The very first mission that I was sent out for as BSA6 of Black Sight Alpha soon came.

It was just another ordinary day. I reported to work as usual, conversed with my teammates as per usual, and suddenly the lights in our office flashed and the siren wailed. We looked up to the centre of the office where the electronic board is, seeing the lights for [BSA4], [BSA5], and [BSA6] flashing. Zoe, Reed, and I are being called for deployment right now.

"Get going guys. If the light is flashing red it means that this is urgent."

Miguel's words immediately spurred Reed to run towards the deployment room with a loud squeak. Zoe and I quickly made our way to the deployment room as well where our gear is kept and quickly headed for the cubicles to change into the proper gear. By the time we emerged from the cubicles, Megan had already arrived at the deployment room.

"Here's what is happening. Location: Route 4, I have already sent the exact GPS coordinates to your devices, take a look later. Who to look for: the local Rangers stationed there and last I heard, the interpol are there as well. Can't miss them. Issue: an ancient ruin was recently unearthed, a really huge one, and they deemed it necessary to call for help and get more reinforcements. Reason: a combination of Team Plasma, some nosy civilian reporters who have no business being there and are now held hostage, and rampaging wild pokemon. Your mission: Coordinate with the Rangers and the interpol to resolve this, prioritise the lives of the civilians, our friendlies, followed by the Plasmas, then see what you can do about the wild pokemon. BSA6, you will be leading this operation. Questions?"

"Just one," I quickly spoke up. "If push comes to shove and battle is inevitable, the ruin, how badly are we allowed to damage it?"

Megan's face grimaced, but she soon gave her answer.

"The official answer would be to try not to, as much as possible. Off the books? I value the lives of my men and the civilians who we are supposed to rescue, anything else can burn for all I care. If the situation really comes to that, don't worry too much about it, go all out if you really have to, I will handle the repercussions as long as you can provide me with a sound reasoning for whatever judgements you made. Any other questions? No? Good."

Megan released a gardevoir from a pokeball, a pokemon trained by EDGE for the sole purpose of transporting their operatives to any part of the region for swift deployment. To train a pokemon to teleport anyone to every part of a region is an arduous process, and for EDGE to be allowed possession of a resource as valuable as this just goes to show how much trust the USF placed in us to get things done as the only supersoldier unit in Unova.

"Gardevoir will send you to Route 4 as close as realistically possible to the site. You will have to make the rest of your way on foot. Good luck, guys, come back safe."

Megan exchanged salutes with us as the gardevoir shifted us through space just a second later. We soon found ourselves at Route 4, one of the weird anomalies in this world where the heat of the scorching of the sun is present all year round despite it now being the winter season. To the north and south of Route 4 are Nimbasa and Castelia City respectively and they are currently covered white with snow, yet Route 4 is a desert route with yellow sand all around. That is just how weird the climate can be in the pokemon world. For once, Grumpy actually requested to be recalled back into its pokeball, hating the heat and sand enough to want to do so and I acquiesced to his request.

"I locked the coordinates for us, you guys should be seeing it now," Reed informed me as the tinted visor on our helmets lit up with some high tech HUD display much like some sort of fantasy Iron Man equipment, showing us the minimap of the local terrain along with other vital information. I wasted no time and released hydreigon, beckoning the other two to quickly climb up on his back.

"No time to be afraid, my dear girl, this is the fastest method we have to get there."

I pulled Zoe up as she visibly squashed the fear she had for Unova's apex predator like what Reed was also trying to do. Hydreigon let out a low roar as he began to hover higher into the air as I gave him the directions. The ruins soon entered our sight.

"That had to be a freaking castle."

"It's huge," I agreed with Zoe's observations the moment we were close enough to see what the ruins were all about. "Any of you spotted Rangers or the likes? It's hard to see anything when everything is all yellow."

"There," Zoe pointed to our two o'clock despite me being unable to see jack shit through the thick veil of sand blowing around us. I hope this doesn't devolve into a full blown sandstorm anytime soon because that will just make things worse.

"How'd you know? Aura?"

