Chapter 19: Corporate Siege, Part 1
"...ennekin News would like to stress that intervening in a police case is dangerous and should not be practiced by unprepared professionals. Meanwhile, as the situation worsens, the League has announced that recent cases will now be investigated by the International Police as a response to this Team Rocket crisis that has..."
That was what Lee heard when he woke up sprawled on his bed in the motel room in his underwear. Yesterday's memory was a haze-he didn't even remember how he opened the door for Gray. All he remembered was that he fell asleep on the couch with Tyranitar: King of the Pokemon on the air. But the sun was shining down on him and there was no more time for sloth, no more going back to sleep in the morning. The trainer got himself off the couch and found his clothing messily piled next to his backpack, and put on his jeans again after checking for Gray. The pants bit down on his waist, sending a slight jolt of pain as he readjusted to being hugged by the tightness. And just when he was thinking about that, he heard movement from the other bed, where Gray woke up in his white shirt and boxer pants, his brown hair messed up.
"Hey, Good morning to you," Lee spoke first, fighting the drowsiness that threatened to overcome him.
"Hey Lee," Gray spoke to his friend, scratching his head as he struggled to completely open his eyes. "Morning. Could you tell me the time?"
"Sure, just let me check my phone." Detaching his phone from a motel-provided charger, Lee took a look at the device's screen. "10:00 in the morning, still early if you ask me. By the way, did you win at the gym yesterday night?"
"Lee, Gyms are made to be broken. Of course I passed that challenge, or my name isn't Gray Cale." Gray replied, in a slightly drowsy bragging tone that still tried to sound nice. "Wake up our Pokemon, I'm feeling good enough to make breakfast. Do you mind if I use a few bags of your MREs?"
"Suit yourself. As long as you don't muck up the cooking."
The boys both got out of bed, ready to start another day of their adventure. It had been a long journey and more troubles probably awaited them, but there was no reason to stop now. They knew that they would be surrendering should they stop their mission and adventure. As Gray left for the kitchen, Lee looked down at his phone while pressing all of the Pokeballs' buttons, one by one. It had been some time since he had received or made a call from/to his mother...she was probably worried sick by now. Maybe I should give her a ring, the boy thought, plopping back on his bed, before Grace, and all his other Pokemon, jumped onto him for petting.
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"Hello?"
"Mom? It's me, Lee."
"Oh? Is there anything wrong, sweetie? You sound...fatigued."
"...Don't worry, nothing's wrong, mom. It's just that all the battling has made me tired. I've got my fourth Gym Badge and I'm going to head to Fuschia City, and...I thought I'd call you in the meantime. It's been a while."
"You're heading to Fuchsia City?"
"Yeah, the fifth Pokemon gym's there."
"...You must be at Celadon now, then. Are you?"
"I am, mom. Why?"
"You're near Saffron, right? Why don't you stop by Silph Co. and visit your dad, before you head for Fuchsia?"
"...I just thought of that, too, mom. I'll do that for sure. I'll call back later after I meet dad. Love you!"
"Be safe, honey!"
Lee, outside the motel, put his phone back in his bag and sighed. To think he had completely forgotten about his dad. Yet for the past few weeks of his adventure dad had never called him. The last time he called was when he was injured from the cave incident, and Mr. Fuji took that call instead of him. But in a way, Lee understood him-working at the Silph Corporation really took much of your time. Although he made big salaries and rose to the rank of General Director of the Silph IT Division, he barely came home when Lee was awake and rarely answered his family's messages or calls. Lee knew his dad loved his family. He was probably worried about his son too, although he was probably so buried in work that he had no time to care. So the option of visiting his dad in person...that'd be a nice surprise for him. When the mountain can't move to Arceus, Arceus must move to the mountain, bearing holy gifts at that too. Now, Lee thought, Gray had left before him for Fuchsia, and morning was quickly transitioning into afternoon. If he wanted to spend time with his father before heading immediately to catch up with Gray, then lunchtime would be his best bet-in fact, as far as he knew, it was his only bet, in that his dad had to return to work immediately after the meal break. He had to hurry.
