Crime Sometimes Pays

by FallenKoala

Giovanni was expecting the latest experiment to provide him with powerful and rare pokemon. It ends up spitting out a strange man instead. Never one to waste an opportunity and a chance to recoup some losses, the boss puts him to work as a new grunt and test subject. Team Rocket's newest employee must find his place in the team, without screwing too much up in the process.

1. Chapter 1: The Lab

Two men and a large tan-coated feline exit a small elevator after a brief trip down from the surface, the human clothed in a lab coat adjusting his glasses with a trembling hand.

"My progress may be seemingly slow at this point sir, but I can fully reassure you that this area of research will bare great scientific fruit. The theories are sound."

Giovanni, Boss of Team Rocket, cleared his throat and fixed the tie of his grey suit once his subordinate was finished. The shorter man walking beside him through the cold metal corridor failed to hide his wince, and they slowed under the glow of one of the large electrical lights that illuminated the otherwise empty walkway when the boss fixed the other man with a measured glance.

"Your theories are worth nothing at the moment, Kenji. With the amount of resources I've granted you already I would have expected a tangible return by now." The rebuke was even toned, but the scientist still couldn't help but wring his hands together. Flanking Giovanni's left and matching his pace, the persian accompanying its master looked over at Kenji with a low purr. "A personal secure lab, hundreds of thousands spent to outfit it, shelter from the police… a large sum for just some ideas on what could be done." The two humans and one pokemon turned a corner in the corridor, the faint buzz of the lights and their own paw and footsteps the only sounds present as they approached a solitary steel door.

Doctor Kenji brushed black hair away and fumbled with his spectacles, wiping them with the edge of his lab coat. Slowing as they neared the sealed door he reached out for the small keypad set into the thick wall.

"I have more than theories I assure you, honest," Kenji replied. He began to enter the passcode, taking a short breath and regaining some of his former composure. "Science of this magnitude unfortunately needs careful preparation and while I understand your wish for secrecy, I would have been able to set up the needed devices much earlier if I had access to some assistants." He realised what he had just implied just as his finger hit the confirmation button, Kenji quickly correcting himself as his imposing benefactor raised an eyebrow. "But that of course was to be expected, given the high quality of the equipment you were able to secure most generously."

A beep and then a deep thunk signalled the unlocking of the door, the spotless metal parting down the middle vertically to slide off into either side.

"The equipment you asked for required considerable effort from my best agents." Giovanni didn't wait for Kenji, stepping through the doorway first with his persian close on his heels. "Scientists eager for funding and long leashes are considerably easier to acquire. Don't forget that."

The Rocket Boss scanned the main room of the lab with his arms crossed and eyes narrowed, his faithful pokemon prowling up to his side and giving the heavily filtered air a curious sniff.

A group of metal tables and chairs in front of them were littered with a jumbled mass of papers and books, a few errant pens and coffee cups mixed in alongside multiple diagrams and schematics. Three screenless computers sat against the bare metal of the leftmost wall, their projected displays showing the twin pokeball icon of SilphOs. Taking up the rest of the wall beside them was a whirring rectangular data bank, a multitude of lights flashing green and blue across the face.

The opposite end of the room caused his eyes to narrow, Giovanni shaking his head at the clothing-strewn mattress that was pushed up against the wall. The poor rubbish bin next to it had yielded long ago with the top lying helplessly on its side in the middle of a sea of discarded fast-food cups and bags, empty chip packets, and empty microwavable noodle cups. The microwave in question was sitting on the floor next to a power outlet with its door open, with what looked to be a half-eaten sandwich still inside.

I suppose the money I spent on the living area was also a waste, Giovanni thought to himself, before setting his eyes upon the room's main attraction at the far end.

Countless cables snaked their way out of numerous plugs and sockets lining the walls to wraparound an upright circle of metal, glints of silver and gold bands breaking up the surface like icing on a doughnut. The hole in the middle could easily fit two adult men, the inside rim lined with a glinting mix of shining metal. Behind the circle sat an array of antenna, each easily as thick as his own arm and connected to heavy-duty cables that ran across the floor to disappear into a darkened section of the wall, the door of an electrical panel lying on the floor off its hinges next to a screwdriver. While each silvered tip was currently facing up to the metal ceiling above, Giovanni noticed that each of the antenna was mounted upon some kind of swivel.

"Excuse me for the mess," apologised Doctor Kenji as he stepped into the room behind his employer, heading straight for the strange device. "I can get carried away with my work and this arrangement means that I can spend the maximum amount of time in the lab. It's also why I may have been lagging behind on my reports."

"I can see that."

"I wasn't expecting a surprise inspection so soon, and certainly not a personal one, sir. "

"That's why it's called a surprise inspection, Doctor."

Kenji nodded in agreement and brushed away cables while Giovanni and Persian watched, the scientist bending down to squint at one side of the upright circle before huffing on the metal and carefully rubbing at it with rag he produced from a pocket. A few seconds of silence passed.

"So, tell me," Giovanni continued, a frown crossing his face. "What has my investment bought me, aside from some bits of metal and a trashed lab?"

Kenji jumped up and stuffed his rag back in his pocket, his sudden spryness and smile perhaps a bit premature. Taking a step forward he proudly swept his arm out towards his creation. "Behold! The first Dimensional Matter Targeting and Transportation Device that's both functional and created by a sole inventor without other academic help!" Kenji's beaming grin faltered momentarily. "Well, the first in Kanto, I should clarify". His mood brightened, his eyes glancing up at the metal above. "I'd like to hear what my esteemed ex-colleagues have to say now, hah! 'Mad' they said! 'Foolish' they said! 'Call the police, he'll kill us all!' Bah! What do they know?"

While the scientist cackled, Giovanni stepped around the group of tables and moved towards him with an eyebrow raised. Persian for his part decided to ignore the loud human, and instead sauntered over to the right side of the room to investigate the microwave and the treasures it held.

"It is possible then?" Kenji ceased his gloating and refocused on Giovanni as the boss spoke. "You can capture me these 'dimensional' pokemon you promised?" He carefully stepped over a bundle of cables on the floor, while noticing that half of them weren't even plugged into the circular device. "You said that this… thing is fully functional."

