A Normal Walk in the Woods

Sessa had taken to walking through the woods once a day. It brought back old memories of when she helped her parents run the forest, and it let her see a lot of her favorite pokemon. Today was a bit odd though, she was sitting in the shade of a tree when she spotted a man. Normal so far, but things quickly became odd. The man looked around, to his left, to his right, and then...sunk into the ground!

"Well that's odd..." she said to herself. She walked over to where the man had been standing and didn't see anything peculiar, but upon closer inspection she noticed one of the rocks looked a bit strange. She touched it and realized it was very light, so she moved it out of the way to reveal a staircase leading down into the ground. Sessa was surprised by her finding and made her way down the hole. It lead to a hall which lead to a bunch of doors. She didn't see anyone yet. She wandered down the hall and eventually came to the biggest door yet which read Mr. Loponte. She turned the knob and walked in.

Jerome was busy as ever, they've just established a hidden base in the forest. It wasn't the best but it would do, this was considered a large stronghold but there was no telling what would happen to. You could say Jerome was caught up with himself, but many of his supporters didn't seem to notice. As a matter of fact they weren't supposed to know, if they saw their leader fall apart it was over.
Jerome hasn't seen daylight in a few days, neither has he slept which wasn't good. They needn't need to worry about him, he was a strong leader absolutely nothing wrong with him. He stared at a picture of his father, Giovanni, then through it to the ground with a loud crash. He heard a noise by his door, it was probably just someone wanting to ask him a question. He told them he was busy but who knows, he was loosing it. "Ugh, what is it!? Can't you see I'm busy!" He turned and froze into place, ready for a chaotic battle. It was a women, but not an ordinary woman. She wasn't properly dressed which means she wasn't a supporter. "W-who are you?" He asked curiously, he knew she wasn't here to kill him because nobody knew the true intentions of Rocket-2. He picked up the shattered picture and placed it on his desk. She seemed pretty 'groovy' with Black Curly hair, she also had what Jerome called floppy clothes. He awaited an answer from the women, but if she was hostile he was ready to fight all the way.

"Hey man, I'm not the one hiding out in the ground. I think you should be explaining yourself." She leaned on a wall with her arms crossed ready to hear anything. She was pretty surprised she hadn't found this place before. How did it get constructed under anyone's nose? She figured it was probably pokemon after a bit of thought, something like a dilett must have made the tunnels and rooms and then humans put in the walls, doors, and furniture. That was the only way to make sense of it really.

"How about you explain why I shouldn't just kick you out!?[color=indigo]"It was his property, how did she even find out? Probably one of his wannabe grunts. He started biting his thumb obviously nervous, he had to explain to this women or she could report this to the officers. He could stall her though, possibly even get her bored. "Well, I believe I should know your name before I even tell you anything." He tried to keep his rage in, this could mean a new member if she understood. She looked like she was experienced as well, just perfect. "I'm sure you've heard about Rocket-2, well you're looking at the leader. I really have no idea how you've gotten past all of my guards, but you did. You must be skilled, or I just can't rely on my staff. You could either leave or become the first person to know about the true intentions of Rocket-2, but before we start tell me a little more about yourself." He really didn't want to tell her anything, he hoped one of the Rocket-2 members would enter the room and alert the others.

Well he was persistent. Sessa looked at him harshly, although you couldn't see her eyes behind the glasses and said, "Kick me out? Oh that's cute. This is a preserved national forest which means no property is allowed to be here. Now I'm not one to go tattle, but I'd argue I have the upper hand here." He gave her a little information, and she'd heard of Team Rocket before, but this Rocket-2 was a mystery. Whatever it was, it's association with the old Team Rocket already sounded bad. Giovanni was a legend in Viridian City, he'd been the gym leader long ago, afterall. She noticed a picture frame that might have been dropped or thrown. She walked right over to it and picked it up. "Giovanni..." she was pretty sure it had been thrown because of how much damage was done, but it worried her that he had any association with him. "Why do you have a picture of him?" It was very noticeable how Sessa had still given no information but this man was pouring it out like a bucket with a hole.

Jerome looked at the womens glasses, the worst part was that he couldn't see any fear. He would love to see fear in her eyes so he could intimidate her, he just wanted her to leave. He could battle her here and now, get it over with. But who knows? She could be fairly useful to him. Jerome listened as she spoke, "Well you're quite the sarcastic one, threatening me won't help hun. With a snap I could just get my followers to escort you deeper into the ground where nobody will find you, the best part is that I could confiscate your Pokémon." He smiled and sat on his desk, it was silent for a few seconds until she brought up Giovanni. He nearly fell out of his chair, his face turned into a frown as well. What did it matter if he told her? It wasn't like she was going to do anything about it. "That loser? Stop making me laugh, he was my father." He paused for a few minutes awaiting the womens response.

The man was right, Sessa really didn't have the upper hand. But she wasn't about to tell him that. The man looked a bit startled when she mentioned Giovanni, but it was her turn to be startled when he said Giovanni was his father. Well that must have been hard, what an awful parent to have. "Loser?" she said prompting him to go on. Maybe she could get out of this with a therapy session. She sat in one of the office's other chairs, arms still crossed.

