Author: The Eater of Worlds
The Raid
The three of them snuck through the woods arounf Pallet, quietly drawing closer under cover of darkness. Their rat Pokemon walked besides them, noses twitching, constantly scenting the air.
Butch gave the signal, and the Pokemon ran off to the designated spot. In a minute or so they returned.
"Rattata!" "Raticate!" They both confirmed the sucsess. Eater put her pair of bolt cutters to the previously electrified fence.
"Done!" She kicked out a portion of the chain link and darted through.
"45 seconds. You're gettin' slow." Butch teased. "Go get the fish, and a hard copy of the Prof.'s files as well. Meet back with us when you're done."
"Right. Charlie from accounting wants a Beedrill if you find one." She reminded them, then turned and snuck off to the lab. Finally, the beam of her small flashlight fell upon a squat, white building.
As she approached the door, she withdrew a small leather pouch. She hunched down by the doorknob and started to pick the lock.
A dull "snap" was heard as her tool broke in the door. She took out a pair of tweezers and removed the sliver of metal. Maybe she'd have better luck with the windows.
There was no alarm or sign of movement when she applied the glass cutters. She reached through the neatly removed circle, and popped the latch. The window creaked on it's tracks.
Stepping around a sleeping watch-Growlithe, Eater patroled the rooms looking for Killer. A Pokeball was lying on the table near her. Was it a trick?
It was. A tiny tracking device was attached to the release button. So where was Killer? She saw a gleam of moonlight from the other room. Peering around the corner, she saw a strange, green Pokeball in the hand of the boy she had robbed earlier!
"Go, Natasha!" She whispered, sending out the fancy cat. "Get that Pokeball, but don't wake up that kid! I'll be two doors over."
"Perss." She acknowledged. The sly feline padded around the sleeping bags of the trainer and his freinds. Teow crept down the hall to the room marked on Cassidy's map as the storage room.
A large computer sat on one side of the room, dark screen like an eye of a sleeping beast. It hummed to life as she pressed the blinking green power button. She slide a disk into the drive and hastily started downloading.
"C'mon, c'mon!" She hissed as the progress bar inched along. Persian slunk in and spat out the Pokeball that probably contained her partner.
"*ptoo!* Persian, perrr." Natasha grumbled.
"I'm sorry to hear that." She picked up the ball. "Killer, go!" Nothing happened. "Okay then: Pokeball, go!" Still nothing. She minimized the download, and started searching for info.
"The Magna-ball. A high security Pokeball, it will only release the pokemon inside after checking for a voice match." The computer chimed.
"Voice activated?! How are we going to get him out of there?" The ball wiggled back and forth as Killer struggled to get out.
"Sian! Per!" Natasha warned Killer as she brought her paw down on the ball, spliting it.
"Thanks, girl! That was great!" Eater praised her.
"Ja, Danke shern!" Burbbled Killer. Suddenly, a light went on down the hall. A sharp beam of harsh, artificial luminesence broke the dark. Eater peered arounf the corner, to find Proffeser Oak shuffling by in a bath robe.
The files were only 75% downloaded, and even if they had them all she'd still have to get past Oak to escape. He paused, rubbed his neck, and walked over to the window. The absent-minded scientist didn't seem to notice the missing pane; he simply shut the window. Then he went to the fridge, got a drink, and shuffled back to his bed.
Eater called Natasha back, making a mental note to buy her a treat next time she went to the store. She scooped up the Magna-ball and threw it in her pack.
"Now let's get out of here." She whispered. Killer quickly agreed, and they left through the front door. The disk was safely tucked in her pocket-Oh, the Boss would love this.
As they rounded a curve in the path that wound deeper into the compound the two found themselves face-to-face with a large, angry-looking Arcanine.
"Arcannnnn..." It growled, stepping forward. "Nine!" It barked sharply and lunged. Eater started to call out Natasha, but decided it would be better if she got out of there.
She figured, in a random, crazy thought, that she probably resembled that cartoon cyote. Killer was right besides her, beating his tail like he was swimming upstream. They tore down the path, weaving through the foliage.
Suddenly, a large beige building popped into view. It was an "L" shape, backed up against the elecrtic fence. The pair from Team Rocket had nowhere left to run. Her hand trailed slowly to her belt of Pokeballs. Would it attack if she tried anything?
