The day after the battle, everyone was up, and Ash told them to pack their bags because it was about time they left.
Yeah, last night was really fun. Dewford Town was so small compared to other large cities, the town functioned more like a little community, and everyone loved their Gym Leader, Brawly. So when Brawly said he wanted to celebrate, everyone did.
Of course, after a few hours, and the fangirls obviously fainting over Brawly, Brock fell into another depression in the sand. He even tried flexing his muscles, and again, Brock is pretty chiseled from all his rock climbing when he was younger.
But unfortunately, he couldn't compete with the same guy who goes for a run first thing every morning, rain or snow, then does his weight training, and after that rewards himself with surfing, which is yet another form of training. But hey, Brawly gave him respect, even if none of the girls did.
But anyway, other than that, Ash did ask where Brawly went while he was gone, and apparently he went to Kanto to meet up with his best bud, Bruno. They went to train together, as they do every few months when they have time.
So overall, it was fun, but all good things must come to an end. May, for a bit, was hesitant to leave the nice, cozy beach house, but Ash reminded her they needed to get to Slateport City so she could sign up and finally do contests, and that got her to pack her bags really quickly.
So now, after everyone was packed and they fixed up the house, since they still thought it was an Airbnb, as Ash did not tell them he literally bought the whole thing, speaking of which, Ash told Rotom to put up an ad online for anyone who wanted to rent the house, since he won't be using it. And hey, he'll get his money back in about two years.
Anyway, when everyone was ready, they started walking to the docks.
May stretched, yawning. "I can't believe we're actually going to Slateport. Like, for real this time."
Max adjusted his backpack. "You've said that four times already."
"I know!" May shot back. "Because it still doesn't feel real!"
Ash chuckled, tightening the straps on his bag. Pikachu hopped up onto his shoulder, tail flicking lazily. "You'll do great," Ash said easily. "You've been practicing nonstop."
May smiled at that, confidence flickering back into place. "Yeah. Yeah, I will."
Brock glanced back at the house one last time, sighing dramatically. "Ah… sun, sand, and unrequited love. Dewford truly had it all."
No one responded. Brock just sighed again. "One day," he muttered, trudging after them.
As they got to the dock, May, Max, and Brock were expecting a ship to be waiting for them, since Ash said they were leaving today, but the docks were empty.
"Eh?" May blinked. "Ash, where's the ship?"
"What ship? Didn't you hear Mr. Briney when he said the next ship comes next month?" Ash asked.
"What no! I jumped off, and Brock and Max followed me. You stayed behind to talk to him, why didn't you tell us?" May exclaimed.
Ash tapped his chin casually. "Huh. Guess it didn't come up."
May sighed heavily as Brock walked up. "So… what is the plan then, if we don't have a ship?"
"Oh, that's easy, we use Pokémon," Ash said with a smile as he held up a Poké Ball. "I made a call to Misty, and she sent this one over." Ash threw the ball behind him, and as it hit the water, it opened, revealing his Lapras.
May's jaw dropped. "ASH—!"
Max's eyes lit up instantly. "A Lapras?! Wait, the Lapras? The one you used in Johto?!"
Lapras gave a pleased hum, turning her head slightly toward Ash.
Ash grinned and rested a hand on her neck. "Hey. Thanks for coming all this way."
Lapras leaned into the touch affectionately.
Brock just sighed, but he didn't question it. "I thought you let her use Lapras to help with all the other ones."
"Yeah, but she said they're doing much better, so they don't need mine there all the time anymore. She can come back for a bit," Ash said.
"I just… we're really traveling on Lapras?" May said, still staring at how cute Lapras was.
"Why?" Ash teased. "You don't wanna?"
"Are you kidding?" May said instantly. "She's adorable!"
Lapras let out a happy call, clearly agreeing.
The group started climbing aboard, Ash first, then Max, then Brock, when suddenly a blast of water slammed straight into May's side.
"WAH—!!" She went flying face-first into the sand with a thud.
Everyone froze.
Slowly, May lifted her head, dripping wet, hair plastered to her face.
Off in the shallow water, a round blue shape bobbed cheerfully.
A Wailmer.
The same Wailmer.
It let out an innocent-sounding "WAAAII~" and sprayed another playful puff of water into the air.
Ash blinked.
Max winced. "Oh… it's that one."
May's eye twitched. She pushed herself up, sand sticking to her face as she glared at the Wailmer. "I—HAVE—HAD—IT."
She turned, fumbling for a Poké Ball. "I'm gonna fight that Wailmer."
"May, wait—" Brock started.
Too late.
May spun and hurled the Poké Ball with all her frustration behind it. "GO—!"
The ball flew. It hit the Wailmer square on the forehead.
