"Care to explain why did you all come back with an empty hand?"

Man, I hate this tension.

After our failure to recruit and steal any pokemon, the rest of the Nugget Bridge crew and I got called over to the boss's office. The man who's currently sitting on a chair in this office, wearing a black suit with a Team Rocket's logo on his left chest, excluding a necktie, is the leader of Team Rocket, Giovanni.

Next to him, are his left and right-hand executives, Archer and Ariana.

Archer is a man with cyan hair in his early 30s, wearing a white Team Rocket uniform with a logo on his left chest. While Ariana is in a similar case with Archer but instead, wears a female alteration of the executive uniform. She also has this very beautiful red crimson hair and a really nice body. Too bad she's probably taken.

"While I will not deny that it is partially my fault for letting those trainers escape." I speak up "With all due respect sir, my "colleagues" is kind of... useless."

"Oi!" One of the Nugget Bridge's crew calls me out "Who the hell you think calling us useless huh?! Ya fucking newbie!"

"Well excuse me but is there anyone here who hasn't lost to a Kadabra that only knows 2 moves? Oh wait, that's me!"

"Why you!"

"SILENCE! I WILL NOT HAVE SUCH DISRESPECT IN FRONT OF THE BOSS!" Ariana raises her voice, shutting up the whole room. "Thank you. Now... as the boss was saying, we demand an explanation, NOT an excuse."

"R- Right. If I may Mr. Giovanni." I begin my explanation. "While the first 2 trainer that I have encountered is by no mean, weak. The third trainer, however, is in a totally different league."

"...elaborate," Giovanni demands.

"What I mean is that... the battle was finished as quickly as it start. The moment I send out my Nidoking, that trainer in Red cap sends out his Gyarados and wastes no time, knocking out my Nidoking with only 2 attacks."

Once I finished my explanation, the whole room is filled with silence. Even Giovanni is lost for words despite that his face doesn't show it.

"That... is an unexpected turn of events." Giovanni finally speaks up. "I do not doubt your skill as a pokemon trainer, Gade. Proton has spoken highly of you and your... dirty tactics." Come on. It was a one-time thing. "Regardless, we will continue to learn from our mistakes and keep on improving. You may all dismiss."

"Thank you, boss!"

"Jeez, that was stressful."

"Nidoking."

"Oh, shut the fuck up, will ya? You weren't there in a room. Meanwhile, I have to deal with all the tension alone."

"Nido Nido." Nidoking shakes his head in disapproval.

"Whatever, I'm gonna get some fresh air. You coming?"

"Nido."

Nidoking and I then proceed to leave the Rocket Hideout and step outside.

The Rocket Hideout isn't by any means, stand out. Quite the opposite actually since it was disguised as a Game Corner in Celadon City. However, do not let that image fools you. Even if the size of the hideout is not that great, the security measurement is anything but weak.

Making my way out of the Celadon Game Corner, Nidoking and I look around to find someplace to rest. Eventually, we stumble upon a nearby tree to rest under the shade.

*Sigh* "Today was tiring, isn't it Nidoking?"

"Nido... king..." Nidoking responds tiredly while slumping his back against the tree trunk.

"Careful. You don't want to accidentally break that tree."

"Nido." Nidoking softly jabs my arm for my remark. I return the gesture with a similar jab.

We both enjoy our peace and tranquility of the wind and silence for a while until I'm starting to get a little bit bored.

"Hey, Nidoking."

"Nido?"

"I'm bored. You bored?"

Nidoking shrugs

"How about a little sparring match. It's been a while, isn't it?"

"Nido..." Nidoking crosses his arm, thinking about it for a while until he responds with a nod. "Nido!"

"Alright." I then get up and stretch while Nidoking is doing the same thing with me before we both move to find a place for sparring.

After searching for a while, we find an open field behind a pokemon center, a perfect place for our sparring match. Once settles, we both get into our battle stance.

"Ready whenever you are!"

"Nidoking!"

"You sure? I'm giving you a freebie here."

"Nidoking!"

"Alright, in that case, I won't hold back!"

Both of us proceed to charge right each other, trading each blow. This match would then go on for a while.

*Huff puff* "You..." *Huff* "Giving up..." *Huff* "Yet?"

*Huff* "Nido..." *Huff* "King..."

