Thinking back, Hugh really has no idea how he got himself involved in this mess.

He supposed it all started when he first approached Skye in Mistralton. He was trying- and failing rather miserably, if he may add- in getting his pokemon to be able to acclimatise fighting under powerful winds. It is a necessary hurdle that they have to overcome if they want to earn their sixth badge from Skyla, whose flying types are known to overpower their foes with a powerful gale.

Then, he spotted her, a trainer who was obviously a Flying Specialist given her lineup of pokemon and it took him all of his self-discipline to not outright gawk at how easy her flying types seem to be able to fly against the powerful winds generated by those humongous fans. No matter how he observed and how he thought about it, he still couldn't figure out just what kind of technique or trick those flying types were using to be able to do what they did.

So, he gathered his courage to approach her and ask, willing to pay the price required to learn such a secret from this unknown trainer because as a trainer himself, he knew just how zealously trainers guard their secrets. So, he was surprised when the trainer just dismissed his concerns and said that she doesn't need his money.

After she taught him her secrets they got to know each other a little better. She said her name is Skye, a Johtonian trainer, and is now working for the PWL under the group known as the International Police. He had no freaking clue what the interpol is, but he knew for a fact that the PWL logo affixed onto Skye's electronic ID in her pokedex cannot be faked because every trainer across the world would understand that such a thing is near impossible given the sophisticated security measures put into place for every single pokedex being issued. This means that she is indeed a PWL agent. That is a big deal, because the PWL are notoriously picky about the trainers they chose to employ. Any trainer working for the PWL must have some sort of coveted ability or skill to be able to catch their eye.

The first thought he had upon learning about Skye's affiliation was about how this might be an opportunity for him to further his own personal mission to bring Team Plasma down and get his sister's purrloin back. If the Unova League is too inefficient, too incapable, and too inept in removing this cancerous blight from the region, maybe the PWL can. He's grasping at straws here, but this unexpected meeting with Skye just gave him a small glimmer of hope that there might be a chance to retrieve his sister's purrloin from Team Plasma.

He was elated when she shared that the PWL is here to help resolve the Plasma situation like how they had apparently helped to resolve the Rocket problem back at Indigo. According to Skye, the interpol are all made up of amazing people, each with a unique skill that sets them apart from the average trainer. In her own words, they are all people who can make anyone else feel inadequate because they simply are that good.

This was one reason why he did not hesitate to share with Skye the results of his own independent investigation about Team Plasma. All he managed to achieve so far was to search, locate, and mark out any Team Plasma hideout he had come across in his journey thus far. He has no idea how useful this information might be to Skye and the interpol, but she's willing to pay him for the information. Hugh knows that it is a kind offer on her part to pay him when he's offering it to her for free, but rather than the money, he prefers if Team Plasma were eradicated instead.

He wasn't sure if he should think that she poked her nose far too deep into his business, or if she simply cared too much about a random stranger like him when she made him promise to let her know when and where he would be conducting another search of Team Plasma hideouts, but he still did it anyway. It's partly out of gratitude to Skye for what she had taught him and partly because he understood that she had a point when she mentioned that it's best that he could have some form of backup should things go wrong when he's on another search and things go belly up real quick.

That doesn't mean that he has to be entirely truthful, however, because he still ended up raiding a few Team Plasma hideouts on his own without telling Skye a word about it. Granted, they are small and unimportant Team Plasma hideouts, but still belonging to Team Plasma nonetheless. Skye doesn't need to know about this. They simply have a partnership with each other, it's not like she's his sister or mum or anything and he does not need to report to her about every single little thing that he did.

Still, he found himself feeling oddly guilty when she caught him red-handed in the act back at Driftveil. He would admit that his recent string of successes might have gotten into his head and he had bitten off more than he could chew when he decided that trying to raid the Driftveil hideout on his own was a good idea. If it wasn't for the mysterious and infuriating guy who calls himself N joining to aid him halfway into the fight and if it wasn't for Skye locating him by sheer coincidence, he might have been forced to pay a hefty price for his recklessness.

Even so, that still didn't explain why he thought that agreeing to Skye's proposition of applying to join the interpol was a great idea. That leads him to where he is now, waiting outside a room within a luxurious looking building in Nimbasa. The fact that this building is located at a prime area in one of the most expensive cities in the region spoke volumes of the kind of fundings the interpol received. He supposed this is a good thing, because it means that the PWL is indeed taking the Plasma problem seriously.

