Two days later he finally reached his 'home' at Celadon City. The air wasn't as fresh but he somehow grew to liking the polluted air here. He's only some minutes away from reporting his arrival. After all he's the lone survivor of the Black Rock Island massacre. The horror of the island is only can be heard from him and that makes him so valuable. Brendan is aware of value of his information and that's why he'll be the center of his Boss' attention. For two days he was planning the best way to present himself, but he realised that he should act natural. He won't just barge in there and ask for a promotion or do something stupid. He'll do as his Boss says and behave like a normal member. Up until now, his stay at the team rocket HQ, he wasn't that much of an attraction. But today he'll be on the top.
Brendan didn't waste any time and moved towards the Game Corner around the City. Getting there wasn't a hassle. But the hard part is yet to begin. He came in contact with complications jast as he entered the game corner. As usual many people came here to play games. The strange part about this base is that, a normal person can see the entrance of their hideout. But still, nobody ever sneaked in or paid much attention to it. Maybe the reason this base is still going on is because it's hidden in plain sight. Even the caretakers don't try to enter the door. He once in a while sees Nurse Joy look at their way whenever they exited or entered the doorway.
He entered the Game Corner like normal and as expected nobody didn't even cared to look at his way. Brendan really missed the feeling of getting his cover nearly blown. He miss the tension when he have to silence the witness and he certainly missed thrill of playing thief and police. We'll he's playing even though the world around him screams in agony. That's his way thinking. Do not feel sorry because they don't deserve a pat on the back. That's why he doesn't hesitate before killing. He's in that type of business.
Approaching the doorway, he was met with a man sat next to the door in a chair. The man wore normal outfit, but Brendan can figure out a team rocket member everywhere. "In hurry, boy? Let's just say that we don't have any games downstairs. Basement is off limits." The man said.
Brendan mentally groaned. "I'm definitely in a hurry. Trust me I know the place very well." Brendan said.
The man chuckled amused and stood up slowly. He's really tall compared to Brendan. But the man lacked one thing. A mind that won't hold him back. He's not crazy. These types of members are only tough if the problem they are facing is pretty straightforward. Brendan however don't have only one plan when facing a problem. He does things that only benifit him with the mission. "Which part of the 'off limits' you missed, boy? Get the fuck out of here, or we'll have a serious chat somewhere else." The man said cracking his knuckles with an amused smirk.
"You know how it'll end. I don't care if you die or not. But I'll introduce you to my new pokemon." Brendan said looking straight into the man's eyes.
The man looks back at him and growled. "You little..." The man said about grab Brendan by the color.
"I'm one of you, fool." Brendan said sidestepping from the grab.
The man stiffened. "Oh yeah?" The man said.
"Yeah."
They both looks at one another and they had a an unreadable expression on. Both of them looked like about to pounce at one another and rip each others throat. They stood like that for a second, before the Man slowly lost it and cracked a smile. Brendan narrowed his eyes and looks at the chuckling man.
"I thought you died, little brat. Come here." The man said and moved close to Brendan for a hug. Brendan tried to back away, but the man wrapped his hands around Brenden in bearhug.
Brendan groaned but couldn't wiggle out of the man's hold. The man is just too huge for him. "Let go off me, Old man." Brendan almost shouted.
The man chuckled and released Brendan from his hug. "Four days and I already thought you're a lost case." The man said.
Brendan shrugged. "It's only me who made it. I didn't know half of them, but I saw some shit." Brendan said and the man stopped chuckling.
"I won't ask you what happened. But I have something to tell you." The man said.
"Spill it." Brendan said.
The man nodded. "We found some fossils. Not the usual type. I've heard that we couldn't identify the species. For the project, we need few more essentials. That's why there was no search party looking out for you. They're all looking for more fossils." The man said.
Brendan nodded. "But why can't we identify it? We didn't had much of a problem, right?" He asked.
"Those researchers died. I've heard they're exposed to something toxic. Just be careful down there. Don't want to end up getting you killed for the real this time." The man said stepping out his way.
"Yeah, whatever." Brendan said entering the stairway leading down to the HQ. "See ya later, Old man."
"You too, brat." He heard his big friend say.
The stairway was dim, but it only lasted few seconds before he reached the end of the stairs. Upon entering the HQ, he felt like being home again.
Looking around Brenden was met with the familiar stuff. Busy team rocket members running around doing their respected activities and some preparing for their missions. White walls and lights made the entire place look so bright and on the corner of the hallways, he saw the carnivorous plants and flowers. Those plants existed millions of years ago as far as he's aware of. Those plants used to eat Pokemon'. Brendan heard that these are the plants they recreated as a training for the actual recreation of Pokemon. Every corner of their base had some sort of mystery only the OG team rocket members and their boss knows. Sadly not every old members are still around to tell the tale. It's like you don't know much about your own habitat. That's why team rocket was still active. Nobody knows a darn thing about them.
"Hey, you." Brendan heard a voice call him.
