Harry was taking a bath while I watched television in our room. It was only a few days that we've arrived here from Viridian. We didn't have any Pokémon on us, so all we could do is get a part time job. And that's only for money to buy. That's food. That's why this Pokémon Center was a blessing. We were able to spend as much time as we could in here. When I bought our flights here, I also had to get fake Trainer IDs for the both of us. Back in Viridian I was always caring for Harry, Dad, and Theo. So I never got a chance to get Harry his own ID and his own Pokémon. That made me the worst, now that I look back. Harry was seven years old, and was already begging for a Pokémon and license.

And yet neither Dad nor Theo could get him one.

They were useless. Dad was a lost clause. Because of him, our family was in ruin. That's the reason I ran away to get Harry and I out of here. And Theo never amounted to anything either, even though he was the oldest out of Dad's three sons at seventeen. He was just as bad as he was. Except, he never once cared about us. Which already made me prefer him to Dad.

I didn't really pay attention to the game show we were watching. Harry always asked me for a lotto scratch card, and even though I've rejected it every time due to us needing grocery money, we watched the game shows that would make the bearer a millionaire, just for the fun of it.

But I didn't want that. I didn't want to have all that money. Of course, I didn't really want to be in poverty like right now either. But would winning that cash make us happy? I doubted it. What would happen if we were on that game show and won the roulette spin?

Most likely, I'd think back to us before, and kill myself from guilt. I'd die from the guilt of me not being able to help all those people that were like us. I paid attention back to the game show, where the contestant ended up spinning the "Zero".

"How lucky for him. Now he won't be able to get a free ride in life." I thought. Yeah, I was being sarcastic, and yeah, I was being hypocritical. I didn't care though. We were in the Pokémon Center for free from our fake Trainer IDs, sure, but we were comfortable. But compared to what we've been through, it's not much.

"Hey, Arick, aren't you gonna shower too?" asked Harry. I didn't even notice him getting out, dressed in his pajamas. He resembled me a lot more than he resembled Theo. Which I guess made him easier to care for. I ruffled his hair.

"Yeah, I'll be going now. Hope you saved some hot water." I replied. Times like this, I'd forget that the Pokémon Center wasn't our home.

I walked out of our room to the bathroom while Harry went back to watch the next game show that was on. Personally, I'd love to tell Harry about how much I hated these shows. But why would I want to put him down? After all, he's the biggest reason why I decided to run away.

The day after, I went to work as usual. It was just part time while Harry just stayed in the Pokémon Center or strolled around. On occasion, he'd tell me how he helped Nurse Joy run errands.

I would prefer that a lot more than working at the Pokémart. It was boring. If you asked anyone else working here with me, they'd say "the best part of the job is the different people we get as customers every day!" Or something similar. I found all the new Trainers coming here annoying, for one.

Though I'd never complain about the job that's keeping me afloat here.

Violet City was going to become mine and Harry's new hometown. I had to do what I can to preserve that. And that meant taking up on these Trainers requests.

A few days later, Harry and I are setting up a tent. I'm unemployed and homeless. He kept humming to himself while helping me pin down the corners, but I knew he was crushed when Nurse Joy got the phone call and promptly kick us out. And this is considering that Nurse Joy did that while looking seemingly happy. Now, Harry must have been crushed, but I was crushed and pissed.

Dad had called the police telling them of our escape, and how our licenses were fakes. Eventually word got around to Violet City. We then were promptly kicked out of the Pokémon Center by Nurse Joy for taking up a room that was for actual Trainers. I had an additional metaphorical kick in the chest when I found out that for lying about my age on the license, I was fired from the Pokémart. We bought ourselves a tent from my wide eyed co-workers with the money I earned at the same place I worked at. Luckily the guys there pretended not to know who I was. Not that I wanted them to.

So here we were. I sulked by myself that our plan didn't work. I stayed quiet when I heated up the canned food we stocked up on before. Harry noticed it while eating, though. We saved up cups and paper plates before we left the Center. Camping out near the bridge by the ponds ended up being a horrible idea. At night, we were attacked by swarms of bugs. They kept going at Harry too.

