Author's Note: One of the characters introduced in this chapter speaks French (or "Kalosian," if you prefer), but I don't. If you're a francophone and something I've written sounds weird to you, feel free to let me know so I can do the language some justice in the future!

Prologue II. L'Internationale

"All jokes aside, I'd like to thank you for your ultimate cooperation, Mr. Aihara."

"I don't have anything else. Let's just get on with this."

The breakthrough had finally come that morning, about an hour after sunrise. The information Daichi had given up would surely prove indispensable to the right people. Still, Daichi's ilk spoke frequently enough in half-truths that regardless of how helpful he had been thus far, his captor had seemed reluctant to conclude their dealings, perhaps wary of missing out on some critical piece of information. Under an icy gaze, Daichi had started bracing himself for another round of questions when Crow finally responded.

"Bien sûr," he said with a sigh. "Once I've removed your restraints, you'll be free to leave."

Daichi eyed the dark figure across from him with equal parts suspicion and surprise. It was an obvious ruse, but to what end? He opened his mouth to question, but no words came. Dreadful anticipation welled up in him as the figure rose and made its way to his side of the table and past it, occupying its familiar space just outside his field of vision. The chains which bound his wrists behind him were rattled a bit, almost threatening to come loose, but quickly fell silent. Daichi's chest tightened amid the stillness and he realized he was forgetting to breathe.

"You know, my friend outside didn't want this to end, said you were too tasty," the figure said, tapping the side of Dai's skull with a muted chuckle. "Lucky she doesn't get to make the decision, huh?"

Daichi's heart rate quickened as he was reminded of the white-maned horror standing just outside the cabin door. He struggled to disguise his fear as his lungs subtly fluctuated between breathless bunching up and hyperventilated heaving. "Enough mind games," he managed to articulate, "I already told you I don't know anything else. I'm no use now-"

"Do you really think I want your blood on my hands?" came Crow's whisper in Dai's ear. "I had always planned to cut you loose," he lied, "in my own best interest, of course."

Either more manipulation or Crow really was going to throw him to the dogs - Daichi didn't know which implication was worse. His meager store of subtlety had long since run out, and he wished more desperately than ever that he still had his Weezing and could order it to Self-Destruct right then and there. Hell, he'd been self-destructing all day as it was. Anything would be better than running back to the boss with his tail between his legs. After a week of Crow's hospitality, he would be more than happy taking Crow and that damnable Hypno both in one last hurrah. Presently let his temper slip.

"You're kidding me. You were just gonna let me go? After all this? I vouched for you, not to mention I just told you everything! You want me to go back to the syndicate and act like nothing happened? You were the only one they weren't a hundred percent on, and I vouched for you!" His voice began to crack, as much in fear and desperation as in anger. "When my crew comes in and we're the only ones missing, they're gonna know what happened, and then we're both going down, whether you like it or not!"

Daichi stopped and tried to bring his focus back to breathing. A satisfying vision of Crow's cabin reduced to cinders still hung in his mind, but he already knew it was pointless making threats while he was still tied to a chair in the middle of nowhere. At least he had been able to vent, something Crow would never have allowed a day ago. Maybe there was an angle he wasn't seeing. Otherwise, why let him go after all this time? Would there be pleasure in seeing him get ripped to shreds or thrown in jail by someone else? No, cutting ends loose sheerly out of spite wasn't Crow's MO, despite the air of mischief that he constantly gave off. He was a professional - half the reason Daichi'd vouched for him in the first place - so why avoid the path of least resistance now?

"Come on, Crow, even if I'd played the stand-up guy to the very end, vouching for someone like you makes me a permanent problem," Daichi reasoned. "What am I hoping for? Getting chased, if I'm lucky? When guys like me are forced to leave the business, we don't just walk away clean and you know it. No, we get picked up on the way out and put away for everything we didn't do and then some. You let me out of here and my life is over, sure as if you'd killed me yourself."

"Then we're on the same page," Crow responded, amused, "but what if there was a way to turn our little zero sum game into, how would you say, a net positive?" His voice came from further away now. Daichi had a mental image of Crow sliding back against the shadows on the wall behind them, pointed nose held high. It was a natural look, smug and sinister, just like his namesake.

"What exactly are you getting at?" Daichi probed through half-gritted teeth.

"I can protect you, Daichi - from the courts, le syndicat, and anything in between," came the voice in his ear again.

