unremarkable.

"Fatalis, Cookie, you're up!" Arthur called out as he threw both pokeballs up in the air and his pokemon materialized in front of him. His Charmander looked at the pokemon in front of them and then back to its trainer with a questioning look, while his battle partner quickly hid behind him.

Arthur crouched down and rubbed both their heads, though he was a bit more reserved when touching his little bug. "Alright you two, this'll be our first battle together. There's nothing to worry about since this is just a friendly spar, so just do your best and follow my lead, okay?" The two of them looked at each other, then their opposition, and lastly at their trainer before they nodded back at him.

He got back up and signaled Meowth he was ready with an 'ok' sign. "Begin!"

"Cookie, wrap that Koffing up with String Shot! Fatalis, Ember against Ekans!" Arthur wasted no time and his pokemon followed suit. When his opponents responded, the attacks had already traveled half-way to their targets.

"Koffing, dodge and Poison Gas!" James ordered. His partner managed to dodge the string initially, but the moment it started to counterattack it got surprised when Cookie deftly whipped the string around it. The sudden impact caused the part that missed initially to swing back around, which resulted in a quick wrap-up that blocked the poison type from releasing its gases.

While that went down, Jessie had ordered her Ekans to counter the incoming Ember with a spray of Poison Sting of their own. Some of the projectiles hit and canceled out each other, but the Ember ultimately proved stronger and broke through, knocking back and injuring its target. Seeing that this wasn't working out, Jessie adjusted her strategy. "Ekans, rush them and use Wrap on that Charmander!"

"You too Koffing, Tackle!" With no way of getting rid of the sticky strings quickly, James followed suit.

Since his opponents pokemon sprinting at them, and no doubt being stronger in a melee scenario, Arthur decided to use his Caterpie's apparent skill with her String Shot some more. "Cookie, throw them into each other! Slow them down with Growl, Fatalis!"

Fatalis led out a cute but menacing enough roar that caused his opponents stumble and falter just long enough so his partner could shoot out another string to wrap around Koffing. A whine from Cookie alerted both her trainer and battle partner, as she wasn't strong enough to throw the floating ball of poison gas around with her own strength. "Fatalis, assist!" The unexpected delay almost proved fatal as their opponents closed in even further, but the call and subsequent help she received in form of Fatalis holding and swinging her as well as the attached Koffing to the side resulted in their opponents crashing into each other.

"No!" "Come on, get back up!" Jessie and James called out, but the stickiness surrounding their pokemon made it hard for them to separate quickly.

A fact that Arthur used to its fullest. "Pummel them with Tackle and Scratch! Focus on Ekans first!"

Since his Charmander was still holding onto his partner, he rushed forwards and threw said partner forward to enhance her incoming Tackle. After she'd hit and moved out of the way to start up again, Fatalis came in with his own attack and scratched furiously at his target.

"Fight back, Ekans! Bite!" Jessie shouted; the frustration clear in her voice. Her pokemon's head shot out and bit its most recent attack but relented when it got hit with another Tackle to its back.

To her side, James looked like he'd come up with an idea. "Koffing, inhale deep and blow through the strings with Smog!" Koffing did as it was told and expanded to almost twice its size as it took a deep breath, only to let out everything at once as the poisonous gas broke through its impairments. "Great, now use Poison Gas!"

With both of his pokemon focused on Ekans, Arthur had hoped they'd manage to take it out fast enough, but their lack of strength became apparent when their target was still able to battle, although visibly worse for wear. "Fatalis, burn it away with Ember and gain some distance!"

The moment his Charmander switched focus, Jessie struck. "Keep it where it is, Ekans! Wrap!" Although her pokemon still had another attacker, it was obvious who the bigger problem was, thus she ignored the continued attacks in favor of their usual strategy. Just as Ekans was about to coil around and doom its target, it got held back by a string that swung under its neck and back around.

Both surprised and amazed by his pokemons quick reaction, Arthur used the likely only chance he'd left. "Cookie, use the string to steer Ekans towards Koffing!" In a showing of sheer determination, the small Caterpie whipped her string around Ekans once more and rodeoed it into its partner's attack. While immune to the poisonous effect, neither of them was immune to the resulting collision.

