Nina would be beaming right now. This was exactly what she hoped would happen. If not for the devastated look of the young nurse next to her, bound in rope.

  She had seen first hand how much her friend was looking forward to dancing on stage. The giddy expression on her face when Mizuho first showed off their costumes and even secretly practicing during her personal time to make sure she didn’t mess up the choreo.

  “Don’t worry Kerr, if they decide not to redo this program then I’ll personally do a mermaid show with you at the Cerulean Gym.”

  Kerry immediately lit up at the proposal. “Really? Are you sure? I thought you hated doing those shows?”

  “Honestly, I don’t mind the monthly ones and I’d feel bad if the world didn’t get to see how cute you are.”

  Kerry giggled and squirmed over to give her a little bump on the shoulder. “That’s sweet of you, Nins. But why are you so calm though? Aren’t you scared?”

  Nina shrugged and looked to her other side where Whitney, who was also all tied up, let out a lazy yawn, looking utterly unconcerned by their predicament. “Pretty sure I caught her napping earlier as well.”

  “Eh, what’s the worst that could happen.” The current event was very different from how it occurred in the games. But she did recall that a Radio Tower take over did happen. With a similar premise involving the Lake of Rage as well.

  “I wonder if the original Radio Tower takeover actually occurred in this world though? I don’t remember ever reading about it…”

  “Oi! You there! Shut your mouth!”

  Nina scoffed. “What are you gonna do about it?”

  “Wh-Wha—?!” The Rocket grunt stammered, clearly not expecting dissent from the girl.

  In truth, Nina wouldn’t have been so defiant if Petrel, the purple haired executive, was around. But he had long left to go somewhere else. A dumb decision if there ever was one — leaving two seasoned Gym Trainers alone with a bunch of mindless goons.

  “I said… What are you gonna do about it? Not like you can hurt us. And you definitely can’t kill us, otherwise the League’s really gonna hammer down on you. No wonder your friends named you Bozo.”

  “Y-You! Who do you think you are, you little bitch!”

  The red-faced grunt raised his palm in a fit of rage. But before he could lower it, a shadowy tendril lashed out from the darkness and restrained him while a very angry looking Haunter emerged from Nina’s silhouette and stared down at the offending goon with swirly eyes.

  And just like a sack of potatoes, the grunt collapsed onto the ground, slumbering from Azzy’s Hypnosis.

  “What’s going on over there?!” The rest of the goons, about two dozen in total, stirred at the commotion. But before they could do anything else, Azzy tossed out a colourfully painted Premier Ball and a sticker bombed Pokeball to summon her older siblings.

  Nitey flared his Draconic Aura, completely suppressing the Dark Type Pokemon that were blocking the Espy’s Psychic Energy. At the same time, The Espeon’s silver eyes glowed an ominous light, taking advantage of the opening to set up a silencing barrier and restrained the Rocket goons by dislocating their limbs. Further allowing Azzy to swoop in and put them all to sleep one by one.

  Then in a blur of Quick Attack, Espy disappeared and took out the ill-trained Rocket Pokemon in an overwhelming display. Nitey had to hold back from making any big moves since a lumbering Dragonite might risk harming the hostages and alarm the rest of the guards outside.

  With a swipe of his claw, Nitey broke the rope restraining Nina as well as Mizuho and Kerry who was mouth agape in disbelief.

  “To answer your question, Kerr… I was calm because Azzy never left my side. After Team Rocket barged in, she snuck away from my shadow to go retrieve my Pokeballs from the dressing room.”

  Nitey had actually wanted to watch the live performance but she was worried that her clumsy orange oaf would accidentally break some expensive equipment. Espy on the other hand, just hated being in such a crowded space. The only Pokemon that was taken from her was Brinny, who they would have to rescue later. Fortunately, finding the Brionne wouldn’t be that hard with Espy tracking his Psychic signature.

  “The whole time, Azzy was just biding her time, waiting for the right time to strike. And just so happens, the guards outside had just wandered off somewhere.”

  “Haunt. Haunter!” Azalea the Haunter beamed, looking immensely proud of her accomplishment.

  “Gosh, you’re just so cute, Azzy. Hehe…” Nina pulled her smug Ghost girl in for a nuzzle.

  “Thanks Azzy, you’re a hero!” Kerry exclaimed, causing the Haunter’s form to waver in embarrassment. “But err… What do we do now?” The girl then turned her gaze to all the other broadcast staff, all tied up around them and looking up at the girls with hopeful eyes.

  “Hmm… What do you think, Whitney? Want me to free you?”

  The Gym Leader let out another lazy yawn. “And here I was thinking I can catch up a little on my beauty sleep.” With a casual flex, the ropes binding Whitney fell apart on their own. “So what’s the plan then, genius? Can’t exactly sneak all these Psyducks out with us. Pretty sure those morons will do something stupid if they find out we’re trying to escape.”

