Chapter 6: Chess master

The next day: Late afternoon

Kanto

Beneath Celadon city's game center

Their presence was suffocating. Lack-2 stood protectively in front of Whi-2 as they faced Blue and another male sporting a mop of black hair and whose fringes were sticking upright. They were in a small circular conference room and those two imposing adults were sitting in comfortable chairs, A third one remained vacant. Crimson irises looked at them in a somewhat kind and interested manner and the boy felt red hot with rage. Wherever they were, it was not a good place he concluded. Angrily he glared back at the two; the strained air in the room was broken when a third male walked in. On seeing him, the young trainer almost fainted with shock.

It was Green. World famous, professor Oak's grandson Green.

"These are the two new recruits Blue?" he quizzed and gave them a once over "what are their stats?"

"The boy is Lack-2 he's a mixture of Gold and Ruby and has awesome battling stats, Red can have him..."

Wait, Red...

Red

Red

"And he is RED! The youngest champion of Kantoooo!" The television announcer announced. Toddler Lack-2 clapped his hands in tune with the cheer and his eyes glazed with wonder. A champion, he wanted to become on as well, then he'll also have confetti rained down on him.

"Also" Blue continued "I'm taking Whi-2, she is a sweet child and it is my responsibility to take care of her...Sorry Green, no new members for you~"

Behind him, the girl hugged him tighter. He was finding it difficult to breath. Red's red eyes were still trained on him and he found it a bit infuriating.

"What are you staring at?" he scathed.

"Nothing" the adolescent replied in a kind manner and scratched the back of his head. "Come on, you two need to stop clinging to each other, I have to introduce the rest of the department to you." Saying this, he got up from the chair and went towards Lack-2 trying to coax him out. Instead, Red got a vicious punch for his efforts.

"First tell me where the hell I am!" the boy spat vehemently.

"You are in our headquarters; we are the organization responsible for wiping out Team Rocket off the face of the Poke-universe and the recent stealings of legendary pokemon and their information. You two have just been recruited as the newest members since both of you were slated to be Pokedex holders. Rest assured, you will get your dexes and starter pokemon shortly. My name is Green...You probably know that already and these are my co-workers Red, champion of Kanto, although he hardly does his proper work nowadays and Blue...A pesky woman."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'd advise you to go with your respective department heads; you need to get familiar with this place."

"...You think I'm just going to take this sitting down? I'm going to bust myself outta here and hand you people over to the POLICE!" Lack-2 bellowed and panted. At his outburst Green smirked.

"Fine, have fun trying to get past Red...A word of warning though. He'll probably wipe the floor with you while still half asleep, his pokemon are so well trained, they can hold their own against elite trainers without him commanding them. He's a kind individual; you will warm up to him for sure." Imparting these few sentences, the stoic individual left, Blue moved to Whi-2 and his friend let go of him to forlornly follow that trickster of a woman. Shoulders drooping with defeat, he too followed Red out of the little room and after a series of convoluted turns that steadily slanted upwards, they alighted in a large, chaotic room.

The room was empty.

Seating himself on a pool table. Red smiled at him. Lack-2 refused to let his guard down. As his new leader began talking, another individual whizzed into the room balancing a pool-stick on his shoulders.

"So this is our new recruit senior Red?" the black haired male winked at him "looks promising" the new trainer was getting dizzy, very dizzy. The person who walked in was Gold, a few years ago, this trainer had made headlines all over the universe for being the only one to best champions from two regions and now...now would be a good time to take a nap and wake up from this bizarre dream.

"DIA! A new MEMBER!" Someone else screeched and entered the chamber. Turning himself around to inspect the newcomer. Lack-2 fainted.

He outright fainted.

In the grinning boy's hands was the missing Light stone.

An incessant tapping resounded throughout the room, Crystal watched her leader with mild concern, for the past few days he has been on the computer typing away, doing research no doubt, she mused. Out of the three commanders, Green was the most diligent and intelligent. He did things with frightening accuracy and assurance and till date, they were not discovered. Picking up a broom, she began sweeping the dark wooden floor. The room's three adjacent walls were fitted with desks, a bank of computers and other electronic equipment, the fourth wall was lined with a humongous titanium bookshelf containing files, notes and thick books, this shelf was covered with sliding glass doors. Wires crisscrossed through the entire chamber and a movable white board was situated in the middle, acting like a partition. Before the white board, a couple of comfortable plush chairs and sofas were placed with an olive tinted glass coffee table in the middle. A few windows were placed around the room, but the light came from overhead ceiling fixtures, large floor lamps and from the computer screens. On the back wall, on top of a row of computers, an emerald banner depicting a chess piece was slightly swaying to an air conditioned breeze.