"I'm sorry, Harry." I said.

"It's not your fault, Arick… I… I'm having tons of fun camping out like this with you!" he exclaimed.

"I'm sorry Harry." I replied. I didn't even mean to reply. Just slipped out.

"It's not your fault…" he replied again. I kept quiet this time though. He stopped talking to, as we finished our meal in silence.

I did wonder to myself who had worse problems than we did now.

The next morning, hope came our way. We were woken up by a bald head, in traditional Buddhist robes. The funny part was that he was no older than me.

"Um, excuse me. But this area here is not for camping, misters. My Elder told me to ask you to please leave the premises if you're going to be staying here like this." He said.

By his clothes, the reference of an "Elder", and the place where we decided to set up our tent was, I concluded that this was a Sage from the Sprout Tower. It took me while to respond. If I wasn't just getting up, I would have not been so painfully honest.

"…Sorry, but me and my brother don't have anywhere to go. We're not Trainers, so we can't stay at the Center anymore. We'll leave right away."

He looked at me, then to Harry, who was just getting up. He was covered in a bunch of mosquito bites. Bugs always did prefer him to me. He was a much sweeter person than I was, I always thought.

"So you two have absolutely no place to go?" he asked. By now, the sunbeams were hitting his head at the angle to make him shine.

"No, we don't."

"Hm… Then I'll offer you a deal. I used to be in the same situation as you before, but the other Sages here found and took me in. And it's not everyday occurrence where we have a recently unoccupied room."

I looked at him strangely. Harry came up to us. The Sage greeted him formally before continuing his monologue.

"I think I could get you a room. But you'd have to come to work here as a Sage here." He looked at Harry. "I think he's a little too young to work, but he could definitely come live with you. We provide a room, food, water, and clothing. In turn, you can help us out do our Sage duties as one of us."

He stopped to see if I had any questions or concerns with the deal. But he just met my frozen face.

Yes. Totally, yes. This was the best thing that could happen. This Sage here became my savior. Since I said nothing, he just went along to finish.

"But our work is very, very straining, and if you don't have a soul to work with, I'd suggest just leaving and find a new tent space. But, I'll give you an hour to decide what you want to do. I'll come back for your answer alright? By the way, just call me Victor if you decide to stop by." he finished and walked away seeing my unopened mouth, leaving Harry and I time to recollect and come up with an answer.

"… What do you want to do, Arick?" Harry asked me. He looked so uncomfortable, trying not to scratch his bites, failing miserably.

Yes we were miserable. I would prefer all and everything to get away from this. I had my answer the moment the Sage began speaking.

Only twenty five minutes later, we showed up at the door to the Sprout Tower's entrance. We had our backpacks filled, our tent folded, and our food all cleaned up. Greeted by another Sage, I asked for Victor.

He looked very surprised to see us get ready so fast.

"Boy, you guys sure are fast. Have you thought about your decision, I'm guessing?"

And some robes and a shaved head later, I was ready to become the youngest Sage in the Tower at ten years old. My name is Arick.

Sebastian Eastwood was my target.

I had been positioned as the rookie officer at the Goldenrod Police Department for almost three weeks, and I was finally able to find somebody to catch and arrest.

The Violet City Police Department ended up transferring a few of us to Goldenrod to keep an eye on some delinquents that started popping up. They've been raiding a few places at a time, but apparently the citizens here were getting into a fret.

And I actually ended up liking Goldenrod City in the time I've been here. Nice and bustling. I'd love to take Harry out to see this place.

Anyway, back on topic. Ever since I saw this kid beat up a bunch of other boys and their Pokémon, concluding with taking pictures of them being unconscious, I decided to make him my first capture. Of course, his sister ended up coming to back him up, and I was presented with news that these boys were the ones that picked on him from the start.

But I knew that was just bologna. Obviously the sister was just covering for him. So I decided to make a search for this delinquent.

