Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies. The characters in this work are all loosely based on those created by Pokemon and its companies, and this story will never by no means be used to make monetary profit or gain.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:

Edge:

My first thought was: Isn't this overkill?

Then came the second: It's way too crowded in here.

The cuffs binding my arms and legs had conductive extension cords attached, the ends of which were being held in mouth by the two luxio; ready to discharge their load and incapacitate me at my slightest misbehavior. To my right was a sceptile, its tail pointed at my chest, and hovering behind the chair across me was an aegislash; though its presence emitted a less aggressive and more defensive aura. My guess, unlike the other beasts, its primary duty was to protect the league mindspector rather than subdue me.

Aside myself and the seated Mr. Pierce, the mindspector, there were four other people present, all of them Indigo's finest policemen and women. They all stood at my left, fingers never leaving their pokebelts, and eyes never leaving me. So, in total there were six humans and four pokemon barely fitting in a small, cramped room, all - except me - trigger ready.

To be honest, any less precautions, and I would feel insulted. After all, I was the famous Pokemon Trainer Red, arguably the most brilliant strategist of a newer generation of trainers… and also a cold-blooded killer.

Or so they thought.

Which I had been so sure I could've convinced otherwise. Now however, my chances looked quite slim.

In hindsight, this wasn't one of my most brilliant plans.

Damn those rockets.

"Pokemon Trainer Red, you stand here charged with the murder of Pokemon Trainer Nolan, and the theft of his issued starter, the charmeleon codenamed Dante," began Mr. Pierce reading from the paper he held in his two hands. He took a moment to readjust the glasses on his nose before continuing. "Your right for a jury trial has been suspended by Judge Adelson, and will only be reinstated should the results of today's mindspection prove inconclusive. Should you be found innocent; you and your team will be set free immediately. Should you be found guilty; your trainer-class privileges will be taken, you will be sent to Naval Rock, where you will serve your life sentence, and your team, with the sole exception of the charmeleon codenamed Dante, will be executed."

He looked at me over his glasses. "I trust your lawyer, Mr. Gold, has gone over with you the details surrounding the reasons for this verdict?"

I nodded on the outside, but on the inside, I was still confused. Ever since my training in Diglett's Cave, ever since I had decided on using Dante against Surge, I had suspected the rockets trying to pin this murder on me, and against that I had taken my counter-measures, but they had all depended on me getting a fair trial, not an immediate mindspection. My state provided attorney had tried his best to explain it all to me a week ago when I was still being held in a correctional facility in Vermilion.

"Because of the scarcity of trained psychic pokemon capable of fully comprehending and transmitting human memories, it's rare for a judge to decide on mindspection and bypass a jury, especially for a case dating over three months. I have no idea why Judge Adelson insisted on this, despite both the prosecution's and my objections," Mr. Nathan Gold had admitted. "You'll be ported to Cerulean in a few days, where an official mindspector will be waiting. The good news is, Mr. Red, a mindspection speeds up a complex case as this one quite significantly; if you're innocent, I reckon you'll be out the same day. The bad news is, if you're not, well, there's no way of hiding it, there's no convincing a jury otherwise."

He had finished ominously. "I truly hope you are innocent, Mr. Red. Naval Rock is… not a place for someone as young as yourself."

Which was basically why I was confused. I was innocent. A mindspection would definitely prove that. But reliving the memory of that night, it would also reveal to the league the existence of the rockets, for they were the actual murderers of Trainer Nolan. And judging from Butch and his lackeys executing Nolan for using the drug X in a public match, I had always assumed the rockets valued their secrecy over all else.

The plan I had built in Diglett's Cave was centered on the fact that if anyone would recognize Dante as Nolan's starter in my match against Surge, it would be the rockets. They would be the only people who could make the connection between my charmeleon and Nolan's, and they would be the only ones who could get away by sticking a baseless murder allegation against me, because they were the only ones aside myself who knew Nolan was dead. It really was brilliant; leaving the police an anonymous tip, revealing the remains of Nolan's body from wherever it was hidden to someplace near Cerulean where the cops could easily find, and voila, all that was left was watching the only witness to their criminal activities be punished and silenced forever for a murder they had originally committed. A small investigation would prove my Dante was actually Nolan's Dante and that I had lost against Nolan in a regional tournament. From there, the case of a jealous trainer, blinded by ambition, ambushing and killing a fellow competitor to steal his prized possession could be easily built.

And hence we were here today.

Except something must have had gone wrong for the rockets, because the judge had decided on a mindspection instead of a trial. Maybe the inside connections of the rockets weren't as strong as I had initially suspected?

"Trainer Red, are you with us?" The mindspector's voice brought me back from my thoughts.

