Chapter One - Homesick in Paradise
The rainfall in Lumiose city was heavier than usual. I'd heard that Kalos in the spring was meant to be like a tropical paradise, but all I'd seen was mud and water. For the last three days the streets had been practically empty, everyone setting up refuge in the Pokémon center whilst those with the wealth chose the local hotel. I stood in my apartment, staring down at the lady in the Galette stand shivering against the cold. She was probably one of the hardest working people in this city; a city focused on fashion and wealth, because that's all that's important: Money, and possibly fame, though the two seem to go exclusively hand in hand to a lucky bunch of kids. They're the ones everyone aspires to be, the ones that'll be remembered. Whilst the rest of society works their asses off trying to keep the world spinning they get to show-boat their skills to their adoring public. Well, we can't all be winners.
I lit up a cigarette and reclined in my armchair. My apartment was full of boxes, full of crap that I'll never use. The fridge remained empty and the oven untouched, though my trash can was full of take-away boxes. The cuisine here was meant to be sublime, the best you'll find anywhere. Of course people didn't ask questions about what they were eating, it's not as though they really cared. It was simply the image. A man seen eating at restaurant Le Nah was practically a peasant compared to someone eating at restaurant Le Wow. And some of the ingrediants used in those dishes...well, let's just say you wouldn't get away with serving that stuff anywhere outside of Kalos.
I felt my hollow clip vibrate against my leg, snapping my mind back into the room. I clicked it open to see a simple message: "Magenta Plaza Pokémon Center" I had waited for that message all day. Walking over to my desk I grabbed my three pokéballs, clipping them to my belt. I ran a hand through my charcoal hair and across my stubbled face; this wasn't a kid's game anymore.
I trudged through the rain, pulling the tip of my black fisherman's hat over the front of my face. I knew these streets well by now, even in the sodden dark. A taxi whizzed past me, splashing a muddy puddle across my jacket. That was pretty typical of drivers in this area, not that it really mattered, I was already sodden to the bone. I saw the bright orange light in the distance and began to pick up my pace.
The inviting warmth of the Pokémon center seemed to warm me from within. This was soon emancipated by the smell of sodden denim emanating from the group of shivering people stood around me. There were at least 300 people crammed in the building, steam rising off of all of them. Most of them were trainers, mere children, unshackled by debt and taxation and a few were professional adult trainers, somehow making a living in this city.
The queue to the counter of the centre was overwhelming. They only had six nurses on the job and they were all looking highly strung. If anything were to kick of there would be chaos, and with chaos comes destruction and with destruction comes injury. I didn't need that crap. I walked to the edge of the center around a seating area where a group of trainers were sat around. Somehow I managed to find a free seat in between a biker and a teenage hipster. The seat was both damp and warmer than I would have been comfortable with, but it also offered a great observation of the entire building. I could see the changing area, where people were queuing to change out of their sodden clothes, the store where people were restocking on Pokéballs and peddling crap they found outside and the stairs to the sleeping area, where people were setting up camp for the night. Though I couldn't clearly see the nurses behind the desk, I could see the people queuing up waiting. My Hollow Clip vibrated again and I looked down to see another message: "By the Mart." My eyes instantly shot over to the shopping area, scanning for anyone who looked out of place. The key colour was black, though that seemed to be what everyone was wearing around these parts. I looked out for suspicious movements, maybe people attempting to hide their faces, though as it turned out, he wasn't too worried about that.
By the time I saw him, it was already too late. He had reached into his pocket and dashed his pokéball onto the ground. This was no accidental fumble, or a trainer letting his Pokémon stretch its legs, this guy was ready to make a statement. As soon as I saw that orb-like Pokémon appear from the ball I leapt out of my seat. By my first step, the Pokémon had begun to glow, by my second step people were scattering away from there, by my third step half of the entrance to the Pokémart had been blown apart. As the dust cleared the man stood on top of the rubble, pulling off his sodden coat, revealing a giant red letter "R". So it was true, they had reached the Kalos region. The man, who could only have been in his early 20s at the most, was laughing maniacally, holding five other pokéballs in his hand.
