2/2

Besides, why would Karen and Sidney need one of these monsters when their own team is easily more dangerous than a hundred of them combined? That's how dangerous their team of dark types are. They are also people who I had secretly learnt from when I used the Indigo's resources for my own ends, especially Karen. I had learnt a lot simply by watching all of her battles that were recorded on video, the ones that are not shown in public because she was training alone in a League facility where her team of dark types simply go crazy as one. Their teamwork is awesome.

Many times, I had fantasized that if Jane and I were ordinary trainers, without our circumstances weighing on us and simply going about on our journey, I would probably be the cranky trainer beating up any dark type trainers I can see. Simply because they had the audacity to claim that they are Dark Specialists. Jane would probably be the saner one, trying to hold me back and apologise on my behalf to those fools who had their asses beaten and she would pull on my ear and scold me after everything is said and done. I would tell her to stop it. She would say that she's not accepting any objections and continue to tell me off. The cycle would repeat endlessly.

Unfortunately, that would never happen. I killed that dream with my own two hands.

The 'upright' upbringing most trainers had will never allow them to fully understand the three basic concepts, and people wonder why most Dark Specialists ended up as villains. It's because their discriminatory rules rejected us in the first place. To force us to fight fair is akin to killing us even before the battle began. There is no true place for a Dark Specialist in an upright organisation like the Pokemon League. Jane gave her life for me so that I can earn Team Rocket's trust to be their Exterminator, but understanding dark types and their very nature was how I earned my power to truly be a good one. Team Rocket has no place for the weak. Only with power can change arrive.

Power I earned by learning from dark types. I learnt many things about life simply by observing them. I love how fitting it is for me to be a trainer of dark type pokemon. An effective army of dark type pokemon no matter how weak and broken we individually are.

Together, we are dangerous.

And fighting dirty proved to be effective. The Ranger is obviously freaking out at how houndoom did the impossible. She doesn't know that houndoom and I aren't alone, that we are playing dirty, that there will always be someone from my team backing us up from some unseen corner, waiting for the right time to strike. Fighting fair is going to be her downfall.

Taking advantage of the Ranger's confusion, I softly commanded houndoom.

"Inferno."

It will be a quick way to die. The pain won't last long. The Ranger's masquerain had set up a Water Sport upon seeing my houndoom but honestly, a Water Sport on that level might as well be useless. Maybe she just caught it? It does seem relatively untrained compared to the rest of her team. It doesn't even feel like it is part of the team.

There's no teamwork. Zero.

Unexpectedly, the Ranger decided to fight fire by making it bigger.

"Hurricane!"

A raging hurricane blew and forced the flames to spread back in my direction instead. I cannot help but mentally applaud her for her quick thinking to use my own move against me. Furthermore, her flying types are carefully flying way out of our physical reach, keeping us at a distance. It seems that they had learned from their previous encounter with us.

However, she still didn't learn enough from our previous encounter. She shouldn't have allowed the wall of flames to obscure her view of us, like how houndoom's Smog did the last time.

"Exeggutor. Time for our magic trick."

Since I'm sure that the effect of crobat's Mean Look had worn off, Exeggutor swiftly teleported the fallen grunts around us away to our Ecruteak hideout before shifting our positions to be behind the Ranger, out of sight.

Seeing that she thinks that I am still behind that wall of flames, I let hydreigon out and climbed onto his back. Weavile had also been released as he made himself unseen by hiding himself from view using hydriegon's thick fur and large body, riding on hydreigon beside me and always ready for a sneak attack like the troublemaker he is.

Even through all the chaos, the entire series of actions only took two seconds at the most. An action so ingrained in us by practicing our teamwork over and over again until we can no longer stand.

Hydreigon took off into the air with exeggutor directly below us, exeggutor is still out of sight thanks to zoroark's work.

"Finish the dragonite."

The Ranger's dragonite had proved to be a threat during both encounters, it must be taken out.

