Team Rocket Triumphs, Chapter 1: A Message From Headquarters
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from this fanfic. There is original content but I'm not getting money for this anyways so why bother saying I own it?
The Team Rocket Headquarters was a bit tense this morning. Word had recently arrived that some of their top operatives had been found out in a crucial point in their mission. They were taken into custody and the whole mission had to be scrapped. Although, the only reason the agents knew about this is through the local news, so word had not yet reached Giovanni yet.
And that is why the messenger currently standing outside the boss's door was suddenly having second thoughts.
The project had taken a lot of resources and time to pull off as far as it had. While the boss was usually calm and rational while faced with situations like these, all it took was a single statement and the messenger would be in the unemployment line.
But of course, he couldn't just return to the office and say he didn't get the message delivered. That could ruin his credibility for a good long time.
The messenger mustered up his courage and knocked on the door. A few seconds later Matori, Giovanni's secretary, opened the door.
"What is it?" She asked.
"I have a message for Giovanni regarding agents Shapu and Buki." The messenger stated.
"Alright, just wait a moment. Giovanni is currently busy with paperwork." Matori said.
The messenger said nothing and waited nervously as the secretary closed the door. It opened again a few minutes later, and Matori said that the boss was ready to see him.
Giovanni, as always, looked calm and dangerous. He regarded the messenger with sharp curiosity, seemingly implying that this better be worth his time.
"What is the message?" He asked.
"Rocket Elite Agents Shapu and Buki were taken into custody yesterday at 9:00 PM. They were found out as agents and are awaiting trial. Their mission is no longer possible and steps have already been taken to salvage the materials not confiscated by the police." The messenger reported.
Giovanni seemed to take it rather well. A hint of annoyance flashed across his eyes, and he sighed deeply.
"Very well, I will adjust plans accordingly. You are dismissed." He said. The messenger, not one to disobey a direct order, left the room immediately.
"Are you going to break them out?" Matori asked Giovanni.
"Yes, but not immediately." Giovanni said, "the police will be extra careful for a while because of the capture, and I think a few weeks in prison might toughen them up a little. No doubt they could've avoided being found out if they weren't so loud." Indeed, Shapu was well known for yelling out at the worst times, attracting the attention of all around. When this happened, Buki was equally as loud in telling Shapu to shut up, and only attracted even more attention. It almost felt like they were cartoon characters sometimes.
"Understood." Matori said, "And what of the rest of the agents? I would think the failure of such a mission would be demoralizing."
"True," Giovanni admitted, "And a demoralized set of agents will only result in decreased efficiency. I will make a speech to them, so have every agent not currently in the field at the main hall in five hours. I need to finish this paperwork before I can get to writing the script." The secretary went to her computer and updated today's schedule. There was no chance of any agent missing out on the update, since whenever the schedule updated a notification was sent to every agent's phone, telling the new event and the details.
As Giovanni did the paperwork, he addressed another issue that had been bothering him lately. Back from the days his mother, Madame Boss as she was called, ran Team Rocket, agent Miyamoto had been chasing after the Legendary Pokemon Mew, but has had little progress over the many years she has been searching. She sends updates when she is near a post office, but there have been times when multiple years have passed with no contact at all. Giovanni had gotten another update last week, and he was yet again reminded that with an order he could call Miyamoto back to the HQ and send her off on a more possible mission. But he once again had disregarded the notion, as she was so stubborn that she might even refuse his order and keep searching anyways. What bothered him this time though was Miyamoto's request in the letter to send her regards to Jesse, her daughter. Miyamoto, far behind on recent events due to the remote places she travelled to, had only recently found out that Jesse had become a member of Team Rocket, and was overjoyed at the fact. Giovanni had, admittedly, forgot entirely about the trio of Jesse, James, and Meowth. They were just so incompetent that they didn't bother mention anymore. But now that he remembered them, he realized that Jesse bore a striking resemblance to Miyamoto back before they failed their mission at Viridian City and never reported back, supposedly off to capture a lone Pikachu. The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous it sounded; some of the best agents Team Rocket ever had wasting their talents not only tailing a lowly trainer, but failing every attempt they made to steal his Pokemon. Giovanni knew what they were capable of, and made his decision as he finished looking over the last paper in his pile:
He was going to retrain Jesse, James, and Meowth.
Giovanni then wrote up the script for his speech, and all the while he was composing a message in his head to be delivered to the trio.
The five hours passed, and Giovanni did manage to make the script for his speech without any difficulties. When he entered the main hall to make his speech it appeared that every available agent had indeed shown up for the speech, and was awaiting his words.
"As we are all aware of, a major setback has occurred today. Top Agents Shapu and Buki were captured yesterday while on their mission. Sadly, the mission has had to be scrapped, and we must consider this to be a failure." There were many gloomy faces at this; a lot of plans were riding on the success of this one.
