I'm pretty sure that Olivine doesn't have a place called the West Forest in whatever canonical games or story there is about pokemon.
Then again, what do I know? This world is now my reality, not the fictional games that I was once familiar with.
"So, you are saying that Volkner lives in there?"
Flint nodded with his hands in his pockets as we stood right outside the dense woods known as the West Forest of Olivine. It's a very huge piece of land and according to Flint, it is private property. Volkner had bought the entire piece of land here and built himself an entire freaking forest to live in. How he managed to do it, I don't know. All I know is that it's dark because it's night and there are no street lamps or the sorts to light our way because this is a legit forest. From what I know, many types of wild pokemon live there and they are not friendly towards strangers. According to Flint, they are also scarily protective of Volkner and his wife.
"This is the furthest I can bring you." Flint said as he pointed to the "NO TRESPASSING" wooden sign in front of us. There is also a small paragraph that states that the owner of this land is not responsible for any idiots who ended up as pokemon food should they choose to trespass. Yes, it really said that. It even has a crude and childish drawing of a menacing luxray right at the bottom of the sign drawn in crayon with its fangs bared and a speech bubble above it that says 'RAWR'.
This Volkner must be a weirdo.
"You are really not coming?" Looker looked at Flint, who merely sighed.
"I was the one who was responsible for saddling him with the responsibilities of a Gym Leader against his will, and I am his best friend. I don't want to do that to him a second time if I can help it. I hope you can understand."
"It's fine." I quickly reassured the Fire Specialist before turning back to look at the dense and dark forest in front of us. "But how do we navigate through this? Follow the dirt path?"
"Yeah, it will bring you there if Hippie didn't get the drop on you and teleport you out in a jiffy."
"Hippie?"
"A hypno." Flint shrugged. "A hypno that takes great joy in teleporting any trespassers out of the forest the moment it senses them. Think of it like the forest's gatekeeper. Good luck to you guys trying to avoid Hippie. That hypno probably already got a lock on your location as we are speaking and is waiting to boot you guys out the moment you two take a single step inside."
"We will be fine." I said as Dolly emerged from my shadows. "Night is when my ghosts work best."
Flint raised an eyebrow upon spotting Dolly.
"Well, good luck then. Hopefully you didn't catch Volk in a bad mood or anything. I'm going back to carry on to do whatever work I have to do. Tell him I said hi and I will visit him some other day."
"Will do."
With that, Flint walked off after waving us a lazy goodbye.
"Dolly?" I asked and Dolly chattered excitedly in return. She had probably already figured out where our destination should be since according to Flint, the only humans living in there are Volkner and his wife. It is easy for Dolly to differentiate the difference between sensing a human and a pokemon. Shadow Sneaking us straight to Volkner's house while avoiding that Hippie should be doable for her.
Shadows swirled around Looker and I as Dolly prepared to bring us in with a Shadow Sneak. It is night, it is where shadows are the darkest and longest and where my ghosts can work at full power. Officially, I only have Dolly, Wacky, and the disagreeable dusknoir that still doesn't listen to a single word I say as my only ghost pokemon. Unofficially, I have a little army of ghosts living in my shadows and would often help me with whatever small favours I ask of them. I don't even fully know how many there are and what species of ghosts had decided to come along with me since not all of them appeared before me whenever I called for their help.
The shadows engulfed us and when it finally disappeared, Looker and I are now standing in front of the door of a two-story cottage that looks a lot like the Glitter lighthouse of Olivine City. Did Volkner really modelled his home after a lighthouse?
Looker was reaching out a finger to press the doorbell when it happened.
Dolly hissed as a Psybeam hit her from out of nowhere and she spiralled in the air before righting herself. Wacky immediately emerged to stand in front of me and fired a Night Shade back at where the Psybeam came from. A hypno sneered at us as it used a Psychic to dispel the Night Shade, the swing of its pendulum getting faster and faster.
"We are not here to fight!" Looker immediately exclaimed to the hypno with his hands up in a gesture of peace. I don't know how this hypno locate us this fast or if she happened to be here by sheer dumb luck, but sneaking up to us like that already shows that the hypno is well-trained.
The hypno merely sent Looker flying with its psychic powers even before a wild sableye could emerge from my shadows to help me try and protect him. A blink later, Looker disappeared.
Teleport? Was that hypno's work? That was really fast.
"Looker!" I shouted as I turned my head to look around for him. I don't want to fight, especially right at the doorstep of a former Gym Leader, but this aggressive hypno isn't giving me much of a choice. I also really have no idea what happened to Looker. I don't think the hypno had really hurt him, but this hypno doesn't really seem all that amicable either.
Damn it. Talk about leaving a good first impression.
Wacky and the hypno engaged in close combat as the hypno zipped around Wacky with successive usages of Teleport while firing its psychic attacks. More and more ghosts emerged from my shadows to help Wacky.
"Don't hurt the hypno! We are only here to talk!"
Hypno snorted at my words as it blasted everyone back around it with another Psychic before it started to pulse with a dangerous amount of psychic energy. I called out Kel on reflex, not really wanting to know what the hypno is planning next. Kel is the best option I have since she is a dark type that is also smaller in size. Kratos and Hulk are too big and destructive and I don't want to accidentally demolish Volkner's house.
"Alright, Hippie, cut it out."
A lazy voice sounded from above and we all looked up. A sleepy looking yellow haired man leaned himself against a window on the second floor with his head poking out. His blue eyes turned to look at me, not revealing his inner thoughts.
"Ghost Specialist?"
"Uh…" I blinked my eyes as I tried to come up with a response to that random question the former Gym Leader of Sunyshore just asked, like he is simply talking about the weather. "Not really. Most of the ghosts you see here are wild. We are just friendly with each other and they love to tag along. Officially, I am a Generalist."
"Huh." This man who has to be the Volkner we are looking for has a very thoughtful look on his face upon hearing my answer. "Interesting. Got in here with Shadow Sneak, I assume? That's one of the few ways that can get past Hippie's senses like that. How old are you even?"
"Thirteen."
"You are not from here. You don't look like a Johtonian or a Kantonian."
"I'm from Hoenn."
"And what does a thirteen year old little girl from Hoenn want to do with poor old me? I'm retired."
"I'm from the PWL." I stated and immediately Volkner raised his eyebrows. "My colleague and I were here to talk to you about something. Erm, about my colleague-"
"He should be fine. Hippie wouldn't hurt any other human without a good reason to." Volkner said with a yawn. "I know Looker. Not on a personal level, but I heard of him and he just spells bad news for me because he's from the PWL. I'm not going to see him. Your timing though, I swear. First that old ninja, now you."
The door swung open by itself without a sound.
"Come on in. Take it as a reward for managing to do what many others failed to. Congratulations, at least you didn't end up as pokemon food. That's better than 90% of the trespassers already."
Wait, what? Did he really feed people to pokemon as food? He's joking, right?
Volkner disappeared as he headed back inside, presumably to greet me within his house on the first floor. My attention was brought back to the hypno when it made another audible sneer at me before it disappeared in a crackle of Teleport.
I guess there's my invitation.
Volkner walked down the stairs of his house just as I entered. The front door closed shut right after my entry even without anyone touching it, so it's either probably some sort of automated door or a psychic pokemon is helping Volkner to open the door for me while hiding from view. There are many photo frames hanging about in the house and I cannot help but take a look at it. I see Volkner together with a woman in many of them, who is probably his wife. I cannot help but think that I had definitely seen that woman somewhere before. She looks very familiar.
"If you are done trying to pry into my personal life." I jolted when Volkner's lazy voice drawled from where he was in the living room, already sitting on a sofa and pouring some tea for us. "Get on with it. What does the PWL want from me?"
