A/N: This story is a continuation of my other fanfiction, The Ambassadors. I would highly recommend reading that first; otherwise, this may be very confusing.

One thing to note: this story follows the lives of three different characters. In the order of Abby-Brian-Grimsy, each will have one chapter dedicated to their side. This cycle will then repeat. I hope this isn't too perplexing for anyone. I will make sure to indicate whose chapter it is at the top of each one.

I hope you enjoy reading, and as always, feedback on the story and the writing is appreciated.

(Abby)

Chapter 1: Decision

-o-O-O-o-

Five years.

To a child, it seemed like an eternal tunnel, a leisurely stroll through life. Five years passed like the lazy seconds of a summer day, ticking by but never seeming to add up. Yet once those years had come and gone, this same hybrid child found herself looking back and wondering how on earth the time had slipped by so quickly.

Abby was thirteen today. By now the memories of her childhood in the Cipher laboratories were distant and fuzzy images, insignificant to her new life. The sterile hallways and contained environments that she had grown up in had been replaced with the crazy, fast-paced life of Saffron City. The transition was not without its problems, however…

The girl took another bite of the piece of bacon in her furry hands, brown eyes idly looking around the apartment she had become intimately familiar with. It was a small place; living in the city meant that no space was left without a purpose. Sitting at the kitchen table, she could see every room, and the entire living space was minimally decorated.

The creak of a door pricked her ears, and drew her eyes to her mother's bedroom as the older woman emerged. She was a rather bland lady, dressed in simple clothes and with her hair in a perpetually messy bun. Her job at a pokemon daycare called for no frills in her appearance.

"Good morning, Abigail," She smiled at the girl, pulling out a chair to sit next to her. "And happy birthday."

"Thanks mom." Abby gave her a small smile in return, pushing a waiting cup of tea towards her. Her claws clicked against the china as she moved it.

Five years. Five years ago, the news of her kind's existence was broadcast over the networks of every region in the world. There was a lot of outcry, a lot of disgust, a lot of debate. Abby didn't remember any of this, though. All she remembered was the constant stream of people that drifted in and out of that Academy back in Orre. First the reporters, who asked her too many questions. Then the nurses, who opened her mouth and pulled her ears and gave her food. Then the scientists, who were like the nurses, but without the redemption of edibles. Every day was different, and she hated it. Then… her mother came.

She flew all the way from Kanto to meet her new daughter. They had told Abby before that she would someday have a new home, but she never took them seriously until she came face-to-face with her new caretaker. It wasn't a big deal to the child; she had been passed around amongst the scientists and other subjects for most of her young life. To the world, however, it was apparently a much more serious issue.

"You're up early," Her mother interrupted Abby's reflection. "I've never known you to be so excited to start a school day."

"Well… since it's my birthday…" The girl shot her mother the most pathetic look she could muster.

"You're not skipping today. Your grades are low enough as it is." She left no room for negotiation.

Abby pouted, but resigned to the fate. "I was just thinking a lot and I couldn't go back to sleep. Can't believe it's been five years."

"It's been the best five years of my life." Her mother smiled again.

"Don't lie," The girl's ears twitched in annoyance. "It's been really crappy. People don't even talk to you. They just talk to each other about how you must've screwed a—"

"Abby!"

"It's true!" She shrugged defensively, "I'm not stupid. I hear the stuff they say. They're so terrible to you. And me."

Her mother was silent, staring down into her tea with a troubled expression. Abby felt immediately remorseful; it really was hard for them. The woman had given up a lot in being the first to adopt a pokemorph child. Even in Kanto, the only region that had passed laws to protect them, most of the citizens were less than thrilled to have the monsters amongst them. Abby didn't know how many friends her mother had before she brought the Eevee child home, but she did know that since she had been there, there were never any visitors at the house.

"I never thought it would be easy," Her mother finally spoke up, looking intently into the girl's eyes, "I didn't even know if I could raise a norm—a fully human child by myself. But Abby… I knew I had to do something. When they aired the discovery on the news, and they showed your face and told your story… I knew I had to help."

