John awoke with a grunt into a pillow and cool air on his bare back, his eyes still screwed tightly shut as he was pulled out from dreamless slumber and into the dreaded 'morning after the piss-up'. At least he assumed it was still in the morning, from what he could remember they had gone on for a while and he wasn't game enough to lift his head up and actually check. Instead he was content to just lay there in half-sleep and cautiously start to try and assess the damage, his mouth feeling dry but his head not aching as bad as he had expected.

Then something cold and pointy started to poke him in the right side, right in the bare skin on his torso.

"Ah!" His arm haphazardly shot out to swipe at his attacker and his hand made contact with something furry. "Cunting cat, fuck off! I'll feed you in a bit." Whatever had been touching him pulled away, but John's foggy brain managed to come to the realisation that it couldn't have been Catligula on the bed with him and that meant…

Rolling over onto his back he lifted his head and forced his eyes open, ignoring his body's protests and the far-too-bright light to blink at whatever was to the right of him. He briefly managed to recognise the cream-and-beige striped wallpaper of the room they'd booked in the inn before he met the pair of eyes staring right at him. The black pupils were thin slits and as a consequence only made the surrounding red irises seem larger still, and John took a moment to orient himself before snorting.

"Morning Weave."

Now that his eyes were adjusting to the unexpected wakeup, John was able to recognise the weavile sitting cross-legged next to him as the one belonging to Vivian. It was the closest she'd gotten to him yet, close enough that John was now able to see the scar that broke the fur above her small nose and the tiny scratches on the strange yellow oval-gem thing stuck in the middle of her forehead. Considering the conversation topics covered the previous night, he felt that it was far too close for comfort.

"Eve vile il-eve," she replied while scrunching up her nose, pulling her clawed hand away from his arm to wave it in front of her with a grimace. "Vile-eave."

"Yeah, I feel like utter shit too." With a groan John managed to prop himself up on an elbow, not missing how the pokemon smiled when the curse left his mouth. Scratching his gut and using his tongue to try and bring some moisture back to his mouth he noticed Weave muttering something to herself with her grin widening, but rather than try to decipher what the odd creature was doing he instead focused on a new realisation. "Hang on, where's my shirt?"

The question returned Weave's attention to him, the weavile grinning and pointing with a claw to something behind him. It was a struggle to fully sit up but he somehow managed to will his muscles to work despite his head's protests. Following her claw John looked to his left and blinked twice as he took in the sight of the hotel room's couch, the figure on it also lacking not just a shirt but also a pair of pants as well.

Thankfully Max still at least had a pair of plain white briefs on as he peacefully snored away into a cushion, the young man's sandy-blond hair looking like it had spent ten minutes in front of a leaf blower. The mystery of the missing shorts was quickly solved when John saw the pair of black boardshorts crumpled in a heap on Max's upper back, the bundle moving up and down slightly out of sync with the man's breathing. Evidently Ratterick had also been released from his pokeball sometime during the previous night, cream-coloured hind paws and a curled purple tail sticking out from the waistband as the rattata slumbered along with his owner.

'Well, at least we didn't lose Max,' thought John as he shook his head and double checked the room again. 'Still can't see my shirt anywhere though. Just bought the bloody thing as well. Maybe Viv…?'

One grunt accounted for, one still MIA. Looking back at the smiling weavile John eyed the pair of jumbled pillows and the disturbed light-blue blanket on the other side of the double bed, a vague Vivian-shaped indent still present on the mattress. He raised an eye at that, Weave tilting her head to the side as he asked another question.

"And what about Viv?"

Opening her mouth to respond Weave was cut off by the flush of a toilet, and the pair of them looked to the closed door of the attached bathroom as the soft sound of a running tap was accompanied by a hacking, coughing retch. It lasted a few uncomfortably long moments before the water was turned off and the wooden door was wrenched open, Vivian muttering curses under her breath while she stormed out with her eyes squinted and face pale.

"Ah," John nodded with his question now answered. "There she is. Morning…" he paused mid-greeting, as Viv was only clad in a black bra and matching pair of boy shorts. The little smiling cartoon skulls dotting the underwear and the contrasting scowl on her face only added to the overall image. "…Sunshine?"

"Fuck off John." With the grunt of irritation Viv rounded around to the bags sitting down in the corner, the women crouching down to shift through them before pulling out a plastic bottle of water. Nothing more was said until she had unscrewed the cap and gulped half of it down, her cold blue eyes narrowing at him while she wiped her mouth with the back of her free hand. "How are you even conscious?"