Hydreigon immediately blasted powerful beams of various attacks onto the dragonite, catching it by surprise. Our sneak attack had made the Ranger and her pokemon panic a little from what I can see from their expressions. However, the dragonite didn't fall.

Then what about this? It's time I return the favour from our previous encounter at Cherrygrove. I should let her have a taste of her own medicine for what she did to me before.

"Draco Meteor."

If she's lucky, she will still have a complete body left to bury.

I saw her flying types congregating around her, who is still riding on the pidgeot, and collectively flew to the ground to regroup. I saw a huge dome of Protect erected around them and I know this is going to be a long battle. There's no doubt that I can win, but it's going to be troublesome with how defensive she is playing this.

Maybe I really should get going by now seeing that all live Rockets are gone, leaving only the dead ones, but I'm starting to enjoy our little battle. It's been a long time since I can really enjoy one and simply cut loose.

An unexpected huge blast of Thunder that came crashing down from the skies would have done me in if it wasn't for exeggutor maintaining a constant shield of Light Screen and Reflect around us, only becoming visible when struck. Our teamwork saved our lives once again. See? This is what a team trained by a Dark Specialist can do.

Hydreigon roared a deafening cry upon seeing that attack, and I knew that he must have gave in to his bloodlust again.

I sighed as weavile cackled in amusement. Here we go again. There's no controlling hydreigon now that he is like this. He is going to rip apart our foes limb from limb and now no one will be able to stop him. Our teamwork will have to revolve around him now, like how we practiced many times before.

The girl will end up as food in his belly. What a sad way to die.

'Master Jayce? I sense incoming trainers and the trickster had also spotted them converging onto our location. I believe them to be extremely skilled. The trickster had identified one of them to be a Gym Leader from the list of high profile threats you had us memorised. Target #9.'

Gym Leader? Target #9? Must be Falkner. Violet City is not far from here after all.

I clicked my tongue as I try to see if I can use this unforeseen development to my advantage. Maybe…

If all goes well. Hurrah. Executive in no time. My plans can finally advance to their final stages. If not, it's either indefinite jail time or death by birds for me. To do or not to do?

It's obvious which course of action will be my choice.

'Have zoroark make his illusion discoverable, but don't make it too obvious. They cannot find out that it is on purpose. I have a plan. It's time to pull our joker card. Have zoroark feign defeat when caught, the League trainers tend to not give their finishing blow when their opponents are already down because of their sense of honour. Watch out for him, pull him out if it gets too dangerous. We will beat it right away if that is the case.'

'Your wish is my command.'

Hydreigon began to fire his own bombardment of attacks from his three heads as he charged recklessly into the fray, uncaring about anything else. The dragonite used this chance to finally engage us in close quarter combat by meeting us in a Dragon Rush. There is a gust of wind blowing in their favour, which I recognise to be an effect of Tailwind. The aerodactyl which used to be my victim flew up into the air before diving down at us with a Double-Edge.

Can't let that happen now.

"Your turn now, you troublemaker."

Weavile leapt off with a cackle as he met aerodactyl's charge midair with an Ice Punch, sending the aerodactyl away from us. An Air Cutter was fired at weavile by one of the flying types, but hydreigon still have enough sense of reason to protect weavile by intercepting it with a Dark Pulse. Even if my mentally unstable hydreigon didn't do so, exeggutor will immediately pick up the slack to do what he cannot.

This, is what I call teamwork. Not like how the Ranger's stupid flying types are flying around in stupid formations. That's just looking pretty. The formations are not even useful in fighting against us. At least bring up a challenge.

I gave a specific hand signal to weavile, and he immediately blew up a massive Blizzard that got all the flying types around us to keep their distance. Weavile had been using Nasty Plot to power up while he was riding on hydreigon's back with me. He hasn't been slacking around doing nothing.

'Master Jayce. The trickster had successfully fooled his captors that he had been compromised and subdued. I think he is happy that he finally has the chance to slack about.'