"Ah, well, I said functional yes. Not fully though." Kenji ducked around to the rear of the device while he spoke, fiddling with an assortment of knobs and switches. Giovanni's face hardened, however the animated scientist seemed to not notice the glare being sent his way as he hastily moved over to the trio of computers. "I managed to calibrate and test the capacitors yesterday evening, and I was working on the main algorithms today." The light-blue projections flickered, and the operating system icons were replaced with numerous lines of code. "All of the necessary pieces are assembled and should be ready for operation as they are, but I still need to run more tests."

Kenji paused for a second to murmur to himself while looking at a few lines of machine code, before he pivoted on his heels and headed straight for the messy mattress on the opposite side of the room with a finger lightly tapping his temple.

"Then I will have to slowly apply each theory in a controlled environment, in order to test which is most sound." The doctor sidestepped around Persian, the feline pokemon stepping back from the microwave with a wrinkle of his nose. Glancing from the forgotten sandwich and to the scientist with a disgusted look, the persian moved back to Giovanni's side. "Ah!" Kenji tossed a pillow aside and turned back around with a thick book in hand, already opening it as he returned to Giovanni.

"You see, the device operates by creating a crude inter-dimensional opening, a hole in space." A page of the book was turned, Giovanni standing silently all the while. "And I must stress that crude is a generous way to put it. What we aim to do is not really something that should be done, and it certainly is very illegal."

"I know. That's why I've been suffering your employment so far."

Kenji nodded, but still maintained his excited demeanour. "Yes, yes." He moved to the circle's side with the book snapping shut in one hand. "It does however mean that I had to… cut some corners." He noticed Giovanni's eye raise, the scientist quickly blurting out another sentence. "It's more like I had to create some shortcuts so the process could be sped up. Do not worry, there is very little chance of sudden detonation or dimensional leakage, it just means that we aren't going to be very selective with what could come through." He shrugged while kneeling down to plug in a loose cable.

"With the additional year or two of tests I can attempt to narrow down the readings so we aren't just spending large amounts of power on interdimensional rocks, or at least that's how the theories say it should go." His smile faltered, threatening to morph into a scowl. "The Foundation saw fit to limit my research access, so I was unable to conduct the appropriate experiments."

Giovanni, wondering just what 'dimensional leakage' entailed and how low a 'low chance' was, snapped his focus firmly back on the scientist before him. The persian at his side flicked its ears, the pokemon's whiskers quivered and its eyes stared straight at Kenji. Despite Giovanni not showing any outward expression of anger, Persian could tell that his master wasn't pleased with the unimpressive human and decided to show support by voicing a soft growl at the offender. When Giovanni next spoke, his words were measured but still carried an air of danger.

"An additional year or two." The Team Rocket Boss took a step forward, Kenji going still and looking up at him. "That is not acceptable. You claimed that it is currently functional." Persian advanced at his side, Doctor Kenji falling backwards onto his rear as a snarl reminded him that persians had both sharp claws and teeth. "I tire of your idiotic excuses. I did not arrive here today to listen to the prattling of an inept imbecile, I arrived to see results."

"S-sir, I can assure you that-"

"Your false promises are meaningless to me, Kenji." Briefly glancing down at his watch, Giovanni fixed the stammering man with steely gaze. "Prove to me that this machine works as you have described. Today. Now." He paused, his left hand reaching down to scratch his persian behind the ear while he smiled. "I'll even be generous and accept an alien rock as proof for now, it might even buy you an extra week to finally start producing me pokemon."

From his position on the metal floor, Doctor Kenji wrung his hands. "I-I know that you are eager for progress, but I must stress that such an early opening could-"

"Enough."

The command was punctuated by a loud snarl from Persian, Giovanni pointing towards the device next to Kenji.

"Turn it on, Doctor. Every minute spent on this farce is costing me money, so activate it. Or I will happily find another scientist who will." A moment passed between the two, Persian not taking his eyes off of the besieged scientist while Giovanni maintained eye-contact with Kenji. "I'm sure the International Police will find the sudden reappearance of the infamous Doctor Kenji quite a stroke of luck."

Kenji stared at him with wide eyes and hands clasped together, on his knees before the Boss. A spectacled glance towards the machine and back, before the previously animated researcher deflated with a sigh. "I… Okay."

The Doctor climbed to his feet, pushing his glasses back up his nose with a finger. "I'll prepare to activate the generator, if that is what you want." Defeated, Kenji headed for the three computers while weakly flinging an arm towards the entrance to the main lab. "Just please stand back by the door, I don't know exactly what could emerge from inter-dimensional space."

Giovanni did as requested with a smirk on his face all the while. Returning to the doorway, he glanced towards it and the keypad that mirrored the one on the other side of the reinforced metal wall. While his left hand resumed scratching the top of his persian's head, the other reached into his suit pocket to retrieve a small, red-jacketed dairy. A quick check of one of the pages and he had refreshed his memory of the master override code.

As well as the key combination to trigger the isolated facility's timed self-destruct, just in case.

The Doctor went to work on the computer systems, static lines of text giving way to animated readouts and rapidly changing shapes. It was all alien to Giovanni, but despite his previous words he was quietly confident that Kenji knew what he was doing.

Well, perhaps not fully confident, but the thought of the potential and powerful rewards if the scientist managed to pull it off overrode any fear of danger.

He was content to watch the flustered man labour over the computers, Persian doing the same, as Kenji muttered and murmured to himself. A low whine from somewhere beneath them, the main power generator if Giovanni correctly remembered the lab plan he approved a months ago, started off low and grew into a steady hum. Soft vibrations pulsed under his shoes, the stale recycled air of the lab seemingly starting to come alive with new energy. His persian pressed against the side of his leg, the pokemon's brow furrowed as its three-toed paws flexed on the metal floor. Giovanni caught Persian's tempted glance towards the doorway just to their rear, and while he could understand his favourite's concern, he knew that his pokemon would only leave when he did.

