Chapter 9: The Rebellion Begins

I had seen plenty of indoor battlefields on TV, but being inside one was an entirely different experience, even if Midnight Stadium was a lot smaller than the stadiums used for the Indigo League. The battlefield area was a huge, flat space with a smooth, densely-packed clay surface. Sheer concrete walls at least twenty feet high surrounded the entire area, and above that the audience seats were arranged in rows extending backward to the outer edge of the stadium. The ceiling was currently shut, though the surrounding machinery probably meant that it was capable of being opened.

Most of the kids had finished signing up in the lobby and had moved on the battlefield by now. I glanced around for Rudy, since he'd gotten registered before me, only to see that he had already located an opponent for a practice battle. I couldn't help laughing a bit at his impatience. He was literally bouncing up and down as he pointed forward and yelled for his Spearow to attack.

"Hey there," a voice behind me said.

I whirled around to see who it was and found myself looking down at a smaller kid, maybe a year or two younger than me. He had straight, dirty-blond hair, light blue eyes, and was currently giving me an "I know something you don't" sort of grin.

Did I know him? His face did seem vaguely familiar, but I wasn't sure why. He obviously knew I didn't recognize him, but seemed content to wait until I figured it out. Where had I seen him before?

Oh right… he was that kid I'd seen when boarding the S.S. Anne. Meeting him was the first proof that there were other recruits on the ship.

"Oh, it's you." I said blankly. "Er, hello you."

"Mm, close, but actually my name is Darren, not 'you,'" he said matter-of-factly. "But anyways, how was the S.S. Anne trip for you? My team and I had fun. Well… aside from the sudden ending. I don't think anyone much cared for that part." Even though he was clearly being sarcastic, he said it with the same sort of tone that you'd use for something dead serious, which was a little off-putting.

"Can't complain really. Fighting Rockets at 3am is one of my favorite things to do," I said dryly.

"Ah, you too? I guess we're in the right place for that, yeah," he said, nodding his head in a "that makes sense" sort of way. I raised an eyebrow. He paused for a second before saying, "Yeah okay, actually… I don't think I'd say fighting Rockets is my favorite thing. That's probably not true. It's okay if it's yours though. I won't judge."

I really wanted to ask him to stop using that tone, but how do you ask something like that?

"So anyway, want to battle?" Darren asked, suddenly pulling out a Pokéball. I was really gonna have to get used to that being the default greeting for Pokémon trainers.

"Oh, uh… sure?" I retrieved my Pokéballs to let out Swift and Firestorm with a flash. I then had to mentally smack myself—you weren't supposed to let out your whole team for a battle. Was this seriously my first 'normal' Pokémon battle?

"Oh. Or we could show off our team first… that works too," Darren said, shrugging. I was about to say that I'd just made a mistake, but he had already grabbed two more Pokéballs and opened them along with the first one. When the light faded, an Ivysaur, Sandshrew, and Psyduck now stood before me.

"Cool, so you started out with Bulbasaur, right?" I hadn't seen its evolved form up close before. As I knelt to get a better look at it, the flower-backed reptile drew itself up proudly and shook its leaves.

"Yeah, ever since he evolved he's been kind of a showoff," Darren said, rubbing the back of his head. "It's even worse when we're battling and he thinks someone's watching." Ivysaur folded his ears back and shot his trainer a glare for that comment. Darren ignored him and continued, "So, are we still gonna have that battle?"

"Oh. Uh, sure, we can battle. I'll use…" I trailed off as I looked over my two Pokémon. Firestorm was obviously stronger now, which meant I should use—"Swift."

Firestorm's face fell immediately. "*What? I wanted to—*"

"You evolved last night, let's give Swift a chance to catch up, yeah?" The Charmeleon didn't much care for my explanation and folded his arms with a sulky expression. Swift glanced back and forth between Firestorm and me, looking conflicted.

I waved a hand dismissively. "Ignore him, this is your turn."

The Pidgey blinked in surprise but then nodded before fluttering forward to stand between Darren and me.

"Alright… I'll use Sandshrew then!" Darren called out, pointing forward. The yellow-scaled Pokémon at his heels struck a triumphant pose before leaping in front, baring its claws with an aggressive smirk that didn't seem to fit such a small creature.

