Gotta Steal 'Em All?

No copyright infringement intended.

After using her telekinetic powers to talk too much, Cat suddenly collapsed asleep. Sam had carried her the rest of the way to Vermilion City. Now he was dropping her off at the Pokémon Center.

"Welcome to our Pokémon Center! We heal your Pokémon back to perfect health!"

"Ah, yes. My cat, I mean, Abra needs to be healed," Sam said as he handed Cat over. All that talking in his head was messing with how he talked. After a quick wait, the nurse returned.

"Thank you! Your Pokémon is fighting fit!" she quipped as she handed the now wide-awake Cat back to him. "We hope to see you again!" As they left, Cat started up her steady stream of words. Once the door behind them closed Sam turned left and walked all the way over to the beach where no one could hear him talking to his Pokémon.

"Cat, listen to me. Listen!" Cat finally stopped talking in his head, "I need you to stop talking to me. Its nothing personal, if you want to tell me something that's okay. I just can't think like this! This non-stop stream of thoughts is too distracting. Think to yourself or you can talk to Bulbasaur. But I can't take this anymore!"

Cat stared at him innocently and put a paw up to her mouth, then she replied, "Aye, I unnerstain naow, maester Samuel. Nay moar talkin'." The cheerful air in her voice indicated that there were no hard feelings. Sam nodded and hugged her gratefully.

"Now, to make a little money!" Sam chuckled as he sent a devious glance at the SS Anne in the harbor.

Getting there wasn't as tough as one would imagine. Sam dove underwater and swam past the sailor/guard before hauling himself silently out of the water. Ditto used a quick gust to dry him off before they went inside.

The ship's lavish inside hinted greatly at the riches here just waiting to be taken. Shining oak floors, white walls, and blue steel doors. There were sailors here and there patrolling the hallways. Sam had to be careful that they didn't notice him too much. Ditto had transformed into a smaller version of the sailors, Cat skipped along, and Bulbasaur followed slowly. Sam strolled down to the first door on the right like it was his. It wasn't like any of the crew would ever notice or care. They were used to the flimsy ways of the rich. The passengers, once they came aboard, could pick any available room. Sam was one of the first few 'passengers' aboard so one could assume he was looking for the room he wanted.

In the first room, a very nice silver pocket watch was laying the table. The second room was fruitless. By this time, Cat had caught on to the scheme and was trying to figure out where to hide the piece of paper it had 'stolen' from the trash. In the end, she shoved it down Bulbasaur's bulb. This freaked out Bulbasaur but there was no way for him to get it back out so he just put up with it.

The third had a couple very small pearls. The fifth and the sixth were empty and the seventh had two big mushrooms in a display box. All the aforementioned treasures found homes in the many pockets Sam had. He casually ambled out of the seventh room and waved at one of the sailors with a polite smile. Behind him, more real passengers started filing in and it got a little busier aboard the cruise liner.

The kitchen turned out to be a bit of a gold mine. Pearls for decorating, Bottles of expensive calcium and protein supplements, shards... And the occasional piece of expertly grilled lobster made its way to Sam's mouth.

Outside the kitchens was an ornate staircase and it seemed the most logical place to go next. It led to a hallway with three more rooms with some more beautiful treasures in them. He waltzed right in the first one and found a very expensive looking chest with a solid gold lock. Sam circled it like a vulture, sizing it up. It likely held some trophy wife's clothes, but it was always fun to liberate those. Sam grabbed the lock and turned it over in his hand.A Pin Tumbler? With four pins? Made of gold? Ha! These people were asking to be robbed!

He pulled out his pick and torque, the basic tools of all lock picking. He stuck the tools it the lock and started lifting the pins, listening intently. If he lifted one pin too far or not far enough, then the lock wouldn't turn. Cat and Ditto watched as he worked at it. Just a little more torque and... The lock fell open and undamaged into his hands. He put it in his pocket. Gold is gold, even if its shaped like a lock.

The chest was filled to the brim with fancy dresses, hats, scarves, and ribbons. Apparently, jewelry was kept elsewhere. As tempting as it was, he resisted the urge to pull any sort of pranks with the clothes. He put them all back as they were before and left the room.

The second was filled with ornate furniture, priceless books and silk sheets. Nothing there was small enough to carry out with him except for a silver ring. He did see a mannequin in the corner. The prankster streak in him won out. He took sheets from the head and a hat from the closet and made it look like that classical bed sheet ghost. Childish, yes, but at first glance, it could make most people double-take.

He opened the third door and slipped inside as he heard a lot of people milling around downstairs. A quick glance of the room revealed a gold pocket watch, a golden picture frame, and a black fedora hat with a purple ribbon.

"Ooh! Score!" he went for the thing that caught his eye the most, the hat. His brown stocking hat was taken off and he put the fedora on slightly crooked. Sam grinned at himself in the mirror.
"Maester lookes verry good!" Cat said happily as she clapped her hands.

"I do, don't I," Sam laughed. Ditto adjusted his transformation to look like a mini Sam with the hat and grinned at Sam.

Bulbasaur had started rocking back and forth and staring at the door imploringly. Clearly, he was starting to feel a little uncomfortable with the whole stealing thing. Sam could hear people arguing downstairs, somebody would be coming soon. He quickly pocketed the watch and looked at the picture frame. There was no way he'd be able to walk out with it but there were little round gold plates in the corners that could be easily removed. Sam took out some grease and a knife from his belt. He put the grease into the corners of the gold plates so they would part with the frame quicker. Using the knife, he wiggled and pulled at each one till it came out in his hand. With all of them in his hands, he just wiped off the grease with a rag from his pocket and threw it away when he was done.

Sam began to leave the room, but his reflection in the mirror caught his eye. He took the hat off and spun it around his fingers and pulled various different hat tricks with it. Then the door opened.

"Prepare to fight, trainer!" Blue yelled as he leapt dramatically in the room. Sam stared at him blankly. He did a hat trick and smiled at Blue, "Like my new hat?"

"Sam? What are you doing here?" Blue asked, though he should have known.

"Me? Well, I'm just you know... Wandering about. Not breaking any laws, of course. I bought this hat," Sam lied with an innocent smile.

Blue raised his eyebrows and smirked knowingly. "Oh? Where'd you buy it from?"

"From that table, right there. It was on clearance and on sale. Actually, it was free!" Sam replied with a devious smile.

"You're terrible!" Blue laughed.

"A man's gotta make his living somehow," Sam shrugged. Ditto, still as Sam, and Cat crossed their arms and nodded at Blue. Bulbasaur had decided he was just going to sit and pretend that he didn't know anything.

Sam and Blue walked out of the room just in time to not get caught. The passengers had just started walking up the stairs.

"So, Sam... How did you manage to get aboard?" Blue asked.

Sam stopped and looked up at the ceiling for a moment. Then he looked at Blue with a completely serious expression and stated, "A magician never reveals his secrets."

"Of course not," Blue said sarcastically. "You stole somebody's pass. Didn't you."

"No. I didn't steal anyone's pass. That's ridiculous! Would I rob someone of their chance to go on a luxury cruise liner that they rightfully paid for?"

"I'm thinking yes. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you just slipped past the guard," Blue sent a mock accusing glance at Sam, who was whistling as he looked away. "So where were you planning on 'visiting' next?"

"The Captain's cabin. Wanna help? Come on, you and me... Partners in crime?" Sam said as he put a friendly arm around Blue's shoulders.

Blue pushed Sam away and laughed. "You're terrible! No, I won't be your accomplice!" Sam made a face at him as they approached the stairs and proceeded to go up them to the captain's cabin. They were welcomed with a most unpleasant and ironic surprise; the captain was seasick. Sam immediately turned on his heel and went straight back down the stairs.

"Hey! Sam where are you going now?" Blue called after him.

"I have a weak stomach. Seeing other people vomit make me want to. He's your problem. Maybe he'll give you something nice for your trouble." Sam waved goodbye and hurried down the hallway. As he reached the stairs to go back down he heard someone coming up that he recognized; Red. Sam turned around and ran to the stairs that went up on the other end of the hall.

Just as Sam disappeared at the top and out of sight, Red walked up the stairs. Sam started to creep back down the stairs as Red walked past him. The second Red opened the first door and went in, Sam shot back down the stairs and over to the flight Red had just come out of. He took the stairs two at a time.

When he reached the bottom he sat on the floor wearily. "Well, that was close. Red would turn me in to the police in a heartbeat," he sighed as he pet Ditto, now an Eevee. He stood up and looked around. He knew there was one last hallway and he wasn't going to let those treasures go to waste if he could get to them. He heard the battle of Blue vs. Red above him. Sam vaguely wondered who was winning, but it didn't concern him much.

Sam went down the stairs at on the other side of the ship. He could hear people inside each room. He was too late. Then he saw a nugget of gold on the floor. As he bent to pick it up, he saw another one. There was a small trail of them. Thinking it likely a trap, he took three of the five and left the other two where they lay. He strolled back up the stairs in time to hear Blue storm out.

"Looks like Blue lost, huh?" Ditto nodded and Cat clapped happily to show her amusement. Bulbasaur didn't take joy out of other people's negative emotions and generally frowned on the whole thing. Knowing that Red would be coming soon, Sam decided to wait for him to go first. Soon enough Red came down and walked out the door. Sam got up to follow when the ship started moving.

Wasting no time, he ran up to the top deck where the sailors were. He slipped past them and dove skillfully off the railing and into the sea. Ditto followed as a Staryu and Cat teleported herself and Bulbasaur to the Pokémon Center to wait for their master.

Sam and Ditto resurfaced on the south side of town by the Vermilion gym. Sam pulled himself out of the water and lay on his back in the warm sand. Ditto shook itself off and laid beside him. "Well, that was fun, huh? Jump off a luxury cruise liner into the sea?" Sam laughed as Ditto gave him a 'not-fun' look. He caught a glimpse of the gym and sighed. "Oh yes... Back to work then. Dry me off a little, please."

Ditto transformed into a Pidgeotto and obliged with a gust of wind. Sam put his fedora back on and Ditto perched on his shoulder as a Pidgey, "Let's go."
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To a stranger walking into the gym for the first time, they might think that it was the easiest gym they'd ever walked into. These people always found that they were dead wrong. Those three rows of trashcans were a nightmare and a half. You either had to be extremely lucky or have a third eye to get through on the first try. Luckily for Sam, he had a much faster way. He walked over to the wall on the right side of the doors and slipped his Thief ID card into the secret slot in the wall. The steel doors opened instantly. Ditto started preening its feathers trying to regain its dignity after letting that scare him.

"Ten-hut! Sam! What happened to that pint-sized bandit I used to know? How've ya been?" Lt. Surge greeted warmly as he grabbed Sam in a bone-crushing bear hug.

"I'd be better if you let me go," Sam managed.

Lt. Surge put him down with a laugh, "Now, what brings you out here? Don't you live... Far away?"

"Yes, I live far away. But even way out there, rumors of a very nice luxury cruise liner being docked at Vermilion City reached my very sharp ears," Sam lied with a devious smile.

Lt. Surge folded his brawny arms across his wide chest, "So you came all this way just to cause me trouble, eh? Ya little weasel," he said.

"Would I do that? ...Okay, yes. I would," Sam shrugged and then paused, choosing his words carefully, "Speaking of troublemakers, have you had any trouble with Team Rocket?"

"Who?"

"Team Rocket," Sam repeated giving him an 'are-you-serious-look,' "black uniforms, giant red R's, steal peoples Pokémon... Nothing? You've never heard of them," he asked incredulously.

"Hmm... Red R's... Oh! I heard that some guy mugged somebody out at Cerulean City... Took that TM, Dig? They say he was from a Team of sorts," Lt. Surge said with a shrug. "I haven't seen them at all. I bet they're scared of me! I fought in the war, you know. Electric Pokémon saved my life-"

"Yes, yes. I know," Sam cut him off quickly, "Look, I'm just going to go now."

"Okay. I'll see you later," Lt. Surge shrugged.

"Yeah... Maybe," Sam smiled and left the Gym. Once the doors closed behind him, Lt. Surge leaned against the wall silently. His old war-buddy came in.

"You lied to him. Why? He's seemed like a nice boy to me," the gentleman asked.

"Thief Lord hasn't said anything yet but... I know that there's something going on. Sam lied to me about the SS Anne. And he's supposed to be back home or in Johto... We were never told that he here... Which means he's disobeying orders."

"What do you think is happening?"

"I think that there's a mole among the thieves and they're leaking information to Team Rocket," Lt. Surge said as he clenched his hands into fists.

"A serious allegation," then suddenly the gentleman looked startled, "and you think it's that boy, Sam?"

"Giovanni called me the other day and told me that if I saw Sam to have him followed. I think Giovanni thinks that Sam is the mole. And who would know better? Giovanni's clever and he's the one that's closest to the Thief Lord. If somebody would be sent out to search for a mole, it'd be Giovanni," Lt. Surge stared hard at the doors.

