It genuinely looked like we had stepped into a war camp when the officer driving us dropped May and I off at our destination, which was actually the Celadon city Gym. Or what was left of it at least.
Even from where I was standing outside of it, the Gym looked completely decimated with warped metal frames and shattered glass panels. But it was outside the Gym that truly held our attention.
Dozens of canopies and tents surrounded the Gym, each one apparently playing home to the hundred or so trainers that were milling around before us. Approximately half of which were dressed in official League jackets, while the other half looked as if they were living on the road.
"It looks like they called in as many Ace trainers that they could while also summoning every training in and around the city." May said in awe as we walked amongst them.
"Ace trainers?" I asked curiously, the term sounding familiar, though I couldn't place where I'd heard it.
"Trainers who collected all eight regional Badges, but failed to win at the Conferences. Afterwards some will resume their journey and training for the next one, others will give up entirely, and a few will join the League as full time employees that work directly under the Champion and Elite Four."
"Wow..." I uttered while trying to take it all in. All this, because Team Rocket kidnapped Erika along with her trainers and pokemon. "It's like they're at war."
"We are." A voice suddenly said, and May and I both turned to see a girl standing behind us. She too was dressed in one of the League jackets, and she had bushy green hair styled into bushy twintails.
"First the attack on the Viridian Pokemon Center, where they specifically targetted the younger sister of a Gym Leader, and now they attacked a Gym Leader in her own Gym before taking her with them." The girl stated seriously. "This goes beyond any petty thievery or illegal pokemon trading. This means that Team Rocket is offically declaring war on the League."
"Really? Is that why Lance is here too?" May asked curiously.
"Absolutely, along with one of the Elite Four and four other Gym Leaders. I think he would have brought more, but if Team Rocket is being this bold then he probably didn't want to take everyone away from the Indigo Plateau in case it was a diversion." The girl said while looking May and I up and down. "As for you two, be careful out there. I hear that Lance is planning something big to get Erika back."
And with that the girl left, not even bothering to give us her name as she vanished into the crowd of trainers.
"Things look more serious than we thought." I said while glancing around warily.
"Yeah. I'm going to give my dad a call and let him know what's going on." May said as she pulled out her phone, and stepped away to make said call while I continued looking around.
Each of the trainers around me looked tough in their own way, enough that a part of me was itching to try my hand at battling them if the situation had been different. But several of them, primarily the ones who weren't Ace trainers, also looked scared. Not too surprising when you thought about it to be honest.
It happend when I was looking at all the different trainers, when one of them caught my eye. A girl with long straight hair so dark that it looked black until the light caught it, wearing a red leather jacket with a matching skirt.
And she was looking right at me.
The second my eyes locked with hers, I could feel.....something that set my senses off like crazy. The hair on the back of my neck as well as up and down my arms all stood on end, and a stab of pain suddenly lanced through my mind as if someone had shoved a hot poker directly into my brain.
The pain lasted for a single beat, before I pushed back at it with all of my will to send the poker back where it came from. Then the girl, who hadn't broken eye contact with me throughout all of this, suddenly had her head snap back as if she had been decked in the face by a Hitmonchan. And when she righted her head again, I could see a trickle of blood running from her nose.
The entire thing only lasted maybe a few seconds from start to finish, before I watched her turn away as the crowds swallowed her too.
"Hey. My dad told me to be careful, and to watch our backs during this whole thing." May said as she returned to my side. "What happened?"
"I'll explain later." I told her while keeping an eye for the mysterious psychic, who I was sure was Sabrina of the Saffron city Gym.
At that moment, Lance stepped up onto the platform before all of us.
"My fellow pokemon trainers!" Lance called out, and the silence that descended was immediate and deafening. "I thank you all for coming at such short notice. As many of you know, we face a situation the likes of which is completely unprecedented in our history. Yesterday, at approximately 2:45 in the afternoon, the Celadon city Gym was attacked by Team Rocket."
As Lance paused a commotion broke out amongst the trainers around us at the news, probably because most of what they had been discussing was just speculation so far. And after giving us all a moment of discussion, Lance once again signaled for quiet.
"An attack on the League itself like this, let alone against an entire Gym, is nothing short than a declaration of war! And go to war we shall!" Lance declared passionately as four more figures joined him on the platform.
