Prepare for Trouble! [RPThread]

[Schade]

Prepare for Trouble!
[An AU Pokemon RP]
Rated R (heh) in case we wanna go there.​

- Sign-Up Thread

Rules:
1: No god-modding / no Mary Sues (no perfect/ invincible characters. You cannot dodge every move or win every battle!)

2: No bunnying other peoples characters! Ask permission of the player before doing anything that involves their characters. I might make an exception to this rule if anyone is lagging behind due to a busy irl schedule etc.

3: We play one character each, with one or two starting pokemon. First stage pokemon only; you will have the chance to develop your team further down the line if you want to.

4: While i know well and understand well that we all have lives outside of our computers, I hope everyone will make the effort to stay active. by that, i mean keeping up with the rest of the players. If you tail behind, i’ll message you and ask permission to bunny your character to keep up.

5: This is a private RP, which means that, unless you are reserved do not post here.

RP'er List:

1: Schade - Daniel Wight
2: VampirateMace - Sophie Jillian Sutton
3: GoldenHouou -Jack McGregor
4: Tangeh - Brynn Sartell
5: InnerFlame - Cornelius Jermaine Kingston
6: Skillfullness - Monique Favre
8: Monster Guy - Florian Pine

~~~​

Team Rocket HQ
Saffron City, Johto

"Heidi, is that really necessary.“ Kyle said as he crossed his arms. The unnecessarily attractive Heidi was sitting at a chair by the desk in the conferrence room, except she was cross-legged, with her skirt pulled juuust a bit too far up. The other grunts and admins at the conference were all practically drooling, but nobody dared to address her on it. Well, nobody but Kyle, that was. The mission in question was way underway already, and even though Kyle was of high ranking within the team, even he hadn’t been informed of the details surrounding what was actually going on. It was infuriating to him that Heidi, of all people, had been selected to carry the next stage of the mission out, while he was stuck on babysitting. Make no mistakes though, he enjoyed being the older brother to the new generation, but a mission of this scale hadn’t seen the light of day since forever. Since the boss himself had been defeated by a mere 10 or so year old and his stupidly overpowered pokemon. Nevertheless, considering she was in the forefront of the mission, why had she called for him to meet with the rest of the admins?

"Fine. The boss has entrusted me with this information, and it does not leave this conference room.“ Heidi finished her sentence with a suggestive wink, though it suggested something far worse than casual flirting. "The Elite Squadron has found new evidence that supports the existence of the specific items our boss are searching for.“ she continued, changing her tone to the professional businesswoman she was. "Which means.“ she continued. "We’re all on high alert. The squad has disposed of several pokemon trainers standing in our way already, but the operation is still very delicate. You’ll see details regarding the mission in your briefing.“ she finished. The other members present all opened their files and began reading the files within; it was almost creepy how in unison they all were right there.

"Right..“ Kyle said, shifting his position where he was standing by the wall behind Heidi. "But why did you ask for me specifically?“. Heidi turned around in the office chair, elegantly positioning herself... No this was more of her teasing. Kyle sighed. "You see, my dear Kyle. While the admins and i are in full work on this project, the headquarters will be very understaffed. As such, the boss has entrusted me to entrust you...“ Kyle interrupted her with a sigh, knowing where this conversation was heading, but Heidi went on without acknowledging his obvious displeasure. "with overseeing the newest batch of recruits.“. The recruits.. Right. Kyle knew them well enough by now to know that while they had individual potential, they were more or less a ragtag group of misfits. Well, this was what he had signed up for, after all. Why Heidi, of all people. He was better organized than she was, and he got the same, if not better results than her with less complaints about sexual harassment. "You see, you have a better grasp on the recruits. You care about them.“ Heidi said as if she was reading his thoughts. "You have a better grasp on the recruits than anyone else. The boss need us all to be in our field of expertise right now.“ She could sense Kyle’s disappointment. "I’m certain you’ll be filled in on the mission as soon as the recruits can start carry heavier weights around here.“ She seemed almost caring. Almost. Defeated, Kyle only nodded to her before making his leave.

~~~

Team Rocket HQ
Cafeteria
Saffron City

"Beanstew surprise.. So what exactly is that?“ Daniel asked the lunch lady at the HQ Cafeteria. He was holding his tray with what looked like... Well, it looked like something at least. While the smell wasn’t the worst in the world, it still raised the question wether or not this was actually edible.
"Now that’s the surprise then, innit?“ the cafeteria lady replied. She was a larger woman with a surprising amount of spunk, that’s the only way Daniel could describe her. She carried herself as a woman that had been through countless wars, and that was in no mood to deal with anyones bullshit, which made the Clefable by her side stand out even more due to the contrast in personalities.

"... Right.“ Daniel said before leaving for his table. The cafeteria was filled with grunts enjoying their lunch or time off, and it gave Daniel flashbacks to high school, except everyone was dressed in black. It was... Goth high school. He chuckled to himself at the lame idea before digging in. Despite its questionable appearance, the stew was decent. He had never been one to be picky about his food anyway. He sat in silence and enjoyed his meal while thinking what he would do for the rest of the day. He had just recently finished a mission, and his intestines were finally feeling like they were sitting in the right place. He shrugged at the memory of the Psychic Terrain he had to endure on the mission. Regardless, he knew he had the rest of the day and the following day off, and knew he would have to catch up a bit on his studies. While the recruits were out of boot camp, they still had to participate in a scholary-esque program provided by Professor Hans in order to learn about breaking an entry, burglary, pokemon anatomy etc. Y’know, the basic Crime 101 kind of setup.
Almost as if the intercoms were reading his mind again, they chimed in, and Kyle’s voice could be heard loud and clear. "Llladies and gentlemen we are now heading into slightly turbulent airspace and you are all reccomended to fasten your seatbelts. We appologize for the inconvinience and wish you a pleasant flight... Heh, wasn’t that funny? No, but listen up. There will be a briefing tomorrow at noon, and i expect you all to be present. This has top priority, which means set all your current objectives on hold for now. Thank you and have a nice flight“. a low chuckle was heard from the intercom before it went silent.

Huh.. A briefing with increased priority? Lucky for Daniel he had wrapped his missions up, otherwise it would be problematic for him.. He could hear murmurs from other grunts. "**** that means i have to leave my target where he is.“ one person said before continuing. "How long can a human breathe underwater?“. Another grunt just dismissed it, telling it would likely be fine.

"I wonder what the briefing will be about.“ a familiar british voice said as Hop came towards Daniels table, carrying a tray of the same mysterious goo he himself was eating. Hop was an odd pick for a team rocket grunt, as he was the younger brother of a League Champion somewhere. Kindest guy Daniel had ever met too, which just made it weirder that he wounded up in Team Rocket. Regardless, he was a sight for sore eyes sometimes, as his easygoing personality made him easy to befriend. "Well, i guess we have to wait for tomorrow to figure it out“ Daniel said, and took a big gulp of his Swirlix Shake.

 

[Monster Guy]

Florian Pine
Team Rocket HQ, Cafeteria
Saffron City

The lunch lady piled on some unrecognizable slop onto his tray. She called it Beanstew Surprise, but as far as he was concerned, it was still slop. Pine went off to find somewhere to sit. As per usual, the cafeteria was filled with grunts. Every table had people sitting at them. Not one of them empty. That meant he actually had to sit with others, and possibly socialize! He shuddered at the thought. Interacting with other people was not his strong suit. He had people he spoke to here, but he wouldn't call any of them friends. This was like high school all over again, and they were definitely not the best years of Pine's life.

As he was walking, holding his tray, and trying to find a table that had some space available, another grunt bumped into him from the side. "Watch where your going Plantman!" He laughed mockingly, and walked away.

You bumped into me first nitwit! Pine thought to himself. And is it that difficult to call me Florian? Or at least Pine? The Plantman nickname was terrible, but it wasn't the name that bothered him more than the fact that it was used to mock him. Just because he had an affinity for Grass types? People were idiots. This was why he preferred his Pokemon. He didn't dare say any of this out loud. He rolled his eyes, and just quietly moved along.

