章節 8: A Month Of Freedom

Vex returned to the campsite after staring at the circular plate for a while. A plethora of thoughts from the past day flooded his head, causing him to mull over many things and contemplate what his next move would be.

According to Arceus, Team Rocket would stay in the shadows for roughly another 3 years before starting a small yet silent war on the entirety of the Kanto, Sinnoh, and Johto regions. The other sides fought bravely but with Team Rocket having a bunch of insiders on the opposing side and having weaved a web of lies filled with false information that kept the other regions unaware, the war was brought to a swift end. With the three regions suppressed and Team Rocket in charge, the other regions began to prepare themselves while others wanted to take them down with pure force, not realizing that Team Rocket had already expanded to the point where it had its own spies situated in various places of power in regions throughout the world. From an organization that had been underestimated to one that threw the whole world into chaos. Vex had roughly a few years to change the fate of the Pokemon world. This was the reason he was brought here, to fight against this evil faction, before they had to time to consolidate enough power to upheave society.

Vex's best guess was that Arceus wanted to use him, an unknown, otherworldly variable, to change the future that was currently set in stone. This was just a hypothesis of course, one that could only be proven if he asked Arceus directly. Back in the mindscape, Arceus had repeatedly dodged Vex's questions about why he had chosen him specifically, always changing the subject or giving him vague answers. It was still unclear as why he, one in a few billion of other potential candidates, was picked.

"Hey Vex, over here!!"

The white haired young man glanced up, his thought process broken as his heterochromatic eyes shifted onto Serena, who happened to be waving and calling out to him. Next to the young woman was Brock who was feeding what looked like a floating rock with arms. After a few seconds, Vex decided to push his other thoughts away for the time being, at least until he got stronger, both as a trainer and as a fighter.

"Oh, hey guys," Vex responded, giving the two of them a smile. He glanced briefly over at Caitlin who, surprisingly enough, had climbed into her sleeping bag and fallen back asleep. For someone who was part of the a group called the "Elite Four", she didn't seem that elite. Of course, looks were a deception in and of itself so Vex wasn't too concerned. He was almost positive she'd be a good teacher for him. At this point, he had to take what he could get.

"Hey guys, whatcha up to?" Vex asked as he grabbed his backpack. Probably for privacy reasons, the other two hadn't picked up his bag from where he had dropped it. "Need anything?"

"Not really, I just wanted to talk to you for a bit." Serena gave a sincere smile. "It'd be rather weird for us to travel together and not know anything about each other."

While this fact was true, Vex was hesitant about what he should share. He didn't know how much Arceus had told Caitlin and if she had transferred all, if any, of her gained knowledge to Brock and Serena. If it came down to it, he would simply politely decline telling them where he was from. Of course, if they already knew that he wasn't from this world then he would happily tell them about himself.

"Actually, I've been wanting to ask you both something." Vex set the bag down onto the grass before flopping down next to it. "Are you both okay with all of this? Being a few regions away from home is a big deal. Don't you have family who'll be worried about you? I'm almost certain that you didn't have time to prepare for this. None of what has happened was told to you in advance."

The area got quiet for a bit, nothing but the sound of crackling firewood and the chirping of crickets filled the night. The light from the fire cast a weird glow over Serena as she looked at the ground, her previous expression of curiosity slowly coming undone.

"Of course I'm not okay," Serena answered. As if she could be okay with anything that was happening to her. She was just starting out on her journey when she got struck by lightning, transporting her from Vaniville Town in the Unova region right to this exact clearing exactly three days ago. Scared and confused about what was happening and where she was, she had wandered about the forest and Viridian City until she had met Caitlin. "I want to go home. The 'adventure' I was so looking forward to seems like a complete failure. However, it doesn't appear I can do anything except continue forward. I don't have enough money for a plane ticket back so I cant go anywhere for the time being."

