"Hello lunatic"

Uncomfortable from breathing in the unclean air, Jared finds himself in a familiar office.

Smoking a cigar with his leg up, Harper continues, "Don't be so surprised, I called for you personally."

Lightly coughing, Jared adjusts his eyes to the new light then replies after a moment, " You called for me... sir? "

"Yes, we got a job that suits your particular... skillset. You are very lucky newbie, even if you failed initiation I still asked for you to be sent here"

Harper changed his posture then spoke seriously, "An F rank trainer with a rare pokemon just got his boulder badge from Flint, and he's off to get his next... do you understand what I'm getting at?"

Jared didn't like where this was going, "I'm not sure, what's an F rank trainer?"

"An F rank trainer is one who has yet to gain all the badges from a region. It's not a secret that Kanto is the weakest military power. Many new official trainers like to head to Kanto due to their weak gyms, and we have our eyes on a fat sheep."

"And you need my help to steal his pokemon?"

"Bingo," Harper narrows his eyes, "He's someone you should know well, you came off the same boat after all, and you fought him and lost, does this ring any bells?"

Jared blurted out, "Akoni..."

"Don't worry lunatic, all you have to do is use that Gastly of yours and let him take a little nap. We will take it from there, easy right?"

"I don't..." -- Harper cut him off with a scowl, " We have kindly taken you into the Rocket Gang because you were out of options, you've already received the curse, if you back out now maybe it will activate."

Jared chuckles inwardly, A curse? Is he joking?-- Harper snaps, "Don't give me that look, it's real, didn't you feel strange after reciting those words with the other recruits?" - Harper smiles, "Yes, that's the look, now you understand. Mentally prepare yourself grunt, whether you like it or not, we set off for Mt. Moon."

Excusing himself for a moment, Jared went to the bathroom, and once alone, he tapped Gastlys ball twice.

Gastly looked surprised, "Human... that ghost's aura is on your body!"

Jared shook his head, "It seems I was cursed... think you can remove it?"

Floating up, Gastly looked Jared up and down, "Maybe..."

"Alright, well, let's leave that aside for now. If removing it causes it to activate, or if it alerts the one who cast it, then it would be all kinds of bad... Anyways, we are being sent on a mission to capture Akoni's and his Vaporeon, think you are up for it?"

"That catfish that sneak attacked me? I think you know the answer to that... human," Gastly said with anger.

A few hours later Jared, James, and four others stood in a room while being lectured by harper. An abra was sitting next to him with its eyes closed, "Alright Grunts, you will be under the temporary command of agent James, you've been briefed on what you need to do, don't screw this up... If you let this fat sheep slip through your fingers one of you will pay for it with the curse."

With glowing eyes, the Abra suddenly sent the seven of them off.

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Suddenly Jared found himself in what appeared to be a large brightly lit cellar. While looking around, James began chatting with a stranger, a Lanky man with a rhombus nose.

"Hello again agent Thomas, we are ready for the mission at any time."

Thomas nods, "The Scout reports the target will enter Mt. Moon in three hours, I will guide you to the mission location"

Walking up the stone steps, the group left the cellar, and Jared found the entrance was nothing more than a trap door embedded in the ground. When it slammed closed, it blended in with the rocks. Thomas turned the light off when he left, but no light would leak through even if it stayed lit.

Looking around, Jared identified his location as a cave. It was dark, the only light source being the flashlights each grunt was given.

Thomas began leading the group through the dark winding tunnel. The sound of dripping of water from stalactites and a musty smell gave the place an eerie feel. A few paras in the distance could be seen skittering away fearfully.

Some time later the group was standing before a long rocky hallway which was much taller than it was wide. When a grunt moved his flashlight to the ceiling, a crevasse at the top swallowed it whole. A resting zubat within shrieked as the light disturbed its rest, but besides their footsteps, their breathing, and the odd drip of water, it was silent.

After arriving at the end of the hallway, the group took shelter in an alcove right around the corner, then Thomas remarked matter o factly, "Since he is taking the Mt. Moon passage he will have to pass through here. He's traveling with a girl, but she's not an official trainer, get your pokemon prepped but keep your lights low down, this tunnel isn't used by us alone."

The men released their pokemon, and now Jared knew what they were working with. Besides Jared and James, every other member had a Zubat. A few grunts had more than one pokemon, such as a rattata, but they could have more, and maybe they were just unsuited for the darkness.

Seeing the glowing eyes of a rattata and the silently flapping of many zubats, Jared imagined that they must operate a lot in these caves.

The pokemon took up positions out of sight, while James walks with his koffing back down the tunnel, he had his part to play if things went south.

Time passes and a phone vibrates. Thomas answered with a whisper, and after hanging up he addresses the group, "Grunts, he's entered the tunnel, we got less than thirty minutes until contact."

Looking Jared up and down, Thomas spoke, "Jared, get your Gastly to watch the hallways entrance, we need to know if his Vaporeon is out."

Soon, a gleeful Gastly disappeared into the darkness.

Sometime later Jared hears Gastlys voice in his mind, "I don't see the catfish, but the two human children are led by two mushroom bugs, they will be here in a minute."

Nodding, Jared speaks, "The two are coming down the hallway now, they have two paras leading them, and the catfis--- vaporeon is nowhere to be found."

In response, Thomas commanded the men, "Turn the lights off,"

In the pitch black, Thomas whispers, "If your Gastly misses the hypnosis we will be in for a tough fight, so don't miss."

Sitting in the pitch black, the men tense up, with fear and expectation. While hiding just out of sight with bated breath, a few minutes pass.

Soon some voices can be heard, a girl, "It's really getting creepy, I think we should leave?"

Akoni chides, "Cmon baby, you wanted a Clefairy didn't you?"

"Still..."

The voices and footsteps suddenly stop, then some kissing noises can be heard, "Cmon Anna, you've got nothing to worry about, and if we don't encounter any then my dad will buy you one"

The girl meekly replies, "Okay..."

The flashlights of the two kid's sources shine through, and with this new light source, the grunts could now barely see some of their surroundings.

Jared holds his breath as the two kids walked right past.

Suddenly the girl screams, Akoni had fainted all of a sudden and bloodied his head when he fell.

As if a trigger was pressed, the five zubats swarmed, while two rattata backed them up.

Caught off guard, the two paras find themselves locked in a bitter struggle. Scared to death, the girl shrieks and flees with her flashlight, leaving Akoni to his fate.

Suddenly from a puddle of water, a creature forms!

The creature fires off an icy wind blast towards all nine pokemon, including the two paras. The powerful attack caused disorientation and knocked them back. Three zubats were directly KO'd!

With uncanny speed, Vaporeon grabs Akoni by his shirt with his teeth, then begins dragging him back the way they came, but gets stopped when a smokescreen of poison gas blocks the exit. James's koffing had done its work!

The girl had run straight through the gas, and her fate was unknown. Vaporeon knew he could make it through, but if Akoni inhales the Gas he would be done for.

With his retreat blocked off, the Vaporeon dropped the still unconscious Akoni, then stood atop a jagged boulder to intercept the ambushers from both sides.

Suddenly Gastly silently fired a spite, and it hit!

Feeling some strength drain from him from the ghostly scream, the vaporeon looked around with a growl, but couldn't discover where it came from. Vaporeon's have some low light vision, but the cave was still too dark!

Inside the chasm above, Gastly grins evilly as the vaporeon uselessly looks for him, You die here stupid Catfish!