Author's note: I am completely new to this website and to the genre "fanfiction" itself, so this is a new interesting experience for me.
I do not own Pokemon or any of the characters, they belong to their respectful owners. Jack is a fruit of my imagination, as well as some other episodic characters. Do not be too strict, this is my first story. Reviews are always welcome:)
The sound of high-heeled shoes was heard all over a corridor. It clearly echoed from metallic walls and tile flooring. People in grey uniforms, who were in the hallway, tried to get out of it as soon as possible; even from far they could notice their commander wasn't in good mood and might be soon finding someone to have her anger released on.
It was true that this morning Hunter J was really pissed off. The infamous pokemon poacher couldn't sleep normally, nightmares were chasing her that night. The woman hated dreams about her past, the time she'd prefer to forget. The nightmares had always been very close to reality, sometimes she couldn't distinguish was she dreaming or not. And they were always full of details, what made them even more disgusting. When the silver-haired woman woke up, she had a feeling of having the worst night ever - she was completely broken, tired and unwilling to do anything. However, J forced herself to think in a bright way: today she had work to do, and although she wasn't in a mood for doing it, she believed that it would help her shake off her shattered state.
Hunter J quickly got dressed, had a cup of coffee and before leaving her spacious aboard apartment had a look at a mirror, hanging above a table in her bedroom. J didn't like to look at herself, she had always thought that she wasn't attractive. To be more precise, not attractive at all. Long ago it brought her many worries, but after she'd become a successful pokemon hunter she stopped carrying about such things. She had money and could afford anything she wanted. What else could be desired? Work was the only thing that mattered in the young woman's life. Sometimes deep inside she regretted that she had never had such things as friends, family, home she wanted to return to, but she had always been strict to herself and waved off such thoughts. Over the years she worked on her personality and she was satisfied with the result of self-training - she became a ruthless, fearless pokemon poacher, who felt no stress, while doing something extraordinary or out of norms of moralities. No rules actually existed to her. Work was the thing J was good at, it brought her money and positive emotions. J tried to work as much as possible in order not to lose her shape and get a portion of adrenaline everyday. She loved the feeling when her heart was beating rapidly, while her mind and attention was focused only on her aim. It wasn't a new feeling for her, but it was good. She craved for it and it encouraged her to work more. Quite often though, the pokemon hunter started to feel too tired and empty. She had practically no free time she could dedicate to herself. That was starting to get on her nerves. J had been thinking over her overtense workdays and came up that she had been doing too many things by herself. Finding someone who could do a part of her work was definitely a good idea. However, J was very serious about choosing the right candidate. She had a clear picture what kind of person she wanted to be her right-hand man and so far none of those she had known suited her requirements and taste. J hardly trusted people and choosing someone she could rely on in her business was a hard task for the silver-haired woman.
The notorious hunter had known that today she would have a conversation with a very important and rich person, her new client. She had already exchanged a few messages about their deal with him and now she was going to have an online conversation. When J was younger, she felt very nervous while talking to her clients over a video translator, as she was afraid of making a mistake or presenting herself in a wrong way. She had always been worried that the client wouldn't be willing to do business with her if she did something wrong. Now such thoughts didn't even cross her mind. J had reputation that was working for herself. Now her clients were afraid that she wouldn't agree to have any sort of deals with them.
Hunter J entered the corridor that lead to the control room of the airship - the main and most important room of her aircraft, as she contacted clients from there, had her pilots sitting in it and lots of screens that showed different indications. While walking through the passage, Hunter J noticed some of her henchmen in a rush. J had a strong urge to stop one of them and spoil his mood. She rarely rejected her wishes.
The notorious pokemon poacher quickly approached one of her men. The poor guy got stiff and looked in horror at his boss.
"Why are you standing at the middle of hallway, you idiot?! Don't you have work to do? What if I come and check how you do your duty? Look into my eyes, not into the ground!" J yelled at him.
The young man slowly raised his eyes from the light blue shiny tile on the floor. His face turned pale and he started to stutter because of fear and anxiety. He couldn't bear the look of J's cold piercing eyes.
" I - I'm sor-ry sir... I have all my work done and now I'm having a b-bit of rest... All the machines and device you ordered to repair are now fixed up. I have n-no work more, sir..."
"You what?! Then why are you staying in the middle of the hallway? Get out of my way!" The huntress screamed at the top of her lungs.