Cookie was thrown off her ride on impact and rolled away before coming to a stop, the poison having taken its effect on her as purple spots grew all over her skin. "No time to waste; Fatalis roast them!" Arthur ordered and watched his injured pokemon with a wary eye. With no need to hold back, Fatalis shot out a barrage of Embers at his momentarily stunned opponents which caused their crash side to catch fire due to the gas and flammable strings littered around, before it exploded in a puff of smoke.

When the smoke settled and both Ekans and Koffing stirred once more, he let out another round, a faint hue of dark blue appearing around his mouth for just a second. His opponents cried out and were flung back by the force of it and crashed into the ground in front of their trainers.

Meowth raised one if his flags. "Ekans and Koffing are no longer able to battle! The winner is Arthur!"

Arthur ignored how his friends' shoulders slumped down as they recalled their pokemon, instead he rushed over to his poisoned pokemon and opened his backpack in search for a bottle of antidote-spray. Just as he was crouching down with Fatalis at his side however, Cookie rolled back onto her legs with a happy look on her face and began to glow. She craned her head upwards and shot out a glistening string that parted into several thinner ones, only for them to fall around her. The glow turned a bright white as she was enveloped and her form changed into a green cocoon over twice her original size. To finish her transformation off, the purple spots on her green skin shrank until nothing was left. "Metapod!"

He blinked in wonder as he witnessed the end of the first evolution he'd ever seen. "Wow." To his side, Fatalis let out a happy shout and patted his teammate on the back, to which she hummed softly in response. Seeing his pokemon like that, Arthur reached out and rubbed both their heads affectionately. "You guys were amazing. If you start out like that, you'll catch up with the others in no time." He told them with a smile.

His pokemon let out sounds of agreement, and he'd no doubt they'd have high-fived each other if it'd been possible. "But for now, you've earned yourselves some rest and a nice treat later." With that, he returned them to their respective balls and got back up to see what his friends were up to. When he turned around, he saw Meowth telling the others something with a smug grin on his face, while James looked like he'd just been chewed out by Jessie.

For the time they've been out and about, Arthur had expected a bit more of them. While they had some ideas and even a potentially good combo attack, it looked to him like they weren't used to such an open form of battle. Then it clicked. He hadn't paid it much mind earlier when they told their stories, but now that he thought about it every time they engaged pokemon they either did so with a surprise attack or with numerical advantage. No wonder they weren't used to a direct battle like that, even with years in the field. That wouldn't do. Quite the contrary; it gave his plan even more purpose.

He walked over to them and put his hands on Jessie and James' shoulders from behind. "You guys haven't been keeping up with training, have you?" He asked with an innocent smile, one that made Meowth laugh loudly.

"W-well …" Jessie started.

"You see …" James continued.

But Arthur had no intention of letting them try and talk their way out of this. "While it seems like you two are doing well in regards to your skullduggery jobs, your performance in battle is a failing grade." He took back his hands and clapped loudly, with made the two straighten in attention like they did back in the academy. "As your teacher I'm dissatisfied with these results, which is why there's a change to whatever plans you may have had. To make sure you improve up to standards you'll accompany me on my journey and train together with me and my team for the time being."

Both of them were flabbergasted and looked at him with mouths open wide enough so a Pidgey could nest in them. "While I don't disagree with that idea, wouldn't it be weird to have us accompany and train under you? Technically we're your superiors." Meowth asked, no doubt seeing the benefit of traveling with him, if only for the additional funds he brought with him.

"That won't be a problem." Arthur replied with a wink. "After all, I'm a specialist too."

""WHAT?!""

Sorry for the delay everybody. There were some ... complications I had to deal with. Anyways, with this the crew is officially assembled and the journey can begin for real! As requested in the reviews to the last chapter I've added the list of pokemon and their nicknames at the start of the chapter. I'll do my best to make it clear who's who, but a list like that surely won't hurt. I'm not sure how good my descriptions to the appearance of everyone was this chapter, so some feedback would be appreciated. Descriptions like that are a bit of a weak point for me.

As always, thanks for reading and reviewing. Hope to have you next time!