Chapter 8- Poaching

Winter had came, and so did my next assignment.

Mission: Infiltrate the Cherrygrove Nature Reserve. Capture the apex of the area, a wild mamoswine, and bring it back.

Basically, illegal pokemon poaching.

I know a little about that particular mamoswine because it is somewhat well known in Cherrygrove Town. Word has it that the pokemon is already on the high end of the Elite level, which is rare to come across in the wild. The reason why pokemon are willing to ally themselves with humans is because it is hard for them to reach that level of strength in the wild. Humans may be weak in body, but they are creative with their minds. We help train pokemon to help them get stronger and surpass their limits. In return, they work for us. It was how pokemon trainers first came into existence. Friendship comes much later.

Or at least that was what the history books said. That is already a very heavily summarised explanation given by the experts of how human-pokemon relationship first started.

The main problem of my new assignment wasn't the capturing part. It is how to do so without getting caught because there are so many people visiting the Cherrygrove Nature Reserve everyday. That place is also protected by the Rangers and they constantly patrol the area to maintain the peace in it. If possible, I don't want to leave any clues behind that might suggest Team Rocket is behind the capture of the mamoswine, because I want to hurry up with my plan and impress the higher ups enough to want to promote me into an Executive.

I decided that I will just disguise the poaching as the work of a random pokemon poacher. Problem is, how do I make that outcome a reality?

"You want an ice type? As a discardable decoy?"

"Yes, Sir." I confirmed. "Not just any ice type, but one that is known for being overly aggressive in the wild. It doesn't need to be overly strong, it just needs to be extremely tenacious and violent enough to not be put down easily."

My direct superior, Executive Petrel, hummed in thought for a moment before nodding.

"Very well, I shall allow it. We should have a few failed defects waiting to be disposed of anyway that can do the job. Might as well make full use of them before they expire."

I left Petrel's office and headed for what everyone unofficially dubbed as the "Distribution Room". It is where everyone gets their assigned pokemon if they ever need one on their mission. Of course, a superior must approve of such an arrangement in the first place. Most of the time, we have to return the borrowed pokemon but if you did well enough on your mission, sometimes members are allowed to keep them if their work is impressive enough to merit such a reward.

"This is the abomasnow you requested, Sir."

I took the pokeball that housed the ice type and left the room. I have a mission to plan for. Since mamoswine is also a ground type, I have a sneaking suspicion that it is Giovanni himself that wants that powerful mamoswine. The mamoswine that I am targeting lives in the Nature Reserve and Giovanni cannot get his hands on it through legal means, so he resorted to using illegal methods to obtain it.

I have confidence that I can defeat that mamoswine no matter how powerful it is. I have in my hands the power of Mega Evolution, one of the best kept secrets the Pokemon World League is hiding from the public. Usually, only the Thirteen Pillars, which consists of the Regional Champion, Elite Four, and the Gym Leaders are allowed to know and possess the items needed to invoke the transformation. High ranking officials among the League's forces are also allowed the same treatment on a case by case basis. Leaking such information to the public is an offence punishable by death, because this knowledge falling into the wrong hands can easily create chaos and destroy the very fabric of society.

Team Rocket knew about this secret a long time ago. I personally suspect that Giovanni is the reason. Executives are automatically granted a key stone and a mega stone. Elite Officers like me are also allowed to know of their existence, but whether we are allowed to possess these items depends on whether the organisation trusts us enough with it. No one wants a rogue member making away with such powerful and rare items. It is not easy to find a key stone and a corresponding mega stone.

I myself am trusted with a key stone and a houndoominite by Executive Petrel.

Currently, the scientists in Team Rocket are suspecting that me overusing Mega Evolution might explain the unknown cause of the illness that is plaguing me. It immediately garnered the attention of the higher ups, because such a case had not been documented before in the organisation's records and also not recorded by the Pokemon World League. The only cases of overuse of Mega Evolution backfiring thus far applies only to pokemon, not humans. As a general rule of thumb, Mega Evolution should not be sustained for over five minutes or the pokemon in question might suffer some serious backlash. Usually, that backlash is death.

Funny enough, houndoom never suffered any backlash from all the times I invoked Mega Evolution on him to cremate everyone who stood in my way when my mission gets impossibly difficult, but I, his trainer, suffered from one instead.

