Sierra called her second in command, Rocket Admin Arlo, into her office. When he was in front of her desk, she said, "Frank."

Arlo nodded, saying, "Sierra."

"I've got to go to Viridian. Apparently something's gotten under Giovanni's skin and he wants me to go to HQ for some reason. So I'm going to need you to take over for me here for a while."

"Oh? Maybe those rumours are more than just rumour then."

Sierra raised her eyebrow as she asked, "Rumours?"

"The newbies that we just got from Kanto were commenting about their trainers at the Kanto Academy saying that the Kanto Branch was under assault from some new organisation."

Sierra raised her other eyebrow as she said, "Oh? Is that so?"

"Well, that's what they were saying, but you know how the greens are? They could have been making mountains out of Diglett mounds."

"Hmm…even so…" she taps her intercom. "Diana. Can you get one of the Kanto recruits to come here, pronto?" She waited to hear her secretary accept her order before releasing the button. She then logged out of the computer and stood up from her desk, saying, "Take your seat, Arlo," and took a seat on the lounge chair in her office to wait while Arlo logged in to her computer.

Soon enough, one of the new recruits came rushing in and pushed his glasses up his nose as he said, "I'm here Ma'am…uhhh…Sir? I'm sorry. I was told that Leader Sierra wanted to see me. Is this not her office?"

Sierra smiled and said, "I'm over here. Arlo will be standing in for me for a bit. I've been called over to Kanto HQ and was wondering what was going on back home that I would need to be recalled."

"Oh. Well…I don't know. I would have thought that as Leader, you would have more information about what was happening in other nations, sor-!"

"I don't have as much access to info as you'd think…heck, I don't have access to as much as I used to think I would when I was standing where you are now. The fact is that Rocket Branches are siloed off to an extent. It protects the other branches, should one fall, but it also makes undertaking grand actions more difficult."

"I…uhhh…see…"

Arlo said, "Trust me, you don't. When you first got here, I overheard the recruits talking about something like an ongoing war between us and some new organisation. Can you expand on that for us? There will be a pokémon in it for you if you can."

Sierra raised a silent eyebrow at Arlo as the grunt said, "I don't know much, Sir…but the trainers were saying that it all started up when we…uhh…that is Team Rocket…were trying to set up a new branch in the Sevii Islands. Everything was going smoothly and we'd just finished setting up the base and were moving into establishing operations when some new organisation showed up wearing orange tops and started attacking Team Rocket bases…I'm afraid that that's all that any of us trainees could overhear."

"I see. Thank you…ummm…your name would be…what exactly?"

"OH! Uhhh…ri-right! My name is Maximillion."

"That's too long. Max will do. Thank you." She stood up and moved over to a table and picked up an egg and carried it over to Max, saying, "This is the egg that I got from my Charizard. Look after it well."

Max's eyes widened as he said, "Uhhh…ye-yes Ma'am!"

Sierra nodded towards the door as she said, "Good. Now, get out of here."

When he was gone, Arlo said, "That was a surprise. I was just going to have him go down to the pokémon department and have him take whatever pokémon was up next."

"I know. But actual rewards early on in their career with us earn more loyalty than mere tokens. Besides, it will let me sleep easier, knowing that Charizard's egg is here. Of course, that would be even if I was willing to take it into the middle of what is looking to be an existential war."

Arlo sighed and said, "So, how long do you think you'll be gone for?"

"I don't know, but after what Max just said, it's not going to be a short trip." She walked over to Arlo's desk and pressed a button on the intercom. The IT department picked up immediately. She told them, "I'm going to need you to change the permissions on Arlo's account to be the same as mine." She waited to hear 'Yes Ma'am', and released the button. She said, "Alright then, I'll see you later, Johto Leader Arlo." She grabbed up the sole photo that she'd brought into her office, the one of her and her younger sister Matori at their holiday house in Hoenn when they were growing up.

When Sierra was gone, Arlo picked up his phone and chose his long time partner's name and waited to hear his voice before saying, "I'm fine Cliff…yes, I know I don't normally call, how do you feel about taking my former role of Second in Command of the Johto Rockets? Temporarily anyway?"

