Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, okay?  Or any other media or other things I can't buy off of my underpaid salary.

A Not-So-Important Mission

-- --

‘Thoughts'   "Human Speech"   (Pokespeech)   (Telepathy)

-- --

"So Creed, where are we going again?" Zeke asked for the umpteenth time as he followed behind the older trainer.

"I told you already kid, while it's near the forest edge, we want to avoid being spotted so we have to approach it from a different direction, sorry if it's such an inconvenience for you," Creed replied with sarcasm laced within his voice.

Taking a breath to calm himself Zeke replied, "Sorry, I'm just really nervous here.  It's not everyday that I'm sneaking into the base of a renowned criminal organization."

Creed just chuckled at his response, "Yeah, I can't exactly blame you.  It's always a bit difficult during the first couple of times, but you get used to it."

Zeke responded with a nod, thinking about how he got to where he was now as he followed the once again fully cloaked agent.  After agreeing to help him out with this job of his, he'd headed to get some of his things back at the Pokecenter.  Knowing that stealth was key in what he was about to do, Zeke dressed entirely in black, making sure to put on a sweatshirt as to receive the cover the hood offered for his head.  When he'd checked himself in the mirror, while he didn't exactly think he was undetectable, he figured it was better than nothing.

After dressing himself he released his team of Pokemon, already having gotten them looked over by Nurse Joy after their battle with Creed.  He had one last discussion with them, making sure they were all in this.  Getting an enthusiastic agreement, it was made clear Zeke's team supported him all the way.  After making a second and final check on his supplies, he returned his team to their Pokeballs, joined back up with Creed again, and now they were heading to this hidden secret base.

He was suddenly taken out of his thoughts though as Creed came to an abrupt stop.  Looking ahead of them he noticed a small clearing in front them, like Creed had mentioned before, something you wouldn't notice unless you were specifically looking for it.  And as he described there in the middle was a large boulder a couple of meters high.

Noticing Creed drop down into a crouched position before moving forward, Zeke followed his example.  Once again feeling a sense of paranoia as they moved forward, Zeke was constantly looking around, expected to see a security camera or some other kind of defense measure.  Noticing that Creed wasn't stopping, he continued as well.  He eventually calmed as he realized his paranoia was due to his anxiousness and not from a sense of being watched.

After what seemed like forever, but what had actually only been a couple of seconds, they reached the surface of the boulder, both of them flattening their bodies up against it.

"Hey kid, there's something I forgot to give you," Creed whispered as they stood there.

"Yeah, what is it?" Zeke asked.

"Here," Creed reached into the pack strapped to his back overtop his guitar, which Zeke still didn't understand why he carried, and pulled something out of his pack he handed over to Zeke, who only looked down at what he was holding.  They were Pokeballs that, instead of the usual red and white color scheme, had a black bottom and yellow top, with a grey button in the center to add.

Taking them from the agent and adding them to his own pack he asked, "What exactly were those?"

Without looking at him Creed answered, "They're a special type of Pokeball given to us agents that allows us to capture any Pokemon captured by another trainer or otherwise.  Like a normal Pokeball though the Pokemon has to either be weakened or willingly accept the bond.  And before you say that's evil tech to use look at the top.   There's a locking mechanism that releases the bonded Pokemon once they've been returned to the authorities, it's because of that that the bond of loyalty that generally inflicted on a Pokemon is weaker than a normal Pokeball.  Granted while the normal bond is weak, this one's nearly non-existent; these are only meant as a means of carrying the Pokemon, not to battle with them.  While a normally bonded Pokemon can still revolt against its trainer, it will feel some discomfort in doing so.  With these, the Pokemon can practically do anything they want with you with no consequence.  So I suggest you not trust these Pokeballs.  Any questions?"

Shaking his head no, Creed nodded, "Alright then, so kid, you ready?"

Zeke took a deep breath before giving a nod of renewed determination.  Seeing that Creed climbed up to the top of the boulder, Zeke followed shortly.  It was there that he saw what seemed to be a metal handle sticking out of the rock.  He wasn't surprised as Creed lifted the handle, revealing a large hatch built in the surface of the rock.  Staring down at the hole it opened up to, Zeke saw it revealed a short drop to a flight of stairs, which then seemed to lead down into an infinite darkness.

"Well," Creed started with a smirk, getting his attention, "Ladies first."

Replying with a reproachful look, Zeke dropped down, unknowing about what laid ahead of him.

