Chapter 9- Heart-to-Heart Talk

Thanks to my visit to Senator Langley, the discussion of lifting the ban on the import of rare stones and minerals into Johto from Kanto is now a highly debated topic. What got me scratching my head is what do Team Rocket get out of this. This doesn't seem to fit with their usual modus operandi.

Kanto is home to a rich deposit of rare stones and minerals, probably the largest deposit in the world. Lifting the ban is definitely good for Kanto, but like what Senator Langley had argued, it does not spell good news for Johto due to how the economy in Indigo is structured. Johto's economy will take a severe hit for sure, you don't need to be an economic expert to see that. Combine the economic effects the lifting on the ban will have on the two regions, it will still definitely leave an overall negative impact on Indigo as a whole.

So what do Team Rocket get out of this? In some ways, the organisation's own prosperity relies heavily on Indigo's own. If the economy is good, Team Rocket's own profits tend to rise as well because we do have a hand in many supposedly legal businesses that spans across both regions. It's just that they are very well covered up.

So why?

The topic of the ban has now derailed into something more than just the economy. Arguments had been sparked. Other topics thought to be long forgotten had been raised. Kantonians are now accusing Johtonians of unfair treatment and oppression, because Kanto's biggest natural resources that they rely on to develop their economy since its founding are its mineral deposits. The ban which was put into effect about twenty years ago sparked a heavy controversy, but it proved to be the right decision when Indigo's overall economy did improve as a whole, so the dissent gradually subsided.

That doesn't mean that it had totally vanished. Years of grudges and resentment don't just disappear overnight when Kanto and Johto had been living side by side for centuries. There have always been conflicts between the two regions even if we are united under a single banner.

Historically, Kanto had always been the poorer region out of the two. Some even say that Johto had always been profiting at Kanto's expense since Indigo's founding. Johtonians will argue otherwise. I personally never cared about the conflict between the two regions and Indigo's economy because I already have too much on my plate as it is.

However, considering the weird move that the leader of Team Rocket had just made, I may need to consider looking at the entire situation from another angle.

Nationalism. The unseen divide between Kanto and Johto.

These are the areas that I will need to look into in my spare time. The first area I will be looking at is how the economy of both regions had been faring and what laws and regulations had been put in place throughout the years, because human nature can be a very ugly thing and everything is always about money.

Even without doing my research, I have a gut feeling that I am probably right.

I turned off the TV news channel and decide to just go for a walk. It's time that I give her a visit.

Picking up my pokeballs and putting on my breton cap, I whistled for houndoom and he walked up to me from where he had been lazing at near the guitar left forgotten in a corner of my bedroom.

The both of us left the little cottage we call home and proceeded to take a stroll through the city. There are only two reasons why I bought a cottage in Viridian City and decided to stay here when I'm not at work. For one, it makes it easy to spy on Giovanni if I ever see him around as Viridian's Gym Leader, although somehow I had never spotted him around before. Secondly, Jane's grave is located in a hidden corner of the Viridian Forest. I visit her whenever I'm free.

Although given how busy I am lately, I hardly spent time in Viridian anymore. I haven't been visiting her for a long time.

It is evening and the sun is starting to set. There isn't much work for me to do right now and since my new workplace is at Celadon, which is reasonably near to Viridian thanks to a newly built expressway that is located at the east side of the city and links it straight to Celadon, I simply opt to travel to work from home via bus.

I stopped by the florist as per usual.

"Ah, Mr Myers! Freesia again?"

"Yes please." I replied with a smile. I only ever buy freesia flowers because she had said that she loved freesias. She loved what it symbolises, innocence and friendship.

I will decorate the entire Viridian Forest in freesia if it means bringing her back.

Jacob Myers, that is my official identity in the Indigo provided to me by the Government. The identity that Team Rocket thinks is who I am before I joined them, before I became Plague of Team Rocket. If anyone looked me up in the Government's database, I am a Viridian native, 23 years of age, orphan, and currently working as an IT consultant working for Initrial IT Consulting that is located in Celadon. That company does exist and it does provide legal and legitimate IT consulting services. However, it is also where Team Rocket houses another secret entrance that leads to the Celadon hideout under the Game Corner.

You will be surprised at the number of legitimate businesses Team Rocket has in Indigo. No wonder they are always so rich.

