Celebrate

“Shots!” Yuruki shouts, a tray of shot glasses placed on the table.

“To Amber!” Jack offers, holding up her tiny glass.

“To Amber!” everyone toasts. You slam back the shot the liquor burning down your throat.

“To Amber,” another voice follows up.

You look up to see “JJ! Everyone, this is JJ. I met him the other day. He helped me get back to the pokecenter safe and sound.”

“To JJ!” Yuruki raises another shot. Everyone follows her lead, JJ included, slamming back another shot.

“You look familiar, have we met?” Jack asks.

JJ smiles, his hand running through his color tinted black hair, “Just one of those faces. I saw you over here and thought I’d come give you my congratulations.” His current crop top sporting a ‘Def Liepard’ logo. “You had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. And then Mew! Come on this has got to be the best Rookie Tournament in decades, maybe ever.”

“Thanks, join us,” you say motioning for JJ to squeeze into the booth with your friends. Yuruki scoots in closer to Jack, twirling her fingers through Jack’s messy red hair.

“Gladly,” JJ winks, sitting down next to Yuruki.

“I love this song!” Yuruki shouts over the music. She reaches across Jack and grabs your hand. She stands in her seat and barges across the table, you have **** but to follow. You knock glasses aside, liquor spilling across the table.

The night is a blur. Yuruki grinds against you on the dance floor. Helping John order drinks at the bar. Jack and you make out in a dark corner. JJ dances with you after flirting with the DJ to get his choice of songs. Strangers approach looking for selfies and autographs.

You and JJ are laughing, his hand around your waist when you approach the table. “We’ve got to go,” Daisy seems solemn. “We all just got texts that we’ll be collected from our rooms for the ‘after party’ we agreed to.” Your stomach drops, the ‘after party’ in question being the Team Rocket event Black Jack had blackmailed all of you into in exchange for info on Daisy’s parentage.

“An after party?” JJ perks up, “Am I invited?”

“Not to this one, but we’ll hang again soon,” you say patting him on the shoulder. He settles back into the booth with Roger and Humphrey. You, Yuruki, John, Jack, and Daisy were all blackmailed into going. Opal and Paris were paid to attend before any of you could warn them.

JJ waves, “We hope to see you again.” He has his arm wrapped around Humphrey, reaching for another shot.

The walk through the cold night air and the knowledge of the events to follow does wonders to sober the group up. The 7 of you patiently wait in your room. Everyone is on edge. Daisy and Paris are nervous, knowing that after tonight’s events they’ll know more about their father. But for the rest of you, you’re walking into Team Rocket’s hideout for a night of being used by whoever Black Jack sees fit.

The knock on the door stiffens your spine. How bad can it really be? Black Jack made it sound like this is something done every year. But will Team Rocket go harder on you and your friends because of the invasion? You swallow your fear, no point in delaying the inevitable.

“Good, I got the right room.” A hooded man barges past you into the room. “So, we don’t have much time. Here take this.” He cups your hand leaving something behind. “Wow, there are a lot of you bunked up in here.” You look over the small metal barbell in your palm. Is this a piercing?

While you’re still looking at the jewelry in your hand, he removes his hood. “Lance?” Jack says as everyone stares at the Champion in the middle of the room.

“Yes, yes. Hello everyone,” he says, waving to all of you. “You’re all going to the Team Rocket Post-Tournament Party?”

“Unfortunately,” Yuruki groans, her head hanging upside down off the end of the bed. She curls her face in disgust, “I already feel sick, thinking about the,” she gags, truly looking to be on the verge of vomiting, “the, the dicks.” The last word barely a whisper. “Me and Johnny boy are in for a rough night.”

“Wait, what?” John says.

Yuruki pouts, “Oh Johnny, you haven’t thought tonight through very much have you?”

“Shush, we don’t have time for all this,” Lance cuts in. “Look we’ve been watching, and we feel as if you might be agreeable to our cause.”

“Your cause?” you venture.

“Taking down Team Rocket.”

“Fuck yeah, we’re agreeable!” Yuruki goes from laying on her back to standing on the bed in a flash.

“So what do we do?” you ask.

“Put that piercing in, it’s a camera and will give us an inside eye at the event. Then after the event one of us will find you and debrief.”

“Oh, do you know what this is?” You dig around in your bag pulling out the strange purple pokeball. “Ashley threw it, and she’s part of Team Rocket.”

He looks the ball over. “We knew that, but I have no clue what this is. Do you mind if I take this?” Before you can answer, you all turn your head at a knock on the door. “Stay safe,” Lance says as he jumps out your window, and flies away on his Altaria.