"You know, I hate to admit it, but I'm really digging the black suit," Hilda complimented as the four of us landed on the ground.

I turned to look at her as I returned Braviary into his Poké Ball. Swanna would need to stay out in order for Lethe's plan to work. Even though Swanna had more experience me, I could see the poor Pokémon shaking a bit.

It didn't help that Hilda, Hilbert, and Lethe looked quite threatening in their new outfits. Or, at least, Hilbert and Lethe looked threatening in their disguises. Hilda, on the other hand, looked more out of place. Most of her hair was tucked under a hat, making her look more like a boy. She wore a heavy leather jacket and kept her Serperior out by her side. Had I not known that Hilda was one of the sweetest people ever, I might have pulled back in horror. Unfortunately, I wasn't convinced as Hilda was still her bubbly self. If I wasn't buying it, I was afraid the other people wouldn't which would blow our cover.

Hilbert moaned in protest. He was in a similar outfit as Hilda, only he wore shades over his face and gelled his brown hair back so that it wasn't sticking in every direction. Like Hilda, I was so used to seeing him in a hat, but he didn't wear one as it turned out Hilbert had really bad hat hair. The moment the hat touched his head, it was as if the gel had magically disappeared.

"Hilda, keep it down," Hilbert hushed. "This place isn't called the Underground Bandit for nothing. If people start noticing you're acting like a ditzy teenager, our cover will be blown."

"Hey! I'm older than you are, thank you very much!" Hilda whispered very loudly.

I ignored their arguing as I turned to look at the building. From the outside, it didn't look like much. The windows were blocked off with planks of wood. Old red paint started to chip off, showing the old brown that the building used to be. There were even holes in the wall that made it seem like a few people tried breaking in it before.

The Underground Bandit. It was a place I had never heard about until Gila brought it up one night long ago. Back when I first joined, I found myself in places I would've never thought I'd step into before. When Gila figured that out, she told me of a place in Unova where criminals would gather. She fed me horror stories about that place. Had I not sworn an oath to help her, I would've flown here as fast as I could to shut it down. That was what Rudi would've wanted to do if he was still around, but there was something very frightening about the Underground Bandit. Even as I looked at it, I could feel my stomach climbing up to my throat as my feet wanted to run the other direction.

There was only one rule at the Underground Bandit. No matter how notorious a criminal was, you couldn't turn him or her in for money. Other than that, anything was fair game. While these criminals couldn't turn in another criminal, there were public fights that would happen. Pokémon versus Pokémon. People versus Pokémon. People versus people.

These fights were always to the death.

What made things worse was that these fights were usually brought in by people who had a rare Pokémon. They would take them and force them into a ring, not letting them out until blood was spilt. Gila and the rest of Team Miamsa told me so many stories about this place. One story was of a Charizard who was beaten up by a mere Pikachu. Another story she told me was when a Parasect killed a Graninja, despite being infected with a terminal disease. How these people got ahold of these Pokémon were beyond me, but it made me sick knowing they would just let them fight like that.

Fights to the death weren't even the worst of it. My hand grabbed the silver chain that wrapped around my neck and tucked it under the suit. If someone found out about that, I would face a fate that was worse than a duel to the death. I didn't even want to imagine what some of the criminals would do to me if they laid a finger on me.

"Don't be nervous," I heard Lethe's voice said from behind as a pair of hands grabbed my shoulders, squeezing them. I looked back, seeing my brother standing there, giving me a half a smile. Unlike everyone else, he didn't have to change much of his appearance. All he had to do was return back to his old Oblivion uniform and pass as a grunt smuggling goods to get by. "We've all got an eye on you, and Rena will oversee everything."

"And hear too," Rena's voice chirped in my ear. "I've hacked into all the cameras in this place. If danger presents itself, I'll warn you."

My hand brushed my short black hair over my left ear to hide the earpiece inside. I had almost forgotten Rena was in on this as she could help us navigate through this place. All we had to do was find the person with the Lunar Wing.

I turned to look at the door. What would a person with a Lunar Wing do here? Blair explained that these feathers were protected, so they wouldn't be used for evil. Despite that, I had a bad feeling that wasn't the case anymore.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled myself away from Lethe and walked to the front door of this place, mentally preparing myself for what was inside.

