Snitching
"This is the recorded interrogation of REDACTED, arrested 16/3/2004. I am Officer Jenny #2134-B, Lieutenant Saffron City. Assisting Officer Jenny 4532-X, Viridian City. Today's date is 16/3/2004. Depending on the usefulness of your testimony, a deal may be reached reducing your sentence. If you will sir, just speak into the recorder."
"I'm not sure what I was thinking when the recruiter came calling. I was upset. I didn't come from money. I could never cover the fees to become a trainer, tuition at the trainer school, the expensive supplies, the ability to traverse the country battling Pokemon for money. I wasn't bright in school so I guess the League-funded training option was never going to be a thing for me. I just remember all of my friends from primary school eventually leaving, getting a partner, sneering down their nose at me when they realized I'd be an office drone. Maybe I'd be lucky enough to snag an administrative job at SILPH and have a Pokemon as pet once I turned 40.
"I was pissed off at the world. So when a Rocket recruiter came to me after school one day, offering money, respect, and most importantly, a Pokemon of my very own? Forget about it. The Rockets started off a philanthropic group. Or at least that was the lie I was fed. I knew the rumors. They were stealing rare Pokemon and selling them to the highest bidder. I felt remorse of course. Who wouldn't? Rockets didn't treat their Pokemon well. They were a means to an end. But to me, I wanted a friend. I treated my Pokemon extremely well. Yeah, I was a thief, a kidnapper, I extorted people, blackmailed them, you name it? I did it. But mistreat my Pokemon? Never.
"Rocket HQ being in the middle of Viridian in a pretty conspicuous building should have been a reg flag for me who the leader was. Honestly, I was so excited to get a Pokemon, I didn't even notice. I took my physical, got fitted for a uniform, met with HR. This organization could have been totally legitimate. Ya know.. except for all the crime. Hell, we even had a psych eval. Though, now I've had time to think about it, the fact that I wasn't and still am not a psychopath probably kept me from climbing the company ladder.
"Finally, after the forms and the gear and all the rigamarole, I finally got to visit the trainer. According to my psych eval, I showed competence as a trainer so I got my pick of the available Pokemon. I would have been happy with anything honestly. Had a Ratatta or Ekans looked at me the right way, I would have snapped them right up. But, they didn't. Nope, none of them felt right until my Drowzee looked up at me, eyes shining with an intelligence and wisdom I had never experienced.
"He and I were thick as thieves. We worked through the training program. I got the highest grade at stealth and theft training. Really though, it was just a liberal use of Confusion. I fast tracked through the training and in a matter of weeks, Drowzee and I were sent on our first assignment. Truthfully, we didn't even need to commit a crime for the first job. No seriously. They wanted us to find fossils of ancient Pokemon and maybe snag a couple of Moon Stones. The Boss was a big fan of Ground types apparently.
"Anyway, we were in the deepest part of Mt. Moon. We couldn't have been 40 yards from where the fossils were, from what you've told me. So this kid comes meandering through. It was funny. He saw me. Knew who I was with. Most people, grown people, mind you, quake with fear when they see the R. This kid was made of stronger stuff than most though. I respected him at first. But then he sneered at me. I wanted to grind that punk beneath the sole of my shoe. Little did I know though, I was fighting someone special. He had two Pokeballs. I sent out Drowzee. He and I were undefeated. Hell, we probably won 95% of our battles together, but he THRASHED us. He sent out this tiny male Nidoran. Had to be freshly caught. Drowzee hit him with Confusion and then Hypnosis. Little thing hit the ground.
"Heh, the kid had balls. Seems he was just using this battle get the little one some EXP. I was cocky, thinking I was going to see a nice bonus from separating this kid from his Pokemon. Then he released this mammoth Wartortle. The thing was already the size of a Blastoise. Had I been just a normal trainer, I never would have withdrawn Drowzee and paid the man his winnings. But I couldn't be seen giving up in front of other Rockets. I love my Pokemon, but Nurse Joy works miracles. There's no Nurse Joy for people that had to go through Petrel's "re-education" program. Anyway, a Water Gun nearly did him in. The Bite surely did. My poor partner had no chance.
"He walked by us with utter contempt on his face. Had I been smarter, I would have quit Team Rocket that day, fled to the Indigo Plateau, sang like a freakin' Jigglypuff and just done my time in Witness Protection. Guess I've never been known as an overly bright guy though.
