Awhile ago, I drew a Team Rocket grunt for @pettyartist awesome nuzlocke comic! However, I have since deleted the blog I submitted it in, so I’m pretty sure the original post no longer exists. So I decided to re-draw and revamp my character because I think I’ve improved a lot since then!
Just for reference, this was the original drawing:
And here she is now!
Wow. I feel like Maya really needed this reboot. I’m proud with how it came out!!
I remember having some fun facts in the original post, so…
Maya hates wearing the uniform hat. She thinks it’s ugly and refuses to wear it at times.
Ari actually loves the hats though. Well… she loves stealing and hoarding them from other grunts...
Maya got herself banned from going on any stealth missions.
Ari’s shockingly good thieving skills are the only reason Maya is even still in Team Rocket.
According to her, Maya joined Team Rocket because it “seemed like fun”.
Alright! I guess I’m just about done here. This was fun to do!
So, like I promised, I wrote a companion piece for my Rocket Grunt for @pettyartist‘s Nuzlocke updates. Hope it helps to add depth to him. If not...at least I gave my writing muscles some exercise for the first time in a while.
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Grigori exhales and rubs his eyes. He's been awake for almost two whole days now, and he knows he's not getting any sleep soon. Not with that pesky Locke running around, interfering with Team Rocket's plans.
At least, that's how his superiors describe it.
Grigori himself has long since stopped caring much about what goes on with Team Rocket, so long as he continues to get paid. His family, who have relocated to Fuchsia City, may be in a bit of a better situation, but they're still barely scraping by without the payments he sends home. He had been horrified when one of his fellow grunts had revealed to him that Cinnabar had erupted, but the news of his family's safety eased that feeling somewhat.
Still, it was rather heartbreaking to hear that the place he had been born and raised no longer existed. He sometimes wonders how many people didn't make it off, but those thoughts are quickly shaken away.
The less he thinks about that, the better.
He turns to look at his three Pokemon, who are all sleeping soundly. Even Smokey, who never sleeps easy, seems to be doing so right now. Jefferson is spewing gentle clouds of smoke as she snores, which, strangely, doesn't flood the room with noxious gas; Grigori figures it's because of the immensely lower usage of energy, but he doesn't know for sure. Pan is the most obnoxious, his snores making it hard for Grigori to concentrate much.
He pours himself a cup of coffee, yawning. Things in Goldenrod are beginning to come to a head; soon, Archer will order the takeover of the Radio Tower, and it will be up to all members stationed there to storm the building. Even the lower grunts will be expected to pull their weight. Grigori himself isn't much more than a grunt, but he's somehow found himself promoted to hiring new recruits. Still, that duty will take a back seat to the takeover.
Grigori still remembers the day he joined Team Rocket. He was away from home, visiting Celadon City to pick something up from the Celadon Department Store. While there, he noticed a flier for an organization that promised a lucrative career. Instantly, his mind had gone to his family, who were not doing so well financially.
He had walked into the Game Corner and spoken to the ladies at the counter regarding the flier. He was instructed to wait a few moments, which he did, before he was approached by a man in a black outfit that had a large red “R” plastered across the front of its shirt. The man led him into a back room and gave him an interview. It was short; as soon as Grigori had mentioned that he needed the money to help support his family, the man told him he was happy to accept him into the organization.
Though surprised by this no-questions-asked hiring, Grigori was excited to finally be able to assist his family back in Cinnabar. He was given his outfit, and was instantly posted to the Game Corner as a Pokemon handler. He was in charge of tending to the Pokemon kept as prizes, and giving them to the people who had accrued the necessary amount of coins to get them.
He'd had no idea back then just how awful this business was, and he didn't find out until right after Giovanni had given the order for Team Rocket to disband. He should've realized how bad it was right away, he supposes, given the complete hesitance and shock that the Pokemon exhibited towards him. They were used to being mistreated and neglected, and so were so surprised when he showed them care and a gentle hand.
It was at that point that he had become incredible disillusioned with his organization.
Regardless, he'd stuck around when Executives Archer and Ariana had ordered all grunts to the Sevii Isles, figuring that his family still needed the help.
He sighs, looking at Smokey again. It's so ironic, really; he'd rescued this mighty Ursaring in the Viridian Forest as a Teddiursa who'd lost his mother to poachers, and yet he went on to join a group that had a penchant for mistreating Pokemon. He considers himself a hypocrite for this, even though he'd had no idea at the time. He often asks Smokey if he's mad at him for doing so, but Smokey always denies it.
Whether he does this just to ease his trainer's mind or if it's genuine, Grigori has no idea.
Smokey is far more beaten up than any of his other Pokemon, possessing scars across his chest from the poachers' attempts to kill him along with his mother, along with partial blindness in his right eye from the same event. A few of his teeth are broken from battling, since he possesses such an unbridled fury that sometimes frightens his trainer. Grigori knows that Smokey tries to restrain his temper, but it doesn't always work, especially when the battle gets heated.
Jefferson is a very relaxed Weezing. Most individuals of her species suffer from horrible stress and inability to control their unstable cores, resulting in Explosion being far more common than it should be. Through whatever means she refuses to divulge, she's able to relax much easier, and she has a far better grip on her core, reserving her Explosion for a last-ditch effort. She is also a mother to many of the other grunts' Koffing, though Grigori doesn't understand how, whether it's legitimate or just figuratively.
