The conference room looked no different from the previous times Team Rocket's leadership had met there. The same department heads sat in the same positions, on the same chairs around the same table and under the same ceiling lights.
And yet the air in the room was uncharacteristically subdued. One of the department heads tried to make small talk, but it withered on the vine. Another tried making some jokes, but the atmosphere smothered them, punchlines left hanging awkwardly. After a few pitiful attempts to lighten the mood, all the attendees sat around in silence, staring down at the table.
Eventually Giovanni arrived. He had bags under his eyes, his hair was limp, his suit was wrinkled. Despite this, he still stood tall as he looked around the room.
"I shall start with the good news," he said to the room. "The losses we sustained are not crippling. We managed to relocate most of the key assets from the Silph building and the Saffron Gym, both the recently acquired assets and assets we had invested into the operation. Key personnel were also successfully evacuated from the city."
The atmosphere in the room lightened ever so slightly. People's postures became livelier and less people stared down at the table.
"Unfortunately, our causality figures are around thirty percent, with almost half of those fatalities," Giovanni continued, his face grim. "And personnel taken prisoner by the League accounts for another fifth of that number."
"That's on me," Archer spoke up. "I tried to hold the west side when I should have withdrawn to our fortifications right away and began the evacuation."
"No," Arianna shook her head. "It's my fault. I should have started readying our combat ready psychic assets for deployment right away."
"In hindsight, yes, that's what you should have done," Giovanni said bluntly. "But hindsight is perfect and in light of what you two knew, the calls that you two made were fine. If it wasn't for Karen's arrival then you may have carried the day. No, the real point of failure was my call."
"Sir," another department head spoke up. "From what I gleaned from the reports, intelligence was sorely needed. You leaving to gather some-"
"That was not the point of failure," Giovanni shook his head. "That was an unfortunate coincidence, but the real point of failure was that we were still in the city at all. We should have abandoned the initial plan as soon as it became clear that we were discovered early."
He picked up the remote and turned on the projector. He began slowly flipping through charts and reports.
"As you can see most of our lapses can be chalked up to a lack of manpower," Giovanni explained. "Our deployment at the time of the attack left gaps in our security and our lines. This was a problem that we had foreseen. The initial plan addressed this problem by requiring the construction and use of fortifications and automated security systems.
"But," Giovanni switched to a slide reporting on the status of the fortifications on the day of the attack, "because we were discovered early, we never had time to construct and deploy those measures. This allowed individual League trainers and squads to operate behind our lines with relative impunity. And that is what cost us most of our psychic assets.
"It was all because of my initial call," Giovanni continued with a sigh. "And it was because of that call to try and stick to the initial plan that Archer and Arianna ended up trying to defend a city with insufficient resources.
"I should have refocused our efforts on the Silph building itself and the Saffron Gym," Giovanni switched slides again, this time bringing up a timetable that compared their projections for how quickly the League could mobilize a force compared to how quickly the League had mobilized. "After stripping those two locations of all their assets, we should have then withdrawn except for a skeleton force to keep the League focused on the city. In such a scenario we could have then evacuated the skeleton force as soon as the League launched their counter-attack.
"I will now open the floor to discussion," Giovanni said. "If anyone has any information or conclusions that would shed new light on the events at Saffron, please share them now."
There was a round of discussion and debate where the various department heads picked at the data. Questions regarding the League's exact goals in the battle and whether or not they could have been inferred in the heat of the moment were raised, but led nowhere. Questions about Karen's movements and whether or not they had been coordinated with the Kanto League were raised, but led nowhere. Questions regarding the disposition of their own forces on the day of the attack were raised, but led nowhere.
"I think we've exhausted the usefulness of this discussion," Giovanni eventually said. "Our next item on the agenda is the reorganization. Due to our recent losses, we are facing a shortage of manpower. Given our time table we cannot wait for Recruitment to replenish our numbers.
"For that reason," Giovanni continued, "I am temporarily reassigning twenty percent of Acquisitions, ten percent of Recruitment, five percent of Tracking, and I'm moving half of the general security from Research into Infantry. In the upcoming months we're going to need boots on the ground and these divisions have already accomplished most of their priorities for Totality."
There were groans from around the table.
