AN: This chapter was updated/revised on March 6, 2020.
Gracefully Unentitled
"The world is so broken and sometimes it leaves you cold.
At night times you can't feel the fire to guide you home.
The demons will harm you and try to steal what you know.
But the angels, they brought you, and they're gonna hold you up."
Shane Harper
Day 63
Amber felt like she was spinning, as when a Pokémon uses its Teleport on someone, but the sensation lasted longer and was more turbulent. This was the only thing she felt, and it freaked her out to lose all the feeling in her body.
But it was over the moment she completed that thought.
"OUCH!" she complained the moment she landed. "What the heck did you do to me?!"
"Miiiiiii," the Pokémon hissed as it slivered towards her.
Amber was angry and confused as to how or why Mimikyu had taken away her vision, then lifted her up and spun her around in the air. She jumped at the Pokémon and tried to catch it. Mimikyu dodged her with ease then told her off in its own creepy language. It looked at her like it was about to attack, then lifted its odd black appendage in the air, as if to strike.
"Pip, Thunderbolt!" she commanded.
"Pikaaaa!" Pip exclaimed, running toward the ghost and fairy-type mon.
Mimikyu deflected the Thunderbolt, but that gesture was enough to piss it off. Pip was lifted higher up in the air and spun around. Pip and Amber yelled at Mimikyu to stop, but it ignored them. Amber tried once again to strangle it, but it dodged her with little effort. Pip continued to wail while Amber set all of her and Jay's Pokémon after it.
'The Pokedex wasn't exaggerating when it claimed Mimikyu hated Pikachu,' Amber thought bitterly.
She gave her team orders to take down Mimikyu, and they tried their hardest, but they only ended up black and blue. She recalled them before anyone got seriously injured.
"Mimikyu, I will do whatever you want if you please stop torturing Pip," Amber called out desperately. "If anything, take me instead!"
These words captured Mimikyu's attention, and it gently returned Pip to Amber's shoulder. The poor Pikachu was out of breath and dizzy, but Amber saw that he was left otherwise uninjured. The only scars were psychological.
"Relax, you little monster. I thought you were going to show me your true form then try to kill me or something like that," Amber grumbled as she cradled Pip. "Why did you change your mind?"
"Mimiiiii mimiiii," it chanted.
Pip's ears perked at those words. He looked up at Amber and chanted his name excitedly as he pointed to Mimikyu. Though Amber was no Pokémon translator, she had known Pip long enough to understand him well at times. And this was one of those times.
"Wait…I did it?" she asked.
"Pikachu Pika," Pip confirmed.
"Whoa. Geeze…Whoa! So…So, what do I do now?"
"Piikkka!"
Pip gave Amber her Pokédex.
'Is it really that simple?' she thought.
"If you haven't noticed, I'm desperate," Amber told Mimikyu. "My two best friends are missing. That is why I am out here, starving, tired, and bored as hell, alone except for these Pokémon. It would be great if you could bring me to them. I…need to know that they're okay. That's they're not dead or hurt. Can I wish for that first?"
Mimikyu nodded.
"Okay then, make it happen. Take me to my friends Jay Morgan and Jezz Tonaka," she demanded.
Mimikyu delivered another ghostlike utterance, and an eerie black shadow encompassed them. Amber, Pip, and the other Pokémon in their party shut their eyes. There was a swoosh, and they opened their eyes to something completely different from the land they left behind.
XO
Day 65
Associates of Team Rocket had the utmost respect among other officials and civilians. Because the differences in uniform were minor for the most part when people saw an agent on the street, it was obvious that they were from Team Rocket, but their exact role was often up for interpretation. While trainees often considered themselves to be TR agents, higher-ranked agents considered them 'still in process'.
Nolan and Lexi learned quickly that 'still in progress' meant cleaning bathrooms, feeding Pokémon, and answering phone calls. After the two of them finished the bathrooms on the first floor, they reunited to go feed the organization's hundreds of Pokémon.
"How's your morning going?" Lexi asked Nolan as they headed to the grain room.
"Which part of it?" he inquired.
Lexi smacked him on the wrist. "The part that didn't involve me."
"It was pretty horrible. Next time I should get to clean the girl's room. Guys are disgusting."
"I heard someone say that someone else we be doing it tomorrow, and that means that we are going to be given a new task."
"How do you know that's not just a rumor?"
"I don't."
"I'll be looking forward to it not being one."
