Later that same day, Ash, Brock, May, and Max were walking through Petalburg Woods. After Abby teleported Ash and Brock out of town, she went back in and grabbed May and Max, bringing them too.
They blinked in surprise, not even having time to process what happened before Ash casually scooped both of them under his arms and started walking.
"ASH! PUT ME DOWN!" May screeched, kicking her legs.
Max was still dizzy from getting forcefully teleported, but he looked up and was going to struggle until he saw it was Ash, so he did nothing.
Ash set them down once they'd cleared the treeline. "There. Safe. No reporters. No chaos. Perfect."
May spun on him, hands on her hips. "A warning would be nice!"
Ash raised an eyebrow. "May, I literally watched a guy explode three Baltoy today. I'm tired."
Brock stretched, cracking his back. "Honestly, I'm with Ash. The fewer cameras aimed at us, the better."
Max adjusted his glasses, still shaken. "I thought teleportation was supposed to feel… smoother?"
"Depends on the Pokémon," Brock shrugged.
"Yeah, Abby doesn't really care, but you get used to it," Ash shrugged. "Anyway, we're moving. Let's go, Dewford Town is our next stop."
Max blinked. "Um… Ash? Dewford is… across the ocean."
"And we're in a forest," May added.
Ash nodded. "Yep. Stone asked me to deliver something to Steven, so we gotta find our ride first."
May and Max blinked a few times. "EH…?"
"Don't question it. Trust me, the sooner you accept it, the sooner you stop getting headaches," Brock said, crossing his arms.
May sighed and ran her hand across her face, then looked at Brock. "By the way, are you going to come with us too?"
Brock shrugged. "I mean, why not? It's always fun to see what Ash gets himself into, and I'm still working on some stuff for myself."
Ash grinned, going around and putting an arm around Brock's shoulder, pulling him closer. "Yeah, that's what I'm talking about! Ash and Brock adventure, five seasons and three movies, let's go!"
May sighed, realizing now there was another one, while Max was fanboying that he now got to travel with Ash and Brock.
"Okay, so… how much more are we gonna walk? And couldn't we have stayed for one more night? I already miss the restaurants."
Ash gasped dramatically. "How could you? Is my cooking not enough for you?"
May froze. "I didn't mean it like that-I just-"
Ash cut her off, staggering back like she'd stabbed him. "No… no, I get it."
He pressed a hand to his chest. "All those meals… all those perfectly seasoned breakfasts… the lunches crafted with love… the dinners that brought tears to Brock's eyes-"
Brock snorted, covering his mouth as he quietly turned away.
"And now," Ash continued, voice trembling with exaggerated heartbreak, "you prefer… restaurants." He looked away, shoulders shaking. "I've been betrayed."
May's jaw dropped. "ASH, OH MY GOD-"
"Cheated on!" Ash wailed, pointing dramatically at her. "Cheated on my cooking with some random Rustboro pasta place! I poured my soul into that curry!"
Max whispered to Brock, "Is he serious?"
Brock's shoulders were trembling as he tried not to burst out laughing. "Max, never take Ash seriously. That's the first step to traveling with Ash."
Ash wasn't finished.
He sank to his knees, staring at the sky like a tragic soap-opera protagonist. "Mom taught me her secrets! The Ketchum family techniques! And you-YOU! Throw it all away for fancy plates and overpriced ravioli!"
May's face burned bright red. "I DIDN'T SAY I LIKED IT MORE-"
Ash gasped, clutching his heart. "So you admit you thought about it."
"I DIDN'T-WHAT-ASH, STOP."
Ash stood up suddenly, flipping his hair like a telenovela star. "Fine. FINE. I'll remember this betrayal. Brock, you handle the cooking for a few days. I don't know if I can recover from this betrayal."
Brock sighed dramatically. "I suppose. Though we usually take turns… but since May has betrayed you like this, I guess I'll have to pick up the slack."
May threw her hands into the air. "CAN WE PLEASE STOP CALLING IT BETRAYAL?!"