I sighed and nodded. Either way, nothing really changed much for me. I had prepared a surprise for the rockets in the case of a jury trial, but this was much better. The fact that my mind's privacy would be invaded disturbed me a bit, but it wasn't something I couldn't live with.

"Excellent. Please lower all mental barriers, refusing to do so will result in at best extreme discomfort, and at worst incurable mental trauma." Mr. Pierce waited a moment before continuing. "Are you ready, Trainer Red?"

I nodded again.

"I will now release the pokemon that will conduct today's mindspection." And he removed a golden pokeball from the suitcase at his feet.

Click.

The red light materialized, and I came face to face with green cat-eyes.

The pokemon stood on two small feet atop the desk. The blue fur proved it was a male, and the white tips of the twin tails twitched slightly as the pokemon tilted his head sideways. By far the most interesting part of the alpha level psychic pokemon was his shut tight ears, the long ear flaps were bent right at the middle and covered the entrances to the ear canal from sight.

The constraint pokemon…

"Begin."

It hit me like a ten-ton truck.

I gritted my teeth as I suppressed my instinctual reaction to defend against the meowstic's psychic assault; but I knew even the notion of defense was arrogance, there was no resistance I could muster against this. Who had I been kidding all this time with my mental training against Paul, I was nothing against a true psychic, and foolishly, I had deemed myself ready for Sabrina, this was, this was-

I could see her face, the woman was holding me in her arms, and we were outside, perhaps on a boat for the cries of wingull were unmistakable, and I was hungry so I cried, and she carefully brought my mouth to her breast, and-

"Way too far. Something more recent."

No fucking shit, I wanted to yell out loud, but before I could muster the words-

Across me, the Lieutenant had entered. He climbed the trainer's deck in no hurry, each step filled with the assuredness of a man who had seen-

"Yes, close. Follow that pattern."

"Uuurgh," I unconsciously grunted, and I braced myself for-

"Here, yours." Misty lazily threw a small object at me which I caught in the air. I looked at the Cascade Badg-

"Hold that thought as a base, and fast forward from there."

IttookaweekforPaultorecoverandevenafterthathestillsupportednastyburnmarksthatwouldbepermanentaccordingtodoctorsIwouldlovetotestthatclaimwithacertainfountainIknewofbutdidn'twanttospendanymoretimewastedCallidorawashealedfullyshehadnopermanentdamageandnowoutofherballshewassittingnexttomeunderthebridgeMelan-

Almost there, screamed an uninvaded part of my brain. This is the night we celebrate our victory drunk, and then they'll see the rockets-

Blank.

Wha-

"Trainer Red, you've been warned not to resist." The mindspector's voice was barely audible.

I'm not! I don't understand, what's happenin-

"After this point, the league is not responsible for injuries on your psych." His tone leaked bureaucracy, formality, the cold voice of justice. He gave the order without hesitation, unaware of what he was about to unleash.

No, no, NO, NO, no, I silently begged, instinctually sensing the trouble about to brew. Stop…

"Push through."

The meowstic bent forwards, let out a small snarl, and touched his forehead to mine.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

My cry was inhuman, primal, and what made it worse was it had two sources. As if he had touched a live wire, the meowstic was thrown away from me like a rag doll, and hit the wall across. A splatter of blood remained from where his head had made initial contact as the crippled body slid down.

All the while he too cried out my echoed pain.

"What the-"

All the pokemon, all the men in the room.

They were too late.

A pokemon was walking on water, one I saw only in children's story books.

One of the meowstic's ears popped open.

"Stop it!"

It traveled on four legs, and was blue with white diamond shaped patterns on.

"NO!" The scream was from me. "NO! NO! NO! I DON'T WANT TO- NOT AGAIN!"

The luxio charged up, the sceptile tensed its tail. They were ready to kill me, but the unleashed telekinetic power of the meowstic was violent and chaotic; it struck without cause and-

A violet mane and two white tails came from its back.

Suddenly all the people in the room, all the pokemon, they were all lifted in the air, all spare me, and even in my burning pain and blurry vision, I could hear their chests panting, the pressure of the external force too great on their fragile chests, the psionic power crushing them, crumbling them, I heard bones snapping, the chair of Mr. Pierce exploding with its shards blasting all over, when-

It looked at me with cold, calculating eyes.

From below, a sneaky attempt from the aegislash proved fruitful as shadowy hands gripped the unconscious meowstic on both sides, dragging the beast closer to the sword end, the cut would be clean, it would be swift, but-

I knew what I just saw and almost wished I hadn't. That was something that wasn't supposed to exist, it couldn't.

Now pure fear and instinct had taken hold of the psychic pokemon, and he had sensed the danger to his existence, so a focused psionic blast pushed against the ghost pokemon, dispersing its immaterial hands, and sending an invisible bolt towards the main body. The shield-

The very panicked reactions of both Callidora and Pikachu proved it was true.

