Hello, I am back with a new chapter of this story! It's technically no longer the 28th as it's now past midnight but I've been busy finishing off writing a Pikachu Tales chapter and then getting distracted replying to texts while editing this :P But here I am! I've always really loved the history of Team Rocket as an organisation and the Team Rocket Radio Dramas also provided a lot of great content. We have a little bit of information about Jessie's mother from that - Miyamoto, but I call her Melissa - and I wanted to focus a little bit more on that today. I also had a note written on my phone from 2018 tying her role in Team Rocket with the agent called Domino from an episode of Pokémon Chronicles. So that's what this is about! I hope you enjoy :P
Disclaimer: I own the story and the OC mentioned!
An agent known as Domino – although she would soon be given the chance to prove herself worthy of a new title – returned home to her dormitory one afternoon. What greeted her arrival and was laying facing her on her desk was a wad of papers in a file labelled TOP SECRET.
The red letter of R winked at her from the corner of the brown paper file as she picked it up in her hands and a bundle of photographs and newspaper cuttings fell to the floor. When she gathered those into her hold, she began to read what they were all about before she even had a chance to open the file.
Domino grew more curious with each ticking motion of the clock on the wall.
MELISSA ROCHESTER OF TEAM ROCKET – ALSO KNOWN AS AGENT 009 – MISSING IN ACTION
This headline screamed at Domino. These words were etched underneath:
Melissa Rochester, 29, had a mission turn its back on her after years of loyalty towards the organisation of Team Rocket. Continuing her pursuit of the legendary Pokémon, Mew, she set her sights on going to the treacherous, snowy mountains of a faraway region. Tragedy struck and she has not made contact since. She leaves behind a seven-year-old daughter. Melissa was widowed two years prior by fellow Team Rocket member – pilot extraordinaire – Isaac Rochester.
Frowning, Domino placed this newspaper cutting on the table and moved to inspect the second one. Another headline begged for her attention.
MELISSA ROCHESTER OF TEAM ROCKET – ALSO KNOWN AS AGENT 009 – PRESUMED DEAD
The sixteen-year-old Team Rocket member wasn't sure if she wanted to continue reading, shuddering as she held the cutting in her hands. But her eyes dropped down to the writing in smaller print below.
Melissa Rochester, 29, has been presumed dead following lack of contact to the Team Rocket base amid her search for the legendary Pokémon, Mew. Members of the Team Rocket Rescue Crew flew on emergency aircrafts to the site that Melissa was expected to venture towards. There is no evidence to suggest that the agent, also known as 009, even made it. Fellow agents, leader Giovanni, along with her seven-year-old daughter, are desperate for good news during this truly troubling time.
Domino's parents had warned her what she was getting herself into when she decided to quit school and set her heart on the organisation of Team Rocket. Heck, even her older sister and fellow agent, Cassidy, had told her that it was not all fun and games.
Domino was beginning to realise this for the very first time with her heart in her throat, sinking down and nauseating her stomach as she set this article aside with the previous one. She had two more to go. She decided she had the guts to read one more.
TEAM ROCKET MOURNS AGENT MELISSA ROCHESTER AKA AGENT 009
The organisation feared the worst when agent Melissa Rochester, 29, was pronounced missing in action following her venture to locate the legendary Pokémon, Mew. Tragedy continued to strike, however, as a team was sent to her presumed location. They did not find a body. But they retrieved an audio recorder of Melissa's musings to herself before damning evidence suggesting her passing can be heard. A photo of her seven-year-old daughter that she leaves behind was also retrieved from the scene. Team Rocket collectively mourn one of their finest agents. A ceremony will be held for Melissa Rochester in the coming days.
Silently, Domino placed the third article along with the other two. She pushed all sorts of musings out of her own mind. Questions whirred such as: why has all of this been left for me? Am I connected to all of this in some way? Is someone trying to scare me out of the organisation? Is it Cassidy?
