I have no idea how long it has been since the Oaks visited because there is nothing here for me to help keep time. I don't have much of a clue of what is going on outside due to my status as a prisoner and truth to be told, I don't really care to find out.
I never saw my pokemon again after seeing them once. As far as I know they are currently in my father's custody. I know that a prisoner like me would not have been allowed access to any pokemon, especially those which I personally trained, so I should be grateful that Asher's greninja and spiritomb are allowed to keep me company, an arrangement that I'm sure is due to Grimsley's intervention. I guess being Grimsley's son comes with certain perks. I'm also almost certain that Professor Oak and Agatha had put in a good word or two for me as well.
I'm not keen on spending my time sleeping away and it's not like I could fall asleep. Mewtwo and Grimsley pop by to visit once or twice to keep me company. Mewtwo is busy enjoying his newfound freedom, eagerly exploring places that he has been dying to visit and telling me all about it through telepathy. Grimsley has duties to do as Unova's representative in a foreign region, so he cannot be around me all the time. I don't have any other visitors if you exclude the nurses and doctors who check in on me periodically.
In the end, I passed my time by interacting with Asher's greninja and spiritomb. Grimsley had left the two pokemon with me to act as my guards, for the lack of a proper description. I had a fun time trying to dissect their specialisations and understand how Asher had trained them. Greninja was apparently trained to be a hit-and-run fighter, much like an assassin. Its skill with Camouflage is honestly impressive, being able to stand right in front of me without me being able to see through that disguise while that move is active. The only way I could sense its presence is if I utilise my ability to sense dark types in my vicinity. Spiritomb is a semi-powerhouse with an inclination towards sabotage. It does not boast the speed and flexibility greninja does, but it made up for it with tricks and power.
Feeling bored out of my mind, I took some time to introduce spiritomb to the basics of the advanced uses of Hypnosis, something which he took to like a fish to water. It will take a while for spiritomb to truly grasp and be able to use Hypnosis like what the other members of my team can do, but I believe he will get there eventually.
"Hit or stand?"
Greninja gave a croak and a shake of his head. My turn came and I decided to simply show my hand.
"Blackjack."
Greninja audibly groaned. I had won, again.
Pokemon intelligence is a weird thing. They are able to understand our language despite being unable to speak it, most species have enough intelligence to at least perform very basic math and there are even some whose IQ rivals supercomputers. Yet, for certain things that only require basic intelligence, like playing cards, for example, not every pokemon is able to understand and play it despite the fact that the only thing you need to play the game is performing simple mental calculations and memorising what each card represents.
Among my team, only zoroark and exeggutor are able to understand and play the game even if they are not the smartest intelligence wise, that honor goes to ninetales. I've found out that greninja is able to understand and play blackjack as well after trying to teach the game to him and spiritomb, but spiritomb either doesn't have the patience to learn, or really couldn't understand the game.
Greninja gave me a dirty look. I simply shrug, knowing that he had been trying to figure out how I've been cheating my way through the games we played but still not managing to figure out my secrets.
"It's not cheating if I don't get caught."
Greninja continues to glare at me with that same dirty look.
The door to my room opened once more. There were unexpected guests this time, but I should have known that they would have inevitably come and find me given my sensitive status.
"What can I do for you, Champion?"
Lance Wataru stood beside my bed with an air of regality surrounding him. I don't recognise the man beside him, but I can sense dark types just beneath him, hiding within his shadows if I want to be more specific. The only reason for that phenomenon will be that there are ghost-dark dual type pokemon hiding in there, and there are only two such species of pokemon as far as I know. One is a spiritomb, the other is a sableye.
"I came to thank you, Jayce."
"Just doing my job," I replied as I gathered the cards and reshuffled them. "Care to join us? It's getting boring with just me and greninja."
Lance glanced at greninja, then back at me.
"Never knew pokemon could play cards."
"There are many things we never bothered to find out about, but that's just human nature, isn't it? We don't bother to find out about things that don't matter, turn a blind eye to it until it hits us where it hurts, and usually by then it's always too late."
I dealt out the cards, including the other man into the game as well. I have my suspicions about who he might be but I want to be sure.
"And who might you be?"
"Agent Looker, director of the interpol," The man answered. I gave him another curious look at the answer. I believe Mewtwo did mention about such a group in passing, something about making new friends who actually indulged in his senseless ramblings.
"We work for the PWL," Looker explained as he looked at the cards he was dealt with. "Any and all threats to the pokemon world that are too much for the regional League to handle, we step in to help. This Rocket incident just so happens to be the first official threat we came across and helped out in. Stand."
"Hit," Lance spoke up as he drew another card, then drew another again before passing it on.
"I'm surprised that the PWL actually passed such a thing. The Regional Leagues never mix, the PWL is nothing more but a show," I remarked as greninja drew a card.
"You'll be surprised how united they can be under certain circumstances," Looker replied as greninja shook his head, signalling the end of his turn. I took another look at my cards. I already knew what kind of hand I have after I finished reshuffling the deck but I still checked it out of habit.
"Blackjack."
Greninja groaned, annoyed at how he still was unable to figure out how I cheated despite watching my every move very carefully. Lance and Looker seemed a little surprised at the kind of "luck" I have.
"You want me to join your little gang," I told Looker, knowing that there could be no other possible reason why this complete stranger would purposely make his way here to meet me. He is not here for an interrogation about what I did that led to the war on National Day, I had already filled Professor Oak on the most important parts.
"Yes," Looker admitted. "Like I said, there are circumstances."
"Oh? Do enlighten me, I have nothing but time to spare," I replied, not bothering to keep the cards away and just let it be.
"Your predicament is… unique," Looker said after some thought. "On one hand, you were working for Indigo as a deep undercover spy, even if you were one that is not recognised by Indigo's laws due to the illegality of Kain's doing. On the other hand, you are a terrorist with participation in many terrorist activities. Then, there is the sensitive issue of the Kanto-Johto divide."
"Get to the point and tell me something that I don't already know."
