“So…you killed people.”

“Yes.”

“No one usually kills people anymore.”

“Well, they were about to kill me.”

“But they weren’t killing you at that time, were they?”

“So?”

“Why did you kill them?”

“Because I wanted to.”

What is with this guy’s questions? They’re dumb. Yeah, I know I shouldn’t kill people, but I really REALLY wanted to. It was like that feeling when you’re hungry and you really want to eat your favorite food. You could eat something else, but now you desperately want to eat that specific food.

I could have let them live, but I just wanted to kill them. Why does it matter?

“Then I guess you’re insane.”

“How so? By definition, insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.”

“Then you’re psychotic.”

“Better.”

The old man sighed as we made our way down the halls and finally stopping at the door with intricate letters written on it.

‘Petrel’

We walked in as the old man, probably Petrel, gestured to the empty chair.

“Do you know who I am?”

“Somebody important.”

“Good enough. I used to be one of Team Rocket’s Executives many years ago. It must have been what, fifty years?”

Ooookay…don’t tell me he is going to tell me a story, is he?

“Back then…”

Shit.

“Giovanni was the best. His ideas were capable of completely changing this world. It must have been closer to 65 years ago when the war happened. Almost every able bodied man joined and tried to stop what we had created.

Mewtwo.

But he got out of control. Giovanni enlisted the help of the world’s strongest psychic to help combat Mewtwo, but the best he could do was keep him locked in a cave. During the little time they had, they scoured the region going all out to catch the strongest Pokémon, create a device that would find ghosts to help weaken Mewtwo, and ultimately finish the Master Ball prototype.”

Yaaawn…such an old man.

“But a young child defeated them with his expert Pokémon mastery.”

Oh, here we go! The tale of Red, the hero! I grew up listening to these stories!

“He went around in no time at all and became the strongest trainer ever. No one knows how or why he disappeared, but not even three years later, we set out. We rebuilt Team Rocket and tried to control Pokémon, exploit them, anything that would make us rich. Unfortunately, we lost our ambition after being defeated before.

The other Executives and I tried to make it seem like Giovanni hadn’t left, but another kid came around, even better than the first.”

Oh, Gold, right? Gold, Silver, and Crystal!

“The boy also had help from a girl and even Giovanni’s son, Silver.”

What…I didn’t know that Silver was Giovanni’s son!

“Hehehe, finally got a reaction from you. Yes, he was Giovanni’s son. But we were soon defeated again. We spread out, but we didn’t really make a comeback. Soon, other Teams like Aqua and Magma arose, trying to change the world. Team Galactic wanted to remake the world using a God’s power. Team Plasma wanted to liberate the Pokémon, but then the group split. Conflicting ideals.

Then came Team Flare. They wanted to destroy the planet, but thankfully couldn’t get the device up and running.”

“Device? I never heard of Team Flare. Who were they?”

“Of course you probably never heard of them. Their leader wanted to end the world, and heard about a device created in the past that could kill many living beings. But the device was different from what he expected, hehehe…”

The old man began to laugh a little, which made him look more like he was coughing.

“Well, because of that device, the world changed once more. People have become smarter, allowing us to make technological advances that no one could ever dream of. 50 years ago, people were still using Apricorns to make old fashioned pokéballs. Now, the storage capacity for things like that device can hold as much as an old computer.

Speaking of computers…”

“Come on, this is boring, what am I here for?”

“To listen. As I was saying…”

Ugh…

"There was a man named Bill. He stumbled across old recordings of the device I mentioned before. Bill was trying to become a Pokémon. He sort of succeeded, but only producing something like possessing a Pokémon’s body.”

“What is this device?”

“Over 3,000 years ago…”

Shit.

“There was a man who tried to save his dying Pokémon. He created the device so as to never be apart from the Pokémon ever again. At the cost of many Pokémon and people, he fused with his Pokémon.”

“What?! That sounds crazy!”

“Yes, and because of this event, people have seen a higher rate of growth. More geniuses are appearing, more powerful trainers, and even some special people like that Crobatman that appeared in Lumiose City.”

Ahh, my idea to be the vigilante of the night was taken. Wait a minute…

“Why tell me this?”

“Because I am promoting you. I see a strength in you that might bring back Team Rocket’s infamous history.”

So he’s not mad? Works for me. Time for a pay raise!

“Here, a new suit, since your last one still has blood stains on it.”

Sweet, it looks different from the last uniform. Although, the big blazing red R can be a bit distracting.

“Oh and I also need you to do something for me.”

Uh oh…

“I need you to go to the location on this paper and help the person there with a little problem. You should be able to complete the mission.”

“Uhh…yeah. Okay.”

I grab the paper and I leave. I learned quite a bit today, but most of it is just junk. But the heroes' part was a good tidbit. I was reminded that it has only been about 40 years since any world threatening event happened. Although, it might be less than that if more groups like Team Flare have existed since then.

But where are the heroes? The bad guys are all in jail or nursery homes or rehab. But the heroes haven’t resurfaced. There were the four who helped stop Team Rocket the first time and the three…or was it four...that stopped them the second time. There were three kids who helped the Hoenn Region, and another three who helped the Sinnoh Region. But the Unova Region had like…seven. Then there were the two from the Orre Region. And I guess the heroes who acted against Team Flare?

It’s time like this that I am thankful for the internet.

Hmmm…Nothing. Apparently, there was no need for heroes since the dude failed at understanding how the process worked. In fact, there's no recording this event ever took place. You know, maybe he didn’t qualify for the fusion?

Anyways, that is a lot of people to just go missing. Like, twenty two or twenty three. And they helped save the world? How insane it would be to say it was just a coincidence. I guess something bad is happening after all.

But this location isn’t far. Just to the edge of the city. Shouldn’t take too long. Then I can come back and train more on Pokémon battles!

Yaaawn…Let’s just get this over with. I think I have a kink in my neck now. History was always a boring class. I usually looked forward more to the Pokémon part. Why couldn’t we just be like the old heroes and set off when we were ten? Because it got dangerous. Too many scary people, I guess.

The government managed to finally pick up their feet and pull their own weight. Pokémon training was too hazardous to the environment. They spent the past 20 something odd years working on how to fix it. They only started distributing these devices a couple weeks ago. And now look where everyone is.

Speaking of, I don’t even know who our country’s leader is. I never payed attention to that stuff. Oh well.

Time to go meet this mystery person.

Oh, but first…

“Hey, Jared.”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Next time something like this happens, could you let me know before I get kidnapped that my information has been compromised? Otherwise, I will shoot your head off.”

Oh shit, look at his face get ugly. Is he scared? Ha! Like I wouldn’t realize. This wasn’t about messing with Valor, either. It was because I was part of Team Rocket. Team Valor thought they could get answers from me but ended up thinking I was some normal guy. Too bad.

Okay, now it’s time to leave.