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-/-
Just because James and Joey had decided to commit the largest heist of the century, namely stealing back the Growlithe that belonged to James, didn't mean that they could immediately set off.
First, they needed to do the requisite training and gather the necessary equipment.
For both of these, Joey already had a contact he could ask for assistance.
The fact that the Poketech institute had an almost fully functional Pokecenter inside its main building meant that Joey could do a scan of Metapod's innards with the help of the nurse.
Then, with this information, he called Koga, whom he'd forgotten to talk to about the topic during the conference anyway.
"So the stone has decreased significantly in terms of size. About half in comparison to when it was first swallowed?" The man's harsh voice sounded through Joey's Pokenav.
"Yeah, additionally, Metapod has recently managed to combine the poison and its string to replicate or reinvent Toxic Thread."
"Hmm, that's interesting, to my knowledge, that is mostly considered a move that can only be learned by the Spinarak line. If Metapod can manage it, then I'm sure so can Kukuna and the other regional variants of flying bug Pokemon like the Wurmple line. This will require some experimentation. Good job, this is a clear sign of progression on your journey to control and understand poison-type energy."
"Thanks, just don't innovate too much until we've gotten your badge," Joey replied.
In an amused tone. "Let's see… Anyway, now that the stone is smaller, we can't know for sure if the degradation will speed up or slow down. After all, technically, the surface area that can be affected at once has gone down. However, once the stone gets to a certain size, it will be safely ejected, so there's that. Thank you for the in-progress report."
Joey suddenly heard some clashing sounds from the gym leader's side of the line, like iron bars hitting rocks. "Everything all right over there?" he asked worriedly.
More clanging, a scream. "Everything is fine," Koga replied. "If there's nothing else, I have to go now."
"Well," Joey started. "I actually wanted to ask if it was possible to get some ninja instruction manuals and equipment."
"That's an interesting request. Why?" Koga asked, seemingly interested.
"A friend of mine has to recover one of his Pokemon that is being held hostage by his family. We're going to be doing an extraction mission soon," Joey replied, seeing no reason to lie.
"I see, and you can't simply call the police because?"
"It's a rich and powerful family, and it would become a political mess. As for the family relations, it's complicated," Joey replied, having looked up James' family. They truly were well-connected. No point in bothering with a legal solution. Doing so would just expose James.
"I see, I'll have to warn you that officially, as a gym leader, I can't support such an endeavour. However, as someone who can partially be counted as a mentor, you will receive a visitor at the latest by tomorrow evening."
"Thanks, I appreciate it."
"There's nothing to appreciate," Koga replied while another scream resounded from his side of the line. "This conversation never happened, your Pokenav will self-destruct in 5, 4-"
Joey dubiously looked at his device before shrugging and putting it on the windowsill of his room, taking several steps back.
"3, 2, 1…" Resounded through the speaker, before the device went silent.
Joey stared at it for a few moments before shaking his head and going to pick it up again. Looking at the screen confirmed his suspicion, the call had ended.
"Nobody can tell me that this is a grown-ass man," Joey muttered to himself, tucking away the Pokenav and going to James' room to tell him the good news.
-/-
Two child-sized ninjas, their faces covered in purple cloth, wire mesh peeking out through their traditional black cloth bandage outfits, silently sat in two trees in two vastly different locations on campus.
"This is Young Master to Future Champion, I have visual on the target, over," one of them said into the small microphone hanging at his throat. He was overlooking a small walking path leading into the forest behind the academy, where the principal liked to take his evening walks.
"This is Future Champion confirming, act accordingly to plan, over," the other figure replied and prepared himself by tensing and untensing his body several times. A pair of binoculars appeared in his hand, and he used them to check in on the principals' quarters through the open windows.
Empty, as expected.
They'd been tailing the man for several days, using him as a practice tool for their stealth training. Now was the time for their final mission.
Joey held up the microphone and selected a different frequency. "Future Champion to Speedster, do you copy, over?"
"Dig, Digglet," resounded from the headpiece.
"Initiate distraction sequence, over," he commanded.
The ground started shaking immediately after. Diglett was training his Magnitude, thus giving them an alibi in case anything went tits up. They could just say they had been training Joey's Pokemon.
Misdreavus was currently patrolling the halls in front of the principal's quarters, equipped with her own headpiece to contact him in case of any unpleasant surprises.
Now he just had to wait for Young Master.
