After relaying what had happened thus far, Gastly translated the information to the weedle.

When the weedle let him go, Jared returned him to the ball with a confused expression.

"Gastly, what am I doing wrong? How come Weedle is so quick to violence, and yet he believes me so easily? How come he has no intention of joining me whatsoever?"

"You know nothing, lies are a form of weakness, and all pokemon can tell lies from truth better than stupid humans."

"I never lied to him, why would he be hostile to me?"

Gastly laughs mockingly, "We value strength, but you grovel before him, he naturally takes you for an unworthy coward."

Jared facepalmed, ...Damn it... I went about this all wrong, I should have listened to Gastly, and had him defeat the weedle, but now I've ruined my chances... "No, wait, didn't you sabotage me earlier Gastly, you whipped that weedle up into a frenzy! If I didn't *grovel* he would have attacked me!"

Gastly thinks to himself, You don't need others, foolish human. You are using me, but I am also using you... I think It's better he doesn't get distracted, and he just focuses on making me stronger and stronger... And then I can fulfill my long forgotten wish. I feel my strength grow by the day... oh! I can hardly wait...!

"I need more negative energy human"

With livid anger, Jared shouts, "Gast-" - Before he could continue, he was interrupted by a grunt, "We leavin now!"

Swallowing down his grievances, Jared returned Gastly to his pokeball before he could refuse, and then he caught up with the group.

As Jared approached he heard a girl's scream, which signaled the little girl was now awake.

On their way through the dark tunnel, one of the grunts asked, "These kids know our faces, is ransoming them a good idea?"

Thomas responds, "Not to worry, the kids won't remember the last week after getting a round of amnesia."

"We're gonna wack 'em until they forget?"

"No, you imbecile, they will be sent to HQ and a Persian will apply the move."

Jared pondered thoughtfully, ...Persian? Isn't this a pokemon Giovanni always kept in the anime?

The group returned to the cellar with the body of Greg and the two kids in tow. James made a call, and an abra soon appeared to teleport the group off, but Thomas stayed back.

The world twisted, and soon Jared found himself back in the familiar smoky building. Another abra was waiting there for the group, but it was not here for him.

Sometime later the grunts were being lectured by an angry Harper, "A fine mess this is, I'm surrounded by incompetents, how did you manage to take such losses while ambushing two brats?" He then glared at Jared, "Care to explain? I hear you screwed everything up!"

"No, I-"

"SHUT UP and get in my office, I'm not done with you lunatic."

One of the grunts whispers to another, "Why is this boss calling him a lunatic?"

"No idea."

Sometime later Harper was back in his office chair. He casually asked Jared a question, "How do you feel things went on your first mission?"

"Er... bad?"

"No, it was a success, the failure here is you, lunatic. You had one job, but you screwed it up didn't you?"

"No... I..." - Harper interrupts, "SHUT UP, DON'T TALK BACK TO ME LUNATIC!"

Closing his eyes, Harper taps a finger on the table, "You know Jared, what I care for is results. Even if you have an excuse I don't want to hear it, do you understand what I'm saying, you absolute tool?"

"Yes..."

Harper then grudgingly handed over five hundred credits in cash, "Take it and get out, make yourself invisible until such time as I need you."

"Thank you!"

As if he were shooing away a fly, Harper waved his hand and spoke, "The next time you screw up don't expect anything, you're lucky this was a big job, and I'm in a good mood."

...Five hundred credits, it seems I won't have trouble with money for the next while.

Harper slams the desk, prompting Jared to flinch from his thoughts, " I thought I told you to get out!"

Leaving the house, He encountered someone sullenly leaning against the wall of the building, it was James.

Jared just nodded and continued on his way, but James walked up beside him, "What happened back there was not your fault. Every mission is a risk, and we all knew the dangers... Don't worry too much about "

"Thank you, James, and sorry for your loss, I hear he was a good friend of yours."

