Chapter Two
A small vibration coming from her right pants pocket woke her up from her nap under a tree. Kid yawned as she picked took out her Team Rocket-styled PokéGear. She glared at it for a few seconds before pressing the 'Accept' button and holding it up to her ear. "Holly."
"Are you trying to piss me off?" The other girl hissed into the receiver.
Kid blinked. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Holly huffed, and then let out a small string of profanities before continuing. "Don't get me wrong, Kid, I don't mind when another Executive sends me a few idiots to punish… But thirty-seven idiots?"
The blonde ran a hand through her hair as she sat; listening to her colleague ranting about how much time it took her to give all of the Grunts an appropriate punishment for their idiocy. After a few minutes, when all that could be heard on Holly's side of the conversation was just angry panting, Kid sighed. "Are you finished?"
"I am."
Kid smirked. "First of all, Holly, you should be pleased that thirty-seven idiots had travelled from Viridian Forest to Celadon City in less than twenty minutes." She let out a yawn before continuing. "Secondly, I had no choice. I would have punished them myself, had I not been on a mission."
A small huff was heard. "You could've fired 'em."
"I know." She replied with a shrug, even though she knew that Holly probably would not be able to see her. "I've probably killed one of them… And I don't think Giovanni would be very pleased to know that I've fired and killed thirty-eight of his underlings."
Holly hummed in understanding. "Ah… I see." Holly chuckled a bit. "So, you've got a mission, huh? Wanna borrow Simm? I just taught him how to use Aerial Ace."
...Simm? "Who's Simm? Do you have a new addition to your party?"
Holly burst into laughter. "Oh, yeah. That's right. You haven't seen Simm, yet." She continued to laugh for a few seconds before settling down, taking a few breaths to even out her breathing. "Simm's my Gligar. I just caught him yesterday."
"A Gligar…" Kid thought about it. Would she need a Gligar for her mission? A newly caught Gligar? "I'd have to decline, Holly. Your Gligar probably wouldn't listen to me."
"I suppose… Do you want some help on your mission at all? I can send over one of my other Pokémon… Or I could get over there."
Kid sighed. She really did want Holly to come and do this mission for her… She was going to feel very bad after the completion of her new mission. "… No. I'm good, thanks."
And with that, Kid hung up.
"Hey… Did you hear about Viridian Forest?"
"Yeah! Oh, I feel so bad for those poor Pokémon!"
"I hate Team Rocket. I can't believe they'd do such a thing!"
"It's a good thing we have Professor Oak and his students in Pallet Town… No one would dare doing something so cruel here!"
"Who would even want to? Pallet's such a quiet place!"
The last little comments from the group of kids she walked by left an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was true. Pallet Town was one of the most peaceful and quiet of the cities and towns of the Kanto Region. She knew that once she accomplishes her mission, nothing good would happen…
Citizens of Pallet Town would always live in fear, Team Rocket would get more of the negative publicity that they already had, and, if she is not careful, her face will be wanted across the Regions.
Kid stopped walking and sat on a small park bench; Mari jumped out of her arms and sat down beside her. She knew it was safe to do so. No one was going to suspect her of anything. After all, she had removed her Rocket uniform and put on a pair of jeans and a bright blue shirt. She had even let Mari out so that she can hold onto her while walking around. She blended in.
It appeared as though there was some sort of festival going on in Pallet today. There were a bunch of food and game stands up, and almost everybody was out of their houses, laughing and having fun.
Mari giggled, and then jumped onto her trainer's lap. The small blue Pokémon bounced, and then pointed to a small food stand a few metres in front of them.
"Hungry, huh?" Kid patted the Marill's head as she rummaged through her small bag for her wallet.
The other Rocket Executives often laughed at her for even carrying around such an empty wallet. To which she would argue that while the Executives were granted such a large sum of money to spend for themselves, the Grunts had almost nothing and often starved to death. Anyway, not everyone wants to carry around a wallet with well over thirty thousand PokéDollars to whatever and wherever.
Anyway, ten thousand PokéDollars was not too little… Was it?
Kid brushed that thought aside as she picked up her small blue companion. She then stood up from her comfortable place on the bench, and then walked over to the small food stand.
There was not really a variety of food to order from there. Waffles, Poffins, sweet dumplings, and cookies. The blonde looked at her Pokémon. "Well, Mari, choose whatever."
"Marill! Marill!" The Pokémon squealed happily as she jumped out of her trainer's arms again and glanced up at the menu.
The blonde watched as her Pokémon motioned to the guy behind the counter what it wanted to eat. She smiled as Mari came back to her, jumped onto her head, and waited for her to pay for its meal.
It was times like this Kid felt as though she should quit Team Rocket and just live a normal life... But, then again, where would she go? As far as she knew, she had no one to depend on other than her Pokémon.
... No. She should reword that. She did not remember anyone she could depend on other than her Pokémon.
Night came almost too fast for her. She sighed as she pulled on her black Rocket trucker hat and tied a red bandana around her neck. She really did not want to go through with this mission.
Unlike what many people think and say, not all Rockets were stupid. She was hiding up in a tree that was not too far, yet not too close to Pallet Town. That way, no one would even consider that the blonde girl with the Marill from the festival was actually a member from one of the world's most notorious band of Pokémon thieves.
As she was fumbling around with her belt looking for the PokéBalls she needed, she wondered if she could still call Holly and ask her to take her place. She snorted, releasing the Pokémon from their respective PokéBalls. Giovanni would have her ass on a plaque on his wall if she chickened out.
Kid watched as the light that was released from the PokéBalls formed two shapes – one was Tipes, her trusted Quilava, and the other appeared to be a Zubat. The two Pokémon blinked at her, and then looked towards Pallet Town, waiting for their orders.
"I've already told you what we're here to get." She spoke, turning to glance at the direction where their target was. "Let me just debrief you again.
"Our target is in Professor Oak's lab. Well, actually, our targets are in that lab. We're here to snag the three Starter Pokémon of the Kanto region: Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle, for Giovanni's Pokémon army."
She sighed, taking out a Cyndaquil mask from her bag and putting it on. "I really don't wanna do this..." She glanced at her Pokémon, who were looking at her worriedly. She lifted the mask up to smile at them. "Don't worry too much. Once this mission is over, we can go back and do some of our regular missions, okay?"
The two Pokémon nodded before looking back towards the direction where Pallet Town was.
Kid sighed once more. "One more thing: I don't want to use violence like how we did this morning. If we're quiet enough, we can just sneak in, nab the PokéBalls, and then sneak out without anyone noticing us." She turned towards the Quilava. "Tipes, you're gonna cover me. If you notice anything, use your Smokescreen."
"Quil." Tipes nodded.
"Zane." She turned towards the Zubat. "You're gonna cover both of us, alright? If you notice anything weird, use your Supersonic."
Zane whimpered in understanding.
The blonde smiled, putting the Cyndaquil mask back on. After glancing at her Pokémon one last time, she jumped off of the tree branch, and then headed towards Professor Oak's lab, blending in with the shadows.