He could only shrug, the full memory of the previous night still fuzzy.

"Not my first time waking up without a shirt, though the pokemon poking me in the ribs was a new experience." Glancing to Weave as he explained the rude awakening, he scoffed at the evil little gremlin's satisfied chuckle and toothy grin. "At least this time I actually made it to a bed and not a random spinifex bush, thank God." Refocusing on Vivian, he ignored her grumpy frown and instead raised an eyebrow. "On the topic of missing clothing though, you seem to have lost your own pants. What's the go with that?"

She snorted mid-gulp, the bottle of water now drained fully.

"Don't get your hopes up, nothing like that happened. Only thing that got fucked last night was our livers."

As John raised his hands to placate Vivian Weave's eyes widened and her mouth opened with realisation at something unknown to the two humans. A connection had been made, helped along by Viv's vulgar correction.

"I wasn't saying that it did, I just want to know about my shirt." Despite his aching head he couldn't help but start to smile, John unable to resist the temptation. "Besides, I didn't nearly get drunk enough to even consider-."

The empty water bottle went high above his head, bouncing off the wall a full metre off-target to crumple down to the white carpet below.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," Viv growled at him with her finger pointed. "You'd be lucky to even get the chance!" Still, faced with the large grunt's smug smirk and the cackles of amusement from her own pokemon Viv wasn't able to maintain her frown for long, and she relaxed with a sigh. Cracking her neck and rolling her shoulders, she gestured with a thumb back towards the bathroom she'd just left. "And my pants aren't lost, they're sitting in the shower along with your shirt and Max's… everything."

Watching her round around to the other side of the bed, John raised an eye. "That bad?"

The bed creaked when Viv sat down on her side, slinging her legs over to lay on her back with her tired eyes staring straight up at the ceiling. "Let's just say that it's a good thing we all have spares."

"Oof."

Viv nodded in silent agreement. Weave still looked incredibly pleased with herself and was muttering quietly while she sat in between them, and after a few moments John spoke again.

"You know, I don't remember vomiting my guts out."

"That's because you, and I, didn't." Blue eyes turned to glare at Max, with Viv tilting her head towards the unconscious grunt on the couch where he slept with his rat snuggled up on his back. "You have little Maxie to thank for that. I swear, it was so violent and horrifying that we could probably get him hooked up with Silph to make a new TM off of it. Slap that on a poison type and you'd make the championship easy." She continued on before John could even ask just what a 'TM' was. "Oh, and I should probably mention that we should avoid showing our faces in the bar for a while, until the heat dies down."

John narrowed his eyes in thought, his fingers drumming on his bare stomach as he tried to remember more of what transpired. "Right, got it." Then a more pressing concern rose to the front of his aching mind, and he frowned at Viv. "So I take a nice fat and greasy breakfast to kill the hangover is out of the question then?"

"Well yeah, for starters it's mid-afternoon," snorted the female grunt while she rubbed her temples. "That rules out breakfast completely and the bus back to base leaves at five. I don't know about you, but I'd rather just stay here and not move if I don't have too."

The sudden growl from John's ample stomach drew a tired sigh from Viv and a cackle from Weave, John sitting fully up with a shrug. "I'd rather grab some lunch myself, I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry, somehow." Still, after a moment she relented with another sigh and a short groan. "Ah, fine, whatever. I know I'm not going to win this one. If we don't take too long we could probably make it to a diner or some café with an all-day breakfast." Despite her eye rolls and grunts, a slight smile was forming on Viv's face. "Actually, there's this one place that also does some half-decent cocktails as well now that I think about it. You remember Weave? That's where we found out that a weavile can get drunk off a single Sunflora Sunrise."

"Weave-eav!" The protest was accompanied by Weave holding up two of her claws on her left paw.

"Pfft, no. One and a half maybe, but no way did you finish two you liar."

John wasn't even going to begin to touch on the topic of getting a pokemon drunk. Shaking his head, he looked past Weave as the pokemon gave an indignant huff and raised her nose to the ceiling with her arms crossed and instead focused on Viv.

"Sure Viv, whatever gets you moving and in gear." Twisting his torso and cracking his back and neck, John turned on the spot and planted his feet down on the carpeted floor. "According to your pokemon I smell like shit, so I'm going to crack open some of the deodorant and get some clothes on me. You taking a shower?"

With a roll of her eyes Viv sat up and made to leave the bed again. "No time for that, I'll just splash some water on me after I finish rising off our clothes. On that note, have you got any of those plastic bags left over from yesterday?"