"I'm not going to name names, but there are people up there pressuring us to reveal your existence to the public in order to quell this mess, to cease the public outrage for the League's failings. It is taking all we have to convince the top brass to keep your identity and existence a secret from the public," Lance explained. "Samuel and I are doing our best to keep you out of their reach and I'm sure that you would have known by now that your father wishes to bring you back to Unova. While I believe that is the best course of action, the fact is, my authority does not allow me to simply do so without a very good reason and being accused of abusing my power. I have to account for many people and things."
"Let me guess. Whatever remains of the cabinet of the Indigo Government are the ones trying to push me out to the forefront to take the brunt of the public's rage? To turn their attention away from the issue at hand to save their own skin?"
Really, what's new about all this? The blame game is a game that is played by all no matter where you go.
"To put it simply, yes." Lance admitted. "There are also some among the Pillars who are also not yet willing to trust you. Our opinions are divided when it comes to you. We have not yet come to a consensus on whether we should let you go for the things you had done for Indigo as Operative 2046, or we should try you for your crimes when you were Team Rocket's Executive Plague. You are treading in very grey areas of the law where your case can easily be argued in either direction."
Lance took a brief pause before continuing.
"Samuel and I both agree that your existence should not be revealed to the public. From the League's standpoint, it will serve nothing more than to further break the fragile peace that had already been shattered ever since Team Rocket made their move on National Day with no other benefits gained from this. The easiest solution would be to send you out of the region under reasons that nobody can argue against, preferably under the protection of an organisation that no League can easily subvert. The PWL is the best choice."
"Long story short, you just want to get rid of me without killing me, because doing so would give you a lot of flak if people managed to find out about the truth," I mused as my anger began to simmer within. I was someone who clawed my way up from the very bottom and became an Executive of Team Rocket through my own power. Do they really take me for a damn fool?
"What an interesting ploy, Champion. You want to get rid of me so that you don't have to deal with the mess that my mere existence brings about, the interpol wants to rope me into their ranks to milk me dry of my skills. So the two of you decide to put on this stupid act, is that it? Making me think that I am stuck in an impossible situation and I so conveniently have a way out of this mess simply by joining this little ragtag group called the interpol? You think I would be fooled by the illusion of escaping one cage just to trap myself in another? You are way too inexperienced to be playing mind games with me, Lance Wataru. I didn't manage to survive this long by being stupid."
Greninja and spiritomb had picked up on my hostility by now, their bodies tense and ready to enter combat at a moment's notice. To their credit, Lance and Looker didn't look the least bit fazed even when they were seated so close to us.
"I know what we are saying does come across as being ungrateful, but it's true that I cannot guarantee the secrecy of your existence forever. Contrary to popular belief, Champions do not have a say in everything. All it needs is one person to leak the secret and it's all over."
"Oh I understand. Just one person in the know to leak my secret and it's all over? Do I need to remind you that I played that role not too long ago? It's basically the same as what I did to Team Rocket, wasn't it? Would Indigo still be standing today if it wasn't for me whistleblowing on them? Would you be alive today if I hadn't warned you about Mewtwo? Fucking hypocrite."
"Jayce-"
"Don't call my name, Champion, hearing you saying it disgusts me. No, Indigo disgusts me," I sneered. "I'm already starting to regret taking Indigo's side, don't give me reasons to finish what they started because I can."
Lance's eyes turned sharp at my words, his hand already hovering where his pokeballs are attached to his belt. Looker's shadows started to swirl and spiritomb manifested in front of me, putting himself between me and them.
"Get out. You both had overstayed your welcome."
Lance stared at me for a few more seconds before standing up and taking his leave. He paused by the door before leaving me with his last words.
"For what it's worth, thank you for what you have done for Indigo, and sorry."
"I don't need your apology, save it for the rest of my fellow 358 spies and their families. Your apology means jack shit to me."
Lance left without another word, leaving me alone with Looker.
"Why are you still here?"
Looker simply took out a small tablet from within his coat and put it on the drawer beside my bed.
"Everything you need to know about the interpol and the reason behind its existence are all in there. Contact me if you change your mind."
"Get out."
Looker left, closing the door behind him with a soft click. I stared at the tablet, not entirely certain if I wanted to know what was in there.
Then again, I have nothing but time to kill on my hands, don't I?
And so, I swiped at the screen of the tablet, unlocking it. Might as well see just what the hell the PWL is up to.
Half an hour later, I decided that I regret ever deciding to read the files Looker had passed over to me.
The pokemon world is a strange place, especially when we coexist together with creatures that frequently defy all known laws of physics on their whims. Thanks to them, things that are supposed to be impossible became possible.
Among one of many weird phenomenons pokemon can bring about with them, one of those are something known as prophecies. Encountering a prophecy is extremely uncommon, but not entirely unheard of. Pokemon who made those prophecies are often extremely trained psychics who specialise in utilising that particular field of their psychic powers. In fact, the move Future Sight is an application of the prophesying aspect of psychic abilities on a much more limited scale.
When a psychic pokemon hones that aspect of their abilities to the maximum, they can foretell events before it can happen. How much earlier and how accurate they could foretell an event's occurrence depends on their individual proficiency and skill in that particular ability. Theoretically, even events like Operation Skip could have been prophesied by someone else beforehand, but chances of that happening are usually pretty much on the down low because the events a psychic can prophesied is usually much tied to luck. Not many psychics have the ability to control the flow and direction of what they could see in their prophecies, the events that they can usually see from prophecies are random at best.
According to the files Looker had given me to read through, what finally pushed the PWL to set up an organisation like the interpol was due to a prophecy that every single psychic in the PWL had seen, a very movie cliche type of prophecy that I would have rolled my eyes at if I hadn't known how scarily accurate the prophecies made by PWL's psychics can be. They are good at what they do, their prophecies maintaining a hundred percent prediction rate to this date since the PWL's founding.
The content of the prophecy that had the PWL alarmed is very simple. Basically, the world is ending. Not sure when that will happen, but it is almost certain that it will be within the generation. What we do know is that prophecies can be averted, the PWL had done it many times before in upholding the fragile peace of the world, so the interpol's job is to do something to avert this doomsday prophecy.
