After completing my self-imposed mission at the Indigo Plateau, I had immediately gone to finish what Giovanni had sent me to do, to find out from Fuji just what is needed to be done to complete Mewtwo's body.

According to Giovanni, Team Rocket's scientists still have not made any progress on how to properly complete the last 5% of Mewtwo's body, and Mewtwo's body must be completed as soon as possible. Time is of the essence for Team Rocket and since the only people alive who hold the secret we need are Fuji and Blaine, we have no choice but to get it out from either of them. My body's condition had somewhat stabilised and my pokemon's skill with Hypnosis is perfect for the job because I will not leave any traces behind, so Giovanni sent the Rocket's Exterminator out once more.

Giovanni had targeted Fuji simply because Blaine is too powerful for me to get a drop on. Setting our sights on Fuji is the only logical option left to take. The only other thing Giovanni had ordered me to do is for me to not harm Fuji as much as possible, out of sentiments he held for the elderly man during their time as SKIP's leaders.

Ensuring that Mewtwo's physical body can be completed is also of the utmost priority for my own plans, which just so happens to closely align with Giovanni's own. I guess luck is on my side this time because being able to go on this mission is what allows me to finally advance my own agenda to bring everything to a close.

From what I know, Fuji lives in Lavender and runs a daycare that takes care of sick and orphaned pokemon. However, he is still semi-active in the field of pokemon research. Team Rocket's own information network pointed me towards Ecruteak, where Fuji is currently attending a week-long seminar regarding pokemon genetics. Since Fuji is a somewhat high profile person, my extraction of information from him must be very discreet in order not to draw any attention to myself.

Hypnosis it is then. No other choice.

With Nosy's help, it didn't take us long to track Fuji's exact location through tracking the location of his phone through GPS. All we had to do next is to ensure that whatever I planned to do to Fuji won't be spotted by a third party. Cornering Fuji was laughably easy because he is so defenseless, which was the main reason why he was chosen to be the one that I will approach in the first place instead of Blaine. Gengar had him under her hypnosis in just a few seconds.

"Speak, how can Mewtwo's physical body be completed? What else is missing?"

In the confines of Fuji's own hotel room, the old man who is now my victim had a glazed look over his eyes, trying very hard to fight back the effect of Hypnosis gengar had over him. Stronger men than him had tried and failed. Fuji won't succeed.

"How… complete… is Mewtwo right now?" Fuji slurred out, still trying to put up futile resistance against gengar's hypnosis.

'Let me read the minds of one of the scientists…' Mewtwo immediately got to work when he heard Fuji's words through the special connection we now share. 'Hmm… about 95%? They say that I need the final DNA component, which they don't know anything about. They are still stuck on researching it.'

I verbally relayed that to Fuji, who immediately gave us the answer we needed. He had put up a valiant fight against the effect of Hypnosis, but it wasn't enough.

"Human DNA." Fuji spoke out immediately, his aged voice old and weary. "Human DNA is needed to stabilise Mewtwo's body at the very last and crucial state. That particular human must have its full trust for this process to work, because at this stage, Mewtwo's mind is already born and active. If its donor doesn't have its trust, very likely, Mewtwo's body will simply reject the given DNA subconsciously."

Human DNA? Why human? Why would a pokemon need human DNA?

'So that's the missing piece of me. Jayce? You hear that? You are the chosen one, so would you mind making a trip back ASAP so that I can finally be born?'

'Let me first tie up some loose ends here.'

I made sure Fuji was comfortably sitting on his chair before I silently left his room under the cover of zoroark's illusion. Gengar will make sure that Fuji remembers nothing from our earlier encounter.

Once we were done, I simply chose to take the scenic route and strolled through the streets of Ecruteak with weavile walking beside me. Despite the detours we took before starting on the mission Giovanni sent us on, we finished the mission way before the stipulated deadline. A few days earlier than expected, in fact. We could afford to take some time off for today. I will spend the next few days revisiting Lance's office undetected and slowly feeding him more and more of what I know to gain his trust before I have to report back to Giovanni.

But whatever I'm planning to do with Lance starts tomorrow. So right now, sightseeing it is. This is probably the last chance I have to do so anyway.

'Hey, my chosen one. I thought we had an agreement for you to hurry and make your trip back ASAP?'

'I want to take a break from being cooped in that stuffy hideout. Not only that, our plan for Lance, remember? I still need to slowly feed him information day after day to convince him that what I am telling him is true and get him to start doing something. Besides, I still need some time to think of a way to convince Giovanni why you would only accept my DNA instead of his without raising suspicions or angering him. I'm not sure if he would accept the explanation of your body rejecting DNA from a donor you do not trust, even if that were Fuji's exact words.'

'You do remember that your pokemon has the ability to control minds, right? Big enough clue for you?'

'Easier said than done. Giovanni is no fool, he won't succumb to the Hypnosis easily. He's too strong-willed.'

'I mean for you to hypnotise the scientists to help you convince the annoying one, actually, but if you can mind control Giovanni of all people, be my guest.'

