Raichu and I stood outside a large building on the surface of Phobos. I pulled
out a cigarette, put the filter end into my mouth and lit the other end. Wispy
smoke rose from the burning end of the cigarette as we plodded on towards the
building. Inside the building was some sort of shabby lobby. An old man sat
behind an old desk that looked older than him. He looked up at me as we
entered.
"Hmpf. You again." The old man said.
"Hey Johnny." I said with a puff of smoke. "Time to cash in."
"What!? I don’t have fifty grand here!"
"Not looking for credits old man. Just fuel and ammo." I pointed with my thumb
in the location of my ship. "Fill ‘er up, and we’ll consider the matter
closed."
"Are you nuts? That will be more than fifty…"
"Chu!" Raichu handed me his palm screen.
"Looks to me that fuel and ammo will be at least thirty-five." I handed the
palm screen to Johnny.
He took it from me and looked it over.
"There’s no way that’s right." He said with a tone of arrogance.
I sighed. I hate it when people aren’t cooperative. I took another drag from
my cigarette, pulled out my gun, and set it on the desk in front of me, in plain
view.
"Raichu is never wrong." I said calmly. "Why don’t you recheck those numbers?"
He looked down at the gun. I took another drag and let the smoke roll out from
between my lips. He looked at me for a sign that I was kidding. I kept a stern
face. He turned his attention back to the palm screen. Raichu let out a sigh
of annoyance, mostly because this guy was hogging his favorite palm screen. I
reached down and scratched his good ear.
"Alright, alright." Johnny finally said with a defeated sigh. "There’s nothing
wrong with these numbers."
He handed Raichu the palm screen, then pushed a button on an intercom on his
desk as I grabbed my gun and slid it back into its resting place.
"Bobby! Gas up and reload Lee’s ship, pronto!" He shouted.
A garbled "Yes boss" came back from the intercom.
"So that’s it? We’re even now, right?" He asked.
"That’s right. Until you hire me again." Raichu and I walked out of the
building.
I sat at the controls of my ship, starting the engines and running routine
checks. Raichu was also running his own set of diagnostics. Once these
festivities were over with, we lifted off. The lift off went smoothly. Those
anti-grav engines were a good investment.
"Raichu, surf the ‘net and see if you can’t find the location of our friend
Jones." I said without even looking back to see if Raichu heard me.
"Chu!" Raichu said as he hunched over his internet console and plugged himself
into it.
Oh yeah. The internet is something else that has changed over the years.
Nowadays it’s mainly a huge database of information on everything from
businesses to people. There are only a few real "web-pages" left on the ‘net.
As it stands, it’s just a source of public information, no longer used as
personal communication thanks to hackers. Raichu’s screen became flooded with
pop-up windows with pictures and scrolling code on them. Raichu was doing his
search. Checking the net and its code for any traces of Dominique Jones.
Suddenly the console at my right came to life with spatial coordinates. Raichu
had done his job yet again. I recognized the coordinates immediately.
"Tau Ceti." I muttered.
Tau Ceti. Probably the scummiest system in the known universe. Filled with
the lowest criminal types you can think of. Thieves, murderers, assassins,
politicians, they’re all the same here. Now the only problem is finding one
criminal in particular.
"Well Raichu? Which planet is he on?" As if I had to ask.
"Rai…" He bent over his console again.
My console showed the coordinates of the third planet. Just as I had thought.
"Ahh. Tau Ceti 3. Excellent choice Mr. Jones." I muttered.
Tau Ceti 3 is the perfect hideout for a man like Jones. Light laws, casinos,
bright lights, a veritable Las Vegas of the universe. It’s so easy to get lost
here. I landed in a pad just outside the main "strip".
"Stay put Raichu. Things could get ugly in there." I said as I snapped a clip
into my gun.
"Chu!"
Once outside my ship, I lit a cigarette and plodded on towards the first
building I saw, armed with my gun, Jones’ picture and a camera, for proof if I
have to kill him.
