Upon leaving Kehera Village later that afternoon, Caley and Kota found themselves walking down a pretty little winding path, dotted with wildflowers. But the trainer was no longer admiring the beauty of the surrounding scenery. His thoughts had returned to the self-imposed intention of retrieving everyone’s goods. The thought of infiltrating a Team Rocket branch was playing heavily on Caley's mind, so much so that he failed to realise a thick cable lying across the path in front of him. At least not until his foot had caught on it, sending the trainer toppling forward. Luckily for him, Kota implemented his telekinesis at the last minute, catching Caley before he had a chance to hit the gravel.

"Yan-yaa!" a shrill cry was heard from the left. Trainer and Pokémon glanced up to see a Yanma staring at them rather accusingly, as if they should have expected a cable to have been blocking their way. The Yanma was perched atop a device that looked a miniaturized version of the videophones found in most households, except the screen of this device was showing complicated graphs and charts instead of the face of another person.

"What's up, Scouter?" a young man's voice resounded from nearby. Further scrutiny revealed that the cable which Caley had tripped over was arcing from the base of the device to a compartment built into a huge white boundary wall, where a figure in blue overalls had been working. Caley felt like smacking himself over not noticing the wall, at least. He must have been seriously deep in thought.

The dark brown-haired figure stood up at seeing Caley and Kota and quickly pulled the handheld module he'd been using to scan the wires inside the compartment away from the open hatch, before shutting and locking it. Noticing Caley's displeased expression and the strewn cable at his feet, the figure chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry about that," he said, moving the cable aside. "Did that trip you up?"

"Almost," Caley nodded. "Thankfully Kota, my Psybab stopped that from happening. What's all that stuff for anyway?"

"Just routine checking," came the smooth reply. "I have to come out here every day to make sure Coyna City's broadcast network is up and running."

"Broadcast network?" Caley let his gaze ascend the wall until it came to rest upon the familiar peaks of office buildings intermingled with the tall, foreboding chimneys of factories and warehouses. So this was Coyna City, the industrial heart of Tatto.

"That's what I said, bucko," the young man grinned. "Coyna relies on good communication links more than any other city in the region, so it has its own personal system designed to make sure the right info gets to the right places. It's a pretty nifty piece of work, if I do say so myself. Delicate too, doesn't function well with oth- I mean, with psychic Pokémon around. So you'll have to keep your Psybab inside its Pokéball if you're thinking of heading into the city."

Just as the figure had told him, there was indeed a tight restriction on Pokémon within Coyna City. Caley found himself getting a stern lecture by Police officers at the entrance gate on keeping his entire team within their Pokéballs during his stay. Additionally, they insisted on stamping his hand with a seal to verify his entrance, rather roughly at that. The trainer rubbed at the partially-crushed appendage as he wandered down the street looking for somewhere to buy a snack - having a painful hand to accompany his painfully empty gut was hardly his idea of a pleasant welcome.

Finding any shops at all proved to be difficult. Coyna City was indeed a place that mostly catered to manufacture (of what, the trainer didn't know) and as such, there was very little to provide what meagre populace that lived here. The streets swarmed, but it was mostly a thriving mass of factory workers and businessmen. Unsettlingly, there also seemed to be far more Police officers here than in any other place Caley had visited thus far. They paraded up and down the street amongst the crowds and hung around building entrances and passageways, eyeing the trainer with needlessly-condemning glowers.

This place sure has some high security... Caley thought to himself. It's almost like they're expecting something. The trainer winced as a short, sharp pain coursed through his skull and decided to abandon such deep thinking for the moment. His hunger must have been getting seriously bad to start giving him headaches.

A few minutes later, Caley had discovered a small convenience store on a dingy street corner and bought himself some sandwiches, a drink and a bar of chocolate. He then retired to a little area of greenery nearby to consume his meal. As Caley unwrapped the sandwich, he felt saddened that he could not let Kota and Stian out to share the food with them. Regardless of the Pokémon being in a state similar to suspended animation and therefore requiring no food or oxygen, it didn't seem the same to be eating alone.

            The trainer sat up sharply, hearing the sound of a stomach gurgling. At first he thought it had been his own, but he had felt nothing and besides this, the sound seemed to have come from another direction. Caley glanced up to see a middle aged man dressed in a Police Officer's uniform leaning up against a nearby lamp post, muttering to himself. Suddenly, Caley found his attentions fixed unwaveringly upon the figure. Something about the man's looks was most intriguing - besides the platinum blonde hair that dangled in two long strands, framing his nose, there were also two pairs of thin but noticeably deep scars across both of his cheeks.

            Realising he was being watched, the man glanced up, his gaze meeting with Caley's own. It was then the trainer got a shock - the eyes he had been confronted with were unlike any he'd seen on a person before. Wide and encompassing, they bore narrow, dark blue pupils that reached from the upper eyelid to the lower one. This only served as means to make Caley gape all the more.

