Sonya drifted in and out of sleep as she drowsily watched the other field agents give their speeches and welcome the new recruits.
Suddenly she felt a hard punch.
"Wake up, Scardey Skitty, you're going to miss the best part of the presentation," Mindy whispered.
Groggily, Sonya sat up in her chair.
"Ugh, if I hear 'prepare for trouble, make it double' one more time..." Sonya groaned, sleepily.
"I know; they should really think of some new material," a random grunt in the audience agreed.
Just then, as if on cue the lights dimmed and that familiar headache inducing track started playing again.
The familiar sound of heels clicking echoed from the stage.
"Prepare for trouble!"
"Make it double!"
Sonya groaned, buried her head in her hands, and sighed.
She felt Mindy shake her.
"Wake up, Sonny, it's Cassidy!" Mindy shouted.
Sonya sat up, rubbed her eyes, and squinted at the pair of Rocket agents. She suddenly opened her eyes wide in realization, a cold chill washed over her as she listened to them recite the motto. She felt herself shaking and wanted to run away.
"Drowzee!"
Cassidy's Drowzee teleported to the stage in a flash.
"What's wrong?" Mindy asked. She was more curious than concerned.
Sonya tried not to cry as she watched the Rocket agents and relived the horror that happened in the lab. She fought herself, swallowed her tears, and sat frozen in her chair. She couldn't stop herself from shaking and lightly sobbing.
"Sonny, calm down, people are starting to stare!" Mindy shouted.
Mindy's voice echoed through the quiet room, and curious eyes started glancing at the obviously terrified Rocket trainee. Laughter began to fill the auditorium.
Butch and Cassidy stared at their audience, wondering what all of the commotion was about.
"Drowzee? Drow-zee?" the Pokemon asked.
Cassidy's Drowzee began making hand signals and repeating different syllables of its name.
"What's it saying?" Butch asked.
"Do I look like a Pokemon whisperer to you, Biff?" Cassidy asked.
"Drow-zee. Drowzee," the Pokemon said.
The Drowzee pointed to the shaking sobbing Rocket grunt.
Cassidy smiled.
"Drowzee, teleport!" Cassidy ordered.
"Zee!" the Pokemon yelled with a nod.
In a flash, Sonya and Mindy found themselves on stage.
"Wow!" Mindy shouted.
Mindy looked around to see a Drowzee with Cassidy slyly grinning beside it.
"This is so cool, isn't it Sonny?" Mindy asked.
There was more laughter from the audience.
Sonya was still shaking and refused to answer.
Cassidy walked up to Sonya and put her hand under her chin.
"Now, now, it's okay, sweetie," Cassidy said.
Sonya felt Cassidy's gloved hand and heard her soft voice. Little chills, this time not of fear, again ran over her skin. She relaxed a little and stopped shaking. She was still sobbing uncontrollably, though.
"We just can't have you interrupting the show,"
Sonya continued shaking and sobbing.
Mindy scoffed.
"Sonny, this is so embarrassing," Mindy said.
"Goodbye for now, kids!" Cassidy said with a laugh.
Sonya winced
Mindy sighed.
"Drowzee, you know what to do!"
Sonya and Mindy were suddenly surrounded by light and teleported away from the stage. They landed with a thud outside the locked auditorium.
Mindy groaned.
"You got us kicked out!"
Sonya gave a sigh of relief.
"Just what's your problem anyway?" Mindy asked.
The relief suddenly turned into annoyance as her headache and tiredness returned.
"Nothing, just nothing," Sonya replied.
Mindy huffed and crossed her arms.
"Fine! Be that way; see if I care!" Mindy said.
She then noticed that Sonya was walking away.
"Hey! Sonny, come back!" Mindy shouted as she ran to catch up.
The two girls found themselves walking down a familiar long dark path.
"Where are we now? We better not be lost!" Mindy shouted.
Sonya just gave a sigh.
"I'm going back to my room," Sonya said.
"...and miss the rest of the presentation?" Mindy asked.
There was no answer.
"Ditching the assembly? That's...the coolest thing you've done since I've known you! There's hope for you as a Team Rocket member, yet!"
Sonya suddenly found herself in a strong embrace. She groaned and pushed her away as they continued walking.
"You know, we're probably going to get into a lot of trouble for this!" Mindy said.
Suddenly, a flash light was flicked on.
"Did someone say "trouble?" a voice asked.
"Uh-oh; it's the hall monitor. I wouldn't be worried if this were some ordinary stock boy, but he's good friends with Viper," Mindy whispered to Sonya.
"What kind of trouble, exactly, miss?" the boy said.
The cart rolled into the dim light and there stood a brown haired boy in a white Team Rocket uniform, the same boy from earlier.
"You weren't thinking about leaving the assembly?" the boy asked.
Sonya and Mindy shook their heads.
"We were just...lost. That's it, lost," Mindy said.
"Lost, eh? Luckily for you, I'm going that way," the boy said.
Sonya wasn't sure, but it looked like he was scowling at them. The boy's voice didn't sound friendly at all.
Sonya and Mindy about-faced and walked back to the auditorium, the squeaky cart wheels whistling behind them.
"I knew you weren't brave enough to ditch," Mindy whispered.
Sonya scoffed.
"You know; this sudden change of attitude is getting really annoying," Mindy said.
Sonya groaned.
The cart stopped; they were back at the auditorium. The boy took out his keys and let them in the back door.
Light from the room flooded in and temporarily blinded the pair.
Everyone was standing and talking. It must have been over.
Just then, a voice rang out from the stage.
"...and don't forget, tomorrow you will all be paired with your agents for your first mission!"
"Agents? mission? did we miss something important?" Mindy asked.
Sonya sighed.
"Oh, yeah, while you two were gone, they gave us all assignments. Turns out those agents weren't just here to put on a good show," a random grunt said.
"Who were we...paired with?" Mindy asked.
"Don't know," the grunt replied.