Thunk.
There was a pause. Then the ball popped open, sucked the Wailmer inside. Click.
The Poké Ball rocked once. Twice. Ding.
Caught.
Ash stared.
Max stared.
Brock stared.
Lapras tilted her head.
May blinked. "…Huh? I… I thought… wasn't that Torchic's ball?"
Then, almost as if on cue, May's Torchic walked up behind her, nibbling on a cracker she'd found, and looked at everyone, wondering why they looked so shocked.
"…That was an empty Poké Ball," Max muttered.
May screamed, "I CAUGHT IT?!"
Ash tried, and failed, to hold back a laugh, making a strained face as he walked up behind May and patted her back. "Well, looks like you've got a new partner. One more for the road, I guess."
May sighed heavily and walked back to sit down on Lapras's shell. "I don't even know what to be more affected by," she muttered. "Should I be offended? Angry? Or… impressed with myself?"
Ash snorted, failing completely to hold it in this time. He turned away, shoulders shaking. "You one-shot caught a Wailmer without even meaning to. Guess it's not done trolling you."
"That's gotta be some kind of record," Max added, barely holding back a snort, earning a bonk to the head from May.
Ash cleared his throat. "Alright then, let's get moving." He jumped up onto Lapras and rubbed her head. "Onwards, if we wanna get there before it gets dark anyway."
–
{With Ashtwo}
D went on a solo mission over to the Weather Institute. The reason why was simple: D knew there was a hidden Team Magma member hiding there, and it was better to get rid of the problem now before it got annoying later.
Not to mention, it was also nice so that he could start framing Team Aqua a little.
As for the people on the ship, including Matori herself, well, they didn't say anything when he said he was going to "collect information," and he was approved to go on this mission. That was because most of the grunts and Admins were being put on welcoming new members and going out in groups to help them catch Pokémon, since they didn't have their breeding facilities set up yet.
D said, in his own words, he wouldn't be a part of this, saying that it was better if people didn't have to look at him.
Again, him having faked these injuries to make everyone think he was disfigured really paid off. He could get pretty much whatever he wanted. Even with being an Admin, that didn't give him full freedom, but like this, he had a lot more.
Then there was Matori. While she would scold literally anyone for anything given their circumstances, for D she wouldn't raise her voice once, and instead told him to be careful, and that if he needed some resources, she could see what she could do.
And being that he pretty much got to do whatever he wanted, he needed to get some things fixed before everything was settled. So that was also why he made a little detour over to Route 112, where he did a little funny and caught a Numel.
You might wonder why. Well, it's simple, ever wonder where Ash's Carvanha was? Well, it's obvious now, isn't it? He sent it to D. So now he had a Carvanha and a Numel, Team Aqua and Team Magma's signature Pokémon. Perfect for his plans.
But anyway, by now he had gotten to the Weather Institute. Sneaking in was the easy part, it was almost too easy.
D didn't need much to get there, and when he reached a locked door, he just had Porygon-Z take care of it, opening the door. And when one of the doors to a main computer room opened up, D saw a young woman named Millie, a brand-new hire at the institute.
But when she turned around after hearing the door open, D stretched his arm out and had Muk shoot out and grab her, covering her mouth with sludge and slamming her against the wall.
The girl tried to let out a muffled scream in fear, but D's face didn't change as he walked closer, "Oh, drop the act. Honestly, if you're gonna cross-dress, at least do it right."
D reached out and seemingly grabbed her face and pulled it off, but as the face came off, it turned purple, revealing itself to be only a Ditto that was squirming. And the so-called girl was actually a Team Magma grunt named Brodie, a master of disguise.
The Ditto squirmed violently, its purple body rippling as it lost cohesion, limbs stretching and snapping back as it struggled against Muk's grip.
"Ghk—!" Brodie's real voice finally slipped out, strained and panicked.
Muk tightened slightly, just enough to make the message clear.
D stared down at him, unimpressed.
"Relax," D said flatly. "If I wanted you dead, you'd already be a stain on the wall."
The Ditto finally settled, sagging against Muk's sludge-coated arm. Its features reformed, this time into Brodie's true face, sharp-eyed, scruffy, and very much not a nervous new hire.
"You really are sloppy," D continued. "Wrong posture. Wrong breathing. And Millie doesn't lead with her left foot."
Brodie swallowed. "You… you shouldn't be here."
D tilted his head slightly. "And yet, here I am."
He snapped his fingers once.
Muk released him just enough for Brodie to slide down the wall, landing hard on the floor, coughing as he wiped sludge from his face.
"Team Magma thought this place would be quiet," Brodie spat. "Easy intel. No interference."
