Ugh I'm so sorry about this chapter being a bit delayed. The original file became corrupted for god knows what reason and I've had to write it all over again from scratch. 8| So obviously I became a bit unmotivated and on top of that I have school so haha ! gold star for my failing hard-drive

On top of that, the corrupted file set me back into a writing block so I'm sorry if this chapter is crap because in my eyes it is uwu

Brief warning: this chapter is where things start going in a downward spiral and it maaaaaaaaay need to be taken with a pinch of salt. ;w;

Aka Proton actually lives up to his "cruel and scary" side. (…if you catch my drift.)

Chapter 7

I watched the clock in anticipation as its ticking echoed around the room. I was waiting for evening to arrive – the time in which I had to accompany Proton on a mission to Slowpoke Well. Earlier on in the day, it had been clarified that I was supposed to go down to Slowpoke Well and that it was not just Proton trying to intimidate me with hollow threats. Deep down, I knew that he was trying to intimidate me, I couldn't help be reminded of Kris – the girl in the tunnel who had been on the receiving end of Proton's controlling nature. What if I was to be her replacement? The thought made me shudder in fear, I did not want that happening to me. However, on the lighter side of things, Proton had actually kept his word and I was not the only grunt accompanying him, and what seemed like an even greater kick in his teeth on his half was the fact that Cadence was going on this mission too. It was a huge relief to know that I was going to be going with somebody whom I knew and who was of no threat to me… at least I hoped. I flopped back onto my bed and sighed – it was taking too long. Far too long. Several minutes passed before Cadence attempted to sit on me. I got up in disdain as she stood over me with a triumphant looking smirk on her face.

"It's time!" she enthused me sarcastically, before she started walking out of the dorm. I grabbed my hat and shoved it on top of my hair, static cracks rustling through my hair.

We trekked over to the assignment board where a few other grunts were looming – all seemingly ready for the mission. I felt my Rattata's broken pokéball with uncertainty as I eyed the many clean looking pokéballs strapped onto the other grunts' belts. Out of the corner of my eye, Proton waltzed over to our group – his glaring expression rendering my uncertainty into complete and utter nerves. In silence, he signalled us to follow him and he started walking back to the tunnels. Cadence immediately walked behind him, whereas I trailed at the back and tried to make myself as unnoticeable as possible. We reached the dark tunnel and the familiar dank smell hit my lungs, forcing me to stifle a cough. What seemed like hours passed until I walked into Cadence – we had reached a ladder. I gripped onto the rusted bars and heaved myself up rung by rung, before I emerged under the Ilex Forest shrine. Ungracefully, I crawled out from under the shrine and stumbled up, Proton glaring at me as I did so. Honestly, what is his problem?

After a long trek through the forest, we arrived in the outskirts of Azalea town. Following Proton, we made our way around the shadowed outside of the town and finally arrived at the entrance to Slowpoke Well. Proton gestured for us to all to sink into the depths of the well, and so we all followed – minus one of the grunts standing outside for defence.

Into the shadows I delved, only to be pulled down by Proton. All of the other grunts were ahead – scouting out the well – they didn't notice the absence of their leader. I tried to shout but he covered my mouth with his hand – to try and dim out my protests. As much as I was internally crying – I had become used to being terrorised by him. I didn't have the motivation to argue back and simply took the abuse.

"Listen – Lizzy. If you mess this up – you'll seriously regret it" he snarled right in my face. I lifted my eyebrows as if to say 'I know. You've told me how many times?' He let go of my mouth and I spat out the fibres from his gloves.

"Did you just spit at me?" He raised an eyebrow – a concerning smirk spreading across his face.

"No, sir" I sighed, rolling my eyes as I did so. "I was just simply spitting out the crap off your gloves". He looked as if he was toying with the idea of drowning me on the spot, but he left it and walked off towards the other grunts. Moodily, I trudged after him, avoiding the eye contact of the other grunts.

