When we arrive back at the arena the tournament is already in full swing. The trainers who lost their teams likely couldn't compete and were disqualified. Probably too late to change that, but we can at least reunite them with their companions.

We find one of them sitting at a table a ways from the competition, looking depressed. I don't exactly blame him.

"Hey!" I call out as I approach. He faces me for a moment before getting up and rushing towards me with hope and fear in his eyes.

"Did you find them? Are they hurt?" He asks cautiously.

I respond with a smile. "We found them. Safe and sound." I open the back and show him the collection of pokeballs. "You know which ones they are, right?

He stares for a moment at the bag. And in an instant elation floods over him as he quickly grabs half a dozen balls and releases the pokemon inside. "I never thought

I would see you guys again... I am so sorry I gave you up so easily. I really mean that. You all are so loyal to me. You deserve better than that."

"You're upset about needing to give us away, aren't you?" A Kirlia replies in pokespeak. "It's okay. We're not leaving you."

"They haven't left you, so I think they've forgiven you." I say.

The trainer turns to me. "Thank you so, so much. I owe you so much."

"Just doing what I can. Guessing you were disqualified?"

"I really don't care about that right now. I'm just glad everyone is safe."

"Be sure to deliver the rest of these to the other trainer that was there. I assume you know them?"

"Yeah. Brendan's a good friend of mine. I'll be sure his pokemon get back to him. That you so much. " He takes the bag from me and starts returning the pokemon to their balls. "Can I get a name before I go?"

"Call me Alex."

"Hilbert. Thanks again." He turns to leave with bag and pokeballs in tow. With everything taken care of we walk to the bleachers and take a seat next to Jackson and Josh to watch the remainder of the battles.

"Everything go well?" Jackson whispers to us.

"Very." I reply. "We freed everyone and got ahold of some suspicious devices. We can check them when we get back. For now, let's enjoy the event."

"Sounds good."

Mewtwo, I say telepathically through the link. You can head back home if you'd like. We'll meet back up with you later.

Before I do I have a question. When you rescued the pokemon from the camp, did you... feel... anything? That's an odd question coming from them.

What sort of "feel?" Like emotions?

Yes, emotions. Did the act elicit any sort of emotion?

I mean, yeah. Seeing all that work and effort result in someone reaching safety feels good. It's satisfying. Seeing their gratitude, relief and joy makes all the hardship worth it in the end. Why?

I believe I felt something similar to what you described when we rescued those pokemon. It feels alien to me. But... I want more.

A smile creeps over my face. Well then I'll see to it you have a chance to be involved next time we do something like this.

Why not simply create a situation where we would be in a position to save people? Would that not be more efficient? And just as quickly as my smile appeared, it vanishes.

No, Mewtwo. We're not going to be deliberately putting people at risk just to rescue them for a quick rush of pleasure.

Is that because your moral obligations prohibit you from performing such an act? Oh no, not this again... I'm not in the mood for another one of these conversations.

I... Ugh. Yes, because of my "moral obligations." We'll discuss it later. just head on home I'll see you later.

Very well. I feel Mewtwo's connection with me sever as he goes, leaving behind a dull headache in it's place. Guess having instant, silent communication without drawbacks was too much to ask for.

"You good, Alex?" Thunder whispers.

"Yeah. Just had a talk with Mewtwo."

"What's they say?"

"Let me get over this headache and then I can tell you." He nods and turns back to watch the battle. I do the same, occasionally tossing Josh insights into what exactly is happening on the field.

The ride home was filled with conversation. About the matches, about Josh hoping to submit an application for one of the fights and me giving him a brief crash course on Pokespeak at his request. It started well, considering just how different Pokespeak and human languages are. Whereas most human languages rely on words for getting the point across, most Pokemon lack the mouth and throat structure to make the range of sounds needed for such languages. Instead, each species makes whatever sounds they are most comfortable with, usually their species name, and instead encodes the information in the pitch, intonation, and tone of their voices. Hence that one word that they say can mean almost anything.

Teaching him that was the easy part. Having him say a coherent sentence was another matter entirely. What started as a simple attempt to say "Hello, my name is Josh" to Thunder ended up coming off as him brokenly insulting his family with language that you definitely would not use in polite company. The surprise of that was bad enough, but the aghast and confounded look on Thunder's face nearly broke me into laughter. How his attempt as speaking went that far off the rails is beyond me.

But with us arriving back home, my attention returns to more important matters. As Josh rushes inside, I pull Jackson aside to talk to him.

"So, what'd you find?" He asks.

I pull the disk devices out of the bag and show them to him. "I'm not sure what exactly they are. But they can't be good."

"Wait a minute... I recognize these. They're genetic tracking sensors. They're built where I work."

"Mind explaining for the less technically inclined?" Thunder asks.

"They can detect DNA traces up to two kilometers away. Devon Corp sells them to survey teams and researchers to help track pokemon in a particular region."

"DNA... That's the microscopic thing that has the instructions to build living things, right? I think Alex mentioned it at some point."

"Basically." I say. "To oversimplify, every living thing has a unique sequence of DNA. And DNA among the same species is very similar. So Rocket has genetic trackers that they're trying to set up. That means they're trying to track someone. I'm going to hazard a guess and say that someone is Mewtwo."

"And that would mean this has a sample of his DNA stored in it to use as a reference." Jackson adds.

"Is there a way for us to see that sample? It might give us some more insight into Mewtwo's origin."

"We'd need tools from Devon Corp to do so. Seeing as I work there-"

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable having you snooping around your workplace and risking your job for this."

Jackson sighs. "Alex, I appreciate your concern, but as I've said before, I've done stuff like this before. I've gone through mystery dungeons, fought criminals, and even saved Pokemar. I can handle myself with whatever comes."

"Wait." Thunder says. "You saved Pokemar? From what?"

"Asteroid impact resulting from progressively worsening natural disasters. You two aren't the only ones who've done crazy things."

"How long ago was this?"

"Probably 15 or so years." So three different apocalypse level threats in the span of 15 years... The frick is happening on that planet?! "But back to the point, I can be of use here. I want to help you. Anything I deal with there will be child's play compared to what I've already done."

"You really want back into the adventurer's life, don't you?" I ask.

"I thought I left that part of my life behind over a decade ago. A part of me almost thought is was some super vivid dream. But then you two drop into my life and remind me that is was real. That it did happen. Those wonderful days as part of a Rescue Team. I realized just how much I missed it."

"I get that. But it's still dangerous. Thunder and I go into this understanding that we will be fighting for our lives a lot of the time. And that death is a possible outcome. If you do this, you need to be ready to accept that. And all the consequences that your passing might bring. Like with Josh."

His expression darkens. "Alex, enough. I get it. I'm not a fool. I can make my own decisions."

"I'm sorry, Jackson. I just would hate to see a tragedy play out. You two deserve a good life."

His gaze softens slightly. "Alright. I do intend to go looking, though. And don't worry about me getting fired. Worst case scenario is that I get a reprimand."

"Well... alright. Fine. I'll trust you. In the meantime," I turn towards the basement door. "I need to have another 'morality talk' with Mewtwo. They has some fairly unpleasant things that we need to sort out. Namely, not artificially creating peril so they can swoop in and be a hero."
"What prompted that?"
"During our mission they mentioned they felt a pleasant feeling after getting the pokemon free. It's the first real emotion I've seen from them. I'd rather they not blindly follow it to a dark place."
"Alright. I got some paperwork to do before work tomorrow. Best of luck, Alex."