PiPo: You guys, I am SO sorry that I haven't been updating. But, hey, I've got school, and Physics... And History... And a bunch of other junk that is just so freaking time consuming that I didn't get the chance to do some research on Pokemon, let alone write. Yes. I do research on the games so that the story remains faithful to both the games and (sometimes) the anime.

You know right? You know that I don't own Pokemon other than the games and merchandise that I purchased? You do? Good.

Chapter Four

"ARE YOU KIDDING?" Giovanni's voice echoed throughout the basement of the Rocket Game Corner, causing Kid to flinch. "Do you mean to tell me that you were unsuccessful in completing this one mission?"

The blonde ducked her head, frightened. "I-I'm sorry, Boss! It's just… There were two of 'em, and then Officer Jenny and the other officers came…"

And that was when she was interrupted by Giovanni slapping her across the face. Hard. "Don't you dare start making up these excuses, Kid! Excuses are just for Grunts!" He spat angrily at her.

"But I brought this one back!" Kid held up the Premier Ball with her free hand as the other one was being used to massage her sore cheek. "Boss, it's in a Premier Ball! It must have some sort of value!"

Giovanni roared. "It's a benchwarmer, Kid. It's the Pokémon that will be given to a fourth kid, should there even be a fourth kid. What do you not understand about that?"

Kid flinched again. "D-do you still want it?"

He turned to face his Persian, whose eyes gleamed evilly at her in the dimly lit room. "I would rather feed it to my Nidoqueen!"

"Then, is it alright if I keep it?" The blonde asked meekly. She went through so much hell getting this one Premier Ball, and if the Pokémon inside would just be fed to a freaking Nidoqueen if she gave it to her Boss, then she might as well raise it.

Giovanni sighed, and then returned to his desk. He pulled out a file from the desk drawer, and then opened it before glancing back at his minion. "Fine! But, Kid, next time you mess up, I promise you, your Pokémon will be confiscated and given to a much more able Executive while you will be demoted to a Grunt. Am I understood?"

Kid unconsciously placed her hand over her belt where her PokéBalls were placed as she nodded, gripping the Premier Ball. … I swear, you better be worth it.

Giovanni took out a pen. "Present to me the Pokémon you're adding to your party."

The blonde gulped as she pressed the small button in the center of the ball. They both watched as a bright light came out of the small capsule and illuminated the room. After a few seconds, the light rested on the ground in front of Kid, and then formed a small canine-like physique, slowly revealing the Pokémon inside.

Big brown eyes blinked, and then looked up at the strange people in the room with it. The Pokémon's ears twitched as it yawned. It stretched for a few seconds more, glanced back at the humans in the room, and then yipped happily at them. "Eevee!"

Kid almost could not hold in the sigh of relief she felt when she saw the brown, fuzzy creature she saw before her. Almost. She knew the value of an Eevee and how rare it is to find one in the wild. She looked up at Giovanni, whose expression almost mirrored her own when she first saw the small Eevee come out of the Premier Ball.

The Eevee yipped at the humans to get them to say something out loud. Since he came out, all they did was stare at him, and, truthfully, he was becoming self-conscious.

Giovanni was the first to speak. "Kid. I hope you realize just what exactly came out of that ball."

Kid just nodded.

He spoke again. "If you properly raise that Eevee, it can be quite useful in my Pokémon army!" He extended his arms to the side, as if making a point as to how huge his army will be.

Again, Kid just nodded.

Giovanni grinned. "Good answer, Kid." He glanced at the clock. "Ah. It appears as though I've kept you from your duties at the Game Corner. Go. I'm finished with you for now."

There were times wherein Kid just could not believe her luck, be it good or bad. This Eevee, though, probably takes the cake for her really random moments. She grinned as she let out her other Pokémon so that they could meet the newest edition to their team while she changed out of her Rocket uniform and into her Game Corner uniform.

"Everyone!" She clapped her hands to get their attention. "This," she motioned to the Eevee, "is Veo. He was in that Premier Ball from Pallet Town."