            "Take a picha," the man snorted, his voice saturated with an unmistakable Kantoan accent. "It'll last longer."

            "Huh?" Caley flinched, snapping out of his trancelike state. "Oh sorry, was I staring?"

            "Eh, fugeddit," came the careless reply. "I get dat all da time."

            "You sounded pretty hungry there," the trainer decided to change the subject.

            "So would youse be," the man remarked, adjusting his cap. "No breakfast until ya rounds are ova, dats da rule."

            "Wow, that seems kinda harsh," Caley blinked. He never realised the Police were so regimentally self-disciplined. Even so, how were officers expected to make decent decisions on an empty stomach?

            "Dem's da breaks, kid," the man sighed as his own gut uttered a miserable acknowledgement of its own emptiness. Caley responded by reaching into his pocket and pulling out the chocolate bar he had bought earlier.

            "In which case, take this," he insisted, offering the item. No sooner had the man clapped eyes on the chocolate, he snatched it roughly from Caley's hand before noisily devouring it in less than three mouthfuls. Caley watched, mildly disturbed - hopefully the figure had remembered to remove the wrapper before he'd consumed the chocolate.

            "Aaaah... dat hit da spot," the man grinned, letting out a satisfied belch. "T'anks, kid!"

            "S'alright," Caley smiled in return. "It's the least I could do, especially since you guys try so hard to keep the peace in Tatto."

            The latter half of this sentence caused the man's eyebrow to twitch everso slightly. He turned his head away so Caley was unable to see the expression of guilt that had descended upon his face.

            "Don't hang around here, kid," he told the trainer in lowered tones. "Dis city ain't safe."

            "It's not?" Caley looked puzzled. "That would explain the load of Police everywhere. But how come?"

            "Trust me," the man replied sadly.

 

            "Ya don't wanna know."

 

***~~***~~***~~***~~***

 

            "First a harsh Pokémon restriction, now this," Caley muttered to himself as he strode angrily past another factory. The trainer had had enough of being stared at for one day - if he hadn't been looking for the Team Rocket HQ then he would have left Coyna far behind by now. It was the only thing he could think of that would give the city enough of an unsafe status to bring out all these Police officers.

            Coming across the HQ was never going to be simple, though - whoever ran Team Rocket wasn't exactly going to make such a place easy to spot. On top of that, Caley's headache hadn't left, not even after eating. In fact, it only seemed to have gotten worse, making it almost impossible to think. Caley squinted and put a hand to his forehead in an attempt to block out the excess light, but this only managed to skew his vision and do nothing for the pain. The trainer let out a cry of surprise as he ended up walking into someone who had been travelling the opposite way.

            "Careful, boy!" a firm but kindly voice exclaimed. "You'll do yourself an injury walking around with your eyes closed."

            "I've already got an injury..." Caley groaned, massaging his scalp. He found himself looking upon a man in his early sixties, with wispy grey hair and half moon spectacles. "I don't suppose you've got anything for a headache, do you?"

            "Well not on me, but I do have just the thing back at my house," the man replied. "If it wouldn't be too far out of your way, you could always come back with me and get it. My house is just a short distance from Coyna City so I have to come here to get my essentials, y'see."

            "Sure, I'll follow," Caley nodded with a faint smile. "Thank you, sir. You don't know how much I appreciate this."

            "One good turn makes the world go round," the man returned the smile and hoisted his bulging carrier bag over one shoulder. "This way."

 

***~~***~~***~~***~~***

 

            "So, what's your name, lad?" he asked, some time later. The two figures were back outside the boundaries of Coyna City and shortly after releasing Kota back into the open air, Caley felt the symptoms of his discomfort beginning to lift. The trainer deduced that it must have been the claustrophobic, smoggy conditions of the city's streets that had brought on his headache. Nevertheless, he decided to continue following the man back to his house. It was more out of curiosity for why someone would be living in the nearby forest than anything else.

            "I'm Caley Wilson, sir."

            "Caley...Wilson?" the aged man scratched his chin as he approached the front door of a modest, well-kept dwelling nestled amongst the trees. "For some reason that name is ringing a bell. Maybe Claude will be able to jog my memory. That's a fine specimen of a Psybab you have there, by the way."

            "Thank you, but who's Claude?" Caley inquired. The front door swung open to reveal the answer to his question. A tall, green parrot type Pokémon stood in the doorway and looked the trainer up and down before flicking its head feather in disgust.

            "Here at Grimer Gleaners, we remove the Muk, so you don't have to!" it announced.

             Paraket, Caley's Pokédex read. These Pokémon are best known for their huge memories and their uncanny ability to relay audio that they have heard in the past.

            "Now now, Claude. That's no way to speak to guests," the man snapped. "Please excuse him, he's hardly the sociable type."

            "You could understand that?" Caley blinked. "It sounded rather random to me..."