Vex nodded. He figured she was putting on a complete facade to keep others from worrying, indicating that she cared about the feelings of other people. Bottling up her fear and anxiety was all she could manage as she tried to cope with the events that were thrown at her one after another. Normal kids their age would've already succumbed to their stress and panic no matter how tough they claimed to be. It was very hard to face the unknown with a calm demeanor or to be as brace as Serena had been so far.

"What about you Brock?" Vex asked as he turned his attention away from Serena. He didn't want to continue to pry further lest he cause her to completely break down. "How're you holding up?"

Brock glanced over from the floating rock which Vex assumed was a pokemon, his eyes squinted slightly. "Well, I don't really have a problem, at least not like Serena. Pewter City isn't very far from here and if I like, I can simply head back. Of course, I decided not to. My dad, who had left previously, came back around three years ago and taken over the position of Gym Leader. When I got here and learned the situation, I simply traveled to the nearest Pokemon Center and contacted my dad. He'll watch my brothers and sisters while I travel with you...however long that may be."

((So Brocks situation isn't that bad really. In fact I'd say he's handling the news quite well. Whether thats because of his proximity to his home or because he's just much more mature then the rest of us, its hard to tell.)) Vex sighed a little before reaching down to pet Pikachu who had just walked up to him along with Squirtle. ((To drag these two away from their families against their will. The severity of the situation must be quite high or Arceus wouldn't do this. Of course the question I have to ask now is...why these two?))

Vex had to wonder why Arceus chose these two instead of more of the "Elite Four". Though he had no idea what the Elite Four was, it sounded like they were some top notch trainers. It could be that summoning too many would raise a commotion as they could be related to some sort of governing body or some high ranking celebs. Whatever the case, Arceus had brought over two kids around his age with a clear intent, travel with them while getting stronger. While he was sure the god of pokemon knew what he was doing, he couldn't quite see the end game.

After asking these two a serious question, Vex switched it up a bit. He asked much different ones like what their hobbies were, what they liked or disliked. His intent was to get to know more about them and their personalities while also slowly easing them back into a comfortable vibe. After about an hour of talking, Vex felt he had a pretty good understanding about their characters. He wasn't Criminal Minds level in the slightest but rather both of them had pretty straightforward personalities.

Serena let out a yawn. It was around early morning and none of them had even slept a wink. "Well, I'm gonna turn in. G'night Vex. Night Brock."

"G'night," was a reply that was uttered by both of them as Serena walked over to her sleeping and climbed in. She was out like a log in minutes as her breathing slowly became steady and entered a set rhythm.

"I guess I'll turn in as well," Brock said as he tapped his pokeball against the floating rock. "See you in the morning."

"Technically it is morning," Vex said as he walked closer to the fire, putting his backpack down to use as a pillow. "So I'll see you whenever I decide to wake back up."

"Sure, night Vex"

"Night," Vex smiled as he got comfy, Pikachu snuggling up to him and Squirtle tucking himself inside his shell. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

----------------------------------------------------

While Vex was falling in a deep sleep with grin on his face, a mass murder was taking place at the edge of the city, away from the view of the police.

Located near the edge of Viridian City sat a large assortment of buildings surrounded by a chained fence. The surroundings of the fence was littered with guards armed to the teeth with guns and numerous varieties of Pokemon capable of easily sniffing out scents such as Arcanines and Houndooms. With constant patrols and towers strategically placed around the fences perimeter, even a fly couldn't enter inside without being spotted. The Pokemon Research & Development Laboratory of Viridian City was a secretive place where only those working inside knew what was going on.

On the outside, everything appeared calm and quiet, the guards making their rounds without even a bit of trouble. Nothing was out of place unless one managed to slip inside and see the endless carnage strewn throughout the innards of the main building.

Broken bodies and puddles of blood lined the halls as figures clad in black stepped from room to room, carrying large bags that became bigger with each room entered. As it was the main building, the infrastructure was huge, a veritable maze of intersecting hallways and corridors leading to different labs holding different equiptment.

