A/N: ...ok, how long has it been since I've even conceived this idea? Way too long. And yet...I oddly can't let go of it. Anyway, this is a rewrite of an old story I thought up about a year ago, created on the pure basis that...honestly I wasn't happy with how it was going, along with the fact that on a random whim I just felt like reanimated it...but yea...
Premise/summary: Do any of you who have played the red/blue/yellow/fire red/leaf green versions of the games remember the Nugget Bridge in Cerulean City and the Team Rocket member who offered you a spot in Team Rocket after beating all the trainers? Well, I was thinking, what if you actually chose to take up the man on his offer? This is the story of a trainer who did.
Anyway, here it is, enjoy.
Disclaimer: No, I do not own Pokemon. But the OCs in this are mine, that's saying something right?
Rocketeer
Chapter One: Moonlight Encounter; a boy and his ghost
"Yawn~"
The security guard let out a huge yawn as he reclined in his chair, an obvious look of boredom plastered on his face. It was late at night in the busy Saffron City but instead of partying or sleeping like the guard wanted to do, he was stuck working the graveyard shift at the Saffron City Museum of fine arts. After getting up to do a bit of stretching, he glanced at the watch on his left hand and gave an annoyed grunt.
"2:30 AM…" the guard mumbled. "…stupid night shift…"
Sitting back down at his post, he turned on the small TV at his desk. Reclining back in his seat and throwing his legs over the desk, the guard stared mindlessly at the late night sitcoms to pass the time; wasn't like anything happened here anyway…
As the security guard laughed at the antics shown on the TV, he missed two shady figures sneak behind him and into the exhibit. From a distance and due to the darkness, one would probably see two unidentifiable phantoms gliding gracefully across the museum floor, but at a closer look, anyone could recognize the familiar black uniform and the infamous red "R" insignia stitched at the right breast and know that the two "phantoms" were in fact, common grunts of the pokemon crime syndicate: Team Rocket.
One of the grunts unhooked a pokeball from his belt and clenched it tightly.
"Should I take the guard out?" He whispered to his cohort.
"No, you moron…" His companion snarled silently. "You heard the boss, get in the museum and get the goods without causing a commotion…"
"Oh…" the first grunt said as he nodded to the other grunt. "Alright, let's go then…"
The grunts quickly scanned the map they had stolen and then ran off to the nearest door on the left. In their haste, they didn't realize another person watching them from a large, decorative zeppelin model hanging from the ceiling. The person walked out of the shadows to reveal himself as a young man in his late teens. From his appearance, one could guess that the main color scheme of his outfit was probably dark. He wore a tight grey long sleeved shirt, black combat pants, black boots, and a long black coat to top it all off. He had wild black hair and his while his face was obstructed by a simple white mask; one could still see a glimpse of his vibrant, oddly colored purple eyes.
"Stupid morons…" the masked man mumbled to himself, shaking his head sadly. "The objective is at the door to the right…they went the wrong way…"
Letting out a sigh, the masked man turned heel to the other side of the room, to the door on the right, and as he turned, one could also see the same red "R" insignia on the back of his jacket. With a skillful, ninja-like grace, the masked man jumped off the blimp model and onto the overview of the one of the higher floors. Hopping onto the railing, he went down on a low crouch and launched himself off on one of the pillars and slid down harmlessly like an aipom going down a tree. Running past the door, he quickly rolled into the shadows to prevent another security guard that was surveying the area from seeing him. Sneaking from the shadows, the masked man managed to get behind the sleep deprived guard and grabbed him in a sleeper hold, effectively and efficiently, putting the man to sleep.
After making sure the man was completely unconscious, the masked man looked around the area once more and quickly ran past the next door before the guard's comrades notice something amiss and come in to check up on him. Running past a few more corridors and admiring some of the paintings hanging on the walls, the masked man turned left and saw his objective. There in the center a small square room, with walls of magnificent paintings of the heavens, sat a beautiful diamond pokeball that sat on the velvet pillow on a pedestal. The moon shone brightly above the glass ceiling and gave the pokeball a strange, almost ethereally enchanting appearance.
"Found it…" the masked man said, his voice carrying a hint of pride. "…the legendary pokeball with power that brings the master ball to shame…Heaven's Capsule…"
After disabling the surveillance system, the masked man slowly approached the display and reached towards the ball, only to have his hand lightly singed by a barrier. Quickly retracting his hand before the barrier could continue to burn his entire arm off, the masked man quickly turned around to make sure no guards had come. After making sure he was still alone, the masked man reached into one of his jacket's inner pockets and pulled out a rare light ball. Juggling with the item for a few moments, he then grabbed the orb and with a swift motion, gently pressed it against the barrier which began to spasm and spark as the light ball grew brighter and brighter with every passing second he kept it against the barrier. The security measure continued to fluctuate for a few more moments before suddenly shutting down; its power completely lost.
