Bill's Secret Occupation?

This theory was written by myself and fortified with information and speculation sent in by: DreamDratini, Typhlosion, Gemma

You know Bill, right? He's the guy that lives alone in the Sea Cottage (a fancy house on a cliff by Cerulean City), dresses up as Pokemon for research (yeah, okay), developed the Pokemon Storage System for keeping Pokemon in the computer and the Time Capsule for trading Pokemon with the past, gives away tickets to ride the S.S. Anne, is an apparent fan of the Eeveelutions, and believes in the existence of a giant Dragonite? Yep, that Bill. Don't be fooled by his seemingly innocent antics. I think he secretly works for Team Rocket.

Yes, that's right, I think Bill is a Team Rocket member.

Okay, I really need to back up that accusation, don't I? The first thing that sparked my suspicion was that Bill has a carving of Mewtwo on his front door. Mewtwo also appears later on Bill's computer screen with all the other 149 Pokemon. At time when Ash and pals are visiting Bill, Mewtwo probably wasn't even born yet. And to top that off, the main person who would have any idea what Mewtwo was (at the time) was none other than Giovanni, the boss of Team Rocket. Though, of course, Giovanni didn't create Mewtwo in one day all by himself...

It took a lot of scientists' work to create Mewtwo. Bill is a scientist. Professor Oak tells Ash that Bill is a well-known Pokemon Researcher. If that is the case, Bill could have very well been working in the New Island Laboratory. He might have been working there while Mewtwo was being created and had knowledge of the experiment. The Mewtwo Project could've taken months, maybe even years, to find the Mew genes, retrieve the DNA, and create a living Mewtwo. In the First Movie, one scientist can be heard saying they "can't lose this one." He may have been referring to the clones of Amber and the other Pokemon, but is is also possible that there were multiple failed Mewtwo cloning attempts. This is the case in the Pokemon manga, where several Mewtwo appear through the plot. Perhaps Bill was at the lab at sometime or another, either working directly on Mewtwo or on some other experiment at the same time. Maybe by some fortunate circumstance (for Bill), he wasn't around when the successful Mewtwo we know woke up and decided to level the laboratory.

I can somewhat prove that Bill was at the lab at all. Bill was wearing a Kabuto suit in the Pokemon episode he appears in. He seems highly interested in Kabuto and other extinct Pokemon. New Island Laboratory is the anime equivalent of the Cinnabar Island Laboratory in the Game Boy. That lab is the only place where you can resurrect (aka make a CLONE using the DNA from) your Dome Fossil to get a (CLONED) Kabuto. That lab is most likely the only place to see a live Kabuto unless you fall underground to where one happens to be sleeping. Therefore, for Bill to have any knowledge and interest in Kabuto, he probably was at that lab at some point. Also, if he cares so much about researching extinct Pokemon, he probably had a good deal of interest in creating Mewtwo, as Mew is believed to be extinct as well. It seems like something that would pique his interest.

In addition, look at this picture of a Pokemon trading card.

Could that guy in the background--the one with the somewhat puffy green hair working on the computer--could that possibly be Bill? Bill in the anime had green hair (sorry, I have been unable to obtain a picture, but I clearly remember it being green). This card is called Rocket's Secret Experiment! Hey...are those red lights giant Kabuto eyes, or just spotlights? It seems like a very large Kabuto if it is a Kabuto... Maybe Bill wasn't working on Mewtwo directly... but something to do with creating a giant killer Kabuto!!!

Speaking of giant Pokemon, there is also something fishy going on with the whole giant Dragonite situation. While Ash and company are visiting Bill, Bill says he believes in the existence of ultra rare Pokemon whose singing he has recorded. He wants to lure the Pokemon to the lighthouse, not to catch it, but just to meet it. Okay, sure. While Ash and company are there, the mysterious Pokemon arrives in the fog. Nobody knows what this mysterious creature is, even though it has the very clear silhouette of a giant Dragonite. (Who's that Pokemon? lol.)

