deeeefffinitely not cursed. nope.

“Enough with the games, Mr. President,” he chides. “Surely you aren't going back on the deal we made, are you?"

You see the president of Silph's mouth clench under his bushy mustache. "I can't continue to pour resources into this project, Giovanni! It's been far too expensive to make even one of these Pokeballs, n-not to mention the hit my company's reputation could take if word of this operation got out! Nay, I can’t even afford to hand over possession of one of them to you!"

This act of refusal from the CEO causes an annoyed twitch in the criminal leader's brow and a waver in his smile, but he retains his composure with ease, a dark chuckle slipping past his lips. You see the secretary withdraw and the president tense as their company’s attacker casually slides a hand into his pocket. "Well, the audacity you've grown after all these years is amusing. But you're a smart man. I'm sure you can imagine what will happen to you if you say no to me now."

Goldie strides noiselessly into the room with the dangerous criminal, steps barely even making a sound. The only thing to alert Giovanni to their presence is the confused secretary’s eyes flying to them.

The man turns, seeming unperturbed by their sneaky entrance. “Well, if it isn’t the golden child. We meet again.”

He takes a moment to look them over, noticing their slightly disheveled appearance. “You look a little worse for wear. Don't tell me you clawed your way up the floors of this building and all of my guards to reach me here?”

A response never leaves their mouth, but the child's glare hardens. You see the Silph CEO exchange nervous glances with his secretary and mutterings of "who is this child?!", showing obvious concern that someone as young as them has come seemingly to face off against one of the region's most notorious criminals.

The crime boss tuts at their reticence. "Whatever the case, I can assume you're not here for an idly chit-chat. Come to run me and my men out of town, have you? Play savior for the poor, terrorized employees of Silph Co.?"

"Have questions for you." Goldie says squarely, refusing to entertain any of the condescending taunts.

Giovanni raises a brow. "Questions, hm? And what, pray tell, was a pressing enough inquiry that you had come and to single-handedly sabotage my entire operation here?"

Behind them, the president and his assistant recognize a potential opening for escape with Giovanni's attention no longer on them. His eyes shift to the pair however as the secretary ushers her boss out of his seat and towards the open door. With a sigh, he snaps his fingers. "Not so fast, Mr. President. Guards!"

Just as the two are about to breach the threshold, two Rocket grunts appear from around either wall, blocking their way to freedom.

A hand reaching for a Pokeball, Goldie whips around to assist the pair in getting through, but just as they pluck the capsule off their belt a psychic force takes hold of the guards. Both of them flail around like helpless Magikarp as they're carried off the ground, before getting thrown somewhere out of sight down the hall.

Waltzing in like they own the place come Green and his Alakazam, the boy carrying himself in a confident strut with his hands in his jean pockets and his Pokemon hovering beside him at an equal pace.

"Green...?!" Goldie's face lights up in surprise of their rival's unforeseen arrival.

"You two might wanna skedaddle out of here," he warns the Silph officials as he brushes past them to enter the room. "I got a feeling things are gonna get shaky in here. Take the elevator, guards on the lobby floor have been taken care of."

The secretary stumbles to face the boy's back, giving him a bow of gratitude. "Th-thank you, young man! We owe you and your friend a great dea-"

"Hurry, hurry!" She's cut off by her boss' frightened yelp as he grabs her by the wrist and flees like a frightened Rattata down the hall, pulling her along.

Pursing his lips at the CEO's cowardly display, Green sighs and leisurely swings back around to face Giovanni, an untroubled smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. "So you're the big boss, eh?" he questions haughtily as he sizes the crime boss up from where he stands. "Didn't really get a chance to properly see you during our last tango. Your mug's even uglier than how Goldie described it!"

Giovanni just clicks his tongue at the impudent boy. "And who are you?"

"Tch, you don't know?" Green scoffs as if he's genuinely insulted. "I'm Green Oak, old fart! Grandson of Professor Oak, but more importantly, the Indigo League's next reigning champion! So you’d do well to remember it, capiche?"

Gaining no amusement from the boy's arrogant display, Rocket's leader gives the spectacle nothing more than an eye roll. "The only thing you'll both be is six feet under if you insolent brats continue to stand around and nuisance me. It was bothersome enough to seize this building quietly, and I don’t take kindly to you barging in and interrupting what was an incredibly important business exchange!"

"Oh, save us the monologue about ‘foiling your evil scheme’ or whatever!" Green spits. "You think you're in any place to be making threats? We're the ones who've got you cornered."

"Green..." Goldie speaks his name warningly, trying to discourage him from riling up the big boss too much, knowing he wasn’t a pushover like the Rockets they were used to dealing with.

"Here's how this is gonna go," their foster brother continues to blather on anyway, not caring if he's getting in over his head. "You're either gonna leave this place willingly, or we're gonna send you and your team crying with your tails between your legs. Preferably, into a prison cell!"

Realizing there's no stopping their rival and his oversized ego, Goldie just huffs and decides to go along with his bolder approach, stamping a foot forward. "And gonna answer question!"

The atmosphere in the room grows heavy with the tense silence that follows. They aren't wrong that the Rocket leader looks quite at odds here, having all his available henchmen down for the count and two rather formidable trainers closing in on him. Still, he remains as dauntingly imperturbable as ever in the face of this threat. After all, these are still just children trying to stand against one of the most infamous men in all of Kanto. Infamous for a reason, not just for his influence and wealth.

"You’re both very committed to this little hero act, I’ll give you that," he hums. “But I fear you two brats have gravely overestimated the amount of power you wield here.”

His hand drifts down to where several Pokéballs are attached to his hip. “Still, I suppose I can indulge you for a little while. If anything, to at least to teach you a lesson or two about the consequences of meddling in places you shouldn’t. Nidoqueen!”