"I don't know if I'm ready. Cleaning is boring and gross, but I still prefer that over trail runs and hiking exercises."
"Then why did you sign up for this?"
"Why did you?"
Neither of them responded.
Having reached the grain room, they together lifted a large bucket of pellets and dumped it into a wheelbarrow. Then they each took one handle and pushed in accord. When they were finished delivering grain to all the Tauros, Zubat, and Rattata, they journeyed to the upstairs offices in order to do the third part of their job.
"Answering the phone is also tedious, but at least it involves resting," Lexi said as the entered the elevator.
Nolan pushed the button to take them up to the fifth floor, where all the cubicles were located.
"Maybe something interesting will happen today," he mused.
"That's the spirit," Lexi replied unenthusiastically.
They chose the cubicles across from one another so that they could still turn and see each other's faces. Two hours into the session, Nolan got a familiar voice on the phone.
"Hello. This is Annastasia Morgan, agent number 333, I was improperly redirected. I need to be transferred to Giovanni's direct line," she hastily spoke into the phone. "Quickly."
Nolan moved the phone away from his ear and tapped Lexi on the shoulder, mouthing the words 'It's Annastasia'. She scooted her chair forward and they both pressed their ears to the receiver.
"Hi A!" they responded in unison.
"Huh? Oh, this is Nolan and Lexi," she smiled on the other side of the line.
"Since when are you a level 300 agent?" Nolan questioned.
"Since five months ago," she answered. "I just never bragged about it. You two are working together?"
"The Boss has us doing random jobs," Lexi explained. "It is probably to teach us discipline or something like that."
Annastasia smiled once more, though her friends couldn't see that nor the sadness that filled her eye. However, they were surprised she wasn't all giggly like she normally was.
"It's not to teach discipline, it's because Gio can never think of anything to do with new recruits, so he normally makes them do office and custodial work until an interesting but low-key project comes along," she explained.
"That sucks," Lexi mourned.
"You okay, A? You sound drained. I thought you were starting to feel a bit better," said Nolan.
"I'm fine," she answered quickly.
"No, tell us. Why are you in such a rush to talk to the Boss?" Nolan requested.
"I…ah…"
It wasn't so much that she was in a rush to talk to Giovanni, rather she wanted to avoid random conversations with the receptionists. She had been known to go on hour-long tangents when reporting to headquarters.
"I suppose I can tell you, but then you have to transfer me to Giovanni," she said. "And please don't ask a ton of questions."
"Okay," her friends agreed.
Annastasia ran a shaky hand through her hair. She had already recited in her head what she wanted to say to Giovanni. Normally with sensitive topics she wanted to talk to people in person, so that she could read their aura and comfort them if their emotions were stirred, but she felt she was under a time constraint. And she knew the big-brother in Nolan wouldn't transfer her call until she spilled the beans.
"I have unfortunate information regarding the Hales," she started, attempting to sound professional and not upset.
"Was there another accident?" Lexi inquired.
"No, not another accident; I'm talking about the one that Rita was in."
"Were the Hales also injured?" Nolan asked after Annastasia went silent for a few moments.
"…Yes…"
"Okay, tell us what happened. Then we'll transfer you to the Boss."
"Okay, okay. Just, as I said, please don't ask a lot of questions…"
XO
Rumika and Annastasia had been spending the last few days and most of their nights searching through endless files from various foster parents, group homes, and orphanages throughout all the known regions of the world, hoping to find something that could lead them to Jezz. The closest them came to was a small journal, untitled and unauthored, imparting pieces of a story of a child named Jess. Within an hour of finding it, Rumika and Annastasia arranged a meeting with Lucy, as well as some executives. Domino, Archer, Viper, Giovanni, Delia, Rita, Annastasia, Jessie, and James agreed to meet. Rita requested that the meeting be recorded and sent to her, and Annastasia decided to make it a priority.
Being the last one to show up, Annastasia took a seat on the far end of the rectangle table. Rumika was standing at the head of the table, a projector by her side and a white screen behind them. Then she addressed the group.
"I must begin by making it clear that we are here for three reasons," Rumika began. "First, we are going to discuss the contents of this journal and collectively decide a course of action. Second in point, we are here to re-evaluate our search methods, since it is clear to me that we are doing something wrong. Lastly, as we mentioned in our email, we have some unfortunate news that we need to pass on. Does everyone understand?"
Everyone nodded.
"Can we start with the sad stuff?" asked James. "I want to get it over with."
"We want to make our other points clear first," Rumika responded.
