TRAINER ID
Name: Daniel Ingram
Badges: 3
Account: 34,115 credits
Location: Lavaridge Town

DANIEL'S TEAM
Ralts (Apollo) - Male
Corphish (Duran) - Male
Eevee (Orion) - Male
Trapinch - Female

Team Rocket was attacking the Pokécenter, and both Owen and I found ourselves caught in the middle of it.

Standing guard at the door was a man with a Golbat and Ariados, and I got the impression it was as much to keep people from coming in as it was to prevent us from leaving. Strutting towards the front desk were a man and a woman accompanied by a Mightyena, Mawile, Houndoom, and Seviper. All three people were all in their late twenties or early thirties if I had to guess, and they wore the unmistakable uniform of Team Rocket. Seeing those black uniforms and flat caps with the red 'R' proudly on display gave me very unpleasant flashbacks to the early days of my journey of having a gun shot at me, making my heart race with worry that this could end up much worse.

In fact, it wasn't out of the question that they'd already started killing. I was only able to see Officer Jenny and her Growlithe slumped against the window, but I couldn't tell from my angle if they were asleep, knocked out, poisoned, or dead. Yet I didn't see any blood or indication of a fight at a quick glance, so I could only hope she was fine. The one thing I was sure of was that Officer Jenny wasn't likely going to be able to intervene in whatever was happening, so we were on our own.

"Greetings, citizens of Hoenn," the woman announced with a creepily cheerful smile as Owen and I cautiously stepped aside to make way for her. I subtly pulled the hem of my hoodie down as much as possible, obscuring the Pokéballs on my belt. I was pretty sure I knew where this was going, and I wasn't about to hand my team over easily.

"Don't mind us, we mean you no harm! As long as nobody does anything stupid like trying to fight or run, we'll make this quick and be on our way," the woman said with a mischievous glint in her eyes and a self-satisfied grin as she stood by the front and scanned the crowd.

I might have been inclined to identify the woman speaking as being the one in charge, yet they all had the exact same uniforms on and I had heard that higher-level Rockets dressed a little more formally to distinguish themselves. Given that, I suspected that she was likely just the most outspoken one, or at least the one who most enjoyed the theatrics. I was pretty sure she was a grunt just like the rest of them, although admittedly there could be different levels of grunt I was unaware of.

Ranking and leadership aside, she was surely the most volatile one of the bunch. The other two were much more reserved and focused, whereas I got the distinct sense that she was getting some sort of sick thrill out of holding innocent people hostage.

A man who had joined the line shortly after I had suddenly released a Pokémon and shouted for it to attack, and I might have been tempted to follow suit if I'd any time to process what was happening before she delivered a swift and brutal rebuttal to the brave fool's Pokémon.

The woman snapped her fingers and pointed at the materializing light, and before the Loudred was even able to gain its bearings it had both the Mightyena and Seviper sinking teeth and fangs into it viciously, eliciting little more than a cry of pain before it slipped into unconsciousness.

Even after being knocked out, neither attacker let up. It was almost like a tug of war, with both jerking their head to tear deeper into the fallen foe while trying to claim their prize from the other. It was a shocking scene, and they only stopped when the man recalled his Loudred in horror as blood began to pool onto the tile floor from the deep, growing gashes.

The Seviper coiled into a striking position and hissed as the Mightyena crouched and growled, both facing down the man who had robbed them of their prey. My heart pounded in my chest and my hand hovered over my concealed Pokéballs as I realized I might not have any choice but to expedite my intervention if they attacked the defenseless man.

"Focus, you two! To me!" the male Rocket shouted, clapping his hands in an attempt to get the attention of the incensed Pokémon. They didn't seem to pay him any mind, and I began to get extremely nervous that I was about to witness either a brutal mauling or a potential murder.

The woman whistled sharply, and that seemed to snap them out of their violent daydreams. They reluctantly fell back despite still giving a murderous glare at the horrified man, and the woman clicked her tongue in disappointment.