"Yeah, pretty sure." Already moving to the pile of bags in the corner of the room John shook his head while he passed the pair still asleep on the couch despite the noise, the dopy grin on Max's face hiding the apparent vomit-monster that lurked behind it. Crouching down and rifling through the various shopping bags containing fresh clothes and living supplies, he grasped an empty one that seemed sturdy and watertight enough before stopping as soon as he laid eyes upon the large black backpack. Correction, his large black backpack.

After a quick glance back to Vivian confirmed that she was preoccupied with having a heated discussion with Weave, John gingerly opened up the main compartment and peeked inside. There it was, the thick grey case that he remembered purchasing the night before. Reaching in with a hand he tested the latches and found that they were thankfully still locked and secure. A brief lift by the handle confirmed that the case was weighty enough, and his hand brushed against the wool sock that he'd hastily stuffed the box of bullets into as a last-ditch concealment method. Withdrawing his hand he stared at the bag and comprehended the things that it contained, the cogs in his mind now no longer lubricated by liquid courage turning as the realisation of what he'd spent his money on set in.

"Ah, fuck me dead."

He heard Weave loudly snort and chortle behind him, and the pokemon wasn't the only to overhear him.

"What, John-John? Don't tell me there's no bags good enough?"

"Nah, I've got one," he said as he put on a smile and turned around to nod at Viv with the trophy displayed in his hand. "Should do the trick." His eyes darted back to the backpack with weapon inside. "I just thought I saw some vom on my backpack for a moment but it was a false alarm, we're all good."

She easily bought the lie with a scoff. "No we're not, there were some massive mistakes last night that we're now paying for. Thanks Maxie."

The bag was zipped shut without another word from John. 'Vivian, you have no bloody idea. A little bit of vomit is the least of my concerns.'

What she, and by extension Team Rocket and the Boss as a whole, didn't know wouldn't hurt her so he refrained from spoiling their afternoon further with trivial matters such as 'I bought a fucking gun from Shady fucking Sam'. Instead John stood up and walked back over to her with the empty shopping bag held out in offering. As she took it from him, he tried to force the current issue from his mind and instead jerked a thumb towards the sacrificial lamb of the day.

"What about Max? We should probably wake him up, sure he fucked us over but we can't just leave the lad here."

Vivian's eyes narrowed and the temperature in the room seemed to dip a few degrees. "Ah yes, Maxwell." Without blinking she turned her attention towards the weavile sitting next to her. "Weave, I think today is the perfect day to practice what I've taught you. Your target is, of course, Maxie as he sleeps soundly like an innocent baby." Weave's red eyes gleamed and her mouth opened in a toothy grin as her master waved a hand towards the unaware human and rattata slumbering sweetly without a care in the world. Meanwhile, John stood by and watched with his concern rapidly rising.

"Go on." A vicious grin, Viv's almost rivalling that of her weavile's. "Sic 'em."

'I should stop this,' thought John as he watched Weave eagerly leap off the bed to stalk towards the two unaware beings on the couch, the vicious snow gremlin already flexing her clawed fingers and licking her lips in anticipation. 'I should say something at least, yeah? That's what all those government ads about domestic violence tell you to do.'

But he didn't do something or speak up, John instead failing to save Max from his fate as he instead just stood and stared at the entire grisly spectacle as it slowly played out with the same energy as a lust-driven serial killing. Like watching a train packed to the brim colliding with a schoolbus it was just too shocking to look away. So alongside Viv he just stood and observed Weave close in on her target, the feline-like creature deftly jumping onto the couch and creeping her way in behind Max with barely a hint of sound save for the faint snores of both unfortunate victim and his unaware pokemon companion.

The quiet was not to last however, as a few moments later proved that Weave was obviously a very attentive student…

…And that Max had not been expecting to wake up as an unexpected 'little spoon', with the small room soon filled with girlish screams and equally panicked squeaking.

"The Boss will see you now."

Despite the early hour Vivian shot up from the uncomfortable plastic chair without an ounce of hesitation, her eyes blinking away the last traces of sleepiness as she turned to face the short reception desk that guarded the Boss's office. The suited woman with dull purple hair sitting behind it was too busy typing away on a grey laptop to pay her anymore mind, and Viv coughed into a fist as the thunks of automatic bolts retracting sounded out from the sturdy pair of wooden doors.

"Thanks. You… ah, don't know why he wanted to speak to me this early do you? Give a girl a heads up?"

The typing paused and a pair of brown eyes stared right at her from behind a pair of eyeglasses.