Daichi's hands might have trembled were they not still tightly bound behind his chair. For all he knew, there was no way Crow could deliver on a promise like that, but the resurgent implication of there being something more made his heart race once again. This had to be the angle he'd missed, the angle that Crow had probably been playing all along. From the moment he'd arrived at Crow's lonely cabin in the woods, he had been hard-pressed to invent an outcome other than death - a bad end by Crow's hand, worse by the syndicate, or worst of all in prison. The week in captivity had stretched on like years as he came to agonizing grips with his mortality, and now on the day he had planned the agony to end, ready to take the fall like an honorable gangster, only now was Crow offering a way out. He was playing into Crow's hands and he knew it, but little by little his morale was rising. His composure returned, though his heartbeat didn't slow one bit. He ached to know more about Crow's proposition, but he didn't want to seem too eager. Surely he could summon up some surplus subtlety to save his own skin. Maybe if he tried to call the bluff...

"You're slipping," he said, "KPF doesn't bargain with informants and regional courts don't do plea deals."

Daichi could almost feel Crow smirking in the darkness. "I don't recall answering to either of those," came the snide rebuttal.

That confirmed it. If Crow was working outside the purview of the Kanto authorities, then he might actually have the extralegal authority to ensure Daichi's protection. In that case, it didn't matter where it came from. Freedom was being dangled right in front of him, and he was damn well going to swallow what was left of his pride and snatch it up while he could.

"Let's say I believed you. What would you have me do?"

"Might you have been followed?"

"Do not patronize me."

"Not at all, Docteur. It's just that my little bird told me there were two of you headed this way and yet here you are, all alone." A lone Murkrow loosed a haughty cackle as it wheeled down from on high, alighting on the gable.

Doc summarily humphed as he laid eyes on Crow's sardonic bird. "I assure you I have not been tailed. Also, you may wish to find a lookout more discreet than that bombastic thing. Between the obvious circles it flies around this clearing and the night shade it was casting in broad daylight, not to mention that incessant squawking, it practically led me right to you."

The insulted party flared its wings indignantly and piped up, but was tutted mid-caw by its master, recoiling on its wooden perch. "Corneille, vous peu crétin! 'On sunny days unfit for shade, let humble haze obscure the glade.'" Crow's accent made the mantra sound less grave than he had probably intended. "Apparently ten times is not enough. You will repeat this one hundred more times if you would like your lunch today." Corneille's black wings fanned out gently this time as he cocked his head and let his beak hang open while staring pleadingly down at Crow. "No buts, monsieur!" came the salt in the wound with a wag of Crow's finger. "Now get to work." The bird let out an anguished caw but did as Crow commanded. Ascending from the gable, it began emitting gouts of gloomy fog with each flap of its wings while imitating Crow's voice in its croaking rasp, struggling to land the rhymes with faithful nuance.

"Ouf! It kills me, having to be hard on him," Crow wearily confessed with Corneille out of earshot. "He does not have to say it all one hundred times, though. I just had to get the ball rolling."

"I thought you liked abusing things."

"Only human things, Docteur. But he is such a stubborn bird. The more important my advice, the quicker he forgets."

Doc laid a gloved hand on Crow's shoulder to take advantage of the unexpected candor. "Good medicine is bitter to the mouth, indeed."

Crow reciprocated Doc's gesture, but his usual smirk had returned. "If only you were a real doctor, I might have taken your word for it."

Suddenly their attention was seized by a rustling in the bushes near the edge of the clearing.

"Here comes Memphis," said Doc.

"Or maybe yakuza."

"We shall see." His hand retreated from Crow's shoulder and plunged itself deep into the folds of his overcoat while he sternly addressed the brush. "You in the bushes! Reveal yourself and you will not be harmed."

The rustling commenced all the more violently, accompanied by a strange frenetic whispering.

"I never go higher than three," he continued, "so you had best move quickly. One..." The vocalizations grew louder as Doc started his count. "Two..." He could have sworn he heard an 'ouch' amid the ruckus. "Three-"

"Aw crud, hold your horses, will ya? I... I'm stuck!" Memphis's exasperated outburst just prevented the use of Doc's weapon, which sheathed itself so swiftly that hardly a glint could be seen.

"Zut alors! I hoped he would dispatch you," Crow snickered.

"You and everybody else, but I-ouch!-I ain't dead yet!"

"Try not to jinx yourself," said Doc. Then, with a reluctant Crow, he made to extricate their partner from the brambles.

"That is not what I said. If he is willing to testify, then that of course warrants his protection. I had simply hoped your prolonged interrogation would bear sweeter fruit than just another witness to babysit."

"Ah, but it has, Docteur. With all that time to pluck his brain I knew there would be something in the little details. You see, the sheer number of monster-related shipments our deadbeat reported handling all but confirms Silph involvement."

