In the basement, waves of Rockets poured from the tunnels, as those that had already exited sprinted and made a break for the entrances to the regular floors, where the alarm could faintly be heard coming from.
"Spread out!" the red-haired teenager waved along the soldiers passing him by. "Those assigned, group up to shut down the emergency system. The rest of you, overrun the museum!"
From the corner of his eye, he could spot Damian in the crowd. The child was running alongside Charmeleon, following after the soldiers that raced ahead on their significantly longer legs.
Hand shooting down to his belt, the teen removed a Poke Ball and enlarged it. In a flash of light, Neptune emerged behind him, towering above his trainer as the soldiers passing by spared a startled glance at his sudden appearance.
As the blue behemoth leered down at him, the teen pressed a palm against the reptile's chest. "Old friend, time to raise Hell."
/
"TEAM ROCKET IS HERE!" Even over the deafening blare of the alarm, one sentence rose over the series of panicked declarations and screams, and it was one Ash's compromised cognition immediately zeroed in on.
Glass shattering.
Rhydon stomping.
Marauder leering.
Tyranitar roaring.
Rocks falling.
The bright flashes of red light searing his eyes had thankfully gone away after a few more moments, but the alarm remained as roaring as ever, pounding against his eardrums like a hammer swung by a roided Poliwrath.
'No… it's not… why now?!'
Janine interrupted his panicked thoughts, her face pale as her hand shot onto his shoulder and yanked him. "Ash! We have to go, now!"
His focus only forced itself to return to him, but his mind was still scrambled as Eevee's aggressive barks filled his ears. With dexterity, Janine's other hand shot to her belt and fished out a Poke Ball that returned Ivysaur. As fast as she could, she stumbled for a moment while reclipping the ball and exchanging it for a new one that produced Beedrill.
"We're under attack!" she shouted to the Poison Bee. "Team Rocket! Cover us!"
The bug/poison type's face immediately turned alert as she nodded with defensively raised stingers, quickly hovering in front of the group.
Just as they neared the door, they immediately saw it, passing through before they had the time to stop.
Black uniforms. Large red "R" in the middle. They were dashing throughout.
A series of panicked guests were running in all directions Ash could fathom, trying to find an exit while evading the grunts, as the Rocket soldiers began unclipping Poke Balls from their belts and chucking them.
Head pounding from the alarm, Ash turned to Janine and tried to speak over the noise. "What do we do now?!"
It might have been the whiplash of the situation that grated on the boy's psyche the most. Or the sound still blaring into his eardrums. Ash couldn't focus enough to determine the cause.
Janine's face was firm, but her eyes conveyed panic. "The entrance we came through is two floors down, but we don't know where they're coming from! We'll need to fight our way through!"
He inwardly gulped. Just like Mt. Moon…
Mt. Moon…
Mt. Moon…
With a quick shake of his head, Ash did his best to think as his hand shot down to his belt. Moments later, Pikachu was in front of him, ears immediately sticking upwards as the alarm roared into them next.
"Pikachu!" Ash spoke as clearly as he could while Eevee began barking frantically at the rodent. "We're in a museum, Team Rocket's attacking us. We have to get out, now!"
Just as Pikachu nodded the affirmative, a crazed shriek drew the group's attention to a stray Zubat speeding towards them. Ash could just barely process the sight of a few other Zubat and a Murkrow changing direction to follow it,
Zubat's fangs started to glow, but Pikachu didn't give it the time. Cheeks lighting up with static, the mouse kicked off into the air, doing a front flip as an electric bolt was flung from his tail. Zubat's exterior was lit up with the blazing sparks as the aggression in its cry quickly transitioned to agony.
As Zubat hit the orange-tiled floor face first, the remaining fliers were already closing in. A Shadow Ball from Eevee (who had begun charging the moment that Pikachu himself had fired off) forced the multiple Zubat to part to the side, but the Murkrow simply stopped in place, firing off a distorted sphere of its own. The group quickly moved to separate sides to avoid the projectile, which sailed through the doorway and into the room where they had just been. An explosion filled their ears, the windforce of a shockwave briefly felt against their backs, but they did not look back.
