I stepped back into the dorm room. Pikachu was quick to greet me, jumping right to my feet and standing up. "Pikachu, Pi pika!"

"Not now, Pikachu…" I said in exasperation.

"Pi?" Pikachu asked quizzically as I pushed past him and sat down at the desk burying my head in my arms. I felt disgusted. I felt repulsed. I felt physically sick. How did I get wrapped up in this situation? I'll tell you how—it was desperation. Desperation to keep money in our pockets and food on the table. Desperation to find James. Desperation to finally fulfill my dream of going out to capture pokemon. It all seemed too good to be true and turns out it was. Now I was tied up into a life of crime…we all were.

I let off a slow sigh. Truth of the matter was, none of that really mattered. In the end I had one goal—to keep my family safe, to keep Rapidash and Pikachu safe, and gosh darn it, I was going to do just that…even if I had to break my moral compass to do so.

Pikachu jumped up on the desk next to me. "Pika Pi?" He asked, tapping my shoulder.

I lifted my head. "I'm sorry Pikachu. I don't mean to snap at you…it's just been a really rough week…" I reached up and pet between his ears. He pressed into my palm chirping a little, chaaa. "I promise…no matter what, I will keep you safe. Whatever it takes…"

Our conversation was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream from down the hall. "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!"

Without thinking, I jumped up and darted out the door, Pikachu following closely behind. A couple dorms down I found the source of the scream. A girl from another team was standing on her desk cowering up against the wall. A large ekans had managed to slither into her room—I assume through the window she had stupidly left open—and now sat coiled up in the middle of her floor staring at her. It's rattling tail quivered violently as it hissed at her.

She caught sight of me and screamed. "Don't just stand there, Do something!"

"Calm down." I ordered back. "You're panicking; ekans can smell your fear and right now, this one has you marked as its prey."

"I don't care about the science behind it, just do something!" The girl whimpered, beginning to cry. The ekans poised itself for a strike.

"Pikachu, use scratch!" I ordered.

"Pika!" Pikachu obeyed, slashing Ekans' scaly body with his small but sharp claws. The ekans hissed, and turned to me. The diversion worked; I now had its attention.

"Pikachu," I ordered again, "Use quick attack!"

Pikachu darted through the room, slamming headfirst into Ekans' body. The snake pokemon hissed and tried to retaliate with a poison sting, but Pikachu was too quick and it missed.

"Use Thunder shock!" I commanded. Pikachu leaped into the air and let of a sharp lightning bolt. The attack paralyzed the pokemon and while it was still stunned I reached in my pocket and pulled out an empty pokeball I secretly kept with me just for situations like this. I expanded it and threw it at the pokemon lying motionless on the ground. It bounced off its body and opened, pulling the ekans into it with a beam of red light. It fell to the ground and rolled around for a few seconds before it finally went still.

I smirked as I reached to pick up the pokeball. "I've still got it." I thought as I brought the ball up to my face to get a good look at it. Out of my peripheral vision I noticed the girl still trembling on her desk. "It's safe now, you can get down." I said, maybe a bit snidely.

The girl paused a moment, then slowly climbed down back onto the floor, still shaken and very frightened by the pokemon I held in my hands. It was at this moment it clicked what I had just done. I had taken Pikachu out of hiding, gotten into a battle and caught an unauthorized pokemon on Team Rocket's grounds. With the new deal I had just made with Giovani, if word got out of what had just happened it could put my whole family in jeopardy.

Pikachu jumped up onto my shoulders as I let my eyes drift up toward the girl in front of me. "You can't ever let anyone know what happened here today." The girl stared at me dumbfounded. "I'm serious. You need to take this to your grave. I was never here, you never saw Pikachu, and a pokemon battle most certainly did NOT happen in your room."

"B-bbut—" The girl stuttered.