"Right. Team Rocket needs money". He announced. Is that it? Has he seriously bought us all the way to Azalea just to announce that we have financial problems? "And we need a quick fix. I want you to round up as many Slowpoke as poss…"

"Slowpoke are terrible! Why would anybody want to buy a Slowpoke?" I shouted out, completely out of the blue. I covered my mouth almost instantly and went red in the face. Why the hell did I just do that?

Proton's eyes became shadowed and he carried on, ignoring my question.

"…ible, then cut their tails off".

I retched a little bit, trying to shake off the need to be sick. The other grunts seemed to look just as repulsed by the idea and looked around at each other nervously. I glanced over towards Cadence, whose eyebrow was twitching yet she still looked acceptant. Obviously, her finances came from Team Rocket, and if Team Rocket had no finances then her family would be down the pan.

"No complaints?" Proton continued, looking in my direction defiantly – almost teasing me to try and get another argument out of me. "Good."

We all disbanded from around him and went in search of the gormless Pokémon. I went straight over to Cadence.

"You're not seriously thinking of doing this, are you?" I whispered to her, looking backwards to Proton to see if he was looking.

"It's an order, Lizzy." She whispered back, turning around to start her exploration. In the corner of my eye, I noticed a Slowpoke hiding within the shadows. I panicked - I didn't want to see it suffer. I mean, it was only a Slowpoke but why would I want to cut off its tail? I looked at it's vague expression and noticed it was looking behind me.

Oh god, not Proton again.

I turned around and readied myself for another smack – but noticed that nobody was behind me. Proton was towards the general direction of the Slowpoke's gaze and to my horror he was already ripping off the poor Pokémon's tails. Another grunt was sided by him, almost looking green as Proton handed the raw tails over to her to carry. It was as if I'd been scared into a nightmare within another nightmare. I gazed around and noticed that Cadence was holding a Slowpoke. I bit my lip as I watched her actions with caution – she wasn't pulling off the tail. She was simply staring at it as if she was suddenly holding a bar of gold. She looked around briefly, before dropping the Slowpoke into water and walking off without hesitation. I couldn't help but laugh as I looked at her scared expression.

A few minutes passed and nobody but Proton had tore off the tails, it was almost as if he was enjoying it. Hell, it was Proton – he probably was enjoying it. He put down the last carcass and looked around, expecting to see tail galore. Instead, he saw every grunt staring at him in shock. I squinted my eyes and noticed he had a very, very angry expression.

"If none of you have any tails in the next half an hour – consider yourself dead. That isn't an overstatement". He shouted, his cold voice ringing throughout the well. I shuddered and looked back at the hiding Slowpoke. I couldn't avoid it – maybe I could get in Proton's good books if I buckled in and did it. It's just a Slowpoke… Slowbro's are the bain of your team Elizabeth – you're doing your team a favour…"

I reached out towards the Slowpoke and grabbed it. It's eyes were still expressionless, but they were looking at me.

"I'm really, really sorry for this…" I whispered to it, before I grasped its tail in one hand. I closed my eyes as I felt the Slowpoke fall on the floor – it's tail glued onto my hands. I looked at the limp tail and retched again. What the fuck have I done?! Cadence looked horrified. I looked horrified. She shook it off and nodded her head in the direction of Proton.

I trudged over to Proton again, the tail starting to smell a little bit of compost, and stuck it in his face. He looked at me – still in anger.

"What?" He spat, as he held another oblivious Slowpoke. I raised my eyebrow and shook the tail around a little.

"Is that it?" He glared at me, as he ripped off another tail.

"What am I supposed to do with it?! I just killed a fucking Pokémon!" I shouted at him, flinging it at his face.

"Woah, somebody is finally showing a bit of backbone." He taunted me, letting the tail slap him. It dropped lifelessly on the floor, among the growing pile of Slowpoke, making a plop as it slid off.

