Hello everyone! Another new fic I've been wanting to write for awhile now, a Pokémon fic featuring my RP Character, Reiku! No, none of my unfinished fics have been abandoned, merely…put on hold until this one gets its footing.
Reiku sat against a tree outside his house, so that the tree shielded him from the crisp autumn wind. A boy of eighteen, with light silver hair and bright aqua-colored eyes, he often sat outside like this, usually with his Umbreon or one of his other Pokémon with him. His Pokémon were rarely in their Pokéballs in any case.
His eyes drifted over to his Swampert, Kipkip, who was supervising the play of the just-hatched Treecko, Blade. Blade was the son of the Sceptile belonging to his oldest and closest friend. Every time he saw the young Pokémon he was reminded of her, and how she had gone missing roughly two weeks ago.
Reiku sighed and Shadow's head came up off Reiku's lap to look at him, sensing his quiet distress. Reiku put a hand on the Umbreon's head without taking his eyes off Blade, now climbing up Kipkip's back. The two had hit it off the way Kipkip had hit it off with Blade's father all those years ago.
"I dunno, Shadow," he said to the Umbreon. "I just don't know."
Shadow laid his head back down on Reiku's lap and closed his crimson eyes. Reiku picked up the Pokégear next to him and opened his texts. He scrolled through the messages, hoping there was a new one he missed, but knowing there wasn't. After several minutes, when any new message stubbornly refused to show itself, he hit Create New Message. He quickly typed in Where are you? and hit Send.
No sooner had he sent the text, the Pokégear vibrated in his hand. He opened it hastily, and was overwhelmed with the disappointment of it not being from her. As he read through the new message, and read through it again, his excitement began to build.
Mr. Kori – Your application has been accepted. A messenger will arrive to take you to our base within a few days. Be completely ready to go when he arrives. – Giovanni Sakaki, Team Rocket Leader.
Reiku raised his eyebrows slightly and read the message one more time, to make absolutely certain he had read it right. When he was sure this was really happening, he ruffled Shadow's ears, jerking the Umbreon out of his half-doze.
Reiku showed him the message. "What d'you think, Shadow?" he asked. "Think we're finally gonna find her?"
Shadow barked and cocked his head.
"Of course I haven't forgotten," Reiku answered. "I haven't stopped thinking about it. It's still my main concern, and will be until we find her."
He got to his feet and strode over to where his starter and the baby Treecko were playing. Blade let out a happy noise and jumped from Kipkip's shoulder to Reiku's, clinging to the material of his jacket.
"Come on, guys," he said. "We gotta pack some stuff. Where's Aer?"
As if on cue, the Skarmory swooped down a short distance away, a Zigzagoon clamped in his beak.
"Ah, there you are," said Reiku, choosing not to remark on Aer's prey. "Come on, we have an opportunity to find her. And your father," he added quietly to the Treecko on his shoulder.
Exactly four days later, a large Fearow landed outside Reiku's house, standing silently until Reiku came outside, Shadow at his heels, as per usual. The Fearow had a note tied to the black collar around his neck.
Mr. Kori – Fearow will take you to our base in the Kanto region. Follow him closely; he's been known to leave people behind. – Giovanni Sakaki, Team Rocket Leader.
"Don't worry. Aer can match anything you can throw at him," Reiku said with confidence, but he felt a small stir of worry. The Kanto region was a long way off, across the sea, and Aer, fast as he was, had never made that far of a journey before.
But Aer swooped down from wherever he had been and stared Fearow in the eye, issuing the silent challenge. Fearow did not bat an eye, but stared back with equal ferocity. Reiku rolled his eyes. This wouldn't be the first time Aer challenged another flying type, but now was not the time. He put a hand on Aer's back to calm him.
"Shadow, return," he said, recalling Shadow to his Pokéball. He put Shadow's Pokéball safely in his bag with Kipkip's and Blade's and slung the bag over his shoulder. Reiku climbed onto Aer's back and nodded to Fearow, who immediately took off. Aer followed suit, visibly trying to pull ahead.
"Aer, stop it," Reiku scolded. "Just follow him, don't try to race him; we don't know where we're going."