There was an announcement for an important breifing that was going to take place the next day, and everyone was required to attend. Not a big deal. The announcement was made by Kyle, who tried and failed to make a joke about it. For the second time today, Pine rolled his eyes. Kyle's sense of humor was absolutely lost on Pine.

He finally found a table that only had two other grunts sitting at it. He recognized one of them right away. His brother was the League Champion in Galar. All the other grunts fawned over his brother. They struck that ridiculous pose every time they saw him on TV. If he had to hear another word, about Leon and his supposedly unbeatable Charizard, somebody was going to get Vine Whipped.

Pine sent out his precious Bulbasaur, Leafy, onto his lap, and offered him a spoon with the brown goo to see if he was interested in this slop. The Bulbasaur sniffed it, and made a disgusted face. Pine was not surprised by his Pokemon's reaction. It wasn't even suitable for Pokemon. Still, he had to eat something. So, Pine put the spoon in his own mouth, and forced the goop down. Then patted his Bulbasaur's head.

 

[GoldenHouou]

Jack McGregor
Cafeteria, Team Rocket HQ
Saffron City, Kanto

The cafeteria food was nothing to write home about to be sure, but it was free - and honestly, that was good enough for Jack. He was barely out of boot camp, and it showed in his paycheck. Until he could get a few more missions under his belt and earn a raise, he welcomed each and every opportunity to save money.

Today, he'd went with the soup option. His years working in the restaurant business had taught him never to trust any food with the word "surprise" in it - particularly if it was served by the cafeteria of an evil organization bent on world domination. Besides, it was pumpkin soup. Who didn’t like pumpkin soup?

With said soup in tow, Jack made for the bread table. Honestly, if things came down to it, he could live off of bread alone - especially here. Saffron had a few amazing bakeries to its name, some of which he’d worked for years back. He couldn’t claim to have missed much during his stay in Goldenrod, but Madam Meadow’s Oran buns were definitely on the top of that list.

Jack filled his tray with bread and a bunch of ham slices for Blazer, then went to find a seat. The crew he usually hung with were absent today, but if truth be told, Jack found it refreshing. As much as he liked them, they were a bit much sometimes, and he could definitely appreciate some peace and quiet. Especially since, according to an announcement from a moment ago, there was an important briefing tomorrow. He’d probably be busy on a mission again from tomorrow onward.

A large group finished their food, leaving one table almost completely empty. There was a lone boy sitting at the end of the table, but he seemed quiet and disinterested in bothering anyone, so Jack went ahead and claimed the opposite end. Blazer hopped next to him almost instantly, wagging his tiny tail in anticipation. Jack gave the pup one of his rare smiles, scratched him behind the ear, and dropped a slice of ham into the canine’s maw.

Before he could start on his first spoonful of soup however, a rowdy trio sat down and surrounded the smaller recruit from earlier. A moment later, they were picking on him. Loudly. At first, Jack tried to ignore it, hoping it would resolve on its own. Unfortunate as it was, where youth gathered in great numbers, bullying was sure to occur sooner or later. Particularly among kids troubled enough to sign up for Team Rocket. It wouldn't be possible to stop every instance.

But... then the situation got louder and louder, until Jack could no longer hear the comforting cling of his spoon against the bowl. A quick glance told him the boy was on the verge of tears. Jack'd had enough.

Jack stood to his full height and made his way over to the rowdy lot, stopping right next to the main perpetrator. The boy noticed him and turned, cocking his head mockingly - but faltering a little as he realized how high up he had to look. It didn’t affect his tone any, though.

“What? You want somethin’, pal?” he spat.

“Yes,” Jack replied calmly, arms crossed. “I want you Mankeys to move your asses someplace else - before I move them for you.”

From somewhere unseen, Satan swept down onto Jack’s shoulder. It fixed its dark, beady eyes onto the three youths, wings spread and beak open as it craned its neck forwards. "Caw! Urinating makes you female!"

Clearly unprepared for such a peculiar insult coming from such a peculiar creature, the grunts found themselves at a loss for words. Their leader opened his mouth as if ready to retaliate, but did not find any words - so, instead, he groaned.

“Whatever, we were leaving anyway,” he finally managed to say, standing up abruptly. With a wave of his hand to beckon his goons to follow, he stomped to another table on the other end of the cafeteria, throwing wary glances behind him at the Murkrow.

Satan stared after them, unblinking.

“U-uh, um, thank you for saving me, sir!” came the timid voice of the boy Jack had ‘rescued’. The guy gathered his wits, then managed a weak smile and an introduction. “I’m Thomas! Nice to meet y--”

Before he could finish, Jack had already turned around and walked back to his seat. He wasn’t in the mood for small talk or merrymaking, and his soup was getting cold besides.

“Thanks for that, Satan,” Jack offered a moment later, breaking off a piece of bread to offer to the bird. “Maybe you aren’t so bad after all.”

“Caw!” it replied, empty gaze fixing onto Jack. He could have sworn that for a moment, the cafeteria’s lights flickered, and the air grew chilly. “Playfulness is demonic possession!”

Scared to death, Jack went back to his soup without another word.

 

[Skillfulness]

Monique Favre
Team Rocket HQ, Saffron City, Kanto

Monique had to jog to the cafeteria. Her last lesson had gone a little over the allotted time so she might not be getting the freshest of lunches today. Still, it was worth staying behind to finish jotting down her notes. The teacher had some great tips on how to pick more complicated locks.

At the cafeteria, it seemed the special of the day was a Beanstew Surprise. Ew. She scrunched up her face and turned away from it, settling on a salad instead. While in line, there was an announcement over the speakers. In short, there would be a meeting tomorrow. Since she wasn’t currently on any mission, she greatly welcomed the change of pace. Her mood instantly went up as she cheerily grabbed a day old salad from the counter.

Back out in the seating area, Monique saw a semi-familiar face across the sea of tables. The man had a Murkrow and she sort of recognized him from training maybe. He did look slightly older though so she might be mistaken. Wouldn't be the first time. What really pinged her memory was the Murkrow, a creepy partner to have. She felt so uneasy whenever it was around during training. Regardless, there wasn’t a lot of other seating options left anyway so she hurried over towards him and his Pokemon.

“Hey there fellow Rocket, didja hear the announcement? What do ya suppose it’s about?” She grinned and started taking petite bites of her salad. For a second, she glanced around conspiratorially, then said, “I think they’re sending out a crew to Sinnoh. I’ve heard there’s Legendary activity out there. Then again, my source might not be terribly reputable.” Monique had heard it from a makeup blog that did Legendary themed posts. Their most recent post was based on Palkia, but whether or not the writer actually saw the dragon legend from her window was up to debate.

 

[VampirateMace]

Sophie
Puff (Woobat, F) 1DER (Porygon, X)

Cafeteria, Team Rocket HQ, Saffron City

Sophie lagged behind, near the back of the lunch line. At home there may have been a bit of a fight to get the good stuff, which she often lost, but at school and here at the academy, there had always been plenty to go around. And if she didn't have to jockey for position, she was happy enough not to. Instead she could just enjoy her music and examine her surroundings. In particular that gave her time to actually look at the menu before she got to the food. Today's menu 'featured'; beanstew surprise, chef salad, and pumpkin soup. She wasn't even sure beanstew was a real word, and the term surprise tacked on there was. . . slightly concerning. Chef salad on the other hand usually meant all the week's leftover vegetable and cold cut scraps thrown together in hopes they got eaten before they went bad. And the pumpkin soup was probably from a box or can.

Sophie lifted one cup of her headphones, listening to the announcement. A mandatory briefing at noon, that was kind of interesting. And kind of scary, what could they possibly want from rookies? Someone shoved her from behind. Looking up, she realized the line had moved and stumbled forward not bothering to apologize to or yell at the person that that pushed her. She didn’t want a confrontation but she also got the feeling this place ate apologetic people alive. Indifference was her best option right now. Picking up a tray she shook her head at the lunch lady slinging ladles full of beanstew surprise and moved quickly along to the one serving the questionable soup.

