Replies to the reviews:

And Jared is an a-hole... but I love how he is written.

He is to a point, but he had a good reason, methinks. He almost got gutted, and Cody and Heather were keeping him out of the loop, which was kind of upsetting.

I like the tier system thing you did it make a lot more sense then having the gym leaders as protectors of badges.

I agree. Look at Brock in Kanto. To think that as an accomplished trainer, his pokemon would never be high leveled is silly to say the least.

I did not think Laurence was the type to have sex

Don't we all want to get a little bit of sex?

This chapter is a bit different. You'll see why when you start reading.

Thanks to Magikarp Master for editing and thanks for the reviews.

Chapter 20: Perspectives

Christmas didn't bring a day off for Frank, but that didn't bother him so much since he never had many days off to begin with, and the job was rewarding enough. The older teen and his first pokemon had been spending the morning and noon hours ladling soup for the poor in a Noroleigh City soup kitchen.

The percentage of people in poverty in Noroleigh City was the second highest in Skitrex. Along with the normal homeless that flooded the streets, there were a large number of dead-end trainers that came to the city to find some luck so they could improve their craft. Noroleigh didn't have a gym, but the city had several small tournament circuits running year-round for all levels of trainers. Many struggling trainers would come to Noroleigh and enter the tournaments so that they could improve and win money, but the many of these struggling trainers would just end up losing more money through entry fees. Once broke, some trainers would find themselves unable (or just too stubborn) to leave or ask for help, and then they would end up falling into crime (explaining why the city also had a high crime rate). Then there were those few young trainers who had no homes to return to. Some of these trainers had no families to return to because said families had disowned them for becoming trainers in the first place, since not every family approved of the risky career. Others just didn't have families to begin with, but filed for trainer licenses so that they could escape from the foster care system. Kids were trying to grow up too fast, but they were getting nowhere.

[This is boring,] Isaac said dully as he poured a ladleful of chicken-celery dumpling soup into a young woman's bowl. [I don't care about Christmas, but there are so many things I'd rather be doing right now.]

"It's honest work," Frank reminded the Mr. Mime in a soft voice so none of the hungry could hear him. "Think of all the people you're helping today. Nobody should have to go hungry when it's that cold outside."

[I still don't get it,] the mime continued in an annoyed tone. [You're always saying 'teach a man to fish' and all that jazz. This isn't teaching them how to fish. They should get a job like everybody else and go-]

"Not as easy as you play it out to be," the mohawk wearing trainer told his pokemon. "In this economy, getting a job can be pretty difficult, especially if you're homeless and you lack the proper credentials. Until we can help these people get to that point in their lives, we have to help them through the everyday. Get it?"

[Yeah, yeah, I get it. Still, humans don't care about their genetic lineage, it seems. In the wild, it's the weak die out and the strong that survive. You don't see the runt getting a free ride.]

"Well, I believe anybody can be successful," Frank retorted. "It's just society and the government that does this to us."

[Alas, society's invention to keep order and peace has turned against you. I guess I can see why we're fighting for a new order. Still, I wonder if the organization can ever truly reach that.] Again, Isaac let out another exasperated sigh as he filled another person's food bowl.

Frank shook his head and went back to his work. Isaac was a difficult pokemon to deal with, but Frank still enjoyed his company. Receiving Isaac and joining the organization were the turning points in his life. Before that, he was a high school dropout working as a con artist on the streets of Noroleigh. Father Ezekiel, the head honcho himself, was actually the one who found him and offered him work with the organization. It was this situation that allowed Frank to have a friendship with the boss, despite his rather low and obscure rank. However, he wasn't a part of the group because he wanted power through this relationship, but because he believed in everything Ezekiel said. The man was an intelligent, charismatic, and one of the most skilled battlers he had ever seen who wasn't associated with the Skitrexian league.

"Hey Frank, you're off duty now. I'm here to relieve you," another member said as he approached the back counter.

"Okay, thanks Gary," he answered kindly. "You're free," he said to the Mr. Mime.

[Thank Arceus, if I ever have to ladle another bowl of soup…] The two left the counter and went over to the service elevator that Gary had arrived in so they could descend to the lower levels of the building. The soup kitchen and Noroleigh HQ were located in an old warehouse that had five basement levels. It wasn't glamorous, but it was cheap and efficient, which was just what the members needed. They descended past the first four basements, containing supplies, a battle room, dormitories, and private offices. After a minute on the slow elevator, Isaac and he finally reached the bottom basement, where he and the other non-permanently based members slept.