'Gengar, ninetales, and exeggutor already have their hands full trying to retain active control over every single Government official that we had hypnotised for our final plan. Trying to control somebody as strong-willed and paranoid as Giovanni isn't going to work.'

'What a bummer. Giovanni sure lives up to his title as the annoying one.'

'The only one who gave him that title is you.'

'You mean the majestic me.'

'I'm too lazy to argue with you.'

The lazy banter I had with Mewtwo went back and forth within the confines of my mind as we finally exited the city and headed towards Route 38. There isn't much traffic today, and the somewhat lazy atmosphere around this area is a nice change of pace, like a breath of fresh air. There were trainers who wanted to challenge me upon spotting weavile but I refused any challenges directed towards me. I don't have a pokedex, so it's not like I could take part in an official battle anyway.

'You should just take up the challenge and then wipe the floor with them. It will be fun.'

'You are sadistic.' I replied to Mewtwo's statement without thought.

'Who do you think I got this trait from?'

'Must be Giovanni.'

'Must be Giovanni. Should I tell him that?'

'You can try.'

'So this is Route 38 of Johto.' Mewtwo mused as he sees what I see through the special telepathic connection that we now share. To share one's senses with another is something that no psychics have been documented to be capable of doing through a telepathic link. I have no idea how Mewtwo accomplished what he did but I will just chalk it up to Mewtwo being Mewtwo.

'It's quiet, but it's nice. I like this place, Jayce.' Mewtwo commented.

'We are reaching the end of the route. See the left turn over there? Once we made the turn we will be at Route 39. There is a famous miltank farm over there that sells pretty good milk, called the moomoo milk. It's considered a unique Johto delicacy because the ones from Johto always tasted the nicest.'

'Oooh. Can we try one? Please? Drink a bottle so that I can taste it too! I never drank milk before.'

'Sure.' I replied with a mental shrug. Why not? Moomoo milk is indeed tasty and I have nothing else to do today.

We reached the farm soon enough. At first glance, I could tell that there really aren't many tourists or customers visiting this renowned farm at this period of the year and at this time of the day. I simply walked into the shop at the side of the farm and bought three bottles of moomoo milk. One for me and Mewtwo, one for weavile, one for gengar who is hiding within my shadow.

We exited the shop and found the rest area. I took a seat on a nearby bench outside the shop that is facing the ranch where the miltanks are raised in and for visitors to observe. Surprisingly, there's nobody here except for us. Mewtwo is obviously excited at seeing another new species of pokemon that he had never seen before. I can feel his excitement buzzing within my mind. I let him be. I could afford to stay here and do cow watching for the next hour or so if Mewtwo is really that intrigued by those miltanks.

"Drink slower or you will choke." I reprimanded the little troublemaker as he began to excitedly down the entire bottle in one go. Weavile simply made a face at me before going back to chugging down the contents of the bottle. I simply sighed and tossed one bottle into my shadow for gengar to drink. As to how she is planning to do so without being seen, I do not know, but I know she will enjoy the treat.

After taking off the breton cap from my head and placing it beside me, I also opened my own bottle and began to slowly drink the moomoo milk.

'This taste is heavenly!'

'You say that for every single new thing you tasted.'

'Not for spicy food. I hate those.'

'You will grow to love them. Trust me.'

'Jayce. Buy more of those moomoo milk and bring it back to the hideout.'

'For what?'

'To drink them, of course! Oh, I know! You can pour them into the tank which I am in, so that I can taste them too!'

'I doubt it works that way. Your body's sense of taste shouldn't be functional just yet.'

'I can still have my milk bath at the very least!'

'That is a waste of resources and you know it.'

Weavile coughed halfway into drinking the bottle of milk, earning him a deadpan stare from me.

"See? I warned you, didn't I? Drink slower."

Weavile stuck his tongue back out at me and began to continue drinking the milk again. This time, at a much slower pace.

I continue to slowly drink the beverage from where we are sitting on the bench while listening on and on to Mewtwo's excited ramblings. The only weird thing I have to endure is to listen to how he kept going on and on about miltank's teats and what fascinating things they are, in his own words.

Sometimes, I wished our minds weren't linked, only to spare me from this kind of agony.

'Hmm, somebody else is here.'

Mewtwo's words got me to glance towards the right where people would enter this rest area after exiting the shop. True enough, a woman with a pair of large sunglasses worn on her face walked into the rest area soon after with two emolgas running playfully after her and a paper bag held in one hand, presumably containing a few bottles of the moomoo milk she probably bought from the shop just a minute ago.

'Hmm, a human female.'

'You mean woman.' I corrected Mewtwo.

'Actually, after observing how those male miltanks try to court the female miltanks while we are chilling here, I have a question, Jayce.'

'Not sure if I want to hear it.'

'You are not given a choice. I'm not accepting any objections.'

'Oh, using my own words against me again?'

'Is it effective? This blackmail?'

'Please, this is hardly blackmail. It's just you being cheeky at most.'

'What does my cheeks have to do with this?'

