Kill Hunter J? "No, Courtney," denied Tabitha. "I don't want any involvement with J, good or bad."

"Don't be too sure," snapped Courtney. "You know it's true."

"All she ever did to me was use as bait to capture Kamon," said Tabitha. "That failed."

"Looks like it's time to extract revenge on J, then. Where do I start?"

"Tomorrow, we get some tools for you."

----

The next morning, Kamon searched around the destroyed home of Duncan and Crystal. Their parents lay dead in their room, having suffocated from monoxide poisoning. Their escape route, the window, had become blocked by the falling debris, making it impossible to go through.

Guess the parents were too dumb to live, thought Kamon. Or they couldn't clear the debris.

Searching the basement, he found their Pokémon pets hiding safely. "Axel! You're all right!" And so were Spike the Togepi and Wyner the Wynaut. They had happened to hide in their little fallout shelter in a tiny room underneath the stairs.

"Duncan and Crystal have gone missing," he told them. "And their parents..." Kamon continued, trying to find something to describe the current status of the parents, "didn't make it."

Axel, remembering his feat with Victreebel in the Radio Tower basement, understood what Kamon meant.

"J could be anywhere by now..." he mused to himself. He then recalled the Pokémon into their PokéBalls, and left the house, somberly returning back to the forest.

"It's no good guys, J got away," he spouted dejectedly out loud.

"Kamon, you're wondering where Hunter J is?" asked Giovanni, who came in. Unlike Maxie, he seemed to be in favor of going after J. "I know of a way for you to find out where J's resting place will be. Try getting Sneasel to use the Foresight move."

"But I don't think he can learn the move."

Maxie then butted in and retorted, "My Sneasel's father was a Furret who knew Foresight. Thus, Sneasel does know the move."

"I'll consult him then," he said as he called out the dark weasel. "I need you to find out where Pokémon Hunter J is heading." Sneasel just looked at him confusingly.

"It might help if you had a picture of J," advised Maxie. "Hold on." He headed into the backroom, then returned with a rolled up poster. Unraveling it, he showed the wanted poster of Hunter J to Sneasel.

The weasel projected an image above his head, and showed images of the airship landing on a summit dwarfing a metropolis, Kamon entering the airship, getting frozen in metal by J's arm cannon, and Duncan and Crystal being chained to a wall. After this, however, Sneasel started flinching like crazy, and passed out, shaking in a seizure fit.

"What happens next?" questioned Kamon fearfully.

"It doesn't look good..." Maxie grumbled. "But if you must, J will be at the summit of Saffron City."

"We won't stop you," Giovanni stated, "but I'd like you to think about what you're doing, and I won't let you go until you're ready." Giovanni handed him a GPS and secret earring headset.

----

After being transported to J's airborne base, Karl and Janine had slept in a nearby air vent for the night. Janine, however, remained partially awake to make sure J's henchmen didn't find them.

Karl's transmitter beeped, and he answered the call.

"Good morning, Red. Are you all right?" asked Hadley via computer in Professor Oak's lab.

"Yeah," answered Karl. "Good thing I've got a bodyguard keeping me safe through the night."

Janine then pulled Karl out from the vent. "Come on, Red, let's get moving!"

Karl stood up, feeling stiff and sore all over. He rubbed himself off and they continued into the hallways.

Meanwhile, in another room, Duncan and Crystal awakened.

Crystal felt her arms raised, and tried to lower them. It didn't work; she and Duncan were chained to the wall by their wrists. "What is going on here?!" she shouted in shock as she tried to pull loose.

Duncan tried to contact Lance through his Pokétch, only to find it missing. Those freaks had taken it. Apparently, they found out about the contact app. "Just tell us what you want!" he yelled out.

"...just tell us what you want!" came a familiar voice. Karl recognized the voices crying for help. He contacted Hadley, and asked her, "Green, looks like we've got cousins Duncan and Crystal in peril."

"Don't worry about them for now," advised Hadley. "If they're yelling for help, J's henchmen will shut them up, and you don't want to be caught by them." Hadley then pondered why Duncan and Crystal would be involved. "What is J doing with them, anyhow?"

"No idea," said Karl. "But I've got a damn good feeling about the guy who healed me back in the PRD." That man with long red hair who saved him from being crushed by Drapion... If he's who Duncan and Crystal say he is, then their mission will be more convoluted than they expected. "This is gonna be tougher than I thought."

Back with Hunter J, she had an idea on how to capture Kamon: land at a place where he would most likely go. Only problem was, she didn't know where he would go. For now, they would land just outside Saffron City.

----

"Welcome to the Honchkrow Club, Local 2208," announced "The Big Boss", as was how he introduced himself.

Tabitha asked, "Okay, if you're a group of criminals, doesn't J have as much right as you when stealing Pokémon?"

"No, she does not," snapped Courtney. "She never pays her dues to us." J certainly could have, given the money she receives, but J obviously just doesn't care.

The Big Boss told him in warning, "We don't like people who try to steal business from us."

Tabitha understood what was going on – this was like a Thieves' Guild! He was handed a toolkit, a silencer, nunchuks, and various knives (laced with poison, as the label on the case warned). "What? No Pokémon?"

