Chapter 24: Old Friends and New Enemies
My heart wouldn't stop pounding as I sat down at the Pokécenter video phone and opened my wallet to retrieve the small, wrinkled, water-stained piece of paper that Ajia had written her Pokégear number onto so long ago. I took a few deep breaths to steady myself, then placed a few coins into the console before punching in her number. There was no need to be nervous. I was just calling an old friend. No need to be nervous. Not like I was calling to tell her that a mutual friend was part of Team Rocket's upper ranks. My feet tapped the floor without me telling them to. I tried to make them stop, but that just made them tap faster. Then Ajia's face appeared on the screen and my heart jumped into my throat. No going back now.
Her eyes lit up the moment she saw me. "Jade? Hey, how've you been? You shoulda called sooner, it's been ages!"
I forced a smile, though it was only slightly forced—there was something undeniably uplifting about seeing her again after all this time. Something that cut through all the nerves and reminded me why she was the one I was reaching out to right now.
"It's good to see you," I said, and I meant it.
"So what's up?" she asked.
I swallowed hard. There really was no way to open this conversation that wasn't totally awkward. Why bother trying to find one.
"It's our old friend Starr," I said slowly, fighting every word. "I found out that she's a Rocket executive."
Ajia's face fell. "Oh. You… you know about that now?"
My heart crumpled inward on itself. "You knew?"
She paused, eyes glancing away ever so slightly. "It would've been better if I'd never found out, honestly."
Ajia knew. This was yet another thing that Ajia knew. Yet another thing that exposed her history fighting Team Rocket… one that I hadn't even known about until five months ago. Another reminder that my friends were entangled in a vast conspiracy, and that I'd only started to scratch the surface.
"So that day, at the plane crash… you knew that was her?"
Ajia nodded. "And I'm sure she knew who she was fighting then, too."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, hurt leaking into my voice despite all efforts to keep it out.
She paused, frowning. "I… it had been so many years since we'd seen her. I didn't think it would do any good to bring up that kind of drama out of nowhere. Things didn't go so well when I found out."
I bit my lip and glanced away. "Ugh, I didn't realize. I wanted to talk to her again… try to get some answers, you know? But… if that's a bad idea—"
"Well hang on, I never said that," Ajia cut in, smiling faintly. "Things didn't go so well the last time I talked to her. But that was just me. She'll have a lot harder time refusing both of us." She winked.
I stared at her. Somewhere, deep within all the hurt and confusion and shock that this day had held, it was like the tiniest flame of hope had just been lit inside of me, its warmth gradually radiating outward. Ajia was willing to help. I hadn't even had to ask.
"Where are you?" she asked.
"I…"—I shook my head to get my bearings—"I'm at the Pokémon center in Lavender Town." A pause, and I added, "Do you know where that is?"
"I've got a Pokégear. I can find it."
Right. Obviously. "I guess I'll see you here then?"
"Yup, see you!" She waved once more before hanging up.
I collapsed against the seat cushion, letting out a massive sigh of relief—one that it felt like I'd been holding for hours. I had Ajia on my side in this. I wasn't alone. Someone else knew what it felt like to discover that their friend was on Team Rocket, and that someone was also an expert trainer who had fought Team Rocket before. That alone was enough to remove a huge weight from my shoulders.
Ajia arrived far more quickly than she had any right to. Sure, her Aerodactyl was fast, but it felt like I'd only been waiting a couple of minutes before I glanced up to see a petite teenaged girl walking in through the front doors to the center with a Pichu perched on her shoulder and an Espeon trotting at her heels. The bright energy in her dark eyes stood out in contrast to the grim atmosphere that hung over everyone I'd seen in the past twelve hours, and I couldn't help suddenly feeling self-conscious about how exhausted and worn-out I probably looked. Last time she'd seen me, I'd been trying to convince her that I really did want to fight Team Rocket. A fresh wave of embarrassment hit me from how bad an idea that had turned out to be.
I stood up from the couch a little too late and wasn't ready when Ajia threw out her arms and pulled me into a hug, saying, "It's good to see you!"
Words failed me, like I'd momentarily forgotten what to do when confronted with such good cheer. In the end I settled on, "Thanks for helping me out," with what hopefully wasn't too defeated a tone.
She elbowed me lightly as we separated. "Hey, what are friends for?" But then she cocked her head, gazing at me like she was trying to figure something out. "Are… are you doing alright?"
I closed my eyes, smiling weakly. So it was that obvious, huh? "I've been better," I said, grabbing my bag and slinging it over my shoulder. "Come on, let's walk outside while we talk."
A cool sea breeze swept through our hair as we stepped outside the Pokécenter. Espeon dashed ahead of us, zigzagging across the path that led to the boardwalk. Ajia held her arms out to the side while we walked, allowing Pichu to scamper from one end to the other.
"So, you start," Ajia said. "What have you been up to?"
I gave a dry laugh. No way, I definitely wasn't going to open with that. "I'd reeeally prefer for you to answer that first."