My ghosts had all returned back to my shadows by now except for Dolly who is still hovering beside me. I had also returned Kel back to her pokeball. I sat myself down opposite Volkner, previously the strongest Gym Leader of Sinnoh. He is also someone who is Flint's equal in terms of strength and rumours had it that he was supposed to replace Bertha as the next Elite Four until Volkner just tendered his resignation out of the blue.
A jolteon stretched and gave an audible yawn from where it was laying at a corner of the house before trotting to Volkner's side and nuzzled its head into his hand.
"Hey Jo." Volkner said as he patted the jolteon tenderly with a hand. "Sorry if we woke you up."
The jolteon merely affectionately nudged its head against Volkner's hand once more before turning to look at me with unconcealed curiosity. Volkner's eyes went back to stare at me, waiting for my answer.
"I will be blunt." I said because Volkner really looked as if he doesn't have much patience to spare. "I'm from the International Police."
"Never heard of that."
"It's a new organisation that was just set up by the PWL. Our existence is not exactly public yet." I continued. "We need new members, people with unique skill sets that can help our cause. You are one of the people that we want to recruit."
"Nope, rejected." Volkner immediately waved it off with a hand. "Alright, the door's that way. See yourself out. Good night."
I mentally gave a sigh. Flint had already warned us about this but experiencing it first hand is another matter entirely.
"The world is at stake." I blurted out. "This is highly confidential and something only the Thirteen Pillars of every region would know, but all of the PWL's psychics have foretold a prophecy that might spell the end of the world. That is the real reason why the International Police were set up. We don't know what is the problem that causes this prophecy to be made in the first place, but we are going to try our best to stop it. All seven regions are in on it. The International Police are going to be composed of powerful and unique individuals for that cause. You are one of the people that we really need in our team. Please, Volkner."
"So?" Volkner questioned. "I'm gonna slave myself out just because they ask me to? I had enough of this political shit. I'm always the one being called upon to solve the problems of others and let me tell you, girl, I'm only mortal. There's a limit to how much I can do and I am not the wonder cure to every single problem in the pokemon world. Tell the PWL to shove it and find somebody else. I'm not in a good mood today. The fact that you are a child is the only reason why I allowed you into my house because I have a soft spot for children."
The door to his house opened by itself once more and he jabbed a thumb at it.
"Out."
I'm pretty sure that there is an incredulous look on my face.
"Does the end of the world mean nothing to you?"
"I don't really care at this point." Volkner deadpanned. "If you've been through the shit I've been through, everybody claims that everything is the end of the world. You get used to it after a while."
"The PWL's psychics foretold this. This is not any baseless-"
"I. Don't. Care." Volkner emphasised with a look of annoyance. "It took me seven long years to free myself of my responsibilities, responsibilities that I never wanted. I'm not going back to that hellhole. Like I said, tell the PWL to shove it up their ass. Find someone else that can do the same job. Pretty sure there will be such people running around if you bothered to look. The world is a big place."
"It is precisely because nobody can do the job as well as you could that we are trying to recruit you!" I tried to hold back my frustration as I said this. "I saw your track record, it is stellar, what you did to improve Sunyshore and Sinnoh. We need you, Volkner. The world needs you."
"And my wife needs me too." He snapped back. "We've been separated more than we are together ever since we know each other because of that damn job. Gym Leader. Thirteen Pillar. I never wanted it. Now we are finally married and together I have to go back out there just because you guys called me over to join your little party? No bloody way. Not after what my wife and I have to go through. Get out, before I get Hippie to make you. I'm already being very generous because you are just a kid, a kid that does not know how dirty things can be out there in the real world full of scheming politicians."
"I know. I know that I'm just a kid." I gritted my teeth. "That's why I need adults like you to help."
"By sacrificing another seven years of my time, is that it? The Sinnoh League blackmailed me to take on the position of Gym Leader. So is that what the PWL will do too? Huh? What will they blackmail me with this time? Enlighten me, oh great agent of the interpol, saviour of the world."
I didn't say a word because I have no idea what Volkner's past is. In any case, it is obvious that he had been treated unfairly while under the employment of the Sinnoh League and he is holding an obvious grudge.
"I don't know how long this will take." I gulped as I spoke my heartfelt thoughts. "But all I know is that if we don't give our best and recruit the people best suited for the job and build the best team we can, the world might not even have seven years left for all we know. You are the best we can find when it comes to crime management and we really need your help. Team Rocket, Team Galactic, Team Plasma. You know it. You know how dangerous they really are. We need your expertise, Volkner."
Volkner gave another frustrated grunt as he dragged a hand across his face.
"I should have just let Hippie teleport you out." He muttered before giving the clock a glance. "It's ten already, huh? Jarvis, give me Jas' location would you?"
I froze. How does he know-
A porygon-z that's not mine poked its head out of the television as the words 'BLACKTHORN' flashed across it briefly before disappearing. My porygon-z poked its head out of my x-transceiver, curious why another trainer would want to give him orders and also curious about meeting another porygon-z. Volkner merely raised an eyebrow at the sight of Jarvis as both our porygon-z stared at each other, their yellow eyes erratically sending out blinking light signals as though communicating through a series of coded messages.
"You even have a porygon-z too? Those are rare and it took me gambling at Celadon for an entire day to get my hands on a porygon. Good times. How did you get yours? And oh, meet my porygon-z. His name's Jarvis."
"His…" My throat suddenly felt very dry as I tried to form a reply, my mind is screaming at me that this is impossible, but there is no other explanation that I can think of.
"His name is Jarvis. My porygon-z's name is also Jarvis."
The words came out of my mouth automatically. This time, it is Volkner who froze as his eyes slowly wandered back up to meet mine. After what seemed like an eternity, he spoke up.
"Like, Iron Man kind of Jarvis?"
"... Yes."
The looks on both our faces made me sure that we are both thinking about the same thing at this moment.
Fuck.
We both didn't say a word after we both confirmed the fact.
We are both reincarnated souls.
"This is really not my day. I really regret letting you in here right now." Volkner said tiredly as he slumped on the sofa he was sitting on and facepalmed. "Fuck this, I'm retired. I'm not supposed to deal with this kind of shit any longer."
"Don't we know it all." I muttered as I tried to soothe the incoming migraine my head is about to experience after trying to digest everything that we revealed to each other. He's been here for close to twenty-eight years. This is also the first time he saw someone like him who had memories about a different life in a different world.
Volkner gave another sigh.
"In any case, Vel, I'm not going to join this stupid International Police crap. Get somebody else. I'm retired. I'm really too tired and sick of this entire League fiasco. Jas and I are about to start a family too. This is no time to go around the world hunting for criminals."
I can sympathise with him after what he told me. As it turns out, Jasmine, the Gym Leader of Olivine is actually his wife. No wonder the woman in the photo looked so familiar. They had known each other since long ago, even before they became Gym Leaders but hardly saw each other due to their work that separated them into two different regions. Despite the difficulties in maintaining a long-distance relationship, they still gave their relationship a go and ended up falling in love with each other. Volkner quit being a Gym Leader to be with her after he finally managed to get out of the Sinnoh League's employment. They were about to try and start a family. I really came in at the wrong time.
And from what little he revealed, he was practically a slave to the Sinnoh League until he freed himself more than a year ago. It was then that he finally had the chance to marry his wife. He really doesn't want to go back to busting criminal organisations all day long and the work the International Police is doing will definitely take years to complete. He and Jasmine are no longer young and they really want to start a family soon.
"Flint was right. It's hard to convince you." I sighed before looking back up at him with a smile. "Thank you though, for letting me know that I'm not alone."
He snorted.