Pan was Grigori's first-ever Pokemon, having received him as a Sandshrew when he was much younger. They've been through a lot together, and Pan never stops giving his trainer a hard time. He's lazy, unless the job absolutely needs to be done, at which point he'll get his rear in gear. He also eats a lot, even more than Smokey, and many of Grigori's fellow grunts will often place bets on just how much Pan will eat in one sitting.
The coffee doesn't go down smoothly, but Grigori figures it's better than struggling to stay awake on willpower alone. The reason he's been up for two days straight, aside from the impending operation, is because he's been tasked with pulling in as many new recruits as possible to assist in said operation. This means nonstop, 'round-the-clock work on recruiting.
He's been able to pull in various people, ranging from ordinary folks to individuals with shady backgrounds. He'd rather not associate with the latter, since being part of this wicked organization is bad enough already, but he's been told to accept anyone and everyone willing to join up, so he has no say in the matter.
He almost doesn't hear the other person entering the room until they accidentally bump into a chair. He turns to see another grunt, one who's been around a couple of months now. This grunt is a young man, a couple years older than Grigori himself, who has been a surprisingly hard worker. It's rare for new recruits to work as hard as this one, and it's gained him some notability throughout the grunt ranks.
“Jeez, Greg,” he says, scratching his head, “you're like a machine. How the hell do you manage to stay awake for so long?”
“The coffee helps,” Grigori says, his accent soft with the low volume of his voice (it's usually thicker, but not to the point where it's hard to understand him). “This is the longest I've been awake in some time. The last time I was awake for a long time, Cinnabar had just erupted.”
“Yikes. I don't know how you haven't just fallen over, even with the coffee helping you. I've never been awake longer than twenty-four hours before, so I'd fail miserably to stay awake as long as you have.”
“Boss' orders this time. I have been recruiting more and more people for the assault on the Radio Tower.”
“Right, right,” the other grunt says, pouring himself a cup of coffee. “Archer sure knows how to plan big, doesn't he?”
Grigori heaves a dry chuckle and says, “I suppose he does. He believes we will succeed and bring Giovanni back to our group.”
“What do you think?”
“Personally? Stranger things have happened in this world. We may be able to pull it off.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” the other grunt says after downing his coffee in one gulp. “Well, I got the boost I needed from that. I think. I'll leave you to...do whatever it is you're doing.”
Grigori waves to the grunt as he leaves, then turns his attention to his tablet. He opens his e-mail program, checking to see if he's missed anything recently, only mildly pleased to discover he hasn't. He sighs and puts it down, then finishes off his cup of coffee before pouring a new one.
He's about to press it to his lips when the announcement rings out.
“Attention, all personnel: the operation is now being launched. I repeat: the operation is now being launched. Everyone report for duty at once.”
Petrel's voice is loud and clear, and it rouses Grigori's Pokemon from their slumber. They each look at their trainer, who nods and recalls them to their balls. He gulps down as much of his coffee as he can manage and then heads out.
Grigori is unsure of what will happen in the coming hours. He does not know whether they'll succeed, he does not know how long it will go on for, and he does not know if Locke will show up to spell the end for their plans.
At this point, he no longer cares.
He simply has to hope that, should the trainer show up to stop them, he can stall her for long enough to make sure that Giovanni receives the message and returns.
Despite all that this group has done, and despite his lack of faith in them, he still needs this job.
Sorry for it being almost late, @pettyartist, but here are the Rocket Grumps that we talked about in the last stream. This was a lot of fun to do, so I might actually do the others (Ross, Barry, Suzy, Kevin, Brian, Jon, Holly) at some point in the future.
Headcanon for this AU is that these grunts don’t actually fight, they just use Team Rocket equipment to make their internet show. They often get in trouble for recording when they’re supposed to be working. Rocket!Dan has a Ponyta, of course, and Rocket!Arin has a Beedrill.
Apparently @pettyartist is still adding Grunts to her comic so I wanted to give it a try. Meet Wade and his Houndour Elmer.
Wade does this job only because he needed the money but to be honest he isn’t really that great at being a grunt. Or at wearing his uniform. Or at shaving. Seriously that guy’s a mess.
Next to him we have Elmer. Elmer isn’t that smart and he likes to eat. And that’s honestly all there is to this dork. But Wade still loves him.
This is a Rocket grunt that I originally came up with for my own Nuzlocke, but I really like his design and he only appears like twice. So here ya' go, Petty!
He is very much a job grunt, the type who doesn't raise a fuss about you passing him after you beat him. Low on he Rocket ladder, this is the kind of guy who usually gets picked to guard doors or posters, mostly because he looks mean enough to scare off regular citizens, but isn't valuable enough to keep close to the admins. Generally apathetic, but tends to get worked up whenever he is physically drawn into a conflict (he gets his nose broken in my comic).
Feel free to put him in a more tradition Rocket uniform if ya' want. He's not one to complain about that kind of thing. Also, sorry, I haven't bothered to name him. If he needs a name, feel free to give him something boring.
