Chapter 11

As they entered the small, poorly lit cellblock, the three human's and their pokemon could hear James' quiet muttering echoing off the gray painted stone walls. But, as they approached, their footsteps echoed as well, causing the prisoner to halt his quiet sobbing as he realized that he wasn't alone.

"There he is," commented Frank, idly motioning to the third of the six cell lock-up, causing James to stand up and come to see who his visitors were.

"I won't tell you anything!" the Rocket promised, holding one of the iron bars as he clenched his other fist, shaking it in defiant melodrama, "You won't get anything out of me! I am not a number!"

"Not even in exchange for leniency?" inquired Miranda, stepping forward and giving him a dark look as Frank muttered something about, "Be quiet #6.".

"Never," replied James defiantly, folding his arms and turning away, "I won't betray my friends."

"Some friends," chuckled Frank, soliciting a chuckle from his growlithe.

"You'll see!" announced James turning back to the group and rattling the bars of his cell again, "Jessie and Meowth will get me out of here; just you wait!"

Both Miranda and Nezumi shook their heads in dismay as the Rocket began laughing in what was supposed to be a sinister manner. "Ra. Rattata, nez," commented Nezumi, leaning back on his haunches and shaking his little head dismissively.

"What?!" demanded James, glaring at the rattata with sudden irritation, "What did that little rat-fink say about me?!"

Miranda folded her arms across her chest and smirked. "Only that you really have to work on your maniacal laughter," she commented, not bothering to hide her contempt for the organization the man belonged to, or the evil they represented, "He said he's heard better villain laughs out of slowpokes."

James glared angrily at Nezumi for a moment before stepping back and taking a deep breath. "I'll show you!" he exclaimed before filling the room with his off-key, rather unconvincing laughter.

"Has he always been this way?" inquired Frank as Bow did her best to cover her ears and let out a long whine.

Misty nodded. "From day one, I'm afraid," she explained in dismay, "I'm not even sure why he bothers."

"Why do I bother?!" demanded James, breaking off his laughter to glare at the girl angrily, "How dare you insult me like that! I have a perfectly good villain laugh!"

"I've heard better," replied Miranda skeptically as the others nodded in agreement.

James gave them an imploring look for a moment before finally giving up. "Oh, you're right," the man muttered, sliding his hands down the iron bars as he sank to his knees, "I'm just no good at this..."

"Hm. Then perhaps we can make a deal," said Miranda thoughtfully.

"Oh?" responded everyone in the room, their collective surprise nearly taking on a palatable quality.

Miranda nodded carefully, and took out a black and gray pokeball. "Yes," she answered, choosing her words carefully as the ball expanded from it's storage size to active status, "If your willing to give us some information Kathy Forester."

James cringed visibly, his eyes betraying a sudden fear. "Her?" he asked weakly, a touch of hysterical laughter entering his voice, "Why would you want to know anything about her?"

"Because it was HER pokemon that busted up MY car!" growled Frank, soliciting a bark of agreement from Bow, and causing James to fall backwards before crawling back across the floor to escape their sudden animosity.

"That too," agreed Miranda, "But my reasons are my own. That machoke was Tashiro, registered to Dr. Katherine J. Forester of Team Rocket. Just tell me where I can find her, and her partner, and I'll have my gast- Err, haunter teach you to laugh properly."

James's eyes went wide with disbelief as a meek grin crossed his face. "Really... ?" he inquired sheepishly.

Miranda nodded, glancing at Misty. "Can we trust him to keep up his end of the bargain?" she inquired.

"No way," she responded, shaking her head and glaring at the prisoner, "I've never seen him keep a promise in his life!"

"That's not very fair," pouted James, looking imploringly up at Frank, "Shouldn't you arrest her for slander, Officer? Listen to what that little twerp's saying about me!"

"I really don't think so," chuckled Frank, smiling in amusement as Misty quickly grabbed Miranda's arms from behind, holding her back from doing anything rash.

"Twerp?!" the courier demanded, her anger flaring at the insult, "How dare you?! You wanna be bishonin!"

"Now that's just mean," replied Frank with a smile, trying not to enjoy the banter too much.

"Yeah!" agreed James, nearly on the verge of tears, "I'll have you know that I went to the very best evil bishonin school in all the land! The fact that I flunked out not withstanding..."

"Irregardless," replied Misty, relaxing her grip as Miranda calmed down a notch, "I think it's better that you tell us what we want to know first."

"And why should I trust you?" inquired James, jumping to his feet and glancing suspiciously at his old adversary.

"Um, because we're the good guys?" offered Frank.

"Oh, well that's true," sighed James, contemplating the floor at his feet, "Very well them, she's going to be a the of 'Ces Batards De L'autre Cote De La Rue'."

