A re-telling of Fire Red/Leaf Green with influences from the manga, from the POV of Rocket Grunt Kenji who is Giovanni's younger brother. Based on a couple of Grunts in both the FR/LG games and the Heart Gold/Soul Silver games.
Kenji has had his loyalties tested with Team Rocket from day one and now as he is promoted to Grunt and sent throughout Kanto he realises the world isn't as black and white as he thought. Forming an odd friendship/rivalry with Blue, his role in Team Rocket quickly tests this, along with trying to save an Eevee from Team Rocket's cruel experiments, as Giovanni soons submerses himself with Blaine and these experiments, Kenji wonders if he might have to save his brother from himself before it's too late.
How did I get to here? My grey gloves weren't dark enough to hide the warm bloodstains soaking through them. I watched silently as the stains grew along my hands and purposely kept my stare from the source of the blood. A whimper made me look up and I filled with a new kind of horror. There it was- the reason for this carnage and my reason for being here. It was just a baby. It didn't even see me; it was too busy staring at its dead mother on the floor. Its brown mouth opened and the squeals came out. They were loud, sharp peals of frightened grief and I felt them cut through my core as if they were physical blows.
I heard the echo of many footsteps coming from behind me. My comrades were rushing to answer the squeals. They were coming to collect the prize of my handiwork. Some prize. One thought repeated through my mind- it was just a baby. I tried to focus by forcing myself to remember my teachings. Pokémon are pawns, firstly they are a source of income, secondly they are a source of defence but ultimately they are property.
I sucked in a breath as I kept my gaze on the howling infant. It was wearing one of the skulls we had come for, a tough bone exterior that sold handsomely on the black market. Its mother had died to stop me from taking that same skull and I had killed her thinking that her life was worthless compared to the value of her offspring's skull. I felt a wave of vomit turn in my stomach and threaten to climb up my throat.
"RUN!" I shrieked out the word suddenly. "GET OUT OF HERE!" I reached for something to throw as the young Cubone looked at me in terror, too frightened to flee. I dropped to a crouch and fumbled along the ground for debris- a stone, a vase shard, anything to make the thing run. I twitched when my bloody fingertips brushed against the bone its mother had bruised my arm with.
The footsteps were getting closer and I could feel my heart pounding with each step. I knew I couldn't see anymore death today. Finding nothing else I settled for grasping at the bone though I filled with self-revulsion at the thought of hurting the Cubone with something so familiar to it. I threw the bone and it smacked off the Pokémon's skull. With a yelp it stumbled back before it turned and fled into the shadows.
I sagged with relief. As the tan brown tail vanished round to the left and out of sight I heard my companions arrive behind me.
"Shit Kenji what happened?" Proton snapped as he came to stand to my left.
I continued staring ahead into the shadows, refusing to look down at the victim of my violence. "I was attacked," I murmured.
"Where are your Pokémon?" Cassidy queried haughtily.
"They're fine, they had to deal with a crowd of Ghost Pokémon," I lied. I didn't want to admit the Marowak had come at me too quickly for me to call out a Pokémon. I felt a sliver of selfish relief as I realised my Pokémon did not have to know of my terrible crime. I smiled bitterly at the irony of that, it wasn't like I had been crime free until now.
"Hey a Marowak!" Cassidy exclaimed as she finally noticed the body. "A bit of a messy kill, was that necessary?" she grumbled as she turned her nose up in disgust.
"It's a not a bad kill," Proton murmured thoughtfully.
I glanced up at Proton and didn't know what to think. It was rare he praised me for anything and I should have been happy to hear it but I couldn't bring myself to appreciate his words. If anything his praise for me just made the vomit rise quicker to the surface.
Proton stood with his hands resting loosely on his hips as his emerald eyes darted about the hallway curiously. His stern gaze fell upon the Marowak once more and he sighed. "Did you have to bash in the skull like that?" he queried woefully.
