Chapter 18 – The Masters of Shadow
"Well if Koga's not in town then where is he?" asked Misty. She leaned back into the comfortably upholstered booth and took a bite of her biscuit.
"Joy said that the gym keeps a presence in Fuchsia," Ash answered. "Meaning that he either houses people within the city or has to move them in and out at least somewhat regularly."
"And seeing as how Fuchsia is a Rocket friendly town," Brock added, "it would make sense that Team Rocket know something about it either way."
"Since they're operating out of the old gym anyway," Misty grinned, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the table, "that probably wouldn't be a bad place to start."
Sitting around the booth's table in the Pokemon Center's cafeteria, none of the three trainers seemed to notice that the breakfast platters around them had long since been emptied. Unsubdued sunlight, afforded by the two-story windows in the east flooded both the first and second level of the cafeteria with a warm glow. One of the great blocks of light fell directly across the table opposite the trainers, making it undesirable this early in the day and thusly empty, affording Ash, Misty, and Brock a measure of seclusion even during the breakfast rush.
"I scoped out the facility when I came into town yesterday," said Brock. "I didn't get too great of a look but as far as I can tell it's nothing too special, even if there's always a lot of activity. With all of the programs Team Rocket runs out of the place it would be impossible to get in or out without someone picking up on us moving around."
"We don't need to be particularly subtle," said Misty. "Getting in could be as simple as walking in the front door to get some information on jobs around town. After all, as far as anyone here knows I'm an unemployed trainer from out of town so it wouldn't be weird if I went in and happened to ask if the gym was hiring. When I hear that the gym closed down and moved out I'll have every reason to be curious."
Brock and Ash paused to look at each other. "Sure," said Brock, surprised that Misty had been so forthcoming with a plan. "That could work."
"Aren't you a little nervous about being..." Ash paused, "recognized?"
"I would be if this were Cerulean," Misty shrugged. "But it isn't. Team Rocket operates mostly in isolated cells, or at least it used to," Misty went on, crossing her arms in front of her chest and leaning back. "Low ranking people working for them in one city normally don't travel much and most of the people who work in the pubic eye are the lowest of their ranks, all the better to keep information under control."
"If you're comfortable with that," said Ash, more than a little shocked by Misty's sudden openness. "It wouldn't be hard to throw you in a nondescript outfit and wait outside while you went into the base. Is that the plan then?"
Brock and Ash both looked at Misty as the redhead nodded. "Unless you guys have something better," said Misty.
"Settled then," said Brock, standing up from the table and taking all three trainers' dirty dishes. "I'm going to head out and pick up a few odds and ends but I'll be back before noon. Why don't you two stay here and wait for word about how Pidgeot is doing?"
Ash nodded. "You read my mind," he answered. "Where will you be going?"
"The department store for one," said Brock. "And I saw a military surplus store yesterday so I was going to see if I could find it again. See you two later," Brock nodded and walked off, stopping at the trashcan to dump the trays.
Ash and Misty both waited at the booth while he left. Scanning the many faces in the room and catching bits and pieces of the conversations floating around the sparsely decorated cafeteria, Ash subconsciously kept an eye out for trouble. Since Jesse's attack the day before he'd been understandably on edge and wary for anything out of the ordinary. Seeing nothing that broadcast itself as a threat however, he turned to Misty.
"You sure about this? he asked, scooting away just a little to better face her.
Nodding, Misty took a deep breath. "Not really," she answered, contradicting her body language. "But I can't really think of a better way to potentially cut out hours or even days of useless searching. I might just get lucky and uncover something useful."
Ash couldn't deny that Misty's plan had at least a marginal chance of turning up information. "I just don't want you walking into some something..." he stopped short, not wanting start a groundless lecture. "Never mind," he added with a grin. "It's a good idea."
The two trainers stood up and walked from the cafeteria. Misty went back upstairs to get cleaned up, while Ash made his way to the emergency room's front desk. Showing the card he'd been given upon putting Pidgeot in for intensive care, Ash waited while the nurse paged one of the doctors. The woman behind the desk directed Ash to the row of chairs on the opposite side of the room. Quickly taking note of everyone in the room, most of them young trainers standing around with dour expressions, Ash sat down in one of the chairs and rested his elbows on his knees.
Several minutes went by before the nurse at the desk stood up to greet a balding old man in a white coat who emerged from one of the many halls leading off from the front desk. The nurse directed the doctor to Ash with a gesture and the old man casually approached the young trainer and extended his hand. "You must be Mr. Ketchum," the doctor greeted him.
Ash stood and inclined his head slightly. "That's me," he answered.
"A pleasure," said the man in the coat, his quiet tone betraying his old age. "Call me Doc Lawrence, and to get to the point, your Pidgeot is going to be fine," he smiled, eliciting relieved sigh from Ash, "if you go easy on her for the next several weeks."
"I can definitely do that," said Ash, relaxing and scratching the back of his head. "So we're talking no flying for a while?"
Dr. Lawrence shook his head. "No, no, not at all. I'd strongly advise against it. Give her a week of uninterrupted rest minimum. Don't let her fly at all for at least that long and when you do let her stretch her wings make sure that she doesn't strain herself," the doctor cleared his throat. "As for how long it will be until you can safely ride her... I'd say you should make it at least a month, maybe two."
Ash twitched. "I can wait that long if you say so," he answered, disappointment clear in his voice.