There are a lot of things that could lead to the end of the world. Legendary pokemon could have awakened and wreaked havoc, sudden pokemon mass migration could lead to drastic changes in the ecosystem and ruin our lives. Criminal organisations like Team Rocket are definitely included in the category as well because if Team Rocket had succeeded and Indigo had fallen, the PWL would crumble and all forms of international relations would definitely go up in flames because Indigo is the largest member region and the entire world uses their currency, pokedollars. Whatever the cause may be, the PWL has reasons to be alarmed due to their psychics' track record of their prophecies maintaining a hundred percent accuracy to date. If all of them suddenly prophesied the end of the world, anyone and everyone in the know would be concerned.
To be honest, I really couldn't be bothered to care even if the world is ending. I am so tired. I am dying, definitely wouldn't be living long enough to see the world crash and burn. Everyone that I care about is dead except for my father, and even then he's getting on in his years. He probably wouldn't be living long enough to see the end of the world too.
So why the hell should I care?
Maybe I could bring myself to care because the world needs to continue to exist so that Silver can live happily, since his welfare is one of the few obligations that I have left to see fulfilled. Maybe I could bring myself to care on Mewtwo's behalf, considering that the little bugger would probably live for at least another few centuries since he was made to be a legendary, but the mission the interpol is embarking on is a huge and ambitious one, one that will probably take years or maybe even decades to complete. I honestly doubt that I could be of any use if I am not going to live past another five years, much less a decade.
I put the tablet aside and frowned, thinking back to the conversation I had with Lance and Looker.
Logically, I can understand Lance's point of view when it comes to my situation. As a Champion, he is stuck at an impasse. It is a fact that I am Indigo's operative despite the illegality of Project Illusion, but it is also a fact that I have been more of a terrorist than a spy. Even Indigo's top brass have no clue on what verdict they should give me. I'm stuck in a hospital ward, but anyone with a brain could imagine the mayhem out there after what Team Rocket had released to the public regarding the disparity between both regions. My existence is special, because it can be easily used to sway public's opinion to either fan anti-Indigo sentiments and encourage extremists to continue Team Rocket's work, or to generate the public's sympathy to push the citizens to work towards a more cohesive and united direction. My existence is now a tool, a double-edged blade, to be exact, that can either break Indigo further or to bridge the gaps between the regions.
I can understand why Lance came to the conclusion that handing me over to the interpol, an organisation under the neutrality of the PWL, would be the optimal outcome. The PWL is a neutral entity where the influences of each region cannot easily interfere. As long as I am not in Indigo, people who seek to use me for their own gains cannot use me as they like, because I'm not present and not within their reach. This is something that will be beneficial to Indigo considering the current situation.
The PWL would also gain another powerful trainer in its ranks. Not to toot my own horn, but while I am no Gym Leader, my battle against Giovanni had made me realise that I am someone that can easily pose a threat to the strongest trainers in any region as long as I had made the correct preparations. My skill set is unique and considering the things that the interpol will handle, my experiences and abilities will be a welcomed addition into the interpol from Looker's point of view.
Too bad for them, I don't plan to work for anyone or anything ever again. I'm sick of being controlled. If I really have to do the stupid thing of trying to avert a freaking prophecy, it's going to be done on my own terms.
I closed my eyes and sighed. I really don't want to bring myself to care, but whenever I thought about how I had betrayed Giovanni, Alice, and my fellow Executives I cannot help but think about Silver as well. I have no clue where Silver is now but Alice is the type to always have backup plans for every single situation. I am sure Alice had definitely found people who she trusts to take care of Silver in their absence and when I think about Silver, all that fills my mind is the impulse to do something to make up for him, because I am the reason why he is now an orphan and will never grow up under the loving care of his parents.
Giovanni shouldn't have saved me, he should have left me to die, or maybe this is his way of punishing me, to continue to push myself so that I can pave the way for his son, so that his son can continue to live in a world that is about to be doomed. In that case, good move, Giovanni. You have gotten me into a checkmate.
It's estimated that I could live for about five more years given my body's condition. Mega Evolution is now a power that is forever out of my grasp since I will definitely die if I ever tap into it again. Five years. If I want to do this, I only have five years to make a difference. I don't have time to dally.
I really do not want to do this, but I think I already know my answer. This second chance is both a blessing and a curse. Blessing because I have one last chance to make up to the people who are my family by blood. The kind of shitty life I was thrust into aside, I owe it to them to be able to come to this world in the first place. I can tell that Grimsley truly has a lot of regrets and he wants to make it up to me in any way he can. Not that I need it, but our brief interactions we had with each other is more than enough to make me believe that he will really move heaven and earth for me. I had never wanted to meet him because I don't want to give him a heartbreak and become a stain that will affect his career, but fate had thrown a wrench in my plans once again. Since we had now met each other and he truly wants to mend our relationship, to make up for twenty two years of lost time, I now no longer have the heart to deny him this chance because doing so would be plain cruel.
If I want to try and accept him as my father, to accept the fact that I am his son and a member of the ancient Dandolos family, then there are things that I want to do as well, things that I want to do as Jayce Dandolos.
Asher was murdered, Team Plasma killed my younger brother. While I have never met him and never will, Grimsley had told me the details about how Asher had died trying to protect our hometown and how he was killed in cold blood. Simply thinking about it makes me furious and I want to do something to avenge him. If I really want to go ahead and do this, then things are now a lot simpler. I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do isn't very nice. Team Plasma will learn to fear the Rocket's Exterminator. It took fourteen years for me to bring down Team Rocket, the most powerful terrorist organisation in the world, I certainly do not need as long to bring down an organisation like Team Plasma who had only been officially criminally active for less than five years.
