"Proton put it down...please." I recognise the pleading voice even before we see him. It's Kenji.
"Did you ever get the Marowak stains off you hmm? I suppose it's not so easy, is it?" The other voice answers Kenji.
We head round the corner with our Poke Balls ready in hand, it's disturbing how the danger lures us in. I want to grab Ellie and turn around but there is more than the voices in the air, some Pokemon is crying and even I can sense its pain.
A violent vision greets us, its goriness only muted slightly by the dim shades of a watery cavern. A tall man stands with a stained knife in one hand and the butchered end of a tail in the other. The dripping of blood sounds heavier than the gentler drops of water slipping down from the damp ceiling. His gloved hands are slick with stains and about his ghoulish face I see dark spatters. It is his uniform that concerns me most, it's similar to Kenji's save for piping at the boots, gloves and collar as if to signify rank but the large red R on the front of his black top is identical.
"Well, who's this then?" he snaps as he fixes a sharp stare upon us. "What do you want?" He takes a tight grasp upon the ruined tail causing blood to ooze out of it and dribble onto the ground. "If you interrupt out work, don't expect any mercy!"
I wonder if he sees that he is outnumbered or if he is just that cocky, considering he has no mask to hide his identity I suspect it could be the latter. Hearing a whimper, I drop my gaze to the ground and realise I was avoiding looking there intentionally. A number of mutilated Slowpoke lie at the man's boots in puddles that I fear are as much blood as water, twitching and whimpering in pain and fear. I wonder if I am wrong about the man's cockiness and if he might be unhinged.
"You psycho!" Steven charges forward, throwing out a Poke Ball and bringing forth a large Pokemon of rock and steel that lands upon four sturdy legs with enough force to crack the ground beneath it.
The man drops the Slowpoke tail and folds his arms as he raises his eyebrows slightly and smirks, entirely unthreatened by the appearance of Steven's Pokemon. "What do we have here? Do you not know who we are? Who I am?" His arms jerk downwards in flash of movement and the knife quivers in his hand.
"I know, you're one of Troy's lot, aren't you?" Steven accuses. "You won't leave us alone! Well I've had enough, let's battle then!"
"Troy's lot?" The man's face curdles in disgust. "Once maybe but I am a Team Rocket Executive of my own now, his affairs don't concern me. I'm Proton, often labelled as the scariest and cruellest guy in Team Rocket and I strongly urge you not to interfere with our business!"
"Call out your Pokemon," Steven addresses him icily.
My gaze darts over to Kenji. He is hanging back in this Proton's shadow, silent and frowning, sickly looking though maybe that is a trick of the light. I see his head bob down to the Slowpoke a few times before he shakes it and reaches a gloved hand up to his mouth. We keep bumping into him, it can't be a coincidence but why then does this Proton say he isn't involved with Troy? Proton hasn't even looked to Ellie and he doesn't seem to know us.
"Alright then, Weezing!"
A dual-headed Pokemon comes out in a puff of noxious gas. I wrinkle my nose as I detect its stench even over the odour of fresh blood. It bobs in the air, even as the larger head sags down.
"Sludge!"
A poisonous purple liquid gushes out of the Weezing, spraying the walls carelessly as well as soaking Steven's Pokemon.
"Meteor Mash!" The stone and steel Pokemon's front two arms rise up and punch out, slamming the Weezing with enough force to send it crashing into a wall.
"I'm not sure this is a good environment for a battle," Morty murmurs as cracks stretch up the wall. "Ancient usually means fragile and this place is very ancient. Never mind the small size of our environment versus the delightfully large size of that Metagross."
The air grows hazy and my eyes and lungs burn almost instantly. The Weezing has attacked again. I double over coughing and clutch at my chest as it throbs and my throat becomes inflamed with the poison polluting the cavern.
I hear Ellie, Morty and Looker coughing too but Steven seems immune. I stagger to the right and try to escape the smog that has formed.
"Psychic!"
Ellie gives a cry of pain as a blast of psychic energy shoots out of Steven's Pokemon, the Metagross as Morty has named it, and smashes into the Weezing. It falls from the air stunned, both heads unconscious as it hits the ground.
"It doesn't matter where we go," Proton grumbles as he calls back the Weezing, "there's always someone that doesn't agree with us." He pulls out another Poke Ball and glances over his shoulder to Kenji. "Are you going to just stand there Kenji? We are what we are, deal with it!"
