The New Normal – 3-12 – Interlude: Proton
Proton entered the facility's basement, which was surprisingly well-lit for a so-called 'secret' facility, with an unusually thoughtful expression on his face. He knew that he wasn't one for circumspection, but even a self-proclaimed brute like himself realized that the meeting that was about to happen would require plenty of thought and consideration.
As Proton seated himself at the cheap wooden table in one of the steel chairs, he thought about his escape from Indigo and into Hoenn.
When he realized that his mysterious, now ex, boss was no longer planning on making use of him and his Team, Proton was livid. Oh, he knew that his ex-boss probably had some big scheme that he previously needed the muscle for, but Proton never really cared about that. He was self-aware enough to recognize that all he valued was for the freedom to rob, steal, and indulge in whatever struck his fancy that day, which was usually violence.
So, when he realized that his boss planned to retire his services for the near future? Proton couldn't have that. In hindsight, it was probably very impulsive of him to just leave like that without knowing if they would have the resources to maintain their operations for the future, but the original founder, that cunning old lady, had stashed away enough resources for them to hang on for a little while.
Initially, Proton believed that in order for Team Rocket to continue maintaining its operations, he needed to secure resources by stealing Pokémon and selling them on the black market to receive a steady supply of funds. At first, this succeeded, and Proton naively thought that they were able to continue doing this until the end of time.
He also had plans to extort his ex-boss and blackmail them in order to ensure a steady supply of resources from them, but then Proton realized that he never actually knew who his boss was. Sure, he could have recognized his face, but he had no idea what his name was or what he even did. As far as Proton was concerned, his ex-boss was a nobody that appeared out of nowhere and just gave them money and Pokémon.
However, everything started going to shit when that nosy Gym Leader Giovanni and his Elite Four pet of his decided to ruin everything by rallying the people like they were heroes of some historic drama. Giovanni's involvement also killed Proton's plans to recruit a few Gym Leaders secretly into his ranks. He thought that a few Gym Leaders would be pliable with sufficient persuasion, and he thought that Giovanni was one of those that could be corrupted! Oh, how wrong he was! Giovanni was easily their biggest public threat!
Who did they think they were trying to eradicate crime in Indigo? Crime was always going to exist, and if anything, Proton was doing everyone a favour by attracting all of the criminals to his cause.
Alas, his fun had to end sometime and the crackdown in Indigo and the mass arrests of his subordinates had caused huge problems for Proton. His subordinates were becoming too fearful to continue, and Proton could feel the discontent slowly rising through his ranks towards his leadership as the arrests mounted.
At the time, Proton knew that his worries would have been solved if he could just find someone who could provide funding for Team Rocket. Then, they could easily just lay low for some time and focus on actually training up his grunts so that they'd be much more capable at completing their objectives. Of course, Proton had no idea where to find said financial backer, so he simply made pleas on the black market and hoped for the best.
And Proton's luck would turn for the better as an anonymous figure reached out to him and promised Proton everything that he wanted. Proton was naturally suspicious of this sudden turn of luck; it seemed too good to be true. However, the figure was quick to reassure Proton and invited Proton to hide out in Hoenn for some time to get away from all the heat in Indigo. Faced with no better choice, Proton warily accepted.
With that in mind, Proton made his way to Hoenn in disguise with only his most loyal subordinates. Once there, he was introduced and shown the vast facilities that they had for his Team's use, and Proton was instantly sold.
Oh, he knew that he was probably just a pawn for a greater purpose, but Proton didn't care. He was too busy salivating over all of the violence that he could do with this new backing, and he would happily play as the loyal soldier if that was what this person needed him to be.
With facilities and living quarters properly secured, Proton decided to move all of his operations to Hoenn and ordered his Team to start making his way here too. Although there was that one incident where his subordinates were caught by that boy of an Elite Four member who thought himself a hero, most of his subordinates managed to arrive safely and unnoticed in Hoenn.