When I found his name being Sebastian Eastwood, I ended up trailing him to see what suspicious activities he was part of. I watched from afar at the rooftop of the Department Store eating with his Pokémon, waiting for him to meet up with someone, steal something, or whatever. I was planning on catching him today, and bringing in him to the station. That way I can start on the road to a promotion and a raise!

For Harry's sake.

But as soon as his Machop started a scene by running with somebody's purse, just as Douglass the Growlithe and I were so close to getting our culprit, the Gym Leader just had to get in the way.

Sebastian definitely made me feel uncomfortable when he started crying, but he couldn't fool me! I knew that he must have been a cold, remorseless guy. He just had to be. He fooled Whitney. And in the end, she called to complain about me. So I was told to lay off Sebastian, but I know I was right! And today I was going to catch him. Without a doubt. I learned the virtue of patience in Violet City. But I also learned that with hard work, I could feel like I'm living. That's right. If I worked hard and patiently, I would catch him. And start climbing the Police Department ladder.

For Harry's sake.

I heard my Pokégear go off early in the morning. So I answered while walking to National Park with Douglass in the cool crisp morning hours of the day. Douglass was the Growlithe I was assigned to, as every officer had one. From Violet City to here, he's always been ready at my command.

"Hello?"

"Arick, hey!" I heard Harry's voice pop up.

"Hey Harry, what's up. Did the guys try to shave your head again?"

"No! I told them that I like my hair… but I just wanted to know how you've been."

"Just fine, supposed to be patrolling National Park and the Global Terminal, but I'm on my way on catching somebody right now. How are things over there?" I knew that the Global Terminal could wait now. National Park was where Sebastian would spend all his mornings at.

"Oh, good luck! And for the record, Victor says hi. And Donald and the other guys are out doing errands for Elder Lee, but they told me to tell you that they're cheering you on!" He told me. That made me happy. No matter how far away we are, it's always nice to hear from them. Harry stayed behind in the room we had a few months ago before I decided to become an officer. I'd be paying rent though, but that's where this job comes in. From being a Sage, I learned how to eject conflict from myself. So by becoming an officer, I can start ejecting conflict from spreading in society. Elder Lee told me that when I grew in interest. And he told me that I could work and send minimum rent for Harry to stay here. They were always too good for me.

"Thanks, tell them that I'm always thinking of them, alright Harry?"

"Okay, got it. Good luck catching…." He started.

"Sebastian. Sebastian Eastwood. And thanks." I finished his sentence and hung up.

When I arrived at National Park, I saw a battle going on. It was my target battling with his sister that stopped me from apprehending him yesterday. I concealed myself behind some bushes to avoid detections. I wanted to see how this played out. I saw two Pokémon on the field, a Togetic and a Hitmonchan. I recognized the Hitmonchan from yesterday during the Department Store ordeal, but I assumed the Togetic was his sister's. It looked strong too.

"Mars; Mach Punch!" I saw Sebastian command.

"It's not going to work, Sebastian! We already went through this! Toby, Aerial Ace!" I heard her say. Obviously she had the advantage. The Hitmonchan threw very fast punch at it, but in the end it was the air assault that made the bigger impact.

"Rrg, Mars, Bullet Punch. Take him out!" Sebastian yelled again. Has he tried punching a bird before? Because I didn't see how move was going to be any different than this one.

"Aerial Ace, finish them off!"

Then end resulted in a win for the sister. The Togetic landed the hit flawlessly while the shaky Bullet Punch just couldn't find its mark on the target. I saw the difference in level too. The Hitmonchan was only half as strong as the Togetic, maybe a little more. The quick moves it used to avoid the punches weren't hard to pull off, but counter it with a strong Aerial Ace like that took a lot of hard training. I felt wowed.

Sebastian returned his Pokémon, while the Togetic went on the girl's shoulder, resting.

"There, we battled. You satisfied now?" she asked with her hands at her hips. So Sebastian was the one who challenged her.

