A dead Shinx lay before me, with a chunk of its head torn off. Dark red blood was flowing from its eye socket. The blue fur of the Shinx was now stained red.
My Mightyena was chewing on that particular chunk, clearly pleased and amused with the easy kill she had made. The lighting in this dark alley was poor, but it was very clear to see that her claws and teeth were the same colour as the Shinx's fur.
My radio started bleeping, causing me to jump slightly.
"Flitt, what happened?" A female voice shouted through the intense static of my faulty radio. I fastened the laces on my shoes. That placed me right in front of the mutilated Shinx, I grimaced slightly.
"It was nothing Kelly, don't worry about it." I said, rubbing my hands together.
I whistled to my Mightyena, her ears perked up.
"Zoe, here girl. We'll get you some real food back home." I whispered, smiling.
She narrowed her eyes, slowly stood up on her four paws and trotted over to me.
"How many times have I told you? We only kill people and Pokemon that have been assigned as targets." I said, looking down at her.
She growled slightly, but walked over to my side and sat obediently.
I heard the roaring of a motorbike, and an intense flash of light which made me lose my vision for a couple of seconds.
"For fuck's sake Kelly, don't do that. I could order Zoe to tear your head off." I panted.
"Then you'd be stuck in this stupid region forever." She said, rolling her bright blue eyes.
Both our radios bleeped at the same time. Kelly was faster to pick up hers.
"Harrison Flitt and Kelly Watson." She said into the radio.
"Hello, Group 88. I see you are still short of members." A stern male voice said.
"We can handle ourselves, Jack." She said, sticking her tongue out at me, I sniggered.
"Well, you better get back to your Outstation. Our cameras detected policemen snooping around." Jack said.
"I have Parker back there to protect it though." I said into my radio.
"Flitt, Parker's only a Murkrow." Kelly said, bringing a hand through her sleek, red hair.
"I've trained him to go for the eyes of Sentrets." I laughed, repeating the same motion, but with my silver hair.
"Thanks, Jack." Kelly said, clicking off her radio and smirking. "Rookie, hop on." She smirked.
"I told you to stop calling me that, I'm Rank 3 now." I said, looking at her angrily.
"Yeah, but I'm still 3 ranks higher than you, hurry up. My ass is starting to get cold." She said.
I climbed onto the black motorcycle, giving her a strange look.
"Why haven't you recalled Zoe?" She asked, returning the strange look.
"She's one of my Rouges, remember?" I said, with raised eyebrows.
"I don't care…just do something."
"Zoe, we'll meet you back at the Outstation. Can you run back there?" I asked my Mightyena.
She gave a happy bark and sprinted off into the darkness.
-10 minutes later-
The loud crack of the door as it opened was an accustomed noise now. I kind of liked our old shack.
"Being a Bounty Hunter sucks." Kelly said, throwing the keys on the stained carpet.
"Why did you become a member of the 'Office' then?" I asked.
"To wipe out the 'Order', but I never expected to become a highly skilled Bounty Hunter."
"What time is it?" I asked again.
"5:37 AM." She said, groaning. "There's no point sleeping, it would only waste time."
"We haven't fed the Pokemon today, let's go to the Forest."
-5 minutes later-
We walked out to the back garden of our shanty house. Kelly whistled loudly, and the stamping of feet followed quickly. Out of the darkness came our Pokemon, more members of Group 88.
There are two types of Pokèmon in gang life, Gifted Pokemon and Rouge Pokemon.
Gifted Pokemon can fall into two categories, ones that have been given to you, or ones that live in a Pokeball. You are given one Gift Pokemon as a guardian in the gang. It is randomly selected and can range from Igglybuff to Dragonite. Gift Pokemon cannot kill humans or Pokemon.
Rouge Pokemon only fall into one, Pokemon that have not been captured but the Hunter has befriended. This is dangerous however, as the Pokémon's feelings have not been altered by a Pokeball and could kill you at any moment. But, they can kill anyone else for you.
I have 1 Gift Pokemon and 3 Rouge Pokemon;
Kim was my first ever Pokemon, a Gift Darumaka.
Zoe is my Rouge Mightyena.
Benjamin is my Rouge Ferroseed.
Parker is my… genetically engineered Murkrow.
I better explain this too.
Gangs have the power to change a Pokémon's genetic makeup; this can lead to crossbreeds, colour difference and special abilities.
Colour differences are the least drastic and usually the most common, there are only 7 colours that Pokemon can fall into;
Black, Red, Green, White, Purple, Blue and Yellow.
Parker is bright white, with a red tail. He is very vulnerable as a Murkrow's only power is disguise; Parker fails at this because he glows in the dark.
Kelly has 1 Gift Pokemon and 4 Rouge Pokemon:
Rose is her Gifted Vulpix.
Daniel is her Rouge Golduck.
Mason is her Rouge Raichu.
Travis is her Yellow Rouge Skorupi.
Nimmy is her Rouge Golett.
We saw Parker first, well, we saw his glow first.
"Remind me why you picked that stupid Murkrow."
"Because, I like him. He makes me smile." I said, giving a smile of my own.
"This is getting sappy, just feed him already, he's hurting my eyes."
Parker flew onto my head.
"Mur- Murkrow!" He cackled while pecking my ear.
I lifted up a slab of cooked Magikarp and a Leek.
"Pick one, buddy." I laughed, watching him try to pick up both at the same time.
He grabbed the Leek with his claws and flew back to the Forest, perching on a tree and eating happily.
"Your turn." I said, motioning to Kelly.
Mason ran over to her first, sparking happily.
Kelly just looked at him, and then threw a piece of Miltank's Cheddar at his face; he caught it with his mouth and ran away quickly.
Kim did a backflip and landed on my feet.
