"Joy, it's on the house. There's no point in trying to con theives." Officer Jenny strode in with a dark expression on her face, but she walked liked she could have been a dancer. Her fierce glance landed on Sonic, who looked back at her squarely. "You work with Team Rocket?" From the corner of Sonic's view, Meowth tensed.
"You saw through their disguise!" He unsheathed his claws "What have you done with them?"
"They haven't been harmed, but they don't enjoy being behind bars either." Officer Jenny's expression didn't change as she glanced at Meowth "If you co-operate, I'll let them go." The cat hesitated, but then sheathed his sharp talons.
"What do you want us to do?" He demanded, and a ghostly smile appeared on her face.
"Get rid of the Bagon. I don't care how. Capture them, kill them, either way, you'll have whatever resources I can gather until they're gone and this town is safe." She looked at the blue hedgehog suddenly. "I was told you can talk."
"You must have some great resources, then." Sonic stood up, his eyes narrowed "What happens if I decide not to work with a bent cop?" Officer Jenny gritted her teeth at him, furious.
"Says the Pokemon working with some of the worst theives known to Kanto." She gave a brittle laugh "What am I saying? Team Rocket are known throughout the world, they're a notorious criminal gang, although probably not this gang in particular." She eyed up Meowth "They seem pretty weak to me." Sonic also looked at Meowth, who was shaking with anger, his eyes ablaze.
"Is that true?" The hedgehog wasn't particularly surprised, but worldwide sounded like Eggman-scale terror.
"Yes, fine, we're weak, we've never successfully caught more than a hundred Pokemon. We ask half of our Pokemon if they want to join us, we're so pathetic!" Meowth scowled "I can't remember the last time we successfully stole and kept a Pokemon for our boss... but we're Team Rocket!" He stared at Officer Jenny defiantly "We'll never give in!"
"Great. I don't care. Get the Bagon and I'll let your friends go." She dismissed him with an artistic swish of her hand, before looking at Sonic again, her dark eyes were curious. "I have a plan to get them, if you think you're fast enough."
"I'm faster." Sonic returned. Officer Jenny grinned at him as she moved over and stood by him.
"So you're saying you could lure and herd every single Bagon evolutionary into the main square in less that five minutes?"
"I could do it in two, but I'm still not sure I even want to help you." Sonic glanced at Meowth "Either of you." Jenny sucked in her breath sharply.
"What do you want?" Her dark eyes were pleading "Every year we lose a life to them, human and Pokemon, they're brutal and they won't stop. We were going to have a gym here, five years ago, but now we're not even on the map because our town is a death trap!" She grabbed Sonic by the shoulders "Please, help these people!" He shook her off and stumbled back.
"Alright, chill!" He cried with a small smile "Relax, I'll get rid of them if they're that much trouble, but I don't know what to do about you." It was directed at Meowth "You guys have been good to me, but you're theives? Criminals?"
"We have to be. We can't go back home and there's nowhere else for us but Team Rocket." Meowth sighed "Look, it doesn't matter. If you do it for them, so that they're free, I know a way to get you back." Sonic's eyes widened.
"You do?"
"Yes, I'm pretty sure I do. It'll involve a little manipulation and you can't tell Jessie or James, but I can do it."
"If you're lying-" Sonic began threateningly, but Meowth held up a paw.
"I swear to you, I'm not, Sonic. I'm sure you'd beat me to a pulp if I was and I love myself too much to let that happen anyway." Meowth touched his lucky charm with a purr as he spoke, and Sonic gave a nod.
"Fine. I'll help. Just get them into the clearing, right? And you release Team Rocket." The hedgehog held out his gloved hand to Officer Jenny, who looked surprised, but then took it with a relieved smile.
"Thank you, Sonic."
Sonic was waiting on a roof top. The alarm had been called and the metal barriers were up, but the Pokemon weren't there yet. The net that was to trap them was at the ready, hovering over the square. Jenny had warned him that the Bagon were dragon types and could use a move called Ember. She warned him that their heads could smash boulders and told him to be patient with the Shelgon, they were considerably slower due to their heavy shells.
"It's funny." She'd mused, considerably brighter now that she had hope "Bagon aren't found in the Kanto region. A different Team Rocket group lost them here and they keep attacking our town, like it's our fault they're here, but now Team Rocket are getting rid of them again."
Sonic narrowed his eyes. Five years was a long time to suffer these creatures, but it was also a long time for the creatures to suffer living where they didn't belong. As they charged into the town, Sonic found himself almost sympathetic to their cause as he leapt down and began his work. Thanks to the potion Nurse Joy had given him, he was back to his normal self and really did gather up the confused Bagon and Shelgon in five minutes. As the net dropped, he leapt out of the way and watched as they struggled against it, breathing fire at it and trying to cut it with their little claws. Officer Jenny was at his side suddenly.
"Five years of horror are over." She murmured "In five minutes." The police woman shook her head "Unbelievable."
"Bagon, bagon!" A Bagon glared at Sonic, who, with a jolt, realised that he understood it. You'll regret it, you wait! "Bagon ba ba, gon!" Salamance will free us Bagon and Shelgon, he'll get you! A sudden shadow fell across the ground and Sonic looked up to see a massive blue dragon Pokemon, twisting quickly through the air and firing something at the net to cut them free, but Officer Jenny jumped in the way, Meowth, who had just come outside, gasped.
"She just threw herself in front of a hyper beam!" He cried, but Sonic was barely listening. He caught the woman as she fell and gently lay her to the floor. She was only just conscious, but there was a fire in her eyes as she threw all of her pokeballs into the air.
"Go! Stop Salamence!" She rasped, before closing her eyes weakly. Sonic clenched his fists and turned back to look at the dragon type. A butterfree, a beedrill, a pidgeot, a fearow and a venomoth soared towards it, while an Arbok jumped into the ground, burrowing its way with ferocious speed.
The butterfree was the first to fall, it didn't land a single attack before salamence hit it from the air with a single swipe of its tail, but this gave a chance for the others to attack, and they did. Beedrill attacked with toxic spikes, pidgeot with twister, fearow with assurance and venomoth with poison fang. The salemence flew backwards and skidded across the town floor as Sonic caught the butterfree and set it down by Jenny, but the dragon wasn't finished. It soared back up and fried the creatures with a hyper beam, before slamming them down into the ground, where they stayed. As it attacked, the snake Pokemon soared from the ground and Meowth leapt onto it as it went up. Arbok slammed itself into it before using ice fang while Meowth slashed at its face. Sonic leapt up with them and curled into his hyper ball, slamming into it over and over. The dragon used gust against arbok and Meowth, pinning them to the ground, but Sonic kept out of it and attacked the dragon until it collapsed on the ground floor. Meowth stole a pokeball from Officer Jenny and threw it at Salamence, which disappeared inside with a blast of red light.
"Well." Meowth grinned "We did it!"
