Thrilling heist underway. Pls enjoy: six parts of criminal madness, brilliantly crafted by our six lovely authors, and strap in for the crime of the century!
Silver crept through the secure facility, eyes on the lookout for any guards. This wasn't a high-stakes job, but it was one he sought to complete. His closest friend had assigned it to him, after all.
Speaking of, Green's voice crackled over his earpiece. "Silver, you made it in?" she asked.
"Yes, I have," SIlver responded, before ducking behind a crate of odd rainbow powder. A label on it callled it "Emera Dust".
"Great! Now, you gotta be careful. There's all sorts of security here. Guards, traps, even strange orbs that can freeze you in place or knock you out in an instant," Green said.
"Sounds like bad news," Silver responded.
"That's not even half of it," Green added. "Apparently the place is enchanted somehow, because it keeps shifting layout. And if you stay too long in it, you get blown out by some sort of mysterious wind."
"Got it. One chance, right?" Silver said.
"One chance," Green answered. "Good luck, Silver."
Silver rushed forward, darting behind all sorts of objects on his way to the vault. Life-size statues of Pokemon, particularly ones of Khangaskhan. Piles and piles of cookies that were cold to the touch, yet smelled as if they were baked just five minutes ago. More boxes, filled with more "emera dust".
Eventually, Silver came to the vaullt room. Now, just to crack it open.
...actually, first, he had one thing to check.
"Green, what's in this vault?" Silver asked.
"A portal," Green answered. "To someplace called the 'world of mystery dungeons'."
“Dungeon–s? With an s?” Silver inquired, tilting his head in confusion.
Green’s expression didn’t change. “Yep. It leads to multiple dungeons. Each of which are locked by another heavily-barred doorway.”
Silver stopped working on the vault, crossing his arms and looking up at Green. “What? Are you kidding me?”
Green raised an eyebrow and pointed at the vault. “Chop chop, Silver, we don’t have all day.”
Silver rolled his eyes and continued to work on the combination lock. “So you’re telling me you led me down this wild goose chase, just to open the portal to another wild goose chase?”
Silver’s Cyndaquil looked up at Green as well with a slightly uneasy expression. “Cyndaquil?”
Green chuckled, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Think of it as an adventure within an adventure, guys. Besides, you'll thank me once you see what lies beyond those doors."
As Silver spun the vault's combination lock, he couldn't help but feel a mixture of excitement and skepticism. "Adventure, huh? You and your 'adventures' always end up being more trouble than they're worth."
The final click of the lock echoed through the room, and with a dramatic flourish, Silver swung the vault door open. Inside, a swirling vortex of energy awaited them, casting an eerie glow across their faces.
"Alright, here goes nothing," Green muttered, stepping closer to the mysterious portal. She turned to Silver and put a finger to her lips. “Before we go in, make sure to keep discrete and blend in. The people in there are going to look like us, but they won’t act like us. Stay quiet and adapt.”
Silver nodded. “In that case, Cyndaquil, return.” With a flash of red light, the little fire Pokémon disappeared into Silver’s Pokéball.
With that, the two trainers stepped into the swirling gateway, leaving behind the world they knew and venturing into the enigmatic realm of mystery dungeons. As they disappeared, the vault's heavy door slowly swung shut behind them, and they were blinded in a bright white light.
In an instant, Green and Silver found themselves tumbling through a chaotic maelstrom of colors and energies. It felt as if they were being spun, stretched, and compressed all at once, and their senses were overwhelmed by the swirling vortex.
When the insanity finally calmed, they crashed onto a hard, tiled floor a thud. Groaning, they staggered to their feet, disoriented. As their surroundings gradually came into focus, they realized they were in a place unlike any they had ever seen.
The towering walls of glass and steel extended infinitely in all directions, illuminated by the soft glow of artificial lights. A cacophony of voices, footsteps, and laughter filled the air, creating a vibrant symphony of sound. Lush greenery adorned every corner in this indoor space, and a tall glass ceiling allowed streams of natural light to fill the space they were in.