"Well helloooooo Lumiose!" The young man shouted, carelessly juggling his pokéballs "I have a gift for all of you from our good friends at Team Rocket." A few trainers had gathered around, instinctively reaching for their pokéballs. The idiots, they were only going to complicate things! "Ah ah ahhh!" the young man said, shaking his head "That Voltorb was just the baby, the runt of the litter, if you will; my next few guys can take out more than just a little wall" The trainers gritted their teeth and took their hands away from their belts. "You see, I don't have time to be dealing with heroes, I'm just here to send a message to the people of Lumiose and to the people of Kalos-" I managed to edge my way forwards through the crowd, until I was practically in spitting distance from him. "-you see, we're kind of a big deal, the kinda guys you don't want to ignore. "We don't just operate underground, we're everywhere you see, hell, we hide within plain site!" A group of people in the crowd pulled off their jackets and jumped into the centre, holding their pokéballs in the air threateningly. I quickly counted them; there were six of them, including the leader. None of them looked a day of twenty. "You see, this city isn't run by any form of democracy anymore-" this was getting out of hand fast, there was only one thing that I could do now "-because this city is soon to be under new management-" the man threw the ball high into the air. I couldn't risk it any longer. I reached to my Hollow Clip "-so let's celebrate our change of management with some FIREWORKS!"
The ball spun in the air, and every eye was focused on its movement. I felt a surge of people pushing against me, trying to run in the opposite direction. I not only held my ground, I took a step forward.
"You know, kids like you shouldn't let their mouths cash checks that their pokéballs can't cash." I shouted. The pokéball fell to the ground, unopened. Everyone went silent, staring down at the ball. The youths in black all looked from the ball, up to me, their bodies shaking. Without hesitation the boy grabbed another pokéball and threw it directly at me. I snatched it out of the air and threw it to the floor. "I know, failure to perform can be a serious issue, especially when so young," I said, stepping towards the youths. They all reached for their pokéballs but I shook my head. "Give it a rest kids, every pokéball within a 60 meter radius is locked up right now." The trainers behind me all checked their pokéballs and a worried murmur arose around me."You see, I work for the Unova international police department," I held my badge up towards the boys "and we've been tracking you guys for some time now. To be honest I thought you guys would have been a little more conspicuous than this." The boys were now shaking, their eyes fixed on me.
"So what, gramps? You're going to try and arrest us?" One of the youths shouted his eyes manically wide.
"That was kind of the plan, yeah" I said, whipping the cap off my head, "though it's up to you guys how difficult that will be." Within a second one of the boys had lunged at me. It was laughable to think that I wouldn't expect a move like that, the inexperienced fighters always rush in. He was simple enough to evade, with a couple of well timed steps I worked my way behind him and without any hesitation swept his legs out from underneath him causing his body to crumple onto the ground. Within seconds his hands were cuffed behind his back. It was at this point that two of the other youths decided to charge in. They came from behind, arms swinging. Much like their friend, they had no idea what they were doing. By the time they had reached me I was already ready for them. Their flailing arms were unpredictable, but had no real power behind them. I managed to get a firm grip on both of their wrists, spin them around and kick both their legs out from underneath them. They both slumped to the floor, panting frantically. As I placed the cuffs on them, I looked over at the other three who had remained fixed on the spot, glaring. "So, they decided to choose the hard way, how about you guys?"
` Well of course, they tried to make a break for it. To be honest fleeing into the crowd would have made them almost impossible to spot - if it hadn't been for the wall of people ready to jump in and knock the crap out of them. Within seconds the three of them had been restrained and thrown onto the floor. It was good to see cooperation from the public, even if it was more violent than was probably necessary. I managed to latch a set of cuffs onto the restrained boys and pushed them into the corner, as I waited for the local authorities to arrive.
Within an hour the uniforms scoured the area for information and then proceeded to drag the young men out of the building. I gave my statement to an officer who greeted me with a constant look of disdain. It was a look I was used to. My superiors operate on a different jurisdiction to the local authorities, which means a lot of information can get lost in translation, sometimes literally. Though the information gathered on the event previous to this operation had been made available to the local authorities, a lot of information regarding our execution was left out; namely, the manner in which I handled the situation. Not that it was meant to come to that, I was meant to avoid use of that device to the best of my ability, and no doubt my superiors would give me a load of crap for it later. The important thing was that no one seemed to have been injured and there was only really a small amount of cosmetic damage dealt to the center. Of course, our suspicions had now been confirmed: Team Rocket had expanded its operations to Kalos. This didn't seem like a grand operation, more a warning of things to come. These guys were just scrubs, barely even green. The bigger threats were still out there, which meant something much more dangerous was on the horizon.
It seemed my trip to Kalos was going to be a good bit longer than I had hoped.