The first was girl with golden hair that, despite the serious situation, was waving at all of us with a wide smile. And beside her was the same girl from before that I was sure tried to read my mind, a smear of red still on her upper lip. And then the two guys were a man dressed like a ninja straight out of some kind of movie, and Surge.
"Daisy of the Cerulean city Gym, Sabrina from Saffron, Koga from Fuschia city, and finally Surge from Vermillion! These four Gym Leaders have answered the call to action, and will be leading the charge alongside myself and Agatha to take the fight to Team Rocket, and to retrieve Erika from their clutches! We leave at dawn, and we will return victorious!"
Lance ended his speech with a spin that made his cape swirl around him dramatically, the trainers around May and I roaring with anticipation for the coming battle.
"He really knows how to fire them all up, doesn't he?" May said beside me, her voice barely cutting through the noise.
"Perhaps. But something feels....wrong about this." I replied while looking up at the platform as the Gym Leaders descended from it. I could still recall just how much being around Surge put me on edge, and that feeling was amplified as I gazed upon the four Gym Leaders. I doubted that all of them were in league with Team Rocket, but I knew for a fact that at least two of them, Surge included, had to be. Possibly three.
Daisy was safe bet not to be though, as if she were then Team Rocket would have never even dared trying to kidnap her younger sister back in Viridian. So that just left Sabrina and Koga to worry about.
"Excuse me."
I turned to see a man, several years older than I appeared, standing behind me. And he was wearing one of the official Ace trainer jackets.
"Champion Lance has asked me to bring you to his tent." The man said, and I cocked a brow. I didn't realize Lance already knew May and I were here.
"Lead the way." I said while grabbing May's hand so we didn't lose one another, only for the man to stop.
"He specifically said only you were to come with me." The man said, and I stared at him.
"Really?"
"Yes. And please hurry. I really don't want to keep the Champion waiting." The man said with a tone of urgency, which I could understand considering Lance's status.
"Go on ahead. I'll look around some more while you're busy." May said reassuringly.
"Alright." I replied, before leaning in to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Don't let your guard down." I whispered quietly into her ear as I pressed my lips against her cheek. "Especially with Sabrina. Don't go near her, or make eye contact with her."
May looked at me in alarm as I pulled back, and turned to follow the guy as he led me towards the main command tent. And while normally someone might be suspicious, I didn't feel anything off about him as I followed his lead.
"Through there." He said while pulling back the flap of the tent. And the second I stepped through it I could feel a different kind of chill going down my back.
"So trusting. You're lucky there's daylight out sonny. Otherwise you might make a decent snack for my Gengar." Sneered an elderly woman who was sitting on a couch to my right as soon as the flap closed behind me, before the shadows at my feet came alive to take the form of a massive Gengar that floated leisurely in the air before me. .
"Gengar~!" It declared while licking it's lips as it stared down at me from above. Basically, it was saying that I looked tasty.
"Enough Agatha." Lance said as he emerged from another flap on the other side of the tent, before looking at me directly. "Noah. You seem to be doing well on your journey."
"Lance. And yes, things have been going relatively well. But you didn't have me brought here just to catch up, did you?" I asked him.
"No. I didn't." Lance said, before putting a device down on the table between the two couches as he sat beside Agatha, and gestured for me to do the same across from them. When I did, he turned on the device and a holographic image appeared between us.
"This is the simulation created from the attack yesterday based on witness testimony. Apparently three helicopters flew into the city from the south in the early afternoon, and hovered over the Gym for a moment before unleashing a powerful sound based attack that shattered every single window that made up the building before pumping it full of specially made gas just for Erika and her pokemon. After securing Erika, the Gym trainers under her, and all of their pokemon, the helicopters then retreated back south where they landed at an old mansion where they are being kept prisoner."
Lance's little show ended with a 3D scan of the abandoned mansion, before the image vanished entirely and I looked at him.
"Ok... So what's the catch?" I asked, figuring he didn't have me brought here just so he could tell me all of that in person.
"The catch, is that all of this was nothing more than a massive trap." Lance said as he turned completely serious. "Erika isn't in this facility, she's being held somewhere else entirely along with the others. Their plan for her is to either convince her to join their cause, or to sell her off to the highest bidder if she refuses to cooperate. As for the operation and the facility we're heading to, it's actually a plan to try and trap and eliminate as many Ace trainers as possible. Myself included if they are able."
