The Other Team Rocket

Silver Linings 

Chapter 1

The cafeteria was busy as usual. A tired looking, brown haired Team Rocket grunt squeezed through two other people and searched the room, finally laying her eyes on a vacant table. Her food was already cold, but she didn’t care. She sat her tray down at the end of the table. At the very same time, two other trays came down at the opposite end.

“Well, well, well.” It was a familiar voice. She knew who it was before she even looked up. It was the unmistakable rasp of Butch. He and Cassidy sat down at the other end of the table.

“If it isn’t the flavor of the week.” He laughed. “We were just talking about you.”

“Along with everyone else on the team.” Cassidy flipped one of her long, blonde pigtails over her shoulder and slid down beside the other girl as she lowered herself onto the bench. “Butch, take my picture with her and post it on our page.”

She flashed a peace sign and smiled wide. Ria smiled, too, but it felt as fake as her interest in talking to them right then. Still, as friendly as she was with Butch and Cassidy from having worked with them numerous times, they both outranked her and she wasn’t about to blow them off.

“I guess you saw the video.”

“Saw it?” Cassidy asked. “Butch was the one who filmed it!”

Ria blinked as she processed what Cassidy as said, before standing and pointing an accusatory finger at her green haired colleague.

“That was you!?”

“Calm down, calm down.” She glowered at him from beneath the brim of her cap and sat back down as he continued. “I made you famous. You should thank me. You should see how many likes this thing has on Rocketbook.”

Ria sat back down. He slid his phone over to her and she looked at it warily. Since members of Team Rocket were barred from posting any of their information or photos online due to it being a security concern, Giovanni’s recent initiative to provide a social networking platform exclusively for Team Rocket members had been a hugely popular success. In light of recent events, however, Ria couldn’t say that she was a fan. She wasn’t particularly interested in re-living the battle, but the two of them were already standing on either side of her watching the replay of her earlier training exercise with Domino.

“Heh heh. Check out that excellent camera work.”

“Be quiet Butch, this is my favorite part.”

The three of them looked on as Houndour started to glow and change shape, becoming a Houndoom. Butch and Cassidy laughed as Domino’s Roserade fell almost immediately to its attack.

“Look at her face!” Butch cackled. “It’s like you didn’t even care that the flamethrower would be overkill.”

“I didn’t ask Houndoom to use Flamethrower.” Ria said quietly. “ It just…happened.”

She rubbed the back of her head. She was still in shock from its evolution when it all happened, and it happened so quickly. Had it been up to her, she probably would have stopped the battle altogether. It had just been a training exercise, after all, and although she had been volun-told to do it, had she known how things were going to turn out she would have surely found a way to get out of it.

“Well, either way, it was hilarious.” Butch said around a mouthful of French fries.

“I don’t think Domino felt the same way.”

“Oh, please.” Cassidy rolled her eyes. “She got cocky, she wanted to humiliate someone that had a type advantage over her to make herself look like a better trainer. She picks on spineless grunts like you all the time, no offense, knowing that you don’t have the backbone to actually defeat her even if you wanted to.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Guess she wasn’t counting on that mutt of yours having a mind of its own.” Her partner chuckled. Ria sighed as Cassidy continued. She’d never had a problem with Houndour listening to her before it evolved.

“If you ask me, that little witch had it coming. That bleach job alone should be a felony.”

Behind Cassidy, almost as if she’d been summoned from Hell by the mention of her name, Ria saw Domino approaching the table. She had a sly smirk on her face and it was apparent she was up to something. 

“Uh, Cassidy-“ Ria tried to interject when she saw the other blonde heading in their direction. Although Domino was technically the same rank as Cassidy and Butch, her relationship with Giovanni carried a lot of extra weight outside of the usual chain of command. Butch and Cassidy liked to tell anyone who would listen that they were the Boss’s favorites, but it was no secret that the title actually belonged to Domino.

“ -if only Houndoom had missed Roserade entirely.”

“Cassidy,” Butch also tried to intervene, but there was no stopping her at this point.

“HQ has been a much better place now that that spoiled brat has been taken down a peg.”

“Oh, and what spoiled brat are we talking about, exactly?”

Cassidy froze and, finally, turned to see Domino standing behind her.

“Domino!” She stammered. “Oh, you know…eh…”

“Actually, it’s no one that you would know at all!” Butch stepped in for the save. “Most definitely not anyone at this table or in the immediate vicinity of it.”

“Absolutely not!” Cassidy added.

“Well, feel free to carry on,” the blonde said, looking down at the lowest ranking member at the table. “I’m just here to see my good friend Ria on some urgent work business.”

“Work business?” Ria asked, suspiciously. She had expected some kind of retaliation, sure, but in the form of extra work detail or being sent on a field assignment in an undesirable location. The possibility of a face to face confrontation hadn’t even crossed her mind. Domino pulled a brown envelope from behind her back and handed it to her. She started to open it and Butch and Cassidy again leaned over her shoulder.