'I'm not referring to the cheeks that you think it is. The word cheeky means showing a lack of respect or politeness in a way that is funny or amusing.'

"Is anybody sitting here?"

My telepathic conversation with Mewtwo was disrupted when the woman walked up to me and politely asked that question. It's weird. There is nobody else around us and there are plenty of other places to sit in this rest area yet she asks to sit beside me.

What kind of agenda does she have?

'Oooh! Just about the question I was about to ask you, Jayce! How does human courtship work? In human standards, is this female hu- oh, I mean, woman, desirable?'

"No, you can sit here if you want." I gave my reply to the woman and gestured for weavile to shift closer to me so that the woman had more space to sit on the bench. Weavile simply jumped off the bench and began to chatter excitedly to the emolgas, who responded in kind.

I cannot help but take a second look at the emolgas. Not only are they rare to see in the Johto region, these furry squirrels are obviously very well taken care of given the shine of their fur coats. Not only that, these emolgas are obviously very well trained. They are not just mere companion pokemon.

Huh, colour me impressed. Not many would go through the time and effort to train emolgas to this level. This species of pokemon are more commonly kept around as companion pokemon in the Unova region because of their cute looks and also because they are easy to raise. However, emolgas are not powerful battlers by nature, and hence not many trainers chose to use this species of pokemon in competitive battles.

"You are a pokemon trainer?" The woman brought my thoughts back to the present as she took out two bottles of the moomoo milk and passed them to her emolgas before taking a bottle out for herself. "Your weavile seemed very well-trained."

"Kinda, I guess." I took another sip from my own bottle as my gaze went back to looking at the miltank grazing at the field in front of us. Officially, I am not a trainer, but whatever.

"Kinda?"

"I'm an IT consultant. Taking care of pokemon is just a side hobby of mine."

"You kid me." The woman lowered her sunglasses a little with a hand to take a better look at me, revealing her sapphire blue eyes. "Side hobby? Anyone who takes care of pokemon as a side hobby wouldn't be able to take care of a dark type like a weavile so well nor could they tame a ghost."

My eyes snapped back to her as she said that. Not just anybody can recognise the extremely subtle telltale signs of a ghost taking residence in their trainer's shadows. You have to be very observant and a highly experienced trainer to pick that detail out. Even veteran trainers would have problems doing so. It is also not common for pokemon trainers to even keep a ghost type around in the first place due to how rare their presence is and how vicious they can be. Taming a ghost type is not an easy job at all, arguably on the same level of difficulty as taming dragons or even higher, which is the reason for the rarity of Ghost Specialists among trainers.

To spot gengar's presence so easily, this woman is not any ordinary trainer, that is for certain.

"Take it or leave it." I responded as I returned to slowly sipping on my moomoo milk. I have no wish to continue this pointless conversation. All I want is to drink my beverage in peace while I'm taking my rare break from work.

"Not the chatty type, I take it?" The woman said with a laugh as she used a finger to push her sunglasses back to its original position. "Fine, fine, I get it. Side hobby, yeah, I get it, side hobby."

'She's onto you~'

'Who cares. We will forget about each other within an hour after we left this place.'

'You still haven't answered my question.'

'What question?'

'I was asking you about how human courtship works. In human standards, is this woman desirable?'

'First, teats. Now, this. Are you entering puberty right now or something?'

'I'm just curious. It's all for education and science, it's all about the best learning experience!'

My eyes glanced back to the woman sitting beside me and drinking her own beverage in an elegant and upright position. My spy training kicked in automatically as I listed out the traits my eyes could pick out at a glance.

Grey bucket hat. Yellow hair with a bob haircut that reaches her neck. Sunglasses with large and slightly red tinted lenses. She has blue eyes from what she revealed earlier. Slender body and built, but not in the unhealthy way since I can see some well-toned muscles in her arms and legs. Grey sleeveless top with dark blue jeans that goes surprisingly well together. I do not know or care about the latest fashion trends but overall, from the choice of clothes, she is probably someone who is used to dressing fashionably.

Her mannerisms and the way she sits and carries herself suggests that she is no stranger in presenting herself to others in the best possible light. It can be seen from how she angled her body when facing me earlier. Either she is raised that way or she is used to doing so on a regular basis, which means that her line of work probably requires her to do so. She has a pair of emolgas, pokemon not native to Kanto or Johto and not easy to get your hands on in this part of the world. Either she's rich enough to get her hand on these two electric squirrels from outside the region, or she is not from Indigo. Meaning to say, a foreigner.

Another look told me that the way she dresses herself points towards the latter because the way she dresses herself is not how Kantonians or Johtonians would normally do. Her accent is also not one you will hear from Kantonians or Johtonians. She also wears an xtransceiver on her left wrist, an item that is only popular and widely used in the Unova region, which further solidifies my suspicion. Johtonians or Kantonians would use the pokegear instead.

