An alarm blared in the dark room. A hand reached out from underneath a pile of blankets, groping blindly for the source of the noise. Brock groaned as he sat up and turned off the alarm, glancing at the time as he did so. 4:50am blinked back at him in red letters.
Brock staggered up to his feet, flipped on a light switch and then looked down at himself. Just as he thought, he hadn't had time to change before he went to bed. He was still wearing his usual dull orange shirt, brown vest, and brown pants.
The gym leader looked at his desk, covered in stacks of paper and remembered why he hadn't had time to change last night. Brock had been hoping to make a dent in the gym's paperwork and had stayed up far later than he had meant to in the attempt. There had been so much to go over, new defense plans that he had to coordinate with the city government, the deployments of gym trainers to assist the ranger squads coming the forest, some old paperwork dealing with the new trainers who had just received their first pokémon from his gym, budgets to go over, and so much more.
Brock sighed, looking at the pile of work yet to do. It looked like he would have another evening full of paperwork. But he had other things to take care of this morning before he could even think of attending to gym matters.
The teenager with dark tan skin quietly made his way into the kitchen, getting out pans and ingredients. By five forty-five he had several different breakfast dishes cooking or cooked. At six in the morning Forrest stumbled into the kitchen and grabbed some food. By six thirty in the morning Salvadore, Yolanda, and Tommy had joined Forrest in grabbing breakfast.
"Did everyone get their homework done?" Brock asked as he rushed around the kitchen, finishing up breakfast dishes, and getting started on preparing lunches.
"I had some trouble with my math homework," Salvadore admitted as he worked on a pile of scrambled eggs. "It's done, but could you look it over to make sure I didn't mess up?"
"Absolutely!" Brock answered, smiling. "Just put it on the counter there and I'll take a look."
Salvadore had made a few mistakes on his algebra homework, but he seemed to have gotten the concepts down. Brock pointed out the miscalculations and Salvadore rushed off to correct his work.
At ten past seven Salvadore returned with his corrected work. Brock handed out the lunches to Forrest, Yolanda, Tommy, and Salvadore, and bid them goodbye as they left for school. Brock took five minutes to wolf down some food. He sighed and then began the next round of breakfast and lunches.
At eight in the morning Suzie, Cindy, Billy, Timmy, and Tilly made their way to the kitchen and began to eat their breakfast. Brock helped Suzie and Billy with their homework while he also prepared their lunches. By eight-thirty everyone was fed, helped with homework, and provided with a packed lunch for school. Brock bid them goodbye as they left for school themselves.
At eight fifty in the morning, about four hours after he had been woken up by his alarm, Brock finished cleaning up the residue from making multiple breakfast courses and preparing nine packed lunches.
Brock leaned back against the counter and let out a groan. His head was throbbing, his limbs felt like they were full of lead, and he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. He didn't want to stay up. He wanted nothing more than to sink into his own bed, close his eyes, and drift off back to sleep. But he still had a full day ahead of him, with his work at the gym, and then he would have to hurry home to cook dinner, plus he had to care for his siblings.
And he was running late for work.
The gym leader took a quick shower, changed clothes, and then rushed over to the gym, arriving at nine thirty in the morning, fifteen minutes late, with a bag full of unfinished paperwork.
It had been two days since Ash and Gary had battled. Ash and his team trained in the mornings, ate lunch, trained some more, and then lounged around the pokémon center, enjoying the chance to rest in civilization. Someone put on a movie in one of the lobbies and Ash got to watch it! Even though it wasn't a kaiju movie (it was a cheesy sci-fi movie instead) he and Pikachu had fun watching it. And Ash really enjoyed being able to sleep in a bed! It was fun!
But he knew that it couldn't last. Nor did Ash want it to. There was still too much of the world to meet and see. His time in the pokémon center was just a fun diversion. One that he would almost certainly enjoy again in another location.
But before he left Ash still had to challenge the Pewter City gym. He had run into Misty a few more times. Ash had managed to ask her a few more questions about gyms and how they worked each time before they started bickering again.
Since he had no badges Ash would be facing the easiest of their tests. Maybe a simple battle, or an obstacle course, or very rarely, a written exam. He didn't need to necessarily finish or win, Misty said that he simply needed to show enough skill to qualify.
