"So let me get things straight. You encountered Ghetsis' Shadow Triad, somehow barged into their teleportation field when it was on the brink of activation and survived, and now here you are. How are you still alive?"

Jacob levelled him a stare that properly conveyed if I hear one more nonsensical thing from you I will end you without verbalising it. Fine, his fellow Card is an uptight one, he gets the hint.

Colress had invited Jacob into his personal lab where he's confident that they can both freely talk without worrying about being eavesdropped upon. Jacob is obviously on the side of the Unova League and probably investigating whatever crimes the Plasmas were up to until he accidentally wound up here.

"The kidnappings, is Team Plasma behind it?"

"That's the Ascended Project. Long story short, Team Plasma found a way to create artificial Ability Holders by implanting organs from Ability Holders to non-Holders. Organ theft at its finest, if you will," Colress replied while sipping on some hot tea at his desk, with Jacob sitting on the other side of said desk. He had tried offering his fellow Card a drink but the offer was simply not reciprocated.

"Where are the abductees held?"

"Too many places for me to list down, but I believe there should be some held here. Why? Rescuing them?"

"They took someone from me."

"Oof. Good luck trying to find him or her then. What are you going to do if you cannot find him or her?"

"Then I will send you down to meet her myself."

"... Is that a threat?" Colress inquired hesitantly, not really sure what kind of opinion he should be formulating over this unexpected answer. To make things worse, Jacob is definitely a better trainer than he is. Colress had never taken much of a shine to pokemon battles beyond needing to master the necessary to defend himself.

Colress read the line What do you think? from Jacob's eyes. Fine, he supposed he can help that much for a fellow Card. He would rather piss Ghetsis and the Shadow Triad off than to displease the monsters that made up the Cards of Tarot. He understands very clearly his place in the pecking order within that congregation of monsters.

"What other plans are Team Plasma hatching?"

"Now that's really asking for too much," Colress drew the line in his answer. He could tell Jacob what he knew but the fact that only a handful are privy to Ghetsis' upcoming plans also meant that it would be very simple to trace back to the source of the leak, if any. Colress doesn't want things to change so soon if he can help it. He's rather comfortable with his current arrangement.

"This is not their headquarters."

"No, it's not."

"Where is it then?"

"I cannot say."

"Those ninjas-"

"You mean the Shadow Triad."

"Are they still here?"

"Already left as far as I'm aware. They don't usually wander too far away from Ghetsis unless they have to."

"They used some sort of pink gas of psychic nature. It makes people fall asleep. What is it?"

"From the descriptions I believe what you encountered was the Dream Mist. It's something that can only be extracted from Munna and Musharna."

"Team Plasma's "King", who is it?"

"He's not important, just a puppet that Ghetsis strung along as an instrument to lead Team Plasma from the shadows. At best, he's just a powerful pokemon trainer. You should be focusing your efforts on Ghetsis himself. He's the true leader of Team Plasma."

"Their backer is Isaac Euclid. At the very least, one of the bigger ones."

"Bingo. Surprised you managed to deduce that much."

"How do I find Isaac Euclid? Or evidence that proves his association to Team Plasma?"

"Now that's beyond my paygrade."

"How much influence do you have in Team Plasma?"

"Hmm, it really depends on the context. But right here? Enough," Colress readily admitted. "That said, mind doing me a favour? I need you to bring some people out from here for me."

"Reason."

Colress flashed Jacob a polite smile. If Jacob is on the side of the Unova League, then the Genesect Project is enough reason for him to not refuse his request.


Never in my wildest imagination would I expect to meet a Card of Tarot right here, but it's also thanks to him that I learnt information that I wouldn't be able to obtain otherwise.

So, agreeing to his request to help the person who he idolised escape from here was a trade I believed is worth making, especially when the person was being abducted here and coerced to advance Team Plasma's crazy plans. The Genesect Project which he revealed was equally worrying. That fossil was supposed to be in the hands of the Unova League, the one which I wanted to use as a bargaining chip in my initial plans to infiltrate deep into Team Plasma's inner circle, but apparently Team Plasma already had their hands on it quite some time back.

