Jake opened one eye and looked around. Darkrai was gone. =Good, I don’t like him.= Sundance said in an irritated tone of voice. Jake grinned for a second until Sundance added, =Jake! Kim’s in trouble!= Jake glanced down at the GS Ball. =No way. She’s with Red.= =Then explain HOW she’s in Blackthorn City!= Blackthorn City General Trent stood marveling at the new combat robots Giovanni gave him. He turned to Giovanni who stood beside him. “Thank you again sir for breaking me out of jail.” Giovanni didn’t change his expression or look at Trent. “You’re too valuable to Team Rocket to be languishing in prison, but don’t fail me again.” “I won’t sir.” Trent replied. A voice crackled over the radio on Trent’s waist. “General, Brooks has just entered the city.” “Excellent. Wait until he enters the dragon’s den, and then converge on his location.” Trent ordered. He glanced at Giovanni. “I will have revenge.” Giovanni scoffed. “The little law dog has managed to make a lot of enemies in a short time.” He looked at Kim’s Dragonite who was still struggling to escape Hellfire’s grip. “As for the girl, I want her taken to my ship once Brooks has been disposed of.” Before Giovanni could issue his next order, the opening to the dragon’s den exploded into fire and debris. “Where is she?” Jake yelled angrily. Giovanni pointed to a pool of freezing water. “She fell in. You have to save her.” Jake took off his hat and jacket, and dove into the icy waters. The water felt like thousands of daggers sticking through his body, but he kept swimming until he saw a dark form at the bottom of the pool. It was Kim. He grabbed her body and swam back to the surface, as fast as his one free arm would take him. When Jake got to the surface, he drug her out of the water, and started performing CPR. After about a minute, she coughed and spat out water. “Jake?” “You need to learn how to swim, girl.” Jake said with relief. “And you need to learn how to spot a trap, when it’s been set for you.” Trent taunted. Jake picked up his hat from the ground, and turned around. He was surrounded by five robots with flamethrowers attached, and several fire type pokemon, all trained on him. “I won’t let you hurt her.” He motioned toward Kim, who was still lying on the ground. “Oh, believe me; hurting her is the last thing we want to do. We lured you here in order to destroy you. Now take her away.” He looked at Jake. “As for you… I have something planned for you, and your little friend Red here.” Two grunts came into the room dragging Red behind them. He was unconscious. “What did you do to him?” Jake yelled. “When you so carelessly left your friend in Saffron City, my men grabbed him.” Trent explained. Trent came closer and took Jake’s badge off of his belt and smiled wryly. “The first agent of the Federal Rangers will also be their first casualty. I think I’ll keep these to remember you both by.” He added putting the badge in his pocket. “When I get my hands on you, you’ll wish you’d stayed in that jail cell.” Jake growled angrily. “Enough, I don’t have time for this.” Giovanni interrupted. “Dez and Zed are supposed to meet me on the Titan IV. I must leave you.” The grunts grabbed Kim who had fallen unconscious again, and carried her away. “Well, now that we have some privacy, I can explain what I’ve got planned for you.” Trent clasped his hands behind his back. “Are you familiar with electric shock treatment?” Jake glared at Trent. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Trent continued. “I want you to meet Lei Ling.” Trent motioned for a grunt to come over. “Lei Ling’s quite adept at dispensing pain.” The female grunt came face to face with Jake and smiled. “I’ve been waiting to practice my skills on a handsome boy like you.” “Well darlin’ it’s my pleasure to be your first test subject.” Jake replied sarcastically. Lei Ling turned to look through the door as the two grunts carried something in covered by a tarp. With a malicious grin she pulled the tarp off to reveal her plan for torturing them. “It’s a converter that I built for my Electabuzz. He feeds power into the converter which amplifies it a hundred times, and then the converter feeds it straight into your bodies.” Red was starting to wake up. “Where are we?” He asked hoarsely. “You’re not gonna care here in a minute.” Jake said to him as he helped him off of the ground. “Good. Now that you’re both awake I can begin the treatment.” Lei Ling said. Jake looked over Lei Ling’s shoulder, and saw a grunt coming up behind her. Jake thought he was going to tap her shoulder but instead he grabbed her shoulder in a sleeper type move which knocked her out. Jake gave him a look of complete surprise until he realized it was his brother. “Cable, what are you doing here?” Jake whispered. Before Cable could answer, Trent shouted, “Stop them!” Cable turned and pulled out a pokeball and released a Typhlosion. “Typhlosion, use Flame Wheel!” Cable shouted. Jake pulled out his pokeballs which contained Rascal and Cyndaquil. “Cyndaquil, Flamethrower! Rascal, Thunder!” Typhlosion took out three Rockets with one attack and Rascal and Cyndaquil took out four more. The five robots in the room all began shooting flames at Cable, Jake and Red. =Sundance, now would be a good time.