This is probably my darkest story to date. Luckily, you won't see this type of story too often, if ever. (When I say "this type," I mean "T" rated.)

Summary: Pre-PMD. A Pokemon Ranger is called to action against something that he has doubts about, especially considering what he's gone through recently.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or any of its spin-off series.

A Hero's Journey of a Thousand Miles

He sat in the restaurant waiting for the waitress so he could pay his bill. He wasn't feeling too well that day, just like the previous few.

Jim Bolt, called "Rocket" by his friends, was a Pokémon Ranger and well known around this town. When the waitress finally came back, she handed him a small portfolio. Inside was the receipt. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a few Pokédollars. He stuffed them in the pocket of the portfolio, closed it, and handed it to the waitress.

"Thanks for the meal, Suzie," he said as he got up. He sounded sullen.

"Hey, anything for the greatest Ranger this town has known," she said. Jim just walked out without replying.

When he stepped outside, he looked up at the sky. Jim sighed. He recalled the events of his last mission, though he hated to do so. That mission ended in failure for him.

Jim decided to take a stroll though the nearby forest, the one place in the Fiore region where he could find some peace and quiet.

He arrived at his favorite spot; a rock in the middle of the forest. It was the perfect place to just sit and reflect, not to mention just watch the Pokémon go by. It was here he always found solace, although the past few days hadn't allowed much to find. He kept replaying the events of his last mission in his head. He wished he was a Slowbro or something that could allow him to learn Amnesia so he could forget it if only for a few minutes.

He watched as the Pokémon walked by him. Some Caterpie, a Pidgey, a Mareep, a herd of Pichu, a Gardevoir, some Hoothoot, a Lot…

Wait a minute, he thought. Gardevoir in this forest? Something wasn't right about this Pokémon's appearance in this area. Actually, something wasn't right about its appearance: Jim could see right through it. He decided to check it out. He may have been off duty, but he was a Ranger first, last, and always.

He followed the Gardevoir deep into the forest. He pulled up his Capture Styler when it suddenly stopped. Jim slowly walked toward the Gardevoir.

"Hello there," he said to it. It turned to face him. "Are you okay?" Jim asked. Gardevoir made no response. "If you don't mind my asking, what are you?" The Pokémon remained silent. "Well, could you at least let me know why you're here?"

There was another silence. When Jim thought it wouldn't answer, he opened his mouth to speak again. But he was cut off by a French-like, female voice. "Actually, I'm looking for you." Jim thought his ears, and eyes, were playing tricks on him; the voice not only came from Gardevoir's direction, but her mouth moved as though it was talking.

Jim stared in disbelief. "Was that… you?"

"That voice? Yes, it was," Gardevoir said.

At first, Jim wanted to assume that it was a trick by someone from the Go-Rock Squad or something. But he remembered his training at the Ranger Academy: When it comes to the world of Pokémon, nobody knows everything.

For the moment, he just decided to play along. "So, why are you looking for me?" he asked.

"We need to ask for your help," Gardevoir replied.

"We?" Jim asked.

"Me and those whom I serve." She moved her hand above herself.

"Okay," Jim said hesitantly. "So, what do you want me for?"

Gardevoir closed her eyes. "There is a terror coming. The unthinkable is happening. If we do not act, everything you know will be destroyed."

"Gee, why didn't you come to me with this a few days ago?" Jim asked sarcastically. Gardevoir looked at him as though she didn't understand. "I just went through something, okay, and it didn't go so well. And I mean no offense, but I'm in no mood to do anything for a Gardevoir that I don't even know is there." Jim turned away.

"What happened that has saddened your heart so?" Gardevoir asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," Jim said.

"But for what you are to do, it would help me if I knew." Gardevoir closed her eyes again and began to glow. Jim froze in his tracks as though something was preventing him from moving. He felt himself slipping into unconsciousness.

Gardevoir found herself in a canyon. She turned all around herself wondering why she was here. Then she saw Jim walking up to her. He had a Golem with him.