            "More or less," came the reply. "Claude keeps track of all the things that I would otherwise forget. You could call him my extra brain! He does watch far too much junk on the television for my liking, though."

            "Objection, your honour!" Claude spluttered, before stepping back from the doorway to let his human companion and Caley inside.

            "Claude, meet Caley," the former smiled warmly, motioning to the trainer. "He just came here to get a little medicine."

            "Caley..." the Paraket murmured, switching to an uncannily familiar voice. "I'm not sure he's ready to take on the Tatto Expedition yet, Alistair."

            "Not...ready...?" the trainer stared into space. He recognized the voice now, it was that of Professor Amber. But why had the professor had doubts about Caley's success?

            "Julian's a worrywart, always has been," the man whom Caley assumed was Alistair chuckled. "That was a recording taken from a phone call I had with him the other day. He was just afraid that you'd be likely to leap into things and go in way over your head."

            "Yeah..." Caley scratched the back of his head awkwardly. Seemed Professor Amber knew him a lot better than he realised. "So how do you know the professor, anyway?"

            "I'm a professor too, my boy!" Alistair grinned. "I specialise in chemistry, mainly. In the past, Julian was one of my students."

            "Cool..." Caley grinned, following Alistair as he made his way over to the doorway of another room. They were met with intricately constructed arrays of glass tubes attached to conical flasks and luminous fluids in jars which were scattered all over the floor and nearby shelves. Wires dangled from the ceiling and dilapidated pieces of equipment littered the benches and tables.

“Your methods are crude, but your persistence is admirable," Claude intoned in the style of a wise old guru from behind the human pair. Kota offered Caley a baffled glance, to which the trainer shrugged.

"Please excuse the mess," Alistair apologised, opening the doors of a wall cupboard before rummaging around inside. "Now where did I put that headache formula..."

"If its too difficult to find, then that's okay," Caley insisted, looking a little anxious as the professor clambered onto the counter amongst the tubes and concoctions.

"Nonsense, Caley," came the echoey reply from the cupboard. "Nothing's too difficult to find, that's what I always say!" A moment later he lifted his head from the wooden depths, grinning triumphantly and holding a bottle in one hand. "See, what did I tell you?"

Alistair made a move to return to the floor, but in his enthusiasm he forgot just how many things cluttered the counter and ended up knocking a nearby flask of purple liquid into the bowl of green powder next to it. A thunderous explosion ensued, during which all four figures were projected fifteen feet across the room, through the doorway and into the lounge beyond.

            “Harvards quality throw pillows are stuffed with only the best Mareep wool..." Claude groaned, having been squished by Alistair in the process. The professor got to his feet and glanced at the bottle he was still holding, unperturbed.

            "The headache formula's still in tact," he grinned, hoisting Caley from the waste paper bin he'd somehow got jammed into.

            "Good, after that I could really use it," the trainer winced, staggering into an armchair. Alistair handed him the bottle before going into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

            "So why are you all the way up here, Caley?" he asked. "The next gym is south of Pyra City after all - any reason for the detour?"

            "As a matter of fact..." Caley began warily. "I came looking for Team Rocket's headquarters."

            There was heard the sound of breaking glass from the kitchen. Caley, Kota and Claude dashed over to the doorway to find Alistair uneasily gathering the shards with a dustpan and brush.

            "I'm sorry," he forced a smile. "You caught me off guard there, mentioning that dreadful organization out of the blue. Why on earth would you wish to go to such a place?"

            "People from there took important equipment from Pyra City's Energy lab, and I came to get it back," Caley stated firmly. "Is Team Rocket's presence the reason why Coyna City has so many Police officers in it?"

            "I didn't notice any more officers there than in any other city," Alistair blinked. "And where could Team Rocket possibly hide their multitudes of drones amongst such a crowded and cramped place? I'm sure someone would have noticed if they were working in the office buildings or factories."

            "Well maybe they're not above ground at all," Caley exclaimed, starting to become frustrated with the professor's lack of faith in him.

            "Wherever they are, it is not your place to pry into their criminal dealings, Caley," Alistair reprimanded. "That organization is very dangerous, believe me. Professors like us are constantly on guard to protect our research from being misused by them. And even thinking you can conquer them as a one man army is the stuff of fiction, the things that Claude watches on TV."

            "Maybe..." Caley mumbled. Despite this strong admonition and the overwhelming odds, his determination to find Team Rocket's whereabouts would simply not lay down and die.

            Suddenly, Kota pricked up his furry ears and uttered a squeak of recognition. Caley followed him to the window before peering through the nets to the forest beyond. A few metres away, a large black truck passed between the trees at a reckless pace, barely visible against the dim light.

            "I wonder where that's heading," the trainer pondered. The vehicle certainly wasn't going in the right direction to enter Coyna City's main entrance.