She blinked a bit in surprise, but then folded her arms behind her head, which prompted Pichu to jump down and cling to her jacket front. "Ah, you know me, I've been traveling. A few odd jobs here, a local tournament there. Spent some time in the Sevii Islands recently, that was fun. It's still warm there this time of year. And they've got tons of novelty tourneys and unofficial gyms—I got to take Lapras through a surf race where the competitors use water attacks to knock trainers off their Pokémon."
I opened my mouth to speak, but then stopped myself. 'You know me,' she had said. But I honestly wouldn't have been able to guess half of that stuff. Her combat skill went without saying, so I probably could have assumed something related to competitive battling, but other than that… it was like I didn't know anything about her anymore.
"They've got a bunch of cool ruins down there too," she went on. "Lots of rare Pokémon. Took Ninetales to the fire festival they held on the solstice at Mt. Ember. It's really popular with the legend-spotting community—they say Moltres has shown up a few times in the past to give its blessing. Didn't get to see it this year, though."
I could hardly blame Moltres. The solstice was not long after Entei's capture—of course it wouldn't have wanted to go anywhere near humans. Not that it mattered either way, because the firebird had been caught two weeks ago and would never show up at the fire festival there, or anywhere else ever again.
Pichu jumped down from Ajia's jacket and dashed up one of the wooden posts lining the boardwalk. The electric-type then hopped from one post to the next while Espeon jumped up and tried to catch her in midair.
"Any League stuff?" I asked, looking for any excuse to keep Ajia talking so it wouldn't have to be my turn.
"Nah, I haven't done official competitive since the Rocket stuff last year. I try to stay off TV, y'know? Don't wanna advertise where they need to send a hit squad," she said with a chuckle. I had a hard time finding humor in that. Then again, she could have been laughing at the fact that Espeon had caught Pichu mid-leap with its telekinesis, and the mouse was now flailing indignantly against the psychic-type's hold.
"I mean, they've got agents scattered across the islands, but nothing large-scale. I took down a smuggling ring while I was there, but they never found out it was me, so…"
Why the hell hadn't I been traveling with Ajia all this time? Even leaving out the fact that she had the unexplainable ability to fight Team Rocket and actually win, I could have been spending all this time having fun with one of the people I'd most wanted to meet up with when I became a trainer. And I'd had the opportunity after the plane incident, too! Sure, I had been opposed to leaving home without a license, and she'd been opposed to getting me mixed up in Rocket drama. But then I'd gone and done both of those things anyway. Was it just because the Rebellion had seemed important enough to leave home without permission and without a license?
"So… hang on… is that why it's been ages since you last visited Viridian? Staying off the team's radar?" I finally asked.
Ajia clicked her tongue in thought. "Part of it. My dad's work transferred him to Indigo, so there's also that." She smiled faintly and gave me an encouraging nudge. "Alright, your turn. What's it like being on that rebel team?"
My stomach tied itself into a knot. I'd known she was going to ask at some point, but that hadn't made it any easier to come up with a suitable response.
"Don't ask how I know this, but it sounds like you guys have really been making a difference," she added once my pause had lasted more than a few seconds. "I mean… saving Raikou and Zapdos? Not to mention Mew! How many people can say they've even seen Mew, let alone saved her?" Her words held a cheerful air, but at the same time there was something… measured about them. She'd seen how worn and ragged I looked. She knew something was up. But she didn't know what, so she'd focused on lifting the mood before it had the chance to drop.
I swallowed a lump, clutching the wound on my left arm, hidden from view under my jacket sleeve. Nope, I wasn't ready to explain any more than the bare minimum.
"The rebel team was disbanded not long ago. It was getting too dangerous to continue, so we had to split up." The sooner I could transition this into talking about Starr, the sooner I could stop thinking about the Rebellion's fate. "That's why I'm here, and that's how Starr found me. You said we were gonna talk to her, right?"
Ajia blinked, obviously caught off-guard by the sudden subject change. "Oh, of course! Want to head to Viridian now?"
Now it was my turn to pause in confusion. "Viridian? I've only ever run into her in Celadon."
"Yeah, it's not uncommon for combat unit execs to bounce around depending on where they're needed and what their mission schedule is like," Ajia explained. "But as far as I know, Starr primarily leads the Viridian combat unit."
The irony of it—I'd been so disappointed when Starr never returned to Viridian. Turns out she had. Just not the way I'd been expecting or hoping.
Ajia pivoted on her heels and put her hands over her mouth, calling out, "Alright, time to go, you two!"
As some point we had passed her Pokémon, both of whom were now perched atop opposing posts, shooting small, star-shaped bits of energy to knock each other off. Upon hearing Ajia's call, however, they bolted over to us, neck-and-neck until Ajia held up a Pokéball and the yellow mouse instantly skidded to a halt.
"*Whaaat,*" Pichu said, fixing her trainer with an incredulous frown.
Ajia put her other hand on her hip. "Come on, we're heading to the Viridian base. Everyone knows you there, I can't have you out."
"*I can hide in your bag,*" the electric-type pleaded.
Ajia cracked a smile. "Only if you stay in there," she said, sliding her backpack from her shoulders. "We don't need a repeat of the Cerulean incident."
"*That was one time,*" Pichu mumbled, leaping into the bag the moment her trainer unzipped it.
Ajia shouldered her backpack before turning to face me and saying, "Need to run back and grab anything before we go? Oh, and is this your first time teleporting?"