"That's exactly the kind of thing I was talking about when I warned you all not to do anything dumb," she scolded the man, who had completely lost his nerve and was now trembling. "Pokérus is rather peculiar in its peak, you should consider yourself lucky that they had a moment of clarity long enough not to rip you to shreds. I guess I should congratulate you though – not only is your partner now infected, but now you get to be the lucky one to hand over your Pokémon first."

She held her hand out expectantly, and the man hesitated. She gave him a disapproving look, as if to say 'are you sure you want to cause more problems' before reluctantly handing over his Pokéball. She grinned and gave him an approving nod as she stowed in a large backpack she was wearing before turning to address Nurse Joy, who looked shaken and disturbed yet impressively composed given the situation.

"Excellent! Now then, let's get this show on the road. Pinky, you're going to escort Walker here to your back room and help him fill up his backpack," she said as she jerked her head toward the man standing beside her before turning to address the rest of the lobby. "The rest of you are going to stand against the wall and wait for me to pay you a visit. Oh, and this brave gentleman used up your one free fuck-up. Any more shenanigans, and you'll only have yourselves to blame when things don't end well. We do have a job to do and a schedule to keep, after all."

We all slowly and carefully moved to the edge of the room while the man not guarding the door, apparently called Walker, took both the Houndoom and Mawile behind the desk. Nurse Joy, who appeared to be on the verge of tears at her helplessness in the situation, reluctantly escorted them to the back room after a moment of hesitation, apparently deciding that it wasn't worth trying to beg or reason with the intruders.

Naturally, Owen and I stuck by one another as we took our place against the wall. The woman began making the rounds and tormenting people one by one, stealing any Pokéballs she could locate from a quick pat-down before rifling through any purses or backpacks they had, and thankfully there was enough whimpering and sniveling in the room that Owen and I were able to have a hushed conversation without drawing attention to ourselves.

"We can take them," Owen muttered. "I may not have my team, but when she gets near us I can quickly incapacitate her, then handle the guy at the door if you can keep the Pokémon off me."

"I'm confident in my team, but it's a three versus six and they're infected. They probably have more we haven't seen yet too, since none of those Pokémon are capable of making a quick getaway for them."

"We can't do nothing. Are you really just going to hand over your team without a fight?" Owen hissed.

"No way, but we're outnumbered and we'll only get one chance. We need help, or a solid opening, or something."

"Not sure we can count on that. I sent a distress signal on my Pokédex, but who knows if anybody will actually show up in time. Besides, if we don't get instantly swatted down like the first guy, others might jump in."

"Most people already turned their teams in like you did, and we're probably one of the few licensed trainers here. The vast majority of these people likely don't ever battle, and the Rockets have done a damn good job instilling fear. Fear is a powerful–"

Another Pokémon was released, quickly followed by screams of horror as it was instantly taken down in brutal fashion by the Mightyena, who instantly went for the neck. Owen grabbed my wrist to stop me from releasing my Pokémon, shaking his head. He was right – the opportunity was already gone, and she was too far away from us to surprise her. Her Seviper hadn't attacked this time, and there was still the guy and two Pokemon at the door overseeing the proceedings, so even if her team was momentarily distracted we wouldn't get very far without being overwhelmed.

Unlike when the Loudred was taken down, the Rocket woman didn't call off her Pokémon this time. The Tropius lay on the floor writhing in agony while its throat was torn into, blood spraying in excess and pooling on the ground around it. It didn't take long for the struggling to cease, and when the man shakily tried to recall his Tropius, far too late due to his initial shock at the bloody scene, it didn't work.

It was dead, no doubt about it. I felt every hair on my body stand on end at the thought of my team being next. If we were going to act we needed a good opening, I just had no idea how we'd get it.

It was nerve-wracking how vicious the Rockets' Pokémon were. They were clearly experienced battlers, and it seemed that being infected with Pokérus only made them even more dangerous. They were itching for a fight, and had no reservations about going for the kill.