Route 7-Saffron City
Nearing the entrance of the city, Lee remembered the rumors told by past adventurers, that the gate guards around this part were notorious for demanding something to drink every time someone passed. Lucky for him it had been years now-things could have been set right in the following years. And Lee's assumptions proved correct as by the gate, the guards, stationed on the other side separated by a counter, welcomed Lee while drinking their tea.
"Welcome to Saffron City, good sir!" One of the guards waved before getting up from his seat in sudden realization. "Hey, you're that kid who battled the new Team Rocket! Lee, was it?"
"Yes sir." Lee cleared his throat, feeling a curse about not recognizing Gray trying to claw its way out of his heart and out of his mouth. "My friend helped me a lot though, not gonna lie. If it wasn't for him I would not be here."
"Yeah, that friend of yours was a badass too!" The second guard spoke up. "Gray, was it? He hasn't passed through here yet if you are looking for him."
"I know, sir. He'll be passing later though, could you welcome him too when he gets here?"
"Of course, Lee, no worries about that."
You and your quick thoughts, Lee. The trainer thought to himself, barely having steered away from an interpersonal disaster. But despite his success at defusing relations, he shook his head in regret; he should have said Gray was his teammate, not someone who helped. Still, it was good that they knew the whole story, that Gray had his friend's back at the time.
"Thank you all. Have a nice day!" Lee waved at the guards before heading into the city, his hair bristling from the slight wind blowing at the other end of the gate.
Saffron City
Entering the city, the trainer saw why the city was named Saffron: everywhere he looked, the place was a bright shade of yellow. The kid had nothing bad to say-after all, he liked the yellow theme that was going on. It went along nicely and provided a bright feel to the otherwise slightly boring city, after all. It was still the busiest city in Kanto, and it had only gotten busier ever since it opened the new magnetic train station and the Fighting type "gym" reprised itself as an actual dojo that taught martial arts. Every change made to this place basically melded itself into the busy lifestyle of the people here, and the changes only added so much hecticness that it seemed like nothing had changed at all-it gets hard to notice things when every day is the same busy life, change or not.
But enough of sightseeing-lunchtime was almost ending and if he didn't have his lunch with his father now, there might not be another chance at even trying that again until tomorrow afternoon, 24 hours that he could not afford with Team Rocket trying to make Kanto the hellhole it once was and Gray trying to one-up him. If there was one thing Lee wanted to do, it was spending some quality father-son time before he got on the road again, because he would be unable to see him and mom until the end of the adventure. Making a U-Turn toward the Silph Co. building, Lee pressed all the buttons on his Pokeballs, letting Hydro, Kitsu, Eggshell and Grace out to explore Saffron and Silph Co. He would be returning, sure, but that would be a long time from now.
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Silph Co.
In just several years after Team Rocket went down, the Silph Corporation had become one of the largest conglomerates in the world, boasting a wide line of products from something as simple as Pokeballs to smartphones and vehicles. And true to its reputation, its headquarters was now expanded into a skyscraper that looked like a building out of an SF movie. As Lee and his Pokemon, the latter 4 excited with the new scenery, got closer to Silph Corporation's HQ, he was disturbed at the level of security at the gates-heavily armored guards, clad in Pokemon bite-proof armor, surrounded the place with Arcanines stationed next to every guard. The boy couldn't blame them-after all, Team Rocket did a number on this place back in Red's day, in which a Master Ball was almost stolen. But the staff looked scary, and Lee couldn't help but think that this show of force was bad for PR. Especially when he met the security for himself at the entrance.
"Hey, kid! Only Silph staff and relatives of said staff are allowed in the building. Don't loiter around in front of the building, get out." A security guard spoke to the boy, clearly annoyed at having to deal with someone trying to enter.
