Kaden awoke, and rose from his nest. Stepping from the carefully placed blades of artificial grass, he stepped onto the cold cement floor. He was used to warmer floors when he awoke, and shrugged it off as a problem with the heater. He emerged from his cold, dull room, and out into the empty hallway.
Looking up and down the hall, he noted the lack of grunts patrolling the hallway. In recent years, security had increased, due to the increasing number of intruders in Rocket operations. But today, even the Admin Pokémon were left unguarded. It was a nice alternative to the constant watch for intruders, but a risky one, none the less.
Kaden walked down the hall, the lights above providing no heat to the giant insect. Placing a scythe in the handle of the door, he pried it open, and pulled himself through, letting it close behind him. Walking down a long hallway, he pushed a door open, gaining access to a large room. Few people turn their heads to see the new arrival, before heading back to their work. Moving through the room, he listens to the chirps and beeps coming from the many computers illuminating the room. Glancing at one of the screens, he sees the familiar, dull halls of the base. Subtle patrols and security on the outer perimeter, but pure black and red on the inside, the uniforms of the criminal organization seen in every screen. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Kaden moved through the door, and entered an elevator with a couple grunts. As the doors closed, and the elevator scrolled down, the grunts seemed nervous beside the scythed Pokémon riding with them. A ding, the doors rolling open, and the two grunts disappeared, quickly moving out of the elevator to their posts. Kaden stepped out, and moved out the doors of the building, and out onto the street.
Unaccompanied, he took his usual walk down the city streets. Cars and trucks drove by, coming to a stop at an intersection before taking their turn. Through the city he traveled, soon arriving at a large, fancy-looking building fifteen blocks away. Coming to the front, he advanced past the doorman.
The doorman, recognizing Kaden, pulled the large glass doors open. A blast of cool air smacked Kaden in the face, forcing his eyes shut momentarily as the air adjusted. With the glass doors closing carefully behind him, he let the piano music reach him as he conditioned himself to the lighter, sweeter smells of the main entryway. But the entryway was not what he was looking for, so he moved on.
As he ventured towards the large, engraved doors at the end of the entryway, he could hear the roars of laughter and conversation from the bar as he passed them. The casino's restaurant, opposite the bar, held this same effect. Pushing the engraved metal doors open with his body, he clenched his eyes shut. The contrast of the clean air outside, and the smoky haze beyond the doors always had an effect on him, burning his eyes dry.
Looking through watery eyes, he navigated the casino by memory, narrowly stepping out of the way of gamblers and servers as he tried to keep his eyes open to incoming blurs. Luckily, he had reached the far end, where a shallow atrium was set into the floor. The smokers and drinkers weren't as heavy as at night, but the ventilation suffered from neglected use. Kaden swallowed a breath of clean air before moving back into the haze, working on as much clean air as possible before inhaling the toxic fumes from their cigars and cigarettes.
This was one of the worst positions Kaden had selected to fill his time upon his master's promotion. While he did not appreciate the role of a teacher, he enjoyed the lack of suffocation in the job. But quality security was in demand in Team Rocket's recent years, and thus he found himself as chief of security, the boss Pokémon in the headquarters and the casino.
Carefully sidestepping one of the worn out all-nighters, he made his way to the stairs, and then to the second floor that worked its way around the perimeter of the room. The scyther glanced down upon the gamers, plugging in their cash, feeding the machines, just hoping to hit a jackpot. 'Pathetic' he thought, turning away to head into another section of the large casino.
This room was one of many, in a cluster of five in the casino, where gamblers put their lives behind the machines, cursing or cheering upon the results of their recent pull, before repeating the process all over again. This room was not nearly as tall as the central gambling room, and had supporting rafters. And, like in many of the gambling rooms, this one held a cash-in counter, where the 'stupid cattle' would haul their coins for various prizes. Kaden had only to wonder how many of his failed students had been given as prizes, and how many of them still awaited their fates.
In the rafters sat a raichu, one of the better sentries in the casino. She carefully monitored the gamers at Kaden's level, but looked to be quite bored with the assignment. Kaden agreed with the raichu and other guards that the casino was indeed a dull assignment, However, it had its moments of excitement and action, such as earlier in the week. Kaden had been on teacher duty when the ekans display was smashed, and thus, only heard bits and pieces from the guards working on that day. Kaden moved through the room towards the back of the room to a Staff hallway leading to different parts of the casino. As he reached the door, he could see the scorched floor and machines. The image would hardly affect the income of money, but would have to dealt with later.
Heading down the hallway, he made his way to an elevator. Taking it to the top floor, he arrived at a restricted room, above the central gambling room. This was the most restricted of floors in the building, as few staff members were permitted up here. But Kaden would not leave so readily. From up here, the air was cleaner, and the sunlight stronger. He felt more of the nature his primal scyther instincts lusted for when he saw the dome of blue above. But that wasn't the primary reason he came up here. From here, he could look down upon the gamers without their knowing. If any problems on any levels occurred, he could quickly drop down to investigate or deal with the situation.
But nothing happened over the course of the hours of the day, and he, like many other guards, became bored. So, to make things more interesting, he decided to see how the various guards were doing, and listen to any problems that had arisen. So he fell, down the empty spire of air that was ringed by the gambling floors of the casino. With his wings bursting forth, he landed gracefully, but hard, as his landing indicated with a thump of his carapace against marble. His appearance from nowhere startled some of the gamblers and guards, as he soon rose from his crouched position, and stalked off.
Apparently, little had happened during the day. Some attempts by gamblers of running off with stolen prizes, or coins, and the occasional jackpot. And thus, his drop from above would be the highlight of the day.
So as his shift ended, he took one more look upon the greedy cattle Team Rocket had collected at their primary source of income, and took his leave into the evening glow of the city.