Chapter 37

Cerulean City could almost be considered peaceful this early in the morning. The usual blare of car horns and screeching tires had dulled enough to hear the chirps of pidgey and the scuttle of street pokemon moving through the city. The sun had only just risen, and its light still cast pinks and purples across the otherwise blue sky. Relatively few people were out and about, and those who were seemed to have mutual respect for the peace only found in the early hours of the day. The Game Corner seemed to be the exception to this rule.

Music could still be heard playing inside, despite the fact that no sane person would wake up early to go waste all their hard-earned money on slot machines and rigged card games. Yet, a surprising amount of people were casually entering and leaving the building, particularly from the back door. Anyone who wasn't watching for it likely wouldn't notice the inconspicuous way the people leaving dressed or acted, but Red was watching for it.

He was currently casually lounging on a nearby bench, a book held in one hand and a pencil in the other. A black baseball cap with a white logo had replaced his usual red one, and he wore a baggy blue sweatshirt. The way his bag rested against the side of the bench and his casual tone as he jotted notes in the small book could have fooled almost anyone into believing he was just another diligent student. However, Red's motives were much different than that of a student.

The events of the previous day had been a shocking revelation for the boy. Suddenly, his entire outlook on Team Rocket had shifted. Sure, they'd been dangerous and more than capable of harming others. But they had never really been much of a threat. Every encounter with them had proven that the two trainers were more than a match for the criminal group. Underestimating the gang had almost cost Red everything, but he wasn't about to let that happen again. Gone were the days where he was content to let Team Rocket do as they wished while Leaf and he tried to avoid them. Red was fighting back.

In order to effectively strike back, you needed information. Red was definitely lacking in this, so there he sat, one eye on the Game Corner and the other focused on scribbling notes in his notebook. Organizing what little information they knew may help them better understand their enemy and infer a few things about them. As for why Red was sitting outside the game corner, well… it was more of a hunch than anything concrete.

He was about to get back to his note-taking when he noticed pidgeotto flying towards him from behind a building. The two made eye contact, and the bird pokemon shook his head no. A sigh escaped Red's lips as he closed his notebook and stood up. Pidgeotto perched on a branch a safe distance away from Red, watching as his trainer began to pack up his belongings. It was starting to get later in the morning, and as a result, also busier. Leaf would probably be waking up soon. Red had left her a note explaining that he wouldn't be out too long, but he still didn't want her worrying about him.

Slinging his bag over his shoulder, Red put his head down and walked back towards the pokemon center. After a few blocks, he heard the fluttering of wings indicating that pidgeotto had arrived. Red slowed down so he could focus on the information the pokemon was trying to relay to him. The longer he spent with a pokemon, the more easily he could understand them, but it still took some effort. Unfortunately, nothing pidgeotto said gave him any leads. While it was logical that many members of Team Rocket simply worked it as a side job, it was somewhat unnerving to imagine the gang member leading normal lives with families and boring office jobs. It did help Red have a better understanding of the dynamics and motivations of the grunts, though. With a word of thanks, Red returned pidgeotto and released pikachu instead.

The small electric pokemon cried out happily as it appeared in a flash of red light. Red hated having to coop the pokemon up in its pokeball, especially when he knew how much pikachu disliked it, but it had to be done. Pikachu was simply too well known by Team Rocket. However, Red felt a safe enough distance away from the game corner and having a pokemon at the ready offered him some protection.

Red was surprised to find his room empty upon his return to the pokemon center. Trying to subdue any fear bubbling up inside of him, he quietly closed the door behind him and made his way towards the training area. There he found Leaf intently leading her pokemon in group jumping jacks. Red sighed in relief as he watched her long dark ponytail swish back and forth while she called out the number. Realizing her pokemon had all diverted their attention, Leaf glanced behind her at Red. Her face was flushed, and her hairline was slick with sweat that slowly rolled down the side of her face and dangled from her chin before succumbing to gravity.

"What's up?" She sounded out of breath as she turned to face him.