"Wartortle!" Hydro was not happy at his trainer being treated like a bum, and so was every other Pokemon of his.
"It's okay guys, I got this..." Despite having been insulted by unwelcome security, Lee suppressed his anger and took a few deep breaths, before walking up to the rude guard. "I'm here to see my dad. He works here."
"Oh really? What's your dad's name?"
"Uhh...Damien Hahn, head of the IT division."
"And what would your name be, kid?"
"Lee Hahn, I'm his son, a Pokemon Trainer." Lee barely suppressed his rage as he handed his Trainer ID to the guard he was talking to, who took a close look at it for some time.
"I hope you're telling the truth, runt." The guard replied, as security officers converged on Lee, one taking his bag and checking for dangerous stuff while another security guard patted Lee on the vest and legs, to make sure there was nothing hidden under his clothes, and the other one checked on his pokemon, who were clearly annoyed at the procedure. The guard that spoke to Lee held up a walkie talkie, and talked into the device. "We have a visitor, claims he's the son of an executive, by the name of Damien Hahn at IT. Please confirm status, over."
Lee closed his eyes in frustration, not liking this whole suspicion around him. Were these guards gonna really frisk a 10-year old for risks of terrorism? He knew they were being careful, but this didn't make any sense at all. Like, what harm could a 10-year old kid do to them? But then, in the deepest part of his mind, he remembered Belle-who was 10 years old according to her Trainer Card. Still, there had to be a lot more innocent teens like himself, and this just seemed wrong.
"Clear, he's got nothing." A security officer finished frisking.
"Clear, nothing dangerous in his bag too." The other officer gave Lee his bag back, albeit with the order of supplies now messed up from the re-packaging. The boy could not help but feel an MRE package's sharp corner jab his backside.
"Standby, awaiting permission." The rude guard, it turns out, seemed to be the whole leader of the security group, or so Lee thought. It was no surprise that a misanthrope security chief like that was picked, as the guy would repel anyone coming into the company, which would result in less annoying matters for the company. Some words he couldn't make out from the walkie talkie's buzz responded to the guard's earlier reports. "Roger that, will do. Over."
"Can I go in now?" Lee asked in a clearly annoyed voice.
"Watch your language, runt." The guard gave the 10-year old the death stare, and the boy responded with a glare. "You're clear to go inside."
The security gate opened, and immediately Lee walked in, not looking back at the self-proclaimed "defenders"-more like tormentors. Inside, free from the bureaucratic frisking, the trainer felt more relaxed with all the action happening in the place; employees rushing to their duties, the flow of company news being displayed through the main electronic board on the wall close to the counter, Silph ads dominating every screen that showed everyone a new product, and intercoms barking at the workers on what to do and what not to do. Taking a full elevator that quickly filled up with more employees, Lee, crammed between a fat executive and a janitor, wondered how his father worked so well at a crowded and busy place like this, as the doors closed to take the people to their respective workstations.
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Silph Co. 7F
Ding! The boy dug himself out from the crowd of the elevator before the doors could close. If the floor description in the elevator was correct, he was in the IT Department, but finding his father in the middle of all these employees was going to be like searching for a needle in a haystack. Thankfully, though, judging by the time, lunch break had started not too long ago and most people were leaving their seats to recharge. Lee knew his father-he once said that he was busy a lot of the time and often had lunch late, so as long as he can find a familiar figure not heading for lunch, Lee had a chance of finding his father.
Navigating through the cubicles, the trainer's ears were ringing with the loud sounds of the office coming all around from frustrated employees, telephones connected to fax machines, advert tests, customers coming and leaving, and many more that drowned out just about all sense of hearing. All the while, Lee, quite limberly(if he were to say so himself), squeezed through the gaps between all the employees carrying documents, boxes, products, even drinks, all things that could cause serious trouble for the people involved should he crash or disturb into one of all those people. As "Watch it!"s and "Whoa!"s ensued, Lee finally saw the person he was looking for at the other end of the office, talking to another employee.