Conclusion, this woman is probably a foreigner and if so, is from the Unova region. Furthermore, either this woman is from an affluent family, or she is trained in having to act fashionably and nice around others 24/7. If I had to make an educated guess, she's probably involved in the fashion industry, even if that doesn't explain why her emolgas are obviously so well-trained. If I have to stretch it even further, I will place my bets that she is probably a fashion model. Her smooth and unblemished white skin, her neatly maintained hair, carefully manicured fingernails, what little I can see of her face that is not covered by her hat and sunglasses, her mannerisms and the way she carried herself, fashion sense, all points to this fact.

'Oh, so she is desirable to a human male in your standards. Visually appealing and attractive, at least.'

'Stop reading my damn mind.'

And then to my irritation, the woman carried on with the pointless conversation while Mewtwo was still chatting away in my mind. It's very difficult to keep track of who is saying what when one is speaking directly into your mind and another directly into your ear. I will get a headache at this rate.

"So, Mr IT consultant with a side hobby of taking care of pokemon." The woman leaned slightly into my direction from where she was sitting at my right. "How many badges do you have?"

"Zero." I replied. Why is this woman so damn talkative? Can't she take a hint and shut up? I just want my peace and quiet here.

'Jayce. Is this what people call hitting on another? Is she hitting on you?'

'I doubt it.'

'Hey, what if this is how human courtship works?!'

'I really doubt she's interested in me in that manner.'

"Pft. Like you could have zero badges with a weavile that skilled." The woman said in a semi-sarcastic tone. "You suck at lying, you know that? Your eyes said it all."

"I don't want to hear that from you. What would anyone be doing with a pair of emolgas that is at least Elite level in strength? Not many would even bother to train emolgas, much less to this level. They are companion pokemon."

"Oh, so you can at least tell that much about my emolgas? So you do recognise me? Well, not surprising. Not many have emolgas like my Mimi and Nana. It's pretty much obvious who I am by now."

"No, I don't have a clue as to who you are."

"Wait, what?!" The woman was visibly shocked at my remark, which earned a raised eyebrow from me due to how her voice had gone a few notes higher. She dramatically placed her free hand on her chest, the other still holding onto her bottle of moomoo milk, and continued to speak in an exaggerated manner.

"People around the world all know who I am. Look carefully. You don't know who I am? You really don't recognise me?"

"No, and I'm not interested." I scoffed as I continued to sip on my beverage and… it's finished. Should I buy another bottle? Hmm, decisions, decisions.

"Oh, challenge accepted." The woman said with a grin as she leaned in further and gestured to herself with a hand. "Let's play a game of twenty questions to guess each other's identity, shall we? We both obviously have time to waste anyway. I will dazzle you so much that you will never forget who I am the moment we are done here."

I rolled my eyes. Well, at least that is one way to pass the time. I doubt I will lose in a game of twenty questions anyway. I probably have most of her background figured out by now.

'Twenty questions? What's that?'

'A kind of game. Watch and learn.'

"Only if you get me a bottle of moomoo milk. I'm currently too lazy to get up to buy myself another bottle."

"Small price to pay to get myself another fan." The woman agreed as she picked out another bottle of moomoo milk from the paper bag and placed it beside me in a rather dainty manner. Fan? Most likely that my guess of her being a model is spot on then.

"Fine." I said as I took the bottle of moomoo milk she offered. "Shoot away."

"You are from Johto."

"No." I shot down that question immediately. "My turn. You are from Unova."

"Oh, what gives? The xtransceiver?" She said with a small degree of surprise as she looked at the xtransceiver worn around her wrist.

"Your emolgas too. Seeing their species is not a common sight in Indigo and they are more commonly found in the Unova region. Your turn."

"If you are not from the Johto region then you must be from Kanto." The woman mused. "You said that you are not a trainer but yet take care of pokemon as a side hobby… A weavile and a ghost too… If not a trainer then… A pokemon breeder by any means?"

"No." I replied and watched as her jaws dropped in confusion and denial. I pressed on with my question. "You are from the fashion industry or more specifically, you are probably a model."

"Wait, what? Are you sure you are not cheating? You figured that out all on your own without knowing who I really am? Seriously?!" The woman indirectly confirmed my suspicions as she got slightly agitated. "You don't know who I am but yet guessed my job with just two questions?!"

"I really never saw you before. Why are you so sure that I have to know who you are even before this game started? I figured you out even before we played this game. You never had a chance in beating me to begin with." I snorted and opened up the new bottle of moomoo milk she gave me before this game started. Ah, the sweet taste of victory.

Delicious.

"Oh, and enlighten me, Mr IT consultant with a side hobby of taking care of pokemon. How did you figure that I am a model if you've really never seen me before?" The model said with a slightly sultry voice as she leaned in even closer. I simply ignored her and looked ahead in the direction of the ranch before starting to list out my points in a flat tone.

