Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon and am in no way affiliated with the various parties who do.


Alex sat at the counter, impatiently waiting for the barman to serve him. He needed a drink to clear his head.

After what seemed like a century, the barman finally turned to him.

"Well, can I help you?" he asked, a little rude. The boy sitting in the stool opposite him was obviously underage. He would have to speak to the manager about getting a more observant bouncer.

Alex scowled. He was at The Ursaring, an infamous underworld bar. All the staff and regular patrons knew who he was and what he did. Clearly, this was a new barman.

"I would like a vodka," he said.

The barman gave an involuntary shiver. Outwardly, the boy appeared to be a completely normal teenager. He wore a steel blue sport jacket over a dark green t-shirt, worn blue jeans, and similarly worn tennis shoes. His brown hair was grown absurdly long in the style of the present time; in the back it was almost three-quarters of the way down his neck, and in front it beginning to brush his eyebrows. Completely normal.

"Look, kid. I don't know what you're trying to pull, but it's quite clear that you are underage. Get out now, or I'll have you thrown out," he said forcefully.

Alex's eyes hardened into a glare. "Do you know what I do?" he asked.

The barman shivered again. The voice- it was cold, distant monotone. He had never heard a voice that sounded like that. But he wasn't about to be intimidated by some teenage punk. He glanced over to Charlie, the bouncer, who had heard their entire exchange. But for some reason, Charlie was staring at the boy with an expression that looked almost like fear. Then, the barman took time give the boy a closer examination, and he noticed something odd: rows and rows of 1's and 0's adorned the boy's t-shirt.

"Oh, shit!" the barman thought. "It's HIM!" A look of sheer terror had placed itself on his face.

"I take it you have finally taken the time to give me a closer look," said Alex. "When I first visited this bar, a man laughed at me and called me a 'nerd' for wearing a t-shirt that was covered with binary. Now, no one laughs."

The barman felt a drop of sweat slide down the back of his neck. He had heard the story of what happened to the man. The man had woken up the next day to find out that all electronic records of his existence had been deleted. And 'all' meant all; his birth certificate, his trainer registration, his bank account… all were gone. It was as if he never existed in the first place.

"But… you're underage…," whimpered the barman, a last pathetic attempt.

"Sir, in case you haven't noticed by now, this is an infamous underworld bar. Lots of illegal dealings occur here," Alex said, sounding like a teacher giving a lecture. "I do illegal things, too. A lot more illegal than underage drinking."

"Sorry… sir," the barman whimpered. "I'll get you some vodka now."

"I'm sorry, but you have held me up for too long. I'm afraid that drink will have to wait until my next visit," Alex said as he glanced over the barman's shoulder at the clock. And without further ceremony, he walked out of The Ursaring, which brought an audible sigh of relief from the barman.


Alex sat on a bench in the city's park, staring up into the moon. He hated having to put on the 'sinister' disguise when he visited the bar, but it was necessary if he was to be respected during his visits. He never really liked going to The Ursaring, but it was the only bar in Lilycove City where a teenager (if he/she was a respected criminal, that is) could get a drink without being kicked out.

Alex thought back to his dream from last night. He didn't dream too often, and when he did, it was never in such great detail. Perhaps his conscience was the cause; it had probably decided to torment him for what he learned yesterday when he read that Operations file.

But it wasn't his fault that May and Max Maple had gotten on Team Aqua's bad side, was it?

No, answered his conscience, but it's your fault for being part of Team Aqua in the first place.

But he wasn't part of Operations, the ones who actually do the things Team Aqua is known for: kidnapping, stealing, and even the occasional murder.

Maybe not, but that doesn't change the fact that you are still part of the organization that does those things.

But he had known Team Aqua did those things since before he joined. Why is he only feeling so guilty about it now?

Maybe it had something to do with that file you read.

But the only reason he clicked on the file was because a hacker had tried to steal it.

So what? You still read it.

But why was he feeling guilty just from reading a file?

Maybe it's because two people that are about as old as you are probably being tortured right now.

But why would Team Aqua want to interrogate them in the first place?

Find out for yourself. But if you want to get rid of the guilt, you know what you must do.

He stood up from the bench. He knew what he was going to do.


The elevator's doors slid open slowly, opening to a gloomy corridor. The prison level. Alex hated it. The last time he'd been here was to supervise the interrogation of one of Team Magma's hackers. It was not an experience he wanted to remember.

A guard greeted him as he stepped out of the elevator.

"What can I do for you, sir?"