Forced to look away from the savagery as the Mightyena continued tearing into the fallen Tropius, I focused on the Rocket as she let loose a maniacal laugh, cutting through the sounds of sobbing and whimpering that filled the lobby.

"Don't say I didn't warn ya! You sir – you've just won a special prize," the woman said as she produced a knife and flipped out the blade, stepping up to the man who had released the Tropius.

"P-p-please! I j-just –" he pleaded desperately, but didn't get to finish due to the blood-curdling scream he let loose as the woman quickly slashed at his face, giving him a deep cut from the corner of his eyebrow all the way down his cheek.

He howled in pain and held his hand over the gash as it poured blood, and the woman cackled in delight. "Consider yourself lucky that I'm in a good mood and having so much fun! I should be more upset at you for wasting a perfectly good Pokémon we could have put to use. Our Pokémon aren't exactly in as good of a mood as I am though, as you can tell."

"You're a murderer, and a fucking psycho if you think this is fun," Owen shouted, causing me to tense.

The woman turned her attention to Owen and took a lecturing tone. "Young man, that man killed his own Pokémon with his poor choices. I warned you all against the repercussions of doing anything like that, and I won't have it said that I'm not a woman of my word. If I wanted to kill anyone, that man would be dead right now. All I want is to do my job and be on my way. I'd like to think I've been very fair and forgiving, considering that's twice now that people have decided to act up. As entertaining as this has been, my patience is starting to wear thin, and you know what they say about the third time…"

"You murdered that Tropius," Owen repeated, defiantly and firmly.

She shrugged, "I can't exactly control the effect that Pokérus has on Pokémon. If you won't blame the trainer, then you can blame the League and Devon for that," she said as she pointed to the dead Tropius, which the Mightyena had finally quit tearing into.

"You're fucking crazy. There's nobody to blame but you," Owen hissed as he jabbed a finger toward her, likely trying to provoke her into getting closer.

The woman grinned and began to approach Owen as she waved her knife at him tauntingly. "You talk a lot, kid. Sure you want to be the third to test me? Mercy is in increasingly short supply, in case you haven't noticed."

I kept my hand by my side, hovering over the hem of my hoodie where my balls were tucked out of sight as my heart pounded. If it came to a battle, which seemed increasingly likely, then I wanted to try to keep Orion or Trapinch out of what was sure to be a bloodbath, but Duran and Apollo… They had more of a chance, even if it was still extremely risky. Still, the chance that they got attacked before they even had a chance to orient themselves and put up a fight was far too high for my liking.

"I can't do much," Owen admitted, still standing tall and giving her a look of defiance and scorn. "I already turned my Pokémon in, so I'm defenseless. Team Rocket might have a bad reputation, but surely killing defenseless 'kids' who get a little lippy while you're stealing their Pokémon is a bit far even for you."

She snorted in amusement. "Please, you're hardly as helpless as you claim. I'm not dumb kid, I can recognize a trained fighter when I see one, even if you're trying to be subtle about it."

She pointed with her knife as she explained her reasoning. "Your posture is by far the most relaxed here, you've got your stance ever so slightly widened, your feet staggered, and a slight bend at the knees like you're ready to pounce the moment I'm close enough. Not to mention, you're watching my body language instead of the knife I'm waving at you. I'm not much of a fighter myself, truth be told. I wonder how well you'd fare against my Pokémon though, especially if you were to be poisoned…"

At that, the Seviper began to slither towards Owen with an implied threat.

"You can't possibly expect to get away with this," I spoke up, wanting to take some of the attention off Owen to hopefully avoid him being hurt.

The woman turned her attention to me, and gave me a considering look. To my surprise, she looked mildly confused, or perhaps contemplative.

"Another kid too bold for their own good. Yet you're no fighter, and you… I swear I recognize you from somewhere. Why do you look so familiar, huh?" she asked, lazily pointing the knife in my direction. She was still a fair distance from Owen and me though, clearly not intent on giving Owen the chance to do something.