"Unluckiest day in my life to have met you. Stupid afro head. Why the hell must he bring you here?" He rolled his eyes but his words had no real bite to it. "So, you've only been a trainer for two years?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"For a newbie trainer, you are not half bad. But that's it. Not half bad." He yawned as he stretched his arms. "If you really want, I can probably give some advice about handling a few bad guys if you give me a call, but no way in hell I will go back to that kind of life. I promised her that I will quit for good. Jarvis."
Our two porygon-zs poked their heads out again. It happening once made a funny sight, anything more than twice is getting downright confusing.
"No, not you. My Jarvis." Volkner made a shooing motion at my Jarvis with his hand before going back to speaking with his. "Give Vel my number."
My x-transceiver lighted up as a new contact saved itself into it. I gave Volkner a deadpan stare.
"Fourth Hokage?" I deadpanned as I read the contact name his Jarvis saved into my x-transceiver. "Really, Volkner? Fourth Hokage?"
"To be fair, my other moniker back then was the Yellow Flash, I kid you not." He said matter of factly as he sipped on his drink. "My electric types are just that fast. All I need left to complete the look is a Rasengan. Come to think of it, an Electro Ball will probably do fine as a substitute for a Rasengan. Should ask Franky to try out some other time."
"You're a nerd."
His jolteon gave a yip in agreement. Volkner simply ignored it and took another sip of his drink before looking back at me.
"I don't think I have to remind you, but whatever that is said between us today-"
"-stays between us and only us." I completed his sentence. At least that is one thing we can agree on. We don't want anyone else, including our loved ones in this world, to find out who we really are.
"Good." He nodded his head before asking another mundane question. "You got any electric types?"
"A pachirisu." I stated. "Mischievous as heck."
"They are all like that." Volkner sighed. "Mine's a real troublemaker. Never thought about getting another stronger electric type? You do know that being in the International Police is a dangerous thing in itself, right?"
"I already have a lot of pokemon to raise. I don't know if I can handle another one on my team." I said truthfully. "And I do have quite a number of powerhouses required for my new job."
"I see." He nodded as he adopted a thinking pose. "How long will you be staying at Olivine?"
"A few days at least. We still have some paperwork to complete and things to do."
"I'm not joining your little party but I can do something, from a friend for another." He offered. "I can teach you what I know in the few days you are here. A little crash course before you go about doing your job. How about that?"
I perked up. Reincarnated soul aside, the man in front of me was a Gym Leader. Not only that, he climbed his way up to be the strongest Gym Leader of Sinnoh through his own efforts and that kind of title is not up there for show. He is someone who can easily pose a serious challenge for any regional Champion. Learning under someone like him is not an opportunity that will present itself everyday.
"I will like that."
"Then it's settled." He yawned once more. "I teach you what I know, and then you get out of my hair. Think of it as a compromise."
"Not that I don't appreciate your help because I do, but I don't think the PWL will be satisfied-"
"I don't give two shits about them." He cut me off. "Either they take this offer or they buzz off."
I smiled back. From what I gathered, even with his crass attitude and dismissive behaviour, Volkner is not an unpleasant man. He just really doesn't like to work with authority given his experiences with them. If you look past his words, he's actually not a bad person to befriend.
"I will relay your words back to Looker then."
"Please do, and tell Flint I said hi and to pop by when he's free or else I will wipe the floor with him. Hippie."
The hypno teleported itself in once more, its pendulum swinging and a scowl on its face the moment it spotted me.
"See our guest out. Reunite her with her earlier companion."
The hypno looked at me with narrowed eyes.
"Hippie."
The hypno snorted at Volkner's warning but its eyes began to glow a blue hue.
"See you, Vel. It was nice meeting you."
That was the last thing I heard from him before I got teleported away with a zap.
Looker didn't know whether to count our meeting with Volkner as a success or not.
On one hand, Volkner is adamant on not being a part of the International Police. On the other hand, he had offered to be an 'advisor' or sorts if we run into a problem and need some quality opinion. He had also offered to train me for these few days that we are here.
Looker told me to use this opportunity to spend more time with him to see if there's anything we can use to convince him. Maybe Volkner would also know a trainer or two that can help us in our cause that the respective regional Leagues had missed out.
As of now, I am in the West Forest with Volkner again, taking up on Volkner's offer to train me. We scheduled it to be in the late afternoon after he had finished with his part time job at Olivine's trainer school. How he became a teacher there without the whole world knowing about it or the locals realising his true identity is beyond me, but I never pried because I know he will appreciate the privacy.
Volkner was very interested in seeing Fuzzy fly with Magnet Rise after knowing that he can do that, saying that he had never met another individual that could make electric types do what Fuzzy did without him teaching them to do so. It was then that I realised that I am not the first to come up with such an idea, for Volkner had already made it a reality long before I did.
When I told Volkner that Wattson was the one who helped me teach Fuzzy achieve flight capabilities with Magnet Rise, Volkner said that he did share the theoretical workings of his version of Magnet Rise to Wattson many years ago when he met him before he became Sunyshore's Gym Leader. Wattson had probably taught me what Volkner shared with that jovial old man without me knowing about it.
Currently, our pachirisus are flying in the air and cheering at the top of the lungs as they zipped around the woods with Magnet Rise.
"First time I ever saw anyone manage to do something like this without my help." Volkner mused as he scratched his chin with a finger. "Not bad. Not bad at all. This alone makes you better than 95% of all the gym trainers that I have taught."
"Couldn't have done it on my own. It was Wattson who really helped me out in teaching Fuzzy learning how to fly with Magnet Rise."
"Ah, that old man. It's been a long while." Volkner nodded his head before looking at our pachirisus. "Your Fuzzy is still too slow though."
I looked at my flying Fuzzy, then turned back to face Volkner.
"That is slow?"
"Pfft. You call that fast? Scrat! Up the pace!"
Volkner's pachirisu let out a squeak before suddenly shooting off. It is actually moving at a speed faster than what Fuzzy can do when he absorbed a huge amount of natural lightning with the Nuclear Combo he did at the Battle Frontier. I can only gape in awe at just how fast Volkner's Scrat is. No words can describe it.
It seems that Fuzzy finally has a competitor for the title of strongest pachirisu in existence.
"That is not the fastest Scrat can go." Volkner bragged. "Your Nuclear Combo is good and all, but that's because you are lucky your Fuzzy has the Volt Absorb ability and has the correct skill set to pull off such a suicidal move. Most pachirisus don't have the Volt Absorb ability, like mine. For electric types, they usually excel in either attack power or speed. The lucky ones have both and maybe a little bit of defence mechanisms or tricks to fall back on, like how the eelektross species have the Levitate ability or how heliolisk have Electrify. Because most of them don't boast strong defences, their typing as a whole is very much like a glass cannon in battles. That is why you need to aim to finish the battle as soon as possible when using electric types. If you don't have power, rely on your speed. If you don't have speed, then rely on your power. That's how you train electric types. They are very specialised in what they do so you train them based on their specialisation."
Fuzzy is now trying his best to catch up to Scrat but it is obviously not working. Furthermore, he keeps crashing himself into a tree or two whenever he is trying to make the sharp turns Volkner's Scrat is doing. Scrat looked rather smug as it continued to show off what it can do that Fuzzy cannot.
"And that's another problem with super speed using Magnet Rise." Volkner gestured at my Fuzzy with a jerk of his head. "They start to experience tunnel vision, reaction time too slow to react to sudden changes in environment, unable to make sharp turns. That kind of thing. It's something that you have to let them slowly get used to through experience. No shortcuts there."
"You said electric types are usually either power or speed. So your pachirisu is just fast?"
"Mainly." Volkner nodded. "Their species are not born to be overly strong. Sure, you can train them in that direction, but it is easier to just train them to be fast instead of strong because you save a lot of time that way. Less wasted efforts. That doesn't mean Scrat is weak by any means in terms of power, but if you compare it to other species that is on a similar level? Like electivires? There's no competition. The electivire will always win in terms of power and speed. That's the sad truth."
