"From today onwards, you are Operative 2046, Code Name: Gengar. You don't have a name, because you don't need one."
Why am I here, again?
"You have only one purpose, to maintain the peace of Indigo at all costs."
Why should I? Don't I have a say on whether I want to do it?
"You don't exist. People might say this is abuse, this is inhumane, but this is necessary."
Really?
"All of you are the unsung heroes of Indigo. Without you, millions of Indigo citizens might not be able to enjoy the peace they are experiencing today. They don't know you and they will never know what you did for them, but that doesn't mean we aren't important."
I should have just stayed dead.
"We will pair you into twos, that person will be your partner for your lifetime."
This is even worse than child labour in my previous world. At least child labour gets paid.
"Hi! My name's Jane! Operative 2043 Code name: Pikachu, at your service! It's nice to meet you, partner! What's your name?"
Why is she so cheery? Doesn't she know what our job entails? There is a near 100% mortality rate for this job.
"You don't have a name? That is unacceptable! What? The instructors didn't pick a name for you? WHY?! I will give you one then! I won't accept any objections!"
Yeah, her name's Jane, the little cheery tyrant. This is how she looks like. This is how her voice sounds like. I remember now. I missed it.
I missed her.
"This is my gastly! And this is houndour! Wait, oh right! I'm supposed to give you a name! Uh... we can't use it in the instructors' presence because we are supposed to use our assigned numbers, so… it will be our little secret? A secret only known by the two of us! Yay!"
She really is a ball of sunshine. Why is she involved in this child spy business? She's not suited for this job.
"Hmm… what about… AHH! Why is it so hard to think of a name?!"
Name? Is that important? I cannot even remember what I used to be called and it feels kind of… empty. Heh, I'm supposed to be the adult here, right? At least in mind. Why am I so bothered about this?
"Since we are partners, our name should be a matching pair! Your name needs to start with J! And then followed by A! But what boy's names starts with 'JA'? Hey, get me a dictionary so we can start picking out names already! Huh, you are telling me there's no dictionary for names?"
Maybe we could make one in the future.
"That's it! I thought of the perfect name! Your name will be 'Jayce'! Jane and Jayce! We are going to be the most kickass operatives ever! The Twin Js! … What do you mean 'Jayce' sounds weird?! I don't care! I won't accept any objections!"
I remember that it felt kind of weird, that this name is mine to call yet not mine at the same time. But… it felt kind of nice that I'm more than just a number in the Indigo Government's database. Why am I relieving all of this again?
Where am I?
"Urgh, training's tough. I think the stupid instructors broke a bone or something… Huh? For me? Thanks Jayce! You are a lifesaver!"
Yeah, she's always like this. Getting herself hurt because her heart is too big. She's too kind to be living in this dark environment. She will get herself killed one day.
"Hey, Jayce. Do you have a dream?"
If I had one, I had forgotten about it. I barely remembered anything. My knowledge of this world wasn't a lot to begin with and most of it is not applicable anymore. I never expected this world to be this dark. Come to think of it, she is my only source of light here. The only one who treated me as more than Operative 2046, Code Name: Gengar.
"My dream? I love singing. I want to be able to sing one day in front of a large crowd. Hey, you can be my guitarist!"
Guitar? I think I remembered a little of how to play it from my past life.
"Pssssssst! Look! I got you a guitar! Come on, Jayce, play it! … What do you mean you don't know what to play? You said you knew how to play the guitar, right?! Everyone else's asleep and they can't hear us anyway! Just play something!"
I remember that my fingers were clumsy, my rhythms were off, my notes were out of tune because I had forgotten to tune the guitar even before I started playing it, but at that point in time, I was happy. It was the happiest moment of my life because I found something that makes me, me. It's like I found a piece of my lost identity.
"What song is that? It's pretty nice! Can you teach me?"
What song? It just came naturally to me, what was the title again? All… of you? No, wrong name. All of me. Yeah, that was the name. Who sang it again? Jon… Jonny? Johnny Bravo? No, definitely not that. John… John Legend. Yeah, that should be his name.
"John Legend? Who's that? How did you know such a guy anyway? I thought you had lived here almost your whole life? Never mind that, teach me!"
I remember hoping that I remembered all the lyrics perfectly.