"!!!"
My eyes bugged as Lance dropped several consecutive bombs on me, before the wheels started turning in my head.
"You know that they have several Gym Leaders on their side." I said dumbly.
"Yes. Several throughout both the Kanto and Johto regions."
"How?" I asked curiously.
"I have my own spy on the inside. They've been feeding me valuable information, such as who the traitors are and intel about most of their upcoming operations."
"Then why haven't you done anything about them? Erika being taken, the attack on the Viridian city Pokemon Center? Couldn't you have done something about them before they happened?!" I exclaimed angrily. Yet Lance seemed barely fazed at my anger.
"Because none of it would have ultimately done anything." He answered calmly. "Team Rocket is not some gang of thugs that throw their weight around for some change. They are a serious organization that have operations all over the world, with numerous politicians in their pockets, a seemingly endless supply of money, numerous research projects that would make even the most daring scientists blanch, and a literal army of pokemon at their disposal.
"My spy is only able to uncover so much about their operations within the Kanto and Johto regions, let alone what they do outside of it. I need to give them time to work so that we can take down the entire organization, starting with it's head. If we give our hand away that we know their next move and who the traitors are, then it would reveal that they have a spy in their midst prematurely. And above all, I want to find out who exactly is calling the shots amongst them."
"You mean you don't know?" I asked in amazement.
"No. Whoever their leader is, he only goes by the handle of 'Boss' to them. Not only that, but only a select few even know his identity to begin with. He usually operates through his admins, Ariana, Proton, and Archer, who are also possibly the only ones who even know his identity at all."
"And where does Giovanni fit into them?" I asked, and both Lance and Agatha seemed genuinely surprised.
"Giovanni? What does that brat have to do with anything?" Agatha asked as she leaned forward in interest.
"I can't say for sure, but my body went haywire when I met him back in Viridian. Plus there are moments where random fragments of knowledge come to my mind about certain subjects. I can't say anything for certain, nor do I have any proof of it, but I do know for a fact that Giovanni has strong ties to Team Rocket. Maybe even as the Boss you were talking about." I told Lance seriously, who appeared genuinely taken aback at the information.
"Giovanni..." Lance muttered as if he were turning over numerous pieces of the puzzle in his head. "That makes a disturbing amount of sense, and the implication terrifies me." He finally said.
"He does have his fingers in a lot of pies." Agatha said while nodding in agreement.
"I'll take what you said under consideration." Lance said with a tone of gratitude, before he turned serious once more. "Firstly though, we need to save Erika. And for that, we need your help."
"What do you need?" I asked while leaning forward intently. And to answer my question, Lance had the device produce another 3D projection between us.
"This is the Game Corner. While we are all walking into their trap tomorrow, you will be infiltrating the underground facility beneath the Game Corner that is the main base they use to conduct all of their Kanto region operations."
...
I exited the command tent nearly an hour later after Lance, Agatha and I hammered out the details of what I was to do tomorrow.
Basically, I was to infilitrate the facility under the Game Corner where they were really holding Erika, free her along with her pokemon and her Gym trainers, and then either evacuate the facility or try to bring it down from the inside afterwards. And while I was going alone, Lance was already making plans with the professor for me to have my carry limit for pokemon removed for the day tomorrow. So I would basically be attacking with my own small army of pokemon.
Plus, he gave me a little extra insurance that I could even keep afterwards to help out too.
Meanwhile, Lance would leading the army of trainers to the facility to the south, which May would be a part of, where he would purposely draw Team Rocket's attention away from the Game Corner to try and leave it with minimal manpower for me. and to complete the ruse, since I was apparently such a high profile person, an imposter dressed as me would be accompanying May and the trainers as well. As for who this imposter was, Lance didn't say.
"I just hope it all goes well." I muttered quietly to myself, as a certain figure approached me.
"Hey there~!" Called a familiar girl with golden hair.
"Daisy, right? Daisy Williams?" I asked as she walked right up to me.
"That's right~. Though you might know me as the beautiful older sister of a certain troublesome tomboy." She replied with a smirk.
"Probably, though Misty never really told me about her sisters." I replied, making the girl mock-pout.