Kid smiled as she heard all four Pokémon yipping and squeaking their friendly greetings while she was in the closet of the backroom changing her outfit. She sighed as she adjusted the green apron overtop of her white golf shirt and jeans, grabbed her Pikachu hat, and then got out of the closet. She grinned at her Pokémon. "Are we all friends now?"

The Pokémon all nodded ecstatically.

The blonde laughed. "Well, I have to work. You guys can walk around Celadon if you like. Just make sure you come back before closing time. The back door will always be opened."

And the Pokémon grabbed Veo while they charged for the back door.

"Sir, I ask that you don't smack your face against the slot machine, thanks."

"Ma'am, please don't slam you fist against the screen."

"Please stop."

The blonde sighed as she slumped over a broken slot machine. She hated this Game Corner. She hated Game Duty. She hated the fact that she had to insist that the machines are not rigged, even if some of them are. She hated that one guy that kept spilling his drink on to the floor and always complained about how they never clean the floors. She hated that lady who would always come in with one coupon for one thousand coins and ask that each of her kids get paid one thousand coins each. Before she could think of something else about this stupid Game Corner that she hated, her train of thoughts were interrupted by the other two girls who were put on Game Duty, as they were currently arguing with some guy about his prize.

She sighed once more before approaching the Prize Table. "Excuse me, Sir, what seems to be the problem?"

The relatively large man pushed up his glasses. "Your co-workers are not giving me my prize." He said matter-of-fact-ly.

The blonde glanced at the other workers: Holly and Karissa – before silently telling them that she will take care of this guy and someone needs to clean the huge puddle of Dr. Oran Berry on the floor.

"Alright." Kid said, taking a quick glance at the prize list before turning her attention back to the PokéManiac. "What prize did you want, Sir?"

Yes. The man was a maniac. He was wearing a shirt with a Clefairy dancing inside a heart with 'POKÉMON FAN CLUB' written below. If that did not give him away, the fact that he painted red circles on his cheeks similar to a Pikachu's should give away his insanity.

The man pushed his glasses up again. "I want a Clefairy."

"Of course you do."

His nostrils flared as he snorted. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

She put on a fake smile. "It means that Clefairy is one of our most popular prizes at the moment."

… I live for bullshitting.

"Well, of course Clefairy is your most popular prize! Look at its perfect shape! It has amazingly soft fur! Don't get me started about its eyes…"

Kid inwardly smashed her face against the desk. She had clearly said the wrong thing. "Yes, yes, Sir, Clefairy is wonderful. So, sir, I'm gonna have to ask you for your five hundred coins in exchange."

"Ah, yes, yes. Of course." The maniac reached into his pocket and took out a gold nugget. He then placed it on the desk, and looked at her expectantly. "Well? Where's my Clefairy?"

This had to be the reason as to why neither Holly or Karissa were giving this man his damn Clefairy. "Sir, I'm sorry, but I can't accept that."

The maniac threw a fit. "BUT WHY? YOU AND YOUR CO-WORKERS ARE ALL THE SAME. YOU CAN'T APPRECIATE SHI-"

"But I can tell you what to do so that we won't ever have this problem again, Sir." The blonde said, still fake smiling. "You can bring that nugget to the PokéMart, sell it to them, bring back the money here, buy five hundred coins at the Coin Counter, and then come back to the Prize Corner so that we can exchange it for a wonderful, adorable Clefairy."

The maniac huffed before nodding in understanding. He then grabbed the nugget and walked out of the Game Corner and headed towards the PokéMart.

… Did Kid mention how much she hated the Rocket Game Corner?

"Closing time!" Karissa yelled happily as she pointed at the Meowth-shaped clock.

Holly wiped the sweat off her brow and tossed the mop into the janitor's closet (because soda man kept coming back into the Game Corner and spilling his drink at the same exact place). "Finally."

Kid huffed as she pulled the plug for all of the machines and took out a rag from the janitor's closet. "I'm just gonna wipe the counters one last time. Karissa, can you check to see if my Pokémon're back yet?"

Said girl did a small salute before spinning on her heels and headed towards the back room. "I'm on it."

Kid grinned, and then turned her attention to the desk that currently was in desperate need for a wipe down.

Holly walked over, grabbed a stool, and then sat on it, leaning onto the desk. "So…?"