"...and I want a full scale report on the performance test of the new drivers. Our team needs a PPT ready by the end of the month." Damien Hahn, the head of the IT division, talked to the employee, who, listened to him with utmost respect. Caught in his business, he failed to notice his son who was standing close to him now after so much trouble.
"Dad?" Lee called out softly, attracting the attention of his father. The old block finally noticed the chip, before turning to the employee again.
"...Alright, you've heard what you have to do. Get lunch, I'll join you soon and we can talk about this further."
Damien patted the employee in the back, and with that, the rookie scampered off, leaving the father and son.
"...Well, I can't believe my eyes, my son-now with his own Pokemon." The executive hugged his ten-year old son. "I was worried about you, Lee. It's so good of you to come here."
"I missed you too, dad." Lee hugged him too. "Mom said I should visit you before I go to Fuschia City. And...I'm so sorry I didn't call you, and..."
"She did? Well, she was very thoughtful." The son watched as his father took a quick look at a family photo, taken when Lee was around 7 and didn't know about Pokemon at all. "And don't worry about me, I'm always fine, although busy. What I am worried about is you; you're the one who's out on an adventure with Pokemon. I almost had a heart attack when I heard that you battled Team Rocket, and that they almost killed you."
"There are more incidents than just that, dad." Lee sighed and rubbed his head, feeling again that the part where he was struck still hurt. "They've also terrorised Gray and terrorized the Game Corner. They actually hurt other people too, dad."
"That is worse." Damien slightly frowned in concern reminiscing a bad memory from long ago, looking out a nearby window which showed the whole of Saffron City from the seventh floor. Some time passed between the father and son, both burdened by the memory of the terrible things that had happened to the people around them.
"What's wrong, dad?"
"It's nothing. Just had some bad memories...Lee, do take good care of your Pokemon.'
Lee felt genuine sadness from that statement, feeling what those who had to experience the reign of terror of Team Rocket had to go through. Although Lee knew that his father and mother went through that dark period, they never talked about it and Lee didn't ask either, for good reason. Whatever happened back then, this the reason his mom was so protective of her son. She did not want to go through the loss she had been through in her life, something that will crush even an adult's heart, and even more so a 10 year old's.
"I will, dad." Lee muttered clutching his Pokeballs, overcome by a feeling of grief. "I'll make sure the Pokemon are safe, and not only mine."
Never was a forcefully broken link between mon and trainer happy. A moment of silence existed between father and son for some time before Lee, carefully, broke the ice.
"......Dad, I was wondering...if we could have lunch together. I want to spend time with you before I head to Fuschia City."
"I'm afraid I have some business to attend to at lunch, Lee. I'm sorry." The Silph executive shook his head, but then he weakly smiled, a shadow of his guilt remaining, in a moment of sudden epiphany. "But now that you mention it...I may have some time after lunch. How about a friendly father-and-son battle then?"
"Dad, you have a Pokemon now?" Lee gasped in surprise, as he had not seen his father come home with a new Pokemon in a while. And how a busy man like him got the time to catch a Pokemon was a mystery.
"To be exact, the company gave this guy to me in recognition of my services. Would you like to take a look at him?"
With that word, Damien took out a Hyper Ball from his bag and pressed the button, and with a metallic screeching noise, a Pokemon popped out of the ball! It was shaped weirdly, with several steel orbs with eyes, all connected with magnets on its sides, with a big screw on the top that was continually turning.
"Whoa! What is that?" Without hesitation, Lee quickly took out his pokedex.
Magneton, the Magnet Pokemon. Steel/Electric type. A linked cluster formed of several Magnemite, it discharges powerful magnetic waves at high voltage. They frequently appear when sunspots flare up.
"That is so cool, dad!" Lee was intrigued by the new Pokemon, and an evolved form at that! The kid slowly approached his father's Magnet Pokemon, and softly, petted it on its left magnet.
