It was a dreary cloudy day. Several dozens of men and women were all dressed in black to mourn for those they lost. Everyone was back in Mastid City, but not all of them came back in one piece.

The grunts finally realized that they were part of something dangerous. Many quit but kept quiet. No, they would end up mysteriously disappearing over the next few weeks until the disturbances died down.

Luckily the stairwell leading to the B1 floor was removed so the Rangers had no way to legally enter the area. Apparently, Nat had hidden the keycard along with Cole’s poképal.

Eventually, only the 50 something men and women who belonged to Team Rocket remained. The rain began to fall and everyone was tired.

“Achoo! I think I’m going to get a cold…Alright, men! Look what happened! You fought the government!”

“Cole, this isn’t an appropriate”

“Hush, Nat. Let me finish. People died! Pokémon died! You might die!”

The grunts started to get restless as they were uncomfortable with this strange pep talk.

“But yet here you stand!”

He paced in front of everyone, dividing the living from the dead, drawing a line between them and their fallen comrades.

“This isn’t some little game!”

Some people began to cry, feeling the overwhelming loss finally hit them deep. War was something that hadn’t been seen for the past five decades, after all. There was no reason to kill each other.

People were trembling from the pain, suffering, and the ever falling rain.

“You should have resolve if you want to join. Do you?!”

The sound of the rain was the sea and sound of those crying were like the islands. But hidden within was a deep, awkward silence that cut through everyone’s heart. It was like an abyss.

“DO YOU?!”

One man said with tears in his voice,

“No! This is sickening! This wasn’t what I signed up for!”

“Then what DID you sign up for? Because of the benefits?! Only with great risk can you receive great rewards! Look at this! We saved some powerful people. We would not have them without these sacrifices!”

“For these strangers?!”

“Yes!”

The man broke down and collapsed to his knees, dirtying his legs and ruining his outfit. He looked devoid of feeling as he had to bury his best friend only to be mistreated this way.

“My question is, if you don’t have the resolve, why are you still here?”

Many of the people looked lost and afraid, realization dawning on their faces. They would have to participate in activities deemed illegal by the government.

After a difficult scolding, several more people left dazed and confused. Of course, these people would also vanish in the future, their whereabouts unknown.

Only 24 people remained and most of them belonged to the prisoners from the facility. With nowhere to return to, their family believing them dead, they had no one else to turn to who wouldn’t do what the government did.

Natalie, Clyde, and someone Cole assumed was Trina stood a little further away. Cole hadn’t seen Kat anywhere, but that was fine. He understood. He just wished him luck on his adventure.

Nat was still grieving over Fennis, but they stayed. Apparently, Trina convinced them that they needed to help stop the government. With this, Cole had some definitive allies. Every other escaped prisoner looked at Cole as if he was a hero. Since he too had the power, he could understand where they were coming from.

But, he had a different way of thinking. His personality was selfish and stubborn, never allowing someone else the pleasure of humiliating him. Well, not like the government did, anyway. He still joked about his circular figure, which was getting slimmer.

He exuded the Dark Energy and everyone else that remained was forced to stand at a rigid straight pose. He lightened the force and pulled out several small red badges in the shape of an R and passed them out to everyone.

He made a big show of pinning them to everyone’s shirt and somberly nodded before walking away. Everyone else took this as a cue to head back to the station.

In the north, it wasn’t so wet. In fact, the sun was shining perfectly. But the mood was still depressing. The first batch was completely destroyed and all of the test subjects were released.

Yet they couldn’t act! That was because Xerosic received a letter with only one symbol on it.

“Team Rocket…how far do they go? How much have they controlled? At this rate, the Balktic Region is doomed!”

“Mr. President, your orders?”

“General Surge, I would suggest you head back to Kanto. Send some word back to the Kanto Branch. We may not have a lot of pull there, but you might be able to.”

“Sir, I used to help Team Rocket, you know…”

“I know. But I read the report. You did it to stop Mewtwo. Koga retired and Blaine passed away. Do you know what happened to Sabrina?”

“She had an accident trying to exorcise a ghost.”

“Shame. Thankfully, Koga’s students and daughter still help. But you should be able to make do. They still hold their Pokémon in high esteem. Make sure they’re prepared for combat.”

“Yes sir!”

Xerosic was left to his thoughts.

Somewhere in Mastid city was a warehouse. This actually belonged to a mysterious group that no one ever heard of. Inside was all manner of odds and ends. Huge machines that looked like they were meant for quarantine, or the strange tables that had many wires and gadgets.

In one such quarantine room, there laid a man covered in bandages and watching television. He was glowing as the room seemed to doing something to the man. If anybody knew he was charred black and almost dead two days ago, they wouldn’t believe it!

“Hehehe, how are you doing, Fennis Marshal?”

“You know, you’re a dick, Cole.”

“Hahaha! I know. I bet they’ll love this surprise.”

“That’s what I meant by ‘you’re a dick’.”

Evil chuckling filled the warehouse and faded into the night.

That's it! The Prologue is over! Now we can send Cole on his merry hunting way and focus on the side characters as they pretty much impersonate NCIS, Criminal Minds, and Law and Order. That's where the slice of life comes in. Wait, is it more like Supernatural? Whatever. The chapters will become massive at hopefully 6,000 words each, but I will have trouble focusing on them. I have trouble focusing on these as it is. I want to start posting the next volume of Soul Stealer, but family came over and distracted me further. I will try my best to have some more chapters coming in soon. But the schedule for Team Rocket Grunt will change. once a week and posted on Mondays. (Or Tuesday, depending on where you're at)

Thanks again for supporting me, and if you can, leave some ideas in the comment section or rate me on the main page. Now that this part is over, the way the story will be told will follow a third person POV with more details and hopefully more character building. It is because of this that anything you guys tell me about changing how I write might be ignored. Because Everything will be changed...

Have fun playing Pokémon! Oh and I'm getting Sun when it comes out! That might get added in somewhere.

*EDIT* left a sneak peak for what's to come! What do you guys think?