My unique case immediately sparked the scientists to immediately investigate on this matter, because if Mega Evolution do has the side effect of not only affecting the pokemon, but also the trainer, then it is a potential market to tap on.

Imagine it, that when suddenly this side effect of Mega Evolution is made known to every regional League and they are worrying that they might lose a Gym Leader or two from such an incurable disease, Team Rocket suddenly appears before them with a cure. People with the power of the level of a Gym Leader are rare to come by as it is. They are invaluable assets to any region, their wellbeing is of utmost importance from a military and strategic standpoint.

The cure will definitely be selling like hot pancakes.

Of course, all of these are assuming that Team Rocket's scientists have the ability to create the cure in the first place, and that the illness affecting me really is a side effect of overusing Mega Evolution.

Back to the question at hand.

With my entire team, I am confident that I can easily subdue and capture the mamoswine without using Mega Evolution. All I need is just some careful planning and great timing.

Time to commence the mission.

I chose to embark on my mission on a weekday, because there are lesser visitors on weekdays and therefore, lesser Rangers patrolling the area, which indirectly translates to the increased possibility of this mission being easier. It would also mean lesser unfortunate casualties, if I am lucky enough.

I simply visited the Nature Reserve as a normal visitor, casting my Rocket uniform aside and wearing casual clothes and protective winter gear so as not to freeze myself in this cold season. I even took the time to enjoy the sights like any visitor would. It is not mandatory to wear the Rocket uniform when conducting our missions. In fact, most of us only wear it in our hideout. The only time we wear it in public is when we have to make a public statement.

Usually through violence, death, and gore.

After two hours of enjoying myself and ensuring that I am in a blind spot where security cameras are unable to see me, I sneaked off and travelled away from the designated route that visitors must use and not stray away from. I changed my clothes to disguise myself once out of sight. My new attire is entirely black in colour, which sticks out like a sore thumb in winter because of all the white snow, but I don't particularly care because zoroark can easily hide me with his illusionary abilities. Still, I put on a hood, a pair of shades, and even a face mask just to be on the safe side. I don't want to be recognised.

I let out the abomasnow I was loaned and gengar immediately emerged from the shadows to implant a mental suggestion in its already broken mind. This abomasnow will be the distraction I need to buy me time and get the Rangers' attention off me while I am busy searching and capturing the mamoswine. All the abomasnow needs to do is to cause a big enough commotion at the other end of the Nature Reserve to attract as many Rangers as it could to its location while I use this borrowed time to complete my job.

The abomasnow wandered off and I immediately went to look for the mamoswine. I have a vague idea and the general direction of where it is most likely to appear based on what I found out after some illegal digging through the Rangers' database.

"Weavile."

My weavile immediately leapt off and disappeared within the trees to find packs of wild sneasels living in the area in order to ask for information. In the wild, sneasels and weaviles live in packs, and they often share information with each other on nearly everything when it comes to hunting their prey. Because they are individually weak, they made up for it by working in groups to hunt enough food to sustain themselves as a group.

I'm taking advantage of weavile's primal instinct to find out the information that I need to know. Meanwhile, I will be travelling ahead, riding on ninetales' back in the generic direction where the mamoswine will most likely appear so as not to waste time. Zoroark is running by our side while honchkrow is flying above us in the air. We are all hidden from view thanks to zoroark cloaking us with an illusion.

Weavile met up with us soon enough with the acquired information I need. With him leading the way, I soon arrived at the bottom of a mountain where a huge cave is. I let out my team as houndoom howled out a challenge. When that did not provoke a reaction out of the mamoswine, houndoom simply torched the entire cave with a Flamethrower.

There was a rumbling sound before the ground shook. With every single sound of thundering footsteps came a miniature earthquake. I instructed zoroark to stay hidden because he is crucial in maintaining the illusion that hides this upcoming battle from the Rangers' view. The same instruction goes for exeggutor, who is keeping a lookout on our immediate surroundings using his psychic abilities.

A humongous mamoswine soon emerged from the cave and bellowed a warcry, the earth shaking with it as its mighty tusks shined under the dim sunlight thanks to the winter. My team and I stood before it, unbothered at its display of power.