Seated in the center of everything were three figures whose shape and identity could only be guessed at. The trio were staring at a monitor depicting a blurred out face, standing in a way that showed their respect.

"I see, so you failed to obtain the item then?" The man on screen asked, his voice unnaturally deep. "As my top unit, I expect that you have a reason for your failure. Lets hear it and then explain how you'll rectify it."

"Sir," Spectre #2 said, bowing his head passively. "As of earlier, we believed that item #203 was situated in the Viridian City Pokemon Center but after thorough investigation of their safe located in the back we couldn't find it. After triggering the alarm, we resorted to plan B."

"Before you progress any further," The man interrupted before Spectre #2 could continue talking. "I would like to know the possibility of the item being stored in the front."

"Less then 10% sir," Spectre #1 answered, her voice cutting into the conversation. "When dealing with a shipment, the protocol for any Pokemon Center is to keep the recieved item in a secure safe stored in the back. Taking it out before the recipient arrived is against the way they do things. While it is a possibility that it could have been removed before we go there, it's more likely to assume that David Babao came to collect the item before we arrived."

After a few moments of silence, the blurred figure let out a sigh. "Very well. Continue."

"Sir!!" Spectre #2 bowed again before beginning. "We believe that Babao had picked it up so we triggered the alarm at Pokemon Center to summon as many cops away as possible. After that we simply walked into the Research Lab near the edge of the city. As almost all of the guards here work for our organization, there wasn't any trouble."

"I don't want to here how you got into the Lab," The man said sternly. "I want to know how you're gonna find the item. We can't let it go now that we're so close. It's a crucial part in the next step."

Right then, a man walked up and whispered something into the ear of Spectre #2. After whispering for about a minute, he handed a device similar to a USB before leaving.

"I just received word that we may have located where the item is," Spectre #2 said confidently as he insterted the USB device into the side of the high-tech laptop.

A loading screen appeared before a picture lept onto the screen, making the blurred man into a mini box in the upper left hand corner. The picture was of the Pokemon Center lobby where a white haired young male was behind the counter gazing at a circular disc in his hand. Even from the camera one could see the swirling of the colors emanating off the palm sized object.

"That's the object," The man confirmed with a hint of satisfaction in his voice. "Seems like we're on the right track once again. Are you able to find out who he is?"

"It shouldn't take us long if he's registered into the system. We should be back on track in a matter of a month."

"THAT long??" The man was clearly displeased as the others flinched from his voice. "He could have disposed of it before then. Why does it take a month?"

"Rest assured Sir that we will have it in a months time," Spectre #3 replied, clearly dodging the question. "In the meantime, we should focus on building up new recruits and situating spies in key places throughout Viridian. If this guy goes anywhere then we'll know immediately."

"Very well," the man said after a long minute. "I'll leave it to Team Alpha. Don't fail me again."

After those final words, the screen went dark once more. The room went silent except for the constant movement of the group of grunts in the background.

"So what do you think?" Spectre #1 asked, her black glasses pointed towards Spectre #2. "Should we have killed him? James?"

James shook his head. "We could have done it at the time but then we never would have been able to find it as we wouldn't have thought to check the front. We relied too much on their system of doing things that we failed to check every possible outcome. There's no one to blame but ourselves."

"So then whats our next move then?" Spectre #3 asked. He picked up the laptop and slipped it into James's bag. "We can definitely have the kid in our grasp in less than a month. Why wait so long?"

"We need to give ourselves some breathing room. In about a months time we should have enough power to easily subjugate Viridian city at a moments notice. Once thats done we'll collect the plate and move on to the next city. No need to rush it, Meowth, Jessie."

Jessie nodded as she readjusted her hat which hid her hair. "In the meantime, lets clean up the area here." Turning around, she yelled to the grunts to pick up the pace.

Within an hour following the call, everything was gone including the bodies and puddles of blood. Nothing seemed to be out of place, not even so much as a fingerprint left behind. It was as if something had appeared and wiped everything and everyone inside clean off the Earth.