I'm on a roll again! Even though this fic isn't getting many reviews, I don't think anybody realises how much fun it is writing it! ;w;

Anyway, Haine-Chan asked me nicely if she could have a character in this story. Being the nice person I am, how could I resist? 8D

She's the creator of Cadence – I hope I've portrayed her accurately!

Chapter 6

I woke up with a stretch as the artificial light flooded my senses. After last night's …encounter, another grunt was sent to take me up to the grunt's dorms. Surprisingly enough, Proton had done some good as I had been supplied with the correct uniform. Also, it was particularly good that I got caught by Proton when I did, as I would have had to have had most of my hair shaved off. I wasn't too keen with having shoulder-length hair, never mind having a pixie crop, so only having to have my hair tidied up and dyed a bizarre shade of pink wasn't as bad as I'd expected. That being said, a lot of the other grunts were wearing wigs, so I felt a little cheated. What's done is done, I guess. The dorm beds, though, were actually comfortable. They were just simple, wooden bunk beds, and they were all spread out across a huge room, so my sleep was constantly interrupted by other girls talking in their sleep and occasionally snoring. It was actually a relief to wake up to a half empty dorm. I looked under my bed and pulled out the new uniform, smiling due to the fact I would fit in it now.

That was until I looked at the skirt.

I picked it up half-heartedly and raised an eyebrow at the length. This is worse than what I used to dress in when I was 15! I also noticed that the Rattata that Petrel had so kindly given to me was also under my bed in a rather battered up pokéball, although my Pokégear was nowhere to be seen. Shrugging, I slipped the old uniform off and chucked it to the side of the room – almost hitting another grunt. I gritted my teeth and picked up the newer uniform cautiously, before sliding it on. There was not a mirror in sight, so I just went with my intuition and hoped to god that the skirt was not too short. I started walking along the metal floor and noticed that I was no longer falling over the size of the boots, which was an added bonus! I picked up the tattered pokéball and slipped it onto the uniform's belt. Hey, this is actually quite handy! Admiring the dull, grey belt I noticed that another grunt had woken up opposite me. It didn't faze me at all – I was a rocket now. I didn't look out of place of their ranks, I could strut around all I wanted without them even batting an eyelid. Confidently striding past the currently changing girl, I made my way towards the dorm's exit, until out of the blue she spoke to me.

"Wait- Wait, aren't you that girl who was a boy?" I flinched and turned around.

"I guess so?" I replied, my eyes narrowing at the accusation. The girl in question had sat down on her bed, and had raised an inquisitive eyebrow. She was just the stereotypical grunt, pink hair, dull eyes, the full monty.

"Ha! You must have been desperate" she smirked at me. I felt a little intimidated by this and nervously smiled back in response. "Whatever, I can't say my excuse is any better".

I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not, so I smiled again and carried on walking out of the dorm. Until she grabbed me by the collar.

"Wait, wait. You have no idea where you're going, do you?" She asked, not letting go of my collar. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from me.

"Not particularly" I replied, staring at her with mixed feelings. She let a cheesy grin slip and pointed towards the right of the corridor.

"Go down there, then turn to your left. That's where the assignment board is"

"Assignment boar…" I questioned until the girl shoved me out of the room and slammed the door behind me. Charming.

I followed her directions and soon enough, met a gathering of grunts. They were all surrounding a huge board with requests from the four different executives. Some were personalised, those that were not had free time. Knowing my luck, and knowing Proton, I was probably going to be forced into terrorism.

I pushed through the grunts, the crowded conditions making it extremely hot, and started scanning the lists for my name – and sure enough, there it was. I groaned as I continued to read my instructions, which were to go out and steal Pokémon. How the bloody hell was I supposed to steal Pokémon with a Rattata that looks like it's been dragged through a hedge backwards? Trying to make my way through the mass of pink-haired people, I noticed quite a lot of people were looking at me with wry smiles, making it obvious that they all knew about last night's escapade. And I thought I fitted in! I carried on walking as if I didn't notice, and I ended up walking into another girl. I blinked in surprised and looked up at her – she was almost as tall as Proton. She looked down at me with deep, brown eyes in annoyance. I muttered an apology and tried to wander off towards an exit. That was until she intervened in my path.

"Where exactly are you going?"

I looked up at her and started looking around to see where I was actually going.

"Out" I replied, snapping at her a little bit.