With the bouquet of freesia flowers in hand, I headed for the Viridian Forest with houndoom by my side. After making sure that we are not followed and nobody is looking at us, we slipped off the main route that trainers and visitors usually use, and head for the area that the Rangers had specifically put up signs for members of the public to avoid. The untamed section of the Viridian Forest is home to many ferocious and powerful wild pokemon. It is the job of the Rangers that these pokemon and the human population who visits the forest never meet each other.

I let out a few smaller members of the team to walk beside me as we trekked through the hidden route that we are all so familiar with by now. I could have simply let exeggutor teleport me there, but I wanted to take a stroll. I just want to relax and hear the sounds of nature, to enjoy the process of simply doing nothing but to walk.

Before I knew it, I reached her grave.

"Hey." I spoke as I got rid of the dried up bouquet of freesias that I previously bought for her and put the fresh bouquet on her grave in replacement. "I'm here to visit you again."

Houndoom and gengar stood by me, looking at the grave of their original trainer with a wistful look in their eyes. The rest of the team stood behind us, giving us the privacy we need.

"Nothing much changed. Did some missions for Team Rocket. Fed some info to the bastard and hopefully he doesn't go and screw things up. The Kanto ban is all the hype there is right now. Everyone's talking about it in Kanto, Johtonians don't really give a shit because they have no reason to. Finally removed the mental suggestion and also the kill switch he put in our damn minds." I summarised what I've been through these past few months, trying to imagine what it would be like if she is still alive. Trying to imagine what we could have been if we had met under better circumstances. "Poached a mamoswine recently. Houndoom and ninetales overdid it again."

Houndoom did a huff of disagreement which was backed up by ninetales.

"As you can see, they beg to differ."

I sat down on the ground, looking at the simple grave that we made for her. The 'J' that gengar had carved out years ago is all that marked this grave as hers.

She deserved so much better. She deserved to be remembered by everyone in Indigo for her sacrifice. Not only her, but the rest of the child spies that were like us and had perished in the line of duty. They all deserved so much more.

They really are the unsung heroes, and also the most unfortunate victims of the ruling body currently ruling the region. Team Rocket may be evil, but so are they.

I will make people remember them. All 358 of them.

"I'm close. I'm so very close." I whispered, hoping that she can hear me from wherever she is now. She should be in heaven. I, however, will undoubtedly will have a special place reserved for me in hell. I will never meet her because I can never go to the place where she had gone to.

"Just a little more. Just a little more and we can finally see Team Rocket burn. Everything. Everything that we had worked for. Everything that we had sacrificed. That day is coming soon. We will see them go up in flames, I promise. I'm so very close. I had worked my way up, just like you wanted me to. Thanks to Nosy, I already have most of the information I need to expose them to the world and to take them all down in just a single night."

If only she were here to see it through with me.

"The same goes for the Government. If all goes well, I will be able to tear it down soon. They are the reason why we lead such dark lives and I will see them gone, for your sake. So that people like us will never appear again. They would never know what hit them. Not the Government, not the Rockets. If they want to use me so much I will use them for my own ends. They will be nothing but my tools of destruction. All I need now is indisputable proof that Giovanni is indeed the true leader behind Team Rocket."

Houndoom curled up by my feet and gave a whimper. I can feel gengar trying to experience what I am feeling by linking our shadows as if to comfort me.

"I don't know how long I have left to live. I never really thought of what I should do when I am finally free, but I guess I will find out if I live through it. I had something very special planned for that bastard too, for putting us through this hellhole. If I have any say in it, the entire Indigo Government will be cleansed and rinsed in blood, starting from him. I'll make sure that he will be remembered."

Because any less is an injustice to her. Injustice to all 358 operatives that were under his child spies program, Project Illusion, ever since it started so many years ago. I will finish what we started. Anything after that, if there is an after that, is really just a bonus.

"Hopefully it is not too lonely for you up there. Or is it down there?" I chuckled at the lame joke. "I will be joining you soon and if hell ever decides to reject me, maybe I will have the chance to see you again. I don't even know how much blood had stained my hands. I don't know how many I had killed. I lost count ever since you died. Did you see me exterminating Marowak Skull? That night when the Rocket's Exterminator made his debut? That was when I truly stopped counting and caring. I killed so many that night. That bastard didn't even care when I told him it was a bad idea to let Team Rocket devour Marowak Skull. Look at what had turned out from that. Bastard thinks he knows it all when in actuality he doesn't."

