There will be time skip in this chapter and possibly the next few chapters.

A sixteen year old Proton followed Ariana down a dark hallway. She seemed to be in a good mood, which was odd for her. "Where are we going?" He asked.

"To meet the boss, of course." Ariana shrugged like it was nothing. A pang of nervousness shot through his body. The boss?

"What?" He asked, not sure if he heard her right. He had joined the Rockets a year ago and since then had been doing grunt work for Archer and Ariana. He worked his ass off to try and climb up the ranks. He hoped this visit to the boss meant a promotion. Ariana stopped at a door and knocked gently.

"Come in." A deep voice said. The red head smirked at Proton and opened the door. She let Proton in first before she followed, shutting the door behind her. The room was dark, with two windows covered by blinds on the wall behind a large desk. Behind the desk sat a man with almost black hair and what seemed like a permanent angry look on his face. Beside him stood a young girl. She had light brown eyes and short brown hair that framed her face. "Hello Ariana."

"Hello sir." She greeted. "I brought Proton, just like you wanted."

"Good. Proton, I hear you're a very hard worker." Giovanni started, shifting his gaze to the young teenager. "You listen to orders and get things done right and fast. I like that."

"Thank you sir." He said, nodding his head and trying to stand up straight.

"Before I decide to give you a better title, you need to do something for me. This is my daughter, Lyra." He gestured to the young girl standing next to him.

"Hello." She said quietly.

"To see if I can trust you, I need you to babysit Lyra." He said and Proton almost thought it was a joke. "This organization is like another child to me. If you can't take care of Lyra, then I doubt you can take care of this organization. Lyra, be good." He said and she nodded his head. "You are dismissed." Ariana nodded and left, Proton followed her and Lyra followed him out of the dark office.

"Is this a joke?" Proton asked, looking at the child.

"Archer had to do it, so did I and Petrel." Ariana said and shrugged. "She's simple. Just give her a toy. Though, Petrel was last to watch her, he probably interacted with her more than Archer and I did. She might be a little difficult." Lyra shot a horrible look to Ariana, but the red head didn't see it. "She's twelve. It's not like she's a baby that you have to change and fed. She's self-sufficient." Ariana stopped at a door. "This is her room."

"How long do I have to watch her?"

"An hour or more? Depends. Petrel had to watch her for five hours every day for two months." Ariana smiled and opened the door. Lyra walked in and Proton sighed before following her in, the door slamming shut behind him.

Proton's career depended on this. "So…" He muttered, looking at the young girl. He was sixteen. He barely knew how to take care of himself half of the time. How was he expected to take care of her?

"As long as you aren't mean to me, I'll tell my father good things about you." Lyra said, going over to a bookshelf to pull out a book. Her room was large. The walls were a light gray, with pictures of pokemon or drawings hung on it. Her bookcase was black, with pink polka dots on it and the carpet was a light pink. Her bed was white with light blue sheets and comforter. At the end of the bed was a black dresser. She had a blue toy bin, a pink one, and a white one. She had a small table in the middle of the room and shelves with different things in them around the room. She sat down at the table and flipped through the book silently.

"Uh…" He mumbled, sitting down at the small table.

"You can go pick out a book to read if you want." She said, not looking at him as she flipped another page. "Ariana just talked about herself, Archer read, Petrel played with me, but you can do whatever. I don't mind sit+ting here and reading."

Proton got up and went over to the bookshelf. All he had to do was sit here and read to earn the boss' trust? How easy was this?

By the third week, Proton had read every book on her bookshelf. The hours of watching her were long. He often ended up leaving as she was falling asleep, around ten at night. Giovanni never seemed to come around.

"Hey kiddo." Petrel greeted, opening the door. Proton looked up at the purple haired man and back to the young girl, who jumped out of her seat.

"Petrel!" She smiled, the first smile Proton had seen from the girl, and hugged him.

"Has Proton been entertaining you?" Petrel asked and she nodded her head, letting him go.

"I'm going to get a snack." Lyra told Proton and left the room, scurrying down the hallway towards the kitchen.

"Poor kid." Petrel shook his head and sat down in one of the tiny chairs. "Cooped up in this room all day."

"She seems fine."

"Not like she knows any better." Petrel said. "You really need to interact with her. Talk to her, play a board game with her."

"Why?"

"She's lonely. Can't you tell?" Petrel asked and Proton thought about it. Every day when he came in, she did seem sort of happy to see him. "Her dad never spends anytime with her and he gets some of the worst people to babysit, no offense. She has no pokemon. No one to play with. She spends all day in here by herself until he gets someone to watch her. Even then, she still plays by herself."

"What am I supposed to do?" Proton asked.

"Play with her. She has board games. She'll be happy if you play at least one game with her. The happier she is, the better." Petrel said and Lyra came into the room with an apple. "I've got to go, my break time is up. I'll come back to visit later this week, okay?"

"Alright." Lyra said, disappointed to see him go. He left and Lyra sat back down, biting into her apple.

"Do you want to play a board game?" Proton asked and her face lit up.

"R-Really?" She asked. "You want to play a game with me?"

"Sure, why not?" Proton shrugged and she ran over to one of her many toy boxes. She dug through the box, pulling out other boxes. She examined them as she pulled them out, deciding which game to play. She finally chose one and brought it over. "Connect four?" He asked, looking at the box.