At every corner were openings in the walls with signs above them, and people filtered in and out at a constant rate, carrying a variety of colorful things on their way out.
Green and Silver exchanged bewildered glances, and it was Silver who broke the silence. "Where are we?" He looked around wildly, trying to focus through the overstimulation of sights and sounds.
However, it was Green who found it first. She pointed at a sign beside them, with arrows indicating that it was the location.
Mall of America, Minnesota
She looked at Silver, wide-eyed. “The vault portal took us here? That must mean the treasure is here somewhere…but how are we supposed to find it?”
Silver shrugged. “Green, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Johto anymore.”
Green sighed exaggeratedly. “You think I couldn’t tell? Come on, I’m gonna need help.”
Silver glanced over the side of the glass railing, scowling at the four floors of chaos and way too many kids and noise. “I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”
“You won’t be regretting it once we’ve got that treasure,” Green said matter-of-factly, pulling out a Pokéball.
Silver tensed up suddenly. Hang on—was he just imagining things, or was there something off about this place…
“Green, wait,” he said sharply, holding an arm in front of her.
“Whaaaat?”
“Look around us. Notice anything strange?”
Green raised an eyebrow before giving a halfhearted look at their surroundings. “Some kind of moose-themed mini-golf?” she said with a shrug.
Silver put a hand to his forehead. “Not that.” (He’d been trying to avoid meeting the moose’s eye…) “I’m talking about how no one has any Pokémon out.”
Green blinked at him for a few seconds, then turned to look more closely at everyone around them. There was no way… not one? Ske kept expecting to see a Sentret hopping after a kid, or some fancy old lady with a purse Snubbull, or a big ol’ Arcanine standing guard. There really were none…
“Well, all the better! Maybe no one trains Pokémon in this place—that just means no one can fight us for the treasure.”
SIlver folded his arms. “That or maybe there are no Pokémon in this world.”
“Pshh… you might as well say there’s no air,” Green said, waving an arm dismissively.
It did seem like a ridiculous notion, but Silver couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something deeply wrong with this place.
“I’m leaving you behiiiiiind,” Green sang, walking off in what was most likely a random direction.
Silver sighed heavily before walking quickly to catch up with her. “So what’s your plan for finding the treasure?”
“Obviously we have to investigate all of these attractions—any one of them could be hiding our prize!” Green exclaimed.
“You just want an excuse to go on a bunch of rides,” Silver deadpanned.
“Who knows,” Green replied innocently. “C’mon, let’s go.”
-----
The day was way, way too long, in Silver’s opinion. Green dragged him to a half-dozen way-too-loud and crowded locales inside this cursed place that never ended (and these people called this a mall?!). Naturally, she managed to find ways to get in without paying, but that was only a small comfort. The sooner they could get out of here, the better.
The pair found themselves in some kind of indoor park plastered with logos of orange slime and inhabited by kids screaming about obnoxious cartoon characters. Silver was just about at his wits' end. Even though he’d been the one to caution Green against using any Pokémon, he was just about to let Feraligatr out to bite the head off that talking yellow—
“Silver, that’s it, that’s got to be the treasure!” Green hissed, pointing at a glinting gold-and-silver ball—Pokéball—sitting innocently on top of what appeared to be a pineapple that was also a house.
“Great,” Silver replied, desperately hoping their quest was nearly over, “so how do we get it down from there without looking suspicious?”
Green flashed a mysterious grin. “You’ll see.”
-------
Robert Richards III took pride in being one of the town’s premier gentlemen.
He was chairman of the country club, he gave millions to selected charities, his daily strolls through town involved a trusty custom-tailored top hat and a cane with a grip just inconvenient enough to make it clear he prioritized style over comfort. He had carefully sculpted his mustache into refined twirls. He had hosted the president himself at his mansion, not once but twice.
On this particular afternoon’s stroll, he had greeted several of the more well-to-do ladies of town, given one of their dogs a modest pat on the head, and exchanged amiable small talk with one man about the weather. It was a perfectly acceptable stroll, he thought. All in a day’s work.