Truthfully, Proton was glad that guy was caught in Indigo; he was one of Proton's more ambitious rivals and was always eyeing jealously at Proton's position, so seeing him removed and out of the way was a net positive in Proton's eyes.
With his Team well-hidden in one of the facilities, the figure finally decided to invite Proton to a meeting where they would be discussing their operations in the future. Which was where Proton found himself now, sitting in a steel chair too small for him and leaning across a cheap wooden table and waiting for an unknown amount of people to arrive.
Just before he could begin grumbling, the door opened behind him once more and two people walked in. Just by looking at their shadowed silhouettes, it was obvious that both of them were large and muscular individuals, though one appeared to be almost purely made of muscle. As they entered the light, he realized that they were both strangely dressed like pirates, which Proton inwardly scoffed at.
If his bosses proved to be the nutcases that they looked like, then he was going to take the money and run.
The two of them sat down in chairs as well, before the smaller one on the right spoke up first.
"The name's Archie, and I'm the boss." He introduced himself, "The guy's over there my friend and admin, Matt. It's good to meet you, Proton."
Proton greeted them both with a silent nod, and Archie accepted that before he kept going. "Now, I'll skip over the pleasantries since it's obvious that you're not one for chit-chat. We recruited you because you had what we needed, an already organized Team that would serve as additional muscle. It was a bit of a coincidence that you reached out when you did, because it was just about the right time when we decided to go looking for someone like you."
Proton nodded again; it was what he expected. "Okay, I understand, so what do you need me to do, Archie? I can see that you clearly have the resources, and from the guards just standing outside I'm fairly certain you have your own muscle to make use of, so why do you need me and my Team?" Proton asked, as he locked eyes with Archie.
"Heh. Well, we're quite the ambitious lot you see." Archie chuckled before his face turned serious. "We need all the muscle that we can get for our new goal."
"…and that goal is?" He questioned.
"You see, our original goal was to harness the power of Kyogre to flood the world and remove all traces of humanity from it for the betterment of all Pokémon." Proton's eyes must have revealed his shock because Archie chuckled at his expression. "Yes, in hindsight, that was a short-sighted idea. But recently, we had a new backer that made me reconsider our goals. Now, our goal is to harness the power of Legendaries to remake the world so that it can be made perfect."
Proton noted the fanaticism in his eyes, and he seriously was reconsidering whether he had made the right call joining up with his team, but he decided to force down his instinct to just leave and start asking some more questions.
"And why would you want to remake the world?" Asked Proton snidely, "I like it the way it is."
"Do you?" Archie challenged, his smile not breaking, "I've done my research on you, Proton, and I know you're a violent man who would love nothing more than to act on those impulses. But aren't you here in Hoenn because you couldn't act on those impulses in Indigo, and were forced to flee?"
He bristled at Archie's words but couldn't deny them. Archie seemed to take Proton's silence as agreement and carried on.
"But could you imagine a world where you didn't need to hide and run? A world where you were free to act out your every desire and impulse, free of consequence? With just a snap of your fingers, you could indulge yourself in whatever vice you choose. Violence? Women? Both? All at your fingertips."
Proton allowed himself to be suckered in by that glorious vision for a moment before he dragged himself back down with reality. He sneered at Archie, "Is that why you're so bent on creating a new world? Because you just want to indulge in women and violence like I do? There are easier methods for that, you know. Unless you're having trouble getting it up."
Matt grunted angrily at Proton's disrespect, but Archie's smile never faltered, "No, I don't indulge in that kind of thing, as hard as it is for someone like you to believe. I truly am looking to create a new world for the betterment of all Pokémon."
Proton scoffed at Archie's idealism, "And how do you plan on re-creating the world to whatever you want it to be? Everyone knows that Legendaries are impossible to control."