"'Cause all~ of me, Loves all~ of you, Love your curves and all your edges~ All your perfect imperfections~ WAIT. Is this a love song? And you sang them to me?! Jayce! Did you just make a love confession to me?!"
I have no answer to that. The only thing I remembered was that her voice was really nice. I like it when she sings.
"You know, someday when we finally got out of this whole spy-on-criminal-organisations thing, we should totally go and be singers! You can be my guitarist, composer, lyricist, arranger, whatever whatever all in one! And I will be the lead singer! Gastly and houndour can be the… dancers? Can they even dance? And if we need more people, we can create our own band! I know! We can call ourselves the 'Twin Js'! Yeah, that's what we are going to be in the future! I won't accept any objections!"
I wanted to say: 'The only way out of this is death, Jane.' But I remembered holding my tongue because I don't want to dash her naïve hopes. There's no way we are going to get out of this alive. How many instructors had come and go? How many returned?
Zero returned.
Once we get sent out, we will never come back again.
The only way out is death. That is our life as spies. It's unfair. I didn't ask to be one. Neither did she. She was just an orphan taken out of the orphanage on the pretence of getting adopted by another set of parents, only to find herself here.
"That settles it! When we finish all this mumbo jumbo spy crap, we will take the world by storm! We will be the best band EVEEEEERRR!"
And somehow, I never doubted that she can. That means the only thing in the way of her dream is our line of work that was forced upon us. I need to make sure that she survives. I already had a chance in living, even if I had no clear recollection of it. She… This is her first chance.
She deserves to live.
"I can't believe it, Jayce! We got in! They never suspected a thing! Now we are a part of Team Rocket! Infiltration success!"
Our first assignment: infiltrate into Team Rocket by posing as homeless and desperate orphans. Convince them to take you in by showing your worth to them, that no one will miss you even if you die in the middle of nowhere. Team Rocket thrives by taking advantage of the people at the bottom of the social ladder, giving them the essentials they need for survival in exchange for their loyalty. These people are often too desperate and more than willing to risk their lives just to grasp at a chance for survival. Such people form the main force of Team Rocket. This is no longer a fictional world you see through your Gameboy.
This is now reality. Children are often their favourite targets. Too young, too naïve, too gullible, too easy, too eager to please the adults that had saved them from a fate worse than death. Too easy to manipulate them, to shape them into their liking.
Just like what the Indigo Government did to us.
This is the reality of the Kanto region. The reality that nobody sees or chose not to see.
"A vulpix! So cute and fluffy! SQUEEEEEEEE! Can I hug it? Can I hug it? Pleasepleasepleaseplease-"
We were talking in harsh whispers in the dead of the night, afraid of waking any Rocket grunts up. It was the night when my starter came into this world from an egg. We wanted to give it a name. She wanted to name vulpix and I wouldn't have an issue with it, but we are now officially members of Team Rocket.
To Team Rocket, pokemon are just tools. Tools don't need names. It felt ironic. To Team Rocket, pokemon are tools. To the Indigo, nameless orphans are their tools.
Which one of them is evil?
I don't know.
I don't know what is right and wrong anymore.
They all look the same to me.
"J-Jayce?"
I had never seen her so scared before.
"T-They just found out about 2035 and 2072. T-They are… gone."
They were the last pair that had infiltrated into Team Rocket, just like us. Team Rocket had gotten wind of Indigo spies infiltrating their ranks a few years back and they had been doing a nice job in slowly weeding out the moles. I don't know how they did it, they just did.
"I-I'm scared… We are the only ones left."
I'm scared too. We are the only ones left. I don't want to die.
More importantly, I don't want her to die.
"What do we do?"
I don't know. There's nowhere to run, nowhere to go. Abandoning this mission will spell certain death. The Government will definitely track us down to silence us for failing the mission, our existence must be kept secret at all costs due to the damage it will inflict on their reputation and image if their unethical practice got found out. Their secret group of child spies can never, ever, be revealed and they will take every measure to ensure that it stays this way.
I have no idea why they think using child spies is critical in protecting Indigo's safety. I never understood the rationale. I don't even know how they managed to make the whole child spies business work in the first place. Team Rocket will also undoubtedly kill us in the most morbid way possible if they ever discover our identity, just to make a statement.
