"Volkner's in."
"You are kidding."
"No, I'm not." Looker shook his head at my reply. "Volkner's helping, at least for now."
"How?" I asked, curious that somebody actually managed to convince Volkner to help. Not just any kind of help, but actually recruiting Volkner to help out in any way he can.
Just who was the miracle worker that did what everybody else couldn't?
"Champion Lance personally paid Volkner a visit." Looker said with a shrug. "Hard to say no when a Champion made a personal visit to you and asked for your help. I personally feel that the fact that Volkner's wife is a Gym Leader has helped a lot too. Jasmine will be involved in this coming fight in one way or another. Volkner probably wanted to help his wife in any way he can after hearing what Champion Lance had to say."
"Doesn't feel like it." I replied with a frown. "Volkner is very confident in Jasmine's capabilities, just that reason alone doesn't feel like it suffices to convince him to come out into the spotlight again. Then again, you may be right. There's a lot that we still don't know about Volkner and how he is as a person."
"On my end, I had also managed to recruit the two members we discussed that day with help from Grimsley and Siebold. Shannon Juniper and Nova Labelle, a Pokemon Researcher and a Historian. They should be able to get along with us nicely. Now that Akamu and Mary had agreed to lend us their aid as well, our interpol team has more or less taken shape. Just expect friction between members to occur because this is the first time we are officially working with each other, especially with a solo player like Volkner around. We may have to play the role of mediator quite frequently until we really become a real team."
"You sound confident that Volkner, Akamu, and Mary will stay on even after this Rocket business is over." I commented with slight curiosity.
"The three of them are noble people at heart, Vel." Looker patiently explained as we waited in our lodgings, specially prepared by the Indigo League to house us regional representatives during our stay here. "Their reluctance to participate is due to the bad experiences they had with working with authorities. Once upon a time, like you and I now, they were once people that shared the same burning passion to help others without asking for anything in return. I believe that same spark is still there within the three of them, we just have to reignite it. This Rocket problem may be a crisis, but it is also an opportunity for us to reignite that spark."
"So, our job now is to make sure that this team stays as a team? From now until the Rocket problem is over?"
"And preferably this team will not disband after the Rocket problem is over." Looker added as he made himself a cup of coffee. "Coffee?"
"It's fine. Thank you." I politely declined the offer before continuing our discussion. "If we want them to stay together, we need them to have opportunities to work with each other frequently. How are we going about doing this?"
"Volkner and Akamu can work together." Looker proposed as he poured boiling hot water into a porcelain mug, the aroma of coffee wafting in the air. "Akamu is no stranger to battles and his style of battling can complement almost anyone. He's used to supporting others from the backlines. Volkner's experience in taking down criminal groups and Akamu's experience in participating in countless life-and-death battles will mean that they have a lot of common topics to talk about. Akamu will definitely be a huge help to whatever Lance had Volkner help him do, that is for sure."
"And the rest?"
"Mary is an inventor, Shannon is a researcher. The both of them will definitely be part of the team that is tasked to find a way to destroy the M2 Bind. Mary might not want to stay on after this is all over, but Shannon is different. She has a vested interest to stay on because the interpol can provide her the resources to conduct whatever studies she wants to do. Same goes for Nova. All we have to do is to let the three ladies mingle with each other and hope that they will form a strong bond. From there onwards, there's really nothing else we can really do."
"Actually, what is Nova going to do? Aside from digging out the truth about legends and myths?"
"To be able to distinguish truth from lies is a very valuable and rare skill to possess, Vel, do not underestimate Nova's capabilities. She will be of great help in helping us to sort through and picking out relevant information that we need. I wanted to explain once everybody is here, but I guess I can let you know about it now." Looker said with a thoughtful hum as he passed to me a tablet. "Before Team Rocket became what it is today, it was actually known as an organisation called SKIP. That was more than twenty years ago. SKIP is an acronym for Separation of Kanto from Indigo through Peace. Obviously, the current state of Indigo and SKIP's disappearance meant that it failed. SKIP was exterminated by the orders of the Indigo President, Kain Briggs, more than twenty years ago."
"Why would-"
"We are not here to ask questions." Looker cut me off before I could continue. "As members of the interpol, we help to solve the problems plaguing each region, but we are not to interfere in their inner workings. We don't have the authority to. It's a fine line to tread, Vel. Sometimes, the only thing we can do is to turn a blind eye while doing our jobs."
Looker patted my head with a hand before continuing.
"You are still young. For now, the lesser you know about certain things, the safer you will be. Leave the more sensitive and dangerous matters to us adults. All you need to know now was that Giovanni was one of the leaders of SKIP. He was one of the more vocal supporters of Kanto's separation from Indigo. What we speculated is that the cruel extermination of SKIP had twisted him to believe that a peaceful separation was not a viable option, so he turned to the only available path left, freedom through bloodshed."
"You are saying he created what is now the largest and most dangerous terrorist organisation in the world, all just to fight for Kanto's independence?" I clarified.
"That's basically it." Looker confirmed with a nod of his head. "SKIP was a peaceful organisation, but because their nature of work and their ideals directly went against everything Indigo stands for, President Kain Briggs could not tolerate their existence and ordered their extermination. While I believe that extermination is too heavy-handed an approach, it is not my place to comment on how Indigo should run things. At most, we could only give suggestions because we are supposed to be a neutral party."
"If SKIP was indeed exterminated, like people were killed and lives were lost, I can actually understand why Giovanni turned out this way." I said out loud in thought. "Imagine it. All you wanted was a peaceful separation, and what ended up was the death of everyone and everything you held dear. It would break anyone."
"Not everyone ended up dead, if you were wondering." Looker spoke slowly, as if trying to think of a way to formulate a proper response. "Some of the former leaders of SKIP are still around because their identities were never found out by Kain or Indigo. The only reason we now know so much about SKIP is because after knowing the truth behind Team Rocket, that it is a twisted continuation of their previous goals, these people willingly stepped out once more in order to give us their aid and end the mess they started. It's partly why we managed to dig out as much information as we did, especially about the existence of Mewtwo and what the M2 Bind really is. You know some of them."
