As it turned out, the aftermath of our little battle on the bullet train didn't go as planned. While the Anville Town Police Department took the criminals into custody, they took us, including Kendrick into police custody. According to some eye witnesses, the attack started when Kendrick walked in and started antagonizing the bikers. Plus, the damage done to the Shinkansen was pretty severe. Now the four of us sat in a holding cell in the police station with our items and pokeballs confiscated.

"Huh, this hasn't happened to us before," Robert said, leaning against one wall. He didn't seem upset, just curious. "We only did what we usually did."

"Someone made us look like the bad guys," Alex remarked, glancing knowingly at Kendrick, who was sitting against the wall opposite her, eyes closed as if asleep. But one eye cracked open to reveal he was wide awake.

"If it's any consolation," He said, smirking. "Whether you guys were there or not, I would've taken those guys down anyway. You just happened to be there."

Alex opened her mouth to retort, but I stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder. Looking to Kendrick, I asked, "And why is that?"

Kendrick closed his eye, readjusting his position against the wall. "Ask me again when we get out of here." Silence followed for a minute before he said, "Just know that they're my enemies too."

Before any of us could ask him to elaborate, we heard footsteps coming down the hall. We all turned our heads to look to see an officer leading two very familiar people to our cell.

"Zeno!" Jessie exclaimed upon seeing me.

"Hey kid," James said with a wide grin, waving at us. "Got into trouble I see."

Jessie's hair was done up in a bun and her lips a dark cherry red. She wore a dark wool trench coat, all buttoned up with black leggings ending in heels. James was similarly dressed up, although more urban like. He wore faded jeans and a denim jacket. Bits of blue hair stuck out from underneath a gray beanie and he carried himself more casually while Jessie seemed to hold herself like she was part of royalty.

I recognized the look of them. They were in disguise. That definitely meant whatever the reason they were here, it was serious.

"Zeno, Alex, and Robert are free to go," The Officer said, opening the cell. He looks to Kendrick. "You are to remain here. You already have quite a list of misdemeanors."

I made a quick decision. "He comes with us." I looked at Jessie and James when I said this.

Jessie narrowed her eyes at me, but James shrugged. "Sure, why not. Any friend of Zeno's is a friend of ours." He looked to the officer. "He'll come with us."

Thinking he would object, I was surprised when the guard just sighed and nodded to Kendrick. "You can go."

"List of misdemeanors?" Alex raised an eyebrow at Kendrick as we left the Police Station once we all collected our stuff.

He shrugged, adjusting his scarf. "Don't worry about it."

I could tell Alex really didn't like that answer.

Steering the conversation away from Kendrick for now, I turned to Jessie and James. "You going to tell us what's going on? And why you're in disguise?"

Both glanced around nervously. "Not here. Just follow us for now."


"'Bout time you all got here," Meowth said, wearing a ragged brown cloak as he ushered inside a rundown shack tucked away on the edges of Anville Town at the base of a forest. Kendrick stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing Meowth talk.

"What? You gonna stand there gawking all day!?" Meowth tapped one foot impatiently. "Move along pal!"

Kendrick stepped inside, shaking his head in amazement. "How can you talk?"

"No questions from you bub," Meowth leaped onto the only piece of furniture in the small space, a rickety table. "We want the biz from you first."

Jessie and James had somehow changed their outfits in a flash, both now wearing similarly ragged cloaks like Meowth over some sort of black uniform. They sat against one wall, looking at Kendrick.

"Before we reveal what we're doing here," Jessie said. "We'd like to know more about you and why you're here."

When Kendrick didn't say anything, just stared dispassionately at them, I spoke up. "You did say to ask you again once we got out."

Kendrick sighed, sitting down cross-legged. "Fine. If that's what it takes to get you all to trust me." He frowned. "What do you guys know about my father, Grimsley?"

"Only that he got involved in some sort of scandal," Robert said for us.

Kendrick snorted. "An understatement. Most of what went down was kept from the public. But I know. It's the whole reason Alden shadows me. At least, when I can't shake him off my trail." He grins proudly at that. "Anyway, my father. Big, high stakes gambler. Damn good at it too. Until one night he gambled with the wrong people and ended up neck deep amongst criminals. He started not being around much and soon enough, his exploits with the criminal underworld were brought to light. He only evaded jail because he was able to give a crap ton of information to the International Police. A huge raid was done on a hidden base of operations in Castelia City. Lot good that's done, since this criminal organization has continued to operate in the years since."