With a fling of his wrist, he sends out his Pokémon of choice. The blue Ground/Poison-type monster that bursts from the ball shakes the floor under its weight as it hits the ground, its thick armored hide flexing with its movements and ripple of the muscles underneath. Rearing its head back, Nidoqueen bellows resoundingly with a roar that could strike fear into the mightiest of foes.

Goldie winces at the battle cry reverberating in the tight space, but won’t yield just from that alone. “Here’s the deal,” Giovanni proposes, fixing his tie. “Bring down my Nidoqueen here, and not only will I answer whatever burning question you have, but I’ll also surrender Silph Co. willingly.”

Nidoqueen snaps its teeth in Goldie’s direction. It’s easily evident this beast has got some experience under its belt, with its defined brawn and hulking frame showing results of rigorous training it must’ve gone through to reach this state. Not to mention its temperament- the look in its eyes almost seemed feral, on the verge of letting loose what could only be devastating amounts of power contained within. Power that was all at the whim of Giovanni’s word.

It may have just been a single opponent standing between what them and what info they wanted, but that didn’t mean getting past it would be any sort of a cakewalk.

Sweat beads down Goldie’s forehead, the cogs turning in their brain. A hand drifts back and forth across their belt’s row of Pokéballs, letting you see their struggle to choose who to fight this battle with in real time. Their Gyarados would probably be the best matchup against this opponent, but there was little chance Gilly would have the ability to fight properly in this confined space. Cheese had a disadvantage, Peanut’s moves would have little effect, Copper was significantly lagging behind in levels…

Just as they’re about to land on their final decision, Green’s shoulder bumps against theirs as he strides past them. “Don’t sweat it too much, Gold,” their rival tells them with a dismissive wave. His Alakazam glides to stand at his side, readying its spoons like weapons. “Hoshi here’s got the type advantage. He can clean this up real fast.”

Goldie curls their fists, their first instinct being to stamp their foot in refusal. “Not letting you fight alone!”

“Never said I was gonna,” Their foster brother clicks as he gives them a look over the shoulder. “You provide some backup blows while I dish out the heavy hits, ‘kay? We’ll see how good this guy’s glorified kaiju rodent holds up against actual strategy.”

The offer of teamwork coming from him of all people was certainly a surprise. Seemed he was aware enough of the stakes here to not try and pull some “steal all the glory” stunt, at least to an extent. Goldie stops and gives him a few stupefied blinks, but with a shake of their head they switch back to the task at hand.

Finally, they send a Pokéball soaring onto the field. “Lizzie!”

Their starter comes exploding out of her ball, creating a harsh gust gushing across the room with a single flap of her wings, sending papers flying off the office desk behind Giovanni. She lands with a snort, thin trails of smoke from her inner furnace curling from her nostrils. The giant winged reptile wouldn’t have a lot of room to fight in here, but as long as Green followed through on his promise to have Alakazam do most of the head-on fighting, she should be able to play support and fire off attacks from the side.

And as the fight kicks off, that’s exactly what happens. Alazakam takes to the air, charging head on at Nidoqueen with a pale blue, psychic glow radiating around its form and in its eyes. The beast snaps its jaws at it as it soars past, but misses by a hair. Now in its blind spot, Alakazam takes advantage of the opportunity and unleashes psychic energy into its back side.

Nidoqueen barks as it’s ravaged by the hit and staggers forward, but is quick to shrug the damage off while its opponent circles back to Green’s side. Now properly aggravated, the Poison-type lowers its head, its small horn starting to glow before firing off back-to-back Poison Stings.

First it targets Alakazam, who quickly lessens the attack’s damage with a Barrier it sets up, then hardly even winces as the weakened move passes through and pierces its yellow hide. Nidoqueen then shifts its aim to Lizzie, who didn’t have a move to reduce its power like her ally. Still, the Charizard pulls off a dodge to the best of her ability within this enclosed space, pushing off the ground with a powerful pump of her wings. She can’t avoid knocking a nearby bookcase over, but hardly has time to worry about it as soon her turn’s up.

Right as Nidoqueen raises its head, she goes in for the strike, swooping by to unleash a stream of searing hot flames across its shoulder. The enemy grunts and stumbles away as the attack connects, smoke rising off its lightly singed hide.

Giovanni narrows his eyes at the fire lizard as she starts rounding back to her trainer. “Nidoqueen, Thunderbolt.”

The second that attack’s name is uttered, Goldie’s breath hitches. “Lizzie-!”

Their cut off warning doesn’t reach her ears quickly enough. Nidoqueen’s horn crackles with electricity, and in the blink of an eye that electricity is shooting off in an arch that seizes the Charizard midair. Lizzie screeches as she’s zapped thoroughly, before she’s released from the super effective shock and sent tumbling to the ground, her wing hitting and shattering a window on her way down.

She slides against the corner of the wall, but doesn’t stay down for long as she scrambles back onto her feet and runs the rest of the way back to her trainer, still quivering slightly from the aftershocks of the electrifying move. When she stops in front of Goldie, she still adopts a battle-ready position despite her now ragged breathing and slightly wavering stance.

“Impressive teamwork display,” Giovanni acknowledged, “but I believe that’s enough fooling around now.”

Gritting his teeth, Green punches a fist forward as he barks out his next command. “You think THIS is ‘fooling around’? Hoshi, use Psychic!”

Alakazam performs similar maneuvers to before in order to reach Nidoqueen, surging forward to try and get behind it in order to dish out another psionic blast into its weak spot. This time, however, the beast is much more prepared for when it comes flying past its head.

“Use Crunch.”

