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Once again under the cover of darkness, most of Vermillion slept with the exception of the night life downtown. However, at the harbor, there was little activity. The horn of a large ocean liner blew as it pulled into port. A Mantine breaching out of the water as the moon reflected off the ocean's surface. However, there was a shadow of movement as several darkly clad figures filed into one of the many warehouses lining the port. Team Rocket was up to no good again. But then, that's what they specialized in.

Bonnie walked silently through Vermillion without saying a word. It was night time and since there was a group of Rockets heading out to the warehouse, she didn't want to be conspicuous. She kept quiet because of that, not wanting to draw attention to herself and to keep the mission as hush-hush as possible. If someone else wanted to blab and possibly blow their cover and screw up the mission, then so be it, but it wasn't going to be her. That job was best left to some of the other, more rambunctious recruits. The grunt's signature Pidgeot wasn't accompanying her on this mission. Not at the moment, at least. Given that he couldn't blend well with the darkness, Bonnie had made it a point to discuss with him how he should remain in his pokeball (something that very rarely happened). When the time was right, and if the situation called for it, she would let him out, but until then he was on his own. Also considering how much she had used him on a previous mission to steal some pokemon, she figured he could sit this one out. It was best to give others on her team a chance to shine.

In order to remain as clandestine as possible, Bonnie had only one pokemon out - Banshee. The only female pokemon on the girl's team floated along beside her trainer without a word. She was perfect for this mission, or at least for the moment. As a ghost type, the Mismagius was ideal for moving about without being seen, so the grunt was going to use that to her advantage. As the duo approached the warehouse, the ginger casually looked about to make sure there was no unwanted members to their party. Satisfied that the coast was clear, she then slipped inside, Banshee in tow, into the warehouse. It was time to get this raid underway.
After scanning the warehouse and confirming it was empty, the Elite nodded and pointed out a window at an aging ship docked nearby, "There's our target. According to our source there's a foreign shipment of rare Pokemon on board. They'll be in containment units in the hold. There's no computer hacking tonight.. just get to the containment units, take the Poke Balls and go. Any questions?"

Clyde walked in the shadows as quietly as he could, dressed in all black (he even wore his hat for the occasion, to cover his bright hair) he would be hard to see, but like the rest of the group, he didn't want to take any chances. Sea foam green eyes glanced around, looking for any signs of movement. A gloved hand was secured on his Absol's pokeball, incase he was needed. The Rocket swiftly entered the warehouse, happy to be greeted by the sight of his equally silent partner. He nodded to her, not daring to speak and then listened to the leader’s instructions.
"I have a question," Bonnie said in a soft voice. Being naturally soft-spoken was good for a situation like this, as they had to keep their voices down lest someone figure out their whereabouts. She paused for a moment, taking a minute to glance at the ship, then to her Mismagius, and then back. "Would you like a diversion to get any possible crew members off of the ship? It'd buy you some time that way." Banshee phased into visibility when her trainer said this, her head tilting. If her trainer stayed out to create a diversion, that would leave room for her to sneak it and perhaps snag one of the coveted pokeballs. If everything went smoothly, that is.
The Elite turned her attention next to Bonnie, "Save the diversion for an emergency. If we try to draw their attention now they'll know something's up. The goal here is to slip in and take the Pokemon out from under their noses."

Despite the Elite's mention of 'light' security, Bonnie was skeptical. Nothing that was claimed to be light ever ended up being that way. She didn't trust it as far as she could throw it and because of that, went about silently planning the proper series of precautions. In a situation like this a girl had to be resourceful, and luckily for the grunt, she could be. Her head bobbed wordlessly to the elite agent's words, but made no further comment. Instead, she took a few steps back and began to put a few things into motion. Banshee wasn’t the only pokemon she let out of the pokeball. A hand reached down to unclasp two others from her belt, to which she gave a quick toss in the air. Two shapes materialized into the air: a Blastoise and Beldum, respectively. Luckily for her, neither Riptide nor Slate made any noise once they were released, which was good. The last thing she needed was for them to be loud. ”Alright, listen up you two,” she told them in a serious, but quiet voice. The tone let the two know that their trainer meant business today, so they had to be on their best behavior. ”Riptide, I need you to take Slate and get in the water. In case of an emergency, we’re going to need a diversion.” She then paused, Brandeis-blue eyes flicking over to the other agents. ”If something comes up, I need you to take Slate down to the bottom of the ship under the water. Slate, I’m going to need you use Take Down at various weak spots at the ship. But only in case of an emergency,” and Bonnie made sure to stress this point. ”Understood?” Her pokemon simply nodded, to which the grunt let out a satisfied sigh. ”Good. Just make sure to stay out of sight when in the water. Stay under as much as you can, and only come up if absolutely necessary. It’s dark out, so you shouldn’t have much problem.”