I hesitated, having a bad feeling about why she might be saying that but wanting to avoid it. "If you watch contests, I guess you might have seen me get escorted out of Verdanturf's contest hall on live television. Or maybe you saw one of my gym battles? I only have a couple of badges though, so you'd have to watch low-level trainers if that's the case."

I only threw in that last part to try to make her think I wasn't much of a threat, although she could probably had a good idea of many badges I had based on the fact we were in Lavaridge. She tapped the knife face against her lip in thought, seemingly unconvinced.

"Definitely not, I don't pay any attention to mindless drivel like that… I know you from somewhere though, I know it. What's your name, kid?"

Suddenly regretting drawing attention to myself, I quickly contemplated the feasibility of giving a false name and not having it bite me in the ass. But the decision was removed from my hands as the man who had been keeping a lookout by the door while half-listening to the proceedings spoke up for the first time.

"I recognize him too, Fifi. That kid was added to the watch list about a month ago. Daniel Ingram, I think his name was. Supposedly he's the one who got Keegan locked up. He's tagged for retrieval."

The woman Rocket, apparently named Fifi, gained a look of recognition as she studied me in a new light. "Of course, that's where I know you from. Keegan was always an odd one, but I still considered him a friend of sorts. We did a few operations together, back when we were both with Magma. How fortunate that you'd fall into our lap, what a great day!"

"He only defended himself, why the hell would that put him on some sort of list?" Owen growled.

"Who can say, that's above my paygrade," she shrugged. "All I know is that you'll be coming with us kid, I know somebody who would love to have a chat with you."

"Still think you're going to just walk away from this?" I asked challengingly, realizing that I was running out of time and that a battle was inevitable.

"You sure have a lot of faith, kid. Who exactly do you think is going to save you? Lavaridge has one Officer Jenny, and she won't be waking up anytime soon. The Rangers are preoccupied, and most of them are mediocre battlers at best. We've systematically infected the teams of most gym leaders over the past couple of days to ensure gym leaders won't interfere, including Flannery. Most trainers have already turned in their Pokémon, and the ones who haven't like you know that trying to fight would be a really bad decision," she said, pointing the knife to my belt clip despite my Pokéballs being completely covered by my hoodie.

When put that way, the odds of them getting away with it seemed quite a bit higher. My mind lingered on what she'd said about Flannery and gym leaders. If Flannery had been infected and her team quarantined, then that meant there was a good chance most of my team was–

"You may have gotten lucky against Keegan," she continued, looking unbothered and completely sure of herself. "But that won't hold up for you today, I promise you that. You're welcome to try, but I'd strongly advise against it. You're actually in a rather unique position, especially given the circumstances. You're only wanted for a conversation, so if you come quietly you might even get to keep your team. I'll still have to insist that you hand them over for the time being, but if you can adjust your attitude before you talk to a higher-up, it's not impossible that you'd be allowed to walk away with them. I'll even keep them separated from the others, just in case. Pretty good deal, right?"

"I don't believe that for a second. Besides, I hardly think we have anything worthwhile to talk about," I sneered.

"That's not up for you to decide kid," she retorted, leveling me with a serious glare and pointing the knife toward me with more intent than before as the Mightyena and Seviper took threatening stances of their own beside her. "Now, quite wasting my time before I get angry. Hand over your team and–"

"Contact!" the man by the door shouted. I heard his Golbat screech before falling out of the sky and landing with a heavy thump, followed by a deep roar that shook me to my core that I couldn't place the source of. I saw the Ariados launching webbing into the sky, and could only assume that there was some sort of flying Pokémon attacking them.

Fifi whirled around and pointed her knife at the door as she whistled, causing the Seviper and Mightyena to rush outside to help as the man out front released another Pokémon. With her attention momentarily pulled away by the distraction and her Pokémon no longer ready to strike us down in an instant, I knew that we weren't going to get any better opportunity to act, and Owen seemed to be of the same mind.

