Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.
I couldn't sleep that night. I kept thinking about the Riolu. The voice I heard. My entire life, even. Why was I a Rocket? Because I liked the money, power, the badassness. Was it all worth it? I still don't know to this day.
When the general alarm to wake up was sounded at 6, I was in the gym. I never have gotten into working out regularly. It mostly helps me think. I've been doing a lot of that lately. My team members have been getting suspicious about it. They think I'm up to something, or that I'm about to quit. Like that'll happen. Being a Rocket is all I know. It's what I'm good at it. So they say. Working out was always boring. I put down my weights and headed out the door.
Walking the halls of the Team Rocket HQ, I let myself imagine a different life. Where, instead of joining the Rockets straight out of High School, I became a Pokémon trainer, like all the other kids. I'd challenge the gym leaders and hopefully make it to the Elite 4. My Pokémon would be my friends, instead of partners in crime. I imagine that life a lot now. Who knows, I might try it out. Yeah, right.
I make my way to the mess hall and scan the room for Alex. It takes me forever to pick her out amongst the other hundreds of people dressed all in black. I stopped wearing the uniform years ago. I walk over to her table and sit down next to her.
"Hey," I say glumly.
She laughs. "Hey, Mr. Gloom and Doom. How's life?"
"Not even worth mentioning." I look around to see nobody else sitting at the table with us. That's odd. I have other friends, don't I?
Alex shakes her curly red hair. I guess you could say she did that hair-flip thing.
"You really need to lighten up, Matt. We're living the dream, babe. No one messes with us, and we can do whatever we want."
"Don't call me babe."
"Ok, sheesh, sorry." She goes back to eating her breakfast. I think I might have offended her. Oh well.
"I'm gonna grab some food."
"Whatever."
I get up and go to stand in line with the grunts, since their's is always shorter.
"So, tell me something," I ask the guy in front of me. "Why is it, even though we are the most criminally organized gang in… pretty much the world, we still line up in a nice orderly line to get food."
He shrugs. "Cause we're too lazy to go anywhere?"
Alex was gone when I got back. I ate my food alone. It doesn't really bother me. Afterwards, I went back to my room to see what we were hitting tonight.
I read it on my computer when I got back.
"Nothing tonight. Rest up. You've earned it."
Well, great. Now I have absolutely nothing to do. Maybe I should go apologize for being so rude to Alex. Or maybe I can just say "To hell with it", and go out. Hmm. Pointless apology or hittin' up town…Tough choice. I grabbed my team's Pokéballs and clipped them to my belt. You never know.
The walk from my room to the garage was a short one. The Administrators of Team Rocket always get the best treatment, so my room was one of the closest to it. From there, it only took seconds to find my Malibu. God, I love this car. Thank you. Of course, it's technically not mine, so maybe I shouldn't thank God.
The drive to Saffron was quick. Ever since some nerdy kid came and obliterated Team Rocket, we moved the HQ out of the city. I still can't believe the reason he won too. If they had allowed the grunts to have 2 or 3 GOOD Pokémon each, instead of ridiculously under-leveled, weak Pokémon, it wouldn't have happened. Rocket was more of a group of bullies back then. No way would I've joined up.
I drove around town listening to some Bullet for my Valentine. I don't normally go for the heavy metal, but it was in my CD player, so I let it run. I had it turned up way too loud. The person in front of me turned around to see who would be such a jackass. When they saw who it was, they kept right on turning. It was almost funny.
"I hope you've finally gone to a place where you belong."
Place where I belong. I definitely don't belong with the Rockets. I'm good at being an Admin, I guess, but I've never felt right with them.
"Then leave."
I slammed on the breaks. Hard. The guy behind me honked his horn, but I ignored him. That voice. Again. What is it?
"Come to the Pokémon center"
Well, great. Random voices telling me to go to the Pokémon Center. This has "Something weird is going to happen" written all over it.
I'm just sitting in my car, parked in the Pokémon Center's parking lot. Trying to get myself to get out of my car. What a wuss.
"If you're crazy, it won't really matter what happens."
"Shut up, Voice!"
"Yes Master."
Master? What the F? Ok, this I have to see…
When I walk in, they all freeze. Again. God, I'm so sick of it. Might as well get this over with.
"Yes, it's me, the big, scary Matt Wright. Either act like I'm just some other person or get the F out. Jeez."
No one leaves, but they unfreeze and go back to what they were doing before I walked in. They keep looking at me out of the corner of their eyes every 10 seconds, but I can live with it.
I walk up to the counter, and tap on it twice. Nurse Joy comes walking out of the back room. When she sees me, she starts, but she doesn't freeze, or start crying. Man, I hate it when they cry.
"Can I help you…sir?"
Sir? Oh, wow. I'm not in uniform here, am I?