The henchman said his quick "Yes, sir", formally bowed and disappeared in a great hurry.
J was even more irritated now. She perfectly knew that the guy hadn't done anything wrong. The only fact that he was in a good mood made her enraged. Sometimes the woman wanted to be nasty and couldn't control her anger and fury anymore, so she blew up and as a result innocent people suffered. Loudly swearing, J continued her way to the main room.
As she entered the control room, the happily chirping a few seconds ago henchmen put on serious faces and went back to their business. J defiled through the huge placing, took a seat on her working chair and made herself comfortable, by putting one leg on another one and resting her elbows on armrests.
"Begin the transmission," she ordered and her voice clearly echoed from the metallic walls.
The enormous flat screen lit up and an image of a person appeared. It was a man in his early thirties, with yellow wavy hair till shoulders, blue eyes and a pair of glasses in a golden frame. His young shiny from constant care skin on his face made it visible even from the first sight that he loved himself more than everything in this world. Not hard to guess, he spent a lot of money and time to keep himself in a "chic" condition. Something womanish was in his features. J darkly stared at the man, feeling disgust rising in her soul and not trying to hide it.
'Pokemon hunter J, it's a pleasure to see the living legend by my own eyes. To be honest I have always imagined you being a man." J skipped his comment and kept silent. "Well, closer to the deal, I want you to get a Solrock for my little princess's B-day."
"I do not care about the reasons. How much can you offer?" Hunter J coldly inquired
"I've sent you a bill and a document, including a complete description. I've increased the sum two times since our first message exchange," the man said and smiled in a very forthcoming manner. However, this didn't affect Hunter J's way of communication.
"Good. What time will I receive the payment?" the notorious pokemon poacher asked in apparently disdainful demeanour.
"When I get Solrock," the man shrugged and gave J a funny look, like this thing was too obvious to be questioned about.
"Deal. You'll have the pokemon by the end of the day"
"It's a pleasure to have business with you. Thank you!" The enormous screen went dark. Hunter J stood up and walked to a henchman who was responsible for searching their targets.
"Did you find anything matching?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Show me the coordinates"
J looked at the digital map of the region, that appeared on the touch pad panel. In a few seconds hundreds of numbers and diagrams popped up on the liquid-screen surface, showing the distance from their current location, the precise coordinates of their destination, meteorological conditions of the whole region, other air crafts moving and much more. Hunter J skimmed through the parameters and a satisfactory smirk appeared on her face. "Excellent. We'll be there in 2 hours. Go to the destination," she told in a calm, yet steady voice. The infamous pokemon hunter was about to leave the room, when she heard a voice of one of her grunts behind her back.
"Sir, are you going to look at the new henchmen we have found for you to hire? Aren't you going to be sure they will suit your requirements?"
J rolled her eyes and deeply sighed. She absolutely forgot that yesterday she had ordered to hire new workers. "Ok, bring them here. Oh, and one more thing. Don't forget to make sure that they already know who I am." J said authoritatively and chuckled to herself how fast her orders were carried out.
"Yes, sir"
While waiting for her new recruits to come, the pokemon hunter was standing in front of a big window near her pilots and looking at the clean morning sky. It was a simply breathtaking view - light white clouds were still and their edges shined saturated gold colour because of the rising sun. Nevertheless Hunter J wasn't paying much attention to the beauty of the scenery. Her sight was focused at one spot and she bluntly stared at it. She was deep all in her own thoughts. The sound of doors opening and upcoming footsteps made the pokemon hunter snap out of her trans. As her new employees entered the room, J slowly turned on her heels and approached to the group, that consisted of 8 young fit men.
"Just what the doctor ordered..." J thought. She was pleased to see that the whole bunch seemed a bit intimidated. Probably, the henchman that led the group to the room had successfully managed to inspire fear to them of their new boss. That way it would be easier for her to manipulate the rookies.
J walked slowly from one man to another, examining each new member with her blue piercing eyes. It was obvious that the recruits didn't feel comfortable with the presence of this woman. The atmosphere was very tense. J paid her attention to every single detail she saw - this could help her make assumption about each member. When her glare stopped at one of her new employees, the guy she was looking at passed a hand to her and said with a smile on his face"Hi there, my name is Jack".