Skye had brought him to the second floor of the building. Apparently, the second and third floor of the building are the designated office space for the interpol. The floors above that are the residence of the interpol members during their stay in Unova. Hugh wasn't ashamed to admit that his jaws had dropped when he heard Skye saying that every member of the interpol had an entire floor to themselves in this building, because just how much funding does the interpol have to give their members such a perk? Just how good must the interpol agents be to be granted such a generous privilege?

Skye was right. Suddenly, he felt very inadequate. He had won his sixth badge recently, a feat that not many could boast since so many trainers drop out of the gym circuit by the time they reached the fourth or fifth gym, but at the end of the day he's just a six badge trainer. From what Skye told him, although not all interpol agents are pokemon trainers, each and every trainer in the interpol are at least Elite level in strength with an additional unique skill or two under their belt, skills that made them very much irreplaceable. Then, his traitorous mouth just had to ask Skye that if she were to rank herself against her colleagues, how would she fare?

"Somewhere at the bottom."

He felt even more inadequate after hearing her reply. He had seen for himself how powerful Skye's dragonite is when she was imparting to him a few of her tricks back at Mistralton, and he had seen the kind of power her noivern had unleashed when she had to save his sorry ass in Driftveil. Skye is a skilled trainer, there is no doubt about that in his mind. Just one of those could probably wipe his entire team in a pokemon battle and she's at the very bottom among her colleagues?

Just what the hell had he signed himself up for? Why on earth had he agreed to her proposition?

Still, since he's already here, he might as well grit his teeth, bite the bullet, and see his way through. What's the worst that could happen? A rejection? He can handle a little rejection. As long as the interpol can eradicate Team Plasma like how they helped Indigo remove Team Rocket, he wouldn't even complain if they make him scrub their toilets for an entire year. That's how much he wants to see those Plasma bastards gone.

He waited patiently (no, who was he kidding, he was waiting nervously), sitting on an empty chair outside the offices on the second floor of the building. His starter, now a serperior who had just reached her final evolutionary form, provided some much needed comfort as she coiled herself around him and allowed him to pat her head. It gave him something to do and took his mind off the anxiousness that he was feeling.

Then, one of the office doors opened and his heartbeat accelerated like a revving engine. Unfortunately, that person is not Skye. Surprisingly, the person is simply a girl around his age and he couldn't tell just who is the older one among the both of them because they were about the same height. In fact, he has a feeling that he's the taller one although he couldn't tell for sure as he's still seated on his chair while she's standing on her feet.

The girl seemed mildly surprised at seeing him too. She's really the prettiest girl Hugh had ever laid his eyes upon, just like a perfectly sculpted doll that should be carefully protected and placed somewhere such that she can never be tainted. Her eyes are of an exotic emerald green, her skin fair, and her long blonde hair gave her a slight ethereal look. She's so unbelievably beautiful that it felt like a crime to even lay his eyes on her.

They both stared at each other in silence for a second or two, but she was the one who first broke the silence.

"You are…?"

"Erm, Skye brought me here," Hugh had to try his best to not stutter, feeling even more nervous that he ever thought possible. He's not an idiot. For this girl to be here, it meant that she has to be a part of the interpol as well. It really makes him wonder just what kind of skills she possesses to be accepted into the interpol as one of them and just how powerful she is as a trainer for Skye to say that she would rank herself at the very bottom among her colleagues.

This girl couldn't possibly have more than three years of experience under her belt, yet she's a part of an elite group like the interpol while he's still trying to earn his last two badges. That familiar sense of inadequacy filled him once more.

"Skye? She's back?"

"She told me to wait outside and entered that office. That was about ten to fifteen minutes ago," Hugh pointed to a specific office room whose door was closed, the curtain blinds drawn such that nobody could see what's going on inside.

"Oh, that's Looker's office. She must be talking to him then," the girl commented before turning to look at him, or more specifically, his serperior. The girl has an espeon beside her and a pachirisu who was perching itself on the girl's shoulder. The little electric type was cheerfully waving its little paws at his serperior in greeting while squeaking something incomprehensible.