-- --

"Ugh, stuck with guard duty again, it's not like anything ever happens around here," a man with dyed green hair and in a silver uniform complained as he patrolled one of the many identical halls.  He sighed, "At this point I'm practically begging something to happen, just to relieve the tension.  Huh?"

At that point, as if some higher deity was watching he heard what sounded like a rattling noise.  Walking a bit further he looked up at one of the metal gratings built into the ceiling before he noticed something hit him in the face.  Looking at his feet he noticed a number of screws on the floor, looking back up he groaned, "Oh shi..."  Unfortunately he never finished as at that point a metal grating hit him in the face, knocking him unconscious.

-- --

Not a moment later a dark shape dropped from the hole in the ceiling, landing next to the now unconscious guard.  Looking up at the opening to the ventilation shaft Zeke called out, "Alright Julia, its clear."  The Latias was soon hovering in front of her trainer, Zeke giving her a good head rub.  "Great job Julia, it's a good thing we have those psychic abilities of yours, huh?" Zeke commented, referring to only a moment ago when he'd gotten Julia to use Psychic to remove the screws to the metal grating.

"Can you put the grate back in place Julia, I'd rather someone not notice it if they happen to pass by."  The Latias nodded and began resealing the opening as he walked over to inspect their victim.

"Well, you did manage to knock a man out cold, but I think I can live with that," Zeke sarcastically scolded as he looked down at the unconscious Galactic member.  "But good job Julia, now return," Zeke said as he returned her to her Pokeball, her form disappearing in a flash of red light.

"Now then," he said as he looked back down at the lifeless guard at his feet, "What do we do about you?"

-- --

Grabbing one of the swords sheathed in the straps on his back he broke the lock of the door in front of him, preventing anyone from getting in or in this case out of the room behind it.

‘Well, that's one problem off my back,' Zeke thought as he referred back to the comatose guard lying on the other side of the door.  Finding no real other way to hiding the body, he threw him into the nearest room, in this case what appeared to be a storage closet and broke the lock.

He had contemplated stealing the guy's uniform before he'd taken a second look at it.  A disgusting picture entered his mind of him dressed in one of those uniforms.  Shaking his head as he continued down the unknown hallway, one thought on his mind as he walked quietly forward, ‘No, I'd rather be captured and tortured by these losers before I got caught dead in one of those costumes,' before an overwhelming sense of pity for all the poor souls who were forced to dress like that overtook his mind.

-- --

Wandering the seemingly endless hallways Zeke thought back to what had happened before.

After first entering the Galactic base, Zeke and Creed cautiously walked down the spiraling staircase, while using Scarlett as a light source to view their surroundings, eventually they came upon a ventilation shaft about halfway down the staircase, Zeke using Julia once again as he had before to Psychically unscrew the panel and then lift him and Creed up to the opening.  Returning both his Pokemon to their balls as a quick fix, he and the agent continued of their own, using flashlights from their packs to find their way.  Soon they came to multiple split ends, the vents breaking up and leading to many different destinations throughout the base according to Creed.

Splitting up, the two of them both chose an air duct at random and hoped for the best.  Continuing to follow his own path, Zeke soon saw a breach in the pipe where a pillar of light was lit up from below.  Looking down, he saw he was crouched down on top of a metal grate.  Not one to waste an opportunity, Julia was soon once again out of her Pokeball loosening the screws.  After that was the encounter with the guard and now here he was, cautiously walking down the hallway of some unknown location.

‘This is odd, shouldn't I have run into someone by now.  Either the security in this place sucks or something is going on,' Zeke mentally scolded himself as he realized even if he hadn't intended to wear the guy's suit he still should have searched the guy for a radio or something, maybe then he would have realized what was going on.

Well he was too far away to go back now and there was no point in living in the past so he continued onward, just as cautiously as before.

-- --

‘Ah crap, someone's coming!'  Finally receiving what he'd been complaining about, Zeke could hear the voices of what seemed to be two different people, neither of whom he recognized.  Trying his best to blend in the shadows of the hallway, this was where he would test the usefulness of his outfit.  Slowly moving down the hallway, he looked for any room, separate hallway or even a dark corner to hide in.

Finally stumbling across a metal door he wasted no time in opening it and jumping inside, careful to close it behind him.  Hearing the voices get louder as they approached, he leaned against the inside of the door, his breath small and shallow to point that he almost wasn't breathing at all.  While he couldn't make out what they were saying through the thick metal door, he could feel himself visibly relax as he heard the voices and footfalls pass and continue away from his hiding spot.