"Yeah, yeah. Well, at least Fake Out managed to hit. I guess that's a start."

"No duh. Not many things can be prepared for that move. But overall, you need work on facing Flying types. I mean, you don't think that Fighting types are just weak to Psychic, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I didn't think we were that off though. We just needed a little more prepping. If Mars faced Jiggly, it would have been easier!" I heard him say.

And wow. This kid just liked using excuses!

"Well, it wouldn't have been much different. Jiggly's pretty airborne too. While you'd try to hitting her with wild punches, she would just float up, up, and away just use Hyper Voice. Rinse and repeat." I heard Sebastian groan.

Serves you right for making an excuse for losing like that!

"Alright, so I lost. So what's the errand you need me to do?" he asked. Errand, huh?

"I'll tell you at home alright? It's kinda complicated. But you're going to Violet City tomorrow, so have fun!" I heard her say mareepishly. Funny too. The sister might be more criminal than her brother. But the mention of Violet City got me curious. Douglass tried barking at a Ratatta, but I managed to return him before he could. After all, I didn't want my cover blown.

"Fine, but it better not involve me in any boy trouble, or I'm tell-"he began before sharply stopping.

I looked at where his attention was grabbed, and to my surprise, it was the band of boys from yesterday. And they were all out with their Pokémon. I saw Sebastian getting unnerved from a Caterpie.

"Sebastian, nothing personal, but we kinda want revenge and the like for yesterday." One of the boys said, and I wasn't surprised.

"Uh, if you guys want a battle, I'm open for it, but… I'm short a Pokémon. I'm sorry, Charles." He said casually, giving a glare to his sister. Another boy stood forward, and took out a Pokéball. There was a Sentret on his shoulder.

"Nah, they aren't going to battle. I am. I didn't get a chance to bring this Pokémon out before that Poliwag used Hypnosis. So I thought it'd be appropriate to introduce him in a fair battle." He explained. I saw Sebastian murmur to himself.

"Alright, but…"

I wanted to see this excuse.

"Um, I don't know your name, Sentret guy." He said weakly. I almost collapsed. The 'Sentret guy' looked offended, while some other boys giggled.

"Sander. " he replied. I saw Sebastian grin.

"Alright Sander. I wanted to thank you for sending me that Scyther that day. If I didn't have to spend a day running from a… B-Bug type, I wouldn't be here with anyone other than Mars, and without any Badges. So thanks." He said. He stuttered on the word Bug. Now I heard Sander laugh.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of Bug Pokémon now? Because I found this one in a neat little Sport Ball. And can you guess what was in it?" he said to himself, before throwing the ball, releasing the Pokémon inside.

It was green, had large scythes, and fierce eyes. I heard Sebastian hold in a shriek from the look on his face. The Scyther that was released look bloodthirsty to me.

"Watching this battle, Officer?"

"Yeah, this could get really go- wait what-"

Sebastian's sister was crouching right next to me.

"I saw you when Sebastian and I were battling. But wow, you're really stalking him!" she exclaimed lousily.

"I'm trying to catch a criminal, ma'am. Please do not interfere with my investigation." I responded, getting back to the battle. Sebastian sent out his Machop. Adonis was his name, I think. Isidora made a whimpered sound.

"I'm watching from here in case that Scyther ends up going haywire. I don't really like Bug Pokémon, though I think Sebastian's terrified of them even more than I am. I dunno why." She said. Interesting.

In the end, his Machop was taking Wing Attack after Wing Attack with no saving grace. He got a few Karate Chops in, but they were weak and ineffective.

"Adonis, come on, we can't let that thing beat us!" I heard Sebastian yell. His sister turned to me, her Togetic in her arms.

"You know, Sebastian isn't a bad person. He's trying to become strong. Find his inner strength or whatever Blackbelts train for. But his motive isn't power or general anarchy, so he's not one of the delinquents you're searching for, sorry."

