Disclaimer: Pokémon and its accompanying titles (and, consequently, its characters) are property of Nintendo and GameFreak, not me. I only own my OCs, which will be listed at the end of each chapter. I do not seek to make profit off of this story. Please support the official release.

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Prologue: Before the Storm

The darkening of the sky briefly drew Chief Officer Jenny's attention from the paperwork on her desk. Clouds had begun gathering over Castelia City, obscuring the setting sun and casting an unsettling grey pall over the otherwise orange-lit town. The policewoman sighed and averted her gaze back to the papers in front of her, relieved that she only had one more form to fill out and sign. As she wrote, the antique radio to her left sputtered out the weather report through a static filter. She only caught the important bits of the report, that a severe thunderstorm was expected to land in the city at around six-thirty, bringing with it heavy rain, thunder and lightning, and the possibility of blackouts. Her normally-fast handwriting sped up slightly, wanting to get the final form faxed away as soon as possible. She finished just as the first rumble of thunder echoed from outside the station, and she was at the fax machine on the far wall before the first drops of rain began pattering on the windows.

"Chief Officer Jenny?" a young policeman called from just outside her open door, his posture in full salute. "The interrogation room is all set up for you."

Anticipation gripped her as she finished faxing her paperwork. "At ease, rookie," she replied. "What's the status of the prisoner?"

"Handcuffed, under heavy guard, and waiting inside, ma'am," the policeman replied, "He hasn't spoken a word or made a move since we brought him in."

Jenny straightened up and set the remaining papers she had on her desk before walking out of her office. "You're sure it's him?"

"Given his description, the string of recent thefts, and his partner Pokémon, and comparing them all to the birth records the Castelia City Orphanage gave to us, I can say without a doubt that it's him," the policeman spoke as he handed her the rather thick case file he had been holding. "Just think; a child disappears from the orphanage one night and, over the course of the next fifteen years, becomes Unova's most notorious thief, eluding capture at every turn."

Officer Jenny shot the rookie a quick glare. "We're not here to flatter him, rookie. We're here to interrogate him and see that he is brought to justice. Now, did Looker get back to us at all?"

"Ah…of course, ma'am," the rookie responded. "He will be arriving here in exactly fifteen minutes."

Not another word was spoken as Jenny and the rookie reached the darkened side of the interrogations office. Two officers sat behind the audio and video recording equipment, ready to capture all of what would happen on the other side of the one-way mirror in front of them.

The room beyond the mirror was slate grey, a simple wooden table and two metal folding chairs serving as its only furnishings, alongside two fluorescent lights serving at its only illumination. The room's sole occupant sat hunched over the table. Even in this position, one could tell he was short, at barely five feet tall. He was dressed in dark clothes, torn in some places and patched up in other places, and a Duskull print black bandana covered the top of his head. His face was obscured by his arms, which lay out in front of him bound at the wrists by heavy-duty handcuffs. From another person's perspective, it would appear the man was either sleeping or hunched over in defeat. But Jenny knew that this could only be a ruse, and that he was possibly plotting an escape. She had trust in her precinct to take all the necessary precautions to prevent such actions. This man would not be running from the law tonight.

After double-checking that all of the staff was ready to record the interrogation, Jenny walked around to the room's entrance, where two more muscle-bound officers stood guard. "Remain out here for now. You know what to do in case things go south," she ordered. The guards nodded in silent understanding as the leftmost one opened the door for her. As the door closed behind her, another roar of thunder reverberated throughout the building, and that tense feeling of anticipation gripped her again. If the case file was true, then the man who was slouched at the table in front of her was the thief extraordinaire of Unova, the same man who had escaped her grip when he was only a child and she a rookie. She refused to falter; she would learn what he had become and how he became it, and she would use that information to keep him off the streets for good.

"Duff Sullivan."

