Cerulean City! The Note!

Cyrus awoke with a start and grabbed his chest as he remembered his last seconds of being awake. He quickly jumped up and put his head on a swivel as he viewed his surroundings. That was when he noticed he was outside of Mt.Moon, in a clearing.

From the way it was set up and the local pokemon that passed him every second or so in the grass, Cyrus estimated that he was just outside of the cave on route 4.

Cyrus then noticed his Houndoom standing next to him, also on alert now that its trainer was awake and seemingly waiting for something. Cyrus noticed that a piece of paper was attached to the hounds collar and so he grabbed it and began to read it.

It was only a sentence, but it infuriated Cyrus when he read it, like the kid was mocking him.

"Dear Cyrus, up yours!"

Then Cyrus remembered the note that the damn brat had given to him and told him to deliver to his boss. Cyrus was a little caught off guard when this request was made but took it nonetheless as his bosses would need any information about him they could get. Cyrus thought to himself,"Maybe I am overthinking it? It's entirely possible that brat thinks I work for Giovanni or something. Rewind half a decade and maybe that would be the case.. But not anymore!"

Cyrus now eased his own worries and set off to the nearest Team Rocket flight port so he could get the letter to his boss and also share the information he had learned about their new opponent.

PPP

Steven had finished the conference on Friday, and decided to take a "day off" on Saturday before Sunday rolled around and he truly took a break. Afterall, it had been some time since his pokemon had been able to engage in their individual faiths, so he would allow them to spend all of Sunday doing whatever they pleased.

The reason Steven called it a "day off" was because they were going to go and fight on nugget bridge. While for most trainers this would be a difficult challenge, to Steven, it would be a walk in the park.

He walked up to the bridge and sat in line with Smoker being his walking companion for the time being. It has to be said that although pokemon walking around with their humans was normal in every village and low-population centers, in cities there is a law that a trainer can only have 1 pokemon out at any given time in a public space, unless engaged in battle, an emergency has occurred, or special occasions that were few and far between. If every trainer had all 6 pokemon out at all times, the city would never be big enough to accommodate everyone!

When it was Stevens turn he walked up to the officer Jenny that was on scene to make sure that everything went smoothly and no fights broke out. There was only 1 Jenny here today, so Steven wasn't sure if his plan would work, and he was starting to get a headache as he thought about the events he was sure would follow should this interaction not go well.

Steven took a deep breath and handed a folded up note to the officer Jenny, and then walked up to the golden bridge to begin his challenge.

POV Officer Jenny Parkins

Jenny was having a pretty good day so far, as she had gotten an easy shift on nugget bridge, which was known to every precinct as a "cash cow" due to its relative simplicity. She was sipping on her morning coffee and watching the many battles that were taking place on the bridge. 

An added bonus to this job was getting to see all the powerful pokemon and unique ideas that these trainers brought to the table. There were always fresh people pouring onto the bridge and most of the trainers taking on the challenge understood the basics when it came to battle and how to navigate most situations. So when the employees of the bridge came back every year with new tactics, new pokemon, and fresh motivation, it made this challenge become a cultural hallmark of Cerulean City!

She was musing at how Tom, one of the bug catcher employees, somehow defeated an arcanine with a Weedle. It was very hard not to laugh, as the challenger walked off the bridge defeated.

She then noticed a young man with a growlithe walk up to her with a visible look on his face that conveyed nervousness. He walked up to her and handed her a folded up piece of paper and then quickly walked onto the bridge, not even saying a word to her the entire time. 

"What the heck was that about?" She thought as she opened the paper. She read in her mind,"Dear Officer Jenny(s), I have reason to believe that a Team Rocket member is part of this challenge this year, and is attempting to use money and the influence that come with the tournament to pull young adults and children to their organization?! I will defeat the person as if I am a regular challenger, so please set up a perimeter so the Rocket will not be able to escape. Eta : Approximately… 10 minutes?!"

Officer Jenny didn't even have time to think about it as she took any threat of Team Rocket showing up very seriously. The league has been cranking up their vigilance towards Team Rocket quite heavily these last 5 or 6 months, even going so far as to give the order to Jenny's to take any Rocket sighting or information and make it their number 1 priority!

She quickly called her supervisor, and after a single ring, a soft voice, opposite her own gruff voice, said through some phone static,"Parkins? Aren't you at nugget bridge today? Why the-"

However, before she finished, Parkins interrupted her quickly and said,"Chief! I need a perimeter around the nugget bridge, now! I was just handed some very serious information that Team Rocket is attempting to use the challenge as a means of tempting younger trainers to join them! We only have about 8 minutes left! The trainer who gave me this information is going to defeat the bridge like a normal trainer so we have time to set up, so get it going now!"