"Well, out isn't that way" She seemingly patronised me. "Are you sure you're doing your assignment?"

"I'm not too sure, to be honest" I confessed. Petty crimes would have been fine, maybe even robbery - but I didn't resonate with the fact that I had to steal Pokémon.

"That's not the answer I was looking for. Do your assignment – now. Or do I have to tell one of the executives about this?" She lectured me out of the blue – making me backfire out of shock.

"Christ – do you want a promotion or something?" I retorted, narrowing my eyes at her, before walking off in the right direction.

"Don't talk to me like that!" she shouted after me, following my steps as she did. My time here just keeps getting better and better! Instead of ignoring my fears, I turned around and faced them.

"Well don't talk to me like that" I snapped at her in defence. She paused before finally releasing a sigh.

"Listen, you're obviously clueless. Do you want me to show you around? I'm off duty" she asked, completely throwing me off guard.

"Didn't you want to kill me a minute ago?" I ignored her question, replacing it with another. Well, I had a point. Smirking, she pulled my cap over my eyes. "Follow me, kid." I raised up my cap in protest and stood like a loose nail for a while, unable to comprehend her cheek. Reluctantly, though, I ended up following.

It had been a few minutes since the taller girl had started showing me around and I had become none the wiser.

"So what's your name?" I asked, trying to break the silence.

"Cadence. Call me Cay, though." She replied, looking down at me as she walked. "Yours is Elizabeth right? Is Lizzy fine?"

"Actually, I prefer Eliza-" I responded, before being interrupted by her.

"So Lizzy, what are you actually in for?" She butted in. I pouted and instantly tried to think up an alibi. I couldn't exactly tell her that Proton had stolen my team and I had infiltrated team rocket to try and steal them back, especially after she created such a fuss about me not wanting to do my assignment. Then it clicked. Mother had made me join anyway. Aha!

"My Mother wanted me to join – she thinks it'll bring her and my brother protection if I'm a member. She's rather frantic about Team Rocket in all honesty – she seems to think that they have the balls to try and kill her in her sleep." I started snickering before realising I was actually speaking to a team rocket member.

"Parents. I'm in to try and support mine financially. In all honesty, I'm not keen on what team rocket does" she confessed, rubbing the back of her head as she did so. I knew I wasn't the only one!

"My family isn't that well off, but we manage. We, well, they, live in Ecruteak city. My Mother works in Goldenrod's radio tower – as a receptionist – and my brother is still in school. I also got quite a bit of money from travelling, so…" I tried to dumb down my family. We didn't have financial issues and the only reason I had joined team rocket was due to my mother's selfishness. I felt a little sympathetic, if truth be told.

"What about your Dad?" Cadence asked me, intrigued.

"He was a sailor…" I noticed as I emphasised was, Cadence had seemingly put one and one together and made three.

"I'm sorry" She interrupted me, clearly looking uncomfortable.

"What for? He didn't return from Hoenn because he met another woman. My parents have been divorced for well over 10 years now" I laughed at her discontented face. "Are you going to show me around then?" I tried shifting the subject as it was clearly making her feel edgy.

"Oh, right, yeah" She replied as if her head had been in the clouds. She started looking around for things to tell me.

"You know about all the executives right?" she asked out of the blue.

"I know of Proton, Petrel and I think Archer is one too?" I guessed. I'm pretty sure Archer was an executive, from what I could gather from Proton.

"Archer is an executive" She frowned at me. "There's also Ariana…" she grimaced as the name with a wavering frown. "…And from the looks of it, you already know Proton".

"What about Petrel?" I blabbed.

"What about him?" She replied, disinterest apparent in her voice.

"Well, he is an executive isn't he?" I asked again out of interest.

"He's only fourth in command but yes, he is an executive…" she replied in haste. "…speak of the devil" She muttered under her breath. I looked down the corridor and sure enough, the 'fourth in command' was lumbering down the corridors looking as bored as most of the other grunts were. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"What are you laughing at?" Cadence asked me in curiosity.

"Petrel" I replied, smirking a little as I rolled the name off my tongue.

"You should cut it out while he's near you know." She replied, nudging me a little.

"Knock it off Cay, have you seen him? The guy has a purple goatee for god's sake." I started laughing louder than I really should of. Cadence nudged me again, but I still carried on laughing.

