Hello there!
This will be an original story starring original characters, though several of the in game characters will appear :) Hope you enjoy!
As she emerged from the thick muck with a strangled gasp, the disgusting slime coated her tongue with a vile and bitter taste. Her pale pink pigtails had been stained brown by the mud, her pinkish complexion now a nasty, grey tone that made the young woman appear sickly. Gagging, she rubbed some of the muck from her eyes, shaking her head and slinging mud away from her hair.
A growl ripped her from her stupefied trance, her blue eyes flicking up towards the edge where land met swamp. Dripping in mud himself, her Houndoom stood with his nostrils flared, gagging at the stench. She couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"Yeah? At least you didn't have to dive into it, Shadow," she muttered as she waded through the sludge, the mud coming up to just below her breasts. Her Houndoom assisted her in clambering up the edge, grabbing at her shirt sleeve gently and yanking her up. Her hand was clenched tightly around something solid, the sharp edges nearly cutting her flesh. With a sigh she held up the stone in front of her, watching as the mud began to slide off the smooth grey surface.
Shadow barked approvingly, his tail lightly moving back and forth.
She tried to be careful when she picked up her backpack, but not transferring mud to the pack was nearly impossible. She sighed as it stained the lavender fabric.
Yeah, Lawrence is gonna pay for this dry-cleaning, she thought as she slipped the stone into the main pocket of the pack, zipping it up with just a bit of trouble from the slippery mud. She was at least thankful she had thought ahead and dressed in worn, raggedy old clothes; unfortunately for her, she hadn't had time to grab a spare backpack.
As she was standing there, trying to wipe some of the excess muck off her clothing, a shuddering boom resounded above the pair. Both she and Shadow glanced up towards the sky, only to see dark, ominous clouds hanging low above them. When she had first entered into the swamp, it had definitely been a clear blue sky; just how long had she been swimming around?
She felt the thunder rumble in her chest, the sun long since gone behind the clouds. Lips turning down into a frown, she started to debate how quickly she could run back to Goldenrod, only to feel a large pelt of water smack her right in the eye. The young woman muttered under her breath, rubbing at her eye, having no time to even comprehend it before the sky opened up like a faucet, water pouring from above.
Shadow began to whine, his ears tucked low against his head. After another string of curses emerged from the young woman's lips, she quickly recalled the Pokemon and broke into a run.
Even as the rain pelted down, the majority of the muck clung to her body like a second skin. The rain was only serving to make it stickier, cold and irritating. As she ran, she quickly pulled up the map on her pokegear, eyes scanning across the familiar map of Johto projected in front of her. Goldenrod was the opposite way she was running—of course she had ended up going the wrong way—but there was a cave just a bit further ahead.
It took her only minutes to arrive as she stumbled inside, her sneakers squishing loudly under the excess liquid they had soaked up. Her rapid pants echoed in the cave as her chest ached, the young woman clearly not in as good of shape as she had been back when she was a teenager.
The rain pelting against the roof of the cave was dulled, the sound of water dripping in unseen places an oddly comforting sound to her ears. The cave smelled of moss and earth, a smell that was much more appealing than the muck smell she had been traversing through the past hour. Though it was slightly chilled inside, she was at least relieved to be covered. Sliding her backpack off and letting it drop to the ground, she slid down against a wall with a sigh, tilting her head back and closing her eyes.
"You look like hell."
It took her a second to realize that she hadn't spoken, that there shouldn't have been another voice in the cave with her. Her eyes shot open, her hand clutched at her chest, and she leapt up. She looked back into the cave, where the source of the voice had come from, only to see a silhouette moving towards her in the darkness. Her hand hovered over her pokeball, her heart thudding rapidly against her chest.
He emerged from the darkness of the cave, his bright green eyes roaming up and down her body. His lips pressed into a thin line as he stopped on her face.
She felt self-conscious beneath his scrutiny, crossing her arms across her chest, and tried to ignore the way her white t-shirt clung to her awkwardly from the swamp. She thanked every mighty power out there that she had thought to wear a sports bra rather than anything lacy underneath, even as she knew her clothes were probably too stained to even see what she wore beneath.
