The walk back to our company line didn't take long since it was only just a few buildings away. However, the journey back was silent, and when we finally returned back to our office I decided to just break the silence.

"Don't need to tiptoe and act all stiff around me. That was an act to scare those idiots away, not you guys."

My new colleagues from the Alpha team exchanged glances with each other, each not knowing what to say. I simply sighed and decided to leave them alone to reel in from whatever shock I had subjected them to back at the cookhouse. I found a nice little spot in the mini lounge within the office and lay down on the sofa, closing my eyes and waiting for my food coma to let me drift off into dreamland but I never had the chance.

"So… your real name is Jayce?"

I slowly opened my eyes, spotting a hesitant Zoe standing a few feet away with Reed hiding himself behind her, cautiously poking his head out from over her shoulder. Miguel arrived at that moment as he turned around the corner and tossed me a canned drink which I easily caught.

"As true as it can be, my dear girl," I replied lazily as I sat up and opened the can with a pop. Seeing Grumpy looking at the can with interest, I decided to try offering him a sip. The grumpy little thing scrunched his nose up after approaching the can and simply walked away. Someone's not a fan of fizzy drinks.

"Back there, that was… sick," Patricia added with an approving grin. "People are going to be scared shitless of us now."

"How'd you do that? I would have pissed myself," Reed asked in timid awe.

"The art of intimidation is a tricky one. You need to be confident no matter how big or unbelievable your bluff is, you need to fool your target into thinking that your bluff is true. The thing that happened back there? Lukas had loads of muscles and my build is just average. If he really wanted to could easily push me off but he didn't. So why didn't he do that? It's because he's scared shitless, because he's too much of a coward to call on my bluff that I can really pierce his neck before he can throw me off. He doesn't have the balls to bet on a what-if," I explained as I drank a gulp of the drink Miguel offered. I can't taste it, but the fizziness is nice.

"B-But m-murder is…"

"That's the thing. Let me ask you guys, the entire time, did you believe that I will stab his neck, consequences be damned, if somebody dared to even move a finger?" I questioned and received a few nods in reply. "That's it, that means I succeeded in fooling everybody. Why would you have that impression? Because everybody thinks I had finally snapped and gone bonkers and let me share with you, no sane person would ever want to cross with a madman. If you want everybody to steer clear away from you, be a madman. Only another madman would dare to fight a madman. Seriously, does the USF not teach a thing or two about basic psychology or intimidation tactics?"

"Basic psychology, yes. Intimidation tactics? That's not exactly a part of our curriculum and the way you played with everyone's minds was clearly beyond basic," Miguel deadpanned.

"Okay…" I shrugged my shoulders, accepting the given answer because ultimately, soldiers and criminals learn very different things and this could be one. Learning how to put up a believable act was a skill that I forced myself to master and be second nature to me, but I guess it's not a skill suitable for everyone.

"Wait wait wait, now I'm curious, what did you do in Kanto before you came here? You seem to know a lot of random things," Zoe asked, her apprehension of me slowly dissipating as she gradually returned to her usual hyperactive self.

"What I did before? Many things. Let me see…" I began to count off my fingers as I listed off the various "jobs" that I once did. "Trash cleaner, janitor, hacker, kindergarten teacher, sailor-"

"What the?"

"-salesman, insurance agent, engineer, investment analyst, auditor, IT consultant-"

"Dude, you aren't a pokemon trainer?"

"I don't even have a pokedex."

"But your pokemon… Your skills... You even have a hydreigon-"

"You need to understand, Reed, Kanto is a no man's land. Things in Unova are chaotic now, I understand, but this is nothing compared to what goes on in Kanto almost every single day and it was way worse ten years ago. It's very difficult to properly enforce rules in the more desolated parts of the region where I loved to hang out," I patiently explained the stark differences between Kanto and Unova to my junior and what implications turned out from it. "Things are only illegal if we get caught and as it turns out, I have a talent when it comes to not getting caught. You saw my ninetales? She's my starter. I got her by stealing her when she was just an egg and I was like… Six? Eight? Can't really remember, but that's the kind of life I led."

"But, why were you in Kanto your whole life? You are a Dandolos," Patricia finally asked the million dollar question and when an awkward silence fell upon the room, quickly clarified. "I'm just curious, feel free to not answer if it's too personal."

