Pokémon SS, Chapters 49 & 50

[Marril]

Wow, I managed to put all this in one thread without the board exploding and getting a gooey mess all over me like it usually tries to do before I call in the bomb squad. This time around, it's two chapters instead of one. That seems impossible until it's suddenly not. Expect 10% more random words this time around.

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“Darkwood city again,” Alex said, stretching as he got off the train. The station wasn’t very crowded, and the train had very few people on it to begin with.
“Seems like ages since we’ve been here,” Tschel said. “Remember how Asuka and Tsubasa forfeit because of the Orthan thing?”
“Oh yeah,” Alex remembered it. He tossed around the idea of going to the gym and having a match for fun.
“So you wanna go challenge them for fun?” Tschel asked, managing to say exactly what Alex was thinking.
“Oh please do,” Marril smirked. “Remember how the Eckol gym leader said that those two were almost as hard as the Rueni gym leaders?”
“Oh right,” Tschel’s face showed a bit of worry.
Alex smiled and slid his arm around Tschel’s waist. “We don’t actually have to challenge them, you know.”
“Oh, it’s okay,” Tschel assured him. “Nothing to lose, really, and it’ll be a good experience.”
Marril chuckled. Alex knew she didn’t really feel any malicious desire to see them lose, but it would indeed be humorous for her.

“My Goddish!” Marril exclaimed. “What in the name of gold pokéblocks was that!”
“I don’t know,” Alex was stunned as he left the gym. Tschel was trailing behind him. “Aron really overrated those two.”
“One move per Pokémon!” Marril was incredulous. “It was like an Indigo League gym!”
Tschel chuckled hollowly at Marril’s jab at the Pokémon League’s management of the Indigo circuit.
“Then their Dustox got mad,” Marril chuckled. “I put him in his place.”
“You stepped on his head,” Alex arced an eyebrow. Marril laughed.
Alex stopped to allow Tschel to catch up. Marril didn’t, and took about five or seven paces to realize she’d been walking past them.
“At least we know we didn’t get the badge under any false pretences,” Tschel said, having caught up to Alex.
Alex and Marril laughed.

“We’re here,” Archie nodded to Hanai and Yuusuke as they walked off the Team Aqua helicopter. The pilot saluted and took off, leaving the two on the southern island in the Orange Islands. Yuusuke loved how close they were to Beta Site, where Tribo was being raised.
Though Team Rocket was very good, they’d never have found Kyogre’s whereabouts if the thing hadn’t been so close to their genetics site. Yuusuke was glad that they weren’t aiding Team Magma—they didn’t have the slightest idea where Groudon was sequestered.
“I feel like we’ve been here before,” Yuusuke said offhandedly to Hanai. Hanai shot Yuusuke a look but didn’t say anything.
“Your companions should be just over that ridge,” Archie pointed. Yuusuke and Hanai started for it, leaving Archie to play catch up.
It took about ten minutes of hiking to get to within visible range of the temporary encampment. The encampment itself consisted of five or six collapsible shelters and other similar buildings. Seismic activity would flatten the camp.
“Took you long enough,” Kenneth said grumpily as he came out from one of the buildings. His hair was mussed and he looked like he hadn’t showered in a few days. Archie looked at the man, obviously stunned at the Rocket Executive, but Yuusuke simply chuckled. He knew that Kenneth’s appearance was engineered to just appear unkempt.
“We were finalizing our plan,” Archie nodded.
“Oh good,” Kenneth glanced almost invisibly at Yuusuke. Yuusuke darted his eyes back and forth, not really giving any signals to Kenneth but making it look like he was.
“It took us a few days to acquire their modified Dark Ball,” Archie explained. Kenneth looked puzzled for a second, but played along.
“We’re ready to start any time,” Archie nodded.
“Tomorrow,” Hanai said. “We need time to prepare.”
Hanai indicated at Yuusuke to follow him and Kenneth. Archie moved to follow as well but Hanai shook his head.

