Death before Dishonor
From Grunts to Glory-Everything is Possible in Team Rocket!
Dramatis Personae:
Theron 'Orion' Kabreta: Our humble protagonist, Theron begins as a lonely, stick armed little kid and ends as a lonely muscleman.
Davey 'Apollo' Pollack: A low ranking Rocket grunt renowned more for his enthusiasm then his successes, Apollo may start out small, but he will one day be a high-ranking Rocket.
Amelia 'Athena' Escobar: She is THE girl. Attractive, intelligent, cutthroat- and she knows it. Athena is the type of girl who everyone tries to get with, and ends up defeated. Though harsh on the surface, she harbors a soft spot for Hannibal, and later on Theron himself.
Staff Sergeant Kevin 'Lambda' Fowley: A mid-level Rocket and ex-marine, Lambda often acts as a voice of reason among Rockets, and has an uncanny talent for spotting the talents of others. Rumor has it that he was once asked to be Giovanni's bodyguard.
James 'The Iron Masked Maurader/Vicious' Renet: Pompous and prone to inflating stories of his achievements, Renet is the type of guy who makes everyone die a little inside when he enters the room. If it wasn't for his talents at rewiring Pokeballs and his sheer brutality, his companions would have beaten him to death long ago.
Ned Heely: A corrupt Silph supervisor known for his short temper, it's Heely who proposed that the Rockets invade Silph to inflate the prices for Silph's goods. Though initially successful, Heely will fail and be sent to a remote Silph outpost on a newly discovered region, where he can remember his failure until the end of his days.
Hannibal (Hando) 'Lance' Russell: The boss among the future Rocket executives, Lance is a cold-hearted SOB, but harbors a soft spot for Athena. Though initially dismissive of Theron, he comes to have a grudging respect for the kid.
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21 year-old Theron Kabreta lay on the cold, icy ground, bleeding from his nose, mouth, and left eye. His once-tan skin had turned red and blue, his dark hair, which in another universe would have been sported by Robert Carlyle in 'Hamish Macbeth' had snow in it, enough to show he had been lying there for some time. Theron had lost his beloved leather jacket some time ago, and his fingers were turning blue from the cold. His arms and face were covered in dozens of scratches, and at first glance he seemed dead.
The fingers of his left hand clenched and unclenched slowly, showing that there was indeed life in him. Resultant small holes his fingers had dug into the ground left his fingertips covered in snow and bleeding from the ice shards.
…S--t. If I'm gonna die, my life isn't going to take very long to watch.
A swirling tempest of ice and snow surrounded him, drawing him closer to the figure in the center of the holocaust.
God… Why'd I have to get up today?
The figure, which had been floating, suddenly touched the ground and hauled him up with one stick-like arm. Theron saw the figure draw back his opposite fist, and as he saw it rush towards him his life did indeed replay in front of him.
Chapter One: Our humble beginnings
Someone was knocking on his bedroom door. 11-year-old Theron, his dark hair shaven completely off, looked at it lazily without getting out of bed. Short and skinny for his age, he was often the source of slight disappointment by his parents, who had been a high school hockey star and a cheerleader respectively.
"Theron? You in there champ?"
"Yeah."
The door opened and his father walked in.
"You know me and your mom have to leave for work. We don't like leaving you alone, but…"
"But it's better then being out in the streets, I know. How long are you two going to be gone this time?"
His father shrugged his massive shoulders.
"We have to be gone for at least seven months. They've run into a lot of problems trying to streamline the Trade Centers and Coliseums."
Theron groaned inwardly. He hadn't had a birthday yet where his parents were home.
"Hey, we've gotta leave. Your mother and I love you. Ramen's in the cupboard, and Ms. Forte at the bank knows to give you money out of our account."
His father left, and Theron sunk face down into his pillow. He hated his life.
Two days later, he went to school, partly because he'd gone crazy sitting inside his parents' apartment and watching cartoons. He was walking back when he was distracted by a police helicopter flying between Saffron City's massive buildings, it's searchlight playing about all over the shantytowns that had sprung up all over the ground-level of the city. Eventually, the helicopter buzzed off, and four people emerged from one of the dwellings, a cardboard and sheet metal construct. They were in their late teens, and probably wouldn't have given Theron the time of day. But the way they looked had Theron entranced.
Paramilitary 14 eyelet, steel-toed boots, grey army fatigues, black bandannas which they had tied around their faces, and a black longsleeved shirt with a red 'R' rounded off the ensemble. Each had six pokeballs attached to their belts, but more importantly, the teens exuded a sense of brotherhood and belonging. Theron envied them. One of them turned and made a very inappropriate gesture towards the retreating helicopter.
"Team Rocket rules the streets! Suck my ****, Saffron PD!"
He made several pelvic thrusts towards the helicopter before rejoining his friends. Theron had never hated them more. They behaved however they wanted, and the people in this particular slum admired them. While he was caught up in his adoration, he noticed them rounding a corner.
"Hey! Hey! Wait up!"
Three of the teenage Rockets turned. One of them stopped and lit a cigarette before turning. All four of them gazed at Theron with a thinly-veiled sense of distaste.
