Chapter Text
"This isn't necessary," Goh complained. "It's not like I can run away."
Behind him, the Team Rocket grunt cinched the rope tighter around his wrists. Goh's arms were already sore from being wrenched around the back of the desk chair, and he had to keep wriggling his fingers to ward off the tingling from lack of circulation. Even so, he could tolerate being tied up if it weren't for the swelling in his left ankle. Blood had soaked his sock, and judging from the shooting pain when he moved it, he was pretty sure that something had broken.
Goh had been exploring the forest outside Pallet Town after a rumored sighting of Mew. He had stayed out too late and was still fumbling around at dusk when his foot caught on a tree root. It had been pure bad luck that he rolled down a hillside and practically landed in the middle of Team Rocket’s camp.
"I've learned not to underestimate you." On the other side of the desk, Matori flicked through his Rotom phone. Her new office might have been a tent with a dirt floor, but the blank-faced secretary still did not have a hair out of place. Goh recognized her from any of a dozen times that he had played the distraction to Ash's hero while they foiled the latest Team Rocket scheme.
He wasn’t thrilled that she knew who he was, and he grew more worried as she continued, “Son of the co-founders of Go & Go Systems. Close friend of the Alolan Champion. Research partner at Cerise Laboratory." Matori turned the phone so that he could see the screen. "Not to mention the creator of this very interesting app. This radar detects psychic activity, right?"
Goh pressed his lips into a frown. Then he felt a light thump on the back of his head. "Commander asked you a question," the grunt warned.
Yes, Goh had created the app. It had taken him months, and it really only worked after he asked his mother to help him with a tricky bit of programming. The radar would pick up the psychic activity of any Pokemon within a mile's radius. He had hoped to expand that radius, but now that would have to wait.
"Rotom, delete all internal data."
Matori flipped the phone back around, and Goh could not help the surge of satisfaction at the way her face crumpled with frustration as the screen went blank.
Rotom escaped from the phone and zipped toward the ceiling light overhead, where it vanished. Goh let out a sigh of relief. Rotom could travel the electric lines to safety, and if he was lucky, Rotom could find Cerise Lab and call for help.
"What did you just do?" Matori threw the phone across the room. Goh cringed at the loud clatter. Professor Cerise had given him that phone, and somehow it had survived all his adventures until now. At least his Pokedex had been backed up on cloud storage.
Matori pulled another phone from her pocket. The camera light flashed green. She rattled off the date, an address, and an absurd amount of money. Only then did Goh realize that she was recording him, and he jerked against his bindings. "Wait--"
He could feel the blood rushing to his face. He had no idea how he looked, but he bet it wasn't a pretty sight after tumbling down that hillside. He could just imagine if his parents saw that kind of video. They already worried about him traveling so much, but if they received a ransom video, they would have simultaneous heart attacks.
The camera light switched to red. "So who do you think is most likely to pay your ransom?" Matori asked. "Your parents? Your boss? Your boyfriend?"
Goh gritted his teeth. Even if any of them had that kind of money, he wasn't worth it. "You wouldn't let me go even if they paid up, right?"
"You are a useful person to keep around. Not only do you know a lot of interesting people," and Matori glanced up from typing on her phone, "but you know more about Mew than any other person in the world."
The non sequitur caught him by surprise. "Wait, what?"
"As you are well aware, Team Rocket has suffered a series of setbacks. We used to be the most powerful crime organization in the world, and I fully intend on recreating that reality." Matori flipped her phone around again to reveal a blurry image of Mewtwo.
Goh had battled Mewtwo once, but it had been Ash who confided in him about Mewtwo's creation and some of its subsequent adventures. Goh had a lot of theories about Team Rocket's attempt to clone Mew and the wider implications, but he had never been able to substantiate any of them.
"Mewtwo was one of Team Rocket's greatest creations," Matori said. "Ancient peoples created many Pokemon, such as Golurk or the mythical Regis, but that technology was lost until our scientists experimented with the DNA of Mew. I have the technology to make a new Pokemon, one that is just as powerful but not so prone to... free thought."
Goh shivered. He did not want to meet any creature born in Matori’s twisted imagination. "But you need Mew's DNA."
Matori nodded. "Even with all the DNA splicing technology at our disposal, we cannot isolate what it is that makes up Mew's power. I need a fresh sample. That's where you come in. I need you to catch Mew."
The answer came immediately. "I refuse."
"Oh? I thought that was your goal."
Despite himself, Goh sighed. He didn't know how she knew that, but if he had to guess, it probably had a lot to do with the way his younger self had shouted his dreams to the sky at every opportunity. "Mew's going to be my partner. I won't let you hurt it."
"No?" Matori pulled a Pokeball from her pocket. "What about your current partner?"
"Cinderace!" Goh leaned forward, yanking painfully against his bindings. He knew that it was futile, but he couldn't help the panic that flared up at the sight of his partner in his enemy's hand. Goh had already accepted the fact that he was going to get hurt, but he had hoped Cinderace had escaped during that tumble down the hill. Who knew what Team Rocket would do to him?
Matori tucked the Pokeball back in her pocket and closed the distance between them. She ran her fingers through Goh's hair and then yanked his head up, forcing him to look at her. "You will catch Mew for us, or you won't be the only one who suffers."
When she walked out of the tent, Goh stared after her. He could not let anything happen to Mew or to Cinderace. He really hoped that Rotom had called for help, but he could not depend on that.
First he focused on wriggling his almost-numb fingers. If he was going to catch Mew, he would need his hands free.
At least he could do that much, with a little trick he had learned from Cinderace.