If this is a one-on-one fight, I might be worried at the thought of facing this immensely powerful mamoswine, but in front of our collective might, the mamoswine might as well be nothing.

Dark types are individually weak, so they almost always stick together as a group. Only very few dark types display solidarity behaviour, and usually those are the species who are naturally born strong.

However, not everyone is born equal. Compared to other types of pokemon, dark types as a whole are always individually weak. Most dark types are frail in body and weak in defense. One hit is all it takes to crush them.

Because they are weak, they never fight fair. It's basic survival instinct.

Dark types never fight fair.

"Torment, Taunt."

Honchkrow immediately used the two moves to greatly hinder mamoswine before staying out of mamoswine's way, only skirting around the edge of our battle. Her only job is to ensure that Torment and Taunt is constantly in effect and to also keep an eye out on our surroundings. As long as she doesn't fall, mamoswine will never be able to use its full power.

Drapion and hydreigon immediately rushed into the battle. Drapion clashed with mamoswine, attempting to overpower it with sheer physical strength alone as her pincers and claws drip with poisonous venom. Hydreigon fired beams of attack down at mamoswine to weaken the behemoth, snarling angrily the entire time.

Mamoswine started out by using Earthquake, only to be interrupted by a Sucker Punch from bisharp. Shiftry took on a supporting role by constantly draining mamoswine's strength with Giga Drain, which does not seem like much now, but the effects of Giga Drain on mamoswine will be obvious as the battle drags on. Umbreon took on a defensive role with bisharp as they used moves like Protect to protect our strongest battlers, always staying at the frontlines because they have the best defense. Weavile constantly sneaked in pot shots at the mamoswine as it darted about in the snow, clearly enjoying the thrill of the battle.

Ninetales and houndoom let loose with massive bursts of fire, easily dealing the most damage out of the entire team on the twin tusk pokemon. Gengar had casted a Curse on mamoswine on top of the already inflicted burned and poisoned status and sniped in the occasional Hex. It is just a matter of time before the mamoswine falls.

Weavile called for a Beat Up, and immediately the entire team pummelled the mamoswine. Like I said, dark types don't fight fair. They use every means in their arsenal to ensure their victory. Because for them, the only way they can survive as weak individuals is to play dirty.

Mamoswine did try its best to turn the tide back to its favour, constantly trying to either bury us into the ground or freeze us with huge blasts of Blizzard. However, for every attack it threw at us, we throw it back with interest using Payback. Everytime mamoswine suffered damage, someone on my team will follow up with an Assurance to make it hurt even more.

Houndoom and ninetales were busy roasting the mamoswine with the largest wall of fire I had ever seen when exeggutor spoke to me in our telepathic link.

'Master, the vain avian said that she spotted a female trainer heading straight for us. She looks to be an expert on flying types.'

"Houndoom, ninetales, that is all your fault. A fire that big was uncalled for." I chided without a care in the world, not even caring that they just started a massive forest fire because compared to the shit I've been through, this is nothing of importance. "You guys overdid it. Zoroark didn't manage to hide a fire that big in time. Anyway, finish it, guys. We need to leave soon. We overstayed our welcome."

Drapion, weavile, and bisharp coordinated and used a Night Slash at the same time. With Taunt and Torment still in effect, mamoswine had no way of fully defending itself from an attack that came from three different angles and at three different speeds. An Overheat from houndoom finally put it down for the count.

'The approaching human will be reaching us soon. I don't think I can teleport us out of here in time. The abomasnow must have failed in its given task.'

"Wasn't expecting too much out of it anyway." I replied as I recalled most of my team, only letting houndoom, honchkrow, exeggutor, and zoroark to remain outside of their pokeballs. "Is zoroark's illusion broken?"

'Only partially. The trickster is working on it, but he is complaining that it is difficult to maintain a convincing widespread illusion within this blizzard. I personally think he is just slacking around.'

"He is definitely slacking around. Tell him to not be lazy."

I observed the raging snowstorm around me that is about to die down, but not fast enough for our cause. The mamoswine's Blizzard was unusually powerful that it actually summoned an actual blizzard here.

"Tell zoroark to make sure that he at least hides you and himself properly. It's fine if the rest of us are seen. I'm totally covered from head to toe anyway. No one can recognise me when I'm looking like this."