"Yeah, you try to get four of your pieces in a row." She explained, setting up the game. "It's really easy and fun." She smiled as she set it up.

They played for five hours.

Three months. Three months he had been babysitting her.

Proton learned two things within those three months.

One, Ariana was right. The girl was self-sufficient. She did things all by herself. She bathed and dressed herself, cleaned up after herself, got breakfast, lunch, and dinner for herself, made sure she went to bed at a reasonable time, and did all the workbooks that were given to her. She was a smart kid.

Two, she was lonely. The highlight of her day was Proton coming in to watch her.

"So, does your dad ever play with you?" Proton asked as she colored in a coloring book, staying in the lines perfectly.

"No, never. He's busy in the gym and with the organization." Lyra said sadly. "But he buys me presents to make up for it." Proton looked around the room. Every month, new toys popped up. He had wondered where they came from. "I'm really hoping that he gets me a pokemon for my birthday."

"A pokemon?"

"I know I'm probably too young for one, but…." She trailed off. "One day, you won't be watching me anymore. I want someone to talk to and play with."

"I don't think you're too young for one. You're a bright child." Proton said, hoping to cheer her up. It irritated him that Giovanni never gave his child attention. Gifts were nice, but love was better. He almost laughed at himself. He was in Team Rocket and he was mad at the boss for not giving his child any love? Team Rocket basically destroyed any love, except the love for money and power. Babysitting this girl was messing with his head.

"Thank you." She smiled. "Ariana said I was too young when I asked her about it the other day. I hate her." Lyra grumbled. "She's so mean. I just want to kick her."

"I do too, sometimes." Proton admitted. "Don't tell anyone that though."

"Promise!" Lyra cheered, finishing the coloring page.

Lyra didn't get a pokemon for her birthday. She was so upset, but she put on a tough face in front of Proton, but he knew she was heartbroken about it.

A month later, he was assigned to another mission. His days of watching Lyra were cut back, and he only got to visit her once a week. Part of him was happy to be free of the depressing room and playing board games for hours. Part of him missed it. He shrugged it off as he snuck around towns at night, stealing and lying, but it always came back up when he walked into the room and saw the girl smile brightly at him.

"Protonnn." A thirteen year old Lyra whined, looking at the ceiling in her room boredly. She had become much more comfortable with the male after a year of knowing him and she was no longer quiet. "It's almost my birthday. I know I didn't get a pokemon last year, but I think dad is really going to get me one this year…"

"You think?" Proton asked, setting the book he was reading down. He now spent every Friday evening with the girl. He didn't mind it though. After a week of working, she was a nice break from it. Ariana told him not to grow attached or befriend the young girl, but he didn't see the harm in it. It surprised him when she began to open up to him about a month ago. She was actually a very cheerful girl, something he couldn't believe at first. If his father was Giovanni, he figured he'd act like a brat and be very cold and rude to everyone, not so…happy. However, he figured that the happiness was fueling her. That smile on her face wasn't real all the time, actually, most of the time he guessed it was fake, but he gave her props for trying to be positive about it all.

"Yes!"

"Well, what type of pokemon would you want?"

"Uhm…a loyal one. One that will always be there for me and will protect me and be my best friend. Oh, and one that's not stolen…I don't want someone else's pokemon." Lyra said honestly, fiddling with a pillow on her bed.

"Maybe you'll get one this year then, but for now, you need to go to bed." The seventeen year old male stood up and the girl pouted. "Nope, bed. I have to head home you know." He grumbled, yawning.

"Fine…night Proton. See ya next week." She sat in bed and smiled at Proton left, but frowned the second the door clicked shut.

Proton stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked down the hall. Just as he walked by Giovanni's office, he heard him.

"Proton. I would like to speak to you." Giovanni's voice was heard through the door and Proton froze. He stared at the doorknob, taking it in his hand slowly and turning it. "Come in." Giovanni said and Proton stepped in, shutting the door behind him.

"Yes sir?" He questioned, now standing up straight his hands behind his back.

"You seem to spend a lot of time with Lyra, do you not?"

"Y-Yes sir, I do." Proton stammered, wondering where this was going. Was he in trouble?

"Do you know what she wants for her birthday?" Giovanni asked and Proton raised his eyebrows. "I don't know her well enough to get her something she might like."

"Yes sir, I know what she wants." Proton was disgusted with the man before him. He didn't know his thirteen year old daughter well enough? Maybe he should take the short walk down the hall and talk to the kid every once in a well.

"Good, get it for her." Giovanni said, dismissing the teenager. Proton left, irritated. Who could barely care for their child like that? And why was he so surprised? This was Giovanni he was talking about. He's ruthless and stomps on people to get what he wants. He showered his child with gifts, thinking it could make up for the severe lack of attention he gave her. Proton glared at any grunt who was unfortunate enough to look him in the eyes as he stormed down the hall.

He knew exactly what pokemon to get her.

I didn't want to rush it, but I feel like I did.

No I didn't make Proton super cruel, this is sort of an Alternate Universe so he's not mean at the moment. He will be cruel later on in the story though.

Just tell me what you think~ I would love to continue this story!