"How many enemies do you think my family made throughout the years? I was their first child, so my parents were very cautious and were afraid that whatever enemies they made might seek retribution on my father through hurting me or my mother. My mother was a Kantonian, so they decided to go to Kanto and give birth to me there, visit my grandparents on my maternal side while they were at it. We were simply unlucky and we were caught in some civil unrest at the wrong place and the wrong time and long story short, my grandparents got killed in the crossfire and my parents thought they lost me. I was also too young to know or remember anything. It was entirely by chance that my father found out that I was still alive less than a year ago so here I am."

"You said that you were a hacker?" Reed asked with barely concealed excitement in his voice, and I could swear that the boy was vibrating at where he stood.

"Not the best, but good enough to be later hired as an IT consultant. Want a little competition?" I grinned and Reed looked as if he just found his new best friend. Like I'd thought, Reed had to be a professional hacker to have caught EDGE's attention from such a young age. He's definitely not the type to volunteer to be a soldier nor is he the type to agree to being one even if he was being scouted out; his addition into EDGE must have been forced somehow. His skills, his mannerisms, his aversion to battles, his obsession with anything related to computers, whatever little snippets of backstory that I knew about him already painted a general outline that allowed me to guess the kind of illegal things he used to do behind a computer screen before becoming a full-fledged member of EDGE.

"Haha, finally, somebody bold enough to take Reed on!" Miguel let out a hearty chortle and the usual laid back atmosphere of Alpha returned. "Word of warning, Jayce, Reed had never lost in a hacking contest."

"Eh, it will be fun, it's been a long time since I had to use those skills from my old profession."

"Your life sounds like it would make a very interesting novel. Ever consider publishing a biography?" Patricia joked.

"It would be such a lame story. It wouldn't sell well," I let out a small laugh and finished the rest of my drink in one big gulp. "Never thought I would be a part of a uniform group and wear a uniform myself. My first reaction when I see someone in uniform was to turn and run away from them. Some habits die hard."

We heard the front door of our office open and I immediately raised a hand at Megan's direction who had just strode into the room as though she was on a warpath. I decided to just hurry and defend myself before I ended up being on the receiving end of her scolding.

"Alright, Cap, before you start dishing out the punishments I would just like to say that in my defence, you did say that if anybody tries to mess with me for being in EDGE you will give me your implicit support to give them hell. I followed your orders, nothing irreversible was done, unless you count the fork that I dented as part of the damage. Lukas didn't even spill any blood-"

"He did piss himself though," Reed added quietly but went ignored.

"Nobody was hurt, no fights took place, I didn't break any bones, and my pokemon came to the cookhouse to find me out of their protective instincts for me and that is not something we can control. All I did with those goons at the cookhouse was to have a… little talk, and we reached a mutual understanding that we shall never cross paths again. There, happily ever after."

Megan pointed a finger at me, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly but not being able to form a word for a few seconds.

"... Little talk... Yes, little talk. This is the explanation that I will be giving to those assholes and they can shove any complaints they have up their asses. Good job, Jacob, you have no idea how proud I felt when I heard about it. Keep it up, keep it up. Next time those bastards try to give us trouble, you have my full permission to keep talking to them."

So she's not here to discipline me? Good enough, I guess.

"The name's Jayce, actually," I muttered when Megan left the room like a whirlwind even before any of us could make a reply.

"Cap is really protective of us. Of course, she cracks down hard whenever we do something stupid and misbehave but other than that? She's pretty chill. In this place, Ability Holders have to look out for each other or we wouldn't be able to survive," Miguel said as he finished his own drink too. "But other units kept giving us shit for no reason and whenever fights or conflicts took place between us and the other units, we are the ones who are always at a disadvantage because nobody supports us. They just love to put us down and twist the rules against us even if the other guys were the ones who started the fight in the first place. Your excuse was just what Cap needed to shut the bigots from the other units up. Like you said, no fights broke out this time. We didn't even break anything and we technically never broke any rules. All we had was a little talk and… make friends."

"Make friends, that is starting to become my favourite phrase," Zoe agreed with a huge grin. "Yeah, let's make some friends."

"Um…" Reed timidly raised his hand in the air, prompting us to look at the youngest in the team.

"Just shoot," I told the boy when he was having problems verbalising whatever he wanted to ask.

"Just curious, when you told Lukas that you've tried… stabbing someone… with a fork…" Reed nervously did an awkward stabbing motion with his hand as he said that. "Did you… really tried that before…?"

"Sure did."

"On the neck…?"