But it irked Ash that he couldn't think of a good way to win if it did come down to a battle. Type advantage would be working against him. The tyranitar had been a rock type, true, but it had been a rock-dark type rather than a rock-ground type, and it had still taken the efforts of all of his and Misty's pokémon to defeat. A rock-ground type would be nearly immune to Ash's entire team.
He couldn't teach Pikachu Double-Team, he would either need get his hand on a training machine or a training manual to assist. Ash had used his pokédex to look up what moves Pidgeotto could potentially learn, but none would have been useful against the gym's pokémon. Metapod's String Shot could be handy, but Ash couldn't figure out how.
Getting a badge was going to be tough.
It had been a slow day at the Pewter City gym. The gym had few challengers that day and Brock used the opportunity to finish more paperwork during the time that was allotted to deal with such matters. However, even though it was slow, there were still other duties that needed to be attended to, such as caring for the gym pokémon. And most of the gym trainers were off in the forest, supporting the ranger squadrons that had been sent there. Those that remained pulled double duty taking care of their pokémon and the gym pokémon. They polished their stone hides, checked for cracks, gently probed for weakness, and fed them pokéchow mixed with gravel.
Brock scrubbed his onix with a barely damp cloth; a bit of water by itself wouldn't cause a rock-type any physical harm, but it could cause psychological distress. He finished cleaning the stone snake, patted its horn, and walked away, rag over his shoulder, doing his best to stifle another yawn.
"Ya know boss," one of the gym trainers said, a rugged, heavyset, thirtyish man, "Ya could have us help with the onix. You've got enough on your plate as it is."
"Don't call me that," Brock replied, scowling, "and it's my responsibility to take care of my personal pokémon."
"You're the boss-"
"I'm just the placeholder," Brock shot back. "Honestly, Edwin, you should be in charge."
"I've just got a golem," Edwin replied. "You've got more pokémon you've personally trained and raised-"
"I've got one more than you," Brock replied, fists clenching.
"And one of those is an onix!" Edwin threw up his hands in the air. "Don't ya know how hard it is to tame one of those things?"
It wasn't hard as Brock knew. Once you learned to read the onix's expression you could stay ahead of its' moods, its' needs, until it was willing to trust you completely. Brock also knew that you had to know when to alternate between a sort of total stillness that onixes found comforting and when you had to account for the species' surprising speed.
Brock wondered why Edwin never tried to get an onix. The gym leader was certain that the older man could have handled it. Just like he was certain that the older man would have made a better gym leader than himself. Brock didn't understand why Edwin and the other gym trainers were letting him go through with this farce.
Brock wasn't the youngest person attached to the gym; there were plenty of junior gym trainers. But he was the youngest gym leader in Kanto. He was younger than most of the gym leaders in the allied regions, outside of prodigies like the psychic twins in Hoenn.
Brock knew he was the weakest gym leader in the Kanto League. The 'Sensational Sisters' had a reputation for frivolity and being more interesting in using their pokémon for performances than battles, but Brock knew that, even without type advantage, they were stronger than him. Janine, who would be taking over the Fuchsia City Gym for her father whenever Koga got moved up in to the Elite Four, could defeat him even with type advantage on his side.
Brock didn't understand why this didn't seem to bother the other trainers in his gym. Why had no one in the city government protested? Why had everyone humored Flint's decision, sent via letter because the deadbeat couldn't even be bothered to show up in person after his wife died, to leave the gym in Brock's hands? Brock didn't understand why no one in the gym attempted to challenge him for leadership. Why was there was no pushback against any of his decisions?
Didn't they know that he had no idea what he was doing? Surely the people of the city were upset with this situation, about their farcical excuse for a gym leader, but why weren't they doing anything about it?
And what was worse, Brock reflected, was that he didn't even want to be the gym leader! Brock didn't mind being a trainer, but as Onix grew he had discovered that his true passion lay in raising young pokémon. Battling could be fun, but it was nothing compared to the delighted cries of a young pokémon, or the joy of figuring out just what mixture of ingredients that the newborn would eat and still keep its coat healthy. Brock would rather be a pokémon breeder rather than a gym leader.
Not that it was possible, tied as he was to Pewter City. Even if Brock could have found someone that he trusted to take over the gym, and unlike the gym trainers, was willing to do so, there was no way for Brock to leave to go learn how to be a pokémon breeder as long as he had to care for his nine younger siblings.