The more I think about this, the more convinced I am about my next course of action. I will head to Unova and destroy Team Plasma, there are many benefits in doing so. I can get out of Indigo, Lance will no longer need to worry about my case and I will not be present to be used as someone else's tool for their own purposes. I will do my part to help make this world a liveable one so that my father, Mewtwo, and Silver can continue to live in a world that is not doomed to meet its end, at least not too soon. I will avenge Asher. He was killed in cold blood, and I will return the treatment tenfold to whoever had taken his life. Sounds good.
But I will be doing this as Jayce Dandolos, not as a member of the interpol or any random organisations that want to pull me into their ranks for their own purposes. I am sick of being used for someone else's gain.
But first of all, I need to leave Indigo as soon as possible, preferably today.
"What do you say to leaving this wretched place and never coming back?" I asked greninja as I reshuffled the cards.
Greninja rolled his eyes and then spit out a bunch of familiar pokeballs from his mouth that he had been hiding in it for however long it had been, prompting me to furrow my brows at him to convey how irked I was by this behaviour. Greninja's disgusting spit coating the pokeballs aside, I recognised these pokeballs to be mine, telling me everything that I need to know. This has to be my father's doing. Seems like my father had already predicted that something like this might happen, he is basically giving me the go ahead for whatever I am going to do next.
"Let's get moving, we are going to do a prison break. No, wait. Before that, find me some tissues so that I can wipe your spit off my pokeballs."
"I will be heading home first."
It took Grimsley five seconds to try and understand the context of the random text message he just received from an unknown number. It wasn't until the alarms suddenly blared and the entire place starting to go into lockdown did he finally realise just what on earth is going on.
His son had definitely done something.
He ran to the hospital ward where he knows his son is being locked at. When he arrived, he found the guards outside the room knocked out and sprawled across the floor. The door was left open, and a quick look inside tells him that there is no longer any occupant inside the room.
Funnily enough, Grimsley couldn't bring himself to worry about his eldest son who he had just reunited with. He hadn't even known him for long, but he knew that he was more than capable of taking care of himself. His only concern is that his son's body is still recovering and is rather weak right now, but if his son could somehow pull off a jailbreak in that weakened state and sneak out right under everyone's noses in one of the most heavily guarded places on the planet… He should be fine.
He saw a note left on the bed and he picked it up. His lips curled into a small smile when he read the words scrawled on it.
"I will be borrowing greninja and spiritomb."
He has no issues with that, of course. If he is able to get them to listen to him within two days of knowing each other then he is more than qualified to take them away. Like him, greninja and spiritomb had been grieving for Asher ever since his death. It's about time for them to move on, maybe following a new trainer might do the trick, especially if that trainer is Asher's brother.
"Should have known that you'd arrived here faster than I did."
Grimsley rolled his eyes and turned around, spotting his fellow Unova Pillar leaning her body against the doorframe and lazily picking at her carefully manicured nails without a care in the world.
"What do you want, Elesa?"
"Nah, I just had a nagging suspicion that this entire thing has to be his doing and I wanted to confirm it," Elesa gestured to the flashing red lights and the blaring alarms as she said that. "I'd checked the pharmacy before coming over, the entire place was obviously raided but you know what kind of drugs are the ones that went missing?"
"The ones needed to slow down the deterioration of his body." Grimsley snorted. If his son was the one causing the entire place to go into lockdown, then that could be the only kind of drug that went missing from the pharmacy.
"How did he even know that the pharmacy would have those drugs? Did he somehow know that the interpol was trying to reproduce those drugs these few days? Then again, he's not supposed to know about that..." Elesa asked curiously. Those drugs that were created to combat the side effects of overuse of Mega Evolution were invented by Team Rocket. The secrets behind the production process of those drugs were recovered from the data Alice had given to Grimsley back on Five Island before she ended her life in an explosion. Given the kind of risks Mega Evolution poses to the trainer, there is no way the interpol will not attempt to try their hand in producing such drugs as well.
Of course, Grimsley might or might not have let slip some of that information to his son during his visits, but that's none of Elesa's business. The lesser she knows, the better.
"My son isn't stupid."
"Yeah, he's not stupid, he's just plain rude. Now that I know you guys are related, I can see where he inherited that quality from."
"I don't want to hear that coming from you."
"Yada yada yada," Elesa flippantly waved his words off before asking a separate question. "Any news from Alder so far?"
"No response, which means I get to do whatever I bloody want."
"Oh boy, Alder does give us a surprising amount of freedom, doesn't he?"
"And you are complaining?"
"So…" Elesa said slowly as she straightened her body and walked closer to Grimsley. "Since our man of the hour had so graciously saved us the trouble of having to argue with Indigo in circles to let us bring him back to Unova…."
"Then there's no longer a point in staying. Pack up, we are leaving the moment there is a ship available to take us back to Unova. I don't want to stay here any longer than necessary. The nerve of Indigo, still trying to use my son as a goddamn tool after all they had done to him..." Grimsley muttered the last part of his sentence under his breath, still stewing in anger about the discussion behind closed doors when it comes to the situation surrounding his son.
"Just the news I've been waiting for!" Elesa agreed with a happy clap of her hands, obviously not wanting to continue staying in Indigo as well now that their jobs are finished. She then repeatedly nudged Grimsley with her elbow, successfully annoying him in the span of a single second.
"Hey hey, Grimsley. Grimsley~"
"What?" Grimsley snapped back, his patience running thin.
"Your son has a handsome face, you know. What went right in your family genetics for Jayce to be born with such a pretty face? Are you certain that you two are really related by blood?"
"I have this sudden urge to slap you."
"That is if you can." Elesa shrugged before starting to poke Grimsley in the shoulder with a single finger, prompting the older man to sigh in exasperation and wonder how he had tolerated her presence for so many years.
Oh right, it was because his wife treated the girl like her own daughter.
"What is it now?"
"Hey, you think he would mind if I get him to model in my agency?" She pondered out loud and when she saw that Grimsley was ignoring her (again) and was walking out of the room, she quickly ran to catch up to him.
"No, wait, listen! I'm serious! My agency is lacking good male models right now! Your antisocial prick of a son might be what we are looking for! Girls dig that cool emo look nowadays, you know! It's the newest trend! I can make him a superstar, trust me!"
