With the hostages secured, Looker left a squad of officers behind to escort them to safety. Meanwhile, Kai, Erika, and Looker led the remaining team toward the tower's summit.
Team Rocket's remaining forces had retreated to the Radio Tower's highest point a last stand for those with nowhere left to run.
And yet, Kai couldn't shake a question:
What was the point of this entire operation?
Everything Team Rocket had done so far, storming a public broadcast station, hijacking signals, confronting law enforcement head-on, was so unlike their usual, shadowy operations. It wasn't just high-profile… it was practically suicidal.
Had they really done all this for that brief propaganda broadcast?
Or was this about something deeper?
Perhaps something had gone wrong internally. A breakdown between the Rocket Admins and Giovanni himself. Maybe the boss had abandoned these people leaving them to create noise in desperation, trying to draw his attention back.
They'd gambled everything on making the world and Giovanni remember them.
And now, it was time to put an end to it.
The stairwell spiraled upward, linking the main tower to the uppermost lookout platform.
The elevators had long been locked down by the Rockets, so the only path up was the winding staircase. And it was heavily guarded.
From above, a barrage of moves rained down like a hailstorm: Sludge Bombs, Dark Pulses, and Incinerates, flooding the staircase with no room to maneuver.
The structure trembled under the pressure. Plaster cracked. Bits of the wall crumbled. Even Kai's Pokémon couldn't brute-force their way through this choke point.
There was only one option.
The ghost-type faded into the wall like smoke. Moments later, the screams began.
Ambushed from behind by an invisible shadow, the Rocket guards fell into confusion. The second their formation broke, the police squad surged up, their Pokémon covering each other in waves. With effort and persistence, they seized the stairwell.
Team Rocket had no fallback now.
At the top of the Radio Tower, the final battle began.
Kai's eyes swept the platform and immediately locked onto three familiar figures:
Archer. Ariana. Proton.
Three Executives. Together.
He almost couldn't believe it. Encounters with Rocket leadership were rare. But here they all were shoulders squared, expressions grim.
Behind them, the last Rocket grunts gathered, eyes burning with defiance. Tension crackled in the air.
Looker stepped forward.
"Team Rocket! This is your last chance! Surrender peacefully and explain yourselves. What is your objective? Where is Giovanni?"
Archer's eyes narrowed. "We were going to ask you that. We haven't heard from the boss in weeks."
Ariana stepped forward, voice sharp. "And as for our objective? We already told you. We wanted the world to remember us. To know that Team Rocket isn't finished yet!"
Their bases had fallen. Their comrades were arrested. Kanto and Johto had grown hostile. They were cornered animals and now, they were baring their fangs in one final act of rebellion.
Looker sighed. "This is madness. You're surrounded. Drop your weapons and Poké Balls. This ends now."
Archer ignored him. His gaze slid to Kai.
"You again," he said darkly. "If it weren't for you, Petrel would never have been caught. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have lost everything we built."
He wasn't here to argue. He wasn't here for speeches.
He was here to end this.
Looker caught the signal and nodded.
The rooftop erupted into chaos.
The police unleashed their teams of dozens of Arcanine, storming forward like a pack of flame-cloaked wolves.
Team Rocket responded with their usual arsenal: Golbat, Weezing, Arbok, and Salazzle. They filled the air with poison, smoke, and fire, trying to overwhelm the smaller rooftop.
Kai and Erika didn't hesitate. Their Pokémon Gardevoir, Jolteon, Leafeon, and Bellossom slipped into the fray like dancers through fire.
It was a war of attrition. And though the Admins held their ground, Rocket's rank-and-file began to falter. One by one, their Pokémon dropped. Their line began to break.
Archer saw it. He exchanged glances with Ariana and Lance.
Their window was closing.
They had made their statement. And now, it was time to disappear just as Giovanni had.
He had been watching them closely since the fight began. The second they so much as flinched toward retreat, he snapped a command.
"Engage! Do not let them escape!"
His team surged forward.
He would not let these three slip into the shadows not when they could disappear for years, or forever. This was their moment.
One final chance to crush what remained of Team Rocket's leadership in Johto.
And he would not miss it.
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