Here is the long-awaited 39th chapter. Thanks for being patient with me during the hiatus.

I don't know what else to say except...yeah. Enjoy.

SUNDAY, JULY 25, 201X - 3:57 AM

TEAM ROCKET SINNOH HEADQUARTERS

LOW TEMPERATURE: 43 DEGREES

Maisie Campbell woke up suddenly.

For a minute, she wasn't sure what had caused her to return to consciousness so abruptly. Normally, she was a fairly sound sleeper, and it took a lot to wake her up.

Perhaps that didn't make her fit to be a member of Team Rocket, but she wasn't involved with any missions where they left the base. Otherwise, it was true; that could have been a very big problem indeed.

There was little doubt in her mind that something out of the ordinary was going on. After all, it wasn't easy to wake her up. Something must have happened that had made it imperative that she be aroused.

She found her answer in the form of her colleague standing over her bedside.

The 21-year-old woman sat up in bed, her back aching. Even though she had a fairly easy time sleeping here, the beds were admittedly not very comfortable. That was just something that she had to deal with as a member of Charlie's Angels.

A 17-year-old grunt, Jacob, was standing over her. Jacob, who had a small beard and was fairly tall, was looking down at Maisie.

"What's going on?" Maisie asked. "It's, like, four in the morning".

"I know, but you're wanted in the control room" Jacob replied. "It's not my decision, but you know Charlie. He's kind of a…".

Jacob clearly didn't want to say control freak, but it was heavily implied. Maisie was left standing there, wondering what else would be said.

"I know what you mean" she said. "He's used to getting what he wants. Let me tell you something, though; I'm not going".

The grunt looked at her with an annoyed expression. "I don't care what you want to do. My instructions were to make sure that you went over there. You're wanted in the control room, no matter whatever it takes. If I have to knock you out in order to bring you there-".

"Then knock me out" Maisie replied. "At least I'd get a little more sleep then".

Jacob gave a slight smile. "I appreciate your sense of humor. In any case, you follow me. I'm supposed to escort you there".

Maisie didn't particularly like being escorted anywhere around headquarters. Not only did she know the place like the back of her hand, having been living here for five years, but, what was more, she was an adult. It made absolutely no sense for her to be escorted around the place like a five-year-old.

"Okay" she said reluctantly. "I'll head over there with you".

Jacob smiled again. "I'm glad that you're being cooperative".

Maisie felt like punching Jacob in the face. Even if she got into a fight with him, she knew who would win. She was overweight and fleshy, while Jacob had quite a strong degree of muscle. He'd be able to take her with hardly any effort at all.

Of course, they were allies, not enemies. As the realization of who would win in a fight went through her mind, she also reminded herself of that basic truth. There wasn't going to be a civil war among two of Charlie's Angels anytime soon.

She followed him out of the room and down the corridor. Since it was nighttime, the lights were off, so Jacob had brought a flashlight with him. He was illuminating the area ahead.

If I can't take that flashlight from him, maybe I do need Jacob to lead me. That was what went through Maisie's mind as she followed the young man through the hallway.

"It's July twenty-fifth" Jacob said eventually. "Do you know what the significance of today is?"

Maisie knew, of course. Everybody at headquarters knew.

Today was the day that, after weeks of trying, Sam and Muller would be forced to reveal if they had found the children or not. Those children went by the names of Lucas Snow, Andromeda Watson, Solanna Luzon, and Tanner Warren, and they were considered threats to Team Rocket - not just its Sinnoh branch, but every branch, in each region of the world.

Maisie didn't know exactly why they were considered dangerous. After all, they were just four kids, they couldn't have had that much power to change things.

Don't worry about that right now, Maisie, she told herself. Right now, there's been no sign of them.

That you know of, the fear-mongering part of her brain said. They don't tend to tell people of your status the new threats.

Maisie had always thought that, compared to many of the other grunts, she was fairly well respected. After all, she'd been there for several years by this point - it wasn't as though she was a newbie who had to be introduced to everything slowly.

Now, however, she felt as though she had been kept completely in the dark. If she was being called to the control room, that could not have been good news at all.

Realizing that she'd been talking with Jacob, she decided that she might as well pay lip service to what he'd been saying.