"Are they?" Archie challenged again, this time with a knowing smile. "Yes, it is common knowledge that Legendaries are beyond the control of man. But I can assure you that we are making progress into finding a way to control them. And when we do, the world is ours to reshape!"
He sneered again, "And what if I don't believe you?"
"That's perfectly fine." Archie remarked easily, surprising Proton. "I understand that simple words were not likely to persuade you to understand our goals, but it is not understanding that I seek with you. Even if our final goal doesn't work out, what do you have to lose? You'll still be receiving the funding for your time here, and you're too smart to be used as a pawn to be sacrificed. No, you'll bolt and leave as soon as you catch wind of anything like that."
Proton nodded, that was exactly the sort of thing that he would do. Archie continued, "If I wanted a dedicated fanatic, I would have looked to recruit someone else. But no, I chose to recruit you, because you are a practical man with experience leading a Team of grunts to complete an objective, and perhaps indulge in those desires of yours on the way. Again, you do not need to believe in our final goal, you just need to serve as our muscle. Leave the thinking to me."
Proton thought about it for a moment and realized that Archie was right. There was truly no downside to him accepting the deal. His boss may be a fanatical lunatic looking to reshape the world or some nonsense, but so long as he remained paid, and could act out his desires through his raids, then why did Proton even care? Also, Proton was smart enough to realize that, if he declined this deal, he truly had nowhere else to go and he would be monumentally screwed. No, he had to accept this offer.
Besides, this would just be like his time leading Team Rocket, except with an additional safety net and funding. Proton truly saw no downsides to this agreement. Even if his boss was a nutjob.
"Alright…I understand. I'm willing to join our Teams' together and be your muscle." Proton said carefully, "But first, where am I in the pecking order? Who am I going to be in charge of?"
Archie smiled as he heard Proton's agreement, "You'll be made an Admin once you join, sharing your authority with Matt here. We originally had a different candidate, as you might have expected, but she is now unavailable. So, you've taken the spot."
"Fine. And what do you need me to do?" Proton asked.
"For now, you're going to have to lay low for the time being." Proton frowned at being told that he had to sit still once again, but Archie was quick to placate him. "It's too risky to go out at the moment, especially with all the heat that's been focused on Team Rocket. We can't risk stirring the pot for the time being. I don't want to see you arrested after you've just arrived, after all."
Proton was angry but accepted Archie's reasoning. He agreed that the Hoenn League would also be like starving Houndooms looking to eat whatever scraps of Team Rocket they could find just so that they could fill a headline and prove to the public that they were actively doing something. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.
"Hey, Archie, why don't we sacrifice a few of our own grunts to the League?" He suggested with a malicious smile, and Archie gave him a questioning glance, "Well, like you said, the Hoenn League are currently baying for Team Rocket with everything they have. So, instead of risking them finding something you don't want them to find, why not we throw some grunts out and allow them to get caught. They'll play it up as a big win, and we get to protect our more valuable assets since they'll likely not be looking as hard after they get some good headlines."
Archie pondered his suggestion for a moment, before he turned to Matt and received a nod from the man. "That does sound like a good idea. I agree. Why don't you go arrange that, after this meeting?"
Proton accepted with a nod, and then returned to his questions.
"So, besides that, what do you need me to do specifically? Spending so much time lying low sounds like a huge waste of time. And I'll get antsy." He asked.
"I'll need you to be training the grunts up to be up to standard." Archie replied instantly, "I understand that you didn't have a lot to work with, since you were running on limited resources and had to act fast to secure a steady stream of income to survive, but your grunts aren't exactly at the level of training and discipline that I hoped for."
Proton frowned but didn't correct Archie and stayed silent, "From what I've seen, your troops are decent enough at smash and grab jobs, but with our steady source of funding from our backer, we don't actually need to do too much of those anymore. What we'll be needing is precision strikes on high value targets to secure a specific resource, asset, or person. And THAT is what I hope to train the grunts to be able to do. To help you with this, our backer has secured you extra resources and Pokémon that have already been distributed to your team. You may check them out yourself after this meeting."