"So you intend to send someone to follow him..." the gentleman inferred.

"No. Sam might be young and small... But he's way too good at being a thief to let someone follow him. He would know, and if he is the mole, I can't let him know that we're on to him."
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Sam picked up Cat and Bulbasaur from the Pokémon Center. Both Pokémon had expressed concern about Sam's extended absence. There were only three thief safe houses in Vermilion City, but Sam was partial to the fancier ones.

He went inside the Pokémon Fan club, the head master and his band of thieves all nodded knowingly at each other. The statue of Nidoking, the thief standard, was the centerpiece of the room. Sam slid his ID card into the hidden slot in the Fearow's beak and the secret door shot down into the floor. As soon as Sam had crossed the threshold, the door snapped back into place. Ditto jumped when the door opened and when it shut.

The room was exactly like the one under the museum in Pewter City. Sam hung his hat on the rack next to him and shrugged off his vest. Cat and Bulbasaur went over to the couch and fell asleep.

Sam smiled at them. "Is worrying about me that tiring?"

He sat down on the edge of the bed, Ditto curled up beside him in its natural squishy form. He stared at the ceiling awhile thinking over his conversation with Lt. Surge. The question now was, 'Was he playing dumb or did he actually not know? And was that even possible as infamous as Team Rocket is?' Seeing the telephone on the table beside the bed, he decided that the Thief Lord would know.

He picked up the phone and started to dial the number then he hung up and called Misty instead.

"Hi... Oh, hi there! Sam? What's up? I've gotten stronger since we last spoke-"

"Misty... What do you know about Team Rocket? Tell me everything."

"Okay... They're a band of cut-throat thieves that steal other people's Pokémon for black market and experiments?" She responded obviously confused. "I guess that's it. Is that all you wanted?"

"Yeah... Thanks, Misty."

"Oh, sure? Hey, call more often, Kay? And not for some random business whatever it is you're doing. You don't come see me enough!" Misty then proceeded to make him promise to call more often. After he hung up, he called Brock.

"Dude, Sam... Its too late for phone calls."

"I know. Just tell me everything you know about Team Rocket."

"... They're a group of nut-jobs that need to be eliminated from the world. They hurt Pokémon and blah, blah, blah. You know the rest. Can I go back to sleep now?"

Sam laughed, "Yes, you can." He hung up. He considered calling Giovanni, but even with just those two, the chances that Lt. Surge didn't know anything about Team Rocket was non-existent. He picked up the phone again and called the Thief Lord this time.

"Sam... It's been awhile since you've updated me."

"I'm sorry, sir."

"Well, never mind. Let's start where you left off. Tell everything, starting with Brock."

"I spoke with him. Brock wouldn't do anything to aid Team Rocket. After that, I went through Mt. Moon. There I encountered Team Rocket trying to take fossils so they could resurrect rare Pokémon and sell them. Between Blue, Red, and myself we stopped them and sent them on their way. I spoke with Misty when I got to Cerulean and she was her usual cheerful self. She wouldn't help Team Rocket either. After that I paid the SS Anne a 'visit' before going to Lt. Surge."

"Was this visit to the SS Anne profitable?" There was a hint of amusement in his boss's voice.

"Ah... Yes, very."

"Hmm. Well, go on."

"Anyway, I asked him if he'd had any brushes with Team Rocket lately. He said he'd never heard of them. After I looked at him in disbelief he changed his tune to say that he'd heard of one incident up by Cerulean. That's it."

"Never heard of Team Rocket? I don't know that that's even possible."

"I called Brock and Misty before this and asked them to tell me everything they knew about Team Rocket. They told me essentially everything I know. There's no way he can be that ignorant."

"So he played dumb... I wonder why... Thank you, Sam. I'll find out what he's been up to lately." click

Sam put the phone down.

"Ditto?" the little blob asked from the bed.

"Everything's fine, I guess. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. We'll have to go out to Lavender Town. That's through a giant dark tunnel... Well, goodnight."

"Ditto..." was all the little creature said before falling asleep. Sam smiled to himself. Who said Pokémon couldn't talk back?
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AN:

Thanks to my Beta DarkAngelTorchic!

* Sam being Sam... He stole all the good stuff from the SS Anne before you could get there. D: He does that a lot.
But seriously, that always annoyed me in the game. A bunch of rich people should have had a lot more gold! There were not near enough Nuggets on that ship.

ok again good but here are a few typos I saw

Quote:

---

"Ah, yes. My cat, I mean, abra needs healed," Sam said as he handed Cat over. All that talking in his head was messing with how he talked. After a quick wait, the nurse returned.

---

Abra needs to be capitalized.
and the underline just say that to yourself "Abra needs healed." It just sounds wrong it could be "Abra needs to be healed" or "Abra needs healing" either one would work.

Quote:

---

Sam smiled at them. "Is worrying about your me that tiring?"

---

Your me? I don't think the your should be in there.

That was all I saw so good job. :)

Ha ha... Oh silly me. The 'your me' used to say 'your master' but I tried to change it to 'me.' I have a bad habit of deleting only part of phrases...

Anyway- thanks for catching all these typos for me :) (in all the chapter thus far.)

No copyright infringement intended.
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The young girl stood outside of Rock Tunnel singing to herself. Snatches of a song floating here and there as she hummed. She had been in the small town of Lavender forever. She liked Rock Tunnel despite the lack of cute pink Pokémon with floral patterns. Suddenly, someone came out of the tunnel. He was covered in dirt, sweat, and blood. He was hurt, and it seemed bad. He winced and swayed on his feet but didn't fall. She jumped back as the earth under her feet rumbled. The boy turned around to get nailed to the wall by a large purple snake. She backed against the wall out of shock. He slumped to the ground, but was still somewhat conscious.

Shortly following, three men in black uniforms with red R's on their chests ran up to the entrance and more came from in the tunnel. They looked absolutely awful but the boy on the ground was clearly in worse shape.

"You had this much trouble? Its just one boy!" one man sneered.

The men from the tunnel were torn up and dirty themselves and most were too tired to say anything. One of them answered in a whining tone, "Don't judge! This boy's fast and he can see well in the dark. We had to take his Pokémon first and then we had to chase him down. It was a mess down there!"

"We'll see how fast he runs when the boss is through with him! He'll be dead!" the man sneered again. He signaled at the two men with him and they grabbed the boy and started to drag him in between them. Terrified, she ran off to go get help from the mayor, Mr. Fuji.
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Hours before:

Lt. Surge had just gotten off the phone with Giovanni. It had not been like he'd expected. Giovanni had pressed for Lt. Surge to send someone to follow Sam. Giovanni was his superior so he didn't argue. What could possibly go wrong? He didn't see much harm in it. It wouldn't be his head. He'd been challenged by two pint-sized cans of iron-nerves. He had other things to worry about. He sent a coded dispatch over a number that Giovanni had given him. Apparently, Giovanni had men in the area and that code would send them after Sam.

Whatever happened now, it wasn't his problem.
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Sam started to come to minutes later to the cries of Pokémon. His eyes snapped open. He was in a misty room surrounded by gravestones. He tried to get up, but found that he couldn't. His vision was blurred, but he could see Team Rocket grunts pulling the bone masks off Cubone. With every pull the Cubone would cry out in pain and terror.

Suddenly movement caught his eye; a Pokéball was shuddering and bucking wildly. The Pokéball would start to open and then snap shut. Ditto was raging inside of it. Sam wanted to open it, but it was too far away. Then he saw a dead de-masked Cubone next to him. His vision started to go black around the edges and the darkness took over again.

The air near him started to haze. Cat, who had fled when Ditto had been caught, had returned. She tried to read his mind, but saw nothing but darkness. The tough little Pokémon was panicking now, "Maester? Maester!" She looked around and saw the bucking Pokéball.

"Ditto?" The Pokéball stopped bucking, "Maester won't ansah me! What shood I do?" She grabbed the Pokéball with Ditto inside with her small hands and sat down. She wanted to help her master, but couldn't figure out how.

Using her telekinetic powers, she located Bulbasaur and grabbed that Pokéball too. With her two friends in her hands and no way to help them either, Cat curled up into a ball.

"Now, now, little one. Is that your master?" An old man's voice said from behind her. She whirled around to face an old man and nodded. One of the Rocket grunts also turned around, the old man picked up her master from the floor and started to drag him towards the exit of the room. "Stop them from following and I will help your him."

Cat nodded and turned to face the grunts running towards her. "You little! You think you can take us on?" Unfortunately for them, Cat was less of a psychic and more of a martial arts master. The first grunt got Mega Kick to the stomach. The second one tried to stop, but couldn't because he had too much momentum. Cat leapt off the first grunt's shoulder and Mega Punched the second in the face. The third had stopped and was going for a Pokéball, Cat pounced from the ground and dealt a Thunderpunch, leaving the third bruised and paralyzed.

It was a job well done. Cat turned and grabbed Ditto and Bulbasaur in their Pokéballs and ran after the man with her master. She followed him down to the fifth floor. The old man continued walking to a square of odd tiles in the middle of the room. Cat grabbed onto his pant leg, like she did with Sam and watched as the old man set her master down on the funny ground. The ground shivered a little and then its bright, white magic erupted from the stones. The light blocked her from seeing what had happened. When the light was gone her master's injuries were healed and the bloodstains on his clothes had disappeared.

"There, he'll be okay now. Just wait," the old man assured her as he rubbed her head. She looked at her master but he hadn't opened his eyes yet. Since she was told to wait, that's what she did.
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Blue had finally escaped Rock Tunnel. He was directionally challenged and the whole cave looked the same. How was he supposed to know he'd climbed down the same ladder ten times? After healing his Pokémon, he knew that Pokémon Tower was where he would go next. He also knew there'd be Pokémon there, but all he saw were ghostly forms that his Pokémon were too afraid too attack. There were plenty of psycho women there willing to fight him though, so it wasn't a complete waste. On the fifth floor, through the tombstones, he saw funny looking tiles. As he approached the tiles, he saw that someone was sitting there.

He walked closer and realized that it was Sam, slumped against a gravestone with an anxious Abra sitting next to him holding two Pokéballs.

"Sam? Sam!" he called out. Sam didn't move, "Sam?" He got closer and knelt beside him. Suddenly the Abra clutched his arm. "Ditto? Is that you?" Blue asked it confused. It shook its head and held out the two Pokéballs. Not sure what to do, he pressed the release buttons and let the pokémon inside out. Ditto and Bulbasaur came out of the Pokéballs. Ditto was ready to battle with the fangs of an oversized Eevee. Upon seeing Blue it stopped snarling and settled down. Bulbasaur was clearly traumatized by whatever had happened.

Feeling a little anxious now, he tried waking Sam again, "Sam? Sam, wake up!" Blue said again as he gave him a shake. Finally, Sam opened his eyes,

"Sam! Are you okay? What are you doing here?

He stared at Blue completely dazed. He took a quick look at his surroundings and tried to remember, "I can't-," suddenly the image of the dead de-masked Cubone flashed in his head along with the rest of his memories.

What he couldn't remember was where that nightmarish room was. If they're still taking those Cubone's masks... I have to stop them. He glanced at the three Pokémon beside him. They were hurt, tired, and Bulbasaur was shivering. If I want to take Team Rocket on again, I need a strong, healthy Pokémon. His mind was functioning on battle tactics only and forgetting his own problems.

"Sam? Are you-"

"Look, Blue. Its okay. Just help me up, I need to leave," he brushed him off.

Blue grabbed his hand pulled Sam up, "Where do you need to go? Let me help!"

"No. Blue, you have to stay out of this. This is my problem, not yours," Sam gritted out. He wasn't bleeding anymore, but he still hurt. Blue gave him a concerned look, but stayed silent. Ditto transformed into a Pidgey and perched on Sam's shoulder. Bulbasaur and Cat followed him as he left.
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Red was absolutely fine. The small rhyme written on his map was actually very helpful! He'd found the aide with Flash and going through Rock Tunnel had been a breeze. He saw Pokémon Tower in the distance, but someone had already told him that he would need a Silph Scope first. And so, with a tip of his hat, he saluted the tower respectfully and left Lavender Town.

Upon arriving in Celadon City, Red visited the Pokémon Center. He heard two men talking about a casino through which rare Pokémon could be obtained.

"We should go check it out, Pikachu," he told the little yellow mouse.

"Pika!" it responded cheerfully with a clench of its little fist.

Red went in the casino, but the first thing he saw was a Rocket grunt in the back. Just seeing Team Rocket infuriated Red and he instantly challenged the Rocket. The battle was won so easily it's not even worth mentioning. The Rocket Grunt fled the scene and Red examined the poster he'd been guarding. A hidden staircase appeared down the hall from the poster.