Cloaked in Aerial Ace, Beedrill closed the distance between herself and Murkrow, but the dark flier crossed two metallic wings together as the poison bee stabbed forward with a glowing stinger. The darkness Pokemon felt no pain in its wings as its Steel Wing intercepted the blow, but was knocked back two or three meters through the air.
The three remaining Zubat lined up and began to flap their wings with speedy fury, a series of small blades of air erupting outwards. Yelping, Ash and Janine dashed back through the doorway of the through they had just come from, each ducking behind a separate wall as the trio of Air Cutters sliced through the floor and walls. Not even noticing the gashes left in the structures where the attacks had struck, their Pokemon promptly avoided the assault, Beedrill deflecting a few blades with her glowing stingers as Pikachu fired off an Electro Ball.
As one of the Zubat was blasted away in the electrical explosion, Eevee ducked under an air blade before leaping for another bat Pokemon, driving an Iron Tail into its face. The Zubat's fangs shattered as its back collided with the wall, and the poison/flying type's now-limp body hit the floor face-first.
Beedrill clicked stingers together as her gaze became centered on the final Zubat. However, just as she began to rush her target, she was forced to alter her trajectory and avoid the Shadow Ball launched from the returning Murkrow's beak. The ghost type move collided with the wall behind her, and on the other side, a startled Ash stumbled forward as the shockwaves passed through the wall his back was pressed against. Quickly grabbing onto a table, he maintained his balance.
Zubat and Murkrow tried to spread out and set their sights on a target, only to find that two additional Pikachu could join the fray. Before they could process the sight, two of them leapt out at them. The Double Team clones fizzled away as the two fliers lashed out in retaliation, and before either could regain their bearings, Pikachu slipped into Quick Attack, leaping at Murkrow and smashing a Static Tail into its beak.
Just as Zubat began to panic, Beedrill was upon it, the bat screeching for dear life as a glowing pincer was shoved into its abdomen. With her target skewered, Beedrill swung forward and smashed the Rocket Pokemon into the closest wall. As her stinger carved its way out of the toxic flier's flesh, chunks of skin and globs of blood fell to the ground along with the incapacitated poison/flying type.
The gruesome sight (which Pikachu didn't see) prompted Eevee's eyes to momentarily widen, before the sound of footsteps from behind stole her attention as Ash and Janine emerged from the doorway.
"Come on!" the two trainers collectively shouted as they dashed ahead of their teammates. The Pokemon quickly caught up, Pikachu and Eevee overtaking the lead and lining themselves up in front of the trainers mid-dash, while Beedrill remained overhead at the flank, blood dripping from the stinger that had stabbed the Zubat.
It was only now that Ash had realized that the alarm had stopped blaring at some point, although his eardrums were still in just as much pain as before. The atmosphere of his surroundings was far from quiet, however.
He didn't know where the shouts were coming from. There were no guests or Rockets in his line of vision. But he knew that they were there, in this museum. Likely above and beneath them. The amount of voices filling his ears were jumbling together, making it impossible to distinguish-
With a turn up ahead, he shook away from his thoughts and focused on running. The authorities will be here soon… right?
"The League's got to be on their way." Janine spoke, somehow managing to suppress some of her franticity as they rounded the corner. "They'll find us and-" Her mouth shut as a group of two Rattata, a Poochyena, an Elekid, and a Growlithe entered their view.
"Damn…!" Ash cursed under his breath as he and Janine skidded to a stop, their Pokemon continuing onward. He knew it wouldn't be that easy. If anything, he was lucky that this area of the building wasn't yet as occupied as the rest of it probably was. But his heart still sank at the confirmation.
Pikachu intercepted a burst of fire escaping from Growlithe's jaws with a bolt of lightning flung from his tail with a frontflip. Not ceasing his advance, the electric mouse quickly charged right through the smoke of the collision and smashed himself shoulder-first into the fiery canine's chest a shis body glowed a bright orange. As the wheezing Growlithe tumbled away, one of the Rattata made a dive for Pikachu, only for the mouse's swinging Iron Tail to intercept the rat's clamping fangs and launch the assailant backward. Behind him, Beedrill had already skewered Poochyena, her purple-glowing stinger freshly embedded in the canine's abdomen after flipping her target onto its back. After forcing Elekid backwards with a Shadow Ball, Eevee's Iron Tail collided with the side of the other Rattata's face, sending the purple rodent colliding with a window, which its body promptly smashed through. As the sound of shattering glass filled the air, the Rattata, along with chunks of the window, descended to the ground several dozen feet below.