"Now, Golem, bust that door down with Rollout!" he said, with more confidence than Gardevoir had seen since they met. Golem curled itself into its ball-like form and rolled along the ground at high speed. It tackled the canyon wall and revealed a large hole that looked like a cave entrance.

Jim pulled out his Capture Styler and opened the communication line. "This is Ranger Rocket reporting."

"We read you, Rocket," A voice came from the Styler.

"I've discovered the entrance to the bad guy's lair and am now proceeding into it."

"You ready for this, Rocket?"

"Born ready," Jim answered, and shut down the line. "I have to be," he said to himself. "Come on, Golem." "Golem," the Pokémon grunted.

As Jim and Golem walked into the cave, Gardevoir followed them. She needed to find her answers, and it was likely that they lay at the end. Jim walked on for a while when Gardevoir saw a light somewhere ahead of them around a corner. As they approached it, she could hear some electric currents.

Jim approached the wall closest to the light and straddled alongside it. When he was next to the corner, he pulled out his Styler and moved quickly into the room. Gardevoir followed to see a startling sight. The room was filled with mechanics that she could never identify. A man was in that room. He was wearing a lab coat and had an evil smirk on his face. In front of him was a large chair, and it that chair was a young girl, strapped into place by her wrists and ankles. Jim seemed to be staring intently at her.

"Ah, Pokémon Ranger," the man said in a calm voice. "Welcome to my humble abode. It's not much, but it's a place where I can hang my hat for a while."

"Spare me the pleasantries, Dr. Slimeball," Jim said. The man made a face that suggested to Gardevoir that that was not his real name.

"Very well," the man said, "I'll just skip to the ultimatum, then. I take it you are very well acquainted with this young woman." He motioned to the girl in the chair.

Jim sighed. "Angel," he whispered.

"Yes, your beloved sister. Very easy to find, seeing as how almost everyone knows about you."

"Fame does have its prices," Jim said.

"And this price might be a little too high for even you to pay. As you can see, there are four electrodes surrounding this chair, not to be confused with the Pokémon Electrode." The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a device. "This tazer is set to deliver a shock that barely registers above static." He held the tazer to one of the electrodes and pressed the button. An electric current flowed into it. Suddenly, the girl named Angel screamed like she was in pain, more so than from just a static shock.

The man laughed. "These electrodes take any electricity that passes through them and multiplies it before taking the current right to this chair." He turned around so that Gardevoir could see his back. "Now, note the large figure seen here," the man said. He snapped his finger and then a light turned on, revealing a large, yellow bird shaped like lightning.

"Zapdos," Gardevoir said, though no one could here her.

"The Zapdos you failed to protect back on the mountain. Now, you're welcome to have another shot at capturing it, as you Rangers are wont to do. But Zapdos will most likely protect itself in the form of its electric-based attacks. And if any of them were to reach the electrodes… well, I'd hate to think what would happen to dear Angelica over here."

"You're a sick man, you know that?" Jim said darkly.

"However," the man continued, "I might be willing to release her if you promise to go and never interfere with my work again, and of course tell all your Ranger friends to do the same."

"Don't listen to him, Rock!" Angel shouted suddenly. "Just get Zapdos out of here!"

The man turned to Angel. "But he can't, not without hurting his dear sister."

"Don't worry, sis," Jim said. "I'm going to get everyone out of here, especially you," he pointed to the man, "with bells, and handcuffs, on."

"So I take it you won't agree with my little offer?"

"When I heard you took Angel, I knew you had something like this in mind," Jim said. "That's why I had a plan ready." He opened his Styler's communication line. "Machop, Golem, let's go." Another Golem and two Machop suddenly appeared from the room's entrance. "Golem, Defense Curl. Machop, get ready for Seismic Toss." The Golem curled up and both Machop each picked up one of them.