The anxiousness wearing away, Zeke took a few breaths he hadn't realized he'd been holding before looking at where he was, only to thank his luck.  From what he could gather, based off of the bunk beds, study desks, and even a small computer, this was the living quarters of a few of the recruits here.  Not wasting the opportunity as he had with the guard before, he set to work on finding anything that remotely looked promising, either something to help him out, or anything among important documents like Creed had mentioned.

After a good 20 or so minutes of searching, all he'd come up with was a map and a radio he'd found in one of the desks.  While it wasn't much, he definitely knew a lot more about this place from just the map.  Turning on the radio, he messed around with tuning the channels until he found a particular one clear of static.  While it was currently just a bunch of useless chatter such as guards reporting in and what he guessed was the supervisor giving out general reports such as the lunch menu of all things, he decided to keep it with him in case anything happened.  After all, the first thing they'd do if they spotted him or Creed would report it in to alert all of the guards.

Taking another look at the map he plotted where he guessed he was, and based on limited info he had walking around the hallways like he had been, he was somewhere in the housing quarters of floor 9B from the looks of it, whatever that meant.  What surprised him was the lack of security plotted on the map.  While he expected this wasn't the majority, the map itself showed there were only major defenses like security cameras and guard posts in the larger rooms and what appeared to be the labs, rooms that on a daily basis were filled to the brim with security and other personnel.

Looking through the different rooms charted on the map, he chose two that appealed to him, the room belonging to that of an officer named Lieutenant Harper where he would have the highest chance of finding anything among important documents.  The second was an area labeled "Jail Cells 26B - 14E", while once again he didn't understand the coding behind it, jail cells meant prisoners, and that was enough for him right now.

‘Well one thing's for sure,' Zeke thought as he rolled up the map and slipped it into his pack while putting the radio in there too, ‘Whoever designed this place either sucked at architecture, or was a complete idiot.  Then again, compared to what I've seen so far, most likely both.'  Moving out into the hallway once again, he walked forward, this time having an idea of where he was going at least.

-- --

‘Now let's see, if I'm reading this map correctly then there should be some sort of prisoners' cell right around the corner here.'  Leaning against the wall, Zeke was trying to think up a plan. If these guys had any brains at all, there would be at least a few keeping an eye on the place, and he needed to figure out the best way to approach.

‘A direct approach is out of the question.  Even if my Pokemon were near invincible, their radio in for help would have this place swarmed in minutes, besides this is supposed to be a stealth mission according to Creed.  We get in, we get out, simple as that.  With that option out, the only real attempt I can make is to find another way in.  Hm, I wonder if there's another way through the vents like before,' Zeke pondered, calculating a way as to get in unnoticed.

Deciding to use the same approach as before, Zeke began looking for a second entrance, and with a facility as large as this, it didn't take long for him to find one.  Instead of the ceiling like before, the grate was this time fastened into the wall to his right, only a few inches off the ground.  Well, at least he didn't have to worry about climbing up.

"Alright Julia, once again, use Psychic to loosen the bolts on this grate," he said softly as he still wanted to avoid attention, even if it did look like the halls were empty, while releasing the Latias.  Shaking his head a bit he thought, ‘Something must be up, either this place isn't as important as Creed said or something's happened.  There's no way any group like this, organized or otherwise, would leave any of their bases this unattended.'

Not even taking a minute, the Latias already had the exhaust open, the metal plate hovering in midair while pulsing with a faint blue light.  Crouching down and moving forward, Zeke hoped for all reasons this wouldn't lead him in some odd direction to some random destination as he got out his flashlight once again.  Moving forward slowly he stopped when a flash of light illuminated his surroundings before dying down to the darkened metal shaft once again.

Looking behind him for the disturbance, he wasn't all that surprised to see Julia in her human form once again, dressed in dark clothing similar to his own.  He sighed, staring at her expectant expression, "I'm guessing you want to accompany me and you're trying to reason that if we get caught they won't know you're a Pokemon and try to capture you, right?"

(Yes, that's about right,) she responded with a nod.

Sighing, he continued, "Fine, but stay in that form, I don't want these guys figuring out you're a Pokemon unless we're out of options, okay?"

This time she just answered by crawling over Zeke to pass by him, further pushing him into the metal floor, once that was done, she looked back at him teasing, (Just try to keep up, okay Zeke.)  With that she turned forward again and began their trek through the air shafts once again.

Shaking his head, the only thing on Zeke's mind was, ‘I swear, why do I always end up with all the stubborn girls, why couldn't I have ended up with a nice little Eevee or something.'  Letting out another sigh, but with an amused smile on his face this time, Zeke followed behind the disguised brunette.