"You try and rope him in, he will be the one to stab you, not me."
"Why are you Dandolos always stabbing people with pointy things the moment you disagree with anyone on anything? Can't you guys just talk like normal people?"
"Pretty words for someone who doesn't hesitate to torture information out of people by electrocution while acting so harmless."
"It's not torture! It's, uh… Giving them some incentive to be truthful, that's all!"
"How you fool the entire world in thinking that you are a harmless pretty doll eludes me." Grimsley snorted. "At least we Dandolos don't shy from admitting that we are the nasty sort, you Euclids like to package yourselves in pretty little lies and fool the entire world into thinking that you people are the embodiment of innocence. Pah!"
"I'm not denying that, someone needs to be the face of Unova. Why? You want to take over my job? Smiling at people all day long is not an easy thing too, you know?" Elesa argued as the two walked down the corridor as they ignored the frenzied staff running around still trying to figure out what was going on, the alarms still blaring loud and clear.
"Speaking of which, has the situation in Nimbasa improved? What about the situation at home?"
"What else could it be? It's always the same old drama." Elesa sighed. "Oh well, whatever, time to go back home and continue to be the picture perfect icon of Unova. Urgh, talk about not being able to catch a damn break at all. I thought our trip here was supposed to be a mini vacation, and then I had to battle against a man-made legendary pokemon! Where's my promised vacation?!"
"Quit being dramatic."
"You are no fun at all, Grimsley. How did you woo Aunty Gladys with such a boring personality?"
"And why would I tell you?"
"Cos, you know, we go way back? You and papa were best friends? Uh, I was Aunty Gladys' favourite girl? She's the one who always snuck in sweets for me, you know. Oh and in case you have forgotten, you are my teacher."
"Was your teacher. I shouldn't have given in and agreed to taking you on as my apprentice. Taking you under my wing was the worst decision of my life."
"Hey!"
It's my second time here, yet my opinion of this place is still the same as the first time I've been here.
The view from the highest point of the Indigo Plateau really is beautiful.
I'm certain that the Indigo League would have sent people to search for me by now. They can search all they want, they wouldn't find me here. They wouldn't know that I am still hiding right under their very noses.
"You found it?"
Weavile proudly lifted a bottle of red wine for me to see. Half of the contents of the bottle is already gone. It was a bit of a hassle to head back to that particular hideout to retrieve this bottle of wine, but it just felt right to do so.
I uncorked the bottle and poured the contents into six glasses that I had placed upon a flat surface of a boulder. One glass each for Giovanni, Alice, Arawn, Henrik, Olwen, and me. Right behind those glasses is a picture of us propped up by a wooden photo frame the picture was kept in, a picture that Alice had taken that night. Henrik had been complaining that we needed to take a group photo and basically strong armed us into doing it.
"The other half of the wine, Alice and I will keep it for now. Once everything is over and we return victorious, we will finish the remaining half together at the Indigo Plateau when the Indigo is no more. That is our promise to each other, as comrades, and as family."
Memories of that night flooded my mind. It wasn't long since we last toasted each other, sharing the same meal and hearing their laughter and banter. Henrik and Arawn would annoy Olwen, Olwen would get annoyed and try to get them off his case, Giovanni and Alice would laugh at their antics while I would watch by the side.
I will never experience that ever again.
"As comrades, as family."
My voice came out as a whisper as the wind carried them away. I'm the only one who can carry out this promise now, to finish the remaining half of the wine at Indigo Plateau once everything is over.
I lifted my glass in the direction of the five other glasses laid in front of me and drank the contents in one big gulp. The taste is as bittersweet as I last remembered it, but a little more sweet than bitter this time.
I put down my empty glass and let out a breath, slowly taking in the sights in front of me for the last time. I am not planning to return to Indigo ever again, this place holds too many bad memories for me.
Everything's over, it's finally over.
"Do you have somewhere you want to go, zoroark?"
I saw the empty space on my left shimmer before zoroark came into view. Our cooperation was a pact; we had a common enemy in the form of Team Rocket. I wanted revenge for Jane, zoroark wanted revenge for his trainer that he was forcibly taken away from and which Team Rocket had killed. Now that our mission is completed, there is no longer a need for him to follow me anymore, our pact has been fulfilled.
Zoroark stared at me in silence and I didn't bother to break eye contact. In the end, he gave a dismissive snort and simply rejoined the rest of the team who were standing around me. Well, minus houndoom and gengar since I've already entrusted them to Daisy. I don't think I will be seeing them ever again and I will definitely miss them, but they are now back home, back to where they should have belonged.
"Not sure if everyone has been acquainted with them yet, but yes, they will be joining us for the foreseeable future," I gestured to greninja and spiritomb as I introduced them to the team. "Houndoom and gengar have returned home, Jane's home. Don't think we will be seeing them again."
There are some murmurs exchanged between my pokemon. I know they are saddened at houndoom's and gengar's departure. I am too, but I cannot hold them back forever. I promised Jane to take care of them as best as I can and the best place for them to continue to live happily is for them to return home, Jane's home, because I won't be able to take care of them for long. My time is running short. Finding suitable homes for my pokemon before I inevitably depart is simply the responsible thing for me to do as their trainer.
"You guys know that I don't have much time left, the fact that I am still able to stand here to talk to you guys is already a miracle in itself. So, if you ever feel tired living this kind of life and want to leave to find a new home, don't be afraid to speak up. I will do my best to arrange something for you guys."
Exeggutor spoke to me through our telepathic link.
'Master Jayce, I believe I speak for everyone present that we have no desire to leave you anytime soon. If our remaining time together is short, then we will have to just make full use of it to finish whatever we want to see done.'
I looked at the rest of my team, and I knew that they shared exeggutor's thoughts as well when I saw the expressions on their faces.
Really couldn't have asked for a better team.
"Thank you."
There's really no other words that I know of that could convey my emotions. I closed my eyes, knowing that there is one last annoying idiot to talk to before I take my leave.
