With Open Arms

One of the male attendants then spoke without missing a beat, "Master Trainer Ryiol is having a gym battle with acting gym leader Giorgio in an attempt to claim the rainbowbadge and qualify for the right to face the Elite Four."

Noah knew of the Elite Four, as they were mentioned extensively in the books he had read, they were a kind of national power similar to a nuclear weapon in Earth's modern society.

They raised elite-level pokemon and held similar power to Dukes from medieval times. They commanded great reverence and owned vast stretches of land.

Although Kanto was among the weakest nations, with the resources they had access to, those among the Elite Four were rarely ever dethroned, and such events were always written down as historic moments.

Their positions were not hereditary, meaning, any person, provided they were a born citizen of Kanto, could challenge one of them, and upon winning, take the title for themself.

To earn this right, they had to gain badges from the eight great gyms.

Even if a trainer never made it all the way there, if you gained enough badges, you would still receive sponsorships and many other opportunities. The most sought after being given a title, or being brought on board to work in one of the eight great gyms.

Viridian Gym was one of them, so Noah couldn't help but wonder how a criminal organization was allowed to completely take it over, surely the Elite Four knew of this fact? But he was soon broken from his thoughts.

Once Giorgio and Ryiol were in position, an announcer's voice filled the nearly emptied stadium, "Acting Gym Leader Giorgio will now hear you."

This naturally turned all eyes to the bright arena below.

The young man gave a natural half-bow, and upon looking up, it could be seen that he had a confident gait, "I am Master Trainer Ryoli, and I challenge Acting Gym Leader Giorgio for the rainbowbadge."

Giorgio was nonchalant, "I Giorgio, Acting Gym Leader of Viridian City accept your challenge!"

An invisible pressure appeared as the two locked eyes, then the same announcer chimed in, "Ahem, Master Trainer Ryiol, as you are already aware, you may use up to three pokemon. Switching is allowed, however, acting gym leader Giorgio will not substitute. As this is your eighth badge, Acting Gym Leader Giorgio will be allowed to send out no more than one elite stage pokemon."

Giorgio pointed towards the bleachers, so the boys instinctively looked behind, " Come Marowak, I choose you."

The boys turned around to see the Marowak, with its eyes still closed. Without warning, it opened them, and then leaped a great distance from where it stood, and a soundwave followed as the pokemon landed squarely in front of Giorgio with dust rising.

The four boy's eyes nearly popped out.

Giorgio raised his voice, as he beckoned with his finger, "Come, Master Trainer, send out your pokemon!"

Perhaps displeased by the flashy entrance, or some other reason, Ryoli didn't hide the fact that he was extremely frustrated, but he soon threw out his own pokeball, "Go Tangela!"

Released from the ball was the only mono grass type in Kanto, which was none other than the rarely seen Tangela, a mysterious creature surrounded from head to toe in vines like the medusa from legend.

Noah looked and found the creature to be level 48 advanced stage with a potential of 5.2x(Minor-Blessed)! Putting aside the strange name for this pokemons potential, Noah couldn't help but nod at Ryiol's choice, grass was an excellent counter to ground, so he wondered how this battle would proceed.

Giorgio waved his arm grandly, as he seemed to have a habit of doing it, "Come, the first move is yours."

With a face still scrunched up, Ryiol commanded, "Tangela, set up grassy terrain"

The arena began to bubble with a greenish hue, as Tangela channeled the elemental move into the environment.

"That's long enough, Marowak, Bone Rush!"

"Tangella, Giga Drain as Marowak closes in!"

Hearing that, Giorgio smiled, "A close range Giga drain is it? Change to Boomerang!"

The club that had been rotating like a helicopter blade in Marowaks hand, was then raised, and instead of a close-range bone rush, it was now repurposed.

Holding the large club with his arm in the air, Marrowak roared, "MARROOWWW" then as if it were all planned, Marowak used his momentum to released his bone club, "WAAACK!"

Ending his channel, The Tangela began to dodge, but the club was similar to a bullet in its velocity.

Noah could no longer see it, but they all heard the sound, and it was not unlike a sonic boom!

They witnessed Tangela appear at the other end of the arena with a thud, It was clear the pokemon had impacted the coliseum's wall, and hard, but the bone club was nowhere to be seen, but then in the next moment, it snapped back into the Marrowaks hand as if by magic!

"!" Giorgio chuckled smugly, which caused Ryoli to curse, "You knew for a fact that none of my elite stage pokemon can deal with an elite stage mono ground type, and you just happen to send out an obviously late elite stage Marowak, a pure ground type, I know your team well from our last match, and that Marowak isn't even yours, you are a cheat!"