-- Meanwhile --

Meanwhile another trainer named Creed was having the same suspicions as Zeke had moments ago.  While he too, was walking down a different hallway with his prized Houndoom not far behind, unlike Zeke, he wasn't being nearly as... discreet as our younger friend.

"Alright you Team Galactic pansies, come on out and fight you cowards!" he yelled, purposefully trying to attract attention.

(Creed quiet!) the Houndoom ordered, (At this rate the whole base will be on our asses in minutes.)

Creed scoffed before replying telepathically, (Please Bell, I think you and I can take on more than five grunts.)

With a glare the Dark Pokemon replied wisely, (Don't underestimate our enemies Creed; it'll only end with your downfall.)

Creed sighed, (I know, I know, but c'mon, this is getting ridiculous.  We've been here for almost two hours and we've faced like what, 3 grunts.  I'm beginning to think that the info headquarters gave us was false.  No one's here, I somehow doubt this is an important lab for their scientists.)

(Now that's a surprise,) Bell sneered, (HQ giving us the wrong info, that's new.)

Creed groaned again, (As much as I'd hate to admit it, you're right about that.  We've been given the wrong info so any times that at this point it's really getting suspicious, but at this point there's not much more we can...)  Both the trainer and his Pokemon stopped as they heard voices not far off.

Pressing himself against the wall to look around the corner he counted, (Looks like we've got 1, 2, 3... 6 contacts.  All are armed,) Creed let a grin form on his face, just about the only thing you could see with his cloak covering most of his features.  Taking the guitar off his back he looked down at his Pokemon before asking, (So Bell, ready to kick some ass?)

Letting out a growl and confirming with a nod the Houndoom answered, (Let's go.)

"Alright you Team Galactic scum, take this!"

-- Back with Zeke --

~Transmission to all units.  We have an emergency in action at location D64.  Requesting assistance from all available units, we have agents.  This is not a drill; I repeat this is not a drill.~

Hearing the radio go off in his pants pocket, he and Julia stopped for a moment to hear the alert.  With a curious glace behind her at her trainer, the disguised Latias asked, (What do you think that's about?)

Letting out a sigh and shaking his head he answered, "It seems Creed isn't taking the quiet route.  Well it's not like it matters, if we're lucky he'll be able to distract any guards that would cause us any trouble.  I'm not worried about him; he and that Houndoom of his can protect themselves.  Now come on Julia, let's get moving again."

Facing forward to continue she responded, (Already on it Zeke.)  And with that they continued on to their destination, wherever it was.

-- --

"Alright Julia stop, I think this is it," Zeke commanded as they passed over another grate opening beneath them.  Although while he couldn't really see what was beneath them, if nothing else, he just wanted to get out of this confined sheet metal.  "Julia, use Psychic."

Jumping down and moving out of the way so the Latias could follow, Zeke took a look at his surroundings.  He was pleased to find they did end up in the right place.  What looked to be prison cells lined both sides of the hallway he was currently in, and unsurprisingly, once again the place was vacant of any security.

Looking behind him at the Latias he said, "Julia, I'm gonna really need your help here.  I need you to scan these cells for any life signs.  It would take way too long to check each individual cell and honestly, even if there are any Pokemon here, if you can't detect any life signature than it's too late anyway."  It was at times like these that he was thankful he had such a strong psychic on his team.

Responding with a curt nod the Eon Pokemon moved forward, ready and willing to help him in any way she could.  Walking behind her as they walked down the current hallway they were in Zeke took the map he'd stolen out of his pack once again, taking note of their current position.  They were from what it looked like a long corridor and maze of assorted prison chambers.  Now he was really thankful for Julia's assist, alone it might have taken him hours to come up with anything, time he didn't have to waste.

Surprisingly even with Julia's help they seemed to be having trouble finding anything.  They'd been searching for almost 40 minutes and they still hadn't found anything.  "Julia, found anything yet?" he asked, getting a little impatient.  Receiving a shake of her head as she looked back at him he sighed.  He was afraid of this, with the obvious absence of most of the base's staff it wasn't surprising that any captured Pokemon or trainers had been taken with them, that or the ones still here were left to...

(Zeke, I found something!) he heard Julia shout inside of his head, snapping him out of his dreadful thoughts.  By her side in an instant he looked at the cell in front of her that she was pointing at.  He hesitated opening the door, afraid of what he'd find on the other side before relaxing his nerves and unlocking it.  Looking inside he could feel his heart sink at the sight in front of him.