I focused on the mental link I have with exeggutor as I sent him my reply.

'Make sure he hides you from view while doing that. You cannot be seen.'

'He did. I am currently transparent as you can see, or couldn't see. I will be very surprised if you can see me.'

Exeggutor and his multiple personalities. Sometimes I don't even know which head I'm talking to.

'Good. Is he alright?'

'Unfortunately for me, yes. He says that he can get out of there anytime he wishes. He's just playing along right now until an opportunity presents itself. Also, a firestorm is approaching.'

A huge vortex of Fire Spin trapped us all in just as exeggutor said that, caging us all in a fiery prison with no way to see what is happening outside. I know the League reinforcements are trying to contain me without killing me. It's because of their so-called high and mighty morals, it's also because they need me alive so that they can track where all my men had disappeared to so that they can launch a counterattack. I'm the last lead they have right now.

This is their first big mistake, and I am going to capitalise on it.

Weavile landed on hydreigon's back, still laughing uncontrollably from the pleasure of punting the aerodactyl back there. The heat from the Fire Spin does not bother him, but I am a little concerned for a different reason. Whatever pokemon that used this Fire Spin is definitely very well-trained. A trainer way stronger that the Ranger had arrived and it is not Falkner, because this is not something he can do. Someone else on top of Falkner had joined the game and we are in for a big battle.

I started to cough uncontrollably, the symptoms of my sickness making themselves known again in an untimely manner. I wordlessly signalled for hydreigon to get on the ground, who is finally sober now that the sudden Fire Spin brought it back out of his mindless rage. I release my entire team, knowing that we will have to go all out to make sure we can escape alive. The only exception is Nosy, who is still dwelling in my smartwatch because that busybody is not a battler. His battles are of a different kind.

Ninetales whined in worry and nudged me gently with her head in concern upon seeing my coughing fit.

"I'm fine." I rasped out as my coughing fit starts to calm down. I pulled up my right sleeve a little, revealing the key stone embedded in a special bracelet that I wear around my wrist.

I heard someone calling Falkner's name on the outside of this wall of fire. I now have confirmation that the Gym Leader had arrived. I need him to be here so that I can pull off my joker card because I need what he has on him. If this gamble worked, there is a high chance that my plans can finally advance to the next stage.

This is no longer something which I can take lightheartedly.

Time to go all out.

"Power yourselves up however you can while we are still safe in here. Nasty Plot, Swords Dance, Curse, whatever you need. We are in for a slugfest against more than one opponent. One of them is a Gym Leader. And exeggutor, please, next time, an earlier warning would have been greatly appreciated."

'I'm offended that you think so little of my defensive capabilities. The Fire Spin didn't even touch us, did it? Did you even feel the heat?'

"It's a matter of principle." I argued back and took a stance to prepare myself for invoking Mega Evolution. My team is now around me, facing outwards in a defensive circle because we are now undoubtedly surrounded on all sides. I had trained them well in our teamwork. I only need to give my commands when I truly need to and they can immediately adapt to any situation. They have my full trust, they are the only ones who I will ever fully trust in this hell.

You cannot trust humans. Humans always lie. They are worse than pokemon in this aspect.

Houndoom trotted to my side.

Using this power will probably cut my limited lifespan down even further, but I will have to do it to get out of here alive. At least I had put on a convincing enough show to not blow my cover, although I will need to do something more if I want to reach my own personal objective.

I need something that I know only someone like a Thirteen Pillar will certainly possess. I'm about to commit daylight robbery. If I'm lucky, I'm going to have a x2 bonus.

This is going to be fun.

To be honest, this situation may be what I need. This might actually be an opportunity to finally get what I want, to be Executive. I know what I am going to do next, if I succeed, will very likely earn me a promotion.