As if sensing that someone was thinking of him, Young Master radioed in. "Young Master to Future Champion, target smiled at the ground, shook his head and continued his walk. I repeat, he is continuing his walk, over."
"Future Champion to Young Master, good, initiating sequence, over," Joey said before switching the frequency.
"Future Champion to Ghost, is the coast clear, over?" he asked.
"Mis!" came the affirmative from the other side.
Joey nodded and released Metapod to his side. "As discussed, keep it so you can reel it in!" he commanded hastily.
Metapod, for her part, frantically nodded before spitting out a web of String Shot, hitting the wall of the building directly underneath the open windows leading into the principal's bedroom.
After the line was secured, Joey promptly jumped off the tree and ran the last few steps between the tree line and the teacher's quarters. Running fast, his ninja tabi carried him up the first floor of the building until he could find a grip on the String Shot covering the wall. At that point, he quickly pulled himself up the wall and then, finally, hanging off the windowsill, threw himself through to do a roll and landed in a crouch in the man's small and mostly unused kitchen.
Switching the frequencies to transmit to all, he informed his team. "I'm in, over," he said before pulling one last Pokeball from his belt and releasing Rattata, also dressed like a ninja, onto the floor of the apartment.
"As we discussed, find the car key," he said to his starter before going over to the freezer and opening it. Inside was a paper box full of individually packed little ice-creams. Strawberry flavor.
Joey took the ice cream that was the easiest to reach and pulled out a small syringe from inside his ninja outfit. Feeling around with his cloth-covered fingers, he quickly identified the insertion point and carefully jabbed in the needle. A small amount of the strawberry-flavoured liquid inside the syringe was inserted in the middle of the ice cream. The next hour, during which the principal was finishing, would be enough for this too to freeze and mix with the rest of the ice cream.
Just as he put the package back in the box, making sure that it was the most easily reachable, he heard his starter's voice.
"Ratt!"
Turning around, Joey exited the kitchen on his tiptoes and cursed when he saw that his starter was crouching in the corridor, using a cloth-covered paw to point at a keychain with a car key hanging right by the door.
"Fuck."
Joey mulishly pulled out his microphone; they'd been observing the principal for the last few days, getting his habits down to the timing during which he ate two strawberry ice creams every evening after his walk. Unfortunately, they hadn't been able to find the car keys to the school no matter how much they glared through the man's windows with their binoculars.
"Future Champion to Young Master, we'll have to initiate plan beta, over," he said curtly.
"Young Master confirming communication, the principal is still walking, following along to keep visual, over."
The fact that the car keys were in the corridor meant that they couldn't take them yet; if the man found them missing, he'd likely search for them first before eating his ice cream. Thus, they had to complete an incredibly risky manoeuvre.
Joey turned to Rattata. "You know what this means," he said gravely.
Rattata nodded solemnly before saluting with one paw to his brow.
Joey looked around the corridor, finding a relatively large shoe rack that had a perfectly sized bottom to hide a Rattata under. "Hide under the shoe rack, you'll receive updates through the comm as the situation develops," Joey said.
His starter nodded, lay on the ground, and then rolled to the side until he was perfectly hidden under the shoe rack.
They were lucky the school had no cameras, which the estate of James' parents likely would. This meant that this was a good beginner mission.
"Future Champion to Young Master, extracting, over."
"Young Master understood, over."
"Future Champion to Ghost, extract and rendezvous at the training ground."
"Mis, mis."
Joey went over to the window he'd slipped through and jumped on, only to hang down by his hands on the windowsill. One last visual check confirmed they'd left no trace.
"Future Champion to Green Moon, get ready for extraction," Joey said into his mic before letting go of the windowsill and letting himself fall.
At the exact same time, Metapod pulled at her web of String Shot directly where Joey was hiding and jumped off the sturdy tree branch. Her abrupt drop pulled the String Shot taut in addition to her reeling it in. Joey was promptly trapped inside the web and pulled to the side. Like a pulley system, while Metapod, covered also in black garments, landed on the ground, Joey landed on the tree branch she had previously been occupying.
The trainer promptly jumped down and recalled Metapod after the Pokemon had pulled back all the string and swallowed it. A glance backwards confirmed the String Shot had left no trace on the wall.
A second later, the black garbed Misdreavus floated towards him and was also promptly recalled.
Both the Pokemon safely withdrawn, Joey immediately started sprinting towards the training ground.