D crouched down in front of him, eyes level. "Team Magma thinks a lot of things."
Brodie stiffened. "You're not Institute security. You're not Aqua either."
D smiled faintly beneath the shadows of his hood. "Correct."
"Then what do you want?" Brodie grit his teeth.
"That's for me to know," D said, grabbing Brodie by the head and slamming it against the wall, the force knocking him out. "And for you to find out."
D went to Brodie's belt and first pulled out a Poké Ball, returning the Ditto to it. Then he found what he was looking for, a Team Magma communicator. He smirked under the mask; they almost made things too easy for him.
Then he pulled out his own communicator and called base, where Matori picked up. He said simply, "Requesting pickup location. I've captured a Team Magma member."
Matori didn't respond right away. There was a brief pause on the line, the faint hum of a ship's engine in the background. "…Understood," she finally said. "Transmit your coordinates. A retrieval unit will be dispatched immediately."
"Make sure it's discreet," D added.
A soft exhale came through the communicator. "Of course," Matori replied. "And… good work. Don't push yourself."
D didn't respond to that.
He cut the line, clipped the communicator back onto his belt, and nodded once to Muk. The sludge Pokémon slid back into his sleeve as D grabbed Brodie and pulled him over his shoulder.
He then went to the window he'd jumped in through and climbed out, making sure Porygon-Z deleted the footage from the cameras of him being there. Then he jumped out to head back to base.
—
A while later, back at the base, Jay, Enid, Helena, and Domino were sitting in the cafeteria. Sayoko didn't sit with them, she was an Admin and had duties to take care of, like training new recruits. There was food in front of them, but none of them were really eating. At the end of their table was another empty seat, like they were expecting someone they knew wasn't coming.
They had watched when D left. They couldn't really say anything at the time, I mean, what could they say? Beg him to take them on his mission? They didn't even know if D hated them or not.
"He didn't even look back," Jay muttered eventually.
Enid flinched slightly, then sighed. "He never does."
"That's worse," Domino said flatly. "Looking back means you acknowledge people exist."
Helena finally spoke, her voice calm but tight. "You're assuming he doesn't want to."
Jay laughed weakly. "You're assuming he does."
Silence fell again.
A few tables over, new recruits laughed too loudly, still riding the high of being accepted, still thinking Team Rocket was just cool uniforms and easy money. Jay watched them for a moment, then looked back down at his tray.
"…Do you think he meant it?" he asked quietly.
No one needed clarification.
Enid swallowed. "I keep telling myself it was the mask. Or the control device. Or whatever they said it was." Her fingers curled around her cup. "But he knew exactly what to say. He knew where it hurt."
Domino's jaw tightened. "People say things they don't mean all the time."
"Maybe… I like to think that he didn't mean it… but I don't know…" Helena muttered.
Then a voice pulled them out of their trance. "Hey, is this seat taken?"
They quickly looked up, but it wasn't D. Life wasn't a fairytale. No, it was actually one of the beasts, Orm, holding a Shuckle in one arm and a tray of food in the other.
"I—um, sure, I guess," Jay said, almost by instinct.
Orm settled into the chair with a soft metal creak, carefully setting his tray down like it was fragile glassware instead of standard-issue cafeteria junk. The Shuckle in his arm made a happy, low chuckle sound as he scratched under its shell rim.
"There we go," he murmured, slow and gentle, scratching under Shuckle's chin. The Pokémon let out a pleased little shk-shk noise.
For a bit, no one spoke.
Orm didn't rush it. He never did.
After a few moments, he looked up, blinking once as if only now realizing the mood. "…You kids look like someone canceled your birthday."
Jay snorted despite himself. "That obvious?"
Orm nodded. "Mm. You're not eatin'. Food's good today." He paused, considering. "Well. Good-ish. But still."
Domino glanced at the empty seat at the end of the table, then back to Orm. "You saw him leave."
Orm's large shoulders shifted slightly. "Yeah. Saw D go." He said the name carefully, like it was fragile. "Quiet as always."
Enid hesitated, then asked softly, "Does he… ever talk to you?"
Orm scratched his beard, thinking. Shuckle climbed a little higher up his arm, settling against his shoulder like a loaf of bread.
"Sometimes," he said. "Not much. But he listens."
Jay frowned. "That's it? He listens?"
Orm nodded again. "That's more than most people do." The words landed heavier than expected.
Helena leaned forward a bit. "Did we… do something wrong?"
Orm looked genuinely surprised by that. "No," he said, a little firmer than before. "Don't think that way."
Domino crossed her arms. "Then why does it feel like he hates us?"
Orm went quiet. Not awkward-quiet. Thinking-quiet.