She just struck me down with words. I couldn't say anything back. I stayed quiet, thinking to myself while watching the battle. Adonis the Machop was laid out on the ground, fainted, when Sebastian returned him. But Sebastian sent out his Poliwag after, pushing him just as hard with motivating words. And the Poliwag was fast too. A Hypnosis hit, and then it began to use a flurry of Water Gun at the unconscious Scyther.

It ended up going down afterward.

"See? He's not the type of person who would get into trouble just for nothing. I'm much worse than him." His sister finished, before getting up.

"Okay, so you guys can just go home now, we don't need any more fuss." She said. The other boys went up to Sentret guy (couldn't remember his name; he wasn't very unmemorable) to cheer him up. They all looked at Sebastian, and walked away. They didn't even look mad this time around.

Sebastian returned his Poliwag back into his ball, and put the Lure Ball away. After that he and his sister walked away out of National Park.

But I wasn't going to stop my prying. Not yet. If Sebastian wasn't part of the group of delinquents, I knew that he attracted trouble.

They went all the way to the Pokémon Center. Sebastian left all three of his Pokémon in Nurse Joy's care, while I saw Sentret guy hand in a Pokéball. His sister handed over her Togetic. While the Sentret guy went to meet up with the rest of the boys, Sebastian and his sister went into the Trainer's lounge. I rushed over after releasing Douglass out. There was yelling in there, probably caused by Sebastian. Of course then there was more screaming when I came in.

"D-D-Dog! Go-Go away! Shoo!" Sebastian's sister yelled at Douglass. In the background I heard Sebastian and another Trainer yelling at each other. The boy had black, rather long, messy hair, while wearing a teal trench coat.

"I already said that my Pokémon were with Nurse Joy, that's why I'm here, Psychic freak!"

"Why are you getting so rowdy? Why are you so easy to provoke, Blockhead?"

"Would it kill you to have some sort of emotion other than stinking arrogance for once?"

"Why, so I can stop thinking logically and end up like you?"

"Hey what's that supposed to mean?"

This argument was something that could only come out of a story. Name calling, really? That and Sebastian's sister yelling her vocal cords out at Douglass made this whole mess very uncomfortable.

But I was the one with the officer badge, right?

"Everyone be quiet!" Everyone turned to Nurse Joy. Yeah, she stopped everyone, not me. "Please, there are many Pokémon here that are resting, and they need quiet to recover! Please think about them before causing a scandal!" she exclaimed. And she was way more effective that I would have been. I returned Douglass, causing Sebastian's sister to calm down, but notice me.

"Hey, Officer, what are you doing here? I thought I told you that who you're looking for is not Sebastian!" she scolded me. And the funny part it I was right. Everywhere Sebastian went, trouble was stirred.

Her name was Isidora. Finally learned it. I had to introduce myself too. The four of us were very uncomfortably sitting in a table.

"So a Trainer, a Policeman, a Psychic, and a girl walk into a Pokémon Center" I heard Victor's voice say in my head. Only he would make a joke like that right now. Of course, I'd prefer a joke like that the awkward silence, which was conveniently broken by Sebastian. He turned to the Psychic, reaching for something in his pocket.

"You uh, dropped this before so here…" he paused for a second. "uh, Mark." He handed over what looked like a Trainer license.

"So you know my name now. Congrats." Mark said. He didn't look straight at Sebastian. That was odd. I heard Sebastian sigh. Isidora ended up making all of us sit in a table together to talk about what on earth happened to make all of us get on each other's nerves.

"Come on, I'm not letting any of you leave until this atmosphere stops being awkward and tense!" Isidora barked. I groaned a little.

"So, Blockhead, what are you doing here? Weren't you heading towards Ecruteak last time I saw you?" Mark asked. I guess Blockhead was term of affection.

"I live here, Psychic. I got my Fog Badge, and now I'm back." He looked at his sister. "But tomorrow I'm leaving for Violet City to do an errand and challenge the Gym." He finished.

"What a coincidence, I'm going there too. There are Psychic types around the Ruins of Alph, so why not?" he said, tauntingly. I felt the malice everywhere. But surprisingly, the tense atmosphere started to drop.