            "Trucks are always passing through here," Alistair dismissed the thought, peering out of the kitchen door. "Carrying supplies and such, it's no great concern." He noticed Caley and Kota heading for the exit and held out his hand. "Wait, aren't you going to take this medicine?"

            "Medicine can wait," Caley called determinedly. "That generator won't."

            "What generator?" Alistair blinked, but it was too late. The trainer and his Pokémon had already left.

 

***~~***~~***~~***~~***

 

Caley watched quietly from the bushes and after some observation he noted that the strange black trucks were passing along the very same track every fifteen minutes or so. Carefully tracking the direction of these vehicles, the red-haired trainer found himself once again back at Coyna City's boundary wall. There seemed to be no trace of where the trucks had gone to. Caley returned to the foliage to continue his watch and sure enough, another vehicle approached, drawing to a standstill in front of the wall. To the trainer's astonishment, after five minutes or so a portion of wall opened and the transport drove through.

“Hurry it up,” a woman with luscious blue hair snapped from somewhere near the opening, twirling a bunch of keys upon her index finger. “We’re expecting another delivery to the loading bay in ten minutes.”

             This must be the place, Caley thought. The woman's sleek black uniform complete with a huge red 'R' emblazoned across the chest was more than a dead giveaway. But how to get inside?

            Then a sneaky idea struck the trainer idea. He bent down and whispered it to Kota. The Pokémon grumbled, but didn’t seem to refuse the offer.

             As the next truck stopped outside, Caley dashed as fast as he could toward the vehicle, keeping low to the ground to make sure the driver did not notice him. He had to reach the cargo area before the opening in the wall was revealed once again and he was discovered. With a flick of his wrist, Caley lifted the latch and raised the back slide hatch to the truck. There, sitting between the rows of boxes casually eating a donut, was one of the delivery men. He stood up in alarm.

             “Hey…” that was as far as he got.

“Go on, Kota,” Caley hissed. The Psybab leapt between its trainer and the Team Rocket grunt and began to stare it down, eyes glowing bright blue. In a matter of seconds the man had collapsed on the floor, sound asleep.

             “I know you’re not meant to use your attacks on humans, but this is the possible fate of Tatto and maybe even the rest of the world we’re talking about,” Caley murmured as he removed the man’s uniform and reluctantly put it on over his own clothing. The garments were slightly baggy and the smell of them left much to be desired, but this was no time to be picky.

“Now what to do about that Team Rocket guy? If he wakes up and finds his uniform is gone then our cover's going to be blown, big time."

Kota glanced at the sleeping figure thoughtfully while Caley covered it with a tarpaulin in a state of panic, then the Pokémon's eyes began to glow once again. Tweaking the operative's memories to make him believe he'd lost his clothes in a game of Poker would do the trick.

Detecting the sounds of footsteps, the trainer quickly tipped the contents of his own satchel into the knapsack the grunt had with him along with his jacket, and returned Kota to his Pokéball. Just in time too; the truck driver peered round the side with a rather disgusted look upon his face.

“Why are ya just standing there?" he snapped. "Get these boxes onta the trolley! They’re urgent property.”

Caley raised his eyebrows and tested the weight of one of the boxes as the driver vanished from sight once again. He hadn’t even noticed a thing; maybe Team Rocket drones really were as stupid as they had appeared to be on the news. Stepping from the back of the truck with his arms full, Caley's mouth dropped open as he found himself standing inside a huge warehouse lined with black vehicles. And not all of the haulage variety either, some were armoured, some were enabled to fly and others looked like tantalizingly futuristic.

The blue-haired woman was still waiting at the entrance to this loading bay as Caley (with the grunt assistant's bulging knapsack slung over his shoulder) and the Team Rocket driver brought the boxes upon the wide trolley. She cast the two figures in front of her a disapproving glance.

“You know where you’re heading with those?”

“Certainly do, Ms. Reido,” the driver announced. “Down to the lab with these babies.”

“Get going then,” the woman replied in a bored tone. As he quickly scuttled out of sight Caley came to the conclusion that with all the deliveries she probably couldn’t tell who made them or where they were going.

 

All the better for his sake.

 

After what seemed like several minutes inside a downward-moving roomy elevator, the two men passed through a set of shiny thick metal doors and Caley’s eyes ended up widening even further. This place was even more astounding than the one he was in before. Huge screens depicting the status of every experiment in progress hung suspended from the ceiling. Lights flashed, chemicals bubbled, and seated at every desk and worktop, scientists pushed buttons, pulled levers and altered settings in their attempts to keep their projects stable. Caley longed to know what it was they were working on. He also longed to know where the generator that the Team Rocket operatives stole from the Pyra Energy Centre was.

One of the tallest scientists, a man with sleek silvery hair and a pair of thick plastic goggles attached to his face strode towards them, rubbing his gloved hands eagerly.

“Excellent…the Pokédex expansion modules have finally arrived,” he drawled. “Take a good long look around you, young man. You are very honoured to view such a miracle in the making.”