Came up just in time, a dreadful gong sound echoed, followed by the crash of multiple bodies against the floor – in an attempt to take out the aegislash, the meowstic had let go of the others. Not that they would be of any help; the two luxio were all but dead while the sceptile was definitely so, and blood dripped out the nostrils of the policemen. The mindspector was the only one who could hold his ground, and he bravely threw the golden pokeball clutched in his hand towards the meowstic-

I had just seen one of the legendary beasts.

But it broke midair, the psychic power catching and destroying it. But the act bought the aegislash a few seconds, seconds too precious to waste. It lunged without hesitation, the sword end directed at the constraint pokemon's forehead, and-

I had just seen Sui-

Made contact.

The unnatural pressure surrounding us disappeared almost too quickly, and the bars imprisoning me in my memori- in my dreams shattered. The telepathic interference broken, I tasted blood in my mouth when I barely found the strength to lift my head and try make sense of the room surrounding me through tear filled eyes.

"Sir, sir!" The voices of reinforcements boomed behind me as an entire squad of cops and their pokemon made their way through the door. Their response time was actually commendable, it had been less than half a minute since the commotion had started, but nevertheless, they were too late; the damage had been done in mere seconds. I saw the jaws of those that first entered drop once they registered the room in its entirety; the broken spine of the sceptile, their passed out four colleagues, the two slightly twitching but otherwise almost lifeless luxio, the aegislash with its sword buried deep into the head of the meowstic, and amidst all the chaos, standing tall, the mindspector Mr. Pierce, whose grimacing face made it clear he was trying his best to mask the actual pain he was feeling.

"At ease, men," he ordered calmly as he looked towards the dead meowstic. "Trainer Red," he addressed me without changing his direction. "I assume when your trainer's license was given, you went through the blood and psionic tests, am I right?"

I nodded.

"Say the words so they are witnessable."

I couldn't help but admire his professionality. "Yes," I whispered.

"So it would be foolish to assume you are a psychic, a mutant of any kind that had power enough to cause all," he waved his hand through the room, "this?"

"Yes," I repeated.

"I see. Gentlemen," This time Mr. Pierce faced towards the police. "Before you tend to your fallen comrades, please bear witness to my official decision regarding today's mindspection. As a league anointed mindspector, I declare the result of today's mindspection "inconclusive", on grounds of the inspecting pokemon, in this case the meowstic coded M.13, going rogue and losing control. The case will hereby be returned to Judge Adelson, and it will be her decision whether or not to continue with this method or a jury trial, though my suggestion will be towards the latter. Trainer Re- ah," He wobbled on his feet, and grasped the desk in front to prevent his fall. "Excuse me, where was I? Yes, Trainer Red should be returned back to custody until Judge Adelson reaches her final decision. That will be all."

The last thing I saw before a pair of officers rolled me outside on a wheelchair was Mr. Pierce pulling up his shirt to reveal a large shard of wood, part of the exploded chair from the meowstic's assault, stuck deep near his abdominal. After a deep breath and audible grunt, I watched him pull it free, and graciously accept the help of a bunch of officers that had rushed forwards to provide first aid.

I only wished I could demonstrate half the composure he showed. My mind was still unadjusted, but the dreams were already fading, except for one Arceus-damned half-thought that would not leave my head, rolling over and over again from one side to another within my mind, maddening me.

I had just seen Sui-

))(())((

"Ah, to once again be a part of your gallant efforts, such an honor Red, such an honor!"

Bill, I thought quietly. Shut the fuck up.

And of course, he didn't.

"I admit, I was quite disappointed when you reached out to me after the tragic S.S. Anne saga – such a noble breed those Silphs, poor Obadiah! I had thought myself tricked, for sure you had asked for my invitation suspecting evil afoot – and you didn't even inform me!" Bill rambled on and on like a chattot, encouraged by my prolonged silence. "But to make gains from your loss that night, succeeding in stealing a sample of X, and anticipating your enemies' future moves, preventing them by asking my aid, I am in awe, Trainer Red, I am in awe!"

Having had enough of his babbling, I stood up and walked towards Dante, the only one of my pokemon who had not refused joining me inside in Bill's… Moon Base underneath his house. Pikachu and the others were all out, enjoying the fresh air and open space they had so longed for during my arrest. Adding my time in Vermilion's correctional facility till the mindspection to the time I had spent in a holding cell in Cerulean until a new trial could commence made a total of near three weeks where my pokemon were kept locked in their pokeballs and were under police supervision. Only after today's trial was I allowed to receive them, and only when Bill had brought me to his home had I dared releasing them.