With that, she then turned and made her way over to Clyde with Banshee in tow. Another sigh escaped her, this one of slight relief. Good – if things got to be hectic, then there was a definite diversion waiting for them that could possibly buy them all some time. Bonnie stood next to Clyde once she was at his side, and then leaned in to whisper quietly, ”Will you patrol and keep look out on the upper floors with me? That way we can let Cerberus and Banshee go toward the pokeballs, and we still have a few other pokemon to defend ourselves with if the situation calls for it.” The ginger then paused after asking this, waiting for a response from her friend. This was a bit of a first for Bonnie, considering one thing: it was probably the night she had said the most out of any other night they were on the job. There was always a first time for everything. Now that their trainer had walked off, Riptide and Slate had their mission objectives. Thank Mew for the cover of darkness all of them had. The dark depths of the harbor waters would prove to be a perfect hiding spot for the shellfish pokemon and the dark gray Beldum. As quietly as they could, the Blastoise made sure that Slate was in the water without any noise. He then slipped in himself and took hold of the steel and psychic pokemon, moving with him to slip under the surface and beneath the ships where they would hide in waiting.

Clyde had stayed silent for once and listened to the Elite answer everyone's questions, committing each one to memory. Light security - He knew Bonnie was going to be skeptical about this. Be quick and quiet. The ship wasn't in the best shape. Important details he may need later. He called out Cerberus, who merely greeted Clyde with a nod. After he had handed over the violent pokemon to a special scientific division of the company, he came back willing to obey.
The grunt spoke in a low voice to his pokemon, "Be as quiet as possible on this mission. I may not speak any commands after this, so just attack as swiftly and quietly as possible if I make any signals. Got it?" The pokemon nodded. Then Bonnie approached him, and he nodded along with what she was saying. "Sounds like a good plan, are we going to move out soon?" Clyde wasn't usually one for making plans, getting in and out as quickly as possible was more his style, but his partner's plan sounded like a better idea at the moment.

Just as Clyde had addressed his shiny Absol, so too did Bonnie address her Mismagius. ”Be on guard. Your goal is to go down to the brig, secure a pokeball, and bring it back up to me.” Her words trailed off for a second in order to give the ghost type pokemon time to register what she was saying. Banshee only nodded, and thus her trainer continued, ”You won’t be able to hear any commands I might give, but that’s okay. Attack at your own discretion; you know what to do.” Banshee nodded one final time, and then turned to Cerberus. This raid was a fitting mission for the two of them. Bonnie and Clyde did steal them, together, after all, and this would be the prime opportunity for them to show what they were worth. The ghost pokemon had no intention of letting her trainer down. Keeping this in mind, the ghost pokemon then floated down, gave Cerberus a nudge, and then began to float toward the ship. Halfway to the door, she then disappeared from sight. The Absol would know how and where to follow her.
While her pokemon went off, the grunt lingered. She smiled at her partner’s words and then nodded. ”Indeed, we are. Give the pokemon time to sneak on the ship, and once they are on securely, we can make our way on.” This raid was going to be great. Sure, it was a dangerous mission, but that was half the fun. Not only that, but she’d be able to work with Clyde again, and the two of them always seemed to mesh well when they were together. They knew how to get things done, unlike some grunts.
"If things go badly, get out. You can use the radios in your Pokedexes to communicate, but only do so in the event of an emergency. If everything goes south, we'll give the signal to leave. Rendezvous at warehouse 9 at the other end of the docks. It's behind a row of buildings that provide a lot of cover." The Elite paused a moment to let the group absorb this information. "Mark will stay outside to provide a look out. Everyone else comes with me. Once inside we'll break into two smaller groups and make our way to the hold. I'll take one group. The other two Elite will take the other. Understood?"