Hanai closed the door to the collapsible shelter behind them. He didn’t bother speaking in a hushed whisper; the walls were soundproof.
“I called in a huge favour,” Hanai said as Kenneth and Yuusuke sat down with the other Rockets. “I managed to secure a Master Ball.”
Stein frowned. “I can’t imagine who with.”
“Thompson’s assistant Katczinsky,” Hanai explained.
Adair’s face soured. “You are aware that there is so much more we could do with that.”
“I don’t think so,” Hanai said. “I’m aware that this entire job is Kenneth’s sort of vengeance, but we can put it to its full use here, not just using it as overkill.”
Hanai procured the ball from his belt. It had been given a quick but thorough paint job that made it look like a Dark Ball. In theory he could have just used a Snatch Machine to transform it, but the matrices in a Master Ball were too complex and the machine could have damaged it.
“It’s a good idea,” Izumi added. “Without it we’d have a very hard time capturing Kyogre. Now, we can secure it without resistance.”
“We don’t want to capture it,” Adair pointed out. “In fact, we plan to only contain it for a few days. Then we shall release it.”
“I know all about your spiel about ‘forces of which we have no comprehension,’” Hanai defended himself. “I don’t like this very much, and it’s a crying shame, but it’s a necessity.”
“I hate to admit it, Adair, but the man has a point,” Stein crossed his arms and said with an air of finality.
“Scary how we both agree on this,” Kenneth flashed his trademark grin. “Hanai, you’re going to go far.”
“I’m already at the top,” Hanai furrowed his brow in confusion. “Unless you mean a promotion to Elite.”
“Oh Goddish no,” Kenneth crossed his arms. “That would be horrible.”
“Thank you,” Hanai muttered. It was no secret that few respected the Elites. To be promoted to Elite was in Stein and Kenneth’s circles something to be avoided. Granted, the Elites possessed skills rivalling even Kenneth’s elite unit, but the Elites were little more than elite thugs, common criminals by comparison. The real finesse—and, for that matter, fun—was to be had with the Executives.
“For such a delicate plan,” Stein noted aloud, “This requires very little care. It seems too simple.”
“Yes, you would say that,” Kenneth said, his grin faltering. Yuusuke saw this and thought that Kenneth must be doing a lot out of sight that none else could see. He wondered what it could be.
“I’ll say nothing on this matter,” Mikhail said, further piquing Yuusuke’s curiosity. He glanced at Izumi, who shrugged.