The huntress stared at him angrily with her blue eyes. Jack was a tall handsome man in mid-twenties with short, black, a bit spiky hair and expressive dark brown eyes. He was wearing a plain brown T-shirt with some sort of white inscriptions on it, wide ripped on knees jeans and a black velvet waistcoat. All his outfit told that this guy decided to join her not because his life was too good. J had a strange feeling that this guy wasn't like all her other henchmen. Something different was about his eyes. They lit with kindness and intelligence and emitted invisible warmth. J's intuition was telling that she would have a lot of trouble with him, because he didn't look like the one who would blindly obey her orders. Elusive spirit of rebel was around this guy. The silver haired woman narrowed her eyes a bit, as trying to figure out something about the rookie. Anger was still boiling inside her, though.
Hunter J raised her left eyebrow and gave Jack a look that could kill. The poor guy felt a chill running down the spine and aura of danger coming from his commander. He had already understood that his attempt to make the atmosphere less tense had brilliantly failed.
"I don't care about your name," J hissed venomously. "All of you are only my henchmen, people who assist me to reach my goals ... I don't care about your names, personal life and other things, you're just tools that make me reach my aims in a more fast way. While being workers on this ship, my ship," J put an emphasis on last two words, "you're my property and I can do to you whatever I like."
It was really frightening to the group to hear that their lives belonged to this woman. A woman, who didn't seem to be acquainted with respect and mercy towards others and would do everything if she meant business. J continued her speech in a more calm, though sternly voice.
"As long you are my henchmen, you do only those things that I've ordered. You must obey me unquestioningly, no matter what you think about the orders and how crazy or wrong you find them. If you break any of the rules, my rules," J made a pause to make sure that everybody understood her correctly, "or won't do exactly as I require it to be done, you will pay the consequences..."
"And how strict the punishment may be?" It was Jack's voice again. The black-haired guy started to get on J's nerves, thought she had seen him only for a couple of minutes. She focused her cold, full of despise deathly glare on his warm brown eyes. Chill ran down Jack's spine once more, but this time much stronger.
"Depends on what you've done. Let's say, if I'm kind and you don't do anything disastrous, you will be just made to clean the whole airship. But if you've made a great mistake that will affect my work much, you can make yourself prepared to see your ancestors on heavens."
Her reply left a big impression on her new crew. They could make sure once more that their commander had no limits of actions at all.
"As you see, you must obey me for your own sake," J concluded. She liked the confused and scared expressions of faces of her new members. " Your training will start today and will last for 2 weeks. Then you will be completely ready for the work. You're very lucky, because today you're going to watch me and my crew working on capturing a Solrock. I'm showing too much kindness towards you, though you don't deserve it,"J lips twisted in a smirk. "I let you see the whole process of capturing with your own eyes. You should be extremely grateful to me for that. Now lead them to their rooms," she directed the henchman who brought the new members to this spacious hi-tech room.
While the leading person gave some instruction to the rookies before they leave, Hunter J, feeling that her mission was done for now, headed towards the exit and soon disappeared from the control room.
"Man, what a temper she has... Is she always so unceremonious, spiteful and coarse? I must admit, I've met a lot of different people, pleasant and not really nice, but I've never seen such a bitch!" Jack addressed emotionally the leading person as soon as his supervisor left the room. Everybody switched their attention to the black-haired rookie. Even the three pilots turned their heads towards the novice, forgetting about controlling the air craft for a few seconds. They and were blinking confusedly in great shock. "Something tells me this won't end up good," a pilot with a mane of green curly hair sighed, returning back to his work.
To Jack's big misfortune, his female commander heard the words referred to her, as they clearly echoed from the walls of the metallic hallway. Totally enraged, J immediately turned back and returned to the room. She was shaking with anger and could barely control herself . The pokemon huntress rapidly approached Jack and slapped him with all her force. The black-haired guy nearly fell because of the impact. It was a really hard kick, as the Jack's skin became red and burning in a second. The rookie howled in pain. His mistress's slap hurt like hell.
"How dare you to talk such things behind my back, you, pathetic excuse of man!" J yelled at the top of her lungs. "Why didn't you tell me your little comments right to my face?!" She stopped shouting for a few seconds to catch her breath. "Sneaky coward!"
It was terrifying to see her in such condition not only for the new members, but also for those who worked for her for quite a considerable amount of time.