A warning cry from Pikachu got her attention, and the quadruped evolution Pokemon turned her head just in time to witness her electric type partner leaping away from a Flame Wheel that was advancing right towards her, leaving a charred trail across the clean floor in its wake. Glaring, she launched a Shadow Ball into the attack, the collision and ensuing explosion intercepting Growlithe's momentum as the canine collapsed onto her belly. Now Beedrill descended downwards, smacking a Brick Break into the side of Growlithe's head as Pikachu finished off the remaining Rattata that had attacked him earlier. Ash and Janine didn't wait for the now-unconscious Growlithe to stop tumbling away, quickly calling for their friends to follow while resuming the run.
"We should just be a few turns from the staircase!" Janine spared a second to glance at her friend as the group rounded another corner. "I… I think! Once we get to the second floor, the lobby should be on the opposite side. It's not a short trip, but we-"
Now a cry from behind stole their attention, as the group turned to see a duo of Spearow and a Hoothoot emerging from the apparently broken window of a room they had just passed by. Janine grabbed her head and ducked with a startled scream as one of the snarling Spearow dove for her, but her attacker quickly found its neck impaled by an incensed Beedrill. As the other Spearow's eyes darted for Eevee, Ash, before realizing it, found his gaze locked with Hoothoot's by chance. The owl's eyes began to glow, and just as an odd feeling began to pass over him-
Pikachu's Electro Ball collided with the flier's body, sending the owl sailing back towards the window it had come through. The normal/flying type's back collided with a piece of glass jutted out from the window's remains. The remaining Spearow took a dive for Eevee as its wings turned to metal, but a somersault brought the quadruped over her vicious assailant. Before Spearow could turn around, a barrage of golden stars escaped Eevee's jaws, pelting the bird's back and driving it beak-first into the floor. Before Spearow could even pick itself up, Eevee chomped down on its feathers, yanking the flier to its feet before swinging an Iron Tail into its forehead.
As Spearow collided back-first with the wall beside the room's window, slumping to the floor as its head tilted slightly to the side, Ash turned to Janine as the girl tried to regain her bearings.
Frowning, he placed a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder. "Come on, we need to-"
"Up ahead!" Both children startled at the voice from down the hall, the tone conveying a clear aggression towards it. Their faces paled as two Rocket men entered their view. As the two trainers took an instinctive step back, Pikachu's cheeks began to spark, but a flash of light interrupted him as the two men quickly came to a stop. In front of them emerged a creature that resembled a sentient pile of purple sludge, which Ash immediately registered as a Grimer. As one of the men stuffed his Poke Ball away, the other removed two more, a Venomoth and Machop appearing on either side of the Grimer.
Both men wore stern scowls, but their body language seemed fairly composed.
"It seems most of the people on the third floor have already made their way down in a panic." one of the men spoke. "Too bad you two straggled behind, but we can thankfully do this a bit less chaotically. Return your Pokemon and hand them over."
Instinctively, Pikachu and Eevee gravitated sideways towards one another, their shoulders pressing together as their eyes darted between the three Pokemon before them. Above the duo, Beedrill's eyes blazed at the two Rockets, her stingers pointed at each.
Ash remained next to Janine, his own shoulder briefly bumping into hers without thinking. Not taking his eyes off the Rockets, he suppressed a swallow and finally began to notice his heart rate quicken before Janine's arm suddenly shot in front of him.
"...Let us through…" though she maintained a stern face, her expression was shaking, almost vibrating.
"Were you planning on getting out through the lobby?" the other Rocket spoke. His tone of voice felt aimless, not entirely clear if he was replying to her or ignoring her demand. "The second story is a warzone. And so are the two above this one. It's only a matter of time before everything starts pouring in from above and below. You two are sandwiched."
From the corner of his eye, Ash could see Janine's face turn paler at the declaration as her hand tightly gripped her belt.
"You're not going to-"
The first Rocket cut her shaking voice off. "Grimer, Sludge."