The bottom basement was musty, but a livable location lit up with several light bulbs that illuminated the bunk beds and the locations of the bathrooms. Not many trainers were down here at this hour though, except the night-workers who were sleeping. The only sounds that were eminent were the sounds of dripping water and a repeated "thunking" noise in the distance.

[I'm going to sleep. Wake me up when something relevant happens,] Isaac said with a yawn. [If you aren't going to sleep, go tell whoever is making that sound to stop it. It's already driving me crazy.]

"Wait, I thought that mimes like you could nullify sounds at will," Frank argued.

[Yeah, not when we're trying to sleep, Einstein. Make the noise stop.]

"Ugh, fine," Frank groaned. Sometimes, he didn't know who the real trainer was between Isaac and him. Listening to the sounds of the "thunking," he made his way through the bunks until he reached the back left corner of the room. But the sight of the culprit made his jaw drop.

"Casper… it's been awhile."

The other man turned around from tossing the large rubber ball against the wall and looked Frank in the eyes. "So it has," he replied in a monotone voice.

Frank and Casper were both in the same work group back when the two of them were working in Tempest Valley. Capser was a few years older than him, but his face contained the strange combination of youth and intensity. He had piercing grey eyes, shoulder length black hair, and a decently built physique. The young man was the archetype of enigma, being a man of few words and a past lacking any explanation. Despite all of this, he was an incredible battler who preliminarily trained dozens of pokemon for new members, and he was one of the better "snatchers" in the organization. However, he had a few awkward quirks, namely his inability to sit still. Whenever Frank saw the man, he was always playing or fiddling with some toy. He figured that Casper had ADD or something similar, but he never felt comfortable enough to ask. Needless to say, there was something strange going on in the attic that was Casper's head.

"I didn't know you were here. I've been here for five days now and I haven't seen you," Frank said, though not seeing Casper wasn't that surprising, given that the guy liked to keep himself scarce.

"I just arrived this morning," Casper answered, disinterested. "The plan was that I was supposed to arrive here with my catch, but this one got away. Too bad. The Superior One came to this city just to meet the captive."

"Somebody escaped from you?" Frank answered in genuine surprise. "That doesn't happen often…"

"Yeah, well I would have succeeded if it weren't for some confounding variables," he replied. "Unfortunately, my cover was blown and I had to fight the target and his friends. I could have handled them individually, but not as a group." "Oh, that sucks. What do you plan on doing now?" Frank asked.

"Father Ezekiel was okay with it. This target is only a low level threat, so I'm going to be running other jobs while I trail this kid for awhile. Not making any moves for a few months until his concern drops. Just gonna keep him and his friends on their toes."

"Okay then it could have been worse, right?"

"Definitely, but it could have been a lot better too." The fidgety young man began to toss the ball several inches into the air and caught it without giving the action any attention. "So what jobs have you been running lately?"

"Oh, well I-"

"Is Frank Bedri here!" a voice shouted from the service elevator.

"Coming!" Frank shouted back. "Look, I'll chat with you later, okay Casper?"

"Sure. Later," Casper replied, unconcerned. He then turned around and started tossing the ball against the wall as if he was never disturbed.

What a weird dude. He walked over to the service elevator where he saw another member waiting for him. "You called?" "The Superior One wishes to speak with you. He's in his temporary office on the second basement level."

"Okay, thanks." He and the other member got on the elevator and went up to the second floor and they separated from there. After walking down the hall, he reached the boss's room. He took a deep breath before entering. Even though he knew the boss on a personal level, he never felt at ease when visiting with the man. It was something about his stoic nature that made him intimidating, if that made any sense. After inhaling once more, he knocked on the door.

"Come in," the man inside said.

Being only a temporary office for when the boss was in town, the entire room was pretty blank. The only furniture was a steel desk, a small armchair, and a little metal chair for visitors. There were two pokemon in the room too. The well-groomed Houndoom that was lying on the ground curiously raised its head upon Frank's entry and lowered it again when he realized that the guest was uninteresting. The other pokemon, a Slowking, was sitting in the corner, reading a book that he was levitating in front of his face. Unlike the Houndoom, he didn't even bother to look up at who had entered the room.

The boss himself was intently typing something on his laptop, but he looked up and smiled at who he saw. "Ah Frank, you've arrived. Please have a seat." He sat down in the smaller chair and looked at his boss. Though Frank didn't know his boss's age, Frank figured that the man looked to be in his mid-fifties. Ezekiel's smile made his peaceful demeanor even more trusting. His medium length grey hair and somewhat wrinkled face made him look sort of like somebody's cool grandfather. Ezekiel closed his laptop and looked over at Frank, still smiling.