"I'll need each department head mentioned to compile a list of personnel for the transfer," Giovanni said. "You have four days."
More groans.
"Moving on," Giovanni said next. "Arianna, you and Research are going to need to coordinate on the next phase of Totality. Get me a report on what exactly you need. You have three days."
"Yes, sir," Arianna said, her voice and posture subdued.
"Archer," Giovanni turned to the man. "You're to work with Tracking on the preparation for the final phase of Totality. You and Tracking are to scout out the land around Cerulean City, including routes of egress, and then to investigate the Cerulean Caves. The final phase cannot begin until this is done."
"Understood," Archer nodded, not meeting Giovanni's eyes
Giovanni nodded back. He then stood up, walked a short distance away and then turned to face the room.
"Know this," he said in a booming voice. "Our latest venture may have cost more than we were willing to pay, but it still has left us inches away from victory, total and final victory over the League and even the world! These next weeks will live on in history! Students in the future will study these weeks, knowing them to be the final preparation before a new society, a better society, our society, was formed!"
Everyone jumped in their seats when he began speaking. As he went on the subdued postures began to straighten and the atmosphere in the room changed. Even Archer and Arianna picked up their heads.
"Everything we have strove to accomplish will soon be in our hands," Giovanni continued. "Remember the fallen and let them push you to strive even harder in these upcoming days! Their sacrifice will not be in vain!"
He met Archer's eyes, then Arianna's eyes. Giovanni gave them both a subtle nod and then turned and left.
I miss being able to breathe, Ash sighed as he sat in the middle of the room.
The Saffron City Pokémon Center had been reopened and the League had moved some of its wounded humans and pokémon into the building.
The League was also working with the surviving staff to locate the trainers whose pokémon were being treated when the invasion began, the pokémon that the staff had managed to hide. It was going slowly, but at least most of the trainers seemed to still be alive. The same could not be said for the staff, who had done their best to hold off Team Rocket, but had eventually been killed or forced to flee.
The Saffron City Police Department had managed to save some of them, taking them into the sewer system where they had managed to hide while Team Rocket occupied the city. Unfortunately, they hadn't been left in any sort of shape to assist when the League attack came. They hadn't even known about the League counter-attack until it was over.
Ash managed to pick this up from Misty, who had spent the last day alternating between filling him in on recent events, scolding him, hovering over him, and glaring at him. Whenever she wasn't glaring at him or scolding him, Ash felt something squirming, hot, and unpleasant eat away at his insides. He didn't have too much experience with the emotion, but he was fairly certain it was guilt.
Lucky for him, however, Misty spent enough time scolding and glaring at him that Ash didn't need to deal with that emotion for very long. At least not until he managed to find an unused room in the pokémon center, an empty storage room, and sent out his pokémon. The guilt returned in full force when he saw Bulbasaur limp his way over to his bowl of pokéchow.
The bandages had come off Bulbasaur and his skin was already healed after taking the full force of a super-effective attack meant to kill. But according to the nurses, the underlying tissue was still damaged. It would take several months to fully recover, barring invasive and risky tissue replacement operations.
Ash looked away from Bulbasaur's leg and over at Pikachu. The yellow pokémon had his back to Ash. Pikachu hadn't said anything to Ash since he woke up next to him in the hospital bed. The electric type had stuck around, conspicuously not looking at Ash, with his forelimbs crossed more often than not.
That just annoyed Ash. He could guess why Pikachu was upset. But Pikachu was just being childish about the whole thing. Ash had needed to recall him for his own good and then kept his pokéball closed so that Pikachu wouldn't get hurt more! It had been the right thing to do!
Feeling annoyed also felt better than feeling guilty, so Ash huffed over at Pikachu instead of looking around while everyone ate. And then continued to look at him as the meal dragged on.
So…. I ain't one much for small talk, but how's the weather? Bulbasaur eventually said.
It's, uh, fine, I think? Ash said, rubbing the back of his head. His ribs twinged at the motion. Between the healing moves that had been used on him by various pokémon assisting the doctors, the medical technology that had been used during his surgery, and the straightforward nature of his injuries, Ash had been almost completely fixed, unlike Bulbasaur.
Really? Butterfree perked up. Does that mean we can go outside and train later today?