Abby nodded absently. She had heard this story before.

"This is the best place for you. You couldn't stay in Orre forever… I mean, they just shipped out the last few hybrids a year ago, didn't they? And in Johto… geez, they're going to murder one of your kind someday. They really are. Even in Sinnoh, you wouldn't be a full citizen." She reached over and squeezed the girl's arm gently. "Things will get better here."

"Mm." Abby looked down at her furry toes. She hated to admit it… but her mother was right. The world was dangerous for her kind outside of Kanto. She often wondered where the others who were rescued from Cipher were now. Had most of them moved to Kanto too? Were they in some other exotic region that she hadn't heard of? She never paid much attention to the news.

"You need to leave soon," Her mother nodded at the clock. "You'll be late."

Abby groaned. "Why am I even in school? Most of the kids dropped out a few years ago to train, anyway."

"I gave you that option, and you didn't want to. Until you can give me a better idea, you're going to get something of an education." She rose and crossed the kitchen to wash her empty cup, ruffling the girl's hair on the way. "Just ignore the other kids, Abby. Most of them still have the minds of children."

"I'll try." Abby responded, her face forlorn. She too rose from the table, stretching, and made her way toward the door. Her gait was awkward; she was born to switch between two and four limbs, but endless teasing from her classmates "inspired" her to take up exclusively bipedal locomotion. It hurt her back, but at least it gave them one less excuse to call her a pokemon.

She stopped by the mirror on the way out, obsessively checking her hair like most teenagers would. It grew thin and dull, but she did her best to pull it up into a pathetically limp ponytail around her ears. She tried to smile; her fangs flashed. Her appearance may have been inoffensive compared to some of the stitched-together pokemorphs back in the laboratory, but in a city of humans, she was just as freakish as the rest of them… not to mention the fact that her Eevee DNA already made her much shorter and stockier than most of the girls her age. It was easy to understand her dread as she shuffled out the door and begrudgingly headed down the block.

-o-O-O-o-

She managed to make it a few blocks before trouble started.

"Hey, Fuzzy!" A young male voice called out from behind her. She gritted her teeth… one of her classmates. She marched on as if she hadn't heard.

"C'mon Fuzzy, we wanna talk," Another boy added on, "Can you understand us? Do we have to speak pokemon? Toby, I don't speak pokemon, do you?"

"Nah, I don't either. Hey, maybe she'll talk to one of my pokemon?"

Abby growled. They were so stupid. She knew they were talking loud enough for her to hear. They were trying to get her mad. Rather than calm her, however, that fact enraged her all the more. The boys continued to banter tauntingly behind her, but she did her best to tune them out. She thought of the supposed protection she had here, the legal rights that the government granted her but did little to enforce. Johto had immediately rejected the pokemorphs, and most people expected Kanto to follow suit. To the world's surprise, however, they ended up being the first advocates for the new creatures' rights. There were murmurs of Team Rocket's involvement, but that meant nothing to Abby. Team Rocket was before her time here. The only places she saw the strange uniformed criminals were in the history books.

Her train of thought was violently interrupted when something collided with her head.

The impact threw her off-balance and sent her crashing to the sidewalk with a yelp. For a moment she could only blink in confusion and pain, but it wasn't long before she looked down to see the projectile in question. A pokeball.

"Sorry, Fuzzy," One of the boys called nonchalantly from a short distance, "I thought you were an Eevee. They're pretty rare, you know."

Abby was shaking in rage as she got up, the cackling of the pair assaulting her ears. How dare they. How dare they. She spun on them wrathfully.

"You guys are so freaking stupid!" The words sounded dumb as soon as she spoke them, frustrating her further. "Do you seriously have nothing better to do? Can't you leave me alone for one day?"

Her response only added fuel to the fire.

"Aw man, she does talk, Toby!" One of the boys grabbed the other, grinning smugly at the girl. "I think she's some kinda poke-monster!"

"We better run, dude," The other boy feigned horror, "We might turn into monsters too!"

