Kimi in the form of her Luci identity was sitting opposite an old man within a small home which had many things laying about ranging from computer devices and other mechanical parts or tools.
After a short period of silence and as the old man's anxiety had lessened, Kimi spoke. "So we meet again old man."
The old man let out a snort. "We meet again? Can you really say that so casually? It is not like we have suddenly ran into each other and both know each other. You have somehow tracked me down so I have a reason for being vigilant so explain quickly."
He was riddled with insecurity and mistrust while hiding himself away so it was already enough for him to be allowing her entry into his home after she had come unannounced and without being invited.
She had invaded upon his privacy so he had considered pointing the rifle towards her many times once she had entered.
Kimi remained in place and stayed silent until he calmed down to show that she meant no harm so that allowed the overall atmosphere to calm down.
Kimi let out a sigh. "I had no choice.. I need a partner with someone of your skill level who can assist me in various ways. As a means of gaining your trust.. I will give you a tip which could prevent future problems for yourself."
The old man frowned. "How can I work with someone like you? You are so young and we barely know each other or each others goals. Come on and convince me then."
He had been living how he liked and there were certain things he had to do to survive which he was not too proud of.
There were some things that he had done in order to protect his identity from being exposed while others were in the name of carrying on some form of justice he had left in his heart.
He was no longer young and was far more vulnerable while his replacement Pokémon were not that high of a level because of himself not wanting to be noticed by others and hiding out.
He had built up a new team but he was not able to actively carry out battles in public which would draw attention to himself and the opportunities in the wild where less people were around were usually places that stronger people lingered around and trained.
Most of those people would be able to identify him because the league had already sent out a reward for finding any information on him and exposed his identity.
He was a person of importance to them because of his abilities but he was also a threat because he was a member of an important task force.
He was exposed to many secrets so if he was considered as a threat then he would be killed or locked away in a place that would not allow contact with others.
There were dangers from those connected to the person who betrayed him or were working with them so exposing himself and becoming a formidable and widely known trainer would only bring him more trouble.
When he had gotten older, it was more difficult to go around on journeys to raise his Pokémon so he had not been able to raise a team as strong as his previous one.
Even relying on his own skills and experience, he had been able to settle into the darker parts of the world to get some gains but the risk of exposing himself was still there so he did not make any big moves or purchases.
Kimi was aware of the danger that she would be exposed to because there was two Pokémon nearby waiting to protect their master.
She could sense them nearby and they both had energy or aura levels within them that were stronger than those she had raised.
She turned to look towards them and revealed a look of satisfaction upon discovering what they were. 'Electrode and a Porygon. Not bad.. they quite suit him.'
Kimi sat in silence for a while then answered. "I came to you only because I believe that our goals will align and we can help each other avoid being captured. As proof of this.. I have to tell you that you have done well so far to avoid capture but you have gotten sloppy in your old age.
You should have disguised yourself better and avoided the eyes of others more when you were making trips to the black market or the orphanage because there are always people who you might pass by one day which will expose you. Your presence there has already attracted a lot of attention and it is only a matter of time before you get caught."
The old man nodded in agreement. "You are correct.. go on."
Kimi continued. "For someone like you, you need a partner who can work with you to gather funds and materials. Someone who can keep to the agreements set and can work towards a greater goal together. That person can take on the difficult work while you cover the other things to aid that person.
I need a tech expert while you need a runner. For this to work though.. you need to move to another place and cut off your contact with the orphanage and other places where you are more well known. I will handle the black market visits and other more difficult errands. So.. do we have a deal?"
The old man looked towards the room where his supplies had been running low then he thought back to the conversation with the head of the orphanage.
The head of the orphanage had been acting suspiciously different towards him as if he wanted to keep him around for longer after he had finished with handing over his donation for the children.
It would usually be a formality to be invited after handing over a donation but the head of the orphanage was being very forceful with him.
He felt that the head of the orphanage was acting very strange so he quickly declined and left in a hurry.
Seeing that there was nobody tailing him or he had lost them, his vigilance dropped upon getting home.
Upon hearing the explanation of Kimi, he had come to slightly grow suspicious of the head of the orphanage. 'Was he trying to keep me around to confirm something? Perhaps someone has told him something about me and he has grown suspicious?'
What funds or materials he could spare were donated to the orphanage because it was of his only places for regular human contact and where he could search for a suitable successor.
He felt more at ease in a place where he would be free to interact with and teach the kids.
He did not know that someone had approached the head of the orphanage to find out more about him.
He did not know that according to Kimi's memories, the orphanage was the place that he had been captured and he could not defend himself from being captured because he did not want to harm the children.
He also did not know that his capture was due to a tip off from the head of the orphanage and another person who wanted to remain anonymous.
Someone had not only identified him with his connections to the black market but had recognised him even in his old age which lead to his capture which had been staged to allow him to be placed in a location where he was unable to resist.
Even Kimi did not know exactly how he had been identified so easily before his capture since his case had been discarded a long time ago.
She had a theory that the person who turned in the old man was either a rival of the old man within the black market and they had the power to investigate into the old man's past or there was someone out there that was still looking for the old man in order to remove him from their worries or exploit his abilities so it could have been someone within one of the companies he acted as a spy at, a league worker or one of the people connected to the partner who betrayed him.
Unfortunately that person disappeared and they could not be found while there was little information gained from the head of the orphanage about them.
Carelessly investigating into that person's identity was not safe too because they could be someone that Kimi and the old man could not yet afford to offend.
The old man hesitated for a while then furrowed his brows as he got up and reached out towards a small device. "Take this with you. If you want to work with me then you will need the right tools for the job. We will start with this."
Kimi caught what was thrown towards her and smiled. 'A small communication device huh?'