"So good ol' pops retired from the Elite 4 in the face of the scandal, which only said he was caught up in certain criminal circles, nothing else. He goes off to wherever while I stayed here, trying to make a name for myself." Kendrick's eyes go dark. "I'm always getting compared to him. So I figured that if I could bring down this criminal organization where the police failed, then I'll show the whole of Unova that I'm not my father."

"Okay, but then why wear the same style as him?" Robert pointed out.

Kendrick shot him a dirty look. "I'm not some brooding punk who'll change his look just so he doesn't look like his rich father. No, this is my style, same as his, but I'll become my own person. And I'll claim the Elite 4 position that is rightfully mine. Marlon's only a fill-in for now."

I studied Kendrick. While he was arrogant and a bit full of himself, I sensed no ulterior motives from him. While he wasn't someone I could fully agree with, if he was determined to take down this criminal organization, then he was an ally.

"Do you know anything else about this criminal underworld?" I asked him.

Kendrick nodded. "Only their name. My father revealed it to the IP. Their name is Clarity."

"And we're hear to stop one of Clarity's operations," James said and Jessie elbowed him hard, but James ignored her. "Look, we can trust the kid. And from what we heard about his Flygon, he would be a great asset."

"Okay, I have to ask," I said. "You guys aren't a part of Team Rocket anymore. Why are you on a mission here to take down criminals?"

James opened his mouth, but this time Jessie's elbow was enough for him to groan in pain. "Ow, hey, I wasn't going to say anything."

"Uh-huh," Jessie didn't look convinced. She look apologetically at us. "We can't say, sorry. I ask that you just trust us. We know what we're doing." She stood, producing a large folded up paper from her cloak. She spread it across the table. We all stood and huddled around as best as we could.

"What are we looking at here?" Alex asked.

"A blueprint of Anville Town's famous Rail Yard," James explained. "Where all the trains in Unova come from. They even do business with the neighboring regions."

"Clarity has set themselves with a nice little base of operations there," Meowth said, then scratched certain spots on the blueprint. I studied it closer and realized they were all at points of entry.

"Guards," I looked at them. "That's a lot."

"Exactly our problem," James sighed. "Too many for even us to handle alone."

"We hate to ask, but..." Jessie trailed off.

"Just another day in our lives," Robert shrugged.

I elbowed him. "I should tell you guys. There's risks with messing with these people. Clarity, I mean. They have the Executioners on their payroll."

The trio's eyes widened and they exchanged looks.

"We... we definitely weren't told that," Jessie bit her lip.

"Geez, 'course this got more complicated," Meowth rubbed the fur atop his head.

"Doesn't change our mission," James said firmly. "We do our part, cause a little chaos, bring down their operations here, gather information, and then we let others handle the rest. There's a reason we accepted this mission."

"Okay, seriously," I glared at them. "Who are you guys working for!?"

"We'll tell you in time," Jessie said, not meeting my gaze. "We were asked to keep this top secret. Not even you're supposed to know. Not yet at least."

I threw up my hands. "Fine. What exactly are we dealing with."

"At least a dozen guards on the outside," Meowth reported. "More definitely on the inside."

"And what exactly are they doing inside?" Kendrick asked.

"Intel reports they have some packages," Jessie answered. "Could be bombs, could be illegal firearms, copious amounts of drugs, could be anything. We need to take whatever operation they're have going on down. Police will only be called once everyone has been taken down and the area secured."

"We should make sure to contact Looker as well," Alex said.

"They already know about this operation actually," James said. "They don't like it, but it's better than going in with a full takedown force. They're being delegated to cleaning up the aftermath."

"So we take down the guards quietly, sneak inside, scope out what they're doing, then take down the rest." Kendrick looked at them. "Do I got that right?"

Jessie raised an eyebrow. "Pretty much, yeah."

"Good," He folded his arms. "When do we go? Dead of night I assume?"

"Yep," James folded up the paper. "So rest up troops. Jessie, Meowth and I will take the East entrance. Zeno," he looked to me. "You'll take point and take the West side."

I grinned. "Just leave it to me and Greninja."