The building I chose turned out to be a full blown casino. The place stank of
dirty people, bad cigarettes, and cheap liquor. I went up to the bar and
ordered myself a drink. The bartender placed the liquor in front of me. It
smelled cheap and didn’t look very appetizing. I lifted the picture so the
bartender could see. He looked at the picture and pointed towards the back. I
lifted my glass to him and downed the drink in a shot. Gawd that stuff was
awful, I thought as I made my way to the back. There were several craps tables
set up here. And sitting behind one of them, just about to throw his dice was
Jones. I put my hand into my pocket and put my fingers around my camera. I now
stood at the other end of the table, looking inconspicuous. Jones threw the
dice he had in his hand. I lifted my camera and took a snapshot. The dice
landed in a snake-eyes, but that didn’t matter to Jones. Once a merc takes your
picture, one of two things can happen. One, you’re about to be arrested and
hauled off to some penitentiary for a long time, or two, you’re about to die.
What most people don’t realize is that the latter one usually only happens if
you try to fight. And that’s just what Jones was planning. The moment he heard
my camera go off, he was up on the table, knife in hand. But I was faster. I
already had my gun out and trained on the knife. Before he could react, I
fired. The bullet struck the knife, sending it flying into a wall. He stood
there for a moment, seemingly stupefied, staring at my smoking gun. A sneer
crossed his lips, and he bolted.
"Why do they always want to do it the hard way?" I sighed as I gave chase.
He rushed through the casino, toppling chairs and people, who in turn dropped
their drinks. The floor became slippery from the spilled drinks. I dodged
these obstacles but I was losing ground. I burst out of the entrance just in
time to see him climb into his ship. I let out a few rounds at him, but I was
too far away to hit him. My bullets ricocheted off f his hull. I pulled out my
communicator.
"Raichu! Start the engines, we’ve got a runner!" I shouted into it.
My ship’s engines hummed to life as I seated myself at the controls. My ship
shot upward. I locked my radar onto Jones’ ship and gave chase.
He was leading me through an asteroid field, hoping to lose me. What he didn’t
plan on was my ship’s great maneuverability and the fact that my radar has given
me a map of the field. These asteroids were nothing for me and my ship. Two
hatches on his ship opened and a turret rose out of each one and began firing.
Dodging asteroids while under fire isn’t easy. I turned on my targeting
computer. It was time to end this. We got into a clear section of the field
and the computer locked on to him. I took a few light hits, nothing that can’t
be cleaned off with a Kleenex. I returned fire. My shot hit home, hitting his
left thruster, disabling it. His ship careened out of control and side-swiped
an asteroid, ripping his hull wide open. He was sucked out of his ship into the
cold vacuum of space. I slowed my ship and went over to the wreckage. His body
floated around lifeless in space. His face had a look of extreme fear embedded
on it. I slowly shook my head and pulled out my camera. Once his entire body
came into view, I took the snapshot.
"Why must they always do it the hard way?" I asked myself.
I set a course for the Sol system so I could collect my fee.
…See You Next Mission
Mission 002 : Higher I groaned as I pried my eyelids open. Somehow I found myself lying on the ground, underneath the hull of my ship. The last thing I remember is taking shot after shot of the cheapest liquor this place could offer. I don't remember passing out, but I do know I didn't leave the bar. My brain tried to compute this information as Raichu walked up and stood over me. He gave me another 'you're hopeless' look. "Don't look at me like that." I said wearily. "Now help me up."
Raichu took my arm and tugged on it. I sat up, and rested my head on the hull of my ship. The landing gear of my ship caught my eye. It was nice and shiny and was reflective like a mirror. I moved over for a better look at myself. My black hair, normally finely combed back was now all messed up, akin to a rattatas nest. My blue-green eyes were now cracked with red lines. My black denim coat stunk of cigarettes and cheap liquor. I looked down at myself. My white tee-shirt and blue slacks were covered in liquor stains. The only clean thing on my body was my gray shoes. I looked over at Raichu. His expression hadn't changed.
"How did I get here?" I asked.
Raichu pointed to a large freighter ship. The ship looked oddly familiar. But the thought got lost in the monster headache that was my hangover. I pulled out a cigarette, placed into my mouth and lit it. I approached the ship and found an entrance to an air lock. Next to it was a keypad with a red button underneath it and a speaker above the keypad. I pressed the red button.
"Alright, alright. I'm comin'!" A voice crackled through the speaker.
The airlock door slid open. Recognition hit me in the face like a lead weight as I stared at the man in the doorway. He was a good foot taller than me. His dark brown hair was graying at the sides, and surrounded a balding spot. He had a full beard that orbited a large mouth. He had dark brown eyes that seemed to stare right through me. He was dressed in an engineer's uniform, blue coveralls over an orange shirt. His right arm was obviously artificial, completely made of flesh colored metal. It seemed as though there had been no attempt to hide it. I stood there stupefied, with my mouth hanging open. My cigarette dropped to the ground.