"And those beauty marks are what people covered syphilis scabs with in…" She nudged me extremely hard in the rib. "…what was that for?" I trailed off, glaring at her, before looking forward again and noticing that a very narked looking Petrel was standing in front of me.

"…Oh" I managed to whimper out. The shock didn't block out my giggles, though.

"That's rich, coming from a gender conflicted teenager." He retorted, making it clear that he had heard my offences.

"The same could be said for you, you wear more lipstick than I do!" I grinned back at him, trying to stop laughing. Cadence started nudging me in the ribs again.

"How do I know you're actually a girl, though?" he asked again, raising an eyebrow as he did so.

"I, uh, have… breasts?" I replied, trying to keep a straight face this time. Bad idea. A wide, unnerving smirk finally emerged from his face.

"Prove it."

Alarmed, I grabbed Cadence's arm and started walking off. She looked as blanked out as the next person, whereas I was suddenly a vivid red.

"Cay, what the hell just happened?" I asked her, still walking as fast as possible.

"I don't really know. I don't know much about Petrel to know if he's being serious or not" she replied, unbothered by what had just shaken me up. "You're kind of prudish though" .

I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Explain." I demanded.

"Well, you say mother, you have a name like Elizabeth and now that somebody has fli-"

"Don't even carry on." I snapped before turning around in annoyance, before realising I was running rather late for my assignment. "…which way is outside again?"

After several more tunnels, I finally made it outside. I was miles away from HQ though – somehow, I had managed to appear in Cherrygrove city. Although, considering I was probably the only rocket lurking around for miles and considering the only Pokémon I had was a half-eaten Rattata, I didn't particularly want to be in a city. I cautiously walked around the surrounding forestry and made it onto route 29. It was daylight still, but considering it was January, it would probably turn dark soon. I started walking through the grass when suddenly a familiar sight appeared. The girl from the Goldenrod Pokémon center whom had told me about Team Rocket was walking through the route, followed by a Chikorita, and looked completely unfazed.

Crap! I don't want her to see me as a rocket! I thought rapidly to myself, before jumping into the trees, the grass tickling my legs. I stared in the darkness as she walked past – eyeing the Chikorita. Steal Pokémon. No, I couldn't steal Pokémon from a little girl – she looked around 10! Especially considering that I had previously met her. But still, she was oblivious, and the Chikorita was out of a pokéball, and by the looks of it, under levelled. I gambled with my humanity and jumped out of the trees in a flurry. The girl still didn't turn around. I started crawling towards the Chikorita until suddenly, a younger boy appeared. A considerably tougher younger boy. I got off the floor and ran into the trees again in shock. For god's sake Elizabeth – You're almost 18! You can easily overpower both of these twerps!

Eyeing up the situation, the boy had alarmingly red hair, and the most boring, navy-blue outfit that I had ever seen. All of a sudden, the boy pushed the girl over. Jesus Christ.

"A weakling like you shouldn't have a Pokémon!" He shouted at her in spite.

"I'm not a weakling" She replied in defiance, getting herself up. The determined expression on the Chikorita seemingly backed up what the girl was saying. All of a sudden, the boy let out a Cyndaquil.

"We'll see about that." He smirked. "Cyndaquil, use tackle!"

The Cyndaquil obeyed the boy's order and tried to slam itself into the Chikorita. Surprisingly, the Chikorita was too quick and jumped out of the way, letting the Cyndaquil skid into the grass next to me.

"Chikorita, use poisonpowder!" The girl shouted as the Chikorita let out a flurry of purple powder. I held my nose as it rained on top of the grass – I hated the smell of poison.

After a few rounds of tackling, the Cyndaquil was finally taken down.

"See? I'm not a weakling." The girl smiled at the boy. The boy shouted some abuse before walking off – but dropped his trainer card. The girl picked it up and looked at it before the boy realised what he'd dropped.

"So you're name's Silver…" The girl read, smiling as she said it. "Mine's Lyra!"

This girl must be taking the piss. She's too nice!

'Silver' turned around and snatched the card off Lyra, before running away again. Lyra smiled to herself and walked off towards New Bark town. I snuck back up out of the trees, dusting the dead leaves off my boots. They kind of were a pain – I really didn't appreciate them being thigh high. None the less, I trudged on with them. Until I realised I hadn't stole a single Pokémon.

I kind of accepted I didn't really have the balls to steal a Pokémon from a trainer – but there was one other alternative.

