Author's Note: Rate darn you, rate!

NAME: Evan

AGE: 19

HOME: not known

HAIR: Teal

EYES: Grey

CLOTHES: black Rocket uniform

FUN FACT: He's a Team Rocket member who is a star performer and on the way up to the Admin levels.

ooooooooooooooooooo

Krysta awoke with something draped across her shoulders. Carefully, she slithered out of the confining thing and looked to see what it was. Zell had apparently been a bit restless at night and had ended up with an arm thrown over her. She shook her head and started getting her stuff together for the rest of the journey into Azalea.

Neither had much to pick up because they had slept in their clothes using their packs as pillows. After a few moments of tidying, Krysta went over to Zell and tried to wake him up. He woke up rather easily today, which Krysta was grateful for.

Looking outside, they noted that it had stopped raining, but the ground was still damp. All in all, it was a beautiful day to be on an adventure.

As the duo walked toward Azalea Town, they heard shouts. Presently, they came across two people arguing. One was an older man with an apron on. He was a bit heavy set, but had strong arms. He carried a wooden mallet.

The other person was an older teen. His startling teal hair was rather longish and he had cruel grey eyes. He was in a black uniform with a red letter R on front. From all the yelling, it seemed that the youth, standing in front of a large well, would not let the man pass.

"But you can't just cut off the Slowpoke's tails!" the man yelled heatedly. Krysta noted that Zell's skin had gone an ashy shade and his purple eyes were snapping in anger. Without saying a word, he went up toward the other teen and decked him. The young man was knocked over with the force of the blow, but got up quickly. Idly, he spat a tooth out and put a hand to his rapidly purpling jaw thoughtfully.

Instead of hitting Zell back, he resumed his place in front of the well. Staring at Zell, the boy finally spoke.

"You should not have done that."

Zell snarled at him and whipped out a pokeball. Before he could activate it, the other teen had one out as well.

They stared at each other for a while. Neither was willing to release his pokemon and potentially get defeated, yet neither wanted to get shamed by backing down. Finally, Krysta sighed and headed toward Azalea by herself. All three of the men watched her go with astonishment. Finally, Zell came running after her. The other man had come too.

As they walked, they introduced themselves to the man, who did likewise. "My name's Kurt…I make custom pokeballs here in Azalea." He waved farewell as they reached a small cottage. He apparently lived there.

Zell went into a tirade about Krysta running away from a fight, but she ignored him. Silly male pride.

Krysta headed directly for the gym. She was perturbed to see that the door was blocked. She went up to the tall, burly, bored looking Rocket Grunt in front of the Gym.

"Who are you? Why are you in front of this gym? Move. Now."

Zell looked at her like she was crazy. Mayhap she was, but she wanted in that gym.

The larger man just shrugged and told her "They's redoin' the flooring. I was told to not let any folk in. So here I stand."

Krysta growled angry syllables and stalked off. Zell shrugged and followed her at a distance. To no one's surprise, she headed toward Kurt's house. No one was home. There was, however, a note.

To anyone who has come calling: I'm at the well. I shall be back before noon, so just hold tight.

-Kurt

Zell looked at his watch. It was closer to three o' clock than two, so he decided to head off toward the well. Krysta, not having anything better to do and wanting to know where Kurt was, followed him.

When they came to the well, they noted that the young Rocket they had faced down earlier was gone. Filled with trepidation, the pair descended into the bowels of the old well.

Since the town had moved to pipe plumbing, the well had served little more purpose than as a landmark. It was a deep well that had once held water. Since the underground lake that supplied the town's water also supplied the well, it was slowly draining away. Due to the recent draught in the area (the recent rain was the first in several weeks) the water level was excruciatingly low.

The cavern that was left was huge. There was a small lake in it, as well as a substantial shoreline. A familiar figure lay at the bottom of the stairs. Krysta ran up to the older man.

"Kurt! Are you okay?"

The man shifted a little and winced in pain. "I'm fine…I just slipped on the ladder and twisted something in my back along the way down. They're down here Krysta…Them Rockets are down here and they have the Slowpoke…And here I'm stuck, not being able to do anything about it…" He sighed.

Just then, Zell spoke up. "We'll do it. We can save the Slowpokes." Krysta nodded in agreement. Kurt smiled weakly and pointed off into the cavern. "They're back there."

