SLACKERS

EPISODE XXIII

SINS OF THE FATHER

CHAPTER FIVE - CLUB ROCKET

35 years ago

It was hard to believe it had only been a few months since Ichika had finally convinced Amanda to abandon her parents' expectations of her. Since then, she had decided to fully pursue her dream of becoming a Pokemon collector and trainer, and with her best friend's help, the two of them found themselves joining Club Rocket. They had just entered their meeting place, wearing Club Rocket t-shirts. The shirts were black, each with a large red "R" on the front. The girls each wore black ballcaps with red "R"s on them as well. At the time, there was no dress code for bottoms, so Amanda wore some small jean shorts and a comfortable pair of sneakers, enjoying the casual environment.

Their meeting place wasn't anything fancy, but it was fairly impressive for being a non-profit trainer's club. Outside, their building looked like an ordinary warehouse in the industrial district of Viridian City, and inside, there were desks with file cabinets and boards for posting personal items. Some desks even had personal computers, the biggest one had the capacity of a whopping 50MB of RAM.

Club Rocket had been operating for a while now, and it'd had some time to grow. Sakaki had started the club fresh out of high school with some close friends, and over the last three years, its operation had grown to nearly a hundred trainers. Most of them were recent high school graduates, and their assignments were to catch Pokemon of an appropriate level based on their own levels of experience.

Amanda and Ichika had been members for several weeks now, and they loved their new setting. The only expectation anyone ever had on them was to be the best, like no one ever was. Club Rocket had sent some of its members to the Pokemon League for them to come out as champions. She dreamed of rising through the club's ranks faster than anyone had before, becoming a champion, and making Sakaki proud.

Not that she wanted to impress him as a girl, she just wanted to prove to such a famous trainer that she could be the best. Yeah, that was it. Nothing more.

Another thing that made her feel cautious was the rumors about the club's boss being a bit ruthless. It was true he knew his strengths, and he wasn't afraid to show them. When he would coach somebody, he would sometimes lose his temper and raise his voice. She had only seen him once, from a distance, and he looked a bit irritated, but not enough to confirm the rumors that Sakaki was a dictator. Thankfully, not everyone believed them, and she didn't let it affect her performance as a trainer.

She still hadn't fully convinced herself she'd done the right thing, though. When you spend 18 years under someone's thumb, it's hard to break out of that mindset.

Apparently, for little Amanda, it would also be hard for her to watch where she was walking that day.

"I still think it's a dumb name," she said, trying to hide her smile.

"What, Club Rocket?" asked Ichika. "Yeah, I get the whole 'reaching for the stars' thing, but there's gotta be something better than a rocket. Something prettier."

"Not that, the whole 'club' part. It makes us sound like we're still in elementary school. Aren't we supposed to be serious trainers trying to make the world a better place?"

Ichika laughed. "Well, what would you suggest?"

"I don't know!" Amanda giggled, still unable to believe she'd actually chosen to be here instead of a ritzy university in Saffron City. "Maybe 'Team Galactic' or something."

"Eh. Sounds kinda cultish," said Ichika.

"Then you come up with something better!"

The girls kept walking together, waving to some of their new colleagues. Of course some of the younger male recruits tried maybe a little too hard to be friendly, naturally flustering Amanda. She wasn't used to guys coming on to her, her sheltered lifestyle had prevented her from being exposed to that, and she still hadn't quite outgrown the mindset that boys were cootie-infested little monsters.

Amanda saw someone holding a cup of coffee they'd likely made at the club's nearby break room, and reached her hand up to her face, completely forgetting she wasn't holding her cup she'd brewed a few minutes ago. She stopped in place and snapped her fingers.

"Dang it, hang on," she said, "forgot my coffee!"

She would have an encounter with a cup of coffee, but in a way she wouldn't have imagined in her worst nightmares. In reality, she turned around to get her cup from her desk, but instead of walking back the other way, she bumped into a man over a foot taller than her, knocking his own cup of coffee all over his white button-down shirt.

Panicked, she let out a shriek. "Ohmygosh, I'm SO sorry!"

If she hadn't already been panicking at that point, she would have escalated into a near heart attack when she looked up and saw the face of the man she'd just spilled coffee all over.

A rather irate-looking Sakaki.

Amanda couldn't form words as she looked up at him, locking her humiliated eyes with his angry ones.

"Dammit, I JUST bought this!" came his angry voice, the first time she would ever hear it. He didn't scream or explode, but he was nonetheless quite agitated as he felt his scalding hot, damp shirt stick to his skin, its white color probably forever ruined.