"Yeah, I can't describe how, I just know. Aura is weird like that," Zoe confirmed and I quickly tapped hydreigon on his back and signalled him to head to where Zoe had pointed. We spotted a group below and we quickly made our landing after we confirmed that they were not Plasmas.

I wasn't expecting to see a familiar face.

"Ooh, who's this? Hmm, you don't look half bad in this suit."

"Why are you here?" I asked, trying to ignore how Elesa was pacing in a circle around me and observing me from head to toe. I don't even know how she recognised me when I had a helmet on and covered from head to toe in a combat suit. She couldn't possibly recognise me through hydreigon alone, could she?

She slung an arm around me and even before I could say or do anything, I heard the shutter of a camera as the annoying woman just captured a selfie of us together using her phone.

"Smile~ There, one picture down."

"I was told there was an emergency," I deadpanned, trying to ignore how everyone gathered here was looking at us, some with their jaws hanging and I'm glad that my face was hidden from view through the helmet. Some were obviously very green in envy of me having a chance to take a selfie with the famous supermodel Elesa Euclid and I have no patience to deal with their idiocy.

"It sure is, that's why I'm also here," Elesa replied while tightening the scarf around her face to prevent the sand from going into her nose and mouth, now looking fully serious. "Look, this is complicated, but Team Plasma is involved and they have held several civilians hostage. These civilians are your typical nosy reporters trying to get a scoop they shouldn't be getting and have ventured beyond the keep out line that resulted in their kidnapping, but we are still duty bound to save their nosy selves. I will get someone else to brief you on the full situation, I only just arrived too. Follow me."

I recalled hydreigon and let bisharp out to walk alongside me. Elesa led us to another corner and I saw another familiar face there.

Right, the interpol, they are supposed to be here too.

Velda didn't recognise me as I was dressed from head to toe in a combat suit complete with a helmet, but that espeon of hers sure did. I could see how it had immediately turned its head in our direction the moment we were near, narrowing its eyes as if trying to confirm something until it suddenly stood up on its four feet in alarm and quickly pawed at its trainer to get her attention. There was a brief stillness as the espeon engaged in what I presumed was a telepathic conversation with its trainer, but Velda was looking at me right at the next second with an amused look on her face before deciding to just walk up to us.

"This is not how I expect for us to meet again. I really wouldn't have recognised you at all if it wasn't for Rena."

"Don't tell me that you are happy to see me, because I know you are not," I replied as Velda gave me a cheeky look that said otherwise, as if she somehow knew that I really do not like being seen in this stupid looking combat suit. This suit really goes against my aesthetic sense.

"You know each other?" Reed asked from behind me, to which I nodded.

"Unfortunately. BSA4, BSA5, you guys head over with Elesa first, I have something in private to say to her."

Zoe and Reed quickly followed after Elesa, leaving me and Velda alone.

"We only have a minute, tops, whatever you want to say, shoot it."

"Another two of us are here, including the one you, um-"

"Nearly sent to the afterlife a second time by my own hands?"

"To put it simply, yes. The other one has bright orange-red hair, female, Ground Specialist from Kalos, you can't miss her. Her name's Nova. The one I'm warning you about, her name's Skye, dark blue hair."

"She probably won't recognise me when I'm now looking like this, so-"

"Oh shoot, she's already here."

"Just act normally and pretend that nothing happened. See you."

I left and walked ahead to join my team. Right in front of us is the same person I vaguely remembered having crossed swords twice before, walking in the opposite direction to find Velda for whatever reasons. Now that I have the opportunity to get a proper and closer look, her appearance really does resemble Falkner in several aspects.

So this is Skye, the fellow reincarnator who I had nearly killed twice.

I decided to heed Velda's well intentioned tipoff because it would not benefit anyone if our complicated past with each other created a scene. I discreetly signalled to the ghost hiding within my shadow to cloak me with its dark type aura just in case Skye has a psychic type with her too that might recognise me.

Skye and I walked past each other without her recognising who I really am. I simply head for the makeshift tent that was set up and where Elesa, Zoe, and Reed are already at. Velda and Skye joined us soon after, with Velda sneaking in uneasy nervous glances between me and Skye every now and then but Skye didn't seem to realise that she was now within close vicinity of her almost-to-be killer, which I guess is good for me. Things will be very awkward if she does find out and we have a mission to prioritise right now. It would be bad if our personal feelings get in the way.

