[PLOT] Necessary End

[BlackPidgeot]

Pain, fear, and confusion was all over Lance's face as he laid there. Not knowing what had happened or why. A part of him instinctually struggled for life, but as his breathes became weaker it was clear that he was losing the battle.

It wasn't long before his eyes glazed over and his breath left him entirely. The man's body going limp. Indigo's dragon champion dying without even knowing anyone around him, alone in his own mind. The life drained away and he was gone. A tragic end to a once great man.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Faleen back back in her seat the moment she saw the pokemon being released, and the Rockets were hurrying back into the belly of the helicopter, Faleen got the hint that they would be making a quick take off.

"Yes Ma'am" The Agent acknowledged, placing the head set back over her ears and right away flicking the switches over the console to get the helicopter back in the air,
"Non-essentials in your seats." she announced in warning, trusting the rest of the team to keep the League and the pokemon off her tail, but she gave no reason to linger any longer then she had to.

One last glance down to the grass, where the League was rushing in to help with Lance.
'too late for that-' She though bitterly 'He was dead before that bullet even hit him.'  

[TRHQ Agent]

xxxWith the threat of physical harm bearing down on them, the various members of the League who had sent out pokemon reluctantly recalled most of them as the helicopter lifted into the air. As soon as the door slid shut though, the remaining pokemon all took to the air to give chase. Unfortunately for them, they didn't get very far before the trio of Zoroark inside began to work their illusionary powers in perfect unison, causing the aircraft to shimmer out of sight - even the sound of the engine was masked by the gentle sounds of the wind. The flying-types cried out in various levels of confusion and mild distress that their intended target had vanished from their sight entirely, and some began to fly around in circles to try and find it again, while others gave up almost immediately and returned to their respective trainers.

[TEAM ROCKET]
xxxThe Rockets wouldn't notice any difference between before and after the Zoroark began to work their abilities, though if they were to look out the windows they would easily notice the sudden confusion of their pursuers.

xxxOne of the attending agents got up as the helicopter continued and began the slow process of removing all of the handcuffs from her comrades, one by one, as Claire buckled herself in near the front. "Alright, mission accomplished," she called to everyone inside the helicopter, half-turned in her seat to regard as many of them as possible. "I assume by now all of you are aware of the loss of our main base. I want you to also be aware of the construction that's been underway for our new base. Once all of you have been debriefed and questioned, you will be divided up and sent out to one of our outposts across Kodo until such a time as our new base is ready. If all goes well, it shouldn't be more than another couple of months."

-----

[POKEMON LEAGUE]
xxxWith the helicopter gone from their sight, most eyes turned instead to the body of the champion once known as Lance lying on the ground, and the gravity of the situation finally hit them as a few moved forward to him and Petra to ascertain his condition. His pale features as he lay there, motionless, not even a ghost of breath escaping him to hint that any life still remained, were all they needed to know that they had lost him. As they had no others injured to tend to, it gave them a chance to react - heads bowed forward, hands covered mouths in shock, and sorrowful tears were shed.

xxx"We'll send him home," Alder said quietly, his usually boisterous and loud voice uncharacteristically gruff and soft for once, as he, too, bowed his head. "Him and his pokemon. I'm afraid that we won't be able to attend his funeral though," he said to Petra in mournful tones, though his voice hardened when he continued, "because we have a lot of work to do now."

xxxWhat little remained of the deal was off.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

The black-haired man had dark circles under his eyes and looked drained, but was otherwise, as Faleen had noted, unharmed. He smiled grimly when the all the captive Rockets were lined up and the Rockets from the helicopter appeared. Well well; what an interesting turn in events.

He was pretty silent for most of the exchange, winking at Faleen in the copter when he noticed her glance his way. He knew very well what returning to Rocket custody could have meant for the captives and it seemed they knew, too. Perhaps that was one of the things he'd spent sleepless nights mulling over, adding to the stress that had so clearly worn down the previous vitality of the informant.

For one thing, though, such fatigue seemed to have made him at least a little more complacent. Or maybe it was the graveness of the situation that weighed the usually cheerful man down as he obediently did as he was told by the League members. He was sick of being stuck in solitary confinement and, provided Team Rocket wasn't about to do the same, he didn't mind being returned to familiar territory. At least he could guess what to expect next, even if it wasn't pleasant.

But what happened next wasn't expected. The appearance of Lance was surprise enough, even disoriented as he seemed, but the fact that Claire had resorted to giving the order to shoot him in front of the League quite shocked Izaya. It was as if the Rockets were openly spitting in their face once they had gotten what they'd wanted. Had that truly been necessary?

Glancing around at the other Rocket members, including the ones not in handcuffs, it seemed that only a handful of them had suspected what had been going to happen. Mostly the ones in black with red stripes. Faleen had not been one of them. Though it seemed her initial reaction was to be startled, it didn't take her long to recover. Izaya guessed that the man who was shot no longer had any value to her, sentimental, scientific, or otherwise.

Although the agent was excellent at concealing her feelings about matters, the fact that the shot had been fired without her previous knowledge meant that there had been an opportunity for her guard to drop before it came back up. From what her partner could tell, there was no sort of remorse whatsoever in her gaze. She must have known what giving Lance back had meant even before he'd been fired at, after all.