"No to both of those," I said, tugging at my own backpack strap for emphasis. But then my brain caught up with her second statement and I added, "Wait, we're teleporting?"
She gestured to the psychic fox sitting at her heels, who was now fixing me with a curious stare. Well that explained how she'd gotten here so quickly. Ajia put a hand to my shoulder before reaching out her other hand to grab Espeon's forked tail. Then the foggy surrounding of Lavender town melted into shimmering light.
Espeon took us straight to Viridian in a single jump, which was crazy far—farther than I'd seen any Pokémon do at once. We entered the base through the northwest entrance, located in a discreet warehouse on the edge of town. It was one of the less commonly used entrances, from what Darren and I had seen during the time we'd spent scoping out the base. Probably because it led directly to the storage division. Of course, that just made it easier to track down replacement boots and gloves for my uniform. Ajia already had a Rocket uniform, and a working Rocket ID for that matter. When I asked her how, she just said, "It's a long story."
"Well, when this is all done, I'd like to finally hear it," I replied.
Ajia kept her hat pulled low over her face as she led us into the commons. Viridian HQ didn't harbor nearly as many bad memories for me as Celadon, but I couldn't help feeling the grip of anxiety just from being inside a base again. I had told myself I was done. That I was going to Johto to turn a new leaf. And now this.
We made our way toward the private rooms, which were generally reserved for executives, admins, or other important agents who were stationed at the base long-term. Apparently Ajia knew which room to check first, because she walked with a sense of purpose, like someone who didn't have any doubts as to her destination. She stopped in front of room 160, checked her R-com once (she had an R-com too?), and then knocked three times. My chest tightened—this was it.
Several seconds passed. Then, a muffled voice from the other side of the door: "Oh, for the love of—"
I could hear the clattering of locks being undone before the door swung open to reveal an extremely unimpressed Starr. She was dressed more casually than the full executive getup I'd always seen her in—just a black tank top and gray capris—and was currently fixing me with a particularly disapproving scowl.
"What are you doing here? And what'd you bring her for?" she demanded pointing at Ajia.
"It's great to see you too," Ajia said brightly.
Starr put a hand to her forehead, dragging it down her face and pulling at her eyelids exasperatedly. She then leaned out the doorway and shot a couple of furtive glances down the hallway before stepping aside and roughly gesturing inside her room.
While I didn't fancy being overheard any more than she did, the idea of setting foot in her quarters was… hardly appealing. Then again, it wasn't as if I was alone—I did have Ajia with me. That made it better, right? My footsteps dragged against the carpet as I walked through the doorway into a narrow entry hall. Once the two of us were inside, Starr slammed the door shut, locked it, and rounded on us.
"You've got five seconds to explain what the hell you're doing here."
"We're just here to talk," Ajia said, holding up her hands defensively.
"I don't want to talk with the likes of you guys," Starr spat, putting her hands on her hips. "You're just a bunch of no-good rebels trying to ruin my position on Team Rocket. Do you think I've forgotten the revolt? How many Rockets were totally screwed over because of you?"
Ajia frowned. "Screwed over? Really? That's a bit harsh. Also, I think you're giving me too much credit for everything that happened back then."
What was this revolt they were talking about? I'd lost count of how many times I'd heard people mention it, but no one ever felt like explaining what it was.
Starr glared at Ajia silently for several seconds. Then she caught sight of my confusion before giving Ajia an odd look like she was trying to figure something out. Finally, a slow, satisfied grin made its way across her face, and she quietly said, "You mean Jade doesn't…?" Starr decided against finishing the sentence, however, and instead threw a few unsettling glances my way, like she knew something I didn't.
"What? I don't what?" I asked, scowling at her.
Ajia, on the other hand, seemed to understand what Starr was insinuating, even though I had no idea. She gave her a sort of annoyed stare for a few seconds, but then casually said, "I think we're getting off-topic. So, do you mind telling us why you're so loyal to Team Rocket, or do we have to be here all day?"
Starr tilted her head. "What? That's a stupid question. Why are you loyal to your rebel cause?"
"Simple. I'm against Team Rocket's goals. I want to prevent them from going through with their plan to use the Legendaries to increase their power and influence. And I don't want to see any more lives ruined by Team Rocket." Ajia smiled and said, "Now it's your turn. Go on, don't be shy."
Starr clenched her teeth, looking apprehensive. Her hand hovered over her pocket, where the outline of an R-com was visible through the fabric. I shot a nervous glance at Ajia, but she had a rather amused expression. "Going to turn us in? I'm surprised at you, Starr—I'd think an executive like you would know what would happen if two wanted enemies of Team Rocket were captured. But nah, I guess it's totally cool if they kill us—no big deal, right?"
Starr continued to scowl at her. "That's my biggest problem. It would be a lot easier if I could just pretend I hadn't known you two before I joined Team Rocket."
Ajia put a hand to her forehead. "Right… So, the only reason you care if the other higher-ups kill us is because we used to be friends. That's comforting."
Starr scoffed. "I'm head of the combat unit, what do you expect? Any threat to Team Rocket is the enemy, and I've gone through this debate in my head enough times. The past few years I've learned to ignore any sympathy, although Jade pretty much owes her life to it." I glanced away, too embarrassed to look her in the eye.