"…you'd think they would start using something a little more effective and difficult to break than these R-478 barriers if they knew all it takes is a light ball to disable them…" the masked man said to himself self as he let go the light ball, which shattered from at the moment it left his hands.
Pushing the thoughts of outdated security equipment to the back of his mind, the masked man quickly grabbed and pocketed the diamond pokeball and turned exited the room, ready to make his undetected departure. As he entered the corridor however, ready to leap out a nearby window, the loud ringing of the security alarm set off, throwing the once tranquil area into chaos.
"What the hell…?" the masked man mentally snarled. "Why are the alarms going off now?"
Just then he heard a pair of loud, rather idiotic voices belonging to the two other members of Team Rocket coming from the west wing.
"Dude, what the hell, you just set off the alarm!"
"Aw come on, you can't blame me for that! I was just trying to grab that pretty picture; you know you wanted it too!"
Smacking his forehead, the masked man let out a string of swears.
"Stupid morons…" he snarled. "Don't they know the importance of staying undetected in a job like this…?"
"Hey!" The voice of a guard, quickly approaching my area yelled. "There's someone here too!"
Suddenly, the masked man found himself surrounded by three guards, each of them armed with a night stick, flash light, and a rather vicious looking growlithe.
"…you've got to be kidding me…" He sighed before taking out a pokeball from his belt.
"The suspect has produced a pokeball," one of the guards announced into his walkie talkie. "It is very likely a fight will break out."
Smiling from behind his mask, the man threw the ball down onto the ground, causing a bright bang, temporarily blinding every guard and growlithe in the vicinity. After the effects of the flash had passed, all of them got into battle positions, ready to fight the intruder. However, as their vision began to become clearer, the guards soon discovered that their target was no longer around.
"Shoot…!" Another guard yelled as he whipped out his own walkie talkie. "The suspect has escaped using the flash from an empty pokeball and is now on the run. All forces; move out and meet at the central wing, first floor; we'll catch this rat for sure!"
As the guard shouted out the orders, the masked man, now running through a nearby, empty corridor let out a sigh; he had heard the guard's orders and now knew which course of action he should avoid.
"They really shouldn't yell out their plan of attack; the enemy might hear them…"
Quickly darting to the staircase, the masked man ran up to the third floor. Upon arriving at the doorway to the central wing, third floor, he slowly peaked over the balcony and saw a large mass of security guards standing and staring at the nearby door, obviously waiting for someone. Shaking his head sadly, the masked man scaled through the balcony, only to find five more security guards in front of the door.
"Heh," one of them chuckled. "Knew stationing some of our men on the higher floors was a good idea…"
"Well then, I guess I owe you a coke…" Another guard laughed. "Now let's go!"
And with that, the guard's along with five arcanine charged straight at the masked man. Letting out a light swear, the masked man looked at the team of the guards and then at the mass of security personnel downstairs. After a moment of pondering, the masked man jumped off the balcony and with the precision of a cat, landed gracefully on his feet onto the first floor, greatly shocking the large group of security.
"There he is!" A guard yelled after he quickly recovered from the shock. "It's the mastermind!"
"…mastermind…?" the masked man snorted mentally. "They think I'm working with those two idiots…?"
"Get him!" Another guard yelled, interrupting the man's thoughts and in a loud bang, the masked man was now being stared down by at least twenty five growlithes and their owners.
The masked man sighed once more.
"Always with the growlithes…" he mumbled. "Granted they're good, loyal partners, but seriously, the law enforcement should look into a larger variety among its pokemon…but that's not the case at the moment. I need to get out of here, and fast, but first thing's first, I need to make sure those two moron's don't get caught; they might be in possession of important information we can't afford to let the police get their hands on…"
"Stop right there!" The guards yelled, almost simultaneously. "Growlithe; use flamethrower!"
The group of puppy pokemon stood their grounds and inhaled a large amount of air before exhaling, letting out a large, dangerous blast of fire, created from the wide scale group collaboration. Purple eyes widening, the masked man quickly rolled to the sides to avoid the blast of barbequing him.