After that she snagged a bread roll and a couple poffin before moving off to look for a table. A lot of people had already scarfed down their food and left, so there were plenty of half-empty tables. She picked one at random and sat at the far end so that the other occupants would not be obligated to talk to her. Not talking would be the optimal outcome in. She slid her tray onto the table and sat down, then pulled Puff and 1DER's pokeballs off her belt. A cute “Woo-woo'” and a mechanical “Girraaah” accompanied the appearance of her pokemon in dual flashes of red light. She picked up the poffins in one hand and held them up, it was always easier to talk to her pokemon than people, “You guys ready for lunch?”

The pokemon made similar noises in confirmation that they wanted the pink tinted pastries. She tossed the poffins out, first one towards the woobat, and the second to the porygon. 1DER caught it's treat no problem, while Puff's fell to the floor, despite her swooping in an attempt to catch it. She fluttered down and sniffed until she found it. Sophie smiled lightly, then turned her attention to her soup, giving it a cautious taste. She may not always have gotten the best portions at home, but at least she was sure everything was eatable.

 

[InnerFlame]

Cornelius Jermaine 'CJ' Kingston
Saffron City- Team Rocket Base's Cafeteria

It was just another day as Team Rocket Grunt for Cornelius. Lunchtime to give the exact time. It looks like the lunch lady was trying to give them some weird slop again. Some surprise stew or something another, it didn't have anything to do with him. He had gone out and got some real food: a deluxe cheeseburger, and a medium fries. All of the tables were filled with at least a few other grunts. CJ didn't want anything to do with anyone at this moment, so he merely stood in the corner of the cafeteria as he munched on his food.

Cornelius' Abra, Excellent was slumped over his shoulder dead asleep while Gorgeous, his Ekans, ate her pokefood. Due to her unusual golden coloration, she would occasionally get a glance from other grunts in the cafeteria in which she would respond by glaring back at them. If someone approached too close the snake would aggressively bare her fangs. This caused people to stay away from the loner and his pokemon despite their interest in seeing an actual shiny pokemon.
Observing his lowly grunt companions from a distance, CJ noted that none were even close to reaching his greatness. He noticed some giant with a Murkrow before the intercom screech out above him. It was that Kyle guy trying to funny and clever but failing at both. Eventually, he gets to the points and mentions an important briefing tomorrow at noon. It was so important that people had to suspense any current missions that they were on. Being still counted as a newbie, he wasn't currently assigned a job. Cornelius quite pleased, finally something interesting after such a long time.

"Finally some action I was starting to get bored," the man silently stated before taking a bite of his burger. His blue eyes once again glance out at his unworthy teammates as he wondered which ones he might be stuck with this time.

 

[Tangeh]

Brynn Sartell
Team Rocket HQ - Cafeteria - Saffron City

As far as Brynn was concerned, today was going pretty well so far. An announcement had come over the PA system that they were going to have a mission soon, and Brynn was determined to fuel herself as best she could. So long as the "surprise" part of the bean surprise wasn't going to be a few hours on the toilet (admittedly, it looked like that might be a real risk), she wasn't about to turn her nose up at nutrition like some of her coworkers were. She'd never had the luxury of being snobby about her food growing up, plus she was still just a little bit competitive when it came to mealtime.

"I-I-I was here first - "

"Shut it, scrawny," Brynn bit back, smirking in sick satisfaction as the boy cowered at her tone and let her cut in front of him. She wasn't particularly hungry for food, but her appetite to assert her dominance around the Rocket cafeteria was rarely sated. There were so many good targets, too - who knew Team Rocket had so many weaklings in it? A rattata named Frittata hung off Brynn's left shoulder, mirroring her trainer's proud smirk.

"Hey!" a gruff voice exclaimed. Brynn glanced over her shoulder, quickly noting a much bigger and much more intimidating man directly behind the kid she'd cut in front of. "You cut in front of him, that means you cut in front of me!"

"You gotta problem with that?!"

The guy scoffed at her, eying Frittata. "Yeah. Howsabout you an' me battle it out tonight, huh newbie? You think you're so tough with that puny rattata?"

Frittata growled and Brynn rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure, whatever Harley. Meet you out back at sunset." The cafeteria lady ladled a generous portion of beanstew surprise onto her plate, and Brynn stuck her tongue out at Harley as she departed. The way his face screwed up in obvious displeasure made Brynn grin, and she confidently headed to the tables. Okay, seriously though, she needed to lie low now. There looked to be a fight starting to break out at one table - some tall guy with a ... jerkcrow? That was screeching weird incomprehensible phrases. Nope, not that way.

Frittata leapt swiftly off Brynn's shoulder and darted under one of the tables. Brynn dropped her tray across from a small girl with long blue and green hair, and glanced under the table for her pokemon. Frittata was hissing at a woobat - seemed like the two of them had found a poffin on the ground, and Frittata wanted it. Eh, she'd let the two pokemon sort it out. Couldn't let Frittata get soft with her trainer intervening all the time, after all. She'd feed her zubat, Screech, later - sometimes it was fun to terrorize the others with her horrifically loud voice, but not today. Brynn dug eagerly into the beanstew surprise, trying to eat it quickly so that her tastebuds wouldn't fully register it.

 

[GoldenHouou]

Jack McGregor
Cafeteria, Team Rocket HQ
Saffron City, Kanto

Jack was halfway done with his soup when Blazer perked up next to him, staring intently at something. Without a word, Jack followed the canine’s gaze. It wasn’t difficult to spot exactly what had caught the Houndour’s attention; a short redhead was hurrying towards his table, eventually finding a seat opposite of him. Jack petted his companion’s head to calm him down, then acknowledged the girl’s presence with a nod. She looked vaguely familiar, and once she spoke, he recognized her energy. He’d seen her in some of the training sessions before. The loud girl that stood uncomfortably close to people. Her name escaped him, though.

She seemed far more enthused by the earlier announcement than he did, eagerly sharing a theory about Sinnoh and supposed legendary activity. It was endearing enough, like a puppy or something. You really could tell she was new to worklife. In a few years that enthusiasm would be gone and she’d tire of the daily grind. Happened to everyone.

Jack took a few spoonfuls in silence before fixing his eyes on her. “...What source is that?”

If he sounded suspicious of this mysterious source’s credibility, it’s because he was. Very.

“Doubt they’d let rookies anywhere near legendary business. Then again, with guys like Kyle up top, who knows.” He knew there was more to the guy than the cheery persona he showed, but anyone that old with that much energy gave him the creeps regardless. He shook his head, going for another spoonful. “I’m just hoping this isn’t about layoffs.”

Satan, having observed the conversation from atop Jack’s shoulder with concerning intensity, spread its wings open. “Caw!” it cawed, looking straight at the ginger girl, “Your mind is the crosspoint between the paradoxicality of the inevitable and the scientific impossibility of physical space!”

And then there was silence.

“... I’d tell you to ignore him,” Jack sighed a moment later, finally brave enough to break the silence without fearing retribution from the Murkrow, “But I know it’s easier said than done.”

He wanted to go ahead and reassure her that the bird was harmless, but he wasn’t a fan of lying.

 

[Schade]

Team Rocket HQ
Cafeteria
Saffron City

It was always a bit difficult enjoying a moment of peace and quiet when you were seated next to Hop. Between his neverending energy and his weird fixation on super effective moves, he could be a bit too much if Daniel was completely honest. Lucky for Daniel, he didn't have to endure this alone for too long, as someone had decided to sit down by them. Daniel didn't know the guy that well, but he knew enough about him to know the other grunts were harsh on him due to his meeker personality. Seriously, what kind of people were these grunts, so meek and unfitting and non-evil and.. Hop. The guy was taller than Daniel, but lankier, with bright blonde hair and glasses. He had actually never spoken before in Daniels presence, he just kind of.. gravitated towards him sometimes, Daniel didn't mind it though, as he enjoyed the silent company. Hop talked enough for the both of them anyway. The other grunt released his Bulbasaur on his lap, and proceeded to spoon-feed it with lunch fromt he tray. The bulbasaur didn't seem to be very into whatever the stew was about.. Wouldn't a Bulbasaur eating onions be considered cannibalism to some degree? No? Daniel had noticed another Grunts Pumpkaboo looking on in horror as a very generic-looking grunt and his Murkrow had chowed down on some pumpkin soup mere moments before, so there had to be some truth to it, right?

