Chapter Four: The Mission

One week later, Miyamoto stood in Bridget’s quarters, 30 minutes left until she was due to board the transport that would take her to the Andes Rocket Base to begin her mission.

Miyamoto had packed clothing and supplies, researched the background information, and contacted the agents in the Andes, and in most respects, she was ready for this mission…. Except for the task of leaving Musashi behind and knowing that she’d be gone for a whole month. Apparently, Musashi wasn’t ready for this either, as she was crying loudly as if she knew she wouldn’t see her mother again for a month.

Miyamoto held the baby in her arms as Musashi cried and clutched her mother tightly, finally calming down and sucking her thumb when she heard the familiar, soothing sounds of Miyamoto’s lullaby, the one she had made up just for Musashi; "Sleep little angel, safe in Mommy’s arms, Sleep little angel, safe from all harm. You are my hope and my light too, I’d never let anyone ever hurt you." When the lullaby was finished, Musashi was asleep, a serene smile on her little face. Miyamoto sighed with relief, and gently passed Musashi to Bridget, who took the baby in her arms.

"She’s been feeling all right, so there shouldn’t be any problems." Miyamoto said to Bridget, who nodded and smiled.

"She’ll be all right, Miya. I’d never let anything happen to her. You just stay safe and get back so you two can start that new life together." Bridget said.

Miyamoto fidgeted nervously. "Right. Um, Bridget, I’ve got something to give you…." She said as she reached into her pocket and produced the envelope containing the letter she had penned a week ago.

Bridget took the letter with one hand, still holding Musashi with the other. "What is it, Miya?"

"Hopefully nothing." Miyamoto said. "You’ll know if you need to open it."

Bridget looked at the envelope. "How will I know?’ she asked, wondering what was in the envelope.

"Trust me. You’ll know." Miyamoto said. "Well I gotta run." She said. Her voice breaking slightly as she looked at her baby in Bridget’s arms. Miyamoto leaned in and kissed Musashi on the forehead, who smiled happily in her sleep. She gave Bridget a quick hug. "Thanks, Bridget… Thanks for everything." She said quietly.

"Hey, no problem, Miya. Take care, now." Bridget said. Miyamoto turned to leave, and walked away down the hall as Bridget walked back into the main part of her quarters, ready to lay Musashi down so she could keep napping.

30 minutes later, Miyamoto boarded the transport that would take her to a Team Rocket airfield on the outskirts of Viridian City. From there, she would be meeting a plane that would take her the rest of the way to the Andes base.

However, in spite of the time she had spent preparing and readying herself for this mission, Miyamoto couldn’t help but be filled with a feeling of uneasiness- almost as if she never should have accepted the mission in the first place… but no, she told herself, the next month would be a piece of cake… check out a few caves, dig a few tunnels, find a few artifacts, and bam, it’d be over, and her new life with her beautiful daughter would begin.

Thoughts of Musashi’s endearing innocence filled Miyamoto’s mind as she boarded the plane at the airfield and settled back into her seat, her eyes drooping from exhaustion, and slipped into a dream as the plane took off… a dream of a White Rocket with long red hair who seemed strangely familiar to her, almost as if she had known her forever…. The dream continued soundlessly, playing itself out before Miyamoto’s tired mind and eyes, as the nameless Rocket ran through her mind, commanding an Ekans, then an Arbok, occasionally a Lickitung, and always remaining ever so beautiful, with a very intense emotional streak beneath the tough front of Team Rocket….

Miyamoto couldn’t say how many hours the dream played on in her mind before the plane jolted her awake as it touched down on the landing strip at the Andes base. Miyamoto looked out the window and saw, as she had expected, a mild snow storm. Outside, the wind whipped the snow around in the air, creating a mist that was at times so thick it was hard to see through.

Miyamoto sighed to herself. She had known from her research that such weather conditions were common in the area, but she had idly hoped for less bleak and dreary conditions to greet her. Miyamoto reached for one of the trunks she had packed with supplies, and withdrew a thick, long black coat. The coat, she had found out, was part of the standard issue uniform for the Andes base, and Miyamoto soon found out why. She was warm as soon as she slipped it on, despite the fact that all she had on under it was her black Team Rocket dress and her white thigh-high boots. Miyamoto closed the trunk again, and walked to the door of the plane which was just then being opened by the pilot.