"May I?" She asked him while pointing at his serperior, obviously very interested in getting up close to touch his serperior. He can understand why she's so curious about his serperior, because it's a species of pokemon that cannot be found outside of Unova. Even within the region, it is not a species of pokemon that just any trainer can get their hands on. The only reason he got his serperior as a starter when it was still a snivy was because he managed to pass the gruelling test to be granted a regional starter by their regional professor, Professor Aurea Juniper.

Thankfully, his serperior is a friendly pokemon and doesn't mind being touched by a random stranger. The girl surprised him when she seemed to know just where to scratch serperior's sweet spot that got his starter to let out a satisfied hiss before seemingly melting into a contented puddle. Does she have a serperior too?

"How did you know that serperior likes to be scratched at that spot?" Hugh cannot help but ask and pointed at the spot the girl was currently scratching his serperior, the part of serperior's body where the two dark green extensions spread out from its lower neck.

"I grew up among pokemon, I have a lot of experience in taking care of pokemon, including serpentine pokemon. I could make an accurate guess about serperior's preferences based on that," she explained. "So, why did Skye bring you here?"

"Uh, she… said that she wanted to put in a recommendation for me to… join the interpol," Hugh replied lamely, his words decreasing in volume towards the end because the more he stays here, the less confidence he has. He just felt so inadequate to be here, to be among people who are trainers that are minimally Elite level in strength.

He hasn't even gotten his eighth badge yet dammit.

"Oh, you must be very good then."

"No…" Hugh hung his head in shame. He's really starting to regret ever coming here.

"Don't think we had introduced ourselves. My name's Velda, just call me Vel," she extended her hand, catching him by surprise. Still, he quickly got over it and shook her hand as well, trying to ignore the blooming heat spreading across his face.

"H-Hugh. Call me Hugh!" He replied, and it didn't escape his notice how Velda's espeon rolled its eyes at him behind its trainer's back for his bashful behaviour. Great, now even pokemon are making fun of him.

Thankfully, the door that Skye disappeared behind reopened at that very moment, saving him from further embarrassment.

"Hugh- oh, Vel, you are still here?"

"Just wrapping up some admin matters on my end before going on my vacation. I thought you were on vacation too?"

"That little runt ruined it all," Skye pointed an accusing finger at Hugh and Hugh looked away guiltily, even if he doesn't really understand why he's feeling so guilty. Skye seemed to ignore him in favour of talking to Velda.

"So, where are you going to spend your days off? I know Nova had decided to go adventuring into some desert or something and that Akamu and Mary had decided to go on their little honeymoon to… I think it was Undella Town."

"Honestly, I haven't decided yet. Any recommendations?"

"Lentimas Town has some really good pottery products so if you are looking for souvenirs to bring back home, that may be a good place to start. Mistralton is ideal if you want a good place to fly around and if you are lucky enough, you might be able to catch a glimpse of their planes taking flight."

"Oh, you reminded me, Mistralton has aeroplanes! It's been so long since I saw one of those!"

"There's this building in Mistralton with really large fans built into the walls for trainers to train their pokemon to fight against heavy turbulence. You might find it fun," Skye grinned. "Alright, talk to you later, Looker wants to interview this little runt."

"I'm not little…" Hugh protested weakly, only for his words to be ignored by Skye as she pulled him along by the arm.

"All the best!" Velda called out before taking her leave and Hugh watched her walking away until she disappeared after making a turn around the corner. His thoughts were swiftly interrupted when Skye ruffled his messy hair with a hand.

"What? Found your first crush?"

"It's not like that!" Hugh vehemently denied but Skye's teasing grin only widened.

"I'm warning you though, she's way out of your league. You see this entire building here?" Skye gestured to their surroundings with her free hand and Hugh nodded in understanding.

"It belongs to her."

"... What?"

"She comes from a very powerful family in Hoenn. Like, super duper rich and influential. In a way, her family has a similar status like how the Five Weapons are viewed in Unova, but I think her family holds even more influence than that in their home region. Her family is one of our major sponsors, by the way. Word of caution, she can be pretty nasty in a fight too."

"She's better than you as a trainer?"

"We never really tested it out, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case," Skye shrugged. "She has… I think it was either seventeen or eighteen pokemon, and she tamed them all and is able to command them with ease, and don't get me started on her little ghost army. But if you really want to know about her skill level, she had fully tamed a tyranitar, is that enough of an answer?"