The thick awkward silence fell over the duo as they sat in silence and ate their meals, and Daniel felt like he should say somethin. "Uhm.." he started, quickly going over a plethora of topics in his head trying to figure out what to say, before ultimately deciding on saying nothing. He went back into eating in silence while Hop was talking about being the best pokemon trainer there wver was or sometihng. That guy really was in the wrong profession.

After Kyle's big theatrical announcement, the amount of chatter in the cafeteria had increased. Grunts were curious as to what the big announcement would be about, if it would be some big mission, change to the meal plan or just Kyle messing with them which would actually be a very plausible thing for him to do. The higher ups rarely interrupted the grunts daily schedules after all, as missions typically came through E-mail. regardless of that, he would still have the rest of the day to finish up whatever he was doing before the announcement. Lucky for him he didn't have any active missions, and had planned on wasting a few hours on Grand Theft Auto: Kalos Chronicles at his room, letting Unown practice his wall-sticking skills.

Pulling him out of his thoughts of a calm and relaxing evening were the sounds of shenanigans, as a tall, unnecessarily muscular Grunt he had heard was called Harley, was picking on a much smaller grunt and her Rattata. Knowing the guy only by reputation, he was known to break peoples bones, smash their car windows and generally just making sure they wouldn't get their inheritance money. Ok, so the rumors might exaggerate him a bit, but the guy looked like he'd never skipped leg day, or upper body day, or literally any other gym-related day of the week.

Watching as the much smaller girl kept throwing curveballs at the intimidating grunt, Daniel decided it was time for him to clock out. He would not be part of this potential murder spree, nor would he want to be linked to the crime scene. Good luck, Grunt girl. Rest in peace, Grunt Girl. Standing up and picking up his tray and looking at the blonde grunt, still occupied with his Bulbasaur. "Sorry to keep this short, but im tucking in for the day. See you later" he said in a friendly-ish formal tone before seeing he would have to literally go between Harley and the to-be dead girl to get to the tray holder. Sighing, he walked towards the exit and placed his tray on a table occupied by a grunt with frosted tips and an Abra next to him, bowing gently as he pased before yeeting himself out of the door.

When out of the cafeteria, he calmed himself and collected himself, ignoring the growing sounds of cheers and pummeling sounds from behind, and walked down the hallways towards the dorms.


The Next Day
Early Morning

Daniel had spent the evening polishing his virtual drive-by shooting skills with a satisfying few hours of gaming and progression before he took a longer shower, contemplating on the mysteries about what the big announcement was about. Why was he so excited for it anyway? It's not as if he wanted to proove himself for the higher-ups and try and climb the metaphorical social ladder of Team Rocket or anything. That beign said, he had sprung out of bed that morning with a rejuvinated sense of self, and was ready for whatever the day would throw at him. Getting into uniform, he had exited the dorm, not knowing his Unown was sticking to his back again, still fast asleep somehow.

Getting to the mess hall, Daniel saw that he was not the first nor the last one to enter. The massive room in HQ was alreayd filled up with Grunts and their pokemon, awaiting Kyle's big announcement. He could overhear many of the other grunts were excited, scared, confused, saddened by the conclusion of yesterdays episode of Real Housewives of Lumiose City. Shìt! He completely forgot about that!" Even Hop seemed to be surprisingly calm and collected for the assembly. Daniel stood there by himself as the announcement started, and Kyles big face came onto the large screen at the podium in a very unflattering angle, giving dimensions to his chin nobody would ever dream of.

"Hello? Testing. Testing." he said, trying to adjust the camera. "Ugh, let me do it" a pair of underboobs said as they entered the shot, earning a few whistles from the growing audience. The camera angle then tilted to reveal the faces of both Kyle and Heidi. Heidi gave a casual wave to Kyle as she exited the shot. "See?" her voice was heard from off-screen. "Now you're all set to go. I'm leaving to catch the flight now. Don't mess this up". A door slamming could then be heard from both the screen and behind the curtains at the podium, and you could easily see Heidi walking away from backstage. "Right.. Well.. Ahem" Kyle said, adjusting himself to look professional.

"I thank you all for showing up this early." he started before taking a sip from a glass of water. "You have all been called here to be briefed on several new missions that require all of your most urgent attention. While i cannot reveal too much for the time being, we're on to something big you guys." he took a few moments to collect himself, clearly struggling to not reveal too much. "As you entered the room, you were handed an envelope containing your new mission. Remember, grunts, these missions are top priority as of now, and your groups will be monitored by one of our higher-up grunts." As he said this, several people walked out on the stage, standing in a perfectly rehearsed line in front of the gathered audience. "Yes, you heard correctly. You will all be split into groups of 8, and you'll walk over to the grunts corresponding to your letter." Kyle's head did a nodding notion, and as Daniel and several others turned around, they saw several stands having been put up, with signs displaying the names of different cities. "in your envelope, you'll find the name of the city of your mission. Go there, and join your group. Groups are non-negotiable, and you were carefully handpicked to be in groups with people we think would allow you to utilize your own hidden potential with to the fullest." Well darn, that meant Daniel would definitely be paired up with Hop. "Now open your envelopes, and go to the corresponding booth to get briefed. For the glory of Team Rocket!" Kyle finished his speech. the hall was then filled with echoes of grunts repeating "For the glory of Team Rocket." Daniel raised his voice and repeated the lines himself, before looking down at his envelope. It had his name crudely written on it, and as he opened it, he took out a piece of paper and unfolded it. it simply said "Cinnebar Island, Kanto".

The piece of paper had nothing else on it besides the name of the city of his mission. Loojing around, he saw people finding others with matching locations, teaming up at the booths. He walked over to the booth with the sign saying "Cinnebar Island" on it and waited. He was the first one there besides the grunt who would aid them.

"Well hello there, you got the Cinnebar Island mission, eh? Lucky you, i hear it's such a lovely place to visit this time of year!" The woman said. She was a short unimpressive woman in her late 20's, wearing the standard Team Rocket uniform, but with a pin that said "committee member" on it. She was wearing square-framed glasses, and her medium long blonde hair was kept in a neat bob. She looked nice, but she was also the kind of woman you'd wonder how ended up in an evil organization. "My name is Vanessa, and im gonna be your overseer/guide of sorts on this mission. Of course, my own mission is just guiding and moving you guys to your destination, in this case Cinnebar Island, Oh gosh how i envy y'all, it's so lovely yhere now. I have relatives there you know..." Daniel spaced out as the woman kept talking, and talking, and talking.... Unown snored.

 

[VampirateMace]

Sophie
Puff (Woobat, F) 1DER (Porygon, X)

Sophie looked up slightly when the red-headed grunt sat across from her, maintaining silence, but acknowledging her with a little nod. From what she'd seen, this girl (Byron, or something like that) was into it, so this was definitely not someone to look weak in front of. From under the table she could hear her Woobat, and the girl's Rattata going at it. Resisting the urge to look over the edge of the table at the pokemon, and scold the Rattata, she instead commented flatly, “How bad do you want it, Puff?”

“Woo-woo!” confirmed the pokemon from below, and Sophie continued her act of indifference, tearing off a bit of bread and slowly dipping it in her soup. The orangy-yellow slime dripped off back into the bowl as she held it there a moment while considering the situation. She was not good at confrontation, but the other girl did not seem particularly hostile, outside letting her rattata take whatever it wanted. Whatever, she could feed Puff later. But that still didn't give her anything worth saying. . . And the cafeteria seemed to be getting louder?

