The Mask Maker

The First Mission

She gave a sigh and started to walk out the door. 

"Well, it doesn't matter now that I'm here. I'd like to see what I came for."

"Here it is. At least one version of it, anyway. I really liked your idea, and made something you can move around in should you have to run or fight."

Petrel was gesturing to the new outfit he designed. It was like the outfit his client already had, but had black bottoms that were a bit looser as well as a new tailored waistcoat. The belt now also had places to clip pouches on either side. Petrel handed The Mask Maker the outfit to try on, and when she exited the changing room, she looked at herself in the mirror. 

"You'll find that those pouches hanging off your belt have quite a bit of room for Pokéballs and whatnot, and the pocket watch in your vest pocket has room for a Key Stone in the middle," the Executive explained. "Your boots are made for stability and running, so don't worry about that. And, last but not least, you have these." 

He handed her a pair of gloves. They were black, but the inside of each one had a red half-eye like the one on her mask's forehead. When she put her hands together, the eye became whole. 

"Oh! There's actually one more thing," Petrel said. He went away for a second and came back with a long, black coat. On the right side—the side that the red part of her mask was on—there were places where the coat looked like it had been clawed, leaving red marks behind. When he turned it around, The Mask Maker softly gasped behind her mask. It was embroidered with a beautiful design, almost like a tapestry.

"I have to say, I'm impressed!" she said. She let Petrel put it on her and it fit perfectly. The Executive smiled at her satisfaction with his work.

They headed down to the labs, where there was one more thing to try on. 

"As we discussed, modifications have been made to your mask," a scientist explained. "It looks the same, but with this version, the real changes are in the inside." 

She handed her the mask, and The Mask Maker switched it out with her current one (out of view, of course). Once she put it on, she was immediately distracted by what she saw. The inside of the mask was essentially a screen, relaying information about her environment and the people in it. A cursor moved over the Executives and the scientist, but the windows that opened up gave no information. 

Figures, she thought.

"With this mask you can communicate with members of Team Rocket should you need to. It is capable of scanning people using different filters and detecting possible threats. It detects your own eye movement and facial expressions and acts accordingly. Don't rely on it too much, however."

"Also," Petrel added. "There is one more thing."

He picked up five sleek disk-like objects from a box and handed them to The Mask Maker. 

"Woah, what are these?" she asked. 

"More masks! Except they don't go on your face. They've been programmed with the same power you've got. If all goes well, they should connect to your mask and allow you to control people from a short distance, as well as giving your own power a little stamina boost. All you have to do is throw them with relative accuracy at your target."

Wow...

"Well! You're really starting to look like you know what you're doing. How do you like it?"

Giovanni had entered. 

"Oh, it's you," the trainer said with a hint of disappointment. She quickly changed her expression after remembering who funded it all. "It's great! I like it all a lot."