“Tae, thanks for doing this for me.” Seokjin finishes scooping some pellet-shaped Pokefood from a larger plastic container into a smaller one. When the container is full, he places a lid on it and finishes it off by tying a pink string around it to make a bow on top. Smiling at his work, he hands the parcel to Taehyung who quickly places it in his trainer’s bag. “The next time you stop by here, tell me how your Pokemon like the food!”

“Haha, don’t worry, hyung.” Taehyung looks over at his Zigzagoon zipping around the quaint little storefront, sniffing at all the open containers of Pokefood scattered about and taking little nibbles with a smile on his face. “I’m not sure if I’ll even be able to leave.”

“Zigzagoon!” The small, brown Pokemon finds one container of Pokefood in particular that he likes and his ears perk up. Immediately, he zips over to Taehyung and bits at the edge of his pants, pulling him over to the container.

“Nya!” The pink cat, who was peacefully taking a nap on the counter, wakes up angrily and frowns at the Zigzagoon. She jumps off the counter and instinctively stands between the excited Zigzagoon and the large plastic container. “Skitty! Skitty!” The smile on the Zigzagoon’s face immediately turns into a frown and his ears droop close to his face.

“Skitty,” Seokjin calls for his Pokemon to come back to the counter. “It’s fine. Let the poor Zigzagoon eat.  I’ll just make some more later.” He glances back at Taehyung who, similarly to his Zigzagoon, starts running back and forth around the store and sniffing at the open containers. “If you want, I can give you some of that Pokefood too.” He takes an empty plastic container from off the shelf and walks over to the container of Pokefood. “This type of food was actually made specifically for Zigzagoons.” When he gets there, he bends down to give the disappointed Zigzagoon a pat on his head that perks him up again. “I can give it to you on the house since I know you’re just starting out.”

“Really, hyung? That would be great!” The orange-haired trainer freezes in place before running over to Seokjin and practically tackling him in a hug. “When I get over to Rustboro City and challenge the gym leader, I’m gonne dedicate the battle to you! I promise you, I’m gonna win!”

“Zigzagoon! Zigzagoon!” The Pokemon jumps up, too, and then lands on Taehyung’s head.

“Oh! And if your brother comes back before I do, tell him that I’ll be waiting for him! I’m gonna challenge him to a battle too and he better be prepared because I’m gonna win this time!” Seokjin laughs and gives Taehyung a pat on his back before petting the Zigzagoon again.

“Okay, I’ll be sure to tell Kookie that.” He finished packing the Pokefood and then hands it to Taehyung. “But you should get going soon. Rustboro is a day’s travel away and I don’t want you to get there too late.”

“Alright, hyung! But I’ll be back as soon as I get my first gym badge! You’ll be the first one to see it!” Taehyung pats Zigzagoon on his head who then jumps down and scurries around the floor. “Zigzagoon, I’ll race you over to the Rusturf tunnel! Loser has to eat a Rawst berry!” He runs out the door with the Zigzagoon following him. Seokjin thinks he hears a soft “Bye, hyung” from the distance but he isn’t so sure.

“Nya!” Seokjin’s Skitty moves next to the door then with a swing of her tail slams it shut. She walks with her nose high up in the air before moving back to the counter and lounging on her pink pillow next to the register.

“Don’t say that!” Seokjin scolds his Pokemon. “Taehyung and Zigzagoon are really nice!” He walks over to the back corner behind the counter in order to pick up a broom and dustpan to clean up a few of the stray pellets of Pokefood that spilled probably while Zigzagoon was sniffing at the containers. “They’re a little hyper but that’s what makes them really fun to be around.” Skitty turns her head away from Seokjin, as if ignoring him. “Hey! That’s not very nice!” The Skitty doesn’t show any sign of turning back around. “Fine! If you’re gonna act like that then I have some time to catch up with Zigzagoon and tell him about your little cru-“ The Skitty jumps up and runs over to Seokjin.

“Nya! Nya nya nya! Nya!” Her ears droop down but her tail stands straight up.