The situation was just like what Megan had briefed us about. A huge ancient ruin which was most likely a castle over 2,500 years ago was recently being discovered and unearthed. An interpol member was the one who helped make that possible, and that person is the Kalos Ground Specialist, Nova. This was why the interpol was also here. However, it was impossible to hide the discovery of something so physically huge from Team Plasma and they tried to sneakily pillage the ruins only to be caught red-handed by the Rangers stationed here to guard this ruin. Their escape routes were cut off and they would have been apprehended if it wasn't for Team Plasma's untimely discovery of a few nosy reporters who had been hiding nearby, clearly having trespassed areas that were clearly not allowed to. In the end, the reporters were quickly being taken hostages by Team Plasma, preventing the Rangers from proceeding with the arrest. Taking advantage of the situation, the Plasmas quickly retreated to the depths of the ruins where it was still uncharted and unknown territory and they somehow managed to rile up the wild pokemon population nearby while they were at it, complicating this entire situation. This was clearly out of the Rangers' capabilities to resolve and thus, both the interpol and EDGE were being called in.

This will quickly escalate and it wouldn't be long before this hostage situation makes its way onto the news. Thus, there is a need to resolve this as soon as possible. This was why Elesa was called here, since she is one of the Pillars assigned to be at the forefront in the battle against the Plasmas in the first place.

"Thoughts?" Elesa nudged me with her elbow once the Ranger commander in charge of this area had finished briefing us about the incident. Her action immediately drew all eyes to me and from that smug look on her face, she's doing this on purpose.

Annoying woman.

I took a closer look at the map, observing the positions of the known entrances and exits of the ruin.

"This ruin is still very much buried underground. How good do radios work in the ruins?"

"Works well enough for the first two floors. Any lower than that, it really depends. If there's a sandstorm inbound, assume the worst," the Unova Ranger replied.

"You are the Ground Specialist?" I looked at the only orange-red hair woman in the room and she nodded. So she's one of the seven?

"Are your ground types good enough to sense the Plasmas through seismic vibrations? What is their detection range?"

"If you want a more detailed detection, about a hundred metres. Any further than that and they could only give us a vague idea of the direction they are probably at if they picked anything up. There are also wild pokemon in the ruins, so there's a possibility that we might mix those up with the Plasmas too."

In short, not very reliable. Next.

"Your espeon?" I asked Velda.

"The entire place is running amok with ghosts and dark types, the energies they are constantly emitting will be a huge hindrance. Thanks to that, teleportation within the place is going to be really difficult, we had already tested that out. I can probably convince the ghosts to not interfere, but there are also sightings of… Skye, remind me once again what we spotted that day?"

"Krookodile, onix, claydols, cofagrigus, sandslash, and their respective evolutionary lines. Hopefully that is all, because if we encounter just one onix in such an enclosed space we are all royally screwed."

Velda can handle the ghost types like cofagrigus and if Nova really is one of us, she can probably handle the numerous ground types that were just mentioned. I can handle a bunch of krookodiles no problem.

"The main issue here is tracking and locating the Plasmas and the hostages. Unfortunately, it seems that we have no choice but to comb the place the old-fashioned way because of how little we know of the layout of the interior, and also having to take into account the interferences from all of the wild ghosts and dark pokemon in there. Ranger, can I trust your Rangers to surround the ruin such that not even a single sandshrew can slip out?"

"You have my word."

"Good. EDGE will lead this operation. Interpol, I heard a little of what you guys are capable of from Velda. Any ghost and ground types we encounter along the way, I leave it to you. As for the rest, EDGE will handle it. Now, does anyone know if the Plasmas are expecting any reinforcements?"

"As far as we know, no, but we certainly should prepare for that possibility," Velda spoke up. I turned to Elesa.

"My fair lady, if you will be so gracious as to-"

"Keep that sass to yourself. I was planning to do just that in the first place, that's why I'm here, I'm the deterrence. Now go do your job and save those idiots from the Plasmas."

