Ch 11: Snakes in Lunaris
This was not the first recruitment of Snake's. He had put in about a year with Team Anonymous and he had recruited several members before, sometimes having to be comfortable with getting his hands extremely dirty. He believed that to survive in Team Anonymous, members had to develop this mentality. One can't be afraid to kill children if it's in the best interest of the team. Or to steal or harm Pokemon. Snake had stolen many a Pokemon during his beginning period as an Anonymous member, but he soon found that he developed an affinity for only snake-shaped Pokemon and focused on catching his own rather than robbing trainer's. On his current persons, he had a Seviper that he had forgotten about that was locked away in his PC box, as well as the unmarked black pokeball that Sir had borrowed to him, both safely attached to his trainer belt.
Snake was standing behind a fork of trees just at the edge of the Gord Woods, with a clear view of the backyard of the Hunter family, the family that Snake was well aware was responsible for the birth of the little shit Adam Hunter. The trainer responsible for the loss of Snake's left ear as well as his Arbok being brutally impaled. Snake now had to wear a black beanie to mask the lacking ear. Rather than letting rage immediately overcome him during an assignment, Snake pushed the thoughts away of a chance at meeting Adam, at least anytime soon. The Hunter's house was a simple white wooden one, identical to all the other houses lined up beside it, with a nice patio in the back of the house that was empty. Snake had just noticed the parents pulling their car out of the driveway and heading south, so Snake knew he was in the clear.
Although Sir had given Snake instructions not to actually go in the house for security reasons, Snake figured his best bet was to watch and wait for an opportunity when this Evan kid would leave the house alone. Snake felt the pressure on considering his last assignment was so botched, there was no way he would accept no as an answer from this Evan Hunter kid.
BRRRR
Startled by the vibrating of his cell phone in the back pocket of his black sweatpants, Snake almost uttered a yelp. He answered without checking the caller ID.
"Hello?" Snake greeted, expecting Sir on the line to pester him.
"Michael, where are you? My parents get here in an hour!" a woman's voice responded, both lifting Snake's spirits as well as dampening them.
"Oh, hey sweetie. Shit, I forgot about your folks-" Snake sighed, feigning regret at the chance of not getting to see his wife's condescending father and over-talkative mother.
"Michael!" the woman shouted, reading through her husband's bullshit. Then, a moment's pause as the woman herself sighed. "Whatever, I figured you wouldn't come home tonight again anyhow."
"Helen, honey, listen, it's work. There's not much I can do-"
"I know."
"The boss tells me I gotta pull overtime, I gotta pull-"
"I know."
"You know, I don't love it, either. But-"
"I know. I miss you, Michael."
"Aw, I miss you, too, baby. I'll come home and see you real-"
Snake was lifted out of his homelife conversation at the sound of a door swinging open, and there was Evan right in the backyard, lighting a cigarette and looking lost in his thoughts, not seeing Snake nestled in the shadows of the Gord, watching.
"Michael?"
"Sorry, Helen. I'll come home soon."
"Alright, be safe, I love-"
Snake hung up and put the phone back in his pocket. His hand then hovered over one of his pokeballs, wondering if he would need to use Seviper or even Sir's pokemon if Evan resisted. Snake had checked the reports and Evan was supposed to be quite a competent trainer. He had developed a strong enough bond with his Steelix to acquire Mega Evolution at an extremely young age, as well as a pretty solid gym record with only some hiccups at the Dark gym, of which was the known hardest gym on Ilragon Island. Mega Evolution was pretty rare on Ilragorn so a kid with a Mega Steelix was bound to get Sir's attention.
Time was precious, with Snake having no idea when the parents would return home. Not wanting to risk any unexpected factors, Snake took this as the only time to act. Confidently, Snake stepped out of the shadows of the Gord Woods, stepping into the light of the sun and greenery that was Lunaris Town, approaching Evan with a long stride, eyes locked on the prize.
Evan noticed him instantly, recognizing the all black ensemble and his mind instantly went to Team Anonymous. Evan didn't flinch or look surprised at all, as if a member of Anonymous approaching him smoking in his backyard was an everyday occurrence.
"Well, good afternoon to you," Evan greeted as Snake stopped several feet in front of him. Evan took a puff of his cigarette and held the smoke in, waiting and watching Snake with interest
"You're Evan Hunter," Snake skipped the pleasantries.
"Why does Team Anonymous know who I am?" Evan rebutted, blowing smoke into the air.
"The man I represent," Snake spoke clearly, enunciating every syllable and sounding well-informed. "Has displayed an interest in you based off of your impressive performance as a trainer. He would like to meet you. Which is uncommon."
"Team Anonymous is an illegal organization, isn't it?" Evan asked, despite them both knowing the answer. Snake remained silent, and they stared at each other in silence for a moment.
"For now," replied Snake, upon seeing that Evan wanted a literal answer. "But as history has shown, previous illegal parties can overnight become the head honcho. And the man I represent is working very had to make this a reality for us."
"Who's this man?" tried Evan.
"He prefers to remain anonymous."
"Makes sense." Evan dropped the cigarette and pressed his shoe over it to dim the butt. "Well, regardless of your plan to someday be a legal organization, at the moment, you guys are wanted criminals."
"We are a very strong and very proud organization that accepts only the highest caliber of battlers. There is a reason every other crime syndicate in this island has fallen except for us. There is a reason we have such a low amount of our members ever taken in by law enforcement. We are not amateurs. We are the strongest group of trainers in this island."
"Stronger than the gym leaders?" countered Evan.
"Of course, half our members are previous gym leaders or league battlers," said Snake.
"Stronger than the Elite 4? Stronger than the Champion? At the end of the day, are your guys stronger than Ava? Cause that's what it's going to come down to."
"With a little help," Snake lifted his right hand forward, to shake. This felt like the moment to push his hand. "I absolutely know we can be."
Evan looked down at the hand being offered by Snake, with a thousand thoughts running through his mind and what the right thing to do in this situation was versus the wrong thing, and what the smart thing to do would be versus the fun thing. Without thinking more than a couple of seconds, Evan took the hand and shook it.