"The capacitors are starting to fill with power!" Kenji said, his voice raised as the humming from below grew louder. "I will soon begin the main start-up sequence, be ready!"

Gone was the eccentric Doctor's previous anxiety, the man much more animated as he switched from computer to computer, his hands a blur as they danced over the controls. Giovanni even took note of the grin that started to grow on Kenji's face, a sudden bump of a leg on the desk sending an empty coffee cup falling off to crack against the floor. The Boss's own anticipation grew, his hands gripping the edge of the table before him as he stared intently at the strange device with a smile of his own.

Two loud beeps sounded throughout the main room of the lab with the array of antennas behind the upright metal doughnut coming alive with movement, rotating and swivelling on their mounts as they angled themselves into a semi-circular position behind the circle with their tips pointed at the hole in the middle. Arcs of blue electricity, small at first but growing larger by the second, crackled between each antenna as the hum of the generator reached a plateau.

"Power is at one-hundred percent!" The Doctor announced over the noise, a cackle accompanying his next fateful words. "Initialising the main sequence… now!"

'This is it,' Giovanni thought to himself, knuckles whitening while he observed the cracking antenna focus their energy discharges onto the main surface of the hollow circle. 'Finally, some payoff.'

Doctor Kenji moved to take shelter behind one end of the computer desks, one hand holding his glasses onto his face with the other firmly gripped onto a table leg. Despite the almost alarming amount of visible power being poured into the device, the manic grin was still plastered across his face.

Persian for his part was less thrilled than the two humans he shared the room with, and he hunkered down behind his master's legs with a worried pair of eyes locked firmly on the sparking machine.

With the energy from the antenna array shooting into the metallic surface, the gold and silver lines that crossed the face of the metal doughnut began to glow with power. A groaning sound briefly joined the chorus of electrical noise before a seam became visible on the face of the upright circle. It split, revealing that the device was made up of not just one, but two different metal doughnuts joined together. The inner and smaller ring crackled with the same energy that surged through the rest of the strange machine, but unlike its bigger brother it began to slowly spin in a clockwise direction.

Giovanni was oblivious to the frequent sparks or occasional stray arc of electricity that escaped the device to strike at the surrounding surfaces, instead he was focused intently on the smaller circle of the machine as the spinning accelerated. A bright glow started to form in the middle of the hole, the intense light forcing him to shield his eyes with his fingers as it intensified. It grew to encompass the entire space within the smaller circle, tinges of a bright blue forming at the edge of the ring as a surge of energy ejected from sparks from the machine. The floor of the lab started to shake under his feet, with papers and other assorted items falling from the desks to the ground as the vibrations seemed to shake the world itself.

"Do not worry!" Kenji yelled out from his defensive position behind the desk with a hand cupped around his mouth, the computers next to him sparking and smoking. "This is within normal expectations!" There was a loud thundercrack and a small explosion of smoke from the left side of the room, multiple cable sockets embedded in the wall bursting out from their places and ejecting the large cables that connect them to the device. "At least I assume this is normal!"

The lights in the lab flickered on and off, the rumbling of the room reaching a climax. Giovanni held onto the shaking table before him with a death grip, the lab seemingly threating to tear itself apart. He was faintly aware of his persian behind him, but that was it.

The acidic smell of smoke and taste of burning plastic. The bangs and pops as more electrical cables and plugs gave up under the strain. The electricity in the air that caused his hair to stand up on end. The fiendish laughter of the crouched Doctor to his front left, all meaningless to him.

Instead, Giovanni was staring through squinted eyes at the bright and angry portal that had formed before them. Or rather he was staring at the vague and disjointed shape that had appeared in it. A shape that, as the sound of explosions, alarms, and mechanical squeals merged into one audio cacophony, seemed to grow larger.

'No,' Giovanni realised as he showed his teeth in a full grin. 'Not larger. Closer.'

A blinding flash forced him to close his eyes, the fingers of his shielding hand snapping shut as he turned his head away. He could only go off of his other senses, his ears ringing and an intense but brief heat washing over him. Finally, a wave of pressure shot out from what he could only assume was the portal, Giovanni struggling to keep his footing and ending up on one knee as his persian let out a surprised yelp of alarm.

And then, it all just seemed to stop.

It took a few moments for Giovanni to regain his sense, a shake of his head clearing his ears while he rapidly blinked his eyes in an attempt to banish the auras that still danced in his vison. A hand went to his temple as he stood back up, his tongue moving around in his mouth to get rid of the strange puffy sensation that seemed to fill it. A warm shape pressed up against the back of his legs, what he assumed to be Persian, lightly shook before a dazed yowl confirmed that it was indeed his pokemon. Meanwhile the hum of the generator had returned to its previous barely audible level, and the laboratory lights had ceased their flickering to return to the usual steady glow.

"Oh my…" He recognised Doctor Kenji's voice while his vision began to return. "This… this is incredibly unexpected. I can't…"

Time passed but Kenji didn't continue. Stifling a groan, Giovanni chased the last remaining auras of light from his vision with a blink and looked first towards the scientist, who's eyes were wide and mouth ajar, before casting his gaze towards the far end of the lab.

'I don't understand.' Giovanni's eyes blinked again, although this time it wasn't to clear any spots from his vision.

At the foot of the now-smoking portal generator, beside the inner ring that was completely disconnected and face down on the floor to the right, lay a man.

No visible clothing.

Completely still save for the light rise and fall of breathing.

Curled up in the foetal position, it was a man.

Just a man.

---

"Doctor…"

Giovanni stood still in place and kept his eyes on the mysterious human at the opposite side of the room, Kenji likewise fixated on the new arrival despite the small spot fires and smoke originating from the dead computers next to him.

"I… I have no idea." Kenji's voice was faint, his fingers twitching. "There is absolutely no explanation, we never modelled this."

"Doctor," Giovanni repeated slowly. "That's not a pokemon."

Eyes never leaving the figure curled up on the floor, Kenji started to slowly move back towards the Team Rocket Boss, sidestepping when able. He stopped a few feet away from Giovanni's left, the two standing silently for a few moments. Then, Kenji leaned in with a hand cupping his mouth and his voice lowered.

