Chapter Text
“Maxie, you do realise just how big a mistake you’ve made?” Maxie sighed, sitting in his chair in front of his boss. “Yes, yes, I know, but it was also my partner’s fault. The man is so incredibly dense he wouldn't have noticed the trainer if I hadn’t pointed it out.” Maxie sighed irritably. “Also, sir, my name is Maximilian.”
The Team Rocket boss growled leaning in closer to Maxie. “You listen to me, now. I don’t care what your fancy name is or what your partner’s like. You had a perfect shot at getting that trainer’s pokemon, and you blew it because of your own stupidity.” Maxie clenched his fists, about to talk back to him, when the boss cut him short. “Get out of my office.”
Maxie stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind him and almost taking it off its hinges. Another Rocket grunt was hanging out in the hallway, eating some food he probably stole off another grunt. Maxie immediately recognised him as Archie, his partner from his last failed mission. The grunt looked over at him and waved, oblivious to the obvious anger on Maxie’s face. “Oh, hey, it’s you again. Max-something-or-other, yeah?”
Maxie strode up to him and knocked the food out of his hands, grabbing his collar and not even bothering to correct him on what his name was. “YOU. You almost got me fired because of that mission!” Archie stared at him, not knowing what to say for a moment, and then prying Maxie’s hands off him forcefully. “Hey, it wasn’t my fault! The damn pokeball broke, there was nothing I could do about it!”
Maxie scoffed and glared at him. “THAT’S because you threw it so carelessly it went straight towards the ground and smashed. We had ONE chance to impress our boss, Archibold, and you WASTED it!” Archie rolled his eyes. “First of all, it’s Archie, not Archibold. Second of all, who cares about impressing the boss? He’s not gonna fire any grunts anytime soon, because if we get fired, nobody else is gonna join this stupid team.”
Maxie was about to completely lose it and start yelling, but instead took a deep breath and calmed himself. “Alright. Ok. Next time we go on a mission, Archibold, I’ll do all the work. You just…” He put a hand on Archie’s shoulder, “You just try not to mess it up again.” Maxie walked away, trying to mask that he was still angry. Archie watched him as he left, scowling as he picked his food back up from the floor and walked away.