Adam held up a hand. "That was very nice, but could we hold on for a minute?"
The female Team Rocket Grunt (And yes, they both had name tags labeled 'Grunt' of all things) seemed caught off guard. "Ah... sure?"
The male Grunt puffed out his chest. "But don't think about trying to get away!"
Adam waved his hand. "Oh no, of course not. Just wanted to quickly talk to my young friend here."
Anita blinked as she was pulled to small huddle with Adam, Pidgey also confused as she aborted her preemptive 'Wing Attack'.
The tall man had a dry expression. "Do they ALL say that rhyme?"
She blinked. "What?"
He sighed. "The whole 'To Protect the World from devastation!' yadda yadda, the short dance number we just watched."
Anita shifted. "Well, not always. But Ash says the two he runs into say it a lot. Told us all kinds of strange stories."
He hummed. "I'll be honest, I thought that whole song thing was a catch phrase of Jessie and James, not Team Rocket as a whole."
The female Team Rocket Grunt seemed annoyed, having listened in. "ARGH, Just because Jessie and James get more press than the rest of us does NOT mean they came up with the motto!"
Her male companion nodded. "Though to be fair, you have to achieve some pretty big things to be allowed to use your actual name when working on the clock. Most of us stay Grunts for a long time."
She waved a hand. "But they have more funding! They can afford musical back up, special effects, they are allocated more Pokémon for their squad, it is INFURIATING!"
The guy growled. "They have destroyed FIVE hot air balloons this year alone with NO penalties. Favoritism!"
Adam and his small team watched the growing grump fest with fascination. As the rant continued, He glanced at Anita. "Are these the ones that hunted you down?"
He was trying not to judge, but as the two grunts began ranting louder and louder about pay scale and terrible dental benefits... well.
He was trying not to judge.
She shook her head. "No, I was attacked by a single psychopathic looking male Grunt, and he had a VERY mentally unstable Marshadow. And he gave it these rusty knives."
The two grunts paused the argument, the male one looked serious. "You've seen Blade Jack? Where?"
Adam paused. "I assume back on Route 116, where I found this one running from a dangerous situation. Why?"
The female Grunt scowled. "We as an organization are focused on Profit, not random murder and gore. Stealing Pokémon, researching new products, offering high quality services, all of that is for profit. We and a few other teams were sent because Blade Jack went... strange. Murderish."
The guy nodded, holding up a modified Pokédex. "Boss gave us all temporary access to some advanced tracking hardware to follow his trail. We've all been sent to capture him, see if we can get him treated if possible and disposed of if not."
Anita flinched as the woman waved a hand. "Our tracker says your little companion was attacked by the Marshadow used by Jack, which is why we need you two to answer a few questions."
Adam hummed. "Well... this is an odd situation then. Just as well, I didn't want to kill people in front of a child, and I am not sure of the procedures for arresting members of Team Rocket."
The man sputtered. "Arrest us for WHAT!? We just met! You heard our motto, we won't even fight you if you cooperate!"
Anita tilted her head. "Yeah, but your motto also says you will 'Protect the world from Devastation', and Ash said he had to stop more than one Rocket member from setting off an apocalypse."
The woman also seemed a bit offended. "Team Rocket has always been known for its support of high society and high ideals! You can't judge us from the one or two cells that go off the deep end!"
Seeing the other two dry expressions, the male Grunt sighed. "Alright, maybe more than a couple of times some branches of our organization may have gone a little crazy."
Adam nodded. "Like the murderous Blade Jack and his crazy Marshadow."
The grunt pointed. "Exactly. It happens! Team Rocket IS one of the largest employers on the planet, after all. We run casinos, hotels, cruise lines, radio towers, manufacturing companies... the ones causing issues are in the vast minority, most of us just have jobs to do of questionable morality depending on your social understandings and beliefs."
The woman nodded. "If we were ALL bad people, society would have crumbled." She held out a Pokéball. "Now, tell us what you know about Blade Jack!"
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Abra's eyes winced open, ever so slightly.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam nodded, ignoring the idiots, and turning to Anita. "Any idea if they are being honest?"