"Magneton!" The pokemon growled in joy, shaking at the feeling of a human touch.
"He's been a great partner of mine, and he helps me get through the technical issues in our products. I'd be nowhere without him." Damien spoke to his son, patting his Magneton in the back, before, realizing something, he quickly looked at his wristwatch. "Well, look at the time! I'll be back in about an hour, Lee. There's a break room with snacks, so do help yourself while I'm gone. I'll be back for the battle between you and me."
"I'll be here, dad. Come back quick."
The words were left hanging in the air as the last of the employees, including Damien, started leaving for lunch break. Lee sighed, leaning on a desk-clearly, if someone is this busy, maybe it was a bad idea to come and visit. But he was his dad, and Lee felt guilty for practically ignoring him for the last few weeks. The trainer felt that, while this job had good conditions, the long hours of work and separation from the family was killing his father from the inside. What he needed was a vacation. A long one at that, with the family-him and his mother. Lee started wondering if his father actually loved the job despite all its flaws, or if he was forced to do it for his family. As he got back up and headed past the leaving employees to the window to take a look at the great view for himself, he could see an orange speck in the sky stood out between the blue sky and the yellow building. Squinting, the boy found the speck getting larger, and larger-until the speck was no longer a tiny speck, but a gigantic orange beast, breathing fire and flapping its wings, with a pink-haired figure riding on it; it's her!
"Oh, shoot..."
Lee froze in fear as Belle's Charizard fired its flamethrower at the building, and in the intense heat, the glass shattered, sending a burst of hot air towards the boy! He felt his body float for a second, before gravity dragged him down onto the floor again and crushed him against the ground. The glass, glistening in the air, rained down onto the whole of the office, and the boy was left on the ground, dazed by the shock. Slowly, as the dust from the debris gathered, Lee slowly got up on all fours, coughing, a continuous ringing in his ears as alarms started to blare in the building.
"LEE!"
The trainer picked up his cap and glasses, now slightly cracked on the right eye, when he recongnized the frantic voice, and he knew he had to respond; he needed to get out of this mess and find out what is going on!
"DAD!" Barely, the kid got up on his feet, trying to figure out where the call came from with an impaired dusty sight. "Dad, where are you?!"
At that moment, Lee felt an arm grab him in the back, and soon recognized the velvety feeling of the arm as his father's suit. Amidst the settling dust, Lee barely saw that he was being taken to an office, but the Charizard mercilessly fired its Flamethrower at them! The fire enveloped the entire building as Damien hastily closed the glass door, barely preventing the flames from coming into the office.
"Are you alright, Lee!?" The father quickly checked his son for injuries, finding light scratches from the glass on his neck and body and a bruise on his right arm.
"I-I'm fine dad...mostly." Lee mustered his words, still flabbergasted by what happened. "W-What's going on?"
"I'm not sure. But the alarms are going off, saying the company's being besieged by hostiles..." Damien, with shaking hands and panic evident in every action, took out a first aid kit from a nearby cabinet. "Let me see the wounds, we need to patch you up and evacuate."
"......No." With great thought, Lee managed to spit out his words, his hands in fists, as bandages were applied on his wounds by his father. "I need you to get away, dad. But as for me, I saw her."
"Her?"
"This girl I know. Someone who's in Team Rocket-keeps threatening people around me." Lee spoke to his father, seething with anger. "I know this is dangerous, but I have my own strong Pokemon. And this time, it's personal. I can't let her and the team to get away with today."
"...Lee, I know you want to fight, but this is too dangerous!" The father raised his voice, in fear of his son getting hurt.
"Dad, I have to do this!" Lee rebutted his father's claims with his will. "If they're not taken out, the entire Team Rocket will gain traction from them, they're powerful people with powerful Pokemon! And I let them get away too many times, but not this time-not with messing with you, dad!"