"What should we do?"

Giovanni managed to tear his eyes away from the arrival with brow furrowed and mouth open with in a very rare display of confusion.

"What should we do? When you turned on that portal you built, I was expecting a rock, a gust of nothing, a pokemon." Both looked back towards the lifeless machine, multiple cables melted into the surface with the former antenna array in the back reduced to now unrecognisable slag. Giovanni returned his vision to Kenji, the scientist meeting it with his own look of amazement rather than abject confusion. "Not… that."

A weak growl from Persian drew their attention. Glancing back, Giovanni saw that his pokemon was still behind him and noticed that Persian's ears were flattened and that his tail was lashing back and forth, much like it did whenever Persian had been on the receiving end of a loud admonishing. "What?" His voice regaining some volume. "A strong pokemon like you shouldn't be so scare-"

He was cut off by a low hiss, Giovanni left speechless by the extraordinary reaction. Normally he would have become enraged at the interruption, even from a pokemon, but he didn't fail to notice the way Persian's red eyes had dilated down nor how his four legs were racked with shivers. The pokemon was staring right past him and seemingly ignorant of his presence, with the Rocket Boss also witnessing how the feline's nostrils flared as its nose quivered.

"Ah, B-boss?"

Giovanni snapped back around at Kenji's voice, just in time to spy the body at the end of the room twitch. The trio stood still and silent aside from Persian's continued growls and hisses, a wet and hacking cough coming from the unknown thing. Red skin-covered limbs began to move, two hands placing themselves on the scorched metal floor as the suspected man rolled over onto its front. They pushed up, the familiar yet still alien form using its arms to raise it up to one knee. More coughs, a head crowned with light-brown hair shaking back and forth as the being tried to control its breathing.

"Boss!" repeated Kenji, his own voice a low hiss. "Should we leave before it gets up?" After the Doctor's suggestion, Persian paused his growls to murmur a soft 'sian'.

Both waited for Giovanni's answer and permission, the apparent human managing to get onto both hands and knees.

"…No," came the reply after a short pause. "I don't think that will be necessary." Giovanni watched the creature slowly start to lift itself up off of the ground, small electrical fires still burning behind it. His previous shock was quickly giving way to curiosity, the Boss reaching out a hand to rest it upon Persian's shaky back. "It looks like it's just a human at the moment, I'm sure Persian can handle things if needed."

The weak 'purr' of acknowledgement didn't sound very inspired, although he could feel through his hand that his pokemon's shivers had slowed somewhat. The action also helped chase away the last of his own doubts, Giovanni waiting for what would occur next with growing eagerness.

Their interdimensional visitor had managed to firmly plant two feet upon the floor, a shaky bipedal stance giving way to one more steady. Fingers and toes flexed, while both eyes seemed to struggle to open.

Looking up and down the human's naked form, Giovanni mentally catalogued the being's wide neck, broad shoulders, and stocky chest adorned with a pair of nipples somehow redder than the skin. The gut was ample but somewhat solid, like of a man that enjoyed both physical labour as well as the beer it rewarded. A pair of legs, shapely and thick with a mix of fat and muscle, supported the large form. Between said legs was confirmation that the strange man was, indeed, a man by every definition of the term.

The foreigner coughed again, although this time it was accompanied by the familiar action of lifting a fist up to the mouth. Then the being froze for a moment, its three observers all leaning forwards as he raised his hands to his head. A burst of sudden frantic movement as the hands danced across the human's face, his eyes still shut. However, after a few moments the movement became calm, and after rummaging around in the short and curly hair the fingers slowly went for the human's eyes.

Giovanni didn't even notice the short intake of air he took in as he watched the man grab his eyelids, the man pulling at them and squeezing them together. Then, after a few seconds and an audible gasp from the unknown man, the eyelids snapped open. Shaking his head, the fresh arrival first looked at the palms of his hands before looking down at his own body, patting himself down all the while. His mouth cracked open, Giovanni barely managing to pick up the look of complete confusion and shock.

He maintained a neutral expression when, after a quick glance around the lab, the new human's movements paused when he laid eyes upon the three other beings he shared the damaged laboratory with. For such a large man he had a very small set of eyes compared to normal humans, Giovanni unable to tell exactly who the human was looking at directly. A low growl reminded him of the pokemon at his side, and the Rocket Boss slowly patted Persian on the middle of his back.

"Persian," he murmured while still maintaining what he thought was eye contact with the red human. "Sit down." The low growl cut off and although Persian hesitated for a moment, the pokemon soon sat down next to his master. His body and tail were still shaking though, and Giovanni started to stroke the pokemon on the nape and upper back. It wasn't solely to calm Persian down, however, and Giovanni noticed that the red man's posture relaxed slightly.

Kenji on the other hand was jittery, the scientist unable to stop his hands from continuously touching together as he murmured untelligibly to himself with a bewildered smile.

A minute of inaction passed as the two sides eyed off, everyone ignoring the small fires and sparking machines around the lab. They studied one another, unsure of what to do or how to do it. Certainty no one dared move and so they stood, sat, and waited.

The impasse dragged on, to the point where Giovanni started to unwittily tap his foot. Catching himself, he let out a quiet snort through his nose before he raised his free hand up to his mouth to clear his throat. After adjusting his tie with the same hand, he spoke.

"Hello."

The red-skinned human blinked at the greeting, his mouth opening and closing like a magikarp. The man appeared as if he was running his tongue around his mouth, and he closed it momentarily as he swallowed.

"H-h-eh…" The man worked his jaw a bit, moving it around before a second attempt. "Hello?"

It was a croaky reply, but a reply that Giovanni could understand. The human followed it with another series of coughs, the smile on Giovanni's face growing all the while.

"This is incredible," Doctor Kenji added from the side, his hands shaking. "It can speak."

Giovanni ignored his fellow's spoken observations, instead he focused on the human recovering from the coughing fit in front of him.

