I sat on the edge of my bed, head in my hands and my mind racing. I was so done with this! How long did they expect me to stay here? It has been three months since I agreed to do this job, and what did I have to show for it? Nothing. Nothing but the standard information every Neo Team Plasma grunt knew and the nightmares that working for these people had caused. But I knew I just couldn't give up, the fate of Unova hung on the success of my mission. I was getting nowhere, though!

   "What should I do?" I asked aloud.

   "Why are you asking me? I wasn't part of your team until you joined."

   I looked up and saw my Manetric, Po. M32 or... just Lucy, sitting on the floor in front of me. "It was a rhetorical question, Lucy," I said, rolling my eyes. She squinted at me and sniffed audibly.

   "Well sorry! How was I supposed to know that?" she replied, irritated.

   Yes, I could talk to Pokémon. I'd been able to understand every Pokémon I've ever encountered for as long as I could remember. First it started with me hearing singular words every so often. Then by the time I was four, I could understand full conversations. And not only that, I was able to talk back to them as well. It was a strange ability, but I learned to cope with it eventually.

   "Never mind..." I sighed. "If you couldn't tell, I'm just concerned about everything that's been happening."

   "If you want information so badly, why not force it out of Ghetsis and the others? You have me, not to mention your other team members. You even have Design! Just power your way to what you need, it's a no-brainer!"

   "No," I stated, my voice rising. "We are not bringing Design, or anyone else into this!" What was Lucy thinking?! If any of the Plasma grunts even caught a glimpse of Design, my cover would eventually be blown.

   "Sorry, master! I shouldn't have spoken out of line like that," Lucy apologized with a whimper.

   "It's fine, I know what you're getting at. And maybe at this point, I'm better off just getting what I need by force," I sighed. The sound of footsteps suddenly rang out in the hallway outside my room. I immediately shut my mouth and signaled for Lucy to do the same. Whoever was out there better not have heard me. Someone knocked loudly on my door.

   Did they hear me?! I quietly told Lucy to hide under my bed as I walked to my door. Before opening it I made sure my mask was pulled up far enough, the last thing I wanted was for them to see my whole face. Lastly, I made sure to tuck my hair up into my hat. I was forced to cut my hair for this mission and after a few months here, I was relived to see that it was growing out again. The person knocked once more and I told the person on the other side to wait a second. I then opened the door slightly and saw some random grunt whose number I couldn't recall at the moment.

   "What do you want?" I snapped harshly, instantly slipping back into the alter ego I had created for myself.

   "Zinzolin wants all grunts numbers 20 and under to report above deck in two minutes," the grunt said.

   "Why?" I asked.

   "He didn't give details, just, 'It's important, hurry up,' or something like that."

   "Fine, I'll be there in a moment," I said as I slammed the door in the guy's face. Some could say I was being overly mean, but if you were a member of Neo Team Plasma, you were the scum of Unova. No, scratch that, you were beneath the scum of Unova! Even looking at one of them disgusted me, so inventing the cover that I was a mostly silent, unstoppable anger-driven force wasn't the hardest thing to do. I leaned back against the door and sighed.

   "Such fine acting! You could really make a living as an actor, master," Lucy fake-swooned from under my bed.

"Yeah, yeah..." I mumbled. "Just get out from under there, we have to go above deck."

   "Yes, master," Lucy scooted out from her hiding place and shook herself off. "You wouldn't believe how many dust-Bunearys are under there!" she said, letting out a sneeze right after. I recalled Lucy into her Poké Ball and slipped it in my pocket.

   The hallway was mostly empty with a few grunts heading up the stairs at the end of the hall. I never bothered to learn most of the other's numbers so I assumed that they were the ones asked to meet upstairs. I briskly made my way down the hall and up onto the deck of Neo Plasma's base, the Plasma Frigate. We had been docked at the far end of Driftveil City's cargo yard for around a week, and I thought Zinzolin wanted to announce our next destination or something. But why tell just numbers twenty and under?

   It turned out I was the last one to arrive because of the number of grunts on deck. They were standing in a perfect line facing the gang plank. I shoved my way between numbers seventeen and nineteen and took my place in the under-twenty lineup. 