"That fancy-shmancy restaurant that's opening?" inquired Frank, glancing at Miranda who nodded.

"Yes," she agreed, glancing over her shoulder at the bemused Pokeforce Officer, "The prize for winning that poetry contest we were in was dinner for two opening night."

"That's right," added James sadly, his head bowed, "a free dinner for two at the fanciest, classiest, most overpriced restaurant this side of Saffron City. I was going to go there with Jessie... We haven't eaten properly in weeks! It's just so unfair, Officer. I could have been a contender!"

"Yeah, whatever, but it's still no excuse to steal some poor guy's pikachu," replied Frank sternly, almost behaving like a real cop for once.

Misty cringed a little at the mention of the 'poor guy' and his pikachu, but managed to keep her voice level as Miranda held up Wraith's peculiarly coloured pokeball.

"You can trust us," promised Miranda with a smirk, "It's my pokemon I'd be afraid of."

James turned pale and fell backwards onto the floor once again as the pokeball split down the middle and the dark image of a haunter shimmered into existence just above it. "Oh no..." he stammered, fear creeping down his spine and clawing at his heart, "Not again..."

Wraith, however, didn't seem interested in the incarcerated man; instead he turned to his trainer with a proud smile, and held his hands before him. "Haunt!" he exclaimed happily, spinning his disembodied palms in the air for Miranda to inspect.

"They're lovely," replied Miranda sweetly, taking one of her haunter's hands in her own and turning him around slowly so that Wraith faced James, "But right now I need you to do me one more little, tiny favor."

"Haunt?" inquired Wraith, one of his eyes moving around to the back, independent of the laws that governed corporeal beings and stared at Miranda curiously.

"Teach this man to laugh manically," his trainer instructed, making the haunter burst out laughing.

"No, no!" chuckled, not noticing as Misty took a few steps back, Bow let out a low whine, and Frank kept his eye on her ghostly pokemon, "Not like that, like you do when you REALLY want to scare someone!"

"Haun, wra!" agreed Wraith, nodding as best he could as his eye swiveled the rest of the way around and he began to float towards James with an evil grin.

"What-? What does it want!?" demanded James, cowering against the far wall, shivering at the thought of getting to close to Wraith.

"He just wants to communicate with you directly," Miranda explained as though it were nothing, "When you feel his mind touch yours, just let it in. Don't worry, though, he's not a true psychic, so human minds are still pretty alien to him. Your thoughts will still be your own. Wraith's just going to talk in your mind for bit."

From her shoulder, Nezumi chuckled at the comment, before catching James's eye and giving his own sinister grin. "Raaaaa!" the rattata exclaimed, doing his best ghost impression as he stood on his hind legs and reached his forepaws into the air dramatically.

"Nooo!" shrieked James, his back pressed against the far wall as he felt something dark press against his mind. Somewhere, beyond his actual range of hearing, the Rocket could hear a quiet voice whispering over and over again.

"Just don't fight it," ordered Miranda sternly as Wraith passed through the bars of the cell as though they weren't even there, "he won't hurt you. You're not the one responsible for what happened to my family."

One of Wraith's eyes swiveled around to look at his trainer again. There was a curious sympathy in the single, strange looking eye, and Miranda could only smile lovingly back.

'Before you, I had no one to chase away my nightmares, ' thought Miranda in response to the gentle touch she felt against her mind, 'Thank you, dearest.'

The haunter pursed his lips for a moment, almost blushing as both eyes turned to focus on James. "Haunter!" he ordered in a loud voice, an ethereal wind suddenly stirring up all around him, and blowing the human up against the wall even harder.

"Alright! Alright!" pleaded James, fighting against the wind only he could feel, covering his ears against its sinister howl that only he could hear, and shutting his eyes against horrible images that only he could see, "I'll let you in, just make it stop!"

"Stop?" inquired Frank, blinking loudly and trying to figure out what the borderline hysterical man was babbling about.

"Illusions," explained Misty with a shudder as she crept back up behind Miranda and peeked around at the scene, "Wraith's illusions must be stronger since he evolved."

"Indeed!" replied Miranda, her tone that of a proud mother, "Wraith is certainly extraordinary."

"Ra," commented Nezumi indignantly, causing Miranda to laugh and reach up to scratch the top of his head with her index finger affectionately.

"But you're still my favorite," she promised, making the rattata smile happily as he leaned against her neck and gave a contented sigh.

"Grow? inquired Bow a hint of jealousy in her voice as she glanced up at Frank,

The cop sighed and leaned down to scratch his growlithe's ears. "You really are a pain, you know that!" he told her, trying not to laugh as she licked his face.