Hey all. So…yeah, I was originally going to wait a few weeks before working on chapter 2 but then I figured what the hell, let's give it to them early. So yeah…here's chapter 2. Please read and enjoy

Disclaimer: …no, I don't own Pokemon, not in this reality anyway.


Rocketeer

Chapter 2: The Rocket Game Corner and Boss: Giovanni

"…psychic…" the nameless boy whispered as a flock of zubat and golbat charged at him. "This time, don't hold back; I'm sick of their interference."

Haunter laughed as he brought his disembodied hands up in front of him.

"One psychic attack; coming right up!" He yelled as a blue aura formed over his hands. Clenching his fists, the ghost pokemon let loose a blast of psychic energy, blowing the wild pokemon away. "Hell yeah, that was fun!"

"Fair enough," the nameless boy replied in his standard monotone. "Now if you will, another fleet of those bats are coming right at us."

"Of course!" Haunter roared as he charged up for another psychic attack.

If one were to ask any normal civilian, he or she would be told that there are two underground paths found in the Kanto region; one that leads from Cerulean city to Vermilion and another leading from Saffron to the outskirts Celadon. What those people were not aware of was there were much more underground pathways in the region. The paths were usually well hidden and unlike the normal ones, were riddled with dangerous traps and wild pokemon. The paths also tended to branch out into countless dead ends, making them rather nasty labyrinths for those who dared to venture into them. However, despite their downsides, the paths did have some uses. Within the secret dungeons, there were a large number of precious and useful items, making them a virtual gold mine. The paths also lead into depths of various cities, allowing their adventurers to enter a city completely unnoticed; making them perfect places to make a quick getaway.

Skillfully dodging the aerial strikes from the zubats and golbats and the underground ambushes from the hidden geodude and graveler, the nameless rocket and his haunter ran ahead, both of them hoping they would reach the exit soon.

"Haunter, can you see the exit?"

The ghost pokemon strained his eyes and a wide, toothy grin overcame his face.

"The exit's bout seven yards away; I can see the stairs!"

The rocket nodded and ran ahead. After a few minutes of dodging assaults from wild pokemon, the reserved young man saw that his haunter was true to his words as the staircase exit was now in front of him.

"Excellent work Haunter, now return."

"What? All that work I did and all I get it's a…"

The gas pokemon was unable to finish his rant as the rocket resealed him back into his pokeball. Checking around to see if there was any wild pokemon nearby, the rocket ran up the stairs, climbed the latter found at the top of the fleet and climbed up and opened the trap door found at the top.


"Yahoo, I'm a winner!" A man in his mid thirties cheered, jumping up and down like a maniac as the slot machine before him began to spit out a large amount of coins.

"Come one seventy two…" another man mumbled as he watched the large roulette spin. "…come on, daddy needs a new pair of shoes…"

"Haha, blackjack! Winner, winner, chicken dinner!" A blackjack dealer chortled as he took the large pot of chip, relishing in the stunned looks of the players.

"…hey…" a wealthy looking man said, getting the attention of a beautiful girl, wearing an elegant blue dress. "Can I buy you a drink…?"

Celadon City was a happy, lively place; honestly, it came with the territory of being one of Kanto's largest cities. Its beautiful scenery, large yet friendly community, and of course the massive shopping districts and activity centers made it one of the tourist hot spots, attracting millions of people yearly. If one were to ask a visitor or traveler the main reason why he or she had decided to visit this wonderful metropolis, he would probably give one of three choices: the massive shopping departments, carrying all the latest gear and fashion for pokemon trainer and civilian alike; the celadon gym, where if one wasn't there to fight the leader for a badge, he could partake in the activities and cultural classes the gym had to offer or just stay to ogle the leader, unofficial princess of the city Erika and her band of female trainers; or the Rocket Game Corner, the biggest casino the Kanto region had to offer.

Forcing the manhole, the nameless rocket managed to get out of the darkness of the underground path, only to find himself in a dirty alleyway bordered with several trashcans along its moldy walls. Looking towards the better lit half of the alleyway and hearing the heckling, cries of joy, cries of despair, and late night flirting from the other side of the wall, he deduced he had taken the right path and had reached the massive casino.