'And where would you go now that you are free?'
Mewtwo appeared before me upon my question, and I realised that this is the first time we are speaking to each other without one of us being either confined to the M2 Bind or to the bed. Now that we are standing face to face with each other, I can tell that Mewtwo is easily at least one head taller than me.
'You are going to Unova.'
"I am. You? You finally achieved the freedom that you had been pining for, where will you go now?"
'I've explored all that I wanted to see and go within Indigo while you were in the hospital. Indigo is beautiful, but I want to see more,' Mewtwo answered as we both appreciated the scenic view laid out in front of our eyes. 'I want to explore the world too, but I don't think my first stop will be Unova. We will have to part.'
"Oh? Where then?"
'Kalos.'
"Is there a reason for it?"
'I heard from a reliable source that Kalos was where Mega Evolution originated from. I want to try tapping into that power, to see if I have the potential for it, so it's simply logical to start my search from the place where it all began. Of course, I will also search for a cure for you in the meantime. Oh, stop there. Hush, dearie, I know what you are going to say next. There's no need to thank me, I am a very helpful friend, I know.'
"I was about to say that if your real reason to head to Kalos is to search for a cure for my sake, then don't. It's a waste of time."
'That will be for me to decide,' Mewtwo stated. 'Besides, it might be fun fighting another legendary or two. Kalos is where the bringers of life and death reside, isn't that fun?'
"I can only imagine the kind of mayhem you will cause without anyone keeping an eye on you. I'm starting to pity the Kalosians already."
'Oh hush, you. Don't make it sound as if I'm some sort of incorrigible troublemaker.'
"Isn't that what you are?"
Mewtwo rolled his eyes at my words before he changed the topic of the discussion.
'Jayce, have you ever considered the possibility that you might not be alone?'
"Be more specific and less cryptic."
'As in, you might not be the only one with another set of memories not from this world?'
My eyes narrowed a little at that question. It's not that I never thought about such a possibility before, but I never really had the time to entertain that idea.
"You found something or met somebody."
'The interpol, to be exact. You know about it?'
"Looker approached me with an offer. I decided to ignore it."
'Almost everyone that he recruited thus far is like you.'
Now that's a surprise. I had read through the files Looker had given me, and he had included the list of current and potential members that he had recruited or is planning to recruit. I could have never guessed that some of them within the group are people like me if Mewtwo hadn't told me.
"Does he know?"
'From what I can see, I doubt it, although I believe it takes a little more than a lucky coincidence to have six other reincarnated people gathered in the same group who each hail from different corners of the world.'
"And how did you find out about this?"
'I befriended a couple of them. According to them, your appearance makes you the seventh among them. Apparently they found a prophecy from more than 500 years ago that foretold the appearances of seven such individuals, namely you guys. Something about the Seven Sages, an Unovan folktale,' Mewtwo explained before asking me another question.
'So, plans? Thoughts? Ideas?'
"What? You think that me sharing the same circumstances as they do will automatically endear me to them and vice versa? I could care less about who they were before and who they are now and I certainly would not care about making friends with them unless I have to. And the stupid prophecy? Do you seriously think I would give a damn about it?"
'That's what I thought. I will have to inform you, however, that they know about your existence.'
"Just ignore them. I doubt I will ever meet them anyway."
'If you say so. Jayce?'
"Yeah?"
'Can I… have a hug?'
I blinked at the unexpected question that caught me by total surprise.
"Uh… sure?"
Mewtwo opened his arms wide and caught me in a hug, something which I returned awkwardly. Come to think about it, this is probably my first time touching Mewtwo.
"Mewtwo?"
'Yes?'
"You can let me go now."
'Studies have shown that hugging for thirty seconds or more allows you to experience positive emotions and lift your spirits. You definitely need this.'
"This is getting awkward."
'It's barely been ten seconds. Twenty more to go.'
"I'm sure more than thirty seconds had already passed. Are you really counting properly? Do I really have to teach you how to count too? Aren't you, I don't know, supposed to be smart?"
'You dare doubt me?'
"Why, yes, I do. Very much so."
'I'm hurt.'
"You've been through worse, deal with it."
'Ten more seconds.'
"Nine, eight, seven-"
'I can keep count by myself thank you very much.'
"Four, three, two, one. There, thirty seconds are up. You can let me down now, my feet are barely touching the ground."
'Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down~'
I sighed when Mewtwo showed no sign of letting go or stopping his horrible singing.
"I regret ever introducing you to pop music."
The only way to leave one region to head for another is through the sea. It's been repeatedly proven that airplanes are not a viable means of transport in the pokemon world because the skies are filled with flying monsters a lot more dangerous than what you could possibly find in the sea, so a journey through the seas is the only option for any inter-regional travels.
I know of many places that I could possibly find ships to get me out of here. Human trafficking is a thing in the pokemon world, just not very well-known to the public because these kind of illegal activities tend to get swept under the rug, especially in Indigo. Ruling bodies are always more keen on keeping up appearances than addressing the root of the problems plaguing it. It was why Team Rocket grew to be as large as it did.
Trying to leave Kanto via places like Olivine and Vermillion are definitely out of the question because these are cities where well-known ports are situated. Border security in such areas is always higher than the norm and especially so in this current period considering what had just taken place in Indigo. If I don't want to get caught, I will have to find another place situated close to the ocean that also hardly draws any attention from everyone else.
Pallet Town fits the bill.
Exeggutor had teleported me to Pallet Town after I was done saying my goodbyes to Giovanni and co and also to Mewtwo. From what I heard from Grimsley, this is the place where my mother grew up in, her hometown.
Pallet Town, the place where everything started.
Pallet Town is as ordinary as it can get. The entire town has a sleepy feel to it, there's nothing special here and there aren't a lot of people living in this place situated far away from the heart of the Kanto region. I made sure to avoid going anywhere near the Oak Ranch lest I bump into any of the Oaks by mistake. Besides, I'm technically a runaway prisoner about to smuggle myself out of the country, the last thing I want is to run into someone who recognises me and get myself caught.