We have literally nowhere to go. Both the light and the dark will hunt us down if we pulled out of this.
What do we do?
"J-Jayce?"
I remember her body trembling; her beautiful voice was shaking. She's shaken, she's scared. She hugged me and she doesn't want to let go. We don't want to be separated from each other. She doesn't want to die a gruesome death.
"I-If I got found out one day, can you kill me personally? Make it swift. I-I don't want to suffer like 2035 and 2072. T-They died so s-slowly t-that.. I… J-Just promise me, okay? I-I won't accept any objections!"
I can only agree. I tried to reassure her that everything will be okay. I don't know who I am trying to convince, me or her. At that point, I just want to see her smile again.
I never thought that I would have to uphold that promise.
"AH! Let me go!"
"Finally caught you, traitor!"
"Who is this?"
"E-Executive Archer!"
"Just answer my question."
"She's a traitor! She has been selling our secrets to the League!"
"Oh really?"
I remembered my heart stopped, my breathing hitched, my body going cold when I saw the grunts dragging her into the lobby. She struggled against her captors and they were pinning her down so that she cannot release her pokemon from their pokeballs. I never knew how she was found out. She's never suited for this life, but she was good at her job. They dragged her in, a young girl, the same age as me at sixteen-years-old, right in front of the lobby of our secret base where the entire Team Rocket forces stationed in Fuchsia was gathered to see the execution.
Archer wanted to use her death to make a statement.
Team Rocket doesn't tolerate traitors.
I wanted to act immediately. I wanted to save her, fight and claw our way out of here, screw the League and screw the Rockets, consequences be damned. However, my body suddenly froze and she beat me to the punch. She always did. For once, I really wished that she doesn't have such a quick reaction time.
"PLAGUE! I HATE YOU! HOW CAN YOU BETRAY ME! I UNDERESTIMATED YOUR LOYALTY TO TEAM ROCKET!"
Plague, that is the name people call me by in Team Rocket. Nobody uses their real name here, it would be foolish to do so in the underworld. We all go by codenames.
"IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU-"
It was a story she spun on the spot although I cannot remember what she screamed to the crowd from where she was being forcefully prostrated. I just remembered that it was a story so convincing that everyone believed it. I knew immediately what she was trying to do. She knew her death was inevitable, and she wanted to get the most out of the situation.
If she cannot survive this, then she would use her death to solidify my standing in Team Rocket. At the very least, my chances for survival will increase.
She wants me to continue spying on Team Rocket and rise up through their ranks to complete the secret mission we were given.
She wants me to continue to live on.
I will be the last spy sent by the Indigo Government left in Team Rocket, because any other spies that were sent in with us had all gotten their covers blown somehow. The Government are still investigating why that happened, but that doesn't change the fact that the Indigo Government can only now rely on the spies left that is already within the criminal organisation. That was me and Jane.
Now, it's only me.
"Ladies and gentlemen, today, I will execute a traitor! Let this be known to you! Who gave you warm food and clean clothes when you had nowhere else to go? Who gave you a paying job when the Indigo League and the Government were useless fucks who don't give two shits about you? WHO gave you a roof over your heads and the power to do whatever you want? TEAM ROCKET! You should be grateful for our generosity! Drill this into the little brains of yours! Team Rocket will never, ever, TOLERATE TRAITORS!"
I remembered my promise to her when I saw how her eyes betrayed what she really wanted. And even when I was shaking on the inside, I gathered the courage to stand in front of the crowd. They started murmuring as they recognised who I am, the one who 'ratted out' the traitor.
The Traitor Slayer. The Executioner. The Exterminator. That was what I will be known as after that fateful day.
I saw her eyes widened momentarily for a split second before it softened when I walked to the front. Then she continued to put up her act. Screaming herself hoarse, thrashing violently in her captor's grasp, accusing me of being a mindless dog working for Team Rocket and that she would not have gotten herself caught if it wasn't for me. Executive Archer didn't stop me. He just watched on as if he was watching a very interesting show.
I gave her the last gift I could as her friend.
I gave her mercy.
It was quick. The training given to me as a member of Team Rocket had been so ingrained in me. All it took was a flick of the wrist for my dagger to be out of its holster before I slit her throat. She wasn't expecting the sudden action. No one was expecting me to react this way without any prior warning.