But Ash was already pacing ahead of them dramatically, hand pressed to his forehead like he was about to faint.
"Oh, May… May, May, May…" he sighed heavily. "I never thought this day would come. The day my own friend would get tired of the food I make them."
"I'M NOT TIRED OF IT!"
"And yet," Ash continued, completely ignoring her, "you long… yearn… crave… the cheap embrace of restaurant food."
"It wasn't cheap-!"
"Oh. So now you're defending it."
He staggered back again, nearly tripping over a tree root. "Unbelievable. And after I promised your mother I would take care of you and make sure you're well fed."
"Don't say it like that! You know what you're saying, don't act dumb on me!" May yelled at Ash.
Ash whirled around, pointing a shaking finger at May. "Tell me, May. Was it the spices? Did my seasoning… no longer satisfy you?"
May turned bright red. "ASH, STOP USING THAT TONE!"
Ash ignored her. "Was my curry too mild? Too gentle? Did you long for something… stronger?"
"PLEASE STOP TALKING LIKE THAT!" May yelled, covering her face.
Brock was still trying not to fall over laughing, while Max was just watching, not understanding half of it, but he felt like it was important, so he put it in the vault for later use.
–
{Meanwhile, on a ship heading toward Hoenn}
There was a ship traveling toward Hoenn. On it, Team Rocket operatives were moving to their next assignment, and sitting by himself was D, with Meowth purring on his lap as he looked out at the sea.
D, or Ashtwo, if you prefer, had been keeping things close to his chest for the transfer, especially with everything that happened during the Masked Man incident. He had even switched his mask and eyepatch to ones based on Ken Kaneki's design, only slightly altered.
It had become a whole thing with people staring at him since, as far as they knew, he was wearing a mask because half his face had been blown off. Which, well, that is what D wants them to think, so he said nothing about it.
As for other matters, Giovanni had instructed him and the other members of the ship to begin the Rocket expansion in Hoenn. Proton, Petrel, and Archer had been sent as well, along with a briefcase containing a "small" sum of 10 billion Pokédollars.
Now, if you couldn't guess, he was, and also kinda wasn't, being sarcastic when he said that. You see, 10 billion Pokédollars usually isn't that much compared to the massive amounts of money Team Rocket makes from other sources.
However, this money wasn't for general operations. It was specifically for expanding the Hoenn branch, which currently consisted of little more than one or two bases.
Most finances were still handled by Giovanni himself, funding projects and actually paying members. The reason he set aside 10 billion specifically for the expansion was for a few reasons.
You see, after everything that happened, the Zapmolcuno project that ended in failure, the Mewtwo project that was successful but resulted in Mewtwo escaping, the Masked Man incident with all the cloning of Ho-Oh-twos and Lugia-twos, and more, Team Rocket had lost a lot of money.
If the League knew the financial situation Team Rocket was in, this would be the absolute best chance to end them once and for all. But Team Rocket is very good at hiding things. Still, this is probably the lowest their finances have been since Madame Boss, back when Team Rocket wasn't even an organization, just a gang.
Yeah. So that's why Matori was also on the ship to Hoenn. She wasn't just Giovanni's secretary, she was Team Rocket's main financial advisor. And needless to say, she looked about ready to rip her hair out from the situation they were in.
Then there were the executives. Proton still sometimes looked at D, feeling guilty that he had to leave Johto, and in a way blames himself for D getting 'mind controlled.' Archer, who actually was mind-controlled, still sometimes felt out of it, and he also looked at D with sympathy, understanding what it truly felt like.
Then there's Petrel… yeah, he's here. Not much to say.
Then the Admins. In total, ten Admins were on this ship. Owari was not one of them; since he was part of the Sevii Islands branch, he had to return there, he'd been gone too long.
Sayoko was here too. She was quieter than she usually was, sometimes looking at D sadly, like she wanted to say something. For once, the so-called Ice Queen of Team Rocket didn't feel like everything was going her way, not after the beatdown D gave her when he was supposedly "mind controlled."