Inside was a Flygon, a green dragon with green wings together with a deep red lining the edges.  It had red lenses covering its eyes and pair of darker green antennae on its head reaching down to its lower back.  Its legs and tail were covered with alternating colored green stripes and at the end of its tail were three spikes similar to the color scheme of its wings.  Its eyes were closed and its short arms folded underneath it, visibly unconscious.

What saddened Zeke was the physical state it was in.  It was suffering from obvious malnutrition with its ribcage visible and most of its body thinner than that it should be.  The bruises and cuts also didn't help ease him much either.  Not wasting any time he walked over to it and crouched down, relying on the limited medical knowledge he'd earned as a professor's assistant.  Spraying a potion on top of the more appalling injuries he followed by wrapping them in gauze before pulling out one of the special Pokeballs Creed had given him and throwing it at the injured Pokemon, looking down at her with sympathy.

Unsurprising, the Pokemon was captured without struggle, the button only flashing once or twice before dimming, letting out a resounding ping at the successful catch.  Taking it and clipping it to his belt he looked at the Latias to see a grim expression that could only mirror his own.

(Will it be alright?) she asked, the uneasiness in her voice apparent.

"I don't know," he answered, "But I do know that I'll do whatever it takes to help it."

With that he moved back out into the hallway, quickly followed be his loyal Pokemon.  Once again they began their search for other prisoners.  This time though it didn't take nearly as long before she found something else.  Taking the same approach, but this time a lot more halfhearted, he looked inside.

Once again he felt his blood run cold at the sight of now an injured Absol.  A white-furred canine with a black face and muzzle and a yang-like symbol made out of its fur framing its face, it also had a black scythe along its head and a similar scythe-like tail.  Its fur was heavier along its shoulders and front while four sharp, black claws were on each of its paws.

Unfortunately its status wasn't much better than that of the Flygon.  Like before, it too was suffering from malnutrition while covered with bruises, cuts, and to Zeke's astonishment, even dried blood.  Not wasting a minute he performed the same operations as he had with the Flygon, also making sure to clean the blood off of it, once again capturing it with one of the special Pokeballs.

He sighed as he left the room; it had easily left him emotionally exhausted from seeing such cruelties done to Pokemon.  One thing was for sure, he felt sorry for the next Galactic grunt he and Julia ran into.  Checking the final few cells, he let out a sigh of relief when they failed to find anything else.

(Zeke, are you okay?) the Latias asked him as they found an exit and Zeke pulled the map out of his pack once again.

He sighed again, letting out his frustrations, "I'm fine Julia.  I'm just amazed that these two managed to live in the state they were in.  Let's get to that officer's room and then get the hell out of here.  I want to get these two to a Pokecenter as fast as possible."

The Eon Pokemon nodded, following him as he figured where they were and where they needed to go.  While she was worried for her trainer, she knew he had a great respect for all Pokemon, and seeing them being treated as they had been left him angry and confused.  He just needed some time and something to vent his frustrations on.  All the same, she obediently followed the boy in front of her.

-- --

Slipping out from cover once again, Zeke took a look at his surroundings before moving down yet another hallway.  He'd been doing this for awhile, but unlike last time, when he had encountered two Galactic Team guards patrolling the hallway, he decided to fight them instead.  Sending out Scarlett before the two even had time to bring out their Pokeballs, their Stunky and Dustox didn't stand much of a chance against Scarlett with unnoticeable assist from Julia.

Of course the two guards didn't have much time before they were both knocked unconscious.  Having snuck behind them during the short battle, Zeke had hit them both in the back of the head with the blunt edge of his blades as quick revenge for before.  Afterwards he looked down at them with a different kind of disgust from before, honestly wanting to kill them but following his moral code of not doing so.

Now he was walking down yet another of the seemingly identical hallways, now followed by two of his Pokemon, Scarlett having been filled in by Julia after noticing Zeke's visibly colder attitude.  He was looking for the office of that Lieutenant and then he was going to get out of here and find some help for the two now clipped on his belt.

Having dropped the stealth act after dealing with those other grunts he could now move a lot faster than before.  Therefore it didn't take him nearly as long to reach his destination.  Before long he was standing outside a door no different than all the others, if it hadn't been for the map he had he definitely never would have found it.  Wasting no time of having Julia break the lock and barging in, he started searching the room of anything suspicious.  First would be the desk towards the back of the room, flanked by two file cabinets.  Looking through the papers on top he managed to find something, a letter apparently addressed to their commander which hadn't been sent.