And for the umpteenth time that day, Hugh could feel his lower jaw hanging limply from another shock he received. Tyranitars are not a species of pokemon trainers would choose to try taming, let alone being able to retain total command over them. Their viciousness is comparable to hydreigons and Unovans have a very healthy fear of those draconic beasts. Conversely, any trainer who managed this feat will be held in very high regard by the trainer community due to how notoriously challenging it is to tame one of these monsters.

Velda and him are about the same age, yet the differences between them is as clear as night is to day. Skye was right, just by being here is enough to make him feel inadequate. He is still having problems trying to imagine a sweet girl like Velda commanding a brutish tyranitar in battle because that is something that many seasoned adult veterans have tried and failed, but Velda had managed it, that is the truth. The truth is that in this world, there are people who can accomplish things from a young age that most adults will struggle with for their entire lives. Velda is one of those people, an Elite trainer who had proved herself capable of taming and commanding a tyranitar. No wonder she's accepted into the interpol.

People always praised him for being a prodigy for being able to earn five badges in a year but compared to people like them, his accomplishments seemed to pale in comparison. He certainly doesn't feel like a prodigy right here. It is a very humbling experience.

"Anyway, get in and do your best, we can gossip later," Skye all but shoved him through the door of the office room which she just emerged from and closed the door shut, leaving him to his fate. Hugh took in a deep breath to clear his mind of any stray thoughts before walking to what lies ahead, his serperior slithering alongside him.

He walked through the short passage and reached the main area. Sitting behind an office desk and typing away into his computer is a tall slender man who looks to be in his late twenties or early thirties, who paused in his actions when he spotted him.

"G-Good afternoon. I am Hugh Matis," Hugh quickly introduced himself with a quick bow, trying his best to keep his nervousness in check.

"Good afternoon. Please, take a seat," the man gestured to the seat opposite him across his office table and Hugh took his spot there, his serperior curling and resting itself beside his chair, observing the man curiously.

"Let's start off with the introductions. You can call me Looker, that's the codename I go by. I am the director of the interpol and also an agent of the PWL. I had heard from Skye that you were the one who provided her the location of quite a number of hideouts in western Unova, but I wasn't expecting it to be from someone so young."

"Were they useful? Erm, I mean, the information?" Hugh cannot help but ask.

"My honest opinion?"

"Yes please," Hugh gulped.

"Most of the hideouts you located were small ones, unimportant in nature in the grand scheme of things because such hideouts hold very little interest and value to the interpol. Our main focus is on the very well hidden and important hideouts, those that hold important secrets of Team Plasma and very likely heavily defended and huge in size," Looker truthfully explained before quickly adding. "But, that is not to say that the information you provided was unimportant, because it's also true that you had located one or two fairly important hideouts of Team Plasma that none of our information sources had identified. The information you provided was still a great help in furthering our efforts to deal with the Plasma problem."

"As long as they were useful…" Hugh let out a small sigh of relief after hearing Looker's answer. It seems that his efforts were not entirely in vain.

"Still, I'm curious, how did you manage to locate the hideouts? You are very young, and don't take this the wrong way, I'm not belittling you by any means, but conducting independent investigations about a criminal group as large as Team Plasma is not something I would expect from a twelve year old, five badge trainer or not."

"Erm, I just earned my sixth badge recently…"

"My apologies, a six badge trainer. Still, may I know how you did what you did?"

"Uh, I just… I don't know how to explain. It has never been that hard for me, I just have a knack in staying unnoticed by others and blending into the background. Because of that I am able to easily eavesdrop on a lot of things I shouldn't be hearing, or see things that I'm not supposed to see, people just… don't seem to notice me. It makes tailing any Team Plasma member that I identified very easy and all I have to do is to follow after them in secret until they lead me to their hideouts."

"Able to easily stay unnoticed? Are you an Ability Holder?" Looker questioned and Hugh shook his head.

"None of my family has an ability as far as I know and my body never… acted weirdly."

Looker remained silent, obviously mulling over something and Hugh remained quiet as well, not even daring to breathe the wrong way in fear of upsetting this weirdly scary man and thereby accidentally ruining his chances.