After a moment, he spoke again, slower than usual. "You ever see a Mightyena that's been hurt bad?"
Jay blinked. "Uh… yeah?"
"They don't snarl first," Orm continued. "They back off. Keep distance. Watch everything. Not 'cause they hate the pack. 'Cause they're scared they'll hurt it, or get hurt again."
Enid's grip tightened on her cup.
"You're saying D is scared?" Domino asked skeptically.
Orm shrugged, a massive, rolling motion. "Scared. Angry. Tired. All same bucket sometimes." He looked down at Shuckle and smiled faintly. "World hits you enough times, you stop lettin' it get close."
Jay swallowed. "…He said some things."
Orm nodded slowly. "Yeah. People do that when they're bleeding inside and don't know where to put it."
Helena's voice was barely above a whisper. "So what should we do?"
Orm looked up at them again, expression calm, "You don't chase him," he said. "And you don't pretend it didn't hurt."
They listened.
"You just… stay," Orm finished. "Be where you've always been. If he comes back, good. If he doesn't…" He shrugged again. "That's his road to walk. But at least he'll know where home is."
There was a long pause.
Jay let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "…You're really bad at pep talks."
Orm smiled. "Yeah. But I mean 'em."
Shuckle made a happy noise, and Orm immediately resumed scratching under its chin. "See? Shuckle agrees."
Domino snorted. "Of course it does."
Enid managed a small smile.
—
Meanwhile, in the cargo bay, the doors opened as D walked in, carrying Brodie over his shoulder like dead weight. Hardened Muk sludge restrained his arms and legs, boots scraping weakly against the deck as D walked. The man was conscious now, barely, groaning through a split lip, eyes unfocused and furious.
At the far end of the bay, Matori stood waiting, flanked by Proton, Petrel, and Archer.
Matori straightened the moment she saw D emerge. For the briefest moment, relief crossed her face. It vanished just as quickly, replaced by her usual steel-edged composure.
"You're back sooner than expected," she said evenly, stepping forward.
"Like I said, I already secured the target I found. I found him over at the Weather Institute, probably trying to steal information on the artificial weather. It was easy to locate him."
The Magma grunt hit the floor with a dull thud and a sharp groan.
Proton winced. "Oof. That's gotta hurt."
Petrel leaned forward slightly. "That a Ditto disguise?" He could tell by the faint trace on Brodie's face; as the disguise expert, he knew all about this at a glance.
"Yes," D said. "Confiscated."
Petrel nodded approvingly. After all, he was a little salty when people tried to copy what he was best at, so he decided to teach this wannabe a lesson as he started analyzing Brodie's face.
Matori didn't react. She stood and looked back at D. "Anything else?"
D reached into his coat and produced the Team Magma communicator, dropping it into her hand. "Found this on him. Active frequency. Unencrypted," he said. "I took the liberty of hacking it, untraceable to us as well."
Matori nodded and closed her fingers around the device. "We'll make use of this."
She studied D for a moment longer than necessary.
"You're not injured?" she asked.
"No," he answered immediately.
She didn't believe him, but she didn't push.
Instead, she straightened and turned to the executives. "Archer, have the prisoner transferred to secure holding. Full isolation. No insignia visible."
Archer nodded. "Understood."
"Proton, Petrel, prepare a response packet," Matori continued. "I want Aqua-coded interference seeded through that communicator within the hour."
"If I may," D started, "I feel like Petrel could be used for a far more valuable project."
Petrel blinked and looked around like there was another Petrel nearby, then pointed at himself. "You mean me?"
"Yes. I'm sure you noticed, Petrel already managed to copy the prisoner's face."
"Of course I did! Observe," Petrel said, waving his hand as his face immediately changed into an exact copy of Brodie's. It was important to note, just because he had a Ditto didn't mean he needed one, he was a master at this even without one
D nodded. "Then I suggest we send Executive Petrel to infiltrate Team Magma, gather information, and also plant information for us."
No one really had an objection to the plan, and now that they thought about it, why hadn't they thought of using Petrel's skills like this before? He was usually called the most useless Executive because his skill set wasn't combat-related, but if this worked, he would become far more valuable.
Petrel laughed and threw an arm around D. "Ha! I knew I liked you when I saw you. Haha, that's a great plan!"
Matori nodded, though she seemed irritated as she coughed into her hand. "Yes. We can send the transfer immediately," she said, almost emphasizing immediately.
Petrel blinked and let go of D's shoulder. "Alright. I'll get ready and go as soon as possible."
Matori nodded as Petrel turned and walked out. She then turned back to D and took a breath. "Go and get some rest. You earned it."
D nodded and said, "Thanks," before turning and leaving, to prepare for the next step of his plan.