Without thinking, both trainers grabbed onto each other, each attempting to pull the other back with them as they attempted to run backwards and clear some distance. They ended up stumbling backwards and painfully landing on their bottoms as a stream of thick, purple liquid emerged from the Grimer's mouth. While Pikachu and Eevee intercepted the blast with a Thunderbolt and a Shadow Ball, a beam of rainbow-colored light shot out from Venomoth's eyes and was promptly avoided by a swerving Beedrill. Although it likely wouldn't have struck them anyway, Ash and Janine pulled each other down further as the Psybeam collided with the side of the wall diagonally behind them.
Even as Pikachu and Eevee both fired off their respective attacks into the Sludge, Machop was already rushing forward, forcing the two to leap apart as the fighting type swung a glowing fist. Landing on all fours, Pikachu circled around, slipping into Agility for what could have only been a split second or two before a powerful Zap Tail collided with Machop's ribs and launched it headfirst into the wall, as if amplified by the young mouse's battle cry.
As both Rockets ran backwards as well, Beedrill closed the distance between herself and Venomoth just as the opposing bug/poison type was in the midst of preparing a second Psybeam. Stingers glowing pale with Focus Energy, the poison bee let loose a Fury Attack, pummeling away at the poison moth with a flurry of stabs. In the middle, Eevee rushed for the Grimer, embedding an Iron Tail into its abdomen as Quick Attack carried her momentum forward. Although her adversary was pushed back a few feet, her efforts only produced a little bit more than a notably pained wince.
As Pikachu left Machop knocked out from a second Zap Tail (this time to the back of the head), the electric mouse turned to see Eevee leaping to the side, evading a Poison Jab from Grimer. Before either combatant could attack again, he launched himself towards the sludge Pokemon, a third Zap Tail colliding with what should have been the side of the poison type's head. This prompted a louder reaction from Grimer as the Rocket Pokemon swiftly slid into the opposite wall accompanied by the outside windows, but it quickly regained its composure.
As Ash and Janine picked themselves up as hastily as their composure could allow them to manage, the duo of trainers scurried back further as he removed another ball from his belt. As Valiant appeared in front of him, the young Kirlia almost immediately kneeled downward whilst clutching both sides of his head, no doubt taking in the hostile and pianicked emotions hammering in through all directions of the building. Quickly righting himself (or, at the very least, struggling to), the emotion Pokemon turned to the two trainers as Ash said all that needed to be said.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Team Rocket."
Barely even having time to nod, Valiant kicked off and rushed into the fray, the rainbow beam of light emerging from his eyes carving through the Smog that escaped Grimer's jaws as Pikachu and Eevee attempted to part away from the poisonous attack. As Grimer shrieked in pain from the Psybeam colliding with what was most likely the sludge pokemon's chest, Valiant stopped between his two teammates, turning his head to both sides to exchange looks with them and acquire their mutual attention . As Grimer attempted to regain its composure, Valiant took the brief, near nonexistent respite to point an arm towards the two Rockets halfway across the hall.
It didn't take longer for Pikachu or Eevee to understand, and it only took a moment longer for the Rockets themselves to pick up on the message as the two glaring Pokemon broke into a run towards them. They only had time to turn around and sprint a few steps before Pikachu and Eevee were already upon them, the former allowing a jolt of static to lock up one of the Rocket's legs and leave him to collapse face-first into the orange-tiled floor, and the latter throwing herself headfirst into the other Rocket's back.
As both men fell, Grimer took another swing with Poison Jab, this time directed at Valiant, whose eyes began to shine blue whilst deftly evading the strike with a backwards leap. Just moments later, the Kirlia's attack had finished charging, and after briefly squeezing his eyes shut, they shot open again, this time very wide as a wave of psychic energy plowed into the sludge Pokemon. As Valiant's psychic left the poison type to collapse onto its back, body trembling as it struggled to get up to no avail, a brutal smack from Beedrill sent Venomoth through a window to the outside.
Wasting no time, Ash and Janine were back to running, passing by Valiant and Beedrill who were quick to follow upon being reached. Seeing them come, Pikachu and Eevee stopped advancing towards them, turning tail and leading the way to a split path in the hallway.
"To the right!" Janine declared, mild recognition in her eyes. The group turned in the direction as she continued. "We need to get to the staircase!"
"Too bad the only way to it, is past us."
Everyone halted, all but Beedrill skidding to a horrified stop as the poison bee remained in the air.