The houndoom and honchkrow species are common species to be found in the region, but the presence of a zoroark will definitely attract unwanted attention. I also need exeggutor to stay hidden because he is our ticket out of here.

I had only just tossed a pokeball to capture the unconscious mamoswine when the sound of flapping wings and a yell reached my ears.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"

A ray of Swift was immediately fired at us which houndoom immediately intercepted. Rocks fell upon us to trap me in, an attack that I recognised as Rock Tomb. However, zoroark's illusionary copy of me is standing five feet to my left. What she just 'trapped' was my illusionary copy that mirrors my every action.

Still, whoever this person is, she knew what she is doing and she is definitely an experienced trainer.

I turned my head to look up at just who is trying to stop me. I don't recognise her, but from the attire she is wearing, I suspect that she may be a Ranger working in this area.

I also spotted a team of flying types in the air and… an aerodactyl?

Behind my shades, I squinted my eyes a little to take a better look. It does look a lot like the one that I unleashed to clean up after Dust's mess some time back. What a coincidence.

Not like I really care.

Houndoom unleashed a Fire Spin to trap the female Ranger and her team, which was immediately foiled when her dragonite broke them out with a Twister. Honchkrow had immediately followed up with a Drill Peck but was intercepted by her skarmory.

Interesting. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't mind engaging with this trainer in a pokemon battle, but I really need to get out of here pronto.

The aerodactyl suddenly turned all aggressive, breaking formation and started to rain attacks down on us from the air. Houndoom intercepted each and every of its attack. Yup, definitely the aerodactyl I had hypnotised back at the facility. Nothing else can explain the sudden aggressiveness it has towards me. It must have recognised us somehow.

I checked my watch. I really should be going right now.

Not willing to risk giving my identity away by shouting commands at honchkrow, however unlikely that possibility is, I signalled to honchkrow to come back to my side with a snap of my fingers. Houndoom obscured us from the trainer's view with a huge cloud of Smog with the added effect of forcing them to back off.

And then, of course, the Ranger decided that the best way to get rid of the Smog was to rain a Draco Meteor on us. It had forced exeggutor to immediately put up a shield of Protect to defend us. Thankfully, the dense Smog prevented zoroark from getting spotted as it regrouped with us to find shelter under exeggutor's Protect.

Using Draco Meteor to clear a cloud of Smog. Talk about overkill.

'More people are on their way. They will be reaching anytime soon.'

Exeggutor used his psychic abilities to move the pokeball of the captured mamoswine back into my hands as he told me this. I gave my next order.

"Dark Pulse. Take them out."

If her friends are fast enough, she need not die.

Zoroark and houndoom immediately fired rays after rays of Dark Pulse in quick succession through the cloud of Smog that the Ranger's flying types are starting to disperse. With exeggutor relaying to them each of the flying types' exact location in the air, houndoom and zoroark are more than capable of taking out the entire team of flying types even with their eyes covered.

From the earlier exchange, I can easily tell that her flying types does not stand a chance against my team. Zoroark and houndoom had not been idle the entire time we were hidden by the Smog. Unseen by the Ranger, each of houndoom's and zoroark's Dark Pulse was strengthened by repeated use of Nasty Plot. As of now, just a single shot of Dark Pulse can put down each of her pokemon.

Time to get out of here.

"Exeggutor."

We teleported away, prize in hand and a forest fire raging in the background as the only evidence that I had been there. Hopefully, that Ranger will live through our encounter. I don't want to stain my hands with blood of the innocents anymore than I need to if I can help it.

I probably also left the corpse of a dead abomasnow behind too, now that I think about it.

Meh, it doesn't really matter. It does not have long to live anyway after what Team Rocket had done to it.

Name: Jayce

Indigo Government Identity: Operative 2046, Code Name: Gengar

Indigo Government Rank: Special Agent

Team Rocket Identity: Elite Officer Plague

Team Rocket Rank: Elite Officer

Pokemon Team:

1. Ninetales, female

2. Exeggutor, male

3. Weavile, male

4. Honchkrow, female

5. Gengar, female

6. Houndoom, male

7. Umbreon, male

8. Hydreigon, male

9. Drapion, female

10. Zoroark, male

11. Bisharp, male

12. Shiftry, male

13. Porygon, (Nosy), genderless