Nina quickly shut the door and looked around the room for any abnormalities. But aside from the unexpected presence of the Gym Leader, the unconscious Rocket exec on the floor and the sinister looking device on the table, there really wasn’t much else.
“Victor, why are you here? How did you get here?”
“Hm? Well, I was in the area, tracking down Team Rocket and their stolen Master Ball. Then I heard about all this hubbub. And well…” Victor gestured towards an open window in the meeting room and at his Ariados who was in the process of wrapping Petrel in web. “Darling Ariana here’s quite the lil’ climber.”
“Wait, so you knew Team Rocket was in the city and you didn’t tell anyone? And what’s this about a stolen Master Ball?”
“Well a couple of weeks ago, Team Rocket pulled off a heist in HQ, stole the region’s only Master Ball. League put me in charge of the investigation — didn’t wanna startle the Ekans y’know? So I kept things hush-hush. Didn’t know they were out here planning mischief. ‘Sides, things are real rowdy outside, doubt anyone’d care to lend a hand.”
“That makes no sense.” Nina chimed. “Team Rocket took over a live broadcast and issued an ultimatum to both Indigo regions. Why would they hold back on reinforcements?!”
“Haha! Well for one, Team Rocket’s also trying to poach Lugia. The ladies of your Gym, ol’ Chuck and Falkner’s been called in to deal with that mess. Probably battling them right now. And the Lake of Rage? Sorry to tell ya, but they’ve already activated the signal an hour ago. Took everybody off guard — half of Mahogany Town’s in ruins.”
Kerry trembled and gasped. “Is this… our fault? Is it because we broke free?”
“Oh… No, no, sweetie… Not at all.” Victor assured. “It’s ‘cause the League tried to negotiate and those rascals triggered a relay they hid near the lake, just to prove that they could. The transmission was brief, so it only pissed off the regular Gyarados. The master of the lake’s awake now, but it hasn’t left the lake just yet. The Blackthorns are looking to subdue it, but without a Master Ball, that ain’t gonna happen. That thing’s pure anger and hatred incarnate.”
“If they can’t subdue it, then they should consider putting it down…” Nina murmured, a slight edge to her voice. “This all feels like a distraction. Their ultimate goal is the liberation of Giovanni. This three pronged strike is probably a ruse to spread the League’s forces thin. And even if they do fail to free Giovanni then, well… A Legendary Pokemon seems like a pretty decent consolation prize.”
“Heh. Not happening. Those scalies are real attached to their pet monster. They’ll try to put it back to sleep but ain’t no way they’ll kill off their Gyarados farm.”
Nina scowled. “But wait, I’m assuming Team Rocket’s trying to use the stolen Master Ball to catch Lugia?” Likely near Whirlpool Island. “So what’re you doing here then if you were tracking it?”
The Gym Leader sheepishly rubbed at the back of his head and let out a light chuckle. “Err… well, let’s just say that ol’ Victor got bamboozled. ‘Sides, Lugia’s in water and I ain’t gonna be much use. Oops, wasn’t supposed to tell ya that. Haha. Shush, okay?”
Nina held back her groan. Victor was exactly as she remembered him. “Anyways, enough talk. Let’s break this jammer and pave the way for backup.” She said as she released Nitey. “By the way, are you alone? Where’s Sabrina and Morty.”
Victor stared intently at Nitey as he went to work on the jammer, needing a little poke from Nina before he responded.
“Hmm… Oh, what?”
“I was asking if you came in here alone. Where’s Sabrina and Morty? According to Whitney, they’re supposed to be in the city.”
“Oh, right. Well, Sabrina’s been recalled to the League. Morty and his people should be in the tunnels — said he would sneak in earlier. Dunno how that’s goin’.”
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Nina was still filled with doubt, but she decided to hold back her questioning for the sake of urgency. “Espy, how is it? Do you think this is enough for someone to Teleport in.”
Espy frowned then shook her head. It seemed their plan was a bust.
“Oh cheer up, ain’t your fault. Team Rocket’s got a mega jammer up on the Radio Tower — whole city’s dark. Ain’t just the building. That’s mainly why Sabrina left. She’s supposed to escort Giovanni back to the League... Woops! Wasn’t supposed to tell ya that either.
“So you’re saying we’re screwed then? But how will Team Rocket do their broadcast?”
“They’ll turn it off first, of course!”
Nina groaned.
“Wait! Lady Whitney!” Kerry exclaimed. “We have to warn her!”