Clyde had been one of the first ones to leave the boat, and was lucky enough to be one of the first ones back as well, and was done with treatment by the time the rest of the group had started to pour into the infirmary. He had no idea so many Rockets had gotten injured; it seemed like at least half were injured, and of course their partners followed. The grunt shifted in his bed, doing his best to stay asleep. Luckily his sleep was nothing more than any inky black, painless escape from the bright lights of the real world. While he was being rushed in on a stretcher, his half-awake mind managed to hear that he had lost a lot of blood, and would have to be taken into surgery to have the bullet in his shoulder removed.

Although it was only hours ago that he had been dripping blood down his Charizard's back, it felt like days had past since the event. His shoulder hurt like hell, even though they got the bullet out. After the surgery he had a moment's consciousness to tell the doctor that he wanted to keep the bullet, and now it rested in his pocket. He heard it was good luck or something to keep a bullet you had been shot with. Whatever the reason, he thought it would be cool to have. Clyde was just glad he didn't die. Or lose his arm to nerve damage. He was slowly coming back to reality, and more questions bubbled in his dreary mind. Exactly how many people had gotten hurt? Was Bonnie among them? What about Pandora? Did they even get all the pokeballs? So many questions, not nearly enough strength to figure them all out right now. The Rocket opened his sea-green eyes and was greeted by the bright lights of the infirmary. Not to mention the noise. Almighty Arceus, were these people loud! No wonder he had woken up. He tried to yell at them for disturbing his sleep, but only managed an incoherent mumble.
He relapsed into sleep quickly, full of sedatives and other medical fluids necessary to keep him alive. Clyde awoke several hours later, thoughts shooting through his head. Where was Bonnie? He had expected to see her by now. And Pandora. Maybe even Cerberus. Someone. The room was empty, it was too quiet. Normally by now, when he was awake and recovering, they would move him into a larger room with many other Rockets also recovering. Something was different this time.

The door to his private room creaked open slowly. He slowly shifted into an upright position. Bonnie? No, the person was female, but with blonde locks, kept upwards in two pigtails. Susan. An executive. Did he do something wrong, or maybe something right? Clyde stared at her with his seafoam green eyes. Susan was a little scuffed herself, her uniform was unkempt and she had a scratch on her cheek that had been treated. She walked awkwardly, probably a leg injury. Susan looked sullen. “We regret to inform you,” Her voice cracked, and she cleared it. This didn’t sound like good news. “That both your partner, Bonnie Haynes, and your Charizard were both pronounced dead on arrival,” Susan shed no tears, but looked dreary. Clyde wasn’t the only one who mourned some casualties that day.

The room was one of the larger rooms, he was unsure of it’s usual use, though maybe this was one it’s usual uses. Five bodies were laid across shining metal tables, all covered in white sheets. There were already some other Rockets mourning the fallen in the room, though he was the only one in a hospital gown. The others were sobbing quietly or speaking in hushed tones. The white shrouds were pulled back so he could see the faces of each body. He couldn’t say he knew any, but one.
They told him when he woke up several hours later that he simply stood at the head of the table, saying nothing, doing nothing but looking at the red-headed corpse. They found him passed out in the room when they came in to remove the bodies. Clyde found himself in his private room thinking maybe it was just a bad dream, but the person they placed in the room to monitor him told him otherwise.
When he was permitted to leave the Medical Bay, he went straight to work on the letter to Bonnie’s family. He didn’t get to see Pandora’s body; it was locked forever in her pokeball, which now refused to open. It had developed a crack in his escape. He kept it, along with the bullet that didn’t kill him, and a small braid of Bonnie’s hair. Clyde met Bonnie’s mother in person a few days later to arrange the funeral. He paid for it with his earnings from Team Rocket, and then gave the rest to the family so they could continue to support themselves. His family had plenty of money, he never needed it.
Bonnie’s funeral was a small affair. She had a few other friends from Team Rocket, but she didn’t have many friends outside of the organization, nor was her extended family very large (or willing to travel).

Clyde left for Zatao the next day.