"The point is… it's my business why I'm a Rocket," Starr continued. "Why the hell do you two even care anyway? Why does it matter?"
"Because…" Ajia began, choosing her words carefully, "you can't be loyal to Team Rocket and help its enemies at the same time. Trust me, it doesn't work. Sooner or later, you'll be found out, and you're gonna have to choose."
Starr folded her arms. "I'm not a double agent like your allies. Stop making it sound like I'd help rebels."
"I guess all the times you made sure I wasn't killed don't count, then?" I said dryly. "How many times was it?"
Starr's mouth hung open, like my words were a slap to the face. "Not wanting you dead doesn't count, alright! I'd never help the rebel cause or anything! And I wouldn't have any problems if you two didn't keep showing up in my life trying to test my loyalties."
"So, what you're saying is that you're 100% satisfied with being a Rocket," Ajia said. "It's never made you feel uncomfortable at all. You've never once regret something you've had to do for the team. Ten out of ten, would join Team Rocket again."
Starr gave her a horrified look, like she couldn't believe what she'd just heard. "What the hell are you trying to say?"
"What I'm saying is—can you really blame me for trying to help the Rockets I met who wanted a way out but didn't know what to do?"
"I'm not like all of them, alright! You really think someone in my position can just leave?!" Wait—her argument wasn't that she didn't want to leave, but that she couldn't? That was totally different than what she'd implied earlier.
"There have been Rockets higher ranked than you who managed to—"
"I can't do what the commander did! I won't! That was your fault anyway! He actually agreed with all your rebel bullshit. That's not who I am!"
"Then who are you, Starr? Is serving Team Rocket all that you have?"
"Yes!" she shouted, her eyes wide with desperation. "I threw away everything from my old life when I joined Team Rocket! Even my name… And I thought that included my friends. But I'll never be entirely free, will I?" she asked, glaring at us.
I flinched and looked away. She… kind of had a point, much as I hated to admit it. If Starr really wanted nothing to do with us anymore, then what was the point of trying to force her to? It wouldn't help her. It definitely wouldn't help me get over what she'd done. Why were we doing this?
"For how loyal you are to the team, I assume they must be loyal to you as well, then?" Ajia asked, her tone casual. "The boss really wouldn't mind if he knew what you'd done?"
Starr's eyes widened with shock before immediately narrowing into the fiercest rage I'd ever seen from her. "Get out. NOW."
I was about to protest, or at the very least try to calm her down, but then Ajia raised both arms and said, "Fine. That's all I needed to know. It was great talking with you, let's do it again soon."
I shot an incredulous glance at Ajia, who gave me a meaningful look but didn't say anything. Starr took several heavy steps over to the door and threw it open, pointing out. I did my best to avoid eye contact, but still caught sight of the glare she fixed on us the entire time we walked out. The instant I had cleared the doorway, I felt the door slam shut right behind me.
"We're leaving just like that?" I asked, staring at Ajia in confusion.
A long pause followed. "I wasn't lying when I said I'd found out everything I needed to know," she said quietly. "Let's go to the Pokémon Center for now. I'm starting to get an idea of how we can settle this."
"I think we can actually get Starr to quit Team Rocket."
The announcement came out of nowhere. Ajia had been mostly silent as we'd walked to the north Viridian Pokécenter, where she'd reserved a double bunk room for us. Having the silence broken with such a bold claim was definitely not what I'd been expecting.
"Seriously?"
Ajia nodded, sitting up straight in her chair. "She's trapped. She'll never admit it, but it's obvious there are a ton of things she hates about being a Rocket. She's just had to ignore all of them in order to stay alive. It really is the same as the other ex-Rockets I've known. But even if we were to convince her of that, there's no way she'd ever follow that path. I gave up trying to convince her to quit when I first found out. But with you being involved, things are different. The things she's had to do to save you have made her question the things she'd always believed to be true."
The idea that she wasn't too far gone… that the person we used to know might still be in there, deep down. It was obviously appealing. But… it didn't change the things she'd done. Nothing could change that. Trying to be friends with her again was almost more uncomfortable of a thought than just the fact that we were enemies now.
"Are you… sure about this?" I asked slowly.
Ajia nodded again. "But I don't think we should push her to make a decision. What we should do, is show her what Team Rocket would do if they found out what she's done."
I grimaced. "I'm pretty sure she knows. That's why she doesn't want to oppose them."
"Exactly," Ajia said, eyes shining. "She refuses to betray them, but what if they betray her first? What if we show her that they don't deserve her loyalty? All we'd have to do is trick her into revealing the fact that she's helped us."
I paused. That… did make a bit of sense. I wasn't sure how we were supposed to do that exactly, seeing as she'd been willing to go so far as to torture me without breaking character. But Ajia didn't know that. Ajia didn't know half the stuff Starr had done. And I didn't exactly feel like going into detail on most of it.
"By the way… how did you find out Starr was on Team Rocket?" Ajia asked.
Friggin' hell. There was just no getting around it, was there?