He glanced at the small girl standing in front of him, a clearly annoyed look on his face. And she looked back at him, terrified out of her mind. He could see the fear in the young eyes of his newest recruit. She was so embarrassed and red in the face, she looked like she wanted to crawl into a hole and never see the light of day again.

Sakaki saw that, closed his eyes, and let out a sigh.

"It's okay," he finally told her as he fanned himself with his wet shirt. Ichika stood back from a distance, her hands over her mouth in horror, looking like she was ready to leap to the assistance at a moment's notice in case anything turned ugly.

"I-I-I..." Amanda was so intimidated, it seemed she had forgotten how to even speak.

Sakaki, ten years her senior, looked at her with a new set of eyes. Softer ones. Quieter, more forgiving.

"You must be one of the new recruits," the temper in his voice replaced by a low hum Amanda swore she could actually feel. "What's your name?"

"Uh..." she could feel the sweat dripping down her flushed face. "Akaki Samanda... I mean, Amanki Saraga... I mean, Amanda Sakaki... I..."

The last guess at her own name shocked her more than she ever would have guessed. Now as red as a strawberry, Amanda instantly covered her mouth and gasped, realizing she had just used her boss's last name as her own.

Only one word popped into Ichika's mind: busted.

She let herself speak on her friend's behalf and said, "Amanda Sakura."

Thank Blake that Ichika was there to save the day. She stepped in before Amanda even realized what had happened. Sakaki smirked. He looked up and down at his newest recruit and was entranced. He found himself charmed by the shy little strawberry standing in front of him.

"That would make you Ichika Yamauchi, right?" he asked, turning his attention to the girl's rescuer.

"Mhm!" she said, eyes closed and a smile on her face.

"Well, in that case," said Sakaki, trying to forget the burning feeling on his skin, "I think it would simply be best if I went home and changed into a different shirt. Then we can put all this behind us."

He looked at Amanda. "What do you say, Ms. Sakura?"

Poor Amanda still hadn't fully retaught herself how to speak. She clenched her teeth, showing them a little, as she looked at the floor. Sakaki wasn't about to have one of his recruits in such a state, charming as it was.

So he put a hand on her shoulder.

She shrieked again, then got even redder.

Ichika folded her arms. Amanda finally nodded, albeit at about a mile a minute.

Sakaki took his hand back, turned around, and made for the warehouse's exit. Amanda didn't move a muscle as Ichika approached her.

"Want to tell me what that was all about?" she asked, teasing her with a smirk.

"I'm so embarrassed I could die..." Amanda whimpered.

"Why? It's not a big deal. He said he'd go home and change, and that'll be that."

She walked around to study her friend's face.

"Unless it's something else?"

Silence.

"I bet you think he's attractive, don't you?"

Amanda shot her glance back up as if she'd been prodded in the back.

"No! Don't be stupid, it's not like that!" she said, a little too defensively.

"No, and it wouldn't be, right, Amanda Sakaki?"

"Shut up!"

Ichika, having decided she'd had enough of poking at her humiliated friend, took Amanda's hand, calmly gesturing her to follow.

"Come on, let's go get your coffee, then we can talk."

Amanda jerked her hand back and shouted a little too loudly, "There's nothing to talk about, dammit!"

"I'm sure."

With that, the Rocket rookie Yamauchi took the little strawberry Sakura by the hand again, and led her back to her desk. Amanda groaned, keeping her eyes glued to the floor the entire time. Only a few weeks into chasing her dream and in her mind, she'd already ruined everything.

Elsewhere, as he was driving home, Giovanni Sakaki kept one hand on the wheel and the other holding his shirt as far from his chest as possible. He smiled, despite his situation, finding himself unable to get little Amanda Sakura's blushing face off his mind.

This chapter is based on a true story. Well, the story of coffee getting spilled on me... by myself, not by a girl. And... I wasn't at work, I was in my car. Also there were no Pokemon. Maybe it's not based on a true story, but I did spill coffee on myself. I mean, come on, who hasn't? At least I'm not suing McDonald's for the temperature of the coffee. I did have breakfast there this morning, though. It was pretty good for the price. Sometimes there's no shame in cheap things, even if I'm a sucker for name brands and classic stuff. You should see the old Game Boy I restored, it's pretty sweet. ... I'm getting off topic. Um, let's see. Yeah, so the above supposedly happened, give me a bit and I'll upload the part that says what happened after that.