Pokémon: Silent Vow

The night before everything changed, Kai stood on the edge of the ruined orphanage, staring into the hollow remains of what was once his home. The charred wood still smelled of old smoke, and the wind howled through the broken beams like a ghost mourning its past. This place had shaped him—both the boy he used to be and the man he had become.

Tomorrow, he would become something else entirely.

A Team Rocket recruit.

Kai: The Boy Who Was Left Behind

Kai never knew where he came from. The orphanage was the only home he had ever known. In the early days, before everything went to hell, he had been a normal child. He laughed, he cried, he played with the other orphans.

And then, one day, the beating happened.

A group of older kids, jealous of his sharp mind and fast reflexes, had cornered him in the courtyard. They had been relentless—punches and kicks rained down on him until the world blurred. The last thing he remembered was the sharp crack of a wooden plank against the side of his head.

When he woke up, the world was silent.

No voices. No laughter. No sound at all. The world had stolen his hearing.

At first, the silence terrified him. He panicked whenever someone spoke to him, unable to understand. He cried himself to sleep every night, feeling alone even in a room full of people. But then, he adapted. He learned to read lips. He trained his eyes to see what others missed. He became sharper, more observant—and in some ways, he gained more than he had lost.

But he also learned something else: in this world, the weak were devoured.

His Secret: A Gift or a Curse?

There was another reason people feared Kai. He was different. He could manifest objects from thin air—a knife when he needed one, a rope when he had to escape. But the power was unreliable, appearing only in moments of desperation.

He had once tried to show it to Cynthia, the only person he trusted, but she had only given him a sad smile.

"Kai, if people find out about this, they won't see you as special. They'll see you as dangerous."

And so, he kept it hidden. Another secret, buried deep inside him.

Cynthia: The Only Light in His Life

If the orphanage had been his prison, Cynthia had been his only escape. She was everything he wasn't—kind, hopeful, and endlessly strong. She always believed she would escape the orphanage, and she never let Kai wallow in despair.

She was the one who pulled him up when he fell. She was the one who made him believe in something better. She was the only one who never looked at him with pity.

But fate was cruel.

Cynthia was leaving.

She had been scouted by the Pokémon League, recognized for her talent and potential. She would go on to become the Champion of Sinnoh. And Kai? Kai had nothing. No money. No Pokémon of his own. No future.

She was walking toward the light, and he was sinking into the shadows.

The morning of their departure, Kai met Cynthia by the orphanage gates. She had her bag packed, Pokéballs at her belt, and that fire in her eyes that told him she was ready to take on the world.

He was ready, too—but for a different path.

She knew.

She always knew.

"You don't have to do this, Kai," she said, her voice tight. "There's always another way."

"No," he said simply. "There isn't."

He was deaf, he was poor, and he had no Pokémon. The League wouldn't even look at him. But Team Rocket would. They didn't care where you came from—only what you could do.

What was Team Rocket afterall!??

It was the biggest criminal organization to ever exist. So big that Even the League couldn't get rid of it completely and could only keep them at bay. 

Team Rocket was never just a gang—it was an empire. A vast, intricate web of criminals, scientists, and enforcers who operated in the shadows, controlling more than the world realized. They weren't just thieves stealing Pokémon from trainers. They were puppet masters pulling strings behind the scenes, manipulating markets, influencing League decisions, and experimenting on Pokémon to create power beyond natural limits.

For people like Kai—those abandoned by society, those without money, without privilege—Team Rocket was more than just an organization. It was an escape. A place where no one cared about your past, your weaknesses, or whether you were "worthy" like the League demanded. The only thing that mattered was what you could do.

Their promise was simple: Serve, survive, rise.

For Kai, joining Team Rocket wasn't a choice born from ambition. It was necessity. The Pokémon League had no room for people like him—deaf, poor, broken. The world had closed its doors on him, but Team Rocket had left theirs wide open Cynthia clenched her fists. "Then let me help you. I have a place in the League now—I can find a way to—"

"Stop."

His voice was cold, but inside, he was breaking. If she helped him now, she would be dragged down with him. He couldn't let that happen.

Cynthia's shoulders shook. He had never seen her cry before—not once. But today, her golden eyes were shimmering with unshed tears.

"You're the most important person in my life, Kai," she whispered. "And I never even told you."

Kai exhaled, steadying himself. He wanted to say something—anything—but what good would it do now? They had already chosen their paths.

So instead, he reached out and pulled her into an embrace.

She clung to him desperately, like she was afraid to let go.

"Promise me something," she whispered. "Promise me that one day, you'll find a way out."

Kai didn't answer. He didn't make promises he couldn't keep.

Instead, he stepped back, turned around, and walked away.

He never looked back.

He walked in, knowing full well that once inside, there was no turning back.

And thus every month, Kai wondered if Cynthia still thought of him.

Did she regret not saving him? Did she still remember the boy who once stood beside her? Did she ever look up at the night sky and wonder if he was still out there?

He didn't know.

But he knew one thing:

He had chosen this path. And no matter how much regret weighed him down, he would walk it to the end.

The Road Into Darkness

Team Rocket accepted him with open arms. His sharp eyes, his silence, his ability to see more than anyone else—they valued it all.

He rose through the ranks quickly, proving himself as someone who could get the job done. He learned to kill. He learned to survive.

But he never learned how to forget.

Every month, he returned to the burned ruins of the orphanage. He stood among the graves of those he couldn't save, whispering silent apologies to the wind.

"All of this had happened because of that one cursed mission I chose to take that day."

The Mission That Changed Everything

Kai had never intended for the orphanage to burn. He had never meant for those children—his only family—to die screaming in the flames.

It had all started with a simple mission. One mission. One mistake. One irreversible disaster.

He had joined Team Rocket because he had no choice. The League wouldn't accept him, and poverty had left him with no future. He was given a test—a job to prove himself. A standard reconnaissance mission, they called it. Find a man. Retrieve an item. Get out.

But nothing ever went as planned.

The moment he stepped into the target's hideout, he knew something was wrong. There were too many guards, too many secured doors, too many eyes watching. His instincts screamed at him to leave.

But he didn't. He had to prove himself. He had to show Team Rocket that he wasn't weak.

So he pressed forward.

And then, everything went to hell.

A silent alarm. An ambush. The target wasn't just some petty smuggler—he was a former Rocket scientist who had defected, someone the higher-ups wanted erased. The mission wasn't about retrieval. It was an assassination.

Kai fought. He killed. He barely escaped with his life.

But in his desperate flight, he had unknowingly led Team Rocket's enforcers straight to the orphanage.

They had come with fire.

Kai had arrived too late. By the time he saw the smoke rising in the night sky, by the time he ran back, screams were already fading into silence. Flames swallowed everything. The wooden beams collapsed, sending sparks into the air like dying stars.

And the children… they never made it out.

He had even searched the ruins for hours, burning his hands on smoldering debris, choking on the thick scent of death. He found bodies. Tiny, lifeless bodies.

And in that moment, Kai shattered.

It was his fault.

If he hadn't taken the mission—

If he had been stronger—

If he had been faster—

If he had done anything differently—

They would still be alive.

That night, he stood in the ashes of his past, staring at the place where his home once stood. He broke down in tears as the only thing ever close to a family he ever had was gone with this one mistake he had done. And this time Cynthia was not there to support him as she had already left the orphanage. And Kai was alone.

From that moment on, he became a ghost—a tool of Team Rocket, a soldier with no past, no home, no heart. He no longer fought for survival. He fought because there was nothing else left.

He told himself he didn't deserve to grieve.

Monsters don't get to mourn.

To be continued.....