The woman shouted at the door, her free hand reaching for a Pokéball on her belt as Owen launched himself at her and I quickly unclipped Duran and Apollo's Pokéballs.

"We have hostages you moro–" she started yelling, cut off as Owen tackled her to the ground from behind. I released Duran and Apollo, watching closely as he grabbed her wrists and twisted her free hand behind her back while keeping her knife-wielding hand pinned to the ground above her head. He dug his knee into her back with all his bodyweight on her as he grappled with the woman for control of her hands, cranking the arm he had held behind her back higher and higher up her spine while shouting demands to drop the knife. She was screaming in pain yet, refused to comply, jerking and twisting her wrist in a desperate attempt to break free or stab him, though her efforts were in vain.

"I've got this! Go to the back, Danny!" Owen shouted as he wrestled with the Rocket, a couple of brave souls rushing over to help him keep her down and get control of the knife.

Trusting that Owen had her handled and feeling immensely relieved that whatever was happening out front seemed to have the full attention of the rest of the Rockets that had kept us hostage, I felt comfortable enough to release Orion as well, doing my best to ignore Apollo's increasing barrage of questions and emotions over our link in response to the hectic scene he had just been released into.

"Orion, stick with Owen! Apollo and Duran, setup and come with me. We're fighting Rockets, so everyone escalate!" I shouted hurriedly as I ran over and shoved Orion's Luxury Ball into Owen's pocket before scooping up Duran and running towards the back room.

Apollo Teleported to my shoulder as I jumped the front desk, and I heard a couple more Pokémon get released behind me that I could only desperately hope were other citizens who hadn't had their Pokémon taken yet. I briefly questioned if I'd made a fatal mistake by including Orion into the situation, but knew that Owen needed all the help he could get. My hope was that whatever was going on outside the Pokécenter would stay there, and that Owen would be able to prevent the woman from releasing more Pokémon that Orion would be forced to face.

But if Orion did end up having to fight, or if that sound wasn't people releasing their Pokémon to help… I'd never be able to forgive myself if he died when I wasn't even there.

No, I needed to act while I still had a chance, and I couldn't afford to think about that. I'd given Owen his Pokéball, so if things got nasty he could always recall Orion. I forced myself to push aside the creeping dread I felt that I may never see my Eevee again and focused on the task at hand. This was no time to second guess myself, and I was probably the only one who had a chance at stopping the man who was attempting to steal everyone's Pokémon.

Unfortunately, the back door was wide open and he had clearly realized something was going on. Houndoom stood guard just beyond the doorway, baring its fangs threateningly and snarling at the sight of me in a clear threat not to come inside. Nurse Joy had seemingly lost most of her composure, sobbing as she shakily dumped trays of Pokéballs into what must have been a space-tech backpack, and couldn't help but notice that she was bleeding rather profusely from deep puncture wounds on her arm. I felt pretty confident it was inflicted by the Mawile that stood beside her with its massive maw snapping threateningly in a clear attempt to keep her compliant and hurried.

The Rocket named Walker was whispering urgently into his phone, pacing back and forth before laying eyes on us as I took in the scene and quickly relayed as many instructions as I could to Apollo through our link, grateful for the efficiency that telepathy allowed us to communicate with. Walker snarled, eyeing us warily but continued talking on his phone, though he escalated from whispering to yelling at the sight of me.

"I can hear a massive battle outside, and Fifi must be down because there's a fuckin' kid here with his team out staring me down like he's about to be some sort of hero. We need backup and extraction now if you want these fucking Pokémon!"

He was right too – I could hear a slew of sounds indicative of a battle coming from the direction of the front door, but could tell that it was happening outside which I took as a reasonably good sign. I could hear crashing, banging, heaving thumps, yelling, screaming, and various Pokémon cries of pain and exerted effort, along with many more sounds I couldn't hope to identify. There was a heated battle definitely going on out there, but I couldn't afford to pay it any attention.

Walker flipped his phone closed, not bothering to wait for a response from whoever he was talking to as he quickly pocketed it, glaring at me threateningly.

