Chapter 1 - Checkered Pasts

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. That right is reserved for Game Freak, Nintendo, and the Pokémon Company. I only can claim responsibility for my OC's.

It has been 10 years since Michael, a young trainer from the Pokémon HQ, vanquished the second incursion of Cipher, a terrorist cell responsible for the creation of Shadow Pokémon, using the Snag Machine. Together with his Eevee partner, the duo defeated countless Cipher Peons and Admins, Snagged back every Shadow Pokémon Cipher created, and even purified XD-001, a corrupted Lugia that supposedly had no hope of re-opening its heart. Since then, Orre has undergone a large transformation.

More inhabitable biomes have sprouted up, and the population of wild Pokémon has increased dramatically. (Likely with help from the rescued Pokémon from Wes and Michael's campaigns against Cipher) The port town of Gateon has evolved from a small locale, to a bustling city. Being the primary location that Pokémon were introduced to the region, Gateon drew in a lot of attention. Traders, tech companies, banks, even several industrial plants found a way to make a profit by setting up shop there. But the once-humble town never lost its seedy underbelly. Corruption and under-the-table deals were as prevalent as ever, maybe even more so when the Underground began collapsing and Pyrite law enforcement rose.

This is where this story truly begins, following the experience of one of Gateon's most successful opportunist, and his two partners who would help him become an agent of change to the wide world of Pokémon…

A black sedan with tinted windows pulls into an "abandoned" warehouse under the cover of night. Sparse illumination from a few flood lamps were the only providers of light, as the windows were all boarded up with 'Condemned!' painted on the outside and the overhead lights were all blown out.

When the car is turned off, two masked occupants quickly step out. The driver is quick to rip off his balaclava in a fit of anger. "How, in Arceus' name, did you get me to agree to raid Prophet Tech!?" Malcolm shouted as he slammed the car door.

Malcolm is a 5'10" 25 year old Caucasian man with black, slicked back hair, light stubble, deep blue eyes, and boasting a fairly thin frame. He had some muscle tone, as his life kept him reasonably active, but didn't really have much to brag about, save his self-proclaimed 'pretty face.'

"Because we BOTH know that having this kind of key code can open some interesting doors, and these doors are all too likely to fork over some more interesting swag." Jackie said, as he casually yanked off his mask and whipping it around as if to wave off Malcolm's raving. "And you know I always know how to get the best payout." He then turned away from the car and began shambling deeper into the building

Jackie is a 36 year old man from Kanto. When he moved to Gateon Port 3 years ago, he enlisted some of the local ' thugs', including Malcolm, for a series of jobs. They never managed to reach Jackie's ultimate goal of heisting a bank, but they did make quite a name for themselves in the Underground. Most of the original crew disbanded after their brief stent together, except for Malcolm and Jackie. As months turned to years, Jackie spent his time building up a stockpile of illicit cargo for various 'investors', as Malcolm turned to pursue the more nuanced tasks of freelance hacking and espionage. You'd be surprised by how suspicious the 'friendly' companies are of each other around Gateon, and would pay a pretty penny to those who were successful at spying and stealing. In other words; he prefers to get payed to steal stuff.

"And the best ways to get us killed…" Malcolm cursed under his breath. "…Or worse! You know that place scares the hell out of me."

Malcolm began following his old accomplice and took in the sights of the fruits of Jackie's labors. Everything from stolen fine wines waiting for fencing to unlicensed weapons were all randomly scattered around the aisles they passed.

"Yeah, I heard you the first dozen times about them. 'Even their access points have armed guards' or 'their network security makes the capital's look like the Krabby Club's Wi-Fi'"

"I heard about this one kid who actually managed to breach their systems by sheer luck and had some suits show up in his apartment an hour later… there's no way they won't figure out how we got in. If they can get clearance to watch public cameras…"

"Whoop-di-do..!" Jackie started waving his arms above his head sarcastically. "Those are just rumors and speculation, nothing more. You 'techies' just love making mountains out of mole hills, huh? No company, no matter how big, has that kind of power. Now grow a pair and come on."

This wasn't the first time Jackie was dismissive of Malcolm's concerns, but every man has his limits. "I'm out."

It wasn't a request, but it certainly gave Malcolm Jackie's full attention.

Jackie turned to face Malcolm's still form so fast he stumbled a little. "Nuh-uh. No way" He began jabbing a finger towards his most trusted associate. "You're in way too deep no-"

"Not anymore" Malcolm interrupted "I'm washing my hands of this job and this thing" He tossed the flash drive containing the skeleton key to Jackie.

"But…"

"No buts. I want payment for this latest blunder of yours and I'm calling it a night." He shifted to a more withdrawn stance with arms crossed over his chest.

"Hmph! You know what? Fine, there are some things that I could part with around here anyway." Jackie angrily stormed off with Malcolm hot on his heels.

Unintelligible shouting roused an Eevee from her slumber. She checked the status of her twin sister, another Eevee, but with a silver coat instead of her standard brown and cream fur. They were both thin from malnourishment and their coats were beginning to thin more evident by the larger than average amount of hair littering the floor of their shared kennel, but she was otherwise unharmed.

