The Life List

	Marsh quickly grabbed his meal, eager to be with his friends. He averted his eyes 
from the loners sitting all by their lonesome. He always felt empathetic when he caught 
their eyes. Not that he would invite them to sit with him. His table was always packed to 
the max with friends. They were all in their usual table in the left corner. He took the 
empty seat near Peanut. He had a hunch she had saved it for him. His pretty brown –eyed 
friend smiled when he sat down.
	“Sup” he asked.
	“Nothing,” moaned Todd. “Meals are still as gross as ever.” To prove his point he 
dangled a piece of watery spinach from his fork. Tony made retching sounds and tipped 
his chair over.
	“You know that’s sick dontcha Tony,” Peanut said cheerfully. 
	“Why else do you think I do it?”
	They all laughed and Marsh felt the weight of this morning being lifted off his 
shoulders. Lunch was always a much needed break from training with Sergeant Carson. 
Peanut responded by slapping him in the arm and she and Tony began a verbal abuse 
fight. 
	Marsh stared fondly at Peanut, so did Jake. That was nothing new; Jake was 
constantly flirting with her. Jake was handsome enough with light blue hair and very long 
legs. It was sad how he was born. De Witt had decided that there was not enough TR 
members so he had had some born. Hundreds of women were chosen to give birth. The 
plan could have worked if he hadn’t tried to genetically alter them. Only few survived 
Jake being one of them. 
	“Ouch!” screeched Peanut as Tony stomped on her foot. “Shit, that fucking hurt!”
	It cracked Marsh up how Peanut talked. She was a small girl with long brown hair 
and brown eyes. She was pretty in a cute, perky way but she cursed more than any guy in 
TR. She was raised in and orphanage and later joined TR. The whereabouts of the 
nickname Peanut were unknown. As far as Marsh could tell she wasn’t that found of nuts.  
He had the slightest crush on her and he thought she felt the same way. Out of all his 
friends she was the closest to him and Marsh assumed when the time came they would be 
partners. 
	After Peanut stopped complaining about her foot she brought up the partnership, 
which Marsh had been thinking of. 
	“Can you believe that in a week’s time we get our partners? I mean how fucking 
awesome is that?”
	“Way fucking awesome,” teased Marsh. She elbowed him and he grinned. 
	“Me and Marsh are gonna be partners. It will be way cool, eh?”
	Marsh couldn’t help noticing the tiniest trace of jealousy on Jake’s face. He gave 
him a sympathetic smile but Jake turned away. 
	“Don’t worry,” said Amber dryly. “I’m sure someone will be your partner Jakey.”
	“Bitch,” mumbled Peanut under her breath. That was the truth. Amber had forced 
her way into their group. She was cold-hearted and cruel. She also seemed amazingly 
jealous of Peanut. She shared the same sad story as Jake, however.
	Todd scratched at his wrist. He was the newest of the group, only having been in 
TR for a month he was not used to the small metal chip inserted under his wrist. When 
you joined Team Rocket it was put in your skin. On it was a code. The code was like 
your name and all your information was under that number in De Witt’s computer. 
Marsh’s number was CH7784. 
	“Guys,” said Tony “we have to go.”
	Marsh jumped up, Carson had big problems with late people. 


	De Witt studied his reflection in his mirror. As a boy he had been awkward. Pale 
and narrow, knobby knees; well look at him now. Tall and strong his light brown hair 
was combed back and his slim glasses were polished. He noted the stubble on his chin, he 
would shave it tonight. Now, however, he had more important things to tend to. Fred 
Shoshane for example. No one had ever refused an assignment and to think that Fred had 
been the first. He and his wife had always been so reliable. Was it that they were having 
second thoughts about Saidee? It couldn’t be. They cared not for their children. But De 
Witt had never had any. Maybe there really was nothing stronger than a mother’s love. 
He laughed at the idea. There was nothing stronger than an alliance to Team Rocket, but 
still this was something to watch.