"However, we are not giving up just yet!" Giovanni continued, "We are already taking measures to recover what we can from this mission, and we will get our agents back, even if we have to destroy the prison brick by brick to do so. And most of all, there is no way whatsoever that the glorious Team Rocket will just wallow in pity when we are dealt a loss. We will emerge from this ordeal stronger than we ever were before, and we will face all who stand before us unflinchingly." Giovanni took a look at the rest of the script and glanced away from it; he wouldn't need it for this next part.
"And besides, we are soon going to be accepting another two agents to the rank of top agents!" There was much murmuring at this, as no one had heard anything about this until now. "Although, I regret to inform you that the ones promoted are not going to be for a small while now, nor are they among the group before me. They are currently out in the field, but will be called back soon enough." In the next few days, during their breaks the majority of agents would argue and bicker over which agents were getting promoted. They went over all the possibilities but never once considered Jesse and James.
"We are Team Rocket." Giovanni continued, "We have faced adversity recently, but if anyone here or in the entire world thinks that we will simply give up from this, then they are very sadly mistaken. We will carry on until we are victorious, no matter how long it takes!" There were many cheers from this as the agents were inspired back to enthusiasm. Giovanni stood there for a moment more, and then, with a smile; he left and returned to his office, where he began to compose a short letter…
Somewhere in the Sinnoh Region:
Team Rocket (The trio, not the organization), were currently stuck on tree branches after their latest blastoff. They were spying on Ash and co. from behind some bushes as usual, when Piplup ran off through the bush and right into them. Unfortunately, Ash was still trying to teach Gible Draco Meteor, and the latest failed attempt not only hit Piplup, but also managed to make an explosion large enough to send the trio flying.
"We didn't even get close that time." James moaned.
"It's like the universe is out to get us or something." Meowth complained.
"And when victory was just within our grasp too!" Jesse whined.
The three of them struggled with the branches surrounding them, hoping to break free and get down to the ground. Unfortunately, they only succeeded in tangling themselves up more. Jesse was trying in vain now to reach for Yanmega's Pokeball when they heard from below a calm voice:
"Scyther, Air Slash!"
Quick as lightning, blades of solid air cut off the branches holding Team Rocket up, and they fell to the ground. They then managed to untangle themselves from their branches and stand up to face their rescuer.
Their rescuer happened to be a Team Rocket agent, a rookie by the looks of it. He spent a few moments checking his pockets for something, but eventually produced a letter and handed it to James.
"What's this?" James asked.
"It's a letter straight from Giovanni." The rookie replied. "He made it clear that you were to receive it as soon as possible."
With that, he and his Scyther left, presumably to deliver more mail.
"What's inside?" Meowth asked.
"Let's find out." Jesse said as she snatched the letter from James and opened it up. Inside the letter was a formal looking sheet of paper, which read:
Field Agents Jesse, James, and Meowth:
You are needed at Headquarters. You are to return at once, no matter what prior commitments or ambitions you may have. This is a direct order from your boss and you will obey it.
Giovanni.
"The boss wants us at Headquarters?" Meowth said. "Maybe he wants to promote us?"
"Or he could want to fire us." James pointed out, "If you haven't noticed, our track record has been less than perfect lately."
"I say we go!" Jesse declared, "If Giovanni wants us there it must be important!"
"But what about Pikachu?" James asked, "We can't just leave it behind!"
"Actually, we're supposed to." Meowth interjected, "It's written in the letter. 'No matter what prior commitments or ambitions you may have'."
"I say we put it up to a vote," Jesse said, "All in favour!" Jesse and Meowth each put their hand up, and James hung his head in resignation.
"All right then!" Meowth said, "Next stop is Team Rocket HQ!"
Some things I should note are that there are some obscure events that people might not know and some events that I made up or assumed.
So just to clarify, Madame Boss is Giovanni's mother, and lead Team Rocket before him.
Miyamoto is a real agent from the time of Madame Boss. She was an exceptional agent and was sent after Mew. There is no official word on whether or not she survived, but I'll just say she's very persistent.
The trio were in fact some of Team Rocket's best agents before Ash and Pikachu came along. Just think about it; their first appearance had them robbing an entire Pokemon Center, and if it weren't for Ash they would've succeeded.
Shapu and Buki are completely made up; no such characters exist in canon. Also, their names are direct translations of the Japanese words 'Sharp' and 'Weapon' respectively.
Expect a lot of made up characters from the HQ, as we don't know all that many members from there and the trio is going to be there for a while.
Lastly, Ash and co. are not going to feature prominently in this fanfic, but they will be important at certain points, so I will give updates on their progress throughout the fanfic. Also note that they are somewhere around Sunnyshore City, and I am going to disregard canon from there and make it all up as I feel the plot needs.