Author's Note: The following chapter is a rewritten version of the third chapter of Trial of the Phoenix.
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Chapter 6: Bitter Reunion
It had been six months since Marie had been promoted to the rank of an elite Team Rocket agent. During that time she had investigated the suspicious activities of several Team Rocket members, and almost every one of them had been punished with Darkrai’s Dark Void attack. That night in the forests of the Johto Region between Goldenrod City and Ecruteak City, Marie had dealt with a pair of very incompetent agents named Jessie and James, as well as their talking Pokemon, Meowth. It was perhaps the easiest assignment that she had been given so far. There was a downside to the mission however; Giovanni had ordered Marie to steal the Pikachu of a trainer that Jessie and James had been pursuing.
Marie hated the whole idea of stealing another person’s Pokemon, and she had somehow managed to avoid doing it since joining Team Rocket. But it seemed that she could avoid it no longer. Marie had sent Murkrow to spot her target from the air. After only ten minutes Murkrow had returned and was leading Marie to where her unwanted quarry was. It was not a long walk to where the target was, and in the light of the moon and stars above Marie could make out three campers in sleeping bags from where she was standing in the bushes.
“Okay, let’s do this.” Marie said to Zoroark, who had been following alongside Marie through the forest. “Time for their wakeup call.”
Zoroark nodded and started rustling around in the bushes. The rustling caused one of the campers, a girl with red hair, to awaken and sit up in her sleeping bag.
“Is somebody there?” the redhead asked with a hint of fear in her voice.
Her question was quickly answered when Zoroark suddenly leapt from the nearby bushes and roared. The sudden appearance of the monster fox caused the other two campers to awaken.
“What Pokemon is that?” asked one of the campers, who seemed to be a boy a little older than ten.
“I’ve seen a picture of that Pokemon once before. I think it’s called a Zoroark.” Another female camper answered. Marie thought that she recognized the voice, but she brushed it off.
“Well, well, it seems that someone in this group is quite knowledgeable.” Marie said as she emerged from her hiding place.
At that moment Marie took a good look at the three campers. The first one she had noticed was the redhead from before. Her hair was tied in an odd side ponytail of some kind, and she was wearing a yellow shirt with denim shorts and red suspenders. The second of the three campers was the boy who had asked about Zoroark’s identity. He had black hair and was wearing a black shirt under a blue jacket with short white sleeves, and a pair of jeans. As he got to his feet he put on a ball cap that was white on the front and had a black L-shaped logo.
Standing at the boy’s feet was a yellow rodent-like creature with long pointed ears that had yellow tips, and large red circles on its cheeks. Its tail was in the shape of a lightning bolt. Marie knew this creature to be a Pikachu, the Pokemon that Marie had been sent to obtain. At last Marie took a look at the third camper in the group, and was completely shocked when she saw who it was. The person was a girl who looked to be about fourteen, with long raven hair and eyes like emeralds and wearing a red t-shirt and denim shorts.
Marie recognized the girl right away as the close friend who had betrayed her years before, Lisa Flare. Of all the people Marie could’ve encountered on this particular mission, she never imagined that she’d run into Lisa. And what surprised Marie most was that she was afraid that Lisa would recognize her.
“W-what’re you…?” Marie began to ask as she backed away from Lisa and the other two.
“Who are you?” Lisa demanded to know.
“You… don’t know who I am?” Noir Mask said in a surprised tone.
“I think I’d remember seeing someone like you before. Now who are you?” Lisa demanded again.
Marie’s lips curved into an amused smirk. She couldn’t believe that Lisa didn’t know who she was. In fact it amused her a bit, but also made her angry. It ticked Marie off that after all the years they knew each other that Lisa couldn’t recognize her voice or detect some aspect of her manner or appearance that would be a major clue. Still, Marie knew that the fact that Lisa didn’t recognize her made things a little less complicated. Marie decided to go with the flow.
“I am Noir Mask, a special agent of Team Rocket!” Marie announced. “Care to tell me who you are?”
“Lisa Flare.” Lisa replied. “I’ve heard about Team Rocket since coming to this region. You’re all a bunch of thieves who steal Pokemon, right?”
“…What of it?” Marie asked coldly.
“Stealing and abusing Pokemon the way you people do. You’re nothing but scum!” Lisa declared. “I can’t stand people like you!”
“Yes, I’m sure you’re merciless to thieves, even if you know them personally.” Marie responded with a hint of bile in her voice. “Anyway, I was assigned the mission of acquiring your friend’s Pikachu.”
“You’re not getting Pikachu!” the boy proclaimed.
“We’ll see about that.” Marie said to him. “But first I’d like to take on your friend Lisa in battle.”
“I’m in no mood to fight scum like you right now!” Lisa declared. “Go Entei!”
Emerging from the thrown ball with a roar was a very large brown lion-like creature with a cream-colored underside. It had white paws and on the sides of its back were large spiked grey plates. In between those plates like a cape was something that looked like billowing grey smoke. The creature had an almost mask-like face with a three-pointed yellow plate on its forehead, red plates on the sides, and a white mustache-like plate on the front of its snout. Both Marie and Zoroark were greatly startled by the appearance of this creature, which Marie knew to be one of Johto’s great Legendary Pokemon.
“Entei? How did you…?” Marie began to ask.
“Roar Entei!” Lisa commanded. Entei let out a great roar that frightened Zoroark and caused it to go back into its Pokeball.
“Use Thunder Bolt Pikachu!” the boy commanded.
“Pik… a… CHU!” the little electric rodent cried as it shot off a large bolt of yellow lightning.
The attack hit the ground right in front of Marie, creating a huge cloud of dust. Lisa called Entei back to its ball while the redhead grabbed an egg-shaped creature that Marie had noticed earlier and recognized as a Togepi. The group then took the opportunity and ran off, and by the time the dust in front of Marie cleared they were gone. Marie hit a nearby tree with her fist in frustration.
“How could she be here?” Marie asked herself. “How?”
With Lisa and the others long gone, Marie decided to leave. She thought about chasing after them, but the situation had become a little too overwhelming. Marie felt like she needed a break. Marie walked through another part of the forest until she came to a small cave. She went in and sat against the wall of the cave entrance to rest. The once simple mission to eliminate two incompetent Team Rocket agents and capture a Pikachu had become far more complicated.
The thing that complicated matters most was running into Lisa, and the fact that she had somehow captured the fabled Entei. Marie thought over and over about what to do. She knew that Giovanni was expecting her to report back. In the end Marie decided that she had no choice and pulled out a silver disc with a blue orb on top. She set the disc on the ground, and in moments it projected up a bluish hologram of Giovanni.
“Report.” Giovanni ordered.
“There’s been an unexpected development in the mission sir.” Marie reported. “One of the trainers accompanying the boy with the Pikachu has an Entei in her possession.”
“What?” Giovanni said with a look of surprise.
“Unfortunately I was unprepared for this and they managed to get away.” Marie added. “For that I apologize.”
“It is understandable I suppose.” Giovanni told her. “This changes things greatly. As of now you are to forget about the Pikachu and focus your efforts in acquiring Entei. That is now your top priority.”
“Understood sir.” Marie replied, and with that the hologram of Giovanni vanished. Marie’s lips curved into a somewhat insane grin. “Well my dear Lisa, it looks like things have turned out better than I could’ve imagined. Soon we’ll finally settle the score between us.”