Volkner gestured for me to sit down with him on a nearby stone bench in the training ground we are at in the West Forest.
"Winning with your favourite pokemon is fine. In fact, I admire people who win their battles with pokemon who are not suited for battles because these people are the ones who truly understand the pokemon they are handling. I'm sure your Fuzzy can grow to be very powerful as well and you are already on the right path. You just need time. The thing is, you also need to accept the truth that his species will face challenges other species will never face, simply because it is not born strong. That is a fact. How you help him overcome these challenges and make him a super powerful pachirisu is on you, his trainer. A true trainer wins with any pokemon he or she is saddled with and brings out the maximum potential of any pokemon on their team. You need to know what they are naturally good at in order to train them in the right direction."
"Playing pranks and being a general annoyance." I replied dryly. "That's Fuzzy's specialty."
"Then help him apply those specialties in battles." Volkner replied. "Being an annoyance can be a great battle strategy at times."
Fuzzy crash landed in front of us with a bunch of leaves sticking on his fur. He got up before shaking it off, squeaking happily the whole time despite now being caked in mud and dirt.
"There, there." Volkner said as he squatted down and let Fuzzy run along his outstretched arm and climb onto his shoulder. "You are still not used to your tunnel vision, yeah? No worries, Scrat was like you too. You are already pretty good at this."
I furrowed my brows in confusion. Did Volkner just-
"Strongest pachirisu in existence? Beat Scrat first before you try to claim that title." Volkner said as Fuzzy squeaked happily at him. Scrat floated down beside Volkner and Fuzzy, adding squeaks of his own as they participated in a three-way conversation.
"You can understand Fuzzy?!" I exclaimed in surprise. The term 'strongest pachirisu in existence' is something that only our team would know, like an inside joke. There's no other way Volkner would know it other than somehow understanding what Fuzzy is saying since I did not tell Volkner about it.
"Huh? Yeah, kinda." Volkner shrugged. "I can understand electric types pretty well. I don't understand their language per say, but I can understand the gist of what they are trying to tell me. Pretty neat, huh?"
"I'm kinda jealous." I admitted. Imagine how cool it is to be able to understand what your pokemon is trying to tell you!
"Jas had the same reaction too." Volkner said with a smile.
"Still can't believe that you married a Gym Leader."
"We knew each other before we became Gym Leaders." He retorted. "Why, jealous? You can find your own Gym Leader husbando if you want. Tate, was it? The only male Gym Leader in your region around your age? And didn't you come here with Steven? What's the age gap between the two of you? About five years? It's a pretty okay gap in my opinion and considering both your family status, it's a pretty good match. Imagine the merger of Devon Corps and the Vera Farm. You will basically have the entire Hoenn under your thumb."
"We are just good friends."
"Everybody was good friends before they fell in love." Volkner waved it off. "You asked me if there are any trainers that I know of to recommend joining the International Police? There is one. Her name's Kayla. She used to be my Head Gym Trainer and I pretty much taught her everything I know. She's now a teacher at Olivine's trainer school like me. I'm not too sure if she wants to go back to a life of crime busting but I can say that she was a great help back in the days. She definitely has the experience that you are looking for."
"I see." I mentally noted down the name Volkner had mentioned. "Thanks. Looker and I will look into it."
"Giovanni is up to something."
"Huh?" I replied, a little baffled at the sudden change in topic.
"I cannot tell you the details and officially, I'm not supposed to know about this. I only pieced everything out because of our prior knowledge, but I guess it's safe to say that Giovanni is up to something. I arrived at this conclusion because Jas accidentally let slip a few details last night after coming back from a top secret meeting." Volkner explained. "Naturally, this is just between the two of us because of our shared secret and this is all I can help you for the moment. If the International Police wants to start doing their first job, try and see if you can herd Looker to start investigating Giovanni without it being too obvious. Times are changing, Vel. Ever since the Lilycove Invasion the world is starting to get chaotic. Maybe there really is some substance behind the prophecy."
"You are sure about the Giovanni part?" I asked, suddenly a little daunted. Unlike what is portrayed in the games, Team Rocket is no joke in this world. They are really dangerous, easily the most dangerous and biggest criminal organisation in the world. Right now, there is only me and Looker in the interpol and none of us are ready to go up against Giovanni of all people.
"Very damn sure." Volkner nodded. "There's no way I can clue Jas in about what I know about Giovanni and Team Rocket without giving away my secret, like how I know the Celadon Game Corner has to be their hideout even if I have no proof, so I'm stuck as well. Hopefully you can make some headway as a member of the International Police. Already, I am having my gallade keep an eye on her all the time just in case. She's good, but definitely not on Giovanni's level. As an Electric Specialist I also have a natural disadvantage should I face him in battle. I still have this very bad feeling though. I cannot explain it but I just know something is about to happen. Call it a sixth sense or some sort of instinct honed from years of battling bad guys in Sinnoh, I just know something is going to happen soon and that we might not like it. I don't like this."
"Then why don't you consider joining us part time?" I offered. "Until this Giovanni crisis is over? I know you are worried for your wife because she has a duty to stop Giovanni as a Gym Leader should Giovanni do something funny, so why not help out until we solve the Giovanni problem and then we can part ways from there?"
"That's…" Volkner let out a thoughtful hum as he looked into the sky. "A valid proposition. I will think about it and discuss it with Jas. I did promise her that I will not go back to that kind of life, but seeing the way things are right now, we may not have a choice to choose to be simple bystanders. I will let you know our decision some other day. As much as possible, I don't want to step into the affairs of another region because I'm technically still a foreigner. Politics bullshit and all that. Besides, I'm retired."
"You don't need to keep reminding me about your retirement. I heard it the first time."
"I'm reminding you to remind Looker that I'm retired. R-E-T-I-R-E-D retired. I'm retired."
"I know."
I know that Volkner is simply messing with me when I see that grin on his face. Volkner pointed a finger at Fuzzy as he began to give me more tips on training him.
"I already told you the trick to help Fuzzy get faster with Magnet Rise and he's passable in that regard. In the meantime, get Fuzzy to work on his reaction time and adjusting on the tunnel vision. Once done, you can get him to increase the speed again and the cycle continues until he really cannot go any further."
Volkner gave another one of his usual yawns before continuing to speak.
"When you and Fuzzy finally reach that point, call me again. I will teach you and Fuzzy how to induce paralysis on your targets the proper way. Properly controlled Thunder Waves can be very useful for immediate non-lethal takedowns on fellow human beings. Saves you a lot of time when you are out there arresting the bad guys. Or consult Elesa if you are able to. She's currently here in Johto as part of the Unova delegation, right? She's the foremost expert on Thunder Wave and anything related to inducing paralysis. Asking her is better than asking me."
"Thank you." I said sincerely. "For everything."
He snorted.
"You are lucky you are now a kid born with a cute face, short stack. If it was anybody else I would not even give a hoot about them."
"Short stack?"
"You are short."
This little- I am not short! I'm just petite!
"Am not!"
"You are like, only 1.5 metres tall. That's pretty short."
"1.53" I emphasised, fingers twitching in annoyance and trying not to strangle the ex Gym Leader in front of me. I am still a growing girl dammit! I can grow taller!
"Short stack will forever be a short stack! Be a good little girl and don't be a picky eater or you might just not grow any taller, okay?"
Any sense of restraint flew out of the window when he patted me on the head and continued to ridicule me about my current height.
"VOLKNER!"