First real battle… okay. Didn't have to worry about dying if I lost, so there was no reason to stress out over it. No reason to forget everything I'd ever learned in battling class.

Except I'd learned nothing from battling class.

"Sandshrew, use Defense Curl!" Darren ordered.

Crap, I had to order an attack! What moves did Swift even know? There couldn't be that many—he hadn't been trained before.

"Uh, use Quick Attack!"

Faster than I could see, Swift took off from the ground and shot forward like a bullet, striking Sandshrew dead-on and sending it reeling backwards. But as Swift pulled out of the dive, the yellow shrew quickly regained itself and rolled its body into a tightly curled ball.

"Alright, we got the first hit, now follow it up with a Tackle!" I shouted, already feeling my heart pound with excitement.

Swift swooped back around and aimed for his opponent again, this time going for a full-body slam rather than a quick passing strike. The Pidgey slammed headlong into Sandshrew, but the thick-scaled Pokémon was braced to endure the hit—the impact barely moved it.

"What? But why…?" I muttered.

"*Defense curl toughened its body. It won't be hurt easily now,*" Swift observed.

Darren grinned. "Alright, now go for a Rollout!"

I just had the chance to see the ground-type's hide turn rough and rocklike before it rotated at high speed and took off rolling across the stadium floor like a boulder. Swift was flying overhead, so there wasn't any way he could get hit, right? Wrong—Sandshrew used its momentum to leap off the ground and hurtle through the air, aiming right for him. Tilting a wing, Swift banked to the left at the last second as Sandshrew barreled past. I would have sighed in relief if I weren't still staring, unsure of what to do now. So Swift wasn't safe in the air. What was the best option now? I'd have to order an attack if we were to get anywhere.

"Go for another hit, Sandshrew!"

Crap, I had to come up with something, anything. "Uh, Swift try another Quick Attack!" Maybe if he could hit Sandshrew before it hit him?

But Sandshrew was already mid-Rollout again. Swift glanced back at me with an uncertain look, but then dove forward too fast to see, closing in on the Rollout heading straight for him.

This was bad—Swift was going to get hit! Why had I told him to attack like that?!

I flinched hard when the two collided, but that didn't block Swift's pained cry as he tumbled backward, rolling along the stadium floor before coming to rest in a battered heap. I'd basically just told him to fly into a rock. Why?!

I grabbed his Pokéball, ready to recall him, but amazingly, the Pidgey was already standing to his feet, shaking his head to get his bearings. It had been a powerful hit, but it was the only hit he'd had to endure so far. So we might've still had a chance.

"Sandshrew, come back around for the second hit!" Darren called out, and I could have sworn its rocky armor grew a bit thicker. Was this attack seriously going to get stronger as the battle went on?

Swift glanced back at me expectantly. I stared at him, blank confusion plastered all over my face. He nodded softly, as if trying to say that I should do something. But whatever I said would only make things worse. My mind was racing, but it wasn't coming up with anything at all. We only had a few seconds left!

Finally, Swift hung his head and turned back to face the oncoming Rollout. He stretched out his wings and hopped in place, waiting for it to get near to him. Then, at the very last second, he took off from the ground, letting the Rollout speed past. I watched with bated breath, knowing that it was about to turn around for another blow. But at that moment, Swift flapped his wings in a sudden frenzy, creating a blast of air that formed a spiraling whirlwind. Sandshrew's rolling form had just leaped at Swift when the rush of wind swept under it and flung it around in the air, knocking the ground-type out of its balled-up position. It flailed its limbs in a panic, unable to resist being thrashed about by the whirlwind.

Of course—Gust. How could I have forgotten about that?

The Gust attack finally dissipated and Sandshrew was sent flying to the ground, too dizzy to land on its feet and instead crashing awkwardly on its back.

"Come on Sandshrew, launch a Poison Sting at it!"

But in that split second before it could regain itself, Swift dove forward too quickly to see and struck Sandshrew right in its vulnerable underbelly. The yellow-scaled Pokémon flew backward from the hit, and when it finally slid to a stop, it was clearly too dazed to move.

"Dang," Darren said flatly. "I thought Rollout would make for an easy win."