It was a quick, clean kill. A mercy considering what Team Rocket is known to do to those it deems are their enemies.
Her look was one of surprise, but there was no mistaking the words she mouthed to me before she drowned in her own blood, gurgling uncontrollably for a few seconds before going still. Only I saw it.
'Thank you, Jayce.'
"GLORY TO TEAM ROCKET!"
I shouted those words and held up my bloodied dagger, still dripping with her blood, in an attempt to force my tears back. I don't want her sacrifice to be in vain. I don't want them to spot my shaking legs and find anything suspicious in my behaviour, I need to redirect their attention to elsewhere.
"GLORY TO TEAM ROCKET! GLORY TO TEAM ROCKET! GLORY TO TEAM ROCKET!"
They started to chant. My mind was still in a blur, watching her now still and lifeless body lying there on the floor. Her eyes are glazed over and are still open. It doesn't suit her. It's not supposed to be there. She was always so full of life.
I remember Archer giving me a promotion right there, on the spot, for my 'wonderful performance'.
Wonderful performance indeed. Even I fooled myself. I should have been an actor rather than a singer.
The crowd dispersed the moment Archer left. No one gave a second glance in her direction. I stood there, dazed. It was only when someone wanted to move her body out of the way did I react.
"I will handle this."
The least I can do now is to not let anyone desecrate her body.
I carried her in my arms gently, bridal style, arms shaking, when I was the only one left in the empty lobby. I silently exited through the back door of our hideout, the exit I know that rarely anyone uses.
No one would look for me if I was only gone for half an hour. Half an hour, that is all the time I have to grieve for her, my only friend which I had killed with my own two hands. Half an hour before people gets suspicious of my disappearance.
"Exeggutor. Teleport to Viridian Forest."
She said the only thing she remembered was that her hometown was at Azalea in Johto. She loved the forest there. There's no way I can reach there from Fuchsia in half an hour, but Viridian Forest should be good enough for her. I know she will understand. She always does.
I laid her down gently on the ground in an isolated hidden spot in Viridian Forest, far away from anything and everything else. She deserves some peace and quiet after what she had to live through. I took her pokeballs, only two of them, because she never got around to getting more pokemon on her team for whatever reasons. I suspected that she doesn't want to add more pokemon to her team only to possibly lose them later. Our line of work is dangerous and she doesn't like the idea of losing something she cares about. Haunter and houndoom howled in rage and sorrow when I released them and they saw her dead body.
"I-I'm s-sorry."
I remembered breaking down and apologising profusely. To whom, I don't know.
Haunter and houndoom mourned beside me. They understood. I had to do what I did because her end would be a lot worse if someone else did the execution. Jane and I had discussed it before. If one of us dies, the other would take care of their pokemon. Our pokemon knows about this arrangement that we had for them.
I will take care of them the best as I can.
Time was running out. We quickly gathered a large pile of dried leaves and twigs, me and our pokemon. We made a bed for her with it, and also piled some of them over her. We tried to make it as comfortable as possible for her.
I closed her eyes shut gently, cleaned off whatever blood I could. I combed through her dark brown hair with my fingers one last time, wiping away the blood on it. With shaking hands, I wiped away the blood on her face and wrapped a cloth around her neck where I had slit her throat. I tried my best to make her beautiful again. I want her to pass on with dignity.
She looks so peaceful.
She's free now.
I gently brushed her fringe away from her forehead and pressed a kiss onto it. I regret never telling her what I truly felt about her. I would have done anything for her.
I should never had hesitated. My body shouldn't have froze. Something in my mind held me back at the most crucial moment and I would forever live with that regret.
I regret hesitating. I should have just taken her away the moment her cover was blown, no matter how slim our chances were. I regret being too weak.
I regret being a coward.
I stood up and took a step back. It's time to send her off.
"Ninetales, light the fire."
That way, nobody can ever put their filthy hands on her ever again.
Ninetales' flames are strong. They are unholy, mystical, vengeful, sacred even. It only took a few minutes to reduce her to ash.
We managed to create a crudely made urn for her using rock type techniques. I placed her ashes inside and sealed it shut. Haunter took the urn gently and carefully, as if caressing her, taking in the sensation of the last touch with her trainer before laying Jane to rest.