Right as its foe closes in, Nidoqueen reacts with reflexes that are impressively fast for a creature of its size, snapping its head around to trap Alakazam in its jaws. The Psychic-type wails out in pain as fangs mercilessly clamp down on its torso with a bruising force, wriggling and prying helplessly at Nidoqueen’s lip with its claws.

Green does a double take. “What the hell was that reaction time?!”

Seeing their ally’s Pokémon in such pain causes Goldie visible distress, and they hurriedly order Lizzie to Alakazam’s rescue. “Lizzie, Dragon Breath!”

The Charizard takes off in a sprint this time, using her wings to propel her forward. She skids past Nidoqueen, talons shredding up the carpeted floor in her wake, before unleashing a billowing jet of crackling purple and blue smoke. Nidoqueen hardly reacts as its side is scorched again, certainly not lessening its hold on Alakazam, before it counters the fire lizard with a swing of its tail. The heavy appendage slams into Lizzie’s stomach, knocking the wind out of her. And her opponent doesn’t even stop there- once shes knocked flat onto her back, the Poison-type takes firm hold of her throat and hoists her up, dangling her off the ground.

“LIZZIE-!” All Goldie’s able to do is yell out helplessly as their starter is swung around in a circle, then effortlessly flung into the nearest window like a rag doll. An explosion of glass shards and debris go flying across the room when wall and frame give out under the force she was thrown at, and when it settles Goldie looks up to find the fire lizard unconscious and dangling halfway out the hole that was created by her collision.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the young trainer’s bolting to their Pokémon’s aid, falling to their knees at her side. Behind them, meanwhile, Nidoqueen proceeds to slam Alakazam brutally into the floor, leaving the Psychic creature crumpled there.

“Damn it…!” Green growls, grabbing for his fallen Pokémon’s ball and holding it up to recall it. “Hoshi, return-!”

Just as the red beam shoots from the capsule and zips to retrieve the Pokémon, Nidoqueen stamps a foot down on the Alakazam’s back, forcing it to bounce off an effectively block the Pokéball’s recall function. Green freezes in place, having not expected the use of such a dirty tactic, and his face goes pale when Giovanni’s monster presses its sole down on his Pokémon’s collapsed body harder. “What?!”

Seeing the two trainers and their “teamwork” fumble under the unrestrained might of just one of his Pokémon brings a twisted smile to Giovanni’s face. Watching that ambitious confidence they’d both just been beaming with fall apart at the seams is nothing short of a delightful show for him.

“What’s the matter, children?” he inquires condescendingly, unable to help but indulge in a little bit of taunting. “Not used to facing someone who won’t bend and let you crush them under your boot like a Caterpie for once?”

“Let my damn Pokémon go!” Green fumes. “Refusing to let your opponent call back their Pokémon is-”

“What? Against the rules? Going too far?” The crime boss mocks. “My apologies then, children. I should have clarified before: those concepts don’t apply in any facet of Team Rocket’s work. Especially not against insufferable little terrors like you who try to get in the way of it.”

Irked by his jeering, Goldie returns Lizzie before pushing back up onto their feet to face him with clenched fists, properly irate now and making no effort to hide it. Their scarf flaps in the wind blowing in from behind them. “Let Hoshi go!” They demand.

“Oh? Or what?” The young trainer’s obstinacy just gets an amused brow raise from him. “I’m curious to see what exactly you would do to stop me.”

Goldie’s scowl deepens, but Giovanni urges them further. “Go on, then! Your friend’s poor Pokémon is in grave danger. I’m sure he’d want you do to anything in your power is save it! Isn’t that right, Green?”

Their foster brother squints, too panicked by how hurt his Pokémon could get- or worse- if Nidoqueen didn’t release it soon. “What are you talking about?!”

Giovanni cackles at the bewildered question like it’s the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard. “Trust me, boy, I think it’s better if the golden child shows you themself.” He switches his attention right back to Goldie. “Well then? Are you going to do something, or does maintaining this little charade of yours take higher priority?”

It’s an obvious attempt to goad them on. Get them to break and reveal something. What secret he seems to believe the thirteen year old is concealing, you can’t in a million years be sure, but it is in fact having a noticeable affect on Goldie. Yet again, you see that green glow begin to emit from their face markings- it’s happened enough times now that you’re certain it can’t just be strange lighting or the footage glitching.

They look just about ready to lunge and go on the attack themself. With the sheer fury you catch blazing behind their eyes, you wonder if they’re about to. You think you see patches of light start to fizzle off their skin, when-

“Horn Attack!”

Tearing through the entrance of the room all too suddenly comes a bulky, dark purple mass. It nearly knocks Green right onto his rear as it comes barreling past, making a beeline for the Nidoqueen across the floor.

Upon collision, you realize the attacker is a Nidoking as it rams its horned head into Nidoqueen’s protective torso plating, pushing it off balance and successfully freeing Hoshi from underneath. The Alakazam makes a hasty retreat in the middle of their clash, fumbling to levitate off the ground and float away to the safety of his trainer’s side.

Green and Goldie’s heads whip to where the new party had come bursting out of seemingly nowhere. Treading in with his head held high is a familiar individual with hair matching the violet hue of his Pokémon’s skin.

“I would’ve thought the boss of Team Rocket had better things to do than waste time trying to ‘humble’ a couple of children,” Donte scoffs, brushing some dust off the shoulder of his white executive jacket. He comes to a halt, eyes scanning Giovanni up and down with scrutiny. “A man held in such high regard by his followers, reduced to behaving like a schoolyard bully rather than handling a threat accordingly. What a pathetic sight.”

“Nidoking hair…?!” Goldie exclaims softly.