"You wanted to see me sir?" Frank asked respectfully.

"Yes, there are two missions I've selected you for. Both of them are delicate and one of them is only kept among the higher ranking members, so I decided to talk to you about this subject in person," he replied in an easy voice.

"Okay then, what's the first mission?" Frank asked.

"The first one is easy," the older man began. "You are to borrow one of our service cars and drive west onto I-12 until you turn off onto Exit 23. There's a little town out there called Grayson's Outpost. Barely even a town really. More like an oversized truck stop. Anyway, find a general store called Bryans. They're holding a package for me. Talk to the man who owns the place, slip him this." He handed Frank an envelope that felt like it was filled with a hundreds. "Tell him that 'Father is waiting.' He'll hand you the package, and you'll return here." He then handed Frank a piece of paper that repeated all the information that he was just told. "Think you can handle it?"

"This? Piece of cake. I'll get a quick nap and leave tonight," Frank answered with confidence. "But why have a package delivered to some random general store? Why not just have it shipped to the main HQ?"

"No, we don't want anything besides business and financial letters coming in and out of that building. For cargo of magnitude, it would be very unfortunate if we were to be uncovered. Trust me though, what's in that package is worth the gas money," Father Ezekiel assured.

"Okay, I'll have it to you by tomorrow, Father."

"Excellent. You have been quite faithful to me Frank. I shall remember your good works always," Ezekiel said, stroking his chin. "Now would you like to hear about your second mission?"

"Yes sir," Frank replied. Two important missions at once was pretty exciting.

"I'm organizing a small group under Paulson to head to the Frostscar Mountains in the north. Along with setting up a small HQ in Firnborn City, which is mostly your duty along with some of the other service members, the members will also be doing some searching. We have reason to believe that a very rare and quite essential pokemon resides there. At this point in time, we will not be able to capture it, but we have several runes experts that will-"

"Wait, you're not talking about the Arcticuno, are you?" Frank interrupted. "Isn't that thing protected by law?"

"It is. Arcticuno are quite rare," Ezekiel agreed. "However, it isn't an Arcticuno that we seek." The older man looked around as though there might be others listening. Then he looked back at Frank with intent. "Regice."

"Re- Regi-what?" Frank asked, confused.

"Ha ha, I didn't think you know. Not many do." He opened his desk drawer and took out a book. After flipping through some pages, he put the open book in front of frank. The lettering on the ancient book was in some foreign language, but the picture on the second page was of a strange figure. It was an ancient drawing of a robotic looking figure with geometric features and seven eyes, forming a cross. "It's called a Regice. They are living remnants from the ice ages. But they are incredibly rare. Experts believe that there are only four or five left in existence."

"Wait, so it does exist?" Frank asked with a light gasp.

"Yes, their existence isn't a matter of lore. It's their location that we care about. The only known Regice lives in Hoenn, but we can't go after that one without attracting international attention, being that one is legally protected. However, the rune experts that we've hired believe that there is a Regice in Skitrex. However, since it is unknown by the populous, we can take it without being noticed, not to mention legally. We narrowed its location down two a few spots, and Frostscar looks the most promising."

"That's amazing… but how do we expect to find it if nobody else has yet?" Frank questioned. "Obviously, finding it would be difficult if-"

"We'll find it," Ezekiel said with certainty in his smile. "I have faith in my children. And if we don't find it, we have a plan B and a plan C. Don't worry about 'what if' and instead worry about the goals as we see them."

"Yes sir," Frank said quietly. "But you said it is essential… Why do we need this pokemon?"

"In good time, Frank. In good time," he chuckled. "Go sleep now. You have a long drive tonight."

"Yes Father," Frank replied. He stood up to leave, but then he stopped himself. There was something bothering him and he needed to get it off of his chest. "Father Ezekiel… you sent Casper after Cody Storm, didn't you?"

"Ah, you are bright, child," he replied in a soothing voice. "How did you know?" "I was talking to Casper earlier and I figured…" He sighed and touched a strand of his hair, twisting over his finger. "With all due respect sir, why send Casper to perform this extraction? Cody is afraid of us enough as it is, and you know how Casper is. He's good at what he does, but he doesn't follow our code of peace."