She went, instead, to a small leather pouch hanging from her belt. With agonizing slowness, Eater withdrew a white, egg-shaped object. She broke it on her knee and flung the white powder it contained into the fire-wolf's eyes. As it snapped and barked, temporarily blinded, she called out Arbok and thanked the powers that be for her Ninjitsu lessons.
"Go Angela! Acid attack!" Teow commanded. "Killer, help her out with water gun!" The two Pokemon both hammered away at the confused Arcanine, but it was quickly regaining it's bearings. It reached out a heavy paw and swatted her Arbok, sending it flying. They couldn't keep this up much longer.
"Luck, be a lady tonight!" She muttered, and hurled the prototype ball at the monsterous beast. It snapped shut, cutting off an inraged howl. She picked up the ball and set off to look for Butch and Cassidy.
As it turned out, she didn't have to look far.
"Guten Abend, Frualein Cassidy!" Killer greeted her, but the friendly greeting wasn't returned.
"C'mon! We gotta get out of here "Genius", She sad with a sarcastic tone as she jerked her thumb at Butch, "Tripped off an alarm. I hope you got all you wanted."
"Sure did." They went out the way they came in, recalling their guard Pokemon. As the police started to gather, they disapeared into the early morning.
~`~`~`~
They got back to headquarters at about eleven-thirty. At the counter in the lobby, a nurse with an "R" on her apron beckoned.
"Hey, Nurse Jane!" Butch raised a hand in greeting and placed some Pokeballs on the counter. "We've got-let's see- a Kakuna for Charlie, a Magmar for Lydia down in the Canteen, and the rest need to go to the redirection center."
"What, none for me?" Jane gasped in mock-horror. She brushed one of the Joy-like loops of black hair behind her ear. "I guess I need to heal your Pokemon. Even if you didn't bring me back a present." Jane kidded Butch.
They handed their Pokemon over to Jane to be revitalized. She came from a large family of Team Rocket members, and you could always find her or one of her cousins if you needed them.
"I've got a meeting with the boss." Eater explained as she took back her refreashed team. "Got him a little offering of appeasement." she spun a pokeball on her finger. "Could you register this Arcanine in the computer? His name's Barkly."
"It's been a while since I've seen Giovanni." Butch commented.
"That's sad. You shouldn't lose contact with your family like that." remarked Cassidy.
"Well, Godfather really, but he's like family." he replied.
"Explains why you haven't been fired yet." Eater snickered.
"Yeah." he teased back. "So, what's your reason?" They briskly walked over to the elevator and punched the number pad.
~`~`~`~
"Normally I would be pleased by such a succesful haul." Giovanni began, "But I'm afraid I am worried about the disheartening failure in Turquiose." He drummed his fingers on the desk. "Do we have any plausible plans to retrive our members?"
Just as they opened their mouths to respond, two black uniformed gaurds hustled in, leading a trainer with a Spearow that Butch and Eater automatically knew was Jackal.
"What is the meaning of this?" The boss hissed, standing up. He glared down at the young lady, who had a look of concern on her face.
"This woman asked to speak to you, sir. She claims to have some important information on our -uh, situation." The nervous flunkie sputtered.
"Mr. Giovanni." Jackal said, looking at the name plate on the head of Team Rocket's desk. "I know who set up your agents. I also know how to bail them out." He was interested, but nonetheless wary.
"Why do you want to help us? Who are you? And most important, how did you find us?"
It wasn't hard to find you. I just hunted down a Rocket and told them I needed to talk to the boss. I'm sorry for not introducing myself; I am the JackalAndromeda, jackal of a thousand faces." Eater smiled at the theatrical melodrama she was so good at.
"To answer your first question," she continued, "I have a few friends here- Of course, I would also like a high-ranking job."
"You appear to be a bright business woman. On that I commend you. If your help does get our members back, you will be rewarded. But if you fail..."
"I get the point. The person who turned in your men was one Dr. Almon. I was waitressing tables when I overheard him discussing arangements with the police after the bust. Now, here's the fun part: Almon is the only one with the evidence to prove all these people are Rockets."
To Part-7
Back to The Fanfic Section
|