'Well, it's not a powerful pokemon by any stretch of the imagination. But it is proof that this idiot and his machine aren't complete wastes of time.' He waited for the new human to return eye contact, and this time he knew for sure that the man was looking straight at him. He didn't know why, but he felt a shudder run down his spine as he locked eyes with the newcomer. And Giovanni, Boss of Team Rocket, never shuddered. 'This… man, he could still prove to be of some use.'

After a few more seconds of exchanged looks, Giovanni took a step forward and around the table he was behind. The human watched him but didn't move, his expression not giving away any thoughts. Persian stayed put, something that Giovanni was silently grateful for.

"So," he said with a nod of his head. "I think I can speak for all of us in this room when I say that we are all equally confused as to what has happened."

The man gave a slow nod of his own. "That sounds like it could be correct."

Giovanni pondered the odd accent now that more than hellos had been exchanged, with emphasis on the 'ik' sound in 'like' and 'cor' in 'correct'. Definitely foreign, his considerable wealth allowed for much travel around the known world, and he still couldn't place it. Still, it was strange but remained understandable enough.

Deciding it was best to try and continue deescalating the strange situation, Giovanni put a hand to his chest.

"My name is Giovanni. May I ask yours?"

The new human paused, as if to weigh the question in his mind.

"…John," he answered after a while. "My name is John."

Giovanni had to resist the urge to chuckle at the remarkably normal-sounding name.

"Well John, our meeting is certainly an interesting one." His smile grew. "Could I maybe offer you some pants?"

John glanced down at his naked self, before looking back at the Team Rocket Boss with a slight smile of his own.

"You know, I reckon I can speak for all of us when I say that some pants might be good."

---

"Hey Vivian? Are you sure we shouldn't see if the Boss is okay? That rumbling was a while ago and he's been in there for ages." Maxwell set his black flat cap down in his lap and ran a grey-gloved hand through his blonde hair, the grunt looking over to his colleague as she lounged across the seats of the helicopter. Vivian, dressed similar to him save for a skirt instead of pants, blew a lock of black hair out of her face before turning her head to look at him with icy blue eyes. She regarded him for a few moments, before she looked towards the cockpit.

"I dunno, what do you think Ivan?"

"What!?" A mad scramble up front, Maxwell just able to make out the form of Ivan's black flight helmet as the pilot was violently woken up from his nap. "Boss back!?"

Maxwell winced when a colourful magazine found itself flung into the back in Ivan's haste, 'Bodacious Babes, volume eighty-eight'. A brief flash of a swimsuit struggling to restrain a pair of bountiful breasts was all he saw before Vivian expertly snatched it from the red carpeted floor, laughing as she did so.

"False alarm, flyboy. Maxwell is just wondering if someone should go in and check on the boss cause of all the noise."

"Stuff that," Ivan huffed in between gulps of a drink, probably coffee. Or at least what Maxwell hoped was just coffee. "He said 'No-one leaves the landing pad unless I call for them', remember? And then he even specified 'if they do without permission, they're finished'." Ivan's stubbled face, eyes hidden by the helmet visor, turned back to look at them through the gap between the pilot seats. "I don't know about you kids but I like this job. It's comfy."

"Hey, I'm not a kid," protested Maxwell as he sat in the side door of the chopper. "I'm twenty-two."

Vivian lazily turned a page of the magazine. "And I'm twenty-four, so listen to your elders Max and don't even think about disobeying a direct order from the Boss. He'll have you kicked out of Team Rocket before you could say 'Unemployment'." She squinted at what she was looking at and muttered to herself. "No way those are real."

"I'm just worried, that's all," Maxwell tried to explain with a sigh.

"Don't, Boss is as tough as he is mean." Another page was turned. "Plus he's got Persian with him, that cat isn't just a pretty boy." Vivian smirked and glanced an eye towards him. "You know that well."

He couldn't help but wince at the memory. The Boss wasn't going to win any awards for being a very friendly employer, barely even interacting with anyone below A rank outside of business matters if not needed, so it was considered a rare honour to have one's pokemon skills tested in a random inspection battle against the Viridian Gym Leader himself. The rarity of the event hadn't soothed the sting of having his rattata one-shot by Persian in front of all the other grunts in HQ though. Maxwell could still remember the verbal beatdown that the Boss had unleashed upon him afterwards, and the laughter of his peers.

He tried to banish the memory out of his mind, and instead looked back towards the small house a hundred yards away. It was the only structure for miles on the peaceful plains surrounding them save for the sturdy chain fence that enclosed both it and the small helipad. The night air was as cool and crisp as it was when they landed hours ago, but Max couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

Vivian must have realised he wasn't completely reassured, although when she next spoke Max could pick up the devious twinge he'd learned to fear.

"Aw, come on Maxie, don't bring the mood down." Maxwell turned back towards her, Vivian grinning at him as she dropped a hand to the belt at her waist. "How about we let out the 'mon while we wait? I'm sure Ratterick the Third could do with some exercise."

Max raised a finger to the air. "Firstly, it's Ratterick the 'Second', I know you know that. Secondly…" his finger dropped as he saw Vivian grab her lone pokeball. "Please no, don't-"

"Too late!" Vivian chortled, a white glob of energy leaving her older model pokeball to take the form of a pokemon standing between them.

"Weave!"

'Oh no.'

Vivian's weavile, aptly named 'Weave' thanks to her trainer's legendary knack for originality, faced her trainer with a smirk. Looking around, the four-foot tall pokemon at first missed the presence of Max as he tried to make himself as small as possible, but soon the duel ice-dark type spotted him. Her red eyes lit up with glee, and she stared at him as though she was trying to hit him with a leer attack. "Ile, eave!"

"Hey Weave," Ivan called out from the front of the cockpit without looking back, legs up on the dash as he browsed his own magazine of questionable content. He got a quick wave from a three-clawed paw in return, but the freshly released pokemon was focused on Maxwell.

"Yo Weave, Maxie is feeling a bit down in the dumps." Vivian tutted out as she turned another page. "I think he needs a hug." The weavile only shifted her eyes away from Max to share a knowing look with her trainer, Weave stifling a laugh with a claw while Vivian waggled her eyebrows. "I'd do it, but I'm too busy studying important stuff as you can see. I suppose it's up to you to save the day."