"Really? That girl can be so frustrating! First she runs off to become an independent trainer on her own, then she goes and gets herself kidnapped so a dashing hunk of a man has to save her, and then she won't even acknowledge her own loving and gorgeous older sisters to her friends! I should really teach her a lesson when she finally comes home." Daisy said while flicking her hair irritably, drawing the eye of many a guy in our surroundings.
"Hehe. Well, I don't know anything about having siblings, but I'm sure that Misty has her own reasons for doing things her way." I told her placatingly, which just made Daisy huff.
"Either way, I would say my sisters and I owe you for saving our annoying runt." She said, though her tone did soften slightly at the end. "Those scum... I could only imagine what they would have done with Misty if they had taken her. So seriously, thank you."
I don't know what was more surprising, the actual sincerity in her tone, or the fact that Daisy punctuated her thanks by kissing me on the cheek before turning around and walking away. And as she did so, I couldn't help but to notice the exaggerated sway of her ass with each step. I wasn't the only one though, as I saw every guy around me stop what they were doing to stare as well. One guy even had his Roserade come of it's pokeball on it's own, before giving him a swift Poison Jab right in the gut for staring.
Me thinks she was a little jealous. And speaking of jealousy...
"See something you like?" May's voice suddenly said beside me, which also made the hair on the back of my neck stand up on end as I recognized the chill in her tone.
"Just Misty's sister thanking me for saving her back in Viridian." I replied while looking away from the alluring ass to look at May instead.
"Uh huh." May said with a look that implied she was not impressed, before she grabbed my hand and started pulling me away. "Let's go Romeo."
Bemused, since I doubted she was actually that mad, I let May drag me along through the crowd of trainers until we arrived at a tent. Inside, there was only a couple simple cots that had been pushed together.
"Who's tent is this?" I asked May, right before she pushed me backwards onto the cots.
"Ours for the night, cortesy of the League." She replied, while simultaneously peeling her shirt off, followed swiftly by her bra.
"Someones in a mood." I said with a smirk as May's shorts quickly joined her shirt on the floor, followed finally by her panties.
"Just shut up and do me." May groaned as she climbed into my lap, before practically slamming her mouth onto mine in an aggressive kiss.
Soon we were both naked with our arms and legs tangled up with one another's as we rutted with wild and reckless abandon like a pair of pokemon. It was like May was a completely different person as she ground her hips into mine with a fervor that bordered on desperation, riding me to completion over and over again while sounding her pleasure so clearly that I would have feared the entire camp could hear us if I wasn't already aware of how soundproof these tents were.
And I was more than happy to respond in kind for as long as May wanted, especially since we were both setting off for our own respective missions tomorrow that could be dangerous. So I immersed myself in every single sensation of our embrace, the feel of her skin against mine, the scent of her body, the sounds of her moans, the taste of her lips. And finally, the sight of her body as she flopped over backwards onto the cot after our last round, her body glistening with sweat and chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath.
"I....am utterly spent..." May sighed contently beneath me.
"Good. That means I did my job." I said with a smirk, making May roll her eyes at me from where she laid.
"Wait." She said suddenly as I started to roll off her. "Leave it in, please? No one ever filled me up the way you do."
I blinked.
"What did you just say?" I asked her slowly, and May appeared confused.
"I said that no one ever...." She began, before seemingly realizing her slip as she trailed off and her eyes widened. And then, as if arranged by the poke-gods themselves, the front of the tent opened.
"Noah, are you he- WHAT THE HELL?!"
I looked up to see May Birch, the woman I had been with ever since I first opened my eyes in this world, standing there with wide eyes as she looked between myself and her clone beneath me.
My reaction was immediate as I grabbed both of May's double's arms and pinned them to the cots, restraining her in place as I snarled, "Who the hell are you?"
Rather, than appearing concerned that she had been found out, May's double just sighed before her skin began to melt and shift before my eyes.
"What the-?!" I exclaimed as she seemingly disolved into a gelatinous form, before said gelatin separated from her body to reform beside us on the cot as a pink blob.
"Ditto~!" It declared while wiggling happily beside us. Meanwhile, the girl that I had pinned beneath me stared up at me with a smirk. She was more slender than May, but still fairly well endowed with brown eyes and bluish-green hair that was styled into bushy twintails. And I recognized her.