They were not all in the same condition; Pikachu had emerged near comatose, while Callidora and Paul had just shrugged and stretched. My newest recruit, Silk the persian, had once again attempted an immediate escape at the sight of the wide forest stretching in front of Bill's yard, but an almost lazy vine from Callidora had tripped and bound her quickly. As for Dante, he looked exactly the same as before, not affected by the ordeal at all, which only further boiled my anger against his previous owner Nolan; both because by dying he had left me with a huge mess, and also because I now suspected long-time pokeball imprisonment was another example, aside of drugs, of how he had mistreated his starter.

My fingers gently brushed against my pokebelt, all the attached pokeballs now needed mending. They were not designed to keep mons for such long durations, if the pokemon in energy form continuously strained against the shell surrounding it, the casing would eventually break. My thoughts went slightly towards where I could find a place to fix them, when-

-cune too stopped and sat on its bottom, turning its face back towards me with lips on the upper jaw curled open, flashing sharp teeth, almost smirking at m-

"Red? Red? Are you okay, my friend?"

I opened my eyes and saw Bill looking at me from… above. Embarrassed, I quickly stood up from where I had collapsed, but there was no hiding the blood drained, fearful face of mine. Bill looked worried, and the normally stoic Dante even nudged me with his snout, his eyes wondering what invisible threat had harmed his master.

"I'm… okay. Just today's trial. Went rough for a minute," I lied as I fought myself to push the delusions away, though I wasn't too successful.

What's happening to me?

Luckily, Bill was easily convinced. He snorted. "As if it could have gone another way after my testimony, friend Red. Who would dare doubt a rightful heir to truth and justice as myself?"

Correct, I thought to myself, though I wouldn't use those words.

And I eyed my semi-psychotic, twice now savior sideways as he returned to work on the giant deskdex.

Adding Bill to my plans had come naturally. I had already spoken with him after the S.S. Anne and promised bringing him the samples of X I had stolen from Archer so he could analyze and track the chemical's components. So, when I had realized the potential problems using Dante in a public match would bring, it wasn't a surprise that my head had leaned towards Bill once again. Both Butch and Archer had already pretty much confirmed that the rockets were after my head, and how the Mt. Moon operation was covered up had made me suspect the rockets had spies within the arms of the league government. It was nothing but expected for the rockets to jump at the chance to silence me legally.

But there was only a certain amount of influence their hidden operatives could use to affect a fair trial, and I doubted it could exceed what Bill could bring to the table. I had already called Bill in Diglett's Cave before my match in Vermilion, and he had agreed to testify falsely should all my suspicions prove right and I would indeed be arrested. We had only needed to keep our stories straight and coherent; during the suspected time frame of Nolan's murder, I was staying with Bill, who was a fan of mine and had wanted to sponsor my journey. One day, together we had run into an abandoned pokeball in the woods, and having been unable to find the owner, I had claimed it to myself. I had never had any contact with Trainer Nolan after our Nugget Tournament match, and wasn't even aware that he was missing and dead.

Suspicious? Maybe. Unbelievable? Definitely. But not when it came from the mouth of William "Bill" Stein in the witness stand, not when it came from William "Bill" Stein, the youngest, wealthiest, and smartest bachelor in all of Indigo. The excitement that had surrounded the jury when my lawyer Mr. Gold had summoned Bill to the stand had been visible; as far as the common people knew, this marked the first time Bill had appeared in public. And his general attitude might have been that of a prick, but there was no way a respectable member of high society would come show his support for a, no matter how talented, common trainer if he was not truly innocent, would he?

I had almost felt sorry for the prosecution. The minute Bill had taken that seat, the jury had already made its decision. Twelve votes of innocent, the decision was unanimous. A small fine was paid for the penalty of claiming Dante's pokeball without properly registering the ball in my name, but it wasn't that serious an amount; too many trainers always traded too many pokemon and never bothered to go through the proper forms, the notion that the league could keep track of them all was unrealistic, and they knew it, so the penalties were rarely ever applied. Half an hour later, I was a free man and was ready to collect my possessions.

My possessions, which included a red jacket where a small piece had been cut out and re-stitched, and now lay once again cut atop the desk in front of Bill's superdex. Having removed the six different types of X pills, Bill was trying to separate and identify the chemical's main components in hopes of tracking it, though from the looks of it, it wasn't going too well.

As he worked on his dexscreen, muttering to himself about candies and iron-calcium alloys, I began working my mind on last week's surprise mindspection. What on earth could have had possibly prompted a judge to rule that way initially? Mindspections were best done at the moment, for security or investigatory reasons, not for a murder crime dating months back. Was this truly an oversight from the judge, or was there a secret third-party after me that had convinced the judge to act so? Or perhaps I was too arrogant, perhaps the target wasn't even myself, but one of the people present in the room during that time, my arrest was simply a convenient cover to try an assassination attempt on… Who? Mr. Pierce? One of the cops? Or had all this happened naturally, without any outside influence, and I was overthinking the matter?

