"So...what comes next?" The Mask Maker asked. She retracted her hand and sat still on the couch. If she was honest with herself, she didn't really know what she had just done. But she was just one trainer, and she could use an alliance with the biggest underworld organization. That said, she still didn't know what Team Rocket was going to get out of this. She had heard rumors that some of the best scientists alive today were employees of this enterprise. They could likely create whatever they wanted.
"Well, if you don't mind me saying this, I think you're in need of a bit of an upgrade," Giovanni said.
"Upgrade?"
"What you've managed to create so far is the perfect foundation for something very powerful and valuable, but I know that your mind control ability in its current state has quite a few restrictions. With the best of Team Rocket's scientists at our disposal, I'm sure we can create something that surpasses those limits tenfold."
"So you want me to tell you how it works, so you can steal it and use it for yourself? Is that what this is about?"
"Oh my, no. What's valuable is who's behind the mask. You're an obviously strong trainer, and you have a kind of determination that's rare. That's why I believe this alliance will benefit the both of us greatly. But it would be cruel to let you run around in your current state, when we can help you be so much more powerful."
"Hmm...fair enough. My mind control abilities are at their limit right now, but I have a feeling that there's much more to learn."
"Well, you can discuss it with the scientists and weapons specialists later. Though, I would like a but of an insight into how it works."
Weapons specialists? They have that? Of course they do, they're Team Rocket. I guess this is considered a weapon.
"Well...it's...complicated, you see. I look people in the eyes and...well, it's just simply too complicated to explain," The Mask Maker stammered.
Giovanni looked at her a moment.
"Do you...know how it works?" he asked with a slight smile.
"Of course I do!" she insisted. "But it's finicky. It took a lot of time and strict training just to get to the level I'm at today. It will take much more to reach greater heights."
"Well, enough of that for now," Giovanni said. "You asked what was next. You should talk to another one of my executives who goes by the name of Petrel. He's an expert in the art of disguise, and will now be a great deal of help to you. You'll find him in the dining hall by now. I trust you can find it yourself, and if not, just ask whoever's around. I'll tell him to look out for you."
Thunder was rumbling in the distance, and you could hear the rain pounding on the windows. The Team Rocket boss had gotten up to look out the window, but he looked back and gave a faint smile.
"Team Rocket looks forward to your partnership."
The Mask Maker gave a nod and turned to leave. She walked out of the double doors and half expected to be attacked on sight. But the grunts stood there, at attention, apparently in the loop of the deal that had just been made. She looked around and thought for a moment.
The dining hall...It couldn't be that important, so it definitely wouldn't be on the top floor. I doubt it's on the floor I was kept in earlier, either, so that rules out two.
She stood at the elevators and pressed the button to go down. The doors opened and she walked inside, turning to face the panel.
So many buttons! And they're all labeled very vaguely. Okay, think. If this floor is the--
"You looking for the dining hall?" A female grunt stood on the other side of the open doors. She waited with a friendly smile on her face.
"Gah! I mean....yes. This place is quite big."
"Yeah. I don't think you get how complex it is yet, either. It's not just one big vertical rectangle. It's pretty much several buildings compiled together. Don't worry, the more often you come here, the more you'll get the hang of it."
Wait, I'm supposed to come back here?...Am I a grunt now? Is this what I signed up for?
"I'm going to the dining hall for dinner now, so you can just come with me."
The grunt walked in and pressed one of the buttons.
"Hehe, were you just going to wander around until you found it?" she asked.
"Well, I suppose I didn't realize how big this place was," The Mask Maker replied.
"Don't sweat it. When I trained to work here, we dedicated a whole week to learning the layout of the relevant buildings in each region. We had to visit and tour each HQ and everything."
"Wow, how much time do you actually spend here?"
"It depends," the grunt answered. I guess that's another good thing about being a Team Rocket member. You never really have two of the same days. It's always different."
"That...actually sounds nice."
The Mask Maker thought about her days before it happened. The split, that is. In her eyes now her past self was weak and without purpose, destined to live out the rest of her days that way, each day the same as the last. She had lived that way for years, until she suddenly changed in the face of an enlightening situation. She realized she had the power to change her destiny. She had this new energy, this new vigor and thirst for strength and power. It was if a seedling of a cruel and ambitious personality had planted itself in her head, or at least made present what was already there. The seedling grew into a beast hungry for power, and her two natures had been in a constant grueling war ever since, while she struggled to maintain balance.