"You will? Great. No. Don't worry about coming in today. You've earned your break after you turned around that debacle in Hoenn. Besides, I've got to get up to date on what's been going on in this region anyway. Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow." He hung up.

XXXXX

Meanwhile, in Team Rocket's cells, Ash was looking up at the ceiling. He frowned when he heard a familiar voice call out to him. He thought, 'Who is…' but said, "Yeah?" as someone entered his sight. When they were standing in front of his cell, he said, "You are…Doctor Nimba, aren't you?"

Doctor Namba angrily exclaimed, "It's Namba! In any case, it is true then. You were captured. Do you know what they call you around here?"

"No. What do they call me?"

"We call you 'The Menace', Ash. It's good to see that it's not only legends like myself that get laid down low."

"Yeah, well, don't get used to it. When I get out of here, I'm going to put an end to every operation until I get Pikachu back!"

"Yes, well, I'm sure you'd like to believe that. But I am here to make sure that doesn't happen."

Ash frowned and demanded, "What is Giovanni plotting?"

"This isn't some B-Grade movie where I reveal everything to you and give you a chance to stop us. There's too much going on right now to leave you on the board. But we're not monsters. In any case, I'll see you later, 'Menace'," Dr Namba finished in a mocking tone. He then walked away singing, 'Oh what a good day'.

XXXXX

A week later, Ash was visibly weaker when two of the goons that had captured him came into his cell and grabbed his arms as Ash asked, "Hey! You're the ones that captured me. What's going on? You finally going to release me?"

The one on his left laugingly said, "Well, at least he can joke about it now, Allan."

"Yeah, maybe we should leave him in there for another two weeks, George!" Allan laughed mockingly.

Ash glanced up at them and tiredly said, "Well, aren't you two just a bunch of merry men?"

"Like you, we've got to find the humour in our work. Otherwise we'll just be sitting down in front of a camera most of the day."

"Then I bet my climbing up that cliff must have been highly amusing for you."

"It wasn't amusing, a threat like you coming so close to HQ, but yes, it did certainly brighten our day."

"Of course, the bonus we got for your capture made us pretty happy."

Ash grumbled, "Yeah, I bet," and stayed quiet as they dragged him through the headquarters, trying to memorise the route that they were taking, along with all of the signs next to the doors that they passed, idling thinking, 'So there's actually a clothing department here? I had wondered about that…although…' Hey, I don't suppose you'd mind answering a question that I've had for a long time?"

Allan said, "Depends what it is."

"That uniform you all wear."

"What about it?"

"Is it standard?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I was wondering why the agents I kept on running up against wore white versions of it."

"Oh. Agents are a different case. They can customize their outfits as they like."

"Oh? Is that what happened?" Ash said and shut his eyes tight as they entered a room with lights that were a lot brighter than the ones in the halls that he'd been getting dragged through. He felt himself get picked up and placed on a bed of some sort and held in place as his arms and legs were strapped to it. He started struggling to move when he felt the guards' hands move away, but found that he couldn't move. He called out, "What the heck's going on? You going to kill me or something?"

Ash heard a familiar voice say, "Or something," and start to cackle.

"Doctor Namba? So, this is what you were talking about, is it?"

"That's right, though I don't remember telling you anything when I saw you in your cell last week."

Ash said, "Oh, come on! I couldn't get you to shut up about what you've been doing." As he was talking, he was thinking, 'Maybe I can at least get Namba away from Team Rocket operations. It'll take away a lot of his resources and make it easier for the Pokémon G-Men to find him. After all, it's not like he has much impulse control.'

Behind a window, high up on the wall, Sierra frowned as she demanded, "He said what to the menace!?" as she looked down at the lab table.

Giovanni said, "Calm down Sierra. Even if he did tell Ketchum anything, it would be beyond out of use at this point, and when Namba is done with him, nobody would believe him if he did tell someone. Ketchum is a cunning one. If he wasn't, he wouldn't have become such a problem."

"Yes, well…even so, that is only if this 'creative solution' that you've come up with…whatever it is…does work."

Giovanni smiles and stands up as he sees Doctor Namba inject Ash with a needle. "For now, come with me. We've got much to discuss."