The blonde looked up for a moment. "So…?"

The other girl grinned. "How was your mission?"

"I failed." The shorter girl replied simply.

Holly almost fell off the stool at this. "Y-you failed?" She sputtered, her eyes wide. "How the hell did you fail?"

"I only brought one PokéBall back… And it wasn't even one of the ones that Giovanni wanted." Kid shrugged as she continued to wipe the glass of the prize case.

The auburn-haired girl gaped. "So, are you fired or something? Were you demoted?"

"Why would Kid be demoted? I wanna know, too!" Karissa came back in, followed by Kid's Pokémon.

Kid growled as she pulled out her PokéBalls and called back al of her Pokémon except for Veo. "I wasn't demoted, thank you very much. Giovanni didn't want the Premier Ball, so I asked if I could keep it. And, so, now I have an Eevee." She motioned towards Veo, who yipped happily and then jumped onto the desk, and on to its Trainer's shoulders.

Before anyone could say anything else, the machine that notifies them when a customer walked in went off, beeping a few times before falling silent. Karissa looked towards the door, where a red headed girl whose hair was tied up on a sideways pony tail stood. "Hi, I'm sorry, but we're closed."

The girl sighed. "Oh, I'm sorry, but the phone at the Pokémon Centre is messed up, and Nurse Joy said that the only other public one is here… Is it alright if I use it? I was supposed to call one of my friends, and he's expecting a call from me…" And she continued rambling for about two minutes before Holly gave up and allowed her to use the phone, which was directly to the right of the Prize Corner.

"Oh, thank you so much!" The girl smiled happily as she raced towards the phone, picked up the receiver, and then dialled the number.

"You guys, I'm gonna upstairs. I'm really sleepy." Holly said as she stood from the stool.

Karissa yawned. "Me, too." She looked at the third girl who was still cleaning. "Are you coming?"

Kid shook her head. "Naw. I'll wait here for her to finish, then I'll lock up, and then I'll go upstairs. I'll see you tomorrow."

The taller girls shrugged, bid the blonde a good night, and then headed upstairs, where the dormitory for the Rockets stationed there were to stay.

Veo squeaked as he jumped down from his Trainer's shoulders and glanced at the red head using the phone. The blonde patted his head. "Don't worry, Veo, we'll go to sleep soon."

The red head turned around, her eyes apologetic. "I'm sorry. I promise I won't be long."

Kid shook her head. "No, no! Take your time! I need to finish cleaning for tomorrow, anyway!"

"No, I'm really sorry, I – Hello?"

And her attention turned towards the face on the screen. Kid huffed, moving to the Coin Counter and started wiping.

"Misty? Why're you in Celadon?"

The girl, Misty, laughed. "Well, when you told me about that burglary at Pallet, I decided to investigate a bit and notify the other gym leaders about it. I told Erika just now!"

…Oh, shit.

This girl was the Cerulean City Gym Leader Misty? Are you kidding? Kid felt both her breath and heartbeat slightly quicken. This is not good. Not good at all.

"That's a great idea! I'll let Wills know that you guys are gonna be helping out, too! That should brighten his spirits!" The voice coming from the phone chuckled lightly. "Ever since the lab got robbed, he's been down in the dumps! I mean, he's not even eating! Professor Oak is starting to get worried."

Misty huffed. "You tell Wills that I will kill him if he doesn't eat! I mean it, Tracey!"

This is when Kid's blood ran cold. ... Tracey? Wills?

Tracey laughed on the other end. "Will do!" Tracey stopped laughing for a bit. "Oh, Misty. We told Ash and Gary, too."

If Kid's blood could get any colder, she would have turned into an icicle by now. Both Gary Oak and Ash Ketchum knew and were on the look out for her now… This just could not end well.

"Ah! That's great!" Misty's voice was light and cheery at the mention of Ash's name. "So, we've got people looking out from other regions, too!"

DAMN IT.

"Ahaha! Yep. Ah, Misty. I have to go. Gotta check on the Pokémon, since Wills is kinda out of it."

"Alright. You tell Wills to eat and that we'll make Team Rocket pay for sure!" Misty said gleefully before hanging up.