'Pokédex expansion modules'? Caley repeated mentally, breathing a sigh of relief that the scientist was so focused on lecturing the delivery driver (probably because he was the nearest to him and plastic goggles have ways of distorting the vision). It gave him a chance to slip one of the shiny objects from the topmost box on the trolley and creep away from the scene by using a tall bookshelf as cover. While searching for a way out Caley was distracted by a terrified voice that was coming from a far part of the laboratory.

 

“Er..Professor Hereford, sir? Is this entirely necessary?”

 

“If you wish to earn your luncheon rations for today, then being a co-operative, quiet test subject is the best way to go about it," a different, somewhat testy voice answered. "Now, hold out your arm.”

There followed a piercing scream that made Caley and all the scientists not wearing headphones put their hands to their ears and shudder. Caley struggled to peer through the books to see whom was receiving the horrible treatment, but he could see nothing of note and eventually decided he'd better slip out into the dimly lit corridors, thankful for the shadows they provided. He was still scared that other operatives would notice him as they passed, and the fact he was not a real member.

Finally Caley emerged into a medium-sized canteen, filled with row upon row of empty benches. At the far end were three serving windows with a view to the kitchen beyond. The trainer’s stomach gave a loud gurgle - one sandwich really hadn't been enough to satisfy his appetite.

I could sure go for something to eat… he sighed inside his mind. But I went and left my money in my jacket. And getting that out in here would raise far too much suspicion. Caley shoved his hands into his trouser pockets miserably. When he brought them out again a small, crumpled slip of paper landed on the floor. He picked it up curiously.

“Free Meal Pass? Cool!”

Triumphantly Caley marched up to one of the serving hatches and peered in. A woman stood stirring the contents of the pan with a bemused look on her face and her turquoise hair shoved unsuccessfully into a rather worn net. Nearby, a photograph lay upon the counter, but it was at such an angle Caley was unable to see the figure depicted upon its surface.

 “Yuck. I hate lunchroom duty,” the woman muttered, glancing at the jar she had previously emptied into the receptacle. “Does Maya get lunchroom duty? Noooo... what is this stuff meant to be anyway? Looks like poop.”

Caley grimaced and began to have second thoughts over requesting something to eat while the woman continued to peer into the pan, her face scrunched up into a state of deep thought.

"I know what's missing!" she announced proudly to herself. "It needs spice!"

Expecting the woman to retrieve a container of powder from the cupboard, Caley uttered a gasp of alarm and ducked instinctively as she produced a small stick of dynamite from her pocket instead, lit it and dropped the item into the pan with an almost maniacal grin upon her face. A loud, predictably messy explosion ensued. After a moment or so Caley plucked up the courage to peer back through the serving hatch to see the woman still standing happily in front of the severely disfigured pan, caked in questionable lumpy sludge.

"Now, that's a kick!" she exclaimed triumphantly, before noticing the state of the kitchen and crying out in horror. Shockingly enough it wasn't the fact the walls were suddenly recoloured brown that had disturbed the female figure so greatly.

"Buuuutchyyy!" she wailed, snatching the sodden photograph from the counter and clutching it to her chest. At this point, Caley decided he had seen enough and quietly slipped out of the canteen.

 

With this level of oddness present, lunch could wait.  

 

Eventually, when the bell in the canteen had rung and other members of Team Rocket begun to filter in Caley finally obtained a recognizable meal. As he turned to find a place to sit, Caley spotted a small boy dressed in a uniform exactly like the one the young girl he had met three days ago in Prela Tunnel had been wearing. He was slumped over the bench in the far corner, his face shadowed by the peak of his blue and burgundy cap. The disguised trainer wandered over to investigate.

“Hey kid. Why 'aven’t ya got any lunch?” he asked, attempting to imitate the accents of the Team Rocket drones he had heard earlier. The boy raised his head and stared at him rudely.

“Haven’t you heard? Rookies don’t just get their meals handed to them like you lot. We have to earn them! Well I hate all this!

I hate being here…”

He muttered the last part in lowered tones. Caley looked thoughtful for a moment before sitting down next to the boy and putting the plate in front of him.

“You can ‘ave mine if ya want.”

"Why?" the boy grunted. "Did you spit in it before you came over here?"

"Now why the hell would I do that?" Caley spluttered, subconsciously dropping the accent in his disgust at the very thought. The boy glanced at him before his face broke into an amused smirk. It was quick to vanish.

"Save your 'sympathy'," he remarked bluntly. "I'll live."

Caley took his plate back again before hurriedly tucking into its slightly bland contents like it would be his last meal. No way was he letting this go to waste, regardless of how it tasted. Who knows when he'd be eating again?

“So y'don’t like Team Rocket then?” Caley reiterated with his mouth full. He ended up almost choking as the boy thumped him in the arm.

“Shut up will ya?" he snapped. "I don’t want everyone to know.”