"Silph Company?" Memphis looked up from picking the remaining thorns out of his clothes. "No kidding."

"You almost sound surprised," said Crow.

"Nah, nah. They were on the list. It's just they sell to kids, ya know? Leaves a bad taste in my mouth to think they've been outfittin' poachers and cons, too."

"Sometimes those markets may not be as separate as you think."

"I thought we had decided not to trust this list," Doc interjected.

"More like you decided," Memphis replied.

"Indeed. Now that we are three for three, I'd say this 'Big Five' theory is more compelling than ever," Crow added.

"Where do we expect to find the other two if prior testimony rules out Kanjoh Railways and Baltoyo?"

"Investigating Delta led us to Viridian Electric and to Daichi's outfit, and now Daichi has brought us to Silph. Our next move is pretty clear."

"I'm with Birdbrain on this one, Doc. Best we keep our wits about us, but keep divin'. Wait until we hit a real roadblock to consider changin' our tactics."

"Hmph. I understand. Just keep in mind that expunging the five sloppiest of them only to rest on our laurels would accelerate the process of natural selection. I, for one, refuse to be the vaccine which precipitates the supervirus."

"'Course we can agree with that, now. Can't we, Crow?" Memphis knew better than to give Doc an excuse to lecture.

Crow shrugged his shoulders silently.

"Let us move on, then," said Doc. "What is Daichi's status at the moment?"

"Sleeping like a baby," Crow responded. He pointed with his thumb back towards his Hypno who loomed quietly in the corner, watching them with the thin, smiling eyes characteristic of her species. "Sophie has graced him with a dream of mother's cooking. His reward for playing nice. Gaspard has not left him since we got here, either, though I doubt he noticed."

Sandslash bristled at the mention of Crow's Haunter. Memphis likewise felt a cold spot and resisted the impulse to shiver.

"Hey, what's with all this 'deadbeat' talk?" he complained while pulling on his shredded duster. "Man's been through enough abuse already."

"Ah, but he will need a code-name, will he not? Deadbeat will do just fine."

"Like hell. Ya can't just decide for everyone what we'll be callin' him."

"Let it die, Memphis," Doc interrupted, "all I wanted was a status report."

"Okay, okay. So what's our next move?"

"That depends. How did things look east of Pewter?"

"Scout here says it's all clear up until Cerulean city limits." He leaned down to scratch Sandslash beneath the chin and the spiked creature beamed with pride.

"Excellent. You and Crow will hold out here and escort Daichi into Pewter after nightfall, then proceed through Mount Moon to Cerulean. While there, I need you to set up a liaison with Saffron PD to coordinate our investigation of Silph Company. Do not leave Cerulean until this is done."

"I'm curious what you'll be doing in the meantime, Docteur."

"Diglett's Cave, then south to resupply in Fuchsia. I have business further on."

"Business?" Crow burst into laughter. "More of your ninja nonsense, you mean. Je te jure, you are obsessed." Corneille flew in the open window and joined him for the fun of it.

"All, er," Memphis cleared his throat uncomfortably, "ninjas aside, the land ends there in Fuchsia, Doc. Ain't no further on unless you plan on sailin' off to Cinnabar."

"I do, in fact, knowing what we know now. An old estate on Cinnabar was bought some years ago by none other than Silph's president. Aside from housing his wife and child, the mansion he restored functions as a go-between for various collaborators."

"Hot damn. Honeypot like that might be worth the trek."

Doc uttered a rare chuckle. "We shall see."

"Will you say hello to your Fūma friends for us when you get there?" asked Crow, still coming down from the peak of his laughter. Corneille honked obnoxiously at Doc and caught a scolding from his master.

"That we shall also see."

"You really gonna leave me with these cuckoos?" Memphis asked as Doc got up to get his things. The latter humphed, tipped his hat, and continued pulling on his coat.

"Don't be scared, mon desert rat. Why, you've got yer trusty dang ole good ole spike mole to protect ya, after all!"

"Yeah, well, ole Sandslash here's probably booked more crooks than your sinister menage-a-tra combined."

Crow snorted as if caught off-guard before bursting into laughter once again. Corneille cackled, too, and Gaspard's cold spot returned with a vengeance. Even Sophie held her hand below her nose, her head bobbing up and down in silent laughter.

"What's so dang funny?" Memphis asked, looking back and forth twixt Doc and Sandslash for support.

