A Good Day to Not Die Hard

 

“So we could stake it out?”

 

“It would be best to.”

 

“Alright, so I could have Pikachu scout the place too –Litleo, Fire Fang! –and probably have him dismantle some alarms and stuff.”

 

“Yes, Pikachu’s excellent at that. Smart bugger.”

 

“Perhaps you two should make sure to retrieve a Power Plant Pass?”

 

Ash and Giovanni looked at each other and then at Ramos, the Coumarine Gym Leader who then turned his attention to the battle that was simultaneously going on at the same time.

 

“Gogoat, Grass Knot,” he calmly ordered.

 

“Flamethrower, Litleo!” Ash returned, before thinking about the pass. “Where can we get one of those passes though?”

 

“I suppose the group at the power plant has one of its members holding onto it. Bully them into giving you one,” Ramos suggested.

 

“You’re awesome, old man!” Ash said. “And your gym is freaking cool! It’s like the coolest treehouse ever.”

 

Pleased, Ramos grinned slightly. Then a bright light cut into their talk, and when they looked to see what happened, Litleo had evolved into Pyroar. Ash squealed and clapped her hands in delight. Pikachu even had tears in his eyes.

 

“Aw, my baby’s all grown up~ Pyroar, sweetie, finish this battle off with Overheat!”

 

The battle was over then and Ramos handed Ash her badge. The two of them shook hands, as did Ramos and Giovanni.

 

“Good luck you two. I hope you succeed,” Ramos gave them a toothy grin.

 

Ash and Giovanni gave their thanks and went to leave. As they left though, they turned to each other as they walked.

 

“How and when did Ramos insert himself into our tactics talk?” Giovanni asked incredulously.

 

Ash shrugged. “Sometime near the beginning, and I don’t know. He was just there and talking with us, and we went on as normal with him helping out.”

 

“He did have a good suggestion about us positioning the bombs at the windows, so that the damage will be minimal and it’ll be showier by having the glass blown outward,” Giovanni remembered.

 

“Are we still infiltrating?” Ash scrunched up her nose. “The uniform’s so bright and they all keep wanting to do makeovers. And they’re all kind of creepy.”

 

“They are, but I suppose we must do what we must,” Giovanni said rather gravely, which she giggled at.

 

“I suppose it’s not that much of a hardship,” she sighed dramatically. “Do I get to have anything for compensation?”

 

“Aside from helping me blow up stuff?” he raised an eyebrow.

 

“And?”

 

“Sex?”

 

Ash gave him a dark look and he held up his hands in mock surrender.

 

“…More sex?”

 

“Pikachu, Thunderbolt,” Ash glared.

 

Giovanni held up his hands again, this time sincerely. “Okay, okay. Obviously you want something. What do you want?”

 

Ash switched moods easily, smiling widely at him. She leaned up on her toes and whispered into his ear about her request, and he broke out into laughter afterwards. She satisfyingly nodded her head.

 

“Deal,” Giovanni said with no problem. “After this is all done, alright? But that’s brilliant. I love your ideas.”

 

 

Smugly, Ash kissed his cheek and skipped up ahead with Pikachu, heading to the RV.

 

“Tut, tut. They’re kind of lazy,” Ash watched the Flare members on guard outside of the Kalos Power Plant through a pair of binoculars.

 

There was only a few on watch and they all looked bored, some of them even more focused on filing nails or combing their red-dyed hair.

 

“Although, admittedly, they’re so fabulous,” Ash admitted, causing Giovanni to look at her in amusement. “It’s hard to see them as villains when they go around as fashion police, harping about everyone’s fashion, forcing makeovers on people, and just being so fab.”

 

“You know, I even saw most of the males last time frequently use chapstick,” he noted with a wince.

 

“Hm…though your lips are soft,” Ash brought up, eying them curiously.

 

“I use chapstick,” Giovanni deadpanned. “But I don’t practically wear it down in a day.”

 

“So, so vain, these people…” Ash shook her head. “But they can be so fabulous.”

 

Giovanni rolled his eyes at her and took the binoculars from her. “We need to enter and we need to find a Power Plant Pass.”

 

A lightbulb could have lit over Ash’s head then. She grinned at her husband and grabbed his arm.