"Good," Jessie nodded. "James was going to do some hacking, but I think he would be better suited as being part of the distraction."

"And I can do the hacking bit," Robert said proudly, pumping his chest. "Just leave it to me!"


"Looks like the shutters are closed for the night," Robert whispered, pointing towards the front of the rail yard. Half a dozen train tracks emerged from a large, curved rectangular building, with shutters preventing entry from the main entrance. Even from the treeline we could make out around a dozen guards or so patrolling the front part of the building. Not that it mattered. Our goal was the side door.

"We should get moving," I said, edging along a line of bushes. "Stick to the plan."

"Leave it to me," Kendrick offered, his Flygon growling in agreement.

Alex just squeezed my hand and nodded in reassurance.

I frowned. I knew Alex didn't fully trust Kendrick still, and I would prefer her to be with me, but Robert was needed inside to hack their files if any were to be found. I motioned to him. "Follow my lead."

"Right-o boss," Robert saluted and together we kept low and hurried along the treeline, making sure to stay out of sight. Even with the moon half hidden behind clouds, it was best to remain cautious.

I held up a hand for him to stop, but he ended up crashing into my back anyway. I steadied myself on a tree and peered out from behind it. Two mean looking guards were patrolling the side door alongside a Crustle and Lairon.

"Quick and silently," I hissed as I released Greninja. Robert nodded and prepped a pokeball. I met Greninja's eyes and he immediately leaped up into a tree, using a branch to swing silently towards the building, landing on the side.

"I'll take the two guys," I whispered to Robert as I moved to a better position. Glancing once more at Robert, I moved towards the first guy. Sprinting close to the ground, I swept his legs out and slammed his head to the earth before the other guy took notice of me. I swung out my hand, throwing my knife hilt-first. It thudded off his head and he crumpled to the ground.

At the same time, Greninja had leapt from above, slicing down Crustle's front with two water shurikens as Robert launched his Carracosta out, who, upon Robert's command, burst into a spinning Aqua Jet. He slammed into Lairon, spun out of the attack as he propelled Lairon into the air, and slashed with Razor Shell. Carracosta caught the Lairon and finished him off with a devastating Crunch to his underbelly. Meanwhile Greninja had flipped Crustle onto his back so his head was facing upwards. Greninja then blasted Hydro Pump straight into Crustle's Shell, instantly making him faint.

"All is going good so far," Robert grinned.

"Never say that," I groaned quietly. "That's asking for trouble."

"Well someone's gotta be the cliché now and then."

Ignoring him, I finished returning the two fainted Pokemon to their pokeballs and Robert helped me tie the two guys to a tree, making sure to gag them both. I went to test the door and surprisingly it was unlocked.

"They're lazy," Robert noted, peering into the black inside. "Good sign?"

"We'll see," I said, moving inside silently, stopping to let my eyes adjust. It was a narrow hallway with metal cabinets, mops and brooms lined up haphazardly against one wall. No one was in sight, but I let Greninja sneak in ahead of me, stealthily crawling along the wall and ceiling. Closing my eyes, I felt for his emotions. Once knowing that nothing surprising was waiting for us further inside, I motioned for Robert to follow me. He returned Carracosta before joining me, making sure to carefully shut the door and lock it.

Coming to a halt next to Greninja, who was pressing his head against a door. I crouched next to him, focusing intently. I couldn't make out much, but there was definitely something going on on the other side. It probably led to where all the trains were kept.

I felt a tug on my mind and Greninja looked at me with an intense gaze. Guessing what he wanted, I concentrated. Trying to begin the transformation quietly put more of a strain than normal on me, but a barely audible surge of water rose around Greninja for a quick second before flowing back into his black bubble cloak. Greninja pressed his head against the door and nodded to me. Closing my eyes, I concentrated.

"-down over there."

My eyes shot open and I looked at Greninja.

"What?" Robert whispered, glancing between the two of us.

"I can hear..." I blinked. "Well, what he hears."

Robert's eyes went wide as well. "That is so cool," he breathed. "I'll need to take more tests later of you two. And that silent transformation. Chef's kiss."

Blocking him out, I focused on what was going on inside. With Greninja's hearing, I could actually make out a couple voices.

"Drop that and you're life is forfeit. Now move it properly!"

