Chapter 2 - Rose the Magma Grunt

'Courtney,' Maxie said. 'Please remind me what instructions I gave you this morning.'

'Hahahaha,' Courtney laughed. 'It was to gain intel for our upcoming trip to Rustboro and the Devon Corporation.'

'Very good.' Maxie said as he gave his admin a piercing stare. 'Your orders were not to try and knock over a flower shop but...'

Rose gulped as Maxie turned to look at her.

'You and your workers fought well against Courtney here,' He said calmly. 'I am sure you will be an asset to Team Magma.'

'Hahahaha,' Courtney said. 'She is just a sweet Aroma Lady.'

Maxie simply shook his head and pulled a Pokeball out of his desk drawer. He gave the Pokeball to Rose and said, 'Whilst starting grunts normally receive a Zubat I think you may be smart enough to handle the bats evolved form.

'Thank you Maxie.' Rose said nervously holding the Pokeball.

The Magma leader turned to the bookshelf behind him before looking at the two girls again. 'To expand the landmass to improve life for both humans and Pokemon,' He said. 'That is our goal, a quite noble one I am sure you agree.'

Both Courtney and Rose nodded, awkwardly in Rose's case.

'Courtney, please take our new grunt to her room.' He said before dismissing them both.

Courtney grabbed the Aroma Lady's arm as they left Maxie's office. Once she knew the Magma Leader was out of earshot she put her face close to Rose and said, 'Maybe you did fight well at your precious little flower shop but you answer to me now. You got that?'

The new Team Magma Grunt nodded but said nothing.

As Courtney led her to her room Rose looked at the corridor walls - They were made of red stone. 'Had Team Magma and their Pokemon dug this hideout themselves?' She thought to herself. 'It's impressive if they did.' She thought to ask Courtney but thought better of it.

The Admin stopped briefly. 'We have a Library here in this hideout,' She said. 'I don't see many Grunts ever there though, just Maxie and Tabitha.'

'Who is Tabitha?' Rose asked.

'He's the other admin here.' Courtney replied. 'But just listen to me and Maxie ok?'

Rose guessed Courtney didn't respect this Tabitha guy but the library did look nice with its neatly arranged bookshelves. Perhaps she could read something to pass the time.

Rose followed the Admin down the corridor until they stopped at a door. Courtney opened it and muttered, 'Ahhaha, you're about the same height as me.' She pulled out three sets of red and black grunt uniforms, a pair of red shoes and some all black pyjamas. She handed them to Rose who was visibly unimpressed.

Courtney huffed and said, 'We can't have you walking around our hideout in a long skirt now can we?' The pair headed further down the corridor until they arrived at her room.

The Admin opened the door and Rose saw a room far removed from the comfort she was used to. There were two beds - One unmade and untidy and the other perfectly neat. The bed looked very simple and cheap. Beside each bed was a small bedside cabinet and a very narrow wardrobe which was presumably to hang up spare uniforms. On one wall was a mirror which looked like it had not been cleaned in some time and surprisingly there was an en-suite bathroom but with a shower and toilet as basic as you can get.

'Kitchen is further down the corridor. Your roommate will show you where it is. Wherever she is.' Courtney said. 'Remember you answer to me now.' She laughed as she closed the door and Rose sat on the bed looking at her new uniform. It was very red with a blood red undershirt and stockings. The shoes were a softer red but still striking. The sleeveless jumper was the same hue and had the Magma logo on. 'Was it M for Magma or M for Maxie?' She thought to herself as she went to change.

She carefully put her new uniform on, carefully folding her garb and storing it in her wardrobe along with her heels. The Magma Uniform was far removed from what she normally wore. The skirt of the outfit was much shorter than what she usually wore and left most of her legs bare. She pulled the dark red socks up and after giving it a quick clean looked in the mirror at her new outfit. She noticed that her top had a hood, she pulled it up and saw that it had two horns on similar to Courtney's but these were smaller and black. She looked just like the female grunts that invaded her flower shop except for her brown hair which she tried to hide under her hood as best as she could.

She headed back to the bed, threw the Pokeball and out popped a female Golbat. 'Gol Gol Gol Bat.' The Bat Pokemon said.

'I guess I'm your new trainer now.' The new Grunt said petting the Golbat. 'I think I will not give you a nickname for now.'

'Gol Gol bat.' Her new Pokemon said happily.

'Lilligant,' Rose said as she called the Flowering Pokemon. 'Help me clean our new room.' The two then dusted and cleaned her side of the room and the mirror. She left the other bed, best to not go poking around. Golbat watched her new trainer with intrigue.

Rose did not know the layout too well so just sat on her bed and played with her Pokemon until the door opened. 'Lilligant, Vileplume,' She said. 'In your Pokeballs quick.'

Rose's roommate entered the room and took her hood down showing blueish - black hair in a slightly scruffy bob that went past her shoulders. She saw Rose and said, 'Oh, you must be my new roommate.'

Rose nodded and said in a friendly manner, 'My name is Rose. What's yours?'

'Sarah.' The grunt responded excitedly. 'I've not had a roommate for a while.'

'I've cleaned up a bit.' Rose said. 'I hope you don't mind.'

'Not at all.' Sarah responded. 'I don't need to worry about cleaning now.'

Rose smiled and thought to herself that her fellow Grunt didn't worry about cleaning anyway.

Sarah looked around and saw Rose's Golbat on the wardrobe. 'You have Golbat already,' She said. 'I still have Zubat.' She threw her own Pokeball and the little Zubat popped out.

'I got him from Maxie.' Rose said.

'You must be a good trainer then to get a Golbat from him.' Sarah said more excited still. 'You'll love it in Team Magma, promise.'

'I'm sure.' Rose said smiling hoping she sounded believable as Sarah ran up to her with a small phone.

'Selfie,' The Grunt said standing close to Rose and taking a picture before she could react. 'Now that's a nice picture.' She showed Rose the picture, it actually looked pretty good.

Sarah left the room and Rose went to look in the mirror again. She took her hood down and put her hair in a ponytail. Team Magma had barged into her shop that morning and now here she was their newest member and in their uniform. The uniform felt comfortable and Maxie had been strangely nice to her...Still this wasn't her.

She sat on her bed and closed her eyes. Perhaps a shower will clear her mind. It had been a very strange day.