The elevator chimed and the doors opened, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"The dining hall is up ahead on the right."
They walked together and entered through the large double doors. The dining hall was enormous, though given the number of people in the building, it wasn't too much of a shock. It followed the usual color scheme, and there were long rows of tables going down the room that seated a multitude of grunts. They almost looked like one big family gathering for a meal together. People were laughing, talking and playing around. It looked like you could go up to the large food stand and order from a large variety of options. Speaking of food, The Mask Maker was starving again.
"Heeey! Two Face! Over here!" someone called.
Huh?
The trainer turned and looked around until she spotted who had called her. Proton was standing at the other side of the hall, waving one of his arms. Sitting at the smaller table next to him was the fuzzy outline of Archer, and another blur she guessed was Petrel, who was the executive she was searching for.
Proton? Shouldn't he be mad at me or something?
"The name's Scarlet, by the way," the grunt said, offering a hand.
"Good to meet you, Scarlet," The Mask Maker said, shaking her hand. "My name is...well, I don't really have one. I guess I'm just The Mask Maker for now."
Scarlet gave her a friendly "See you around" and left to order food. The Mask Maker made her way to the table where Proton was still standing. She looked around some more as she walked. The dining hall was lavishly decorated, as was every other area she had seen. Huge tapestries with the infamous red "R" lined the side walls, while another one hung at the end along with a tapestry that had what looked like the Rocket motto on it. There were a couple of large windows, but the view was still obscured by the rain, which was coming down in sheets. Grunts looked up at her as she passed. Some of them smiled, some of them frowned, some of them simply made a quick glance then resumed their conversations. She made it up to the Executive's table.
"Ah, you must be who I was told to keep a lookout for! I'm Petr—"
"Two Face! You won't believe it! I have wonderful news! We have smoothies at the food stand! With straws! Now you can actually eat—er—drink something! All of your problems are solved!" Proton exclaimed.
"Two Face" stood in surprise, though because of her mask no one could see that. This wasn't really what she was expecting from someone she pushed a table into and put under mind control.
"Proton? Aren't you...you know, mad?" she asked.
"Nah, it's all part of the job. In the end, I still accomplished what I needed to. It was kind of fun, honestly. No hard feelings?" he asked.
He held a fist out, opting to ask for a fist bump instead of a handshake. His left arm had been bandaged, and it looked like he had some sort of brace or wrap over his torso where he was hit with the table. Still, he was as cheerful as when she met him, perhaps even more so now. She hesitated, but gave him the fist bump. Petrel loudly cleared his throat.
"Ahem!...As I was saying, my name is Petrel, and disguises are my specialty. As soon as I saw you, I knew this would be a fun challenge. You're in need of a totally new look, and I can certainly help you with that. We can talk about that later, though. I'm starving, as are you I'm sure. Let's—"
"Great, so am I!" Proton interjected. "Let's go get smoothies! Woo!"
"Uh, hey, Proton?" Archer asked, speaking for the first time since The Mask Maker had arrived at the table. "Did they give you anything in the medical ward...say, for pain?"
"Ahaha, I have no idea!" Proton cheerfully replied. "Why?"
"No matter...just...take it easy," Archer said. He lowered his voice and turned to Petrel. "They didn't give him his knives back in the state he's in, did they?"
Petrel gave a shrug.
They all walked up to the stand to order food. It did in fact have smoothies, along with just about anything else you'd want. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, all served throughout the day.
This place doesn't seem so bad after all.
"The usual. The same for Golbat." Proton said.
"I'll take a burger. Weezing isn't hungry."
"I'll have the Bitter Leek Curry, and a Spicy Sausage Curry for Houndoom. "
"I'll just have a fruit smoothie. Surprise me," The Mask Maker said. She wasn't sure she should be asking for Team Rocket to surprise her when it came to food, but she was so hungry she would drink just about anything they blended up and put in front of her.
"Speaking of Pokémon, where are mine?" she asked. She felt a bit guilty for not thinking about them much until now. She had been so caught up in this new world that she hadn't really thought about anything other than the extremely strange situation she had found herself in.
"Don't worry," Archer assured her. "The Pokémon that got hurt were treated for their injuries, and the others are being cared for as well. I'll send someone for them."
Archer radioed for someone to bring The Mask Maker's things to the dining hall.
"You have quite the team," he continued. "What made you choose those Pokémon?"