Donte’s Nidoking delivers a harsh Ice Punch to its opponents face, causing it to stagger back with a groan. Giovanni’s face morphs into a scowl dripping with disgust and contempt at his own subordinate not only backstabbing him, but gaining the upper hand in what felt like an instant.

“Donte,” he seethes as the Nidos continue their wrestling match in the space between the two Rockets- well, one likely soon-to-be-former. “Hardly even a day after I promote you to executive, and this is how you thank me?”

“Thank you?” Donte spits in humored disbelief. Nidoqueen crunches down on Nidoking’s arm, but his partner refuses to relent under the crushing bite force. “As if I have a single damn thing in the world to thank the likes of YOU for.”

Nidoqueen releases its jaws from its counterpart species’ flesh, but doesn’t do so without a forceful shove that sends Nidoking stumbling back. In that half second of opportunity, Giovanni’s Pokémon swings its leg up and delivers a hard set of Double Kicks to the foe’s gut. Even though the move shouldn’t be that effective, Nidoking has an obvious pained reaction, giving you the impression Nidoqueen must be on a significantly higher level than it.

“I could always tell how wavering your loyalty was, how weak-hearted you were,” the Rocket boss shouts from across the field. “That look of disdain in your eyes you had whenever you carried out an order. How you coddled members of the lower rank, and let them get away with far more than they should! But I always brushed it aside. I had my hopes that your skills and incentive to get things done meant you still had the makings of a fine executive in your blood, however, I can’t say I’m surprised more than I am disappointed to find those hopes were misplaced.”

Without even giving Nidoking a chance to recover, Nidoqueen delivers a Horn Attack of its own, knocking it onto its back.

“Come on Thrym, hang on…” he mutters to his partner, who’s struggling to push back up onto its feet. He fixes his intense gaze back onto Giovanni. “I was only trying to look out for the team. The countless people under your whim who’ve been suffering in the wake of your power-hungry leadership for years!”

Nidoqueen closes in to land another attack, but Nidoking parries the attempt by swinging an arm up to smack it in the jaw. Giovanni clicks his tongue. “Is that what you think of yourself? Some harbinger of justice, for the poor, filthy scoundrels under my command?” He mocks, then gives a low chuckle. “Even to this day, Carmen’s nature seems to rub off on you.”

At the mention of that name, Goldie’s eyes flicker with recognition, their head perking up attentively. “Carmen…?”

Giovanni’s eyes flick to the child with the red scarf, his smugness only growing. “In fact, I’d bet she’s the reason you’re finally deciding to take a stand against me, hm?”

“Keep my sister’s name out of your mouth,” Donte fumes bitterly, glaring daggers at his higher up. His Nidoking raises back up into a stand, wiping dirt off its face. “I did come here for her- and by that, I mean I’m going to finish what she started!”

Distracted by the fight at hand, Goldie’s not expecting to feel a hand clasp around their wrist, and jolts when it starts to tug. Their first instinct is to resist, but who they look up to find out is simply just Green keeps a firm hold. “Come on, let’s blow this place already!”

“No!” They refuse, pulling back against him, using their free hand to point towards Donte and his Nidoking. “What about them?!”

Goldie’s strength surprisingly wins out, and he growls in frustration when they snap their arm away from him. “Who cares about them?!” He scoffs, grabbing them again. “Let them tear each other apart for all I care! I had Hoshi teleport me all the way here to pull your dumb ass out of trouble- for which you’re welcome, by the way- not to help some Rocket fucker with a rebellion!”

They’re about to shoot back a retort at their foster brother, but get distracted when they notice the Nidoking start to side-eyeing them from where it stands. It looks at them with intention, as if it needs to tell them something.

It grunts. For anyone who can understand Pokéspeak, you hear this:

{ “There’s a hidden floor panel under the desk. You have to hit it twice to open it!” }

Whether or not you understood the Nidoking, it’s still peculiar when Goldie’s eyes light up in response to it. Their eyes flick to the desk at the back end of the room, which had surprising endured the chaos unfolding around it up to this point. Given how fiercely the Nidos were still going at it, though, it likely wouldn’t stay that way for long.

Yanking their arm back from Green a second time, unintentionally almost causing the boy to teeter forwards onto his face, they dash away with that desk in their sights. Taking extra care to try and evade Giovanni’s line of sight, they reach it without any interference, at least at first. The child falls to their knees and ducks behind the desk, glimpsing out from behind it to make extra sure the enemy’s attention isn’t on them, before they lower closer to the floor and crawl underneath. There, they find some time of gray metal slate embedded in the floor, sticking out against the patterned carpet.

“Goldie!” You hear Green hiss behind them, his voice nearly inaudible over the sound of roars ringing out and attacks shaking the room. “What are you doing?!”

In too much of a hurry to answer him, Goldie bangs their fist against the metal twice. A sound of something unlocking is heard, and the panel springs open with a soft click. They lift it up all the way with one hand, then use the other to reach inside. From the small chamber underneath, they pull out a small box that’s heavily secured with a complicated looking lock.

Green squints as he investigates it. “What’s that…? That CEO had it hidden under his desk?”

Knowing that unlocking it themself was probably out of the question, Goldie presses their ear against the top of the container and gives it a light shake like it’s a Delibird Day present, trying to gauge what might be inside. They do hear something, but it doesn’t make it any easier to determine what the contents are. “Don’t know…” they answer, pursing their lips. “Think it important?”

“It’s gotta be, if they resorted to some spy movie cliche to hide it!” Green scoffs, then winces when the building quakes from another of the Nidos’ traded blows. “Huh… guess we oughtta keep it from getting into that boss guy’s hands.”

“Agree,” Goldie grunts as they hug the box close to their chest, being careful not to thump their head as they crawl out backwards.

