Man, back when Gengar was the remaining member of the roster, I had forgotten just how overprotective she was. She'd go as far as to grow and prank any strangers she'd deem a threat if I didn't call her off. Thankfully nowadays that's different for multiple reasons. To this day, the league never got back to me on hooking me up with whatever that room was rigged with…maybe I'll try again tomorrow.

"Why don't we both have a seat…without the Shadow Ball aimed at my neck preferably," Looker asked matter-of-factly. He was more annoyed than scared of the spectral pokemon breathing down his throat. Not even flinching for a moment as he met Gengar's piercing violet eyes.

Jerome's gaze never did leave Looker's form, but he did sigh while gesturing to his Gengar with a hand wave. Gengar leveled a glare at the detective before sliding back into her trainer's shadow, grumbling obscenities that couldn't be understood by either of the two.

Jerry scratched the side of his head once the Gengar retracted herself fully, "Sorry about that, she's quite protective of me when it comes to strangers up close." He lightly chuckled while finally taking in the agent's full appearance. "So you're the guy HQ paired me with. Nice to finally meet you, Jerry's the name."

Looker waved it off with a nod while meeting the offered hand with a grip of his own. "Nothing to worry about, simply shows that your pokemon cares deeply for you." He looked away for a second looking slightly embarrassed, "Although, I do owe you an apology. HQ didn't hand me any number to call in advance and thus, here I am."

"A heads-up of some sort would still be nice next time," Jerry muttered sardonically, silently holding in a wince from Looker's iron grip. He smiled weakly while trying to subtly shake off his hand.

"Hopefully, next time I'll remember," He winked at Jerry while rummaging through his pockets. Out came a folded leather wallet, which he propped up to reveal a card with his information etched inside. "My name's Looker, wish I could say the pleasure's mine, but I don't have the luxury for that either now do I?" He mentioned the last part with a bit of annoyance.

Jerry narrowed his eyes at the comment, slightly straightening himself. While he wanted to comment, he waited for Looker to further elaborate.

"I wasn't expecting to get paired with some rookie for the severity of the case this is, but sadly beggars can't be choosers. Although, it could be worse. At least with you, your background shows that you are capable of defending yourself."

"I'll let the first part slide in favor of knowing I got a fan out there after this long," Jerry muttered from across the table, looking visibly uncomfortable. "W-Wait you watched all those matches?"

"I only managed to watch a few. It's quite an impressive record you have, for any trainer those accolades are something to be proud of."

Jerry remained quiet, preferring the sight of the ground suddenly.

Looker raised an eyebrow, unsure as to what he said to offend the rookie. "Did…I say something wrong?"

A strained smile appeared on Jerry's face, shaking off the feeling of unease.

"…Listen, so-?"

From below Jerry's feet, a feral growl echoed through the room which caused the two to pause. They both glanced at each other and then looked back down.

"I guess you weren't kidding about her being an overprotective one," Looker said surprised.

"Hey! Enough with that, he's alright. He has good intentions," Jerry commanded down at his feet. "If you're going to keep acting like that, then the pokeball is right over there."

Gengar rose her head from the floor and looked up defiantly at her trainer, matching the intensity of his stare. Neither made a sound for what felt like a minute. Only then did Gengar suddenly flinch and look down in defeat.

"Gggaar," IShe murmured, slowly dissipating into Jerry's shadow seemingly downcast.

Jerry sighed, he turned back to Looker sheepishly, "Sorry about that, keep talking though, I think I'll just go and prepare some food for her, maybe that'll calm her down. Again, you'll have to excuse her, it's probably because she hasn't eaten in a while, both of us really."

He pushed himself off the chair and quickly reached for his bag laid behind him. While making way through the archway leading into the kitchen, he glanced into his bag and then called out behind him, "Actually hey, are you hungry as well? I can prep a second plate while I'm there, there's more than enough for the both of us."

"Water will do," Looker replied offhandedly, focusing more on the suitcase he had just pulled out. One by one, he pulled out bundles of items such as stacks of photos, a few manilla folders, and a thin laptop. He carefully laid them out and sifted through them in an orderly manner.

As Jerry was cutting up a few vegetables and berries, he heard from the other side through the shuffling of papers and typing, "Tell me, what is it that made you choose crime investigation over say the strike division? With someone of your background in battling, wouldn't that have been a better option for you?"

Jerry smiled sadly for a moment before frowning, "On the strike force, all I am is merely a mindless drone of a trainer, being sent on some missions and constantly battling my way out. Their lifestyle sounds no different from a soldier, to be honest with you. There's no agency there."

"So you don't enjoy battling?"

"It's more so that…there has to be something more I can do than just battle…"

Out of the corner of his eye, Looker noticed Gengar looking downcast once Jerry finished,

"Is that why you retired from battling for titles? Because if you ask me, a few more years and you probably could've made it in another run."

Jerry slowed down his knife while grimacing to himself, a painful memory resurfacing"...Battling was never the issue…"

"IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?!" A tall figure yelled, standing firmly across the battlefield with his arms crossed, "WHERE'S YOUR DRIVE BOY? YOUR TRUE BATTLING SPIRIT?"