I'd won. But the victory didn't feel like my own—I'd mostly just gotten in the way. I definitely had a lot more to learn from the training here than my team did. But then… the whole point of this was to make myself stronger, right?

Darren recalled his Sandshrew in a beam of light. "So I guess that's the last time I'll underestimate a Pidgey. Good job! Although," —he laughed—"it kinda seemed like that was your first battle or something."

I could feel my cheeks go red. I wasn't sure if I should tell him that it was.

Swift had fluttered down to stand next to me, but he kept staring at the ground like he'd done something wrong.

"What's up?" I asked.

He paused, unsure of how to put it. "*I used moves on my own. Is that allowed?*"

I almost laughed. "If your trainer doesn't have a freaking clue what to do, you can't just stand there, right?" The Pidgey blinked slowly, processing the thought.

"Hey Jade, I just got done with my battle, and—oh cool, you had a battle too? Nice! Who won?" Rudy said all at once, appearing from behind me and brimming with excitement.

"Swift won," I answered. It would've been weird to say that I won.

"Awesome! Anyway, my plan is to like, at least double my Pokémon's power within the first month here, and—" He stopped mid-sentence, eyeing Firestorm and Swift in confusion. "Hey, I just realized—where's your Pikachu?"

My heart curled inward on itself, and I fought back the sudden urge to disappear from the conversation. Why did he have to ask about that? The memory burned a hole in my chest every time it came up. How could I have let the Rockets take Chibi? Why couldn't I stop them? Why?

After several seconds, I finally replied, "He left. I told you I didn't think he'd stay with me."

"Aw… your cool Pikachu left?" Darren said, frowning. "I liked him."

"That sucks. So now you only have two Pokémon?" Rudy asked.

I nodded, really hoping we could get off this topic as soon as possible. I got my wish when a large amount of the surrounding conversation died down suddenly. After a few seconds' glancing around in confusion, I realized that Stalker had walked through the entrance to the battlefield, causing everyone in a twenty-foot radius around him to pause in silent anticipation.

"There's no need to be like that. We're all teammates now," Stalker said, motioning for everyone to relax. "I asked a few people individually if they knew anything more detailed about what happened on the S.S. Anne. Some of them have mentioned hearing one of you say you were there during the Rockets' mission." He paused expectantly.

I glanced around the battlefield. Right… it looked like I'd have to reveal my actions. Hesitantly, I raised my hand into the air. Stalker scanned the crowd for a few seconds until his eyes fell on me. He then said, "Alright, come to my office."

I hadn't really been expecting that. I gave Rudy and Darren a bewildered shrug before motioning for Swift and Firestorm to follow me, only to be met with a wide-eyed look of disappointment from the latter.

"Oh fine, stay with Rudy and Darren if you want to battle so much, sheesh," I said, waving a hand dismissively. Swift opted to stay too, though it was clear that he planned on observing more than taking part.

Everyone's eyes were on me the whole time I walked to the front of the battlefield, though the only stare that mattered was Stalker's. His expression was impossible to make out, which only fueled the prickles of anxiety starting to fill the back of my head. When I reached him, he simply nodded before turning and walking back up the stairs leading to the main entrance. I followed him out of the battlefield and back into the lobby before he turned down the right hallway and opened the first door we came to, motioning for me to enter. The room was fairly small, and taken up mostly by a large desk that was currently covered in a wide array of computer hardware, all hooked up to a laptop. Above the desk was a bookshelf that, at a glance, seemed to mostly involve Pokémon training and mythology. The few pictures on the walls were illustrations of Legendary Pokémon.

"So…" he said, sitting down at the desk. "I don't know what you were involved with or how much you know. Can you tell me?" His voice was inquisitive but still had a firm tone like I didn't really have a choice in the matter.

I took a seat in a small black chair across from him, unable to keep from feeling at least a bit nervous at the idea of telling him what I'd done. I paused for several seconds, then finally said, "Alright." And with that I recounted—for the second time that day—the story of my clash with the Rockets. He stayed silent the whole time, his expression inscrutable. When I finished telling it, he didn't say anything, but simply sat there with a look of deep concentration on his face, carefully mulling everything over. I had to admit, I was feeling kind of anxious to hear what he thought of the whole incident. Heck, it would probably impact the role I would play on the team.