Commander,

I'm pleased to inform you that base procedures have been completed by their deadlines.  Security has been keeping an eye on the more rambunctious test subjects and those resisting are being treated so accordingly.

I'm also glad to report that we've made several successes with the experiments.  Quite a few are already showing changes and should be ready at your disposal in a number a weeks.  The number of failures we've been experiencing has declining rapidly and we should be ready for our more... complicated clients soon.

I've received your warning of possible League attempt to dismantle our facility and as I write this our more important subjects are being transported to the rendezvous.  Complete base abandonment should be done by the end of the week.  Those pathetic politicians can't even see under their noses.  We should be fine.  This is Jubilife base reporting.

Lieutenant H

Zeke tried to understand the meaning of the letter, but all it did was leave more questions than he originally had.  At least if nothing else it explained why no one was here.  They'd somehow found out they were coming and evacuated, leaving the final few members he'd encountered probably as diversions.

Well it didn't really matter at this point anyway; it wasn't like it had anything to do with him, although Creed might find it interesting.  Grabbing one of the folders lying carelessly on the desk he slipped the letter inside, continuing his search for any other documents or plans.

In the end though that letter was the most interesting thing he found.  Other than that all he managed to find were a few records of the names of Team Galactic members within the file cabinets, a plan or so for odd looking Pokeballs, and what looked to be a chemical formula for some kind of experimental drug.  All the same it was just a bunch of guesses; he didn't have any idea if any of this was important, but better to take it now than wonder about it later.

Slipping the folder into his pack he turned to his two Pokemon who were also looking around.  "Alright you two, let's get out of here.  I don't want to overstay our welcome."

(But Zeke,) Scarlett addressed him, (What about Creed, shouldn't we meet up with him before we leave here?)

"Don't worry about it," he answered, "We both agreed to meet back up at the Pokecenter after this, so all we've got to do now is get out of this hellhole."  With that, there wasn't much else to say, using the stolen map, Zeke navigated himself and his Pokemon out of the base and headed back to the city to get to the Pokecenter as fast as possible.  After all, he still had to worry about those two Pokemon.

-- --

Zeke was resting in the lobby, and with some persuasion, the rest of his team were either leaning against his sides hugging the life out of his arms in the case of Julia in her human form and Bryna, or curled up on his lap in the case of Scarlett.  They were currently waiting for their teammate in this little endeavor of theirs.  Of course, the girls didn't have any problem with this position if their gentle smiles spoke of anything.

Then again, nothing good lasts forever.  It was only a few moments after that the Kanto agent entered the center, followed by his Houndoom, forcing Zeke to get up, eliciting quick frowns of disappointment from all three of the girls, but they were quick to replace them with their normal attitudes.

"Hey kid, how'd it go?" Creed asked as soon as he noticed Zeke approach.

He just returned a shrug, "Not too bad actually.  I managed to find a map of their base and from there all I had to do was follow it around.  I found a set of jail cells and found two Pokemon..."

"How are they?" Creed interrupted.

Zeke sighed, "Not good.  I handed them over to Nurse Joy and she told me they were in critical condition.  Probably wouldn't have made it through the night if I hadn't managed to find them.  And I'll say it right now, that more than anything scares me to death."  He finished massaging his forehead, still angry about the critical states he found them in.  "Anyways, besides those two I also found the office of one of their commanders," he paused to pull out the folder of papers he found, "This is everything I found, not sure if they actually mean anything, but they seemed important."

Creed gave a thankful nod, "Thanks kid, I'll send this down to the labs and let the specialists handle it.  Seems interesting enough though, and the letter in the front at least explains why no one was there.  Great job for your first mission, kid."

He just shrugged, about to say something before he was interrupted by a faint pinging sound.  The both of them redirected their attention to the front desk, the nurse trying to get Zeke's attention from the looks of it.  "Well, guess that's my call," the both of them walking to the front desk, getting a curious glance from the nurse for a second as she noticed the shady figure walking next to the trainer, but she decided to ignore it since he appeared to be a friend.

"So how are they Nurse Joy?" Zeke asked, nervous of her response.

The nurse gave a comforting smile, easing Zeke that everything would be fine, if that wasn't enough, "They'll be fine, their injuries will take at least a night to heal, but after that they'll just need plenty of rest.  Also, when you feed them, make sure to give them small portions, they'll still be hungry, but if you feed them too much, it might cause their stomachs to burst."

He nodded, his features taking on a visibly calmer composition.  "That's great to hear, and thanks for the advice," he turned over to the secret Kanto agent, "So I guess you'll take them and give them back to their trainers, huh?"