The pineapple house was, admittedly, one he never looked forward to passing. The owner had managed to dodge the housing association and build something so uncultured, so out of place, so glaringly out of line, that it devalued the entire neighborhood, and yet no one seemed to have the legal grounds to kick him out or force him to change it.
This time, though, something was different. He squinted up into the leaves of the pineapple (really horrid, garish plastic, of course).
“Just what are you two youngsters doing?”
“Antenna repair, sir!” called the brunette girl climbing in the leaves. She looked hardly old enough to be working as a repairwoman, but she did wear a very convincing pair of overalls, covered with dangling tools. “TV reception’s not going great in there, it seems.”
Robert sniffed. “Well, it’s probably because of these dreadful leaves. Honestly!”
“Right you are, sir,” the repairwoman said, saluting him. “Ought to cut them down, but the owner wants us to fix the antennae and retrieve some trash that’s gotten tangled in all this.” She reached a hand up between the fronds, gingerly pulling out something that glinted – a piece of scrap metal, perhaps.
“And you, young man?” he asked the boy climbing the other side. “Your clothes are hardly suited to a repairman. A punk jacket? Honestly!”
“I… Ah, I just…”
The boy had a most unfortunate haircut as well, long red locks that had already tangled in the fake leaves of the house. In fact, he seemed stuck up there, no proper repairman, face flushed with embarrassment. “Young lady, it seems your compatriot has gotten himself into trouble. You ought to watch out for him more.”
“He’s new,” the girl said with a casual wave of her hand. “Got to learn the ropes somehow, y’know? Otherwise we can’t renew the workforce. Comes with the trade.”
She took a screwdriver out of her pocket, very professionally, and decisively began to apply it to something just out of sight behind a plastic leaf. The boy looked away, grimacing. “Yeah. New.”
“Well, I hope that this convinces the owner that the deeply unorthodox shape of this house is nothing but trouble, for him and everyone else!”
“I’m sure, I’m sure,” said the girl. “We will pass on the message. A good day to you, sir!”
Robert nodded firmly, raising a hand. “And likewise, young lady.”
With that, Robert walked away, humming to himself in the hope that perhaps, perhaps, things might begin to change for this beleaguered neighborhood.
-------
“I’ve got it,” Green whispered from the other side of the blasted pineapple leaves.
“So what was even the point of me going up here with you?” Silver grumbled, beginning to climb down.
“You’ve got to play along! What, you think it’d look good if a repairman was doing their thing while someone else is on the ground staring at them? Don’t tell me you didn’t learn that from your dad.”
“I didn’t learn much from my dad,” Silver muttered, finally getting himself loose.
“Come on,” Green said, clapping a hand on his back. “We got the GS Ball. Now all we have to do is report back to Professor Ivy.”
Right. Silver tried to focus. Now that the subject of his dad had come up, his mind kept trying to wander back to thefts botched, battles lost, and Giovanni's caustic disappointment in his son's failure to manifest criminal competence.
He couldn't think about that now. They needed to get out of here and get the GS Ball back to Professor Ivy. That was all that mattered.
Fortunately for someone trying to distract himself, Green was about the most distracting person in Kanto. "You really need to lighten up! Have a little fun with it! Come on, we're stealing the legendary GS Ball from Team Rocket! How cool is that?"
She released her blastoise, who at a quick gesture shot a hole straight through the wall in front of them. Alarms began to blare. "Nice work, Blasty!"
"Wh--Green!"
"Come on, it doesn't matter! We'll be out of here before anybody shows up!" Green ran on ahead, laughing. Blasty pulverized every barrier that got in her way.
Silver hurried after, yelling complaints that Green blithely ignored. Up stairs, through a couple more walls, and out onto the roof, into blazing sun that glittered back from Saffron skyscrapers all around. Green climbed onto Blasty's back, ready to jet off to safety.
"Not bad for your first big heist, huh?" she asked, grinning wildly. Silver reached up to take the hand she offered him, and--
"I didn’t learn much from my dad," Silver muttered, finally getting himself loose.
"Come on," Green said, clapping a hand on his back. "We got the GS Ball. Now all we have to do is report back to Professor Ivy."