"Call this my day off, Nurse Joy. I'm just Matt today. So I'd like it if people would stop treating me differently." I raised my voice near the end so everyone else heard it. They all stopped and stared at me for a few seconds, then went back to their own conversations. About me, I have no doubt. When I turned back to the nurse, she doesn't know what to think. I guess the word is dumbfounded.
"Uhhh…" How eloquent.
"Just call me Matt, ok?"
She gets that "I'm-brain-dead-don't-shoot-me "look on her face again. I don't even have a gun. It's in my car.
I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. I guess she understands that I'm running out of patience and decides to not push the few left that I have.
"What can I do for you… Mr. Wright?"
Well, it's a start.
"Uhhh…" Oh my god, I have no idea what to say. "Oh, I'm here because this voice that I heard last night when I rescued that Riolu told me to come here. What's my straight jacket size? I don't know. A nice padded room you say? Crap.
"Mr. Wright?" She looks like my face is melting in front of her.
"Umm…" Wait… the Riolu!
"I'm here to see about the Riolu I dropped off last night." The room goes silent.
"Y-you're h-here to… actually s-see it?" She stutters so hard she should've been in that Billy Madison movie.
"Yes, that's right. Is there a problem?" I turned around on the word "problem". The lemmings went back to whatever. It's getting old, and it hasn't even been 5 minutes yet. Oh god, that's what she said!
I can't even help it, I burst out into this loud, slightly insane laughter. Right there.
Great, now I'm laughing out loud at my own stupid joke. They must really think I'm nuts.
"Mr. Wright?"
"Just show me the Riolu, please." And don't call the people with the big needles while my back is turned.
"Right away, sir." She motions for me to follow her.
This hallway is really long.
"How is it?" I ask.
She glances at me. "The Riolu has been recovering well. It's been awake some, but is heavily sedated right now in order to heal."
I actually breathe a sigh of relief. I must've been more worried about it then I thought.
"Will there be any permanent damage from its injuries?"
"It's too early to tell, but my guess would be no, none."
We arrived at one of the many generic hospital doors in the Center.
"Can I…?"
She gives me a weird look. "You can go in if you want to, but don't disturb its sleep."
I smirk. "Yes, ma'am." I give a little salute and walk in.
Wow. It looks worse than when I found it.
The Pokémon is really banged up. Its head, entire left arm, and right foot is bandaged. Both eyes are swollen, and it looks like it has trouble breathing. I grab the chart at the foot of the bed and flip though to the analysis. Head trauma, broken foot, cracked ribs, sprained wrist, broken… elbow? You can break your elbow? Wow. I chuckle softly to myself. The noise makes the Riolu stir in its sleep.
I put the chart back and try to quietly tip toe back to the door. Before I make it a foot, I hear a soft yawn behind me. I turn around, and the Riolu is staring at me, all wide-eyed, like I'm some sort of hero. Well, I did save it…
"Hey, little guy." This is weird.
The Riolu makes a huffing noise. O-kay.
"Ummm…little girl?" I try.
It makes a noise that sounds like an affirmative. Well, that solves one mystery.
I walk back over to it. Her. Whatever. She waves at me. Umm…
"You're really young, aren't you?"
She nods. Well, at least she understands me. I sit down on the edge of her bed.
"What happened?"
She immediately shuts down, I can see it. Crap
"You don't have to tell me. You have to know that I'm curious." Damage Control.
She perks up again. I decide a different tactic is needed.
"Where's your family?"
She shrugs. I do a mental face-slap. She's a baby almost. How in the world would she know?
"Do you belong to a trainer, or to someone as a pet?"
She shakes her head.
"So you're wild?"
Another nod. Gee, this conversation is kinda one-sided.
"Has Nurse Joy been taking good care of you?" What the F? Why act like I care? Nice, Matt.
She frowns a little bit. Did I say something wrong?
She smiles and nods her head yes. Wait, yes about Nurse Joy or yes to… Oh, headache.
She frowns again.
"Well, I'm glad you're feeling better. I'll tell Nurse Joy to release you when you're fully healed." I turn away from her and head towards the door.
My hand was reaching for the doorknob when I heard it.
"Now Master, are you trying to say you're not going to see me again?" The voice sounds almost playful.
I turn back around. The Riolu is smiling.
I should've stayed at base and done the stupid apology thing. F my life.
A/N: A little bit longer than the last one, but not by much. I'll work up to it. What'd you think of the "Your mom" joke I threw in there? I just couldn't resist. I do own a Malibu, and they're sexy cars. Yes, Matt is an Admin. Why else would people choke up when he's around?
Thanks sooooo much to my reviewers: Windy Rain, define-originality, and Syzdoth. Define-originality and Syzdoth, thank you so much for the shout outs you gave me on your fics. It made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Y'all get to meet Matt's team next chapter, so stay tuned for that. :)
One last thing, however. I've been undecided with the name of this fic. I think I have switched the title from "Rocket" to "Rocket Man" and back at least half a dozen times. So, I need help. Which title sounds better to you guys? Let me know.
- Stone