“I’m not doing it.”

“Yes you are brat, if you want to become as fabulous like us then you’d better get a move on.”

“Fabulous? Then that must mean that this world is doomed.”

“Jessie, I don’t think the kid appreciates our efforts in raising him. I’m hurt! Red, since when did you become so rebellious? I always thought of teaching you the ways of bottle cap collecting, but alas here we are and I don’t even know what to live for anymore.”

“Keep ya head on straight James, we don’t need another problem to deal wit’ right now.”

“I’m still not doing it. No matter what you do or say, nothing is going to make me help you on another mission. Giovanni would want it that way. Besides, you three could at the very least attempt to do this one on your own.”

“Aww c’mon squirt, if ya help us wit’ this last mission we’ll sign a transfer notice for you to join The Academy’s elite class.”

“That would’ve been a deal, if you actually had permission to do so.”

“Oh but we do! When you were assigned to us, the boss gave us some documents with the power to do so, only if we found you worthy enough to participate. So I’d watch what I’d say next if I were you brat!”

“Oh~? Seems interesting how you’re only mentioning this opportunity now of all times. *knuckles cracking* Mind telling me why I didn’t hear about it earlier?”

“It’s because you were, and still are, too young to enter The Academy. However if you aid us in the next heist then the boss has given us permission to allow you to claim a random reward for yourself from whatever we obtain as a bonus, you follow along kid?”

“*sigh*...Fine, but you better uphold the deal.”

“We never disobey the boss’ orders.”

“Alright. So when do we break into the Pokemon Center?

Mission ID #1575

Objective: To act as a distraction for Mission ID #2069

Side Objectives: Raid the Pokemon Center’s Storage Facility and/or other useful items

Danger Level: C

Priority Level: A

Reward: Claim on a single item from the loot obtained

A premium ticket to the elite class of The Academy! This is the best I could ever ask for, and all I have to do is make some noise while grabbing some pokeballs. Like taking candy from a baby. Turns out that the PokeCenter’s storage is holding a lot of pokemon belonging to a bunch of Government Officials gathering for an illegal transaction. All I’ve heard about it is that the contents are all wrapped under covers, so much that our Support Team didn’t have time to identify the details when the mission was assigned to us. Not that they cared though since it’s being held by a bunch of grunts from the Government’s lowest of their hierarchy. Anyway, time for me to focus.

According to the plan, Jessie and James are to loot the storage until I set off the alarms with Meowth to help me navigate through the ventilation system, then once we’re on the run we are to rendezvous at the pick up point where we’ll use a getaway car to lose the cops. Or at least that’s what Meowth’s been telling me constantly.

I yelled in a hushed voice, ”I get it already! Just get moving, someone might hear us. Keep moving straight, the control room is further ahead.”

“Once we’re in we gotta make a big enough distraction for the others. Ideas?”

“You’re asking now?! I can’t believe you, but I’ve got an idea now.” I direct Meowth’s attention to the room below us where a group of men in black suits are loitering around with a couple of black briefcases.

“I’ll handle these guy’s while you get to the control room and disable their cameras.”

“You serious squirt?”

“Just keep going, I’m not going to just hand myself over. Besides, I need that ticket to The Academy.”

Meowth gives a smirk and continued to crawl along the metal vents, while I soundlessly kept to the shadows in a corner of the room to observe the men before me. Whilst I observed the men in black, another group in white suits showed up and started to start up a conversation between the two factions, unfortunately I was too far away to catch onto any of it. After a good five minutes I received the signal for the operation to start, and without hesitation I threw some smoke grenades in the centre of the room and crept up behind the startled men and quickly applied some force into their pressure points, making them go down without a fight. I then ran out into the hallway and threw some more smoke grenades into some random rooms to raise the fire alarm, causing some panic amongst the staff and trainers nearby.

I ran back into the warehouse looking room where those goons where striking a deal to grab the cash for future operations and supplies, plus I was curious as to why some low tiered grunts were handling a top secret mission. My first guess was that they did it to lead the Support team to believe that it was something that could easily be looked over, but I held onto my suspicions. Better safe than sorry, and it was indeed the best thing I’ve ever done. The package the men in white were delivering was something I thought I’d never see in this world, something that made my all muscles in my body to tense up and my heart race.

“What the Farfetch’d?! It’s a Snag Machine!”

I remember this from Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness! It was a machine that could somehow redesign a pokeball to enable the capture of a trainer’s pokemon as if they were a wild one instead, and I just happened to stumble upon it! Can my luck get any better?