Character and pokemon list:
Velda Vera, Age: 13, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Runner-up in the 528th Ever Grande Conference
Pokemon on hand:
1) Rapidash (Flamel), male
2) Swampert (Bigblue), male
3) Banette (Dolly), female
4) Flygon (Snap), male
5) Absol (Kelsa), female
6) Charizard (Toothless), male
7) Cradily (Lily), female
8) Espeon (Rena), female
9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male
10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male
11) Cleffa (Joy), female
12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female
13) Pangoro (Hulk), male
14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless
15) Scizor (Archer), male
16) Lapras (Chill), female
17) Gengar (Wacky), male
18) Dusknoir
48
As it turns out, I wasn't the first person who had the textbook idea. Sinnoh is already doing it, just that this fact isn't really well known outside of Sinnoh. Volkner told me that much.
"Hopefully this will be the final draft." Agatha grumbled as we both looked through our textbook on ghosts together, the one that we both had a part in creating. "If all goes well and every region pools in their knowledge and resources, we can publish a textbook for dummies for newbies on every single pokemon typing to be used in all trainer schools."
"This is something revolutionary." I said excitedly. "I learnt many things just by reading the things you wrote about ghosts. I couldn't have tamed the ghosts in my shadows otherwise."
"You really should be a Ghost Specialist. What a shame." Agatha lamented. "Yet you are one of those pesky Generalists that I hate so much. Tch. Wrong career choice, girl."
I knew better than to let Agatha's sharp tongue get to me. Our frequent correspondence told me enough to know that her heart is softer than tofu.
"You know, about that dusknoir I told you about…"
"Eh, just leave it alone. As long as it is not out to kill you in your sleep, that in itself is already a blessing. It's a dusknoir. What were you expecting it to do? Wagging its tail at you like a growlithe?"
"Uh, no, but-"
"Trust me on this." Agatha cut me off with another reassurance. "That dusknoir is probably one of those prideful ghosts. Ghosts who evolved on their own into their final forms without human help tend to be overly prideful and that leads to that kind of behaviour when they are captured. It will take a very long while for it to listen to anything you say. It's normal. Just tear it into pieces as many times as you want to get it to listen."
"Tear it into pieces?"
"They are ghosts. They will live."
Wacky let out a cackling laugh from my shadow at those words. His laughter was responded by other gengars residing in Agatha's shadows. If this doesn't show just how sadistic ghosts can be, I don't know what else can.
"Any luck on recruiting Volkner?" Agatha asked, changing the topic.
"No. I did offer him the option of being a part-time advisor and he's considering it, but I doubt he will take up the offer. Even if he did, he won't stay for long. He made that very clear."
"Pity. He's really the best when it comes to crime management as far as I know. I heard enough to know that back in the days, Team Galactic would literally run away in fear whenever they caught wind of him coming their way. He single handedly made Sinnoh the safest region to travel and live in due to how good he was at lowering crime rates. That's how good he is."
If even Agatha had such high praises for him, then there really must be things about my fellow reincarnated soul that I don't know of. Volkner must have been really brilliant and efficient in his job.
"He did recommend his previous Head Gym Trainer, Kayla, if we really need somebody on the team." I added after some thought. "I'm planning to give her a visit when I'm free since she also lives in Olivine now. Volkner said that he trained her himself."
"Is that so?" Agatha asked with obvious curiosity. "Volkner only had one official apprentice and that's Riley. Riley wasn't that strong before he became Gym Leader but now he's almost on the level of an Elite Four, worthy of being the Gym Leader of the last gym in Sinnoh's gym circuit. He's also a Generalist. If Volkner really did train Kayla himself, then she might as well be his second apprentice, albeit not officially. That girl must be something special for her to catch Volkner's eye. Try your best to convince her to join, Vel. It's better than nothing."
"Will do. Where's Looker, by the way?"
"In a meeting with Lance. In fact, all of the other members of the foreign delegation are in a meeting with him now. Why else do you think we actually had the time today to come together and look through the draft of this stupid textbook?"
"Uh, because you actually liked this textbook idea?"
"Cold day in hell before that happens, girl."
"Sorry, come again?"
"You heard me right the first time." Looker explained patiently. "Team Rocket is bringing the fight to Indigo and we are responding in kind. Lance has requested for help from the other regions and the Champions have been very generous in offering their aid."
"How generous are we talking about?" I asked, not knowing just what kind of shitstorm is starting to brew while I was spending time with Agatha. Seriously, I just took my eyes off the interpol stuff for a single day and then something like this happened?
"All the members of the foreign delegation that you had met? They are now on orders from their respective Champions to help Lance and Indigo in any way they can." Looker informed me. "If it wasn't for the fact that it will take too long to send over any other reinforcements from the other regions across the sea, they other regions might just send additional firepower over to quell this mess."
Looker cleared his throat once before continuing.
"Needless to say, whatever I am telling you now is strictly confidential. Don't trust Giovanni, the Gym Leader of Viridian. He had been identified as the true leader of Team Rocket but we don't want to incite a mass panic should the information leak out right now. For now, we lay low. In the meantime, we need to hurry and get things done on our side as well."
"Set up the interpol group properly, I supposed?"
"That's right." Looker nodded in affirmation. "The interpol cannot function with just us two, we need more members that can fill in the roles that we need. I have enlisted the help of Grimsley and Siebold to help me try and recruit Shannon and Nova into the team, and I will be making the journey with them as well. The Indigo will also find a way to get Volkner to work with us, even if it's just temporarily. On your side, I will need your help to convince another two people to join us. With that, our group will be brought up to a total of seven people, large enough for the interpol to function as an elite task force."
So the Indigo suddenly had confirmation that Giovanni is indeed the true leader of Team Rocket? Was Volkner involved somehow, or was this a lucky coincidence? In any case, it proved that his hunch was right. I was wondering how I should go about trying to herd Looker in trying to investigate Giovanni but now it seems that my meddling isn't needed anymore. What a stroke of luck.
Looker handed me a dossier to look over.
"These two people that I will have you recruit used to work under me, but had retired from service eight years ago. I had tried asking them to lend me their aid some time back but the recruitment did not go that well. I would have left it as it is until I just found out that they happened to be here in Kanto right now, probably on a vacation, so I decided to try our luck once more to see if they can be persuaded to lend us their aid."
"And you chose me to try and recruit them again because…?"
"They have a fondness for children, and you are technically one no matter how mature and capable you are for your age." Looker explained. "Where I fail, you might succeed."
Looker tapped a finger on the dossier he placed in my hands.
"Whatever you need to know about those two are all in here. Take some time to read and digest the information. If there's anything you need to clarify or know, feel free to reach out to me. I am giving you free reign to try recruiting those two in any manner you deem to be most effective. Those two are experts in their respective fields, Vel, I cannot stress this enough. Having them with us will give our team a significant boost. Do your best to get them into our team."
"I will." I promised and suddenly, the file in my hands felt a lot heavier than it actually is. I guess this will be the first task that I am given to complete as a member of the interpol.
Recruit my fellow teammates.
Akamu Kahale and Marianne Kahale, a husband and wife duo that used to work as PWL agents based in the Alola region. Akamu is what the Alola League dubbed as a "Faller", people who were caught up in Ultra Wormholes and then spit out of it after who-knows-how-long. Usually, people who reemerge from Ultra Wormholes do not retain any of their past memories at all. Their identity is a blank slate, their backgrounds a mystery. That's not all. Due to the fact that they had been into Ultra Wormholes itself, Fallers constantly emit a mysterious energy that attracts these bloodthirsty Ultra Beasts to them. To make things worse, there is no known way to put down an Ultra Beast, the only way to defend yourself is to beat them back. As such, Fallers have to live a constant life on the run from those monsters and not many have lived past five years after coming out of an Ultra Wormhole. In fact, Akamu is the only known Faller left in the Alola region and he had fallen out of a Wormhole at around approximately eight years of age. The fact that he is still alive now at thirty years old spoke volumes of his ability.