And another issue was how that meowstic had gone crazy, that was definitely not normal, what could have had prompted the psychic pokemon to act-

-uicune approached me, and as usual no one bat an eyelid. I was still swaying back and forth in my place when it came near and touche-

I clutched at my chest, gasping for breath. Dante growled sensing my distress and eyed the room wildly, but no, once again he couldn't comprehend what sort of enemy was out there, harming me. Shaking my head, I reached over to pat his head and cursed inwardly. Control yourself, Arceus dammit.

"Red, my friend, I have some good news and bad news." Bill was finally done, leaning back on his chair, he eyed the ceiling. He went on without waiting for my answer. "The bad news is, X. The science is… beyond me at the moment."

I could only stare. This person was the second smartest person in all of Indigo, behind only Professor Oak, even exceeded him some subjects, and he couldn't find the simple components of one lousy pill?

"With time I may be able to reach a solid conclusion, but I highly doubt it. What's more, the set we have is too limited, I can't try the necessary, more hazardous experiments in fear of destroying the sample." He made a three-hundred-sixty around his rolling chair before continuing. "I don't like using the term impossible when it comes to science, but… well, I can't see a future in which I figure this out," he honestly admitted, opening both his hands wide.

This changed things. I was really counting on Bill to provide me with some clue against the rockets, so far, I had always been the one caught by surprise, and for once it would have been great to ambush and catch at least one of them so I could have delivered some payback, and perhaps forced them to give me some answers regarding my… heritage.

Bill grinned. "Do not look so disappointed friend Red, without having heard the good news yet."

I felt a slight unease at Bill's accurate interpretation of my expression, hadn't people always failed at guessing my true thoughts until now? I'm slipping, I admitted to myself. The last few weeks' stress might have costed me more than suspected.

"Are you familiar with a certain Officer Danielle Philips?" Bill asked, and when I shook my head, he read what he had found on the dex. "At first glance, our Ms. Philips seems quite an ordinary desk worker, which was why after I hacked the police database, it peaked my interest that it was her who had notified her superiors in her report that there was, and I quote here, 'a striking resemblance between two trainers' pokemon, suspicion of theft'. Hardly anything to go on, have no idea why they would listen to her."

Wait, he hacked the I.P.F network?

"Samuel's security firewall has always had its fair share of problems." Bill nonchalantly shrugged the issue off. "Further following this trail, I learned Ms. Philips was also the officer who had filed the missing person's report for the poor departed Trainer Nolan. Coincidence? Perhaps. But here comes the creme of the crop. Officer Danielle Philips also goes by another identity, a Marie Haller, from her past years working undercover at narcotics."

I caught up immediately. "You think she turned rattata?"

"I think, it is highly unlikely that the officer who oversaw the Nolan case, the officer who pulled the attention of her superiors towards the similarity between your two pokemon, the officer who had years of underground experience, was also one of the three cops present at your arrest in Vermilion."

I stared at Bill dumbfounded. "She was one the cops who arrested me?"

"Affirmative. And what's even more odd, she's normally stationed here at Cerulean City, where she also makes her home. According to the info here, she had added herself last minute to the squad in Vermilion, and had paid for the porting ticket herself. Seems like she was almost desperate to put you behind bars, hmm?"

I stood up and headed towards the exit, Dante trailing right behind me. "And she's back in the city right now, yes?"

"Yes, friend Red, indeed she is," answered Bill.

"You have an address?"

"Already sent to your dex. Tread carefully, Red, no matter our suspicions, she's still an officer of the law," warned Bill, "which is the only reason why Flamefairy will not be joining you today, not because I still haven't worked out the issue of overheating the weaponry and…" His voice trailed off as I climbed the stairs.

I didn't bother yelling back and answering him in my excitement. This was the first solid lead I had on the rockets, and the entire league be damned, not even Lance himself could stop me from following it.

This is for Poka and my mankey. This is for the clefable. This is for putting an arrow through Callidora and killing Dante's trainer. This is for Marc and Jacob Silph, and all the countless others on the S.S. Anne.

But most importantly, this is for me.

))(())((

Night had fallen in Cerulean, and the city's trademark street lights of many colors were turning on one by one. A suitable red colored one shined right on me.

Tonight, Pikachu wasn't my only companion, I had left Dante out of his ball too. Partly because Pikachu was still groggy from his time spent in the starter ball, and partly because, if it came to it, a charmeleon worked better as an intimidating mon than the rest of my team. So here I was, Pikachu between my feet and Dante at my side, literally stalking Officer Danielle's apartment, keeping one eye fixed on the turned-on lights at the far end window at the third floor, where I knew her room was.