"So. You and a renegade experiment managed to stop them. You did what needed to be done, given the circumstances. I wouldn't have expected that kind of initiative from you." I tilted my head, unsure of how I was supposed to respond to that. He continued, "I'll have to wait until the mission report to know for sure. But from the Rockets' point of view, they either were able to take me and most of the rebels out, or send a strong message of 'this is what happens if you try to oppose us.' So either way, they'll view it as a win." He didn't mention why the Rockets would have been so desperate to get at him, but I didn't have the nerve to ask.

"So, enough about that. I might as well get you registered for Team Rocket now." I almost laughed at how bizarrely matter-of-fact that statement was in this situation. He flipped open his laptop and began typing on it. "Your name?"

"Oh, uh, Jade Arens."

He looked over his screen for a bit before saying, "Mm, here you are. Now, for your Rocket ID, I'll be randomizing your name, birthday, hometown, and Rocket initiation, so…"—he paused to click a few things—"it looks like from now on, you're Allie Farias from Cerulean City; first registered at Northern HQ, born on the 6th of September, 2983. Once you get your ID, you should memorize all of the information so you don't slip up when an executive asks you about yourself. There are other things like evaluation status, rank, department, and commanding officer, but those aren't the sort of info I can fake—they'll be assigned to you when you make your first trip to an actual Rocket base."

"How many bases are there?" I asked.

"There are four major ones in Kanto," he replied. "Northern HQ near Cerulean, Financial HQ in Saffron, Operations HQ in Celadon, and Main HQ in Viridian."

Viridian. The main headquarters for Team Rocket was in my hometown, and our representative gym leader was its boss. As if I needed more reason to take the fight against Team Rocket personally.

"I just need your photo now," Stalker said, and I nodded. He tapped on a few things with his laptop, and it clicked when the picture was taken. "That should be everything for now. I'll hand out everyone's IDs before your first mission. By the way… you don't have a trainer's license yet, do you?" he asked.

"No." My voice was a bit hollow.

"Mm, then you wouldn't have gotten a room number registered to your license when you signed up. You'll need this," he said, handing me a small plastic card. "It's a card key for a room here. And since I'm renting the stadium and letting everyone stay in it for free, you won't be paid as much as I had originally intended," he added.

"Paid?" I asked. We'd get… money for this? It hadn't occurred to me that we'd be paid to fight Team Rocket.

"Of course. And depending on how well you act the part of a loyal, contributing member, you'll get paid by Team Rocket, too."

"You have… no idea how great that sounds," I said with more than a little relief in my voice.

"Low on cash, I take it?"

"Yeah, I spent it all while waiting in Vermilion," I said sheepishly.

Chuckling slightly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a billfold before tossing a 5000p note onto the table. "Can't have my team members starving. And I owe you for what happened on the S.S. Anne."

I stared at it. "Seriously?"

He gave me a hard look and said, "Take it."

My feet dragged against the road as I trudged back from my trip downtown, backpack loaded up with both groceries and Pokémon food. Sweat poured down my face, making me even more uncomfortably aware of how high the sun had climbed. And it wasn't even high noon yet. But the air on Midnight Island was thick and stifling and not at all like the mountain breezes I was used to in Viridian. Part of me wished that I had made Firestorm come with so I could have had someone else help carry what I'd bought, but it was too late to do anything about it now.

A wave of relief swept over me as the stadium came into view, and I would have run the rest of the way if my legs weren't still dead from last night. I was tempted to take the groceries up to my room and eat there, but Swift and Firestorm were probably just as hungry as I was. And so, ignoring the part of my brain that kept whispering promises of a shower and pillows, I walked straight to the battlefield.

It didn't take long to find my Pokémon, even amongst the numerous battles still taking place. Swift was easy to spot, practicing some aerial maneuvers in a relatively empty corner of the battlefield. And below him was Firestorm, sitting on the ground with a miserable look on his face while Darren sprayed him all over with a potion.

Darren waved when he spotted me. "Hey Jade, I'm just healing him up after that last battle."

The Charmeleon stared up at me with a sulky expression. "*I lost to Ivysaur. Ivysaur. I feel humiliated.*"

Darren gave me a helpless look. "I… tried to tell him that he'd be at a disadvantage without a trainer to strategize for him."