With that, the pair bolted down the nearest street. The school was only a block away; they apparently knew another route. Abby started after them, but after a few steps she realized the futility of her chase. She blinked back angry tears as she started back on her way. How could something so juvenile make her so livid? They had done this every day of her life, she shouldn't be surprised by now. Still, it didn't stop her from kicking the offending pokeball as hard as she could when she passed it by.

-o-O-O-o-

School was fairly normal that day. Under the eyes of the teachers—who were not exactly warm and loving, but certainly less cruel than the students—her classmates left her alone. She had been with this group since she first entered school in her first year in Kanto. Being the only pokemorph in the public school system certainly drew a lot of unwanted attention, and the fact that she had to take remedial courses for her missed schooling in the Cipher labs furthered the isolation she felt from her peers. Some had grown to ignore her presence, but there were those who found renewed glee in her torment with the onslaught of puberty, such as the two boys who taunted her that morning.

It was lunch that she truly dreaded. With the teachers unable to constantly supervise, she was open to attacks from anyone who dared. Most of the time they were childish insults that she could ignore, but recently the harassment was getting worse. It was mostly boys, fueled by testosterone, who would throw food, or bump into her in line, or try to trip her as she walked to her table. It was her least favorite part of the day, and she couldn't get out of it.

Today, however, some peculiar happened. As she was packing up her supplies after sleeping through another math lesson, waiting for the impending lunch bell, the intercom crackled and went live.

"Abigail Fenton, please report to the guidance office."

Abby felt the curious eyes of her classmates as she hurriedly stuffed the contents of her desk into her backpack and pattered out of the room. Her stomach, already unsettled by hunger, churned in nervousness. She had never been called to the office. Was it about her grades? Were they finally kicking her out?

It wasn't long before she had trekked through the hallways and found herself approaching the office. The principal was standing outside the door, eying the passing students that had just been dismissed for lunch. He caught sight of Abby and waved her over, a neutral expression on his face.

"Abigail," He acknowledged her politely, but his arms came just a bit closer to his side as she got near. Still couldn't quite handle the fur. "There is a visitor who would like to speak with you."

"O-oh." She blinked in confusion. A visitor? Who did she know outside of her mother? "Uh, thanks."

The man stepped aside as she grabbed the door handle, claws scraping against the metal. Her heart picked up its pace as she swung it open, trying to imagine who could be waiting for her inside. Even her wildest imaginings, however, couldn't prepare her for the man who was sitting at the desk.

He was a pokemorph, but not one that Abby had ever seen before. His form was massive, bulging with vibrant fur and muscle, and after a while it clicked with the shocked girl what pokemon he had been fused with: Arcanine. His cream-colored hair ran thick down his back and face, meshing seamlessly with an impressive beard that was trimmed to allow his sizable fangs to show through.

For a moment, Abby could only stare in awe. He looked so… powerful. He was the only one of her kind that she had seen in years, and she was at a loss for words. Questions buzzed around in her head, but none of them came out. It wasn't long before she became aware of her gawking, and turned hot in embarrassment. The huge man seemed to sense her uneasiness and offered her a wide, toothy smile.

"You must be Abigail. Please, sit down. We have some exciting business to discuss." His voice was deep, rumbling like thunder. She took a seat quickly, slumping into the nearest chair, eyes still wide. She tried to look at his own eyes, but they were fierce and intimidating. Her gaze instead flicked over his form again, taking in what she had missed upon the initial glance. He didn't seem to be wearing any kind of shirt, but his thick fur more than made up for that. His pants were loose, held into place by a thick leather belt, and some unseen modification apparently allowed for his billowing tail to flow out into the chair. She swept over his bulging arms again, and something caught her eye; amidst the glossy black stripes on his orange coat, a peculiar marking stood out. It was stark white, even lighter than his mane of hair, and its shape was difficult to make out at first. A slight tilt of her head, however, brought the letter into full view. A capital 'R'.

"Is something wrong?" The hybrid man stared intently at the girl, troubled by her silence.