"Frank," Ezekiel began to say again, "I have children you know. I know what it's like to be a father. I have always tried to raise my children with love. But when it was necessary, I would have to show them that I can be feared as well. Young Storm will have to come to terms with the fact that we are in fact a powerful force, and if it takes a bit of fear to prove that, so be it. But relax, for I assure you that Casper will not harm your friend." The older man then clenched his fist and he frowned. Seeing the good natured man frown seemed so unnatural. "I will not allow it."

[This place is a dump,] Isaac groaned as his trainer and he exited the sedan they had borrowed for the drive. [Couldn't the Superior One have had his precious package delivered to somewhere more pleasant?]

"Can the superiority complex," Frank said as he looked around at Grayson's Outpost. It was morning and there were a lot of big rigs parked at a truck fueling station where they had parked, and several men were having coffee inside the station. They looked just like one would expect a generic trucker to appear as. "Come on, let's go find the general store."

Bryans wasn't that difficult to find in the tiny town, being that there were practically only a dozen buildings. The man inside the store behind the counter was a gruff looking fellow with a long grey beard and a balding head. He barely seemed to notice Frank's entry, but simply stared into space. After looking through the store for a minute, Frank picked out two bottles of Dr. Piplup and brought them over to the counter.

"Three fifty," the man responded on auto-pilot, but Frank replied by putting the envelope of money on the counter.

"Father is waiting," he said coolly. The shop owners eyes lit up, and after taking his money, he walked into a back room behind the counter. A minute later, he appeared again with a black metal box. Wordlessly, he placed the metal box on the counter and nodded. Frank picked the mysterious box up and eyed it. He was curious to know what it was, but he dared not to open it. Father Ezekiel had put a lot of trust in him for this job, and looking in the box would be a shameful thing to do. To keep it out of his mind, he put it in his backpack and headed towards the door.

[Well that was easy enough,] Isaac muttered as the two left the shop. He opened his soda and began to drink. The pokemon didn't seem to mind drinking the ice cold cola outside in the middle of winter.

"Yeah. Too easy. But it must be important if he had it delivered so discretely. Come on, let's-" He stopped in mid-step as he looked through the window of the laundromat they were passing. By pure chance, a familiar face was sitting on a washing machine, lazily reading a book while his Squirtle slept by his side. Cody. "Hey, Isaac," he whispered as the mime looked where his trainer was looking, "check this out."

[Oh look, he's doing his laundry. Let's go,] the Mr. Mime persisted, but Frank didn't budge,

"Let's go chat with him," Frank insisted.

[Oh no, after Casper went after him? I don't think so. He'll probably kill us. Besides, it's not in our directive.]

"Neither are these sodas, but you didn't object to those," Isaac's trainer pointed out.

[Whatever. I'll be in the car. Call me when he starts kicking your ass.] The mime continued walking down the street, seemingly unconcerned, but Frank knew that his pokemon would be keeping his ear open for trouble.

Let's see how this goes. He entered the Laundromat, causing the bell on the door to jingle. Upon the ringing, Cody casually looked up to see the new arrival. But when seeing that it was Frank, his face went whiter than the snow outside. "Hey Cody, how's it going?"

"Y-You!" he shouted. The Squirtle, sensing his trainer's distress, leapt in front of his trainer and growled at the older teen.

"Whoa, whoa! No need to be so hostile," Frank said in false fear, putting his hands above his head. "What did I ever do to you, kid?"

"What did you- You sent that guy after me!" Cody shouted hysterically. "But this time, I'm in control! Not you! I have all my pokemon with me right now, so one wrong move, and Bastion will snap your neck with an Iron Tail. And that's not a threat: it's a promise!" His eyes were flashing like lightning.

"Look, I'm not here to fight you-"

"Then why are you here!" Cody bellowed. Frank could tell by the young trainer's constant scattered glances that he was terrified. He must have been looking around to see if Frank was alone or not. Bastion was still focused on the intruder, not letting Frank escape his sight.

"Look, you can cool your jets, there is nobody with me, I promise," Frank assured him. "And he boss wouldn't send me to get you since I seem to be incapable of doing so. I promise you, I saw you on pure chance alone."

"Really now… Doubtful," Cody grunted angrily.

"Look, I'm here on business, but when I saw you, I wanted to talk to you. I mean, what are you doing here? There aren't any gyms out this way, and you aren't heading to Noroleigh by the looks of it."