"I do," said the man in the coat. "For all their strength and agility, birds are fragile things and it's important that you don't press them beyond their abilities."
Proceeding to lecture Ash on the necessities of looking after one's airborne Pokemon, the doctor spent the next twenty minutes going over methods by which the young trainer could help safely speed Pidgeot's along. Revealing that his specialty was working with fliers, Dr. Lawrence briefed Ash on a few simple rehabilitation techniques and exercises, including some basic stretches to have her perform on the ground over the next few weeks, and aerial maneuvers to have her fly.
Thanking the doctor for his time, Ash retrieved Pidgeot's pokeball from the nurse at the counter. He clipped the orb to his belt and turned to leave. Making for the stairs in the main lobby, Ash paused when he entered the open room. Suddenly very suspicious that he was the target of some prying gaze, Ash scanned the faces in the room as quickly as he could without making himself seem suspicious. Resuming his easy walk, Ash climbed the stairs, taking the opportunity presented by the bend in the staircase to glance behind him. Still he saw nothing.
"Must be nerves," he muttered, reaching the second floor and quickly picking out the door to his and Misty's room. He tried the handle, and, finding it locked knocked on the door. "It's me," he called.
"Coming," Misty said from the other side. The handle clicked down and the door slid open. "That took a while," said Misty, stepping back to let Ash inside as she ran a towel through her wet hair. "How's she doing?"
"Should be fine," said Ash with a grin as Misty closed the door, shutting out all light, save what streamed in through the windows thin curtains. "The doctor said I shouldn't fly her around for at least a month, though I think I'm going to give her longer than that, just to be safe." He sat on the end of the bed and glanced over at his partner. "You're wearing your hair down," he noted, glancing the closed window and the girl. He thought about opening said window to let out some of the humidity left over from Misty's shower, but decided it was too cool outside to bother. A part of the trainer was sorry he hadn't arrived a few minutes earlier. Though to be fair he enjoyed seeing Misty almost just as much in what she wore now, nothing but one of his shirts, than he would have if she'd been making a conscious effort to entice him.
Hairpin held between her lips, Misty nodded as she grabbed a comb from the dresser and set to work straightening out her hair while Ash leaned back on the bed. A moment later she took the decorative pin and slipped it behind her ear. "You've always said I look like a completely different person when I clean up," she casually glanced sideways at him.
"I've never said that that," Ash pulled his head up to look at her. "Only that you look way different with your hair down."
"So I've decided to put that to the test," she continued as though he'd said nothing at all. "We'll see just how different I can look when I try."
"I've never said anything about you looking different cleaned up," Ash continued, scanning his memory and trying to make sure he hadn't insulted her, outside of playful banter, in the past. "Have I?"
Misty smirked and walked over to him. "No," she laughed once and leaned down to kiss him on the cheek. "You didn't. I was just messing with you."
"Oh," Ash muttered, leaning up on his elbows. "I was going to say... I'd have felt like one of the bad guys," he shrugged.
"You?" Misty raised an eyebrow and drew one side of her lip up into an incredulous grin. "Ash, I don't think you could be one of the bad guys even if you really tried. You could never want to in the first place."
"Oh yes I could," Ash countered. "I've just never," he paused, "really wanted to be," he finished halfheartedly. "Maybe you're right."
"That's not a bad thing," Misty answered. She reached up to pull the shirt tighter around her frame when a cool wind blew in through the window and ruffled some papers on the bed's end table.
Sitting up and glancing at the window, Ash pushed up to his feet. Reaching out for the handle to pull it closed he pushed aside the curtains and paused. Wasn't it, he thought to himself, remembering just a moment ago that the portal had been closed.
"Excuse me," said a quiet voice.
Ash nearly leapt out of his skin, and if not for his mind snapping to focus on finding the source of the stranger's voice, he would have heard Misty yell in surprise. He whirled on his heel to search the room, instantly spotting the figure sitting on the floor in the corner. He recognized the violet eyes flitting between him and Misty from beneath the purple hood and went for the knife at his belt.
"I promise," said the figure, floating up like a lithe wand of smoke and holding out the weapon Ash had found missing from his person. "Violence isn't why I'm here."
His hand finding only empty space in place of his knife, Ash froze and watched the new arrival. Glancing over at Misty, who stood as absolutely still as he did, Ash thought for a moment about going for Arcanine's pokeball. No, he decided. It's too confined in here. "Alright," said the trainer, holding up his hands as placatingly as he could and turning to fully face the hooded guest. "Then why are you here?"
The figure walked forward and twirled the blade in her fingers to grasp it by its tip, offering it back to Ash. Refusing to break eye contact with the stranger, Ash received the weapon and slipped it into his belt, even while he studied the amazingly nondescript facial features he could make out beneath the shadows cast by the hood. Making Ash wonder how someone could possibly look so unmistakably bland and uninteresting, he realized that, despite the decidedly feminine shape of the visitor's frame, he couldn't conclusively tell by the person's shrouded face whether they were male or female, or even guess at their age. The person's only distinctive feature was his, or maybe her, complete lack of any identifying characteristic.
"I'd hoped to ask for your help, actually," said the figure in the hood.
Misty put a hand on her hip and glanced at the pokeballs she'd left on the nightstand "Awfully forward for someone willing to sneak into another person's bedroom through a locked window. Just who are you?"