	“Team Rocket agents,” announced the burly looking man “must have strong 
Pokemon! Right?”
	“Yes, sir,” chorused eight children, Marsh being one of them. Carson continued 
speaking but Marsh tuned him out. He was eager for the Pokemon battles to begin. His 
Geodude was getting stronger with every passing day and soon it would evolve.
	“Herman!” shouted Carson “what does a Team Rocket agent need?”
	“A strong Pokemon, sir,” responded Marsh.
	“Good, Herman, at least someone’s paying attention.”
	Marsh turned around and rolled his eyes at Peanut. She grinned back and imitated 
Caron’s overly serious face.
	“Miss. Peanut,” interrupted Carson “is this boring for you?”
	“No, sir!” 
	“Good, you can battle first.”
	“Peanut, Mamoru, please enter the battle area.”
	They both entered and walked to opposite sides. Each selected a pokeball. Peanut 
made a big deal of choosing a pokeball, though Marsh knew she only had 2. She 
eventually called out her Raticate. It easily defeated Mamoru’s pokemon and a few 
battles later it was Marsh’s turn. Wouldn’t you know it he was against Aaron. Aaron was 
the son of a former TR member and he assumed that should make him superior to the 
other members. The sad truth was he had no talent as a Pokemon trainer and none as a 
Rocket. 
	“So, Bog,” he taunted “ready to lose.”
	Marsh groaned at his pathetic insult. That wasn’t even worth responding to. Just 
because bog was a synonym of Marsh didn’t make it funny. 
	“Whasamatter, swamp-boy? Chicken?”
	Swamp- boy? C’mon. “Look, Aaron,” he said “at least insult me intelligently.”
	Aaron winked and smoothed back his indigo hair. He thought he was god’s gift to 
the ladies. Sadly, none of the girls did anything to dispel this. 
	In one smooth motion he released his Ekans. Marsh did the same thing, 
considerably less show-offy though. His Geodude faced the Ekans and almost 
immediately Aaron called out a command. 
	“Tackle!”
	The tackle hit Geodude square on and he went flying. Geodude managed to get up 
but not before he was hit with a poison sting attack.
	“Hah!” exclaimed Aaron.
	“That was a cheap shot!” exclaimed Marsh. “Carson hadn’t even commanded us 
to start yet.”
	“Awww is little bayou sad cuz I went to fast?”
	What, did this guy memorize all the synonyms in the thesaurus? This was 
seriously getting annoying. “Let’s just battle.”
	“Fine by me. Ekans tackle.”
	This time Marsh was ready, “dodge.”
	Geodude agilely moved out of the way. “Quick attack!” he commanded. Geodude 
easily sent Ekans flying it hit the wall. 
	“Tackle it against the wall!”
	Any decent trainer would have gotten his Ekans out of the way but Aaron only 
watched stupidly as she was smashed against the wall. 
	“Aaron,” Carson yelled “get that Pokemon to the nurse and next time try to be a 
little smarter in battle.”
	Aaron’s face was red as he called back his Pokemon. He stomped back towards 
the group mumbling profanity. Peanut came up to Marsh. 
	“Nice,” she said.
	Aaron walked up to her. “I hope you don’t think he won on talent.”
	Peanut shrugged “luck, talent, either way he kicked your ass.” Marsh and a few 
others laughed.  
	Aaron did not flush. He always seemed to be able to keep his composure around 
girls. “Thank you for those words of wisdom, Peanut. I will take them to my heart.”
	He flashed a smile that made the girls around her melt. “Just as I wish I had your 
heart.”
	Peanut remained unmoving.  “Please stop bugging me. I do not, nor will I ever 
like you. So I would appreciate it if you would shut the hell up.”
	He smirked “denial.”
	She glared at him and he backed away. Marsh and Peanut watched more battles 
and eventually Carson dismissed them for their 30 minute break. He and Peanut walked 
down the hall together. Jake (who was also under command of Carson) was talking to 
someone farther back, so it was just Marsh and Peanut. 
	Marsh glanced at Peanut’s hand and for a fleeting moment Marsh imagined 
grabbing it. He caught her eye and they both blushed. Peanut broke the silence. 
	“So ummm are we- I mean were being partners, right?
	“Duh!”
	Peanut looked immediately relieved. “Good, cause I don’t wanna end up with 
some loser like Aaron.”
	“He likes you, ya know.”
	“Gee, why not just add hey the sky is blue, while your at it1”
	“Do you like him?”
	“No!” however, her face turned bright red and she looked away from Marsh. 
	“You do?” he said with a sinking feeling in his stomach. 
	“No, I like someone else…”
	Please let it be me, please! But out loud he said “well, we can pick each other 
tomorrow when we choose.” 
	“Yep…”
	The subject was closed.

	Marsh leaned back against the shower wall and let a stream of hot water hit him. 
Any moment his roommate would fling open the shower door and demand that he got 
out. Still sharing a room with one guy was better than sharing a room with nine, which 
was what he had to do when he was a newbie. 
	He scrubbed his hair with the soap and steeped out of the shower.  His roommate 
had already stripped and was waiting by the door.
	“Sorry, bout that.”
	Louis shrugged. He was a gangly boy with blonde hair that stuck out in all 
different places. As of now Marsh could see all of his body. Actually they were both 
completely naked. For the first few weeks Marsh had been embarrassed about undressing 
in front of all the boys, but he got used to it. Because the girls and boys quarters were 
separated some guys would occasionally walk around the halls completely naked.
	Marsh dressed in a pair of boxer shorts and laid down on his bed. He didn’t feel 
like going to dinner tonight. Too much to think about. In a weeks time they would receive 
their partners. Then they would stick together their whole career in TR. He hoped it was 
Peanut, god he hoped it was Peanut. 
	He yawned and prepared to fall asleep. Today, he begged silently, give me dreams 
of Peanut, not of my father. He touched the simple gold cross on his neck. Every night he 
had been cursed with dreams of his father. Drunken and abusive, swaggering about 
hurting him and his mom.  He had tried to tell the police, no one had listened. Not even 
when he had caused his mother to lose her baby. Shoving her down the stairs, hurting her, 
real, real bad. That had been the last straw. Marsh had run away joined TR and been fine 
ever since. He still had a scar over his left eye where his dad had thrown a vase at him.
	As always he kissed his necklace, the cross was the last thing he had left to 
remember his mother and his old life.
	“Christ,” he said “Let my ma be okay, let me and Peanut become partners and 
protect me whilst I sleep.”
	He soon drifted to sleep and didn’t hear his roommate climb out of the shower, or 
leave for dinner. Because tonight Christ had granted his wish and his dreams were 
filled with Peanut.


Disclaimer- Idon’townpkmn

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So what did you think? Please review. I dunno I was kind of disappointed with that chapter. 
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