"Yeah" she said. "That was the deadline, wasn't it?"

"Actually", Jacob replied, "that's what Charlie wanted to talk to you about. It's something to do with the deadline, and how it has now reached us".

It was well-known by now that Sam Scott and Muller Bigshot were currently on a mission to discover and apprehend the four children who were on a journey together. AS of right now, they had had no known successes, and, unless things changed, they were about to be terminated from their positions as members of Team Rocket.

Maisie had limited sympathy for them. On one hand, it wasn't as though they had done anything wrong, other than failing to find the children in time. Even that might have been forgivable - they could have been anywhere in Sinnoh, for Arceus's sake.

On the other hand, she reminded herself of the fact that these children posed a real and present danger to their mission as Team Rocket. Their operation, if it was indeed a real operation, had to be shut down somehow.

Jacob led Maisie down the final corridor into the control room, which was guarded by a large metal door of a circular shape. In the middle of this door, a large red gem had been planted, presumably to give it a little more color and contrast it with the otherwise grim, gray landscape.

Of course, it was hard for the place not to feel grim when they were so far underground. Maisie had had a fear of being so far below the surface of Mount Coronet, but, once she'd lived here for a few weeks, she'd gotten used to it. Now, she was free of the apprehension.

Which was a good thing, because she wouldn't have been very effective at her job otherwise.

She entered the control room. Jacob didn't follow her; instead, given that it was only a little after four in the morning, he was presumably going back to his quarters.

Lucky him, Maisie thought bitterly. He gets a decent night's sleep, while I have to stay up early. What kind of world is this?

Charlie's lieutenant, Eric, was sitting in front of the large computer screen, talking with someone on the other end. At first, it was hard to tell whom it was, because his face was only illuminated by the light of an iPhone against the dark sky.

And then it became clear. It was Sam Scott.

There was absolutely no mistaking it. He was a tall man of twenty with blue eyes and short, dark brown hair. If that wasn't Sam Scott, there was no Sam Scott, let's just put it that way.

"Look, we did all we could" Sam said on the other end. "We really did. And we tried to defuse the threat that those kids posed, but-".

"But what?" Eric snarled into the large computer screen. "Samuel F. Scott, you do realize that, if we don't capture those kids first, they could cause so much damage to our cause? This is a mission of utmost importance".

Sam raised both his arms in defense. "I never thought that you'd be so strict about everything".

"Was the deadline of July 25 not clear enough? And you thought we wouldn't be strict?" Eric was still snarling as he said, "You know, Sam, we could terminate you right now. You could have the full baggage of having once been a Team Rocket member, only without all of the benefits. You don't want that, do you?"

Sam's look turned from one of angry desperation to what looked like one of pleading. "I didn't think that…".

"That I would extend the deadline, huh?" asked Eric. "Well, you know that I can also be quite merciful. I don't extend that mercy to just anybody, though".

Sam nodded, and Maisie stood there watching. She was shocked at what was happening.

She hadn't thought that Eric would even entertain the idea of extending a deadline. It was practically unheard of; when you were with the Sinnoh branch of Team Rocket, you put up or shut up. There were absolutely no half-measures allowed.

"So I will extend your deadline. You now have until the fourteenth of August. That's twenty days from now, and it should be plenty of time. I suppose that the automaton of Koloktos did not have the desired effect?"
"No, it did not" Sam replied sheepishly. "We'd thought that we would be able to neutralize the threat that way. Clearly, it was not as effective as we had desired".

It had become common knowledge within Charlie's Angels that Sam and Muller had hard-wired an automaton, deep within Eterna Forest, to attack the children when they came across him. That had happened, but the attack had not managed to kill Lucas, Andromeda, Solanna, and Tanner.

I think we'll still have plenty of chances to do so, Maisie thought. If the deadline is being extended to August 14, that's almost three more weeks. That should be plenty of time for them.

Of course, they'd been wrong before. The judgment had been that July 25 had been plenty of time.

But this is different, Maisie tried to reassure herself. This time, they'll get what they deserve. We'll show them not to mess with Team Rocket.