"Pikachu... I think we've found their hide out!" Red exclaimed excitedly. His inner child released by the prospect of fighting bad guys.

Immediately down the stairs was another flight of stairs going down. Red decided to take that one. He took the stairs two at a time excitedly. At the bottom of the staircase was a hallway lined with fake plants on the left side. He followed it till he found another Rocket grunt. The battle ended with his Charmeleon charring both the grunt and his weak Pokémon.

The rest of the room was dedicated to a giant maze of propulsion tiles. Red took the uppermost one and was pushed till he hit a stopping tile. He then took the next one, which took him up and far to the left. He went down from that stopping block till he found one with a short path that went right and down. By this time, Red and Pikachu were so dizzy that they were tripping over themselves. One unintentional step on a tile took him right and down a little further. The dizzy pair sat on floor waiting for the world to stop spinning. Then he took a tile that led left and down.

He walked down the tight hallway and there were two more blocks. Red took the uppermost one and then took the only one left before he reached another staircase. Up those stairs was a room with two more grunts in it.

Red engaged the first one by standing in his line of sight.

"Why did you come here?" the grunt asked angrily as the battle began. This grunt wants to fight? Red thought with an amused smirk on his face. The grunt sent out a Rattata and Red sent out Charmeleon. The Rattata managed to get a quick hyper fang in before Charmeleon's deadly flames scorched it.

The grunt quickly threw out a Raticate while Charmeleon flexed its claws patiently. The Pokémon attempted to attack Charmeleon but failed. Another bout of flames erupted from the powerful Pokemon's mouth. Two down.

"You want to change Pokémon, kid? Now's your chance," the grunt called out angrily. You wish.

Another Raticate was sent out. This time, the hyper fang attack worked and Charmeleon lost some blood, but gamely threw out another ember. Once again, the Raticate fainted. Red's Pokédex beeped, Charmeleon had gained another rank, 36. As the grunt withdrew his Pokémon, Red took out Charmeleon and sent out Pikachu. The Rocket grunt laughed in relief too early. The next Pokémon was another Rattata. Pikachu, undoubtedly stronger, made deep-fried mince meat out of it with a thunderbolt.

Right after the battle, Charmeleon evolved into Charizard. Red was almost dancing with joy of having such a cool Pokémon. Now he just needed Wartortle to evolve and he was set! He looked at the other grunt across the room. This will be easy. The second grunt was weak, two Koffing and a grimer were like candy to Pikachu. All that was in the guarded room was a hyper potion, much to Red's disappointment.

Back down the stairs, he went and he found another staircase at the north end of the room. He went down them and fought a grunt that told him that he'd need a card, or key, to use the elevator. A huge section of the room was dedicated to another maze. Red first took the one on the far left. When he reached the stop block, he decided to get off to the left and go down. He took the first tile he found, which took him right and down into the sight of another weak grunt. Red beat down the criminal and took the stairs down to the fourth floor. There he found a grunt with a card key in his belt.

Bingo.
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Red slipped the key into the elevator and pressed the button to go to the fourth floor. Taking the card from that grunt was as easy as taking candy from a baby. He gave his Pokémon each one potion in preparation for this battle with the boss of Team Rocket, whose name was apparently Giovanni.

The elevator doors opened and he walked up to the doors of the office. Until he was stopped by the odd couple from Mt. Moon. Red hid his disgust as the redhead chick and her purple-haired partner challenged him to battle, once again. He used thunderbolt on each of their three Pokémon, a Koffing, ekans, and a Meowth. Once they were out of the way, he opened the doors to the office.

A man in a black suit was standing at a desk. Red approached him silently defiant.

"So! I must say, I am impressed you got here!" Giovanni smirked at the eleven-year old. Thus, the battle began.

It was Wartortle's turn to fight. With the type advantage, the huge onyx went down immediately. The second battle with Rhyhorn was won quickly using the similar tactic of one powerful wave. His last Pokémon was a little more difficult. A smirking persian. When it moved Red could see the sinewy muscle under its glossy fur.

Wartortle looked at the giant cat warily. The first move it used was piercing yowl. Red's his ears rang and he called out to Wartortle. Wartortle was frozen with shock, its ears ringing so badly it couldn't hear. It was handicap, but it was the only one this persian was going to get. Wartortle leapt forward and bite the persian violently. The persian scratched at Wartortle's face and rolled over. The rest of the battle was a rolling mass as the two Pokémon returned bite for bite until Wartortle finally triumphed.

"What! This cannot be!" Giovanni exclaimed as he handed over a handful of cash to the smirking boy. "I see that you raise Pokémon with utmost care. A child like you would never understand what I hope to achieve. I shall step aside this time! I hope we meet again..." With a quick flash, Giovanni disappeared leaving a Silph Scope behind.

Red grabbed the Scope with a triumphant smirk on his face.
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Red went through the doors of Pokémon Tower confidently. He hadn't gotten far when Blue appeared and challenged him to another fight. When will he ever learn that he can't beat me?
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The people at the Pokémon Center stared at Sam curiously as he went on the computer. The curious onlookers watched as he plugged in a compact disk into the computer. Within seconds the computer was showing a different screen and a video of Pokémon in a grassy field. Sam quickly blocked the people's view and selected the strongest Pokémon he had.

Before he'd left home, he put one of his most loyal and strongest Pokémon into the elaborate computer system just in case he needed it. A safety blanket when things got rough. The computer finished compiling his request and a Pokéball came out of the machine for him. Sam put the Pokéball in his pockets; it wasn't a good idea to expose it to this new world. He would only use it if worst came to worst.

Still completely exhausted, Sam went back into the proverbial lion's den. He walked in just as Blue and Red wrapped up a battle. Blue had lost again and Red celebrated his win in smug silence. Blue tried to play it cool, like he didn't care, but he was clearly frustrated. Sam quickly hid behind some grave stones as Blue stormed out of the tower.

Red... Maybe I can just let him handle this. Sam crept after him slowly.

Taking great pains to ensure that the boy wouldn't see him, he followed silently. As it took Sam longer to travel than Red, the boy had gone up the seventh flight of stairs before he could get there. Sam waited at the bottom till his sharp ears heard the sound of a Pokémon battle above him. Quickly and quietly, Sam went up the stairs. There wasn't anywhere to hide here but he decided to watch the battle until it was over.

He had expected to see the three grunts from earlier, but in their place were two Rockets dressed in white instead of black. The two were fighting a losing battle against Red. Sam watched the trainer silently. Red's Pokémon were deeply attached to him and they took strength from their quiet master. The scene reminded him of himself, only Sam was a lot louder than Red. If Sam won a battle, that random guy with the scarf was going to hear about it. The bond between Red and his Pikachu were especially nostalgic. He touched the Pokéball-of-last-resort in his pocket. It was the first Pokémon he'd ever had.

Soon the battle finally ended, the lack of battling noises jerked Sam back from his reminiscing and he disappeared back down the stairs keeping an open ear for what was happening upstairs. An old man thanked Red for his help and for 'calming the spirit of Cubone's mother.' Once they'd both left, Sam stood up and went upstairs.

After wandering the room, he saw where the three Rockets had gone: there was a back room. It was designed much like the Thief Guild's doors. He approached it cautiously and opened it, inside were the three grunts and the stolen bone masks. They immediately released their Pokémon for battle.

Sam gave Ditto a nod to attack. The brutal Pokémon transformed into it's new battle favorite; an Onix.

Sam looked on as Ditto crushed them violently. Waves of pure anger were emanating from the Pokémon. Beside him, Cat was cheering Ditto on by punching and kicking the air. Bulbasaur looked at Sam, who was still doing nothing, with shock. He looked down at Bulbasaur, "Just don't watch."

It wasn't necessarily because Sam didn't care if they died or not, he just wasn't going to interfere with a Pokémon that raging mad. Finally, Ditto transformed into an Eevee and started cleaning its fur with a smug look.

"You finished?" Sam asked it dryly. It nodded happily. Sam nodded and walked in the room and stole from their cold dead hands all the Cubone masks they had stolen. A channeler appeared and took the skulls, "I will bury the Cubone with their masks... As it should be."

"If things were as they should be, the masks never would have been removed," Sam commented sadly. A part of him blamed himself for this tragedy. He looked at the blood staining the walls hidden room as he closed the door. He didn't like Team Rocket from the start, but this wasn't his home and it really wasn't his problem... Now it was getting personal.
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AN:

Thanks to my Beta DarkAngelTorchic!

A lead up into a conspiracy that will blow your minds... (Unless you've heard of it before... In which case you can probably guess.)

Again a few things I saw.

Quote:

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Red went in the casino, but the first thing he saw was a Rocket grunt in the back. Just seeing Team Rocket infuriated Red and he instantly challenged the Rocket. The battle was won so easily it's not even worth mentioning. The Rocket fled the scene and Red examined the poster he'd been guarding. A hidden staircase appeared down the hall from the poster.

---

The Rocket? It could be said like that but to me The Rocket Grunt flows better.

Quote:

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Immediately down the stairs was another flight of stairs going down. Red decided to take that one. He took the stairs two at a time excitedly. At the bottom of the staircase was a hallway lined with fake plants on the left side. He followed it till he found another Rocket grunt. Charmeleon charred the grunt and his Pokémon.

---

Him having that Charmeleon is really random, you don't even say whose it is. It is fine just really random.

Quote:

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Sam gave Ditto a nod to attack. The brutal Pokémon transformed into it's new battle favorite; an onix.

---

Capital again.

That is all for this chapter. The only other things is from my memory the things in Red/Blue didn't happen like that(Red didn't meet Giovanni til the Gym battle if my memory serves me correctly) But this is a great story and I can't wait for more.

Got 'em ;P

No, you have to beat Giovanni for the Silph Scope. You just don't know that he's the gym leader of Viridian until you go to the Gym. The gym battle against him is the final match after which he 'disbands' Team Rocket. :)

No copyright infringement intended.
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After everything that had happened and exhausted as he was, Sam barely made it to the bustling city. Thankfully he didn't have to go far to a safe house. The Thieves Guild had built Celadon City from the ground up. Most everyone there was a friend other than the odd traveler. There were seven houses and an apartment strictly for thieves as safe houses. Sam simply chose the first empty one, which just so happened to be right next to the Pokémon Center. A swipe of his ID and the door opened and that was the end of that day. Sam went to sleep immediately.

Sam woke up to the phone ringing. He dazedly wondered what time it was and who would be calling as he reached over and picked up the phone,

"Hello?" he answered sleepily.

"Hello, Sam. I heard that you might be coming," a soft female voice responded. Oh. It's Erika.

"I see... Bad news travels fast. Don't worry. I'm not here to cause trouble for you, I promise," Sam joked.

"... Bad news does travel fast but I heard that Team Rocket got you. Are you okay?"

Sam was awake now. No one should know about that! "I'm fine. Nothing happened."

"I see... Come visit me later at the Gym, please."

"Of course. See you later."

"Yes... Goodbye," Click

Sam hung the phone up and laid back down to stare at the ceiling. It was almost eleven o'clock, but his still aching body could easily sleep for another ten hours. He sighed. If Erika knows about what happened... Then who else knows? And how did they find out? Sam laughed to himself quietly. The more he knew the more he realized how much he didn't know. I want to go back home so badly... Life was so much simpler there. Thinking about his home, Pokémon, and all of his friends made him feel homesick, but Kanto wasn't so bad. He looked at his Ditto affectionately, if nothing else, he found Ditto. That had made the whole thing worth it to him.

In the light, Sam noticed that Ditto was still scratched and bruised. In all the commotion yesterday, he hadn't healed them at all. Feeling guilty now, he carefully checked them all over. Cat was also scratched, but seemed fine.

Bulbasaur was sitting on the far corner of the bed staring at the floor. He looked pretty banged up. "Bulbasaur?" Sam called to it softly. It looked up at him slowly. "Bulbasaur? Are you okay?" Sam asked, concerned for the little Pokémon.

Clearly, the massive fight in Rock Tunnel and all the violence hadn't sat well with its soft heart. Sam started petting the Pokémon to soothe it. A few minutes later, Bulbasaur was happily situated in his lap. Eventually, Cat and Ditto woke up. Upon seeing Bulbasaur getting attention, the pair were almost fighting each other for Sam's only other hand. After being stepped on by the two rowdy Pokémon, Bulbasaur climbed out of his lap and curled up right beside him. Sam laughed at their antics. Even though they were injured, they still managed to be so energetic.

"We're all such a mess," Sam gave them all sympathetic looks. Ditto stared up at him adoringly as Sam stroked the pokémon. "Yeah... You guys are tired, huh. We've going from one place to another non-stop. How about we just spend today doing nothing? No battles, no training... A nice quiet day."

