This story is rated T for various adult themes including profanity, drugs, gangs/mafia, violence, and sexual themes.
This story is also based on a more "realistic" setting with jobs, problems, and crime that isn't touched upon in this manner within the show and games. The characters are also significantly older than most fandoms, seeing that they each have adult occupations. Pokemon are viewed as animals by some and partners by others, and have various roles in the story.
Reviews are welcome. I hope you all enjoy. I do have some faceclaims for the characters I may later share.
You don't choose your family.
If there were one thing in the world that I could alter, it would be that. In this world, people had few things to worry about. I remember when I had been a pre-teen, watching all the other children go on their journeys with their new pokemon. According to father, the world was cruel, especially for a girl of elevated status. My sister had respected his wishes, but I had only resented him for it. I wanted to be like everyone else.
"It's for your safety."
"The world would eat up a little girl like you."
"It's only because I love you."
But if a father truly loved his daughter, he would let her go when she was ready. Was I never ready? I did everything he asked, I made high marks in school, and was a good girl. That wasn't what he wanted. He gave Priscilla everything I had wanted, letting her go on her journey when she was 14 year old. I was her senior by a year! Why wasn't I allowed to go? Instead, he'd given me a pokemon as a gift, a Litleo to chase away my loneliness.
Maybe he was afraid that I'd talk about his work, that my big mouth would get the family in trouble. I'd never agreed with his line of work, but I wasn't the idiot he believed me to be. Only Priscilla was intelligent enough for him, not me, and so I rotted away in the family estate while she got to enjoy her childhood and work at becoming his successor. As much as I resented him, I had always been thankful for Magnar, or the little Litleo he had given to me. The pokemon became my truest friend, where people would always proved their motivations were aligned with money or rising in the ranks beneath my father's company.
Now, I was an adult and college graduate. After working for a handful of years, I could afford to go on the journey I'd always wanted. The world was much different from when I wanted to embark on my original trip. Streets were more dangerous, many children were forced to wait until they were older due to drug and pokemon trafficking, and gangs virtually ran the streets. Violent crimes were on the rise and laws had buckled down on how battles were managed and ran. Underground pits had formed, fighting rings so that people could 'truly' test their pokemon. The fights were cruel, sometimes forcing pokemon to fight until their deaths.
I'd heard them referred to as pit-pokemon, raised only for gladiator like purposes. I knew father had a hand in it too, putting some of his goons to manage the fighting pits across Kanto. Yet another thing I resented him for aside from walling me in. I couldn't exactly go to school for criminal justice without him noticing, especially with him funding my trip into university.
Instead, I became a doctor. I wanted help the pokemon and people who were hurt by this world because of people like my father. Just getting away from him had been hard enough, I could only imagine what life was like when you were bound to him by your job or by drugs or money. With this leave from work, I could further my research and witness the state of Hoenn.
"Running late today Greyson?" a woman by the name of Ludwig asked as he walked into the headquarters.
"It's my day off," he told her grumpily, trying to tousle his hair so it was properly parted to the side and combed over, but with such short notice, he hadn't had the chance to take a shower.
"Poor luck, detective, you're wanted in the conference room in 2. I can grab you a cup of joe if you'd like," Ludwig offered, flashing a wicked smile at him.
"That'd be great-"
"Black, black like your soul. I've got it sunshine," she told him before flouncing off in a different direction.
Detective Greyson was a man nearly his thirties, tall and solidly built from his strict physical regiment. With how dangerous the roads were, an officer needed to be as fit as their pokemon. He had raven hair, that was typically combed over to the side and a bit of stubble that he'd been unable to shave that morning. The abruptness of the meeting could only mean that one of the cases he had been working on was making headway.
Waiting for him in the conference room was Police Chief Kline and Lieutenant Pearce. Kline was a broad bear of a man, burly, hairy, and with a glare that would intimidate even the strongest of pokemon. Pearce was a prim and proper woman, middle aged, and with dead coal eyes. A few other subordinates that were tracking the pit-fighting were also inside the room in the officer uniforms.
"Nice of you to join us, Greyson. Sorry to wake you from your PTO, but we've got a big player entering the country," Kline greeted stiffly. Nodding to Pearce.
Picking up a remote, she turned on a projector and began with the first slide. "As we know, the evening streets of Hoenn are becoming increasingly dangerous due in part to Team Magma and their beneficiaries Team Rocket. Crime rings have been springing up all along the largest cities, sometimes spilling out into the more rural and harder to reach areas. Drug activity, illegal pokemon trading, and pit-fighting is occurring in unknown locations.
"We have just found out that one of the daughters of the Team Rocket leader's is coming to Hoenn," the slides switched to a young woman. The majority of the slides were pictures taken without the individual knowing, and were caught while she was dressed in coats and had glasses and a hat on. Only a few depicted the woman from the front and with her face clear of any obstructions. Her hair was a stark white like a fresh coat of snow, her eyes the pale blue of frost, she was tall and slender; this picture was of her in a graduation uniform holding up what appeared to be a medical degree.