Red shrugged. "Just wondering where you were."

"You were wondering where I was?" Leaf snorted. Before Red could defend himself, Leaf added, "I suppose you did leave a note at least. You going to explain where you've been now?" She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms firmly in front of her.

Red stared at her blankly, his eyebrows raised slightly. It was easy to forget Leaf was a teenage girl with her childlike and carefree demeanor, but right now she was exuding sass. A prickle of fear crept up Red's spine as he wondered if this was what he was going to begin dealing with soon. Pushing those thoughts aside, he focused on her actual question.

It was something he'd been struggling with, despite knowing that logically it didn't make much sense. Leaf was fully committed to journeying with him and sharing his burden of dealing with Team Rocket, yet Red still itched to shelter her from them. To keep her from worrying about the malicious gang and just enjoy her journey. But, he also knew that wasn't possible. This wasn't something he could deal with by himself either. He should feel fortunate to have someone as skilled and competent as Leaf willing to help him, but he still couldn't help wishing she were as far away from this as possible.

"I've got a lot to tell you, but now isn't the time. Don't let me interrupt your training. In fact, I could use some myself." Red pulled his pokeballs off his belt and released his own team.

Leaf huffed and rolled her eyes as he led his team over to a different area, but Red could see the smile tugging at her lips. The familiarity and intensity of a good, hard training session were just what Red needed to clear his mind and destress. It felt good to put work into improving his skills as a trainer and improve his team's strength. If they were really going to go up against Team Rocket, they were going to need it. He met Leaf up in their room as soon as he finished, mentally running through everything he needed to share with her as he climbed the stairs. Leaf was sitting on her bed absentmindedly running a brush through her freshly washed hair when Red walked in.

"Ready to spill the beans?" Leaf chided him, setting her brush on the bed and waiting expectantly.

Red raised his hands in front of himself. "Okay, okay, I get it. You're getting impatient." Before Lead could object, Red started again, "I'll start with what I found in the files."

Red paused a moment, as he dug through his bag. Pulling out the manila folder, he handed it to Leaf for her to look through herself. "In short, they know a lot about us. A scary amount. It's hard to tell what Kyle contributed to that or what else he's told them that we don't know about, but I think we should just assume they know everything to be safe. There's everything from our background, family, pokemon team, battling styles and even some personality traits included in there."

As Red spoke, Leaf flipped through the folded, her wide eyes darting across the pages. "Holy shit. This is terrifying."

Red nodded grimly. "Yeah, honestly I think we're pretty lucky not to have been caught already."

"What do we do? How can we possibly stay of Team Rocket's radar is they know this much about us?" Leaf asked, closing the folder but holding it tightly. "God, at least Professor Oak promised to look after our families. One less thing we'll have to worry about."

"I think our best option right now is to just lay low and continue growing stronger. We should also come up with precautions or rules to follow to help keep us out of danger."

Leaf paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts, before releasing her mental floodgate and letting them all flood out. "What if we always have to have a pokemon out and ready to defend us at all times? Shouldn't be hard for you considering you always keep pikachu out anyways. Also, no going off on our own anymore without telling each other. And we have to be specific about where we are going and about how long. Oh! No more big competitions or attending anything that could possibly draw attention to us." Leaf seemed pleased with herself as she finished.

Red agreed, "Those sound good to me. If we think of any more, we'll just have to add them to the list."

Leaf grinned broadly at him before she raised an eyebrow and pressed her lips together. "Are you going to tell me where you were this morning, now?"

"Oh." Red blinked, almost having forgotten about the Game Corner amongst all their other talk. "I was at the Game Corner."

"The game corner?" Leaf asked, incredulous, "What were you doing there?"

"I have this hunch that it might actually be a secret hideout for Team Rocket," Red explained. Leaf just stared at him, so he continued, "The last time we visited there, I overheard something that sounded fairly suspicious, but I just brushed it off. Now, however, looking back in light of Kyle's resistance to go to the place, it kinda clicks. So I went there this morning to do a little investigating."