Sierra nodded and followed him from the room. As they walk through the hallways, they pass multiple grunts and agents going about their business as she asked, "So, what's going on that you needed to call me here?"

"We'll talk in my office." Sierra follows him from the gallery as she hears a scream from the lab. Giovanni leads her to his office in silence, unwilling to talk about his plans, lest they get released to the upstarts in Team Lantis. When he was sitting down, he motioned for Sierra to sit down in front of him. He said, "So, I'm sure you're wondering why I decided to call you here, aren't you?"

"Yes. There were some rumours about some attacks that were being talked about by the rookies we just got from the academy here in Kanto. Overheard their instructors gossiping. Does it have anything to do with any of that?"

"Yes. Though the gossiping trainers apparently need to be dealt with too."

"So, who are they?"

"We don't know yet. All we know for certain is that when we started to execute operations in the Sevii Islands, they started attacking us. That and that it would appear that death is not a concern for them."

"Death isn't…what do you mean? They're not like, zombies or anything…are they?"

"No. if that were the case, it wouldn't be nearly so troublesome. In the attacks, they've been rather cavalier with the attacks and tactics that they use and have ended up destroying multiple bases. The only one that, by some miracle, escaped, was an agent stationed in Commerce City."

"Sierra exclaimed, "Only ONE!? How is that possible?"

"I told you. They destroy the buildings, crushing everyone inside. That includes their own people if they are still there when it happens."

Sierra bit her lip. "There must be a large number of people working for them if they're willing to sacrifice their lives so lightly."

"Yes. Or they see the cost as worth the price. And I don't know which one is more problematic right now."

"Hmm…I see. So, back to my question. Why am I here? I don't see how calling in just one executive could change much of anything."

"You're right. It wouldn't. What would, would be me becoming involved directly."

"You mean…but you can't!" Sierra's eyes widened as she considered the implications of Giovanni starting to move from town to town. "You'd be arrested on sight!"

"Yes. I'm well aware. However, there was some research being done a few years ago that may have opened up that opportunity."

"Oh? What's that?"

"There's a de-aging technology that we developed. I plan on using that, then being thrown in jail with Ketchum to gain her trust and use her morality as our weapon. If I'm doing that, then Team Rocket still needs someone at the head."

Sierra's eyes widened as she said, "Then you're asking me to…"

"Temporarily take my place, yes."

"Yes…I'll do it!"

"Well, now that that's decided, there's something else that needs to be done after the technology has been administered."

"What's that?"

"Abandoning this base."

"Abandoning the…but this base is…"

"The original Headquarters of our organization, yes. But, you can't release either Ketchum or I. For her to truly buy that I'm not your ally, you need to abandon me too. Abandon me and call the police anonymously 3 days after you're gone, leaving us enough food to last."

"Alright."

"Now, I'll let you get up to speed on operations here." Giovanni pushed a laptop towards her. I had an account created for you with the same permissions as my own."

Sierra nodded and said, "Sir," as she took the laptop. As she did, she thought, 'So, Giovanni plans to keep on top of operations, even as he travels with Ketchum, does he?'

XXXXX

The next morning, Sierra walked into the lab that Ketchum was still in and saw that the transformation was well underway, but she had been put into a case and had tubes injected into her veins. She grabbed a technician and demanded, "Hey, you! What's going on with all of these tubes?!"

The technician said, "I'm sorry, Ma'am, but I don't know, I'm just the cleaner!"

"You're a…" Sierra sighed and said, "Sorry. I just got here yesterday from the Johto region."

"Ah. I see. That's alright then, you want to talk to Dr Beckett over there!" The cleaner pointed at a person with short red hair in a labcoat.

"Thank you." Sierra went over to the person the cleaner indicated and said, "Dr Beckett."

Dr Beckett said, "Yes," blinking as he tried to recall having ever seen the brown haired woman before. He said, "I'm sorry, you would be…"

"I'm Sierra. The executive from the Johto Branch of Team Rocket. I was wondering what exactly was going on with all of the tubes sticking out of the test subject over there." Sierra jerked her thumb in Ash's direction.

"Oh. That? The brutes in the detention system left The Menace severely malnourished before we started treatment last night. His system started shutting down, so we had to insert feeding tubes and catheters to make sure she survived the treatment."