Brock knew that he was a subpar caretaker for his siblings, but there was no one else around to do the job. No close relatives that he could trust to take care of them. So, Brock muddled along, doing the best he could, which he knew wasn't good enough.
It had not been easy since their mother had died. Flint had been away, trying to hone his skills, when Lola had gotten sick. It had happened so fast; she had been healthy one week and then dead the next. Flint hadn't returned after that. He had sent a letter containing his decision to leave the gym in Brock's hands, but Brock and his siblings never saw him again.
"Taming an onix isn't as hard as you think," Brock replied to Edwin, shaking himself out of his thoughts and walking towards the office reserved for the gym leader. "You could do it if you tried."
"And if I got help from ya every step of the way," Edwin said, following him to the office. Brock took a seat behind the desk, pulled out a pen, and began to fill out some paperwork. "Boss, let me take care of that for ya. I know that bastard Flint dumped a lot on your shoulders, but ya don't need to work day round. Take some time off."
"I can't," Brock sighed. "I've still got to talk to that gym trainer from Cerulean about what happened out in the forest"-About the fact that Team Rocket felt safe enough to operate around Pewter City because of Brock's weakness-" and that other trainer who was with her, if he's still in town. The ranger squads and the gym trainers we sent with them had found more physical evidence to corroborate the report those two gave, so it looks like that boy did help fight off Team Rocket. Brave kid."
"Oh?" Edwin smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Reminds me of another-". Brock shot a glare at the man, shutting him up.
"Anyway," Brock continued. "I think he's earned a badge for his efforts."
"It's no use," Ash groaned at the pokémon center cafeteria. Misty and his team were sitting with him, snacking and drinking. "I'll never get a badge."
"Why not?" Misty asked while sipping a soda through a straw.
"I can't think of a way to beat Brock," Ash confessed.
"Hmmm," Misty sipped some more at her drink. "Have you tried asking around? Find out what tactics he uses?"
"He probably crushes things with giant rock-type pokémon," Ash buried his face in his hands.
"What specific tactics he uses," Misty replied, rolling her eyes. "You should ask people around town."
"Huh?" Ash looked up. "I guess some trainers might live around here, but-"
"Not the trainers Aaron," Misty corrected. "Everybody. Didn't you live somewhere that had a gym?"
Ash had lived in plenty of towns and cities with gyms. He just had never been in a gym or talked to any of the locals about their gym. After he failed to respond Misty sighed.
"Kyogre save me from bumpkins," Misty muttered rubbing her forehead. "Look, in a city with a gym, the locals like to spend a lot of time at the gym, even if they don't have pokémon. There's usually some classes or maybe a performance, or maybe too many performances," she growled the last part, "and they can always watch the gym battles for free. Just go out and talk to people."
"Okay!" Ash said. He liked meeting new people and talking with them. And it would help him get this badge! He would need all the help he could get.
Ash left the pokémon center, trying to figure out which townspeople he should ask about Brock. He had tried asking some random passersby about the Pewter City Gym leader, but most of them told the boy that they didn't have time to talk, and the rest didn't have much information beyond 'he uses rock pokémon'.
The poké-raised child ended up wandering to the edge of the city, where he came upon a tan man with a bushy beard, in a red hat, next to a stand that held rocks with price tags on them. It must have been some special Pewter City rocks, Ash figured. Or maybe it was just because people from Pewter City loved rocks. It certainly seemed to be the case for their gym.
"What do you know about Brock?" Ash asked.
"Not even going to try and break the ice, eh?" The man sighed. "Or you know, engage in some basic social pleasantries?"
"Basic social whats?"
Even I know what that means and I'm not even human, Pikachu groaned, forepaw on his forehead.
"If you want information, then you have to buy a souvenir," the tan man told Ash.
"Aren't those just rocks?" Ash asked.
"They're souvenirs," the man insisted. "Authentic pieces of the land that you can use to remember Pewter City even when you've moved on."
"I don't have any money," Ash replied. "Can I trade you a different rock for one of those rocks?"
I can't tell if you're being stupid or clever right now.
"I can't tell if you're being stupid or smart with me right now," the man sighed, not know he was echoing Pikachu's sentiment. "You know what, sure, I'll give you some information about Brock. He's got a piece of shit for a dad, specializes in rock-type pokémon, and you probably have no chance against him."