"Green..." a soft voice caught his attention "We have to check on the legendary Pokémon's condition" Pulling his headphones off, he eyed his underling tiredly. Yellow was clutching a sheaf of papers and after leafing through them, she extracted one and handed to him. After he skimmed through the document, a small groan escaped from him.

"I'm doing duty with Red? Great!"

Wearily he got off his office chair and glared at the energetic brunette who'd come to get him, together, the duo traversed a few corridors, fought off an over eager Gold and made their way to a large area. Green pulled out a keycard and swiped it, with a beep, it was confirmed and the doors to a hangar like area slid open. A din of Pokemon cries, howls and growls greeted the two and with a wide grin, Red broke off from his friend and stopped at a large cage suspended from the ceiling with thick chains, inside it twittered Zapdos, the bars were insulated with a foam like material and the bird flapped around in an artificial habitat. Tubes running into the cage suspended a permanent thundercloud over the Pokémon's head. Red shuffled closer and read off a small screen attached to the coop, it showed the thunder Pokémon's statistics, as expected, they were normal. Moving off, he went to another tube made of Perspex glass, floating inside a clear liquid was a bipedal, humanoid creature with a few feline features, its thick purple tail twitched when the trainer approached and as he took down the notes off the little screen, it opened its eyes.

Amethyst and luminous. The tail swished through the viscous fluid and smashed against the glass.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice

And Red retreated.

Over to another corner of the area, Green peered irritably into a dark cell, despite the floodlights lighting the area, he still could not see the pokemon inside it. The statistics were all normal but he wanted to observe the dark Pokemon with his own eyes. Bringing up his forefinger, he tapped the surface hard and in an instant, the black cloud condensed to a shadow pokemon with a white plume atop its head. A single bright blue eye stared at him in an incensed manner. Man and beast glared at each other for a while and when the brown haired male left, the cell was again a flood of darkness. Moving across grey marble, he alighted to a gigantic encasement filled with rocky terrain and lava. A red plated Pokemon lumbered across and the heat made Green fan himself, stealing a glance at the digital green numbers and words, he quickly escaped. Near the back of the room, he met up with Red who was gazing at a small Pokemon whose head vaguely resembled a star. Jirachi, the wish Pokemon.

"Regretting something?" Green strode to his best friend and checked the little creature's condition.

The black haired trainer folded his arms behind his head and smiled.

"Nah" he replied, "just worried about the new recruits, seems like my one hates me."

"At the end of the week, you'll get sick from the amount of people worshipping you" Saying this, the spiky haired trainer walked back and exited the room. Red followed lazily, sweeping his gaze around the storage area and the various legendries contained within. Swiping his key-card, he exited the room and ambled to his own.

Evening

Celadon City

Dex Criminal's main base

When he opened his eyes, he quickly shut them again. There were three males were hovering over him, one had gold irises, the other blue and the third's one was brown. This was a nightmare, what did he eat for lunch anyway, he was used to girls flocking around him not boys...Wait, where was he?

Cautiously, Lack-2 cracked his eyelids open again, yep, he was not dreaming, the trio in front of him gave him blinding grins and his mood soured considerably. Check: He was kidnapped by this gorgeous teacher who came in as a temporary lecturer, he and Whi-2 had to endure a terribly frightening and lengthy journey all the way to Kanto, was it? He stood before world famous figures, who also doubled as notorious criminals, and was sorted into some department and after witnessing that this organization were made up of the 'missing Pokedex holders' he fainted from shock.

Curse the Pokedex; he did not want to be a holder of one!

Angrily he sat up and looked around.

"Will one of you tell me where I am?"

"Your bedroom" the eldest male answered "pretty neat huh? Right now it's a bit bleak, but you can spice it up however you want, mine has posters of famous idols around the Hoenn region." he grinned.

True, the bedroom was spacious and dominated by a queen sized bed which he currently lay on. The walls were painted a pleasant shade of blue, there was a window, but no light came through it. Overhead, a fancy chandelier illuminated his surroundings.

"I meant the location" he hissed "the spiky haired dude told me this place was a base of some sort...I get it, now where in Zekrom's name AM I?

"Kanto, in Celadon city, underneath the game center. This was Team Rocket's old hideout and now, since they are gone, we are using it." A new voice entered the scene and Lack-2, normally a collected individual wanted to smash his face in once more. The red eyed man simply smiled and placed several items on the fuming boy's bed. With alarm, he noticed it was an azure colored Pokedex and a pokeball.