Miyamoto stepped out the door and immediately felt the sting of the cold wind on her face. Surprisingly, she realized that the rest of her remained perfectly warm under the long coat. Tucking the hood of the coat as close to her face as possible, she hurried down the steps to the ground, where a truck with a lone agent was awaiting her. The agent wore a long coat like Miyamoto’s except that his was white rather than black. He was only 13 or 14 years old, and Miyamoto could tell that he was still rather new to Team Rocket. Her mind wandered as she thought back to when she had been that young and carefree, a new and eager White Rocket just entering the all too exciting life of Team Rocket….

"Agent Randwhyte?" the young Rocket asked again, bringing Miyamoto out of her trance.

"Hmm? Oh, Yes?" Miyamoto replied.

"Welcome to the Andes Base, Ma’am. My name is Virgil. Anything you need, just let me know." The young Rocket replied eagerly.

Miyamoto looked him over. "Thank you, Virgil." She replied coolly. "I need to meet with your base commander as soon as possible."

"Oh, yes, Ma’am." Virgil replied. We’ll be sending some agents up for your equipment and supplies, and I’ve been told to bring you up to the commander’s office. He’s waiting for us now."

Miyamoto climbed into the passenger side of the truck. "Then let’s move, Virgil. We don’t want to waste time." She said authoritatively. Miyamoto wanted this month to just be over with, to end, so she could get back to her beautiful Musashi and into their new life. However, she also knew that the more she wanted it to end, the longer it would take, so she had reasoned that she should just go along with it all as quickly as possible.

Virgil climbed into the truck, and used a two-way radio mounted in the truck to call to the base and let them know that Agent Miyamoto Randwhyte was on her way in.

15 minutes later, Miyamoto stood in the base commander’s office, shaking his hand. He was a man roughly 26 or 27 years old, a black rocket like herself. He had introduced himself as Base Commander Henry Evans, and had greeted Miyamoto with interest, the priority orders he had received from Madam Boss almost a week ago burning in the back of his mind. He had to admit- this Miyamoto obviously wasn’t suspicious of him in the least. What a fool, he thought. Imagine, believing you could just walk away from Team Rocket. His thoughts turned back to the present. This agent didn’t suspect a thing, and Evans was all too glad to let her remain that way.

"So I trust you’ve been briefed on our recent finds and how they relate to the legends." Evans said. "Yes." Miyamoto replied. "Madam Boss gave me a run down of what you have discovered out here, as well as the open shaft."

"And what is your take on it?" Evans asked lightly.

"Well, I have to admit that a lot of it is very similar to the legends of the lost city, but I really think it’s more likely that this is just evidence of one of the many tribes of Mew that banded together." Miyamoto replied. Through her research, she had been willing to give the whole matter the benefit of the doubt, that it really could be the legendary lost city, but she never really believed it. The legend was just that…. A legend, a fairy tale, a myth. How could it possibly really be true? As for her boss’ theory of the city being underground, Miyamoto had to say that she couldn’t put a lot of faith in it, but Madam Boss was still the boss… and Miyamoto knew that this mission would be her way out of this life and into her new one, so she decided to just explore the caves and let her boss’ curiosity be satisfied. However, truth be told, she would much rather have her final mission be something like chasing a Pokemon that she knew existed… not chasing dreams from a children’s bedtime story.

Miyamoto’s attention was drawn back to Henry. Secretly, Henry felt the same way Miyamoto, and had actually been rather glad when he had received word that his agents were forbidden from exploring the tunnels and caves. It meant less risk to him and his agents if Madam Boss would send in an outsider. However, he supposed that Madam Boss didn’t really believe the story either, if she was sending an agent into a death trap that would end up blocking the tunnel with an avalanche. Henry cleared his throat, and looked at Miyamoto again. "So you don’t believe that there is a lost city down there?" he asked, staring at her with his icy blue eyes.