Looking at the place he saw a female standing there. She had a tablet in her hand and wore a glass. She wore her usual attire, which being being a pencil skirt and matching suit.
"Saw you through the cameras. And I do seen you. But can't pinpoint the exact details." She said straightforward.
Brendan nodded. "I'm not that much of a recognisable member. But I am here to report about my mission to Boss." He said sounding formal. He knows her. She's Giovanni' secretary. Her name is Matori. She's also a leader of an elite team known as Matori Matrix. He was trained under her supervision. But she never paid much attention to him or the newcomers that much. So he's not surprising to hear that she's having a hard time recognising him.
Matori looks at him for a minute and adjusted her glasses. "There's a lot of missions. Be more specific." She said in her usual formal way.
"I'm Brendan. Also known as Cian. I was one of the fifty five men crew, assigned for the Black Rock Island expedition, ma'am." He said straightening his posture.
Matori' eyes widened. He's now sure that she recognised his name Cian. After all he's the one who clean up the mess other members leave behind. He only got indirect orders, and that explains why she didn't figure out who he is.
"I'll contact boss immediately." She said hurrying and motioned him to wait.
"Sir, it's about Black Rock Island mission." She said through her earpiece once she heard their Boss attend the phone.
Matori then looks at him and spoke. "We have Cian here at the base. Seem to have arrived alone." She said pointing out the lack of the crew.
"Understood." She said and cut the call. Then she nodded at Brendan. "Boss is willing to meet you in person." She said motioning him to follow.
A sense of happiness washed over him. His boss is willing to meet him in person? That's like a dream come true. He's going to meet god like man he worked for and never seen in person. He's lucky.
Brendan hid his happiness and walked next to Matori. "Behave yourself in there. Boss won't tolerate foul behaviour. Do not do anything without his orders. Understand?" She asked. Brendan knew that and her rules only made it seem like he's gonna visit the god himself.
"I do understand, ma'am." He said keeping his formal and respectful tone.
Matori looks back at him and nodded slightly. "You're easy to handle. Not like those who doesn't care to show respect. You are very formal. As it should be." She said acknowledging his respect towards her.
"I do see you as a superior. That's why I won't disrespect you." He said.
Matori didn't speak anything and lead him downstairs until they reached the bottom of their base and stood in front of a big double door. Matori stopped and looks back. "Remember what I told you, Cian. And be truthful to Boss. Report everything in detail and do not waste his time." She said.
"Understood." He replied.
"Now, I'm going in there first and come in when I call you." She said opening the the double doors and walked in.
The room was dark. But Brendan saw computers behind a seat where a silhouette sat. Giovanni. He straightened his stance and waited patiently for his call. He saw Matori saying something to their boss and looking at his way. She then came back to stand next to the door. "Come in." She said.
Brendan nodded and walked inside the dim room. Matori closed the door behind him and the she walked towards Giovanni and stood beside him. Brendan didn't know the proper way to greet, so his bowed a little. "Sir." He greeted.
Brendan saw his boss petting a Persian Pokemon and staring back at him observantly. "Cian, huh?" Giovanni asked.
"Yes sir." Brendan respectfully replied.
"I've heard quite some things about you. But I want the information you got. Tell me, what really happened?" Giovanni asked.
"Upon our departure, we found some technical failure within ten minutes from the Island. Choppers lost control and almost got destroyed. Due to the intense storm, the equipments we had on board got damaged and we were basically vulnerable. Our choppers landed but only few of them remained intact.
The island wasn't massive as the calculation, but the population of the Pokemon there was massive. Just like theories, the Pokemon there was monstrous. We encountered a hoard of huge Tyranitar' and they attacked us. Killed half us without taking any time at all. They were too powerful for us and we couldn't even stand our ground.
Ten minutes after the attack, the remaining crew seperated and that's the last we ever seen half them. The Pokemon there seemed way too aggressive than an average one. Especially the Tyranitar'. I'm afraid there's no records I managed to collect. I got badly injured and was lucky enough to escape the place. The remaining one Chopper informed us about the retreat and I was the only one who managed to reach it. The chopper however got caught in a hyperbeam and the pilot said that the tail of of the chopper got grazed by the attack. That's all I could remember. I was in Vermillion city when I regained my consciousness." Brendan said and saw Giovanni and Matori looking back at him.
"Powerful Pokemon you say. How powerful?" Giovanni asked.
Brendan wasn't sure how to respond. "Powerful enough to destroy everything." Brendan answered.
Giovanni nodded. "Very well. We lost a huge number of men. But answer me this. Are you the only one made it out alive?" He asked.
Brendan shook his head. "I don't know how many of them was alive when we were escaping the island. But I'm sure that the only chopper left the island was the one I was on. I'm the only survivor of the helicopter crash and that's enough to tell that I'm only one who made it." Brendan said.
"I see." Giovanni said.