Sophie slipped a hand into her pocket and turned up her music to drown out the grunts that had started for fight. Probably best to finish eating and get out while she could. She lifted the bowl and drank the soup, before wrapping the half a roll in a napkin and stuffing it in her other pocket. She then pulled out her pokeballs and recalled both pokemon (just to make things easier for the moment), and then carried the tray to the return counter, before making a swift but indifferent exit.

Next Day - Noonish

Sophie felt unease as she walked towards the mess hall/auditorium, carrying Puff in her arms. She didn't know what was going to be announced and sure hoped she wasn't going to be thrown into anything too morally objectionable this time. She'd long ago learned there was no room for morals in this place. But still, cheating at slots was one thing, and beating up young trainers to take their pokemon was quite another.

The room was crowded and set-up differently than it usually was, with a screen displaying one of the higher ups. Sophie slipped into a seat near the back of the room, still holding Puff. On the cue, she shuffled to open the envelope, dreading what she would find. Puff slipped out of her arms, fluttering into a nearby growlith that snarled at her. Puff flapped furiously back to Sophie's shoulder and hunkered down. Sophie didn't really notice any of this as she pulled a paper out of the envelope. She stared at it a moment, only 'Cinnebar Island, Kanto' was written on it, and she was pretty sure there was more to these missions than travel time. Slowly, with a deep breath, she got up and walked over to the designated station, where the gal that seemed to be in charge was already talking one of her teammate's ears off. Sophie was torn between turning up her music to drown her out and trying to listen to the rambling for any hint of what was about to happen to them.

 

[Skillfulness]

Monique Favre
Team Rocket HQ, Saffron City, Kanto

“...What source is that?” Monique had taken a few bites of food before her fellow grunt responded. Her eyebrows quirked upwards and she turned her gaze towards him.

“Doubt they’d let rookies anywhere near legendary business. Then again, with guys like Kyle up top, who knows. I’m just hoping this isn’t about layoffs.”

“Heh yeah,” Monique started, but she was interrupted by the Murkrow cawing out at her. He said something so bizarre, Monique could barely register it. She knew it was speaking, a variety of bird Pokemon were known to mimic human speech, but it felt like this little dark type had a mind of its own. Part of her wanted to ask what it had said again, it was weird enough that she already couldn’t remember the phrase, but another part of her was afraid to be near it for too long.

“... I’d tell you to ignore him,” the owner said after a moment of silence, “But I know it’s easier said than done.”

“Ah, right.” She tore her gaze away from the Murkrow and studied him again. Typical gloomy looking grunt, just brimming with positivity and kindness, as all grunts were known for. Well she wasn’t going to let his mood bring her down.

“Anyway, I know my source is probably bullshit, but I’m sure us rookies make great cannon fodder against a beast of legends before the higher ups to take over. Once it tramples over us it’ll be too tired to put up a fight against stronger Team Rocket members, like Kyle.” She nodded, and winked. If he didn’t pick up on her sarcasm, then it was no loss to her. I mean, what are the odds they’d wind up seeing each other in the field anyway? If she embarrassed herself once or twice, no biggie. Sounds of a scuffle though cut her train of thought short. Two grunts were duking it out in the middle of the cafeteria--one smaller, redhead against a giant of a man. It seemed somewhat even for the moment, so Monique joined in with some hoots and hollers, goading them on along with half the room.

Eventually the fight was broken up and Monique had finished her meal. She bid farewell to the spooky grunt she had shared a table with and returned to her room. There were a few things she wanted to wrap up before going to the meeting tomorrow, maybe start setting things aside to pack that she might need. Who knows what exciting adventure could come from the announcement?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning arrived and Monique was sure to be up early and ready, prompt and prepared. The mess hall was already packed with grunts when she got there, ten minutes to spare. When she was handed an envelope at the door, she almost opened it immediately. The attendant stopped her though, and said it was part of the announcement so she had to wait. She avoided mingling, instead fiddling with her phone to stave off her anticipation. Finally, Kyle stepped up to the podium, Hedi helped get the video working, and the meeting began. Though brief, Kyle’s enthusiasm was infectious and Monique was bouncing her leg impatiently through the whole thing. Finally, she ripped open her envelope at his cue and read it quickly. Cinnabar Island, Kanto. Once they were released, she pushed her way to the booth. There were two others already there, not including the woman behind the counter, and one of them had a Woobat perched on her shoulder. Actually, it was hard to tell where the hair ended and the Pokemon began because the girl had hair almost the same color as her Pokemon. That’s so awesome, Monique thought, her makeup and fashion sense tingling. If only she had the patience to work on her own hair.

“Hey gang!” She said, strutting over with a spring in her step. “I’m Monique, nice to meet you all! Looking forward to getting down to some nefarious schemes with such fine people.” She flashed a wide grin and waved. Hopefully she wasn’t being too enthusiastic, but she couldn’t help how excited she was. I mean, I’ve never been to Cinnabar Island before. An entire island, just, wow.

 

[Tangeh]

Brynn Sartell
Team Rocket HQ - Cafeteria - Saffron City

The girl Brynn sat across from didn't seem to care that Frittata was fighting her pokemon as if her life depended on it for that poffin. Well, probably not actually, but that's what the unrelenting squeaking sounded like. To be fair, it was probably better than the beanstew surprise Brynn was wolfing down. Maybe she could bargain with the girl for more of the poffin things - or just threaten her, she seemed pretty meek.

She didn't have a chance to do either, as somebody roughly elbowed her as they walked past and Brynn's fiery gaze turned toward the culprit - oh crud, it was Harley again. Brynn curled her lips into a smirk as he kept walking past. “What's the matter big guy? Food cold from waiting an extra five seconds? Awww.”

Harley whirled around and slammed his tray onto the table across from her. He looked even larger from a sitting position, and Brynn was beginning to regret her life decisions. He cracked his knuckles. Alarm bells went off in Brynn's head, but she kept up her shit-eating grin. Harley grunted at her. “Y'know... tonight's way too long to wait to put you in your place.”

Brynn reacted before she'd fully thought through the scenario – she flipped her tray of half-eaten beanstew surprise into Harley's face and leapt across the table at him. Maybe if he wasn't literally twice her size she may have actually been able to shove him over – as it was, he just stumbled and then yelled like a maniac, swinging blindly toward Brynn, who dodged a safe distance away. The grunts around them got to their feet, jeering loudly at the entertainment. Harley, who had turned a frightening shade of red, wiped overcooked beans out of his eyes and grabbed the offending food tray – Brynn shouted in pain and surprise as the tray collided with her face. She grabbed at her left eye with one hand and glared at her opponent with her right.

Frittata leapt teeth-first onto Harley's arm – she was just barely able to sink her incisors into his generous flesh. He yelled out and shook his arm desperately, which allowed Brynn a few moments to collect herself. She wisely used this time to not run away, but aim a right hook into Harley's jaw, and then follow up with an uppercut – which he caught in one hand and used the other to pin her easily against the wall by her neck. Frittata lay dazed a short distance away. “Ya really don't know when to quit, do ya?” He asked, spit flying into Brynn's face. “Ha... won't have that problem anymore.”

A light weight settled onto Brynn's left shoulder. She was too busy preparing to die to pay attention, when suddenly it blurted out - “Caw! Consider this: getting stabbed can – to some people – be painful.” The crowd had gone eerily silent. Brynn shifted her vision as far as she could and could make out – was that a knife?!

Harley shoved Brynn against the wall and then let her drop, backing away a couple steps. Brynn gasped and looked immediately at her shoulder. It was a jerkcrow! That same one she saw earlier – and it had a butter knife in its talons that was dripping something red onto her shoulder. It smelled oddly fruity. “...What the hell?!” Harley and Brynn exclaimed simultaneously.

 

[GoldenHouou]

Jack McGregor
Cafeteria, Team Rocket HQ
Saffron City, Kanto

The girl seemed to take Satan's bizarre declaration well - or at least, as well as one could. Usually, it was best to just not dwell on the bird's words for too long. He was fairly sure people had lost their minds for less.