“Cause I mean, who knows, maybe if Silph finds out we protected some top secret thingamajig of theirs, we’ll get rewarded big time-” The older trainer doesn’t get to finish that joking quip before the desk is suddenly lifted right off the ground, faster than either of them can blink. The two’s children’s eyes bulge when they look up to find Nidoqueen hauling their now obsolete hiding place over its head.

Giovanni tuts as he appears around his Pokémon’s side. Donte’s Nidoking is collapsed in a defeated heap behind him, its trainer crouched at its side. “Now, now, children,” he folds his hands behind his back as he glowers over them. “I sure hope you weren’t planning on making off with that thinking I wouldn’t notice.”

Green goes stiff like a Deerling in the headlights. Goldie shrinks back, clutching the box tighter, but still bores into him with a burning glare even as their heart rate increases. As much as they want to try and show their enemy they’re not willing to give in, any and all ounce of defiance emanating off them bounces off Giovanni’s composed and collected posture while the menacing taps of his footsteps draw closer.

He doesn’t even say anything as he swipes down to snatch the box. “I’ll be taking that,” he declares, attempting to pull it away, but ends up pulling Goldie to their feet with it when their hands stay stubbornly latched onto it. He growls in frustration, but instead of initiating some kind of childish tug-of-war, he just stands there while the kid tries fruitlessly to pry the object out of his hand. “You don’t know when to accept defeat, do you?”

They pull harder. He doesn’t budge. He just stands there, watching their futile show of a struggle. His expression looks somewhere between annoyed and mildly entertained. “Utterly pathetic. I would have more sympathy for you, were you truly but a normal child trying to ‘fight the good fight’, but this? At this point, it has to be some kind of joke.”

Aggravation growing, Goldie snarls. It’s the least expected sound you could’ve imagined to come from them- it almost sounds inhuman. It even gets a startled jump out of Green.

He twists the box in their hands, forcing their wrists to bend unnaturally with it. They grimace from the pain, but still won’t yield. “What exactly do you hope to gain out of this?” Giovanni questions provokingly. “Why do you pour so much effort into this game of pretend? You hold back when your power is needed most. Is keeping this up more important to you than anything?”

There he was going on again about Goldie’s “power”. Green didn’t look to have any further of a clue about what he was talking about, still, but as he shakily rose to his feet it looked as though he was prepping to back up his foster sibling in some way, fists curling at his sides and his look of fear swapping out for a determined one. “I’m getting real sick of your crap, old man!”

Donte jumped up from where he’d been kneeled at his Nidoking’s side. “Kids, just give it up! Get out of here, now!” He hollered with urgency, the panicked crack in his voice betraying his attempt to sound demanding instead of pleading.

To probably no one’s surprise, Green Oak didn’t listen. Once he was steady on his feet again, he ran at Giovanni with his fist drawn back, ready to finally give the man a piece of his mind personally.

He must’ve not accounted for Nidoqueen’s will to protect its trainer, for as it saw him approach with clear intent of harm the beastly Poison-type tossed the desk aside, letting it get lodged in the closest wall. Seconds before Green’s punch would’ve made contact with Giovanni’s face, he gets snatched up by the back of his shirt.

“GREEN!” Goldie cries, eyes snapping up from the box to where their rival dangles helplessly from Nidoqueen’s paw.

“Why don’t test that theory, of how far you’re willing to go for your identity’s sake?” Giovanni proposes with a twisted smirk. “Discard of him, Nidoqueen.”

It happens all so fast. Nidoqueen doesn’t show even the slightest glimpse of hesitation to what its master was demanding of it as it swerves its body around towards the gap in the wall. With a forceful fling of its arm, it sends the young boy flying through it. Neither the Pokémon or its trainer don a shred of remorse on their face as Green screams out while descending into a hundreds-of-feet plummet.

And Goldie’s reaction is just as spontaneous. The box and the concern of Giovanni’s possession over it are fleetly abandoned as they shove past the man, booking it straight in pursuit of their friend. Not even at the edge of the broken floor to they halt or show an ounce of hesitance- with a kick of their foot off the ledge’s end, they’re gone.

“KID!”

Donte’s scream is lost to the winds. His and Giovanni’s fate is all too soon left for you to guess, as now you watch this child’s foolhardy and surely doomed attempt to save their foster brother’s life play out. They’re falling, fast, the lights of the windows blurring behind them and the brutal gales howling like screams in your ears.

Surely Goldie should’ve realized by now their fates had been sealed. That the ground quickly coming up below them would be where they meet their ends, if by some miracle their fall wasn’t broken soon. Yet, through the glimpses you catch of their face behind the flailing wisps of hair obscuring it, you don’t see an ounce of fear in the face of this fact. You don’t see the horror of realization strike, you don’t see that determination falter for even a second.

They still reach their hand out to Green. And then, that miracle happens.

From the fingertips of their outstretched hand, sparks of a mysterious light fizzle to life. It begins faint, but then it ignites like a match to gasoline, spreading up their arm to their shoulders, crawling down their torso, swallowing their legs, until they’re fully enveloped in a blanket of what looks like an ethereal force.

That light fractals and beams in all directions, making them resemble a shooting star descending for the earth. Then… the clear, recognizable silhouette of Goldie’s form starts to warp. Change.

Fingers morph into claws. Legs and feet into feathers and a short tail. Hair into double-pointed ears, face into a beak-like snout. Appendages resembling wings erupt from their back. And during all this, you make out their under-eye markings flaring with their own green glow- but you now also notice an extra, larger triangle mark on their stomach.

The gleam breaks into dazzling sparkles, and what bursts from it is no longer the Goldie you know.

The draconic being- a Latias- is now able to close in on the falling boy much faster, with the advantage of its aerodynamic shape and the wind rushing under its wings gifting it more desperately needed speed. Green blinks through his teary eyes up at the Pokémon, likely struggling to discern what it is or what’s even happening.