Ninetails kept me company the entire time while I was leisurely strolling down the streets of Pallet. I had already sent honchkrow out for recon and we could make our next move the moment she came back with information. Just by walking down the streets I can see why many people chose to retire in Pallet Town, it really has a nice countryside feel to it.
I soon reached the south of the town facing the sea. It looks innocent enough and you can occasionally see families bringing their kids here to enjoy the sea and the sun, but this is also a place where I know people looking to conduct illegal activities out on the waters tend to gather in secret, something that only people actively involved in the activities of Kanto's underworld will be privy to. It doesn't matter if they are pirates or smugglers, if you want to avoid the attention of the authorities and need to go out to sea, this particular area of Pallet Town is definitely one of the better options out there to choose from.
"Hey mister, it's you!"
I turned my head towards the direction where I heard a voice calling for me. A small little girl ran up excitedly to me, a horsea clinging onto her arm using its curved tail.
"It's you! It really is you!" The girl said excitedly as she energetically bounced up and down the moment she reached me and tried to pat ninetails on the head with ninetails trying to avoid her hand. Had she mistaken me for somebody else?
"Have we met before?"
"We did! Route 12, the Silence Bridge, remember? You helped me capture horsea and taught me that I shouldn't grab onto a ninetails' tail because it can curse you! See, I'm not grabbing onto its tails this time!"
Ninetails gave a soft snort at that remark, obviously remembering the little girl. It took me slightly longer to recall just where and when I had met this little girl before.
Ah, I did help capture and give her that horsea that day, that day where I had to kill her father as per the mission because he had betrayed Team Rocket. What an ironic twist of fate.
"Your name is Gwen, right?"
"Yup! You remember me!"
"Why are you here?" I asked, having nothing better to do while waiting for honchkrow to return anyway.
"I live here now!" Gwen said excitedly. "Mummy and I just moved in two months ago! Uh, mummy said that daddy is sailing to a faraway place and not coming back for a long long time but it's fine! Whenever I miss daddy I will just come here to look at the sea and it always makes me feel so much better, and when daddy comes back we can come here to fish! Daddy promised to bring me out to go fishing the moment he comes back!"
Karma, meeting this little girl really has to be karma, like a sucker punch to the gut. Fate sure loves to fuck around with me.
"Hey mister, what are you doing here? Do you live here too?" Gwen continued with her endless list of questions as we both stared in the direction of the vast sea from where we are at the edge of town.
"Nope. I'm here to find bad guys."
"Huh? Why?"
I bent down and put a finger on my lips, acting as mysterious as I could and lowered my voice to a whisper.
"Keep this a secret between the both of us, but I am actually a secret agent. Do you know what secret agents are?"
"Oh, oh, I know! Is it like the ones on TV?!" Gwen whispered excitedly back at me, sensible enough to keep her volume low.
"Yeah, and I am on a secret mission. I have reasons to believe that there are bad guys hiding around this area so here I am to take them out and keep Pallet Town safe."
"Cool! Can I see?"
"Yeah, sure," I agreed with a grin. "I remembered you said that you wanted to be a Water Specialist, right? Just like Misty?"
"Just like Misty!" Gwen affirmed with a cute nod of her head. "She's so beautiful and cool!"
"Well, you are in luck, I happen to also have a water type with me. How about I show you what a water type can really do? Of course, you will have to hide yourself and look from afar because things might get dangerous. Can you do that?"
The excited gleam in Gwen's eyes told me all I needed to know.
They are a small group of pirates. Not big enough to catch attention of the wrong kind, but not too small either, just enough members to be able to get away with their heists. They are not eager to increase their influence around these parts because staying under the radar does have its perks.
"This is freaking boring, man. All we are doing is to wait, and wait, and wait."
"Deal with it, Eddie. The League is hunting everybody down like a mad mutt these days, what with Team Rocket's crazy act on National Day and all. We can only move out at night, you know this."
"Yeah, I still can't believe that Team Rocket is gone. Like, it's Team Rocket, you know? And fucking hell, Giovanni? Team Rocket's leader was Giovanni? A Gym Leader?" Arthur commented from where he is lazing about in the shade of their boat they use for their pirate activities, disguised as just another fishing boat.
"Things are gonna get rough for the foreseeable future. Every Tom Dick and Harry are gonna try to be the next underworld king," Dennis, their leader and captain, added as he peeled an orange from where he was sitting. "This power vacuum is also an opportunity. With every big faction in the underworld fighting to fill this vacuum, the League is going to be so busy for months, they wouldn't have time to care about small fries like us."
"Uh, guys?" Patrick called out from where he was sunbathing on the deck, catching the attention of the crew. "Is it just me, or is something flying closer to us?"
Everyone looked up and squinted their eyes thanks to the harsh sunlight shining right down at them. Patrick is right. They couldn't see it very clearly because it is so high up, but some sort of bird type pokemon is definitely flying closer and closer to them.
"A pidgeot, maybe?"
"Pidgeot, in Pallet?"
"I don't think that is a pidgeot, bruh. Since when are pidgeots black in colour?"
"Just chase it away with a Water Gun or something," Dennis grunted and gestured for Arthur to command his staryu to do just that. Arthur released his staryu from its pokeball and the starfish pokemon immediately fired a pressurised blast of water into the air at the unknown flying type pokemon, warning it to stay away.
That flying type easily dodged the Water Gun. In fact, it is now definitely diving down at them at an alarming speed.
"Oh for fuck's sake, we just want to take a goddamn break for once!" Dennis complained as the crew released their pokemon in preparation for battle. The last thing they need is for a random wild pokemon to damage their boat which they rely on for a living. They were planning to resume business tonight too!
"Wait a minute, I recognise that pokemon! It's a fucking honchkrow! What the hell is a honchkrow doing here?!"
Pokemon like honchkrow are very rarely encountered in the wild due to the conditions needed for them to evolve into one. This honchkrow has to belong to a trainer, and it is obvious that the honchkrow's presence is not one that bears good news to them.