The person in the hood took a step away from Ash and turned to better watch both of the other trainers in the room. "I'd be far more clandestine if I was any less desperate." The figure reached up and drew back the hood, pulling away the shadow obscuring her face like a substantive veil. Prompting Ash to raise an eyebrow, every facet of the visitor's face subtly morphed from a bland and unimpressive facade, to the striking visage of a beautiful girl. Her eyes sparkled the color of an amethyst geode in the tamed morning sunlight as she turned back to face Ash more than Misty.
"My name is Janine. I serve the Fuchsia Gym" she bowed, then straightened up. "Or at least I did until recently."
Ash crossed his arms and shifted his weight away from the visitor. "'I'm listening," he said, not entirely convinced he shouldn't still be reaching for his knife. "You said you needed help."
"Yes. Without going into too much detail-"
"No, by all means," Ash interrupted, his pulse only now beginning to slow back down. "Go into detail please."
"As you wish," said the girl in purple. "I suppose that Ash Ketchum of Pallet and Vermilion, Gym Leader, and one of Team Rocket's greatest adversaries deserves the in-depth story."
"And me," Misty added tersely. "I'm standing right here too."
"Pardon me," Janine responded. "I didn't mean to offend you. Of course Ash's companions merit the same attention as Ash himself." She turned around and walked to the chair in the corner of the room, quickly sitting down and folding her hands in her lap. "You must understand, the Fuchsia Gym is, quite intentionally, one of the most misunderstood gyms in the region. Where other cities encourage their gyms to work within the bounds of the law to simply support the local police in maintaining order, Fuchsia takes... took a more proactive approach," she went on, ostensibly making herself comfortable in the chair. "We monitor everything that goes on inside our city, and we encourage our members to take the law into their own hands and combat evil and crime by any means necessary, wherever they find it. Needless to say we go to great lengths to ensure that no one truly knows what we are about."
"Sounds like you're more a group of vigilantes than protectors," Ash commented, noting that everything Janine had said thus far lacked any substantial evidence.
"What are the police if not sanctioned vigilantes?" Janine asked. "Regardless of our methods, no one could argue with our results as Fuchsia had, until recently, one of the lowest crime rates of any city in the region. That was until Team Rocket moved in."
"I'm guessing this has something to do with Koga's decision to move the Gym out of the city," said Ash.
"You'd be correct," said Janine, crossing her legs. "Not a week after you killed Lt. Surge in Vermilion and took over the gym, the number of Team Rocket associates and agents in Fuchsia began growing exponentially. Within a month the number of Rocket sympathizers in Fuchsia had tripled and more kept arriving every day. At the gym, most of us believed Rocket was dirty, but our leader ordered us not to move against them. We had to watch as Team Rocket worked to build up a secret cash-base of money launderers and extortion rackets. When a few of us disobeyed orders and took down a some of Rocket's lower-level schemes, we thought it would show everyone else what needed to be done.
"Instead our leader closed down the gym and moved us out of the city, setting up a 'temporary' facility in one of the old feudal mansions left over from the days when Lavender controlled everything east of Cerulean. We continued to monitor events in Fuchsia and fight crime where we could, but from so far away and with less than a third of our agents actually inside the city at any given time, it was impossible to check all of the crime rings quickly springing up in our absence no matter how hard we worked."
Ash held up a hand, interrupting as politely as he could, and the visitor paused. "I'd heard that the crime rate here stayed relatively stable after Koga moved out," Ash said.
"A circumstance brought about by both Team Rocket's caution after their defeat in Vermilion and the gym's efforts," Janine explained. "Crime bosses wasted no time in setting up business in town as soon as the gym's influence began to wane, and Team Rocket wasted even less in bringing said bosses under their control. With an organization as careful as Team Rocket pulling the strings, and a counter force as effective as the Fuchsia Gym working against it, it's only logical that most of the illegal activity would remain invisible to the public eye. Please understand," said Janine, her tone as level as ever, "in my world, wars are waged from the shadows often using nothing more than misdirected information."
"Alright," said Ash, not missing the unconvinced look in Misty's eye. "What then?"
"Two months ago," Janine resumed, squeezing her hands together only so tightly that Ash barely caught the gesture, "I left the gym with a few of my closest associates and we moved back into Fuchsia to fight Team Rocket on our own. It went well at first and we were able to undo a lot of the progress Team Rocket had made in bringing the smaller crime bosses under their control. We left a lot of bodies behind us," she said as casually as if she were discussing the weather, "but we got the job done. That all changed a three weeks ago when my team discovered that Team Rocket was planning on moving into the old gym headquarters. We couldn't let that stand so we planned a hit on the Rocket Administrator coming in from Viridian City to set it all up. That's where things went bad.
"Team Rocket knew we were coming," Janine took a deep breath. She leaned forward in the chair and put her hands on her knees. "What's worse, the administrator from Viridian had agents from Fuchsia, my old team mates guarding him... my team walked right into a trap. Rocket slaughtered us and the rest of my men all sacrificed themselves so I could get away. I've been in hiding ever since and it's taken pretty much everything I've got to avoid detection."
Misty cleared her throat and took a step closer to Ash. "So you want us to protect you?" she asked, incredulity plain in her voice. "Ash," she turned to the trainer who had taken a seat on the bed. "If what she's saying is true, then we don't have any reason to even be here."
Glancing over at Misty, Janine folded her arms in front of her chest and spoke as softly as when she'd first begun. "I'm not here to ask for help on my behalf," she said before Ash could respond. "It's for my father."