"You've got one chance to walk away from this, kid. Don't step foot in this room, or you'll have the death of your team and a Nurse Joy on your hands."

As if to emphasize the point, the Mawhile slammed its massive jaws shut right next to Nurse Joy's head, which would have easily been able to fit inside its maw. She let loose a pitiful whimper as she reflexively recoiled, knocking over the backpack she had been filling and causing Pokéballs of all types to spill out of it in a seemingly endless stream.

Definitely high-end space-tech, as the amount of Pokéballs that continued to roll out and across the floor was staggering, easily hundreds. They must have been pretty far along in packing them up, because although I could still see quite a few trays full of Pokéballs stacked neatly into carts, there were far more carts nearby that were completely empty, their trays laying in a pile off to the side.

"You dumb fucking bitch!" he roared as he backhanded Nurse Joy across the face hard, sending her to the floor.

I took that as my cue to act, literally throwing Duran into the air toward the Houndoom while Apollo let loose a Psybeam at the Mawile before Teleporting off my shoulder to begin a barrage of Disarming Voice using our harass technique. They knew exactly what to do and got to work without any hesitation, since I'd telepathically relayed instructions to Apollo, and subsequently Duran.

The matchups, although not ideal, were a no-brainer. Duran not only had a type advantage over the Houndoom, but historically had a lot of experience and success in handling canine Pokémon. Apollo was likely to struggle against a Mawhile, particularly since it resisted both fairy and psychic-type attacks, but as far as I was aware the species relied almost exclusively on physical moves, and Apollo was anything but easy to get ahold of. Not to mention, he had been using Calm Mind ever since Teleporting onto my shoulder, just as Duran had been using Harden while I carried him.

Type matchups aside, I wasn't fully confident that Duran would survive if he found himself in Mawile's massive jaws, although the same was undoubtedly true for Apollo. The teeth that lined the Mawile's maw looked sharp, and even from its performative threat displays I could tell it had far more biting force than Trapinch. Add in the fact that Duran was in the early stages of molting, and I didn't want to risk him getting crushed by a bloodthirsty Mawile.

I'd made sure that Apollo to relay to Duran that they needed to do their absolute best not to physically touch the opponents except as a last resort, just on the off-chance that they weren't already infected. Though I hadn't noticed any behavioral differences in them, we'd only had our gym battle a day ago there was a chance the symptoms simply hadn't started to show yet. If Flannery did indeed have her Pokémon infected as the Rockets had implied, chances seemed high that most of my own team was already exposed, since all three had physically touched their opponents at least once.

I knew the chances were exceedingly low, but I clung to my hope that we would somehow get through all of this completely unscathed, no matter how much all evidence pointed to the contrary. I kept both Duran and Apollo's Pokéballs in my hands, ready to recall them at a moment's notice just in case the need arose.

Duran blasted a powerful Water Gun directly at the Houndoom below him, the force allowing him to sail over his foe and land on its other side before immediately unleashing a dual-clawed Bubblebeam. The Houndoom lunged at Duran with impressive speed, its fangs crackling with electricity as it tried to land a Thunder Fang, but Duran was far too mobile thanks to his Aqua Jet and quickly launched himself out of harms way.

I glanced over to Apollo just in time to see the Mawhile's jaws open and let loose a hair-raising, startling shout that sent out a dark, wispy pulse that quickly swept across the entire room. It reminded me of the miasma from dark-type attacks, but seemed slightly different – more of a dark purple than black. I felt an inexplicable primal fear take hold of me momentarily, and it not only caused me to recoil but every single person and Pokémon in the room, creating a brief moment of calm.

Apollo seemed particularly affected by it, and the flinch instantly cut short the bombardment of Disarming Voices he had been letting loose with the harass technique. Mawile lunged at Apollo as Duran and the Houndoom resumed their battling, and my heart dropped as I saw the Mawile's wide-open maw poised to snap closed on my stunned starter.