“Eh, it’ll be fine.” Victor waved. “That young lass can handle herself. Probably met up with Morty by now.”
“So what do you propose we do, Victor?” As underwhelming as he was, the man was still a Gym Leader. So it was natural for Nina to defer to his authority under a crisis.
“Easy, we go out and knock down the Radio Tower! No Radio Tower, no threat! Gahaha!”
Nina and Kerry both shared a skeptical look. “They’ve still got hostages though…”
“It’ll be fine. We just need to free everyone first. I’ll go and kick their asses while you two keep the hostages safe. Sounds good?”
Nina was about to protest, but before she could, Victor had already swung open the door and announced his presence to the goons outside. “Now then, who here wants a good spanking!”
Chaos ensued.
***
“Something’s not right…” was what Nina thought as she and Kerry frantically ran around trying to free every hostage they could find.
As for the Pokemon, the two girls were being assisted by Kaipo the Marowak and Polly the Poliwhirl while Espy was busy trying to contain the destruction caused by Victor’s battle with Team Rocket; remnants of flimsy cubicles, shredded paper and broken electronics littered the floor.
Nina had originally commanded Azzy to go around and make sure that the Rocket goons didn’t harm any of the hostages but that turned out to be unnecessary.
“Team Rocket’s all focused on Victor. Almost too focused… And why are there so few of them? I remember there being more on this floor.”
“Nina, what do we do now?” The girl’s reverie was interrupted by a nervous looking Kerry, who was standing at the forefront of the all hostages they just freed. “These are the last of them but there’s more people downstairs.”
“Then we make our way down…” Nina took in a sharp breath. “EVERYONE! MAKE SURE TO STICK TOGETHER AND DO NOT RUSH! We’ve already recovered your Pokeballs and will return them once we’re out. Do we have any security personnel here?” A couple of hands shot up at Nina’s call.
“Here, the two of you split the pack and lead them to the exit. We have a couple of Psychic Pokemon that we retrieved from Team Rocket. They belong to the station so they should obey. In the meantime, Kerry and I will head back down to the second floor and retrieve the hostages there. We need a few brave volunteers to tag along and help out as well.”
““Yes, ma’am!!””
And with that, the frightened crowd was funneled towards the stairs in a semi-orderly manner while Nina and Espy guarded the rear. She also sent Azzy ahead to scout the remaining floors and hold their evacuation if there was heavy resistance. Except…
“What do you mean you didn’t see any Team Rocket?”
“Haunt. Haunter, haunt.”
“Are you sure?”
“Haunt.”
The girl furrowed her brows. “Smells like Muk in here…”
“Nina, what’s wrong?” Kerry asked.
“The remaining floors are clear, except for a small handful of grunts guarding the entrance.”
“That’s good… right?”
“Yeah… Maybe. I’m sending Espy and Azzy ahead to disable those grunts. Let’s hurry up and free the rest of the hostages. After that, I want you to follow everyone out of the station and inform the authorities about the situation inside.”
Kerry frowned. “What about you then?”
“I’m gonna go back up Victor. And besides, there’s still the Radio Tower next door. Pretty sure there’re hostages in there as well. And here, hold on to my backpack for me. All the Pokemon we retrieved are inside as well.”
The nurse girl seemed hesitant to leave her friend alone but ultimately nodded in affirmation as she grabbed hold of the bag. “And Lady Whitney?”
“According to Victor, Morty might be down there. So let’s just believe in the two Gym Leaders for now and leave it to the authorities. Surely there must be someone familiar with the tunnels among them.”
“Okay, be careful, Nins.”
“Will do.”
***
By the time that Nina made her way back onto the third floor, Victor was leisurely tying up the Rocket goons he knocked out. Almost too leisurely.
“We’ve secured all the hostages we could find in the broadcast station. The police and the Ace Trainers should be rushing in as we speak.”
“Great!” Victor beamed. “Let’s head on over next door and climb the Radio Tower then. I betcha their head honcho’s at the very tippy top — this lot loves to brood in front of a tall window. Funny ain’t it?”
“Yeah… funny that. Don’t you think we should join up with the authorities first? Even a couple of Ace Trainers will be very helpful.”
“Haha! Not to worry, ol’ Victor’ll take good care of ya!” The man proclaimed with a thump to his chest.
“Sure…” Nina murmured as she turned around to lead the way, her face indecipherable.
And just as Victor began to follow suit, the Espeon by the girl’s side struck! A full powered Psybeam shot out from Espy’s ruby red forehead jewel towards the unguarded Gym Leader.
