CHAPTER 44 – KOGA
In the previous chapter, our heroes enter the Safari Zone with the intention of finding Koga and, above all, having fun finding some Pokémon to catch, Nancy captured a Shelgon, Verity a Lairon and Ash... captured a Lopunny by accident instead of the Pokémon he wanted thanks to Pikachu, after meeting again, our heroes decide to look for Koga, thank god, Nancy had anticipated events and had asked the location of Koga, now, our heroes are heading towards that supposed location.
With Ash.
"Where did they tell you Koga is?" – I asked giving her the map.
"Right, I didn't tell you, look, they told me that normally when you enter the Safari Zone you go directly here" – he said pointing to a small lake.
"In a lake, what do you swim there?" asked Verity.
"There is actually something there, a house, specifically the security of the Safari Zone, you know where they watch that everything is correct, apparently, the head of Security is a friend of Koga and chatting with him from time to time, he did not tell me what, but at least he told me where I could be, "Nancy explained.
"Well, that's it, let's head to that house then" - I said.
The girls nodded and we started walking to that area, luckily, it was not far from our current location, but rather it was hidden to avoid the curious, understandable, there may be very heavy people.
After walking about 10 minutes we arrived at the house and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" - asked someone behind the door.
"I excused me, we have come here looking for Koga, we have been told that he is here at this moment" - I explained.
"Come in then" - he said.
Then he opened the door revealing a security guard something fat, it's not discrimination or an insult, it's literally that he was fat, he was also a little bald and looked about 40 years old or so he would answer if you asked me.
"Come in, don't stop there, Koga is finishing talking to my boss about some work matters, but it won't take long for him to come out" - the man explained.
Then he took us to a kind of waiting room.
"I don't want to be curious, but what do I work? I thought Koga was a gym leader" - I said.
"Well, it's not exactly work, Koga has 2% of the shares of the Safari Zone and has to attend the monthly meetings to discuss different topics, you know, business things" - he explained.
"And what are they discussing right now? If i can know" – asked Koharu.
"I guess it's okay to say, it's not very important anyway, they're actually talking to suppliers to bring new Pokémon to the Safari Zone, I can't tell you which ones, but I think people will like it" - he explained.
I don't like the word suppliers, not for nothing, but I don't like that they treat Pokémon as if they were commodities.
The girls also frowned expressing their disagreement.
"Ah, I know what you think but it's not as serious as they think, in reality, the 'suppliers' are not poachers or take the Pokémon out of their habitat, they just capture some lost Pokémon and bring them here for us to take care of, carelessness, they do not charge or anything, they are volunteers, plus many of the Pokémon they bring us are Pokémon that their pack discarded or are injured, so they bring them to us here so that we can take care of them and well, those Pokémon breed and that's why there is so much diversity, nothing illegal" - the man explained.
I see, so what they do is find injured Pokémon or that have been discarded from their pack and bring them here so that they are not in danger of being hunted by other Pokémon, once here, they put them in their habitat and reproduce, so this is full of Pokémon, then I guess it's not bad.
"By the way, I see you have a Lopunny, did you catch it here?" – asked the man pointing to Lopunny next to me.
Yes, she didn't want to go back to her Pokéball so I just let her be with me for a while, Nancy and Verity did the same with theirs.
"Yes, is there a problem?" – I asked.
"It's not that, I just find it curious, in the Safari Zone there was only one Lopunny, the one you have next to you, the Bunneary do not evolve so easily, the funny thing is that this has been captured by trainers for a long time, such is its fame for dodging them, that many people come here just to catch it, without success so far, I was just surprised because you could catch her, you have to be a very good coach," the man commented.
"Are you really that famous around here?" – I asked.
"Punny!" – he shrugged.
Don't know or pretend not to know? We'll never know.
"By the way, I see that those young ladies over there caught a Lairon and a Shelgon, they are actually very strong Pokémon, congratulations on their fruitful catches" - he said.
"Thank you" – they both said.
Then we only had to wait a few more minutes until finally, a door opened and Koga came out of it.
"Excuse me Mr. Koga, these young men were looking for you" - said the man.
"Oh, could I know what they want?" - he asked.
"Three of us are challengers and the referee at his gym told us to come here to say you" - Nancy replied.
"I see, believe me, I would like nothing more now than a good gym battle, seriously, but unfortunately I have 3 more meetings today, so it will be impossible for me to attend you today, do you mind coming back tomorrow? Don't worry, tomorrow i'll battle with you for sure" - Koga sighed.
"I see, I guess no problem" – I nodded.
The girls also nodded, sometimes the work is hard.
"Honestly, sometimes I wish I hadn't bought those shares" - Koga said.
"Ha, as if someone like you could refuse such an amount of money" - a voice suddenly said.
The voice came from a man well known, at least to me, his name was Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, whom I stared at for a few seconds, What is he doing here, why don't they stop him now that they have him in front of them?