"The way you carried yourself is a huge giveaway. Your posture alone tells me that you need to carry yourself differently on a regular, if not, daily basis. The way you walked in just now is not how a normal woman would walk. You walk as if you own the place, expecting that there are audiences looking at you all the time, which means you are a public figure. The way you sit on this bench even in a supposedly relaxed environment and state is a lot different from others, like you are used to sitting differently no matter where you are. Even in your casual wear, you dress too fashionably, suggesting that you are probably from the fashion industry. You have a good figure. Too good, in fact, which means that you made a constant effort to maintain it. Your face is mostly covered but it is not hard to guess you have a pretty face behind those shades and under that bucket hat, so you are probably a model. And if that wasn't enough, you mentioned getting more fans just now. Need I go on?"

'Now that's what I think is a classic textbook jaw-dropped expression.'

Upon Mewtwo's remark, I took another glance at the Unovan female model.

'Yeah, it is.'

"You are very observant for an IT consultant with a side hobby of taking care of pokemon." She spoke slowly and finally removed her shades, allowing me to get a proper look at her face. Like I had suspected, she has a pretty face hidden behind those shades. Although…

"Huh, now that I see what you look like, have we met somewhere before?"

No kidding. She looks really familiar, like I should know her or something. No wonder she kept asking whether I knew who she was and was so shocked when I said that I didn't. In that case, who is she?

Her facial expression turned into shock upon my question, then disbelief, then she began to comically wail out loud to her two emolgas resting beside her feet in a very exaggerated manner.

"Mimi! Nana! This meanie doesn't know who I am! He doesn't know who we are! How can this be?! I thought we were famous!"

"Maybe it's time you get yourself a reality check then. This is Johto, not Unova." I said dryly as I continued to slowly savour my prize in a manner that I know will piss the model off even further. Mm, sweet moomoo milk.

"Don't be so smug, you only managed to correctly guess a part of my identity." She turned back to face me and weavile with a slight pout. "Since it seems that you really have no clue about who I am, I can tell you that I have two jobs, both very different in nature. Modelling is just one of them. Guess the other one and this is your win."

"Don't particularly care to."

"You- Hey! I'm being genuinely nice and friendly, you know?!"

"So?" I challenged. "Just because you are nice I have to be nice? Stop being so naive, Ms Model. The world is not a nice place to begin with. Don't play a game you cannot win."

"So says the IT consultant." She said in a mocking voice and a roll of her eyes. "Yeah, right. Like you are an IT consultant. Only an idiot would believe that."

"Like I said, take it or leave it. Not my business if you choose to believe my words or not."

"You know, I was originally planning to give you a polaroid of me as your prize for guessing my identity." The model took out a polaroid camera from her handbag as she said so and waved it in front of me. "But seeing how you just snubbed me in the face, I decided against it."

"Why would I even want a polaroid of you?" I grumbled irritatedly. A polaroid of her? Just how narcissistic can this woman be? Does she think that the world revolves around her or something?

"Do you have any idea just how many men would cut off their limbs, sell their kidneys, clamour at my feet just to have a face-to-face talk with me? Do you know how many would jump off a building just to get a polaroid picture of me, from me personally? And if I sign my name at the back of a polaroid of myself, do you know how high the price of this one picture can fetch, even if I simply randomly took the picture anywhere I wanted?"

"Don't know, don't care, and I will never ask." I replied immediately, making the extra effort to sip on the bottle of moomoo milk I took from her all the more audible, just to piss her off even further. Her reactions are pretty entertaining.

"You really don't know who I really am, do you?" The woman asked the same question for the umpteenth time today, which had successfully annoyed me. "I can understand if you didn't recognise me with my shades on, but how out of touch with the world are you if you cannot even recognise me when I took my shades off?"

"Like I said, I don't care."

"Hey, hey." The woman began to incessantly tap on my shoulder to get my attention and to get me to look at her. I turned around in annoyance.

"What now?"

"You work for either the Indigo League or the Government, don't you? More specifically, you are the special forces type, the type to go for long undercover missions or secret stuff like that. Not only that, you have been working in this field for a veeeery long time. "

Inwardly, I have to admit that I am shocked at her sudden statement and the accuracy of it even if outwardly, I don't let my shock appear on my face. However, upon seeing that knowing smirk on her face, I know that she had sensed my shock somehow.

Fuck.

"Got you~ Mr IT consultant."

"How?" I have no choice but to resign myself to my fate since my cover is partially blown. I can already feel gengar tensing up from within my shadow, ready to go into battle at a moment's notice. However, the best course of action is to simply play along for now. At least this is a no-name model from Unova that I will probably never meet ever again, not someone from Team Rocket.

And if she dares spills the beans, I can always silence her chatty mouth. For good. There is no way I am allowing my hard work to come undone at this very critical juncture and I will be damned if some meddling model ruins everything that I had so painstakingly built up over the years.

The model began to list off her points one by one with her fingers.

"You wear a long coat even in this sweltering heat. Either you are used to it, or you have something to hide. The place where we are sitting is at the very back of the rest area where you can have a good view of the entire area and where nobody can get behind you. The weather is hot and the fans in the shelter do not blow this way so you purposely chose to sit here for some reason. This is not the best place to sit if you are simply here for some R&R but considering your demeanour, you really are here for some R&R, which means that you choosing to sit here is simply an ingrained habit and a subconscious choice. You are used to working from the shadows and out of sight from others. You are used to acting in a way to draw the least attention to yourself. Am I right so far?"