An image of Akane, the raven haired woman we'd already encountered several times, came to mind. With our minds connected, I had no idea if it came from my head or his. But if she was here, then her two lackeys, lanky and brawny, would be as well.

I focused away from her, trying to catch what some of the lower grunts were saying. If I was going to get any information, it would the slip of the tongue from the ones with no influence.

"-nice and tight. Yeah, can't let them move around too much. Might spoil their contents."

A curse from someone else. "What are in these things?"

"Whatever drugs we have left from the Dreamyard. With our main supplier gone, this is all we have left."

"I thought this was a test run?"

"It is a test run, idiot. But we gotta test it with real drugs. Duh."

"... Doesn't make any sense, but okay."

"Look, just get it tied in there."

I pulled back after another minute. "They're moving drugs," I informed Robert. "But... seems like this is only a test run."

"How many are we dealing with?" He asked.

Having done an estimate already with Greninja, I said, "Close to 30 people, including Akane and her gang of idiots. Around half that many Pokemon, but expect at least twice more than that."

"Remind me why we always try to fight that many? I mean, the Dreamyard was nearly a disaster."

"They took us by surprise," I said. "Plus, most of them inside are grunts, so they generally have weaker levelled Pokemon."

"You would think they'd train more."

"Not always," I said, shaking my head. "Lower ranked grunts are usually too busy doing the grunt work, so not enough time to train. Plus, most higher ranking members in a criminal organization prefer their grunts not to have strong Pokemon that could potentially take them down. Only a few really tight organizations will make sure their troops are top tier, and that's only done after rigorous background checks. Groups like Team Rocket have teams made up of elite grunts, but the lower grunts remain lower."

"Okay, enough of that," I said, pressing a button on my X-transceiver to signal Jessie, James, and Meowth. "You know the drill. I'll provide you cover so you can hack into whatever computers they have."

"Aye aye captain!"

Rolling my eyes, I settled my hand on the doorknob. "Alright then, let's ruin their party."


The inside was like the inside of a large warehouse and aside from the trains parked inside, there were dozens of large wooden crates marked as fragile. Then there were the goons. From a quick look he took as he hunkered down in the shadow of the nearest train, Zeno and Greninja's estimate of how many there were close to the mark. Robert took out a pokeball, hesitant to release any of his Pokemon for fear of giving away his position. Setting it down next to him for quick access, he pulled out his Robby, compact into a nice rectangle shape. He slid out the compartments, bending a couple of them so it now functioned almost like a laptop with side panels. He began searching for any devices nearby and found a couple, but they were heavily encrypted.

Glancing around one more time to make sure no one was coming near him, he began typing. Zeno and Greninja were sneaking around to get into the best possible position to attack, so he had to hope that no one would intrude upon his work before Zeno and his family could begin their attack. The main goal was to take this operation down, but it also served as a wonderful distraction for him to hack any information they might have.

Just as he heard footsteps coming towards his location, the sound of smokescreen hissed around the large room.


As the smokescreen caused an initial panic, I noticed, Jessie, James, and Meowth rushing through the fog, expertly taking down the goons they came across. Emerging from the shadow of several crates, Greninja and I rushed towards the backs of the goons rallying their Pokemon together.

Together, I sent to Greninja as our thoughts synced. This wouldn't be like the Dreamyard incident. This time we had the advantage and we wouldn't waste it. In no time flat, I had knocked out three guys as Greninja summoned a huge wave to wash a Scraggy, Krokorok, and several other Pokemon against a train before anyone took notice of our attack from behind.

"You!" Akane screeched as she spun around. "You'll pay dearly for last time brat-!"

Two figures shot out from either side of her, causing her to stumbled back in alarm. Before Jessie and James could attack, a Liepard appeared in front of Akane, slashing dark winds. Jessie and James leaped back, tattered cloaks billowing. Akane's usual lackeys, Brawny and Lanky appeared. It seemed that their Pokemon had evolved as well. Gurdurr's metal beam, like the log he had as a Timburr, was sharpened at one end.

"We got these punks," Meowth said, appearing between Jessie and James. "You handle the rest."

"My pleasure," I said as Greninja leaped back next to me as the goons began rushing towards us, each with at least one Pokemon. I grabbed two pokeballs in each hand and threw them into the air. "Let's get to work!"