"Interesting, boy, is something wrong with you?" - asked Giovanni.
"No... I'm sorry I mistook him for someone else" – I denied.
"I see, anyway I will go back to the room, I have to prepare some papers for the next meeting" - he said.
And then he went back to the living room.
"Boy, i advise you to forget about this man was here today" - Koga said once Giovanni was far enough away not to listen.
"What do you mean by that?" - asked Koharu.
"From the way you stared at him I guess you know something about him, unfortunately on the surface he is clean and nothing can be done to him, so you better not try anything against him" - Koga explained.
"What's going on Ash, who is that man? " – Nancy asked confused.
"Some time ago I heard a name from Team Rocket, as I heard his name was Giovanni and they described him as you just saw him" – I answered.
"Do you imply that he is the Leader of Team Rocket?" – Verity asked confused.
"It's not a guess, it actually is" - Koga nodded.
"And why is he still out there on the loose, shouldn't the police arrest him?" asked Nancy, frowning.
"In a perfect world where there was no need for incriminating evidence, yes, but unfortunately as I said on the surface it is completely clean and there is absolutely nothing that associates it with Team Rocket, so nothing can be done to it" - he explained.
"I see, either way, I won't do anything against him, don't worry" - I said.
And it's true, what did you expect me to do, that only 5 of us would defeat an entire criminal organization? Right now Giovanni is a better trainer than me, he has better Pokémon and above all, he has very powerful people with him in Team Rocket, this is not a video game where a single person can beat an entire organization, this is real life and it is completely impossible.
"I'm glad, now if you apologize I have to go back, can you believe that the next meeting will last at least 3 hours? I don't even know how long it will take me to get home" - Koga sighed.
Then we said goodbye to him and left the Safari Zone.
"I know what you're going to say, but we can't do anything, we're not strong enough to do something like that" - I said.
"I know, but in the future we'll do something about him" - Nancy nodded.
"We'll beat them up" - Verity nodded.
"Yes" - Koharu added.
"Okay, but in the meantime... Let's enjoy the rest of the day, there's still a lot left" – I smiled.
I won't go into too much detail, but it was a fun day, then it was time to sleep again, but once again, something or rather someone interrupted us.
"Who's calling this time?" - asked Nancy.
"It's Professor Cerise" - I replied.
"Have you discovered anything about the Latios and the Latias that you said?" – asked Koharu.
"I don't know, but let's find out" – I said as I picked up the phone.
"Good evening guys, I'm sorry to bother you, but something important has happened" – said the professor.
"Did Team Rocket move at last?" – I asked.
"No, there is no movement yet, but I have news of a sighting of a singular Pokémon" - he said.
"What kind of Pokémon and where?" – I asked.
"There has been a sighting of a Victini on Liberty Garden, an island south of Virbank City in the Unnova region" - he replied.
"In the Unnova region , isn't that region a little far?" – I asked back.
"What do you want me to tell you, anyway, you can't wait, to tell the truth, there is already someone or rather some people behind that track" - he said.
"What people?" - asked Koharu.
"It is an Evil Organization that has recently begun to operate in the region, but I am wrong its name was Team Plasma, apparently they want to use that Victini for some purposes, although I do not know which ones, so it is imperative that we act immediately" – answered the professor.
So there is also Team Plasma? I wonder then if there will be the different organizations of video games then, if that is the case, then we will be in trouble.
"Can't the local authorities take care of it?" - asked Nancy.
"Ah, it's true, you were from that region, well, yes, that's why you won't have to take care of them, but try to take that Victini to safety while the police arrest them" - he nodded.
"Haa... it's okay, besides, I want to see a Victini" – he said with a shrug.
"I agree too" - Nancy nodded.
"It's not that I don't want to, but will we let Koga know before we leave? I mean we already said we were going to go tomorrow" - Verity said.
"Yes, before we leave we will let you know, what time should we leave?" – I asked the teacher.
"As soon as possible, you must arrive as soon as possible, plus you will have to take a boat from Castelia City because going first to Virbank City and then going from there to Liberty Garden would be a journey twice as long" – said the professor.
"Okay, shall we let you know when we arrive?" – I asked again.
"No need, just let me know when everything is over, be very careful, I do not assure you that the police will be able to control the whole situation, so avoid unnecessary conflicts" – he warned.
"Don't worry professor" - I said.
So now not only can we not challenge the Gym Leader as we had planned from the beginning, but we also had to go to a distant region to help a Singular Pokémon in trouble so that the Professor could collect data, angry? A little, but not too much, is a good opportunity to see another Pokémon Singular in person and by the way see a little Unnova, there are no disadvantages.
That said, we went to sleep right away because the next day we would have to take a taxi to Saffron City and then a plane to Unnova that is not exactly close, among other transports that we must take before arriving at Liberty Garden, I do not know how we will be given the day, but what I do know is that it will be exciting.