Hey guys,

What's been going on? I know I haven't exactly been writing this in like... a year, but hey, things can change, right? I'm going to try to give this another shot and I'm hoping to get farther than you know... two chapters and then the third coming out a year later. But hey, let's hope that this time I'll have a bit more inspiration driving me forward to want to finish this stuff... right? Yeah, I'm going to do my best and try to post more and hopefully get some readers interested in it. Yeah, let's hope. But yep, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll see all of you soon!

xKiha

That night was difficult, mostly because nothing about it felt right. I knew in the back of my mind that I wasn't supposed to be here, in some warm bed in a Pokemon Center. Not when this was something that was going against every rule that we had in the Rockets. You don't get these kinds of luxuries, you get a cold cot in a crammed room of nine other freezing men and you hope that you don't wake up with a bullet in your brain from a cop raid. So yeah... sleeping wasn't exactly something that was going to easy, but after laying in bed by myself for a few hours, I managed to pass out and get three hours of shut eye.

And of course, the only reason why I only got three hours instead of the desired twelve was because of the knocking that beat against my door.

"Travis! Come on!" It was Nia, not that I was surprised thanks to Jan's overall dislike of me. "We have to get up now! If you sleep any longer, we're gonna leave before you get a chance to eat!"

Another concept that didn't exactly make sense to me, because when you're running with the big Houndoom, you only eat when you've done a job the boss is proud of you for. Eating because you could, that wasn't something that sounded like I could be a part of.

I groaned dramatically, hearing Nia sigh in frustration from the other end of the door. "I know you're awake, Travis... Are you going to come and eat with us or are you just going to ignore me?"

"Ugh, I'll be down there in a minute, just save me a seat or something." I mumbled. No point in looking a gift Ponyta in the mouth, rubbing my face and standing myself up. I wasn't looking forward to eating with them, because of how awkward I was sure it would turn out to be, but I couldn't remember the last time I was offered to eat however much I wanted instead of whatever the boss for that moment was willing to fork over just to keep me alive.

I pulled on my close, noticing the mirror in the room and taking a minute to stare at my reflection while buttoning my shirt up. I ran my right index finger against my ribs, noticing just how obvious they were, probably because of Nia making that clear yesterday. Arceus, I guess I did look kind of shitty in retrospect. Not that that gave her an excuse to tell me that to my face or anything...

But, while walking down the hallway, I felt something grab my arm. Immediately I jerked around, ready to do whatever necessary to get whatever it was to let me go.

"H-Hey!" A kind of shady looking man let go of my arm at once, trying to cover his own face when he noticed that I was about ready to punch him. "I'm not gonna hurt you! I wanted to strike a deal with you!"

"Strike a deal...?" I frowned, folding my arms across my chest to show the punk that I wasn't playing any games with him. "What are you talking about?"

"I have this rare Pokemon with me!" He shouted, fumbling through his bag and pulling out an Ultra Ball. "It's a beast of catastrophic proportions. A sea beast that had sunken ships and devastated lands. A true monster... that rivals even Arceus himself!"

I couldn't stop from smiling a little bit, not when all I could see was a powerful monster taking out Nia and Jan's entire teams without batting an eyelash. It would be too good, to break away from them by proving that I was stronger than them instead of some little Lillipup that they could drag on a rope. "How much are ya askin' for it?"

"I don't know... Maybe for a friend, I'll cut you a deal and drop the price to fifty." He said, giving me an honest enough looking smile. "But you've got to promise me that you will make sure you raise this beast carefully, otherwise you could bring about the destruction of half of Kanto."

I wasn't exactly listening to him anymore, digging into my back pocket and pulling out the money I hadn't told Nia about. Hey, why tell her the truth when I could have her do things for me? I worked hard for my money, she probably just got hers from Mommy and Daddy. I pulled out the only wad of cash I had, flipping through the bills and handing him fifty of the sixty I had.

"Pleasure doing business with a man that really understands when he's got a real deal on his hands." The man replied, pocketing my cash and handing me the Ultra Ball. "Just be careful when you release it, okay? Everything will be going uphill from there, my friend, I can feel it."