"I know I have no chance against him," Ash replied. "That's why I'm asking around. I need something to at least let me impress him enough to get a badge."
"Fine kid," the man sighed again, standing up. "Let's go learn about Brock."
The man took Ash to a café with a sign featuring a picture of a geodude giving a thumbs up amongst a pile of rocks, over the title of the café, the Hard Rock Café. Several people were sitting outside, sipping at their drinks. A few of them called out hellos when they noticed the tan man approach.
"Hello you to too," the tan man said. He clapped a hand on Ash's back. "This young man is looking for information on Brock. Do any of you have anything to tell him?"
The people outside the café began to talk.
"What was that?"
"Someone's asking about Brock."
"What was that about Brock?"
"Brock? The gym leader? He's hot."
"He's a bit young, but he'll grow into the role."
"He's a good trainer."
"I'm a huge fan!"
"His onix is so cool!"
"Do you know if he's single? Both me and my brother would like to know, at least one of us might get to date him!"
There were random facts called out. The man in the red hat stood there as the people spoke, his posture changing in a way that made Ash think the man was proud of something. Meanwhile Ash was getting annoyed because none of the random facts would help him in a battle against the gym leader.
"What tactics does he use?" Ash managed to ask the patrons, who had become absorbed in loud conversations about Brock.
"I think he just crushes his opponents," one patron said.
"Nothing special," another said. "He just prefers to train his pokémon to be powerful rather than have special tactics for them to use."
"He does place an emphasis on defense," came the first useful piece of information Ash had managed to get all morning, "and if he's having trouble with an opponent he likes to use Bide."
Ash and the tan man in the red hat spent another ten minutes at the café. In that time Ash heard a lot more about Brock, but failed to get any more useful information from the patrons. He walked away with a sigh. The man in the red hat followed.
"Well that was useless," Ash complained.
"I don't know," the man in the red hat said. "It was certainly a chance to learn all about Brock."
"I need to know how to beat him," Ash said. "I didn't need to hear from a bunch of his fans how it was impossible for me to do so."
"Maybe you shouldn't have asked one of the biggest Brock fans for information on him then," the man replied.
"Wait, who's the biggest Brock fan?" Ash asked.
"That would be me," the man in the red hat said, before walking away from Ash.
Ash sighed again. The whole morning had been a bust. He was never going to get that badge. Might as well head back to the pokémon center and plan the next part of his journey. He'd just have to revisit Pewter City later…..
"This doesn't make any sense," a brown-haired woman said, looking at a screen.
"Isn't that just- no it's too low for a cloud formation," a black-haired man with glasses said, looking over her shoulder.
They were in a radar station in the mountains near Pewter City. It had been a slow day until one of the team members noticed something odd on the radar.
"It's not a pokémon, or a group of pokémon," the woman said, fiddling with settings and filters to try and get a better idea of what her tools were telling her. "And it's not an aircraft. It's moving too slow for that."
"It might be a hot air balloon," the man from pointed out.
"Maybe, but the altitude is all wrong," the woman said. "Thirty thousand feet is way too high for a hot air balloon. And its descending too quickly. If it was a balloon the crew would be in danger. "
"It might be an undocumented sort of pokémon," the man suggested.
"Well, if it is, then it's big enough that we should issue an advisory to Pewter City," the woman replied, "and we need to send someone to get a visual on the object."
"Let's give the new drones a shot," the man said, hurrying over to his station, and entering a few commands.
"Good idea. Sending the notice to Pewter City now."
They worked in silence for a few minutes before the man spoke again.
"Drones are getting visual….. now!"
"What is it?" The woman asked, looking over his shoulder. "With the way it's been descending, it's going to be in Pewter City soon. I'd like to give them an update as to what they should be expecting."
"This is uh- well, I was right earlier," the man said, moving away from the screen to let the woman get a look. "It is a hot air balloon."
On his screen was the drone's view of the object. It was, as he said, a hot air balloon, one modeled after the pokémon known as meowth.
"Why were they flying so high?" The woman asked.
"To avoid the region's radar envelope," the man suggested. "We're the only station that has the frequencies to pick up a hot air balloon around here, everything else is configured for weather, aircraft, and pokémon. With the speed they're going at they'll reach Pewter City before the city can be prepared for anything."