"Please continue," Ash prompted. He looked over at Misty. Both trainers shrugged as their guest began again.
"Koga is my father," said Janine. "He's the one who ordered us not to attack Team Rocket, he's the one who ordered the gym to move out of Fuchsia, and he's the only one who could have ordered the hit on my team... the only problem is that none of those things are like him." She clenched her hands but still spoke evenly. "The Koga I know is a good man who hates injustice and wouldn't abide it for a second. That's why I know he's not the one giving the orders, willingly at least. That means he's either being held hostage or... or he's in real danger and someone has usurped his authority. Either way I need your help to stop all this."
Ash thought for a second as Janine and Misty both fell silent. He rested his chin on his knuckles and stared intently at the floor between his feet. "Assuming that I buy all this," he said, "what makes you think I can help?"
"You're the one who disrupted Rocket's work in Mt. Moon," said Janine. "You stopped them dead in their tracks in Lavender and you tore Vermilion out of their grip," she paused when Ash's unreadable expression melted into surprise. "Don't be shocked," she said, her tone betraying only the slightest hint of the amusement evident in the smirk on her lips. "Information is my weapon of choice and I'm very, very proficient."
"Information is something I don't have a lot of yet," said Ash. "You've told me quite a bit but I still don't know much, not even what you want me to do about your father."
Janine stood up and walked to the window, looking outside she stood perfectly still for a moment. "Earlier this morning you were planning to infiltrate Team Rocket's headquarters here in Fuchsia. I think you'd find that to be a waste of your time as their security is tight and you'd have to fight your way to anything sensitive, giving Rocket ample opportunity to demonize you."
"And your recommendation would be?" Misty asked.
"Simple," said Janine. "I'll show you the way to the mansion outside of town where I believe my father to be, possibly, still in power. Being a Gym Leader yourself," she gestured at Ash, "your demand to meet with Koga will carry a great deal of weight and my father will have to show himself to meet with you. Take that opportunity to challenge him for Fuchsia Gym's public support in your campaign against Team Rocket and he'll have no option but to meet your challenge.
"From there, one of two things will happen," Janine went on, holding up both index fingers for emphasis. "He'll either accept your bid against Rocket and they'll have no choice but to move out of Fuchsia under renewed pressure, not likely. Or, most likely, he'll challenge you, which means you'll either defeat him in which case Rocket still loses, or you lose and have to leave Fuchsia."
"Or die," Misty added.
"Or die," Janine echoed without missing a beat. "But barring death, regardless of whether you fight and win or Koga simply accepts and gives you his public support, Team Rocket loses. Additionally, once Team Rocket is forced out of Fuchsia, I'll have all the freedom and resources I need to figure out how they got a foothold in the gym in the first place."
"What if Koga doesn't show?" Ash asked. "What if he brings out a proxy or whoever's controlling him has someone else in his place. How would I know since I've never seen the man?"
"You wouldn't," said Janine. "But that's irrelevant to the plan. If my father doesn't meet you, then I'll use the distraction you've created by issuing your challenge to find the real Koga. Either way I'll have already infiltrated the gym and I'll be in position."
"Sounds risky," said Ash.
Janine grinned again. "Isn't everything you do risky?"
"How do I know you're not setting us up?" asked the trainer, glancing sideways at Misty, who nodded. "You could be leading us into a trap."
"I snuck in here through a locked window, lifted a weapon off your person, and sat myself comfortably in the corner while you were chatting with your girlfriend," said Janine, her grin growing noticeably. "If I wanted to kill you, I'd have crushed your larynx, strangled your girlfriend with her towel, and torched your room to cover my tracks." She glanced between Ash and Misty. "And I'd have had plenty of surprise to do it."
Ash sighed and put his hands behind his head, wide-eyed. "Are you always so prepared?"
Janine nodded. "Rule thirty-four of the Fuchsia Gym: Be polite and professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet."
"So," Misty said, drawing the attention of the others. "Getting us back on track only for the sake of argument," she glanced at her partner. "What's the plan if we don't even make it to the gym before the fighting starts? If Koga or whoever is in charge knows we're coming and doesn't want us to make it, then what?"
"That would be the worst case scenario," said the girl in purple. "If not necessarily the least probable. Should we be attacked on the way to the gym, we'll simply go to Plan B."
"Plan B?" Misty repeated.
"Eliminate all hostiles and fight our way to the objective."
Ash raised an eyebrow. "You'd be willing to kill your own teammates?" he asked.
"They tried to kill me," said Janine. "I'm overlooking that violation of the code in hopes that all this is a tragic misunderstanding-"
"And because you can't do anything about it," Misty added, her tone less hostile than simply demonstrative.
"That also," answered the stealthy girl. "But if the gym attacks a recognized Gym Leader, rather than a spy whose connection to them they could reasonably deny, then our only option will be to capture whoever's in charge." Janine stopped and watched as both Ash and Misty went quiet. "I realize this sounds a little sudden, but..." she trailed off.
Misty walked to the nightstand and picked up a pokeball, clipping it to her belt in a less than placating gesture. "Whats in it for us?" she asked, turning back to Ash and the visitor.
"Whatever you want," said Janine. "On top of dealing a good hit to Team Rocket, I'm sure we can find something to compensate you. The gym does have considerable resources. And as an act of good faith," she reached behind her back, stopping and freezing when she saw the wary glances she drew from the other trainers. "Antitoxins," she continued and produced several stubby syringes. "If you inoculate yourselves and your Pokemon now the effects should last upwards of a week, more than long enough to complete the mission."