"Weavile!"

Max sighed as the Weavile advanced upon him with claws outstretched, making him feel like a pecha berry set before a hungry, hungry caterpie.

'I hope the Boss gets back soon,' Max thought, just as the pokemon set upon him.

---

'This is fucked.'

John turned his right arm over again, the reddish pink of colour of his skin making him feel like an alien in his own body. Shifting in the metal chair with only a blue towel around his waist to preserve his dignity, he switched back to examining his left arm. It was completely smooth save for his knuckles and finger joints, a far cry from the moderately hairy limb he was used to.

There were no freckles, no scabs, not even the scars he'd built up over the years of small accidents and fist fights. The two circular ones that had resulted from fighting a dog and getting bitten when he was twelve? Gone. The six-centimetre one on his index finger? Missing. The multitude of tiny ones previously gained from a combination of general life and rough playfighting with the household cat? Missing in action. Even his palms were different, John noting that the palm lines were completely changed. He didn't know how to feel at the possible explanations that sprung to mind.

"Once again, I apologise that none of the Doctor's clothing is suitable for someone of your… stature."

John pulled his eyes away from examining himself to look at the speaker at the far end of the table, the man's elbows on the table with his fingers interlocked. He had introduced himself as Giovanni earlier, a name that immediately brought to John's mind either the image of a mob boss or that of a local wog takeaway shop owner. Judging from the properly fitted grey suit, silk red tie, and the golden tie clip John figured that Giovanni wasn't exactly in the business of selling cheap pizzas and fish and chips.

The man's smile and abnormally large eyes held a faint predatory air, John shifting in his seat and flexing his fingers.

"It's fine," he answered, the Doctor in question busy with using a small fire extinguisher behind him as they talked. "I'm a few heads taller and probably twice as wide, can't blame him for that." He started touching his face with his right hand without noticing again. "Thanks for the towel at least."

Giovanni nodded. "It's the best I can do for now. How are you feeling now that you've had a few minutes?"

Noticing the way Giovanni seemed to struggle to lean in slightly, John took a second to think of a safe response.

"As far as I know, fine considering." He wiggled on the spot, moving limbs and testing joints. "Actually, better than fine if I'm honest. Everything feels brand new." A clear spot on the polished metal table allowed him to quickly glance at his distorted reflection, blue eyes returning the gaze. "Being this red is certainly not what I expected to ever be."

"What about your memory now, John? Can you recall where you've come from? Who you are?"

He shook his head, even putting a hand up to his temple to help sell the bit. "Nah, it's not even foggy, there's just nothing there." He sighed louder than usual, emphasising his frustration with his hands. "I know my name, words and meanings of things I can see, small little snippets of concepts. I don't even remember my age, but I get the feeling like I'm mid-twenties or something." He looked back at Giovanni. "It's like I have, what is it, fucking amnesia or something."

John noticed how Giovanni twitched and frowned at the curse, and he reminded himself that he wasn't back home anymore. Not that he wasn't able to control his language around people that weren't his mates, but foul language wasn't exactly uncommon in his part of the world. Still his conversation partner was visually a man of higher social standing and obviously the human, or what John assumed was a human despite the unusual eyes, in charge of the scientist and by extension the suspected lab he was in. The obvious and correct path to go down was to keep in Giovanni's good graces for the time being, as it would only benefit himself.

"Sorry for swearing like that, I'm just a little on edge."

A nod. "Understandable."

John, eager to change the subject away from himself, focused instead on the non-human in the room. He gestured over to the far end of the room with his head, towards the furry quadruped staring at him with red feline eyes and wrinkling its nose. The creature was evidently trying to keep its distance, preferring to remain near the muttering Doctor as the scientist tried to untangle a scorched bundle of cables.

"Hope I haven't scared your… lion," he tried to guess. John knew that it wasn't in fact a lion, given the three-toed paws and forehead gem, but it was the closest thing he could approximate it to. "Or whatever animal it is."

One of Giovanni's eyebrows raised.

"Animal? Persian is a pokemon, a persian to be exact. Certainly not a 'lion', whatever that is." The suited man sent a look that was almost a glare towards 'Persian', the feline in question lowering its head. "Although he is being a very weak pokemon right now, cowering in the corner."

It didn't escape John that Persian shrunk down lower in shame at the words, but the steady tone Giovanni had used raised a question in his mind.

'Just how much of that did he understand? There was no raised voice, no visible body language.' A judgement quickly followed. 'And that's a stupid name. That's like me calling a dog 'Dog'.'

"Pokemon?" John asked aloud instead of sharing his unflattering critique on Giovanni's choice of name for the creature. "What's that?"

A scoff from Giovanni, born more of surprise than scorn. "You really must have lost your memory, or truly are alien." The man waved a hand when John tilted his head and raised an eye. "I don't mean to cause offence, but pokemon are just that, pokemon. There are humans, and then there are pokemon. Humans use pokemon to farm, as pets, to serve as labour, generate electricity, battle on our behalf in disputes or for fun." A shrug. "This is basic knowledge."

John cleared his throat, pointing with a thumb to the ruined machine behind him.

"For someone of our world," Giovanni clarified.

"Can they talk?"

"Talk?"

"Yeah," John looked over to Persian with Giovanni following his gaze, the pokemon squirming on his haunches and avoiding contact with John's eyes. "He seems to understand you, but not like a normal animal would."

Giovanni thought for a moment before lightly laughing to himself. One hand on the table and one on his lap, he gestured towards persian with his chin.

"Persian, stand up."

Evidently the direct command from his master overrode whatever was bothering him, the pokemon hesitantly doing as he was told. Giovanni looked back at John for a moment before returning his attention to Persian, as if to say 'watch this'.

"Circle around Doctor Kenji, three times."

"I… Persian?"

Kenji looked up from his repair work as the feline did as he was told, Giovanni's voice hardening for a few seconds.

"Back to work, Doctor. I'm just answering some of my guest's questions."

"Right, I'll do what I can… sir."

Persian completed the circling, and indeed proved able to count to three.