“Anyway, I know my source is probably bullshit, but I’m sure us rookies make great cannon fodder against a beast of legends before the higher ups take over. Once it tramples over us it’ll be too tired to put up a fight against stronger Team Rocket members, like Kyle.” She said with a wink.

Jack stared at her for a while, then gave a light chuckle. She had a dark sense of humour - he could appreciate that. If only he had the energy left to make jokes. Oh, to be young and enthusiastic like her...

He took his time spreading strawberry jam on a few of his bread slices, then shook his head.

"Now that's a plan I'm sure they'd get behind. Can't same I'm as enthused about it," his upcurved lips were hinting that he was joining in on the joke, but his voice was quite bad at conveying it. A reoccurring problem, that.

Jack took another spoonful of soup, threw a piece of ham down at Blazer, then turned back to the girl - only to find her attention diverted. There was some sort of commotion going on a little distance away. A fight from the looks of it, with a number of grunts gathering around to cheer the idiots on. The girl he'd just talked to was among them.

Jack shook his head. Fights were common, and he knew better than to try and pound some sense into meatheads looking for a brawl. They'd keep going until one yielded or fell unconscious, and then it would hopefully be silent again.

Satan had other plans.

It grabbed the knife Jack had spread jam on his bread with, then abruptly took wing. It glided across the cafeteria, and Jack felt obligated to stand up and see where the bird was going - especially with a knife in tow. The damn thing was terrifying enough without a bladed weapon.

As it turned out, Satan was keen on inserting itself into the fight. Following along, Jack soon noticed the disparity between the two rowdies. One was a huge mass of fat and muscle, the other a small girl pinned to the wall by her throat.

Well then.

Satan perched onto the girl's shoulder and cawed out what sounded like a subtle threat. Quite understandably, the man immediately backed away - and the surrounding crowd fell silent as a grave. Jack rubbed at his temple. So much for a peaceful lunch.

The Murkrow wasn't done, either.

Brandishing the knife in its talons, Satan looked the man dead in the eye. Then, with a slow, deliberate motion, it lowered the blade to point directly at the man's nether regions.

"Caw! Keep being scared," it urged, its beady eyes bottomless pits in the fluorescent light. Flickering fluorescent lights, Jack noticed. "Remain male."

It wasn't difficult to decipher exactly what kind of a threat the bird was making - if it was making one. Sometimes, Jack wondered if Satan had any idea what the words it said meant - at other times, he was sure it did.

Just in case the man's head was as thick as his biceps, though, Jack saw fit to step into the scene and offer an explicit translation.

"What he's saying," Jack explained matter-of-factly as he stood between the two brawlers, "is that you better run if you don't wanna get stabbed where the sun don't shine."

 

[InnerFlame]

Cornelius Jermaine 'CJ' Kingston
Saffron City- Cafeteria

As CJ stood there he noticed a confrontation between a small redheaded chick and some tall and buff looking grunt. The purple rat ran off to steal some food just before things started to get heated. The man stood where he was but turned to watch from the distance. Eating his burger as people gather around to watch. He smirked slightly, there would be some entertainment with his lunch today. Two reactions happen, the grunts gather around cheer in excitement or left the scene immediately as soon the action started. He was weird third not truly all that excited, but interested enough not to leave. Gorgeous's attention turned to the commotion for a second before returning to her meal.

Surprisingly enough, the redhead put up quite the fight against the guy that was probably twice her size in height and mass, throwing her slop into his face, a right hook to the face. Ultimately she caught and pinned to the wall, the furious slop covered guy appeared ready to make her pay. Then an unexpected interruption. A Murkrow with a knife in its talon, up and threaten him. There were shocked looks around especially from the two that were fighting. CJ was quite intrigued, the crow talked pretty well and acting quite interesting using a tool to threaten instead of using an attack. The man with frosted blond tips just stared with observing blue eyes where he was, wanting to know if the guy would push the bird further or up and leave. Cornelius was hoping he would take its bluff to see if carnage would follow.

 

[Tangeh]

Brynn Sartell
Team Rocket HQ - Cafeteria - Saffron City

Brynn stared as the jerkcrow brandished the butter knife like a weapon, though it was aiming weirdly downwards, and croaked out some nonsense about being scared and remaining male. Her throat was burning but she resisted the urge to cough, not wanting to disrupt the crazy pokemon with a knife using her shoulder as a podium. She looked up as a tall man walked between herself and Harley, mostly noticing he was half blurry - damn, her eye was probably already swelling. Definitely a shiner by tomorrow; that kind of sucked for the mission, but whatever.

The guy very clearly restated the jerkcrow's threat, and Harley paled. "Why're you getting involved anyways?" he growled. "Don't you know better than to stick your nose where it don't belong?"

"Wh-what're you scared of... H-Harley?" Brynn's voice was cracking badly, but she fought against it, even daring to shoot him a smirk from the ground. "Like that knife could r-r-rea...ch..." Brynn broke off coughing roughly, her insult to his genitalia and surrounding body mass unfortunately lost to the fluid trapped in her windpipe. Frittata slunk back over and stood just behind the jerkcrow's owner, hissing defensively.

Harley rolled his eyes. "Whatever. She got the message." He shot them a middle finger and exited, leaving the surrounding grunts to whisper gossip to one another and sneak glances at Brynn.

Brynn stood up, gingerly feeling around her eye and wincing. She felt Frittata jump back onto her shoulder. Brynn stared at the ground, embarrassed by having to be saved, but shot the other trainer a quick look and muttered, "thanks, I guess," before making a quick escape back to the cafeteria's kitchen. Technically they weren't really supposed to be back there, but nobody questioned her when she grabbed a pack of frozen peas from the freezer and some snacks for her pokemon.

It wasn't until later, when she was alone and hungry with a bag of frozen peas over half her face, that she realized she probably should have grabbed something for herself to supplement the half-eaten beanstew surprise from earlier. Well, she was used to sleeping hungry - and used to sleeping with frozen peas, for that matter. Frittata curled up on the other side of her head (Screech wasn't allowed out at night anymore, after numerous noise complaints). Tomorrow would be better...

The Next Day
Early Morning

Brynn's alarm went off bright and early. She peeled the no-longer-frozen peas off her face and inspected herself in the mirror. Well... it could be worse. It was black and painful where the tray had hit just under her left eye, and it was a bit swollen, but she could see fine out of it. It was easier to wear a fight badge like this proudly when she won, but she was an idiot for picking a fight with Harley anyways - not that she had much of a choice in the end.

Brynn lumbered into the hall, both pokemon recalled into their balls for now. She half-listened to the video speech then accepted her envelope, which said she was going to Cinnabar Island. Hm, things were looking up. She joined a group with a broody looking redheaded guy, the quiet girl with the poffins from yesterday, and a redheaded girl who was gushing her excitement about the mission. Brynn rolled her eyes, but more annoying was the grown-ass admin who was doing the same thing. "Nobody cares about your nephews Karen, or whatever your name was," Brynn growled at her, not in the best of moods at the moment. "Are you going to tell us what we're going to be doing or not?"

 

[Monster Guy]

Florian Pine
Team Rocket HQ, Cafeteria
Saffron City

Pine was relieved that the other people sitting at the table didn’t talk to him. It was nice being able to eat his slop in peace. The peace was interrupted when a bigger grunt decided to pick on a much smaller grunt for no reason. Pine was familiar with that feeling. He had been picked on by larger people for seemingly no reason. Still, he decided not to involve himself in the shenanigans that were about to unfold. Lest that bully decide to beat him up too. He threw his trash away, and left his empty tray with the others just before things got really ugly.

—-

The next day

Pine walked into the auditorium not knowing what to expect. Pine silently sat through their entire announcement, then opened the envelope he was given. It said, ‘Cinnebar Island, Kanto' Pine walked over to where his group was. One of them was the boy he had sat with at lunch the other day.

At first, Pine was going to stand there in silence. Until one girl joined the group with her obnoxious cheery demeanor. “Hey gang I’m Monique, nice to meet you all! Looking forward to getting down to some nefarious schemes with such fine people.”