  Nina sighed. “I was hoping you might have a plan. But well… You’re not wrong…”

  “What are you saying?! You can’t just leave us here?!” One of the hostages shrieked in hysteria.

  “Oh, quit your bitchin’!” Whitney chided. “You’ll be safer here than running around with us. If anyone asks, just say that we left you for dead. They won’t risk losing any more hostages than they already have. ‘Less one of you lot’s Sabrina’s secret apprentice or has a better idea, I ain’t hearin’ it!”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  The Gym Leader stomped her foot down on the floor. Her scarlet red eyes glaring viciously at the crowd, daring anyone dumb enough to oppose her.

  “Don’t you have a Ghost Pokemon, Lady Whitney?” Kerry chimed. “Why not have them hide everyone in the shadows while you and Nina clear a path to the exit?”

  “Tch. I ain’t letting no Ghost creep on me while I sleep. My Gym is Normal Type only, squirt. And ‘sides, how d’ya expect us to battle our way out without making noise?” Whitney dismissed the idea with a haughty wave.

  “Morty and Sabrina’s in town and we still got lots of Growlithes running around ‘cause of Giovanni.” The woman added. “They’ll figure something out soon enough. Right now, what we gotta be doing is find and break their Teleport jammer, and cut the power to this joint. No power, no signal. Easy peasy.”

  “So you’re saying we shouldn’t escape yet?”

  “‘Course! Fuck if I’m gonna let these goons loose in MY city! Team Rocket’ll rue the day they crossed the one and only Whitney Scarlet! And you! Horse girl! You’re coming with me!”

  ***

  Nina sighed. Despite all of Whitney’s grand posturing, the woman was completely helpless without her Pokemon. So the first order of business would be to retrieve their Pokeballs. Which was fine with her since Nina had to go get Brinny as well anyway.

  That said, only Nina, Kerry and Whitney opted to take action. Mizuho willingly allowed herself to be loosely tied up again since she was just support staff back in the Gym.

  “Alright! Lead the way, horse girl! Giddyup! And don’t you dare fart on me!”

  “Shush! Let them all know we’re coming, why don’t you! Also, you’re the one who’s liable to fart with all the dairy you shove in your mouth!”

  “Oh shush, girlie! I’m wearing an idol outfit right now. Everyone knows idols don’t fart! Matter of fact, our assholes automagically poof out of existence when we put them frills on.” Whitney argued.

  “If that’s the case then how could I possibly fart then?” Since both she and Kerry were wearing the exact same getup as Whitney — they hadn’t had time to change before embarking on their reckless undertaking.

  Another sigh from Nina and a reassuring pat from Kerry before they finally shuffled along on their prone form. Apparently, the ceiling of the broadcast station was modular, to allow free installation of any filming equipment when necessary as well as easy adjustment of ceiling heights to accommodate different sets.

  Thus, there was actually quite a lot of space for three dainty young idols to crawl around in. “It’s time to Die Hard this shit!” Nina had proclaimed earlier, drawing confused looks from her accomplices.

  The outer guards had returned at some point, but they made the mistake of neglecting to check in with their incapacitated coworkers in the studio. Which saved Nina’s Pokemon the trouble of subduing them.

  And speaking of, the one actually leading the way was a disgruntled looking Espy who could still pick up faint traces of their team’s youngest even amidst such a dense concentration of Dark Type Energy. Nina’s little princess wasn’t very happy about all the dust and debris staining her fur.

  “They’ll start noticing all these missing members soon.” Nina grunted as she forced herself free of a particularly cumbersome nest of wires.

  “And by then, backup’ll be here so quit being such a pussy.” Whitney chimed.

  The younger girl sighed. “Just making an observation, geez… And in case you forget, we still need to worry about the Lake of Rage.”

  “Eh. Knowing the League, they probably have the lake surrounded by now. The Blackthorns use that place to farm all their Gyarados, you know? The Aura from the master of the lake drives all Magikarp insane — forces an Evo. No way those prudes wouldn’t have guards in place. Then, there’s that decrepit ol’ Sneasal in Mahogany Town.”

  “Huh… You know, for a second there, you actually sounded like a proper Gym Leader.”

  “Oh fuck off!” The girls giggled.

  “How did they even manage to get so many members in here unnoticed anyway?” Kerry chimed, in between waiting for Azzy to signal them. “And I’ve always wondered… Why didn’t Lady Sabrina foresee all this? She’s supposed to be able to see the future right?”

  “Tunnels. Lots of underground tunnels ‘neath the city. Leftover from the war. We tell ‘em not to, but lotsa people still use the tunnels for movin’ stuff around.” Nina nodded along with Whitney’s words. She had been intending to sign them up for a tour of the historic tunnels when she and Kerry went shopping in the underground mall. But then, Bourbon got injured and she had to devote all her time to training Rice Shower instead.