In their path, just several meters in front of the doorway that led to the staircase, was a figure with long, dark-red hair, and a massive, bulky, blue reptile that towered over its trainer from behind. Ash quickly recognized it as a Feraligatr. The red-haired figure was decently tall himself, but his uniform, despite having the signature red "R" in the middle, was silver instead of black. His face was hidden behind a shining, silver mask that sheltered his expression completely from view.
The sight of the Feraligatr had left Ash's blood cold. The fully-evolved water type was built like a physical wonder, its body bulky and honed, a mountainous, muscular frame of blue scales leading to a horrific, shining set of claws, and a massive jaw that opened to reveal what looked more like an arsenal of swords than a set of healthy teeth. It had to have stood at least around seven and a half feet tall, and the very sight of the creature had ceased all movement from the group as the split-second realization smashed into them:
They would not be defeating these two newcomers.
The air in the hallway turned densely thick, and Ash felt like he might choke to death as he and Janine pressed their shoulders together on autopilot. Pikachu and Eevee gravitated towards one another as well, even as the duo progressively backed away towards the rest of the group.
Eyes frozen in wide, alertness, and breath caught in his throat, Valiant could feel the tranquil aggression radiating off of the duo, as though the masked man and the Feraligatr were synergized to one another's respective beings. Moving himself between Ash and Janine, the Kirlia positioned himself to stand directly in front of both, arms spread out as his eyes momentarily began to glow.
Bringing herself slightly lower to keep her body leveled with everyone else, Beedrill was just in front of Valiant now, just high enough above his head so not to obscure the young psychic's view. Although her body shook, her eyes still flared, and her stingers still remained shot out to point at the duo.
The masked man and the Feraligatr advanced in slow, unconcerned strides as the group instinctively prepared to back away further in response.
"Stop." The two kids froze at his voice. Just one word had conveyed such an intense… commanding tone.
Ash couldn't help but blink at the voice itself, however. 'He doesn't sound fully grown… another child soldier? But he seems so important…'
Without looking back, the silver-masked teenager gestured a hand towards the Feraligatr standing behind him. "If you move in any direction, he'll attack."
That was enough to get their Pokemon to halt, a collective sensation of dread spreading across Pikachu, Valiant, Eevee, and Beedrill. None of them dared look away from the enormous reptile leering across the hallway like a carnivore preparing itself to rush its prey, but all of them clearly wished they could.
The teenaged Rocket stopped walking, gesturing for the Feraligatr to do the same, but no sigh of relief escaped Ash or Janine's throats. The Rocket duo's focus was still squarely on them, as if their teammates were not even there. He eyed Ash himself briefly for one moment, before his attention returned to neutrality between the two. "It seems you already know you won't be able to do anything about us. My advice is to hand over your Poke Balls and find some table to huddle under before League personnel scoops you up. They've already started to enter."
That last sentence brought Ash some mild relief, but it hardly mattered to him with what was standing in front of them right now.
"Of course, if you're planning to be a couple of brats, Neptune and I can just do our job." a horrific rumble emerged from the Feraligatr, Neptune's throat.
Ash and Janine did their best not to stagger back in fright from the noise, quite confident that the masked Rocket would make good on his promise to retaliate to anything that they did. Instead, Janine steadied her briefly chattering teeth and did her best to fix him with a glare.
"Wh-What do you think you're doing?!" A light hint of rage was bubbling beneath her terror as she spoke. "Do you have any idea what this place is?! You're destroying real, historical objects that have been around for over a century!" Despite everything, a hint of concern passed over Ash as he glanced aside to view her. There was another kind of fear in her posture, something else on her mind. "Do you have no respect for-"
"You done?" as if a switch had been flipped, her mouth froze in place at the interruption.
The Rocket's amused expression was shrouded by his silver mask, his outward exterior still seeming as ice cold as ever.
"What obligation do we have to care about anything in this building? It all represents what we're trying to destroy, so it'll be useless in our envisioned world anyway."
Janine's muscles were rigid as her pupil's turned somewhat vacant. Frozen. "...Wh-what…"
The masked Rocket crossed his arms, Neptune remaining behind him. Observing. Leering. Looming.