She sighed. "Yeah, they might be. I know they do get away with a lot because their biggest customers are the wealthiest people, but they DO have a lot of legitimate services and jobs. It was why I was so shocked to be attacked by that crazy Rocket guy on my journey, it was really out of character."
Anita shifted and looked to the side. "It was... scary. Somehow more scary than just fighting a battle or whatever, because he was screaming and ranting and his Marshadow was... twitching. I eventually just fell while running away and was too scared to move."
Adams warm hand fell gently to pat her head. "Well, no worries. I'm sure we can handle anything that comes our way."
The woman in uniform slightly sagged as she lowered her arm, frowning. "Hello? Could you please take this more seriously? We WILL attack if you refuse to help, you know."
Adam nodded, activating 'Technomancy' and stealing the schematics from the illegal Pokédex and the interesting few tools the two carried (Some sort of 'block all signals' tool to prevent people from calling for help, some knock out gas and smoke grenades, etc).
Because they now counted as 'opponents', so stealing from them was probably fine.
Neat, the Units on this Pokédex penny-chip had some interesting features, even if the materials looked stupid expensive. No wonder this 'Boss' only loaned the stuff rather than give it to all the followers. None of the ability to store objects inside or whatever, but it did have a much more powerful radio connection and higher data streaming abilities. Also, this (probably illegal) database had all kinds of interesting Pokémon trivia.
Yoink.
The guy Grunt lost his patience first. "Hey, you shouldn't IGNORE us!"
He hurled his Pokéball. "Koffing, show them that we mean business!"
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Abra focused reality, understanding the unknown.
Danger? No, not really. Not based on the power of her own Trainer, Partner.
However... best be safe.
TELEPORT.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Everyone blinked when the Pokéball vanished.
...An awkward silence fell.
Adam blinked from the mental images he received. "Oh. Well, good night then Abra!"
On his back, her small body relaxed in her barrel again as Abra fell asleep.
Anita hesitantly spoke. "So... your Abra can use 'Teleport' on other objects than just herself?"
Adam shrugged. "Apparently. I had no idea." He reached a hand up to his hair and pulled out the Pokéball, causing the male Team Rocket Grunt to gawk in shock.
The woman pointed. "That isn't possible. 'Teleport' is only usable from touch distance. And requires the Pokémon to travel with the ability during use."
Anita nodded. "Yep, that was certainly impossible."
Adam hummed. "Neat. Anyway, I doubt I should steal their Pokémon, however humorous such a turnaround may be. And I DO want to make sure a crazy murder Grunt isn't wandering around the woods."
He began rolling the tiny orb between his fingers, having pressed the control chip to shrink it back to travel size. "So how about we all have a bit of a truce, we help you two take down the psycho, and I don't take everything you own and leave you nude in the forest?"
Negotiations went well after that.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam hummed as the new temporary team walked along the winding path through the forest.
They may have gotten an odd look or two though leaving the city, as however 'Honorable' and 'Respectable' the two Grunts may claim Team Rocket to be... well, seeing them travel with two obvious Pokémon Trainers had been an odd sight to witnesses.
The trip was pretty relaxing so far.
Route 116 was MUCH longer than the games suggested, but thankfully there were a number of rest stops with phone booths and internet connections and so forth that lined the main trail. It seemed the standard procedure was for Trainers to travel the main path, leave it to duel other Pokémon or try to find new partners, then return to the much safer main trail.
The male Grunt was... pouting. But he DID get his Koffing back with little issue, even if he had clearly been unhappy about the situation.
The female Grunt on the other hand had surprisingly gotten along great with Anita! The two whiled away time talking about various past travels and interesting Pokémon they had seen. Though obviously, the Grunt had far more 'And then I took it' endings between the two.
Adam was having fun watching the wilderness, while randomly pulsing magical flames for Abra to enjoy.
By pulling his Aura closer to his bones, basically forming the metallic layers of power deep under his skin and flesh, his raw energy was NOT terrifying the wilderness into fear filled flight. Unless they were very sensitive to energy.
So he got to see a few wild Pokémon every now and then.
Neat.
Speaking of Pokémon, he was trying to design a 'Dream Ball' for Abra. It needed to be modified to better handle Adam's strange mix of energies, and he wanted it to store way more than usual to nourish Abra if she was sleeping inside it. Maybe low level health regeneration, some defensive technology... why not?