"The Boss will see you. Now."

"Okay, understood." A shiver ran down Viv's spine but thankfully the secretary's cold glare only lingered a moment more before the typing resumed. Stepping towards the doors, Vivian only paused to adjust her uniform skirt and shirt and make sure her hat was on straight before she took a deep breath and entered the Boss's office.

Usually it wasn't the brightest part of the base, the boss known for enjoying sitting in the literal shadows while plotting or doing whatever it was he did in running Team Rocket, but today the majority of the cavernous office was lit up by the massive flatscreen that had descended down in front of the doors leading to the boss's private hanger. Behind the office desk to the rear of the room sat the boss with his back to her, and Vivian glimpsed a pair of wide red eyes in the surviving gloom that snapped to look at her a second before she recognised the pair of A-rank agents conversing with the Team Rocket leader from the other side of the video call.

"Good work you two. I trust that your arrival in Hoenn was unnoticed by the local authorities?" A low growl from Persian lurking somewhere in the shadows caught the Boss's attention after he spoke, the man not even looking back before gesturing for Vivian to approach with a wave of his hand. "Don't forget, your mission is primarily to gather information for future operations. While some rare and unusual pokemon from the region wouldn't be unwelcome, I don't want you running any schemes of your own that could endanger your cover. Subtle stealing only."

"Of course Boss, you can trust in Butch and I to stay as stealthy as a zorua."

"Yeah, and don't worry 'bout the local cops neither, cause they're as cunning as a slow bidoof."

Slowly inching forwards as commanded Vivian couldn't decide if witnessing Butch and Cassidy, two of the most famous A-rank agents in the entire Team, laugh heartily while dressed in garishly bright alolan shirts was more extraordinary than the fact that the boss joined in with a chuckle of his own. A genuine chuckle as well, if you'd believe it.

"Very well then, continue to make me a very proud and more importantly very rich man, Agents. Good luck."

"Yes Boss!"

The large screen flicked off after the pair of A-ranks gave a quick salute, the display zipping back up to disappear into a compartment in the metal ceiling while the leader of Team Rocket swivelled around in his chair. Persian slinked out from behind him at the same time and the large feline pokemon circled around the large hardwood desk once with his eyes locked firmly on Vivian in warning, before the cat settled down to sit beside his master.

"Ah, the grunt with the weavile. From a conversation with some of my most capable employees to a conversation about one of my most troublesome ones. Approach."

Vivian swallowed the lump in her throat and quickly moved to do as he asked, not wanting to keep the man waiting. While she and Max were two of the few grunts 'lucky' to be considered trustworthy enough to occasionally escort the Boss on minor outings it hadn't yet bred any sort of familiarity outside of perhaps faint recognition. The fact that she was now also the primary grunt in charge of making sure that John didn't do anything to piss the top Rocket off didn't exactly set her mind at ease either. There wasn't anything she could do to avoid stepping up to the big purple R on the floor and snapping to attention, but she wished that Max was present by her side to absorb some of the blame or upcoming rebuke.

"Sir," she addressed with a salute while trying to not shiver under his stone-hard stare. "You ordered me to your office."

"I did. I have a small amount of time before breakfast and the usual meetings, so I thought that I'd ask for a report on our 'little' shared problem." From behind the desk the boss lifted up a plain white cup that carried the scent of strong coffee. "I hope that some worth came from that outing to Barossa a few days ago that Yari requested."

While he took a sip of coffee Viv blinked at the request. "Excuse me Boss, but didn't you get the report me and Max wrote up for the Doctor?" She immediately regretted her words when he raised an eyebrow, Viv just managing to supress the wince that threatened to show at the inkling that the boss had somehow found out that she and Max hadn't exactly been one-hundred percent truthful in their after-visit report. Nothing major of course, just little bits left out here and there that no-one really needed to know. Small stuff. Like the bar… incident.

The cup was returned to the desk, the boss's eyes still on her. "I read it. It contained nothing of interest or anything out of the ordinary, which is why I requested a report in person. Without it going through the good doctor first." He clasped his hands together and leaned back in his executive chair, a scoff escaping the normally composed man. "You and your partner are two of the only grunts Smith seems to work well with without major issue. Surely you have something of note that you might have… forgotten to include?"

'Shit.' The boss was just sitting there waiting for her to say something, and she somehow doubted that he'd be satisfied with the assurance that nothing escaped the report. 'What can I say? He gets better at pool the drunker he is? Don't think so. What about how he spent a lot of time talking to Shady Sam? Yeah, no. Boss also already knows that he can eat a lot, so I don't think telling him about the double order of the big breakfast with a side of extra eggs will impress him either.' Searching her memories of the weekend just past, she managed to recall a minor (and fairly safe) detail and visibly perked up at the realisation.

