Team Rocket existed as the darkest, most cryptically diabolical and ruthless organisation known to Pokémon and humankind. Its multitudes of subservient followers across the length and breadth of the Pokémon World toiled relentlessly to provide and obtain, to extract and develop. To train and triumph, all for one purpose… all for one man. Known only as "Giovanni", this was a character whose origins were kept shrouded in mystery, just like the roots of the vast establishment he had inherited not long before.
Most of these drones were happy to grovel and fawn at the feet of their leader, misled by the knowledge that in time they would gain their desired rewards. But, there were also the exceptions. Those who had been unwillingly drafted, those who had mistaken Team Rocket to be a force of worth. Once locked within the folds of the organisation they could not escape; Giovanni knew all too well that the information these figures obtained would mean certain downfall for his extensive plans to overthrow all known governmental structure and order should it reach outside authorities.
It had happened before. An information leak had been the reason why Giovanni had to relocate himself and the remnants of his most confidential project. That mistake couldn’t happen again; it was imperative that no one was aware of his latest developments. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, Team Rocket no longer existed.
And this is how Giovanni wanted it to stay, until the appointed time.
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
As the rain battered down across Rustboro City, the sodden figures of a man, a woman and a Meowth crouched under the staircase of a nearby building; thankful for the scanty cover it provided. Ever since Team Rocket's establishment in (and consequential dispersion from) Hoenn, it had become increasingly difficult to walk the streets in uniform. As a result the two human members of the trio were dressed in somewhat worn overcoats with brimmed hats to keep their faces indistinguishable. Despite this however, it was easy to see the expressions they were wearing happened to be as gloomy as the day itself. The male figure held an open communicator in one gloved hand while fiddling with a tiny strand of blue-lavender hair that draped across his forehead. He had been standing in this position for the last few minutes.
"Well, what are you waiting for James?" his female counterpart asked, somewhat snappily. She ended up uttering a gasp of surprise as the communicator was waved in her direction; its display lit up with an icon that informed the trio it was already dialling Team Rocket Headquarters.
"You do it, Jessie," the man insisted, his face a picture of deepest worry. Jessie responded by shoving the communicator back in her associate's direction.
"No, you do it!"
"Nuh uh!" James exclaimed, practically forcing the device into Jessie's hands. "Get Meowth to do it!"
"Youse two keep me outta ya petty squabble," the feline Pokémon commented from under a cardboard box he was currently using to keep the rain off. "It's your fault dis happened."
"Was not!" Jessie and James retorted in unison, only to fall into an uncomfortable silence as Giovanni's all-too-familiar voice boomed irritably from the earpiece of the communicator.
"Who is this? How did you get access to my private frequency?"
"Uh, it was y-your idea sir," Jessie stammered, while Meowth retreated back into the confines of the box. A few moments of silence ensued while Giovanni turned to his desktop computer and called up the Rocket Operative Database.
"Ah yes," he responded, somewhat more calmly. "Jessie Matthews of Kanto's Intermediate recon division. It has been some time since I last heard from you and James Morgan. You have a progress report to give me, I assume?"
"Y-yes sir," the woman replied, hands shaking. "I'm afraid to say...it's bad news, sir."
"Define 'bad news'," Giovanni said, his voice suddenly becoming dangerously soft. The trio flinched, knowing all too well this as calm before the inevitable raging storm. Jessie took a deep breath before uttering the sentence they had all been so afraid to say.
"The twer-uh I mean boy we've been tracking for his Pikachu...
We lost him, sir."
"WHAT?"
The woman yelped and tossed the communicator into the air in a fit of alarm. James caught it only to be urged on by his partner to continue the outline.
"Two days ago, in Petalburg Forest, he had this massive argument with his friends and just... vanished," he explained anxiously. "But it's nothing we can't handle, sir. Just give us some time and-"
"No!" Giovanni snapped, causing James to drop the communicator onto the top of the box Meowth was peering out from. "No more time! You three have had more than your fair share of chances, and you repay me with your utter ineptitude!