“Why don’t you just leave here?” Caley continued in a quieter fashion, frowning and rubbing at the sore spot on his person. The boy gave him a stare that dictated he was certain the trainer was a complete and utter moron.

“Were you even paying attention when you took that oath during signup? We’re bound into this organisation, all of us. If I left here, not only would my 'dad' disown me and take away everything I had, I would be a fugitive, constantly hunted. And once caught…” He shuddered.  “I would lose my identity to some horrible experiment. It’s what they do to anyone who tries to escape.”

The boy leaned closer to Caley, a new, more terrified look in his eyes. “Some say that’s what happened to Team Rocket executive Clyde Radwell.”

An expression of despair and anxiousness then descended on the teenager’s features as his voice softened.

“I was born and brought up here," he said. "This is all I’ve ever known. But still… something doesn’t feel right about all of it. Like there’s something better out there maybe…”

Oh there is, Caley thought, looking on sadly as the boy shook his head vigorously; the sullen look returning as quickly as it had left.

“Yeesh, dunno what came over me," he muttered. "For a split second I felt I could trust you. Not every day someone tries to give me something without trying to sabotage it first, after all."

“I guess not,” Caley shrugged, trying to stay in character. It was difficult; the trainer wasn't really used to the rough and careless attitude that so many of the Team Rocket operatives seemed to bear. “What’s your name?”

“Adam” the boy replied. “’m in my second year of training.”

“My name’s Caley…”

He cut off as a golden-haired girl followed by a group of taller girls sauntered into the room. Caley immediately recognised her as the ‘trainer’ in Prela Tunnel and hid his face quickly.

“Seeing that girl makes everyone want to do the same thing," Adam commented, looking as if he was going to gag. "That’s Tara. She’s three years younger than me but she’s in the top level of training. Next month she’s gonna be promoted to special agent.”

Caley peered from under the peak of his cap, to make sure Tara had her back to him. Adam gave him a questioning glance.

“Have you met before?” he inquired.

“Yes…and I don’t fancy meeting her again” hissed Caley through gritted teeth.

“No need to worry about that,” Adam smirked. “Tara’s so self-absorbed she never looks at anyone else for very long. She doesn’t even look at the members of her ‘fan club’.”

He pointed at the four older girls gathered behind Tara who were giggling between themselves at the next prospect of serving her for a chance to gain good favour with Tara's executive parents. Caley shook his head in disbelief at how low some people would stoop and continued eating. A few minutes later the trainer noticed three more familiar figures clad in black stroll from the serving hatches with their arms full of food. His mouth dropped open.

“It’s great what you’ve done with your room,” Cassidy cooed as she, Jessie and Butch sat down upon the bench directly behind Adam and Caley. Jessie brushed off the compliment.

“I finally got rid of that overgrown doorstop," she remarked. "He was taking up too much space.”

“Shoulda’ done that ages ago,” Butch sniggered.

“I know,” Jessie replied absently with her mouth full. For a split second Caley was sure he spotted a hint of regret cross her face.  “Guess I kinda felt sorry for him. Anyway, at least he’s making himself useful.”

“Doing the only thing a thick bozo can do,” Cassidy remarked. “Being a test subject.”

Caley ran the conversation over in his mind as the group behind him continued feeding themselves. Maybe the person he heard yelling in the laboratory was the same one Jessie had been talking about.

“Poor guy,” he murmured under his breath. “Nowhere to stay, nothing to eat.”

“Heh, you sure get yourself concerned about strangers, don'cha?” Adam replied with faint amusement. “Don't bother getting so worked up, it’s none of your business anyway. He’ll find another room to stay in.”

The bell rang once more, causing everyone in the room except Caley to almost stand up in unison.

“Oh joy," Adam remarked sarcastically. "Time to go appreciate some more air pollution from those two high and mighty ones.”

Caley turned his head; there was a puzzled expression upon it.

“Where are you going?”

“The meeting room, duh!” Adam rolled his eyes.

 

“Yeesh, the way you act people would think you’d never been here before.”

 

As Adam wandered towards the door, Caley looked around hurriedly then dashed after the rookie before anyone else trampled over him in their attempts to leave the canteen. His efforts to follow Adam were soon rewarded when Caley entered the massive Team Rocket meeting hall. The place was like an auditorium, with a semicircular seating arrangement, already filled with many Team Rocket members. The disguised trainer searched hurriedly for Adam’s whereabouts, then found he had already positioned himself at the far end of one of the middle rows.

“You again,” Adam murmured, in a half-pleased, half-disgruntled fashion when Caley sat down next to him. “What'cha following me around for?”

“You seem like an alright guy” Caley shrugged. At least better than the others I've seen around here, he added in his head. Adam opened his mouth to question further but soon shut it again as the pitch of conversation around him rapidly lowered. Two people, one male and one female, walked swiftly onto the stage. They were both dressed smartly in dark coloured suits and the woman, held a clipboard under one arm. She took out her pen and tapped it forcefully upon the podium, causing the entire hall to fall deathly silent.