Sir. One of the perks of being high up in Team Aqua. "I would like to interrogate the prisoners May Maple and Max Maple."

"And what is the purpose of this interrogation?" asked the guard, suspicious. Techies didn't normally do interrogations. They tended to avoid this floor at all costs.

"Opreations has requested that I hack into the boy's Pokenav and the girl's Poketch. I have successfully done so, but the information was encrypted in a way that isn't normally done. I would like to interrogate to discern where they got this encryption from. Should I find out, it could be extremely useful in hacking devices that are similarly encrypted," he lied.

The guard was in way over his head. He didn't even know what encryption was. But he did know that Alexander Flare was well-liked by Archie, and that was all the authorization he needed.

"I see," the guard said, which was clearly a lie. "Right this way, sir."

He led Alex down the hallway.


Five minutes later, Alex sat in the interrogation chamber. It was a not very well lit; the only light source was an incandescent bulb that threatened to die at any moment. The chamber appeared to be empty except for a solid steel table and the three chairs he had the guards bring in. However, Alex knew that there were plenty of bugs and cameras hidden throughout the room.

A few minutes later, the door opened, and guards dragged in May and Max. May seemed to have made no effort to resist, as if she was already resigned to her fate. Max, on the other hand, needed three guards to drag him in, and even then they were getting repeatedly punched and kicked.

The guards threw both of them unceremoniously to the floor, and then marched out. May and Max slowly picked themselves up. Alex got his first good look at them, and his heart leapt into his throat.

Their clothes were in tatters; their faces were bruised and battered; they looked starved. But still, there seemed to be a spark of defiance left in them.

"Leave us alone," said May weakly as her and Max backed into a corner of the room.

Alex didn't respond to her; instead, he spoke to the guards who were surely listening in on what was going on.

"Guards, leave us. Archie has ordered that I'm to carry out this interrogation alone, without anyone else eavesdropping," he said, once again lying. But the guards didn't know that.

He held up hand to tell May and Max to be silent. He waited another minute to be sure the guards were gone, and then he spoke, but this time in a normal voice, not in the cold monotone he usually used when around others.

"So, are you two May and Max Maple?" he asked. He knew it was a stupid question, but he needed something to start the conversation with.

"What's it to you?!" yelled Max defiantly. May only nodded.

"I only wanted to be sure that the computer records were correct."

"Is that all we are, then?! Records in a computer?!" Max shot back. "Look at you! You're the only a little older than me, and probably the same age as my sister! How can you be so heartless?!"

Alex sat still, stunned. He didn't know how to respond. He only wanted to come down so he could talk to both of them, but already it seemed that Max hated him.

Max decided to take Alex's silence as an answer. "So now what are you going to do to us? Some new method of torture, huh?"

"Who said I was going to torture either of you?" Alex said quietly.

"Well, that's what you must be here for! You're a member of Team Aqua!" shouted Max as he jabbed an accusing finger in Alex's direction.

"Not for much longer," Alex whispered resignedly.

"Huh?!"

"I said, not for much longer," said Alex, more loudly this time.

"What do you mean, not for much longer?" asked May quietly, speaking for the first time.

"I'm going to help you two escape."

Both May and Max's eyes widened. "Wait, why are you going to help us? You're a bad guy! You're part of Team Aqua! You're part of the group that kidnapped us!" accused Max.

Alex sighed. "I know. I feel guilty for exactly that reason."

"How can we trust you? For all we know, this is probably some new trick they're playing on us!"

"I think we should trust him," said May quietly.

"Why should we trust him? He's a criminal!" said Max.

Alex didn't say a word. Instead, he withdrew from his pocket nine Poke Balls, handing six of them to May and three of them to Max.

"Are these… our Pokemon?" whispered an awed Max.

"Yes. If you don't trust me, you may call out your Pokemon right now, have them attack me, and then both of you may try your hand at escaping," said Alex as he closed his eyes, expecting to be hit by an attack at any moment.

He waited a full minute, but to his surprise, he hadn't felt any pain. He cautiously opened his eyes to find May and Max smiling at him.

"What? Aren't you going to have your Pokemon kill me?" he asked, confused.

"No. Since you gave us our Pokemon without knowing if we trusted you first, you must be either really stupid or really sincere about helping us escape," said Max.

"I hope it's the second one," said May, and she giggled.

"So when do we escape?"

Suddenly, the lone light bulb in the room flickered and went out, as did all of the other electrical devices in the building.

"Right now," answered Alex as he pulled a flashlight out of his pocket.