And then haunter evolved.
We laid her to rest underneath a tree. We raised a slab of stone as a marker for her grave. Gengar's ghostly claws carved out a 'J' in the middle of the slab with my guidance. I don't want to risk writing her full name. I don't want to risk anyone finding out our identity, no matter how small the chance may be. At least not yet. Not until I can bring Team Rocket down like what Jane wanted me to do even if all I really wanted was to just roll over and die right then.
I'm tired. I just want to rest. I want to join her. I want to hear her sing again and I want to play the guitar for her again.
I don't know what I should do after this. Revenge? What for? Against who? The League? The Government? Or Team Rocket? Archer? Who?
What should I do?
But I should at least try to live, for her sake. She sacrificed herself for me so that we can complete the mission assigned to us. She had wanted to see Team Rocket go down, and that is the last thing I will do before my inevitable death.
Exeggutor took us back after I had dried my tears. From then on, I changed.
From then on, Archer placed me in charge of all extermination duties. He never suspected me, not after Jane's sacrifice. I squashed my cowardice and killed my emotions. I am good at my job, killing anyone that Team Rocket pointed their finger to. Man, woman, child, old, young, even our own members, it doesn't matter. As long as they are my targets, I will kill them.
There's no place that I cannot infiltrate. No secrets are safe from me because given enough time, I can find out whatever I want to find no matter how hard you try to hide it. Even if there's no proof, all I need is time. It doesn't matter if it is days, weeks, months, or even years. All I ever need is time. Time to find proof.
I will find the evidence I need for the whole world to turn against Giovanni. Indisputable evidence.
I know Giovanni is the true leader of Team Rocket. There's no way I can accuse him of being the leader of Team Rocket without solid proof because this is a huge and embarrassing scandal for both the Indigo Government and the Indigo League. Most likely, the Indigo League would cover up for him just to maintain their reputation if the evidence is not damning enough. They will need indisputable proof of my claim before they even consider taking any action against Giovanni. My words alone won't be enough. For now, I have to lie low if I don't want to alert any Rockets of what I knew. I have no proof right now because Giovanni is carefully smart about hiding his true identity, but I will find the proof. In time.
And I would like to think me being the exterminator is a form of mercy for my victims. Compared to how their end would have been if someone else were sent instead, their end by my hands was definitely kinder.
That was how the Rocket's Exterminator was born.
I never picked up the guitar again.
"I-I'm scared… We are the only ones left."
Jane? Is that you?
"I-If I got found out one day, can you kill me personally? Make it swift. I-I don't want to suffer like 2035 and 2072."
Jane? Don't go. Jane!
"AH! Let me go!"
LET HER GO!
"PLAGUE! I HATE YOU!"
I…loved you.
'Thank you, Jayce.'
JANE!
I woke up with a painful headache, my head felt like it had split into two.
Gengar must have used Dream Eater again. She always does that whenever she sensed that I had vivid nightmares about my past, stopping my nightmares abruptly before they consume me whole. The nightmares are getting frequent.
And I know with Dream Eater comes certain memory loss. It's not meant to be used on humans in this manner, doing so will have side effects.
Just what did I forget this time?
How long has it been?
'A single night.'
What's my name?
'Jayce, but no one knows about that name now other than us. You are Indigo Government's Operative 2046, Code Name: Gengar, but you are also Elite Officer Plague of Team Rocket.'
My purpose? Why am I even here? Why am I even doing this? For the greater good? Is this… why I was reincarnated? Is this supposed to be heaven or hell?
'I cannot answer you that. None of us had experienced reincarnation except for you. Go on, continue talking, only then can we help you recall what you lost. Talk about something, anything. Breathe, don't panic. We are here for you.'
If… this is heaven, then I guess the presence of pokemon is a blessing. They are truly wondrous creatures. I remembered that I had befriended some and had hurt many more, all in the name of the greater good.
It's for the peace of the region, they say. Your sacrifices will be remembered, they say. The needs of the many outweigh those of the few, they say. All of these are necessary, they say.
If this is hell, then I really wonder what I did to deserve this. I really don't want to hurt anyone or any pokemon, but I don't have a choice.
Being a member of Team Rocket does that to you.