"Great, why don't you go together then? You're both Trainers, and I think that you two would make a great team." Isidora said. I didn't even notice the coffee she was holding. I wanted to ask if I could have some, since I needed some energy after this leeching conversation.

"I don't think it'd be a bad idea… What do you say, Mark? Why not go to Violet together. Maybe we can learn to not hate each other's guts." I almost face-palmed at that last notion.

"Oh right, you don't have any other Pokémon but your Fighting types, huh. Well, unfortunately for you, I have my Psychics to Teleport. I don't need to walk over there." He said.

"Well then, good luck to you!"

"No, good luck beating Falkner."

"Is that supposed to imply something?"

"I guess you're too dense to figure it out!"

"You two are just awesome friends" I butted in.

"You think we're friends?" Mark rebutted.

"Okay, time out! Time out!" Isidora exclaimed, calming the two down. I'm the uncomfortable third party here. I had absolutely no clue what was going on here!

"Okay, I'm going to leave now. Getting across the Ruins takes a while. So good luck to you, Blockhead. If you see me and if your Pokémon are feeling better, let's battle. I still haven't repaid you for last time." He said before taking out a Kadabra and leaving the Pokémon Center.

"…So what's his deal, Sebastian?" Isidora asked him.

"I don't know, he's crazy." Well then. Guess no one could answer to that.

She looked around before the room, sipped on her coffee, and looked around again. Then she realized that she forgot about something.

"Hey, sorry, but I'm going to have cut this short. I forgot something at that you'll need, Sebastian. Anyway, thanks for staying, Arick!" she said and left. And with that, Sebastian and I were left alone. And the awkward returned.

That was until I got a call from the Chief of the station. I excused myself (wasn't too hard; Sebastian wasn't too interested on staying anyway) and took the call.

"Attention all Officers patrolling Goldenrod City; the gang that's been terrorizing civilians for the past few weeks are cornered at the entrance of the Global Terminal. There are hostages. Please arrive quickly!" Just as it ended, I hung up the omnipresent message and dropped my Pokégear.

I was stunned. In the end, I was wrong that Sebastian was part of anything, and in the end, I was getting distracted from patrolling. I was supposed to watch National Park today. And I can honestly say I did.

But I completely got caught up in here without going to the Global Terminal.

"Uh, is something wrong?" Sebastian was right behind me. He noticed my Pokégear on the floor and picked it up to return it.

"No nothing. It's not like because of you, I got distracted and couldn't patrol where I was supposed to." I thought to myself. I regained my composure when I took the Pokégear back.

"The… The gang is at the Global Terminal." I let out weakly.

Sebastian ran with me all the way there after picking up his Pokémon. I let out Douglass.

"A Growlithe? Oh right, you're an Officer." he said in-between strides. His Hitmonchan was running alongside him.

"I'm not going to be an Officer for long if I don't get there…" More negative thoughts came to my head. Harry might be able to stay at Sprout Tower. He might have to shave his head and become part of it, but still. I'd go back to help out. But… I wouldn't be able to do what I wanted. Why I actually wanted to become an Officer in the first place!

To arrest Dad.

…

That's right. The money to pay for Harry's room was secondary. In truth I wanted to pursue Law so I can get to Dad, and arrest him. Arrest him for all the things that he took away from us.

With that on my mind, I began to sprint faster. Sebastian picked up the pace too. He said he was coming along, since apparently he blamed them for the mix up we had. Too bad it was my fault for the mix up.

There was a crowd of people surrounding the Global Terminal. Many of the Officers there were trying to keep order between the civilians standing around, seeing if the hostages were somebody they knew. A large woman was wailing at the gang. Sebastian stood there, stunned.

"Let him go! Let Charles go! He- He didn't do anything!" she flopped around, a few Officers constricting her. I looked around, and the gang members, all in their late teens and maybe early twenties, started laughing. There were more than ten hostages on the floor, tied up.

