The Dragon Shrine.
The Elder coughed softly, her eyes scanning the shrine grounds for any medicinal herbs to cure sleep.
Thanks to the unique properties of her Successor's cloak, she had remained conscious despite inhaling a significant amount of the sleeping gas. However, her lungs burned with every breath; the microscopic particles wouldn't simply vanish.
From her vantage point, she could see Mega Altaria locked in a fierce struggle with Mega Steelix, but she couldn't leave the shrine.
The guardian Pokémon of the shrine had all been forced into a deep sleep. She knew that if she could just wake them, the enemy would find it nearly impossible to breach the sanctuary, and the village would finally have the surplus strength needed to drive the invaders back.
"Found it."
The Elder gripped a Full Heal she had located and began to rush toward the fallen dragon Pokémon, only for a bolt of energy to explode right in front of her.
BOOM!
The shockwave from the energy blast sent the Elder flying. The Full Heal slipped from her grasp and clattered across the stone floor, only to be crushed under a jagged, purple claw.
The interlopers had arrived—Attila and his two subordinates.
The Elder looked up with difficulty, seeing the culprits: a Skarmory hovering above and the Toxicroak that had just crushed her hope of waking the guardians.
Nearby, a Crobat hissed, its eyes fixed on her.
"Team Rocket..."
"That's right! Team Rocket!" Attila looked down at the Elder with a smug grin. "Look, I don't like bullying old ladies. Just hand over the Mega Stones and Key Stones, and we'll leave. Otherwise, don't blame me if I level this 'shack' to the ground!"
Suddenly, a stream of fire roared out from the nearby foliage.
The Skarmory dodged with sharp precision, but the Crobat wasn't so lucky. It took the full brunt of the flames and plummeted to the ground, charred and smoking.
"Elder!"
A middle-aged man with silver-streaked hair burst from the brush, flanked by a serpentine Dragonair.
"Oh? There are still a few of you who can move!"
Attila's face didn't show a hint of concern as he watched the man check on the Elder. "I guess you won't learn until you're staring into a coffin. Get them! Brave Bird!"
"Ice Punch!"
"Skreeee!" 🦅
Skarmory's body ignited with sky-blue flames as it charged toward Dragonair. Behind it, Toxicroak leaped forward, its fist glowing with a freezing blue light.
The third Rocket grunt quickly swapped Pokémon and yelled, "Muk! Sludge Bomb!"
The pile of purple toxic sludge spat out several globs of dark filth toward the Dragonair!
"Twister!" the man shouted.
Facing the triple assault, Dragonair snapped its tail with incredible speed. The orb on its tail glowed with a brilliant blue light, summoning a deep blue vortex that collided with the incoming trio.
The fierce winds were so strong that Skarmory and the others found themselves momentarily unable to break through.
"Not bad. I guess the 'mysterious' Draconids aren't all talk. Too bad you're just relics with nothing but brute force!"
Attila pulled a high-tech rocket launcher from his platform and pulled the trigger on the Dragonair, which had just finished its move.
THUMP!
A black sphere shot from the muzzle, flying toward Dragonair and expanding into a metallic net. Dragonair tried to dive out of the way, but the net snapped shut like a mechanical claw, pinning it to the ground.
Red electricity surged through the mesh. Dragonair let out a pained cry, "nair-wooo!"
Though it didn't faint, the paralysis left it completely incapacitated.
"Dragonair! Try to break free!"
The man's face was pale with desperation.
If his main team hadn't been away at the Dragon's Den, it would never have come to this. In his rush to reach the shrine, he hadn't had time to wake the other dragons.
Now, his only hope was that the shrine guardians would wake up naturally or use Shed Skin to clear the paralysis. He just needed to buy time.
"Huh? No more Pokémon?"
Attila looked disappointed when the man didn't release another partner. "Coming here with just one Pokémon... are you brave or just stupid, old man?"
"Enough talk! Have you even considered the consequences of what you're doing?" the man roared.
The Elder raised a hand to signal him to stop. She stood up, coughing, and looked at Attila with an expression of absolute gravity.
"If you withdraw from the Dragon Shrine now, I can act as if this never happened."
Attila stared back through his sunglasses. After a few seconds of silence, he and the other two Rockets burst into a mocking laughter.
"You're at the end of your rope and you're still spouting this nonsense? This is why you 'relics'—"
Before he could finish, Skarmory suddenly dived in front of him, its wing striking a small bomb that had flown out of nowhere.
"Skree?!"
POW!
The bomb burst, releasing a cloud of golden powder. The three Rocket Pokémon were instantly wreathed in tiny sparks of electricity.
"Stun Spore?! Looks like we've got a little rat nearby!"
Attila dropped the launcher, covering his nose with one hand while maneuvering his hover-platform backward. "You two! Quick—"
He wasn't given another second to speak.
The distinct click of a Poké Ball opening echoed behind him. Attila turned his head in shock, only for a small, iron-hard fist to connect squarely with his face.
The force yanked him off the platform and slammed him into the dirt.
THUD!
Attila's head bounced off the ground, leaving him seeing stars.