"I see. It might have been better to just let him die on the table."

"We can't do that! We might be Team Rocket, but we're still doctors! Our motto is 'Be prepared for trouble, and make sure it doesn't double. To protect all mankind from bad vaccination, to defend them from infection! We advance medical care. To a level we don't care. I'm in Team Rocket, please, don't fight.' So you see, we had no choice, but to do so."

"I see." Sierra thought, 'So, unlike Johto, they manipulate the motto here! To suit their own devices! That could have something to do with why those Team Lantis people are so effective against the Kanto Rockets, they've got a single unified purpose rather than being a conglomeration of various views and utilities. It's almost as if it's a…but no, that's not possible. All of the Old Kingdoms were destroyed…destroyed or annexed.' She said, "In any case, I know what the first order I'll be giving is."

XXXXX

A few days later, Ash stirred and opened his eyes. Seeing a familiar ceiling, realised that he was back in his cell. He groaned and asked, "What the hell happened?" as he felt a strange weight on his chest and a warmth that he hadn't felt for what seemed like a month. He sat up and looked down to see that they'd finally given him a blanket rather than the nigh-on useless sheet that he'd been forced to use before they took him from his cell. Then he saw two lumps protruding from his chest. And blinked as he said, "Those are…" as his hands rushed to cup them. He blinked as he felt his fingers sink into them and pleasure start to rise within him. He exclaimed, "They're real!" and then realised that his voice had changed and felt hair against his back. He grasped his throat as he said, "And my voice! It's…" as the truth of what they'd done to him started to become clearer. Tears started to well up in his eyes as he said, "Then…" and reached down, under the blanket to find his dick so that he could deny what had happened, but it was gone. The tears flowed as he thought, 'No! They cut it off!' He was unaware that he started saying, "Now I'll never…I'll never…"

A voice cut him off, asking, "Never what…exactly?"

Ash looked up to see a woman in a labcoat looking down at him and said, "Are you seriously asking that? You bastards cut off my dick! Now I'll never be able to have kids of my own!"

"Ah. That. We told you before, didn't we? We're not monsters. You can still have children, but not as you had been expecting."

"You're going to have to elaborate on that one."

"We didn't perform surgery on you. We used you as a test subject when we injected a new product that we'd developed in our biotech research department. Originally the idea was using amphibious pokémon DNA and combining it with seahorse pokémon DNA to induce gender in Legendary Pokémon so that they can give birth, arming Team Rocket with a legion of Legendary Pokémon. However, since we can't have you contacting the police with any level of believability, we needed to make sure that they would never believe you. So, we administered our new product to change your appearance. So you don't have to worry about being unable to have children of your own. Well, that's the theory anyway. Since you are the first person to be injected, there's no true way to be sure until it happens. I'll send one of the labrats by later to check up on you. If you've got any questions, I suggest that you ask them."

Sierra smiled as she heard the door swing shut behind her and said, "There, that should give me at least some time to deal with this Team Lantis issue without being distracted by her meddling in our affairs. I suppose I should probably go and see how the training is done in Kanto." She strode through Team Rocket HQ and out the front door. When she was outside, she called out, "Come on out, Salamence!" and pointed a pokéball away from her, causing a Salamence to appear. "Salamence, we're headed to Dark City." She leaped onto Salamence and held its neck to brace herself as it took off.

A few hours later, Sierra reached Dark City and had Salamence descend. She was surprised by how bright and bustling the town seemed to be as she walked down the main street. She thought, 'That's odd. With a name like dark city, I thought that it would be more built up than this. Then she saw a diner. 'Most small town diners have the most informative waitresses, so...' Sierra went in and sat down to look through a menu to see what she wanted to eat.

As she read, a waitress came over to her and said, "You're a new face 'round here, ain't'ya?"

Sierra smiled and said, "Yes. I just got in on my…Fearow."

"A Fearow you say? So, I guess that must mean that you're here to challenge the gym leaders then, are you? That's a shame. They were just called back to Pokémon League HQ."

"Wait! This is a gym town?! I suppose that explains the atmosphere."