The worst part is that I had long since forgotten all of their faces. Faceless people kept coming back to haunt me in my dreams with slit throats or charred bodies.

"Maybe it was better that you left before me. At least your hands are not stained with so much blood like I did. Someone like you was never suited for this double agent life anyway. I hope that you can sing as much as you like up there, down there, wherever you are now. Reserve a guitar for me until I find you again. We were supposed to be The Twin Js, remember? You are the singer, I am the guitarist. Houndoom and gengar are supposed to be the dancers or something while ninetales put on a lightshow at the back. I'm warning you, they aren't that good at it. I tried teaching them to dance, really."

I took another deep breath. I'm not worried about breaking down in a sobbing mess because my tears had long since dried up.

"Now that the mental suggestion is gone, my nightmares are not that frequent. Turns out that the mental suggestion was the thing that indirectly keep giving me nightmares. Hell if I know why that was the case. At least now I do not need to rely on gengar's Dream Eater as often as before. I am forgetting lesser and lesser things now that my mental health is right back on track. At least something went right for me for once."

I can still see her face in my mind, hear her laughter resounding in my ears. If I close my eyes I can smell her scent and feel her touch once more.

"How do you want me to kill that bastard? Bring him here and offer you his head? Nah, you probably won't like his dirty blood spilling all over your grave. How about letting everyone remembering him as the biggest stain ever recorded in Indigo's history books? I think I dug up enough dirt on him for him to be remembered for the next millennia. What do you think?"

There was a sudden breeze and the leaves rustled gently.

"I take that as a yes. I won't accept any objections."

A faint smile graced my lips when I use her favourite phrase. I can still remember her saying that phrase to me even now, even when she had been dead for seven years.

Team Rocket will fall. The President will be killed by my own two hands.

We won't accept any objections.

After our visit to Jane's grave, I got back to Viridian, recalled everyone except for houndoom and gengar before anyone spotted us and then went to grab some dinner. Houndoom strolled by my side as gengar hid in my shadows as per usual. I would let ninetales out too, but ninetales are rare as they come and having one walking beside me will just be attracting unneeded attention.

My official identity that people in Viridian knows me by is an IT consultant, a civilian. Not a trainer. An average IT consultant earning average pay has no business owning a ninetales, a symbol of affluence in certain places of Kanto.

Night eventually fell. I ended up buying myself a cone of ice cream as I sat down on a nearby bench to eat it while the sky is snowing. It is just a light shower of snow, nothing too heavy.

The street I am at has a much lower human traffic, which is the reason why I chose to be here in the first place because I wanted some peace and quiet. The sparse distribution of people who passed by sent me looks as though I am crazy because I am eating ice cream when it is winter. I honestly don't care because I'm about to die anyway. All I care about is whether I will live long enough to see Team Rocket fall with my own two eyes.

"Doesn't it make you feel colder to eat ice cream in such freezing weather?"

I turned to my left to see just who had spoken to me. I mentally gave myself a round of applause for not trying to kill that person on sight.

Motherfucking Giovanni.

"Eh, you get used to it after a while." I replied as I licked at the ice cream to accentuate my point while my other hand patted houndoom's head to remind him not to react. I don't feel my shadows shifting, so gengar must have somehow kept her cool.

I am an Elite Officer of Team Rocket, just one rank below the Executives. There's no way Giovanni does not know who I am if he is the leader of Team Rocket. For him to purposely approach me like that, he must have a motive in doing so. I just need to play it cool and find out what that is.

The only thing that he doesn't know is that I already knew that he is the true leader of Team Rocket. That is the secret advantage I hold over him.

"What brings you here, Mr Gym Leader?" I asked in a tone that conveys the message that I am only slightly curious. Since my official identity is those of a normal civilian, I have to act like one. Most civilians don't really care much about what goes on in the trainer community. Sure, they idolise their cities' Gym Leader and they go wild during the annual Pokemon League Tournament held in the region, but that is about it.