"No buts!" I barked, holding the pokeball out toward her. She whimpered and pulled back. "If word gets out of what happened I could lose every thing I love. So you will never breath a word of this to anyone, or so help me, I will set this ekans loose on you to devour everything you love."

"Ok…! Ok…! I won't tell anyone…!" The girl whimpered, shaking under the shadow of my pokeball.

"Swear it." I growled.

"I swear…! On my grandma's grave…! I won't tell anyone! Ever…!" The girl sputtered out. "Just please, take that thing away…!"

I pursed my lips and pulled the pokeball back to me. "Also," I said, giving the pokeball a little toss. "If you don't want ekans to come into your room looking for shade, you're gonna want to keep your window closed." I turned and left the room with a subtle roll of my eyes. "Just a thought…"

I sat on my bed, Pikachu still perched on my shoulder, staring down at the pokeball in my hand. "Well, Pikachu… What do you suppose we do with this one?"

"Pikaaa…" Pikachu replied.

I sighed. Let me specify, catching Pokemon in a pokeball without a Trainer's License isn't illegal. However, collecting a large number of pokemon without a Trainer's License is kind of pushing the line. While not explicitly illegal in itself, it is one of those things that can get you noticed by the authorities. Then if they investigate you and find some other shady stuff in your past, they can easily tack on "Pokemon Hoarding" as well. I already had Pikachu and Rapidash on my person.

Rapidash. Jessee would have had one too, but she had to sell hers in order to get the money to come out here. She may not have the same burning passion for pokemon that I did, but she loved that rapidash and missed her very much. I could see it in her eyes whenever I pulled out my rapidash's pokeball. I looked down at the ekans in my hands again. Rapidash eat a lot, however ekans eat hardly anything at all! They need one big meal, then they could be satisfied for days—weeks if they stay in their pokeball! And Jessee's birthday was coming up.

I smirked. "I know just what I'll do." I stood up, causing Pikachu to jump down off my shoulder and onto the bed. I knelt down and pulled out my saddlebags, hiding the pokeball in one of the pouches. I looked up at Pikachu and pressed a finger to my lips. "You can't tell Jessee about this. It'll ruin the surprise."

"Pi?" Pikachu asked cocking his head and twitching his ears.

Our conversation was interrupted when Jessee thrust open the door, followed by Meowth. I hurriedly shoved the saddlebags back under the bed and stood up. "Jessee? What are you doing back so soon?"

"We're being sent out on another mission." Jessee growled, shoving a few items into a small sack which she threw over her shoulder.

"What's wrong with that…?" I asked stupidly.

Jessee huffed and let herself fall against the desk. "First of all, the only competition we have in this mission is Cassidy of all people. Secondly, maybe you haven't noticed, but Cassidy has a partner while I'm the only one left on my team."

"Hey! What am I, chopped liver?" Meowth scoffed, his tail lashing back and forth.

"What you are is not very helpful." Jessee shot back. "Half the time I have to cary you or drag you along through the training exercises and missions. I don't think you've done a single thing worth while since you got assigned to us. If James hadn't been there for you on the bridge—" She suddenly stopped, her lip quivering. She and Meowth stared at each other for a long while. Finally Jessee stood up and turned away. "Forget it." She hoisted the bag back onto her shoulder. "Just do me a favor and either start pulling your weight or stay out of my way." She walked past Meowth toward the open doorway.

"Do you know where you're going to be going?" I asked gently.

"Silph Company Headquarters. Apparently Saffron City is not far from here." She looked back toward me. "I'm going to stop by the hospital first to see James and tell him what is going on. I should be back in a couple days, and, well…we'll see what happens."

She gave an exasperated shrug and left the room, Meowth running after her.

I sat back down on the bed. Silph Co…what on Earth could they be doing there…? Based on some of the missions in the past, probably some sort of heist or reconnoissance mission. But the Silph Company was huge! And constantly crawling with guards…! I inhaled deeply and exhaled a long sigh. This mission had to be a success—our lives and futures were depending on it.