Then there were the Commanders. Not many came; the only important thing to note was that Aman wasn't coming. Since his family was in Johto, he couldn't transfer to the Hoenn branch. Giovanni understood and left it at that. Surprisingly, Attila and Hun were added to this ship instead.
And the grunts… oh boy. There were about 100 grunts on this ship in total. As usual, the same suspects remained. Even without activating his Aura, D could feel that Enid, Helena, Domino, and Jay were staring at him.
I mean, it's to be expected. First they learn he was supposedly mind-controlled, and he dismissed all of them as worthless. Then, in his mind-controlled state, he gave them a beatdown they would never forget. Then, as far as they knew, their actions caused his mask to explode, effectively making D lose an eye and having part of his face blown off.
And to top it all off, after they took him to the hospital, he got up and left them without a word. They wanted to talk to him, to make sure he was okay, maybe even apologize, over and over, a thousand times if they had to, but they couldn't. Not while they thought D didn't want to talk to them.
Of course, D would never tell them that he was never mind-controlled. Honestly, it was easier for him this way. Keeping up the act let him get away with a lot more. For example, while Matori was on the verge of crashing out from stress, D was safely out of her line of fire.
After all, look at it from their point of view: D came from Unova, where he had a family that supposedly didn't care about him, so he went into the military, where an accident left him mutilated. He had no choice but to join Team Rocket to afford surgery to fix his face. Instead of receiving the help he needed, he got mind-controlled, tortured, used as a weapon, then had his mask explode, leaving him supposedly half dead, surviving only at the cost of an eye and most of his lower face. Effectively making his hope of a normal life almost zero.
This forced him to wear another mask, which from their point of view must be traumatizing for him. But he has no choice, because they assume his face must disgust him. They never see him eat or enter a room, so they can only assume he's depriving himself of sleep and food in his depression. And that he's still in Team Rocket only because he has nothing left.
When you look at it from that point of view, D is the kind of person you feel like you're not allowed to complain to.
But D never said any of those things. He never confirmed or denied anything. He let people's minds and rumors spread, because again, none of that actually happened. He faked all of it. But they don't know that, and he ain't planning on saying jack.
Meanwhile, Matori was still tapping her foot impatiently, looking over her tablet yet again, documents, datapads, financial reports, and preliminary real-estate plans, looking absolutely feral.
Her glasses were slightly crooked, her hair was messy since she hadn't bothered to fix it, and the coffee cup in her hand shook the way a person's eye twitches right before a nervous breakdown.
"Ten billion… ten… BILLION!!" she hissed under her breath as she slammed another report down. "Do these idiots think infrastructure grows on TREES?! We are trying to establish a regional presence, not a lemonade stand!"
Archer blinked, sitting stiffly across from her with a cup of tea, trying to act calm even though he still had that dazed thousand-yard stare from his own trauma.
Proton shifted in his chair, motioning toward the stack of papers nervously. "It's… not that bad… right?"
Matori's head snapped toward him like a Mightyena hearing a can opener.
"Oh yes, Proton, of course! Because surely you can BUILD AN ENTIRE UNDERWORLD ECONOMY FOR AN ENTIRE REGION with the budget of a particularly successful GAME CORNER!"
Petrel snorted. "Heh. I think you're exagger-"
She slammed another datapad down with enough force to make him jump.
"Petrel, do you even KNOW what we have to accomplish?!"
She stood, ticking items off on her fingers with manic precision.
"One: establish three fully operational major bases, NOT shacks.
Two: construct at minimum ten facilities.
Three: set up shell companies, legitimate business fronts, AND the necessary corporate paperwork to avoid suspicion.
Four: secure shipping routes, smuggling paths, and black-market contacts currently dominated by the Hoenn underground.
Five: hire, train, house, feed, and PAY over three hundred new operatives to replace the ones we lost.
Six: establish a scientific wing to replace the Cerulean and Cinnabar labs we lost.