"…underground pathways…they never fail…" the rocket chuckled as he pulled an ID card from his pants pocket and slid it through a slot found next to the door. As the door opened, he was greeted by a sight of various chefs rushing back and forth a rather fancy kitchen, their hands full with various exotic foods and alcohol, no doubt, ready to be consumed by the patrons outside. Walking past the chefs who were honestly too busy tending to their work to really take any notice of him, the rocket walked through the kitchen before reaching a locker room on the far right end. Entering the room, the rocket immediately made a beeline towards a locker and after opening it grabbed some of the clothes there in order to change out of his mission clothes so if anyone among the generally festive atmosphere did notice him, no one would make a scene.

"…you'd think at three in the morning these people would just call it quits huh?" Haunter asked from his pokeball, also hearing the roars from the outside.

The rocket just chuckled as he put on the fancy shirt and began to fix the buttons.


"Ah partner," Haunter chuckled from his pokeball. "It never ceases to amuse me when you dress like a civilian."

"…it doesn't matter how it amuses you," the rocket replied, now dressed in a black tuxedo, his long, black hair slicked back. "This form will cause less commotion among the customers."

"Bah," Haunter snorted. "Not like those maniacs out there will even notice you."

Letting out snort, the rocket stepped out of the other exist of the locker room, effectively brining him to the casino's main room, the gamblers there were enthusiastic as ever. Turning around, he saw the exchange room where the coin the casino exchanged for cash were stored. The men and women there were running around, calculating numbers in their heads and keeping track of the monetary losses and gains of the night. Among the chaos, one of the women, however, did notice his intruding presence.

"Excuse me," she said, moving past the counter, walking up to him while pushing her glasses up in an attempt to correct her eyesight; it had been deteriorating in the past few weeks. "Are you authorized to be here young man?"

The rocket nodded and dug into his pocket and pulled out the same identification card that had gained him access to the casino in the first place.

"Ah…" the woman exclaimed as she examined the card, her stern expressing becoming softer. "Agent 013, I trust you are back from a mission?"

"That is correct ma'am," the rocket, now known as Agent 013 replied crossing his arms. "And by any chance would Giovanni be in tonight? I'd like to finish my status report so I can actually get some damn sleep."

Frowning at the rocket's somewhat flippant, no nonsense attitude, the accounting woman nodded her head and pointed out to a corridor leading away from the main gaming area.

"Master Giovanni is indeed in tonight; he should be at his quarters." She said.

013 turned towards the corridor and nodded and word of silent thanks to the woman. "Understood, I'll see my way there then."

Passing all the slot machine, card and dice tables, roulettes, bars, and shows that were going on all around him, 013 eventually reached the corridor, meeting two well dressed guards standing in front of a doorway at the end of the hall. After seeing the ID badge, the two guards stepped aside to let 013 into the doorway. The rocket member walked through the door and entered into a small hallway. Walking across it, 013 found a poster at the end. Placing his hand on the seemingly normal poster advertising the casino, 013 mumbled a password and the entire hallway began to glow causing a secret stair case to appear at the next to the poster. Agent 013 walked down the staircase, entering a world completely different, yet strikingly similar to the world of the casino.


"Golbat, use wing attack!" a rocket yelled as his large bat pokemon charged, wings spread out, at its enemy.

"Muk, don't let the sorry excuse for a bat hit you! Use sludge bomb!" Another rocket yelled as his muk shot blasts of black slime at the descending bat.

As the two rocket grunts fought, a small crowd of similarly dressed and ranked rogues yelled and cheered, placing bets on the outcome of the battle. While majority of the rockets basked in the sight of the bloodbath, a few others stayed in the sides; the men sweet talking the females and vice versa; 013 chuckled as he watched his comrades interact; despite the cold and less luxurious accommodations, the inhabitants of the Team Rocket secret hideout made him feel as if he had never left the casino at all.

"Hey you!" A large, apparently drunk rocket grunt yelled, pointing an accusing finger at 013. "I haven't seen you round here… you some kind of trespasser or something…?"

013 shot a glare at the man, who promptly ignored it, most likely due to his inebriation.

"Sorry to dissapoint," the young rocket deadpanned as he held out his ID. "I have business with the boss; mind getting out of the way?"