"You're the girl from this morning!" I stated.
"Yes, you can call me Duplica. And I'm the one that is supposed to be impersonating you tomorrow." She introduced herself.
...
"Haaaa..." Lance groaned while massaging his forehead in obvious annoyance after hearing our story.
Currently we had gathered back in the main tent that I had spoken to both Lance and Agatha in earlier, except both May and Duplica were with me this time. The latter and I being dressed again after we extracted ourselves from one another.
"To be fair, you did say I needed to get to know him so I could impersonate him properly." She stated as a matter of factly to the Champion.
"Getting to know someone does not mean impersonating their girlfriend and screwing them." Lance snapped back dryly.
"Name a better way to get acqainted with the structure of another person's body than having them pressed up against you while balls deep inside of you." Duplica countered, making both Lance and I shudder at the image. And if looks could kill, then May would have killed her ten times over by now.
Agatha seemed to be the only one present amused by the entire situation.
"And WHY exactly would you need to impersonate Noah?" May asked her venomously.
"To take his place tomorrow during the operation, so no one realizes what he's actually doing." Duplica answered, which I knew only confused May more, so I filled her in on the plan Lance, Agatha and I discussed earlier.
"Well that makes sense I guess." May said as she contemplated the plan, before rounding back on the other girl. "Right up until the part where you used my face and body to fuck my boyfriend!"
"Would it help if I said he was the best I ever had?" Duplica asked innocently, which only seemed to anger May even more. "And YOU!" She continued while rounding on me. "You couldn't even tell it wasn't me you were with?!"
"Well, I did think you were acting differently than usual, but just chalked it up to you being annoyed about Daisy flirting with me. She even managed to mimic your scent!" I said defensively, making May pause as she hesitantly sniffed herself.
"I am VERY good at what I do." Duplica said smugly.
"Not just good." Lance stated, drawing our attention back to him. "She's the best in the entirety of both the Kanto and Johto regions. She can passiby mimic anyone she encounters, and completely take their place if she had enough time to learn more about them. Male or female."
"That may be so..." May said beside me. "But if she wanted a closer 'look' at Noah, all she had to do was ask. I'm just pissed she used my face and body to do so!" May stated angrily, nearly making me choke on my spit.
"Wait, what?" I asked while Duplica also looked at her incredulously.
"Are you serious?" She asked with bright eyes.
"Well, yeah. I mean, you've seen his stamina. I've been contemplating having a threesome for a while now." May said seriously, making me want to facepalm.
"Girl, you have no idea how much those words are music to my ears." Duplica said, only to recoil slightly when May turned another glare at her.
"I never said you were forgiven." She said sharply.
On the other side of the tent I could Agatha chuckling sinisterly in amusement. "Ah, the pleasantries of youth." She said while Lance just shook his head in exasperation.
"If everyone is done with this little drama, the plan will continue as before. Duplica will take Noah's place tomorrow when we move to walk into their trap. Noah meanwhile will attack the facility under the Game Corner with his pokemon to help him. Are we clear?"
"""Sir!""" May, Duplica and I all affirmed, and we were dismissed.
"So..." Duplica said as we exited his tent, and she turned to look at May and I. "My tent or yours?"
May just huffed as she grabbed my arm and dragged me away to the tent we were in earlier. To yell at me or to fuck me, I couldn't tell until we actually got there.
***
Erika eyed the room she was in for what felt like the hundredth time since she awoke, four seemless walls of concrete with a single bed in the middle, a metal toilet in the corner, a empty tv screen on one side, and a door with no windows or cracks between it and the wall.
She'd expected the worse when she woke up after the attack on her Gym, and so far her expectations had been met when shortly after a group of women in Team Rocket uniforms entered her cell to perform their little humiliation ritual. Still feeling weak from the toxic gas, they had effortlessly pinned her against the wall and literally cut the clothes from her body to leave her completely naked, before dumping a bucket of freezing cold water on her to 'clean' her. Then, they performed an 'inspection' to make sure she wasn't hiding any weapons or pokeballs on her person, or rather IN her.
All of it was completely unnecessary of course, because who would ever believe a Gym Leader of all people would feel the need to do such a thing? It was intended to try and break her down for whatever they had in store for her, like the 'clothes' she was given once they finished their little inspection, a plain white shirt barely large enough to even cover her butt.