"We live in an era where the Indigo League's presence has defied the intended nature of our world." the Rocket began. "Back before the war, nothing was absolute. Power was divided. Authority was divided. Territory was divided. No single party held too much in their hands at once for too long, and when they did, it would run its natural course in due time. There was no expansion, no monopoly. Just alterations to Kanto's state of being, nothing ever set in stone. Power and territory were determined, not by whoever had them by law, but whoever claimed them as a prize for emerging victorious in conflict. And those same victorious parties could, and sometimes would, lose that prize all the same. That cycle was an eternal one. Before Kanto was united, the status quo was ever shifting, with no preconceived rules of how it would change. Much like Pokemon fighting over territory in the wild, mankind's own politics were primal. Natural. Unmodified." slowly, his hand rose up to adjust his mask for a few moments, before he continued. "Chaos and unpredictability is a natural attribute to the world that we live in, both for humans and Pokemon alike, and it's something that every League in the world has worked to suppress. They acquired their power by uniting their respective Regions-by conquest-yet they deny the very element that their now absolute authority was born from in the first place. The Indigo League promotes propaganda, along with its origin's ties to Mew, as a means of discouraging challenge to their authority. They, themselves, have acquired their power and influence through the same actions that they are now trying to prevent other parties from taking. Because they of all people know that the hegemonic grip that the Indigo banner has over Kanto and its neighbors, can and will be lost via the same means it was first formed: Chaos, conflict, conquest. Making pretty speeches about organized order to steer the world away from its natural direction of eternal cycles. Instead, they've made themselves eternal. Invincible in power, both politically and literally." His arms crossed firmly against his chest, his and Neptune's respective gazes never leaving their prey. "Team Rocket's vision is to restore Indigo's territories to their natural states. To topple the untouchable empire that the Indigo League has built across Kanto, Johto, the Orange Islands, and the Sevii Islands, and eliminate the unnatural ideals of "unity" and "order" born from its hypocrisy." he moved back a strand of dark-red hair before finishing. 'So to answer your question in full: No. There is not a single object, document, or person in this building that means anything to me, or anyone else in our organization. They are all just remnants of an era that will no longer exist, nor matter, once we have wiped the slate clean."
An empty pit formed in Ash's chest as the young, yet imposing Rocket closed out his speech. Everything he had said… Ash didn't even know how to process the information. Or even understand it. It was the exact opposite of everything he… the boy gripped his head.
Janine's face was devoid of all color, her eyes still, blank, without life as every muscle in her body trembled as if to cave in. "You are… you're a… you're a madman… a lunatic…" She tried to grip her belt, but her hand couldn't maintain a proper grip. "People like you are the r-reason the L-League was f-formed in the first place!" the terror and confusion in her tone was seeping into her speech, as she struggled to maintain a verbal coherence. Eyes lighting up, she shouted, disgusted frustration lacing her jumbled state of fright, but not overtaking it. "Are you saying the world is better off with conflict that never ends?!"
"I said such a world is more natural, kid. Pay attention to what your elders say." The condescending derision glazing his speech would have made Ash's blood boil if he weren't still frozen at their current situation. The Rocket shifted his mask for a moment. "That conflict that you speak of is simply who people are. Who Pokemon are. The prosperous world that you two were born in is artificial. A modification. It was never meant to exist." Janine tried to say something, but hesitated for a moment too long, her throat locking as he spoke again. "I have explained more than what you were obligated to hear, and I'm not a generous person, so we're moving on. Neptune, confiscate."
Ash wanted to scream as the Feraligatr began to step forward, but his mind was still scrambled from the Rocket's words, and his throat was still frozen from the sight of the blue behemoth. Those jaws faced directly towards them, the water type's eyes drilling like a laser into-
"Stop right there!"
All present parties ceased action and thought as Ash and Janine turned around, to the hallway behind them, the opposite direction to the one that they had chosen. The voice was as familiar as the figure accompanying it:
Erika was bolting down the hallway with the speed of a professional sprinter. Behind her was a large, green quadruped. It only took Ash a moment to recognize the Pokemon as a Meganium.
The teenaged Rocket's curious smile was invisible beneath his mask as he placed a hand on Neptune's side, prompting his partner to halt for the moment. On the other side, a warm relief began to pass over Ash as the Gym Leader and her large partner positioned themselves in front of him and his friends.
Everything felt… was beginning to feel… They weren't stranded with their executioner anymore. Maybe they could actually…
It was like when Karen had showed up at Mt. Moon.