Brendan then recalled something. Something that he almost forgot. He reached down and picked the ultra ball from his pocket that containing his new catch. The Tyranitar. After all he managed to get at least one proof. But he didn't know why but he hesitated a little. He didn't know why he's hesitating. Is it because he caught it with a huge difficulty or it is because the Tyranitar just saved his life? He doesn't know. But the Tyranitar is the part of his mission. He was assigned to capture the Pokemon of Black Rock Island and also find something else which is interesting. At least he succeeded to achieve at least one part of the mission. But still there's a strange feeling when he thought about handling over the Tyranitar. He doesn't know why though.
He gulped and looks at the Pokéball for few seconds before feeling someone watching him. Looking up he saw Giovanni and Matori looking at his way, as if trying to figure out something. He sighed. Here goes nothing. He definitely feel strange.
"Um... there's one more important thing I forgot to mention, Sir." He said.
Giovanni nodded, saying him to continue. "I have managed to get away with this." He said showing them the Pokéball.
Giovanni and Matori looks at the Ultra ball and looks at him. "I managed to catch one of those monstrous Tyranitar'." He said. "But this Tyranitar looks way different than a normal Tyranitar. It's draker in colour and bigger." He said.
Giovanni nodded. "You've done very well, Cian." Giovanni said and another team rocket member came out of a different room and stretched out her hand for the ball. Brendan felt something clenching in his heart, but he ignored it and gave it the the female team rocket member.
"You've achieved something from the mission, Cian. you've done a great job." Giovanni said.
However. The Ultra ball got activated and suddenly there's a red light materializing the Pokemon inside. Tyranitar came out with a roar and Brenden, Including Giovanni and Matori was shocked.
Giovanni saw the appearance of the Pokemon and he was breathless for a second. Tyranitar' eyes landed on the girl who had his Pokéball and she fearfully looks at the monster and she didn't even got any time to scream, before Tyranitar swings tail at her and within a second she got flung across the room and hit the wall in a bone crushing speed. She got crushed and it's safe to assume that she's dead.
Giovanni was about order someone to stop it when Brendan found himself running towards the Pokemon and stood in front of it.
"STOP IT." He shouts and immediately the Tyranitar calmed down and when looking at him, Brendan could feel the tingling sensation in his heart again. Somehow he could feel what's going on with the Pokemon. It was uncomfortable when someone other than him caught it's Pokéball. Brendan didn't know how he figured that out, but he just knew that.
Tyranitar immediately lowered his head and it's threatening form got relaxed. "Get back into your Pokéball, right now." He ordered.
Tyranitar looks sadly at him and moved closer and slowly crouched and tapped the switch of the Ultra ball which immediately sucked it in.
Brendan sighed and picked up the Ultra ball and looks around to see Giovanni and Matori had their eyes him.
Matori looks at the dead girl across the room and sighed. "It seems like a troublesome Pokemon." She said.
Giovanni nodded. "That Pokemon will come in handy. But we're low on recruits. We can't have it kill anyone else. So, until we get some sort of containment unit, I want you to keep an eye on it, considering it's nature around you." Giovanni ordered.
Brendan was shocked to hear that. But he nodded. "Understood, sir."
"Now, anything else you've came across that Island? Other than Pokemon?" Giovanni asked.
"Thinking about it, we could only cover the small part of the Island. Sadly the remainder of it are unexplored. But the ground there was a bit tilted. There's a chance that there's a pit or bug slope in the middle or something." He said.
Giovanni nodded. "Well done. Now you're dismissed." Giovanni said.
Brendan blinked a bit taken back. He expected at least something more. But his boss acted like everything is so usual. Brendan nodded. "Yes, Sir." He said turning around. But then...
"Wait a second." He heard Matori say.
Brendan halted and looks back and saw she's whispering something to Giovanni who nodded. After whatever he heard her say, Giovanni came close to Brendan and placed a hand on Brendan' shoulder. Brendan was shocked. His boss just placed his hand in him? That's unbelievable.
"Listen, Cian. After hearing what you've accomplished, I do have another task for you." Giovanni said.
Brendan blinked twice and he almost wanted slap hus own cheeks to check if it's real or not. "A mission?"
"Yes. Something only you can do." Giovanni said and backed away nodding at Matori. "My secratary will inform you further about the details." He said and walked back to his seat and ordered someone to take away the dead body of the woman.
"Follow me." Matori said.
AFTER FEW MINUTES...
They entered a lab and stopped next to a glass container with a fossil inside it.
"This is your mission." She said pointing at the fossil.
Brendan looks at the fossil which is only big as his forearm. "This fossil found somewhere far from here. We could not figure out any details on it because of our researchers are died due to some unknown cause. We could not continue our research on it from here." She said.
Brendan looks at her for more information about his new mission. "You're young. So I'll be straightforward. You'll be going out as a trainer. The mission is to carry this fossil and go to a Pokemon professor. The details will be told once you're out there in a disguise of a trainer." She said and he was surprised to hear that.
Being a Pokemon trainer? Again? On a normal day he won't even think about it. But it's a mission which he cannot decline.
"I understand. But I don't have any ID." He said.
"It'll be ready in few hours. And be careful with the fossils. They are really important for the project." She reminded him.
"Understood." He said.