Marianne Kahale, also known as Mary by many others. She is a member of the near extinct Kahale tribe of the Alola region and the only true blooded Kahale left. Her intellect and genius in the field of technology had garnered the attention of the PWL and Alola League ever since she was a young child and at seven years old, became the youngest agent to join the PWL in their long history. That was how terrifyingly smart she is even at that age. She had invented many things that had helped PWL and Alola and of which, her greatest contributions thus far is the invention of the Faller Cloaking Device and the perfection of the Foldable Space Technology that allows it to be easily commercialised for everyday use, making travelling so much easier for trainers worldwide. Theoretically, just the act of perfecting the Foldable Space Technology is enough to garner her international fame, but she is not that well-known outside of Alola. The only reason why her name isn't more well-known across the world for her contributions is because she chose not to claim credit for it, believing that the purpose of inventions is for the betterment of mankind, not for individual glory.
Back when they were still agents of the PWL and working under Looker, Akamu holds the codename of "Guardian" due to his ability to protect his entire squad no matter who his foes are and how impossible the situation is, even if they are Ultra Beasts. Like Looker mentioned, Akamu boasts a very unique skillset as a trainer. The missions that PWL agents went on are usually very dangerous in nature. Akamu's ability to ensure that an entire team of agents will return back alive for every single mission that Akamu is sent with is what made the PWL value Akamu's skills so highly. Akamu is known to not lose a single battle, and that was what earned him the moniker of Undefeated Fairy Guardian from his peers, partly due to the fact that he is a Fairy Specialist and partly due to his inability to lose. This is also why Looker wants him in the interpol, because the nature of work the interpol will be involved with can be very dangerous. We could use someone like Akamu to protect and pull us out of any pinch we might find ourselves in.
While Akamu was a combat agent, Mary was a support agent that focused on technical support. Her wide array of inventions was why her codename was "Tinkerer". She is not a trainer even if she is good enough to defend herself if need be. Usually, she is the one who would create gadgets that the PWL or Alola League specified for various needs. Most of the standard gear that Alola agents are still using today, she had a hand in creating it.
A combatant that cannot be defeated and a genius inventor of unparalleled intellect, they are definitely people we need in the interpol. No wonder Looker is so adamant on recruiting them.
However, the husband-wife duo had retired from service eight years ago and subsequently, fallen out with the PWL because of a tragedy that the two of them believed to be the fault of the PWL. The Faller Cloaking Device that was invented by Mary was the only thing that is protecting and hiding Akamu from the Ultra Beasts. It was entrusted into the care of the Alola branch of the PWL and had been suspected to be tampered with, resulting in a Guzzlord managing to seek out Akamu's location. The Guzzlord went on a rampage and the entire Kahale tribe was subsequently wiped out. The only survivors are Akamu, Mary, and someone by the name of Guzma. Guzma is not a Kahale by blood, but had been living with the Kahales for a period of time until that disaster struck. He is noted to be seen as Akamu's and Mary's adoptive little brother.
The aftermath of the Guzzlord attack was not only limited to the annihilation of the Kahale tribe. Mary was pregnant at the time and had miscarried, not being able to conceive again after the incident due to the injuries she suffered. Not only that, she was paralysed from the waist down for years until she was finally able to walk again recently, but her legs had never fully healed. Akamu was badly injured after the attack and it was a miracle that he actually came out alive at all. Guzma ran away for reasons unknown and ended up becoming the leader of Team Skull, a criminal group that is steadily growing bigger and have seemingly no other motivations than to undermine the authority of the Alola League. To me, this also meant that Guzma is very likely a canon character from the games because this is Team Skull we are talking about.
All of that happened because an unknown individual in the PWL had tampered with the Faller Cloaking Device. The culprit still hasn't been found even after so many years. It's no wonder that Akamu and Mary no longer had any wish to have any dealings with the PWL and rejected Looker's invitation to join the interpol, a group working under the PWL.
Coincidentally, the two of them are in Kanto right now, which makes paying them a visit a lot more convenient. All I have to do is to request a loan of a psychic type from Indigo which can teleport me to Kanto from Johto. Commuting through any other way would waste too much valuable time, time that we do not have at this moment considering the urgent Rocket crisis Looker just told me about. Volkner's hunch was spot on after all, Giovanni is planning something.
One look at their files and hearing what Looker had to say about the Kahale couple made it very clear to me that a prolonged conversation is not going to work in recruiting those two ex-agents. In that case, there is a need for me to grab their attention and let them in on certain things that they cannot possibly ignore. This is where Lady Luck smiled on me again.
Sometime earlier, an unknown informant within Team Rocket had managed to leak out an absurdly large amount of information about Team Rocket to Lance. Within it are many crucial pieces of information that can help uproot the criminal organisation permanently if we used it right. Who the informant is and how that person managed to deliver these information to Lance without being discovered is still a mystery, but all possible information that the Indigo can check on the truth of it has all been verified to be accurate as of now. There are no reasons to suspect this leak of information is any sort of secret ploy on Team Rocket's part, so we are acting on the assumption that everything that we now know thanks to this informant is the truth.
The informant had also managed to deliver the news that on Indigo National Day itself, Team Rocket will launch a region-wide attack on Johto in an attempt to take over the region in a single day. It sounds ludicrous at first, but a further look into the wealth of information would say otherwise. There are no words that can properly describe just how large Team Rocket is and how far their reach had extended within the Indigo. Giovanni has been revealed by the informant to be the secret leader behind Team Rocket, which makes Indigo very alarmed because one of their Gym Leaders is the leader behind their biggest blight. Not only that, it is said that Team Rocket are creating an entirely new species of pokemon on their own that is said to be able to rival even Legendary pokemon. That pokemon is named Mewtwo, the second coming of Mew.
Despite my foreknowledge, I have no idea what to think about this issue the moment I knew about all these. Foreknowledge or not, there's no way I can stop a region-wide terrorist attack or stop a Gym Leader or God forbid, stop Mewtwo itself. I need to find people who can do what Looker and I cannot, that is the whole point behind the creation of the interpol. We find people who can do the impossible to help us save the world.
The turning point that I need to convince Mary and Akamu is when I found out that Mary's father used to be an inventor as well. He's been dead for a long time, but he was a Kantonian before he migrated to Alola and changed his name, living under a new identity. Remember Mewtwo? According to the wealth of information the informant had disclosed to Indigo which is now let known to the interpol, Team Rocket is able to control Mewtwo through strapping an armour-like machine on it. That machine is known as the M2 Bind and from what we can tell, is built to be near indestructible. Guess whose work was the M2 Bind based on?
Mary's father, Marcus Asier Vermont.
Now, I have no idea if Marcus used to work for Team Rocket or that his work was simply stolen by those terrorists and then twisted into something else entirely. What I do know is that every single action of Mewtwo can be controlled using the M2 Bind, which makes the M2 Bind nothing more than a tool to enslave a pokemon to do the bidding of another. If what I know about Mary's personality from Looker is indeed true, then there is no way she will sit idle and allow something like the M2 Bind to exist, much less a perversion of her father's own invention.
I now have something to grab their attention because this Team Rocket affair is now something personal to them. I do feel a little bad for manipulating them in this manner, but considering how dire the situation currently is, I don't really feel like I have a choice. Like Looker, I believe that we need those two in the interpol. At the very least, we need their help right now. If they can do something to at least help destroy the M2 Bind, that is already a huge load off our shoulders.
It took me an entire night to prepare the necessary documents that I know will garner Mary's and Akamu's attention. It's more of Mary than Akamu at this point due to how Mary's deceased father is now involved in this whole fiasco, but as long as I can convince one of them to join, it's very likely the other will too. They are husband and wife after all.
"You are about to leave?"