"What do you think?" I purposely left the answer vague and let the poor boy fill in the blanks himself. He dropped the question entirely.

"Hey, we should spar sometimes. The way you brought Lukas down from that chokehold was really smooth, teach me that," Zoe requested in an upbeat manner.

"Come to think about it, how do people in BS usually spend their free time here? Sleep?" I looked at the team and Patricia immediately nodded her head.

"That's just Patricia. Sometimes we go out and train, most of the time we do our own things, nobody really cares as long as we are not up to any mischief and are readily contactable just in case we need to scramble for an emergency," Miguel revealed before taking a pause and continued. "Cap would most likely arrange for a team exercise within the next few days, just to make sure we can work properly with each other since you are a new addition. Zoe and I had seen what you can do, Reed usually does not take part in the fighting directly, but Cap and Patricia still don't know how you fight and that needs to be addressed."

"I'm still surprised you managed to get in here so soon. Don't you have to go through the cadet training?" Patricia queried and I gave my answer even before I could think about it.

"What cadet training?"

"You didn't attend the cadet training?! Hell week? None of that?" Reed looked suitably shocked at my answer before he had his outburst. "Everybody has to go through that if they are to join EDGE! Everybody! I nearly died back there!"

"Actually, maybe the higher ups were right to not send him there. He definitely would have aced it anyway. It would just be a waste of time."

"He would scare the shit out of the instructors."

"I wouldn't be surprised. Hell, maybe he would take their place and make the instructors do the cadet training instead. MOVE CADET, MOVE! TWENTY LAPS ROUND THE FIELD NOW! OR DO YOU WANT TO MAKE FRIENDS WITH ME?! WE CAN BE BEST FRIENDS!"

A round of laughter broke out among us upon hearing Miguel's imitation of me which was, frankly, quite on point.

"Come on, don't make me out to be some sort of monster."

"After what we saw back there? You don't even look scary, but the way you mindfuck with people makes you the scariest person I've ever seen, period, and that's coming from someone like me," Patricia pointed at herself with a flat look on her face.

"I would pay good money just to see you becoming an instructor to some poor cadets in their hell week. Seriously, think about it, free money and you get to guide our future juniors to be as badass as you," Zoe gave me a slap on the back and a serious nod of her head.

"You guys are sadists."

"You are the last person I want to hear that from."

"No seriously, just try applying to be an instructor," Patricia pressed on. "The next batch of cadets should be coming in anytime soon. We will even help you convince Cap to let you do it, sign a petition if we have to."

"Luckily I have already been through hell week..." Reed shivered.

"Nah, making me an instructor would be a bad idea. Everyone will drop out and that will be a problem."

"That will be setting a new record. Every single cadet would have made friends with you."

"Make friends this, make friends that. So what names are you going to give me now, the friendmaker? You guys are just not going to let this go, huh?"

"Oh hell no pal, this is too good a story to pass up on. When Beta and Omega are finally back I'm so going to hold a storytelling session on how our newest BSA6 just scared the bastards from the other divisions by making friends with them. I will be the narrator. Reed, you handle the lighting."

"O-Okay."

"I can handle the sound effects," Patricia volunteered.

"Uh… I can act as Lukas?" Miguel hesitantly offered.

"You guys are freaking impossible."


"Just gone for a day or two and it returned to being like this. Lex's description was right, this place really used to be a sty."

The grumblings came out of my mouth automatically the moment I stepped back into Elesa's home. At this point it was becoming a routine for me everytime I come back here, see the newly created mess that Elesa had made, and clean up after her while complaining about her incorrigible habit of just leaving everything lying around everywhere.

Normally all EDGE operatives are supposed to stay in camp while on active duty, but I'm given special privileges because I am a Dandolos and I might have to disappear at any time should the family need me to take care of certain unspoken business. Elesa's house is where I will crash whenever I have to stay at Nimbasa instead of my home at Lacunosa. Now that I am part of Black Sight I am staying in Nimbasa a whole lot more often. I had only just knocked off from work only to find myself being a part-time cleaner once more. It didn't take me long to turn the place back into something livable, but it sure didn't stop me from grumbling the entire time.

"There's a man in the house and she couldn't be bothered to at least make sure that she doesn't throw her underwear about in the living room. Doesn't she have any sense of shame? Oh, what is it this time? Another new dress? Down into the laundry basket that goes. I just cannot understand her, Grumpy, all of her clothes cost like a bomb and she couldn't be bothered to at least put them somewhere that clothes are supposed to belong to instead of dragging them across the floor like rags."