"I-It doesn't matter anymore, I'm here now and that's what counts," He sighed and then looked back up at Looker. "So what's this mission entail then- Actually no quick question."

"Hmm?"

"Why talk here of all places instead of somewhere much more secure like, I don't know, someplace like HQ?"

"Two reasons, one, it saves us the trouble of coming here in the first place. The second is that this is one of the few places almost any agent can go and not worry about eavesdroppers."

"Oh lovely…" Jerry responded sarcastically, "And this room is special because…?"

"You haven't caught on yet? The card, the cameras, the fact that there's only one small window and balcony outside?"

"I mean that could be for anything?"

Looker sighs while reaching for his pokeball on his holster, "Then a demonstration is in order for the rookie." He tapped the middle button of his pokeball and tossed it,

Through a flash of white, out came a marine-blue bipedal pokemon. Its yellow enlarged cheeks puffed inward and outwards slowly. The pokemon glanced at the stranger with its golden yellow eyes before turning back to his trainer, waiting patiently for his command. It took a moment, but Jerry recognized the venomous brawler as a Croagunk. The pokemon quickly adjusted the brown poignant hat that sat on its head that was on the verge of falling while standing patiently.

"Crrroooaag," It cried with its cheek enlarging through the side of its face.

"Hey bud, I'm going to need you to do something for me. You see that glass door right there?" The pokemon rapidly nodded its head in response. "I want you to use Brick Break on it!

"Wha-?!"

The pokemon's orange-blue paws were engulfed in a white aura while it raced towards the glass door at the end of the room. Right before reaching a few inches from the door, it swiveled its body and threw down its paw onto the glass door. A massive shockwave pulsed through the room upon contact.

Just as the fists were coming down, Gengar arose from the shadows and through its own accord stood between Jerry and the sight of impact. Jerry cringed preemptively, smashing his eyes shut and palms against his ear. Both waited for the sound of screeching glass to arrive.

The only problem for both was, that sound never came.

Jerry propped himself over his pokemon and practically dropped his jaw. He knew his eyes were not deceiving him due to that shockwave and yet the glass door remained standing, practically unharmed besides a small dent.

"W-What is that thing made of? H-How?" Jerry inched closer to the door, darting his eyes back and forth between the door and the toxic mouth pokemon. He slowly brushed his hand over the glass and was further shocked to only feel a few small dents inside.

Looker took in the shock with a mile's worth of smugness, "Like I said, the safest place in all of Saffron. You can thank the pokemon league for that glass. It's the same material that the gyms use for battles."

"And it's safe to say this whole room is bolted down with that level of defense?" Jerome asked while still admiring the craftsmanship.

"What do you think?" Looker then turned to Gengar, who had been nagging his pokemon's ear throughout all this, "Although, I'd ask your pokemon to not stress test this perhaps? Just cause we got it from the source does not mean it's anything close to the effectiveness of theirs."

Jerry tilted his head in confusion, unsure what Looker meant until his attention returned to his pokemon.

"Hey! Hold on will you, do you want glass flying everywhere here? We don't have that kind of money!" Jerry cried while running over and pulling his pokemon away as she began charging up a spherical mass of energy through its mouth. Croagunk for his part seemed unperturbed, He merely stood stoic-faced with occasional croaks, awaiting his trainer's command.

"Gar! Gar," she wailed, flailing her arms around her trainer's grip while he slowly pulled her away from Croagunk.

"Give it up girl, the only thing you're one-upping is the time spent in that pokeball tonight," Rather than responding, the pokemon immediately sunk into the ground and slew towards her bowl, tugging it with her as she made a b-line towards the kitchen.

Jerry whispered while forming a tiny smile on his face, "As if I'd actually do that."

"Again sorry, so where were we? Right, yeah I read the report, kind of crazy if you ask me," Jerry

The majority of the contents he glossed over since most of the details of Team Rocket's exploits during their prime two years ago. Of course, he had always heard about them back when he was doing his Frontier Brain run, but their size and magnitude of crimes had been practically nothing compared to their rise in power following his exit from the region. There were a few aspects in there that were comedic and borderline ironic that he couldn't help but ask.

"The part where a freshly minted trainer blaze through one of the world's most mapped-out crime syndicates continues to boggle me. Or is it the part where their leader organization was under your noses the whole time that takes it?" He listed off while audibly cutting some vegetables with more force than necessary.

A glare was leveled at Jerry following his comments, "It's not as straightforward as you think. Quite frankly, we had no idea that the Viridian Gym was still under operation after all this time."

"Don't you guys have access to the League's docs?"

He rolled his eyes, "Trust me, working in this region is probably the worst out of the bunch. I know, I've worked with Hoenn's league in the past."

Jerry slammed the folder shut and slid it back in Looker's direction. He had an eyebrow raised while staring into the veteran detective's eyes.

"Alright, these guys were bad news, but the keyword here is were. What's the big deal here if they haven't posed such a problem in two years. What do we even have that tells us that they're still operating after all this time?"