"Oh, I remember Boss! We were walking into the Pokemon Plaza and he and this machoke did a little flexing at each other. I think he said something about getting a 'mon that he could, and I quote, 'do gym stuff with'." She clarified after a brief moment. "The uh, the non-pokemon gym stuff I'm pretty sure."

The boss raised his eyes at that. "You mean he actually indicated rare interest in training a pokemon? And this was a detail neither you nor the other grunt considered worthy enough to include in your report?"

'John-John is not getting a filthy fighting type, that'll happen over my dead body!'

Thankfully Vivian managed to restrain herself from making the thought verbal, lest he possibly take her up on that one. Instead she shook her head and tried to smile. "No sir, it was just a passing comment. He seemed just as interested in the other pokemon in the pokemon shop, wouldn't stop asking the breeder all sorts of basic questions too." She recalled the man talking casually with Weave, and how he even spent a few minutes petting Ratterick to calm him down after the unexpected wake-up courtesy of Max's high-pitched cries. "From what I can tell he seems to like pokemon and finds them interesting, but he just doesn't 'get it', if you know what I mean. He's… challenged."

A nod from the boss confirmed that he did indeed understand her, the cup of coffee reappearing for a quick sip. "Yes, I'm afraid that I do. Despite the insistence I receive that he is slowly improving I'm yet to be convinced that Smith will ever be of great use to us outside of Doctor Yari's experiments or if, for whatever reason, we need someone wrestled or punched." The cup was lowered once more, the Boss waving a dismissive hand at her. "He is apparently the most comfortable when around you two grunts or the Doctor, so try to encourage him to 'get it' when you can. If not, then I'll lose my patience and make him 'get it', understood?"

He continued without skipping a beat when she nodded her affirmative.

"Good. Replace his stubbornness, repeated insubordination, and incessant ability to make a fool of himself with even a small amount of skill in controlling a pokemon and he has the makings of an above-average grunt already."

'Pfft, not exactly a high bar there Boss.' Her mouth twitched at the silent thought, but a part of her also hoped that her new teammate wouldn't have to give up that much to make it in the team. It was part of the big oaf's charm, after all.

The boss spoke again, oblivious to her opinion as he asked another question. "You mentioned that he was asking basic pokemon questions. Any notable progress on the… 'amnesia' he suffers from?"

Vivian blinked, more so at the way the boss's mouth almost twitched into a thin smile than the actual question itself. "Ah, not that I remember sorry. I think he talked about some minor memories and stuff, but he said it was more like little flashes of memory more than actual proper recall. Pokemon and pokemon stuff are still a mystery to him I think, didn't even know how potions and antidotes worked according to Max. Whatever happened in that lab must have scrambled his brain pretty good if you ask me."

The boss smiled lightly at that, although Viv could have swore she'd heard a quiet scoff from her leader at the same time, and the suited man drummed his fingers on his desk. "Of course, some abnormality is expected. At least according to the Doctor he seems physically fine, something that I'm sure is a surprise to us all."

Vivian couldn't help but silently agree with a quick nod, although she did think the boss was potentially being a little harsh in his assessment. Johnny was on the larger side for sure, but he sort of reminded her of both her father and uncle back home. Lumberjacking and hunting in the cold mountains of Sinnoh was hard work, and large men with ample 'natural insulation' on them alongside some decent muscle handled it better than most. Her new drinking buddy still had a bit of a way to go in the muscle-to-fat ratio sure, but she and Max had both started to notice the progress that had been made under the instruction of Doctor Yari and the science nerds.

"Anything else, sir?" Thankful that the talk hadn't turned out to be anything like she had initially feared before entering office, Viv still wasn't keen to stick around longer than was needed even if she had relaxed slightly. "If you want, I could go and get Max to share anything he might have picked up. Him and John get along pretty well, they're the guys in the group after all."

She was relieved when the boss shook his head and held up a hand palm-out. "That won't be needed, Grunt. I think I've gotten all that I probably will already." Still he didn't follow it up with an immediate dismissal, the Boss rubbing his chin in contemplation while staring at something out of view on his desk. A few moments passed before he once again spoke, his free hand reaching down to scratch Persian behind the ears while the pokemon sat next to him and nibbled his claws. "There is one more thing, Grunt."

"Boss?"