Very worrying indeed.

Colress very helpfully provided me the floorplan of this place which Team Plasma referred to as the P2 Laboratory. He had also marked out where the abducted people that were shipped here were held and also where his so-called idol, Marianne Kahale, was held alongside a scientist named Shannon Juniper.

I definitely recognised those names. Alice had gotten me to investigate Marianne Kahale back when I was still a Rocket. Shannon is the niece of Cedric Juniper and also the person who was there for my younger brother in his last moments; my father had shared that much with me. Just for that alone I owe it to her to get her out of here.

That said, if my memories weren't failing me weren't they both members of the interpol? How on earth were they captured by Team Plasma?

Infiltrating where they were held became so much easier the moment I had a reliable floorplan to navigate through the P2 Laboratory. This is also an opportunity to allow spiritomb more practice with Hypnosis. He's gotten a lot more proficient in this move over the months we had been living in Unova, to the point that he's now starting to be able to control his hypnotised targets from afar like what gengar had once done. It will still take a long while for spiritomb to reach gengar's expertise but that is fine. For now, spiritomb's level of proficiency in this move is enough for our cause.

What I observed about this building from the outside was just the figurative tip of the iceberg. Once I entered, I soon found out that it had underground basements built into it and a quick observation allowed me to deduce that it was at least five storeys deep and perhaps far deeper if I had the luxury to fully explore this place. Most of the occupants in the holding room which I had infiltrated were scientists, which suited me just fine because they didn't put up much of a fight at all. Hypnosis easily solved all of my problems.

So far, nothing of note.

I found where Mary and who I assumed to be Shannon were held soon enough, in a cell behind bars where they were being locked up. Her long dark blue hair, pale complexion… Yup, it's her, exactly as I remembered.

"Marianne Kahale?" I asked the moment I was close enough. She wasn't yet asleep, probably too high strung to fall into proper sleep in the first place. She took one look at the Plasma uniform that I am wearing and a scowl was immediately present on her face. Can't blame her for that.

"What do you guys want now?"

"Is she Shannon Juniper?" I pointed to the other woman around Leticia's or Lexus' age beside her. From the look on her face, I assumed that I was right. I know that she doesn't trust me for very good reasons and I don't blame her for it. I also do not have the time to explain in detail. All she needs to know is that I'm here to get her out.

"Spiritomb."

Spiritomb easily got them out with a Shadow Sneak. The surprise on their faces was mildly amusing.

"Follow me."

Their presences were easily hidden with zoroark's illusions at play. Thanks to the battle with the ninjas who I now know are referred to as the Shadow Triad from what Colress had so helpfully revealed, I now only have spiritomb, zoroark, Nosy, and hydreigon with me. I need to play my hand smart if I want this jailbreak to be successful.

"You…"

"Am here to get you out, among other things. Now, please be quiet. Zoroark's illusions are useful in keeping you hidden but he had never quite mastered the art of using his illusions to mask unneeded noise. We are deep within enemy lines without backup, I'm sure you can understand the implications of what that means."

"My son is also-"

"I'm aware, that's where we are headed to next. Now hush, let me work in peace."

That was enough to ensure their cooperation as I led them through the maze of corridors to my next destination. Colress had also emphasised that Mary's son was also held hostage here and that I have to get him out.

We soon arrived at a door which looks to be an entrance to another lab. Nosy helpfully opened it for us and we walked in. We spotted a surprised scientist who clearly didn't expect our presence but spiritomb got to him before he could get another word out. This should be the place.

A wail sounded out right after spiritomb knocked out the scientist and I had to do a double take. Is that a baby crying? Could that be Mary's son?

"Silver!" Mary quietly exclaimed and I looked at her in incredulity. Whose name did she just say again?

The wail came from a sideroom located just at the side and that was where we entered, spotting the baby lying in a makeshift cot that was crudely put together in a rush job. My body stilled the moment I saw the toddler, because why on earth is he here?