(-o-)

After being with Team Miasma for so long, I was used to being in grimy and dingy places. The last place I stayed at for a long period of time was one of the cleanest places. That motel had Ratata and Burmy residing inside, but at least it served its purpose. While that seemed like a horrible place to find temporary refuge, no one would ever think about people living there.

The Underground Bandit was a bit different than that motel. For once, I wish I was back at that motel as the Underground Bandit was probably one of the worst places I had ever stepped foot in. I had to watch my step as the floorboards were uneven, and the entire room was poorly lit. The only source of light came from the lamps on the few tables, illuminating the faces of the criminals that sat there. It was hard to see where I was going, but luckily, Swanna stayed by my side, silently leading me to the back where a bar was.

Numerous of notorious criminals staggered around the place, making it hard to walk to the back. Many of them had drinks in their hands or were smoking something that released a foul odor into the air. Others were were sizing each other up, challenging one another to a battle or arm wrestling contest. A few were flirting with each other, and some going a step further, not caring what they were doing in front of a room full of people. Even fewer somehow managed to do a few of those things at the same time.

But the moment people started to realize who I was, they seemed to have stopped whatever they were doing. It shouldn't have surprised me that everyone here turned to look at the one criminal who was once a hero. Questions started to arise from some of the people if I even was "bad". Others commented to one another that I shouldn't even have the audacity to walk in here after all I've done. There wasn't one person who was quiet about their opinions.

By the time I made it halfway to the back of the room, someone grabbed my arm and turned me around. Swanna squawked on the top of his lungs, but was met with a low growl from a different Pokémon: Sawk. When I looked up at the man who had grabbed ahold of me, I scowled.

"You're coming with me," Clyde Damion smiled as he tried to jerk me away.

I didn't move. Instead, I resisted and continued to glare at him. When my brother told me he had an idea on how to get that Lunar Wing, he warned me I wouldn't like it. It wasn't because I was going to be in the presence of criminals that should be in jail, nor was it because the place was foul in multiple ways. I had to distract everyone, making them think I was one of them.

That was what made my job so hard. I had to prove I was no longer a hero and that I was a wanted criminal like them. Even if I did that, many of them wouldn't be convinced. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that Lethe told me this mission would turn out successful. He had a vision about it, or at least, he saw everyone getting out of this place alive with a Lunar Wing.

All I had to do was show them I was a force to be reckoned with.

"I think not," I retorted as I jerked my arm out. His grip was a bit more powerful than I had expected, causing me to stumble back a bit.

As I stumbled back, I felt two pairs of hands digging into my shoulders. I turned to look back at two men glaring at me. They weren't familiar, but I recognized that look in their eyes. A look that warned me not to get too comfortable as they weren't going to trust a word I said.

"Swanna," I said, feeling the hairs on my skin rise as a sickening idea came into my head. It wasn't like I had a choice. They needed to see me as one of them and fear my name if my friends and I were going to pull this off. It was the only chance we had. "Use Ice Beam on them."

My Pokémon didn't need to be told clarifications as to who they were. He turned around and released a powerful beam of ice towards the two that held me back. My captures quickly let go of me, allowing me to go to the next step of how to make everyone fear me.

I marched up to the Pokémon poacher, who simply crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow in amusement. It wasn't that I was oblivious to what had happened before. Once Team Miasma got their hands on whatever they wanted, I was fair game for him to get revenge on Rudi for locking him up behind bars back when Team Miasma kidnapped me and first offered to work alongside us. With Rudi gone, Clyde Damion had to look elsewhere for payback.

He must've known I no longer worked with Team Miasma anymore, otherwise he wouldn't have tried this.

"You have five seconds to get out," I threatened.

"Or what?" Clyde challenged as I stood a foot in front of him. "We all know you're nothing more than a pathetic hero, one that has cost many of us our jobs, the fear behind our names means nothing with you heroes—"

His voice was drowned out by the cheers around us. All of them supporting his side of the argument. If they had it their way, I wouldn't be walking out of this place alive.

For Mienshao and Audino's sake, I had to make sure that didn't happen.