Robert didn't see, but he heard the large gates opening, which meant that someone was letting all the guards outside in to help. This also meant that Alex and Kendrick would begin their assault from behind shortly, effectively trapping the Clarity members inside.

Biting his lower lip, he typed faster. He'd gotten past one encryption and was close to the second. Whatever server he was hacking, he was hoping no one would break it. The train he was sitting against shook as a blast of energy lit up the surroundings. He heard a frantic yell before what must have been a sonic boom nearly blew out Robert's eardrums.

"Give them hell Flygon!" He heard Kendrick yell from the other side of the train.

One more key pushed and he was in. He quickly began downloading every file he could find. Nothing made sense, but that was how it usually worked. He'd have to wait for them to download before getting any information.

A red error message appeared on the screen. Wide-eyed, Robert began frantically typing. "No no no! It's deleting itself!" He tried to stop it, but it was no use. The servers must have had a failsafe to self-delete if ever breached. Quickly, he clicked into the download section to see what he had so far, but those too were quickly deleting. He managed to read part of a sentence before it was gone. He quickly forced the Robby into a shutdown and cleaning mode to purge any viruses that might be hanging around.

"Dang't," he muttered, banging the back of his head against the train. "All for nothing." Or perhaps not. Tuning out the battle raging on around him, he brought back the words he read and focused on them. Their meaning finally hit him and a cold dread washed over him. Put simply, this was not good. Not at all.

Then, as if to truly make his failure seem even worse, he heard one of the trains begin to move.


"Let's go!" Akane shouted as she pulled herself onto the side of the train, her Liepard leaping atop the car. The goons still on their feet rushed for it, most managing to scramble aboard as the train began to pick up speed.

"Greninja!" I shouted and he threw a water blade towards me. I caught it midair and slashed across a Golbat flying towards me before I rushed for the train. Arcaneis ran up alongside me and I pulled myself aboard. He sped after the train as it left the building, already moving fast. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kendrick flying after the train as well atop Flygon.

"Come on buddy," I patted Arcaneis side and he growled, electricity sparking along his body as he burst forwards, easily gaining on the train.

As we neared the back car, the door of it opened, revealing a very familiar brown haired man in a business suit. His Natu clung to his shoulder, eyes already glowing. I quickly shut my eyes, but Arcaneis was caught by the blast of Hypnosis and he tumbled forwards, throwing me off into the air as he crashed along the ground. As I fell back towards the ground, Flygon, surrounded by a veil of light swooped in, catching the back of my shirt. Coming to a stop, he lowered me to the ground as the glow around him faded.

Kendrick leaped off and helped me to my feet. "What happened!?"

"The guy with the Natu," I shook my head, glancing back at the train, which was already moving quickly away. "He's a force to be reckoned with."

Kendrick set his jaw. "I know him. One of the people my dad met. He's one of their executives."

"You could still go after them," I said, nodding to Flygon.

Kendrick shook his head. "Too many to handle and too difficult a situation. No, there will be a next time, I assure you of that. Now come on," He took off his pack and began rummaging through it. "Let's get your Pokemon awake. I ain't having Flygon carry you all the way back."


When we got back, everything seemed to be wrapped up. Jessie, James, and Meowth had quickly and efficiently tied up all the grunts and trapped all their Pokemon in a giant electrical cage, which I had no idea how they brought with them.

I looked to Robert. "Please tell me some good news."

He shook his head. "They were prepared for their servers to be hacked. Soon as I started downloading stuff, it started to delete itself. I only got one piece of information." Gulping, he said, "It seems like they're planning a massive attack on Castelia City."


Jessie, James, and Meowth stayed where they were at while Zeno and his friends left the building. They only had a minute, but there was something that needed to be done.

"Didn't get much out of this mission," James said regretfully.

"We gotta bunch of crooks bagged and ready to be arrested," Meowth reminded him. "Not to mention a ton of drugs."

"He's right," Jessie said, looking around. "Could've been worse." Looking between them, she then asked, "Are we sure we shouldn't tell Zeno?"

James shook his head. "He wouldn't like it."

"He'll find out when the time is right," Meowth said wisely. "For now, we do what we must."

Soon they left the rail yard, heading after everyone else, leaving behind a building full of crooks and drugs for the International Police to clean up. But they also left a parting gift. Something to signify who they were. Emblazoned on the floor in spray paint was a large R.