"Her name is Vivenne, Giovanni's genius daughter. She attended university at the age of 15 and graduated from medical school at 21. Unlike her counterpart, Priscilla, who is renowned for following in her father's footsteps-" an image of the woman flashed, golden hair and eyes, "-little is known of Vivienne after she completed her schooling. We're working on getting her files released from Kanto, but the authorities have already informed us that they're sealed and confidential, so it will take time for the clearance to pass for us to have it. But we suspect she's been working as a private practitioner to Team Rocket in the last four years.
"As for pokemon, the most we know is that she is often escorted by a Pyroar," the slide shifted to an enormous feline pokemon. The regal beast would have been a result of perfect breeding if not for the terrible scars that laced over his eye and right cheek, curling that side of his lip in a permanent grimace. "The Pyroar is definitely a pit-bred pokemon, as it is larger and more muscular than any of its normal counterparts. It stands at about 6 feet and weighs in at nearly 18 stones. We assume she has other pokemon at her disposal, but those remain unbeknownst to us."
"And why are we tracking her? You brought me back from my vacation just to tell me that one of Giovanni's daughters was here? How do you know she's not coming here to go on a cruise? If she were a notorious criminal, don't you think that Kanto would have released her files to us immediately?" Greyson challenged dubiously.
"There's a lot of mystery surrounding this one and until Kanto releases the information they have on her, we have to go with our guts, and I say this is daddy's little princess that he's made certain to keep secret. Priscilla is going to succeed him, from what we can see, but with a woman of this intellect on his side, there's no doubt that her research is into making pokemon stronger and developing methods of making them so. Just look at her Pyroar, I don't believe I've ever seen one so large."
"This is all based on a lot of assumptions, we could just wait," Greyson argued, despite his own occupation. Working in criminal justice, a lot of work was founded on suspicions before actual evidence was brought in.
"And wait until what? What if she's come here with a new drug or booster? Then because we waited, we'll be even further behind," Kline shook his head in disdain. "We have to act and as swiftly as possible."
"How? If this woman is really a genius, how are we going to outsmart her? We have no charges to detain her on, this is a witch hunt if I've ever seen one."
"That's why you're here," Ludwig entered with two cups of coffee, offering Greyson the black one. "You were brought back here to be informed that you'd be going undercover for this mission. You're of a similar age to Miss Vivienne. Our intell has stated that there is no plan for anyone to meet her once her plane makes landfall. It would seem she's working on her own for most of this. On top of that, she's book smart, not street smart, which means you may have more of an upper hand than you believe. Wherever she was for the past four years, it wasn't on the streets, or we'd have more pictures of her to share."
"So, you want me to just walk up to her and offer to be her friend? If she's really Giovanni's daughter, I doubt I'll even get that close."
"You're a cunning man, Greyson, get close to her and figure out what she's doing here. If she's just on a vacation, then so be it, but her family has enough money that they could go on a trip without ever being spotted. If she's here on 'research', then why would she turn down the help of a local? Get deep, do what you need to do to prove you're trustworthy. She may be the key to finding more crime rings."
"First vacation I take in three years and I can't even enjoy that," Greyson muttered, crossing his arms. "Where am I going?"
"Slateport, so we've got to get you flying out of here as soon as possible."
"Great… And any backstory you'd like to give me? Or I assume I'm supposed to just make up an alias on my way there…"
"You can pick up where you left off from your training years. You were a well known trainer, were you not?" Pearce asked him.
"Ah yes, finally I make a debut after more than 10 years of vanishing," he grumbled, brushing his hair back with his fingers.
The team's eagerness to jump on this unsettled him. There were plenty of other young bucks who might have loved to play undercover with a beautiful mobster's daughter. Why him? Sure they were of a similar age, but there seemed to be more information they weren't telling him. Why wasn't Kanto releasing her file? This just smelled of Witness Protection and he might be the one getting caught in the middle of it. Could it be that Pearce was trying to get back at him for his undermining of her authority? Demanding that he be sent for this job despite the other, lower caste officers who were available?
"Very well, tell Birch I'll be coming off my hiatus then. How am I getting to Slateport again?"
"You'll be taking your Flygon, no?"
Of course they won't provide me with an actual helicopter or jet, Greyson thought bitterly to himself. "I guess so. I suppose I'll be using our Poke'Navs for communication then?"
"Yes, any files we receive about Miss Vivienne will be forwarded to you," Kline assured him.
"As expected, well I'll be off then. No use in idle chatter when the plane will be touching down soon," Greyson said, drinking the rest of his coffee. "I'll be in touch."