At the same time, I was reading her bio Bill had sent me. Officer Danielle Phillips, a forty-one-year-old trainer from Viridian City, gave up her trainer's name (Trainer Lotus) when she joined the force. A four badger, she received her first three badges by studying under the tutelages of Leader Falkner Sr. of Violet Gym, Leader Kiyo of Saffron Gym, and Leader Pryce of Mahogany Gym. Her fourth badge was won by combat against Leader Chuck of Cianwood Gym, after which she joined the force. She was often praised for her investigative nature and close-combat battle style, and was in line for a promotion. In order to fill the minimum five badge requirement for Major, she challenged Leader Blaine of Cinnabar Gym to combat, but after losing half her main team against Blaine's magmortar, including her starter tyrogue (Hitmontop), she surrendered. This loss of firepower has caused her demotion, and she's only been trusted with desk duty and small field-operations ever since.

Vengeful, I thought to myself after, that's how she probably feels against the force. Over ten years of service, near promotion, tons of experience working undercover – then one mishap, one mistake against one of the arguably strongest leaders in Kanto, and suddenly she's old and used. It wasn't probably too hard for the rockets to turn her.

Absentmindedly, I scratched the top of Dante's head that came near my chest. I wondered how many the rockets had added to their cause, how many easy targets, swayed trainers had joined them because of their dissatisfaction at the current league system, and wondered what their ultimate end goal was. I refused to believe an organization capable of supporting trainers like Jessie, James, and Archer, who all were near or equal leader level, was a simple drug cartel, no, X was a means to an end, an end that was too distant for me to see.

One thing was sure though, Blue was right. Something in the current system was rotten, and he was certainly the only one who could fix it. I felt a twinge of jealousy I quickly buried towards my rival, how easy, how simple, how disgustingly noble was his motivation. Compared to him, my yet unknown motivations seemed-

Pain.

"Ughhhh!" I fell on my knees, holding my chest, trying to keep my ponding heart still. Tuned to my emotions, Pikachu growled aggressively and Dante roared, both seeking the enemy.

Incredible, internal, unimaginable pain.

What the hell was this? An attack? A psychic one, a chemical one? I felt vomit building up and the earth around me spinning. I bit my tongue to distract myself but-

My blood was burning; it was eating me from the inside, building up in pressure, heating up my organs, expanding in volume, preparing to blow me up.

"This is not now," I whispered. "This is not even real. This, this is-"

My blood was screaming, go away, leave, nothing is worth this, abandon the mission.

Pikachu's fur crackled, the fire in Dante's tail grew. Their monster eyes were scanning the darkness, but how could they guess the attack was from within?

My blood was calling me, instinctively I knew, just knew that whatever was torturing me, it was familiar, close, part of me.

"This." I punched the street floor hard. "Is." Harder. "Not. Real."

And in my pain I was free, free from that cursed Suic-

Harder until blood spurted.

"This is not real! This is not real!"

-une who had meddled with my life, who was staring at me across river, on the other side of the shore between the two largest trees of the forest-

Harder. Harder.

-who was ignoring every piece of thunder the left behind Pikachu was sending his way like they were nothing more than pieces of confetti-

Until the pain of the present masked the pain of the past, harder.

-who had sent me hereto my doom by controlling my heart, body, and soul.

"THIS IS NOT REAL!" I roared into the night.

"FOR THE LOVE OF THE RIVERS, SHUT UP!"

Gasping, a sweaty and trembling mess, the angry shout coupled with my bruised and bleeding knuckles finally drove the… whatever it was, away. Pikachu looked worried and suspicious as he licked my injured hand, but Dante was growling and looking elsewhere, up.

Still on my knees, I followed his gaze, and saw Officer Danielle Philips stare down her window.

Apparently, I too caught her by surprise.

"Oh – it's you." The disgust in her voice was palpable, but, even though I couldn't tell from the distance, I thought she didn't look that surprised to see me in front of her apartment, at least, she didn't sound so.

"You might as well come up," she said, and added before shutting the window close, "you already know the floor."

))(())((

"I'm not armed," was the first thing she said as she invited me in. She pulled her shirt up so her pokebelt was visible, and I saw no pokeballs attached. "So I'd appreciate it if you kept those two in their balls."

I almost laughed.

Truth be told, my mind was still a bit murky from what had happened on the street, and my body still pumped adrenaline increasing my recklessness, but I wasn't stupid enough to enter a rocket's home unarmed. Pikachu and Dante thought the same, they both entered first in front of me like they owned the place, and kept growling all the way through.