I would have rolled my eyes, but nobody would see it anyway.

"Alright, let's go."


"This is such a brutal method of advancing forward."

"We don't have the time. Every second wasted is one second more dangerous for the hostages and they had already gone for more than four hours without water and food at the very least. We are in a desert. Add the Plasmas, the estimated time we would need to locate them, and the irritated wild pokemon into the equation, the amount of time they have left really isn't much. If you have any better ideas I'm all ears. Ninetales, Roar."

Ignoring Velda's opinion of my method, Ninetales let out a deafening Roar, scaring away the pokemon in the vicinity who were too afraid of challenging us. The other stronger ones who were not intimidated instead took this as a challenge.

They didn't even take two steps forward before they slumped and fell unconscious thanks to ninetales' Hypnosis.

"You sure you need us here at all?" I heard Skye calling from behind with a hawlucha and jumpluff accompanying her.

"He could probably do this solo," Zoe shrugged with her mienshao beside her and I cuffed her at the back of her head for that remark.

"What did I always tell you? Underestimating or overestimating your own or your enemies' capabilities is one of the fastest ways to die."

"Sorry," Zoe apologised. "Um, I think I sense something from that way?"

"Sense something?" Nova questioned in curiosity.

"We are EDGE, we are all Ability Holders. She can utilise a little of Aura, which gives her a little bit of sensing capabilities," Reed helpfully explained as I quickly added.

"Just like the three of you. Six Ability Holders should be able to finish this successfully, no?"

"I couldn't tell you guys were like us," Skye said as we progressed deeper down the first flight of stairs we found.

"Less talking, more walking. Eyes sharp, straight ahead. Spiritomb, see if you can reason with them."

Spiritomb emerged from my shadows and floated far ahead where I sensed a large group of dark type pokemon prowling agitatedly, probably already sensing our presence. These are probably a pack of krookodiles and their fellow evolutionary species.

"Guess they are not up for a friendly negotiation," Velda looked as if she was trying her best not to laugh at my failed attempt when we saw the krookodiles charging right at us instead. Hypnosis won't work on krookodiles thanks to their dark typing, a change in plans is required.

"I can try. My ability is ground based," Nova offered.

"Don't bother, we are running out of time," I waved my hand and signalled for them to stand down. "Bisharp, show them we mean business."

Bisharp charged ahead with a burst of speed, delivering a powerful blow with a Sucker Punch to the first krookodile it sees before firing a Focus Blast, knocking the entire group of snappy krookodiles away and sending them running away in fear, leaving the first krookodile behind twitching on the ground in pain. Good, now they get the memo.

"Alright, since you have now cooled down enough to talk," I walked up to the fallen but still conscious krookodile and knelt down to face it while bisharp put a foot on its long snout to prevent it from snapping anyone with its jaws.

"You are making friends with it too?" Reed joked.

"What do you expect, he makes friends with anyone and everyone," Zoe added.

"Keep quiet, the both of you, there's always a right place and time for jokes and this is not the time. We are on a mission," I snapped at Zoe and Reed, who immediately straightened their backs and went silent, knowing that I really meant business this time. I turned back to the krookodile.

"Have you encountered any other humans other than us recently? If so, where are they?"

The krookodile let out a painful whimper. Great, it does know.

"Lead the way."

The krookodile reluctantly dragged its battered body and stood up under bisharp's watchful glare, leading the way forward because it understood that it was in no position to bargain after the stunt it tried to pull. It led us to a deadend before it began to burrow and quickly dig a sandpit before disappearing altogether.

"We are jumping into that?" Reed asked doubtfully.

"This looks exactly like one of those typical sandpits that krookodiles are known to dig to travel from place to place underground. It will definitely lead somewhere, but there's no telling if it will lead us to a trap on the other end," Nova spoke up.

"Let me scout," Velda volunteered as a banette materialised from her shadows and dove into the sandpit. It rejoined us not long after and chittered excitedly to Velda.

"Coast is clear. Let's go."

"Bisharp, take point. Everyone else, follow after me. BSA4, you are the last man."