"And they are…?"
"Agatha was one." Looker dropped the literal bomb the moment I asked. "The previous Indigo Champion, Professor Samuel Oak, was another. Bill, Fuji, Blaine. All of them worked with Giovanni and were a part of SKIP many years ago. They avoided detection and survived, but they were some of the lucky few. Many of their fellow SKIP members weren't so lucky."
"Agatha?" I gasped in shock, not knowing that the cranky old lady who taught me almost everything I knew about ghosts had such a past. "Even her?"
"Even her." Looker nodded solemnly. "Now you know why Lance asked us that everything that we do now, we cannot let Kain or Giovanni know. Given the convoluted history behind the formation of Team Rocket and Kain's past decisions, there is no doubt that Giovanni holds a very deep grudge against Kain and Indigo. Giovanni will rinse Indigo in blood the first chance he gets, and that chance has presented itself on the coming National Day because right now, Giovanni has finally amassed everything he needs to start a war campaign. If I were Giovanni, I would make a big show out of it because it is Indigo National Day, the day where Indigo was first founded. Everyone around the world will be watching the celebrations live on TV. It would be irony at its finest if Indigo were to fall on its founding day. It's something Giovanni will definitely do out of spite."
"And Lance doesn't trust Kain enough to not botch up everything that we are trying to prevent, I take it?" I took a wild guess based on what I knew about the prior relationship between Wallace and President Lucas. The fact that the Regional Champion and Regional President are supposed to work together doesn't mean that they will work together. I had already seen and experienced that firsthand. I don't see why that will be any different in another region.
"Likewise, Kain never trusted Lance." Looker replied with a tired sigh. "However, from what I could gather from the former members of SKIP, Kain himself has severe trust issues. He never worked with Samuel and consistently meddled with his work. At that moment, Samuel knew that he and Kain can never work together as a team to solve Indigo's problems together. It was what pushed Samuel to join SKIP even when he was the Champion back then, because Samuel knew that something had to be done about Kanto and her state of poverty. If Kain is not willing to cooperate, then he could only do it with help from SKIP. That was his rationale back then."
"I don't think I get the picture."
"Right, you were too young to know." Looker said with a look of realisation before continuing to explain SKIP's side of the story. "Right before SKIP was exterminated, Kanto was experiencing a severe economic depression at that time. It was really bad. Kantonians were getting violent because their voices were not heard. As Champion, Samuel wanted to do something about it but Kain would not work with him, always insisting on doing things his way. As time will now tell, Kain's methods did not bore any actual fruit and SKIP had actually succeeded in what he failed to do. Not only that, SKIP's efforts were an immense success. SKIP was a secret organisation that worked behind the shadows. Kantonians do not know of their existence at all, much less the extent in which they contributed to the region. Now, imagine. What if the Kantonians actually knew what SKIP really did for them? The Indigo Government failed, an organisation solely made up of Kantonians succeeded. What will happen when this becomes public knowledge to Kantonians?"
"They…" My mind worked as fast as it could as I tried to visualise the situation Looker just described to me. "They will support SKIP over Indigo. That means… oh."
"I see you got it." Looker said with a satisfied smile. "If Kantonians knew that Indigo was really that inept in solving their issues, what need is there for Kanto to remain as part of the Indigo? If Kantonians themselves are more than capable of managing their own region, why will they need the Indigo? As Indigo President, Kain Briggs will not allow such a separation to happen. It goes against everything the Indigo stands for. That was what drove him to order the extermination of SKIP. At least, that was what Samuel and Blaine told me."
"Politics are really dirty." I blurted out the first thing that popped up in my mind. Suddenly, I'm extremely glad that I was born in Hoenn and not anywhere else.
"Every region has their own dirty linen that they do not want others to see. The only reason why we are involved in this affair is because Indigo clearly needs the help. If Indigo falls, so will the PWL, because Indigo is the largest member nation. The currency that all seven regions use, they are all the same and standardised, Pokedollars. Where did Pokedollars first originated from? Indigo. We are using Indigo's currency to maintain our world's economy. If Indigo falls, the world will fall. As such, Indigo cannot fall. This is why the other Champions offered their help so readily when Lance asked that from them. This is why the regions' representatives are now all involved in this and are lending Lance their aid on orders from their respective Champions. We all know the repercussions that will happen should Indigo fall."
"I have to admit, I never thought that far." I replied, a little ashamed that I never managed to see things as far as Looker did. All the consequences, all the ripples that every single action might have on a region and on the world, I never saw how the Rocket crisis would affect the world as it is. I simply thought that it was an Indigo issue and that was that.
"I don't expect you to, not with your current experience and age. Relax, you have already done very well, all that is left is to help you gain more experience as a member of the interpol. This is why I am here as your mentor and superior." Looker said with an encouraging smile. "With that, do you now see the importance of our very first task? This is our first mission as the interpol, to solve this Rocket crisis so that Indigo can remain standing with the least amount of damage done to it."
Looker then took a look at his watch.
"They should be here soon. Anytime now."
True to Looker's words, two very familiar people entered the room we are at seconds later.
"Akamu, Mary."
"Looker. Velda." Mary greeted us on behalf of the two of them. The difference between how she greeted Looker and me was not lost on us. The couple was at least cordial enough when greeting me but the same cannot be said for Looker. For some reason, Mary and Akamu do not seem to like seeing Looker at all.
"You've gathered the people you needed?" Akamu cut to the chase as he and his wife took a seat in the room we are at. Again, the furthest seat away from Looker. Looker was right, it will really be our job to play the role as mediators and ensure that this interpol team that we set up can function as an actual team.
"As much as I can within these two days." Looker replied as he took out a small device which I recognise to be a communication jammer. Looker may always be paranoid, but he always does things with a reason. If he deems this place, the place where the Indigo League allowed us to stay during our duration here, has a potential chance for us to be eavesdropped upon, then there is really such a possibility.
Akamu and Mary had obviously picked that up too from the subtle changes to their facial expressions.