Giorgio looked around as if he didn't know what the young man was talking about, then he blinked innocently, before his smile turned into a sly grin, "This is the big league's boy, and don't forget this is a ground type gym, if you wish to face the Elite Four then you clearly came underprepared"

As if a teacher lecturing a disobedient student, he continued," but I notice you didn't complain until your defeat, did you truly think type advantage would be your saving grace? Bahaha, see you in another six months, and until then I'll be waiting to receive yet another payment for wasting my time."

With an unresigned look, Ryoli soon cut his losses and returned Tangela to his pokeball, exiting the arena. As if he were disgusted, he didn't forget to spit on the stadiums floor on the way out. His Tangela was actually fine after the catastrophic attack, just a little drained, it was known that intermediate stage pokemon and beyond had great control as well as large reserves of elemental energy, which meant they have no fatal weaknesses. Surprise attacks would be greatly draining, but not fatal. This was in stark contrast to Noah's Rattata that had once taken a lethal blow from a single surprise attack.

Noah reasoned that Tangela was Ryoli's only answer to an elite stage Marowak, and upon learning the difference in strength between Tangela and Marowak, he decided it would be pointless to continue or bother to send anything else out.

Giorgio left as well, and soon the stadium lights returned to normal, "Please follow me."

One of the attendants then led the four out, and after a few minutes they found themselves back the way they came.

After teleporting, they were led to another room by the same attendant.

Once they were seated at a table, Noah found himself once again face to face with the scarred man. He was wearing a suit, and pinned to his chest was unexpectedly a white badge, which displayed his status as an officer.

The recruits were not quite talkative, the murder they committed had once again been brought to the forefront of their minds, as there was nothing to distract them from it. Mark was the exception, he had been glaring holes into Noah the whole time, and likely not listening.

Once the man's short speech was over, some black-suited attendants walked in and brought them individually to different rooms.

Like a mental ward, upon being sent to his room he was unable to leave, the doors were locked tight.

Looking around briefly he spied two cameras on either corner of the room, and Uncaring about that for now from his mental exhaustion, he fell on the soft bed that was provided and fell asleep. He didn't even bother to turn off the lights.

The next day they were lead to a few places, the first being a cafeteria, there were agents walking everywhere, and not a grunt to be seen, as they were shown around, Noah couldn't help but notice how kind the Rockets were acting towards him and the other recruits.

He reasoned that this was their goal, they had first broken them down, and now they were building them up, as loyal Team Rocket members, but of course, any trace of disrespect was met with a swift beating.

During the 'training' Noah had made some attempts to speak with Mark on a few occasions, but he was ignored, so he stopped trying after a while.

After two entire months and being the victim of many psychological tricks, tricks that a normal child wouldn't be able to lie through, now the day arrived, and Noah found himself on the far east side of Viridian city.

He had completed his training at the base, but it wasn't over yet, and the next part of his training would be to lead two grunts from the pool of new recruits, and his success or failures in the coming days would determine if he would lose the right to become an agent and get demoted to an expendable Grunt.

Taking a deep breath, Noah took in the smell of nature, he was so far in the outskirts that within twenty minutes of walking he could be knee-deep in the wilderness. There were no roads out here, only a once hastily made dirt path, that was now overgrown with weeds and neglect.

Despite being so far away, the calls of pokemon were more sparse and few than he expected, so Noah attributed to his proximity to the city.

There were no houses nearby to speak of, and he was cut off from the sewage system, and running water. There was electricity, but he wasn't sure how it was powered, as there were no power lines to speak of.

The building he was in had two stories, but it was small and rustic. There were four rooms, one for him, one for the two grunts he would be leading, a small conference room with a monitor where they would be remotely briefed and receive orders, and the final room being the one he teleported in from. Nobody would expect such a poor-looking and rudimentary structure to contain such advanced technology, and perhaps that was the point.

Standing before a bed in his room, he was finally alone, there were no more cameras in his room, and nobody to witness his every move.

Noah sat on the bed, his expression twisting as he recalled everything he had been put through.

Team Rocket had repeatedly tested him for any inclinations of disloyalty during his stay there, they had looked him over from every angle, making sure he had no signs of dissatisfaction, and at the same time showered him with kindness as long as he did as he was told.

They had repeatedly proclaimed that they had 'saved him' and everything they did was for him. Noah reasoned that they wished to instill some sort of twisted loyalty, and he had played along all the way, and always acted as if he couldn't be happier.

Now he was here, but others, the ones who failed the screenings had been kept back, he was unsure of their fates, but it was likely not good.