Chapter 4

"Alright, any questions, Caprico?" Raquaza finished. She sat back in her usual work desk and waved her Charmeleon to fetch her some papers.

Caprico shook his blue head slowly. He had enjoyed the flight over to the secret lair, even though he was blindfolded the whole time. He had flown on Pecha's back, which was very spikey and uncomfortable. But the feeling of flight had been worth it. Now the young boy sat in a chair across from this mysterious helmeted woman. She had just told him his assignment and all the work involved in it. not only that, but she had told the boy about his sister and what she really did in her time away from New Bark.

"Very well then, welcome to the team. Your codename will now be Gible, named after a small dragon-type Pokémon found in the Sinnoh region. Are you comfortable with that codename?" Raquaza asked the new codenamed Gible.

Caprico frowned. "It sounds really weird to call me that. Why can't I be called Suicunne or Lugia or something?"

"Every captain on my team is codenamed after a dragon-type Pokémon. My other captains are called; Dragonite, Garchomp, Kingdra, Flygon, Salamence, Latios, and Latias- your sister's name." Raquaza pointed to herself. "And I am the leader, and I call myself Raquaza, the ozone protector. Do you know a better dragon-type to go by?"

Caprico shook his head. The only dragon types he knew of were Dragonite and its prior evolved forms. He didn't like to be called Dratini or Dragonair, they sounded girly. "Gible will do, I guess." He consented.

"Good, you may have your Pokégear back. My number, as well as my captains' numbers, is in there. Now, before I start treating you like a well-weathered captain, I will introduce your partner to you by phone. After that, you will undergo training with Garchomp; he's the best combatant here." Raquaza smiled under her helmet and picked up the papers Charmeleon had fetched for her. "Just sign here and your family arrangements will be made. And your well-being will be monitored by us and sent to your family. I personally will see to this."

Caprico gave a huge intake of breath. He was taking his sister's place in a strange organization and pretty much running away from home. How would his parents react? What about his little baby sister? "Will my parents be ok, and not worried about me? Can I see them now and again?"

"Of course, you can visit anytime that you are not occupied." Raquaza said kindly and held out the ball-point pen. "And I will not give you the same assignment I gave your sister; I will look out for you."

Caprico didn't like this situation much, but could he just say no? That wasn't an option! If he trained well enough, then he might be able to find and help his sister! She had helped his parents raise him and she loved him even though he was nearly ten years younger. Now it was his turn to help her out! I'm coming, Uchiha! He thought as he scribbled his name.

The woman in green smiled gently and took the paper and pen back to the fire and dragon-like Pokémon. She gave it instructions and it scurried off with a "Char". She leaned her head on her wrist and pointed to her desk-top Pokénav. "Press '13' for your new partner. She's on speed dial."

Codename Gible picked up the receiver and dialed '13'. The ring went on and off for several times. Caprico gave a nervous glance at Raquaza. "I think it won't answer. It's hit the tenth ring…"

The woman in green smiled eerily, "It will pick up."

She was right; the phone clicked on. "Hello?" Caprico tried to start conversation. The young boy heard a rustling sound and faraway voices. "HELLO?" he asked louder.

"What the crap? I didn't answer that!" the faraway voice grumbled. A loud rustling noise ensued and a click was heard. "Good, now it's silent," said the girl voice.

"I'm still here…" Caprico said carefully.

"What? I just hung up the call!" the voice grumbled. The beeps sounded, but somehow the call continued. "Are you still there, little boy calling my phone in a creepy way?" she demanded.

Raquaza held out her hand and Caprico/Gible gave her the receiver happily.

"Hello, Vekra. This is your boss, Raquaza." The woman said silkily.

Caprico leaned closer to catch the dialogue. Raquaza smiled at his curiosity and turned the call on speaker phone.

"Oh crap, you again? Look, I get enough creepy letters, why can't you just get out of my life?" the beeping sound came again; she was trying to end the call.

"Vekra, I have seen you improve slightly. You are certainly a formidable trainer and I want you in my close circle of captains. Granted, you'd make the number rise to eight, but I'm willing to take on a promising trainer as a captain." Raquaza praised tactfully.

"Wait, you mean you already heard about me beating Jaylon?" the female voice went from hostile to scared. "But that was less than five minutes ago!"

The woman showed surprise on her face, but not in her voice. "Ah, so you defeated your teammate, or should I say former teammate?"

"Shut up, I got a new partner, so what do you want from me now?" the girl shouted back: no longer afraid.

Raquaza shook her head and gave a small laugh. "I already told you; I want you as a close working captain. If you accept, then I will send Latios out to pick you up and bring you here to meet Gible. If you don't want to come, then I suppose that I can take Jaylon on as my new captain."

"I can see through your tricks, and I'm not going to fall for them! I don't want your crummy captain's position!"

"You want to become a police, I presume?" the woman smiled and drummed her nails on the table. When she was answered by silence, Raquaza continued, "My organization is not made of officers. They are more like Central Intelligence Agency. They don't respond to trouble, they prevent it. They are a notch higher then officers like Jenny. Are you still interested?"

"Do I have to bring my current partner?" whispered the girl back through the phone.

"Do you want to?"

"No! Call that Latios guy and find me around the Winstrate home or the desert." The phone beeped again, but the call failed to terminate.

"Ok, thank you for trusting me, Vekra." Raquaza hung up the phone and this time, the call ended. Maybe the call can only be canceled by that one phone. With that, the woman in green stood up to her full height and held out her hand in a beckoning gesture. "Now that we have your partner set up, I need you sized for cosplay. You only need to wear it for official business. Come with me, Gible."

Caprico accepted her hand and followed her down the dark hallway. The only speck of light was cast by the faithful Charmeleon's tail. The blue haired boy certainly felt uneasy about this whole thing and the fact that his teammate was a jerk. But maybe things could work out for the better. Just maybe…