"Teh Bossssssss?" The grunt slurred, wobbling back and forth. "Forget him, now why don't you be… a good little…boy and leave so the adults can play?"

013's glare intensified at the oaf of a man's words; he hated being patronized, even if he had a tendency to do it himself. "…move…" he said in a deadly whisper.

"Hmm….naaahh," the grunt said, laughing as if he made some sort of witty comment. "But I think I'll have the pleasure of removing you from here! Ratacate, go!"

"…very well then…" 013 replied coldly. "Haunter…"

Haunter came out of his pokeball and began to cackle madly. "HAHAHAHA what's shaking partner?"

As Haunter cackled, a number of grunts had dropped what they were doing as their blood ran cold. Granted, due to the mask that he usually wore, 013 wasn't exactly an easy person to recognize. However, even for those who haven't even seen his face, the flippant attitude and bone chilling cackle of his Haunter were almost the calling card of the cold, uncaring agent.

"Haunter," 013 said as he crossed his arms. "If you will, use a psychic on that buffoon and his ratacate."

Haunter let out a sadistic grin and charged up for the attack. "You got it buddy!"

"Don't call me buddy," 013 snapped.

"You got it jerk!" Haunter replied cheerfully as he launched the psychic attack at the grunt that had completely sobered up at the sight of the infamous demon agent and his ghost from hell.

The attack made contact with the man and his pokemon and sent them crashing against a wall, knocking them out. 013 nodded and promptly returned Haunter before the ghost pokemon could do more collateral damage. The other rockets were paralyzed with fear at the display the agent had demonstrated and all was silent for a moment. Suddenly a slow clapping noise broke the silence, shocking everyone in the room. 013 turned around to the source of the noise to see a young girl, about his age approach him. She was a head shorter than he was, with sunny, shoulder length blonde hair done in curls and dark eyes. She wore the standard female rocket uniform however, opting for white and pink hat, boots, gloves and skirt rather than the traditional all black ones.

"My, my," the female rocket laughed as the grunts scrambled to salute her. "Such power; you've trained hard haven't you, 013?"

"Agent 009," 013 said, his expression stoic. "You're looking well."

"Agent 009?" The girl asked pouting. "Why so formal? I'd much prefer it if you called me Domino…" she whispered huskily in his ear.

013's eyebrow raised as he noticed that Domino's display had caught the attention of many of the men in the room. It wasn't a particularly uncommon sight to see; the blond agent had countless men at her beck and call. With her flirtatious, playful persona and as some of his "colleagues" had eloquently put "smokin hot" looks, 009 was just the kind of person who could easily get past the defensives of most men and mercilessly strike the moment her true dark nature emerged behind all the doe eyes and bubbly giggles. She took great pride in her ability to reduce men into jelly with her charms and being the special brand of bastard he was, 013 took great joy in outright ignoring her advance.

"Agent 009, if you do not mind, could you step back; I need to see the boss and you standing so closely makes it rather difficult to move." 013 said calmly, a small snide smirk forming on his face as the other men in the room stared at him like he had some horrible sort of brain damage.

Domino's face turned a shade of red in anger and embarrassment as she stepped away from her stoic fellow agent; his flippant attitude always did annoy her something special. The smirk still plastered on his face, 013 walked towards the steps and descended lower into the hide out. As he left, Domino clenched her fist and hit the railing, leaving a rather large dent.

"…damn that 013…" she snarled silently. "How dare he resist my feminine charms…?"


"Ugh," 013 groaned as he made it across the last floor trap. "I should really find the scientist who designed this base…and punch him in the face…"

"Yeah, we get it partner; you hate the floor traps." Haunter said in a dismissive manner, his voice resonating from his pokeball into his trainer's mind; mastery of psychic attacks had some pretty interesting perks. "I'm just wondering what are you doing standing here complaining bout floor traps when you could be having fun with that blonde girl."

"If you're referring to 009, I believe I've already had my fun with her." 013 replied. "I always do get a warm fuzzy feeling walking away knowing I've fully and thoroughly pissed her off."