"The team could be better, but this will have to do for now. Once Shannon and Nova arrive, then we can start things proper by meeting our final member at his place." Looker carried on the conversation, acting like nothing just happened.
Our conversation was interrupted when two more people entered the room. A bespectacled woman with brown hair that ends at her neck, and a woman with dark red hair that cascades down her shoulders.
"U-Um, is this- oh, Looker! So we are in the right place after all!"
"I told you that there was no way we could get lost with me around."
"But Nova, this place is so confusing!"
"Guys, meet Shannon Juniper and Nova Labelle." Looker immediately introduced the two ladies to everyone present and we all stood up to greet them. "Shannon, Nova, these are the people that you will be working with for the foreseeable future. From right to left, Akamu Kahale, Marianne Kahale, Velda Vera. There's one more person who we will need to meet up with. Together, we will be the very first team that will make up the interpol. Vel, if you will."
Knowing what Looker wants me to do, I scrolled through my xtransceiver to find that contact number. I clicked the call button the moment I found the contact number of the 'Fourth Hokage' saved in it. A few seconds later, the Hokage wannabe picked up the call.
"Short stack."
"It's Velda." I corrected him as I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose to calm my rising blood pressure. Damn Volkner and his annoying shenanigans. I'm not short! I'm just petite! I'm still a growing girl! I can grow taller!
"Yeah, yeah, say what you want. Hang on, Myst should be on his way."
"Myst?"
"My gallade. Can't miss him."
On cue, a gallade appeared right in the middle of us without prior indication of its arrival and in the next second, our surroundings suddenly changed when we found ourselves in the West Forest once more, just right in front of Volkner's house.
"AHH! WHERE ARE WE?! DID WE JUST GOT OURSELVES KIDNAPPED?! I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT WHEN I DROPPED MY MUG THIS MORNING! I WOKE UP ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BED TODAY! WHERE ARE WE EVEN?!"
"Shannon, calm down!" Nova had to shake Shannon out of her screaming, looking as if she had done it many times before with how natural she is doing it.
"Yes, please do calm down." Looker said with a tired sigh. "We are still at Olivine. This is Olivine's West Forest."
"Oh, that mysterious piece of private land that is said to be the home of many wild and exotic pokemon in the Johto region?" Shannon's behaviour immediately took a complete turn as she got visibly excited, her previous fear forgotten. "I had heard from Professor Elm that there are stantlers here too! Stantlers! Do you know where I can find-"
A brief chuckle broke out from Mary, who had a hand over her mouth but still failed to contain her laughter at the sight of Shannon's behaviour. Even Akamu has an amused smile on his face. The sound of Mary's laughter immediately broke Shannon out of her ramblings and she rubbed the back of her head in a sheepish manner.
"S-Sorry! It's just that… I… Uh…"
"You can ask Volkner for permission to tour this place all you like after we are done with our work here. This place belongs to him after all." Looker said with a shrug before walking up to the door to knock on it. "But for now, we have other pressing matters to deal with."
"Wait, this place belongs to Volkner?! Like, the entire place?!"
Shannon's question went unanswered as the door swung open by itself after Looker had knocked on it. We entered after Looker and I saw the same living room where Volkner and I had talked with each other that fateful night. He is still there sitting on the sofa, but now the entire area had been converted into his workspace. The wall which the sofa was facing now has many large screens mounted on it, each of them showing diagrams, charts, graphs, of different things that made no sense to me.
"Volkner. It's nice to finally meet you."
"I wish that I can say the same, but your appearance is never good news to me." Volkner grumbled as he stood up and shook hands with Looker a little unwillingly. He then turned to look at me and that annoying smirk made its appearance on his face once more.
"Grown any taller since we last met, short stack?"
"Call me that one more time-"
"So you guys are the people Looker and short stack gathered?" Volkner ignored me as his attention is now directed to the new members of the interpol. "Sup, name's Volkner Tide. If you were wondering, yes, the previous Gym Leader of Sunyshore, that's me."
Volkner then took a brief pause as though he was contemplating something before speaking up again.
"I'm going to warn you guys first. I'm a certified selfish asshole and troll. You guys will get mad at me sooner or later for how I go about doing things but I'm not going to care about that. I'm not here to make friends and neither are you guys. We are just here to help clean up Indigo's mess and then we will go our separate ways. Other than that? It's nice to see y'all."
All of us stared at Volkner in silence, not knowing how to respond to that weird introduction he gave.
"Selfish asshole? Aren't you a Gym Leader?" Nova voiced out loud, disbelief clear in her voice.
"So?" Volkner asked in return. "Because I'm a Gym Leader I must act like a selfless saint? Who decided that in the first place anyway? Get real, red, Gym Leaders are humans too. We cannot do everything that is asked of us, we have our limits. There will come a day where we cannot give anymore. Being a selfish asshole is the only way I know how to protect myself from burning out, deal with it."
Volkner then turned to face Looker.
"Do you have what I need?"
Looker simply took out a hard drive from his pocket, and along with it items that I know very well.
A Key Stone and two Mega Stones. Two.
"This is what Lance entrusted me to pass to you."
"Good. With this, I can finally form a tangible plan. Thanks for bringing these here."
Volkner then gestured to the numerous chairs that he obviously set up in preparation for our arrival.
"Alright, take a seat, make yourselves comfortable. We really don't have time on our side. We need to get this mission impossible done pronto."
The same gallade reappeared into the room, carrying a tray of drinks and promptly handed it out to us.
"W-Wow, this is the first time I saw a gallade this powerful…"
"Focus, four-eyes." Volkner waved a hand in front of Shannon's face to get her attention back on the issue at hand. "You can marvel at Myst all you want later. We have to deal with the Rocket problem now, you get me?"
"R-Right! S-Sorry!"
"The most urgent issue at hand to me, is the M2 Bind." Volkner got the ball rolling without delay the moment we were seated and with a few taps of the buttons on a wireless keyboard he placed on his lap, brought up an annotated blueprint of the M2 Bind on the large screen for all of us to see.