Ivysaur muttered something that sounded suspiciously like, "*Even with a trainer, he'd have still lost,*" but luckily Firestorm didn't hear him.

"*I want a rematch,*" the fire lizard said, standing up the instant Darren was done healing him.

"No, you don't. Food. Now," I said flatly, gesturing to my backpack. "Come on, let's find a place to sit down." I gave a small wave to Darren before heading off to the stairway leading to the audience stands, Swift flying close behind and Firestorm dragging his heels.

The view from the stands let me look out over all of the rebels in the battlefield, and from the looks of their Pokémon, most of them were about the same skill level. Over half of the trainers had the middle stage of their starter Pokémon: Ivysaur, Charmeleon, or Wartortle, though there were a couple of trainers who still hadn't evolved theirs yet—Rudy among them. Quite a few trainers had the common bird Pokémon like Spearow, Pidgey, and Hoothoot or the common field Pokémon like Rattata, Sentret, Meowth, and Ekans. But every so often I spotted a trainer with a more uncommon team member like Magnemite, Slowpoke, Jigglypuff, and one kid who even had a Heracross.

I tore open the bags of Pokéchow and poured some out into a pair of plastic bowls I'd bought, then proceeded to hastily throw together a sandwich for myself. In between shoving fistfuls of food into his mouth, Firestorm mumbled, "*Never lost to any of the Bulbasaur at the starter house.*"

"Holy crap, are you still going on about that?" I asked, rolling my eyes. But the important bit of info in what he'd said jumped out at me. "Wait a second… did you say starter house?"

"*Yeah.*"

"As in, place where they raise starter Pokémon? You were a starter Pokémon?"

"*Yeah,*" the fire lizard said, as though nothing were more obvious.

"But then… why were you living in the forest? Did you get separated from your trainer, or did you never have one, or…" I trailed off.

Firestorm swallowed a mouthful of food and said, "*I had a trainer, yeah.*"

"…Had?"

He closed his eyes, as though he'd been expecting me to ask, but hoping I wouldn't. "*We… only ever made it to the first city on our journey. That's where I was stolen from him.*"

My mouth fell open. "Seriously?"

Firestorm nodded. "*I managed to escape eventually, but I couldn't find him after that," he went on, a strange monotone to his voice. "*I didn't have any choice other than running away into the woods.*"

I stared at the Charmeleon, lost for words. I never would have guessed that he'd gone through anything like that. I couldn't think of anything to say that didn't feel hollow and tactless. Finally, I managed to ask, "Did you ever go looking for any League officials? Even a Pokémon Center employee might have been able to help you find him."

He shook his head. "*I was afraid to go back into the city again.*"

"I guess I can't blame you for that… although it's still sad. Now that I think of it, if I was able to capture you, then your old Pokéball must have been destroyed."

Firestorm shrugged. "*Probably. I ended up meeting a group of Charmander living in the woods west of that city. I spent a long time there until… well, until that fire,*" he ended.

I nodded to show that I was paying attention, but I couldn't think of anything more to say that didn't feel empty. Then again, it had been a long time ago, and while he hadn't wanted to tell me, he didn't seem especially broken up by saying it. At least the revelation that he was a starter explained his behavior on the S.S. Anne.

"You know… I never did get to thank you," I said distantly while lost in my thoughts. He looked up, confused. "For being so determined to protect me last night," I clarified.

Firestorm stared at the ceiling. "*Pokémon are supposed to protect their trainers,*" he said simply. He then gave me a very serious look and said, "*But I wouldn't have been able to keep them from shooting you.*"

I rubbed the back of my head a bit sheepishly. "I guess… but that situation was my fault. You can't be expected to be able to save me from every impossible mess I get myself into."

He didn't respond—he just stared at the ground with a skeptical face, like he didn't agree with what I'd just said, but couldn't think of how to argue it.

"What about you, Swift? You've sure been quiet," I said.

The Pidgey turned toward me quizzically. "*I don't have anything to say.*"

I laughed. "Ah come on, I'm pretty sure you have a heck of a lot more on your mind than you let on." At that comment, the feathers on his face ruffled with embarrassment, and he focused intently on his food bowl.