"Just making my usual rounds around my city." He replied as he took a seat beside me as if we are best buds. His powerful looking marowak stood beside our bench on Giovanni's side like his personal knight. "As Viridian City's Gym Leader, it is my duty to protect this city at all costs and ensure that my people are safe."

Yeah, and also corrupt the city from within as the leader of Team Rocket.

I purposely made a motion of looking around.

"For you to make your rounds in this cold weather, you really are dedicated to your cause, Sir."

"Call me Giovanni." He laughed goodnaturedly. If I don't have my foreknowledge, I wouldn't even suspect he could be affiliated with Team Rocket with how he is acting around me. That's just how good his acting is.

Giovanni took a look at houndoom.

"Your houndoom looks really well trained. You a trainer? I think I would have remembered you and your houndoom if that is the case."

"Nah, I'm an IT consultant." I tenderly patted houndoom on his head while trying to think of a cover story of why a normal civilian without a pokedex has such an obviously well-trained pokemon in my possession. There's no way I can fool the eyes of a Gym Leader and I'm not supposed to know that Giovanni is the leader of Team Rocket. I need a plausible story that he will eat up without question even if I know it is for naught, but I need to at least put on a show in front of Giovanni.

Because if my hunch is right, this unexpected meeting is probably a test of some sort. Why else would he 'bump' into me in a public area using the identity of Gym Leader of Viridian?

A story with half-truths mixed in a bag of lies then. Those always made the most convincing stories.

"His trainer used to be a good friend of mine. After she died, I decided to look after him in her stead. In fact, the other guy belonged to her too."

On cue, gengar emerged partially from my shadows and waved a paw at Giovanni, who put on a surprised look. It might fool a civilian, but not me. As the strongest Gym Leader of Kanto, there's no way he couldn't tell that there is a ghost residing in my shadows. I might as well pretend to be courteous.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did your friend…"

"Her death was partly my fault." I admitted. I don't know for sure why Giovanni is doing this, but I'm willing to bet that he had at least researched about my past before approaching me like that, that includes my history with Jane. It's no secret that we used to be very close to each other and we were partners. Of course he will be curious to hear about my opinion of her, to hear it from the one who killed his best friend while he acts as a supposedly unrelated third party.

There's also no way this meeting is a coincidence. He is a Gym Leader. He is a very busy person whose time is better spent elsewhere than talking to a normal civilian. There's no use hiding anything from him, so I might as well tell him half-truths and hope he buys it.

"I did tell you that I am an IT consultant, right?" Giovanni nodded, so I continued. "After my friend retired from being a trainer, she joined me in the company which I am working at. So, one day, I found out that she has been selling company secrets. I tried to persuade her not to do it, even turned a blind eye a few times because she was my best friend. Obviously, it didn't work."

Houndoom let out a rumble from his throat. I patted him with my free hand as my subtle reminder to him.

Not now. The time will come, but not now.

"So, I tried to do the right thing. I ratted on her." I continue to lick on my ice cream, surprising even myself for how calm I am right now. "She got found out, obviously. What I wasn't counting on is for her to take her own life because she was too ashamed of her actions. I never expected that. Never wanted that to happen. All I wanted was for her to stop going down the wrong path and start anew."

"Must have been hard."

Wouldn't have been if your Team Rocket never existed in the first place.

"It is." I continued and took a look at houndoom who is resting by my feet. "Took me a while to get these guys to forgive me, but I think they understand where I was coming from. In any case, we live together now. The past is in the past. I think she would want me to move on."

Giovanni did a low hum.

"I take it that your friend was a very forgiving person."

"We were close. Very close." I sighed. "If only she had done the right thing, who knows where we would be right now?"

"You are a good man."

"I think I would beg to differ, but if you say so."

"You look like you would make a good trainer. Why did you not apply to be one?"

I gave him the impression of questioning doubt.

"And you can tell if someone would make a great trainer just from a single look? I know you are a Gym Leader, but surely that does not make you a seer?"

Giovanni burst out laughing.

"You are right. It is presumptuous of me to judge a book by their cover."

His laughter died down before he continued speaking.

"What do you think about the topic of the ban? The one that is all over the news right now."

He asked me for my thoughts when he was the one who sent me to Senator Langley to bring up the whole mess in the first place?