"I assume Smith has told you about his previous two missions, or at least the basic rundowns of them?"

A smile crossed her face at the memories of all the colourful curses and slurs she'd learnt from the retellings, Vivian unable to hide it from her boss. "Yeah, you could say that I suppose Boss. Even after a few weeks with him I still can only understand probably half the words he used though."

Just like with the pair of A-rank agents previously, a touch of genuine mirth seemed to lightly bless the boss's smile.

"Ha, I don't doubt that at all! A common complaint when it comes to Smith." The Team Rocket leader caught himself smiling and his expression settled back down into his more usual neutral look. "Just one of the common complaints that is. Are you sure you don't have any trouble from him?"

She couldn't resist the chuckle. "Oh he can be as stubborn as a mudbray and a real ass when he wants to be but, and pardon my Kalosian, you just need to know how to handle him and get that he just 'talks a lot of shit' as he says, sir." A thumb pointed back at the R on her own chest. "I've handled worst grunts in the past, Boss. Wrangling John-John is a cakewalk."

Initially Vivian was a bit concerned that she may have crossed a line with the language even if she was quoting the man in question directly, but thankfully the boss didn't seem to pay it much mind apart from another raise of an eye.

"Is that so, Grunt? Very well, you've helped make up my mind." The hand not resting on the top of Persian's head went to the desk, returning into view holding a manilla folder. "I've got another job for you and your mini team then, a 'take three' as they say in the movie business…"

It was finally happening. Finally.

Vivian hurried through the metal-walled corridors of the Team Rocket HQ with a smile on her face and folder clutched in gloved hand. The other rocket members she passed on the way gave her more than a few glances as she bobbed and weaved around them in her hast, her fellow criminals perhaps not used to seeing any of their colleagues in such a good mood so early in the morning. Viv paid them no mind, her focus set on finding Max and John above all else.

The male dormitories and John's small private room had been a bust as had the base's medical centre and cafeteria. Running out of places that the two could be lurking in without leaving the actual HQ itself, Viv navigated her way towards the main outdoor training fields with the faint possibility that either one or both of them were actually practicing their pokemon battling abilities. It was a long shot for sure, with Max almost as adverse to battling with his beloved rattata as John was with any pokemon, but it was still a chance.

First stop was the covered arena, Vivian stepping out through an automatic pair of metal doors onto the earthen ground of the glass-roofed battlefield. It was far larger than the interior one they had used to attempt to teach John in previously yet still surrounded by the reinforced concrete walls built to withstand pokemon attacks stronger than most Team Rocket trained 'mon could dream of putting out. The sun was just starting to rise and bathe the field with natural light and warmth, Viv looking out across the flat ground with only the occasional hardy shrub or pile of rocks blocking her view.

It seemed that she was in luck, the pair of figures at the opposite end of the field dressed in light-grey gym shorts and shirts sporting the ever-fetching red logo of their organisation easy to recognise thanks to the large bulk of the first and the blond hair of the second. Correction: the trio of figures, Vivian just able to make out the rattata running alongside Max as the rodent pokemon maintained the same pace as his master. Despite her excitement to announce the orders that the Boss had given them, the folder he'd given her still held tight in her hand, Viv managed to convince herself to let them finish their little jog or whatever it was that they were doing and instead decided to just wait for them to swing back around to her.

They weren't the only ones in the arena either despite the fairly early time of day, Viv spotting a single grunt in full uniform leaning up against the concrete wall a few yards away. Beside him a rattata and a zubat were greedily sharing a bowl of brown pokemon food pellets, the legless bat pokemon managing to remain out of the morning light thanks to the shadows cast by the wall while it laid on the ground with its front to consume its breakfast.

The grunt noticed her a moment later, and he looked away from watching the group at the far end of the arena enclosure to nod at Viv when she approached.

"Mornin'," he greeted before taking a quick drag of the cigarette in his gloved hand. "Anuddah early riser 'ay? Lookin' for a battle?" A flick of the head towards the pair of pokemon on the ground, the rattata's eyes shifting to look at Viv but the rodent didn't pause eating. "My girls need a few to finish, then either of 'em could do with a workout. Yer pick," it was said with a look down towards the single pokeball on Viv's belt.

Normally Vivian would have replied with a smirk and a comment about the challenger not looking like they were ready to face down her own pokemon even with his two before probably agreeing to the fight, but instead she shook her head with her own smile lacking all of the usual smugness.