"You are going to get more specific about these reasons, right?" Archer questioned.
"This is already starting to not make sense," Jessie complained.
"Figures you'd say dat," Meowth taunted.
"I will do my best to explain everything and be as clear and specific as possible," Rumika vowed. "Annastasia, I request that you come up here and help me out."
"Yes, Ma'am," she replied with a sarcastic salute.
She got up out of her chair and stood next to Rumika. Though public speaking was not something that often made her nervous, she felt as though she was being put on the spot. After all, a lot of important people were staring at her, and she figured that at some point they were going to interrogate her.
"Inopportunely, as you will see, most of the pages in this journal are ripped out," Rumika communicated. She projected the first page of the journal onto the screen next to her and flipped through a few of the pages. "Many of the salvaged pages contain crossed out text. I was able to use a program I developed to remove those lines so that we can see the text underneath. However, there is nothing I can do about the ripped pages. Our plan is to work with what we got for now and then to worry about the missing puzzle pieces later."
"Give us a summary of your findings," Giovanni instructed. "Tell us why this is important."
"Yes, Sir," Annastasia and Rumika responded diligently.
"I will begin with the first few pages," said Rumika. "As you can see by my pictures, there is no title and no author, though three names are mentioned, the first one being 'Tonaka'. Tonaka is the late Miyamoto's surname, as well as the maiden name of Mrs. Jessica Morgan and Jezz's supposed last name. Presumably it would also be that name used by Jessie's father and any other immediate relative who is either unmarried or decided to use their original surname as their legal name. The journal itself is only five pages, not including what was ripped out. It was given to me by an elderly woman named Mary, last name unknown, who claims that an old friend of hers gave her the journal many years previously. This Mary suffers from extreme memory loss and cannot even recall her surname. She does not remember the context in which she received the journal nor the name of the friend who passed it on to her. She claims to not have written in it at all."
"Who's this 'Mary' person?" Viper asked.
"She spent forty years as the director of this orphanage that focuses on finding temporary and permanent homes for children without parents," Annastasia explained. "We traced Jezz back to this facility, which is how we found this woman. Mary has no close relatives or friends who we can talk to for clarification, so this is all we know about her."
James raised his hand.
"Yes?" Rumika asked him.
"Do you know where this Mary person is from?" he inquired.
"Not exactly," Annastasia answered. "She was living in Unova, right outside of the capitol. Though she directed the orphanage, she also fostered her own children starting in her late twenties up until her mid-fifties, and after that is when her memory problems started to occur, and she retired. Now she is in her late fifties, and she cannot remember her life before age thirty. She doesn't believe that she was raised in Unova though because it all seems very unfamiliar to her, and she remembers moving to Unova as a young adult."
"That poor woman," Jessie sighed. "James, if ever get like that, please get me a new brain."
James patted her on the back. "I will probably go before you do."
"Princess, it is up to you then."
Giovanni tried to re-direct everyone's attention so that it was focused on the journal. "Tell us what it actually says. We can hardly read it."
"In part one, the author is talking about giving up their child. There was some kind of agreement that involved sending the child away. They talk about a Jessica 'Jess' Winchester. Jess was supposedly an odd child with unique mannerisms. She was a difficult infant, having been inflicted with HIV, which made her particular irritable and susceptible to sickness as a young child."
"That could be Jessiebelle," said Jessie, her mouth curling slightly upward.
"It's not, and we are going to explain why," Annastasia replied.
"Now I am quite certain that I do not have another sister, or aunt. From what I understand I am the only Winchester who is not in jail. I cannot honestly say that I know with absolute certainty who 'Jess Winchester', truly is. All we can really do is speculate. I originally estimated that this person is indeed my sister, Jessiebelle Winchester, but after reading further into journal I have reason to believe otherwise."
"Do you think this is the Jess that you said Jezz told you about?" James asked, raising his hand again.
"Yes, but there is more to it than that," Annastasia answered. "The night he left, Jezz talked to me and explained, rather tearfully, how this 'Jess' who he knew no longer exists. I thought maybe Jess was a sister, cousin, or maybe a close friend of his who had passed away, but I couldn't get him to tell me much about her. And when Rumika and I visited the prison, we showed Jessiebelle and her parents his photos. Each one of them thought they recognized the child, but when I told them his name, they both seemed very surprised and admitted to assuming the child in the photo was a young girl. I personally believe that Jess was the child they thought we were showing them."
"I understand now, Anna-chan. That is why you feel so bad," said James.