He's gotten a lot bigger now but there's no way I would not recognise the child she picked up in her arms. Yes, this is definitely Silver. There's no way I can mistake that shade of red hair he inherited from his mother and there's no way that I'm going to mistake this baby to be anyone else when I frequently had to resort to using my finger as a pacifier in my desperate attempts to calm him down. He's a lot bigger now, being able to crawl around from how he's trying to escape his confinement while wailing out loud. Seeing him just reminded me of just how long it had been since Team Rocket was dissolved.

I have to get him out of here. I don't know how and why Silver is here but I have to get him out of here. I owe Giovanni and Alice too much.

Mary's eyes were fixed on Silver the entire time and nothing else, and at this moment I finally understood just who Alice had entrusted her son to before her demise. Colress said that Team Plasma had her son hostage but he probably wasn't aware that Mary's son was adopted. I watched quietly as the woman checked him over and over again to make sure he's okay. If Alice trusted this woman to take care of Silver then I will place my trust in her too. With Silver's unexpected presence, I now have another reason to see to the successful completion of this task.

"His crying would attract attention," Shannon's face was slightly scrunched up in apprehension when Silver would just not stop crying despite Mary's best attempt to coax him. She made a very valid point, which prompted me to walk over to Mary since there's really no other way.

"May I?"

Mary was apprehensive but she understood her priorities. I easily picked Silver up in a way he used to love me doing so when he was so much younger. I knew he still loved it when he went silent immediately and stopped crying but damn it, he's so much heavier now. Do babies grow this fast?

Well, at least he's sucking on his own finger now instead of mine.

"Seriously? How?" Shannon was shocked at how I did the impossible when even Mary couldn't do so. I'm never going to admit that a small part of me was secretly proud of what I just did.

"I used to be his favourite. Alice was a very good friend of mine," I replied, and I knew they filled in some of the missing blanks I purposely left for them to infer judging from how their eyes had widened momentarily. They would be privy to certain information as interpol members.

"You were a Rocket."

"No longer relevant. I have to get you guys out of here."

Besides getting the three of them out of here I also had a self-imposed mission to complete as well. If it's possible I wish to also rescue the Ability Holders that Colress told me that Team Plasma abducted for their crazy Ascended Project, the one where they create artificial Ability Holders to bolster their military strength through organ theft. I am hoping that this will be where Iris is held because I dread to imagine what it would mean if she isn't among the people who I will be rescuing tonight.

We somehow succeeded in evading detection and finally reached the place Colress told me was where Team Plasma held all the abductees they were planning to "harvest." The fact that it is now late at night might have been a factor. The room we entered looked more like a prison than anything else. I did a quick sweep of my surroundings and to my pleasant surprise, found the person who I had been worrying about.

I'm very, very lucky tonight. For once, my plans actually went according to plans.

"Champ? Hey, champ. Wake up, champ. It's me."

Right in one of the cells was Iris, curled up in a corner and had obviously cried herself to sleep. She had several scratches here and there but overall, seemed to be fine. I saw her eyelids slowly fluttering open at my voice, and I saw how she immediately jumped onto her feet and ran to me and tried to catch me in a hug only to be blocked by the bars of her cell.

"J-Jayce? Jayce! It really is you!"

"Yes, it's me," I heaved a mental sigh of relief upon finally seeing her for myself. She's fine and that's all that matters.

"J-Jayce?" Shannon stuttered, pointing a shaking finger at me as if she couldn't believe what she just heard. "You… You are…"

"Who you think I am," I answered, knowing that she must have deduced my identity. "Look, we can leave the tearful reunion for later. We have more important things to take care of."

As it is, everyone else in this makeshift prison is starting to stir. I don't need them to make a din and ruin all of my hard work.

"Spiritomb, get them to be quiet."

A widespread use of Hypnosis easily achieved that. If Mary and Shannon had anything to say about it, I'm not in the mood to listen. My champ and Silver are my priority here.

"Champ, I need you to take a few steps back and stay still. Spiritomb will get you out. No matter how funny it feels, don't resist it, okay?"

Iris nodded her head and obediently took a few steps backwards. Spiritomb easily got her out with Shadow Sneak and Iris wasted no time in running to my side and holding onto me. I bent down and caught her, patting her on the back when she began to cry uncontrollably in muffled sobs into my shirt. It was then I remembered that no matter how smart and mature she is, she is just a five year old girl that had just been through a very traumatic experience.