I stepped right after them.

Officer Danielle shrugged as she shut the door behind me. "Suit yourself."

Her apartment was small, one bedroom plus a living room, but I wasn't one to abandon precautions. On my signal, Pikachu made a quick round around the place while Dante kept watch over Danielle. She didn't seem to mind though and made her way towards what I assumed was the kitchen.

"Drink?" she yelled back. "I was in the middle of fixing myself one."

I didn't bother answering and sat on a comfortable looking sofa. A minute later, Pikachu came back, his silence proving he couldn't find any threats in the house. Almost at the same time, Danielle returned holding a wine glass, Dante trailing right behind.

I didn't speak until she sat at an armchair positioned in front of me.

"You're a rocket."

This was not the planned opening I had, but Danielle wasn't reacting the way I had expected either, for someone tasked by the rockets to silence me, she didn't look half as surprised as one would expect her to be at finding her mission target right under her nose.

"I'm an informant," she corrected and took a sip from her glass. "I don't wear the R."

No denial, I thought. Straightforward admitting. What's the game here?

"You know, that Bill move was incredibly dirty." She drank another mouthful of wine. "All the reports said you were a loner, we were not expecting such a high caliber witness. Otherwise, we would've bought the jury." She shrugged. "Too late now."

Too late… For what?

"And the mindspection… that almost fucked everything up. It wasn't you who set that up, was it?"

I shook my head, waiting for her to continue.

"Thought so. Stupid fucking judge. Almost ruined everything. Well, ruined enough already." She shook the empty glass in her hand. "Gonna go refill. Your lizard can come if you want."

They both returned, but this time she had foregone the glass and was back with an entire bottle.

The pity party's gone long enough.

"The rockets. Tell me everyth-"

"You're not gym trained, are you?" She interrupted. "I can tell. Incredible talent, but your base skills are only refined by training school, and everything else is self-taught. Am I right?"

I slapped my palm against the coffee table between us, and Pikachu's fur flashed. "The. Rockets. Cease the irrelevant babbling and tell me where I can find one."

She rolled her eyes at my outburst, and drank the bottle half empty. "Not that irrelevant, though. In gyms, for your… second? Third? Too long ago, and I'm not sober enough to remember. Either way, for one of the badge tests, they make you identify some common poisons. Through tasting." Her face wrinkled in disgust. "Do you know I've tasted grimer? Well, pieces of it anyway. Just enough not to kill you. Gulpin goo, ekans venom, vileplume spores, I've tasted them all."

She drank the bottle to its end, then put it between us. "And if I were to pick a favorite, then it would be nidoqueen venom. Simply because it's completely tasteless. Also painless."

Cold awareness spread inside me. She didn't…

"At least that bitch Jessie remembered it when she brought the vial over. I'd hate to taste grimer again." She pointed towards her own face, dragging a line across with her index finger, mimicking the scar on my own face. "That looks like James' work, and Jessie's always with her, so I take it you're familiar with the name?"

I still couldn't break my gaze from the bottle, what sort of fanatical ideology, extremist loyalty would drive someone to poison herself, what exactly were the rockets really?

"Oh, you misunderstand. This is punishment thorough and thorough, the lesser of two evils," she explained at the sight of my confusion, to which from the back of my mind a voice screamed, she shouldn't be able to read your face! Up your game! "Once you walked free from that trial, I became a loose end, the trail was too obvious for the seeking eye. Jessie visited earlier in the day to inspect the apartment and… make sure I didn't have anything tying to them. She dropped the vial, warning me of what would happen if morning came and my cold body next to a suicide note was not found. Bitch."

She gazed towards the window, a satisfied smile forming on her lips. "She didn't get my babies though, no, no, the minute you were free, I released them all back to the wild. Didn't give the bitch the pleasure of feeding them to that fucking snake. At least… my babies are safe."

An intense quiet grew between us that I broke. "You… don't seem particularly fond of them. Yet you turned rattata."

"I haven't been particularly fond of much since him." Her eyes were blazing. "After… what happened, I guess I didn't care much about certain notions. Especially the Plateau's. Anything working against that, and, heh, I'll admit, paid better, I was just about ready to sign up." A chuckle formed at her lips that didn't take long to turn into a full-fledged laughter. "Amazing, isn't it? How being close to death brings the courage to confess stuff buried deep."

Her laughter grew, but I was already analyzing her words. Anything working against the Plateau… Is that the end goal of the rockets? To overthrow the government? Seems… too impossible. I stared at Danielle Philips. Or is it what the rockets told her to get her on their side?

"Do you know where I can find any rocket?"

"Dip you hand into a pond, you're likely to catch a goldeen," she muttered between hiccups.

Too vague. "And if I asked you where I could find Jessie?" I dared asking.