"Such a poor choice," the man said. "Very well, feel free to capture it; just don't expect your precious relative to remain untouched by the end."

"We'll see," Jim said. He held his Styler in front of him. "Capture on!" he yelled. A white energy top came out with a beam to match following it. Zapdos immediately tried its electric attacks, but the Machop proceeded to throw the Golem up whenever the bolts were flowing toward the electrodes, absorbing the electric energy with their ground-type attributes. Jim controlled the Styler frantically; he wanted to get this done as soon as possible.

"Almost there," he said after a while. "Just a little more." Gardevoir paid more attention to the Machop/Golem team strategy to see what would happen. Suddenl,y right after one of the Golems blocked a bolt, another bolt went right to it before the Machop could throw it up again. Gardevoir heard Angel screaming again even louder than before.

"ANGEL!" Jim shouted. He quickly sped up the capture process. Almost immediately, the top disappeared and Zapdos glowed white. It stopped shooting electricity.

"NO!" the man said, angry for the first time since Gardevoir saw him. "This isn't over, yet Ranger." He started running to the back of the room.

"Golem," Jim said, "did you get that tunnel ready?" Golem nodded. "Machop, Strength!" The two Machop punched the ground, creating a small tremor. A hole appeared under the man's feet and he fell.

Jim immediately ran over to Angel and undid her restraints. She tried to stand up, but she fell and landed in Jim's arms. She looked up. "Rock?" she said weakly.

"We gotta get you outta here," he said. His voice started to waver. "Zapdos!" he said.

Suddenly the room began to spin until Gardevoir saw nothing but black.

Jim opened his eyes and started breathing heavily. He turned to find Gardevoir also regaining herself.

Jim backed away. Gardevoir looked up at him.

She didn't even need to ask before Jim spoke. "The man you saw was Dr. Hardy, a failed scientist because of his hasty experiments that were deemed too dangerous. He tried to use Zapdos' electricity because he felt he needed more power to better control his machines, which, if the Ranger Union was correct, would end up doing more damage than before."

"What happened to him?" Gardevoir asked.

"The tunnel I had Golem dig led outside, right where Officer Jenny was waiting for him," Jim said.

"And…" Gardevoir looked like she hated to ask this. "What became of Angel?"

Jim sighed. "I got Zapdos to take us to the nearest hospital. The doctors were impressed that she managed to last that long with that kind of voltage." He paused.

It didn't take long for Gardevoir to guess. "She didn't make it."

Jim bowed his head. "The last thing she said to me was…" he was feeling choked up with emotion now. "'I'm proud of you, Rock. I'm proud.'" Gardevoir could hear him trying to hold back the tears without success.

Gardevoir approached Jim and place a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Jim moved away. "Yeah, well, now you know why I can't help you. If I can't even save my own sister, what makes you think I can save the world?"

"You stopped a madman from doing more damage than you probably saw or ever would see," Gardevoir argued.

"Even so," Jim said, "there's no way I can help, carrying this guilt on my conscience. Ever since that day, the Ranger Union wanted me to take a few days off until I can get over it. But I don't think I can." He started to walk away.

"You're a Pokémon Ranger," Gardevoir said, "sworn to protect the world against calamities such as the one I'm telling you about now."

Jim turned with a slightly angry look. "Do you even know what it's like to lose someone you care about to something that shouldn't have happened at all?" he almost shouted.

Gardevoir simply said, "Probably more than you know. But, whether or not it was meant to happen, it is not our place to say. It's how we allow those events to help us grow that makes them important to us."

Jim sighed. "Why did you come to me?" he asked. "Even if I wanted save the world from destruction, I don't have that kind of power."

"We aren't looking for power," Gardevoir said, "but courage."

"Courage, huh? I'm even less sure about that right now."

"Whether you believe you have it or not is irrelevant; you do have it."

Jim thought for a few seconds. "You really think I'm your great hero, huh?"

"Without a doubt," Gardevoir said immediately.