"I am greatly disappointed with all of you," the woman began. "Two weeks have passed and yet experiment M1N4CH1 has still not been found! Without it there is no way we can put our salvaged data on the Aura Network and the Energy Generator to work creating more advanced Pokémon enhancements."

The man arranged his sleek black hair and looked most stern. Caley was practically falling out of his seat by now. Enhancing Pokémon? He leant further in anticipation, nearly knocking someone’s cap off in the process.

“As you are all aware, Project Rebirth's second stage is well underway and improving our equipment is only part of the development process. We must also seek to improve ourselves. With this in mind, lessons on Strategy and Tactical Manoeuvres shall be increased to three a week and every operative here shall be expected to attend additional gym training.”

“Soon Team Rocket will have a firmer hold upon Tatto and the entire world!” the man boomed.

 

“You are dismissed!”

 

As the members clamoured out of the auditorium chattering excitedly, Caley stared into space, his jaw open slightly in utter astonishment. What kind of entity could this escaped Experiment M1N4CH1 possibly be? It had to be something pretty powerful for the organization to rely on it so heavily.

Caley shook his head. He was a little annoyed that his mission was taking him more time than expected, but at least he had a better idea of what was going on within Team Rocket, so it wasn’t at all a waste of time staying longer.

"Where are we going to now?" he asked Adam. The boy pulled a face.

"We?" he sniffed. "I'm going back to my room."

Adam paused, taking in the lost expression upon Caley's face.

"I guess you can come along..." he grunted, following a few moments silence. "If you ain't got anything better to do."

 

***~~***~~***~~***~~***

 

Adam stopped outside a small door in one of the darker corridors. The atmosphere was fairly quiet except for some feline moaning and someone snoring loudly. Caley peered in at the small glass window before retracting awkwardly.

“There’s someone in there,” he remarked. Adam’s eyes widened and he flung open the door. Upon one of the beds in the small green box room was sprawled a man in his mid twenties with short bluish-lavender hair, sleeping with his mouth wide open. On the other bed lay a cat-like Pokémon with its paws firmly pressed against his ears.

“Hey! Who are you?” Adam screeched in an amusing fashion.

The man sat up in shock. When he saw Caley and Adam standing there in the doorway he yelped and tried to hide under the duvet.

“I…I…thought it was empty…”

“Look what you’ve done to Cyzel, you doofus!” Adam exclaimed, running to the shuddering Pokémon’s side and cuddling him fondly. “Now he’s half-deaf! What're you doing in my room anyway?”

“Well I sorta got thrown out of mine…” The man’s voice became bemused. “Ever since Jessie got promoted, everything’s gone downhill. She stopped treating me as a friend, started thinking that because she was part of the Elite rank that it made her better than me. And then Triply came along……stupid Triply…I can’t believe she thought Triply was more important! I’ve been working with her for seven years and then Triply and a promotion come along and poof! There goes my bed. And my room.

And my friendship…”

A look of realisation spread across Caley’s face as he shut the door behind him.

“Are you that guy James, the one being tested on?”

The man removed the duvet and stared at Caley.

“How do you know that?”

“Well, I overheard Jessie and her friends talking and I sorta put two and two together,” the trainer explained.

“It’s true,” James muttered. “I can’t believe I have to stoop so low just to afford something to eat!” He put on an extremely miserable expression, then clenched a handful of the duvet in anger, making it crumple. “It's all Triply's fault! That vicious creature made my life a misery! Not only did it constantly attack me but also cost me my room! Jessie decided that her ‘little pet’ needed a place to sleep and gave it my bed!”

“So what’s Triply?” Caley asked. James heaved a sigh as he struggled to dig up that set of painful memories once more.

“It was created back when we were still together - me, Jessie and our friend Meowth. We all entered into a scheme to create the first multi-DNA Pokémon, but the technology wasn’t as advanced as it is now and so Triply was ‘born’ looking like Meowth, behaving mostly like Jessie and not having any real battling ability.”

The man looked deeply depressed.

“It’s not Jessie’s fault. She just misses Meowth, and the promotion’s gone to her head. I miss Meowth too; he was a loud-mouthed, big-headed know-it-all but there was this caring side that left a hole in us when he disappeared.”

He gazed at the ceiling, and Caley could see the sadness in his emerald coloured eyes.

“If only there was a way to bring Jessie to her senses…

 

...if only there was a way to get Meowth back.”

 

“Wait a second!” Adam suddenly piped up. “I’ve heard of you three!”

James’ expression brightened.

“You have? Really?”

“Yeah," Adam continued. "You were that bunch of useless Intermediates who had a no-win streak over some twerpy trainer from Pallet Town, Kanto.”

“Useless?” James snapped agitatedly. It was clear from the darkening scowl upon his face that he had taken deep offence at the insult that had been thrown at the reputation he had once fought so hard to maintain.