He enjoyed the startled look on the womens face, of course he knew she would want to know more. "Hard to believe, huh? Well believe it, a terrible father and I'm kind of happy that Officer Marshall captured him." He was surprised that she stayed wanting to know more about his very depressing life, he took the picture of his father and tossed it to her. "Yes, a loser. So many operatives and he used them to gather rare Pokémon. He could've done so much more, probably perhaps dominate the world. He had a small mind, a weak one too. I'm here to do so much better than him, that's my place in the world and if anyone gets in my way they're going down." He sat in his chair holding his Pokéball out, ready for anything. He hoped she considered it or he would have to take her down not knowing if she would've been useful or not, a true shame.

"So you're planning on dominating the world? That's not very cool either." she crossed her legs and said, "That's what you're doing right?" She paused, the silence let her hear the lights for a bit. She looked at the door and said, "You don't even have reliable guards yet, how are you planning to take the globe?" She was genuinely interested, and she wasn't sure how strong he was yet. She'd let him make the first move if there was one.

Jerome somehow figured they were both close to the edge, either she was just going to keep on what he thought was insulting. Or she was going to battle him, the women ending up crying like a pathetic loser. ."Listen, you're the one that wanted to know more. So let's just go our seperate ways, you forget everything you heard. And I forgive you for almost making me loose my mind." He guestered his hand torwards the door, hoping she would just leave. That's the least she could do for emotionally troubling him, reminding him of his distrubing childhood which he was yearning to forget. ."Please don't judge my guards, Team Rocket members were put out of work many years ago. Of course they're going to be a little shaky, it's called baby steps. Things like this take practice." He thought he spoke pretty wise words, especially coming from his mouth

Sessa wondered why this man would let her get out with the information he'd given her. She could easily report him to some authorities, and she was utterly confused. "Uhh, you sure you want to let me go?" she asked. Maybe it was a trap, but she knew if she got out the police would be all over this joint. He might argue they'd done nothing wrong, but building a structure in a National Forest was already a crime.

Jerome burned right into her eyes, even though he couldn't see hers he knew she could see his. "Well that depends, I do want to let you go. Just remember if you tell the authorites you'll be responsible for many innocent lives being lost. Do you really want that burden?" It was harsh but there would probably be two officers investigating, they would be easy to take out. But if others noticed that those officers were gone they would seen to many that they could handle. That's when blood would be shed between Pokemon as well as humans.

Sessa was a bit stunned by the threat. She hadn't noticed anything too nefarious about this place yet, but now he was threatening lives. "Ahh, you're just a bully, aren't you? If you were a real man, you'd fight me here and now." She stood up, pushed the chair aside, and picked up one of her pokeballs. "I don't know who you think you are, but I can tell you you'll have to get passed me."

Oh, you chose the wrong person to fight with. The truth is, do you really want to fight me? Because if you do... well let me just show you. Jerome clicked a button which roared the alarm to life. He yelled at the top of his lungs so the soon to be dead women heard him. "Listen up, if you dare lay on finger on me Pokemon will die. You don't want to play with a mentally sick mind girl. A click of a button they die." Rocket-2 members arrived at his door ready to fight the confident girl. "Just surrender and we'll let you go, but if you leave then... congratulations! You would have started the war if you exit this room." One of the Rocket-2 grunts nervously spoke, "Please don't do it, he's crazy he'll do anything to watch people suffer. He wants power! Jerome laughed as the scared grunt spoke, Well, that's such a nice thing to say to your leader! Jerome completely lost it, but he couldn't help himself.

Sessa caught the guns, but wasn't too sure about killing someone. Instead she sent out Ariados, who had been her hand, and had him bind the grunts completely. "Hey Perci. Didn't expect you to show up to the party." She folded her arms and shook her head. "I'm sure this man still thinks he has the upper hand somehow." she said, "But don't think you saved me Perci, I had the handle on this." She didn't actually know if she would have been able to make it out safe, but she didn't want to appear weak to her friend and fellow gym leader. She might have already done that by choosing not to shoot the grunts though.

He smiled as he watched the pathetic girl surrender, he chuckled to himself.Well you didn't dodge a war, you started one. You're helpless, did you really think you could beat me. Just then his little victory speech when he was at gunpoint, why would he even assign Grunts guard duty? It was obvious that they couldn't handle it. Welcome to the party! I guess this is your friend? Well you saved her, she was just about to die. Jerome didn't really have any chance but to defend the Grunts, if other members saw them dead they would be discouraged. He couldn't have that, it was time to use his weapon, it's a shame he had to use it right now. He was hoping he could use in when officers investigated the place, kill em' all. You don't want to kill the Grunts, let's just say if you even harm on your whole world will crumble around you, literally. You really don't think I don't have the brains of my dad right? I have plenty of plans, and this one if kind of shocking! Jerome kicked a part of the wall behind him which signaled Geodudes to cause an Earthquake under them. Tsk, tsk, you better run. It won't be funny to see your friend die, will it? He was laughing like a maniac, suprisingly he stood his place as the walls around them fell apart. He would obviously survived since he knew this place upside down.

Sessa jumped on the back of Ari and held onto one of the antenna that grew out of his back and shouted at Perci to do the same. She looked back and wondered what the man's escape plan was. "He needs help. He's mentally ill I think." She told Ari to put him in a web and then run out of the tunnel. A web shot out of the spider's rear and quickly covered the man in a secure amount of webbing. The spider then ran up and out of the tunnel along with a lot of confused rocket members. The man was dragged along the ground and trampled a bit, but he was still alive. As soon as they were out, Sessa had Ari round up as many of the Rockets as he could in his sticky webs. They were blasted with webbing as soon as they made it out of tunnel, which made it difficult for them to shoot at her. She got on her phone and called the cops while the spider made quick work.