At this point Grumpy was probably too used to hearing my grumbling whenever I'm doing another round of cleaning. I will admit that he's a very good listener. He's just sitting there on the tabletop and watching me move across the living room rearranging this and that and putting everything back into where they should belong. Either that, or he wasn't even listening in the first place and was just staring into space.

Work done, I went to take a quick shower, feed my pokemon, and proceeded to prepare my own meal. I had Nosy help me call my father's number while leaving the phone on speaker, allowing me to work with my hands free.

"So yeah, that's what happened. Will need your help to change my name in the USF's database from Jacob back to Jayce. Ah crap, now that I went public with my identity that means that my undercover plan is no longer an option, isn't it? Should have thought things through before acting on impulse. Sorry for the trouble."

"How is this any trouble? I told you, Unova doesn't need you to go back to being the Rocket's Exterminator to save herself," My father replied from the other end of the line. "I would ask how was your first day at work, but whatever you said had summarised everything."

"The team I'm in is a pretty nice one. The people, I mean. Though I still think that the USF needs to review their standards, cos even if I ignored the fact that he's a big bully, if that Lukas piece of shit can really be considered as among the "Elite" in that place I'm worried for Unova's future."

"I think people like him shouldn't be representative of the norm, but I will talk to the General about it. Maybe it's indeed time for a huge overhaul in the selection process of how we determine who gets to be in the USF," my father agreed.

"And nobody there or even in EDGE knows basic intimidation tactics. It's really pathetic."

"You cannot use the same standards you are familiar with from the Rockets to evaluate them. It's not really applicable in this line of work, torture usually isn't allowed to be used. We have proper laws and procedures for interrogation. On the surface, at least."

"Fine, I will chalk it up to cultural differences or something along that vein," I replied as I neatly categorised and chopped up the things on the chopping board using a knife into neat separate piles.

"I'd love to continue to speak to you, son, but I also really got to go. See you, and take care."

"Bye, old man. Keep an eye on your blood pressure."

The call ended with a click and I took a pause, trying to figure out a way to deal with my greatest nemesis.

How am I going to prepare a meal that is not tasteless, too sweet, or too salty when my sense of taste is as good as non-existent?

"Don't even think about running, it's gonna be you," I lightly pulled Grumpy over by his tail, who was screeching and clawing and trying to escape his fate in futility as I dragged him back to me across the counter. Soon, he was dutifully (albeit reluctantly) performing the role of a taste-tester for me to figure out just how much salt and other seasonings I would need to add so that whatever that turned out later would at least be edible.

"You will get your own special personalised meal for your sacrifice later, buddy," I patted the little murder rat on the head when I was finally done. Grumpy didn't look the least bit excited at the prospect, but he's not rejecting it either. Over the course where we had gotten to know each other better I had realised that Grumpy really prefers eating human cooked food over specially factory-produced pokemon ones on every occasion, even if the human cooked one doesn't necessarily turn out to be all that great.

I went to set the table for the dinner for two I had cooked tonight. While I don't necessarily get along with Elesa all the time, my family did ask me to help look out and take care of Elesa whenever I could. It's like they said, she has a tendency to overwork herself. Giovanni was also a Gym Leader and I was close to him, but I had never really made the effort to understand about the duties he had to shoulder as one and how that affected his personal life. Living with Elesa is my first time seeing for myself just how hectic the daily life of a Gym Leader can be. All I can say is that she has my respect for sacrificing so much for her city just to ensure that it is as safe as realistically possible for the people she is protecting.

So, while I always complained and grumbled about how messy she turned her house into, it's usually out of her earshot because I don't think she would appreciate being nagged at when she's already so worn out after a long day at work. At least, I wouldn't like it if I were in her shoes. She still doesn't allow me to cook the meals if there happens to be a rare day where we both could eat together because of Iris' description of my cooking, but that shouldn't be a problem for any longer if I now have a certified reliable taste-tester in the form of an unwilling Grumpy.

"Bestie, we talked about this."

Elesa gave me a very wary look the moment she spotted the already completed dinner laid out on the dining table the moment she returned. I'm not blaming her for having this reaction, she has a right to be careful after what Iris warned her of. Come to think about it, back when we were still living in the slums the poor girl always finished my meals no matter how weird it turned out. It must have been hard for her.

"I took precautionary measures. Grumpy was the taste-tester," I pointed to the pikachu who was now comfortably snoring away in his own little basket, facing belly up and lazily scratching his belly every now and then in his sleep.