"C'mon. What are your thoughts on us being here?" I asked, giving him a light nudge. "It was my decision to come here, but you guys are affected by it too."

"*I'm gonna get stronger right?*" Firestorm blurted out all of a sudden.

I slapped a hand to my forehead. "Yes, Firestorm, you're gonna get stronger."

"*I'd like to learn more about Pokémon battles,*" Swift said finally, looking up.

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

He paused thoughtfully. "*I want to understand all of the options in battle. It's more complicated than just one attack and then another.*"

I sighed. "That's what I'm afraid of. Even using the simulators at school—which are nothing like the real thing, they're more evenly paced—I could never get a handle on anything other than just… random powerful attacks, one after the other. I also don't know most Pokémon's strengths and weaknesses—it's too much to remember."

"*Strengths and weaknesses?*" Swift asked, tilting his head. "*You mean how I would be harmed more by electricity than Firestorm?*"

"No, I mean like how some Pokémon species can take physical hits better than special hits, and vice versa. But not always—everyone's different, and the trainer has to know everything about how their Pokémon fight, 'cause that determines what the best moves are, and—" I was making the situation sound more hopeless by the second. "Man, I'm screwed."

"*This is different from school. You'll get it,*" Swift said, closing his eyes with a matter-of-fact nod.

I smiled weakly.

Firestorm was staring at the battlefield with a concerned expression, like he was still getting over the revelation that random power attacks were no way to battle properly.

I suddenly became aware that the trainers had begun to clear out the battlefield and were making their way up the stairs to the audience stands where I was sitting. Darren plopped down into a seat next to me without saying anything. Only a few seconds later, Rudy took the seat on my other side, saying way too many things.

"Oh man, what do you think the first lesson is gonna be, do you think he's gonna use his Charizard, I've wanted to see that thing battle ever since I first saw him riding it, but then again, the rest of his team is probably awesome too, and—"

"You wanna try telling me what's actually going on?" I asked.

Rudy paused, looking mildly embarrassed. "Oh, er… Stalker's gonna start the first lesson, and he needed the battlefield empty for it."

I turned to look down at the battlefield and saw that Stalker was now the only person down there. By now, everyone had found a seat and all eyes were focused completely on him. Even Firestorm had stopped sulking and was now staring intently.

"So, I'm sure the thing you're all looking forward to most is your training," Stalker said. "Getting stronger will be useful in more ways than one. As new members of Team Rocket, proving yourself worthwhile in combat will be the first step to making the Rockets view you as a valuable asset. This will increase how much of the team you have access to, which will make it easier to carry out your true mission of sabotaging them from the inside. As for the opposition…"

Stalker paced back and forth in front of us as he talked, considering his words carefully. "A lot of grunts are dropout trainers looking to make a quick buck. With enough training, you should be able to take them on. Officers, on the other hand… they're ones most often called upon to fight rebels or Legendaries. To make it to that rank, they have to be skilled at taking down enemies, one way or another. In short, you don't want to fight them."

Here he paused, letting his words sink into us.

"But if you do find yourself fighting them… what do you think would be the best course of action?"

Honestly, I had no idea. I wasn't sure if it was rhetorical or not either. A couple of the trainers discussed it amongst themselves for a minute before a kid two rows ahead of me stood up and said, "Exploit their weaknesses?"

Stalker gave a tiny smirk. "Not bad. But the answer, of course, is finding a way to escape." A bunch of the trainers glanced back and forth at each other, murmuring confusedly. Our goal was to escape? How would that help us stop them?

Stalker closed his eyes and shook his head. "Until you're decently experienced, you don't actually want to be fighting any Rockets. The training for your Pokémon is just a general-purpose thing. The focus will be on your training, as a trainer. If you're doing your job right, the Rockets should never even know you're there."

Everyone stared, and you could almost feel the disappointment. Stalker stared back at us coldly, content to wait until the group was done whispering its concerns.

"That being said…" he continued, "there are a few ways you can maximize your chance of success against a stronger opponent. How many of you watch League matches on TV?"

Well over half the kids around me raised their hands into the air. Even I had to admit that I'd watched them a couple times.

"How many of you watch matches from other regions?"