"Well, my team isn't set in stone yet," The Mask Maker replied. "In fact, I may switch out Pokémon according to what the situation I'll be in requires. It's good to stay unpredictable. I—"
The trainer was interrupted by the kitchen workers announcing that their food was ready. They handed Petrel his burger, gave the curries to Archer, and handed Proton two dark red drinks with straws in them. The Mask Maker wondered what it was, until she was handed an admittedly good-looking smoothie. It was deep purple, with some blueberries and strawberries on top.
"Triple berry smoothie. And here are some berries for your Pokémon," one of the staff said with a smile.
She gave them her thanks—a bit surprised by the kindness—and walked back to the table with the others. Team Rocket seemed to be generous to their own kind, and cruel to the rest of the world. Does this mean she was a part of Team Rocket?
They sat and ate, not speaking much, as they all had been starving. A grunt came to the table with a coat, tie, and an open container with 6 Pokéballs in it. As soon as he got close one of the Pokéballs burst open, a light pink Espurr landing on The Mask Maker's shoulder. The Executives looked for a moment before Proton asked, mouth full of...whatever he was drinking, about it.
"Huh. That's a bit of a contrast to your dark and hardcore persona, isn't it?"
"I found it alone in the wild, while I was suffering from a bad headache and trying to rest before making the journey home," The Mask Maker explained. "It came along and wanted my attention, so I interacted with it for a little while. Afterward, it used some type of move to greatly reduce the pain from my headache. I took it home, and now it helps my headaches while I care for it and give it company."
"Do you get headaches that often?" Proton asked.
"Well, yes, when I—"
"Oh, yeah! I almost forgot you could mind control people. How the heck does that work, anyway?"
She tried her best to explain how "complicated" it was while everyone finished their food. After dinner, Petrel invited her to his workspace, which was in an entirely separate quadrant of the HQ. Apparently, this is where each executive lived and spent their time when they were here. Petrel had a large space filled with fabrics, makeup and whatever supplies were needed for making disguises.
"We infiltrated a radio tower once," he said, hastily clearing papers off of a desk. "I disguised myself as the director. It was so convincing we were able to carry out our mission and keep hold of the tower for a while. So, please tell me that how you are currently dressed is not how you go and commit actions that will throw you in prison for a long time."
"...What do you mean?" The Mask Maker asked.
"Well, by the looks of it I'm assuming you make no effort to conceal your true identity other than putting on different clothes and covering your face."
'Well...no, not exactly. I—"
"Well then, no need to worry," Petrel said with a smile. "With your new appearance it will be a lot harder to tell who you are. I mean, I could probably figure out who you are now just by looking at you!"
She hoped not.
"So!" Petrel exclaimed, clapping his hands together. "Any ideas? Keep in mind that you also need functionality as well as concealment of your identity. We'll be going to a different department to see what upgrades can be made or added in that regard, so right now I'm asking for ideas about appearance."
"Well, actually, I do have a few ideas," the trainer said. She took a small notebook filled with sketches and ideas and handed it to him. "I've been wanting to do this for a while."
The executive flipped through the pages, giving thoughtful "Mmm-hmm"s and "I see"s. After a while of talking, they had come up with a plan.
The Mask Maker spoke with a group of scientists and engineers to see what upgrades could be made. They had initially wanted her to take her mask off so they could study how to upgrade it, but she obviously refused. After what seemed like forever, she had finally gotten through the design process of a new appearance and possible specialized weapons. She had to admit she was excited, but now she was also very tired. It was time for her to go home. She was dying to take her mask off and get some fresh air. That said, she didn't even know where she was.
"Oh, don't worry about getting home yourself," Proton said after they had met up again. "We're takin' you there! Don't worry, this plane is nicer."
It was, in fact, a very nice plane. It was smaller than the other, and The Mask Maker didn't have too much time to take it in before falling asleep. She was awakened with a poke in the shoulder. It looked like they had dropped her off right where they found her, which she didn't mind. She didn't want to reveal where she lived anyway.
"Oh, and take this," Proton said, handing her a small square device. "If you're ever in a real jam, press this button three times and it'll show you where the nearest Rocket hideout is. They're hard to spot, but someone will surely see you and lead the way."
She said her goodbyes to the Executives and waited for them to leave before heading to her own hideout. She immediately took off her mask, took a deep breath and let the cool, fresh air flow into her lungs. She fell onto her bed and went over the day's surreal events in her head until she drifted away to sleep.
What a day.