"The M2 Bind. I read about it, including what Mary had to say regarding the weak spots she found that we could possibly exploit. Truth to be told, I don't feel that those are exactly weak spots, but I couldn't find a better way too."
"You are right." Mary spoke up with a serious look on her face. "Those are not exactly weak spots, but they are the only possible weak links in the M2 Bind that we can exploit. I know you dabbled a little in invention and technology from your work in Sunyshore's solar panels, Volkner. What are your own thoughts about the M2 Bind?"
"If even you cannot find a way to destroy it, I sure as hell couldn't do it." Volkner shrugged in a what-can-I-do manner before continuing to talk. "What I do have though, is a different approach we could possibly take and consider. I will leave it up to you and our tech team to decide if it is an approach that can be made possible."
"And that is?" Mary wasted no time in asking Volkner about his opinion on the matter, in which Volkner simply turned towards where the kitchen is in his house.
"Prime, I know you are hiding in the oven. Come out here."
A hollow cackle resounded across the house and a rotom suddenly manifested in front of us in a flash of plasma, crackling in sparks of electricity and eyeing each of us in turn. Volkner simply raised a lazy finger towards his rotom and pointed at it.
"Ladies and gentlemen, meet my rotom, Prime. He might be the key in destroying the annoying M2 Bind."
"I see." Shannon whispered as she took on a thinking pose and began to mumble to herself. "Rotoms are pokemon with a very unique body that is entirely composed of plasma. With that, they can infiltrate electronic devices to wreak havoc. If rotom were to enter a machine like the M2 Bind-"
"It might just be able to dismantle it from within." Mary completed the sentence excitedly. "That's it!"
"Of course, it's not as easy as it sounds." Volkner immediately dumped a cold pail of water on everyone's excitement. "You might not know this tidbit of information because rotoms are so rare, but what you see them doing most of the time, if you even managed to catch a glimpse of a rotom before today, are them infiltrating simple electronic appliances."
"You mean they…"
"They can infiltrate electronic appliances, yes, but they only usually do so when the appliances are not complex ones." Volkner patiently explained. "For a rotom to infiltrate and possess a complex machinery takes a lot of time to practice and skill to master. Most rotoms don't have that kind of patience or skill."
Volkner then directed our attention back to the blueprint of the M2 Bind on the screen.
"A machine as complex as the M2 Bind? It takes a lot of time and effort for a rotom to be familiar enough with the machinery to even infiltrate and then take complete control of it. Luckily for us, Prime is more than qualified in terms of patience and skill, but that is where I hit a dead end. Skilled as he is, Prime cannot possibly successfully infiltrate and possess something like the M2 Bind on his very first try. There's also nothing for him to practice on because there's nothing of that sort to help him in practicing how to infiltrate a machine as complex and as similar as the M2 Bind."
"I will find a way to make it happen." Mary said resolutely. "Leave it to me."
"M-Me too!" Shannon spoke up. "I specialise in Pokemon Biology. Since the M2 Bind works by controlling the nervous system of the target pokemon, and rotom's ability to possess electronic appliances has a direct connection to the biological makeup, I-I can do something to help too."
"That will be great, considering that this pokemon is a clone of Mew as far as we know." Volkner said before releasing a tired sigh. "Fuck this shit. I'm too tired to deal with this nonsense. I'm supposed to be retired."
"Language. There are children here." Akamu chided with a disapproving frown, of which Volkner merely returned with a roll of his eyes, knowing that I am not exactly a child.
"It's fine." I quickly cut in. "Shall we continue with the discussion?"
"Mary and Shannon's job is mainly in the science and tech stuff, and this is all the tech stuff I have to discuss for today." Volkner admitted before turning to the two ladies. "What I'm going to discuss next is more on the beating up the bad guys part, which you guys can sit out on. There is already a tech support team who Lance has gathered and they are now in my precious garage-turned-lab doing their own thing. You two should meet them because they will be the ones who you two will work with in finding a way to destroy the M2 Bind. If you want, Prime can bring you there right now."
Mary shot Shannon a brief glance, who nodded her head in return. Seeing Shannon's response, Mary spoke up.
"We would like that."
"Prime, bring them to those old men." Volkner instructed his rotom, who gave its reply with a cackle which led to Volkner narrowing his eyes at it.
"No pranking them. I'm serious, you know what we will be going up against. Whatever they need your help in, you do your best to aid them, okay?"
The rotom visibly whined a little at the order given, but still proceeded to do as it was told. Mary and Shannon soon left Volkner's house through the front door with his rotom leading the way. Volkner then cleared his throat, catching our attention once more.
"Alright, so, ready for whatever revelations I am going to dump onto you guys?"
"Revelations?" I asked.
"Yeah, only found out about it last night. I only just informed Lance and Professor Oak early this morning about what I found out too." Volkner said and took a sip from his glass to quench his thirst. "The mysterious informant that came with the right information at the right time? I have a feeling I might have just pinpointed where he came from and who he's working for."
"If that's the case, then we need to know." Looker said in all seriousness the moment he heard Volkner's words. "Knowing the source of information is always an important part in winning a war."
"That's the one thing we can agree on." Volkner nodded before he began to elaborate. "So, first of all, there are a few points that I found to be suspicious the moment I learnt about it from Jas. Right when we are all at our most ignorant about this Rocket crisis, an unknown informant stepped up to warn us of this unseen threat. Not only that, everything we need to know to plan a counterattack, it was given at a point where we all have just enough time to prepare. No more, no less."
"That means that the act of leaking this information to Lance is deliberate." Nova made the connection as soon as Volkner said that.
"Bingo." Volkner nodded. "It will be too naive of us to brush off this stroke of good luck as a generous act from a good samaritan, so I decided to dig further into the entire dump of information that the informant gave Lance. It was when sorting through it that I found another weird thing."
Volkner then held up two fingers.
"I classified the entire chunk of information into two broad categories. The dirt we have on Kain, and the dirt we have on Team Rocket. Guess whose dirt do we have more? Not only that, the difference is of a considerable margin."
"From your tone, it's Kain." Akamu replied.