I clenched my hand into a fist and punched the guy square in the jaw. Clyde was about to grab my arm, but I took my knee and jerked it upwards. Due to his rather large stomach, that was where my knee landed, causing his hands to grab the large part of his body.

In the corner of my eye, I saw his blue Pokémon readying his fist to jam into me. In one swift movement, I grabbed Clyde and yanked him towards me. I saw his eyes widened just as Sawk tried to pull away, but it was all too late. Clyde's Pokemon ended up punching the man right into the back causing the two to fall to the ground.

My hands brushed the imaginary dirt off of each other while my eyes gazed over the shocked expressions of everyone else. Swanna was tried to hide it, but I could notice him looking at me differently. Since fighting wasn't something I wanted to do, I was glad it was a lot shorter than I had expected.

Then again, it would explain why Clyde Damion got caught too often. He was too clumsy for the job.

Still, I intentionally stared everyone in the eye and drew in a deep breath. "Question me one more time, and I'll make everyone in this room pay."

With those words, I thought I had everyone scared. People started to shrink away or casually turn their heads away. I proved that I was a force to be reckoned with. No one would mess with me unless they wanted to be humiliated.

Or so I thought.

"Well well well," a voice sang, causing a chill down my spine. "Here I thought you were going to stay low after all this time."

I twirled around and took a few steps back. These people around me weren't cowering away because of what they had just witnessed. It was because the leader of Team Miasma had been standing behind me. For how long, I wasn't sure, but it was long enough for them all to go quiet.

The leader of Team Miasma wasn't even in her usual uniform, yet everyone here recognized her as fast as I did. The purple Team Miasma emblem was nowhere to be found, but she wore a black tank with black leather skinny jeans and boots that were at least six inches high. Unlike most days when I saw her out and about, she decided to hide her blonde hair by wearing a short purple wig with black strands in it, almost making her unrecognizable. Despite that, she still had a few grunts in uniform standing behind her. The Krait twins were nowhere to be found.

One thing stuck out about her. My eyes were glued onto the fifth Poké Ball on her belt. Three of them were her serpent-like Pokémon, Seviper, Serperior, and Arbok. The fourth being her Mandibuzz, a Pokémon she only used to escape or travel from place to place. It was that fifth Poké Ball that didn't belong to her at all that caught my attention. That's because that Pokémon belonged to me.

While I wanted to run and tear that Poké Ball away from her, I felt my body freeze. There was nothing I could do. All I could do was stare at that Poké Ball, my Poké Ball.

"You know, you're just in time for the big event," Gila smirked as someone grabbed my arms and yanked them behind my back, twisting them into an uncomfortable position.

I looked down at Swanna who was about to attack when a silver metal band suddenly wrapped around his wings. My eyes widened as he fell to the ground, getting knocked out immediately. Seeing my Pokémon fainted like that, I tried jerking out of the grasps of the people holding me from behind, but that only made them dig their nails and pull me further away from Gila.

"Let him go!" I screamed, forgetting every ounce of cool I had worked so hard on. "Let Swanna and Plusle go!"

As soon as I said Plusle's name, I regretted it. Everyone around us erupted in whispers. It was either about how a Plusle was the worst Pokémon a criminal can have, proving my allegiance to the law, or it was about how rare a Plusle was in Unova and the amount of money that could be made from a Pokémon like that.

During all of this, Gila twisted the Poké Ball in her hands. Her smile warped into a devilish one. As I looked at her, I realized I did exactly what she wanted.

"Who wants to see Swanna take on Plusle," Gila asked as she turned around to look at everyone, causing them to stop talking. Everyone turned to listen. When she had everyone's attention, she turned to stare me in the eyes. "Who wants to see the two battle to the death?"

Just like, I felt the air had escaped my lungs, making it hard to breathe.

Author's Note:

...I promise you, there are happy parts in this story, but there are just some obstacles our hero has to face first. Poor girl.

On a different note, it's winter, and I have a strong dislike for the cold (especially since cold=colds). Anyways, for this week's question: what's your favorite ice type Pokémon?

Next update will be in 2 weeks, so I'll see y'all in 2020! Take care now!