"Future Champion to Young Master, going to rendezvous point, eta 100 seconds, over," he said seriously into his mic.
"Target will walk past the rendez-vous in approximately 1200 seconds. We're still feeling the quakes. Getting ready for repositioning, over."
As Joey ran, he lamented the fact that he couldn't Shadow Sneak, but the mission had to be completed in the optimal parameters, which included not revealing all his abilities.
Quickly arriving at the training ground where Diglett was causing a ruckus, Joey promptly radioed James as he undressed himself from his ninja outfit. "Future Champion to Young Master, going silent and commencing second part of plan beta," he said clearly, also releasing Misdreavus and Metapod and putting away their ninja clothing. As a last bit, he went to Diglett and took away the tired-looking mole Pokemon's headpiece.
"Good job, team, but we're only halfway done," he said to the three Pokemon before turning to the fourth, a Rattata.
A Rattata that wasn't his starter. The Pokemon chittered loudly and wobbled its head at Joey's look.
"Ready to complete your part of the deal? Two-hour availability for a bucket of berries followed by a prompt relocation to a place where you might find a trainer," Joey said quickly, at which the Rattata nodded enthusiastically.
Joey had found the little Pokemon sneaking closer to look at their training sessions during the past week that he'd spent at the academy. Of particular interest was, of course, Joey's starter, who was beginning to reach the peak of what a Rattata could accomplish.
The newest team member had been easily bribed with some berries and relocation to Saffron's administrative youngster Pokemon enclosure, the very same from which Joey had picked his starter all those months ago.
After phase two of the mission was complete, Joey would catch the Pokemon and send it to Ruth, with whom he'd already discussed the specifics.
The youngster program was starting to collect Pokemon willing to work with youngsters, so this was actually a win-win-win deal. The Rattata would get a chance at finding a trainer, Ruth, the youngster program coordinator, would get a head-start on her collection, and Joey would get a necessary team member for the mission.
After getting a head-nod from everyone present, Joey clapped his hands and started assembling his team to their usual training dynamics. Diglett was working on Magnitude, Misdreavus on Hypnosis, and Dream Eater with Metapod, who was training her Sleep Talk.
Seeing that there wasn't a point in just pretending to train the Rattata, helping them out today, Joey led the small rodent in smacking a large rock in the middle of the training area with his tail.
Rather than waste his time working on moves such as Tackle and Tail Whip, which the Rattata knew, Joey wanted to gather some data on teaching Rattata Iron Tail.
Also, the principal possibly knew that Joey's starter didn't need to work on Tackle or Tail Whip anymore, so it might have been suspicious to do that.
As if summoned by his thinking, the principal suddenly walked past the training area and glanced at Joey's team, hard at work.
"I've been feeling the quakes, my boy, good progress!" the man shouted happily as he briefly stopped to observe the training.
"Diglett's a hard worker," Joey replied idly as he walked over, Rattata continuing to hit the rock with his tail.
"Your Rattata seems less energetic than usual," the principal idly commented.
Joey tried to shrug nonchalantly. "We're trying to work on Iron Tail, have been at it for a while now. It's a move he's very unfamiliar with, so it's going slowly."
The principal nodded, thoughtfully cupping his chin. "Well, good luck with that, and with the rest of the training, I'll be off to finish the walk, got to keep these old bones healthy, hoho!" he exclaimed before walking off again.
Joey continued the training for a bit more until the man was completely out of sight before going to his bag and pulling out the headset and turning it on.
"Future Champion to Young Master, the Magikarp has jumped over the waterfall, I repeat, the Magikarp has jumped over the waterfall, over."
"Young Master, reading you loud and clear. The relocation was successful, currently observing from the previous spot. I have a visual on all rooms, over."
"Good," Joey muttered into the microphone before attaching the headset again. This way, he could get updates in real time.
Minutes passed as Joey continued training his Pokemon. He had to upkeep this facade for the rest of the mission to maximise their alibi. The training ground had to look used at the end of the day, and he had to be there just in case someone other than the principal saw him.
The school was currently running on minimum staff coverage, but a true ninja never left anything to chance.
Eventually, James' voice sounded from the earpiece.
"Young Master to Future Champion, I have a visual on the target. He has entered the kitchen and is opening the freezer. Wait… he seems distracted, hand off the freezer, what is he doing!"
"Future Champion to Young Master, calm down, agent, don't let the nerves get the best of you, over!" Joey whispered harshly into the mic.
