So Much For Luck

Summary: A Silph Co employee is having a terrible morning. She's spilt coffee all over the place, gotten robbed of money, and of course now she's running late for work. What could possibly make her day any worse? ...Oh, yeah, Team Rocket.

Genre: Crime/Suspense

This is an idea I've entertained for a while. The Silph Co section in the old Red and Blue games always seemed so tense and epic when I played them as a kid. This is written from the Secretary's point of view (the lady in the board room with Silph's President). Also, I know Giovanni doesn't have a Nidoking at this point in the game, but the Nidorino wasn't quite fearsome enough, haha

You can find this story under the same title on fanfiction(dot)net. Feel free to read it there too, if you have an account. My screen name is PurpleArmadillo.

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Wonderful, just wonderful! the Secretary thought grumpily to herself as she climbed out of her car. According to her cell phone, she was running twenty five minutes late no thanks to the gang of troublemakers calling itself Team Rocket. They had been setting up fake 'toll booths' all over the city, stopping people and threatening them until they handed over their money.

Naturally, she just had to run into five of their stupid roadblocks on the way to work.

This was getting ridiculous! More than half of Saffron's residents had fled because of the Rockets, and those who remained were too frightened to leave their homes during the day — nevermind at night. Those criminals were swiftly overtaking the city. There were so many of them now, that even the police force was pretty much powerless.

Slinging her now much lighter bag over her shoulder, she slammed the door, and began walking as fast as her heeled shoes would allow toward the towering building across the parking lot: Silph Corporation's Headquarters in the Kanto region. She wasn't going to let those darn troublemakers scare her away from her job at least.

She wrinkled her nose at the remnants of morning coffee that a bump in the road had spilled all over her brand new dress coat. Great, there went another fifteen hundred Pokédollars out the window. Pulling a packet of tissues out of her purse, she dabbed at the mess.

Oh, yes, this was starting off to be a fantastic day. And to top it all off, the Secretary was pretty sure she was coming down with a cold. She should have called in sick today.

Nevertheless, she offered the best cheerful greeting she could muster as she pushed open the large glass doors, "Morning."

But she had barley stepped over the threshold when she froze, glancing about. The lobby was empty. She frowned. Hmm, that was odd. The front desk was deserted as well. Where was everyone? Something didn't seem right. She threw a nervous look over her shoulder before slowly approaching the stairwell. Of course, she had no reason to worry, she told herself. Maybe they were all at a meeting? Or maybe early lunch? Shaking her head a little, she made her way up the flight of steps.

A small gasp escaped her lips as she arrived on the next floor. Inside the empty cubicles toppled chairs and scattered papers lay everywhere. Several computers sat busted on the floor, staring up at her with dark, cracked faces.

Her legs seemed to move of their own accord. She sped into the nearby elevator and jammed her finger on the button for the top floor. An uncomfortable lump formed in her throat as she waited for the lift to ascend. Her heart raced in her chest.

In hindsight, that was when she probably should have turned around and left the building. Or perhaps called the police with her cell phone, even if they couldn't have done anything. But she wasn't thinking clearly; worst case scenarios kept flitting through her mind, and she felt panic rising inside her despite her best efforts to quell it.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the elevator doors flew open with a soft 'ding', and she hurried down the hallway toward the company board room. Fluorescent lights flickered and buzzed over her head. Glass crunched beneath her feet.

"Hey!" a harsh voice barked, making her jump.

The Secretary whirled about, hopeful for a split second that it might be another Silph employee. But it wasn't. A uniformed man was rushing in her direction, a bright red letter 'R' visible on the front of his black shirt. He scowled menacingly at her and reached a gloved hand for the Pokéballs clipped to his belt.

Oh dear. He had Pokémon. She didn't.

Turning back around, she made another desperate dash for the wooden door at the end of the hall. Luck was on her side for a change, and she managed to grab the handle before the man could stop her. He ceased his pursuit as she flung the door open and scrambled into the spacious room beyond.

The sight that greeted her was not at all what she expected.

A big dinosaur-like monster stood before her on two hind legs. Poisonous spikes covered most of its purple body, and its great thick tail looked strong enough to snap a large tree in half. She watched, both amazed and terrified, as the creature took notice of her and narrowed its eyes. It snarled with a mouth full of fangs.
Curse her rotten luck! Could today possibly get any worse? Yes, apparently it could.

"Ah, so nice of you to join us!" welcomed a smooth male voice she didn't recognize. "Let her through, Nidoking."

The Pokémon growled one last time at her, but did as it was told. With heavy lumbering footsteps it moved out of the way, giving the Secretary a clear view of the board room it had been guarding.

Two people stood around the enormous meeting table. Her boss, the President of the company gazed up at her with wide anxious eyes, his wrinkled face pale. But he wasn't the one who had spoken. She turned her attention to the second man. He was tall with slick black hair, and dressed in an equally dark suit. A red 'R' glinted off a gold lapel pin.

"Please, take a seat," he smirked, gesturing toward the vacant chair beside the President. "You're just in time for my little business proposal."

Oh yes, the Secretary thought, swallowing nervously as she stepped forward. She really should have called in sick today.