"Attacking in a hot air balloon? Who would do that?" the woman asked. "It doesn't make any sense. I'd sooner think that they lost control and got blown off course. Or maybe they're just trying to beat the record. They've certainly succeeded if that was their intention."
"Maybe- Wait, what?" The man's screen was filled with static. "We've lost connection to the drone."
"What happened to it?"
"I don't know, the readings are completely gone," the man said, switching screen and frantically looking through programs and menus. "What could have happened?"
"You might have been correct about their intentions after all…"
Well, this sucks, Ash sighed as he walked back towards the pokémon center, idly kicking at the sidewalk.
You think you have it bad? Pikachu said. I'm the one who's going to have to wrestle with a giant stone snake.
Why would you wrestle it?
It's not like I've got a lot of other options, Pikachu said, crossing his forepaws. Electric attacks are useless and Quick-Attack will just bounce right off of that thing.
And you think you can wrestle how exactly? Ash asked.
If I could just find a weak point-
Weak enough for your tiny paws to exploit?
Exactly! Pikachu exclaimed. Maybe its ticklish? Or maybe it has a metal nervous system and I can shock that!
They don't, I looked it up, Ash replied. The pokédex has no information on onixes that would let you beat one.
This is so unfair! Pikachu wailed. Well, maybe they've got a sudowoodo for me to fight instead.
They're more common in Johto, Ash replied. I looked it up on the pokédex a while ago. Kanto doesn't have any pure rock-type pokémon. It's almost entirely rock-ground types.
That's blatant discrimination against electric types!
Well, let's just hope that they have us doing an obstacle course or something, Ash sighed as he rounded the corner to the pokémon center. He nearly bumped into a tan teenager in brown pants, a dull orange shirt, and a green vest. The older boy was on his pokégear.
"Alright, I'll keep an eye to the sky when I can," the teenager was saying. "Pass the warning onto the gym for me. They'll know what to do."
Ash wondered what he was talking about. Maybe he was a gym trainer? He wondered if a gym trainer would give him some tips on how to get a badge or would they consider that to be cheating? Probably best not to risk it.
"Wait, I have eyes on it. It's slowing down." The boy spoke again, his voice louder. Ash looked back and saw that the teenager had his eyes on the sky above the pokémon center. Ash turned his head to see what was so interesting.
Above the pokémon center he could make a shape drifting downwards, slower and slower. It was shaped like a meowth's head and there was a basket hanging from it. Ash frowned as he tried to remember what that was.
Hot air balloon, right? He whispered to Pikachu.
Yes, but what's it doing? Pikachu replied. The balloon had come to a stop over the pokémon center.
"It's hovering over the pokémon center now," the teenager was saying. "Contact the police, tell them to get ready. For what? I don't know, but I think-"
The boy was interrupted by a loud explosion and a flare of white light from above. A blast had gone off on the roof of the pokémon center. A klaxon started blaring.
"Lockdown initiated" a mechanical voice intoned. Sheets of metal began to slide out of hidden slots and covered the pokémon center. People in the streets began to scream and run as there were more explosions on the roof of the locked-down center.
Well, this isn't good, Pikachu said, jumping off of Ash's shoulder.
"Yep," Ash said, grabbing Pidgeotto's and Metapod's pokéballs from his belt. Before he could do anything else, the tan teenager stepped past him and hurled two pokéballs of his own.
"Onix! Geodude! Get ready!" White light blazed and a stupendous stone snake appeared with a roar. A smaller pokémon that looked like a rock with arms appeared next to it.
"Mind if I help?" Ash asked.
"What pokémon do you have?" the older teen inquired. "Other than that Pikachu?"
"Metapod and Pidgeotto."
"Get somewhere safe, but keep line of sight. I'll shout if I need you. What's your name?"
"It's Aaron," Ash answered. The tan teen started to nod and then looked sharply at the younger boy.
"Aaron Autumns?" The tan teen asked.
"Yes….." Ash wondered how the teenager knew his official last name.
"Small world," the boy said. "I'm Brock. We'll talk after this. Now get to cover."
Oh, great the gym leader wanted to talk to him. That could only mean…. Actually, Ash realized that he didn't know what that could mean. He hurried down the street and ducked into a storefront to comply with the gym leader's instructions.
Two voices rang out from the balloon, amplified by speakers hanging off the side of the basket.