  Whitney looked towards Nina and continued with a huff. “As for that other question… You wanna handle this one, Espeon girl?”

  Nina held back her sigh. Better Espeon girl than horse girl. “From what Espy tells me, seeing into the future is not that simple. Foresight is like calculating probabilities. So an oracle doesn’t just see one future, but multiple branches of the future. Naturally, some are more likely than the others. Hence why Espy baits her opponents during battle.”

  In order to fully grasp the future, one needed to be aware of all the variables. And even then, there was no hundred percent certainty because sentient minds remained a factor of chaos.

  “Put a hundred identical clones in a hundred identical situations at the exact same time and you might end up with a hundred identical outcomes. But what about a thousand? A hundred thousand? Eventually, one of those clones will deviate and break the chain of causality, leading to an entirely different future. Now scale that up to a hundred, a thousand, a million different variables... Each autonomous and colliding into one another in a bed of chaos, resulting in infinite possibilities.”

  It was comforting in a way. Because it was a testament that free will does indeed exist. Even if it was bound by the chains of causality which, in turn, was tempered by the tides of chaos.

  Pokemon like Xatu got paralyzed by their innate omniscience not just because of fear but also because of information overload — infinite branches of time existing across multiple parallels simultaneously. Imagine something as simple as talking to someone but receiving an infinite variation of different responses all at once. Just choosing which response to address would be enough to paralyze most people.

  “In other words, the condition for omniscience is omniscience itself. And while she’s capable, Sabrina’s not omniscient by any means. Because she would have to be aware of everything, or know exactly what to look for, or stumble upon key factors by chance to make the right predictions. Making it perfectly possible to hide from her Sight, or even spoof it.”

  “No wonder prophets and mystics are so cryptic, can’t be too wrong if they just paint in broad strokes instead of fixating on details.” One could also argue that the observation and awareness of a future ostensibly functioned as a confirmation of said future, forcing subsequent events to contribute to its fulfillment. But such complexities were way beyond Nina’s cognition.

  “Heh. Questions like that’ll never end. Next, you’ll be asking why Sabrina didn’t know about Giovanni back when he was all goody-two-shoes?” Whitney chuckled. “Matter of fact, we used to think she was in cahoots with him way back when.”

  “I see…” Kerry nodded vacantly, having long lost the thread of conversation midway through Nina’s yap fest.

  After a bit more sneaking around. They finally made it, dropping down in front of a security office that Team Rocket had repurposed into a vault. But strangely, there were no guards in sight.

  “What’s going on, Espy?”

  The Espeon shook her head in frustration, unable to see inside.

  “Do you think we should send Azzy in first?”

  Another headshake, more vigorous this time. Whatever’s guarding the room, it’s ringing alarm bells with the Psychic Eeveelutions instincts.

  “So what do we do then?” asked an anxious Kerry. “Lady Whitney? Any wisdom to share?”

  “Tch. Like my pa always said; when in doubt, just heehaw!”

  Nina scoffed in amusement. “Why don’t the two of you stay here and I’ll go in on my own. Here, you can hold on to Sir Clodington for protection. I’ll signal you guys when it’s okay to proceed.”

  “Are you sure, Nina?”

  The girl let out a nervous smile and gestured towards her Pokeballs. “Don’t worry, my Pokemon will protect me.”

  ***

  “See boys, what did I tell ya? Gotta bait out the Horsea if ya wanna catch ‘em.”

  “You’re so right, big bro. Once Giovanni gets outta the slammer, he’s totally promoting you!”

  It was an ambush. Because of course it was. The room was pitch black when Nina first entered. And as she gingerly made her way towards the light switch, the door abruptly slammed shut behind her and the darkness came to life, depositing about half a dozen Rocket goons alongside their Pokemon led by a guy and his Mightyena.

  Thank goodness for Espy who intercepted their attacks with a timely barrier. And speaking of the Espeon, Nina shared a glance with her battle princess, prompting her to break out into a Dazzling Gleam, blinding all the humans and causing all of the surrounding Dark Types to howl in pain.

  Then, taking advantage of that momentary weakness, Espy flared her Aura and sealed the whole room in a Fairy reinforced Psychic barrier. Ensuring that nothing could come in or out of the space.

  Nina sighed. “Honestly, what is wrong with you cartoon villain types? I’m assuming you didn’t even bother to report our intrusion to your command either?”

  The leader of the goon squad gulped. “Err… Of course we did! Who do you think we are?!”

  “That’s right! No way big bro would make such a rookie mistake!”

  “Yeah! That’s right! Watch your mouth, kid!”

  Nina smiled then transitioned into a low, ominous chuckle. “Oh boys, you might think you’re all smart, luring me into an ambush…” With a casual toss, Nina unveiled her Dragonite. “But make no mistake. I’m not trapped in here with you… You’re trapped in here with me!”

  “I’ve always wanted to say that line!”

  third time in however many months.