(Insert a horizontal line here)

SUNDAY, JULY 25, 201X - 6:18 AM

ROUTE 217, SINNOH

HIGH TEMPERATURE: 56 DEGREES

In the thin, chilly mountain air, Tanner shivered as he stirred. Once he opened his eyes and drew a breath, he was able to see the fog that it created.

Scratching his eyebrow, he was very glad to be alive. He was even more glad that they had brought plenty of provisions with them, so that they could survive the mountains. Much like Eterna Forest had been, they hadn't known if they'd be able to find much food along the way, so they were playing it safe here.

That was just fine with Tanner. He'd lived his whole life playing things safe, after all. Why would he stop with that now?

Because you're on a journey right now, with three other kids?, a voice inside his head asked him. And, the more you try to hide the fact that you're a coward, the easier it will be for the others to discover it. Sorry, Tanner.

The boy shivered once more. It had been a week that they'd been in the mountains, and, since then, he'd constantly felt on edge, as though he were being watched. He didn't know why this was, but he wasn't a fan of that feeling.

As he looked over at the other, sleeping members of his team, he thought about how unique all of them were.

Andromeda appeared to be holding some secrets. Even though, in sleep, his unkempt black hair looked significantly neater and more peaceful, his general look always appeared as someone who was hiding something.

Of course, Tanner still trusted him. There had been plenty of times they'd been in danger, in Eterna Forest for instance, when he'd made sure that all of them were safe. He'd become the de facto leader of the group - his services were very much welcome for all of them.

That said, the richest member of the group had a feeling that, somehow, there was something about Andromeda that he hadn't told them. Something he hadn't told anyone.

He's not a Team Rocket plant, though, Tanner thought. That reassured him slightly, although he didn't have any basis for rejecting that idea other than simply not wanting it to be true.

As for Solanna, she'd definitely gotten somewhat leaner over the last month. She was no longer the slightly chubby girl they had first met; she was in much better shape than she'd been in before, that was for sure.

It wasn't just the change in her physique that was noteworthy. It had seemed that, over the last few weeks, she'd gotten a little bit more confident in herself. She had been willing to admit some of her most embarrassing thoughts to the others, but she seemed to be talking mostly to Lucas when she was doing so.

And then there was Lucas.

Like Solanna, Lucas, although he hadn't necessarily been chubby to begin with, had lost a couple of pounds. This wasn't for starving himself at all; rather, he'd been getting quite a bit more exercise.

Much like Solanna as well, he'd also seemed to get more confident. Now, when they were having social interactions, he was looking the others in the eyes more frequently. They seemed to tire him out less easily, which was a good thing, since conversations were pretty much a necessity when you were a member of a team like this one.

Tanner smiled. They'd overcome so much together already. Once they reached Snowpoint City, far to the north of here, that was when things were going to get real.

Lucas: Orkun - Lucario: Aura Sphere, Laser Focus, Foresight, Quick Attack, Detect, Metal Claw, Counter, Feint, Power-Up Punch (Level 17). Vinaka - Vulpix: Ember, Tail Whip, Roar, Baby-Doll Eyes, Quick Attack, Confuse Ray (Level 12). Takali - Totodile: Scratch, Leer, Water Gun, Rage, Bite, Scary Face (Level 15).

Andromeda: Tai - Turtwig: Tackle, Withdraw, Razor Leaf (Level 16). Soko - Luxio: Tackle, Leer, Charge, Spark, Bite (Level 18).

Solanna: Aparri - Charmeleon: Scratch, Growl, Ember, Smokescreen, Dragon Rage (Level 19). Bayon - Machop: Low Kick, Leer, Focus Energy, Karate Chop, Foresight, Low Sweep (Level 13). Kasama - Pikachu: Tail Whip, Thunder Shock, Growl, Play Nice, Quick Attack, Electro Ball, Thunder Wave (Level 19).

Tanner: Tavua - Chimchar: Scratch, Leer, Ember, Taunt, Fury Swipes, Flame Wheel (Level 21). Zapatera - Zorua: Scratch, Leer, Pursuit, Fake Tears, Fury Swipes, Feint Attack, Scary Face, Taunt (Level 26). Courtland - Growlithe: Bite, Roar, Ember, Leer, Odor Sleuth, Helping Hand, Flame Wheel, Reversal, Fire Fang (Level 21).