Silver swayed. What was--? He put a hand to his head. Everything felt too bright, hazy at the edges. Sounds swam in and out through static.
"...Come on, we're stealing the legendary GS Ball from Team Rocket! How cool is that?" The flash of the pokéball release. Silver flinched at the roar of water and shattering concrete. "Good work, Blasty!"
"Green... Wait..."
"Come on, it doesn't matter! We'll be out of here before anybody shows up!" She was off and running.
"Wait!" Silver yelled after her, but of course she didn't listen. "Green, Wait!"
Up stairs. There were blastoise-shaped holes in the next couple walls, giving a view out to summer sun and Saffron skyline. The noise of helicopter rotors and distant car horns drifted through.
Green was waiting on Blasty's shoulders. "Not bad for your first big heist, huh?" She stretched out a hand--
"I didn’t learn much from my dad," Silver muttered, finally getting himself loose.
"Come on," Green said, clapping a hand on his back. "We got the GS Ball. Now all we have to do is report back to Professor Ivy."
This time Silver was almost prepared. There was a moment of vertigo, like he was seeing down through every iteration of this moment, a thousand thousand repetitions flickering and then gone in an instant.
Silver reached for his belt. There was the GS Ball. We're trying to help you! he thought at it, uselessly. The next pokéball along was what he wanted. "Nyula! Keep that ball from opening!"
"Ow! Hey!" Green yanked her hand away as Nyula swatted Blasty's pokéball to the floor. "Come on, Silver. We're almost there! Why are you being so weird about this?"
So close. Only a couple flimsy walls separated them from the sunlight and the flight back to Professor Ivy's lab. "The GS Ball has a trap on it, Green! Unless we break the time loop, we'll never get out of here!"
Green fowned, putting her knuckle to her mouth as she considered this. Then she laughed.
"Well if it's just a time loop, we have all the time we need to find a way out! Right?"
Elaine stared at her desperately, her face – and Eevee's face – crestfallen as always at Green's complacency. Between them, there was only the GS Ball, back on its stand as it had been when they'd arrived, that stand that was so out of place in a Team Rocket facility... It looked like an hourglass, counting the seconds until they got caught. (Again). Counting the seconds before they'd be separated by more than just a few yards of air and a weird sculpture. Behind her, she could hear the thumping boots of Rocket grunts coming their way, earlier this time than in the last loop.
"No, Green! That last loop was slightly shorter than last time, I'm sure of it! There's no way we can break down these walls or sprint our way out of the base in less time than our first two attempts, and I'm already exhausted..." (Meanwhile, of course, Green hadn't broken a sweat...) "If it keeps shrinking... What if we get caught when it stops looping? Or we just stop existing, written out of time itself??"
Green put on another devlish grin and waved away the possibility. "See, this is why you need me around. To keep a cool head and not waste time thinking about stuff like that! Come on, something has to be causing the loop, right? We just gotta find it, and mess it up!"
Elaine looked around, scratching the back of her head in uncertainty. "How do you mess up a time loop...? If it's Celebi's powers from inside the GS Ball, and we can't even open it, then..."
Green's eyes flashed, and she clenched a fist in a confident pose. For a moment, Elaine worried Green was going to suggest smashing the ball...
"That's it! They must be forcing Celebi to use its powers! And how do Rockets force pokémon to use their powers?"
Of course! From the strength-forcing radio wave project, to the Mewtwo limiter suit, to the power plant pods. Team Rocket used technology. Every time, it was big stupid machines! But where was one in this room...?
She tried seeing the room, in all its joyless, sinister black and gunmetal gray, with fresh eyes. Where would they put a device that induced a localised timeloop...?
"There!" cried Elaine, pointing at the giant hourglass. "The timeloop machine has been right beneath the GS Ball this whole time!"
Green reached for a pokéball, her delighted face forecasting imminent destruction, and a hair-raising getaway to follow...