A few hours of walking later, I finally arrived back at Goldenrod city – and more importantly, at the game corner. They give out Abras cheaply for prizes! Alakazams are strong, I'm sure Proton will appreciate it. I marched into the game corner looking triumphant and walked straight over to the two old men who gave away prizes. The bright lights dazed me for a while – I never quite understood why the game corner had to be so obnoxiously coloured – and on top of that there was a musky smell that made me feel on edge. But none the less, I had to try and get at least one Pokémon.

"Ehem. I'd like an Abra please".

"Sure. That'll be 200 coins".

"…I don't have 200 coins" .

The man pointed over to the Voltorb flip table. Oh god. I was terrible at this game when I had attempted to play when I was originally travelling Johto. I think the most I managed to get was around 48 coins at max. I nervously sat down in front of the beaming man.

"Show me how you play and make my heart pound with excitement!"

Ugh.

I looked doubtfully at the cards laid out on the table. They just looked like nonsense. Naturally, the first card I picked was a Voltorb. It's going to be a long night.

Several hours of cussing, shouting and storming-off later, I had managed to scrape up 200 coins. I stormed up to the old man and dumped all the coins on him.

"Give me that Abra."

He suspiciously handed the Abra over to me before collecting all of the coins. I walked out triumphantly and strutted towards the subway. After more stumbling through the dark, I finally ended up back in team rocket's HQ.

Then I realised I had to confront Proton again.

God damn it.

I made my way to his office and gulped. I grabbed onto the cold handle and creaked the door open. Proton was sat at his desk with a malignant grin on his face – almost expecting me to have failed. I was a little unnerved by his facial expression, but slid over to his desk and dropped the Abra onto the table. Proton burst out laughing.

"Is that all you managed to get? You're seriously pathetic" He smirked at me, rolling the ball around his finger as he did so. He stood up from his from his chair, making a loud creak reverberate around the room, and grabbed the ball. I didn't know how to react, he called me pathetic when I had tried my hardest to get that Abra.

"Well… aren't you going to look at it, s-sir?" I asked, gritting my teeth as his expression suddenly turned dull.

"It better be good, Lizzy". He growled as a flash of white illuminated the room. The Abra floated on top of Proton's desk. Proton stared at it in confusion. I stared at it in confusion. It seemed to be glowing.

"Oh god, sir… I think it's…" I gasped in dread, before the Abra popped and disappeared into thin air. "…Teleporting".

Proton looked like he was about to explode with rage. I braced myself for whatever would happen next. Instead, he just seemed to have accepted what had happened and stared at me.

"Lizzy. Tomorrow night, I'm taking you to Slowpoke Well in Azalea" He grinned. I didn't like the sound of this. Alone in a dark cave with Proton? I've had better days.

"Why?" I asked.

"Call me sir". He barked at me.

"W-why, sir?" I repeated, adding the control freak's wish.

"You should be honoured, only a handful of grunts are coming". He didn't answer my question, but roll reversed it as if I was the villain.

"But sir, I only have a Rattata-" I whined, rubbing the battered ball on my belt in annoyance.

"You will obey me, is that clear?!". He snapped at me, slamming both hands on his desk as he glared.

"Yes, sir". I gulped, my palms becoming sweaty out of nerves.

"Good. Now go and get some sleep". He ordered me yet again, whilst sitting down back onto his creaky chair. I walked out of the room and closed the door cautiously behind me. I didn't want to go to Slowpoke well with Proton – all I wanted was my team back, yet I had no idea where they were. My mind was contorting with emotions – I was angry, yet sad, yet frustrated. Making my way back to the dorms, I ignored the glaring faces from some of the other girls. Were they jealous? God only knows. Deep down, I knew I'd swap with them any day as the situation I was in was something I would never had imagined whilst journeying through Johto. I'd never expect my own Mother to break down like that and force me to do something stupid – during my stressful few days in team rocket, I'd barely sat down to think about her, or Eliot. Eliot. I couldn't help but smirk at my ruse. In all seriousness, I was wondering where his Beedrill actually was. I couldn't care less anymore. I just wanted to know where my own Pokémon were, not some stupid low levelled bug Pokémon...

3650+ words for a chapter, it's a new record oh my god.

I'd just like to thank Nocturne of Eclipse for giving me a few tips on how improve my writing! It helped a lot thank you. ;w;