SB: Prologues have never been my thing, which is the main reason I'm postig chapter one earlier than I expected so the prologue doesn't totally drive everyone away. About the plot, well, I'll just say that it's not quite as simple as it seems, but you weren't too far off. Thanks for saying it though, as its made me think me about keeping plots less simple. Anyway, here's chapter one:
Chapter 1: Around The Rocket Castle
The Team Rocket Castle was about as intimidating as buildings can get. The castle was based where Pallet Town once stood, but had been demolished as Mercello saw it as the perfect home for Team Rocket. With only one way in and one way out, and a forest that used to be home to pathetic Pidgey's and Rattata's but now houses Dragonite's and Fearow's made what once was Pallet Town the perfect location. The castle itself was a fearsome sight, with turrets stretching up into the clouds, and Alakazam's sticking their heads out of windows ready to Psybeam anything human, and the shoddy workmanship on the castle leaving it almost crumbling under its own weight all added to the fear factor. Inside the castle though, things were differant. Everything was ultra-modern, with over half of the building being science labs, doing experiments on pokemon and trying to find out what power the legendary pokem in Rocket's possession actually had. A large portion of the castle though, was used as apartments for accomadation, as nobody ever left the castle without a very special reason. Most of the rooms just had dirty old bunk beds in with four people fitting into a space barely big enough for one, though some rooms, of course, were more extravagent.
I layed my bed in my five-room apartment, a palace compared to most, resting up, as usual. It was hardly what you could call work, but being Mercello's second in command was not a very demanding job, which mainly required attending a few meetings, agreeing with whatever he said and accosionally shouting at people. I sometimes wondered how I had risen to such a position of power in Team Rocket. I didn't do much, I had never killed a man, and before being recruited by Team Rocket I was only an average trainer, with just a few easy to get badges, where I was heavy favourite going in, like where Bulbasaur single-handedly demolished Brock's Rock pokemon. I had gotten many other, stronger pokemon since then though, and now what I lacked in ability I made up for in pokemon. On my way to the top I had been promoted ahead of many more qualified people, and all of the important jobs were given to other people. I knew Mercello didn't trust me, but I knew he wanted me to think that he did.
Gaby, a puppy pokemon of mine, strolled through the open door into the pokeroom, where I kept some of my pokemon out of pokepalls. Gaby orange fur with black sports covering most of hur body, but a fluffy white tail and belly, giving her a very cute look. She was also very sweet and mature, which is very unusual for a puppy, as usualy all they are interested in is playing catch or licking you. Gaby jumped onto the bed and relaxed, laying down beside me. "How you doing Gaby?"
"I'm good, the usual really," said Gaby. I'd always been able to talk to pokemon, ever since I was a baby. I had always been told it was a rare gift, and that the pokegods had been nice to me. Nevertheless, it was a great advantage in battle, as good communication between trainer and pokemon is a must, and I always thought it made the bond between me and my pokemon a lot stronger. Having this ability also meant that pokemon were not just my pets, they were my friends, and I treat them as my equal. Treating pokemon as equals is not something Team Rocket members are famous for, and it was another reason which made me wonder about why I had gotten to such a position of power within the organization. This trait definately set me aprt from all other members of Team Rocket, but in a good way.
"What's going on in there?" I asked.
Gaby let out a small giggle before replying, "Magik keeps on stabbing Smoky. He says he finds it funny how the blade just keeps going through him, but Smoky is starting to get annoyed. Everyone else was sleeping. Magik was my Kadabra, and was called Magik because when he was just a little Abra he begged me to call it Magikarp so other trainers would think I was sending out the pathetic fish pokemon. it worked, and Magik got quite a few good laughs out of it. He's also one of the few Kadabra's around that don't carry a spoon with it, he used to of course, but he ditched it long ago in exchange for a very sharp kitchen knife.
"OK, I'll deal with it.," I said flatly, but with a smile on my face. I got up off the bed and walked into the pokeroom, Gaby just behind me. I walked in to find MakiK with his knife straight through the body of Smoky, a Gastly, given his name because of the smoke that surounds his round spherical purple body. The rest of the pokemon in the room, Gaz, a Marowak, and Fushy, my Ivysaur, were all now watching the incident.
"Jesus Magik I thought you'd of stopped all this by now," I said, acting disapointed. I actually found Magik's actions pretty funny most of the time, but I didn't want to let him know that. "Most pokemon mature when they evolve, but your worse now then when you were an Abra. I've got a meeting to go to soon and your going in a pokeball."
"JD, No!" Magik pleaded, "I was just having a bit of fun. It's not like I could hurt him or anything."
"Yeah Magik I know that, but I need to know that I can trust you guys alone in here, and I can't do that when your swinging your knife around. You'll be staying in the pokeball everytime I have a meeting until you grow up." I called Magik into his pokeball with a flash of blue light and strapped it to my belt before going into the bathroom and shutting the door, leaving the pokemon to talk amongst themselves.
I looked in the mirror, examining myself and washing my face before the meeting. I didn't bother styling my fairly short, black hair anymore, or even to an extent cutting it, as I had long ago figured out that I could look like a tramp and still be where I am today. I gave my tanned skin one more splash of water before throwing on a jumper over my T-shirt. Team Rocket members don't bother wearing the old uniform thesedays, as it had long ago become a parody of itself, and was now being sold at charity shops accross the land. Most Rocket members now just wore a suit, but I just wore a T-shirt and jeans most of the time, as it's what I felt comfortable in. Besides, good organisations don't need uniforms for people to know who you are, they can tell by the way you act. I could see the Sun out of my tiny window, low over the horizon but still burning a bright orange. It was 10AM, and being mid-winter, the day was only just beginning.