"Got it."

We jumped into the sandpit one after the other, dropping down in another separate room that we wouldn't have found otherwise. The large amount of sand below cushioned our fall as we stood up and began to survey our surroundings. The krookodile from before had already used this chance to vanish on us. Smart.

"I can go up there and take a look," Reed pointed upwards and immediately began to swiftly climb up a nearby pillar with nothing but his hands and feet, shocking the interpol members as they witnessed this world's version of spiderman in action. Reed didn't seem to sense their shock as he looked around and observed the room from his superior vantage point.

"Clear, no pokemon or Plasmas sighted, but I see two different routes at the ten o'clock and two o'clock positions, which one are we heading for?"

"Radios are not working, and I can't sense anything helpful either," Zoe helpfully reminded us of the restrictions we faced.

"We split up?" Velda suggested and after a few seconds of thinking, I am inclined to agree. We cannot afford to waste anymore time because the civilians are in a really dangerous predicament. We really need to bail them out of here as soon as possible, then we can focus on dealing with the Plasmas and any angry wild pokemon we might come across.

"Nova, BSA4, BSA5, you three are a team, take the route on the right. BSA4, you take temporary command, prioritise the rescue and don't split your group any smaller than this. Velda, Skye, you guys are with me," I decided after trying to balance the skills and firepower of both teams. I am undoubtedly the most powerful among the six. Skye is a Flying Specialist, which will mean her abilities will be severely hindered in this environment where most of her heavy hitters are not able to properly fight in enclosed spaces. We will balance each other out. Velda's ghosts can fill in the role of searching for the missing civilians. Zoe and Reed had been working with each other for a long time so there's no need to break them up, Nova's ground types also have sensing and detection capabilities, so those three will make another balanced team.

I quickly led Velda and Skye to take the route on the left. We encountered a few more bunch of angry wild pokemon, but ninetales alone was enough to scare most of them off. If not, they still have bisharp and spiritomb to deal with.

"Still nothing?"

Velda shook her head, telling me that her ghosts still have no luck in locating the people we were supposed to find. Skye had released a crobat and sigilyph out as well and fortunately, that sigilyph had not recognised me for who I am yet, probably due to a mixture of my dark inclination and spiritomb's dark aura cloaking me from its psychic senses.

"Another dead end?"

"Should we just burrow deeper?" Velda asked and I simply shrugged. I don't really care about the historical value of this place anyway, never had been much of a history person.

"Go ahead."

Velda released a nidoqueen which began to burrow deeper like what the krookodile had done. We soon dropped ourselves into the resulting sandpit, finding ourselves in another room.

"This room looks important."

"Probably," I agreed with Skye's observation as we looked around the room. We split up for a bit to observe the place a little better due to the much larger size of the room, decorated with intricately carved pillars adorned with faded murals that proved to be an annoying obstruction to our line of sight. We were halfway into looking for a way to head deeper into the ruins when a large tremor occurred and shook the entire ruins with it, causing us all to stumble and fall.

"Earthquake?!" Velda shouted in surprise as her shadows immediately swirled protectively around her.

"No, this is no earthquake! Something is coming!" Skye yelled just as the wall nearest to her suddenly exploded into smithereens, sending dust, sand, and shattered bricks flying everywhere as a huge onix spotted us and roared. Skye herself had barely managed to roll away in time.

Just our damn luck.

"Run!" I commanded as I signalled for ninetales to try and capture the enraged onix with a Hypnosis, knowing that this is the worst kind of environment to encounter such a pokemon. In this world, size does matter no matter how weak or strong the pokemon might be.

We were in a bad position to cast Hypnosis not just because we were further away from Skye, but also because the onix's attention was not on us at all. The most skilled user of Hypnosis I had trained was gengar who could cast Hypnosis without relying on the target's sense of sight but neither exeggutor, ninetales, or spiritomb had reached that level of skill and now we have no clear line of sight with the onix's eyes.