Folding its wings flat against its sides, Latias propels itself enough to swoop down fast and slip its arms around the boy’s back, scooping him up against its neck. With him tight and secure in its hold, it performs a break in the air by flaring its wings right back out and letting whatever invisible- potentially psychic- force it uses to stay afloat catch it right as they reach the building’s base.

As the pair make their now slow descent towards the ground, you’re able to find that a crowd has gathered, probably drawn in by catching glances of the fight that’d been raging above. Or at least having witnessed the top floor’s wall get broken open. And as you could expect, marveled and shocked murmurs are heard clamoring amongst them once they come into hearing range.

“What on earth?!”

“What is that thing?!”

“Did it just save that boy?!”

“Is it his Pokémon?”

“I swore I saw it change from a human shape!”

“Is that Oak’s grandson it’s carrying?”

“Did it cause all that ruckus up there?!”

“It looks powerful!”

All these exclamations of wonder and astonishment are ignored by Latias for now as it lowers, gingerly setting Green down onto the safety of the pavement. It draws back to give the boy space, but never once takes its worried eyes off him.

“Wh-what…” Green sputters, likely confused as to how he wasn’t a splat on the ground right now. He sits upright, frazzled and trembling from the terrifying near-death experience he just survived, eyes flitting around like he wasn’t sure if the streets around him were the afterlife or if he was still in the land of the living.

It isn’t long before he’s made aware of the shadow hovering over him. Gaze trailing upwards, he locks eyes with the Legendary Pokémon responsible for his rescue.

For the first time, he’s truly stun into silence. You don’t know if he understands the true rarity of the creature before him, or if he’s just struggling to make sense of how and why it’s here, but his shock is palpable.

He looks over its yellow and white plumage, mystified by the shimmer-y overlay it has to its smoothed down feathers. But he’s particularly fixated on the red scarf wrapped around its long neck and the warm, brown shade of its eyes, the only traits on this entity that indicates it still being the same individual it had transformed from.

Green’s breathing goes unsteady as it seems like he’s internally hit with a million things at once. “…Goldie?”

Latias stares silently. Then, its eyes avert down to its paws, ears tilting back displaying an emotion that looks to be shame. It trills sadly, withdrawing into itself, looking torn on what to do or on how to explain itself.

When Green stays glued to where he sits, it attempts an approach. Tucking its arms close to its chest, levitating as close to the ground as it can, overall doing its best to appear non-threatening, it inches closer. Still, the boy scrambles into a stand like it had tried to jump him. Alarmed by his sudden movements, the feathered dragon jolts back.

A soft wail leaves its throat, a wordless yet desperate plea, but Green just scuffles away further. His face is painted with multiple things; bewilderment, disbelief, fear. He’s afraid.

He’s afraid of them.

Goldie slowly retreats into the shadow of the skyscraper behind them, horror and panic dawning onto their avian features. Their eyes flit between their human foster brother, and the crowd slowly closing in around them. Officers, rangers and firefighters are arriving at the scene, freezing mid-climb out of their vehicles to gawk at the shape of an unknown Pokémon right before their eyes. A reporter had shoved her way through the crowd with her camera man, and Goldie pins their ears back at the sight of the camera being pointed at them while excited words are blabbered into a microphone.

Phones are flashing, voices are overlapping each other, the tension is rising rapidly. The building stress is taking its visible toll on Goldie’s state. The Latias whips their head around, brandishing their wings at the cluster of humans and letting out a screech of warning. Most back away with alarmed shouts, but individuals such as the news people and law authorities only push through those who heeded the dragon’s cry.

“Boy, is this your Pokémon?” One of the police ask gruffly. Green shakes his head. The officer turns back to Goldie, bringing two fingers to his mouth and whistling. “Growlithe, Flamethrower!”

The commanded Pokémon jumps forward, shooting a jet of flames at the Latias. Goldie shrieks as the searing heat streams past their neck, before retaliating by blasting a ball of mist at the canine, sending it flying back into the crowd who all scream and disperse in terror of its exhibited power.

“Stop, you’re only going to aggravate it!” One of the rangers rushes in and scolds the cop.

“It’s a dangerous wild Pokémon, it needs to be restrained immediately!”

“How about you leave it to the people who actually know how to do that?!” Another ranger shoots back, before sliding her styler into the gap in her wrist gauntlet. “Capture: on!”

With a pump of her fist, she sent the disc inside firing out of the styler. The spinning-top shaped device begins to coil around Goldie, encircling them in a whirling ring of light. Right when the Ranger presses a button on her glove to confirm the capture, the Latias deftly flies in a quick upwards maneuver just as that ring shrinks and closes in on itself.

Enough was enough. Green wouldn’t listen, neither would these people saw them as a threat. There was no reasoning to be done now. They don’t stick around to hear the ranger curse her failure under her breath, or let any others make the same kind of attempt. Without looking back, Goldie squeezes their eyes shut and swivels around, making a swift retreat around the back of the building.

“Wait!” Green yells, looking like clarity just hit him like a bag of rocks. He sprints after them in chase, rounding the corner and tailing them from the ground, but it’s soon for naught when he watches the Latias immediately shroud themself in some kind of cloak of invisibility. That in itself wouldn’t have been a problem, at least had it not been for a harsh gust of autumn winds blowing past right then, strong enough to rip off the already loose scarf from their neck. The only thing that would’ve kept Goldie visible, allowing anyone to at least spot where they might be going.

Had it been a deliberate measure by Goldie to ensure they couldn’t be followed, or just cruel coincidence, you couldn’t be sure. Still, Green can only stagger to a halt and watch as the strip of knit fabric floats to the ground, draping across the sidewalk.