"Sir, please calm down..." one of her old crew members began, but was cut off by his boss's yell, followed by a long list of cursing.
"Please do forgive me, mistress J," the man, who even turned madly red from the profanity he heard, bowed and left the control room in a rush. Hunter J, still fuming, waited until he left and then turned her attention back to Jack.
"You'll get the retribution you deserved! Especially for you I increase the time of training by 4 hours for all your group. And for you," she pointed her finger at Jack ,"you will be working after your workouts in the storage helping my men with moving boxes with metallic details. And you will be doing it at night, after your workouts, that, thanks to you, will last for 4 hours longer than they should," the huntress made an especially big accent on the last phrase. She was still screaming and shaking with fury. Always calm and restrained, she was unlikely to be seen in such rage.
"Understood?!" J still didn't lower her voice.
"Yes, ma'am," Jack muttered and... received another powerful slap on his face. It was now red as tomato and swollen as a pillow.
"Yes, SIR! Forget about calling me ma'am!" J's shriek pierced the control room.
"Why should I call you "sir", when you're a woman?" Jack still dared to ask questions.
"My orders and requirements are NOT discussable. Is THAT clear?!"
"Yes, sir..."
J gave him a deathly look and stormed out of the room. Everybody could finally catch their breath and relax a bit.
"Phew, that was pretty scary. My ears nearly exploded because of her yell," one of the pilots complained.
"Enough. Better do you job, if you don't want to find problems on your ass," reminded him another, a handsome man with spiky red hair and quaintly twisted industrial piercing in his right ear.
"Steve, stop standing there and staring at our new teammates. You still have nothing to do, so leave them to their rooms," a yawning pilot with a blonde pony tail said to a short muscular guy, standing near the opposite wall of the control room
"And try not to run into J on your way to rooms, or you'll have great fun. J has a rich imagination, you know, so I would say cleaning the ship would be the best option for you as a punishment. The most harmless, to be precise," made his comment the pilot with green hair.
"How nice of you, guys, to care that much about me," the man, called Steve, replied with a grin.
"Someone has to brighten your day, so I took this honorary role," responded his mate.
Steve gave his friends a smile and waved the novices his hand, showing them where to go. The way to them was quite long, Jack lost his count on how many stairs and hallways they passed. One corridor changed another, looking exactly the same as the previous one, and if not Steve, the rookies would get lost in this metallic and tile labyrinth. It was a wonder of Technic that was hard not to admire, but something pressing was in these steel cold walls and drab square ornament on the floor. The rooms for the crew members were located in the eastern wing of the airship and after a considerable amount of walking, the group was guided to an enormous spacious square with many branches-corridors running away from it. Each corridor looked absolutely the same - lifeless grey walls and bright halogen lamps, bringing light to dull blue doors to rooms, that didn't differ anything, except for numbers, hanging on each door.
"You have one hour to change your clothes to uniforms and have some rest. We're meeting in the control room in an hour. After watching commander J making a pokemon capture, your training will start." The leading person, named Steve, said giving away room keys to the new crew members.
Rooms seemed to be alike not only from outside, but from inside as well. Each room was tiny and had a narrow single bed, a small table with two shelves hanging above it, a small wardrobe in a corner and a sink next to it. A minimum required for a person.
"Good luck. Something tells me you will need it," Steve said, giving a meaningful look to his new coworkers.
The rookies entered their rooms in order to prepare for their first day of training.
At a stated time the group showed up at the main room of the airship. Nobody wanted to be late and get some sort of punishment from their commander at the very first day. When the new members entered the room, J was already sitting on her work chair. She was fully into reading process of some papers. The notorious hunter was back to her tranquil and emotionless state. Nobody could say now that an hour ago she was ready to kill half of her crew. J rose her light blue eyes from the documents, indifferently glanced at those who came in and continued to examine the papers. A few minutes passed in absolute silence.
"When will we reach our destination?" J asked, not lifting her eyes from the text.
"In 15 minutes, Sir," the red-head pilot respectfully replied.
"Good." The huntress seemed pleased with what she had heard.
A quarter of an hour run unnoticeable for everybody. When the time of landing had come, J put on her goggles, pressed some buttons on right side of them and looked at the map of area that had just shown up before her eyes on the screen of goggles.
"Land the ship here, there is no point in coming any closer to our target. It will be easier and faster to reach it by cars".