Actually, Ash replied, still rubbing the back of his head, I haven't been outside yet. I was just saying fine because it hasn't bothered me.
I don't think the weather's ever bothered me, Squirtle said.
Yeah, but you're a water type, Pidgeot said. Unless you're in a desert or somewhere that's always frozen, there's not really any weather that can bother you.
Yeah! Charmander added. I have to worry about rain a lot, but you don't!
I don't either, Magikarp said. I wish I did though.
Did I ever need to worry about weather? Primeape scratched the top of his head. I don't remember doin' so.
Not with all that fur you didn't, Pikachu muttered.
I mean, you've got fur too, Ash pointed out, but Pikachu ignored him.
Deserts are better than being frozen, that's for sure, Bulbasaur said and Ash winced. Bulbasaur saw that and sighed.
Let's quit dancin' around it, the grass type said, turning to Ash. Yeah, I got hurt. Yeah, it was because of somethin' you decided to do.
I- Ash tried to think of something to say, fidgeting and looking down. I'm sorry.
Whatcha gonna do about it? Bulbasaur asked.
What… what do you want me to do? Ash asked in reply.
What do you think you should do? Bulbasaur responded.
I…. I- I don't know, Ash admitted. Is this…. Do you- Do you want to go back to Melanie?
I wouldn't mind a vacation to see her again, but no, I ain't looking to leave your team, Bulbasaur told his trainer.
Do you want to quit training until your leg is better?
What? No! I ain't lookin' to laze about either, Bulbasaur said, shaking his head.
I'm not sure what I can do then, Ash said, looking down at the floor. He could feel the corners of his eyes getting wet.
Ash, why were we up on that roof like that? Bulbasaur asked. I didn't have a clear picture of the situation at the time, but now it sounds like Brock and Misty were just behind us. Why didn't we wait for them?
There wasn't time, Ash said. We needed to destroy the antenna as soon as possible-
Why? Bulbasuar asked plainly, quietly.
Because it was controlling Sabrina!
I know that, but why couldn't we delay? Bulbasaur asked, once again plain and quiet.
Because it was controlling Sabrina!
You've already said that, Bulbasaur replied. The rest of the team was no longer digging into their food and were all watching Ash and Bulbasaur. Even Pikachu was paying attention, though trying to avoid letting Ash see that he was looking at him.
We had to stop her as soon as possible! Ash said, not sure what Bulbasaur was getting at.
Why? Bulbasaur continued to ask. She'd been under Team Rocket's control for days then. Would another couple of minutes really mattered? From what I heard, Karen had her in hand.
If it had been me who had been captured like that I would've wanted to be free as soon as possible! Ash declared. That's why I didn't wait a few minutes!
Would you want to be free those few minutes sooner if the cost was someone else's life?
Ash opened his mouth to reply and then froze.
He knew the answer he wanted to give.
But the truth was, when he thought about being in the clutches of his hunters….
There was at least a piece of him that would be fine sacrificing the life of another just to be free a few minutes sooner.
He closed his mouth again. His pokémon were giving him looks, Pikachu included.
Is it fine if it's my life then? Bulbasaur asked with gentle eyes.
No, Ash said, looking away from all of them. He absolutely did not want to think about it. He did his best to push the thought out of his mind while saying what he needed to say, I get what you're saying. He turned to face them again. I won't do that again. I won't rush on like that if there are other options. I'll wait if I can.
And he would wait next time, if only so that he wouldn't need to feel guilty or think about this again.
Ain't like you'll always have the option, Bulbasaur said. But there's no need to do it if ya don't have to. He reached with a vine and gently grasped Ash's shoulder. Bulbasaur met his trainer's eyes. All I'm askin' is that you watch out for this in the future. Okay?
Okay, Ash said, swallowing back tears. He sat back and tried not to think.
A couple of days later Ash had been let out of the pokémon center with a warning not to do anything strenuous for another day. Misty was waiting for him with her arms crossed, tapping her foot.
"Took you long enough," she huffed.
"Hey! I wanted to go, but the nurses wouldn't let me!" Ash protested.
"Oh, and you listened to them?" Misty rolled her eyes. "Will wonders never cease. Aaron actually listening to other people when they warn him not to do dumb shit. Too bad he couldn't have started doing that before he almost got himself killed or something. Noooo, that'd be too smart."