She remembered that 'R'. Faintly, but she remembered it. It was red, though, and it adorned the bicep of a scrawny teenager, who would ruffle her hair and carry her around the lab. She recalled him telling her about its origin, over and over again, the only scary story he knew. The one of his own capture.

Abby looked up at the Arcanine man shyly before blurting out, "A-are you from Team Rocket?"

The man seemed taken aback, but his surprise was a pleasant one. "Ah, yes! You've heard already, then?"

"I heard that they kidnapped people," She ventured hesitantly, "And that they worked with Cipher. And stole stuff."

He appeared to be troubled by her answer. His brow creased deeply, and for a moment, Abby feared that he was angry at her. His frustration seemed directed elsewhere, however.

"Where did you hear that?"

"I-in the, uh, history books." She was almost afraid to answer, for fear that his anger would turn on her.

This gave the man something to think about. His eyes stared over her head, and he nodded occasionally, grunting a deep sound of decisiveness.

"We will have to amend that."

"Isn't it true?" Abby was not sure what to think of this enormous pokemorph. She had grown up being told wild tales of Team Rocket's involvement in human experimentation and general illegal activities, something which this man was apparently a victim of. Yet… he did not hide his bleached brand. On the contrary, he seemed to wear it with pride.

"Ah, some of it, some of it," He shook his head in apparent disappointment. "Your textbooks here are outdated, it seems. I'm sure they talk about the Kanto exploits? And the radio tower takeover in Johto?"

Abby nodded as he listed off the famous events. They were years before her time, but she remembered a few snatches of information from her last history course.

"Those were dark times in Team Rocket's history. The organization has been entirely reinvented since then. Apparently, the world is not ready to see them that way, though." He chuckled darkly. "That's why they've gone underground. I suppose the protection laws for our kind didn't improve their standing with society much—"

"So Team Rocket really did pass those laws? The ones that let me live here?" Abby leaned in unconsciously, fascinated by what the stranger was saying. They hadn't taught that in school. In fact… they barely talked at all about the legal debates regarding pokemorphs.

"Of course! You, me, and all the others. We're welcome here because of Team Rocket's support. Which is why—"

"The others?" The girl was nearly bouncing in her seat now. The others. The other pokemorphs. The ones who had disappeared from her life after her rescue. "Are they… are they really all here? In Kanto?"

"Well, I don't know about all of them." He chuckled again, much more lightheartedly. "But there are many, yes. That is why I came to talk to you, as a matter of fact."

Abby stared, and it took her a second to remember that she was sitting in the office with a complete stranger whose reasons for being there were still unknown. Reddening unnoticeably under her fur, she scooted back into her seat and sat up a little straighter.

"Abigail… are you happy here?" His face was suddenly serious. "Are you succeeding in this environment?"

"Uh…" She hesitated, unsure of what to say. She didn't know what would be the wrong answer. "It's… alright."

"Alright?"

"It sucks being the only one." Her eyes explored the floor as she talked. "They tease me a lot. It's pretty stupid… but sometimes it's annoying."

The man was nodding again, staring thoughtfully at the furry girl. When he spoke, his voice had become soft… well, as soft as was possible for him.

"They don't understand, Abigail. They haven't grown up in an area where they were the minority. Especially not a minority that many consider abominations."

Abby could only nod in agreement. All that he said was something that she had thought at some point.

"Not everyone's like that, though. There are people out there who accept us, who realize that we've got just as many rights as people who haven't been genetically enhanced. Most of us were born human anyway, right? Ah, you are a special case, of course, but you're as good as human. Better, even." He smiled encouragingly. "You don't need to be in this environment, Abigail. You aren't able to explore your full potential here. There are better places for you. Places where you're in the company of your own kind."

He paused, letting his words sink into Abby's busy mind. The girl was extremely conflicted inside. Doubt kept welling up at everything he said, but she could never find anything technically wrong with his argument. More troubling than that, however, was the hopeful elation that his suggestion brought. Abby had not seen another pokemorph since she arrived in Kanto five years ago. The idea that there was some secret community of hybrids out there, waiting to accept her into their midst, was a very tempting one.