Elesa carefully tiptoed towards the dining table in an overly exaggerated manner that was obviously out to annoy me, carefully picked up a spoon in an overly dramatic fashion, scooped up just a teeny bit of whatever I had cooked, and carefully tasted it.

"So on a scale from one to ten?"

"... Seven. Hey, this is actually… not bad," Elesa looked at me in surprise before quickly eating another scoop as if trying to make sure that she wasn't hallucinating. "Pass. Definitely passed. Alright, bestie, the kitchen is all yours from today onwards."

"Provided I'm staying in Nimbasa and have the time."

"Of course, I don't expect you to be my full-time housemaid. What do you take me for?" Elesa patted me on the shoulder a few times and let out an exaggerated sigh while doing so. "Today's a good day. No overtime for once in forever and dinner is already cooked when I get back. Oh, you cleaned up the place too. Nice."

"I really should start charging you for my services."

"And I should really start charging you for rent," Elesa replied with a laugh, walking off towards the stairs to get back to her room. "I really want a hot shower, so if you're too hungry just go ahead and eat first. Alright, see ya in like… half an hour? Maybe? Bye~"

"Food's gonna turn cold by then, might as well reheat it," I muttered to myself as I decided to once again go back to the kitchen. Come to think about it, the Plasmas had been rather quiet lately. I should keep an eye out for any news regarding their latest developments, probably get in touch with the contacts that I had established when I first arrived in Unova. Maybe Rusty would know something?

Oh well, eat first, think later.


The days that passed by were peaceful, or at least, relatively peaceful.

For starters, nobody in the military base we are at dared to mess with EDGE ever since that day. I had garnered a lot of attention from the other USF units within the base and word had started to spread that another Dandolos is starting to show himself to the public.

Rumours of me and what I could do started to spread, each wilder and more ridiculous than the last, so much that the USF General himself had to personally order a gag on whatever had happened that day because this involves my family. Whatever rumours about "Jayce Dandolos" are to be confined within the base itself, and anyone found to be flouting it will be severely punished by military laws on grounds of leaking confidential information. I'm sure my father had a hand in this because every Dandolos who chose to publicly go by the family name will face constant threat to their lives the moment they do so; Leticia herself experiences an average of three assassination attempts per month. We had made just that many enemies over the course of our history, so this is my father's way of protecting me until he believes that I'm thoroughly ready to assume his mantle.

So, while the USF forces stationed in the military base where Black Sight was also situated now knows that there is now a Dandolos within their ranks and is now a part of EDGE, that information is being strictly confined within it. Of course, my family knew better, it wouldn't be long before there would be a leak because there were too many witnesses and mouths to silence, but we can at least prolong the time before this news becomes public.

I had never seen Lukas again and nobody from Black Sight missed him. Miguel was right to say that Megan would put us through team exercises and he was right, we started having frequent drills and mock missions to get us used to working with each other and so far, we didn't face much of a problem because my pokemon team knew better than most how to adapt our teamwork around others as long as the people we are cooperating with are competent enough. I was also told that it is rare for the entire Alpha to be sent out on the same mission together because usually, just a few members would be enough for the standard kinds that EDGE finds itself in. If a mission requires everyone to be involved, then something big is definitely going to go down.

Elesa said to try and be nice, so I tried. I'm far from being the most sociable person so I tried getting to know my teammates better in ways that I know how. I had a little hacking competition with Reed. He won, I lost, and that victory seemed to have a slight effect on bettering his low self-esteem and making him more confident. Reed is indeed very skilled with a computer and he will approach me from time to time to discuss and exchange pointers about what we both know. We all know that he's simply happy to finally be able to meet someone who can understand his lingo and discuss the intricacies of something that he is passionate about.

Patricia is the most easy-going member to deal with. As long as you don't disturb her naptime, you are okay in her books. Zoe loves to slug it out and fight, be it with her own two fists or with her pokemon, so I simply indulged her battlemania tendencies, exchanged a few pointers about our styles in the art of self-defence and guided her along to help her build her own style of commanding her own pokemon in battles. She is taking my lessons seriously, which is good, and she had taken the advice I had given her that day and was seriously mulling over what psychic types would be a good fit for her team.

Miguel and Megan, the three of us got along in a way I least expected.

"This is a picture of my boy, seven this year. My daughter will be turning three in a month."