I recalled Apollo just in time, my heart pounding as the Mawile's jaw crunched closed right where Apollo had just been. The good news was that the Mawile's lunge had put some much-needed distance between it and Nurse Joy, so I felt a little better about her chances of not being hurt. I instantly sent Apollo out again beside me, mentally instructing him to keep even more distance from the Mawile than he had, to try to lure it further away from Nurse Joy, and to try putting the Mawile to sleep with Hypnosis.

"Dirty tactic kid, but I can respect it. You'd make a decent Rocket if you didn't have that damn Ralts," the man sneered as he spared me a quick glance before refocusing on tossing the spilled Pokéballs back into his backpack. Sure, Nurse Joy was sort of helping, but frankly she was a distressed mess at this point, trembling and shaking so much she had issues sliding trays off the cart and seemingly unable to fully take her attention away from the battle that was going on around her.

Though it would have been a reasonable response given the situation, I couldn't help but think it was slightly performative so that she could go as slow as humanly possible without going so far as to further provoking the Rocket. No doubt a good amount of her distress was genuine, especially considering the fact she was physically hurt, but I also felt as though she was doing everything she could to slow down the process so as few Pokémon were stolen as possible. It occurred to me that perhaps her spilling the backpack full of Pokéballs hadn't been as much of a mistake as it had seemed. All Nurse Joy were trained professionals who kept calm and focused in even the most dire medical circumstances, so I had to imagine that underneath her seemingly broken exterior there was some level of strategic calculus happening.

"What's that supposed to mean? Have something against Ralts?" I spoke up in response to his remark in an attempt to distract and slow him any way I could, taking inspiration from Nurse Joy as my eyes darted back and forth to monitor the battles. I was half tempted to rush him, but he was on the other side of the room and there were two heated battles between us. I was no fighter and only had my pocket knife on me, and I had no clue if the guy had a knife or gun hidden away. I'd seen both weapons used by different Rockets, and it seemed like it was up to personal preference what weapons and Pokémon they carried on their person, rather than standard issue. I wasn't trying to bring a knife to a gunfight if I could avoid it, especially if the ongoing battles went our way and I was blocking the escape.

I also had Duran and Apollo's Pokéballs in my hand, ready to recall them at a moment's notice if needed, and I couldn't risk putting them on my belt until I had a better idea of how things would go.

No, tempting as it was to rush him, things were going reasonably well so far and it was unnecessarily risky. The Pokéballs were spilt all over the floor, I saw no way he'd be able to escape without going through me, and both Apollo and Duran appeared to be holding their own, hammering attacks while remaining outside of the range of their opponent. We'd win at this rate, and if Rangers had shown up outside it was only a matter of time until I got help.

"Don't play dumb, you little shit. You know the Ralts line is far too noble for a trainer in my line of work. If you didn't abandon it, it'd eventually get so sick it died. I get the sense you'd never even consider joining us, considering the fact you think you're playing hero right now."

"I don't see how anyone considers joining you," I said honestly as Duran lept out of the way of a Bite and Apollo gave up on Hypnosis to do another round of Disarming Voice harassment. Both the Houndoom and the Mawhile appeared to be battling rather mindlessly, throwing themselves relentlessly at their opponent and attempting to win using overwhelming power and aggression. This seemed particularly true for the Mawile, who kept lunging at Apollo trying to get ahold of him and getting angrier each time he Teleported out of the way only to launch a ranged counterattack. I chalked it up to Pokérus causing it to be confused and enraged, but considered it a good sign that we'd likely win, even if Disarming Voice didn't seem to be dealing much damage.

"If you don't know why people join organizations like ours, you're either dumb, delusional, or in denial," the Rocket answered, still focused on the task of collecting the Pokéballs but keeping both me and the battles in view. "This world is fucked. Governments, the League, mega-corporations – they do whatever they want with impunity, and we're forced to simply accept it. Fight their wars, pay their taxes, follow their rules, buy their products, be obedient, and don't you dare ask the wrong questions or say no otherwise you'll get completely fucked. Some people are content to live life like a mindless Mareep, following the herd and doing what's expected, accepting their oppression without question. Well not everyone is so easily subjugated. We demand change, and unfortunately that requires doing some unsavory things. But trust me kid, nothing we do compares to the atrocities of those in power."