That could have been him, Izaya knew. It was likely that Faleen wouldn't have minded. As a Rocket, he'd already gotten one person dead. Why would anyone have minded if he, too, were sentenced to die? He had been very careful not to get attached to anyone and, of course, no one aside from Aila had really shown much of a concern for his well-being. Well, Faleen had, but that was probably just because she saw it as her duty as his partner. Take that away and he guessed his value to her was the same as Lance's, if not less.

Claire's little explanation to the reclaimed Rockets was enough for the man to understand there were no plans to kill them immediately. He would have a chance to defend his case, at least. The thing was, he was more concerned about Faleen's idea of him than anything else. The situation he'd left her in had been less than ideal and she probably wouldn't have taken kindly to having been disobeyed by her partner and an underling, no less. Perhaps she already considered him dead to her like she had with Will. What was to keep her from believing he had betrayed them as many Rockets were liable to think? It wasn't as if he could blame them, really. The point had been to keep them all on edge and guessing so as to access their responses and reactions.

It was clear that tactic wasn't going to work anymore. If he managed to live through this once they were done with him and his innocence accepted, Izaya knew he would have to step things up a bit. The reality of Lance's death was like a direct blow to the face; a reminder of who, exactly, he was dealing with. Faleen was too hurt by events like with Rosie, Umbreon, and Will to emotionally invest in him like Aila had. Her loyalty lay, perhaps solely, in Team Rocket.

In the end, Izaya guessed he had no one else but himself to rely on for survival. Though his handcuffs were coming off, the idea behind them remained. He would have to take things a bit more seriously now, he supposed; be respectful and keep his head down like he had with the yakuza before. After all, just like them, Team Rocket was a powerful criminal organization. They were like his current client and he had to treat them like it. The difference was that this one now practically owned all of Kodo.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Inigo was infinitely glad he was already in the helicopter when the gun fired - he didn't want to see who was hit or how or why, all he wanted to do was go home. He practically threw himself into one of the aircraft's seats and relief flooded through him as soon as he sat, moreso once they were all safely inside and had taken off. While he was a little nervous about the debriefing and wondered how much they'd question him about what he may or may not have said, he was mostly relieved to be free once more - especially when his turn to have his handcuffs removed came.  

[TRHQ Agent]

xxxLater that evening, several vehicles, each bearing the logo of a local news station, gathered on the street outside the Pokemon League's office in Camphoreon. A press conference had been announced, and the League had described their topic simply: Team Rocket. At the designated hour, a small woman approached the collection of microphones that had been placed on the table at the front of the room, taking her seat in front of them and raising amber eyes, hard like steel, to the assembly of reporters and live-broadcasting cameras. Bulbs flashed as she opened her mouth to speak.

xxx"Long before the Pokemon League had established its niche in the island region of Kodo," she said, her voice firm and level, "one man pioneered the search for the hornet's nest - the base of operations of the terrorist organization known as Team Rocket. This man was Lance, Dragon Champion of the Kanto-Johto aggregate. Thanks to his efforts, many advancements were made in the war on Team Rocket, including the eradication of the Rocket post that existed inside this very city." She paused, wavering briefly before she continued, "It is with grief in our hearts that the Pokemon League of Kodo must announce that this morning, Lance made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of a world free of Team Rocket's tyranny."

xxxA startled murmur rippled through the small crowd, and the woman waited for it to calm and return to silence before she spoke again.

xxx"In retaliation, the Pokemon League is redoubling its efforts. We still maintain our advantage after driving Team Rocket out of its headquarters and scattering them. It was our first strike, and it will certainly not be our last.

xxx"In the past, the Pokemon League has worked together with its trainers to put an end to the activities of organizations such as Team Rocket, Team Galactic, and Team Plasma, and we fully intend to embrace that relationship once more. To that end, we will work to outfit Kodo's trainers with every tool they require to become pokemon trainers on par with those of other, larger regions. Unfortunately, Kodo is too small to sustain a traditional gym circuit. We are compensating for this by installing buildings known as Trainers' Centers within the region. Individuals traveling between Camphoreon City and Sagestone Town may have noticed the construction underway near the eastern bank; this is the first of two facilities planned thus far, and we are enthusiastic to announce that the Center will open before the end of the year.

xxx"Furthermore, the Pokemon League has taken advantage of the architectural skeleton that remains in the desert following the self-destruction of the Rocket headquarters building. Its intact underground levels are being renovated as we speak, and this northern Center is projected to open in spring of 2014. These Centers will be gathering places for trainers to speak to and battle each other and League representatives from regions throughout the world, making it possible for them to arm themselves with the skills and knowledge to be the best that they can be."

xxxShe paused for a moment, as though organizing her thoughts, though her stoic expression remained unchanged. "Kodo lost a powerful ally when it lost Lance, and so the Pokemon League is reaching out to Kodo's trainers to fill the gap his absence has created. The Special Operations Squad, a division that specializes in responding to pokemon-related crime, has created a branch here in Kodo commanded by myself, Petra Rall. We are opening a department of volunteers to create a permanent place for the courageous trainers that continue to answer our calls for assistance. Together, we will work to create a region where its residents can live without fearing Team Rocket's next strike - a region that Lance would be proud to see."

xxxHer resolve echoed into a silence that was quickly filled as the reporters clambered to have various questions answered, notepads in hands and pens scrawling out responses. Before long the broadcast was cut, and the news would appear in headlines throughout the region the following morning. Through it all, one simple fact shined clear as day.

xxxThe League and its trainers were far from giving up.