Only Lee's heavy breathing could be heard in the room, before Damien barely opened his mouth to speak something.
"...Alright. But we'll do it together, I can't live with sending you out onto the dangerous battlefield alone." With that, Damien pointed across the hallway at a patch of green on the gray floor. "That Charizard-it looks overpowered, but if we can drag it down to the first floor, the Security team will be able to engage it. There's a warp panel over there. We use that, we warp into the floor underneath us...but we're gonna have to be very quick, you saw what the Charizard can do."
Lee could only nod. After all, his dad was the smarter person in this room, and if he was going to act together he had to adapt to him!
"Okay." Lee said after taking a deep breath with conviction, before heading for the door and grabbing onto the handle. The father and son both got ready by the entrance, as Lee peeked through the glass to see Flame and his trainer intently looking for their archnemesis outside the building. They had to move very quickly, and they had one chance!
"Go!!"
Lee quickly opened the door as he and his father made a run for it! The Charizard spotted them, and without his trainer's orders he spouted out fire into the building, almost incinerating Lee who was right behind Damien! The trainer could see the green square ahead that was the warp panel, and both men fearlessly jumped into it, teleporting themselves to lower floors. But Flame was quick to notice what has happened and the Pokemon quickly notified his trainer. Behind the glass, Lee barely understood what Belle was saying to her Charizard, but clearly it was nothing good!
He had to hold off Flame, no matter what, before the flames would come to torch them again. In the midst of running, Lee, with his right hand, quickly pressed on the buttons on two of his Pokeballs, releasing Hydro and Grace. And with the other hand, Lee hastily unzipped his bag and took out the TM for Thunderbolt, he had received from Lt. Surge!
"Grace, come here! Good girl!" Lee yelled at the general direction of his Pokemon trying to run by him, especially toward Grace who was trying her hardest to keep up! The trainer held the TM low. "Come on, faster! Hydro, cover us!"
"Wartortle!" The Wartortle, while running at fast speed, used Water Pulse aimed at Flame, the attack which broke through the glass and toward the Flame Pokemon. However, the Fire/Flying type Pokemon effortlessly dodged the attacks in mid air!
"It's gonna take more than that!" Belle shouted at her adversary, through the broken glass.
"Come on, Grace, faster!"
Lee shouted in desperation as his father and him jumped to get into a Warp Panel-and at the same time, Grace jumped and hit the TM CD mid-air, breaking it and learning the move. The two Pokemon, their trainer, and the trainer's father spawned on the floor below, as Lee, his eyes on the Charizard catching up with them, quickly formulated a plan now with Grace who now knew Thunderbolt, and Hydro, his trusty Wartortle!
"We gotta stall her!" Lee yelled out in his full volume, catching up to Damien side-by-side, to tell him his plan. "The Charizard's too fast! It's never gonna run out of power, we have to take it down and earn some time!"
"With your Dratini and Wartortle!? You're not gonna generate enough power to take it down! Magneton, get out here!"
With Lee's nod as a sign that he understood the plan, both father and son skidded to a halt in their tracks, and Damien let out Magneton out of its ball. Belle, realizing the situation, pulled Flame to a stop too and hovered in front of the broken windows! Both sides looked at each other to make the first move before...
"Flame, Use Flamethrower!"
"Hydro, Water Pulse! Grace, you're with Magneton, fire!"
"Magneton, Thunderbolt!"
"Magneton!" Realizing the situation at its trainer's urgent voice, Magneton, with Grace shot out a bolt of electricity at Flame, fazing it with the sudden jolt. And at that moment, Hydro's Water Pulse hit the Charizard along with the electric jolt, amplifying the electric effect and making Flame spin out of control-but the wave of flames still hit the building, striking everyone inside the corridor at that time, blasting them backwards into the wall!