Eddie's question went unanswered because his poliwhirl was suddenly hit by a powerful and invisible force, causing it to faint immediately. The next victim was Patrick's golduck, who suffered the same fate.
"Something's already here!"
"Where the hell is it?!"
The honchkrow swooped down at that very moment, crashing straight into Dennis' fearow with a powerful Drill Peck. The pirates finally realised that they were in big trouble when they saw how the honchkrow knocked out Dennis' fearow in one move.
Dennis' fearow is no pushover by any means. Whoever this honchkrow belongs to, he or she spells trouble.
"Damn it, run!"
No one argued against their captain's orders because if that honchkrow is any indication about the strength of their unseen enemy, the best course of action would be to cut their losses and escape as fast as they can by jumping off the boat and running for their lives. However, their efforts were in vain when they all tripped over their feet for no reason at all.
"Ew, what the fuck was that?!" Eddie exclaimed, grossed out by that slimy sensation he felt wrapping around his leg just before he tripped on the deck. Unlike him, Arthur didn't bother to waste time thinking about the mystery, quickly scampering onto his feet in a desperate attempt to jump off the boat and escape.
He wasn't expecting to suddenly run face first into an exeggutor and nearly broke his nose at the collision. That exeggutor practically appeared out of nowhere, running into it felt like running into a frickin brick wall!
"W-What the…"
Dennis' eyes widened in shock when he saw a greninja revealing itself, crouching low to the ground with a Water Shuriken at the ready. Was that Camouflage? He never knew that Camouflage could be mastered to such an advanced level where a pokemon can quite literally hide itself in plain sight just less than five meters away.
"Greetings, gentlemen. Nice day, isn't it?"
Their heads snapped upwards. To their shock, somebody is standing on the roof of their boat's cabin. How had they not noticed him the entire time?
"Who the fuck are you?"
"That, you don't need to know." Their aggressor, a young man seemingly in his early twenties replied smoothly as he held out two fingers. "All you need to know is that you have two choices. One, I can sink your boat right now."
"And the second choice?"
"You ferry me to a certain place and I will not ruin your day. Of course, I will compensate you appropriately for your troubles. How about that?"
"Who the hell do you think you are? You think this is a freaking cruise ship?!" Eddie shouted back, more than ready to fight back but Dennis held him back just before Eddie could worsen the situation than it already is. Somehow, it seems like the wiser decision to at least hear this young man out even if like Eddie, all he wants is nothing but to rip the arrogant man into shreds.
"And where is that certain place?"
"Unova."
"Sorry pal, but there's no way our small little boat could cross the seas to-"
"Don't bother lying to me. I know your little gang of pirates sometimes help Team Rocket import drugs with their drug trafficking business and your goods come from Unova, which means that either your little boat can actually travel there, or you have knowledge about the other options available to make that a reality."
"How the hell do you know that? That's something that only us and Team Rocket Rocket's Exterminator would know, and we have never even seen him in person before," Patrick asked, now certainly afraid.
In response, that young man merely smirked at them.
"That's a very good question. What do you think?"
They may be pirates, but they aren't dumb. They filled in the unsaid piece of information in their minds almost immediately.
"Y-You are…"
A wave of pressure suddenly descended upon all of them, leaving them a trembling mess as their knees buckled and they fell onto the floor of the boat's deck. Is that the Pressure ability? Just how strong must the pokemon in question be for the Pressure to be this suffocating?
"Some things are better left unsaid, yeah? So, what do you say to us taking a little cruise trip to Unova? You know, just to have a little vacation and escape from everything going on in the Indigo right now."
"O-Of c-course. A-As you w-wish, s-sir."
"Good," The pressure suddenly vanished, allowing them to breathe properly once again. "In that case, we are leaving now."
"N-Now?"
The young man's eyebrows raised ever so slightly at Arthur's question and he immediately panicked.
"N-Now! N-Now! We will set sail immediately!"
"Oh good, cos for a moment I thought you were trying to raise an objection." The Rocket's Exterminator let out a lazy hum as he inspected the dagger he held in his hand, slowly running a finger along the flat side of the blade, and just that sight alone was enough to send chills running down the pirates' spine. The reputation of the Rocket's Exterminator precedes him, especially to those in the underworld. Very few know what he looks like because most people that had the unlucky chance to meet him had not lived to tell the tale.
"W-We wouldn't dare."
"That's what I thought. I don't have a habit of accepting objections, you see. Those that tried to raise objections in my presence... Let's just say that there's a reason why I'm still alive despite what happened to Team Rocket and keep it at that."
The chill running down the pirates' spines intensified at those words. Ignoring their fear, the honchkrow grabbed onto the young man's shoulders with its talons and flew him down onto the deck.
"What are you waiting for? Set sail before I start to lose my patience."
The anchor was quickly lifted and it wasn't long before the boat set sail, gradually getting further and further away from the Kanto mainland until it was but a mere speck on the horizon. The little girl with a horsea that had been observing the entire incident from afar continued to look at the direction the boat had left, her amazement clearly written on her face. She had never seen a real-life greninja before, and she found its ability to camouflage and blend into its surroundings extremely cool.
It was then she decided that she would find a way to get her hands on a greninja when she is finally old enough to be a trainer. Her horsea is cute, but a greninja is equally cool. Maybe she should also be a secret agent like that mister when she grows up? She wasn't able to hear what he was talking about to those bad guys because the mister made her watch from so far away, but the way he handled those bad guys was so cool! Even cooler than on TV!
She used her knuckle to hit the side of her head when she finally remembered what she had forgotten to do in her excitement.
She should really have asked for that super cool mister's name before he left.
Name: Jayce Dandolos
Age: 22
Pokemon Team:
1. Ninetales, female
2. Exeggutor, male
3. Weavile, male
4. Honchkrow, female
5. Umbreon, male
6. Hydreigon, male
7. Drapion, female
8. Zoroark, male
9. Bisharp, male
10. Shiftry, male
11. Porygon-Z, (Nosy), genderless
12. Greninja, male
13. Spiritomb, male