"Not bad." I nodded partly in amusement, partly because I am impressed with her observations. Guess I've been too laxed in needing to hide my cover. I had obviously underestimated this Unovan model as well.

"I saw a line of pokeballs attached to your belt when I was walking in here, just right before you hid it from my sight with your coat but I still spotted it, which is why I am so sure that you are a trainer. Nobody who takes care of pokemon as a side hobby would have so many pokeballs on them. The way you angled yourself and placed your arms the moment I sat down beside you is positioned such that if I were to-"

She suddenly threw a punch at me, which I caught with my free hand and on reflex, immediately twisted her arm such that I locked it behind her back and pinned her against the nearby wall. Her emolgas were immediately onto me but weavile interrupted their advances with a Fake Out as gengar emerged from my shadows and placed herself between me and her pokemon.

"- attack you right now, it blocks any attacks to your vital spots and also in a way that you can easily defend yourself as you have just demonstrated. Thanks for proving my point, by the way! And oh, a gengar! So that's the ghost that has been hiding in your shadow all this while? Gengars are notoriously hard to tame because of their violent nature unless you have been keeping them around as a gastly from a young age and even then, that is extremely risky. You will also need to let gengar battle other pokemon frequently to keep their battlelust in check. No way someone who is not a trainer and only takes care of pokemon as a side hobby could tame a gengar."

The model turned back to look at me with a cheeky grin.

"Then there is the fact that you don't recognise me even when you are obviously an accomplished trainer, which means that you are not well-versed with international affairs nor are you up to date with the international trainer community. That could mean that you either are very ignorant with anything outside of Indigo, which you don't seem to be the type, or that you are usually too busy to keep up with what's going on in the other regions and that your line of work has no need for you to really keep track of international affairs. Problem is, with what I can observe about you, what kind of work isolates you from both the pokemon trainer industry and the fashion industry? What keeps you so busy that you have no need or want to know about what is going on outside of the Indigo?"

I am starting to hate the smug look on her face right now. Scary thing is, she's right on almost every point. She is no mere model alright.

The woman didn't even look bothered that she was pinned against the wall as she continued to state her speculations.

"So, with all these points in mind, if it is true that you are not a trainer, then the only explanation that I can think of is that you are not an official trainer. Someone not officially recognised by the League as a trainer for various sensitive reasons and if so, the only plausible explanation is that either you are a criminal, or you are a secret agent of sorts. I'm going with the secret agent explanation since if you are indeed one, you would be too busy trying to stay alive to care about the latest fashion trends or news. That fits your behaviour and mannerisms displayed thus far too. From experience, criminals tend to have a lot more free time. They would at least know that the attire that I am currently wearing is what is trending right now. It's the latest thing everybody's crazy about. Everybody seems to know that except for you, apparently."

I could feel my eye twitching in annoyance. I have clearly underestimated this annoying woman but at the same time, it's not like I could off her right now in broad daylight. This is definitely not a good place to commit murder.

"So, am I right, Mr IT consultant?" The woman cheekily blinked her large blue eyes at me in faux innocence.

"Tch."

I clicked my tongue in response and loosened my grip. I have no choice but to let her go lest other people came across this scene right now and got the wrong impression from how I am pinning her against the wall. I don't want this situation to blow up any bigger than I need it to be. The Unovan model rotated her arms in a very exaggerated manner the moment I let her go and purposely lament out loud for me to hear.

"Ah, the pain in my arms. You really have no idea how to treat a lady properly, do you? From this alone I can tell that you are single! Definitely single! And look at how gloomy you dressed up! Almost an all-black entirely! I bet that the clothes in your wardrobe are more or less the same!"

'She's right, you know.'

'I don't need your input now of all times.' I mentally grumbled back to Mewtwo. 'Is she hostile?'

'No. She does not have any hostile intentions towards you. More like curious and playful. She's in a good mood, in fact. I'm pretty certain that she is trying to court you. This has to be how human courtship works.'

'And I am fairly certain that you are wrong.'

'For once, I think that you are the one who needs to be taught. No matter how I look at this she's interested in you.'

'She's just curious. Once her curiosity is sated she will be on her merry way.'

"You are very observant for a model." I commented, returning the words that she told me earlier.

"To be fair, I wouldn't have made that guess if I never worked with a few secret agents such as yourself." The woman stretched herself with her arms up much like a cat. "The way you talked back to me was a huge giveaway too. Not sure if it comes with the job description, but the scant few secret agents I worked with are all so jaded about life and never cared much about manners or anything else outside their jobs, just like you. They are also extremely paranoid, like what you just did earlier."

"And why would a model have to deal with secret agents?" I asked, my curiosity about this woman had now increased a little.

"I told you, I have two jobs, both of a very different nature." She playfully waved a finger in front of my face. "In fact, I'm surprised that you still don't recognise me even when I took off my shades and showed you my face like this. I'm very famous, you know that? I'm known across the world for many things."