"I don't know," Creed replied, "It depends on if they even have trainers.  They may be wild Pokemon in which case it'll be your choice whether to keep them or not.  I'll be doing a background check on them right after this.  If they have trainers, I'll find them.  Meanwhile, why don't you go get some sleep kid, you've had a pretty big day."

If only to prove his point Zeke chose that moment to yawn.  "Yeah, I guess you're right.  See ya in the morning Creed.  C'mon girls, let's go get some shut-eye," he called, waving over to his girls on the couch.

But as he walked away, hearing the agent start a conversation with the nurse, he couldn't help the feelings of hope, that maybe, those Pokemon wouldn't have trainers.

-- --

The next morning Zeke woke up to the usual and somewhat-awkward positions of his Pokemon as they slept.  While Scarlett had taken the usual and, by now, normal place on top of his chest, the other two were something different altogether, bringing a light blush to his cheeks if only for a moment.  Bryna was resting on her stomach, having taken the normal position on the pillow above his head before going to bed, but like nights before, she moved somewhere else during her sleep.  The thing was she was resting on top of his head, pressing her existent, albeit small bust into the side of his face, the Latias on the other hand had snuggled closer into his side, pressing her head into the side of his neck, her soft breathing more noticeable than it usually was.

Zeke had to get up at some time though, after all, he was still a guy.  Moving the Buizel off of his face, he was glad she was such a heavy sleeper; Scarlett on the other hand was a much harder subject.  Ever since they started this journey, he'd noticed that she was a much lighter sleeper than when they'd shared that cabin together as siblings.  Whether she'd been faking it before the whole time so she could stay in bed longer or she had forced it upon herself recently he was unsure of, but something told hold him it was the former.

Finally deciding there was no way to avoid it, Zeke grabbed onto the shiny Quilava, moving her off of his stomach.  Now awake, she looked up at him before giving her best attempt of a shrug and laying her head back down, trying to get as much remaining sleep as she could.  Zeke, meanwhile, began his daily schedule of morning activities, starting out with a quick trip to the bathroom.

-- --

Returning Scarlett and Julia to their Pokeballs, Zeke once again entered the lobby with Bryna walking on her hind legs next to him.  An unspoken apology from him to her for not including her in the fight the day before, something she'd given him an ear-full of to help express her point, she had not been happy about it to say the least.

With his pack and his swords ready to get back on the road on top his shoulders they walked to the diner connected with the Pokecenter and Zeke got himself some breakfast, getting it a little larger than usual to share with someone else to help further express his point.  Looking at the number of seats, he stopped when he noticed a familiar silver ponytail in the crowd of trainers and coordinators.

Heading over to him, he noticed Creed give him a glace of acknowledgment before directing his attention back to his meal, the Houndoom surprisingly being nowhere in sight.  He took a seat across from the guy, the Buizel sliding along the bench to sit next to him.  Tucking into his meal, he made sure the Buizel got a few bites in from time to time.

Once both guys finished their meal they got down to the real business.  "So Creed, what did you find out about them?"

Not responding, Creed pulled out two regular Pokeballs, before tossing them over to Zeke, who managed to catch them even with the bit of surprise behind it.  "The Absol is a wild Pokemon, the Flygon though is a different story.  The trainer has seemed to have gone missing; all the same, it's been a couple of months since then, so it's good as yours.  I took the liberty of transferring them to normal Pokeballs, hope you don't mind."

Although it seemed on the outside Zeke was silently appreciative of the turn of events.  Inside his mind scape he was having a wild party, exciting that he had two new members added to his growing group.  But, Creed wasn't finished yet.

"Hey kid, could you hand me your Pokedex for a second?" Zeke complied, finding no problems with doing such a thing expect being called a kid.  Connecting the device to his PokeNav, he pressed a few buttons before setting the both of them down, waiting for whatever he was doing to load up.  Meanwhile, "I believe I promised you a reward for defeating me yesterday, am I wrong?"

Zeke gave him a curious glance, "But I didn't win."

The agent chuckled, "True, but you did me one better.  You really helped me out yesterday with what you did in that base.  If nothing else, you've proved that there is some sort of leak in my organization.  So this is a little something for helping out yesterday, with something extra to help out with taking care of those two."

A small beep sounded from the two devices as they finished their transaction, Creed taking his own device while handing Zeke his own.  Being prompted to look at it he looked down at the screen only to have his eyes bug out.  His previous account had nearly just been doubled!

