"We're all right now, aren't we?"
"We ought to be. Let's get away quickly, all these Gyarados are frightening enough."
Jessie urged them on, wanting to be out of there fast. Being stared at by that many Gyarados at once was a genuinely terrifying thing.
The "Magikarp" stirred and swam off unsteadily into the distance — and just then one of its joints began to hiss and pour black smoke. It had broken down.
All at once there was no power. The three of them pedalled like mad and still could not get it back up.
"Roar, roar—"
Pairs of eyes lit up one after another in the dim water and turned together on this "Magikarp". They had spotted something odd about it.
Points of starlight gathered at their mouths, plain to see in that dark place.
"Boom—"
The beams arrived and burst beneath the "Magikarp", and the trio shot up into the air and went sailing off towards the horizon.
"Why are we flying again, meowth?"
Up in the sky Meowth spread both paws and said it helplessly.
"What a hateful feeling this is."
Jessie said it after him, misery all over her face. The three of them went flying off into the distance together, and the Gyarados below made no move to follow it up.
"Thud, thud, thud—"
The trio came down on branches after that, and dropped from there to the ground.
"Oof, that hurt."
James cried out in pain, though happily his life was in no danger.
His hand seemed to touch something. He looked down and jumped: it was a man dead with his eyes still open, dressed in clothes exactly like those of the people who had attacked them.
The body was a wretched sight, the belly hollowed out, as though some Pokémon had done it.
Standing up to look, he found there was more than one.
"Ah, why are there dead people here?"
Jessie got a fright too, and sprang aside.
"These will be the same lot as the ones chasing us, won't they? How did they come to die here?"
Meowth worked at it, going over the bodies, but could find nothing out of them.
Meowth's ears twitched. He caught the sound of somebody coming, and called out at once.
"Quick, quick, quick — let's take their gear."
The trio set to it in a hurry, not minding in the least that dead men had worn it, and stripped off every piece of clothing and equipment and put it on themselves. They made up their faces roughly and tidied the place up a little.
"Come on, come on, word's come down from above, we're to get moving. If you're not dead, get up and go."
The man who had come did not even ask a question, and had the disguised trio follow him.
"Ah, we're going with them?"
Jessie looked at James and Meowth and signalled with her eyes.
"Go. We can't let ourselves be found out. Fall in first and talk later."
With that, James went up ahead of them.
Meowth and Jessie could only follow.
"If we're found out, we're as good as dead."
"But if we don't fall in now we'll be dead straight away, meowth."
Whether it was that the three of them were very good at make-up or whether it was down to the conditions, the man noticed nothing and took the trio off with him.
And so the trio found themselves mixed in with that man.
..................
"Boss, it's so good that you're all right."
At Team Rocket headquarters Ambrose and Emery had found Vance, and said it happily.
With Vance drawing off so much of the enemy's strength, the two of them had got away safely and had not been lost in the attack.
"I'm glad you're both all right."
Seeing that these two brothers and able subordinates of his were unhurt, Vance felt easier as well. At the time he truly had had no attention to spare for them and had had to leave it to fate; the most he had been able to do was tell the pair of them to fall back first.
To be able to see them here now was enough.
"That reminds me. Ambrose, Emery — have either of you seen James and the others?"
Vance asked after the trio's whereabouts. The Boss had taken notice of those three, so he had to pay attention to them as well.
"James and the rest? I've no idea, I'm afraid. It was far too chaotic just then, and I didn't see where they got to."
Ambrose thought about it for a moment and answered.
Emery, beside him, shook his head too. He had had no attention to spare at the time, and had no idea where the three of them had gone.
"Never mind, then."
Vance had had no confidence of getting an answer. He had only been trying.
After a few more words, and once he had picked up some information, Vance sent them off to rest.
The Dark City branch had been wiped out, so he as its Branch Chief was suddenly at a loose end, with nothing to do.
As to rebuilding the Dark City branch, or what was to come afterwards, there was no word yet.
Vance went to the training room, where his Pokémon had all recovered.
He had barely stepped through the door when a wave of heat rolled over him, and there was the Blaziken with excitement all over his face.
"Blaziken!"
A powerful aura had come up in him. He had entered the Gym-class tier.
The Blaziken's breakthrough had been due within these few days in any case, and with this battle behind him he had gone up to Gym-class on the strength of it.
Besides the Blaziken, the Aerodactyl and the others had all come along as well, with small breakthroughs of their own.
The Gyarados had broken through to level 58, the Zweilous to 56, the Slaking to 55, the Aerodactyl to 52 and the Blaziken to 51.
After nearly every fierce, all-out battle his Pokémon's potential came loose and they were lifted higher.
Now the Blaziken had come up to Gym-class too. For a long time he had been the one bringing up the rear, and he had caught up with the main body at last.
At the rate he was improving, he would not be slow about it either.
Catching up with the Aerodactyl was only a matter of time.
He had not been long at his training when Matori rang to say that Giovanni wanted him.
Vance had to break off for the time being, and left the training room for the room where Giovanni was.
"Boss."
"Mm. They have located the Godbeast Gang's base. Do you want to go?"
Giovanni came straight out with it, without dressing it up.
"They've found it already?"
Vance was startled. Was Team Rocket really that fast? To have got a line on the enemy's base so soon.
Or the other side were simply that poor.
"Don't doubt what we can do. Archer and the others have gone in person this time. If you are interested, you may as well go and have a look."
Giovanni gave him a level glance. A good deal of Team Rocket's strength had gone into this.
Pinning down the Godbeast Gang's base was nothing very difficult.
*Archer and that lot, is it. So even they have taken a hand.*
Vance said it to himself. With men like those moving, it really would be quick.
"I..."
Vance had just begun to answer when the large screen on Giovanni's desk lit up and Archer appeared on it.
"Boss."
On the screen Archer bowed respectfully and spoke in a respectful voice.
"Go on."
Giovanni said it.
"It is dealt with, sir. See for yourself."
The camera swung round on ruined walls and broken masonry. Team Rocket members were marching prisoners along, and several of them were still struggling.
"Let go of me, we're on the same side! I'm Jessie, I'm a member of the Dark City branch, my superior is Chief Vance, we're on the same side!"
Jessie struggled, and the Team Rocket man behind her did not slacken his grip in the least, holding her fast.
James beside her was doing the same, explaining who he was to the men behind him, and at his feet lay an unconscious Meowth with his eyes turned to spirals, tied with rope and towed along at James's side.
The trio came into shot and Giovanni saw them, and his brows lifted slightly. He looked rather taken aback.
"So those three got as far as this. Archer, bring the three of them safely to headquarters."
"Yes, Boss."
Archer answered at once and hurried forward to get the trio out of it and keep them by him.
"Boo hoo, Boss Giovanni, I knew you hadn't forgotten Meowth."
Meowth got up all of a sudden and sprang in front of the screen.
"Mm. I know what you have been through."
Giovanni even offered a rare word of comfort.
Those words fired Meowth up enormously. With a line like that from Boss Giovanni, everything he had suffered was not worth mentioning.