Consider yourself dismissed from Active Duty!"
Jessie and James' mouths dropped open in horror as the screen of the communicator went blank.
"Well dat coulda gone betta," Meowth commented, wiping the droplets from his face.
"You think?" Jessie snapped, picking up the communicator before deliberately sitting on top of the box; causing it to fall over the Pokemon's head. "All the suffering we've been put through while chasing after that twerp and his abominable yellow rat, for what? To have the boss yell in our ears and consign us to measly errands within HQ! Our chances of a promotion are ruined..."
"Well, I guess we'd better get back to Kanto," James remarked. He seemed more relieved than anything at losing the gruelling duty Giovanni had entrusted them with for the past five years.
"To what?" Meowth responded grumpily. "All da while we's been prancin' about in da open our ol' headquarters was shifted someplace else. Who knows where it is now!"
"I know," a calm voice echoed from up the passageway. The trio looked up in surprise to see two figures standing under an umbrella dressed in colourful Pokémon League motif jackets. Noticing the suspicious glowers upon Jessie's, James' and Meowth's faces, the female member of the pair chuckled and stepped forward; taking off her green-coloured wig to reveal a shock of long golden hair. Jessie's eyes widened as she got swiftly to her feet.
"Rose!"
"The Pokémon trainer disguises even fooled you three, eh?" the woman inquired in pleased tones while her companion removed his cap; letting his angular ice blue hair fall down around his face.
"Well you gotta admit, it has been a while," Meowth insisted, appearing from under the box. "What're youse and Lee doin' out here in Hoenn anyway?"
"We were just heading to Oldale Town on grunt supervision," Rose explained. "There's been a discovery in some ruins nearby that's bound to mean major progress for Team Rocket and a sure-fire promotion for us! How about you guys? You must have been out for some time to have lost track of HQ."
"Pretty much," Jessie mumbled, trying not to show signs of envy over Rose's obvious betterment. "We've been taken off Active Duty for the time being and need to return there for further instruction."
"Could one of you show us where they moved it?" James piped up. Lee nodded and whipped out a PokéNav from his back pocket before entering a complicated set of commands. The device gave a bleep and Lee responded by turning it around to show the trio the resulting image.
"What's dat place?" Meowth asked, scratching the top of his head. Jessie joined the feline Pokémon in his puzzlement.
"Looks oddly familiar, I must say."
"That's... that's Tatto!" James spluttered, grabbing the PokéNav and bringing it closer to check that he wasn't seeing things. "Why on earth would the boss want to relocate to that region? It's-"
"Practically unthought of," Rose smirked, plucking the device from James' hands and giving it back to Lee. "Now if you'll excuse us, we have work to do. See you back at headquarters!"
"Don't get lost now!" Lee added jokingly. With that the duo vanished into the rain, leaving their companions in a state of loss and bewilderment at the next overwhelming problem that faced them. Exactly how were they meant to get all the way to Tatto?"
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
James stretched out wearily upon his regulation camp bed with a listless expression and watched as his Pokémon friend Meowth lay out some playing cards on the carpet at the other side of the room. Several months had passed since the trio's discovery and reinstatement into Tatto's Rocket HQ and today, like many of the days before it, had seemed to drag on forever. Time seemed to be taken up with one meagre task after another, and life no longer bore any of the thrill and excitement that it had delivered before.
“I never thought I’d say this, Jess,” he murmured. “But things were a lot more interesting back when we were trying to catch that twerp’s Pikachu. Now we’re detained at the Tatto headquarters I’m finding myself yearning for a taste of the outdoors.”
“We could all do wit’ a taste of da outdoors…” Meowth muttered as he looked up. “…just wit’out da taste of several thousand volts of electricity.”
“The furbag’s right, James” Jessie remarked, flicking her long spiral of magenta hair over her shoulder. “That mission was well past its sell-by date and far too painful for what it was worth. I’m sure if we just keep doing these tasks the best we can, The Boss will see our potential and give us something a more important for us to do.”