"Kenji," I hear Looker growl the name, "that boy, I knew he was trouble!"
Proton flings a Poke Ball outwards wildly and a Goldbat emerges with a screech of anger.
I look to Ellie and see Morty standing beside her, his hands on her shoulders loosely. She has a hand up to her brow and I can see she is wincing as if in pain.
Steven stands firm, completely fixated on the battle.
"Confuse Ray!"
The attack strikes the Metagross in the centre of its head.
"No!" Ellie wrenches away from Morty and grabs her skull with both hands as the Metagross shudders and shakes itself as if a Fletchinder is irritating at it.
Steven is distracted by Ellie's yelling. He looks over his shoulder to her as his Pokemon staggers to one side and collides with the wall in its confusion.
I tense and glance up as rock starts to crumble and drop down from above. Morty is right, this is no place for this battle.
Porton gives a mocking laugh drawing Steven's attention back to him. He raises up his Poke Ball and calls back his Pokemon before it can do any more damage to itself or the walls. He looks back to Ellie once more.
Morty has hurried to Ellie. He grabs her right arm and squeezes it before yanking her back sharply as a large chunk of rock slams into the ground.
"Give up?" Proton sneers.
Steven answers by calling out another Pokemon. It's a bizarre looking bird of steel that has me thinking of Poppy's Corviknight even though they look nothing alike. This lacks Corviknight's nightmarish dark form, shining silver with a flash of red at its wings under its metallic feathers and bearing something medieval in its features.
"Steel Wing, Skarmory!"
The Pokemon, Skarmory, beats out at the Goldbat with its sharp wings.
The movement of the pair of Pokemon's wings causes dust and smaller debris of rocks to clog up the air. I stifle a cough and look to the ceiling with worry as the Goldbat's winged attack sends the Skarmory crashing into the wall prompting more chunks of rock to fall.
The Skarmory slams its metal wings into the Goldbat again, beating it back and into a dizzying state. The ceiling continues to crumble, larger pieces of rocks fall more rapidly now as a cave in starts to become a reality.
The Goldbat flutters feebly and screeches hysterically as it drops to the ground in defeat. It is not like Kenji's Goldbat, driven by annoyance and anger, a temperamental creature, whilst Kenji's had an odd charm to it, screeching in joy and showing excitement with its energetic wing flapping.
Proton recalls the Goldbat with a frown. He glances down to his chunky belt and flashes a grin as he flicks up the brim of his black cap with one finger.
"Humph...not bad."
"You are under arrest!" Looker snaps at he points forward to the man dramatically. "Both of you! You'll tell us all about Troy and his plans!"
Proton glances up before moving in a blur of speed. He darts behind Kenji and shoves him forward, sending him staggering into Looker with a cry of surprise. His belt snaps off and strikes up and out like a whip to a large spiderweb of cracks in the wall. It is enough to quicken the rocks crumbling down and as they fall he sprints off into the darkness behind him with a laugh.
"The Slowpoke!" Ellie yells. I see her dart forward and I move too.
She reaches for a groaning Slowpoke as rocks rain down around us. I reach for her and for a moment it is like the cliff side again, we are both in danger but I don't care, I'll perish if it means she stays safe.
I feel the shadow of death coming down upon us. I have no time to push Ellie away so instead I throw myself on top of her in some feeble hope of absorbing the blow of the rock myself.
It doesn't come.
I look down and see Ellie beneath me, cradling a Slowpoke, as determined to sacrifice herself for it as I am to give myself up for her. My arms are trembling as I try to support myself above her, waiting for the blow that is not coming.
Feeling repetitive rushes of air I become aware of the sound of wingbeats and crane my neck up to see what has saved us this time. A Dragonite hovers above me supporting a slab of rock in its mighty orange arms.
"Looks like I got here just in time."
I turn at the cocky voice and see a man stepping out from the shadows with a cloak billowing around him. He probably thinks it looks impressive and maybe to some it does but I've hung around with Hassel too long to be put in awe by a Dragon Trainer. The cloak alone is a giveaway, they can't resist it, even Hassel has a long capelet style to his green jacket because he can't help showing himself off as a Dragon Trainer. It's his way of getting round the Academy prohibiting him wearing a cloak to class.
"Lance," Ellie sounds out the name in surprise. Given our close proximity I am able to hear the odd awe in her voice for this man.
I lean back from her, sitting upright on my knees. She pushes herself upright awkwardly, fumbling with the Slowpoke and getting smeared by its blood in the process.
