"Take a seat, Sonic." Giovanni motioned to the chair opposite him and Sonic hopped into it.
"Nice place you got here." The blue blur narrowed his eyes slightly "How many Pokemon did you steal to get it?" The man lifted the edges of his mouth up in what you would want to call a smile, but something would stop you from being so rash. However, it was hard to put your finger on what it was that stopped you.
"None at all. I inherited it." Giovanni moved forward in his chair slightly "So, you have a problem with my methods?" The boss narrowed his eyes "Can I conclude from that, that you will have difficulty following my orders?"
"I guess you could say that, but I don't even see why you'd bother trying to order me in the first place." Sonic lounged in his chair comfortably, arrogantly.
"You belong to Team Rocket and Team Rocket belongs to me, I am Team Rocket, which means you're mine." Giovanni looked faintly smug, but Sonic just raised an eyebrow.
"I don't belong to anyone, Jessie, James and Meowth are my friends. We have a mutual understanding. They don't own me and neither do you. No one could own me if they tried." This time Sonic looked smug, but his smile faded when he caught a glimpse of the fat cat's calculating look. It quickly disappeared, although it was still very much the hedgehog's focus as he called Team Rocket back in.
"I have one last job for you and if you do it right, you can have a holiday. A break from your hard work." Giovanni revealed, but then his eyes focused on Meowth "I will even give you a taster of what it's like to be Top Cat. If you impress me in the post, I might consider it as a permanent upgrade." He added and Sonic saw the pursian's eyes flash with annoyance; its tail twitched in slight protest, but Meowth looked as if he was about to collapse with joy. He was completely speechless while Jessie and James jumped up and down, yelling about a holiday.
"What's their job?" Sonic asked suspiciously and Team Rocket snapped to attention as Giovanni began to reply.
"That's none of your business." He told him coldly "You can stand outside if you want. I don't see why you'd be here if you're not going to co-operate." Sonic flashed him a grin.
"Well, at least you took it well." He teased and disappeared from the room within a blink of an eye.
"He's not co-operating?" Meowth blinked, surprised "I can talk to him if you like, sir, I can change his mind."
"No." Giovanni patted the pursians head "Go and bring me the sample brief case." The large cat gave a small growl as it jumped up and moved out of the room via another door while Giovanni looked back at his subjects. "The Pokemon you brought, Sonic, would be a good addition to my collection, but he's not loyal and I think he'd be more troublesome than he's worth in his current state." The pursian came back in with a black brief case hanging from its jaws like a dead animal. It handed it to its master, who took it and opened it up on his desk "However, I have a solution. Your task is very simple." He showed them what the case held and they all took a sharp breath, but said nothing. "Convince him to wear it. I'd trick him if I were you, but you seem to know him better, so you decide. As soon as I've made a few adjustments to it, your task begins."
"Yes sir, Giovanni."
"Sonic!" Meowth called. He was out on the grounds, looking puffed and a little disappointed. The hedgehog had been napping on the roof, but he couldn't nap when his name was being called like that.
"Over here!" Sonic gave a little wave and Meowth turned. At first, he couldn't see anything, but then he looked up and his sharp eyes locked onto him. "What's up?"
"We need to talk!" The cat yelled up to him and Sonic gave a sigh. He'd have to get up now, but he didn't feel like it much. Reluctantly, he slid off the roof and jumped down, landing squarely on the floor. Meowth ran over to him and tutted "I thought you'd ran off."
"I did."
"I meant, for good." The lucky charm on the cats forehead glinted as he looked up at Sonic "Why won't you get on with the boss?"
"Where I come from, we don't tolerate fat cats with twisted minds." Sonic narrowed his eyes slightly, but then relaxed "Anyway, what's up?" He repeated "Have you found a way to get me back?" Meowth grunted.
"You just made that twice as hard for me to do, disagreeing with Giovanni like that. You'll have to wait until after I've completed the mission he gave us. We're supposed to go out tomorrow morning." The cat sighed "I still can't believe I promised to do this for you. It's going to be hard and you've got to try and behave yourself, or it'll be impossible."
"Why don't you tell me what it is? I can help you." Sonic persuaded, but Meowth hesitated.
"I'll tell you if you do something for me." He decided after a moment "I was looking for you because I don't think we're going to pass this mission and Jessie wants to give you a make over." Sonic blanched and the cat purred, amused "I thought you'd be like that, but it makes her happy, and I don't know when we'll next get a chance to be happy again, not like this. So do it for her and I'll tell you." Sonic scowled grumpily.
"Fine, but no dresses."
"He'll do it?" Jessie beamed "Yay!" Then she stood up seriously and pointed a finger at him "Prepare for style!"
"We'll make it worth your while!" James skidded into view, whipping a rose from hammer space.
"To protect Sonic from being bare!"
"To unite the clothing here and there..." James pointed casually as they switched position.
"To denounce the fashions in our path!"
"To extend the lining beyond the calf!"
"Jessie," She whipped out a baddass looking costume, close to gothic, and held it out proudly.
"James!" He pulled a beautiful fabric from his sleeve like a magic trick and it fluffed out into an extravagant dress. He added his rose to it as a finishing touch and winked.
"Team Rocket, flashing the fashion of tonight!"
"Wear it now, or prepare to fight!" They looked at Meowth expectantly, but he didn't play ball.
"He won't wear dresses." The cat pointed towards James, who gasped in horror, his face falling rapidly as Jessie jumped into the air excitedly.
"That means mine's first!" She squealed and ripped Sonic off his feet "Let's go!"
"Ah, ok, but wait-! Meowth, don't leave meee!" He called as he was dragged away. Sonic was shoved into a changing room and Jessie slammed the clothes on him so hard he was surprised that they didn't rip.
"Ah, perfect!" She cried suddenly "Now for a finishing touch..." The woman pulled out a choker and whipped it around Sonics neck, but as soon as she did it up, she flew backwards and spasmed.
"Jessie!" James ran to her side, appearing from nowhere "Are you ok?"
"Yes." She gasped, sitting up "I just got electricuted by that stupid collar. I guess the boss forgot to warn us about that."
"The boss?" Sonic put his hand up to the collar, but before he could touch it a wave of electricity shot through him and he brought his hand away. "You tricked me!"
"It's nothing personal." Jessie grinned slightly as she stood up "Bosses orders, since you didn't seem so friendly to him."
"I won't work for him." The hedgehog snarled and tried to run past them, but his collar became activated by the movement and he collapsed heavily to the floor with a grimace, waiting for the electric tremors to end. "I won't." He repeated as two shadows loomed over him.
"You will, Sonic, because I own you." The blue blur gasped and rolled over to look up at the heavily built man and the cheeky faced Meowth. "You're mine."
"No one owns me." Sonic spat "I'm not a Pokemon. You can't own me!" Giovanni smiled and grabbed the choker, pulling the hedgehog off the ground to face him in the air, where he dangled helplessly.
"You can't run unless I say so. You can't leave unless I say so. That sounds like ownage to me." He pulled Sonic so that they were face to face "And you are a Pokemon, because I can do this." And he threw Sonic into the air, but before the blue creature could land, a pokeball sucked him into darkness.