The look of happiness on their faces was all the answer he needed. "Let's visit the Pokémon Center first."
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Sam had specifically told the nurse to take as much time as needed with his Pokémon. None of them had been keen on spending any time away from him, so he was allowed to go back with them. Now, an hour later, they were all clean, completely healed, and raring to go again. He gave them all berries to munch on as they walked to the Gym.

Erika was a perfectionist landscaper and her Gym was like a canvas to her. Ditto and Cat were less than impressed while Bulbasaur ran around sniffing every flower there. Sam left his Pokémon to their own devices as he jumped the bush to talk to Erika on the other side. For once, she was sitting there alone.

"Where are all your girls?" Sam asked, for the most part only pretending he was disappointed.

Erika gave him a stony look, "I wanted to talk to you alone," her normally soft voice carrying a sharp tone. Inside his head, Sam laughed, She's so funny when she's mad.

"Erika, geez. A pimp doesn't just excuse his girls to talk to someone," he lectured her in a serious tone. The look of absolute shock and rage reached her face quicker than he expected.

"Sam!...!" she looked like she was going to blow a gasket, then quickly regained her composure, "Sit down so we can talk. Seriously. No games."

"Okay! Geez, I was just kidding. Learn to take a joke!" Sam chuckled as he plopped down beside her. She was sitting up properly like a princess on a throne of dirt and grass.

"I don't like jokes," she sniffed disdainfully.

"I know," Sam smiled at her, "but you're just so much fun to tease!"

"I told you to stop with the jokes! Will you please be quiet and listen now? You can't talk until I'm done!" Sam nodded and Erika let out a breath before continuing, "First off, you lied to me earlier about Team Rocket. I know something happened. More importantly, there's been talk that there's a mole amongst us selling information to Team Rocket. I don't know if its true but there are speculations as to who it is. As of now, most of us concur that Giovanni is the one working with the Thief Lord to find the mole."

She looked at Sam. He looked at the ground contemplating what she'd said, So they think Giovanni is the chosen one... A logical decision, I suppose.

She went on, "There are several different candidates for the mole; Arthur, Adriana, Patrick, Lance," Sam ran all the names in his head, All of them are just thieves... If she meant the Kanto champion she would have said so, "and... You," she finished. Sam flinched at the mention of his name. He gave her a searching look and she returned a serious glance.

"Me? Me! Why in the world would they think that I would side with Team Rocket!" Sam fumed completely offended.

"I don't think its you. I didn't believe it for even a second. You're obnoxious, but selling information to Team Rocket is not something you would do. Unfortunately, most of the captains don't share this view."

"Let me guess, Lt. Surge is one of those captains," Sam replied dryly.

"Yes."

Sam sighed, "Well, that certainly does explain a lot of things."

Erika gave him a look, "I'm sure. Now I want to know the truth about what happened in Lavender Town."

Sam made a wry face, "Fine. After I left Vermilion and got through Cerulean, a group of Rockets started tailing me. I thought that I could loose them in Rock Tunnel... They used their Zubat and Golbat to hunt me down and attack me and used their other Pokémon to attack mine. Normally, I would have been fine but Ditto and Cat were heavily outnumbered. Eventually, Ditto was weak enough that they were able to catch him in a Pokéball. After that, Cat teleported away and I was on my own. They got me and took me to the top floor of Pokémon Tower where they were taking the skull masks off Cubone. I eventually came to and went to get a stronger Pokémon. By the time I'd returned, Red was already taking care of it. Period. End of story."

Erika nodded slowly as she digested his story, "That's sad... What they were doing to the Cubone. Did you stop them?"

"I did better than that," Sam chuckled, "I stopped them from breathing; Permanently."

"Are you serious! Tell me you're joking," Erika turned to him.

"I'm serious. Little Ditto over there was quite a blood lust. The little fella wanted blood for what they'd done. I wasn't going to argue so I just turned a blind eye," Sam shrugged casually at Erika's absolutely horrified expression.

"I- You- What on Earth were you thinking!"

"Nothing really. It was like watching a very violent live TV show. And nobody thinks when they watch TV. Its a brainless activity." Erika just gaped at him. He saw the undignified expression on her face and grinned at her.

"Anyway, after everything that happened, I promised them a day off so I'm going to go and mess around. Catch ya later." Not waiting for an answer he just got up, brushed the dirt off himself, called his Pokémon to him and left.

Alone now, Erika continued gaping at the door long after he left. Since when was he a killer! There's still more that he's keeping to himself. This isn't like him. Someone is silencing him... Sam doesn't take orders from anyone... Except maybe the Thief Lord. But that would mean that Giovanni isn't the one helping the Thief Lord. Sam must be. Which means the leak is huge and every one of us is suspect. She wrapped her kimono around herself tighter. Of course, I didn't tell him everything either. He doesn't know that there were thieves sent after him and according to him, they turned out to be Rockets.
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Outside the Gym, Sam was completely avoiding the topic of work. He was a thief, a natural-born troublemaker, and liar by trade. He now had every intention of causing trouble around the city for his fellow thieves. First stop would have to be the black market to sell all of his SS Anne treasures.

Everything else could fall into place from there.
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As he ambled across town towards the large, six-story building, a rather amusing thought occurred to him. He looked at Ditto with a thoughtful look on his face, "I wonder what Red would do if he realized that anything he bought from here was black market merchandise." Ditto looked at him confused. "I would bet he'd try to get rid of it somehow. Maybe even sell it back to them. Ha! I bet I'd finally get to see a little emotion from his face!"

Since the whole city was built by thieves for thieves, their needs came first. Those needs called for a very nice black market system first and foremost. What better way to do that than to build a department store? Travelers would come and buy what they thought to be simple merchandise. Thieves would come by and drop off their hot items to a specialized clerk for a nice paycheck. Everyone was happy.

Sam opened the door and stepped inside the air-conditioned building. The floor was covered in earth tone tiles, though mostly green, and the walls were painted a beige color. On the wall across from the door were two phones resting greenish marble countertops and ebony-stained wood pedestals. No one other than thieves could actually use the phones though. A U-shaped desk with the same wood and countertop as the pedestals.

A young female clerk with blue eyes and green hair smiled at him, "Welcome to the Celadon Department Store! How are you today?"

"Busy." Sam waved as he went up the stairs. The second floor was dedicated to camping supplies and other things that a thief might need when on stakeouts or whatever. The third was for the hackers; a load of TV's, games, computers, hard drives and whatever. Sam's destination was the fourth floor, where a thief could sell metals, jewels, and other priceless whatnots. He leaned on the counter and politely waited for the clerk to notice him. Patrick finally looked at him with his droopy purple eyes.

"Sam? What kind of treasures did you bring me today?" he asked bored as he pulled down his glasses.

Sam grinned like a child with piece of candy, "Do you really want to know?" The look Patrick gave him was less than excited. "Okay, here we go!" He started pulling out the items from his numerous pockets. The silver watch, the golden watch, the golden lock, the rare mushrooms, pearls, shards and gold nuggets.

Patrick's eyes bugged out, "Where did you get all this?"

Sam looked at him, disappointed. "If I told you that, then it wouldn't be near as fun for me."

Patrick eyed him suspiciously. "You didn't take these off my shelves and try to sell them to me... Did you? I have heard stories about you."

"I was nine when I did that. And it was funny," Sam shrugged.

"You were nine?"

"Talented child."

"Oh, right. Of course," Patrick rolled his eyes and started examining the merchandise, "This is going to take awhile. I'll call you when I'm done. Cash or deposit."

"Deposit. I don't like carrying cash around with me. It's too eye-catching and easy to lose. Makes me feel conspicuous too."

"That's great, kid. Speaking of eye-catching, nice hat. Now go away, I'm busy thanks to you," Patrick grumbled.

"Why are you so grumpy?"

"I'm not grumpy! I'm a nice guy!," Patrick defended.

"Whatever you say," Sam said as he left the lanky, stooped-over man to his work and went back down to the second floor.

As soon as he got there he started sifting through the camping supplies. Cat, who'd been following quietly and obediently all this time finally spoke. "Maester Samuel... What's a 'cahmpin' sooplies'?"

Sam continued looking through the items, "Camping supplies are just different things that you might or will need if you had to stay outside for extended periods of time or just overnight even."

Cat looked at the shelves curiously, "Wot are you a lookin' foar?"

"Oh, various different items. A new knife would be nice. Really, just anything I can use to a set trap."

"Why is 'traps' needed?" the curious Pokémon questioned further.

"Its always fun to see what one can catch with a properly set trap. I once caught a Gym Leader with one of these. He still doesn't trust me very much now. Back home, I could get a variety of different traps but Kanto isn't as... advanced yet," Sam looked at Cat, who was starring at him with obvious confusion.

"You'll see later. I promise."
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In the end, he bought a rope, a new small bottle of grease, some hooks, and a spool of thin wire.

Outside the store he took the rope and tossed one end over a decorative pole that came off the building. After he tested it with his weight, he tied a noose in the rope and laid it in front of the door.

Then he pulled Cat aside. "Alright, Cat. We're going to use a simple trap with this rope. Now you hold this end of the rope and you pull when someone steps in this noose," Sam explained as he hid the noose under some dirt outside the door. Then he stood back by Cat and they waited for their prey.

Patrick was now off duty for lunch and couldn't wait to away from the place. He took one perfectly placed step and then saw an Abra holding a rope. Within seconds he was off the ground hanging by his foot.

"What the- Who the- Why the-" he sputtered.

"How the-?" Sam asked with a wide grin. "I set up this trap for kicks. I'm glad I caught you though, I need to ask you something."

"Sam. You don't need a trap talk to me!"

Sam took on a whining tone as he pulled out his knife and started cutting the rope, "But its more fun this way!"

"For you!"
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Sam and Patrick sat a table in the cafe on the south side of the city. It was a classic diner with the heavy influence of expensive tastes. The chef and his wife had already served them both and left the two alone.

"So what is it that you want to talk about?" Patrick asked.

"Just wanted to know what Arthur, Adriana, and Lance are up to. You're pretty close with them so I figured that you would know," Sam responded casually.

"Well, I guess Arthur is out in... Fuchsia City. Apparently he was sent to catch rare Pokémon from the Safari Zone for the Game Corner since they're running low. Lance... I think he went to Cinnabar to do... Something. I don't really know. And as far as Adriana goes, she doesn't work under Giovanni anymore... I can't remember where she went," he finished.

Sam looked at him quizzically, "What happened between her and Giovanni? I thought that they were really close."

Patrick played with his food, "Umm... Eight years ago she took a three-month vacation to Johto. Apparently, she'd done that before, like ten years prior. Giovanni pretty much blew up and they had some big fight and he dismissed her from his side. She's still an underling of his but Giovanni rarely even talks to her directly anymore."

"Wow... That's harsh. I wonder what happened."

Patrick shrugged, "I have no idea. I think she might have gone back to Johto. Where, I don't know."

"Well, thanks for the information. I honestly didn't think you'd just tell me," Sam laughed.

"Hey, I'm a nice guy. What are you going to do with the information anyway?" They both laughed.
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Sam waved goodbye to Patrick. The Game Corner was his next stop and it was also the reason why he'd bought the hooks and wire. He took a small hook out of his tool belt and looped the thin wire around it and then put the homemade tool into his pocket. He strolled inside and sat down at a slot machine.

To the casual observer, Sam wasn't doing anything out of the normal. In reality, he had slipped the hook down the coin slot and was pulling at wires. Sam had been taught the art of building one of these things, so cheating it was insanely easy.

By pulling at one wire, he tricked the machine into thinking that he'd put the starting fee in it. The game started and he poked around the machine until he found a button-like object. Everyday, the workers here reset the machines to the straight flush of 7's by pressing that button. Sam pressed the slot buttons and pulled on the wire slightly and the pressed the button on the exterior of the machine three times. Slowly the slots all stopped on 7's. Sam grinned to himself. These things are so easy to outsmart.

Sam repeated this process twenty-two times, earning himself 6,600 coins. Enough to buy himself a Scyther. He almost skipped in to the Prize Counter and set the bag of coins on the counter.

The clerk looked at him, "Would you like to exchange your coins for a prize?"

"Yup. I want a Scyther."

"We're low on Pokémon right now. I think we might have one left and if I remember right its a very old Pokémon," she offered as she bit her lip.

"I'll take it. I just want a Scyther!" he smiled. She smiled back and brought the Pokéball to him.

"Have a nice day, sir."

"You too," Sam returned as he left. He considered letting the Pokémon out of the Pokéball immediately but decided that it could wait till later. He went back to the Game Corner and delivered his extra 100 coins to the lady at the front desk. As he turned, he saw a hole in the wall down the hallway. His curiosity was aroused now. He walked to the hole and discovered that it was in fact, a staircase.