"Yes." I replied, already ready to start on my very first task as a member of the interpol. "I believe I already have what I need to convince Akamu and Mary. You said that they are now at Saffron, didn't you? I will start from there. Right now all I need is a psychic type that can teleport me to Kanto from here."
"I will get you one." Looker agreed before reminding me once more.
"Be careful out there, Vel. The Indigo League and us are doing all we can to not alert Team Rocket what we now know of their plans, but one can never be too careful. Right now, to topple Team Rocket in one move, secrecy is of the utmost priority. If you have reasons to believe that Team Rocket is onto you somehow, get out of there immediately."
"I will."
When I told Looker that I need a psychic type for transportation purposes, I wasn't expecting him to get an Elite Four to accompany me.
"And we are here."
Lucian of the Sinnoh Elite Four said out loud the moment we reached the outskirts of Saffron City in Kanto, landing in a deserted clearing within a semi-forested area just outside the city. According to Lucian, he had been to Kanto before a few times and his pokemon are indeed strong enough to teleport to Saffron all the way from Olivine in just a few jumps. That is the power of an Elite Four for you. Not many trainers in this world can bring you from Olivine to Saffron within a minute.
"Thank you for accompanying me." I thanked Lucian, who simply waved it off with a pleasant smile on his face. He is dressed very casually today, just a simple shirt and jeans. He does not have his usual book with him nor is he wearing his glasses. Truth to be told, without his signature red formal wear and glasses, I would not have recognised him to be a member of Sinnoh's Elite Four as well. Funny how a simple change in attire can allow a famous figure like him to hide in plain sight.
"Don't think too much of it, Vel. I had nothing to do back there anyway. At least, not right now." Lucian said before looking around. "Hmm, Saffron seems to have changed a little from what I can remember. Do you need my help in locating Akamu and Mary?"
"No, it's fine. I can take over from here." I declined Lucian's help politely. "There's something that I have been wanting to try out after learning it from Agatha and this is a good time to put what I learnt into practice."
"You are really something to have caught Agatha's eye." Lucian let out a brief laugh as his alakazam stood beside him. "I will be strolling around the city's bookstores in the meanwhile. Give me a call once you are done, okay?"
With a wave of his hand, Lucian disappeared from view with his alakazam.
"Alright, you guys can come out now."
My shadows swirled upon my words and a multitude of ghosts started to emerge one after the other from the inky blackness. I held up a printed picture of the faces of both Akamu and Mary for them to see.
"See these two people? I need you guys to find them for me and guide them here. Whatever you do, don't hurt them or cause any inconveniences for others, okay? Just guide them to me over here."
The ghosts all crowded in front of the picture curiously upon my words to take a good look at the people that I need their help in finding. Dolly was the first to respond and with a ghostly cackle before diving into the shadows and then sped towards the city. Wacky followed soon after and the rest of the ghosts all dispersed and started to sneak into the city individually through the shadows.
Helping Looker in finding and discussing which candidates to recruit for the interpol made me realise one thing, that if I want to continue to stay with the interpol, I need to be unique. I need to have a certain type of skill or ability that no one else has that is also useful to the interpol. My meeting with Volkner had only cemented this belief. The interpol will be made up of individuals that are all skilled in their own unique way, each of them possibly as valuable as Volkner in terms of worth. If I want to be a part of this elite group, I cannot be another random trainer that can be easily plucked off the street.
I need to have a unique set of skills that can help the interpol. I need to be able to pull my own weight. I need to prove my worth that I am not just any other ordinary trainer and that I am irreplaceable.
There's nothing extraordinary about me other than my strange affinity for ghosts. Volkner had told me that his affinity for electric types was what convinced him that he will do better as an Electric Specialist than in trying to be a Generalist. I have no idea if I will walk the same path that he took, but I do know that it is a waste to not take full advantage of my gift to help me in my endeavours. Even Agatha said so. Ghosts are rare, and Ghost Specialists are even rarer, even more so when you are looking for a skilled Ghost Specialist.
That is the one thing I can offer to the interpol which can make me a valuable member. Ghosts are extremely useful when you need to do sneaky things. They can disappear into shadows, phase through walls, appear and disappear into thin air, and generally confuse the heck out of their victims. I now have a small army of ghosts and while it was not of my own volition for that to happen, the fact is that such an advantage is now mine to use.
But I need to learn how to use this gift of mine to its fullest effect, which was why I spent time with Agatha back at Olivine and asked her if she could personally teach me more about Ghost types.
What I learnt when helping Agatha with writing the textbook was the theoretical knowledge on what ghosts are. What I learnt when spending those few hours with her back at Olivine was how to manage the trainer-pokemon relationship with ghost types. Ghost types cannot be contained, they are unrestrained and chaotic. The only thing they seek is personal enjoyment and excitement and they would not care if it is derived at the expense of others. They can be extremely violent once their bloodlust has been unleashed but most of the time, they are simply mischievous. They disregard any sense of balance and order, seeking mayhem over peace, which is why most of them either love to prank others or seek battles like a bloodthirsty warmonger. It's all for the sake of fulfilling their own personal enjoyment or trying to feel that adrenaline rush.
Due to the traits of ghost types as listed above, there's no way anyone could control ghosts. They don't listen to anyone word for word and hate the idea of being controlled. To make ghosts listen to you, you have to make them like you enough to want to listen to you and also capable enough of handling them at their worst.
To be a good ghost type trainer is to learn how to properly manage your relationship with them and how to manage and prevent their bloodlust from coming out when you don't want it to come out. It's all about building rapport with Ghost types. There's no controlling ghost types once they are hellbent on destruction. They are chaotic.
Like Agatha had told me when we first met at Mt Pyre, nobody can claim to control ghost types, including her. The only way to live with them is to guide them towards a common goal and make them view and treat you as one of them. Ghosts love to create chaos, it's in their nature. The only thing we can do as trainers to keep them in line is to allow them to do things that are chaotic good in nature and vent their energy on things that cause little to no disturbances to other humans and pokemon. Ghosts are nice companions to have once you are able to manage their chaotic side properly. Like how I allow Dolly and Wacky to prank others as long as nobody is hurt in the process and the consequences are not irreversible, they obey my orders in exchange for living alongside me and me training them to be stronger. They get to spend their energy on things that they enjoy while I have their companionship and power on my side.
Human-pokemon relationships are always initially built on a basis of trust and equivalent exchange, that is what I learnt from helping Agatha ever since I started on the textbook idea. This is especially so when it comes to Ghost types. The only other way to fully control them is through forceful suppression but that can easily backfire because ghosts are patient creatures when planning their revenge, a trait that probably comes from their immortality. All it takes is one moment of carelessness on the trainer's part for the ghost to vengefully stab him in the back before going on their merry way.
It helps that most of the wild ghosts that have chosen to reside in my shadows and follow me are younger and weaker ghosts. It is because of this that they are more accepting of following orders in the hierarchy of things with Dolly and Wacky as their leaders. By following me, they are able to safely explore the world with me through the safety of my shadows, satisfying their curiosity and being able to spend their energy on things that interest them. By observing how I train Dolly and Wacky, they are also given the chance to grow stronger simply by following me.
In return, I am offered with their companionship and constantly protected by an army of ghosts. It's true that these ghosts are mostly weak since most of them are so young, having just travelled here from another plane of existence, but they will slowly grow stronger in time. It will not be a far stretch to say that in a few years, I would have amassed a powerful army of fully evolved ghost types even if they do not officially belong to me.
Looking from this angle, I can see where Agatha is coming from when she said that it is a waste for me to not be a Ghost Specialist. However, my dream is not to be the very best that no one ever was. All I want is to explore the world. Generalist, Specialist, none of it really matters to me. Competing in a Pokemon League Tournament just once is enough for me. I just want to travel the world alongside pokemon who shares the same dream as I do, that's all. If I have to save the world in order to continue travelling, then so be it.