Doc stiffened up and cleared his throat, and Memphis got the notion he was doing so to chase away a smile from beneath his scarf. "I do not think that phrase means what you think it means," he offered, and with that, he made his exit.

Memphis turned beet red and shoved his hands into his duster's pockets after Sophie beamed him an example of its proper usage.

"And your pronunciation could use some work besides," Crow added smugly.

"Least I got the 'three' part right."

"Hey, Crow."

Some part of his partner must have heard him, for a heavy snore resounded from beneath his wide-brimmed hat.

"Birdbrain!"

Crow jerked awake, feet clumsily clattering over the table they had rested on, his hat falling from his face to the floor.

"What? What is it? Deadbeat's up?" he asked, squinting over in Memphis's direction without really seeing.

"Nah, just gettin' dark."

Crow rubbed his eyes with one arm and extended the other as he stretched out in his chair. He smacked his lips a couple times to alleviate the dryness before looking out the window into darkness.

"So it is. I'll rouse him in a minute." He picked up his hat and laid it over his face again, folding his hands across his chest as he leaned back.

"Crow?"

"Mm."

"Ya think Doc's one of them ninjas?"

Crow laughed sluggishly into his hat. "It's certainly possible."

"Come on," said Memphis, drawing up a chair. He turned it backwards and sat with his legs to either side, folding his arms over the rail. "You're always laughin', but we're in ninja country, ya know? There's a history here. I mean, I thought the whole thing was just a gimmick at first, but there's this town in Johto. Folks call it 'home of the ninja,' and it's right over there, right on the other side of those mountains." He looked over in the general direction of Mount Silver. "This Fūma business can't be that hard to believe, not in a place like this."

"I suppose it's not." Crow lifted his hat with a sigh and sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "But that is funny in itself, wouldn't you say? That something so absurd could actually be feasible. Oh, what I would give to see the Milieu clash with knights of yore."

"Now that would be a sight to see." Memphis let his head fall down into the cradle of his forearms. "Something's been eatin' me awhile, though. If Doc is a ninja, how do we know he's not workin' with Fūma?"

"You sound just as paranoid as he does," Crow laughed. "Knowing him, we won't find out until it's already too late." He stood up lazily and trudged on over to the inner door, his languid lumbering exaggerated by his lanky frame. "Take your own advice, eh? Keep your wits about you, but keep going nonetheless. It's all any of us can do."

"Guess you're right."

"They were your words, fool." Crow rapped on the door with his knuckles. "Gaspard!" he called, "we are on the clock. Bon appétit!"

"Then I'm right and you're derivative." Memphis got up from his chair and knelt down by the table under which his Sandslash lay, still curled on its side in a dead sleep, and gingerly reached forth to land a few broad slaps upon its unprotected stomach. "Wake up, partner. Eggs and bacon."

The creature's straining squeak was complemented by the scratching of its spines as it stretched out against the wood and came to rest, draping one of its heavy claws over Memphis's hand tenderly. Sniffing the air and blinking its beady black eyes, it let out a second squeak that undulated downwards, disappointed to detect no eggs and bacon whatsoever.

"I know, I know. Better me than Daichi, though."

As if on cue, an awful shriek resounded from the inner room, followed by Crow's laughter and faint honking from outside the window.

"That never gets old," said Crow as he opened up the door and went inside to brief their new companion.

Moments later, he returned with a short, pale man in tow who looked about as bad as Memphis had expected, despite not actually being scratched. His suit was crumpled and his dark mop of hair a frayed and oily mess. The bags beneath his glassy eyes were noticeably blackened, even in the darkness of the moonlit cabin, and he seemed to shiver every now and then as if he'd recently been dragged out of a freezing pond and hadn't quite warmed up yet.

"Cheese and rice, the man looks dead, Crow."

"Y-you're with him?" asked Daichi without moving, staring straight into Memphis's eyes. He sounded a lot younger than he looked, and there was a note of anticipation in his tremulous voice that communicated a mix of hope and terror.

"That's right, boy. They call me Memphis." He spoke slowly, trying to come off as reassuringly as possible. "We're gonna getcha someplace safe tonight. Okay?"

Daichi nodded almost imperceptibly before Crow shoved him forward, urging him to speak.

"Now you quit that, Birdbrain!" chastised Memphis. Crow just laughed. "It's okay, boy. Gonna be a long walk. Are you ready now?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess," said Daichi.

"There's that Deadbeat spirit!" said Crow, putting on his hat and strolling out into the wood.

Memphis got up to hold the door open, motioning Daichi to follow Crow. "I hope you never have to see this place again, boy," he admitted. "Truly do."

"S-same here."