1.Ash's Story (Part 2: Johto)

Chapter 65: Rocket Signal

Mahogany Town looked the same when we returned from the Lake of Rage, but the quiet streets felt different now. The souvenir shop stood near the center road with its cheerful signs, candy displays, and polished window charms, pretending nothing was wrong beneath it.

Pikachu's fur lifted the moment we approached. The shielding device Lance had given me hummed against my jacket, but I could still feel the strange signal pulsing through the boards under my feet.

Lillie held the special Egg case close and looked at the shop door. "The sound is stronger here."

Girafarig stepped beside us, both heads tense. Its rear head snapped toward the floor, while the front head stared at the smiling shopkeeper behind the counter.

Girafarig's meaning came through sharp and certain: "Bad sound below. False smile above."

Before I could answer, Dragonite's wings beat inside the shop. The front door slammed open, and Lance's voice cut through the cramped room.

"Dragonite, Hyper Beam!" Lance commanded sharply.

A golden blast shot past the shopkeeper's shoulder and exploded against the wall behind him, knocking loose a hidden panel and throwing the disguised Rocket grunt to the floor without striking him directly. Smoke rolled around the candy shelves, and several Rage Candy Bars fell in a neat little avalanche.

"Lance?" I asked, rushing inside. "What are you doing?"

"That was my question," Lance said, looking back at us. "What took you so long? The signal is coming from here, and this man is a Rocket grunt in disguise. Dragonite was making sure he stopped reaching for the alarm."

The grunt groaned and tried to crawl away. Dragonite lowered one claw beside him, not touching, but making the message clear enough that he froze.

Dragonite's meaning came through controlled and firm: "Pinned, not harmed. He will not warn them."

Lance touched the carved Persian statue near the back wall. Something clicked beneath the floor, and the shelves shifted aside. Stairs opened downward into a hidden passage filled with cold mechanical light.

"The stairs are here," Lance said. "This base is larger than the shop. We split up only when necessary, and we protect the Pokémon powering the signal."

"You know there are Pokémon down there?" Kris asked.

"I suspect Electrode," Lance said grimly. "Team Rocket likes forcing living power sources into machines."

The thought made Pikachu shiver. His meaning reached me in a frightened spark: "Trapped thunder. Hurting thunder."

I touched his back gently. "Then we free them."

Lance descended first with Dragonite. We followed into Team Rocket's underground hideout, leaving the fake shop behind us as the hidden door closed above.

The first basement smelled like metal, dust, and cold wires. Red lights blinked along the walls, and Persian statues lined the hallway with polished eyes that looked more alive than stone should.

East raised one hand. "Do not cross the center path yet."

Pikachu took one step before East could finish. A Persian statue's eyes flashed red, and an alarm screamed through the hallway.

"Intruder alert!" a mechanical voice repeated.

Doors opened on both sides, and Rocket grunts poured into the corridor with Raticate, Zubat, and Koffing at their feet. One Raticate lunged not for Pikachu, but for Lillie's bag strap and the Egg case clipped beside it.