They were abducted (not 'caught') from their den one night by this disturbingly uncoordinated human about a week and a half ago when he offered them food that turned out to be laced with muscle relaxants. Their mother always spoke so highly of humans so they were quick to trust him, and his awkward stumbling made him easy to underestimate, but it was just a rouse. Since then, they had been crammed into a cage roughly half the size of their former home and fed once every other day. Combining that with the minimal exercise afforded to them being held in captivity led to muscular atrophy.

The shouting started getting louder and clearer, and she began to recognize the voice of her captor so she started shaking her silver sister awake. "Sis... Sis! Wake up already. Someone's coming!"

Light snoring was her only response.

Rolling her eyes, the brown Eevee sat up on her haunches to safeguard her sister in case of trouble.

"So lemme get this straight; you want to pay me back for helping you infiltrate one of the more well-guarded facilities in the region to steal a digital skeleton key so you can sneak into another probably even more well-guarded building and make off with something either extremely dangerous or highly illegal with something in here you can't even find a buyer for. I miss anything?" Malcolm asked incredulously.

He'd been following Jackie to the far back corner of the warehouse looking through his assortment of illicit cargo.

"No, that about covers it. You want the big payout; you stay till completion. You know the rules." Jackie said as he sifted through a crate lying on its side and grabbed something that Malcolm couldn't quite see.

As he held out his hand expectantly, Jackie abruptly turned around again and stumbled off; leaving a now confused Malcolm in his wake. Sighing, he followed.

It wasn't much longer before they finally reached their destination; a dark, smelly crate in a more derelict portion or the storehouse. Malcolm pulled out a pocket flashlight he used during the raid to inspect its contents more thoroughly.

Inside was pair of Eevee. And one of them was silver! There was another normal one inside that was actually awake, and even glowering at them, but a shiny. In Orre! Any wild Pokémon was rare sight in the region with terraforming still occurring, let alone any with the rare pigmentations of a shiny Pokémon.

After the initial shock of the revelation passed, Malcolm began a more objective investigation of the pair. The most obvious observation was how emetic they both were. Their fur was unkempt and thinning. One was passed out, despite his and Jackie's approach wasn't exactly subtle. The other brown one had bags under its eyes, indicating it wasn't much better off. And overall, they just looked miserable.

As Malcolm was ogling the cage's occupants, Jackie revealed what he retrieved; a Luxury Ball.

Without a word, he activated the ball and pointed the button in the front at the sleeping Eevee. The brown one gasped and dodged the recall beam and watched helplessly as the beam passed her by and envelop it's sleeping companion in a red glow before vanishing entirely. With the recall complete, he tossed the ball to Malcolm and turned. "Come on; let's go get her registered to your trainer account."

"'Her?'"

"Yup, checked after I caught them. Only one in every eight Eevee hatched are female. That, on top of the far lower chance of a shiny hatching at all, leaves you with a Pokémon as rare as some Legendries. If anything, I've over-compensated you for your supposed 'troubles.'" Jackie chided as he paused, waiting for his accomplice.

"Then how were you having so much trouble moving her?" While Malcolm was ecstatic about getting his hands on something so rare, his moral code (loose as it was) was nagging at him. Trafficking was not his criminal niche, let alone trafficking living creatures. Ruining the lives and livelihoods of some corrupt businessman or a representative with no conscience, he could do. Condemning some poor girl or 'mon to a fate worse than death wasn't in his wheelhouse.

Waving off his question, Jackie replied. "I dunno man, something about some conman jackass who gets off on selling painted Magikarp, or some shit. Now quit lollygagging and move your ass. I'm due for a nap." He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder to emphasis his point.

He was about to comply when something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. When he turned to investigate, Malcolm saw something that threatened to haunt his conscience for the rest of his days.

The Eevee that was still in the crate was looking him dead in the eye. The thing is, there was no malice or anger in its visage, just devastated acceptance. If he had to put it to words, he would say that it looked like it was just hopelessly awaiting death. That spark of life that most anyone had, that glimmer of hope for better days and happy endings was just… gone. It was like the small fox could see right through him for miles. Mouth agape, tail lifeless, ears drooped like lead was attached to the tips. If a stiff breeze blew past them, the poor thing may very well just fall over. It wore an expression of pure, unrestrained despair.

And he hated that expression.

"What about this one?" He asked, pointing to the Eevee.

"What about her? Like I said, 'full reward upon full completion.'"

"Even so. Why hold onto her then? You couldn't even sell the shiny one before me, remember?"

Jackie nonchalantly replied "Eh, it wouldn't be hard to find a buyer for this one though without drawing too much attention. There are plenty of reservations that would probably appreciate having her around for a more modest price. There are farms popping up all over the place looking for a breeding bitch to increase her species population in the region."

"Tch, that's your endgame for keeping her cooped up in this dump for Arceus knows how long? Why don't I just buy her? Wouldn't do to separate her from her friend here, right?" Malcolm said, holding up his newfound 'catch.'

He couldn't see it, but the Eevee's ears perked.