My mind suddenly snapped back to reality once I heard the others chatting over the radio about the mission status, and called in for a retreat. Running through the smoke out the back door I jumped into the car and we took off in a casual manner to blend in with others in traffic so as to not draw any attention to ourselves. It all seemed rather anti-climactic now that I think of it.

“We’ve done it! Oh the boss is going to be so proud of us once he hears this!” Jessie squealed with excitement.

“Let’s give him a report once we’ve escaped. Then maybe we’ll get a promotion.” Meowth grinned with delight at his own thoughts.

“Well kid, as promised we’ll let you have a word with the boss when we hand in the report. Now, what do you want to claim as your bonus reward? We’ll let you have first pick as our send off gift to you, after all we’ve spent 8 years together. It’s only right we give you something to take with you.” James gave me a bright smile.

Although these three may be some of the biggest fools in the organisation, they’re like family to me. Though they may be blunt, careless, stupid, and argue a lot they are also kind, caring, and lovable. They helped raise me up with a great amount of effort, they spent their low funds on my personal wellbeing and needs, and they gave me a place to call home. I know I’ll miss them when I leave, but I’ll see them again one day. No doubt about that, because if there’s one thing they’re good at it’s making me pay the tab when they dine and dash. Eventually, I should take them out for a nice meal together.

“Jessie, James, Meowth, and Red reporting in sir!” With a confident salute I step forward.

“Report.” Giovanni calmly said in a monotone voice. I swear he never changes.

”Mission ID #1575 was a success, all our tracks were erased and the police won’t be able to pinpoint the incident on us.”

“Very well, you are dismissed.”

“Sir, permission to speak?”

“Go on Jessie.”

“Right. I believe that Red Quill should be transferred to the elite class of The Academy.”

Giovanni raised one of his eyebrows while staring deeply into Jessie’s, “Is that so? Elaborate.”

“Sir, it’s clear that the bra-, child has high intelligence for someone of his age and is also very capable in hand-to-hand combat already at the young age of 8. On top of that, he was able to knockout around nine Government Official grunts without any resistance or help. I believe that the boy is ready despite his age.” Jessie then stepped back in line with the rest of us and waited for the boss’ response.

After a minute of silence Giovanni finally spoke again, “So be it. Red Quill, you are to pack your belongings and live in The Academy’s dormitory for elite students. However, once your class is to graduate you will remain there and aid the teachers and tutor the other students until you are allowed to leave The Academy, is that understood?”

“Yes sir!”

“You may now leave.”

“*Sob* *Sniff*, hey brat..m-make sure to give all those snobby kids a good thrashing when you get to The Academy.” Jessie showing signs going into a breakdown any second.

“I can’t believe you’re growing up so quickly! I’ll miss you kid. Make sure to give us a call w-won’t you? Be sure to eat your meals, get plenty of sleep, and live a healthy life every day.” Tears streaming down Jame’s face like a waterfall like in an anime. I didn’t think that was possible, and somehow I feel as though Jessie and James just reversed the mother and father roles.

“Get goin’ kid, be sure to come out on top and show em’ who’s in charge, just like the boss would want you to do.” Meowth struggling to keep his composure.

“You three worry too much. I’ll be sure to call you guys everyday if that’s what you want, and besides it’s not like I can get rid of you.” I said with a mischievous smirk. But as soon as I was about to leave they had to surprise me once again by crushing me in a big Ursaring hug... damn... I’m such a loser for cracking a pun that pitiful.

With our last goodbyes I left to sign up for The Academy, I had to take the underground train to get there. It’s supposedly hidden so well that only Giovanni and the Principal, along with a few higher-ups that have jurisdiction over the train, know of it’s true location, it’s impossible to map out where the tunnel leads after all because of how it’s always moving. Sounds strange but the reason for it is because of the many rock and ground type pokemon used to change specific intersections randomly, even the staff don’t know where it leads because each person stationed at each intersection is only instructed of the changes made within a certain area to prevent any spies leaking information.

Seems a bit over the top at first but Team Rocket is in need of good recruits to raise with their own beliefs and principles being for a world free of corruption and to also resist the brainwashing the Government applies onto the younger generations, which they do in order to suppress any threat to their reign by keeping a close watch on those who are possibly dangerous to their own cause before they can grow and mature.

Well, enough of the depressing thoughts for now and time to look towards the future. Until I graduate, my revenge will simply have to wait. It’s not that big of an issue, because regardless of what type of predator is doing the hunting they all share one thing in common. Patience, and when the time comes to take action... I’ll be sure to deliver the finishing blow.