Everyone's faces fell, and the majority of the hands sank slowly downward. Had I ever given more than a second glance to another region's matches on TV? I couldn't imagine I'd have ever cared—they used weird rules and their battles were hard to follow.

"I know that we're awful fond of singles here. It's the dominant format for all official battles in Kanto. But double battles are the primary format in Hoenn. Sinnoh runs a large number of tag battle tournaments. Unova has more than one format with six Pokémon on the field at once. These formats are collectively known as multi battles." At this point, scattered bits of groaning could be heard from the kids around me.

"Come onnn… multi battles are confusing, don't tell me we have to learn those," someone called out.

"You'd better, if you want to stay alive." That got everyone to shut up. "There's a higher learning curve, but multi battles will let you get a lot more synergy out of your Pokémon."

Everyone stared in silence. A lot of the trainers had that look like they wanted to protest, but couldn't figure out how to without being shut down.

Stalker continued, "You'll need synergy. It's one of the things that can let you take down a foe with stronger Pokémon, which for the first couple months will be everyone. If you only have one Pokémon out, an enemy Rocket that is confident enough might only send one to meet you. But that is not always the case. If they send out more, you need to be ready to have a multi battle with them. It might be uneven." My mind wandered back to the battles with Tyson and the executive. Huge melees with many Pokémon per side. It had been impossible for me to keep track of all the action. But after training here, would I be able to? Ajia had been able to keep her cool even in such a chaotic fight, and if I could reach that level too…

"I know this is hard to believe. So I'll prove it to you—watch this battle." And with that, Stalker pulled out four Pokéballs—two in each hand—and tossed one pair toward each side of the battlefield.

On the left side, two dragons emerged, one of which was the Charizard I'd seen him riding several times. The fire lizard flapped its wings and took to the air, swinging its flame-tail aggressively and exhaling scattered embers with each breath. The second was a tall, bulky, golden-scaled dragon with small teal wings, and the moment I registered what it was, my jaw fell open. A Dragonite. He actually had a Dragonite on his team. One of the rarest and most powerful Pokémon around, and the hardest to train at that.

Facing them down on the opposing side was a pair of armored dinosaur Pokémon. The first one, a Tyranitar (another rare and powerful Pokémon!) took a low bow before drawing itself proudly up to its full height, showing off the impressive spikes jutting from its green, rock-armor plating. Its partner, on the other hand, was clad in metallic plating with a trio of horns atop its head. It swung its heavy black tail side to side, looking excited to start the fight

A wave of murmuring filled the stands, and it wasn't hard to see why—the latter side had the overwhelming advantage. Even I knew that two rock-types against two flying-types was a bad matchup. And Charizard was a fire-type too! Its flames would barely do anything here.

Stalker motioned to each of the four combatants in turn. "Charizard and Dragonite versus Tyranitar and Aggron. Battle start."

Not even a second later, Charizard roared and began flapping its wings, sending a rush of superheated air toward the opposing side of the field, cloaking the armored dinosaurs in a haze of shimmering heat. Tyranitar regained itself first and stomped the ground, tearing loose chunks of rock and sending them hurtling through the air at the dragons. Aggron staggered backward from the first attack, parts of its armor glowing red-hot from the heat, but after a few seconds' hesitation, it also managed to send a Rock Slide at its opposition.

Alright, so Charizard had been fast enough to get the first move off, but what was it supposed to do now? There was no way it could dodge all those rocks. But for some reason… it didn't even look like it was planning to? Behind it, Dragonite had begun twisting and turning in midair, making a sort of rhythmic, tight-circled flight. Sparkling red and green embers quickly started to sweep across its body. At the last second, Charizard dove forward in front of the oncoming rocks and folded its wings tightly around its body. A shimmering translucent wall of white energy instantly formed in front of the fire lizard. I stared in awe—rocks smashed into the wall one after another, but none could even touch Charizard. Its partner was struck by a few of the more far-flung boulders, but didn't look nearly as hurt by them as I'd have imagined.

Darren leaned over and whispered to me, "Oh man, I think Dragonite just used Dragon Dance. It's gonna be way faster and stronger now. Ha, the other side better take it down fast or they're screwed."

I still couldn't get over the fact that both dragons were still in the fight. I had thought for sure that the double Rock Slide was going to be the end of it.