Aer let out a noise that sounded remarkably like a whine, but pulled back.
Fearow flew amazingly fast, with Aer following as close as he could. He kept a steady pace with Fearow, oblivious to the biting cold, while Reiku shivered on his back as the wind whipped by him. As they passed over Fortree City, Fearow rose above the clouds and the temperature dropped even further. Reiku suddenly wished Skarmory was not a steel type, or at least that he had gloves. Aer's steel feathers were icy under his numb hands. By the time night fell, Reiku was ready for the flight to be over with, quite sure that ice was now forming on his fingernails, but the sea was still an endless expanse below them. Aer was tiring and beginning to lag behind. It had been dark for a few hours when Reiku finally saw the continent that was Kanto-Johto. It wasn't for another few hours, however, after passing over numerous clusters of lights that were cities, Fearow started to dive for a grove of trees a few miles beyond Cerulean City, Aer following suit.
By the time Aer and the half-frozen Reiku touched down, Fearow had already landed and we being greeted by a young boy of around fourteen. He had violent scarlet hair and grey eyes. Reiku personally thought that he looked too young to be in a criminal organization.
"It took you long enough!" shouted the boy. "Did you know it's after midnight?"
"No," replied Reiku shortly, rubbing his hands together. "It's a long flight, kid. I live in Hoenn."
"Not anymore," said the boy. "Now come on, it's late, cold, and I want to get to bed."
"Why are you even out here waiting anyway, kid?" Reiku questioned.
The boy ignored his question and turned to Fearow. "You deserve a rest. Go on, off to the aviary with you." Fearow cawed and took off to somewhere on the other side of the bleak grey building. He turned to Reiku and answered his questioning look. "It's not really an aviary. That's just what we call the section of forest our messenger birds like to nest in. It's not too far from here. Your Skarmory is welcome to go there as well, once you've been here long enough for the other birds to trust him."
"I think he'll stay with me for now," replied Reiku, recalling Aer to his Pokéball. He turned back to the red-haired boy to find he was already going inside. Reiku hurried to catch up. Now that they were in a lit hallway, Reiku could see how tired the boy looked. He knew that he couldn't look much better, and he probably looked very windswept on top of that.
"Alright," said the boy as he led Reiku down a series of bare grey-walled hallways that Reiku was sure he wasn't going to remember later. "My job tonight is to take you to the Boss's office for your briefing and then take you to where you'll sleep. Then I can go to sleep myself."
"You didn't have to wait for me this late, you know," said Reiku.
"Yeah, I did," replied the boy. "Silver's orders. He's the Boss's right-hand man. Besides, how else would you have found where to go without a guide? I grew up in this building; I'm always the natural choice for a guide."
The boy finally stopped outside a door. "Well, here's the office. Try not to take too long, I really want to go to bed."
"Thanks," Reiku muttered as the boy knocked loudly on the door. "Boss! Silvs! The new recruit is finally here."
"Send him in," called a voice on the other side of the door. The boy nodded to Reiku, who opened the door and walked inside.
Giovanni Sakaki sat behind a mahogany desk, garbed in a trenchcoat and a black fedora. His hard black eyes looked Reiku up and down. Reiku stood in what he hoped was a confident manner. Behind Giovanni, half in shadow, a boy around Reiku's age leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. This must be Silver, Reiku supposed. He had the same crimson hair as the boy outside, but his eyes shone more silver than grey. Silver nodded at Reiku; Giovanni leaned forward.
"Two brief things before I let you go and we can all go to bed. First, the location of this base is top secret; the only people allowed to reveal its location to anyone at all are myself and my two sons. It's more than your life's worth to reveal our location. My oldest son will be especially…displeased." He gestured to the boy behind him. Silver smirked and gave Reiku a small wave. "Second, you will need a uniform. One will be issued to you within a few days. Now go; it's late and you just flew dozens of miles."
Reiku found his voice. "Thank you for letting me join."
Silver laughed. "Heheh. Team Rocket is always recruiting new members. Welcome aboard. Dismissed."
The boy was waiting outside like he said he would be. "So the Boss and my brother didn't bite your head off, I see. That'll be a first. Silvs has a nasty habit of intimidating the newbies. He thinks it's fun."