"Thought you weren't gonna wake up for a minute there." The man said.
I couldn't find any words. He ushered me and Raichu into the freighter. He led us into a shabby looking living area, complete with a couch in tatters, a few wooden chairs and a couple of crates that seemed to serve as some kind of makeshift table. I sat down on the couch and reached for my mouth, expecting the cigarette I had dropped. I finally noticed the cigarette was missing, and instead, rubbed my chin. The stubble on my face scratched my palm roughly. I pulled out and lit another cigarette. Finally some words made it to my mouth.
"You know, you're supposed to be dead." I said.
Raichu looked over at me with a look of surprise on his face.
"Oh no. I'm very much alive. He's dead, not me." He said.
"He? Oh. So you've changed your identity huh?" I asked.
"Exactly. Now I'm Marcus Chang."
"Marcus huh?" I asked with a puff of smoke. "They'll eventually find you. No matter how many times you change your name."
"They haven't found me yet."
"Chu?" Raichu said inquisitively.
I looked over at Raichu and saw the confusion in his eyes. I turned my attention to the table in front of me. I lowered my head and closed my eyes.
"How many years has it been?" I asked.
"Too many." Marcus replied.
I motioned towards Raichu.
"He has no idea what we're talking about."
"You haven't told him anything have you?"
"Nope."
"So why don't you explain? He's your Pokemon."
I stared at him. He always did this to me. He always liked putting me in a spot. I looked over at Raichu. His face showed signs of both confusion and extreme curiosity.
"Marcus and I used to be in Team Rocket."
Raichu was taken aback.
"We both retired a long time ago though. I was so involved in Team Rocket, that I was slated to be the one of the heirs of the organization. The other person who would be the heir was a young man named Brendon. Brendon Ketchum." I continued.
I sat back in the couch and lifted my head to stare off at the ceiling.
Brendon and I appeared to be close friends. But that was just for show. Inside the organization, it was strictly business. Brendon and I were the fiercest of rivals. He always tried to out do me. And I always tried to out do him. Whoever the boss chose, or whoever survived in the end was going to take over. "Come on Lee! I know you can do better than that!" Brendon taunted as he threw a punch.
We had been sparring all that morning, but now we were getting serious. This had turned into a fight. Many other Rockets had gathered around us to watch and were cheering for their favorite competitor. I caught Brendon's punch and spun around him and put him in a full nelson. He struggled to get out of my grip, but my grip was too tight for him. I lifted him up, and using his weight to my advantage, tossed him over my head. He landed square on his back. I got up quickly, but he was slow to rise. I waited for him. He finally got to his feet and turned to face me. We were both covered in sweat and were panting heavily. Brendon smiled.
"That's more like it Lee." He said.
We fought for several more minutes until both of us could not fight any more. We called it a draw. A few of the other Rockets were disappointed, but we didn't care.
Marcus and I had been friends ever since I first entered Team Rocket. In fact, now that I think of it, this ship is very familiar. He had found in a crash site and had it hauled to his homeworld, Mars.
"You're going to do what with that old junker?" I asked.
"You heard. I'm going to fix it up! And when I do, I'll really be able to do some heavy Merc work." He replied.
"You think you can get bounties with this thing?"
"Sure. Why not? Why don't you sell your hunk of junk and help me with the financing?"
"Hah! My ship may be old, but she's a classic. They don't make ships like her anymore."
"Whatever."
Pretty soon, he decided that being in the organization just wasn't good anymore. So he decided to get out, but in a way that would allow him to leave and not be followed. We had been put on patrols between Phobos and Deimos. It was him, myself, and Brendon. We had just flown around Phobos and were about to head towards Deimos when the trouble started. Several League ships came out of warp and noticed us immediately. Brendon cursed and called for backup. We pulled into a standard formation. My heart was racing, but Marcus seemed oddly at ease.
"Damn! They aren't gonna send backup! We're on our own!" Brendon shouted.
"You guys head to the surface!" Marcus yelled.
"But what about you!?" I replied.
"Someone has to distract them." Marcus said.
Before I could reply, he shut down his comm link and shot towards the oncoming fighters at full speed.
"Forget him! Let's go!" Brendon said in a cold voice.