"Yeah. Has been for around what…almost a decade now. We really have that nice boy Tom Ato to thank for finally getting the Kaz and Yas gyms to get over their differences. What's your name?"

Sierra saw some butter packs as she said, "My name is…uhhhh…Marge Arine."

"Marge? Nice name. Mine's Martha. What can I get for you?"

"Hmmm…I'll take a ham and cheese toastie and a caramel shake. I hope you don't mind my asking why this place is called Dark City?"

"No. I wouldn't mind. I don't really know myself. I can always ask my gramps if you'll be sticking around?"

"Hmmm…sure. Why not? I don't have to be back for a few days myself anyway. Do you know why the Pokémon League called them away?"

"No. It's been a while since they've confided much of anything with me. Still, differing paths and all I suppose."

'Marge' sighed and said, "Yeah. I get what you mean. I had to leave my partner back home while I came out here, though it was probably more recent than your split with the Gym Leaders."

"So, do you have anywhere to stay?"

"I've got some friends that live near here, so I was going to stay with them, though if you're offering?"

"I was, the pokémon centre here is a little run down and the food matches its appearance. But you don't have to take it up if you don't want to."

"No. It's fine. Thanks. My friends' place is probably pretty cramped already."

"Great. It'll also let me see what your chances are against the gym leaders."

"Sure. What time do you get off?"

"The end of the day, so that'll be around 3 hours or so."

"Alright. I'll be back then. For now, it's getting pretty hot in this getup, so I'll go and get some new clothes. Do you know of any shops near here?"

"Yeah. There's one down the road, on the left."

"Thanks."

XXXXX

Meanwhile, Ash had had leather bands attached by chains to her ankles and wrists before the straps holding her to the bed were released. She was then lifted up in the bulkier guards arms and carried back to her cell in the pink cheeky panties and demi-cup bra that they had put her in while she had been knocked out. When they were back in her cell, he laid her down before leaving the cell. When the cell door was locked, he said, "Now, you can take off those cuffs."

Ashley blinked and said, "What do you mean 'I can take them off'? You have the key, don't you?"

"No. Those only have buckles. You could have taken them off at any time. Of course, you're welcome to leave them on if you want to."

Ashley blushed at the implication and said, "N-no! Wh-why the heck would I want to do that?!" and set about undoing them.

"In any case, this should be the last time we meet."

"Yeah, here's hoping anyway." The guard nodded and walked off in silence. Ashley sighed and lay down on the 'bed' and thought, 'Well, now what?' She looked at her arms. 'Even if I do try to conserve my strength again, there's no point anymore. I suppose I could always do 'that' but I'm not sure that there'd be much point without one of them.' Ashley sighed and looked at her hand and imagined one of Sir Aaron's gloves layered over it and chuckled, "Well, better than doing nothing I guess," and closed her eyes as she thought back to what she'd done alongside Lucario back in Rota and how it had felt before the pain.

XXXXX

About an hour later, Giovanni frowned in his office as he saw Sierra walk into the office of the Rocket Training School that he'd set up in the outskirts of Dark City and asked himself, "What is she doing there? I thought she'd still be getting up to date on our current operations."

As he did, Sierra was saying, "Hello, I'm…Sarah, from Johto HQ and have a lot of rookies have been transferred to the division recently, and there have been some idiosyncrasies that we've found, so I was wondering what the differences is between out training schools."

The person she was talking to said, "Oh? We've heard tales of the exploits of the Johto branch, even here."

Sierra said, "Yes, well, Grunts tend to overexaggerate."

"I know, right? I've never put much stock in them."

"So you would be?"

"Oh! Of course, where are my manners? I'm Executive Rob. What do you want to know?"

"Thank you, Rob. Now, what subje-!"

Sierra blinked when she was cut off by Rob saying, "That's Executive Rob."

Sierra smiled and said, "Of course. Executive Rob, what exactly is being taught here that makes your students think that changing the motto willy nilly is alright?"

"That? It's because students here are taught to be independent thinkers." Sierra frowned. "We do this so that they don't need to be coddled by their superiors and won't needlessly sacrifice themselves or be captured. I'm sure that, as someone that works in a Rocket HQ, even if it is in a backwater like Johto, you can see that having mindless drones working for you is a sure way to the destruction of your branch."