“Do you mind?” She muttered. Neither of them budged. She continued to open it carefully. Domino tapped her finger impatiently until she could no longer contain herself.

“You’re being audited!” She exclaimed, in a sing-song voice.

“What?!” Ria stood up in her chair, clutching the piece of paper so hard the edges wrinkled. Her eyes darted over the wording again and again, trying to make sure what she was reading was correct. It was an official order, and it had been signed by the Boss himself.

“Had to do it, Ria.” Domino’s remorse sounded more like sarcasm and Ria bristled at the sound of her voice. “It’s my duty as an officer to make sure everyone follows the rules, so I really had no choice. We both know that a grunt like yourself shouldn’t be able to defeat an officer like me in battle. The Boss would just be so disappointed if any officer witnessed something like that and didn’t report it.” 

She glared at Butch and Cassidy who looked at each other sheepishly.

“You didn’t have to do it.”

“Now, now, you know as well as I do Rockets are only allowed to keep pokemon up to a certain level, depending on their rank of course. This may be a criminal organization, but we have rules for a reason and those rules apply to everyone, even me. But listen,” Domino leaned in, “I’ll tell you what. I’m in a really good mood. I know you’re about to leave on an assignment, so we can wait to do this until you get back. That’ll give you time to say your goodbyes to Houndoom. Don’t worry…once we retrain it, I’ll take really good care of it.”

Domino walked away seeming satisfied with herself. 

“Thanks a lot.” Ria said, fighting the urge to smack Butch across the face with the lunch tray. “ She wouldn’t be half as mad at me if everyone hadn’t seen what happened on video.”

“Hey, there were plenty of people at that training who saw it first hand. That would have put her on a warpath with you anyway.” Butch defended himself.

“You guys are officers.” Ria pleaded. “You have to tell me, is there anything I can possibly do to get out of this?”

“There’s no way.” Cassidy was blunt in her reply. “Team Rocket is and always has been very strict about adhering to these audits, ever since…you know.”

“The incident.” Butch said with air quotes.

“What even happened, anyway? I was just a kid. My father was a part of Team Rocket at the time, and I remember hearing about it, but I didn’t really pay much attention. I…had a lot going on then.”

Ria ran her finger around the edge of her drink can. She was aware of ‘the incident’, as Butch called it, but it had occurred right around the same time her father had passed away, so she hadn’t paid it any mind. 

“We weren’t there either, but the story goes an Elite agent decided he wanted out of Team Rocket.” Butch explained.

“Obviously they told him no.” Cassidy added.

“Right.” He continued. “So the guy just skips out one night. Makes a run for it. When the Boss finally finds out, he’s furious. Puts a BOLO on this guy, pretty much has the whole team after him.”

“A manhunt.” His partner echoed.

“When they finally tracked him down, I hear it was a bloodbath. This guy was a real hotshot trainer, there was talk he coulda made it into the Elite Four if he wasn’t a Rocket. His pokemon were really powerful and your typical Team Rocket issued field trash was no match for it.”

Cassidy narrowed her eyes at him when he said this. It was a well-known fact that Raticate was her favorite pokemon, and Ria assumed this was why she seemed to resent that remark.

“They say it took almost 50 men to finally take him out, and he didn’t survive.”

“Giovanni never wanted to have to deal with that again, which is why he put this policy into place where Rockets are only allowed to have pokemon up to a certain level. When any pokemon exceeds the level cap for their trainer’s rank, that pokemon becomes the property of Team Rocket. They’re sent off to the breeding center to be re-trained, and they’re either assigned to an officer or put into the reserves if they’re needed later.”

“Wait! I have an idea! You guys can have higher leveled pokemon than I can. Cassidy, what if you take Houndoom for a while?” 

“Are you insane? That thing is public enemy number one right now.” She scoffed. “I’m not about to put a target on my back for Domino.”

Ria sighed. She pulled out Houndoom’s poke ball and looked at it. 

“It just doesn’t seem fair.”

“Well, them’s the rules.” Butch said, matter-of-factly. He and Cassidy stood to collect their trays. “ It’s all in your employment contract, so there’s really nothing you can do.”

“My recommendation would be to just use the Team Rocket issued pokemon from now on. It’s what Butch and I do. They’ll send you a new one every few months. Even if you’re out in the field, Delibird brings it to you.”

“It’s kinda like a subscription service.” Butch added. “They’re tailored to the kind of work you’ll be doing, too. It’s neat.”

“Catching your own pokemon is allowed, sure, but you get attached and eventually you have to either hand them over to Team Rocket or set them free. The only other people I know of who actually do that are those losers Jessie and James. This is a really good example of why it’s just not a good idea.” 

“Sorry kid.” Butch offered before he and Cassidy headed toward the exit. “That’s a real tough break. Here! You can have the rest of my fries.”

“…thanks.”

“French fries? Really?” She heard Cassidy hiss at him as they walked away.

“Well they always make me feel better after a bad day.”