She took the time to scan over the man herself, finding nothing too peculiar about him. He was much taller than she was, slightly built with a sharp jaw and straight nose. His hair was blonde and cut short, with wild strands sticking up to and fro with a mind of their own. His clothes—
She stopped dead in her tracks, her fingers wrapping around Shadow's pokeball.
His lips turned down into a frown.
"Relax, I'm not here to steal your Pokemon," the man said with a sigh, shaking his head. His clothes were black, the standard of most Rocket uniforms, with just a few droplets of water that had managed to land on him during his own escape from the rain. The red R was bright in the dim light of the cave, a letter that made her stomach turn every time she looked at it. His uniform, however, was not the standard grunt's—his collar was sharper, lined in gold and cut deep into a v, he wore no gloves, his pants fit loosely, and his boots, rather than being tall and white, were short, black, and army style.
She jerked violently as a Mightyena prowled slowly from the darkness of the cave, its red and gold eyes narrowing sharply in her direction. With no more hesitation on her part, she ripped Shadow's ball from her belt and flung it towards the ground, letting it bounce off the cave floor. The Houndoom emerged with a howl, lowering its belly towards the ground as its lips curled back into a snarl. The Mightyena challenged the Pokemon, flashing its white, sharp canines.
The Rocket, however, stopped the Mightyena with a gentle pat on its head. The Pokemon closed its mouth, nuzzling slightly against the man's touch.
"Easy there, Midnight," he muttered to the Pokemon. He turned his gaze back towards the stiff woman, raising a single blonde eyebrow. "I told you that I wasn't here to steal your Pokemon. I just wanted out of the rain too, you know?"
"I haven't had the best experiences with Team Rocket," she said through a tight jaw, her body as tense as her mouth was. Even as the man shrugged and sat down, she stayed standing, unable to take her eyes off him. She watched the Mightyena carefully, the Pokemon in question taking a seat at the feet of the Rocket before curling up into a ball and sighing loudly.
"Storm's not gonna stop for a while. Might as well get comfy," the man spoke again as he sat hunched over, letting his long arms dangle between his knees lazily.
Had he been anyone other than a Team Rocket member, the thought of being trapped in a cave with a handsome guy wasn't necessarily a bad thing. But the simple fact that he was was enough to set her heart racing, and not in the best way. She considered calling Lawrence, but she knew there was little he could do. He was miles and miles away back in New Bark Town, while they were stuck on the outskirts of Goldenrod. The Fearow he had lent her had been worn out from all the flying they'd done on the way there, as well as from a few sky battles; he'd need a good night sleep at the Pokemon center before they even thought about going home.
It was…frustrating to her.
After standing for a good few minutes, her already aching calves were screaming at her to just sit. So she sat down stiffly, as far away as she could in the small cave, and pulled her knees up to her chest. Shadow, on the other hand, refused to lie down; he remained sitting on his haunches, pointedly staring at the other Pokemon was a nasty glare.
She hadn't experienced the horrors of Team Rocket alone; her Houndoom had been with her every step of the way and had his own scars to deal with.
"Got a name?" the man suddenly asked after a few minutes of silence, idly kicking at a nearby rock with his dirty boot.
She bit down on her lip, remaining silent.
"Mine's Jack." He didn't bother to wait for her to answer as he flicked his green eyes back towards her. He stared at her, waiting for some kind of answer, only to be met with an awkward silence from the unwilling woman. "I'm still human under this uniform, you know," he said dryly.
"Your organization is the furthest thing from human." The words emerged from her lips before she could even stop herself. She tensed again, her fingers unconsciously moving towards one of the scars on her arm, long and deep. She felt his eyes on her as she moved, his jaw tightening.
Blocking out the memories of that night was impossible to her; she had tried for years now, only to met with painful memories that shook her to the very core. She could still see one of Shadow's scars in the darkness of the cave, pink and faded on his left hind leg. She would've gladly traded all of his for her to take, a guilt that still stung deep within her.
It was an awkward silence they fell into, just the sound of the rain pelting down outside the only noise in the cave. She found it strangely soothing, even as lightning flashed dangerously close to the mouth of the cave. It kept her mind from going to those dark places, kept her heart beating strongly even as the thunder echoed within her chest. It almost made her forget about the criminal seated next to her, if only for a little bit.