"Enough of this…" he growled as he took out another pokeball. "…guess I'll have to resort to force…"
Facing the guards, the masked man threw the pokeball. "Haunter, take care em!"
In a bright flash, a haunter, in all its spectral glory, appeared on the battle scene. He was a healthy looking pokemon, obviously well taken care of; its medium build allowed it for fast mobility but could also be depend on taking and dishing out powerful physical attacks. His sadistic smile and crazy eyes painted a picture of fright that struck the hearts of all the enemies there. Looking around at his surrounding for a moment, the haunter then threw his head back, and let out a bone chilling cackle that seemed to force the overall temperature of the museum to drop more than a few degrees.
"Partner!" The haunter cheered, floating over and throwing his floating severed hand around his master's shoulder. "What do we have here?"
From his mask, the man gave his pokemon a burning glare that didn't seem to phase it. "Something rather stupid happened here, Haunter," the masked man replied, removing his pokemon's hand from him, obviously not amused with the happy go lucky, buddy-buddy attitude his pokemon had with him. "We're going to have to fight our way out if we want to make it back alive…"
Despite the apparent severity of the situation, Haunter looked downright overjoyed.
"…so…" he giggled as he bounced up and down, hardly able to contain his glee. "I get to kick some asses?"
"Yes, you get to kick some asses…" the masked man sighed. "So get to it! Shadow ball, then follow it up with a night shade!"
"You got it partner!" Haunter laughed as he blasted out a large black orb at the group.
The attack landed in the enemy's center formation, causing the guards to break position rather quickly. Amongst the confusion and chaos, Haunter then quickly flew behind the group and charged up for a powerful night shade attack.
"You guys were unlucky when you decided to attack the bestest team in the whole, wide world!" Haunter roared. "Now eat this, bitches!"
Haunter's eyes suddenly widened and with that, the shadows seemed to bend as the ghost pokemon launched a wave of spiritual energy at the group, sending the guards and their pokemon flying, along with the intended effect, the night shade also tore through several walls, stairs, and flooring, effectively turning the central wing exhibit into a battle torn war ground. The masked man smacked his forehead, not sure whether or not to be more annoyed with the overzealous collateral damage or the lousy grammar and crude attitude his pokemon had displayed. Ultimately dismissing the dilemma, the masked man quickly recalled his ghost pokemon and ran towards the west wing. As he entered the corridor leading to the area, he heard the two grunts, pleading for their freedom.
"Please let us go!" One of the grunts cried pathetically as he bent down in a low bow.
"Yeah!" His partner shouted out. "We…we have information! We could give it to you! Just let us go!"
"…what do you think rookie?" One of the guards asked, turning to a much younger man. "It might be useful to get some information on Team Rocket. The commissioner put you in charge so it's your call…"
The masked man shifted slightly in an attempt to get a better look at the situation at hand, the alleged rookie, who was apparently also in his late teens stepped forward to talk to the captured rockets. His hair was wild and blonde; his eyes were teal and cold. He wore a black button up shirt, dark brown slacks, and a long tan overcoat. The rookie's cold eyes tore into the grunts, causing them to sweat.
"…so…" one of them said as soon as he regained power over his voice. "…we have a deal…?"
The rookie snorted and produced a pokeball from his belt and tossed the device in front of the grunts. The ball opened the moment it came in contact with the floor and in a flash of light, a kadabra stood proudly before the rookie.
"I don't negotiate with people who have sold their souls to the darkness." The blonde said coldly. "Kadabra, psycho cut."
"…as you wish…" Kadabra replied, and with that, the spoon in the psi pokemon's hand turned violent purple and transformed into a large energy blade. Kadabra then ran the energy sword through the two rockets, killing them almost instantly.
"…geeze that kid's brutal, isn't he?" one of the guards whispered to another. "But I guess it comes with being part of the International Police Force huh?"
"…yeah," the other guard whispered. "Even if he is a rookie he's much stronger than we are; the IPF are on a whole different level from us…"
From the shadows, the masked man clenched his fists in apprehension. The IPF or the International Police Force was a collection of trainers from all over the world, working towards law enforcement and keeping rouge trainers and evil syndicates in line. The IPF is also very selective, having trainers to fulfill a number of requirements and an entrance examination; it is said only the best of the best are allowed in as a member of the force.
"Alright," A security guard announced. "We still can't rest; there's still another intruder in the building. The reports states he's male, wearing a black overcoat and a white mask, and is supposedly more dangerous that those other two. He's also has the Heaven's Capsule under his possession so we have to make sure we catch him! Men fall out!"
