Looker and Anabel both seemed suspicious, even though everything Ash/D. told them turned out to be true, they couldn't help but think he had another motive other than wanting to stop a 'big project'

"And what is it that's so important that you think we'd be interested in stopping," Anabel said glaring at the screen.

"Well, it is something they are calling 'Zapmolcuno', though maybe you'll recognize it by its old name, Thu-Fi-Zer," Ash said, getting an immediate reaction from Looker.

"What do you mean, that name became taboo years ago, you can't really expect us to believe you just like this, Team Rocket is crazy but no one is that crazy."

"And You're right, the Boss isn't doing this on a whim, in fact, I'm not even sure if the Boss is at fault here," Ash said as he sent some of the 'Zapmolcuno' files, but he left out anything connected to Colress, only using 'a scientist'.

Looker looked absolutely mortified While. Anabel seemed to scratch her chin as she saw that picture, "Didn't this happen only like 7 years ago, why would they be doing this so soon?"

Looker and Ash both looked at her, "...Anabel Project Thu-Fi-Zer was nearly 20 years ago,"

Anabel looked back and forth between them, "Ehh?"

"I suppose your memory isn't back yet, only to be expected, but this is beside the point, I have the information and more, but the problem is I can't be the one who interferes with this, it would cause me too much risk, but your Police force can."

Looker scratched his chin, he wasn't that high up in the International Police, but that was mainly due to personal choice and rejecting promotions, he still had some fame and influence among the other members, but he also had to be careful about who he told since if the spies heard about it they would likely relocate.

"Hmm, how about this, me and Anabel will go to Cinnabar Island, and scout out the area to gather evidence, then we will be able to commence a raid."

"Why don't we just go in now?" Anabel asked, "We can show this to the higher-ups and then we can go in before any of them have a chance to escape."

That caused Ash to give a slow chuckle, "And what's so funny" Anabel asked glaring back at the screen

"Oh Darling, you're quite cute when you're dumb," Ash chuckled, making Anabel frown.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean!?"

"Tell me, how would you explain to them how you got such information, if you just tell them they'll think you're crazy, and if you show them the files I gave you they'll wonder how you got them, not exactly easy to get classified Rocket information.

"But give you the benefit of the doubt, did you forget there are spies in your organization, even if you avoid telling them, do you really think that when they have to gear up for a raid specifically on Cinnabar in one of their labs, they wouldn't find that suspicious enough to report back?"

Anabel had to bite her tongue because she couldn't refute that reasoning, they really have no way of doing this that doesn't either warn Team Rocket or put them in a dangerous situation.

Looker put his hand on her shoulder, "It's fine, as long as we can find some Rockets we can get the higher-ups to commence an emergency raid, then they won't have time to warn the rest"

Anabel nodded and turned to the screen, "Fine, but after this I want you to start talking, you said you know more about me but you haven't said anything and I want answers."

Ash chuckled, "Quite bold of you to demand something from me Darling, you're not exactly in the spot to be doing that, but I'll tell you what, I'll answer exactly 1 question honestly, just as long as you can help stop this monstrosity."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

—

{League Building}

Lance was walking back and forth in his room, with Spark, Blanche, and Candela sitting on nearby chairs tending to the wounds they had.

Lance felt extremely tired, to think that Team Rocket now has control of 2 of the 3 legendary birds, he wanted to do something but he couldn't do anything. They don't know where the birds are or why they even want them.

Lance went to his desk to sit down and think about what they should do when suddenly his computer rang indicating he got a message, he quickly took a glance not expecting much, probably Clair or Oak, but it wasn't.

Lance had to take a double look at the message, it came from an anonymous sender and on it was a file saying, 'Make sure you tell Spark, Blanche, and Candela.'

Lance was confused, especially about why Spark, Blanche, and Candela were mentioned by name since only those in the League knew that they were in Kanto.

It shouldn't be possible for anyone to hack the League network either, it was protected by layers of security rivaled only by Siph.

Well, the truth is that when Ash came to talk to Lance and he asked to borrow a PC, he let in a fragment of Porygon2's consciousness so that he would have access to this kinda thing,

There were 2 reasons why he chose to do this, well kinda 3, 1. Was for this so that he could send information to the League anonymously, 2. So he could maybe gather some info he wouldn't normally, and 3. Was because of the small chance that Lance still might be evil.

Is it completely wrong and probably illegal, yes. But as old hypocritical men would say, 'It's for the greater good'

Lance went ahead and inspected it to make sure this wasn't a virus, after he double and triple checked he finally opened it and read what was inside, and it made his spine shiver, reading it as 'Zapmolcuno' the revised Thu-Fi-Zer.