The man straightened himself up in his seat upon hearing the name and turned to meet her eyes. His face stubbornly held on to whatever youth it had remaining; from the hard lines on his cheeks and jaw to the short salt-and-pepper beard growing on his chin, he looked to be almost in his mid-twenties. Tufts of messy black hair stubbornly poked out from underneath his bandana, framing round ears that were twice pierced with small silver hoops. His eyes were a jaded green and displayed a tired look of boredom to them. His most striking feature was the thin, pale red scar that ran diagonally from the far corner of his right eye to underneath his right nostril.

The faintest sign of a sly smirk played upon his thin lips as he stared at her. "In the flesh," was his only response, framed with confidence but also betraying a slight annoyance.

Jenny tensed up again; it was definitely him. She did his best to ignore his tone as she walked over to the table and threw the case file down in front of him. She then took a seat in front of him, glaring daggers in his direction. "You were a very hard man to capture, Sullivan."

"What can I say?" Duff admitted, shrugging his shoulders in seeming defeat. "Luck just wasn't on my side today." He slumped back in the chair, grimacing slightly in discomfort before smiling again. "So what am I in for? If it's about that bike I snagged today, I was only borrowing it."

"I'm afraid it's for far more than just a stolen bike, Sullivan," Jenny stated, her voice void of nonsense as she opened the file in front of him. "Over the last decade or so, all the police districts of Unova have been keeping a track record of all of your witnessed criminal activities."

"Really? I was under the impression that the police had more important things to do, like rescuing a Skitty from atop a tree, or even preventing a third Team Plasma incident," Duff remarked snarkily.

Jenny ignored his smug comment as she thumbed through the file to the summary of his past crimes. "Keep in mind that these counts are only rough estimates based on eyewitness accounts and police confrontations." She took a deep breath before reading the list down. "Over two thousand counts of petty theft, one thousand counts of trespassing on private property, eight hundred counts of shoplifting, five hundred counts of aggravated assault, three hundred counts of burglary, one hundred counts of vandalism, twenty counts of grand theft auto, ten counts of public intoxication, six counts of arson…" She trailed off as she noticed Duff's raised eyebrow and soft chuckle. "Something funny, Sullivan?"

"No, no, Chief," Duff replied lightheartedly. "Just remembering most of those fun times. The fact that I still don't know how to drive doesn't help my case much with those grand theft autos. And I'm pretty sure that five of those six arsons weren't my fault. And I think you're off with the number of thefts I've committed; even though I've lost count a while back, I could have sworn I've stolen things a lot more than two thousand times."

"Back-talking like that won't get you anywhere fast," Jenny reminded firmly.

"No, but I need some way to keep myself entertained during this interrogation," Duff replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "But do go on. Don't mind me."

The roll of Jenny's eyes was almost audible as she went back to the list before her. "Seven hundred counts of evading arrest, one hundred of aggravated assault against an officer of the law…the list just keeps going," she said. "But perhaps the most outstanding crime you've committed to date is one count of murder in the first degree." She closed the file and gave Duff her icy stare. "All of these crimes, Sullivan, could very easily amount to several life terms in prison for you."

"Key word being 'could', I take it?" Duff asked with a raised eyebrow. "In all seriousness, though, eyewitness accounts and actually seeing them happen through my own eyes are two very different things."

Jenny gave him no further sign of annoyance or frustration. "And I suppose you expect me to believe everything you say?"

"Of course not, Chief," Duff laughed. "I'm a thief and a con artist. Apparently, everything I say is a lie." He paused, furrowing his brow in mock thought before giving a cheeky grin. "Oh wait, that's a paradox, isn't it?"

"What are you getting at, Sullivan?" Jenny inquired harshly, unamused by the thief's humor.

"First of all," Duff started, raising his index finger along with his other hand, "just call me Duff. Referring to me by my last name just sounds weird. And second, what I'm getting at is that, regardless of whether you believe me or not, I would be more than willing to tell you everything that I've experienced in regards to what you call my 'criminal record'."

Jenny eyed him suspiciously. "Is there a catch that you're not telling me about, Duff?"