I exhaled slowly. "She was on the mission to end the Rebellion. Her subordinates killed half the team. The rest of us only escaped because our leader drew them off. I ran into her the following day in Lavender Town, where she was stalking me."
A sickly, hollow feeling filled my chest, intensifying with each word. Ajia had gone quiet, listening carefully with worried eyes and tight lips. She brought her hands to her mouth and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees.
"…Seriously?" she just said.
Aside from that one word, the silence in the room was so thick it threatened to crush us. Even Pichu had ceased rummaging through Ajia's bag and peeked out, glancing between the two of us with drooping ears.
"Looking back, I'm pretty sure she was only there to make sure she found me before the others." That didn't make it okay, but it was… something. My hands started trembling, and I clenched them shut to make them stop. "Our next mission was going to be freeing Mewtwo. Now we'll never get to." Why was I saying any of this. I'd already answered her question—none of this needed to be said.
"Yeah, I've heard of Mewtwo," Ajia said gravely. "Team Rocket's ultimate weapon."
"I… kind of made a promise to him—that I'd figure out a way to free him someday. I know it was naïve and stupid, but I meant it at the time."
At those words, a sly grin made its way across Ajia's face, and I could practically see the gears turning in her head. "…Don't count that idea out just yet."
I furrowed my brow, staring at her in blank confusion. She couldn't be serious, could she?
"Alright, I'll bite. What are you planning now?" I said, bemused.
"Nothing too concrete yet…" Her voice trailed off as she whirled around in the desk chair and grabbed her bag from the floor, prompting Pichu to jump to her shoulder. "I'm gonna talk with some friends, see what I can dig up," she said, retrieving a tablet from her bag and tapping away at it.
I still wasn't entirely sure what had just happened. Just when I'd thought things were at their most hopeless, Ajia had suddenly gotten some sort of epiphany that could potentially solve everything? I sat there for a good five minutes before realizing that she was probably gonna be at that for a while. No sense just sitting here waiting.
"Alright, while you're working on that, I'm gonna go… get some new clothes… or something." I stood up, grabbed the room's card key and stepped outside, leaving Ajia and Pichu muttering excitedly to each other.
Wandering down the streets of Viridian after all this time was surreal. Granted, it wasn't like we were staying in an area I was totally familiar with. I was never supposed to wander around north Viridian, and it wasn't too hard to see why—the streets and buildings were undoubtedly grimier and more worn-down, both from age and vandalism. The area carried a shifty feel, like it was the sort of place that would have made me feel uncomfortable five months ago. But in spite of that, it still held a tangible air of familiarity. The same sky. The same cool breezes carried down from the highlands to the west. The same shadows cast by the sun slipping behind Mt. Silver.
I could have stopped at home if I wanted to. Even if I'd already decided I couldn't stay there, and had to keep moving—just to visit… But I couldn't risk giving away how badly things had gone. And I still hadn't held up my end of the bargain and gotten a license yet. No matter what, I had to do that first.
I managed to track down a thrift shop and get a pair of jeans and a spare t-shirt for less than 1000 pyen. Even that was pushing it on what I could afford, but with most of my clothes burned up in Midnight Stadium, I didn't have much of a choice.
Night had fallen by the time I returned to the Pokécenter. I tapped the card key to our door's scanner and entered the room to see Ajia and Pichu in exactly the same spot I'd last seen them. I'd have guessed that neither of them had moved while I was gone, although a few half-eaten boxes of Hoennese take-out scattered around the room implied otherwise.
"Hey Jade, grab some food if you want, we're just about done here," Ajia said without looking up from her tablet.
I dropped my shopping bag to the ground and settled back against one of the beds with a box of noodles. I didn't have to wait long. No more than five minutes later, Ajia rotated in her chair, facing me with a wide grin.
"Alright. I think we've got it," she said dramatically.
Pichu jumped onto her trainer's head and spread her paws to the side for emphasis. I sat up straight, setting down the noodles and focusing all my attention on them. Time to finally learn what this was all about.
"Figuring out the part with Starr—that's easy," she said, waving a hand to the side. "The hard part is how we set up the trap in our favor, and how to make sure that we're all able to escape afterward."
I nodded. "Right."
"That's where Mewtwo comes in."
I put a hand to my face, still feeling embarrassed about bringing that up. I knew it was an unrealistic goal.
"I found out something interesting," Ajia went on. "Moltres and Articuno are typically managed by a pair of Legendary handlers who are also top combat unit executives. But ever since the last Legendary mission, Mewtwo has belonged to the boss himself. He actually keeps its Pokéball on his person at all times."
I blinked. "Whoa. Really?"
"The other important thing I found out is how the Legendary control technology works," Ajia said, grinning slyly. I raised both eyebrows, intrigued. How on earth had she gotten her hands on that info?
"It's different from what Team Rocket has done with their experiments in the past," she explained. "The others just had a chip implanted into them which communicated with a device that the experiment handlers kept on them at all times. But the Legendaries' energy signatures were way too strong for that. Once they figured out how to make a chip that wouldn't be overloaded, it had to be shielded so much that it could barely communicate with any external devices. They managed to pull it off with some big and powerful machinery, but it wasn't a long-term solution. Without a perfect resonance with the Legendary's energy signature, they'd adapt to the signal and become resistant over time."
