Percy looked at his gym challenge card. When he signed up, they took his picture and put it on a card. His expression was poorly made when they snapped the picture and the receptionist was in no mood to let him retake it.
Zoe snatched the card from his hand, "Wow. I'll make sure to mention this at lunch. It's a Viridian style diner. We'll be there soon." Zoe giggled.
Percy frowned as his nose smelled a myriad of foods. There was a section of the gym building that was a large food court with different whole restaurants inside. Zoe led Percy to a large table spotted with a bunch of colorful heads. She waved and took an open seat. "Look who I dragged in." She announced while gesturing to Percy.
The next thirty seconds was a blur as a good deal of the Prodigies greeted him with different attitudes. Jason clapped him on the shoulder and drug him to an open seat next where he was sitting. Percy looked at the table and saw a surprising amount of them. Everyone had gathered except for Baxter and Kai. The whole crew was nearly together.
It seemed Percy had undersold to himself on how significant this lunch was. The first person to speak was Ash, "Tell us what you've been doing! We all already went."
Misty spoke up with a concerned voice. "We heard about you and Ishigamis run in with Team Rocket. Ash and I had our fair run in's with them too."
Percy thought back to himself almost dying from the explosion. He'd been blind for most of the time, and could only hear his way through the final moments of the battle. Then of course, the strangling the next morning.
He shrugged, "It was an intense fight. I'm grateful you all arrived. As for what I'm doing… I'm working a job right now. It's not easy to find freetime, and to do my job I couldn't look at my Pokédex. I've been training and expanding my team. I wonder how much stronger I am then all of you now." He smirked deviously.
He didn't want any of them to think he was weak from the last time they'd seen him. He was beaten down when they arrived, and limping away when he left. There was an immediate uproar from the table from the battle focused trainers. Ash, Haley, and Jason were the loudest.
"I'm joking, but I hope yall are challenging the gym." Percy smiled. Most of them were and immediately a discussion revolving around their battles took place. Percy leaned back, happy he was no longer the focus of the conversation.
He looked around the restaurant and saw people running through the hallways outside. A lot of people were dressed in Viridian Gym uniforms that stood out. Their serious faces is what threw up the most flags for Percy. His energy immediately shifted as his head perked up.
Jason looked at him and then where he was looking. "What's going on out there?" He said loudly to the table. The intense conversation ceased immediately as even more groups of people ran by. Percy and Jason were the first ones to leave the restaurant. One Gym trainer was talking intensely to the side of the hallway.
"Hey! What's going on?" Jason asked him.
The sweating trainer looked up frustrated and flustered. "Team Rocket is attacking multiple places across the city. Leave the Gym to do its business and stay safe. Now please, I'm on an important call." He explained quickly before returning to the phone. He turned away from Jason and began walking against the running groups of trainers.
The rest of the Prodigies had followed them out and heard the man. "This is crazy. Team Rocket never attacks Viridian City like this. There's more resources for the authorities here than almost anywhere else." Ash said.
Percy rubbed his head. "After that freak storm is a better time. Half of the gym is out in the field trying to reign in the damage. The Pokémon in the wild are unsettled, and Viridian sent even more people to smaller cities in the area." He tried to explain.
Jason nodded along, "There has to be a bigger goal to this. No matter what damage they make in Viridian it'd be barely permanent, or further them at all." Jason went into deep thought quickly.
Percy noticed his vision on the reasons behind the attack. To most people's knowledge, Team Rocket only existed to steal Pokemon and cause violence. To suspect the bigger picture he must've seen the bigger picture- "I'm sure that's something the higher ups in the Gym are already thinking about. Question is, what should we do?" Jasper proposed.
The group was silent for a second. The forest green haired kid watched the trainers. Grace spoke first, "We should leave it to the Gym. There's already plenty of Ace trainers and trainers fighting them already." Her beautiful hair framed her face well.
"We can't do that. We're capable trainers and there's probably people who need help!" Ash said passionately.
Grace sighed, "I had to try because if you guys go, I have to go."
"You don't have to go. You're not a battler." Haley comforted.
Grace pouted a little, "I'm not letting myself be weak. The Prodigies are as strong as their weakest link." Grace exclaimed. Everyone's heart warmed a little.
Jasper threw his hair back and put his hand on his pokeball belt. "So what's the move?" He asked.
"I need to go back to my job, for security." Percy said urgently. He was itching to run and find the Honey clan members, but stuck for a moment for the group.
"You're going by yourself? No, someone's going with you." Misty said with a hand on her hip.
Ash agreed, "Yeah, everyone should have at least one person with them. Who's going with him?"
Jason raised his hand, "I will." Percy and Jason fist bumped quickly before turning to leave.
"Keep in touch in the group chat. Text if anyone needs help!" Ash shouted behind them as they ran down the now empty halls. The gym was more empty than ever and was so different than when Percy walked in. No one sat idly, and the only people left as they ran into the reception room, was the receptionists.
Percy ran to the receptionist the Honey Clan had used. "Hey, do you know where that group of Honey clan kids went?" He asked.
She thought for a moment. "I had three more trainers after them before things went crazy. But they rushed out with a group of trainers who were going to help with Team Rocket. A lot of trainers were actually trying to help. I remember when trainers used to run whenever-" The woman began to recall her memories before Jason cut her off.
"Thank you for the help, let's go." He and Percy dashed out of the front doors. Percy jumped down the front steps and went into a fast jog. Outside there were crowds of people running toward the gym.
"Why were trainers so afraid of Team Rocket?" Percy asked curiously as he ran to the side. It looked like civilians were seeking asylum from Team Rocket. Sounds of explosions and Pokémon battles were loud and coming from everywhere.
Jason looked around. "Team Rocket hasn't been as active for many years. They've only surged back recently. During that time they were slandered by the authorities on all medias. They called Team Rocket a weak, dying criminal organization. The people who remember them at their strongest 15 or so years ago, know they were an evil, scary force. If only they knew." Jason explained as they ran away from the gym.
The closest battles to the gym were populated by a lot of gym trainers and Team Rocket members. That wasn't where they'd find the Honey clan members. "If they knew what?" Percy asked. Jason's certain knowledge made him curious.
Jason shook his head a little bit. "They were storing resources, leaving less of a mark. Secretive operations could be perceived as less operations to the victims." He muttered. Percy could see the cogs turn in Jason's mind.
Percy grunted and focused on looking for his target. He described them as yellow wearing people. They weren't bright, but the yellow tones were easy to see in a group of them. "Is that them?" Jason pointed toward a crowd of people in the middle of the street a few blocks away from the gym.
Percy looked closer, it looked like it could be them. In front of the big crowd was five trainers in a line, and 5 Team Rocket members in a line. Percy pressed forward as they ran through messy streets.
The initial impression of the attack was much smaller than Percy had thought. The multiple places that were being attacked was likely more than a hundred different locations. Large electric billboards were raising a state of emergency.
Percy could see Fay and Theo standing amongst the five fighting trainers. He grit his teeth and pushed his way through the crowd.