"Wait," the rookie said calmly, stopping the guards from heading out to search. "I don't think we'll have to search very far; Kadabra tells me that our culprit is close by."
"He is?" a guard asked. "Where?"
The rookie and Kadabra closed their eyes simultaneously and began to focus. "Oh I would have to say…there!" the young man yelled as he pointed to the spot in the shadows where the masked man was hiding. "Kadabra, use confusion!"
"Of course," Kadabra obliged, raising his spoon as he shot the psychic attack.
The masked man's eyes widened as he saw the attack rush towards him. Cursing under his breath, he jumped out the path of the confusion, consequentially leaving his cover among the shadows and revealing himself to the police.
"Heh…there you are…" the rookie chuckled before pointing at the masked man once more. "Kadabra, psybeam!"
Kadabra's eyes began to glow and the fox like pokemon shot a rainbow colored beam at his target. Eyes widening, the masked man jumped out of the pysbeam's trajectory and summoned Haunter from his pokeball; he wasn't going to go down without a fight.
"Heeeerrrreeesss Haunter!" Haunter laughed as he appeared. "Another fight partner? You sure are active today aren't you?"
"Sure, why not." The masked man replied in an irritated tone. "Now quickly, use night shade."
"You got it, jerk," Haunter replied cheerfully as he launched a blast of spiritual energy at the rookie and his kadabra.
"…why you…" the rookie snarled as he and his pokemon jumped to avoid the attack. "Kadabra, psycho cut!"
"Haunter, dodge and use shadow punch." The masked man calmly replied.
Haunter evaded Kadabra's deadly, psychic, energy blade by diving into the shadows. Letting out a little giggle, the rather insane ghost pokemon jumped out and struck the kadabra right in the face. Kadabra staggered back a bit; the attack obviously took a lot out of him.
"Damn…" the rookie swore. "We have to finish this now; Kadabra, psybeam!"
"Agreed, we should finish this," the masked man replied. "Haunter, shadow ball!"
"Understood…" Kadabra replied as he shot the rainbow colored beam at his and his master's enemies.
"Righty-o!" Haunter laughed as he launched the shadow ball right into the psybeam.
The rainbow beam and the black blob came into contact with each other, resulting in a large flash. The rookie and the rest of the guards shielded their eyes to avoid being blinded. As the light died down, the realized their culprit had used the flash to escape. As the security personnel ran off, hoping they would still be able to find their masked thief, the rookie stared down at the spot where his opponent previously stood; clenching his fists, he swore to himself that the two would meet again.
"Yahoo!" Haunter cheered as he and his trainer ran out of the building and into the night. "That was fun! Most fun I've had in a while!"
"…that's great…" the masked rocket deadpanned. "Now how about keeping your mouth shut so we don't run into anymore trouble?"
Haunter glided in front of his trainer and pouted while his eyes began to well up with fake tears.
"Oh partner," he gasped. "Why must you hurt me so?"
The masked trainer's eyes narrowed and as he began to tell his pokemon off, a blast of fire suddenly shot him in the face. Upon seeing his trainer being assaulted, Haunter immediately dropped his joking act and began to look around attentively for the assailant.
Then out of the shadows, a girl, probably about sixteen years old stepped out. The girl had dark brown hair and the same teal eyes that that rookie they had fought had. She wore a white tank top, a light hooded sweater with black and pink stripes, a pair of jeans, and converses. At her side was a vulpix, crouched down, ready to fight.
"Good job Vulpix." The girl said with a smile, praising her fox pokemon.
"The haunter is still standing, shall we go again?" Vulpix asked, looking up at her trainer for further instruction.
Haunter stared at the girl and her vulpix incredulously. His partner had just scaled across an entire museum, fought off a bunch of strong enemies, counting that scary blonde bastard and his kadabra, escaped like a badass, only to get successfully hit by some random girl and her little vulpix; it was too much for the gas pokemon to take and he began to laugh uncontrollably.
"HAHAHAHAHA…oh my Mew…" Haunter laughed, clutching his sides. "You got past the guards and even that scary blonde dude without a scratch…haha…and then this random girl hits you! It's just too funny! HAHAHAHA!"
Then a burnt mask was chucked at Haunter. The ghost pokemon dodged and turned to the source of the somewhat half hearted attack and smiled.
"Hey welcome back Partner!" the gas pokemon exclaimed.