"You're right..." *Huff* "Let's take a short break..." *Huff* "We can continue... later."

"Nido... king" *Huff*

Many hours have passed during our sparring session, Nidoking finally succumb to exhaustion and let his body fall onto the ground, followed by me very quickly. We both would rest there for a while until somebody decide to interrupt our peace.

"Wow... I've never seen a pokemon trainer train his pokemon like that before." An unfamiliar individual has come into my view.

"... and you are?" I ask them.

"Oops! Where is my manner? My name is Leaf, nice to meet your acquaintance." Leaf extends her hand out for a handshake. "Also, that's a nice uniform you got there."

Oh right, I'm still in a Rocket's uniform. Good thing she doesn't recognize me as Team Rocket... probably. "The name's Gade. Nice to meet you too." I return her friendly gesture with my handshake.

Taking a moment to digest her appearance, she seems to be around the age of 15, wearing a white hat with red outlines, a blue tank top with black outlines and a red skirt, white shoes with red stripes, blue socks, and black wristbands. She also has a yellow bag sling around her body. But the most noticeable feature about her is her shiny dark brown hair and eyes.

"Sorry about that. I've been secretly watching you two during your sparring match, but then I notice how you 2 were really going at it and I didn't want to interrupt your session. Hope you didn't mind."

"No harm done. And judging from that bag of yours, I assume you're a pokemon trainer?"

"Well... sort of."

"...sort of?"

"I mean... I want to become a pokemon researcher. But all of my friends have to become a pokemon trainers so... heheheh." Leaf scratches the back of her head.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah... Oh! Speaking of, do you mind if I use my pokedex on your Nidoking?"

"You have pokedex?"

"Every trainer has one. They're issued with your starter pokemon and trainer ID. Why? You didn't get one?"

"It's... complicated..." Not like I can outright tell you that I'm an illegal pokemon trainer and a criminal anyway. "But go right ahead! I'm curious about my Nidoking too."

"Great! Thank you so much!" Leaf beams up in excitement. Heh, cute.

"No problemo."

Leaf reaches her hand into her bag and pulls out her pokedex to scan my pokemon, after which the device would keep on beeping a few times until the results showed up.

"Nidoking: The Drill Pokémon. A Poison/ Ground type. Its thick tail packs enormously destructive power. With one swing, it can topple a metal transmission tower. Once this Pokémon goes on a rampage, there is no stopping it. Melee combat is its specialty. Its steel-like hide also adds to its powerful tackle. Its horns are so hard, they can pierce a diamond. Be careful with the horn as it contains venom."

"Wow, that's interesting." And also ridiculously dangerous. "What else is there?"

"Give me a moment, let me see here... Nature Rash... Ability Sheer Force... Move set-"

"Hold on... Sheer Force?"

"Yeah. Isn't it supposed to be Sheer Force?"

"Not really. Nidoking here used to have an ability, Hustle. Must've changed during his evolution at some point. Do you mind if you could look into it?"

"Will do, please give me a moment." Leaf clicks on a few buttons on her pokedex. Eventually, the result shows up.

"Sheer Force: An ability that increases the power of moves that have beneficial secondary effects but removes those said additional effects."

"Additional effects? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not quite sure myself. I could look into it if you want."

"That would be unnecessary, miss. I can look into it later. At least I know what it is now. Thanks anyway."

"Don't mention it. I should be the one to thank you for letting me scan your pokemon."

"What do you mean?"

"Well... pokedex has this feature where it wouldn't exactly tell the information of a pokemon right away unless you find that pokemon and directly scan it. I assume it was a way to encourage trainers to explore more."

"Huh, interesting... I'm supposed that old geezer Oak can be really sneaky. Must've run in the blood or something. Tch." Yeah, I'm still a bit salty about Blue's teleport trick.

"Anyway, I should get going. Nice talking to you, Gade! See ya later!" Leaf waves her hand at me before walking away.

"You too, Leaf!" I shout back.

And there she goes, gone from my sight.

*Sigh* Now I'm really starting to doubt if it was the right idea for me to join Team Rocket. Somethings tell me this wouldn't be our last encounter.

Nidoking (Male)

Nature: Rash

Type: Poison/Ground

Ability: Sheer Force

Move set

- Chip Away

- Sand-Attack

- Horn Attack

- Fury Attack