Bench
Chibi Pika
Dragonfree
Jackie/unrepentantAuthor
Junebug
Negrek
Chibi Pika
Dragonfree
Jackie/unrepentantAuthor
Junebug
Negrek
PART ONE
Silver crept through the secure facility, eyes on the lookout for any guards. This wasn't a high-stakes job, but it was one he sought to complete. His closest friend had assigned it to him, after all.
Speaking of, Green's voice crackled over his earpiece. "Silver, you made it in?" she asked.
"Yes, I have," SIlver responded, before ducking behind a crate of odd rainbow powder. A label on it callled it "Emera Dust".
"Great! Now, you gotta be careful. There's all sorts of security here. Guards, traps, even strange orbs that can freeze you in place or knock you out in an instant," Green said.
"Sounds like bad news," Silver responded.
"That's not even half of it," Green added. "Apparently the place is enchanted somehow, because it keeps shifting layout. And if you stay too long in it, you get blown out by some sort of mysterious wind."
"Got it. One chance, right?" Silver said.
"One chance," Green answered. "Good luck, Silver."
Silver rushed forward, darting behind all sorts of objects on his way to the vault. Life-size statues of Pokemon, particularly ones of Khangaskhan. Piles and piles of cookies that were cold to the touch, yet smelled as if they were baked just five minutes ago. More boxes, filled with more "emera dust".
Eventually, Silver came to the vaullt room. Now, just to crack it open.
...actually, first, he had one thing to check.
"Green, what's in this vault?" Silver asked.
"A portal," Green answered. "To someplace called the 'world of mystery dungeons'."
Author: Bench
PART TWO
“Dungeon–s? With an s?” Silver inquired, tilting his head in confusion.
Green’s expression didn’t change. “Yep. It leads to multiple dungeons. Each of which are locked by another heavily-barred doorway.”
Silver stopped working on the vault, crossing his arms and looking up at Green. “What? Are you kidding me?”
Green raised an eyebrow and pointed at the vault. “Chop chop, Silver, we don’t have all day.”
Silver rolled his eyes and continued to work on the combination lock. “So you’re telling me you led me down this wild goose chase, just to open the portal to another wild goose chase?”
Silver’s Cyndaquil looked up at Green as well with a slightly uneasy expression. “Cyndaquil?”
Green chuckled, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Think of it as an adventure within an adventure, guys. Besides, you'll thank me once you see what lies beyond those doors."
As Silver spun the vault's combination lock, he couldn't help but feel a mixture of excitement and skepticism. "Adventure, huh? You and your 'adventures' always end up being more trouble than they're worth."
The final click of the lock echoed through the room, and with a dramatic flourish, Silver swung the vault door open. Inside, a swirling vortex of energy awaited them, casting an eerie glow across their faces.
"Alright, here goes nothing," Green muttered, stepping closer to the mysterious portal. She turned to Silver and put a finger to her lips. “Before we go in, make sure to keep discrete and blend in. The people in there are going to look like us, but they won’t act like us. Stay quiet and adapt.”
Silver nodded. “In that case, Cyndaquil, return.” With a flash of red light, the little fire Pokémon disappeared into Silver’s Pokéball.
With that, the two trainers stepped into the swirling gateway, leaving behind the world they knew and venturing into the enigmatic realm of mystery dungeons. As they disappeared, the vault's heavy door slowly swung shut behind them, and they were blinded in a bright white light.
In an instant, Green and Silver found themselves tumbling through a chaotic maelstrom of colors and energies. It felt as if they were being spun, stretched, and compressed all at once, and their senses were overwhelmed by the swirling vortex.
When the insanity finally calmed, they crashed onto a hard, tiled floor a thud. Groaning, they staggered to their feet, disoriented. As their surroundings gradually came into focus, they realized they were in a place unlike any they had ever seen.
The towering walls of glass and steel extended infinitely in all directions, illuminated by the soft glow of artificial lights. A cacophony of voices, footsteps, and laughter filled the air, creating a vibrant symphony of sound. Lush greenery adorned every corner in this indoor space, and a tall glass ceiling allowed streams of natural light to fill the space they were in.
At every corner were openings in the walls with signs above them, and people filtered in and out at a constant rate, carrying a variety of colorful things on their way out.
