Before Gary or Ash or the professor could stop him, Sonic raced out of the door and flew at the mansion, his eyes alight with anger and anticipation. His entire auror had changed, it was almost like you could see his hatred wisping from his body like purple-black smoke. Eggman wasn't around for him to attack, so now, it was Giovanni's time.
Meowth skidded round a corner so fast that he slammed into a wall, but the cat kept running until he burst into Giovanni's office.
"Sir! Sonic's free, the collar isn't giving off a signal any more! You've got to get out of here, now!" He cried, but Giovanni didn't look panicked. His eyes were calculating for a moment until he gave a nod.
"I'll go to the helicopter, you tell the rest of them to pack away any data and move out as quickly as possible. Then come up to me in five minutes. I won't wait for you if you're not there." He stood up and walked calmly out the door, Meowth at his feet.
"Where would they be going, boss?" He asked quickly.
"Location 4. They know what that means." He turned away from the cat, who ran off to spread the word.
Sonic was nearly there, he could already feel Giovanni's face under his fists in his mind and satisfaction was filling his hate-filled heart. If only the shock collar wasn't broken, he could have given Team Rocket's boss a taste of his own medicine.
Meowth had half of the building to go, but from the corner of his eye, he saw a dark blue streak. Looking out, Sonic was far out in the distance, but visible, which meant he'd be here soon. The boss! Meowth remembered and soared up the stairs, yelling to the men to spread the word and hurry up.
The hedgehog paused outside of the mansion and noticed Giovanni stepping professionally as he neared a helicopter on the roof. Where was he off to? Not leaving without a goodbye, was he? Sonic grinned viciously and ran onto the grounds and up the building. As soon as he was on the roof, he located the boss. There he was. All Sonic's. Blinded with hate, he ran at Giovanni, who could barely turn before Sonic leaped at him.
However, because he'd been so rash, he didn't notice Meowth, who leapt into Sonic's path, taking a critical hit as he latched his claws into the hedgehogs back and sending him off course. They skidded across the roof and flew off the other side together, falling into Giovanni's outside pool. Meowth blacked out as he slid to the bottom.
When he woke up, he was with Giovanni, coughing up water. He opened his eyes meekly and looked up at the boss, who was sat a seat away from him, looking outside the windows of the 'copter. Meowth was only vaguely aware that someone was tied up at the bosses feet.
"Sir, what happened?" He rasped, but Giovanni couldn't hear him over the noise of the flight. He only noticed that the cat was awake when he tried to sit up. After collapsing back to his seat, Giovanni yelled to him.
"THE SONIC IS DEAD! THEY SAY HE DROWNED IN A POOL, BUT I KNOW WHERE WE CAN TRY TO FIND A NEW ONE!" Meowth's eyes widened slightly, but then he drifted out of consciousness again.
Ash sighed impatiently, fidgeting on professor Oak's sofa with Pikachu sitting beside him, who waved an arm at him instructingly.
"Pika pika!" He scolded and Ash ceased his fidgeting for a moment, much to Pikachu's relief, but then he started moving again and the electric mouse jumped up angrily. "Pika pika pi!" He yelled at him "Pika!" He jumped off the sofa, hoping to run into the kitchen, but he jumped almost exactly into Gary, who caught him gently.
"Ash, calm down." He murmured as he placed the yellow mouse back down beside his trainer.
"Argh! I can't help it! He's such a cool Pokemon and I can't even see him right now! Is your grandpa back yet?" He demanded, rushing off the couch to glance out the window. Gary sighed and joined him.
"No, I'm starting to get worried. I think something bad happened to him when he went after Sonic." His face creased with anxiety and Ash glanced at him, momentarily shocked. Then, he placed a hand over his and leaned closer to him.
"He'll be ok." Ash told him, so boldly that it almost annoyed Gary. However, it was something he needed to hear, so he smiled and looked away, about to make some scalding remark when the door opened. Ash recognized him first and was instantly on the defensive.
"What are you doing here? Get out of this lab!" He reached for his pokeballs, but Giovanni tutted at him.
"I wouldn't, if you want to see your professor again, anyway." The boys froze and the boss walked past them calmly, to the phone screen.
"What have you done with him?" Gary demanded, breaking out of his shock, but the man didn't reply. Instead, he clicked his fingers and Meowth walked in steadily. He passed Gary a phone; It was calling.
"Answer it." The cat snapped to him and he took it with a shaking hand.
"Hello?" Gary's voice stayed firm, strong, despite his fear.
"Ask them the number," Giovanni demmanded as the phone booted up. He did, but there was no reply. Giovanni took the phone and growled "Tell me the number, old man. You don't want to have to clear up your own grandson's body when we're through, do you?" The boss hissed with frustration and held out the phone. "Meowth." He demanded and the cat moved towards the phone, but at the last minute he leapt up and raked Gary's face, who cried out and fell back to the floor.
"Alright! Alright!" The phone protested and Giovanni put it back to his ear. A moment later, he was typing in the numbers and he dialled as Ash cradled Gary in his arms. The screen flashed after a moment, and Eggman appeared on-screen.
"What do you want now?" The genius snapped.