I turned my ship and followed. I had my rear view camera on and I watched as Marcus' ship entered the range of the other fighters. Weapons began to fire and Marcus' ship blew up.
I lowered my gaze back down towards the table in front of me. "You set that up didn't you? You faked your own death." I said.
"Yep." He replied.
"So then what? You cut off your arm so they wouldn't recognize you?"
"Oh this?" He rapped his knuckles on his artificial wrist. "I never said I got out of that in one piece."
He smiled warmly. I closed my eyes and rubbed them.
"Coffee?"
"Black."
Marcus stood and left the room. I looked over at Raichu. He smiled at me, seeming uncaring about my past. I nodded, not saying anything, but completely understanding. I crushed the remains of my cigarette into a nearby ashtray. Marcus returned and handed me a mug of coffee. He put a plate of food in front of Raichu. Raichu accepted the food gratefully and began eating. I took a sip of the coffee. It was bitter, but it warmed me.
"So what are you doing in this end of the universe?" I asked.
"I'm going after a bounty." He replied.
"Is that so? Why bother me?"
"I think it's obvious. I'm getting old and I need a young set of legs to chase down the people I have to catch."
"And that's where I come in, right?"
"I'll give you fifty percent."
I rubbed my chin.
"I'm not out to make friends right now Marcus."
He raised an eyebrow and looked over at Raichu.
"That's a long story." I said.
He smiled.
"Come on. Not even you could turn down a fifty percent cut. Especially with the kind of missions I have lined up." He said.
I sat in thought for a few minutes.
"What kind of missions are we talking about here?" I asked.
He touched a button on a nearby computer. A screen popped up. The face of a young man appeared. He had long, stringy light brown hair and red eyes. The expression on his face told me that he had been experimenting with substances of a narcotic nature.
"Li Chet. One of the main distributors of the substance known as 'High'." Marcus said.
"High? I've never heard of that before." I said.
"That's because the only drugs you use are alcohol and nicotine. This 'High' is some pretty potent stuff. It puts the user into a state of ecstasy. But it's not a normal kind of ecstasy. It also causes an extreme rush of adrenaline. Basically they will most likely go into a rage. The adrenaline produces a drive that pretty much nullifies pain and boosts physical strength, and the ecstacy pretty much removes all feelings of guilt and remorse. Everything and anything the user does is a complete and total pleasure."
"And this guy is one of the main distributors?"
"One of the few left. These guys are being hunted down left and right. He is the toughest to find so its no mystery why he has the highest bounty right now. One million credits, alive."
"A million! No wonder he's hard to find. He's gotta be constantly moving."
"But I have an ace up my sleeve."
"What's that?"
"I know exactly where this stuff is produced."
"And where's that?"
Alpha Centauri. This is one of Team Rockets main sites for weapon manufacturing. I had no idea that a drug operation was going on here as well. Marcus' freighter dropped out of warp just a mile away from the planet. He pulled the ship around the planet and radioed in for landing clearance. Once he got clearance, he made a landing on one of the main landing strips. The place was extremely busy, with people walking around all over the place. Marcus, Raichu, and I walked out of the space port and into one of the main cities. The place was huge. We walked around, seemingly aimlessly before we approached a large factory.
"This is the place." Marcus said.
"This? But it's a textile factory." I said.
"Sure it is. But it's really one of the main producers of High."
"So what do we do? Wait for our boy to come around?"
"Of course. Or you could just do the stupid thing and walk right in and ask for him."
I looked around and saw a hotel across the street.
"I guess we could stake out over there." I said.
"Good idea. Lets go." Marcus said.
Li made no kind of appearance for three whole days. We waited and waited and waited. I spent a lot of time outside, scoping the place out, trying to get a feel for the foot traffic of the place. After all that waiting and watching, a white limo drove up to the front of the factory. One of the doors opened and out stepped Li, and several bodyguards. I cursed under my breath, but I was ready for this. I walked across the street, angling my path so I would be very close to the rear bumper. In my hand was a small tracking device. One of the bodyguards noticed me and approached me. Thinking quickly, I tripped myself up and fell to the ground. On the way down, I planted the device quickly under the bumper. The bodyguard bent down to pick me up.
"What the hell are you doing here? Get away from here!" He said.
"Oops. Clumsy me. Heh heh." I said, faking a clumsy voice.
He let go of me and I walked back across the street.