"What should I do with these?" he asked with a defeated sigh although he already knew the answers.

"Be my underling of course, we have jobs to do. Come on; let's have a friendly pokemon match."

Friendly pokemon match?

Friendly pokemon match with a criminal?

No thanks!

"Why are you doing this? What is your purpose?" Lack-2 voice rose in volume "why are you people, a famous Champion, researcher and..." he broke off, what did Blue do anyway? "...model... banding together and wreaking havoc?"

"Uh buddy, we are NOT wreaking havoc" Gold put in.

"I was bored" came Red's reply "So I roped Green and Blue into starting this organization"

So he was the real leader...

He trembled in rage.

"Bored? BORED WERE YOU? Oh really? I suppose it's fun to kidnap people and force them to join your organization? I bet the ones working under you hate your GUTS!" he gripped the bed sheets in frustration.

The screaming boy quailed when the other males apart from Red began laughing.

"We all look up to senior Red" added the blue eyed, chubby teenager "he's the kindest and strongest trainer we've ever came across."

Lack-2 didn't understand, these people were insane, he thought, maybe the pesky woman brainwashed them.

"I was bored of being on the pinnacle" The young man continued "once you reach the top, there is no other way except going down, it's lonely being up there you know, no one...No one in a few years could best me and I on the other hand was becoming proud and arrogant of my skills. I was losing sight of what I wanted to be. Yes I wanted to be a champion and I had attained it with my skills, hardship and training. Once I took the mantle up, everything became hollow, trainers challenged me but none could beat me, I dominated two regions, budding trainers from Hoenn were shipped to Kanto in order to face me, yet they too failed. I saw defeat in their eyes and in time, my souls mirrored their own. So I ditched my work and became something else"

"Your touching speech does not justify your actions. You could've gone to civil service."

"True, but my, no, our goal is to create a world of equality..." he scratched his head sheepishly "I sound like one of them don't I? Anyway, I want a place where there every trainer can come across hurdles and surpass them with ease and in turn, champions, people like me, won't have to go through the pain of loneliness and suffer because of it. You say I could do public service but I was basically jailed in the Pokemon league, I was not allowed to go out."

The new addition to the organization deflated, he too knew the pain of being lonely, the sting of being a prodigy. Reaching out a hand, he took the pokeball and released the creature inside it. Slowly, his hand inched towards the Pokedex and he looked at the information of his new partner. The entry read as follows:

Oshawott: The scalchop on its stomach is made from the same element as claws. It detaches the scalchop for use as a blade. The water pokemon sniffed around the room and after some time, it sat stiffly next to him. Red put another object next to him; this one looked like a polishing stone.

"For Oshawott" he clarified "he needs to sharpen and keep his scalchop in tip-top condition. When you are feeling better, come to Execution's room, I'll introduce the family to you." saying this, the occupants in the room took their leave.

Family...Huh?

Whi-2 wanted to cry and she did. Blue held her in a warm embrace as the young girl's tears leaked out of her eyes and stained everything. This was unfair, she had a perfectly comfortable life and the sudden shock of losing it all was a bit too much to handle.

"Why did you do this Ms. Blue?" she sobbed.

The woman squeezed her comfortingly; at least her kidnapper was a nice person.

"We need talented people like you" The beautiful lady soothed "Whi-2 I know you are angry, sad and confused, but trust me, the life of a Pokedex holder is not always pleasant, you get embroiled with criminal organizations which, mark my words, are far more sinister than our own." The department head reached for a tissue and began wiping the young girl's tears away "When I was very young, around five years old, my adopted brother, Silver and I were kidnapped by this group called Team Rocket. The first thing they did was to separate Silver from me, he was only two years old. Thereafter, to break me and prevent me from escaping, they used bird pokemon and...The experience was too horrible. I was absolutely terrified of flying types for a long, long time, of course I mastered that fear and when I joined Red and Green to make this organization, the first thing they did was to get rid of Team Rocket. These might sound like excuses, but I hope you understand my point of view."

The new recruit had stopped crying.

"Then why are you targeting the legendary pokemon?"

"To stop them from falling into other evil hands of course. We also do research on them, how they affect the world, their origins and habitats. If you want, I can show you where they are kept."

This made the girl smile and Blue eased off the bed.

"I have a few presents for you" she beamed "be right back."