 

“I got an idea,” she told him excitedly. “Trust me on this. Now let’s hurry up and change into our Flare uniforms and start infiltrating already! I’ll have Pikachu go off and move onto his tasks too.”

 

Since Pikachu had managed to sneak around already, grabbing a floorplan of the area lucky enough, they managed to know where everything was. Pikachu, using the map, had also managed to point out the area’s weaknesses, where most of the Flare members were, where the patrols were going (if they were even any around or even doing their jobs), and he even managed to locate all of the workers that had been tied up and were locked in a room. Pikachu chewed through most of the bindings, enough for them to be able to finish themselves and work themselves free. It would give Giovanni and Ash enough time to do their jobs, and Pikachu only had enough time to do that anyway, since he was short on time and there were a lot of them in that room (he had to work fast to get through all of the workers there).

 

When they were finally changed into their Flare outfits, Ash grabbed onto Giovanni and led the way to the entrance of all places.

 

“Come on, lover boy. Let’s go continue to make history,” Ash smirked to her husband. Giovanni smirked back, and then they both turned to face the front and walk up to the pair guarding the entrance.

 

“Was there supposed to be a guard change?” one of them ask.

 

Ash shrugged. “No. We’re needed inside. You two are stuck out here, huh?”

 

The other guard, a female one, groaned. “And my hair is getting all frizzed up! I want to go inside already too.”

 

“We can see if we can put a word in,” Giovanni said smoothly, and even in his disguise his charm oozed out. It made the female swoon a bit.

 

“See you in a bit,” Ash said naturally, and the two guards moved aside to let them in. “So easy,” she muttered under her breath and Giovanni agreed.

 

“So who’s distraction?” he asked, but he was looking at her.

 

She shook her head. “No way! I’m always distraction. Why can’t you be distraction this time?”

 

“You would know better what to do anyhow,” he pointed out. “What would I do as distraction?”

 

“I don’t know!” she said surly. “Take off your shirt and pose exceedingly well?”

 

He laughed darkly. “I think that would only work for you.”

 

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” she huffed. “I’m sure leagues of the females and even males around here would easily become Rocket members if you did.”

 

But then she started to eye him speculatively and he could already see where she was going with that.

 

“No,” he said staunchly. “I’m not going to do a Team Rocket PR recruitment naked.”

 

She pouted and sulked. “I wasn’t thinking naked….just shirtless…and maybe pantless,” she added in a mutter.

 

Giovanni twitched. “Again, no. Although…if you wanted to do certain types of home videos,” he leered at her.

 

She stoically replied, “Only if you do the PR video.”

 

They stood off against each other just inside the power plant’s entrance, before Giovanni crumbled.

 

“I’ll think about it,” he grumbled.

 

Ash inwardly cheered and gave herself a mental pat on the back. Oh, it was going to be so freaking awesome. Maybe set it on a beach, have Meowth direct a fan at Giovanni and have the man’s hair blowing back, do it at sunset for a more dramatic backdrop…

 

 

Giovanni grabbed her hand and irritably started walking, even as she was still stuck daydreaming about it.

 

Pikachu wiggled on top of the ventilation system situated on the ceiling. Every once and a while, he’d glanced down to see a Flare member walking around, filing their nails, two of them or more gossiping to each other, and basically not patrolling as they should.

 

Not his problem.

 

In fact, it made things easier for Pikachu, who confessed he was having a lot of fun these days. Plus, Ash also seemed happy too, and that was extremely important for him. If he’d known things would be like this, maybe he should have convinced Ash to join Team Rocket a long time ago. Then again, they didn’t have the best example in Jessie, James, and Meowth, so their thoughts and opinions of the group may have been biased…And all that bad stuff they do and focus on can be changed now anyway, what with Ash and all just taking over what she wanted.

 

That’s his girl~

 

He wished Persian was around though. He decided he quite liked having the catlike pokémon around and enjoyed his time with Giovanni’s pokémon. They got along well, even after their first reunion where he had to remember that beat down by the other pokémon the absolutely first time they met while he and Ash had been protecting Meloetta. They were also fantastic tutors and parents to Litleo, their precious little cub who they were proud to see had evolved into Pyroar.