"It's fine now, Champ. I'm here, I'm here."

"T-They w-were so m-mean to me! T-They took away H-Haxy and they s-said they wanted t-to c-cut me up l-later and…"

"It won't happen, I promise. You did well, champ. You were very brave," I assured her as I carried her in my arms, letting her bury her face into my shoulder and bawling her eyes out. So they took Haxy away from her? I would need to try and find Haxy soon. Maybe the other rooms will have something.

"Do you know where Haxy is?" I asked, still patting her on the back as I stood back up to my full height while carrying Iris in one arm and Silver in another.

"I-I think i-it s-should be one of the other rooms on this floor, I can still sense him," Iris tried to get her words out through her sobs. She was obviously scared out of her wits but she did well. She was brave.

Still, those Plasma bastards better watch their backs because once I'm out of here they are going to wish that they had never been born.

Spiritomb had gotten all of the abductees out of their cells by now. The numbers are much smaller than I previously estimated it to be. I counted eleven in total, which is a manageable number to try getting out of here. Team Plasma probably held the bulk of the people they abducted in their other hideouts.

Or it could also be because there were more that were already dead simply because I wasn't able to arrive earlier to save them, but I'm not going to dwell on that possibility.

"Stand, arrange yourselves in a file."

The hypnotised abductees began moving as ordered like lifeless dolls. I heard Iris saying a very impressed wow at the sight. This is all spiritomb's work, at the rate he is going it won't be long before he soon joins the ranks of exeggutor and ninetales in becoming a professional hypnotist. Hopefully, sooner rather than later.

"Follow us as silently as possible."

Lady Luck really seemed to be smiling on us tonight when we found Haxy's pokeball in a nearby room among other pokeballs which I suspect Team Plasma had pillaged from unknown sources. After which, it was a return trip to Colress' personal lab. He claimed that he had a direct ticket to the surface that wouldn't attract anybody's attention and frankly, it's very difficult to escort such a huge group out of the P2 Laboratory like this without attracting attention of some kind even with spiritomb and zoroark around to help.

The obnoxious scientist with that ridiculous hairdo that is a complete eyesore had his eyes fixated on Mary the entire time the moment we entered. Not like that is my problem, but I cannot help but think that there's a few screws loose in his head from the look in his eyes.

"We meet again, Ms Kahale. See? I uphold my end of my bargain."

If he was a dog I could totally visualise how he would have been excitedly wagging his tail from the way he was so eagerly trying to claim credit for Mary's escape. He's trying so hard to impress Mary with such sincerity that I really don't know if I should laugh at his childish behaviour or respect the lengths that he will go for the person who he truly looks up to. Even Mary clearly had no idea how she should respond to this.

"... Thank you."

"How are you planning to get all of them out?" I decided to save Mary from the awkwardness of this conversation by asking the million dollar question. Colress gave his reply by pointing to a huge white tile on the floor of his lab that is obviously different from the rest, situated at a corner of his huge lab.

"Ever heard of the teleport tile? One step and poof, you arrive at the corresponding paired tile in the blink of an eye? I have to say, Silph Co certainly creates some marvellous things from time to time."

"And this leads to…?"

"Just the surface, I'm afraid, but at least it lowers the risk of everyone being discovered. Don't worry about being discovered the moment you arrive outside, I have contingencies in place. Just keep in mind that you have to find your own transportation out from this island thereafter."

"This is good enough," I decided. True to Colress' words, we arrived at the surface a fair distance away from the P2 Laboratory undetected the moment we were teleported via the tile. I have been living in this world for more than two decades but I still don't understand how the technology of this world works sometimes.

"Now how are you planning to get everyone out of here?" Colress asked in curiosity and I simply released hydreigon in answer. In total, I have thirteen adults, one child and one toddler to ferry out of here. It might be a little cramped but hydreigon should be large enough to carry everyone on his back if his passengers squeeze a little.

Colress pushed his glasses a little with his finger while taking a closer look.