With a warm smile, James reminisces, "Greg was a good man, I knew him from the days we were in the same biker gang, he taught me a lot about the world."

Jared hesitates, but speaks anyways, "Don't take this the wrong way James, but you seem a lot different than the rest of the Rocket Gang."

"Hah... I suppose so," James looks down in thought before replying, "I actually came from a rich family, but I left it behind long ago..."

"Ah, forget I said anything, I shouldn't have pried."

"No, it's quite alright... maybe if you get me drunk I'll tell you sometime," James said with a laugh.

With a nod, Jared asks, "Say, James, the boss seems angry with me, so I can't really ask him right now... But do you happen to know when the next mission is going to be?"

"Could be a few days or as long as a few months."

Jared flinches with realization ...Months...

"I'm not a citizen of Kanto, is there a way to forge a fake ID?"

"Fakes can be made, but nobody does it. You'd get found out immediately. You can skip the process and directly purchase Kanto citizenship for five thousand dollars... However, I doubt you have that kind of money."

...Five thousand...

Jared asks hopefully, "I can't get work here without one, do you know of anything I can do that doesn't require one? Like... in between the Rocket Gang missions?"

"I know of some, but it's all illegal."

Sometime later Jared was back in the long-stay hotel.

Laying on the bed, Jared sighs, "I need to get the Rocket Gang to relocate me after three months, or else I risk being deported... I feel as if I've just been swept by a current for this past while, how am I going to accomplish anything at this rate?"

Turning over, he stares at weedles pokeball, and felt its hard metal texture, "I've never seen a glow like your's Weedle... I don't want to give you up, but that bridge has already been burned..."

A few hours later, and a few miles outside town, Jared released Weedle from his pokeball amid the tall leafy trees.

In a flash of light, Weedle appeared.

Weedle looked around in confusion, then finds a steel-faced human staring at him. A pidgey chirped in the far distance, but nothing else was around.

"You are free to go, we had a deal and I'm fulfilling it now."

Seeing the weedle's unmoving glare, Jared releases Gastlys under a shady spot.

After a few words with Weedle, Gastlys voice appears in Jared's head, "He wants you to break the ball."

"Break it? Why?"

"Your human slave device traps part of his soul. If he moves far away he will weaken, and his growth will still."

Jared's eyes widen in disbelief, "No way, that can't be true..."

"Oh foolish human, but it is, why do you think I despised the thought of being captured? Do you think it's pleasant to offer up your soul?"

"What do you mean by *offer up your soul?"*

"The ball has a reservoir, that tugged at my soul, and when I allowed it, it took a small piece."

"But it can't capture you against your will is that correct?"

"Hmph"

...It's not as bad as I thought, at least it's voluntary.

Turning to the Weedle, Jared comes to a decision, "Are you sure you don't want to stay with me? I promise to help you get stronger, and I will not mistreat you."

Gastly translated the words, but the weedle's glare was firm.

"So be it..." Grabbing the weedles ball, Jared held the top with one hand, and the bottom with the other. He then twisted it until the hinges snapped. Some red light escapes from the ball, and then he tossed the two broken pieces away like trash.

"There you go, anything else?"

Weedles glare was gone, and his little bug face was now softened.

The weedle said some words in the pokemon language, but Jared didn't need Gastly to translate this time.

Jared pulled out some bug food from his backpack, then fed the weedle one last time, "Thank you Weedle, I hoped you'd come with me as I walk my path, but it was not meant to be."

Jared watched the weedle crawl off into the distance.

An ember within Jared's eyes glowed a little brighter, You've been captured by some bad people and wronged, but I won't be sorry. I kept my word to you, but this world has taught me that we live off the sacrifices of others. A lion greedily devours sheep to survive, while a pacifist gazelle who values the life of grass will only starve. The things I need to accomplish are no different, and to change the world... Yes... into the image I envision, I can't be soft anymore.