There it was- the vomit rushing up without control. I doubled over before I could help myself, retching and laughing all at once to stop from sobbing. It was a laughable situation, a Team Rocket Grunt actually sickened by his own actions. When did Team Rocket have remorse or regret?
"Oh God you're disgusting!" Cassidy snapped at me in a fury as she stepped back from the scene hastily.
I heard the snickers and murmurs of disapproval and shock from the other Grunts standing behind me. None of them dared to speak out too loudly however fearing the boss would hear of their insults.
"Hyuck-hyuck-hyuck," I concluded my mangled laugh hoarsely as the vomit finally ceased. I rubbed the sick away from my chin hastily with my right hand, wincing as I caught the whiff of drying blood as I did.
"Were you poisoned?" Poor Proton actually dared to believe there might be a logical explanation for my dramatics.
Sure, a long time ago. That thought just made me laugh harder.
"Would you stop with that already?" Cassidy growled out angrily. "Have you lost your bloody mind?"
More footsteps. "Troy's coming guys," a fellow Grunt announced, "he wants to know what all the commotion is about."
"Come on Kenji," Proton urged as he kneeled down and grasped me by the shoulders. I looked up and met his frosty emerald stare with my own. His gaze thawed slightly as he pulled me up and murmured quietly, "you need to stomach the gore better. You'll never be more than a Grunt if you don't."
Right, the dream to rise in the ranks and be Executives. It was a dream many Grunts shared, a few were happy just to be a part of the organisation, some enjoyed the reputation, others embraced the authority and used the name as an excuse to commit all sorts of atrocities, whilst others simply appreciated having a guaranteed income. Some of us wanted more- more prestige, a reputation as an individual and not a number in an organisation, more power, more money, just more, more. Now I wondered dully if a little anonymity might be preferable.
"What's going on? Why are you all just standing around here?" Our Executive Troy MacKenzie snapped angrily as he reached us. "Hurry up and round up some Cubone skulls!"
Some of the Grunts hastened to obey, most of them choosing to go simply to avoid Troy's admonishing. About six remained and I felt all their eyes turn to me and the Marowak corpse I stood before. Troy followed their stare and his lip curled up in a snarl of disgust as he spied the body behind me. He had never liked me and I doubted today's events were going to change that.
"Did you do that?" he queried in disbelief.
I nodded slowly, reluctant to admit my guilt.
"What a waste of a good skull," he grumbled. "Alright, spread out, I want this tower secure by evening!"
The others moved, save for Proton who lingered near me questioningly. I wondered if my sometime friend and permanent rival sensed that I wasn't quite ready to jump to Troy's orders just yet. I looked down at my hands and turned them face up. Despite how dark it was I could still make out the bloodstains. Again I wondered- how did I get to here?
They say no one is ever born into evil but I say that's bullshit. I know it's hard to believe I didn't have a choice when everyone is meant to have a choice but I really didn't. I was raised specifically to be a part of Team Rocket, there was no other path for me. My destiny was set in stone the moment I was born.
I sucked in another breath as I thought back to when it had all truly begun and I had first been made to don the uniform of Team Rocket by my older brother Giovanni.
When most people come of age they are given a Pokémon and the opportunity to go out and see the world as a Pokémon trainer. For me it was a little different. At the tender age of ten I found myself kicked out to the wilderness of Viridian Forest armed with three Poké Balls, my wits and the instructions to return successful or not return at all. And who inflicted this wonderful act of neglect upon me? My mother. She already had one son for an heir, I was just the spare and it was of little consequence to her if I did not return.
Let me tell you a little about Viridian Forest. It is known to be a confusing and dangerous maze of trees and wilderness, potentially deadly to even the more experienced trainers. There are many areas in it where the trees grow so close together it is an eternal night. It's the home of many Bug and Bird Pokémon that hide in the trees and long grass waiting to poison you, blind you with sand, paralyse you or peck your eyes out. There are rumours of the forest having mysterious powers but no one has ever really proved that.