And so: he had Simmy and Sammy testing out the new materials and alloys used in the more expensive examples of the tech. Just using all rare stuff wouldn't make a better Pokéball, as small amounts may be amazing but large portions could reduce strength, cause strange issues in the ball itself, and who knew what. Science was needed, so science would be used!
Just in case, he ALSO wanted to ensure the finished Pokéball would be able to interface with the healing machines at Pokécenters. So that requirement complicated the designs, as if they were TOO improved the healing machines would have no clue how to connect to the new balls.
The two nude Angels were also messing around with the standard Pokédex and potential modifications, now that there were more stolen schematics to work with. So Adam let them have their fun, and continued to stroll through nature with two criminal syndicate employees and a young psychic monster trainer/potential criminal victim.
Adam hummed. "So what is the deal with this Marshadow? I'll be honest, I didn't think they were local to this area."
The female grunt sighed. "They are... SO rare. Not exactly Legendary in power, but certainly mythical and almost never seen."
The guy nodded. "No one is sure how Blade Jack caught the thing. He couldn't seem to get rid of it either, even trying to give it to Boss the creature just hid away in the shadows until they gave up."
Anita nodded. "I only know about them because Ash synced our Pokédex databases when he visited. He bumped into one after running into a Ho-Oh and getting a Legendary 'Rainbow Wing' and..." She trailed off at seeing the stunned looks on the Grunt's faces.
She blushed. "Yeah, Ash gets into situations."
Adam hummed, examining the odd energy signature again. "So what should we watch out for with this creature?"
The female Grunt pulled out her Pokédex and hummed. "It hides in shadows, and if it gets into YOURS or one of your Pokémon, it can attack your mind, read your feelings, and copy your abilities."
The guy sighed. "Yeah, the original plan was for us to find him and call it up the chain. There is a Team Rocket strike team ready to deploy to make sure he doesn't escape."
Adam grinned as his eyes flashed. "Sounds interesting." A cane topped with a blue skull formed in his hand. "This might be an easier solution though."
The sharp tip of the cane slammed into Anita's shadow, an unworldly scream vibrating into the air.
On his back, Abra grumbled. Twitching as she fell into a deeper sleep.
Adam smiled as his cane slowly forced its way OUT of Anita's shadow, her horrified expression clear as she backed away from the black blob that slowly resolved into a pinned Pokémon.
Her hand stabbed at the thing. "WHAT THE HELL!?"
He chuckled. "I thought it was odd that you were so terrified when I found you... and then instantly recovered once we traveled together."
The squirming shadows twitched and formed into a black body with green headgear and yellow flames. It tried to pull the strange cane away from it's chest, twitching oddly.
Adam waved the shocked Team Rocket Grunts away and made sure Anita was safely back. "You didn't escape from Blade Jack, and to be honest, I'm not even sure he was the one in charge."
His grin grew. "I think this little guy has been... influencing people."
The twitching gray shadows snapped and snarled blue and yellow fangs, red flames burning in its eye sockets. Odd noises screeched and clawed... Still, the cane held firm.
Team Rocket backed further away. "Then..."
Adam nodded. "From the rage and mental trauma I sense, I don't think 'Blade Jack' survived long after being separated from this little thing. We should try and find his body though for your people to handle."
Anita shook in terror, Pidgey trying to calm her down and yet stay vigilant against the twisted ghost like demon. "W... What can we do!? Can we even contain that thing!?"
The female Grunt shook her head. "No, and this is a huge problem. Most of our plans revolved around forcing Blade Jack to rein in this thing and possibly getting someone mentally stable to be its new Trainer. If IT is the cause of all the issues though, we would need to get rid of all shadows and restrict mental influences and... Yeah, we can't hold it."
She jerked back another step as the Pokémon snarled in deep rage, the sound echoing strangely in the forest. "I... I've never seen such blind aggression and hate in a Pokémon before. It's... unnatural."
Adam hummed. "Yeah, letting this thing roam around seems like a bad idea."
His eyes burned with blue flames.
Grid of Confinement.