"You want to fight back?" Leaf's arms were crossed as she regarded him.

Red could see the blade of a knife pressed against her throat, the way Kyle's eyes hungrily bore into her. The rush of crippling panic that had almost brought him to his knees and then the burn of rage flooded back to him. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Red locked eyes with Leaf and nodded firmly.

She immediately broke into a wide grin, her eyes sparkling with determination. "I'm in."

Red found her grin contagious as he began they began to devise a plan. Over the course of the next week, they fell into a routine. With a plethora of disguises they threw together courtesy of the department store, the two traded off shifts watching the Game Corner. So far, neither of them had come up with very convincing evidence that Team Rocket had a presence there, though they both agreed something odd was going on. While they weren't scouting out the Game Corner, they were either training hard or picking their brains at other things they could investigate or reason out. Training had been their most successful endeavor. As much pressure as Team Rocket's presence was putting on Red, pouring his heart and soul into training his pokemon seemed to balance out the stress. It had been far too long since he'd just slowed down and focused on improving his team. Team Rocket was a big problem, but he couldn't let it make him lose sight of his ultimate goal. Besides, a real pokemon master wouldn't have a problem dealing with a group of thugs like Team Rocket.

"We have to do something different," Red said as he returned to their room following his reconnaissance. Leaf, sprawled across her bed following an intense workout, glanced up at him and slowly forced herself into a sitting position. Her dark hair stuck up in frizzy, damp sections and then struggled to pull a stray piece of it from her mouth. "What do you think we should do?"

"If we could get inside the actual place, that would be ideal. That might be taking too much of a risk, though. Actually breaking in would be even more risky…" Red trailed off as he struggled to think of a solution.

"Breaking into the Game Corner might be impossible, however," Leaf suddenly jumped up, her eyes bright, "I bet breaking into a house wouldn't be."

Red's eyes widened as he followed her train of thought. "If we could prove that the people going in and out of the Gamer Corner were members of Team Rocket, then we'd know something was going up there. That's genius, Leaf!" Red exclaimed. Never in his life had he been so excited by the idea of breaking and entering.

"Thank you." Leaf beamed.

"There are actually a few people I've seen repeatedly. We could scout out their homes and see which one looks like the best to break into. Then figure out if they're affiliated with Team Rocket, and if there's anything in there that would help us with the Game Corner." Red paced the room as he talked, his voice growing quicker and more excited with every word.

Leaf let out a low whistle. "Wow. I can't believe we are getting so excited about breaking into someone's house.

"We can't think of it like that…" Red tried to explain, "Just think, if they really are a member of Team Rocket, then they deserve it. If not, then it's not like we are going to be stealing anything."

Leaf nodded with a sigh. "Yeah, I get it. Still feels weird, though." Before Red could try convincing her any more, she continued, "All I'm saying is we better be some hella good criminals."

The next morning, Leaf and Red casually sat at a picnic table a few blocks away from the Game Corner, both with their head down as they pretended to be consumed in the books in front of them. In reality, they were waiting for pidgeotto to return. Red had never imagined the flying type pokemon would be so useful in stealth work. Pidgey and pidgeotto were fairly common pokemon, so most people didn't think twice when seeing one. Not to mention the pokemon had incredible eyesight and was impressively clever. Their wait ended shortly when pidgeotto descended from the sky, gracefully landing on their picnic table and knocking both of their books off.

"What do you think? Can you lead us there, and is there a chance this guy might be a part of Team Rocket?" Red asked, completely ignoring his misplaced book.

The guy in question happened to be a man in his mid-thirties with a slight beer belly who had been seen repeatedly entering and leaving both the back area of the Game Corner and the actual building. Pidgeotto had reported that the man very likely lived alone and lived in a somewhat run-down area, making him their perfect first victim. Leaf packed up their belongings and threw Red a generic navy sweatshirt. While the odds were low either of them would be recognized, they weren't willing to take that chance. Red pulled his hood up over his baseball cap and kept his head down with hands in his pocket as he followed pidgeotto. Leaf wasn't quite so secretive as she followed, but if both of them did, it might seem suspicious.