Domino didn't know.
She spied the final newspaper excerpt. She could at least breathe a sigh of relief when it was a lot shorter.
TEAM ROCKET AGENTS MELISSA AND ISAAC ROCHESTER AWARDED
Blinking her eyes slowly, Domino took in the sentence below.
Pictured above: Agents Melissa and Isaac Rochester commended for their joint loyalty and service in the organisation of Team Rocket.
Domino's frown captured her again as she couldn't see the photo that the article was referring to. But after she placed it down along with the other three and started scanning through the photos that had before tumbled towards the floor, she realised that one of them must have been the same one.
The first photo was a young couple in Team Rocket uniform holding their separate trophies together and grinning from ear to ear.
Ah, that must be them, Domino mused to herself. It was good to finally put faces to names. But Domino didn't linger on one particular photo. Her mind that was often so hungry for stimulation, flicked through all of them.
She gathered that the person in most of them was this Melissa Rochester. She saw her again with Isaac Rochester, this time leaning on a helicopter while Isaac was inside of it, clad in his flying jacket and grinning like a feline from a strange land. Melissa in another was eating in a canteen, posing with one eye squinting and peace sign being offered. She hung out with friends and posed with them too, none of them familiar to Domino.
Domino discarded these photos with the articles and held the last one in her hold. The final one was a photograph of mother and child. It took her a while to gather that it was mother and daughter because the baby didn't have much hair apart from one curly sprig! It was Melissa. The baby must have grown up into the seven-year-old that was left behind.
It was then that Domino started to get that feeling of déjà vu inside of her stomach. Like when your boots march you down a path that you are sure you have trodden before. Melissa's cheeky glint ever-present in her eyes was suddenly familiar to her, as well as her pearly white teeth and air of confidence.
The child called out to her, although in the photo she wasn't screaming and was merely smiling placidly, holding onto her mother's hip. She did not know why she felt the need to look a bit longer. She didn't usually like babies. She didn't like hanging around the Team Rocket creche like other members did!
Something called to Domino to stop wasting time on photos and evidence and pulled out what was actually inside of the file. When she gave it her attention, she realised that it was a letter. With a sigh, Domino sat down to read.
All these words presented themselves to her:
To Agent Domino,
I'm going to get straight to the point. You are being watched. Several agents have been watching you and they have very much liked what they have seen. So much so that they reported this feeling to me, and I began to watch you as well. What I saw, I liked very much indeed. And so, I have a proposition for you.
Exceptional agents are hard to come by. You are one of these agents, Domino. In Team Rocket, we look for people who go the extra mile, who comply to orders with integrity and a smile on their faces and we look for people who can make good, strong, and snappy decisions all on their own when the time is right.
You are very much one of these agents, Domino.
What I usually would say when I offer this kind of praise is that I am putting together a particular team of agents and I want you to be a part of that team. I am not saying that. Truthfully, I have no agenda. I have no idea in mind. I don't want one particular thing from you. I just know that you are something special, Domino. And I need to make the most of that spark that could lead Team Rocket to even further greatness.
I wish to offer you an opportunity. You have already seamlessly made your way from trainee to field agent. I do not wish to offer you a new job. A new role. I wish to offer you a new title. And with that new title will come great responsibility and even better career prospects.
You have a gift, Domino. And I would very much like to utilise that gift.
I'm sure you have noticed that I have included newspaper excerpts and photographs inside this file as well as this letter. There is method to my madness! I'm sure that you have learned a little bit about past agent, Agent Melissa Rochester – also known as agent 009. You have always excelled during written tests!
I'm going to be blunt with you, Domino. You remind me of her. I knew Melissa when my mother was orchestrating Team Rocket and I know that you have the same morals and the same drive. Like her, you have ideas of your own but trust the organisation enough to allow yourself to be moulded to what we are truly about. Loyalty. Togetherness. Solidarity. All for one and one for all. For the good of Team Rocket. Together, we will prosper.
