Work Text:
Maxie Matsubusa hated his job. He truly did. He knew that it was practically impossible to find an amazing job straight out of college. All he wanted was a decent pay and a job in which he could let his intellect do his speaking for him. The world was a cruel place for someone who couldn’t speak, after all, so Maxie had to find a way to adapt, improvise, and overcome. Maxie liked to think that his brilliant mind gave him an advantage over the rest of the general population. Actually, there wasn’t a “liked to think” about it. He knew that his brilliant mind gave him an advantage over everyone else. However, in this horrendous job market, Maxie would be grateful for anything that he landed.
He really should have thought about his standards a little more. An organization known as Team Rocket seemed to have emerged in Hoenn overnight. He didn’t know of them, but they knew of him. They wanted him, and the handful of recruiters that knocked on his apartment door made that very apparent. However, every time Maxie tried to research the organization, no results emerged. He questioned it, writing down his thoughts and slid it over to the recruiter, the answer he received was just as shady as the organization. “We’re new and still trying to get our name out there,” she replied with a smile. “With you on our team, there is no doubt that Team Rocket will be a household name.”
Maxie still had his suspicions, but they pay was more than he could have hoped for. That pay, however, didn’t matter when he learned what exactly he would be doing. Everything that was assigned to him sounded strange and practically impossible. Find a way to evolve a newborn Feebas into a Milotic. Find a way to alter a Poochyena’s natural dark fur into a shiny, golden coat. The list of impossible demands were endless, but every time he attempted to express his concerns he would receive a “reminder” to not go against his bosses. Such reminders varied based on the mood his boss was in. Sometimes it would be a sharp smack across the cheek. Other times it would be a bite from an Arbok. No matter the “reminder,” Maxie didn’t want to deal with it. He wanted nothing more than to quit, but his bosses had made it very apparent that quitting wasn’t an option. Well, it was to a dead man.
The world was cruel and scary, but Team Rocket was much crueler and scarier. After months of dealing with such abuse, Maxie has learned to tone things out around him and simply try to conduct his work. The desperate mews from caged Skitties awaiting their deathbed just so Team Rocket could turn their tails and fur into profit were tuned out as he made his way to his lab each and every day.
Dragging himself into work proved to be interesting for once. The rut he was stuck in seemed to be the same day after day, but on this day there was some water thrown into his rut. The sleek tiled floor has splashes of water heading in the direction of his lab. He could only assume that the janitor really fucked up with his job this morning.
That didn’t seem to be the case.
After swiping his key card to enter his lab, he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a few black clad grunts, white coated scientists, and a green haired executive all gathered around the tank where they kept the unfortunate water types. The water was murky, making it impossible to see what they all were looking at. The sound of the door opening had caught the executive’s attention. Proton turned around and gestured for Maxie to join him. Maxie obediently obliged, curiously looking at the tank himself.
“We got a little surprise for you and your crew, Maxie,” Proton explained. “We found this…thing when a few of the grunts went searching for Clampearl pearls. I’ve never seen a Pokemon like it. In fact, I don’t even think that it’s a Pokemon.”
As the executive talked, Maxie saw movement in the murky water but still couldn’t make out what was in it.
“That’s where you come in. I know you hold a special interest in mythology, so try and figure this one out. See what this thing is good for and let me know asap.” Proton patted Maxie on the back and ordered the grunts from his crew to follow him out.
That explanation wasn’t the least bit helpful, but Maxie knew better than to put up a fight. It was useless since the executive didn’t know an ounce of sign language and Maxie didn’t feel like wasting his notebook paper. The less he had to see his boss, the better.
With the crowd gone, Maxie examined the tank a little further. Now he could see a silhouette behind the glass. It looked human-like. Cautiously, he pressed his hand against the cool glass and quickly jumped back when he felt a thud come from the other side. For a brief moment he caught sight of the creature. It was very human-like. Digits similar fingers pressed up against the glass, but unlike human hands, they were webbed. Webbed and rather scaly. Scaly like the rest of its skin. Before it went back into the depth of the narrow tank, Maxie caught sight of what he assumed to be dark blue eyes.
Maxie didn’t know what this thing was. He didn’t even know why Proton had assigned this thing to him. He hated water creatures, but…he would be lying if he said that he weren’t intrigued.
And thus the research began. The research proved to be as fruitless as a harvest in winter due to the lack of mobility they had with the tank. Maxie could barely even see the creature half the time. He made a request to get a larger, more accessible tank, and to his surprise, his request was approved. They must have really wanted to get some use out of this creature if they were willing to put investments into it.