Ash and Misty both took the syringes, though neither one moved to do anything with them. "Well," Misty turned to Ash. "What do you think?"
"I think," said the trainer. "That we should wait for Brock, and get his opinion before we move forward with anything. But," he paused and looked between the needles and Janine, "she does at least have a plan. And if she wanted to kill us I can think of a dozen different ways to do it with a lot less trouble than she'd be going to if this were a setup."
"I am right here you know," said the girl.
Ash started to say something but stopped when a loud knock on the door destroyed the relative quiet in the room. Ash's gaze flitted to the door for only an instant before he turned back to look for Janine. He wasn't surprised by his own shock to find that the girl had vanished like a mirage.
"Its me!" Brock shouted on cue from the other side of the door.
"Coming," said Ash, still scanning the room for the mysterious visitor. It wasn't until he'd passed Misty and walked to the door that he spotted the purple shadow standing in the corner of the bathroom. Her hood already up, standing as still as a painting on the wall, the girl struck a figure so unremarkable that Ash might have overlooked her himself.
Carrying a bag in each hand as Ash let him in, Brock stepped in through the door and walked passed the bathroom door on his left. Quiet as a cat, Janine strode from the door behind Brock, motioning for neither Ash nor Misty to say a word. Misty sighed as Brock turned to face Ash and Janine sidestepped the taller trainer's peripheral vision to remain behind him. Brock exchanged greetings with Ash while the girl in the hoodie waited silently less than a pace behind him. Brock turned around to greet Misty, silent only for a second before the smile on his face melted into unbridled shock. Brock shouted and threw the bags to the ground as he jumped away from the mischievous smile under the hood.
"So much for professional," Ash sighed.
SC
Ash and Misty both sat quietly on the bed, listening without interrupting as Janine explained her plan to Brock. The Pewter Gym Leader, his temple still throbbing with his elevated blood pressure even ten minutes later, leaned against the wall opposite the apartment's door, eyes fixed on Koga's daughter. Throughout the decidedly one-sided exchange, Brock occasionally nodded but remained otherwise expressionless.
"... and that's pretty much it," Janine finished, holding her hands in front of her for additional emphasis. "Obviously, the three of you together are in the least danger here. You'll each be able to provide each other with backup so you've got next to nothing to worry about, compared to some of the things you've faced in the past."
"You've put quite a bit of thought into this," Brock noted.
"I've had more than a week to plan an infiltration of my own home," she answered.
A thought struck Ash and he turned his attention from Brock, who had begun discussing a few details with Janine, to the girl in purple. The young Gym Leader thought for a moment, reviewing in his mind all of Janine's numerous allotments in her plan for Ash and his companions to retreat safely if something were to go wrong, or protocols they could follow if any number of situations were to unfold. Ash tried to remember exactly where Janine had made provisions for her own retreat in a worst case scenario, but he came up short. All of the scheme's machinations revolved keeping Ash and his party safe and as out of harm's way as the circumstances allowed and left Janine's well-being completely out of mind. He wondered exactly why, having been alone in her trouble for the past two weeks, Koga's daughter would build her plan around a team she didn't yet have.
When he interrupted the discussion unfolding on the other side of the room and voiced his concerns on the matter, Ash drew a gaze from the visitor that he could only guess to be some combination of amusement and nonchalance.
"I planned ahead, of course," said the girl in purple. "I had to. Even if I managed to infiltrate the mansion without help, there would be nothing effectual I could do on my own. So I had to get help and I planned accordingly. Your arrival was a stroke of luck beyond my wildest hopes." She smiled at the young trainer. "I'd been planning on hiring a few mercenaries, but I think two Gym Leaders and a skilled trainer should do much better."
"That makes some sense I suppose," Ash nodded. He turned to Brock. "What do you think?"
Exhaling and thinking for a second, Brock shrugged. "I don't think it's the worst we could do," he answered. "I mean she does have a plan as good as anything the rest of us could come up with, and we are looking for Koga anyway. I say why not."
"Misty?" Ash asked, looking at the trainer sitting beside him on the bed.
"Sure," Misty mirrored Brock's shrug. "One way or another it sounds like this is happening," she cast a sidelong glance at the girl on the opposite side of the room. "Possibly."
Ash nodded and stood up. "Well," he said, offering their visitor the most reassuring expression he could, "it looks like we'll be working together." He extended his hand. "Looking forward to having you on the team."
Janine smiled and took Ash's hand. Giving him a delicate handshake she inclined her head slightly. "Thanks," she said. "This means a lot to me and you won't regret it. Well-" stammered. "I can't promise that you won't, but you know what I mean."
"So when do we start?" asked Brock.
"First thing in the morning would be best," said the girl in the hoodie. "The inoculations will take a few hours to kick in and given my father's specialization in poison types we can't afford to be unprepared." She held out her hand to Ash.
"What? asked the trainer.
"Give me one of the syringes," said Janine, gesturing for Ash to hand one over. "Just so you know I'm serious, pick one and I'll demonstrate."