"How… interested are you in joining the interpol? Have Skye briefed you on what we really do, on the kind of things you will be expected to face in our line of work?"

"She told me that you guys primarily deal with world-class threats. Like, erm, the Rockets? And Team Plasma? And… I heard… Legendary pokemon…?" Hugh found himself trailing off at the last part of his words because it just sounded so absurd to fight Legendary pokemon. Yet, if the news were to be believed, such a thing had recently occurred at Olivine city where Kanto's legendary birds had laid siege in Johto.

"Yes, she's right on all accounts. You will be expected to be able to handle yourself in the face of a world-class crisis, to be able to provide aid to our cause. This is the very reason why the interpol was set up, because we are the world's first responders to any world-class threats, be it from terrorist organisations that had grown too large, or angry Legendary pokemon who had been rudely summoned for the wrong purposes. Not only must you have some sort of skill that nobody else possesses, you have to be prepared for anything and be able to handle anything. You must have the resolve and the understanding that death is a very real possibility in our line of work. From what little I managed to overhear from outside earlier, you had met Vel?"

Hugh nodded.

"To me, age is never an indicator of an individual's ability, Vel's presence is proof of that. Vel is only two years older than you. In fact, in a way, she's much more unfortunate than us because she was born with a very frail body that causes her to fall very deathly ill every now and then in her younger years. It was so bad that she had toed the line between life and death more times than she cared to count ever since she was a child, to the point that she had grown numb to it and still treats her own life a little too callously for my liking. Still, she not only overcame that hurdle despite her sickness, she went on to complete her gym circuit and clinched first runner up in her conference, officially earning her title as an Elite trainer. As a trainer, she had not only proved herself capable of commanding a large team of seventeen pokemon, a feat that many adult trainers never succeeded, she successfully tamed a tyranitar, and also has the unique ability to work with ghost types and get them to help her with her requests, making her suitable for scouting and information gathering. As an agent, she had assisted the interpol by successfully inserting herself into Unova high society, made acquaintances with important people in high places within the region, and thereby allowing us to get vital information about Team Plasma that we couldn't obtain otherwise. Also, you might not know this, she was involved in the defence back during the Lilycove Invasion and she survived. Like you, she was only a six badge trainer then. Afterwards, she was also instrumental in ensuring the downfall of Team Aqua and Team Magma in Hoenn, and that was when she was only thirteen."

At this point, Hugh no longer knows what to feel after getting overloaded by the kind of information he had learnt within the short span of a single day.

"I guess you are more familiar with Skye, so maybe it would be easier for you to understand if I talk about her instead. She was a Ranger of the Johto First Ranger Regiment, a place where they only accept the best of the very best, where only the top percentile of their Rangers would be considered to be given a spot among their ranks. She won a lot of accolades for her accomplishments during her time there and is very experienced in rescue operations, something which I believe will prove to be invaluable if the interpol ever needs to help resolve a world-class natural disaster. She adapts extremely quickly to sudden changes on the field, and has proved herself more than capable of working under extreme pressure on more than one occasion. Her flying types are fast, to the extent that it may be faster to have her flying types transport us from place to place within a region rather than relying on psychic types to teleport us. You see the map behind me?"

Looker pointed to the large map pinned up on a noticeboard that was hung on the wall behind him.

"That's the flight route map of Unova that she chartered for me upon my request, from scratch, and it's far better than any flight route maps of Unova that I could find or obtain even from the Unova League themselves. I would let you know that it only took her about a month or so to complete it, and during that period I also had to call her back to help out with a task or two when I didn't have any other choice. Still, she completed charting out the map in such a short timeframe, that's how good she is at her job. She really exceeded my expectations."

Looker leaned forward in his seat, resting his elbows on the table, crossing his fingers and folding his hands so that his chin could rest on the back of his palms.

"Do you see now, Hugh? I'm not belittling you, because to be able to obtain five badges just within one year of your trainer career is an incredible feat and given your rate of progress I'm sure you can obtain the title of Elite trainer soon. However, my agents have to be much better than that, because we will be expected to be able to resolve world-class crises. It's the very reason why the interpol was created in the first place. We will be expected to be able to face the impossible and win. You need to have a useful unique skill that nobody else has for us to consider giving you a spot here. You need to have the resolve to be able to do what is needed to be done under immense pressure during times of crisis. So, let me ask you again, Hugh, how interested are you in joining the interpol? What can you bring to the table?"