She found herself shivering lightly, goosebumps creeping up on her skin as the soaked clothes clung to her body. Had the man not been there, she would've been changed and in something dry at the very least; but as it was, she wasn't even going to risk traversing into the back of the cave to find a bit of privacy. She half expected him to jump on her at any moment, the Mightyena to go for Shadow's throat, and end up dead, face down, on the floor of the cave.
But he didn't. He sat in silence, watching the rain pour down, his eyes looking anywhere besides her. He acted nothing like that other Rocket, not a hint of arrogance crossing his lips nor any sight of a dagger tucked away in his belt. She watched as he stared peacefully into the rain, his lips parted slightly, and his eyes at peace.
"So do you always roll around in swamps on your off days?"
She sputtered, her eyes widening, her cheeks reddening to a rosy blush that was visible in a few bare spots that the muck had been wiped away from her cheeks. She was thankful she didn't have a mirror, just so she didn't have to see how bad she looked at the moment. The muck had begun to dry on her skin, leaving her itchy as it cracked with every movement. Her once white t-shirt had turned sickeningly brown, her sneakers that had once been blue, now an odd greenish yellow that looked putrid to her. Opening her mouth to retort, she found herself stopping when she saw a ghost of a smile tickling at the corners of his lips
He…doesn't really act like a Rocket.
"I—I was doing research for my friend!" she sputtered. "He's garbage at going anywhere outside his lab, and he needed a specimen—"
"And that involved you swimming through mud?" he sang. The smile that he had tried to hide from her had developed into a smirk as he casually rested his chin upon his open hand.
The heat spreading across her body was maddening. She couldn't figure out if it was embarrassment, anger, or both, but regardless, it was frustrating. Momentarily even forgetting he was a criminal, she instead sought to do everything she could make her look less pathetic, finding frustration in his assumptions.
"It was buried down deep in the swamp!" she argued with a growl. "I don't have any water Pokemon with me at the moment, and that pansy won't swim it!" she snapped, pointing at her Houndoom. Though Shadow snorted, turning his nose up in the air, he still kept his gaze locked on the other Pokemon. She threw her hands up into the air, letting out a frustrated shout that echoed in the cave.
It was already frustrating enough to her that the majority of the 'field research' Lawrence sent her on often involved the most unsightly, disgusting situations known to man, but the fact that she had to dive deep beneath the surface of a smelly swamp was a little too much this time. She would have vastly preferred the active volcano she had to climb last week versus that muck hole any day.
"You're quite temperamental, aren't you?" Jack asked with a laugh.
"No, I just need to be paid more," she scowled.
She found herself looking back at him again. As far as she could sense it, there wasn't anything inherently threatening about him. But she was definitely one to know that looks could be extremely deceiving, as could Rockets. She knew he was human, as he had declared earlier, and she knew that not every Rocket was on the same page as that one that had attacked them that night years ago.
Those scars that he left behind were not from this man seated next to her.
"My name's Alyssa," she finally admitted, her heart speeding up as she did so. It felt as if she released some filthy, dirty secret, though she knew that was just silly. It was just her name, after all. Nothing more, nothing less.
She swore she saw his eyes sparkle at the revelation. She inclined her head towards the still tense Houndoom.
"And this is Shadow."
"Nice to meet you, Alyssa," he responded politely. He again patted his Mightyena on its head, the Pokemon whining softly under his touch. "This is my partner, Midnight."
Partner. It was a word she hadn't heard a Rocket use in relation to their Pokemon. It was a comforting act that settled her stomach, if only slightly. As she saw it, if someone took good care of their Pokemon, then they could take good care of another human.
At least, she hoped it was that way most of the time.
Just as the introductions finished, the rain began to slow to a mere trickle. The bright blue sky had begun to emerge back from behind the stormy clouds, the bright sun evaporating them before her eyes. She squinted, shading her eyes with her hand like a visor, staring out into the deep forest.
"Guess we're good to god, huh?" Jack whistled as he got to his feet. He glanced over his shoulder towards her, flashing her a bright, pearly white smile. "May want to consider a shower later, eh?"
She couldn't even come up with someone witty enough to retort with before he was gone, leaving her flabbergasted and red faced.