"Prepare for trouble," a haughty sounding female voice rang out. Both Brock and Ash could see a woman with long, dark red hair, in a midriff baring white uniform with a large red R on her chest.
"And make it double," a male voice joined her. There was a man with shoulder length purple hair, in a similar uniform, but with a black undershirt, standing beside her.
Ash clenched his hands. He didn't like where this was going.
At the same time, Brock was trying to figure out what was going on. He was pretty sure that the situation in front of him was a diversion. Their bombs hadn't actually damaged the pokémon center, merely trigged the lockdown defensive measures. He grabbed his pokégear.
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
Brock recognized that part of the motto from his history lessons. His selected the gym from his contact list and made the call.
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Look, we've got a situation at the pokémon center," Brock hissed to the gym receptionist. "I think it's some sort of diversionary attack by Team Rocket. Sound the alarm and get the gym trainers deployed to defensive positions like in the drills we've been doing. Help the police get everybody somewhere and keep an eye out for whatever their real goal is."
"Jessie!" The female voice shouted.
"James!" The male voice shouted.
"I'm on scene at the center. I'll update everyone when I can." Brock said, hanging up.
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth! That's right!" A meowth stuck its head up out of the basket.
Brock was growing sick of their clowning around. Even if it was an obvious diversion it was obnoxious.
"Geodude, Rock Throw!" Brock ordered. His pokémon obeyed, ripping up chunks of asphalt and hurling them at the balloon. The projectiles ripped a hole in the fabric and the balloon began to deflate. Its occupants jumped out and gracefully landed on the metal covered roof of the pokémon center as balloon and basket fell behind them.
"Well, it looks like someone doesn't appreciate an entrance," the red-haired woman, who had given the name Jessie, shouted down.
"Well, they say artists are never appreciated in their own time," the purple haired man, who had given the name James, added.
"Maybe we should teach him a lesson about performances," the meowth commented.
And there goes my ace in the hole, Ash muttered, wincing. They had a pokémon who could speak like a human.
Ash had heard that it was possible from his caretakers. Of course, none of them understood why anyone would go through the effort of achieving that. Humans spoke human and pokémon could eventually make themselves understood. Let the humans focus on talking, they said, it was better to focus on learning moves.
However, while the decision to learn how to speak like a human might have been subpar overall, in this case there would be a payoff. The presence of that meowth meant that Ash couldn't try to hide his instructions by speaking properly.
Not bothering to reply to the trio, Brock simply looked at Geodue and pointed at the three on the rooftop. More chunks of asphalt, thrown with deadly force, followed. But each chunk missed its mark as the enemy trio ducked and dodged around the projectiles, running and jumping to the roof of a nearby building as they did so.
"Follow them," Brock commanded, jumping onto Onix's back. The stone snake nodded and began to follow the Rocket trio from the streets. He glanced at the storefront where Ash was hiding, held up three fingers, let them go down one by one, and then pointed to the end of onix. And then Brock and his pokémon were out of sight.
What was that about? Ash asked. Three to one? Onix's tail? I don't get what he was trying to say.
I think he told us to wait and then follow him, Pikachu answered. You know, a countdown with his fingers and then pointing at his pokémon's behind.
I guess that makes sense, Ash said. I wonder if that's a common hand signal or something.
You'll have to ask him after this is all over, Pikachu said. Now hurry up. I want a chance to shock some Rockets.
Elsewhere in the city, people were streaming out of one of the small office building, getting to designated emergency evacuation locations that were meant to be used in the case of a natural disaster, rampaging pokémon, or an impending attack on the city. No one wanted to be trapped in the top floors if a herd of donphan rolled through town, knocking down buildings, or if an aggron went on a rampage. It was best to get to an underground shelter or at least an area where the buildings weren't tall enough to fall on you.
One person wasn't evacuating though, a woman with gold hair and purple eyes, wearing a black sweater and pants. Having hidden herself in a bathroom earlier (with a creative use of an 'Out of Order' sign) she had waited until it was quiet outside. Then the golden-haired woman slipped on a mask and slipped out of the bathroom door.
She had memorized the location of her objective earlier, along with the floorplan, and had no trouble getting to where she needed to go. She went up two floors, found the safe in question in the corner of the office and took out her tools.
Ten minutes later the safe was open and the woman had a sheaf of documents in her hands. She closed the safe and locked it behind her.