Yuusuke caught Kenneth as they left the building to go brief the Aquas on the plan. He pulled Kenneth aside. Kenneth looked puzzled.
“What’s all this about?” Yuusuke asked quietly.
“What’s what about?” Kenneth looked confused.
“You’re definitely doing things behind the scenes,” Yuusuke accused.
“What gave you that idea?” Kenneth asked, moving out from the figurative corner Yuusuke had him in. He didn’t walk away yet, but kept eye contact with Yuusuke.
“How you were acting back there,” Yuusuke explained. “Mikhail supports this.”
Kenneth chuckled. “That’s what this is about?”
Yuusuke felt slightly embarrassed, though he still wanted an explanation, no matter how anticlimactic. He nodded to Kenneth.
Kenneth sighed. “Yuusuke, if it was anything important, I’d have let you know right off the bat. All I was talking about was Stein’s habit of being a perfectionist, and me being able to get a plan off without any hitches.”
“I see,” Yuusuke said, feeling embarrassed. “I simply…”
“You assumed that there was something more to it,” Kenneth nodded. “We do so much of that cloak-and-dagger, under-the-table cliché stuff that it’s got us all in that mindset to look for things that aren’t always there. Problem is, we’ve never done enough simple stuff to make us all think outside that box we’re in.”
Kenneth clapped Yuusuke on the shoulder.
“That is our one weakness, our one tragic flaw, that will have this entire play come crashing down on us some day,” Kenneth said sagely, grinning like a madman. “But that ain’t today, and it ain’t gonna be Team Magma, capice?”
“I see,” Yuusuke said. He sort of understood, though in his eyes Kenneth was taking everything out of proportion.
“We’re almost ready to begin,” Kenneth explained. “Just meet me in the makeshift airfield when we’re going to take off.”
“Why?” Yuusuke asked. It definitely wasn’t in the plan.
“We’re making a quick stop at Beta Site, to see a woman about a Pokémon,” Kenneth said cryptically.
“We’re going to be taking Tribo?” Yuusuke asked.
“I called Juliet a few hours ago,” Kenneth explained. “She’s agreed to pose as a ‘special agent’ to have Tribo weaken Kyogre enough for the Master Ball to be effective enough to capture it.”
“How’d you convince her of that?”
“It was actually easy, she was jumping at the chance,” Kenneth’s nonchalance made Yuusuke doubt that. Judging from Executive Juliet’s usual manner, it had probably taken Kenneth quite some convincing.
“This is going to be embarrassingly easy,” Yuusuke pointed out.
“Oh, I hope so,” Kenneth flashed a malicious smirk. “The easier it is, the quicker we can get around to my real goal.”
Kenneth made a point of letting that last sentence hang. He sauntered away in a slightly exaggerated manner, swaying slightly in an arrogant way. Yuusuke understood fully the lengths that Kenneth had been pushed. It was both respectable and damnable the length to which Kenneth was willing to stoop to kill Roland, the precision and baseness.
In reality, Kenneth was probably taking Yamato’s death better than anyone else in the group.
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That's... not it for this week, folks. Gasp. More to follow.

[Marril]

This is the second chapter. Like you needed me to tell you.

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“Keisatsu,” Marril announced redundantly, seeing as how they were already in the city, going to find lodgings for the next few nights, and had been doing so for the previous hour.
“I’ve seen ten Officer Jennies so far,” Tschel noted, seeing another go by on motorcycle. “This is starting to scare me.”
“I heard that,” Jenny muttered, vanishing around the corner. Marril laughed.
“Should we just get the gym first?” Alex suggested. “We are pressed for time to get this all done.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Tschel agreed. Marril muttered something under her breath.
“Eh?” Alex asked.
“I never get to watch these things,” Marril complained. “Something about Orthan Pokémon being unable to watch the battles, or something.”
“Look, just, well, not leave,” Tschel suggested.
“Oh you’re a help!” Marril exclaimed, drawing two or three stares from passers-by.
“Best advice there is,” Tschel shrugged.
“Stop it, you two,” Alex interrupted the fight that he knew was coming.
“Hey, we’re here,” Marril noted. The gym looked like a police station, and even had a lobby that looked like the average police station. The only thing that made it look different was that every police officer in the building that they could see were Jennies.
“Can we help you?” One Jenny asked, looking up from her desk.
“We’re here for a gym battle,” Alex said. Jenny nodded and stood up. She indicated for Alex and Tschel to follow her.
Marril stepped in to follow them, but another Jenny shook her head. Marril said “aiyah” in frustration and crossed her arms indignantly. She glanced at the “Most Wanted” board on the wall. At the top of the list was, of course, Giovanni, the head of Team Rocket. Second was a man who bore a striking resemblance to Officer Jenny. She couldn’t make out his name other than that it started with an M.