It was tragic when Melissa passed away. Team Rocket truly lost somebody special. She wasn't even dragged down when her husband, Isaac, passed away two years prior. That's the sign of a good agent. You dust yourself down and you get back up. You keep on pushing. For the good of Team Rocket.
Can you do that, Domino? I trust that you can. I hope that you can.
I want you to be the new Agent 009. It has been exactly ten years since Melissa passed and I feel that the time is right. The time is right for a new age in Team Rocket. The time is right for a new person to be Agent 009. I believe that person is you. But if you wish to take on this title, you must prove that this person is you.
You will be handed new missions that you will never be offered as a mere field agent. You will be given greater responsibilities. Offered higher respect. Trusted with the deeper levels of Team Rocket hierarchy. You will receive orders and missions directly from me. And, of course, there will be a pay rise.
But you must prove that you can be as good as your predecessor. Better.
You must truly want it. If you truly want it, Domino – which, if I know you as well as I believe I do from all the time watching you – you will want it. You do want it.
So, what I will suggest is this:
Read the articles repeatedly. Understand the legacy that you will be expected to surpass. Look at the photographs. Get a sense of the levels of excellence that you must rise to. Do your own research. Follow your own instincts.
But DO NOT ask your fellow Team Rocket members for insights. Certainly, do not say ANYTHING to that little friend group of yours. Yes, I have been watching all of you together too. They are all the wrong people to ask. And they are the wrong people to tell. They are not going places like you are. They aren't capable of remarkable things the way you are, Domino.
However, there is one person who belongs to a family that has proved themselves worthy for many years. Familiarise yourself with an Osvaldo Isandro of Orange Team and living in Room 333 of Dormitory Hall G. He is the greatest of a wonderful group of Team Rocket pilots - and his parents showed their prowess alongside Melissa and Isaac Rochester many a time.
Like all good agents, he will want to keep to himself and the information to himself. But you can crack him, I know you can. If anyone can crack him, Domino, and earn his trust, then I know that it is you. Find out what you can from him. Learn. Study. And then come find me.
Either way, come and find me, Agent Domino. Let's talk this through. I'm sure we can come to the best decision for Team Rocket together. You will be given the chance to, just like you usually do, go above and beyond and prove to me just how much you want this new opportunity.
You've always been the best budding flower in Team Rocket, haven't you?
You will blossom furthermore as Agent 009. And you will bloom into the highest level of greatness under my watchful eye.
I look forward to hearing from you and meeting with you and tackling this new prospect together.
Giovanni.
Domino was glad that she was sitting down! With shaky, gloveless hands, she set the letter aside and on top of the excerpts that Giovanni had bunched together just for her. She tried to sink further back into her seat.
Domino sighed, leaning back, and rubbing her temples.
She sure had a lot of thinking to do. But inside her elevated heartrate, she already knew what she was going to say.
She already knew how she was going to prove herself to Giovanni.
There you go, thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :) I used to come up with a lot of Jessie's parents stuff - yes, Melissa and Isaac Rochester - back in 2018ish but that has dwindled over the years. Hopefully with this new story I can explore them more! I've named dropped an agent called Osvaldo - or Oscar/Oz as he's sometimes known - a fair bit in these chapters and maybe even over on Pikachu Tales too. I'm sure I'll develop him further one day. He actually becomes the best friend of Jorginho after the TRio quit Team Rocket. And I wonder - does he, like Giovanni, know that Jessie's parents are these people called Melissa and Isaac? And will he put Jorginho in an awkward position by accidentally letting him know information that perhaps even Jessie herself does not know? That would be a fun plot to write about :P For now though, thank you again for reading and I will be back in a couple of weeks over on Pikachu Tales to upload my stories based on the Tumblr PokeShipping Week prompts! See you then perhaps :3
Amy signing out!