"You mean being a general annoyance like how you are now?" I scoffed as I took my seat once more. Thankfully, my unfinished bottle of moomoo milk wasn't spilled when I went to subdue the model earlier for exposing my cover.

"Hey!"

"That aside, you shouldn't do what you just did, even if you are sure your guess is accurate. It's basic courtesy in my line of work." I told the model as gengar slinked back into my shadow upon a quick gesture to her with my hand, out of sight of the model. "People like us are all jumpy and paranoid as hell. We act first, question later. I could have killed you even before you could explain yourself."

"Oh, please." The woman waved my words away obnoxiously. "There's no way you could have done that. Your weavile and gengar are strong, that I can tell, but you have nothing against Mimi and Nana. I am in no real danger all this while."

"Confident much?"

"It's not confidence when it's a fact." She stated flatly before giving me a playful wink. "Why? You want to test my words in a two-on-two battle?"

"No thanks. Paralysis is annoying to deal with when it comes to facing electric types. Not interested. I'm simply here to take a break, not to battle."

"Hoh, you do know your stuff when it comes to facing electric types."

"My side hobby requires me to." I replied as I finished my second bottle of moomoo milk before asking her a question out of curiosity. "Earlier, you guessed that I am either a criminal or a secret agent. Why didn't you guess that I'm a criminal?"

"You really are one?" The model asked as she covered her mouth with a hand in a rather bimboistic and dramatic fashion. "Oh no~ Is poor old me in danger? Whatever would a pretty and defenceless damsel like me do~ Oh no~"

"I just want to know how you arrived at your answer. And don't be stupid, a criminal would never admit that they are a criminal. It's pointless to ask that question." I said in mild annoyance. The more I look at her, the more I am certain that I probably had seen her face somewhere before. I just can't recall who or how or when.

Who is she?

"There are a lot of things one can tell about a person just by looking at their pokemon, you know?" The model dropped her exaggerated act as she sat back down on the same bench I am sitting at, just at my right. "People say that a pokemon reflects their trainer. And it's true, or at least I believe in that statement. I had seen countless trainers and their pokemon in my line of work. One look at your weavile and I know that you obviously took great care of it. Someone who loves pokemon as much as you do can't be all that bad. Call it instinct honed from my job, but observing the way your weavile behaved convinced me that you have to be a secret agent instead of a criminal."

"Instinct." I scoffed. "You made your guess based on instinct."

"Like I said earlier, your eyes gave it all away. The eyes are the window to your soul. They don't lie."

"You just got lucky."

"Did I now?" The model gave me a teasing smirk as she shoved her polaroid camera into my hands and stood up.

"Alright, since we are friends now help me take a picture to commemorate my trip to Johto, Mr IT consultant!"

"I refuse." I snorted in response.

"Awww, I know you are salty for me exposing you like that but hey! You agreed to play a game of twenty questions! Don't be a sore loser! And it's not like I'm going to tell the whole world what your real job is, I know when to keep my mouth shut! Look, even your weavile is giving you a disapproving look!"

I looked down, only to see weavile shaking his head dramatically with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

The little traitor.

'Come on, Jayce, don't be a sore loser. Funny how you lost to a model at your own game, eh?'

'Shut up.'

The incessant buggings from the irritating model and Mewtwo got too much for me so reluctantly, I got up from my seat and let the annoying woman shepherd me until we reached the fence that separates the miltanks from us visitors. She leaned against the fence and casually struck a pose. The speed, naturalness of it all, and the familiarity of her actions further convinced me that she must be a very experienced model. She even purposely positioned herself in such a way that the angle of the lighting from the sun rays is at the most optimal for photography.

'This has to be how human courtship works. She has to be flirting with you. You cannot convince me otherwise, Jayce.'

'Please stop with your delusions.' I replied to Mewtwo before I got serious. 'Mewtwo, objectively speaking, do you think she is an enemy?'

'Give me a moment.' Mewtwo said as he went silent for a few seconds before speaking into my mind again. 'From what I can tell, no. She is merely having fun pulling you along by the nose and teasing a reaction out of you. And oh boy, I just read her mind to find out her true identity. I'm not sure if you will be happy at the answer.'

'Just who is she?'

'Not telling.' Mewtwo huffed in a childish manner. 'Unless… we play a game of twenty questions too? How about that?'

'Screw that.'

If even Mewtwo deems her to be a non-threat, then technically speaking, my cover has not been blown. There is no need to take any further action.

Before I knew it, she half-forced, half-taunted me to help her take a total of five polaroids. She inspected the pictures while humming an awfully cheery tune the whole time. I had finished my beverage by then, so I simply chucked the empty moomoo milk bottles into a nearby bin and proceeded to walk off.

Too much had been revealed about my identity to be comfortable. If it wasn't for Mewtwo's reassurance, I will be planning her murder right now. She should count herself lucky that Mewtwo is on her side.

"Yoohoo~ Mr IT consultant!"