The supervisor quickly said,"I understand, you will have your perimeter within 5 minutes, I'll have squads 3 through 6 swarm to your position. Take care and stay safe!"

Jenny Parkins saluted, even though her chief could not see her through the phone, and said,"Yes, Ma'am!"

She quickly told all the trainers still waiting to back up so they could properly secure the bridge as "something" was happening.

The trainers were a bit confused and a little peeved, but complied nonetheless, as it would do no one any good picking a fight with a seasoned officer.

Then Jenny looked back to the bridge as Steven finished fighting Youngster Adrian. Jenny's eyes opened wide as she realized he was halfway done and it hadn't even been 5 minutes yet! She quickly started to set up barricades, hoping the other squads could secure the area in time.

POV Steven

Steven was amused at the antics of the trainers he met on the bridge as they used a wide variety of strategies and weird combinations to try and take him and his pokemon down. Maybe if he was only just starting to tread the waters in terms of battling like most people these tricks would catch him off guard, but that was all it was to him, petty tricks. 

There were diversions, attempted Psych-outs, and even a trainer who performed a move or 2 and then switched to prevent damage or a counter attack. It didn't matter to Steven as with the training his pokemon had gone through so far was much tougher than these small tricks. They had little to no effect on his team, and so he sailed through the bridge smoothly.

Steven beat the final trainer before the Team Rocket member and looked at a watch he had recently purchased to keep track of time and time measurements. Right as he looked at it, the clock face struck a thick black line, indicating that 10 minutes had passed since he last looked at it. Perfect timing.

He walked off the bridge and just like the game, there was an older man standing at the end with a wide smile on his face. He called out as Steven was walking up to him,"Champion of Nugget Bridge! Congratulations on your victory! As promised here is your reward of 1 golden nugget, its valued at approximately 50,000 pokedollars!"

He patted Steven on the back now that he was close enough to do so and asked,"So what do you plan to do with the money you have gained?"

Steven smiled and handed him a note that he hastily wrote that said,"Why don't I spend it all on some good clothes! Get something reeeeaaal fancy!"

The man looked a little dumbfounded at Stevens' answer, and had a show of confusion on his face, but quickly reverted back to his happy face, as now was not the time! It was a quick blink and you miss it reaction and the man believed he hid his confusion well, not knowing that he had already been seen through entirely.

Thinking on his feet, he asked,"Have you thought about donating the money to any charity?"

Steven kept his smiling face while thinking to himself,"Oh? Information I don't know? Let's take a mental note of the charities he is about to reveal, maybe possible relations to the Rockets."

Steven wrote down on a piece of paper again and handed this one to the man as well, and after a few seconds replied,"Ah, ok. Gotcha, don't feel pressure to talk. As for the charities in question, I personally recommend Lucario Healers, Golden Magikarp, or the Saffron Institute for PokeRus Prevention!"

Steven then made a "Ahh" motion with his face, as if a sudden enlightenment had hit him. His acting was getting better by the day! He shook his head and pretended to leave and continue on the route.

The man quickly stopped him and asked Steven,"Hey, boy, do you want to get really strong? I can help you get much stronger!" The man handed one of the papers back to Steven and had him write his reply on it. Steven chuckled and then finally put all of his cards on the table.

He wrote a small sentence on the paper and before handing the paper back to the man, released all of his 5 other pokemon that he hadn't needed for the nugget bridge challenge. The man was confused about what Steven was doing, totally oblivious to what was about to happen. Steven handed him the note, and the man read it, and now he was terrified.

"Get Stronger? You? What could Team Rocket know about raising pokemon? Fucking thieves!" the paper said.

The Rocket goon instantly turned around, released his Ekans and Zubat and quickly ran away! Steven smiled and didn't even attempt to stop the man. About 4 minutes pass, and then as Steven is standing there, a disheveled looking man in cuffs with his shirt open, revealing a tshirt with a red R on it, walks back into the clearing, being escorted by multiple squads of Officer Jenny. 

Steven smiled and thought,"One evil at a time, and soon only justice shall remain. Wait for me Giovanni, I'm coming for your head!"

PPP

Cyrus was kneeling on the ground, shaking in fear as Giovanni looked on in contempt and glee full satisfaction. In front of both of them was a screen that had several blacked out figures sitting within it. 

Cyrus, sweating profusely, said,"I am sorry your holiness, as I stated, I was unable to complete the contract as agreed. However I stand by that it was not my fault!"