Megan is a mother of two. Her children are not Ability Holders like her or at least, had not yet displayed signs of possessing an ability. Miguel is a father to a pair of twins who are not yet even a year old, a boy and a girl. We can often see him talking to his wife and kids through a video call in his free time and oftentimes, one or two of us would just pop by to say hi to his wife and kids.

As for me? I found this to be a good opportunity to ask for tips on how to raise impressionable children from two people I can trust and are a little more… normal as compared to my family.

"She's really cute," Megan cannot help but comment when I showed her the pictures I have of Iris in my phone. Almost my entire gallery is full of her pictures and I blame Elesa for that. Ever since that annoying model taught Iris how to take a selfie and the basics of how to use a phone, every single time the little champ got her little hands on my phone the first thing she would do is to take a selfie or two and adamantly use it to replace my current wallpaper. I've given up trying to resist by now because she's so damn persistent.

Megan wasn't exactly being quiet and so, everybody in Alpha now knew that I am taking care of a kid myself.

"Oh, so you are not single and available. Too bad, Zoe, there's another chance gone. Guess you really are going to die a virgin," Patricia directed that last part of her sentence towards Zoe, who simply glared at her to get her to shut up.

"She doesn't look much like you," Reed pointed out. "She takes after her mother?"

"I don't know. I was taking a stroll through some of the nastiest parts of the region and came across her, and then I decided to pick her up. I don't even know how old she really is," I replied while taking a bite out of an apple I filched from the cookhouse earlier.

"Whoa, didn't know that there is such a side to you."

"Trust me, I didn't know it myself either."

"How long already?"

"A few months. She's really smart though, and definitely has a higher IQ than I do," I replied and broke off a piece of my apple to give it to Grumpy, an offering he accepted with that usual grumpy look.

"So, that's why you came to me? You wanted pointers?"

"I have no idea whether what I'm doing is right," I admitted to Megan's question. "Yes, I try to feed her, to clothe her, make sure she's healthy and okay but beyond that? I don't have a clue. I grew up thinking I was an orphan and my family isn't exactly normal either so I have no idea what a normal childhood is supposed to be like. She likes dragons. Fine, I teach her what I know about dragons, let her play with hydreigon since they get along well with each other, even got a dragon companion for her. She says she wants to be a trainer in the future. Fine, it's never too young to get started, so I started teaching her the basics. Yes, she misbehaves sometimes, like never eating her veggies if she knows she can get away with it, but she never… cry or throw a big tantrum or do anything that I had expected from a child her age so… I just… I don't know. I'm lost."

"I only just started being a parent myself so I'm not the most qualified to give advice, but I think… I think you are on the right track," Miguel spoke as he gave me an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "She's clearly very attached to you from what you described her to us and I think that means something. She trusts you, and that means that you have succeeded in making her feel loved. I think you did well. Right, Cap?"

"More or less what Miguel said," Megan agreed. "Why don't you try giving a call back home and let us see her for ourselves? Maybe we might come up with better ideas for you after seeing her in person."

Megan's idea is not a bad proposition, so I agreed. However, Iris does not have a phone so in the end, I decided to dial Lexus' number since he is most likely to be the person at home right now because he is the jobless school dropout in the family as his mother always puts it. I did assign him some tasks to complete though, so there's also a chance that he might not be at home.

The other end of the line was picked up after a few seconds, much to my surprise.

"Helloooo? Jayce? Jayce! You called! Oh wait wait, let me turn on the video. Where's the button… There!"

Why is Iris the one picking up Lexus' phone?

"Why is Lexus' phone with you?" I asked, and suddenly recognised the background on the other end of the line to be Lexus' room. The rest of Alpha crowded behind me, curious to see Iris in person.

"I think I see people on your side."

"They are my friends and they want to say hi to you," I briefly introduced the Alpha team to Iris as they all waved hello and said their greetings. Iris happily returned the greeting and I continued to press for an answer.

"No, seriously, why do you have Lexus' phone? Why are you even in his room?"

"Shhhh," Iris did a very dramatic gesture as she put a finger to her lips, signalling to me to lower my voice, before slowly turning the phone's camera such that it was now pointing to Lexus' bed.

"Lexus is sleeping. Shhh. I know he's sleeping, that's why I'm here to steal his phone to play. Don't tell him, okay?"

I can feel myself getting increasingly annoyed upon seeing the sleeping figure snoring away without a care in the world. I had asked him to help out with several tasks. He could complete several of them from home, but I know that there is no way he's supposed to be taking a nap at this hour because he should be busy.

