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.
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Chapter 6 – First contact
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I had to admit, those boys delivered. After our little get-together in the bar, they set out to catch a Mareep, and with a note explaining the new circumstances of my business (as well as a new pricelist) they left for Goldenrod. I tried to get as much information about Larry as possible without letting anyone become suspicious. The fact that nurse Joy had seen my with my two new best friends wasn't really a big help, since she thought that they would capture it for me, although I had promised I wouldn't. Shows what people think a man's word is worth. I didn't learn very much though, the few people who wanted to confide me with their knowledge were for the half bollocks and the other half what I already knew, Larry came out at night at the northern part of the lake. Two days later, when Tom and David came back, my leg was healed enough for the bandage to come off, which gave me a bit more mobility. The cast, however, had to stay on for another two weeks at least. Meh, who cares? I cold make that trip with a broken arm. My ribs however was another story. I thought I could make it, so long as I didn't make any sudden movements. And since a hiking trip consists mostly of sudden movements, I had to be careful. Well, maybe we could take another day of rest. But other things were on my mind for the moment.
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"So, how did it go?"
"Smooth," Tom nodded, "he didn't object at all. Here's your money."
I counted the money they gave me and raised an eyebrow.
"This is 20 000. What happened to your cut?"
"We already have it." David grinned.
"See," Tom started to explain, "when we say he didn't object at all, we mean, he didn't object anymore in the end."
"After I informed him about the recent trouble this sector is going through," David continued, "as well as the risks, he was willing to pay a bit extra and he totally agrees with your new prices."
"All my prices went up?"
"Yep."
"Good."
"So, what did you find out?" Tom asked.
"Nothing new," I said, "he comes up at night in the northern part."
"You knew this already?" David frowned.
Fuck.
"Uhm, yes?"
"Why didn't you tell us?" David asked.
"Because he didn't trust us," Tom answered in my place, "we could have just ditched him and gone to get that Gyarados on our own without him. Which we can still do."
Fuck.
"Don't worry," Tom assured me, "we won't do that. As we said before, this is our chance of going freelance, and we can't think of anyone more resourceful than you to work with."
"Thanks for the compliment, and hope we can get those plans."
What we were going to do with those planets, I had no idea, but best not to tell them that.
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The next day we bought all supplies we though we needed and prepared to set out the following day. I had to promise again to nurse Joy I wouldn't capture Larry, and let him roam free in his natural environment. I assured her I would do everything to expose the murder on Franklin and no harm would come to Larry. That seemed to set her mind at ease and she suggested that she massages my leg with a special ointment to heal the burns faster.
"She massaged your leg?" Brock almost drooled.
"Despite popular belief," Tony sighed, " not all massages lead to sex."
"You mean I bought that subscription for that massage parlour for nothing?"
Tony opened his mouth say something, but decided to ignore that comment.
Unfortunately, not all massages lead to sex. Oh well, maybe after all this was over, when she trusted me a bit more. Anyway, the following day, we left with a loaded backpack each to the other side of the lake. We had left in the morning and it was well in the afternoon when we found a decent place to camp. I let out Turtle and Warmonger to scout our surroundings, making sure no wild pokémon were around.
"What pokémon do you guys have, by the way?" I asked.
"Don't have any," David said and held his coat open, showing his gun, "rely on this instead."
"Don't have one either," Tom said, "we're just henchmen, and henchmen don't have pokémon. Only field operatives. That job to find you and bring you in, was our ticket for promotion."
"Why don't you guys start with some pokémon?"
"Tom explained it badly," David said, "we're not allowed to have pokémon. Team Rocket philosophy is that if you have pokémon, you can't concentrate on your job, obtaining pokémon."
"But field operatives need pokémon," I nodded, "because they are more likely to fight other owners."
"Exactly, and when we go freelance," Tom continued, "we can get our own, although we're not sure if we will in fact get some, and even what kind."
"Still gonna rely on my gun," David muttered and looked for some wood to start a fire.
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Okay, this sucked. Major ass. We were there for three nights and no sign of Larry. On the fourth day, my cell phone rang.
"Mr Hunter? This is Jaeger. How are you doing?"
"I'm fine, thanks for asking," I answered, "what can I do for you, Mr Jaeger?"
"The Gyarados?" he asked, "how are you doing with the Gyarados?"
"If it was that easy, you would have done it yourself," I replied, "but it isn't so that's why you asked me, because I'm the best… and the cheapest."
"Very funny, Mr Hunter, but you haven't answered my question."
"Don't worry, I'll prove I'm the best."
I hung up the phone and I saw Tom looking at me.
"What?"
"Why did Jaeger call you?"
"He's the guy who hired me." I said.
"Another one turned to the Dark Team," he sighed.
"What do you mean?"
"Jaeger was one of the best operatives of Team Rocket. He could steal any pokémon, anytime. Until he quit about last year. No one knew where he went, but if he hired you for that Gyarados, he's working for the Dark Squad."
"So he's one of the bad guys?" I asked.
"Probably."
"Good."
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On the fifth night we got lucky. Well, depends what you call lucky. We saw the red Gyarados. That's not lucky. I called out Blaster, Warmonger and Turtle to bring him down. That's not lucky. It blasted us with Dragon Rage the moment they got out and we could barely jump out of the way. That was lucky. It went under water again. That was lucky as well.
"Now what do we do?" Tom shouted.
"Guys, you go under!" I yelled out.
"What do you mean?" David asked.
The "guys" I was talking to acted immediately and Blaster, Warmonger and Turtle dove into the lake. The Gyarados emerged again, howling in pain, with the three water pokémon on it's back. I decided it had enough and threw a pokéball.
"Uhm, didn't you promise you wouldn't capture it?" Misty asked.
"I lied," Tony replied, "people tend to do that."
The Gyarados disappeared in a bright red flash, but then the light on the pokéball flashed green. It broke open and the Gyarados roared freely. It submerged and this time it stayed down.
"You missed it?" Tom asked.
"No," I shook my head as I recalled my pokémon, "the light flashed green."
"What does that mean?" David asked me.
"It means somebody owns it. It can't be captured."
"But Franklin is dead," Tom shrugged, "so all his pokémon are roaming free again, aren't they?"
"I'm not gonna ask how you know that, but yes, when a trained comes to pass away, his pokémon are released."
"So," David thought out loud, "somebody recaptured it? But who?"
"Good question."
I had no idea what the fuck was going on, but I had a feeling nurse Joy knew something more.
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AN: Just in case you're wondering, Jesse and James have Pokémon because they're field operatives (bad ones but still) and Tom and David take care of other things (what things I leave to your imagination).