Title: The Pikachu Project
Disclaimer: Oh just shut up. Rub it in, why don't you? I don't own Pokemon, and I never will. I do happen to own the original characters in this fic though.
Author's Notes: To answer ImJessieTR's question, the first seven chapters of "The Pikachu Project" will focus mainly on the consequence of Dr. Craig's mishap of losing Pikachu. The three chapters after that, however, will focus primarily on Pikachu, Ash, Jessie, James, and Meowth. Hopefully then, the readers will be able to see how all the characters are tied together, and how Dr. Craig's mistake is still in full effect to this day.
Thanks SO much to all the people who have continued to read and review this fic! I love you all!
"Monday he woke up and hated life. Drank until Wednesday and left his wife. Thursday through Saturday lost everything. Woke up on Sunday miserable again…" – The Story of My Old Man, Good Charlotte
The Pikachu Project
By: Tear22
Chapter Five: A Questionable Fate
The talk of what had taken place reached what seemed to be every member of Team Rocket within minutes, a remarkable amount of time even for them. No one but the few who had followed the Boss to Dr. Craig's office upon hearing of his arrival had witnessed it, and it was as though each Grunt that had been there at the time had been promoted to the ranking of Elite in just a few minutes.
It appeared the organization had temporarily forgotten the Pikachu incident, and its disappearance was not brought up again until later that night, when Giovanni, as well as several Elite Rockets, called in Dr. Craig, Eric, and the other three Grunts present with them at the time of Pikachu's leaving to a meeting of some sort being held in the Boss' office, with several older Grunts being placed near the door and the ends of the hallway, as so no member might try to listen to the conversation taking place.
"Where is he? Where's the Boss?" Eric whispered urgently to Dr. Craig, stretching out a great deal in an attempt to make his feet at least touch the floor.
"Be quiet," Dr. Craig whispered back, slightly digging his nails into the boy's hand that had tightly wrapped itself on the arm of the scientist's chair. "What? Are you in some kind of hurry to get your punishment?"
With that Eric feel completely silent, only twice flashing Dr. Craig a worried look as the Boss' Persian approached him, only bothering to brush its wet, black nose against him in an almost friendly manner.
The rest of the Grunts seemed surprisingly calm. Carla was lightly tapping her heel on the floor, while Joseph looked as though he were simply ready to go to bed. Brian, refusing to make eye contact with anyone, especially Dr. Craig, was lightly nibbling on the ends of his glove's fingers while waiting for the Boss to arrive.
What exactly took Giovanni so long Dr. Craig had no clue. When he did arrive, however, he looked much paler than usual and had a slight stumble in his walk as he unevenly sat down in the chair behind his desk, with four Elite Rockets standing behind him for the sole purpose, Dr. Craig was sure, to make him look even more intimidating if at all possible.
Once upon sitting down, Giovanni immediately began rummaging through several papers on his desk, slightly tilting his head forward as if nodding off. One of the Elites standing beside him quickly snapped his fingers, indicating for the Boss to not lose consciousness.
"What's wrong with him?" Eric muttered to Dr. Craig, lightly inclining his head forward to signify Giovanni. "He looks terrible."
"I think," Dr. Craig started, quickly glancing at the Elites to make sure none of them noticed they were talking, "I think he's… drunk."
Several more minutes passed where nothing was said, and the only thing that temporarily broke the silence were several large groans coming from outside the office and down the hallway. It seemed as though numerous attempts had been made to hear what was being spoken during the meeting, but each one had been denied by the older Grunts positioned at the doors and the ends of the hallway.
"Serves them right," Dr. Craig muttered under his breath has he heard a group of dan'in being shooed away. "Nosy Grunts."