"Exactly." Volkner nodded his head. "Isn't it weird? The informant is here to warn us of what Team Rocket is planning and yet he has much more information about Kain's dirty dealings than the Rockets. Something's obviously not right. So, I did a little digging on my part by accessing the Government's database."
"The only permission you had was the permission to access the Indigo League's database." Looker immediately spoke up, an alarmed look on his face. "How did you get access to the Government's database?"
"For me to know and for you to find out." Volkner dismissed Looker's question with a wave of his hand. "As I was saying-"
"Volkner." Akamu spoke up with a look of disbelief on his face just as we all caught on what Volkner really did. "You cannot just hack into-"
"And I already did. What can you guys do about it?" Volkner challenged. "And you guys should be glad I did, because this was how I managed to piece out more information that the informant doesn't want us to know. I told you people, I'm a certified selfish asshole and troll. You guys will get mad at me for how I go about doing things. So do you guys want to hear what I have to say or not?"
"Just continue." Looker replied with a tired sigh as he used his knuckle to massage his temple.
"First of all, the fact that the informant had so much dirt on Kain of all people is suspicious. I'm a very paranoid person myself, having to deal with criminals, gangsters, terrorists, Galactics, assassins and the likes ever since I became a Gym Leader. Kain's paranoia is at least ten times worse than mine. So that begs the question. How on earth did this informant get so much dirt on him? That's point number one."
On one of the screens, a single line of sentence appeared on the screen in bullet point. How did the informant get so much dirt on Kain?
"Moving on." Volkner continued to tell us what he found odd about the entire issue. "Lance said that the information was given to him through hard drives. The informant had somehow infiltrated his office in Indigo HQ and placed hard drives on his table, day by day, for almost an entire week. Lance told me that he even tried camping in his own office to catch the informant in the act and yet failed to do so. Another hard drive just popped up on his table like magic the moment he went for a toilet break. I myself had tried infiltrating Sinnoh HQ before and it wasn't easy, even for me. Can you guys now see how ridiculous this entire fiasco sounds like? This is point number two."
Ignoring the part where Volkner admitted that he had infiltrated his own regional League's HQ, his point does make some sense. This is indeed a suspicious point in itself.
Another bullet point appeared below the first one. How did the informant infiltrate Indigo HQ repeatedly without getting caught?
"I initially thought that maybe Indigo is not as up to date with cybersecurity, which would explain how the informant got so much dirt on Kain, so I sent my porygon-z to see just how secure their cybersecurity is. Guess what? That's not the case. Indigo's cybersecurity is solid, especially for the Indigo Government, and yet my porygon-z managed to find traces of a security breach. It was what my porygon-z exploited to compare the information the informant gave us and what is there in Indigo Government's database. We then found out that we actually have everything we need to know about Kain and his dealings, except for one single file that the informant never gave us. This is where everything started to piece itself out."
On cue, one of the screens showed what is obviously a highly confidential file titled 'PROJECT ILLUSION'.
"Project Illusion. An illegal top secret project that right now, only Kain has the knowledge of its existence. Everyone else involved is already dead according to what is stated on the file." Volkner quickly gave us a rundown on what Project Illusion is about as he used a mouse to open the file and navigate through it. "In short, Project Illusion is all about kidnapping young children, brainwashing them with Hypnosis, and then mold them into Kain's perfect soldiers and spies that will listen and report to him and him only. 359 children were abducted in total."
There was an angry slam of fist against the table and we all turned to see who had done so. An angry Akamu had a look of fury on his face, fist clenched. The table itself now has cracks on its surface for that angry slam Akamu did.
Akamu had a very apologetic look on his face the moment he realised what he had done.
"Uhm, sorry about the table. I-"
"It's fine." Volkner waved it off lazily with a hand. "I can understand your anger, I had the same reaction when I first learnt of Project Illusion too. Don't worry about the table, I've been wanting to find an excuse to convince Jas to replace the table for a while now anyway. You just did me a favour."
"So Kain has his own personal army of spies." Looker muttered darkly as we all tried to wrap our heads around this change in development of events. "This just got a lot more complicated. For all we know he already knows what we and Indigo are trying to do. If they interfere, this just got a lot harder."
"358 of them are already dead, only one of them is alive. Look." Volkner cut in as he scrolled through the pages, each detailing the personal particulars of every single operative that are part of Project Illusion. The DECEASED typed in big red words and bolded are plastered over each and every one of their profiles.
"Scumbag." Nova muttered darkly as we briefly went through what we saw on screen.
"No disagreements there. Problem is, the beginning of this file stated that there are 359 operatives, each of them children that Kain had abducted. It's also stated that 358 of them are already dead. I only have 358 different profiles here, and all of them are marked as KIA. There is a missing page, the one belonging to one Operative 2046 and probably the sole survivor of Project Illusion."
"That operative's profile was purposely deleted on purpose." Looker stated his deduction with confidence. "Problem is, by who?"
"My porygon-z tried to see if he can salvage any remnants of the deleted page, but there is no progress on that matter. All we know is that the deletion is very recent, on the same day of the security breach in the Government's database. That means whoever stole the whole lot of information about Kain and his dirty dealings, deleted the page on Operative 2046, and then sent everything to Lance except for the file on Project Illusion, is probably the very same person. Motivations are important, because it helps us to predict what the other side is planning to do next. So what's the reason or motivation behind whatever the informant had done? Why go through all this trouble? Why did he or she not want anybody to know about Project Illusion and more specifically, Operative 2046? This is point number three."
A third bullet point appeared on the screen. Why does the informant not want anybody to know about Project Illusion and Operative 2046?
"Could it be that it is not because the operative did not want to give us that file on Project Illusion, but rather he or she cannot give us?" Nova reasoned as she provided an alternative explanation.
"It doesn't make sense if that were the case." Volkner disagreed with a shake of his head. "There are many more confidential files that are even more tightly guarded than Project Illusion that the informant had managed to get for us. The informant purposely did not give us the file on Project Illusion for a reason, which leads me to my next point."
Volkner sat up a little straighter before telling us his conjecture.
