Kai swiftly put the two grunts in handcuffs as he and Eric advanced forward.
On the way, Kai 'politely' asked the two grunts to fill him in on the situation.
"A senior officer, huh…" Kai frowned.
Senior Officers of Team Rocket were at the bare minimum Advanced Level trainers.
Eric didn't know what that rank entailed, but he could pretty much guess based on Kai's expression.
"Things might get dangerous from here. Are you sure you want to come?"
Kai turned to Eric and asked.
"I came all the way here, might as well go all the way."
Eric shrugged.
"Fine then. Let's hurry."
---
On the other side, Officer Jenny was engaged in a fierce fight against Viper.
Both of them were evenly matched.
"Arcanine, Flare Blitz!"
"Ignore it, Skarmory. Continue attacking Alakazam."
Viper was particularly focussed on taking down Alakazam. Both his Scizor and Skarmory targeted it, leaving Arcanine free to attack.
He didn't mind sacrificing both of them if it meant taking down Alakazam, however. That way he could have his Psychic-type Pokémon use teleport.
Skarmory shot towards Alakazam who was engaged in a fight with Scizor and hit it with Steel Wing. It was then hit by a Flare Blitz from Arcanine, and lost consciousness.
But Alakazam wasn't doing good, as Scizor followed up and struck wigim with X-Scissor, knocking it down.
"Well, it has been fun. You are stronger than expected, so I am taking my leave."
Viper said calmly as he unclasped another Poke Ball, releasing a Kadabra.
"Hold it! I won't let you escape!"
Officer Jenny shouted, to which Viper just sighed.
"You've gained a little of my respect in this battle. Don't throw it away by making such dumb statements."
He said disapprovingly as he recalled all his Pokémon and ordered Kadabra to initiate teleport.
'Such a shame… I had wanted to do a few more experiments here today. Oh well…'
Viper then vanished without a trace.
"Damn!"
Office Jenny shouted in frustration. It was rare for her, but letting Team Rocket escape and having all her efforts wasted… it was a heavy blow.
"Don't be so down, Ma'am. Those two grunts might not have escaped far. Let's chase after them."
Brax said, trying to cheer her up a bit.
It was at this point that Kai and Eric arrived on the scene.
"What happened to the senior officer?"
Hearing Kai's voice, Jenny and the other two turned around.
They saw Kai and Eric walk towards them, a Machoke at their side, dragging the two grunts with him.
"Kai! You caught them?!" Jenny's eyes lit up.
"Bahahaha! Atta boy, kid!"
Brax ran up to him and patted his back as he laughed delightedly.
After getting Brax to stop, Kai responded, "Yes. We figured it would be better to approach from this side. This way we could corner them easily."
Kai then looked around.
"What happened to the Senior Officer?"
"He escaped, unfortunately. But thanks to you, we at least caught these two. I would be depressed otherwise, so good job, Kai. You as well, Eric."
"It's no trouble. We couldn't have done it if you hadn't weakened them first."
Kai was humble as ever.
"Tch- Dammit! How the hell did you people even know we were here? There weren't supposed to be any trails."
"That's none of your business." Jenny shot them a look as she walked towards them.
"Now then - have you two prepared yourself? I will have you pay for every single one of your crimes."
Jenny smiled kindly, but the grunts felt no kindness at all. All they could see was a demon standing before them - especially the one Jenny had beaten up earlier.
"Well, that wraps up this incident," Jenny said, turning back to the group. "We'll get all the information we need from them back at the station during interrogation. Good job, everyone. And Eric - thanks again for helping out."
"No worries." Eric nodded. "But now that we're done here, I'll be taking my leave."
Now that the grunts were caught, he had no interest in staying here. He had only involved himself because he couldn't forgive Pokémon being experimented on.
"Aren't you going to come with us to celebrate?" Brax said from the side.
"You are heading back to Pewter City, right? I'm going to Cerulean. I can't derail it, so maybe next time."
"It can't be helped then. Do visit the station if you come to Pewter City again. My name's Olvia, by the way. Don't confuse me with the other Jennys."
Olvia gave him a wink as she shook his hand.
"Also - here. This is all I have that I can give you right now. It'll help with this little fellow. Consider it a reward for your help."
She said, handing over a tier-2 Fire Crystal to Eric as she patted Growlithe's head.
Eric, of course, wouldn't refuse freebies, so he instantly pocketed it.
"It was nice working with you, Eric. I especially enjoyed our conversation."
"Likewise."
They both shook hands, leaving a lot unsaid as they appraised each other.
After saying his goodbyes, both parties went their separate ways.
Eric gave a fleeting glance towards the group - particularly at Kai, as they were about to disappear from his field of view.
There was something suspicious about him, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
He didn't know how much of their conversation was fake and how much was real, but one thing was sure. He hadn't been completely truthful.
Well, Eric didn't care much either way. He doubted he would run into him again.
---
After returning to Pewter City, Kai had excused himself from the group to make a call.
If you noticed Kai now, you wouldn't notice any of his friendly persona.
"Yes, it went well. Now my position in the league will be even more solid."
"***"
"No, it was all thanks to you for sacrificing two members and providing me the trail. "
"***"
"I'm not worried about someone like Viper."
"***"
"Yes, leave it to me. In any case, I now have more room to maneuver."
Click.
After ending the call, Kai stood still for a moment, adjusting his expression back to the warm one he used with the league.
It turned out he was a member of Team Rocket all along!
They had sacrificed 2 members to solidify his position in the league - members who had valuable information about one of Team Rocket's senior officers.
This was done because Kai had proven himself to Giovanni.
And because Viper was acting out. This was killing two birds with one stone.
---
"Kai! What took you so long? We were just about to head over to Larry's for a feast!"
"I was just on a call."
"You're done now, right? Then let's go! Miss Jenny and Lax are waiting."
"Sure, let's go."
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