Ch. 1: New Recruits

OST - https://youtu.be/KoDGPVgYuRQ

"Oga!" one of the grunts cried out to the man, panting as he tried to avoid the massive tree Pokémon's deadly attacks, "Your Bouffalant's still kicking, right?"

Oga glanced down at the Poké Ball that contained the aforementioned monster. Yes, Bouffalant was healthy and probably more than capable of taking that Pokémon down. But there was something holding him back. Not literally, but he felt a rising sense of guilt when he looked at the now passed-out girl in the grunt's hands. Call it mutiny, call it defection, but he simply couldn't bring himself to fight against the girl's tree Pokémon. He released his Bouffalant and ordered it to charge at the grunt that was holding the girl. At full speed, Bouffalant headbutted the grunt and dropped the tailed girl. Oga quickly dashed over and took the girl in his arms, making haste towards Pewter City.

...

OST - https://youtu.be/4Kf_r0pvi6M

"Aragami Oga, veteran of the Great Pokémon War. He hails from an alternate dimension and his team is composed of but a mere Bouffalant, although his other powers involving his horn, as well as his physical strength, are indeed great," Ariana read aloud to her boss and now lover, Giovanni, from a large stack of papers.

"I see. He is indeed a possibility," Giovanni nodded, "He has a friend as well, if I remember correctly?"

"Yes," the red-headed executive nodded, sifting through the pages of the large stack of papers she held, "Kageyama Shien. A former mafia boss from the land of beastmen. He's currently in pursuit of someone dear to him, which brought him to the Kanto region. His past in crime led him to Team Rocket. Not only are his physical abilities as a beastman sizable, he also has a team of Nidorino and Rhyhorn."

"That's strikingly familiar to my own team," Giovanni chuckled, "From what I understand, the two want to join together, no?"

"That is correct. One will not join if we do not recruit the other," Ariana confirmed.

"I see," Giovanni closed his eyes in deep thought, "They will make fine additions to Team Rocket. Please forward the information to the two and make preparations for them."

"Of course, boss," Ariana nodded, quickly leaving the leader's office, papers in hand.

...

OST - https://youtu.be/n8gDWvbF_QA

Shien and Oga walked down the corridors of the Viridian City Gym, also known as Team Rocket's Hideout to those in the know. They had gotten used to their uniforms, as strange as they were at first, what with the big caps and all. They had grown quite accustomed to life at Team Rocket. Although their intentions were and always remained the same. They vowed to each other long ago that they would join Team Rocket not to bring about terror, but to bring it down from the inside and inciting justice.

"Ugh…" Shien stretched his back and yawned, clearly pissed about something, "I have a feeling I know what Archer's gonna talk to us about."

"Huh? What's that?" Oga asked, scratching his head.

"You know the rumors about the Lion of Viridian, right?" Shien asked his partner.

"Yeah, she's been taking down any grunts in our area, if I remember correctly," Oga nodded.

"Yeah," Shien grinned bitterly, "I got my ass handed to by her a week back."

"Damn, that's rough," Oga chuckled, "She doesn't attack the grunts themselves though, right? That's what I've heard."

"That's right," Shien confirmed, reminiscing about their battle, "She wiped out my team, but she never went in for an attack. Completely pointless. She might have been able to take me down, but she didn't. The cycle will only continue if you don't stain your hands once in a while."

"I don't know…" Oga thought for a moment, "I think there's a certain air of grace to defeating but not actually killing."

"Not surprising coming from you, Oga," Shien laughed. Oga thought back. He wasn't wrong. He thought back to the Great Pokémon War, all the fellow comrades that lined the battlefield, all the women and young children that were pointlessly slaughtered in their wake, all the-

"Hey, Oga!" Shien panicked, grabbing the man's shoulders. Oga shook his head.

"Ah, sorry for worrying you…" Oga's voice trailed off. Needless to say, Oga didn't like shedding blood. Not after all that he's been through.

"Hey Oga, I'm fine with you being a pacifist and all, but you need to stay with me, alright?" Shien nodded and looked into Oga's eyes, even though one was obscured by an eyepatch. Oga nodded yes and they walked into the meeting room they needed to be in.

...

OST - https://youtu.be/n8gDWvbF_QA

They opened the door and found a small table with Team Rocket Executive Archer and three additional grunts huddled around it.

"...You two are late…" Archer grumbled.

"Sorry, sir, we had an issue we had to take care of," Shien tried to explain. I mean, it wasn't a lie. Traumatic flashbacks are definitely an issue.

"You two are still deemed new recruits," Archer coldly reminded, "Don't push your luck."

"Wouldn't dream of it, sir," Oga said. 'Sir'. The world nearly made him gag, especially saying it at the piece of work that he was staring at. But he knew Archer was a pretty bad guy to mess with, so he went with it and took a seat next to Shien and a female grunt.

"Alright, as I'm sure you know, the so-called 'Lion of Viridian' has been prowling Viridian Forest and taking out any of our grunts," Archer explained to the group, "You're amongst our most powerful grunts in this division. We'd like you to patrol Viridian Forest and fight her on sight. Arrest is preferable, but kill if necessary."

The five grunts nodded, although Oga was a bit hesitant.

"Additionally, we've received word from Boss Giovanni himself that there's been sightings of a young girl with mysterious powers," Archer continued, looking through a few sheets of paper, "Not much is known about her other than that we know she's got some strange Pokémon on her side. We'd like to capture her as soon as possible. Exercise caution if you were to come across her, however."

The five grunts nodded. Archer let out a small grin.

"Good. Now get moving. The boss wants these plans executed as soon as possible."

The five rose to their feet and began to leave the hideout, making way toward Viridian Forest.