Aggron charged forward toward the opposition, gathering a huge amount of flashing red energy around its head. Tyranitar stood its ground and took a deep breath before blasting out a jagged blue beam of ice crystals—what, Ice Beam? Seriously? Tyranitar could use Ice Beam? Dragonite didn't look concerned, though. The bulky dragon just swooped low over the battlefield, folding its wings around itself, and then the same shining wall of energy formed in front of it. Jagged strings of icy energy shot off the barrier when the Ice Beam struck, but not a single one could touch Dragonite. Not a second later, Aggron smashed its head into the dragon with a sickening crack… and somehow the barrier absorbed the entire force of the attack? What?

A giant orb of blue and white energy flew in from the side, striking Tyranitar while it was preoccupied with its attack. The spiked dinosaur recoiled backward, howling in pain before sinking to its knees from the shock of the blast. I turned my head to the left side of the battlefield to see Charizard's claws glowing faintly from having launched the orb.

Charizard was the one who had done it. Charizard had brought Tyranitar to its knees. It didn't seem possible, but I'd just watched it happen.

Dragonite took that opportunity to shoot back into the air, its small wings carrying it impossibly fast. Without warning, it dove down and slammed its feet into the ground, letting loose a shock wave that rippled out from its center. The waves travelled across the floor striking both opponents and shattering the ground underneath their feet. Amazingly, we could barely feel the impact up in the stands. Then again, it made sense for modern stadiums to be protected against things like that.

Tyranitar was struggling to stand after two powerful hits in a row, but Aggron managed to stand up long enough to stomp the ground, sending jagged blades of stone ripping up from the ground and digging into Dragonite, stopping its flight cold and sending the dragon plummeting downward. But right at that moment, Charizard sent another wave of scorching heat flying at the opposition, and though both dinosaurs managed to weather it for a few seconds, eventually they both collapsed to the floor and didn't get up.

No way. They'd done it. They'd actually pulled off beating two rock-type Pokémon.

Everyone burst into cheers and applause the instant the battle was done, and I couldn't help but join them, clapping furiously until my hands hurt. Sure, I didn't know what half the moves being used were, but what did that matter?

Dragonite slowly struggled to its feet and gave a curt nod, while Charizard spread its arms wide, letting the praise wash over it. I couldn't help noticing Firestorm clapping even harder at that point, his eyes wide with admiration.

Stalker recalled the two fallen combatants, then waited a bit for the applause to die down before he recalled the two victors.

"I should tell you right now—that battle was staged," he said, pacing in front of us. "But I wanted it to demonstrate something. Even if you have the disadvantage, there are still options in every fight. And you can exploit those options to put yourself in a better position. So, yes, while you shouldn't really be fighting any Rockets… you are going to learn how.

"Over the next few months we are going to train—not just your Pokémon, but yourselves—physically and mentally. Some of you will be taking an active role in making sure their field missions don't succeed. Others will take on a more covert role gathering information for us to use against them. Both are equally important. In agreeing to join this cause, all of you have shown a lot of nerve, and that's already been tested with the S.S. Anne attack."

And in that moment, for what felt like the first time, I felt a glimmer of pride for being a part of all this. Last night had been awful, but I'd managed to make a difference, hadn't I? And I finally had an opportunity to make sure I'd be able to handle things better next time.

Stalker finally stopped his pacing and turned to face us directly. "Once I think you're ready, you'll get the chance to put everything you've learned to the test and infiltrate a Team Rocket base. It'll be your first real mission as members of this team."

"What are we gonna be called?" a voice called out from the crowd. Stalker paused, as though he hadn't considered that.

"Yeah! We need a team name!" someone else yelled. And with that, more and more of the kids built up the courage to let their excitement pour through and start throwing out ideas.

"How about Team Midnight, 'cause we're on Midnight Island!" one kid exclaimed.

"No, we could be the Team Rocket Rebellion!" another shouted.

"That's too long, just the Rebellion! It sounds more mysterious!" a girl yelled excitedly.

"I like the sound of that," Stalker said all of a sudden, his face breaking into a grin. "All in favor of the Rebellion, raise their hands!"

Over half the kids shot their hands into the air.

"Well, that settles it. In a few months, the Rebellion will be a force to be reckoned with."