I wasn't listening again, grabbing my new beast and heading downstairs, tucking the Pokeball into my bag.

Downstairs sat Nia and Jan at a table in what I'd assume was the dining hall, sitting opposite of one another. They didn't seem to be talking much though, just kind of generic small talk in between bites of their meals.

I sat myself down next to Nia, trying to ignore the dirty look that I got from Jan and instead meeting her blue eyes. "What took you so long?" She asked, setting down her fork.

"Oh, it's nothing." It wasn't time to tell them about what I had, shrugging my shoulders and leaning back in my chair. "Unless you want the gory details that is." I said jokingly.

Seeing the lack of amusement on Nia's face made that all worth it. She looked away from me. "Well, if you're hungry, you have to eat now and hurry up, because we're going to get going."

"Alright, alright." I said, waving her off and standing up. "I'll eat, I'll eat, just calm down."

.

.

.

"Jeez... I didn't think you'd put that much away."

I just rolled my eyes as the three of us left the Center, Nia holding that same damn Eevee close to her chest while making statements about how surprised she was that I went a bit nuts and ate what I guess is over the norm for a guy my height. I guess I did eat a little... much, but I hadn't had more than a crust of bread in over a week, so this was kinda bound to happen.

But hey, if she was gonna bitch about seeing my ribs, why the hell would she complain if I put a bit of meat on my bones? Hypocrite.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." I said, looking ahead to see the wide mouthed entrance to Dark Cave in front of us. "So we're really going to go into there, just like that?"

"We have to." Jan shrugged. "Otherwise, there is no way we can get to Lavender Town."

It was funny, hearing about Lavender almost calmed me down. Going back there, that would be much appreciated.

"And? You got a plan?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah, the plan is to go through the cave and then get to Lavender town." Nia said, walking into the cave before either of us could get a word out to tell her otherwise. Not that this was some horrible development or anything, since Jan just kinda followed behind her right away like she was the boss here or something.

I just grit my teeth, knowing there wasn't really another choice, instead following behind the both of them and pretending like this was a good idea that they were having here.

And surprise surprise, it was just as dark in there as the name suggested. I held my hand out in front of my face, waving it and everything, but I couldn't see it for the life of me, just blackness.

"Man... Maybe I should have picked Charmander." Nia groaned, sounding like she was further out than I was. "I've got nothing to help us out."

Huh, so she picked either Squirtle or Bulbasaur for her starter, not that that was shocking or anything. I couldn't imagine Nia with some huge Charizard, especially because that power shouldn't be handed to anybody. I set my hand in my bag, digging around for something to help us out.

"Hey guys," Bingo, I found what I was looking for. "Look, I know flash."

With that, I flipped on my flashlight, getting both Nia and Jan to turn and look at me in surprise, Jan's eyes flickering with suspicion and Nia's melting into gratitude. "Where did you get that?"

"A Rocket's always prepared for hell." I replied, seeing Jan roll his eyes, obviously still mad about this whole situation. "Hey, I saw that, at least I'm actually helping here!"

Jan wasn't listening to me, Nia looking from one of us to the other before walking closer to Jan and reassuringly touching his arm. He immediately softened up when she did that. "Look, let's just get going." He said, not looking back at me.

Jan just started walking, ignoring me heading ahead, staying where my flashlight's light could help him but making sure that I couldn't see his face. Nia slowed down, looking back to me every once in a while.

"I'm not going anywhere," I groaned. "I know you'd hunt me down if I did."

"I'm not worried about that." She said, but looked away when she said that, dirty liar. "I just... Jan's being a bit stubborn, but he doesn't hate you. He's worried that you're not going to be a good person, that you're going to take off the moment we give you a chance and you'll never be back."

He was smart, but the look in her eyes made me stop for a minute and think about it. "Well, for now at least I-"

I never got to finish that, not when Nia's little Eevee yelped, causing us both to stop and look at him before a Pokemon's attack hitting one of the stalactites, causing it to fall right where Nia and I were about to step. She stood there frozen for a moment, taking a step away and looking down at the fluffy creature in her arms. "Nova... you just..."