“What potential would he find in emptying trash cans?” the man snapped. “Can’t you see Jess? He has been keeping us ‘occupied’ with meaningless tasks for Taj knows how long!”
“I bets its coz he lost interest in us,” Meowth commented in monotone. “After all, we never got 'im anyting decent…”
“It wasn’t our fault!” Jessie exclaimed, a slight panic setting in to her voice. “That Ketchum kid had an unbelievable lucky streak.”
James sighed agreeably. “Every time we came within inches of success the brat was always there to snatch it away again.”
“Makes ya want ta start anew, don’t it Jimmy?” Meowth remarked. James nodded sadly.
“If there was a way to leave here, I would.”
Jessie gritted her teeth at what she considered to be very negative statements, but before she could open her mouth there was a tap on the door. Meowth’s expression lightened as he leapt up from his solitary card game and rushed towards it.
“Dibs on da doorknob!” he cried excitedly; the saying was part of a little childish game the guys had invented during their months of incarceration.
“Oh no you don’t,” James grinned, pouncing upon the feline and forcing his head to the ground. “That door is mine. Eat fibres, hairball!”
“Ackpth! Get off, ya big lug!”
As the male figures sprawled across the carpet, (just barely managing to avoid the coat stand) Jessie rolled her eyes, reached across and turned the handle before letting the door swing open. A young female Intermediate with dark eyes and brown hair stood in the doorway holding an envelope in one hand and wearing an amused expression upon her face.
“Mail for you”
“Thanks, Denise” Jessie smiled, taking the envelope. Denise smiled at James and Meowth, who were engrossed in their little scuffle. Jessie followed her gaze.
“No one managed to win again, eh?” the adolescent giggled. Jessie emitted a bemused grunt.
“Immature, aren’t they?”
Denise smirked at this.
“Ehh, I figure it’s best to let guys be guys. They’ll grow out of it one day”
“I doubt it” Jessie replied, as she opened the envelope. “So…how’s things in the Intermediate Common Room?”
“Just fine” Denise replied cheerfully. “Rose has been taking her losses the best she can and is still managing to keep the place in order as usual and Mondo’s really happy with his new job as Laboratory Assistant Technician. As for Kevin and Jenna, well… they still can’t get enough of each other.”
Jessie raised an eyebrow absent-mindedly as she finished opening the envelope before quickly scanning the printed note inside.
“Oh my…”
“What is it?” Denise asked curiously as she examined Jessie’s wide-eyed expression. James and Meowth stopped hitting each other and sat up - looking toward the doorway with great expectance.
“Have we finally got a ticket outta dis joint?” Meowth inquired hopefully.
“Has the request for more comfortable beds finally been processed?” James questioned. Jessie turned her head to gaze back at them, her eyes sparkling with deepest honour.
“Even better! We’re ordered to attend a DNA extraction session…they’re going to create a new Pokémon…from our genetics!”
There was an elated silence. Each member of the trio had drifted into personalised fantasies of an ultimate creature.
“Just think…” Jessie cooed distantly. “A Pokémon that will be beautiful and refined…like me”
“Hmm, a Pokémon with panache…like me” James added.
“Yeh, a Pokémon wit a great voice, like me!” Meowth agreed,
Denise watched as the three Team Rocket Members basked in their own vanity for a second, before giving them a mental nudge back into reality.
“So when exactly is this extraction session taking place?” she asked. Jessie quickly snapped out of her daydream to continue scanning the paper.
“Augh!” she cried out, grasping her head in a dramatic fashion. “We should have been there five minutes ago!”
James yelped and leapt to his feet.
“There’s no time to lose, we can’t blow this chance! Where are my boots? Where are my gloves?”
“Where’s ya dignity?” Meowth muttered, watching as his companion dashed frantically about the room. Jessie groaned loudly before bringing out her trusty paper fan and slamming it upon James’ head.
“Your boots are under the bed where you usually keep them and your gloves are dangling over the radiator!” she snapped, once the man had stopped reeling from the blow. “Now pull yourself together and follow me! We’re late enough as it is!”