"What I think, is that whoever this informant is, is this Operative 2046. Our informant is actually an underground agent under Kain's employment. That is the only explanation I can think of that makes sense."
"Explain." Akamu said.
"I don't believe in coincidences." Volkner stated plainly before he pointed at the screen. "Take another look at the bullet points."
1. How did the informant get so much dirt on Kain?
2. How did the informant infiltrate Indigo HQ repeatedly without getting caught?
3. Why does the informant not want anybody to know about Project Illusion and Operative 2046?
"If." Volkner spoke slower in order to help us follow his train of thoughts. "If this informant really is an underground agent of the Government all along, working and reporting only to Kain, then everything will fit. He would know things about Kain that nobody else does, infiltrating the Indigo HQ will be easier than most because he or she would very likely have some sort of secret access to places nobody else has, and if this person is Operative 2046 of Project Illusion, the only missing profile in Project Illusion, then it would make sense that he or she has sort of unknown motivation to erase any records of their existence, even from the Indigo Government's database."
"It does make sense." Looker spoke up after we all fell into silence to ponder about this issue. "But if Kain had brainwashed his operatives with Hypnosis as stated in Project Illusion to ensure their absolute loyalty to him, why and how is this operative doing this?"
"That's what we don't know." Volkner said with a sigh. "Like I said, motivations are important. Things don't just fall into your lap without any reason. This informant has his own agenda to meet as well, that is for certain. This is no longer a two-way war between Indigo and Team Rocket. It's a three-way war with this informant controlling everything behind the scenes. He deliberately chose to inform Indigo about Team Rocket's plans and Kain's deeds right at this very moment because he thinks that now is the right time. We don't even know for sure if he or she really is this Operative 2046 or everything is simply a ploy to make us think this way."
"We need to keep an eye on Kain." Looker spoke up. "If everything that we now know is somehow his orchestration, then we might be heading right for a trap."
"One step ahead of you." Volkner snorted. "Already told Lance this morning what I told you guys. He's onto it, so let's not worry about that. Now that we got the Kain part done, let's move onto Team Rocket. You guys ready for round two?"
And thus round two began.
… Or that was the plan.
Round two ended up getting postponed because it was near lunchtime by the time round one ended and we are indeed getting a little hungry. Volkner proposed that we simply take a break and prepare some simple lunch for everyone who is in the West Forest, including the tech team which I have not seen yet but according to Volkner, hard at work in his garage which had been converted into a lab for the use of the tech team.
Volkner and I had disappeared to have a private conversation with each other the moment we had the chance in pretence of getting the ingredients we needed to cook our lunch.
"I'm curious, why do you insist that we prepare our own lunch instead of ordering takeout or something? I thought we were in a rush for time."
"Yes, we are in a rush for time." Volkner agreed. "But team building is indeed important too. We can afford to spare an hour or two to get to know each other better, especially when we are supposed to work as a team, not just as a group. What else is a better form of icebreaking than to cook a meal or two together?"
"Everybody that I met who knew you said that you are not a team player. What changed?"
"What changed is that I chose to be a team player now." Volkner replied with a roll of his eyes. "There's really no other choice if we are going up against Mewtwo. We both know what kind of monster that pokemon can be."
"You know, I'm curious. Just who on earth managed to persuade you to help this time?"
"Take a guess."
"I'm too lazy to. Just say it."
"Fine, spoilsport." Volkner said with a dramatic sigh. "It's Lance."
"Lance? The Indigo Champion?!"
"That one. Not gonna lie, I was initially pissed when he came over."
"You seemed to be permanently pissed at everything and everyone anyway."
"You should see that attitude of his when he came over." Volkner deadpanned. "It's like he expects me to help him for nothing in return simply because the Indigo Champion is here personally so you have to help, because he is the Indigo Champion. That was the vibe he gave off. So what if you are the Indigo Champion? Do I look like I give a shit about rank and titles? It sure didn't seem like he was here asking for my help, he was here demanding for my help. Of course I was pissed, there's a big difference between the two. And- what are you doing?"
"Cooling you down." I replied sarcastically as I used my hand to do a fanning motion in his direction. "Someone's getting a little heated."
"Oh, short stack is a smartmouth now, is she?"
"At least I'm not an ass like you." I retorted. "Anyway, what happened next?"
"I reminded Lance about the possible political repercussions that might happen because of my status as a Sinnohan, he said Cynthia agreed to the arrangement so there's no problem. I got even more pissed off the moment I heard that. Like, dude, did you even ask me for my own opinion before coming over? If you are asking for my help, shouldn't you ask for my opinion instead of Cynthia's? I never agreed to help, right? I am no longer under the control of the Sinnoh League, Cynthia saying yes doesn't mean jack shit to me anymore. Why was he acting like me helping him is a fact set in stone simply because Cynthia said yes? If there's one thing that I absolutely hate, it's Cynthia ordering me around. Both of us never got along even if we greatly respect each other as trainers. Any thoughts of wanting to help Lance disappeared the moment I heard that coming out from his mouth."
"Lance couldn't have known about your relationship with Cynthia, could he?"
"He does." Volkner disagreed with a stare. "That's the thing that made me snap at him. He knew I absolutely hate to do anything Cynthia ordered me to do and he still said it anyway, especially when I'm now not her subordinate."
"You know, sometimes I still don't understand why you are so against helping Indigo. You were Sinnoh's strongest Gym Leader." I argued. "What did Spiderman's uncle say again? With great pow-"
"Don't fucking complete that stupid sentence." Volkner warned. "That's the quote I hate the most. At best, that quote is just something to make you feel better about yourself for something you think you did for the greater good. At worst, it is an excuse to exploit others and guilt trip them to help you with your shitty problems simply because they are too capable and you are too useless to clean up your own mess."
"Why do you think this way?"