Green and Silver exchanged bewildered glances, and it was Silver who broke the silence. "Where are we?" He looked around wildly, trying to focus through the overstimulation of sights and sounds.
However, it was Green who found it first. She pointed at a sign beside them, with arrows indicating that it was the location.
Mall of America, Minnesota
She looked at Silver, wide-eyed. “The vault portal took us here? That must mean the treasure is here somewhere…but how are we supposed to find it?”
Silver shrugged. “Green, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Johto anymore.”
Author: Junebug
PART THREE
Green sighed exaggeratedly. “You think I couldn’t tell? Come on, I’m gonna need help.”
Silver glanced over the side of the glass railing, scowling at the four floors of chaos and way too many kids and noise. “I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”
“You won’t be regretting it once we’ve got that treasure,” Green said matter-of-factly, pulling out a Pokéball.
Silver tensed up suddenly. Hang on—was he just imagining things, or was there something off about this place…
“Green, wait,” he said sharply, holding an arm in front of her.
“Whaaaat?”
“Look around us. Notice anything strange?”
Green raised an eyebrow before giving a halfhearted look at their surroundings. “Some kind of moose-themed mini-golf?” she said with a shrug.
Silver put a hand to his forehead. “Not that.” (He’d been trying to avoid meeting the moose’s eye…) “I’m talking about how no one has any Pokémon out.”
Green blinked at him for a few seconds, then turned to look more closely at everyone around them. There was no way… not one? Ske kept expecting to see a Sentret hopping after a kid, or some fancy old lady with a purse Snubbull, or a big ol’ Arcanine standing guard. There really were none…
“Well, all the better! Maybe no one trains Pokémon in this place—that just means no one can fight us for the treasure.”
SIlver folded his arms. “That or maybe there are no Pokémon in this world.”
“Pshh… you might as well say there’s no air,” Green said, waving an arm dismissively.
It did seem like a ridiculous notion, but Silver couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something deeply wrong with this place.
“I’m leaving you behiiiiiind,” Green sang, walking off in what was most likely a random direction.
Silver sighed heavily before walking quickly to catch up with her. “So what’s your plan for finding the treasure?”
“Obviously we have to investigate all of these attractions—any one of them could be hiding our prize!” Green exclaimed.
“You just want an excuse to go on a bunch of rides,” Silver deadpanned.
“Who knows,” Green replied innocently. “C’mon, let’s go.”
-----
The day was way, way too long, in Silver’s opinion. Green dragged him to a half-dozen way-too-loud and crowded locales inside this cursed place that never ended (and these people called this a mall?!). Naturally, she managed to find ways to get in without paying, but that was only a small comfort. The sooner they could get out of here, the better.
The pair found themselves in some kind of indoor park plastered with logos of orange slime and inhabited by kids screaming about obnoxious cartoon characters. Silver was just about at his wits' end. Even though he’d been the one to caution Green against using any Pokémon, he was just about to let Feraligatr out to bite the head off that talking yellow—
“Silver, that’s it, that’s got to be the treasure!” Green hissed, pointing at a glinting gold-and-silver ball—Pokéball—sitting innocently on top of what appeared to be a pineapple that was also a house.
“Great,” Silver replied, desperately hoping their quest was nearly over, “so how do we get it down from there without looking suspicious?”
Author: Chibi Pika
PART FOUR
Green flashed a mysterious grin. “You’ll see.”
-------
Robert Richards III took pride in being one of the town’s premier gentlemen.
He was chairman of the country club, he gave millions to selected charities, his daily strolls through town involved a trusty custom-tailored top hat and a cane with a grip just inconvenient enough to make it clear he prioritized style over comfort. He had carefully sculpted his mustache into refined twirls. He had hosted the president himself at his mansion, not once but twice.
On this particular afternoon’s stroll, he had greeted several of the more well-to-do ladies of town, given one of their dogs a modest pat on the head, and exchanged amiable small talk with one man about the weather. It was a perfectly acceptable stroll, he thought. All in a day’s work.