"Hey!" Ash protested and then felt queasy inside. He had already admitted to Bulbasaur that he had made a mistake. Trying to argue with Misty about it felt too much like he was going back on what he said to his pokémon.
"Look," he said, stopping and rubbing the back of his head. "I shouldn'ta done that. I'm… sorry."
"Oh, you're sorry, are you?" Misty growled, whirling around to glare at him. "Because 'sorry' can make your ribs heal faster or give me back the years of my life I lost when I was trying to figure out if you were dead."
"I mean, if I was dead you wouldn't have to worry about me anymore…" Ash trailed off as Misty's glare transformed into something worse. "Sorry, that was a bad joke."
"Yes," Misty said, her voice colder than the ice her pokémon used. "Don't joke about it again. Aaron, let me make one thing clear. You. Are. My. Friend." She pokéd his chest painfully hard between each word, glaring down at him, and this time Ash felt guilt while she glared. It was even worse than the previous times he had felt guilty around her.
"And as my friend, I would be hurt if anything happened to you," Misty continued, her viridian eyes gem-hard. "You are also Brock's friend. He would hurt if anything happened to you. Do you understand?"
"I think so?" Ash said, rubbing the back of his head again, leaning back from her. "Look, I just wanted the battle to be over. I thought I could get out before we got hurt. I was wrong. I was stupid. I'm sorry."
Misty took a deep breath. "As long as you understand that," she said evenly. And then she suddenly seized him in a hug.
"Kygore's fins, you're going to drive me into an early grave," Misty said, her voice catching. "Don't you ever do that to me again, please."
"I won't," Ash said, returning the hug. "Sorry for making you scared."
"You better be," Misty said, squeezing him. She released him from the hug and took a step back. "Now come on, I'm supposed to bring you to the command tent." She grabbed Ash by the elbow and tugged him in the direction of the tent.
"Huh?" Ash said, hurrying after her.
"There are people who want to talk to you," Misty said. "I don't know what they want to say to you, but I can't imagine that it's anything good."
"I already got yelled at by Brock, isn't that enough?" Ash whined. "And do they even still need us anymore? Can't they just let us go?"
"Soon," Misty said as she led him out west. "But until then, you're still under League command and that means Brock now has an excuse to yell at you in an official capacity."
"Oh no," Ash groaned. Misty just smirked.
The camp had been moved so that it was right next to the city. The two airships from before were still there, but they were joined by two more airships, bulky industrial looking things, sitting in an ad-hoc landing field. People and pokémon were busy off-loading crates and machines from the new airships.
The camp itself was still a bustle of activity, but it was rather subdued compared to the day Ash first arrived. People and pokémon were slower in their bustling, with less running and rushing in each of the grassy lanes of the camp. The tents were less dense and the entire temporary settlement was smaller.
Ash really hoped it was because people had left. He didn't want to think about the other reasons.
Once again, the command tents were near the center of the camp. They stopped outside and Misty stuck her head in the flaps.
"I got him here," Ash overheard her say. "You still want to see him?"
"Sure," he heard an unfamiliar female sounding voice reply. "We're done here. We'll leave him to you."
Misty stepped back and a blue haired woman exited the tent, followed by Brock.
"Wait, you're not the one that wanted to see him?" Misty asked, holding the flap open for Ash.
"I can yell at him after we're done with this whole affair," Brock said, shrugging as Ash entered the tent. "She can't."
Ash wondered who 'she' was as he entered the tent and then he saw a woman with long dark green hair in a red gym uniform sitting at the table. She had large bags under her red rimmed eyes and parts of her hair were sticking up at random angles.
"So, you're the boy that Brock's been fussing over. The boy whose name I saw in too many reports," she said, standing up and walking over. "I hear I have you to thank for releasing me."
"Releasing- Oh, you're Sabrina!" Ash said and then immediately started the mental defense exercises that Pocket Watch had taught him. Sabrina's face quickly flashed through a series of expressions when he started, though he couldn't decipher them.
"I haven't sensed anyone using those methods in a while," Sabrina said, her face settling on a combination of sad and amused. Ash frowned at her and she continued, "Don't worry, I'm not trying to read your mind. It's just that the noise your mind is putting out changes when you put up mental defenses."