At her command, the massive airship started to land, producing incredible deafening noise. Henchmen and trainees received an order to get into vehicles and go to the coordinates pointed by Hunter J. The fact that J preferred flying on her Salamence rather than going by car with her crew was a pleasure and relief.
Jack had no idea why he was needed to be on the mission. He couldn't do any work to help his boss, and just standing and watching seemed pretty stupid and useless to him. He questioned himself why J had taken so many henchmen with her. She could handle with the target pokemon on her own, what for did she need all these men?
The young man massaged his temples. The day had just begun and had already caused him so much headache. And not only. Swollen face didn't bring him any joy as well. The black-haired guy changed his sitting position. These vehicles were definitely too small for such number of people. Jack sighed and looked out of a tiny window. It came up like a total surprise when he saw from it where the Solrock was found. He expected to see it living in its natural habitat or at least in an abandoned building like factory or something like that. His heart sunk when he saw a remote house in a picturesque countryside. It was a nice building with two floors, a big balcony and a blooming garden around it. It seemed like it was a family party in the garden, as there were many people of different ages gathering around the table. It was a family holiday for sure and everyone seemed so happy... This reminded Jack of his family, people who he had moment Jack regretted that he had joined J. He didn't want to look at the consequences of J's capture of Solrock. He knew what that capture would bring these people. Nothing, but misery and pain.
The driver received an order from his commander in his headphone and abruptly stopped the car. All the crew except for driver left the six-wheeled celebrating people seemed disturbed by appearance of a bunch of strangely dressed men in grey uniforms with unknown intentions. So did their pokemon - a little Poochena started to bark violently, Sunflora hid behind one person's back, bug and grass pokemon disappeared in thick bushes of garden plants.
"Who are you and what do you need from us?" a scared old man asked trembling with fear, though he tried not to show his emotions and seem intimidating.
That moment J on her Salamence arrived. The huge flying beast hang in the air 4 metres above the ground, slowly moving its powerful wings.
"We're here to capture your Solrock," its rider replied coldly. "Go out, Ariados, tie them up," with this words the silver-haired woman threw a pokeball and a spider creature appeared of it in a flash of bright light. It didn't hesitate to follow his master's order. In a second all the family members were tightly tied up, as well as Poochiena, that firstly resisted, but now was lying on the ground unable to move.
J chuckled to herself. That was going to be too easy. These people couldn't even fight her back. The pokemon poacher pressed a small button on her goggles and everything around turned into a contour picture with blue, green and bright yellow, orange and red shapes. The function of seeing objects in infrared light was a really useful one, as it registered it the amount of warmth each living creature emitted. By clicking a few more buttons, the device could tell its owner the exact species of pokemon, by identifying the length and intensity of heat waves, but this function was not needed in current situation. It didn't take much time to figure out where the Solrock hid, as its silhouette brightly flashed, revealing its hiding place. J aimed her cannon device at a bush with giant yellow blossoms and shot.
Jack was watching pokemon hunter's face that moment. Ignoring desperate shouts and begs, J unemotionally pulled the trigger and aimed directly at her target. Her face was impenetrable, none of muscles of her face twitched. She appeared to have no compassion. It seemed that the hunter had successfully hit the target, because in a second a rueful scream of the pokemon was heard.
"Mission accomplished. Transport the target," Hunter J said coldly into a microphone on her headset. A glass capsule appeared around the sun pokemon that was now imprisoned into a solid rock of gold and started to move through the air towards the car.
"No! It is my Solrock and it is my B-day! Give it back!" A little girl with golden locks of hair screamed in a trembling and pleading voice. Tears were running down her little pretty face. She tried to get out of Ariados's net that was around her, but none of her efforts were successful.
"It WAS your pokemon. It no longer belongs to you," J stated indifferently. With hearing these words the little girl's cry started to grow into hysteria.
"Sir, the object is in the car"
"Retreat," J commanded into a small microphone. The group of henchmen that were watching this scene started to move hastily towards the vehicle. "Have a nice Birthday, girl," the infamous pokemon hunter threw off over her shoulder.
"Noooo! Stop!" The scream of girl's family filled the air as Hunter J slowly disappeared from the sight on her dragon pokemon.