That's not supposed to be here? Is it? He motioned for Ditto, Cat, and Bulbasaur to wait as he crept down the stairs. He took a quick stock of his surroundings; there were Rockets all over the place. A hideout, here? In the Thief capital city of Kanto? And their hideout is hidden in a thief building? He looked back up the stairs. Someone had discovered it before him. It must have been Red. If it was... The leader won't be here anymore. As he disappeared back up the stairs, he started composing his report for the Thief Lord in his head. It was going to be a long one and it was going to end with him missing their first chance at catching the leader of Team Rocket.
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AN:

Thanks to my Beta DarkAngelTorchic!

* Well-known conspiracy in next chapter.. Just wait. But Sam is in deep trouble... And if you're entertained by Cat at all- she's going to crack you up with her quote in the next chapter. Oh, so funny.

Great chapter. I am wondering if the Pokemon he got is really a Scthyer

Quote:

---

Outside the Gym, Sam was completely avoiding the topic of work. He was a thief, a natural-born troublemaker, and liar by trade. He now had every intention of causing trouble around the city for his fellow thieves. First stop would have to be the black marker to sell all of his SS Anne treasures.

---

Even though I think this typo is really funny it should be market.

Quote:

---

That's not supposed to be here? Is it? He motioned for Ditto, Cat, and Bulbasaur to wait as he crept down the stairs. He took a quick stock of his surroundings; there were Rockets all over the place. A hideout, here? In the Thief capitol city of Kanto? And their hideout is hidden in a thief building? He looked back up the stairs. Someone had discovered it before him. It must have been Red. If it was... The leader won't be here anymore. As he disappeared back up the stairs, he started composing his report for the Thief Lord in his head. It was going to be a long one and it was going to end with him missing their first chance at catching the leader of Team Rocket.

---

I think that this word should be CapitAl(thE city) not capitol(the building).

No copyright infringement intended.
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Leagues away, across oceans and other regions, the Thief Lord paced impatiently across his large office. The row of arched windows looked out over the sea surrounding the island that he owned. Sam hadn't reported last night and he had heard the rumors spreading in Kanto. The person who started the rumor was unknown, but his trusted contact there had said that Sam had been captured by Team Rocket in Rock Tunnel and then disappeared afterwards. Some thieves even went so far to say that Sam was dead.

Things were starting to get out of hand, and he'd put Sam at the center of it all. In truth, he'd wanted to go himself but there were a select few people who knew his name and face. He couldn't risk his identity, especially now that there was a mole in the higher-ups of Team Rocket, if not the leader.

None of the Captains of Kanto knew his face or name and it was going to stay that way, though Giovanni was persistently trying to find out with no avail. Unfortunately for him, the Thief Lord wasn't fond of sycophants.

Finally the phone rang, he picked it up in seconds, "Sam?"

On the other side of the phone, Sam jumped at the worried tone in his voice, "Um, sorry I didn't report last night... Stuff happened and... It slipped my mind."

"You're not hurt? I'd heard that you'd been attacked by Team Rocket?"

"I'm okay. Apparently a lot of people know about that. I'll just start my report then. I left Vermillion, no problem and everything was fine until I left Cerulean. Then a group of Rockets started tailing me. I don't know where they came from. I thought that I could loose them in Rock Tunnel. And that idea... Well, if failed miserably. They captured my Pokemon. I vaguely remember leaving the tunnel before being attacked by an Arbok. I passed out soon after that. When I woke up, I was on the seventh floor of Pokémon Tower where they pulling the masks off Cubone for profit."

"Are you serious?"

"Unfortunately, but at that I point I was still injured so I couldn't stop them at all. I passed out within twenty seconds of waking up. After that, I'm not sure what happened. I woke up on the fifth floor and my all of my cuts and bruises had healed over. I went to the Pokémon Center, but when I got back, Red was already taking care of it." Sam considered it for a second. "Or sort of. He was fighting two completely different people from the three grunts I saw before."

"Who were they?"

"I have no idea. A freak couple, the lady had red hair and the man had purple hair. Their uniforms were white instead of black. I don't know if that makes them executives or what."

"That would be something to look into."

"I guess. Anyway, after Red beat them, they fled the scene. Once Red left, I searched the room for the three grunts. There was a secret room built into the tower that was designed just like ours. I've never heard of a room there, but maybe there is?"

"No. There's not supposed to be... Damn it all. I can believe that they'd attack Lavender Town like that. Especially the Tower..." the Thief Lord sighed, "What did you do with the three grunts?"

Sam chuckled darkly, "Well, you see. Ditto decided that they needed to stop breathing. So they won't ever be leaving that room."

"... I can honestly say I never expected a Ditto to be so vicious."

"Yeah... You wouldn't believe the personality defects of my Pokémon."

"I'm sure... But let's save that for another time."

"Anyway, I talked to Erika... She's not a mole."

"I didn't figure."

"Me either. She did tell me this; apparently the Gym Leaders are starting to suspect a mole. They've decided that Giovanni must be working with you to capture this mole and they're even picked suspects."

"Of course they do. He is the Kanto favorite," the Thief Lord rolled his eyes. Arrogant bastard probably spread those rumors himself. "And who do they think the suspects are? Maybe they know something we don't."

"Arthur, Adriana, Patrick, Lance... me."

"I can understand the four being moles of lesser information. They certainly have motives. But why do they think its you?"

"I don't know. Erika says that she doesn't think its me, but the other captains don't all feel the same way. Lt. Surge is one of them."

"Of course he is. That does explain some things, but that also makes it harder to interrogate if they won't tell you anything... Is that it, then?"

"... No," Sam responded meekly. "I went to the Game Corner and... Team Rocket has a hideout down there."

That was a blow. Team Rocket has dug in to us this deep?. "How did we miss that?"

"I don't know... I guess we'll just have to figure out who is or was in control of the building before."

"How did you find it?"

"I didn't, Red did. There were some Rockets there, but since it was Red... He would have gone all the way to the end and found their leader and chased him away. We've still got nothing."

The Thief Lord slumped in his chair and ran his hands through his hair. Sam was doing his best, but they were being thwarted at every turn. Now the mole was even trying to silence Sam. We're running out of time and options.

Sam heard the weary sigh on the other end of the phone. He wasn't sure how the Thief Lord would take that information, but he'd prepared for the worst.

"Sam, I want you to do exactly as I say from here on out."

"No problem. Just tell me."

"Skip going to Saffron City. Head right down to Fuchsia City."

"Okay... But why am I skipping past Saffron?"

"Sabrina isn't available right now."

"Well, that's not suspicious at all," Sam remarked sarcastically.

"Isn't it? Which is why I'm not sure it's her. She is way too smart for something like this. If Sabrina was in charge of Team Rocket, we wouldn't even know there was such a Team."

"Good point. If she were in charge... I'd probably be dead by now... Unless of course, she already figured out that we'd think this way and being obvious is her way of throwing us off... And-"

"Sam, I'm not playing mind-games with her. It's too obvious, end of story. But if you want to go to Saffron and confront her then I wish you the best of luck."

"No thank you. I like breathing. But if she is the mole... Badass Brina is all yours. I'm not having any part of it."

"... Please. As if I'm going to put my life at risk."

"But it's okay to risk mine?"

"Yes."

"Gee... Thanks. Anyway, so go to Cinnabar after Fuchsia?"

"Yes, but this is what I want you to do there; don't talk to Blaine first. Go to the Pokémon Mansion and go to the basement. You'll find a room blocked by two steel doors. You can open them using your ID."

"And what am I supposed to do there?"

"I'll let you know." Click

Sam hung up the phone and stared at it confused. Cat tugged on his pant leg and gazed up at him, "At least that went better than I expected." He looked at the Pokéball with his new Scyther in his hand. "Now to see what's wrong with you." He left his room and ran down the grassy path to an open area behind the Celadon Department Store. There, he released the Scyther.

Standing at five feet tall, the mantis Pokémon stood proudly facing its master. Its green body laced with scars from battles past. Bulbasaur saw its incredibly sharp blades and hid behind Sam, completely terrified. Ditto and Cat stared at it with awe.

"Heck yes! Man, I've always wanted one of these!" Sam pulled out his Pokédex and pointed it at the fierce warrior. Its mechanical voice went off; "Scyther. Type: Bug/Flying. Height: 5 feet. Weight: 123 pounds. With ninja-like agility and speed, it can create the illusion that there is more than one. It moves so fast that its opponent does not even know what knocked it down."

"Awesome," Sam grinned at the Scyther. "... Nice. Lets see what else I have," he pulled up the menu to view his other Pokemon's relative stats. Bulbasaur... still weak, Ditto and Cat are... Whoa. Wait. "How did you two get this strong? I haven't been training you!"

"Cat is been a'leavin' at night ta fight wath Ditto! Make-a us strongah!" Cat answered proudly.

"You two teleport out every night?" Cat and Ditto nodded, "That's dangerous! People could think that you're wild Pokémon! What if you got hurt and fainted? What then?"

"Telypoort bahk to da Noorse."

"I guess that... Works," Sam said reluctantly, "Just be careful. Take Scyther with you from now on, I'd feel better that way. He's got a lot of experience... Leaving at night... I can't believe you two! ... Wait, Cat... Weren't you supposed to evolve a long time ago?"

"I no wanna a moostash," she retorted sounding offended.

"Oh...Kay? I guess that's the end of that then," he responded more than a little confused. Then he caught sight of Bulbasaur still cowering behind him. "Bulbasaur... What are you afraid of? Scyther won't attack you."

The look on Bulbasaur's face clearly conveyed that he thought otherwise.

"Oh come on, Scyther isn't even doing anything threatening," Sam gestured at Scyther before he actually looked. When he did, he paused. "I take that back. But he isn't going to attack you."

The Scyther had started a sword dance, its blades reflecting sunlight and leaving patterns in the air as it gracefully cleaved the air. A leaf fell in front of Scyther and it cleaved it in two clean halves.

Sam picked up the two pieces and looked at the Scyther. "You're going to have to teach me how to do that. Later, though. We need to move on to Fuchsia."

The proud Scyther gave a quick nod, bowed slightly, and then put its blades behind its back with a reassuring glance at Bulbasaur. Gradually, Bulbasaur slid out from behind Sam, but still keep a healthy distance from the Scyther all the way back to Lavender Town.
____________________________________________
Once they reached Lavender Town, Sam took his Pokémon for a rest at the Pokémon Center. Scyther was a very war-like Pokémon that wanted to attack any Pokémon it saw. It had challenged every trainer on the route.

Sam didn't even have to tell them to do anything. Ditto and Cat chased after their hero and would help it fight any battle. All Sam had to do was take his winnings.

After passing through the gate, Sam stood on Silent Bridge. Simply put, Silent Bridge was an extremely long bridge extending south across the sea.

Legend said that there once, there had been an island off the coast of Fuchsia. Over the centuries, its name was lost, but its description was kept. It was an island almost completely inhabited by Pokémon. The only humans were monks that lived there to heal the Pokémon. Those Pokémon were a rare species that could only live there and weren't found anywhere else. Then, after some natural disaster, the sea swallowed the island. For days, the people at the then settlement of Fuchsia spent days pulling out the dead bodies of the drowned Pokémon. As this went on, Lavender Town built a tower that would serve as a mass burial site in tribute to the now extinct species. For months, the bridge was a constant funeral procession. Thus, it was named Silent Bridge.

Now of course, it was just a hot fishing spot for the ignorant. Sam had learned of the story years ago while perusing some ancient ruins in Johto for lost treasures. He'd found a chest there but instead of gold and silver inside, he'd found books written in the ancient Unknown script. He'd kept them and they still sat in the chest inside his well-fortified house.

Sam bounced on his toes and stretched, a quick glance at a clock told him it was around seven, meaning the day was almost over. He started to take a step but was blocked by Scyther's blade.

"What's wrong?" Sam turned to it confused. It adopted a runners' stance and its eyes communicated its challenge to him. "A race? That's hardly fair; you're like a ninja! I'm fast but not ninja-fast!" The scyther still didn't back down. Finally, Sam just laughed, "Alright! We can race, Bulbasaur, count us off."

Bulbasaur let out a tired sigh, "Bul- ba-... Bulba!"

Both Scyther and Sam started at the exact same time, each with an advantage. Scyther had speed but Sam knew the layout of the land. When they hit the intersection, Scyther turned right and Sam leapt across to land neatly on the pathway across the water. It had gained him a short distance advantage but it closed fast. Scyther had passed him by a fair amount by the time they'd reached another southward stretch where Sam jumped the gap and then jumped a second.

He saw the Snorlax ahead but instead of stopping he climbed over the huge Pokémon and kept going. Scyther jumped over the Snorlax like a powerful spring. Then both runners were shoulder to shoulder for a short amount of time. Fortunately, Scyther couldn't go as fast as possible since he had to slow down to turn. Sam leapt the next gap and landed directly next to the house. He ran around it in time to get on top of the picket fence and jump another gap before Scyther could pass him. This gave Sam a huge lead, though it closed even faster as Scyther hit the long south stretch. Sam jumped the last gap there would be. On the last south stretch, Scyther piled on extra speed and turned sharply in front of Sam. Two trainers standing on the eastern stretch felt Scyther's wind and that was it as the ninja Pokémon went full speed.