"Well…" Jim began to think. "In that case… try me."

"What?" Gardevoir asked.

"Test me," Jim clarified. "Put me through a series of trials that you think are worthy of the hero you seek."

"But how will we know whether your intentions will be pure, clear of heart and mind?" Gardevoir asked.

Jim thought a little longer. He noticed a flock of Pidgey flying overhead. "I got it. Turn me into a Pokémon and erase my memory."

Gardevoir looked confused. "Why would you do that?"

"To start off with a clean slate," Jim said. "That way, I don't remember you or what was said here today."

"And so you can for once forget about your sister?" Gardevoir asked.

Jim sighed. "It would help that I would no longer deal with the guilt. Basically, you could just turn me into a Pokémon, erase the memories of my former life, and place me in a situation where you can test me." There was a pause. "Can that be done?"

Gardevoir thought about Jim's request. "I'm not sure. As far as I can tell, no such thing has ever been done before. I'll have to check with my superiors."

"I'll be here," Jim said before Gardevoir vanished.

Jim stood there for about an hour. He wondered what it would be like to start off fresh. He'd probably feel confused most of the time, wondering who he is. But it would be a better state than how he felt now.

Suddenly the area in front of him was glowing white. A few seconds later, Gardevoir reappeared. "Well?" he asked.

"It's difficult," she replied, "but not impossible. But I must ask if you are really sure about this."

"I've been thinking it through," Jim said. "Whether what you say is true or not, I might as well do something that makes me feel good about myself for once."

"Then I must tell you now," Gardevoir said, "although your transformation is possible, we have no control over what you'll become."

"So I could end up being a Magikarp is what you're saying."

"Even a Magikarp has its uses if you truly are our hero," Gardevoir said. "Do you have any requests before we start?"

"Hang on," he said. He pulled out his Capture Styler and opened the communication function. "This is Pokémon Ranger Jim 'Rocket' Bolt, ID number PMD-2006. Certain circumstances, not relating to my current status, have convinced me to take what is now considered a temporary leave of absence. I do not know when or if I shall return, but as soon as the chance arises, I will communicate with further information regarding my return if there is one. Until such time, make no attempt to contact me. Ranger Rocket, signing off." He shut off the Styler and handed it to Gardevoir. "Take this to the Ranger Union. They'll know how to get the message."

Gardevoir took the Styler. "I'll do that."

"Also…" Jim said. He reached for his neck and into his shirt. He pulled out a locket. "Hold onto this," he said. Gardevoir took it and opened it. Inside was a picture of Jim and Angel together. "If we ever make it through this, I might want it back. But until then, I don't want to be reminded of my past anymore than I'll probably find out about."

"Understood," Gardevoir said. "Are you ready?"

"Whatever you've gotta do," Jim said, "do it."

"Till, we meet again, then," she said. "Au revoir." When she finished speaking, the world for Jim immediately went black.

"Excuse me," a voice said, "could you please wake up? Come on, wake up." He finally opened his eyes to find a Treeko.

"Oh good, you woke up," it said. "I'm Tree." He thought he was losing it, since Treeko can't talk. "What are you?" it asked.

"Can't you tell?" he said, thinking it was crazy, "I'm a human!" The Treeko named Tree looked at him as though he was the crazy one.

"You're a human?" he said at last, "But you look like a normal Cyndaquil in every way."

He looked around himself and was shocked. His body was not that of a human's, but of a small, fire-type Cyndaquil. He almost became frantic with confusion before Tree spoke again, asking him for his name. He tried to remember, but he couldn't. But one word kept popping up in his head. "Rocket," he finally said.

And there you have it, my first "T" rated story. Thankfully, it wasn't as dark as I 'd thought. Really, I'd only rated it because of the death of a character. If I didn't make the right move, tell me and say why you think so.

I'm considering a sequel for this, which takes place after the events of the main game. If you'd like to see that, make a note in the reviews or PM me.

This is CF signing out.