The pineapple house was, admittedly, one he never looked forward to passing. The owner had managed to dodge the housing association and build something so uncultured, so out of place, so glaringly out of line, that it devalued the entire neighborhood, and yet no one seemed to have the legal grounds to kick him out or force him to change it.
This time, though, something was different. He squinted up into the leaves of the pineapple (really horrid, garish plastic, of course).
“Just what are you two youngsters doing?”
“Antenna repair, sir!” called the brunette girl climbing in the leaves. She looked hardly old enough to be working as a repairwoman, but she did wear a very convincing pair of overalls, covered with dangling tools. “TV reception’s not going great in there, it seems.”
Robert sniffed. “Well, it’s probably because of these dreadful leaves. Honestly!”
“Right you are, sir,” the repairwoman said, saluting him. “Ought to cut them down, but the owner wants us to fix the antennae and retrieve some trash that’s gotten tangled in all this.” She reached a hand up between the fronds, gingerly pulling out something that glinted – a piece of scrap metal, perhaps.
“And you, young man?” he asked the boy climbing the other side. “Your clothes are hardly suited to a repairman. A punk jacket? Honestly!”
“I… Ah, I just…”
The boy had a most unfortunate haircut as well, long red locks that had already tangled in the fake leaves of the house. In fact, he seemed stuck up there, no proper repairman, face flushed with embarrassment. “Young lady, it seems your compatriot has gotten himself into trouble. You ought to watch out for him more.”
“He’s new,” the girl said with a casual wave of her hand. “Got to learn the ropes somehow, y’know? Otherwise we can’t renew the workforce. Comes with the trade.”
She took a screwdriver out of her pocket, very professionally, and decisively began to apply it to something just out of sight behind a plastic leaf. The boy looked away, grimacing. “Yeah. New.”
“Well, I hope that this convinces the owner that the deeply unorthodox shape of this house is nothing but trouble, for him and everyone else!”
“I’m sure, I’m sure,” said the girl. “We will pass on the message. A good day to you, sir!”
Robert nodded firmly, raising a hand. “And likewise, young lady.”
With that, Robert walked away, humming to himself in the hope that perhaps, perhaps, things might begin to change for this beleaguered neighborhood.
-------
“I’ve got it,” Green whispered from the other side of the blasted pineapple leaves.
“So what was even the point of me going up here with you?” Silver grumbled, beginning to climb down.
“You’ve got to play along! What, you think it’d look good if a repairman was doing their thing while someone else is on the ground staring at them? Don’t tell me you didn’t learn that from your dad.”
“I didn’t learn much from my dad,” Silver muttered, finally getting himself loose.
“Come on,” Green said, clapping a hand on his back. “We got the GS Ball. Now all we have to do is report back to Professor Ivy.”
Author: Dragonfree
PART FIVE
Right. Silver tried to focus. Now that the subject of his dad had come up, his mind kept trying to wander back to thefts botched, battles lost, and Giovanni's caustic disappointment in his son's failure to manifest criminal competence.
He couldn't think about that now. They needed to get out of here and get the GS Ball back to Professor Ivy. That was all that mattered.
Fortunately for someone trying to distract himself, Green was about the most distracting person in Kanto. "You really need to lighten up! Have a little fun with it! Come on, we're stealing the legendary GS Ball from Team Rocket! How cool is that?"
She released her blastoise, who at a quick gesture shot a hole straight through the wall in front of them. Alarms began to blare. "Nice work, Blasty!"
"Wh--Green!"
"Come on, it doesn't matter! We'll be out of here before anybody shows up!" Green ran on ahead, laughing. Blasty pulverized every barrier that got in her way.
Silver hurried after, yelling complaints that Green blithely ignored. Up stairs, through a couple more walls, and out onto the roof, into blazing sun that glittered back from Saffron skyscrapers all around. Green climbed onto Blasty's back, ready to jet off to safety.
"Not bad for your first big heist, huh?" she asked, grinning wildly. Silver reached up to take the hand she offered him, and--
"I didn’t learn much from my dad," Silver muttered, finally getting himself loose.