SC
After adjusting sleeping arrangements for Misty and Janine to share a room, mostly at Brock's behest, the group of trainers spent the rest of the day performing only light preparation work. Everyone agreed that it would be best to take it easy and rest, saving up as much energy as they could for the following day. Ash, Brock, and Misty all took the opportunity to keep an eye on each other, making sure Janine's antitoxins weren't going to have any ill effects, despite Janine's willingness to double-dose in front of everyone to demonstrate the harmlessness of the compound. Ash and Misty took a late lunch to get away together for an hour, returning to the rooms to find both Brock and Janine alive and not trying to kill each other.
The four trainers all turned in for the night just after nine o'clock, alarms set for six the next morning. While Brock went right to sleep and, if his snoring was any cue, rested comfortably, Ash tossed and turned. Unable to get comfortable, the trainer sat up from his sleeping bag on the floor and stared at the wall for several minutes.
For a moment he wondered if it wasn't Haunter's ghostly presence making it difficult for him to sleep. Reaching out with his mind, he found Haunter, resting in Ash's backpack. Haunter didn't exactly sleep, but the ghost would go dormant for a few hours at a time and become fairly unresponsive. It surprised Ash actually that Haunter had chosen now to rest now, when the trainers were at their most vulnerable, especially after having been dormant almost all day and thusly missing Janine's intrusion. Ash stretched and decided that Haunter had earned a break. The ghost had after all been active almost nonstop since Jesse and James had attacked the Vermilion Gym.
That's it, Ash thought as soon as his mind touched on the subject of the Rocket agents.
Jesse had been constantly returning to his mind, or more accurately, Ash's actions concerning her plagued the Gym Leader. As much as he tried to put it out of his mind, Ash kept returning to his thoughts when he'd heard his enemy pinned under the debris of the collapsed building... he had, for a moment at least, seriously contemplated leaving the woman to her fate, and the memory of the thought made his stomach twist.
In a world like the one he called home, Ash thought, killing was a simple reality. Very few people living on the frontier hadn't in some way witnessed a violent death, and Ash was no exception. He had dealt out his share of suffering and ended a number of lives, but what had happened yesterday was different, he thought. Jesse was an enemy, and an extremely dangerous one, but she had been utterly helpless and that negated the fact that she was an adversary... it meant that for a moment she was just another person who needed his help...
Didn't it? Ash wondered. He pressed his palms to his temples as if trying to squeeze the questions from his brain. Should he have saved her? Did she deserve his help? Did it matter? The questions bounced around in his skull, until he finally shook his head and stood up. Screw it, he thought, throwing on a black T-shirt and walking for the door. Quickly he checked his pockets and found some change.
Stepping out into the hall of bedroom doors, Ash quietly stretched and shut the door behind him, deciding to get a drink from the vending machine in the floor's common room. Only the quiet hum of the air conditioners and the soft moonlight from the window at the end of the hall accompanied the trainer since he had sent Pikachu to sleep with Misty. Ash turned his back to the window and walked to the door at the end of the hall, stopping to peek through the small glass pane in said door which allowed a narrow view of the common room.
Ash spotted the vending machines in the fairly dark room immediately and reached out for the handle but stopped short. The hooded figure sitting on the couch with her back to the dimly glowing plastic panels almost escaped his notice. Ash waited for a second, unsure of the person's identity for a moment, until he spotted the purple eyes, seeming to almost glow on their own under the hood.
Janine ostensibly didn't notice Ash as he waited on the other side of the door. The girl leaned back into the couch with her bare legs pulled up almost to her chest and a small book bound in leather open against her knees. The pen in her left hand scratched against the pages while her right held the paper taught as she wrote. Watching for a moment, taken off guard by the girl's wardrobe, or rather her lack thereof, Ash blinked. Now finding himself slightly more awake, Ash quietly pulled on the door's handle.
Janine looked up calmly, though her right hand dropped behind her back, and inclined her head when she saw it was Ash. "Can't sleep?" she asked in what amounted to her regular speaking voice, though the words still sounded like barely more than a whisper to Ash.
The young Gym Leader nodded and walked to the vending machine behind Janine's couch. "Not really," he said, scanning the selections and ultimately deciding that lemonade sounded refreshing. "You?"
The sound of the pen rubbing against the paper resumed. "I never sleep much," she answered. "There will be plenty of time for that later."
Sucking in the dollar, the machine clicked when Ash pushed the button, then rumbled quietly as the can of lemonade rolled down its shaft into the tray at the bottom. Reaching down, Ash grabbed the can, popped the top with a click, and took a drink. He turned around and leaned against the machine for a moment, trying to catch a glimpse of the scribbles in the book without actually spying.
"What are you writing?" he finally asked, giving up on making out the dots and lines.
"Words," said Janine, completely nonchalant before turning to glance at him with a grin as she pulled her hood back. "Letters," she went on before Ash could formulate a witty retort, "to a number of people. I'll never send them of course, but it's relaxing to write them nonetheless..." She paused and looked back down at the book before she went on. "I didn't get to say it earlier, or chose not to really, but thank you for helping me. It's kind of hard to believe I'd get this lucky, what with you and the others showing up out of nowhere and I promise that as soon as we're done here I'll repay you somehow."
"It's nothing," he replied. "We're on the same side and that's enough for me to trust you," Ash smiled., before taking a sip of the lemonade. "Who do you write to?"
"Lots of people," the girl answered amicably. "My grandfather, my mother, a friend in Saffron. Living here, I don't get to talk to most of them anymore but I still write to them."
Ash thought for a moment, something striking him as odd about writing letters you didn't mean to send. "Why won't you send them?" he asked. "Or go and visit your friends?"