"That's none of your business," Cody replied harshly. "What do we possibly have to talk about, Frank? You and your co-workers have been stalking us! You think I want to talk to you after you sent that guy-"

"Cody, don't be ridiculous," Frank scoffed, "I don't have the authority to send snatchers after you."

"Snatchers?" he asked dumbly.

"Look," Frank continued, ignoring the question of definition, "I wanted to make sure you were okay, but I guess you aren't, and I truly am about that. I just wanted to remind you that our intent for you isn't harmful. The Superior One just wants to speak to you and that's it."

"And this is how he accomplishes his goals?" Cody shouted again. "By sending some psycho after me? This guy threatened to kill my friend, and I'm supposed to believe the intent wasn't harmful?"

"Personally, I don't agree with it either," Frank admitted quietly as if Ezekiel would hear him. "Casp- Er, I mean, 'he' isn't a good representation of what our organization stands for. I'm sorry that you and your friends were brutalized, but we really mean no harm."

"Whatever, I'm calling the police," Cody stated. He pulled out his phone, but he didn't dial anything yet since Frank tried to reason with him some more.

"Cody, don't act like this," he said calmly. "Come with me and we can get this all cleared up and-"

"Fat chance," Cody answered, "I'm not going anywhere with you. As far as I am concerned, you and everybody you work with are crazy." He looked back at the phone and went back to dialing, so Frank knew that this was his cue to leave. Thankfully, neither Cody nor Bastion tried to stop him as he backed out of the building.

[Hmm, you're still alive?] Isaac asked Frank as he returned to the car. [I take it he didn't take your arrival well?]

"Understatement. The guy is freaking out," Frank answered. "Let's get going. There isn't a police station for twenty miles, but we don't want to be around when they get here." The two got into the car and drove out of the truck stop and back onto the highway.

[You seem pretty uptight,] Isaac commented after five or so minutes into the drive.

"Yeah, well, I'm just a little bit peeved," Frank admitted. "That poor kid… I mean, we were all scared of the organization when we were told about some of the heavy stuff, but… I just don't understand why Father Ezekiel would send Casper of all the possible snatchers… Now Cody is terrified and I don't understand why he has to be. A good amount of fear is healthy, but this much… why?"

[It's like you all say: Father knows best,] the Mr. Mime commented.

"Yeah, well… I just don't understand why he had to put so much fear in him. I guess he wanted to use that fear to drive Cody in since he was resistant to even hearing Father out, but it really seems to have backfired."

[Hmm… Are you questioning the superior one's actions?] the mime asked.

"Yes, but it doesn't matter," Frank sighed. "Father Ezekiel knows what he's doing. I guess I should just have faith in him."

[Faith in the unknown, no matter the twists and turns. Sounds like religion,] Isaac pondered. [Whatever comforts you, Frank.]

"Sure…" he replied. Ezekiel knew what he was doing, so he'd have to have faith.

[You know, if we see that kid again, I suggest that we avoid him. We could have gotten in serious trouble, and not just with his pokemon. We don't want to attract any unnecessary attention to us, especially from the police.. All this trouble, and for what? Just because we needed to pick up an empty pokeball?]

"A pokeball?" Frank asked in confusion, "what are you talking about?"

[That's what's in the box,] the mime explained. [I can sense it. I'm 99% sure that it's a pokeball.]

"Wait, how can you tell?" Frank asked suspiciously. "They rig packages and boxes that travel through the mail so that psychic pokemon can't see through them."

[Yes, but that box has a small weak spot on its left side, so I can feel what's inside. It's a spherical and about the size of a pokeball, so I'm making a guess.]

"Are you sure?" the Mime's trainer asked.

[Frank, I've been inside a pokeball. I know a pokeball when I sense one.] The mime leaned his head against the window in exasperation. [And that pokeball feels empty. We went all the way to Grayson's for an empty pokeball. If the Superior One wanted a pokeball so bad, he should have just went to a pokemart and bought one. I just don't get it.]

"That is a curious thing," Frank admitted. Suddenly, he was thinking to. An empty pokeball? If it's true, then it must be important for some reason. But what pokeball would be worth all of this caution? The answer came to him almost immediately.

Recently started playing Team Fortress 2. Fun game, but I suck at it. Still, it's free on Steam now, so happy day.

BTW, anybody here have a story in one of the pogeyman communities? Reason I ask is that I've been asking community owners if they'd accept this one into their archive. Unfortunately, none of them have ever responded. Still, I'd love to get this story above cult status, so if anybody knows a fitting community that would like this story, let me know in a PM or review.

Happy training!