Pokémon Red (Book 3)

Devil In Disguise

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Chapter - 11
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Giovanni had been there at the one place police were never going to find him. He knew it was perfect, a place where no-one would ever try to find Team Rocket.

The room smelled like tobacco, Giovanni had been smoking for some time now, mainly out of stress. He was worried about a lot of things. The identity of the Masked Man was unknown to him, he did not want Cassidy and Butch to make a mess on their mission, Looker had been after him for years and was getting closer every time.

He took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly, reaching for the air conditioner remote and turning down the temperature. It was getting cold.

The doorknob turned with a screeching sound. Giovanni turned immediately, pulling his revolver out of his belt, pointing it at the door.

"Sir, we found him." Charles entered the room with a pendrive in his hand. "The tunnel through which the masked man escaped led to Pallet Town."

"But is he that stupid to hide in Pallet Town?" Asked Giovanni. He was smart, he did not trust everything. He thought it was a diversion, that the masked man wanted them to think that he was in Pallet Town. "Or maybe not. Maybe it is a bluff, or a double bluff. Send someone to Pallet Town to investigate."

"But sir, we don't have field members. Cassidy and Butch were the last of them." Charles explained, worried.

"Call Vicious." Giovanni ordered.

"But, he's too dangerous." Said Charles, he put his hand in his pocket to take out his phone. "I thought you'd ask me to call Tyson."

"No, he couldn't even capture that Red Gyarados." Said Giovanni. "Call Vicious. Ask him not to wear his costume."

"Okay, sir." Charles started dialing a number and walked outside. Giovanni was alone in the office.

Giovanni looked at the door and gave an evil smirk, sitting back on his seat in his office, in Team Rocket Hideout under Viridian City Gym.

Red's father, Benjamin, looked out of the window with a constant smile on his face. He looked as old as Professor Oak now, somewhere in his late 50s.

Oak walked into the room with a tray with a black coffee and some biscuits. He carefully placed them on the table.

Ben heard the sound of the tray being placed and turned around. "Oh, thank you, for everything Sam."

"Ah, don't mention it." Said Samuel Oak, smiling. "I guess you'll need to change your living place again, Blue will be back in a few weeks. Though he lives in Viridian City only, he comes by every month."

Ben became worried, and a bit confused. "Sometimes I don't realise that for you, only a couple of years have passed."

"I know, Giovanni sent you back to 1999, but you did what was right, you saved your family, Ben." Said Professor Oak. "That's what matters, it was worth it!"

"Sometimes I just wish I wasn't a scientist. Should've just listened to you and continued Pokémon Training." Said Ben, picking up the cup of coffee.

He slowly took a sip of the coffee, looking at Oak, his expressions were obvious, he was plotting against Giovanni.

"I gave you the disk. Any progress?"

"Nope. Ben, see, this takes time, it's Team Rocket we're talking about, we can't just go around searching on the internet about them. I don't know how but they have the best hacker in the world."

"That I know. I tried my best getting that information out of Giovanni but he never opened up enough."

"You should know the whereabouts of what all we need."

"I wasn't his buddy, sitting around with him, I was just a person who phone called him."

Oak was stressed, the reason was that he needed to figure out the locations of the items in Ben's list in his disk. He did not want Ben's help as Ben had done enough, sacrificing his life, his family. Oak knew that it was his turn and he wanted to do everything to make things right.

"Do you feel like going back to your family?" Asked Oak, thinking about the urge of doing so.

"Every second." Ben placed the cup down, now empty. "The urge has increased since I've got here."

Samuel picked up the tray and walked back to the kitchen.

Ben, worried, looked at his list, making sure that was all they needed.

"First, get the disastrous things, like the GS Ball." Said Ben.

"Problem solved." Said Oak, laughing. "It's with me."

"I had no idea." Ben smiled. Oak got happier with him smiling. It was a gift for Oak.

It was the first quite morning for Benjamin where he had no responsibilities. He could finally rest. On the other hand, Oak tried his best to do what he could.

Meanwhile, in Rustboro City, Red and Leaf stood outside a tall building where Butch and Cassidy were staying.

"This is the address?" Asked Leaf.

"Yep, this is it!"