Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. If I did, I'd be getting death threats right now, dontcha think?

A/N: This fic has swearing, mildly violent descriptions, doesn't hide the B.S. and is probably not your average Pokémon fic. If you read from here on out, it's your choice. You've been warned.

I never thought I'd risk my life for a Pokémon. Let alone more than one. For me, they have always been tools. Nothing more, nothing less. If one was broken, or worse, it was easy enough to get another. To take another. But, of course, it had to be these particular Pokémon. It couldn't be ones that I didn't care for. Oh no. Life would be too simple then. Too easy. My name is Mathew Wright. And this is my life as a Rocket.

It all started because I had to play hero. I don't know what I was thinking that day. I truly don't. If you asked any of my fellow team members, they would say that I would be the least likely, out of any of them, to stop a beating, including Giovanni himself. Especially if it included a Pokémon. All I know is that if I hadn't taken the long way back to base, if I had stopped to tie my shoe, grab a beer, anything, I wouldn't have seen it happen. I almost wish I hadn't. Things might have been easier.

I was walking down the street of Saffron. It was so late out that I didn't have to worry about cars running me down. I suppose I could say it was a dark and ominous night, but I could also be describing myself. Dark. Ominous. I was maybe 30 minutes away from base. A couple miles, no problem. We just got done with work for the night. My closest friend, Alex, offered to give me a lift, but I declined. They understood. Everyone knows how I am after a raid. Restless and silent. They tell me I get worse after a killing, but I really don't care.

I had just passed the Police Station. Team Rocket has ruled this city so completely, for so long, that being a Police Officer is a joke. I could walk in, right now, and have a coffee with them and they wouldn't do a thing. I even waved a little as I passed. Suckers.

The next window I passed caught my attention. My reflection was clearly painted on its surface, almost as if it were a mirror. Sharp blue eyes, dark shaggy hair, mischievous looking. 6' 1" and built like a Spartan. If it wasn't for the "kill-you-in-your-sleep" attitude, I would probably have a lot more friends. Oh well.

I was looking up into the cloudy sky when I heard it. A sob. Just one. But it was loud enough for me to know where it was. The next alley I looked down, I saw it. Two kids, maybe 15, 16, were mercilessly beating the life out of a tiny Riolu. I didn't know why, and I didn't even care. At first, I settled in to enjoy the show. At first.

It looked at me. And I looked back at it. It's eyes were pleading, while mine were laughing. Then I heard it. I swear, till the day that I die; I will never forget how destroyed and hopeless that voice was.

"What if it were you?"

I started at the voice. I know I'm crazy. Possibly insane. But I don't think I'm to the point of hearing voices inside my head. But that's what it was. A definitive female voice. Female, and young, almost childish. I looked back at the Riolu, and this time, it couldn't look at me. One boy, he was wearing ridiculously baggy pants, had begun hitting her in the face.

At that point, I didn't know if it was actually the Pokémon, or my own consciousness. I really didn't care. I was going to find out, and that meant stopping these wanna be's.

"Hey", I called. The other one, chubby, red hair, looked up.

He snarled at me. "What the fuck you lookin' at, faggot?"

Oh, I was mad then. At that point, it wasn't about saving the Pokémon. It was about teaching these morons some respect.

"You are going to stop what you're doing. Now."

He slapped his friend on the shoulder. When he looked up, he pointed to me.

"Yeah?" he asked. "Whatchu gonna do if I don't feel like it, nigga?"

I smiled. They both backed up a step.

"If you don't", I started conversationally, "I will kill both of you, easily I might add, and I will send your body to his family, and his body to yours", I finished.

They both looked at each other. Most likely to see if they had each other's backs or not. It wouldn't of mattered either way. I would've hunted down whoever ran away. I won't go into details, because… I really don't care.

Afterwards, I went to the Pokémon. It was in bad shape, I know from experience. If it didn't get help soon, it would most likely die. Not that I'd care. Then I remembered that voice.

"What if it were you?"

I sighed. It just wasn't my night.

When I walked into the Pokémon Center, everyone froze. Both people and Pokémon. I'm not even in uniform, and they recognize me. Boy, do I have a rep. Nurse Joy became a statue in the midst of handing back a newly-healed pidgey to its owner. I didn't care. I walked straight up to her, cutting in front of the other dozen trainers in line. I gently moved the pidgey's owner out of the way. He unfroze, jumped, grabbed his Pokémon, and was out of the door in less than 3 seconds. Everyone else dared not move.

I don't understand why I have this effect on people. Do they really think I would do something illegal or malicious so publicly? Well, I would, but they shouldn't know that. That's not the point anyway.

I set the unconscious Riolu on the counter. I waited. Nothing. I started to get impatient. I snapped my fingers in front of Nurse Joy's face a few times, till she snapped out of it. Ha, pun.

"Yes?" she whispered.

Another sigh.

"I found this Pokémon in an alleyway. It is severely injured, and is in need of immediate medical attention", I said.

She stared. For so long a time, I thought she had gone brain-dead, she stared. She jumped, and seemed to make up her mind about something.

"Of course! I'll take it right away."

She scooped up the Pokémon into her arms, and turned for the Emergency Room, motioning for the Chansey to follow her.

I turned back to the room full of various trainers and Pokémon. They were in the exact same positions as when I walked in. I shook my head.

"You'd think I was a bad guy or something", I said with a mischievous grin.

Still frozen.

I sighed. Again. There was no point in sticking around any further, so I strode towards the door. I made sure to do my "I-rule-the-world-so-run-for-your-lives" walk. Just for kicks.

As the pneumatic doors closed behind me, I heard every single living thing in the waiting room release a drawn-out breath. I love being bad.

I walked away, thinking, as I was before the whole mess started. I wondered whether or not that Riolu would live to see morning. I wondered if two families would be missing their children tonight. I wondered if some poor kids would go hungry, or become ill, from all the things we stole on our raid. I wondered if that security guard had a family, one that wanted him to come home ok. I wondered about that voice I heard, the one that convinced me to save the Riolu in the first place.

Then I remembered.

I'm not supposed to care.

A/N: Just a short Prologue for now. This fic is most likely a lot darker, and more… real, than most other Pokémon fics on this site. I wanted to do something different, one that would most likely happen if Pokémon were real. It's not possible for it to be all goody-goody, as in the games. Thank you very much to my inspirations, Syzdoth and define-originality. They are extremely talented writers and their fics, while being less dark than my own, are still amazing and deserve to be read and praised.

An extra thank you to Syzdoth for pre-reading the prologue, and for allowing me to borrow their main character's last name. You rock!

Let me know what you all think.

- Stone