I remembered that I didn't have any say on whether I can opt out. If some higher being up there had purposely sent me here, I really wished that he or she had at least tried to warn me that whatever foreknowledge I have about the pokemon verse has been shot to hell and back. None of the so-called canon, plot, or whatever you call it is applicable here. This is not the anime world, nor the manga verse, or any pokemon universe that I know of. This is simply the world of pokemon. No more, no less. The only thing I know that remains the same are the key players that made the game of pokemon, pokemon. Like the Gym Leaders, for example.
I really didn't want to be a member of Team Rocket. I really hate doing the things they do and I hate myself even more for being picked up by that man.
'You are starting to repeat yourself and your thoughts are still scrambled, but that is still a good sign. You haven't forgotten entirely who you are yet.'
Who are you?
'Your pokemon. Exeggutor. Turn to your left, we are right here, see? You ordered us to keep your mind sane whenever you lost some parts of your memories again from your reliance on gengar's Dream Eater to keep your fragmented mind functioning. Can you remember? Talk more about yourself to us. It helps every single time. Try to remember, what is your true identity?'
I…am a spy, the best operative that the Indigo Government had ever produced. Picked up by the Indigo President himself at age three, who then inducted me into a secret and definitely illegal faction under his direct command. It is against the law for him to do such a thing, to have his own secret spy army, but it does not stop him from doing so anyway. The President of the Indigo Government has no faith in the Indigo League for whatever reasons that I am not privy to and he decided to do things his own way. The League and the Government are two separate entities. The League largely deals with pokemon related affairs while the Government deals with anything else not related to pokemon. They are not supposed to interfere with each other or undermine the other's authority like what the President is currently doing behind everyone's backs.
I still have no idea why the President chose me. I was put through a special programme dedicated to training child soldiers and by the time I was… eight, I think, I was sent to infiltrate Team Rocket, forced to be a member of that criminal organisation in order to destroy it from within because it grew too big. The rationale? No one would ever suspect that a kid will be sent on an infiltration mission.
Whoever said that the world of pokemon is all sunshine and rainbows deserved to be kicked in the nuts, or wherever inflicts the most pain.
'We agree, but do continue. What else can you remember?'
I lived my life as if I walk on a tightrope every single day. I had to take orders from both the Indigo Government and Team Rocket and my secret status as a double agent is driving me insane. Every day I would wake up thinking whether it will be my last, whether my true identity would be found out. Every day I would wake up and feel immense guilt for what I had done and what I am doing and it is crushing me. I know who exactly the true leader of Team Rocket is thanks to my foreknowledge, but as someone with a different identity in a different world, I cannot carelessly reveal that Giovanni is the leader of this organisation without raising some unneeded questions. The one thing that I would never let anyone find out about is my reincarnated status, no matter what happens.
I remembered that my secret insistence on that notion killed her.
'We will ensure that your death will never happen. That is our promise to you as your pokemon, Master Jayce. Continue, remember your purpose.'
Team Rocket is extremely secretive. Even when I had been in this organisation for more than a decade, I have never once saw Giovanni's face in our hideout or even heard a clue about anything that can lead me to his true identity. That's how good Team Rocket truly is. This is what a true criminal syndicate that holds control over the underworld that spans across two regions is capable of. This is not like the games where an eleven or twelve-year-old kid from a backwater town can easily defeat the leader of such an organisation. It is impossible. The Elites of this organisation are strong, some of them even have the capability to be a Gym Leader. They could probably be one if they did not make the wrong career choice. Team Rocket is known as the strongest terrorist group in the world for a good reason.
'They will fall. We will see them fall, eventually.'
The life of a spy is a hard one. I have to constantly feed information to the Government but making sure at the same time that my cover isn't blown. I remembered that I have to watch helplessly as horrific acts are done on pokemon but I cannot do anything to help. I even have to partake in some of these acts, but thankfully such instances are rarer now since I got myself promoted to the upper echelon. These works are mainly delegated to the grunts and the scientists, but still.
I. Hate. This.
'We do too. They killed Jane. She was nice.'
Jane.
I… killed her.
I miss her.
'We all do.'
