EPISODE 23: Let's do this!*

The cruel sun beats down, it's one malevolent eye unblinking, and the sky was it's conspirator with not even a wisp of cloud to soften the harsh rays. The Sandshrews took shelter in the shadows of the rocks where the sand was not hot enough to roast them, but there was no shade large enough for us. Each step sunk into the searing sand, the air was thick and hazy, each breath like drowning in lava.

The intense heat, I regret saying "This will be exciting since it is my first time." What is worse, the swirling sandstorms around us only gave me a bad hair-day after spending more than an hour grooming it early in the morning. Our desert attire makes things worse for it being too thick and itchy. I feel like a soldier wearing those dark yellow suits amidst the heat of the sun.

Despite this, our Go-goggles are at least very helpful. It was able to help us navigate through the irritating sand. My mask is also superb, blocking those grains from entering my mouth and triggering my asthma. We were able to see clearly through the goggles but still, the itchy feeling irks me too much. All I plead for is some ice cream after this even if I hate to eat one. That is how desperate I am.

Onto the mission. We were able to find the pyramid of Team Magma which surprisingly is very hidden because of the sand storms. There are grunts nearby too but our target are the farther ones. Simple trick when it comes to kidnapping, kidnap ones further from the adult or lull them with some candy. In this case, kidnap ones further from the pyramid or lull them with something they like.

"Alright? So how do we lull the grunts to us?" queries, Zeal.

"I have an idea. Leave this to me." I beam with confidence, gathering a rock from the ground and throwing it to one of the grunts. Like a dog, it was able to grab her attention. She moves further from his post as expected, further from his fellow grunts.

"What the?" says, the grunt in red while picking the stone I threw at her.

I throw another stone, and another, until it forms some sort of path to me and Zeal. Like pigeon she follows us, picking up every stone we find. Zeal was inspired and decided to do the same thing to the other grunt from the left.

After some time, during the moment the grunt is very far from his post, I come out of my hiding spot and struck her blindly with my fist. I'm not going to risk my Pokemon's fur so I will do this the safe way and use them instead once we enter the pyramid.

After being knocked out, I undress then stole her clothes. Not having the time to look for a dressing room, I have no choice but to place the clothes on top of my own apparel. Due to this, it made my body perspire more, plus it irritates my skin further. Meanwhile Zeal got impatient and decided to strike her grunt right away instead of waiting for the grunt to come to her.

Just like me she wears the clothing but she does not seem irritated or whatsoever which bothers me to think that is unfair. For now, we are not Team Rocket Elite Operatives but rather Team Magma grunts who knows nothing and are new to the organization. With everything prepared we make our way to the front gates of the pyramid wherein we were halted by what seems to be elite operatives of their own organization.

"Please state your codes." the elite operative demands but in a noticeable very lazy manner. It must be because of the blaring heat of the sun.

"We are new here." says, fake agent Zeal.

"Yeah, I know. How were you even recruited? It says on our fundamentals that a new agent must first remember their code before being fully and officially recruited by us."

"We know but we forgot that's all." I add, with a fake embarrassing smile, hoping she'll accept my excuse.

"Go ahead. It's too hot to argue." she finally agrees right away, opening the two large doors for us. Inside of our perspiring bodies, me and Zeal were happy to know she accepted her excuse.

Inside the pyramid is a hideout like no other. It gives me ancient Hoenn vibes which I've read in books and novels back in my time in the library. They kept the ambiance, making it seem like an old synagogue with dangling chandeliers, fan-made dialects are found written on walls, giving it a royal feel to it. As a woman who loves art and paintings, I am quite impressed.

This place also holds a lot of grunts. There are a ton of grunts wearing different outfits from the usual "Magma" one. Me and Zeal know for a fact these grunts are elites and must not be messed with. We follow what is according to the plan and that is to question about the archives to our "fellow" members.

"Excuse me, we would like you to help us show the way to the archives. We need to um, register since we're new." Zeal asks an obese looking grunt. I for one know she made a big blunder there. Archives do not register people they contain the registered people.

"Sure." the obese-looking grunt agrees which left me in total shock unless there are other forms of archives. Come to think of it, his smile is a bit malicious towards us but a part of him was glad to show the way.

"What was that?" I ask by whispering to Zeal's ears as we follow from behind.

"What do you mean what was that? I made a reasonable excuse."

"Do you even know what an archive is? They're not for registering people. It's basically a list. I think he knows we're not grunts."

"Calm down Luna, you panic too much. Just follow the grunt and we will be all fine. I'm pretty sure archives register people too."

"I've been working here for two years and have stolen a lot of archives from different organizations and never once did I see an archive that registers people's name. They usually register the name in a device which heads to the archives. Do you see our archives? They don't register people."

"Okay, maybe I did a blunder but at least the grunt does not know about it so let's all remain calm and pretend we're one of them."