Sitting on her bed, the young girl heaved a sigh. Almost twenty four hours have passed since she was whisked away from Unova, her thoughts began straying to her mother, was she doing okay? Squeezing her eyes shut, Whi-2 briefly envisioned her room, her flat screen television and gaming systems (which were strewn on the floor), her study table placed in the corner and all the little pictures and posters she put up on her walls. An unfamiliar ache settled itself in her chest and slowly, her ruminations turned to Hugh and she wondered what the hot headed, spiky haired trainer was currently doing, no doubt shouting and screaming and looking for his missing classmates. Unlike her, Hugh was an open fire, poke him a bit and he roars.

Her ponderings came to a halt when Blue re-entered the room. In her hands were a rose tinted Pokedex and a pokeball. The elder woman released the pokemon inside it, Snivy, a small grass snake type pokemon with a cream colored underbelly, after staring at her with unexpressive eyes, it hopped on the bed and snuggled against her. Taking the Pokedex, she read its entry and smiled at her superior.

"I hope you have a pleasant life here Whi-2, if you ever need anything, or if Lack-2 or Gold tires to flirt with you or makes you cry, tell me and I'll show them hell."

She nodded, her mixed emotions preventing speech.

Night

Unknown Region

Police headquarters

"He's still not back?" a voice boomed and Steven huffed in mild irritation, next to him Looker fidgeted in his seat.

"No Sir...I messed up my duties in Castelia, the organization took the Dragon stone from me and therefore he stayed behind to clear things up"

"So he is still in Castelia?" The man, oblivious of everyone's open disgust of slovenly manners, put his boots on the table and crossed his arms over a muscular chest.

"Most likely" the Hoenn champion replied, he was aware of Cynthia's cold gaze on him.

"Calm down" another low tone implored "out of all of us, he is the most relentless, let him do whatever he wan-"

"WHATEVER HE WANTS?! The police should thrive on discipline, not on ideas and spontaneous acts of work; we need to know what that moron is doing!"

The International police thrive on discipline? Funny. Some of the members' eyes drifted to Norman and Volkner. The blonde was almost falling off his seat due to sheer boredom and the black-haired man was busy staring into his Poke Navigator, eyes glued to the little screen, even if he showed scorn of his son's chosen career, the gym leader would watch the recorded pokemon contests whenever he had free time, apparently, free time also consisted of meetings which decided the safety of the world.

"That reminds me, the person who managed to dupe me reminded me a lot of Ruby" at Steven's sentence the teenager's father looked up and put his device away.

"Impossible, the night Rayquayza was stolen, he was at home, watching television...Also I find it offensive that you are comparing my son to a criminal."

"I did not say that," the steel haired adolescent countered "I was simply pointing out the similarity in their personalities, besides; obviously the thief was faking it..."

Murmurs were heard in the room.

"Did Red come back to his position?" This time, Cynthia posed a question, just as she started speaking again, a messenger knocked on the door, entered and deposited a sheaf of papers on the table and burly man in the room snatched it up, scrutinized the documents and snorted.

"Obviously the idiot didn't come back, he hates the place and more importantly look what I found." He held up two papers and photographs of a boy and girl "Slated to be Dex holders, they were kidnapped yesterday after school; we got this information just now. There have been a lot of Pokedex holders missing no? Shuffling the papers, he held up a photo of Gold, and a blurry image of Black.

"What are you thinking?" Norman's pupils shrank in anger as he eyed his superior.

"Keep a watch on your son; talented Pokemon trainers are being kidnapped."

"You don't have to worry about Ruby nor Sapphire, they are capable trainers and can hold their own," the black haired gym leader rose from his seat "I'll take my leave, if I need to know anything else, call me or leave a message." Head held high, Norman vacated the area.

"...Anyway, I want to process an application for a new member" Sinnoh's champion stated and handed over a file to the male sitting opposite her.

"Misty?" his tone was inquisitive, "water gym leader from Cerulean City, Kanto...I guess the more people we have, the better we can do our job...Volkner, don't sleep!"

The man lazily yawned in response.

"Alright, meeting dismissed" Cynthia decreed "and Steven" the young champion flinched "from now on, we'll be doing our tasks together, seems like you have forgotten some...basics."

At her words, his heart plunged in his stomach. Amidst scraping chairs and electronic beeps, the rest of the people left the chamber. In the empty room, against a high shelf on the wall a single pokemon shifted inside his ball.

The horn coming out of his forehead glowed bright against the ebony darkness.

A/N: To clear some things up: Black and White are older than the Sinnoh trio. As it stands, Lack-2 and Whi-2 are the youngest with Dia, Platina and Pearl being older than them. Black and White are about the same age as Saph and Ruby.

Much thanks to Jack54311 and fluffandrows57 for reviewing my story, your comment of Ruby being fabulous cracked me up :). And here is another chapter, hopefully this answers some questions. Don't be shy to leave a review.