"Ok, so we fast-forward about 3 months. I'm in the Celadon hideout on guard duty. I have one of the only elevator keys that would allow access to the lower levels. Erica, by the way, was a pathetic gym leader. Soft on her Pokemon. Her Gloom could have been a MONSTER, but she was content making her perfume, which is all fine and dandy, if you aren't responsible for the well being and protection of the second biggest population in the entire region. But I digress. You've seen the layout of this place. The panels that make you spin and spin and spin. After my third day on that location, I decided to have Drowzee just teleport us in.
"I was having serious doubts about Team Rocket by then. I heard rumor that a few grunts got hammered one night in Lavender Town. They cornered a Marowak with her baby and baton'd the poor thing to death. In front of her damn baby. Look, don't get me wrong. I'm not a good person. I'm ok doing whatever you gotta do to make a buck. But those sick fucks… well, I'll get to that. So the rumors about Pokemon Tower were nationwide by this time. There was a ghost really mucking things up at the Tower. The haunting coincided right when the story about those grunts and the Marowak surfaced. It didn't take an Alakazam to figure out the spirit was Cuban's mother.
"Anyway, I was twiddling my thumbs waiting for my shift to end when I saw a shadow around the corner. Lo and behold, the same kid from Mt. Moon strolled up. I think he recognized me from our… can you call it a battle? Probably not. Him kicking my ass up and down is more accurate. He's got a look of determination on his face. Maybe it was on my mind at the moment or maybe Drowzee was feeding me the info unconsciously. The kid didn't say a word. Again. I assumed he was looking for the SILPH Scope to go help Marowak's spirit. I was very… amenable to this. So I sent Drowzee out for a battle, knowing the eye in the sky was always watching. Remember his little Nidoran? Yeah, that thing had GROWN. He had become the biggest Nidoking I've ever seen. One Thunderbolt later and poor Drowzee was down. I grabbed the elevator key from my pocket and "dropped it in my haste to warn the Execs." Punishment for a boneheaded mistake is significantly less painful than one for mutiny.
"I did what I had to do. Informed an Executive via radio that there was an intruder, that I lost my copy and that the intruder was likely on his way down. I think Ariana and Proton were both down there. I high-tailed it out of there and made my way back to my crash pad in Saffron. Rented a room above a family. Their daughter was talented. She was able to mimic anyone and everyone. I heard through the grapevine that the kid thrashed Ariana and Proton with a Blastoise and a Jolteon. And his Nidoking and Arcanine took care of the Boss' secondary team with ease. I didn't shed many tears over their losses.
"What are the execs like? Well, Ariana's a crazy bitch. Arrogant, abrasive, I mean my mother would murder me for saying this in mixed company, but she's a total cunt. Gets off on pain. Proton is similar. Run of the mill thug with a high-ish functioning brain. The others Execs are interesting characters. Petrel, he's nuts. I'm pretty sure he was driven insane by his own intellect. Drowzee ate his dream one night while he napped in the Rocket lounge. No joke, poor little guy was sick for a month. I don't actually think Archer is a bad person. I think he's kind of like me. Certainly not a boy scout, but he treats his Pokemon well and doesn't take kindly to others not following his example. Had the League put more funding into getting more kids a starter Pokemon, I'm pretty sure Archer would be an Ace Trainer, but he liked Pokemon and didn't have any options besides becoming a Rocket.
"I figured the Execs would be reeling for a while and the hideout was crawling with Jennies for a month after the kid cleared it out, so I laid low for a bit. I heard the kid went back through Lavender Town and helped that Marowak find peace and let the little Cubone say goodbye to its mother. Hearing about that was definitely a turning point for me. I didn't want to be part of the problem anymore. I got the names of the sick fucks that did the Marowak in and traced them to a little cottage near Viridian. I ditched my Rocket fatigues for some old jeans and a faded blue hoodie and had Drowzee, well sorry, he had evolved at this point, Hypno teleport us to their property.