"Good." Giovanni looked around the broken lab, before refocusing on John. "Persian, bring me the red screwdriver in the corner."

He made no movements and kept his eyes hidden from Persian but still the pokemon stood up to do as told. Watching the feline creature move directly to the screwdriver in question, lying next to a line of wall sockets doused in extinguisher foam, John silently observed as Persian scooped up the tool with his mouth and turned towards the tables. The pokemon paused with a grimace, but after quiet cough from Giovanni he slowly started to move towards them.

John studied the creature as it took a wide berth around to where Giovanni was seated, Persian never taking his eyes off of him. The pokemon's tail flicked back and forth while he stood next to his master, and Giovanni took the held screwdriver by the handle and placed it on the table.

"Stay put."

Persian for his part continued to wrinkle his nose like there was a bad smell and leaned as far back as he could without disobeying the order. It prompted John to quickly sniff his own arm, curious as to why the creature seemed to despise him so.

Giovanni just scoffed again, smile still on his face.

"Now, now Persian, you don't want to be rude to my guest, do you?"

"Urrr".

The reply from the creature was mixed with a low whine, as if he knew what was coming.

"Allow him to pat you on the head." Two fingers were tapped on the table. "I insist."

"That's okay, no need for that." John waved an open palm towards the uncomfortable persian. "He seems very smart, and besides," he waggled his pink fingers. "Not sure what I should be touching at the moment." He aimed a small smile at Persian, who still shrunk back despite the genuine warmth John tried to add to it. "No offense to you of course." He waited for a response, and when none came except for more staring he sighed and returned to the conversation with Giovanni.

"Suit yourself." The man crossed his fingers in front of him again, his smile just a smidge wider after the exchange. "As you see, Persian is more than capable of understanding complex commands. Almost all pokemon are said to be able to understand human speech at a very basic level, with properly trained pokemon often being able to interpret words and meanings to the level of a human child." A glance towards Doctor Kenji, who currently was on his knees weeping over the fallen ring of metal that had separated from the destroyed machine. "Unfortunately, I can't say the same about all my employees."

"To answer your direct question," Giovanni continued, a hand going to his side to pat Persian on the back. "The majority of known pokemon are unable to talk to humans directly, you have to go off of implied meaning and gestures. There are very rare exceptions to this, and I personally know one pokemon that was able to learn to speak the same as we do of his own initiative, if you can believe it." A small chuckle escaped him.

"Speaking of that, intelligence in pokemon can vary, but psychic-type pokemon are considered to be as near to humans as possible with some potentially able to communicate with telepathy." Giovanni paused after the sentence, his smile fading into a frown.

'Psychic type? Telepathy?' John had to concentrate on not blurting out the multitude of questions he had, considering the mood change. Instead he went for a safer option.

"Something wrong?"

The frown remained, while Giovanni waved a hand and shook his head. "No, just remembering one in particular. Despite its best efforts."

The conversation seemed to sour, and John decided that it was best to wait and let Giovanni speak again when he was ready. A moment passed before he spoke again, the fingers interlocking once more.

"John, some more information for you about how the world works."

John nodded with his hand clasped over a fist in front of him to show he was listening.

"Remember that no matter how intelligent a pokemon may seem, how similar to you they appear, or even how powerful they are, they are still beneath humans. Beasts." Giovanni briefly looked towards Persian, the feline sitting next to him with eyes still on John. "Of course, some pokemon earn themselves favoured treatment above their peers and other humans, but the relationship is never one of equals." Two loud taps on the table were used to highlight the point. "Master, servant. Some prefer to call themselves 'Trainer' instead of master, but it all means the same. Pokemon do what humans want, it's what they are for. Do you understand?"

John sat and contemplated Giovanni's words, maintaining eye contact with the man across the table. It was clear that his mysterious companion was of a fairly harsh nature, his words measured but carrying an underlying tone of danger and perhaps even hate. Cold, yet still capable of politeness if he wanted to, the older man gave off the vibe of a practiced corporate executive crossed with the harshness of an eastern European tinpot dictator. Even as John studied him and formed his judgements, he was distinctly aware that Giovanni was doing the exact same examination of him.

Both men remained quiet as they sized each other up, each ignoring the difference in clothing and skin colouration. This was a moment that went beyond physical capability or status, each of them trying to spot a flaw in the other's presented façade.

'Careful,' John silently said to himself, not breaking off the eye contact. 'He's testing you. Trying to see if I say something weak. Maybe have a cry at how mean he is.' He mentally pictured himself as he currently was, just a naked red man in an apparent foreign world. 'You know what happened, sort of. Pretty much zero chance of turning back from here.' As memories of home briefly surfaced, he managed to resist touching his face again before he pushed the reminders of his previous life to the back of his mind. 'Might just get out of this if I play my cards right. Maybe even manage to get a better deal out of it if I play along with this guy.'

John cleared his throat to buy just a few seconds more, Giovanni leaning in to hear his reply with a thin smile.

'He seems like he has some power, or at least thinks he does.' He recalled Giovanni's actions towards Doctor Kenji, how he seemed to enjoy ordering about both human and pokemon to do things they didn't particularly want to, and the previous speech about master and servant. 'A bit of a cock maybe, but a powerful cock.' Another thought of how the man had interacted with Persian, John having picked up the hint of pride that Giovanni had let slip when talking about him.

"I understand," John finally answered with a slight nod and lean back in his chair. He tried to ignore how it creaked under his weight. "Some serve others, some lead some follow. The bosses and the workers. You have people who command, and people that obey. That's a part of life, and how society tends to function from the workplace to the military." He followed up quickly, but not with a haste that would give it away. "From what I can remember of course." He raised an eye, idlily lifting a pointer finger to his hairless chin. "And I get the impression that you're not just talking about pokemon either, when we discuss masters and servants."

The way Giovanni's smile grew was almost unnoticeable. Almost. "Perhaps," he conceded. "Nothing like outright slavery of course, but it's always welcome when people understand their place in things." Giovanni's hands shifted, his fingers forming a pyramid. "The stupid are easily coerced into their proper position, it's the intelligent that tend to bring difficulties. Unfortunately, that means that the ones in control tend to end up with irritating choices to make: Stupid workers that are easy to convince, or intelligent workers that tend to serve their own interests at the cost of your own. Some even have to gall to lie to get what they want from you."