Seven: accomplish all of this while the League and the International Police are STILL actively monitoring our activities thanks to recent… let's call them 'unfortunate developments'!"
She sat down and pressed her face into her hands. "Meanwhile we have to do all that with ten billion in six months, when realistically I would need thirty billion. We lost a lot of resources thanks to the Masked Man incident, and most of our best are still traumatized from what happened." She exhaled, pointing at Archer as an example.
"The entire Hoenn criminal market is currently held by six competing syndicates! Not counting Team Aqua and Team Magma. And we have to dismantle or absorb them without drawing attention, without hemorrhaging more funds, and without me having a stroke when the numbers come in!"
Proton gently lifted a piece of paper from the pile, looking at it. "…Did you just calculate the mortgage reality of opening a research complex on Mt. Chimney?"
"Yes!" she screeched. "Because SOMEONE," she glared at Petrel, "suggested volcanically powered geothermal energy as a way to save money long-term!"
Petrel shrank slightly. "It sounded green…"
Matori pulled at her own bangs. "Oh my Arceus, I work with children."
She rubbed her temple, trying not to pop a blood vessel. "I swear, if Carr didn't at least establish a foothold, just one functioning operation, one warehouse, one shipping lane, so help me, I will have him dragged back to the ship and make him file expense reports until his fingers bleed."
Proton cleared his throat. "Carr's… competent. Sort of. Sometimes."
Petrel slowly turned to Proton with a flat, you cannot be serious stare.
"Dude… are we talking about the same Carr here? Sird is reliable. Carr has a superiority complex." And you know it's bad when Petrel of all people is currently the most mentally stable Executive in the room.
Proton raised a finger in objection… lowered it… squinted… then sighed, "Okay, no, yeah. Fair. Very fair."
Archer nodded thoughtfully. "Still, he can't have failed entirely. If he had, Hoenn would be screaming about Team Rocket agents showing up on their shores."
"I mean, that's at least something," Petrel shrugged.
Matori, meanwhile, was one decibel away from strangling someone for breathing too loud. But then, from the corner of her eye, she noticed D.
He was still petting his Meowth. Still silent. Still unreadable behind the mask. Just looking at them now, because Matori had been yelling.
Matori froze, shoulders locking. Her voice dropped three octaves into something fragile.
"…Right," she murmured. "Of course. No yelling. Obviously. Not appropriate. Not here."
Everyone blinked. Watching her go from "murderous banshee" to "terrified nun" was… jarring. But nobody wanted to die, so nobody commented.
Matori clasped her trembling hands together, carefully schooling her expression.
"Petrel," she said, eerily calm, "could you please fetch the regional report binder? The green one. The light green one."
"Yes ma'am. Immediately. Already gone. Not here." Petrel practically teleported out of the room.
"Proton," she continued, still ice-smooth, "please re-check the projected costs on the Lilycove dock proposal."
"Absolutely!" Proton barked, saluting hard enough to sprain something. "Running away, running the numbers! Running the numbers now!"
Archer quietly set down his teacup, stood, and sighed, "I will verify Carr's status. To ensure he is adequately prepared."
"Good." Matori inhaled slowly, forcing the tension out before it strangled her. Her eyes flicked back to D.
A part of her, traitorous, guilty, wanted to ask if he needed anything. The man had not spoken a single word since they departed Kanto. Considering… everything that happened to him, he'd be justified in complaining. About anything. About everything.
But he never did. Not once. Somehow, that made it worse.
Swallowing guilt and dread in equal measure, she turned back to her work. She had a disaster to avert. Preferably without thinking about how she was stressed over budgets while D, of all people, sat right there.
Meanwhile, D watched the chaos quietly.
And under his mask, he smiled.
With the everything he did, he could probably hijack this entire ship and they'd just pat his shoulder, whisper that it was trauma response, and hand him a plate of warm cookies afterward
Oh, it feels so good to be misunderstood.
And while the Executives scrambled like frightened Meowth, D was already outlining his next move.
He had plans.
And those plans involved dealing with a very specific rat.