"What does that have to do with Team Rocket?" Somewhere, in the back of her brain, she already knew the answer.

"Until the world is ready to accept us, Team Rocket provides us with a society of our own. They protect us. They house us. They teach us." His eyes burned with a passion, the same thick emotion that was embedded in every word he spoke. "You would be… a fine addition to our family, Abigail."

He fell silent, leaning back into his chair; it creaked under his weight. His face took on a placid look of patience. Abby's eyes only lingered on his visage for a moment, though, before they again locked onto his artificial marking. She was all tangled up inside.

Her whole life, she had been told that Team Rocket was a criminal organization. They had even created their own pokemorphs, using people that were completely unwilling… surely, that made them evil? Yet… yet here was this man, apparently one of those very prisoners, who spoke in their defense. He spoke of their kindness to the hybrids, and of their redemption from their former ways. It was a stark difference from her image of the group, and it didn't set well with her. Constant doubt was buzzing around her mind, raising an assault of questions that she could barely put into words.

There was something else there, though. Something that she found it much easier to focus on. There was a life for her out there. A life beyond the constant torment of classmates who would never accept her. A life beyond low expectations. A life beyond the shadow of a world where she was considered a freak.

The white 'R' glistened in the artificial light. It was a badge, just like those earned by the trainers who travelled across Kanto and Johto. She tried to imagine herself with her own glossy letter, displayed proudly on her furry arm, showing the world that she was a part of a bigger cause.

Yes… a part of a cause. Included. Accepted.

Things she had never been before.

"If you guys have been here for all this time, why didn't I go with you?" Emotion simmered below the surface. "Why did I have to stay here? Why didn't anyone tell me about this?"

"Abigail, it was not anyone's intention to deceive you." The man's words were careful. He could apparently sense the tension in her voice. "We heard of your group's liberation from Cipher, and we expected many of you to join us. But you were so young… and when Mariana offered to take you in, we decided it would be the safest—"

"My mom's in on this?" Abby gripped the cushion of her seat. Did everyone in the world know about Team Rocket but her?

"Mariana isn't a member, no. But we… discussed the matter of your future in great detail when she adopted you." There was a hint of something darker in his voice, but Abby couldn't place it. "She agreed to give you the opportunity to join Team Rocket once you had reached an acceptable age. Thirteen is still fairly young for a recruit, but the superiors are willing to make an exception for you."

He was all business now. His massive hands folded as he leaned over the desk.

"It seems that she has… well, forgotten to inform you of your choice. But no matter. That's why I'm here." Another toothy smile. "Team Rocket has many opportunities for people like you, Abigail. Many, many opportunities."

Abby chewed on her lip, her eyes on the linoleum again. Birthdays were supposed to be about celebrating… not making huge decisions. She still had many questions, but the man's intense gaze put an unspoken pressure on the girl.

"If I… do join," She ventured another cautious gaze at his expectant face, "Do I… have to stay with it? If I don't like it, I mean?"

He waved a hand dismissively. "Ah, don't concern yourself with such trivial worries. We'll take care of you regardless of your final decision."

"And… I don't have to come to school anymore?"

"Team Rocket will provide you with education. Practical education, none of these useless theories and equations." The passion in his eyes returned. They almost seemed… predatory. "They will also provide boarding, of course, and food. Everything is taken care of for you. All they need is your allegiance. And your cooperation."

Abby looked as deep as she could into his fiery eyes before it became overwhelming. She looked at his permanent badge of affiliation, displayed for all to see. She looked at his great furry form, once human, now something so much more. She looked back at the door, the faint sounds of conversation drifting in from the halls; probably teens gossiping about insignificant rumors. She looked up at the florescent lights in the ceiling, the permanent ambient lighting for her torturous days in this school. Finally, she looked back at the Arcanine hybrid, her brown eyes firmly locking with his once again.

"I'll do it."