"Elizabeth – you're forgetting that Pokémon are only tools. They don't have feelings. And call me sir" he patronised me, wiping the slime off his face. I glared at him with pure malice. This was an argument I couldn't win. I was arguing to a brick wall. I was about to turn around when I heard a scream ring out from the entrance of the tunnel – followed by a "THEY'VE FOUND OUT!"

I let out a meep of shock whereas Proton's face lit up.

"Great – things are getting exciting now!" He dropped the slowpoke, rubbing his hands together in greed. "Lizzy – stand on top of that cliff".

"What cliff - sir?"

"What cliff – she says – Maybe the one in front of you?" He snapped at me again, before allowing me to walk off. Suddenly, I felt a vice clamp around my arm. "If this mission fails – I'm not even going to hesitate to slam those things you call friends into the bin" He whispered dangerously into my ear. My pupils narrowed and I suddenly realised the stakes. He let go and walked off towards the back of the cliff, leaving me to creep over to the cliff. I positioned myself on top of it and looked towards the entrance, and to my surprise- Lyra was there. Hopping along with a Bayleef. I let out a sigh of relief, most of the grunts have Zubats – that Bayleef stands no chance.

But, out of surprise, she had started to sweep through every grunt – including Cadence who even had a Misdreavus. I gulped – if Zubats were fainting left right and center – then what hope does a Rattata have? Lyra finally walked over to me and looked up with anger.

"What do you want, kid?" I asked, trying to avoid her gaze.

"Aren't you that girl who had her Pokémon stolen?" She asked me. My heart froze with shock and I turned around to Proton, whom had seemingly heard too as his ice-like eyes were now as ridged as the cliff I was sitting on. I slid off the cliff and snapped at her.

"Shut up – brat!"

She looked taken aback.

"Why are you acting like this?"

I refused to answer her question and finally released my Rattata – my misconceptions of it were that because it's ball was in such a shocking condition, so was the Pokémon. The blinding flash flooded the cave and revealed the small rat.

I wasn't wrong about the misconceptions.

It was already fainted.

I looked at it in disappointment as the Rattata flopped lifelessly on the floor.

"...I, uh" I returned it in embarrassment. God damn it Petrel – you could have at least healed it at a freaking Poke center before giving it to me!

I turned around towards Proton who now looked as if he was about to jump over to me and strangle me under the water. I turned around back to Lyra – and she was already gone. I ran to catch up to her and grabbed her by the arm.

"Listen – kid. I'm not really a member of Team Rocket, I'm just in it to get my Pokémon back." I whispered to her out of earshot of Proton. The Bayleef looked at me with distrust.

"You have a Pokémon though." She pointed out, looking at my pokéball.

"That's not my Pokémon." I whispered back, holding it from view.

"Whose is it then? Are you stealing Pokémon?" She looked disgusted.

"No! Well…" I thought back to when I had received it. 'One of our grunts just bought this back yesterday – it's useless anyway'.

She looked in horror and walked off towards Proton. I clenched my teeth in stress and hoped to god that Proton lived up to being an Executive – if he wasn't strong, he wouldn't be an executive. She seemingly was not intimidated by him. How the bloody hell wasn't a kid intimidated by Proton?!

"What do we have here?" He smirked at her – from a distance, I could tell that his down talking was only the start of Lyra's unavoidable fall. "I am often labelled as the scariest and cruellest guy in Team Rocket… I strongly urge you not to interfere with our business." Un-intimidated, Lyra stood behind her Bayleef – her actions doing all the talking needed. I was expecting to see some sort of overly-beefed Pokémon, but instead, Proton sent out a Zubat.

A zubat.

Are you kidding me?

The Bayleef tackled it and one shotted it. Proton looked a little pissed off, whereas I stumbled backwards out of shock. He growled as he returned the battered-up bat and sent out a Koffing. Fucking Koffing.

Lyra was ahead of the game as she returned the Bayleef and sent out a Flaaffy. How the hell does a kid have such a substantial team this early on? She had a Chikorita last night!

The Flaaffy used Thundershock and the Koffing deflated, drifting towards the floor. Proton looked absolutely livid.

