Deadly alliance (Pokemon fan fiction) [Pokewatty Award 1st runner-up 2013]

Chapter 35 - Dead man talking

Chapter 35 – Dead man talking

[Recording]

“Err… Test! Testing, 1,2,3! Alright, looks like it’s recording well enough.” The voice of Hugo blasted through the speakers.

The camera angle shifted and slowly focused on the man. He was sitting across a table with his hands on his head.

“Ohh… I can’t believe I'm doing this. What’s this called? I believe it’s called a… final message.” He sighed. “So… To whoever is watching this right now, I'm probably dead already. Hmm… I wonder how I went out. I hope it was something epic like an explosion or something.”

He laughed lightly, and then suddenly stopped when he looked at his wrists. “Okay, maybe not. Anyway, I'm pretty sure my life would be cut short pretty soon and sad to say… I can’t do anything about it.”

He paused again before continuing. “Well, let me begin from the beginning… When I first decided to join Team Rocket…

Two years ago… Now that I think about it, I’ve been with Team Rocket for an incredible amount of time. Now now, don’t get me wrong, I did not want to join Team Rocket. I was forced – Forced by the man known to me as Legacy.

If you live in Johto, or just about anywhere in this world, you must know that the world is currently undergoing a phenomenon known as globalisation. The world is getting smaller and thus, the need to stay connected and transport information around the world increased ten-fold. Being the Company Executive Officer of Ivory Shipping Services (ISS), this meant more and more business for me. Well, apparently not.

Air travel became more prominent. It was to be expected, after all, it is much faster and efficient. Ironically, globalisation was about to destroy my company – the one thing I have spent years of blood, sweat and money to build. It became the worst two years ago. ISS was on the verge of bankruptcy and demand for my services fell to an all time low. Then, I met Legacy.

He appeared on my doorstep one day, saying that he would be able to save my company. I didn’t believe him, of course, and just chased him away. A couple of days later, he came back, this time with several more of his… friends. And… Let’s just say they were very, very convincing.

I had no choice but to sit down and have a nice long chat with this ‘Legacy’ person. I don’t know how he found out about it, but he knew my company was sinking. He called himself an ‘investor’, and wanted to invest in my company. Of course, as the boss of the ISS, I knew that investments were good news as it meant more funds and might be just the push needed to save my company.

I was suspicious, of course. Who in the world would want to invest in a sinking company? However, I was in no position to refuse. I had to save my company at all costs and my options were running low. Against my better judgement, I decided to take him up on his offer.

The next day, I was still feeling rather sceptical about the investment. Soon, I decided that maybe it was some big joke that one of my many enemies were playing on me. However when I returned to check the statements of the company, I found that Legacy was indeed telling the truth! He had transferred over 500 million dollars to my company!

It was like a gift from Arceus. Over the next few months, I could just throw money around the company. I wasted no time upgrading all my equipment and services. Pretty soon, my company thrashed all other shipping companies based in Johto, and was even competing closely with certain airlines. All was good, and pretty soon, I had already forgotten about Legacy, the investor who saved my company.

Of course, my story takes a turn for the worse. Shortly after business for my company started booming, I was visited by him again – Legacy. He asked for his money back… with interest. WHAT THE HELL!” Hugo seemed very worked up and started banging his fists against the table top.