Right… that made sense, from what I had seen at the birds mission. But what about the attack on Midnight Island? The Rockets wouldn't have been able to transport that kind of machinery to the island, would they?
"Wanna know the secret? They modified their Pokéballs to contain the same hardware as the devices that the experiment handlers kept. It's perfect—the link between a Pokémon and its Pokéball is the only way to get a signal that will perfectly match."
I raised an eyebrow. "How does that help us?"
"It means that destroying a Legendary's Pokéball will not only free it from capture… it'll free its mind, too."
I gaped at her. No way. That's all we had to do? Granted, once I'd taken more than a second to think about it, that didn't seem quite so easy. After all, the boss had personal ownership of Mewtwo. He'd hardly allow us to walk up and take the clone's Pokéball.
I took a deep breath. "Okay… so we need to get the boss involved in this… that's the only way we're getting access to Mewtwo."
"Right. So combine this with the other idea—we get Starr to reveal that she helped rebels. Now imagine she does it in front of the boss."
My jaw dropped.
"There's no way he'd be able to overlook that level of treachery from a head executive, let alone her. Then, in the midst of all the Rocket drama, we steal Mewtwo's Master Ball, destroy it, and escape with Starr while Mewtwo wreaks havoc." A wild grin had spread across her face, and her eyes were lit with a level of excitement I'd never seen from her—and that was saying something. In a weird way, her absolute confidence that we could pull this off was almost intimidating.
"So here's the plan…"
My heart pounded as we descended the elevator into the Viridian HQ once more. We'd gone over the plan a dozen times. I'd had all last night and all morning to psyche myself up for what we were about to do. Ajia was 100% confident, and her confidence was downright infectious. But even with all that, I was still an anxious ball of nerves, and nothing could change that.
We emerged from the elevator and set off. Our first goal: wrecking the anti-teleport field surrounding the base. That would be our ticket out of here when our mission was done, plus it was the only way for us to bail early if things got too dicey. To do that, however, we had to get into the primary control room. In other words, the most important room in the entire base, save for maybe the boss's personal office. This was so far beyond anything I'd done on the Rebellion, and considering the mess I'd caused when I freed Chibi, that was saying something.
Ajia led the way through the commons, down a hallway adjacent to the office division, one that I had never properly explored. I kept my hand on my Pokéball belt the entire time, half expecting every Rocket we walked past to suddenly lunge at us. It felt so incredibly obvious that we were up to no good, and part of me was amazed that half the base hadn't already felt an aura of intended sabotage from us. But we looked just like any other Rockets, and we had working IDs to match. Nothing would give us away until we did anything.
"This is it," Ajia whispered, and my heart jumped into my throat. Already? It felt like we'd just left the Pokécenter, and now we were already here?
The two of us stood in front of a large black door with thick metal hinges and a computerized lock. No way to get through something like this without admin rights, which neither of us currently had. We'd have to break in. From this moment on, the base would be on high alert. With a smooth, subtle motion, Ajia retrieved a Pokéball and opened it. The light took the shape of her Umbreon, whose eyes flashed red the moment he appeared.
"Your turn," she said.
Right—I was the one in charge of getting us through the door. I was the one who had to kick all of this off. One last mission. One last blow against the Kanto force before escaping to Johto. After this, I'd be free.
I released Stygian. The dark-type appeared in a flash of light, glancing around wordlessly and then nodding.
No turning back now.
The Absol drew herself back, the blade on her head glowing before she swung it into the lock with a heavy metallic crunch. Once, twice, three times the blade gouged through computer chips and mechanical parts until finally the latch clattered to the ground. The base alarm instantly started blaring. We'd known that was going to happen—I ignored it and threw open the door, and our group rushed into the control room all at once. We found ourselves inside a massive black-walled space—part server room, with massive computer towers covered in flickering lights and a jungle of cables—and part security station, with an entire wall of monitors displaying video feed of every division in the base. But none of that was important. What was important was the squad of guards at the control panel who had just rotated in their seats to face us, gaping in disbelief.
Ajia didn't even have to say anything. She just swung her bag down from her shoulder and out leaped Pichu. Time slowed. The Rockets drew their firearms and Stygian dutifully raised a Protect in front of us. And then Pichu shot forward as nothing more than an electric blur, zipping from one Rocket to the next faster than my eye could follow. Flashes of sparks and strings of electricity shot out from each impact, one after the other, followed by garbled cries and bodies slumping to the floor.
Pichu slowed to a stop in an instant, twitching her oversized ears. The mouse then jerked her attention to the right and shot off once more, into the server maze. I caught several more flashes of light before the electric-type rushed back to us.
"*That's all of them in here. More are coming down the hall, though.*"
I couldn't help staring. I'd seen feats of raw electric power from Chibi, but never anything even remotely close to the speed and precision that Pichu had just displayed. Couldn't focus on that, though—we didn't have much time before this room would be swarming with more Rockets than we could ever handle.
"The field generator should be this way," Ajia said, walking off towards some of the larger machinery and gesturing for me to follow her. She stopped in front of a large device—at least eight feet tall and topped with a glossy black dome surrounded by antennae—before pacing back and forth in front of it, looking it up and down. "I'm pretty sure this is it," she said, folding her arms.