"Come on," Green said, clapping a hand on his back. "We got the GS Ball. Now all we have to do is report back to Professor Ivy."
Silver swayed. What was--? He put a hand to his head. Everything felt too bright, hazy at the edges. Sounds swam in and out through static.
"...Come on, we're stealing the legendary GS Ball from Team Rocket! How cool is that?" The flash of the pokéball release. Silver flinched at the roar of water and shattering concrete. "Good work, Blasty!"
"Green... Wait..."
"Come on, it doesn't matter! We'll be out of here before anybody shows up!" She was off and running.
"Wait!" Silver yelled after her, but of course she didn't listen. "Green, Wait!"
Up stairs. There were blastoise-shaped holes in the next couple walls, giving a view out to summer sun and Saffron skyline. The noise of helicopter rotors and distant car horns drifted through.
Green was waiting on Blasty's shoulders. "Not bad for your first big heist, huh?" She stretched out a hand--
"I didn’t learn much from my dad," Silver muttered, finally getting himself loose.
"Come on," Green said, clapping a hand on his back. "We got the GS Ball. Now all we have to do is report back to Professor Ivy."
This time Silver was almost prepared. There was a moment of vertigo, like he was seeing down through every iteration of this moment, a thousand thousand repetitions flickering and then gone in an instant.
Silver reached for his belt. There was the GS Ball. We're trying to help you! he thought at it, uselessly. The next pokéball along was what he wanted. "Nyula! Keep that ball from opening!"
"Ow! Hey!" Green yanked her hand away as Nyula swatted Blasty's pokéball to the floor. "Come on, Silver. We're almost there! Why are you being so weird about this?"
So close. Only a couple flimsy walls separated them from the sunlight and the flight back to Professor Ivy's lab. "The GS Ball has a trap on it, Green! Unless we break the time loop, we'll never get out of here!"
Author: Negrek
PART SIX
Green fowned, putting her knuckle to her mouth as she considered this. Then she laughed.
"Well if it's just a time loop, we have all the time we need to find a way out! Right?"
Elaine stared at her desperately, her face – and Eevee's face – crestfallen as always at Green's complacency. Between them, there was only the GS Ball, back on its stand as it had been when they'd arrived, that stand that was so out of place in a Team Rocket facility... It looked like an hourglass, counting the seconds until they got caught. (Again). Counting the seconds before they'd be separated by more than just a few yards of air and a weird sculpture. Behind her, she could hear the thumping boots of Rocket grunts coming their way, earlier this time than in the last loop.
"No, Green! That last loop was slightly shorter than last time, I'm sure of it! There's no way we can break down these walls or sprint our way out of the base in less time than our first two attempts, and I'm already exhausted..." (Meanwhile, of course, Green hadn't broken a sweat...) "If it keeps shrinking... What if we get caught when it stops looping? Or we just stop existing, written out of time itself??"
Green put on another devlish grin and waved away the possibility. "See, this is why you need me around. To keep a cool head and not waste time thinking about stuff like that! Come on, something has to be causing the loop, right? We just gotta find it, and mess it up!"
Elaine looked around, scratching the back of her head in uncertainty. "How do you mess up a time loop...? If it's Celebi's powers from inside the GS Ball, and we can't even open it, then..."
Green's eyes flashed, and she clenched a fist in a confident pose. For a moment, Elaine worried Green was going to suggest smashing the ball...
"That's it! They must be forcing Celebi to use its powers! And how do Rockets force pokémon to use their powers?"
Of course! From the strength-forcing radio wave project, to the Mewtwo limiter suit, to the power plant pods. Team Rocket used technology. Every time, it was big stupid machines! But where was one in this room...?
She tried seeing the room, in all its joyless, sinister black and gunmetal gray, with fresh eyes. Where would they put a device that induced a localised timeloop...?
"There!" cried Elaine, pointing at the giant hourglass. "The timeloop machine has been right beneath the GS Ball this whole time!"
Green reached for a pokéball, her delighted face forecasting imminent destruction, and a hair-raising getaway to follow...
Author: Jackie/unrepentantAuthor