Chapter Forty-Two: TWERP



Gladion's POV



The lady leads us past the stairs and down into an earthy tunnel, probably dug by an Onix or something. The tunnel is lit by battery-powered lamps and feels... ominous. As if once you enter, things will never be the same for you again.



We finally reach the end of the tunnel, stepping into a wide underground room with ceiling, walls, and floors of packed dirt. Dozens of plants and Grass-type Pokemon stand around the room, and bright fluorescent lights shine down from the ceiling. In the center of the room, there stands a table, with several people standing around it looking at a map.



"It's so... green," I say, somewhat confused.



"Sorry about the mess. We need all these plants to provide oxygen. This is after all underground."



An underground greenhouse. Now I've seen everything.



"Welcome to TWERP," the woman says. "It's an acronym. Trainers Will Emancipate Rocket's Prisoners."



Most of the group laughs at this. I don't.



Shu walks up to the table. "Hi! I'm Shu Ketchum. Who are you?"



There's a girl and three boys there. "Alice," the girl says. "Alice MacKenzie. Pokemon researcher-in-training. I'm currently studying the alterations Team Rocket has made to their lab experiments."



"Abe Baobab," one of the boys says. He has darker skin and a set of round glasses. "Also a Pokemon researcher, including paranormal 'glitch' research. And I draw the maps."



"Evan Nescent," says the second boy, who's older than Abe and has a wicked scar over his eye. "Top strategist. Responsible for making sure the rest of us come out alive. I'm the one that uses most of Abe's maps."



"And I'm Skye," says the third guy, who's got long black hair and looks like some sort of hippie. "I see dead people."



Shu blinks. "What?"



"He's the head of reconnaissance," Evan says. "Skye Aether has the rare ability to see and communicate with ghosts. Many of these ghosts used to be Pokemon that Team Rocket experimented on. Abe wouldn't be able to draw his maps without the information Skye's team gives him."



"Are these all the folks you have?" I ask.



"We used to have a lot more," Evan says, "before Team Rocket took over Celadon. There was a huge battle, and most of the citizen militia was captured."



"I lost most of my Pokemon in that battle," Abe says glumly. "Charizard, Kakuna, Magikarp... all captured. Now all I have is an Onix and three Diglett. They're the ones that dug this hideout."



"Team Rocket has a lot to answer for," Alice says. "We've been planning the jailbreak of all of Team Rocket's experiments for a while now. We need to time it juuuuuust right to avoid harming the subjects of Project Burst, but we think we can do it."



"Whoa whoa whoa," I say. "You think you five can just march in and liberate all of Team Rocket's prisoners at the same time? That's suicide!"



"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't," Evan says. "But we can't let them get away with this. Not after what happened on the S.S. Anne."



There's a horrible silence.



The S.S. Anne.



"I was on the S.S. Anne," I admit. "It brought me, Wes, and my fuzzy buddy from Orre to Kanto. Cipher agents and Rocket agents were aboard to discuss an accord between them -- something about corrupted Synergy Stones that create Shadow Pokemon."



"Then you know what happened," Evan says. "You saw the Shadow Mewtwo that went berserk and destroyed the ship. Not everyone came out alive."



I shudder involuntarily. "That Mewtwo... it was horrifying. It didn't care who was friend and who was foe. It turned so many people into stone..."



"I made it out on a raft of flotsam strung together by my Ivysaur's Vine Whip," Evan says darkly. "My girlfriend Azure... was not so fortunate."



"We pulled a group of kids out of the wreckage," I say. "They lost their father in the explosion. They're currently in hiding at the Seafoam Islands because Team Rocket might think they know too much."



"Seafoam Islands?" Abe asks. "Isn't that a bit cold?"



"It's better than the cold sting of death if you ask me," I say. "We figured it was far enough away that Team Rocket wouldn't look there."



"How did you even survive?" Skye asks.



I pause. "That's... classified information," I say carefully. If I tell the wrong people that Ilima transformed into a Wailord, there could be trouble.



"Ah. Hush-hush," Skye says conspiratorially. "I get it. A magician never reveals his secrets."



I roll my eyes. So dramatic.



"So, we were discussing the plan," Evan says. "Abe's Onix tunnels into the Rocket hideout at the Game Corner. We sneak through the hideout's tunnel into Saffron, disabling any grunts we run into along the way. Alice will broadcast a jamming signal through her bag to keep the grunts from calling for reinforcements."



"My ghosts will procure the key cards we need to access Team Rocket's labs," Skye says. "They'll also aid in immobilizing the enemy. We'll free the Pokemon first, then head to the lower levels and release the human experiments. Hopefully we can counteract any mental tampering that the humans have suffered as a result of Project Burst."