She laughed once. "Well that would involve tearing the letters out of the book or-" Janine's hand jerked and she drove the tip of the pen down onto the book with enough force to rip a hole in the paper. The end of pen snapped and splattered a blot of ink across the page. "Damn it," Janine spat, making Ash jump as the girl in the hoodie moved to get the leaking pen away from the paper. She turned on the couch, planting her feet on the floor and holding the broken writing instrument over the trash bin beside the couch. "Goddammit." She threw the pen into the bin with a huff.
"What's the matter?" Ash asked, standing straight and leaning forward to help if need be.
"Nothing," Janine said, her voice returning to her usual affable, if cool, tone. "It's nothing."
Ash set the half-empty can of lemonade aside and took a step closer to the couch as Janine grabbed at her wrist. Her left hand trembled again and jerked into her lap where she clutched at it, pressing her fingers down into the upholstery as though she were trying to crush the life from her own limb. Her breathing remained even as she continued to restrain her hand. Several more spasms ran through Janine's fingers and wrist and she leaned forward to drive her hand deeper into the couch's cushion, all the while silent.
"That didn't look like nothing," said the trainer as Janine began to relax her death-grip on her hand.
Fingers steady, flexing both hands, Janine turned and looked up at Ash, her face completely unreadable behind a blank expression. The girl's hand continued to shake only a little and the twitching became less and less pronounced over the course of a minute or two. They stared at each other for a long time, how long Ash didn't bother to track. The trainer standing by the vending machines realized only after his pulse slowed just how on edge he had been. The edges of his vision seemed to blur back into focus and he felt the muscles in his gut relax. It was too early on a critical morning following a sleepless night, he decided, to be dealing with any more stress. When Janine sighed and leaned back against the couch, Ash dropped his hands into his pockets.
Ash cleared his throat to steady his voice. "I'd like to be your friend if you'd let me," he said. "And I'm trying really hard to trust you in hopes that you'll trust me enough for the two of us to work together against Team Rocket."
"Is that why you're helping me?" Janine asked, taking Ash by surprise when her hand shook again and she tucked it back between herself and the couch.
The young trainer nodded. "I once told someone that I wanted to show them what a better world really looked like," Ash said, recalling the previous day. "If I want to make good on that I need to show people that trusting a stranger doesn't have to be a bad thing."
"That's a dangerous gamble," Janine said, as much to herself as to Ash.
"Its why I'm trusting you," he answered. "And if you're being honest about this mission tomorrow then it's a gamble you've made too."
Janine looked at the book beside her leg for a moment, then sighed and carefully tore out the ruined page. She closed the cover and set the book aside. "I..." she said, pausing and looking down at the destroyed piece of paper. Janine patted her knees with her palms and slid her hands down the backs of her calves. "I'd like to trust you too. But things just don't work that way," she added quickly, looking up at Ash, almost apologetically.
Ash took a deep breath and sat down on the couch, a comfortable distance from Janine but close enough to reach out and touch her shoulder for emphasis. "Something's bothering you," he stated, his gaze gesturing to her lap where the girl's hands again held each other in white knuckled grips. "If you want me to leave it alone, then say so and I will," he continued. "But if I can help, I'd like to."
Staring up at Ash, Janine's blank expression melted away, replaced by a combination of speechlessness and lingering skepticism. Behind the vibrant purple eyes, Ash thought he could see her mind turning over on some complicated problem, so rather than interrupt, he remained silent and waited for her.
"You met me yesterday," said Janine.
Ash nodded. "Today act-" Ash began to correct before remembering that, being well after midnight, it was technically a new day. "Yep."
"That kind of mindset is going to get you hurt," she went on.
"I'd be surprised if it didn't," said Ash, again thinking back to Jesse. "But that doesn't make it wrong. I don't think the right thing to do has to be any more complicated than treating everyone else the way you'd want to be treated." He grinned a little. "You'll have to work with me on that one, it's a philosophy in progress and I'm still trying to reconcile it with fighting the bad guys and all that."
Not answering immediately, Janine looked away and thought for a moment. "Trust in a stranger. Sure, why not." she mumbled. "I'm sick... It's called Huntington's Disease and, well... you know those problems that go away on their own or get better with time?" she waited for Ash to nod before she went on. "It isn't one of those problems."
"I'm sorry," Ash answered, quickly scanning his memories, unable to place the name.
"Don't be," Janine responded. She smiled just a little. "It's not so bad yet that I can't do my part to protect people... and I can medicate away most of the symptoms. Plus I don't have to worry about giving it to anyone. It's not exactly contagious so don't worry."
"That's not quite what I meant," Ash responded. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
A hollow chuckle escaped the girl's lips and she reached up to put her hand over her mouth. "Not really," she said, looking absentmindedly across the room and out the window. "It's just something I'm going to have to put up with until it... runs its course. I started showing symptoms when I was twelve," she went on with a withdrawn shrug, "which isn't too unusually early so I'm used to it. It's just inconvenient."
"Inconvenient?" Ash repeated.
Janine nodded. "While it can hit at any age, usually the symptoms show up between the ages of thirty and forty, at which point the person has between ten and twenty years before they can't function on their own. As a guideline though, the earlier the symptoms manifest, the faster the condition progresses. Of course I can keep drugging myself stupid to keep the symptoms under control, though at the rate it's going I'm thinking I have three solid years, maybe four, before it gets bad enough to put me at risk of screwing up in the field. And that is how I plan on going out," a small smile creased her lips and she turned to Ash again. "Doing what I do."