Lance immediately started reading through the files that were sent seeing how this new experiment is being held in Cinnabar and that the other two legendary birds will also be there, and other things such as the location and process of creating it.

Obviously, Lance had no reason to believe any of this, and a part of him didn't want to believe it, but even if it was a 0.012% chance he needed to make sure, and another part of him also believed it.

Lance immediately shared it with Spark, Blanche, and Candela to get their 2 cents about this situation.

Blanche was the most curious about the sender, "Is there nothing we can use to track down who sent this?"

Lance shrugged, "I tried a quick scan, but you're free to try AFTER we finish everything."

Candela rubbed her chin, "I don't know doesn't this seem just a little bit too convenient, what if this is another trap or just a wild goose chase."

"I don't think so," Spark said, "Well I don't think the information is a lie, when I talked with Zapdos it told me that it could sense its sibling's energy coming from an island in the south, and that fits with Cinnabar right."

Lance nodded, "And I also am not convinced it is a trap, after all, why would they want all of us to know this together, wouldn't it be better if we were all contacted individually with different directions like they did with you all."

Candela and Blanche looked away embarrassed but then turned back, "So what do you propose we do, should we follow this, if what it says is true and Articuno and Moltres are there then we may not be able to use brute force." Blanche pondered

Lance nodded, "Yeah, and I also can't go out in public with all the drama going on, so what if you 3 enter Cinnabar secretly and I'll stay close by, then you can contact me if something goes wrong."

"Shouldn't we tell the other members of the Elite 4?" Spark asked.

Lance shook his head, "Unfortunately I think it would be best if they stay here, I trust Damian to man the fort but Darwin and Tempest are a different story. I'm not too confident they can go without thinking of revenge for what happened on the S.S. Anne."

They all nodded understandingly as Candela spoke up, "I'm pretty sure with all of us and Zapdos, we should be able to take back Articuno and Moltres."

Spark smiled and held his hand out for a fist bump, "Of course, and this time we won't have to hold back."

–

{Cinnabar Gym}

Blaine was in his lab, he was trying to focus but as if recently the pain in his arm had started hurting more than before, it felt worse than that one time in his youth when his old Magmar blasted his hand.

He had to get painkillers to help, and he needed to take 1 every few hours just to be able to focus and focus on finding a more permanent solution.

Blaine held his hand to his face and clenched in anger, 'That scientist knew what he was doing when he did this.'

The thing that caused this great pain in the first place was a scientist who worked with him while he was forced to help Team Rocket, it was a story older than time Jealousy so he was sabotaged by a wannabe scientist.

But now that was behind him, now he wanted to find a cure and stay away from all of this Team Rocket Drama. That is until his computer received a notification.

He turned to look and immediately felt his eyes widen reading the new Project 'Zapmolcuno' the revised Thu-Fi-Zer. And what more it was here on Cinnabar in that place, a place he wanted to forget.

Blaine didn't want to believe it, but believing is seeing, and although he did have a lot of work getting to the bottom took priority, although he would only check to see if Rockets truly took over the Mansion, if they did then he would prepare from there.

A few hours later Blaine returned to his lab almost clutching his arm in pain as he frantically took another painkiller, unfortunately, it was true he found Team Rocket grunts patrolling the area around the mansion, which meant they were there.

Blaine was breathing heavily and had to take a moment to calm himself as he slowed his breathing, he needed to prepare for the worst, if what was said is true then he needed to be able to at least battle properly.

—

{Back with Ash}

Ash had been busy searching through the volcano, and for the first few times, he found worthless things like Gold deposits and Diamond clusters, truly worthless.

His main goal was something else, it was similar to obsidian in the sense it was a hard rock-like substance, although it was more of a mix between a lot of different things. It was mainly found in igneous rocks and common in ultramafic rocks.

That's why Graveler was so important here since they are known to have these things.

And that is what happened when Graveler finally brought 'it', a shiny black stone that looked like it was made of obsidian in an axe shape.

For those who haven't figured it out yet, the thing that he was looking for was Black Augurite, something known as an alternative evolution item for Scyther that would turn it into Kleavor.

From everything he read this evolution method had been lost to time, Probably due to the fact that Ursaluna had also gone extinct and the only way to find it would be to dig around volcanoes, and who was stupid enough to do that, but with this he could bring them back.

And even if it wasn't sustainable there was a high chance that an alternative could be developed, after all, it wouldn't be the first time Man-made evolution items would come out, and probably not the last either.

But for now, he needed more, at least 3 in total, 1 for himself, 1 to be given to the professors to prove it worked, and 1 more to send for research. So until then, they had a long night ahead of them.