Chapter no.17

"I'm ready to go back to my house." When she gazed directly into their eyes, she slowly and deliberately said each phrase with a sense of conclusion.

Brock completed his turn and confronted Jessie. "Do you think it would be possible for you to drop us off at that location instead?" Jessie gave each of them a few seconds of her undivided attention until she heard James's voice coming from the cockpit.

As Canalave is nearby, it shouldn't be a problem to get there.

Jessie said, "...You heard him" as she reentered the cockpit and manually slid the door shut behind her. "...You heard him," she said.

Dawn mumbled in response as she sank into one of the few seats that was still in good condition, "Thank you." Brock went through the contents of his rucksack in search of a bottle of water and then handed it to her while telling her that she needed to drink it so that she could refill her fluids. Dawn made quick work of it once he had uncapped it for her. She grimaced in pain with each and every swallow.

She mumbled, "That tastes funny," as she returned the bottle to him with around half of its contents still inside. Before returning it to its owner, Brock gave it a quick examination and then handed it off.

"The water itself is fine; what's strange is the flavour it leaves in your tongue after drinking it. I'll look around to see if I can find any ju—" "—don't worry about it, Brock. I'm just…tired, "When Dawn finally spoke out, her voice was hardly audible above a whisper.

"Because I know that you guys didn't get a lot of sleep the night before, I'm not shocked. Permit me to investigate the possibility of putting something together for you."

"And you, what have you done?"

Brock arched his eyebrow in confusion. "Hmm?"

"Haven't you been working hard?"

Brock made an effort to laugh, but he didn't want it to come off as being too forced. "When you have as many siblings as I do, you quickly learn how to get through even the most difficult of nights. Later on, when I've got more experience, I'll be able to make up for the lost sleep. You haven't."

Dawn did not respond with any words, and she continued to stare intently at the ground below her feet. Before seeing the expression on Ash's face, Brock was going to beg for some assistance from him. The many years that he had spent travelling with Ash had trained him to identify when the latter was internally belittling himself. He desired to reassure him that he was not to blame for what was transpiring with those individuals.

But in his current condition, it is almost as if he is unable to hear.

Ash was a do-it-yourself kind of boy, and the fact that he was helpless to assist those individuals was driving him crazy. Brock may try to reason it out with him, but if the logic originated from somewhere other than Brock, some aspect of Ash would reject it. It would be necessary for Ash to arrive at the same realisation on his own. It would be challenging for him because doing so ran completely counter to who he was as a person. Ash would always make a point to stop in whatever town he passed through and lend a helping hand to anyone he came across who was in need. He would do everything in his power to resolve their issues and would not expect anything in return for his assistance.

Brock looked up to Ash for many reasons, including his positive outlook on life and the fact that he was always willing to help others. Brock had anticipated that the passing of time would dull the boy's bright disposition and make him have a more pessimistic view of the world. In general, Brock anticipated that Ash would meet the same end as his own father and so many other people in similar situations. Nonetheless, Ash was able to take him by surprise in the sense that he never allowed the more difficult aspects of his path to knock him down. His determination to assist other people had not yet wavered. But now the drawbacks of being so good were starting to show themselves.

Brock could do nothing except hold out hope that it would not turn out to be a curse.

Present

Notwithstanding the horrifying events that had just transpired, the outside world appeared unsullied and unruffled through the glass. James was left wondering what more nightmares lay ahead for them as a result of this.

"Hey?" Jessie's voice was difficult to make out above the roar of the wind as it rushed through the window, yet it was loud enough to break through his stream of thinking and get his attention.

James turned to face her, giving off something of a Beedrill-like image due to the goggles and oxygen mask that he was wearing on his face. Even though the air was perfectly breathable, the goggles and mask he was wearing protected his eyes and throat from the ferocious wind. This allowed him to breathe easier. During the time that he was in control of the ship, Jessie had pulled her hair back into a ponytail at some point.

"How are you making it through this?" She had no choice but to yell in order to be heard above the howling of the wind.

"I'm holding up, but...that city," the character says. The microphone on James' mask picked up his voice, which was garbled and somewhat distorted due to the static.

"I know," she hastily added, as if omitting the occurrence from the conversation would make it seem less genuine.

"It's just. What we just saw…"

It's completely insane.

"Jess, are we...certain that there is not the slightest bit of connection between this and Team Rocket?" James asked.

When you consider the length of time that they had been a part of the organisation, it wasn't such a stupid statement after all. The two individuals occupied a rather low position in the structure of Team Rocket, and there were a great deal of matters within the organisation that were on a need-to-know basis. And most of the time, they were grouped together with people who had no business knowing. James was aware of the usefulness of the entire process, which meant that a captured spy could only divulge a limited amount of information even when they were under duress. Yet, the fact that they were kept in such a state of ignorance that they might as well have been blinded him.

There were numerous instances in which no one had informed them about the actions that were being carried out by other field agents in the vicinity. They would have been able to stay out of the way, not interfere with the findings, and even be of assistance with the programme if they had just been given a simple briefing. They were unaware of Dr. Namba's Rage Crowns in the Orange Islands because no one had warned them about them. No one had informed them that Butch and Cassidy intended to use a Drowzee to exert mental control over all of the local Pokémon and force them to do what they wanted. If they had known, they would have stayed away from that region to prevent Meowth from falling prey to the mind control and would have saved themselves some trouble.

Jessie's response, which eventually broke the awkward moment's silence, was, "This isn't the boss's style." "While we are working on a project or in the pitch, he always emphasises how important it is for us to maintain a low profile and not draw attention to ourselves. This will allow us to remain undetected by the authorities. It would draw far too much attention to the organisation if they were to feed a complete city along with its inhabitants."

"What exactly is going on with the Lake of Rage?"

"That's just one occurrence."

"As far as we are aware!" James retorted angrily at her. "The members of Team Rocket have been spotted in Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn, and who knows where else! There might be a huge number of situations just like this one going on, but we wouldn't be aware of any of them!" James had a hard time keeping his voice from rising to the level of a roar in order to avoid alarming the twerps.

"James, we can argue about maybes and what-ifs for hours, but we aren't going to get any closer to the truth until we get back to the base," I told him. "We can argue about maybes and what-ifs for hours."

"Jess, if you could just be so kind... What steps would you take if it turned out that Team Rocket was actually behind what we just witnessed?"

Jessie remained silent for a considerable amount of time while looking out at the scenery that rolled under them. "James, I can't say for sure. I'm not sure what course of action I'd take. It would be nice to imagine that my mother did not become a member of a group that would engage in activities of this nature. We have been known to steal Pokémon, but never something like this. Just...give me some time to mull it over, all right?"

James didn't say anything as he turned to face the same region that his buddy was staring at and noticed the peak of Mount Coronet poking its head out from the edge of the horizon.