Sierra sighed and said, "I see. However, there is a difference between being able to think strategically and being 'independent thinkers'. The aim behind these schools, isn't to foster 'independent thought'. That just sews division through the rank and file and their superiors."

Executive Rob frowned and angrily said, "How dare you try to question me! I'm your superior!"

Sierra smiled, thinking, 'You are in no way my superior, you worm!' She said, "Of course, I apologize, Rob…sorry…Executive Rob."

Executive Rob said, "You clearly need to be retrained. Go and report to the uniform office to receive your training uniform! Then go to the pokémon department and hand in your current pokémon. You will be assigned new pokémon, just like any other trainee."

Sierra thought, 'Well well, this will be interesting. I guess I'll figure out what the hell is going on here quicker this way.' She said, "Yes Executive Rob."

Executive Rob imperiously said, "You will address me by my title alone or Sir, Trainee Sarah."

Sarah said, "Yes, Executive."

In his office, Giovanni followed Sierra as she walked to the uniform office and asked himself, "What the hell is she doing?!" and dialled her phone number. When she picked up, he asked, "What do you think you're doing?"

Sierra looked around and, seeing no-one, said, "There's been an issue with the trainees that I've been getting from here back home, apparently Rob here is training the grunts to be 'independent thinkers' rather than 'strategic thinkers', I want to do something about that. In order to do so, I need to know what the hell they're doing here, Rob just 'demoted' me to trainee, so I'll be going by 'Sarah' until I figure it out."

Giovanni frowned and said, "Alright. I'm going to have to delay our plan then."

"Yes. It shouldn't take more than a week or so."

"See that it doesn't."

Sierra looked at the camera that she'd seen on her way to Rob's office and nodded, knowing that Giovanni would be watching. When Giovanni hung up, Sarah called the diner and apologized, telling Martha that she would be unable to meet her after all, though she would still like her to message the information that she'd asked about to the number that she was calling her on, and to address it to her as Sarah. When asked about the name, Sierra told her that she was working undercover and didn't correct Martha when she asked if it was for the Pokémon League.

When she was done, she made her way to the uniform office and found that it was little more than a large closet. It had some changing rooms off to the side and someone working at a desk in front of her. She walked up to them and said, "Hello. My name's Sarah, I've been assigned for retraining, so I'm going to need a new uniform."

The person behind the desk said, "Ah, righto then. Your sizes?"

"82. 54, 78." The worker nodded and wrote it down.

"Height?"

"158 cm." the worker nodded again and wrote that down too.

"Any styling preferences?"

Sarah rose an eyebrow and asked, "Style? What do you have?"

"For you, Skirt and shirt, tracksuit, leggings and tunic or crop top, or some combination of them, though some of the female recruits just go with the leggings and a sports bra that we also provide."

"What about shoes and gloves?"

"We've got sneakers, combat boots, knee-highs and thigh highs.

"I see. What about regular underwear and sleepwear?"

"Sleepwear, yes, other underwear, no. Executive Rob doesn't think that it will be particularly useful, given the regularity of the physical training that is provided."

"I see. Very well then. If that's the case, then…actually, what type of skirts are provided?"

"Sports, a-line and pleated."

"Length?"

"Mini to midi."

"Alright. Then in that case, I'll take leggings, crop top and knee-high boots."

The worker said, "Very well." Suddenly, Sarah heard a click, then a rolling sound before a clang, and another rolling sound before she saw some clothes drop onto the desk in front of her wrapped in vacuum-packs. She took them and pointed to a door and asked, "Do I get changed in there?"

"Yes."

"Alright." She went into the room and quickly changed out of her normal clothes and into her new trainee ones. When she was done, she went back out and thanked the worker as she took copies of her new clothes packed in space-saver packs. She was handed a keycard and told that she would be staying in room 213 in D-Block. Sierra nodded and asked, "The Executive told me that I was to report to the pokémon department next. Should I go there first, or should I head to my new room to put this stuff away?"

"Doesn't really matter. It's up to you."