"I believe that I may have drove him away. I shouldn't have left him alone that night. Jay and Amber are great friends, but someone older should have been there. He was so upset, so overwhelmed, and I had no idea what to do, so I let him be."
"This fits because the child was supposedly an infant back in 2025," Rumika picked up. "But before Jess turned one, a Mr. Masuru Tonaka took custody of her."
Everyone looked at Jessie. She didn't seem to get it.
"What?" she asked the group irritably. "I don't know who this Masuru is. The only blood relatives I know I have are the ones Rumika already told you about."
"The point is that after discovering this I was able to connect this man to our family," Rumika continued. "This person could be Jessie's paternal grandfather, since his age is not specified, and this is ten or so years ago, it could be one of her parents' cousin, an aunt or uncle, or her father. Miyamoto never divulged the identity of Jessie's father or any of her other relatives. Their identities are a total mystery."
Jessie's face fell. "Rumika, did you ever consider talking to me about this first before announcing this in front of an audience?"
"There wasn't much time for that. I wanted to hold this meeting ASAP. And only those of us in the room are the only people who know what I am talking about."
"It's good that we're getting somewhere," said James.
Domino raised her hand. "So…I really hate these feel-good family cases, but suppose for a moment that 'Jess Winchester' is actually this Jess." Domino pointed at Jessie. "Did you consider that?"
Jessie growled. She hated Domino now almost as much as Cassidy, especially because of the tone she used when she talked. Rumika tactfully left Cassidy and Butch out of this case, knowing that it would lead to her distress. Either that or Rumika did it for herself, as she hated breaking up fights between the two women. She must not have realized that Domino also fit that role quite well.
"The age is off," Rumika reminded her. "Jessie was not an infant in 2025."
"Duhh," Jessie said to Domino. "Now let my wonderful baby cousin continue."
"Thanks, Jessie. Masuru Tonaka had baby Jess in his care until his death in 2026. Then he passed the child on through foster care. But before I get to this, I want to not that the handwriting has several changes. It's clear to me that someone else was writing at this point, and they mention the Kapules several times."
"You're joking."
"As she said, the text was incomplete and scribbled out, but Lucy, Rumika, and I were able to salvage it," Annastasia responded.
"We triple checked," Lucy assured the group.
"But you said these people were not a threat. We even considered going after them in the last war and you held us back," Giovanni impatiently asserted.
"Sir, with all due respect, they were a non-threat at the time, and we can still assume that they still are," Rumika replied. "All we know is that this baby, who was born long after that war, was in the care of the Kapule Klan...at least according to this journal. It can be a total coincidence that Masuru decided to leave her with them, though I think it is more likely that they tried to get a hold of the child, expecting a Winchester or Tonaka to have some kind of wealth to mooch off of, only to discover that the baby girl had no proof that she was ever even related to the Winchesters, or that the Tonakas were estranged. It is unclear why they made that assumption though; I don't understand how they knew about the connection between the Tonakas and the Winchesters."
"I am trying to wrap my head around this," said Viper "Through the journal, you discovered that Jess Winchester is the subject of the journal, and since the age of the baby girl mentioned matches up with what Jezz told Agent A, the kid is likely to be the same girl he told her about. That means she is also the same girl that Jessiebelle and her parents thought Jezz was in the picture. Jess's parents gave her to someone named 'Masuru Tonaka', who died shortly after receiving the baby. And then...?"
"Masuru Tonaka was either a member of the Kapule Klan or he worked for them. I don't know why this was the case, but the Kapules didn't seem to want to look after the child, which is most likely the reason that Masuru, who was obviously not Alolan, was in charge of raising her. Kapules are known to hire servants to look after their children, and being racists as they were, if they were going to use this child for her money, they would not want to deal with her themselves. Even before he died, the Kapules directed where the child went. She was moved around often, and she received a new home every few months it seems. Then, when she was about seven years old, all her files vanished, according to the new director at Mary's orphanage. Now, interpret this any way you want, because I can only speculate at this point."
"What do you suggest we do now?" Giovanni asked the women.
"We are going to interrogate members of the Kapule Klan. We have twelve suspects who we want to question. We are going to ask them about Jezz and Jess, figure out what they know, and see if what else they are involved in. And…it is possible that they are the same child."