"On behalf of Team Rocket I'd like to thank the Pewter City branch of Silph Co. for this generous donation," she purred to herself. She then took out a handheld radio.
"Butch, this is Cassidy," she said into the radio. "I've got the documents."
"Good to hear," a male voice sounded over the radio, presumably Butch. "The distraction still has the attention of the gym leader, but I haven't heard from our operative in the pokémon center yet."
"We can't check on him until after the lockdown is lifted," Cassidy responded. "He'll have to contact us soon or we'll have to leave him behind."
"I know," Butch sighed. "Meet me at the rendezvous point as soon as you can. I'm not sure how long the distraction will last"
"You think Jessie's team will kill the gym leader or the gym leader will kill them?" Cassidy asked.
"You never can tell with that bunch."
Alarms blared in the pokémon center while guests rushed towards the shelter in the basement and the staff took their posts. Red lights flashed and there were constant messages warning people not to panic and form an orderly line.
"Just great," Misty hissed to herself. Like her week hadn't been bad enough already, the pokémon center she was staying in just had to get attacked. She must have pissed off someone upstairs.
Something about the situation stunk. Everyone had heard the explosions, but Misty wasn't sure if anyone else noticed that there were no follow up sounds. No sounds of cracking, or breaking glass, or debris falling outside. Whatever had caused the explosions didn't seem to have damaged the center.
Now call her suspicious, but Misty thought that strange was going on. Pokéballs in hand, the gym trainer from Cerulean city made her way down the halls, hoping that she was making a better call than she had in the forest.
Elsewhere in the pokémon center, a man in very nondescript clothing was kneeling in front of a desktop computer, having just inserted a drive into the USB slot. He stood up, looked at the screen to make sure that the tool was working, and then pulled up a chair and got to work.
"Hurry it up," the man whispered. He knew that he didn't have much time. Even during the lockdown someone might come into the server room at any moment. The people from Team Rocket's R&D department had assured that the tool would get its job done in five minutes and that it would also leave no trace in the system. All he had to do was plug it in to the correct computer, wait until a message popped up saying that it was done, and then remove the drive and get out of there.
The Team Rocket operative glanced around the room, his entire body tense. He felt like there was someone watching him, but told himself it was just nerves. His hands clenched at pokéballs on his belts while he watched the door to the room.
A ceiling tile gently moved, unnoticed by the man below. A red and black pokémon with bladed extremities, a bisharp, dropped down without a sound. Another man followed.
The operative from Team Rocket thought that he heard a sound behind him. He started to turn-
There was a sharp pain in his back and a hand over his mouth. The Team Rocket operative grabbed at the hand, suddenly desperate to take a breath, and then there was another sharp pain.
And another.
And another.
And another.
There was only pain and coldness and soon there was only coldness….
The man in black got to work on the computer while his bisharp lodged the body in the ceiling. He took another drive out of his pocket, plugged it into a USB slot, and waited a minute, and then removed the drive from Team Rocket. A message popped up on the screen and the man smiled.
"Thank you, Team Rocket, for being such good patsies," the man said. "Bisharp, we're moving out."
The two left the way they came in, leaving only bloodstains behind.
AN: I would like to thank BlackCatSpecialist92G10 for beta reading.
It took me forever to get this chapter into a shape where I felt like I could release it. So many revisions were done. Trying to balance character, plot, and pacing can be a real headache.
Speaking of pacing, Symbiotic has managed to encounter a different pacing issue than Symbiosis. Yay for new mistakes!
Symbiosis had bloat because I thought ten thousand words was a good chapter length (Turns out books only have 260-320 words per page, not nearly a thousand... whoops) This is a metric that led to many problems both within the story and when it came to writing the story.
Symbiotic has chapters that seem jarring upon release because I'm writing the story first and then cutting into chapter sized pieces months after writing a particular section(this particular chapter was written in late October, early November). I'm pretty confident that readers who come in a few chapters later, or people reading after more chapters have been released, won't find the pacing to be jarring, but I could be wrong.
(Fun fact regarding the 260-320 words per page measurement. From the first scene of Symbiotic, to the end of the scene where Pikachu hits the tyranitar with lighting is about 60,000 words, which comes out to around 200 pages, which is about as long as a full length novel. Funny how the online format can mess with our sense of length).
That's enough of me yapping for now.
Don't forget to review!