"For a kid to be this good… I didn't see it coming" he growled at Lyra as she returned her Flaaffy and let the Bayleef out again.

"I thought Team Rocket was broken up!" She stated the obvious. I was still in shock from Proton's defeat – but indeed, I thought so too. I'd never stopped and asked why or how they had continued.

"Indeed, we were disbanded three years ago. But we continued our activities underground" That explains the tunnels. "A small obstacle like you…" he averted his gaze and stared daggers at me – making me flinch out of more shock. "…won't be much of a problem for our mission. I advise you to be very afraid of what is to come" he carried on looking at me – almost as if the threat was meant for me. Proton then walked off towards the direction of the exit, the rest of us following him with shame. Cadence ran up to me – holding a pile of Slowpoke tails.

"Cay… what are you doing?" I asked her, staring at the lifeless tails hanging from her arms.

"Proton wanted them for money" she replied, not even looking at me. Proton turned around at the mention of his name and fell back to let us catch up with him.

"Good work… Cay?" he said, repeating her name as if he hadn't heard it before. "Do me a favour and catch up with the rest of the grunts – I need a word with Lizzy" my heart stopped and I latched myself onto Cadence out of fright. She looked at me out of confusion and shook me off, giving me a look as if to say "what?". She walked off and left me and Proton alone in the shadows.

He grabbed my arm as he watched her disappear up the ladders and then rammed me against the wall again – with considerable force this time. My shoulders ached with pain as they collided against the rocky wall.

"What was that about?!" he shouted at me – not pissing about with expressions or intimidation. He was blatantly fuming at me.

"What was what abo…" I replied, before he smacked me across the face. My blood run cold as I reached up to feel my face burning.

"Aren't you the girl who had her Pokémon stolen by Team Rocket?" He mimicked Lyra's voice, making his pitch higher in spite. "Didn't I tell you what would happen if you told anybody?! How the FUCK would a little girl know?!" He screamed at my face, becoming completely overrun by rage. My breathing increased as I became increasingly scared.

"I-I'm sorry! She's the only on…" I tried to explain, but only endured another slap across the face. This time, my cheek grinded against the side of the cave wall and became grazed. I touched it in horror and noticed a few specks of blood stood out from my gloves.

"The only what? The only one who listens to the fucking radio station?!" His tone quieted down as he eyed the blood on my cheek. Tears built up in my eyes as I thought back in regret at the Pokémon center.

"The only… person I told." I started crying, trying to cover my face with my hands. Proton pulled away my hands roughly – making one of my wrists crack loudly - making me hold it in pain. He put his face extremely close to mine. I looked into his eyes which now seemingly pierced my eyes. I was shaking so badly that even Proton's arms had started to shake from where he held me.

"I think we both know what will happen now." He smiled at me wryly, putting his hand up to my face. He rubbed my grazes with his thumb, rubbing the gravel into the wounds. I winced with pain and stared at him – not in hate, or malice – but begging for mercy. He seemed unfazed by the obvious pain I was in – in fact, he seemingly enjoyed it.

"But – do you know what? I'm going to keep your Pokémon. I'm sure they'd enjoy battling against you one day." I tried to gasp, but the tears I was now apparently choking with were preventing that from happening. All of a sudden, Proton turned around and punched me in my gut. I choked out and slid against the wall, the stones digging against my back. I started sobbing in agony as all of a sudden he picked me up off the floor and stared at my cheek again, which was now bleeding even worse due to the gravel.

"That was a nasty fall, Lizzy. You should get it seen to" he rubbed away my tears, imitating softness with threat as he walked towards the exit. I slid back against the wall and started crying hysterically, holding my throbbing cheek in pain.

I, uh, told you it would be dark LMFAO.

This is probably the most awkward thing I've ever had to write. Ever. I never knew I could get so… y'know. Violent.

Don't worry! The next chapter is going to have nothing of the violent sort in it. Nothing. of. The sort.