I said goodbye to my pokemon and left my apartment, down a brightly lit corridor, and into the elevator at the end. There were a couple of people already in the elevator when I got there, one was wearing the white cost of a scientist, and the other looked like a regular office worker, but none of them were going as high into the castle as I was. The board room was on the very top floor of the castle, other than the sky high turrets, which were mainly used for storage and to look scary.
The elevator doors opened with a "ping", and I stepped out into the board room. Most people were already there, but the meeting hadn't yet started. The board room was a fairly large, square room with a few pictures scattered along the cream coloured walls. The only thing inside of the room was a large square table and roughly ten chairs surounding it, and at this moment, all of those chairs were being occupied by the biggest and most important members of Team Rocket.
I took my seat near the middle of the table. To my right, was Mercello, quite a fat middle aged man in a purple suit easily old enough to be my father, Mercello had a certain presence to him, that let everyone know he was the leader. Also, if anyone was in any doubt over how evil he really was, he had recently grown a long mustache that curled up at both ends, making him look exactly like the stereotypical comic book villain, which was just the way he wanted it.
To the right of Mercello was Gary Oak, a young boy, no older than 13, with brown spiky hair and an air of cockiness about him. Gary was the grandson of the legendary Professor Oak, who disappeared shortly after Gary joined Team Rocket, and was presumed dead. It was fairly common knowledge that Gary hated Ash Ketchum more than any other Rocket, and had been promised that when they finally did catch Ash, he would be the one who got to kill him. It was also widely rumoured that his hatred for Ash was the main thing that got him this high up with the Rocket's. Gary was probably the cockiest kid around at his age, which is the main reason I didn't like him. Not that I had a problem with cocky people, in fact I'd often been described as cocky myself, I just didn't like people that cocky to be so much younger than me. Sometimes you just look at a kid and know that the parents screwed up big time, and Gary was one of those kids.
To my immediate left was Tyler Shewood, who at 18, was just one year older than me, but he was still slightly smaller than me, and had longer hair. He too, was wearing very informal clothes, as he also believed he was untouchable within the group. Me and Tyler had known each other since just before the Rockets demolished Pallet Town, and quickly became best friends, both joining Team Rocket at the same time. Tyler, much like me, had been promoted through the ranks of Team Rocket without doing much to deserve, and ahead of people who did. He also felt the same way about pokemon as I did, and treat them as friends rather than as slaves, which was rare in people these days, especially Rocket members.
To the left of Tyler sat Jesse and James, both of whom still insisted on wearing their old Team Rocket uniforms even though most of the other Rocket members had long ago thrown them in the trash. Jesse's most predominant feature was her hair, which was purple and went right to the end of her back, and James's was a light blue and shoulder length. These two have quite possibly had more run-ins with Ash Ketchum than anybody else, and had a hatred of him only rivalled by Gary Oak. It was once known that these two had quite pathetic pokemon, but that is no longer the case, and after years of intensive training, their pokemon are now a match for most trainers. Most of the rest of the high ranking Rocket's in the room were not really people I had gotten to know very well, or had any desire too.
A few late arrivals took their seat at the table, and with every seat occupied, soon Mercello began, "I will make this short. Tomorrow a few of you will be going an a mission, and it will be our most important mission of the year, possibly ever. You will not know the details of the misson until right before you embark on it, and all questions will be answered tomorrow."
"One more thing," continued Mercello, "I am very pleased to ask you all to congratulate Gary Oak on his promotion to the rank of Cheif Executive, which means that Gary is the third highest ranking member of Team Rocket, behind only myself and Jonny. The job he has done for is has been exceptional recently, and I am confident that it will be that way in the future. Tomorrow's meeting will take place at 2AM, this mission will be in the night. Do not be late," said Mercello very sternly, and left through a door at the back of the conference room as the very short meeting came to an close. Everyone else was gathering around the elevator, and piled into it as it arrived, me and Tyler talking in a corner near the front, as we'd be getting out pretty quickly.
"So, what do you think that mission thing is about?" asked Tyler. "Sounds pretty important."
"Yeah, it does. I've got a few ideas as to what it might be, but I ain't gonna say any of 'em because if they're wrong I'll look like a fool," I replied with a smile.
"I bet I don't get to go," said Tyler, hanging his head, "He never trusts me with important missions."
"Yeah, I'm his second in command and its the same for me. I've never been on a single mission here."
Just then the evelavor door opened with a 'ping', and me and Tyler exited to our apartments. We said goodbye as Tyler took the first corridor on the right to his, and I carried on down the main corridor to the end to mine. About ten seconds after me and Tyler departed I heard footsteps running behind me, and a voice shouted out, "Aren't you going to congratulate me?"
It was Gary. "What the hell are you doing here?" I asked Gary, as I knew his apartment was a few floors below this one.
"The boss told everybody to congratulate me. I wanted to make sure you did, as I know you wouldn't want to go against his wishes, now would you?." Gary spoke slowly and confidently, and looked at me with a taunting smile.
"Actually, yeah, I would."
I turned around and headed to the direction of my apartment, and Gary didn't follow. He shouted down the corridor, clearly angry, "I'm getting stronger as every month passes, Jonny, and you know it. It scares you! Jonny, one day I'll make you kneel before me!" He turned and walked back in the opposite direction, as I just rolled my eyes, and entered my apartment.