"Giovanni would now like to address the issue of the missing Pikachu that was supposed to be delivered to his… fiancée," one of the Elites started, pausing momentarily before finishing his sentence. "He is aware that the lead scientist involved in the Pikachu Project, William Craig, was to deliver the Pokemon, being accompanied by four Class C Agents whom of which are Eric Kata, Carla Dennis, Joseph Murata, and Brian Taylor. The team recently became mindful of an article posted in the Pokemon Times that clearly stated the surrounding community's awareness of Pikachu's escape, also saying that it could have possibly been bred in captivity. The town in which the Pokemon had been residing in suffered from several attacks caused by Pikachu, and it also seemed to steal food from the town's residents.
"We've done some background checks on their research on the matter of it being bred, and it seems as though Professor Samuel Oak, a neighbor of the," he paused again and looked toward Giovanni, hurriedly scanning the bare area of skin that normally sported his engagement ring, then continued, "…Boss' fiancée and a highly respected member of the Pokemon community, has confirmed the idea and has managed to capture Pikachu."
"He what!" Dr Craig cried, leaning forward in his chair so abruptly that his glasses nearly fell off, "How!"
"Since the Pokemon was never given a Pokeball, it was free to capture since it never truly had a real trainer," he responded with a tone of exasperation. "Why it was never given a Pokeball," he continued, directing a stern glare toward Dr. Craig, who was now looking as if he had fallen extremely ill, "is a question of responsibility."
Dr. Craig's reaction to this news was surprising even him. Although the Pokemon had never rightfully been his, and even though Pikachu had caused him enough trouble for a lifetime, it made him nearly angry knowing someone else, a stranger, was currently in possession of it. "I can't believe this," he whispered, slumping further forward in his chair as he spoke, "I just can't believe this."
"We're doing all we can to get the Pikachu back into our possession. We feel if an extensive study is done on the Pokemon they may find the source of its creator, which of course is a threat to our organization. The article that appeared in Pokemon Times stated that it was only a possibility that it was bred, but now that Oak has captured it, they will now be able to do testing to perhaps confirm their belief completely."
The Elite continued to speak for several minutes, but none of the occupants in the room seemed to be paying him any mind, but were rather focusing all their attention on Dr. Craig, whose head shook violently as if having a convulsion.
"I've worked for months on this project just to have it fall into the hands of the wrong person!" he shouted, causing the Elite to stop half way through his sentence. His hands tightened around the arms of his chair, causing Eric to flinch slightly considering he had just recently placed his hand on the arm of Dr. Craig's chair to get his attention so he could ask what was wrong with him.
"Get o - off me," Eric muttered, but soon found no need to continue his request because Dr. Craig pushed up off his chair to stand at a nearly ridiculous full five feet and three inches.
"Excuse me, Giovanni, sir," Dr. Craig began swiftly, not fully aware that his pale lips twitched slightly with every few words he spoke, "Why was it that you were absent from Headquarters for an entire week?"
Giovanni flashed Dr. Craig a puzzled expression, one that could only be mimicked and perhaps perfected by that of his only son. He quickly regained his composure and looked at his agent instead with an almost daring appearance, waiting for Dr. Craig to continue, as he was sure he would.
"Sir," he persisted, ignoring the cautionary tugs of his jacket from Eric, who had begun to fear for not only his own life by Dr. Craig's as well, "why were you absent?"
"The Boss' absence is not of your concern," the Elite piped up, attempting to continue with what he had been saying earlier. "He feels that you needn't know."
"He was gone for nearly a week, leaving the entire organization in a fit of panic. The least he could do is give us a simple explanation as to why he wasn't here," Dr. Craig protested, becoming fully conscious of the pleading looks he was receiving from his fellow agents, not to mention that Giovanni's assumed drunkenness was possibly impairing his train of thought. Now it was Dr. Craig's turn to have the upper hand.
"If you don't mind me saying so, sir," he continued, lightly tipping his head forward so that his hair blocked any of his peripheral vision, for Eric had begun to cry silently and he didn't want to see it, "it was irresponsible to just leave like that with no warning for us. Didn't you take it into consideration the fact that the very organization you run happens to be dependent on you? Or are you so simple–minded that you not only didn't contemplate on that but assuming lost your fiancée as well?" he said, darting his black eyes meaningfully toward Giovanni's uncovered ring finger.