"Oh," Ash said and then frowned, looking down. "Is there a way to avoid that?"
"Not unless you're very good," Sabrina said, looking him up and down. "To be honest I expected someone taller after reading about your previous exploits. Did your parents not feed you enough growing up?"
Ash was offended on behalf of his pokémon parents; they had done their best to make sure that he never went too hungry and that all of his dietary needs were covered. Just because they had needed to ration didn't mean they hadn't fed him enough!
"Calm down, it was just a joke," Sabrina said and Ash realized that he had been glaring. "I'm sorry. I'm not in the best headspace now. I should have gone with another idea to break the ice."
"Don't worry," Ash said, rubbing the back of his head. They stood in silence until Sabrina spoke again.
"I don't think there's any guide to manners that covers this," she said with a sigh. "I know you've been yelled at a bunch for it, but thank you for saving me."
"Uh…" Ash said. "You're welcome?"
"I guess there's nothing in those etiquette guides to cover the response," Sabrina said, with a small grin that didn't reach her eyes. "In the interests of honesty, I'm also going to add that if you had died during that endeavor, then the guilt might have destroyed me."
"Oh," Ash said, rubbing the back of his head again. "But I didn't, so you don't have to worry, right?" He shrugged hopefully.
"Ha!" Sabrina barked out a laugh that didn't seem to have much humor in it. "You are so damn young. I'm sorry that I got you dragged into this catastrophe."
"I thought it was the Assembly that did that?" Ash said, shrugging again. "Besides, I woulda tried to help anyway I could've."
"Really now?" Sabrina raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because I don't want anyone to be- uh" Ash tried to think of a better word for the situation than 'hunted', "taken, I guess." He finished. "I'd want everyone to try and rescue me if I was taken. It's only fair that I try to rescue other people, too."
"Surprisingly mature," Sabrina nodded. "Compared to your earlier behavior at least."
"It… it made sense at the time," Ash grumbled.
"I can't imagine how," Sabrina said, rolling her eyes. Her face then became serious. "But, while the overall goal was ill-conceived, you still managed to make your way through the occupied Silph building. You and your squadmate Leaf were able to capture a member of Team Rocket and fight off the Rocket squad sent to recapture Gary Oak. From the testimonies of the other members of your squadron, you served dutifully while extracting civilians caught in the crossfire."
"For these reasons," Sabrina continued, reaching into a bag by the table, "you are the first member of this force to receive the Marsh Badge for your actions in the Second Battle of Saffron City."
"What?" Ash stared wide eyed as she took out a Marsh Badge, a golden emblem of two concentric circles. "Really? Even though I messed up?"
"You demonstrated the skills required for this badge, even if your judgement was faulty," Sabrina said, dropping the Marsh Badge into his hand. "Just about every trainer who participated in the battle will get one if they don't already have one. You're just first up."
"Wow," Ash looked down at the badge in his hand and then back up at the gym leader. "Thanks!"
"Don't thank me," Sabrina suddenly looked very old and very tired. "After what happened here… I can't imagine that you won't be called into another fight."
"Okay," Ash nodded. "I know you don't believe me, but I'll be ready for it!"
"For your sake, I hope you're right," Sabrina sighed, sitting down. "I really do."
AN: I'd like to thank Amationary for beta reading.
And that's the end of the arc... or at least as close to a solid end as you can get, since the aftereffects will have to be covered in later chapters.
I haven't heard as many complaints about the pacing for this arc, so I'm taking that as a win. I also haven't heard any complaints about the tone this arc either, so either that's another win or I already scared off everyone who would complain.
I got to setup a lot of things for later in this arc, things that may not come into play for a long time, some things that you readers won't even realize were important (and might not be if I change my mind, but dem's da breaks) I also got to traumatize Ash some more! That's always a plus!
And now for the news you've all been dreading, hiatus time! I'm going to be taking the month of August off of releasing, because I'm teetering on the edge of burnout. And after that I may switch to releasing every other week for a little while, simply because I'm not sure I'll be able to sustain the weekly pace for a little bit. (I won't know for sure until September though...)
One outline notebook used up, time to move on to the next one!
The next chapter will be released on September 1st.
Anyway, don't forget to leave a review! Concrit welcome!