"Fair enough. I can understand that." Proton remarked before gesturing to Matt. "So, what's your friend going to be doing? He hasn't said a thing this whole meeting."
"Matt will be doing the same with the grunts under MY Team, Team Aqua." Archie explained, with Matt nodding in agreement. "I recognized that our two Teams may not respect the authority of a stranger, so you'll be training your own Teams individually. Later on, as our two Teams get more familiar with each other, we can start arranging training sessions together."
Proton nodded, accepting the explanation. At least it gave something to do with the downtime, and he could always beat up some unruly grunts to satisfy his violent desires if he wanted.
"Oh, and one more thing." Archie spoke up again, interrupting Proton's imagination where he was brutalizing a random grunt. "I should let you know of our allies. There's a Team called Team Magma, they used to be our enemies, but we've recently joined under a common banner. However, I suspect there will certainly still be bad blood between our two groups, so keep an eye out on them and make sure that they're actually behaving as they should; I still don't fully trust them. Though if they need some disciplining, I'm sure you'll win out easily. After all, they're mostly the nerdy scientist type. I'm sure you would have no problems." Archie finished with a smirk.
Proton shared his boss' smirk and nodded, before asking if there was anything else. Archie shook his head. "No, I think that's everything that I wanted to cover with this meeting. Listen, I understand that you aren't much of a believer towards the ultimate goal of our Teams, but I hope that one day you'll be able to see that what we're doing actually has a great chance of success and that it IS possible to remake the world."
He scoffed, "Hah! I don't think so. I'm not as naïve as you two. Nor am I some bright-eyed idealist. No, I'll follow your plans, but if you expect fanaticism out of me, then you'd best pick someone else."
"No, and that's fine. Just remember my words. I hope you can come to agree with me in the future." Archie said, before he extended his arm. "Let's shake on our newfound friendship."
"Yeah…'friendship'…" Proton remarked sarcastically but shook Archie's hand regardless. Archie and Matt then said their goodbyes, stating that they had something else to do, and wished him well on the training before they left the meeting room.
Proton himself got up from the chair moments after they left, and quickly inspected the room for any secret recording devices or microphones that may be used against him. He didn't find any, though that could just mean he merely failed to spot them. After that, he finally made his way out of the facility to where the remaining members of Team Rocket were training up.
As he observed them, he noticed the 'gift' that Archie's backer must have provided, as his grunts were now training with a much larger and diverse group of Pokémon. He even saw Pokémon that he had never even seen before, such as some big grumpy cat thing, which he thought were from the newly introduced region of Sinnoh. Although there weren't many Pokémon that were from Sinnoh, it still made him wonder how Archie or his backer were able to secure these Pokémon already. Still, so long as it made him and his team more powerful, he wouldn't question it.
And, with a bit of training and discipline, Proton could really envision that Team Rocket would transform from a team of general thugs and lowlifes to a proper army that would loot, plunder, and steal on his command.
Seeing the new additions for his Team reminded Proton that, despite the unhinged fanaticism of Archie and his insane goal of trying to remake the world, his resources were still very much appreciated. Proton could tolerate working for a nutcase if that nutcase gave him everything that he needed to indulge and sustain his vices.
Now, Proton went over which of his grunts and captains were recently expressing their displeasure for his leadership. He had some garbage to dispose of…
A.N I hope you enjoyed this Interlude about Proton and what the other evil teams were doing; I really struggled with it. I wanted to show that, despite John's recent victories and crackdown against Team Rocket, the evil teams certainly aren't just sitting by idly and are reacting (hopefully) reasonably. John has also caused a few butterflies with his actions, as I'm sure you picked up.
BETAed by Allute! Thanks! And to anyone who wants to support me, please check out my p atreon at CartecTNN where you can read 8 advanced chapters! Thanks to those who have supported me already!