"What the hell caused that!" I shouted, looking around and then noticing Jan pointing to a Krabby, the thing foaming at the mouth and holding out its claws. It was almost pitiful, but Jan was reaching for a Pokeball.

"He's gonna catch it?" I muttered.

"Probably." Nia said, shrugging. "He didn't pick Squirtle, so having a water type would be really helpful."

I slumped back, leaning against a cave wall. "Well, he better hurry up."

.

.

.

Okay, so I'm sure it didn't actually take Jan an hour to catch the stupid crab, but it felt like that. Nia said something dumb to try and congratulate him and then we just started walking again.

"Uh... do you see that?"

I paused when I noticed Jan pointing at a light over in the distance before it was flashed right in our eyes, practically making me drop the flashlight when whatever that was tried to blind me.

"O-Other trainers!" A voice shouted, that blinding light getting closer and closer while my cowardly team stepped closer to me for protection or something. "It's time for a battle!"

Soon enough, we were face to face with some pasty miner kid, with the head lamp and everything as he pulled out a Pokeball. "Come on! Battling in the darkness by flashlight... light? Yeah, by flashlight light, it'll be a battle to remember! You would be a fool to turn me down!"

"It'll be something all right." I said, reaching into my bag for my new Ultra Ball. "Because I'll be the one to battle you."

"But I thought you gave your only Pokemon to that Sandshrew lady!" Jan hissed. "What game are you trying to pull?"

"Dude, I bought a Pokemon today, I'm not playin'." I said, sticking my tongue out. "I bought a Pokemon that could rival Arceus itself! A beast that the seas fear just because of how much of a grip he has on them!"

"Can you just send it out...?" The miner kid muttered, having already sent out a Golbat of his own.

"Alright, but it's your funeral." I said, gripping the powerful creature in my hand. "Come on out... Leviathan!" Hey, the beast needed a name that was worthy of who it really was. Nova the Eevee, Gash the Krabby, psh, you need to give your monsters names that suit them. Monster worthy names.

The ball exploded onto the ground, forming into the beast that I spent almost all of the money on.

And there it was... a noble creature.

A noble creature that was flopping on the cave ground.

A noble creature that looked a lot like a Magikarp.

The only sound I could hear was Jan and the miner kid bursting into laughter, that and the sound of my own ears practically steaming with rage. This could not be happening, there's no way that I was stupid enough to fall for the biggest and oldest trick in the entire book. This had to be some kind of mistake! I didn't just spend almost all of my savings on a fucking Magikarp!

"He was just kidding, of course." Nia's nervous laughter filled the room, elbowing me so I could move out of the way and return the useless fish Pokemon. "I'll battle you, if it'll make you happy."

"Yeah, sure, don't care. Just battle me!"

Nia shot a glare at me, looking at the Eevee in her arms and sighing. "Here, take him, okay?" Plopping the useless little normal type in my arms before I could really object. "Just until I finish up here."

"Uh... Kay." I muttered, seeing him squirm in my arms, whimpering like I had just killed his parents or something. All the while Nia reached for a Pokeball on her belt, selecting the one that rested on her hip. "Alright, Shion, come on out!"

And with that, it became clear that Nia had picked the Squirtle. So at least her taste in Pokemon didn't suck, since she was smart enough to not pick the grass type. The Wartortle that stood in front of her giving off a roar of its own, stomping its feet against the ground.

"Huh... I was kinda hoping for something a bit different." The miner kid said. "But I guess not, always people and their starter Pokemon. Well, except for Magikarp kid over there."

"Hey!" I shouted, feeling Nova flinch in my arms and begin to shake thanks to my yelling. "Oh... hey, it's fine dude... I'm not going to, you know, hurt you." Not that he probably understood all of that, but I figured I would at least try.

"Wing Attack!"

I turned my attention back to the battle, where the Golbat was preparing some kinds of wind tornadoes to shoot at Nia's starter.

"Rapid Spin!"

But I guess that wasn't going to work, the Wartortle popping into his shell and beginning to spin around, shooting forward like some kind of big ass bullet and smashing into the bat thing, the both of them hitting the wall as the Golbat released a shout of utter pain. They both then smashed into the ground, Shion popping out of his shell like nothing had happened at all while the Golbat struggled to get back into the air.