"Damndest thing about Pokemon is that even if some of them aren't as bright as human beings, each and every one of them is more resilient. I've seen hundreds of Pokemon faint at Hypno's Hypnosis/Dream Eater combo. Humans also faint. But not before they lose their minds. There was no admissible proof for their crime and Hypno scanned their self-consciouses for remorse at their deed. He found they not only had zero remorse for their crime, but actual eagerness to repeat it. I had Hypno use Dream Eater on them. They woke up drooling and without a coherent though. Uh, sorry I guess for creating more wards of the state.
"Anyway, I was called for a gig in Saffron. There was apparently going to be a "very hostile takeover" of the SILPH Co. It was appallingly easy. Apparently, the scientists didn't give a damn who they worked for, so long as they got their grant money. By the way, look into some of SILPH's work. They were working on some stuff that would shock Petrel. I was guarding the teleportation tile on the 5F that would transport the user to the Boss' location. I saw the Boss and the SILPH chairman having a "discussion." Apparently, the takeover was solely for some new-fangled ball that would catch any Pokemon without fail. I had my suspicions of the Boss' identity confirmed and it also confirmed why the League was so useless against him, but I'll get to that later.
"I was standing guard at the tile and this pointy-haired brat comes sashaying up to me, demands I move or he'll thrash me. I was amazed and amused. It was another kid! The polar opposite of the one I had fought at Mt. Moon and in Celadon. He was a braggart, obnoxious and loud. But man he kicked the shit out of Hypno and me. Said something about waiting for his rival from his home town. The only kid it could be was that cold blooded trainer from the previous two stops. I was rather appalled by this kid. We were sitting in basically a terrorist war zone and he was planning an ambush on what was basically a schoolboy rival? About ten minutes later, the kid strode around the corner. I was almost looking forward to my inevitable thrashing. I grinned at him, tossed out Hypno, who if I could, I'm sure would have been smirking. His Dragonair destroyed us, as was tradition. I grinned, tossed him the card key to get into the Boss' "new office," and bounced.
"I ditched my Rocket uniform in a garbage can, packed my rucksack and had Hypno teleport me over to a buddy's. He going to stay there while I'm doing time. He'll be well take of. So now that you have my story, here's what I can give you:
"The League has been infiltrated. The President, CEO, Emperor, Grand Sorcerer, whatever you want to call it of Team Rocket is none other than the Viridian City Gym Leader, Giovanni. The creature he's so keen on catching is a Pokemon he helped genetically engineer from Mew's DNA. Professor Oak and Blaine of Cinnabar were on staff. The thing lives in that cave just off Cerulean Cove. I'd personally ditch the guards you have posted there and just seal the thing. If the Rockets need an unbreakable ball to catch it, it's too powerful. The only people who might have a chance battling it are Lance and those kids. Though, the pointy-haired one would probably die in the process.
"You guys could plan a string operation or something to take down the Viridian gym, but honestly, I'd just let those kids take care of it. The Boss is a prideful guy. He won't take kindly to having his teeth kicked in by a couple of 11 year olds. He might just shut the thing down on his own accord and you guys won't have to deal with embarrassment of having one of your "vaunted protectors" being a double agent.
"Erica needs to go. She isn't a gym leader. She's a flower girl. Sabrina is a beast apparently, but she let Silph happen in her city. I'd at least have people talk to her. And for the love of god, there are way more Pokemon than people. Everyone who wants to train one should be able to get one. Not just the people who can afford it. You'd have way fewer people like Archer and me running around if you did.
"Well, that's all I got for you. Hope it's enough to knock some years off my sentence, but whatever. As long as you guys leave Hypno alone, do your worst to me. His friendship is the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If I only get a year of it, that'll be ok."
"Thank you for your testimony, sir. We will request of lighter sentence to the magistrate."
Epilogue
Eight months later, the grunt stumbled out of the Vermillion Detention Center, hair long and braided, beard long and matted. His body and face were bruised from beating suffered by Rocket sympathizers and victims alike. Kanto prisons were NOT fun. The grizzled man stopped short. Standing in front of him wearing faded blue jeans, sneakers, a red cap, and a red short-sleeved jacket was the kid. Except the kid wore a badge on the breast of his jacket that read 'Champion.' The kid, no champion smirked at him. Tossed him a lone Pokeball. Without saying a word, he released a massive Dragonite, clambered on its back and took off towards the hostile Mt. Silver range.
The grunt released his lone friend. The Hypno's eyes smiled and reached out its clawed hand. The man grabbed it and in a flash, they disappeared.