"You have to understand, Vel, I wasn't like a selfish asshole like I am now when I first started out." Volkner said with a tired sigh. "Yes, people with great power do have a responsibility to use it properly, that I agree. Just look at Kain now, he didn't use his powers responsibly and look at the mess that happened. But if you start using that quote as an excuse to squeeze every bit of usefulness out of me to solve every single problem in the world, like what the Sinnoh League did to me, then we are going to have problems. No matter how powerful and capable someone can be, they are not obliged to help you in every single matter. The same goes for me, I'm only human. I have my limits. There are things that I cannot do so it's dangerous to be over reliant on me to solve every single issue. One day I will hit my limits and fail too because I'm human like everybody else."
Volkner took a brief pause before continuing.
"There's always a limit to how much a person can give to another person or to the world before they break, Vel. I was so very close to reaching my breaking point during my two years of Galactic hunting. You say with great power comes great responsibility? I daresay I used my powers very responsibly already and not abuse it when I could have. I had many chances to do so. I daresay I did my damn best in fulfilling my duties and responsibilities as a Pillar even if I hated the job that I never asked for. I will dare anyone to name another Pillar that has gone far beyond the call of duty to do what I did and sacrificed what I have sacrificed in protecting their region. The number of such Pillars that I can think of right now whose contributions and sacrifices surpassed mine numbered to less than ten in the world's history."
Volkner took a brief pause before continuing.
"Point is, I had done my best, Vel. Yes, I know my work isn't perfect, but what more do you want me to sacrifice? Yes, I know I am strong even for the standards of what you would expect from a Pillar, but that is no reason for me to be at everyone's beck and call to be their wonder cure for everything. It's plain unfair to me. And let's be logical here. When the world starts to rely on a select few to solve each and every of their problems, that's when everything goes to shit. It's basic common sense that such an arrangement can never last but the supposedly smartest people who govern this world just can't seem to understand this simple logic."
Volkner carried on with explaining the reason behind his disagreement with my point of view.
"Can you imagine if back in those days, what would happen if Sinnoh become over reliant on me and if one day I suddenly got myself killed? What then? Who else can take over my job to cleanse the region of the lowlives infesting Sinnoh? Why else do you think I placed so much time and effort in grooming a successor? It's not just because I can retire quickly, it's also because if anything happens to me, I can die knowing that I had taught someone the needed skills to finish what I started. I cannot allow my death, disappearance, or any sort of disablement to leave a vacuum that cannot be filled should anything happen to me. Sinnoh's crime problems were very serious back then, I needed something to produce immediate results. For crime rates to stop skyrocketing I need the underworld to be afraid of me, I need to be a presence that they all fear. I need to force myself to be so powerful that I am incapable of falling and unable to be defeated, just like an undying sun, even if doing so means offending the entirety of Sinnoh's underworld and putting me at the very top of their shitlist. Having assassination attempts on my life was so common that I got numb to it, because I was too good at my job. To be good at my job, I sacrificed my innocence and moral compass and became a murderer. I lost count on the number of villains that I had killed because I didn't have any other choice, because these people are too dangerous to let live. Yes, they are villains, but a life is a life and what they did doesn't mean that their life was any less sacred. And even after I've done the deed I still have to force myself to put on a smile on my face to reassure the people that the threat has been neutralised and that they can continue to go on with their daily lives. You want to talk to me about power and responsibility? That was the power I wield and the responsibility I took on as Sunyshore's Gym Leader among many others that I cannot tell you due to national secrets."
Ignoring the awkward silence, Volkner continued to tell me his side of the story.
"If I cannot do all of what I just mentioned as a Gym Leader, Sinnoh is doomed, all because I wasn't ready or capable to take up the responsibilities that come with the title of a Gym Leader that I was saddled with against my will. This was why I spent so much time and effort in grooming Riley to be my successor, because he has what it takes to do what I do and has the potential to be far stronger, greater, and even better than what I will ever be, be it as a trainer, Gym Leader, and also as a person. If anyone can surpass me, it's him, that is what I believe. That is why he is my successor and nobody else."
Volkner then gave me a look of warning.
"So don't talk to me about power and responsibility. I know better than anyone what those words really mean. If I truly wanted to spite the Sinnoh League and be truly irresponsible, I could simply do the bare minimum by entertaining challengers who challenged me for my badge and stop there. I could have just exposed their dirty deeds for the whole world to see like how the informant did to Kain. I wouldn't bother to rebuild Sunyshore and clear the city of all the bad guys. I wouldn't bother trying to help make sure that the trainer school idea can be implemented in Sinnoh despite my already crazy schedule. I can show the world how to take slacking around to the next level if I really wanted to. If I really hated Sinnoh for what they did to me, I could easily become their worst criminal to ever grace the world with the power I wield simply to spite whoever had done me wrong. Better still, join forces with people like Cyrus or Giovanni. We can easily take over the world together, especially with my foreknowledge. I know better than anyone that absolute power corrupts because I've not only seen it happen, what I hold in my hands even right now is absolute power. If I'm so powerful that it will be so hard to bring me to justice for any wrongs I did, it's honestly a lot easier for me to be a criminal than a good guy. I would really like to see who on earth can stop me if that were the case. Still, did I do any of that despite the unfair treatment I received? I didn't, right? I'm not conceited enough to claim that I experienced the worst treatment the world has to offer because I know that somewhere out there, there will be some poor chap that had it worse than I did. But I still ended up being one of those Pillars who had contributed the most to Sinnoh throughout her long history, didn't I? If I truly didn't understand the weight of the responsibility placed on me and what having absolute power means, could I really have endured everything and did what I did?"
I remained silent, not knowing how to reply. Volkner simply gave another of his trademarked sighs and continued.
"I told you I was practically a slave to the League but I never did tell you how I became a slave, did I? I was blackmailed. The few people who I care about in this world, the Sinnoh League threatened their well-being in order to force me to take up the position. I had no choice but to be a Gym Leader to protect them. Just please don't tell this to anyone else, even if it's Jas or Flint. I kept them in the dark about this for a reason."
"Threatened?!"