"Wha? Why would you do that!?" The miner shouted. "You actually sent your Wartortle into the air! Water types can't use Fly!"

Nia only shook her head, not looking that amused, not that I could blame her, this guy looked like kind of a dumbass. "Ice Beam!"

"Wait what!?"

Before the miner kid could shout about this, a powerful beam of ice shot from the mouth of Nia's Wartortle, striking the wounded Golbat before it could dodge and causing it to fall over and hit the ground.

"No! How could you!" He shouted, clearly never having heard of an Ice Heal as he rushed over to his Golbat. "Just get out of here! How could you freeze my poor beautiful Golbat!"

Okay, this kid needed some help, Nia looking over to Jan who just kind of shrugged about it. "I guess we should go..."

"Yeah, sounds good." Nia mumbled, forcing a smile before returning her Wartortle. "I guess we'll be on our way." The three of us stepping over the freaking out kid and just kinda heading out on our way.

"Do you think he's gonna be okay?" Nia whispered, taking Nova out of my arms, something he seemed pretty damn happy about. "I really don't think he understood what being frozen meant."

"He'll be fine." I snickered. "Trainer's gotta learn eventually."

"Yeah, we can't just waste our time trying to teach him about status effects." Jan shrugged. "We gotta get out of here first."

I was kinda stunned that he agreed with me, but I wasn't going to press that, just flashing the light ahead as the three of us wandered through the last stretch of the cave. Every once in a while, Nia would just kinda turn her head back and look at me. I knew she didn't completely trust me, but that wasn't the biggest problem I had here.

"Did you really spend a lot of money on a Magikarp?" She muttered, looking at me with concern that only came off as annoying for me.

"Yeah, I did and if you would be so nice, let's not fucking talk about it any more." I muttered, folding my arms across my chest. "It's not exactly something I want to talk about, if you catch my drift."

"I wasn't going to make fun of you, you know." She said, shaking her head. "I was gonna say that I felt bad... I mean, they teach most trainers how to spot a guy that's going to dupe you into buying a Pokemon that's not good in battle. But I guess nobody taught you that, or at least nobody cared enough to want to teach you that."

I was a little surprised by this, the look in her eyes actually kind of sympathetic. But I didn't need some girl's sympathy, I was perfectly fine. "Yeah, well, when you grow up in the Rockets, nobody exactly gives a shit about you. You do your job, they'll keep you around, you fail at your job and they'll leave ya for dead."

"I'm so sorry." She said, slowing down so we could walk side by side. "You know, if you let us in, we'll show you that not everybody works like the Rockets do. We would love to be your friends, if you would look at us differently than you did the Rockets."

"It's not easy." I muttered, clenching my hands into tight fists. "You wouldn't get it, Nia, you never could. This isn't something you can run from."

"And why not?"

I swallowed my words, swallowed the fact that deep down I was kind of afraid of all those people that I had called my friends and family. She didn't need to know the truth, she only needed to know what would shut her up. "Because, once they've got a grip on you, the Rockets never let you go. You're a piece and they own and what can you do... Nothing but do what your told and pretend none of it bothers you."

"Travis..."

"You can pretend that you and Jan can help me, that you can somehow get me out of the Rockets, turn me into a trainer and all of us can live happily ever after, but that's not the real world. In the real world, you two eventually are going to have to watch me leave."

"But do you want to go back?" Nia asked, reaching forward to touch my arm. Her thin fingers were surprisingly warm, blue eyes wide with concern. "If you leave, is it going to be because you want to leave?"

No.

No it wasn't.

"I don't know." I said, looking at her with a glare. "But I guess we're going to have to find out, aren't we?"

Nia sighed, shaking her head as she walked ahead, leaving me at the rear.

I knew even if I tried to tell her the truth about all of this, that she wouldn't understand. Nobody does, not unless you've been turned into a tool and nothing but a tool by the only job you've ever known. It's nothing I wanted to do, but it's all I've ever known.

But I knew that if I had a choice, I'd never really go back to them.

But I didn't have that choice.