"Hiya girl, you hungry?" I asked while laughing.
"Maka!" She squealed gleefully.
I turned around and went into the Feeding Cooler; I picked out a chunk of Barbecue Tauros.
"Here you are, it's your favourite." I said, placing the food delicately in her small hands.
"Daru!" She said, running off.
Travis scuttled up to Kelly; she placed a few cactus thorns onto his black tongue.
He raised his claws in happiness, she just looked at him. He looked down at the wet grass, then scuttles away.
Daniel walked up to us both, while holding Benjamin carefully. He placed Ben down next to my feet, and walked over to Kelly.
Benjamin can't speak but he is able to communicate with me by blinking once for yes and twice for no.
I just put a pile of rocks next to him and he blinked once, he happily rolled over onto them and started eating.
I gave a large whistle which changed pitch several times, and Zoe came sprinting down the side of the forest.
"Good girl, here." I said, placing raw Tauros in front of her. She happily stuck her face into the bloody meat, and started chewing.
I looked over to watch Nimmy just standing there, then I remembered ghost Pokemon don't eat.
With everyone fed, I took out a cigarette and called on Kim. She quickly blew a small ember onto my cigarette which lighted it.
"Thank you, Kim."
I took a long draw and turned to Kelly.
"Rough day, wasn't it?" I asked, looking into her eyes.
"Not really, I've had worse. It's just annoying having to complete tasks that the 'Office' sets us. I want some freedom." She said, kicking up the grass with her red shoes.
"I wish we could go back to Oblivia, it's much nicer there." I said, pouting.
"Well, the 'Office' needs us to stay in Johto." Kelly said, with a stiff upper lip.
"What do you want to do now?" I asked, bored. "We could try to recruit more Pokemon; a bigger army means more money." I smirked.
"That's not a bad idea, maybe we could go to Victory Road, and I hear there is a pretty big swarm there." Kelly said. "We better pack our stuff, if we are planning on staying there for a few days."
"I'll call Jack, to let him know we are leaving." I said, clicking my radio on.
-5 minutes later-
"Hey Flitt, what did Jack say?" Kelly asked, folding a few towels and putting emergency Pokeballs into our work uniforms.
"He said he doesn't want to see us for a week, and that we better come back with some good Pokemon." I said, laughing.
"Perfect, are you ready?" She asked.
"Yeah, let me call the Pokemon."
I walked outside and gave a large whistle. Parker was first out, followed by everyone else.
"Kelly, we are ready." I said, giving Parker a scratch under his chin.
"I'll get the bike fired up." Kelly said, walking over to the motorcycle.
"Parker, are you all right flying above us?" I asked. "The sidecart is crammed as it is."
Parker cooed and nodded.
"Let's go to Victory Road!" Kelly smiled, revving up the engine.
-1 hour later-
At sunrise we arrived, at a beautiful lake, surrounded by luscious grass.
"Wow…it looks amazing." I said with eyes wide in amazement.
Before Kelly could speak, a Green Totodile jumped out of the water and sprayed her with water.
I laughed with the Totodile, who was clapping his hands while hopping from foot to foot. Kelly coughed and spluttered, sticking up her middle finger with one hand and a fist with the other.
I slid across the grass on my knees, putting my hands around the Totodile.
"Hey! I d-declare this Totodile as mine, so you can't hurt it." I pushed a Pokeball into the Totodile's face, capturing him as a Gift Pokemon.
"Why the fuck did you do that!?" Kelly shouted, pushing me off my knees and onto my back.
"Ack! Kelly!" I shouted, almost slipping into the lake.
"Release him now." Kelly said sternly. "I'm not putting up with that bastard on our team, Parker's enough."
"No!" I shouted, acting like a spoiled child. "He's mine now, and you can't change that." I stuck my tongue out at her.
Kelly sighed, pulling Rose out of the cart and ordering her to dry her clothes.
"Fine then, but you better tell him not to try anything like that again, or I will make him into Totodile Sushi." She said, rubbing her hands along her Vulpix's back.
I called him back out, smiling behind Kelly's back. I tuned my voice to a low whisper.
"Nice one, but don't do it again. She'll kill you, we're partners." I said, looking the Totodile in the eyes. His jaw snapped and his head nodded.
"Anyway, you are now part of Team 88. We are a pair of Bounty Hunters and you are a Gift Pokemon, meaning that you are technically part of the team but cannot fight. Understood?" I smiled, tilting my head which made my hair go out of shape.
He jumped up and down, clapping his hands together and gurgling. I guess that meant yes.
"I need to think of a name for you… how about Tyler?" I asked.
"Toto!" he shouted, nodding vigorously.
I turned back around, Tyler now in my arms.
"Meet Tyler, Kelly." I said, grinning.
"Oh god, fine then." She sighed. "Heya, little guy."
Tyler snapped his jaw at her then turned his head away. Kelly's face was priceless.
"We have only been here for 10 minutes and you find a Pokemon that annoys me, this trip is gonna be great." Kelly said sarcastically.
All the Pokemon were out of the cart, stretching. Parker was sleeping atop my head, after his tiring fly.
We had set up camp, and had already had a campfire started thanks to Kim.
We had decided to get some sleep, but I was awoken by a figure outside our tent.
I thought it was a trick of the light and went back to sleep. Until…
"TRAVIS USE POISON STING!" Kelly screamed at the top of her lungs, causing me to wake.
"The fuck's going on?" I slurred, sitting up quickly.
A crumpled man was gurgling outside the entrance to our tent, he the collapsed with a poison barb stuck into his neck.
I recognised his clothes instantly, blue and white.
He was a member of the…
'Order.'
- Sorry for the very short chapter, but it is the first one. Tell me what you think!