"GAH!" Lee was knocked back into the wall, and it felt like someone struck him hard in the back. Recovering from the impact amidst the smoke, the trainer felt a searing pain on his right shoulder-and he saw that his right shoulder of his vest had caught fire! In surprise, Lee quickly patted the clothing frantically, bringing the flames down to a smolder. He then proceeded to check under the clothing; thankfully his skin wasn't burned, but that was a close call...his dad! If the flames struck him, and his Pokemon too...
"Hydro, Grace! Dad! Magneton! Where are you!?" Lee barely got up and yelled out, not being able to see anyone in the thick smoke and debris. He had no idea of finding out what happened to them, nor could he find out about the Charizard. But through the smoke, he saw figure similarly flopped against the wall, with three Pokemon gathered around him, the shapes of the Pokemon.
"DAD!"
Lee shouted in panic and ran over to the figure, finding Damien slumped against the wall with multiple burns on his clothes. Magneton, even while badly hurt, floated around his trainer, clearly worried about him, while Hydro and Grace, also hurt and burned, returned to Lee, clearly a look of pain on their faces as they had lost HP from the attack. Luckily, the boy found his father conscious, but he still feared the possibility of wounds caused by the fire.
"Dad, are you okay? Did the Flamethrower-"
"Lee, I'm alright, what happened to the Charizard?"
"I'm not sure, dad." Lee shook his head. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I am! And thank your Wartortle for that. I did catch on fire a bit, but he spouted water just in time, before the flames could burn me." With that, Damien painfully got up, his suit now dusty. "But there's no time to talk about that. We still need to get down to the first floor before that Charizard comes back!"
Both father and son looked at each other, before running into another panel, for they knew what was happening in the bigger picture and that they had to go down there...
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Silph Co. 1F
The green square spawned the two men on the first floor, but not before a goon was thrown in their direction. The first floor was a warzone, as Pokemon and human alike struck each other with its powers! Security guards battled for control against the invading Team Rocket goons, actually beating them with the batons they had. Madness and chaos reigned as Lee ran ahead of his father, through a chaotic hallway and into the wide lobby. But in all that commotion, Lee saw the pink hair among the crowd, and instinctively started running in that direction much to the confusion of his dad, who had no idea where his son was running to. And he soon saw it, as among the crowd, Lee stood facing a man, a woman, and the girl he was talking about, now having wounds on her left arm and legs, with some blood on her lips and nose.
"You again! And who is that old man, your guardian?" Clyde remarked smugly, crossing his arms in front of Lee whose anger was evident in his face.
"Hey! He's not old, he's my father! I thought you Rockets had the common sense of not messing with someone's parents!" The 10-year old rebutted back quite bravely at the insult, as his father joined him to see what was going on.
"Lee! Who are they!?" Damien looked at Lee, then at Bonnie, then at Clyde, before focusing his eyes on Belle.
"That's the girl. The one who keeps coming after me, with her stupid parents too!" Lee pointed directly at Belle, making her come out in front of her parents.
"You and your old man almost killed me! What did you think would happen to a person if she falls at the 7th floor in almost freefall!?" The Team Rocket girl got up close to Lee and poked him directly in the heart, making the boy take a few steps back. "And Flame is down and out, all thanks to your stupid butt showing up to mess up our plans!"
"Get your hands off him! That's my son!" The father could only take so much of Lee taking flak, which made him slap Belle's hand away! "First you attack my company, now THIS!"
"And that's my daughter, you insensitive prick!" Bonnie stood in front of Belle, irking Damien a bit. "I'll have you know that our great leader requires something that this company has, for a great purpose you'll never understand!"
"That's not gonna happen!" Lee yelled out, taking out Eggshell's ball, before giving his father a Super Potion. "When we're done, Security will be all over you and the goons!"
"Okay then, you've made your decision! You and your father will be dying today!" Clyde, with clear hostility, readied his Pokeball.
"You'll pay for what you've done to my daughter!" And Bonnie stood by him, ready to fight too. As chaos unfolded around them, the two families were embroiled in their own chaos, which was about to burst by just one, single, move...!