His holiness, a blacked out figure sitting in the middle of the screen, visibly shook with anger. He roared out,"Cyrus! You stupid man! How could you fail to end a single, simple child?! Then, on top of that, you have the balls to come into this meeting and report that it wasn't your fault??? Are you asking to die?!"

Cyrus' body shook a bit after processing that promise, not a threat like most would assume. Cyrus hurriedly said,"Your Holiness! That boy is a Guardian!"

Every single person on screen and in the meeting room all gasped at this remark.  His Holiness angrily yelled out,"Giovanni!"

Giovanni quickly snapped his fingers and one of his stronger subordinates hurriedly released a Hypno. The Hypno then ran in front of Cyrus, knowing that it was only called out to do one thing, and that it should not dilly-dally or else it would face serious consequences. Hypno then used his pendulum and successfully entrapped Cyrus into an Illusion.

The subordinate that released the Hypno shouted out,"Your Holiness, Sir Giovanni, the truth Illusion is activated!"

His Holiness then asked Cyrus,"Is it true that the boy you fought in Mt.Moon is a guardian?"

Cyrus in a fugue like state drowsily answered with,"Yes, I had him beat after a few minutes of fighting. I have better agility and strength than he does so it was natural for me to win. However two wild pokemon that were not a part of his team helped him by throwing attacks at me. I threatened to kill the pokemon who were attacking me, and then he activated his guardian spirit. This led to my defeat very quickly, as I could no longer compete with his speed…"

Giovanni and everyone else in the room audibly gulped in nervousness. His Holiness sighed and said,"Sigh… Well, it seems we have made a very powerful enemy. He seems to only know about Team Rocket for now, so I suggest we increase the pressure and set up contingencies to contain the boy."

Cyrus, in his half-awake state then said,"He also gave me a note and told me not to open it, as it was meant to only be seen "by my boss"."

His holiness pondered for a moment before replying,"Giovanni, it is highly likely that the boy may have made the connection between the Rockets and yourself. Open it and read it aloud. I wonder what this brat wishes to convey to us?"

Giovanni was handed the sealed envelope by a grunt. He opened it and read it. As he continued reading, his face became more serious. When he finally finished reading it, he had a look of absolute terror on his face.

Even though the people in the meeting room couldn't see the people on screen, that wasn't true for the opposite way, as this was being streamed live to the members on screen.

His Holiness instantly noticed the pale look on one of the most powerful people in his organization, and this worried him greatly. He hurriedly asked,"So? What is it?"

Giovanni then said in a soft voice,"It's a threat."

"And? What threat could a kid make that would have your face like that?" His holiness asked.

Giovanni responded,"Your Holiness, I don't think I should say it here."

"Just spit it out already!!" he said back, obviously frustrated.

Giovanni took a long, deep breath, and began to read aloud,"Hello to the bosses! You probably know a lot about me, so there's no use going through tedious information blackmail or harassment. You'll just be met with a hyper beam to the balls. Anyways, I'm going to kill all of you :D ! Good news is all your buddies will go with you! I'm talking Team rocket, Team Plasma, Team Galactic, all of them will crumble and fall. You can consider this my official declaration of war! P.S. Don't worry, I'll come for you too Ghetsis, you are the ringleader afterall. Giovanni is just a hound. With Love, Mute God."

The room was silent for a solid 10 seconds as everyone digested the words Giovanni had just spoken. You could hear a needle hit the floor at this moment. 

His Holiness, Aka Ghetsis, suddenly screamed out,"WHAT THE F*** **** **** ***, this **** stupid ***, I'll kill this brat!!"

Ghetsis was very angry, as no one besides a handful of people knew his real name, and now everyone in this call and the meeting room now knew it. 

Giovanni had gone a little far in obeying the orders given to him, as if Ghetsis knew that his name was mentioned at all he would've confiscated it immediately!

Then a grunt that was standing below Giovanni saw there were a few words on the back of the paper and said,"Sir! Theres a little more on the back!" Everyone suddenly turned back towards Giovanni and before Giovanni could stop him, the grunt said,"It says,"I know about N?"

Giovannai and Cyrus both looked like they wanted to die at this moment. Ghetsis was going through many emotions at the moment. All he could get out was,"Giovanni, 7th Rank and Lower, now."

Everyone in the room suddenly started to rush towards the doors, only to find them locked and with no other way out. Giovanni released his pokemon, and said while looking at the grunt,"You just had to read out loud, didn't you?" Then his Rhyhorn impaled the grunt a second after he said that. 

Giovanni shook his head and said,"Damn, I just replaced the old staff too.. Ah.. whatever, kill them all!" Then with a wave his hand all his pokemon started to attack the employees and staff present in the room. 

Deadmen tell no tales.