Haunter's trainer stepped out of the shadows; his face now visible after discarding his mask. He was rather young, probably seventeen or eighteen judging from his handsome facial features. His strange purple eyes were narrowed in a glare and his mouth was pressed in a frown.
"Hey!" Haunter exclaimed, grabbing his trainer's cheeks. "I can see your face! Look at the handsome boy!"
The now unmasked boy's eye visibly twitched and he took a swing at the ghost pokemon, who promptly dodged. "Stop screwing around…" he snapped in an annoyed tone.
"Sigh, my bestest buddy is always so mean…" Haunter sighed in false sadness.
The mysterious boy ignored the ghost pokemon and turned towards the girl who was staring at them with a shocked look on her face.
"Do you have some kind of business with me?" the boy asked.
The girl quickly got over her stupor and pointed an accusing finger at him. "Yes, as matter of fact, I do! You must be that Team Rocket member causing all that commotion in the museum!"
"And what if I am?" the boy asked, figuring it would be too much a hassle to try and lie to the girl to convince her he wasn't the thief. "What does it matter anyway? Are you some kind of vigilante trying to save the world from bad people like me? Or maybe you're just some kid trying to find an easy way into the IPF?"
It wasn't unheard of, he had had encounters many trainers trying to do something big by themselves in an attempt to be noticed by the IPF; sadly, a good number of them never did survive their endeavors…
The girl's face turned red and her eyes narrowed in embarrassment and anger. "…why you…Vulpix, use flamethrower!"
Vulpix nodded and blasted a stream of fire at the boy and his haunter who immediately dodged.
After dodging a few more attacks, the two then began to hear sirens approaching their area.
"Haunter," the boy called out. "Let's finish this! Shadow ball!"
"You got it!" Haunter cackled as he shot out the shadow ball. The black blob sped towards the girl and her pokemon, engulfing them in a small, black explosion, effectively knocking them out.
"Maybe that was a little much…" the boy mumbled as Haunter did a little victory dance. "…whatever…Haunter, let's move!"
"Yeah, yeah, I hear you," Haunter replied. "Oh, but what are we going to do with out little assailant?"
The boy looked down at the girl and her vulpix who were now out cold. While his first instinct was to leave them, a small, foreign, tugging sensation hit his chest and he knew he couldn't leave them.
Letting out an annoyed sigh, he turned to his pokemon. "Hey, Haunter, help me out here…"
"Izzy! Izzy, wake up!" A voice called out to her.
"Wha?"
Izzy, woke up with a start to find herself lying down on a bench.
"…what the heck…?" she asked, looking around to discover that it was her vulpix that woke her up. "What happened to that guy?"
"I don't know…" Vulpix replied. "I just came to myself…"
Izzy stood up from the bench, to find that she was wearing a long overcoat. "…where did this come from…?"
"I don't know either…" Vulpix said. "You were wearing it when I woke up."
Izzy took of the coat to inspect it; it was nice coat, made out a comfortable, yet durable, dark material. Further examining the jacket, she then saw the Rocket symbol sewn on the back.
"The Rocket symbol!" she gasped as a memory soon came back to her. "Wait, didn't that masked guy we fought had a jacket like this?"
"Yeah, I think he did!" Vulpix cried. "…so why do you have it…?"
Izzy stared at the jacket in disbelief until it all hit her; after the fight, the rocket had obviously brought her to a safer area and given her his jacket to help keep warm. The real question plaguing her now was why.
"Why would that Rocket help me…?" She asked out loud as the familiar ringing of sirens rang throughout the entire Saffron City. "Oh, brother must me out looking for me…" She mused as she got up and ran to the direction of the sirens, a sense of dread forming in the pit of her stomach; her brother wasn't going to be happy.
While Izzy ran off to the police, the mysterious boy and his haunter ran throughout the city, trying to find an exit.
"Hey partner," Haunter asked. "Can I ask you a question?"
"No," the boy deadpanned.
"Aw come on, I just want to know why you decided to help that girl out." Haunter whined, pausing for a moment before pounding his palm in a flash of insight. "Ooohh, has my wittle partner found love?"
The boy didn't stop running, but he did turn to give his pokemon a nasty glare. Quite frankly, he wasn't sure of his actions either; usually, he wouldn't give trainers he had beaten a second though; just take them down and leave them to their faith. It was how he always operated; how every self respecting "villain" always operated. So why didn't he do the same to that girl? Shaking his head, he continued to look for an exit before the police found him, having no idea that tonight was the beginning of something that would turn his world upside down…
And there you have it. Please read and review!