"That's not all. What made me really angry was that it ended up being a big bluff, all because I wasn't sure if the Sinnoh League could really carry out their threats. I was just like you back then, Vel, ignorant about everything that doesn't interest me. Politics, Thirteen Pillars, blah blah blah, I had close to zero knowledge of what they do or mean. The only thing that mattered to me back then was taking care of my pokemon and to be the strongest trainer, because that was my passion and dream. Because of that, I was ignorant about the world and how it works. It was because of my ignorance that I paid the price in the form of slaving away seven years of my life to the Sinnoh League."
Seven years of freedom. It's really a big price to pay.
"Seven years, Vel. Can you now see why I am so unwilling to tangle myself with League affairs now? Especially in a foreign region? Another slip-up on my part can easily lead me to signing another seven years of my life away or even more. I don't want that to happen again, and I made damn sure that it will never happen again when I resigned. You think I'm a selfish asshole? I know I am one, but I didn't ask to be one. I forced myself to be one because being a selfish asshole was the only way I know how to protect myself from people who kept coming to me over and over again to help me solve their problems. When I was at your age helping others was second nature to me. Anybody who asked for my help, I gave them. When I was a boy with only five badges I was already famous among the law enforcement for busting crimes that even the police themselves cannot solve, all because like you are now, I had once genuinely believed that with great power comes great responsibility. Why else do you think the Sinnoh League so quickly decided to appoint me as the 42nd Gym Leader of Sunyshore the moment Flint put my name forward, especially when I had only just returned to Sinnoh from my four year world tour prior to that no less? It's because I have proven myself to be suited for the job since a long time ago."
Volkner then patted me on the head, although this time I didn't slap his annoying hand away like always because he really looked like he was being genuinely worried about me.
"Seeing you right now reminds me a little of what I used to be when I was around your age. At least you have your family's backing to protect you should you find yourself in a sticky situation, so your situation is a lot better than mine. I didn't have such a luxury because I was simply another no-name orphan until I made a name for myself after I became Gym Leader and created my own safety net. In any case, be very careful when treading around any affairs that are related to any League and especially with the PWL. Don't end up signing your life away like I did. Once you fall into that trap, it's very hard to get out of there. Take it from someone who had gone through it before."
Volkner then walked on ahead. Upon realising that I am still rooted to the spot, he gave me a lazy smile and gestured for me to come along with a slight tilt of his head.
"Come on, enough of the serious talk and my angsty sob story. That part of my life is already over anyway. I just want you to be absolutely clear what you are getting yourself into before you commit further for the interpol's cause, because that's the only piece of advice I can impart to you before we go our separate ways. Come, let me show you the little plantation that Jas and I are so proud of. We grow some of our own food, you know that?"
True to his words, Volkner led me to a little plantation where he and Jasmine grew their own food.
"Didn't take you to be a gardener." I commented as Volkner and I picked out the garlics and onions from his little plantation not far from his house. Like Volkner said, we will be preparing our own lunch. Nova and Akamu are in the kitchen preparing the other ingredients and preparing their region's unique delicacy for us to taste. Volkner and I used this time to go out to his so-called plantation to pick up the rest that we all need. It is also a good excuse to catch up with each other about what we both have done so far and to talk about things that we remembered from our previous lives.
"It's a good hobby to have." Volkner said with a shrug as he tossed whatever he picked out into a small basket we brought along. "So, thoughts on whatever we discussed about Kain and the shady as hell informant just now?"
"I think your points are valid. It's clear that everybody agreed that what you picked out is something to look out for." I replied as I dusted some of the soil off my hands. Volkner's raichu stood close to us and I allowed it to use its nose to sniff my scent when it nuzzled a little closer to my leg, probably to familiarise itself with my scent and presence. We will be working alongside each other for the foreseeable future, so having ourselves and our pokemon familiarise with each other will be necessary.
"Come to think about it, this is probably the first time you met Franky." Volkner jabbed a thumb at the massive electivire standing behind him, who waved an energetic hello at me the moment its trainer introduced it to me. "My starter and strongest pokemon, that's him. Don't worry about his scary looks, he's very friendly."
I used this time to visually study the fine specimen of an electivire right before my eyes. The only other electivire that I had seen in person before is Vance's, and even then it's obvious at a glance that even Vance's had nothing on Volkner's.
"Uhm, this is Rena." I gestured to Rena, who is beside me as always, before gesturing to Kel, who is lying beneath the shade of a nearby tree and watching us silently. "That's Kel. You already met Fuzzy. These three are usually the ones who accompany me everywhere other than my ghosts. Sometimes you might see Archer too if the space is big enough to accommodate him and if I let him out of his pokeball. He's a scizor."
"Oh, bug types? Do me a favour and try not to let them roam near Jas. She's a little afraid of bugs."
"Huh." I blurted, a little amused that even a Gym Leader has the common phobia of bugs. "Not something I expected from someone of her status, no offense."
"None taken." Volkner waved it off. "To be fair, she did try to get over it. She has a forretress on her team but that's because that species honestly doesn't look much like a bug at all. She had really wanted a scizor on her team but everytime she got near a scyther or the likes she just screamed and ran away in fear. We gave up trying to get her a scyther or a scizor after a while."
"So Bug Specialists are her nemesis?"
"She's fine if bugs keep their distances from her, not that fine if they got up close to her. Luckily my vikavolt is an understanding little bug and didn't take her phobia of bugs personally. Would have been awkward otherwise."
Volkner stood up and dusted his hands.
"C'mon, short stack, let's go. We already got what we need."
"For the last time you Hokage wannabe, call me by that damn name one more time-"
"Hokage wannabe?"
Both Volkner and I clammed our mouths shut when we heard that the voice that clearly belonged to another person. We both turned our heads, spotting a shocked Akamu and Nova with a decidueye beside them. Volkner and I are also both equally shocked at how the two of them just appeared behind us unannounced.
"What are you talking about?" Volkner feigned ignorance and I quickly caught on. "And weren't you two in the kitchen marinating the meat or something?"
Nova and Akamu both shared a look with each other before turning to face us. Akamu broke the silence.
"Does the name Naruto mean anything to either of you?"
Both Volkner and I blinked, then turned to each other, then turned back to face Akamu and Nova.
No damn way.
This can't be real.