I raised an eyebrow. "Pretty sure?"
She flashed a grin at me and shrugged. "Well, we won't know for sure until we take it out, will we?"
Fair enough. In any case, while Pichu could've just zapped it, we were better off not doing anything that might cause an explosion with us in the room. Which meant Stygian was up again. The dark-type stepped forward, claws clacking against the floor tiles, and lit her blade once more. She then lunged forward, slicing clean through the wires and cables trailing out of the machine with repeated swings until none were left unsevered.
Ajia paused with a look on her face like she was straining to hear something. Then her eyes lit up, and her face split into an excited grin. "Alright, we did it! The field is down."
"What, really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I couldn't hear anything over the sound of the full-blast fans on the server towers.
"Yep. Time for phase two." Ajia shot a quick glance at her Umbreon, and he nodded, eyes flickering red for a second. She then pulled out a Pokéball, and in a shimmering flash, her Espeon appeared in front of her.
Now for the part I was least enthusiastic about. Throwing ourselves headlong into danger was one thing, but relying on the experiments to cause a commotion to draw the team away from us was an entirely different thing. I exhaled deeply, then grabbed Aros's Pokéball to release the bug-dragon alongside Stygian.
"So you guys know what you're doing, right?" I asked.
"*Leading with Double Team and then alternating between Faint Attack and Protect,*" Aros replied in a bored tone.
Double Team alone would make them a nightmare to hit, but with the addition of the other two moves, it'd be almost impossible for the Rockets to get them. Probably.
"*You still haven't explained how this diversion is going to help you free Mewtwo,*" Stygian said bluntly.
I hadn't told them about the Starr portion of the mission. I'd decided it would be better to open that can of worms after we escaped. If I told them now, the response would definitely be a universal 'are you insane?' and it would be easier to refute that after Starr was off Team Rocket.
"It's complicated," I said. "Just promise me you'll watch out for each other."
The Absol rolled her eyes. "*No need to be so sappy.*"
I kneeled beside Espeon and clipped both clones' Pokéballs to the makeshift collar around the fox's neck. When things went bad, which they definitely would, the plan was for Espeon to recall them and teleport back to Ajia. That at least made me feel a little bit better.
Ajia reached into her bag and started pulling out multicolored bottles, handing them to me one after another. Temporary battle enhancements—X Attack, X Speed, and the like. Apparently Ajia had grabbed them from a Rocket storehouse a few months ago. We unscrewed the lids and started holding out pills for the two clones. Taking battle enhancements was hardly a new experience for them—they gulped the pills down without even flinching.
Out of nowhere, Pichu cried, "*They're almost here!*"
I jolted. "Alright, go now!" I yelled, pointing out the door.
None of them needed telling twice. Aros bolted forward, tearing a good-sized chunk out of the doorway with his claws as he did. Stygian rushed after him, her form already blurring into multiple copies of herself with a Double Team. Espeon wasn't far behind them. Almost immediately, I heard shouting and firing and attacks crashing against walls and all the chaos one would expect to hear from rogue experiments loose inside a major base.
Ajia stuffed the bottles back into her bag and then held it open for Pichu to jump back inside before pivoting on her heels and motioning to me. "Come on, the experiments won't be able to distract them forever." But there was still one Pokémon unaccounted for.
"Wait, what about Umbreon?" I asked, glancing at the dark fox.
"I like to keep him out during missions. For luck," she said, winking.
I stared. Wouldn't he be kind of noticeable? Maybe we wouldn't be the only Rockets with Pokémon out now that the base was on high alert? But still?
Ajia was already heading for the door. Alright then, she'd gotten us this far—I just had to trust her.
Outside the control room, the clones had already torn a hole clear through the wall and detoured into a different hallway. That way the path we'd taken to get to the control room wouldn't turn into a firing zone. Combat unit agents raced past us, and my stomach twisted into knots. But they completely ignored us. Didn't even glance our way. Sure, we were in uniform, and the experiments were a little bit more conspicuous, but I'd been expecting at least a few Rockets to notice us or call us out as rebels or attack us or something.
We raced down the hallway back toward the commons, which were now frighteningly empty compared to five minutes ago. Guards remained at their posts, but everyone on the combat unit had taken off to corner the experiments. I couldn't help feeling like all eyes were on us as we crossed the area, making our way toward the entrance to the transport hangar. But no one confronted us. No one said anything. I shouldn't have been bothered by the fact that things were going better than expected, but I was. Why were things going so well? What was going on?
Before I knew it, we'd already made it to our destination—we were now standing in the middle of a vast concrete space half-filled with trucks and jeeps. I paused to catch my breath, keeping my eyes glued to the entrance, still half-expecting a squad to burst in and demand to know why we weren't with the others.
In any case, I knew what my next task was. It hadn't exactly been hard to locate Starr, or rather Astrid, in the Team Rocket agent directory on my R-com. I brought up her number in my contact list and then, feeling like an idiot, snapped a photo of myself and Ajia standing in the transport hangar. If that didn't get her to separate from the other Rockets and come running straight to us, nothing would.