"Well? Did you plant it?" Marcus asked as I walked into the hotel.
"Sure thing." I said calmly.
"Great. Let's jet."
We made our way back to Marcus' ship to wait for Li to make his move. It wasn't long before the limo left the factory. And as luck would have it, Li's ship was docked not too far from Marcus'. We lifted off before he did and took a high orbit to make ourselves look like we were preparing for a warp jump. His ship pulled into orbit and almost immediately jumped into warp. We followed him. We tracked him all the way to Mars. His first stop, a bar on the outskirts of a major city. I walked in after him. Raichu followed. Raichu stood at the door as I walked into the bar. He sat himself on a stool, and I sat next to him.
"You're following me." He said in a low, calm voice.
"Now why do you say that?" I asked in an equally calm voice.
He smiled.
"Not just everyone carries a camera into a bar. You're here to kill me." He said.
"Not quite. You're worth more alive." I said.
He got up and walked out the door. I followed him.
"Then lets get this over with." He said and struck a pose, with a big grin on his face. "You'll be the fifth one in the past three months to track me down."
I pulled out my camera and took a snap shot.
"That picture should turn out quite nice." He said.
He leapt back and threw out threw out three Pokéballs. One was a Koffing, the other two were Grimers. I shook my head.
"What? The fumes are great stuff!" He said.
Raichu leapt at the three Pokémon, determined to take them all down. I leapt at Li. He tried to reach for his gun, but I was already on top of him. I tried to get around him and put him in a strangle hold, but he kicked my feet out from under me and I fell over. He whipped out his gun and fired, but I had already relocated to a new position to his left. I kicked his gun out of his hand. It landed in the middle of the busy street behind us. He threw a punch and I avoided it. I kicked, but he blocked. We were matching each other, blow for blow. Raichu was faring much better than I was. He was having no trouble at all with Li's Pokémon. The Koffing opened up with a tackle attack, which Raichu swiftly dodged. But the Koffing quickly fell under a well placed thunderbolt attack. The Grimers tried to throw their acid at Raichu, but Raichu, being much quicker than those two, was able to dodge them with great ease and landed another electric attack to the backside of one of the Grimers. The final Grimer had no chance. Raichu quickly took it out with a well aimed thunderbolt attack.
"Interesting. I've never seen a merc who raised a Pokémon before." He said.
"And I suppose you're a Pokémon master eh?" I asked.
"I am a master of something more potent." He said as he reached into his pocket and produced a small clear capsule filled with white powder.
"High." I thought to myself.
He popped the pill into his mouth. Within moments his expression changed to that of pure euphoria. Then his eyes became bloodshot. He looked at me with a vacant stare. I don't know what he saw when he looked at me like that, but it would have been frightening to anyone else. He let out a primal cry as he leapt at me. I quickly dodged as he slammed into a light post. I shook my head. He then turned and leapt again. I wasn't ready and got clocked. He was trying to push my head into the cement. But I pushed my feet into his stomach and shoved him off. He leapt up and charged at me. This time, I clocked him with a powerful roundhouse that spun him around like a top. He fell to the ground, but quickly got back to his feet. I cursed under my breath as he charged me again. He bull rushed me right into the street. Cars screeched to a halt and a few smashed into each other. Li stood over me with his foolish looking grin pasted on his face. Something was jamming me in my back. I reached behind me and found the handle of Li's gun. Then it hit me. He may not be able to feel pain, but even so, he could still lose his balance, and I needed to bring him in alive anyway. I scrambled to my feet and jumped over a car. He jumped on top of the car. I whipped the gun around and plugged a few bullets into his knee caps. He collapsed, but then tried to stand again. I popped a few more rounds into his ankles as well. Suddenly a shadow descended upon the scene. I looked up and saw Marcus' ship. A door opened on the side and Marcus stood there with a harness in his hand. I loaded Li into the harness, scooped up Raichu, waved goodbye to the angry people at the accident scene, and Marcus reeled us in.
"Couldn't you have made a little bit of a smaller scene?" Marcus asked after he had patched up Li and put him in the hold.
"Well, you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs." I said.
Raichu gave me another 'You're hopeless' look.
"That reminds me. I'm hungry." I said.
"Well we don't get any groceries until we get paid." Marcus said.
"Fine then. Let's get going." I said.
"Chu!" Raichu said.
Marcus then set a course for Earth.
...Until next time.