The vehicle was moving towards the point of appointment with J's client. During the trip Jack had a possibility to look at every detail of the frozen pokemon through the glass capsula. The way Hunter J captured pokemon was very cruel and completely out of norms. How could she be that callous?! It was painful to see Solrock turned into the golden stone. The poor creature was stiff with a terrified expression in its eyes. For a guy who loved pokemon more than anyone did this sight was just unbearable.
Jack admitted once again that he'd made a huge mistake by joining J's team. He was very sorry for the little girl and wished he had been able to help her. That moment Jack felt something dark rising in his soul. It was hatred. And it was towards J. Her last phrase, calm face, indifferent glare and the child's high-pitched cry ran across his mind during the way to the meeting point. He wondered how J could be so heartless and merciless. Couldn't she find another pokemon to steal or capture it in its natural habitat? Why did she need to spoil the family party? Not a single soul in the world deserved what J had made them to go through. The young guy felt dizzy when he realized that instead this miserable girl could be his sister and all his family could be suffering from the infamous hunter. No one is insured from such things. What would he do in such case? Asking J to stop would be just a suicidal idea... Just stand and watch? And how would he be able to look into his parents's eyes after that? Lets start from how he would dare to look into them after joining J? These thoughts were torturing him, Jack started to be afraid of going crazy. His thinking process was interrupted when the car suddenly stopped and he bumped hard into metallic wall of the vehicle cabin. Some members exited the vehicle and took the capsule with Solrock with them.
"What's happening?" Jack asked.
"Perhaps a meeting with the client," the driver said lazily and checked the time on his watch.
The procedure of meeting ended up quite soon and the group returned to the airship. Jack felt sick of seen today things and felt that it was enough for him for this day. Half of his face was in a giant bruise and badly hurt. As well as his heart. Though, his "fun" was just getting started. A man came up to the new members and announced that their training would start in 15 minutes. Instead of normal amount of training hours of workouts they had to spend four more in the sport room. And all thanks to him, Jack. He noticed irritated gazes of his teammates. They weren't happy about extra hours of physical work at all. If things continue in this way, he's going to be beaten many times. Jack was angry with himself that he hadn't held a distance between him and his boss. It was very clever of her to use such methods - if one makes a mistake, everybody pays the consequences. Jack had a wrong impression of his boss, he should have thought she had been more intelligent and unpredictable. He seriously underestimated J. He should be more careful and respectful in order not to find more problems.
The workout was really hard. The demanding instructor made men and their pokemon do all known and unknown physical exercises. After 3 hours everyone was allowed to rest a little bit. Jack could never think that his body could ache that much. He didn't feel his arms and legs, it seemed like breathing required many physical efforts. After the short break the execution continued. The instructor showed no mercy and did his duty as severely as he could. During the training J came by to make sure that guys were giving out their maximum. She was pleased with the sight of red, sweaty and heavily breathing henchmen and left the gym with a satisfied smirk on her face. Although Jack had seen this expression on her face only two times, he didn't like it. Her grin was so evil. The black-haired man made a conclusion that J couldn't just sincerely smile. How can a person with no heart do it?
After the end of the workout, half - alive henchmen were allowed to take shower and have a rest. Jack enjoyed cold water running down his spine and refreshing his tired muscles. The thought that finally his day was over pleased him so much... He could say he was absolutely happy, although deep inside he understood that this feeling was caused by incredible physical tiredness. All refreshed, the young man began his way towards his room, that now was desirable as never and seemed to be a royal one. Jack was surprised what deathly exhaustion can do to a human.
Destiny had played an evil trick with him once more - while opening the door, he heard footsteps in the end of hallway. A man dressed in a dirty grey work suit with oily spots on it slowly approached the rookie. The man was probably a mechanic. The worker stared at Jack for a few seconds.
"Well, you fit J's description. She wanted you to help us carrying boxes with metallic details. Come"
Jack's heart fell. J didn't forget about the punishment for him. Jack figured out another feature of hers - she didn't say empty threats. The raven - head man sighed and walked past the man obediently. The rookie didn't want to find another problems on his ass, so preferred to keep silent.
The storage room where he had to work due to his punishment was full of noise and people voices. Jack was glad that at least the atmosphere in this room was quite friendly and there was no sight of his boss. Jack started to carry boxes and sort mechanic details. He actually enjoyed working with details and constructing something, so he didn't regard what he was doing now as a punishment. Time flew quickly for Jack, who waved off his tiredness and focused only on the details. He imagined what can be created from all these metallic pieces, perhaps something magnificent if it got in the right hands. Jack was so in this process, so didn't notice a tap of one of the workers on his shoulder.