"What'd you want, kid?"
Theron stared up at them, amazed that they had actually talked to him. One of the teens smiled.
"Look at him! Hair shaven right off! He looks like a wind-up skinhead, some kind of little GI Joe. What do you want, Joey?"
They laughed. Theron just smiled. He pointed at their clothes, then at their pokeballs.
"Where'd you get them?"
He thought for sure they were going to make fun of him, but apparently the leader of the group, a tall, skinny fellow who had full sleeves beneath his shirt liked him. The leader dropped his cigarette and ground it underneath his boot and released a pokemon from a pokeball.
A Scyther rubbed both of it's sword blades together menacingly.
"They're standard issue for Rockets, kid. What's it to you?"
"Can I get stuff like that?"
They conferred for a moment:
"Look at the size of him. He'd never fit into any of this."
"How old is he, 8? What use is he going to be?"
The leader shushed them.
"We're taking what we can get. Besides, he'd probably follow us anyway. Lambda will decide his fate."
Finally, they turned back around.
"Hurry up kid, don't want to be left behind, you know? Hey, what's you're name anyway?"
"I'm Theron… Theron Kabreta. And you…?"
The leader smiled.
"I'm Apollo. Nice to meet you, Theron."
Chapter 2: Lambda, Lambda, Lambda
Theron was brought into a location he knew well: The Silph Way subway station. It was a ghost station of tracks and rotting posters displaying a Saffron that hadn't existed for fifty years: a slum-free Saffron, a suburban paradise where you and your spouse could work in safety. Apollo and his friends ignored the posters and hopped onto the tracks, taking care to avoid the electric rail.
"Why do you guys hang out down here?"
"It's secret. Plus, nobody likes going underground."
"Apollo?"
"What?"
"Who's Lambda?"
"You'll see."
They had gone about a mile and a half, Apollo and his friends using flashlights to keep the darkness at bay. Finally, they came to a red door that had MAINTENANCE stenciled across it. Apollo casually kicked it open and wandered in.
The room was more like the bunkers you see on TV. It wasn't a schoolbus buried in the dirt- this was an entire friggin warehouse that had been buried. It was lit and air conditioned. It also stretched on forever. Theron could see weightlifting and exercise equipment, a PA system, and what could have been a basketball court and Pokemon stadium.
"The hell is this runt?"
The speaker was a girl of about 17, beautiful, and possessed the best chest Theron had ever seen.
"Amel… Athena, this is Theron. He's going to join."
"This isn't a Chuck E Cheese. How old is he, 9?"
Theron piped up defiantly: "I'm 11, but I'll be 12 in-"
"Does it look like I care? Lambda isn't running a damn daycare down here Apollo. Besides, he doesn't look like he can do anything useful."
Athena strode off, and Theron and Apollo kept their eyes on her until she vanished.
"If I could make that my better half I would." Apollo said wishfully. His friends murmured concurring statements before leading Theron to a small, office like room.
"Apollo, what do you want now?"
Apollo lowered his head respectfully.
"Sergeant Lambda, this is Theron… he wanted to join. I let him come, seeing as how he would have followed me anyway…"
Athena chose that moment to make her presence known.
"He's a runt Lambda- what can he do? He's not going to be gunning down people or doing any sort of heavy lifting. Look." She grabbed Theron's arm and yanked his shirt sleeve up, displaying one of Theron's stick-like arms.
Lambda spoke:
"Athena, shut up please. Not every job involves heavy lifting or being a total badass. When I was a marine, I learned that spies and scouts win more fights than the Rambo who goes in guns blazing. I think we can use him."
He turned to Theron and smiled.
"Welcome to Team Rocket kid. You'll like it here."
Two days later, Theron was living full-time at what was referred to as 'The Rocket House', a dilapidated tower block a few blocks east of the abandoned Silph Way station. His companions were all older then him, but looked down on him as a kind of little brother. In short, they were the best family he'd ever had.
By way of an introduction, two of the biggest and meanest looking Rockets, both of whom were in their twenties, grabbed his arms and pinned him to a wall before introducing themselves as Maccus and Crowbar.
Crowbar was the more eloquent of the pair, and prone to rambling. Maccus was more conservative with his words, and had the air of a philosopher. However, he also had a series of bloody knives jammed into his belt.
"The new kid right?"
Theron nodded. Maccus just smiled.
"You're going to like it here. An escape from everything-"
"Prejudice" Crowbar chimed in.
"Fear."
"The weak who control this planet. Team Rocket is for the strong, so that we can rise above the weak and subvert them. It's only the natural order of things."
Theron nodded, pretending to know what the two big men were telling him.
"We all took new names when we joined, as a show of disgust at the names the weak gave us. You want a new one?"
And Theron thought. What had he ever had? Nothing, except a lifetime of pressure, disappointment, and neglect- he couldn't wait to leave his old name behind.
"My name's Orion."
Crowbar and Maccus smiled.
"Welcome to the Team Orion. When you prove yourself, you'll get to play on varsity with guys like us."