   While we were waiting, No. 17 elbowed me in the arm to get my attention. Out of everyone here, 17 was the only person who talked to me on a regular basis. She seemed to be one of the less heartless people in Neo Plasma, if that was even possible.

   "18! What's up?" she whispered.

"Not much. Why're we here? The person who told me we were meeting didn't have too much info," I whispered back, making sure to keep my voice as low as I could.

   "I don't know that much either," she said truthfully. "But apparently the mission in Driftveil failed."

    I sighed with relief. A few grunts were tasked with trying to recruit the original Team Plasma members that didn't want to join the new team. And like I expected, the Ex-Plasma members weren't too keen on rejoining us. So whenever they were told to go convince the original members, it always ended in violence. I didn't get why they kept trying, it wasn't like there weren't enough grunts on this ship anyways.

   "Some kid interrupted the negotiations, and we had to retreat. It got to the point where the Triad had to intervene," 17 continued.

   I shuddered inwardly when she brought up the Triad. Other than Ghetsis, Zinzolin, and myself to an extent, the Shadow Triad were the most feared members of Neo Team Plasma. Only distinguishable by their names and the Pokémon they used, the Triad were basically Ghetsis' personal bodyguards and assassins if he wanted them to be. They didn't emote, they didn't hesitate in their actions, and they didn't give a flying Flaaffy about anyone if it interrupted their task.

   Just then, several people boarded the ship. The three grunts who'd been sent on the mission fled the deck as soon as they were on board and went down to the barracks. Then the Triad boarded. First was Shade, the trio's schemer and the owner of a stolen Ariados. Second was Umbra, the Triad's main leader and owner of a Liepard. And finally there was Kage, the Triad's main battler who used an extremely powerful Tangrowth.

   Kage had someone with him, and he seemed to be forcing them to walk. My heart dropped when I saw who it was. It was one of the kids I met back in the Castelia Sewers, the girl with the Servine mentioned that his name was Hugh. I was shocked at how the young Trainer looked. Kage was gripping him by the collar, and it seemed to be the only thing keeping the kid from keeling over as he seemed to be barely clinging to consciousness. Hugh's wrists were bound together in front of him with what looked like String Shot silk. His eyes were unfocused, and a trickle of crimson was running down the right side of his face. Dear Arceus, what did they do to him?

   "What the... Why is there a kid here?" 17 muttered. The other grunts on deck began talking amongst themselves as well. They were mostly questions about the obvious and things like that.

    "Stop asking, Zinzolin's gonna be here in a second," I heard No. 15 say.

As if on cue, the footsteps of a lone person on the stairs sounded and any conversation stopped. We stood perfectly still and waited for the team's second-in-command to arrive. A withered old man crested the top of the staircase and began walking across the main deck. Everything was silent except the waves crashing against the Frigate's hull and the slight swishing sound Zinzolin's heavy purple robes made as they scraped over the deck's hardwood. His icy gaze traveled over all of us and he was frowning like he always did. He stopped in front of Kage.

   "What is the meaning of this?" Zinzolin demanded, staring at Hugh.

"He was eavesdropping," Kage said, "and he was the one who ruined the mission."

   Zinzolin examined Hugh and soon noticed the Pokeballs on his belt, three regular and one Great. He took the single Great Ball and pressed the button. The ball opened but nothing was inside. "Why does this child have an empty Poké Ball with him?" Zinzolin's gaze shifted up to Kage. "We'll have to discuss this with Ghetsis." He said.

   At that moment, Hugh's eyes closed and he collapsed to the deck in a heap. He must have lost consciousness. Zinzolin sighed and shook his head, dropping the empty ball as he did so. He turned to us and pointed at me and two other grunts.

   "18, 19, 20, take this boy down to the brig while I have a talk. Everyone else, you may leave."

   Zinzolin and the Triad left the deck and went to the captain's quarters where Ghetsis' office was. 19, 20 and I approached the unconscious Trainer, and we brought him downstairs. As we did so, I was already coming up with a plan to help Hugh escape. But I had no idea how serious his injuries were or if would awake anytime soon. I just had to hope Zinzolin's talk didn't result in Hugh's demise.