Out of breath, the boy remains glued there for a few seconds, taking in and out huffs of oxygen to catch it. Continuing to stare in the direction his now enigma of a rival, foster sibling, fellow trainer had fled in.

Eventually, though, he comes to, and his eyes drift down to the scarf. Another breeze threatens to steal it away, but he speed-walks over and swipes it off the ground before it can.

With his back turned to you, whatever he must be feeling right now is indistinguishable from here. All you do know is that the atmosphere around him feels thick with this heavy, somewhat melancholic air.

Panicked jabbering of the witnesses and other ambiguous cityscape sounds fade into the background. Green stares down at his friend’s scarf, burdened with the uncertainty of what this all meant. What this all had meant.

His head lifts to the dark, clouded over sky, searching. Waiting. The footage draws to a close with that image of him standing alone under the golden cast of the streetlights.

End video.]

———

•

•

•

OFFSCREEN SEGMENT

Donte had bolted to look over the edge when that dumb kid made that foolish dive after their friend, and while what he saw was only confirmation of something he already strongly suspected, watching an Eon Guardian take its true form before his eyes had been a sight to behold. He hadn’t had time to be awestruck, though, as his biggest concern had been those two actually making it to the ground in one piece.

He watches with bated breath as the Latias manages to catch hold of their friend. Their shapes growing smaller, he narrows his eyes in an attempt to see if the rescue is a success or not, but unfortunately they both disappear through a layer of fog that was just happened to be clinging to the lower half of the building that night.

Pushing himself up with the intent to race to the elevator and take it to the ground floor, the Donphan in the room- that being Kanto’s most dangerous criminal- momentarily slips his mind. He’s soon to be reminded though when he feels the cold surface of iron press to the back of his head.

He tenses, the voice of his ex-superior sending a chill down his spine. “And where do you think you’re going?”

If being at gunpoint wasn’t enough, he also hears the stomp of the Nidoqueen’s feet come up from behind. Damn. He was screwed.

“Go ahead, shoot me,” the ex-executive challenges. “You may have gotten your hands on the test version of the product, but you can’t get the president to make you any more. My work’s done here.”

The barrel gets pressed further into the back of his head. He holds back a wince, does everything in his power to hide the terror pounding through his veins right now. After all this time, why am I still scared shitless? He thinks.

His eyes fall back to where bird kid and their buddy had plummeted to what would be an unknown fate to him. Sucks they couldn’t escape with the prototype like he’d hoped, but what mattered is that the main thing Gio was here for had escaped his clutches- the president, aka the only person with the lnowledge to refine and replicate it. I’m content going out sticking it to him one last time. At the very least, I’ve thrown a real wrench in his plans.

He actually didn’t know how Goldie knew where to look for the damn thing before he even got the chance to tell them. Maybe it was intel they uncovered on their own during their little one-man-band raid? Oh well. No point in raising questions about that now.

What he is questioning now is Giovanni’s stalling. Shouldn’t he be at the Hall of Origin’s steps by now? He doesn’t dare turn his head to try figuring out why, he feels a monologue coming on anyway. “When your father returned and brought you sniveling brats back with him, I already knew raising you both into our ranks could be more trouble than it was worth. Still, I kept you around, on principle of upholding my mother’s belief that Team Rocket was a ‘family’.”

“Carmen proved me right,” he continues. “You almost did too, one time, that day you released your Cubone in an attempt to ‘save it from this life’. Even if you played that off as not wanting it because it was weak.”

“Yet you had favor amongst others of your rank, and still showed potential in far too many valuable assets for us to let go to waste- so again, I let you off the hook…” You hear the scorn rise in the villain’s voice with each beat of this story that he retells. Years of pent up grievances bubbling to the surface. “In fact, I did far more than that. I praised you, educated you, practically raised you as if you were my own.”

“Although what work I got you to do was greatly of benefit, it was still a long and eventual wasteful effort,” He senses the man’s finger pressing down harder on the trigger. “And on top of all this, the moment you reach the pinnacle of what power in the organization I could grant you, you use it to try and foil the plan I spent decades waiting to enact.”

“So, suffice to say,” he growls. “It would bring me no greater pleasure to finally put this bullet through your head.”

Man. If any semblance of fatherly attachment he still had towards this man still existed deep, deep inside of him, it was snuffed out permanently for the last time. Not that he mourned something that’d been steadily dwindling for years all that much, but still, ouch. Oh well.

Wish I could give Thrym one last apology, he thinks about the partner that’d accompanied him through it all, wondering what Giovanni would do to the Nidoking after this. Pass him off to some other high-ranking chump, most likely. He wasn’t the type to let strong Pokémon go to waste, even those of traitors. He could at least take comfort in knowing his partner wouldn’t suffer the same fate as him.

“Oh, but one more thing, Donte…” He can just hear the rise of a sadistic grin in Giovanni’s tone. “I’ll let you know one last, little thing before sending you off.”

He grabs him by shoulder, pulling him close to venomously snarl whatever this parting message is directly into his ear. “I’m going to find Carmen’s little pet once more, capture it, and as one final act of retribution for the embarrassments your family’s caused me…” He draws his sentence out with a pause, digging his fingers into the young man’s shoulder hard enough to draw blood. “I’m going to make it endure inconceivable amounts of suffering as I mold it into the perfect tool to help me reclaim Mewtwo.”

“And then? I’ll show the world just how powerful my creation is by having him tear that puny god apart for all the world to see.”

Whatever facade of confidence Donte wanted to depart from this world with shatters in an instant. He sucks in a sharp breath, heart hammering with the dread of realizing what he might have just sentenced the Pokémon his sister sacrificed everything for to.