Hugh struggled to even make a reply because he understood that right now, there's nothing to his portfolio and anything he says or does now would simply look as if he's boasting or giving empty promises. He had thought that Skye was a skilled trainer and that was it, he never knew that she had such a diverse skill set and with so much experience in rescue operations that Looker would offer her a spot among the interpol. He wouldn't know about that side to her if nobody told him about it.

It's kind of obvious that Looker had glossed over and oversimplified the things that the interpol is expected to handle. Looker's right, given the type of things that the interpol will be expected to help resolve, it's only right that their members possess some sort of unique abilities that are useful and invaluable to their cause. What does he have?

Nothing.

"I… I don't know," Hugh admitted truthfully, "but what I do know is that I really want to see Team Plasma gone, and if I can use my strength as a trainer to help make Unova a better place, if I can help make this world a better place, then it sounds like the right thing to do. I-I'm not like Skye, or Velda, or you. I haven't accomplished anything great like them, the only thing I managed to do was to locate several Team Plasma hideouts but… but I can prove myself! Give me a chance to prove myself! I-I know! The interpol are trying to remove Team Plasma out of the picture, right? If there is any place that you need me to investigate where the Plasmas are hiding at, I can help!"

Looker continued to stare at him with an inexpressive look on his face, his facial expressions betraying nothing, and it is taking Hugh every single ounce of willpower not to shy away from his gaze.

After what seemed to be a long while, Looker sighed.

"Nacrene City."

"H-Huh?"

"We had just received a tipoff very recently that there might be a very important and large Team Plasma hideout hidden somewhere in Nacrene city. That is all we know for now. You said you wanted a chance to prove yourself so, here, now you have it. Consider this to be your test. Your task is to verify the truth of this information, to determine if there's truly such a hideout in Nacrene City. I don't care how you do it, but I want to see each and every piece of evidence that led you to the conclusion you arrived at by the end of the task. If there's indeed such a hideout, gather as much information about the hideout as you reasonably can without being found out by the Plasmas. If you were discovered by them, you would have failed the test by default. You have two weeks, and you cannot rely on anyone from the interpol for help for the duration of this test. And obviously, everything you see or hear starting from the moment you walk through my door is strictly confidential."

Looker opened a drawer from his desk, taking out an xtransceiver from it and passing it over to Hugh.

"Wear this at all times. My number is in there, it's the only number saved into the xtransceiver. If you are ever discovered, call me immediately and I will be there to extract you as soon as I can. I hate to send people to their deaths, so please don't make me regret sending you on this task. Regardless of the outcome of this test, I want to see you return alive and in one piece, do you get me?"

"Y-Yes!"

"Very well," Looker nodded his head once. "I expect to receive a daily update from you. If that is somehow not possible, then once every two days. If I never hear anything from you for more than two days, I would assume that the worst has happened to you and launch a rescue operation immediately."

Hugh was still in a slight daze when he exited Looker's office, holding onto the xtransceiver that he was given. He had learnt and experienced too many things today and it is still a little too much for him to digest.

"So, how's it?"

He turned at the sound of that familiar voice, spotting Skye leaning on a nearby wall and munching on some small pie he had no idea where she had gotten it from.

"Uh… he gave me a test."

"What kind?"

"He wants me to… continue what I've been doing so far? Just…"

"Just?"

"... on a larger scale?"

Character and pokemon list:

Name: Skye Bale, 16, Female

Affiliation: Interpol Agent

Code Name: Zephyr

Pokemon Team:

1. Pidgeot (Crown), male

2. Gliscor (Glide), male

3. Skarmory (Dia), female

4. Crobat (Beats), male

5. Jumpluff (Cotton), female

6. Dragonite (Tino), female

7. Noivern (Echo), male

8. Emolga, (Emi), female

9. Hawlucha (Hawk), male

10. Sigilyph (Cosmo), female

11. Aerodactyl (Aria), female

12. Masquerain (Heli), male

Name: Hugh Matis, 12, Male

1. Unfezant, male

2. Simisear, female

3. Bouffalant, male

4. Vibrava, male

5. Eelektrik, female

6. Serperior, female

Name: N (real name unknown), age unknown, Male