Sarah said, "I see. Thank you again." She left, headed for the pokémon department, holding the packs under her arms, thinking, 'They really should provide bags to carry this stuff in.' When she eventually got to the pokémon department, after having to ask for directions a couple of times, she found that it was another small room, slightly larger than the one that the clothing department had. 'They don't seem to put much stock in the uniform or pokémon that they have here.' She walked up to the worker and said, "Hi. My name's Sarah. The Executive told me to come here after I'd gone to the uniform office."

The worker nodded at her and said, "Mikhail. So, have you got any on you already?"

Sarah said, "I do."

Mikhail said, "Alright then, hand 'em ove-" he cut himself off as he said, "Wait up a second," as Sarah took out her pokéballs with her left hand. "You're not…no…you couldn't be…"

Sarah asked, "I couldn't be 'what'?"

"If I didn't know better, I'd almost say that you could have been my best student back when I was teaching in Joh…"

Sarah smiled as she said, "That is 'if' you knew better?"

"…to. Wait! Then you are…but…I thought you were the leader in the Johto Branch!"

"I am…or…I was. There are some things going on that you don't know about. I came here to find out what the heck was going on with the trainees that were being produced. But before I could do it, Executive Rob thought to demote me because I 'wasn't showing him the proper respect' or something."

"Yeah, well, that sounds like him."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to meet up with you later, in a more discreet setting to discuss what you think of the current state of this academy."

Mikhail nodded and said, "Alright. We should be able to meet after the last class at the battle fields, I can call it a remedial class since it's already two month in and you've only just received your pokémon."

Sierra smiled and said, "Thanks. In the meantime, what have you got for me?"

As he typed, Mikhail mumbled, "Hmmm…what has Rob requested for you…"

Sierra frowned and said, "Requested? What do you mean don't all recruits receive the same pokémon here?"

"No. In order of priority it's either what Rob wants you to have, what we in this department think would be best for the trainee, or, if neither are known, completely random. In your case though, I would expect Rob to have put in a request." Mikhail blinked when he saw what Rob had requested and sighed. He looked up at Sierra and said, "You must have really ticked him off, Sierra."

"I told him my name was Sarah. So please, use it for now."

"Oh? Well, I suppose that's about the only way that he would think that he could demote you. Alright then. Sarah, wait here for a second while I go and get your pokémon."

Sarah smiled and said, "Thanks."

It didn't take Mikhail long to find the pokémon that had been requested for his old student and he came back out. He said, "Here are your pokémon. I'm sorry about this by the way."

Sarah blinked and asked, "You're sorry? About what?"

"Rob requested that I give you these pokémon." Mikhail handed the two pokéballs over. "So here's your Weedle and Poochyena."

"My…" Sarah frowned angrily as she thought, 'He would dare give recruits pokémon like them?! They're amongst the weakest pokémon, even after they have evolved!'

Mikhail said, "At the very least, I made sure to get you a poochyena that knows Poison Fang. I know it's not as powerful as the other fang moves that it can learn, but it does have a greater chance of its effect kicking in than the others."

Sarah smiled and said, "Thanks, Mikhail."

Mikhail smiled and said, "That's Sir, for now, Sarah."

Sierra smiled and said, "Yes Sir," not having any problems calling Mikhail by his title, having always liked him more than the other teachers she'd had. "Uhhh…I don't suppose you could tell me how I get to D Block?"

Mikhail blinked and said, "That moron put you in D Block?"

"Yeah. Why? What's wrong with it?"

"Well, it's really little more than a motel, but it's also the furthest dormitory away from the campus."

"I see."

"In any case, you turn right from this building, follow the path to the fork and go down the left path, then take the next right and follow it to the end."

Sarah handed over her six pokéballs and said, "Here, take care of these yourself for me, please."

Mikhail nodded as he said, "Like I would my own."

Sarah said, "Thanks," and put her new pokéballs in her pokebelt after releasing Poochyena. She said, "You and I are going to be partners from now on. Okay?" Poochyena happily wagged its tail as it barked a greeting. Sarah smiled as she picked p her clothes and said, "Come on…" and nodded towards the door. "…it's time to check out our temporary home." Poochyena scampered around her, sniffing her legs before barking its acceptance and rushing for the door.