"Nah, not today. I'm just here for the two chucklefucks running laps," she explained with grin and point towards the grunts in question, Max having fallen a few yards behind John. The grunt she was talking with seemed amused at her use of just one of the many new words she'd learnt from John, smoke blowing out from his mouth with a short laugh.

"Oh, those guys. Been at it for a bit, watching em's been a riot."

As if on cue, a shout of apparent encouragement carried over from the faraway trio. "Come on ladies, lift those fucking legs! You can outlast a fat cunt like me surely!?"

Vivian scoffed with a grin as Maxwell and Ratterick managed to catch up with the larger grunt, with the rattata probably staying by his master's side more out of loyalty than lack of athletic ability. "Yeah, that sums up my entire experience with them. You should see them when they're drunk."

The grunt she was talking with chuckled again past his cig but didn't ask for specifics, the pair of them watching and waiting for the trio of joggers to make their way around the enclosed arena and back towards them.

It took a couple minutes more, as well as some additional expletive-laden words of encouragement from the man in the lead, but the panting trio managed to make it in one piece. Max had certainly suffered the worst with the young grunt coming to a stop doubled over with his hands on his knees, face so brightly red that he resembled John when he had first stepped out of the lab. He was joined in his panting and wheezing by Ratterick with the pokemon first sitting down before flopping over onto his side in the cool dirt.

Vivian reassessed her prior assessment of the rattata's fitness as the rodent's small chest heaved with each greedy intake of air, now that she thought about it the early-morning run was probably the first time in a while that Max had actually made the spoilt rat exercise. Meanwhile the member of the team she had assumed would struggle most with the run wiped the sweat from his brow to grin at her, John huffing with exertion but handling it far better than the other two.

"Morning Viv! You're up early." He walked past her, paused to give the smoking grunt and his eating pokemon a nod in greeting, before he continued on with his destination being the large black backpack leaning up against the wall. He lifted it up and returned to the group, his other hand already fumbling around inside the main pocket. "We would have asked if you wanted to join, but apparently the hag that runs your dorms doesn't want two handsome and strapping lads just walking into the ladies' area at six in the morning. Who would have thought ay?"

A plastic bottle of water was fished out from the bag in John's hand, and he winked at her with a cheeky smile and a gesture of his head towards Max. "Hey Max, look alive." Peering up when addressed mid-pant Max saw the underhand toss just in time. The catch was sloppy but he managed to grab the bottle with both hands, his fingers already scrambling to twist the top off as he nodded in thanks to John with any verbal acknowledgement lost in the wheezes.

"Never would have guessed," Vivian snorted. A few guesses as to which female dormitory supervisor or even executive John was referring to popped up, but just 'hag' was a little too broad a brush given the type of women that got that position in Team Rocket. "Next time maybe." She smirked at Max, the lean blond still huffing while he crouched down next to Ratterick with the pokemon eagerly drinking down the remaining water from the offered bottle. "Though at least it looks like you all had fun."

Max groaned in response while John chuckled, the youngest grunt taking quick breaths in between bursts of words.

"Nothing that big… should be able to…" A short cough followed by a wheeze. "Move that fast."

He almost dropped the near-empty bottle when a large hand clapped him on the shoulder.

"Ah, you weren't that far behind for most of it mate, don't stress. A few laps every morning for a couple of months and you'll soon be like me."

Viv couldn't help but launch a jab, even with her good mood. "I thought the point of exercise was to lose weight?"

"Girt mate, positively girt," John continued on with his only response to Viv being a finger pointed in warning. "By maximum virility. It'll sweat out of your pores. It'll carry in the air on your scent. The wimmin will be able to track you for miles, drawn to you like a moth to the flame. Trust me, in a few months you'll be swimming in so many chicks that you'll win gold in the four-hundred metre freestyle."

Still slightly out of breath Max nodded, but he didn't seem to be fully convinced by the jolly tirade. Neither was Viv, either in Max ever becoming something more than an adorable nerd or in John's qualifications for fitness coach and virility guru. Such doubts didn't seem to faze John, who switched targets to Ratterick as the hand was removed from Max's shoulder to give the rat's exposed belly a poke.

"Same for you Ratterick. You're a bit ratter-thick at the moment but you keep up the work and that one-pack will be a six-pack in no time, ay lad?" His hand was swatted away by a small paw, the rodent pokemon frowning up at John with an indignant huff. The man took it in stride, standing back up with a grin. "Jeez, and I thought fat bastards were meant to be jolly."

"Johnny, in that case I think you're jolly enough to make up for the rest of Team Rocket."

It was her turn to fall under his sights, John raising an eye and waggling his lower jaw.