Pine rolled his eyes at her statement. Did she seriously just say nefarious schemes? Who is she trying to impress? “Ugh, are you serious right now? Next you’re going to give an inspirational speech about how we should work together and believe in the magic of friendship or some tauros shit like that! Give me a break!”

 

[GoldenHouou]

Jack McGregor
Cafeteria, Team Rocket HQ
Saffron City, Kanto

Predictably, the threatened man didn't linger for long. Like the bullies from earlier, he tried to regain some dignity by talking shit - as did the girl, Jack noted. Neither succeeded, really. One was running away from a bird one tenth his size, the other could hardly breathe.

Jack watched the man flip him off and scurry away, only barely catching a curt thanks from the girl. He shrugged one shoulder.

As the girl ran away, Satan took flight once more. It glided across the cafeteria back to where Jack had been sitting, and helped itself to some of his bread. Blazer was already busily slurping up his soup, too.

Jack sighed. So much for the damn lunch then. If it weren't for these kids constantly causing trouble... well, whatever. He went to return his now-empty train, grabbing a few more handfuls of bread on his way out.

Satan fluttered down onto his head. "Caw! Wishes can be dumb," it said.

"They sure can," Jack agreed.

--​

The Next Day
Mess Hall

The mess hall was packed.

Not a fan of large crowds, Jack stuck close to the entrance where the air was clearer and the noise more tolerable. He had no idea what half the conversations going on around him were about, but he sincerely hoped they could be conducted more quietly. He couldn't even hear his own thoughts.

Blazer was pacing back and forth nervously behind him, and Satan had found itself a perch somewhere far above the masses. Or at least, that's what Jack assumed. The bird did like to watch people. Unnervingly.

Just then, the large screen on the other end of the hall flickered on. The view given was... quite unflattering. Kyle seemed to have trouble getting the camera to work. And then, the view changed to... to, hm, some unexpected assets.

Jack looked away.

Finally, Kyle got to the point. Jack rummaged through his envelope to find the name of his target city -Cinnabar Island. Hm. Well that was surprisingly convenient. He wasn't a fan of traveling.

The crowd begun to disperse, everyone trying to find their respective groups. Jack waited a bit to have a clearer path, then set out to find his.

It turned out to be easy enough a task, mostly thanks to a familiar, loud voice mentioning Cinnabar Island by name. As it turned out, the girl who'd sat across from him seemed to be in the same group - as did the girl Satan had saved. Huh. Small world.

Jack gave the group a collective nod of acknowledgement, then settled to standing nearby. The air seemed tense, and most of the kids looked like they really didn't want to be there.

This'd be a long day.

 

[InnerFlame]

Cornelius Jermaine 'CJ' Kingston
Saffron City- Cafeteria

How boring, the fight ended without a Murkrow stabbing and with the both of them still acting stuff tough. The bigger guy fled from the tiny bird as he flipped one himself and the tiny redhead grabbed something from the kitchen refrigerator before making her exit as well. That bit of entertainment turned out to be quite disappointing but at least it was better than just the usual grunts sitting around and eating. He tossed his garbage away and headed for the exit himself... The tall male decided he would find something interesting to do, before heading back to his room.

Next Morning

Cornelius just shook his head. What idiots... they wrote Cinnebar Island on his envelope when it was clearly Cinnabar Island. Even the stand was incorrectly written, if he cared enough he would have crossed it out and wrote it correctly. A group of lowly grunts gathered around the booth and CJ, like the loner he was, moved near the stand he was assigned to but stood a good distance from the group there. With arms crossed he watch the losers he would be stuck with. He stroked the head of the sleeping Abra on his shoulder as he examined his 'team' for this mission with a critical eye.

A bunch of girls one being the redhead the provided him some mild entertainment yesterday. Her face looked rather awful from the fight. There was the tall guy who had the Murkrow lingering a bit away from the group as well. CJ's blue eyes eventually found a tall blond nerd, that appear to be pick on the smaller brunette girl. These grunt boys sure love to pick on girls an entire head shorter than them. Not that Cornelius really cared about how the inferior people interact with one another. The young adult was just waiting to get a briefing on the mission and see if he needed to spice things up a bit.

 

[Schade]

Daniel Wight
En-route to Cinnabar Island

It hadn't taken the group too long to assemble, but long enough for Daniel to now know Vanessa the Committee member's entire life story. It was almost remarkable how a woman managed to speak as fast and as much as she did without having to stop for breath. While most of the groups members weren't of the overly talkative sort, Daniel noticed he was put with the redheaded girl from the day before in the cafeteria. He silently prayed Harley would be put elsewhere, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw in the group next to them, who were heading for Lavender Town, that Harley and Hop had been placed there. Hop waved at them when he saw them, while Harley did the very subtle horizontal line over his throat as he spotted the redhead.

"Ok, y'all, i reckon we have everyone now are we all ready to head out to Cinnabar Island? We'll leave in about an hour or so so you guys can get your belongings together we're gonna stay there for some time so be sure now to pack the essentials and everything else you might feel like you're gonna need oh gosh that reminds me i have to pack my favorite pillow i can't for the life of me sleep without it..." OH god it didn't stop! Daniel slowly walked backwards towards the door without moving his face, as if not to trigger her to talk to him instead. Most of his teammates did the same thing, though not before some of them gave her a piece of their mind, to which she seemed completely oblivious. "Oh gosh i let my mouth run again din't i. oh well they know where the meetup place is anyways.

Spending the time to change into civillian clothing as instructed, Daniel packed a few necessities besides his uniform. The meetup place was a bus. Nothing fancy, just a white mini-bus, with just enough seats for all of them to sit while she took the seat in front. "Ok y'al, i have some practical information for y'all before we leave.." Oh no she started. The bus driver had apparently been driving her before, as he pulled the plug on Vanessa's microphone without even blinking, as if a practiced maneuver. Sighs of relief could be heard on the bus, and silence finally settled as the bus rode out from the parking garage next to the building.


~~~

The drive in itself was a fairly quiet one. As none of the members particiularily knew each other very well, they took the time they had to revel in the silence. Daniel had been seated next to the redhead from the day before, and made sure to be extra quiet, s to not have her bark at him. Not that she was scary or anything but, he just kinda didn't need the dram right now.. Sure, that sounds like a plausible reason to definitely not be afraid of someone, right? Vanessa kept talking even without the microphone, though her voice was lower now due to the background noise, making it easy to block her out and space out properly. The ride was, indeed, long..

~~~

"Over here, Jason, i think i found something!" the voice of the female pokemon trainer Jason had met up with said as she called him over. They were in the oddly dark mansion on Cinnabar Island, and even though it was a sunny day outside, the grimey windows blocked most of the natural lights, illuminating instead the faded interiors with an ominous ineffectiveness. Jason had been traveling with this girl for a few days now, knowing she had the answers to the puzzle that kept him from his mission goal. He was to steal valuable research data regarding the cloning of Pokemon that would be found in the cellar of the Pokemon Mansion on Cinnabar Island, and while it would be much more efficient to just blow a hole in the floor to descend, it would attract too much attention from the civillians, not to mention potentially ruining the building itself. It was an old mansion, and every step creaked with the dangerous reminder that the building was living on borrowed time. He had been wandering aimlessly for some days in there, but it had been like a labirynth. He had then befriended a local Pokemon Trainer who wanted to catch elusive Ditto's in the mansions basement. He had agreed to join her under the guise that he was also a pokemon trainer looking for Ditto, even though he had his own agendas.

The girl was named Patty, and seemed like a nice enough girl. She was his age, and had a pretty solid collection of Pokemon, though not enough to be worth robbing for them. "There's a secret staircase behind this bookshelf!" She exclaimed as she waved him over to the overturned bookshelf. "Oh, sweet find, Patty! maybe the Dittos are down there?" Jason replied. It was hard faking emotions as to not sound like a robot when he spoke, but he had gotten quite good at it. Patty then proceeded to head down first, with Jason following her. The staircase was tight, and Patty had her flashlight on. jason had let out his Ariados, reassuring Patty that they would need help in case there were strong wild pokemon down there.