For the first few days of my journey in the forest I was fascinated by it. I remember looking in wonderment and awe at the numerous trees, bushes and flowers, marvelling at their fruit and berries as I tried to guess which were safe to eat. There were many scenic points for me, pockets of natural beauty secreted behind close growing trees and thick bushes that I felt privileged to explore. At the start of my travels I considered my scrapes, bruises and bumps from thorns, tripping over hidden rocks and overgrown roots all worth it to spy out a hidden pool framed with a variety of colourful flowers and a collection of pale white trees populated with Butterfree. I recall watching the many Bird and Bug Pokémon living in the forest with fascination and a respectful caution as I tried to recollect their strengths and weaknesses.
My joy didn't last.
I was attacked on separate occasions by several Weedle, Pidgey and even a Pikachu. Electrocuted, poisoned, tired, hungry and exhausted, it was not long before I found myself stumbling through the forest in a daze. Every rock and tree began to blur and I was no longer able to tell one patch of forest apart from another.
I tried my best to catch a Pokémon for my own but had only the debris of the forest for weapons. The sticks and rocks I threw only enraged the wild Pokémon rather than weakened them. They were faster than me, stronger and hell, many of them were even smarter.
At some point I stumbled onto Route 2, identified to me by some sympathetic Bug Catchers. They offered to take me to sanctuary but I refused, knowing my mother would never acknowledge me if she knew I had sought help from others. After much debate and concerned looks they insisted that I at least take some of their antidote for Weedle's poison and a couple of sandwiches to sustain myself. I wanted to resist but my numerous stings and bug bites itched and burned constantly and I had been getting no sleep with them and my head was eternally pounding and dizzy and my vision still blurred. So I gave in, vowing that I would just never tell mother of it, and I continued on my miserable journey.
It seemed at first that my journey would end in disaster as Pokémon continue to evade or attack me and never weakened to my futile attacks. In the end I gave up and collapsed near the long grass in a muddy puddle. There I sobbed away my failure, damp, cold and alone until I felt an odd nudging at my left side.
I remember the moment as clearly as if it were yesterday but in that I doubt I am alone, I imagine everyone remembers their first capture of a Pokémon in great detail. Even now, eight years on, I can still recall the damp scent of recently rained upon grass mixed with the faint odour of summer fruit beginning to ripen. I remember the mud soaking into my stained black trousers, irritating at the healing cuts on my legs as the muck seeped through the tears a Pidgey's talons had left me with. What I recollect best is the face I found looking at me when I responded to the nudging; it was the first Pokémon that looked upon me without hostility or fear. More wondrous still it was no ordinary Pokémon.
I identified it as a Rattata, a common enough Normal type, but unlike most its fur was not vibrant purple but instead it shone a glorious golden-brown. It was like nothing I had ever seen before and I knew even then that this Pokémon had to be special.
Instead of scurrying off when I looked its way the Rattata let out a soft squeak and climbed onto my lap tentatively. I remember how I tensed and tried to be as still as a statue, fearful that a simple twitch would send the creature back to the trees and out of my sight forever. It scurried up my hand and arm, its paws ticklish on my exposed skin, and then it paused on my shoulder and squeaked again. It only stayed there for a few seconds but to me it felt longer. It was the first time any Pokémon had put its trust in me. When it clambered back down to the ground I expected it to flee but instead it sat and looked to me expectantly.
I recall how my heart almost seemed to stop in my chest as I dared to wonder and hope. I moved as slowly as I could, hands itching for my last Poké Ball, fearful that if I moved too suddenly the Pokémon would flee. I felt only dismay thinking of how a Poké Ball was chancy at best, designed for starter trainers and weak Pokémon. It surely wasn't strong enough to capture a Pokémon as rare and strange as this one. It was all I had however.
I remember speaking with the Rattata as well, just briefly, a mumbled plea. "Will you be my friend?" Five simple words. Even now I can't believe it was enough.
I threw the Poké Ball and the Rattata vanished in a flicker of silvery white light.
