[attr="class","ROCKET3"]

I.

choices, decisions, so many and yet none were ever given to him. father wasn't home much, constantly working and when he wasn't the visits were not pleasant. gone for long periods of time with no explanation, mother always said it was for work; business trips to celadon, mahogany, saffron, it didn't take long for the boy to catch on. he was scared, concerned about his future, the looming threat of being forced into a shady organization that he couldn't seem to escape, no matter how much he argued, no matter how much he begged. he had a fairly normal childhood, ecruteak proved to have many distractions for a child; the kimono dance theater, bellchime trail, and even the bell tower. he was a simple kid, a happy one, one that despite knowing what the future held kept a positive outlook in life.[break][break]

being positive and optimistic was something he learned from mother, who despite knowing of the things father did chose to stay, albeit out of fear or worse. between the two of them they were happy, they could pretend to live a normal life; she'd walk him to school every morning, pick him up, stop at the park to admire and just watch. it was a good childhood, almost perfect when father wasn't around. and for the longest time he thought it would always be like this, that things would stay this happy.[break][break]

II.

he was wrong. dragged away when he was thirteen to a city in kanto, saffron most likely. he was kept in a house that was more of a compound of sorts, isolated from everyone else. it was here that the blackburn child was trained, was molded into becoming something he was not. father had a reputation to keep and would not tolerate failure. every misstep, every accident would provoke a punishment; less food, less sleep, more training, more breaking. father could not offer a weak child to rocket, he was determined to give them the best.[break][break]

the best was not achievable, not within a year at least. but still father tried his best, and the boy came out of it different. tell someone something enough times and they'll believe it. rocket was drilled into him, implanted into his core. their ideals, goals, and motto resonated with him. being a blackburn son meant high expectations, immediately setting him apart from the other recruits. the braviary from father helped too. but still, he wasn't the best out of them, not even close.[break][break]

despite all that has happened to the boy he still remained the same, he was still kind-hearted, still optimistic, just a bit more aggressive. being in rocket meant getting income, and in turn it meant that mother would be taken care of.[break][break]

father's disappointed, the blackburn son lacked behind, not among the first few of the recruits to get promoted. who could blame him, one of those promoted had a charizard.[break][break]

III.

curiosity turned into so much more. he was always wary of her, not pushing yet not giving up either. a situation presented itself where he went in head first without hesitation and saved the one person that mattered the most to her. that was when things changed.[break][break]

through stories he would get to know her, to understand her, asking questions whenever he needed to and soon enough their relationship grew into something worthwhile, something to motivate him further. it worked out in the end for father too, so he did not complain. the boy got stronger, and together with her by his side they reached ranks he never expected to reach.[break][break]

years fly by, he's happy, she's happy, things are decent, maybe rocket wasn't such a bad life after all. then came the incident, he warned her that something was wrong, that it is just a bit too convenient. his words didn't go through to her and so he rushed over to the scene; flames scorched the building, black smoke rising through the air but that didn't stop him. he charged in head first, desperate in his attempts to find her, to save her. memories of what happened exactly was foggy, but the next thing he could remember was waking up in an infirmary, burn wounds scorched parts of his upper back and arm. they told him she died in the fire.[break][break]

without her nor his team he had nothing left to keep him in rocket. he wanted to leave, he was going to, until father stopped him, reminded him of his goals and his ideals, bringing back the memories of training that made him who he was today. so he stayed, a part of him activated that just made him unable to tear away from rocket. it was like a switch, it was that easy. he was demoted back down to grunt due to his lack of pokemon, forced to start over, to rise again.[break][break]

but this time he was alone.