There was a pause, Giovanni leaning back in his own chair. His smile remained, his two pointer fingers tapping together as he continued to consider what had been said so far.

"Of course, when you're able to find someone who is both keenly aware of who they work for and seems refreshingly competent, effort should be taken to hire them. Especially when their other options appear to be, shall we say, limited." A look to the closed door beside them, John matching it. This was followed by a nod towards the broken portal machine, now a melted heap of scrap.

"Tell me, John. If I allow you to leave this laboratory of mine, right now, what would you do? Who would you work for?" Giovanni focused back on him, gesturing with a hand. "You're a large man and seem like you could handle yourself against most of the wild pokemon in the fields around this area, so you could be a useful fieldhand for a local farmer. I also don't get the impression that you're lacking in mental capability, something that could land you a job with a large and powerful company. Oh, apart from the… amnesia, of course."

The smile on Giovanni's face grew. "I suppose the question I am asking is, after all that we've talked about, what would you choose if you could pick between the two? Honest but dull work as a farmer for the rest of a miserable life, or perhaps some less-than-honest work with a large and rich company? You'll work for either a peasant farmer or a powerful businessman, so who would you rather serve?"

Giovanni motioned with a hand for him to answer, the other reaching down to pet the silent persian on the head once more.

'Well,' thought John as he considered the offer and how he should respond. 'It's not like I have much choice, I don't even have jocks on.' He couldn't help himself however when a possible answer popped into his mind, and he scoffed out loud when it did. 'Fuck it, all chips in.'

He slowly leaned back in, his hands mimicking Giovanni's previous pyramid posture.

"Well, there's only one correct moral choice. Of course, I'd like to serve myself as it's the better option, and to do that I would have to say…"

John paused and allowed himself a small smirk, which Giovanni noticed. The man in the suit started to narrow his eyes and his smile grew cold.

"Which fields do you need to be ploughed? Or would you rather I run your stall at the farmer's market?"

Silence, save for the indecipherable curses and hammer bangs from Doctor Kenji in the background.

John let his words hang in the air and maintained his grin. He was well aware at what he'd just jokingly implied about Giovanni, the man in the grey suit still staring at him with cold eyes.

Then John saw it, the glint.

Persian jumped as his master slapped the metal table with a hand, the pokemon finally tearing his eyes away from John to ogle Giovanni as short but genuine laughter broke the quiet.

"Ha! Bold, aren't you?" Giovanni raised a fist to his mouth, managing to stifle his chortles. "Still, you better be careful in the future. I won't tolerate backtalk, especially in front of my other employees." Still smiling, he stood up from the table and checked a watch on his wrist. "As surprisingly present as this has turned out to be, it's been hours since I arrived."

John took his cue, getting up from his own seat with a hand gripping the loaned towel to keep it on securely. Persian also moved, seemingly eager to put his own master between them as his nose continued to wrinkle. Giovanni shook his head but didn't reprimand his pokemon as it slinked behind him, instead he motioned a hand towards John and his reddish-pink body. Even without shoes John was half a head taller than the other man, a fact that brought just a touch of silent and smug pride.

"I'm afraid you'll have to remain with just a towel until we get back to headquarters, I'll arrange a uniform and small room for you while you adjust. I also have my own fully staffed medical facility and more importantly a loyal personal doctor, so we can run some tests on your… conditions."

"Righto."

Giovanni began to enter a code on the door keypad, before he stopped with a barely audible 'ah'.

"Oh yes, Kenji," he called out, the scientist whirling around to face the trio with smoking circuit board in hand. John watched the man alternate his gaze from him to the destroyed machine, to the door, and finally Giovanni himself.

"Y-yes Boss?"

"Consider yourself still employed." A chuckle from Giovanni, this time lacking the previous mirth. "For now, at least. I'm going to take our guest back to HQ, I expect that you'll be able to handle things here?"

Giovanni finished imputing in the door code, the metal barrier splitting into two sections and sliding into the sides while Kenji glanced at the devastation around him.

"I… I'll probably have to replace a few things," he hesitantly replied, Giovanni pausing mid-stride through the doorway for a moment.

"Send the invoices." Another half-second pause. "And regular reports. Regular being weekly, not monthly, Doctor."

"Yes sir! As you order!"

Giovanni didn't' wait to hear it, already out the doorway with Persian hastily taking the lead. John followed and moved into the corridor with the door shutting behind him, falling into lockstep with his new employer. The cold metal of the floor only bothered his bare feet slightly, John realising that he had very little idea of what was waiting for him out in the alien world.

The trio, Persian keeping a quick pace a distance out front, turned a corner into another dimly lit corridor, another door and keypad waiting them at the end.

Touching his face with a hand again, John spoke up. "Should we create a cover story for me and my sexy red exterior, and posterior?"

"I want you to remain quiet unless prompted," replied Giovanni as they walked. "I will do the talking for you, and your contact with other employees will limited to those approved by me until I deem otherwise. You are to agree with everything I say in front of another person and do everything I order you to. Am I clear?"

John didn't joke this time. "Crystal clear."

"Excellent."

Reaching the door, Giovanni entered his code again and the barrier parted, revealing a simple and small elevator. The two humans and sole pokemon entered, Giovanni selecting one of the only two buttons while Persian desperately hugged the wall opposite John.

"However," Giovanni continued, the elevator door closing before there was a small jolt. "If you somehow happen to find yourself facing questions from someone who hasn't been authorised…"

'Oh, I know this one.'

"Lie like a bastard."

He earned a scoff and another smile from Giovanni.

"Close enough."

The trip up seemed to take a bit long for such a small lift, but it did allow John to ask one final question.

"Excuse me, Giovanni?"

"Yes John?"

"What should I call you? Mr Giovanni, or some other title?"

Giovanni smiled, both hands adjusting the collar of his suit.

"The same thing everyone else calls me: Boss."