"I can’t say I do." Miyamoto replied. "Well, we’ll soon find out, won’t we?" she said with a smile.

Henry didn’t return the smile. "Indeed." He said in a dry tone. "We’ll start assembling your team of agents tonight, and you can start your expedition tomorrow morning. Now, as I understand it, Madam Boss wishes you to lead a team of agents down into the tunnels, correct?"

"Yes." Miyamoto replied. "I’m to lead them to explore and map out the tunnels and see if there really is anything down there."

"Do you think there is?" Henry asked, his blue eyes again staring directly into Miyamoto’s.

"Oh, I believe there’s something down there, I just don’t know what." She replied, leaning back in her chair. "Probably just a few more artifacts, maybe some fossils, but I doubt very highly that there’s a whole city down there."

Henry smiled slightly and grunted. "Hm. Well, as you said, we’ll find out sooner or later. Your team will be ready in the morning. Why don’t you go ahead and get some sleep in the VIP suite? We’ll get started at say, 0800?"

"Sounds good." Miyamoto replied.

"Very well, then." Henry said, tossing Miyamoto a small brass key from his desk. "Here’s the key to the suite. Virgil should be right outside the office. He’ll take you to the suite."

Miyamoto stood up and once again shook hands with Henry. "Thank you, Commander. I think we’re going to have a productive month here, even if we don’t turn up much." She said.

Henry didn’t seem to share Miyamoto’s optimistic attitude, but he shook her hand back and said simply, "I’m sure we will. Good night, Agent Randwhyte."

"Good night." Miyamoto replied. With that, she turned and walked out of the office, meeting Virgil in the hall and following him to her suite.

Inside Henry’s office, the commander looked at Miyamoto’s file that had been forwarded to him a few days after the priority order calling for her execution. Henry had to admit, Madam Boss was being very cautious of this execution… almost as if she wanted to be able to deny any knowledge of it. For a while, Henry had almost considered calling his boss to confirm the order, but he knew that Madam Boss had a short fuse when it came to questioning orders, particularly priority orders. Henry reached for the phone on his desk, and called down to the quarters of one of his lieutenants, a black Rocket named Sean Mogren. In 5 minutes, Mogren was in Henry’s office.

"So she’s the one, then?" Mogren asked. He and Henry had discussed the agent that would be coming that had been ordered killed, and had been considering the best opportunities to carry out the deed.

"Yep." Henry said, leaning back in his chair. "And she doesn’t suspect a thing."

"Perfect!" Mogren replied. He and Henry had handled these kind of executions before, and he knew from experience that it was worst when the target had any kind of idea that they were in danger. All it did was make the job ten times harder, because the target would invariably be on their guard. "So have you decided how you want to handle it?" Mogren asked.

Henry scratched his chin for a second. "Yeah. Madam Boss obviously doesn’t really believe there’s anything important down in that shaft, if she’s ordering us to cause an avalanche and bury Randwhyte in there. Therefore, we ought to be able to get this done pretty quickly. I say we get her expedition team together- you, Carroway, and Hansen. I’ll have tracers on your packs and I’ll trace your movements in the shaft. When you’re down far enough, I’ll give you a signal over a silent pager and you and the other two can quickly and quietly back out, leaving Randwhyte. When you’re out, I’ll signal our agent on the outside to fire and start the avalanche, and then- well, bye-bye, Miyamoto." Henry finished with a satisfied grin. "What do you think?"

"Sounds perfect, Henry. I’ll let Carroway and Hansen know what’s going on."

"Good." Henry replied.

"Who are you going to use to fire the weapon to start the avalanche?" Mogren asked.

"Raven Kaldron." Henry replied. Raven was a weapons expert and a top-notch agent despite the fact that she had only been with Team Rocket for 8 months, and Henry knew that she would be perfect for the job. Mogren seemed to agree.

"Good choice. Where is Randwhyte, anyway?" Mogren asked.

"Asleep in the VIP Suite." Henry said. Mogren smiled darkly.

"Well, I hope the little lady has sweet dreams, ‘cause she’s sure in for a rude awakening." He said. Henry laughed coldly as Mogren left to inform the others of what was going on.

Chapter Five: The Execution