"It's not an honorable thing to kill another person with your Pokémon," lectures Courtney. Tabitha guffawed as he thought it was some kind of joke. Surely there was no honor among thieves – at least, none among Hunter J's type. He felt very disgusted that he had been given the task to kill a Pokémon Hunter – it was one thing for him to be a thief, but a killer? This was heavy for him, but Courtney seemed more willing to do it.

----

Kamon entered the bus station, and asked the counterman, "When is the next bus to Saffron City?"

"Well, that's a long distance, and it'll take multiple trips."

Kamon searched another pocket in his coat and found his wallet, containing his debit card! "And fare?"

"Well, it's pretty expensive... around fifty dollars."

But Kamon had run to the nearby ATM, withdrawing that exact amount. That gambling really paid off, he told himself. He slammed the money on the counter. "One bus ticket to Fuchsia."

After his ticket was printed, he waited for the bus to come. In the meantime, he headed into an alley, using his headset to try to get to Duncan's Pokétch.

"Duncan, are you there? It's Kamon!"

One minute later, a woman said to someone, "It looks like somebody wants to talk to you."

"Duncan! Crystal! Are you all right?" he shouted in excitement.

"No, Kamon," Crystal said in exasperation. "We've been captured for the third time." First Team Rocket, then Team Magma, and now Hunter J!

"I think I know where you are – Saffron City." He immediately regretted revealing the suspected location, fearing that they will relocate.

"Just hurry it up and get us out of here," pressed Duncan. "Before J turns around."

----

Duncan's Pokétch said "DISCONNECTED".

J stated to Duncan and Crystal, "Don't worry, we're not leaving any time soon."

"What?" ridiculed Duncan in surprise. "You're not going after him?"

"No, in fact, we're not." stated J as-a-matter-of-factly. "He's going to come after us."

Crystal realized something was up – this was a trap for Kamon!

Meanwhile, just outside on one side of the room, Karl and Janine searched around for any clues as to where the Mewtwo plans were. Unless...

"We've got to get Duncan and Crystal."

"Later!"

"No, I'm serious! We're right next to them. Maybe they know something that got them captured." Karl then thought up of a clever ruse to get to his cousins. "Why don't you lure any bad guys out, while I get to my cousins?"

"I think I've got a good idea on how to lure them to me," said Janine seductively. She then grasped a poison needle in her pocket in one hand, and put the other hand to her chest. "Hi there, big guy," cooed Janine as she slightly pulled her shirt down to reveal cleavage to the henchman. "Wanna have a good time?"

"Oh, yeah," begged the henchman as his heart started pounding, "Let's get started... ugh!" Janine thrust the needle into the man's pounding heart. The henchman gurgled and spat up blood until he fell to the ground, dead.

"That's the ninja way for you."

"Jesus... at least he's out of commission for good," said Karl admittedly as he entered the room.

Duncan and Crystal were relieved to find their cousin had arrived.

"What was all that about?" urged Crystal.

"Some ninja came in and killed the guard," joked Karl. "Just keep it down, okay? I've got to find some info on Mewtwo."

"That's what I went to Pewter Canyon for," uttered Duncan. "I've got the info on my Pokétch."

As Karl heard this, he took the watch from the shelf containing Duncan and Crystal's stolen equipment. "Got it!" He then announced to Hadley in his headset. "Green, I've got some good news and some bad news."

"Let's hear the good news," said Hadley quickly.

"I've got the Mewtwo plans."

"I knew you could do it!" congratulated Hadley. "You and Janine did a really good job!"

"The bad news: Duncan had them. And Janine just killed the guard. I'll just give this to her, and tell her to get out of here." He hung up, and found Janine just outside. "Give this Pokétch to Green and Blue. Don't worry about me, just get yourself out!"

As Janine climbed into an air vent, and Karl closed it up, J's henchmen had discovered him.

"Hey you! Hold it right there!"

Drapion had sneaked up behind him and grabbed him. "Not again!"

"I'm amazed that you followed me this far," declared Hunter J, who walked in.

"I thought I'd smelled vermin," insulted Karl.

"All I smell," shot J, "is your fear."

Karl closed his eyes and prepared for his death...

But nothing happened, and Drapion let go, only for J to hold him tight.

"Well? Aren't you going to kill me now?"

"Not right now, but we'll deal with you soon enough," warned J as she chained Karl to the wall with his cousins.

"I guess if we're all going to die, at least we'll die together," whimpered Crystal.

Karl's headset rang, and he tilted his head to his left shoulder to answer it.

"Red, what happened?" asked Hadley.

"J captured me..."

"And Janine?"

"Not her; she got away with the plans, and she'll be back to you soon."

Kevin then answered, "Well, looks like you're in the same predicament as Daisy and I were in."

Karl hoped that Janine would make her way out and back to Pallet Town. "Green, if I don't make it out alive, I just want to tell you that we've had our good times and our bad times," he eulogized. A tear then slid down his face as he looked down in uncertainty of his fate. "I've always been with you from the time Team Rocket got into our lives."