But what else can I do? The only thing that I know how to do in this world ever since I found myself here as a nameless orphan is to be a spy. That's the only thing I know. I wasn't even given a name. The last person who gave me a name, Jane, had died in the line of duty. In the most classified files in the Government's database, I am simply Operative 2046, Code Name: Gengar. That's all there is to my identity. Only the Indigo President knew about my existence and my true mission. I am the only operative left that hasn't been rooted out from Team Rocket. All of my other colleagues who were unfortunate enough to be sent on a similar mission as I am to infiltrate this organisation are all dead.
'You are Jayce and you won't die. We will protect you. Remember that.'
They all met a grisly end.
'We will make sure you won't.'
They had sacrificed everything and failed. Their sacrifices are now mine to bear, as much as I hate it. I'm the only one left who could pick up where they had left off. I don't want such a responsibility and I don't want such a burden on my shoulders, but I have no choice.
I am the only one left. The only one who is the closest in figuring out the identity of the leader of Team Rocket.
'You are. And you can do this. Don't spit on Jane's sacrifice. Hang in there. You are so close.'
I really want to pull out of this, but even if I tried to convince the President to let me retire from this dangerous operation they would definitely deny me of my request. He had invested too much into this. He wants results. Who cares if a nameless operative got himself killed? Who cares about his mental health? If he pulled through and brought the desired result, just give him a pat on the back and congratulate him on a job well-done. If he failed, then it is no skin off anyone's back. The only thing lost is a nameless orphan without an identity.
'Humans are such hideous creatures. Other than you and Jane, of course. We miss her. We all miss her.'
Ultimately, both the Government and Team Rocket are the same. They will squeeze and milk every usefulness out of you until you have nothing left to offer. Until then, they will let you live within the palm of their hand. And once you had reached the end of your useful life…
You will be discarded.
That is the fate that awaits me no matter if I fail or succeed in this decade long operation. I would know. Striker of Marowak Skull was disposed the moment I proved that I am worth more than he did in our battle.
'You are indispensable, Master Jayce.'
In the end, I am just a tool. A nameless tool which is used to help let the millions of Kanto's and Johto's citizens enjoy the hard-earned peace that they took for granted as they lived their lives, not knowing the price that we operatives had paid on their behalf. Our group doesn't exist, at least not in name and not on paper, so no one will know. Our commanders from the Government called us the unsung heroes, a notion that all my now-dead colleagues believed in and used as their drive to continue their mission before they met their end.
What a bold-faced lie. Heroes?
Hah
My only comfort lies in the fact that I am not truly alone. I still have comrades that I can trust. My pokemon are here with me, pokemon that I had gotten during my time as a member of Team Rocket. Most of our past are not pretty, but we stick together. They kept me sane at my lowest point of my life and I try my best to ensure they live a normal life as much as possible.
'We are your friends, just like you are ours. We protect each other.'
"Elite Officer Plague, Executive Petrel is calling for you."
'Our conversation has to end here, Master Jayce. Remember, you are Jayce. You are the Indigo Government's Operative 2046, Code Name: Gengar. You are Elite Officer Plague of Team Rocket. Your wish is to destroy Team Rocket so that you can avenge Jane. Your wish is to see Giovanni go down to honour everyone's sacrifice. Your wish is to get out of here and spend your remaining days undisturbed. Above all, you are our friend and trainer. We protect our own.'
I grunted an acknowledgement at the words conveyed to me by a Rocket Grunt who had knocked on the door of my assigned room in the hideout in the wee hours of the morning. My ninetales got up from her position on the floor and walked beside me. Exeggutor followed suit.
Ninetales is the first pokemon I had gotten when I had stolen her as an egg with nothing but the clothes on my back. I can still remember that day, it was my first mission as a member of Team Rocket. The Rockets were so impressed that an eight-year-old boy is able to achieve something that not many of the adult members can that they allowed me to keep the egg, which hatched into a vulpix about three days later. I would later learn that the egg I had stolen was one that was about to hatch, explaining why it only took my starter three days to announce her arrival into this world.
I had wanted to give her a nickname and so did Jane, but the one rule in Team Rocket that all members follow is that pokemon don't need names. They are merely tools for us to use and exploit. It is said in our organisation's motto: "Steal Pokémon for profit. Exploit Pokémon for profit. All Pokémon exist for the glory of Team Rocket."