 

He and Persian also got into awesome hijinks. Seriously, that time they snuck into one of the hotel’s kitchen and stole a basket full of food that they enjoyed in an empty closet was very fulfilling. For his stomach at least.

 

But he knew Persian couldn’t be there –after all, the ventilation ducts wouldn’t be able to accommodate the Persian’s long and heavy body. The ventilation system would probably break and fall to the floor, though Persian would probably be able to land gracefully on the floor.

 

Pikachu suddenly caught sight of the last task he was supposed to do. Find that stupid Power Plant Pass.

 

Seeing it on the table next to a bored Flare guard, Pikachu scurried down a ventilation shaft and darted quickly but silently across the area. He then hid under the table, watching the guard warily. Then carefully, reaching out with a paw, Pikachu managed to snag the pass and clutch it to him as he shuffled quietly further into the table and hid under cover of the shadows. The guard didn’t so much as twitch.

 

Grinning to himself, Pikachu prepared to make his escape and to head back to his mistress and her husband.

 

 

Damn, he was good. He was like a pokémon James Bond.

 

Knowing her husband was planting out the bombs and successfully stealing information was all that kept Ash from screaming.

 

“Don’t yank on my hand!” she snapped.

 

Tina, the Flare member working on painting her nails, sighed in exasperation. “You keep tugging it back towards you! Keep still, Bonnie!”

 

“I’m getting restless in this chair though,” Ash whined.

 

The male Flare grunt behind her ignored her and examined his work critically, experimentally pulling at one of Ash’s new hair curls. He held the curler in his hand and then decided one area needed more on it and took a curled strand and rewrapped it around the curler.

 

“Just a bit more,” he muttered.

 

“My hair’s gotten long,” Ash noted.

 

“Was it short?” Marianna, another female grunt, asked curiously.

 

“It normally is,” she almost nodded, but a warning tap from the man currently curling her hair stopped her. “I’ve always had it short, usually to at least my chin or a little after. But now it’s gotten to pass my shoulders. Huh.”

 

“Hair can grow fast,” Marianna nodded. “Especially for girls.”

 

Ash nodded in agreement as if she knew that (she really didn’t), when all of a sudden the ceiling’s sprinkler system turned on and she could guess that was her cue.

 

“What the heck?” Tina scowled heavily.

 

Ash was about to suggest it could be a fire, when she saw David’s (her “hairstylist’s” name) face. He looked absolutely heartbroken as he stared at her soaked hair and his ruined work. She felt rather bad about it.

 

“Er, you can work on it next time,” she promised him hesitantly.

 

“Don’t cut it!” he demanded and she nodded fervently.

 

Then there was an explosion nearby and the group screamed. What the hell was Giovanni doing?!

 

“Out!” Ash shrieked. “Out!”

 

She led the way, running like a Zubat out of hell. Damn, she got freaked out for real. Well, she might as well play it up.

 

“I think the place has gone nuclear! We got to get out of here!” she shouted.

 

“I don’t want to die!” someone screamed out.

 

The stampede of Team Flare members out of there was loud and frantic. On the last leg through the building to the entrance, the windows high up on the walls began to explode outwards and Ash wondered how the hell Giovanni managed that. She knew he was tall, but not that tall.

 

The building was cleared in no time, and Ash went as far as she could with them before she easily slid out of sight and hid. With them gone, Ash made sure the coast was clear and then walked back to the Kalos Power Plant. On the walkway, Giovanni leaned against a ceiling, waiting for her with a smirk. Pikachu sat on his shoulder smugly and held up a Power Plant Pass.

 

“Good job,” Ash praised, but she was looking at him affectionately.

 

Giovanni’s own smugness wore off and he pushed off the railing and went over to her, leaning down to kiss her sweetly.

 

“Well, I managed to get around with Pikachu’s help and this pass, so why don’t we get those workers out of the room and get this power plant back to working order?”

 

Ash happily nodded and grabbed his hand, following Pikachu who was leading the way to where the workers had been held captive. They managed to get the door unlocked and the workers were thankfully all freed from their bindings because of Pikachu and their fellow workers helping out once they’d freed themselves.