And so now she waited, damp, cold, and exposed in this cell for hour after hour until her captor deigned to visit her. She couldn't even tell the time since there was no clock to go by. So she waited, sitting elegantly on the uncomfortable bed that took up most of the space in the cell, her legs crossed to keep herself as modest as possible as she awaited a visit that she knew was an inevitability.
And then, after several hours, the door to her cell finally opened.
"Good evening, miss Erika." Drawled a voice matching the one of the man who captured her, though the face was new since he had been wearing a gas mask previously.
He had incredibly short light blue hair, and was wearing a black shirt with a grey vest with matching pants. And when Erika saw the way his cold grey eyes traveled up her exposed legs, lingering slightly where they were crossed to protect her modesty, before continuing upwards over her body and finally her face, she suppressed a shudder.
She was used to men objectifying and desiring her, they always had. She knew of the vulgar comments some men made about her when they saw her, about how she needed to get laid and they could help her with it. And Erika had also mentally prepared herself for whatever violation would be dealt to her after being captured. But the way the man before her looked at her genuinely terrified her.
There was no desire in his eyes as he gazed upon her scantily covered figure. Only asseement.
He was merely calculating her value, like some prize Miltank or Tauros to be bought and sold. And that more than anything unnerved her.
"Good evening, sir." She said while trying to maintain her composure under his cold calculative eyes.
"Archer." He corrected dismissively as a grunt brought in a foldable chair, allowing him to sit across from her as they spoke.
"Archer." Erika repeated. "Then may I presume that you are the leader of Team Rocket?" She asked curiously, only for him to smile in amusement.
"You may, but then you would be presuming wrong. I am but a mere admin of our illustrious organization, second to the Boss." He explained, Erika filing away the information in case she was ever able to get out.
"And your Boss is?" She asked probingly.
"Not interested in letting his identity be known to those who have no need of it." Archer answered cooly. "Not even the Gym Leaders aligned with us know his identity, though they work with us anyways."
"You have Gym Leaders on your side?" Erika asked him while maintaining her poise, though she still felt shaken inside if she were being honest.
"Of course. Not everyone is happy with the League you know. Surge for instance, grew disillusioned with them after he was passed up for the position within the Elite Four for Lorelei, while Koga was furious that the current Champion that he was forced to serve was from Johto, the hated enemy of Kanto and his clan in particular for centuries. Pryce had similar reasons on the other side, along with other more personal reasons. And finally you have Sabrina, who has quite literally been one of us since birth."
With every word Archer spoke Erika felt her heart drop lower as she realized nearly half the Gym Leaders of Kanto were a part of Team Rocket, and they were some of the most worrisome Gym Leaders too.
"And what is it you want with me?" She asked while a certain suspicion crept up her spine.
"It's simple." Archer said while leaning forward. "You have been a bit of a thorn in our side for a while now. One that we have tolerated, but our tolerance has limits. So now we give you a choice. You can either join us, or be sold off to the highest bidder for whatever they decide to use you for."
"I don't care what depravity I would be subjected to, I would rather that than be a willing participant to the filth that Team Rocket spreads." Erika replied with disdain dripping from her voice.
"I thought you might say that, and I have a counter argument for you." Archer said, before pulling a remote from a pocket and pointing it at the television on the wall. Immediately it came to life, showing them four different images at once of other women locked in cells matching Erika's.
For the first time Erika let her emotions show as recognized the girls on the screen, before the four images changed to show four more girls in the same situation, then again. And Erika recognized them all.
"Yes. We also took the girls that you have taken under your wing, and they will share your fate alongside your pokemon. Join us, and they shall be released as well. Refuse, and perhaps your future owner would be generous enough to buy one or two of them alongside yourself." Archer said as he stood, allowing the grunt from before to retrieve the chair as he turned to leave the room.
"Also, you should know that Lance is planning an assault to try and free you. But, unfortunately for you, he will be leading the League forces into a trap we have prepared. I won't go so far as to say that we will successfully kill him, but I highly doubt that he and his Ace trainers will escape entirely unscathed. I will return tomorrow afterwards to hear your final answer."
With that, Archer closed her cell door once more, leaving Erika alone with the tv still on, showing her the images of her Gym trainers as they desperately tried to find a way out of their cells.