Sam reached the dry-land finish line half a minute after Scyther. Both sat down on the old brick pathway and waited for the other three to catch up.

Three minutes later, Cat and Ditto, as an Eevee, appeared racing each other. Third place went to Ditto. By this time, Sam and Scyther had recovered while Ditto and Cat panted. Another four minutes after that, Bulbasaur trundled into view. He was in no hurry to get back to Scyther.

"Come on, Bulbasaur! We'll leave you behind if you don't pick up the pace a little!" Sam called out to it. The little Pokémon ignored the incentive and continued at its own pace. Sam tried a different approach, "I'll carry you the rest of the way to Fuchsia if you run here." That did the trick. Bulbasaur went into an awkward run and bounded into his waiting master's arms.

"Do you feel safer now, Bulbasaur?" Sam teased. Bulbasaur was far too happy to let Sam's comment bother him.

Cat pointed ahead at the maze excitedly. "Maester! Iz kan lead, yes?"

"Sure. Go for it, Cat," Sam laughed. She bounded ahead, sometimes motioning Sam and company to stop as she scouted for dead ends. Most trainers saw the battle-scarred Scyther and decided that it wasn't a good idea to challenge it. Occasionally, bird keepers stopped them.

Scyther would slash at the fowl Pokémon and the match would be over.

Finally, they came out of the log-fenced maze and to the old brick path leading southward. Sam just ambled down it leisurely. A quick glance at the sun announced eight o'clock.

"We'll make Fuchsia by 8:30 easily." As they ambled along Sam pictured Fuchsia in his mind. Let's see... I think there is only one safe house in Fuchsia... In between the Pokémon Center and the Gym. The Safari Zone is under our control but there aren't any safe houses there. Underneath the Gym is where Koga lives, but I can't stay there because I can't make a report to the Thief Lord in his home because he might overhear what I say and that would be bad if he's with Team Rocket. Plus, that guy is a complete psycho who loves terrorizing people... But Arthur is also in Fuchsia. Though if I remember right, the safe house there is like an underground hotel with four rooms... So unless Fuchsia has become ridiculously popular then there will definitely be one room for me.

Cat pulled on his pant leg and looked up at him.

"Hm? What's wrong, Cat?" Sam asked.

She pointed down the path that was now heading due west.

"Oh! Right, sorry. I'll try to pay more attention," Sam apologized ruefully.

Cat simply shrugged and continued skipping ahead with Ditto. Finally they passed through the gate and into Fuchsia. Not knowing where to go anymore, Cat and Ditto turned and stared at Sam.

"Just keep following the path straight. Turn when you see a grass path heading south."

The two Pokémon nodded and started skipping again, though heavily distracted by the zoo area outside the Safari Zone.

"I'll take you guys to see the zoo and maybe even the Safari Zone tomorrow," Sam laughed. They're like little kids.

"Take who to the zoo?" Sam was startled by a female's voice. It was Janine, Koga's daughter.

"My Pokemon," Sam responded cheerfully. "How've you been?"

"Good... Good. Daddy finally let me go on a mission."

"Yeah? What was it?"

"Did you ever here about the whole Team Rocket thing in Lavender?"

"Other than the one that involves me?... No."

"Well, do you remember that old man in Vermillion City with all those Machop?"

Sam thought about. "Yeah...? He's flattening the ground for some construction project."

"That's him! Get this; he was hired by Team Rocket."

"No... Okay. Tell me everything," Sam almost begged. That man with the Machop had been there for two years and curiosity was killing him.

"Fu fu fu... Well then. It seems that Team Rocket signed a deal with Mr. Fuji to take down the Pokemon Tower and replace it with a radio tower like the one in Johto to increase the town's income. Being the mayor, and wanting to help his town's economy, Mr. Fuji agreed. But it seems that they won't demolish the tower until they've moved the dead Pokemon to a different tower... The empty lot in Vermillion. The leader of Team Rocket hired that man to do so it would be cheaper."

"Arceus... So Mr. Fuji is playing the victim to deflect suspicion..."

"Exactly! My mission was and still is to play with Team Rocket's minds and make them think that they are cursed by angry spirits. The men there are very superstitious so it's pretty easy. Use psychic Pokemon to jam their machines, steal their funding, and steal the Machop and leave ones who died of natural causes in their place."

"Wow... Good job, Janine. That's awesome."

"I know right? Well, I gotta go. I'll see you around!" Janine disappeared into the gym.

They were at the house without the door shortly after Janine left. Sam finally put Bulbasaur down and walked over to the third boulder from the right. He picked up the hollow clay-model and set it aside, revealing the ladder underneath. He motioned for his Pokémon to go down. Ditto and Scyther flew down and Cat crawled down the ladder. Bulbasaur gave Sam an almost sarcastic look.

"Fine! I'll carry you down. Geez," Sam picked up the picky Pokémon took it down the ladder before climbing back up to put the fake boulder back in place. Back down the ladder, Sam one of the two keys left hanging on a board nearby. The ladder lead directly into the lounge with the four rooms coming off it. He twirled the keys around his finger and started walking towards his room.

"Sam? Is that you?" a man's voice said from behind him.

Sam managed a fake smile as he turned around, "Arthur! It has been awhile, huh? Nice to see you again."

Arthur had teal colored hair and eyes. He had always been a meticulous man; his shirts and pants were always pressed neatly no matter what his mission was. Now he was wearing formal black pants and a gray collared shirt.

"Wow, you've gotten a lot taller since we last met. What brings you to Fuchsia?" Arthur asked him with just a flicker of suspicion in his almond eyes.

"I'm just passing through on a mission. You know how it is."

"What is your mission? I can't think of anything that isn't already being taken care of."

"Oh well, I was sent to get something out of the Pokémon Mansion.

Apparently it was left there on accident and the Thief Lord wants me to go recover it as soon as possible. It must be really important."

"Ah. So you're going to Cinnabar... Interesting. I wonder what was left at Pokémon Mansion and who left it there," Arthur commented.

"I don't know yet. I'm just a messenger boy. Anyway, I'll see you later. It's been a long day," Sam sighed.

Arthur nodded and sent a peculiar glance over his Pokémon before settling his gaze on Ditto, who had transformed back to its natural form, "I see... I'd like to talk to you tomorrow if you have time. Goodnight, Sam."

"Night," Sam replied with a wave before hurrying down the hallway. He opened the door to his room and closed and locked it once his party was inside.

"We are leaving as soon as possible tomorrow. I don't want to have any extra time, got it? There will not be any Arthur tomorrow. Its find Koga, boom, gone."
____________________________________________
AN:

Thanks to my Beta DarkAngelTorchic!

* If you want more info on the Vermillion Machops, google 'Vermillion Machops Creepy Pasta'. You'll find it. It's pretty... awesome. XD

Wow you keep putting the funny dialogue in it is great.

Quote:

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"... I can honestly say I never expected a ditto to be so vicious."

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Quote:

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Sam hung up the phone and stared at it confused. Cat tugged on his pant leg and gazed up at him, "At least that went better than I expected." He looked at the Pokéball with his new Scyther in his hand. "Now to see what's wrong with you." He left his room and ran down the grassy path to an open area behind the Celadon Department Store. There, he released the scyther.

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Quote:

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The proud scyther gave a quick nod, bowed slightly, and then put its blades behind its back with a reassuring glance at Bulbasaur. Gradually, Bulbasaur slid out from behind Sam, but still keep a healthy distance from the Scyther all the way back to Lavender Town.

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Quote:

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He saw the snorlax ahead but instead of stopping he climbed over the huge Pokémon and kept going. Scyther jumped over the snorlax like a powerful spring. Then both runners were shoulder to shoulder for a short amount of time. Fortunately, Scyther couldn't go as fast as possible since he had to slow down to turn. Sam leapt the next gap and landed directly next to the house. He ran around it in time to get on top of the picket fence and jump another gap before Scyther could pass him. This gave Sam a huge lead, though it closed even faster as Scyther hit the long south stretch. Sam jumped the last gap there would be. On the last south stretch, Scyther piled on extra speed and turned sharply in front of Sam. Two trainers standing on the eastern stretch felt Scyther's wind and that was it as the ninja Pokémon went full speed.

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Quote:

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Three minutes later, Cat and Ditto, as an eevee, appeared racing each other. Third place went to Ditto. By this time, Sam and Scyther had recovered while Ditto and Cat panted. Another four minutes after that, Bulbasaur trundled into view. He was in no hurry to get back to Scyther.

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Capitals. (If you are capitalizing Pokemon names)

Quote:

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Apparently it was left there on accident and the Thief Lord wants me to go recover it as soon as possible. It must be really important."

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You forgot a quotation mark at the beginning.

That is all I saw so good job.

No I am doing the capitals, I just... miss some. Or a lot in the this case. :) My spell checker typically underlines Pokemon and their names so I use it to find all the things I should capitalize... It clearly doesn't get them all. Stupid thing....

No copyright infringement intended.
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Sam woke up the next morning much earlier than usual. Something was cutting the air, making a 'whoosh' sound. He got up and sleepily tried to pinpoint the noise. Scyther was apparently an early-riser and was diligently practicing a swords dance. Sam watched silently for a while before he slipped quietly out of bed. Scyther glanced at him and then moved fluidly into a stance facing him. Sam picked up his plain dagger and wrapped cloth around it before he matched it to the Scyther's huge blades.

"Let's see how much I can learn," Sam grinned at the smirking Scyther.

Without wasting a moment, Scyther started whirling its blades and Sam mimicked the movements, blocking when necessary, and striking as he'd seen Scyther do.

Sam was a visual learner and had already picked up on a lot just from watching, now he was putting his limited knowledge against the masterful Scyther's.
___________________________________________
Out in the Safari Grounds:

Koga steadily walked the same path he had for years. An encompassing circle around the grounds, a duty that was expected of him. He wasn't fond of this task but it was amusing to watch some particularly mischievous Pokémon terrorize trainers. He always intervened before it got serious, of course, but the entertainment value was not lost on him.

"Koga! Ah, you are a hard one to find," Arthur wheezed when he finally caught up.

"Apparently not hard enough," Koga responded dryly and annoyed.

"I still need... Two more Scyther and three Pinsir and then I'll be gone," he replied coolly as he straightened his nice white shirt. Koga rolled his eyes in distaste. He walks into a safari like he's going to a black tie event, and that tells you just about everything you need to know about the man.

"Let's both hope you find your Pokémon quickly," Koga returned, equally cold.

They hadn't been walking long when Koga heard a twig snap. He whirled around to catch whatever was sneaking up on him but saw nothing. Slowly, Koga started backing up to the tree line. Once his back was safe against a tree he stopped and scanned his surroundings. Then someone poked him in the shoulder.

Confused, he looked up to find Sam sitting in the tree with a wide grin on his face.

"Did I scare you?" Sam asked cheerfully.

"No."

Sam's face fell a bit, "Too bad. Well, I still confused you at least."

Koga frowned and was going to defend himself when Sam put a finger to his lips and motioned for him to be silent. Slowly he pointed to Arthur, who was standing by a pond and then at a Rhyhorn that was pawing the ground. Koga watched, shocked into silence as the Rhyhorn, covered in mud and dirt, tackled Arthur. Not hard enough to do any real damage, but enough to knock the man into the mud.

"Aaah! Augh!"

Sam had an expression of pure joy on his face, "That worked perfectly!" Then he just collapsed into giggles.

Koga tried to keep a straight face but the look of horror and disgust on Arthur's face as he sat in the mud was too much.

"Fwahaha! Sam, you little prankster!" Sam dropped from the tree and landed neatly on the ground still laughing and smiling.

Koga watched him with a sinking feeling. What if he's with Team Rocket? A glance at the carefree teen beside him made him want to say 'no'. But a small part of him doubted- a small part of him still wondered: "How much do we really know about him?". The answer being, not much. Sam wasn't from around here. At one point, he'd known the name of Sam's home region, but it escaped him now.

When he looked back towards the Rhyhorn, it had disappeared. Then a Magikarp leapt out of the water and transformed into Pidgey. The now Pidgey flew to Sam and perched on his shoulders. Koga and Arthur stared open-mouthed at Sam.

He looked at them both in turn. "What?"

"What is that?" the two men exclaimed at the same time.

Sam gave them a 'duh' look. "Its a ditto. Geez, know your Pokémon."

Suddenly, an Abra, Bulbasaur, and large, scarred Scyther came out of the trees.

"These are all your Pokémon?" Koga asked. Sam nodded. "Walk with me, I'd like to learn more about them," Koga commanded as he started walking again. Arthur quickly got up to follow.

