CHAPTER 72 - INFILTRATION (PART THREE)

In the previous chapter we see how Ash, Pikacu and the girls arrive at the location of Looker who explains that they need to infiltrate Team Magma and Aqua, who were desperately looking for something, after accepting their proposal, our heroes are ready to go to the recruitment test that would be held that same day at night and now, you are fighting to be Semi-High Ranking Recruits.

...

With Ash.

Pikachu dodged the blow when Mightyena was quite close to him.

"Now Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"

"Pikachu!"

Pikachu hit the Mightyena with his tail directly sending it flying and weakening it in the process... is this serious, is a One Hit K.O? It was literally the shortest fight I had so far, it even seems like a joke to me.

"Mightyena, this is impossible, a Pikachu can't be so strong, you're cheating!" – said the random angrily.

"Did you see me do something? I beat you cleanly, if you're weak it's not my problem" - I replied.

"You..!" – said the random angrily.

"Enough, the winner was Pikachu and there's no more to talk about, retire, right now!" – Courtney said.

The random reluctantly retreated and went to a nearby place to observe the battles.

After he left, Courtney looked me straight in the eye, as if she were examining me.

"You're strong, I'm glad to have you in Team Magma, we need people like you here, your Pikachu and you impressed me, they wiped out that one-strike Mightyena, I'm afraid I would have needed two attacks to finish him off... Do you know what? Come to my office after recruitment... no, I'll go with you, someone of your level deserves a better position" - Courtney said.

Wow, it seems that I left her impressed, I'm glad, this will make things easier, I hope that at least I am promoted to High Rank recruit, so my espionage mission will be easier.

"Thank you very much" – I said gratefully.

"You're welcome, although I must admit that I should think about make your friends high-ranking recruits too, one has a Meganium, another a shiny Umbreon and the other a Charizard, unusual and certainly powerful Pokémon, anyway, we'll discuss that later" - Courtney said.

Apparently the battle of the girls ended with their respective victories which does not surprise me at all.

"I'm glad that you win" - I said with a smile.

"Thanks a lot but to tell the truth, it was not very difficult, even me who am not a trainer, I must say that these recruits were not very strong" - Koharu said.

"She is right, how do they think they will be stronger if they recruit such weak people?" – said Lira.

Latias also nodded.

"You can think that the weaker they are, the better for us, plus I have good news..." – I said.

And then I explained what Courtney told me.

"Great, that will speed up the process!" – Lira said cheerfully.

"Yes and so we can go home, this place is too sinister" – Koharu nodded.

Latias nodded again.

Then we continued chatting until, finally, all the fighting was over and Courtney spoke again.

"Well, since you're all done, I'll announce the results, from here, only 10 people will become Semi-High Rank recruits while the remaining 40 will start out as normal recruits!" – Courtney explained.

He then pointed out everyone who would be considered Semi-High Rank recruits, but this only caused disgust in the people.

"It's not fair, I won my respective match, I should be a Semi-High Rank Recruit!" – said one.

"Yes, I also won and yet I am a low rank, it is unfair!" – said another.

Many also protested, but this did not please Courtney.

"Silence everyone, the reason why you are not Semi High Rank recruits is because I have judged that you are too weak, let me tell you that those I name won their battle with less than 10 attacks and many of you spent almost an hour fighting, to be a Semi High Rank recruit this was the requirement!, or did you think I would let the weak occupy such an important position? What you have to do now is train and be stronger, then perform the ascension test when the dates are released, I don't want any more complaints, otherwise don't blame me for not being compassionate!" – Courtney said angrily.

God, I wouldn't want to make her angry either, it's terrifying.

"And now that I no longer hear whispers of insignificant flies, we will proceed to access the base, let me say something very important, never ever let anyone know about that location, I do not care if it is your sister, your father or mother, you should never reveal that location and believe me you do not want to know the consequences of breaking that rule!" – said Courtney.

Then, She guided us to what appeared to be a kind of cave with numerous rocks, I mean it seemed that this cave was covered with numerous rocks, but Courtney explained that it was simply a hologram that kept the curious away from the area.

When we entered I realized that its base was completely different from video games, in what sense? Well, this looked like a huge building with numerous offices, not the depressing place of the video game, in fact, if it were not for the fact that there were recruits with the Team Magma suit everywhere, I could be confused with a building of an ordinary company.

"Now Troy will assign you your respective task and you 4, I will take care of you myself!" – said Courtney.

Obviously you know who they were referring to, it would be foolish to explain.

Courtney took us directly to her office which was on the -6th floor, that's right, this base is an underground base, according to what Courtney told us, it has like -8 floors, being -6 where her office is located along with other things.

Obviously we went down by elevator, the good thing is that his office was not too far from the elevator and we arrived in a very short time.

Upon arriving, Courtney put some sort of code on the panel next to the door, which opened immediately.

