Disclaimer: Welcome to the wonderful world that is Pokémon. Of course everything related to Pokémon is owned and licensed by Nintendo, and I'm sure the author of this story will do his best to treat Nintendo and Pokémon with as much respect as possible. Now, the characters in this story are all original except for professor Oak, Ash, Gary, Misty, Brock, several Jenny's and Joy's and some other weirdo's that wander around in the game and/or series and of course, the Pokémon.

!

Chapter 2 – Back to square one

!

Okay, so after that "revelation" so to speak, I had no idea where I was going. I knew I couldn't keep another pokémon captured, so I decided to release them all. The first on my list were Blaster and Warmonger, as I had captured them first. I returned to the island where I had found them, but things didn't go exactly as planned. The two little fuckers didn't want to leave. I tried to run away, they ran right after, so I thought, maybe if I stay some time, they'll settle back in and I can leave without any problems. Do you know what there is on those islands? Nothing but rocks!

"We know," Ash nodded, "we stopped on one of those Squirtle islands once."

Tony glared briefly at Ash.

"Was I talking to you? I don't think so, so shut the fuck up, kid."

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, totally no comfort what so ever. It came clear to me why they wanted to go with me again, but I was determined to leave alone, so I stayed a couple of days. Some squirtle I had never even seen, even joined them in their efforts to stay with me. It wasn't until a week when a large shadow flew over my campsite. It was gone too soon before I had a good chance at looking at it, but I saw where it landed. Curious as I was, I went to check it out. Of course, Blaster and Warmonger, along with that third squirtle, followed me. After a small hike, I saw a large Articuno, probably the same one that saved me the first time. When it saw me it flapped its majestic blue wings and called out to me. That's when I caved. Like I had any other choice! I mean, this big awesome, legendary pokémon was presenting itself on a fucking gold platter! I had this shot once and I let it go, but now I had gotten everything together I decided to catch the fucker. It didn't even struggle when I threw the pokéball. Fifteen minutes later I was sitting on the beach with four pokémon after I had decided I would have none left. I thought over my options.

"Fuck it, I'm going to Johto and see what I can score there."

!

Two weeks later I had arrived without any trouble in Johto and was near Goldenrod to catch a ditto for a friend of mine. I could transfer it without any problems back to Kanto and once again I had room for two more pokémon. I had decided to become what I wanted to be the moment this whole thing started, a pokémon hunter. I'm sure Alex won't like me saying this, but my best customers were the daycare centre. They ordered various pokémon and sold them later. They told me they used them for breeding, and they did… in a way.

Tony involuntarily shuddered at some flash back.

"What's wrong?" Misty asked.

"Well…" Tony paused for a second, "no, you're not ready for this. Let's continue."

Anyway, all was well. I had a nice office, still do by the way. I had a nice job that allowed me to travel a lot, and it wasn't really risky. Well, it wasn't until Jaeger.

"Who's…"

"Kid, if you want to live, let me finish the fucking story, okay? If I think you need to know, I'll fucking tell you!"

!

Jaeger, now that was a son of a bitch. And I do mean a REAL son of a bitch. He had asked me to catch a gyarados at lake Rage.

"Not a normal one," he had added, "a red one."

I leaned back in my chair and looked the guy up and down. His eyes were hidden under dark glasses that seemed brand new and cheap. His clothes however, weren't. My memory had returned completely so I knew an Armani shirt when I saw one. I know, since I've had owned several. Hell, I have one myself! His hand rested on his belt, close to his hip, and I started wondering if he ran around with a gun from time to time, since his fingers were lightly spread, as if ready to grip the handle of his gun any time. His jacket was made of leather and seemed cheaper. It probably wasn't, but it didn't fit the rest of his outfit. It was as if somebody else dressed him to be very distinctive but he had insisted on the jacket.

"A red gyarados," I repeated, "will a can of spray paint suffice, or do I have to go the extra mile of acryl paint?"

"No jokes, wise guy," Jaeger's fingers seemed to twitch, "can you catch it?"