“Jenny, Jenny,” the Jenny who led Alex and Tschel into the room called. “Two more trainers are here for a gym battle.”
The “room” was more like a hastily cleared courtroom in terms of décor. The lighting was at least bright, unlike other gyms Alex had been in. Two Jennies walked in through doors in the far wall, looking tired.
“They’re the ninth and tenth trainers here today,” one Jenny noted aloud. “All right, a challenge is a challenge.”
“All right,” the other Jenny, who sounded more authoritative, said. “Listen up, the rules for this gym are simple. The battles will be two-on-two until one side runs out of Pokémon. Each trainer is permitted the use of one Pokémon and one Pokémon only. Weather effects, including Surf, are disallowed, and large, destructive attacks, like Earthquake, are also prohibited. Switching Pokémon mid-battle is prohibited on either side.”
Tschel smirked. “Sounds fun. Usual opener?”
“Sure,” Alex said, grabbing Gyarados’ pokéball.
“Begin!” The referee, a third Jenny, who was holding two semaphore flags, announced, quickly performing the semaphore for “begin!”
Alex called Gyarados, and Tschel began with Umbreon. The Jennies started with an Arcanine and a Houndoom.
“Arcanine, Take Down attack!” Jenny shouted just as the dog was on the field.
“Houndoom, support it with a Flamethrower!” The other Jenny called.
“Gyarados, get in the way!” Alex ordered. Gyarados took Arcanine’s shoulder tackle and the jet stream of flames that ensued. The serpent was unaffected by either.
“Umbreon, hit them both with Confuse Ray!” Tschel shouted. To his delight—since this was the first time it’d happened all through the League—the dazzling light show connected with both opposing police dogs.
“Gyarados, press the advantage with a Thunder attack!” Alex called out. Gyarados’ eyes glowed a fierce yellow and lightning leapt from its mouth, striking Houndoom square in its muzzle. Houndoom withstood the attack, but was visibly wounded.
“Houndoom, hit that Umbreon with your Crunch attack!” Jenny tried.
“Umbreon, Protect!” Tschel noticed the position that Houndoom was getting itself into and saw the opening.
Alex saw it too. “Gyarados, hit that Houndoom out of the arena!”
Gyarados swept its massive tail under Houndoom on the rebound right after the dog struck the shining wall of light in front of Umbreon. The dog was carried off through the air, flying until it struck the ground near the door where the Jennies had entered.
The Arcanine-training Jenny swore under her breath. “Arcanine, hit the Gyarados with an Extremespeed!”
Before any other Pokémon could react, Arcanine was attempting very hard to knock out one of Gyarados’ fangs with its shoulder. It wasn’t succeeding all that well.
“These Jennies are way below our level,” Alex noted quietly to Tschel.
“I know,” Tschel agreed. “This is really too easy. Umbreon, Bite it!”
“Gyarados, Hyper Beam!” Alex called the finisher.
Umbreon’s teeth were still in Arcanine’s flank as the beam hit the dog at an angle, the force of the impact knocking Arcanine off its feet and sliding across the ground. Arcanine tried to stand up but couldn’t.
“The challengers are the winners,” the judging Jenny raised her semaphore flags to spell out “Victory!” in under five seconds. Alex wondered why she used semaphore instead of standard judges’ flags.
“That makes eight badges,” Tschel smirked. “And we’re making good time. We’re about two days ahead of that deadline Marril gave us.”
Alex smiled as the two went to collect their badges. “That’ll give us time to go have fun, relax a little.”

Marril had read over the Most Wanted board three times already by the time Alex and Tschel got back. She was most intrigued by the second guy on the list, a male Jenny (one of few) with known Rocket ties, and an ex-cop from Goldenrod City in Johto.
“So, didja win?” Marril asked, cheery.
“No, we lost,” Tschel said solemnly. “Very, very badly.”
“No, really,” Marril said, exasperated.
“Really,” Tschel said with a you-don’t-want-to-question-me air. He brushed past Marril casually.
“Look, I know you flattened them,” Marril said, starting to follow Tschel and Alex out. “I just want to hear it.”
“Remember Asuka and Tsubasa?” Alex asked. “It was like that.”
“Really?” Marril said. “Aww, I was hoping it’d been, you know, a challenge, not just walk in there and beat the sense out of them.”
“That’s right,” Alex smiled. Tschel casually slid his arm around Alex’s waist; Alex pretended—unsuccessfully—not to notice. “We don’t even need to go to the Pokémon Center to heal our Pokémon.”
“Why do you two insist on doing that?” Marril asked, frustrated.
“Do what?” Alex asked, smiling an insufferably oblivious smile as he edged up closer to Tschel, laying his head on Tschel’s shoulder without breaking stride at all.
“Argh,” Marril groaned. She pretended not to know Alex and Tschel, obviously failing miserably.
Really, Marril was hit with the realization; it wasn’t that Alex and Tschel were together that she objected to. Thinking about it, it was mainly just that she felt she was losing in her unspoken but not unfriendly war with Tschel. On the other hand, it gave her a lot to pretend to object so, which was a victory.
Marril chuckled to herself. This was a very, very useful thing to realize for future arguments.