"That so, Viv? Well, thank God for small mercies then because we seem to be a team of sad sacks from what I can tell. We need a bit of positivity with all of the negative nancies around." His hands clapped either side of his ample gut. "And so we're going to start off with working on some classic body positivity, feel free to join us." He had already turned to look back at Max and Ratterick before she could snark out a reply. "Ain't that right fellas? Cardio is done, onto the gym."

"Uh…" groaned Max while he gingerly put a hand on his hip with a wince. "I think that might actually kill me."

"Nah mate, you'll be fine. We'll start slow, no prob." Another chuckle from John as Max whined like a kicked puppy and helped Ratterick to his paws. "Think of the benefits, Max. You'll end up looking like a Nordic ubermensch."

"I don't even know if I want to be whatever that is." Another grimace, this time when Max twisted his torso in a stretch. "Only benefits I'm thinking of are the Team-provided medical benefits, maybe even my life insurance policy if you keep guilting me into joining in with the mandated exercise the Doctor drew up for you. I know it's hard to tell, but I always preferred to do my workouts in the library."

Oh, no that was obvious enough to Viv. The amount of times she'd caught him nose-deep in a smuggled book or sneakily reading one out loud to Ratterick when they were supposed to be on a job…

On a job.

Vivian forgot about the fitness bickering immediately and her eyes darted to the manilla folder held in her gloved hand, her loud gasp of remembrance stopping John just as he was about to reply to Max through a smile.

"Oh shit, I almost forgot!" The trio of male teammates focused on the folder she waved in front of her. "Boss called me to the office for a mini report, but he also gave me this. This is it boys, a job!" Another wave of the folder. "For all of us. Me, both of you, the 'mon. The Team Rocket dream team is finally being put into action! A crack team of grunts under my leadership, or at the very least slightly-above average grunts!"

The announcement yielded widened eyes and wide-mouthed grins, even Ratterick perking up from his fatigue to happily chitter while rubbing his forepaws together and glancing from Max to John. Viv was half-tempted to release Weave from the ball holstered on her belt to let her share in the news, but Max got in before she could even lay a hand on it.

"Really Viv? That's great!" Just like his pokemon seeming all aches and pains had vanished from Max at the news, and he clapped his hands together with a beaming smile aimed at John. "Guess the gym is postponed, we're going to do some training in the field! Normally I don't exactly look forward to missions that much or having to battle, but maybe it won't be so bad this time."

John snorted, smile still strong as he shrugged. "Yeah, even I think I could stomach a battle or two as long as it's for the sake of the 'dream team'. Bloody hell, at least this time I know I'll at least have two competent guys backing me up." Barely a moment passed before John turned his head to look down at Ratterick. "Oh, I mean four guys that is. I've seen you kick arse in training Ratterick, but I'm also kind of keen to see what Weave can do. Either way, there's no chance that you'll even be half as bad as the last set of clowns I had to work with."

It almost brought a tear to Viv's eye, the shared moment such that she didn't even think to challenge the claim that Max and Ratterick beating the poke-disabled John in a battle was to 'kick arse'. It wasn't the time to nit-pick, instead she felt like it was the ideal moment to finally get their heads together and come up with a team name. And a motto. Custom uniform additions as well, hidden from the Boss of course. Future expansion planning, franchises, the full deal. She could already see it, a bright and starry future for the premier squad of Team Rocket criminals, rising to the top of the pack like the organisation's namesake…

And then Max of course had to ruin the fun.

"So Viv, what's the job? Have you even read the briefing yet?"

'Ah, that might be a good idea.'

No way was she going to concede the point to Max however, and instead she distracted them with another wave of the folder.

"Of course I didn't Maxie, I wanted us to open and read it together. As a team."

"Yeah, the dream team!"

"Hell yeah," John added after Max with a nod towards the folder. "Go on then Viv, crack the bitch open."

There was no need to tell her twice, Viv's hands already opening it up to retrieve the orders within. John, Max, and Ratterick waited with bated breath, the former chuckling to himself and lightly shaking his head.

"Can't believe I'm actually this excited for a job mates, jeez." He wiped his mouth with a finger with his hand on his chin, a more subdued laugh escaping this time as he thought of something else. "Gotta admit though, despite everything I really hope that this one will be better than another mission stuck in a warehouse guarding a truck again. Boss wouldn't do that to me, surely."

AN: A shorter chapter unfortunately, but the next is going to be a bit of a doozy and not just when it comes to word count. Still, it's the newly crowned dream team, what could John possibly do to ruin everything?