= Jake thought. In less than a second, Sundance crashed through the roof of the dragon’s den. His feet hit the ground hard creating a crater right behind Jake, and raising a cloud of dust throughout the dragon’s den. “Sundance, use Aeroblast!” Jake yelled over the noise. Sundance cut down the five robots in one swipe, as Jake grabbed Trent who was trying to escape. “Where is Titan IV?” Jake hissed. Trent pulled a remote out of his pocket and pushed a button. Several explosive charges detonated inside the den. Cable had returned his pokemon and climbed on his Pidgeot’s back along with Red. Jake returned his pokemon and vaulted himself up onto Sundance’s back. They kicked off of the ground and left Trent to be crushed by the falling cave. “Head for the mountains!” Cable yelled. Together they flew to a lake on Mt Silver. Team Rocket flying fortress A.K.A.: “Titan IV” 50 miles north of the Arctic Circle Giovanni’s helicopter touched down on the helipad, and Giovanni stepped out with two grunts close behind him guarding Kim. Together they walked down to the detention area of the flying fortress, where Kim was forced into a holding cell. Zed and another person who looked exactly like him were waiting for Giovanni and Kim. “Well boys you made good time.” Giovanni glanced at Zed and Dez. “I’m sorry Zed but General Trent is already taking care of your cowboy.” Giovanni added. “What!? You said I could take him out!” Zed shouted angrily. “Well you weren’t there to claim him.” Giovanni said. “Can I eliminate the girl?” Dez interrupted. “Not yet, I’ll need her for a few things first.” Giovanni answered as a grunt with blonde hair entered with an unopened envelope. Kim noticed it was Bonnie from Cherrygrove City. Giovanni opened the envelope and read its contents. “Well, it appears that Jake Brooks was eliminated successfully, and so was Trent as it would seem.” Kim’s heart nearly stopped. She glanced over at Bonnie who was apparently having the same reaction. Kim sat down on the bunk in her cell. “Jake…” She sobbed. Blackthorn City Ben got out of his car and shut the door. The dragon’s den was completely destroyed. Jake was nowhere to be found and one grunt sat outside of the entrance, coughing and gasping for air. “What happened here?” Ben asked the grunt sternly as police cars began to pull up. “That damn fool blew up the dragon’s den!” She croaked as she took a shallow breath. “Who?” Ben grabbed the grunt by the collar of her uniform. “Trent! He destroyed the dragon’s den, and everybody in it. I think there were some kids in there too. One was wearing a cowboy hat.” She answered. Ben helped her to her feet and handcuffed her. Jenny got out of the car as Ben put the grunt in the back seat. “Where’s Jake?” She asked over the commotion of police cars pulling in. “In there.” Ben answered, pointing into the wreck that once was the dragon’s den. “Oh no.” Jenny put her hand over her mouth. “Are you sure?” “No.” Ben said blankly. Mt. Silver “Jake, where are we going?” Red asked as they hiked deeper into the mountain. “I’m looking for someone.” Jake looked back from the blinding light that Rascal was giving off. “He’s the leader of a band of ninjas sworn to wiping Team Rocket off the face of the earth. They’re called the League of Shadows.” “How exactly would you know him?” Cable was also curious. “After I was beaten by Brendan Birch, I came to Mt. Silver where I found an old man. He offered to be my Sensei and train me in the ways of the ninjas. Since then I’ve kept in close contact.” Jake explained. “Halt, trespassers!” A young voice shouted from the darkness. It was Johnny Gale. “What’re you doin’ here!?” Jake yelled. “I’m a sentry.” Johnny answered. “How did you get up into the mountains?” Jake asked “I was beaten by Falkner in Violet City, but an old man who saw the fight said I had potential, and brought me here.” Johnny said excitedly. “Look he even taught me how to be an awesome pokemon trainer!” Johnny released a Croconaw, a Pichu, and a Tyrogue from their pokeballs. “Wow he’s been workin’ hard.” Cable remarked. “Wait a sec! You were supposed to watch over him! Not just drop him off in Violet City!” Jake shouted angrily. “Well I’m sorry, but I had to infiltrate Team Rocket to find out if they knew where Erika was.” Cable shot back. Titan IV Bonnie ran her ID card through the reader and the door opened. She entered the detention area where Kim was being held. Kim was sleeping on the bunk. She’d cried herself to sleep. Bonnie opened the containment cell and shook Kim awake. “Hey, wake up.” Kim opened her eyes slowly then recoiled after seeing it was a grunt. “What do you want?” “To help you get out of here.” Bonnie glanced back after hearing a sound. “I brought your pokeballs.” “Why are you doing this for me?” Kim asked. “Because, I was in love with Jake once, and now that he’s gone I’m going to make Team Rocket pay.” Bonnie’s eyes weren’t visible, but Kim could tell there were tears in them. “But you’re one of them.” Kim couldn’t understand why Bonnie would put herself at risk. “No… I’m a spy for the League of Shadows.” Bonnie muttered.