"I wouldn't really go so far as to call it a 'catch', Chief," Duff replied, shrugging before leaning forward. "Just answer one really simple question for me." Suddenly, all traces of his sarcastic humor seemed to vanish from his face, and his expression turned to one of utter seriousness, as though he were ready to explode at any minute. "Where's my partner?"

Although Jenny did not show it, she was startled by Duff's sudden change in demeanor. She knew that he was referring to the Pokémon that always accompanied him. Duff never committed his crimes alone; that Pokémon was one of the reasons why he had eluded capture for so long. It would be dangerous to inform him of where she was keeping it. At the same time, it was the only bargaining chip she had against him.

"Why do you want to know?"

Duff leaned back. "Because being rudely separated from my partner has made me just a little bit, oh I don't know, absolutely livid. It would make it easier for me to remember specific and crucial details if I could at least know that he's not hurt. If you don't answer that, or if I find your answer not good enough, then we may as well end this conversation right here."

Jenny realized that Duff was trying to find an angle. Fortunately for her, she had one of her own. "Your…'partner'…is being held in the Pokémon detainment center in the basement. Since it's not registered-"

"He," Duff spat, fire in his eyes. "My partner is a 'he', and you will refer to him as such."

Jenny saw Duff's offense to her choice of pronoun, so she carefully continued. "Very well, then. Since…he's not registered to a Poké Ball, that makes him, by legal definition, a wild Pokémon. We are loathe to put him down unless it's deemed absolutely necessary, so I have given several of my higher-ranking officers the opportunity to try and catch him for themselves. So far, over the last hour, none of their efforts have been successful."

"Is that right?" Duff scoffed, the humor slowly working its way back into his voice. "Try and catch him all you want; it won't do you any good. The bond we share together is thicker than blood, and nothing can ever break that, not even a Poké Ball."

Jenny frowned at Duff's seeming delusion. She knew that an intangible thing such as a bond between human and Pokémon could easily be broken. She had seen such cases too many times; trainers abusing and betraying their Pokémon, Pokémon disobeying and turning on their trainers, and the outright theft of Pokémon from trainers. Even she could tell that Duff had to face reality eventually. How unfortunate that it had to be today.

"Regardless of what you believe, if your partner proves to be impossible to catch, and you refuse to register him to a Poké Ball, then the law states that we have to put him down," Jenny spoke morosely. "If you are willing to comply and tell us what you have to say, then we might see about sparing him that fate."

Duff's defiant gaze gleamed only once before he closed his eyes and sighed. Jenny couldn't tell if it was relief or anger that outlined that sigh. A long silence followed, the faint hum of the room's fluorescent lights and the dull roar of rain outside its only accompaniment. Finally, Duff opened his eyes and his sly smirk crept back. "So that's how it's gonna be, eh? Fine. I'll tell you my story…granted that no further harm comes to my partner."

Jenny nodded and unclipped her communicator from her belt. "Chief Officer Jenny to Pokémon Detainment, hereby ordering all officers to cease and refrain from any attempts to capture the Pokémon being held in cell 2-A until further notice."

"Understood, Chief," a voice radioed back. "Ceasing all capture attempts now on the Pokémon in 2-A." A brief pause passed before Jenny's communicator hummed to life again.

"Chief, this is the front desk. Looker just arrived. His credentials check out."

"Understood. I'll be there shortly." Jenny then turned to Duff once more before heading out the door. "I will be back with someone who will help me get to the bottom of what's in that head of yours. Know that whatever you might say here today will not guarantee your freedom."

"Never expected it to, Chief," Duff replied, his confidence never waning. "Go bring that friend of yours in. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. Oh, and make yourselves some coffee while you're out."

"Why?" Jenny asked incredulously.

Duff gave his biggest smirk yet. "Because it's going to be a long story."

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What is up, everybody!

I've been itching to get this story started for a while, which features my OC, Duff Sullivan! I hope that you all find it enjoyable and thrilling to read. I'm always trying to better myself as a writer, so don't forget to leave a review!