"Says the guy stealing innocent people's Pokémon and roughing up a defenseless Nurse Joy," I retorted.

"The League 'confiscates' way more Pokémon every year than Team Rocket has ever 'stolen', and this woman is largely responsible for that," he scowled, jerking his head at Nurse Joy. "If Officer Jenny and Rangers are the League's enforcers, then Nurse Joys are their informants, collecting and whispering everybody's secrets to her overlords just for a pat on the head and a cushy government paycheck. Catch the wrong Pokémon, make the wrong choices in how you choose to raise them, or break any of the League's countless silly little rules, and she's the one tattling on you. Hell, most of the time she's the one stealing them!"

"She keeps Pokémon healthy and makes sure they're properly cared for," I countered. "I've been rebuked by a Nurse Joy or two in my day in my day, but they're just doing their job. They don't make the rules."

"Spoken like a true Mareep," he scoffed, shaking his head in disapproval. "I suppose you'd say the same thing if you ever got sent overseas to 'pacify' a settlement and had to put down some poor soul defending their home? You'd kill a father and their household companions for not falling in line, leaving a widow and her fatherless kids destitute after you comandeered their home, but oh no, you're blameless and just following orders, right? It's that kind of narrow thinking that makes people complicit in the big-picture injustices. We're not the villains here, not in the grand scheme of things. We're fighting against a self-serving system that uses its control over the masses to keep themselves in absolute power and their pockets filled, all at the expense of people like you and me."

The ground rumbled, and I heard more screaming and yelling from behind me. I quickly glanced back to see a column of fire in the street outside the Pokécenter, the splattered remains of what vaguely resembled an Ariados all over the front window, and what appeared to be a massive battle in the streets involving multiple Pokémon I was exceedingly glad I wasn't apart of. I caught a glimpse of a Shiftry, Zangoose, Charizard, Azumarill, Absol, Dustox, and Aggron, but couldn't spare the the time to decipher sides or who was winning.

Most importantly, the door seemed clear and I saw that some people were taking turns running out whenever they saw an opening amidst the chaos. A couple of them had Pokémon out and were standing guard at the door, but I wasn't surprised they were refraining from getting involved based on the species and overall fear I saw among them. Whatever was going on outside was far beyond what I would even feel comfortable joining, and if Rangers had shown up like I suspected, it was best to let them handle it.

I didn't see Owen or Orion, but assumed they must still be keeping the woman immobilized on the ground on the other side of the desk where I couldn't see. Or that's what I dearly hoped anyway – if Owen had taken Orion to join whatever bloodbath was going on outside, I seriously doubted that I'd ever be able to forgive him, even if Orion somehow came out unscathed.

"Looks like backup arrived," Walker said, grabbing my attention only for me to see him sporting a wicked grin.

That was almost certainly true, for both sides. Whatever was going on outside had escalated far beyond the initial batch of Pokémon they'd come with, if the quick glimpse I'd seen was any indicator. But I couldn't focus on that – I knew I was hopelessly outmatched by whatever was going on out there, but here I had a chance.

More than just a chance, in fact. As things were going, it seemed like we were likely to come out on top, even if doing so without having my team get physically hit was making things much more difficult. I just needed to keep us all alive, prevent Walker from leaving with any Pokéballs, and hope that whoever came into the room next wasn't wearing a Rocket uniform.

A/N: Sorry, I ended up having to split the chapter after all. Forgive me for the cliffhanger, I promise not to make habit of it. Shit really hits the fan next chapter, so stay tuned and I hope you enjoy!

FFN was dead all of yesterday, so apologies for the late post, it was outside my control. It appears it's that time of the month where FFN acts up, so I'll remind you that you can always check AO3 when things like this happen.

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