That caught her attention. Behind her half-closed eyes, I could feel her focusing on the question, except it was difficult to think with a full bottle of Fuchsian wine working its way through her system. And the added poison doesn't help. It should soon show its effect, I thought grimly.

After what seemed like eternity, she finally managed some words. "Wha- what's it with you and-and the rock-rockeeeeeetsss anyway?" she asked.

There were a number of answers to that question, but I chose the one that mattered.

"I want to hurt them."

Dante's low growl and Pikachu's flashing fur accentuated the honesty behind my words. I continued my speech without hesitation.

"They tortured me."

Imitating her, I traced the scar on my face with my finger.

"They killed my early team. They shot at my pokemon. They chased me through the woods like an animal. They lured me to a trap in the middle of the ocean. They fucking framed me for a murder they committed."

"I-I framed you," she tried interrupting, but I was too lost in the heat of the moment.

"On their orders! You want to ask me what's up with me and them?" I stood abruptly, kicking the coffee table between us out of the way and leaned forwards, bringing my face closer to hers.

"They dared attack me. I did nothing to initiate this fight, all I had ever wanted was a peaceful passage through motherfucking Mount fucking Moon!"

"They dared attack me," I repeated as she stood silent. "They dared attack a champion. So they will reap what they sowed. One of them already died at my hand, another by my hand. And countless others of them I killed through my actions."

"You claim you don't care about good, or bad, or justice anymore. You claim the only reason you turned traitor," I noticed how she minced at the word, "was because you wanted to stick it to the man, because the man had stuck it to you. Guess what though?"

I pointed at the knocked over wine bottle on the ground and watched as her eyes briefly focused on it. "The man didn't force you to commit suicide tonight. The man didn't force you to abandon your team tonight. That was Jessie. That was the rockets. Now tell me where I can find her, so I can-"

"So you can what?" she whispered. Gone was the intoxicated tone in her voice, gone was the sleepy, bitter expression on her face, and with her approaching death, for the first time since I entered her apartment, I finally saw the career oriented, ambitious trainer; lost all those years ago to the silhouette of what she was now. "So you can what, Pokemon Trainer Red?"

I caught the pleading promise in her voice and answered her coldly. "So I can kill them."

She outright laughed.

She laughed and laughed and laughed, until her laughter transformed into coughs, and the coughs were interrupted by short gasps by a mouth seeking air. Then the voice changed to raspy breathing, and she vomited a mouthful of blackened blood; I barely got out of the way.

A mixture of disgust and pity filled my heart at the sight of this broken woman, but surprisingly, I could find no hate there, despite the responsibility she bared for my last three weeks of incarceration. I did not know why, but my hand instinctively reached out and shut Officer Danielle Philips' half-closed eyes. "May you find peace," I muttered. "May it all have been worth whatever it is you thought you had been fighting for."

I turned my back and gestured Pikachu and Dante out, there was no need to linger any longer and risk someone spotting us. Just when I stepped out of her apartment room, I heard it: A barely audible, half whisper.

"Lavender."

The town of the dead.

Poetic, I thought as Cerulean's chilly night air greeted me. I promised I would kill them, and this was where fate saw fit to do the deed.

After, of course, I finished the untold part of the promise I made to Danielle silently, after I pry from them everything there is to know about my father.

))(())((

Author's note:

Was out of town due to some real-life reasons, hence the one-week delay from the promised date range, apologies.

If you're a first-time reader of this story, and for some reason decided to begin reading at this chapter, lol, sorry, a chapter with almost no pokemon at all, bet wasn't what you expected from a pokemon fanfic. But even for long time readers, this chapter really builds on many things that were established in the previous chapters, chapters uploaded months ago, and in case readers don't want to rightfully go back and reread, here's a very short, very basic list. I normally don't like spoon-feeding readers information, but really, it's been a long time since the last Red chapter. Ignore if you remembered and understood everything.

In Red chapters 8-9, Red met a powerful pokemon that erased his memory of the encounter.

In chapter 9, Nolan was killed by a trio of rockets, and Red and Bill (in disguise) killed two of them and rescued Dante, but failed to recover Nolan's body.

In chapter 10, Bill reveals himself to be a hero-complexed psycho, and sort of build himself an illusion that the rockets, especially Butch, is destined to be his arch nemesis.

In chapter 12, after confronting Archer on the S.S. Anne, Red manages to steal a couple X pills and calls Bill to ask analyze them.

In chapter 13, during training Dante against Surge, Red thinks of the possibility of the rockets framing him, and thinks of situation where he can use this and trap one instead. At the end of the chapter, he is indeed arrested.

Next chapter(s): The following four chapters are all near finished, so I expect to upload at least three of them this month.