"SKYE!" Velda shouted as I spotted from the corner of my eye how she was planning to jump right into the fray to try and save Skye. Skye was in a very bad position herself with one arm looking like it's dislocated. Her flying types were not able to properly protect her due to them being unable to fight at their full strength in such a confined environment. The onix was really too close to them to the point that Skye had to keep running and dodging in order to not get squashed like a pancake and that onix was really too huge. I wouldn't be surprised if it was on the cusp of being able to naturally evolve into a steelix soon, as rare as such an occurrence is in the wild.

To make things worse, this room was about to cave in anytime soon thanks to that onix. It's really just a matter of time.

"VEL, DON'T COME OVER! YOU WILL ONLY COMPLICATE MATTERS! JUST FOCUS ON STAYING ALIVE YOURSELF!" I yelled and dashed as fast as I could towards Skye, releasing greninja and weavile as they immediately leapt forward and bombarded the onix with a combination of Water Pulse and Ice Beam upon my silent command. Greninja's long tongue shot out, quickly wrapping itself around Skye's waist and pulled her over to us and I caught her. Skye's flying types immediately pulled back and surrounded themselves around us.

"Oh shit."

Skye's words summarised the situation we were in as the floor underneath us gave way with a loud crack. I quickly recalled all of my pokemon except for greninja and spiritomb as we made our freefall. Skye's flying types tried to catch us but the falling debris were in the way, forcing them to flit about left and right to avoid the debris while desperately trying to get to us.

"Water Shuriken on the debris! Hit them all!"

Greninja wasted no time in firing a volley of Water Shurikens, hitting each and every debris he could see in an impressive display of accuracy and power and clearing the space around us as he shattered the debris into nothing. Skye's flying types were finally able to reach and hold us, desperately trying and successfully managing to eventually slow our fall with their little bodies, allowing us to land safely.

Another loud crash shook the place and we looked up to find the source of it. That same onix was still giving chase as it dove at us from above, barging in with its mouth opened wide.

"You've pissed me off now," I heard Skye cursing from where I am currently carrying her in my arms as she began to command her pokemon to counterattack. "Cotton, Sleep Powder! Hawk, kick it to oblivion!"

Skye's jumpluff immediately met onix's charge, releasing a large cloud of Sleep Powder midflight and the effect was instantaneous. The onix began to wobble only to be suddenly greeted with a powerful High Jump Kick from Skye's hawlucha that cracked its rocky hide on the side of its face, sending a few hundred kilograms of living rock snake flying from the impact alone.

Not gonna lie, that was impressive.

Skye primed a pokeball with her uninjured arm and threw it at the onix, her aim finding true and sucking the onix in before it could land on us and smash us into paste from its weight alone.

"Quick thinking," I cannot help but praise when the pokeball bounced back into Skye's waiting palm. Her quick reaction was what allowed us to not get smashed by the onix while resolving the entire situation beautifully.

"You're not half bad either," she replied before letting out a grunt of pain. I quickly let her down, spotting her badly dislocated left arm. She herself had broken out in a cold sweat from the unbearable pain but was still able to hold on nonetheless.

"I don't think anything is broken-" she gritted out and hearing that, I decided to take action before she realised what I was trying to do. This way, the pain would only be temporary.

"ARGH! FUCK YOU!" She screamed when I suddenly reset her arm back into its socket where it rightfully belonged when she least expected it. She remained silent for a while, gasping for air but I could tell that she was quickly recovering from the pain now that her arm had been set back into the socket.

"... Thanks," she breathed out once she recovered enough to do so. I unclipped my water canteen and offered it to her, which she took and drank a gulp from it before passing it back to me.

"You're welcome. Are you injured anywhere else?"

"No, don't think so," Skye shook her head. "Vel?"

"Separated. We can only keep going forward and trust in her abilities that she can handle herself. This is the only option left."

"That fucking onix," Skye groaned and leaned her head backwards and I cannot help but let out a huff of agreement. Who would have ever thought that a single onix was enough to get us into such a predicament? The pokemon world is truly a dangerous place even for Elite trainers, especially its untamed wilderness. Just one misstep or misjudgement can easily end your life if you are unlucky enough.