“Well, then you have to behave. Talking about other people and calling them names isn’t good. I taught you to be better than that so go back to your pillow and think about how you acted, okay?” The Skitty obliges and slowly walks over to the pillow again, this time curling into a ball in shame. Heartbroken, Seokjin walks over to his Skitty and gently pets her back. He hates disciplining his Pokemon but sometimes they really need it. “Just don’t act like that anymore. It’s not nice, okay?” He barely hears a soft “nya” come from the Pokemon before going back to sweeping around the shop.

As he sweeps up the last of the Pokefood, he takes a sigh of relief and runs a hand through his hair to appreciate his work. Placing the broom and dustpan back at the corner of the room, he moves back to his position at the register. But when he gets to the register, the store starts to shake, rustling the shelves on the wall and its contents. Plastic containers begin to topple over and Skitty gets up in surprise, jumping on top of Seokjin’s head. Seokjin instinctively grips onto the counter to maintain his balance then the front door slams open and in walks a pale figure with a mop of mint hair on his head. He is dressed in all black clothes with a large red “R” on his chest.

“Zubat, enough!” The shaking stops and in flies a Zubat flapping its wings. Seokjin, however, pays no attention to the newcomers and instead looks around the room with a frown on his face. Sighing, he moves to get Skitty off his head and then goes to gather the broom and dustpan again. “I am Suga of Team Rocket and I demand you hand over the secret Pokefood you have been developing! Team Rocket would find a lot of use for such Pokefood and-“

“Look what you did.” Seokjin, continuing to ignore the trainer, said as he moves out back to the shelves and picks up fallen PokeBlocks and Pokefood. “You should at least be glad that most of what you knocked over were just PokeBlocks and I can easily sort through them again. If you knocked over the Pokefood, I would never be able to sort anything out and I would have to just throw it all away. Are you done with your stupid monologue? Can you help me clean up the mess you made now?” Suga, frozen in shock, takes a few moments before shaking his head and speaking again.

“No! I am a Team Rocket Grunt and you will bow down to me or else I will have to challenge you to battle! You will not be able to defeat my Zubat!” The Zubat, who looks tired from using Gust earlier, meekly moves forward, not really wanting to battle.

“Really? Do you really want to do that?” Seokjin, exasperated, looks over at Skitty who immediately runs over to his side. “Use Thunderbolt.”

“Nyaaaaaaaa!!!” Skitty become enshrouded buy streaks of electricity before a bolt goes and travels to Suga, striking him right on the head.

“Aaaaaaahhhhhh!”  Skitty stops her attack then returns to her spot on the pillow. Suga then topples to the ground, some remnants of electricity still coursing through him. “What was that for?”

“Well, your Zubat looked tired. You definitely overworked him.” Seokjin retrieves a bowl from a high shelf that didn’t get knocked over then moves over to another container with a Zubat on it. He scoops a couple of pellets in to the bowl then walks over to the Zubat who looks at him warily. Seokjin waits for the Zubat to be comfortable with him before he extends his hand and pets him on the head. The Zubat complies, smiling into the touch and then Seokjin takes a single pellet from the bowl and feeds the tired Zubat. He smiles in return, flying over to the bowl to eat more from it. “Haha slow down. There’s more food if you want it.” He pets the Zubat to get it to stop eating and then moves to place the bowl on the counter so that the Zubat can eat while Seokjin gets back to cleaning. “So now that I defeated you, will you help me clean up your mess?”

Suga looks over at the breeder with narrowed eyes. Then, he looks over at his Zubat and growls, clutching a Pokeball on his belt. He is really frustrated with his traitor of a Zubat and is completely tempted to send it back into its Pokeball so that it won’t get the pleasure of eating that so-called delicious Pokefood.

“Team Rocket listens to nobody, especially good-for-nothing breeders.” Suga crosses his arms over his chest before looking back at his Zubat that is voraciously devouring the Pokefood. “Zubat, come back. We’re leaving!” The Zubat pauses a bit from his eating and lifts his head up to look at Suga.

“Zubat?” He tilts his head in confusion before looking back down at the food and eating with a bright smile on his face.