“What do they do to you in that lab?” Caley asked hurriedly, as a change of subject.

“Nothing much,” James replied, calming down upon hearing the question. The trainer’s method of distraction had worked. “Mostly they give me these injections all the time. I’ve been having them for a couple of weeks now.” He pulled off his long black glove to reveal an array of small red marks.

“Don’t those do anything to you?” Caley inquired with an air of disgust.

“No, not really," James told him. "Sometimes I wake up feeling a little dizzy and disorientated, but nothing more than that.”

Caley’s brow furrowed. It didn’t seem logical that the figure in front of him was being given injections of some unknown, possibly fatal substance for it to have no effect. James took to gazing pleadingly at Adam and Caley.

“So, what do you say? Can I crash here with you guys, huh?”

Adam glanced back at Caley with an expression that conveyed he was certain James had a screw loose.

"Listen, moron," he began, having seemingly taken an immediate dislike to the man. "There ain't any 'you guys'. Caley's got his own room to go to and don't think that means you can stay here, because it's not gonna happen.

“But why not?” The plea was now starting to sound pathetically whiny. “I’ve got nowhere to go…nowhere!”

"And to be honest, neither have I," Caley added, scratching the back of his head. Adam slapped his forehead in disbelief.

"What do I look like? The housing agency?" he groaned. "Find someone else's space to invade!"

Caley looked somewhat downcast, but nodded and turned around to leave. As he did so, a small, shiny object fell from his pocket and onto the carpet.

"What's that?" Adam inquired while the disguised trainer leant down to hurriedly pick the item up.

"Just...something I picked up from the laboratory," he mumbled. Adam was quick to snatch it from him before holding it up to the light.

"Whoa," he grinned. "This is one of them ultra-rare Pokédex expansion chips Mondo was talking about, isn't it? Only Special Agents receive those! That must mean you-"

Before Adam was able to finish his sentence, a loud voice was heard from a speaker installed in the corridor outside.

"Twenty one hundred hours! Lights out!"

And the entire room was swiftly plunged into darkness. Adam cursed under his breath.

"I hate it when that happens," he muttered. "Well I guess that settles it - you can stay here, Caley. And I guess the moron will have to stay here too, least for tonight. But one of you is gonna have to sleep on the floor.”

The latter part of the sentence had been aimed at James, but the man was already deep in slumber. There was a long silence, while Caley lowered himself to the floor and tried to find a comfortable spot to sit in. Thoughts of exploring the base in an attempt to find the generator and Kylie Joy's stolen Pokémon played through the back of his mind. But after all the excitement that had happened, he felt it best to wait.

"Well, no doubt you got some special assignment arranged for tomorrow and I got more training to do. We'd better get some kip,” Adam remarked, manoeuvring himself into bed. Caley waited until he could hear the sounds of sleeping, then he released Kota from his Pokéball into the room. It appeared that Adam had mistaken him for a higher-ranking operative, and fortunately this had worked in the trainer's favour. By the faint light of Kota's psychic glow, Caley brought out the piece of silicon he had picked up earlier and examined it more carefully.

"Let's see what this thing can do."

Kota handed Caley back his glasses. With expert precision the trainer slipped the chip into a small hole in the side and turned the device on. Then he pointed them at Cyzel, who was purring, one eye open, watching the scenario unfold on the floor below.

Cyameez, the Pokédex recognised the figure immediately. Enhanced Persian specimen. There are signs of intelligence and agility. Subject's Slash attack power has increased but it shows excessive cowardice.

Caley smiled to himself. Looks like this chip would give him all the information he needed on the Team Rocket enhanced Pokémon. He handed the glasses back to Kota.

“You keep those safe. I promise this won’t take much longer. Tomorrow, I will go and search for the generator…and the Ovoko…”

Kota waited for the end of the sentence, but it never came. Caley had begun to snore softly. The Psybab snickered to itself and sat by Caley as he slept, listening to the silence in the room.

 

That was until the silence was broken.

 

There was a faint moan that made Kota prick up his furry ears. It was hard to tell what direction the sound was coming from, as the acoustics of the box-like room had that effect. The dark, even for its huge eyes, was too thick to make out any shapes. As Kota gazed around, a rustling and crunching of bones ensued. It wasn’t horrendously loud enough to wake anyone, but Kota could distinctly hear it. Cyzel also pricked up an ear and opened its green eyes. The fur on its back began to rise slightly but it did not move; as if it knew that what was in the room was too strong for it to stop.

 After fifteen seconds the noises stopped and the silence took over once more, combined with a strange chill in the air. Kota growled softly into the dark. The growl was returned, and not as an echo. Kota’s eyes widened in shock, and without warning something came out of nowhere and cuffed him round the head; hard. As the psychic Pokémon’s unconscious body hit the floor a shape crossed the room and slid into the corridor, out of sight.