No. No, no, no-

Giovanni steps back and re-positions the pistol. In those last few milliseconds, Donte’s mind starts to race, consciously praying to every god he can name for one final chance. To grant him just one more minute to do something, anything, to prevent whatever Giovanni has in store for that Latias. He doesn’t know what, if it would matter, but he doesn’t care. He needs to-

The next sound he’s expecting to fill his eardrums is the boom of a gunshot, followed by eternal silence. Instead, it’s the blaring of a laser and the crackle of… ice?

Before he knows it, the weapon threatening to blast his cranium open falls back down to Giovanni’s side. When Donte registers its safe enough to move freely now, he barely turns his head even halfway to see Nidoqueen’s limp body falling past him, white frost crawling across its blue skin from a point of impact on its shoulder.

What?

Something with tiny claws presses against the top of his head. Paws? He thinks he sees a pink tail swish into the side of his periphery. Giovanni has his back facing him, trying to figure out what just brought down his strongest Pokémon when all that was in range of attack was a fainted Nidoking and- no, no Nidoking, just vacant air and a crater where one had just been.

Where did Thrym-?!

He’s blinded by a flash of white that swallows up his surroundings. The ground that’d just been beneath his feet vanishes, and an involuntary yelp leaves his throat as he falls backwards. Thankfully, there’s a not-so soft patch of grass there to catch him.

“Ughhh…”

His head spins and throbs with an inexplicable dizziness that’s fallen over him. He wants to open his eyes, but even that feels like a strenuous effort. So for what was probably longer than necessary, he just lies there.

Something pokes his forehead, making him scrunch his brow. “Wakey wakey.”

The sound of an unrecognizable voice is what gets him up and going, albeit in a frantic flurry of flailing arms and kicks. He shoots up, scrambling for purchase on something when he already feels the tug of gravity threaten to pull his unusually heavy body right back down. He ends up grabbing onto something firm and scaly.

“Wh- What-” He looks to find his hand resting right beside a row of purple, straight spines. His eyes follow it up the length of a rigid back, to an unmistakable pair of spiky ears with a horn in the middle.

“Thrym?!”

The Nidoking’s head perks up with a “bwarh?” upon hearing his name blurted out. Blinking the weariness from his eyes, the bulky beast hauls up onto all fours, making distressed whining sounds like a sad puppy instead of the five foot monster he is when he turns to face his trainer.

“Gah-” Donte cringes when his companion drags its sandpaper-like tongue up the side of his face as a show of affection. He shudders at the feeling of saliva dripping down his skin, but gives his Pokémon firm pats on the side of the neck nonetheless. “Yup, yup, happy to see you too big guy...”

Now fairly certain that he was still in the physical plane, he looks past Thrym to see if he can discern where they are. First thing he can confirm, they’re in the city no longer. Rolling below them is the slant of the hill they seem to have awoken on the top of. However, he finds they aren’t far when he looks up and sees the skyline of Saffron City sitting on the horizon, lights twinkling in the place of stars that are kept out of sight by the clouds above. If he squints, he’s sure he can make out smoke curling from the top of what could only be the Silph Co. building.

“How did we… get all the way out here?” he asks his Nidoking, not expecting a worded answer.

He does in fact receive one, although not from Thrym. “Courtesy of the Stellan express,” that peculiar voice he heard before drawls sarcastically behind him. “Don’t worry, your transportation was free of charge. This time.”

Donte goes stiff, meanwhile his Nidoking raises up onto its hind legs again to snarl at the mysterious speaker. Motioning for his Pokémon to wait, the ex-Rocket rises to his knees.

Waiting for him to turn around had been a young boy, likely no older than Goldie, sat perched on a boulder behind with his legs crossed dapperly. On his lap rested a shiny Meowth, curled up in a shrimp position and purring away without a care in the world. His pink-tipped hair was tied back in a ponytail, and he wore a pastel purple vest suit; somewhat unusual attire for what looked to be a journeying trainer, judging by the traveling bag sitting at his hip.

What stood out most was the… off-putting gleam in the kid’s eyes, the irises of which matched the hue of his clothes. He beamed down at Donte with this haunting, perturbingly cordial smile, like it was a mask covering something sinister lurking just beneath the surface.

Donte eyes him with suspicion as he climbs to his feet. “Who are you…? Did you- bring me here, or…?”

The boy hums a little chuckle, stroking the back of the feline beneath him while leaning against his hand. Something pink suddenly appears behind him and sways from side to side- a tail?

Wait. Donte recognized the shape and color of that tail. Only from storybooks and maybe a few Rocket records, but…

“…Mew?” he breathes.

“Just refer to me as Stellan,” the disguised Pokémon of myth requests of him. Seeing the way the creature peers at him with a glint of a whimsical yet foreboding energy in its eyes, he can’t discern if it’s truly here at his aid or is plotting to kill him. “You are Donte, yes?”

The man gulps, struggling to keep his equanimous posture before the god. “Y-Yes,” he struggles to muster up anything else, at least besides his currently most pressing question. “Y-you… saved me?”

“Indeed. Much to my chagrin,” Mew- or “Stellan” replies, lifting up a cup of tea to his mouth, taking a sip. Wait, when did he get that? “I was on my way to try and take another go at putting a nail in Giovanni’s coffin, but I’d arrived just in time to watch you try to assist the Eon Guardian. After seeing that, I was… convinced to not let Giovanni get his way with killing you.”

“However,” he raises a finger. “Don’t get it twisted. I didn’t spare your life out of being inspired by your little ‘turning-over-a-new-leaf’ story or anything like that.”

Donte furrows his brows, nervous of where this was going. Had Mew saved him just so it could cast its divine judgement on him itself? “S-so… why?”