"At the same time houndoom go mega, use your Flash Fire to suck in the flames." I instructed ninetales while the vortex of fire is still roaring around us, trapping us in. The only thing keeping us safe from it are exeggutor's barriers. "Exeggutor, tell zoroark to use the opportunity from our counterattack to identify and steal any mega stones available. I don't want a Gym Leader to go mega on us and we need those stupid marbles. We need to be able to control the flow of the battle if we want to stay alive. Everyone else, support them and stay alive. Hydreigon, do us a favour and try to stay with us. I won't accept any objections."

Without further ado, I invoke the power of Mega Evolution just as ninetales sucked the Fire Spin in. We made our sudden reappearance as our fiery prison vanished within a second. This is our element of surprise. No one would have seen this coming, because the hydreigon and weavile species are incapable of doing anything to defend me from such an attack. Defending is not their forte. They don't know that zoroark is still conscious and is still hiding exeggutor from view, who is instrumental in defending us from harm.

"Dark Pulse!"

No one was expecting me to go for such a counterattack, as evident from how all the other opposing pokemon that were surrounding us immediately scattered in a surprised manner. My eyes immediately spotted a huge number of fire types and flying types around us. The Ranger from before is now gone. In her place is the Gym Leader of Violet City, staring at me with cold eyes. There is also another Ranger in the sky, riding a charizard. He is obviously the trainer of all the fire types surrounding us right now.

I don't particularly care about the two of them. All I care about are my objective.

"Inferno!"

Mega Houndoom bathed the skies in hellfire that scorched a few of Falkner's flying types. Hydreigon and honchkrow used this opportunity to get into the air. Honchkrow took on a supportive role as she darted around, finding opportunities to pin the targets down for hydreigon to blast indiscriminately with his attacks. Weavile rode on hydreigon's back, attacking mercilessly whenever possible.

Shiftry used his fans to disperse a large ball of fire coming our way as bisharp charged ahead to meet a pyroar in combat, stopping its charge immediately. Drapion fired Toxic Spikes along our perimeter, forcing the fire types on the ground to keep their distance while drapion continues to shoot volleys of needles. She is our walking artillery responsible for providing suppressive fire on our side.

I think I vaguely recognised the unknown Ranger. He is kind of a famous hotshot within the Rangers, a member of the 1st Regiment of the Johto Ranger Force, Pyral Furnes. Someone of his position will most likely possess what I need. His presence is my x2 bonus.

Mega Evolution is not a power they can use lightly as members of the Indigo League, but a criminal like me don't have the same concerns because I am not bound to the same laws as they do. I just use this power whenever I want, whenever I need to, because I never follow the rules.

Furthermore, as a general guideline, only a mega-evolved pokemon can possibly fight on equal footing with another mega-evolved pokemon, assuming that they are approximately on the same level. When Mega Houndoom just made his appearance, I had been waiting to see where Falkner's and Pyral's eyes and hands had gone to on reflex after the surprise I sprung on them. I now know that there are only two pokemon on their side right now with mega stones from how they had reactively looked at their charizard and pidgeot. I saw how their hands had also reactively reached for their key stones hidden on them when Mega Houndoom scorched the skies with his flames.

From that alone, I can tell two things. One, both trainers are capable of using Mega Evolution. Two, only two pokemon on the other side are capable of going through that process, and I now know which two.

Jackpot.

That information is all I need. Time to pull out our joker card.

Although it seems that zoroark did not need my instructions after all. The little trickster had already stolen the Charizardite Y somehow and I had no idea how he did it. That lazy slacker never let me down before, not even once.

"Falkner! Be careful of the zoroark! It-"

It was too late as zoroark leapt off from the ground, already free of his captor's constraints long ago by using a Substitute. Falkner was forced to fly low after a particularly strong Dragon Pulse hydreigon had fired, allowing zoroark to cling himself onto the pidgeot Falkner is riding on. Perfect timing and teamwork. My pokemon had never let me down before.

A blast of a Dark Pulse later at zero distance, zoroark jumped off the pidgeot and landed back by my feet on all fours before standing on his hind legs once more. He proudly gave me the two items I had commanded him to steal with Thief when the opportunity arises.