The other two grunts were paralyzed with shock, fumbling for their Poké Balls. But just as they raised their hands, an unspeakable weight descended from above.
They were slammed into the ground exactly like their leader, their hover-platforms crushing into scrap metal beneath them.
The paralyzed Pokémon tried to move to protect their masters, but a flash of blue light—Psychic energy—seized them mid-air, pinning them in place.
The tides of battle had turned with dizzying speed.
The Elder and the silver-haired man stood frozen in shock, unable to process the scene before them.
Their eyes drifted to Mawile, who was currently hauling Attila up by his collar like he was a discarded rag doll.
They, along with Attila—who had just barely managed to blink his eyes back into focus—gasped out the exact same question: "What in the world...?"
"Congratulations, trendy Team Rocket agent. You've officially missed the opportunity the Elder offered you."
Kashiwagi stepped out from the shadows, his face wearing a mask. Beside him stood Blissey, her eyes glowing with a fierce blue light as she maintained her telekinetic grip on the three Rocket Pokémon.
He walked calmly toward the two groggy Rocket grunts. Ignoring their frantic struggles, he grabbed them by the napes of their necks and brought their heads together in a clean, decisive crack.
They slumped over instantly.
"Don't worry," Kashiwagi said to the Elder and the middle-aged man, whose expressions were now a mix of awe and deep concern.
"I have a fair bit of experience in hitting- err... conflict resolution."
With practiced efficiency, he fished the Poké Balls out of the grunts' pockets and recalled the three Pokémon that Blissey was straining to hold.
They were remarkably strong; even Blissey had been near her limit.
Turning back to the dazed Attila, Kashiwagi snatched the man's collar from Mawile and began dragging him away. The six-foot-tall, muscle-bound blonde man looked like a helpless, plucked chicken in Kashiwagi's grip.
"Kashiwagi!"
The Elder finally found her voice. "...The Ancestral Lands must not be stained by blood."
She spoke the words, but her hesitant gaze clearly held a different subtext.
Kashiwagi glanced at Blissey and realized his current aura must be quite dark—enough for a sensitive soul like the Elder to feel the need to issue a warning - she always had very sharp senses.
"Don't worry," he replied with a small nod. "I know exactly what I'm doing."
He handed a pouch of Lum Berry tablets to Mawile, motioning for her to give them to the Draconids. "These will wake the Dragon Pokémon. Please, keep the area around the shrine quiet for now. It will help my next move."
"Of course!" the man said, quickly taking the berry tablets.
"Thanks."
Kashiwagi didn't waste another second.
He dragged Attila out of the Elder's sight, propped him against a tree, and gave his cheek a sharp slap. "Hey. Wakey-wakey."
After two more slaps, Attila's sunglasses fell off, and he squinted at the gas mask in front of him, jolting in terror.
"You! Who are you?!" he barked.
Under normal circumstances, Pokémon battles involved targeting the Pokémon to force a retreat. Who the hell goes straight for the Trainer?
This brutal, direct style reminded Attila of a certain group of lunatics he'd rather not think about.
"Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is how useful you are to me."
Kashiwagi pulled a Team Rocket uniform from a bag Blissey had brought over, his voice sounding oddly cheerful behind the mask.
"You can contact the airship, right? Even though you haven't checked in for a bit. See, I'm planning on heading up there, and you're going to give me my 'VIP pass'."
"Why should I—glug!"
Attila didn't get to finish. Kashiwagi shoved his head into a nearby pond, giving his stomach a firm kick just to make sure he didn't try to hold his breath.
When Kashiwagi finally pulled him back up, a gasping, shivering Attila looked like a man who had seen the afterlife.
"I'm sure you've heard the saying: 'Where there is life, there is hope.' I haven't taken a life in quite some time, and I'd really prefer if you didn't force me to break my streak."
The demonic whisper in his ear convinced Attila: this guy was definitely one of those crazies.
But why was someone like this with the Draconids?
"W-What do you want me to do?" Attila rasped.
Team Rocket's loyalty was built on greed, status, and fear of Giovanni. But when their own lives were on the line, that loyalty tended to develop some very convenient holes.
Attila might be a big guy, but he wasn't the type to "offer up his heart" for the cause.
"I'm so glad you're being cooperative," Kashiwagi smiled. "Now..."
...
The Trojan Horse
A few minutes later, in the main control room of the airship.
The Rocket grunt in charge of the weapon systems received a transmission from Attila.
"Listen up! From now on, anyone returning to the ship to resupply gear—open the hatch immediately to speed things up! We need to move fast if we're going to finish this today!"
"Understood!"
the grunt replied, before hesitating.
"Uh, Agent Attila... are you sure we don't need to assist Agent Hun? He seems to be in a bit of a stalemate..."
"I said NO! He's testing the limits of Mega Evolution! Do not disturb him!"
"Understood, sir!"
The comms cut out.
Three minutes later,
Kashiwagi, riding a hover-platform with his hat pulled low, glided into the docking bay of the massive airship.