One day, his normal rut was interrupted again. This time, Proton stood in front of his laboratory door. “Well Maxie, since we like you enough, we were merciful enough to grant your wish. Follow me.”
Raising a curious brow, Maxie followed Proton down the hall into the restricted area labs. Labs where he always heard the most horrible of noises. Labs that he never wanted to step foot in. “Swipe your card,” he ordered once he stopped in front of one of the doors. “I want to make sure we gave your ID access to this one.”
Maxie nodded. He tucked his sacked lunch under his arm so he could grab his card and swipe it on the card pad, hearing the confirming click of the lock moving. Proton moved inside while Maxie followed behind, albeit a little hesitantly. The room was nothing worthwhile, but the treasure lied at the end of the room. A large tank sat there. The walls came up to around Maxie’s hip but something told him that it was deeper than it let on. Almost as if he were in a trance, Maxie walked past Proton and looked curiously over the water.
“I’ll leave you be,” said the executive. “The rest of your crew will arrive shortly.” With that being said, the man left.
The only sounds in the room came from the water running through the filter. He sat down everything in his arms on the cool tile floor and took a few cautious steps closer to the water. What in the world was he supposed to do? Rolling up the sleeves to his white lab coat, he patted the water before quickly pulling his hand back. Looks like stupid ideas really did produce stupid results.
He looked around the room for anything that could help him out. He wanted to see the creature, but he also wanted to be humane about it. No poking, no prodding, no stabbing. That knocked out literally everything in the room.
Everything except for a tasty lunch.
It was worth a shot, Maxie figured. He opened his sacked lunch and rummaged through the items in it. Since he didn’t know what the creature’s diet held other than fish Pokemon, Maxie figured his safest bet lied in berries. Fortunately, he had a plastic baggie of oran berries.
Figuring that it was best to start off small, Maxie placed a single berry on the edge of the tank before taking a step back, waiting with baited breath for the creature to make a move. Minutes ticked by and Maxie was beginning to believe it was hopeless, but finally, he watched as a head poked out from the surface of the water. The creature was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Blue, scaly skin covered his face and long, ragged fins were where its ears were supposed to be. On the middle of his face was a faded scar in the shape of an “X”. For such a fish like creature, the fact it had a head of hair as well as what looked like a beard completely threw Maxie off. He had only assumed the murky water of its previous tank was playing tricks on him. The creature looked at the berry before catching sight of Maxie. It grabbed the berry before sinking back down into the water.
It was hard to say what kind of hell the creature has been through within the past few weeks. Maxie always tried to keep it well taken care of in his care, but he couldn’t say the same for his co-workers. Taking another step toward the tank, he left another berry on the side of the tank and backed away. After another few minutes, the creature emerged, took the berry, and sank back down into the safety of the water.
Maxie repeated this process, noting that after the fifth round the creature didn’t immediately sink back into the water. Instead, there was a moment where the creature simply looked at him with curiosity before sinking back down into the water. Those moments became longer and longer, but every time Maxie tried to take a step further, the creature would hide away.
Finally, after placing the last berry on the side of the tank, Maxie didn’t back away. Instead, he leaned against the cool metal, waiting for the creature to emerge. Without being a disappointment, the creature poked his head out from the depths of the water and stared at Maxie. It was hesitant, but it slowly scooted closer and closer to the edge of the tank.
Maxie could feel his heart pound frantically against his chest. There was a very high possibility of the creature attacking him, pulling him down into the depths of the water just to turn him into a meal.
But it didn’t. It took the berry and plopped it into its mouth, revealing overly sharp teeth. Instead of sinking back down, the creature swam closer to Maxie. It took every ounce of self control to not instinctively back away. This wasn’t a Pokemon. It couldn’t be. It was something else. Something more unique.
Something Team Rocket was desperate to either sell or abuse.
Looking into those dark blue eyes, surrounded by inky darkness instead of white like a human’s, Maxie did see some humanity in there.
Human or not, Maxie had has it with Team Rocket’s shit.
The door opened again and the creature sank back into the sanctuary of the water. Instead of turning his head to see who had arrived, Maxie stared at the water, longing for the creature to come back.
This was one creature that he refused to let Team Rocket to torture, he decided.
They both were going to escape. They were going to escape and rid themselves from Team Rocket.