“We’re here,” Kenneth said icily. The whirlpool was quiet for one caused by a legendary Pokémon. He could even see Kyogre in the center. Off of the whirlpool was a motorboat with Juliet inside, directing the battle that was going on in the center. A black streak was impacting Kyogre multiple times per second, and jet streams of water were firing from the whirlpool at it.
Tribo, Kenneth smirked. It was almost too strong to be believed. Juliet looked up at Kenneth, who nodded. Juliet signalled for Tribo to fall back.
The downdraft from the helicopter made it hard for him to aim the Master Ball at the legendary. Several of the best Aquas and Archie himself were in the helicopter, along with most of the Rocket unit, so pressure was high. So high was the pressure that Kenneth himself didn’t feel like making any witty comments about anything at all.
“I am going to throw the ball!” Kenneth called up from the ladder he was suspended on. “Lower me in further!”
The helicopter lowered itself jerkily, putting Kenneth closer to the swirling vortex. He wondered why he’d elected to be the one to do this. Surely, Izumi had better field qualifications. He’d often complained that he seemed deskbound, but this was ridiculous.
Kenneth pressed the eye of the ball so that it enlarged to full size. He saw Kyogre in the whirlpool, its back presenting a large target. Making a quick calculation in his head, he threw the Master Ball with no theatrics at all.
The ball arced down over the whirlpool, seemingly another large rain drop in the storm that blew through the air. The ball struck Kyogre’s back and Kyogre dissipated inside. Immediately, the rainstorm stopped and Kenneth’s rope ladder stopped swaying in the wind.
The ball whipped around with Kyogre’s resistance. The eye stopped glowing and the ball shut and locked. The whirlpool stopped immediately and the Master Ball floated on the surface of the water.
“Lower me in closer!” Kenneth called to the pilot. The helicopter lowered closer to the water’s surface and Kenneth leaned down, precarious, and picked up the ball from the water’s surface.
“Keep it steady!” Kenneth shouted upward. “I’m climbing up now!”
He climbed the rope ladder slowly and cautiously. There was no need to hurry. He reached the top about a minute later and climbed into the relatively spacious helicopter. Pressing the eye of the ball to shrink it, he stuffed it into his pocket and sat down between Izumi and Yuusuke.
“That seemed too easy,” Archie declared.
Kenneth almost said something that would let Archie know about Tribo’s existence. It was true that Kyogre could have blocked the Master Ball had it not been weakened, so Kenneth merely said, “That’s only because everyone in your team isn’t up to our level.”
In reality, it was because nobody else had something that could fight and defeat Kyogre. Juliet’s pretence for being down there was that she was a distraction, not a fighter. The Rockets had gone to many lengths to ensure that no Aqua saw the genetic Pokémon.
What a house of cards, Kenneth smirked, crossing his arms. What a house of cards.
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That's it for this week, folks. Next chapter goes up when it goes up. Until then, remember that Team Rocket will make you look like a bunch of idiots at every opportunity whether they really need to or not. In fact, they'll do it more on the latter than the former. Really. I'm not joking. Oh, comments might go up in the usual place if I feel like it. Might. Or something. I'm just getting two weeks' worth of closing rants out of my system.