"Hey, take some rest, I've not seen anyone so tired and awfully looking like you," the man's voice was full of was weird to hear someone talking in such a warm way on this airship.
"Hah, thanks for the suggestion, but I don't want to get another punishment from J from not doing my work," Jack replied, tiredly blinking and touching his forehead to removed accumulated drops of sweat.
"You're free from this work, we'll do everything for you. It was actually only our job and we didn't expect anyone to help us," said another mechanic.
"And what about J? What if she comes to check?" Jack asked worriedly.
"That's unlikely to happen, she is not on the airship now. When she is back, it will be a deep night. She will be tired and perhaps not in a suitable condition to rate the work you've done." Some henchmen let out chuckles.
"Well, thanks for your care guys, you're the best!" Jack said with a smile on his face and got up from his knees. His body ached like hell.
"You're welcome. We understand how you feel. Everybody who works for J does."
"I've already figured that out. Thanks goodness she is not aboard now," Jack looked at the clock. It was 11 in the evening. He didn't notice how fast the time went by. Finally the day he thought would never end was almost over.
"Do you know what J left for?" Jack was curious what things can be settled at this late time
"To reduce stress from her work and have fun. She often goes out. Henchmen, who sometimes escort her, say that she has a passion for strong drinks. I'm not surprised, though. Hey, it's better for you to have some sleep right now. You will have tense weeks of workouts and after a lot of work to do. "
"Yes, sure. Guys... why did you join J?" Jack wanted to hear other persons' motives of entering the world of crime.
"It's obvious, the reason is the same as yours. Who haven't dreamt about money?" Jack received an answer from one of the workers, who was putting on a shelf a big box, full of metallic pipes.
Jack nodded in agreement. He didn't hear anything new. The young man was falling from tiredness and his head was pounding. Slowly, he started to make his way to the exit door.
"Thanks for all, have a good night," he muttered as he left the storage room.
The trip to his room seemed eternal. When Jack finally got to his room, he fell on bed without putting off clothes. All his body hurt as well as his head. He wanted to think over he things that happened to him today, but felt himself falling into darkness.
J came back closer to morning, as everybody had expected. She was glad that most of her crew was asleep. The last thing in the world she wanted to do now was seeing her henchmen. J was awfully tired of them from the beginning of the day, so went out on her late trip alone. Finally, J reached a door to her own room. It was a difficult thing for her to find a key in her pocket, as her coordination was bad and vision became blurry because of alcohol. She wondered how she was still able to think more or less rationally. After many unsuccessful efforts she finally managed to get into her spacious apartment. Staggering, she made her way to her soft double bed and fell on it on her back, without changing into night clothes. The pokemon poacher loved to sleep like a queen, with a lot of space.
All attempts to sleep were fruitless, since her brain was too energized because of too many shots taken before and refused to pass out. J turned on her left side in great irritation and looked at the clock. It was early in the morning and a delicate pink light from the coming dawn started to fill the sky. The pokemon hunter closed her eyes and tried to recall all the events that had happened during the previous day, hoping it would help her to relax.
"Pfff, what a stupid day was today...Nothing good happened. Except for the thing I got paid. The only plus. Hah, it was such a ridiculous and pathetic situation with the girl. Steeling a B-day present from one girl and giving it on another girl's birthday. And the only difference is that one girl's father has money and the other one doesn't .Poor kid, she will remember this misfortune all her life. Well, that's her destiny," J yawned and turned on her right side, trying to make herself comfortable. "I missed every opportunity to establish contact with the black-haired guy... It was just an outburst because of... yes, because of my nasty temper. He was actually right when called me a bitch...And what for have I added 4 hours of additional workouts? Not smart at all. They won't bring the rookies any good, except for tiredness... I should make this guy somehow closer to me. Although he gets on my nerves by asking too many questions, he seems to have rational mind and not bad communication skills. He can potentially do a part of my job in future. Too early too decide, but still... I have interest in it. Maybe I can use him. Finally, I'll have more time to spend on myself. Only on myself. But what can be done when the relationships are completely screwed up?... "
The woman felt getting into the embrace of sleep. The coming day promised to be tense for every person on the airship, no matter for the commander or a for a crew member.