"You stay there, you, come with me, we have things to talk about" - Courtney said.

Lira, Koharu and Latias were not very happy that Courtney did not let them pass, but now we were infiltrated and we needed to follow her order since she was the right hand of the leader, disobeying her order and making her angry would be fatal for this mission.

When I entered the office I was surprised, it actually looked more like a bedroom than an office, heck, I could swear it's where she lives since he had a dining room, a small living room and even a bedroom, in fact we had to go through all of them until we reached what seemed to be the real office.

"As you can see, this is my house, normally we would enter through the back door, which is the one that directly accesses my office, but this time I wanted to show my sincerity" – said Courtney who seemed to have guessed my thoughts.

"Wait a minute, why show sincerity? I'm a simple Semi-High Ranking Recruit" – I said confused.

"Don't take it for a fool, I know you're all spies sent by the police" - Courtney said as she sat in a chair that appeared to be very comfortable.

"What are you talking about?" – I asked somewhat nervously.

Damn, how did he find out so soon? We didn't even spend a day and didn't show any movement that could be considered suspicious.

"Do you think I'm stupid and I don't have control over the infiltrator that your people sent to the base? Logically if you are recommended by him, then you are members of the police, which means that the police are starting to take Team Magma seriously" - Courtney explained.

"Miss I really don't know what you're talking about" – I lied.

"Obviously you don't want to reveal it, but you'll change your mind once I tell you my goal And because, knowing who the spy was, I didn't inform my boss about it" - Courtney said.

That's true, despite knowing that he is the spy did not say anything, what do I know? Well, because obviously if I knew I wouldn't be in Team Magma.

"What goal?" – I asked.

"You finally admit it, well, my goal is simple, I want to defect but I can't do it alone" - she said.

Did I hear right, the leader's right hand said she wanted to defect or is it me who am tired and heard something that is not true?

"You heard right, I want to defect, but unfortunately I can't do it alone, that's why I need the help of the police, that's why I offer you information about the Team Magma and in exchange I want you to help me get out of here safe and sound" - she said.

"I don't understand, you are the right hand of the leader, why do you want to defect and why do it now and not before, what has changed?" – I asked confused.

"I'll explain, before it was called Team Magma, this was a company called Magma Corporation" - She began to explain.

"Really?" – I asked in surprise.

"Yes, also its objective was nothing like today, our company simply focused on extracting minerals and selling them to the highest bidder, something simple and legal, but one day everything changed" – She continued explaining.

"How did it change?" – I asked curiously.

"The boss one day came with a strange book that contained information about the Ancestral Pokémon known as Groudon and also instructions on how to control it and, from this moment, the boss did not return to what he was, he began to say that he had to make the whole region dry and that only the earth existed, from that momento, Team Magma was formed and the Magma Corporation died" – She continued to explain.

Wow, if that's true, the background of Team Magma in this world is more interesting than in video games and anime.

"If that's true, why did you follow him?" – I asked.

"Easy, I followed him because I wanted to convince him that this was crazy and that the sea and water was necessary, that his plan would fail and he was stupid, but he ignored me, so, when I realized I was already in the current situation, I already did my part, I tried to persuade him but I couldn't, so I want to defect, but I knew that only opportunity to do that is with the help of the police could I get out of all this unscathed, that's why I offer everything I have at hand to help me" she explained.

"I understand your situation but I cannot make such an important decision," I said.

"I was afraid of it, but don't worry, talk to your superiors tonight and give me an answer tomorrow" - Courtney said.

"Looks good to me" - I nodded.

"Perfect, so if you're so kind to go out but wait at the door, I'll take a few seconds, I have to get your room keys" - Courtney said.

I nodded and walked out of his office only to find an image that actually angered me.

One of the recruits was saying something to Lira and I'm sure he wasn't very friendly because Lira's face was angry, so I approached.

"Don't you know that I am a High Rank? I have a lot of authority in Team Magma, why don't you go out with me tomorrow on a date? I'm sure you'll love it" - said the recruit.

"I've already told you no" - Lira said angrily.

"That's it, she already refused, besides, who would want to date someone like you?" - Koharu said.

Bianca also nodded.

"Oh, you guys are pretty too, how about we make a group appointment? And then what comes up..." – said the recruit.

"Disgusting!" – they both said.

"Come on don't be like that, it will be fun" – said the recruit ready to grab Lira's wrist.

But before that happened, I grabbed his arm tightly preventing him from doing that.

"Didn't they already tell you no, why are you still here? Get out" – I said angrily.

"And who the hell are you?" – the recruit asked angrily.

"A Semi-High Rank recruit, please leave quietly, we don't want to have to use force" – I said with a frown.

"Besides, he's also my boyfriend!" said Koharu.

"Mine too, so please get out, you're just making a fool of yourself!" – Lira said.