"Erika of Celadon Gym. I am rather honored." The stoic aura radiating from the Rocket's silver-colored mask clashed with the mild sarcasm in his speech. "You haven't done the best job, however. If I hadn't taken the time to talk, these children would be dead. I can tell their Pokemon would've done something stupid." for what felt like the first time, his gaze briefly found itself on Pikachu and the others.
Ash felt his blood turning cold again, but the warm surge clashed with the frigid sensation once more as Erika ignored the Rocket's callous declaration, instead turning to face him and Janine.
With the uniform she was wearing… she seemed a lot more imposing than he had remembered. But that firm look in her eyes… despite the authoritative fire in them… steadied his heart rate.
"Janine, Ash. I need you to leave." she pointed back to where she came from. "It's a longer route, but there is another staircase in that direction. Get to someone from my squad immediately, and don't do anything else."
Neither trainer, nor of their Pokemon, waited a single second. The instant Erika was done talking, they were off, bolting down the hallway and rounding the corner to the right, completely out of the Gym Leader's vision. Neither the Rocket nor Neptune made any effort to stop them.
After breathing a small sigh of relief, the firm expression in Erika's eyes turned bold and deadly as she motioned to face the Rocket and Neptune in full. Her hand rested on one of Meganium's hips as she spoke, the grass type's stern gaze locking with the crocodile's own expression of bloodlusted confidence.
"...You… It's you, isn';t it? I think I know you…"
Beneath his mask, the redhead's brow quirked upwards. "Oh? Please enlighten me, ma'am."
Removing her hand from Meganium's hip, and taking two small steps forward, her glare deepened.
"Six months ago, you murdered the Goldenrod City Gym Leader."
The accusation hung in the air around the hallway, but fazed nobody. The only visible reaction given off by any present party was the Rocket's now firmly crossed arms.
"That's what you think, is it? That I'm the one who did it? I suppose you're among the people most likely to know."
"Answer me." her tone of voice felt as though it was on the verge of snarling, yet she was never in any danger of failing to hold it back.
Although he shrugged dramatically, the mock exasperation on his face was not visible. "You want to hear me say it? Fine then, I confess. I killed him. Clean and cold."
For a brief moment, Erika's eyes blazed with the magma of a volcano, but her tone of voice remained the same. "...You…"
"It's a fairly proud moment of mine." the Rocket admitted nonchalantly, as though he were thinking back to the first time he ever rode a bike. "Even as Team Rocket grows, we are but a punch to the face to your League, are we not? We can make you bleed, we can batter you silly, we can cause all sorts of harm… but in the grand scheme of things, those wounds could never be fatal." his fingers rubbed his chin. "Until then. That was the moment it became clear that things were changing. A Gym Leader yesterday, an Elite Four Member tomorrow, a Champion next week or month. We've persevered for so long that it's only a matter of time. Precision and resilience is the key to conquering the unconquerable; to conquering what you've become over these past four hundred years." His hand patted Neptune's chest. Although he tapped fairly hard, the Feraligatr did not even respond to, nor even acknowledge, the rough physical contact. "Despite his age, he was rather fit. Very much so, in fact. But for Neptune, his bones were no different from being handed an oversized piece of gum."
The blaze in her pupils was back. "How could you be so casual?! These are real people that you're-..." she cut herself off, her posture returning to its even state once more.
He simply shrugged once again. "And what's supposed to mean? Are you going to tell me that he was a good man? Perhaps he was, but what does that have to do with me?"
"Everything." Erika spoke. Her eyes were cool, but her voice was stern. "He was an example of what your precious cause stands for. All of the collateral damage that humans and Pokemon alike are forced to suffer from your organization's actions."
"As if I'm obligated to pay mind to the people I trample. They play no role in my life, or my well-being. They're not my family," beneath his mask, his eyes very briefly wandered to Neptune. "Or my friends, or my comrades. Just a collective sea of faceless people with no names."
Meganium's eyes blazed for a moment this time. Neptune, as though accepting a challenge, tightened his muscles in preparation.
Erika's knuckles turned pale as her hands curled into fists. "Because all you care about is your crimes, and what pretty pictures you can paint if you present them correctly."