This is the same reason why the Government didn't give me a name when they picked me up and trained me to be a spy. Why give name to tools? I am but a mere number in their ranks. Easily replaceable.
Only she gave me a name, but she is gone now and so did my name.
No matter how much they try to portray themselves as the personification of all that is righteous, the Indigo Government can be even worse than Team Rocket in some ways. The hypocrisy of what they really do behind the scenes and what they show themselves to the public is such a huge contrast that I would have a good morbid laugh if it wasn't for the fact that I am on the receiving end of such a treatment.
I knocked on the office door of Executive Petrel, who called for me to enter.
"Well, well, if it isn't my favourite officer."
Petrel spoke in that laidback tone of his as he propped his legs up on his desk, with his fingers on both hands interlocking with each other.
"Executive Petrel." I greeted in my usual monotone and the blank look that I had long since mastered during my time here. "For what purpose do you call me for?"
"Down to business immediately, as always. This is what I like about you." Petrel gave an amused huff before he reached for a file and threw it over to me, which I caught with a single hand. "This is your newest mission. All the details are in there, pick whoever you need from our division. We need this to be done before the week is over."
I quickly browsed through the file. It seems to be a doable mission. The magnitude of the impact of this mission on Indigo isn't too big, so there isn't a need to warn the Government of it. I cannot leak the details of every single mission I am being sent on as a member of Team Rocket to the Government if I want my cover to remain as it is. I have to use my own judgement to secretly inform the Government on what missions I should leak to them, and what I shouldn't. If we want Team Rocket to be gone for good, we need to uproot the entire organisation in one decisive blow so that they would not have any time to react. We need to destroy their countless bases littered across Kanto and Johto in one fell swoop. Until the League or the Government has enough firepower or amass enough vital information about Team Rocket, keeping my identity as a spy a secret is of the utmost priority unless Team Rocket is planning something so huge, I have to warn the Government about it at the risk of revealing myself.
Thanks to the need to keep my cover, there are some missions of Team Rocket that the Government has to turn a blind eye to. We cannot afford Team Rocket to raise any suspicions about me. Now, as a spy whose top priority is to keep my cover and gather more information about Team Rocket, I basically have the power to indirectly decide which innocents will lose their lives and their pokemon companions in Team Rocket's numerous heists. it is something that will inevitably happen if I want to continue spying on Team Rocket from where I am.
All in the name of the greater good.
"It will be done." I said the same four words that I had repeated countless times in the past decade. The four words that sealed the fate of whatever human or pokemon that might meet their end by my hands during the mission I will be going on. Some of the pokemon we captured might be experimented on, some of them might be sold on the black market, some of them might be forcefully broken and turned into tools for us to use. This is not even the full list of what Team Rocket does.
No matter what I do, there will be pokemon that will be taken away from their homes soon. No matter what I do, there will be people who will die by my actions, directly or indirectly. No matter how I tried to ease my guilt, it will never go away.
It's all for the greater good.
I really want to believe in what they preached, but do the higher-ups under the direct command of the President in the Indigo Government see the same things I do? Do they feel the same guilt I felt when I personally sent these innocent pokemon to their undeserved fate? Had they lost the same things I did? Does the realisation of what I really did to both pokemon and trainers alike sink into them as it did on me?
No, they don't.
They don't experience the same thing as I do. Hence, they will never understand. They will never understand how hard it truly is to do these heinous crimes in the name of peace. No matter how they try to justify their decision in forcing me to remain as their spy, I will never get to see things the way they want me to see.
We lead completely different lives. Those that bask in the light will never understand how hard it is to constantly live in the darkness.
I walked back to my office as I start to plan for the latest mission I had just been assigned to. If I want myself to remain useful to both the Indigo Government and Team Rocket, then this mission will have to be a success.
For the greater good, it will be done.
For Jane, it will be done.
Name: Jayce
Indigo Government Identity: Operative 2046, Code Name: Gengar
Indigo Government Rank: Special Agent
Team Rocket Identity: Elite Officer Plague
Team Rocket Rank: Elite Officer
Pokemon Team:
1. Ninetales, female
2. Exeggutor, male
3. Weavile, male
4. Honchkrow, female
5. Gengar, female
6. Houndoom, male
7. Umbreon, male
8. Hydreigon, male
9. Drapion, female
10. Zoroark, male