"Champ."

"Uh huh."

"Wake Lexus up for me. Kick him awake if you have to."

"Okay!"

The video blurred for a moment as Iris presumably ran towards Lexus. I even heard a 'Hiyah!' which was swiftly followed by a loud grunt of pain. It seemed that Iris had taken my words quite literally and kicked Lexus awake.

That's my champ.

"What the hell, squirt?! What's that for? Wait, give me my phone back- How did you even know my phone's password? I just changed it yesterday! And for the last time, stop trying to steal it! Give it back!"

"My dear cousin," I spoke loudly into the mic and I knew he had heard me loud and clear when all noise from the other end had gone still.

"Champ, you there?"

"I'm here!"

"Help me out here and point the phone's camera to Lexus please."

"Okay!"

The video from the other end shifted and blurred messily until the camera was now showing the face of one Lexus Dandolos who had obviously just woken up from his slumber.

"Can you see him now?"

"Yes I can. Thanks, Champ," I thanked Iris before directing my attention back to my lazy cousin.

"Hello, cousin."

"H-Hi Jayce-"

"Had a pleasant dream?"

"I-I can explain-"

"I don't think I need any, I could hear your snores all the way from here in Nimbasa."

"I heard it too!" Iris chirped happily from outside the frame of the video. I continued to question my cousin.

"Have you made contact with Rusty?"

"N-No…"

"Got any of the information I told you to get for me?"

"N-Not yet…"

"You have at least started investigating that underground betting ring I told you about, I hope?"

"Uh, about that… I was thinking of doing it later…"

Goodness, no wonder aunt Giselle and Leticia were so worried about Lexus. Their worries were not unfounded.

"Champ?" I called out loudly so that Iris could also hear me from the other end. "How many sweets have Lexus given you today?"

"Ten!" Was the loud and honest reply and I can see Lexus' face scrunched in fear. He knows that I'm not happy with how he was so liberal in indulging Iris' sweet tooth and I had told him many times to not give her sweets behind my back.

I channelled my inner Leticia and gave him my calmest smile and I can see his face paling with immediate effect. Ever since Iris had tried "manipulating" me to help her get her revenge on Lexus for ruining her plushie, I decided that I might as well get him started on helping out a little with the family's duties to the region. His mother gave me her full support, telling me to order Lexus around as needed. I ended up tasking him to reach out to the contacts that I had established before reuniting with the family since I now don't have the free time to, along with other minor things I asked him to help me with.

I wasn't expecting him to be able to complete everything by today, but he should have at least completed one task. One simple task, and he still couldn't complete it. Lexus may be brash, but he's far from incapable. He's just lazy and unmotivated. Unfortunately, I know a million ways to motivate people. I can be very motivational when I want to be.

Worst of all, he indulged Iris with sweets when I explicitly told him not to. That alone deserves some sort of punishment.

"Lexus Dandolos."

"Y-Yes?"

"No contact, no information, no investigation. From this, can I infer that you are confident enough to finish everything I told you to complete in a single day? If so, it seems that the work I had given you was not... challenging enough. I see, I have vastly underestimated your capabilities, I shall never repeat this mistake ever again. Aunt Giselle will be so proud of you when she hears this from me. I guess it's time to graduate you from the menial tasks and let you attempt something a little more… interesting. Wouldn't you agree, Champ?"

"TWO THUMBS UP!" Iris shouted loud and clear, now trying to squeeze her face into the video call as well while still trying to allow me to see Lexus' face in full view. Good, I knew I can count on her, she's always on my side.

"I-I will start work immediately! Immediately!" Lexus frantically shouted as he tried to snatch the phone away from Iris' grasp, but the little champ was nimbler than a mankey and was soon running down the hallway with Lexus' shouts trailing after her.

"Jayce, Jayce! Do you have dragons there?"

"Unfortunately, dragons are not as common as you think they are, Champ. No, I'm the only one with a dragon here," I told the girl as she now hid herself in some corner of the house to escape Lexus' pursuit, his phone still being held hostage by the girl.

"And next time, if Lexus is slacking off again like he was doing earlier, you have my full permission to steal his phone and give me a call. Thumbs up?"

"Thumbs up!" Iris agreed with a big smile on her face before excitedly telling me about her day.