They were all surrounded and had not much of a chance at escape, but apparently a hysterical mother was just hilarious to them. I clenched my teeth. I looked around the crowd some more. And I found the boys from this morning huddled around. Charles was their leader, I assumed. All the other boys whimpered and turned pale when they saw his distraught mother trying to fight the Officers to get to her son.

I looked around again and I didn't see Sebastian anywhere. So I sent Douglass to look for him.

I honestly didn't know what to do. There was a hostage negotiator around screaming from a microphone, but no one was paying attention. I wasn't paying much attention to anything, actually.

That was until I saw a few bubbles blow some of the gang members.

"The hell is this shit?" one said while swatting away some bubbles, prompting others to do the same.

But more and more bubbles were blowing in the coast. The area we were in was on the edge of a fenced in coastline. By a couple of minutes, there were hundreds of bubbles swallowing the whole area.

"Ivan, Hypnosis!" I heard a voice yell. And the voice came from inside of the Global Terminal. A Poliwag came running out, with its spiral swirling.

And I saw each of the bubbles reflecting the same spiral pattern. I started to get drowsy and almost fall asleep on the street before Douglass came out of nowhere to bite my leg. The pain (though it hurt like a little-) managed to keep me awake. I saw my fellow Officer's Growlithe do the same. I looked around, and the whole crowd of people was already asleep. And so were most of the gang members. Even the hostages were sleeping, while tied up.

Sebastian came with his Poliwag out afterward. I was awed. He subdued most of the gang.

Except one. He was bleeding slightly from the right arm, his left hand holding a knife. He quickly grabbed one of the sleeping hostages who I recognized as Charles, and ran inside.

The last gang member was cutting his arm to stay awake. That took some dedication. I looked around, and all the other Officers were taking care of the hostages and the sleeping gang members. Sebastian ran inside, and I knew I couldn't just leave him to take care of him by himself. The guy had a knife after all! As I walked in, I noticed the bubbles stop moving, and beginning to pop.

Inside, there was Sebastian, the man with the knife, and Charles, who was woken up from the sudden movement. I saw him pale and scared for his life. I saw Sebastian slightly unsure too.

And I didn't know what to do at all.

"C-Come on, let him… go, he's done nothing. You're, um, surrounded!" he tried his best to sound confident, but I could tell he was slipping. The man laughed. He put the knife against Charles' throat, prompting a squeal.

"We were supposed to break into the Global Trading Station and steal ourselves some Pokémon to sell to a bunch of Poachers... But this kid and his friends ended up seeing us and called for help. So why should I let go of him?" He spat venom at Charles, who just shuddered.

"Look, he's scared of his right now! Why don't you just get me as a hostage instead! You think you'll be able to negotiate escape with a crybaby, rotten, selfish, degrading kid like that?" He wanted to keep insulting Charles, but he stopped. And he looked kinda red saying all of that during such an important time, which I could understand. Now, I started seeing some Officers coming into the building. I looked back at the man with the knife. He was thinking.

"Fine. This kid's useless anyway. Better give me a sweet deal for escape, kid." He said, letting goes of Charles, and making him wriggle his way to the nearest Officer.

"Was the guy dropped on the head or something? Who the hell would fall for that?" My inner thoughts asked me.

Sebastian came up to the man with his hands raised and quickly exchanged positions that Charles was in before. The man placed his knife to Sebastian's throat too.

And almost immediately, the man fell to the ground after something hitting his back. A Hitmonchan fired another punch before Sebastian got out. He walked out covering his neck. The man was knocked out by the third punch.

I ran to the unconscious man along with other Officers. After they secured the knife away from him, I saw blood dripping from the knife. I quickly looked to his arm, and his wound stopped bleeding, making only one person the source of the blood.

"S-Sebastian!" I yelled, and ran over to him. He was crouched over with his Hitmonchan and Poliwag at his side. I removed his hand from his neck, fearing the worst. This kid might die right now if the cut was deep!

"Hey, it hurts, stop!" he yelled, but I made sure to see the wound.