"I just messaged the boss," Ajia said. "I wrote, 'In five minutes, there will be an incident in the transport division that you'll want to see. Your head executive is going to betray you.'"
It was almost funny how matter-of-fact that was. She'd just text messaged the leader of Team Rocket. That was a thing you could do.
"Course, that means I won't be able to use this Rocket ID ever again when this is done, but…"—she smiled distantly—"well, it's worth it."
My R-com vibrated suddenly. Well, that sure hadn't taken long. I tapped the screen and was met with a text reading, "Wtf are you two doing there?!"
"You'll have to come here to find out," I typed back. Almost immediately, I received a reply consisting of a near-keyboard mash of incoherent swearing.
I winced and pocketed the device again. "I think I got her attention."
Now all we had to do was wait for the real mission to begin. Everything else was just setup. This was what it was really about. Confronting Starr. Confronting the boss. Saving Mewtwo. My heart pounded uncomfortably in my chest. Seconds dragged by like minutes. I couldn't stop glancing at my watch, expecting more time to have passed.
And then Starr appeared at the entrance to the hanger. She froze the instant she saw us, staring with a mixture of rage and disbelief.
"Hey, you made it!" Ajia called out, waving to her. "Come on over, we've got a lot to talk about."
Starr shook her head to regain herself before charging towards us, fists clenched. "Stop acting like you know me! Someone will hear!" she hissed.
"No one's here, that's why we sent the rest of the team on a wild experiment chase," Ajia said, waving a hand dismissively.
"There are still cameras!" she shrieked. "Get out of here now or we're all dead!"
Ajia folded her arms. "Nah, I think we're gonna stay right here."
Starr's face lit up with fury, and before I knew what was happening, she had whipped out a Pokéball to release her Raichu. I froze. Not the Raichu. She wasn't seriously going to—? Sparks leaped off its cheeks and I screwed my eyes shut, desperately trying to brace myself for it even as panic shot through my veins. But then I heard paws strike the ground near me and the crash of lightning against lightning. Seconds passed. The pain didn't come. Slowly, I opened my eyes a crack, then widened them fully when I saw Pichu standing firm with her back to us, cheeks sparking.
"Was that really necessary?" Ajia asked, her voice uncharacteristically harsh.
"Yes, it was," Starr answered coldly, tilting her head down so that the brim of her hat covered her face. "Now I'm only gonna ask this once. Why are you here?"
"To prove that you can't play both sides forever," Ajia said simply.
Starr took a step backward, eyes widening. "…What?"
"You can't be loyal to Team Rocket and help its enemies at the same time. So if you're gonna have to choose eventually, why not leave before they find out?"
Starr glowered at us. "I wouldn't have to choose if you two didn't keep pulling this rebel crap."
"Do you expect us to just ignore all the things that you've done?" I asked, clenching my fists.
"Do you have any idea how much easier it would've been to just tell myself I didn't know either of you?!" she shouted, her eyes now wide and frantic.
I folded my arms. "You wouldn't have to do that if you weren't working for a group that wants to murder us."
"Stop acting like it's that simple! Team Rocket is all I have!"
"It wouldn't have to be," Ajia said exasperatedly. "You've already proven that you haven't completely changed. So come with us, before they find out you've helped us in the past."
Starr took another step backward. And for the first time throughout all of this, a shadow of doubt had fallen across her face. She clenched her teeth, glancing back and forth uncertainly.
"No…" she said slowly and shakily. "I can't and I won't!" Her Raichu nodded fervently and shot out a wave of sparks.
And then a voice rang out over the PA speakers. A deep, commanding voice tinged with cold amusement: "Well this certainly is an interesting turn of events, isn't it?"
Starr froze in horror and swore repeatedly under her breath. Ajia made eye contact with me, and the tiniest trace of a grin crossed her face. One more thing had gone right. The boss had seen and heard everything.
"Two rebels and a double agent, very interesting indeed. But with such a unique situation as this, I think I know the perfect solution. All combat unit agents will proceed to the transport hangar. Leave the experiments—they were only a diversion." And with that, the speakers fell silent.
Starr immediately rounded on us with a horrified expression. "You told the boss?!"
I flinched. "We… might have done that, yeah."
"Why?!"
"When I asked if the boss wouldn't mind if he knew what you'd done," Ajia said carefully, "I'm guessing the answer is no?"
Starr opened her mouth like she was about to speak, but then suddenly froze with her mouth hanging open. For several seconds, she didn't say anything; she just stared at us, gears turning in her head. "You were trying to turn them against me," she said quietly. "That's the only reason you're here."
Ajia smiled weakly. "Aw man… I didn't think you'd figure it out so soon."
Starr gaped at the both of us, shaking her head in total disbelief. "I can't. Believe. I actually cared about you two!" she yelled, pointing forward and signaling for her Raichu to attack. The orange mouse gave an impatient cry and jumped in front of her, yellow cheek pouches already sparking. Without wasting a second, Pichu dashed forward, readying a Thunderbolt of her own and launching it at the same instant Raichu did. The two bolts collided in midair, shooting out waves of sparks and strings of lightning in all directions.
"You want to keep testing my loyalty?!" Starr yelled. "Fine! Then be ready for me to prove you wrong!"