“Zubat! Come here now!” Suga stomps his foot before tapping it impatiently. The insolent Zubat just ignores him and keeps eating.

“Zubat, come here.” Seokjin calls over the Zubat and he looks up from his food and faces Seokjin with a smile before flying over and perching himself on his shoulder. Seokjin then looks over at Suga with a smirk. “Some good-for-nothing breeder I am, right?” He chuckles before petting the Zubat. “Now will you stop being stupid and help me clean up your mess?” Seokjin lifts up the broom in his hand before throwing it to Suga who immediately catches it with a groan. He lets out a few more mumbles that sound sort of like “this is so stupid” and “Giovanni never had to do this” before going around and sweeping up the floor. Wordlessly and with a smile, Seokjin moves back to his place behind the counter, Zubat still on his shoulder.

--

“Come on Zubat.” Suga whispers at his Pokemon. He trudges on and follows him with a scowl on his face and sleepy eyes. It’s past midnight and they are still awake. Suga managed to find a backdoor entrance to Seokjin’s store so he dragged his Zubat to help him steal some Pokefood. The two are walking past though the foresty part of town so that they could be covered by the trees. They finally reach their destination when they duck down into the bushes.

Suga and the Zubat slowly peak their eyes up over the bushes and see the back of Seokjin’s store with a single door and a window with light coming out from it. From the window, they can see shadows of Seokjin with his Skitty in the kitchen.

“Come on, Skitty. It’s getting late. We should head to be now.” Seokjin’s shadow reaches his arm out and the Skitty’s shadow climbs up the arm to perch up on his shoulder. The shadows them move away from the window and the lights go off.

“Okay, now’s our chance.” Suga quickly, but quietly, jumps out from the bushes with his Zubat before heading to the door. Suga tries to turn the knob to the door but it clicks and doesn’t turn all the way. “Damn it. Of course he would lock it.” He turns to his Zubat hovering next to him. “Zubat! Use Wing Attack!”

The Zubat looks at him hesitantly, as if he doesn’t really want to but then again Suga is still his trainer so he lets out a sigh before his wings light up into a bright silver color and his flies at the lock on the doorknob, completely destroying it. The Zubat’s wings then return to its normal blue and purple and then Zubat perches on the ground, its ears drooping over, as if ashamed of himself.

“Good job, Zubat!” Suga throws a fist pump into the air before putting his opposite hand back onto the doorknob to turn it. It turns completely. “Yes! We’re in!” Slowly, he opens the door to keep it from making any noises and when the door opens fully, he sees a dark shadow looming over him. “Holy shi-” He falls backwards onto his with a groan before the figure lifts its arm up to flick the lights back on.

“Did you really think I would be that stupid?” Seokjin chuckles before bending down to pat the Zubat who now has his head bent down in shame. He takes out a Pokeblock from his pocket and offers it to the Zubat who hesitantly takes a bite before smiling happily again. “And now you broke my lock.” He looks down at Suga with a frown and then sighs. “And unfortunately the locksmith here went on vacation for the summer and won’t be back for a month. “

The Zubat’s ears perk up before drooping down again. “Zubat zu…”

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.” Seokjin bends down again to give the Zubat more reassuring pets. “You didn’t want to do it right? It’s not your fault.” Seokjin then looks over at Suga who barely makes it back on his feet while rubbing his to soothe the pain. “However, it is your fault. And you owe me a new lock so until the locksmith can come back, I think you should stay here at the shop and help out. Then when the locksmith comes, you can pay him to fix the lock. Am I clear?”

“Wait, but why can’t I just give you money and-”

“No buts!” Seokjin holds up a single finger as if to tell him to stop talking. The Zubat then moves up to perch up on Seokjin’s other shoulder, the one that Skitty was not on, before nuzzling its face into Seokjin’s hair. “You will stay here for a month and do whatever I tell you.” Seokjin then turns around to walk back into the shop. “Now I think you should come inside. I have an extra bed that my little brother used to use and if you’re hungry, I have some leftovers from when Skitty and I ate dinner. You’re going to need the energy. You have a long month ahead of you.”

Suga groans but then follows Seokjin into the house.