"If you need any help, I'm in," I say. "But there's just one problem. Aside from this guy--" (I motion to Ilima) "I don't have any Pokemon. Most of us don't. Cyan's the only one of us with a full team."



"Well, there's certainly no shortage of Ghost-types thanks to Team Rocket's unethical experiments," Skye says. "My Gastly can cover you with their mist to turn you invisible to the naked eye. Think of it as stealth mode."



"One problem," Gary says. "Sabrina is working with Giovanni. She's psychic. She can detect invisible things."



"We know. She's got an entire group of psychics," Skye says. "We'll just have to scramble her psychic readings with Confuse Ray, which my Gastly already know."



Terra makes a face. "You mean we have to get inside a Gastly? That's gotta smell terrible!"



Alice reaches into her bag and pulls out several fresh handkerchiefs. "Unfortunately we don't have any gas masks. We have some handkerchiefs, though, which can help you breathe safely."



Gary doesn't look like he likes this idea at all, but Shu and Wes both take a hankie. After some consideration, I take one as well. "Sorry, Cyan, but I think we need to hold on to your goggles for a bit longer to protect our eyes."



"That's fine," Cyan says, grinning. "Would you believe this isn't my first jailbreak?"



Everybody stares at Cyan.



She shrugs. "Of course, eventually the Naljo government realized that it was all a misunderstanding and let me go anyway. But dang, that was fun!"



Sometime I'm going to have to ask her about that one.





Charmander's POV



"You got a name, kid?" Taco asks.



I shake my head no. "Just Charmander. Mirror Charmander. Gary never gave me a name."



The Umbreon snorts. "Well, I'm gonna call you Spike, 'cause every Pokemon needs a handle. An' you're pretty spiky. Tough stuff. Wish I had spikes like you."



"You know, you could have been a Jolteon," Nacho says. "Then you'd be spiky."



"I know that, all right?" Taco hisses. "Damn friendship was a trap. Before I knew what I was doing I had black fur and rings. We all make mistakes."



"I like the red on your rings," I say. "It looks badass."



"I know, right?" Taco grins. "Maybe if I'd evolved into a Jolteon, my spikes would be tipped with blood. Wouldn't that be awesome?"



Smeargle quickly snaps to attention. "Someone's coming!"



"Great. I get to rip their guts out," Taco says.



Nacho shakes his head. "They're not hostile. They're... defectors?"



I look forward and see two humans and a Meowth walking this way. "You're sure?" I ask nervously.



"I'm an Espeon. I read minds. They're open books."



Taco growls. "After what they tried in Holiwood City they think they can play nice with us? I'm gonna tear them a new one!"



"No one's tearin' anythin'!" the Meowth yells.



I blink. "Did you just... speak English?"



"Yeah, what's it to ya?" Meowth asks. "Go on, call me a freak, why don'tcha?"



"He may be a freak, but he's OUR freak!" the female human says.



"Nice job calling HIM a freak," Taco snaps, "when you're assaulting us with that haircut!"



She does have a pretty odd haircut. She also has no idea what Taco just said. "Meowth, what did that Umbreon say?"



Meowth turns a bit red. "I ain't gonna repeat it."



"Come on, fight me," Taco snarls. "It's been too long since I've tasted blood!"



"Enough, Taco!" Nacho says. "They aren't here to fight us. They're here to help us!"



"Meowth, dat's roight!" Meowth says. "We're here to help, against our bettah judgment."



"Team Rocket wants to ruin my life," the male says, "and I intend to return the favor. Even if I don't have any idea what you're saying, and that red-ringed Umbreon gives me the creeps."



"How come its rings are so red?" the woman asks. "Is it a shiny?"



"No," Nacho sighs. "He's just like that. He claims they glow red with the blood of his enemies."



Meowth flinches, then translates. The man looks as if he might be sick. The woman is far more stoic. "I don't care if they glow with Tamato syrup. What do we have to do to make Team Rocket bleed severely?"



Nacho considers. "Right now, stay with us. Pretend you're the ones guarding the labs. I can pull any information our groups need out of your brains, if you don't mind, that is. What matters is that Team Rocket doesn't know the gig is up."



"Right now, what matters is that neither Team Rocket nor that dragon army heads down here to murder us," the woman says.



The man has other ideas. "I think what matters is that these labs are full of electronic devices and the ceiling is starting to drip. Where's the power grid, and how far can we be from it when it all shorts out?"



Smeargle sighs. "If only we knew..."