"Can't imagine why," said Reiku dryly. Then he stopped as the boy's words sunk in. "Wait. Brother? So that means you're…?"
"Gio's younger son, yeah," replied the boy. "Grey Sakaki."
"So that's why you're so young," Reiku thought out loud.
A look of annoyance crossed Grey's face. He turned and began to lead Reiku down the hall. "Having the Boss as your dad has its advantages."
"Whatever you say, kid," said Reiku, following him. He smirked to himself as the look of annoyance deepened.
"So I'm allowed to be with Rocket, despite my age," he continued in slightly too level a voice.
"Alright, kid," said Reiku lightly, thoroughly enjoying annoying Grey at this point.
"I'm also an executive, under only Giovanni and Silver, your superior, and I hate disrespectful grunts and being called 'kid.'"
"Okay, ki – what? Fuck." But when he glanced up at Grey he saw he was grinning.
"My brother intimidates people for his fun. I screw with them," said Grey.
"I – you – you just played me at my own game and beat me," stammered Reiku, thunderstruck.
Grey laughed. "I think you and I are gonna get along just fine. The disrespectful ones are the most fun to be around actually. They provide more of a challenge most of the time. Just don't pull that on Silver or the Boss or any of the other executives for that matter. You can get into a lot of trouble for it. Well, maybe you can get away with it with Proton and Petrel, but they're kind of idiots. No idea how they became executives."
Reiku, who was struggling to keep the names straight while memorizing the path they were taking, noticed that Grey stopped in front of a door with no name engraved on it like the ones down the hall.
"Right," said Grey. "All the grunts share a room with one other. Your room, however, doesn't have a roomie yet. We got another application sent in, from Hoenn as well, and if the Boss and Silvs accept them, he'll be your roommate. You're free to let your Pokémon out, and free to have them out in the rest of the base as well. I'll be back in the morning to show you around the rest of the base. Executives and higher all get a room to themselves, which I am off to now. Night."
And with that, Grey turned and walked back in the direction they had come, leaving Reiku alone in the deserted hallway. He turned the knob and entered the room. It was as bleak as the rest of the base, with grey walls and two beds, one against opposite walls. Reiku threw his bag on the bed closest to the door and flopped down on it. Not quite as comfortable as his bed was back home, but good enough.
He sifted through his bag until he found the four Pokéballs and released his Pokémon. Shadow immediately leapt up onto the bed next to his trainer.
"Alright, guys," Reiku said. "We're gonna be living here from now on. Not as grand as our place back home, but there'll be plenty of other Pokémon around. Maybe even some of the same kind. Get some sleep now, though."
His Pokémon obliged. Shadow curled up at his side; Kipkip curled up on the floor and Blade climbed on top of him; Aer put his head under his wing.
Reiku, however, did not go to sleep immediately. Instead he fished his Pokégear out of his bag and opened his messages. He sifted through them, searching for that nonexistent one he wanted so badly to see, a habit that had gotten progressively worse since she'd disappeared.
Hey, Sanura. I still haven't heard any word from you. It's been almost three weeks. I don't know where you are, or if you're okay, or if anything at all has happened, and it's killing me. Leif's child hatched, by the way. It's a boy; I named him Blade. He's nearly as attached to Kipkip as his father is. Is Leif okay? I joined Team Rocket. I know you would deck me if you were here, but Teams have the best resources to track down people. I'll find you, and we'll battle like we did when we were kids. I promise. With any luck, I won't lose as miserably that time. I'll find you. – Rei.
"I'll find you, Sanura," he said softly, putting the Pokégear back in his bag and closing his eyes. "I'll find you."
Good? Bad? Continue? Kill it with fire?
Yeah, I know a couple details are incredibly off-cannon, namely Grey's existence and Silver being the heir to Rocket when in the manga he clearly stated that he didn't recognize Giovanni as his father and hates the Rockets. There's a simple explanation: roleplays. A large one I was a part of (as Reiku, so there will be some "we really did this" scenes), there were two Silvers, so one of them took the name Grey and played him as Original!Silver's little brother; Original!Silver was played as an eighteen year old who has joined with the Rockets. Everything in here is post Platinum.