Quickly, the pair darted off. The lights grew steadily dimmer, then all of a sudden, started getting brighter again.

The sounds of heavy work and the moans of pokemon met the team's ears. Peeking around a rock, Krysta saw something that nearly made her sick. As she watched, a Slowpoke was stuffed into a tiny cage. There wasn't enough room for the whole pokemon to fit, but there was a hole in the door where the pokemon's tail could stick out.

Krysta wondered why Team Rocket would be so considerate to custom make cages that had holes- and then the machete descended, severing the tail from its former owner.

The pokemon blinked, then started wailing a few minutes later. Krysta was mad. Zell was quivering in anger. Krysta could understand how he might be angry, but he was far from just angry. He was livid.

She hesitated to ask him what was the matter, but he told her before she was able to get the question out.

"These people…these brutes! When I was growing up, my family had a pet Slowpoke…but one day…Pokey went missing…later that week, a man was selling Slowpoke tails at the corner of our street. Now, I'm not saying that this is what happened, but Pokey had a scar on his tail from when we found him hurt in the middle of the road. One of the tails the man was selling had a scar. That is why I hate this practice."

With that, he pulled out a pokeball and waited for Krysta to do the same. She decided to use Storm. Grasping the pokeball nervously, she and Zell stepped into the pooled light.

"Hey you Team Rocket scum! Stop this right now!" Zell tossed Darkness' pokeball out.

"HOUUUUUuuuundooooom!" The large pokemon darted toward the bunched Rocket grunts. Like leaves on the wind, they scattered and ran for cover. A lone Rocket stood in the cavern, sneering.

It was, predictably, the youth that had been standing outside. He started monologing.

"How dare you come down here and interrupt one of Team Rocket's projects! You little brats better turn yourselves around right now and hope that I don't remember your faces later. If you trifle with me, you trifle with the entire Team Rocket." He glared at them for a few seconds.

"So be it." He pulled out a pokeball and released a very large Arbok. The monstrous cobra-like pokemon writhed around and flared its hood. With an evil hiss, it prepared for battle.

"Chaaaaaarbok!"

Zell nodded and pulled out a pokeball. "Eryth, I'm counting on you!"

The serene Kadabra appeared before her trainer and stared down the poison type pokemon. The red star on her forehead started glowing as an odd thrumming noise filled the air.

The Arbok hissed again and launched a Poison Sting attack. Both attacks hit simultaneously. The stronger Psybeam nearly knocked the Arbok out, but not before Eryth contracted a severe poisoning. Zell used a Full Heal on his faithful partner.

The Arbok had one more trick though. It coiled up and launched itself through the air for one final strike.

Eryth wheeled around to face the threat as she launched a basic Confusion attack. The Arbok locked on with a devastating Bite, then fainted from the strong Psychic type attack.

Eryth stood there with a shocked expression. Both pokemon were frozen in place: Kadabra with her arms spread out in the motion of launching an attack, and Arbok latched on to her shoulder, fainted.

Zell raced over to his partner and ripped the unconscious Arbok from her. He supported his pokemon as he gave her a Super Heal. Even that wasn't really enough to fix her wounds.

Zell looked over at Krysta. "You help the Slowpoke…I've got to help Eryth."

Krysta nodded, still shocked from the battle's outcome.

She first looked for the other trainer, but couldn't find him. He had abandoned his pokemon.

She then ran from cage to cage, opening them up and freeing the captive Slowpokes. One of the first ones she freed kept following her around like a lost puppy.

After she got all of them freed, she turned around to see if the one that was following her was still there. It was. It looked up at her and wagged its little mutilated stump happily. She picked it up and left the cave, satisfied that she could do no more.

ooooooooooooo

High above, in the shadows, two Rocket Admin stood on a balcony. They had observed the whole thing. The first turned to a figure that was standing behind them.

"You failed us, Evan. Those two bratlings ruined the entire operation. The one you battled…He may be of use to our Northern Operation."

Evan looked at her questioningly. "My lady?"

The other Admin scolded him. "Do not question us, Evan. We see a far lot more projects than you do. What you see as a mere holdup, may be an asset for us in another department."

The woman spoke again. "Do not worry. When you join our ranks, you'll understand more." A thin smile etched itself on her lips.

Evan knew when he was dismissed.

oooooooo

Authors Note: So sorry that its taken me forever to update. I live, though. And since it is summer, I should be updating more often now.