I just want to travel the world. Saving the world is really just a side quest that I have no choice but to take up if I want to see my dreams come true.
It took about half an hour before the ghosts started to return to me one after the other. Through Rena, I have confirmation after asking a misdreavus that the ghosts have found the two people I needed to find and are working together to guide them here.
I'm simply impressed that they managed to find the people I asked them to help find within half an hour. Saffron City is the capital and heart of Kanto, the most populated city of the region. It is huge. How did my ghosts even manage to spot two people among the millions who live there?
'They are here.'
Rena's voice speaking into my mind got me to look up, just in time to see Wacky running in with a handbag that is definitely not mine.
My ghosts did not just commit daylight robbery, did they?
Dolly reappeared by my side, cackling loudly as she flew circles around me. A few more ghost types followed suit as they all high-fived each other before disappearing back into my shadows.
Oh for the love of- What was I expecting? Of course they committed daylight robbery. Great, let's hope that I will not be the first person that the interpol is going to arrest.
Soon, two people arrived at the clearing we are at together with their pokemon. The two people are a large muscled man with dark skin and a chin-strap beard and a woman with long dark blue hair and fair skin. I recognised them immediately, they are the people that I am supposed to find and recruit.
"Sorry for inviting the both of you in this manner." I quickly bowed in apology and gave a silent gesture to Wacky to return the handbag he had definitely snatched from Mary. "But given the nature of the topic we are about to discuss, this is necessary. I hope you understand."
"And you are…?" Mary inquired with a look of curiosity. At least she is not angry at the prank my ghosts pulled on her. A good start all things considered.
"My name is Velda Vera. I am from the interpol and am now working under Looker." I quickly introduced myself with a smile. "I'm here under Looker's orders to enlist both your help. He had very high praises for both of you."
Akamu's facial expression visibly changed the moment he heard Looker's name.
"We had told Looker that we are not interested." Akamu nearly growled out. Guess the last meeting Looker had with them did not end on a very positive note.
"I figured that much." I nodded in understanding before taking out the dossier that I had painstakingly prepared before coming here. "Looker told me that the two of you gave him five minutes to explain himself when he first sought you out. I will ask the same from the both of you too. Five minutes, that's all I ask. All I need is your opinion on what is printed right here."
The last part of my sentence was directed at Mary. For an inventor of her calibre, I am sure she can recognise her father's work right away. This is what will make things between them and Team Rocket personal and hopefully, be enough to convince her to join our cause to stop Team Rocket. If Mary joins, then I have no doubt Akamu will too.
The only thing I don't like is that doing such a low move leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Mary took the dossier from my hands and began to look through it. I can see that the documents in it caught her attention immediately, so I remained silent and gave her all the time she needed to understand what I had just shown her. Akamu stood by her side, no doubt thinking about the same thing as well even if it's clear he doesn't understand a single thing on the dossier.
When Mary's face started to scrunch up and contort in an obvious expression of anger, I knew that I now have her full attention. Furthermore, it's been way past five minutes. She is definitely going to ask questions, something which I want her to do.
"Where did you get this from?"
Mary finally broke the silence after a long while. I simply chose to ignore her question and asked her a question instead.
"What are your thoughts on it?"
"Where did you get this from?" Mary demanded once again as she held up the dossier with a hand, a slight hint of fury underlying her voice. Good, she is angry, which means that she is now invested and interested to hear what is really going on.
"Only very recently. I cannot tell you anything else because it's confidential and it concerns the secrets regarding the Indigo League and the PWL. That will change, however, if the both of you are willing to lend us your aid, just this one time, to tide over the coming crisis."
I know Akamu and Mary are people who can be trusted with highly confidential secrets from what Looker told me about them, but I am going to purposefully play the confidential card as an excuse to not tell them more than what I told them through the dossier. I have to goad them to chase after me for answers, waiting for them to take the bait. This is the only way left that I can think of for them to agree to join the interpol, even if it is just temporarily. The upcoming Team Rocket problem is too big a threat and we really need all the people that we can find right now.
I have to make this personal for the both of them, and the invention created by Mary's father, now having ties to Team Rocket, is the missing piece of the puzzle that I need to get these two to chase after me for answers.
Mary is understandably not happy about my response.
"If you are asking for our help to complete this monstrosity-"
"We need your help to destroy it." I quickly corrected Mary before she got the wrong impression. "We are asking for your help not because we want to build something like that, but because we need to destroy it."
"Explain."
"The Indigo and the PWL have reasons to believe that Team Rocket is creating their own legendary pokemon through the power of science."
The next piece of news I dropped on them provoked a visible reaction out of them, that much I can tell. I waited for a few seconds before continuing to speak.
"As to how we got wind of this information, I'm afraid even Looker and Lance have not much of a clue." I admitted. "From what I was told, the information just appeared out of nowhere. The best guess we have is that someone within the upper echelons of Team Rocket's ranks are double crossing them."
"This could very well be a trap. An elaborate trap to wipe out Indigo's elites in one fell swoop because nobody can ignore the threat that a rogue legendary pokemon will pose."
Akamu does have a point. From what Looker told me, the Indigo had thought that was the case until they managed to verify most of the information that was disclosed to them. It was then that Lance realised that this is not a joke. Team Rocket is really planning to launch a full blown attack on Johto during National Day.
This is no longer something that even the PWL can ignore. Hence, why every region is willing to lend Indigo their best trainers to help resolve this crisis.
"It could be, but this mysterious informant had given us much other information other than what is contained in this dossier as well." I quickly explained without giving too much away. "As far as we can double check, they are all true. Taking a logical and rational approach, we have little grounds to believe that the blueprint of the machine we are seeing here, the M2 Bind, is false."
"M2 Bind?"
"A machine created specifically to suppress and control a very specific psychic type pokemon to do each and every of the handler's command." Mary interrupted the conversation between me and Akamu and gave the watered down version of what the M2 Bind really is, already knowing its true nature through the dossier I gave her earlier. "This invention is an abomination, an insult to us inventors. Inventions are supposed to help people and pokemon, not… not do something like this."
"In any case, Team Rocket cannot be allowed to have a legendary pokemon in their possession if we want Indigo to remain standing. If something were to happen to Indigo, it would affect the PWL and subsequently the world as well." I continue to explain my rationale for being here today as calmly as possible. "To prevent that from happening, finding a way to release the legendary pokemon from Team Rocket's grasp is now a priority. However, as you can see, this machine is extremely complex and is designed to be near indestructible. We need to gather the best people we can find and trust to take on this job of destroying it. Looker needs the both of you, but he mentioned that you two probably won't want to see him again after the last meeting you had, so he sent me in his stead."
Mary did not form a reply and neither did Akamu. Mary is visibly shaking in anger, her head facing down and her bangs covering her eyes. I saw Akamu slowly reaching out to hold onto Mary's hand.
"Give us some time to think through this." Mary spoke up after a short while. "We will give you our answer by tomorrow."
That is more than I could ask for, which means that it is now time for me to go.
"Looker said that the both of you know how to contact him. We will be waiting for your response." I conceded to their request and forced a smile on my face. "I look forward to working with the both of you, Mary, Akamu. I will take my leave now, thank you for hearing me out."
Taking the cue, the ghosts in my shadows began to use their powers as my shadow started to grow darker before spiralling upwards and engulfing me whole. Shadow Sneak is a useful mode of transport if short distance travels is all that you are aiming for.
Akamu and Mary may not have given their answer yet, but if they are anything like Looker described, I believe that I will see them very soon. After all, in Looker's words, they were once people with noble intentions who tried to help the world in their own way. The world needs people like them to help avert the coming crisis.
My role is to simply gather such people together to help save the world.