"I tried battling Lexus' pangoro this morning, Haxy and I were able to fight him silently for three minutes now, which means I can maybe last a minute against you and Drei? Oh, I tried eating my veggies today too! I couldn't finish everything because they were so yucky… but I tried! I ate half of them!"

"Good job, Champ. That's an improvement, good job."

"I read a new book today! I circled some of the words I don't know so can you teach me when you come back? Wait, are you coming back tonight? Or soon? I did my writing practices too, really! I didn't… What's that word? Ah! I didn't slack off today! I can show you when I get back! I drew Haxy on it too to make it interesting or else it's just words, words, and more words! Too boring! You are coming back, right?"

"Maybe not tonight cos I have to help Elesa with something, but tomorrow? Yeah, I will be there. You can show me everything then."

"Yay!"

Another loud shout sounded out in the distance.

"Oops, Lexus looks very angry. Should I return him his phone?"

"Please do, he has work to do and he needs his phone for that. Monitor him for me, Champ, I'm counting on you. If he gets lazy just call me or Let, we will set him straight. Thumbs up?"

"TWO THUMBS UP!"

"Alright, I'm hanging up now. Remember to return Lexus' phone and don't do anything too crazy until I get back."

"Okie! Bye bye!"

The call ended with an audible click.

"She's so... Cuuuuuuute!" Zoe squealed uncontrollably the moment the call was over.

"Seeing her makes me want a daughter myself," Patricia said with a small smile on her face.

"I have no idea why you are asking us for advice. I think I am the one who will be asking you for advice when my own kids are at her age," Miguel said with a hearty laugh. "No, really, I'm telling the truth."

"I think you did well. At the very least, my boy isn't as obedient as your girl," Megan chipped in. "The girl obviously loves you a whole bunch too, and I think there are certain areas in which you have taught her well."

"It does ease my mind a little hearing that," I admitted, at least now I know that I didn't go astray when it comes to trying to raise her properly.

"Am I the only one who noticed that even a Dandolos is scared of him?" Reed spoke up, catching everyone's attention.

"He's Jayce," Patricia shrugged as if that explains everything.

"The girl isn't afraid though."

"She wasn't the one in trouble, why would she be scared of him?"

"Jayce is teaching the girl how to battle, right? I think she said something like being able to battle a pangoro for a minute without needing to say a word? Imagine the girl when she grows up. Oh man, I don't want to even imagine."

"I call her Champ, because I think she actually may have a shot at becoming a Champion, she's just that good," I replied, feeling oddly prideful for reasons unknown.

"Dude, look at this, he's gone full papa mode already."

"I'm not her father," I replied, feeling slightly annoyed at Patricia.

"Heh, imagine when his girl grows up and starts attracting the boys. Ooooh, I want to see that. He will be like: YOU WANT TO DATE MY GIRL? LET'S START BY MAKING FRIENDS FIRST, YEAH? LET'S BE BEST FRIENDS!"

A round of laughter burst out from Alpha at my expense.

"Other fathers beat the guys off with a stick, he beats them off with a hydreigon."

"Don't forget the fork he used on Lukas the other time."

"That too."

"He doesn't need any of those. All he needs is to give them a little talk… and make friends."

"You guys really have to stop about the making friends thing," I gritted out through my teeth, the edge of my lips starting to twitch uncontrollably in irritation.

"Hey Miguel, you can learn a thing or two from Jayce when your girl finally starts attracting the boys too."

"Definitely. I will be having a few new friends when it happens, I will let you guys know when the time comes."

I just knew it. Make friends this, make friends that. They are not going to let this go, ever.


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

14. Pikachu, (Grumpy), male

Name: Megan Lawrence

Age: 35

Pokemon Team:

1. Excadrill

2. Durant

3. Steelix

4. Klinklang

5. Escavalier

6. Aggron

Name: Miguel Page

Age: 28

Pokemon Team:

1. Audino

2. Cinccino

3. Braviary

4. Castform

5. Lopunny

6. Zangoose

Name: Patricia Lowe

Age: 24

Pokemon Team:

1. Simipour

2. Floatzel

3. Swanna

4. Starmie

5. Dewgong

6. Samurott

Name: Zoe Vinson

Age: 18

Pokemon Team:

1. Emboar

2. Conkeldurr

3. Mienshao

4. Throh

5. Sawk

6. Toxicroak

Name:Reed Brady

Age: 15

Pokemon Team:

1. Leavanny

2. Galvantula

3. Durant

4. Yanmega

5. Pinsir

6. Vespiqueen