"Wow...you two are so hot for each other even I can see it, and I'm not even in the same species." Haunter deadpanned. "Partner, she totally wants you, and honestly...I think you're a little too uptight. You really should get laid..."

013 blocked out Haunter's words and he walked into the elevator, pressing down on the b4 floor. After a few minutes, the elevator stopped and 013 walked out, greeted by the sight of a large doorway guarded by two rocket grunts. Walking towards the door, 013 took out his ID and showed it to the guards.

"Agent 013 here to deliver my mission report to the Boss." 013 said, giving a short bow.

One of the guards took a look at the ID and nodded to his partner.

"He checks out," he said. "Open the door."

Nodding, the other guard turned around to the nearby control panel and entered in a number of codes. After waiting for a few moments, the large door creaked open, leading into a poorly lit hallway.

"The boss's quarters is at the last door at the end of hall," the guard said as he stepped aside, allowing 013 to proceed.

Nodding at both of them, 013 walked through the doorway. The hallway, although poorly lit, was still clearly, very luxurious. Walking past the doors and fancy paintings, 013 eventually reached the final door where his master resided. Like the guarded door from before, the door before him was large and extravagant. Taking a deep breath, 013 walked up to the door and placed his hand over it.

"Password please," the door's security system suddenly said in its ever present monotone.

"…all exist for our glory…" 013 replied calmly.

"Password accepted; please enter." The system droned as the doors opened, revealing a large, comfortable looking office. At the end of the office, Team Rocket's grand leader, Giovanni sat at his desk, his right hand holding a glass of brandy while his left stroked the fur of his prized persian.

"You really should look into getting more lighting in here." 013 replied offhandedly as he sat down on the chair opposite of Giovanni who watched his prized agent with amused eyes. "It must be murder on your eyes, though I really shouldn't talk; working in the shadows and moonlight and what not."

"Ah, Agent 013," Giovanni said as he got up from his seat and walked towards his agent. "I trust everything went well?"

"If you're talking bout your little diamond toy," 013 replied, taking the Heaven's Capsule out of his pocket and tossing it towards his boss. "I think I have what you're looking for."

At that moment, Giovanni's usually cold, dark eyes flashed with greed and excitement as he snatched up the artifact.

"Excellent," Giovanni said as he examined the ethereally beautiful artifact closely. "You've once again outdone yourself."

"Fantastic," 013 replied unenthusiastically. "Oh and just so you know, some grunts got themselves tangled up in the mission causing up a huge mess out of everything. I would appreciate it if you were to go ahead and tell the executives or commanders or whoever the hell is in charge of handing out missions to keep their damn noses out of my missions."

Giovanni's eyes narrowed and his mouth pressed into a harsh frown.

"I was not aware of this," Giovanni said, setting the Heaven's Capsule on his desk and crossing his arms.
"Rest assured, I will get to the bottom of this. After all, the missions of the agents are my job alone to assign. You may go though."

A dark glint flashed through Giovanni's eyes and 013 knew someone was going to get tortured before the night was over. That really didn't matter to him though. It had been a long annoying night of being chased by guards, a psycho with a kadabra, and a foolish vigilante and all he wanted to do was to leave this creepy office and get some sleep.

"Fair enough," 013 replied, turning heel to exit the office. "Oh and I expect my full payment by tomorrow morning if you don't mind."

Giovanni snorted, as his agent left the room. As the door closed, the Team Rocket boss picked up his glass of brandy and took a sip before lowering the glass away from his face and promptly crushing it in pure rage.

"Sheila!" He barked, pressing the intercom for his phone to contact his secretary.

"Y...yes sir?" The young woman responded through the other end; obviously frightened at his harsh tone, but then again who wouldn't be?

"Send McDougal up to my office." Giovanni snarled. "I think it's time I had a little chat with my Mission's Director to re-educate him on proper hierarchy.

013 wouldn't be around to see it, but he was right; blood was going to be split tonight.


And there you have it. Hope you enjoyed it.

Oh and on another note, since this is pokemon, I'm looking into expanding the characters' teams.
The problem is that I'm now currently working with 600+ pokemon with the advent of generation 5 so as you all can see…I have quite a lot to choose from. Please review what pokemon you would like to see showing up and I'll put it in consideration, thanks!

Till then…peace~