"You idiot," Dr. Craig heard the Elite mutter under his breath as he put a hand to his head. "Do you have any idea what you've just done…?"
Giovanni began shaking slightly, looking similar to what Dr. Craig did just a few minutes prior. "Get out of my office," he whispered, tugging forcefully on a patch of fur belonging to his Persian. The cat Pokemon made a low hissing noise in the back of its throat and jerked its fur back into its regular position.
"Excuse me, sir?" Dr. Craig asked, placing his pallid hands on his hips in an almost feminine fashion. "What did you say?" Dr. Craig knew it wasn't right to be playing games with Giovanni like this, but the temptation was just too great.
"Get out of my office!" he shouted, standing up with enough force to knock his chair back, "Get out, get out, get out!" Giovanni screamed, swiftly pointing toward the exit but missed the general direction of the door by an estimated six feet. "I want you all out now!"
With that having been said, he proceeded to slam his fist on the small, red button fixed onto the neatly polished wood of his desk, and the wall behind him began to rotate, scraping up against the carpet. Giovanni stepped through the newly made opening, and the Elites caught the now distant clacking of his shoes as they echoed off the tiled floors and ceiling, then the wall rotated back into its previous position.
No one needed to be told twice about exiting Giovanni's office, and as the Elite began protesting, saying that they still needed to receive their punishments, most of the group had nearly reached the end of the hallway, with Brian practically skipping and leaving his Grunt hat to sway on top of his matted brown hair.
"In your face!" Dr. Craig heard Brian shout manically from down the hallway, "I got off!"
Dr. Craig turned to leave as well but was stopped as Eric swiftly tugged on his jacket, and motioned him towards the door, his ear being pressed firmly against it but was being surrounded in a mass of blonde hair. "Listen," he ordered, looking around slightly to make sure the Grunts that had been posted at the ends of the hallway had already left.
Dr. Craig did as he was told, and started to catch the hushed whispers of the Elites that had been present during the meeting.
"So she knows then?" one of the Elites whispered. "And the son?"
"She's always known. Delia was a member quite some time ago, I'm sure you've heard by now. And as for their son, Ash, he does not know. The Boss wants him to never find out, unless it's to his advantage. Who knows, maybe the kid will be useful."
The wall located behind the Boss' desk rotated open again, and Giovanni stepped back into the room with his Persian following behind him an almost fearful behavior. The wall closed shut again with a snap, nearly catching the tip of the cat Pokemon's tail.
"I want you lot out as well." Giovanni's words were slurred together slightly, sounding as if he had been drinking a great deal as he often did when put under stress.
"But, sir," an Elite started hesitantly, "why were you gone all that time?"
"It's none of your business," Giovanni said harshly, feebly wondering if the money he had provided Delia would be enough to support their only son.
Giovanni's breathing had become rapid, and Dr. Craig took notice of the distinct sound of a wine bottle being opened as he and Eric quickly walked away from the door, which was clicked open impatiently, revealing a very distraught and infuriated Elite member.
"Drunk, old fool," the Elite grumbled, striding away from Giovanni's office as the assassin guns hanging insecurely off his black and red belt slapped against his thighs. "I swear, if I wasn't so loyal to the team…"
"We did it," Eric whispered, excitement building in his voice. "We're off the hook."
"At least for the time being," Dr. Craig reminded him, holding up a shaky finger as he flashed three young Grunts a crooked smile as they peered around the corner of the hallway. Each one's head was positioned curiously above the others and they all partially wondered why a bullet had not yet been shot through Dr. Craig's skull.
Woo. Another chapter under the belt. Hope you all liked it!
But do you honestly think I'm going tolet everyone off so easily? Puh, that's a laugh.
So, my dear, dear readers! Please drop me a quick review; I swear it isn't that complicated to do! See you all soon!
Long Live The Boss,
Tear22