Jackie put up one of his hands to 'stop' Malcolm. "Not happening. Why do you even care, anyway? The only rare thing about that one is its gender, and that's only a one in eight chance. Also, like me, you would have a hard time making a decent profit on her, even with the 'complete set.' So why bother?"

Rule Number One of having a morally-questionable occupation; don't get caught! It's a pretty cut-and-dry rule, but it pays to have the basics covered. Rule Number Two is to keep your cards close to your chest. Even the slightest crack in one's personal armor will open one up for mass exploitation. Flat out telling Jackie that he gave a shit about the Eevee's preferences would lead to problems that Malcolm would rather avoid, but he still had to explain himself somehow…

"The standard Battle Format in Orre is doubles, right? I may want to make some money on the side through battling, which would be pretty difficult with just the one…"

Jackie grew an insufferable smirk at that. "Ah, I see what you're after." He started rubbing his chin like he was on some amazing train of thought. "What's that worth to ya?"

Malcolm didn't like where this was heading. "H-how much were you looking fo-"

The Kantonian raised his hand to stop him and fished out the USB containing the prize from the Prophet raid with his other. "Just hear me out on this." He waited for his partner to interrupt him, but when Malcolm stayed quiet he continued. "Just getting this thing put us on Prophet's radar, so unless we can get our hands on proper leverage they'll come after us eventually. Leverage like, say, whatever they are keeping safe with this…" He said waving around the key code.

"Can't I just pay you?" Malcolm groaned.

"Nah, this is way more interesting. Besides, you're the only one I can trust to get my back on a job like this."

"Starting to sound more and more like a suicide mission, the more I think about it."

"Then stop thinking about it so much!" Jackie yelled, putting on a scowl. He then shifted to a more neutral expression. "Besides, we don't even have a clue about where the codes are used and what they encode. It's not like we're going after them ASAP. We have time to prepare and plan. I'll hit you up when I hit a lead, you can head home with two new pets and keep a low profile until I call. And if it gets too hot, we can just call it off. Figure things out if or when we cross that bridge."

He offered his right hand to his colleague. "So… we got a deal?"

Malcolm sighed before he grasped Jackie's hand with his own, grumbling "Deal."

Jackie then sauntered back over the crate to retrieve the other Luxury Ball and made his way back to Malcolm and the brown Eevee.

Jackie processed the two occupied Luxury Balls to Malcolm's Trainer License and bid his friend a fond farewell so they could part ways and rest after such a climactic evening. Afterwards, Malcolm minimized the two Poke Balls and stored them in the cup-holders of his actual car, and changed back to his normal clothing. He left his borrowed equipment from the raid in the garage and pulled out onto the street to head home.

The ride home wasn't anything special, so Malcolm used the time in transit to think about the situation. He now was responsible for two Pokémon who had been tricked and neglected by a human he was acquainted with. There was little doubt there wouldn't be trust issues, not to mention just flat out resentment. There was also the internal debate in his head on what he would do with them exactly. Malcolm had never owned a Pokémon before; he just got his licensure when he was in Oasis on a whim, just in case an emergency came up.

According to Jackie, the two Evolution Pokémon were caught in the wild, so their battle proficiency was likely poor. They would need to be very well cared for to be brought up to a health enough condition to do anything, let alone battle. The more greedy part of his mind thought of just going around and finding a buyer for them, but… he couldn't bring himself to think too hard on that line of thought. He recalled the look on the Eevee's face when her friend was returned to the ball. That damned expression… No, he was going to do this and see it through to the end. He is many things, but let it never be said that Malcolm is a fair-weather friend.

That left him with just one course of action; he turned down another street as he made his way to the pier. With the influx of foreign Pokémon pouring into the region, people often needed to pick up some extra supplies for their new companions. Poke Marts and other Pokémon-themed stores popped up all over the place in Gateon to accommodate the growing demand. Overtime, more Pokémon were brought in from construction companies to begin building more sites for the small port to grow larger with various industries so money would always be flowing in the port. But right now, Malcolm only had to head to one small store to pick up some basic supplies for caring for small foxes.

Two Eevee were released from their balls with faces contorted into various bewildered expressions at their whereabouts. Once they determined there was nothing dangerous with their surroundings they turned to each other while each saw a mix of realization and relief mirrored at each other's face. The brown Eevee tackled silver counterpart and pinned her to the ground and joyously nuzzling into each other's cheeks. Their reverie was stirred by a voice that spoke up softly from behind them.

"Well girls, welcome home."

Author's Notes: I'll try to keep this brief because I would rather the word count accurately portray the amount of effort I put into this stuff, but I digress. Thank you for reading thus far. This was mostly just an introduction to the world (or series of worlds) that hosts my stories. I'll go ahead and warn you all here now that there will indeed be content of an adult rating (lemons that will contain pokephilia, as well as several other kinky subjects) coming in the near future (starting at chapters 3 or 4, depending on how much of a roll I'm on at the time). Don't worry, I'll be sure you get a heads up in case you would rather avoid that stuff (or are only interested in that stuff) when that time comes. Until then, likes and reviews would be very much appreciated. Be sure to stay tuned for more stuff in the near future! For now though, I seem to have much to do…