A cold chuckle escaped the silver mask. "And is that not applied to your deeds as well? Your predecessors have built themselves an empire that you and your colleagues now helm. You promote ideals such as friendship and cooperation, knowing that they're the exact opposite of what was the norm during the pre-Indigo era of this land. You do everything in your power to prevent the world from returning to the way that it once was. And if it ever did, you would lose that power forever. Once Team Rocket has destroyed the Indigo League, we can free the masses from that illusion that you've spent four centuries worth of generations blanketing them with. Remind them what the world truly is, compared to what you've convinced them to let it be." his fingers tapped his mask. "You could almost say that your government… is a mask that you've placed upon this world. But if that disguise ever gets removed, the illusion's persuasion capabilities can never be fully restored."
Erika shook her head, her eyes never losing focus. "A mask? There go your pretty pictures again. I consider it a shield."
"I'm surprised you think you can deny the existence of illusions so easily." his voice remained cool-headed. He ran a hand through his hair, as if feigning drama, yet his vocals retained their stoicism. "After all, that assassination of the Goldenrod Gym Leader? Your League covered it up. Made it out to be an illness that he never had. Fake autopsy reports and everything. You even had the man's poor granddaughter lie through her teeth about the circumstances surrounding her gramps' death, even to her own uncle himself." As Erika's posture turned rigid, he raised a brow in satisfaction. "Has she not taken his place as Gym Leader this Season? Youngest in Indigo's history, from what I know? To take you'd have her shoulder so much to go along with the position…"
Although Erika did not move, her eyes began to somewhat angle downward. "I…"
"Although, I suppose your blunder is more of a failure than a wrongdoing, Erika." he crossed his arms. "After all, you were among those who were against the idea, and yet you couldn't persuade everyone else, isn't that correct?"
Her gaze shot back to him. "What…?"
His voice remained even, although the satisfaction was seeping through. "Given that it happened fairly close to the Conference, I imagine the League was rather against the idea of panic setting in. So you took a vote, as you often do, and reached a rather unsatisfactory result. Oh sure, you tried to convince your colleagues that the direction was appalling, and yet nobody really listened to you, did they? Your attempts were rather weak. Frail. Like a shaky foundation getting slapped by a Machamp."
Her teeth pressed together with a firm clench. "...How… how do you know that…?"
His arms fell down to his sides. "I know plenty."
It was true. After the… incident… Every Gym Leader in Indigo, as well as the Elite Four and Champion had held a critical meeting together, in isolated secrecy, about to approach the situation. Although they did not participate, a selectively handpicked portion of Ace Trainers had also been present, simply as witnesses. Giovanni, Daisy, Violet, and Falkner had all chosen to remain neutral in the discussion, simply opting to vote for whichever option got the most support, whereas Champion Lance was simply there to sanction the winning vote in the end. The debate had to have lasted at least three hours, and mostly likely even more than that, as the collective higher-ups of the Indigo League had thoroughly explored every last nook and cranny of of the discussion, in order to determine that whatever final choice they made, which they could not come back from, would be the right thing to do.
From the very beginning, she and Brock had been firmly against the very concept of falsifying the circumstances surrounding the Goldenrod City Gym Leader's death. It was inhumane. At least, she saw it that way. But in the end, there was nothing that she could do about it; the arguments presented by Pryce, Blaine and Koga… had been far too great.
For a brief moment, her breath caught in her throat at the memory, but she quickly shook it all away, remembering where it was. Now was not the time.
"I'm washing my hands of this. "Team Rocket's twisted mission will never succeed, and we are the reason for that. She nodded to the Meganium, as her starter exchanged a critical look with her, all too familiar. "Greenwood, are you ready?"
The Meganium, Greenwood, offered her trainer an elegant nod of her own in return, before her gaze returned to Neptune in full force.
"You cannot mask, or "shield" this world forever, Gym Leader." The red-haired Rocket spoke coolly as his hand massaged Neptune's hip. "And you will be our second example."
On his belt, he pressed a button. A small, red-dotted light suddenly turned light blue. Now that Erika had arrived, it was time to give the other squad the signal to move in on target two. Moments later, he unclipped a Poke Ball from his belt, enlarged it, and held it in an outstretched hand, perfectly in view for his enemies to see.
"Leader Erika, I am Agent Silver of Team Rocket, and I challenge you."