"Well, a Ditto is a purple-ish blob of goo that can transform into stuff." Koga gave him a 'light' punch in the shoulder as incentive to continue, "Kidding. It transforms by matching its DNA to anything around it. It can't transform into something from a picture and it can't transform into, say, a Nidoking just by seeing the statue. That's really all there is to it."

"So it can transform into anything?" Arthur asked, incredibly interested.

"Relatively speaking, yes. Anything. It can also transform from memory," Sam shrugged.

"Interesting. Does it evolve?" Arthur inquired.

"Ah... No. I don't think so," Sam hadn't ever thought much about that. Though, there wasn't much need for a Ditto to evolve anyway.

"I see... Well, I'll head on back. I've got enough Pokémon and I'm covered in mud. Goodbye," Arthur left with a wave. Koga didn't even offer the man a glance of acknowledgement. Sam noticed that and smiled to himself. Arthur wasn't a favorite among the underworld.

"Geez! I thought he'd never leave!" Sam laughed getting a small smile from Koga.

"Me either, though I'm sure you didn't come all this way just to get rid of that pest for me. What do you want?"

"Nothing... Actually, I wanted to tell you something but I wasn't sure if I can trust you," Sam's voice trailed off.

Tell me something...? If he's the mole, then I could be related to Team Rocket. I must play my cards right and he'll be mine. Fwahaha! "Sam, you can trust me."

"Hmm. You're right. I think I can. But first, what do you think of Team Rocket?

Koga glanced at him. I have to make him think I'm on his side. "They've got the right idea when it comes to making money. Stealing rare Pokémon to get rid of the extra cost and effort... I've heard Cubone masks sell for big bucks but you'd ordinarily have to wait for one to die."

"Yeah... So you agree with them?"

"Yes."

Sam nodded as if considering what he said, and then he continued, "My boss has asked me to recruit some executive we can trust. Someone good. We've been on a losing streak... He specifically asked for you."

"I...," Got you. In seconds the ninja master had his katana out and had Sam pinned to the ground with the sharp blade held at his throat, "Will never help you. You and your boss will die by my blade." Suddenly, he realized that Sam didn't look at all shocked. Then two giant, sharp blades pressed against Koga's throat. One look at the Scyther showed that it meant business.

"Well. That is perhaps the best method of interrogation I've thought of so far. Put your blade away Koga, you passed my test," Sam smiled at him.

Koga stared at him stupidly. "Passed what test?"

"The mole test, duh. I logically concluded that if you were the mole, you'd know I was lying when I said that Team Rocket was recruiting you. If you weren't the mole you'd play along to catch me and then probably attack me since its you I'm dealing with."

"You thought I was the mole?"

"I'm eliminating possibilities. Frankly, right now, everyone is a suspect. That does include you. That's my job right now."

"I thought Giovanni was working with the Thief Lord?"

"Nope. That's just a rumor. Anyway, can I get up now?" The Scyther stepped back and Koga nodded dumbly and stood up. Sam sat on the ground for a bit.

"So the Thief Lord sent you? What exactly is your mission?"

"Ugh... Work. Fine. If that's really what you want to talk about," Sam rolled his eyes.

"I might regret this but,... Fine. What would you rather discuss?" Koga asked sarcastically.

Sam looked at him immediately with that devious twinkle in his eyes. Oh, here we go. "Well,... So did you hear about my little brush with death with Team Rocket? Did you? I bet you didn't hear the whole story! It's a good one. You want to hear it. Don't you."

"I don-"

"Good. So. It all started when I left Cerulean, right. I was just totally minding my own business when these Rockets start following me. I was just like, 'are you kidding me? I can easily loose you guys in Rock Tunnel. Nope. They used their blood-sucking Zubat on me and stole my Pokémon! After I passed out they took me to one of their hideouts and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Team Rocket does not have a hideout in Lavender Town," Koga interrupted.

"That's what I thought! Now shut up, I'm telling a story," Sam chided him before continuing, "So when I woke up, the grunts were pulling the skulls off of Cubone. Apparently, some sicko out there will pay a lot of money for one. Whatever. I ended up passing out again and when I woke up again, someone had moved me to the fifth floor of the tower on some funny magic tiles. All the bites, cuts, and bruises were gone! So I left and got one of my many Pokémon from back home. When I got back, Red, that one really arrogant kid with the red hat, was already taking care of the executive rockets there. When they all left, I searched for the grunts. Turns out, they had a secret room built into the walls of the tower, much like our own secret doors and such."

"So what did you do when you found them? Talk them to death?" Koga asked dryly.

"No. I just let dear sweet Ditto kill them," Sam replied with a happy smile. Koga gaped at him.

"That did not happen. I don't believe it. That blob is a bloodthirsty killer...? No. Not buying it. Nice story."

"Its a true story. I guess whether or not you choose to believe me is up to you," Sam shrugged casually.

"... What in the world has happened to Kanto?... It used to be so peaceful and boring."

"You'd think that a ninja master would appreciate the extra action."

"I used to think that I'd love for something big to happen... Now that something is happening... I actually miss boring."

Sam smiled almost sadly, "Ha.. Me too. I have been all over the place ever since I joined. I've logged more than three years in Kanto and Johto and maybe two back home. It's been so long!"

"Ah... The life of a thief is not all fun and games," Koga sighed.

"I wish it was. Once this Rocket business is over, I'm going home and I'm going to do whatever I want. Which is why I told you so much... I need your help. Me and his Lordship have decided that the head of Team Rocket is more than likely our mole. We've only managed to rule out Misty, Brock, and Erika. That said, I need you to go after Lt Surge. Figure out whose side he's on."

"I can do that," Koga smirked.

Sam laughed, "I thought you might be able to help me!"

"Consider it done. Is there anything else?"

"Well, if Blaine isn't our guy... Then there's Sabrina..."

"Ha! Good luck with that."

"Surely you would be able to take on Sabrina!"

"Not without being mortally wounded. You know that whip she carries around? I've recently heard that she's now fond of lighting it on fire."

Sam cringed. "Well, that changes things. She can be the Thief Lord's problem. I'm not having any part of it. ... Well, I have to go now so-" the sound of something coming towards them interrupted the conversation.

They both turned and watched dumbly as an apparently enraged Rhyhorn came charging at them. Sam quickly leapt out of the way and Koga just disappeared, like the ninja he was.

The angry Pokémon slammed into a tree, burying its horn deep into the tree's flesh. Sam quickly took that chance to disappear as well. Ditto, however, was determined to fight the Pokémon in an equal match. Rhyhorn versus Rhyhorn.

The wild Rhyhorn finally freed its horn and turned to face its challenger. Ditto pawed the ground and snorted confidently. The insult provoked the Rhyhorn further and it charged recklessly at Ditto, who began a charge right back.

The solid Pokémon crashed into each other. Slightly dazed, Ditto stumbled a bit and the wild Rhyhorn used that opportunity to land another slam. Ditto, irritated and slightly injured, was not having any of this any more. It backed up and even Sam could tell from the look in Ditto's fierce eyes that something big was coming. With an angry roar, Ditto charged with insane velocity and power. As it hit the wild Rhyhorn, it brought its horn up under the Pokemon's belly, throwing it several feet and leaving a sizable gash in its underbelly.

The understood winner of that match, Ditto transformed into its natural squishy form and turned to its master with a triumphant grin.

"Nice job, Ditto!" Sam applauded it cheerfully, "That was well won! I give you ten for your performance!" Suddenly, they heard another Pokémon running towards them. Sam froze and Ditto turned into a Rhyhorn and was prepared to attack. Both were poised for action in the direction of the rustling grass... An egg-shaped creature came waddling out at top-speed and started healing the fallen wild Rhyhorn.

"Is that... A Chansey?" Sam asked haltingly.

Koga randomly appeared next to him again, "It is... They're supposed to be rare."

"Hmm. Well, it seems to come in handy," Sam quipped thoughtfully as he watched the Chansey start healing a very confused Ditto. Then, Bulbasaur ran up to the Chansey with a begging look on its face. Sam and Koga watched the silent communication between the two Pokémon.

Sam turned to Cat, who was watching intently. "Cat, what are they saying?"

She turned to him. "Bulba wanta 'er to join us oot o 'ere a-cuz chainsy disnae lieke fightn' neither."

"Hmm," Sam watched the Chansey again thoughtfully. "Well, I guess I have no complaints. It's only fair. You and Ditto got Scyther."

Koga was staring at Sam with a 'have you lost your mind?' look. "What? Who are you talking to? Can you please explain to me what in the world is happening?"

Sam gestured at Cat, "Oh, well. I was talking to Cat. Apparently, Bulbasaur wants the Chansey to come with him since they're both pacifists. I was just telling Cat how I think it's a good idea."

"You can't walk around with a Pokémon like that!"

"Why not?"

"Its PINK!" Koga pointed out taken aback.
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Hours Later:

Sam stood on the beach of the Seafoam Islands watching the waves come in. He'd grown up along a beach but somehow the waves of this region had always seemed foreign to him. Ditto read into the weary look on its master's face and pawed at him with a worried look on an Eevee's face.

Sam scratched its head gently. "I'm alright. Just wait, when this is over, you can come home with me and meet all the Pokémon I have back home! You'll love it."

He pulled out his map the region and pinpointed the location of Cinnabar.

"Would you look at that... Guess we are going to meet again, Daisy."
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Daisy was standing outside her modest home watching the skies. The sky was just calming to her. She was worried about Blue, but Sam was watching him so it was all right... Right? She sighed, why did Blue always feel the need to best Red? Did he grow feeling second best? Who was he trying to prove himself to? She sighed again; he wouldn't answer her even if she did ask.

As she turned to go back home, a giant shadow engulfed her. The beating of large wings started coming to her ears. Alarmed, she looked up and saw the massive blue bird circling for a landing. She ran out of the way and the chillingly beautiful blue bird landed, its head feathers swirling around it and tail feather still dancing on the wind. The massive blue wings folded catching the sunlight and reflected it like diamonds.

"Daisy!" Sam greeted happily from the back of the massive bird. He was cheerfully smiling at her just like when he left.

"Sam! You came back!" she exclaimed happily. He got of the bird and she hugged him. He hugged her back.

"It's nice to you too!" Sam chuckled.

She pulled back and brushed her hair out of her face, "I'm sorry... It's just so lonely without Blue and Red... Oh gosh, I just have to ask. Sam, what is this beautiful Pokémon?"

The blue bird song its song to the sky and scuffed its foot in the dirt at the compliment. Sam laughed, "Its my beloved Ditto in the form of an Articuno!"

"Oh! My goodness!" Daisy laughed with him, "I'm sorry Ditto, I never would have guessed!" She stroked the electric blue feathers down its neck. Ditto crooned its melodic voice in pleasure.

"Ha! He seems to like that..." Sam smiled, "Well, we've still got a ways to go before we get to Cinnabar. We'll rest here for a while. It was a long flight and Ditto's still got to swim yet."

"Goodness! Cinnabar? What's there?"

"Ah... A gym leader?"

"I see. How's Blue?"

"Blue fine. Healthy, making a lot of money, and good strong Pokémon are protecting him," Sam assured her. "He might actually be doing a lot better than I have!"

"Geez! Well, lets go inside. I'll make supper and you and your Pokémon can rest up. I don't want anything happening to you," Daisy fussed busily as she motioned him to come inside with her.

Completely rested, fed, and Daisy had even given his Pokémon a massage, Ditto transformed into a Gyarados and waited in the water as Sam climbed onto its back carefully.

"Avoid trainers and battles with the wild Pokémon. Go as fast as you can without losing me," Sam instructed. Ditto let out a war cry in response and started hurtling in the direction of Cinnabar. All the wild Pokémon and trainers along the way were far too slow to even begin to challenge them.

They made it to the dock in undoubtedly record time. The pair took a quick moment to recover. Sam had made a quick call to the Thief Lord before coming and he said that everything was in order and to come quickly.

Sam walked up to the doors of Pokémon Mansion, "Let's go see what's in the basement."
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AN:

Thanks to my Beta- DarkAngelTorchic! And Soulmaster who always takes the time to catch all my typos like a pro. :P Thanks a bunch to them both. :)

* What could possibly be in the basement of the Pokemon Mansion? O.o ... ... ... XD It's so nostalgic to post this again.

You keep surprising me with the twists you put in the story. Koga's line "Because it's PINK" Is one of the best lines so far.

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Sam woke up the next morning much earlier than usual. Something was cutting the air, making a 'whoosh' sound. He got up and sleepily tried to pinpoint the noise. Scyther was apparently an early-riser and was diligently practicing a swords dance. Sam watched silently for a while before he slipped quietly out of bed. Scyther glanced at him and then moved fluidly into a stance facing him. Sam picked up his plain dagger and wrapped cloth around it before he matched it to the scyther's huge blades.

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"Let's see how much I can learn," Sam grinned at the smirking scyther.