"So, you got one of them at least."
At his words I turn my attention back to Lance, trying to see why he invokes this awe in Ellie. He is impressive in his stance, tall, toned and fiery haired though his gaze troubles me as it somehow seems animated and emptied all at once. He strides across the cavern to Looker who is trying to restrain the squirming Kenji.
"Hyuck-hyuck-hyuck!" Kenji sputters out his strange laugh. "I was just an innocent bystander, sight seeing or rock seeing, whatever you-"
The loud clap of Lance's gloved hand cutting across Kenji's jaw echoes through the cavern, silencing the babbling Team Rocket Grunt and drawing us all to attention.
"You Team Rocket punks have caused me trouble across two regions," Lance growls out as he clenches his hand into a fist. "I am continuously having to drop things to deal with your annoyances. Now you're trying to harm my friends, well," Lance raises the clenched fist and smiles, "I think you'll give up your friends instead."
Kenji spits up blood before facing Lance. "Hyuck-hyuck-hyuck, I ain't got any." Despite his laugh his words come out dark with a horrid seriousness to them.
I give a cry of surprise as something is slammed into me. I barely take in the Slowpoke that has been shoved against my ribcage and onto my lap before I react to the sound of shoes skidding on damp rock.
Ellie is up and running towards the commotion as Lance punches Kenji this time.
"Just a minute!" Looker protests as he pulls Kenji back from the Champion. "There's no need for this! We'll do it properly, arrest him and question him at the police station!"
"Steven," Lance calls out calmly, "they put your mother in a hospital, what do you think of some calm questioning?"
Lance doesn't bother to look back to Steven who stands behind him. I see his shoulders rise and fall as he suppresses pants, his eyes grow wide as he sees Ellie running towards Lance, Looker and Kenji.
She puts herself between Kenji and Lance and holds her arms up defensively. "No, no more! No, no violence," she begs.
I hear Steven sigh and see his shoulders droop. "Let's not become them Lance," he says sombrely.
Lance fixes a strange stare upon Ellie before giving a nod. "Alright, you and me then Steven, we'll question him, I'm sure Bugsy can give us a room." He cocks his head to the right where Morty has stood as a calm and neutral observer, his expression unreadable. "You can come too Morty, perhaps your insight will be useful."
Morty stands with his arms folded and gives a shrug. "Sure."
Lance's attention returns to Looker. "You can have your arrest after officer if it's so important to you. He won't give you their leader, they never give that."
"Hyuck-hyuck-hyuck," Kenji's laugh comes quiet and slightly deranged as he sags in Looker's arms. "Well you got Proton's name didn't you? He's a leader, Executive as it is, and you mentioned Troy, seems you're doing alright learning about us."
"And what did you take from Goldenrod Departmental Store then?" Looker demands, sounding smug.
"Oh you're like a Growlithe with a bone ain't cha?" Kenji grumbles. "Alright, yes, that was me, I'm the same Kenji, ain't four of us, just me, at the store, at the park, you're so clever working that out, aren't you?" he snaps sardonically.
"Why did you help Larry?" Morty quips with intrigue.
Kenji turns to face me at last, his stare heated under his mask. His lip is starting to swell already and I expect he's going to have a few bruises on his face that a mask can't hide. "I'm not a complete asshole that's why. I was in the area, he was falling, I have a flying Pokemon, you do the maths."
Lance shakes his head. "Babbling idiot, so you all have met him before now then?"
"We didn't know he was in Team Rocket," Steven mutters angrily, "he wasn't wearing the uniform."
"I suspected something wasn't right," Looker insists.
"Oh well a star sticker for you!" Kenji mocks him.
Lance raises his fist again but Ellie remains where she is. "No," she pleads, "it's not you Lance, please." She reaches out to grasp his clenched hand and for a moment they're still before he jerks it back.
"Let's get out of here," Lance mutters. "We'll carry the Slowpoke." He stares over Ellie to Looker. "Can you handle him officer?"
"Yes." Looker struggles to pin Kenji's hands behind his back. He does not ask for help but he does not need it as Kenji allows him to handcuff him.
Ellie turns round to face the Grunt and I hate how close they are standing. What's going through her head right now? Does she have any memories of them in our house? What about what happened to Steven's mother, she witnessed that too, is it in her mind?
I frown as she reaches up the ends of that worn scarf of hers to dab it around his face. "Your laugh," she murmurs softly, "have I heard it before?"