Finding Truth Amongst The Lies

Chapter 3: Ash's POV

The short ceremony to make me a full agent only consisted of Director Falon and the highest-ranking members of the council, as well as my mentor who had been my teacher for the past seven years. I took the oath to protect the peace of all of the regions very seriously and was proud when Pikachu sat tall and rested his front paw on his own heart as I recited it. Once I was sworn in, I was immediately ushered out of the room and into a small conference room where my mentor, Agent Rickshaw, handed me a dossier filled with all of the background information I would have to memorize to build my alias.

Agent Rickshaw gave me a few final pointers and then left me to my studying. My new name for the foreseeable future was going to be Satoshi Kilian. Satoshi was a native of the Sinnoh region who had attempted the Sinnoh league several times but could never make it past the top 16 of the league battles. Feelings of frustration led him to look for somewhere he belonged and he'd heard through the grapevine about Team Galactic and their plan to create a new world.

My pride was a little hurt that I would have to play the part of a failed pokemon trainer, but I shoved that aside and continued to study the dossier. I would have to know all of these details, such as my new birthday and family information, better than I knew my own if I was going to pull this off. As I read that 'Satoshi' was an orphan though I frowned and glanced at the partially opened conference room door.

"Do you think they'll let me say goodbye to Mom?" I asked Pikachu with a nervous frown.

Pikachu jumped up onto the table and patted my arm comfortingly. I smiled down at him and nodded before turning back to the dossier. Even if it was just a video call, I would make sure I would let Mom know I was going to be gone for a long trip so she wouldn't worry.

Being a trainee spy was cooler than anything I had ever done, but the hardest thing was that it meant I had to lie to the people closest to me. My old friends like Brock, Dawn, May, Tracy, and Misty who traveled with me in the past all thought that I was still traveling around the world as a pokemon trainer. I was allowed to tell Mom a little bit more of the truth, but I couldn't tell her anything that might put her in danger, so she wasn't allowed to know the organization's name or any of the specifics about my assignments.

A knock pulled me out of my thoughts and I looked up guiltily, realizing that I had let my mind wander instead of memorizing my new life story. An unfamiliar woman walked into the room dressed in black slacks, a white shirt, and a shimmery sequin purple vest. I blinked in shock at the unusual burst of color from her vest and she grinned broadly at me.

"Hello, Satoshi. I'm Miriam, the agency stylist. It's my job to make you look a little less like an IIA agent and more like Satoshi Kilian," she said with a broad grin. Before I could respond she skipped over to where I was seated at the table and took one of my hands in both of hers.

"Come on, then!" she urged with an exuberant squeal. She tugged me with more force than I anticipated and I found myself stumbling after her, only barely snagging my dossier filled with background information before she whisked me out of the conference room.

Three hours later I looked into the mirror and it was all I could do not to chuckle. My hair, which had always been a spiky mess my entire life, had been trimmed back so that it was short in the back and then Miriam had used gel to get my normally crazy spikes to actually look somewhat cool. I wouldn't be able to wear a hat comfortably with my hair like this, but I guess that was a sacrifice I'd have to make to become 'Satoshi'.

She had also shaved off my scruff of a beard that I had so proudly grown and I was disappointed at how much younger I looked without any facial hair to brag about. Even stranger though, was that she had given me what she called 'highlights' so that I had vibrant blue streaks randomly throughout my black hair.