And it looked nothing more than a paper cut. It was just a graze!

"You're such a wimp, you know that?" I sighed, and Sebastian laughed.

"I get that often."

"Please hand over your badge, Officer Arick." Chief ordered.

And I knew it couldn't be helped. I took my badge off and handed it over.

"No questions? Any at all?" he asked. I guess he was looking to scold me.

"I was instructed to patrol National Park and the Global Terminal. I failed to so the second, sir. And it just so happened that the Global Terminal became the target of the gang." I replied, evaluating myself. He sighed.

"There's not much to say now, is there then?"

"Do you want my K-9 back too?" I asked. If Douglass had to go, I'd have to have an hour of apologizing (and crying) to him.

"Negative. Growlithe don't usually bond with more than one Officer. Loyal Pokémon indeed." Well, I guess something went alright then.

"Alright sir, I'll be taking my leave."

"Please take care."

And with that, I went to National Park to cry. It just felt right. After all, I just lost my job. Douglass comforted me though. I guess a few licks made me feel better. He wagged his tail around, hoping to cheer me up.

"Thanks buddy. Sorry about losing that job though." I said, sadly.

"Grow!" he shook his head. This Pokémon was awesome. He saved me from falling asleep during the heist, and now is comforting me. I scratched him behind the ear.

"Um, hi Arick. I'm sorry about your job." I heard somebody say. I turned around to see Sebastian standing. He had a band aid on his neck. Suddenly I went from sulking to laughing.

"Seriously, you needed a band aid for that?" I laughed even harder.

"Hey, at least I saved people today, cut me some slack!" I stopped laughing. He didn't mean to say it the way I perceived it. But still, he was right. Sebastian and his Pokémon were the heroes of the day, not me. And I lost my job. Right.

He realized what he said.

"Oh… I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." He shifted his gaze nervously. I guess he wasn't such a bad person after all. Just attracted bad luck around him. I sighed.

"It's alright. I get to keep Douglass. The uniform too. I guess I'll be heading back to Violet City now; My brother Harry's staying there." I said. He looked at me.

"You're allowed to wear the uniform? Isn't that illegal? Im… Imper…" he tried saying.

"Impersonation?"

"That's it."

"Not really. I mean, as long as I don't wear the hat, I should be good. It's not like I have much right now anyway. No badge."

"Ah okay. Got it." He responded.

We stayed silent a little longer.

"You know something?" I asked to break the silence.

"Yeah?"

"You're not that bad."

"Um, thanks?"

I thought over it though. There was a thought that came to me. It was low, not very flattering, but it was for Harry. Yes, it was for Harry.

"You're going to Violet City too, right?" I asked. If things didn't go well, I was prepared for the guilt trip.

"Yeah. My sister wants me to run an errand for her there. Not to mention, I'm going to challenge Falkner. Why you want to know?" he responded. I was getting there.

"Would going together be alright with you? Douglass is strong for humans, but I'm not sure if we could get there on our own. Not much of a wilderness person." I said mareepishly. It was true regardless. We took a bus here with the other Officers from Violet.

Sebastian took a while to answer me.

"Okay, sounds good to me. I feel really bad over what's happened anyway." He said. And I could tell he was being honest.

"Alright, so to clear you from that guilt over making me lose my job, you're paying me half of your prize money you get from battles."

I said it. A breeze went over my head. It felt really cold without a hat.

"Wait, what!" he exclaimed.

And so ended my last day in Goldenrod; and so started my travels with Sebastian.

The in-training Blackbelt of Goldenrod City.

Got it done on time. Now to keep that pace. I thought last chapter was tough to write, but oh my god, it's harder to change perspective for a whole chapter! Not to mention I ended up stuffing a lot in here. But hey we see Mark again finally. How long before we see him again? R/C welcomed, and honestly, each comment makes really motivated to get another chapter out. But most importantly, I broke 50,000 words. That alone makes me really proud of this chapter. Let's see if that pace can continue!