"How did you tame this monster?"

"I can be charismatic when I want to be," I ignored Colress and ordered the hynotised abductees to climb atop hydreigon's back via spiritomb. I don't want to waste time on needless banter any longer.

"I'm returning him back to you," I carefully passed Silver back to Mary's arms, the toddler somehow falling asleep in my arms without me noticing when. Once done, I grabbed onto Iris and lifted her up as well, placing her on hydreigon's back.

I also passed over to Mary the communication device I previously plucked out from the combat suit I had changed out of and hidden somewhere on this island in favour of changing into a Plasma uniform for this infiltration. Needless to say, the uniform was forcefully taken from an unlucky Plasma to have caught my eye before I sunk him to the depths of the sea surrounding this little unmarked island.

"There is no signal in this part of the world so I believe this is only usable once you are closer to civilisation. To my knowledge, that would be Nuvema Town, I have instructed hydreigon to fly you all there. Once there is a signal, there are two numbers that you can use to call, the first two numbers on the contact list. One is a direct line to Leticia Dandolos, tell her Jayce sent you and that Iris is with you. You can tell her whatever you see and hear in here, she will know what to do. The other number directs you to a commander from USF EDGE. Likewise, you can inform her of your findings."

"J-Jayce? You are not coming?" Iris whispered when it became apparent that I will not be tagging along for the ride.

"I still have loose ends to tie up, champ," I explained and patted her on the head. "Wait for me back home, I will be back soon."

"B-But…"

"Do you trust me?" I asked and she nodded. It's obvious that she's smart enough to understand what was left unsaid but I'm still glad that she is willing to listen instead of throwing a tantrum that other kids her age would probably do.

"Do me a favour and bring these back to Let for me," I gave Iris a task in hope that it will distract her from the fact that I wouldn't be returning with her. Those are the pokeballs of my pokemon that did not follow me over to this unnamed island. It will be proof that I was alright and that Iris had indeed met me.

"O-Okay…" Iris was a little dejected but still gave me her promise. I knew I could count on her.

I might have found this place through an accident, but this is also an opportunity I need to uncover information that nobody else would be able to unearth. The Unova League had been too reactive to Team Plasma's actions due to the lack of information they could obtain about Team Plasma. Me staying here could possibly change that and I could also see if I could sabotage the Genesect Project in the meantime. There's no definite chance of success but it's a risk that I'm willing to take.

"We will take care of Iris," Shannon promised. "Um, thanks for everything."

"Thanks for being by Asher's side in his last moments as well," I replied in kind and motioned for hydreigon to take off under the cover of the night. I watched hydreigon flew off until they were unable to be seen and he blended in very well into the darkness. It was very fortunate that I managed to find Iris and get her out of here. Finding out just who Alice had entrusted Silver to and similarly rescued him from Team Plasma was an added bonus. I'm in a very good mood tonight.

The silence that I was enjoying was ruined by the scientist with a bad hairdo and who couldn't seem to keep his mouth shut.

"So… Jayce," Colress purposely emphasised my true name real hard instead of the false one I had given him in our very first meeting. Iris had unknowingly outed my true identity when she mentioned my name in Colress' presence, not that I blame her for it. "What are your plans now?"

"Are you currently in need of an assistant?"

"I don't take you to be a science type of guy."

"Looks can be deceiving."

"Just curious, what are you going to do if I refuse?"

"If Tarot is going to find itself short of a Magician, I can guarantee that they will also find themselves suddenly needing to replace their Hanged Man shortly after."

"... Is that a threat?"

"Threat? No, I'm just stating facts."

"Never heard such a bold-faced lie in my entire life."

"There's a first to everything."

"I'm not sure if I should hate you or like you for making things interesting in my otherwise dull life, but…" Colress held out a hand in my direction in faux politeness. "Here's to a fruitful collaboration anyway."

I looked at his extended hand, pondered about it for a few seconds, before accepting it with a handshake.

"Likewise."


Name: Jayce Dandolos

Age: 23

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: Colress Nikolai

Pokemon Team:

1. Metagross

2. Magnezone

3. Klingklang