Piedgeotto slowed as they closed in on the location, chirping softly to let Red know exactly where he'd seen the man enter.

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Red tried to be as casual as possible while strolling past the entrance to his home. The houses were packed so closely together, there was barely enough room for two people to walk between them. The tanned, brittle grass, trash scattered around the small yard and chipped paint left little doubt how much the man cared about the appearance of his house.

Red's clammy fingers brushed the cool surface of his pokedex as his heart began to thrum loudly in his chest. Did he dare try to take a picture of the house? The information it could provide would be extremely valuable, but the risk of potentially being seen, or worse, recognized kept Red's fingers from closing around the device. Taking one last look at the worn down home, Red tore his eyes away and focused them intently on the street ahead. It was two blocks before he turned around the corner and spotted Leaf restlessly drumming her fingers on the arm of the bench she sat on. She jumped to her feet at the sight of him and hurriedly walked over, pikachu following close behind.

"Well?" Leaf demanded, struggling to keep her voice down, "What do you think?"

"I…" Red hesitated, mulling over the image of the house in his mind. "I think that we should keep our eyes on that house, but also check out other places as well."

Leaf's shoulders slumped and the bright, excitement in her eyes dimmed. "Yeah, I suppose that would be the smart thing to do."

Red nodded in agreement. "Honestly we are in no rush to do this." He started walking back toward the pokemon center, and Leaf quickly fell into step next to him. "We can stay here for a while, and while we are training our pokemon and growing stronger, we can also be gathering information about Team Rocket and devising a plan. That way, when we do fight back, we can really hit them hard."

"Yeah, yeah, you're right. It's just that," Leaf sighed heavily as she threw her arms up, "I know its dumb, but I want to get back on the road again and travel to exciting places and meet new people and earn gym badges. But I would rather be bored for a little while longer than dead, so yeah, let's go with your plan."

Red placed his hand on Leaf's shoulder. "I get it. I do, but sometimes good things take time. It might suck now, and may not be the most entertaining, but in a month or so you'll be thankful."

The next month did prove to be both monotonous and tedious, but also surprisingly relieving and almost relaxing. The two of them fell into a routine, a comfort they hadn't experienced since leaving on their journey. Red and Leaf took turns keeping an eye on the game corner. They had also started a detailed information sheet including possibly break in plans of every potential Team Rocket member they had followed from the game corner. When they weren't keeping an eye out for Team Rocket, they were either training or looking for potential trainers to battle. The park had become a frequent visiting place for them, and despite their newly established rule of keeping a low profile, they were beginning to develop a reputation. Then, one day Red walked into the room and as his eyes locked with Leaf's, an understanding passed between them. It was time.

Leaf shifted from foot to foot, anxiously reciting the plan they had already gone over hundreds of times as Red pulled on the dark blue hoodie. The sun was barely a light on the horizon as they walked out of the pokemon center. The street lights illuminated their path as they walked side-by-side, both of them trying to appear casual as their hearts hammered and their palms began to sweat. Suddenly Leaf reached out and took Red's hand in her own. She gave it a small squeeze as their eyes met. A moment passed, and then Red returned the gesture before letting their hands slip apart. He returned his mind to the task at hand as his eyes focused on the path before them. Overshadowing the fear that had begun to creep up on him, newfound confidence began to grow inside him. And with that confidence, a strong determination pulsed through him. Red was done hiding, he was done hoping for the best, and he was done being helpless. It was about time they took action.

Happy New Year everyone! I'm starting 2020 off strong with a new chapter here. I know it's been a while, so hopefully, you guys enjoy this one. I'm excited to start getting into the game corner part of the story. There's no doubt the next few chapters are going to be action-packed. Thanks for reading and please let me know what you liked, any helpful advice, and what you think I can do better!