Now, the sheer size of the creature alone makes it rare (it's only supposed to be about seven feet tall), and Dragonite is not the most oft seen Pokemon, but it still probably should have been identifiable. It likely was even shown on Bill's computer screen, right along with Mewtwo, though I don't know this for sure. The existence of Dratini is not disputed, as the PokeDex says a large colony was found deep underwater. Some are protected in the Safari Zone. Team Rocket knows it exists and Jessie and James particularly want to capture one (or at the very least capture a Ditto to fool the Boss into thinking they captured a Dratini). Lance of the Elite Four has apparently trained some Dratini to evolve into Dragonair and Dragonite. Ash sees a normal sized Dragonite in the First Movie and is more concerned with getting his letter than the amazing Pokemon delivering it. All this shows that Bill should know that this mysterious Pokemon is indeed a Dragonite.

Is Bill trying to capture or aid Team Rocket in the capture of this anomalous Pokemon? Considering that Bill supposedly has a large arsenal of rare and powerful Pokemon, it is a bit suspicious that he never used any Pokemon to try to stop Jessie and James from trying to capture the Dragonite. He just said "Oh dear," or something like that. Very odd, very odd.

Is the Dragonite one of his or Team Rocket's experiments? Is he hiding this Pokemon in the bay? His "home" seems conveniently hard to reach and suspiciously non-furnished. Also, in the Gold, Silver, and Crystal versions of the video game, Bill has long since moved to Goldenrod city, and a guy that doesn't seem to get out very much is taking care of the Sea Cottage. Why is this?

Something else that is weird about Bill is the Pokemon Storage System. In the Green, Red, Blue, and Yellow versions of the video game, Bill is the inventor of the system that lets you store your Pokemon inside a PC. In Silver, Gold, and Crystal, Bill continues to work on his invention. Yet, in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, Bill is no longer associated with the Pokemon Storage System, and Lanette claims to have invented it. Lanette's older sister Bridgette, in the game Pokemon Box, also says that Lanette is the inventor, and Bridgette has further improved on her sister's invention. But Bill obviously made the system first, so how can Lanette lay claim to the entire idea? There is an e-mail from Bill on one of Lanette's computers praising her work, but no one else in these games seems to acknowledge that Bill is the true inventor, and Bill does not seem annoyed that Lanette is stealing all the limelight. Perhaps Bill intentionally wants to avoid attention? Hmmm.

Bill might also be working on another experiment for Team Rocket. In the Green, Red, Blue, and Yellow video games, as well as in the Pokemon Adventures comic, while working on the Pokemon Storage System, Bill "accidently" mixes his genes with the genes of a Pokemon, and then, when a trainer suddenly walks in, claims he needs help to reverse the process. But maybe this was no accident. This seems like something that would be interesting to look into, and would be something that would be right up Team Rocket's alley. Team Rockets efforts to genetically engineer Pokemon, as well as to mixing humans with Pokemon, is a huge part of the plot of Gemma's fanfiction, Rebirth. Maybe Bill intentionally tested the process on himself, and then asked for the trainer's help as a way to throw off suspicion. How does working on a Pokemon Storage System mess with your DNA anyway? Sounds like a cover story to me!

There is more evidence hinting that Bill is a Team Rocket member in the Pokemon manga. For the record, most of the famous Pokemon characters, such as gym leaders, are secretly members of Team Rocket in the manga. Maybe this is true of Bill as well. Apparently, in the manga, Bill went on an expedition with Professor Oak to Mount Moon to attempt to film Clefairy evolving. Then, in the anime, Team Rocket appears at Mount Moon and tries to steal the Moon Stone, the catalyst that makes Clefairy evolve. Did Bill scout out the location and provide this valuable information to Team Rocket?

In Mewtwo Returns, Domino says "Team Rocket has agents working everywhere." Maybe an answer to all of these questions is that Bill is one of them. Or maybe Bill's just an eccentric who has a magical door that can predict the future... yeah, that's it...