"We can't just stay here forever, come, get on. Don't think I didn't spot how you were limping," I lowered myself and offered to carry her in a piggyback, knowing that she was still reeling from the earlier pain to be able to move properly. Her left arm won't be working with full functionality for a few hours at the very least and I knew for a fact that I wasn't seeing things when she was trying to hide how she was limping on one leg. From her reaction earlier, that dislocation had probably injured some of her nerves rather badly, and she might or might not be suffering from a sprain in her ankle.

"I can-"

"We have people to save and we don't have time. Just get on, then we can go get you the doctor you need. I'm confident that I had set your arm back properly, but there's no guarantee. Go get it checked when we get back later."

"Thanks," Skye eventually accepted my offer as she climbed up onto my back, allowing me to carry her for now. I spotted a route ahead and continued to walk forward.

"Do you have a name? Or am I going to keep calling you Hey, you, that guy?" Skye asked from where she was on my back while we were making our way further down, probably to break the awkward silence between us.

"BSA6."

"Just a codename? You are not allowed to tell me your name?"

"Indigo Rangers are not allowed to tell anyone their true name on their missions either," I rebuked.

"How did you know I was an Indigo Ranger?" Skye asked and I can hear the perplexed tone in her voice. I had thought long and hard about it ever since I was made aware that she was here. I had killed, I had massacred, I had slaughtered countless people regardless if they deserved it or not. I cannot erase and undo what I had done but I was given a second chance to live, a chance that I think I am most undeserving of. My loved ones are encouraging me to change for the better and I am trying. I'm trying to constantly remind myself that I am no longer Operative 2046, Executive Plague, or Jacob Myers. That part of my past is long buried.

But there's this one line of thought that keeps coming back to haunt me from time to time. What if my past sins caught up to me one day? What if someone confronted me for a deed I once committed and scream vengeance? Like how this Ranger is to me, or how Gwen might one day find out that I was the one who killed her father and is the reason why she will never go fishing with him again, what would I do then? If I truly want to change and not be the Rocket's Exterminator ever again, what do I have to do?

I think I have already come to an answer myself.

"I was from Indigo. Pretty sure I met you before, your aerodactyl was kinda hard to forget," I said and recalled all of my pokemon before they could react. That didn't go unmissed by Skye.

"Why do you do that? We are still in dangerous territory."

"Your pokemon are more than enough. You have a sigilyph and a crobat keeping a lookout, let mine take a short break. That said, your aerodactyl still doing well?"

"We really met before?" Skye cannot help but question curiously. "Were you a Ranger too? When? Where? I would have remembered someone as skilled as you."

"In order of your questions, yes, no, we met two times before. Cherrygrove Nature Reserve and Johto National Park where I nearly killed you twice, ring a bell now? Now that my dark types are gone and not cloaking me from psychics, your sigilyph should be able to start recognising me soon."

Silence fell, the air went still. I stopped moving my feet, waiting for an answer.

"It's you."

"It's me."

"You… You-!"

"There is a holster strapped onto my right thigh where my dagger is. I am currently defenceless, my hands full trying to carry you and unable to defend myself, so if you want to use that dagger to end my life by all means, go ahead. My advice to you, go for the neck. From my past experiences a good slash at the neck allows one to die more swiftly and painlessly, I call it an act of mercy. If you want to go straight for my heart, then please aim it in between the fourth and fifth ribs on my left side, or else I will just be bleeding out in a tortuously painful long death. Of course, feel free to drag out the pain for as long as you want if torturing me makes you feel better."

I felt my dagger being unsheathed in one swift motion and pressed against my neck. I can feel her breathing heavily in anger, I can feel her entire body trembling in rage.

"Why?"

"Why what? You have to be more specific, my fellow traveller from the other world. Have you met God? I certainly haven't but I really do want to ask him the same question too. Why? Why me? Why this? But alas, God's not real and I haven't been much of a believer myself."

"Don't fuck around with me," she hissed, pressing my dagger much more painfully against my neck. "You nearly killed me twice you sick fuck. I will never forget that. I will never forget how many died that day at the park. It happened all because of you."