"Roger, that Future Champion, I apologize. Target has decided to drink a glass of water first. Target is spreading out the newspaper on the table. Freezer again. Target has taken the package, I repeat, target has taken the package, over!"
"Future Champion to Young Master, observe, over!"
The next few minutes were torture. This was Joey's first clandestine operation, and until now, everything had been going off without a hitch, perfectly, in other words. The only problem had been that the keys were in a highly visible place, meaning they could only take them after…
"Young Master to Future Champion, the target has drowsily absconded to the living room and laid down, the substance seems to be working flawlessly. Should I commence operations, over?"
"Wait a few minutes, Young Master, then signal agent Tough Guy," Joey decided.
It was better to wait, lest the sleeping agent not take full effect before the theft of the target object.
Another few minutes passed.
"Future Champion to Young Master, commence operation, over," he said, before pulling out a bunch of berries from his backpack and calling over the Rattata.
"Eat fast," he said to the Pokemon and already pulled out his Pokedex, not waiting for the mission update from James and starting the next phase.
Time was of the essence.
As the Rattata quickly munched on the berries, Joey typed in the coordinates to Ruth's PC box to which he would be transferring the Pokemon once it had finished eating. This was for an official administrative mission for the League, so despite the very small reward, there were a lot of credentials and passkeys that he had to fill in just to get access to send something to the box.
Just as he raised his Pokeball to catch the Pokemon, he got a call from James.
"Young Master to Future Champion, agent Tough Guy has retrieved the key and exited the balcony. I have retrieved him and will meet you at the rendezvous point two. The sun is setting, I repeat, the sun is setting."
Joey nodded and turned to the Rattata, "It was a pleasure, agent, I thought I saw your tail flashing silver at the end there, keep up the good work," he praised before promptly throwing the Pokeball.
The Pokemon was easily caught and then immediately transferred through the Pokedex system. Joey then recalled the rest of his team and disappeared into the woods. He would change into his mission clothing later when he was out of sight.
Unbeknownst to him, the entire time that he'd been training, he had been observed by an interested third party through means not easily perceivable to the eye.
-/-
For all that Joey was mostly free to do what he wanted, he had still signed a sponsorship contract and thus had to spend some time at the academy. James, in a set of circumstances even tougher than his, was a student, which meant the academy was vouching for his safety. He couldn't just leave.
Unfortunately, even with bikes, the estate of his parents was too far away to reach and to abscond from by the time that the morning came.
This meant that the two boys needed to secure an alternative method of transportation that would allow two of them to leave by nightfall and return by sundown.
They'd slept until noon in preparation for this mission and had a mission kit full of coffee cans and energy drinks.
The sun was almost gone, casting the academy in a gloomy shadow, which was exactly the moment in which Joey, once again dressed in ninja gear, met up with Young Master behind a few trees overlooking the academy parking lot. Joey's Rattata proudly chittered from Young Master's shoulder, brandishing the key to the academy van and waving it in the air.
"Check the equipment, do we have everything?" Joey asked seriously, pulling off his own backpack to lead by example. He rifled through everything in it while James did the same. "Ropes, check, sleeping syringes, check, claw-feet, check, cathands, check, hoods, check, gloves, check, thumbscrews, check…"
After a thorough check of their equipment, they could only conclude that yes, they had everything.
The eyes of the two ninjas snapped to the school van, proudly proclaiming its Poketech affiliation spray-painted on the side. "The night will have to cover it," Joey concluded.
"It won't end well if we don't return by sunset," James replied.
"If we don't come back by sunset, then something will have gone wrong anyway."
James nodded resolutely. "Let's make a run for it, then. In the car and out the gate, thirty seconds max."
"Is the distraction prepped?" Joey asked.
"Of course, who do you take me for, an amateur?" the other ninja scoffed.
"Alright, let's do this."
"3, 2, 1," James started counting down, only to suddenly be cut off by a new voice behind them, causing them to turn around.
"What exactly are you two doing?" Sabrina, dressed in a schoolgirl uniform, said venomously, appearing behind them
"Uh," Joey started, turning his head woodenly to look at the girl.
"Cosplaying?"
-/-
AN: I like to switch it up genre-wise every now and again lol. And if there's ever a time for plots like this its when Joey is on the seasonal break of the League. Anyway, Patreon for reading ahead, otherwise this saga concludes in 2 weeks!