Creed started laughing at Zeke's expression; next to him Bryna was confused as to why all those numbers onscreen surprised her trainer so much.  "Okay, so maybe there's a little favoritism in it too," he admitted

"Are you joking me!?" Zeke nearly cried out, attracting a few odd stares from a few others in the diner, after all the account he had earned from working as Professor Rowan's assistant had by no means been small to begin with.  "Creed, I don't think I can accept this.  It's way too much for me to use, I mean..." his ranting was silenced as Creed lifted a hand to stop him.

"Relax kid; the League's treasurers pay big money just to know info on where possible Galactic bases are.  To help with something like this pays no less, far from it actually and besides," he smirked, "I have to help members of my own kind, right?  I don't run into too many Pokespeakers in my career.  I don't really care what you do with that money, but I'm almost entirely sure it'll be put to good use, hope you do well kid.  Promise me something?"

Zeke gave him a confused glance but, "Sure, what is it?"

Once again with that usual smirk the boy had grown accustomed to he replied, "Win this thing, will ya?  Beat the gym leaders, beat the league, and become a champion.  I'll admit it kid, I hold a bit of skepticism towards ya, but if you put as much effort into training your Pokemon as you do raising them then I have no doubts you'll win it all."

"Wow, thanks Creed," Zeke responded, surprised by his faith in him, "Oh I almost forgot."  Reaching into his pack, Zeke pulled out four black and yellow Pokeballs, the other ones Creed had given him, "I'd better give these back to you."

"Eh, keep ‘em.  I don't think you'll be using them for any evil purposes besides, they may come in handy for you in the future."

Zeke shrugged, returning them back to his pack, "Well I guess we might as well head out.  I want to at least have a good start for Oreburgh City before nightfall.  C'mon Bryna, let's go.  And thanks again Creed, see ya later I guess."  Saying what he needed to, the Buizel was soon at his side, ready to head out once again.  Although as he was leaving...

"Oh, one more thing kid," Creed got his attention once more, "Just to let you know, both of those new friends of yours are female, have fun."  By the end he was laughing pretty hard, confusing Zeke as to what was so funny.  ‘Okay, don't see what's so important about that, but it's not something I need to be worried about, I still think this guy's pretty weird,' he thought as he once again headed out, unaware of how wrong he was.

-- --

Meanwhile in an undisclosed location a man with spiky blue hair with a silver sleeveless jacket overtop a black and white shirt and a pair of black pants was sitting behind a desk while a guy in front of him was reporting the current news.

"Everything is going to plan, sir.  It seems the info your double agent in the League sent was right about them figuring out about our base in Jubilife.  Units left in the area report two agents spotted entering the base yesterday.  All units left in the base are assumed captured by the enemy as well as any remaining resources.  Shouldn't this be of concern to you sir, I mean, all of those men?"

Cyrus waved him off, "No, the men left there were useless for my plans and are of no importance to me.  Do you have any info on who these two agents are?"

"Well sir," the grunt continued, "We've identified one of them as the Kanto agent Creed sir, but the other one seems to be some kid he brought with him.  We're not entirely sure if he is an agent or not, but he was assisting so we assume he is.  He's just some kid sir; I doubt he'll be causing us any trouble."

Hearing his commander growl at him he backed off, "Last time we underestimated some kid, my plans were ruined and my other commanders were put in jail.  You're lucky I managed to escape from them or this organization would have been ruined.  I'm not making the same mistake, make an order to all grunts, if they encounter this kid, capture him, no excuses."

Saluting his general and commander the grunt yelled, "Yes sir!" as he left.

Now alone in his office the Galactic commander mused, "This time, there will be no mistakes.  My goal for a new world will be realized, no matter the cost."

-- --

End of Chapter 6

Pokedex Entry

Flygon, the Mystic Pokemon   ~Ground, Dragon~

It whips up sandstorms with powerful flaps of its wings.  It is known as "The Desert Spirit."

Absol, the Disaster Pokemon   ~Dark~

Rumored to sense disasters with its horn, it became a target.  It fled deep into the mountains.

*Entrees written from the Platinum Pokedex*

Zeke's Team

Scarlett

Age: 16

Gender: Female

Species: Quilava

Element: Fire

*Shiny*

Julia

Age: 18

Gender: Female

Species: Latias

Element: Dragon, Psychic

Bryna

Age: 15

Gender: Female

Species: Buizel

Element: Water

Flygon

Gender: Female

Other Stats Unknown

Absol

Gender: Female

Other Stats Unknown

Trainer's Info

Name: Zeke Ironfist

Age: 18

Current Location: Jubilife City

Region: Sinnoh

Badges:

None