"What?" I replied with slight annoyance when the woman caught up to me and began to obnoxiously tap on my shoulder without stopping to get my attention. Alright, maybe the fact that this woman had guessed my true identity so accurately in just a few tries had hurt my ego more than I cared to admit.

Not like I would tell anyone that.

'You don't need to. I can tell.'

Damn overly curious baby psychic.

'Nobody asked for your opinion.'

"You sure you don't want a selfie with me before I go? One-time offer! Free of charge!"

"And why would I want a selfie with you?"

"Whatever then, your loss. Here! A polaroid of me!" The woman all but shoved a polaroid into my hand. "Keep it, sell it, whatever. I'm not kidding when I say it can be sold for a high price the moment I signed my name on it. Well, see you when I see you, Mr IT consultant! It's been fun playing twenty questions with you! Check me out on my social media accounts, okay? And smile more! You are not doing your handsome face any justice with the long look you keep plastering on your pretty face!"

With an obnoxiously cheery wave, the Unovan model walked away with a skip in her steps and her emolgas hitching a ride on her shoulders. I immediately flipped the polaroid around the moment she disappeared from my sights, spotting a signature signed right at the back of it using a marker. Since when did she sign her name there without me catching a glimpse of it?

My eyes widened slightly when I spotted just what name she signed on the back of the polaroid. The cursive and neat 'Elesa❤️' signed on the back of the polaroid is too hard to miss.

Elesa? Where on earth had I heard that-

Oh

OH

'Caught you by surprise, didn't it? It caught me by surprise too when I found out about her identity through subtly reading her mind.'

'Nimbasa City's Gym Leader, I see.' I mentally stated in my mind. Well, that explains certain things. Like why her emolgas are so well-trained. Like how she said that she had worked with secret agents before and when she said that from her experience, criminals tend to have a lot more free time than secret agents. It's kind of true if you speak from a broad perspective. As a Gym Leader, she must have been involved with some form of peacekeeping in her region at some point. All the more so considering Team Plasma's recent movements.

Still, what is she doing all the way here in Johto? Is she here on a vacation, or something else?

At the very least, I definitely won't be seeing her again, so that's something. A Gym Leader would definitely know how to keep secrets. If she guessed that I am a secret agent working for Indigo the last thing she will do is to blow my cover for no reason, because doing so will risk political repercussions between Indigo and Unova. My cover is definitely safe.

Wait, is she really Nimbasa City's Gym Leader? Or is she pulling my leg?

I immediately took out my phone and searched for Elesa's social media account. If that annoying woman is indeed Elesa, she has to have a social media account or two if she's a model and public figure, a Gym Leader known for her catwalks to boot.

I soon found it. It's definitely her and she's definitely the Gym Leader of Nimbasa. As if to add insult to injury, she just posted a picture of a polaroid I had taken for her just a minute ago. The caption?

Travelled to Johto and gained a new fan today! We even played a game of twenty questions! Never thought that an IT consultant would be so good at the game! #firsttimeinjohto #elesashiningadventures #hedidntrecognisemeatalluntilitoldhim #aminotfamousenough #whoknewitconsultantsaregoodwithacamera #polaroidsftw #moomoomilk

Fan my ass. And what's with the long list of hashtags that made no sense?

'She works fast, I see.'

'She's doing this just to annoy me, I just know it. And what's with that stupid hashtag? Who knew IT consultants are good with a camera?'

'Goes to show how low her expectations of your photography skills are.'

'Oh shut it, you baby.'

'Well, I have to say today is full of enriching experiences. I get to see what Ecruteak is like, see what kind of creatures miltanks are and taste what milk tastes like. I learned that I am glad that I am not created to have teats like miltanks do. I also learnt what is a game of twenty questions. Not only that, I can see for myself how human courtship works and I can safely say that you suck at it.'

'You have gotten awfully talkative, eh?'

'Oh, are you mad? Had I hit a sore spot with that last point? I must have, right? Is this the time where I'm supposed to say that I'm sorry even if I don't really mean it?'

I didn't bother to reply as I continued to be on my way, with weavile following after me and gengar still taking residence in my shadows.

'Hey, Jayce. Did I really hit a sore spot? Hey, answer me. Hey!'

Name: Jayce

Official Identity: Jacob Myers

Indigo Government Identity: Operative 2046, Code Name: Gengar

Indigo Government Rank: Special Agent

Team Rocket Identity: Executive Plague

Team Rocket Rank: Executive

Pokemon Team:

1. Ninetales, female

2. Exeggutor, male

3. Weavile, male

4. Honchkrow, female

5. Gengar, female

6. Houndoom, male

7. Umbreon, male

8. Hydreigon, male

9. Drapion, female

10. Zoroark, male

11. Bisharp, male

12. Shiftry, male

13. Porygon-Z, (Nosy), genderless

Name: Elesa Euclid

Pokemon Team:

1. Zebstrika (Dazzle)

2. Emolga (Mimi)

3. Emolga (Nana)

4. Ampharos

5. Galvantula

6. Eelektross

7. Stunfisk

8. Luxray

9. Dedenne

10. Alolan Raichu

11. Jolteon