"That?" I pretended to give a thoughtful hum. "I honestly have no clue. I'm just a regular IT consultant, what would I know about economics? What do you think, Si- Giovanni?"

Giovanni leaned forward a little from where he is sitting beside me, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Just between you and I. As a Kantonian, I believe that Kanto are entitled to her own rights." His look then turned a little more serious. Right now, I think that Giovanni is showing a little of his true self. "If you look a little deeper in Indigo's history, specifically the conflicts between Kanto and Johto, you would find that Kanto had always been the oppressed region. Johto prospered to where they are now because they profited at the expense of Kanto. It's the ugly truth behind Indigo that the Government is always trying to cover up."

I gave a horrified look, although on the inside, I really couldn't be bothered to give a flying shit. I don't have any identity. I don't know where I am from. I don't even know who I truly am. I don't belong anywhere so things like nationalistic pride is totally lost on me.

"That's… not something I would expect to hear from a Gym Leader. No offense."

"None taken." Giovanni waved it off like the benevolent Gym Leader he is acting to be. "Despite my opinions of the Indigo Government and Johto, I am still a Gym Leader of the Indigo League. I will heed the call of the League to defend Indigo as I am expected to, because it is my duty to do so. However, I think it is not wrong for me to think of myself more as a Kantonian. No one ever identifies themselves as a citizen of Indigo anyway. It's always either I am a Kantonian and you are a Johtonian or the other way around. I think I'm entitled to think this way because Kanto is my homeland, not Johto."

I let a brief period of silence fell upon the both of us before giving my reply.

"You aren't wrong. I think that way too."

That part is a lie, because I never knew where I was from because I was a homeless orphan. I have no real ties to any place.

However, Giovanni probably knows me as a native of Viridian, similar to him, thanks to the identity the Government had crafted for me before I became a Rocket. My gut instinct is telling me that this is the answer that Giovanni wants to hear.

It's time to gamble.

"I'm glad that I found a like minded individual." I see a grin slowly forming on his face and I knew that my gut instinct was right. My gamble paid off. "Speaking of which, I need an IT expert to work for me in my gym, just to ensure that all the high tech stuff runs smoothly and all that. The previous one that worked for me just resigned. You interested?"

Is this what I think it is?

"Sorry, but I think I will pass. I love my current job as it is. I think there is a purpose for me being there."

My only purpose there is to destroy your fruits of labour and bring you down. Everything you love, everything you care about, I will exterminate it.

"Ah, a pity." Giovanni lamented as he stood up and dusted the snow that accumulated on his coat. "I guess I will have to continue my search for one. I'm sure that a good man like you will undoubtedly go far in your career no matter what path you choose. Do me a favour and drop by my gym for a visit if you ever have a person in mind, okay?"

"Sure thing." I replied with an eye smile. "Have a nice day, Mr Gym Leader. Thank you for protecting the city."

Giovanni adjusted the fedora he wore on the top of his head, tipping it a little in my direction.

"You are very much welcomed. It has been a pleasure to speak with you, good sir. Enjoy your evening."

With that, Giovanni walked off with his marowak beside him. After I watched him disappear into the night, I let a faint smile rest on my face as I finished up my ice cream. There is no more doubt in my mind.

Giovanni approached me because he is considering in giving me a promotion to be one of his trusted Executives. This meeting is probably a test and I think I just passed with flying colours without raising any suspicions on his end. Not only that, I think I just caught a glimpse of Giovanni's true intentions during our conversation earlier. Our conversation gave me clues as to which direction I should continue in my investigation of Team Rocket.

I stood up and walked in the opposite direction which Giovanni had left, houndoom and gengar following me. We have much to prepare.

The fated time is approaching soon.

Name: Jayce

Official Identity: Jacob Myers

Indigo Government Identity: Operative 2046, Code Name: Gengar

Indigo Government Rank: Special Agent

Team Rocket Identity: Elite Officer Plague

Team Rocket Rank: Elite Officer

Pokemon Team:

1. Ninetales, female

2. Exeggutor, male

3. Weavile, male

4. Honchkrow, female

5. Gengar, female

6. Houndoom, male

7. Umbreon, male

8. Hydreigon, male

9. Drapion, female

10. Zoroark, male

11. Bisharp, male

12. Shiftry, male

13. Porygon, (Nosy), genderless