"I only go after pokémon if it's guaranteed I actually find it. So before I commit myself to any promises, I ask you, is there a red gyarados at lake Rage?"

"There is," Jaeger reached into the pocket of his jacket but didn't find what he was looking for.

He opened his jacket a bit and reached into his inside pocket and retrieved some pictures. This confirmed my hunch that this wasn't his usual outfit. He reached over my desk to hand me the pictures. A wave of after-shave hit me straight in the face as I took them. Either somebody had pulled a prank on him and had emptied a whole bottle in his neck, or he didn't shave very often, but had shaven before he came over and had tried his best to give a good impression. I glanced at the pictures who ranged from a red blur to a very good snapshot of the gyarados.

"Good enough," I nodded, "I'll do it for, let's say, 250 000?"

"Excuse me?" Jaeger raised an eyebrow.

"If I can catch this puppy," I casually threw the pictures on the desk, "you pay me 250 000. Well, in total, half's upfront."

"You're kidding right?"

"'Fraid not, no money, no gyarados."

"250?"

"Correct."

"Fine," he seemed to smile, "that's a deal."

He put his leather suitcase on the desk and opened it. I couldn't see how much was in the case, but seeing there was still money in it after he had put 125 000 on the table it became clear to me. His surprise over the money wasn't as I thought because I asked so much, but because I asked too little. Well, too late to argue about that now. He left the money on my desk and left. It was then I had noticed his boots. It weren't shoes that fitted his outfit, but indeed army boots, very similar to the ones I use when I go running around to catch pokémon. It struck me as odd. I had thought that whole smooth guy was an act, but those boots made it look he knew the wilderness, so to speak, and he was very capable of catching that gyarados himself. To be honest, that's what made me curious about him. I didn't have any suspicions about his true motives yet, but I wondered who exactly he was.

!

After a quick shower and a change of clothes, I went to the Goldenrod pokémart to get some last minute supplies, mostly consisting of potions, some pokéballs and food. As I left, the old geezer of the daycare centre stopped me.

"Mr. Hunter," he grinned as he eyed my backpack, "going away for some pokémon, are we?"

"Yes, we are," I sighed, "so you'll understand I don't have much time for the moment."

"May I ask where you'll be going? If I may be so forward of course."

"Not that's it any of your business," I sighed as I mounted my bike, "but I'm going to lake Rage."

"Oh, lake Rage," he nodded, "very nice lake, very nice indeed. If I'm not mistaken…"

I rolled my eyes behind my sunglasses (decent ones, not the cheap ones like Jaeger's) and felt another job coming up.

"…you can find Mareeps around there. You know? That sheep pokémon?"

"I know," I sighed, "but since I'm already involved in a case, it'll be more."

"I understand," he nodded, "but I must say, it's pretty urgent, so I'll even double your price."

"10 000?"

"Yes, that's fine," he responded without much as blinking, "10 000 it is."

"No, you'll double 10 000."

"But that's already the double of the capture of a normal pokémon." He tried to object.

"I already said that I'm already busy with something else, so that'll be overtime for me, and if you indeed want it urgent…"

"Very well," he seemed to cave in, "you'll get 20 if you can deliver it before the end of the week, otherwise it's 10 000."

"Deal," I presented my hand which he shook and started my bike, "see you at the end of the week."

I hadn't just raised my price because it was out of my way, but if 250 000 wasn't much money for a rare coloured gyarados, then 5 000 was too cheap for a common pokémon. And besides, I could use some addition to my music collection. Not that there are a lot of good bands nowadays, but some bands make me drift back to the ninety's.

"What's so good about the ninety's?"

This time it was Gary that had interrupted Tony.

"Well, know all those nu metal bands that sing about emotion and stuff?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, in the ninety's it was the same thing, but they used real emotions."

!

AN: sigh nothing has changed. I still don't get any reviews. Just remember, the speed of the uploads of this story is tied to the amounts of replies I get, since I consider them as an incentive for writing.