Looker shook his head in disagreement, frowning at that notion. "Giovanni isn't the type of person to just roll over and let his dream die out, whatever it is. I've seen how his grunts are loyal to him. A man like him has ambitions that can only reach for the stars and sadly for us, he's on the other aisle with those ambitions aimed at us, the common folk."

Jerry slowly nodded, half agreeing with that sentiment, but still in disagreement on chasing these people.

"But there is one main reason as to why they are a problem." Looker then reached into his briefcase, pulling out a pillbox with a familiar dome cap that caused Jerry to raise an eyebrow.

On paper, the item was practically no different from the standard x-items sold over the counter except with white packaging. At a first glance, there was nothing wrong with what Looker was holding.

"This has only been a recent issue, but reports have been popping around Kanto describing trainers with pokemon having erratic behavior and much more oppressive power to back it up. After a few weeks, I managed to track the source of their behavior toward these pills." Looker said, casually shaking the bottle a bit before tossing it towards Jerry.

"And these are tied to Team Rocket how?" Suddenly, a sheet of paper slid onto Jerry's side of the table. Looking down at it, the contents of it seemed to be a typed-up transcript of what appeared as an interrogation.

It was only a week ago that I got this little bottle by busting a guy who was reselling it thanks to the trainer I had managed to apprehend for damages." Looker then scoffed at the look Jerry was throwing at him, "Don't give me that face, I had the proper jurisdiction to do that. Anyways, After a bit of back and forth, he led me to his seller, who had some interesting information to give after a small bit of convincing."

The rookie nodded along while glossing over the transcript,

"He wanted me to meet with him far into the woods. Warned me about bringing no pokemon in."

"Or else what?"

"Hell do I know. I wasn't about to ruin my chances at getting this stuff. Do you know how much of a bitch it was to get my hands on one of these? You were lucky you could even look at one back then, so I wasn't about to let this opportunity slide."

"What was he wearing?"

"All black….oh yeah! He had some red R attached to the back of his uniform. Pfft, probably trying to trick me into thinking Team Rocket was back. As if that'd happen."

"Does this stuff have a name?"

"Everyone's calling it a y-boost. They told me this stuff can even get a middle-stage pokemon to match a final evolution's power."

The transcript went on for a while longer, but he grimaced reading that portion about the original distributor. The guy did raise a good point though that these could be just a group copying Team Rocket and it's not them themselves.

"You'll see that he mentions there were rumors about these guys for a few weeks, which coincidentally matches with the reports on the sale of another highly illegal and inhumane item, Slowpoke Tails."

"Slowpoke Tails? As in actual…Slowpoke's tail?" Looker nodded slowly with his eyes closed, he grabbed a photo that caused Jerry to nearly vomit. A thin pink tail that once belonged to an innocent slowpoke.

"These reports are coming from Johto, with one witness describing a figure that was dressed in an all-black getup with some white underneath," Looker quickly pressed a few buttons on his laptop and pulled open a map of Johto with distinct red markers laid out around the region. "These spots here, here, and there are all centered around one location."

His finger landed on a small dot near the southern area of Johto, not far from a place labeled Azalea Town. "In this little town, there's a well that has the moniker Slowpoke Well. If they're getting the source from anywhere, it has to be in here."

"And at the very least if don't find Rockets-"

"Then we've at least busted some pokemon poaching, correct. However, we still need to deal with the problem of this y-boost possibly hitting the streets of Kanto again."

"Which means we're hitting Viridian Forest first, correct?"

"We are not hitting anything, at least not simply between the two of us," Looker then moved through some files on his computer while grabbing another photo that was laid on the back of the table, "We are going to be getting some outside help for this little task. The current standing Gym Leader for Viridian City and Former Champion of the Pokemon League, Blue Oak."

"The one-minute champion?"

"He was still a champion," Looker said with a smirk. Satisfied with the visible wince on Jerry's part. "I got in contact with him before I knew about you being paired up with me. For now, he's agreed to keep quiet about this from the League and is willing to cooperate with us as long as he's tagging along during this investigation. He mentioned something about this being personal to him."

"When do we meet up?"

"Tonight, which is….only three hours away." He said while closing his laptop and quickly shuffling his belongings back into place inside his briefcase. "Meet me in the front lobby in five with the rest of your roster."

"...The rest of my roster?" Jerry asked with a bead of sweat running down his neck.

Looker's eyebrows furrowed seeing the reaction, slightly confused with his tone. "Yes, your team…you know the one you've been using since your time challenging the League and Frontier."

"Don't you think Gengar is enough for this? She's strong in her own right and can handle most problems with a shadow ball or two," urged Jerry, his lips forming into a straight line while tightening his hand into a fist.

"Absolutely not, not when we're dealing with criminals who have access to a substance that could make their mediocre pokemon into Gym-Leader level threats.." He narrowed his eyes at Jerry's movement, the slight jitteriness. His refusal to meet him eye to eye only further rose red flags. His frequent glances back at his pokemon in the kitchen was the final hint Looker needed to know something was up. "Is there something I should know about?"

"Those competitions you just mentioned…I-I released them a bit after that…"

So this story is actually still happening, just a bit delayed. If you want to blame anyone, blame AoT for airing again.

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