"You're being a little casual about this aren't you," said Ash.
"Trust in a stranger," Janine repeated. "Besides, you're the first person I've talked to about this outside my letters and now that I've said something it... it feels kinda good to talk."
"I'm glad," Ash said with a smile. "That's what friends are supposed to do."
"I suppose so," said the girl in purple. She turned to look at him and stood up, pulling the long hoodie down to cover the tops of her thighs. "But now, I think I'm going to bed. I could use another hour or two before today. Don't worry," she added, "I'll make sure nothing gets in the way of the mission."
Ash mirrored her and got to his feet, picking up the can of lemonade from the ground behind the couch. "Yeah, I'll probably turn in a little bit too," he said. "For what it's worth."
"G'night," said Janine, walking to the door on the opposite side of the room. She pulled it open and stepped halfway throuh before stopping and turning around. "Thanks," she said, looking over her shoulder. Maybe we can talk again sometime later."
Ash smiled. "I'd like that, goodnight," he answered sitting back down with his drink as the door shut behind Janine. He remained there on the couch for a few minutes, finishing off the now warm beverage and thinking. "That must take some strength of character I wouldn't have," he uttered to himself.
SC
Pulsing like a drum whose rhythm made her muscles ache and her nerves burn, Jesse's heartbeat thudded in her ears, stirring her from a restless sleep. Wincing back from the pain she tried to cloister herself off from all sensation, but the ache's return meant the drugs which held off consciousness were losing their effect. After what she thought must have been days, the burning in the right side of her body was simply too much to ignore, and she groped with her left hand for the little remote beside the hospital bed with which she could call the nurse.
Finding it a moment later, she clicked the little button. Nothing. She clicked it again, this time realizing that the buzzing that usually accompanied the action was missing. She opened one eye and licked her dry lips. "Nurse," she rasped, her vision blurring. "Nurse," she called a little louder when no answer came. "Can we turn up the drip a little?"
"She can't hear you," the cool voice disrupted the silence to her right.
"James!" Jesse started, instinctively trying to turn her head to the right. The screaming pain that tore into her neck and shoulders stopped her short. "You're back," her voice wavered, sounding unsure.
James stood up from the chair beside her bed and walked to the curtains drawn across the glass door. He cracked them with his fingers to look outside and quickly scan the hall beyond the windowless room. Given that no light shone through the crack in the thick cloth, Jesse could only guess that the hospital had turned out the lights for the night shift. Without a sound, James stepped away from the window and let the curtains fall back into place before turning and stepping up beside the bed.
"You're back early," Jesse said.
"What happened?" James asked, voice ostensibly void of curiosity or warmth.
Jesse felt her stomach freeze some. James already knew the exact outcome of the mission. "I lost control," she said.
"And?" James probed.
"I wasted resources and endangered the mission."
"You endangered the entire organization."
Jesse couldn't contain a small shiver that crept down her back. The venom in James's words had been palpable, only barely veiled behind the man's eternally icy demeanor. She could see the bags under her partner's eyes and the windburn on his face. He'd been flying hard and fast for quite a while if his cracked and scabbing lips were any indicator. "I'm-"
"I instruct you to capture Ketchum, alive and unharmed," James interrupted, his voice remaining steady, "so you blatantly instruct the police not to interfere in Team Rocket business, ambush Ketchum in the skies, and put on a show that all of Fuchsia could see. Then you let Ketchum carry you over the most heavily traveled bridge in the region to a public hospital." James's knuckles cracked in his gloves as his fingers tensed. "And then you leave it all for the organization to clean up. You leave it for me to clean up."
"I lost control, you know how I can be," Jesse's voice trembled as she lay helpless. A panicked smile smeared on her face, Jesse's eyes darted from one end of the room to the other. She was alone with James. "As soon as I get better-"
"The Administrator ordered me to kill you," James interrupted again, making Jesse's eyes go wide. "And he outranks me."
"James, please," Jesse visibly broke down in the bed. "Not like this. After everything we've been through, not like this."
"No," James leaned over the bed. "I don't think you understand. I cleaned up after you. I paid to buy off the important witnesses. Moreover, I took your case to Viridian and brought it before the boss, myself. Do you know what he told me?"
Jesse shook her head as carefully as she could, pressing her lips into a thin white line as the last vestiges of color drained from her face.
"He told me to stop wasting his time."
A nearly inaudible whimper escaped the wounded agent.
"And then I reminded him of everything we've done for him," James went on, his monotone unbroken. "Because sometimes people forget that the healthy human mind can't do what we do without consequences. Day in and day out, I reminded him, you and I do the things the organization has to deny so no sane person would have to bear the stress of what has to be done to protect humanity." James stopped and let the words sink in. "The boss gave you one more chance," he said, eliciting a quivering sigh from Jesse. "But," James went on, leaning down to speak quietly to her. "If you snap again, I won't be able to protect you. If you can't control yourself, I – Will – End – You."
James leaned up without another word and turned to the small machine sitting on the stand beside Jesse's bed. Pushing one of the little rubber buttons he released a dose of drugs that washed into his partner's veins. Jesse's pupils pulsed for a second as her vision blurred out to black and she closed her eyes, asleep. James casually walked back around the bed and sat down in the chair, folding his arms in front of his chest. Inclining his head slightly, he closed his eyes and went still.