The ball rolled for what seemed an eternity and I was certain it would blast open in my final failure. When it went still I couldn't believe it and I laughed hard in disbelief.
I returned home two days later- exhausted, covered from head to toe in mud and blood and starving but deeply happy. None of my aches or irritations could take away my sense of victory when I reached the porch of our grand mansion in the dead of the night and revealed my new Pokémon with a slightly delirious smile.
It didn't take long for my happiness to be stolen away.
My mother couldn't believe my accomplishment, no one could and they denounced it and called me a thief and liar before taking my Rattata away. I cursed, screamed, cried and raged but it was to no avail as I was abandoned in my bedroom, locked up in punishment. It might have remained that way had my older brother not intervened.
Giovanni was the only one who believed I had really caught the Rattata for myself and he felt they were accusing me of theft as an excuse to have the Pokémon for themselves.
To this day I do not know how my brother got my Rattata back, what terrible price he might have paid for my happiness. All I know is that I never forgot it and when I turned fourteen and Giovanni came to me with his old Grunt uniform and asked me to join the cause I could not say no.
I spent four years in training with other would be Grunts. Many failed- not strong enough to deal with the wrath of the Executives, not cold enough to turn a blind eye to pleas for mercy nor cruel enough to do what needed to be done no matter how wicked it seemed. Some were simply not smart enough or strong enough to be useful to Team Rocket and were cast out as failures. I say cast out but I do not think anyone is truly allowed to walk away.
When I turned eighteen Giovanni insisted on a grand celebration before I, with several others, was officially declared a Grunt and cast into a group under an Executive to bring Kanto into line.
I was overjoyed that my friend and rival Proton was in my group along with his younger brother Butch and a beautiful blonde called Cassidy. However, I was less pleased to find us placed under the care of Executive Troy MacKenzie.
Troy and I had met previously when I was fifteen and he had held a house party for some of the Executives of Kanto and my brother, then not yet declared leader. Troy had intended to use the party as a means to advertise his latest ploy- exploiting a kidnapped psychic girl to use her powers for Team Rocket's gain. I do not know the entirety of Troy's plan because I foiled it.
Upon a chance meeting with the girl in Troy's home I had determined to set her free. She had been only ten and bore the brutal marks of Troy's idea of discipline. At only fifteen I had not yet fully stomached myself to Team Rocket's ways and I could not ignore her.
I had concocted a plan for her escape and with her help and Troy's Houndour I had seen it successfully carried out. I say successfully in that she fled and no one ever learned of my involvement or the Houndour's aid. It was not without consequence however as many Rockets were left permanently burned by the girl's ability to conjure fire, some were even killed and Troy was left humiliated and badly scarred from the ordeal with half his house in ruination.
It was an incident that Troy had only mulled over with time, allowing his rage to drive him crazier and crueller. As he was a man of wealth and means my brother, despite my protests, chose to ignore Troy's instability and flaws.
Giovanni cautioned me that Troy had been promoted before Giovanni became leader and as such he held a lot of influence and power in Team Rocket that could be used against Giovanni if he were not careful. Giovanni assured me that in time his strength would only grow and Troy's would weaken but I was yet to see the truth of that.
So here we are, now I am eighteen, a Grunt under Executive Troy eager to shine if only to impress my mother, and hungry for promotion if only to escape Troy. My brother tells me to give it time but even he is growing impatient. There's been word around the Kanto region- talk of fossils, experiments and rare Pokémon and my brother is determined to have a monopoly over it all. It's not going to be easy because there are other rumours too, talk of the Elite Four and shadowy goings on and chatter that the Gym in Viridian City isn't the only one with a strange and annoyingly absent leader.
The Pokémon League has opened its gates as it does once a year and the Gym Leaders are expected to get in line and welcome a new generation of challengers and would be Champions. Giovanni says now is the time for Team Rocket to strike as with so many trainers around rare and valuable Pokémon will become ripe for the taking.