James' voice crackled through Jessie's communication device. "Status report. Were you successful?"

"Affirmative," Jessie responded crisply. "The Pokemon are captured. We're heading for extraction."

Stuffing the last of the Poke Balls into her storage pack, she nodded at Demo. The two elite operatives swiftly exited the containment room, leaving the bound and unconscious guards behind.

.

.

.

***

James tapped his communication device to an open channel and asked all the members about the completion of their tasks.

One by one, James received confirmations from his other squadrons with "Check."s. Each voice accounted for...except one.

"Risa, report in. Risa?" Static silence answered him...

"Dammit."

Jaw tightening, James quickly withdrew a Poke Ball and brought out his Pokemon.

A shadow-like, round-bodied Pokémon with two large, pointed ears and short spikes lining its back, that had two red eyes and a toothy, sinister smile, and had claws on its hands, stood on its two short legs.

Yes, it was none other than his playful companion, Gengar.

"Find her energy signature. Now." James hurriedly ordered.

The Ghost-type Pokemon blinked, focusing internally before its sinister eyes flew open.

As Gengar already left his energy signature on all of the members for any unfortunate event, he easily found Risa's location.

With an ominous nod, it extended a shadowy tendril towards James, who seized it without hesitation.

A swirl of inky black fog enveloped them both, and when it dissipated - they had vanished from the corridor.

.

.

.

***

Meanwhile,

The dark purple-haired man named Bruce, who was an executive, calmly strode down the main hallway, a folder gripped in one hand. His path led towards Giovanni's personal chamber to deliver the file about their new recruits.

But, breaking the silence, the man's communication device suddenly crackled with an incoming transmission. Frowning, he accepted the call. "Speak."

"Sir!" The voice on the other end sounded anxious. "About the information you requested earlier regarding potential air traffic..."

Bruce's frown deepened. "Go on."

"We contacted our Unova and Alola branches as ordered," the voice continued. "None of them have any records of approved transit flights between the two regions, because the inaugural route opening was postponed for another week, at least."

A bad premonition materialized in Bruce's gut at those words. His expression turned serious as soon as he heard the words. He had suspected as much, but hearing it confirmed...

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"Are you certain of this?" he demanded full of seriousness.

"Yes, sir. But there's more..." The voice hesitated. "Just now, the security team reported about the vault CCTV system blacking out for three minutes due to some technical issue. We're investigating it now, but, didn't find any problems with the cameras. And the guards, who were guarding the vault room's door are now missi-"

"Dammit!" Bruce didn't let him finish, realization crashing over him as his worst fears coalesced. "Deploy all available security forces to the vault, immediately! This is not a drill! I repeat, This is not a drill!!"

He didn't wait for acknowledgment, already sprinting towards Giovanni's chamber with the folder slapping against his leg. They were under attack - the only question was by who?

.

.

.

***

In a shattered, debris-strewn room cloaked in darkness, three figures stood over the crumpled corpses of a red-haired woman in a black uniform and a mutilated humanoid Pokemon. A growing pool of blood spread out from the horrific wound torn through the woman's abdomen.

The three individuals were none other than James and his Gengar, and Risa, who was fighting the red-haired woman until James appeared out of nowhere and one-shot the woman, saving Risa from the potential death.

James glanced down at the body with glacial disdain. Beside him, Risa trembled, presenting her savaged appearance - split lip, one eye swollen shut, uniform shredded in places to expose bloody lacerations.

"I-I'm sorry, Captain," she rasped through a bout of coughing, crimson spittle starring her glove. "I didn't think...an executive would appear and discover me when I was setting up the bomb."

Placing a steadying hand on her shoulder, James' voice remained even and reassuring,

"No need to be ashamed of yourself. You did well to neutralize her communications before she could raise the alarm and notify the base of our existence.

But this is why you need to keep training hard, Risa - so that garbage like these can't make a rag doll out of you, just like right now."

He nudged the woman's body with his boot in a display of contempt. Risa managed a weak nod of acknowledgment through the pain fogging her mind.

"Now then..." James tapped his communication device to an open channel. "All teams, initiate explosive detonation timer on my mark...

Three...two...one...mark!"

In different locations throughout the base, all of the eight individuals set the timer on their watches at the same time with resounding clicks. And then, they hurriedly moved away from the location of the explosives as casually as possible.

James glanced at his smartwatch before transmitting one final coded message to someone:

And then, he with Gengar and Risa, simultaneously disappeared from the room leaving behind a dark-purple fog... And a ticking bomb...

.

.

.

00:04...

00:03...

00:02...

00:01...

00:00.....

-BOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!

.

.

.

*Moments Ago*

In his opulent throne room, Giovanni's enigmatic figure sat continuing his work on the pile of documents.

But, suddenly at that moment, Bruce burst through the entrance with a complexion like ash.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Giovanni bellowed, rising with terrible poise, anger smeared on his face.

"Sir!" Bruce wheezed, shoulders heaving. "We're under attack! The CCTV blind spots...it was a diversion for infiltration teams to-"

-BOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!

Whatever he intended to say next was drowned out by the roar of an apocalyptic explosion that shook the entire chamber.

Fixtures rattled as a deafening cacophony rent the air, as if the full, unrestrained fury of the heavens had been brought to bear upon them.

"FUCK!!!"

Giovanni reacted with full of fury amidst the hellish tumult, his hand disappearing into his coat to grasp something. When he withdrew it, he held a red and white Pokeball.

Then he swiftly ran and jumped out of the glassed window completely shattering it with Bruce hurriedly tailing behind him gasping his own Pokeball.

.

.

.

***

Outside the base, eight individuals calmly stood amidst the wide vegetation in the forest area, eying the "still" intact structure of the Team Rocket headquarters, anticipating the upcoming chaos...

And then,

-BOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!

James's lips twisted into a serpentine smile as the unearthly roars shuddered the complex's foundations.

Around the compound's critical structural joints, shaped demolition charges flared simultaneously with a series of thunderous detonations. Flames and smoke billowed through shattered windows as the complex's secured sections buckled like a demolished house of cards.

Seeing the unearthly chaos, James' cheeks turned pink showing his twisted satisfaction as a twisted smile blossomed on his complexion.

He can't seem to help but say,

"Heh! Let the show begin."...