A Charizardite Y and a Pidgeotite. These are rare to come by even if you are a trusted trainer of the Indigo League. This might be what is needed for my immediate promotion to Executive. Our joker card worked.

"Shit! Our mega stones! Don't let him get away!"

Falkner's pidgeot is still standing strong despite receiving a Dark Pulse right at its face, and the expression on Falkner's face tells me very clearly that he is now enraged. Zoroark stealing not just one, but two mega stones will definitely cause an uproar within the Indigo League. Mega Evolution is a secret that absolutely cannot be let known to the world, and I just so casually not only use it in front of the two trainers in front of me, but also deprived them of their greatest weapon.

In their eyes, what they see is that their weapons are now Team Rocket's to use, and Team Rocket definitely possess the knowledge and skill to utilise Mega Evolution, an extremely feared power whose very existence is heavily guarded. To strike fear into Indigo is one of the objectives of today's attack on the park. With this joker card move, I not only achieved my own personal objective, I also fulfilled my mission as a Rocket. My cover had been further solidified.

Someone should give me and my pokemon a round of applause. Too bad our only audiences are two very angry trainers who cannot appreciate the beauty of my performance.

The loss of two rare mega stones will be a huge hit to the Indigo League, and also a huge embarrassment for them. Conversely, the addition of the two mega stones will be beneficial to Team Rocket. Just what I need to get myself promoted.

All with a usage of Thief. It is a really handy move, although I cannot help but wonder just how did zoroark managed to steal the Charizardite Y without me seeing it in action? That slacker is getting trickier to deal with day by day.

"Close the curtains. Night Daze."

A massive pitch-black shockwave of dark energy blanketed the area as zoroark let loose a powerful Night Daze. He had obviously used the time where he had feigned capture earlier to secretly power up with a Nasty Plot. He's tricky like that.

With the Night Daze causing destruction everywhere and obscuring us from view, I whistled for my pokemon to use this chance to regroup and returned back to my side. I'm glad that they came out unscathed.

With zoroark's Night Daze still running rampant, our still invisible Exeggutor (thanks to zoroark) protected us all with his barriers as his eyes glowed strongly with power, already charging up the required psychic power to get us out of here with Teleport.

I'm in a good mood. There are a few hiccups here and there, but I am now a lot closer to my end goal. For some reason, I have a feeling that the female Ranger is why Falkner is even here in the first place. Not only do they look somewhat similar, Falkner's appearance is too swift even if Violet City is near the National Park and I doubt the President has the ability to somehow manipulate a Gym Leader to station himself here today.

If what I suspect is true, I will have to thank her the next time I see her. I'm grateful to her for her assistance. Something actually went right for once after all.

Feeling slightly mischievous today thanks to my good mood, I cannot help but imitate Giovanni by tipping my breton cap a little in the direction of the two persons standing on the side of justice as their pokemon charged towards us, determined to get the stolen items back.

They won't be fast enough. They had fought fair, but the point is I never cared about fighting fair. They should have used all means to put me down the moment they had the chance. I am a criminal, not your regular trainer.

I am a true Dark Specialist. Fighting fair against people like me gets you nowhere.

"Thank you for your kind donation, gentlemen. Adieu."

We disappeared in a Teleport.

And the curtain closes.

Name: Jayce

Official Identity: Jacob Myers

Indigo Government Identity: Operative 2046, Code Name: Gengar

Indigo Government Rank: Special Agent

Team Rocket Identity: Elite Officer Plague

Team Rocket Rank: Elite Officer

Pokemon Team:

1. Ninetales, female

2. Exeggutor, male

3. Weavile, male

4. Honchkrow, female

5. Gengar, female

6. Houndoom, male

7. Umbreon, male

8. Hydreigon, male

9. Drapion, female

10. Zoroark, male

11. Bisharp, male

12. Shiftry, male

13. Porygon, (Nosy), genderless