Getting down the stairs, Jason immediatly left Patty to look around. The place definitely had a laboratory-esque feel to it, with faded dusty signs and broken down computers. There were some wild pokemon there as well, and he could hear in the distance that Patty was already engaging in battles. "Jason, there are Ditto's here!" she joyously exclaimed, but Jason ignored her. He entered what seemed to be an office, and went to behind a desk, starting to rummage through drawers, behind shelves etc. When he didn't find any, he exited the office and just manage to jump away as the floor underneath him collapsed, revealing a dark hole into.. .dunno, are there more floors here? He hadn't heard anything about several floors of the Cinnabar Pokemon cloning facility, but then again, nobody had been here for years. It took several seconds before he heard the sound of the broken floor hitting the ground further down. It was likely some underground cave systems; This island was said to be the top of a volcano, after all. "What was that?" he heard Patty exclaim from somewhere over the sound of battles. "Nothing, just the floor being a bit shaky." Jason replied.

Several minutes later, he had scanned through some more offices without finding what he was looking for. Had someone else been down here already ?By the amount of dust and wreckage, it wouldn't seem so. Patty had caught up to him at this point too. "I've caught a few Ditto, how are you doing on your end?" She asked curiously. "Yeah, i caught one as well." Jason replied while going through a filing cabinet. "What are you looking for?" She asked. "Nothing, don't worry about it." Jason replied, not looking up. "Come on, if you need help with anything, i can help you out" she then said, putting down her bag and going over to a drawer. It was then Jason found what he was looking for. A fully stocked file with the word "Confidential" stamped on it, as well as the words "Project M20036". He didn't know what the project was about, but he didn't care. It was not his job to know the why's, just to do as he's told. He got up and walked out, with Patty following him. "Oooh what'cha got there?" She curiously asked while looking over his shoulder. "Cloning process.. Insufficient funds... Jason, what is this?". Her tone was more serious now, and Jason made a nod towards his Ariados, who in turn used a simple Poison Sting on her. "Ouch, what was that?" she asked, not having seen the spider in the shadows behind her. Jason walked around her until the angle was right. "No worries, Patty, i got what i came here for." he then said, giving the confused girl a gentle push, just strong enough for her to tumble over one of the holes in the floor, sending her down further. She screamed for a few seconds before he heard her thud loudly to the ground below. There were no more sounds after that. Without a word, he picked up her bag, put the documents in and left the basement.

Getting back outside, he walked over to the pier where a ferry had just arrived. He recognized the white van that would be his ride back to HQ and got on, putting on some music he found in the girls bag to listen to while Vanessa went on and on about the nutritious factors of Moomoo milk.


~~~


Finally, the traveling came to an end. They had to travel the last bit by ferry, which didn't sit too tight with Daniel, as he got easily seasick. Spending most of the hour hunched over a bucket in the ferry's lobby, he couldn't be happier to touch land again, all while trying not to think about the fact that he would have to take the same ferry home eventually to get off the island. Vanessa was thankfully not joining them, and she waited in the bus as it was standing by the pier, waiting for the next ferry. The group had been instructed to meet with another Team Rocket operative at the local Pokemon Center who would fill them in on their mission, something the group was greatly appreciative of. Getting to the pokemon center was easy; The island was pretty small, with a humble amount of inhabitants, making it easy for the group to find the pokemon center. Inside, they met with the guy, and while they were all in civillian clothing, the guy could not have looked more suspicious.

"Ok, follow me." the man said. He was dressed as a nurses assistant, but with the hat placed in a way as if to hide his identity in the very modest shadow it cast. The weird thing was that it was effective; Daniel would never recognize this man anywhere.

following him to a backroom, the man started talking. "The mission is a very simple fetching mission. There is a pokemon laboratory on the island, located just down the road from here. In it, they mostly research how to revive Pokemon from Fossils. We want to know how they do that, and as such, your task is to get any intel on how their machines work. There is no need to steal the machines themselves, as when we have their blueprints, we can create our own. Oh, and also bring back any Fossils you may find. That's all." he then opened the door and rushed them out. "No, we don't have any Max Potions here, you'd have to go to the Pokemon Mart. ha ha ha ha." He was a totally different man, it was baffling..

The group was now standing outside the Pokemon center. Knowing their mission, it was now time to come up with a plan. Daniel spoke out. "So, uhm, would any of you have an idea as to how to go forth with this? I've never been on a mission like this before..."

 

[InnerFlame]

Cornelius Jermaine 'CJ' Kingston
Team Rocket Saffron City Base

Waiting to head out, the organizer lady just yammered without being prompt or even stopping to breathe between long series of sentences. CJ couldn't be bothered to pick up any part of the conversation and just stared at the annoyed and uncaring look on the group's faces. His blue eyes roamed over to the group next to them to catch one peppy guy waving at someone in the group. There also that big guy from yesterday drawing a line across their neck at the bruised up redhead. Finally, the operation was being put into action as Chatty Cathy gave them instruction before going back to rambling on about things no one care about. While the majority of them try to tiptoe away without drawing the woman's attention, Cornelius didn't even pretend to humor her and just walked away after hearing what he needed.

Returning to his living space, CJ removed his standard uniform and replaced it with his everyday clothes. Putting on a red t-shirt, black leather jacket, black jeans, and black boots, he was ready to go. He began to neatly arrange some potions, pokeballs, and other objects he believed would be helpful on the mission. He even added his team rocket uniform and a small umbrella in case he needed it. Finishing off his prepping by applying some sunblock on his pale skin, he placed it in the bag and headed out. After meeting up at some white mini-bus, they began to file into it.

Cornelius ended up sitting next to some glasses-wearing, blond nerd in a green floral print shirt and blue jeans. A contrast to his own red shirt, black leather jacket, and black jeans of his outfit. There were no greetings and barely even an acknowledgment of his seatmate. CJ just leaned his body against the seat and crossed his arms in disinterest. His attention was more on other things around the bus. The ride was mostly quiet except for Chatty Cathy in front of the bus. Luckily to bus driver pulled her microphone out immediately because that would be annoying. Looks like the noise canceler he packed wouldn't be necessary.

--------

Cinnabar Island

After the long bus ride followed by a ferry ride, the group finally reached their destination, thankfully leaving the chatterbox behind. They headed for the Pokemon Center and met with the person they need to, a man in nurse outfit. Like always, CJ stood away from the group to listen to the instructions. They were to go to a lab, learn how they revive fossils, find a blueprint of the revival machine, and steal any fossil they came across. "A simple fetch mission... that's the best...", he thought sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. Fetch missions were easy, so they were boring. Maybe with this many people assigned to it, it would be somewhat interesting... Otherwise, he would have to make it more interesting for himself. Exiting the Pokemon Center and moving off to the side, the planning process was beginning.

"So, uhm, would any of you have an idea as to how to go forth with this? I've never been on a mission like this before..." The auburn-haired man asked unsurely. A simple sigh left the man's mouth, this wasn't even a mission to really worry about. If he let them have the chance, they would just bounce ideas off each other. CJ wasn't feeling standing around to listen to that, so he decided to intervene.

"First we need the check area for any security and surveillance cameras," Cornelius haughtily vocalized for the first time in front of these people. His whole body language was emitting confidence and unworrying aura about the mission ahead of them. "Locate the best way of entering without drawing attention to ourselves. We also need to take account of people inside that will try to hinder our search. Those people need to be dealt with or distracted. With them out the way, we'll have free range to search without trouble. Though if we can find somebody knowledgable, we should 'negotiate' to get them talking so we will be able to pinpoint what we need quicker. Any questions, if not let's just get this started."

Cornelius stretched his arms in front of them as he looked towards the other people. The man was itching to do the mission rather than talking. His expression, his ending statement, and the way CJ stood made it very obvious that he wanted to go now. Yet he merely waited, staring at them, for someone to speak up or for the group to just keep moving. The ideal choice for him would be if they accept that plan and they just immediately head to the laboratory.