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"I still need... Two more scyther and three Pinsir and then I'll be gone," he replied coolly as he straightened his nice white shirt. Koga rolled his eyes in distaste. He walks into a safari like he's going to a black tie event, and that tells you just about everything you need to know about the man.

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Sam gave them a 'duh' look. "Its a ditto. Geez, know your Pokémon."

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"Well, a ditto is a purple-ish blob of goo that can transform into stuff." Koga gave him a 'light' punch in the shoulder as incentive to continue, "Kidding. It transforms by matching its DNA to anything around it. It can't transform into something from a picture and it can't transform into, say, a Nidoking just by seeing the statue. That's really all there is to it."

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"Ah... No. I don't think so," Sam hadn't ever thought much about that. Though, there wasn't much need for a ditto to evolve anyway.

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"Nope. That's just a rumor. Anyway, can I get up now?" The scyther stepped back and Koga nodded dumbly and stood up. Sam sat on the ground for a bit.

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Whole bunch of Capitals missing here.
But that was it. One part got me for a moment then I realized that electric blue is a color. So still wondering how this will continue can't wait for the naxt chapter.

No copyright infringement intended.
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Sam opened great oak doors of Pokemon Mansion and slipped inside. His shoes leaving prints in the tattered red carpet. On either side of him were empty pedestals, each connected to another by the cobwebs strung between them. The dim lighting from dusty wall sconces and fallen rocks dotted the floor. Pairs of hostile eyes watched from the shadows as Sam crept down the hall carefully with Ditto stalking beside him hackles raised and growling. There was a staircase leading to an upper floor with cobwebs draping from the archway like curtains.

Sam brushed past them carefully and came up the second floor. The first thing he noticed was a black marble Nidoking statue.

"What are you doing here?" he looked around him and tried to picture the building in its prime. Mentally, he replaced all the ruined finery with its shining new version. The broken chandeliers fixed, the wooded floors redone, soiled furniture taken out for new ones. "There's no doubt. This must have belonged to a very rich thief... Maybe even a lord."

Ditto glanced at his master doubtfully and growled unhappily.

"Which means... There's got to be blueprints somewhere!" Sam pointed down the hallway to a room that looked like a study. On the water-stained table was the former inhabitant's diary. There was some water damage to that as well but it was still legible. Sam flipped through the pages, he found the thief's name, Aidan Barbossa. There was a page dedicated to his favorite Pokemon of his team, a Scyther by the name of Sarpedon.

"Sarpedon... Huh. That's not a bad name," Sam commented to Ditto who growled impatiently in response.

Finally, Sam found the blueprints. There was a staircase on the first floor that would take him right next to the room that was his destination. He was memorizing the path when his thoughts were interrupted by a loud bark. A Growlithe was challenging Ditto to a fight. Ditto transformed into a Growlithe and growled at it fiercely. Both Pokemon bared their teeth at each other and started to circle. Sam saw an orange stone niched in a small hole in the floor and watched as Ditto accidentally stepped on it.

The reaction wasn't what any present expected. The stone started to glow and the DNA Ditto faked was forced into a new DNA type. Now, Ditto had become a six-foot-plus wolf. The Growlithe cowered and ran off yelping. Ditto howled triumphantly.

"Arcanine," the red Pokedex started before Sam turned it off.

"Well, who knew? You can evolve a fake Growlithe?" Sam commented impressed, "Now change into something smaller so we can get through this house." Ditto whined but complied, changing back into an oversized Eevee.

Back the hall and down the stairs to the first floor and through maze-of-a-house Sam stood in front of the solid steel doors. He brushed some of the dust off the door and found the slot for his trainer card. The steel doors flew open blowing the dust and cobwebs into the air. Once the dust settled, Sam went down the staircase to the basement right next to the room. He walked around to the north end where there were steel doors baring his path. He slipped his card in and the doors opened.

Inside the room was a blue dog-type Pokemon and a man just sitting at the table. He was wearing black pants, a blue suit-type jacket and a matching hat.

"Hello, Sam," he greeted with a smile.

Sam stared at him. The voice sounds familiar but I haven't seen this guy before in my life. "Hi... Who are you?"

"My name is Riley, you would probably know me better as 'the Thief Lord'."

Sam looked up at the ceiling considering his statement. He gave Riley another look, and then saw the chair on the side of the table opposite him and sat down in it quietly.

"That was pretty tame reaction," Riley commented dryly.

"... I should have seen this coming. This region hates me!"

Riley laughed, "It has its charms but I agree, its not my favorite either."

"Yeah, well it's my least favorite. I don't think it gets any worse than this. I mean for crying out loud, I never had this much trouble before!"

"I'm sure. Now, in more detail, what happened with Koga."

"I used a new strategy, I pretended to the mole and offered him a place of power among Team Rocket."

"You did what?" Riley stared at him in disbelief, "That's not only dangerous but stupid! How in the world did you get out of that with your head?"

"I had Scyther as back up. Everything was fine. More importantly, I successfully determined that he is definitely not the mole. So, without asking for your permission, obviously, I told him about my mission and asked for his help in getting Lt. Surge to talk."

Riley sat back in his chair and shook his head, "I can't say I wasn't warned about you. But I digress, Koga will get Lt. Surge to spill his guts. Literally, if the he is the mole."

"I thought he was our best bet," Sam smiled, very pleased, "Now, what are you doing out here?"

"Well, I'm going to help you from here on out. We weren't getting very far before so now, I'm going to determine for myself if they are with or against us."

"How are you going to do that?"

"By reading their aura," Riley replied cooly.

Sam gave him a funny look, "What? What's an aura?"

"In more understandable terms, I can see the color of every living thing's spirit. I can tell if they mean harm, are good people or bad. I can also read minds along with various other things. I am what is known as an Aura Guardian."

"Whoa... That's awesome! So all you have to do is see Blaine and we're in and then out?"

"Yes. Sound good?" Riley asked with a chuckle.

"Heck yes!"

"Now, let's go. You can call me Riley in front of Blaine but don't let him know that I'm the Thief Lord. This is something just between us. You can just pretend that I'm a friend of yours."

"No problem. Now let's both hope he's the mole so we can go home!" Sam said half-jokingly.
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Blaine was standing in the hottest part of the gym letting his Pokemon out to stretch when Sam showed up.

"Mr. Blaine!" he greeted cheerfully.

"Sam... What brings you out to Cinnabar?... And who is your friend?" Blaine replied with not near the amount of enthusiasm.

"This is my friend Riley. And I came all this way just because I wanted to poke around the Pokemon Mansion for any forgotten treasures and I also came to see the strongest superior officer of Kanto!"

"Hmm," Blaine responded pleased with the compliment, "Well, my favorite thief. You have my permission to take anything you want out of there. Now, its time for supper so I'll see you tomorrow." And with that they were dismissed.

Sam walked out with Riley and once the doors closed, "So? Is he the mole?" Sam whispered.

"No. He's slightly corrupt but I always knew that," Riley said dryly.

"Hm. Well, darn," Sam sighed disappointed.

Riley smiled, and was going to reply when his cell phone rang.

"Hello?" Sam watched Riley was he took the call. He couldn't hear what the other person was saying but it didn't look too good. Riley hung up and put the cell phone back in his pocket before turning to Sam.

"We have to go to Saffron. Now."

"Uh... Wait a minute. I'm not going anywhere near Saffron!"

"Sam, she's asking for our help!"

"I don't believe that. She doesn't need our help, she just wants to kill us."

Riley looked at him sarcastically, "Sam, if she was lying- I would know. Now come on, you are coming with me."

Sam looked at Ditto, who seemed pretty tired, with concern, "Can you fly back to Saffron?" The proud little Pokemon nodded and transformed into Articuno. Riley pulled the out a Pokeball and released a Salamence.

"Now lets go."
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It was 8 o'clock by the time they reached Saffron. Ditto was exhausted so Sam dropped it off at the Pokemon Center. He released Cat and Scyther there as well so Ditto wouldn't be alone. Then he followed Riley to the Saffron Gym. All along the way, Sam saw Rockets everywhere.

Sabrina met them outside the gym. She appeared slightly injured, like she'd gotten in a fight. Sam stared at her, standing out of range of the whip in her hand. If Sam wasn't so terrified of her, Sabrina's olive skin and long black hair would make her very attractive. Fortunately, her reputation proceeded her.

"Sabrina! How did this happen?" Riley asked.

She looked at him defensively, "Who are you?"

"I was sent by the Thief Lord himself to handle this, now answer my question!"

"I... I saw them come in and shut down the gates leading in. I wanted to handle this by myself but now... Suddenly, there were so many of them. I can't do it alone anymore," Sabrina admitted, though the words were like acid in her mouth.

"Where are they based here?"

"I don't know for sure but I'm pretty sure they're in Silph Co," she responded with a point at the tallest building in Kanto.

Riley turned and looked at the huge building, "It would take forever to get through that many floors of Rockets!"

"That's not our only problem, come inside the Gym; they sent us a message."

Riley started to follow her inside when Sam finally asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"Go..." Riley looked at the weary look on Sam's face, "take care of your Pokemon and yourself. There's nothing that needs to be done right now."

"Okay. I'll go to the safe house next door if you need me," Sam replied happily. Riley nodded and left. Sam went back to the Pokemon Center and picked up his Pokemon and slipped into the safe house. Both Ditto and Sam were asleep in seconds. Cat apparently had other ideas.
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A grunt had seen the man in blue and a boy matching the description of Sam. Immediately he went back and reported to his superior officer, Administrator Lance. He found the mint green-haired man standing by the decorative pool.

"Suspect had been located. He has 'it' with him."

"Good. I'll let Giovanni know immediately. Go keep watch and let me know if anything changes."

"Yessir!" the grunt saluted and slunk out.

Lance stared at his reflection in the pool. The black uniform looked rather dashing on him. He was just vain enough to leave his shirt unbuttoned part of the way down his chest. "I am Proton... Administrator Proton of Team Rocket... No one will come between us and our goal."

"Practicing your new identity?"

"Wouldn't want to screw up. Its easy for you, Patrick. You're always changing faces."

"Heh, if we're going by our new names, I'm Petrel."

"I suppose you are," Lance answered bitterly. "I don't understand why my name has to be so... Ridiculous."

"Sorry. You can be Petrel if you want," Patrick offered with a laugh.

Lance glared at him. "Not a chance. Anyway, what do you want?"

"Nothing. Just curious, what's all this target and what-not going on? I heard something about Sam."

"If you don't know then I guess you don't get to," Lance replied coldly, "Now I have a report to make. Don't leave Silph Co." With that, Lance turned on his heel and strode away.

Patrick watched him with his droopy purple eyes. He pulled at his new black uniform uncomfortably. This was his decision and he knew it, but the feeling of guilt still hovered. He didn't care about the damn thieves but Sam was different, he was like friend- even if he was a little shit. "Sam... You'd better keep a sharp eyes on anything important to you from now on," he muttered under his breath.
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Up on the eleventh floor, Lance strode into Giovanni's new office. Arthur was there too.

"He's here. And he has the target with him."

Giovanni nodded and looked out the window, "Good, good... Now let me make myself clear. If there is any opportunity to take it from him do it. I don't care what happens. If you have to kill him to get it, do it. No mercy, I don't care how you feel about it."

"Do you want Pat- Petrel in on this?" Arthur asked flatly. "He seems to have an attachment to the kid, he might not be so willing."

"Then he should be the one to kill him. He is just going to have to accept that anyone with the thieves is against us," Lance shrugged coldly.

Giovanni looked at both of his administrators carefully. "No. We can't risk Petrel warning Sam. But, if when acquiring our goal you have the opportunity to take Sam out, do it. That will cut off any connection Petrel might have."

Lance and Arthur saluted. "Yessir."

"Now go. If that Red kid shows up again we could be in trouble." The two men left, leaving Giovanni alone.

He turned to look at the safe house Sam was said to be staying at as he stroked his persian. I have failed this experiment too many times. This time, I won't and you'll help me achieve my goal. No one will ever come between me and my creation of Mew. There won't be any mistakes this time.
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AN: A shorter chapter than normal. But its such a great place to stop :D

My beta disappeared at this point- so this is another raw chapter. I tried to get as many typos as possible- but I don't always succeed.
-Thank you, Soulmaster, for catching my plethora of capitalization errors last time. :)

Now, writhe in suspense until tomorrow! (muhahaha!)

You certainly have me writhing in suspense. You really know how to throw the plot twists in there.

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"Which means... There's got to be blueprints somewhere!" Sam pointed down the hallway to a room that looked like a study. On the water-stained table was the former inhabitant's diary. There was some water damage to that as well but it was still legible. Sam flipped through the pages, he found the thief's name, Aidan Barbossa. There was a page dedicated to his favorite Pokemon of his team, a scyther by the name of Sarpedon.

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Just this one this time.