"Me neither, but I had to do what needed to be done as Operative 2046. I'm not going to explain myself, I'm too tired to and it will take all day, time that we really don't have. If you want to end my life, do it now where my pokemon are unable to defend me, where nobody will know what truly happened and where my family cannot seek retribution. All I ask is for you to return my pokemon back to my family, that's all, and to never reveal what goes on today."

"Don't you ever have nightmares?" She asked, her voice hoarse and choked. "Don't… Whatever shit you pulled as a Rocket, all those people who lost their families and pokemon and loved ones… Don't… Don't you ever feel anything? Something?! At least once?! Do you know how many died that day?! Do you?! BECAUSE I DO! I STILL REMEMBER THOSE SCREAMS! THEY SCREAMED BECAUSE OF YOU AND I COULDN'T SAVE THEM! IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!"

Skye was not even bothering to try and hide her anger and sorrow by now, all that fills the silence are her sobs and heavy breathing.

"Whether I feel anything or not, does it matter? I was always told that it's all for the greater good. My opinions never mattered."

Another uneasy silence befell us, the only sounds filling the air are her choked and angry sobs and the sound of flapping wings of her flying types.

"You really are a part of that… Project Illusion? That day, at the Dark Cave, was it really you fighting it out with Giovanni?"

"You knew about that? Colour me surprised."

"I arrived just right after that battle ended, I saw you propped up on those spikes, cut you out from it even. I should have recognised those dark types of yours sooner. I really should."

"Should I say thank you?"

"I… I only have the vaguest idea of Project Illusion, never read too much into it, but if it's true… Then… fuck. Fuck this. Fine. Fine. FINE! But don't misunderstand, you sick fuck, I'm not going to forget what you did to me, ever, and forget about asking for forgiveness. I'm not a fucking saint, I'm petty as fuck. I'm not going to ever forgive somebody who nearly killed me twice no matter what kind of excuse it is. Murder is murder, there's no sugarcoating it. People always have a choice, they always do. You made the choice to be a mass murderer and that is where I draw the fucking line."

People always have a choice. She's right, Hypnosis or not, I always did have a choice. Even when the Hypnosis was removed from my mind I still chose to go ahead with what I did, to continue to be a Rocket to advance my own selfish plans.

She's right, I'm one sick fuck. I totally deserved that.

"Heard you loud and clear. You are right, murder is murder, that is a fact. I fully expected to die that day, hoping that my death by Giovanni's hands would atone for everything, but fate apparently had other plans for me. If it helps, I'm sorry, I really am, but that doesn't mean anything now, does it?"

"I know the prophecy said that we are supposed to band together and all that shit, but I'm never going to trust you. I will never acknowledge you. I had sworn to save everyone I could possibly save when I became a Ranger and it is still something I uphold till today but you, are my one and only exception up on my list. You'd better pray that you will never be at my mercy from today onwards. Remember that. You jolly well remember that. If I am stuck between choosing to save you or to let you die, I will let you die. I will murder you, indirectly, that is my choice."

"As you are entitled to. Now, have you come to a conclusion on whether you want to kill me or let me go? Because if it's the latter, we still have people to save."

The silence that followed was the most deafening sound I ever heard, but Skye eventually hatefully threw my dagger down onto the ground. The sound of the metal object hitting the floor felt louder than thunder.

"Let me down."

I let her down, allowing her to walk on her own because it's obvious that she no longer wants to accept my help after knowing my true identity. I picked up my dagger, resheathed it back into its holster, before turning back to face her and pushing up the visor that hid my face from her. This time, no more secrets. I am tired of those.

"Just in case you need a face to match the name, Jayce Dandolos."

"It really is you. Those damn eyes of yours, I never once forgot about it. Your face, I will remember it. Your name, I will remember it. All of it, very clearly."

I snapped my visor back into its rightful place and released a select few of my pokemon once more. They looked at me in confusion, silently asking me for a reason behind that unexplainable act of recalling them back into their pokeballs earlier, but I simply signalled for them to carry on with our original objective. They didn't question any further.

I walked ahead, leaving her to follow after me from behind.

Be nice. Try to change.

Had I done well trying to do so?

I hope so.

I really hope so.


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