The interior was ghost-quiet. Everyone was busy "working"—either harvesting sleeping dragons, fighting off the remaining elderly Draconids, or manning the sonic and electrical turrets in the command center.
No one had the time or inclination to question a single "Team Rocket member" returning to base.
"Perfect."
Kashiwagi scanned his surroundings and headed straight for the bridge.
His original plan had been to blow the ship out of the sky, but he'd reconsidered.
Exploding an airship over a village was dangerous, and cleaning up that much scrap metal would be a nightmare.
Better to take the steering wheel, he thought.
"Why not just steal the whole thing?"
After all, Team Rocket loved stealing from others; surely they wouldn't mind being on the receiving end once or twice. It was only fair.
Disappointingly, Kashiwagi had learned from Attila—after "helping" him drink water twice to ensure total honesty—that in this specific task force, only Hun possessed the capability for Mega Evolution.
This was solely because his Steelix was a perfect match for the equipment they brought. Any other Key Stones or Mega Stones they found were strictly meant to be turned over to the organization's scientists for research.
Kashiwagi was disappointed when he heard this, and even gave him water twice more when he saw he was thirsty to confirm he hadn't been fooled.
Kashiwagi again felt a wave of genuine regret. If there had been extra stones, he could have easily "misplaced" them into his own pocket.
Click.
Kashiwagi pushed open the heavy doors to the bridge, revealing a hive of busy Rocket grunts.
"Huh?! Who gave you permission to enter!"
The grunt nearest the door marched over with a scowl.
He was mid-shout when he realized he didn't recognize the face under the cap. His expression shifted instantly as he opened his mouth to raise the alarm.
Kashiwagi, however, was faster. He clamped a hand over the man's mouth.
"Shhh! Everyone's working so hard, how could you be so rude as to interrupt? It's impolite. Just take a nice, long nap..."
He delivered a swift palm-strike to the back of the man's head, and the grunt slumped into peaceful silence.
Remarkably, not a single person at the consoles noticed.
"Seriously, why?" Kashiwagi muttered.
"Did they really think nobody would ever sneak aboard?"
He had come prepared for a desperate gun-and-blade struggle, but things were going suspiciously smoothly.
He tossed several Poké Balls into the air.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
The repeated sounds of Poké Balls opening finally drew the attention of the crew. They whirled around in their chairs.
But by then, it was already too late to run, and far too late to fight back.
Blissey moved with terrifying speed, locking onto every Rocket member in the room. Her eyes flared blue with Psychic energy, forcing everyone—except the helmsman—to raise their hands in a gesture of surrender.
Meanwhile, the helmsman found his head gently but firmly gripped by Aggron.
The massive steel beast leaned in and gave the man a "friendly" toothy grin that nearly caused the grunt's heart to stop from pure terror.
Kashiwagi strolled over and sat down in the commander's chair, crossing his legs casually.
"From this moment forward, I am in charge of this airship. Anyone with an objection, please raise your hand."
Whish—
Under Blissey's telekinetic manipulation, every single hand in the room dropped down simultaneously. The Rockets wore expressions of utter humiliation and rage.
"Excellent." Kashiwagi nodded.
"I should warn you, uncooperative passengers are to be stripped naked and tossed overboard. I'm not joking."
...
Outside, the duel between Mega Steelix and Mega Altaria raged on.
Theoretically, Steelix held the type advantage, but in practice, it was starting to falter.
The dragon-bird's grace was slowly wearing the serpent down.
Hun watched the battle, his composure unshaken.
He knew that the elderly man commanding the Altaria would collapse from exhaustion long before Mega Steelix did.
Once the Trainer fell, the Mega Evolution would break.
He had to admit, though, the old man was a formidable Dragon Tamer.
"A shame," Hun mused. He had already gathered enough data on Mega Evolution to satisfy the scientists back at base.
"Surrender now. I'll spare your life!" he shouted.
Not far away, Elder Aoyagi gasped for air, his clothes soaked through with sweat. But he merely spat at the ground.
"Heh... keep dreaming. You want me to surrender? You're ten thousand years too early!"
"Then I have no choice—"
"Testing, testing... one, two, three. Can you hear me? Hello? This is the Draconid Commando Unit speaking."
An obnoxious, lighthearted voice suddenly boomed from the airship's external speakers, echoing across the valley.
"I am officially announcing to all Team Rocket personnel: I've just stolen your house. I suggest you drop your weapons and Pokémon and surrender immediately. Did you get that? If you didn't..."
ZAP!
A bolt of electricity shot from one of the airship's underside turrets, striking a Rocket grunt on the ground. He let out a yelp and collapsed.
"It's pretty much like that. Oh, and Agent Hun? You're our VIP 'special guest.' Please, do try to cooperate~"
The voice was incredibly punchable.
Yet, the Draconids scattered throughout the village burst into spontaneous smiles.
Elder Aoyagi, despite his fatigue, let out a booming laugh.
"That's the spirit, Kashiwagi!"
Hun stared up at his own airship. His normally stoic face turned a sickly shade of green, his eyes wide with disbelief.
They were in the middle of a battle... and someone had stolen the airship?!
"How is this possible?!"