"Do you really believe that, Anna-chan?" James asked, his voice almost a whisper. "It would mean that Jezz was lying to us this whole time, and that Rumika and company wasted all this time…Jezz doesn't seem like the scheming type. He seemed very sincere when he told us he wanted their help. And if he wanted their help. Wouldn't he…or she rather… have told them the truth?"
"I don't know what I should believe," Annastasia sighed. "At this point, I don't care if he lied or not, I just want him back. Speaking of which, Rumika mentioned earlier in this meeting that we need to revise our searching methods."
"What do you propose?" asked Archer.
"We should offer cash rewards for anyone who can tell us where they are, and pay them only if they are correct. I feel that one of the reasons we aren't getting far is because most of the natives here are refusing to help us. A cash incentive may work and I am more than willing to donate because I believe it will help."
"I think that is a brilliant idea," James remarked.
"It's not genius, but it might be just what we need."
"What else?" Giovanni inquired.
"We must increase surveillance," Rumika answered. "We need those microphones, the small ones that you gave Rita and her partner last year when they were searching for the fusion Pokémon. And cameras, dare I say. We need to distribute them throughout Alola, and if possible, throughout Kanto."
"That is possible, though last year both Annastasia and Rita informed me that the spider microphones were not helpful."
"Our techs have since modified the devices, have they not?"
"They have. They have not been tested—"
"—This can be their test," Annastasia interrupted. "My apologies, Sir, I didn't mean to interrupt."
"It's fine," Giovanni murmured; he was used to her ADD ways.
"The updated microphones and the cameras will help more than hurt," Rumika continued.
"We must do everything we can, and this we can do," Annastasia emphasized.
"Lastly, we want to do interrogations on everyone who we believe is involved in this," Rumika told the group. "Questions?"
"How are we going to interrogate these people? Do we have a warrant? What if they refuse?" Archer inquired.
"We are going to try to interrogate them in the official way," said Annastasia. "And if that doesn't work…we will…it's extreme, but…but…we do have a willing Pokémon…"
Annastasia looked down, ashamed by the words that sat on the hem of her tongue.
"You are talking about mindreading," said Archer. He turned to Giovanni. "Will you authorize this?"
Giovanni thought of Amber, and of Misty and Ash. He remembered Annastasia and her family. Mindreading was outlawed mostly because it could not be reciprocated. It was near impossible to find an unbiased Pokémon that would be willing to do it, because it goes against a prisoner's right of being allowed to remain silent in order to prevent the further incrimination of oneself. In addition to that they would need a Pokémon that either loved everyone equally, or hated everyone equally to prevent bias. Giovanni understood the need to obtain this information, and decided that they should do it, then find a creative way to cover it up.
"While we won't be able to read the minds of convicted felons, we can and should interrogate them. And there is no law saying that we cannot read the minds of civilians who may be potential suspects, so long as we don't imprison them based on what they told us. I believe that we need to do this," Annastasia asserted. "I will do whatever it takes."
Giovanni gave a nod and a grunt. "Then we will."
Annastasia would have cheered up at the approval if it wasn't for the sad news she had to now deliver. Rumika noted the glum look on her face and decided that it was a good idea to tell everyone now, while the most important people on this case were gathered. They two women sighed and then paused.
"You had something sad you needed to tell us," Lucy reminded them. "So, you still gonna do that?"
"Yes," Rumika said solemnly. "Annastasia, do you want to say it? I can do it too; I can understand why you wouldn't."
"No, I will say it," she whispered. She coughed to draw everyone's' attention. Rumika gave a single nod, urging her to announce the words she knew no one wanted to hear.
"Perry and Hauana Hale are dead," she stated.
There were gasps and headshakes, but she persisted.
"They were killed in the same accident that injured Rita."
Everyone in the group wore sullen expressions. Jessie, James, and Lucy looked at one another in confusion and slight panic. Giovanni did not mourn the deceased; his mind wandered elsewhere.
"Who did they designate as the emergency guardians?" Giovanni demanded.
"Um…you probably aren't going to believe me…" Annastasia stumbled, red in the face.
"It's her," Rumika blatantly announced. "A. Annastasia Miyamoto Morgan. She's got him. And it turns out that she would have had him anyway, since he was assigned to her care the day after we all arrived in Alola."
"Are you joking this time?" James asked.
Annastasia shook her head. "Believe me… I more than triple checked."
"What does this actually mean?" Jessie asked Rumika.
Rumika shrugged. "I suppose we have some interesting news for Jezz when he gets back."
XO
In The Next Chapter:
· A day at the beach
· Jay and Jezz arrive in Unova
· United