 

Despite their Flare uniforms, the two were greeted fine as the workers recognized the Pikachu with them. In that case, the two took off their Flare jackets and got to work helping the workers, who went back to their own workstations and began working on fixing what Team Flare messed up (though Giovanni and Ash neglected to mention anything about the damage they caused as well; they didn’t think it’d be appreciated). Pikachu helped charge up some areas, in the cases where they needed a jumpstart.

 

“Good day’s work, huh?” Giovanni asked Ash as he lifted a pipe.

 

“Good day’s work,” Ash agreed as she twisted the wheel.

 

 

The two of them leaned towards each other and kissed.

 

Gurkinn looked around the Tower of Mastery and winced slightly. It was still recovering from that couple’s extended stay.

 

After a certain gym, Korrina had gone out with a couple to have some fried chicken apparently. During it, she’d found out that the two of them were working on learning Mega Evolution and that they even had a pair of Charizard to Mega Evolve. Of course, that put Korrina in a right state and she excitedly told them about the Tower of Mastery and invited them there.

 

Needless to say, they had been the two best and worse students Gurkinn had ever had. Ever. Period.

 

“Please, move the debris outside for now, until we can get it removed from the premises,” he said calmly to one of the cleaners working on clearing up the debris around the area.

 

He eyed some of the scorch marks on the walls and floor (and even on the ceiling), and hoped those were easily cleaned up. If not, then at least the tower now could claim battle damage and look cool, as well as be a nice story to tell people about. Yes, that’s right. A story. That’ll do.

 

The gigantic hole in the wall was another matter, and he hadn’t a clue about what to do with that. Maybe have it structured and designed as another entrance…

 

“Grandfather,” Korrina gave him a small grin. “You okay?”

 

“Even after everything…I still rather like those two. Mad, the both of them. Perfect for each other.”

 

“But still crazy,” Korrina agreed exasperatedly.

 

The portable TV they brought along was turned to the news and they turned to each other as they heard the report that came on just then.

 

“Just in –Lumiose City is back to full power! After mysterious blackouts began occurring in Lumiose, there was no explanations about why. The Kalos Power Plant area is strictly prohibited by outsiders, so any attempt to travel there and enter the premises is met with legal action. But while no one was able to go to the power plant for answers, constant communication has been exchanged with the manager, who swore they had been doing all they could to fix the problems and make sure Lumiose was back to full power as soon as possible. Currently, we have no news on what they have recently done to fix the issue of the blackouts, but we’ll be investigating and coming back on air with any news about the matter. Back to you, Tim!”

 

Korrina had a feeling there was more to the city…and that oddly enough the power coming back on had something to do with that strange couple she met recently.

 

 

Why was she not surprised about that?

 

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I need to ask you two a few questions,” she heard a deep voice ask, and she turned to see a man and an odd Blaziken.

 

Oddly enough, there was a bit of paint on the strange outfits they were wearing. Wait a second, she knew them…

 

“Oh! You’re Blaziken Mask!” she recognized the scarcely seen, rumored superhero. “And is that a Mega Blaziken?!”

 

Woah, that was so cool. She knew she practically had stars in her eyes.

 

“Ask away!” she said cheerfully, even if her gaze was more or less directed at the Mega Blaziken.

 

“Thank you!” Blaziken Mask said gratefully. “You see, I’m chasing after a thieving couple –”

 

“Like the Bonnie and Clyde duo from a long time ago?” she asked curiously.

 

He twitched for some reason. “Exactly,” he said dryly. “Because they call themselves Bonnie and Clyde.”

 

For some reason, Korrina burst out laughing.

 

“Is that so? The universe must be laughing at us all.”

 

Aliana was, in her opinion, the best Flare Scientist and authority in Team Flare, next to Lysandre himself. She hadn’t managed to keep such a tight, excellent control of the Kalos Power Plant for so long on just luck after all.

 

But somehow or other, having just left the power plant for a little bit, she’d somehow lost it in that time and her Flare grunts had run from the place, claiming a nuclear explosion and fire had made them leave.

 

“That’s stupid!” she screeched. “It’s not even nuclear!”

 

Her grunts cringed and all of them started babbling excuses, but Aliana wasn’t listening. She was incensed and she had just gotten a failure. She didn’t tolerate failures.

 

She will find out who was the cause of all this and make them pay.